ã€ŠMy House of Horrorsã€‹


 Chapter 1

    <h4>Chapter 1: Dying House of Horrors</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve visited such an un-scary Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°The props are too fake; I didn¡¯t feel scared. If anything, it all felt like a joke to me.¡±

    ¡°Materialists like ourselves naturally have nothing to be afraid of! Ghosts aren¡¯t real!¡±

    ¡°I hate to say it, but I told you so. We should have stayed at the hostel; I was so close to gaining another level on my online game.¡±

    A group of students grumbled with disappointment in front of Western Jiujiang City¡¯s House of Horrors before they left on their motorbikes. Chen Ge, who held a stack of advertisement flyers for the Haunted House, shook his head despondently when he saw this.

    The art of scaring was a skill, but with the introduction of scary movies, many modern-day citizens¡¯ threshold for scares had been increased. A visit to the Haunted House was no different from a stroll in one¡¯s own backyard.

    ¡°Boss!¡±

    A clear female voice erupted from behind him. Chen Ge turned around and saw a slender ¡®zombie¡¯ in a nurse outfit running out of the Haunted House in a fit of anger.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Xiao Wan?¡± The zombie¡¯s name was Xu Wan; she was one of the temporary actors hired by the Haunted House.

    ¡°Those few ruffians earlier, they tried to take advantage of me!¡± the girl hissed through gritted teeth, her fists gripped tight.

    <i>So, it is merely toin...</i>

    ¡°That¡¯s horrible; they wouldn¡¯t even leave a zombie in peace.¡± As the boss, naturally Chen Ge was on Xiao Wan¡¯s side. ¡°Later, I¡¯ll have the amusement park manager to pull up the surveince footage.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. When I realized their intentions, my punch went flying straight at the boy¡¯s face.¡± Xu Wan pointed at the bloodstain at the edge of her outfit and eximed rather proudly, ¡°See, this isn¡¯t fake blood.¡±

    ¡°Good, good, a girl should learn how to protect herself.¡± Chen Ge wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. As he turned to look at the setting sun, he said, ¡°I suppose it¡¯s time to call it a day. We probably won¡¯t have any more visitors, so help me go and tell everyone that we can get off work early today.¡±

    However, he realized the girl in zombie make-up didn¡¯t make an attempt to move away.

    ¡°Is there anything else?¡±

    ¡°Boss...¡± Xu Wan hesitated before pulling two letters out from her pocket slowly. ¡°These are the resignation letters from Tao Ming and Xiao Wei. You¡¯ve been a great boss to them, so they didn¡¯t have to the face to give these to you in person and had me pass them to you.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re quitting?¡± Chen Ge asked the obvious question as he epted the letters, then he added, ¡°Everyone has their own dream to chase, so be it. Xiao Wan, you can leave now if there¡¯s nothing else.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go remove the make-up first.¡±

    After the cute little zombie left, Chen Ge lit a cigarette silently. Half a year ago, when his parents mysteriously disappeared, the only thing they left him was this Haunted House. To keep their memory alive, Chen Ge had resigned from his day-job to focus on managing this Haunted House.

    s, times were changing. Despite the niche genre, there was hugepetition among Haunted Houses, and there were plenty of limitations as well. A scary scenario would lose its scare factor after the initial experience, but a constant update would require plenty of resources and money.

    Starting from a few weeks ago, the Haunted House had been in the red; the ie from the daily ticket sales barely covered the electricity and water expenses.

    ¡°I wonder how long I can hold on.¡±

    After extinguishing the cigarette, when Chen Ge was prepared to return to the Haunted House, a middle-aged man wearing the uniform for New Century Park walked toward him. When he saw him, Chen Ge increased his pace like a mouse spotting a cat.

    ¡°You think you can pretend to have not seen me?¡± The middle-aged man mped his hands on Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Today, we definitely need to talk it out. You¡¯ve owed the rent and utilities for two months already. The top brass are breathing down my neck to pursue it, so pay up!¡±

    ¡°Uncle Xu, it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to pay you, but I really have nothing to pay you with. Can you please give me another month?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what you told mest month!¡±

    ¡°I promise, this is definitely thest time!¡± Chen Ge patted his chest as he promised with sincerity.

    ¡°People have already moved on from Haunted Houses. Listen to me, it¡¯s no use being this stubborn.¡± When the middle-aged man named Uncle Xu saw the letters in Chen Ge¡¯s hand, the force on Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders gradually lightened. ¡°You¡¯re so young; you can still begin anew with a different career, so why are you doing this to yourself?¡±

    ¡°Uncle Xu, I know you¡¯re just looking out for me, but this Haunted House carries a different meaning for me. I guess I¡¯m still unwilling to let thest memory of my parents go,¡± Chen Ge uttered in a lowered voice as if he was afraid that other people might hear him.

    As the amusement park manager, the middle-aged man knew about the disappearance of Chen Ge¡¯s parents. He didn¡¯t answer immediately. After a few seconds, he sighed and said, ¡°Fine, I can understand how you feel. I¡¯ll try my best to talk to management for you and see if they can give you a few more weeks.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Uncle Xu!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t thank me so soon, you¡¯d better make sure you can increase the ticket sales or the ending will just be the same.¡±

    After sending the amusement park manager off, Chen Ge returned to the Haunted House and started his daily routine of checking the equipment, maintaining the items, and cleaning.

    ¡°The fake blood in the maintenance room is almost empty; I have to buy a new batch.

    ¡°If this corridor could be made slightly more nted to the side, it¡¯ll create a better blind spot to scare the visitors.

    ¡°Oh no, this puppet is broken already; I¡¯ll have to repair itter.

    ¡°F*ck! What happened to the lightbulb I installed herest week? Who has stolen it?¡±

    In the eyes of an outsider, he was the owner of a Haunted House, a young entrepreneur in a way, but only Chen Ge himself could understand the difficulty behind maintaining a Haunted House. Haunted Houses were a kind of entertainment. Caught within a scary environment, one¡¯s physical and mental situation would be maintained at a heightened state, but when the stress was released, it would lead to a sense of relief and satisfaction; it was not unlike a massage in a way.

    At the same time, most Haunted Houses were one-trick ponies. The most effective business method for a Haunted House was to have it be mobile so that it would constantly attract fresh batches of visitors. A Haunted House that was stuck at a certain location like Chen Ge¡¯s had to have immense poprity to lure in the crowds, or else they wouldn¡¯t be able to survive for long. The fact that he had managed to hold on for so long was already, in a way, a miracle.

    Dragging the puppet that was ruined, Chen Ge entered the maintenance room. He had studied Toy Design in college, and the machinery and traps used in the Haunted House had been all personally designed and built by him. The maintenance process, which included sewing and repainting, was dry and repetitive.

    ¡°Still missing some fake blood. If I remember correctly, there¡¯s still some stock in the attic.¡± The Haunted House was separated into three floors; the first and second floors were for haunted scenarios while the third was a storeroom.

    After pushing open the wooden door, behind the haze of wood chips and dust, there were various kinds of materials and unwanted ingredients left behind by Chen Ge¡¯s parents from when they had managed the Haunted House.

    Unwilling to face the past, Chen Ge rarely came up to this ce.

    ¡°Now that I think about it, it has almost been half a year already.¡±

    Looking at the various equipment, Chen Ge was reminded of his childhood. At the time, his family had managed a mobile Haunted House, so he had gotten the chance to travel the country with his parents. When the two adults were busy, they would leave Chen Ge alone backstage to apany the various ghosts, so Chen Ge¡¯s unnatural guts had been trained since he was young.

    After all, when his friends of the same age were ying with blocks and puzzles, he was running around with a fake human head.

    ¡°These are all precious memories.¡±

    Chen Ge wandered aimlessly before finding himself back at the wooden box that kept the few things that remained of his parents. Inside sat a ck cell phone and a rough-looking doll. The doll was the first toy Chen Ge made when he was a child, but he had zero recollection of the phone. Both of these items had been found in an abandoned hospital in the countryside, and regarding why Chen Ge¡¯s parents would go there in the middle of the night, even the police couldn¡¯t give him an answer.

    ¡°Where are the two of you?¡± Chen Ge picked up the doll and pinched its chubby face. Then, with a sigh, he told himself, ¡°I¡¯d better go find that fake blood. If I cannot survive this off season, I really will have to bid this Haunted House farewell.¡±

    Chen Ge was talking to himself, but when he said so, the ck phone, which had been silent in the box, suddenly lit up with a dim, cold light.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Dark technology or supernatural phenomenon?¡± If this happened to someone else, that person probably would have raced out screaming bloody murder already, but inparison, Chen Ge¡¯s reaction was much calmer. He picked up the phone and inspected it closer.

    ¡°This is weird. I¡¯ve tried opening this phone more than a hundred times before, but it wouldn¡¯t work, so why did it open by itself today? This phone was found where my parents disappeared, so could it be that they know I¡¯m in trouble and are contacting me to help?¡±

    Chen Ge swiped the phone open, and on the front page with a ck background, there was only one avable app. It had the shape of a Haunted House as an icon.

    ¡°Wait... This looks so familiar, just like the front entrance of my own Haunted House!¡±

    With a frown, Chen Ge clicked the app open, and a row of letters written in what appeared to be blood appeared on screen¡ªDo you believe there are ghosts in this world?

    Objectively speaking, this was a metaphysical philosophical question; for an engineering student like Chen Ge, it was practically unanswerable.

    ¡°There should be,¡± Chen Ge mumbled to himself, and a few secondster, a new sentence appeared on screen.

    ¡°What you believe is the answer. From this moment on, you will officially take over as the new owner of the Haunted House. Of course, this is not something worth celebrating. Before the end of the tutorials, please heed myst advice: suicide is the most cowardice of behavior, and try your best to survive!¡±

    ¡°What and what? But this pompous way of speech does resemble that father of mine.¡±

    Chen Ge clicked on the app again, and a new window appeared.

    _______________

    Western Jiujiang Haunted House

    Status: Almost Closing

    Good Reputation: Zero

    Daily Visitor Number: Four

    Monthly Visitor Number: Ten

    My Team of Ghosts and Ghouls: None

    My Item Storage: None

    Unlocked Achievement: None

    Current Avable Scenarios [Set Pieces]:

    ¨C Night of the Living Dead ¨C Horrible prop, untrained actors, the plot has no readable storyline or logic. Scream Factor: 0 Star

    ¨C Minghun [Nether World Marriage] ¨C Couple torn apart in the living world, bound together forever in theher world; sharing the same grave, pursuing happiness in death. Scream Factor: 0.5 Stars

    Unlockable Scenarios:

    ¨C Murder by Midnight ¨C A dangerous psychotic patient wandered about a fallen apartment. Scissors and mallets as hands, he is just wandering outside of your room. Scream Factor: 1 Star

    ¨C The Third Sick Hall ¨C There are unexinable noisesing out from this abandoned hospital building every night. As a newspaper reporter, you¡¯re tasked with getting to the bottom of this dark mystery. Scream Factor: 3 Stars

    ¨C The Haunted Hearse ¨C Leaving with the hearse carrying the coffin, if you cannot escape within an hour, you¡¯ll stay forever inside the hearse. Scream Factor: 2 Stars

    Daily Mission: Complete Daily Missions provided by the Haunted House to unlock more scary scenarios. The rewards correspond to the difficulty of the mission.

    Haunted House Expansion Conditions: Monthly Visitor Numbers over 100. Good Reputation over 60 percent. (After 3 expansions, the Haunted House will upgrade to The Shivering Maze.)

    Haunted Wheel of Misfortune (Expend Fright Points generated by visitors of the Haunted House to spin the Wheel): The Decree of Life and Death is never the decision of man; fortune and misfortune are only an inch apart. We have both Spirit Fruits to increase your life span as well as hatred-filled Baleful Specters!

    Other functions: Yet to be unlocked

 Chapter 2

    <h4>Chapter 2: A Curious Daily Mission</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The app with the Haunted House icon looked simr to many popr management mobile games; however, instead of managing a hotel, aquarium, or pet store, it was to manage a haunted house.

    Chen Ge stared at the screen, and a single question was on his mind. <i>Why would the phone left behind by my parents have this curious app on it?</i>

    He looked through the interface of the app, and all the information on it matched the conditions of his actual Haunted House like the daily visitor numbers and avable scenarios. This gave Chen Ge a weird sensation, as if the Haunted House managed in-game was no different from the one he was managing in real life.

    They were both down on their luck and facing closure; there were simply too many simrities between them.

    ¡°Could it be that this game is built using my Haunted House as its basis? Then does this mean that if there¡¯re changes in the game, it¡¯ll also happen in real life?¡± Chen Ge muttered.

    Chen Ge continued to read; the current scenario of the Haunted House, Night of the Living Dead, was brutally criticized. Even the Minghun scenario that got onto the papers before only managed to get a 0.5-star rating.

    ¡°If Minghun only gets 0.5 star, I shudder to imagine how scary those unlockable scenarios are.¡± He tried to click on the options, and when he did, a window appeared on screen, telling him that he needed to finish a certain number of daily missions before he would be able to unlock the scenarios.

    ¡°Looks like the daily missions are the key to this; it is only bypleting daily missions that I¡¯ll be able to unlock the haunted scenarios. By unlocking more scenarios, I¡¯ll be able to attract more customers and, consequently, expand the Haunted House.¡± Chen Ge was an avid yer of mobile games, so he soon grasped the rules of the game¡ªthe rate ofpletion for daily missions was going to influence the development of the Haunted House.

    After clicking on Daily Missions, three options surfaced:

    Easy Mission: There are three main elements to the design of a good Haunted House¡ªStory, Scenario, and Mood. A Haunted House without a story is a Haunted House without a soul, pleaseplete the background story to the two scenarios, Night of the Living Dead and Minghun.

    Normal Mission: Fix all the mannequins inside the Haunted House before midnight.

    Nightmare Mission: I know you¡¯re still not wholly convinced about the existence of ghost in the world; in that case, how about a little game? The truth will be revealed when you open your eyes.

    Daily Missions will refresh every day at midnight. User can only apply for one mission each day, and the reward corresponds to the difficulty of the mission.

    (Beware! The more difficult the mission, the more dangerous it¡¯ll be, so please choose carefully!)

    After looking through the mission details, Chen Ge gasped with surprise. ¡°The missions in the game have to bepleted in real life? Isn¡¯t this the perfect proof that this game can influence real life?¡±

    To test this spection, he decided to pick a mission. Since the reward was given ording to difficulty and he could only pick one each day, for the sake of the biggest reward, he had to pick the most difficult mission. However, the warning attached to the end of the missions did make Chen Ge worry.

    ¡°This is hard to choose. The description for the Nightmare Mission is so vague; it just speaks of a trap. Why don¡¯t I start with a Normal Mission? Fixing all the props will be difficult but not impossible.¡±

    Chen Ge was a man of action, after he had made the decision, he started to move. He grabbed his toolbox and a bucket of unopened fake blood and started to inspect all the mannequins around the Haunted House.

    Night had fallen. To save electricity, Chen Ge didn¡¯t even leave the lights in the corridors open. Squeezing a shlight in his armpit, Chen Ge twisted through therge Haunted House, fixing all the mannequins that needed his attention.

    If there were any outsiders who saw this, they would probably be so spooked that they would call the cops directly.

    ¡°I really didn¡¯t expect so many mannequins will require maintenance; I should not have cked off earlier!¡±

    At 11:45 pm, Chen Ge received the missionpletion alert on his phone. ¡°You¡¯vepleted the Normal Mission. Paying attention to details will contribute to the perfect scary atmosphere. Congrattions, you¡¯ve gained the mission reward¡ªBackground Music, ck Friday.¡±

    ¡°Wait, wasn¡¯t ck Friday a banned song in foreign countries? ording to rumors, it has the uncanny ability to instill suicidal tendencies in its listeners, and the original score was lost a long time ago.¡± Chen Ge discovered the picture of a CD in his item storage. ¡°What kind of mission reward is this, don¡¯t tell me this is all some kind of prank?¡±

    He clicked on the CD image, and a melody that he had not heard of started ying beside his ears. The melody spoke of darkness, mncholy, and loneliness. Chen Ge felt the world around him falling away, and he hadnded himself in a long corridor with no end in sight.

    When the song ended, Chen Ge¡¯s back was drenched in cold sweat. He was thankful he didn¡¯t choose to have the song on repeat or else he really didn¡¯t think he would have been able to escape the influence of the music on his own.

    ¡°F*ck, this is real! This should be the original track!¡± Afterpleting the game mission, he really did acquire a reward that he could use in real life. This gave Chen Ge a ray of hope. He stopped the music and saved it carefully. After dealing with everything, Chen Ge returned to the break room to rest.

    Lying in bed, even though he was tired, he didn¡¯t feel at all sleepy. After all, the things that he had experienced that day required a bit of time to digest.

    Without knowing it, it soon passed midnight, and Chen Ge was still staring aimlessly at the ceiling.

    ¡°Can¡¯t sleep at all!¡± The man who was bored out of his mind pulled out the ck phone. ¡°Midnight has passed, so there should be a new set of Daily Missions, right?¡±

    He opened the app, and as he expected, there were some changes on the Daily Missions screen.

    Easy Mission: If you want to provide the visitors a scary experience, then first you have to pay notice to the rhythm and tempo of their experience in the Haunted House. Setting off the scare too early might cause the visitors to lose their interest, so I suggest you install some sound detectors or surveince cameras in the Haunted House to keep track of your visitors¡¯ progress.

    Normal Mission: A single hand cannot p; a good Haunted House requires a good team to run it. Recruit more talents to aid in your journey.

    Nightmare Mission: I know you¡¯re still not wholly convinced about the existence of ghost in the world; in that case, how about a little game? The truth will be revealed when you open your eyes.

    Daily Missions will refresh every day at midnight. User can only apply for one mission each day, and the reward corresponds to the difficulty of the mission.

    (Beware! The more difficult the mission, the more dangerous it¡¯ll be, so please choose carefully!)

    The three new Daily Missions put some kinks in Chen Ge¡¯s n.

    The easy mission was to install new surveince devices in the Haunted House; this could be done with money, but the issue was... Chen Ge¡¯s budget was currently limited.

    The normal mission also wasn¡¯t that easy for Chen Ge. His two senior workers, who had been through thick and thin with him, had just resigned. Even if he went to set up a recruitment ad right this moment, it would require days toplete the training. When the new employee could help at the Haunted House, the ce probably would have closed already.

    Since the easy mission and normal mission were impossible, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes settled on thest Daily Mission.

    ¡°Since the harder the mission, the better the reward, shall I give this Nightmare Mission a try?¡±

 Chapter 3

    <h4>Chapter 3: Nightmare Mission</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I know you¡¯re still not wholly convinced about the existence of ghost in the world; in that case, how about a little game? The truth will be revealed when you open your eyes.¡±

    As mentioned earlier, the description of the Nightmare Mission was incredibly vague; it did, however, give off a creepy vibe.

    ¡°Looking at the introduction, it should involve some kind of game, but how can ying a game be a Nightmare Mission?¡±

    To finish the Normal Mission, Chen Ge had worked non-stop for several hours. He had barely managed to finish fixing all the mannequins. As he toyed with the phone, Chen Ge¡¯s sense of curiosity was aroused. ¡°Shall I try it out?¡±

    The moment the thought appeared, it grew and expanded like vines invading every corner of his mind.

    ¡°Nightmare Missions give the best reward, and since I can¡¯t aplish the Easy and Normal Missions provided today, this is my best bet.¡±

    The Haunted House would close if he was unable to survive this off season. Chen Ge knew how precarious his situation was. It was a pure stroke of luck that he had stumbled upon this ray of hope, so of course, he wouldn¡¯t let any opportunities pass by easily.

    ¡°So be it. After all, eventually, I¡¯ll have to apply for a Nightmare Mission, so why not now?¡± Sitting up in bed, Chen Ge clicked on thest mission.

    ¡°Are you sure you wish to ept the Nightmare Mission? After eptance, unknown circumstances might ur.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The phone shed, and the real mission details surfaced.

    ¡°It requires plenty of courage, incredible luck, and a bit of help to see the hidden world. The game we¡¯re ying is called ¡®Another You in the Mirror¡¯. Enter the bathroom alone at 2:04 am, close the door, and turn off the lights. Face the mirror and light a candle between yourself and it. Then, close your eyes and focus; you can then begin by slowly chanting your name.

    ¡°Anything can happen in the dark; perhaps there will be an unfamiliar face that appears in the mirror, or there might be a pair of eyes lurking in the corner watching you, or blood might drip from the ceiling or walls. No matter what happens, all you must do is make sure that you stay silent and stand before the mirror quietly.

    ¡°After half an hour, the mission will be autopleted, provided that you do not open your eyes no matter what happens in that half-hour.¡±

    After reading the mission introduction, Chen Ge¡¯s heart twinged with fear. ¡°Could there really be a world hidden from normal eyes?¡±

    It was still some time before the allocated 2:04 am. Instead of moving to the bathroom, Chen Ge started doing his research online. Chen Ge did manage to find some extra information on this supposed game, and they were all ghost stories. Some said they were cursed after they yed this game, while others mentioned missing friends or family members, convinced that they were pulled into the mirror world.

    ¡°Every single one of these sounds so authentic.¡± The more he read, the more interested Chen Ge became. He was, after all, the operator of a Haunted House; his daily exercise was toe up with new ways to scare people, within a safe environment of course. As he read up on the information to this game, he felt as if a new world was opening before his eyes.

    ¡°It¡¯s weirdly exciting to y a scary game in the middle of the night inside a Haunted House!¡±

    He checked the battery level of his phone; he felt like recording this momentous asion.

    ¡°Later, I¡¯ll put the whole thing on recording; if it is as scary as these people say, then perhaps I can add a new scenario to the Haunted House!¡±

    He scoured the room for a candle and lighter. When the clock struck 2am, he carried the prepared objects and moved toward the bathroom on the first floor of the Haunted House.

    The reason he carried out this ¡®game¡¯ at the first floor¡¯s toilet was also a calcted decision on Chen Ge¡¯s part. If anything dangerous did ur during the process, at least he could jump directly out the window to save himself. The Haunted House was eerily quiet at night. A young man who refused to turn on the lights to save electricity entered the cramped and narrow toilet with a shlight and candle.

    ¡°A dark and ustrophobic environment is the best at evoking the feeling of fear within a person¡¯s heart. The toilet is usually the ce that has the most yin energy within the building. Mirrors and cisterns, these items couldn¡¯t have been more mundane, but these everyday items can often be used to increase psychological pressure. The person behind this game is very clever; they know how to make use of the weakness often found within the human heart, and consequently, they are able to create a scary atmosphere with the simplest of objects and conditions.¡± Chen Ge found this a perfect opportunity to improve his craft.

    ¡°Real terror actually doesn¡¯t need expensive set-ups. It only needs to highlight and heighten the sense of anxiety inherent in the human heart.¡± Chen Ge took a deep breath and put his phone on record. ¡°I don¡¯t know what kind of effect this game will bring, but if anything happens to me, I hope the person who finds this phone will preserve this video because it is a key, a valuable key to unlocking the manyyers of deceit.¡±

    Then, Chen Ge ced the phone beside the cistern. He adjusted the angle until the camera could capture his person and the mirror opposite him.

    ¡°It¡¯s 2:01 am already, three more minutes.¡±

    The wait for death was scarier than death itself. The silence of the toilet amplified all sorts of noises or echoes in the room. As the seconds ticked by, Chen Ge¡¯s heart started to race.

    He looked at the time on the phone. When the minute hand pointed at the four, he switched off the shlight and lit up the candle. Following the instructions, he ced it between the mirror and himself.

    The dancing me became the only source of light in the dark. It flickered and twirled between the real world and the mirrored world. It acted perhaps like some kind of guidance light, pointing the way for whatever existed in the mirror.

    Chen Ge looked at his reflection in the mirror, and he felt strangely weirded out. ¡°Has the game started.¡±

    He lowered his head and closed his eyes before starting to mumble his name softly.

    ¡°Chen Ge, Chen Ge, Chen Ge...¡±

    Repetition of one¡¯s name would put a psychological distance between it and oneself. Eventually, even one¡¯s name would sound strange to one¡¯s ears. This theory was simr to how after looking at a particr Chinese character repeatedly, one would end up forgetting how to write it when asked.

    To prevent that psychological effect from befalling himself, every time Chen Ge chanted his name, he would leave a three seconds space. This way, he was also counting down the time.

    After all, the condition for a sessful mission was to keep his eyes closed for half an hour no matter the distraction.

    <i>Standing in front of a mirror and ying a game that involves only a candle at 2 am inside a Haunted House alone... If I was not doing this myself, even I wouldn¡¯t believe someone would willingly do something this dumb. </i>Chen Ge continued to chant his name as the various random thoughts entered his mind.

    <i>This game is filled with psychological terror; the most difficult part is not facing those supposed ghosts or legends but stopping your mind from straying and forming scary scenarios to scare yourself. As long as you don¡¯t open your eyes, everything should be fine.</i>

    However, that was easier said than done, because ten minutes after the game started, something did happen.

 Chapter 4

    <h4>Chapter 4: Surprise Reward</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    It seemed that the toilet¡¯s windows were not closed because Chen Ge could feel a cold draft enter the room. It was like an invisible hand was brushing past his face.

    The door of the toilet cubicles creaked as they were moved by the wind. The water that had gathered at the corner of the ceiling fell onto the floor, causing the insects to scatter. The sound made Chen Ge feel like they were crawling all over his skin.

    All sorts of noises were amplified by the general silence, which would have heightened the sense of anxiety in most people, but not Chen Ge, who had been trained to have a strong heart since he was young and had a slightly slower than normal sense of perception.

    He cleared his mind of thought to focus on counting down the time.

    About twenty minutes had passed, and for some reason, Chen Ge could sense the temperature of the room dropping like someone had ced several blocks of solid ice around him, causing him to shiver involuntarily.

    <i>Calm yourself! Don¡¯t overthink it and scare yourself! There¡¯s only ten minutes left; Chen Ge, you can do this! </i>There was a curious draft flowing beside his ear like something was circling him. He gripped his hands so tightly that the veins on their backs were protruding, but his body seemed to have petrified into immobile stone.

    ¡°Chen Ge, Chen Ge, Chen Ge...¡±

    He continued to mumble to himself. At only five minutes left, Chen Ge could tell the flickering light of the candle had died off, and there seemed to be another presence in the dark calling his name.

    <i>Echo? Impossible!</i>

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡± The voice seemed to be summoning him, and it felt urgent like it had something crucial to tell him.

    <i>The voice seems to being from outside the door, shall I go to take a look?</i>However, very soon, Chen Ge rejected this thought from his mind. The rules were explicit; he was required to stand before the mirror and not do anything else.

    He continued the count-down in his heart, and the voice beside his ear started to warp. He was now certain that there was someone else calling his name, and that person was standing outside the toilet door.

    <i>The person sounds so urgent, but I¡¯m the one ying this game, so why do they sound so damn hurried? This is obvious a trap, such a cheater. </i>Chen Ge turned his lips down with disapproval. <i>The set-up and atmosphere are not bad, but s, the scare tactic is too straightforward and simple.</i>

    During the final three minutes, there was a shrill noiseing from the toilet door like someone was scratching their nails against it or gnawing their teeth on it. The door creaked subtly like it was about to open at any moment.

    <i>1,798 seconds, 1,799 seconds, 1,800 seconds! </i>The half an hour limit was up; all the noises disappeared at once, and silence reigned once more.

    To prevent miscalction, Chen Ge did not open his eyes immediately. He counted for an extra three hundred before he took a step back, ced both his hands over his chest, and fluttered his eyes open.

    The candle in the toilet had been extinguished, and the ce was dark. For some reason, Chen Ge felt like something had shifted. He turned on the shlight, and when light appeared once more in the cramped area, he was stunned.

    The mirror before him was filled with cracks, and several images of himself stared back at him. It looked extremely hallucinogenic, but the thing that gave him a bigger scare was the appearance of a broken doll in front of the mirror!

    The eyes that were made from buttons were shining, and the patchwork body was filled with cotton. The doll was not by any means new, but it held a special meaning for Chen Ge; it was his very first creation and something left at the scene of his parents¡¯ disappearance.

    The doll was leaning against the mirror like it was trying to stop the thing in the mirror froming out.

    ¡°Wait, but the toilet door was already locked, how did youe in? Through the window? No wait, the bigger issue is how you moved on your own!¡± Chen Ge felt like his world was falling apart; he needed some time to process the situation. The man and the doll were locked in this stare for about three minutes before Chen Ge felt more like himself again. He moved his cold fingers and slowly moved toward the doll.

    For some reason, it felt like the button eyes of the doll seemed to be following him. Chen Ge¡¯s lips twitched involuntarily as he looked at this doll of his. He gave the doll a wide berth to pick the phone next to it. ¡°Thankfully, I was clever enough to prepare for this.¡±

    The phone had finished recording. Chen Ge made a second copy before starting to look through the video.

    The video quality was not that great. The single candle fire danced in the darkness, and while the Chen Ge in front of the mirror looked rather cautious, the Chen Ge in the mirror seemed weirdly at ease.

    The first ten minutes were fine, but things started to turn weird at the eleven-minute mark.

    The sound of the wind wasn¡¯t captured by the phone, but one could see the cubicle door moving in the video.

    Then the video was interrupted by white noise. It was a video that was at most a bit curious, but for some reason, it was weirdly scary. Perhaps this was humanity¡¯s inherent fear of darkness and the unknown.

    As the video continued to y, Chen Ge¡¯s face turned increasingly pale. He remembered clearly that he had not moved when his eyes were closed, but on the video, he saw his body slowly leaning forward like he was trying to lean into the mirror.

    At the twenty-five-minute mark, his upper body was already at a seventy-degree angle, and the tip of his nose almost touching the surface of the mirror.

    Several secondster, without any warning, spidery cracks started to form on the mirror. It caused even Chen Ge¡¯s heart to skip a beat. Then, the most unbelievable thing happened. The Chen Ge in the mirror¡¯s expression changed. He grinned wickedly as he mmed crazily against the mirror!

    Right at that minute, the candle went out and the video ended.

    Due to the camera angle, the video did not show any scene rting to the doll, and Chen Ge himself had no idea what really went down in thatst five minutes.

    ¡°From the looks of things, the thing in the mirror wanted to get out, but it was stopped by this doll? In that case, the doll saved me?¡± Chen Ge picked the doll up from the counter and asked in a serious tone, ¡°Can you understand me? Do you know what happened to my parents?¡±

    Naturally, the doll did not answer, but its button eyes seemed to glow in the dark.

    He cradled the doll in his arms and turned to look at the toilet door. Afraid of going out, he shrunk underneath one of the windows and pulled out his phone. The mission sess message was waiting for him.

    ¡°It has to be said that you¡¯re incredibly lucky. Congrattions forpleting the Nightmare Mission! Obtained Mission Reward¡ªElementary Skill: Mortician¡¯s Make-up.

    ¡°Mortician¡¯s Make-up: I hope you will treat this talent with the respect it deserves. Unlike beauty make-up, a mortician only deals with the make-up of the dead. Your hands breathe life into death visages, bringing them evesting beauty.

    ¡°First Nightmare Missionpleted, unlocked the title: Neer at Nightmare Town. Obtained additional reward: Unlocked the Trial Mission for the 1 Star scenario, Murder by Midnight! Completion of this Trial Mission will add this scenario to your Haunted House!¡±

    Looking at the messages on screen, Chen Ge thought to himself, the sess of a Haunted House had plenty to do with a good make-up artist. Be it actors or props, they needed a make-up artist to make theme to life, a good make-up artist can easily create authentic effect to add to the overall scare factor.

 Chapter 5

    <h4>Chapter 5: 25 Minutes and 14 Seconds!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Skill and talent? Looks like the reward for Nightmare Mission is different in the sense that the reward is directly beneficial to myself!¡±

    Making a mental note of this important point, Chen Ge¡¯s heart burned with anticipation. He had seen the existence of the other world, the world of terror, fear, darkness, and danger. Perhaps that world was where his parents had gone, but based on his current power, keeping himself safe was a big enough issue, let alone looking for them. Thankfully, with the ck phone by his side, there was still a chance.

    ¡°In any case, that is still quite far in the future. The thing I need to focus on is to stabilize the Haunted House business and survive this imminent financial crisis.¡± He pulled out his phone. ¡°That was close; something disastrous could have happened. This shows that Nightmare Missions aren¡¯t so easilypleted. Then again, there¡¯s no reason for me to go about this alone; in an information age like ours, help can be reached at the tip of one¡¯s fingers.¡±

    He logged into a few famous national supernatural forums and uploaded the original video.

    A few secondster, his video was dubbed, ¡®Who is that in the mirror?¡¯

    It was rapidly viewed and shared. Perhaps people were so bored of the usual host of gossip and news that they wanted to switch it up. The poprity of the video shot up like an arrow; every time Chen Ge refreshed the page, there would be at least ten newments.

    ¡°25:14. You all can thank meter.¡±

    ¡°Has the uploader lost his mind? Who would do something like this in the middle of the night?¡±

    ¡°Why did the cracks appear on the mirror on their own? Also, what was that thing that knocked into the mirror near the end there?¡±

    ¡°The cracks are mostly caused by temperature maniption inside the room.¡±

    ¡°No, you guys are all wrong, in Daoism, mirrors are items of pure yin energy. I suggest the video¡¯s title be changed from ¡®Who is that in the mirror?¡¯ to ¡®The Ghost in the mirror!¡¯¡±

    ¡°Jesus Christ, who dares do something this crazy sote at night? I¡¯m impressed by the uploader¡¯s bravery.¡±

    ¡°This video has definitely been tampered with; if not, take down my ID, I¡¯ll stand on my hand and eat shit!¡±

    ¡°Am I the only one who noticed this? The profile of the uploader is the owner of a Haunted House in Western Jiujiang. Don¡¯t get all wrapped up over this; this is nothing more than a fabricated advertisement.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s inbox instantly filled with private messages. Some came with questions, others with suspicion, but Chen Ge ignored them all. He knew his video was real; he didn¡¯t think he owed any of these people any exnation. Those in the know would realize its authenticity, and as for those who just wanted to undermine him, why should he waste his time on them?

    Looking at the video¡¯s meteoric rise in poprity, Chen Ge realized with a start that this was actually not a bad opportunity. He spliced the original video, only taking thest 14 seconds, and uploaded it to the nation¡¯s biggest video-sharing app.

    Amid the videos that showcased food, dances, or singing, his haunted video was definitely one of a kind!

    In just less than ten seconds, people had started to fall for his trap. Unlike the users on supernatural forums who went searching for stuff like this, these random users started leaving inmmatoryments under the video from being scared for no reason.

    Sadly, on the inte, conflict and controversy bring in more viewers than praise does, so the wave of online censure only brought in more viewers. Scrolling through thements, Chen Ge could practically sense the hatred and anger directed his way. He shrugged it off with augh.

    To be fair, he did understand why these people reacted the way they did. Most of them were probably preparing for bed, all wrapped up in their nkets, and were probably just looking through some light-hearted videos in preparation to settle down for the night. This scary video of a man wreathed in candlelight had theplete opposite effect than what they were hoping for.

    The ¡°best¡± feature of the video was that it was only 14 seconds, so before they realized what was happening, the scare had already happened. The mirror shattered, and the thing appeared like it was trying to rush out of the mirror and then through the phone screen itself!

    This was truly a masterful set-up!

    <i>Based on how lively thement section is, the poprity of this video looks like it¡¯s not going to drop any time soon... This means that everyone likes my video, yes? </i>A certain someone asked a shameless and rhetorical question. <i>The number of followers has already increased by a hundred. If I don¡¯t make use of this opportunity to advertise the Haunted House, then I¡¯ll feel I¡¯ve disappointed all of my new fans and followers!</i>

    Chen Ge edited the title of the video and attached the address of the Haunted House at the user info section. He even added in brackets: A Completely <i>Not </i>-Scary Haunted House.

    Chen Ge was satisfied with his updated user page. He remained seated under the window to look through the stream of messages and eventually fell asleep.

    ...

    Chen Ge was woken up by the sunlight that fell on his face. He stretched his tired body and stood up from the corner of the toilet.

    ¡°It¡¯s 8.30 am already?¡± He dusted his clothes and pocketed both the doll and the phone before leaving the toilet.

    He noticed there were obvious scratch marks on the edges of the wooden toilet door, like it had been munched on by rodents.

    ¡°Just what was the thing outside the doorst night?¡± Looking at this, Chen Ge suddenly felt thankful he did not move from the mirrorst night and go out to take a look.

    ¡°Nightmare Missions might cause unexpected circumstances. I need to be more careful in the future.¡± Since there was not any discernible change to the Haunted House, Chen Ge shrugged it off and prepared to wee a new day.

    The New Century Park opened at 9 am. At 8.45 am, a slender and lithe figure that was disproportionate to her chest size ran toward him carrying a backpack.

    ¡°Boss!¡± The girl radiated an aura of youthfulness. Her exquisite features practically glowed in the sun. Her skin was taut and supple like fresh apricot that one could not help but wish to take a bite of.

    ¡°Xiao Wan, your timing is perfect. I¡¯ve just added a new background track to our song database. Listen to it and tell me what you think.¡± Before Chen Ge could finish his sentence, Xu Wan gripped his hand tightly. On reflex, he asked, ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I just saw a big crowd gathered at the entrance of the park! They¡¯re discussing the Haunted House! We have peopleing here just to experience the Haunted House!¡± Xu Wan eximed excitedly. ¡°Boss, we seem to have plenty of customers waiting!¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t that be expected? Is this your first time at the park?¡± Chen Ge pretended to be unaffected. He pulled out his phone to look at the video sharing app. His current number of followers had broken through five hundred, and the poprity of his video had reached the top ten of the app. He scanned through thements, and unlike otherment sections which were filled with XOXO or ¡®<3¡¯s, his was filled with endless reprimands, rebukes, and threats. Some of them even said that they had prepared the knife to y Chen Ge and that they were on the way to his address.

    ¡°Er, this seems to have gotten slightly out of hand.¡± Chen Ge coughed awkwardly before dragging Xu Wan with him into the Haunted House. ¡°We have fifteen more minutes to the official opening time of the park. Since we¡¯re the only two left protecting this Haunted House, be prepared for the imminent war!¡±

 Chapter 6

    <h4>Chapter 6: Beauty Make-up</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House currently only had two avable scenarios, Night of the Living Dead and Minghun.

    The Night of the Living Dead was heavily criticized by the ck phone. Chen Ge thought about it as objectively as he could, and he had to admit there were many ws with that scenario. Furthermore, toplete the scenario, he had to have at least three workers.

    ¡°Xiao Wan, our main theme today will be Minghun. Later, after I¡¯m done setting up the background music, remember to put on your earphones when you work. Also, I¡¯ll be doing your make-up today.¡±

    ¡°Boss, you know how to do make-up?¡± Xiao Wanughed half-mockingly at him. ¡°Fine, but I¡¯ll do it myself if you screw it up.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll make you look so beautiful that you¡¯ll take their breath away.¡±

    They walked into the make-up room. Chen Ge set Xiao Wan down before the mirror and used the ball of his palm to slowly massage her face.

    ¡°Activating elementary skill¡ªMortician¡¯s Make-up.¡±

    Looking at the youthful girl in the mirror, many memories that Chen Ge felt did not belong to him suddenly appeared in his mind. It was a chaotic mess. There was not only knowledge about color-matching and other make-up skills but also human anatomy, physiology, bone structure, and the study of death.

    ¡°Boss, are you sure you know how to do make-up?¡± Thirty seconds had passed. Xu Wan sat before the mirror, feeling the unfamiliar temperature of the hand on her face. Looking at the reflection of her face, which her boss was fussing over, her heart started to race, and she felt weirdly shy for some reason.

    ¡°A good make-up artist wille up with different styles ording to the face shape of his client. And Xiao Wan, I have to say, you have a pretty good base already.¡± There were literally no dirty thoughts on Chen Ge¡¯s mind. After he activated the Mortician¡¯s Make-up skill, Xu Wan had already be a ¡®corpse¡¯ in his mind.

    ¡°Hammer, shaver, scalpel, needle and thread, formaldehyde, alcohol... sigh, I¡¯m missing all these things. Looks like I¡¯ll have to settle with the most basic make-up,¡± Chen Ge mumbled to himself, scaring Xu Wan quite a bit. The girl could not understand why her boss would require so many scary instruments for a simple Haunted House make-up. She was feeling slightly spooked, but since she did not feel like it was appropriate to say no to her boss, all she could was nce at the progress through her half-shut eyes and pray for the best possible oue.

    ¡°The foundation is too nd, and the blush too bright. Also, where¡¯s the lipstick?¡± Chen Ge continued to grumble, and he even started to blend colors. The familiarity and expertise of his movements did not match his appearance of a geek who should not have known any of these things.

    Xu Wan herself was baffled by what was happening before her. <i>Color-matching without the aid of online guides or books, this is some high-level make-up skill!</i>

    ¡°Boss, I don¡¯t think you should be so hard on yourself. After all, the lighting in the Haunted House is so dim; the visitors wouldn¡¯t be able to see anything.¡±

    ¡°Shush and stop moving,¡± Chen Ge cut her off and helped her apply the eye-shadow that he had just blended. It was just several strokes of eyeshadow, but it contributed a drastic change to Xu Wan¡¯s personality; it added an air of mystery and frostiness to her.

    Xu Wan¡¯s natural instinct was to mock her boss, but when she saw her reflection in the mirror, her tiny mouth fell open.

    ¡°A blush of just Cherry Red will be too simple,cksyering, but whenbined with some of this purple, it¡¯ll be so different. They blend perfectly like they¡¯re meant for each other,¡± Chen Ge exined like a make-up guru as he used the brush to blend the two blushes on the back of his palm.

    ¡°Boss, what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Our Haunted House¡¯s blush is too gaudy in the hopes of creating a striking visual effect, but that¡¯s pushing it a bit too far, so I¡¯m toning it down by first applying and spreading it on my hand.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s action was gentle, and minutester, the blush did be smoother to the eyes, and there was even a brightening effect to it.

    Now, Xu Wan¡¯s mouth formed a perfect O. ¡°Boss, you¡¯re amazing! Where did you learn all this?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s plenty more of my talent you haven¡¯t seen yet; make-up and beauty tricks are just things I explore in my free time,¡± Chen Ge exined with a smile. He was in quite a great mood because he now had actual proof that the phone app really could affect the real world.

    In just ten minutes, Chen Ge finished Xu Wan¡¯s make-up. ¡°Now, take a look, what do you think?¡±

    The person in the mirror seemed to have walked out of a water painting. She was a quintessential eastern beauty, but there was simply something off about her.

    Xu Wan could not help but stand up and twirl in front of the mirror. Her expression changed from utter shock to fascination before ending with a shudder.

    ¡°Boss, I¡¯ve never looked so beautiful in my life, is this person really me?¡±

    ¡°Of course, it is.¡±

    ¡°But...¡± She reached out hesitantly toward the mirror. ¡°Howe it feels like I¡¯m looking at a dead person?¡±

    Xu Wan¡¯s observation also made Chen Ge suck in a cold breath. The purpose of a mortician¡¯s make-up was bringing out the beauty of the dead, so naturally Chen Ge¡¯s make-up was not meant for the living.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, the amusement park is opening soon, so quickly go change into your clothes and stand by at the second floor Minghun scenario. Remember to put on your Bluetooth earpiece and listen to my direction.¡± Chen Ge tactfully moved the topic away and shoved Xu Wan off to her work. He used the little remaining time he had left to work on the puppets and mannequins in the Minghun scenario set piece. With the aid of Mortician¡¯s Make-up, all of the mannequins looked creepily alive.

    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s all for now, I¡¯ll recolor them when I have time.¡± Chen Ge packed up his toolbox and rushed downstairs. Before he reached the entrance, he could already hear the chatter of the visitors.

    ¡°You¡¯re also here to seek revenge from the immoral bastard?¡±

    ¡°Yes! The creep caused me to drop my phone, and it broke, so what do you think?¡±

    ¡°You people are still lucky. My pants were already on the ground when this thing popped up! I was so scared; the scream left my throat before I could help it. Thinking something happened to me, my parents rushed into my room. So, with not a shred of fabric on me and a roll of toilet paper in my hand, you can imagine how awkward it was...¡±

    ...

    Listening to the visitors¡¯ints, Chen Ge tried to stop himself fromughing. He took a deep breath and put on a serious countenance before pushing the entrance open.

    ¡°Wee to my humble House of Horrors.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s lips curled upward when he saw the long line of customers.

    ¡°Xiao Chen, your ce is already packed so early in the morning? Not bad.¡± The worker who was fixing the carousel gasped with surprise. As he was about to wander over to greet Chen Ge, he realized how curious these visitors were looking. They did not look like the normal happy park goers.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay; I¡¯m just d for the support.¡± Chen Ge shrugged as he pulled the gate open.

    ¡°Who said we¡¯re here to support you? Shameless!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re here to resolve debts, not to y!¡±

    ¡°Is he the real deal? You¡¯re the one who uploaded videost night? Where¡¯s my knife? Hand me my knife!¡±

    The visitors were so ¡®passionate¡¯ that it was total chaos, but Chen Ge spoke over them. ¡°Since you¡¯re already here, why don¡¯t youe in for an experience? The best way to counter fear is to find a more intense stimtion¡ªfight poison with poison so to speak¡ªto desensitize yourself to the fear. Indeed, it is my fault for not giving more warning for yesterday¡¯s video, and for that, I apologize, so how about this? All the tickets into the Haunted House will be fifty percent off today. Don¡¯t miss out on such a wonderful discount!¡±

 Chapter 7

    <h4>Chapter 7: Minghun</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Fight poison with poison? Do you think we¡¯re that easily fooled?¡±

    ¡°Bro, just give me some money to fix my phone disy and I¡¯ll leave.¡±

    ¡°You think you can make this go away with a discounted ticket? No way!¡±

    After several minutes of arguing, there were still no visitors who showed any intention of entering the Haunted House. They stayed firmly outside the gate as if the entrance was a line of minefields. They were so terrified that even Chen Ge could not help but sigh. ¡°No one dares toe in just to give it a try? My Haunted House is not even scary; if you don¡¯t believe me, feel free to check the online reviews.¡±

    As he said so, some in the crowd really did do that.

    ¡°Indeed, all the reviews say the ce is not scary.¡±

    ¡°The only good thing about it is apparently they hire a prettydy to y the ghost.¡±

    ¡°Then, shall we give it a try?¡±

    Yet another long waitter, finally someone stepped forward. ¡°Bunch of cowards, this is just a Haunted House, how scary can it be? I¡¯ve seen plenty of human carcasses; do you think I¡¯ll be afraid of this?¡±

    The person who stepped forth was a bushy-browed young man with a crew cut. He looked rather unassuming.

    ¡°Bro, stop joking with us. Even bluffing has a limit to it.¡±

    ¡°Just how old are you? Yet you want us to believe you¡¯ve seen real human carcasses?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re all scaredy-cats here, so why are you lying to us?¡±

    Just as the voices of derision gathered, a rather soft but firm voice cut through the cacophony. ¡°He¡¯s not lying. Facing human carcasses is indeed a daily business for people like us.¡±

    The crowd turned toward the voice, and they saw a tall, slender woman in a sun hat and a white dress walking over from the park entrance. Her facial expression was cold, and it was as if she carried a personal air-conditioner with her because the temperature around her felt rather low.

    ¡°Senior!¡± The young man bounced like a rabbit toward the woman, attempting to help her with her bag, but he was deterred by a wintry re from the woman. He stood where he was, all flustered with an awkward yet polite smile on his face.

    ¡°Wait, did you just call her senior? You two are still students?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s attention was also drawn to these two young people.

    ¡°We¡¯re Forensic Science students from Jiujiang Medical University. My name is He San, and this is my senior, Gao Ru Xue.¡± The young man smiled at Chen Ge. ¡°The video you uploadedst night has been shared on our school¡¯s forum, and my senior decided to pay this ce a visit after watching it.¡±

    ¡°That unapproachable beauty is a forensic doctor?¡±

    ¡°Although, her presence does match her profession nicely.¡±

    ¡°Miss, how about we be friends...¡±

    The male visitors started to crowd around the woman. Acting as her guardian, He San merely smiled and said, ¡°I don¡¯t think you all understand what you¡¯re getting into. The other morning, my senior cut open some toads or rats, but right after washing her hands, she happily sauntered over to the canteen to have braised meatpletely unaffected; when she passed thebtest night and saw the bodies soaked in formaldehyde, she yawned and greeted them nicely. Listen to my advice and measure yourself. The number of men she has operated on is probably higher than the number of girls any one of you have held the hand of.¡±

    This unique introduction had achieved the result he wanted; instantly, a two-meter radius emptied around the woman.

    Chen Ge also felt a mounting headache upon hearing the young man¡¯s introduction. It was not easy for him to finally finish the Nightmare Mission and receive the reward, but the first challenger his updated Haunted House received was a pair of forensic science students. Since their degree was in forensic science, naturally, they would have a fear threshold higher than most!

    ¡°Can we go in now?¡± The woman strode impatiently to stand before Chen Ge. She was already tall, but in her heels, she was practically on the same level as Chen Ge.

    ¡°The original ticket price is twenty, so with the fifty percent discount, it¡¯ll be ten. Before we go in, I would like to provide the Haunted House¡¯s background and a warning.¡± Chen Ge remembered the tips provided by the ck phone. One of the three important features of a Haunted House was its plot and background. It would help the visitors get into the mood.

    ¡°First, an introduction. Even though many online reviews say my Haunted House is not scary, as a responsible proprietor, I wish to divulge to both of you some facts. The ground we¡¯re on was thergest mass grave in Jiujiang city fifty years ago. Thirty years ago, due to city nning, they ttened the graves and built the Jiujiang City Hospital on the site. What happened next you can easily find out on the inte. The hospital was forced to close down due to the frequent urrence of many incidents that could not be exined, and my Haunted House is a remodeled hospital building that was behind. It still hides many secrets that concern the ill-fated hospital.¡±

    After that, Chen Ge pointed at the warning sign beside the main entrance. ¡°No entry to visitors with a heart condition or vascr disease. Visitors above twelve and below sixteen have to be apanied at all times by their parents or guardians. If there are no questions, please follow me.¡±

    Chen Ge pulled open the ck heavy drapes, closed the rusted gate, and led He San as well as Gao Ru Xue down the dark corridor.

    ¡°Since they cannot share the same room in life, they¡¯ll share the same grave in death. This is a local urban legend that has been passed down for many generations.

    ¡°Ping Jianghou wished to set up a Minghun for her son who unfortunately passed away too soon. Therefore, she invited a fortune teller to take a look at her son¡¯s life and fortune map before finally pinpointing a girl as the perfect candidate to apany his son in death.

    ¡°However, the girl already had someone else in her heart. To make her submit, Ping Jianghou killed her lover by shoving him into ake and threatened the girl¡¯s parents¡¯ lives.

    ¡°Finally, to protect her parents, the girl agreed to marry a dead man.

    ¡°Red and white candles stood side by side, a wedding coupled with a death. After the girl was sealed in the coffin and buried alive, many weird things started to happen to the Ping household.

    ¡°The statues of bronze chicks started to bleed, and the paper dolls burned for the dead were found blinking. And every midnight, a woman could be seen wandering the halls.

    ¡°The scenario that you¡¯ll be experiencing this time is called Minghun. The set ispletely open; you can go anywhere you wish, but you need to locate the correct exit in less than fifteen minutes. If you wish to surrender, stand under any of the avable cameras and scream for help; I¡¯ll fetch you.¡± Chen Ge stopped at the second-floor entrance and bowed. ¡°Enjoy.¡±

    ¡°That sounds interesting, but if you think that¡¯s enough to scare me, you¡¯re sorely mistaken,¡± He San rambled shamelessly while he hid behind his senior. His lips said he was not afraid, but his feet seemed screw shut to the ground, unwilling to move.

    Inparison, Gao Ru Xue was more collected. She entered the scenario wordlessly.

    ¡°Senior, wait for me!¡±

    After the two visitors entered, Chen Ge locked the front door entrance and called Xu Wan. ¡°Xiao Wan, our guests have entered, be prepared. Also remember to put your earpieces in.¡±

    After giving all the necessary orders, Chen Ge returned to the main control room. This small room was where he could see the different cameras and where he could control all of the set-ups.

    ¡°I really didn¡¯t think I will be using this music so soon since it does sound a bit dark, but since they¡¯re not normal visitors, I have no choice!¡± Chen Ge turned on the audio system and put the ck Friday music on repeat.

    With everything in ce, he sat before the monitor watching He San and Gao Ru Xue closely. If anything weird happened to them, he would rush in to save them immediately.

 Chapter 8

    <h4>Chapter 8: ck Friday</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Xiao San, this is a perfect opportunity for you to brush up on your traditional Chinese architecture knowledge. This is an almost perfect reconstruction of a traditional Siheyuan <sup>1</sup> . There are threeyers of entrance: Dao Zuo Wu <sup>2</sup> , the Main House, the Ear Houses <sup>3</sup> , Chao Shou Corridor <sup>4</sup> , Chui Hua Men <sup>5</sup> , East and West Houses, the Back House, Ru Yi Door <sup>6</sup> , and so on. I¡¯m impressed by the attention to detail; it really does feel like you¡¯ve travelled back in time.¡± Gao Ru Xue walked through the set pieces, stopping asionally to study the details.

    ¡°Senior, we¡¯re inside a Haunted House, not on a study trip, do you mind?¡± Their footsteps echoed through the empty courtyard in which paper money was fluttering. It was as if He San was in a different dimensionpared to Gao Ru Xue. He turned back every few seconds, afraid that something might jump out at him from the dark corners. ¡°We¡¯d better find the exit as soon as possible; this ce makes me jumpy.¡±

    ¡°Since we¡¯re already here, of course, we have to savor the experience. Remember, we¡¯re customers, don¡¯t let the Haunted House toy with you.¡±

    ¡°But don¡¯t you remember the boss warned that we have to find the exit in less than fifteen minutes? Based on the evil look of that guy, I¡¯m sure he has something scary nned if we are unable to escape in fifteen minutes!¡± He San tried to urge Gao Ru Xue, but thetter was not at all affected.

    ¡°There are only so many tactics that a Haunted House can employ. At worst, they¡¯ll have the workers dress up as ghosts to chase us around. Xiao San, you deal with dead bodies every day, don¡¯t tell me that you¡¯ve suddenly decided to be afraid of ghosts?¡± As Gao Ru Xue wandered down the Hugging Corridor, she pushed open the door to the Left Ear House.

    The set piece of Minghun was typical of an old Beijing Siheyuan. The Main House was the living building for the elderlies and the head of the house; the East and West Houses were for the sons and daughters, while the Ear Houses were for the servants and maids.

    As the door was pushed open, the tables and chairs in the room tumbled over. The pillows on the bed were shredded, causing cotton fluff to float up into the air. A white hanging cloth swayed right in the middle of room.

    ¡°Senior, I¡¯ll guard the door, be careful inside...¡± Before He San could finish, he was dragged into the room by Gao Ru Xue. His body froze, and his face nched watching the white cloth sway in the windless room.

    ¡°Interesting, the cloth is at least 1.5 meters off the ground; this height is not enough to cause strangtion from hanging. The tumbled chairs and tables, as well as the signs of struggle on the floor... the Haunted House is trying to create the illusion that this was a forced suicide. But the Ear Houses were meant for the maids. This means that the specter refused to spare even those who are unrted to her death. She¡¯s hell-bent on torturing those in this house to their death.¡± Behind Gao Ru Xue¡¯s clear analysis, there was a hint of excitement. ¡°The design of this Haunted House is quite impressive; there might still be other hidden secrets that we haven¡¯t discovered yet.¡±

    She walked around the room and yanked off the faded bed cover. Lying underneath it was a paper doll.

    ¡°A paper doll lying in a living person¡¯s bed?¡± Gao Ru Xue tossed the doll to the side and bent down to flip the mattress over. There was nothing underneath.

    ¡°The greater the anticipation, the greater the disappointment... looks like I¡¯ve overestimated this Haunted House. Let¡¯s go, the exit is not in this room.¡± She shrugged before walking out. He San, who had been left alone in the living room, had his teeth chattering. Perhaps it was the angle, but he swore he saw the paper doll, which was lying on the floor, wink at him.

    ¡°The statues of bronze chicks started to bleed, and the paper dolls burned for the dead were found blinking... Senior, wait for me!¡±

    As the door to the Ear House closed, the white cloth in the room stopped swaying.

    ¡°Can you be a little quieter, why are you screaming left and right? Stop acting like such a little girl, man up!¡± Gao Ru Xue rolled her eyes at He San as she waited for him to catch up.

    ¡°I¡¯m not scared, but this ce seriously makes me feel ufortable, and the longer we stay here, the stronger that feeling bes. Don¡¯t you feel like something is amplifying our deepest fear?¡±

    He San¡¯s words hit the nail on the head. Gao Ru Xue thought about it, and she also realized that something was off. The most important quality of a forensic doctor was the ability to stay calm no matter the situation, but when she was scolding He San earlier, herposure was shattered; this hadn¡¯t happened to her before.

    ¡°Could it be that I too am feeling afraid? But why should I be afraid? Everything here is obviously fake!¡± A crack started to form on Gao Ru Xue¡¯s internal defense. Neither of them could figure out the source of their fear. With thebined effect of suspicion and psychological terror, the seed of fear had started to grow in their hearts.

    ¡°Say, do you think there is really something or someone inhabiting this ce? After all, the boss did say this ce is built on top of a mass grave and is a remodeled abandoned hospital...¡±

    ¡°Shush! Our university¡¯s morgue is even scarier than this! You¡¯re a forensic doctor; how is it that you¡¯re so easily scared?¡± Even though Gao Ru Xue said that she was not afraid, it was noticeable that the speed of her speech had increased. She looked around her. The old house, the mourning hall, dead trees, the paper money, they were all set pieces; they weren¡¯t scary. ¡°So, what is it that I¡¯m afraid of?¡±

    The two were so distracted by their environment that they did not notice the background music that was on repeat. This banned song called ck Friday had slowly but surely snuck its way into their hearts, evoking their sense of fear.

    ¡°Xiao San, how long have we been in here already?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea, but I have a feeling we won¡¯t be able to escape in fifteen minutes!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t fret, give me some time to think about this,¡± Gao Ru Xue said as she wandered down the corridor. ¡°This Haunted House is not that scary; it¡¯s because the boss has been giving us negative psychological suggestions. Ever since we entered the Haunted House, he has been stressing points like, mass grave, live burial, ghosts, and stuff. That is a ssic method to weaken our hearts. However, the most cunning part of this man is, even though he has set up a time limit, he did not say what will happen if we fail. This creates a natural pressure on ourselves, causing our minds to fill in the nk with the scariest spection.¡±

    ¡°Then, what do you think we should do now? This Haunted House feels a bit different from others.¡± He San was an honest boy; he would do what his senior ask him to do.

    ¡°You¡¯re not wrong there; a normal Haunted House hires actors to dress up as ghosts or uses plenty of set-ups to paint gory scenes to scare us, but this Haunted House doesn¡¯t do that. He has prepared the set beforehand and allows us to wander about it freely. Without guidance and a set plot, there¡¯s no telling what will happen.¡±

    ¡°I understand what you mean; the scariest is the unknown.¡± He San nodded.

    ¡°That exnation is as good as any.¡± Gao Ru Xue frowned imperceptibly. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s move on to the next room.¡±

    The Ear House was attached to the Main House. After pushing open the wooden door, it revealed a room filled with mourning outfits and a painted coffin sitting right in the middle of the room.

    The red coffin had a big ¡°Ï²¡± character, cut out from white paper pasted in the middle of it. Standing in two neat rows beside it were plenty of paper mannequins.

    Each of them had a name written on their back, and they all wore thin make-up on their faces. Their eyes seemed to glow as the door was pushed open, and they appeared to be quietly staring at the two figures standing at the door.

 Chapter 9

    <h4>Chapter 9: Scared to Tears</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Senior, howe I feel like these paper mannequins are looking at us?¡± He San grabbed hold of the wooden door, refusing to step into the room. ¡°I¡¯m not kidding! Something must be wrong with them! Could it be that they¡¯re all living people ying dress-up? F*ck, I have a feeling they¡¯re all going to move soon enough!¡±

    The paper mannequins that had been touched up by Chen Ge using Mortician¡¯s Make-up had something weird about them. They were obviously inanimate objects, but there was a certain liveliness to them.

    Gao Ru Xue red angrily at He San. She thought to herself, <i>Why did I bring him with me today? Fear is contagious; I was not so afraid to begin with, but because of him, even I feel slightly affected.</i>

    ¡°Do you mind keeping your opinions to yourself? If you give anymore useless observations like that, I¡¯m just going to leave you here.¡±

    She was the first to step into the room to take a cursory look around. The windows in the Main House were just decorative; they did not lead outside.

    ¡°Senior, let¡¯s go. This building is heavy with Yin energy, and the ce is sealed. The exit is definitely not here.¡±

    ¡°The owner of this Haunted House is a master maniptor who knows how human psychology works, so we have to act theplete opposite of how a normal people would. A ce like this that does not seem to harbor the exit is exactly where we need to examine closer.¡± Gao Ru Xue walked around the room, sending up wafts of air that caused some of the paper mannequins that had toppled to the floor to scrape unnaturally.

    He San¡¯s heart was at his throat, still standing outside the door. ¡°But there¡¯s no hiding ce in this room; you can see every surface. Where can the exit possibly be hidden?¡±

    ¡°No hiding ce? Who told you that?¡± Gao Ru Xue stopped at the middle of the room, raised her fair leg to step on the red coffin. ¡°Come help me, we¡¯re opening this coffin!¡±

    ¡°Open that thing?¡± He San¡¯s white lips were quivering. ¡°Isn¡¯t that a bit too disrespectful?¡±

    ¡°You n to spend the rest of your life in this Haunted House?¡± Under constant urging from Gao Ru Xue, He San moved inch by inch deeper into the room. He made sure to stay far away from the paper mannequins. He bent over to grab one side of the coffin¡¯s lid.

    ¡°On the count of three, pull!¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°One, two...¡±

    ¡°Dong!¡± Gao Ru Xue was only half way through the countdown when there was a loud noise in the room.

    ¡°What was that?¡± He San¡¯s soul practically jumped out of his skin.

    ¡°Shush!¡± Gao Ru Xue put her finger to her lips to have him quiet down. She looked around before her gaze eventually fell on the red coffin before her. ¡°The sound seems to havee from inside the coffin.¡±

    When she said so, color drained from He San¡¯s face. His Adam¡¯s apple trembled unevenly, and his hands, which were holding the coffin lid, were shaking like he was holding a hot iron brand. ¡°Senior, I beg of you, there¡¯s nothing here, can we go now?¡±

    ¡°Calm down, the sound only urred when we nned to open the lid, don¡¯t you think that¡¯s very strange?¡±

    ¡°Senior, the coffin just made a sound; that¡¯s a hell of a lot more than strange!¡± He San¡¯s fear was greatly amplified by ck Friday; at that moment, he just wanted to leave as soon as possible.

    ¡°Think about it, there are only two reason that a coffin could make a sound. One, there¡¯s a worker hiding in it waiting to scare us when we open the coffin. Two, there¡¯s a hidden machine set-up inside it and activating it will cause some changes to this Minghun scenario. So, no matter which possibility it is, this coffin is crucial to this scenario. If we wish to escape, we have to open this coffin.¡± Gao Ru Xue pped the lid twice, adding, ¡°Don¡¯t hesitate, just pull it open.¡±

    ¡°Even though I have no idea what you just said, it did sound quite logical.¡±

    He San and Gao Ru Xue applied their strength at the same time, and the heavy coffin lid started to slide. When the coffin was a quarter of the way open, the ancient-looking coffin suddenly exploded with a loud bang without warning.

    Innumerable paper mannequins and paper money shot out from within the coffin, and a strange woman¡¯sugh filled the room. At that moment, the Main House door started to close on its own!

    ¡°Let¡¯s go before it¡¯s toote!¡± He San did not hesitate. He was close to the entrance, and in his hurry to escape, he had forgottenpletely about his senior. He dashed to the door in several steps, but before he could jump through the door, the face of a woman flew in front of him!

    It was a death visage that was pale, exquisite, and breathtakingly beautiful!

    ¡°F*ck!¡± He San¡¯s first reaction was to raise his arm to punch at the face. However, the owner of said face seemed to have predicted his reaction because it easily swiveled away from his assault.

    ¡°Ghost! Help!¡± He San copsed to the floor and half-crawled, half-ran in a random direction.

    ¡°He San! Don¡¯t sprint around aimlessly!¡± Gao Ru Xue yelled at the top of her lungs when she saw a red shadow follow He San into the building he chose to hide in.

    ¡°The side houses are for the sons and daughters. This is bad; the ce He San has gone into was the living area for the specter before she died!¡± Gao Ru Xue rushed outward, but she realized the door had locked. She banged on the wooden door cursing, ¡°Divide and conquer? Isn¡¯t this just a Haunted House attraction? Is it really necessary to do such a sick thing?¡±

    The coffin had broken in pieces, and the paper mannequins littered the floor. Gao Ru Xue, who was trapped, hadpletely lost her collectedposure. She punched and kicked at the door and finally got it to open one minuteter.

    However, in that one minute, everything outside the Main House seemed to have changed.

    ¡°Xiao San? He San!¡± Gao Ru Xue shouted twice, but there was no answer. Other than the eerie background music, there was only the shuffling sound of paper money brushing against each other as her reply.

    <i>What¡¯s going on? The Haunted House is only so big, so it is impossible for He San not to have heard me, or did some ident befall him? </i>For a reason Gao Ru Xue couldn¡¯t exin, an image of a crime scene shed across her mind. She trailed down the corridor and found her way to the West House by tracing her memory.<i>Xiao San ran in this direction earlier.</i>

    As the old wooden door creaked open, the celebratory calligraphy written on white paper fluttered to the ground. Gao Ru Xue stepped into the room. The room was decorated as a newlywed room, but instead of red, the color of celebration, all the decorations were white, the Chinese funereal color. It was creepy to say the least.

    <i>Where has he run off to? </i>The atmosphere in the room was off. The only light source was the whitentern hanging outside the door. Gao Ru Xue stepped slowly forward as cold drafts blew in from behind her. Her exposed skin was chilled like there were small invisible hands in the air caressing her skin.

    The paper money crunched under her feet, and asionally, she would kick something hard that she could not tell the identity of because it was too dark. She gritted her teeth and powered on.

    Gao Ru Xue pulled the drapes in the room open to let some of the light in. The ce was empty other than a bed that was covered underneath a mosquito as well as a set of bronze mirrors that sat facing each other next to the wall.

    <i>I saw He San run into this room with my own two eyes. Only one or two minutes have passed since then, so he could not have disappeared so soon? Unless... the exit is in this room and He San identally stumbled across it?</i>

    Gao Ru Xue took a deep breath before deciding to perform a closer examination of the room. However, as she took the first step, she heard a second set of footsteps falling closely behind hers.

    ¡°Who¡¯s behind me?¡±

    She whipped around, but she only saw a bronze mirror and her reflection in the mirror itself.

 Chapter 10

    <h4>Chapter 10: Mirror Mirror</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Phew, scared myself for no reason. </i>Gao Ru Xue¡¯s chest rose unevenly as her heart beat at an impossible speed. It had been such a long time since she had acted such a fool.

    The creepy music continued to y. Using the weak light, she could see the pupils of her reflection in the mirror start to shrink. In the mirror, the mosquito behind her was opening on its own! The face of a paper mannequin showed itself, and from the reflection in the mirror, she could clearly see that it was smiling at her.

    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± A human being¡¯s normal go-to reaction during extreme fear was anger and aggression. Gao Ru Xue turned around, but there was nothing there. She ran toward the mosquito to yank it open to take a look at what was really behind it. However, the design of the was moreplicated than she expected; it had many differentyers, and theting was connected to the bed itself. Instead of untangling the, Gao Ru Xue got herself stuck in theting instead.

    Right then, she could hear footstepsing from inside the room.

    <i>I¡¯m not moving, so whose footsteps are those? </i>The disappearance of her juniorbined with the effect of ck Friday hadpletely shattered Gao Ru Xue¡¯s psychology defense. The sound of the unknown footsteps was thest straw that ultimately broke the camel¡¯s back.

    Her legs turned to jelly, and she found herself unable to move. Fear was like an uncaged animal, tearing at her sense of rationality. Gao Ru Xue yanked on theting, trying her best to untangle herself from it, but it was to no avail. The sound of footsteps became suspiciously close.

    <i>Impossible! The room is only so big, if someone wasing near, I¡¯d definitely be able to see it! </i>Her heart was a chaotic mess, to the extent that even the simple decorations inside the room were sending chills down her spine.

    The whitentern outside the window swayed in the wind, causing the light in the room to dim. Her reflection in the bronze mirror started to blur. Gao Ru Xue¡¯s pupils shook because she realized the reflection in the mirror was no longer herself but a strange woman in a wedding dress!

    In more ways than one, the woman¡¯s appearance seemed like she was dressed to kill. Her beauty had an ethereal quality to it; it was frighteningly captivating, like looking at a recently unearthed piece of art.

    Staring at the woman in the mirror, Gao Ru Xue¡¯s lips quivered, and fear appeared on her face for the first time.

    From her experience dealing with so many autopsies, she was familiar with the feeling the woman in the mirror was giving her; this was the face of a dead person!

    <i>The Haunted House is hiding a real dead body! </i>Just as this thought entered her mind, fear swallowed her like a giant wave. She tried her best to run away from the bronze mirror, and as she staggered back, she knocked into something.

    At the same time, the sound of footsteps stopped, and Gao Ru Xue¡¯s mind wentpletely nk in that moment. Having lost the ability to think, she turned instinctively to look behind her.

    Meeting her gaze was a woman in dead man¡¯s make-up and wedding dress. She smiled at her.

    ¡± <strong>Ahh! </strong>¡± The piercing scream shattered the quietness of the Haunted House; it could heard even outside the building itself. With her arms still entangled in theting, Gao Ru Xue¡¯s legs finally gave, and she copsed to the ground.

    The suppressed fear manifested as tears, which fell uncontrobly. Her eyes were screwed shut, and her mouth was slightly open. The woman started to dry heave.

    ¡°Xiao Wan, quickly bring her out!¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± The female ghost standing before Gao Ru Xue removed her Bluetooth earpieces that were hidden under her hair and squatted down to say, ¡°The experience ends here. Please catch your breath, I¡¯ll lead you out now.¡±

    Ten secondster, the exit to the Minghun scenario was pushed open. Chen Ge rushed over in a hurry and asked, ¡°There¡¯s only one? Where¡¯s the other one?¡±

    He rushed over in a hurry because he could not locate He San on the surveince cameras.

    ¡°That coward fainted when he ran into the room and saw the two mirrors. I was afraid that he might influence the experience of the next visitor, so I dragged him to hide him under the bed...¡±

    ¡°Fainted?¡± Chen Ge also did not know how to respond. ¡°Safety¡¯s first, if this happens again in the future, inform me immediately!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Boss.¡± After leaving Xu Wan to look after Gao Ru Xue, Chen Ge went into the room to pull He San out from behind the bed. The young man waspletely unconscious like he was greatly traumatized.

    <i>Sh*t, I have to bring him to somewhere open-air first! </i>Chen Ge carried He San and ran toward the entrance of the Haunted House. He peeled back the heavy drapes and kicked the gate open. ¡°Clear some space please!¡±

    Chen Ge ced He San at the entrance of the Haunted House, and he started to massage the young man and ce ice packs over his forehead, trying to rouse him. This development had stunned the visitors that still had not left the park.

    ¡°Jesus Christ, what happened in there?¡±

    ¡°Visit the Haunted House until he fainted, this is first time I¡¯ve seen something like this.¡±

    ¡°He was scared until he fainted, right? So why would the online reviews say this ce is not scary?¡±

    ¡°F*ck, I¡¯m starting to have chills...¡±

    Not long after that, Xu Wan came out carrying Gao Ru Xue. The woman was aplete contrast from the person who walked in. The new Gao Ru Xue¡¯s hair was a mess, her face was nched, and her gait was weak. There were still tears drying on her face.

    ¡°This is apletely different person!¡±

    ¡°What did she experience in there?¡±

    ¡°But why should they be afraid? Aren¡¯t they forensic students?¡±

    Xu Wan ced Gao Ru Xue on the steps and passed her a bottle of water. The woman was still recovering from the experience, as evidenced by her hands that were shaking as she held the bottle.

    ¡°Don¡¯t crowd around them, they need air!¡± Chen Ge also felt a headacheing. It was normal for Gao Ru Xue to be shedding frightened tears, but what about this young man? Why would he suddenly faint? Why didn¡¯t he admit that he was easily scared? What was with men and their pride?

    Themotion caused more and more visitors to gather at the Haunted House. This attracted the attention of the park manager, who rushed over on his electronic bike.

    ¡°Xiao Chen! What is going on here? Why is there a fainted visitor on the ground?¡± asked Uncle Xu as he jumped down from his bike and pushed through the crowd.

    ¡°I have no idea; maybe it¡¯s the heat...¡± Even Chen Ge did not feel convinced by his answer.

    ¡°A hot sh in this kind of weather?¡± Uncle Xu rushed over to pick up He San and ce him on his bike. ¡°Regardless, we have to send him to the medical room first!¡±

    Several minutester, perhaps it was the massage or the noise from the crowds, He San started to rouse. His eyshes fluttered and sat up from the bike. His eyes were bloodshot, and his mouth kept on mumbling, ¡°Mirror, Mirror...¡±

    ¡°Son, keep calm!¡±

    ¡°Look, doesn¡¯t he look possessed?¡±

    After a few more minutes in the sun, He San finally became more like himself. He scratched the back of his head and blushed with shame when he realized the whole crowd was staring at him.

    ¡°Are you feeling better? Why did you faint inside the Haunted House?¡± Uncle Xu in the park uniform passed a bottle of water to He San.

    ¡°I actually cannot recall for sure what had happened. I was so scared and ran into the first door that I saw. There was a bronze mirror on the wall, and I remembered someone calling my name, but I can¡¯t remember what happened after that,¡± He San said with a face filled with confusion. ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s something set up by the Haunted House?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a scenario rted to a mirror inside the Haunted House?¡± Uncle Xu turned toward Chen Ge, who was not looking so good.

 Chapter 11

    <h4>Chapter 11: How Do You Sleep at Night?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    When He San mentioned that his fainting had to do with mirror, Chen Ge¡¯s heart skipped a beat. He was instantly reminded of the game from the previous night and how the thing inside the mirror had been stopped from escaping by the doll.

    From the look of it, the creature still had not left, hiding the mirrors of the Haunted House.

    ¡°Boss, is this a new thing just added to the Haunted House? Howe I¡¯ve not heard of it before?¡± Xu Wan also wandered over, pulling the gaze of the crowd along with her. Chen Ge was caught in an awkward position; he could not just confess that there was an actual ghost living inside the Haunted House, could he? If he did that, the Haunted House would be forced into closure, but more than that, he would be dragged to the mental hospital.

    ¡°I guess you can say that. It¡¯s rted to the short video I uploadedst night, but I don¡¯t rmend ying this game without professional guidance.¡± Chen Ge patted He San lightly on his shoulder. ¡°If you do not take my advice, you might end up in the same state as this young man. Alright, who still wishes to visit the Haunted House? Don¡¯t worry, there are bound to be idents in a Haunted House; that¡¯s what makes it interesting, yes?¡±

    ¡°Interesting my backside! A man fainted! It¡¯s a Haunted House visit, so why should we put our lives on the line?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s right! I¡¯ll forget about my broken phone as long as you don¡¯t post any more weird ass videos in the middle of the night.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, but no thanks!¡±

    As Chen Ge extended the invitation, the crowd stepped away from him in unison. Heughed awkwardly. ¡°Why are you all acting like that? My Haunted House is really not that scary.¡±

    ¡°Bro, we have two forensic science students who deal with dead bodies every day here; one is in tears, and the other fainted. Now, you¡¯re telling us your Haunted House is not scary? Who are you lying to? How can you lie without batting an eye?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, have some morals!¡±

    Thements from the crowd stumped Chen Ge. Initially, when the Haunted House was supposedly not scary, no one wanted to visit because, apparently, it was too boring. Now, when it was finally scary, it seemed to have overshot the effect he wanted. ¡°But you came from all over the country just to stand at the entrance and watch? Guts can be trained; an asional scare here and there will be able to increase your heart rate, thus improving your blood cirction.¡±

    ¡°Even if you give us money, we¡¯re not going into that ce. And improve blood cirction some more, you might as well say your Haunted House can cure cancer.¡± The man who had his phone broken retorted before turning to leave.

    However, right then, a middle-aged uncle standing beside him suddenly raised his voice to say, ¡°Boss, give me a ticket!¡±

    His voice was firm like he hade to this decision after much contemtion.

    ¡°F*ck, there really are thrill-seekers everywhere.¡±

    ¡°Uncle, don¡¯t be rash. Other Haunted Houses take your money, but his Haunted House takes your life!¡±

    ¡°Uncle, you¡¯ve impressed me with your courage! Go on, don¡¯t worry, you can leave your wife and your daughter with me!¡±

    The uncle looked to be over forty, and his head was balding. He walked out from the crowd and gave Chen Ge ten dors. ¡°One ticket please.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re doing this alone?¡± Even Chen Ge was impressed by this middle-aged man. He dared to do this after witnessing what had happened earlier?

    After taking the money, Chen Ge gave the uncle his ticket. He was about to go through his introductions when the uncle took the ticket and walked off in the other direction from the Haunted House¡¯s gate.

    ¡°Uncle, the door is right this way...¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± The uncle did not turn back and continued to walk to a rather photogenic spot. He pulled out his phone to mess with the camera angle until he managed to encapste most of the Haunted House building in the frame. He snapped two pictures before posting them to his Facebook. ¡°The weather today is perfect for a day-out. I personally rmend this Western Jiujiang City¡¯s House of Horrors. It scared the bejesus out of me when I visited the ce, highly rmended.¡±

    The crowd could not help but roll their eyes. <i>All you did was stay at the entrance for about twenty minutes and purchase a ticket, you call that visiting the ce?</i>

    Before the crowd could say anything, the uncle already got likes and replies from his social circle.

    Xiao Li from Human Resources responded, ¡°Brother Zhang, you¡¯re scared of even themon rat but you dared to visit a Haunted House today? My man, nice job!¡±

    ¡°This means that the Haunted House isn¡¯t that scary if Ol¡¯ Zhang dares to visit it (wicked grin),¡± replied Wang Da You.

    ¡°Dinner is served,e home soon!!!¡± Ol¡¯ Ball and Chain¡¯s response was rtively off-topic.

    Precious Daughter, Wang Jing,ughed. ¡°LOL, Dad, we¡¯re all very familiar with the type of courage you have, so stop with the hapless struggle.¡±

    The balding uncle didn¡¯t mind thements but replied with a mischievous smile, ¡°Feel free to visit this ce on your own. Since you all im to be braver than I am, I¡¯m sure none of you will be afraid to take up this challenge, right?¡±

    This series of actions had stunned the crowd.

    ¡°Uncle, how cunning you are! To prove that you¡¯re not a scaredy-cat, you¡¯re entrapping your very own wife and daughter...¡± The man who had broken his phone stood beside the uncle and saw the whole process. Then, he rushed toward Chen Ge and demanded, ¡°Give me a ticket as well!¡±

    Chen Ge had no exnation to this development, but since he was operating a business, he could not say no to his customers. After passing the young man his ticket, he saw the young man operate his broken phone to snap a picture and upload it onto Instagram with the caption, ¡°God, what did I do? I realize I¡¯m easily scared, who cane to hold my hands as we challenge this Haunted House together?¡±

    Reading through the manyments that appeared under his photo, the young man had a devilish smile on his face.

    ¡°Give me one ticket too.¡±

    ¡°Me too!¡±

    ¡°Fifty percent off, you say? Then give me two!¡±

    There was no visitor inside the Haunted House, but the tickets in Chen Ge¡¯s hands quickly disappeared. In just a few minutes, about half the stack was gone. The crowd slowly dispersed, and Chen Ge started to happily count the day¡¯s earning.

    ¡°Boss, the tickets we sold this morning are more than the total tickets we have sold in the whole month.¡± Xu Wan squatted down beside Chen Ge, and the excitement in her eyes could not be suppressed.

    ¡°We merely got lucky today, to make sure we have a constant stream of visitors, we have to improve on our content first.¡± Chen Ge ced the cash inside his pocket and turned to head back inside the Haunted House. It was then that he realized, his ¡®victims¡¯ of the day, Gao Ru Xue and He San, still hadn¡¯t left the scene.

    ¡°Are you two feeling any better?¡± Chen Ge walked toward them with an offering of mineral water. After all, they were crucial to him having such good sales that day.

    ¡°Yes, thank you, and sorry for the trouble,¡± He San, who sat on the steps, uttered awkwardly.

    Beside him, the color still had not returned to Gao Ru Xue¡¯s face yet. Her gaze wandered between Chen Ge and Xu Wan before she said, ¡°I have two questions I want to ask, may I?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Chen Ge nodded readily.

    ¡°Number one, inside the West House, I swore I saw this girl¡¯s face in the mirror, so how could she suddenly appear behind me?¡± Gao Ru Xue intended to get to the bottom of the truth. She had a hard timeing to terms with that fact that she had been so scared that she cried.

    ¡°You think that¡¯s a normal mirror, but it¡¯s actually not. It¡¯s actually a triangr pir with mirrors on each side, but the two other sides are normally hidden behind the wall. It can be moved with a slight push. The exit to the Minghun scenario is actually behind the mirror. Regarding the woman you saw in the mirror, it was merely a picture that was pasted at particr angle. Using lighting effects, the other mirror, and optical illusions, it creates the illusion that you¡¯re looking at a real person. Xiao Wan was actually hiding behind the mirror. The sound of footsteps you heard was merely a sound effect.¡±

    Gao Ru Xue nodded after listening to Chen Ge¡¯s exnation. ¡°Alright, the second question.¡±

    She pointed at Xu Wan. ¡°Thisdy is obviously alive, but howe, looking at her, I have this feeling that I¡¯m looking at a dead body?¡±

 Chapter 12

    <h4>Chapter 12: Wheel of Misfortune</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Due to her field of study, the time Gao Ru Xue spent in thepany of dead bodies was far greater than the time she spent around living human beings. She was not good at social events, but that did not bother her much because she felt morefortable in the presence of dead bodies after all.

    ¡°Our Haunted House employs a special make-up technique, and that,bined with the unique environment of the Haunted House, creates nothing more than an illusion in your mind.¡± The Mortician¡¯s Make-up as well as ck Friday were something that he could not attempt to exin even if he tried to. Therefore, he answered the question broadly and quickly moved the conservation away. ¡°If there are no more questions, I¡¯ll need to get back to work. Thank you for visiting us today.¡±

    After saying goodbye to the two students, Chen Ge ordered Xu Wan to go clear up the props in the Minghun scenario while he returned to the main control room alone.

    What really happened to He San was known to Chen Ge alone; the creature in the mirror hadn¡¯t left and was still hiding inside the Haunted House.

    <i>Letting it stay will only create more problems for me in the future. </i>This was his first time dealing with a Nightmare Mission, so he had not expected that it would have suchplicated repercussions. After turning off the background music, Chen Ge pulled out the surveince camera to focus on the few minutes after He San entered the West House. After flipping through the videos captured from multiple angles, he soon discovered something.

    It was at 24 minutes and 11 seconds past 9 o¡¯ clock that He San ran into the West House. He was running about like a headless chicken.

    At 24 minutes and 14 seconds, when his eyes fell on the bronze mirror, a very curious image appeared on screen. The originally frantic He San became suspiciously calm after he saw the mirror. He stood before the mirrorpletely immobile. Chen Ge would have thought the video had stopped if not for the ticking time frame on screen.

    At 24 minutes and 17 seconds, He San suddenly raised his left hand and started to walk slowly toward the mirror. It looked like someone or something was dragging him toward the mirror!

    At 24 minutes and 20 seconds, Xu Wan, wearing a wedding dress, ran into the room from the open door. By then, He San¡¯s upper body was almost touching the mirror, and there was a sh of something in the mirror that was captured by the camera. Right after that, He San fainted to the ground.

    <i>It was Xiao Wan¡¯s arrival that interrupted the creature¡¯s n? </i>Chen Ge yed the video on loop. Plenty of stuff happened in those ten seconds. He rubbed his temples, but he could note up with a good solution.

    <i>Until I cane up with a more permanent solution, it looks like the only thing I can do now is cover up all the mirrors in this Haunted House. </i>Chen Ge wandered back to the Props Room to grab several ck clothes before returning to the Minghun set.

    ¡°Boss, why are you here? Just leave the cleaning up to me.¡± Xu Wan saw Chen Ge while she was picking up the paper mannequins and paper money to put them back into coffin.

    ¡°I came to inform you of something. Temporarily, stop using all the props and scares rted to mirrors in the Haunted House. Also, when you¡¯re working, make sure to stay away from mirrors.¡± Chen Ge carried the ck cloth as he helped Xu Wan close the fake coffin.

    Xu Wan was baffled by Chen Ge¡¯s orders, but she didn¡¯t ask. After fixing all the props in the Main House, Chen Ge entered the West House alone.

    The whitentern cast its weak light into the room. He stood at the spot where He San fainted and stared quietly at the bronze mirror.

    ¡°Someone lives inside the mirror? Could there really be another world inside the mirror?¡± Chen Ge touched the icy surface of the ss and stared at his own reflection for a long time. He could not pinpoint it, but he felt like something was off. <i>When I handed He San the bottle of water earlier, he used his right hand to take it, which means that he¡¯s not left-handed. However, in the video, he raised his left-hand. Why would he do something that is opposite of his usual habit? Was he taken control of by the thing in the mirror?</i>

    Chen Ge ced his left hand on the mirror, which aligned perfectly with his mirrored right hand. <i>After all, everything is inverted inside the mirror.</i>

    After covering the mirror with a ck cloth, Chen Ge pulled out the ck phone. <i>This is where it all started; the creature appeared because of this phone. Therefore, it makes sense that if I wish to vanquish it, I¡¯ll need the help of this phone.</i>

    He opened the app with the Haunted House icon and soon noticed some changes to the interface. The Daily Visitor Number and Monthly Visitor Number had each increase by two.

    Under the window for unlockable scenarios, a Trial Mission had just be avable. After clicking on it, the message said that after finishing the mission, the scenario that it corresponded to would be unlocked.

    <i>The design of this game seems fair enough. Completing a mission will earn me a reward, and the level of the reward directly corresponds to the difficulty of the mission. If I wish to expand this ce further and deal with the thing inside the mirror, I¡¯ll need to continue finishing these missions.</i>

    He could only do one Daily Mission each day, so Chen Ge¡¯s eyes naturally wandered toward the Trial Mission.

    ¡°Murder by Midnight¡ªA dangerous psychotic patient wandered about a fallen apartment. Scissors and mallets as hands, he is just wandering outside of your room.

    ¡°Mission Venue: Western Countryside¡¯s Ping An Apartments.

    ¡°Mission Requirement: Reach the Mission Venue before 23:00 today. Look for the party responsible for the murder and survive until dawn.

    ¡°Mission Hints: He hides among the crowd like a wolf among a group of sheep. His kind exterior hides a sickened heart.

    ¡°Do you wish to ept this mission? Warning: Trial Missions are only avable for 24 hours. If they are not epted within these 24 hours, the scenario will never be unlocked.¡±

    Chen Ge still had some reservations initially, but he decided to ept it after reading thest sentence.

    <i>Lete what may. Things are finally looking up for the Haunted House; I can¡¯t give up on any opportunity that will make it better.</i>

    After epting the mission, he scrolled down. The Haunted Wheel of Misfortune had been activated without him knowing. Chen Ge clicked on it out of curiosity, and a line of words appeared on screen.

    ¡°The Decree of Life and Death is never the decision of man; fortune and misfortune are only one inch apart. We have both Spirit Fruits to increase your life span as well as hatred-filled Baleful Specters!

    ¡°Activating the Wheel after collecting the visitor¡¯s scream for the first time. You¡¯ve been given a free spin for the first activation. (A scream will be collected when it is over seventy decibels. After collecting one hundred screams, they can be traded for a chance to spin the Wheel of Misfortune.)¡±

    <i>One hundred screams for one spin? </i>Chen Ge frowned reading this detail. <i>This wheel is horrible on so many levels. The condition for activating it is already so difficult, but the result is still randomized? If the result is a baleful specter, then wouldn¡¯t it have been aplete waste?</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the box that said he had one spin left, and he felt like pressing it. This feeling was simr to when one saw a message appear on one¡¯s phone; it might just have been an advertisement, but one feltpelled to open it.

    <i>I mean, what can possibly go wrong? </i>Chen Ge told himself, and as his finger tapped the screen lightly, the wheel started to turn.

    <i>As long as it¡¯s not a Baleful Specter, I¡¯m fine with anything!</i>

 Chapter 13

    <h4>Chapter 13: Blessing or Curse?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge looked at the screen with superhuman focus. The wheel gradually slowed until the needle stopped at one of the results.

    ¡°Lucky Spinpleted, congrattions for having won a Rare Special Item: Cursed Love Letter (Chance of Winning: 3/1000!)

    ¡°Her eyes exposed, cheeks white as ash, the moment she fell off the building, she became the taboo of the school. In red dancing shoes and a blood-dyed uniform, even her name became something that was only uttered in frantic whispers. People pretended that she didn¡¯t exist, until one day, someone started receiving her love letters again.

    ¡°Getting a Baleful Spirit on your first Lucky Spin, unlocked Rare Title: The Specters¡¯ Favored.

    ¡°The Specters¡¯ Favored: When you equip this title, there¡¯s a chance you might receive help from the specters.¡±

    Looking at the information on screen, Chen Ge felt like his head was spinning.<i>Cursed Love Letter? A 3/1000 chance of winning it? The Specters¡¯ Favored? Before resolving the matter with the creature in the mirror, now I¡¯m blessed with another one? I don¡¯t even know whether I should consider myself lucky or unlucky.</i>

    He regretted cursing himself before activating the lucky spin. <i>Chen Ge, get a grip of yourself! This is not the worst yet; drawing a Baleful Specter doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯ll appear instantly. Perhaps there is still time to salvage this, maybe I should go light an incense at the nearby temple.</i>

    He pocketed his phone, and his fingers brushed up against something papery in his pocket. He lowered his head and was shocked to see a yellowed letter poking out of his pocket. With a bad feeling settling in his stomach, Chen Ge pulled out the letter carefully, and there was only a single, simple sentence written on it that was braided using hair: ¡°I like you.¡±

    <i>What the f*ck! Please, tell me what you like about me, and I¡¯ll change from this moment on!</i>

    The handwriting on the paper had a nice curve to it; it would look quite nice if not for the fact that it was braided from hair.

    Chen Ge stood in the West House, holding the letter in his hands. He mumbled to himself, ¡°Who would have thought the first love letter I¡¯ve ever received in my life would be something like this...¡±

    ¡°Boss! What are you grumbling to yourself in here?¡± Xiao Wan came in from behind him after she was done fixing all the stuff in the Main House.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing; I¡¯m just thinking. If someone knows his life will end soon, is it right for him to give up on materialistic pursuit to focus on leaving some good deeds in this world?¡± Chen Ge raised his head to look at Xiao Wan in dead man¡¯s make-up. ¡°For example, to do his best to help produce the human race¡¯s next generation.¡±

    Chen Ge was obviously just rambling, but Xu Wan looked at him as if in deep thought, and her face turned serious with contemtion.

    ¡°Xiao Wan, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re thinking about saying yes? Thanks, but I¡¯m not ready yet. Then again, we¡¯ve worked with each other for a long time already, and we do make a great team. I guess if you insist, I suppose I wouldn¡¯t have said no...¡± For some reason, Chen Ge felt weirdly nervous.

    ¡°No, Boss, it¡¯s not that. I¡¯m just curious how you managed to have two shadows following you.¡± Xu Wan pointed behind Chen Ge. ¡°Is this some new thing you¡¯ve invented?¡±

    ¡°Two shadows?¡± Chen Ge whipped his head around and saw two shadows, one big and one small, encroaching upon him before finally melding into one. ¡°What the f*ck!¡±

    He yanked Xu Wan out of the Haunted House immediately.

    Chen Ge finally rxed when he felt the sun on his skin. He did not give Xu Wan any exnation as he copsed onto the steps.

    ¡°Boss, you¡¯ve been acting very out of sortstely, is it because of the financial pressure?¡± Xu Wan sat down beside Chen Ge. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m sure everything will be fine. By the way, what do you want to have for lunch? I¡¯ll go buy something for you.¡±

    Listening to Xu Wan¡¯s words offort, Chen Ge also did not know how to answer. He forced a smile and said, ¡°I¡¯ll just have the same as you, but before you go out, remember to remove your make-up, lest you scare the canteen workers.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    After Xu Wan left, Chen Ge pulled out the love letter again. <i>I saw the two shadows joining together with my own eyes; if this is a sign that I¡¯ve been haunted by the specter, does it mean that it¡¯s hiding in my shadow?</i>

    Chen Ge looked at his shadow unblinkingly. <i>With The Specters¡¯ Favored title, I have a chance to earn the aid from the specters, so in way, winning a Baleful Specter might not be as bad as I thought.</i>

    At least that was what Chen Ge told himself on the surface. He knew internally, the reason a Baleful Specter was called a Baleful Specter was because they died with great anguish. They radiated sin and curses. If he was slightly careless, he might easily end up dead in a ditch somewhere.

    After lunch, Chen Ge stood in front of the Haunted House, handing out flyers. There were quite a number of park visitors, but none wanted to enter the Haunted House.

    Bored out of his mind, Chen Ge opened his video sharing app page and realized there had been a few new private messages. Deleting the trolls and advertisement, Chen Ge personally replied the remaining messages. Soon, he came across a message from He San.

    The honest-looking young man surreptitiously came to contact Chen Ge, telling him his school¡¯s forum had been exploding. After they found out that his Haunted House had yed such a big prank on the beauty of their course, many students had stated the desire to level the Haunted House. Someone had started a thread to form the warring party, and it had more than a handful of volunteers already.

    ¡°It¡¯s nice to be young,¡± Chen Gemented with upturned lips. In his mind, however, there was already a vision of hormonal youths quivering in a group trapped inside his Haunted House.

    ¡°Afterpleting the Trial Mission, I¡¯ll have them try it out to see how scary the 1-star scenario really is.¡±

    The thought of the Trial Mission made Chen Ge turn serious. He only had a one-time chance toplete this mission. If he failed, the chance of unlocking that scenario would forever be lost. He looked through the phone to memorize all the avable information.

    Knowing one¡¯s enemy is winning half the battle. Therefore, the first thing Chen Ge did after confirming the mission venue was to look up everything he could about the ce on the inte.

    ¡°Jiujiang City Western Countryside¡¯s Ping An Apartments.¡±

    Keying in the name of the location came up with nothing initially. After flipping through the front few pages, Chen Ge finally found something rted to this apartment listed on a secondhand house sale website.

    It was aint saying that the seller had the intention of obscuring the truth. In reality, this apartment was a literal haunted house. After peeling off the fresh coat of paint, there were signs of dried blood, and every night, the apartment would be filled with the disgusting smell of decay.

    No one answered theint, and it was soon swamped by other more interesting threads. Chen Ge looked at the time of posting, and it was nine months ago.

    <i>Staying overnight at a haunted house and having to look for a hidden murderer... Sigh, this is a bit harder than I thought. </i>Chen Ge had studied toy design; he was aplete amateur when it came investigation and self-defense. <i>The hard part is not staying at the haunted house but what if the murderer is just living next door to me and jumps at me at night?</i>

 Chapter 14

    <h4>Chapter 14: Missing Persons Notice</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    At 4.30 pm, Chen Ge stood alone in the Haunted House¡¯s props room. He studied the roomful of items as if deep in thought.

    <i>What do you need to prepare to spend a night with a murderer?</i>

    <i>Identity card, phone, charger, lighter, penknife, multi-uses hammer... Right, mustn¡¯t forget this doll as well. </i>Chen Ge shoved the doll that appeared before the mirror the previous night into his bag, and after confirming he had everything he needed, he pulled the zipper of the bag close and left the room.

    ¡°Xiao Wan, you can get off work early today. Remember to lock the door when you leave; I have something to attend to do, so I¡¯ll go first.¡±

    ¡°Boss, it¡¯s only 5 pm. Are you going on a trip or something?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve left the key on the table in the props room, see you tomorrow morning.¡±

    Noticing Chen Ge¡¯s attempt at changing the subject, Xu Wan helplessly replied, ¡°Okay.¡±

    However, as Chen Ge turned around, the girl dropped the Haunted House flyers and shot toward the props room in a trail of smoke.

    ¡°This girl...¡± The evening wind ruffled the flyers that were left on the table. Chen Ge shook his head and picked up a pebble to ce over them as he sighed.<i>Hopefully she won¡¯t be seeing me on the morning news.</i>

    Underneath his calm surface, Chen Ge¡¯s heart was a chaotic mess. The Nightmare Mission from the night before had opened a whole new world to him and made him realize there was a certain level of danger to the missions dispensed by the ck phone.

    <i>Trial Mission has to be more difficult than Daily Mission; I have to be more careful tonight.</i>

    Before the night fell, Chen Ge rode his bicycle to head toward Ping An Apartments. The Mission Information only gave the name of the location. To locate the ce, Chen Ge used Google Maps and the information from the onlineint released nine months ago. Even so, he still exhausted two hours before he reached his destination.

    <i>Are there even people who want to live a ce that is so barren and isted?</i>

    The road leading to the apartment building was winding and overgrown with wild brushes. There was a noticeableck of street lighting, and through the tree branches, Chen Ge could catch glimpses of a gray-colored building.

    On the way there, Chen Ge asked as many people as he could, but most of them hadn¡¯t heard of Ping An Apartments. In the end, it was a senior who was about sixty years old that pointed him down the correct road and added a little friendly advice. He told Chen Ge that the ce was haunted and cursed, so most would give it a wide berth even in daylight.

    Chen Ge did not know how to answer. If not for the sake of the ck phone¡¯s mission, who would voluntarily go spend a night at a ce like that?

    <i>It¡¯s now 6.50 pm, and the mission states that I have to be there by 11 pm. This means that I still have time to have a quick look around. </i>Following the winding road, Chen Ge entered deep into the forest. After travelling for quite some time, he finally saw the legendary cursed house.

    The yard was surrounded by a tall grey wall, and there was only one exit. Even though the gate that opened on both sides was rusty with age, there was a brand-new lock on it.

    <i>Weird, the lock is so new, but the gate looks old, but wait, what¡¯s this? </i>There was a piece of white paper stuck to the iron bars of the gate. Chen Ge assumed it was a flyer, but when he pointed his shlight at it, he realized it was a missing person¡¯s notice.

    ¡°Zhang Qing, Female, 27 years old, 157 cm tall, on the thin side. There is a beauty mark beneath her right eye. She likes to wear red clothes. If you have any information, please contact Mr. Wang. Mary rewards will be provided!¡±

    The notice came with this Mr. Wang¡¯s contact number and address. The thing that caught Chen Ge¡¯s attention was that the address listed on the notice was the address of this cursed apartment.

    ¡°This sure is weird.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s ghost sense was tingling. He pulled out his phone to snap a picture of the notice before entering thepound. The ce was bigger than he had expected. The main building had three floors, and there were two buildings that looked like a storeroom and a water pump room next to it.

    <i>Based on the peeling of its paint, I believe this ce is at least twenty to thirty years old already. </i>However, the ce was not as unkempt as one might have assumed it to be. The ce was clean, there was no litter, and even thewn was carefully mown.

    After he ced his bicycle in thewn, Chen Ge walked into the main building with his backpack. ¡°Hello, is anyone there?¡±

    The long corridor was shadowy. About ten secondster, the door closest to the stairs opened up a sliver.

    ¡°Good afternoon.¡± Chen Ge walked toward the door, but the person behind it did not seem particrly hospitable since the door stopped after opening just a sliver. The lights in the room were not on, and Chen Ge could just about make out the shape of a woman behind the door. Her eyes were bloodshot, like she was fond of sleepingte. It made her look extremely tired.

    ¡°I wish to ask how much it will cost me to spend a night here,¡± Chen Ge said in a tone that was as kind and soft as he could. However, to his bafflement, the only answer he got was a giggle, and the door mmed in his face.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Before he understood what just happened, he heard footstepsing from the second floor. The only voice-activated light that was installed at the corner of the corridor lit up, and a limping middle-aged man wasing down.

    He seemed to have overheard Chen Ge because the first thing he said was, ¡°You want to stay at my ce? How long do you n to stay?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re thendlord?¡± Chen Ge walked over. ¡°I just wish to stay for one night?¡±

    ¡°Just one night?¡± The limping man gave Chen Ge a once-over like he was trying to read his mind. ¡°Fine, give me your ID, and the payment is made at the second floor.¡±

    Chen Ge was about to follow the man upstairs when there a loud sound came from outside. It sounded like someone had swung the iron gate open. Hearing this, the limping man frowned, and his features twisted with displeasure. He stopped moving, and Chen Ge had no choice but to wait as well. Not long after that, in walked another middle-aged man who looked awfully tired. He was wearing old, tattered clothes and was holding a stack of papers in his hand.

    ¡°Wang Qi, how many times I¡¯ve told you, your girlfriend is not here? If you insist on being this stubborn, I¡¯ll have to call the police!¡± The limping man stood in the middle of the stairs to block the path.

    The other man ignored him and continued upstairs with his head lowered.

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m talking to you!¡± The limping man kicked, causing the unprepared middle-aged man to knock into the wall. The stack of papers slipped from his hands and fluttered all over the staircase. One of them happened tond beside Chen Ge¡¯s feet.

    <i>It¡¯s the same as the missing person¡¯s notice that I saw outside, </i>Chen Ge thought to himself as he narrowed his eyes. He silently picked it up before continuing to follow the drama that was happening before him.

    The middle-aged man did not retaliate against the limping man¡¯s attack. He crawled up slowly from the ground and carried on to wordlessly pick up the notices that littered the ground. He reminded Chen Ge of a lumbering, lifeless zombie.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind him, the man¡¯s crazy.¡± The limping man waved at Chen Ge, ushering him toe upstairs. It seemed like he had given up on the middle-aged man.

    <i>Crazy? </i>When Chen Ge passed the middle-aged man, he surreptitiously nced at him. <i>The mission information did mention a psycho, so could this be him?</i>

 Chapter 15

    <h4>Chapter 15: Landlord</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s first impression of Wang Qi was ¡®weary, torpid, and weak¡¯. As they brushed past each other, Chen Ge handed the other man back the notice he had picked up earlier, and Wang Qi thanked him with a wavering voice. This was the first time Chen Ge had heard the man speak. It sounded gravelly, which gave Chen Ge some trouble in understanding him.

    ¡°You¡¯re wee,¡± Chen Ge responded with a smile before he turned to follow the limping man up the stairs.

    The second floor was even more dpidated than the first floor. The ce was dark and humid, the corners were filled with uncleaned spider webs, and the walls looked like they had been shed with knives. The limping man led Chen Ge to the very end of the long corridor. He opened thest room beforeing out with a long chain of keys. ¡°One night is fifty dors, take a pick of any room you like on this floor.¡±

    ¡°50 dors? That¡¯s too expensive!¡±

    ¡°My apartment is the only ce to stay within several kilometers; you should be thankful I only charge you fifty.¡± When the man was talking, his eyes kept unconsciously moving to look behind him like he was checking out something.

    ¡°Fine, but why must I stay on the second floor, is the room on first or third floor not avable?¡±

    ¡°Why do you have no many damn questions? They¡¯re off the limits, that¡¯s why!¡± The limping man grabbed the fifty away from Chen Ge and shoved a random key in his hand. ¡°The room number is written on the key, go look for it yourself.¡±

    Then, he rushed back into the room. The moment the door closed, Chen Ge could hear the muffled croak of an old maning from inside the room, like the sound one would make when one had food stuck in one¡¯s throat. Frowning with suspicion, Chen Ge ced his palm on the door, saying, ¡°Wait a minute.¡±

    ¡°What now?¡± the limping man asked with annoyance.

    Chen Ge nced through the slight opening of the door. The space within looked small. Other than the limping man that stood at the door, there was an old man reclining in a wheelchair that was facing away from the door. He was probably the source of the noise Chen Ge heard earlier.

    ¡°I¡¯m rather thirsty, does your establishment provide a vending machine or things like that?¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°Man, is this how you treat your customer...¡±

    The door mmed in his face, leaving Chen Ge in the corridor with a heavier suspicion brewing in his heart.

    <i>For a normal apartment building, the reception is normally at the front door, but for this building, the reception is not only on the second floor but at the very end of the second-floor corridor. </i>Looking at the key in his hand, many questions appeared in his mind. <i>Why are the first and third floors off limits? And who is the old man living with thendlord?</i>

    The number 208 was written on the key, and coincidentally enough, the room was just next to thendlord¡¯s.

    <i>Regardless, let me go put down my stuff first. </i>After two hours of travelling, Chen Ge was indeed more than a bit tired. As he opened the door, the smell of mildew hit him in the nose. The room had probably been vacant for a long time because the ce was covered with dust, and the bed was overgrown with some mysterious looking fungus. It felt strange under Chen Ge¡¯s touch.

    <i>Is this bed even usable? </i>Before Chen Ge even ced his backpack down, he heard a loud crashing from next door. It sounded like a te had fallen and shattered. Chen Ge closed the door and stuck his ear to the wall, trying to eavesdrop. Soon enough, the sound of the limping man cursing came. In his anger, he let out several foreign curses, and based on his ent, the man sounded like he was not a local.

    The old man mumbled weakly in reply. The limping man continued scolding for several minutes before he stopped, but what happened next confused Chen Ge. The volume of the television was increased.

    <i>What¡¯s going on? What is he doing? Why did he increase the television¡¯s volume?</i>Chen Ge tried to listen for more clues, but all he could hear was the television. He soon gave up. <i>So be it. In any case, I should be more worried about myself; I doubt I¡¯ll be able to get any sleep tonight.</i>

    Chen Ge ced his backpack on the table and took out the penknife, cing it in his pocket. <i>The onlineint mentioned the existence of blood stains behind the paint and the presence of a horrible smell at night. However, I¡¯ve searched all the information avable on Ping An Apartments online, and there was no mention of any murders that happened here.</i>

    Then again, there had to be some kind of secret hidden at Ping An Apartments for it to have been selected as the mission venue by the ck phone. He pulled out the multi-purpose hammer to knock and inspect every corner of the room; he came up with nothing. This was a very normal guest room; other than the sorry state it was in, there was nothing out of ordinary about it.

    <i>Since thendlord only allowed me to pick a room on the second floor, this means that the rooms on the second floor are mostly fine, or else he wouldn¡¯t have opened it up for rent. Therefore, to get to the bottom of this, I have to go take a look on the first or third floor. </i>The Trial Mission was supposed to start at 11 pm. There were still three hours until then. Chen Ge did not want to waste time. He put the hammer away and slunk toward the door.

    With his hand on the doorknob, he pushed it open. However, he stopped half-way. His palm started to sweat, and a chill ran down his spin.

    The limping man was standing just outside his door; God only knew how long for!

    The man also did not expect that Chen Ge would suddenly open the door. Both parties on either side of the door were equally shocked.

    ¡°Landlord, why are you standing at my door?¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes at the man; the more time he spent with the limping man, the uneasier he felt.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you were thirsty? I came to give you this.¡± The limping man ced the warm water bottle in his hands by Chen Ge¡¯s door, and his expression was as unnatural as it could be.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Chen Ge did not point out how weird he was acting and pulled the bottle into the room. ¡°Is there anything else?¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s all. Do rest early.¡± The limping man nced inside the room and added as if to himself, ¡°The corridors are not fitted with lights, so they¡¯re very dark at night; you¡¯d better stay in your room after the sun sets.¡±

    He turned to leave. Chen Ge sighed in relief when the door next to him closed.

    <i>Thisndlord is easily angered and socially inept. Even though he has a limp, that doesn¡¯t mean that he¡¯s physically weak. He managed to shove the man earlier to the ground with just one kick; if anything, he should be quite powerful.</i>

    Chen Ge wasn¡¯t a particrly good sleuth; the only thing he could do was try to fit the situation at the apartments into the plot of all the past murder mysteries he had seen. <i>Born with a disability might have caused him to be bullied from a young age, and that corrupted his innocence. That could easily evolve into a mental sickness. F*ck, it sounds like he¡¯s the perfect candidate for a crazed murderer!</i>

    Chen Ge put the bottle away, and a pressing question came into his mind. <i>If thendlord is the murderer, then doesn¡¯t this mean I¡¯m going to have to spend the whole night next to a murderer?</i>

    This thought made Chen Ge¡¯s skin crawl. Who knew, the man might spend the whole night standing outside his door, waiting to entrap him! To make matters worse, since he was thendlord, he had ess to the space keys, which enable him to enter any room as he wished!

 Chapter 16

    <h4>Chapter 16: Don¡¯t Spend Your Night Here</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t get ahead of myself. Thendlord is suspicious, but that doesn¡¯t mean he¡¯s really the murderer.¡± Chen Ge scratched his head and said to himself, ¡°Perhaps I should talk to some of the tenants for more details.¡±

    Since Chen Ge arrived at the apartment, he had seen four different individuals: the woman hiding behind the door; Wang Qi, the person who pasted those missing person notices all over the ce; the recalcitrantndlord; and the old man in the wheelchair.

    ¡°The old man stays with thendlord, so speaking to him is out of the question. Thedy on the first floor weirds me out, so the only remaining candidate is Wang Qi. He should know some things about this apartment.¡± Chen Ge ced the bottle in the room, locked the door behind him and went downstairs.

    The voice-activated light came on, giving Chen Ge enough light to see Wang Qi hugging the stack of notices, walking down the corridor. He slipped a notice under each door, regardless of whether they were upied or not. This naturally attracted Chen Ge¡¯s attention. Normally, missing person notices were posted at ces with high traffic, but this man personally focused on these apartments, which seemed quite deserted.

    Chen Ge followed behind Wang Qi quietly. It was not until Wang Qi finished slipping thest notice under the door that he said, ¡°Brother, I can understand your feeling of having a loved one vanish, but you should stay strong and not do this kind of meaningless action to torture yourself.¡±

    Wang Qi slowly turned around up hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice. His clouded pupils seemed unable to find a point to focus on. ¡°Understand? None of you will ever understand how I feel, nor have I asked for your understanding...¡±

    Chen Ge did not waste time going down this rabbit hole with him. He grabbed his phone and searched for the police report he made when his parents disappeared several months ago. ¡°I¡¯m not lying to you. My parents suddenly disappeared half a year ago, and at the beginning, I was feeling down in the dumps, too.¡±

    Looking at the picture saved in the phone, Wang Qi was silent for a long time before he said, ¡°I emphasize with your situation, but our circumstances are different. My fianc¨¦ will return; I can feel that she hasn¡¯t gone far.¡±

    ¡°Do you mind telling me your story? Considering we¡¯re somewhat in the same boat, perhaps I can help you,¡± Chen Ge said. Weirdly enough, he found himself meaning what he said.

    Wang Qi hesitated. Perhaps recalling that Chen Ge had helped him pick up his notice earlier, his gaze that fell on Chen Ge softened. ¡°Thank you, but you won¡¯t be able to help me. You¡¯re a nice young man, so listen to my advice, run away while you still can. Don¡¯t try to spend a night here!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already paid. You¡¯ll have to give me a more convincing reason if you want me to pack up and leave.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s purpose there was toplete the Trial Mission. If he surrendered, he would lose the opportunity to unlock the Murder by Midnight scenario forever.

    ¡°Is your life more important or your money?¡± Wang Qi looked about them, and after making sure there was no peeping eyes, he lowered his voice to say, ¡°Everyone here knows there have been murders in this building before.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard a thing or two about that, but I failed to find any information on it on the inte; I suspect that¡¯s merely a rumor,¡± Chen Ge replied.

    ¡°Previously, this building was called Fu An Apartments; it was after the incident that the name changed to Ping An Apartments. The murders were big news at the time, and until now, they haven¡¯t been solved. The will of the dead hasn¡¯t been appeased, so they appear at their ce of death every day at midnight,¡± Wang Qi said. It sounded like he really believed it.

    ¡°You still believe ghost stories like that at an age like ours?¡± Chen Ge smiled awkwardly. Internally, he was incredibly nervous because he knew better than anyone how real the other world was. If possible, he really did not want to have any more encounters with these spirits.

    ¡°Initially, I did not believe it either... that is until the day my fianc¨¦ disappeared around this area.¡± Wang Qi pulled on his hair out of frustration, his fatigue in as day.

    ¡°Why would your fianc¨¦e to a ce like this in the first ce?¡± Chen Ge was intrigued. The thing that happened to this Wang Qi¡¯s fianc¨¦ was curiously simr to what happened to his parents.

    ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t really know. In fact, I had not even heard of this apartment before her disappearance. I got the ce¡¯s name from the police; they told me it was at this ce that all clues were lost.¡± Wang Qi¡¯s hands rxed, and several strands of hair hung listlessly between his fingers. ¡°I¡¯ve run out of ideas, and that¡¯s why I moved in here.¡±

    ¡°Then, have you discovered anything?¡±

    Wang Qi¡¯s lips fell open, but before he could say anything, he suddenly stopped himself. Instead, he reached into his pocket to pull out his phone to type something on it.

    ¡°My fianc¨¦ has been kidnapped by the people who live here!¡±

    Chen Ge was dumbfounded reading the typed message; he had not expected this development. ¡°Brother, a kidnapping and a disappearance are two very different thing.¡±

    Wang Qi shushed Chen Ge, telling him to be quiet. He turned his back toward the corridor and flipped his phone over to show Chen Ge. Chen Ge saw the messages in the phone inbox, and his eyes slowly widened with shock.

    There was a message from Wang Qi¡¯s fianc¨¦ in his phone!

    The content was simple, it only had two words¡ª¡¯Save me!¡¯ However, the most spine-chilling discovery was the message was sent at 2 amst night.

    ¡°Someone who should have disappeared sent you a SOS message in the middle of the night?¡± After the initial shock, Chen Ge quickly calmed down. ¡°Then, why didn¡¯t you go to the police with this message? Obviously, your fianc¨¦ is still alive.¡±

    ¡°You might not believe me when I tell you this, but I receive this message from my fianc¨¦ every night after midnight. The content is always the same, but the key point is every time after I wake up, the message will have miraculously disappeared like it never really happened.¡± Wang Qi pointed at his bloodshot eyes. ¡°To preserve this message, I haven¡¯t closed my eyes for 24 hours already.¡±

    ¡°The message will disappear once you fall asleep?¡± This was the first time Chen Ge had heard something as curious as that.

    ¡°I know you think I¡¯m crazy, but everything I¡¯ve said is the truth.¡± Wang Qi leaned against the wall for support as he pocketed his phone. ¡°More inexplicable things have happened to me. For example, my fianc¨¦¡¯s stuff curiously appears in my room without warning; it¡¯s like she¡¯s reminding me to go look for her.¡±

    When Wang Qi said thest sentence, Chen Ge¡¯s eyelids twitched. Based on his experience from the past few days, Wang Qi¡¯s fianc¨¦ had not disappeared but befallen an ident and transformed into a ghost. She was haunting Wang Qi; that was the only logical exnation, provided the man had not been lying to him.

    ¡°My fianc¨¦ disappeared around this apartment building, and my life has been changed by this apartment building. Listen to me, this ce is cursed. It¡¯s the home of many evil ghosts and specters. Misfortune befalls those who get too close, so leave when you still can.¡± It seemed that Wang Qi had not uttered so many words at one go in a very long time, for his face was stark-white as if the conversation had taken a great toll out on him.

 Chapter 17

    <h4>Chapter 17: Fu An Apartments</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    From a stranger¡¯s perspective, Wang Qi might have appeared to be too insistent in chasing the neer away. Therefore, Chen Ge did not promise the man anything; if anything, after listening to Wang Qi¡¯s story, he had a sneaking suspicion that the man was hiding something.

    ¡°I¡¯ve told you everything I know, and there¡¯s still time to leave. When the clock strikes twelve, the apartment will turn into something else.¡± After saying that, Wang Qi brushed the dust away from his clothes and turned to leave.

    It was not until Wang Qi¡¯s shadow disappeared among the darkness of the night that Chen Ge came to. His original intention was to obtain more information from the tenants about the building, but now, he ended up with more question than answers.

    <i>That man sure is a curious character, but I can¡¯t tell whether he¡¯s crazy or not.</i>Recalling Wang Qi¡¯s pair of cloudy eyes that had not focused once throughout their conversation, Chen Ge felt ufortable. The pain and tiredness in the man¡¯s eyes could not be faked. <i>But it does seem like he loves his fianc¨¦ dearly.</i>

    As Chen Ge went back to his room, he paused when he passed the woman¡¯s room on the first floor. He hesitated before knocking on the room.

    ¡°Hey, fresh blood!¡± The woman¡¯s room door remained unmoved, but to Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, the door to the room directly opposite from hers fell open. Anky man was leaning against the open door. He looked to be in his thirties, and the man¡¯s appearance was very unkempt. His beard was almost joined to his hair, and the back of his hand had a tattoo of a peony.

    ¡°And you are?¡± Chen Ge turned around with rm.

    ¡°The man who was spreading the missing person notice around is not even a tenant of this building; there¡¯s something wrong about him up here.¡± The thin man pointed at his temple. ¡°Don¡¯t believe a word out thates out of his mouth, and try not to get too close to him.¡±

    It was the first time Chen Ge had seen this man, and even though the man¡¯s appearance left much to be desired, the man¡¯s mannerisms were the most normal of all the characters he had met at the apartment. ¡°The man¡¯s actions sure are weird, but perhaps that is because he was too devastated from the loss of his fianc¨¦.¡±

    ¡°Did he tell you his fianc¨¦ disappeared around this apartment?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Did he tell you he receive that information from the police and that¡¯s why he has been searching for her here?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The man chuckled mirthlessly before saying, ¡°I¡¯ve lived here for nine months already, and I¡¯ve seen no trace of the policeing here. The mad man is lying to you; I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t believe his talk of ghosts, right?¡±

    He pulled out a cigarette to dangle on his lips. ¡°There are no ghosts in this world! At most, it¡¯s someone pretending to be a ghost. In any case, it¡¯s gettingte, so you¡¯d better return to your room.¡±

    Chen Ge thanked the man and turned to leave. As he wandered up the steps, he thought to himself, <i>Obviously, one of them is lying, but which is it?</i>

    Lost in his thoughts, Chen Ge did not realize he had walked up to the third floor. The faded number was printed on the corner of the wall, and the voice-activated light above his head flickered on and off. Chen Ge looked down the long corridor and realized this whole floor was in a state ofplete disrepair. The floor was thick with grime, and there were signs of burning everywhere. The coating of the wall was peeling off like skin, and underneath it were lines that looked like thick cuts.

    <i>Why have they left the third floor unfixed? Not enough budget, or is there a more sinister reason?</i>

    The voice-activated light soon went off, and Chen Ge was submerged in a world of darkness. Due to his work at the Haunted House, Chen Ge was used to working in the darkness. The sudden blindness did not unhinge him. He pulled out his phone and was about to turn the shlight on when he spotted a shadow dash past the darkened corridor.

    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± The shlight on the phone lit up the third floor, but the shadow was nowhere to be seen. Chen Ge was about to investigate further when he heard footstepsing up from further down the stairs.

    <i>It¡¯s thendlord? </i>If he was spotted by the easily-irkedndlord loitering on third floor, he might get chased off the premises. Chen Ge thought about it, pocketed his phone, and stealthily retreated down to the second floor.

    When he turned the corner on the stairwell, Chen Ge saw a rotund and short maning out of a room on the second floor, holding a basin. The man was humming a happy tune, but when he saw Chen Ge, his face fell, and he immediately ran away from the scene.

    <i>What is the meaning of that? Do I look that scary? </i>After returning to his room, Chen Gey in bed, hugging his backpack. <i>It feels like there¡¯s no normal individual in this apartment; every single one of them could be the party responsible for the murders.</i>

    When those words rolled off his tongue, Chen Ge suddenly sat up in bed. <i>Wait a minute, the mission told me to find the party responsible for the murders, but the term ¡®party¡¯ can be both singr and plural! In that case, could there be more than one murderer? After all, if there is more than one murder, the chances of multiple murderers will drastically increase. I need to get more information on that case from years ago.</i>

    Chen Ge pulled out his phone. His conversation with Wang Qi was not for nothing. He now had the important information that before it was called Ping An Apartments, this ce was called Fu An Apartments.

    He keyed in Jiujiang Fu An Apartments in the search box, and several pagester, numerous spine-chilling headlines jumped out at him.

    ¡°A family of four brutally murdered! The murderer has disappeared into thin air?¡±

    ¡°ident or homicide? The truth of the fire that razed Fu An Apartments.¡±

    ¡°Case within a case, bodies hidden inside the building unearthed!¡±

    Reading through the information on Fu An Apartments, Chen Ge felt his skin chilled. This was not fiction; they happened in real life, and he was currently living at the crime scene.

    Five years ago, a neighbor saw the smog rising from Fu An Apartments, so he called the fire brigade. The firefighters soon put out the fire and started to investigate the source of the fire as well as gauge the extent of damage.

    Initially, they thought this was going to be another idental fire case, but as the investigation continued, more curious evidence started to surface.

    The cement walls were cracked, the surface of cracked window was small, and the smog ckened the ceiling; these were all signs that the temperature of the fire was high, and it spread very fast.

    There were several possible initial locations found at the building, and they were all far apart from each other, quintessential of an arson case.

    Therefore, the nature of the investigation changed. After the police stepped in, they soon discovered four burnt bodies among the ruin of the fire. They believed these were the bodies of the family of four who operated the rental apartment.

    This case created quite a buzz at the time. The police tried their best to solve the case, but the fire had destroyed most of the evidence. Theybed the ce but could not locate the evidence of a fifth person much, less catch the culprit.

    The apartment was sealed for a whole year, after which ownership of the estate was passed on to the owner¡¯s father, and it was then that Fu An Apartments changed to Ping An Apartments.

    <i>The family of four was burned to the death, and the culprit still hasn¡¯t been caught. No wonder people say this ce is haunted. </i>After knowing more about the case, Chen Ge felt slightly more grounded because at least he knew what he was dealing with.

    A curious detail on the reports stuck out at him. <i>The articles all confirm that at the time of passing, the owner was already 41 years old. The apartment waster passed on to his father, and theoretically and logically speaking, the real current owner of this ce should be in his 60s or 70s already.</i>

 Chapter 18

    <h4>Chapter 18: Livestream</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    There was only one person who fit the criteria: the old man sharing the room with the ndlord¡¯.

    <i>This is weird; ording to the news articles, the owner should be an old man, but thendlord who received me is at most middle-aged. </i>Chen Ge stood up to press his ear to the wall. The television on the other side of the wall was still ring. Currently, it was ying some randommercial.

    <i>Normally, wouldn¡¯t the viewer switch the channel duringmercials? But they¡¯ve been watching themercials for several minutes already. </i>Chen Ge tried to lean closer into the wall. <i>Perhaps, I¡¯ve missed something.</i>

    He cleared his mind and tried to rearrange all the clues he had so far. <i>After I entered the room, I heard the sound of a te shattering next door. Then, thendlord started to curse and scold the old man. It continued until the volume of the television was raised. Since the old man was incapacitated, it had to be thendlord who increased the television volume, but the question is, why?</i>

    Chen Ge narrowed his eyes as a spection appeared in his mind. <i>Is thendlord ill-treating the old man? The television noise is to cover up the sound of assault?</i>

    The more he thought about it, the more possible it sounded in his mind. <i>The shattering te urred the moment I moved in; isn¡¯t that too much of a coincidence? Could that have been an SOS signal from the old man? After all, it was merely a broken te; there¡¯s no reason for thendlord to get so angered. Perhaps, he was afraid that the sound might have attracted my unwanted attention!</i>

    <i>But why should he be afraid? And why would the old man call for help?</i>

    Suddenly, another detail that seemed unimportant to Chen Ge earlier entered in his mind. When thendlord was scolding the old man, he let slip several foreign curses.

    <i>The family that passed away were all locals, but thisndlord is not from Jiujiang; he shouldn¡¯t be blood-rted to the old man or his family.</i>

    <i>Normally speaking, the man wouldn¡¯t leave his assets to be taken care of by a stranger, unless... the limping man has taken over this ce and is holding the old man captive! If that¡¯s really the case, either he¡¯s a caretaker who got too greedy or he¡¯s the actual murderer!</i>

    Either way, it did not bode well for Chen Ge.

    Chen Ge¡¯s fists tightened. <i>That also exins why he was eavesdropping at my door earlier; he wanted to find out how much I¡¯ve learned!</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s forehead was sweaty from all the thinking. After all, he wasn¡¯t a real detective; all he had were references to plots that he had seen on television before.

    <i>What should I do now? Rush directly into the room next door to whack thendlord until he faints? No, that¡¯s too rash; if my spection is wrong, that¡¯llnd me in hot water. </i>With the mallet in his hand and the penknife stuck in his pocket, Chen Ge paced around the room.

    <i>Give thendlord a test to confirm his identity? No, that¡¯s too risky, what if I tip my hand too soon? After all, he might have other aplices, and I¡¯m here all alone. If I¡¯m targeted, my life will be in danger. Furthermore, I don¡¯t really have any real proof; everything is just spection. Also, I¡¯m pretty sure the main purpose I¡¯m here is to find the murderer from four years ago, so maybe I should focus on that instead.</i>

    Chen Ge was caught in a conundrum. Suddenly, the television next door was switched off, and the ce became eerily quiet.

    <i>What¡¯s going on? </i>He opened the door slightly and lowered himself to the ground. He peeked out at the door next to him. There was no lighting out from underneath the door.

    <i>Sleeping at 8 pm? </i>Chen Ge crawled to thendlord¡¯s room door holding the mallet. In an out of body moment, he realized how suspicious he must have looked then. He turned around to make sure no one was watching him before pocketing the mallet and crawling back to his room.

    <i>Then again, my spection might not be a hundred percent urate, if only I had a professional to help me with the analysis. </i>Chen Gey in bed and pulled out his phone. In his contact list, other than Xu Wan, he had not spoken to many of the others before.

    <i>Jesus Christ, I sure am loyal.</i>

    Chen Ge thought about it. Among the people that he knew, the only person who was slightly rted to investigation was the young man who had fainted inside his Haunted House¡ªHe San.

    <i>In any case, a medical student should be better at logic and analysis than I am. </i>He entered the video-sharing app and realized he had about twenty private messages. He clicked open a random one and saw it was a personal message from a studio that was based on the website. The person expressed interest in having him join the team.

    <i>Is this person some kind of talent scout? </i>Chen Ge did not have time to deal with that right then. He scrolled through the many messages to look for He San¡¯s ID and tossed the invitation out of his mind.

    However, several minutester, the studio sent him another message.

    ¡°You there? We¡¯ve seen your video; it has plenty of potential.

    ¡°We were wondering if you would like to cooperate with us.

    ¡°We can contact the top streamers of our tform on your behalf to help increase your poprity and exposure.

    ¡°Doing this alone is going to be very difficult; after all, most streamers on the rely on teams andworking.

    ¡°This is a very good offer, so do consider it.

    ¡°You there?¡±

    The endless pop-ups annoyed Chen Ge. He was busy trying to survive a night in the apartment that housed a murderer who had killed four individuals in cold blood four years ago, and these people were busy trying to sell him their service? He finally replied, ¡°AFK.¡±

    ¡°Young man, you sure are funny. Give our studio serious consideration; you don¡¯t need to do anything beyond adding our studio¡¯s logo to your videos. In return, we will provide you with better exposure to help you gain viewership.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m currently not interested in something like that.¡± Chen Ge felt his reply was polite already; if this was someone else, they probably would have cursed the person out before cklisting the studio.

    ¡°Your short video has the possibility to go viral, but you have to understand that it is just a possibility. A tform like this has an average of 1,000,000 uploads each day, and you¡¯re just one of the more lucky ones. Nowadays, people are in for fast-food entertainment; they don¡¯t have the patience to wait. Every moment, there are fresh and more exciting things to pull their attention away. If you don¡¯t carefully manage your business, your video will soon be submerged by a sea of fresh attractions.¡±

    ¡°Talk about itter, I¡¯m currently busy with something important.¡± Chen Ge finally found He San¡¯s ID.

    ¡°What is more important than earning money? If you are still hesitating, perhaps we can have some other form of cooperation. For example, we¡¯re more than willing to offer good money to buy your content and video-shooting technique.¡±

    Chen Ge was irked, so he cklisted the individual and messaged He San.

    To his surprise, He San replied within a few seconds. ¡°Boss, I¡¯ve been waiting for you to release a new video!¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute, I have a more important question to ask you.¡± After getting He San¡¯s phone number, he called the young man and exined the whole situation to him in a whispered tone.

 Chapter 19

    <h4>Chapter 19: Rising Poprity</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Afraid that thendlord next door might overhear him, Chen Ge lowered his voice to a whisper, which created an unintended tense atmosphere. After he was done, on the other end of the phone, He San was stunned. This honest young man who just came to the city from the countryside to attend medical school did not expect his first conversation with an online friend to be so freaking exciting.

    ¡°You¡¯re currently at that cursed apartment?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°And thendlord next door might be the killer from several years ago?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute, this is too much for me to process at once, let me think about it first.¡±

    This created an interesting contrast between the situations on both side of the phone; one was wrapped in his warm nket, chewing on KFC, watching some online videos, while the other was caught in a haunted apartment, heavy with gloom and anguish.

    ¡°Boss, I still think you should report this to the police. Granted, you don¡¯t have any actual proof, butpared to the offense of making a fake report, your life is more important.¡±

    He San was merely looking out for him, but Chen Ge had his own consideration. This Murder by Midnight was a mission given to him by the ck phone. He had to stay there overnight for the mission to be a sess. Interference from the police would most likely ruin his mission. Since it involved the unlocking of a new scenario, surrendering just like that felt like a great waste. ¡°It¡¯s still not yet time to involve the police.¡±

    ¡°Mainly, it¡¯s your safety that you should be concerned about... Boss, how about this?¡± He San paused before adding, ¡°Turn on your phone¡¯s GPS triangtion and try to keep your phone on throughout the night. I¡¯ll pay attention to the sounds from your side, and if there¡¯s anything weird, I¡¯ll call the police immediately.¡±

    That was not a bad idea. Chen Ge looked at his phone. He still had not exited the video-sharing app, and there was an advertisement for a Mukbang stream going on.

    Suddenly an idea came into Chen Ge¡¯s mind. ¡°Why don¡¯t I open a livestream at the haunted apartment? If anything dangerous happens to me, the viewers will be able to help me alert the police, and the recording of the livestream will be the best evidence. Of course, I hope for everything to go well, and with this method, I¡¯ll be able to attract more viewers to my page and thus advertise my Haunted House.¡±

    The short video fromst night had brought Chen Ge about 1,000 new followers and consequently the number of visitors at his Haunted House the next day had doubled. This was a workable method. Furthermore, the ultimate goal of him entering the haunted apartment was to earn the mission reward to improve his Haunted House. If starting a livestream was able to ensure his safety while he was conducting his mission as well as increase his poprity and viewership, then why not?

    ¡°Even though I don¡¯t have the budget to advertise my stuff all over the ce, I can rely on livestreams and short videos to attract people¡¯s attention.¡±

    What Chen Ge wascking in were tform, channels, and experience; in terms of content, he was not at all worried. Even though the personnel from the studio earlier was annoying, they were right. Modern entertainment was about instant gratification. What could be more exciting and intense than an overnight stay at a haunted apartment and a possible tussle with a crazed murderer?

    Viewership followed content, andpared to other streamers, Chen Ge had a unique leg-up. All of his content and the stuff that he experienced was all real; there was no plot or script, and even he had no idea what might happen next. In a way, the livestream was merely a recording of himpleting the mission dispensed by the ck phone.

    ¡°He San, I¡¯m ending the call. Come directly to my livestream, the stream¡¯s ID will be simr to the ID on my personal page.¡±

    After hanging up, Chen Ge turned on his phone¡¯s triangtion system and set 991 as his quick dial. After everything was done, he selected the livestream option on the video-sharing app.

    Videos nowadays were normally only several ten seconds long, meaning they were hard to mize. Therefore, to improve fan loyalty and more directly mize follower numbers, most streams would livestream when they were not preparing to release a new video.

    Since short videos were easily shared, they could be used to attract the attention of random viewers. Then, with livestreams, those viewers could be turned into followers if the steamer¡¯s content was interesting enough. Incidentally, Chen Ge had stumbled across the most correct way of establishing one¡¯s online brand.

    ¡°Overnight at a haunted house! Your host, an intrepid explorer! Exposing the parts of the world that are normally hidden from sight!¡± Chen Ge used several exmation marks in his title to separate his livestream from others.

    To be honest though, he need not have done that. The livestream function attached to the video-sharing app was ultimately different from a streaming website. The categorization was limited and mostly involved talking to scantily-dressed girls. Chen Ge¡¯s livestream was like a pile of cow dung amid a bed of roses; it was incredibly hard for him to not get noticed.

    After opening the livestream, his fans that followed him would be notified, and simrly, there would be an announcement at his profile page.

    In less than few seconds, the first batch of viewers arrived.

    He San was the first to message. ¡°Boss, you¡¯re serious? You¡¯re really going to livestream this?¡±

    Death to all Men posted, ¡°You¡¯re the creep who uploaded that video yesterday night? Good, because I¡¯m here to im your life!¡±

    ¡°F*ck! Sis, what happened to you? Calm down, maybe we can talk this out.¡±

    ¡°Creep host, subbed,¡± posted I¡¯m a Little Green Worm.

    ¡°Any subs know what the content of this stream is?¡±

    ¡°Do you not know how to read? The title is right there!¡±

    The moment Chen Ge began the livestream, those who were waiting for his video showed themselves, and the viewership of his room slowly climbed.

    ¡°Guys, I think there¡¯s a misunderstanding.¡± Chen Ge put his mallet away and turned to the camera seriously. ¡°The video fromst night wasn¡¯t a joke; I experienced it myself. You can go look for the full video on supernatural forums if you do not believe me. The footage has not been tempered; the thing in the mirror is real. I know that is hard to believe, but if you follow me, I¡¯ll unveil the hidden side of this world to you little by little.¡±

    ¡°Hello, 001, I¡¯m sorry, but what is the number for mental hospital? I believe I¡¯ve found a runaway patient.¡±

    ¡°I do love the way you bullsh*t.¡±

    ¡°Lee Ming! I know you¡¯re watching livestream, go buy some supper for me. Fried noodles, no chili, thanks!¡±

    ¡°Fu San Mental Hospital Room 31, subbing to the host! In support of our friend finding a new job!¡±

    Several notices appeared on screen, and all of them showed disbelief at Chen Ge¡¯s promise. The man wasn¡¯t fazed. ¡°I don¡¯t mind if you think I¡¯m crazy because you¡¯ll soon see how wrong you all are.¡±

    The viewership continued to climb. Chen Ge turned to look at the night sky that was darkening. He lit a cigarette and started exining the bloody history of Fu An Apartments to his viewers.

 Chapter 20

    <h4>Chapter 20: Crime Scene</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    A mysterious fire, a disappeared killer, Chen Ge realized he had a talent for storytelling. He managed to summarize the many news articles he had read andbined them with his own hypotheses, creating a believable and intriguing tale for his viewers.

    ¡°That is what has happened. To search for inspiration for my Haunted House, I decided to stay overnight at this cursed apartment, but I came across a startling discovery: every single tenant of this apartment has something off about them, and I suspect that the murderer from years ago is masquerading as one of them!¡± Chen Ge snuffed his cigarette off and turned to address the camera.

    ¡°Interesting, so a real life murder mystery. Anyone have a brilliant idea as to who the real killer is?¡±

    I¡¯m a Little Green Worm mocked, ¡°Host, you sure know how to bullsh*t, but we¡¯re not that gullible!¡±

    ¡°Jiujiang City¡¯s Fu An Apartments, I just looked it up on the inte; the host doesn¡¯t seem like he¡¯s lying.¡±

    He San showed some support. ¡°I believe the host.¡±

    However, I¡¯m a Little Green Worm was not easily convinced. ¡°Even if the host isn¡¯t lying about the case, how do we know that he is currently at the cursed apartment? As he said earlier, the ce was burned down. But take a good look at the room he¡¯s room. The wall is clean and painted, and all the furniture looks useable albeit a little bit old; does this look like a cursed apartment to any of you?¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t lie to you guys about that. You want proof? Easy.¡± Chen Ge moved the make-up counter away and pulled his penknife. He scratched away a small corner of the paint on the wall. ¡°The name of a building can be changed, and the ce can be refurnished and repainted, but certain things cannot be removed or hidden.¡±

    He removed the freshestyer of wall paint to reveal the brickwork underneath, which was charred ck. ¡°This is evidence that this ce was the crime scene of the fire.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m interested in why you would bring a mallet and a knife to stay at a hostel... for self-defense?¡± Death to all Man raised an obvious concern.

    ¡°Host is ruining the wall for no reason. One minute of silence for the poorndlord.¡±

    ¡°How much did you pay for a room like this? It doesn¡¯t even have a television.¡±

    Looking at the chat log, Chen Ge could not help but sigh. ¡°Guys, can you not focus on the irrelevant points? How about some respect? I¡¯m putting my life on the line to do this livestream for you!¡±

    Death to All Man donated one dor. ¡°One-dor donation as sign of respect.¡±

    Chen Ge was helpless dealing with the online trolls, but at least they didn¡¯t leave him. ¡°Fine, let¡¯s get back to business. I¡¯ve met six different individuals since I arrived at this apartment. The first person I met was a woman who might have a little mental problem; when I arrived, she smiled wickedly at me unprompted. This unhinged me slightly, but since I have had no further interaction with this woman, there¡¯s nothing else I can say...¡±

    Chen Ge introduced all of the tenants to his viewers, and when he was done, he added his own analysis. ¡°In terms of motive, thendlord is definitely the most suspicious, but his movement speed is hindered due to his limp. So, viewed from this perspective, the tattoo guy on first floor and the fat man on second floor have the greatest possibility of being the killer. Of course, one can¡¯t ignore the woman and the seemingly weak Wang Qi.¡±

    ¡°Basically, you¡¯vee up with nothing,¡± Death to All Man surmised. ¡°Based on your analysis, I¡¯ve further suspicion that the real killer is the old man in the wheelchair; after all, he stood to gain the most from the fire.¡±

    ¡°That might not be that imusible. After all, the old man might be incapacitated now, but that doesn¡¯t mean that he was the same four years ago. Furthermore, the crime we¡¯re talking about is a fire; that doesn¡¯t require physical prowess, so the old man is a valid suspect.¡±

    ¡°Also, have you considered the possibility of the old man faking his disability? Oftentimes, the most unlikely one is the killer.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I have more suspicion toward the woman on the first floor. She smiled at the host, meaning she wanted tomunicate something to the host. Host, can you still remember the curve of the woman¡¯s lips and the degree to which her mouth was open when she smiled at you? I¡¯ll help you analyze it from the perspective of psychology.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t...¡±

    As the interest of the viewers rose, so did the poprity of his livestream. Chen Ge looked at the busy chat log and sighed internally. He thought to himself,<i>These people are hopeless. Looks like I¡¯ll have to go out to look for more clues before I cane to any conclusion.</i>

    He ced his phone before him, adding, ¡°I did try to look around the building before starting the livestream. I discovered while most of the apartment¡¯s first and second floor has been fixed up, parts of the third floor have been left as they were four years ago. In a little bit, I will go up to conduct a closer examination; hopefully, we¡¯ll be able toe up with some useful clues.¡±

    ¡°The ce is kept like it was four years ago? That¡¯s kinda... sick.¡±

    ¡°The ghosts of the families have been lingering because the case hasn¡¯t been solved?¡±

    ¡°Investigating a haunted apartment at night? The host sure is insane!¡±

    ¡°Of course, the host is the operator of a Haunted House after all! Let me tell you,st time a bunch of us visited his Haunted House to demand reparation for his scary video, but we got our backsides handed to us instead. Two of the bravest among our group went in; one came out crying inconsbly, and the other fainted on the spot.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what happened to them? And what about those who are not as brave?¡±

    ¡°Have you lost your mind? Do you think the rest of us entered his Haunted House after we saw what happen?¡±

    ¡°That... You¡¯re right.¡±

    ¡°LOL!¡±mented He San.

    The chat hadpletely derailed, but Chen Ge didn¡¯t mind it that much. He pocketed his penknife, and with one hand holding the phone, the other holding the mallet, he walked to his room door.

    Learning from his previous lesson, Chen Ge squatted down to look at the shadows underneath the door and confirmed that there was no one standing on the other side, before lightly pushing the door open.

    After he closed and locked the door, Chen Ge yanked one of his hairs out to stick it into the keyhole. This way, if someone entered his room when he was not there, he would know because the hair would have been pushed further into the keyhole.

    After everything was prepared, Chen Ge walked to the stairwell.

    His steps were light to not activate the light. The light on his phone guiding his every step. As he climbed up the stairs, the walls on each side became noticeably darker in color, and there was an indescribable smell in the air.

    When he reached the third floor, Chen Ge turned on the shlight function on his phone. He leaned against the wall and focused.

    When he first identally walked up to the third floor, he had noticed a dark shadow sh before him. The shape of the shadow had looked like a human.

    <i>Be it a ghost or a man, I have to be careful. </i>The shlight revealed to Chen Ge the crime scene from four years ago. Looking at the scratch marks that seemed to embed themselves into the wall, Chen Ge¡¯s grip around the mallet tightened.

    Ping An Apartments had a unique architectural style. It only had one staircase, and it was on the right side of the building, giving the impression that the corridor leading to the left side was suspiciously long.

    As he walked down the corridor, he felt a chilliness tingle his spine. Even with his back to the wall, Chen Ge felt weirdly exposed.

    <i>If the starting point of the fire was the third floor, then all this wouldn¡¯t have been preserved, so the killer probably didn¡¯te up to the third floor at the time.</i>

    Chen Ge continued down the darkened corridor. The doors on his either side had been warped by fire, exposing singed and ruined rooms.

    Navigating the trash that littered the floor, Chen Ge scurried into the closest room that he could get into.

 Chapter 21

    <h4>Chapter 21: Party of More Than One?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The small room had a leak in the ceiling, and the windows were barred, causing damp to seep into the walls and a festering smell from the heavy moldy to fill the room. It was ufortable. Chen Ge walked into the room to take a closer look at the wooden nks that barred the windows. They looked surprisingly unworn, suggesting they were a recent addition.

    <i>This is just amon guest room. </i>The ruined furniture had been removed, and the room was barren; there was basically nothing in sight. <i>Then again, years have passed. Even if there was evidence, it wouldn¡¯t have been preserved for so long.</i>

    Chen Ge exited the room and continued down the darkened corridor. Most of the rooms were empty. The corridor was choked full of trash and abandoned paraphernalia, making it difficult for him to navigate.

    <i>A person¡¯s trash can often reflect their lifestyle and attitude; perhaps this litter will provide the clues that I need.</i>

    After setting a new goal, Chen Ge trudged through the rubbish in spite of the disgusting smell. About one hourter, he dide up with some interesting findings.

    <i>Why are there toy dolls? There are no children among the people I have seen, so who do these belong to? </i>Chen Ge spent another hour sifting through the trash, and he ended up with four ragdolls. Submerged underneath the sea of trash, the four ragdolls would not have captured Chen Ge¡¯s attention if not for the fact he was a toy design major.

    The four dolls had probably been left there for quite some time already, because they were covered with dirty stains, and mold had infested certain parts. The toys were so fragile that if Chen Ge was not careful, he could easily pull out clumps of dirty wool.

    Chen Ge studied them closely and realized even though the dolls were all of different types, they came from the same manufacturer.

    <i>Could it be that the toys were left behind by the ex-tenants of Ping An Apartments?</i>However, Chen Ge very soon vetoed this possibility. <i>The low possibility of a family with children moving into a run-down apartment like this aside, even if there was one, it was unlikely for one family to own four dolls at the same time; after all, they came from the same manufacturer. Furthermore, based on the design and stylings, these were manufactured several years ago.</i>

    The toy market updated constantly. Before he took over the Haunted House, Chen Ge had worked at a toypany, so he did know a thing or two about the toy market.

    <i>If these weren¡¯t left behind by the new tenants, then it¡¯s possible they belonged to the original tenants of Fu An Apartments, </i>Chen Ge spected. <i>The original owner of the apartment had two daughters, so if I¡¯m not mistaken, these should belong to them.</i>

    However, if that was true, another question needed answering. <i>This ce was almostpletely ruined by the fire, so how did these four dolls survive?</i>

    <i>Is it a coincidence or... did someone purposely keep them at a ce that would be safe from the fire? </i>Chen Ge felt like he was on the right track. <i>The only person who could that... is the killer themself! But why would the killer risk their life to protect these four dolls? Are these items of importance to them?</i>

    The zipper on the back of the doll was all rusted, so Chen Ge tore open the fabric directly. Among the cotton, he discovered a card. It fit perfectly inside his palm. It was a love letter. The action was so cheesy that Chen Ge cringed on the person¡¯s behalf. <i>Sticking love letter inside a doll? Goodness, that sure is cheesy!</i>

    If this was the murderer, then he was definitely a shy and reserved man. He did not have the courage to confess in person, so he gifted the girl the doll, hoping that she would discover the secret that was hidden within.

    Compelled by curiosity, Chen Ge tore open another two dolls. Each of them contained a card, and the content was almost simr to the first one.

    However, when he tore open thest doll, a chill ran down his spine.

    Instead of a lovetter, the cotton was filled with shredded pieces of paper, and if ced together, they all read¡ªGO TO HELL!

    Confession of love for some reason turned into curses. What happened in between, Chen Ge had no way of telling.

    <i>These should all have been left behind by the killer, so they are crucial evidence. </i>He picked out several paper pieces and shoved them in his pocket. As he was about to walk deeper into the house, the voice-activated light at the staircase suddenly came on!

    <i>Sh*t! Someone¡¯sing! </i>Desperate to escape, Chen Ge turned off the shlight on his phone, grabbed the dolls, and ran into the guest room that was closest to him. Holding his breath, Chen Ge hid behind the door and looked out at what was happening through the crack between the door and its frame.

    The sound of footsteps became clearer, and the conversation between a male and a female floated up the stairs.

    ¡°We have to move that thing out soon; we can¡¯t dy anymore.¡±

    ¡°The new tenant has been up to the third floor already. Thankfully, he turned back at the staircase or else he would have spotted me.¡±

    ¡°I know, there have been more and more new peopleing here recently; we have to deal with that thing as soon as we can.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡±

    ¡°Inform everyone, and tell them to be prepared. We¡¯ll dig it out tonight and bury it up the hills.¡±

    The person was carrying an old-fashioned oilmp, and with the light¡¯s help, Chen Ge managed to see that the two people talking were thendlord and the woman from the first floor.

    <i>Why would theye up to the third floor in the middle of the night?</i>

    Chen Ge pushed himself against the wall to ensure they would not see him.

    Not long after that, the tattoo guy and the fat man whom he had seen earlier all came up the stairs. They were all wrapped up in ck clothes and carried equipment like wires, a gunny sack, and cleavers.

    <i>What are they up to?</i>

    The small group stood in the corridor, and it felt like they were in the middle of an argument.

    The fat man, who was walking at the back, had his head drooped while he groused, ¡°Do we really have to do this? If we dig it out, our fingerprints will easily get left behind; things will be incredibly hard to exin then.¡±

    ¡°And you think it¡¯s easy to exin now?¡± Thendlord red at the fat man. ¡°Stopining and start moving.¡±

    ¡°I think we should call the cops.¡± The fat man stood where he was.

    The tattoo guy walked over to grip the man¡¯s cor, hissing into his face, ¡°Have you lost your mind? Do you want to die so badly? If we involve the police, we¡¯ll be their prime suspects! During the investigation, your hit-and-run and our illegal upation of the old man¡¯s property will all be exposed!¡±

    ¡°Honey, calm down.¡± The woman walked over to ce her hand on the tattoo guy¡¯s arm. ¡°We¡¯re all in the same boat, so instead of turning on each other, we¡¯d better get moving.¡±

    ¡°None of us have a clean record, and it was not easy for us to finally find ourselves afortableir. If any of you dare get any other ideas, you¡¯d better watch out.¡± Thendlord tossed the iron hammer in his hands to the fat man. ¡°You go and take the first crack.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Sweat covered the fat man¡¯s forehead immediately. His face nched as he dragged the mallet across the floor.

    As he continued to observe, the more Chen Ge felt something was wrong. <i>What are they nning to dig up?</i>

    The fat man walked to the deepest part of the staircase. He moved the trash to the side and, under the other tenants¡¯ careful scrutiny, parted the curtain that was originally hidden behind the mountain of trash.

    It was a fortified cement wall, and embedded inside the wall was a female body that was facing away from the group.

 Chapter 22

    <h4>Chapter 22: Murder by Midnight</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge mped his mouth to prevent himself from making a noise. When he saw the body, he immediately messaged He San. ¡°Call the police now!¡±

    There was no light in the staircase, and a door stood between them and Chen Ge, so the viewers had no idea what was happening. Then again, Chen Ge had no time for them at a moment like that. He leaned closer to the crack, with nary the courage to even blink.

    <i>The body is hidden inside the wall, and that¡¯s what they¡¯re trying to dig up, </i>Chen Ge thought to himself. He did not dare make any sudden movement. He was in a very vulnerable position; the few tenants were only several steps away from him. They would have spotted him if they turned around to walk into the room he was hiding in.

    ¡°Are you ying with sand at the beach? Put some muscle into it!¡± Thendlord cursed as he walked over to the body. Heid the gunny sack open on the ground and squatted down to clear away the cement around the body. Probably afraid that they might wake up the other tenants, their movements were light and didn¡¯t make any sound.

    The wall was pried open, and the cement dust fell all over the ce. Everyone was sweating profusely, but it was unclear whether it was a nervous sweat or sweat from the manualbor. They shared the work, but since this was the first time they had done something like this, everyone was still feeling a bit weirded out, which slowed down their progress considerably.

    Ten minutester, they finally managed to extricate the body from the wall and ced it inside the gunny sack.

    ¡°Fatty, you stay back to clean up the mess; the rest of us will take her up the hill to bury her.¡± Thendlord passed the hammer over as he gave the orders.

    ¡°I¡¯ming with you!¡± the rotund man said immediately. This whole exercise had drained him both physically and mentally; he didn¡¯t have the guts to be left all alone in the dark.

    ¡°Would you man up a little?¡± Thendlord turned to say to the only woman of the group, ¡°Then, Juan Er, you stay back to apany him; we¡¯ll meet up at the same ceter up on the hill.¡±

    Then he went down the stairs carrying the gunny sack with the tattooed man.

    His footsteps were alternatively heavy and light on ount of his limp. When he passed the room Chen Ge was hiding in, he suddenly stopped.

    ¡°Why is there so much cotton on the floor?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s heart was at his throat when he heard that question from thendlord. When he tore the dolls open, some shredded cotton and paper pieces had inadvertently fallen on the floor. At the time, it had been too dark for him to notice them, and now, it was toote for him to retrieve it.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably just rubbish. We¡¯ll deal with itter, this thing is heavy; let¡¯s deal with the more important matter first,¡± The tattooed guy who was behind him, urged. Thendlord nodded, and the two continued on down the corridor and the stairs.

    ¡°Fatty, don¡¯t just stand there, start working.¡± The woman and the fat man worked together to pick up all the trash and wiped away the blood stains that were left on the tools. Several minutester, they also went down the stairs hauling a hug sack.

    Their footsteps gradually disappeared. It was not until the third floor became totally quiet that Chen Ge dared to breathe. He was cautious as he leaned to look through the crack. The corridor was dark and empty. Everyone had left.

    <i>F*ck! That scared the crap out of me.</i>

    He waited for another three minutes. When he was sure they were noting back, Chen Ge inched out from behind the door and walked out on tip-toes. To prevent discovery, he did not use his the phone. He ced his hand on the wall and slowly found his way forward.

    <i>Based on their conversation, yes, those people aren¡¯t totally innocent, but the female body in the wall doesn¡¯t seem like it has anything to do with them.</i>

    If anything, they were a certain kind of unlucky. After seizing the old man¡¯s property, they were left with a body in the wall to be dealt with. The first reaction for any normal individual under such circumstances would have been to call the police, but since they each had a crime they were hiding from, they could not do that. In the end, they had no choice but to help the real murderer keep this a secret, and now they even had to help the murderer bury the evidence.

    <i>No wonder thendlord reminded me multiple times to not wander around the building after dark.</i>

    After Chen Ge¡¯s eyes got used to the darkness, his speed increased. He could not wait to get out of the building. Chen Ge decided to give up on his backpack and directly went down to the first floor.

    <i>F*ck!</i>

    The front door was locked, meaning he was trapped inside the building.

    <i>These people still remembered to lock the door even when they were going out to bury a body? </i>A twinge of fear curled up within Chen Ge¡¯s heart. <i>The windows on the first floor are all fixed with anti-theftting, and the ones on the third floor are all barred with wooden nks, so my only route of escape is through the windows on the second floor.</i>

    The longer he stayed inside the apartment, the more anxious he felt. Chen Ge clutched the mallet in his hand as he returned to the second floor. The corridor looked ominous in the dark like the gaping maw of a monster.

    <i>This is too quiet. </i>Chen Ge¡¯s room was next to thendlord¡¯s, which was at the deepest end of the corridor. He was tense, afraid that any of the room door would suddenly open. Holding his breath, Chen Ge slid silently down the corridor to his room.

    <i>Thankfully, there were no surprises. If I tie the bedspread together, it should be long enough for me to jump out the window and reach the first floor. </i>Chen Ge found his key and used his phone¡¯s torch to locate the keyhole. As he was about to stick the key in, his hand froze.

    <i>Where is the hair that I stuck in the keyhole?</i>

    His hair stood on end and fear swamped Chen Ge on all side. His limbs were frozen solid.

    <i>Someone has gone inside my room! They know I¡¯m not in my room!</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s breathing turned rapid; he felt like there was a piece of ice stuck in his lung.

    <i>When did they get in? After digging up the body? Or when they saw the cotton on the floor? </i>In reality, the answer was not that important. Chen Ge took several steps back, and he gradually calmed down, staring at the closed door of his room. <i>I can¡¯t go into the room; they¡¯re probably waiting inside to ambush me!</i>

    Chen Ge got used to the situation fast enough thanks to his powerful heart. He had to get out of that ce as fast as he could or else he would be in mortal danger. Chen Ge did not make any noise as he took further steps back. He knew clearly, other than the windows on the second floor, there was no other exit out of the apartment.

    Making as little noise as he could, Chen Ge retreated to the right most corner of the corridor, this was the ce was the farthest from his room.

    <i>These tenants are far more dangerous than I expected. Whether I¡¯ll be able to survive tonight or not all depends on this gamble! </i>Chen Ge gritted his teeth and raised his mallet to knock heavily on the door lock of the most right-hand side room.

    The curious silence of Ping An Apartments was shattered. Chen Ge mmed on the lock like he was crazy. Following the loud bangs, the individuals that he had no interest of seeing at all appeared.

    The door to room 208, the room that Chen Ge had rented, was shoved open. The tattooed guy and thendlord rushed out of it brandishing an iron hammer and a cleaver. They dashed at Chen Ge with scary expressions!

    <i>Please open!</i>

    The lock finally snapped under pressure, and without hesitation, Chen Ge kicked the room door open!

 Chapter 23

    <h4>Chapter 23: Real Killer</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The door mmed heavily on the wall as Chen Ge dashed into the room and yanked the window open.

    <i>F*ck! It¡¯s so high! </i>Standing at the window, the drop was at least a three to four meters. Hasty footsteps echoed louder and louder, meaning thendlord and the tattooed guy were closing in on him.

    Chen Ge did not have the luxury of time. He jumped out of the window, grabbing the sill by the ledge as one of his legs found purchase on the first-floor window¡¯s anti-theft steelting.

    ¡°He must have seen us move the body!¡±

    ¡°We mustn¡¯t let him get away!¡±

    Thendlord¡¯s ugly mug appeared at the door. shing the cleaver in the air, he hissed, ¡°You think you can escape?¡±

    Chen Ge did not dare hesitate and let go instantly. His arms were scratched, and his clothes was torn by theting as he slid down the wall. Chen Ge rolled as hended to reduce the impact. As he straightened himself, he grabbed the mallet off the floor and ran toward the gate.

    ¡°Quick, grab him!¡± thendlord roared as he lobbed the cleaver at Chen Ge. Chen Ge felt something fly past him. Looking at the cleaver that was stuck deep into the grass, he shivered in fear.

    <i>If I fall into the hands of these people, they¡¯ll definitely kill me!</i>

    The apartment¡¯s front door swung open then, and the fat man and the woman, who had been waiting on the first floor, gave chase after him, each holding hedge clippers in their hands.

    ¡°Bunch of crazies!¡± Chen Ge ran as fast as he could. He shot like an arrow to the gate. Stepping on the newly changed lock, he climbed up the rusted gate. The apartment building was surrounded by a rather dense forest. In the dark, with no light, he could not even see where he was going. However, with the bunch of homicidal crazies chasing after him, Chen Ge had no choice but to brave the possibility of getting lost and head into the forest.

    As he ran through the brush, the ray of shlights asionally cut through the darkness, and the cursing of thendlord and the tattooed guy came from behind him. Chen Ge did not even dare turn around; he only had one thought on his mind¡ªescape!

    His clothes were torn by the twigs and branches; his body was covered in mud and leaves. After fifteen minutes of full speed running, Chen Ge believed he had finally managed to outrun thendlord¡¯s group.

    He half-squatted inside a bush and saw the dim light that lit up some ce far away. His fingers snuck into the fresh soil, and he gasped greedily for air.

    <i>That was way too close! </i>When he was trapped inside the apartment, if he had made one wrong move, he would have died.

    <i>Jesus, the difficulty of this Trial Mission is too damn high! </i>The mission dispensed by the ck phone liked to toy with his life, and the worst thing was... this was happening to him in real life.

    Temporarily shaking off thendlord¡¯s group did not mean that he was safe. Chen Ge shrank into the bush, and he was still afraid that when he turned, he would suddenly see thendlord¡¯s group behind him with clippers and cleavers.

    When his heart rate returned to normal, Chen Ge slowly extricated himself from the bush. The sign of the shlights hadpletely disappeared. The forest was quiet; even the birds were not singing.

    <i>Which direction is out? </i>Chen Ge had to admit he waspletely lost. <i>Should I hide in here until dawn?</i>

    Chen Ge pulled out his phone and realized the livestream was still going on. The screen had been ck for more than one hour already. The chat log was filled with question marks. Even the more experienced viewers had no idea what was going on inside this curious livestream.

    He did not waste time to exin himself. He nced at the time and was about to click open the message that hade from He San when he suddenly heard the sound of leaves crunchinging from behind him.

    Chen Ge immediately stuck his phone back into his pocket, lest the light from the screen exposed him. Clutching the mallet tightly, he was so nervous that even his palms were sweating, and he stared in the direction where the sound hade from.

    Not long after that, a ray of dim light cut through the darkness.

    Just as Chen Ge was about to use his mallet, a familiar voice asked, ¡°Is someone there? Who is it?¡±

    <i>Wang Qi? Didn¡¯t he leave the apartment a long ago? Why is he here at the middle of the night? </i>Chen Ge thought to himself. Even though Chen Ge was curious, he understood curiosity killed the cat, so he stayed where he was.

    <i>Was I mistaken? Impossible... </i>Wang Qi waved his shlight around and paced around the area.

    <i>I mustn¡¯t let him see me; this person¡¯s problem is even bigger than the tenants of Ping An Apartments. </i>Chen Ge did not show himself; instead, he retreated further away from Wang Qi.

    After moving for a while, Chen Ge realized the hill was bing steeper. He seemed to have gone the wrong direction and wandered around to the other side of the hill.

    After exiting a thick bush, a secluded estate appeared before him. Surrounded by trees sat a very simple looking wooden house. There was a wooden sign tacked to the door, and as he wandered closer, he saw it read: ¡®Fire is a very dangerous thing in the forest, so be careful when using mes. Saving the environment starts with you, do not litter.¡¯

    <i>This looks like a resting house for the forest rangers. </i>He tried pushing the door, and it was not locked. As it creaked open, a weird smell drifted out from within.

    <i>What is it? </i>He did not dare turn on the shlight on his phone, only using the brightness of his screen.

    The wooden house was small, but it was filled with various everyday items; it looked more like andfill site.

    Chen Ge sniffed the air and walked toward the source of the weird smell. It was a bed. He flipped the wooden mattress up, and underneath, he saw clothes that had gone moldy.

    <i>A hoarder? </i>The discovery was even weirder than he had predicted. All the clothes were for a female, and they appeared worn and unwashed. Chen Ge pulled several articles of clothing out and realized they were of the same size; this meant that they probably all belonged to the same person.

    <i>The mud stuck to the clothes hasn¡¯t even dried yet, meaning they have been worn recently?</i>

    With the Mortician¡¯s Make-up skill, Chen Ge had gained a thorough understanding of human anatomy. As he used his fingers to measure the size of the clothes, the image of the female body that was embedded in the wall appeared in his mind.

    <i>The size matches perfectly; these clothes probably belonged to the woman inside the wall!</i>

    But why would a dead woman¡¯s clothes be hidden inside this wooden house? And why had they been worn several days ago?

    Chen Ge¡¯s heart started to race. He ced the clothes on the floor and realized there were some paper notes stuck to some of them. He picked them up for a closer look and realized they were all filled with promations like ¡®I love you.¡¯

    <i>This handwriting... </i>Chen Ge pulled out the notes from the dolls. Under close examination, the two looked ny percent simr.

    <i>The dolls were from five years ago, and these female clothes were obviously dumped here only several weeks ago. There are years apart between them, so why do they share so many simrities?</i>

    Same handwriting, same love notes: could the culprit for both cases have been the same person?

    Chen Ge picked up the clothes to throw them back under the bed. It was then that a phone with pink case fell from one of the pockets.

    <i>A phone?</i>

    Chen Ge picked it up. He realized that the phone was on the messages page; whoever was using the phone had been writing a message.

    <i>Save me?</i>

    A chill ran down Chen Ge¡¯s spine. He exited the page and looked through the message history. All of them were the same, and they only had two words¡ªSave me!

 Chapter 24

    <h4>Chapter 24: I Caught the Killer!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge looked through the sent dates of all the messages, and they were all one day apart and sent at midnight. This matched perfectly with what Wang Qi said, but it was also the detail that made Chen Ge shiver in terror.

    How could a body frozen inside a wall send a message punctually every night?

    Supernatural activity? If this was truly the work of a powerful specter, how was that group of tenants, who had disturbed the body, still alive?

    <i>Something is wrong. </i>Chen Ge lined up all the clues, and a thought dawned upon him. <i>The person who has been sending Wang Qi messages every night is the killer of his fianc¨¦, as well as the real killer responsible for the arson years ago.</i>

    <i>And I think I know that person is, </i>Chen Ge thought, standing inside the wooden house. <i>Wang Qi is thought a mad person by every tenant in the apartment, and thendlord chases him out every time he sees him. But more than that, he is the only person I saw tonight who isn¡¯t a tenant at the apartment. In spite of that, he appears often enough within the vicinity of the apartment; this means that his actual ce of amodation must be very close to the apartment.</i>

    <i>But the question is, when I was arguing with thendlord about the rental, he told me confidently that there is no other ce to live within several thousand meters. In other words, Wang Qi couldn¡¯t be living at another nearby apartment or hotel. In that case, this wooden house is probably where he lives when he¡¯s not out spreading those notices.</i>

    <i>If he¡¯s the resident of this wooden house, then many things can be exined. The pitiable man who wanders about every day, asking about his missing fianc¨¦, is probably his own fianc¨¦¡¯s killer!</i>

    Chen Ge had a hard time believing that he had chatted so amiably with a cold-blooded murderer and even attempted to share his sad history with the man. His swallowed deeply, and it was then that he felt fear. <i>This madman must have been through some trauma to have the need to collect the dead woman¡¯s clothes and even use the woman¡¯s phone to message himself every night. Perhaps there¡¯s another personality that lives inside his body thates out to take over his body after he falls asleep.</i>

    The more he thought about it, the more uneasy Chen Ge became. He looked through the phone to try toe up with more clues. <i>This phone should be covered with his fingerprints, so it is an important piece of evidence; I have to take good care of it.</i>

    As Chen Ge looked at the screen, perhaps it was the nervousness or perhaps it was something else, he saw a girl¡¯s figure appear on screen. She looked to be eighteen or neen and was wearing a blood-dyed school uniform.

    He rubbed his eyes to attempt to take a closer look when he felt a chill run up the back of his neck like something was brushing its hand along it; this made Chen Ge jump and turn back to look!

    The air in the wooden house froze, and Chen Ge¡¯s heart almost jumped out of its cage when he saw what was behind him. The door of the wooden house had been opened silently, and standing about two meters behind him was Wang Qi with his eyes bloodshot, raising an axe slowly up in the air.

    Time seemed to have stopped as the two men looked at each other, neither daring to move.

    ¡°So close...¡± Wang Qi¡¯s voice waspletely different from before; it seemed like the madness that was suppressed earlier had been unleashed. Chen Ge did not say anything in return, but his grip on the mallet tightened. He was feeling rather grateful toward the specter. If she had not shown up to warn him, his head would have been rolling on the floor.

    ¡°Such a waste.¡± Wang Qi took a step forward, and Chen Ge immediately held his mallet up in a guarded manner. ¡°Rx, you¡¯ve seen the stuff inside the phone?¡±

    Chen Ge did not know what the madman was up to, so he did not dare let his guard down.

    ¡°Actually, if you think about it, I haven¡¯t really lied to you.¡± The lethargy that Chen Ge saw earlier hadpletely disappeared. If anything, Wang Qi seemed to be in a very excited state. It felt like Chen Ge was dealing with a different personpared to the one he talked to that afternoon. ¡°When you first talked to me when you entered the apartment, I already told you my fianc¨¦ was hidden inside the apartment, did I not? See, I haven¡¯t lied to you, have I?¡±

    He used the blunt end of the axe to pick up the clothes his fianc¨¦ once wore. ¡°After all, it was me who personally sealed her up inside the wall.¡±

    Then Wang Qi¡¯s tone turned; his emotions raged like he was reminded of a traumatic event. He used the axe to split the clothes in two. ¡°I did nothing wrong; she¡¯s the one who made the mistake. She wanted to leave, so what could I do but try my best to make her stay?¡±

    Wang Qi blocked the door with the axe swaying in his hand. As he stared at the chopped fabric, he said, ¡°I didn¡¯t want to do it; you understand, right? I didn¡¯t mean it...¡±

    Regardless of what Wang Qi said, it was an undeniable fact that he had murdered more than one victim, so Chen Ge paid no heed to his exnation. With the mallet in his hand, Chen Ge slipped the dead woman¡¯s phone into his pocket. He zeroed in on the door, trying to find an opening to escape.

    ¡°I¡¯m a hated individual; everyone around me says so. No, even if they don¡¯t vocalize it, I know that¡¯s what they think; I can feel it.¡± Wang Qi seemed to have totally lost his mind. His mental state was fractured, and he seemed to have a habit of talking to himself. It was as if he had walked into a mental maze and could not find a way out.

    As Wang Qi was talking, Chen Ge slowly adjusted the angle that he was standing. He simted different escape scenarios in his mind, like using something else to distract the madman¡¯s attention, but those ideas were removed from his mind because the wooden house was ultimately too small for something like that.

    Wang Qi¡¯s voice became shriller as he continued, a veritable sign that he was breaking down.

    The longer he stayed there, the greater the danger it was for Chen Ge. He decided to make a move soon and stopped focusing on running simtions. Every muscle in his body tensed. Wang Qi sounded like he was on the verge of lose control as the axe iled dangerously in the air. Chen Ge caught an opening. He sprinted and knocked into Wang Qi with great momentum!

    One should not underestimate a cornered rabbit. This was probably the bravest decision Chen Ge had ever made in the past twenty years. When facing off against a serial killer, he acted even more rashly than the killer!

    In the dark, Wang Qi¡¯s reaction was one beat slower than Chen Ge¡¯s. He was unable to avoid Chen Ge¡¯s mallet, which was flying at his head.

    Bang!

    The mallet connected with skin and skull. Chen Ge felt something sticky on his hand, but he did not rx andunched another kick at Wang Qi¡¯s stomach. When the man doubled over, Chen Ge sted out the door!

    Chen Ge immediately raced into the forest. This time, he did manage to catch the direction he was running in. The trees became sparser and the ground smoother. However, he still had not escaped from danger. He knew someone was chasing after him; the wavering light and the sound of the branches being snapped was the best proof.

    Chen Ge did not dare to even stop to take a breather. It was not until he saw the cement road that the sound behind him slowly disappeared.

    ¡°Those people should have left already.¡± Chen Ge ran several hundred meters down the cement road before he heard the sound of police siren. He looked down the horizon and saw car lightsing down the road.

    ¡°I¡¯m saved!¡± He jumped up and down in the middle of the road. ¡°It was me who called the police! I caught the killer from four years ago!¡±

 Chapter 25

    <h4>Chapter 25: Unlocking a New Scenario</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Sitting on the wooden table were several used cotton swabs, a bottle of mineral water, and an unopened bun.

    The young officer sitting across the table put down his recorder and took out his phone to show Chen Ge a picture on it. ¡°Is he the man you saw?¡±

    Chen Ge took a look at the picture of several men walking out of a building together. The tallest among them had a tattoo of a peony on the back of his hand.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s him!¡±

    ¡°Peony represents wealth in Chinese culture and is amon tattoo among gamblers. This man¡¯s name is Zhang Peng; he¡¯s a gambler who is currently running from a debt of several hundred thousand RMB. He¡¯s involved in crimes like robbery and mugging.¡± The officer continued flipping through the pictures. ¡°Now, take a look at this.¡±

    This time, it was a picture that looked like it was taken from a traffic camera. After multiple zoom-ins, Chen Ge finally got a clear view of the driver. Sitting in the driver¡¯s seat was a frantic looking fat man; he looked around ny percent simr to the fat man Chen Ge saw in the apartment.

    ¡°Looks familiar.¡±

    ¡°With your description, we matched it to our traffic records database. The name of the driver in the picture is Feng Chunlei, an out-of-city man. He was responsible for a hit-and-run and driving under influence.¡± The young officer put aside his phone and rearranged the informationid before him. ¡°I believe I¡¯ve taken all the information I need from you, Mr. Chen, but temporarily, you cannot leave. In a minute, the people from the Main City¡¯s investigation team will need to get a more thorough statement from you. Hopefully, you¡¯ll be willing to cooperate with the investigation; after all, you¡¯re our only witness.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Chen Ge leaned down in bed, and his emotions began to calm down. Several hours ago, Western Jiujiang City¡¯s police station had received a call saying there was a murder going on at Ping An Apartments. The police mobilized immediately. They ran into Chen Ge on their way to Ping An Apartments. After some initial questions, the police separated into two teams.

    One went to follow Chen Ge back to the wooden house to detain Wang Qi, and the other went into the forest to capture Ping An Apartments¡¯ tenants. When Chen Ge returned to the wooden house, there was only a pool of blood on the floor; Wang Qi had already disappeared.

    After seeing the fresh blood and therge amount of clothing in the wooden house, they finally believed Chen Ge. They immediately called for the station¡¯s help to send more people to seal the mountain.

    Chen Ge, as the key witness, was given airtight protection. Initially, the police wanted to send him to the station, but toplete the mission given by the ck phone, Chen Ge insisted on staying. He told the police there was more evidence inside Ping An Apartments and insisted on having his statement taken at Ping An Apartments.

    So, with four officers, two inside and two outside the door protecting him, Chen Gey down in bed, waiting for the mission time to pass.

    The door was pushed open at 3 am. A middle-aged officer in his forties walked in. He removed his police cap and grabbed the bottle off the table to take several big gulps.

    ¡°Uncle Sanbao, that¡¯s mine.¡± Chen Ge sat up in bed when he saw the man. The officer¡¯s full name was Lee Sanbao, the deputy head of Western Jiujiang City¡¯s police station. Coincidentally, he was also the officer responsible for Chen Ge¡¯s parents¡¯ disappearance case. At the time, it was this Uncle Sanbao who had helped Chen Ge walk out from his depression.

    ¡°You cheeky little thing, haven¡¯t I told you to not refer to me as your Uncle Sanbao? It¡¯s Superintendent Lee or Inspector Lee.¡± Lee Sanbao put down the water bottle and scolded him with an irrepressible smile on his face. ¡°I¡¯ll let it slide this time since you¡¯ve done a wonderful good deed this time.¡±

    Chen Ge stood up to ask, ¡°They¡¯ve caught the man?¡±

    ¡°Of course, don¡¯t underestimate the people from the investigation team. They have not only captured Wang Qi but also the other people from the apartment. The only one missing is Zhang Peng.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great news!¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ve even found Wang Qi¡¯s fianc¨¦¡¯s body; it¡¯s being looked over by our forensic expert as we speak. In any case, if you have any questions, you¡¯d better ask them now because I¡¯ll need to leave to deal with other things soon.¡± The only reason Inspector Lee was there was to give Chen Ge the good news.

    ¡°Both Zhang Peng and Feng Chunlei are escaped criminals, but what about the other two?¡± Chen Ge did not hesitate and pose the question on his mind.

    ¡°The woman is Zhang Peng¡¯s wife. At most, she¡¯ll be guilty of harboring a fugitive. Thendlord, though, is a bit moreplicated. He was originally a care-taker but got too greedy and cooperated with the rest to seize the senior¡¯s property. However, he did not torture the senior. At least, we couldn¡¯t see any obvious wounds on the senior,¡± Inspector Lee answered as he put his cap back on. ¡°Why would you ask about that?¡±

    ¡°Just curious.¡± Chen Ge listened to He San and shed an honest smile. ¡°Although, I hear that aiding the police in capturing fugitives entitles one to some rewards, yes?¡±

    ¡°The banner and badge will be sent to you through mail when the case is closed, goodbye.¡±

    ¡°F*ck, wait!¡±

    The young officer who saw thisughed and said, ¡°Inspector Lee is just ying with you. If Wang Qi is confirmed to be the arsonist from four years ago, then the reward money that you could get is about 30,000 RMB. However, the reward will be given by the local government¡¯s treasury and not thew enforcement. Furthermore, the senior once offered 5,000 RMB as reward for any information rting to his family¡¯s death.¡±

    ¡°So, there¡¯s really a mary reward?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s lips curved into a smile when money was mentioned. ¡°I asked only for fun. Of course, the reason I did this was not for the money. To be able to contribute to the preservation of peace within this wonderful city of ours is the absolute honor.¡±

    The young officer smiled and did notment. He went back to his post of guarding the door.

    Later, after Chen Ge was questioned by the investigation team, the officers volunteered to send him home. However, toplete the mission, Chen Ge gave multiple excuses. He refused to budge from the apartment building. Either he needed to get his stuff from Room 408 or he wanted to follow the officer up to the third floor to see the crime scene for himself. In any case, he stayed there until 6 am. It was not until the Mission Completed notice appeared on the ck phone that he was willing to leave in the police car.

    Looking at the scenery that flew past him, Chen Ge did not feel at all tired. He snuck out the ck phone quietly and started to look through the mission reward.

    ¡°yer managed to reach the Mission Location on time, sessfully found the party responsible for the murder, and survived until dawn. Trial Mission, Murder by Midnight, sessful! A new scenario has been unlocked. yer can manipte the props inside the set freely using the interface avable on the phone!

    ¡°Trial Mission¡¯spletion rate more than Ny percent. Congrattions for unlocking this mission¡¯s hidden item¡ªWang Qi¡¯s Missing Person Notice.

    ¡°Wang Qi¡¯s Missing Person Notice (11 Malice Points): Every day I search for the love that I killed. I killed her again and again, but she always manages to find me. Every morning, when I open my eyes, her stuff will appear in bed with me. I¡¯ve already sealed her inside the wall, but she seemed to have snuck inside my heart.¡±

 Chapter 26

    <h4>Chapter 26: Boss, You¡¯re on TV</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Finishing the mission with apletion rate more than ny percent will get me an additional reward? </i>When Chen Ge realized he had managed to unlock the hidden item, he was admittedly quite excited, but that excitement soon dissipated when he read the item description. <i>Wang Qi¡¯s Missing Person Notice? Is the ck phone mistaken or something? This feels more like a curse than a reward!</i>

    After he finished reading the description, a new question popped up in his mind. <i>Although... what are these Malice Points?</i>

    Based on the wording, it seemed to refer to the quantification of Wang Qi¡¯s malice.

    <i>A living human being has no use for something like this, so does it mean that it¡¯s not meant to be used by a living individual?</i>

    Chen Ge turned to look at the shadow trailing behind him and shook his head to loosen the thought from his mind.

    The police car arrived at New Century Park at around 7 am. Chen Ge asked the guard for the spare key to the Haunted House. He was so exhausted after such an eventful night. When he reached the staff breakroom, he felt like his whole skeleton was about to shatter.

    He pulled out his phone and realized it had already died. The livestream, naturally, had already ended. He connected it to the charger and switched it on.

    The pedometer that came with his phone stated that he had ran for upwards of ten thousand steps that night. He was currently at the top of his friend list, and Xiao Wan even liked this particr achievement of his.

    <i>Looks like I need to find some time to go training. As long as I can run faster than others, everything should be fine.</i>

    Chen Ge tapped through his phone to look for He San¡¯s number. He sent a message in case his call woke up He San, who might have been sleeping. However, the young man called less than three seconds after the message was sent.

    ¡°My word! Boss, you¡¯re still alive?¡± He San¡¯s voice was so loud that Chen Ge felt a headacheing.

    ¡°Did you wish for me to die so badly? Also, be a little bit quieter or you¡¯re going to wake your roommates.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s sleeping? We were all watching your livestream, and we¡¯ve been waiting to hear from you!¡±

    Honestly, Chen Ge was quite touched when he heard this. He was about to ask He San to thank his friends for the support when he heard He San say, ¡°After the livestream cut off, they all said you¡¯re definitely dead and insisted on betting on it. Thank you, Boss, you¡¯ve helped pay for my meals for the rest of the week.¡±

    ¡°So ,my life is just worth several meals. Actually, you don¡¯t need to share this joy with me, really...¡± Chen Ge was speechless facing this overly honest young man.

    ¡°In any case, Boss, thank God you¡¯re still alive! I was so afraid to see you end up in ourbs. Did you know on our course the lecturer will snap the picture of the victim at his time of death so that we¡¯ll have a better idea of what a fresh corpse looks like...¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s more than enough information.¡± Chen Ge rubbed his temple and could feel his brain throbbing. ¡°One of major reasons I managed to survive is thanks to you, so if there¡¯s a chance, I¡¯ll also treat you to a meal.¡±

    After hanging up, Chen Ge clicked open his personal page on the video-sharing app and was surprised to discover his follower number had increased by more than 3,000 people.

    <i>Damn! Even a ck screen can get me followers? </i>He turned to look at his private message inbox. It was bursting with messages, but the majority of them were asking, ¡°Host, are you still alive?¡±

    <i>These people, it seems like they couldn¡¯t wait for me to die!</i>

    When Chen Ge realized the advertisement for his Haunted House was still there, and his livestream room and personal ount page had not been blocked, he sighed in relief. He tossed the phone to the side, buried his face in the pillow, and stretchedzily in bed.

    <i>It¡¯s time to power down. I believe I deserve a day off, time for bed.</i>

    After removing his clothes and closing his eyes, Chen Ge soon fell asleep.

    The sun rose, announcing the arrival of a new day. Sunlight filtered into the room, gilding the edge of the bed in gold.

    <strong>Bang!</strong>

    The gate of the Haunted House was thrown open, and rushed footsteps came up the stairs. A key was pushed into the lock, and the staff breakroom was rudely pushed open.

    The bed shook violently like there was an earthquake!

    Chen Ge was so spooked that he sprung up in bed. Before he could say anything, he saw something wave before his eyes, and then a shrill and excited voice entered his ears.

    ¡°Boss, you¡¯re on television!¡±

    Two secondster, Chen Ge finally returned to reality. Looking at Xiao Wan, who sat beside his pillow, and smelling the fresh scent that drifted from her hair, Chen Ge silently picked up theforter to cover his exposed upper body before saying, ¡°Slow down, what about me?¡±

    ¡°This is the first time someone I know in real life has been on television! Even though your face has been mosaicked, I could still recognize that it was you easily!¡±

    ¡°Mosaic?¡± Chen Ge still had not caught up to what Xu Wan was saying.

    ¡°Look.¡± Xu Wan passed her phone to Chen Ge. ¡°This is a snippet of the video I took from the inte. During the Jiujiang Morning News segment, there was ast-minute story.¡±

    Chen Ge clicked y, and the image on the screen showed Ping An Apartments.

    ¡°Justice always prevails! There has been a recent development to the arson that killed a family of four at Fu An Apartments four years ago. Thanks to the aid of a kind citizen,w enforcement has managed to detain the real culprit to answer for his crimes!¡±

    Following that was a simple interview attached with a picture of Chen Ge leaving the scene with a police officer. However, Chen Ge¡¯s face was heavily pixted. There was a caption exining that because one of the fugitives was still on the run, the identity of the kind citizen temporarily would not be revealed to protect said citizen¡¯s safety.

    ¡°Boss, that person is you, right? The clothes are the same as the ones you were wearing yesterday!¡±

    ¡°Do you mind letting me put on some clothes first?¡± Chen Ge shook his head slightly. After getting into his clothes, Chen Ge quickly exined everything that had happened at Ping An Apartmentsst night to Xu Wan. However, he did not reveal the real reason he was there; instead, he said that he was there to seek new inspiration to add to the Haunted House.

    After listening to his story, Xu Wan¡¯s expression had a huge change. ¡°Boss, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re tired then. Please take your much-needed rest, leave the visitors to me.¡±

    She said that out of kindness, but the moment Chen Ge heard that there were visitors, he felt instantly energized. ¡°How many are there?¡±

    ¡°More than yesterday.¡±

    ¡°Then, what are we waiting for? Help me get up!¡±

    Chen Ge had Xu Wan go wait at the entrance, and he rushed to the toilet to wash his face. Then, he pulled out the ck phone to click open the Murder by Midnight scenario.

    ¡°Murder by Midnight (Scream Factor 1 Star): This scenario has beenpleted. Feel free to go up to the third floor to take a look.

    ¡°Warning: The Haunted House is running out of internal space. New scenarios shall not be unlockable until further expansion!¡±

    Chen Ge initially thought he had to prepare many things, but he realized he had underestimated the ck phone. <i>When was the scenario set up?</i>

    After putting on his shoes, Chen Ge raced up to the third floor and pushed the door open. The world beyond the door hadpletely changed.

    The space stuffed with unwanted props had disappeared, and what awaited him was a long corridor that was dripping with an eerie air. The newly unlocked scenario was huge; it took up more than half of the third floor as well as parts of space from the second floor¡¯s Minghun and the first floor¡¯s Night of the Living Dead.

    <i>So, there are now three floors in total. First and second being the appetizer, and the scariest on the third. Howe it became so simr to Ping An Apartments?</i>

 Chapter 27

    <h4>Chapter 27: New Item</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge went in to familiarize himself with the new set. The structure andyout were simr to Ping An Apartments; the ce was living and breathing anxiety and pain. There were more than ten traps, and many rooms were connected to each other through hidden doors. Other than that, there were a few nasty hidden gems.

    <i>This ce feels authentic, and it¡¯s perfect for an escape the room type of game; I¡¯ll have the visitors try it out in a minute.</i>

    Standing there, the memories fromst night reappeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, and he shivered. He had the most authentic of experience. Due to the limitation of time, Chen Ge only took a cursory look-around before walking downstairs; after all, the customers were waiting.

    Before he even reached the front door, Chen Ge could hear Xu Wan. ¡°Please be patient, I¡¯m sure Boss ising. In the meantime, you can give the other attractions at the park a try.¡±

    ¡°Gal, is your boss really inside the Haunted House? We saw his livestreamst night; he was being chased by more than ten people through the woods! Did he really manage to escape such a dreadful situation?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re kidding? I was also one of the viewers; the host was trapped inside the apartment by a bunch of crazies, and they were closing in on him. I really find it hard to believe that he would be able to escape a trap like that.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure we were watching the same livestream? Last night, other than sounds, there was only a ck screen, how the hell did all of you manage toe up with so much information?¡±

    ¡°Regardless, we¡¯re here to see him; if not his living self, his dead body will suffice!¡±

    The sound of discussion had gotten so loud that it attracted the attention of Uncle Xu. Looking at the size of the crowd, he was feeling both d and worried. Since a particr point in time, this Haunted House that felt like it was crumbling suddenly became New Century Park¡¯s main attraction. Many people would start lining up early in the morning.

    Normally, that was definitely good news, but whenever he listened to the words that came out of the visitors¡¯ lips, his heart crunched with worry. <i>This cannot be allowed to continue. When I see Xiao Chen next, I¡¯ll need to have a talk with him. The young man is definitely hardworking, but I must not let him stray down the dark path!</i>

    The gate swung open, and Chen Ge walked out from the Haunted House. ¡°Sorry for making all of you wait. The Haunted House is now open. Ticket price is 20 RMB; children are not allowed.¡±

    The crowd became silent instantly. A few of his viewers rushed over to his side to bombard him with questions aboutst night. Chen Ge got his five minutes of fame. After that, order returned to the crowd, and they entered the Haunted House one after another.

    After the lesson from the previous time, Chen Ge did not dare put ck Friday on loop. Instead, he shuffled it into a long list of sound effects, allowing it to y at random. Chen Ge helped Xiao Wan with her make-up and had her stalk the people in the Minghun scenario while he stayed at the entrance to sell tickets.

    <i>The number of visitors is slowly climbing, and the reputation has increased a lot. If this continues, I¡¯ll reach the criteria to expand the Haunted House in a few days.</i>

    Chen Ge took out the ck phone to see how far he was from the target number of visitors he needed to unlock the expansion as well as to take a look at the refreshed daily mission.

    Easy Mission: If you want to provide the visitors a scary experience, then first you have to pay notice to the rhythm and tempo of their experience in the Haunted House. Setting off the scare too early might cause the visitors to lose their interest, so it is suggested that you install some sound detectors or surveince cameras in the Haunted House to keep track of your visitors¡¯ progress.

    Normal Mission: The key to a good scare is the element of surprise. For example, put up the scary source opposite from the spot that normally captures the visitors¡¯ eyes. Inspect the Haunted House to see whether all the props fit this criterion.

    Nightmare Mission: There are weird soundsing from the bathroom every midnight. If you want to know why, follow my directions.

    Daily Missions will refresh every day at midnight. User can only apply for one mission each day, and the reward corresponds to the difficulty of the mission.

    (Beware! The more difficult the mission, the more dangerous it¡¯ll be, so please choose carefully!)

    After taking a quick nce at the Daily Missions, Chen Ge first rejected the Nightmare Mission. After two sleepless nights, what he needed more than anything was rest. Furthermore, he already had one Mirror Monster to deal with; he really did not think he could deal with two monsters at the same time.

    <i>The rewards from Nightmare Missions are most applicable directly to myself, giving me some kind of skill, but the reward is proportional to the risk, so temporarily, that¡¯s ruled out. The Easy Mission requires a certain amount of money; at least until the mary reward from capturing Wang Qi arrives,pleting that sounds impossible.</i>

    Chen Ge considered the options and came to the conclusion that the Normal Mission was the one best avable. <i>Setting up the scares opposite from the focal point, this is not such a bad idea. Applying it into my Haunted House will definitely bring more ¡®surprises¡¯ to the visitors.</i>

    After epting the Normal Mission, Chen Ge leaned against the entrance as he kept up the channel ofmunication with Xu Wan.

    Noon arrived soon after, and the crowd gradually dissipated. Chen Ge called for Xu Wan toe out and told her to go for her lunch break as he went back to the Minghun set alone. He had personally designed this scenario and had put much thought into each scare. Since he had epted the Normal Mission, he spent the whole afternoon while Xu Wan was away on updating and improving the set.

    Normally, when the visitors entered the Haunted House, they would be mentally prepared, so it would not be easy to scare them then. Therefore, he needed something to distract their attention to make them think that something was about to jump out at them from that direction. While their attention was fully upied by the fake scare, the real scare would assault them from apletely unexpected direction.

    This Normal Mission was far easier than Chen Ge expected. In just a few hours, he received the alert on the ck phone that he had finished the mission.

    ¡°You¡¯vepleted the Normal Mission. There is more than one way to scare a person; the element of surprise is the key to a good scare. Congrattions, you have gained the mission reward¡ªDoctor Skull-Cracker¡¯s Uniform!

    ¡°Doctor Skull-Cracker¡¯s Uniform (Item- Attire): rk has worked at the mental hospital for over twenty years. Constant exposure to mental patients slowly distorted his view on life. One day, he decided to end everything once and for all. He believed the source of madness had seeped into his patients¡¯ brains, so the only solution was to crack their skulls open to remove the source directly! All in the name of saving his patients!¡±

    After ck Friday, Chen Ge had received another item. He clicked on the app, and the ck phone told him the item had been ced inside the props room.

    <i>The timing is just perfect. If Ibine this with the Murder by Midnight scenario, it should create a wonderful arrangement.</i>

    Several ideas cropped up in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. He grabbed a pen and paper to write them down when his phone rang.

    ¡°He San?¡± Chen Ge answered the call. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°Boss, do you still remember what I told youst time?¡± He San kept his voice lowered, as if afraid that someone might hear him. ¡°About how the seniors in our faculty have formed a warring party to take revenge for Senior Gao Ru Xue after you scared her to her tearsst time? They¡¯re already on their way! Boss, you¡¯d better be prepared!¡±

 Chapter 28

    <h4>Chapter 28: Different From What You Told Us</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°They¡¯reing right now?¡± Chen Ge actually did not mind He San¡¯s seniors at all.

    ¡°I¡¯m risking my life by giving you this information; the seniors are nning to shoot a funny video inside your Haunted House and put it on the inte to make Senior Gaough. I hope you won¡¯t be angry; after all, our course only has five sses and, in total, only seven girls. The one you made cried was the prettiest of them all, so Boss, take care!¡± He San hearding footsteps, so he quickly hung up.

    <i>Want to shoot a funny video at my Haunted House? </i>Chen Ge put his phone away, and a wicked grin appeared on his face. <i>They say medical students have bigger guts than most. They¡¯ll be the perfect guinea pigs to try out my new scenario, and we¡¯ll see who¡¯sughing then.</i>

    After lunch break, Chen Ge went downstairs to open the gate. The visitors who missed the chance to visit the Haunted House in the morning all rushed over. Some of them purposely came to pay the ce a visit after watching Chen Ge¡¯s videos and livestream online, some of them were dragged there by families or friends, while the rest were merely curious. Since the line for this attraction was so long, it had to be for something fun, right?

    ¡°Ticket price is 20 RMB. For the best effect, we suggest going in with a group of three.¡± Chen Ge maintained the order as hemunicated with Xu Wan. Both of them were busy beyond belief. Time flew, and when it was 3 pm, seven fashionable youths entered the New Century Park. They made a beeline for the Haunted House like they were on a mission.

    Each of them had different personality, and they did not talk much among themselves. They stood in the line for the Haunted House quietly, making the atmosphere be weirdly serious. Several minutester, when the earlier group of visitors came out holding each other for support, the tallest among them walked toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°Boss, six tickets.¡± His voice was deep and gravelly.

    Chen Ge raised his head to look at the young man and nced at the group behind him. ¡°But there are seven of you.¡±

    ¡°This one is just responsible for bringing us here.¡± The tall youth yanked He San to the front.

    ¡°Boss, I won¡¯t be going in.¡± He San was traumatized by his earlier experience in the Haunted House. After smiling at Chen Ge, he hurriedly squirreled back to the crowd.

    ¡°Since you¡¯re already here, how can I leave you all alone standing outside? Here, this is on the house.¡± Chen Ge passed the tall youth seven tickets. ¡°All of you are from Jiujiang Medical University, right? Nice to make your acquaintance.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s kindness and enthusiasm made the few medical students feel rather embarrassed.

    ¡°He San, since the boss has gifted you the ticket, it¡¯ll be wrong if you refuse his kindness.¡± The tall youth passed everyone their ticket, but what they did next confused the other visitors. They did not enter the Haunted House directly and seemed to congregate outside it for some kind of tactical meeting.

    ¡°He San and myself will be a group; Monkey and Lao Zhao will be a group; Lao Song, Xiao Hui, and Shi Ling, you three will be thest group. Everyone has memorized the tactics that were posted on the forum before we departed, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s all memorized.¡±

    ¡°Theyout of the set has been drawn out by He San already, and we¡¯re familiar with every trick the ce has to offer. Be prepared and show no trace of fear, we mustn¡¯t bring shame to Jiujiang Medical University!¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡±

    ¡°Alright, from now on, put yourself into the correct mental state and bring that adrenaline up! Increase the breathing rate¡ªimagine that you¡¯re going skydiving or bungee-jumping¡ªand make your every celle alive!¡±

    ¡°Indeed, be fierce, be tough! You¡¯re fiercer than the fiercest of ghosts! You¡¯re not afraid of anything!¡±

    ¡°Do you still remember the oath we made when we joined the university?¡±

    ¡°A straight heart leads a right path! Jiujiang Medical University, Speaker of the Living and the Dead!¡±

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go!¡±

    The speech was so inspiring that even the other visitors could not help but p and cheer. Even Chen Ge was internally impressed.

    He San and the tall youth departed from the group and said, ¡°The two of us will lead the way, wait for our good news.¡±

    The two stepped toward Chen Ge with fire and spirit.

    ¡°Just the two of you?¡±

    ¡°Your rules only allow a maximum of three people in one group, don¡¯t they?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s the rule for the Minghun scenario. Don¡¯t mind that little detail, all seven of you cane in all at once; I wouldn¡¯t want the rest of you to waste your time waiting for others.¡± Chen Ge led the group into the Haunted House that felt like it was colder than the temperature outside. ¡°First, all of you need to sign the disimer agreement on the table, waiving away your right to sue the Haunted House for any and all injuries, supposed or otherwise, before I can allow you to continue.¡±

    ¡°Wait, this wasn¡¯t herest time.¡± He San wandered over to the table.

    ¡°That¡¯s because you were my first customer to faint inside the attraction.¡± Chen Ge smiled kindly at the group of students. ¡°I believe He San will have already briefed all of you on the history of this ce, so I won¡¯t go into the details. All I want to give you is just a reminder and warning.¡±

    Chen Ge slowly pulled his smile away. He pulled out his phone to search for the morning news. ¡°The case at Ping An Apartments four years ago was finally solved, but there is still a killer on the loose. Of course, this has nothing to do with us, but when I came to work this morning, the door of the Haunted House was left open like someone had wandered in. Ping An Apartments and New Century Park are both on the western side of town; hopefully, it¡¯s just me overthinking.¡±

    In a few words, Chen Ge managed to nt the seed of doubt. He did not need to convince He San¡¯s group that was the truth; he merely needed to imnt the suggestion in their mind. After all, one¡¯s imagination could always conjure up things that were scarier than reality.

    After signing the agreement, Chen Ge led them up to the third floor and slowly pushed the door to the Murder by Midnight scenario open.

    A cold draft picked up from somewhere. Along the dark corridors, it felt like eyes were peeping at them from the half-open doors. The corridor led down to an endless staircase, and maze-like turns and corners. The ceiling was charred, and everywhere they turned, they could see scratches, like someone had desperately tried wing their way out.

    The fire of the group was half stifled the moment they saw this. Every single one of them froze on the spot, and they turned to look at He San in unison.

    ¡°Where¡¯s the Siheyuan?¡±

    ¡°This is different from what you told us.¡±

    ¡°I was training with weights the whole night to lift the coffin lid.¡±

    The eyes on He San almost made him cry. The honest young man could only turn to Chen Ge for help, but thetter ignored him. ¡°The theme of this scenario is called Murder by Midnight. Please do not take any pictures, and vitors will be personally responsible for the possible consequences. The exit is hidden within the set, and the time limit is twenty minutes. If you wish to surrender, just yell at the camera, and I wille get you.¡±

    After all of them entered the corridor, Chen Ge smiled at them and said in parting, ¡°Enjoy.¡±

 Chapter 29

    <h4>Chapter 29: Xiao Wan, Doctor Skull-cracker</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The door to the Murder by Midnight scenario closed with a click, and the crisp sound was like a shackle that tightened itself around the group of medical students¡¯ hearts.

    ¡°He San, based on your previous experience, what do you think our best course of action is?¡±

    ¡°Find the exit as soon as possible!¡±

    ...

    After locking the door, Chen Ge immediately gave Xiao Wan a call to tell her to meet him in the props room.

    ¡°Boss, what¡¯s the hurry? The visitors are already inside the building, aren¡¯t they?¡± Xu Wan, with her dead person make-up and the ghost bride¡¯s attire from the Minghun setting, was quite scary running about the building.

    ¡°I¡¯ve built a new scenario on the third floor; it¡¯s called Murder by Midnight. The group of medical students should be the perfect test subjects for the new scenario.¡± Chen Ge pushed open the door and used the ck phone to search for the things that he needed.

    ¡°But shouldn¡¯t the new scenario be inspected by the park management first before it can be used?¡± Xu Wan followed after him, holding the traditional skirt above her ankles lest she tripped on it. ¡°Boss, what are you looking for anyway?¡±

    ¡°The uniform that I personally made for you.¡±

    ¡°Uniform?¡±

    At the deepest corner of the room, Chen Ge spotted a familiar wooden box. He did not expect this box that had once housed the doll and the ck phone would suddenly materialize in the room. Chen Ge walked to the box and peered in. Sitting at the bottom were a weird-looking hammer, a blood-soaked robe, and a yellowed missing person notice.

    ¡°Found it.¡± Chen Ge pulled the robe up. Surprisingly, the robe that looked like a normal doctor¡¯s garb was incredibly heavy. That was probably due to the iron chains that were sewn into the fabric. The chains were carved with human faces in various degrees of torment.

    ¡°Boss, this is the uniform you made for me?¡± Xu Wan involuntarily took several steps back because she could smell the blood that seemed to radiate from the outfit. ¡°Can I not wear it?¡±

    ¡°Extras at Haunted House are actors, Xiao Wan. Think of the lessons your teachers at drama school once taught you. An actor has to be able to familiarize themself with any and all roles.¡± Chen Ge spread the robe out, and a faux-human skin mask fell out from between the folds. Chen Ge also did not know such a thing came with the outfit. He bent over to pick it up, and with just a quick nce, he shivered with chills.

    The mask was made from parts of male faces sewn together. It was rough-looking, but that only added to its scare factor.

    ¡°Boss, don¡¯t tell me I have to wear that as well.¡± Xu Wan had already retreated to the door.

    ¡°Just try it on, please. I want to see how it looks as a whole. I¡¯ll be the ghost next time, okay? Pretty please...¡± Chen Ge begged, but his tone sounded like the devil in fairy tales luringmon man to sin.

    ¡°Fine... I¡¯ll try it on.¡± Xu Wan finally relented. After epting the skin mask and the garb, she took off the ghost bride attire in front of Chen Ge and changed into her new uniform. She did not seem to mind that Chen Ge was standing right there. ¡°Boss, honestly, your definition of uniform might need to be updated.¡±

    The moment Xu Wan curled the chains around her body and put on the blood-soaked garb and the skin mask, a subtle change seemed to ur to her entire personality. A sense of cruelty, madness, and wickedness seemed toe over her.

    ¡°Not bad.¡± Chen Ge did not dare let Xu Wan near the mirror, afraid that she might scare herself. ¡°Come, carry this with you.¡±

    Chen Ge grabbed the weird-looking hammer from the box. The hammer was about forty centimeters long. Its handle looked like a human spine. At the end, there was a hook that could connect it to the chain inside the robe, and on both sides of the hammer head, there were needles used for bloodletting. ¡°It¡¯s hollow so not heavy, but if you feel it¡¯s too troublesome to run with it, you can drag it across the floor.¡±

    Xu Wan had already surrendered to Chen Ge¡¯s weird ideas. All she did was nod and epted the hammer.

    ¡°ce your phone inside your outer pocket and make sure your earpiece is working. Keep the channel open, and if there are no questions, it¡¯s time for us to start.¡±

    ¡°Us? Boss, you¡¯re entering the scenario as well?¡± Xu Wan turned to nce at Chen Ge. Her mellifluous voiceing out of the skin mask had a particrly chilling effect.

    ¡°Of course. Come on, let¡¯s get a move on. The visitors are probably bored waiting for us.¡±

    Chen Ge had Xu Wan enter the Murder by Midnight scenario while he returned to the main control room. In just several minutes, he found the shadows of the seven students on screen. Those seven were bigger cowards than Gao Ru Xue. Judging from the expressions on their faces, it was clear that they were nervous.

    <i>After so long, they¡¯re still wandering around the entrance? Looks like I¡¯ll need to give them a little push.</i>

    Chen Ge first switched the music to ck Friday before calling Xu Wan.

    ¡°Xiao Wan, this new scenario is huge; it not only involves the third floor but also parts of the first and second floor. There are staircases at the left and right end of the scenario, so don¡¯t wonder about aimlessly or you¡¯ll get lost. Now, listen to my orders carefully.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    After endingmunication with Xu Wan, Chen Ge applied some make-up to himself before entering the Murder by Midnight scenario through the workers¡¯ passageway. With the ck phone, he could control the more than ten props and traps around the set freely. With this little convenience alone, the yability of Murder by Midnight was far greater than Minghun and Night of the Living Dead.

    In the darkened floor, the bathtub in one of the rooms was pushed aside. After Chen Ge crawled out from it, he returned everything back to its original state.

    ¡°Xiao Wan, they¡¯re probably around Room 207. You go standby at the left staircase and await my next order.¡± After that, Chen Ge let his eyes get used to the darkness before he used the right staircase to get up to the third floor.

    The group of medical students still had no idea that ¡®danger¡¯ was approaching. They were still looking through the random props carefully, hoping to discover some useful clues.

    ¡°Other than the general dimness and low temperature, this Haunted House doesn¡¯t seem that scary, are we acting a bit too cautiously?¡± Monkey was the smallest and chattiest of the group. ¡°Brother Feng, I think we should split into two groups. That way, the search will go much faster. The progress will be too slow if we continue to stick together like this.¡±

    The tall youth was the Brother Feng whom Monkey referred to. After realizing all of their preparation had been nothing but a waste after entering the Murder by Midnight scenario, he was admittedly a bit unsettled. However, as time passed, he slowly realized the ce was not as scary as he imagined. ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea. Alright then, Monkey and Lao Song, the two of you take the two girls with you as you look through the rooms on the left; the three of us will search the rooms on the right.¡±

    ¡°We should have done that a long time ago. I don¡¯t understand what are you guys acting so scared for! This ce is like a parkpared to our school¡¯s morgue.¡± The one who spoke up was a girl, one of the few who had her hair dyed among the group. Different from Gao Ru Xue, she had a little make-up on her face, and she looked more like an adult than a student.

    ¡°Sister Hui, Brother Feng, we mustn¡¯t let our guard down; I still think we should stick together.¡± He San hid among the crowd with a perpetual pout. ¡°The boss of this Haunted House cannot be understood with normal logic. None of you have seen his livestream, but he¡¯s a madman with absolutely no regard for his life!¡±

 Chapter 30

    <h4>Chapter 30: The Eighth Person</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    He San tried his best to convince them, but his seniors were unfazed. They all believed that He San was exaggerating to hide his cowardice. After all, seeing is believing. They had been inside the Haunted House for a few minutes already, and there was nothing particrly scary about the ce... yet.

    ¡°Xiao San, if you¡¯re that afraid, you can hide behind your big sister.¡± The girl called Sister Hui took the frontline and walked into the room next to them alone. ¡°All the decor is the same; staying in bed watching crime drama would have been more interesting.¡±

    ¡°Then, we¡¯ll separate ording to the grouping mentioned earlier.¡± Monkey chased after Sister Hui adding, ¡°Let¡¯s find that exit soon, I¡¯m getting bored.¡±

    Lao Song and a quiet girl by the name of Shi Ling also made to follow, leaving He San, Brother Feng, and Lao Zhao in the corridor.

    ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m quite disappointed.¡± Lao Zhao was a rotund fellow with skin that was fairer than most girls¡¯. He was physically unhealthy to the point where he would start to sweat after taking few steps.

    ¡°Save your breath, and let¡¯s start moving.¡± With a wave, Brother Feng moved forward with Lao Zhao following behind.

    He San was soon left all alone in the corridor. He was the only one who maintained a state of high alert. <i>Something bad is bound to happen.</i>

    After taking two steps, he stopped. <i>Wait, the background music seems to have changed, but why does it sound so familiar?</i>

    Before he could focus on the sound, a crisp sound entered his ears. He tried to focus on it, but it quickly disappeared. The source of the sound seemed toe from further down the corridor.

    <i>Someone is chasing after us? </i>He San did not dare stay to find out and hurried to catch up to his seniors. ck Friday marked the real beginning of the Murder by Midnight scenario. The light in the space dimmed, the stuff that littered the corridors started to move on its own, and the sound of clinking chains came up from the staircases.

    ¡°I¡¯ve found something!¡± Sister Hui, who was in front, walked out of a room with a ragdoll in her hand. ¡°Look at this, this doll was sitting right in the middle of the room.¡±

    ¡°Senior, please don¡¯t randomly move the stuff in the Haunted House. Last time, the trap was activated after we moved the coffin.¡± He San was rying his experience, but no one paid him any attention. Ignored by all, he could only stand quietly at the outermost circle of the group, watching his senior walk down the figurative and literal dark path.

    ¡°There has to be something important about this doll. Could it be some kind of clue that it was sitting in the middle of the room?¡± Monkey held the doll up to the dim light. The doll looked like a little girl about five or six years old. She had no eyes, and her body was burnt. ¡°No eyes should represent darkness, and the burnt body represents the fire of hell?¡±

    ¡°Or could it be murder by arson?¡± Brother Feng pressed the doll with his hand. ¡°There¡¯s something other than cotton inside; it¡¯s something solid. Open it and see.¡±

    Monkey pulled down the zipper that was on the back of the doll. The doll was filled with shredded paper. He took out a random piece and the handwriting was scrawled and difficult to read, not unlike the handwriting of a child.

    ¡°What does it say?¡±

    Monkey, who was the only one who had read the paper, had his face overcast with gloom. He ced the paper in his palm and showed it to the group; there were only six words on it¡ªAll of you have to die!

    ¡°All the pieces say the same thing.¡±

    ¡°How deep is the hatred to do something like this?¡±

    ¡°Quickly put it back, it¡¯s making me ufortable.¡± Shi Ling, who had been quiet, seemed to be creeped out by the doll. She merely nced at it before retreating several steps back.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a doll, nothing to be afraid of, probably just a decoration used by the Haunted House.¡± Monkey pushed the paper back into the doll¡¯s body and flung the doll to the side, allowing it to fall to a random corner of the corridor. ¡°Let¡¯s move onto the next room.¡±

    However, the quiver in his voice betrayed the anxiety that he was feeling within.

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Xiao Hui raised her left hand, which was holding a crumpled piece of paper. ¡°Other than the doll, I also found this in the room earlier. Take a look, I believe it¡¯s a diary entry of some sort.¡±

    ¡°Let me see.¡± Lao Zhao grabbed the piece of paper and started to read. ¡°I feel like there¡¯s another person hiding in the house. I wonder if he is hiding under the bed or inside the cupboard. I¡¯ve told this to Mommy, Daddy, and my big sister, but they were too concerned with some other thing to pay me any attention. When the night fell, Daddy inspected all the doors and windows to make sure they were all locked before going to bed. I don¡¯t know why they¡¯re so afraid of the things outside when there¡¯s a person hiding inside the house.¡±

    ¡°F*ck! What is this?¡± Lao Zhao stopped reading halfway and shoved the paper back to Xiao Hui. ¡°This is all designed to disturb us; we mustn¡¯t fall for the trap.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m impressed by the attention to detail, but s, that won¡¯t be enough to scare me.¡± Xiao Hui ced the paper back where she found it before the group moved on to the next room. None of them realized the doll that they dropped on the floor suddenly twitched.

    ¡°Let¡¯s stop wasting time and find the exit.¡± After searching five rooms, they came up with nothing and ended at the right most end of the corridor.

    ¡°This floor is huge; there wouldn¡¯t be enough time for us to finish searching it within the time limit, so I feel like the chances of the exit being on the third floor are slim. If I were the Haunted House proprietor, I wouldn¡¯t have set up the entrance and the exit on the same floor,¡± Brother Feng analyzed logically.

    ¡°Are we going to split into groups again?¡±

    ¡°No! If we¡¯re not on the same floor, it¡¯ll just make it easier for us to be divided and conquered!¡± He San added, but the group decided in unison to ignore him.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been in here for more than ten minutes already, but nothing has happened. Yes, the atmosphere is not bad, but it¡¯s still far from being scary. I agree to separate into groups.¡± Lao Zhao wiped the sweat from his forehead before continuing. ¡°Don¡¯t forget our real purpose here. We have to leave the exit within the designated time to gain back the face that our university has lost!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right! We¡¯ll split up ording to the original n.¡±

    Just as the discussion was about to be concluded, He San finally stepped forth to say, ¡°Will you guys please listen to me?¡±

    He walked to the middle of the group and pointed down the corridor. ¡°Starting from a few minutes ago, I¡¯ve been hearing some weird sounding from the staircase; something is following behind us!¡±

    With this reminder from He San, the group did start to notice the sound of the chains that was getting clearer and clearer.

    ¡°The boss already said this scenario is called Murder by Midnight, so in that case, there has to be a murderer.¡± Lao Zhao patted He San on his shoulder, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t overthink it. The murderer has to be a character portrayed by the Haunted House worker, and since it¡¯s only an actor, what is there to be afraid of? Am I right?¡±

    The groupughed, thinking He San was being overly sensitive.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, your seniors are here to protect you, don¡¯t be afraid.¡± Lao Zhao pulled out his phone, adding, ¡°By the way, didn¡¯t we decide to shoot a short video inside the Haunted House and post it on the boss¡¯ ount page to make fun of him? I feel like this location is not bad. Everyone, remember to look at the camera.¡±

    He tilted the camera around to look for an angle that could capture everyone. His eyes nced at the screen, and when he was about to say something, an indescribable chill crawled up from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head!

    His fat body shook, and he threw his phone away with a trembling hand.

    ¡°Fatty! Have you lost your mind?¡±

    ¡°What are you doing? You scared me!¡±

    Lao Zhao did not speak. His eyes scanned everyone there, and with scattering teeth, he said, ¡°Count it yourself, including me, why are there eight of us?¡±

 Chapter 31

    <h4>Chapter 31: Who Is He?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Eight?¡±

    ¡°Stop kidding!¡±

    Lao Zhao¡¯s words made everyone¡¯s heart skip a beat. The light in the Murder by Midnight scenario was exceptionally weak. The group looked at each other, their bodies frozen.

    ¡°Where¡¯s the eighth person?¡±

    ¡°Stop panicking!¡± Brother Feng ordered as he pulled out his phone. As he was about to turn it on, the sound of chains from the other end of the corridor suddenly turned rapid.

    ¡°Someone ising!¡±

    As Brother Feng unlocked his phone, a bloodied monster turned the corner. The timing was perfect as if the monster already knew where they were.

    ¡°What is that?¡±

    Underneath the blood-soaked doctor¡¯s coat were chains that dragged themselves across the floor. The monster¡¯s head was lowered, and the hammer in ¡®his¡¯ hand was dripping with blood. Everyone started to worry, and only Brother Feng managed to keep his cool. Ignoring Chen Ge¡¯s earlier warning, he turned on the shlight inside the Haunted House.

    A ray of light shot through the long corridor, shining on the monster. The light attracted the monster¡¯s attention who turned ¡®his¡¯ head and red at them through the curtain of long hair.

    At that moment, the group of medical students had their hairs stand on end. The monster had a face that was sewn together with the features of several males. The stitches on the mask observable even through the distance!

    The monster seemed to be ultra-sensitive to light because when the light hit ¡®him¡¯, ¡®he¡¯ went berserk and started to charge down the corridor, waving the hammer crazily in the air!

    The chains knocked into the walls as the heavy footsteps echoed across the thin corridor. As the madman approached, it was unknown who was the first to move, but it created a domino effect, and the group of students scattered to run for their lives.

    Some hid inside the nearest room, others rushed down the stairs to hide on the second floor, while some shot down directly to the first floor.

    Everyone was spooked by the sudden appearance of the monster, and the approaching footsteps and clinking chains deeply unsettled them. Fight or flight was a natural human response to threats, and when the brain sensed this was a fight that they could not win, they naturally chose to escape and run.

    Xiao Hui was the one closest to the stairs. When the monster rushed at them, she was a bit at a loss, and the man beside her suddenly turned and ran down the stairs. Her brain frizzled by fear, she did not think twice and ran after the man. At the time, her instinct was merely to run away from the monster.

    The phone was left in a forsaken corner. The calmness of the group of students waspletely shattered, and screams tore through the corridor. The group dispersed like a flock of spooked chickens.

    When Xiao Hui followed the man before her to the first floor, the screaming from the third floor had not ceased. Then came a halting tempo to the sound of the chains, which sounded like the monster wasing down the stairs!

    Xiao Hui increased her pace and did not dare turn back. She kept close to the man in front of her, afraid that she might be left stranded. The creepy music and endless screams caused fear to breed within Xiao Hui¡¯s heart. The bigger the fear, the greater the need forpany.

    She chased after the shadow before her like her life depended on it. The shadow had be a rock for her to rely on inside the darkened Haunted House.

    <i>No matter what happens, at least we¡¯ll be able to look after each other. </i>Xiao Hui did not dare imagine what would happen if she was abandoned all alone inside the Haunted House. To prevent that from happening, she picked up pace again and reached out to grab the shirt of the person in front of her.

    The sound of chains drew closer. Xiao Hui was led by the person to the first floor, where he ran into one of the rooms to hide.

    <i>A dead-end? </i>Xiao Hui paused at the door while she saw the man jumped into the only furniture in the room, a cupboard to hide. At this juncture, Xiao Hui only had two options left: run on her own or hide inside the cupboard alongside the man.

    The sound of the chains dragging on the floor came closer, and she decided on thetter option. Once the cupboard door was closed, it seemed like she had entered a different world, one that was filled with darkness and silence. The only thing that made her feel safe was at least she had apanion with her.

    The make-up on her face had already been ruined. Holding her breath, Xiao Hui leaned toward the crack to try to take a look outside.

    She saw the chains glint in the dark. The doctor stopped at the door. ¡®He¡¯ used the hammer to knock on the door before walking into the room.

    Xiao Hui¡¯s heart was racing at an impossible pace. She bit on her finger and shrank deeper into the cupboard, her heart praying softly, <i>Please don¡¯te any closer, please don¡¯te any closer.</i>

    Her prayers were answered because the doctor only took a look around before ¡®he¡¯ left. Xiao Hui sighed in relief and lightly shook the arm of the person beside her. ¡°The monster doesn¡¯t seem to have spotted us. We¡¯ll wait for a little longer, and then we¡¯ll go meet up with the rest.¡±

    Only Xiao Hui¡¯s voice could be heard echoing inside the cramped cupboard. She waited for a response, but there was no answer. She frowned, feeling something was wrong as she turned to look at the man.

    The man hiding inside the cupboard with her had an average frame, neither thin nor fat.

    <i>Definitely not Monkey or Lao Zhao: Brother Feng is taller than this, and He San is smaller. </i>Xiao Hui called out cautiously, ¡°Lao Song?¡±

    There was still no answer. Xiao Hui¡¯s heart cracked with tension. <i>Wait a minute, Lao Zhao did say there was an eighth member among us...</i>

    Xiao Hui¡¯s blood started to chill, and her breath caught in her throat. Xiao Hui slowly pulled out the phone in her pocket. She turned her phone to the side, its cold light shing. In the sealedpartment, a deathly white andpletely unfamiliar face was staring right back at her.

    The phone slipped from her fingers, and after two seconds of absolute silence, an ear-splitting scream escaped from within the cupboard!

    Xiao Hui scooted back in an attempt to escape, but the cupboard was only so big. In her desperation, the back of her head knocked against the cupboard wall, and perhaps from the pain or perhaps due to the shock, this fashionable girl copsed to the floor of the cupboard with her head lolling to the side, appearing as if she was about to die in a few minutes.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I already warn you guys not to use your phones inside my Haunted House?¡± Chen Ge pushed the cupboard door open, picked up the phone from inside the cupboard, and shoved it inside Xiao Hui¡¯s pocket. Then he used his own to contact Xu Wan. ¡°Xiao Wan, temporarily make them stay away from the first floor.¡±

    After giving the order, he carried Xiao Hui into the bathroom. He opened the trap door in the bathtub and carried Xiao Hui out of the scenario using the worker¡¯s passageway.

    <i>We¡¯re definitelycking in physical help.</i>

    After cing a piece of warm towel on Xiao Hui¡¯s forehead, Chen Ge returned to the scenario.

    <i>One down, six to go. </i>Chen Ge closed the passageway and called Xu Wan on her phone. ¡°Xiao Wan, where are you now?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s someone hiding on the second floor in the first room on the left from the staircase. I¡¯ll go to force him out, and you¡¯ll be able to ambush him with a ¡®surprise¡¯ from the right exit.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Wan, you¡¯ve been corrupted.¡±

    ¡°Boss, you have no right to say that; this is all thanks to you.¡±

 Chapter 32

    <h4>Chapter 32: Dolls, Dolls, Dolls</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Monkey was stranded alone on the second floor, his eyes and ears staying alert to his surroundings. He had himself cooped up in the corner where he could get a good view of the staircase, so no matter which direction the murderer came from, he would be able to escape as fast as possible.

    The lights in the scenario seemed to have gotten dimmer, and the eerie music toyed with his heart. Monkey pinched himself to focus and took a deep breath. As a medical student, he knew pain and oxygen were the best elements to make one calm down rapidly.

    Monkey went through what happened earlier in his mind. <i>The timing of the monster¡¯s appearance is just too weird. He rushed at us right after Lao Zhao pointed out there was an eighth character hidden among us; that is too much of a coincidence.</i>

    <i>Everyone lost their cool when Lao Zhao made that stupid discovery. If Brother Feng was allowed to use his phone and looked through us carefully, the eighth person would have been readily exposed. That was our first mistake. After the monster rushed at us, if we stood our ground and didn¡¯t rush off like a bunch of headless chicken, we would have been fine. That was our second mistake.</i>

    Monkey sighed slightly. <i>Yes, the monster rushing at us was scary, but it should not have been enough to make us all run off like that. It all started when that first person ran. His action ruined our thoughts, so if I¡¯m not mistaken, that first runner was the eighth person. Earlier, I heard Xiao Hui¡¯s scream; she was the second to run and was closest to the mystery man, so this supports my hypothesis.</i>

    Monkeyughed self-deprecatingly. Then again, guessing it right and not being scared were too different thing. After all, being stranded all alone in this creepy Haunted House did still cause chills to rise up his spine. <i>The monster and the eighth person were working together, using psychological pressure to instill fear in us. If I¡¯m not mistaken, their n has always been to split us apart and then take us down one by one. Does the proprietor need to rely on such wicked psychological techniques just to scare someone?</i>

    Monkey was a brilliant student, but he was as big a coward as He San. In school, he did not dare enter the morgue unless apanied. <i>I need to ry this information to Brother Feng and the others as soon as possible.</i>

    He took out his phone to call Brother Feng, and when he saw the stuff that was reflected in the shining surface of his phone, he trembled all over. <i>Why is this ragdoll sitting on the stairs? Didn¡¯t I leave it on the third floor earlier?</i>

    Monkey did not dare utilize the shlight function, lest he attracted the unwanted attention of the monster. He turned his phone disy toward the wall, and he saw a tattered ragdoll was lying against it.

    <i>Did someone identally kick it downstairs in the earliermotion? </i>This was the only valid exnation Monkey coulde up with. The ragdoll was filled with paper pieces and not mechanical parts, so it could not have been remote-controlled. <i>It¡¯s quite scary lying there like that.</i>

    Other than its slightly worn state, there was not anything particrly scary about the doll, but as Monkey stared at it, he had this suspicious feeling that it was alive. Monkey could not understand it either, but for some reason, he saw a young girl looking pleadingly at him when he looked at the doll.

    <i>I must be hallucinating. Either way, I have to leave this Haunted House as soon as possible if I want to keep my sanity. </i>Monkey called Brother Feng, and a ringing sound came from the third floor.

    <i>He¡¯s still up on the third floor? Or did he lose his phone like Lao Zhao did? </i>The ringing sound of the phone weirdly enough made the Haunted House feel creepier. Monkey did not hang up but shoved his phone into his pocket and slowly climbed up the stairs to the third floor. Hiding on the staircase, he looked down the corridor, and as he expected, Brother Feng¡¯s phone was left ringing on the floor.

    <i>Both Brother Feng and Lao Zhao have left their phones; I¡¯ll have to try someone else.</i>Standing alone at the third-floor staircase, watching the doors on either side of the corridor swing open and shut due to the draft, Monkey was feeling weak in his knees.

    He scrolled down his contact list rapidly to look for other people¡¯s contact number when his phone vibrated and rang.

    <i>F*ck! What now! </i>It was a call from one of the group members. <i>Shi Ling? Why did she call me? Or is she also stranded alone like I am?</i>

    Like most young men, Monkey puffed his chest up with courage when he was interacting with a member of the opposite six. ¡°Shi Ling, did you get lost from everyone else? Where are you now? I¡¯lle get you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m trapped inside a room on the third floor; I didn¡¯t catch the room number, but pleasee and get me. This Haunted House is all sorts of wrong!¡± Shi Ling was normally a quiet and reserved girl. To be able to make her talk in such a drastic and hurried tone, something traumatic must have happened to her. She sounded like she was on the brink of tears.

    ¡°Slow down, how did you get trapped? None of the rooms have locks,¡± Monkey exined as he walked down the corridor, trying to locate the room Shi Ling was in through the sound of her voice.

    ¡°I also don¡¯t know. After I ran in to hide, I was unable to open it anymore! And this room is different from others; there are two dolls sitting right in the middle of the room, side by side!¡±

    ¡°Sitting?¡± The mention of dolls made Monkey¡¯s hair rise. If he did not see another doll in his life ever again, he would be satisfied.

    ¡°Pleasee and get me!¡± Shi Ling¡¯s voice turned shrill. From the sound of it, her sanity was fraying.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be there in a moment! Just get as far away from the dolls as you can for now and listen to what He San said earlier, do not touch anything in the room, I suspect those dolls...¡± Monkey halted mid-sentence because he suddenly realized that there was a ragdoll blocking his path, lying on the floor about half a meter away from his feet.

    Resisting the urge to scream and toss the phone at the doll, Monkey took cautious steps toward it.

    <i>Long hair with an expression of guilt and self-reparation, different from the doll on the staircase. This one looks much mature in age. </i>After he thought that, Monkey¡¯s eyes widened. <i>What on Earth... how did I manage to read so many emotions from a mere doll? Is this fear talking? Or are the dolls too authentic? For some reason, I feel like they¡¯re like human beings with real emotions.</i>

    <i>In any case, now is not the time to think about that. As long as the doll before me is not the one I saw on the stairs, then everything is fine. At least this proves that the dolls don¡¯t know how to move on their own. Things aren¡¯t as bad as I imagine. Focus, the most crucial mission now is to rescue Shi Ling.</i>

    Monkey shook his head violently, trying to steady his mind. He cheered himself on. <i>I¡¯m merely scaring myself. If the doll from the staircase was indeed following me, she would not have appeared in front of me, right? She should be behind me. This is merely a trick by the boss; there¡¯s no need to be afraid.</i>

    To convince himself, Monkey turned to look behind him. <i>See, there¡¯s nothing...</i>

    Monkey¡¯s eyes zeroed in on a spot about one meter behind him, and the rest of his sentence was forcefully cut off. There it was, a ragdoll lying quietly on the floor.

 Chapter 33

    <h4>Chapter 33: Correct Usage of the Missing Person Notice</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    If not for the fact he could barely control his limbs anymore, Monkey would probably have smacked himself on his lips. He swore to never curse himself inside a Haunted House anymore.

    Separated from his group, stranded with no help, standing in the middle of a darkened corridor, chased by a crazed murderer that could appear at any moment, and haunted by dolls that would be there wherever he turned to look... this kind of hellish Haunted House experience made Monkey¡¯s breathing unsteady. ¡°Why did it appear here? When did it follow me? How can it move?¡±

    His brain was swamped with endless questions, hisposure was brutally shattered, and his hands that held the phone were shaking violently.

    ¡°Monkey, where are you? Pleasee save me! I feel like the dolls in the room are looking at me! I swear to God, they are!¡± A maddened voice screamed through the phone; Shi Ling¡¯s situation was not looking so good either.

    ¡°Sister, I¡¯ll save you, but who is going to save me?¡± Monkey instinctively took a step back from the source of danger. He felt like something was tugging at his ankle, he turned to look at the doll that was originally a distance away from him was lying beside his shoe.

    The ck hair felt weirdly authentic, and the burned face was turned upwards. The facial features werepletely ruined, but it gave a peculiar feeling. <i>It¡¯s smiling!</i>

    Monkey could not exin why this thought would appear in his mind, and honestly, he did not to understand why; the things that he had experienced in the past ten minutes were about to break his sanity.

    He bit on his lips and nudged his feet, trying to leave. Perhaps it was fear or perhaps he had been standing for far too long, but the muscles on his calves shrank, and a shot of pain tore through his heart. <i>F*ck! Cramps!</i>

    Monkey toppled to the ground. He had given up on his dignity. Clutching his legs, he screamed, ¡°Is someone there? I quit! I quit! Help me, please!¡±

    Chen Ge and Xu Wan were stuck on the first floor at the time, hauling Lao Song, who was scared dumb, out of the scenario through the workers¡¯ passageway when they heard the blood-curdling scream from the third floor. Safety was their first priority, so neither of them dared dawdle and ran up to the third floor.

    After they entered the corridor, Chen Ge saw Monkey rolling on the floor. He had Xiao Wan retreat, and he walked over to the young man with his shlight on. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I quit! I quit forever, please let me go.¡±

    One could say that Monkey was a changed man. Chen Ge did not promise anything but squatted down to press on Monkey¡¯s knees. ¡°Exert force and try to straighten your knees.¡±

    As he helped Monkey ease his pain, Chen Ge nced around the area; he was confused. <i>Neither Xiao Wan nor myself were even close to this ce, so why did this fe get so scared?</i>

    Other than the two ragdolls on the floor, there was nothing out of ce. Thus, Chen Ge asked, ¡°Brother, what spooked you so?¡±

    ¡°Do you even need to ask?¡± Monkey¡¯s eyes were red, and like a scorned woman, he grumbled, ¡°These two ragdolls were chasing after me; you were controlling them, weren¡¯t you? You sick bastard!¡±

    ¡°These two ragdolls were chasing after you?¡± Chen Ge paused. He did not tell Monkey the truth lest he scarred the young man¡¯s mind forever. ¡°In any case, let me get you out first.¡±

    ¡°Wait, there¡¯s another person trapped on this floor. She¡¯s gone almost mad, please save her as well.¡± Monkey took out his phone to contact Shi Ling. When Monkey was not paying attention, Chen Ge picked up both of the dolls and held them in his palm. The dolls were small and could not be called exquisite; they were more like hand-made dolls produced in children¡¯s arts and crafts sses.

    <i>These two managed to scare an adult until his leg cramped up? </i>Chen Ge used his finger to poke one of the dolls¡¯ faces. For some reason, he managed to feel a sense of reluctance from the doll at having her cheek poked but being powerless to stop it. <i>Interesting...</i>

    Following Shi Ling¡¯s scream for help, Chen Ge and Monkey managed to locate the room she was trapped in and opened the door from the outside.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be scared, we¡¯ll get you out now.¡±

    The girl paid Chen Ge no heed. She was quivering at the corner of the room, her lips quivering as she stammered senselessly, ¡°The dolls are looking at me! No matter where I hide, their eyes keep following me!¡±

    ¡°More dolls?¡± Chen Ge looked toward the center of the room where two slightlyrger dollsy side by side.

    ¡°They were sitting up earlier, I swear!¡± Shi Ling¡¯s teary eyes were filled with fear.

    ¡°I know, they¡¯re all... parts of the Haunted House¡¯s tricks.¡± Chen Ge tried consoling the girl before walking to the dolls. One of them had a sewn beard while the other was wearing an apron over her normal clothes.

    <i>Based on these details, these two should be the father and mother. </i>He ced the dolls he had picked up earlier on the floor, and the four did look like a family.

    <i>This matches the number of victims at Ping An Apartments arson perfectly, and this Murder by Midnight scenario is inspired by Ping An Apartments, so could these four dolls actually represent the actual victims?</i>

    As that thought entered Chen Ge¡¯s mind, he felt the ck phone in his pocket vibrate. He pulled it out to take a look; there was new message.

    ¡°Specters¡¯ Favored. Congrattions for triggering the sole Hidden Mission inside the Murder by Midnight scenario! The spirits still have some unfinished business in the mortal world. Help them fulfil their wish, and they would be helpful allies.¡±

    <i>Sole Hidden Mission? The scenario unlocked by the ck phonees with Hidden Missions? </i>This was a huge discovery for Chen Ge <i>The unfinished business of the spirits from Ping An Apartments had to do with Wang Qi. Detaining him so that he would be punished by thew should resolve that business already, no?</i>

    Chen Ge held Shi Ling and Monkey as he led them downstairs, but his mind was contemting the Hidden Mission. After they exited the workers¡¯ passageway, Chen Ge did not return to the scenario immediately but rushed to the Props Room alone. He picked out Wang Qi¡¯s missing person notice from the bottom of the box.

    <i>This thing could be useful to the victims. </i>With an idea in his mind, Chen Ge returned to the room on the third floor where Shi Ling had been trapped in earlier.

    As he crossed the threshold, Chen Ge spotted something weird.

    The three dolls that represented the parents and elder sister were lying tly on the floor, but the smallest doll was lying with her face down near the door like she was in the middle of escaping. Chen Ge picked the doll up, and upon closer inspection, he had this curious sensation that the doll was ying dead, afraid of being discovered. For some reason, instead of feeling scared, he found it quite cute and charming. <i>The victims¡¯ spirits are probably inside these dolls.</i>

    Closing the door behind him, Chen Ge sat down at the middle of the room.

    ¡°In that case, perhaps we can have a little talk.¡±

 Chapter 34

    <h4>Chapter 34: Goodwill</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge sat alone in the dark room, talking to himself, while the four dolls sat before him. The scene was weird to say the least. Thankfully, there was no one else there to observe.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how or why you¡¯ve appeared inside my Haunted House, and I¡¯m not sure how to refer to any of you, but there¡¯s one thing I can guarantee¡ªI mean none of you any harm.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s voice echoed in the room. Looking at the four dolls before him, a contradictory feeling rose in his heart. On one hand he wished there was a response to confirm his suspicion, but on the other, he was afraid that the dolls would suddenly move to do something dangerous.

    Several secondster, Chen Ge felt like he was overthinking and decided to switch his way of thinking. ¡°The Murder by Midnight scenario is based off of the arson four years ago at Fu An Apartments, and the four of you should be the victims of that case.¡±

    Probably hitting a sore spot, Chen Ge could feel the temperature in the room dropping. The door was suddenly locked behind him, and the furniture around him rattled slightly.

    ¡°But the case has been solved! The madman who ruined your lives and hurt you has been captured and is awaiting thew¡¯s judgement!¡± Chen Ge was slightly unhinged by this sudden development. He pulled out his phone to find the morning news on the inte. ¡°Look, see, it¡¯s on the news, and the person who caught him is me!¡±

    Chen Ge knew the four dolls¡¯ unfinished business had plenty to do with Wang Qi, so he wanted to use the video as proof that he was the one who had captured him to cate the dolls, but it was not working as well as he nned.

    The atmosphere in the room turned increasingly chilly. Chen Ge was panicking, but he had no better idea; the inability tomunicate between the two parties was his biggest hurdle. Theck of results unsettled Chen Ge, but he did not n to give up so easily. This Haunted House was everything he had. If he allowed the dolls free reign of the ce, there would be too many unknown elements; if some huge idents happened in the future, he would lose everything.

    ¡°Calm down! I¡¯m here to help!¡± The dolls were not paying Chen Ge any attention. No matter how loud he screamed, it was pointless.

    ¡°I guess this is my final option.¡± Chen Ge pulled out Wang Qi¡¯s missing person notice from his pocket. The yellowed piece of paper was dirtied with some blood stains, but beyond that, there was nothing particrly special about it. However, weirdly enough, when Chen Ge pulled out the notice, the noisiness in the room settled, and the atmosphere was not as intense as before. It was as if the hands that were strangling his neck were slowly rxing.

    ¡°All you wanted was this?¡± The effect of the notice was better than Chen Ge expected. He ced the paper in the middle of the four dolls, and when the dolls¡¯ bodies touched the yellowed paper, the missing person notice started to struggle like it was fluttering in a raging wind.

    The scene that happened before his eyes were definitely inexplicable. The room did not have any draft, but the notice and the four dolls were swaying like crazy. Chen Ge studied this closely. Several minutester, a human face seemed to appear on the missing person notice; it looked suspiciously like Wang Qi. Before Chen Ge could take a closer look, the notice was torn apart. The pieces snuck into all four of the dolls¡¯ bodies, and the room returned to its usual quietness.

    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡±

    The ck phone in his pocket vibrated. Chen Ge took it out to find a new message.

    ¡°You¡¯vepleted the Hidden Mission inside the Murder by Midnight scenario! Increase the affection of specters by one. Obtained the goodwill of the victims¡¯ lingering spirits from Ping An Apartment. They will help you clean up all the trash every day to keep the Murder by Midnight scenario at its peak.¡±

    Looking at the message on the phone, Chen Ge stood where he was for a long time before he said to no one in particr, ¡°And thatpletes the sole Hidden Mission?¡±

    His mind tried to cote all the information he had gathered so far. <i>Finishing a Trial Mission with apletion rate higher than ny percent will reward me a Hidden Item, and the Hidden Item will be the key topleting the scenario¡¯s Hidden Mission! In other words, if I want to haveplete mastery of the unlocked scenarios of the Haunted House in the future, I¡¯ll need to finish the respective Trial Mission with a more than ny percentpletion rate.</i>

    Thinking back, if he had just survived the night at Ping An Apartment without being a busybody, he would havepleted the Trial Mission as well, but he wouldn¡¯t have gotten the Hidden Item.

    <i>This thing is evil. This kind of set-up is just asking the yer to walk into as many traps as he can. </i>Chen Ge searched through the ck phone, attempting to figure out more information. The first thing he clicked was the ¡®My Team of Ghosts and Ghouls¡¯ tab, and to his disappointment, it was still empty.

    <i>The mission notice states that I¡¯ve gained the goodwill of the victims¡¯ lingering spirit from Ping An Apartment, but there¡¯s no update to the window. Is it because they haven¡¯t agreed to help mepletely or can lingering spirits not be counted as ghosts nor ghouls, so they don¡¯t show up on the list?</i>

    Chen Ge had no clue. He clicked into the ¡®My Item Storage¡¯ and realized Wang Qi¡¯s Missing Person Notice was still there, but the Malice Points attached to it were now zero.

    <i>What are these Malice Points? And why did the lingering spirits tear it up to feed on it?</i>

    The door to the hidden world was slowly opening. Chen Ge had no clue whether this information was useful or not, but hemitted it all to memory. He rubbed the sweat on his forehead and stood up from the floor. <i>Even though I couldn¡¯tmunicate with the lingering spirits, they¡¯ll help up clean up the scenario. Conclusively speaking, it¡¯s still more advantages than disadvantages.</i>

    Maintaining the scenario was a troublesome and tiring thing, and the appearance of the lingering spirits saved Chen Ge plenty of time, money, and effort. Looking at the four dolls on the floor, thest vestige of fear in Chen Ge¡¯s heart slowly disappeared. <i>Hiring the ghosts to help out at my Haunted House isn¡¯t such a ridiculous idea after all.</i>

    He walked to the door and turned around with concern. The dolls that represented the parents and the sister were sitting where they were, but the smallest doll was copsed on the floor, leaning on her side. She was acting secretively, like she was preparing to sneak out again.

    Chen Ge sighed, looking at this, and he realized not all ghosts in the world were evil and cruel. For example, this smallest doll was like a kitten that was curious about the world, easily intrigued but a coward at her core.

    ¡°Little girl, stop running about. Be careful or you¡¯ll get stepped on.¡±

    Chen Ge left after that. After helping the lingering spirits from Ping An Apartments with their wish, he had a deeper understanding of the ck phone.<i>The unlockable scenarios on the phone probably aren¡¯t just to help me scare people. Each scenario has its own story and plot with its own reason and development. In a way, unlocking the scenarios is helping these homeless souls find a ce to call home.</i>

    After turning off the shlight, Chen Ge walked down the darkened corridor alone. After he was far enough gone, ensuring no human or ghost could hear him anymore, his lips curved involuntarily upwards to reveal a foxlike grin. ¡°These are natural experts at scaring people, and they don¡¯t need sry, won¡¯tin about tiredness, or act out of emotions; they are the perfect employees!¡±

    With a bright future awaiting him, Chen Ge felt reenergized and was ready to scare the shit out of his hapless victims.

    ¡°It has dragged on for too long already; it¡¯s time to end this. There are three people left inside the Haunted House, let me think... Who shall be my first victim?¡±

 Chapter 35

    <h4>Chapter 35: Shattered Mirror</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Why is it suddenly so quiet?¡± He San turned to look at Lao Zhao. ¡°Shall we go take a look?¡±

    ¡°If our enemies don¡¯t move, we don¡¯t move. We¡¯ll go out when we hear screams and start the investigation in the opposite direction; this way we¡¯ll avoid the scary traps,¡± Lao Zhao said shamelessly.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that selling out our ssmates?¡±

    ¡°No, that is appreciating their noble sacrifice. We¡¯ll be using the time they give us to find the exit and achieve victory.¡± Lao Zhao was as round as a ball. He stood behind He San, but the young man¡¯s small figure could barely cover up half of Lao Zhao¡¯s body.

    ¡°Then, how long should we hide in here? What if we¡¯re the only two left in the Haunted House?¡± He San turned to look at his senior behind him. For some reason, he felt his senior was merely using him as a human shield.

    ¡°We¡¯ve checked all the rooms on the second floor and most of the rooms on the third floor, so the exit has to be on the first floor. In other words, we¡¯re inches away from victory.¡± Lao Zhao patted He San encouragingly on his shoulder. ¡°Chin up, don¡¯t give up now when we¡¯re at the gate of victory.¡±

    ¡°Even at a time like this, you¡¯re still calm enough to feed me such crap?¡± He San pouted. He had many grievances to voice, but he did not know how to. He was supposed to only lead his seniors to New Century Park, so why was he there inside the Haunted House?

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so pessimistic.¡± Lao Zhao counted on his fingers. ¡°We heard Monkey and Xiao Hui¡¯s screams earlier, so both of them have probably been led out of this ce already. Minus the eighth person, we still have five students from our school inside this Haunted House. The probability of the murderer hunting us is two in five, which is smaller than three in five, so don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll only need to wait.¡±

    ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll do it your way.¡± Squatting at the door, He San leaned to peer out the crack. He felt like there was an additional something in the darkened corridor. He rubbed his eyes and took a closer look in the same direction. There was a worn ragdoll lying on the floor.

    <i>What¡¯s wrong with my eyes? Was there a doll on the floor to begin with? But that¡¯s impossible. During the ten minutes I¡¯ve hiding here, I¡¯ve kept my eyes on the corridor outside. </i>He San pped himself lightly on the cheeks before turning to look out of the crack again. The doll was still there, but it had moved closer to the door.

    <i>It can move on its own? Am I imagining things from nervousness? </i>He San shook his head before peering out the crack again.

    This time, the doll had disappeared.

    <i>This is weird...</i>

    ...

    At the first floor¡¯s workers¡¯ passageway, Chen Ge put on the Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s garb after he had Xu Wan leave to take care of the few students outside. He was going to catch the rest personally.

    Wearing the blood-soaked doctor¡¯s coat, curling the iron chains that were carved with human faces on his body, gripping the hammer, and putting on the human skin mask, be it from height or presence, Chen Ge¡¯s Doctor Skull-cracker was more intimidating than Xiao Wan¡¯s.

    <i>These youths want to fight an extended battle with me? </i>The chains clinked viciously with his every step. It might have sounded eerie, but the greatest weakness was that it would give his location away. Chen Ge roamed the scenario for about five minutes but could not find anyone.

    ¡°Boss, I can¡¯t spot them on the cameras. They should be hiding inside the many rooms; you¡¯ll need to check them one by one.¡± Xu Wan¡¯s voice came into his ear. ¡°Speaking of which, I suggest we install surveince camera in every corner of the Haunted House. Now, with only cameras on the intersecting corridors, there are too many blind spots.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll think about that when we have the money.¡± Chen Ge used his mallet to push the door of each room open. When he reached a corner on the second floor, he spotted a doll leaning against one of the doors.

    ¡°Little girl, why are you here, leaning against this room door for no reason?¡± Chen Ge scratched his chin with the mallet, and the truth soon dawned on him. ¡°I know, you¡¯re telling me there¡¯s someone hiding inside this room, right?¡±

    Pretending like he did not notice anything, Chen Ge walked away from the door. When he was about ten meters away, Chen Ge picked up the chains that dragged along the floor and leaned against wall to silently move toward the door.

    Utilizing the blind spot, he half-squatted and peered in through the crack of the door.

    ...

    Inside the room, He San and Lao Zhao were squeezed behind the door with their palms over their mouths.

    ¡°The sound of chains has disappeared; the murderer should have wandered off already.¡± Lao Zhao¡¯s face was pale beyond belief, but he made sure his tone sounded calm to maintain his dignity as the senior. ¡°Actually, I¡¯m not one bit scared. Based on my analysis, since the murderer just came up from the first floor, he won¡¯t be returning to it anytime soon; this is our chance!¡±

    He used plenty of energy to push himself off the floor. ¡°Now is the perfect time for us to go to the first floor. We¡¯ll be able to avoid the killer and achieve victory. Xiao San, you take a look out the door. If the murderer has wandered off already, we¡¯ll move out instantly.¡±

    He San felt like Lao Zhao was making some sense. He did not argue and leaned against the door to look out the crack. He felt something like warm breath blowing on his face. What He San saw this time was different from before. There was no darkened corridor or creepy doll but bloodshot eyes staring back at him from the other side of the crack!

    ¡°What the f*ck!¡±

    He San felt like his soul almost left his body. He copsed to the floor dramatically and shuffled away from the door. This spooked Lao Zhao as well. ¡°What? What did you see?¡±

    The answer that Lao Zhao got was the door knob being twisted open. The old door was slowly pushed open, and a bloodied shadow radiating evil and resentment hovered at the door. Seeing this, Lao Zhao kept retreating even though his back was already firmly pressed to the wall.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t lean so hard against the wall, what if there¡¯s someone inside it?¡± Chen Ge silently poked his hand into the pocket and pressed the prop option that was avable on the ck phone.

    Lao Zhao was so scared that his fatty body was shaking all over. Before he understood what Chen Ge meant by that sentence, something suddenly poked into his back. He turned to look back over his shoulder instinctively, and the wallpaper behind him had opened on both sides to reveal an expressionless woman who was embedded inside the wall!

    His brain went nk, and something akin to his breath left Lao Zhao¡¯s body. He fell to the floor butt-first, and his eyes rolled back in his head.

    ¡°Your experience is now officially over, let me get you out.¡± As Chen Ge said so, there was suddenly the sound of a mirror shatteringing from the third floor, which was closely followed by Brother Feng¡¯s scream.

    ¡°Sh*t!¡± Chen Ge called for Xiao Wan toe get He San and Lao Zhao while he raced upstairs. Following the voice, Chen Ge found Brother Feng inside one of the rooms, waving a wooden chair before him like he was in the middle of fighting some unknown force.

    He pulled down his mask and waited until Brother Feng tired himself out and slid to the floor before he walked into the room.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Chen Ge gingerly pulled the wooden chair away from Brother Feng and tossed it to the side. Brother Feng was in a highly unstable state. His eyes were filled with such fear that Chen Ge worried the young man was going into shock. ¡°Did youe across some weird things?¡±

 Chapter 36

    <h4>Chapter 36: Danger</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Several secondster, after Brother Feng caught his breath, he raised his finger and pointed toward the toilet weakly. ¡°Mirror...¡±

    The word, which could not have been moremon, caused Chen Ge¡¯s expression to shift. After cing Brother Feng on the bed, he walked into the toilet. The mirror on the wall had been shattered, and the ss pieces littered the floor.

    Earlier, after He San¡¯s fainting incident, Chen Ge had used ck cloth to cover up all the mirrors in the Haunted House. There had been no ident since then, and with the unlocking of a new scenario, he should have been more alert, but he had not been. He was partly responsible for this ident.

    For any entertainment establishment, once it wasbelled with the rumor of being a safety hazard, business would definitely be difficult, and Chen Ge was acutely aware of that scary fact. He picked up one of the pieces of the floor, and looking at his reflection inside it, he promised, ¡°I need to deal with this thing as soon as possible!¡±

    Like human beings, ghosts also had the separation of good and evil. The monster in the mirror was definitely evil; Chen Ge was sure of that. It was naturally aggressive and was probably hiding some horrible secret. He San¡¯s fainting spell and Brother Feng¡¯s incident raised the rm within Chen Ge, making him feel pressured.

    Covering the mirrors with ck cloth was not a permanent solution. The thing inside the mirror was fast bing a blockage for the Haunted House¡¯s expansion. Other than the broken mirror, there was nothing else out of ce inside the toilet. Chen Ge took a cursory look of the room before leaving.

    With the hammer in his grip, he sat down beside Brother Feng. ¡°Do you mind telling what happened earlier?¡±

    After a few minutes of rest, Brother Feng¡¯s breathing finally stabilized; however, his face was still startlingly pale. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be to exin it.¡±

    ¡°No worries, just tell me whatever you remember.¡± Chen Ge studied Brother Feng quietly. This young man was different from He San, who fainted directly; his mental tolerance was obviously higher than He San¡¯s, an observation supported by the fact that at least he showed resistance.

    Brother Feng tried to sit up in bed, the fear still circling in his eyes. ¡°At the time, I was chased by one of your workers, so I ran into this room to hide. Initially, everything was fine, butter, I started to hear someone calling my name.¡±

    ¡°Someone was calling your actual name?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that; it¡¯s more like I felt like I was being summoned.¡± Brother Feng scratched his head. ¡°The source of the sound was inside this room, and it took me a long time before I was able to find the source.¡±

    At this point, the fear in his eyes deepened. ¡°The voice came from the mirror inside the toilet. It was saying something, but I couldn¡¯t really understand it. All I know is it had something to do with me.¡±

    ¡°And then?¡± Chen Ge memorized every word that came out of Brother Feng¡¯s lips; this would be valuable information when he dealt with the mirror monster.

    ¡°And then I stood in front of the mirror, trying to understand what was really happening. I tried to remove the mirror from the wall, but when my hands touched it, the voice beside my ears suddenly picked up. My consciousness started to waver, and for some reason, the reflection of myself in the mirror started to shift.¡± Brother Feng¡¯s eyes kept ncing at the toilet, afraid that some monster might jump out of it at any moment. ¡°I stood in front of the mirror, but the reflection in the mirror wasn¡¯t me. Normally, I would be afraid, but what happened next still sends shivers down my spine when I think of it.¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    Brother Feng said seriously, ¡°At the time, I didn¡¯t feel any fear or apprehension. It was like everything couldn¡¯t have been more normal. I started to lean toward the mirror, and when my face was close to the surface, I could see the face of the other me also leaning close. The face that stared at me was mine, but for some reason, it felt very unfamiliar. If you want me to point out why, I can¡¯t really tell you, but it¡¯s just a feeling that the face that stared back at me wasn¡¯t mine. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see my hands rising even though my brain didn¡¯t register such amand. My hands pressed against the surface of the mirror like I was trying to crawl into it or... that¡¯s not right, it felt more like I was trapped inside the mirror, and I was trying to crawl out of it.¡±

    During the Nightmare Mission, Chen Ge had gone through the same thing. Looking through the recording on his video, his body was indeed slowly leaning against the mirror. ¡°Then, how did you remove yourself from this situation?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s also thanks to the mirror.¡± This answer surprised Chen Ge. ¡°At the time, it really felt like my body was no longer under my control until I saw a ragdoll lying behind me through the reflection inside the mirror.¡±

    ¡°A ragdoll?¡±

    ¡°Yes, simr to the dolls I saw lying around the other rooms. It¡¯s the size of an open palm and had a sewn beard on its face.¡± Brother Feng used his hands to measure out the size for Chen Ge. ¡°The sudden appearance of the doll caused my brain to scream with rm, and fear spread through my body like wildfire. There was only one thought on my mind then¡ªescape. However, the body refused to listen to mymand; the mind and the body started fighting.¡±

    Brother Feng described it in a cid tone, but Chen Ge could imagine how dangerous it was.

    ¡°After that, I heard He San¡¯s screaming up from the second floor. That seemed to do the trick and break the spell.¡± The fear in Brother Feng¡¯s eyes had dissipated slightly. ¡°I was so scared that my first instinct was to grab the nearest wooden chair to swing at the mirror. Your Haunted House is so scary and atmospheric that Ipletely forgot I was inside a park attraction.¡±

    At this point, Brother Feng suddenly remembered something and smiled apologetically at Chen Ge. ¡°Everything I told you is the truth; there¡¯s no exaggeration or anything. I will pay the recement fee for the mirror in full.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary; I¡¯m just d that you¡¯re safe.¡± Chen Ge stood up, and his eyes wandered about the room. ¡°By the way, where is the doll that you saw now?¡±

    Brother Feng hesitated before answering. ¡°I seem to remember kicking it under the bed. That¡¯s also part of your props, right? I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Chen Ge squatted down and pulled out the doll with a dusty footprint on it out from under the bed. He patted the dust off its body and said, ¡°You should thank this doll; it was he who saved you.¡±

    ¡°The doll saved me? If you say so... Thank you, so can I go now?¡± Brother Feng inched subconsciously backward, and his face paled considerably. He could feel the odd presence surrounding this Haunted House¡¯s proprietor, but since Chen Ge dide to save him, he forced out a polite thank you.

    ¡°If I told you that everything that you experienced earlier wasn¡¯t part of the Haunted House¡¯s props or special effects and was all real, would you believe me?¡±

    Wearing the blood-soaked outfit, cradling the tattered doll, Chen Ge tilted his head to the side as he posed this question to the young man.

    The poor Brother Feng, who was about 190 centimeters tall, was curled up like a little girl at the corner of the bed and answered with a toneced with helplessness, ¡°I don¡¯t know, you tell me, should I believe it or not?¡±

 Chapter 37

    <h4>Chapter 37: Expansion</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Brother Feng curled up even more. Looking at Chen Ge, who stood in the middle of the room, he could envision the man killing people and cutting up body parts just to add to the authenticity of his Haunted House. He started to fear for his life.

    ¡°Look at you, all serious. I¡¯m just kidding.¡± Chen Ge was quite disappointed. He asked that question because he spotted something unique in Brother Feng. With a little push from the doll, Brother Feng managed to break free from the mirror monster¡¯s control and even fought back. His constitution was stronger than most and could have been a valuable ally.

    This was what Chen Ge admired about the young man. If possible, Chen Ge wished to befriend him and asked for his help to deal with supernatural events like the spirit inside the mirror. That was Chen Ge¡¯s intention, s Brother Feng was far too distraught to catch the hidden meaning.

    <i>Looks like I can only depend on myself, </i>Chen Ge thought to himself as he locked the door to the Murder by Midnight scenario. When he helped Brother Feng go down the stairs, the ck phone in his pocket vibrated. Chen Ge jumped from shock. He quickly pulled out the phone afraid that it might be some bad news.

    ¡°Number of Monthly Visitors surpassed 100. Reputation is now 60 percent positive. Congrattions for fulfilling the rules for expansion!

    ¡°Warning: Each expansion of the Haunted House will award you with a mysterious reward (After three expansions, the Haunted House will upgrade to a Maze of Terror)!¡±

    <i>I can expand so soon? </i>Expansion was a good thing, but temporarily, that was not part of Chen Ge¡¯s n. The most crucial thing was still removing the stuff inside the mirror.

    After exiting the Haunted House, the sun shone gloriously on the steps. The students from Jiujiang Medical University were collectively copsed in front of the Haunted House. They were either holding their heads in their palms or hugging their legs. Some had tears staining their make-up while others looked aimlessly up at the sky. The asional twitching on their faces was the only sign that they were still alive for some.

    Chen Ge felt a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. However, the devastation this time was much greater than before. In just a mere forty minutes, the group of spirited youths had experienced such a drastic change; it was near miraculous.

    The surrounding visitors were mumbling and pointing among themselves, but Chen Ge did not think too much of it. After all, if it wasn¡¯t exciting, how could it be called a House of Horrors?

    He dropped Brother Feng to the ground,pleting the collection; the whole ¡®happy family¡¯ was finally together again.

    ¡°Xiao Chen! Come here.¡± The gathering crowd once again attracted Uncle Xu¡¯s attention. The middle-aged man had on an expression that said ¡®what am I going to do with you¡¯ when he saw Chen Ge. ¡°Exin yourself, what is it this time? You already scared someone until he faintedst time, and this time you toppled seven in one go! Are you that insistent on getting our park on the headlines?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes darted around, and he coughed drily. ¡°They came to experience the Haunted House, and what I did was present to them the best service, so how is this my fault? Furthermore, I can promise I had zero physical contact with them, which you can check on the security footage. Everything is all within the required rules of operating a Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°Stop acting dumb. If that¡¯s the case, how do you exin the bump on the back of her head?¡± Uncle Xu surreptitiously pointed at the back of Xiao Hui¡¯s head, afraid that he might identally scare the poor girl, and he kept his voice to a whisper.

    ¡°Uncle Xu, I swear, I¡¯mpletely innocent on that count. I was running ahead, and she pulled on my shirt as she ran behind me. I crawled into the cupboard to hide, and she wanted to follow me. All I did was lie there quietly; it was she who turned on the shlight to shine on me. It almost blinded my eyes, but before I could say anything, she knocked herself on the wall of the cupboard. See, I¡¯m also a victim here.¡± Chen Ge described the ¡®truth¡¯ with only a slight variation.

    ¡°In other words, you¡¯re the one who has suffered?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that obvious?¡±

    ¡°Stop treating this like such a joke. Be more careful and attentive in future, and make sure this doesn¡¯t happen again,¡± Uncle Xu advised him with a sigh. ¡°What if you cause an ident? Or your client happens to be someone unreasonable? It¡¯ll greatly influence your Haunted House¡¯s future.¡±

    ¡°I know, I know. Is there any more kind advice?¡± Chen Ge didn¡¯t directly retort, but he grumbled internally, <i>If there is really someone unreasonable, I¡¯ll just give them the love letter. We¡¯ll see who¡¯s more unreasonable then.</i>

    Uncle Xu stared at Chen Ge and knew perfectly well that his words would not be heeded. He sighed to himself and continued several secondster. ¡°Xiao Chen, I know it¡¯s not required for you to listen to me, but certain things have to be said now that your parents are no longer here.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m listening.¡±

    ¡°This morning, Xu Wan said you were on television, iming that the key witness who helped solve the arson case four years ago is you.¡± Uncle Xu did not look one bit happy.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Why would you go to a haunted housete at night? Do you know how dangerous that is? Those are murderers!¡± Uncle Xu did not leave Chen Ge any openings to counter. ¡°If you¡¯re in need of money, there are many other methods rather than going for this reward money. I can help you cover the utility bills you owe the park management for now. You¡¯re still young, be careful not to stray from the righteous path.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Uncle Xu, I know what I¡¯m doing.¡±

    ¡°I hope so. In that case, if there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯ll be leaving. Quickly get those people off the floor. It reflects badly on the park letting them lie like that on the floor.¡± As Uncle Xu turned to leave, Chen Ge stopped him. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Uncle Xu, I really do have a favor to ask,¡± Chen Ge said shyly. ¡°Can you please lend me 5,000 RMB? I n to install cameras in every corner of the Haunted House. I¡¯ll pay you back when the reward money arrives.¡±

    After He San and Brother Feng¡¯s ¡®idents¡¯, Chen Ge was indeed worried. There were too many blind spots inside the Haunted House.

    ¡°You still want to invest in the Haunted House?¡± Uncle Xu stopped moving. ¡°Xiao Chen, I can lend you the money, but I¡¯ll be honest with you, this park of ours is on itsst legs; investing here is no different from throwing money into the sea.¡±

    He led Chen Ge to a shaded area before exining, ¡°This park has been around for eleven years already; its main attractions are all outdated. Nowadays, people want virtual reality, fashion, and creativity; we¡¯re none of those things. To put it simply, we¡¯re at the edge of being filtered out. Other than the Haunted House, the number of visitors for every single attraction in the park is on a steady decline.¡±

    ¡°I know that.¡± Chen Ge had already nned to work on his Haunted House, and increasing security was a definite first step.

    ¡°What do you know?¡± Uncle Xu turned off the walkie-talkie. ¡°Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s Virtual Reality Futuristic Carnival is close to itspletion date. It will be one of the few fourth-gen amusement parks we have in this country. When it¡¯s open, it¡¯ll naturally be the go-to attraction of the city. Tell me, how are we going topete with that? Now, every member of the park from the highest management to the lowest cleaners are slowing down as they figure out a way out for themselves. You¡¯re the only one left dumb enough to keep charging ahead.¡±

 Chapter 38

    <h4>Chapter 38: Underground Parking Lot</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Uncle Xu was sincerely looking out for Chen Ge, so he did not hide anything; heid out everything on the table. ¡°Now, do you still want to invest in the Haunted House?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m still willing to give it a try. After all, that new park isn¡¯tpleted yet, so we still have a chance.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s secret weapon was the ck phone, but of course, he could not tell anyone that.

    ¡°You¡¯re such a bright kid normally, so why are you so stubborn when ites to crucial matters? Do you not see the eroding flow of time? I¡¯ve worked here for ten years already, so I also wish for this ce to stay, but we have to surrender to reality.¡±

    Uncle Xu pointed at the few attractions that were already foreclosed around them. ¡°Do you know why they are all closed? Not because they did not pass the safety inspection as the rumors say, but because once they¡¯re turned on, they start to burn money. Having one or two visitors is not enough to break even. Imagine, when New Century Park was open, the ce was crowded, our parking lot was not enough to support the crowd, so we had to rent the parking space from the nearby shops. The situation only got better after the new underground parking lot was built. But in thest three years, even during the height of holiday fever, the underground parking lot has never been needed. In fact, the number of visitors has been constantly dropping, and we¡¯ve reached a new low this year.¡±

    ¡°Uncle Xu, wait a minute, you said the underground parking lot hasn¡¯t been needed since three years ago, meaning the parking lot hasn¡¯t been used since then? Does this mean it¡¯s currently abandoned?¡± Chen Ge had a glow in his eyes that made Uncle Xu ufortable.

    ¡°Yes, when New Century Park was first open, there were cars and people everywhere. You would need to line up for at least two hours for any attraction. That was the time of our prime; s, we¡¯re now slowly being forgotten by the city.¡± Thinking about the past, Uncle Xu could not help but sigh. ¡°However, that¡¯s nothing to be sad about; after all, we were lucky enough to once enjoy a time of glory, right?¡±

    ¡°Uncle Xu, if one wished to rent the park¡¯s underground parking lot, how much would it cost?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Uncle Xu was confused by Chen Ge¡¯s sudden question. ¡°Why would you ask that?¡±

    A n was forming in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. Now, he had found the ideal space to expand his Haunted House. ¡°I want to reuse the parking lot. ording to what you said, it¡¯s currently in a half-abandoned state, so why not let me use it?¡±

    ¡°Have you lost your mind? Why do you want to rent that ce? To rear bats?¡± Uncle Xu really feared that this young man had lost his mind.

    Since the park management would eventually catch on to what he was doing, Chen Ge did not consider lying about it. ¡°I want to expand the Haunted House. With my current financial situation, the underground parking lot is perfect. The rent won¡¯t be that high, and the underground environment is a perfect match for a Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°Kid, what¡¯s wrong with you today? A three-story Haunted House is not enough for you to worry about? Do you know howrge the underground parking lot is? Even if the management is willing to rent it to you, when you finish setting up the ce, the park will already be closed.¡± Uncle Xu shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid, you had better focus on your work.¡±

    ¡°Uncle Xu, I¡¯m serious.¡±

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯m joking with you?¡± After switching the walkie-talkie back on, Uncle Xu wandered back to the crowd. When he was several steps away, he turned back to tell Chen Ge, ¡°I¡¯ll give you the 5,000 tomorrow morning, but make sure you keep your feet firmly on solid ground, stop imagining the impossible.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Chen Ge followed behind Uncle Xu. Looking at the crowd that had gathered in front of his Haunted House, he pouted. ¡°In any case, I don¡¯t feel like the number of visitors has decreased. After all, my Haunted House has always enjoyed a zero visitor rate before this.¡±

    After squeezing through the crowd, Chen Ge stood beside the group of students and said, ¡°Rested enough already? If you don¡¯t get up soon, these people are going to think I did some immoral things to all of you.¡±

    ¡°Give me a few more minutes, your Haunted House needs some time to digest.¡±

    ¡°What are you looking at, I¡¯m not afraid. I merely sprained my ankle when I was in there, so that¡¯s why I can¡¯t get up now.¡±

    ¡°Everyone looks like a killer to me now, what am I to do?¡±

    ¡°Stop being so stubborn, we lost to his Haunted House this time,¡± Monkey said as he climbed down the steps. He waved the five stars review he just submitted on the Haunted House on his phone before Chen Ge and stood before the man saying, ¡°But don¡¯t think that¡¯s the end of this. We¡¯re not going to surrender so easily.¡±

    ¡°Meaning you all n toe back tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°If not for the fact we have exams tomorrow, do you think would really be afraid of the challenge?¡± Monkey sounded rather brave... if only his pale lips could stop quivering and his legs could stop shaking.

    ¡°Either way, my doors are always open for business should any of you want toe again.¡± Chen Ge was close to treating the students from Jiujiang Medical University as his lucky charm.

    ¡°I will not being back again. You¡¯ll have to drag my dead body here if you want me toe back here.¡± He San looked gloomily at Chen Ge. It looked like the young man was truly scarred by the bloodshot eye in the crack of the door.

    ¡°Junior, be careful what you wish for.¡± Xiao Hui stood up with help from He San. She red at Chen Ge. ¡°You¡¯re the first man who has made me cry to the point that my make-up is all ruined; I¡¯ll definitely remember you.¡±

    Noticing the bump on the back of Xiao Hui¡¯s head, he did not have the heart to fight back, so he merely smiled. The group of medical students headed toward the entrance of the park, holding each other for support. When Chen Ge thought they had left, Brother Feng came running back to him alone. With aplicated expression, he told Chen Ge, ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about your question. I am still unable to believe that they¡¯re real, if anything, it¡¯s probably exinable using theories rted to psychological trauma and stimulus.¡±

    Chen Ge knew what he was referring to. ¡°Perhaps, by the way, I haven¡¯t gotten your full name.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s He Feng, I¡¯m older than most of them and will be starting my residency in a few days.¡±

    ¡°Pleased to make your acquaintance, hopefully we¡¯ll meet again soon.¡±

    After they exchanged phone numbers, Chen Ge returned to the Haunted House. He closed the gates and ced a sign saying ¡®Temporarily Closed for Maintenance¡¯ on it.

    ¡°Boss, there¡¯re still many visitors waiting outside. Why are we closing?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a little problem, so we¡¯ll call it a day. Do you mind exining it to the customers?¡± Chen Ge took off the Doctor Skull-cracker outfit and went back to the Props room to cut up some ck clothes before he headed back up the Murder by Midnight scenario.

    He started covering all the mirrors, but there were too many rooms, and he soon ran out of cloth. <i>This scenario is too big. Before the cameras are ready, I cannot risk the visitors¡¯ lives by having them up here; it¡¯s too dangerous.</i>

    After locking up the door to the Murder by Midnight scenario, Chen Ge returned downstairs. The visitors outside the Haunted House had mostly left. Only one or two visitors still remained.

    ¡°Xiao Wan, you can remove your make-up. It¡¯s time to go home.¡±

    After saying goodbye to Xiao Wan, Chen Ge returned to the staff breakroom. He hadn¡¯t had a real rest since the day before, so he fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

 Chapter 39

    <h4>Chapter 39: The Sound from the Third Floor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    With the arrival of night, silence fell over the Haunted House like a nket.

    Suddenly, a weird sound like someone was sawing something shattered the peaceful quiet. In the staff breakroom, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes slowly peeled open. He nced at the phone¡ªit was 1:10 am.

    He turned to bury his head under the pillow, but the weird sound kept drilling itself into his ears.

    <i>Am I dreaming? Who is making all that noise?</i>

    Every single prop in the Haunted House was hand-made or upgraded by Chen Ge, so he knew that no prop in the building would make a sawing sound. After only six hours of sleep, Chen Ge was still feeling a bit blurry. He pinched the inside of his leg hard to wake himself up before putting on his clothes and grabbing an iron hammer out of the nearby toolbox.

    He switched on the shlight and pushed the door of the breakroom open. The Haunted House at midnight was many times scarier than it was during daytime. Chen Ge leaned against the door, not in a hurry to go out.

    <i>Can¡¯t be a burr, would any sane person choose to rob a Haunted House near midnight? Can¡¯t be the rats either, the sound of their chewing wouldn¡¯t be so loud and clear. </i>After vetoing these two normal possibilities, Chen Ge¡¯s mind wandered toward the not-so-normal possibility. <i>Could it be that the monster has escaped from the mirror?</i>

    Due to ack of cloth, not all the mirrors on the third floor¡¯s Murder by Midnight scenario were covered up. He stared down the darkened hallway and retreated back into the breakroom. He only dared wander out after grabbing the doll his parents left behind for him. The sound came from above, so Chen Ge followed the sound up the stairs before stopping at the door to the Murder by Midnight scenario.

    <i>As I expected, it¡¯sing from here, but now it¡¯s unclear whether the source is the lingering spirits from Ping An Apartments or the mirror monster. </i>Chen Ge hesitated at the door. Honestly, he too was not that willing to enter a scary scenario sote at night.

    However, allowing himself to be tortured by the sawing sound was not a valid solution either. Chen Ge gripped the hammer in his hand and said in his heart, <i>I have The Specters¡¯ Favored title and have received the goodwill from the residents of Ping An Apartment¡¯s lingering spirits. Therefore, even if it is the thing from inside the mirror, it won¡¯t be able to do me much harm.</i>

    He was reminded of what happened to He San. It was Xiao Wan¡¯s sudden appearance that ruined the thing¡¯s n, so in a way, the monster probably was not as powerful as he made it out to be.

    <i>I have to go in. After all, I¡¯ll need to deal with it eventually. The more I know about it, the greater the confidence I¡¯ll have in dealing with it. </i>Chen Ge calmed himself down. He told himself, he was not afraid of the monster itself but rather the unknown it represented.

    After pushing open the door, a faded smell of mold drifted into Chen Ge¡¯s nose; this ce was getting closer to the actual environment of Ping An Apartments by the hour. The room doors on both sides of the corridor were half-closed. Chen Ge held the phone in one day while the other grabbed hold of the hammer.

    The sound of sawing intensified, a sign that Chen Ge was getting close to the truth. He walked through the entire third floor before stopping at the door that he was sure the sawing sound wasing from. The room door was closed, and as Chen Ge ced his palm over the doorknob, the icy feeling of steel jolted him awake. His muscles tensed as he shoved the door open.

    ¡°Who¡¯s in here?¡± Chen Ge yelled as he dashed into the room with the iron hammer raised high. He saw a well-built dark shadow half-squatting inside the toilet. It looked suspiciously like He Feng!

    The ck shadow did not expect the interruption; it dropped what it was holding and jumped inside the mirror and disappeared.

    ¡°Stop right there!¡± Chen Ge screamed as he waved the hammer. It only made contact with air. The toilet was now empty like everything that he had just seen was an illusion.

    <i>That shadow can¡¯t be He Feng! Why would it have a simr build to He Feng?</i>Standing before the mirror, Chen Ge looked at his reflection, and he felt weirdly ufortable. <i>This monster is mimicking He Feng? But why would it do that?</i>

    The appearance of the ck shadow brought many questions, but it also answered two for Chen Ge. One, the mirror monster had now gained the ability to leave the mirror; two, it could morph into the person who once looked inside the mirror.

    <i>This thing is more dangerous than I thought.</i>

    The sawing sound that echoed through the building had finally stopped. Chen Ge squatted down to examine what the ck shadow had dropped earlier. Four ragdolls and several sharp mirror pieces were littered on the rough-hewn cement floor.

    Chen Ge held the dolls in his palms. The dolls that represented the mother and two sisters were fine, other than the normal dust and mud that covered their bodies. However, the doll that represented the father had its neck almost sawn off, and there were cuts all over its body.

    <i>Why is the father doll the only one that¡¯s injured?</i>

    However, Chen Ge soon realized why. The father doll helped He Feng escape from the monster¡¯s clutches, so this was an act of vengeance.

    <i>It seems like the four lingering spirits aren¡¯t strong enough to stop the monster inside the mirror, so they could only allow themselves to be bullied by it.</i>

    Chen Ge had no idea about the situation of the other world, so he could onlye up with the exnation from all his previous observations. <i>The victims have no attack methods other than scaring people. The mirror monster is at least one level higher than the lingering spirits of the victims, but it runs whenever it is around humans. This means that the monster¡¯s physicalbat ability is rather weak as well; its main method of attack is psychological, manipting people¡¯s internal weakness to create an illusion and then take control of them.</i>

    Combining He San and He Feng¡¯s experience as well as what happened earlier, Chen Ge came up with this hypothesis. The mirror monster was troublesome, but if Chen Ge could face it in person, then most of its power would be void. Therefore, if Chen Ge manage to lure the monster out of the protection of the mirror, everything would be easy.

    <i>I need to figure out a n. If possible I wish to take care of it tonight so that I¡¯ll be able to use this scenario tomorrow.</i>

    Chen Ge was cool and collected. The monster inside the mirror was acting more and more wantonly, so if he did not deal with it soon, he would not be able to operate the Haunted House peacefully.

    Chen Ge hugged the four dolls in his arms as he left the Murder by Midnight scenario. He locked the door behind him before going to the Props Room. As he sewed the cuts back up, he tried toe up with a n.

    <i>The creature is highly aggressive and seems to have a curious interest in live humans. So the simplest way of luring it out of the mirror is to use a live human as bait. </i>Chen Ge was a master seamstress because he patched up most of the injuries in just a few minutes.

    <i>But the real question is, after I¡¯ve lured it out, how do I kill it? Rumors say that ghosts are all afraid of salt and garlic, but must I risk my life to try out such hearsay?</i>

    Chen Ge thought about it before deciding to log into the supernatural forums to ask the experts.

 Chapter 40

    <h4>Chapter 40: New Nightmare Mission</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After logging in, Chen Ge noticed his username had changed into a purple color. Clicking on his ount profile, he realized it was because the thirty-minute video that he had posted the other day had been shared, viewed, rmended, andmented at least several thousand times already. With a cursory nce, Chen Ge found nothing useful; most of them were there simply due to curiosity.

    <i>Who knows, perhaps this might work, maybe there are experts hiding on the inte? </i>Chen Ge started writing a new thread to provide more information about the mirror monster and used the special power afforded Purple ounts to open a bounty thread.

    ¡°After ying the game on the video, I realized I¡¯m now being haunted by the creature inside the mirror! Asking for help on how to remove this threat!¡±

    The replies came pouring in mere secondster.

    ¡± OP <sup>1</sup> , you¡¯re still alive?¡±

    ¡°A ck dog¡¯s blood is the best solution, or rear a cock, legend says all the bad stuff are afraid of cocks.¡±

    ¡°OP, listen to me and call this number. Tell them you need help, you can thank meter.¡±

    ¡°Ghosts are nothing but memories that were left behind in the physical world. Killing it will only earn you bad karma. Kindness goes a long way.¡±

    ¡°OP, have you tried reasoning with it? Education is the best solution!¡±

    ¡°If there¡¯s something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!

    ¡°If there¡¯s something weird and it don¡¯t look good, who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!¡±

    ¡°Mix yellow bean, white rice, and Indian ink together. Soak them in salt water for fifteen minutes. Spread them on the ground to watch them grow into powerful bean warriors.¡±

    ¡°I once saw a video that described the story of a man who was also haunted by a female ghost. To deal with her, he bought a gun, and when the female ghost returned that night, the man shot himself andter dragged the ghost into the bedroom to...¡±

    ¡°OP, serious though, listen to me, this method will definitely work! Go find an iron sword, preferably one that has tasted blood before. Ghosts are nothing but special maic energy, and such a sword will be able to harm them!¡±

    Chen Ge scrolled through thements, and only the iron sword seemed somewhat usible; the others were merely trolling or impossible to aplish. He also knew about the traditional legends regarding the exorcism power of a ck dog¡¯s blood and cocks, but where was he going to find such things in the middle of the night?

    After leaving the forum, Chen Ge tossed his phone to the side, spacing out as he sat in his chair. Combating the mirror monster meant putting his life on the line; he definitely could not rely on these half-baked online suggestions.

    After a roundabout detour, Chen Ge pulled out the ck phone again. He knew he had to rely on the ck phone because it was the only thing that was trustworthy. However, the ck phone operated on the Law of Equivalent Exchange; to gain something, something of equal value had to be lost.

    After several days of trial and error, Chen Ge had gained some understanding regarding the hiddenws of the ck phone, such as its mission reward structure. Easy and Normal Missions rewarded items that would supplement the operation of the Haunted House; only Nightmare Missions would provide rewards that were directly beneficial to Chen Ge, like special powers.

    In other words, to deal with the creature inside the mirror,pleting Easy and Normal Missions were pointless; he needed the reward from the Nightmare Mission. However, Chen Ge was hesitant because he knew how dangerous Nightmare Mission; he could easily attract another dangerous specter on top of the mirror monster.

    <i>What should I do? Take the stakes or wait a little while longer?</i>

    It was then the Chen Ge realized it was already a new day, meaning the Daily Missions had been refreshed.

    Easy Mission: If you want to provide the visitors a scary experience, then first you have to pay notice to the rhythm and tempo of their experience in the Haunted House. Setting off the scare too early might cause the visitors to lose their interest, so it is suggested that you install some sound detectors or surveince cameras in the Haunted House to keep track of your visitors¡¯ progress.

    Normal Mission: You¡¯ve achieved the criteria to enable the first expansion of the Haunted House. Search for a suitable location soon! Due to the current space limitation, you are unable to perform any Trial Missions to unlock scenarios!

    Nightmare Mission: There are weird soundsing from the bathroom every midnight. If you want to know why, follow my directions.

    Daily Missions will refresh every day at midnight. User can only apply for one mission each day, and the reward corresponds to the difficulty of the mission.

    (Beware! The more difficult the mission, the more dangerous it¡¯ll be, so please choose carefully!)

    Chen Ge read the mission descriptions. Since he temporarily could notplete the Normal Mission, he skipped it. Thus, he was left with the choice of the Easy Mission or Nightmare Mission.

    <i>When Uncle Xu gets me the money tomorrow morning, it should take less than a day to purchase all the necessary surveince, but it¡¯ll take more than that to install it all. ording to the description, the Nightmare Mission is rted to the bathroom... it sounds creepy.</i>

    Chen Ge was caught between a rock and a hard ce. He was not confident that he could finish the Easy Mission, and even if he did, the reward would not be that great. However, the Nightmare Mission was too dangerous; after all, it all started inside the bathroom.

    He sat mired in his thoughts inside the Props Room. Before he came to a decision, the sound of sawing came again, this time, more distracting than before. Chen Ge titled his head back and was sure that the source was again the third floor.

    <i>I¡¯ve already carried out all four of the dolls, what else is it cutting? </i>Chen Ge found the creature increasingly irksome. After putting the sewn dolls back into his pocket, he rushed up the stairs to the third floor holding his trusty hammer. When he arrived at the entrance to the Murder by Midnight scenario, he was shocked by what he saw.

    There were mirror pieces lying around the entrance, and there were scratch marks on the wooden door.

    <i>The creature has been wing at the door! What is it up to?</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s back was covered with cold sweat. He could imagine a monster holding the mirror pieces while running around the building when he was asleep. He would never allow such a dangerous existence to live under the same roof as him!

    Normally a nice guy, Chen Ge had sour expression at that moment. He locked the door to the Murder by Midnight scenario behind him and walked down the corridor, gripping the hammer. He stalked into every room to shatter every mirror he could find on the third floor. The sound of ss shattering echoed through the night. Chen Ge felt more like himself when he reached the end of the third-floor corridor.

    <i>During the first Nightmare Mission, the creature was held back by the doll who sat before the mirror. When it was attacking He San, it had to retreat when Xiao Wan strode into the room. However, after assaulting He Feng, it gained the ability to leave the mirror! It¡¯s growing, and it¡¯s growing fast!</i>

    Chen Ge knew he could not wait anymore. His Haunted House was finally on its way back, and he could not allow it to be ruined by an unknown creature.

    After leaving the scenario and locking the door once more, Chen Ge switched on the ck phone to ept the Nightmare Mission with a do or die determination. <i>Hopefully the reward for this mission will be powerful enough.</i>

    ¡°Are you sure you wish to ept the Nightmare Mission? After eptance, unknown circumstances might ur.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The screen glowed, and the actual Nightmare Mission description started to surface.

 Chapter 41

    <h4>Chapter 41: Hold Your Breath</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°The Specters¡¯ Favored, your courage is admirable. The Nightmare Mission this time is both a test and a reward!

    ¡°The name of the game is ¡®Deep Water¡¯. It can allow you to bypass the line between the living and the dead, giving you the opportunity to see those who have unfortunately passed away.

    ¡°Mission Requirement: Enter the bathroom alone at 3:30 am. Lock the door and turn off the lights. Fill up the tub with water and light a candle by the side before lying in it. The period between 3:30 and 3:40 am is the time of a day when Yin energy is most concentrated; it is also when the Yin and Yang cycle of the day converge. What you need to do is hold your breath at 3:44 am and submerge yourself under water, thinking about the name of the person you wish to meet the most.

    ¡°When time enters the twilight period between darkness and light, you¡¯ll be able to see them at the edge of living and dead.

    ¡°Mission will be aplished if you see said individual(s). If you do not, the mission will be automaticallypleted after holding your breath for sixty seconds.¡±

    Chen Ge had aplicated feeling after reading the mission description. Compared to the first Nightmare Mission, this mission seemed a lot simpler. Closing one¡¯s eyes for thirty minutes in a scary environment required superhuman courage and staunch constitution, but holding one¡¯s breath for sixty seconds seemed doable for most.

    However, it was exactly because it was doable by most that he was worried. This was a Nightmare Mission; it could not be that simple.

    <i>Simr to the previous Nightmare Mission, the location is the bathroom, but the difference is that I¡¯m required to sink myself inside the bathtub and hold my breath for sixty seconds.</i>

    He carefully studied every single step of the mission. Including the preparation time, at most, the mission would require fifteen minutes, what scary thing could possibly happen in such a short amount of time?

    Chen Ge was interested not only because the mission looked simpler but also due to a line among the mission description: ¡°allow you to bypass the line between the living and the dead, giving you the opportunity to see those who have unfortunately passed away.¡±

    Different from most, Chen Ge became calmer during periods of duress. He sat in his chair, contemting the possibilities. His parents had disappeared in an abandoned countryside hospital, leaving behind nothing but a doll and the ck phone. The ck phone was activated when he was about to give up on the Haunted House. During the first Nightmare Mission, the doll became the thing that saved his life. So, the question worth pondering was, could the doll and the ck phone have been purposely left behind by his parents to act as clues to their whereabouts?

    If that was true, then this second Nightmare Mission would be additionally interesting.

    <i>Perhaps, they¡¯re trying to contact me through this method to provide me with more information?</i>

    Of course, this was merely Chen Ge¡¯s spection. To be perfectly honest, even if the Nightmare Mission was not a n set up by his parents, Chen Ge would carry on with this mission.

    <i>Allow you to bypass the line between the living and the dead, giving you the opportunity to see those who have unfortunately passed away.</i>

    For Chen Ge, this was a chance to confirm once and for all whether his parents were still alive or not. If he did not see his parents, then it meant that they were merely missing and still alive. If he did see them, then it would validate Chen Ge¡¯s first spection; his parents left the ck phone behind for a purpose, probably as a channel to siphon information to him. Perhaps the ck phone even contained his parents¡¯ actualst words.

    <i>Looks like I have no choice.</i>

    Chen Ge nced at his watch. It was already 2:55 am; thirty-five minutes until the starting time of the mission. <i>I¡¯ve wasted too much time shattering those mirrors on the third floor; I¡¯ve got to hurry.</i>

    The mission requirement was for him to lie in a bathtub filled with water, but the only bathroom with a bathtub was inside the Murder by Midnight scenario. One of the doors of the workers¡¯ passageway was connected to a bathroom with a bathtub. It was the trap door Chen Ge had been using to enter the scenario and to shuttle He San¡¯s group out of the scenario.

    <i>There are only thirty-five minutes left. There isn¡¯t enough time to go look for a hotel with a bathtub, so it looks like I¡¯ll need to do this within the mirror monster¡¯s territory.</i>

    Since the decision had been made, Chen Ge no longer hesitated. He carried the four dolls with him and exited the Haunted House in the middle of the night to head toward the park¡¯s canteen to grab two cleavers.

    <i>Even though these haven¡¯t been used to ughter pigs or sheep before, I did see the workers use them to prepare chicken and fish. I suppose you can consider them des that have tasted blood before.</i>

    Chen Ge ced the des beside his nose to take a sniff. Instead of the expectant smell of bloodshed, all he could smell was the heavy scent of green chilies and onions, which caused his eyes to water.

    After returning to the Haunted House, Chen Ge ran between the fake bathroom and the toilet, carrying buckets of water. When it was ten minutes to the start of the mission, he finally managed to fill up the tub.

    <i>Everything is ready; it¡¯s time to start.</i>

    The Murder by Midnight scenario¡¯s front door was closed, and Chen Ge entered the bathroom from the workers¡¯ passageway. As demanded by the ck phone, he was inside the bathroom alone. The mirror inside the bathroom had already been shattered by Chen Ge. The pieces made scrunching noises as his footsteps shuffled over them.

    <i>It was quite noisy transporting the water, so the mirror monster should know about my presence by now, but that doesn¡¯t matter; I only need to hold my breath for one minute, and everything will be fine.</i>

    From Chen Ge¡¯s perspective, the mission was weird but not that dangerous.

    He locked the bathroom¡¯s door from within and rested the doll left behind by his parents against the door. Then, he ced the four ragdolls that represented the lingering spirits of Ping An Apartments¡¯ victims around the bathtub.

    ¡°Everyone, I¡¯ll be depending on your helpter. Please help me fight for that one minute!¡±

    Simr to before, he switched on his phone¡¯s recording camera and ced it on a suitable table to start the recording. However, the ce was so dark that the screen was almost ck, expect for a fuzzy human-shaped shadow.

    At the three-minute mark, Chen Ge removed the contents from his pockets and ced them on the counter. Following the ck phone¡¯s instructions, he lit a candle and stuck it to the bathtub¡¯s rim. The dancing candlelight became the sole source of light in the room. ncing downwards, Chen Ge saw his faces reflected in the many mirror pieces that littered the floor.

    He removed his shirt and took a step toward the bathroom. Ripples could be seen breaking the water¡¯s surface. The bathtub was shallow, but due to the dim lighting, Chen Ge found himself unable to see the bottom. Touching the water with his fingers, a chill ran up his arm and spread through his body, causing him to shiver.

    <i>This mission sure is freaky.</i>

    After taking onest look at the time, Chen Ge stepped into the tub while holding the two cleavers. As he sat down, the water overflowed, drenching the mirror pieces.

    <i>F*ck, it¡¯s cold...</i>

    Chen Ge could feel his body temperature dropping; even his heart rate had slowed. The bathroom was quiet except for the dripping sound of water that fell down from the edge of the bathtub.

    <i>Just one minute, after this one minute, I¡¯ll have the reward, and the most important question on my mind will be answered!</i>

    Chen Ge breathed in and out to control his heart rate, waiting for 3:44 am to arrive.

 Chapter 42

    <h4>Chapter 42: Sixty Seconds</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Inside the darkened bathroom, Chen Ge sat alone inside the bathtub. He breathed in and out, circting the air inside his lungs. The time noted on the ck phone was precisely 3:42 am. He only had one chance, so he had to be careful.

    The room was quiet, and he could not hear anything from outside the corridor; the monster from the mirror did not seem to be around.

    Time ticked by. Chen Ge put the electronic watch he had brought purposely for this asion on his side. When the digits changed to 3:43, he trained his focus and opened his mouth wide to slowly take in his breath.

    As the candlelight flickered, Chen Ge slowly submerged his body into the water. His eyes were glued to the electronic watch; he had never been so focused in his life before. When the digit changed again, Chen Ge slipped underneath the water surface without hesitation.

    It was finally 3:44 am!

    The icy water flooded him from all sides. Submerging oneself in a bathtub filled with water in the middle of the night, the experience was unique to say the least.

    The water numbed the senses, and it felt like there was nothing but darkness and oneself slowly falling into the abyss; there wasplete silence other than the pounding of one¡¯s heart inside one¡¯s ears. The icy water pulled every sensory receptor in one¡¯s body taut.

    Lying inside the bathtub, Chen Ge abandoned all thoughts as he listened to his heartbeat and started the countdown.

    <i>Sixty seconds, I only need to hold on for sixty seconds.</i>

    This was the first time he had done something like this as well. The surface of the water seemed to merge with the darkness. The candlelight, which felt like it was going out, drifted away from Chen Ge like he was slowly falling into the ocean.

    <i>One, two...</i>

    After the initial ten seconds, time seemed to have slowed down. The sound of water attempted to swallow even his heartbeat. All he could see was darkness. Chen Ge repeated his parents¡¯ names in his heart and held his pose with both his hands holding the cleavers and allowing his body to be carried along by the flow of the water.

    The oxygen in his lungs was fast depleting. Chen Ge was starting to feel ufortable, like something heavy was pressing down on his body.

    <i>Fifteen, sixteen...</i>

    Every time his heart pumped, it exhausted the oxygen inside his lungs. As his heart slowed, so did the time; every second felt like an eternity. The feeling of difort intensified. It felt like a pair of hands was pressing down on his neck, slowly tightening around it.

    Chen Ge opened his eyes, but underneath the water, he was unable to see anything. It felt like he had travelled to another world and was trapped in it. Three or four secondster, his face turned startlingly white.

    <i>How long has it been? Should be over soon, right?</i>

    Suddenly, there was a violent ripple that crossed the surface, and a weird sound crossed through the heavy silence. The sound seemed toe from the outside corridor. Chen Ge had no idea how he managed to hear it so clearly... perhaps it was something done on purpose to distract his focus.

    <i>Footsteps? Someone is walking outside the corridor?</i>

    His heartbeat, which had slowed, started to race, and his body tensed involuntarily. <i>That is probably the mirror monster. Hopefully the dolls will be able to hold it off for another thirty seconds for me to finish the mission!</i>

    His brain slowed to a crawl, and a buzzing sound appeared in his ears. Chen Ge was not doing so well, and the footsteps from the corridor only made it worse. He tried his best to focus and continued to repeat his parents¡¯ names internally as he returned to counting his heartbeat.

    <i>Twenty-eight, twenty-nine...</i>

    Chen Ge was unable to tell whether it was the water that had distorted the sound, but he swore the footsteps had begun to speed up, as if the opposite party was desperately trying to get into the bathroom.

    Several secondster, Chen Ge felt like a heavy piece of boulder was falling on top of his chest. The blood vessels on his neck started to pop. His limbs were going weak with cold. His brain was slowing down, and only Chen Ge¡¯s determination was making him hold on.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Something mmed into the bathroom door without warning. Chen Ge felt like his heart was in a vice; the thing outside the door had lost its patience!

    The opponent gave up after mming the door a few more times. Perhaps it was the doll behind the door that had saved Chen Ge again. Silence returned to the room. Everything reverted to normal, or as normal as it could have been considering the circumstances. Normally, Chen Ge could easily hold his breath for a minute, but the footsteps from the corridor and the mming on the doors had broken hisposure. The degree of oxygen exhaustion increased when an animal was in distress.

    He knew he was reaching his limit. Thest wisp of oxygen inside his lungs had been depleted. Every second was torment.

    <i>Thirty-nine, forty...</i>

    When he counted to forty, Chen Ge¡¯s brain started to shut down. He had lost the ability to even keep the countdown going. If he allowed the little focus that he had left to waver, Chen Ge was sure he would drown. The sense of asphyxiation blotted out his thoughts, and all that remained in his head were his childhood memories with his parents.

    A vein was pulsing weakly on Chen Ge¡¯s neck, and his hands that held the cleavers started to rx. He felt himself drifting toward the edge of death, and it was not until then that he truly understood the meaning of that sentence inside the mission description.

    ¡°It can allow you to bypass the line between the living and the dead, giving you the opportunity to see those who have unfortunately passed away.¡±

    What it really meant was, as night changed into day, those on the brink of death could peer into the other world!

    Chen Ge stared unblinkingly at the surface of the water. His pupils were dted, and it felt like he was pulling away from the surface. However, he could not see anything or anyone other than darkness, a darkness that was so quiet and yet filled with so much despair.

    The feeling of one¡¯s lungs being squeezed by an invisible hand was a sensation that could not be put into words.

    <i>No, if I stay down here any longer, I really will die in this bathtub.</i>

    He believed he had survived half a minute already, and the people that Chen Ge wanted to see had not appeared. He had given up hope, or rather, he was d that his parents did not appear; this meant that they were still alive.

    His arms touched the cold surface of the bathtub¡¯s bottom. Using thest vestige of rationality, Chen Ge decided it was time to give up. His arms increased in strength to push himself out of the water when Chen Ge felt something was wrong!

    Something was pressing down on his head, stopping him froming up to the surface. His dted pupils focused to one point as Chen Ge looked up, but there was nothing there!

    The dolls had sealed the door and the area surrounding the bathtub; the mirror monster should not have been able toe in, so who was behind this?

    More veins started to pop on Chen Ge¡¯s neck; his face was pretty much lifeless. At the veryst minute, he used thest trace of energy in his body to grip the cleaver and wave it above his head.

    The extended period of oxygen deprivation had pushed his body and spirit to their limits; like a string pulled taut, they could snap at any moment.

    The cleaver cut through the surface, causing the water to ssh all around. Chen Ge felt like he made contact with something, and he heard a crisp snap beside his ears before the mysterious force above his head suddenly disappeared.

    Without hindrance, Chen Ge sat up in the bathtub immediately, gasping for air as he broke the surface!

 Chapter 43

    <h4>Chapter 43: Mission Complete</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chilling water slid down Chen Ge¡¯s hair. He was reeling from the fact that he hade so close to death. His chest was pumping unevenly, his lips turning from pale to purple, his hands still gripping the cleavers.

    He felt more collected two minutester, and the light-headedness dissolved. Wiping the water droplets from his face, Chen Ge stood up unsteadily from the bathtub. With the weak light of the candle, he could see that nothing had changed inside the bathroom.

    <i>I swear I managed to cut something earlier; there was that snap too.</i>

    Chen Ge looked around him and saw a cut left on the edge of the tub.

    <i>Did I identally cut the tub? That shouldn¡¯t be it; there was definitely someone holding my head down in the water earlier, and the cleaver should have cut that person.</i>

    Desperate to know the truth, Chen Ge climbed out of the tub to grab the phone that was still recording. He stopped the recording and reyed it from the start.

    <i>At 3:30 am, I sat inside the bathtub, and nothing happened on screen until 3:43 am.</i>

    Chen Ge leaned against the wall as his eyes glued themselves to the screen. At 3:44 am, hey down in the tub, causing the water to overflow.

    <i>Looking at it from another perspective, this does look rather creepy.</i>

    When he was doing this in person, Chen Ge did not feel like it was all that odd, but looking at it through the camera¡¯s lens, there was something chillingly bizarre about this.

    Chen Ge nced at the time stamp. For the initial twenty seconds after he submerged himself, everything was normal inside the bathroom. There was the asional sound of water dripping.

    Ten secondster, Chen Ge frowned. The video that was ying on screen was showing a different reality than he remembered!

    Based on his memory, by then, the footsteps should have been heard from the corridor, but it was absolutely peaceful on the screen. The audio did not pick up anything weird, definitely no sound of footsteps. Five secondster, the door mming that Chen Ge remembered clearly also did not show up on-screen. All that was captured on the video was the darkened surface of the water and the dancing candlelight.

    <i>The footsteps and door mming were all parts of my hallucination?</i>

    When fifty seconds had passed, the originally peaceful water surface was disturbed by a copious amount of air bubbles. It was obvious that the Chen Ge in the video was close to his limits. However, right then, something happened on the screen that made chills crawl all over Chen Ge¡¯s body.

    There was a piece of shattered mirror the size of a palm lying beside the bathtub. Its surface started to cloud over like it had been swallowed by a dark fog. Eventually, a ck shadow slowly extended itself from it. It leaned against the tub; the scene was definitely supernatural. Based on its build and features, it looked like He Feng.

    The number of air bubbles started to increase, and the video was about to reach its climax. In the video, Chen Ge¡¯s body and mind were tested to their limits already, and he was about to give up. Chen Ge could see himself inside the tub moving upwards.

    However, just as his head was about to break the surface, the ck shadow beside the tub suddenly reached out with both of its hands to press on his head!

    The shock caused water to stream into Chen Ge¡¯s nostrils, choking the man alive. Chen Ge struggled vehemently as the cleavers in his hands waved frantically above. The ck shadow flickered like an image on an old television. The cleavers affected him but only slightly.

    At the most crucial moment, the ragdolls that were ced around the bathtub started to teeter like they were being blown by winds. The smallest among them tipped over and used its body to block the palm-sized mirror piecepletely.

    The ck shadow¡¯s body started to blur. It was then that Chen Ge¡¯s cleaver inadvertently made contact with its head, and the shadow disappeared. The cleaver flew out of Chen Ge¡¯s grasp, and before itnded on the floor, it scratched the edge of the bathtub, leaving a light mark. Almost at the same time, Chen Ge burst through the water surface.

    The video ended then. After knowing the truth, the desire within Chen Ge¡¯s heart to demolish that creature intensified. <i>The thing has to be vanquished!</i>

    Chen Ge saved the video and picked up the ragdoll that was lying on top of the mirror. The small girl¡¯s back had been cut by the sharp edge of the mirror, and her body was drenched.

    <i>They¡¯re both existence from the other side, but their personalities arepletely different. Some of them are just in it for the scare, and they¡¯re good at heart, while others harbor nothing but malice.</i>

    Chen Ge dried his body and put on his clothes. He ced all the dolls inside his pocket, and it was then that he felt better.

    <i>Shattering the mirrors is useless. It can still crawl out of the mirror, so how am I supposed to deal with a creature like this? The thing can appear and disappear at will and can¡¯t be found; I¡¯m at a natural disadvantage dealing with things like this.</i>

    Chen Ge picked up the palm-sized mirror out of curiosity, but he was shocked to realize the water droplets on it seemed to be moving with a will of their own. They trailed across the surface forming a number¡ª3.

    <i>Is this a taunt from the monster? Three, representing He San, He Feng, and myself? Or will it kill me within three days?</i>

    Chen Ge had no clue what the number meant, but he was certain it wouldn¡¯t be anything good. <i>Then again, do you really think I am afraid of you? One of these days, I¡¯ll yank you out of the mirror and put you out in the sun to scorch you alive!</i>

    Chen Ge came up with the worst curse he could think of. He hade so close to dying earlier.

    After taking another deep breath, Chen Ge went to pick up the ck phone. He did not have much anticipation, but when he saw the message that appeared on screen, his eyes lit up.

    ¡°The Specters¡¯ Favored, you managed to hold your breath for 62 seconds. Congrattions forpleting the Nightmare Mission! Obtain the mission reward¡ªYin Yang Vision.

    ¡°Yin Yang Vision: See through the line that blurs between the two worlds. Use the Yang body to observe the Yin presence (A great upgrade to one¡¯s vision, other function currently unknown).

    ¡°Notice: You havepleted two Nightmare Daily Missions. Afterpleting the third Nightmare Mission, it will randomly unlock the Trial Mission for one of the scenarios!

    ¡°Completed three consecutive missions with more than a 95 percentpletion rate, unlocking new feature¡ªMy Friends from the Other Side [Affection Status]!¡±

    After reading through the series of messages, Chen Ge did not know what he should feel. The requirement of the Nightmare Mission was for him to hold his breath for sixty seconds. Due to the outside disturbance, he had already nned to surrender at around fifty or so seconds, and he would have failed the mission. However, the desire of the mirror monster to kill him had forced him to hold on for an additional few seconds, allowing him toplete the mission with a very close sess.

    In a way, the appearance of the mirror monster was a blessing in disguise, because in the end, the result was positive.

    Chen Ge went through the ck phone and realized how crucial this Nightmare Mission was. If he had failed the mission, not only would he not have earned the mission reward, the unlocking of the new scenario would have been dyed, and most importantly, the new function of the phone would not have been unlocked.

    Compelled by curiosity, Chen Ge clicked the new tab open. The interface changed, and five unfamiliar names appeared on screen.

 Chapter 44

    <h4>Chapter 44: Reviews</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Current Affection Levels:

    ¡°Qin Guoheng (Lingering Spirit): Unfamiliar (You two can¡¯t be considered friends; he was helping you out of kindness)

    ¡°Du Ruoshui (Lingering Spirit): Unfamiliar

    ¡°Qin Munan (Lingering Spirit): Unfamiliar

    ¡°Qin Xiaoxiao (Baleful Specter): Slightly Favorable Opinion (You¡¯ve managed to attract her attention. To her, you are slightly closer than a stranger)

    ¡°Zhang Ya (Red Specter): Crazy About You (You are a unique presence to her; she likes you, but only after you¡¯re dead)

    ¡°To increase the affection level, you could expose them to the screams of visitors that are wealthy with negative feelings, gift them presents that contain Malice Points, orplete their Bloody Heart Mission.

    ¡°When the affection level reaches a certain point, they will selectively listen to your orders.

    ¡°Warning: Only specters with deep malice and a dark history will be able to provide you with a Bloody Heart Mission. Completing the mission will greatly increase the affection level and will give you the power to get them to help youplete something that isn¡¯t against their will!¡±

    The new feature gave Chen Ge a deeper understanding of his ¡®friends¡¯. He removed the smallest doll from his pocket. This doll did not look that much different from the other dolls, at least physically, but the phone app had set her apart. She was the sole baleful specter among the family of lingering spirits.

    <i>Something like you can be considered a baleful spirit?</i>

    Chen Ge poked Xiaoxiao¡¯s cheek with his finger. Xiaoxiao, who was raised into the air, seemed to be a bit angry; she gave Chen Ge the impression of a little kitten who hadn¡¯t been weaned from milk, gnashing her teeth in a show of aggression!

    <i>I suppose this is an idental discovery.</i>

    If Qin Xiaoxiao was the kind and gentle presence among the baleful specter, then Zhang Ya was theplete opposite. In fact, this was the first time Chen Ge hade across the term ¡®Red Specter¡¯.

    <i>What exactly is the difference between a normal Baleful Specter and a Red Specter?</i>

    Chen Ge tried to click on Zhang Ya¡¯s name, and the screen changed to reveal a blood-red interface.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to ept Zhang Ya¡¯s Bloody Heart Mission? Warning! This mission contains a certain level of danger!¡±

    The blood red interface caused cold sweat to appear all over Chen Ge¡¯s forehead. <i>But the phone says only specters with exceptionally deep malice and a dark history will be able to provide me with a Bloody Heart Mission. Am I that lucky? To be able to win such a ¡®prize¡¯ from my first draw?</i>

    Actually, that was not the end of Chen Ge¡¯s thoughts on the matter. He thought to himself, <i>If that¡¯s the case, I¡¯d rather give up on such luck!</i>

    However, afraid of how Zhang Ya might have reacted if she heard it, he kept it to himself.

    <i>Crazy about me, but only after I¡¯m dead? If that¡¯s not twisted, I don¡¯t know what is!</i>

    After exiting the app, the fear brought on by the mirror monster hadpletely disappeared. Compared to the ¡®prize¡¯ he had gotten from the Wheel of Misfortune, the shadow inside the mirror was nothing. However, this did not mean that Chen Ge would let it go. In contrast, Chen Ge had made it a threat that had to be removed no matter what. Only by removing it would the Haunted House be safe.

    Unlocking ¡®My Friends from the Other Side¡¯ provided Chen Ge with more options. From how he saw it, this feature was to set up the foundation for the Haunted House¡¯s spectral workers. As more features of the game got released, Chen Ge¡¯s interest in it increased.

    After gaining an understanding of the new feature, Chen Ge turned to inspect his second reward¡ªYin Yang Vision.

    The reward from Nightmare Missions would provide him with a personal upgrade. Chen Ge tried to look into the distance, but other than the ability to see slightly clearer in the dark, this Yin Yang Vision did not seem to have any other uses.

    <i>Perhaps this power requires a special environment to trigger just like Mortician¡¯s Make-up.</i>

    Chen Ge picked up a random mirror fragment from the floor and put it before his face. Physically speaking, there was not any noticeable change to his pair of eyes; they were simr to before.

    <i>From the description, Yin Yang Vision should grand me the ability to see stuff that normal people wouldn¡¯t be able to see, but...</i>

    Chen Ge raised Xiaoxiao to his eyes, but he saw nothing but a normal ragdoll.<i>Am I using it wrong, or is there a specific method to using the power?</i>

    Chen Ge came up with nothing after some more trials, so he decided to put it on the backburner for now. Working his limbs, which had gone numb, Chen Ge stretched inside the bathroom. Then, he sat down inside the bathroom to edit histest video.

    <i>I¡¯ve suffered so much. I wouldn¡¯t be able to face myself in the morning if I didn¡¯t share it with the world.</i>

    He uploaded the original video onto the supernatural forum. It was 4 am, so Chen Ge didn¡¯t expect any responses. However, the moment the new video was released, there was already a newment.

    ¡°Hello, is this a game to attract ghosts? Lying inside the bathroom at midnight will call out the spirits?¡±

    Chen Ge nced at the firstment and was shocked to realize it came from the forum moderator. He contemted it for a while before adding the game rules and descriptions under the video and editing the name of the video to ¡®Why would someone voluntarily drown himself in his bathtub at home?¡¯

    Two minutester, thement floodgate had been opened. Chen Ge¡¯s ount had garnered quite a following already on the forum. In fact, some of the users who were already asleep were woken up by their friends just to take a look at the video.

    ¡°Lying inside a filled bathtub at 3.30 am alone... Even with the lights on, I wouldn¡¯t dare do that.¡±

    ¡°This new video seems to be even more supernatural than the previous one!¡±

    ¡°What the f*ck is the shadow squatting beside the bathtub?¡±

    ¡°Did you hear anything or see anything out of the ordinary under the water? Boss, please reply!¡±

    ¡°The bathroom is the ce with the heaviest Yin energy of the entire building, and the bathtub is a sort of hollow where Yin energy normally gathers. In Feng Shui, we call this ¡®ÍÝ(wa)¡¯. OP dares to y such a crazy game at a ce like this, no wonder he stumbled across dirty stuff.¡±

    ¡°To linger at the line between life and death as the night changes into day... probably only a madman coulde up with an idea like this, and only a madman would follow through with it.¡±

    There were a few informational replies on the forum. Chen Ge gave them a cursory read, and simr to before, he did not reply. Instead, he logged out to start editing the video footage.

    He cut out his final struggle at the end of the video, and the product he ended up with was 63 seconds long. For short videos, the best were those that were shorter but had more shock value.

    However, Chen Ge went against the grain this time. He uploaded a video that was 63 seconds long and named it ¡®One-Minute Holding Breath Challenge.¡¯

    After releasing the video, those who followed Chen Ge were notified, and some alreadymented without watching the video.

    ¡°Breath holding challenge? There¡¯s no scary video today?¡±

    ¡°What is this? Even a drinking challenge would be more interesting than this!¡±

    ¡°Is this some new challenge? I¡¯m going to give it a try, too.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all over; the host¡¯s talent has run out. What the F*ck! What is that thing I saw lying beside the tub? Get the f*ck out of my phone!¡±

 Chapter 45

    <h4>Chapter 45: Someone Is Trying to Kill Me!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    One minute after the video was posted, Chen Ge¡¯sment section exploded again!

    ¡°The shadow leaning against the tub 56 seconds in is a special effect, right? It seems to crawl up from underneath the tub!¡±

    ¡°The person waving the cleavers in the video is the host himself? Someone get him an Oscar!¡±

    ¡°If the ck shadow had held on any longer, host wouldn¡¯t be with us anymore!¡±

    ¡°F*ck this sh*t! I was trying to hold my breath as I started the video, but this thing popped up halfway!¡±

    ¡°Run while you still can! The host only shares ghost videos! Run and don¡¯t look back!¡±

    ¡°After staring at my phone for a full minute, I realized I am not going to sleep tonight.¡±

    ¡°After yourst video, I didn¡¯t dare look at the mirror anymore, and after this video, I won¡¯t dare take a bath alone anymore! Heartless host, taste this piledriver from me!¡±

    Chen Ge was d that his video had such a good reception even though it was 4 am. Feeling the ¡®love¡¯ his fans had for him, he realized everything was worth it. Before closing the video app, Chen Ge did not forget to put up an advertisement for his Haunted House. The fans were quick to respond, leaving messages saying they would visit him with some local delicacies.

    <i>Buying tickets to visit the Haunted House and, on top of that, wanting to gift me local delicacies, the visitors today sure are nice.</i>

    After Chen Ge exited the app, he felt much better. He stretchedzily once more and left the Murder by Midnight scenario, hugging the five dolls to his chest.

    The night soon passed, and dawn arrived. The sky outside the Haunted House started to brighten. Chen Ge found several wooden nks from the Props Room. He nailed them entrance and the trap door that was connected to the Murder by Midnight scenario. Before he dealt with the mirror monster, he did not n to use that scenario.

    <i>Twenty a ticket, and Murder by Midnight can fit seven visitors at one time. If one run is counted as fifteen minutes, I¡¯ll be able to gain a profit of 560 RMB per hour. One day¡¯s work is eight hours, so that trantes to more than 4,000 RMB.</i>

    The thought squeezed Chen Ge¡¯s heart with pain, but he was not blinded by greed. <i>Safety¡¯s first. There¡¯ll be more to earn after future scenarios are unlocked.</i>

    After sealing up the scenario, Chen Ge returned to the staff breakroom. He ced the dolls beside his bed and changed into his running attire. The Trial Mission reminded Chen Ge of the fact that if not for his asional training, he would have been buried under the ground then.

    Xu Wan arrived for work at around 8.40 am. She was surprised to see Chen Ge around the corner with his head full of sweat. In her mind, her boss was not someone who was into exercising.

    The gate of the Haunted House swung open, signifying the arrival of a new work day. The two workers stood at their assigned posts, ready to start the operation. At 9 am, the visitors started to enter the park, but the entrance of the Haunted House was still quite empty; it was the most vacant spot of all the attractions inside New Century Park.

    ¡°Boss, what did you do inside the Haunted Housest night? Why are there water puddles all over the ce?¡±

    ¡°I was moping the floor.¡± Chen Ge gave a random excuse before adding, ¡°When you are acting as a ghost, remember to stay far away from any mirrors.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Chen Ge was about to exin it to her when he saw Uncle Xu, the park manager, walking toward them.

    ¡°Uncle Xu, is there a problem?¡± Chen Ge removed the ear-mic. He realized Uncle Xu did not have a very pleased expression.

    ¡°You are just getting weirder by the days.¡± Uncle Xu studied Chen Ge up and down. ¡°Just now, the people from the canteen came to me to report that they are missing their cleavers. I was just wondering which thief would be so odd to only steal two cleavers. After looking at the surveince, I have just one question to ask. Why weren¡¯t you asleep at night but snuck into the canteen to steal their cleavers? Is it that fun running around waving two cleavers?¡±

    Uncle Xu reminded Chen Ge that the cleavers he had taken from the canteen were still left inside the bathtub.

    ¡°I just helped the police solve an open case, right? But one of the killers is still missing, so the cleavers are for self-protection. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll buy the canteen new cleavers tomorrow.¡±

    Chen Ge had no clue whether des that had touched a ghost before could still be used for culinary purposes, so he didn¡¯t think it was wise to return the cleavers to Uncle Xu.

    ¡°It¡¯s getting harder and harder to understand you. Kid, tell me honestly. Are you involved in some illegal dealings behind my back?¡±

    ¡°What kind of illegal dealings can I get into with two cleavers? I¡¯m not doing anything criminal, Uncle Xu, don¡¯t worry.¡±

    Uncle Xu was only half-convinced. However, since the park had just opened for the day, he had too many things to deal with to get into it with Chen Ge. He took a step closer to Chen Ge and pulled out a tightly wrapped stic case from his pocket, ¡°Here is 5,000, if you have any trouble, pleasee to me.¡±

    ¡°Uncle Xu, thank you so much. I¡¯ll return you the money this weekend.¡±

    ¡°Just stop making trouble for me, that¡¯ll be more than enough repayment.¡±

    After Uncle Xu left, Chen Ge shoved the money inside his shirt. He leaned against the gate, thinking about how to utilize this money.

    <i>5,000 should be just enough to install some cameras. However, the interior space of the Haunted House is now all upied. I¡¯ll need to expand before I can unlock new scenarios. Renting the underground parking lot is not a bad idea, but I wonder how much the management will charge me.</i>

    Chen Ge had a mounting headache from the many problems he realized he was facing. <i>The biggest problem I have is ack of money! The reward money is still nowhere to be seen. Should I try to hurry them?</i>

    He turned to look in the direction of the police station. When his gaze scanned a certain corner, his pupils narrowed, and his gaze centered on a curious visitor. The man was wearing a cap low on his head and a long-sleeved top with two hands stuck inside his pockets. He wandered between several attractions as if deciding which one he should try.

    <i>That person looks so familiar.</i>

    Due to Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge¡¯s vision was better than most. The person probably did not know he had been exposed.

    <i>Shall I go stop him?</i>

    Just as Chen Ge was contemting that, he had a group of visitors who wanted to visit the Haunted House. He threw himself into work, and the suspicious visitor was thus tossed out of his mind. When Xu Wan and Chen Ge were about to go for their lunch break, he once again spotted the suspicious man loitering near the Haunted House.

    <i>The man hasn¡¯te near the Haunted House the whole morning, but he came over just as me and Xu Wan are nning to go for lunch. What is he up to?</i>

    Chen Ge had Xu Wan leave first. He returned to the Haunted House. When the visitor noticed his return, he turned around and left the park without even turning back.

    <i>Have I seen him somewhere before?</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyelid twitched, a sign of a bad omen. Chen Ge decided to skip lunch and headed for the park security center. After getting the guard¡¯s permission, he went to search for this suspicious visitor¡¯s footage.

    It was quite obvious that the man was purposely avoiding the cameras. From his arrival to his departure, the man had kept his hands inside his pockets. Even when he stopped for a smoke break, he had only used one hand to light the cigarette that he kept dangled on his lips. However, the most suspicious part was that after paying for entry, he only rode one attraction. That was the Ferris Wheel, and he rode it three times in a row.

    <i>This person is definitely suspicious!</i>

 Chapter 46

    <h4>Chapter 46: Suspect</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s fingers slowly tightened as he linked the series of unusual actions together. Without saying a word, he pulled out his phone to call Inspector Lee¡¯s number at Western Jiujiang City¡¯s police station while standing in the security office.

    The phone rang twice before Inspector Lee¡¯s gravelly voice came through the line. ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°Uncle San Bao, I need to report something to the police!¡±

    ¡°One, you¡¯ll need to call 110 for that. Two, my name is Inspector Lee.¡±

    ¡°I found thest fugitive from Ping An Apartments! He was at New Century Park!¡±

    When he heard that, Inspector Lee¡¯s voice changed. ¡°You sure?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am, but please don¡¯te in your police car; you¡¯ll spook him, and he¡¯ll go on the run.¡±

    ¡°Be there in fifteen minutes!¡±

    After ending the call, Chen Ge held the phone in his hand as he stared at the surveince footage. The guards also realized something was wrong, and they hurried to call Uncle Xu.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± After a while, Uncle Xu rushed over, sipping from his water bottle. ¡°Can I not have my lunch in peace? Xiao Chen, why are you here and not at your Haunted House?¡±

    He nced at the surveince footage. When he saw the phone in Chen Ge¡¯s hand, he asked cautiously, ¡°Who were you on the phone with?¡±

    ¡°The police.¡± Chen Ge did not turn to look at Uncle Xu as his eyes jumped between the many surveince cameras. ¡°They¡¯ll be here in another fifteen minutes.¡±

    ¡°Police? Why didn¡¯t you discuss this with me first?¡± Uncle Xu¡¯s voice went up a pitch. ¡°The park management has its own way of dealing with robberies, natural disaster...¡±

    ¡°Uncle Xu.¡± Chen Ge turned around to interrupt Uncle Xu. His eyes were incongruently calm and collected considering the words that fell out of his lips. ¡°Someone is trying to kill me!¡±

    When he announced that, the security room became silent, and all the guards whipped their heads around to look at him.

    ¡°Chen Ge, have you been mentally affected from living inside the Haunted House for too long?¡± Uncle Xu did not call him Xiao Chen like usual but used Chen Ge, which he reserved for serious asions only. ¡°What nonsense are you talking about in broad daylight?¡±

    ¡°I helped the police solve the arson case at Ping An Apartments, but one of the murderers is still on the loose.¡±

    Uncle Xu understood what Chen Ge was getting at then. ¡°You mean that person is now inside the park and is out for revenge?¡±

    ¡°I thought he would escape the region to hide, but who would have thought the man was so courageous?¡± Chen Ge pointed at the man on screen. ¡°This visitor is acting too strangely. His cap is too low, meaning he¡¯s trying to hide his face. Plus, today is not a cold day, but he¡¯s wearing a long sleeve shirt, and he kept his hands inside his pocket throughout. Even when he was smoking or drinking water, he only used his right hand, and he kept his left hand firmly inside the pocket.¡±

    ¡°That might be so, but none of that proves anything. Perhaps those are just his personal quirks?¡± Uncle Xu put down the water bottle and walked to close the security room door.

    ¡°The fugitive¡¯s name is Zhang Peng; his build is exact same as that of the man on screen. Most importantly, there is the tattoo of a peony on the back of his hand.¡±

    ¡°Peony?¡±

    ¡°The flower of good fortune. The man is a down-on-his-luck gambler who has lost everything.¡±

    ¡°Meaning he kept his left hand hidden because it would expose the tattoo?¡± Uncle Xu was slowly convinced by Chen Ge¡¯s story. ¡°Could it be that the man has some weird skin disease that he doesn¡¯t want anyone to see?¡±

    ¡°I have other proof.¡± Chen Ge switched the video footage. ¡°After entering the park, he only visited one attraction, the Ferris Wheel, and he went on it three times in a row. Do you know what that represents?¡±

    ¡°What does that represent?¡± Uncle Xu was slowlygging behind.

    ¡°The Ferris Wheel provides the best vantage point of the park. He was trying to find the best escape route for himself.¡± Chen Ge slowed down the footage. ¡°When Xu Wan and I left the Haunted House to go to the canteen, I saw him sneak toward the Haunted House. You can see from the video footage that he wandered around the Haunted House the whole morning but didn¡¯t approach it. He only did so after ensuring that Xu Wan and myself had left. This is definitely not the normal way a visitor would act.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Uncle Xu nodded, convinced by Chen Ge¡¯s argument. ¡°But why would he go near the Haunted House only when no one is there?¡±

    Chen Ge tapped his fingers on the table. ¡°If I were in his shoes, nning to kill the owner of a Haunted House, I would definitely stake out the ce first to familiarize myself with the building¡¯syout. Perhaps I could hide inside the Haunted House and wait for the ce to close for maintenance, then I could jump at my target without him anticipating my arrival. Furthermore, a Haunted House is the perfect ce to hide a body. If the blood stains are taken care of, when the body is discovered, it will most likely be the next day already.¡±

    Uncle Xu got chills listening to Chen Ge¡¯s spection; there was a scene forming in his mind already. ¡°Now that you mention it, it is quite scary.¡±

    ¡°The scariest thing is that it almost happened!¡± Chen Ge pulled his gaze back, and his balled fists slowly rxed. ¡°Thankfully, he has acted too rashly. Plus, my senses have been maintained at an all-time high due to the many weird events that have been happening; that¡¯s the only reason I managed to spot him.¡±

    ¡°Then, where is he now? Shall I alert the other visitors?¡± Uncle Xu finally understood the gravity of the situation.

    ¡°He has already left the park after he was discovered. At the time, I still hadn¡¯t seen the footage, so I was not confident with my spection; that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t stop him.¡±

    ¡°You did well. If the suspect went berserk inside the park, it would have caused great chaos.¡± Uncle Xu took a sip of the water and told the guards beside him, ¡°Remember to cooperate with the police when they arriveter.¡±

    Ten minutester, the door to the security room was pushed open. Three men in casual attire strode into the room; the one leading was Lee Sanbao. ¡°Where¡¯s Chen Ge? Let me see your surveince footage.¡±

    With the aid of the guards, Inspector Leepared the man in the video to the police station¡¯s database and finally managed to confirm the two were one and the same!

    ¡°Kid, you¡¯ve done society another great service!¡± Inspector Lee smacked Chen Ge on his back before pulling out his phone to contact the station to report on the situation. After some discussion, they decided to split into two teams, one was going to conduct a secret investigation while the other would surround New Century Park and observe from afar.

    ¡°Zhang Peng is an extremely dangerous individual. You have to be careful since you¡¯re being targeted. The probability of himing back is very high, so I suggest you stay away from the Haunted House for the time being.¡±

    After hearing what Inspector Lee had to say, all the guards felt uneasy. Chen Ge, however, was surprisingly unfazed. ¡°If I¡¯m not there, Xiao Wan alone won¡¯t be able to keep the Haunted House open. If I close the Haunted House, Zhang Peng will definitely know that gig is up; he¡¯ll go on the run then.¡±

    ¡°You mean, you¡¯re nning to stay at the Haunted House as bait?¡± Inspector Lee frowned slightly, thinking this n was far too dangerous.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, if he darese inside my Haunted House, I guarantee he won¡¯t be leaving anytime soon.¡±

 Chapter 47

    <h4>Chapter 47: I¡¯m an Emotionless Killer</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid I cannot agree to that.¡± Inspector Lee shook his head. ¡°Capturing a fugitive is the police¡¯s responsibility; how can we allow you to take this unnecessary risk?¡±

    ¡°Staying behind at the Haunted House is merely to create a false image for Zhang Peng to think he hasn¡¯t been exposed. This way, he¡¯ll follow through his n to seek me out. When he returns to the park, you will be able to detain him,¡± Chen Ge exined after much contemtion. ¡°If we fail to catch him this time, I¡¯ll need to spend the rest of my life in fear, looking over my shoulder every moment, since he could strike at any given time.¡±

    ¡°In any case, the actual n will have to be decided only after we discuss it with the city¡¯s investigation team. The case at Ping An Apartments is their responsibility; we from the western station are merely providing assistance, but I will ry your request to them.¡± Inspector Lee packed up hisptop and made a call before leaving the security room with the two other officers.

    Uncle Xu wandered over after the police left. He was worried about Chen Ge. ¡°Xiao Chen, I think you should listen to the police and go find somewhere else other than the Haunted House to stay for a few days.¡±

    ¡°Hiding from the problem is not going to solve anything, but I appreciate the concern, Uncle Xu.¡±

    After taking another look at the surveince, Chen Ge returned to the Haunted House.

    Xu Wan was leaning against the gate, and when she saw Chen Ge walk toward her from the security office, she pointed at the boxed rice left on the table. ¡°Boss, today¡¯s menu is stir-fry green chili with pork and rice. When the canteen auntie wasn¡¯t paying attention, I added another scoop of meat for you.¡±

    Chen Ge thanked Xiao Wan for the rice. He looked at the girl but decided not to reveal any information about Zhang Peng. He finished the rice with big mouthfuls and began the afternoon service. Xu Wan acted as the ghost inside the Minghun scenario while Chen Ge stayed at the entrance to sell tickets. He kept his head low, but his eyes swept every corner of the park.

    <i>Zhang Peng¡¯s appearance can be a curse or a blessing depending on how I use him.</i>

    Afterpleting several missions on the ck phone, Chen Ge¡¯s logical thinking had improved tremendously, and his tolerance for stress had been given a power up.

    <i>There¡¯s a mirror monster hiding inside the Haunted House currently. The thing can pass through the mirror world and reality freely. In other words, if there¡¯s a mirror, it is invincible. </i>Chen Ge sold the ticket mechanically while his brain worked on overdrive to process the information. <i>The attacks on He San and He Feng were very simr. Based on He Feng¡¯s description, the monster¡¯s aim was to possess their body and swap out their consciousness. Temporarily, we have no idea what the purpose of that is, but one thing worth considering is, if the monster enters a person¡¯s body, does that mean that it won¡¯t be able to escape the body at least for a short period of time?</i>

    Chen Ge had discovered this phenomenon when he conversed with He Feng, but there was no danger-free method to test out this theory. He had prepared to give up on this idea, but then Zhang Peng had decided to show himself that morning.

    When he confirmed it was Zhang Peng on the camera, the n had been settled in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. He nned to use Zhang Peng as bait. He had to figure out a way to lure Zhang Peng inside the Haunted House and enable the mirror monster to possess his body.

    This way, he could kill two birds with one stone. It was also why he insisted on staying at the Haunted House.

    <i>This is the n. It¡¯s dangerous, but if it¡¯s sessful, I¡¯ll be able to remove two threats at once.</i>

    At 5 pm, Chen Ge called Xu Wan out and let her leave early. He went back inside the Haunted House to prepare various stuff for Zhang Peng. At 5.30 pm, Chen Ge received a call from Inspector Lee, telling him that the police had set up a perimeter around New Century Park. If Zhang Peng showed himself, he would definitely not get away. After dinner, Chen Ge carried Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s outfit and hammer as he entered the Haunted House¡¯s main control room. He locked the door and sat before the monitors. If there was no ident, he was going to spend the whole night inside the room.

    <i>There are indeed too few cameras. There are too many blind spots, so I mustn¡¯t let my guard down.</i>

    The sun dipped below the horizon, and as daylight left, New Century Park felt weirdly eerie. Chen Ge wrapped the outfit around him as a cover as he sat inside the control room. At midnight, those who should not be there had arrived, but those who should have been there had not.

    Simr to the previous night, the sound of sawing came from the Murder by Midnight scenario.

    <i>Is the creature taunting me? </i>Chen Ge shrugged the outfit off and walked to the door, wondering if he should go meet the creature. <i>I¡¯ll let it be for now.</i>

    Putting back on the ear-mic, Chen Ge hugged the doll left behind by his parents to his chest and returned to the surveince monitor.

    At around 1 am, when Chen Ge was at the verge of giving up, he saw the door to the bathroom rattle on screen.

    <i>Someone¡¯s there?</i>

    He focused on the monitor,pletely rejuvenated. Not long after, the door fell open a sliver and anky man wielding a twenty-centimeter-long boning knife slipped through the opening.

    <i>That bathroom is where I did my first Nightmare Mission. The window leads outside. He probably prepared some stepping stone beforehand and messed with the lock earlier.</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the surveince calmly. The door to the control room was still locked. The control room¡¯s location was well-hidden, and those unfamiliar with the Haunted House¡¯syout would not be able to reach it anytime soon.

    On screen, Zhang Peng travelled down the corridor, holding the knife in one hand and his phone in another. He had no idea he was being watched as he focused on side-stepping the random stuff and unknown props that littered the corridor.

    After fifteen minutes traversing the obstacle course, Zhang Peng finally reached the staff breakroom. He could be seen hesitating at the door. His chest rose and fell unevenly, and his hand that held the knife shivered. He reached out to push on the door multiple times, but every time, he pulled back just before his finger touched the door. It was obvious that he was caught in a conundrum.

    Zhang Peng dithered for about twenty seconds before he came to a decision. He did not even notice the camera that was looking at him.

    He raised the knife in one hand while the other grabbed the door knob. With a deep breath, he shoved the door open, and like a leopard pouncing on its prey, he jumped into the breakroom!

    One minuteter, Zhang Peng came out carrying the knife. There was a bit of red on the de, he seemed to have identally shed his arm. He tossed the knife to his other hand. Zhang Peng¡¯s expression turned more grievous. He nced at the stairs before picking up the pace as he went down the corridor.

    From the surveince feed, Chen Ge could see Zhang Peng was heading toward the control room. Chen Ge messaged Inspector Lee and held Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer as he hid behind the door.

    He was about to surprise Zhang Peng with a horror movie ssic¡ªthe scare behind the door¡ªbut Zhang Peng merely wandered past the control room¡¯s door before heading into the workers¡¯ passageway.

    <i>What is this man up to? </i>Chen Ge was confused by his opponent¡¯s actions. He hurried to the monitor and saw that Zhang Peng was using his knife to pry off the wooden nks that had sealed up the trap door at the end of passageway before heading in without a second thought.

    <i>Why is he heading into the Murder by Midnight scenario? </i>Chen Ge peeled off his ear-mic as his eyes widened with shock. <i>There have been sawing soundsing out from the scenario... does he think I¡¯m sawing stuff inside?</i>

 Chapter 48

    <h4>Chapter 48: Please Let Me Go!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s features twisted as Zhang Peng¡¯s vicious and obstinate re appeared in his mind. <i>Two demons fighting each other?</i>

    The sawing sound from the Murder by Midnight scenario did not stop due to Zhang Peng¡¯s entrance¡ªthe mirror monster probably did not anticipate that someone would rush in so blindly and rashly.

    <i>I can¡¯t y it safe any longer. I have to see the mirror monster enter Zhang Peng¡¯s body with my own eyes before I can sleep easy at night.</i>

    With a nce at the surveince to pinpoint Zhang Peng¡¯s location, Chen Ge yanked out the chains from the Doctor Skull-cracker outfit and dropped them to the floor before putting both the outfit and the skin mask on. He waved the iron hammer twice to get a feel for it, and a wicked energy radiated from Chen Ge.

    <i>Howe it feels like I¡¯m the bad guy here?</i>

    After grabbing his keys and phone, he shoved the dolls into his pocket, grabbed hold of the weirdly-designed hammer, and headed out of the control room.

    ...

    Trapped inside the Murder by Midnight scenario, Zhang Peng felt the weight of the knife in his hand getting heavier. He had prepared for this day for a long time, but one could never prepare enough because idents had already happened.

    It was already 1 am, and a normal person would be asleep already. Even if they were not, they would be resting in their bedroom. He was all sorts of excited when he saw the sign that pointed to the staff breakroom. It had taken him a long time before he managed to calm down.

    He had given himself plenty of pep talk, to arouse the hatred and resentment within himself before he gathered enough courage to st through the door. As he did so, he had waved the knife fiendishly at the bed. He had been so caught in the motion that he did not notice he had shed himself.

    The de was tipped with blood, but there was no one inside the bed. The only blood stain on the ruined bedspread came from his arm. Other than resentment, there was now an additional stain of grievance; it fueled his murderous intent, eclipsing his rationalitypletely.

    <i>Ruining Ping An Apartments, sending Juan Er into jail. You despicable bastard, I swear I¡¯ll kill you if it¡¯s thest thing I do!</i>

    The more Zhang Peng thought about it, the angrier he became. The sawing sound from upstairs was like flies, causing his emotions to rile up even more.

    He gripped his knife tightly as he wandered close to the source. To prevent being found out, he was extremely careful along the way.

    <i>I¡¯m close; the source is from this floor!</i>

    Zhang Peng poked his head out from the stairs. He did not carry any light source with him. He kept his back to the wall as he entered the third-floor corridor.

    <i>I say, this Haunted House sure is creepy; the corridors are asplicated as a maze. After I kill him, even if I just drop his body inside a random room, it¡¯ll take at least half a month before he¡¯s discovered.</i>

    His lips curled up into a cruel smirk.

    <i>The sound ising from in front! But what is the man up to, not sleeping sote at night but sawing stuff? Fixing some emergency props?</i>

    Zhang Peng bent down. He used the long sleeves to cover his wound as he crawled forward with the point of the knife leading the way forward.

    At the end of the third-floor corridor, the entrance to the scenario, Zhang Peng saw a blurry ck shadow. The shadow was standing in the middle of the door, holding something in his hand, scratching on the door.

    <i>Weird, why didn¡¯t he turn on the lights?</i>

    It was not until he was so close that Zhang Peng realized this incongruity. However, he did not dwell on it because his mind was soon swallowed up by the desire for revenge. The air seemed to have frozen around him. He slowly raised the knife above his shoulder. His body was as tense as a strung bow, and he charged forward to stab at the shadow.

    ¡°Go to hell!¡±

    The full speed sprint sent Zhang Peng and the knife crashing into the shadow!

    An excited smile had begun to appear on his face, but it onlysted for 0.2 seconds before it disappeared. The knife shot through the shadow directly!

    The inertia caused Zhang Peng to m into the door headfirst, and he almost broke his waist from the impact.

    ¡°What the f*ck?¡± Zhang Peng was unable to ept this result. He climbed up from the floor in a hurry and waved the knife frantically around him. ¡°Where is he? Where is he?¡±

    After his anger left him, a sensation that he had not experienced before started to grow within Zhang Peng¡¯s heart.

    <i>I swear I saw a ck shadow standing here! My eyes weren¡¯t mistaken!</i>

    Zhang Peng no longer cared about hiding his tracks. He pulled out his phone to light up his surroundings. The door was crisscrossed with scratch marks, and several sharp mirror pieces littered the ground.

    <i>This was all left behind by the dark shadow, so I was right, there was someone standing here earlier!</i>

    <i>So, where in the world did he go?</i>

    Zhang Peng shivered from head to toe. His anger had beenpletely drenched as he looked fearfully down the darkened corridor that suddenly felt so eerie.

    <i>A man can¡¯t just disappear from thin air, unless... that wasn¡¯t a normal man.</i>

    His Adam¡¯s Apple wiggled, and the weak light from the phone could no longer bring him a sense of security. If anything, the weak light only heightened his fear, like there were monsters hiding in the corners where the light could not reach.

    <i>The Haunted House¡¯s owner isn¡¯t a living person! This Haunted House is really haunted!</i>

    Zhang Peng¡¯s forehead was covered in cold sweat. Even his hand that gripped the knife was soaked with sweat. Any thought of revenge and murder hadpletely left his mind. He dashed down the corridor hurriedly; all he had on his mind then was to escape this sted ce.

    In his hurry to escape, he did not notice the angle of the staircase door was different from how he had left it before.

    <i>Revenge can be re-nned after I leave this ce.</i>

    Holding his wounded arm, Zhang Peng jumped into the staircase, when a shadow flitted out from behind the door and assaulted him.

    The sound of bone cracking was crisp to the ear. Zhang Peng held his right arm that seemed to be dying, and his brain went into shutdown.

    ¡°Sorry, I missed.¡± Chen Ge wandered out from behind the door. The creepy skin mask twisted with a disy of myriad expressions as Chen Ge¡¯s lips moved. ¡°I was aiming for your shoulder de.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s tone was indifferent, like he was talking about the weather. Looking at Chen Ge, Zhang Peng felt like he was about to suffocate. <i>Jesus, Buddha, Ah, someone please help me!</i>

    Zhang Peng did try to resist, but when he saw the forty-centimeter-long hammer in Chen Ge¡¯s hands, his limbs refused to listen to hismands. <i>The hammer is covered with blood, and the handle has the shape of a human spine! Are you that afraid people won¡¯t know that you¡¯re a mad murderer?</i>

    Without giving his opponent much time to recover, Chen Ge picked up the hammer and swung it at Zhang Peng¡¯s leg. He needed someone who waspletely defenseless to be the vessel for the mirror monster.

    <strong>Bang!</strong>

    The bars on the stairs curved from impact. Zhang Peng evaded the attack at thest minute. With one arm bleeding and another incapacitated, Zhang Peng had given up on resistance. He even dropped his knife as he ran down the stairs.

    ¡°You dare visit my Haunted House with suchck of courage?¡±

    Grabbing the iron hammer, Chen Ge gave chase after his prey as the two of them returned to the first floor.

 Chapter 49

    <h4>Chapter 49: Xiao Chen, Are You Hurt!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Zhang Peng shot out of the workers¡¯ passageway like a bullet, as blind as one too. Theyout of the Haunted House wasplicated, andbined with theck of lighting, several minutester, he soon realized with a sinking heart that he was lost.

    ¡°Why are you stopping? Don¡¯t be afraid, I won¡¯t hurt you; I just want to do a small experiment on you.¡± With both of his hands on the iron hammer, Chen Ge trailed behind Zhang Peng, slowly leading his prey into a dead-end.

    ¡°Not going to harm me? The moment we met, you cracked my arm! That is what you called not going to harm me?¡± Zhang Peng had lost his only weapon; his left arm was bleeding; his right arm was limp, hanging off his shoulder like a noodle. In that moment, he felt wronged, and the thought to call the police for help appeared in his mind.

    ¡°Listen to my advice¡ªstop struggling and follow my orders, or you might need a wheelchair for the rest of your life.¡± Chen Ge took deliberate steps toward Zhang Peng. He had no pity for the man; after all, Zhang Peng was there to kill him. If he had not discovered that sooner, he would have been dead already.

    ¡°Boss, does that sound like what a victim would say? I must have been jinxed!¡± Zhang Peng waspletely defenseless, so he ran down whatever open path he could find.

    ¡°That pair of legs sure know how to run...¡± Chen Ge continued to chase after Zhang Peng. However, several stepster, a sawing noise appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s ears again as a ck shadow shot out from the workers¡¯ passageway!

    The mirror monster must have understood what was really happening by then; it knew this was the perfect opportunity. Zhang Peng raced blindly around the first floor. When he turned a corner, he saw a figure of a man waving at him from the corner of his eyes. Perhaps he was too scared by Chen Ge because he ran toward that person without a second thought.

    Chen Ge, who followed behind Zhang Peng, saw this, and a chill ran down his spine. The figure was around the same build as He Feng; it was the mirror monster!

    ¡°I want you to live, but you insist on dying; that¡¯s a real ghost!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s warning fell on deaf ears. Zhang Peng had reached the end of the corridor, and with the guidance of the figure, he wandered into the bathroom.

    <i>The mirrors in the first-floor bathroom are in pristine condition. Since it¡¯s leading Zhang Peng toward the bathroom, the monster is going to make its move soon!</i>

    Chen Ge was feeling nervous since the crucial moment had arrived. He dashed to the bathroom and worked with the doorknob. It was then that he realized the door was locked.

    The development had strayed from his n. The sudden appearance of the ck shadow had ruined everything. It had managed to capture Zhang Peng before Chen Ge could detain the man.

    ¡± <strong>Ahhh! </strong>¡±

    Several secondster, an ear-splitting scream came out from behind the bathroom door. Then it was followed by the sound of stuff falling and crashing. Zhang Peng seemed to have stumbled across something really scary.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on in there?¡± Chen Ge raised the hammer to crack down on the doorknob. The doorknob fell off, but the door still would not budge. Someone had used the cupboard to block the door from behind it. Unable to know what was happening inside the bathroom, Chen Ge was anxious as he swung the hammer repeatedly at the wooden door.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    The loud noises could be heard even outside the Haunted House. Chen Ge had depleted most of his energy before he managed to break the hollow wooden door. The cupboard behind it had started to budge to reveal an opening that was about half a palm wide.

    Looking through the opening, Chen Ge saw the ck cloth that covered the mirror had fallen to the floor. Zhang Peng was staring at the mirror with his eyes unfocused, but the scariest thing was... there was arge ck shadow standing between him and the mirror!

    The ck shadow was slowly morphing until it became almost like Zhang Peng. It took one step back to allow half of its body to melt into the mirror, and then the weirdest thing happened.

    The dazed Zhang Peng walked toward the mirror. He pressed his face against the surface of the mirror. His body and the ck shadow were slowly merging. About four secondster, a creepy grin appeared on Zhang Peng¡¯s nk face!

    He slowly turned around and made sure to hold Chen Ge¡¯s gaze through the door and the cupboard. He swiped some fresh blood off his arm and wrote down something on the surface of the mirror.

    Another one or two secondster, spirit seemed to return to Zhang Peng¡¯s eyes. He shuddered visibly before jumping out the bathroom window and out of the Haunted House.

    <i>The mirror monster has escaped into Zhang Peng¡¯s body? But does that thing have such a deep resentment toward me? Could it be because I¡¯ve ruined its n multiple times?</i>

    The mirror monster had assaulted both He San and He Feng. Both times, it had been interrupted due to an external influence; that was probably why the monster harbored resentment toward the owner of the Haunted House, Chen Ge.

    The door to the bathroom was still blocked, and it would stay blocked for a quite some time. Chen Ge quickly rushed to the front door, but before he could get anywhere, he could hear Inspector Lee¡¯s voice calling.

    ¡°Chen Ge! Hang in there! We¡¯reing to get you!¡± Following a loud bang, the Haunted House¡¯s gate was pried off its hinges, and several officers streamed into the building. Seeing this, Chen Ge immediately tossed the iron hammer to the side and removed his outfit and mask.

    The sound of footsteps echoed down the corridor. Inspector Lee was the first one to burst through the darkness. Seeing Chen Ge standing all alone in the corridor, he asked with concern, ¡°Xiao Chen, are you hurt?¡±

    Chen Ge yed into the skit as he staggered a step back and leaned ¡®weakly¡¯ against the wall. He had his hand on his chest as he said, ¡°I was shocked, but I wasn¡¯t hurt. Leave me be, go chase after Zhang Peng! I saw him jump out of the Haunted House¡¯s bathroom window!¡±

    ¡°Okay, leave the rest to us. Thank you for your help tonight!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it. To be able to help thew enforcement is my honor, what is a little risk or sacrifice?¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯d better not act so rashly anymore in the future¡ªjust look at how dangerous it was tonight!¡± Inspector Lee¡¯s eyes were aglow with admiration and approval. He had his men chase after Zhang Peng while he stayed behind with Chen Ge inside the Haunted House to examine the crime scene.

    He wandered into the staff breakroom first. When he saw the blood on the bed, he turned to Chen Ge with worry. ¡°Xiao Chen, you¡¯re injured? Let me see!¡±

    ¡°That isn¡¯t mine...¡± Chen Ge also didn¡¯t how to exin it. ¡°At the time, the room was dark. The suspect probably identally hurt himself.¡±

    Inspector Lee nodded. He used his shlight to examine the knife marks on the bed frame and bedsheet, and his expression darkened. ¡°You¡¯re not wrong. A man who is not familiar with knife work would identally sh himself in extreme stressful situations.¡±

    He counted the visible marks and concluded, ¡°17 shes in total! This is more than enough to pin him with attempted murder; this is the best proof!¡±

    Looking at the knife marks, Chen Ge also felt a chill run up his arms.

    Inspector Lee pulled on his gloves and signaled for Chen Ge to vacate the room. ¡°Remember to not touch anything in this room. Later, people wille to take pictures to keep as evidence.¡±

    ¡°Of course, I will provide my full cooperation.¡±

    Chen Ge retreated out of the room and returned to where he had been earlier to hide the iron mallet before walking to the first-floor bathroom. He stood before the ruined door and wondered to himself, <i>If I¡¯m not mistaken, Zhang Peng wrote something on the mirror, right?</i>

 Chapter 50

    <h4>Chapter 50: Meaning of the Number</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After adjusting his position, Chen Ge finally managed to discern the blood message that was left on the mirror, it was another Arabic number¡ª2.

    There was nothing scary about the number itself, but the fact that it was written in blood did up the scary factor slightly.

    <i>What does this number mean? After the ck shadow leftst night, I saw a </i>3 <i>on the shattered mirror and now it has be </i>2 <i>; is there some kind of rtionship between them? Why is the number decreasing? </i>Chen Ge was at a loss. <i>Could they represent some kind of countdown?</i>

    Looking at the drying blood stain, Chen Ge leaned against the door and started to contemte.

    <i>The mirror monster has already entered Zhang Peng¡¯s body, so there was no reason for it to leave this message behind unless it ns toe back for revenge.</i>

    Chen Ge considered this possibility, but he couldn¡¯t confirm it; he knew too little about the other world and the mirror monster.

    <i>Suppose the number continues to drop, what will happen when it reaches zero?</i>

    A bad feeling rose within Chen Ge¡¯s heart as he paced around the entrance of the bathroom. <i>Could the number be rted to my life? When it reaches zero, my life will be over like those tropes in scary movies?</i>

    Chen Ge stopped himself from overthinking. <i>I suppose there¡¯s nothing else for me to do for now but wait for tomorrow night to arrive. If there¡¯s another number that appears around or within the Haunted House, then I¡¯ll decide what to do.</i>

    Chen Ge sighed deeply. All he ever wanted was to keep the Haunted House his parents left for him alive, and if it was within his means, he hoped to improve it, but there just had to be these idents that screwed with his n.

    When he returned to the staff breakroom, several police cars had arrived outside the Haunted House. The main city¡¯s investigation team hade to ask Chen Ge some questions and snap a few pictures of the crime scene before joining the others to pursue and capture Zhang Peng.

    Inspector Lee apanied Chen Ge, but even when the sun climbed up over the horizon, there was still no news of Zhang Peng being captured. However, Inspector Lee promised Chen Ge multiple times that with the condition Zhang Peng was in, he would not be able to avoid capture for long; he would be caught within the next 24 hours.

    Honestly, Chen Ge was not that worried about Zhang Peng. He was feeling down because he was concerned about the number that had been left behind by the mirror monster. Inspector Lee thought that Chen Ge was reeling from trauma, so he consoled him as best he could before leaving with the other officers after daylight.

    Chen Ge was left alone in the Haunted House. He opened the window to allow the morning draft to caress his face.

    <i>I¡¯m the owner of a Haunted House, the lord of ghosts and spirits so to speak, but howe I feel I am so pitiful?</i>

    The morning rays filtered into the room. The ragdoll left on the bed turned as if carried by the wind and fell underneath the bed.

    Chen Ge picked it up and poked it on its tummy. ¡°The only specter who listens to me only knows how to act cute. In a realbat situation, I¡¯ll probably need to protect you.¡±

    The ragdoll seemed to be unhappy with Chen Ge¡¯s evaluation of her. She tried to resist but could not do anything.

    <i>The rewards from both Nightmare Missions were support skills; they are useful for the development of the Haunted House but don¡¯t really help me personally much.</i>

    Even though Chen Ge had no idea what the numbers meant, he refused to let himself be toyed with by some mysterious forces like that.

    Taking out the ck phone, Chen Ge clicked through the app for a long time and realized his only trump card was the scary-looking Red Specter¡ªZhang Ya. When he was at the wooden hut behind Ping An Apartments, Zhang Ya had helped him once, tipping him to Wang Qi¡¯s presence. Technically, she had saved his life.

    However, during the Nightmare Mission, when the mirror monster tried to drown him in the bathtub, she had not appeared. This went to show how cavalier she was with Chen Ge¡¯s life.

    <i>Completing her Bloody Heart Mission will enable me to get her to do something that is not against her will. Maybe I¡¯ll be able to get her to help me deal with the imminent danger.</i>

    Chen Ge clicked on Zhang Ya¡¯s name, and even his courage that had been cultivated from a young age started to waver as he looked at the bloody red interface. <i>But thisdy likes a dead Chen Ge, what if the affection level rises too fast and she can¡¯t wait for me to join her in the afterlife?</i>

    Not everyone could ept a specter¡¯s admiration that easily. After exiting the app, even the air around Chen Ge felt fresher. <i>The Bloody Heart Mission will be my final resort. If the mysterious number appears one more time tonight, I¡¯ll have toplete the Bloody Heart Mission.</i>

    After making that decision, with a n forming in his mind, Chen Ge fell back to sleep.

    Xu Wan came to work at around 8 am. Chen Ge left the Haunted House in her capable hands while he went to purchase the surveince cameras with Uncle Xu¡¯s money. He was in such a hurry because there were too many blind spots around the Haunted House; it was too dangerous. On top of that, one of the ck phone¡¯s Daily Missions was for him to install surveince cameras and security devices.

    After the purchase was made, Chen Ge had the workerse to the Haunted House that afternoon to install the devices. With him personally watching, the few workers installed the cameras in most corners of the Haunted House with their hearts shaking, forming a surveince web that had few blind spots. Even though Chen Ge nned to purchase listening device as well, due to limited funds, he only got the cheapest one and had it installed inside the Minghun scenario.

    At 7 pm, after the final testing was done, Chen Ge received the mission sess alert on the ck phone.

    ¡°Congrattion forpleting the Easy Mission, reward earned¡ªBackground Music, Wedding Dress!

    ¡°Note: Wedding Dress is the perfect apaniment to Minghun! The Minghun scenario¡¯s Scream Factor has been upgraded to 1 Star!¡±

    Chen Ge was surprised when he saw the phone alert. The original Scream Factor for Minghun was only 0.5 Stars, but with this new music, it was upgraded to 1 Star.

    <i>Looks like this music is even more disturbing than ck Friday.</i>

    Wanting to immediately try it out, Chen Ge yed the music. It was apletely different style from ck Friday. One was a slow insidious burn, like a force slowly dragging the listener into the dark abyss; the other was weirder in nature, a mix of wedding music and funeral music. The new track caused Chen Ge¡¯s skin to crawl from the first note alone.

    <i>It does fit the Minghun scenario perfectly, but constant exposure to it will probably cause unwanted psychological trauma. Unless someonees to challenge the Haunted House, I¡¯d better keep it to myself for now.</i>

    Chen Ge saved Wedding Dress to his own phone before returning to the third floor alone to clean up the ce.

    He did not have enough funds to hire cleaners, so with the dolls snuggled in his pockets, he cleared out all the mirror pieces he could find on the third floor. When he was done, it was almost midnight. Chen Ge held his phone as he wandered between the bathroom and the staff breakroom.

    He looked at the mirrors carefully as he waited for midnight to arrive.

 Chapter 51

    <h4>Chapter 51: The Choice</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    With dark circles under his eyes, Chen Ge stood before the mirror hugging the dolls. <i>One more minute until midnight.</i>

    The lights in the bathroom were off, and Chen Ge stared at his reflection in the mirror. Afraid that he might miss out on some details, Chen Ge did not dare to blink with his palms on the sink and his face close to the mirror.

    He focused all of his attention on the mirror. When there were only several seconds away to midnight, the phone in Chen Ge¡¯s pocket vibrated.

    <i>A call? Who would call at such a time?</i>

    The sudden phone call startled Chen Ge. He hurriedly pulled out his phone and the caller ID was Inspector Lee.

    <i>Has there been some kind of ident?</i>

    Chen Ge answered the call and put the phone beside his ear. ¡°Uncle San Bao, have you got an update?¡±

    On the other end of the phone, Inspector Lee sounded serious and hurried. ¡°Zhang Peng is still on the loose, but we¡¯vee to the conclusion that he¡¯s still around western Jiujiang! You have to be careful! The man is incredibly dangerous and cunning. His actions and thinking are different from normal, and we cannot rule out the possibility that he will return for you!¡±

    ¡°But didn¡¯t the police set up a perimeter around New Century Park yesterday? With injuries on both of his arms, he shouldn¡¯t have been able to get far.¡± From Chen Ge¡¯s perspective, he had been sure Zhang Peng was going to be captured.

    ¡°There was an unexpected development. For now, I cannot give you the details, but what I can say is,st night, one of the officers who managed to intercept the suspect experienced some kind of trauma. He¡¯s currently in a deepa and being looked after at the hospital.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s expression shifted, and he was about to say something when he nced at the mirror on the wall out of the corner of his eye. A bloody Arabic number of 1 had surfaced on the mirror when he was not paying attention.

    ¡°But don¡¯t worry, the police are closing in on him. Justice always prevails.¡±

    Inspector Lee continued to talk on the phone, but Chen Ge¡¯s mind was already elsewhere. He ced the phone down and looked at the mirror dumbly.

    <i>When did this appear? The mirror monster has already left, so why would the number still appear on the mirror?</i>

    Chen Ge was reminded of what he had seen in the bathroom the day before, where half of the mirror monster¡¯s body was outside the mirror and Zhang Peng had voluntarily walked forward to merge himself with the creature.

    <i>What does this number really mean? Yesterday it was 2, and today it is 1. Does this mean it¡¯ll be zero tomorrow?</i>

    The dropping number caused Chen Ge¡¯s eyes to dim with concern. <i>After Zhang Peng was possessed by the mirror monster, the number started to drop. When Inspector Lee mentioned thea of the officer, the number dropped again. Does the number represent the number of victims? The mirror monster needs three living victims?</i>

    Regardless of the real meaning of the number, Chen Ge could not wait anymore because it was now rted to innocent lives. A great sense of urgency appeared in his heart.

    <i>The mirror monster is growing stronger and stronger; tomorrow night might be myst chance already.</i>

    Chen Ge picked up a dirty cloth to wipe the number on the mirror away; he could not y it safe anymore. After a few more words with Inspector Lee, he ended the call and then entered the Props Room with the ck phone.

    <i>It is now a new day; the Daily Missions will have refreshed already. Now, the only thing that might help me are the Red Specter¡¯s Bloody Heart Mission or the new Nightmare Mission.</i>

    Chen Ge tapped into the Daily Mission interface of the app.

    Easy Mission: A normal Haunted House experience should not create permanent trauma to its visitors; I hope you understand this simple theory. Please improve the Haunted House¡¯s security by inspecting the security threats hidden around the Haunted House.

    Normal Mission: You¡¯ve achieved the criteria to enable the first expansion of the Haunted House, do search for a suitable location soon! Due to space limitations, you are unable to perform any Trial Mission to unlock scenarios!

    Nightmare Mission: There has always been a second upant inside your room, wouldn¡¯t you like to meet said person?

    (Beware! The more difficult the mission, the more dangerous it¡¯ll be, so please choose carefully!)

    After reading all three missions, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes fell on the Nightmare Mission.<i>The other person inside my room? Just the description of it makes me ufortable.</i>

    Chen Ge knew the possible danger of the Nightmare Mission perfectly well. After a long hesitation, he chose to open the Red Specter¡¯s page instead.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to ept Zhang Ya¡¯s Bloody Heart Mission? Warning! This mission contains a certain level of danger!¡±

    The app kindly provided Chen Ge with a warning. He rubbed his temples, unable toe to a decision.

    <i>Both of these missions have a certain degree of risk and danger. However, the rewards of the Nightmare Mission are random; there¡¯s a high chance it might just give me another supportive skill. Inparison, the Bloody Heart Mission... Zhang Ya has been given the special title of Red Specter and even her own personal page on the app, this means that she is probably a powerful specter, at least several levels higher than the mirror monster. With her help, I should be able to survive this crisis.</i>

    After thorough analysis, with a grit of his teeth, Chen Ge clicked on Zhang Ya¡¯s Bloody Heart Mission.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to ept Zhang Ya¡¯s Bloody Heart Mission?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    The red interface started to change and peel off like wilting roses, and soon, a new message appeared on screen.

    ¡°Anderson¡¯s Fairy Tales Volume One, Book Three¡ªRed Dancing Shoes: Once upon a time, there was a pair of ruby red dancing shoes that could make the dancer who wore them light on her feet and perfect at her dance. However, none of the dancers dared put them on because they were a pair of magical shoes, one that would make its dancer keep on dancing until they perished from exhaustion.

    ¡°Please arrive at Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy within one hour from epting the mission and locate Zhang Ya¡¯s red dancing shoes before dawn.

    ¡°Warning: Don¡¯t bete on your first date, or she¡¯ll be very unhappy.¡±

    Chen Ge did not know what to feel after reading the mission details. The Private Academy had been abandoned several years earlier due to unknown reasons. However, Chen Ge had heard plenty of scary rumors about it.

    <i>My first date with a girl is at an abandoned school after midnight, am I that unlucky at love?</i>

    The mission required him to be at the Private Academy within one hour. Chen Ge calcted the distance in his mind, and realized he still have some time left.

    <i>The Private Academy is at this part of town, so not that far away from me. The biggest issue is going there after midnight. Sigh, I¡¯d better go take a bath first; no matter what, this is my first time.</i>

    After a quick shower, Chen Ge changed into a clean outfit. He stood before the mirror to inspect his image.

    <i>There are fifty minutes left, why am I feeling so nervous all of a sudden?</i>

 Chapter 52

    <h4>Chapter 52: First Date</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After taking a few deep breaths and sshing cold water on his face, Chen Ge finally calmed down.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to go.¡±

    Chen Ge retrieved the backpack that he had usedst time and ced Zhang Ya¡¯s love letter, a power bank, and tool mallet into it. After the lesson fromst time, he put the penknife directly in his pocket and the doll left behind by his parents inside his shirt pocket. He was bulging all over the ce, but at least he felt safer.

    After packing everything he needed, Chen Ge locked the Haunted House and rushed out of New Century Park. It was 12:15 am, so there was little traffic on the road. He waited for another ten minutes before he managed to hail a cab.

    ¡°Sir, please get me to Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy. I¡¯m in a hurry, so please drive faster.¡±

    ¡°No problem, get in.¡±

    The driver was an easy-going middle-aged uncle, and the radio in the car was ying hit songs from the 90s. Chen Ge sat in the backseat and used this downtime to search for online information rted to his current mission.

    The first thing mentioned by the phone when he epted the Bloody Heart Mission was Anderson¡¯s Red Dancing Shoes, so that was the first thing Chen Ge looked for on the inte. He managed to find the original source, and after skimming through it, Chen Ge felt rather petrified.

    The original plot was not much different from the ck phone¡¯s version. It described the story of a young girl who was gifted a pair of beautiful red dancing shoes. She loved them so much that she wore them everywhere, including to church, where she was cursed to dance forever. She was afraid, helpless, and exhausted. In the end, she begged the woodman to chop her legs off, and then came the most curious part of the fairy tale. After the legs were chopped off, they danced away into the forest still wearing the red dancing shoes.

    <i>Is this even a fairy tale?</i>

    It added to his nervousness since his mission was searching for Zhang Ya¡¯s red dancing shoes.

    <i>When I won the cursed love letter, the ck phone did provide a brief description of Zhang Ya. She was wearing a bloodied school uniform and red dancing shoes at the time of her death, so could the fairy tale be real? The red dancing shoes couldn¡¯t be taken off after they were put on?</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s skin crawled. Different from his previous missions, this time he was going face to face with a Red Specter, one that had a Bloody Heart Mission, something that could only be given by specters with heavy resentment.

    <i>Looks like the key to tonight¡¯s mission is the red dancing shoes.</i>

    Chen Ge read the fairy tale again for a few times; the main lesson to be learned here was to not be vain but be humble at all time.

    <i>Was there even a reason for the ck phone to refer to this fairy tale at the start of the mission?</i>

    He could not figure out an answer, so he decided to focus his energy on searches rted to Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy. The school was closed after just two years of operation and had been abandoned since then. With regards to the reason for its closure, there were plenty of rumors online. Some said it had to do withck of budget, whereas othersined about the high semester fees.

    Chen Ge scrolled through all the information patiently, and Zhang Ya¡¯s name did not even appear once, like she had nothing to do with the school at all.

    <i>There has to be something more sinister about the closure than what¡¯s been spected online!</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the streetlights out the window that seemed to be running backwards, and he squinted his eyes in thought. <i>Just what kind of ending could a girl experience to turn her into a Red Specter? Why would she harbor such deep resentment? What does all of that have to do with red dancing shoes?</i>

    While Chen Ge was deep in his thought, the volume of the radio picked up. He turned toward the source with shock and realized the driver uncle had been looking at him via the rear-view mirror.

    ¡°What¡¯s on your mind, young man? You have such a sad face.¡± The driver was a quintessential chatterbox. He had attempted to start a conversation with Chen Ge when Chen Ge entered the car, but Chen Ge had ignored the man mostly because he was busy looking up information.

    ¡°So much has changed in my life recently that I¡¯m struggling to get my head around it, feeling rather swamped at the moment.¡± Chen Ge smiled politely as he put his phone away.

    ¡°Slow and steady wins the race. I¡¯m sure everything will work out in the end. If you¡¯re that stressed, do what I do: y some disco music, and after a few shakes, you¡¯ll feel much better.¡± The driver grooved along to the music.

    <i>At least the man is optimistic, </i>thought Chen Ge.

    ¡°By the way, why are you going to the Private Academy sote at night? That ce is mostly abandoned, and it¡¯s not close to any residential area.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s lips fell open and eventually he answered, ¡°Going on a date.¡±

    ¡°A date? At this kind of ungodly hour?¡± The driver nced back at Chen Ge.

    ¡°It¡¯s true. I don¡¯t know how to exin it; the girl is a bit hard to please and has some weird quirks.¡± Chen Ge tried to normalize it as best as he could. After all, he had not been asked out on a date before, and being invited to one did make him feel quite good about himself.

    ¡°That¡¯s a good thing! What are you worried about, worried that she won¡¯t like you? Then again, what kind of person goes to a date dressed like you? Listen to me, even guys need to know how to dress these days. Look at that backpack, it goes against the rest of your outfit.¡±

    The floodgate of the driver¡¯s mouth had been opened, and Chen Ge did not even know how to respond. A normal person going on a date would have been happy and overjoyed, but his date was more like a coercion and a desperate move to save himself than an actual date.

    ¡°A gentleman mustn¡¯t be too forward, don¡¯t start the conversation with random topics like the weather,pliment her, and be a good listener. After all, the first impression is very important...¡± Listening to the driver¡¯s advice, Chen Ge had half a mind to y Wedding Dress on his phone so that everyone could have a little peace and quiet.

    The taxi zoomed through the night. The cars on the road and the buildings beside it had gotten increasingly sparse; even the streetlights had started to disappear. The signs of civilization outside the window started to disappear, and the road was slowly swallowed up by the forest.

    The driver nced at the GPS and asked Chen Ge, ¡°Are you sure you got the right address? Other than an abandoned school, there¡¯s nothing down the road.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure, just drop me off near the school. How much?¡±

    ¡°19, do you mind paying me via WeChat? I just started my shift, and I don¡¯t have spare change on me.¡±

    ¡°No problem.¡±

    As Chen Ge grabbed his phone out of his pocket, the penknife bounced out of it as well. The knife sat quietly on the cushion, causing the driver who spotted it to lean surreptitiously forward. The driver moved his hand to lower the volume of the radio. As he did so, he stealthily used his pinkie finger to press a button on the machine.

    None of this escaped Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. However, there was nothing he could do but continue to smile. He believed the uncle had mistaken him for some kind ofte-night burr.

    ¡°Transaction sessful.¡± Chen Ge put away his phone and nced at the driver seat. ¡°Uncle, you¡¯re recording this to report to the police?¡±

    The driver, who was in the middle of drinking from a bottle of water, coughed violently as he waved his hands about vehemently.

    ¡°I can understand why you¡¯re doing that but...¡± Chen Ge turned to look at the eerie outline of the school in the dark.

    ¡°...I¡¯m really here for a date.¡±

 Chapter 53

    <h4>Chapter 53: The Chair Is Moving</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The driver¡¯s face was pale, and heughed awkwardly. ¡°Then, good luck to you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, so do you mind stopping the recording now?¡± Chen Ge shed a smile that he thought was friendly. ¡°This is just a misunderstanding.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± the driver answered readily. He pressed some random button on the machine. After driving for another two or three meters, the red light on the driver¡¯s walkie-talkie lit up. He pressed it lightly, and before he could say anything, a rough, gravelly voice appeared.

    ¡°Lao Liu, you¡¯re also near Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy? What is wrong with people tonight? I also have a passenger with me who wants to go there. Actually, we¡¯re quite close. By the way, what is this message that you sent to the group? ¡®I am meld postage¡¯?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing, just focus on your passenger.¡± The driver swiped the sweat on his forehead away and quickly hung up on the walkie-talkie.

    ¡°That should be I am held hostage, right? Uncle, didn¡¯t you say you trust me?¡± Chen Ge asked with his eyebrow raised. Afraid that the driver uncle might just call the cops on him, he said, ¡°You can drop me right here.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± The driver was quick to follow his instruction. Chen Ge even managed to see that the man¡¯s legs were shaking.

    Chen Ge looked around to make sure he did not leave behind anything. After he got out and closed the door, he looked up and saw the running sign on top of the taxi say¡ª¡¯I am being held hostage, please call the police!¡¯

    ¡°Uncle, you sure are creative.¡±

    The taxi left Chen Ge like it had grown wings. Several secondster, the several hundred meters around Chen Ge fell silent. It was a starless night like it was going to rain soon. The rainclouds were hanging low in the sky, blocking out all light. Chen Ge pulled out his phone to look at the time; there were still eight minutes left until the designated time.

    <i>Just now, inside the car, the person on the walkie-talkie said he¡¯s also bringing a passenger to the Private Academy. That person ising here at 1 am, could it have something to do with me?</i>

    Chen Ge reminded himself to be careful. If not for the time limitation, he probably would have hidden himself in the brush by the side of the road to see who was following him.

    <i>Only eight minutes left. I¡¯d better go familiarize myself with theyout of the school first. I¡¯ll need all the advantages I can get.</i>

    The area surrounding Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy was a piece of desertednd. There were no streetlights, only a single road cutting through heavy forest and shrubbery.

    Flipping on the shlight on his phone, Chen Ge followed the road for another hundred meters before reaching the abandoned school¡¯s front gate. The chains and the iron bars had already rusted together. The gate was too heavy to even budge. Looking through the bars, all Chen Ge could see was darkness.

    <i>How do I get in?</i>

    Chen Ge paced around the gate. He tossed his backpack over the gate first before taking several steps back. With a running start, he grabbed hold of the bricks on the wall as he jumped over the outside wall.

    The schoolpound was not big; the whole area could be seen with one nce. There were several tall silhouettes standing in the dark like solitary watchmen. The school¡¯s sign had long since been removed. Chen Ge himself did not know what the real name of the school was. Like everyone else in the city, he only knew it as Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy.

    The overgrown shrubbery had swallowed up most of the path. It scratched Chen Ge¡¯s legs at every step, making him feel both ticklish and painful.

    <i>I¡¯ve managed to arrive within the designated time limit; now my mission is to find Zhang Ya¡¯s red dancing shoes.</i>

    Chen Ge pulled out the mallet from his backpack. Feeling the icy metallic touch on his skin, Chen Ge felt much safer.

    Using his phone as guidance, Chen Ge walked deeper into the school. He only took several steps before he felt something was wrong. He stopped moving and took several steps back.

    <i>Is it my imagination? Howe it feels like there is something pushing me into the school? And when I tried to walk backwards, there was a mysterious force blocking me from behind.</i>

    Chen Ge turned to look over his shoulder, but there was nothing there. He used the phone to shower some light behind him, and there was nothing like ghost or spirit as he has imagined.

    <i>Could it be that she¡¯s already here? Standing behind me? Only I can¡¯t see her? </i>Chen Ge shivered. The thought of swinging the mallet at the space behind him cropped up in his mind, but he thought, <i>What if Zhang Ya is really behind me and this swing angers her?</i>

    He was a mere Haunted House owner; he was practically defenseless stranded in this deserted school. He shuddered, thinking about the ending should he manage to anger a baleful specter.

    <i>In any case, I should go in first.</i>

    Chen Ge pulled his backpack higher as he walked into the school holding up his phone and the mallet. The night darkened, and a draft picked up; it even carried a light dusting of rain with it.

    <i>The most probable locations where I will find the red dancing shoes are either the female changing room at the dance studio or Zhang Ya¡¯s former bedroom. I¡¯ll have to focus on these two locations.</i>

    Chen Ge headed toward the building that was closest to him. The trees inside the school had grown into twisted shapes, and the wild grass had grown up to Chen Ge¡¯s waist. There were statues that littered the schoolpound, and most of them were human figures. All in all, the ce radiated an air of eeriness in the dark.

    <i>The girl¡¯s dormitory?</i>

    The dormitory building was not tall, only four-stories high. However, it did look creepy, probably due to an extended period of abandonment. The ss door of the building was locked up tight using a metal chain. Chen Ge leaned against the ss to take a closer look.

    The doors on both sides of the dark corridor were tightly closed, but curious enough, a solitary chair sat in the middle of the corridor facing away from the bedroom door.

    <i>A single chair is left right in the middle of the corridor? Is there some special meaning to this?</i>

    Chen Ge leaned back from the ss door. <i>Both the main gate and the hostel entrance have been locked, and the corridor doesn¡¯t seem to have any trash in it. This goes to show that when they were closing the school, they cleaned the ce up first, so why did they leave a chair right in the middle of the corridor? Just a mere coincidence?</i>

    <i>If the chair was purposely left behind by the school management, then what is the meaning of it? If it was not left behind by the school, then who moved the chair to the middle of the corridor after the ce was locked up?</i>

    Chen Ge aimed his phone at the ss door. The chair was ced around five meters away from the entrance, and there was a broken hall light right above it.

    <i>The light is already broken, and the electrical wiring is even exposed. Chair and wiring, is it me or that looks like a hanging scene?</i>

    Honestly, after seeing this curious scene, Chen Ge¡¯s heart had started to palpitate.

    <i>I¡¯m probably just overthinking.</i>

    He looked left and right. The breeze caused the leaves to rustle. The school after dark was hauntingly creepy.

    <i>I can¡¯t scare myself for no reason. After all, Zhang Ya, the Red Specter, is the scariest presence at this school. I have her love letter, so who dares to challenge me?</i>Considering the situation, this was the only way Chen Ge could console himself.<i>Furthermore, this is just an affection mission. To put it simply, it¡¯s a special kind of date. There¡¯s nothing to be worried about.</i>

    He gave himself a pep talk, and when he was done, he walked back toward the ss door with the mallet. He was about to smash the door when his eyes caught a shocking detail.

    The chair that should have been right under the hall light had moved one meter away from the light fixture. It seemed to have moved forward.

    <i>F*ck! </i>This was the first time Chen Ge experienced something like this. <i>What just happened?</i>

 Chapter 54

    <h4>Chapter 54: Arts Activities Center</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Staring right at the wooden chair in the middle of the corridor, Chen Ge stood at the ready, gripping the mallet tightly. He waited for ten seconds, and the chair remained unmoved.

    <i>Is it because I¡¯m watching it?</i>

    Chen Ge walked forward and turned on his phone¡¯s recording function before cradling it within the chains on the door. Then, he walked back to the abandoned garden outside the building and waited patiently.

    The school at midnight was unsettlingly quiet; there was not even the sound of a bird or insect chirping. About three minutester, Chen Ge returned to the dormitory; he had prepared himself for the worst. However, when he stood at the ss door, he saw that the chair was still where it was, just one meter away from the broken hall light.

    <i>Didn¡¯t move? What¡¯s going on?</i>

    Chen Ge walked to the door and picked up the phone from the chain. He looked through the video and saw nothing out of the ordinary. The chair sat in the middle of the corridor just as it should.

    <i>It¡¯ll only move when it¡¯s around a living human?</i>

    When the thought appeared in his mind, Chen Ge instantly felt something was wrong. He turned to look down the corridor, and the chair had moved two meters ahead again; it was now incredibly close to the ss door!

    <i>It moved forward again? What does that mean? It only moves when I am close, does this mean it wants something from me?</i>

    It would have been a lie to say he was not afraid, but Chen Ge¡¯s tolerance for fear was much higher than most, so he managed to maintain a clear mind under such situation.

    <i>The school is clearly haunted, but before I understand why, I should try my best to avoid these things.</i>

    Chen Ge actually wanted to smash the ss door and rushed in to bash the chair into pieces. However, considering the blind spots inside the building, he was afraid there were threats hidden in corners that he could not see. He was afraid that after entering the building, it was not the chair that would snap but himself.

    <i>Tonight¡¯s main mission is to locate that pair of red dancing shoes. As long as this weird stuff doesn¡¯t interrupt with my progress, there¡¯s no reason for me to interact with it. </i>Chen Ge grabbed his phone and retreated from the door. <i>I¡¯d better go investigate other ces first. I can always return if I can¡¯t find the dancing shoes. After all, the mission is considered sessful as long as I locate them before sunrise; there is still plenty of time.</i>

    Chen Gemitted the location of the girl¡¯s dormitory to memory before retracing his step back to the school gate. He switched his phone off and squatted near the main gate, holding the mallet in his hand.

    <i>Based on the time, the taxi behind me should have arrived already, so why is the road still so dark?</i>

    A car¡¯s headlights would be extremely eye-catching against the total darkness, but Chen Ge waited for a long time without seeing any source of light heading toward the school.

    <i>Could there have been an ident?</i>

    This detail had not left his mind. Chen Ge knew there was no such thing as coincidence in this world; the person who followed him to Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy had some motive of their own.

    <i>The opponent probably knew that I would wait for them, so they came out from the car earlier and walked the rest of the way on foot? If that¡¯s the case, then this is troublesome.</i>

    Chen Ge wished that he was wrong. He already had more than enough on his te as it was.

    <i>In any case, I¡¯ll need to pick up pace. I have two advantages on my side: I¡¯ve familiarized myself with the surrounding since I got here first, and I have Zhang Ya on my side. She won¡¯t watch me get bullied on her home turf, right?</i>

    Perhaps Chen Ge¡¯s eyes had gotten used to the darkness, or maybe it was the effect of the Ying-Yang Vision, but things were no longer that blurry in the dark.

    <i>Those in the light open themselves to being hunted by those in the dark.</i>

    Chen Ge did not turn on his phone but headed toward another building in the dark. The tallest building in the school was the education building. It was five-stories tall, and behind it was a field that was unkempt and overgrown. On the other end of the field was a building that sat itself apart from other buildings.

    The building stood out because it had faded red paint.

    <i>The education building is for sses, so the dancing shoes won¡¯t be there; the possibility is even lower for the boy¡¯s dormitory. I¡¯d better go take a look at the red building then.</i>

    Chen Ge walked along the outer perimeter of the field before he reached the front door of the curious building.

    The building was as tall as the girl¡¯s dormitory, but it was only two thirds the size. Once he got close, Chen Ge noticed how truly unusual this building was. There was a wooden sign that was ced before the front door, and two conspicuous words were painted on it with red ink¡ªNO ENTRY!

    <i>What is the purpose of this building?</i>

    Curiosity is part of human nature. Chen Ge¡¯s desire to enter the building only rose after reading the warning sign. <i>Something must have happened here several years ago¡ªmaybe the red dancing shoes I¡¯m looking for are inside.</i>

    Chen Ge walked around the wooden sign and saw the front door was sealed up with two locks.

    <i>I could break the door down with the mallet, but it¡¯ll create too muchmotion; that might attract the attention of the person who is following me.</i>

    Chen Ge thus shied away from the door and walked around the edge of the building. There, he saw a window that was seriously worn¡ªeven arge piece of the ss was missing.

    <i>This can be my point of entry. </i>Chen Ge extended his hand through the window to open the lock from within. To y it safe, he waited for several minutes to ensure that no one was inside before he jumped in.

    He closed the window and moved everything to how it was before. Chen Ge did not dare lower his guard as he surveyed his surroundings. He hadnded himself in an artist studio. The walls were pasted with the students¡¯ handiwork, and marble models sat on the shelves.

    <i>This ce does look creepy, but it is nopetition for my Haunted House.</i>

    Chen Ge walked through the rows of marble models as he headed for the room¡¯s back door. He looked through the door¡¯s window and saw a banner with the words ¡®Arts Activities Center¡¯ hanging on the corridor.

    <i>Looks like I¡¯m at the right ce. </i>Chen Ge pulled the door open slowly. Perhaps because it had not been used for a long time, the sound of the door sliding on its hinges was grating on Chen Ge¡¯s ears.

    <i>Calm down, just leave immediately after you find the shoes.</i>

    Since he was inside an enclosed building, Chen Ge switched on his phone again. The dim light did not bring him anyfort. If anything, it only heightened the fear in Chen Ge¡¯s heart.

    Chen Ge looked through the first-floor rooms one by one. All of them were artist studios. In fact, some of them still had easels and paintings that had been left behind.

    <i>This building has four stories; the dance studio I¡¯m looking for is probably on another floor.</i>

    Armed with his phone and the mallet, Chen Ge headed up the stairs. When he reached the second floor, his heart started to race, and his back was covered with chills.

    Because as he turned to look down the corridor of the second floor, there sat a wooden chair.

    <i>This thing again?</i>

    The muscles in Chen Ge¡¯s hand grew taut, as he gripped the mallet even tighter.

 Chapter 55

    <h4>Chapter 55: Five Girls</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The chair was ced right in the middle of the corridor, so if Chen Ge want to enter the second floor, he had to walk past it. The memory of what he had seen at the girl¡¯s dormitory was still fresh in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. These chairs seemed to have the tendency to get close to living humans.

    Hiding at the staircase, he started to hesitate.

    <i>It has a back for people to lean on, and it looks different from all the other chairs I¡¯ve seen in this building. It seems to have been moved here from somece else, but why would someone do that?</i>

    Upon closer inspection, the chair looked simr to the one Chen Ge had seen inside the girl¡¯s dormitory; it was likely one of the chairs the school management assigned to the dormitory rooms.

    Chen Ge used the camera on his phone to zoom in on the sign on one of the doors; it said something rted to vocal training. <i>The dance studio is not on the second floor, it seems¡ª should I just head to the third floor? But what if there¡¯s another wooden chair on the third floor¡¯s corridor? If it starts to chase after me, won¡¯t I be blocked from both sides?</i>

    As the creepy image shed across his mind, Chen Ge decided to enter the second-floor corridor. The corridor was so shadowy that Chen Ge could not see the end. The doors on both sides were closed, and the windows were crusted with a thickyer of dust, blocking Chen Ge of the view inside.

    Chen Ge took deliberate steps. He did not think to hurry simply because of the possible threat from the wooden chair. In fact, for Chen Ge, the abandoned ssrooms on both sides seemed scarier than the chair.

    <i>I wonder how long it has been since a living soul stepped into this ce. The dust on the floor is so thick, and I have no way of dealing with the footprints that I¡¯ve left. If the person following me has also entered this building, I¡¯ll definitely be discovered.</i>

    Even in this situation, Chen Ge did not forget about the hidden threat of the third party. <i>I have get this over with as soon as possible!</i>

    The light on Chen Ge¡¯s phone wavered as his arms moved. He inched closer to the wooden chair.

    <i>In reality, there¡¯s nothing really scary about this, right? What can a wooden chair really do?</i>

    Chen Ge walked around the chair, and it gave him the feeling that it was just a wooden chair and nothing more.

    <i>Maybe I should take a closer look at it...</i>

    As the thought cropped up in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, he had already put it into motion. He knocked the chair to its side, and it was then that he noticed the handwriting underneath the chair.

    <i>Qian Yujiao? That sounds like the name of a girl.</i>

    In any case, the appearance of the name confirmed Chen Ge¡¯s earlier suspicion. The chair wasn¡¯t native to the Activities Centre but belonged to a specific individual. When the school hostedrge events, the management would have the students bring their own chairs. To prevent confusion, many would jot down their name underneath their chair.

    <i>Does this mean there¡¯s also a name underneath the chair in the girl¡¯s dormitory?</i>

    Chen Ge memorized the name. After some hesitation, he decided not to break the chair but ced it inside one of the empty ssrooms. <i>The longer I stay here, the more ufortable I feel. I¡¯d better head up to the third floor soon.</i>

    He returned via the route that he hade from and climbed up the stairs to the third floor. The corridor was empty this time. Chen Ge pushed open the door for some of the ssrooms. The tables and chairs were all pushed to the back of the room, and parts of the wall had been repainted¡ªit was rather obvious because the wall had two different hues.

    <i>The school was already closing, so why did they waste money to repaint the wall? For whom is this for?</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s experience at Ping An Apartments provided him with a possibility.<i>It¡¯s probably to hide something.</i>

    He used the mallet to peel at the paint, but weirdly enough, the wall behind the new paint waspletely normal; there were no blood stains or weird marks.

    <i>No, there has to be something more than this.</i>

    Chen Ge continued his tour of the ssrooms. He realized that not all the ssrooms had been coated with new paint. There were spots that had been repainted, and some of them were curiously close to the indoor piping.

    <i>This building¡¯s water drainage system was probably updated before its closure. </i>Chen Ge looked up at the piping and concluded, <i>The ssrooms on the first and second floor showed obvious signs of usage, but the ssrooms on the third floor seem to have been abandoned even before the closure.</i>

    The tables and chairs were piled on top of each other, and there was not one piece of chalk left on the lectern. Some of the ssrooms even had locks on them.

    <i>Ghost haunting? Murder? Hidden security concern?</i>

    There could be many different reasons for the sealing of the ce, and Chen Ge could not pinpoint which one it was. He exited the ssroom and headed up the fourth floor.

    When he took the first step, Chen Ge turned back to see whether the wooden chair was following him or not.

    It wasn¡¯t.

    When he reached thending between the third and fourth floor, there was a rope tied across the two banisters of the stair that blocked his way. There was a wooden board hanging on it. Simr to the one at the front door, it said ¡®NO ENTRY¡¯.

    Naturally, Chen Ge was not deterred by the wooden sign. He picked it up and put it to the side before bending down to scurry under the rope.

    As he reached the fourth floor, Chen Ge noticed with his first nce that a faded room sign was hanging on the door of the room right opposite from him.

    <i>The dance studio!</i>

    After such a long search at the Activities Center, he had finally located the venue where the red dancing shoes had the highest chance of appearing. Theyout of the fourth floor was different from the other floors in the sense that instead of individual ssroom, the walls had been knocked out to form arge studio.

    After tearing down the seals and prying open the lock, Chen Ge pushed open the door to the dance studio that had been left unused for many years. The ce appeared to have been forgotten by time; things seemed to be how they were several years ago.

    The slick floor was filled with a thin coat of dust, and the room was suffused with a weird smell. The closest description Chen Ge had for the smell was heavy deodorant that had gone off after being trapped in an enclosed room for years.

    Chen Ge walked into the studio, sticking close to the wall. The studio was at a professional level; the wooden floor was waxed to amodate the dance practice, and the walls were equipped with acoustic boards and panels to prevent the noise from disturbing the other ssrooms.

    <i>This is the first time I¡¯ve seen such arge dance studio.</i>

    Chen Ge used his camera to zoom in on the various angles of the room. The walls were mounted with bars that one usually saw in ballet sses. The bars¡¯ height was adjustable, and underneath them were a row of low seats that students could use for rest.

    On the other end of the room were six floor-length mirrors that were perfectly joined together. Each mirror was about one meter wide and two meters tall.

    <i>I¡¯d almost forgotten that mirrors are a necessary fixture inside a dance studio.</i>

    Looking at the row of mirrors, Chen Ge sucked in a cold breath. He then noticed, situated right at the middle of the mirrors, three wooden chairs.

    <i>Three at once?</i>

    Chen Ge bit on his lips before walking over to the chairs, his every action reflected in the mirror.

    Facing his own reflection in the mirror amid an empty dance studio at midnight, Chen Ge felt increasingly unsettled.

    Resisting the urge to break the mirrors, he toppled the three chairs to their sides, and like the chair he had found earlier, all of them had a girl¡¯s name written underneath them.

    <i>Including the chair at the girl¡¯s dormitory, I¡¯ve stumbled across five chairs already. If every single one of them represents a girl, then this means I¡¯m dealing with the spirits of five girls. So, the question is, what has really happened to them?</i>

 Chapter 56

    <h4>Chapter 56: She Who Cannot Be Named</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge could not deduce the truth since there were plenty of clues still to be found. He returned the three chairs to how they had been before turning his head to look around the room. Due to the wall of mirrors, the dance studio feltrger and emptier than it was.

    <i>The ce is so clean. It has been probably cleaned more than once recently.</i>

    There was no visible trash on the floor, and this was not good news for Chen Ge.<i>Someone has messed with the ce already. Hopefully, the red dancing shoes haven¡¯t been tossed out.</i>

    Chen Ge moved away from the wall of mirrors to the corner of the dance studio. The wall was covered with various certificates and de. There was also something that looked like a results list. After taking a closer look, Chen Ge found an anomaly. The first ce of the list had been crossed off with a marker pen.

    <i>A list without the winner?</i>

    Chen Ge found all of the girls¡¯ names, including Qian Yujiao, on the list, but he could not find Zhang Ya.

    He moved his gaze away, and one of the pictures on the wall grabbed his attention. It was a group photo of six individuals. Five of them were smiling brightly at the camera in a group hug while the sixth stood alone in the corner, quite a distance away from the rest. The photo had been manipted to cut her out, if not for the snow-white dance shoes that peeked out from the corner, Chen Ge would have thought this was a group photo of five girls.

    <i>These are all individual photos or group photos, why isn¡¯t there a photo of the whole ss?</i>

    Chen Ge aimed his phone at the wall and snapped a photo. Then, moving forward along the wall, he soon stopped before a room without a sign. Compelled by curiosity, he pushed the door open and walked into it.

    The small room was equipped with a desk, a dresser, and a single bed.

    <i>This appears to be the office of the teacher, but why is there a bed? The teacher needed to work the night shift?</i>

    Chen Ge ransacked the room in the hope of locating the red dancing shoes. Unfortunately, the dresser was empty, and the drawers of the desk were filled with nothing but photocopies of winning certificates.

    <i>Looks like the dance students here were all very talented, since they won so many prizes. </i>Chen Ge picked up a few random pieces to look at, and one of them had the name of Qian Yujiao¡¯s group printed on it. <i>Swan Lake Citywide Ballet Group Competition Champion. This means that they were qualified to join the state-widepetition.</i>

    This certificate was not pasted on the wall outside, and most curiously, the winning group was supposed to have six names, but thest name had once again been crossed off.

    <i>It¡¯s the same as the result list.</i>

    Chen Ge wandered around the room for a little while longer before leaving it empty-handed. Chen Ge¡¯s heart skipped a beat when he pulled the door open. The three chairs had moved from their original position to a spot closer to the door that he had just exited.

    <i>It has started again!</i>

    Chen Ge told himself to just ignore those chairs. He rushed to look for other clues. If he could note up with any clues for the next three minutes, he had decided to leave the Activities Center. Using his phone as a light source, Chen Ge walked to the deepest edge of the dance studio before he found the door that said the girl¡¯s dressing room.

    <i>ording to rumors, the girl¡¯s bathroom and dressing room are where the Ying energy is the most concentrated at any school. I¡¯ll need to be extra careful.</i>

    He pushed the door slowly open. The dressing room was lined on both sides by steel lockers, and a long wooden chair sat in the middle.

    <i>So, this is what a girl¡¯s dressing room looks like.</i>

    This was the first time Chen Ge had entered such a ce. He left the door half closed and walked into the room to pull open one of the lockers. A girl¡¯s school uniform was ced on the top level of the iron shelf. The design was different from other public school; it was more exquisite and prettier.

    <i>The skirt barely reaches my knees, isn¡¯t that a bit too short?</i>

    Chen Ge searched through the uniform¡¯s pockets and found nothing. He looked down the shelf and spotted a pair of white dancing shoes.

    <i>The color is not right, not the ones I¡¯m looking for.</i>

    After closing the locker room, Chen Ge realized there was a small card pasted above the lock; it had the girl¡¯s name written on it. <i>Now, this should make my life easier.</i>

    Using his phone, he examined the names on the lockers, but after one round, he still had not found Zhang Ya¡¯s name. However, he did find a solitary locker at the corner, isted from the rest without a marking or a name.

    <i>The owner of this locker seems to have been ostracized by the rest. </i>Chen Ge opened the door, and other than a dirtied ballet dress that sat on the top level of the shelf, there was nothing else.

    <i>No name and ostracized, who could this locker belong to? </i>Chen Ge already had the answer inside his heart. He took out the dress and realized there were five candy boxes that had gone sour hidden underneath the dress.

    <i>What are these for? Presents? </i>Chen Ge ced the ballet dress on the wooden chair and picked up the candy boxes. Every box had been hand-wrapped, and each one of them had a girl¡¯s name written on top. Every name was different, but the handwriting was simr, so they probably came from the same person.

    <i>These candy boxes were most likely the presents that she prepared.</i>

    When Chen Ge picked up thest box, he noticed a picture that was ced at the bottom. The picture was theplete version of the picture that was stuck on the wall outside. On the back of it was written, ¡°Congrattions to Room 414 for winning the qualifications to enter the state-widepetition.¡± The front showed six girls.

    Five of them were happily celebrating on the right side on the picture while the sixth girl was standing about half a palm away from the rest. The girl had a tall figure, about 1.7 meters, and she looked like the main character of Swan Lake, graceful, pure, gentle, and beautiful. Even in the same picture, her supernatural grace put her apart from the rest.

    ¡°Could this be Zhang Ya?¡± muttered Chen Ge. He really could not reconcile the girl in the picture with the cruel and vicious Red Specter.

    It was a pure ident that Chen Ge mentioned Zhang Ya¡¯s name, but when he did so, the lockers in the girl¡¯s dressing room started to creak and rattle¡ªit sounded like they were overloaded and were about to burst. On top of that, Chen Ge could hear an insistent banging noiseing from outside the door, like someone was trying to get in.

    ¡°Who is it?¡±

    After shoving the picture inside his pocket, Chen Ge turned towards the half-closed door as his grip on the mallet tightened. He looked through the opening and saw that the three wooden chairs had formed a barricade at the entrance.

    ¡°You really think I don¡¯t have the guts to smash you all into pieces?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s back was drenched in cold sweat, but he did keep his word as he walked toward the chairs with the mallet in hand. There was no other exit from the girl¡¯s dressing room; if he didn¡¯t clear a way out for himself, things would only get worse for him.

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes wandered outwards as he tried to n his escape route. However, his legs froze when his eyesnded on the wall of mirrors in the dance studio.

    The mirrors were reflecting the situation in the dance studio. The only difference was... there were three girls sitting on the three chairs.

 Chapter 57

    <h4>Chapter 57: She Has Arrived</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Teetering bodies, dirtied school uniforms, pale faces, and moving mouths like they were trying to say something. The three girls¡¯ faces were frozen in fear and terror, and their bodies seemed to have grown out of the wooden chairs.

    As his gaze alternated between the mirrors and the entrance of the girl¡¯s dressing room, a chill crept over Chen Ge¡¯s heart. Just not too long ago, he had tipped the chair over and observed them closely.

    <i>Could that be considered my first intimate contact with a female?</i>

    He shivered involuntarily, and his footsteps that headed toward the door hastened. As he wandered closer to the exit, the three chairs shuffled incrementally forward, and the lockers in the dressing room rattled slightly.

    After he mentioned Zhang Ya¡¯s name, things seemed to have changed inside the dance studio. The name appeared to be a taboo here.

    <i>The mirrors can only reflect what is in the dance studio. Perhaps there¡¯s something even worse in the dressing room¡ªI need to leave, pronto!</i>

    As if confirming his thought, the steel doors of the lockers started to creak like something was trying to escape from them. Holding the mallet in his hand, Chen Ge raced toward the door. With a running start, Chen Ge used his legs to kick the chairs that blocked his way. As he tried to rush out, he felt something pull on his shoulders.

    He turned to look at the mirror, and in the reflection, two slender and pale arms could be seen hanging off his shoulders. Without a second thought, Chen Ge turned and started his assault!

    Bang!

    The malletnded on the back of the chair, causing a crack to appear on the chair. The scream of a woman reverberated in his ears. In the mirror, he could see the female student on the chair re fiendishly at his back while her arms encircled themselves tightly around his shoulders like she was trying to press him onto the seat of the chair.

    <i>What is the purpose of her doing this? Could this be some kind of evil musical chairs game where my soul will be eternally trapped inside the chair if I sit on it?</i>

    The force on his shoulders gradually increased as pairs of pale armstched themselves onto him, trying to pull him back into the girl¡¯s dressing room. To make matters worse, Chen Ge could hear shuffling from the outside corridor, and several secondster, another wooden chair appeared at the entrance of the dance studio.

    <i>My luck is always used at the worst possible moment. It chooses a time like this to make me popr with the girls!</i>

    Chen Ge was at his limit. Instead of running away, he shifted to attack mode. With one hand on the chair¡¯s back, he used his other hand to swing the mallet around,ying waste to the chairs that surrounded him!

    When his mallet formed the first crack on the chair, Chen Ge had noticed that the expression of the female student shifted from pleading to venomous resentment. Through the shift in expression, Chen Ge came up with the conclusion that the chairs should be their items of possession, simr to how Xiaoxiao¡¯s family attached themselves to the ragdolls.

    <i>Demolishing the items of attachment won¡¯t destroy them, but at least it¡¯ll be able to injure them.</i>

    The force on him intensified. A newbie who had not experienced this before would probably have ended up as a willingmb for this group of girls by now. Unfortunately, their opponent was Chen Ge. This proprietor of a Haunted House had just spent a night at a haunted apartment with a serial killer. Chen Ge still knew fear, but after multiple incidents, his resistance to fear had been trained. Even when he was in fear or shock, he could still manage to make the correct decision, and his grip on the mallet didn¡¯t waver.

    Bang!

    Chen Ge smashed the chair and gripped the ends of the chair to swing at another chair. The image reflected in the mirror was a bit hard to describe in words, but Chen Ge did not have time to deal with that anymore.

    He used about ten seconds to destroy one of the chairs. Just as he turned to aim his wrath at the second chair, he felt something grip his neck. Turning his head to the mirror, he saw a pale hand choking his throat. His opponent seemed to have given up the thought of pressing him onto the chair and decided to kill him instead.

    This shift in situation did not slow Chen Ge down; instead, it only made him more vicious as he gripped the chairs and smashed them at the wall. As the chairs cracked, the force around his neck lightened. When all three chairs were nothing but splinters, the chokehold around his neck finally disappeared.

    ¡°Leaving these things behind benefits no one. Later, I¡¯ll burn all of you to help you seek closure.¡± Chen Ge leaned against the mirror and tried to catch his breath. There were visible strangle marks around his neck.

    <i>The fighting must have created tons ofmotion. This will definitely attract the attention of the person who is following me. I¡¯ll need to leave as soon as possible. Anyway, the red dancing shoes don¡¯t seem to be here.</i>

    This ce was definitely haunted, so Chen Ge didn¡¯t want to stay at the dance studio anymore. The sound of the rattling of the lockers inside the girl¡¯s dressing room intensified, and that was not something that could be caused by a draft. Other than that, there were many other curious happenings like the sudden deepening in the colors of the walls and floor as well as the weird ¡®ping, ping¡¯ noises from the corridor that had gotten far more frequent.

    Just as Chen Ge prepared to leave, he almost tripped from someone pulling on his lower calf.

    Chen Ge turned to look at the mirror and saw the three female students were pulling on his leg, their fingernails almost pushing into Chen Ge¡¯s skin.

    Seeing this, Chen Ge also grew desperate. He smacked his mallet down on the wooden splinters, but no matter how hard he smashed, the girls did not release their grips on his calf.

    The weird noise in the corridor was getting closer, and the vengeful faces that were pulling on Chen Ge started tough maniacally. A heavy cloth seemed to fall over the dance studio because the light from his phone started to twist as the heavy stench that Chen Ge had caught a hint of earlier started to suffuse the air.

    <i>There¡¯s a scarier presence hiding at this school?</i>

    Chen Ge was spooked by the thought in his mind. He dared toe to this school sote at night mainly because he assumed Zhang Ya was the scariest presence this school had to offer. He was there to do a favor for Zhang Ya, so she had no reason to harm him.

    <i>This is bad.</i>

    Something seemed to have reached the door of the dance studio, and the stink in the air intensified.

    The three girls on the floor were ring at Chen Ge with fierce and sinister expressions. Chen Ge¡¯s back was leaning against the mirror. He reached into his pocket, and his fingertip had just touched the doll when the weird noise at the door retreated with a speed that was faster than it was when it arrived. Then, the stink in the air slowly vanished.

    <i>What happened? It feels like the thing outside the door was scared.</i>

    All the weird noises disappeared instantly, and Chen Ge could only hear his heartbeat then. The light twisted at a greater degree than before, and the temperature in the room seemed to have dropped further.

    <i>What is happening?</i>

    The pulling on his calf had also disappeared. Chen Ge lowered his head and saw the three female students were hiding as far away as they could and looking at the space behind him with desperation in their eyes.

    <i>Behind me?</i>

    Chen Ge turned his head awkwardly around to face the tall mirror. The image reflected back at him was not his own but a woman in a blood-red school uniform looking down at him.

 Chapter 58

    <h4>Chapter 58: Red Dancing Shoes</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge was only half a finger away from the mirror, so he got a much better view than he would have liked. The elegant school uniform was dripping with fresh blood that caused it to stick to her body. Her face was hidden behind her hair, and the overly pale skin that was exposed looked scary.

    The cold light from the phone screen twisted, and Chen Ge could feel his limbs bing frozen. He used every ounce of energy in his body to stabilize his lips before he could utter the girl¡¯s name.

    ¡°Zhang Ya?¡±

    As if hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice, the girl slowly raised her head. The curtain of ck hair parted to the side, and an unblemished face appeared in his view. However, the mirror started to mist when her head was only raised halfway. She took a step forward, and she disappeared from the mirror.

    ¡°Where did she go?¡±

    Chen Ge stared at the mirror, and something even more curious happened. Cast from the phone¡¯s light, his shadow slowly stood up to stand behind him.

    Chen Ge could see that the shadow was about 1.7 meters tall. As the dripping sound of something like blood entered his ears, the shadow started to gain color. The bloodied uniform stuck to its body, and it was all red.

    Chen Ge stood where he was and did not dare move. The chilliness from his back had climbed up his spine to his brain. Right then, the red shadow took another step back to lean against his back!

    Standing back to back, Chen Ge¡¯s body froze. Even as he gasped for air, the sensation that he was running out of air would not go away.

    <i>The specter has stuck to my back?</i>

    Standing back to back was sometimes quite scary because you could not know who was standing behind you.

    Something cold seemed to reach for his fingers. Chen Ge did not dare turn to take a look. His frozen fingers slowly opened to allow the phone to slide to the floor. The light flickered twice before it switched off suddenly.

    Surrounded by darkness, the coldness behind his back continued to spread. Chen Ge couldn¡¯t even imagine the things that were happening to him. <i>2 am, inside an abandoned school¡¯s dance studio, facing a tall mirror, standing back to back with a Red Specter... in a way, I guess one could call this romance.</i>

    Various thoughts crossed Chen Ge¡¯s mind. Something was holding his hand, and it made him feel increasingly cold. The hair of the girl behind him was moving as it entwined itself with Chen Ge¡¯s hair.

    <i>What is she nning to do? My mission here is to find the red dancing shoes. I¡¯ll fail the mission if I am unable to do that before dawn.</i>

    However, Chen Ge¡¯s body was frozen in ce, and the only thing he could do was stare at the mirror before him. He did not notice it initially, but several secondster, he realized with a start that fuzzy shadows were forming inside the mirror. He widened his eyes as the shadows started to be clearer.

    <i>Wait, aren¡¯t these the girls who are trapped inside the chairs?</i>

    Inside the mirror, five girls in clean uniforms entered the dance studio. Their outfits werepletely different from what Chen Ge had seen earlier, so he suspected that the images he saw now were reflecting scenes that happened years ago.

    The five girls walked toward the mirror,ughing among themselves. Soon after they entered the studio, Zhang Ya showed up. Even though they were wearing the same uniform, Zhang Ya carried herself in a different way than the rest of the girls.

    She was carrying a bag in her hands. Chen Ge had seen this bag before inside the girl¡¯s dressing room; it was holding the five candy boxes.

    Zhang Ya seemed to be in quite a good mood. She walked into the dressing room with hurried steps, and several minutester, all six girls came out wearing their ballet dresses.

    The situation had not changed much. The five girls were in their little group while Zhang Ya tailed behind alone.

    Not long after they started their training, the dance studio¡¯s door was pushed open. A female teacher walked in holding the Swan Lake winning certificate in her hand. She was talking animatedly with the girls, probably encouraging and congratting them.

    That day was probably not a normal school day because Chen Ge didn¡¯t see any other students. The six of them were likely there to do intensive training to prepare for the state-widepetition.

    The female teacher left after half an hour. After making sure the teacher had left, the five girls stopped practicing and started ying on their phones and chatting while lying on the floor. The only one practicing was Zhang Ya.

    Then, one of the girls said something while pointing at Zhang Ya. The rest of the girlsughed with the exception of Zhang Ya. However, she did not seem to mind it too much. After practicing for a little while longer, she stopped to rest. Then she turned to walk into the dressing room and came out with the bag of candy boxes.

    Zhang Ya passed them to the girls, but as one of them reached for it, she was stopped by one of the other girls, who was as tall as Zhang Ya. She said many things while pointing her finger assertively at Zhang Ya. She then ran into the dressing room and came out with a school bag. She pulled out several love letters from it. From the name, Chen Ge knew they were all addressed to Zhang Ya.

    This could not really be considered an argument because it was totally one-sided, dominated by the other girl who was weirdly agitated.

    Zhang Ya¡¯s candy boxes were thus rejected. She ced them back into the bag and left. Chen Ge thought that was the end, but not long after that, the door to the dance studio was pushed open again. The few girls were startled. Thinking it was the teacher, they quickly climbed up from the floor and started to ¡®practice¡¯.

    A fuzzy shadow of a male walked in. He was about 1.8 meters tall, slouching, and veryrge in size.

    The man said something to the girls, and only two said something in return to him. Chen Ge was confused by his identity.

    The girls soon returned to their practice, and the man entered the office. Later, he opened the office door and waved for Zhang Ya toe to him. Zhang Ya appeared like she did not know or even trust the man. She walked toward the office with hesitation and stood at the door but did not go in.

    The mirror could not reflect what was inside the office. However, about eight secondster, the scene on the mirror darkened as Zhang Ya ran out of the office. Holding his arm, the man chased after her while cursing all the way.

    All five girls in the dance studio saw this, but all of them sat where they were. None of them were willing to go to Zhang Ya¡¯s aid. Soon, Zhang Ya was cornered at a space that was nowhere close to the door. She screamed loudly for help, but it was not answered. The girls acted like they did not even hear her.

    The man said many unsavory things as he closed in on Zhang Ya. Zhang Ya¡¯s hands had reached the edge of the window behind her¡ªthere was only one exit left.

    Looking at the scene that yed itself on the mirror, Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of the lines that appeared on the ck phone when he won the love letter.

    Her eyes exposed, cheeks white as ash, the moment she fell off the building, she became the taboo of the school. Red dancing shoes and blood-dyed uniform, even her name became something that was only uttered in frantic whispers.

    The man studied the empty window closely but did not rush down to save Zhang Ya. Instead, he took several steps back to stop beside the five girls, who were inplete shock.

 Chapter 59

    <h4>Chapter 59: Together Forever</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The dance studio was extremely quiet. In the mirror, the man was the first to recover. He stood before the five girls and started to re threateningly at them. One of the girls started to weep, so the man yanked her up from the floor and pointed his finger at her face while his lips moved. The girls shook her head vehemently.

    Then, the girl who was as tall as Zhang Ya stood up. She walked over to the man and started to help him persuade the other girls. From how she carried herself, she seemed to know the man and shared a more than friendly rtionship. Perhaps it was even she who nned for the man to appear just after the female teacher left.

    With the girl¡¯s persuasion and the man¡¯s threat, the other girls finally nodded. After a few more minutes of discussion, the man was the first to leave. The five girls then entered the dressing room to change, and they all left soon after.

    The mirror returned to normal, but the atmosphere in the dance studio grew tense. Chen Ge could feel the chilling from his back; it felt like he was carrying a frozen dead body.

    <i>That¡¯s all?</i>

    The mirror only recorded what had happened in the dance studio but did not go into what happened next. Chen Ge believed there had to be more than that. After falling from the fourth floor, as long as it wasn¡¯t head first, Zhang Ya still had a chance of being rescued.

    <i>Red Specter harbors deep resentment... Maybe the fatty snuffed out Zhang Ya¡¯sst breath because he was afraid of being exposed? The water system of the activities center has been renewed so perhaps the fatty used the system to deal with the body?</i>

    As the thought cropped up in his mind, Chen Ge rejected it. Zhang Ya was lost inside the school, so the police had to have been involved. Furthermore, cleaning up a body was not as simple as depicted on those crime dramas. Sometimes, the more one tried to hide, the more obvious it became.

    Chen Ge was curious what happened next, but the mirror had stopped moving.<i>Perhaps I should give Inspector Lee a call. This is a murder, and Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy is within their jurisdiction, so he must have some kind of record.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s idea was not bad, but when he nned to pick up his phone, a scream came from behind him. Zhang Ya¡¯s hair started to twine up his shoulders like snakes curling themselves around his neck and chest, tying them close together.

    ¡°I¡¯m not leaving; I just want to help you!¡± Chen Ge argued before his breath was choked out of him. However, the ck hair continued to constrict like a boa constrictor suffocating its prey. Perhaps from Zhang Ya¡¯s perspective, this was the only way the two of them could be together¡ªthis was true love.

    Chen Ge had escaped from the wolf¡¯s den to enter the tiger¡¯s cave. Now he understood why Zhang Ya¡¯s love letter was a curse; thisdy did not like living man, and the more she loved a man, the greater her desire to kill him.

    Standing back to back, his limbs too weak to even resist, all Chen Ge could do was to argue his case. ¡°I will help you call the police and havew enforcement provide justice by bringing all who have harmed you to the judgement ofw!¡±

    The words felt ineffective even to Chen Ge¡¯s ears. Zhang Ya¡¯s situation was unique. Unlike the family of four at Ping An Apartments, she did not need him for revenge. Those who had harmed her were trapped inside chairs already! And Chen Ge believed she had plenty to do with that.

    The kind and graceful Zhang Ya had beenpletely corrupted into a mad specter. Chen Ge did not even dare to imagine the type of disaster that had befallen the five girls before they were trapped inside the chairs.

    Chen Ge had given up¡ªthis was how he was going to go¡ªbut as he prepared for death, the ck hair stopped attacking.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? There are still people who haven¡¯t received their just punishment?¡± he uttered quickly, to stress that he would help Zhang Ya capture all those who had harmed her. The ck hair started to release as if Zhang Ya was also considering the options. All Chen Ge could do then was wait.

    The dark dance studio returned to silence. Ten secondster, an unexpected thing happened. While he was dancing on the line of life and death, the door to the dance studio was suddenly pushed open, and anky guy poked his head in to look around.

    When he saw Chen Ge, a cruel, excited grin lit up his face, and the hand with the peony tattoo pulled out a fruit knife from his back pocket. However, coincidentally, when Chen Ge saw the man, he also smiled, his expression saying¡ª¡¯You¡¯re finally here!¡¯

    ¡°Surprise to see me? You¡¯ve left too many clues; the bricks on the outer walls had your footsteps, and the window on the first floor of this building had fresh dirt and grass stuck to it. After entering the building, your footprints are practically everywhere. You¡¯re too careless, and now, you shall pay!¡±

    The man standing at the door was naturally Zhang Peng. His eyes were bloodshot, and his mental state was unusually animated. He held the fruit knife in his usable arm. However, to Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, after Zhang Peng said that long speech, as he took the first step into the dance studio, the expression on his face shifted drastically. Earlier, he had been vicious, but now, he retreated worriedly, his eyes glowing with caution and resentment.

    <i>The mirror monster has taken controlled of his body?</i>

    Before Chen Ge could react, Zhang Peng started to race down the stairs. He seemed to have spotted something scary. His limbs were twisted in unnatural angles as he ran, which gave him the impression of a puppet being pulled along by his master.

    The ck hair around Chen Ge disappeared, along with the girl behind him. All he could see was a red sh across the mirror; a chase seemed to have begun. The chilliness from his back gradually dissipated, and life returned to Chen Ge¡¯s frozen limbs. He picked up his phone and backpack before racing toward the stairs, his speed no less than Zhang Peng¡¯s.

    <i>This Bloody Heart Mission will have to be put on the backburner for now. If I truly earn Zhang Ya¡¯s affection, my life in the future will be a little too exciting for me to handle.</i>

    Chen Ge dashed out of the Activities Centre. He took a nce at the surrounding dark forest and used his phone to call Inspector Lee.

    The phone rang once before it was picked up, and Inspector Lee¡¯s voice came through. ¡°Xiao Chen? Did you run into Zhang Peng?¡±

    ¡°Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy! Zhang Peng is here! Other than that, I have something important to tell you,¡± Chen Ge said through heavy breaths as he raced toward the school gate.

    ¡°Fu Jun, Da Yong, contact the investigation team immediately.¡± Inspector Lee didn¡¯t hang up. After he gave his orders, he returned his attention to Chen Ge. ¡°What is this other thing you want to talk about?¡±

    ¡°I discovered another murder case at Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy!¡±

 Chapter 60

    <h4>Chapter 60: You¡¯ve Found Another Murder Case?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°You¡¯ve found yet another murder case?¡± Inspector Lee¡¯s tone on the other end of the phone was puzzled to say the least.

    ¡°Four years ago, a female student by the name of Zhang Ya jumped out of the building, but there is more to her death than suicide!¡± Chen Ge said firmly.

    ¡°Wait a minute, let me go look at the files first. If the victim¡¯s family had asked for an autopsy, we should have the record of it somewhere.¡± Inspector Lee didn¡¯t hang up as he turned on the lights of the records room to search for the files. He finally found something five minutester. ¡°Wait, why does Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy sound so familiar? Xiao Chen, get out of that school now!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m already heading for the gate, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°That school is just weird; I can¡¯t exin it to you in just a few sentences, but I can give you a number. Six peoplemitted suicide within the span of two weeks at that school, and their deaths were all very weird.¡±

    The sound of paper flipping could be heard through the phone as Inspector Lee looked through the files.

    ¡°That sounds about right! That number fits what I¡¯m thinking.¡± The school gate was within Chen Ge¡¯s view¡ªhe could exit the ce soon.

    ¡°Fits what you¡¯re thinking? What exactly is happening over there?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind that, check whether the name of the first suicide victim is Zhang Ya or not.¡± Chen Ge was in a hurry to confirm his suspicion.

    Inspector Lee double-checked the records before replying. ¡°Indeed, the name is Zhang Ya, but she did die from a fall. It is a suicide because the mortician did not find any other wounds on her body. On the day of the discovery, the police did visit the crime scene for investigation. The girl fell from the fourth floor¡¯s dance studio; the window she fell from was undamaged, and the soundproof foam around it wasn¡¯t showed no signs of cleaning. So, from this, we confirmed Zhang Ya jumped out of the building without outside influence.¡±

    ¡°Without outside influence? Inspector Lee, have you considered that she was forced to do so? If she didn¡¯t jump, she would have been raped!¡± Chen Ge ryed the scenes he had seen in the mirror.

    ¡°We considered that as well, and there are testimonies from Zhang Ya¡¯s roommates in the records. All five girls said that they didn¡¯t know anything. Zhang Ya jumped off the building after their ss was over, so Zhang Ya was inside the studio alone. ording to their testimonies, Zhang Ya had always suffered from high stress, was prone to solitude, and was perhaps even mentally unstable. To confirm their testimonies, the police at the time even verified their ounts with the girls from the ss, and everyone agreed.¡±

    ¡°Zhang Ya is definitely not the person they described; they all banded together to frame her!¡± Zhang Ya was feeling indignant on Zhang Ya¡¯s behalf. He did not expect that the whole ss would gang up on Zhang Ya; the girl didn¡¯t even do anything wrong.

    ¡°What kind of person Zhang Ya was, you and I will never know, but the evidence doesn¡¯t lie.¡± Inspector Lee didn¡¯t understand why Chen Ge was so agitated. ¡°In any case, get out of that school as soon as you can. We¡¯re sending our men toe fetch you.¡±

    ¡°They were all lying! Take a closer look at Zhang Ya¡¯s time of death, it should be before the ss was over! They lied on the time of death, so those five girls were aplices!¡± The volume of Chen Ge¡¯s voice inadvertently increased.

    ¡°That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. Zhang Ya¡¯s time of death was between 6 pm and 8 pm. Those five girls left school at around 5.30 pm, their usual time of departure.¡± Inspector Lee didn¡¯t know how happened to Chen Ge at the school, so he stood from an outsider¡¯s perspective to analyze the situation.

    ¡°Impossible!¡±

    ¡°It is indeed possible. The mortician conducted a detailed analysis based on livor mortis and rigor mortis. Zhang Ya¡¯s time of death is indeed between 6 pm and 8 pm. The cause of death was a broken spine. Other than that, there were wounds to her skull, calcaneus, and hipbone, allmon injuries suffered by suicide victims that died from falling.¡±

    Chen Ge had no way to retort. He stopped where he was. ¡°If Zhang Ya did jump off the building before the five girls left, this means that she didn¡¯t die instantly after the fall. However, due to the broken bones that incapacitated her body, she could only lie in a pool of her own blood as she waited for death toe, tortured by pain and heartache until she truly died around 6 to 8 pm.¡±

    ¡°Your hypothetical scenario is possible, but you have forgotten one thing. If the girl still had a breath in her after she fell off the building, why wouldn¡¯t the five girls who were there save her? Even if they had their own reasons not to save her, other people at the school would have discovered her.¡±

    ¡°It was a holiday, and the school was deserted other than the six of them who were at school to practice for the uing state-widepetition. Their teacher had already left beforehand, and even if there were guards or someone of the sort, isn¡¯t it possible that they were sent away by people with ill intentions?¡± Chen Ge posed a differing opinion.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to argue that with you; after all, it is a moot point arguing whether Zhang Ya died from suicide or murder. You believe those five girls were the real murderers in Zhang Ya¡¯s death and coborated with each other to provide false testimony, but two weeks after that, these five girls died one after another. The real murderers you assumed are now dead, so how are we supposed to investigate this case?¡± Inspector Lee was more worried about Chen Ge¡¯s safety.

    ¡°Inspector Lee, I never said that these five girls are the murderers; they are merely aplices! The real murderer who caused Zhang Ya¡¯s death is a fatty that is 1.8 meters tall with a slouched back!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s quite a detailed description, mind telling me how you came to that conclusion? Four years ago, the security at Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy hadn¡¯t beenpleted yet, and all the witnesses are now dead. But you¡¯re telling me there¡¯s a real murderer on the run... how do you expect me to believe you?¡±

    Inspector Lee had worked overtime for the past few days already thanks to the Ping An Apartments¡¯ case. It was why he was still at the station even at 2 am. Lethargy could be heardced in his words.

    Chen Ge could discern the suspicion in Inspector Lee¡¯s voice. ¡°We can start by investigating the people who are rted to Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy from four years ago; we have to find this person! He was at the crime scene!¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge, starting a police investigation is not a game. Do you know how difficult it is to reopen a case that was closed four years ago? Even if you can convince me, it¡¯ll be pointless if you cannot convince my superiors. What we need is actual proof¡ªnot suspicion, not spection.¡±

    ¡°Everything that I¡¯ve said is the truth.¡±

    ¡°That is ording to you.¡± Inspector Lee had started rearranging the files to put them back where they were. ¡°Do you mind telling me why you are suddenly so interested in this case? You don¡¯t give me the impression of a young man who is filled with a sense of justice.¡±

    <i>Why am I so insistent? </i>Chen Ge was startled by this sudden question from Inspector Lee. He was reminded of the aid that Zhang Ya had lent him when he was trapped inside the wooden hut as well as the chilling lonelinessing from his back when Zhang Ya was standing behind him inside the dance studio.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. In the current circumstances, the only person who can help her ande to her aid is me.¡± Chen Ge looked at the ck phone.

    ¡°I still don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying.¡± Inspector Lee continued after a long pause. ¡°But holding up justice is the job ofw enforcement. Since you¡¯ve brought up the suspicion, after the case on Ping An Apartments is wrapped up, I¡¯ll personally help you look into this.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Uncle San Bao!¡± Chen Ge sighed in relief. ¡°Capturing the real murderer, I suppose is giving Zhang Ya some kind of release. With regards to this godforsaken ce, I really don¡¯t want to return again.¡±

    He hung up the phone and turned to look at Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy onest time.

    To his shock, Red Specter Zhang Ya was just standing behind him!

    There were about three meters between them. Fresh blood dripping on her school uniform, Zhang Ya looked at Chen Ge with her head tilted. This time, she didn¡¯t move closer, and her expression was a bit weird.

 Chapter 61

    <h4>Chapter 61: Affection Level Increase</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge was thankful that he didn¡¯t say anything bad about Zhang Ya earlier. Heughed awkwardly and said, ¡°I came out for fresh air because the dance studio was a bit too stuffy.¡±

    The red blood trailed down her uniform as Zhang Ya stared at Chen Ge. Then she raised her slender, pale arm to point at the building that Chen Ge knew as the teachers¡¯ lounge.

    ¡°You want me to go there?¡± Before Chen Ge could get an answer, Zhang Ya disappeared. Chen Ge was several meters away from the gate, so he was caught in a conundrum. If he returned to the school to investigate, he might run into more danger, but if he just left like that, he would feel so unsatisfied.

    <i>Zhang Ya¡¯s attitude toward me seems to have softened. Her hint should be rted to the case four years ago. However, this school seems to have another presence simr to Zhang Ya, and there is more than one. I should probably wait for the police to arrive first before I go back in.</i>

    After jumping out of the school, Chen Ge stood on guard outside the gate. He wasn¡¯t sure whether Zhang Peng was still alive or not, so he did not dare let his guard down. Fifteen minutester, the blinding headlights of a car cut through the darkness; two police cars were heading his way.

    Chen Ge jumped out into the road and waved the shlight on his phone. ¡°I¡¯m here!¡±

    The cars stopped at the gate to Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy, and Inspector Lee, as well as an officer Chen Ge hadn¡¯t seen before, stepped out from the car.

    ¡°Uncle Lee, you¡¯re so fast.¡± ording to Chen Ge¡¯s calctions, the police should have required another half an hour before to get there.

    ¡°We received a distress call from a taxi driver earlier, saying he was getting robbed, so we were already on the way to this ce.¡± Inspector Lee had heavy circles under his eyes, signs that he had overworked himself for the past few days.

    ¡°Is that so? In any case,e in quick, Zhang Peng should be still inside the school!¡± Chen Ge pointed at the abandoned school¡¯s gate¡ªone might have thought he was the host inviting the guests into his house.

    ¡°Da Yong,¡± Inspector Lee said, and a muscr police officer who was about 1.9 meters tall pulled out a clipper from the car¡¯s trunk. ¡°After entering the schoolpound, we¡¯ll need to be very careful. The suspect is very cunning, so stick together in pairs.¡±

    He turned to look at Chen Ge. ¡°Where is thest ce you saw the suspect?¡±

    ¡°At the dance studio, but he has run away already. In any case, I have something else to report to you.¡± Chen Ge walked to Inspector Lee¡¯s side and pointed at the teacher¡¯s lounge. ¡°Inspector Lee, do you mind following me?¡±

    ¡°Da Yong, you stay behind to watch over the road, others move out ording to n.¡± Inspector Lee issued his orders, and then he followed Chen Ge into the teachers¡¯ lounge.

    This building only had three floors, but the interior d¨¦cor was much more high ss than the other buildings Chen Ge had been in.

    Inspector Lee held the shlight in his hand and asked, ¡°Why are we here? Did you see the suspect run this way?¡±

    His gaze was sharp, and the tiredness fell from the man. Once he entered the crime scene, Inspector Lee seemed to morph into another person.

    ¡°Zhang Peng won¡¯t havee here.¡± Chen Ge walked ahead, trying to pinpoint the exact room Zhang Ya¡¯s finger had pointed at. ¡°I¡¯m bringing you to the ce that¡¯s rted to the death of the girl four years ago.¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t I said I will help you investigate that after we capture Zhang Peng? The two cases cannot be mixed together, and the most important thing now is to capture Zhang Peng.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re here; this is the room.¡± Chen Ge didn¡¯t answer Inspector Lee. He had waited for the police toe because he wanted to lower the risk to its bare minimum. The sign on the door said that this was the storeroom for gym equipment. After pulling off the seals and kicking the door open, Chen Ge and Inspector Lee walked into the room.

    Numerous balls littered the room, and exercise equipment like tennis rackets and ping pong paddles hung from the walls.

    ¡°You brought me here to see this?¡± Inspector Lee used his shlight to scan the corners of the room. ¡°What can it prove?¡±

    ¡°Gym equipment...¡± Chen Ge walked to the center of the room and started ransacking the ce. He stopped when he reached a single bed that was ced next to the innermost cupboard. There was also such a bed inside the dance studio; it looked specially made because the bedframe was slender than most normal bedframes.

    ¡°Why is there a need for a bed inside the storeroom?¡± Chen Ge frowned with confusion before lifting up the bed¡¯s wooden boards. A harrowing scene revealed itself before their eyes.

    Underneath the worn and dusty bedframe hid ten female ballet shoes of differing sizes, and a pair of them had been dyed ck by blood!

    ¡°That many of them?¡± Looking at the shoes that appeared to have been purposely hidden underneath the bed, Chen Ge did not feel anger but shock, shock that the incident at Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy might be more distressing than he had assumed.

    ¡°There¡¯s more than one victim!¡± Chen Ge asked Inspector Lee, ¡°Why would the ballet shoes of the suicide girl be hidden here? Was there any mention of the girl¡¯s shoes in the case report?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no record on the shoes.¡± Inspector Lee frowned. ¡°The shoes are all covered with dust even though they are hidden under the bed; this means that they have probably been left here for a long time already. However, they were ced neatly in a row, like someone took special care to look after them... perhaps this is the murderer¡¯s fetish.¡±

    ¡°Uncle Lee, you¡¯re the police officer here, so you have to help return justice to the victims.¡± Chen Ge dropped the boards to the side. ¡°The murderer had free ess to the dance studio as well as this equipment storeroom, so he was probably a manager or guard.¡±

    ¡°If what you¡¯re saying is true, then that does narrow down the investigation scope quite a bit.¡± Inspector Lee seemed to have been moved by the pair of darkened dancing shoes. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will not rest until I get to the bottom of this case. No matter who the murderer is, I¡¯ll have him punished to the full extent of thew!¡±

    When Inspector Lee said that, Chen Ge¡¯s ck phone vibrated. He pulled it out to nce at it. There was a new message on the phone.

    ¡°Managed to locate Zhang Ya¡¯s red dancing shoes before dawn. Completed Zhang Ya¡¯s Bloody Heart Mission, Mission Completion Rate: 50 percent.

    ¡°Zhang Ya¡¯s affection level toward you has increased! You can write something you want her to do in Zhang Ya¡¯s personal profile page (Note: It mustn¡¯t be against Zhang Ya¡¯s will).¡±

    Chen Ge silently retreated to the door. <i>Tonight¡¯s experience might have been harrowing, but at least the result is good.</i>

    He opened up Zhang Ya¡¯s personal page, and the disy turned red immediately. <i>My demand mustn¡¯t be against Zhang Ya¡¯s will¡ªthat¡¯s the only requirement.</i>

    After some thought, Chen Ge wrote, ¡°I hope Zhang Ya will listen to me forever.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but your demand is against Zhang Ya¡¯s will, please change it.¡±

    ¡°I hope Zhang Ya will protect me from being harmed.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but your demand is against Zhang Ya¡¯s will, please change it.¡±

    ¡°I hope Zhang Ya will not harm me or harbor any intention to kill me!¡±

    <i>That¡¯s doable, right?</i>

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but your demand is against Zhang Ya¡¯s will, please change it.¡±

    <i>Er...</i>

 Chapter 62

    <h4>Chapter 62: Four-Star Scenario!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After trying it three more times and failing three more times, Chen Ge decided to give up. He would continue the research when he was back at his Haunted House. To his surprise, when he exited Zhang Ya¡¯s personal page, there was another unread alert on the ck phone.

    <i>Haven¡¯t I finished the Bloody Heart Mission already?</i>

    Chen Ge opened the second message without much thought.

    ¡°The Specter¡¯s Favored, congrattions forpleting Rare Level Ghost, Red Specter¡¯s Bloody Heart Mission. This mission is part of a side mission for a four-star scenario¡ªSchool of the Afterlife!

    ¡°Note: When the Bloody Heart Mission¡¯spletion rate reaches one hundred percent, it¡¯ll unlock the Trial Mission for School of the Afterlife (Mission effective time is three months). Completing all the Trial Missions will unlock said scenario!

    ¡°School of the Afterlife¡ªScream Factor 4 Stars!

    ¡°Side Mission 1: Red Dancing Shoes (The school after midnight is the Red Swan¡¯s stage. She is a wicked specter as well as a red ballet dancer). Mission Venue: Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy.

    ¡°Side Mission 2: The Hanging Man (I never kid, not in life nor in death). Mission Venue: Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy.

    ¡°Side Mission 3: The Stink (He collects all the trash in his bedroom just to hide an unspeakable secret). Mission Venue: Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy.

    ¡°Side Mission 4: The Pen Spirit Who Refused to Leave (Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, can you tell me who will die next?) Mission Venue: Mu Yang High School.

    ¡°Side Mission 5: The Fifth Cubicle in the Toilet (Every day at midnight, people swore they could see a red shadow appear inside the toilet. To catch her, I hid inside the fifth cubicle of the toilet). Mission Venue: Mu Yang High School.

    ¡°Side Mission 6: Deep Well (One brother and one sister went to school, but howe no one returned?) Mission Venue: Mu Yang High School.

    ¡°Side Mission 7: The Sealed ssroom (There¡¯s a ssroom at the end of the corridor that¡¯s always sealed. No one ever enters it, but every night, the ssroomes alive with activity). Mission Venue: Mu Yang High School.

    ¡°Side Mission 8: Eternal Life (In an undisclosed underground morgue, there¡¯s a group who seek eternal life). Mission Venue: Western Jiujiang¡¯s Medical University.

    ¡°Last Mission: Currently Locked.¡±

    Reading the series of message on the ck phone, Chen Ge was baffled. <i>Four-star scenario? Even a one-star scenario manages to cause forensic science students to faint, so just how scary will a four-star scenario be?</i>

    Everyone has a threshold with regards to horror; once that threshold is overshot, it might be harmful to the person¡¯s health. Chen Ge read the various Side Missions again, and just the mission description alone made his skin crawl. Most importantly, these were just Side Missions; the finale was still locked. Logically speaking, Chen Ge had to finish the eight Side Missions first before he could unlock the final mission.

    <i>A four-star scenario is probably too hard for the current me. Perhaps I¡¯ll be able to challengeter but definitely not now.</i>

    Chen Ge closed the message and clicked into the unlockable scenario tab. Other than The Third Sick Hall and The Haunted Hearse, there was now an additional School of the Afterlife, but different from the previous two, this scenario¡¯s name was written in blood-red ink.

    <i>So, this one scenario practically collects all the haunted school stories into one. In that case, even after this scenario is unlocked, it probably can¡¯t be released to every member of the public.</i>

    Looking at the Scream Factor delineation of the various scenarios, a thought bubbled up in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. One-star scenario should be open to anyone, but entrance to scenarios that were three stars or above should be limited to those who had survived one- and two-star scenarios. In other words, this could be considered a type of visitor protection.

    <i>The yability of the Haunted House will be increased in this manner as well. Those who have visited once may return to challenge a scarier scenario until they perfect every scenario. This means that they will have a different experience every time they visit, and this will definitely boost the poprity of my Haunted House.</i>

    Suddenly, He San¡¯s image appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. He was technically the only visitor who had challenged more than one of the Haunted House¡¯s scenarios. <i>That kid is somewhat of a good luck charm of the Haunted House. Perhaps I should invite him again when the new scenario is unlocked...</i>

    There were many fresh ideas in his mind, like giving additional rewards and certificates after the visitors survived certain levels. This way it would encourage the visitors to breakthrough to challenge scarier scenarios.

    <i>This makes me feel like some kind of dungeon master.</i>

    Chen Ge couldn¡¯t help but smile. In the future, there would probably be professional teams who came to his Haunted House to understand the true meaning of fear.

    ¡°Why are you smiling dumbly to yourself? Looks like you up to some kind of no good.¡± Inspector Lee came out from the room. He hadpleted the initial survey. ¡°I¡¯vemunicated with Team 1 and Team 2; they couldn¡¯t find any trace of Zhang Peng. The atmosphere of this school weirds me out, and the environment is tooplicated to navigate at night. We¡¯ll retreat for now and set up a n when the investigation team gets here.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge had prepared to leave for a long time already. All his reasons for being there had been aplished.

    Everyone thus retreated from the school grounds. The police sealed the gate, waiting for aid to arrive. The investigation team finally arrived when dawn came, and they looked as exhausted as Inspector Lee¡¯s group.

    After a simple greeting, Inspector Lee drove Chen Ge home in his car.

    ¡°Yet another sleepless night.¡± Chen Ge finally rxed when he was sitting in the backseat of the police car. He stretchedzily before lying down on the cushion.

    ¡°You¡¯re the first person that I¡¯vee across who can be sofortable inside a police car,¡± Inspector Leemented with a degree of dissatisfaction. ¡°By the way, I have a few questions that I haven¡¯t had the chance to ask you until now.¡±

    ¡°Then, don¡¯t ask.¡± Chen Ge could already guess the questions. He used his backpack to smother his face and pretend to fall asleep.

    ¡°Why would you go to Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy at midnight? And how did you know the exact time of death of the girl? This was four years ago, and even the forensic doctor wouldn¡¯t be able to tell me the time of death without referring to the case file, but you managed to do that. That¡¯s just too abnormal.¡± Inspector Lee crawled into the driver¡¯s seat and started the engine.

    ¡°Lucky guesses.¡± Chen Ge turned his body about. ¡°Uncle San Bao, can you turn the air-conditioning on?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve dropped all formalities around me, haven¡¯t you?¡± Inspector Lee grumbled as he turned on the air-conditioning. It was then that his phone suddenly rang.

    ¡°Uncle, it¡¯s your phone.¡±

    ¡°Talk some more and see if I¡¯ll toss you out of the car or not?¡± Inspector Lee looked at the ID before answering it. He did not say a word, and there was no sounding from the other end either. The call was ended three secondster.

    ¡°Who is so brave to make prank calls to the police?¡± Chen Ge turned to look but was surprise to find Inspector Lee¡¯s facial expression had softened.

    ¡°That¡¯s my wife. Every time I¡¯m on a special mission, she¡¯ll give me a call to check on my safety. Due to the sensitive nature of certain missions, we¡¯vee up with our own style ofmunication. Instead of verbalmunication, as long as I pick up the phone, that means that I¡¯m still okay.¡±

 Chapter 63

    <h4>Chapter 63: Someone¡¯s in the House</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Auntie sure cares about you.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Inspector Lee put his phone away, and his face twisted with confusion. ¡°Wait, just who do you think you are? You call me uncle and my wife auntie?¡±

    He waited for an answer, but it never came. He turned and realized Chen Ge had already fallen asleep. When the police car arrived at New Century Park, Chen Ge was shaken awake by Inspector Lee. The former left the car in a sort of daze, carrying his backpack.

    ¡°Be careful at all times! Zhang Peng is still out there. Based on the current situation and his twisted mentality, he might give up everything just to take revenge on you,¡± Inspector Lee reminded Chen Ge.

    ¡°I know.¡± The mention of Zhang Peng did wake Chen Ge up slightly. He waved at Inspector Lee before turning to enter New Century Park. The elderly guard was already asleep. Even as Chen Ge walked through the front door, he did not wake up.

    <i>Tonight¡¯s reward is quite valuable. I can ask for a favor from Zhang Ya since I¡¯vepleted her Bloody Heart Mission, but would it be too much of a waste to have her eliminate the mirror monster for me?</i>

    Chen Ge pulled out the ck phone and clicked into Zhang Ya¡¯s page. The affection level had been raised from ¡°Crazy about you¡± to ¡°Yours forever.¡±

    <i>I¡¯ll need to study this closer so that I maximize the usability of this chance.</i>

    As he entered the Haunted House, Chen Ge did not exit the page but continued reading through the details on Zhang Ya.

    <i>When I have enough money, perhaps I should rent myself a room outside. Sleeping in the staff breakroom feels weird after a while, </i>Chen Ge thought to himself as he walked down the dark corridor. He was familiar with every corner of this Haunted House; even without light, he wouldn¡¯t knock into anything.

    When he passed the first-floor toilet, the wooden door creaked as if blown by the wind. The wooden door was not sturdy to begin with, and after being assaulted by Chen Ge using the mallet, the door itself had be misshapen. He tried to close the door as best as he could, but when he walked toward it, he noticed that the window in the toilet was half open.

    <i>Did I forget to close the window when I left? </i>The sky outside the window was brightening. Chen Ge stood at the window to inspect it. He didn¡¯t see anything like a footprint near or on it. <i>It¡¯s probably due to the recent high amount of stress.</i>

    Even so, Chen Ge grabbed the mop that was leaning against the wall as he headed toward the control room. The Haunted House was fitted with cameras that covered every corner. A simple look at them would confirm for Chen Ge whether someone had snuck in or not.

    Pushing open the control room door, Chen Ge sat before theputer and booted up theputer. All the surveince footage was stored inside thisputer. Chen Ge looked for the ID of the camera at the entrance of the toilet and pulled up the video.

    He thought he was being overly cautious, but several minutester, Chen Ge did discover a strange man on screen!

    The man had his head lowered and quickly rushed down the corridor once he exited the toilet.

    <i>Someone dide in; there¡¯s another person hiding in this Haunted House other than myself! </i>That woke Chen Ge uppletely. <i>The man seems to know there¡¯s a camera at the entrance of the toilet and knows where he¡¯s going. This means that he has probably been inside the building before.</i>

    There were several cameras installed on the corridor. After the mysterious man disappeared from the camera, Chen Ge searched for the ID of the next camera, which was ced at the corner of the corridor that led to the toilet. On the second video feed, it was shown that the strange man turned into the control room once he raced down the corridor.

    <i>He headed for the control room directly, probably to destroy the evidence. This man knows theyout of my Haunted House very well.</i>

    There was only one name in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, and just as he was about to continue his investigation, he saw himself on screen.

    <i>The video has rolled onto the present. That¡¯s me holding the ck phone and the mop as I entered the control room... Wait, this means that the man hasn¡¯t left! </i>Just as Chen Ge saw himself on screen, he grabbed the mop next to him and turned around!

    The locker that was about two meters behind him was shoved open, and a man with bloodshot eyes, holding a sharp knife in his hand, jumped out from it!

    ¡°Zhang Peng!¡± Chen Ge screamed when he saw the man¡¯s twisted features. Probably agitated by Chen Ge¡¯s voice, Zhang Peng charged at him with the knife. Chen Ge calmed down quickly from the initial shock. He opened the room door that was behind him and retreated as he deflected Zhang Peng¡¯s assault.

    Even though Zhang Peng was handicapped, he fought with the passion of one who did not want his life anymore. The man knew this was the end of the line, and what he wanted now was someone to join him in death. Chen Ge evaded left and right as he moved toward the maintenance room. He looked like he was cornered, but that was part of his n.

    Zhang Peng had put his life on the line, so escape was out of question. He needed to fight back, but the wooden mop in his hand wouldn¡¯t harm Zhang Peng, so Chen Ge was reminded of Dr. Skull-cracker¡¯s iron hammer. Earlier, to avoid an unnecessary misunderstanding with the police, Chen Ge had hidden the hammer inside the maintenance room.

    The assault intensified. Zhang Peng seemed to have seen through Chen Ge¡¯s n. He did not even attempt to avoid Chen Ge¡¯s hit as he allowed the wooden mop to smack on his body¡ªhis aim was to get close to Chen Ge.

    Very soon, Chen Ge retreated to the door of the maintenance room. He was biding the time to jump into the room, but before that could happen, he felt an extra weight on his body like he was carrying a boulder.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to die today!¡± Zhang Peng, who had been silent, suddenly cried out. Spirit had returned to the man¡¯s eyes, and his knife skill became much more agile.

    <i>What¡¯s going on? The mirror monster has been controlling Zhang Peng until now? So where is the monster now? </i>Chen Ge could feel his movement slowing down. He used his hand to feel behind him, but he couldn¡¯t feel anything. Something pressed hard on his shoulder, causing him to bend over slightly. He turned his head around to look, and a ck shadow about the size of an adult man was riding on his back!

    <i>The mirror monster!</i>

    Panic shed across his eyes. Chen Ge dipped to avoid a knife aiming at his neck, and he turned to st through the door into the maintenance room. He ran toward the cupboards that held all the random junk.

    <i>It¡¯s still not time to give up. Zhang Peng and the ck shadow share one entity, if I use the hammer to incapacitate Zhang Peng, then I¡¯ll be able to stop the ck shadow as well!</i>

    Chen Ge felt like he was dragging a small mountain on his back. He had underestimated the ck shadow¡¯s growth. Compared to the first time they met, this creature had be much harder to deal with.

    Something was choking the breath from his throat as the weight on his back continued to increase. Theughter of various individuals appeared in his ears, and when Chen Ge reached the cupboard, he was drained from exhaustion.

    Chen Ge¡¯s consciousness wavered, and a humming sound sung in his ears. Without turning to look, Chen Ge knew Zhang Peng was walking toward him with the knife.

    The monster on his back continued to press down on him. Chen Ge used every ounce of his energy to open the cupboard door. As he tried to search for the hammer through the junk, the ck phone fell from his pocket, the screen still on Zhang Ya¡¯s personal page.

 Chapter 64

    <h4>Chapter 64: Ate It?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The mirror monster had Chen Ge in a chokehold, and the murderer was inching toward him with a sharp knife. Chen Ge had no time to hesitate. When he saw Zhang Ya¡¯s page, he reached out to type two words¡ªHelp me!

    The weirdugh in his mind grew louder. Zhang Peng¡¯s knife came at him before Chen Ge had the time to key in anything else. He turned around and grabbed anything from the cupboard that he could get his hands on to throw at Zhang Peng.

    His limbs were failing him, and the veins in Chen Ge¡¯s neck were protruding. Even without the stab from Zhang Peng, he would be strangled by the mirror monster. Chen Ge wed violently at his neck, but he caught no purchase¡ªit was as if there was nothing there. Chen Ge ced hisst hope on the ck phone.

    He turned his head to look at the phone on the ground and saw that there was a line of blood red letters on screen. ¡°She has understood your demand, so please ept the content of the first agreement.¡±

    It appeared like the demand went both ways. While Chen Ge asked something of Zhang Ya, she would also ask something of Chen Ge, and Chen Ge¡¯s order would only be carried out once the agreement had been reached.

    At a time like this, no matter how ridiculous the content of Zhang Ya¡¯s agreement was, Chen Ge would agree unhesitatingly. Inching his finger forward, Chen Ge pressed the ¡°yes¡± button on screen.

    The moment his finger touched the screen, the temperature of the small room dropped tremendously as cold drafts blew into the room from all corners. The weirdugh in Chen Ge¡¯s head stopped immediately. He could feel the monster on his back shiver; it could also feel fear.

    The sound of dripping suddenly appeared in the room like something was leaking. The mirror monster on Chen Ge¡¯s back released its hold on Chen Ge and escaped back into Zhang Peng¡¯s body.

    The maintenance room became eerily quiet. Even Zhang Peng knew something was wrong. This gambler who had nothing to lose did not choose to retreat at thest moment but raise the knife to charge at Chen Ge.

    However, he only took the first step when the expression on his face changed. The mirror monster had forcibly taken over his body, making him leave. The man and the ghost were quarrelling, forcing them into inaction. While that was happening, Chen Ge¡¯s shadow slowly stood up, and a bloody dress appeared behind Chen Ge.

    Zhang Ya had probably left quite a heavy trauma on both the man and the ghost at Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy because when they saw the Red Specter behind Chen Ge, a consensus was made, and the man turned to run.

    Without the constriction from the mirror monster, Chen Ge was released from the lock. He had almost been killed by Zhang Peng, and he was still reeling with anger, so naturally, he wouldn¡¯t let them escape so easily.

    He just stood up with the iron hammer when the Red Specter made her move. Zhang Ya seemed to have a fetish for cruel kills because even without the order from Chen Ge, needle-like ck hairs shot into Zhang Peng¡¯s body.

    The murderer¡¯s footsteps slowed. Naturally, Chen Ge would not give up on this perfect opportunity. He swung the iron hammer on Zhang Ge¡¯s shoulder. The impact caused the man to fall forward. Making use of this opportunity, Chen Ge aimed yet another strike at Zhang Peng¡¯s upper calf.

    An ear-splitting shriek escaped from the maintenance room. The mirror monster inside Zhang Peng knew that the man was cornered, so it decided to abandon Zhang Peng and flew toward the toilet.

    ¡°Not good, there¡¯s a mirror inside the first-floor toilet!¡±

    Before Chen Ge realized what had happened, Zhang Ya started to chase after the mirror monster. This shadow creature seemed to be highly interesting to her.

    <i>I have to figure out a way to block the mirror.</i>

    Chen Ge looked around him and spotted the half-full vat of fake blood left in the maintenance room. The toilet¡¯s door creaked in the wind. When Chen Ge arrived, he saw that half of the mirror body had already been punctured by Zhang Ya¡¯s hair, but it was just inches away from the mirror.

    ¡°You¡¯re not getting away that easily this time!¡±

    Unsure whether it would be of use or not, Chen Ge sshed the fake blood all over the mirror. The ck shadow hesitated before the mirror. Before it could react, tendrils of ck hair curled around its body like snakes. Chen Ge could barely make out its humanoid shape anymore as it was caught in the hair.

    The bloody dress fluttered in the wind. After Zhang Ya got bored, she tore the ck shadow that waspressed into a ball into two. She swallowed half of it before tearing up the other half into pieces and gently blowing it into Chen Ge¡¯s face.

    Chen Ge felt like something had entered his eyes, and his body shivered involuntarily from the sudden cold.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Chen Ge wanted to get an answer from Zhang Ya, but after fulfilling her part of the agreement, this cruel Red Specter disappeared into his shadow.

    The toilet door was still squeaking on its hinges, but there was nothing left inside the toilet to suggest that the crazy things that Chen Ge had just witnessed had truly happened.

    <i>Just like that, Zhang Ya ate half of the mirror monster and blew the other half into my eyes. </i>Chen Ge looked at the mirror and a sensation that felt like he was dreaming overwhelmed him. <i>The mirror monster has been taken care off, so there shouldn¡¯t be a new number that surfaces on the mirror tomorrow night, right?</i>

    Until now, he could not understand what the numbers meant, but he had a feeling they pointed to a huge secret.

    After closing the door, Chen Ge used his phone to contact the police. He did not trouble Inspector Lee this time. After all, the man wasn¡¯t a machine; he had been required to deal with more than enough over the past few days already.

    Leaning against the wall, Chen Ge nced at Zhang Peng, whoy as if dead on the floor. When the mirror monster left his body, it seemed to have taken something from the man. The man¡¯s eyes looked nkly forward, and his gaze was soulless.

    <i>I suppose this is a kind of karma.</i>

    At 6 am, the investigation team from the main city, officers from Western Jiujiang police station, and members of the park¡¯s management all gathered at the entrance of the Haunted House. Thest suspect from the Ping An Apartment case had finally been caught.

    After watching Zhang Peng being hauled into the police car, Chen Ge¡¯s taut nerves finally rxed. He did not stay to chat but returned to the Haunted House and locked himself in the breakroom.

    <i>The case at the Ping An Apartment is finally wrapped up. The mirror monster has been eaten by Zhang Ya, so there are no more hidden threats lingering in my Haunted House, meaning I can finally open all of the scenarios up for business in the morning. </i>Chen Gey in bed, thinking about his future. <i>What I should focus on next is the expansion of the Haunted House because the new scenarios won¡¯t be unlocked without the expansion. After I wake up, I should go talk to Uncle Xu. In any case, I have to convince him to let me rent the underground parking lot.</i>

    As he tried to fall asleep, Chen Ge felt a cold breeze caress his body. The chill did not leave even when he wrapped himself up in the covers. The chill seemed toe from his eyes.

    <i>Zhang Ya did blow part of the mirror monster into my face, could this be caused by that? </i>Chen Ge grabbed a small piece of mirror to look at his face. Everything looked normal except perhaps his pupils turned darker like the surface of a bottomlesske.

    Eventually, fatigue caught up to him. Chen Ge ced the mirror underneath his pillow and soon drifted off to sleep.

    At 10.30 am, before he managed to catch several hours of sleep, Chen Ge was woken up by the call on his phone. He looked at the ID and answered it. ¡°Xiao Wan, you can have the morning off. Come back in the afternoon.¡±

    ¡°Boss! There are so many people down here! There are even police and reporters, what have you done?¡±

 Chapter 65

    <h4>Chapter 65: Captain Yan</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°But I¡¯ve not done anything! Wait for me, I¡¯m going down now!¡± Chen Ge leaned closer to the window to nce down. There was indeed a great crowd outside the Haunted House, and the number was still growing.

    ¡°Boss, listen to me, surrender while you still can before this gets worse.¡±

    ¡°Surrender my foot! Just wait for me.¡± After hanging up, Chen Ge quickly put on his clothes, washed his face, and ran to the door. He pulled back the heavy curtains and dashed out the gates.

    When Chen Ge made his appearance, the rowdy crowd started to quiet down. The surrounding visitors looked at Chen Ge with curiosity and more than a bit of disappointment in their eyes. Obviously, they had expected the person who was surrounded by the police to look less... normal.

    This was the first time that Chen Ge had felt so many eyes on him. He seemed to shrivel up in shyness, but he felt like he should say something. ¡°Do any of you mind telling me what this is for?¡±

    ¡°You are Chen Ge?¡± The leading officer carried a box in his arms. He was slightly rotund, but his eyes were sharp and prating, which created a rather humorous contrast to his babyish face.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Can I see your identification?¡±

    Chen Ge searched for a long time before producing his identification card. All this while, he was silently studying the officer before him. The officer was wearing a uniform different from Inspector Lee and his men.

    ¡°Okay, thank you for your cooperation.¡± The officer smiled. He waved at the reporters beside him, opened the box in his hand, and announced in an official tone, ¡°For providing the murder case at Ping An Apartments with crucial evidence, Jiujiang Municipal Bureau for Public Security is awarding this Level Three Public Security Medal of Honor to Chen Ge! Hopefully, Chen Ge will appreciate this honor and continue to contribute to the maintenance and improvement of the public security of our society!¡±

    This series of announcement confused Chen Ge. Things were happening too quickly for him to handle. As the box was pushed into his hands, he looked at the shiny medal, and there was only one thought on his mind, which was only half-awake. <i>Where¡¯s the reward money?</i>

    The slightly rotund officer stood beside Chen Ge and paraded him to the wall of reporters. The whole processsted for fifteen minutes. After the crowd dispersed and the reporters left, Chen Ge quietly sought out the rotund officer. ¡°Sir, how may I refer to you?¡±

    ¡°The name¡¯s Yan, you can call me Captain Yan. I was ssmates with Western Jiujiang¡¯s Ol¡¯ Lee. In fact, he has told me many things about you.¡± Captain Yan seemed to be a friendly character. His eyes that looked upon Chen Ge were glowing the praise. ¡°The way you handled the case at Ping An Apartments is impressive. When you were being chased by the killer, your reaction and observation skills surprised both me and Ol¡¯ Lee.¡±

    After being fed the series of praises, Chen Ge felt too embarrassed to jump to the topic of the reward money. ¡°All I did was run crazily around the woods. The case wouldn¡¯t have been solved without the police. In fact, I would have been the killer¡¯stest victim if not for all of you.¡±

    After the trading ofpliments, Captain Yan realized that Chen Ge was still lingering shamelessly around the police car. He smiled to himself because it finally dawned on him why Chen Ge was there. ¡°Xiao Chen, you¡¯ll need to go to the main city¡¯s bureau personally to get the reward money. Due to therge scale of the case, it took a while for the reward to be approved, but you can go get it now. I hope you understand.¡±

    ¡°Of course, of course.¡± After knowing where to get the reward money, Chen Ge¡¯s heart that hung in the air finally settled.

    ¡°I came here today to thank you in person. Every unsolved case is like a boulder pressing on every police officer¡¯s heart, and it¡¯s something passed on from the senior to the junior. Four years ago, I was also involved in this case, so thank you for solving this trouble in my heart.¡± Captain Yan smiled sincerely. ¡°By the way, the elder from Ping An Apartment also wished to speak to you. The elder is incapacitated, can no longer move his lower body, and has lost much of his capacity to talk, but his mind is still sharp. He knows it is you who saved him and solved the death of his family. He also wants to thank you in person.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± For Chen Ge, the case was merely a mission dispensed by the ck phone, but for the victims and their family, it was a meaningful closure.

    ¡°You¡¯d better visit him soon. The elder is currently in hospital. Perhaps it was the emotions that ran high or perhaps the question that has been keeping him alive has been answered... in any case, he¡¯s not doing so well.¡±

    After that, Captain Yan got into the car.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll visit himter in the afternoon.¡± Looking at the special uniform that he wore, Chen Ge felt this Captain Yan carried a greater responsibility than he let on. After the police car left, the park¡¯s workers surrounded Chen Ge.

    ¡°Boss, are you going to be on television again?¡±

    ¡°Not bad, there¡¯s even a medal.¡±

    After sending them off, Chen Ge found Uncle Xu in the crowd, and he dragged him to a corner to speak.

    ¡°Uncle Xu, what¡¯s the update regarding the rental of the underground parking lot? The money will being soon!¡±

    The mention of underground parking lot made Uncle Xu frown. ¡°This is not the issue of budget. Xiao Chen, I cannot sit idle and watch you jump into your own grave. The visitor number of the park has been steadily dropping, and everyone is trying to flee, don¡¯t you understand that?¡±

    ¡°I do understand that, and I know what I¡¯m doing,¡± Chen Ge replied confidently. The Haunted House might carry the key to the disappearance of his parents. Only by continuing to expand it would Chen Ge have the chance and the ability to interact with the other world.

    ¡°Still so stubborn.¡± Uncle Xu tried to persuade Chen Ge for a long time, but it was to no avail. In the end, he could only sigh. ¡°Come with me then. Due to the appearance of the police, Mr. Luo is also with us. You might as well talk to him in person.¡±

    ¡°Director Luo is here?¡± Chen Ge had heard his parents mention this actual owner of New Century Park many times already.

    ¡°What do you think? The police set up a security perimeter around the park, did you think they would not inform the management? To provide full cooperation, Director Luo has been staying at the park for the past few days.¡± Uncle Xu led Chen Ge to a building on the northern side of the park. This was the second tallest structure in the park, behind the Ferris Wheel. ¡°When you meet Director Luoter, remember to watch what you say. The less you say, the less likely you¡¯ll make a mistake, you understand?¡±

    Chen Ge followed Uncle Xu into the elevator that led them up to the top floor. They stopped before the door of an office. The door wasn¡¯t locked. Uncle Xu knocked on it, and very soon, a man in his fifties came out from it.

    The man was of average height, and his hair was half white. His features were gentle, and the suit he wore was not branded, but it was clean and didn¡¯t have the slightest crease on it.

    <i>This is Mr. Luo? He looks so different from the picture. </i>From how Chen Ge saw it, the man standing before him looked more like a retired teacher.

 Chapter 66

    <h4>Chapter 66: Build Her a Park</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°How can I help?¡± the man inquired in a soft-spoken tone, surprisingly unbusinesslike.

    ¡°Director Luo, this is the brave Xiao Chen who helped the police capture the fugitive.¡± Uncle Xu pulled Chen Ge to his side. ¡°He¡¯s here to get an update about the thing I reported to you earlier. He wishes to rent the unused underground parking lot.¡±

    ¡°I understand. Leave us be, you can go busy yourself with your work.¡± Director Luo signaled for Uncle Xu to leave.

    Director Luo had Chen Ge sit on the sofa while he poured two cups of tea. ¡°I¡¯ve been informed you wish to rent the underground parking lot. Do you mind telling me why you n to do that?¡±

    ¡°I wish to expand the Haunted House. I want to build an underground maze inside the parking lot.¡±

    ¡°An underground maze. That¡¯s not a bad idea, but do you have the budget and ability to handle something of that scale? The rental for the space will be small inparison to the finances you need to set up the ce.¡± Director Luo leaned against the couch, his eyes colored with lethargy and tiredness. ¡°I am not against your idea, and I can rent you the ce, but before that, I need to ask you a few questions.¡±

    Even though he had gotten a verbal agreement from Director Luo, the man had not yet mentioned the rental amount, so Chen Ge was still nervous. ¡°Ask away.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the owner of a Haunted House, so you know better than I do how high the early investment in a Haunted House is. Also, different from hotels or motels, where you can still sell or reuse the tables, chairs, and utensils, if your Haunted House fails, what are you going to do with the spooky props and items?¡±

    Director Luo did raise a valid concern, something that Chen Ge had not even considered before.

    ¡°Even if you manage to do a good job reviving the Haunted House, how are you going to solve the issue of returning customers? A Haunted House is a one-time exhaustion product. There might be some initial hype, but it¡¯ll eventually run out because the number of your potential customers is only so big. You¡¯re going to invest greatly into this, are you confident you¡¯ll even earn back your capital?

    ¡°One final question, by building your Haunted House underground, how are you going to promote it? Your customer¡¯s number is highly dependent on the park¡¯s visitor number. How is your Haunted House going to survive when the dayes for the park to close?¡±

    Chen Ge knew that Director Luo was stopping him out of kindness. In fact, he knew that those who advised him against investing in the Haunted House were only looking out for him. They had his best interests at heart.

    Director Luo¡¯s three questions revolved around Chen Ge¡¯s mind. The first two questions were easily solved with the presence of the ck phone, so Chen Ge¡¯s real conundrum was thest question. If New Century Park closed, naturally, his Haunted House would close, too.

    Moving to another ce would be difficult, just the number of documents would cause Chen Ge enormous headaches. Furthermore, his budget was limited; to find another location to fit the ck phone¡¯s scenarios would be impossible.

    ¡°Have you seriously considered these three questions?¡± Director Luo seemed to anticipate Chen Ge¡¯s answer. ¡°Why don¡¯t you go back for now? We mustn¡¯t jump into important decision without detailed research and thorough contemtion.¡±

    Chen Ge sat unmoved on the couch. He turned to look at Director Luo and asked directly, ¡°Is the park really going to close soon?¡±

    Director Luo did not confirm or deny, but the tiredness in his eyes deepened. ¡°If I say the park is really closing soon, will you insist on renting the underground parking lot?¡±

    ¡°I will.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s answer surprised Director Luo. ¡°Director Luo, I already have the solution for your first and second questions. And your third question is not valid.¡±

    There was fire dancing in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. The young man powered on fearlessly. ¡°My Haunted House has never relied on anyone else before, and my visitor number will not be entirely dependent on the park. Give me time, and I will not only attract countless visitors to the Haunted House, I will also use it to revive the entire park! Renting the underground parking lot is just the first n. My n is to build the world¡¯s first unique theme park that is based on horror and terror.¡±

    After he finished what he had to say, Chen Ge finally remembered Uncle Xu¡¯s advice¡ªthe less you say, the less likely you¡¯ll make a mistake.

    He looked at Director Luo with uncertainty. He regretted telling him everything that was inside his heart.

    After listening to Chen Ge, Director Luo put down his cup, and the tiredness in his eyes had disappeared. After a moment¡¯s silence, he suddenlyughed and said, ¡°You remind me too much of myself when I was young.¡±

    He stood up and walked to open the curtain. The whole park was within view from the office.

    ¡°I¡¯m the most devastated and most unwilling for the closing of New Century Park.¡± He opened the window and allowed the wind to ruffle his peppered hair. ¡°This park means the world to me. If possible, I wish for it to stay open forever.¡±

    Director Luo turned to smile at Chen Ge. His smile wasplicated; it was a calm smile of a man who had seen the world rise and fall, one who had surrendered to the vagaries of fate. ¡°I¡¯ve heard about your story. After your parents¡¯ disappearance, you quit your day job to take over their Haunted House. In a way, our stories are very simr, but you are luckier than I am.¡±

    He picked up a picture frame from the table. It was the only picture frame in the room. It had the picture of a pair of father and daughter. The father was of average height and had a gentle demean our. The girl in his arms was cute, but her hands were twisted at a painful angle, and there seemed to be no life in her eyes.

    ¡°This is my daughter. She suffered from serious aphasia and required a special device to even stand upright. God was harsh on her, but she was a strong little girl who loved to smile, not only to me but to the world.¡± Director Luo turned to look at the sky outside the window. ¡°But the world didn¡¯t smile back at her. I used to take my daughter to the garden for walks, but none of the kids wanted to y with her. When she turned to look at me helplessly, I knew that she was afraid, afraid that she had done something wrong and that was why she was being isted. I didn¡¯t know how to console her, so we only took her out during the rainy days so that she wouldn¡¯t have to face the unfeeling crowd. Perhaps it was then that the thought to build my daughter her very own theme park appeared in my mind.

    ¡°Unfortunately, she didn¡¯t live to see the day the park was open.¡± Putting down the frame, Director Luo¡¯s eyes were still surprisingly calm. ¡°Many people don¡¯t understand why I would risk bankruptcy to keep an outdated theme park alive, but I believe perhaps you do.¡±

    ¡°I do.¡± Chen Ge had already stood up earlier. He had not expected that Director Luo would reveal such intimate information to him.

    ¡°Everyone is trying to find a way out, but you¡¯re different. You¡¯ve surprised me.¡± After closing the window, Director Luo pulled out a document from his drawer. ¡°Actually, when Uncle Xu came to me with your request, I had already approved it. Take it. Come to me if you need any help, but remember, you only have two to three months left.¡±

 Chapter 67

    <h4>Chapter 67: You Can See Her?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge epted the document, and the first line read¡ªNew Century Park¡¯s Underground Parking Lot Usage Agreement.

    After flipping through it, Chen Ge did not find any uses rted to rental. ¡°Director Luo, is the document missing something?¡±

    ¡°Have you not seen a free rental agreement before? I¡¯ve stamped the document, so it¡¯ll be effective after you sign it. The document is effective until the park closes, so make good use of it and don¡¯t let me down.¡± Director Luo¡¯s mood seemed to have improved greatly. He poured himself another cup of tea and said, ¡°You should be quite busy from now on, so I won¡¯t hold you any longer.¡±

    When Chen Ge exited the office holding the contract, he still could not believe that he had managed to get the park¡¯s underground parking lot without paying a single dime!

    ording to the contract, he was allowed free use of the parking lot as long as the park did not go under. Chen Ge assumed that Director Luo was being so generous because the park would close in another two- or three-months¡¯ time when the new park at Eastern Jiujiang opened.

    <i>The underground parking lot is a third of the size of the park. Even though it has been abandoned, to be able to rent it for free is still a wonderful surprise!</i>

    Chen Ge felt his luck had gotten much better after taking care of the mirror monster. He had received a medal of honor, the reward money wasing soon, and he had solved the issue of expansion; everything was looking up.

    <i>Could it be that removing dirty things can improve my luck? </i>Chen Ge did not think that things would be so coincidental; the thought was merely to humor himself.

    After returning to the Haunted House, Chen Ge started his work for the day. He had Xiao Wan put on the park uniform and stand outside the Haunted House to sell tickets while he roamed through the Murder by Midnight scenario, chasing the visitors about in his Doctor Skull-cracker uniform.

    Chen Ge exited the Haunted House at 5 pm. He let Xiao Wan leave early before going to get his money.

    <i>This will be the first time in my life there have been four digits in my bank ount. I deserve some celebration tonight. </i>Chen Ge changed into a clean outfit in the staff breakroom and was about to leave, when he saw a small ragdoll lying beside his bed. The small fe had most of her body hidden underneath the bed like she was ying hide-and-seek.

    <i>The day is still bright, but you¡¯re out here already. </i>Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of the thing Captain Yan had told him that morning. <i>The grandpa¡¯s situation seems to be deteriorating, and he has no family around him. I should go pay him a visit.</i>

    Chen Ge poked Xiaoxiao on her stomach before putting her in his pocket and leaving the Haunted House.

    At 6:15 pm, Chen Ge exited the bureau with the reward money of 36,000, which was less than he had expected.

    After purchasing a fruit basket and some milk, Chen Ge departed for Jiujiang People¡¯s Hospital. With the nurse leading the way, he entered a sickbay on the third floor. He was there only to visit the elderly grandfather, but to his surprise, he ran into a familiar face there.

    ¡°Inspector Lee, why are you here?¡±

    Sitting beside the bed, Inspector Lee was feeding the elder some porridge. He was as careful as a little girl when he took care of the old man.

    ¡°This is weird, howe I keep on running into you everywhere I go?¡± Inspector Lee ced a towel on the elder¡¯s chest. ¡°After a good night¡¯s sleep, the station manager saw how tired I was, so he assigned me a lighter job for the day.¡±

    ¡°Law enforcement even cares about things like this?¡±

    ¡°The elder came into the mishap under our watch, so before we can find him a personal care-taker, it¡¯s only fair that we look after him.¡±

    Inspector Lee tried feeding him twice, but the elder man seemed to have no appetite. He did not force it but put the spoon down to point at Chen Ge, who stood at the door. ¡°Sir, this is the young man who provided us with the crucial evidence to solve the case and the young man who called us that night to save you.¡±

    When he saw Chen Ge, the old man¡¯s arm that was still movable twitched, but it was unclear what he was trying tomunicate.

    ¡°Thinking back, I should be thanking the old sir. If not for the fact you broke the bowl at Ping An Apartment to warn me, I wouldn¡¯t have realized how weird things were.¡± Chen Ge ced the fruit basket and milk on the counter. Looking at the old man who looked like he could depart at any moment, Chen Ge¡¯s heart shook. ¡°Inspector Lee, do you mind leaving the room for a minute? I have something personal to talk to the old sir.¡±

    Inspector Lee did not know what Chen Ge was up to, but due to trust, he walked out without asking any questions. After closing the door, Chen Ge pulled the doll out from his pocket. ¡°Old sir, I brought Xiaoxiao toe see you.¡±

    When Chen Ge took out Xiaoxiao, the old man in the bed did not show any response, but when his murky eyes fell on the ragdoll, the man¡¯s pupils shook greatly, and a voice that sounded like it came from a broken bellow escaped from the old man¡¯s lips. The arm that could still move reached out as if to grab something.

    ¡°You can see her?¡±

    Chen Ge did not expect this. He had brought Xiaoxiao there to see her family, but he did not expect that the senior would be able to see Xiaoxiao, who possessed the ragdoll!

    He hurried to the bedside and ced the doll lightly in the old man¡¯s arm. The senior¡¯s arm hugged the doll tightly before he settled down again.

    <i>ording to legends, people are able to see to the other world at the end of their life.</i>

    The ck phone in Chen Ge¡¯s pocket vibrated. He exited the room to give the grandfather and the granddaughter their privacy.

    ¡°I heard some noisesing from inside the room earlier, what did you tell him? Listen to me, the senior¡¯s situation is very fragile, and he won¡¯t be able to survive too much of a shock.¡± Inspector Lee stood outside the door. Should things turn awry, he would rush in immediately.

    ¡°I only brought the old sir the person he wished to see the most.¡± Chen Ge sat on the bench provided in the corridor and pulled out the ck phone. He realized the reason of the vibration was because on the affection page, Yin Xiaoxiao¡¯s affection level had increased from ¡®Slightly Favorable Opinion¡¯ to ¡®Can be Trusted¡¯.

    <i>The little fe is the most unique Baleful Specter I¡¯ve ever met. I wonder what will happen when I raise her affection level to the maximum. </i>Chen Ge returned the phone to his pocket and leaned against the wall. ¡°Uncle San Bao, don¡¯t worry, the old sir will recover.¡±

    ¡°You sure are optimistic.¡±

    Chen Ge and Inspector Lee chatted for a long time. When they entered the room, the senior¡¯s condition had stabilized. He waved at Chen Ge, but nobody understood what he meant.

    After nodding at the nurse, Chen Ge left with Xiaoxiao. The little fe hid inside the doll, apparently asleep.

    After getting a quick dinner at the roadside stall, Chen Ge rushed back to the Haunted House.

    <i>I still haven¡¯t epted today¡¯s daily mission yet, I wonder if there¡¯s still time.</i>

    Among the three Daily Missions, the most suitable was definitely the expansion. All he needed to do was choose the direction of expansion and a general location.

 Chapter 68

    <h4>Chapter 68: Midnight Ticket Counter</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Last night, before leaving for Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy, Chen Ge had glossed through the three Daily Missions. The simple mission was to check for hidden security threats; the normal mission was to find a suitable location to expand the Haunted House; the Nightmare mission was to identify the other individual that shared his room.

    If he wanted the biggest reward, naturally, the Nightmare Mission was the best choice. However, ording to his previous two experience, Nightmare Missions had a time requirement, and they were mostly around midnight. Once he missed that period, there was high chance the mission would fail automatically.

    <i>There¡¯s no need to risk it. </i>Chen Ge selected to ept the Normal Mission.

    ¡°Normal Mission: You¡¯ve achieved the criteria to enable the first expansion of the Haunted House, do search for a suitable location soon!¡±

    This was the first time that Chen Ge had expanded the Haunted House. He did not know how to go about it, and the ck phone did not give him any instructions.

    <i>I can¡¯t find a guide, so it looks like I¡¯ll have to slowly research it on my own. </i>Chen Ge looked at the interface of the app, and two ces captured his attention.

    My Team of Ghosts and Ghouls was still empty, which meant that neither Zhang Ya nor Yin Xiaoxiao had be part of the Haunted House. Yin Xiaoxiao was probably because he had not earned enough affection points, while Zhang Ya... Chen Ge would be thankful if she just stopped trying to kill him, much less asking her to join the Haunted House.

    The second thing that attracted Chen Ge¡¯s attention was the tab for Haunted House Expansion. The original gray font had turned red. After clicking on it, a sentence appeared on screen.

    ¡°Please select the location of the entrance.¡±

    <i>If the words be red, it means that they¡¯re clickable. The location of the entrance you say...</i>

    The underground parking lot Chen Ge rented was huge, but the only downside was that the entrance to the parking lot was outside of the park. The path was not streamlined, so he nned to open a new path underneath the Haunted House, one that directly led to the underground parking lot.

    Normally,rge attractions like rollercoasters or Ferris Wheels were not allowed to have any space underneath them, but since the Haunted House was located at the isted corner, it was the sole exception at New Century Park. In fact, the space right underneath Chen Ge¡¯s building was the parking lot.

    Holding the ck phone, Chen Ge walked to the entrance to the Night of the Living Dead scenario that was on the first floor. After gaining the two one-star scenarios, Minghun and Murder by Midnight, this scenario had pretty much been abandoned.

    <i>I¡¯ll set the door beside the entrance to this scenario. If it is necessary in the future, I can just remove and rece the Night of the Living Dead scenario.</i>

    That was Chen Ge¡¯s n. He used a piece of chalk to mark out an area on the floor, but he realized after drawing it that he had no way ofmunicating his n to the ck phone. Since he received the mysterious phone, it had been a one-waymunication.

    <i>Have I missed something? </i>Chen Ge clicked through the app. When he tried tapping the home page twice, the Haunted House that was used as the background suddenly zoomed out until Chen Ge could see itsyout, which was simr to his actual Haunted House, including the locations and set-up of the many scenarios.

    <i>So, I do it here?</i>

    Chen Ge found the scenario for Night of the Living Dead on screen. He clicked on an empty space beside the entrance, and a question instantly popped up on screen.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to ce the entrance here?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Please select the expansion direction.¡±

    ¡°Downward.¡±

    After making his choice, the screen returned to normal, and several other messages popped up.

    ¡°Only through continuous expansion will your Haunted House be able to y host to more homeless spirits and thus collect more screams. Congrattions forpleting the Normal Mission. Obtained reward¡ªA free spin at the Wheel of Misfortune!

    ¡°Congrattions forpleting your first ever expansion. Special reward, a unique construct obtained¡ªMidnight Ticket Counter (Broken)!

    ¡°Midnight Ticket Counter (Broken): There¡¯s a one in one thousand chance for you to attract special ¡®visitors¡¯. They are different from others and might lend you a helping hand.¡±

    Chen Ge read the messages carefully. The mission had rewarded him with a free spin at the Wheel of Misfortune, but there was too much of uncertainty to this reward. Only by trading a hundred Screams would he get the chance to spin it once. ording to the description on the phone, there were definitely some useful things that could be won from the lucky draw.

    However, even Chen Ge had scared himself with how ¡®lucky¡¯ he was. What if he won another cursed love letter?

    The two baleful specters might just split himself perfectly in half so that each of them could have their way with him equally. An image of the two spirits holding bloodied knives in their hands arguing over who wouldy im to his skull and body appeared in his mind.

    <i>Too soon, too soon.</i>

    The Wheel of Misfortune was thus put on the backburner, so Chen Ge turned to look at the other reward¡ªthe broken Midnight Ticket Counter. His Haunted House had been missing a specialized ticket counter. After all, before obtaining the ck phone, he had at most ten visitors in a week, hence there was no reason to build a ticket counter.

    <i>The ck phone has helped me solve a problem, but what is the meaning of this one in one thousand chance of attracting special visitors? Does it mean ghosts?</i>

    Chen Ge purposely walked to the front door, but the gate had remained the same; nothing had changed. <i>Perhaps the change will happen after midnight like how it did with the Murder by Midnight scenario.</i>

    Since he had received the rewards, Chen Ge stopped worrying about them. He cleaned the ce while waiting for midnight to arrive. Even though the mirror monster had been vanquished, it did not mean that the number on the mirror would disappear.

    Chen Ge rolled up his sleeves as he cleaned the fake blood off the toilet¡¯s mirror.

    He was acting in such a hurry because there had been a little incident that afternoon. A visitor had asked to use the toilet when he was inside the Haunted House. Chen Ge had led him to the toilet, but when the man had seen the fake blood that pooled around the floor, he had refused to enter the toilet. He had held his pee in until his face was green as Chen Ge led him out of the Haunted House.

    <i>¡°The scary ces should be scary, but other ces should be asfortable as possible. After all, we¡¯re in the service business.¡±</i>

    That was some advice that Chen Ge¡¯s father had once given him, and he remembered it to this day.

    Chen Ge finished cleaning the fake blood at around 11 pm. He also fixed the broken toilet door. Then he stood before the mirror with his phone.

    He checked his profile on the video-sharing app. His number of followers was slowly increasingly, and his videos were heavily shared. In fact, some advertisers hade to him with offers already.

    <i>I need to pay attention to the videos and livestreams as well. After all, they¡¯re my main source of promotion.</i>

    When it was 11:59 pm, Chen Ge put away his phone and stood before the mirror. Simr to his first Nightmare mission, he locked the toilet from within and turned off all the lights.

 Chapter 69

    <h4>Chapter 69: Door in the Mirror</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The toilet was dark and the world was so silent that Chen Ge could hear his own heartbeat. He stared unblinkingly at the mirror before him. When the clock struck 12, the mirror turned blurry like it was starting to mist. Then, a number appeared in the middle of the mirror¡ª0.

    The changing number surprised Chen Ge. He had thought this number was something left behind by the mirror monster. Since the monster had been consumed by Zhang Ya already, the number should have disappeared along with it.

    <i>The number has nothing to do with the mirror monster? </i>He took out his phone to snap a picture of the number, but as he raised his arms, his whole body froze. The reflection in the mirror shifted from reality, and the door to one of the cubicles turned red!

    It was a red that was unmistakable; it was as if the cubicle was filled with blood, and fresh blood was still leaking out from the cervices.

    <i>Why would this change happen to the cubicle with the squatting toilet?</i>

    Using his phone to record this curious phenomenon, he slowly turned around to slowly push open the cubicle¡¯s door.

    As the door in reality was pushed open, so was the door in the mirror. There was nothing inside the cubicle in reality, but in the mirror, everything inside the cubicle was dyed red, including the toilet paper holder, the toilet paper, the flush, and even the small advertisements pasted on the wall.

    In the darkened room, the blood red cubicle was exceptionally eye-grabbing.

    Chen Ge did not understand what was happening. He took a cautious step forward, and when half of his upper body reached into the cubicle, a strange sensation overwhelmed him. Something sticky covered his skin like he was being swallowed andpressed.

    He immediately retreated, and one minuteter, the cubicle in the mirror returned to normal. When Chen Ge walked into the cubicle again, the strange sensation was no longer there. The red door in the mirror only appeared for one minute after midnight, and everything returned to normal after that.

    <i>Why would the cubicle door in the mirror turn red? And beyond that, even the walls and paraphernalia behind it were all blood red. </i>Chen Ge switched on the light. He leaned against the window and started to think. <i>Could that be the mirror world? The mirror monster escaped from this blood red world?</i>

    To confirm his suspicion, he searched for the details of his first Nightmare Mission on the ck phone.

    ¡°It requires plenty of courage, incredible luck, and a bit of luck to see the hidden world.¡±

    <i>Then, there¡¯s a high chance that the hidden world mentioned in the phone refers to the blood red world inside the cubicle.</i>

    Chen Ge tried to think back to the situation that night. Even though he did not open his eyes, he did pay plenty of attention to his surroundings with his ears.

    <i>Thinking back, I do remember hearing the cubicle door creak! It was also after that noise that weird things started to happen.</i>

    At the time, Chen Ge had assumed it was the wind, but now he revised his theory. Perhaps the cause of the creaking was the mirror monster escaping the blood red world.

    <i>The mirror is most likely the buffer space between the two worlds. The cubicle in the mirror was opened, and the monster escaped from the blood red world. However, due to the disruption from the doll, it was trapped inside the mirror. </i>Chen Ge looked at the wooden door of the cubicle in question, and a weird thought cropped up his mind. <i>What if I enter the cubicle in the real world when the door turns red in the mirror? Will that transport me to the other world?</i>

    Shaking that crazy thought out of his mind, Chen Ge returned to stand before the mirror. <i>The blood red cubicle appeared in the mirror after the number dropped to zero. Looks like all my previous spection was wrong¡ªthe number has nothing to do with killing. It is probably a countdown, perhaps representing how many more days the mirror monster could exist in the real world.</i>

    The door in the mirror had returned to normal, but Chen Ge did not dare assume that it would not appear again. There was a possibility that it would continue to appear every night at midnight as long as the mirror monster did not return to it.

    <i>If it continues to appear tomorrow night, I¡¯ll need to remove the mirror; that¡¯s the only thing I can do now. </i>Chen Ge found a heavy ck cloth to cover the mirror and left the toilet. After returning to the staff breakroom, Chen Ge pulled out the ck phone to check the newly refreshed Daily Missions.

    Easy Mission: A normal Haunted House experience should not create permanent trauma to its visitors; I hope you understand this simple theory. Please improve the Haunted House¡¯s security by inspecting the security threats hidden around the Haunted House.

    Normal Mission: A single hand cannot p. A good Haunted House needs a good management team. Recruit more talents; they will definitely help when the situation demands it.

    Nightmare Mission: There has always been a second upant inside your room, wouldn¡¯t you like to meet said person?

    Chen Ge was familiar with these three missions. He was conflicted. Nightmare Mission was the best choice if he wanted to expand his Haunted House faster, but after the incident with the mirror monster, he was wary of choosing Nightmare Missions.

    <i>I¡¯ll think about it tomorrow; I deserve a good sleep tonight.</i>

    Ever since he received the ck phone, Chen Ge had not had a good night¡¯s sleep. If this continued, his physical body might not be able to withstand it.

    Pulling the sheet around him, Chen Ge soon fell asleep.

    The next morning at 8 am, Chen Ge, who was fully recovered, rushed out of his room. The first ce he visited was the entrance to the Night of the Living Dead scenario. The space that he had selectedst night had experienced some changes¡ªthere was now an additional path leading downward.

    <i>The ck phone sure is effective.</i>

    A tunnel had been dug through the ground. He walked down the stairs and soon reached the abandoned underground parking lot. The space was empty and destitute, and there was barely a working light.

    <i>That¡¯s it? The expansion is only adding a set of stairs? </i>Chen Ge was rather disappointed, but reminding himself that therge space was his to toy with relit his passion and desire. <i>There are three more months until Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s Virtual Reality Futuristic Carnival ispleted. I¡¯ll need to unlock as many scenarios as I can within these three months to upgrade the Haunted House to build a theme park that is no less interesting than the opposing park.</i>

    Returning to the first floor, Chen Ge walked to the Haunted House¡¯s front door with the ck phone. Between the gates and the Haunted House¡¯s entrance corridor stood a new semi-transparent wooden construct that was painted ck. It looked like two dressers that had been sewn together.

    <i>This is the Midnight Ticket Counter? It looks so damn crude.</i>

    Chen Ge opened the door and took a seat within. The interior of the ce was so cramped that he felt like he was lying inside an ufortable coffin.

 Chapter 70

    <h4>Chapter 70: Special Visitor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>This Midnight Ticket Counter is broken, but there¡¯s no noticeable way to fix it. This ck phone keeps on giving weird stuff.</i>

    Chen Ge exited the counter. The more he looked at the construct, the more he felt it was not made for living souls.

    ¡°Boss!¡± Xu Wan jogged toward him in her casual outfit, holding two steaming buns in her hands.

    Looking at the cheerful Xu Wan, Chen Ge¡¯s mood brightened instantly. This girl tended to be a bit clueless at times, but she had a natural charm that could brighten up the gloomiest of days.

    epting the offering from Xu Wan, Chen Ge chomped on the bun happily. ¡°Why are you here so early today?¡±

    ¡°Boss, look!¡± Xu Wan sat down beside Chen Ge on the steps. She pulled out her phone to show Chen Ge the long list of news and videos that were all on the case at Ping An Apartments. ¡°These are all about you, Boss¡ªyou¡¯re famous!¡±

    ¡°Let me see.¡± Chen Ge looked at the articles, not expecting the short interview from the day before to have gone viral. ¡°Such a waste.¡±

    ¡°Waste? Why? I think it¡¯s rather swell.¡± Xu Wan¡¯s face was flushed, probably from the little jog earlier.

    ¡°At the time, I was too focused on the reward money that I forgot this was a perfect promotional opportunity,¡± Chen Ge said grumpily as he swiped through the articles. ¡°If I knew it would go viral, I would have interrupted Captain Yan to promote our Haunted House! Look at some of these articles, they even got the facts wrong. They didn¡¯t even put down the address of our Haunted House!

    ¡°Xiao Wan, this is your job for the day. Later, we will both go onto thesement sections to announce our identity and drop the address of the Haunted House. Those whoe with proof of ourments will get a twenty percent discount!¡±

    ¡°That sounds so hical...¡± Xu Wan was embarrassed doing such a thing, but she did end up following Chen Ge¡¯s instructions.

    At 9 am, when the park opened for business, both of them put away their phones and prepared to work. After opening the gates, Xu Wan finally saw the Midnight Ticket Counter.

    ¡°Boss, did you make this yesterday?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s ugly, but it¡¯s usable.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, I also think it¡¯s about time we have a ticket counter.¡±

    Looking at the serious expression on Xu Wan¡¯s face, Chen Ge sighed internally.<i>Such a good worker, never once doubted my words.</i>

    They both entered the Haunted House. Xu Wan went to put on her make-up while Chen Ge hauled several wooden nks out from the Props Room to block the entrance to the underground parking lot. The new scenarios had not been unlocked yet, so the ce still had no use.

    After all the preparation had been made, it was time to start the day. Even though it was a holiday period, there was already a line in front of the Haunted House. It was not that long a line, but it was already an impressive improvementpared to before.

    Xu Wan was busy chasing people around as the ghost bride inside the Minghun scenario while Chen Ge had to split himself between selling tickets and scaring people as Doctor Skull-cracker inside the Murder by Midnight scenario. It was harsh maintaining therge Haunted House with just the two of them.

    It was worth noting that Xiaoxiao would have surprise interactions with the visitors inside the Murder by Midnight scenario. This ragdoll had a penchant of trailing behind the visitors, which worried Chen Ge because he was afraid that the visitors might just snatch her home.

    The two finally caught a break around noon. Chen Ge checked on the ck phone¡ªboth reputation and visitor number had increased tremendously, and he wasn¡¯t far from the second expansion.

    <i>Two workers managing two scenarios is already at its limit. After unlocking the new scenario, I¡¯ll need to recruit new workers.</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the ck phone. The Nightmare Missions were often ridiculous, but Easy and Normal Missions normally would point out the weaknesses of the Haunted House directly, andpleting them would improve the establishment.

    <i>Even the phone has issued a recruitment mission... looks like I¡¯ll need to get on that soon. </i>Ever since the old workers that followed Chen Ge¡¯s parents handed in their resignation, he had been wary of hiring new blood. <i>If only Xiaoxiao and Zhang Ya would listen to mymands, they would be the perfect employees.</i>

    Of course, this was merely a fanciful thought. To have Xiaoxiao and Zhang Ya scare people inside the Haunted House... Xiaoxiao would be fine, but Zhang Ya would probably create an actual crime scene.

    <i>My Team of Ghosts and Ghouls is still empty. I wonder when that will change. </i>Chen Ge sat on the steps outside the Haunted House. He was catching a much-needed breather before throwing himself back into work.

    The sun rose to its highest point, and the visitors started to dwindle to avoid the sun. It was then that Chen Ge¡¯s ck phone vibrated. He clicked the message open, and the content gave him quite a shock.

    ¡°The Midnight Ticket Counter¡¯s effect has been triggered. The first special visitor has appeared! Please make use of this opportunity, the result will be different based on your choice!¡±

    <i>The effect has been triggered? Even at the one in a thousand chance? Based on my previous experience, this cannot be anything good! </i>Chen Ge stood up straight like a soldier preparing for war. He scanned around the Haunted House. <i>The sun is shining bright, so it cannot be a specter.</i>

    It was the point of the day when the heat was at its highest. The visitors that walked around the park had visibly decreased.

    <i>Is it that an arguing couple? The girl is so pretty, but the guy is so ugly; there must be some problem. Who is Uncle Xu talking to? A new worker? Howe I have not seen that person before?</i>

    While Chen Ge was specting, a skinny, dark-skinned woman about thirty wandered over with light steps.

    <i>Could it be her?</i>

    Chen Ge studied the woman¡¯s appearance silently. Her skin was darker in tone, and she was not tall. She gave a reserved smile and was wearing a faded jacket.

    ¡°Hello, how much for a ticket to visit the Haunted House?¡± The woman¡¯s voice was surprising shrill, but it was not to the point where it would hurt one¡¯s ears.

    ¡°We currently have two scenarios; one ticket is 20 RMB, and you can choose which one you would like to experience,¡± Chen Ge answered with a business smile.

    ¡°Okay, then give me two tickets.¡± The woman handed Chen Ge the money.

    ¡°You wish to experience both scenarios?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s for the both of us.¡± The woman smiled apologetically as she waved at a boy who looked to be eight or nine. He ran toward her from underneath the shade.

    The boy was quite shy around people. He stopped beside the woman, but he did not reach out to grab her hand. He just stood there expressionlessly.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but our Haunted House has an age requirement¡ªno entry to those under fourteen.¡± Chen Ge took a look at this boy and had a feeling he was different from normal boys, but he could not pinpoint why he felt that way.

    ¡°Can you please make an exception for us? This boy loves visiting Haunted Houses. There aren¡¯t that many visitors now, so even if we go in, people won¡¯t notice. I promise we won¡¯t cause any trouble.¡±

    ¡°A child that small likes to visit Haunted Houses?¡± Chen Ge slid the ck phone stealthily back into his pocket and shook his head. ¡± I¡¯m sorry, but those are the rules.¡±

 Chapter 71 - Heaven Inside the Well

    <h4>Chapter 71: Heaven Inside the Well</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The afternoon sun was rather blinding. Even after the woman was rejected firmly by Chen Ge, she and the boy refused to leave.

    ¡°It is his wish to visit your Haunted House, and I promised that he could. Can you please show some kindness?¡± The woman pulled out a 100 note from her purse. ¡°I promise you, it¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Chen Ge did not ept the obvious bribe but asked confusedly, ¡°Why do you insist on entering the Haunted House? The boy is at most eight years old¡ªthe environment inside the Haunted House is soplicated that I¡¯m afraid it might scar him for life.¡±

    The woman smiled helplessly but did not answer Chen Ge¡¯s question. Instead, she turned around to rub the boy¡¯s fluffy hair. ¡°Fan Yu, shall we go y something else...¡±

    Before she could finish, the boy pped her hand away. The boy did not like physical contact, even from his family member. No matter how the woman tried to persuade him, the boy stood unmoving at the front of the Haunted House. asionally, he might raise his head, and Chen Ge could see fear, inferiority, and a trace of detachment in his eyes.

    ¡°Fan Yu?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s attention hadpletely shifted to the boy. This was the first time he hade across such a curious child before. He squatted down to the boy¡¯s level. ¡°Can you please tell me why you want to visit the Haunted House? It is very dark inside the building, and there are scary things.¡±

    The boy averted his eyes, but Chen Ge noticed his gaze kept wandering toward Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. He still had not said a word.

    The woman was probably afraid that Chen Ge might get offended, so she instantly jumped out to say, ¡°Xiao Yu is different from most children¡ªhe doesn¡¯t like to talk¡ªso I hope you don¡¯t mind.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Chen Ge realized these two were not going to move unless tossed out by the guards. He wasn¡¯t so cruel as to do that to a woman and a child, so he relented. ¡°How about this? I will let you enter the building for free, but you are only allowed to visit the outer perimeter, and I will be tagging along.¡±

    ¡°Thank you!¡±

    ¡°Sign the disimer agreements first, both adult and child. Please do not touch any of the props or run amok while you¡¯re inside. Stay close behind me.¡± Chen Ge gave the two documents to the woman and the boy. Normally, he only needed the signature from the guardian, but to get as much information as he could from the boy, Chen Ge asked for the boy¡¯s signature as well. After signing the agreement, Chen Ge led them into the Minghun scenario.

    Chen Ge exined the story background to them. The trio stood at the entrance, which was decorated with whitentern. The woman was a bit nervous, observable from the way she gripped her purse. The boy had his head lowered, but it was unknown whether from fear or something else.

    The dead trees swayed in the wind, and the paper money that littered the floor scrunched under their footsteps. Chen Ge pushed open the entrance to the Siheyuan and exined, ¡°That is what the interior looks like. Remember not to go in. The park has strict rules that prevent children under the age of fourteen from experiencing the Haunted House.¡±

    As he finished, the little boy, who had been extremely quiet, suddenly rushed into the Siheyuan before the two adults could even stop him.

    ¡°Fan Yu!¡± The woman ran after him alongside Chen Ge. The boy stopped at the old well inside the courtyard. He had half of his upper body leaning down the well as if he was looking for something.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m so sorry.¡± The woman apologized profusely to Chen Ge as she tried to yank the boy out from the well. However, the shy boy seemed to have changed into another person. He not only tried his best to swat the woman¡¯s hands away, but in his desperation, his nails wed her arms until they were bloodied. It appeared like he had gone berserk.

    ¡°The boy sure has some huge mood swings.¡± The well in the Siheyuan was just a prop; it was not even that deep, so Chen Ge was not worried for the child¡¯s safety. He was, however, curious about why the boy was so interested in the well.

    After three more minutes at the well, the boy released his grasp unwillingly, probably because he did not find what he was looking for. The boy was definitely different from most young boys¡ªhe was more excitable at ces that were dark and sinister.

    ¡°Since you¡¯re already inside, then I suppose a little tour won¡¯t hurt.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s attention was fully focused on the boy. Even among his peers, the boy was of a smaller stature. He had delicate features andrge eyes that looked like pure ebony.

    ¡°The Minghun scenario is modelled after the traditional Siheyuan, and the East and West Houses are normally meant for the newer generations.¡± He pushed open the door to the East House, and a female ghost in bridal outfit floated out from behind the door without warning. The woman screamed from shock and staggered back hurriedly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s just an actor.¡± Chen Ge stopped the bride and whispered, ¡°Xu Wan, go take a break for now.¡±

    ¡°Boss, couldn¡¯t you at least pretend that you¡¯re scared. Such a buzzkill...¡± Xu Wan picked up the dress and stepped over the wooden threshold. The boy who was behind Chen Ge rushed forward to stand before Xu Wan and titled his head up to look closely at Xu Wan.

    ¡°Hmm? Boss, why did you let such a small boy in?¡± Xu Wan was surprised, but only Chen Ge realized how weird this was. The bridal outfit was red as blood, and Xu Wan was in her special make-up. She looked like a dead person. In such a circumstance, the boy did not feel fear but moved forward actively to Xu Wan to take a closer look.

    ¡°The kid seems to like me.¡± Xu Wan smiled at Chen Ge. It was not until Xu Wan left the scenario that the boy pulled his gaze back.

    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s enough touring for one day. The rest of the ce has simr d¨¦cor, so shall we leave now?¡± Chen Ge and the woman moved toward the exit, but the boy stopped in the courtyard. He looked left and right as if looking for something.

    ¡°Fan Yu, it¡¯s time to go!¡±

    The boy ignored the woman. He moved back to the old well and continued his search.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t the boy afraid?¡± Chen Ge did not rush them but started chatting with the woman. ¡°Are you his mother?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m his aunt. I¡¯m sorry for creating so much trouble. Xiao Yu is a bit different from boys his age. Ever since the ident with his parents several years ago, he has been like this. We¡¯ve been to many doctors, but it was to no avail.¡±

    ¡°Psychological problems? If you don¡¯t mind me asking, what happened to his parents?¡± Chen Ge asked cautiously.

    ¡°Xiao Yu¡¯s parents were both teachers at Mu Yang High School. They disappeared one day and have not been found since. At the time, Xiao Yu was only five. I didn¡¯t how to exin it to him, so I could only lie to him and say that his parents left for some ce far away called heaven.¡±

    ¡°Mu Yang High School?¡± Chen Ge tensed after hearing these four words.

    ¡°You¡¯ve heard of it? There are plenty of rumors about that school. I advised Xiao Yu¡¯s parents from the beginning to seek employment elsewhere, but they refused to listen to me.¡± The woman¡¯s eyes started to redden from the memory. She stopped talking to Chen Ge and walked toward the boy. ¡°Xiao Yu, it¡¯s time to go home.¡±

    The boy stayed stubbornly beside the well. This made Chen Ge even more curious. He squatted down beside the boy and asked, ¡°Why do you keep looking inside the well? Is there some kind of monster living down there?¡±

    Fan Yu shook his head. The boy seemed to have let his guard down, standing at the corner that was shaded from the sun.

    ¡°Then can you tell me why you don¡¯t want to leave the well?¡±

    The boy nced at a spot behind Chen Ge before answering, ¡°I¡¯m looking for something.¡±

    ¡°What are you looking for?¡± Chen Ge was curious.

    The boy looked down the dark well for a long time before answering, ¡°Heaven.¡±

 Chapter 72 - Two-Star Scenario!

    <h4>Chapter 72: Two-Star Scenario!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Looking for heaven inside the well?¡± Chen Ge looked at the boy and was suddenly reminded of something. His emotions were running wild. He turned around to take a deep breath to calm himself down. Thankfully, the woman did not notice his weird reaction.

    However, as he turned back around, he lowered his head and saw the boy has been staring at her, the glow in his eyes simr to earlier when he saw Xu Wan in Mortician¡¯s Make-up.

    ¡°Fan Yu, it¡¯s time to go home,¡± the woman repeated. Finally, the boy moved away from the well. Even though he still had his head lowered, his mood seemed to have improved.

    However, after they exited the Haunted House and the sunlight fell on the party, the boy returned to how he had been before, silent with an unbridled fear circting in his eyes. It was hard to tell whether he was afraid of light or living humans.

    The woman thanked Chen Ge before leading the boy away. After the pair left New Century Park, Chen Ge sighed in relief. The ck phone in his pocket vibrated. He sat on the steps as he thought back on what had happened earlier.

    Looking for heaven inside the well... perhaps for the boy, this was not meant in a metaphorical manner. After conversing with the woman, Chen Ge knew she had lied to the boy by saying that his parents had gone to somewhere called heaven so that he would not be too sad.

    She had probably hoped that the boy woulde to the realization as he grew up, but things did not go as nned. The boy¡¯s psychological health was stunted¡ªhe could no longer be considered a normal young boy. However, the thing that surprised Chen Ge the most was the boy¡¯s answer when he asked what he was doing beside the well.

    His parents had gone to heaven and the boy kept on searching for heaven inside the well. Did this not prove indirectly that the boy had seen his parents shoved into the well with his own eyes ?

    <i>Their bodies are inside the well! </i>Chen Ge lit a cigarette unknowingly. He did not hurry to call the police but continued his line of spection.

    <i>The boy¡¯s parents were both teachers at Mu Yang High School, and one of the side quests activated on the ck phone is rted to both Mu Yang High School and a well. If this is not a coincidence, then the disappearance of the boy¡¯s parents should be rted to Mu Yang High School.</i>

    Chen Ge took out the ck phone, and there was an unread message. He opened it.

    ¡°Different choices lead to different result. The first special visitor has left. You made the correct choice during the visitation period. Congrattions for obtaining the reward! Unlocked Hidden Trial Mission¡ªMu Yang High School! This mission is part of the four-star scenario, School of the Afterlife¡¯s side mission. Completing it will unlock a two-star scenario, Mu Yang High School, and lower the Trial Mission difficulty for School of the Afterlife.

    ¡°Mu Yang High School Trial Mission (Scream Factor 2 Stars): This scenario has four side missions. Survive after experiencing all of them, and the scenario will be unlocked.

    ¡°Mission Venue: Mu Yang High School.

    ¡°Mission Request: Arrive at the mission venue before 11 pm tonight and survive until dawn.

    ¡°Mission Hint: Everyone has a deep well inside their heart where shameful and unknowable secrets stay buried.

    ¡°Do you wish to ept the mission?

    ¡°Warning: Trial Mission is only active for 24 hours. If you do not ept it within 24 hours, you will forfeit the mission, and the scenario will forever be locked.¡±

    The message on the ck phone flustered Chen Ge. He did not expect the reward for epting a special visitor would be the unlocking of a two-star scenario¡¯s Trial Mission. He had already experienced the terror of a Trial Mission at Ping An Apartments. It was much more dangerous than a Nightmare Mission, and Ping An Apartments was merely a one star Trial Mission.

    Chen Ge memorized all the information on the screen as he looked through the ck phone again and again.

    <i>The previous mission required me to find the murderer while this mission only requires me to stay alive until dawn. It looks simpler inparison, but the ck phone must have its reasons tobel this a two-star mission; its level of danger has to be higher than Murder by Midnight¡¯s Trial Mission!</i>

    To survive, it sounded like a simple demand, but it greatly unsettled Chen Ge. The offer of the Trial Mission would be open only for 24 hours, and this was a great point of contention for Chen Ge. He did not know if surrendering this mission would affect the development of the four-star scenario, School of the Afterlife.

    Even though based on his current situation, unlocking a four-star scenario was practically impossible, he would still feel pain if he had to surrender it.

    <i>Forfeiting this mission might mean forfeiting School of the Afterlife. Two losses at once is indeed too big a loss. </i>Chen Ge measured the pros and cons in his heart.<i>Not epting it means losing two scenarios, but if I manage toplete the mission, it means unlocking a two-star scenario, and it will alsoplete the side missions for School of the Afterlife. The Haunted House requires constant updates to retain the repeat visitors. This two-star scenarioes at the right time, so I should give it a try.</i>

    New Century Park was facing closure, and he needed to create results within three months, something that was impossible with the current Haunted House. After some thought, Chen Ge decided to ept the mission.

    After the message disappeared, Chen Ge decided not to waste any more time. He called Xu Wan to inform her to look after the Haunted House for the rest of the day because he had to go somewhere else.

    The boy was the key that activated the Trial Mission for Mu Yang High School, and Chen Ge believed he would be able to get more information from him. Chen Ge ran out the park entrance and saw the boy and the woman get on a bus.

    <i>Route 14.</i>

    Chen Ge hailed a cab and told the driver, ¡°Go to the next stop for Route 14.¡±

    The taxi reached the station arrived earlier than the bus, which arrived one minuteter. The bus was crowded, and the woman was holding the boy in her arms as they were squeezed to the back of the bus. They did not discover Chen Ge.

    <i>Following them home might nab me some surprise discoveries.</i>

    Chen Ge did not hurry to expose himself but stood at the front of the bus. The bus continued to pass seven stations, and many passengers descended as the surroundings outside the bus became more and more deserted.

    When they almost reached the final station, the woman and the boy finally got off. They did not walk down the street but turned down a small, secluded path.

    <i>They live at such a secluded ce? Then again, the woman did mention finding many doctors for the boy¡ªthat would burn a hole in the family finances.</i>

    Chen Ge trailed behind them. A short distanceter, the woman and the boy suddenly increased in pace.

    <i>Have I been discovered? Or are they hiding from something else?</i>

 Chapter 73 - Red and Black

    <h4>Chapter 73: Red and ck</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The dpidated paths crisscrossed like a maze. Afraid of being left behind, Chen Ge also picked up the pace. After many turns, a squat two-story terrace block appeared before his eyes, and it was into this ce that the woman and the boy disappeared.

    The drains surrounding the building were fetid with a horrible stench, and arge poster stating that the original tenants had moved was pasted on the first floor. Everywhere Chen Ge turned, there was rubbish piling up either at the corner or directly on the floor.

    Chen Ge walked toward the building, and many questions floated up his mind. The pair lived in such a horrible environment, so this meant that their living conditions were too good. However, at the park, the woman readily pulled out 100 RMB just for the boy to visit the Haunted House. This went to show how much she cared for the boy. Yet, the boy was cruelly indifferent to her. He had said only two phrases while he was inside the Haunted House, and they were both directed at Chen Ge. The boy seemed to dislike the woman vehemently.

    <i>Is it because of his mental issues, or is something more sinister at work?</i>

    After walking up the stairs, Chen Ge realized there was only one tenant residing on the second floor. The corridor was swept clean, and there wasundry hanging on poles.

    ¡°Is anyone in?¡± The door was open, but Chen Ge still knocked on the door out of courtesy.

    ¡°Coming.¡±

    Footsteps could be hearding from inside the room. When she saw Chen Ge, she was visibly stunned.

    ¡°Why are you here? Did we cause some damage when we visited the Haunted House?¡± the woman asked cautiously.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not that. I¡¯m just interested in the little boy¡¯s situation, and I have something to ask him.¡± Chen Ge realized the woman did not show any sign of wanting him inside the house so he continued. ¡°I have some friends at Jiujiang Medical University, and I thought, maybe they can help.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, but it¡¯s alright.¡± The woman rejected him without thought. Then again, Chen Ge also felt like he was being a little too forward. ¡°I am really not a bad person. You can look on your phone for today¡¯s Jiujiang Morning News.¡±

    Since the woman did not move, Chen Ge took out his own phone to look for an article on him helping to solve the Ping An Apartment case.

    ¡°Look, I¡¯ve once helped the police solve a buried case and was awarded a medal of honor.¡± Chen Ge passed the phone to the woman, and she took a nce at it. ¡°Supernatural Livestreamer trapped and was finally saved by the police? The intrepidness of a Haunted House operator almost caused his death?¡±

    ¡°Ignore the headlines. There should be my picture inside the article.¡±

    Chen Ge exined for a long time before the woman put her suspicion aside. She returned his phone to him and said, ¡°Come in for a seat then, just leave the door open.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    The woman led Chen Ge to the ¡®living room¡¯, which was more like a thirty square feet space that had a dining table and beds pushed to the corners.

    ¡°Forgive the mess, I wasn¡¯t expecting any visitors. Would you like to have something to drink?¡± The woman was embarrassed. In that moment, Chen Ge could see the boy¡¯s shadow on her.

    ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary. I just want to ask some questions about the boy¡¯s parents.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone to record anything he deemed important.

    ¡°It has been so long already, why are you asking that now?¡± Regardless, the woman sat down across from Chen Ge and told him everything that had happened at Mu Yang High School three years ago.

    Three years ago, Mu Yang High School had still been a normal school. That summer day, it had poured down with rain. When the boy¡¯s parents returned home, the boy had been nowhere to be found. They had gone out to search for him, but in the end, it was the boy who had returned and not them.

    <i>This sounds like the reason for the parents¡¯ disappearance is also because of the boy... </i>Chen Ge recorded the key points that was given by the woman on his phone. He tried his best to recreate the event.

    Fan Yu¡¯s parents had realized that their child was missing after they came home after work. When they went out to look for him in the pouring rain, thest ce they had been seen was unknown, but their bodies were most likely trapped under the water well at Mu Yang High School, and the boy was probably the sole witness of the whole event.

    It was also probably because he had witnessed the whole process that Fan Yu had be like this.

    Chen Ge looked at the surface of the table and frowned. He pulled out the ck phone to look for the details of the side missions for School of Afterlife. The description for Side Mission 6, Deep Well, was ¡®One brother and one sister went to school, but howe no one returned?¡¯

    The ck phone would not make a mistake, so what did the pair of siblings have to do with Fan Yu¡¯s parents? ording to the hint on the ck phone, it was the siblings who fell into the well and not the boy¡¯s parents. Why was that?

    Chen Ge put the ck phone away and looked at the woman with tears in her eyes. He asked with uncertainty, ¡°Is Fan Yu an only child? Does he have brothers or sisters?¡±

    The moment the question left his lips, the woman¡¯s expression changed. Her nails scratched deep into her skin, and her tears fell freely. ¡°If the ident did not happen to my two children, then Xiao Yu would have had a brother and a sister to y with.¡±

    ¡°Your children?¡± Before Chen Ge entered the room, he had noticed that the clothes hanging on the rods outside were mostly women¡¯s and children¡¯s, so he had assumed the woman was not married.

    ¡°They died when they were still very young, mere toddlers.¡± The woman was on the verge of a breakdown. She blurted a quick sorry before escaping into the kitchen to collect herself.

    <i>Then, Fan Yu does have a brother and sister, but ording to the woman¡¯s description, they passed away a long time ago. Why would the ck phone say the pair of siblings did not return home after school? Why would toddlers attend school? Is the ck phone mistaken, or is the woman lying? Or was Fan Yu hallucinating?</i>

    The woman stayed inside the kitchen for a long time. Chen Ge stood up and headed toward the only other room in the house. Fan Yu should be inside; he was the focal point of this whole mystery.

    Chen Ge pushed open the door, and the bedroom he stepped into was very clean. Fan Yu was standing before the table, seemingly writing something. Chen Ge walked up to the boy and looked over his shoulder. He realized the boy was drawing, and he had a preference for ck and red colors.

    ¡°Xiao Yu, what are you drawing?¡± Afraid that he might spook the boy, Chen Ge spoke in a soft voice. The boy turned to look at Chen Ge but did not answer. He turned back to focus on his drawing.

    As he continued to add colors, the picture on the paper started to materialize.

    In a pure ck house stood several red miniature humans.

    After finishing the drawing, the boy crumpled the paper up and threw it onto the floor before starting a new drawing.

    Chen Ge stood and watched for a long time. He realized the central theme of Fan Yu¡¯s drawingsprised of only these two things¡ªA ck house and small, red humans.

    <i>What is he trying to convey? </i>Chen Ge picked up the finished drawing from the floor and ttened it out. After studying it for some time, he silently slid it inside his pocket.

 Chapter 74 - Group Photo

    <h4>Chapter 74: Group Photo</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Red has the longest wavelength of the visible light spectrum. It is the direct contrast to ck so pairing them together creates a unique optical effect.

    The ck house was dark as night while the red humans were fresh as blood. The picture created a great pressure on those who viewed it.

    ¡°The boy¡¯s favorite pastime is drawing. He doesn¡¯t like to go out and often secludes himself in his room.¡± Unbeknownst to Chen Ge, the woman had entered the room. She held two sses of water in her hands. ¡°Now, I no longer wish for anything but for him to grow up happily like a normal boy.¡±

    The woman passed a ss of water to Chen Ge while cing the other beside the boy. ¡°Let¡¯s go outside, he is afraid of contact with strangers.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge returned to the living room, holding the ss of water. The woman sat down across from him.

    ¡°Do you have any other questions?¡± The woman seemed to have put her guard up again.

    ¡°The poor child, I believe that he was traumatized when he was young, so to cure his condition, we have to find out the reason why and then work from there.¡± Chen Ge vocalized his inner thoughts. ¡°You are his only family, and it is obvious that you care about him, do you mind if I ask you a few more questions?¡±

    The woman nodded. She had a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead, probably due to the heat.

    ¡°Earlier, you mentioned that Fan Yu¡¯s parents went missing after going out in search of him, so where was Fan Yu ultimately found?¡±

    ¡°At Mu Yang High School. He was hiding in my brother¡¯s office.¡±

    ¡°Mu Yang High School again? Weird things seem to keep on happening at that ce.¡±

    ¡°You couldn¡¯t be more right...¡± The woman sighed. ¡°Mu Yang High School is the worst school in Jiujiang. To be honest, I don¡¯t even understand the purpose of its existence. Before it was shut down, the police had to visit it every other day on ount of the constant fighting.¡±

    ¡°That serious?¡± Chen Ge listened closely. After all, getting the information from the woman was much more convenient than researching online.

    ¡°That¡¯s not all.¡± The woman stood up and continued in a serious tone. ¡°The school is famously haunted. ording to the nearby elders, the ce was originally a crematorium. It was knocked down due to city nning, but just think about it, how peaceful could the school be, being built on top of a site like that? I advised my brother not to seek employment there, but he just refused to listen to me.¡±

    ¡°Then why did your brother insist on going to teach at Mu Yang High School?¡±

    ¡°The sry was high, and he had a record, so it was difficult for him to find a job. Who would have thought that would be hisst job?¡±

    ¡°A record? Did he make some enemies? Could his disappearance be rted to that?¡± Chen Getched onto the details in the woman¡¯s conversation.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing like that. My brother liked to drink, but he was a horrible drinker. That was why he was fired from his original school, and a bad history was left on his record. There were only so many schools in Jiujiang, and that made it difficult for him to get a new job.¡±

    ¡°Then, his disappearance doesn¡¯t sound like it was caused by revenge.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s definitely not.¡±

    The woman¡¯s confidence made Chen Ge narrow his eyes. ¡°How can you be so sure?¡±

    The woman hesitated before she pulled out a picture from the drawer to ce it on the table. ¡°Ever since the initial opening of the school, there was a ssroom that had always stayed locked, and entry was forbidden for all staff and students. Other than the headmaster, nobody knew why. After the old headmaster passed away, this became a mystery. There are still many legends surrounding that ssroom. People said it was a reserved ssroom for the spirits who had perished in the crematorium, or some tragedy had befallen the workers before the school waspleted. In any case, it is a very dark ce.¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with your brother¡¯s disappearance?¡± Chen Ge was confused.

    ¡°Take a look at this, and you will understand why.¡±

    Chen Ge epted the photo from the woman, and it was a very curious group photo. A drunken man sat in the middle, and around him stood several rows of students.

    It did sound like a normal graduation photo, but the problemy in the fact that all the students were turned away from the camera!

    And should one look closer, every student was standing in a curious manner¡ªthey were all on their tiptoes.

    ¡°Where did you find this picture, and have you showed it to the police?¡± Chen Ge ced the photo back on the table and rubbed the sweat that covered his palms.

    ¡°The night before his disappearance, my brother was at the bar watching the ball game with his friends. To ensure he would be able to attend work the next morning, he decided to sleep in the nurse¡¯s office. When he passed one of the ssrooms, he saw many people standing inside. Praising the ss for their hardworking attitude, he stopped for a moment in front of the ssroom¡¯s door. The people inside the ss seemed to be in the middle of taking a ss photo. When they saw him, they invited him in to take the central seat. After taking the picture, the students left, and he himself was unclear who ultimately gave him this picture.¡± The woman¡¯s voice was t, but the story made Chen Ge¡¯s skin crawl.

    ¡°When my brother saw the picture, it gave him such a shock that he woke up from the alcohol instantly. It was then that he realized he was sitting inside the sealed ssroom.¡± The woman pushed the picture toward Chen Ge. ¡°He only revealed this to me and sister-inw. We all thought it would eventually blow away, but the next day, that unfortunate incident happened. Xiao Yu suddenly disappeared, and the both of them went searching for him, but it was them who ended up missing. Therefore, I believe their disappearance doesn¡¯t have anything to do with revenge but was rted to that sealed ssroom.¡±

    ¡°What did the police say?¡± Chen Ge pushed the photo back.

    ¡°They did bring the photo back to Mu Yang High School to conduct an investigation. Even though the students in the picture were wearing Mu Yang High School¡¯s uniform, they could not be found at the school. They opened up the sealed ssroom and took a close look. All they found were my brother¡¯s footprints, which confirmed that my brother was indeed once inside that room.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I understand.¡± Chen Ge asked the woman a few more questions, most of which she had no answer for and for some she only provided a vague answer. After knowing he would not get any new information from the woman, Chen Ge stood up to leave.

    ¡°Leaving so soon? It¡¯s so hot outside, why don¡¯t you take a sip of the drink before you leave?¡±

    ¡°Thank you, but I¡¯m not thirsty.¡± Chen Ge thanked the woman for her kindness before leaving the second floor.

    After the conversation with the woman, Chen Ge had a better understanding of Mu Yang High School. <i>There are four side missions at Mu Yang High School, and two of them are rted to the little boy¡¯s family.</i>

    He took out Fan Yu¡¯s drawing from his pocket to take another few looks. The contrast of ck and red seemed to be telling him something. <i>ck house and red men. Could they be rted to Mu Yang High School? Could this drawing refer to a building at Mu Yang High School?</i>

 Chapter 75 - Mu Yang High School

    <h4>Chapter 75: Mu Yang High School</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>A child¡¯s thinking is more direct and less metaphorical. Could this drawing be an actual representation of the crime scene that he witnessed?</i>

    <i>The house is ck, meaning the time of the crime was at night, and the people inside the house are red¡ªthey probably represent his parents, the victims. This is the most direct interpretation.</i>

    Chen Ge tried looking at this painting from multiple angles. The boy had a hasty artistic style; all the human shapes looked the same and had no defining features. Chen Ge could not even tell their gender.

    <i>Wait, the red humans probably aren¡¯t referring to his parents, there are way too many of them in the drawing. </i>Chen Ge tried counting the number of red people, but every time he ended up with a different number. <i>The drawing is too messy. What is the boy actually trying tomunicate with it?</i>

    In the room, Fan Yu kept on repeating the same drawing. They were all about a ck house and many red people. However, every time he was done, he would crumble up the drawings and toss them away as if he was dissatisfied with them.

    <i>Regardless, this painting is a crucial clue. </i>Chen Ge came up with nothing even after studying the painting for a long time. He pocketed the drawing and nced at the building behind him. The door, which he had left ajar, was now shut.

    <i>Both the aunt and the child are problematic in their own way. The question is... whose problem is bigger? </i>Chen Ge got on the bus after escaping the maze-like paths. He was worried about his uing mission. If the woman was not lying to him, the test he was about to face that night would be incredibly difficult.

    For the sake of safety, Chen Ge took out his phone to search for more information on Mu Yang High School online. He came up with quite arge amount of information, and most of it came from various school forums.

    Based on the timeline, the posters probably were once students at Mu Yang High School, and after the school closed down, they were forced to change school and took the legends of Mu Yang High School along with them.

    After a cursory nce, a few of them did capture Chen Ge¡¯s attention. About one year ago, five students snuck into Mu Yang High School on a dare. They used their phones to record their experience, but instead of videoing the event, they updated a thread every few minutes.

    The original thread had long since been removed, and Chen Ge was reading a shared post. ording to rumors, they had entered the sealed ssroom and started ying the game of Pen Spirit.

    The five had sat around a table to summon the Pen Spirit, but as the game went on, there had ultimately been seven people standing in the ssroom. No one knew where the additional two hade from, and the five ran out of the school, crying and yelling all the way.

    Luckily, all five of them had survived the ordeal, but two of them seemed to have been traumatized from the incident. One of them had turned illogically violent while the other had acquired an irrational fear of daylight. Eventually, the two had moved out of Jiujiang.

    Chen Ge looked at some of thements under the post. A poster pointed out that during the game, two additional persons appeared, and in the end, there were two students who were traumatized. The poster suspected that the two who escaped were already someone else, and the original two were still trapped inside that ssroom.

    This spection received many likes, but there were other opposing views as well. Some said all five had been possessed, but the two had stronger constitutions, and that was why they had acted weirdly.

    There was a pinned message from a teacher that banned further discussion on Mu Yang High School. Chen Ge scrolled through the thread and realized there was one that was hidden.

    Chen Ge opened it, and he was baffled by the content. The poster stated that his father¡¯spany had nned to purchase thend on which Mu Yang High School was located for a low price. Initially, everything was fine, but when the contract was almost ready, his father would have the same dream every night. Many students wearing Mu Yang High School¡¯s uniform woulde to their house for sses.

    The weird thing was, when they woke up, there was evidence of forced entry into their house. His father was so scared that he fell ill before finally resigning. That was the end of the story.

    After reading all the posts, Chen Ge could not help butpare Mu Yang High School and Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy, since they were both schools, and he came to a weird discovery.

    There were many supernatural rumors about Mu Yang High School online, but none of the stories mentioned death or injury. Inparison, while there was not much information on Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy online, the record at the police station showed that there was more than one death that had happened at the school.

    <i>If I really think about it, Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy does sound scarier. </i>That was the only way Chen Ge could have made himself feel better.

    Sitting on the bus and looking out the window, Chen Ge¡¯s phone suddenly rang. He looked down and saw it was from He San.

    <i>The kid sensed the possible unlocking of a new scenario, so he called to book in advance? </i>Chen Ge answered the call and ced his phone beside his ear. ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°Boss, quickly get on the video-sharing app, someone ising for your bread and butter!¡±

    ¡°Huh? There¡¯s someone who is opening a new Haunted House?¡± Chen Ge clicked open the app, and before he was allowed entry into the homepage, an ad appeared on his phone¡ª¡¯Host, Qin Guang leads you to explore an actual haunted house!¡¯

    Chen Ge clicked on the screen and more details popped up.

    Qin Guang was a famous livestream host on the tform. He had more than 600,000 followers, and most of his short videos had a humorous theme. On his personal bio, it stated that he belonged to XX Studio, and that studio was the same one who had tried to cozy up to Chen Ge earlier when he was at Ping An Apartments.

    The ad exined that Qin Guang¡¯stest adventure was to branch into a new livestreaming territory, to host a mystery livestream inside an actual haunted house.

    Chen Ge did not think too much of it at first, but when he saw Qin Guang¡¯s first mystery location, he was speechless. Qin Guang¡¯s team was going to livestream at Western Jiujiang¡¯s Ping An Apartments.

    ¡°Boss, have you seen it? That man realized that you had more than ten thousand views on your first livestream, so he¡¯s trying to copy your form!¡± He San grumbled indignantly.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry, certain things cannot be copied.¡±

    Chen Ge had thought He San was going to bring him some big news, so he was rather disappointed. He was not that worried about Qin Guang, although he also knew Qin Guang would not see him aspetition either.

    On the other end of the phone, He San said urgently, ¡°He has so many followers. After he consolidates himself as a supernatural host, I¡¯m afraid they¡¯ll turn around and im that it was you who copied them!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine. By the way, are you familiar with child psychology? I have a few questions for you.¡±

    ¡°Boss, what time is it, you still have the luxury to ask questions like that? Furthermore, I¡¯m a forensic doctor. For questions of psychology, you should refer to psychologist or psychiatrist!¡±

 Chapter 76 - School on a Rainy Night

    <h4>Chapter 76: School on a Rainy Night</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°There¡¯s a boy who came to visit my Haunted House today. He looked about eight or nine, doesn¡¯t like to speak, and the darker the ce, the more excited he gets, what kind of symptom are these?¡± Chen Ge voiced the problem directly. He only had two people he could ask; one was He San, and the other was He Feng.

    ¡°Forensic students focus on practical medicine, biology, and some chemistry. Psychology focuses on mental phenomena, neuroscience, and psychiatry. They arepletely different fields. Even if you ask me, I won¡¯t be able to provide you with an answer.¡± He San sighed helplessly. ¡°Boss, are you really not nning to do anything about this? I notice you have not updated for a few days already, and your previous livestream was days ago. If you allow this to continue, your poprity will start to fall. Look at your profile page, there are alreadyments that say you¡¯re running out of ideas, and they even started to mock your Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°Mock my Haunted House? There¡¯s such a thing?¡± This did make Chen Ge worry. He clicked into his personal page and realized there were indeed plenty of negativements.

    ¡°Boss, there are currently too many short videos, and homogenization is a serious problem. Once you stop updating, the viewers will quickly move onto other uploaders.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, but things aren¡¯t as serious as you think,¡± Chen Ge replied. His focus was still on Fan Yu and his aunt. He had always treated the livestream and videos as additional support; the most important thing was still the missions on the ck phone.

    ¡°If you say so. I just wanted to remind you.¡± There was a saddened trace to He San¡¯s voice. ¡°That Qin Guang is an established host, and on top of that, he has great support from his studio. The tform will definitely provide him with plenty of promotion, but I still believe your livestream will be better than his.¡±

    ¡°His content is an imitation of mine,¡± Chen Ge replied with a smile. The biggest difference between his content and other hosts¡¯ was that his waspletely authentic and could not be copied. ¡°Yes, I am widelygging behind in terms of resources, channels, and fans, but if we¡¯re talking about the understanding and handling of the fear factor, he is still a rookie.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right! After all, you¡¯re a professional.¡± He San paused before adding, ¡°Boss, I suddenly remembered something.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Do you still remember the senior of mine that you scared until she cried?¡±

    ¡°Your description fits so many people¡ªyou might as well give me the name directly.¡±

    ¡°Gao Ru Xue. Her father is a psychologist and a tenured lecturer in criminal psychology. I¡¯ll ask if she can help you tonight.¡±

    ¡°Okay, if you seed, I¡¯ll treat you to a meal and gift you a free tour of the Haunted House¡¯s new scenario.¡± Chen Ge appreciated the aid of this honest young man and easily promised a reward.

    ¡°Thanks, but no thanks! Last time I visited your Haunted House, it caused me to have nightmares for a few consecutive nights,¡± He Sanined. ¡°This one time, I fell asleep in ss, and I didn¡¯t even know the lecturer had wandered to my side. In my dream, I was chased by a crazed doctor holding a hammer. When I ran to the top of the stairs, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I was so shocked that my body just reacted with an elbow jab, and when I opened my eyes, the lecturer¡¯s sses were broken already...¡±

    Chen Ge tried to hold in hisughter, but he failed. ¡°Alright then. I won¡¯t force you to visit the Haunted House in the future.¡±

    After chatting for a bit more, Chen Ge finally hung up. He looked out the window, and the sun was slowly covered up by rain clouds. When he returned to New Century Park, from afar, Chen Ge saw a group of people crowding the entrance of the Haunted House. Xu Wan was busy negotiating with them.

    ¡°Xiao Wan, what¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re finally back. These visitors are all here to visit the Haunted House, but since I could not find you, I could only ask for their patience.¡± Xu Wan was already out of her make-up, and her forehead was filled with sweat from the anxiety.

    ¡°Well done. Stay outside to sell them the tickets, leave the rest to me.¡± Chen Ge pushed open the gate, put on the Doctor Skull-cracker outfit, and entered the Murder by Midnight scenario.

    At around 4 pm, it started to drizzle, and the clouds in the sky thickened. Many of the park attractions had to stop for fear of idents, and most visitors who still had not had their fill went to the indoor attractions. It was thus that Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House became an unlikely favorite. The crowd outside the ce was huge until 5 pm, when it started to disperse.

    Chen Ge, who had run around the building for the whole afternoon, was exhausted. He removed his outfit and walked out of the Haunted House.

    The sky was dark, and the wind was howling.

    <i>It was also pouring several years ago when Fan Yu¡¯s parents disappeared. </i>Chen Ge looked at the sky with aplicated emotion. He told Xu Wan to go home before returning to the maintenance room to prepare his backpack.

    He shoved a lighter, shlight, multi-purpose mallet, and doll into it and left the Haunted House in a raincoat. Due to the unexpected crowd, when Chen Ge left the park, it was already 6 pm. He stopped a cab at the entrance, but when he told the driver his destination was Mu Yang High School, the driver refused to take him.

    He had no choice but to wait for another. The other driver told Chen Ge that the roads leading to Mu Yang High School were already overgrown with shrubs and were unpassable by car, so he could only drop Chen Ge near Mu Yang High School.

    There was a time limit on the mission. Arriving early meant more time to scout and consequently lower the risk. Chen Ge did not want to waste time. After negotiating the price with the driver, he departed.

    On the way there, he asked the driver for more information on Mu Yang High School, but the driver merely looked ahead with a serious expression and focused fully on his driving. In that moment, Chen Ge found himself missing the talkative uncle who had driven him to Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy.

    At around 7 pm, they finally reached the destination. The road was horrible, and the ce was even more backwards than the countryside.

    ¡°The car cannot continue any further, so this is where I¡¯ll have to stop.¡± The driver pointed outside the window. ¡°There should be people living nearby, so go to them if you¡¯re lost. Send me the fare through WeChat; I don¡¯t ept cash.¡±

    ¡°No cash?¡± Chen Ge was confused, but he did not ask further; everyone had their quirks. After paying, he got out from the taxi.

    The rain started to intensify, and the sky by then waspletely dark. Chen Ge looked around him, and there were indeed several rows of houses a distance away, but they looked abandoned because they werepletely dark.

    ¡°How am I supposed to find Mu Yang High School?¡±

    Chen Ge turned to ask the driver, only to see the driver toss the seat mat he had sat on earlier out the window and turn around to leave without hesitation.

    <i>He refused to take my cash and tossed out the mat I sat on earlier... what is the meaning of this? Is it because he thinks I¡¯m dirty?</i>

 Chapter 77 - The Paper and Pen on the Table

    <h4>Chapter 77: The Paper and Pen on the Table</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The strange way the taxi driver acted unsettled Chen Ge. Taxi drivers were the party that were the most familiar with the city; thus, they knew the taboo ces that popted the city.

    <i>Has the driver misunderstood me?</i>

    The mat was dropped in the mud and was soon drenched by the rain. While he was reading the supernatural stories on Mu Yang High School, Chen Ge did not think they were that scary. However, after the incident with the taxi driver, Chen Ge¡¯s bravery started to waver.

    <i>The requirement of this mission is merely for me to survive. This means that even the ck phone believes that surviving will be a huge challenge.</i>

    In the blink of an eye, the taxi disappeared down the road. Chen Ge stood in his raincoat surrounded by a wide expanse of nothing but trees. It felt like he was abandoned in the wild.

    The rain continued to pour. Chen Ge pulled the raincoat tighter and pulled out his shlight to wander down the muddy road. The rainclouds were low in the sky, blocking out the moonlight. Chen Ge moved toward the buildings that he had seen earlier, and it was not until then that he realized how rundown they actually were.

    Rusted chains hung off the door, and the ss on the window had long since been broken. Looking through the cracks, Chen Ge saw that the interior was stuffed with rotten furniture and trash with unknown bugs crawling over the ground.

    <i>There¡¯s not a single sign of a living person, is this ce that cursed?</i>

    Before he came, he did obtain several precious nuggets of information from Fan Yu¡¯s aunt. Therefore, Chen Ge knew a thing or two about the surroundings of Mu Yang High School. Since there was no one for him to ask, he could only wander deeper into the unknown based on his memory.

    The road was muddy from the rain, and it was bordered on both sides by weirdly-shaped trees, but they had all overgrown into the road due to ack of trimming.

    <i>Mu Yang High School¡¯s site was once a crematorium. As scary as that is, it meant that there had to be a road for vehicles. However, the road keeps getting smaller and smaller; it¡¯s practically impossible for any four-wheeled vehicle to traverse. Am I even on the right road? </i>The intensity of the rain slowed Chen Ge¡¯s progress. <i>It¡¯ll not bode well if I get lost. If Mu Yang High School is not at the end of this road, I¡¯ll need to turn back and abandon this quest.</i>

    Chen Ge continued on the road at another thirty minutes. At the end of the road, he saw a sign that was knocked off the ground and a wooden fence.

    <i>There¡¯s lichen growing on its side¡ªit has been on the ground for years already.</i>

    Chen Ge pulled the sign upright, but the characters were too faded for him to make any sense of it. He used his shlight to scan the sign. <i>Why does the lichen only grow on one side? Is it because of the sun, or has someone been here recently to move the sign and the fence?</i>

    He stopped moving and looked at the time on his phone. <i>It¡¯s almost 8 pm, and the mission location is still nowhere to be found. The only good news is that I still have coverage. At least I can call for help in case of an emergency.</i>

    The night was exceptionally dark because of the rain. Chen Ge¡¯s phone was the sole source of light for miles. <i>Both sign and fence are here, but weirdly enough, they seem like they have recently been moved. This is curious.</i>

    Chen Ge used the sign to part the shrubbery that blocked his way. He walked for another ten meters before the scenery changed. A row of broken wooden railings stood in the middle of the forest, and within the railings were several squat buildings.

    <i>This is Mu Yang High School?</i>

    Compared to Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy, this school looked far more dpidated. Its size was less than one-third of Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy.

    Chen Ge did not let his guard down simply because the ce was smaller in size. The school being smaller might not necessarily be a good thing. Yes, the need for exploration had decreased but so had the space for hiding.

    Chen Ge tossed the sign aside and jumped over the rail into Mu Yang High School. All the buildings of the school could be captured with one nce.

    The one closest to the entrance was the education block. It seemed to have been the victim of a huge fire. The surface was charred ck, and the corners of the wall seemed cracked, as if it could fall at any given moment.

    To the left side of the education block was the dormitory. Probably due to the low number of students, the dormitory only had two stories and barely a handful of rooms. To the right was the office, and from the exterior, the building seemed to be the best preserved.

    Behind the education block was an uneven field. Two basketball courts and several ping pong tables stood to the side.

    Thus was theyout for Mu Yang High School. Other than its rich supernatural history, the school itself wascking in vor and personality. Chen Ge suspected that the real reason for closure was not something supernatural but rather there were simply no new students who wished to study here.

    Weirdly enough, when Chen Ge arrived at his destination, he felt calmer. He was an expert at managing his emotions.

    <i>There are four side missions at Mu Yang High School: The Pen Spirit, The Fifth Cubicle in the Toilet, Deep Well, and The Sealed ssroom. If I want to unlock the full scenario, I mustn¡¯t miss out on any of them.</i>

    In the previous mission, it was because Chen Ge had a more than ny percentpletion rate that he obtained the hidden reward¡ªWang Qi¡¯s Missing Person Notice. It was this item that had bridged the rtionship between Chen Ge and Xiaoxiao¡¯s family.

    He understood the importance of having a high missionpletion rate, but it was easier said than done. Any one of the side missions could rival the creepiness of a Nightmare Mission, and he was expected toplete all four in one night.

    <i>It is still not yet midnight. There¡¯s still time before the active hour for the residents of the other world. I should scout out these four locations. If the difficulty is too high, I still have time to leave.</i>

    Chen Ge put the doll in his chest, whipped out his trusty mallet, and headed toward the education block.

    The surface of the building was ck with soot that remained even after so many years.

    <i>The whole building is burnt, could this be rted to the original crematorium?</i>

    Chen Ge moved lightly. He remembered the mission description provided by the ck phone.

    ¡°There¡¯s a ssroom at the end of the corridor that¡¯s always sealed. No one ever enters it, but every night, the ssroom wille alive with activity.¡±

    <i>Bad luck befell Fan Yu¡¯s father after he entered that ssroom, so that ssroom might be the center of the paranormal activities at Mu Yang High School.</i>

    The creepy photo appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. There was a high chance he would have to spend the night with the roomful of students who refused to meet the camera.

    All the ssrooms were locked, and Chen Ge could only peer in through the windows with his shlight. The front few ssrooms were normal abandoned ssrooms. It was not until Chen Ge reached the veryst ssroom at the end of corridor that he spotted something weird.

    The ssroom was curiously preserved from the fire. However, what attracted Chen Ge¡¯s attention the most were the books, paper, and pen that were ced on the table in the middle of the ssroom, creating the illusion that someone had just attended a ss there.

 Chapter 78 - I Cant Control My Right Hand

    <h4>Chapter 78: I Can¡¯t Control My Right Hand</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Shall I go in to take a closer look?</i>

    Chen Ge was anxious. Holding the mallet in his hand, he wished desperate to knock the door down to see what was written on the piece of paper.

    <i>ording to the school forum, five students once broke into Mu Yang High School to y a game of Pen Spirit in thest ssroom on a dare. Could the pen and paper have been left behind by them? </i>Chen Ge thought about it and realized that was impossible. ording to the post¡¯s description, when the two extra people appeared in the room, the five students were so scared that they escaped as fast as they could. In their desperation to escape, they had to knock over some of the furniture, but all the tables and chairs in the room now were neatly arranged.

    <i>Of course, that doesn¡¯t take away from the possibility that after they left, the furniture was rearranged or the spection that all five were possessed.</i>

    Chen Ge put his mallet down and decided to save the ssroom forst. After leaving the education block, Chen Ge headed for the dormitory.

    The dpidated squat building had less than a handful of rooms, and he walked around it for a long time beforeing across a faded iron sign. The characters on it were smudged, but Chen Ge believed that it once read ¡®Second Floor is Female Rooms. No Entry to Males.¡¯

    <i>This school sure is shabby.</i>

    After removing his raincoat, Chen Ge dabbed at the rain that had seeped into his cor and was about to carry on when his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and answered it readily. ¡°He San?¡±

    ¡°Boss, I¡¯ve given my senior your phone number. She said that she would have her father contact you when he¡¯s home.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, is there anything else?¡±

    ¡°Also, that Qin Guang has just started his livestream. Are you sure you¡¯re not going to take a look? He hired an actor to y the killer next door, and his opening and even his analysis were aplete copy of yours. I didn¡¯t even know from where I should start toin.¡±

    ¡°Let him be then. But when I start my livestream in a bit, remember toe support me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re starting a livestream?¡± He San¡¯s voice shot up several octaves. Chen Ge was ddened that he had such a loyal viewer. ¡°Since it has been quite long since my previous livestream, I have something exciting nned this time.¡±

    There was silence on the other end of the phone. Chen Ge could hear shuffling footsteps several secondster. He San seemed to have put on his slippers to run around his bedroom to shake every one of his roommates awake. ¡°It¡¯s time to get up to watch the livestream! Yet another bout with death tonight!¡±

    While Chen Ge was thankful for He San¡¯s free promotion, but his words did make him feel a bit weirded out.

    After hanging up, Chen Ge opened up the video-sharing app. Qin Guang¡¯s supernatural livestream was heavily promoted on the front page. He clicked on it for a quick look. It was obvious that a full team was behind this production. There was a professional cameraman, and Qin Guang was only responsible for the analysis and looking for clues. Just theparison of video quality alone could squish Chen Ge like a bug. He definitely could not fault his opponent for having better preparation.

    <i>680,000 views. If I had that many views to promote my Haunted House, wouldn¡¯t the whole park be filled the next day?</i>

    Livestreams and short videos were Chen Ge¡¯s only way of advertisement, and Qin Guang¡¯s featured livestream did point a way for Chen Ge. If he could reach Qin Guang¡¯s level of poprity, then perhaps one day the tform would be willing to use so many resources to support him.

    <i>Chen Ge, don¡¯t get too far ahead of yourself for now. Focus on the current goal of surviving tonight first.</i>

    He left Qin Guang¡¯s livestream and opened his own. He was stranded at the countryside, so his connection was weak. His livestream video was fuzzy, and there were constant ck screens andg. He could not even see the chat.

    <i>My video quality might not be as good as Qin Guang¡¯s, but my content is definitely better than his...</i>

    Since he couldn¡¯t see the chat, Chen Ge could notmunicate with his viewers. After a brief introduction of Mu Yang High School, he stopped following the livestream. Chen Ge searched through the first floor of the dormitory and came up with nothing, so he moved to the second floor.

    ¡°The female dormitory room looks simr to the males¡¯.¡±

    The rooms were filled with textbooks and trash. When the school was closed, most of the stuff inside it was not cleared out. Chen Ge looked through the rooms patiently with his shlight. When he passed through the fourth bedroom on the second floor, he discovered that there were four chairs ced neatly in a row inside the room, and several pieces of white paper as well as a ballpoint pen were ced on one of the chairs.

    ¡°The paper and pen look brand new, so they must have been ced inside the room after the school was closed.¡±

    This was the second time that Chen Ge hade across thebination of paper and pen. The rusted lock was a mere decoration. Chen Ge merely rattled it several times before it fell away.

    As the door opened, the smell of mold hit him like a wave. Chen Ge covered his mouth and nose as he walked closer to the chair to look at the pieces of paper.

    There were four white papers in total, the first one read¡ª¡¯When will I die?¡¯

    The second read¡ª¡¯How will I die?¡¯

    The third read¡ª¡¯Who will be the next to die?¡¯

    The fourth waspletely empty.

    <i>The Pen Spirit game?</i>

    Chen Ge ransacked the rest of the room to try toe up with some extra info, but most of the stuff had decayed from time.

    Since his investigation turned up nothing, Chen Ge turned his focus back on the white paper in the middle of the room. <i>No one could provide an actual exnation behind the Pen Spirit game, but the scientificmunity stresses that it was reasons like breathing, heartbeat, and blood flow that caused the human body to shiver. A simple human without special training would have their arm move after maintaining them in a constant, elevated position for a long time. This is a natural bodily reaction that has nothing to do with legends of the Pen Spirit.</i>

    Chen Ge ced the phone on the bed and made sure himself and the four chairs were all within view.

    <i>Since I need toplete all four side missions at Mu Yang High School, might as well start with this one.</i>

    He turned to close the bedroom door. He stood and hesitated for four minutes before sitting down and picking up the ballpoint pen.

    Internally, he told himself not to worry. Chen Ge ced the doll in his chest pocket, and with his right hand holding the pen and left hand holding the mallet, he started the game of Pen Spirit.

    He tried to remember as many details from the thread that he had read earlier. He raised his arm slightly and straightened the pen so that the tip of the pen touched the white paper. He closed his eyes and started to chant.

    ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, you are my spirit from my previous life, and I am your spirit in this life. If you are with us, please draw a circle on the paper.¡±

    After chanting, Chen Ge tried to make himself calm down. His arm was suspended over the paper, his body frozen.

    The rain outside the window continued to fall. The school that was swallowed by the night started to shift imperceptibly.

    The moldy smell in the room dispersed, and a cold draft of an unknown origin lifted the white paper on the chair slightly. Not long after that, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes flew open. He had just felt someone grip his hand.

    Chen Ge stared closely at his right hand while his left hand tightened over the mallet. He would strike the moment things went wrong.

 Chapter 79 - A Chance to Redeem Yourself

    <h4>Chapter 79: A Chance to Redeem Yourself</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    A weird smell suffused the cramped female bedroom. The bedsheet that was beyond the light of the shlight fluttered lightly like something was crawling out from underneath it. Rain droplets fell on the window. A storm was brewing outside, but inside the dormitory room, it was eerily quiet.

    With his arm hanging over the white paper, Chen Ge tried to make himself rx. After chanting the spell to invoke the Pen Spirit, there was an obvious pressure on the back of his palm like someone had ced their hand over his. Chen Ge could even feel the chillsing from the other person¡¯s fingertips.

    ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, you are my spirit from my previous life, and I am your spirit in this life. If you are with us, please draw a circle on the paper.¡±

    Chen Ge chanted again, and the feeling of iciness on the back of his hand intensified. However, to his befuddlement, the pen in his grasp remained upright. It did not draw a circle or even do anything.

    <i>The Pen Spirit refuses to answer my call?</i>

    The atmosphere in the room turned palpable with pressure, and the chill from the back of his hand had now spread to his arm.

    <i>For some reason, I feel like a few more individuals have joined me in this room.</i>

    Chen Ge focused, and his pupils started to dte in the dark. Probably due to the Yin Yang Vision, he could see three blurry shadows standing around him with their hands extended to grab the pen in Chen Ge¡¯s palm.

    <i>Three of you?</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s heart skipped a beat, but with a blink, the image that he saw instantly disappeared. However, Chen Ge knew that it did not mean they had left. Chen Ge¡¯s palm felt like it had been stuck inside a cold-water bath. He was certain that there were at least three other hands holding the pen in his grasp.

    <i>Three ¡®individuals¡¯ answered my call. Is this the effect of my ¡®Specter¡¯s Favored¡¯ title?</i>

    While Chen Ge was trying to figure out an answer, the pen that hovered over the paper suddenly moved. It was slight, but Chen Ge definitely felt it.

    <i>Is it beginning?</i>

    The shlight he ced to his side seemed to have dimmed, and under Chen Ge¡¯s close scrutiny, the pen in his grasp started to move. The tip of the pen attached itself to the surface of the paper, and with the friction between the paper and the pen, soon a red circle was drawn.

    Chen Ge knew he did not move, but there was indeed a drawing on the paper. Chen Ge stared at the circle, and he was reminded of this side mission¡¯s name¡ªThe Pen Spirit Who Refused to Leave.

    <i>There are three taboos to the Pen Spirit game. One, you mustn¡¯t ask about your cause of death; two, you mustn¡¯t ask about your life expectancy; three, you have to unbind the spirit when you¡¯re done. Viting any one of these will lead to horrible consequences.</i>

    The third was the most serious because if the spirit was not unbound, it would stay by the person who had invoked it forever until it turned malevolent and killed all the yers.

    ¡°Hopefully, there is no ident,¡± Chen Ge murmured before shifting his focus back onto the white paper. The red circle was drawn right in the middle of the paper.

    <i>Sounds like it has heard my voice. It¡¯s time for me to ask some questions.</i>

    Chen Ge was only there toplete the ck phone¡¯s mission. He did not want to try anything stupid lest he angered the spirit.

    <i>It is rare to have summoned the Pen Spirit. </i>Chen Ge thought about it and voiced the question that he most wished to know the answer to. ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, do you know where my parents are?¡±

    When he did the bathtub Nightmare Mission, the people Chen Ge wanted to meet the most were his parents, but his wish had not been fulfilled. However, this did tell him that at least his parents were still alive. They were merely missing.

    Chen Ge did want to know the answer to this question. However, to his surprise, when he posed this question, the pen in his grasp started to quiver, and there was even a faded crack that appeared on the body of the pen.

    This was different to what he expected. <i>Is my question that difficult?</i>

    Two minutester, Chen Ge had an uncanny feeling that the room had turned brighter. The pen in his hand started to move again to draw another circle.

    <i>What does that mean? Pass? </i>Chen Ge looked at the two circles on the paper, and he could sense the Pen Spirit¡¯s awkwardness. It did not know the answer to his question either.

    <i>This is weird, but it does sound like my parents¡¯ disappearance is moreplicated than it appears. </i>Chen Ge was silent for a long time. Other than this question, he really did not have anything that he was that curious about. <i>So be it, I¡¯ll just ask a random question just to get this side mission over with.</i>

    The chill on his arm had spread to his shoulder. As the game continued, Chen Ge could feel about half of his body starting to get numb like it was slowly escaping his control.

    ¡°Then I shall switch to a different question. Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, can you please tell me who my future wife will be?¡±

    The pen quivered, and the shlight flickered as if announcing the arrival of something. The atmosphere in the room started to get nervous again. The window rattled on its hinges, and droplets of rain seeped into the room. Lightning shed across the sky, and in that split second, there were four shadows that were reflected on the wall.

    Chen Ge felt his hand weaken as the pen in it started to move. Blood red letters appeared on the white paper, and soon, the first character was finished.

    ¡°Xu? Is it Xu Wan?¡± Despite it supposedly being a throwaway question, Chen Ge¡¯s interest was piqued. The pen in his hand continued moving, but as it was starting to begin the second character, it suddenly stopped moving.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Chen Ge was a spectator in this whole enterprise. He did not exert any force, but the pen in his grasp began to quiver violently, and more cracks started to form on its surface.

    BANG!

    Many forces seemed to be fighting within the darkened bedroom. The ballpoint pen finally crumbled under pressure and cracked. One of the forces seemed to have surrendered. Then Chen Ge saw something shocking.

    The pen in his grasp crossed out the ¡°Xu¡± that was already written and wrote down another name beside it!

    ¡°Zhang... Ya?¡±

    The name was so perfectly and clearly written on the white paper that Chen Ge did not even know how to respond. ¡°Pen Spirit, are you sure this is the name that you intended to write from the very beginning?¡±

    There was no answer, and the chill on his arm also disappeared. ¡°Pen Spirit, are you still with us? If you can hear me, please draw a circle.¡±

    The feeling of Yin energy had dissipatedpletely, and the room had returned to normal. It seemed like the Pen Spirit had left without saying goodbye. However, for the sake of security, Chen Ge chanted, ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, you are my spirit from my previous life, and I am your spirit in this life. If you wish to go, then please go ahead.¡±

    Chen Ge stood up from beside the chair since the game was already over. Once he relinquished his grasp, the ballpoint pen in his grasp split into several sections. The whole thing just looked sad.

    <i>My game of Pen Spirit sure is different from others¡¯.</i>

    Chen Ge picked up his phone and realized with a start that his livestream¡¯s poprity had surpassed 20,000 views¡ªthis was a brand-new record for him.

 Chapter 80 - The Fifth Cubicle in the Toilet

    <h4>Chapter 80: The Fifth Cubicle in the Toilet</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>When did the views surpass 20,000? At the beginning of the livestream, I remember seeing only ten people in the room. </i>Chen Ge raised the phone up to the ceiling, but the signal was still weak. The chat wasgging badly. One moment, he could not even load a singlement, but suddenly, he would be overwhelmed by a ton. He could barely make sense of anything.

    <i>20,000 views but less than 5,000 followers, this ratio is a bitcking.</i>

    Chen Ge used his phone to snap pictures of the few pieces of paper that had been used in the Pen Spirit game. He then turned the camera to capture the broken ballpoint pen that sat in the middle of the chair. ¡°Dear viewers, can you see this? I have yed the Pen Spirit game until the pen itselfmitted suicide! Aren¡¯t you going to follow me? Do you know how much I¡¯m risking being here? An unknown host like myself, without equipment or a team. I¡¯m here all alone, threading the line of danger. I know my equipment is not that great, and I can¡¯t even interact with you in chat, but I can lead you into the most authentic supernatural experience. This is definitely one of a kind and cannot be copied.¡±

    After giving his speech, the number of followers started to rise. For Chen Ge, he was merelypleting the ck phone¡¯s mission, but it was a different concern from the viewers¡¯ perspective. Especially inparison to Qin Guang¡¯s livestream. Even though Chen Ge wascking in terms of equipment, his content was inimitable, whether from the aspect of danger or spectacle.

    The key to a sessful livestream was none other than freshness and creativity. Qin Guang¡¯s team relied on a finished script, and they even had an actor to y the part. However, no matter how realistic the actor¡¯s acting was, it would appear forced. However, Chen Ge¡¯s content was very different; even Chen Ge himself did not know what would happen next.

    ¡°Thank you for your support. That was the Pen Spirit game, please do not try this at home. Alright, now we shall move onto the next location.¡± Looking at the poprity that was still rising, Chen Ge was overjoyed. In any case, since he had to finish these missions dispensed by the ck phone, why not make use of them fully and convert them into poprity?

    <i>I wonder what is happening inside the chatroom, but a rising poprity is a good thing. At least my risk ofing here tonight is not going to waste. </i>The easypletion of the first side mission gave Chen Ge a boost of confidence. He put on his raincoat and left the dormitory. He had done everything he could there, so there was no point in staying.

    <i>There are three side missions left: the Sealed ssroom, the Deep Well, and the Fifth Cubicle in the Toilet.</i>

    The Fifth Cubicle in the Toilet appeared to be inside the education block. Chen Ge had been to the dormitory¡¯s toilets, and they only had four cubicles. If the office building¡¯syout was simr to the dormitory¡¯s, then only the education block¡¯s toilets fit the mission description.

    Chen Ge nced at his phone. He had arrived at Mu Yang High School at 8 pm. Technically, the Pen Spirit game should not have taken too long, but the time showed that it was now almost 9 pm.

    <i>There are three hours left until midnight. One hour for each mission, should be fine.</i>Chen Ge¡¯s n was to finish all the side missions as soon as possible and find a corner to hide in until dawn arrived.

    When he stood before the education block again, Chen Ge had a weird feeling that the thing that sat before him was not an abandoned building but a giant coffin that housed plenty of dead bodies.

    <i>The side mission did not specify the exact location of the toilet. There are three stories to this block, and this means that any one of the toilets on the three levels could be my mission location. </i>Chen Ge turned on his shlight and entered the building.

    Passing through empty ssrooms at night caused Chen Ge¡¯s skin to crawl. He was afraid that once he turned, he would see something that shouldn¡¯t exist inside the ssroom. He rushed toward the end of the corridor and entered the first floor¡¯s toilet.

    The ce was spared from the fire and the interior remained the same as it was several years ago. The flooring was cracked and weeds could be seen peeking through the cracks. There were a brownish stain on the wall and the sole window in the room was creaking eerily.

    ¡°Focus on the mission, there¡¯s no time to waste.¡±

    All of the toilets inside the education block had 6 cubicles. Years of abandonment meant that most of cubicle doors were broken and Chen Ge could look into the cubicles without even opening the door.

    With the mallet in his hand, Chen Ge walked past the six cubicles. The earlier four cubicles had nothing wrong about them but the fifth and sixth cubicles caught his attention. The doors to these two cubicles were shut and with a slight push, Chen Ge realized with a start that they were locked.

    <i>Normally, the door is locked only because someone is upying the cubicle.</i>However, that could not be true here. <i>The school has been abandoned for three years already. Even if something is upying the cubicles, it cannot be ¡®human¡¯. In any case, I¡¯d better take a closer look.</i>

    Chen Ge smashed at the sixth door with his mallet, and the door fell open. Before Chen Ge could react, several dark shadows charged at him.

    ¡°What is that?¡± He jumped back to avoid them. He shone his shlight at his ¡®assant¡¯, and Chen Ge was embarrassed to realize it was merely the cleaning equipment. After recovering from the fake scare, Chen Ge picked the mops and brooms off the floor and shoved them back into the cubicle. He found the same thing in the next cubicle. All six of the cubicles on the first floor were normal, which meant that his mission venue was on another floor.

    After exiting the toilet, Chen Ge looked over with shoulder with uncertainty. The cubicle doors creaked on their hinges like people waving at him.

    <i>This would create quite a scary effect inside the Haunted House. </i>Chen Ge made a mental note to remember this for the future and headed up the stairs to the second floor. It had the sameyout as the first-floor toilet, but the window was boarded up. Once Chen Ge stepped into the space, he felt weirdly pressured.

    <i>This should be the ce then.</i>

    Probably because the window was boarded up, the toilet was better preserved than the first floor one; there was not much changepared to how it was several years ago. He walked to the first cubicle, and before even pushing the door open, he heard footstepsing from the corridor outside.

    However, due to the interruption from the rain, he could not really tell for sure.<i>Is someone running in the corridor?</i>

    He hid in a corner of the toilet and raised his mallet in a guarded posture in case someone decided to rush into the room. Nothing like that happened.

    <i>As time moves toward midnight, the school is slowly starting to change, like it ising alive. Looks like I will need to pick up my pace. </i>Chen Ge stopped hesitating and pushed open the first four cubicles in one go. When he stood before the fifth cubicle, the footsteps in the corridor started again, and he heard it clearly this time. There were two sets of footsteps.

    <i>The mission description for the Fifth Cubicle in the Toilet stated that a red shadow would appear at midnight, was that it?</i>

 Chapter 81 - Children

    <h4>Chapter 81: Children</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    However, the mission was described in first person, stating that someone hid themselves in the fifth cubicle to capture the red shadow that appeared at midnight. However, what happened next was an unknown, leaving Chen Ge plenty of room to imagine.

    He switched off the shlight and thought to himself, <i>The mission states that a red shadow will appear in the toilet at midnight, but the footsteps clearly show that there were two people walking side by side. Could it be that the red shadow has found a new friend in the years that it was trapped in this abandoned school?</i>

    The footsteps were slowly approaching the second-floor toilet. Following the mission requirement, Chen Ge should hide inside the fifth cubicle, but Chen Ge felt that was too dangerous. He would have effectively trapped himself.

    <i>Perhaps I should act more proactively. </i>Chen Ge hid behind the toilet door, and no matter who it was, he would start by whacking them on their head. Chen Ge took a deep breath before holding it in and raising the mallet above his head.

    The footsteps became clearer and clearer. It sounded like two individuals running side by side. They were dangerously close to the second-floor bathroom. The wait was real torture for Chen Ge. He had no idea what was outside and had even less of a clue what they were nning to do. All he could do was make himself as silent as possible.

    Several secondster, the footsteps finally stopped before the toilet entrance.

    <i>Here theye!</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s hand that gripped the mallet had started to sweat, and his heart was racing at an impossible rate. The storm continued to brew outside, and the rain seeped into the room, wetting the toilet floor.

    <i>Where are they? </i>Chen Ge turned to look over his shoulder. There were no human faces staring down at him like he had expected. His patience was wearing thin. With one hand on the door knob, he prepared to lean out to take a look. However, before he could do that, a sh of lightning tore apart the sky, and utilizing the temporary brightness, Chen Ge saw two shadows reflected on the toilet floor.

    <i>They¡¯re standing at the entrance!</i>

    His body froze, and since his shlight had already been switched off, he could see nothing in the darkness of the toilet.

    <i>The shadows were short, like two children.</i>

    He did not dare to let his guard down. After waiting for several seconds, the footsteps resumed. However, unlike what he had expected, the owners of the footstep did not enter the toilet but went down the staircase next to it and down to the first floor.

    <i>Leaving just like that? </i>Chen Ge slowly moved out from behind the door. He turned to look at the entrance, and there was nothing there.

    <i>The thing that stood at the door earlier felt like two children. This is different from the red shadow described by the ck phone. Is this because too much time has passed since then, or did my early arrival at the school mess up the schedule?</i>

    Chen Ge could not figure out the answer. Switching the shlight back on, Chen Ge wandered over to the fifth cubicle. Regardless, he had to inspect the cubicle to see whether it was the actual mission venue. The door opened to reveal an old yetpletely normal space.

    <i>Based on the situation thus far, the mission venue should be in the third-floor toilet. The two children from earlier have run down to the first floor, so this is the perfect chance. </i>Chen Ge turned to walk out the toilet. Before he reached the threshold, his phone rang. It was an unknown caller.

    <i>Whose number is this? </i>Chen Ge did not have many friends, and the few he had would not normally contact him. After a brief hesitation, Chen Ge retreated to the corner and exited the livestream to answer the phone. ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°Are you Ru Xue¡¯s ssmate? I hear you came across a strange boy whom you suspect is suffering from a psychological problem?¡± The voice on the other end of the phone had a gravity to it. It exuded an air of confidence.

    ¡°I did, and you are?¡±

    ¡°I am Ru Xue¡¯s father.¡± He San did mention giving Chen Ge¡¯s phone number to Gao Ru Xue earlier. Looks like this senior of his did things with efficiency.

    ¡°Do you mind telling me about the boy in greater detail? Psychological illness is not unlike a venom inside one¡¯s body. If one does not remove it as soon as possible, it might ruin that boy¡¯s future.¡± Gao Ru Xue¡¯s father was familiar with the potential danger of psychological problems. From his perspective, a psychological illness could be more dangerous than many physical illnesses.

    ¡°There is this boy about seven or eight. He¡¯s physically fine, but he appears to have withdrawn from the world; he refuses to interact with others and is afraid of sunlight.¡±

    ¡°Are there any other symptoms? If possible, can you give me them in detail?¡±

    ¡°I met this boy at the entrance of a Haunted House park attraction. His aunt told me that the boy likes to spend time inside Haunted Houses. Normal emotions that one should experience inside a Haunted House like fear and anxiety were missing from the boy. In fact, he appeared to be morefortable in the darkness than under the sunlight. It gave me the impression that darkened corners give him a sense of security.¡± Chen Ge voiced the spection that he had. If he had not met the child in person, he would not have believed that such a curious boy existed.

    ¡°A boy of seven or eight who likes to visit Haunted Houses? And doesn¡¯t feel afraid?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the boy even showed interest in the actor who was in a dead person¡¯s make-up.¡±

    There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few seconds. ¡°If it is just ack of fear, it could be autism, which could be responsible for the damage to the amygd of his brain.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I don¡¯t think I understand.¡±

    ¡°To put it simply, the amygd is the central nervous system where memory is processed and stored. It is also responsible for the production of emotions like rage and fear. If one¡¯s amygd is damaged, even if facing a lion or viper, one wouldn¡¯t be afraid, much less being scared inside a Haunted House.¡±

    Gao Ru Xue¡¯s father had a point, but Chen Ge still felt the description did not quite fit Fan Yu¡¯s conditions. ¡°Doctor Gao, it is by no means that the boy is not afraid of anything. For one, he is afraid of sunlight and hates walking under the sun. Also, he was not only unafraid of the Haunted House, he liked the environment inside it. It felt like he was apletely different boy inside and outside of the Haunted House.¡±

    Chen Ge thought about it before adding, ¡°He waspletely silent when he was outside the Haunted House and refused to have interaction with others, but he was energized when inside the Haunted House. When it was time to leave, his refusal to leave was vehement, and I saw him injure his aunt with my own eyes.¡±

    ¡°Listening to your description, it might also be a sign of bipr disorder, highly destructive and irrational when angered but highly individualistic and retreats into his own world when depressed.¡± Teacher Gao shared his analysis with Chen Ge. ¡°But one point still eludes me. Patients with bipr disorder might be triggered at any given moment, and there shouldn¡¯t be a clear trigger like being inside or outside a Haunted House. My personal opinion is that since the boy¡¯s attitude change is rted to Haunted Houses, then the source of his problem should be rted to a Haunted House as well. Did he suffer from any trauma inside a Haunted House when he was young? Or did his parents work at a Haunted House?¡±

    After hearing the analysis from Gao Ru Xue¡¯s father, a spection appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

    The boy¡¯s changes in personality happened inside his Haunted House, and the biggest difference his Haunted House hadpared to others was that his Haunted House was really haunted.

 Chapter 82 - The Only Witness

    <h4>Chapter 82: The Only Witness</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Fan Yu likes to visit Haunted Houses because he likes thepany of ghosts? </i>Chen Ge came to this unlikely answer after listening to all of Teacher Gao¡¯s reasoning.

    ¡°I don¡¯t dare diagnose this patient so easily. If you have time, you can bring him to see me.¡± Teacher Gao also had note across such a patient before, and he wished to inspect him in person. ¡°Psychological illnesses are veryplicated, and there are too many uncertainties to their causes. It could be rted to the boy¡¯s living environment, personal trauma, or even gic inheritance.¡±

    Chen Ge did not answer. When he came up with the conclusion that Fan Yu liked thepany of ghosts, an extremely scary thought cropped up in his mind!

    He peeled open his raincoat to retrieve Fan Yu¡¯s drawing from inside his pocket. The ck house and the red little humans.

    Before arriving at Mu Yang High School, Chen Ge had assumed that this referred to one of the buildings at the school, but none of the building there fitted Fan Yu¡¯s drawing. If anything, the squat dpidated room shared by Fan Yu and his aunt had a closer resemnce to the drawing.

    <i>If Fan Yu is really drawing about the house he¡¯s living in and these red people... </i>Even the hairs on Chen Ge¡¯s arms stood on end. <i>Fan Yu¡¯s house is filled with ghosts?</i>

    He was reminded of the scene when he went to visit Fan Yu that morning. The aunt had been incredibly worried while Fan Yu locked himself up in his bedroom with the door and window closed, his head lowered, fully focused on his drawing.

    Every time, he only used the two colors, red and ck. All of his drawings were about a ck house and red people, but each drawing had a slight difference. Chen Ge¡¯s lips paled. He clearly remembered that the position of the red people was different in every drawing.

    He had originally thought that was Fan Yu just scribbling, but now thinking back, they represented the dirty things moving inside the house.

    <i>Fan Yu can see them?</i>

    Chen Ge sucked in a cold breath, and more details from when Fan Yu was inside his Haunted House continued to surface. When Chen Ge was talking to the little boy, thetter had kept looking behind Chen Ge, especially at his shadow.

    Fan Yu had said two sentences inside the Haunted House, and both of them had been directed at Chen Ge. At the time, Chen Ge had assumed that the kid had taken a liking to him, but now he realized that the boy probably treated him as kindred spirit.

    <i>No wonder he¡¯s afraid of sunlight and likes to visit Haunted House. The boy¡¯s perception has been seriously twisted. </i>Chen Ge gripped the phone tightly. He did not know why Fan Yu had turned out that way, but the boy¡¯s various curious actions and the testimony from the woman had led Chen Ge to a scary spection.

    In a simrly rainy night a few years ago, the boy had disappeared. Tragedy had befallen his parents after they went to look for him. To able to kill two grown adults and deal with their bodies and crime scene on a stormy night required plenty of careful nning and preparation.

    Although, viewing this from another perspective, if someone did have the intention to harm Fan Yu¡¯s parents, why would a killer with the ability to hide the bodies perfectly and clear their every trace from the crime scene let Fan Yu go?

    When his aunt told Fan Yu that his parents had gone to heaven, Fan Yu had examined the well closely because he said that heaven was inside the well. This meant that he knew his parents¡¯ bodies were inside the well. He had seen everything¡ªhe was one of the witnesses¡ªso the killer had no reason to let him live.

    Chen Ge narrowed his eyes slightly as a chill coursed through his body. <i>That is unless the killer knew the boy or was the boy himself!</i>

    Regardless of which one it was, either possibility made Chen Ge¡¯s heart cold with fear.

    The aunt herself was also a prime suspect. There were way too many plot holes in her story, and when she supposedly went into the kitchen to pour water for Chen Ge, she should not have wasted so much time in there. Then, during the conversation, and even before he left, she had kept reminding Chen Ge to take a sip of the water.

    At the time, Chen Ge had been too focused on his mission to be careful of her ¡®kindness¡¯, but thinking back, he suspected that something had been done to that ss of water.

    <i>If it was the aunt who killed Fan Yu¡¯s parents, what was her motive? </i>The woman loved Fan Yu to the extent of pampering him. She was blessed with beauty but did not seem to keep up her appearances. It was obvious that it was not easy for her to raise Fan Yu alone. She even spared no expenses to take him to see many doctors. She had put her whole life on hold for Fan Yu¡¯s sake, would such a kind woman really be the killer?

    To be honest, the thin woman had left a good impression on Chen Ge; he thought she was independent and strong.

    Then again, if she was not the killer, then the next prime suspect would be the boy himself!

    He was the crime¡¯s only witness and survivor. Chen Ge did not suspect him initially because he was just a child, but after knowing the secret behind his drawings, Chen Ge realized he had greatly underestimated this child.

    Fan Yu had a pair of unique eyes, and his constantpany was only ghosts. He was not scared by their presence but, in fact, managed to survive just fine. Chen Ge even suspected that he had the ability to control them.

    This would sound preposterous to others, but not to Chen Ge because he himself was the Specter¡¯s Favored.

    <i>But if the boy is the killer, what was his motive? </i>This was the question that stumped Chen Ge the most. Neither the boy nor the aunt had any actual reason to murder their close family.

    <i>What really happened on that day? Fan Yu¡¯s parents were ultimately dropped inside Mu Yang High School¡¯s well, but why Mu Yang High School of all ces?</i>

    When Chen Ge ced the drawing back inside his pocket, he realized that the call was still connected, so he immediately apologized to Doctor Gao. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, my attention was otherwise distracted.¡±

    ¡°No worries, I was just flipping through the journals to find out more about the patient. In fact, I¡¯m really interested in his case. Do you mind bringing him to see me when there¡¯s an opportunity?¡± Gao Ru Xue¡¯s father had not hung up; he had waited patiently for Chen Ge.

    ¡°Of course, should the opportunity arise, we will definitely visit you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, this number is my personal number, so call me when you¡¯reing. Lastly, I have something to remind you.¡± Teacher Gao sounded like he was hesitating on the phone, as if he was deciding whether he should say something or not.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Chen Ge was appreciative of any advice from this kind doctor.

    ¡°The way to treat a patient is with plenty of patience, but it is undeniable that serious patients carry with them a certain degree of threat. When you are in theirpany, please remember to try not to incite them.¡±

 Chapter 83 - How Do I Complete This Mission?

    <h4>Chapter 83: How Do I Complete This Mission?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°For the sake of the child¡¯s future recovery and your personal safety, please be careful.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    After hanging up the phone, Chen Ge leaned against the toilet¡¯s wall. His mind was a clotted mess. If the killer was not Fan Yu, then it had to be Fan Yu¡¯s aunt. They were the prime suspects but also the victims¡¯ closest family.

    <i>In any case, it is certain that Fan Yu¡¯s aunt is hiding something from me. Something else must have happened that rainy night several years ago.</i>

    Their closest family turning into their killer, this was a mystery that stumped Chen Ge.

    <i>The crime scene was at Mu Yang High School, perhaps I can find some clues here.</i>

    Chen Ge reopened the livestream. The chat was stillgging, but at least the footage had gotten much clearer. After apologizing quickly to his viewers, Chen Ge walked out of the second-floor toilet with his mallet in hand. He stood at the door and waved his shlight at the floor¡ªthere was not anything like footprints.

    <i>When I was hiding behind the toilet door earlier, I really did hear footsteps. They stopped before the toilet entrance, but theck of footprints suggests that the owners of the footsteps are not living humans. </i>Chen Ge nced down the stairs. Last he heard, the sets of footsteps did head downstairs.

    Chen Ge was unsure whether the footsteps belonged to the red shadow mentioned in the mission or not, but for the sake of safety, he decided to avoid it for now. Brandishing his shlight, Chen Ge headed up to the third floor. However, when he was at thending between second and third floor, the sound of footsteps reverberated in his ears again.

    They seemed to being from the first floor. Two ¡®people¡¯ standing side by side were heading upstairs.

    <i>Have they discovered me? </i>Chen Ge immediately switched off his shlight, stuck his back to the wall, and stared closely at the mouth of the staircase.

    The footsteps did not stop, and they walked onto the second floor.

    <i>It sounds like they¡¯re heading into the second-floor toilet? </i>Just as this thought crossed Chen Ge¡¯s mind, the sound of cubicle doors being opened appeared beside his ears.

    The cubicle doors were opened one after another, six times. They seemed to be checking the toilet cubicles. Chen Ge leaned closer to the railing and tried to poke his head out to take a closer look at the situation on the second floor.

    After the cubicle doors stopped moving so did the footsteps. It appeared like everything Chen Ge had heard earlier was part of his imagination. He waited for five minutes on the stairs but could not hear any weird soundsing from the second-floor toilet anymore.

    <i>Theck of footsteps means that the walking spirits are now inside the toilet. They¡¯re probably hiding in one of the cubicles, waiting to ambush me. </i>Chen Ge might have a powerful heart, but it did not mean that he had no fear. A surprise from inside the toilet cubicle would probably scare him quite a bit.

    <i>Since the spirit is now hiding inside the second-floor toilet, it¡¯s the perfect opportunity for me to check out the third floor. </i>Chen Ge did not turn on his shlight. Thanks to the Yin Yang Vision, the reward he had received frompleting a Nightmare Mission, even though it was not as magical as described by the ck phone, it did greatly improve his sight, enabling him to see better than most at night.

    In the darkened night, thunder shed asionally across the sky, giving Chen Ge a temporary glimpse of his surroundings. It created an eerie atmosphere. He feared that one of the lightning shes might enable him to see things that he did not want to.

    Chen Ge looked left and right several times as he stood at the entrance to the third-floor toilet. There was nothing in sight, so Chen Ge stepped into the toilet.

    The third floor¡¯s toilet was even more curious than the ones on the first and second floors. The window was boarded up, and the walls were unstained. The ce seemed to have been abandoned even before the school was closed down.

    All six cubicles were closed, giving Chen Ge a strange feeling that every single of them was hiding a scary surprise. The fifth and sixth cubicles in the first-floor toilet were closed because they were storage rooms for cleaning supplies. Could that be the case again?

    Chen Ge walked to the first cubicle and leaned toward the door. There was no sounding from within, definitely no crying of babies or giggles of girls like he had anticipated. Then, he did something even braver. He knelt on the floor and peered through the bottom opening.

    <i>Empty?</i>

    There were no random items like mops or brooms, nor was there a pair of legs; it was just a normal cubicle.

    Chen Ge tried pushing the door, and it opened easily. The cubicle was extremely clean. If not for theyer of dust on every surface, he would have believed that this ce was cleaned daily.

    <i>The whole education block looks like it was burned down in a fire, but this toilet shows no signs of burning¡ªthis is simr to that ssroom on the first floor. </i>This simrity attracted Chen Ge¡¯s attention. <i>That basically confirms that this is my mission venue.</i>

    He pushed open the other cubicles before stopping at the fifth.

    <i>I have a very bad feeling. Could there be a nasty surprise waiting for me behind this door? </i>Chen Ge patted the doll inside his shirt pocket and used his mallet to shove the door open.

    The door fell open, and when he saw what was inside the cubicle, Chen Ge took an involuntary step back. Drawings of eyes covered every surface inside the fifth cubicle, their sizes simr to actual human eyes.

    Before opening the door, Chen Ge had tried to envision what could appear behind the door¡ªperhaps it might be pale-faced girl or a scary monster or madman covered with blood¡ªbut he definitely did not anticipate this.

    <i>Why are there so many eyes on the walls and boards?</i>

    This creepy discovery sent a chill down Chen Ge¡¯s spine. He felt like there were innumerable eyes looking at him. His legs were shaking as he stood outside the cubicle; one could imagine how unsettling it would be inside.

    <i>Which psycho did this and why?</i>

    The pairs of eyes felt like they were peeping on the people inside the cubicle. Shuddering, Chen Ge hurriedly closed the door again. It felt very unsettling being stared at by so many pairs of eyes even though they were mere drawings.

    <i>I¡¯ve found the mission venue, but how am I supposed to find this quest? Hide inside the cubicle with all the eyes staring at me while waiting for the red shadow to arrive? Isn¡¯t that asking for a bit too much?</i>

    Chen Ge stared at the cubicle for a long time before moving to the sixth cubicle. He found the same drawing of eyes inside the sixth cubicle.

    However, different from the fifth cubicle, the eyes in the sixth cubicle were only drawn on the wall and partition that was shared with the fifth cubicle; the other walls werepletely clean.

 Chapter 84 - Its Time

    <h4>Chapter 84: It¡¯s Time</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge was weirded out by the single painted wall in the sixth cubicle. He returned to the fourth cubicle, and he was right; there were no doodles in the fourth cubicle. <i>Could it be a mere prank from the students? But why did they pick the fifth cubicle? It¡¯s not the first one or thest one.</i>

    To get to the truth, Chen Ge returned to the sixth cubicle. He hesitated before walking into it. The water pipes all ran through the sixth cubicle, so the space was much smallerpared to the other cubicles.

    <i>There¡¯s nothing worth noting here. Do I need to enter the fifth cubicle for the mission to progress? </i>Chen Ge looked at the eyes on the wall before raising his finger to lightly touch them.

    <i>They look scary, but they¡¯re just drawings. </i>He was locked in a staring match with the eyes on the wall for a long time. <i>The fourth cubicle is normal; the drawings are only in the fifth and sixth cubicle. This partition is unique because it¡¯s covered with drawing of the eyes on both sides...</i>

    Something slowly clicked in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. He used his finger to slowly move through every drawing on the wall. When his finger touched one of the eyes that was next to his knees, Chen Ge¡¯s expression shifted.

    <i>It is as I predicted! </i>He squatted down and shed some light on the partition. Underneath his finger was a peephole the size of a human pupil. A small hole had been gauged into the wall. Since its size was simr to an actual pupil and it was hiding in the corner, it was difficult to discover.

    <i>All the other eyes are to hide this single peephole. </i>As Chen Ge looked at the peephole in the wall, he felt weirdly unsettled. <i>The peephole connects the fifth and sixth cubicles, meaning someone once used this peephole to spy on the person inside the fifth cubicle from the sixth cubicle!</i>

    Who would have thought of the many eyes that surrounded the walls, one of them would be real?

    <i>Since the pipes are gathered in the sixth cubicle, as long as the Peeping Tom climbed on top of the pipes, he wouldn¡¯t be discovered even if someone peeked in from underneath the door. The man had it all thought out.</i>

    Being looked at in the dark made Chen Ge feel very ufortable.

    Thinking about the mission description, the person that hid in the fifth cubicle was the victim of the Peeping Tom, which could be the red shadow.

    <i>Now that the secret of the fifth cubicle has been solved, how do Iplete the mission? Do I have to stay inside the fifth cubicle for the red shadow to spy on me?</i>Chen Ge waved the mallet in the air. If that was supposed to happen, he would not mind smashing the red shadow¡¯s eye blind.

    Just as Chen Ge was trying to figure out how toplete the mission, the set of footsteps started again in the corridor, and they were speeding toward the third floor!

    <i>What¡¯s happening? The footsteps are more urgent than before. Is it because I opened the fifth cubicle? But that does not sound right. I opened the cubicle much earlier, so why are they rushing over now?</i>

    Before he coulde up with an answer, the footsteps had already arrived at the third floor. Chen Ge was standing inside the sixth cubicle, so his only choice was to step into the cubicle and close the door. The moment he did, the footsteps entered the third-floor bathroom.

    <i>Finally, the time hase.</i>

    Chen Ge switched off his shlight and raised his mallet. However, what happened nextpletely surprised him. After the footsteps entered the toilet, the being did not check the cubicle one after another but headed for the fifth cubicle directly. After the door of the cubicle next to him was closed, the toilet suddenly became very quiet.

    <i>They¡¯re just beside me, but isn¡¯t the order a bit messed up? ording to the mission requirement, it should be me inside the fifth cubicle, right?</i>

    The silence persisted. After the owners of the footsteps entered the fifth cubicle, there were no more sounds. After waiting for another ten minutes, Chen Ge¡¯s interest in the ¡®person¡¯ next door was slowly piqued. He nced at the peephole on the wall before squatting down and leaned toward it.

    The ck peephole seemed to have a magical attraction, drawing Chen Ge closer to it.

    On the other end of the peephole was not a bloodshot eye or a red shadow but two kids about the age of three or four. The boy and the girl hid themselves beside the toilet, holding each other¡¯s hands. They looked intensely worried.

    <i>Shouldn¡¯t it be a red shadow? Where did these two kidse from? </i>Chen Ge pulled his gaze back. The two children next door could not be described with the word scary.

    <i>Another side mission rted to the well mentions a brother and sister. Since the deep well is rted to Fan Yu, could these two be the aunt¡¯s son and daughter? But why would they appear here? And they look like they are being chased by something.</i>

    A series of questions appeared in his mind. Chen Ge gripped the mallet tightly. If his opponent was these two children, he had confidence he could win.

    <i>I should wait a little longer. I have a feeling that things aren¡¯t that simple.</i>

    The night darkened, and suddenly, the silence in the third floor toilet was shattered by a new set of footsteps that came from the corridor. Chen Ge pulled the cubicle door open a sliver and looked out. When the footsteps stopped at the toilet entrance, a faded red shadow was reflected on the tiles on the toilet wall.

    <i>It¡¯s finally here!</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s mission target had finally arrived. He did not dare to breathe as his eyes were staring at the door. The sound of footsteps became clearer, signifying that the red shadow had entered the third-floor toilet.

    Creak...

    The first cubicle¡¯s door was pulled open, and Chen Ge saw a blurry red shadow poke its head into the cubicle. It stopped for a long time before moving to the second cubicle.

    This was the first time in his life that Chen Ge felt the sound of door opening was so grating. Very soon, the doors to the second, third, and fourth cubicles were pulled open, and the red shadow stopped before the fifth cubicle.

    Watching this unfold, Chen Ge tensed up. His body was like a pressed spring, about to explode at any moment.

    If he had followed the mission¡¯s instructions, he would have been the one inside the fifth cubicle, and what the red shadow was about to do inside the fifth cubicle would be the thing that should have happened to him.

    In the silent and dark toilet, the red shadow gripped the door of the fifth cubicle and slowly pulled it open.

    The room felt like it had turned darker. Children¡¯s cries andughter appeared from the cubicle next door. The red shadow stood at the door but did not go in. It looked left and right before moving to thest cubicle.

 Chapter 85 - I Should Be Afraid!

    <h4>Chapter 85: I Should Be Afraid!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    From the sliver of the door that was left ajar, Chen Ge saw the red shadow stop before the sixth cubicle. There was just a thin partition between them. Time seemed to have slowed down for the imminent confrontation.

    Several secondster, the red shadow leaned toward the door, and at the same time, Chen Ge raised his mallet. Chen Ge watched as the red shadow made contact with the door. As the door creaked open, every muscle in Chen Ge¡¯s body tensed.

    Before the door waspletely opened, the red shadow had started to phase through the door. Facing the dangerous threat, Chen Ge¡¯s survival instinct caused him to smash his mallet on the red shadow, and in the same motion, he aimed a strong kick at the door!

    Bang!

    The decrepit cubicle door understandably could not withstand his assault. It flew off its hinges and mmed into the red shadow, which did not even have the chance to evade. The red shadow did not anticipate this, and its body started to blur as it rolled on the floor. Then it ran out of the toilet.

    Chen Ge gasped greedily for air. He had expected a fierce battle, but his opponent appeared to have a much weaker heart than he had anticipated. Chen Ge¡¯s sudden appearance seemed to have spooked it.

    <i>Has the thing forgotten its ghostly identity? </i>Chen Ge did not rx as he gripped the mallet tightly. After the red shadow made its escape, children¡¯s crying drifted out from the fifth cubicle. The two kids, who Chen Ge assumed to be the woman¡¯s children, were still inside the toilet.

    ¡°Stop crying!¡± This was amon trope in scary movies. A creepy sound of tears that came from inside the toilet, it should have been scary, but with an angry warning from Chen Ge, the children¡¯s crying really did stop.

    He blocked the entrance of the fifth cubicle angrily. The two children had their hands over their lips, their pale faces filled with fear.

    ¡°Why are you two acting like the victims?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s emotions were a bit out of control from the intense confrontation with the red shadow. His loud voicebined with the dangerous-looking mallet scared the two kids in the cubicle. They held each other¡¯s hands as they half-crawled, half-ran out of the toilet.

    <i>Was I being a bit too harsh there?</i>

    The two children could very well be Fan Yu¡¯s brother and sister. Whether it was for the deep well mission or to investigate the disappearance of Fan Yu¡¯s parents, he had to follow the two children. The two kids ran very fast while Chen Ge chased after them. They soon left the education block and entered the office building next to it.

    Chen Ge followed closely behind them. When he got onto the second floor, the two kids suddenly disappeared.

    <i>Where did they go?</i>

    The interior of the office building was different from the two other buildings at Mu Yang High School; the whole building had been spared from the fire, and it was much cleaner.

    Chen Ge pushed open a random door and peeked in. The room had two tables and a bookshelf. There was flower pot sitting on the window sill.

    <i>They disappeared in the blink of an eye, where could they be hiding?</i>

    After walking deeper into the room, Chen Ge noticed a faded que lying on the floor. It read ¡®Mathematics¡¯.

    <i>All of the mathematics sses at Mu Yang High School were held in this one small room?</i>

    Chen Ge soon realized why. After all, Mu Yang High School did not have that many students; they could easily fit into one room. Also, fewer students meant a smaller number of teachers; this room was probably the office for the Mathematics teacher as well.

    He took a cursory look around the room. He discovered a rotten school bag inside the drawer of one of the tables. The bag was tiny and had cartoon prints on it.

    Chen Ge ced it on the table and opened the zipper. There was a cartoon coloring book and a box of crayons inside.

    <i>Why would these things be inside the Mathematics teacher¡¯s office?</i>

    The contents of the school bag did not seem to be for high school students. Chen Ge surmised that the school bag probably belonged to the Mathematics teacher¡¯s child, and the bag had been left behind for some reason.

    After opening the crayon box, Chen Ge realized that every color was there except red and ck. Chen Ge was immediately reminded of Fan Yu. After flipping through the coloring book, Chen Ge¡¯s suspicion was further confirmed. All of the pages had the same drawing, a ck house with two red small human figures.

    All of the drawings¡¯ backgrounds were the ck house, but the position of the red people changed every time. Chen Ge pulled out Fan Yu¡¯s drawing from his pocket and ced it beside the coloring book. Theparison caused him to suck a light breath. <i>At least the boy¡¯s painting style has remained the same after all these years.</i>

    The drawings had given Chen Ge plenty of useful information. The rotten school bag and the spider webs that filled the drawer meant that the bag had been shoved inside the drawer way before Mu Yang High School was closed down.

    This meant that the boy had started to draw ghosts from a young age. His pair of eyes had probably been like that since birth. If the ck house in the painting was his home, then starting from several years ago, two ghosts had been residing in the boy¡¯s home.

    Rting it to the aunt¡¯s testimony and what Chen Ge had seen earlier, the two ghosts were most likely the aunt¡¯s children.

    <i>After living together for so long, the aunt must know that Fan Yu has a special vision.</i>Chen Ge looked at the two red and ck drawings. <i>It is because she knew that she was so willing to bring Fan Yu to the Haunted House. She probably pampers Fan Yu thusly because she is channeling her love for three children into that one boy.</i>

    The appearance of Fan Yu¡¯s school bag also told Chen Ge another thing; this room likely belonged to Fan Yu¡¯s father. He was Mu Yang High School¡¯s Mathematics teacher.

    From the conversation with Fan Yu¡¯s aunt, Chen Ge knew that Fan Yu¡¯s father had been fired from another school due to drinking. However, Fan Yu¡¯s aunt added that other schools rejected Fan Yu¡¯s father, and he had nowhere else to turn to, which was why he had ended up at Mu Yang High School.

    This made Chen Ge curious. What kind of mistake had Fan Yu¡¯s father made after drinking that would make him cklisted from the entire school district and be shown the door by normal schools?

    At the time, Chen Ge had wanted to ask, but the topic had quickly been pushed aside by Fan Yu¡¯s aunt when she pulled out the mysterious photo.

    <i>What kind of person was the missing father like? </i>Chen Ge drummed the mallet on the table in thought. He continued to look through the room and finally found several paper notes inside an abandoned book on the bookshelf.

    ¡°Teacher Fan, we know what you did in the sixth cubicle of the third floor¡¯s female toilets. We demand that you apologize to the girl immediately! And get out of this school!¡±

    ¡°You have two nights toe to a decision. We want an open apology!¡±

    ¡°This is yourst night. If you insist on staying at this school, then you shall stay here forever.¡±

 Chapter 86 - The Last Classroom

    <h4>Chapter 86: The Last ssroom</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>The Peeping Tom is Fan Yu¡¯s father? </i>Chen Ge never would have imagined that if he had not read the paper notes. <i>Looks like I was right. Fan Yu¡¯s aunt has been hiding something crucial from me.</i>

    When Chen Ge was trying to deduce the killer earlier, he had been missing a crucial element, a motive. The notes had provided him with a new line of enquiry.

    <i>There are three notes, and they have different handwriting. This means that at least three people knew about Teacher Fan¡¯s dirty secret. </i>Chen Ge did not touch the notes inside the book. The paper was fragile from the passage of time, and he was afraid that his touch might ruin the key evidence.

    <i>The handwriting on the paper is very clear. Teacher Fan kept these three notes probably to find the students byparing the handwriting. After all, Mu Yang High School is small; with the convenience of being a member of staff, three days would have been more than enough time to inspect the handwriting of all the students at this school.</i>

    Chen Ge memorized the contents of the notes. To be honest, he was rather curious as to how the three students discovered the secret of the cubicle. <i>Were they all victims? But that does not seem like that from the tone of the notes, especially thest one¡ªIf you insist on staying at this school, then you shall stay here forever. That definitely doesn¡¯t sound like something a victim would say.</i>

    The messagemunicated by the three notes was extremely clear, but their demand sounded rather juvenile to Chen Ge. The correct solution to deal with people like Fan Yu¡¯s father was to report to the police and not ask for something like a public apology. If anything, the exposure of the incident might exacerbate the situation, for it might cause further trauma to the victim.

    <i>The content of these notes does sound like they came from students, could they be the ones who tossed Teacher Fan into the well?</i>

    Chen Ge had the motive, but the timing was all wrong. There were two adults who disappeared that night. To be able to kill two adults and deal with their bodies without leaving any trace behind did not sound like something that was achievable for several teenage students.

    <i>I must have missed something. </i>Chen Ge tried to look at the situation from Teacher Fan¡¯s perspective. An open apology was definitely out of question. If this thing was exposed, his life would be ruined. He already had a record beforeing to Mu Yang High School, and the punishment for repeat offender would be serious.

    Fan Yu¡¯s father knew about that; it was why he had kept those paper notes. He had probably nned to sniff out the students who had threatened him and deal with them personally, but from the result, it seemed like his three-day search came up with nothing.

    <i>Here¡¯s the conclusion of everything I¡¯ve found so far. These three notes came from different studies, but even afterparing the handwriting of the students at this school, Fan Yu¡¯s father came up with nothing. These three students discovered the secret of the sixth cubicle, but instead of reporting it to the police, they adopted the method that had the least effect and would easily expose them, which was to threaten Teacher Fan directly. Lastly, the warning on the final note dide true.</i>

    These three points made zero sense to Chen Ge. To summarize, three students who could not be discovered found out about Teacher Fan¡¯s Peeping Tom habit and, after their warning failed, made Teacher Fan disappear.

    <i>Individual who fits these three criteria basically doesn¡¯t exist. </i>However, Chen Ge already had quite a good idea about who the killer was, but he was still uncertain.

    <i>The notes also mention a girl whom they want Fan Yu¡¯s father to apologize to. If I can find her, then many problems will be solved.</i>

    After recording everything with his camera, Chen Ge shut the book and ced it back where it had been.

    <i>If I did not stay to look through the drawers, I wouldn¡¯t have discovered these notes that are enclosed inside the book. Looks like to solve any mystery, everything starts with the details.</i>

    Chen Ge exited the mathematics room and went through the other rooms but came up with nothing.

    <i>It¡¯s already 10:30 pm. There won¡¯t be enough time toplete the remaining two side missions if I continue to slug like this. </i>Chen Ge exited the office with the shlight. He searched the school ground for the well but could not find anything like that even after a one-hour search in the rain.

    <i>Where could this well be? The ck phone cannot possibly be mistaken! </i>Chen Ge¡¯s pants and shoes were drenched, and he looked positively haggard.

    <i>There only half an hour left until midnight; I¡¯ll need to leave the well mission and find shelter. </i>Chen Ge lowered his head to hide from the rain as he walked toward the education building. He wanted to reach the sealed ssroom before midnight. If the mission was too difficult, the n was to give up.

    Chen Ge¡¯s boots felt heavy from the water and every step left a clear footprint on the floor. After entering the education block, Chen Ge headed directly for the sealed ssroom. Looking from outside the window, the single table in the middle of the room that had the textbook, pen, and paper on it did look weird.

    <i>It looks stranger than I expected.</i>

    Mu Yang High School had originally been a crematorium. Chen Ge read from the online threads that the sealed ssroom was exactly the location of the crematorium¡¯s former morgue. It had powerful Yin energy, and that was why the headmaster had kept the ssroom sealed.

    Some said a school bus ran into a huge ident when they were out on a school trip. Many people died, but the spirits of the students still came back to school. The headmaster had to leave this ssroom open to amodate then.

    Thest exnation was the most inspiring. Before Mu Yang High School was closed, the school was the worst school in Jiujiang. Their collective score was always first... counting from the bottom. To improve this situation, some of the staff suggested arranging the sses ording to their results, the worse the result, the further to the back their ss would be. However, this suggestion was vetoed by the headmaster, and he sealed the ssroom to tell the students that no one was born in thest ce andbelling them as such would be a horrible mistake.

    There were many other rumors about the sealed ssroom at Mu Yang High School, but Chen Ge could only remember these three, which were most discussed.

    He checked the time again. At 11:36 pm, he opened the door and went into the sealed ssroom. Chen Ge moved quickly, and his target was clear, which was to take a closer look at the things on the table at the center.

    When he entered the room, Chen Ge did not feel that the ssroom was any different from outside, perhaps slightly quieter.

    Chen Ge looked at the textbook and the paper, but there was nothing notable written on them. However, when he picked up the textbook, he discovered there was plenty of writing carved into the wooden table.

 Chapter 87 - You Are Inside the Drawing

    <h4>Chapter 87: You Are Inside the Drawing</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The writing was carved onto the table with the end of a pen. Each marking went deep into the surface and spoke of the writer¡¯s pain and desperation. The writings were all collected at the center of the table. Chen Ge bent down toward the table to get a closer look.

    ¡°The eyes on the toilet wall came alive! I saw it, the eyes were moving!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why I would imagine that, but from that day onwards, I feel like a pair of eye has been following me.¡±

    ¡°They could be hiding anywhere, inside the drawer, under the bed, behind the pillow.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve lost the courage to even look inside my bag, afraid that a pair of eyes will look back at me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid of being left alone. I don¡¯t dare enter tight spaces. I¡¯m scared of the dark. The moment the lights are switched off, I scream, waking up from a nightmare! I believe I¡¯ve lost my mind, and the pair of eyes is watching me slip down the spiral of insanity.¡±

    ¡°What should I do? A pair of eyes is following me.¡±

    ¡°They must be hiding somewhere, and they look familiar, but I cannot ce them.¡±

    ¡°I have told my parents and the ss teacher about this, but they brushed me off, saying that I probably need toy off the heavy studying.¡±

    ¡°They are probably right. I¡¯m probably too tired, or else why would I think the pair of eyes look so simr to the ss teacher¡¯s eyes?¡±

    ¡°My parents told the teacher to keep a tab on me, and I know they meant well, but whenever I¡¯m close to the respected ss teacher, I just want to grab a pen and jab his eyes blind.¡±

    ¡°Have I finally gone off the deep end? I don¡¯t dare tell more people about this. I¡¯m afraid, afraid of the eyes, and afraid that people might call me crazy.¡±

    ¡°I pretend tough and smile like I used to, but the appearance of the eyes has gotten far more frequent. I don¡¯t know who I can trust.¡±

    ¡°I feel like I¡¯m breaking down. Horrible thoughts appear in my mind when I see needles or fruit knives. I find myself wailing for no reason. I want the tears to stop, but I can¡¯t control them. I know they are watching.¡±

    ¡°This cannot go on any longer. I only seek release.¡±

    ¡°I hope the rumors about this ssroom are real. I am willing to give up everything just to destroy that pair of eyes.¡±

    After reading everything, Chen Ge did not hurry to leave. He diligently recorded all the handwriting on his livestream. In a way, he was keeping evidence. The writing on the table was seemingly carved by the girl who had been hurt by Teacher Fan.

    The eyes inside the toilet had traumatized her deeply. That,bined with Teacher Fan¡¯s other actions, pushed her to seek help from this cursed ssroom. After she paid her dues, Fan Yu¡¯s parents really disappeared. In a way, those eyes that haunted her were indeed dealt with.

    Chen Ge realized this sealed ssroom yed a key role in the whole process. In other words, Teacher Fan¡¯s real killer might have been the things that resided in this ssroom.

    <i>The paper notes with three different sets of handwriting belonged to three people who didn¡¯t exist among the existing student roster and had the capability to kill. If the ghosts inside this ssroom were the killers, they did fulfil the three criteria perfectly.</i>

    Chen Ge looked around him, and his heart started to waver. He was reminded of the group photo that Fan Yu¡¯s aunt had shown him. He might be dealing with more than one or two ghosts. Perhaps a whole ssroom of ghosts was trapped there.

    Chen Ge turned to inspect other tables, and he realized that something was written on each table.

    <i>Every table is carved with words, but the handwriting are all different.</i>

    When Chen Ge moved toward the next table, he identally knocked into the table on which the textbook, paper, and pen sat. The pen rolled off the edge and fell to the floor.

    When Chen Ge bent down to pick it up, an arm from beside the table reached out to pick up the pen and hand it to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Chen Ge epted it and replied on reflex. However, as he straightened up to rece the pen on the table, he froze. A surge of chills climbed up his spine.

    Where did the arme from?

    He aimed his mallet at where the arm had been, but it only made contact with air. He looked around, and the sealed ssroom was the same as he remembered. The tables and chairs around him remained unchanged, but Chen Ge¡¯s gaze did change.

    <i>There¡¯s a ssroom at the end of the corridor that¡¯s always sealed. No one ever enters it, but every night, the ssroom wille alive with activity, and it¡¯s almost midnight.</i>

    The mission description crossed his mind. Just the thought of it made him shiver. Surrendering the mission, Chen Ge just wanted to get out of the ssroom as fast as he could.

    The closer he was to the door, the more anxious he became. He anticipated that the door would close at the final moment and he would turn to see the whole ssroom filled with ¡®people¡¯. Chen Ge picked up pace and rushed through the door. Thankfully, what he feared did not happen.

    <i>Looks like this side mission is not aplishable. </i>Chen Ge looked at the ssroom and realized the rumors were probably real. The whole ss had turned into ghosts and stayed to haunt the ce.

    After closing the ssroom door, before he could catch a break, Chen Ge lowered his head and saw something that gave him the shock of his life. There was another set of footprints outside the ssroom beside him. The person seemed to have stopped in front of the ssroom for a long time before leaving.

    <i>These look like the prints of rubber shoes; this person came prepared.</i>

    When he was inside the sealed ssroom investigating, there was another individual watching him from outside the window. Chen Ge felt scared. If something had happened to him inside the ssroom and he had run toward the door, said person could have easily locked him in from outside.

    Gripping the mallet in his hand, Chen Ge soon calmed down. <i>Footprints can¡¯t be hidden that easily. I¡¯ll need to find this person first before I decide what to do.</i>

    He followed the footprints, and the other person did not seem like they were nning to hide. The trail of footprints was clear, like they were waiting for Chen Ge toe find them. Chen Ge followed the trail up to the third floor, and he realized that the prints entered the toilet. He put away his phone and slowly pushed the toilet door open.

    There was a woman in raincoat standing before the fifth cubicle. She looked slender and weak, like she could crumble at any moment.

    ¡°Whether you¡¯re a human or a ghost, you¡¯re not leaving here until you give me an exnation,¡± Chen Ge warned while maintaining a three-meter distance from the person.

    After a long time, the woman removed the hood of the raincoat to reveal her face. ¡°I really didn¡¯t think you woulde here. I¡¯m here to save you.¡±

    The woman who appeared at Mu Yang High School at midnight was Fan Yu¡¯s aunt.

    ¡°Save me?¡± Chen Ge did not believe her fully. Fan Yu¡¯s aunt was still a suspect. He had not forgotten about the woman¡¯s insistence on giving him that ss of water.

    ¡°Yes, I saw Fan Yu¡¯s drawing.¡± The woman peeled out a wrinkled piece of paper from inside her raincoat. ¡°You are inside the drawing.¡±

    ¡°ce it on the floor and take a few steps back.¡±

    Fan Yu¡¯s aunt dropped the drawing and retreated to stand beside the sixth cubicle.

 Chapter 88 - The Truth

    <h4>Chapter 88: The Truth</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s suspicion toward the woman lowered since she was so cooperative. He walked forward to pick up the drawing. There was a ck building on the paper. The building was filled with red humans, but standing apart from the rest, as if the red humans were afraid to be near it, was an extremely conspicuous ck man.

    ¡°You said that I am inside the painting. What is your evidence?¡± Of course, Chen Ge would not buy her story with just a single painting.

    ¡°The people inside Fan Yu¡¯s painting have always been red in color. In fact, this is also the first time I have seen a ck figure. I thought about it for a long time and deduced that you have to be this ck person because in the past month, you are the only outsider who has been to our house.¡± Fan Yu¡¯s aunt stood in the corner of the room, the rain on her raincoat dripping onto the floor, creating an ufortable rhythm.

    ¡°That¡¯s all? Then what is the meaning of these red people? What is the difference between the red and the ck people?¡±

    Fan Yu¡¯s eyes studied Chen Ge silently. Just as Chen Ge thought the woman would not tell him the truth, she suddenly said, ¡°The red figures represent ghosts, and since I¡¯ve only seen one ck figure, I assume it represents a living human.¡±

    ¡°Ghosts?¡±

    ¡°I know you won¡¯t believe it, but certain things in this world are inexplicable,¡± Fan Yu¡¯s aunt said calmly like she had rehearsed this speech many times already. ¡°Before the ident that happened to Fan Yu¡¯s parents, I knew the boy could see things that normal people couldn¡¯t. I told his parents, but they didn¡¯t believe in things like ghosts.¡±

    ¡°Since they didn¡¯t believe it, why do you?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s curiosity was piqued.

    ¡°Initially, no one knew that Fan Yu has this power until my husband and two children passed away in a car ident. That was the darkest period of my life. I would copse whenever I saw their picture. Should that happen, Fan Yu woulde to me with his drawings. Two small red children living inside a ck house, and he would tell me that the red children are his brother and sister.¡±

    The woman¡¯s eyes softened with warmth. ¡°Naturally, I did not believe him initially; I assumed he was merely trying to make me feel better. But as the number of his drawing increased, my conviction started to shake. I would ask Fan Yu what his brother and sister were doing, and his description would be incredibly detailed. Sometimes, he even mentioned little habits of my children that only a mother would notice and know.¡±

    ¡°That was when you believed Fan Yu can see ghosts?¡±

    ¡°Yes, or I admit perhaps I wish that it is real. Sometimes, I even see my own child possessing Fan Yu¡¯s body.¡±

    ¡°Even if what you¡¯re saying is true, a child¡¯s painting still represents nothing. Don¡¯t tell me every human that appears in his drawing will die?¡± Chen Ge asked cautiously.

    ¡°You can turn over the paper to look underneath it.¡±

    Following her instruction, Chen Ge turned the paper over. There was another drawing. This time, it was the painting of an old well. Inside the well, several figures that were redder than usual were climbing out, while a ck person stood beside the well. Interestingly enough, the location of the ck figure inside the well painting ovepped with the ck person¡¯s position in the ck house on the other side.

    ¡°ording to legend, there is an old well at this school that has imed many lives. The ghosts inside the well areing out, and you¡¯re standing beside it, meaning you¡¯ve been targeted by the ghosts. If you stay here any longer, idents might happen,¡± Fan Yu¡¯s aunt said sincerely. It did sound like she was concerned for Chen Ge.

    Touching the paper, Chen Ge stared at the drawings for a long time. He frowned slightly as hepared the two drawings, and an answer settled in his mind.

    ¡°Looks like I¡¯ve misunderstood you.¡± Chen Ge put Fan Yu¡¯s painting in his pocket, a nonverbal signal that he was not going to return it. ¡°Since I¡¯m nning to leave, let¡¯s go together, this way we can watch each other¡¯s back. This ce gives me the creeps.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Fan Yu¡¯s aunt nodded as she walked toward Chen Ge. Chen Ge seemed to have trusted her fully. He turned to walk away, exposing his defenseless back to the woman.

    The pair walked one in front and one at the back. Chen Ge walked very slowly, holding his mallet. Fan Yu¡¯s aunt behind him seemed to fear being left alone, and she slowly increased her speed. If someone was in front to see Chen Ge¡¯s expression, they would be shocked to see how calctive the glow in his eyes was.

    As the distance between them drew closer, as Fan Yu¡¯s aunt was about to reach Chen Ge, this slender woman showed a face that was suddenly different from before. Her face was tense, and her hand underneath the raincoat, which was carrying something, reached out to stab Chen Ge!

    ¡°I knew you are suspicious.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s reaction was faster than she had anticipated, and the man was crueler than she had thought. The mallet went for her hand, and a kick came soon after.

    BANG!

    After Fan Yu¡¯s aunt was knocked into the toilet¡¯s wall, the thing in her palm ttered to the floor. Chen Ge walked toward her and saw it was a paring knife. The thing was small and was normally used to bone meat, an extremely sharp implement.

    Her hair falling all over her face, Fan Yu¡¯s aunt crawled up from the ground like a vicious ghost. However, Chen Ge did not give her any chance to counter and ¡®helped¡¯ her to the floor again.

    ¡°I¡¯ve suspected you since I visited your ce, but I could not find any proof. Now, you¡¯ve finally shown me your true face.¡±

    The difference in strength was obvious. Fan Yu¡¯s aunt tried several times but could not get up. All she could do was re at Chen Ge hellishly. ¡°How did you find out?¡±

    ¡°From the very beginning, I didn¡¯t trust you, and this drawing provides me with the crucial evidence. The drawing on the back was drawn by your hand. Do you think a child¡¯s art is that easily mimicked? Don¡¯t look at me like that; you¡¯re the one who made the mistake. If you don¡¯t want to get exposed, don¡¯t do the evil deed in the first ce.¡± Chen Ge picked up the paring knife from the floor, and the de glinted coldly in the dark. ¡°You¡¯re the one who killed Fan Yu¡¯s parents, right? Regardless of your reason, how could you kill your own family in cold blood?¡±

    ¡°It was never my intention to kill! You have no idea what really happened that night!¡± Fan Yu¡¯s auntshed out at Chen Ge.

    ¡°That is true, but one thing¡¯s for sure¡ªyou are one of the killers.¡± Chen Ge was considering how to immobilize the woman while waiting for the police to arrive.

    ¡°The real killer is Fan Yu¡¯s father!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re pushing the me onto a dead man? That is your argument?¡± After making sure that Fan Yu¡¯s aunt had no more sharp weapons on her, he rxed slightly.

    ¡°It¡¯s true.¡± Fan Yu¡¯s aunt copsed to the floor, and the truth from years ago finally came out of her lips. ¡°You must know by now what kind of sick bastard my brother was. It was inside this exact toilet that he caused an innocent girl to go crazy. In the end, I heard that the girl was forced tomit suicide. After that happened, my brother became even more unhinged and increasingly paranoid, often iming that someone was out to get him. My sister-inw finally could not stand it and filed for divorce. But my brother refused to let her leave. Forced into the corner, she threatened my brother, saying that if he didn¡¯t agree to the divorce, she would expose his crimes to the world.¡±

 Chapter 89 - Deep Well

    <h4>Chapter 89: Deep Well</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Then what was your brother¡¯s response?¡±

    An originally mentally unhinged person who was haunted, Chen Ge expected such an individual to resort to extreme action when threatened, and what Fan Yu¡¯s aunt said next confirmed his spection.

    ¡°Weirdly enough, after her threat, my brother calmed down. He considered it for a whole afternoon before relenting to her demand.¡± The expression on Fan Yu¡¯s aunt¡¯s face wasplicated. ¡°In retrospect, he was probably figuring out a way to kill her instead of considering the divorce.

    ¡°Things went as nned for my brother. It was raining cats and dogs the day that he locked Fan Yu up in his office and returned home alone. When we discovered that Fan Yu was not home, we assumed that the boy had gone missing, so all of us went out to go searching for him. My brother led his wife to Mu Yang High School.

    ¡°When I returned home at 9 pm, none of them were there. I was worried, so I also headed for Mu Yang High School to go look for them.

    ¡°There was an old well on the hill behind the school. A few days before that, there had been andslide caused by heavy rain, and the well had been buried. When I arrived, my brother was clearing the soil around the well.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see my sister-inw at first. I called my brother¡¯s name as I walked closer, and when I did, I saw her body stuck at the mouth of the well.

    ¡°I really didn¡¯t expect him to do something like that; he was such a gentle soul normally, and he really did love his wife. I realized then that my brother has lost his mind. Ever since he brought home that photo and said that he was haunted, I should have known that was the case.

    ¡°After I stumbled across the murder, I was given two choices. One was to help him cover up the body, and the other was to die.

    ¡°To save myself, I had no choice but to listen to him. As he ordered, I left some wounds on my sister-inw¡¯s body and then helped him dig the well open.¡±

    Fan Yu¡¯s aunt was leaning against the wall, and her eyes were filled with regret. ¡°I knew I had be an aplice, but the scarier thing was that I didn¡¯t know when my brother would dispose of me. He definitely would not leave any witnesses alive. Perhaps after burying my sister-inw, he would also toss me inside the well.¡±

    ¡°So, you took the initiative and killed him first?¡± Chen Ge listened to the woman¡¯s story quickly, and from his perspective, this whole family was abnormal. The husband was a Peeping Tom, and after finding out about it, the wife did not report it to the police but used that as leverage to ask for a divorce.

    ¡°If I did not kill him, I would have been killed. And after killing him, I became Fan Yu¡¯s only family, and I did not need to share him with anyone else again.¡± Thest sentence was probably the only truthful word that left the woman¡¯s lips that night.

    ¡°But Fan Yu is not even your child to begin with.¡± Chen Ge believed half of what Fan Yu¡¯s aunt had said. There was no way to confirm things that happened three years ago, and there was no one to counter Fan Yu¡¯s aunt.

    ¡°You¡¯re wrong! My children have possessed Fan Yu¡¯s body, and that is why he is familiar with my children¡¯s habits! Fan Yu is not only my brother¡¯s child but also my children!¡± Green veins started to pop on the woman¡¯s face, and her lips were bleeding from the vehemence of her im.

    Seeing her in this state, Chen Ge did not think it was wise to push her further. This woman said that her brother was crazy, but from how he saw it, she was not that normal herself. Her mind had probably snapped when her husband and children passed away in the car ident, and she applied her twisted love on Fan Yu when she realized the boy could see her children¡¯s lost souls.

    Looking at the distraught woman, Chen Ge was reminded of the mission description given by the ck phone¡ªEveryone has a deep well inside their heart where shameful and unknowable secrets stay buried.

    ¡°Get up, show me to the well where your brother¡¯s body was dumped.¡±

    ¡°The well has already disappeared. After my brother shoved my sister-inw down the well, I pushed him in. He broke his fall on top of my sister-inw¡¯s body. He screamed and cursed from inside the well, but no one could hear him because of the heavy rain.¡± Fan Yu¡¯s aunt pulled at her hair nervously, her arms continuously shaking. ¡°I filled the well up with soil, and three years have passed since then. I don¡¯t even know where to start to look for the well.¡±

    ¡°You only need to give me a general area,¡± Chen Ge said in a normal tone, but it elicited a violent reaction from Fan Yu¡¯s aunt.

    ¡°No one will be able to find them!¡± Memory struck the woman¡¯s heart like a knife, and her expression twisted with ferocity. ¡°I will raise Fan Yu alone; I will give him all the love he needs!¡±

    ¡°If you really love Fan Yu, you wouldn¡¯t have done this. Your love benefits only yourself; it¡¯s incredibly selfish.¡± When they were at the Haunted House, he had noticed that Fan Yu preferred talking to Chen Ge, a stranger, than deal with his aunt. It was obvious that they did not share a good rtionship.

    ¡°You said that the period after your family¡¯s ident was the darkest moment of your life. It was Fan Yu who came to you withfort by offering you the drawings of your children. He helped you out of sincerity, but you killed his father.¡± Chen Ge was reminded of the small house that was filled with red figures. If he had not intervened then, things might have gone down a far worse and far crueler route. ¡°You should be d that Fan Yu is still a child.¡±

    Facing the punishment of thew would be good for both Fan Yu and his aunt. Fan Yu was searching for heaven inside the well, which meant that he had witnessed everything; he knew his aunt was the real killer.

    As he grew older, he might have repeated what his aunt had done, and with blood on his hands, his life would have been ruined.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to give this tragedy its closure.¡± After ending the livestream, Chen Ge had called the police. With regards to the kind of punishment Fan Yu¡¯s aunt would receive, he really had no clue.

    ¡°The boy is forced to live with the killer of his parents. No wonder his psychological development is so stunted, you are the cause of his symptoms.¡±

    When Chen Ge called the police, Fan Yu¡¯s aunt shook her head vehemently, and her lips moved before she ran toward the toilet door.

    ¡°Stop struggling.¡± Chen Ge followed behind her. He was afraid that she might do something stupid.

    Two of them ran to the first floor. When they passed the sealed ssroom, Fan Yu¡¯s aunt suddenly tripped and stayed on the ground for a long time. It felt like someone had yanked on her leg; it was weird to say the least.

    Chen Ge stopped several meters behind her. Fan Yu¡¯s aunt was copsed at the door to the sealed ssroom, and Chen Ge was feeling apprehensive about this particr ssroom.

    He stuck his back to the wall opposite from the door and leaned to peek into the ssroom. It was after midnight. The empty ssroom was filled with students, and an old, rotund man was standing at the lectern.

 Chapter 90 - The Cursed Ballpoint Pen

    <h4>Chapter 90: The Cursed Ballpoint Pen</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Fan Yu¡¯s aunt had also seen the scene inside the ssroom. The children sitting at the tables with their heads lowered were simr to the students shot inside her brother¡¯s group photo. After copsing to the floor, fear was frozen on her face. She tried to stand up, but her limbs refused to listen to hermand.

    ¡°Shush!¡± Chen Ge rushed to the woman¡¯s side to grab her arm and half-dragged her out of the education block!

    The rumors were real. Regardless of their cause of death, the students had all returned to that ssroom.

    ¡°You saw it, right? Right?¡± Seeing them in a picture and seeing them in real life had apletely different feeling. The woman¡¯s eyes bulged out of their sockets, and her breath came haltingly.

    ¡°Let¡¯s leave this ce for now.¡± Chen Ge dragged Fan Yu¡¯s aunt to the entrance of the education block. Before they left, he turned back to nce at the ssroom. The door and windows were closed, and it waspletely dark within.

    <i>I¡¯ve been inside the school for so long already, and they haven¡¯t actively attacked me. Looks like they aren¡¯t malevolent spirits. </i>Chen Ge had basis to believe that. The girl who was made insane by Fan Yu¡¯s father hadmitted suicide in that ssroom, and the one who came out to help her was one of the spirits from that ssroom. The people who wrote the warning notes to Fan Yu¡¯s father were the spirits. They were trying to protect the school¡¯s students, even though their method was a bit wrong.

    Chen Ge held Fan Yu¡¯s aunt as they wandered over to Mu Yang High School¡¯s front gate. They stood beside it to avoid the rain. It was already past midnight. Chen Ge did not think it is wise to stay inside that three buildings, plus he had a random variable in Fan Yu¡¯s aunt to be concerned about.

    At around 1 am, the rain started to slow. There was lighting toward Mu Yang High School. When Chen Ge saw this, he immediately turned on his shlight and cried for help. As the leaves of the forest parted, a group of people forced their way through in their raincoats.

    ¡°Here! The suspect has already been detained!¡± Chen Ge was excited, but when he saw the person who was leading the way, his confidence dwindled.

    ¡°Why is it you again?¡± When Inspector Lee reached the gate and saw Chen Ge, his face began twitching. ¡°The same person has called the emergency hotline thrice in a week. This is the first time that has ever happened in the station¡¯s 35 years history. Did you know that? Even the officer who answers the calls felt like he can now recognize your voice.¡±

    Chen Ge was made speechless by Inspector Lee. He too felt embarrassed. He quickly hauled Fan Yu¡¯s aunt off the floor and led her to Inspector Lee. Inspector Lee asked his men to break the school¡¯s gate open, and before entering, he asked, ¡°She¡¯s also a victim?¡±

    ¡°No, she¡¯s one of the killers.¡± Chen Ge handed Fan Yu¡¯s aunt over to one of the officers.

    ¡°One of the killers?¡± Inspector Lee flickered his shlight thrice to alert his men. ¡°There are other killers still hiding inside the school?¡±

    ¡°The other killer is already dead.¡± Chen Ge summarized everything he knew for Inspector Lee. ¡°This woman¡¯s brother was a voyeur, and after the brother¡¯s wife found out, she used it to leverage a divorce. Unwilling to part, her brother killed his wife, and she happened to see her brother do that. To prevent herself from being killed, she killed her brother.¡±

    ¡°So, it was self-defense?¡± Inspector Lee caught onto the key question.

    ¡°If that was the case, she should have reported to the police after that. However, after she killed her brother, she cleared the crime scene and left. The murder happened three years ago, and there is no other witness. Everything I know, it was she who told me.¡± Chen Ge pointed at Fan Yu¡¯s aunt. ¡°So, it is not unlikely that she was lying.¡±

    ¡°Where was the crime scene then?¡± Inspector Lee had skipped even asking why Chen Ge was there. Even the assisting officers took this in their stride like it was not out of the ordinary to find Chen Ge there.

    ¡°That, you¡¯ll need to ask her.¡± Chen Ge also wanted to know the location of the well. That was thest of his four side missions. Inspector Lee was far more experienced than Chen Ge at interrogating. He epted a clean towel from his men before passing it to Fan Yu¡¯s aunt. ¡°Assault with intention to murder may send you to the chair, but if it was self-defense and the suspect shows signs of remorse, there might still be chance for you to see the light of day.¡±

    Fan Yu¡¯s aunt gripped the towel silently. She did not look particrly afraid of death.

    ¡°Think about your family. At your age, you should have your own children by now. If you refuse to cooperate, you might never see them again.¡± Inspector Lee soon found an opening, and the moment he said that, Fan Yu¡¯s aunt started to waver.

    After ten more minutes of persuasion, she finally spoke. ¡°The hiding spot is at the hill behind the school, but I can only remember a general direction.¡±

    She led Chen Ge and the police to a small hill behind the school. ¡°The bodies were dropped down a well. At the time, there was andslide, and it covered the wellpletely.¡±

    There was no road around Mu Yang High School for heavy duty vehicles to enter. Thus, it would require manualbor if they wished to find that well. Chen Ge also considered that point.

    ¡°Inspector Lee, if we do not confirm her words as soon as possible, the case might shift when dawn arrives.¡± Chen Ge squeezed to stand beside Inspector Lee. His heart was worried about hisst side mission.

    ¡°Seal the scene first, and we¡¯ll wait for the crew toe with the necessary tools before the digging can start.¡± Without the reminder from Chen Ge, Inspector Lee was already on the phone, arranging everything.

    At 2:15 am, the crew finally arrived. Inspector Lee assigned everyone their roles, and the digging began in earnest. Chen Ge also went to help by grabbing a shovel. He showed such conviction in his job that the officers were quite touched.

    At 3 am, the well at Mu Yang High School finally surfaced. At 4.30 am, the well was cracked open, and two bodies were retrieved from within.

    At the same time, Chen Ge¡¯s ck phone vibrated; he received the mission aplished message.

    Putting down the shovel, Chen Ge found a secluded spot and clicked the message open.

    ¡°You managed to reach the Mission Location on time, sessfully experienced all four side missions, and survived until dawn. Mu Yang High School Trial Mission sessful! A new scenario has been unlocked. yer can manipte the props inside the set freely using the interface avable on the phone!

    ¡°Trial Missionpletion rate more than ny percent. Unlocked this mission¡¯s hidden item¡ªThe Cursed Ballpoint Pen.

    ¡°The Cursed Ballpoint Pen (Broken): The Pen Spirit refused to answer to your call. It rolled its eyes at you before hiding away.¡±

 Chapter 91 - Increasing Popularity

    <h4>Chapter 91: Increasing Poprity</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Reading the mission clear message, Chen Ge sighed in relief. This Trial Mission with a two-star scream factor had been easier than he anticipated, but that was probably because the spirits inside Mu Yang High School meant him no harm.

    When he was halfway through the mission, he had already noticed that the residents of Mu Yang High School were not baleful specters. Including the Pen Spirit, they had no malicious intent. What had happened to Fan Yu¡¯s father was merely karma.

    The most difficult side missions were definitely the ssroom and the deep well. Even now, he still had not truly uncovered the mystery of the Sealed ssroom. He did go in to experience it once, and thankfully, the spirits inside did not make things too difficult for him. The difficulty of the Deep Well mission was high as well. Even with the aid of the police, they had dug for a whole night before locating the well before dawn. If he had attempted that alone, he definitely would have failed the mission.

    Chen Ge felt satisfied with the rewards. He did not mind too much about the unlocked hidden item. ording to legend, Pen Spirits could predict the future, but his Pen Spirit did not seem to be knowledgeable about anything and had no principles or morals.

    The rain that had continued throughout the night finally stopped. The police did not forget to praise Chen Ge for his contribution. After taking his testimony, they drove him home. The emergency call and a whole night of digging had led to tired officers. Inside the car, the one sitting next to Chen Ge was falling asleep. Chen Ge nudged his own body to the door to make space for the officer. The journey home was silent.

    Chen Ge arrived at New Century Park at 6 am. It could have been the Yin Yang Vision or constant exposure to spirits, but Chen Ge felt incredibly cold. Hey in his bed, but sleep would note. He turned to his phone and was shocked to realize there were more than ten unanswered calls and unread messages.

    Most of them came from He San, mainly asking about his safety and whether he needed to call the police. At the bottom of the inbox was a message from Doctor Gao. The good doctor said that Fan Yu¡¯s symptoms might be rted to the people around him, and he advised Chen Ge to pay closer attention to such individuals in the boy¡¯s life.

    The message was sent at 12:30 am. By then, Fan Yu¡¯s aunt hade clean to Chen Ge. After replying to both He San and Doctor Gao, Chen Ge opened the video-sharing app and clicked into his personal page.

    <i>A four-hour livestream but not a word with the chat, and I even closed the stream several times in the middle without warning. I can only imagine the damage that was done to my poprity.</i>

    After detaining Fan Yu¡¯s aunt, Chen Ge had closed the livestream in deference to Fan Yu¡¯s privacy and future. He did not have the time to exin the situation to his viewers; his attention had been required elsewhere.

    After loading the main page, Chen Ge nced at the interface and was shocked to realize that his livestream¡¯s followers had increased to 39,000 users.

    <i>I remember, before the livestream, I had less than 10,000 followers. What happenedst night during the livestream?</i>

    He had been so upied with the side mission that he had allowed the livestream to y on its own. He did not think too much of it, so he was surprised by this sudden reward.

    Just as Chen Ge was trying to figure out what had happened, He San¡¯s call came. As he answered it, he could hear themotion on the other side. ¡°Boss! I knew you¡¯re still alive!¡±

    Chen Ge ignored He San¡¯s celebration and asked directly, ¡°What happenedst night during my livestream? Why did my followers and views grow so tremendously?¡±

    ¡°Since you started your livestreamst night, the number has been growing, but it was incredibly slow until you started to y the Pen Spirit game. Someone created a thread on the app forum exposing Qin Guang for his giarism and then even attached your first livestream.¡± He San¡¯s voice turned sharp from indignation. ¡°Qin Guang¡¯s livestream giarized your content down to the analysis, set, and even the identity of the killer, who was yed by an actor! The evidence was right before their eyes, but Qin Guang¡¯s fans refused to admit it. They started to nder your name in the thread, saying that it was you who was mimicking their idol.¡±

    ¡°Probably just the 50-cent army <sup>1</sup> , nothing unusual. Then what happened next?¡±

    ¡°Many viewers went to Qin Guang¡¯s livestream to demand an exnation, but Qin Guang pretended not to have seen them. Not only that, he banned any viewers who brought up your name. However, with his high poprity and the all-in promotion by the tform, there were 800,000 viewers at the start of his livestream, and with the chat scrolling so fast, his team missed some of your mentions. Thus, a number of his viewers who were curious came over to your livestream.¡± He San got increasingly excited. ¡°The highest viewers during your livestream was 50,000 but it was thebination of passersby, paid viewers, Qin Guang¡¯s fans, and your own fans; it was a mess! You don¡¯t have any mods in your livestream, so even after the livestream had stopped, the chat kept going for another half an hour. By the way, thanks to this chaos, your livestream entered the Popr Ranking for the midnight session. Congrattions, not many newbie hosts can enter that ranking so early in their career.¡±

    Chen Ge could imagine the chaos in his livestreamst night, but it was a blessing in disguise since his follower number did have a tremendous increase. After all, he was notcking in content but exposure.

    ¡°Slow down. After all, that was just my second livestream.¡± Chen Ge talked for a few more minutes with He San before hanging up.

    He looked at the private messages that he had received from the other users of the app. Most of them were curses, but there were a few who could not stand Qin Guang¡¯s bullying and chose to send Chen Ge their support.

    Near the bottom of his inbox, Chen Ge recognized a familiar user handler. The profile picture was simr to the studio that had harassed him before. The message warned him to not resort to dirty tricks, or he would make sure Chen Ge was unable to survive on this tform.

    If another host saw this, they might have been afraid, but Chen Ge was different. Livestreaming and posting short videos were merely ways for him to promote his Haunted House. After blocking this ount, Chen Ge exited the app and picked up the ck phone.

    ¡°Mu Yang High School (Scream Factor 2 Stars): The setting up of the scenario has beenpleted, you can now go down to the subterranean level to visit it.

    ¡°Warning: Mu Yang High School is considered part of the four-star scenario, School of the Afterlife; its space is twice the size of a normal scenario. Please familiarize yourself with the interioryout before putting it to use.¡±

    After looking at the message on the phone, Chen Ge sat up in bed. <i>The size is twice normal scenario¡¯s? Wait... don¡¯t tell me, the whole of Mu Yang High School has been moved here?</i>

    He put on his shoes and ran to the first floor, peeled off the wooden boards, and peered downward.

    The abandoned underground parking lot had been given a new look. The stairs had signs of being charred, the darkened corridor was littered with unfinished test papers, the doors to the ssrooms creaked in the darkness, and shadows could be seen flitting between the upturned tables.

 Chapter 92 - Request

    <h4>Chapter 92: Request</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The scenery that unfolded before him surprised even Chen Ge, the Haunted House¡¯s owner. The size of Mu Yang High School¡¯s scenario was so muchrger than Murder by Midnight. As he took a step into it, a cold draft caressed the back of Chen Ge¡¯s neck. It made him feel unsettled, like something might jump out at him from the dark at any moment.

    <i>Four ssrooms, corridors, toilets, and offices...</i>

    Everything that Mu Yang High School had was perfectly replicated inside Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, but theyout was rearranged so that it was all closer together.

    Walking down the dim corridor, Chen Ge could not help himself from turning to look into the ssrooms on both sides. The walls beyond the windows were cement wall, and there could not be drafts underground, but the windows kept on creaking like they were touched by the wind.

    The first few ssrooms were creepy but still eptable; however, when Chen Ge reached the sealed ssroom at the end of the corridor, the hairs on his body stood up. This was the first time he had felt such intense fear inside his own Haunted House.

    This ssroom reminded him of the sealed ssroom at Mu Yang High School, but it was notpletely the same. Every table had writing scrawled all over it with red paint, but more scarily, there was a set of school uniform sitting on each chair.

    The uniform was a perfect match to the uniforms Chen Ge had seen in the group photo taken with Fan Yu¡¯s father. The only difference was that, in the picture, all the students were facing away from the camera, but in this ssroom, all the uniforms were turned toward Chen Ge, who stood at the door.

    After taking a deep breath, Chen Ge forced himself to walk into the room. Standing at the lectern, looking down at the room, the rows of chairs felt like they were seated with students.

    <i>Why did only this ssroome with school uniforms? Could these uniforms represent the lingering spirits that remained here? </i>Chen Ge counted the school uniform silently; there were twenty-four uniforms in total.

    <i>Afterpleting the Murder by Midnight Trial Mission, the Haunted House¡¯s scenario became the new home for Xiaoxiao¡¯s family. If I follow this simr train of thought... </i>Chen Ge¡¯s face twitched with difort. It meant that there were twenty-four lingering spirits who had moved into his Haunted House.

    <i>Then again, I might be wrong. </i>Chen Ge exited the ssroom, closed the door, and continued to move forward.

    At the end of the corridor was the toilet, and a few steps past that brought Chen Ge to the first junction. The left turn led to the office area while right led to the female dormitory.

    Chen Ge took the right turn. He only took several steps when the corridor turned narrow. The rooms on both sides felt like they were closing in on him, and at the end of the corridor was another junction.

    <i>Just a two-star scenario is already soplicated. If I unlock a few more scenarios, this underground parking lot will definitely be a Maze of Terror.</i>

    He pushed open a random door, and the interior was designed like a crime scene.

    It was worth noting that Chen Ge discovered a row of chairs ced side by side in the secondst bedroom, and several pieces of paper and a greatly damaged ballpoint pen were ced on top of one of them.

    <i>This is the hidden item for unlocking Mu Yang High School¡¯s scenario? </i>Chen Ge picked up the ballpoint pen gingerly. It was so fragile that it looked like it could crack at any moment. <i>Hidden items seem to have their own purpose. Wang Qi¡¯s Hidden Person Notice helped me befriend Xiaoxiao¡¯s family, and they now help me maintain the Murder by Midnight scenario. Could it be possible that this ballpoint pen will help me win the favour of the students in the sealed ssroom?</i>

    Chen Ge could not figure out how. Eventually, he exited the scenario with the ballpoint pen in hand. He returned to the staff breakroom to fix the pen with tape.

    ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, I know you hold a grudge against me, but I¡¯ve fixed your pen. If you have forgiven me, please draw a circle on the paper.¡±

    ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, you are my spirit from my previous life, and I am your spirit in this life. If you are with us, please draw a circle on the paper...¡±

    To solve the mystery rted to the sealed ssroom, asking the Pen Spirit would be the most direct solution. However, no matter how hard Chen Ge chanted its invocation, the Pen Spirit refused to answer.

    ¡°Why so silent? I¡¯m also a victim in this case, okay?¡±

    Chen Ge had no choice but to return the pen to the female dormitory. He took a tour around the ce before returning to the first floor.

    <i>The twenty-four uniforms in the sealed ssroom were scary, but the impact was not enough. When I have time, I should update the models in the Night of the Living Room, put the uniforms on them, and ced them in the ssroom. That should up the fear factor quite a bit. </i>Chen Ge closed the wooden boards and was about to return to bed when his phone rang.

    He turned to take a look and was surprised to see that it was from Inspector Lee.

    ¡°Uncle San Bao? How can I help you?¡± When Chen Ge returned from Mu Yang High School, Inspector Lee had stayed. He seemed to have been talking with the officers from the main city¡¯s investigation team.

    ¡°If you¡¯re not too busy, do you minding to the district police station? The killer wants to talk to you.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Chen Ge was confused, but he still agreed so as to give face to Inspector Lee. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be there in a minute.¡±

    When he arrived, a familiar officer led Chen Ge to the interrogation room. Fan Yu¡¯s aunt was sitting in the chair, her hands in cuffs.

    ¡°The autopsy for the bodies is still going on. The suspect¡¯s emotions are very unstable, and she refuses to say anything. Her only demand is to talk to you in person, and that was why I called you.¡± The middle-aged officer in the interrogation room stood up and shook Chen Ge¡¯s hand. ¡°Then, I shall leave you to you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll try my best.¡± Chen Ge walked to Fan Yu¡¯s aunt. In just one night, she seemed to have gotten even wearier than usual. Her head was lowered, and her hair covered her face.

    When she felt someone approach, the woman¡¯s eyes, which had been distracted earlier, started to focus on Chen Ge. They spoke ofplicated emotions.

    ¡°You asked for me?¡± As Chen Ge tried to get near, he was stopped by the officer, who wished for him to maintain a safe distance.

    Fan Yu¡¯s aunt nodded slightly. She was silent for a long time, and the first sentence out of her mouth surprised Chen Ge. ¡°Do you have the drawing I gave you in the third-floor toilets?¡±

    If she did not bring this up, Chen Ge would have forgotten all about it already. He retrieved the drawing from his pocket and ced it before Fan Yu¡¯s aunt. Looking at the weird drawing, Fan Yu¡¯s aunt did not feel afraid. In fact, it felt like she treated it like some kind of treasure. Then again, that was too be expected; after all, when her husband and children passed away, it was with these drawings that she slowly walked out from her despair.

    Eventually Fan Yu¡¯s aunt¡¯s spoke. ¡°I¡¯ve done everything I could for Fan Yu for three years, but the first living person who showed up in his drawing is you, how is that fair?¡±

    ¡°Things might not be as simple as you think. Fan Yu probably thinks I¡¯m simr him.¡± Chen Ge pointed at his eyes. ¡°We can see the same thing.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Fan Yu¡¯s aunt lowered her head again, and the interrogation room became quiet.

    ¡°Is this why you called me here?¡± Chen Ge folded the drawing up neatly.

    After ten minutes, Fan Yu¡¯s aunt collected herself; it was as if she hade to a decision. She told Chen Ge in a soft voice, ¡°I am Fan Yu¡¯s only remaining family, and I will have to leave him soon. The boy has a weird personality and is unable to make any friends. I do not ask that you take him on, but I plead that you go visit him when you have time. Talk to him and make sure he isn¡¯t bullied by the other kids.¡±

 Chapter 93 - Twenty-four Names

    <h4>Chapter 93: Twenty-four Names</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Regardless of what Fan Yu¡¯s aunt had done in the past, at least at that moment, she was putting Fan Yu first.

    ¡°I will try my best to watch out for the boy,¡± Chen Ge promised without hesitation. In this whole incident, Fan Yu was the most innocent.

    ¡°Actually, you don¡¯t need to worry so much.¡± The officer behind the desk also walked over to say, ¡°We have already contacted child services. If you truly repent, you might still have the chance to see your child in the future.¡±

    ¡°My child?¡± Fan Yu¡¯s aunt looked at that officer, and her nk expression slowly shifted. Her lips fell open as she stared at a spot above the officer¡¯s shoulder, and for some reason, she smiled. ¡°Okay, I will tell you everything I know.¡±

    They then entered the normal interrogation process. Chen Ge felt he was not needed there anymore, so he asked to leave. After exiting the station, he hailed a cab to go to Fan Yu¡¯s home.

    The incident might appear to have reached its conclusion on the surface, but there was still a huge question that had not been solved, a question that only Chen Ge knew and only Fan Yu could provide the answer to.

    The sun wasing up, but its rays seemed to be unable to prate the maze-like alleyways. After exiting the taxi, Chen Ge walked deeper into the alleys, following his memory.

    Eventually, he found the ce that Fan Yu¡¯s aunt rented. He knocked several times on the second-floor door before he heard the lock being moved from within, and the door opened a sliver. Chen Ge pushed it open, and to his surprise, there was no one standing behind the door. He stood at the entrance for a long time, and even with the sunlight falling on him, he did not feel a trace of warmth.

    ¡°Fan Yu?¡± Chen Ge stepped into the room, and he felt even chiller. The living room and kitchen were empty. Chen Ge shuffled toward the bedroom. He tried to push on the door, and simr to before, the door was not locked and was pushed open easily.

    Heavy curtains blocked all the light in the room, and the lights were not on. The ce was dim, and the floor was littered with paper. Chen Ge picked up a random piece, and it was still a drawing of a ck house crowded with red people.

    ¡°Why did you toss these drawings away? Are you not satisfied with them?¡± Chen Ge held the drawing in his hands while he looked toward the table. Fan Yu sat on the chair, facing away from him. The boy looked like he was spacing out.

    Chen Ge avoided the drawings on the floor carefully, and when he walked closer, he saw there was onest drawing that was left on the table. On the white paper, a ck crayon was used to draw the outline of a house, and a small ck figure was standing isted in the middle of it.

    ¡°What happened to the red people?¡±

    Chen Ge did not expect Fan Yu to answer, but Fan Yu turned his head to look at him and whispered, ¡°They have found a new home.¡±

    ¡°Meaning, they have moved away?¡± Chen Ge was reminded of the twenty-four uniforms he had seen inside his Haunted House and something clicked. ¡°Are you friends with them?¡±

    The boy shook his head. With his eyes on his drawing, Fan Yu reached into his drawer to pull out a paper box to give Chen Ge.

    ¡°For me?¡± Chen Ge looked into the box, and inside sat twenty-four school name tags with twenty-four different names. In the middle of the box was a photo group, and twenty-four students stood facing away from the camera.

    These twenty-four name tags should reveal the mystery behind the sealed ssroom, and now Fan Yu had handed them to Chen Ge. After surrendering the box, Fan Yu stopped saying anything. Chen Ge had no idea what the boy was thinking.

    Neither of them said anything. Looking at Fan Yu, Chen Ge did not have the heart to ask the question that was on his mind. Suddenly footsteps came from the corridor, and soon, a man and woman appeared at the door.

    ¡°This should be the ce.¡±

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t the door locked? Fan Yu? Are you inside?¡±

    Hearing them, Chen Ge ran out to see what was wrong. ¡°And you are?¡±

    ¡°We are workers from Jiujiang Children¡¯s Home; this is our identification. We are here to take Fan Yu for a physical check-up and then follow up on the documentation for his future,¡± the woman exined as they both looked at Chen Ge with suspicion. They did not understand why an unknown man had appeared at Fan Yu¡¯s home.

    ¡°Fan Yu is inside the bedroom. The boy is very independent, so please do take care of him.¡±

    ¡°We will; that is our job.¡± The woman entered the bedroom to fetch Fan Yu while the man stood outside to keep an eye on Chen Ge. They did not seem to trust him. Realizing that the woman had stepped into this territory, Fan Yu¡¯s reaction was rather agitated. He grabbed the drawing on the table and ran outside like he was trying to make an escape.

    ¡°Grab him!¡± the woman yelled from inside the house. The man at the door heard her, and when Fan Yu ran to his side, he grabbed at the boy¡¯s arm. The man was experienced at dealing with troublesome children. Very easily, he pinned down Fan Yu¡¯s arms. This way, he would not be scratched by Fan Yu, and Fan Yu had no opportunity of harming himself.

    Fan Yu struggled like his life depended on it. This greatly unsettled Chen Ge, and after some negotiation with the man, he finally released Fan Yu. Fan Yu, who was released, did not attempt to make another escape. He gripped the drawing silently, like he knew running would be futile.

    Watching Fan Yu being led way, Chen Ge could not hold it in anymore. He chased after the boy and squatted down before him to ask a question that had troubled him for a long time.

    ¡°You know heaven is inside the well, and you witnessed everything, so why didn¡¯t you say anything?¡± Chen Ge had never treated Fan Yu as a normal boy¡ªthe house of red people had prevented him from doing that.

    A nk-faced Fan Yu thought about it for a while when he heard Chen Ge¡¯s question. In the end, he did not answer but raised his head to sh an innocent smile at Chen Ge.

    As he watched Fan Yu leave, Chen Ge¡¯s back started to be drenched with sweat. This was the first time he had seen the boy smile. Hugging the paper box with twenty-four names and the photo that had been given to him by Fan Yu, Chen Ge returned to New Century Park.

    The trip to the police station and then Fan Yu¡¯s ce had taken up plenty of time. When he arrived at New Century Park, it was already past 10:30 am.

    After the whole night of rain, the sun was shining brightly. Chen Ge¡¯s mood also improved when he saw the crowd that had gathered inside the park. As he entered the park, he immediately noticed the crowd that had formed outside his Haunted House.

    Initially, he had thought those were customers, but he realized he was wrong when he got closer. None of them were lining up for tickets but very unreasonably blocked the entrance from other real visitors.

    <i>What¡¯s happening? </i>Chen Ge walked over and realized that Uncle Xu was also there, negotiating with the unruly crowd.

    When they saw Chen Ge approach, they quickly surrounded him.

 Chapter 94 - New Customers

    <h4>Chapter 94: New Customers</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Xiao Chen, where have you been? Why are you sote for work?¡± Uncle Xu pulled Chen Ge to stand behind him, afraid that the mob might harm the young man.

    ¡°I just came back from the district station; I was helping the police with a murder case.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Not only Uncle Xu, even the mob who surrounded Chen Ge was shocked. Normally, the reason given for truancy was either a traffic jam or stomach ache; being involved in a murder case was truly an excuse they had not heard about before.

    ¡°Murder case?¡± Uncle Xu looked at Chen Ge with shock and had forgotten the urgent matter at hand.

    ¡°Yup, but the case is different from the earlier murder at the apartment; it probably won¡¯t be broadcasted on the mass media.¡±

    <i>There was an earlier murder? </i>The raging mob¡¯s aggression suddenly dwindled.

    ¡°Alright, leave this to me.¡± Chen Ge stood facing the crowd and said, ¡°You guys are looking for me?¡±

    With just one question, Chen Ge managed to extinguish the little momentum the mob had left. The crowd that blocked the entrance to the Haunted House looked at each other before shoving out a middle-aged man, who was shortest among them, to face Chen Ge.

    ¡°We are from Qin Guang¡¯s studio. Last night, you employed hical tactics by hiring a 50-cent army to spread rumors that are damaging to Qin Guang¡¯s reputation.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the one who employed hical tactics? You people sure know how to create story. Who the real hical giarist here is, you know yourselves.¡± Chen Ge cut the man off instantly. ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else, please leave the premises; you are interrupting my business.¡±

    ¡°Qin Guang merely chose to have the livestream at the same location as you. That is not a basis for you to im that he giarized your work simply because you happened to shoot at the location first.¡± The middle-aged man stood his ground and tried to argue with Chen Ge.

    ¡°A simpleparison between our livestreams show that Qin Guang mimicked even my starting analysis while trapped inside the bedroom. If that is not giarism, what is?¡±

    ¡°At most, he only copied your beginning. The plot that developed after that was his own creativity. Of course, it cannot be called giarism. At the very worst, you can call it a homage.¡±

    Chen Ge had never seen such a shameless person before. He knew reasoning with them would be a waste of time, so he walked past them to open the gate and prepare for business.

    ¡°You are new to the scene, so we understand your drive to seed, but you have to know that this job is not that easy.¡± The middle-aged man pulled out a document from his bag. Chen Ge had initially thought it was some kind ofwyer¡¯s letter, but he had overestimated his opponent¡¯s conviction.

    ¡°You are not from this field, so you don¡¯t understand certain things¡ªthat¡¯s fine¡ªbut most established hosts are made with gold and poprity. It might appear that you have caught some poprity for now, but the tform will never support a neer and abandon Qin Guang because Qin Guang is the tform¡¯s key promoter. His sess is tied to the sess of the tform itself.¡± The middle-aged man waved the document in his hand. ¡°If you agree to stop the malicious attacks against Qin Guang and post a public apology on your personal ount, we willpensate you ordingly. However, if you insist on walking down the wrong ce and harassing Qin Guang and any of his affiliates to brush up the poprity of your own livestream, we will contact the tform to block you from all of its channels.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t try to shift the me onto the viewers; they arepletely innocent. If anything, the viewers simply cannot stomach the open bullying and came to support me.¡± Chen Ge did not give a damn about the threat. After all, the tform had never helped him once before. Even he himself did not know how he had managed to achieve his current poprity.

    ¡°Being rash benefits no one, why don¡¯t you think about it first?¡± The middle-aged man¡¯s attitude softened; the unreasonableness that was evident before Chen Ge arrived hadpletely disappeared. Around six of them hade to create trouble for Chen Ge, but the first sentence out of the man¡¯s lips when he arrived had thrown a wrench into their n. Then again, they could not totally be med. Any normal person would be cautioned when they realized that the person they were dealing with had been involved in not one but two murder cases.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing to consider. I¡¯ve already discovered the unique selling point of my livestream and videos. Even if I¡¯m forced to leave this tform, I¡¯ll just regain my follower base elsewhere.¡± Chen Ge chased the people from Qin Guang¡¯s studio aside and informed Xu Wan to start preparing for work.

    He had raced about the whole night, so he was tired. He sat in the ticket booth selling tickets. After the first few waves of visitors exited the Haunted House, the people from Qin Guang¡¯s studio returned.

    ¡°You people sure are insistent! If you¡¯re not here to visit the Haunted House, please move aside; you¡¯re blocking the path for the real visitors!¡± Even a saint would lose their temper when pushed too hard. Chen Ge had been polite enough, but these people kept testing his patience.

    ¡°Who said we¡¯re not here to visit the Haunted House? We also wish to experience the ce that is dubbed the scariest Haunted House in Jiujiang.¡± Two young men from the studio with backpacks blocked the gate.

    ¡°You also want to visit the Haunted House?¡± Naturally, Chen Ge suspected that these people were up to no good.

    ¡°If you¡¯re afraid that we might expose your fake advertising, then fine, we won¡¯t enter.¡± Of the two young men, one was extremely well-built. He wore a tank top to purposely reveal his body that was the result of constant weight training.

    Honestly, Chen Ge was a bit taunted by this guy. ¡°Let me remind you, thest person who made a im like yours came out lying on his back.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve only managed to arouse my interest even more.¡± Standing beside the muscr man was a meek looking bespectacled man. ¡°I¡¯ve watched scary movies since I was young. Before being recruited by Brother Qin, I was part of a scary movie film crew. s, most of the movie settings were too fake; they were barely challenging.¡±

    ¡°I do love customers like yourself who are constantly searching for a greater scare.¡± Chen Ge pulled the curtain back. ¡°Come in then, remember to sign the disimer agreement.¡±

    Since there were willingb rats, Chen Ge naturally would not send them away. Even the smile on his face had turned several degrees sincerer.

    When Uncle Xu saw the smile on Chen Ge¡¯s face, he shivered involuntarily, and the image of the forensic science students from Jiujiang Medical University lying weakly on the floor appeared in his mind.

    Uncle Xu coughed and pulled him to the side. ¡°Xiao Chen, don¡¯t go overboard. Remember, they are still park visitors.¡±

    Before Chen Ge could reply, the bespectacled young man thought that he had seen through their plot and scoffed with derision, ¡°Well, well, well. That¡¯s some pretty good acting. The experience has started even before we enter the Haunted House?

    ¡°Before I arrived, I saw the reviews on the Haunted House, and many people said that the owner knows a bit of psychology. It looks like they weren¡¯t lying.¡±

    Uncle Xu looked at the young man with a speechless expression on his face. <i>I¡¯m trying to help you here. If not for the fact you might die inside there, I would not have cared about you!</i>

    ¡°Uncle Xu, I know the limits. Don¡¯t worry.¡± Chen Ge led the two young men into the Haunted House personally and saw them sign the disimer agreement.

    Therger, muscr man was called Zhu Jianing, and the bespectacled man was Fei Youliang.

 Chapter 95 - All School Uniforms

    <h4>Chapter 95: All School Uniforms</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°When you¡¯re inside, no photos or filming. There are four different scenarios for you to experience; they are the Sealed ssroom, the Fifth Cubicle in the Toilet, the Pen Spirit, and the Deep Well. The clues to the exit are hidden within these four scenarios. You¡¯ll need to experience all of them before you can find the exit.¡± Chen Ge looked through their disimer agreement repeatedly. He was so careful because the agreements might serve their purpose soon enough.

    ¡°This is not our first Haunted House; we know all that.¡± Fei Youliang pushed on his spectacles and peered inside the Haunted House. ¡°At least the suspenseful environment is not bad.¡±

    ¡°In that case, I will not waste my breath anymore.¡± Chen Ge had intended to make some small introduction to each of the small scenarios, but he decided that would not be necessary. ¡°Follow me.¡±

    Chen Ge led the two young men to the entrance to Night of the Living Dead on the first floor. The two saw the dpidated setting and less than desirable mannequins that popted the scenario.

    ¡°The style is from ten years back.¡±

    ¡°Honestly, with set pieces like these, I feel like I can sue you for overcharging me for the entrance ticket.¡±

    Zhu Jianing and Fei Youliang wandered into the Night of the Living Dead scenario and touched the dust that had gathered on the mannequins. ¡°Just how long has this ce been deserted?¡±

    ¡°Looks like the business is dying. I should have known that you would have hired the same 50-cent army to fill thements with good reviews.¡±

    ¡°Are you two done?¡± Chen Ge raised the wooden boards from the floor. ¡°The entrance is here.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s underground?¡± The two young men did not feel weirded out. They walked out of the Night of the Living Dead scenario with their backpacks and stopped before the staircase that led down the stairs.

    The dark corridor led into an abyss. The doors to the ssrooms on both sides creaked creepily, and even before they got down the stairs, a chilling wind surged from within to caress their skin.

    ¡°Now... this is... better.¡±

    As the two young men entered the Mu Yang High School scenario, Chen Ge yelled from the entrance, ¡°If you¡¯re really afraid, yell for help at the cameras¡ªthe workers wille help you.¡±

    After closing the boards, Chen Ge suddenly realized that there was no surveince installed in the Mu Yang High School scenario, and there was not really an exit. He had just been saying that earlier out of habit. <i>Looks like I better go in to join them. Hopefully, their minds are still intact when I reach them.</i>

    He had Xu Wan stay at the door to maintain the order. He put on the Doctor Skull-cracker outfit and entered the main control room to switch the background music to ck Friday before entering the Mu Yang High School scenario with the box of nametags given to him by Fan Yu.

    ...

    After Zhu Jianing and Fei Youliang descended the staircase, they stayed near the entrance. Both of them waited until Chen Ge closed the wooden boards before they made a signal and retrieved Bluetooth cameras from their backpacks and pinned them on their chests.

    ¡°Each of us will record our side. We¡¯ll film everything inside his Haunted House, and after we solve it, we¡¯ll post the guide online.¡±

    ¡°Will that achieve anything?¡±

    ¡°For local Haunted Houses like this one, the design and traps of the scenarios are considered business secrets because they depend on them to attract visitors. If the guide is already posted online, then it would have lost all its allure. This is why Haunted Houses ban the usage of cameras and video recorders. They have to keep the mystery and anticipation up for future visitors.¡± Fei Youliang fixed his camera and walked in front. ¡°After shooting the video, we¡¯ll edit it to make it as boring as possible, and then after posting it online, we¡¯ll hire some 50-cent army to swamp hisments with bad reviews.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± After he looked around, Zhu Jianing added, ¡°But I have to say, the man has put a lot of effort into his setting; it does feel like we¡¯re at an abandoned high school.¡±

    ¡°At the end of the day, it is still fake. Inparison to the 3D scary movies I¡¯ve seen, this is nothing.¡± Fei Youliang was not afraid; if anything, he was bored. ¡°Let¡¯s get this over with.¡±

    The two walked down the dim corridor. On each side of them were empty ssrooms. The doors creaked on their hinges, and weird noises asionally drifted out from the ssrooms.

    ¡°Do you think the exit will be inside these two ssrooms beside the entrance? After all, thements did say that the boss is a master maniptor.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s your first mistake. If you focus too hard on searching for the exit, you will have fallen for the man¡¯s scheme.¡± When Fei Youliang was talking, he did not forget to maintain the bnce of his upper body. Both he and Zhu Jianing were expert cameramen.

    ¡°You¡¯re right. Thankfully, you came with me.¡±

    ¡°In reality, Haunted Houses are very boring. It¡¯s just people scaring people, and if you take it too seriously, you lose.¡±

    The end of the dark corridor was still nowhere to be seen. Even though they said that they were not afraid, their progress was cially slow. The signs of a fire could be seen everywhere, and the unique scent of burning was mixed in the stall air.

    As living humans entered the scenario, the atmosphere inside Mu Yang High School slowly changed. In an unseen corner, many pairs of eyes slowly opened.

    Fei Youliang, who walked forward, was a scary movie aficionado. As authentic as the setting was, it was not scary enough to make him feel afraid yet. Inparison, the muscr man, Zhu Jianing, started to wilt under pressure. He hid himself behind Fei Youliang, and his eyes kept wandering about to the dark corners.

    The background music was not that scary, but it made his heartrate race and his breathing uneven. Fei Youliang suddenly stopped, causing Zhu Jianing to walk into the man¡¯s back.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Zhu Jianing said in a volume that he did not realize had be a whisper.

    ¡°This ssroom, it¡¯s different from the rest.¡± Fei Youliang stood at the door of the sealed ssroom. Looking at the dark-colored uniforms that filled the chairs, he had a weird feeling that the ssroom was filled with students.

    ¡°There are all these uniforms.¡± Zhu Jianing was even more scared than Fei Youliang; just a nce through the window was enough to make him shiver. ¡°Should we go to somece else first?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be scared. A worker at the Haunted House should be hiding inside this room, and that¡¯s why its decor is different from the others.¡± Fei Youliang could still maintain his calmness. ¡°The man said that we must experience the four scenarios, and this should be one of them. This is the selling point of the Haunted House; we have to record it and then solve it so that we can post it online.¡±

    While he was talking, the door slowly opened on its own like being moved by an invisible hand.

    ¡°There must be some kind of control mechanism. It¡¯smon equipment used in the shooting of scary movies.¡± Fei Youliang pped Zhu Jianing on his arm. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go catch some ghosts.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, but...¡± Zhu Jianing said with a head full of cold sweat, ¡°I¡¯ve taken a look around, and there¡¯re only school uniforms inside the room; there¡¯s no space for anyone to hide.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s probably some hiddenpartment. Be careful. This means that the actor mighte out to scare you from unexpected corners.¡± Fei Youliang and Zhu Jianing dawdled outside the ssroom for a long time before finally entering it.

 Chapter 96 - Game Start

    <h4>Chapter 96: Game Start</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The Sealed ssroom was a ce that even Chen Ge did not want to stay in for long, but Fei Youliang and Zhu Jianing entered it easily. There was a weird smell in the air. Entering the room was like going underwater; there was an inexplicable pressure pressing down on them, causing their breathing to be rather uneven.

    ¡°Youliang, should I wait for you outside?¡± The ssroom was darker than the corridor. Zhu Jianing, who stood behind Fei Youliang, had a frightened grimace on his face, and his forehead was covered with sweat.

    ¡°What did we promise each other before entering the Haunted House? We said we¡¯d never abandon each now, but now you¡¯re already giving up?¡± Fei Youliang was getting increasingly agitated. The uniforms that littered the room were not unlike the props that were used in scary movies; for some reason, he felt apprehensive about going near them.

    Zhu Jianing did not notice that his teammate¡¯s confidence had been shattered. He whispered from behind him, ¡°Where do you think the Haunted House¡¯s worker will be hiding? Will they jump up from underneath the uniforms?¡±

    ¡°Not clear, but they would normally do something like that.¡± Fei Youliang nudged his way to the lectern. He gripped his fists as he walked down the rows of tables, but nothing scary happened. ¡°It does not seem like there¡¯s anyone hiding here.¡±

    ¡°But if there¡¯s no one hiding here, why waste so many resources to create such arge and detailed set? There is what looks like blood writing carved onto the tables, and these old uniforms were purposely left in the room.¡± Zhu Jianing nced behind him. ¡°Furthermore, the door opened on its own earlier like it was inviting us toe in.¡±

    ¡°It was probably the wind.¡± Fei Youliang turned to re at Zhu Jianing. ¡°If you have to time to mumble this nonsense,e and help me look for the hidden mechanism or trick.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be mad, I¡¯m just helping you analyze the situation...¡± Zhu Jianing headed in the other direction of the room. Due to hisrge body, when he walked past one of tables, he identally knocked one of the uniforms to the floor. He did not mind it and did not seem intent on picking it up. He stepped on the uniform and continued to walk until he reached the ssroom¡¯s backdoor. ¡°There is indeed nothing worth getting scared over; I was expecting something to pounce at me when I passed the tables...¡±

    Zhu Jianing¡¯s voice faded out. He turned and realized that the ssroom had reverted to its original state.

    ¡°When I walked down the row, I remember knocking into one of the uniforms. Youliang, did you pick it up from the floor?¡±

    ¡°A uniform that fell to the floor? Howe I didn¡¯t notice it?¡± Fei Youliang stood at the other end of the ssroom, a distance of several tables away.

    ¡°Was I imagining it?¡± Zhu Jianing walked back up the row. He stood beside the table that was situated at the center of the room. ¡°I remember it was this uniform that fell to the floor.¡±

    He picked the uniform up and waved it once. A weird odor drifted out from it. It smelled like rotten fish.

    ¡°This is weird.¡± Zhu Jianing dropped the uniform onto the table and squatted down to inspect the table and chair for hidden mechanisms. He shook the table, and everything seemed normal. Just as he was about to move on, the sound of marbles came from inside the drawer.

    ¡°There¡¯s something inside?¡± Zhu Jianing bent down and leaned into the mouth of the drawer. The dark drawer was stuffed with test papers and textbooks.

    ¡°Why was there the sound of marbles? There¡¯s hiddenpartment inside this drawer?¡± He looked into the darkness and reached in to pull out the papers. He only pulled out the first one when he saw two round eyes staring right at him from behind the paper.

    ¡°F*ck!¡± The sudden scare caused Zhu Jianing, who was half-squatted, to stumble back and knock the two tables behind him out of position.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Themotion shocked Fei Youliang, who was also in the room.

    ¡°There¡¯s someone inside the drawer!¡± Zhu Jianing tried to crawl up from the floor, but his limbs failed him. His face was drained of blood.

    ¡°Have you lost your mind? How can a person fit inside a drawer?¡± Fei Youliang cursed as he went to help his teammate. ¡°It¡¯s probably some kind of prop.¡±

    He pulled out the papers and textbooks from inside the drawer and dropped them onto the floor. ¡°Take a look. Don¡¯t be such a scaredy cat; there¡¯s nothing inside.¡±

    After ten seconds to calm himself down, Zhu Jianing finally climbed up from the floor. ¡°But I really saw a pair of eyes... I¡¯m not lying! I swear on my life!¡±

    ¡°Even if that¡¯s true, it¡¯s just a trick of the Haunted House. Why are you so scared?¡± Fei Youliang was not that scared to begin with, but what Zhu Jianing said did unsettle him a little. ¡°Fine, let¡¯s leave this room for now.¡±

    The pair escaped in a hurry, leaving behind a trail of chaos.

    ¡°Do we need to continue?¡± Zhu Jianing asked. Looking at the corridor that seemingly had no end, his heart was quivering.

    ¡°You¡¯re giving up in less than five minutes? We¡¯re here to ruin this ce, not to do promotion for this Haunted House.¡± Fei Youliang had half a mind to kick Zhu Jianing. ¡°Get a hold of yourself! Why are you acting all scared like a little girl? How are you going to answer to your muscles?¡±

    Then he continued to move forward. Even though Zhu Jianing was afraid, it would be worse to be abandoned orbelled a traitor of Qin Guang¡¯s studio, so he powered on.

    As he moved forward, he looked over his shoulder. When he saw the door to the sealed ssroom slowly open again, he quickly caught up to Fei Youliang and hissed, ¡°Let¡¯s go, it feels like something ising out from that ssroom!¡±

    The pair ran forward in a hurry. They ignored the toilet and arrived at the first junction.

    ¡°Just how big is this set? There¡¯s even a choice of paths?¡±

    Zhu Jianing hadpletely given up, and Fei Youliang was frowning deeply. He loved scary movies and had visited many Haunted House in his life, but this was the first time he had encountered such a Haunted House. They had not seen any Haunted House workers in ghost costumes, but the feeling of fear refused to leave. The longer they remained, the stronger that feeling became.

    In the Haunted Houses that he visited in the past, he could still see the ¡®ghosts¡¯, and with the appearance of the ¡®ghosts¡¯, he would feel much better because all those ¡®ghosts¡¯ were actors hired by the Haunted House. It told him that the ce was fake; it was all a human creation.

    However, the Haunted House he was in that day hadpletely upended his preconception of Haunted Houses. There were no actors so far, but it had managed to create an inexplicable feeling of suspenseful fear, like something incredibly scary might happen at any moment.

    ¡°Let¡¯s try this way.¡±

    The corridor narrowed as Fei Youliang and Zhu Jianing headed toward the female dormitory.

    The front few rooms were not scary, and their emotions slowly rxed as the fear surrounding their hearts slowly disappeared. Then they entered the room with the Pen Spirit game.

    In the female bedroom that was preserved like a crime scene, four chairs stood side by side, and several pieces of white paper as well as a ballpoint pen that was glued together with tape sat on one of the chairs.

 Chapter 97 - The Rampaging Pen Spirit

    <h4>Chapter 97: The Rampaging Pen Spirit</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°This bedroom feels different from the rest,¡± Zhu Jianingmented at the door. The man seemed like he was about to run at any moment. ¡°It has that Escape the Room feel. The clues to the exit are probably hidden here as well, right?¡±

    ¡°No idea, this is the first time I¡¯ve visited a Haunted House that gave its visitors such a great degree of freedom. The boss sure is confident that no idents will happen to his customers.¡± Fei Youliang walked to the chairs and picked up a random piece of white paper. On it, it was written ¡°When will I die? How will I die? Who will be the next to die?¡±

    ¡°This looks like the Pen Spirit game, but...¡± Fei Youliang turned to look at the ballpoint pen on the chair. ¡°Isn¡¯t this pen a bit too unconventional?¡±

    ¡°Does it contain some kind of hidden mechanism?¡± Zhu Jianing also walked over to hold the pen in his palm. He pressed on it for several times and almost broke the pen. ¡°It seems like a normal pen to me.¡±

    ¡°Do you still remember what the Haunted House boss said before we came in?¡±

    ¡°There are four scenarios in the Haunted House, and we have to experience them all before we can get the clues to the exit.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. The clues are hidden in the four small scenarios. Let¡¯s take a closer look around. In my experience, there¡¯s probably a key or paper note hidden inside this bedroom.¡±

    The bedroom was small, and the pair searched every corner but came up with nothing.

    ¡°This Haunted House is not that easy to unlock, and the design are incredibly detailed.¡± Fei Youliang ced the paper on the table. Three of them had writing on, but one was left nk. ¡°Does this mean that we have to y the Pen Spirit game at least once before we can get the answer?¡±

    ¡°ying the Pen Spirit game inside a Haunted House doesn¡¯t sound like a good idea.¡± Zhu Jianing was flustered after reading the writing on the sheets of paper.

    ¡°Of the four scenarios, this one seems the simplest. If you don¡¯t want to do this, we¡¯ll need to go back to that ssroom. Would you prefer that?¡± Fei Youliang waved his hand impatiently. ¡°Plus, do you really think there is a Pen Spirit in this world? Get over here. We¡¯ll try it once, and if it doesn¡¯t work, we¡¯ll leave.¡±

    Fei Youliang felt something was off, and he felt weirdly ufortable, like something was grasping his heart. Zhu Youliang unwillingly walked toward Fei Youliang. They stood on opposite sides of the chairs.

    ¡°But I don¡¯t know how the game works.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve seen many movies about the Pen Spirit. I¡¯ve even tried it out a few times at home. It¡¯s just a trick and can be scientifically exined.¡± Fei Youliang straightened the pen and hovered it over the single paper that was empty. ¡°Cross your fingers over mine and grab the pen tightly.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Zhu Jianing squatted down beside the chair and did what he was told. ¡°Now what?¡±

    ¡°Just be quiet.¡± Fei Youliang wrote down ¡°YES¡± and ¡°NO¡± on the white paper. When the bedroom becamepletely quiet, he started to chant, ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, you are my spirit from my previous life, and I am your spirit in this life. If you are with us, please draw a circle on the paper.¡±

    As he finished, a cold st of wind suddenly shook the half-opened door of the bedroom. The dpidated door slowly opened to reveal the empty and dim corridor. Zhu Jianing shivered and shrunk involuntarily into the room.

    ¡°Stop moving.¡± Fei Youliang stared at the sharp end of the pen, his body frozen like a statue. The chilling wind streamed through the bedroom. The paper on the floor fluttered like an invisible hand was flipping through them. The temperature dropped, and coldness seeped up from their ankles.

    When someone is asked to hold the same position under a highly stressful situation, one¡¯s senses would be heightened. This was not unlike a form of torture for the pair who was in the middle of the Pen Spirit game.

    The decrepit bedroom seemed to turn darker, and the dirtied bedsheet moved in the wind like something was crawling out from underneath the bed. Ten minutester, the pair¡¯s hands, which hung in midair, started to tremble, and a series of dots started to appear on the paper.

    Zhu Jianing could not help but ask, ¡°Has the Pen Spirit arrived?¡±

    He could not withstand this kind of tense atmosphere.

    ¡°Many movies set the time for Pen Spirit to appear after ten minutes. If there¡¯s no reaction within ten minutes, it means that the game has failed, but this is a made-up rule. Often, people think that the Pen Spirit has arrived, but in reality, it is merely a psychological effect,¡± Fei Youliang said to calm his teammate. ¡°This ce is one of the four scenarios mentioned by the boss. We¡¯ll try to follow his rules for now and see what kind of tricks he can y on us.¡±

    As he finished, the ballpoint pen in their hands moved. It was a slight movement, but both of them felt it.

    ¡°Was that you?¡± both asked at the same time, and they managed to see the shock registered on the other person¡¯s face.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t me,¡± Zhu Jianing denied in a hurry. He hadpletely recovered from the fear brought on by the pair of eyes, and now this happened. He was in a highly tense state. ¡°Youliang, do you think the real Pen Spirit has arrived?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. The Pen Spirit game utilizes the game¡¯s format and the environment to create psychological pressure. The elongated time of maintaining a constant posture will cause the pen to appear like it has moved on its own even though it is actually the result of our bodies reacting to the environmental and physiological stimulus,¡± Fei Youliang stated in a tone that sounded like he was persuading himself. ¡°Our subconscious imagines that the pen has moved, and it has influenced our conscious mind.¡±

    However, as he finished, the pen moved again, and it was very obvious this time. The pair looked at each other before both turned toward the paper in unison. The little dots on the paper were connected by a line to form an irregr circle.

    ¡°F*ck! It¡¯s really here!¡± Zhu Jianing¡¯s first reaction was to pull his hand back, but he was stopped by Fei Youliang.

    ¡°Whether or not it is the real Pen Spirit, we have to continue this game.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°If it is the real Pen Spirit, if we end the game without sending it off, we¡¯ll be cursed by the Spirit until we die; if it is fake, then there is no reason for us to be afraid, and everything is just a trick arranged by the boss to scare us.¡±

    ¡°Then what shall we do next?¡±

    ¡°Try to ask it some questions, and then send the Pen Spirit away,¡± Fei Youliang said calmly.

    ¡°What kind of questions we should ask? Questions like the ones written on the other paper?¡± Zhu Jianing pointed at the pieces of paper that littered the floor.

    ¡°That is a trap. We must not ask the Pen Spirit questions that are rted to death. Try to ask some random questions.¡±

    ¡°Random questions?¡±

    ¡°Yes, let me try.¡± Fei Youliang gripped Zhu Jianing¡¯s hand tightly. After a pause, he shushed Zhu Jianing, and he muttered softly, ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, can you tell me the name of my future wife?¡±

    To Fei Youliang¡¯s surprise, when he finished the question, the wind inside the bedroom suddenly stopped blowing, and an insurmountable pressure started to expand from behind him.

    The pen in their hands quivered violently, and soon, three words appeared on the white paper.

    ¡°YOU WILL DIE!¡±

 Chapter 98 - Theres Someone Behind You

    <h4>Chapter 98: There¡¯s Someone Behind You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°You will die?¡± Fei Youliang was confused. He had asked about his future wife¡¯s name, but why would such a cursee out? There was no connection between them. He made sure he had followed the rules of the Pen Spirit game closely; he did not do anything that should have angered the Pen Spirit.

    He thought about it, and an answer came to him. <i>This must be one of the preset designs. No matter what question I asked, these three words were destined to appear.</i>

    Feeling like he had seen through the boss¡¯ trick, the confidence that Fei Youliang had lost earlier started to resurface.

    ¡°The method to make these three words appear is interesting. Temporarily, I still don¡¯t understand it, but to amplify the fear factor, the boss has forgotten to take care of the situation¡¯s sense of logic,¡± he exined. ¡°If it were any other visitor, they probably would have ended the Pen Spirit game or done something taboo to anger the Pen Spirit in their panic, and the appearance of these three words would have heightened their internal suspicion, thinking that the Pen Spirit had really appeared and allowed themselves to be feared. Unfortunately, their visitors today are the two of us. We have made no mistakes along the way, but the answer on the paper stilles up as irrelevant to my question. Therefore, this Pen Spirit game is nothing more than a scary trick.¡±

    Even after his long exnation, Fei Youliang realized that Zhu Jianing still had not responded, making him feel like he was talking to a wall.

    ¡°Xiao Zhu? Why is your hand so cold?¡± He raised his head and saw Zhu Jianing was staring dumbly at the space behind him, his mouth wide open and his features twisted in abject fear.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡±

    The expression on Zhu Jianing¡¯s face unsettled Fei Youliang. He did not seem to hear his teammate, and his whole body was shivering, just like the broken ballpoint pen they were holding. A bad feeling appeared in Fei Youliang¡¯s heart. He had also sensed that the atmosphere in the bedroom had changed. There was an indescribable presence that had joined them in the room, one that had not been there earlier, and it felt like it was just behind him.

    He wanted to turn to take a look, but something pressed down on his back, and every muscle in his body tensed. ¡°What¡¯s going on? What¡¯s behind this?¡±

    Various questions shed across his mind, and the feeling of wanting to take a look but being afraid of what he might see made the man crazy.

    ¡°Xiao Zhu, tell me, what are you seeing? What is behind me?¡±

    A chill soon spread through his body; it felt like he had been dropped into an icy cave. Fei Youliang shivered involuntarily, and various purplish bruises appeared on his skin, like many invisible hands were grabbing him.

    The thing behind him felt like it was trying to squeeze itself into his body, and the chilling presence pushing down on his shoulders became heavier and heavier!

    Opposite him, Zhu Jianing seemed to use every energy in his body to squeeze out a warning.

    ¡°There¡¯s someone behind you!¡±

    ¡°Behind me?¡±

    There were two exnations to this warning; either someone was literally on his back or someone was standing behind him. Fei Youliang¡¯s brain was churning when Zhu Jianing suddenly jumped up from the floor, shook Fei Youliang¡¯s hand off, and ran out the room!

    Zhu Jianing did not hesitate or even turn around once in his escape.

    Fei Youliang, who was abandoned, still sat dumbly on the floor. The ballpoint pen seemed to have stuck to his hand, and no matter how hard he tried to shake it loose, it simply would note off. Suddenly, his arm froze like something had taken control of it. Then the pen started to move on its own to write on the white paper.

    ¡°YOU WILL DIE! YOU WILL DIE! YOU WILL DIE!¡±

    The series of blood red curses appeared on the white paper. Zhu Jianing had already left, and the one holding the pen was himself. He was certain that he did not move his hand, so this meant that these curses were written by something else in the room.

    Even at a time like that, Fei Youliang still managed to maintain his cool. He was an adrenaline junkie, and he did not believe in ghosts. He believed in the rationality and logic of science above all else.

    <i>The thing that Xiao Zhu saw is probably some 3D imaging. Since the chairs are arranged in such a manner, it means that the position of the Pen Spirit game is constant. With the careful maniption of angles, it would create an authentic looking effect. That should be the tactic employed there, but why would my body be shaking?</i>

    He admitted that he had underestimated this broken ballpoint pen and the Haunted House in general. If given another chance, he would not have entered the Haunted House with so little preparation, and he definitely would have picked a better partner.

    The chill on his back continued to spread. As if depleted, the pen in Fei Youliang¡¯s palm finally copsed and broke into pieces after it finished the crazy scrawls. When the pen left his palm, thest word it wrote was ¡°DIE¡±.

    <i>Is it over? </i>Fei Youliang felt his senses returning to his arm. It was then that he finally sighed in relief. His muscles were still rather frozen. He wanted to work some temperature into them, but he realized the pressure on his shoulders had not left, and he was still unable to move!

    He had thought he had survived the Pen Spirit game, but the real experience had just started.

    <i>Why can¡¯t I move still? </i>Fei Youliang creaked his neck inch by inch to look over his shoulder. His eyes were narrowed into slits, and he was fully prepared, but when he turned, he saw there was nothing behind him.

    <i>It was all for naught? But then why would Xiao Zhu react in such a crazy manner? What did he actually see?</i>

    Fei Youliang¡¯s mind churned hastily, and the pressure on his shoulders increased like someone was stepping on them.

    <i>Shoulders? Stepping on them?</i>

    An image shed through his mind, and Fei Youliang slowly raised his head.

    Raven-ck hair falling all over her head, her face bloated from asphyxiation, the eyes popping out of her pockets, anger rimming the edges.

    There was a hanging woman standing on Fei Youliang¡¯s shoulders!

    His lips fell open, but no sound came out. Every hair on his body stood upright, and his sses slowly slid off his face. Fei Youliang felt as if his heart had stopped at that moment.

    ¡°I...¡±

    Before finishing the sentence, the focus in his eyes started tox, and his body copsed weakly toward the floor.

    ...

    Chen Ge waited for a few minutes before entering Mu Yang High School¡¯s scenario. He did not want to enter too soon after the two previous visitors.

    <i>I haven¡¯t heard any screams for so long... looks like I underestimated those two.</i>

    After putting on the skin mask, Chen Ge¡¯s first destination was the Sealed ssroom. He ced the paper box with the twenty-four name tags on the lectern. <i>The tables and chairs have been moved. They have been here and probably stumbled across something.</i>

    What that something was, Chen Ge had no clue. After all, even he had not fully understood the secret of this sealed ssroom yet.

    After putting the tables and chairs back into position, and the papers and textbooks back into the drawer, Chen Ge suddenly heard footstepsing from the junction not far ahead. Someone was running through the corridor.

    <i>Who could that be? </i>He put on the bloodied coat and the mask made from multiple human faces and slowly slipped out of the ssroom.

 Chapter 99 - Silently Looking at You

    <h4>Chapter 99: Silently Looking at You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The footsteps sounded hurried, like the person was running away from some scary beast. When Chen Ge exited the ssroom, he saw the person responsible for it. The 1.8-meter-tall Zhu Jianing rushed out of the female dormitory, screaming for dear life. His face was nched, and he raced down the corridor like a mad bull.

    <i>What¡¯s going on? Based on his running direction, he probably ran into something scary inside the female dormitory, but there¡¯s nothing scary inside the female bedrooms. </i>Zhu Jianing was already scared out of his mind before Chen Ge even did anything. This gave Chen Ge a sense of helplessness.

    <i>Didn¡¯t they say they¡¯re not afraid of anything? Weren¡¯t they very calm when they entered the scenario? Why is he running amok like a rabid dog now? </i>Chen Ge also did not know what encounter they had experienced in the newly unlocked scenario. For the sake of safety, he decided to intercept Zhu Jianing to ask him for details.

    Zhu Jianing, who had raced out of the female bedroom, did not even have a chance to catch his breath before he saw a shadow moving inside the sealed ssroom!

    <i>The school uniform hase alive? </i>The thought appeared in his mind immediately. He was racing so fast that he did not have the momentum to stop himself. When he reached the ssroom door, he saw a bloody shadow slide out from the ssroom. Time slowed for Zhu Jianing. His gaze fell on the person¡¯s face; it was a face sewn together by many different faces, and every single one of them captured emotions of fear, terror, and pain.

    <i>I knew the ssroom was not safe! </i>Unable to stop himself, Zhu Jianing rammed directly into the wall of the corridor. Ignoring the pain that shot through his body, he pushed himself off the wall and turned to run!

    Thebination of pain and fear had muddled his mind. Without seeing where he was going, Zhu Jianing saw the first exit and he rushed into it. When he entered, he realized it was the corner toilet.

    <i>Why would he trap himself? </i>Chen Ge was bing more and more curious about what exactly this man stumbled across in the female bedroom. <i>Also, why is he alone? Where is his friend?</i>

    After giving it some thought, Chen Ge thought it was best if he could get the answer directly from the man. He touched the skin mask on his face before entering the toilet. It was not until he was inside the toilet that Zhu Jianing realized he had taken the wrong turn, but there was nothing else he could do. He yanked open a random cubicle, which was the fourth one and hid inside it.

    He mped his palm over his mouth and squeezed his muscr body to fit beside the toilet, his heart racing and his pupils darting about nervously. Zhu Jianing was really scared out of his mind. When they were ying the Pen Spirit game, he had sat across from Fei Youliang, and while his friend was busy analyzing, he had seen the Pen Spirit slowly appear behind Fei Youliang. When the woman¡¯s bloated face appeared in his mind, he also felt like the air was getting sucked out of his lungs.

    <i>That wasn¡¯t an actor! This Haunted House is really haunted! </i>They had searched the bedroom, including under the bed, before starting the game. They were sure there was no one hiding inside the room; that poor woman had appeared out of thin air!

    <i>It has to be a ghost! </i>The woman¡¯s face refused to leave Zhu Jianing¡¯s mind. Even when he closed his eyes, the woman could be seen swaying from the hanging rope. He felt extremely helpless as he leaned against the wall. He felt weirdly exposed.

    <i>Youliang is still inside the room. The ghost was standing on his shoulders. A scene like that wouldn¡¯t appear in real life, would it? </i>Zhu Jianing took several deep breaths. He felt like he was going light-headed from ack of oxygen.

    <i>I need to contact the people outside; this Haunted House is problematic. </i>He tried to tell himself not to be afraid, but his muscr arms kept shivering. He rummaged in his backpack for a long time before he found his phone.

    ¡°Xiao Zhu? Why are you calling me? Are you guys done with the video?¡± The squat middle-aged man¡¯s voice came from the other end.

    ¡°Brother Yuan, pleasee in to help me! There are actual ghosts inside this Haunted House!¡± Zhu Jianing¡¯s voice was trembled with tears. ¡°I don¡¯t know how long much longer I can hold on. There are god knows how many ghosts looking for me.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it normal for Haunted House to have ghosts?¡± The middle-aged man thought Zhu Jianing was joking.

    ¡°Not ghosts yed by actors but actual ghosts!¡± Zhu Jianing hissed urgently. He did not dare raise his voice lest the ¡®ghosts¡¯ outside heard him.

    The middle-aged man finally noticed the seriousness in Zhu Jianing¡¯s voice. ¡°Give the phone to Youliang, let me talk to him.¡±

    ¡°Brother Liang was possessed by the ghost; he is still trapped inside that cursed bedroom.¡±

    ¡°Possessed?¡±

    ¡°I saw it with my own eyes; the ghost was standing on his shoulders. It was a hanging ghost, the face was purplish white, and her eyes were popping out from their sockets!¡±

    ¡°Standing on his shoulders? You guys were assaulted by the workers? Okay! We¡¯re going in now!¡±

    ¡°Not the workers, it¡¯s real ghost; there are no worker inside this Haunted House...¡± Before Zhu Jianing could finish, footsteps came from the toilet entrance. ¡°Has the ghost entered?¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about? Hello?¡± The middle-aged man¡¯s voice came from the phone. Afraid that it might catch the ghost¡¯s attention, Zhu Jianing quickly ended the call.

    <i>Hopefully, it doesn¡¯t hear me. Please don¡¯t let it discover me, and I won¡¯t ever visit this ce again. </i>Zhu Jianing turned off the phone, bent down, and stared straight at the wooden door of the cubicle.

    He did not know when the door before him would be pulled open, and he did not know what might be beyond the door. Various scary images filled his mind like the scary woman¡¯s face appearing behind the door or a school uniform fluttering on its own into his cubicle.

    <i>What should I do? Brother Yuan, pleasee soon! </i>he prayed to himself. The sound of footsteps came closer and closer!

    CREAK...

    The door to the first cubicle was pushed open. The old wooden door creaked audibly, and it caused Zhu Jianing to hold his breath in fear. After a small pause, the second cubicle door was pushed open.

    <i>It¡¯s getting closer! </i>After another long pause, as he expected, the third door was pushed open.

    <i>It¡¯s right next to me! It¡¯ll open this door soon! </i>The muscles all over Zhu Jianing¡¯s body tensed. Fear and terror were tormenting his sanity. Time trickled by, but weirdly enough, no one opened the door to his cubicle. He waited for half a minute, and the door to his cubicle was still unmoved.

    <i>It left? </i>He gathered all his courage to pull open the door a sliver. There was nothing outside. <i>It really left?</i>

    He pushed the door slowly open, and there was really no one outside. <i>That was lucky. I was almost discovered.</i>

    After sighing in relief, Zhu Jianing called the middle-aged man¡¯s number again. As the light shone on his phone, he saw something reflected on the phone disy. He looked behind him, and on top of the door of the third cubicle, a disjointed face was silently looking at him.

 Chapter 100 - What Happened to Fei Youliang?

    <h4>Chapter 100: What Happened to Fei Youliang?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The phone slid through his fingers andnded on the floor. A voice could still be heard on the other end.

    ¡°Youliang¡¯s phone is not reachable. What happened to you guys in there?

    ¡°Xiao Zhu? Can you hear me?

    ¡°Zhu Jianing? Are you alright? Talk to me?¡±

    Of course, Zhu Jianing could hear him, but at that moment, he had lost the power of speech. His pupils rolled back, and Zhu Jianing slithered to the floor like wetundry.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I warn you not to take pictures and videos inside the Haunted House? Why didn¡¯t you listen?¡± Chen Ge removed his mask and ced it inside his pocket. He nced at Zhu Jianing, who was convulsing on the floor, and he had a renewed appreciation for the disimer agreement.

    His scare tactics were different from other Haunted Houses. Normal Haunted Houses had actors pretend to be ghosts who hid in the blind corner to scare the visitors with sudden screams and shouts. Chen Ge¡¯s tactic was different. His focus was on the creation of the atmosphere, and he allowed the visitors to walk into the scare on their own. The whole process was fool-proof and could not be detected earlier.

    Even when the visitors were already prepared, they would still be scared¡ª Zhu Jianing was the perfect example. The fear inside his heart which had no ce to release was like an ice cube lodged in his throat, stopping his breath and chilling his bones.

    Chen Ge exited the third cubicle, picked up the phone, and slid it inside Zhu Jianing¡¯s pocket before dragging the man out of the toilet and depositing him in the corridor.

    <i>Why haven¡¯t the spasms stopped? But he¡¯s still breathing, so he should be fine. </i>Chen Gen applied pressure to the man¡¯s temples, and when Zhu Jianing¡¯s pupils regained focus, he said, ¡°Can you hear me? Where is your friend who came in with you?¡±

    There was no answer, so Chen Ge had to give up on the man. ¡°Stay put, or else you might run into an actual ghost.¡±

    He was afraid that he might scare the other person dumb as well, so Chen Ge removed his bloodied outfit and carried it in his arm.

    <i>This man came running out from the female dormitory, so his friend should be there.</i>

    Chen Ge ran toward the dormitory, but even after he searched through all the bedrooms, he could not find Fei Youliang.

    <i>Where did he go? </i>He stopped at the room with the Pen Spirit. The pen that he had fixed with tape was broken once more and was lying on the floor.

    <i>There is no sign of fighting in the room, so where could the bespectacled man have gone? </i>Chen Ge exited the female dormitory and reached the junction. <i>Could he have gone down the other way?</i>

    The other route led to the deep well and school office. The road was uneven, and after passing several offices, Chen Ge finally found Fei Youliang. The man¡¯s condition was even worse than Zhu Jianing¡¯s. There was white foam around his lips, and his sses were shattered. However, the most curious thing was that he was lying near the well at the end of the corridor with one of his hands holding the edge of the well like he was going to haul himself into it.

    <i>What in the world happened to this guy? Looks like he has angered more than just the Pen Spirit! </i>There was no surveince in this new scenario, so Chen Ge had no idea what had happened to Fei Youliang.

    Looking at the man¡¯s worse for wear condition, Chen Ge very kindly checked his pulse.

    <i>The man¡¯s condition is very simr to He San¡¯s when he first visited the Haunted House. I¡¯d better get him out of here first.</i>

    After wasting plenty of energy, Chen Ge finally managed to drag the two to the scenario entrance. Prying open the wooden boards, he just finished dragging the two onto the first floor when he heard the sound of an argumenting from outside the Haunted House; it sounded like the people from Qin Guang¡¯s studio were attempting to barge into the Haunted House.

    <i>So much trouble today. </i>With one arm under each visitor, he dragged the two out of the Haunted House. Chen Ge dropped Fei Youliang and Zhu Jianing before the people from Qin Guang¡¯s studio. His eyes scanned the lot of them as he demanded, ¡°What is themotion about?¡±

    Two lively, vibrant men had walked into the Haunted House, and two lifeless husks hade out. One of them was even foaming at the mouth. Did he get scared until he vomited?

    The surrounding crowd immediately took a step back to clear a space for them.

    ¡°Xiao Zhu! Youliang!¡± The people from Qin Guang¡¯s studio immediately rushed over to help them off the ground. Zhu Jianing was recovering; he now responded to others at least, but his legs were still weak.

    The serious case was Fei Youliang. He was not unconscious, because his eyes were wide open, but he did not respond to people calling his name. His expression was nk, and the white foam continued to trail out of the corner of his lips.

    ¡°What have you done to the both of them?¡± the middle-aged man demanded angrily.

    ¡°Why would you ask me? How would I know?¡± Chen Ge was being honest. When he entered the scenario, the two were already in such a state.

    ¡°We talked to each other earlier. Xiao Zhu said that your employees stepped on Youliang¡¯s shoulders! How dare you allow your workers to assault the visitors? We are definitely going to sue!¡±

    ¡°Who saw my employees assault him?¡± Chen Ge nced at the two lying on the floor. ¡°Feel free to call the police. I can guarantee, other than their own hands, you won¡¯t be able to find foreign fingerprints on the rest of their bodies.¡±

    ¡°Stop arguing, I¡¯ll call the park¡¯s doctor. The most important thing now is to help them.¡± This was such a headache for Uncle Xu.

    ¡°They¡¯re in this state, and you still refuse to admit your fault? Thankfully, we came prepared!¡± The middle-aged man opened Fei Youliang¡¯s backpack and pulled out theptop from within. Then he connected the wireless camera from Fei Youliang¡¯s chest and the audio recorder attached to the backpack to theptop.

    ¡°Indeed, you people sure came prepared.¡± When Chen Ge was dragging the ¡®bodies¡¯ out of the Haunted House earlier, he had already noticed the cameras and could guess the real motive behind why they were there. However, he did not mind it one bit. Other Haunted Houses banned recording was because they were afraid that their set designs would be leaked; after all, designing a set was incredibly pricey. However, that was not a concern for Chen Ge. He would be given new scenarios afterpleting Trial Missions. In terms of the updating speed for new scenarios, no Haunted House could rival Chen Ge.

    From his perspective, the videos collected by these guys were a type of alternative advertisement; after all, what his Haunted House was missing most was exposure.

    ¡°You won¡¯t be so smug in a bit. I will keep the video of your employees physically assaulting the visitors as evidence!¡± the middle-aged man said loudly like he was trying to get the attention of the passing crowd.

    ¡°We are absolute professionals; we didn¡¯t noty a finger on your people. How many times do you want me to repeat that?¡± Chen Ge asked as he wandered over to theptop. He, too, was actually curious about what happened to Fei Youliang inside the Haunted House and why he ended up next to the well.

    The middle-aged man straightened theptop and yed the recorded video. The screen was dark, and only random noises could be heard. At the time, Fei Youliang had not entered the Haunted House. The recorder had probably been activated beforehand. The camera had not been taken out yet, so they could only hear noises but could see no image.

    Several secondster, Chen Ge¡¯s voice could be heard from theputer.

    ¡°Let me remind you, thest person who made a im like yours came out on his back.¡±

    Then Fei Youliang¡¯s condescendingugh followed. ¡°You¡¯ve only managed to arouse my interest even more.¡±

 Chapter 101 - Mu Yang High Schools Hidden Mission!

    <h4>Chapter 101: Mu Yang High School¡¯s Hidden Mission!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The sounding from theptop was not loud, but everyone could hear him clearly. Everyone turned to look at Fei Youliang, who was copsed on the floor with foam on his lips, and their expressions were mixed. The middle-aged man sensed the crowd opinion shifting, so he quickly fast-forwarded.

    One or two minutester, an image finally appeared on screen. Zhu Jianing and Fei Youliang had officially entered the Haunted House. The visitors outside were curious about the interior design; some even pushed forward, attempting to see the hidden traps andyout.

    The Mu Yang High School scenario was built underground, so it was very quiet. The recorder picked up the pair¡¯s conversation clearly, including how they discussed posting the guide online and hiring a 50-cent army to swamp the Haunted House with bad reviews.

    ¡°So, these people are here to purposely create trouble?¡±

    ¡°We almost believed them earlier.¡±

    The crowd started to mumble, and the middle-aged man had no choice but to fast-forward some more.

    Due to theck of lighting, the images were not clear. All they could see was a dim corridor and empty ssrooms on both sides, but that was already scary enough.

    The people from Qin Guang¡¯s studio did not shoot this video to help Chen Ge promote his Haunted House; they were looking for evidence of Chen Ge ordering his employees to assault his visitors, but after six minutes of footage, all they could see was Fei Youliang and Zhu Jianing being scared on camera. There was not even the shadow of a worker.

    The people from Qin Guang¡¯s studio started to get worried, but the visitors were increasingly curious. Such arge Haunted House, but they did not have even one employee ying the ghost? Then, how did they n to scare their visitors?

    Very soon, the video reached the point where the two were ying the Pen Spirit game. When Chen Ge heard the familiar question asked by Fei Youliang, he almost bit his tongue. He finally understood what the pair did that angered the Pen Spirit so.

    The video after that was even weirder. Zhu Jianing suddenly dropped his hand and escaped from the room while Fei Youliang started writing madly on the white paper.

    ¡°YOU WILL DIE! YOU WILL DIE! YOU WILL DIE!¡±

    Looking at the words that appeared on the paper, the surrounding visitors were confused.

    ¡°What is he doing?¡±

    ¡°Mental breakdown? There¡¯s no need to trouble the park¡¯s doctor; we should call the mental hospital directly.¡±

    ¡°In other words, two of them entered the Haunted House, and one of them was scared dumb by his friend?¡±

    Watching this video, Chen Ge sighed greatly in relief. Other than two victims, only he knew what really happened. The Pen Spirit must have appeared then, but it was unknown whether it could not be captured on camera or the camera angle was wrong. Regardless, the Pen Spirit did not show on the video; however, what was recorded was this eerie situation.

    The video continued to y, and Chen Ge leaned in closer; he was most interested in what happened next. After Zhu Jianing escaped, Fei Youliang was left alone in the room. The man who was scrawling madly on the paper suddenly stopped.

    The camera was pinned to his chest, and the video stood still for several seconds. Then the image tipped backwards¡ªFei Youliang seemed to have fainted.

    ¡°No one touched him, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, so why did he faint?¡±

    Ten secondster, something even weirder happened. The camera angle suddenly moved; Fei Youliang was standing up again!

    He walked unevenly out of the bedroom. The camera was shaking violently; it felt like the man had forgotten how to walk as he tipped left and right. A fainted person who suddenly stood up and walked on his own... that had never happened before in Chen Ge¡¯s years of experience dealing with fainted visitors.

    This man had probably been taken over by the Pen Spirit!

    Chen Ge did not say anything, but his eyes narrowed. Fei Youliang soon familiarized himself with his body. A few secondster, he picked up his speed, and his gait was no different from a normal person¡¯s. When he reached the junction, Chen Ge and Zhu Jianing had just entered the toilet; they had brushed past each other just like that.

    <i>The Pen Spirit was trying to escape the Haunted House? </i>Chen Ge was spooked by the thought. If not for the incident that happened after this, the Pen Spirit might have sessfully escaped.

    In the video, Fei Youliang seemed to realize that there were people inside the toilet, so he snuck past the toilet before running toward the sealed ssroom. His target was clear; he walked toward thest row and hugged one of the uniforms to his chest. When he was about to leave, he saw the paper box with the twenty-four name tags Chen Ge left on the lectern.

    As if remembering something horrible, Fei Youliang deposited the tags on the table hurriedly. After pulling one out and cing it in his pocket, he ran toward the exit. However, before that could happen, the broken door of the ssroom closed on its own.

    Then, the weirdest part of the video urred. Fei Youliang turned around to yell at the empty ssroom.

    ¡°I also treat this ssroom as our home, but I have my reason to leave; I have to exin this to Wang Xin!

    ¡°Please let me go!

    ¡°I promise toe back after I¡¯m done!

    ¡°Get away from me! I have to leave today! No one is going to stop me!¡±

    Fei Youliang maddened screams came from theputer. He yelled angrily at the empty ssroom.

    ¡°Let me go! Let me go!¡±

    The camera kept shaking before falling to the ground like it had been knocked off in a struggle. From that angle, the camera perfectly focused on Fei Youliang¡¯s expression, which was changing madly like there were more than ten different personalities inside his body at the same time.

    Several secondster, the expression on Fei Youliang¡¯s face returned to normal, and the ssroom door opened. Without a word, he picked up the camera and reced it on his chest. Then, like a puppet, he walked toward the deepest part of the Mu Yang High School scenario.

    At that time, Chen Ge¡¯s ck phone vibrated. He pulled his phone out silently before taking several steps back, but he kept his gaze on theptop.

    While all this had been happening, he had been inside the corner toilet. There was only a wall between them, but he had not heard anymotion from the ssroom next door. It felt like, after the ssroom door was closed, the space within shifted to another dimension.

    The video continued to y. Fei Youliang, who was moving in an awkward way, took deliberate steps toward the well. He stepped on the edge of the well and started to talk to himself.

    ¡°Are we going to jump?¡±

    ¡°I can understand Chen Yalin¡¯s pain; she has her own reason.¡±

    ¡°If I were in her position, I believe I would do the same thing. After all, Wang Xin was her best friend.¡±

    ¡°Then, shall we give her another chance?¡±

    Fei Youliang stepped back down from the well. His expression slowly returned to a nk face, and with a tilt of his head, he copsed to the floor. Around four minutester, Chen Ge arrived.

    The camera had recorded everything. The first thing Chen Ge did was perform first aid, and everyone watching the video could bear witness to that.

    ¡°The boss didn¡¯t do anything wrong. If anything, he was trying to save your friend.¡±

    ¡°We almost med an innocent person!¡±

    The people from Qin Guang¡¯s studio were made speechless. By that time, Chen Ge had retreated to the outer ring of the crowd, and he nced at the ck phone.

    ¡°Dear Specter¡¯s Favored! Congrattions on triggering the Hidden Mission at 2-Star Scenario, Mu Yang High School¡ªThe Pen Spirit¡¯s Wish!¡±

 Chapter 102 - Reward: Hiring the Pen Spirit

    <h4>Chapter 102: Reward: Hiring the Pen Spirit</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Mission Requirement: Find the Pen Spirit¡¯s best friend and fulfil its wish.

    ¡°Mission Reward: The Pen Spirit¡¯s affection level will increase tremendously, and you will have a chance to recruit it as the Haunted House¡¯s employee!¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes studied thest sentence closely. Hiring an actual ghost to be his worker was his dream, and he had not expected that the day would arrive so soon!

    When he first received the ck phone, he had been paying extra attention to the My Team of Ghouls and Ghosts tab, but afterpleting so many missions, the tab had remained empty. Both Xiaoxiao and Zhang Ya could not be hired due to specific reasons. Chen Ge had already given up on that thought; after all, human and ghosts were different. However, it was not as good as he had hoped, since the ck phone had now issued this mission.

    The perks of employing the Pen Spirit were endless; she could predict the future and could scare the visitors without the use of make-up. In Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, she was the perfect employee.

    <i>I shall help the Pen Spirit fulfil her wish.</i>

    After slipping the ck phone back into his pocked, Chen Ge squeezed through the crowd. The few from Qin Guang¡¯s studio were packing up the equipment andptop; they looked like they were ready to leave. ¡°Who said you people can go?¡±

    Chen Ge walked toward Fei Youliang and pulled out the nametag from his pocket. The dirtied name tag had a woman¡¯s name written on it¡ªChen Yalin.

    ¡°Why would you steal a prop from the Haunted House?¡± Chen Ge waved the nametag in the air. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me, this old nametag belongs to Fei Youliang?¡±

    The people from Qin Guang¡¯s studio looked at each other. They did not know what had possessed Fei Youliang to go to the ssroom to steal this nametag either.

    ¡°Xiao Chen, let me handle this.¡± Uncle Xu was afraid of conflict, so he quickly came out to block Chen Ge.¡±

    ¡°First thing¡¯s first, I need them to delete all the videos from theirptop, or else they are not leaving this ce. Every set inside the Haunted House took painstaking effort to build, and I will not allow my effort to go to waste just like that.¡±

    Uncle Xu also understood the damage that the Haunted House would suffer if the video was released to the public. He kept a close eye on the people from Qin Guang¡¯s studio as they deleted the video from theptop, then he led them to the park management. These people¡¯s behavior had created a negative influence on the park, and they would be punished ording to the park rules.

    After the few were led away, Chen Ge pushed them out of his mind. In a way, he pitied them from identally angering the Pen Spirit.

    After they left, Xu Wan walked out from the Haunted House. ¡°Boss, are we still going to continue for the rest of the day?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Chen Ge returned to the ticket booth, and the originally orderly crowd suddenly swamped him.

    ¡°Brother, howe there is no mention of the school scenario on the public forum? It looks f*cking interesting!¡±

    ¡°Is the ticket to visit the school the same price?¡±

    ¡°Can we go in four at a time? I haven¡¯t been so excited and scared at the same time! Someone hold me!¡±

    Chen Ge did not expect that the crowd¡¯s reaction to the new scenario would be so positive after witnessing what had happened to Fei Youliang and Zhu Jianing. He nced at the crowd and realized that most of them were students.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but due to some idents, the scenario is temporarily closed for a two-day maintenance period.¡± Fei Youliang and Zhu Jianing were the beta testers. From their experience, Chen Ge realized that even without his intervention, the scenario was independent enough to scare the visitors on its own, but there were still too many uncertainties and, thus, a certain risk.

    It was the same with the Murder by Midnight scenario initially. The mischievous Xiaoxiao followed behind Monkey and gave the man the scare of his life. It was only after Chen Ge solved the hidden mission in the Murder by Midnight scenario that the situation improved.

    <i>To have the lingering spirits inside Mu Yang High School listen to me, the simplest solution is toplete the scenario¡¯s hidden mission. </i>Chen Ge stuck his hand into his pocket, and with his fingers curled around the ck phone, he came to a decision.

    The Haunted House continued to operate, the incident with Qin Guang¡¯s studio¡¯s people an interlude that was soon forgotten. Chen Ge was busy until 4 pm, when the number of park visitors decreased. Chen Ge called Xu Wan over and had her get off work early. After Xu Wan left, he entered the Mu Yang High School scenario alone.

    This was the first 2-star scenario unlocked by Chen Ge. Its scenario was ced at the stairs that led down into the underground carpark. In the future, no matter how Chen Ge expanded the underground carpark, the entrance would not be changed, so the first scary scenario his visitors saw would be this one.

    He turned on his shlight and headed toward the sealed ssroom. The toppled chairs, tables, and the nametags on the lectern had been reced, but one of the nametags was missing.

    ¡°Can you hear me?¡± Chen Ge stood at the door and shouted into the room. The uniforms sat on their chairs, and there was no answer.

    After shaking his head, Chen Ge went to the female dormitory. He picked up the broken ballpoint pen and fixed it before putting it inside his pocket. After that, he wandered to the well at the other end of the junction.

    In the video, Fei Youliang had been talking to himself beside this well.

    <i>At the time, he should have been possessed by several lingering spirits at the same time, and that was why he was rambling what sounded like nonsense. </i>Chen Ge looked down into the well. It was two or three meters deep. Even if someone fell into it, they would not be injured. <i>Why would they say that then? Is there another secret to this well?</i>

    Chen Ge was reminded of the door inside the bathroom mirror, the door that would only appear for one minute after midnight. He could find no answer. After inspecting everything again, Chen Ge exited the underground carpark and sealed the wooden boards.

    He took out 5,000 from the staff breakroom before locking the door and heading toward the park management office. When he saw Uncle Xu, he returned his money and asked about the update regarding the people from Qin Guang¡¯s studio. Uncle Xu told him that things had been taken care of, and he should not worry about it.

    After handling all those misceneous tasks, Chen Ge walked out of the park and gave Inspector Lee a call. It was answered after three rings, but the line was quiet except for an extremely tense breathing sound.

    ¡°Uncle San Bao?¡±

    ¡°What have you discovered this time?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing¡ªI just need your help to find a person.¡±

    ¡°Not a murder suspect?¡±

    ¡°No, just a normal student.¡±

    After receiving the confirmed answer, the silence on the other end was broken, and footsteps could be heard in the background. People flipped through the documents while other talked on the phone; everyone resumed their work.

    Inspector Lee sighed in relief. ¡°I told them that four times in one week is too much. The stress you give my men...¡±

    ¡°Uncle San Bao, the person I¡¯m looking for is Chen Yalin. She should be one of the victims from Mu Yang High School three years ago.¡±

    ¡°Victim? You¡¯re looking for a dead person?¡±

 Chapter 103 - One Survivor

    <h4>Chapter 103: One Survivor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Inspector Lee lowered his voice, and the tension returned. ¡°Exin to me clearly, what is really happening?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s definitely not a murder this time. I just want to take a look at her information.¡±

    ¡°Are you kidding, do you think we can provide that kind of sensitive information to a citizen? If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯m going to hang up.¡±

    After Inspector Lee hung up, Chen Ge felt rather hopeless. Just as he was trying to figure out what to do, his phone vibrated. It was a message from Inspector Lee. ¡°The case files definitely cannot be released to the public, but you cane over at around 7 to 8 pm, and if your case is serious enough, I can help you take a look at the files.¡±

    Chen Ge understood it immediately after reading the message. There were probably too many people at the office, and he could not promise him anything with so many eyes and ears around him.

    ¡°Uncle Lee, do you have any records on Mu Yang High School? What happened to force the school to close down? And why are there so many supernatural stories surrounding it?¡±

    After some time, Inspector Lee¡¯s reply came. ¡°The school was built on top of a crematorium, so thend was very cheap. However, due to the taboo, no one wanted to purchase it. Later, it was purchased by a short and rather rotund old man who had the surname Chen. He built a private orphanage on the site.

    ¡°A few yearster, Jiujiang established societal construct rted to childcare, and so the old man transported all the age-appropriate children to the government-supported orphanage. This meant that there was a bunch of older kids who were left behind at the orphanage. To solve the education problem for these kids, the old patron visited many schools, but none wanted to ept them.

    ¡°Running out of options, the senior purchased the textbooks and started teaching the children himself. This story was picked up by the local news and thus alerted the relevant government bodies. After some discussion, the orphanage was changed into Mu Yang High School, and those children adopted by the senior became the school¡¯s first batch of students.¡±

    Before reading the messages, Chen Ge had not expected Mu Yang High School to have such aplicated history. ¡°Inspector Lee, can you find out how many students there were in the first batch? Do you have that kind of information?¡±

    After twenty minutes, Inspector Lee called him directly. ¡°Xiao Chen, I¡¯m now in the filing room. Most of files rted to Mu Yang High School have been taken away by the city station since the murder case has been solved.¡±

    ¡°Uncle Xu, I just want to confirm one thing. Among the first batch of student, were there any girls by the name of Chen Yalin and Wang Xin?¡±

    ¡°Let me take a look.¡± Inspector Lee flipped through the pages before answering. ¡°When Mu Yang High School was first built, there were twenty-five students, and they were all originally from the senior¡¯s orphanage.¡±

    ¡°Twenty-five?¡± This number was close but not exactly the same as the number of uniforms.

    ¡°Indeed, but...¡± Inspector Lee hesitated. ¡°There is only one survivor, the girl you mentioned, Wang Xin.¡±

    ¡°The rest of them came into some kind of ident?¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, initially Chen Yalin was found hanging in the bedroom for unknown reasons, and then other than Wang Xin, who shared the same bedroom with her, the remaining twenty-three people went on a school trip, but the bus veered off the road and fell into the dam. All of them died, including the driver.¡±

    ¡°Twenty-five people with one survivor.¡± Chen Ge was reminded of the twenty-four school uniforms, and he slowly understood why the lingering spirits of the twenty-four students had returned to the ssroom. It had a much deeper meaning to them; it was their home.

    ¡°Is there anything else? If not, I have to go back to work.¡± Inspector Lee had already done a big favor for Chen Ge.

    ¡°Onest question, is there a way for me to contact the child who survived?¡± Chen Ge had confirmed that this Wang Xin was the person that the Pen Spirit was looking for.

    ¡°Wang Xin was hospitalized due to the trauma of Chen Yalin¡¯s incident. Afterwards, I heard that a kind couple adopted her. You can find out more from the adoption website. Since Wang Xin¡¯s case is so unique, there should still be records of her.¡±

    After hanging up, Chen Ge followed Inspector Lee¡¯s suggestion and logged onto the website. He searched for half an hour before he found Wang Xin¡¯s name; the person who had adopted her was a Madam Gu.

    After clicking on Madam Gu¡¯s profile, he realized that she had posted many threads on the forum requesting for help. Chen Ge just wanted to know a bit more about this Madam Gu, but as he studied her threads, his expression changed.

    Wang Xin seemed to have fallen victim to some kind of psychological illness and Madam Gu had gone about asking for professional help. In the end, it was a doctor with the surname Gao who hade to her aid.

    This Doctor Gao¡¯s resume was printed clearly on his profile: Senior psychologist, tenured lecturer at Jiujiang Medical University.

    <i>Could there really be such a coincidence? </i>Chen Ge hesitated for a moment before giving Gao Ru Xue¡¯s father a call.

    ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°Doctor Gao, I¡¯m Gao Ru Xue¡¯s friend. We discussed a boy¡¯s conditionst night.¡±

    ¡°Has the boy¡¯s conditions stabilized?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure about that, but I¡¯m calling because of another case today.¡± Chen Ge thought about it and decided honesty was the best policy. ¡°Have you treated a girl by the name of Wang Xin?¡±

    Doctor Gao was surprised. ¡°How do you know about that?¡±

    ¡°I know the reason behind Wang Xin¡¯s psychological problem, and I can save her. Can you please give me her address?¡±

    ¡°You can save her?¡± Doctor Gao denied his demand immediately. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I cannot give away my patient¡¯s information.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Gao, Wang Xin is in very deep pain. As her attending physician, you have to know how much suffering she is in. She must be tormented by fear and nightmares. Can¡¯t you give me a chance, please?¡±

    Doctor Gao was silent for a very long time before sighing. ¡°How about this? I will apany you. We will meet at the gate to Fang Hwa residential area.¡±

    ¡°Okay, see you there!¡± This was the best result Chen Ge could get.

    Forty minutester, Chen Ge finally met Gao Ru Xue¡¯s father in person. He was a middle-aged man with a fit physique and plenty of charm. After a simple introduction, Doctor Gao led him to one of therge buildings.

    ¡°Can you really solve Wang Xin¡¯s issues?¡± Doctor Gao was most concerned about this.

    ¡°I know the reason to her sickness, so I have fifty percent confidence that I can solve it.¡±

    ¡°That is more than enough; she¡¯s also a special patient. The anti-depressants and medicine aren¡¯t working so well, but I simply couldn¡¯t find any other symptoms in her.¡±

    The pair rode the elevator until the 14th floor. One of the doors was opened. Doctor Gao had called the patient¡¯s family before they arrived.

 Chapter 104 - Give Me One Minute

    <h4>Chapter 104: Give Me One Minute</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The room was clean and thickly carpeted. The edges of the tables and counters were wrapped in thick cloth. There was a fruit te on the coffee table but nothing sharp like knife or fork.

    ¡°Doctor Gao, pleasee in.¡± A woman in a white dress wee Doctor Gao and Chen Ge into the room. She looked to be in her forties and took good care of her appearance.

    ¡°Has Wang Xin¡¯s condition improved?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve given her the rmended sleeping pills and anti-depressants, but the effect has not been as positive as I hoped.¡± The woman smiled weakly. ¡°If anything, her condition hasn¡¯t improved, but all the side effects did show themselves¡ªdry heaving, shivering, and shaking hands. She could not even grip the chopsticks during lunch, and the food fell all over the table. Doctor Gao, do you think Wang Xin can still be cured?¡±

    ¡°Believe me, she will get better.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± The woman then noticed Chen Ge behind the doctor. ¡°And this is?¡±

    ¡°My name is Chen Ge.¡± Chen Ge did not want to waste time. ¡°Can I please meet your daughter?¡±

    ¡°This...¡± The woman turned to Doctor Gao to ask for his opinion.

    ¡°I will join him.¡± After Doctor Gao nodded, the woman reluctantly let Chen Ge into the room. ¡°The child is in her bedroom. After having one spoon of lunch, she started wailing.¡±

    The woman walked to a door. She knocked lightly on it for quite some time, but there was no response. She ced her hand on the door knob, twisted, and opened the door a sliver. The woman sighed wordlessly before moving back.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go in.¡± Doctor Gao looked at Chen Ge. ¡°Do not say anything to provoke the patient, before you do anything, please discuss it with me.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Chen Ge promised before he was let into the room. The carpet in the bedroom was even thicker, and the edges of the cupboards and table were all sanded off. There was not anything sharp in sight; even the windows were installed with anti-theftting. There was not a bed in the room. Instead, there were two thick mattresses ced together. All of the decorations were white, and there were no personal effects.

    Doctor Gao moved to the side, and Chen Ge finally saw the woman he was looking for. A slender girl was lying on the mattress. The white shirt with a round cor barely covered up her frame, her skin was white to the point it looked translucent, and she appeared fragile, like too violent a movement would cause her body to snap.

    Realizing that she had guests, the girl slowly sat up in bed. While Chen Ge expected a raging mental patient, the girl was surprisingly normal, if a little reticent.

    Doctor Gao squatted down beside the mattress to maintain a level eye contact with the girl and asked kindly, ¡°Wang Xin, does your head still hurt?¡±

    The girl shook her head and took a nce at Chen Ge before putting her head down.

    ¡°Then, have you been sleeping?¡± Doctor Gao asked, but this time, the reaction elicited was much more intense. She reached out to grab at her own hair, and when she released, there were strands of ck hairs stuck between her fingers. That was how strong she was as she yanked her hairs out.

    ¡°Still can¡¯t sleep, huh?¡± Standing up, the brows of the good doctor were deeply furrowed. ¡°Neither of the medicines had an effect?¡±

    ¡°Doctor Gao, may I speak to her?¡±

    ¡°Wang Xin¡¯s current condition is considered stable, so go ahead.¡± Chen Ge mimicked Doctor Gao and squatted down. The girl probably assumed he was also a doctor, so she did not show much resistance. She merely pulled her sleeves down to cover the red welts on her arms, which felt like they were the result of her own rabid scratching.

    The girl before him was frail; she gave the impression of a paper kite, like a single thread was everything that connected her to survival. A single mistake, and she would be lost among the dark clouds before being torn apart by the storm.

    ¡°Wang Xin.¡± Chen Ge pulled out the ballpoint pen from his pocket. ¡°Your friend wants to talk to you, so I brought her with me.¡±

    Wang Xin nced at the ballpoint pen but did not show any special emotion. She probably wanted to smile at Chen Ge¡¯s attempt at a joke but found herself unable to do even that.

    Doctor Gao beside him and the woman who was eavesdropping at the door were confused; they did not understand what Chen Ge was up to. Chen Ge was not discouraged by Wang Xin¡¯sck of reaction. He retrieved a piece of white paper from the desk and ced it on the mattress. He hovered the pen above it and prepared to start the Pen Spirit game.

    Chen Ge was facing away from Doctor Gao and facing Wang Xin. He moved his lips but made no sound as he mouthed the incantation to invoke the Pen Spirit. ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, you are my...¡±

    As his lips opened and closed, Wang Xin¡¯s focus was slowly attracted to Chen Ge. She turned to look at Chen Ge fully and reading the words on Chen Ge¡¯s lips; she iled her arms around and shrunk back into the walls like she was reminded of something horrible.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± The woman dashed into the room to stop Chen Ge alongside Doctor Gao.

    ¡°I¡¯m helping her solve the issue in her heart.¡± Chen Ge shielded the ballpoint pen in his hand. ¡°No one knew what happened to Wang Xin, but that is the source of her illness! Just give me one minute, I only need one minute!¡±

    His conviction was firm as he squatted beside the mattress with the pen in his palm. Initially, Chen Ge merely wanted to finish the Pen Spirit¡¯s mission, but when he saw how tortured the girl was, he felt the need to do something.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we give him a chance?¡± After a long confrontation, Doctor Gao chose to trust Chen Ge. ¡°During my sessions with Wang Xin, she has never shown this kind of reaction before. Perhaps this is a good sign.¡±

    Doctor Gao eventually convinced the woman, and they agreed to give Chen Ge three minutes. The two walked to the door, and Chen Ge stood up to close the curtains and the door.

    ¡°Wang Xin, your friend has been trying to reach you.¡± He ced the pen above the paper again and continued to chant. ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, you are my spirit from my previous life, and I am your spirit in this life...¡±

    As Chen Ge continued to mumble, the girl hiding in the corner started to get increasingly feared. The nightmare-like memory that had haunted her for years started to appear in her heart. As cruel as it was, Chen Ge forced himself to continue. Not long after that, the pen hovering over the paper started to move on its own. Then, beautiful handwriting appeared on the white paper, handwriting that was different from Chen Ge¡¯s own.

    ¡°Wang Xin, I really didn¡¯t expect that a mindless joke would create such asting wound in your heart; you must hate me very much, right?¡±

    Wang Xin was stunned when she saw the familiar handwriting. At that moment, her mind was nk; she also did not know what to think anymore.

    ¡°You have nothing to do with my death. I merely wanted to scare you when I saw youing with another friend. Who would have thought the rope would be too tight and the chair would slip?

    ¡°You did nothing wrong; it was a silly prank gone very wrong.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, Wang Xin. I don¡¯t ask that you could forgive me, but I hope that you can remove the bad memories from your mind and strive to live the best life on behalf of the rest of us.¡±

 Chapter 105 - Second Haunted House Worker!

    <h4>Chapter 105: Second Haunted House Worker!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Looking at the series of words on the white paper, Wang Xin¡¯s emotions got increasingly amped up. She leaned forward slowly and actively reached out for the ballpoint pen in Chen Ge¡¯s hand.

    The cold fingers slid between Chen Ge¡¯s hand and the pen, and her arm kept shaking like she had experienced the body temperature from another human in the first time. She wanted to say something, but she had lost her voice. The three minutes soon ended, and the ballpoint pen started to move between them, but this time, only two words were written. ¡°Good night.¡±

    The pen stopped moving, and Chen Ge started to chant the incantation to send the Pen Spirit away. Opposite him, Wang Xin followed him as if involuntarily. ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, you are my spirit from my previous life, and I am your spirit in this life. If you wish to go, then please go ahead.¡±

    When both of them finished thest word, the dam holding in Wang Xin¡¯s emotions broke, and the needle that had been stuck in her heart for so long finally fell out. She gripped Chen Ge¡¯s hands, and she turned her face to the side as if unwilling to let others see the pain that she was in.

    ¡°The lights of the world have been extinguished, and everyone has gone silent, what am I to do all alone? Every feeling is wrong, and every road leads to a dead-end. I don¡¯t understand what I have done wrong, but I seemed to have turned into a monster.¡± Wang Xin finally uttered the words that had been kept in her heart. She looked at the words on the paper before leaning down on the table, and her voice dwindled. ¡°Help me, drag me out from this world. I want release from this pain, help me...¡±

    Her forehead was pressed against the back of Chen Ge¡¯s hands, and her bodyy down on the mattress. When her breathing stabilized, it seemed like Wang Xin had finally fallen asleep.

    ¡°Good night.¡±

    Chen Ge pulled his hand lightly away and ced a quilt over Wang Xin before leaving the room. Both Doctor Gao and Wang Xin¡¯s adopted mother were waiting outside the door. They wanted to know what had happened inside, but afraid of disturbing Wang Xin, they kept their enquiries in a soft voice.

    ¡°How is Wang Xin?¡±

    Chen Ge pointed inside the room. ¡°Already asleep.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s really asleep?¡± Doctor Gao breathed in disbelief. He understood how difficult it was for patients with severe trauma to fall asleep¡ªnormally, they would have to rely on medication. ¡°How did you do it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a long story.¡± Chen Ge gave an exnation that was half true. ¡°When I was looking for inspiration for my Haunted House at Mu Yang High School, I identally stumbled across some information rted to Wang Xin¡¯s past and uncovered the reason for her depression. It appears like a scar was left in her mind after witnessing her friend¡¯s death while ying a game of Pen Spirit. Therefore, I used that as an opening. I simted the Pen Spirit game she once yed with her roommates and used that to tell her that it wasn¡¯t her fault; it was all just an ident.¡±

    ¡°And it worked?¡± Doctor Gao was impressed.

    The eyes of the middle-aged woman behind him were already wet. ¡°Thank you, I shouldn¡¯t have doubted you earlier, I¡¯m sorry!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. If anything, both you and Doctor Gao have done more than I did. Neither of you gave up on Wang Xin when she needed it the most, and that is the most important thing.¡± Chen Ge praised both to the moon and back, improving their impression of Chen Ge. Wang Xin¡¯s adopted mother wanted to ask them to stay for lunch, but Chen Ge rejected it. When Wang Xin had fallen asleep earlier, the ck phone had vibrated twice. He was in a hurry to look at its message.

    After exiting Fang Hwa, Chen Ge bade Doctor Gao farewell before getting on a bus to return to New Century Park. He sat on the back row, and after making sure no one was paying him any attention, he pulled out the ck phone.

    ¡°Congrattions onpleting 2-star scenario Mu Yang High School¡¯s hidden mission¡ªthe Pen Spirit¡¯s Wish! Activating the next part of the Hidden Mission! Create mannequins for the twenty-four spirits to possess!

    ¡°Sessfullypleted the Pen Spirit¡¯s Wish. Even though she still cannot see you, she is appreciative of your help. Would you like to employ the Pen Spirit as a member of the Haunted House?¡±

    Chen Ge clicked ¡®yes¡¯ without reservation. Hadn¡¯t he been waiting for this moment for a long time?

    ¡°Specters¡¯ Favored, congrattions on hiring a Special-Type Baleful Specter¡ªthe Pen Spirit!

    ¡°Chen Yalin (Pen Spirit): A fortune telling opportunity daily (All questions must be within the Pen Spirit¡¯s power. The rate of a sessful reading is fifty percent)!

    ¡°Note: The Pen Spirit feeds on the visitor¡¯s frightful screams. The visitor¡¯s fear will improve the Pen Spirit¡¯s power, but if you keep the Pen Spirit¡¯s isted and depressed, she might decide to leave you.¡±

    Chen Ge read the Pen Spirit¡¯s information again and again. He was quite excited; he had finally hired his first supernatural employee. This meant that his previous dream could be realized; he could create a theme park that he could operate on his own!

    <i>A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I¡¯m sure more ghosts will join my team in the future. </i>Chen Ge was very satisfied with the Pen Spirit. She could handle a small scenario all on her own, and her special talent could be incredibly useful.

    Chen Ge saw the next section of Mu Yang High School¡¯s hidden mission, to build mannequins for the lingering spirits of the sealed ssroom to possess. Even without the mission from the ck phone, Chen Ge would have done that eventually.

    The phone call with Inspector Lee had made Chen Ge understand why the twenty-four students had returned to the ssroom. They were orphans, and Mu Yang High School was their home. With the unlocking of the new scenario, they had moved into Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, not unlike Xiaoxiao¡¯s family.

    <i>As Iplete more Trial Missions, the underground scenario will only get bigger; I will need the help of these twenty-four lingering spirits to manage the sets. We both need the other. </i>Chen Ge¡¯s n was nice, but he needed to get the goodwill of the twenty-four spirits first.

    The first thing Chen Ge did after returning to his Haunted House was sleep; he was truly exhausted by the events of the day. After being asleep for who knew how long, Chen Ge felt something crawling on his chest, like a kitten asking for attention. He opened his eyes blurrily and discovered he was hugging a small doll.

    ¡°Xiaoxiao?¡± He rubbed his eyes and ced Xiaoxiao beside him, ¡°What¡¯s going on? You have a grown man like myself hugging a doll when he sleeps, just imagine the impression it¡¯ll leave on my future wife if she sees me like this.¡±

    After stretchingzily, Chen Ge nced at the time; it was 11:59 pm. Chen Ge put on his shoes and exited the staff breakroom to head for the first-floor bathroom.

    He merely had to pee, but as he entered the ce, he discovered that the atmosphere inside the bathroom was not right. The door of the cubicle was swaying lightly, and a red hue could be seening from the mirror underneath the ck cloth.

    <i>Has the door in the mirror returned?</i>

    He walked to the mirror and lifted up a corner of the ck cloth.

    In the mirror that had cracked, the red door was half open.

 Chapter 106 - The Sound Behind the Door

    <h4>Chapter 106: The Sound Behind the Door</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s hand froze in mid-air. The creepiest thing was that the door in the mirror was open at the exact same angle as in real life. Chen Ge removed the ck cloth and walked to the cubicle. He turned to look at the mirror while he reached out to push the door openpletely.

    There was nothing inside the cubicle in reality, but it was different in the mirror. The narrow cubicle was painted red, like blood was seeping out from the ceiling, walls, and floor; it was a different world.

    Chen Ge still did not have the courage to step into the cubicle. Holding the door knob, he wondered if he should just have the cubicle destroyed. About ten secondster, Chen Ge heard a weird sound that seemed very close but also faraway. It felt like someone wearing wet clothes was crawling on the floor.

    <i>Where is thating from?</i>

    The sound became clearer, as if it was getting close to Chen Ge. He walked out of the bathroom to peer down the corridor and then turned to look at the mirror. Finally, he confirmed that the sound wasing from inside the cubicle.

    <i>Something ising? </i>Chen Ge knew that it was not the time to be curious. He yanked the cubicle door shut and used the nearby mop to block it before turning to look at the mirror. The sound of something heavy being dragged entered the cubicle, and soon, a pool of red bled out from underneath the door. The other thing felt like it was looking for something, and the air was heavy with the smell of blood. After several seconds, the sound moved away, and the unique smell dissipated.

    With his back against the wall, Chen Ge¡¯s palms were very sweaty. If he had not woken up, the thing that was crawling on the ground would have escaped, just like the mirror monster.

    <i>Even with the ck cloth over the mirror, the blood red door still appears on time.</i>Chen Ge was clueless about the world behind the cubicle door, so the only thing he could do was forget about it for now.

    After sshing his face with cold water, Chen Ge returned to the staff breakroom. When he opened the door, he realized that Xiaoxiao had disappeared again.

    <i>Did shee earlier to remind me? </i>Chen Ge sat on the side of his bed. Since he could not sleep, he took out the ck phone. After he swiped on the screen, he clicked on the tab for the daily missions.

    Easy Mission: A normal Haunted House experience should not create permanent trauma to its visitors; I hope you understand this simple theory. Please improve the Haunted House¡¯s security by inspecting the security threats hidden around the Haunted House.

    Normal Mission: A single hand cannot p. A good Haunted House needs a good management team. Recruit more talents; they will definitely help when the situation demands it.

    Nightmare Mission: There has always been a second upant inside your room, wouldn¡¯t you like to meet said person?

    Chen Ge was familiar with the newly updated daily missions; he had seen them before.

    <i>The Easy and Normal missions are things that I should be doing at the current stage, more help around the ce and improved security. However, inparison, the reward of the Nightmare Mission is far more alluring.</i>

    Without risk, there would be no reward, but the key thing was, after hiring the Pen Spirit, he had a fortune-telling chance every day. The way Chen Ge saw it, using it on the Nightmare Mission was the best use of the Pen Spirit¡¯s power.

    Holding the ballpoint pen that was taped together, Chen Ge felt embarrassed.<i>When there¡¯s a chance, I should ask her if she wants to move to a newer pen.</i>

    He grabbed a random piece of paper and ced it on the table. After invoking the Pen Spirit, Chen Ge asked the question that was bothering him. ¡°Can I finish thetest Nightmare Mission on the ck phone safely?¡±

    After that, Chen Ge looked at the paper for a long time. The pen shook, but there was no answer.

    ¡°Is the question that difficult?¡± Chen Ge realized the Pen Spirit was not as powerful as he had thought; she could not answer anything rted to the ck phone. Looking at the ballpoint pen that had started to break, Chen Ge quickly changed his question. ¡°That question doesn¡¯t count. I want to know, has there been another person living in this room?¡±

    The ballpoint pen hovered for a long time before writing ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then, do you know what he looks like?¡±

    This time, the Pen Spirit did not answer; the ballpoint pen in his palm had returned to normal. Chen Ge did not me the Pen Spirit, since fortune-telling was probably extremely exhausting for the Pen Spirit, which was probably why the limitation of one per day was in ce.

    <i>So, there is another person living here. How have I not noticed all this time? Based on the mission introduction, the person is another friend from the other side. </i>There were quite a few supernatural tenants living in Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. He did not mind any more weird spirits as long as it did not actively harm his business like the mirror ghost.

    After some hesitation, Chen Ge chose to ept the Nightmare Mission.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to ept the Nightmare Mission? Unforeseeable consequences might ur.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The screen flickered, and a new message appeared.

    ¡°It stays in the same room as you. After you fall asleep, it will appear.

    ¡°If it is kind, it will wash away the negative energy and keep the household safe and healthy.

    ¡°If it is malicious, when you are asleep, it will stand beside your bed, thinking about how to ruin you.

    ¡°The game is called ¡®The Invisible Customer¡¯. At midnight, spread soaked uncooked rice around the house, ce a pair of worn slippers outside the door, and light a white candle on the bedroom floor. Arrange the bed in such a way that it looks like someone is really asleep in bed. You will lie underneath the bed. For the mission to work, you have to really fall asleep. If you manage to catch a glimpse of its face, then mission will be sessful.

    ¡°This mission will be your third Nightmare Mission. Afterpleting the mission, you will randomly get a scenario¡¯s Trial Mission.

    ¡°Warning: Afterpleting the third Nightmare Mission, the Nightmare Missions given for daily mission will be randomized, so please treat each Nightmare Mission carefully!¡±

    Chen Ge memorized all the mission details quickly.

    <i>Why must I fall asleep for the mission? How will I take a look at the person¡¯s face if I¡¯m asleep? In my dreams? </i>Chen Ge did not understand the meaning of this mission, but since he had epted it, he could only follow the instructions.

    After putting on his jacket, Chen Ge once more visited the park canteente at night to ¡®borrow¡¯ half a bowl of white rice.

    <i>The Haunted House is so big; it¡¯ll be such a waste if I have to cover every floor. </i>Chen Ge soaked the rice in cold water and spread it around the few rooms on the first floor. Then he ced a pair of slippers at the corridor entrance and lit a white candle beside his bed.

 Chapter 107 - Invisible Customer

    <h4>Chapter 107: Invisible Customer</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After that, Chen Ge found the doll that had been left behind by his parents and the Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer and ced them beside his bed. <i>Now, everything is ready.</i>

    After switching off the light, Chen Ge attached his phone to the charger and left it on the bedside table to record. He then crawled underneath the bed with the scary looking hammer. The flickering candlelight caused the brightness inside the room to fluctuate. Once Chen Ge closed his eyes, his brain was immediately filled with many scary thoughts¡ªhe could not control it.

    He kept his attention on his surrounding as he curled into the fetal position, the top of his head touching the corner of the bed. From his vantage point, he could see the slippers in the corridor through the half-open door.

    <i>The slippers are where they were, and the white rice has remained unmoved. I wonder why the ck phone asked me to prepare these things.</i>

    The candle burned shorter, and Chen Ge¡¯s eyelids grew heavier. Night spread through the Haunted House, and Chen Ge, who had not really rested for the past few days, held on for a little longer before drifting off to sleep.

    ...

    His lower calf was a bit cold. Chen Ge opened his eyes blurrily. The candle had gone out, and the room was dark and quiet.

    <i>What time is it? </i>Chen Ge wanted to nce at his watch, but he realized he could not move.

    <i>Sleep paralysis? </i><sup>1</sup>

    After widening his eyes, Chen Ge did not make too much resistance. He focused on adjusting his breathing; respiratory organs like lungs were not affected by sleep paralysis. Then, he focused his energy on trying to bend his finger. Throughout the process, he did not look elsewhere but on his finger. After all, even if there was something scary, he would have been unable to move. It would only add to his fear and cause him to lose his cool.

    After three minutes, Chen Ge could finally move his pinkie; this was a good start. He tried to move onto the next stage, but as his eyes swept past the open door, a question bubbled up in his mind. <i>When I ced the slippers earlier, did the head of slippers face inward or outward?</i>

    Since he would need to wear the slippers when going out, the slippers should have been facing outward, but the slippers that Chen Ge saw were pointing into his bedroom.

    <i>Did I misce them earlier?</i>

    A bad feeling settled in his stomach, and he tried his best to move his other fingers. The candle in the room had long been extinguished. There was a shuffling sound like the room like someone was moving the rice that was ced around the floor.

    Under Chen Ge¡¯s scrutiny, one of the slippers moved forward. It was an awkward movement, like someone learning how to walk for the first time.

    <i>It moved!</i>

    The more anxious Chen Ge became, the slower he progressed. After making the first step, the slippers ced on the corridor suddenly moved forward several steps like someone was putting them on.

    <i>The invisible customer is already here? Why can¡¯t I see him?</i>

    Just as Chen Ge was thinking, the pair of slippers had reached the door to the main control room. It suddenly stopped, and then the door to the control room fell open on its own before soon closing. The windows inside the Haunted House were shut, so it could not have been the wind.

    <i>What is it looking for?</i>

    The pair of slippers moved up and down the dark corridor before it stopped at the door to the dressing room. From Chen Ge¡¯s angle, he could see that the ck cloth over the mirror in the dressing room had been taken down, and the skin mask made from multiple faces swayed before the mirror.

    Chen Ge was rmed watching this. He tried to move his fingers, but at that moment, the moving skin mask suddenly stopped, and the hollow behind the pair of eyes seemed to be staring at Chen Ge¡¯s hiding ce.

    <i>I¡¯ve been discovered!</i>

    The mask fell to the floor, and the door to the dressing room was closed. The pair of slippers stopped in front of the door before it turned toward Chen Ge and headed quick for the staff breakroom!

    Hiding under the bed with his body immobile, Chen Ge could only watch as the pair of slippers move closer to him. The door to the breakroom was pushed open further, and the pair of slippers stopped beside the bed.

    Chen Ge closed his eyes and pretended that he was asleep. He could feel a cold draft on his face and a light breathing beside his ear, as if a face was looking closely down at him.

    <i>The monster is checking whether I¡¯m really asleep or not. </i>Chen Ge did not dare open his eyes. He was afraid of seeing something that might make him lose control.

    His movement was stopped, so the best solution then was to pretend to be asleep. Several secondster, the chilling breathing sound disappeared. Chen Ge pushed his eyes open a sliver. There was nothing before him. He moved his eyes around and saw that the pair of slippers was ced beside the bed. However, the direction was different from before; now they were facing out.

    <i>It has jumped onto my bed? </i>Just the thought of it made Chen Ge shiver. Every time he had been asleep, this thing had been wandering about the house. If the person had malicious intentions, the consequences would have been unbearable.

    The slippers remained unmoved for a long time. The monster was likely lying in his bed. Chen Ge realized that his chance had arrived. He directed all his energy to the one finger he could move. His pupils darted about and tried to unfreeze the rest of the body from immobility. Completing the Nightmare Mission was no longer that important; the feeling that his body was out of his control was horrible.

    Afterpleting so many of the ck phone¡¯s missions, Chen Ge¡¯s focus and concentration were better than most. After some time, the rest of his fingers could all move. Curling his palm into a fist, his control of his arm also slowly returned.

    <i>Just a little more, a little bit more. </i>The muscles on his arms bulged. Chen Ge had a feeling that he could wake up soon. His breathing smoothed out, and he could now turn his neck slightly. If only his legs could move, then he would have regained full control of his body. With the hammer in hand, he would be less defenseless.

    However, his lower body waspletely unresponsive. He nudged his body, trying to turn onto his side. His heartbeat reverberated in his ears. Using every ounce of energy in his body, he finally managed to turn his body toward the wall. In that instant, he felt the shackles on his body unlock.

    Chen Ge gained full control of his body back, but as he turned to look behind him, his skin became covered in goosebumps.

    There was a girl lying behind him.

    <i>The monster didn¡¯t get onto the bed! It has been behind me all along!</i>

    Chen Ge involuntarily reached for the hammer beside him, and the girl lying behind him also realized that Chen Ge had woken up from the sleep paralysis.

    Her reaction was one beat slower. She raised her head to share a look with Chen Ge before morphing into a shadow in a hurry and rushing out of the room.

    Chen Ge grabbed the hammer and chased after her.

    When he saw the girl¡¯s face, he had felt that she look weirdly familiar.

 Chapter 108 - The Secret of the Third Sick Hall

    <h4>Chapter 108: The Secret of the Third Sick Hall</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>I must have seen her somewhere before.</i>

    It was not that Chen Ge had that much confidence in his memory, but the girl¡¯s face was memorable. His mind drew a nk as he chased after the girl after picking up his phone and the iron hammer. The rice on the floor turned into a mess. By the time Chen Ge exited the staff breakroom, the shadow had already disappeared.

    <i>Where did she disappear to? The front door is closed, so she should still be inside the Haunted house.</i>

    Turning on the shlight, Chen Ge noticed that the white rice formed a trail. He followed said trail to the deepest part of the first-floor corridor. The wooden boards that blocked the entrance were lifted up, and a wind could be heard blowing underneath. Chen Ge moved the boards to the side and entered the Mu Yang High School scenario.

    There was rice left on the stairs, proof that the girl had entered the same scenario.

    <i>Her escape route is clear; she ran this way.</i>

    The scenario was huge, but the rice on the floor helped Chen Ge navigate the ce. The scenario was underground, but it had not changed from theyout of the parking lot. The trail of white rice eventually disappeared beside a bearing beam.

    <i>She has hidden herself inside the beam?</i>

    The bearing beam was right underneath the Haunted House, supporting the whole Haunted House¡¯s weight. Patting the beam, Chen Ge was reminded of a story that he had once heard from his grandparents. Apparently, there was a spirit living inside every home, and while most of them were kind spirits, there were exceptions.

    A kind spirit protected the house and the residents in it; a malicious spirit would ruin the family¡¯s Feng Shui. Normally, such spirits were the ancestors who had passed away, but there were exceptions, like the ce Fan Yu and his aunt called home.

    This fitted the description provided by the ck phone. There was an invisible customer at the Haunted House, and it might be friendly or malicious.

    <i>The girl hiding behind me earlier, could it be the spirit that protects the Haunted House?</i>

    The more he thought about it, the more convinced Chen Ge became. He walked around the beam and realized that there was a doll that had been left leaning against it. This doll was the first doll that he had made.

    ¡°Wait! Aren¡¯t you supposed to be in my pocket?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s hands wandered to his pocket, and the doll was not there. ¡°Are you the person who has been living at the Haunted House with me?¡±

    Chen Ge bent down to pick up the doll, and when he did, he saw that the doll was covering a rtively small hole underneath it. He shone his shlight into the hole. The space that could only fit four fingers had a bracelet and a paper crane inside.

    Neither was expensive. The bracelet was made of stic, and it looked like a little girl¡¯s toy; the paper crane that was stuffed underneath it had be out of shape. After pulling the items out, Chen Ge saw three curvy words at the end of the bracelet¡ªLuo Ruoyu.

    <i>Why would there be a girl¡¯s toy inside the underground parking lot? </i>Chen Ge studied the bracelet closer. <i>If this bracelet belongs to that shadow, then this should be the girl¡¯s name.</i>

    Surname Luo, the guardian spirit of the Haunted House, a girl¡¯s toy...

    After connecting the clues, it hit Chen Ge. He finally remembered where he had seen the girl¡¯s face. <i>That girl is New Century Park Director Luo¡¯s daughter!</i>

    When he visited Director Luo to discuss the possibility of renting the underground parking lot, he had seen the girl¡¯s photo. She was physically disabled but had the purest of smile.

    <i>The girl has be the guardian spirit for the whole park? Then why would she attach herself to the doll left behind by my parents? </i>Chen Ge felt like there was a hidden meaning to this Nightmare Mission. He took the doll, bracelet, and paper crane back to the staff breakroom. He pulled out an album from a locked drawer. The first page featured a family photo of Chen Ge and his parents. Since the picture had been taken on the day that the construction of the Haunted House had finished, the background of the picture was the Haunted House.

    In the picture, Chen Ge¡¯s father stood proudly in the middle; he was as happy as a child. Chen Ge, who had still been attending school then, stood quietly to the side, looking at the camera with a trace of impatience on his face. His mother stood beside his father, but as he looked closer, his mother¡¯s hand was hanging in mid-air, and her fingers were curved like they were holding someone¡¯s hand.

    <i>There are four people in the picture?</i>

    Flipping through the album, Chen Ge found another picture that was weirder. His father was pointing at the Haunted House, talking to Chen Ge, while his mother half-squatted on the floor, her hands touching something in the air.

    There were many other simr pictures, and looking at them, Chen Ge felt his heart chill. Ever since he was young, he had wondered why he had to leave a huge space during picture time. Now he understood it.

    <i>They sure were nice to the ghosts! It is probably because of them that I¡¯m favored by the specters!</i>

    Chen Ge did not expect Director Luo¡¯s daughter to have attached herself to the doll left behind by his parents, and from the looks of it, she had stayed with them for a long time already. Director Luo¡¯s daughter was the guardian spirit of the park, so she could not leave the park. This exined why the doll was only useful inside the Haunted House and the park. It was why, when Wang Qi tried to ambush Chen Ge at the wooden hut behind Ping An Apartments, the doll had not reacted. There were many other such asions as well.

    Chen Ge closed the album and lightly rubbed his temple. He had a feeling that the mission was more than it seemed. He moved his gaze away from the doll and the bracelet to fall on the paper crane.

    The material was normal, but it was dirtied by a blood stain.

    <i>This paper crane does not look new; it should have been inside that hole for a long time already.</i>

    Opening the paper crane, several words could be seen written on the bloodied paper¡ªThe Third Room of the Third Sick Hall!

    <i>The Third Sick Hall? </i>Chen Ge¡¯s heart started to quiver when he saw those words. Afterpleting three Nightmare Missions, one of the Trial Missions would be unlocked. Before this, Chen Ge had already prepared to select the Trial Mission for the Third Sick Hall because it was the only three-star mission carried by the ck phone.

    <i>The handwriting looks simr to my parent¡¯s, but why would they leave behind a clue to a location? Is the third room in the third sick hall rted to their disappearance? </i>Chen Ge put the paper aside, and his brain was mulling on another problem.

    <i>The ck phone said that afterpleting the three Nightmare Missions, the missions in the future will be randomized. This means that the first three Nightmare Missions are fixed.</i>

    <i>The first mission opened the door to the other world; the second mission told me my parents are still alive but missing; this third mission gave me a venue. Buying my trust, giving me hope, and then providing me with an investigative direction. The three Nightmare Missions are rted to each other, and they are more meaningful than they appear.</i>

 Chapter 109 - Second Special Visitor

    <h4>Chapter 109: Second Special Visitor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The three Nightmare Missions were like the new yer missions given in such games. They had certain risks, but they also helped new yers familiarize themselves with the game.

    <i>Looks like only afterpleting the first three Nightmare Missions can one be considered a real yer. </i>Chen Ge held the bloodied paper in his hand, and he discovered that his emotions were still raging. Every single mission so far had been a real threat, but until now, he had been in the kiddie pool, so just how difficult would theter missions be?

    After putting away the note with the hint, Chen Ge slowly resigned himself to his fate. The most difficult missions so far had been the two Trial Missions. The most dangerous presence at Ping An Apartments was the people. Mu Yang High School was creepy, but the lingering spirits inside it had meant no harm. Therefore, technically speaking, the missions were not that dangerous.

    <i>Looks like from three-star scenarios onwards, the situation will be different. I¡¯ll probably encounter malicious specters then. </i>In any case, Chen Ge could only power forward. This paper had probably been left behind by his parents, so no matter what, he had to pay the location a visit.

    Chen Ge then pulled out the ck phone. When he saw the girl¡¯s face, the Nightmare Mission had beenpleted.

    ¡°Specters¡¯ Favored, congrattions forpleting the Nightmare Mission, obtained reward¡ªElementary Skill, Dollmaker¡¯s Talent.

    ¡°Utilizing real humans as your model, carve, cut, join, and shine each bone, paint the skin, sew up the wounds, and pair it with a wless face. Provide it to a homeless spirit, and you will have created your first living doll.

    ¡°That mission was your third Nightmare Mission. Afterpleting the mission, you were rewarded with a randomized scenario¡¯s Trial Mission. Would you like to draw the Trial Mission now?

    ¡°Warning: Afterpleting the third Nightmare Mission, the Nightmare Missions given for daily missions will be randomized, so please treat each Nightmare Mission carefully!¡±

    Simr to when he obtained the Mortician¡¯s Make-up skill, some new memories and techniques appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. Other than that, there was no visible change.

    <i>Dolls and mannequins are integral parts of a Haunted House. This skill will be incredibly helpful for the management of a Haunted House. It¡¯s just a coincidence that there are twenty-four lingering spirits in Mu Yang High School that need them. I can use them to test out this skill. </i>Chen Ge had skipped over whether the spirits would like to live his dolls or not. <i>After finishing the dolls and pushing the spirits into them, it will most likelyplete Mu Yang High School¡¯s Hidden Mission.</i>

    There were not enough mannequins in the Night of the Living Dead scenario, and his Haunted House did not possess the facilities to mass produce a bunch of mannequins.

    <i>Tomorrow morning, I should go around to look for a workshop that can help me produce mannequins. Hopefully, the price won¡¯t be too exorbitant. </i>Chen Ge continued to look through the ck phone. He was hesitating over whether he should draw the Trial Mission or not. In the end, he did not think that he was ready to take on a three-star Trial Mission.

    After dealing with all that, Chen Ge reached for his phone, ended the video, and cut the part where the slippers entered the room on their own and stopped beside his bed.

    ¡®Whenever I fell asleep, the slippers walk to the bed on their own.¡¯ After giving it a random name, Chen Ge uploaded this video that was only eleven seconds long to the app. Despite its length, the effect was much better than the bathtub video. In less than several minutes, it had over more than a hundred views and fifty shares. Thements section, which had been quiet for so long, started to get rambunctious again.

    ¡°Small and weak! Your video is simr to your... Wait, can someone tell me why the slippers can move on their own?¡±

    ¡°Have you photoshopped yourself out of the video?¡±

    ¡°Am I mistaken? Or is there someone hiding under the bed?¡±

    ¡°I see it, too! But there appears to be two of them! F*ck, what in heaven¡¯s name is this?¡±

    Whenever Chen Ge released a video, his number of followers would increase. After reading thements for another two minutes, he logged out of his ount and went back to sleep. When Chen Ge woke up the next morning, he cleared the white rice away and cleaned the Haunted House before waiting for the park to open.

    <i>Theck of employees is a problem. If only the Pen Spirit could help me sell tickets...</i>

    Chen Ge started to n internally. The Minghun scenario allowed a maximum capacity of three visitors at a time, but Murder by Midnight and Mu Yang High School were different. For Murder by Midnight, the more the visitors, the more exciting it would be. Mu Yang High School covered arge space, and even if eight people entered it at the same time, as long as he handled the rhythm well, scaring them dumb was still possible.

    <i>Afterpleting Mu Yang High School¡¯s Hidden Mission, I should have Xu Wan manage the Murder by Midnight scenario, and I¡¯ll enter the Mu Yang High School scenario. That way, two scenarios can operate at the same time.</i>

    After making the n, Chen Ge went online to look for a mannequin workshop near western Jiujiang, and he was pleased to discover that there was one close to New Century Park. In fact, the ce¡¯s main customer had once been New Century Park. This meant that the deterioration of the park had brought about the ce¡¯s demise as well. It seemed that the owner was about to let the ce go.

    The park opened punctually at 9 am. The number of overall visitors was dwindling, but the line before the Haunted House was increasing. Before, it was Chen Ge holding the stack of flyers in his hands, watching on with envy as the visitors walk past his Haunted House. Even the line for the Merry-go-Round used to be longer than the line for his Haunted House, but now the situation had flipped.

    ¡°Please stay patiently in line. Every scenario costs 20. For those of you who want to experience a different scenario after the first one, please return to the back to the line.¡±

    Chen Ge had Xu Wan enter the Haunted House to prepare while he stayed outside to maintain order. When he was selling tickets, the ck phone suddenly vibrated.

    <i>The day has just started, and there¡¯s already a message? </i>Chen Ge stood where he was and pulled out the phone.

    ¡°The Midnight Ticket Counter¡¯s effect has been triggered. A special visitor has appeared! Please make use of this opportunity; the results will be different based on your choices!¡±

    <i>Another trigger? </i>Chen Ge was dazed for a moment before his eyes swept over the line of visitors. <i>Who could this special visitor be?</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes widened when his gaze reached the end of the line. The person saw him as well because he waved at Chen Ge.

    ¡°Doctor Gao?¡±

    Chen Ge sent two visitors into the Minghun scenario before he walked over to Doctor Gao and studied the man closely. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°To find you of course.¡± Doctor Gao was in a suit, so he did not look like a typical park visitor. ¡°I knew that you are no longer a student, but I¡¯m surprised you own a Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a family business.¡± Chen Ge pocketed his ck phone and said, ¡°Then, how can I help you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like this, I have stumbled across a unique patient. His situation is simr to the boy you once told me about, so I wish to ask you some questions.¡±

 Chapter 110 - The Same Dream

    <h4>Chapter 110: The Same Dream</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Same condition as the boy? He also likes to visit Haunted Houses?¡± Doctor Gao had managed to pique Chen Ge¡¯s curiosity.

    ¡°Low spirited with asional outbursts. Prefers to be alone in dark ces because it gives him a sense of security. Whether he likes to visit Haunted Houses or not, I¡¯m not so sure.¡± Doctor Gao moved to the side to reveal the young man behind him. ¡°Men Nan, my student, he came to me with his illness about three weeks ago.¡±

    The person behind Doctor Gao was in his twenties, slight of frame, had a tense face, high cheek bones, and dark circles around his eyes. Standing under the sun, tiny droplets of sweat seeped out of his forehead. The young man seemed to be in a tense state, with his head lowered, unable to meet any one¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Surname Men?¡± Chen Ge tried to make conversation. ¡°That¡¯s rare, nice to meet you.¡±

    The young man¡¯s reaction was weird. He kept his head lowered, and his eyes scanned Chen Ge quickly before softly replying, ¡°Nice to meet you.¡±

    After examining the young man for some time, Chen Ge pulled Doctor Gao to the side. ¡°But, Doctor Gao, why did you bring him here? If you n to let him visit the Haunted House, I¡¯m not responsible if anything happens to him.¡±

    ¡°Men Nan was a cheerful, confident child, one of my brightest students. He is incredibly talented in the field of personality psychology.¡±

    ¡°Personality psychology?¡±

    ¡°One of the branches of psychology. Generally speaking, it is the science of understanding human behavior.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge nodded even though he still did not quite get it.

    ¡°His symptoms appeared three weeks ago without any warning. There is usually a trigger to psychological illnesses, mostly rted to one¡¯s family or living environment. However, Men Nan lives alone, and his environment has not undergone any changes recently, so I¡¯m stumped,¡± Doctor Gao whispered, obviously trying to not let Men Nan hear him.

    ¡°After many sessions, his condition has not improved. If anything, it is deteriorating. The young man has always been a patient fellow, but recently, he has been experiencing violent mood swings. He got into a scuffle recently with a ssmate simply because the animal patterns on the curtain did not match, and he injured a random stranger simply because the number of sesame seeds on the bun kept changing whenever he counted them.¡±

    ¡°The reasons for his anger sure are unique.¡±

    ¡°Whenever one is under the torment of psychological pressure, even the smallest provocation can lead to an explosion of emotions. Men Nan¡¯s actions made me realize he was in deep pain.¡±

    ¡°But why would you bring him to me?¡± Chen Ge looked at Doctor Gao and Men Nan. The special visitor was probably one of them.

    ¡°Wang Xin¡¯s illness has improved greatly. Her symptoms that were deteriorating improved after meeting you,¡± Doctor Gao said with a smile. ¡°I¡¯m not a stubborn person. No matter the method, as long as it can cure the patient, it is a good method. I am deeply disturbed by the pain he is in, so I wish for you to lend me a hand.¡±

    ¡°Go on then.¡± Chen Ge did not reject Doctor Gao.

    ¡°Can you repeat what you did for Wang Xin on Men Nan? After all, from what we know so far, Men Nan, Wang Xin, and the boy we discussed about before all suffer from the same illness.¡±

    Chen Ge hesitated after hearing Doctor Gao¡¯s words. He did not expect that would be the reason behind the doctor¡¯s visit. What he had done for Wang Xin had probably greatly impressed the senior psychologist, and that was why he hade up with this request.

    However, Chen Ge knew the truth. The only reason Chen Ge could help Wang Xin was because he knew the past from the Pen Spirit, and the Pen Spirit herself hade to assist Wang Xin. The method could not be copied; it was specific to the case.

    ¡°Is it going to be a problem for you?¡± Doctor Gao saw the hesitation on Chen Ge¡¯s face. ¡°If it¡¯s too much trouble, then forget I ever ask. After all, I¡¯m just hoping for the best here. This child has immense talent, but if I put him under medication, it will cause great side effects on his body and mind; I¡¯m afraid it will ruin his future.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s difficult but not impossible. If you want me to help, at least let me know a little bit more about him.¡± Chen Ge did not reject directly. One of them was the special visitor, and every special visitor was a hidden treasure who he must not let go easily.

    ¡°Then I will thank you in advanced on behalf of the child.¡± The smile returned to Doctor Gao¡¯s face as he called Men Nan over. ¡°Men Nan,e and tell us what has been bothering you.¡±

    The young man kept his head lowered. No matter who he was talking to, his head remained in that posture, like someone was pressing him down on his skull.

    Noting the young man¡¯s silence, Doctor Gao sighed before filling in for him. ¡°Three weeks ago, he suddenly came to see me, saying he suspected that he was suffering from depression. We are professionals ourselves, and after an afternoon of diagnosis, I discovered that his symptoms were different from normal depression. At most, he was feeling overly agitated and tired. At the time, I did not think too much of it, but his situation worsened. He would spend the whole day not saying a single word and get into altercations with the slightest provocation. I analyzed it for a long time beforeing to a conclusion that he would not admit¡ªhe is afraid, very afraid of something that is hidden inside his heart!

    ¡°I suspect that he is suffering from a fearplex, but when I examine his surroundings, I cannot find anything that could cause fear. After I asked him again and again, he finally admitted the truth.¡± Doctor Gao looked at Men Nan with concern in his eyes. ¡°Starting three weeks ago, he has been having the same dream every night.¡±

    The mention of the dream made Men Nan shudder; this was something he was afraid of facing the most.

    ¡°What kind of dream?¡± Chen Ge had imagined many scary scenarios, but Doctor Gao¡¯s answer surprised him.

    ¡°He dreamed about washing his hair.¡±

    ¡°Washing his hair?¡± Chen Ge did not know what to say.

    ¡°I¡¯ll let him fill you in on the rest.¡± Doctor Gao ced his hand on Men Nan¡¯s shoulder and nudged him slightly, probably to make him rx.

    After a long time, Men Nan opened his lips. ¡°It is the same dream every time, and it is bing clearer and clearer. Soon, I¡¯ll be able to see the person¡¯s face.¡±

    His voice sounded raw, like his throat had been burned.

    ¡°Who is this person? There¡¯s another person in your dream?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he always appears beside me to watch me wash my hair. He looks scary and dangerous, as if the moment I close my eyes, he will rush over to strangle me.¡±

 Chapter 111 - Getting Closer

    <h4>Chapter 111: Getting Closer</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge and Doctor Gao were silent for a long time. Washing the head meant washing away bad luck and dirt. In dream theory, it meant a good thing was about to happen, but what Men Nan described had nothing good about it; it sounded like a nightmare.

    ¡°Can you still remember the face of the person in your dream and your surroundings?¡±

    Men Nan was most likely the special visitor mentioned by the ck phone. Therefore, the choice Chen Ge made could influence the final reward.

    ¡°The dream feels like it happened inside my rental¡¯s bathroom; the cement of the things looked familiar, but I am not so sure.¡± Men Nan pushed down his head, and his voice weakened even more. ¡°I haven¡¯t been able to get a good look of the person standing beside me, but I am certain he is getting closer to me. These few weeks, I have been having the same dream, and with each passing night, the dream keeps getting clearer, and I have a clearer view of the man¡¯s face.¡±

    ¡°What does he look like?¡±

    ¡°Soon, in the next dream, I will be able to see his face,¡± Men Nan said with his head lowered. When he spoke, only his pupils moved upwards; it looked creepy. What the young man said was very vague; there was no worthwhile information.

    Chen Ge did not give up and continued to press him. ¡°Can you give me more details? For instance, what was the man up to when you were washing your head? Or has he said anything?¡±

    ¡°The content of the dream is almost always the same.¡± Men Nan¡¯s raw voice was shaking. ¡°When I had this dream for the first time three weeks ago, it wasn¡¯t that scary. In the dream, I woke up in the middle of the night to enter the bathroom. There were no thoughts in my mind then, and my body was merely moving on its own. It felt like some foreign force had taken over me.

    ¡°Initially the dream was fuzzy. I stopped before the mirror to fill up the basin with water before putting my head into it. When I bent over with my head lowered, I could see someone standing at the front door upside-down.

    ¡°At the beginning, he was standing far away from me. It was not until I finished washing my head that I realized he seem to have moved closer but only just a little bit.

    ¡°After the dream was over, I had other dreams, so I didn¡¯t pay it much attention initially. But the next day, I had the same dream again!

    ¡°Everything was the same. I walked into the bathroom, stood before the mirror, filled the basin with water, and then bent over to put my head into the water. When my hair touched the surface of the water, I could see someone standing in the living room. When I was done, the person once again moved closer to me.

    ¡°The same dream kept repeating. Initially, it felt like every other dream, but as it repeated itself, everything became clearer and clearer. My brain was moving during the dream, and my senses were active, but the key issue was the man who came in from the door inched closer to me with each dream!

    ¡°In my dream, I¡¯m scared out of my wits, but I simply cannot wake up. The moment I fall asleep, the dream continues. In the dream two and a half weeks ago, the man entered the living room; one week ago, the man appeared next to the toilet. In the dream four days ago, the man appeared beside me!

    ¡°He was standing beside me. The moment I bent down to push my head into the water, his body would lean alongside me with the fuzzy face inching closer.¡±

    Chen Ge had chills just from Men Nan¡¯s description. He could not imagine the trauma for the young man who had experienced it personally. Having the same dream for three weeks with an unclear man inching closer, no wonder he ended up in this state.

    ¡°The night beforest, I had the same dream again, and it was also thest time.¡± Men Nan tried to raise his head, and Chen Ge saw that his eyes were darting about rapidly. ¡°The man¡¯s face was so close that I thought I could take a good look, but at that moment, he used his hands to strangle my neck. Then, I woke up, and I haven¡¯t gone back to bed since then.¡±

    Men Nan¡¯s situation was dire. The man in his dream was strangling him. If the dream was allowed to continue, who knew what would have happened. No wonder Doctor Gao came to Chen Ge; he was probably thest resort.

    ¡°Repetitious dream you say... and they are all in the bathroom.¡± Chen Ge thought about it and said, ¡°Could it be a problem with the apartment itself? I¡¯m just stating a possibility, so don¡¯t be afraid.¡±

    ¡°Go on.¡±

    ¡°Is it possible that someone died in the room you rented, and the body hasn¡¯t been discovered, so the person appears in your dream, hoping you will call the police on his behalf?¡±

    When Chen Ge finished, Men Nan¡¯s face was green. He took in a very deep breath. ¡°There¡¯s a body hiding in my room? Impossible!¡±

    His emotions started to go haywire. If not for Doctor Gao¡¯s hands on his shoulders, his illness probably would have kicked in. Doctor Gao added with a curious expression, ¡°I¡¯ve been to his rental room and examined the ce inside out; there is nothing weird about it. Furthermore, one week ago, I did invite Men Nan to stay with me. He still experienced the same dream; it did not stop due to a change in location.¡±

    ¡°When he had the dream for the first time, the man was standing at the front door, so the man probably came from the outside. This means that we cannot limit our investigation to Men Nan¡¯s room. We should expand the scope of investigation to include the whole apartment building.¡± Chen Ge gave his opinion. Afraid of provoking Men Nan, he did not give thetter part of his suspicion. The ghost had probably attached itself to Men Nan, so it could not be solved by sleeping elsewhere.

    ¡°We are not police, so we don¡¯t have the right to search the rest of the building.¡± Doctor Gao now had second thoughts abouting to Chen Ge. ¡°We should focus on analyzing this dream. Men Nan kept repeating the action of washing his hair¡ªperhaps we will be able to discover something if we understand what that action stands for.¡±

    Doctor Gao tried to advise Chen Ge, and Chen Ge did listen to the doctor¡¯s exnation patiently, but his spection could not exin why Men Nan kept having the same dream.

    ¡°I can¡¯t be sure for now, so why don¡¯t we see what happens tonight? How about we go to Men Nan¡¯s apartment? Perhaps a new pair of eyes might bring some new discoveries.¡± Chen Ge waited patiently for them to answer. He put his hands into his pockets¡ªfrom the special visitor alert until now, the ck phone had not reacted.

 Chapter 112 - Sounds Familiar

    <h4>Chapter 112: Sounds Familiar</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Doctor Gao seemed to have his own reservations. ¡°I¡¯m afraid Men Nan might not be able to survive until tonight; his condition is getting worse.¡±

    With his head lowered, Men Nan maintained his weird posture. His pupils darting about butpletely silent.

    ¡°But there¡¯s no better option.¡± Chen Ge knew what Doctor Gao wanted to say. ¡°His condition ispletely different from Wang Xin¡¯s, so I¡¯m helpless as well. But if you trust me, let me go to his apartment to take a look tonight, and perhaps I will find something. Other than that, I have another question to ask him.¡±

    Chen Ge walked to Men Nan¡¯s side and slowly used his hand to swipe above the young man¡¯s head and spine.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Doctor Gao was confounded.

    ¡°Doctor Gao, have you noticed that regardless of whether he was talking or walking, he kept his head lowered¡ªit felt like there was something pressing on him on his skull.¡± Chen Ge had noticed this a long time ago, but he did not have the chance to enquire about it. ¡°Men Nan, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s difficult to maintain a posture like that?¡±

    Reminded by Chen Ge, Doctor Gao patted Men Nan on his back. ¡°Are you still feeling ufortable?¡±

    Men Nan waved his hands, but he kept his head lowered. Standing for quite some time in the crowd seemed to have taken a toll on him; he looked like he could lose control at any moment. Noticing this, Doctor Gao quickly led Men Nan to a darker location for him to rest.

    <i>The frequency at which Men Nan¡¯s pupils move about is not normal. He kept looking around him, and he has a habit of rolling his pupils upwards like he is trying to see above his head.</i>

    Chen Ge looked at Men Nan¡¯s shadow, and the more he looked at the young man, the more confused he felt. If one was naturally a little bit hunchback, one¡¯s spine would be arched, but Men Nan¡¯s back was straight, and only his head fell downwards. It gave the impression that there was something heavy sitting on his head.

    <i>Washing his head, why would he experience dream like that?</i>

    There was still no reaction from the ck phone. Chen Ge ignored it. A special visitor was an additional bonus; it was good if he could get it, but he would not feel bad if he did not either. After sending away two batches of visitors, Men Nan¡¯s situation improved. Doctor Gao was indeed an expert at counselling. Men Nan, who appeared like he was going to lose his mind, became sedated and calm around Doctor Gao.

    He led Men Nan to see Chen Ge again. They seemed to havee to a decision, ¡°8 pm tonight. We will see you at Hai Ming Apartments.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Chen Ge promised, and the ck phone vibrated. ¡°Let him fall asleep normally tonight, and I will keep a vigil over him.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll apany you.¡± Doctor Gao thanked Chen Ge before leaving with Men Nan.

    <i>Yet another weird case. </i>Chen Ge roughly grasped the meaning of special visitor; they weren¡¯t ghosts per se but people trapped in the line between the two worlds. As soon as they left, he checked the ck phone.

    ¡°The second special visitor has left. Through your effort, you have unlocked the mission information! Unlocked Hidden Trial Mission¡ªA Room of Three.

    ¡°A Room of Three (1 Star Scream Factor): Arrive at Hai Ming Apartment before midnight and find out the reason behind the special visitor¡¯s illness.

    ¡°Mission Venue: Hai Ming Apartment Room 303.

    ¡°Mission Hint: He came from the Third Sick Hall.

    ¡°Do you want to ept the mission? Warning: The Trial Mission is only active for twenty-four hours. If you do not ept it within this time limit, it¡¯ll be taken as forfeit, and this scenario will stay locked forever.¡±

    Chen Ge did not pay much attention to this hidden mission, at least not until he saw the mission hint.

    <i>It¡¯s rted to the Third Sick Hall? He came from the Third Sick Hall? Men Nan has been treated inside the Third Sick Hall?</i>

    Reading the mission details again, Chen Ge found a more curious coincidence; the number three was repeated many times. <i>Could this be a coincidence? But what is the meaning of this Room of Three?</i>

    Either two ghosts were living in Men Nan, or Chen Ge, Doctor Gao, and Men Nan would make up the three in the room. In any case, since it was rted to a three-star scenario, Chen Ge did not dare to be too careless. He memorized the mission details and made sure he did not miss anything before putting away the ck phone.

    He contacted Xu Wan to have her sell tickets while Chen Ge entered the Murder by Midnight scenario to act as the ghost. There was no ident. During lunch break, Chen Ge did not join Xu Wan at the canteen, but he moved alone to the park office.

    After discovering the presence of Director Luo¡¯s daughter, Chen Ge had a few questions for Director Luo. He took the elevator to the top floor. The door to Director Luo¡¯s office was open; the man did not seem to like the idea of trapping himself in an enclosed room. Chen Ge knocked on the door lightly, and Director Luo soon came out to greet him, carrying several reports in his hands.

    ¡°Director Luo, I have a few questions for you, do you have some time?¡±

    Director Luo put the reports down. ¡°Problems with the underground parking lot?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not that but something else.¡± Chen Ge ced Luo Ruoyu¡¯s bracelet and the paper left behind by his parents on Director Luo¡¯s desk. ¡°These are the things I found in the underground parking lot beside a support beam.¡±

    ¡°What is it that you wish to know?¡± Director Luo recognized the bracelet. ¡°There are plenty of toys left in unnoticeable corners around the park. I left them there personally.¡±

    ¡°Why would you do that?¡±

    ¡°All the toys are my daughter¡¯s favorites. I ced them around the park so that when she returned, she would not feel so lonely.¡±

    ¡°Then did you ce other things alongside the toys, like this?¡± Chen Ge pushed the bloodied note to Director Luo.

    Director Luo shook his head after looking at it twice. ¡°I have no recollection of this; it wasn¡¯t me.¡±

    After getting the answer from Director Luo, Chen Ge was slightly disappointed. He had assumed that, as the director of New Century Park, Director Luo would know a thing or two about his parents¡¯ disappearance, but he was wrong. Director Luo did not even know about his own daughter¡¯s return to the park; his parents seemed to have hidden a lot of secrets.

    ¡°Then, I¡¯m sorry for disturbing you.¡± Chen Ge picked up the note and prepared to leave.

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± Director Luo stood up slowly and signaled for Chen Ge to show him the note. ¡°This is your father¡¯s handwriting, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you can recognize it?¡± Chen Ge was surprised; not everyone would pay attention to people¡¯s handwriting.

    ¡°The Third Sick Hall...¡± Director Luo read the words on the paper before confirming. ¡°Right before your parents disappeared, I heard them mention this ce.¡±

 Chapter 113 - A Brave Idea

    <h4>Chapter 113: A Brave Idea</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°You heard them mention that?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s interest was piqued.

    ¡°Yes, the day before your parents¡¯ disappearance, they came to me, saying someone wanted to give me a present. However, due to variousplications, said person could not be there and thus entrusted the task to them.¡± Director Luo took a wooden box from the nearby bookshelf. After opening the box, it revealed a roughly-hewn roly-poly toy.

    He held the toy in his palm. ¡°Even though the making is rough, I appreciate the meaning. No matter the difficulty, it will stand up again.¡±

    Chen Ge was anxious, and he urged, ¡°What did my parents say after that? Where did you hear those few words?¡±

    ¡°Your parents left after they gave me the gift. Since I have a habit of not closing my office door, I identally overheard their conversation in the corridor.¡± Director Luo thought to himself before continuing. ¡°At the time, they had not wandered far from the door. Your father said something like... ¡®The door to the Third Sick Hall has been opened again.¡¯ And your mother replied, ¡®The door wasn¡¯t closed in the first ce.¡¯¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all I could hear. They did continue the conversation, but I could not hear them clearly.¡±

    After chatting for a few more minutes and confirming that there was nothing more Director Luo could give him, Chen Ge exited his office.

    <i>The door to the Third Sick Hall has to be something more than a literal door, could it be simr to the door in the Haunted House¡¯s mirror? Could there be another world behind the door?</i>

    He could not understand why his parents would say something like that. He pulled out the ck phone to read the mission hint again.

    <i>It said ¡®he¡¯ came from the Third Sick Hall. Does it mean that he came from the bloody world, simr to the mirror monster?</i>

    The day before their disappearance, Chen Ge¡¯s parents had been discussing the Third Sick Hall; did this mean that their disappearance was rted to it?

    He knew that his parents had disappeared around an abandoned hospital. The police had searched all the nearby buildings but found nothing. Now, Chen Ge suspected that his parents had entered the door and travelled to the other world.

    <i>It¡¯s still too soon to confirm the mission venue for the Third Sick Hall is the hospital that my parents disappeared in. </i>Chen Ge patted his face lightly to force himself to calm down. Since it was rted to his parents, his emotions were unsettled. <i>The mission has three stars, so it must be dangerous. Even if I ept it now, I might not be able toplete it. I¡¯d better focus on the immediate mission for now.</i>

    The Trial Mission at Hai Ming Apartments was rted to the Third Sick Hall. Completing this mission would provide more understanding of the Third Sick Hall, so it was not a bad ce to start.

    At 4 pm, the number of visitors slowed. Chen Ge handed the key to the Haunted House to Xu Wan, and he crawled into the props room to prepare for the Trial Mission that night. The doll left behind by his parents was the park¡¯s guardian spirit, so it was only useful inside the park. Therefore, Chen Ge did not bring it along with him this time.

    Looking at his choices, Chen Ge eventually settled on the phone charger, lighter, safety rope, and the incredibly handy multi-purpose mallet.

    <i>That should be enough. </i>He thought about it before shoving the reward money that he had left from the Ping An Apartment case into his backpack. <i>It¡¯s early. Perhaps I should go to the mannequin shop first. If the price is right, I can directly give the down payment.</i>

    The quicker he finished Mu Yang High School¡¯s Hidden Mission, the earlier he would reap the reward. After some cleaning up, when Chen Ge passed the dressing room, he identally saw Xiaoxiao, who was hiding behind the door. The fake blood was sttered all over the floor, and there was some on Xiaoxiao as well.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Chen Ge picked up Xiaoxiao and asked Xu Wan to help clean the ce before returning to the staff breakroom. <i>A roomful of fake blood, Xu Wan must have thought it was my handiwork. Will she think her boss has lost his mind?</i>

    Chen Ge used a towel to wipe the fake blood off Xiaoxiao¡¯s body. He pinched her face, threatening, ¡°If you continue to be naughty, I¡¯ll...¡±

    He was stuck because he could not figure out what Xiaoxiao was afraid of. Eventually, he huffed and shoved Xiaoxiao into his backpack as well. After everything was ready, Chen Ge exited the Haunted House and the park.

    The park visitor number was dwindling, and the open air carpark was empty. There was not even a line at the bus stop.

    <i>Maintaining the park requires plenty of money; with so few visitors, it mustn¡¯t be easy for Director Luo.</i>

    After crossing the road, Chen Ge looked for the mannequin workshop using the information on the inte.

    He saw the sign hanging above a door that led underground. When he asked the hawker on the street, Chen Ge was told that the workshop was underground.

    Walking down the steps, the walls on both sides were covered in scrawling that he could not appreciate, and at the end of the step was a ss door with the sign ¡®FOR RENT/SALE¡¯.

    ¡°Is anyone in?¡± Chen Ge looked through the ss room. The interior looked like an underground storeroom; the ce was huge but empty. After waiting for some time, a slightly overweight man answered the door in his slippers.

    He looked roughly the same age as Chen Ge. He was in very casual attire and had some baby fat on his face. The ss door opened, and Chen Ge was sted in the face by the air conditioning.

    ¡°You are the boss? I wish to order a set of custom-made mannequins,¡± Chen Ge exined.

    ¡°Okay,e in.¡± The man invited Chen Ge into the shop. ¡°How big do you want it? If it¡¯s under thirty centimeters, you can get it under three days.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s too small. I want something the size of a real person, and the joints all need to be moveable; can you do something like that?¡± Chen Ge looked at the equipment inside the workshop; the ce was more professional than it appeared on the outside.

    ¡°Simr size to a real person? With moveable parts?¡± Comprehension dawned for the man. With an understanding look, he asked, ¡°How many do you want?¡±

    ¡°Twenty-four, when you can finish the order?¡± Chen Ge answered.

    ¡°Twenty-four?¡± the man asked in a raised pitch.

    The shout scared Chen Ge. ¡°Why are you screaming so suddenly? Is twenty-four too many for the workshop to produce?¡±

    ¡°All for your personal use?¡±

    ¡°What use would I have for the mannequins?¡± Chen Ge realized the man had misunderstood him, so he exined, ¡°I own a Haunted House; the mannequins are part of the set design.¡±

    ¡°Okay...¡± The man sighed in relief. ¡°If it¡¯s for a Haunted House, I don¡¯t suggest using too expensive filler. After all, the exhaustion rate is too high. We can make two types here, solid base and half-solid base. The most expensive 12,000, cheapest 3,000. Also, I have to remind you, all the workers have left, and I¡¯ve been left alone to look after the ce. So, twenty-four custom-made mannequins will probably take a month to bepleted.¡±

 Chapter 114 - Hai Ming Apartments

    <h4>Chapter 114: Hai Ming Apartments</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>The cheapest costs 3,000? </i>Chen Ge coughed, and his hand moved involuntarily to the 20,000 or so in his backpack. He uttered in a calm voice, ¡°Money is not a problem, but the new scenario will be open in a few days; I need the mannequins to be finished soon. You said that you don¡¯t have enough employees to rush the order, but do you have the materials here?¡±

    ¡°I do.¡± The boss did not know why Chen Ge would suddenly ask that. ¡°If you give us a few more days, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be satisfied with the result.¡±

    ¡°The Haunted House will open the new scenario for visitation the day after tomorrow; there can be no dy.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not doing so well; did you not see the sign in the window? Before this, I was only responsible for the designs, and the workers would handle the rest. But since there have been norge orders, I sent them all away to save money.¡± The boss also did not want to give up on Chen Ge¡¯s order so easily. ¡°How about this, I will call the workers tonight, and I will have them rush the order for you in a week?¡±

    ¡°A week is still too long; I need them the day after tomorrow.¡±

    The boss sighed helplessly. ¡°Even if we work at full speed, I can only give you three or four mannequins the day after tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°You have enough materials but not the workers.¡± Chen Ge put down his backpack. ¡°How about this, lend your workshop to me for twenty-four hours? You only need to prepare the materials for me.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    As the conversation continued, it started to head down a weird direction. The boss did not quite react to it yet, ¡°Then what shall I do?¡±

    ¡°Just stand to the side and watch.¡± Chen Ge moved his fingers and looked around the space. ¡°After all, it¡¯s not like you have other customers. After the ce is sold, the stored materials will be disposed of or sold at a low price. Since that¡¯s the case, you might as well lease the ce to me for a day. Don¡¯t worry, I will purchase the materials at market price.¡±

    The man had a point, but something felt off! The boss thought about it and realized he had nothing to lose. Looking at the excited Chen Ge, he nodded with difficulty. ¡°Alright, but you have to give me 10,000 as deposit. I¡¯ll remove the material price from the deposit, and I¡¯ll return the rest when you¡¯re finished.¡±

    ¡°You have a deal.¡±

    After paying the boss, Chen Ge entered the work space. The ce was huge, and multiple tools covered the floor.

    ¡°You sure you want to do this yourself?¡± The boss was still hesitant. ¡°If you need it, I can help. After all, I¡¯m free.¡±

    ¡°Then, I shall thank you in advanced.¡± Chen Ge was familiar with the tools because he had spent his internship at a toy factory. He took a tour, and after a n formed in his mind, he pulled out his phone to call Inspector Lee.

    ¡°Uncle Lee, I have a favor to ask; it¡¯s rted to Mu Yang High School.¡±

    ¡°The station has already closed the case. Why are you still so hung up over Mu Yang High School?¡± Every time Inspector Lee answered Chen Ge¡¯s call, his heart would quiver in worry, afraid that he might hear some bad news.

    ¡°It¡¯s not rted to the case, I just want to...¡±

    ¡°Stop getting involved with the school.¡± Inspector Lee became serious. ¡°ording to the main city¡¯s investigation, there might be a darker history there before the school was built.¡±

    ¡°A darker history?¡± Chen Ge did not press him. ¡°Inspector Lee, you misunderstood me; I don¡¯t intend to meddle in police business. Didn¡¯t you tell me that a whole ss got into an identst time? I just want to ask if you have a picture of all twenty-four students?¡±

    ¡°Have you lost your mind? Why do you need something like that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s very important, but I cannot tell you the reason for now. I swear it¡¯s not for malicious use.¡± Chen Ge was nning to build bodies for the twenty-four lingering spirit to possess so that they would not be homeless anymore. In a way, he was doing a good thing.

    The phone was silent for a long time before Inspector Lee said, ¡°Don¡¯t do anything stupid! Call me if you find out anything. I¡¯ll take a look in a bit.¡±

    After hanging up the phone, Chen Ge did not think too much of it, but he scared the boss speechless. The man hesitated for some time before sidling up to Chen Ge to ask, ¡°Are you a cop?¡±

    ¡°No, have you prepared the materials?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Even the tone used by the boss had gotten more reverential.

    ¡°Alright, it¡¯s time to start working.¡± Chen Ge and the boss went to prepare the y first. Ten minutester, Inspector Lee sent a group photo with twenty-six people and said it was the only picture they had in the files. There was a bespectacled senior sitting in the middle of the photo, and behind him stood twenty-five students.

    ¡°It¡¯s a lot easier with the picture as a guide.¡± Chen Ge thanked the boss before asking him to move away. He carved out a rough head shape from the y before activating his skill, Dollmaker¡¯s Talent.

    Using the different types of carving knives, Chen Ge made a human skull that was simr to the face on the picture in less than few minutes. His pair of hands were as delicate as flying butterflies as he masterfully employed the carving knives. The ease with which Chen Ge conducted his work stunned the boss; it felt like he was watching an art documentary sped up thrice.

    <i>What is this person¡¯s actual upation? </i>After he was done with the carving, Chen Ge used the wet sponge to carefully wipe down the skulls. His touch was so masterful that after he wiped the dust away, a skin-like consistency appeared on the y body.

    After a while, the y body hardened, and Chen Ge sprayed it with sticky ster. Then, there was nothing left to do but wait. The ster needed at least one hour to dry. Utilizing this downtime, Chen Ge went to work on something else.

    After one and a half hours, Chen Ge finished all the y bodies. Then he retrieved the first few y bodies from the hardened ster. He thered them with ayer oftex, which would act as the mannequin¡¯s skin.

    After applying thetex, Chen Ge inserted a bendable stick into the y body, this would act as the mannequin¡¯s spine. Finally, he injected the filler. Everything waspleted in one fell swoop, Chen Ge only needed ten minutes to finish one fake mannequin head.

    ¡°It¡¯s gettingte. Take this 10,000 as the deposit, and don¡¯t touch anything in the work area. I¡¯ll be back to finish the rest tomorrow.¡± Chen Ge washed his hands and nned to leave for Hai Ming Apartments.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t go anywhere near them.¡± Looking at the twenty-four heads left on the counter, the boss shivered. He had seen many mannequins in his life, but the mannequins created by Chen Ge¡¯s hands gave him a different impression. They were exceptionally real, like they would wink at him at any moment.

    Shrugging on his backpack, Chen Ge exited the underground workshop. He hailed a cab to head toward Hai Ming Apartments. It was about time for his meeting with Doctor Gao.

    Hai Ming Apartments was situated at the older part of town where the buildings were not high. After crossing several busy streets, the surroundings turned quiet. With the directions given by the taxi driver, Chen Ge finally arrived at his destination.

 Chapter 115 - Room 303

    <h4>Chapter 115: Room 303</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s shadow was quite long under the street light. There was not one person on the road other than the asional street cat, which shuffled noisily across the street.

    <i>Who would have thought such a quiet street is hiding in the city? </i>Chen Ge walked down the road between the buildings, deeper into the residential area. There was a light horrid smell in the air; the trash that littered the street had been left there for a long time. The trash spilled out of the trash bags, and some critters asionally squirmed out from them. Compared to the few buildings that faced the road, the building Chen Ge arrived at looked more dpidated. There were dirty stains on the building walls, and there was a lot of trash crowding the stairs.

    <i>Found it. </i>Chen Ge looked at the six-story high apartment building. Based on the advertisement that stuck to the wall, this was the ce he was looking for. <i>The mission venue given by the ck phone was Room 303, so that should be Men Nan¡¯s room.</i>

    Chen Ge nced at the time; it was 7:54 pm. <i>It might be rather inconvenient after Doctor Gao arrives, so perhaps I should go take a look around first.</i>

    He did not call Doctor Gao but entered the stairs directly. The ceiling of each floor was low; they were perhaps about 2.1 meters. The railings were made of iron, and at every interval, there was a piece of red string tied around it, but Chen Ge had no idea what purpose they served. After entering the building, a weird smell hit Chen Ge. It was very light, and it was not particrly smelly. Those who stayed there might have gotten used to it already, but Chen Ge was a first-time visitor, so he was sensitive to the smell.

    <i>It smells like food that has gone sour. </i>Chen Ge stopped for a while at the first floor to search for the source of the smell but came up with nothing. The smell seemed toe from the building itself, seeping out from every brick. There was no light in the corridor, so Chen Ge took out his phone for light.

    There were four rooms on the first floor, and it appeared very cramped. The sound instion was not that perfect, so Chen Ge could hear the sounding from within even though he stood outside.

    Chen Ge snuck up to the third floor. He did not knock on the door to Room 303 but stood outside the door to listen in.

    There were also four rooms on the third floor. The television in 301 was very loud. There was a man in 302 speaking on the phone, and it sounded like he was in a heated argument. Chen Ge could hear him repeat two sentences constantly¡ªStop forcing me. Do you two wish to push me to my death?

    There was no sounding from Room 303 and 304; they were very quiet.

    After two minutes, Chen Ge tapped on the door to Room 303 lightly. Interestingly enough, when he did so, the television volume in 301 decreased, and the man in 302 got off his phone. The whole third floor became eerily quiet.

    Chen Ge knocked on the door for a full minute, but there was no answer. He called out softly, ¡°Men Nan? Are you home?¡±

    There was no answer. Just as Chen Ge thought he had gotten the wrong address, the door to 301 opened.

    An unshaven middle-aged man leaned against the frame, and the haze of alcohol formed a miasma around him. ¡°Hey, who are you looking for?¡±

    ¡°Men Nan in 303, he¡¯s a student at Jiujiang Medical University. I heard he¡¯s not feeling well, so I came to visit him.¡±

    ¡°You got the wrong ce. I have no idea who this Men Nan is, but I¡¯m sure he is not living in 303.¡± The man scratched his face. His left check had been bitten by a mosquito, and the wound had been scratched until it was bleeding.

    ¡°But my friend told me he lives here.¡± Chen Ge tried to get some information from the man. ¡°Furthermore, you said you don¡¯t know Men Nan, so how can you be sure he doesn¡¯t live here?¡±

    ¡°Someone died in Room 303 before, and ever since then, the room has been vacant.¡± The man moved his fingers before his face to look at the blood left underneath his nails. ¡°Stop knocking on the door; it¡¯s bad luck. You hear me?¡±

    The middle-aged man then mmed the door in his face. However, Chen Ge realized the man did not return the volume of the television back to normal. The man was probably hiding behind the door to listen to his movements.

    Chen Ge did not knock on the door anymore, but he had acquired an important clue from the man. Someone had died in Room 303, and ever since that unfortunate incident, the room had remained vacant.

    He had found the mission venue, so the key now was how to gain entry before midnight.

    <i>The ck phone hasn¡¯t made any mistakes yet, so Men Nan¡¯s illness is probably rted to this room. </i>Chen Ge looked at his watch; it was already 8 pm, so he called Doctor Gao.

    The good doctor had been afraid that Chen Ge was not able to find his way, so he had been waiting outside the residential area to meet him.

    After exining the situation on the phone, several minutester, Doctor Gao entered the corridor with Men Nan behind him. When he saw Men Nan again, Chen Ge had a shock. The young man now lookedpletely different from a normal person; he looked like a naturally deformed person.

    His head was practically perpendicr to his spine, it looked as if someone was pressing down hard on his head. Chen Ge pointed at the door and tossed Doctor Gao a confused look.

    Doctor Gao understood what he meant and shook his head slightly. ¡°His condition worsened. The medication helped stabilized his situation for now. Let us go in first.¡±

    Men Nan took out the key from his pocket, his head still lowered. The light in the corridor was dim. He tried multiple times, but he failed to get the key into the keyhole. His hands shook angrily, and it felt like he was going to act up again. Seeing this, Chen Ge immediately went over to help him open the door to Room 304.

    When the three of them entered the room, Doctor Gao and Men Nan probably had gotten used to it, but Chen Ge frowned as a curious smell overwhelmed him.

    <i>It seems to seep out from the walls. </i>Chen Ge looked around the room, the ce was clean and neat. There was no rubbish in the waste bin, so he did not understand where the smell came from. <i>Another body sealed inside a wall?</i>

    Chen Ge denied the thought quickly. The wall at the end of the third-floor corridor at Ping An Apartment had purposely been strengthened by Wang Qi. The wall of a normal apartment would not be thick enough to hide a body.

    Doctor Gao noticed how weird Chen Ge was asking so he asked him, ¡°What are you looking for?¡±

    ¡°Do you not smell a very weird odor?¡± Chen Ge stopped at the wall between 303 and 304; the smell was the most intense there.

    ¡°There is, but old buildings tend to have weird smell.¡± Doctor Gao led Men Nan to the bed, but the young man refused to go near it. He would rather stand than sit on the bed.

    Chen Ge nced at Men Nan, and he whispered to the doctor, ¡°What¡¯s going on with him?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s afraid of falling asleep. In the previous dream, the man was already strangling his neck. If he falls asleep again, he¡¯s afraid it might be his eternal slumber.¡±

 Chapter 116 - OCD

    <h4>Chapter 116: OCD</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Men Nan refused to sleep and stood stubbornly in the middle of the room. He maintained that weird posture of someone trying to push his head off from his neck.

    ¡°I keep feeling there¡¯s something pressing on top of his head.¡± Afraid of rattling Men Nan, Chen Ge kept his voice lowered. ¡°Not a psychological threat but something that exists in reality.¡±

    Doctor Gao waved his hand surreptitiously as he stayed beside Men Nan. He pulled out his phone and messaged someone with it. Since Doctor Gao did not reply him, Chen Ge wandered off to inspect the other rooms in the small apartment.

    The ce was just over thirty square meters, but it had everything: a bedroom, living room, and a standalone bathroom.

    <i>It does look like a normal rental apartment.</i>

    Chen Ge looked around and found no hidden corner; there was no ce to hide a body. He exited the living room and pushed the wooden door that led to the toilet. To his surprise, there was a half-body mirror hanging on the wall directly opposite from the door.

    <i>The door is right opposite the mirror?</i>

    Due to the first Nightmare Mission, Chen Ge was very sensitive to the presence of mirrors. He walked slowly to the mirror and looked at his reflection. <i>It¡¯s rare for a roomyout to have the mirror directly across from the door. Doesn¡¯t it feel weird?</i>

    The mirror was clean, like it was cleaned often. There was barely a stain. He moved his gaze away. There was a sink underneath the mirror. This was the scene for Men Nan¡¯s nightmare.

    Chen Ge mirrored the pose mentioned by Men Nan. He bent his body 95 degrees forward, and his head could barely reach the faucet. <i>From this angle, I can look at the situation inside the living room, so the scenario in his dream is entirely possible.</i>

    If when his head was under the faucet and he could not see into the living room or his gaze was blocked by something, Chen Ge would not have been so afraid; it would have proved that it was all just a dream.

    However, he tested it out personally and realized that the things described in his dream could very well have happened in real life. With his head under the faucet, the world appeared upside down.

    <i>Men Nan said that in his dream, the man would get closer to him every time. This is weird, why wouldn¡¯t the person just harm him directly? He purposely chose this slow torment, is there some kind of history between them?</i>

    Chen Ge was thinking about this when he felt something chilly touch the back of his neck. He stood up immediately to touch the spot.

    <i>A water drop? Where did ite up? </i>Chen Ge raised his head to look at the ceiling. It was not leaking; the water came from nowhere.

    <i>Could it be the mirror? </i>An image of himself inside the mirroring out to strangle him while he was washing his hair appeared in his mind.

    <i>The ck phone says that this Trial Mission is called A Room of Three; the mission name itself is a big hint. </i>Chen Ge looked at himself inside the mirror, and something cropped up in his mind. <i>There are three ¡®people¡¯ inside this room; one is Men Nan, the man in his dream is another, but who is the third ¡®person¡¯? Could this person be hiding inside the mirror?</i>

    cing both his hands on the sink, Chen Ge looked around and discovered two empty bottles of hair shampoo inside the bathroom waste bin.

    <i>Men Nan hasn¡¯t been living here for long, and he already finished two bottles of shampoo? If he is only washing his hair in his sleep, why would the shampoo in real life be exhausted? The child has a habit of sleep-walking? Does he wash his head in the middle of the night? </i>Chen Ge thought about it and discounted the idea. Doctor Gao had said that he once invited Men Nan to his own home and the young man¡¯s nightmares did not stop.

    <i>Temporarily ignoring the possibility of sleep-walking, if Men Nan consciously washed his hair until he depleted two bottles of shampoo, that is even weirder. Why did he waste so much shampoo washing his hair?</i>

    The cleanest normal person might wash their hair twice a day, but Men Nan had finished two bottles of shampoo in a short amount of time. Chen Ge then realized that a third bottle that sat on the sink was half-finished already.

    <i>Under what condition would someone wash their hair with such diligence? Dandruff? Skin disease? Or there is something they need to wash away? </i>Chen Ge leaned against the wall to think. <i>There are two times Men Nan got into an argument at school. Once was because of the animal prints on the curtain, and another was due to the number of sesame seeds on the biscuit, so it sounds like he suffers from serious OCD.</i>

    For someone with OCD, if they noticed something not right, they would try their best to fix it. If the mistake could not be fixed, they would be very ufortable. Chen Ge suspected the reason behind the obsessive hair washing was rted to this.

    <i>Only Men Nan can answer this question. He probably has hidden something important from Doctor Gao.</i>

    Suddenly Chen Ge¡¯s phone vibrated. He took it out and was surprised to find a message from Doctor Gao.

    ¡°Men Nan¡¯s family situation is moreplicated than I thought. When I told Men Nan¡¯s family about his situation, they epted it a bit too easily. They said they will send enough money to Men Nan for his medical fees, but none of them n oning to Jiujiang to visit him. I did not tell you this in case Men Nan heard me, so I sent it to you on the phone.¡±

    ¡°Their son is sick, and the parents didn¡¯t even want toe to see him?¡±

    ¡°I also didn¡¯t expect that. When I interviewed Men Nan¡¯s friends, they all told me they thought Men Nan came from a happy family. I¡¯ve gone through his social media, and he has shared many posts about loving his family.¡± Men Nan put up a front that felt like he lived in a warm, charming family and was an educated, happy, professional, and studious young man, but it was ultimately just a front.

    After reading the message, Chen Ge revealed his discovery to Doctor Gao. Soon after that, he got a reply from Doctor Gao.

    ¡°There are four main types of OCD: Checking, Ruminations, Contamination, and Symmetry and Ordering. Based on my observation, Men Nan¡¯s symptoms don¡¯t fit any of these; his obsessive hair washing merely satisfies this need he has.

    ¡°Based on my observation, Men Nan appears to suffer from a different psychological illness called PTSD. For example, victims of an earthquake remain in a highly alert state even after the quake is long over. They have a hard time walking out from the trauma because the mind keeps sending them the wrong information, telling them quake will return at any moment.

    ¡°Men Nan¡¯s symptoms are simr to PTSD. He is in a constant state of alert, and his eyes keep darting about, a sign forck of security. It is like he is watching out for potential danger. In that case, the hair washing is probably a kind self-protective mechanism.¡±

 Chapter 117 - Reason Behind the Hair Washing

    <h4>Chapter 117: Reason Behind the Hair Washing</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge could not understand Doctor Gao¡¯s message. ¡°How could washing one¡¯s hair be rted to a self-defense mechanism?¡±

    ¡°PSTD presupposes an earlier trauma. Men Nan repeatedly washing his hair is probably to escape from a psychological trauma; this perhaps has to do with his past.¡±

    ¡°His past?¡±

    ¡°Yes, something he has experienced in the past has left a great trauma in him. Whenever he is reminded of it, his body reacts. To ease the pain, he instinctively seeks out a method to make himself feel better. Based on my observation, that method is to wash his hair.¡±

    After a while, Doctor Gao sent another message. ¡°At the beginning of the semester, I once asked Men Nan why he chose to study psychology. He told me that he wished to cure someone¡¯s illness, and I now realize that he was probably talking about himself.¡±

    ¡°Looks like the problem resides in what happened to Men Nan when he was young. In that case, we have to ask him for more details. Only by knowing his history can we help him.¡±

    ¡°If my diagnosis is correct, it is all the more reason that we cannot ask him. He has been trying to forget this past, so if we ask him about it, it might send him over the deep end.¡±

    ¡°Then perhaps we can contact his family. The man is in such pain, but his parents do not care one bit about him? That doesn¡¯t seem right.¡± Chen Ge wanted to snap a picture of Men Nan in his current state and send it to Men Nan¡¯s parents.

    ¡°I asked them about this when I made the call earlier. Men Nan has had this habit of obsessively washing his hair since he was young. His parents have gotten used to it and don¡¯t think it¡¯s anything to worry about.¡±

    ¡°Did they say why this happened?¡±

    ¡°No, when Men Nan was small, his parents did take him to visit a psychiatrist. The diagnosis then was OCD, something that was very rare for a child his age. Since he was still so young, there was no medication that could be prescribed. The psychiatrist merely advised his parents give him constantpany.¡±

    ¡°Obviously, his parents did not take the doctor¡¯s advice,¡± Chen Ge replied without second thought. If Men Nan¡¯s parents cared about him, they would not have acted so coldly.

    ¡°A slight OCD is not a disturbance to daily life, so his parents did not take it to heart. Other than that, after some digging around, I found out that Men Nan¡¯s biological mother died when he was five or six. His father remarried, and he gave Men Nan a younger brother from the second marriage.¡±

    ¡°Biological mother is dead? There¡¯s such a history?¡± Chen Ge saw a ray of light in their investigation.

    ¡°His biological parents did not share a good rtionship. His father was not home a lot, so his mother practically raised him alone. One day, a burr entered the house. What happened next, Men Nan¡¯s current parents are not sure; all they knew was the neighbor called the police the next day.¡±

    ¡°The next day?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s heart skipped a beat. ¡°Then, where was Men Nan during the time of the crime?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but based on the testimony from the neighbor, when the police arrived, Men Nan was already at the crime scene; he was the first person to find his mother.¡±

    Reading the message from Doctor Gao, a chill ran up Chen Ge¡¯s spine. ¡°Meaning Men Nan spent the night with his dead mother inside the house? He was only discovered the next morning?¡±

    ¡°I suppose one can see it that way. Perhaps the burr took pity on Men Nan or was not awake during the time of crime. In any case, Men Nan survived the break-in; however, the sight of his dead mother must have left a deep psychological scar in his heart. I suspect his OCD and PTSD are both rted to this murder, but what I don¡¯t understand is why he insists on washing his hair? How is that rted to the murder?¡±

    Doctor Gao¡¯s reply was filled with confusion. It was the same question Chen Ge wanted to ask as well. He stood before the mirror and looked at his reflection.<i>Washing hair? Self-defense mechanism?</i>

    The image of himself mimicking Men Nan appeared in his mind. Chen Ge touched the back of his neck, and he was suddenly reminded of something. <i>The water drop!</i>

    He immediately messaged Doctor Gao. ¡°At the crime scene, where was the body of Men Nan¡¯s mother discovered?¡±

    ¡°After the burr killed her, he removed the damp-proof boards from the ceiling of the bathroom and shoved her up there. If not for the fact that the neighbor¡¯s kid went to school together with Men Nan, and thus both families shared a good rtionship, the crime would not have been discovered so soon.¡±

    ¡°The space above the bathroom?¡± Chen Ge raised his head to look at the bathroom he was in. The ceiling of the ce was low; he felt pressured standing in it. ¡°I think I understand why Men Nan has the hair washing OCD.¡±

    He used his phone to reply to Doctor Gao. ¡°Is it possible that this was the real event that happened? After the burr broke into the house, both mother and son discovered him. His mother asked for Men Nan to hide while she went to call the police but was unfortunately discovered by the burr.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s possible, but what does that have to do with hair washing?¡±

    ¡°Men Nan witnessed his mother¡¯s murder and hid away. After the burr left, he went to search for his mother. When he entered the bathroom, his mother¡¯s blood happened to drip on his head.¡± When Chen Ge typed those words, he was not feeling so good. ¡°Therefore, even now, whenever a liquid falls on his head or whenever he is reminded of that incident, he washes his hair again and again; he wants to wash the memory away. Doctor Gao, you were right; this is more than a simple OCD!¡±

    After sending those words, Chen Ge looked out the bathroom. Doctor Gao¡¯s expression was written in shock. He caught Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, and they shared a look.

    ¡°The cause of the illness has been found!¡± Doctor Gao put away his phone and walked toward Chen Ge. ¡°I¡¯ll bring him away now and provide the necessary post-traumatic treatment.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s not that simple.¡± Chen Ge nced at Men Nan, who stood where he was, and slightly shook his head. ¡°Men Nan kept repeating the same action in his dream, but washing his head wasn¡¯t scary. The real scary thing was the man who kept approaching him. To help Men Nan, we have to find out everything about this man and chase him out of Men Nan¡¯s dream.¡±

    ¡°Chase the thing out of his dream?¡± Doctor Gao looked at Chen Ge with a suspicious look before turning to look at Men Nan, who stood in a funny posture. In that short moment, he felt he was back at the mental hospital. ¡°Are you kidding with me?¡±

    ¡°I already have a theory in mind; it¡¯ll be confirmedter tonight!¡± Chen Ge lined all the clues together, and he was sixty percent confident. ¡°There are indeed three ¡®people¡¯ in this room. Two of them have been confirmed. We only need to solve the mystery of the third one.¡±

 Chapter 118 - Hes Crazy

    <h4>Chapter 118: He¡¯s Crazy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Doctor Gao was made even more confused by what Chen Ge said. He could not follow the man¡¯s train of thought anymore. Of course, this was not Doctor Gao¡¯s fault; only Chen Ge himself knew about the hint provided by the ck phone. The most crucial hint was the name of the mission¡ªA Room of Three.

    Chen Ge would not reveal the ck phone to anyone, so he did not exin himself to Doctor Gao but walked out of the room alone.

    Men Nan kept experiencing the same dream, and the thing that he remembered most clearly was washing his hair. The dream itself could not be counted as a nightmare; even Men Nan had said at the park that when he experienced this dream for the first time, he did not feel fear. It was after the man had gotten close to him that he started to feel fear. So, in that case, the real threat to Men Nan was the man.

    Men Nan¡¯s description of the dream confirmed this. When he was washing his hair, he did not feel any threat, but when the man neared him, he felt hostility. In thest dream, the man had wandered to his side and strangled his neck; obviously, the man meant him harm.

    Therefore, in the room of three, there was Men Nan¡ªthe victim¡ªand of the remaining two; one wanted to protect him, and the other wanted to harm him. In traditional Chinese beliefs, washing one¡¯s hair in a dream meant removing bad luck, so Men Nan¡¯s dream could very well be warning him that danger was encroaching!

    After uncovering Men Nan¡¯s past, Chen Ge suspected that the person who wanted to protect Men Nan was his mother. They had only had each other when Men Nan was growing up, so his mother had no reason to harm him. On the other hand, the person who wanted to harm him should have been the ex-tenant in Room 303.

    When Chen Ge arrived at Hai Ming Apartments for the first time, he had immediately noticed the red strings on the railings; they were knotted in a special way. It was a traditional method of warding off evil spirits. From that moment onward, Chen Ge had suspected there was a malicious presence in this apartment.

    Thatbined with what the uncle from Room 301 had told him before entering Men Nan¡¯s room as well the mission hint from the ck phone confirmed his suspicion.

    <i>To know the identity of the man from Men Nan¡¯s dream as well as to solve Men Nan¡¯s problem, I have to enter Room 303. Furthermore, this is rted to the ck phone¡¯s mission.</i>

    Harming people in their dream, the thing in Room 303 was definitely not a kind spirit; it was probably simr to the mirror monster Chen Ge hade across earlier.

    <i>Have to face those monsters again.</i>

    People were separated into good and evil; it was simr for the departed. Chen Ge would not hesitate to destroy these evil spirits.

    <i>The uncle from Room 301 said that someone died in Room 303 before, and it has stayed vacant since. This means that what remains in the room is probably the dead tenant¡¯s malicious specter. </i>Chen Ge had seen several types of ghosts already. The weakest of them was the lingering spirits; they were not that powerful, just a lingering consciousness. Stronger than lingering spirits were the spirits like Xiaoxiao, and stronger than that was the mirror monster. Chen Ge believed that the thing inside the apartment should be as powerful as the mirror monster.

    <i>I wasn¡¯t afraid then, so why should I be afraid now? Furthermore, there are so many living people around me who can help at a moment¡¯s notice. </i>Chen Ge walked toward Men Nan to ask about the location of thendlord. Then, he left Room 304. He returned to the first floor to knock on Room 101.

    After a while, a fat woman in her fifties opened the door. She studied Chen Ge up and down before asking, ¡°You want to rent a room?¡±

    ¡°Yes, my friend is living in Room 304, so I want to rent the room next to him: Room 303.¡±

    ¡°303 is not for rent, find another room.¡±

    ¡°The room is empty; why isn¡¯t it for rent?¡± Chen Ge asked.

    ¡°There are empty rooms on the fourth floor. If you refuse to take those, then leave.¡± The woman then closed the door, effectively ending the conversation.

    <i>Is she naturally that unsociable, or have I touched upon a sensitive subject? Either way, Room 303 sure has its secrets. </i>Thendy naturally would not share the history of the dead person inside Room 303, so Chen Ge swapped his target and returned to the third floor to knock on Room 301.

    The television volume lowered, and the man that stank of alcohol came to answer the door. ¡°You again?¡±

    ¡°Boss, can I have a little bit of your time?¡± Chen Ge handed him a 100 note from his pocket. The man epted the money, and his eyes that fell on Chen Ge seemed friendly. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°I want to know about the things that happened in Room 303. The more detailed, the better.¡±

    ¡°Room 303, you say?¡± The middle-aged man did not exit the door but waved at Chen Ge to ask him to enter his room. The small apartment was filled with trash, and Chen Ge could barely find a ce to stand.

    After closing the door, the man turned the television volume up before saying, ¡°You sure are an inquisitive fe, but listen to me, for the sake of yourself and your friend, move out of this ce as soon as you can. Not everyone can stay here.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? There¡¯s criteria to the tenants?¡±

    ¡°Interestingly enough, it¡¯s rted to Room 303.¡± The man grabbed a random bottle off the table and took a slurp of beer. ¡°Do you know what the name of the original tenant that stayed in that room was?¡±

    ¡°How would I know something like that?¡± Chen Ge tried his best to ignore the alcoholic breath that drifted out of the man¡¯s mouth. It was difficult to tell whether the man was serious or merely making up a story.

    ¡°The man¡¯s name was Wang Haiming; this is his apartment building.¡±

    ¡°But I saw thendy earlier. She appeared to be a woman in her fifties.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s his ex-wife.¡± The man red at Chen Ge, telling him to not interrupt him. ¡°Wang Haiming was fortunate enough tond on a pot of gold. After that, he abandoned his wife to marry a woman from a mysterious background. A few yearster, that woman left Wang Haiming with all his money and even registered him at a mental hospital. In the end, it was his ex-wife who pitied Wang Haiming and got him out of the hospital. She then arranged a room for him to stay in; that room was Room 303.¡±

    ¡°Wang Haiming was once in a mental hospital?¡± Chen Ge was reminded of the ck phone¡¯s mission hint¡ªHe came from the Third Sick Hall.

    ¡°Yes, regardless of whether or not the man was crazy before he entered the ce, after he came out from it, he was definitely abnormal.¡±

    ¡°Abnormal? What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you a simple example.¡± The man pointed at his head. ¡°Wang Haiming had the tendency to knock his head against the wall whenever midnight arrived. It was as if there was something that had drilled itself inside his brain, and he wanted to crack it open. He would scream and wail as well as have arguments with himself. Sometimes, he would not stop even when his head was already bleeding. No one was able to stop him. asionally, they even had to call the cops to apprehend the guy.¡±

 Chapter 119 - He Has Returned

    <h4>Chapter 119: He Has Returned</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Use his head to hit the wall? Like something had drilled into his brain?¡±

    Chen Ge thought about what the man had said and realized that Wang Haiming¡¯s condition was rather simr to Zhang Peng¡¯s. They were both possessed by something, but Zhang Peng had chosen to cooperate while Wang Haiming had decided to struggle.

    Midnight was the time of the day when the Yin energy was most concentrated and thus the time when those things were at their most active. It exined why Wang Haiming acted up every day near midnight.

    Chen Ge decided to continue this line of questioning. ¡°Boss, other than the nightly madness, did Wang Haiming perform any other weird actions?¡±

    ¡°When he first came out of the mental hospital, he felt normal, a little reticent if anything. However, after prolonged interaction, we discovered how weird he really was. He seemed fine in the day and sometimes would even greet others, but he changed into a different man as night fell. Banging his head against the wall, talking to mirror and the walls, strangling his own neck until his face was purple, but he still would not let go.¡±

    Through the man¡¯s description, Chen Ge discovered a thing or two about Wang Haiming¡¯s past. Wang Haiming¡¯s second wife cheated him out of all his money and sent him to a mental hospital. If this was a set up, then Wang Haiming had probably been totally normal before he entered the hospital. A normal person entered the hospital and came out not normal.

    <i>He probably brought the thing back from the hospital. </i>An answer slowly settled in Chen Ge¡¯s heart, and he asked another question, ¡°Do you mind giving me the details of Wang Haiming¡¯s death?¡±

    The man raised the bottle in his arm to take a big gulp. ¡°I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re so interested in a dead man, but listen to me, get out while you still can; the ce is cursed.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, but I know what I¡¯m doing.¡±

    After more persuasion from Chen Ge, the man finally loosened his lips. ¡°Before this, whenever Wang Haiming acted up, we could hear his screaming, and the tenants would go over to help or call the ce. However, on the day of his death, none of us heard him. The next morning, when thendy went to drop him food, his body had already gone cold.¡±

    ¡°What did the scene of his death look like?¡± Chen Ge asked. This was crucial if he wanted to reconstruct what happened to Wang Haiming.

    The man gave Chen Ge a curious look. He could not understand why this young man was so interested in these things. ¡°At the time, I was also there. There was arge hole on Wang Haiming¡¯s forehead, and blood was sttered all over the wall between 303 and 304. His face was purple like he had died from asphyxiation. There were finger prints around his neck, but ording to the police, they came from Wang Haiming himself.¡±

    ¡°So, he strangled himself to death?¡±

    ¡°The room was locked, and he was alone. The door and windows weren¡¯t tampered with, so that seemed like the logical conclusion.¡± The man finished the beer and tossed the empty bottle away. ¡°You done? Since the sun is still up, I want to go down to buy some beer.¡±

    ¡°Since the sun is still up?¡± Chen Ge nced at the darkening sky and finished the conversation. ¡°Onest question, after Wang Haiming¡¯s death, have there been any weird happenings around here?¡±

    Chen Ge noticed the man¡¯s face shift when he asked that question. The man nced at the money in his palm and whispered to Chen Ge, ¡°Many old tenants swear that they have seen Wang Haiming return.¡±

    ¡°But isn¡¯t he dead?¡±

    Before Chen Ge had finished, the man pushed him out of the room.

    ¡°Hey! Exin yourself!¡±

    The man had already turned down the corridor. After some hesitation, Chen Ge walked toward the first floor, thendy¡¯s room. Since Wang Haiming had probablye from the Third Sick Hall, this meant that he had probably carried some information on the Third Sick Hall on him. Chen Ge would not give up on that trail. After all, the Third Sick Hall was the clue left behind by his parents.

    After thendy knew of Chen Ge¡¯s intention, her reaction was surprisingly intense. She warned Chen Ge that if he did not get off her premises soon, she would call the cops.

    The steel door mmed in his face, and Chen Ge was feeling rather helpless, standing in the corridor. Thendy refused to cooperate no matter what Chen Ge said.

    <i>If I use my mallet to break down the lock of Room 303, thatndy will probably call the police.</i>

    Chen Ge returned to the third floor to discuss this with Doctor Gao, but he stopped when he reached the door.

    <i>Why is the person in Room 302 still on the phone? </i>A young man¡¯s voice drifted out from behind the door, and the most repeated sentence was¡ª¡±Are you trying to push me to my death?¡±

    <i>It has been more than half an hour since I left Men Nan¡¯s room, and the young man still hasn¡¯t finished his phone call? </i>It was normal for a phone call to extend for longer periods of time, but it was weird for him to repeat the same few sentences with simr meanings again and again.

    <i>Who is he arguing with? His voice is the only one I hear, and now that I listen closer, it doesn¡¯t sound like he¡¯s talking on the phone at all. </i>Chen Ge leaned against the door to listen in. He was reminded of what the middle-aged man had said¡ªWhen Wang Haiming acted up, he would argue with himself.

    <i>This person is suspicious. </i>He knocked on the door, and the sound of arguing stopped immediately. Ten secondster, the door opened a sliver, and a young man¡¯s voice came out from behind the door. ¡°How can I help you?¡±

    ¡°Regarding this Room 303 next to you...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t know.¡±

    Before Chen Ge finished, the door already closed. He had asked everyone he could, and Chen Ge was running out of options. He returned to Room 304 and nodded at Doctor Gao before walking over to the door to lean against it.

    <i>The mission venue given by the ck phone is Room 303. I¡¯ll need to enter it and check it out before midnight. </i>Chen Ge rubbed his eyes before walking to the window and pushing it open. Room 304 and 303 were adjacent to each other, and their windows were about one meter apart.

    <i>I should be able to get over it. </i>Chen Ge pulled over a chair and ced it beside the window to give it a try. The window to Room 303 was not locked, so he could pull it open from the outside.

    <i>Getting over there is no problem, but what about the thing that might be waiting inside it? Climbing over the windows to get back might take too much time. </i>Chen Ge lowered his head. The height of three floors was not quite short or tall. However, different from Ping An Apartments, the courtyard of Hai Ming Apartments was not a grass field but hardened concrete.

 Chapter 120 - Rusted Key

    <h4>Chapter 120: Rusted Key</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Should be fine if I¡¯m careful.</i>

    Chen Ge opened his backpack and ced Xiaoxiao in his shirt pocket before picking out the shlight and the mallet.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Doctor Gao heard themotion, so he came out of the bedroom. He saw Chen Ge¡¯s weird get-up, and he felt a headacheing.

    ¡°You¡¯re just in time.¡± Chen Ge dragged Doctor Gao to the window. ¡°We¡¯ll keep in contact. You stay in Room 304, and I¡¯ll go take a look in Room 303.¡±

    ¡°Why are you going into Room 303?¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s gaze swept the mallet in Chen Ge¡¯s arm before falling on the doll in his chest. His eyes twitched.

    ¡°The source of Men Nan¡¯s problem should reside in Room 303. I n to go take a look before midnight arrives.¡±

    ¡°You n to go in this get-up? With a doll?¡±

    ¡°If I¡¯m doing this alone, I might hesitate, but with you as back-up, I have confidence.¡± Chen Ge called Doctor Gao¡¯s number and ced the phone in his shirt pocket. ¡°Keep in touch.¡±

    Doctor Gao nodded reflexively. He held the phone in his hands, and the pressure on his shoulders tightened because now he had to look after the safety of two ¡®patients¡¯.

    ¡°Be careful!¡±

    Chen Ge climbed out the window. He ced the mallet in his pant pocket and leaned into the wall. With one leg hanging on Room 304¡¯s window, he used his other leg to kick the window to Room 303 open.

    ¡°Doctor Gao, don¡¯t end the call. Get help if anything bad happens.¡± Then, Chen Ge leaned out the window and reached his leg toward Room 303¡¯s windowsill. His center of gravity was still leaning toward Room 304. When his leg found purchase, his hands that gripped Room 303¡¯s window loosened, and he slowly leaned toward the other window.

    When most of his body leaning toward Room 303¡¯s window, he angled his body right at the opening, released his left hand, and used his right hand to grab the windowsill. With a pull on his right hand, Chen Ge moved his body toward Room 303.

    ¡°Climbing into the neighbor¡¯s room to solve the patient¡¯s illness?¡± Doctor Gao wanted to stop Chen Ge, but the man had already disappeared into Room 304¡¯s window. He had been in this field of work for more than a decade already, and this was the first time he had faced something like this during a diagnosis.

    Chen Ge slowly angled his body downward and slid through the open window.<i>I¡¯m finally in.</i>

    Room 303 had been left vacant since the incident, so the interior design had been left the same. The room was covered in dust, and there were dirty patches all over the walls. The room was dark, and the floor was uneven. After turning on the shlight, Chen Ge noticed that there was an old and sullied carpet covering the floor of the room.

    <i>None of the other apartments, including thendy¡¯s room, are carpeted, but this room is? </i>This anomaly attracted Chen Ge¡¯s suspicion. A horrible stench was wafting out from underneath the carpet. Chen Ge gripped the edge of the carpet and tore it back.

    There was not anything scary underneath it; there were merely some old clothes. All the clothes were for gents, and their sizes were about the same, so they probably belonged to the same person.

    <i>The smell of moldy clothing shouldn¡¯t be that pungent. </i>Chen Ge used the mallet to move the clothes away and soon he discovered something creepy. Several dead sparrows were hidden underneath the clothes.

    <i>The bodies are intact, so they couldn¡¯t have died more than a week ago. </i>When Chen Ge mastered the Dollmaker¡¯s Talent, some rudimentary knowledge about dead bodies had also entered his mind. <i>This room hasn¡¯t been rented after the incident, but someone hase in within this past week to hide these things under the clothes.</i>

    The problem had be more troublesome, and this shifted his spection in a different direction.

    <i>Wang Haiming died in this room. Unfortunately, I have no clue about the actual location, but that shouldn¡¯t matter too much. I shall search the whole room; I¡¯ll eventuallye up with something. </i>Chen Ge did not find anything else in the living room, so he jumped over the pile of old clothes and entered the bedroom.

    A metal wire bedroom was leaning against the wall. There were several ancient bookshelves near to the bed, and some books were left on them. The pages were all moldy from the moisture, and they were also releasing a weird smell.

    Chen Ge examined all the drawers and cupboard. He found nothing and finally walked into the bathroom. Theyout of all the rooms in the apartment building were simr. As he opened the bathroom door, the mirror was staring back at him.

    With only the light from the shlight, the Chen Ge in the mirror looked rather different from real life. He did not enter the bathroom but merely leaned in to look from the threshold.

    <i>There do not seem to be any more clues in this room. </i>The room was small, and Chen Ge had nced over all the corner already.

    Standing in the middle of the living room, Chen Ge looked at the pile of clothes hidden under the carpet. <i>This is weird. All these clothes have blood stains on them. These few small sparrows would not be enough to soak through so many clothes.</i>

    With the aid of Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge¡¯s sight was better than most, and he soon discovered something weird.

    <i>There¡¯s something wrong with the clothes.</i>

    With the mallet in hand, he slowly examined each item of clothing. Finally, he found a very normal gray jacket that was lying at the bottom of the pile. There was dried blood on the shoulder and the back of the clothes. Wang Haiming had probably worn this jacket when he cracked his head on the wall. Only via blunt force trauma to the head would the blood stter have appeared like this.

    <i>What is this? </i>Chen Ge shook the jacket and found something jiggling in the pocket. He reached into it and felt cold steel on his touch. He pulled it out and saw it was a rusted key.

    <i>I¡¯ve seen the keys to these apartments. They are t copper keys, and this key is muchrger than those. </i>Chen Ge could not understand why a patient from a mental hospital would possess a key that did not unlock the door to his room.

    <i>Did he pick it up somewhere outside? But if he did, it doesn¡¯t exin why he kept it with him. </i>Chen Ge temporarily did not understand the use of this key, so he held onto it for now. When he turned to leave, his shlight hit the open window. The ss of the window reflected the shadow of an individual. The tenant in Room 302 was leaning his head out of his window to sneak a peek at what was happing over in Room 303.

    <i>Why would he care that I¡¯ve entered Room 303? </i>Chen Ge pretended not to notice and focused on recing the pile of clothes. However, his mind was spinning.<i>Only the tenants in Room 302 and Room 304 can enter this room without using the front door. Men Nan in Room 304 is the victim, so the sparrows were probably left here by the young man in Room 302.</i>

    <i>But why? Has he been possessed by the creature in Room 303 as well?</i>

    Chen Ge was reminded of the weird actions of the young man. Talking to himself and arguing with the wall, it was so very simr to Wang Haiming¡¯s symptoms.

 Chapter 121 - Sleepwalking?

    <h4>Chapter 121: Sleepwalking?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Wang Haiming was possessed by something inside the mental hospital, and the thing followed him out when he exited the hospital. Both parties were constantly fighting over the control of his body. Wang Haiming decided to die rather thanpromise.</i>

    The man¡¯s weird death and the actions that happened at midnight supported Chen Ge¡¯s spection.

    <i>After Wang Haiming¡¯s death, the thing he carried out with him from the mental hospital probably stayed back in this room. When his body was carried away, there were plenty of police and spectators, so the monster definitely did not show itself. When night came, Room 303 was sealed, and the monster had no chance to go look for a new target.</i>

    <i>Normally speaking, the monster should have been trapped inside this room, but it seems like some contract has been formed between the monster and the young man in Room 302 through an unknown method. Having learned the lesson from Wang Haiming, the monster did not attempt a hostile takeover of the man¡¯s body; both parties are in a symbiotic rtionship.</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the sparrows on the floor. <i>The blood has soaked through most of the fabric, something that is not possible with just these sparrows. The contract was probably made a long time ago.</i>

    He was reminded of the words he heard the young man say. He once yelled, ¡°You guys need to stop forcing me,¡± and the sentence could reveal a lot of information. First, he was forced to do something against his will. Judging from the situation in Room 303, the monster had probably forced him to bring it a living sacrifice.

    A few sparrows would not be able to satisfy the monster, so its demand would increase to like stray cats, stray dogs, or even human.

    The second point was the young man¡¯s verbiage. During the argument, he used the term ¡°you guys¡±, plural, so he was probably facing more than one monster. This confused Chen Ge; just what kind of creature had Wang Haiming led out of the mental hospital?

    After recing everything, Chen Ge walked toward the window. Due to the issue of the angle, the young man from Room 302 did not know that he had been found out. He saw Chen Ge¡¯s shadow walk toward the window, and he quickly retreated into his room.

    <i>One more individual to look out for tonight. </i>Chen Ge climbed out of the window, and his hands gripped the windowsill. As he was about to turn, the corner of his eyes swept the bathroom of Room 303. Behind the half open door stood a long shadow with two different faces.

    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s hands almost slipped. When he focused his eyes, the thing had disappeared. There was nothing in the bathroom, but a shadow seemed to sh across the mirror.

    Hanging off the window, it was quite dangerous without safety devices. Chen Ge did not stay and quickly moved back into Room 304.

    ¡°Did you find anything?¡± Doctor Gao asked out of politeness.

    ¡°Look at this.¡± Chen Ge retrieved the key from his pocket. ¡°Doctor Gao, are there any locks at your hospital that require a key like this?¡±

    Doctor Gao epted the key from Chen Ge and turned it in his hand. The key was slightlyrger than a normal key. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like the key to the office or the surgery room. I¡¯m not so sure.¡±

    Chen Ge put the key away since he could not get an answer from Doctor Gao. He would give it a try when he was ready to enter the Third Sick Hall.

    ¡°That¡¯s all you discovered? A key?¡± Doctor Gao ended the call. He had not known what to expect when Chen Ge climbed out the window, but he definitely had not expected him to return with a key.

    ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate this key; it might be the key to what is happening.¡± Chen Ge nced into the bedroom. ¡°Has Men Nan fallen asleep?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t suggest for him to sleep in Room 304; he¡¯s afraid of this environment. After he falls asleep here, his mind might give him additional pressure, thus increasing the possibility of a nightmare.¡± Doctor Gao was worried about Men Nan. ¡°Since we have confirmed his illness was due to childhood trauma, we should focus on that and provide the necessary counselling.¡±

    ¡°Things are not as simple as you think,¡± Chen Ge exined to Doctor Gao patiently. The doctor had not been exposed to the other world, so his way of thinking was restricted. ¡°If Men Nan is suffering mainly because of his childhood trauma, then why did his illness surface only after he moved into this apartment?¡±

    Doctor Gao had no answer to that question.

    ¡°The childhood trauma is part of the manifestation of the problem that lies in this apartment. Something here has seriously triggered him, causing him to fall ill; that is the real source.¡± Chen Ge tried his best to exin the situation without referencing the other world too much.

    Doctor Gao nodded. Even though he still had reservations with regards to Chen Ge¡¯s methods, but it was undeniable that the man had cured Wang Xin. Standing from a scientist¡¯s standpoint, he wanted to know more about Chen Ge¡¯s various ideas and methods, but from the doctor¡¯s standpoint, he merely wished for his patients to be cured.

    Chen Ge could see the hesitation in Doctor Gao¡¯s face, and he knew it would be hard to convince the doctor. ¡°Even if we move him away, the nightmare will still happen; haven¡¯t you tried that already? In that case, why not we just let him fall asleep here. The two of us will be by his side, and when he shows any sign of pain, we will wake him up immediately.¡±

    Psychological therapy was a long and arduous process, and after some consideration, Doctor Gao finally agreed. Following some more discussion, they entered the bedroom, and to their surprise, Men Nan was already on the bed. The young man was exhausted; with his chin on the pillow, he had fallen asleep leaning against the bed.

    After getting Men Nan into the bed, Chen Ge wanted to examine Men Nan¡¯s forehead and neck but was stopped by Doctor Gao. ¡°Let him sleep.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge pulled two chairs over. ¡°We¡¯ll do this in rounds. One will stay up until midnight, and the other will take over. Whenever there¡¯s something wrong, we¡¯ll wake him up immediately.¡±

    ¡°You should go and rest for now. Leave this to me.¡±

    Doctor Gao had Chen Ge sleep on the living room sofa while he stayed in the bedroom to look after Men Nan.

    Before he arrived, Chen Ge had spent the whole morning working inside the Haunted House and the afternoon making the mannequin heads, so he was tired. He switched his phone to vibrate mode and set the rm for midnight. Lying on the sofa, with Xiaoxiao beside him, he soon fell asleep.

    ...

    In his dream, he felt a vibrationing from his palm. Chen Ge sat up on the sofa. He looked at the phone; it was midnight.

    He entered the bedroom and saw the deep frown on Doctor Gao¡¯s face. Before he said anything, Doctor Gao made a shush motion at him. The two stood beside the bed quietly. After about five minutes, Men Nan, who was sleeping in bed, suddenly straightened his arms underneath his body. It seemed like he was trying to sit up.

    He failed after a few attempts, and the arms pped weakly beside him like everything that happened earlier was just a dream.

    ¡°Sleepwalking?¡± Chen Ge whispered to Doctor Gao. Thetter shook his head and pointed at Men Nan¡¯s eyes.

    Chen Ge followed Doctor Gao¡¯s finger and realized that Men Nan¡¯s eyes were open, but only a quarter of his pupils could be seen. The rest was all white.

 Chapter 122 - Wake Him Up!

    <h4>Chapter 122: Wake Him Up!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Men Nan honestly looked quite scary, like he was possessed. After about ten minutes, his arms reached forward once more to try to push himself up. After several failures, Men Nan finally managed to sit up.

    His eyes were fully white, and Men Nan sat on the bed, his head slightly lowered.

    ¡°Doctor Gao, has he woken up?¡±

    Chen Ge and Doctor Gao were standing about one meter away from Men Nan, but the young man did not seem to notice them as his eyes stared forward. His pupils were rolled back to his head, so they could only see white of his eyes.

    ¡°Probably not.¡± Doctor Gao signaled for Chen Ge to take a step back. Both of them leaned against the wall to avoid running into Men Nan.

    ¡°Then, is this sleepwalking?¡± This was the first time Chen Ge had seen something so weird as well.

    ¡°Sleepwalking is a type ofmon sleep impediment, but if it was just pure sleepwalking, his pupils would not have rolled back so far.¡±

    The twomunicated softly. Men Nan sat on the bed for a while, and without warning, he slowly stood up.

    ¡°Should we wake him?¡± Their original n had been to wake Men Nan when he did anything weird, and this was already past the definition of something weird.

    ¡°No, if we wake him now, we might break his already fragile mind.¡± Doctor Gao paused before adding, ¡°I¡¯ve been watching Men Nan¡¯s face and following the changes to his expression. Even if we are forced to wake him, we should wait until there¡¯s a drastic change in his emotions.¡±

    The two exited the bedroom and stood outside for observation. Men Nan stood beside his bed for a few minutes before slowly turning to face the living room. His head was still lowered, and his eyes were open, but they were mostly white. In such a condition, he moved his legs to walk out of the bedroom.

    Chen Ge nudged Doctor Gao lightly. ¡°What is he doing now?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve treated a child who sleepwalked before. He suffered from slight OCD, and every night he fell asleep, he would spend more than half an hour fixing the mattress to make sure the four edges lined up perfectly. After he fell asleep, he would sleepwalk in the middle of the night to again fix the edges before going back to sleep.¡± Doctor Gao looked at Men Nan, and his face was full of worry. ¡°That kind of sleepwalking that eventually return to bed is not so bad; we¡¯re most afraid of sleepwalkers who attempt things that are unexpected.¡±

    After Men Nan exited the bedroom, he did not stop or hesitate and head for the bathroom directly. The wooden door was pushed open, and without turning, he walked toward the mirror.

    The faucet was turned on, and the bathroom was soon filled with the sound of rushing water.

    ¡°Is he nning to wash his hair?¡±

    Chen Ge looked at Doctor Gao, who looked back at him with equal shock. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me; this is the first time I¡¯ve seen this as well.¡±

    The sound of water intensified, and Chen Ge as well as Doctor Gao rushed to the bathroom. Men Nan, who stood before the sink, was slowly bending down.

    His head lowered, and they both caught a glimpse of Men Nan¡¯s upside-down face. Even then, his pupils were nowhere to be seen. His head touched the water and Men Nan¡¯s expression finally changed. His face twitched slightly like he had seen something incredibly scary.

    Chen Ge quivered under his gaze. He turned back to look, but there was nothing inside the room.

    ¡°Has he spotted something in his dream? Reality and the dream are connected?¡± Men Nan had once mentioned the man entered the room from outside and stood beside him.

    His hair was wet, and Men Nan masterfully grabbed the hair shampoo and squirted a generous amount on his head. He scrubbed his scalp mechanically, but his eyes were fixed in a certain direction.

    The shampoo slid down his hair, and he instinctively wanted to close his eyes when the shampoo reached his eyes. At that moment, various negative emotions like fear and panic all surfaced at once!

    ¡°Quick! Wake him up!¡±

    The moment Doctor Gao shouted thismand, Men Nan reached out to strangle himself!

    The veins on his arms popped as he tried to snap his own neck. His body lost bnce, and he copsed to the floor, the shampoo and water sshing everywhere.

    ¡°Wake up! Men Nan!¡± Doctor Gao and Chen Ge both tried to pry his arms away, but no matter how loud they yelled, the young man did not respond. He continued to strangle himself and tried to use his head to knock against the sink.

    ¡°Detain him!¡±

    Doctor Gao had probably faced simr patients before. He expertly asked Chen Ge to hold Men Nan¡¯s upper body while he whipped out his belt to tie Men Nan¡¯s wrists together.

    ¡°Men Nan, this is Doctor Gao.¡± After his hands were tied, Doctor Gao held Men Nan¡¯s head with his palm on his forehead to stop the young man from knocking his head into the wall. ¡°It¡¯s alright now; it¡¯s alright now.¡±

    Doctor Gao¡¯s voice was gentle and kind; it had a trustworthy quality to it, but it did not seem to be at all effective on Men Nan. The young man¡¯s condition did not improve but only got worse. He opened his jaws to bite at the people around him, and when that failed, he bit on his tongue and soon blood seeped out of his lips.

    ¡°Get me the towel!¡± Before Doctor Gao shouted thatmand, Chen Ge had already stuck the towel into Men Nan¡¯s mouth. By then, Men Nan should have woken up already, but he had not. His pupils kept moving upward, and Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of something. He had seen the young man do the same thing before at the park.

    <i>He¡¯s looking upwards! The thing is on his head! </i>Chen Ge tried to grab above Men Nan¡¯s hair, but there was nothing there.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get him onto the bed first.¡± Doctor Gao also did not know what had happened in Men Nan¡¯s dream. Both he and Chen Ge cooperated to haul Men Nan off the floor. His hands were bound, and a towel was stuck in his mouth, but Men Nan still tried his best to hurt himself.

    His head wiggled about violently. Chen Ge was afraid that he might knock into the mirror, so he walked forward to steady his head, but when he raised his head to look into the mirror, something shocking was reflecting in it.

    Chen Ge¡¯s pupils narrowed, and a man was lying on Men Nan¡¯s back in the mirror. The man was as thin as twig, but his face was uneven on both sides, like a line was split down the middle and two faces were sewn together to form one.

    The man was strangling Men Nan¡¯s neck and attempting to enter his body, but another force from within Men Nan was stopping the monster, causing it to slow down. Both parties were fighting over Men Nan¡¯s body, and that was the main source of his pain. The sight in the mirror was scary, but Doctor Gao could not see it. Now, only Chen Ge could help Men Nan.

    <i>When I left Room 303, I saw a shadow escaping into the mirror; this monster is probably of the same type as the mirror monster that I¡¯ve dealt with before, so breaking the mirror should be able to hurt it somewhat. </i>Chen Ge did not discuss this with Doctor Gao. He took out his mallet and swung it at the mirror!

    The mirror pieces shot everywhere, and the sound shattered the night¡¯s silence; the whole building had probably heard that. As the mirror crumbled, Men Nan, who was trapped in the nightmare, finally showed signs of waking up. He screamed, and his pupils slowly returned to normal.

    At the same time, a shadow glided across the floor as if it was trying to escape.

    Chen Ge pushed Men Nan toward Doctor Gao, and he jumped up holding the mallet. By the time he exited the bathroom, the shadow had already reached the front door. Chen Ge picked up Xiaoxiao, who had gotten a little misshapen from being his sleep buddy, and threw her at the shadow!

 Chapter 123 - Escape

    <h4>Chapter 123: Escape</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The ragdoll stained with fake blood arced through the air before knocking into the shadow. Weirdly enough, when the formless shadow was hit, it stopped at the door, the doll biting on its arm.

    ¡°Well done!¡± Chen Ge aimed his shlight at the shadow. Under the bright light, the shadow started to twist, and its color dimmed. Without the refuge of the mirror, the monster was weaker than Chen Ge had expected. It abandoned part of its body and escaped into Room 302.

    The parts that the monster abandoned soon disappeared; it was unclear whether it had dissolved into thin air or been eaten by Xiaoxiao.

    <i>Eating these things appears to be beneficial to Xiaoxiao. </i>Chen Ge ced Xiaoxiao into his pocket and used the mallet to bang on Room 302¡¯s door lock.

    ¡°Come out!¡± The old steel door shook, shedding dust and rust; even the frame itself was shaking. Themotion was so loud that all the nearby tenants were alerted. The door to Room 301 opened a sliver.

    ¡°What is all thismotion about?¡± the middle-aged man roared with the beer bottle in his hand, but he did not step outpletely from his room. The door to Room 302 was suddenly pulled open from within, and the young man living in it held a cleaver in his hand and shed at Chen Ge madly.

    <i>The mirror monster has entered his body? </i>The corridor was narrow, so there was only so much room for Chen Ge to maneuver. Chen Ge took a step back and realized that the door to the middle-aged man¡¯s room was open. He fell into it and mmed the door shut.

    The sound of a cleaver chopping on the door was eerie. The young man hadpletely lost his sanity; his eyes were filled with streaks of blood. His face was in a mad grimace, and he said no words, like all his energy was being channeled into cleaving the door of Room 301. It felt like he was nning to chop Chen Ge into pieces.

    Then again, it was understandable. It had nned this for weeks, and finally, it had almost gotten into Men Nan¡¯s body but was stopped by Chen Ge at thest minute. On top of that, it had lost parts of its body in the struggle. The corridor was filled with the sound of the cleaver shing on the steel door.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± The middle-aged man inside the room was stunned beyond belief. His calves weakened, and he copsed onto the shoe racks.

    ¡°Help me!¡± The room door was not locked, and the young man could have burst through at any moment.

    ¡°I... I¡¯ll call the police!¡± The middle-aged man did not dare go near the door. He ced the bottle on the table and hurriedly went looking for the phone. In his hurry, he knocked over the empty bottles, and they ttered noisily.

    ¡°I saide help me with the door!¡±

    As the sound of the cleaver reverberated through the halls, the rooms lit up one after another, and many tenants leaned their heads out the door.

    In Room 304, after Doctor Gao deposited Men Nan on the living room sofa, he heard Chen Ge¡¯s cries for help. He ran out of the room with a stool in his hand.

    The young man from Room 302 had gone berserk; his focus was fully on Chen Ge. Doctor Gao made use of this opportunity to sneak up on him from behind. When he was one meter away from the man, he raised the stool to knock at the upper part of the young man¡¯s spine. Doctor Gao¡¯s target was probably the head, but for some reason, his aim was off.

    The young man lost his bnce and staggered forward, his body knocking into the door. Gripping the cleaver, his neck twisted unnaturally around, and the young man red at Doctor Gao with bloodshot eyes.

    A roar bubbled from his throat. As the young man nned to turn to attack Doctor Gao, Chen Ge saw this opportunity and kick the door open. The door mmed into the man, and without giving him the chance to recover, Chen Ge picked up a bottle from the floor and swung it at the young man¡¯s head.

    The bottle shattered, and blood flowed down the man¡¯s head. Chen Ge charged forward and knocked into the young man, holding him down on the floor. Doctor Gao also ran forward to grab the cleaver away from the young man.

    The young man tried to resist until the other tenants also came out to help detain him. It was then that he finally gave up on his resistance. With his cheek pressed into the cement floor, the young man¡¯s eyes focused on Chen Ge, like he was trying to memorize Chen Ge¡¯s features.

    Three minutester, the young man¡¯s pupils rolled backwards, and he fell unconscious. At the same time, the young man¡¯s shadow that was reflected on the wall suddenly moved and dashed down the stairs.

    Many people present saw that, but before they could react, the shadow had disappeared into the night.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s eyes widened; many strange things had happened that night.

    ¡°I¡¯m not so sure.¡± The vengeful eyes that the young man had shot Chen Ge before he fainted were very familiar; it reminded him of the Haunted House¡¯s mirror monster. <i>Could it be that both of them came from the same world inside the mirror?</i>

    Chen Ge climbed up from the floor and was about to give chase when he stopped at the staircase. Thendy blocked the staircase with a stern face.

    <i>Has this person been taken over by the monster? </i>Chen Ge took several steps back. Then again, he was the cause of the problems that had happened that night at her apartment, so he was feeling rather unsettled.

    ¡°What are you guys up to sote at night?¡± Thendy walked up to the third floor, and a few of the elder tenants followed behind her. Just as Chen Ge was wondering what to say, the middle-aged man in Room 301 ran out with his phone. He had been hiding in his room until then.

    ¡°Sis! It feels like brother-inw has returned,¡± the man whispered into thendy¡¯s ear. ¡°Xiao Du in Room 302 used the cleaver and attacked people indiscriminately; it waspletely the same as brother-inw¡¯s situation.¡±

    When he said that, the tenants who had gathered around started to disperse. A few ran back into their rooms and locked the door tight.

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t everything going just fine?¡± Thendy looked at the chaos in the third-floor corridor. She had her brother carry the young man to the hospital while she moved to talk to Chen Ge and Doctor Gao.

    ¡°We were merely defending ourselves; the kid from Room 302 almost killed me.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Thendy paused before saying directly, ¡°I still need to rent this ce. Making this moreplicated than it is will not be good for business, so how about we let this be? I will pay the child¡¯s medical bills, and we will not get the police involved; the child is still young, and I don¡¯t want to ruin his future.¡±

    Hearing thendy, Chen Ge realized that she knew a thing or two about the secret in Room 303 as well as the reason behind Room 302¡¯s young man¡¯s madness.

    After bncing the pros and cons, Chen Ge realized there was no benefit to pressing this further. After all, he hadpleted the ck phone¡¯s mission. Chen Ge discussed this with Doctor Gao, and both of them agreed with thendy.

    After thendy left, Doctor Gao returned to Room 304 to look after Men Nan while Chen Ge waited in the living room. He still had plenty of questions left for the young man.

 Chapter 124 - Possible Red Specter

    <h4>Chapter 124: Possible Red Specter</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    One hourter, the middle-aged man came back to Hai Ming Apartments with the young man from Room 302. The young man had a bandage on his head, and his pupils were still quite unfocused.

    ¡°You¡¯re finally home.¡± Chen Ge walked out from Room 304, his hand still holding the mallet. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not going to hurt you, I just want to ask you some questions.¡±

    The young man¡¯s eyes darted about evasively before opening the door to his room. ¡°Come in then.¡±

    There was a thick stench in Room 302. Even the middle-aged man whose room was far from tidy had his hand over his nose. ¡°How long has it been since you cleaned this ce? Has some food gone sour or something?¡±

    Chen Ge was confused. The room looked tidy, and the young man kept up his appearances; he did not look like a sleazy type of person.

    ¡°The things that have happened to me for the past two months felt like a dream.¡± The young man walked to his bed holding his head. He pulled out a ck stic bag from underneath it. It was filled with the carcasses of small animals. ¡°It¡¯s true, like a nightmare that I could not wake up from.¡±

    Chen Ge nced into the bag before his gaze fell back on the young man. ¡°Now that your nightmare is over, you can tell us the things that you¡¯ve been hiding.¡±

    The young man dropped the bag aside and began with apology. ¡°When I moved into this room three months ago, thendy said that if I didn¡¯t feelfortable or ran into something weird, I could move out freely. That first night itself I had a nightmare; I dreamed about a leaking window. In the dream, I went to close it and saw a man standing inside the room next door.

    ¡°Initially, I didn¡¯t pay it much attention, but after this dream repeated itself for a few times, one day, I suddenly realized that the man who was supposed to be in the room next door had entered my room. I tried to resist, but I couldn¡¯t do anything. However, the man didn¡¯t hurt me. He told me that he merely wanted some help from me.

    ¡°After that dream, my focus was lost for the whole morning. In the end, I decided to spend a night over at a friend¡¯s ce, but the man seemed to have attached himself to me. This time, in my dream, he appeared directly beside my bed.

    ¡°The man told me that there was no way I could escape. He said that as long as I helped him, he would stop bothering me. I believed what he said, so I started following his demands to capture some living small animals and threw them into Room 303. They were alive when I dropped them in, but when I went to take a look the next morning, the animals were all dead.

    ¡°There were no visible wounds on their bodies, so I had no idea what had killed them.¡± The more he continued, the more afraid the young man became. ¡°I wanted to escape from the man in my dream, but his appetite grew. Initially, he just wanted a sparrow or a rat, but one weekter, he asked me to leave him stray dogs, and thest time, he asked me to lure a living person into Room 303 after midnight.

    ¡°When I refused, he started to force me, threatening to kill me in my dream. I was at my wit¡¯s end.¡±

    The young man¡¯s eyes were red and he lowered his head. ¡°I told my friends about the dream, and the few of us entered Room 303te at night, but nothing happened that night. Then, they stopped believing me, thinking I had lost my mind.

    ¡°I had no one to turn to, and the man¡¯s presence became more solid. Even in the morning, I could feel him standing beside him, watching me.¡±

    The young man¡¯s hands moved to grip the bandage on his head. ¡°At the time, I only wanted to get rid of him, so I did try to lure someone into Room 303, but it was too difficult.¡±

    When he felt better, he continued. ¡°After a few days, I identally saw an ad at school asking for a ce to rent, and I guess you know what happens next. Due to personal reasons, Men Nan did not want to stay at the school dormitory, and due to his limited budget, I rmended Hai Ming Apartments to him.¡±

    ¡°So, you are the reason Men Nan moved into Room 304?¡± Chen Ge did not expect that would be the case.

    ¡°I did remind him of the danger, but like me, he paid it no heed.¡± After saying everything on his mind, the young man felt better.

    ¡°All of that is in the past, so we will not pursue any charges, but we will need to wait for Men Nan to wake up first.¡± Chen Ge took out the rusted key from his pocket. ¡°Now I have a few questions for you. I need you to answer them honestly. If you don¡¯t know, then just tell me, don¡¯t make stuff up.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°Have you ever seen the man¡¯s face in your dream?¡±

    ¡°Seen it once,¡± the young man admitted after a long hesitation. ¡°He has two faces, like two personalities sewn together, and theymunicate and argue with each other.¡±

    ¡°Other than giving you their demands, did they talk about anything else?¡± This was the best opportunity to know about the other world.

    ¡°The thing they did the most was argue with each other. There was this one time where one of the faces angrily said that if not for the fear of the Red Specter, he would rather have died than share an existence with trash.¡±

    ¡°Red Specter?¡± Chen Ge frowned at the familiar term. He took out the ck phone and clicked onto the affection page. Under Xiaoxiao¡¯s name, it read Baleful Specter, but under Zhang Ya, it specifically read Red Specter.

    It might not have seemed important, but because of these two words, Zhang Ya had her own personal page on the ck phone. Chen Ge fell into deep thought. The creature that had followed Wang Haiming out of the Third Sick Hall knew of the Red Specter, so there was a high chance that a Red Specter resided in the Third Sick Hall!

    <i>A specter on the same level as Zhang Ya. </i>The thought brought a headache to Chen Ge. The first mirror monster that he had encountered was a toy for Zhang Ya. Therefore, a normal ghost was powerless before the Red Specter. He sighed before signaling for the young man to continue.

    ¡°Other than the Red Specter, I realized that there were a few weaknesses to them. I nned to use those when things got too serious.¡± The young man sat on the bed, not at all minding the stench from inside the bag. ¡°The monster rarely appeared during periods other than midnight, it was afraid of light, noisy environments, and most importantly, it seemed weirdly afraid of cats.¡±

    ¡°Afraid of cats?¡± Chen Ge was curious.

    ¡°Yes, the man in my dream asked me to prepare many living animals, but cats were the only exception, so I believe it is afraid of cats.¡± The young man had a point, but it was ultimately just spection. If possible, Chen Ge did not want to be the first one to try it out. <i>Perhaps I can test it out somehow back at the Haunted House.</i>

    The young man did not dare to speak since Chen Ge did notment. However, the eyes of the middle-aged man, listening to their conversation, were as round as the moon.

 Chapter 125 - Take Your Mannequins Away!

    <h4>Chapter 125: Take Your Mannequins Away!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Before doing the Trial Mission for the Third Sick Hall, perhaps I should ce a stray cat inside Mu Yang High School scenario to test the theory. If it works, then it¡¯ll be an additional way to deal with creatures from the other side. </i>Even with this information alone, Chen Ge felt that his journey that day had been worth it. ncing at the young man, he passed the rusted key to him. ¡°Have you seen this key before?¡±

    ¡°I have.¡± The young man nodded. ¡°Every sunrise, I would return to Room 303 to clean the animal carcasses, and there was this one time when I found this key in one of the items of clothing.¡±

    ¡°Did the man in dream mention anything rted to this key? Like a special door or room?¡±

    The young man thought about it before saying, ¡°When they were talking to themselves this one time, I believe they mentioned something rted to a key.¡±

    ¡°What was it?¡±

    ¡°One of the faces said that he had left something important behind in the third room and that the pathway hidden behind the cupboard wasn¡¯t locked. They shouldn¡¯t have left through the front door; that way, they wouldn¡¯t have been exposed.¡± The young man had a vague recollection of the memory; after all, he had heard all this in his dream.

    ¡°The third room?¡± Chen Ge was reminded of the paper note left behind by his parents.

    <i>The third room in the third sick hall!</i>

    <i>Could they have been talking about the same ce? If they were, then this information is invaluable! The pathway behind the cupboard is not locked; this can be my escape route when necessary!</i>

    Chen Ge could not tell whether the young man was lying or not. He maintained the same expression while he memorized all the information. After asking a few more questions, making sure there was nothing else he could have known, Chen Ge exited Room 302 and returned to Room 304.

    ¡°How is Men Nan doing?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s asleep, but he¡¯s running a fever. I¡¯ll bring him to the hospital tomorrow and try to reach out to his family.¡± Doctor Gao sat beside the bed. ¡°You¡¯d better go and rest; I¡¯ll stay here and look over him. I¡¯ve ced the doll on the sofa. There are some bandages under the table, so remember to take care of your wounds.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge realized that Doctor Gao was a nice person who knew how to take care of others. He walked to the sofa and saw Xiaoxiao that was lying on her back with her stomach poking out like she was unable to move from eating too much.

    ¡°This little thing.¡± Chen Ge set the rm for 7 o¡¯clock. Hugging Xiaoxiao, he soon fell asleep. For some reason, he had a restless sleep that night. He kept repeating the same dream, and in the dream, he was trapped inside a maze-like building and was being chased by something. There was imminent danger. He held a key in his hands and tried it on all the doors, but none of them worked.

    ...

    ¡°Wake up.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes flew open because someone was shaking him. He saw Doctor Gao standing beside the sofa holding a weak-looking Men Nan. Chen Ge looked out the window; the sun wasing up. It was about 6 am.

    ¡°Men Nan¡¯s temperature is still running high; we need to take him to the hospital. This room feels weird, so I think we¡¯d better leave together.¡± Doctor Gao had not slept, so his condition was not so good, and Men Nan was even worse; it seemed like he could copse at any moment.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge shoved the stuff into his bag and reached out to hold Men Nan¡¯s other arm. ¡°Be careful.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for your helpst night...¡± When they exited Room 304, Men Nan suddenly turned to Chen Ge to say and repeated, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wee,¡± Chen Ge answered reflexively, but then he realized that Men Nan¡¯s tone and mannerism seemed weirdly feminine. When he turned back to look, Men Nan had lowered his head.

    When they arrived at the hospital and ensured that there was nothing dangerous about Men Nan¡¯s situation, Chen Ge left. Sitting in the taxi, Chen Ge took out the ck phone. He had received the message; he hadpleted the mission.

    ¡°The yer reached the mission venue on time, found the victim¡¯s cause of illness, and managed to survive until sunrise. One-star Trial Missionpleted! A new scenario has been unlocked. yer can manipte the props inside the set freely using the interface avable on the phone!

    ¡°Trial Missionpletion rate more than ny percent, unlocked this mission¡¯s hidden item¡ªSelf-perceptive Key.

    ¡°Self-perceptive Key (13 Malice Points): Mental patients are oftencking in the power of self-perception. They are unable to tell their current mental health condition, causing them to think they are fine, thus refusing treatment. When simr symptoms appear in you, this key can help you once.¡±

    <i>The hidden item for this mission is the key I found? </i>Chen Ge ced the rusted key in his palm. <i>What does it mean by saying simr symptoms appear in me? Is it telling me indirectly that I have a mental illness?</i>

    When Chen Ge reached New Century Park, it was around 7 pm. <i>The difficulty of one-star missions is not that hard; I don¡¯t feel as tired as I normally would.</i>

    It was still early, so he decided to pay the mannequin workshop a visit. The mannequin heads that he had made should have been ready. Chen Ge sent a message to the boss, and to his surprise, the reply came back surprisingly soon. The boss asked for Chen Ge toe immediately.

    <i>Did something happen? Perhaps it is because I did not follow the Dollmaker¡¯s Talent fully; after all, I was missing some tools then.</i>

    This was the first time Chen Ge had used that skill. He was afraid of an ident, so he rushed over immediately.

    When he arrived, he saw the boss standing alone outside the ss door, holding the key, but he appeared to be afraid to walk in.

    ¡°You¡¯re already here? Then, why won¡¯t you go in?¡± Chen Ge walked toward the man. If some outsiders saw this, they would probably think that he was the boss.

    The fat on the boss¡¯ face jiggled as he reached out to point inside the workshop. ¡°Can I cancel your order?¡±

    ¡°No way, you¡¯ve already epted my down payment.¡± Chen Ge looked through the ss into the workshop. When his eyes swept across the counter where he had left yesterday¡¯s half-finished products, his breath caught in his throat.

    The twenty-four detached heads with weirdly humanlike expressions were all turned to stare right at the entrance. Chen Ge almost grabbed his mallet to swing at the door. This scene was indeed impactful; no wonder the boss did not dare go in alone.

    ¡°They do look realistic.¡± Chen Ge patted the boss¡¯ shoulder. ¡°Open the door, will you? After finishing the bodies, I¡¯ll leave.¡±

    ¡°You sure are humble. Twenty-four heads, each with different expressions, and all turned toward the door, but realistic is all you have to say? When I came early in the morning, I almost lost my soul being scared by them!¡± the boss said with a pout. ¡°I came early to check on your filler and leakage but... <i>sigh </i>. I¡¯ll probably be reminded of this scene every time I open the door; now I¡¯ll need to rent the ce no matter what.¡±

 Chapter 126 - A Brave Idea

    <h4>Chapter 126: A Brave Idea</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    When Chen Ge left, the paint job on the fake heads had not dried yet, so they had been unfinished products. They did not look so scary then. After opening the ss room, Chen Ge and the boss walked over to the counter.

    ¡°Look at this quality... Residing in a Haunted House is a waste of your talent.¡± The boss followed behind Chen Ge. He picked up a female student¡¯s head from the table.

    Initially, he had been afraid, but after he got used to it, he was slowly attracted by the bodiless heads. They were incredibly humanlike; the girl¡¯s eyes seemed to be filled with emotions, and the normal dullness of a mannequin head was absent.

    ¡°You are indeed the best dollmaker I¡¯ve seen.¡± The boss studied the girl¡¯s face closely for a full minute before moving his gaze away. There seemed to be something on his mind. After some hesitation, he ced the girl¡¯s head back where it had been and tapped the busily working Chen Ge lightly on his shoulder. ¡°Brother, I came so early today also because I wish to discuss something with you.¡±

    <i>Brother? </i>The boss¡¯ sudden change in attitude and term of endearment unsettled Chen Ge.

    ¡°Tell me, if I can help, I will.¡± Chen Ge was working on the design of the mannequin body.

    ¡°It¡¯s a deal that will benefit both of us.¡± The boss picked out a name card from his pocket and gave it to Chen Ge. ¡°We should keep in contact with each other.¡±

    ¡°Qian Guigen?¡± Chen Ge did not know what the boss was up to. He was suddenly so friendly. After Chen Ge epted the name card, the boss said mysteriously, ¡°Before this, my main focus was the design of mannequins for shops and parks, but with the advancement in technology, especially 3D imaging, the demand for mannequins has decreased. To keep the shop afloat, I¡¯ve been considering changing to another field, but the shape and form of this industry has been fixed; a sudden or drastic change in field will be too difficult.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s going to be difficult in any field. My suggestion is for you to stick to what you know in case you lose even your capital.¡± Chen Ge used y to form a student¡¯s body and was wiping away the surface with a wet sponge. The force underneath his fingers was just right; the surface that he touched came alive like actual skin, smooth and slightly glossy. He did not pay much attention to Boss Qian; he just wanted to finish the job as soon as possible and deliver them to the Haunted House.

    ¡°That¡¯s what I thought before meeting you, but after meeting you, it¡¯s as if I¡¯ve seen a ray of light through the mist. You have given me a brilliant direction.¡± Boss Qian stood beside Chen Ge. Looking at the mannequin heads with different expressions, he suddenly said, ¡°I have a brave idea!¡±

    ¡°Mind getting me the 16th carving knife?¡±

    ¡°Hey, do you mind paying some attention? If this is sessful, perhaps our monthly ie will be greater than what you earn in a whole year from the Haunted House!¡± Boss Qian mmed his palms on the table and looked at Chen Ge seriously.

    The talk of money made Chen Ge stop working. ¡°I¡¯m not one to be swayed by money, but I am interested in your idea.¡±

    ¡°Small dolls won¡¯t get a high price, andrge mannequins no longer have the market, so I n to go into the high-end, personalized market!¡± Boss Qian picked up Chen Ge¡¯s mannequin head carefully. ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve seen such a realistic doll, and you¡¯re using a lesser quality material. If we get higher quality materials, does this mean you can make mannequins that are no different from actual humans?¡±

    ¡°Theoretically, I suppose so,¡± Chen Ge answered, conveniently skipping over the fact that he could make an actual living doll provided he had enough materials.

    ¡°That talent will be our road to riches!¡± Boss Qian took out his phone to look for some doll pictures. ¡°These adult sex dolls sold for 8,000 plus on the inte despite their rough quality. If we can provide to-scale dolls with perfect skin and features, the asking price will be over five digits. I have done the necessary research; the market is untapped and will remain that way for the next few years.¡±

    ¡°Well, your idea definitely is brave.¡± Chen Ge shook his head and continued to focus on his y body.

    ¡°Just imagine the ie! With your speed, we can easily make twenty of those in three days; that¡¯s two hundred in a month. The market hasn¡¯t seen a mannequin of your quality before, so the initial price can be set at 15,000. Even with the most expensive materials, we¡¯ll gain 10,000 in profit! That¡¯s 2,000,000 in a month! Why are you still so hung up over the Haunted House?¡± Boss Qian had expected a far more enthusiastic response from Chen Ge.

    ¡°I will not do anything illegal. Making dolls ording to the pictures provided by clients is a vition of privacy.¡± Chen Ge knew that he was using the Dollmaker¡¯s Talent to make these mannequins. There were certaintent dangers, and he did not want to wake up to headlines like ¡®Sex dolls found responsible for young man¡¯s death.¡¯

    ¡°Why are you so stubborn?¡± Boss Qian started to berate Chen Ge. ¡°Every single one is a lonely ind; even married couples will have arguments, but dolls are different. In fact, I believe that many will choose to spend their lives with dolls if given the chance. There would be so much less pressure in life. No matter who it is, if you dump your problems on them, they will get annoyed, but a doll won¡¯t. Making dolls for these lonely souls hurts no one. In fact, you will be helping them, helping them seek a safe harbor in this lonely world.¡±

    ¡°I feel like you¡¯re in the wrong field. You should go sell insurance instead.¡± Chen Ge lowered his head to focus on the y body. The world was not as innocent as the boss made it out to be. If his mannequins were mass produced, things could get out of control, and he would definitely be involved.

    ¡°If there¡¯s a brave idea, then we have to give it a try! How about you make two dolls today? I will go around to promote them. If that doesn¡¯t work, then forget I said anything.¡± There were those pictures on Boss Qian¡¯s phone, so obviously, he hade prepared.

    ¡°Boss Qian, have you considered this situation? You¡¯re in bed with a doll, but after you fall asleep, the doll slowly opens its eyes.¡±

    ¡°Why would a doll open its eyes?¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, you cane experience it yourself at my Haunted House. The mannequins I design are different from normal mannequins, and I mean more than their appearances.¡± Chen Ge did not go into further detail. The boss felt like a nice person, just a little forward in his thinking.

    After listening to Chen Ge, Boss Qian looked at the fake heads on the counter, and he shivered. However, he did not give up. ¡°When you have thought it out, give me a call.¡±

    Chen Ge finished the y body and repeated the steps from yesterday.

    At 9 am, Chen Ge ced all the fake heads into threerge paper boxes and called a taxi to drive them to New Century Park.

    <i>The mannequin bodies will be ready tonight. This means that I can officially open Mu Yang High School for public visitation tomorrow morning.</i>

 Chapter 127 - Equipment Upgrade

    <h4>Chapter 127: Equipment Upgrade</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The taxi stopped at the park entrance and Chen Ge called Xu Wan to help him haul the boxes into the Haunted House.

    ¡°Boss, what¡¯s inside these? They are so heavy.¡±

    ¡°Mannequin heads.¡± Chen Ge did not exin further. ¡°Don¡¯t open them if you¡¯re easily scared.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    After cing the boxes, Chen Ge had Xu Wan go to the dressing room to prepare herself while he stood at the entrance to sell tickets.

    <i>With the opening of Mu Yang High School scenario tomorrow, I¡¯ll need to solve the issue of workers. If worstes to worst, I can ask Director Luo to lend me a park worker to act as the ticket-seller.</i>

    A man who looked about thirty interrupted Chen Ge¡¯s thoughts. ¡°Mr. Chen? I¡¯ve finally found you.¡±

    Chen Ge was rarely addressed this way. He looked at the person. The man was wearing a casual suit and holding a ck suitcase. He had a refreshing short hairstyle, a face full of smiles, and shining white teeth. ¡°You were looking for me?¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t missed a single one of your livestreams; they¡¯re too good.¡± The man started with praise, but Chen Ge knew the quality of his livestreams. His content was unique, but due to ack of good recording devices, the livestream experience could still be improved.

    ¡°You¡¯re too kind.¡± Chen Ge still had no idea what the man was there for. ¡°You¡¯re a viewer?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m your loyal fan. Ever since your first video entered the midnight popr ranking, I have been following you. Later, when Qin Guang copied your content, it was me who posted your video on the forum, exposing his giarism.¡± The man said that he was Chen Ge¡¯s loyal fan, but he was very calm, and the smile on his face was a professional smile. It felt more like he was in a negotiation than meeting his idol.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Chen Ge did not believe him fully, but the man did not seem hostile; at least he knew right from wrong. ¡°Since you¡¯re a fan, I¡¯ll give you a fifty percent discount for the ticket.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to disturb your business; why not let the visitors behind me go in first?¡± He stepped aside to allow the people behind him to walk into the Haunted House. When Chen Ge had dealt with the visitors and took a breather, the man moved forward to continue. ¡°I hear the people from Qin Guang¡¯s studio came to cause you trouble, but you managed to teach them a lesson?¡±

    ¡°Those are just rumors. Qin Guang¡¯s people have no moral bottom line; they purposely sent two mental patients, and after they acted up inside the Haunted House, they pretended to be the victims to nder my name. How shameless!¡± Chen Ge hissed through ¡®gritted teeth¡¯.

    When the man heard him, his expression shifted. He added a smile but said, ¡°I also think they were trying to frame you. It was just a visit to a Haunted House; why would they end up in the hospital? They should havee up with a better excuse.¡±

    ¡°They ended up in the hospital?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they also promised that they would take revenge by sealing up all your rmendation channels but were stopped by another studio.¡± The man looked at Chen Ge with a wide grin like a fox waving his tail. ¡°After all, the tform belongs to everyone, not just Qin Guang.¡±

    By then, Chen Ge had understood everything already. This man before him hade from this other studio. It looked like they had some bad history with Qin Guang¡¯s studio, or else they would not have sided with Chen Ge when they realized Qin Guang was conducting giarism.

    The viewership and rmendation channels for a tform were limited. If Qin Guang dominated all of them, it would cause a slow decline for the other creators.

    ¡°You¡¯re here to seek coboration with me, right? How shall I refer to you?¡± Chen Ge studied the suitcase in the man¡¯s hand, imagining it to be filled with money.

    ¡°Actually, I¡¯m also a host. You can call me Liu Dao.¡±

    ¡°Liu Dao?¡± Chen Ge nodded. ¡°Then, what kind coboration do you propose?¡±

    ¡°Lately, supernatural livestreaming has achieved surprising poprity, and naturally, we want a part of it as well, but our studio doesn¡¯t have the right candidate to spearhead such a project. Even if we focus all our resources on a selected host, the poprity won¡¯t be higher than Qin Guang¡¯s. Even though there is much to be desired about Qin Guang¡¯s work ethic, his livestreams are interesting and funny, and the man is charismatic.¡±

    ¡°So, you came to find me? I don¡¯t think a normal guy like myself has more charisma than Qin Guang.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. I¡¯ve seen your livestream. Perhaps you don¡¯t notice this, but your livestreams are different from most.¡± Liu Dao dropped his smile and turned serious. ¡°With just one nce, people will normally be able to tell the livestream is fake, and this includes Qin Guang¡¯s livestream. It has the name of a supernatural livestream, but it was merely listening to the host make up stories.

    ¡°However, yours is different.

    ¡°The atmosphere and anxiety were pitched throughout the livestream like life-threatening danger was around every corner. The viewers would experience fear alongside you, and just with that point alone, I¡¯m already mightily impressed.¡±

    <i>That¡¯s because it¡¯s all real! </i>Chen Ge felt like even if he told the truth, Liu Dao would not have believed him. ¡°Perhaps I am a good actor.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re too humble. That feeling of dancing between life and death, that is something I haven¡¯t seen in professional actors.¡± Liu Dao seemed to admire Chen Ge greatly. ¡°I feel like only your livestream has a chance of fighting Qin Guang. If you promise to cooperate with us, we will fight tooth and nail to help you gain more resources.¡±

    ¡°Then what am I supposed to do?¡± Contribution and reward were give and take; Chen Ge knew this well.

    ¡°We will find you locations that look scary and abandoned and set up the scene there. We will also design some scary features beforehand. You¡¯ll only need to conduct your livestream there and push some advertisement in your livestream room for our studio.¡± Liu Dao was afraid that Chen Ge might reject him, and he pulled out a file from the ck suitcase. ¡°The set needs to be prepared and the script as well. We will conduct a supernatural livestream every ten days, and this aligns with Qin Guang¡¯s studio¡¯s schedule. Here, you can take a look at our selected set locations and the rundown for the script.¡±

    <i>These people are too conservative with their choices. Some of the sets are just next to a residential area; just a move of the camera, and it¡¯ll be exposed.</i>

    ¡°You think they¡¯re not suitable? Don¡¯t worry, I promise you that they¡¯repletely safe. All the set locations will be inspected beforehand, and during your livestream, we will assign an auto camera to follow you.¡±

    ¡°You think these can beat Qin Guang?¡± Chen Ge sighed sadly. He returned the file to Liu Dao. ¡°None of these sets are interesting, and the scripts are too predictable. How about I give you my rmendation.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Have you heard of the Third Sick Hall?¡± Chen Ge turned on his phone and entered the name. Soon, many creepy, cruel, and insane headlines appeared on screen. ¡°I n to go here for my next livestream.¡±

    Liu Dao saw the articles that appeared on screen. The unfiltered pictures caused the man¡¯s Adam¡¯s apple to wiggle. He wiped the sweat off his forehead before saying, ¡°You sure? Isn¡¯t this pushing it a bit too far?¡±

 Chapter 128 - Stray Cat

    <h4>Chapter 128: Stray Cat</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Disappearance of the hospital director and patients. An anonymous letter ims that there are bodies left in the hospital.¡±

    ¡°A changing bloody message, moaning from a closed room, who opened the locked doors at midnight?¡±

    ¡°What have they seen to cause them to go crazy in one night? Who is the patient, and who is the doctor?¡±

    ¡°Screaming, cutting, sewing, the twisting of human nature, the hospital where the sun will never rise.¡±

    Liu Dao only nced at the headlines, but his heart started to race, and his breathing became uneven. ¡°Are you sure about this?¡±

    Before he arrived, he had worried about Chen Ge rejecting him due to sry or location safety, so he had prepared many different proposals. He hade up with many different negotiation tactics, but after talking to Chen Ge, he realized that things were already out of his control from the beginning.

    The Haunted House boss not only did not worry about safety but alsoined about their locations being too fake. He even had selected an abandoned hospital that sounded creepy from the inte searches alone!

    <i>Is this person insane? </i>Liu Dao grumbled internally as the smile froze on his face. ¡°Mr. Chen, the people from our studio might not be brave enough to enter the location that you selected. If you think the script is not suitable, we can still edit it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± Chen Ge waved him off.

    ¡°Thank you for your understanding, shall we discuss the script?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need people to follow me; I can enter it alone.¡±

    ¡°Have you misunderstood me?¡± Liu Dao was covered in cold sweat. He formed his thoughts clearly before asking, ¡°Do you really n to livestream at this type of location alone at midnight?¡±

    ¡°Is there a problem?¡±

    Looking at Chen Ge, Liu Dao felt like the proposals that he had spent days and nights preparing had all gone to waste. ¡°No, of course not. Please take a look at the contract; if there¡¯s any request, do name them.¡±

    He pulled out a temporary contract from the suitcase. Chen Ge skimmed through it. The contract wasx. This was their first cooperation, so it was just a trial, testing the waters. Chen Ge needed to promote Liu Dao¡¯s studio in his livestream room, and in return, they would fight for more rmendations and exposure from the tform.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen all of your livestreams; the content is perfect, but the equipment is not that professional.¡± Liu Dao opened the ck suitcase again when Chen Ge was reading the contract. He ced it between them. ¡°This is the livestreaming equipment that we can lend you, namely a GoPro carry-on waterproof camera¡ªit is normally used for shooting extreme sports like air-gliding or deep-water diving. This beside it is the anti-slip chest bracket camera and arm camera. Then, these are wireless earphones. When you¡¯re ready for the livestream, we will have professionals help you retransmit the footage, and you can look at the livestream through your own cellphone.¡±

    Liu Dao introduced the items in the suitcase one by one. ¡°I suggest you go and familiarize yourself with the equipment as soon as you can. Qin Guang¡¯s next livestream has not been announced yet, but it will definitely be within the next three days. We will set our livestream at the same time as him, and the result will be fully dependent on this crossfire.¡±

    After all, this was going to be a battle with the most popr host on the tform, and Liu Dao had no confidence that they would win, so the contract he provided was temporary. It would be void after this first livestream. Avoiding risk was the nature of a business¡ªChen Ge understood that. After signing the contract, Chen Ge epted the suitcase from Liu Dao.

    ¡°When I confirm Qin Guang¡¯s livestream schedule, I¡¯ll contact you. Hopefully you¡¯ll be ready then.¡± Liu Dao extended his hand toward Chen Ge. ¡°Happy cooperation, and be careful.¡±

    After sending Liu Dao off, Chen Ge walked to the staff breakroom with the suitcase before returning to the front door to sell tickets. The sky suddenly started to darken, and at around 2 pm, it started to rain.

    The rain chased away the few visitors the park had. Looking at the deserted New Century Park, Chen Ge did not feel so good. The number of visitors who came to the Haunted House was slowly increasing, but the overall number of park visitor was dropping. If New Century Park was forced to close, his Haunted House would be affected as well.

    ¡°The number of scenarios is not enough to use the Haunted House to support the entire Haunted House.¡± Currently, New Century Park was still surviving because there was nopetition in Jiujiang, but after the new park was built, the visitors would abandon New Century Park.

    ¡°Boss, what¡¯s on your mind?¡± Xu Wan came out with umbre and stood beside Chen Ge.

    ¡°Nothing really.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at Xu Wan. ¡°Thank you for your work today; you can go home now. I need to go to the workshop to finish off the mannequins anyway.¡±

    After cleaning the ce, Chen Ge locked the Haunted House and walked to the mannequin workshop. Before he reached the workshop, Chen Ge could see that Boss Qian was squatting by the roadside talking to the hawker stall cook.

    ¡°Why are you standing outside?¡±

    Boss Qian saw that it was Chen Ge and stood up with some difficulty. ¡°Brother, have you considered the high-end doll offer? I have a feeling you¡¯ll lead a revolution in the industry.¡±

    ¡°Not interested.¡± Chen Ge entered the workshop to focus on his work.

    ¡°Just think about it. You could be the next king of adult sex dolls!¡±

    ...

    All the mannequins were done by 9:30 pm. The twenty-four headless mannequins stood in the workshop, creating a harrowing scene.

    ¡°They¡¯re so realistic; it¡¯s like art.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave them for the night, and I¡¯lle to take them tomorrow morning.¡± Chen Ge patted Boss Qian on his shoulder. ¡°Watch only from afar, and please don¡¯t touch them.¡±

    After a few more words, Chen Ge left with his umbre. He came out from the workshop, and the rain was still pouring.

    <i>How am I supposed to drag twenty-four mannequins to the park? I should call Uncle Xu for help tomorrow. </i>He opened the umbre and walked down the street. The shops on both sides of the road were packing up their stuff. Several shop owners were calling their children home, and they were nning to close already.

    Chen Ge did not notice it until he passed a small alleyway, and he heard a child crying. He turned to look and saw several young boys tossing rocks and empty bottles toward a specific corner. One of the boys had scratched his finger, and as he cried, he picked up debris from the ground to toss it in the corner.

    The boss of the lottery ticket shop next door came out to yell, ¡°Jia Ming, Jia Bao, stop ying; it¡¯s time to go home.¡±

    ¡°Dad, little brother was scratched by a stray cat!¡± one of the boys screamed.

    ¡°Scratched by a cat? Let me see!¡± The man rushed into the alley. After some hesitation, Chen Ge followed. When the man saw the wound on his boy¡¯s finger, he hugged the crying boy and kept consoling him. When he saw his father, the boy cried even louder.

    ¡°Don¡¯t cry, Daddy will help you take revenge. Is it this cat that scratched you?¡± He picked up a nearby brick and tossed it at the poor creature. The bricknded on flesh, and a whimper could be heard.

    Chen Ge used his calf to block the brick. He stood in the middle of the alley looking at a broken paper box left in the corner. Inside the box was a white cat whose body was covered with bleeding wounds. The cat was fierce; its ws and teeth showing. Even though blood was flowing down its head, it still refused to leave the paper box.

    ¡°Why won¡¯t it run away?¡± Chen Ge took one step forward and saw that there were four kittens inside the box, but all of them were no longer breathing. The chaos created by the boys littered the area around the box. However, inside the paper box was clean.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter with you?¡± The man grabbed a broom and pushed Chen Ge aside. ¡°Move it!¡±

    His calf was still hurting. When the man pushed him, it felt like something hade over Chen Ge. He grabbed the man¡¯s arm and toppled him over. With his hand on the man¡¯s head, he pressed his face into the muddy ground. His pupils narrowed to be incredibly scary; it felt like it was a gaze from beyond the grave.

    Yin Yang Vision!

    The man tried to struggle initially, but when he saw Chen Ge¡¯s face, a chill covered his entire body; even his teeth were chattering.

    ¡°Chill, we can talk this out.¡± The man tossed the broom aside. With his face pressed into the ground, he said in a shaking voice, ¡°There are surveince cameras all over the area. A stray cat is not worth it. I¡¯ll leave immediately.¡±

    Chen Ge released his grip on the man as his gaze slowly returned to normal.

    ¡°Jia Ming, Jai Bao.¡± The man jogged off in a hurry, and the boys quickly followed after him.

    Peace returned to the back alley. Chen Ge nced at the broken paper box in the corner. He was about to walk closer when the injured white car arced its body and lowered its ears. Its eyes narrowed into slits as if it was about to attack.

    It was afraid and cautious of any living humans.

    Chen Ge slowly bent down. He did not do anything that might make the cat feel threatened. Instead, he opened the umbre and ced it over the paper box.

 Chapter 129 - The Cat That Can See Them

    <h4>Chapter 129: The Cat That Can See Them</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Dark clouds hung low in the sky, and the rain drenched Chen Ge¡¯s jacket. He squatted before the cat, his mind a mess. Earlier, he had seen fear on the man¡¯s face. Normally, shouldn¡¯t the party with the weapon have resisted instead of surrendering so easily?

    There was such a change to the boss¡¯ attitude, and this made Chen Ge wonder, what had he seen?

    <i>When I gripped him earlier, there was a chill radiating from the eye; that should be the Yin Yang Vision in effect.</i>

    The description the ck phone provided on the Yin Yang Vision was very vague, and Zhang Ya had even blown half of the mirror monster¡¯s body into his eyes. Yin Yang Vision seemed to have evolved, but what was the effect of the evolution? Chen Ge could not really tell for sure.

    <i>I acted almost instinctually earlier. It¡¯s probably caused by the pent-up stress from all the things that have happened recently.</i>

    Ever since obtaining the ck phone, Chen Ge had not had a good rest. He spent his days eitherpleting daily missions or the more dangerous Trial Missions. However, they came with rewards. At least, number of visitors and reviews for the Haunted House had increased.

    After staying for a while longer in the alley, Chen Ge realized the white cat still refused to let him get near. He did not force it. He found a nearby spot to hide from the rain and nned to leave after the rain receded. He waited for ten minutes, but the rain still showed no sign of slowing down.

    Chen Ge used the shlight in his phone to shine at the corner. In the darkened alley, the ground had started to get flooded. The paper box was soaked, and a huge hole was forming at the bottom. Chen Ge walked forward to take a look. The injured white cat could not hold on any longer; it was already lying down alongside the four kittens whose bodies had already gone cold.

    <i>I can¡¯t just leave it to die, can I? </i>Chen Ge removed his jacket to wrap it around the cats and ran to catch a cab to rush to the nearest pet store. Ten minutester, Chen Ge arrived at his destination, and a girl in uniform was locking up the ce.

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± Chen Ge did not even open his umbre and rushed directly toward the girl.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but we¡¯re closed. Come back tomorrow.¡± The woman saw Chen Ge, and she took an involuntary step back to maintain a safe distance.

    ¡°This cat won¡¯t be able to wait until tomorrow. Money is not a problem, please save it.¡± The rain had soaked Chen Ge¡¯s clothes, and he looked rather worse for wear.

    The woman looked at Chen Ge¡¯s arms. The white cat was covered with mud, and a long wound ran down its face. ¡°A stray cat?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Stray cats are naturally wild and will oftensh out at humans. It seems like these injuries were human made, probably because it had hurt someone. Are you sure you want to save it?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Chen Ge confirmed. ¡°A few boys probably killed the kittens, and the cat kept its vigil beside the kittens despite the barrage of broken bottles and bricks. It was horrible.¡±

    ¡°If you insist on saving it,e in.¡± The woman unlocked the door and epted the jacket from Chen Ge. ¡°The four kittens cannot be saved, but if you want to keep this cat, I suggest you bury the kittens beside your house.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge nced at the woman¡¯s nametag. She was the owner of the pet store; her name was Zhao Wen. She started nursing the white cat¡¯s wound after they entered the store. Chen Ge sat in the store, staring at the cats and dogs in the cages.

    Weirdly enough, after Chen Ge entered the pet store, all the animals became curiously quiet.

    <i>Is it something on me? Or is it because of Zhang Ya? </i>Chen Ge wandered to a nearby cage. The cat inside it was huddled in the corner, curled up in a ball. With thisparison, Chen Ge was even more impressed by the white cat.

    When he first approached the white cat, it did not show fear but gnashed its teeth, looking like it was trying to fight to the death with Chen Ge.

    <i>This stray cat might bring me some surprises. </i>The young man in Hai Ming Apartments¡¯ Room 302 had told Chen Ge that the weakness of the mirror monster was cats, so this was one of the reasons Chen Ge had decided to keep the white cat.

    Zhao Wen came out hugging the white cat when it was around 11 pm. She also held a small basket in her hands¡ªinside ity the four kittens. ¡°I¡¯m quite surprised at how pretty the cat is. Unfortunately, the gash on its face cannot be removed or it would be prettier.¡±

    Chen Ge could not even recognize the snow-white cat Zhao Wen was holding. Its fur was soft and luscious. However, the key feature of the cat was its eyes, red and blue.

    ¡°Why would the original owner abandon such a pretty cat?¡± Chen Ge thought the cat was pretty as well.

    ¡°I¡¯m not trying to scare you, but it is not a good practice to adopt stray cats, especially one like this who looks like it came from a good line and background. The original owner abandoned it probably because of some taboo or something bad that happened.¡± Zhao Wen passed the cat to Chen Ge. ¡°In any case, now that you¡¯re its owner, you have to be responsible. There are plenty of small wounds on its body. Remember to check them daily for infections.¡±

    After paying, Chen Ge returned to New Century Park with the cat and kittens.

    ¡°This will be your home in the future.¡± Chen Ge only opened the gate when the originally sedated suddenly perked its ears up.

    <i>Such a reaction before even entering the Haunted House; this cat might really be useful to me. </i>Chen Ge ced the white cat at the door and walked into the Haunted House with the basket of kittens. The cat howled for a long time before following unwillingly. Chen Ge wanted to give this cat a try, so he led it around several scenarios.

    The white cat acted normally inside the Minghun, Murder by Midnight, and Night of the Living Dead scenarios. However, when Chen Ge pulled the wooden boards back to enter the Mu Yang High School scenario. The fur on the white cat stood on end as it jumped on the steps leading downwards to block Chen Ge.

    <i>Mu Yang High School¡¯s mission hasn¡¯t beenpleted yet. It might still hide more secrets. </i>Chen Ge had no idea what the white cat had sensed, but the fact that it had blocked him meant that Chen Ge was not wrong to have saved it.

    Closing the board, Chen Ge went over to hug the cat, but the cat jumped away. It seemed to despise human contact.

    Carrying the basket, Chen Ge returned to the staff breakroom, and the white cat followed. It was not until Chen Ge closed the door that it calmed down. The white cat jumped onto the chair and spotted Xiaoxiao, who was hiding underneath the table.

    ¡°Such a mischievous thing, you.¡± Chen Ge pulled Xiaoxiao out from underneath the table. He waved Xiaoxiao before the cat, saying, ¡°This is our friend, so don¡¯t hurt her.¡±

    The white cat did not react in any way. Perhaps it was because the enemy was too weak, so it was not even interested.

    <i>At the very least Xiaoxiao is a baleful specter... but she was ignored sopletely by the cat. </i>Chen Ge rubbed Xiaoxiao¡¯s head, feeling weirdly sorry for her.

 Chapter 130 - Welcome to Mu Yang High School

    <h4>Chapter 130: Wee to Mu Yang High School</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge ced Xiaoxiao on the table. This naughty ragdoll who always tried to sneak out was surprisingly well-behaved. Chen Ge could sense fear from her. Xiaoxiao had not shown that emotion when facing the mirror monster. <i>Is the cat too special or Xiaoxiao too weak?</i>

    Curled up on the chair, the white car looked at the four kittens in the basket; it did not seem to be concerned about anything else.

    <i>Since I¡¯ve decided to adopt it, I should give it a name¡ªI can¡¯t call it white cat forever.</i>

    This was the first time in his life that Chen Ge had adopted a pet. He sat down on the floor and studied the white cat. ¡°We met at night in the middle of a rain, so how about I call you Night Rain?¡±

    The cat did not move, but Chen Ge could sense its displeasure.

    ¡°Well, if you don¡¯t like such a pretentious name, how about ¡®Fortune¡¯? You know, for good luck.¡± The white cat turned its head away like it did not want to have Chen Ge in its view.

    ¡°Still don¡¯t like it? Hmm... You¡¯repletely white, so how about Snow? Milky? Rice...¡± Perhaps because Chen Ge was physically to close, giving off a threatening aura to the cat, it gnashed it teeth. Its whiskers flickered, and the wound on its face started to bleed again.

    ¡°Christ, you sure are wild.¡± Other people¡¯s cats were all cute and cuddly, but this one was as wild as a tiger. Chen Ge looked at the scary wound on the cat¡¯s face, and he moved cautiously backwards.

    ¡°You¡¯re not one bit like a cat, more like a tiger. How about I just call you white tiger?¡± Chen Ge then realized how weird it was to call a cat the name of a different animal. He was about to change it when the white cat on the chair suddenly stood up. With its ears perked up, it jumped down from the chair and wed at the breakroom¡¯s door madly.

    <i>What¡¯s going on? </i>The cat was acting strangely; it seemed desperate to leave. Chen Ge noticed this and quickly opened the door. <i>It didn¡¯t even act like this when we were in Mu Yang High School. It must have sensed something!</i>

    After the cat exited the room, it headed right for the first-floor bathroom. Its w leaving a deep scar on the wooden door.

    <i>First floor bathroom? </i>Chen Ge¡¯s heart skipped a beat. He nced at the time¡ªit was midnight!

    <i>The mirror! </i>He rushed in behind the cat and pulled the ck cloth off. Inside the mirror, the red door had appeared punctually, but this time, there was some notable difference. Blood red liquid seeped out from the sides, and the door in the mirror shook every few seconds like someone was pushing it from the other side!

    Chen Ge did not dare act too rashly. He turned back to look at the door in the real world. The door in the real world and the mirror shook at the same time. At midnight every night, this normal-looking door seemed to be the link between the two worlds.

    <i>There¡¯s someone behind the door! </i>Chen Ge grabbed the nearby mop nervously as his eyes focused on the dancing lock. He was relieved that he had remembered to lock the doorst time or else the thing would have entered the Haunted House already.

    The force of the shaking grew. The only thing Chen Ge could do then was wait, wait for one minute to be over. He did not want to provoke the monster behind the door, and he had no interest in knowing what it was. He just wanted to manage his Haunted House in peace.

    The door lock wiggled violently. It felt like it would not hold on for long. Chen Ge gripped the mop tightly, preparing for war. The white cat lowered its head and arced its back, ready to pounce.

    Nothing scary happened. One minuteter, the bloody door in the mirror disappeared, and the door in real life returned to normal.

    <i>Everything¡¯s fine now. </i>Both Chen Ge and the white cat sighed in relief. Interestingly enough, the white cat seemed to re unsatisfactorily at Chen Ge as if it was saying, ¡®I¡¯ve been here less than an hour, and you have given me two scares already. Is this any ce for a cat to live?¡¯

    ¡°You dare to re at me?¡± Chen Ge was about to hug the cat when it jumped out from his arms and rushed back to the staff breakroom.

    <i>Didn¡¯t even allow me to touch. Such a cold-hearted cat. </i>Chen Ge stood in the bathroom alone. He found the key and opened the cubicle door to peer in. The door on the other side showed signs of being rammed into, and the lock had be loose.

    <i>Looks like I¡¯ll need to find a sturdier door. </i>Chen Ge considered breaking the door directly, but he was afraid that even after he broke down everything, the door would still remain.

    <i>When the door appeared for the first time, there was nothing wrong; when it appeared for the second time, there were weird noisesing from behind the door like a body being dragged; this is the third time, and someone was trying to burst through the door. </i>Chen Ge ced the ck cloth over the mirror. He looked at the covered mirror andmented internally, <i>My parents once said that the door of the Third Sick Hall has been opened again. Could the door they mention be simr to the door in this bathroom? Has the Third Sick Hall be air for these monsters?</i>

    No one could answer Chen Ge¡¯s question, and he could only rely on himself. Chen Ge went to the props room to grab some wooden boards to increase the door¡¯s stability. When he was done, it was already 1 am.

    <i>I need to go to sleep because I need to go get the mannequins early tomorrow morning. </i>He grabbed a quilt to ce beside the white cat while he climbed into bed to sleep.

    Chen Ge was woken up by the rm at 7 am. The white cat woke up alongside him. The white cat was on high alert; the smallestmotion would cause it to tense up.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to work.¡± Chen Ge called Uncle Xu to borrow the park¡¯s lorry to haul the mannequin¡¯s body from the workshop. The white cat guarded the basket. Chen Ge could not get near the four dead kittens, so he left them be for now.

    After two trips, Chen Ge finally brought all the mannequin bodies back to the Haunted House. The corridor was filled with headless bodies. Uncle Xu only took a nce at it before escaping with a random excuse.

    <i>Are they that scary? </i>Chen Ge pulled open the wooden boards. He marked the heads and the bodies before screwing them together. Then he moved them into Mu Yang High School scenario.

    After cing them in the sealed ssroom, Chen Ge put the clothes on the mannequins one by one. When he put the clothes on thest mannequin, he felt the ck phone vibrate.

    ¡°Completed Two-Star Scenario Mu Yang High School¡¯s Hidden Missions¡ªfinished building the bodies for the twenty-four spirits in the sealed ssroom!

    ¡°Congrattions for obtaining the mission rewards¡ªThe Returners¡¯ Goodwill. You can now give them simple instructions through the phone!

    ¡°Warning! Once the lingering spirit leaves the scenario, they will go berserk! Please be careful!¡±

    All the hidden missions in Mu Yang High School had beenpleted; the two-star scenario could be officially opened.

    <i>Should I call He San to give him a free go? The child might say he doesn¡¯t like it, but I think that he¡¯s enjoyed himself every time.</i>

 Chapter 131 - I Know What Im Doing

    <h4>Chapter 131: I Know What I¡¯m Doing</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The dolls created using the Dollmaker¡¯s Talent looked incredibly creepy. With twenty-four dolls inside the sealed ssroom, either standing or sitting, even Chen Ge did not have the heart to stay for too long.

    <i>I must not release Mu Yang High School¡¯s scenario to the public easily. If these twenty-four lingering spirits go mad, they will probably scare someone to death.</i>Chen Ge had created all the mannequins himself, so he could acutely feel the change that happened to these mannequins after the school uniforms were put on them. It felt as if all the mannequins had acquired a soul, like the things that stood before him were not props but actual people.

    Due to limitation in budget and workers, rarely would a Haunted House ce more than ten actors in the same scenario. Theck of help was also something that Chen Ge had been worried about, but now this problem had been easily solved. A small scenario alone had twenty-four professional actors¡ªnow that was a high-end Haunted House!

    <i>Gosh, even I am getting excited about this. This two-star Mu Yang High School scenario might be able to help me make the Haunted House a household name!</i>

    After finishing the arrangement of the sealed ssroom, Chen Ge ced the student nametags that littered the lectern inside the paper box.

    <i>There is no exit inside Mu Yang High School, and there is only one entrance. The original n of finding the escape is no longer useable. I will need toe up with a new rule for the game. </i>Chen Ge narrowed his eyes beforeing up with the solution. He could go around Mu Yang High School scenario to hide the twenty-four nametags in various corners. <i>To clear the game, the visitors will have to find all twenty-four nametags in under twenty minutes. The winners will get a full refund of their tickets on top of a cash price. This way it will provide incentive for visitors to enter the Haunted House and will also increase the fun factor and interactivity.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House was rapidly expanding. He had been trying to figure out ways to make his Haunted House more inviting and interesting. This treasure hunt for the nametags was, for Chen Ge, worthy of a trial run.

    <i>I will need to include more interesting elements in the future. The aim is not to create a scary Haunted House but a whole park themed around scares and horror.</i>

    When Chen Ge was hiding the nametags, he realized that Mu Yang High School¡¯s scenario had grown bigger. There was a new junction at the end of the corridor. There were an additional three adjacent old-looking rooms. There were room numbers hanging on the doors¡ª302, 303, 304.

    The Room of Three One-Star Trial Mission had unlocked three new rooms beside Mu Yang High School. They merged perfectly together, but the corridors did appear to be much narrower.

    <i>All the scary scenarios will expand close to each other. Eventually, the whole underground parking lot will be filled with my scenarios. The routes will ovep with each other, thus making an actual Maze of Terror.</i>

    Chen Ge retraced his steps and returned to the Haunted House¡¯s first floor. He fixed his dusty outfit, exited the Haunted House, and opened the gate. The sun shone warmly on his skin; it was a good day to go out to y and enjoy the weather.

    Xu Wan arrived at the Haunted House at around 9 am. Chen Ge had her go and prepare her make-up before sending her into the Minghun scenario. As the number of visitors increased, Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House became the only attraction at New Century Park that required the visitors to line up. To smoothen the process, Chen Ge gave Uncle Xu a call, asking him to assign a free worker toe help him sell tickets. Who would have thought that, after a while, it was Uncle Xu himself who came?

    ¡°There are not many free workers to go around, and since I am free, I came to help. Do you need me to go inside this ticket counter to sell ticket?¡±

    ¡°No need, just do it whichever way is mostfortable to you.¡±

    After leaving the ticket sales to Uncle Xu, Chen Ge returned to the staff breakroom. He pulled out a wooden broad and used fake blood to write down the introduction and game rules for Mu Yang High School on it. When he exited the Haunted House with the wooden board, there was a containedmotion among the crowd.

    ¡°A new scary scenario to experience!¡±

    ¡°This introduction sure is creepy.¡±

    ¡°A school horror story! This, I like!¡±

    The crowd¡¯s attention was attracted immediately. Since the ticket price was the same, the few who stood at the front of the line all requested to experience the new scenario.

    ¡°Everyone, please listen to me.¡± Chen Ge ced the wooden board upwards by the door. ¡°This new scenario is very scary! Inside, we have professional actors and the nation¡¯s top equipment as well as props. When I offered this scenario for a trial run, a set of workers from a horror studio epted the challenge. They attempted to giarize my content by video-taping it, but they identally captured something incredibly scary! In fact, the two that went in to experience the scenario are still in hospital!¡±

    Uncle Xu, who stood to the side, did not know what to say, seeing Chen Ge list this dark history so proudly. He could not understand what there was to be proud about scaring people to their death.

    ¡°Tell us, what they have captured on film?¡±

    ¡°You think we are that gullible to believe people might get sent to the hospital from a visit to the Haunted House?¡±

    ¡°Boss, don¡¯t waste your breath! We are ying this scenario!¡±

    ¡°If I do not enter this scenario today, I am not a man!¡±

    After the visitors settled down, Chen Ge continued. ¡°The reason I brought this up is because I wish to tell all of you that this scenario is not open to everyone. Only those who havepleted the earlier scenarios can enter this one.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s meaning was clear. To enter Mu Yang High School, they either had to finish Minghun or Murder by Midnight scenario first. Delineating the scenarios ording to their scream factors was something he had decided from the very beginning.

    ¡°This is daylight robbery!¡± The moment Chen Ge announced the new policy, there was instantly the sound of protest. ¡°Entering every one of your scenarios requires us to purchase a new ticket. If this is not forced expenditure, I do not know what is!¡±

    ¡°Has the sess gotten to your head?¡±

    ¡°I came because of the good online review, but what you are doing is incredibly immoral!¡±

    ¡°So many rules to visit a Haunted House, I will just give up! Now, are you happy?¡±

    Chen Ge had expected this type of reaction from the crowd. When the visitors had their say, Chen Ge pped the wooden board and said, ¡°Trust me, I do not intend to cheat you out of your money. The ticket price of only 20 is the best proof. To prove my sincerity, how about we have a bet?¡±

    He took out the reward money that he had not used yet and ced it beside the wooden board. ¡°This here is 20,000 in cash! I have hidden twenty-four student nametags inside the Mu Yang High School scenario. If any of you can find all twenty-four nametags in under twenty minutes, this 20,000 is yours!¡±

    ¡°Ticket price is only 20, but reward is 20,000? That¡¯s almost a 100,000% increase!¡±

    ¡°How do we know how many nametags you have actually hidden inside the scenario? What if you have only hidden twenty-three nametags? Doesn¡¯t that mean no one will win the reward?¡±

    A visitor pointed out this valid question. Chen Ge was toozy to argue, so he merely said, ¡°If any one of you can walk out of the scenario normally, I will answer your question.¡±

    The twenty-four nametags were hidden in extremely secluded ces, and a few were hidden in ces that people would least expect.

    ¡°Such conceit!¡±

    ¡°Why is that even though I know this is a cheap trick, I still have the urge to give it a try?¡±

    ¡°Let me!¡±

    The atmosphere was thus brought up to a boiling point. Chen Ge asked Uncle Xu to look after the money for him.

    ¡°Today marks the first day a new scenario and a new rule are officially put into use! Due to ack of promotion, many people still do not know this yet, so just for today, the new scenario is open for all! There is no need for you to go through the previous scenarios first. I have already stated the reward that awaits the winner. Only one person can enter at a time, and everyone can only experience it once. The cement of the nametags will be changed each day. Alright, who wishes toe forward to take this 20,000?¡±

    Earlier, everyone had been incredibly noisy, but when Chen Ge officially extended the invitation to the crowd, they looked at each other, but none dared step forward. Chen Ge scanned the crowd and realized that there was a group of six at the end of the line huddled together like they were discussing something. After a while, five of them came toward him.

    ¡°Boss, we do not want to challenge the game; we just want to visit the scenario. Can the five of us enter at the same time?¡± the leading young man asked Chen Ge. The six of them had obviouslye together. Five of them were going to scout the new scenario, and after obtaining all the necessary information, the sixth woulde forward to ept the challenge and find all the nametags with the information provided by the five.

    Chen Ge knew what they were up to; the six of them were trying to cheat the system, but he did not seem to mind it. ¡°Sure! All five of you can enter together, but I have to remind you¡ªplease do not use your phone to take pictures or videos inside the Haunted House because they might scare our friends from the other side.¡±

    ¡°Five of us, so here is 100,¡± the young man said with a smile. He did not pay Chen Ge¡¯s advice any attention.

    After epting the money, Chen Ge shed the five visitors a ¡®professional¡¯ smile before saying, ¡°Thank you. Now, pleasee with me.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s smile was quiteforting; the five visitors did not think too much of it, but next to them, Uncle Xu shivered involuntarily and, after some contemtion, decided to walk over to stop Chen Ge.

    He whispered into Chen Ge¡¯s ear, ¡°These are normal visitors. They have no history with us; you have to be careful. Please try to make sure everything is safe and sound!¡±

    ¡°Uncle Xu, do not worry. I know what I am doing.¡±

    Chen Ge pushed Uncle Xu gently aside. However, the park manager was made anxious by this promise that he made. ¡°Who are you trying to kid? That was what you said thest time, and those two poor children are still lying at the hospital! That one by the name of Fei Youliang can be heard screaming every midnight. He does not stop asking who his wife will be, and almost everyone at the hospital knows about him!¡±

 Chapter 132 - Uncle Xu Has a Point

    <h4>Chapter 132: Uncle Xu Has a Point</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Uncle Xu was worried about Chen Ge. ¡°We will let the visitors enter happily and then escort them out safely, what is so bad about that?¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay. Don¡¯t worry, everything is within my control.¡±

    With Uncle Xu¡¯s repeated advice, Chen Ge led the five visitors to the underground parking lot.

    ¡°Please sign these disimers first.¡± Chen Ge passed a few copies to the visitors. ¡°All the notes and warnings are written there. Feel free to browse through them.¡±

    ¡°This is quite official.¡± The leading young man signed the agreement without even reading it. His name was Wang Hailong; he was about 1.85 meters tall and roughly the same age as Chen Ge.

    ¡°Boss, will you renege on the promise of the reward money? If someone really manages to find all twenty-four nametags, will you give him the money?¡± There was slightly shorter man standing next to Wang Hailong. They appeared to be siblings. His name was Wang Wenlong, but their personalities seemed to differ.

    ¡°Of course, where would I be today without honoring my promises?¡± Chen Ge replied with a professional smile.

    ¡°20,000, 1 person, twenty-four nametags. Since we have five people, if we manage to find all the nametags, can you give us 4,000 each?¡± The person who spoke was Wang Hailong¡¯s girlfriend. She wore a thin shirt and hot pants. The buttons of her shirt were not tight, and there was a fluttering butterfly tattooed on her corbone. The girl¡¯s name was Dou Menglu¡ªa pretty girl but horrible handwriting.

    ¡°Why not? The aim is to have fun. If you can manage to find all the nametags in twenty minutes, you¡¯ll each get not a penny less than 4,000.¡± Chen Ge continued to smile.

    Wang Hailong dropped the pen and promised, ¡°Nice! I¡¯ll definitely call my brothers toe support you next time.¡±

    ¡°Then I shall thank you in advanced.¡±

    <i>Such a kind visitor. </i>Chen Ge was touched. ¡°After signing the agreement, pleasee with me. A word of advice, don¡¯t stay too long in the sealed ssroom.¡±

    The group walked to the end of the corridor, and Chen Ge pulled the boards away. ¡°There are many rumors about the abandoned school. Whether you believe them or not, be careful. Remember, no cameras when you¡¯re inside. You¡¯ll be responsible for the consequences.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s underground?¡± The five looked at the dim tunnel which felt like someone was walking on it.

    ¡°F*ck, what was that?¡± The fatty who had not spoken suddenly screamed as he staggered back. He had a beer belly and beady eyes. He did not seem to be that courageous.

    ¡°Pei Hu, you¡¯re scared before we¡¯ve even gone in?¡± Wang Hailong grabbed Pei Hu¡¯s bouncy arm. ¡°It¡¯s all fake. If you¡¯re that scared, hide behind Meili.¡±

    ¡°Stop whining. Are you going in or not?¡± This time, it was the other woman who spoke. She had a perpetual frown on her face and was short in stature. Even though she already tried her best, standing beside Menglu, she was like a green leaf apanying the bright flower. Chen Ge nced at her agreement; this girl¡¯s name was Xia Meili.

    ¡°What¡¯s the hurry?¡± Wang Hailong winked at Chen Ge. ¡°Boss, remember to start the countdown only after we¡¯re in the tunnel!¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone to prepare. After the five visitors entered the tunnel, he closed the boards and put his phone away.

    Countdown? What was that?

    If they could walk out on their two legs, it was already good enough. Inside the dressing room, Chen Ge put on Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s outside and skin mask before going to the control room. He looked at the list of background music and decided against putting ck Friday on a loop.

    <i>Uncle Xu is right. We¡¯re in the service industry; we should put our customer first. </i>He moved the cursor to lower the volume and added Wedding Dress to the ylist.<i>Listening to the same music again and again will bore the visitors.</i>

    ...

    The boards above their heads were sealed. The five visitors stood in the dim corridor looking at the half-opened ssroom doors as shuffling noises drifted into their ears.

    ¡°This ce is huge.¡± Pei Hu nudged backwards to stand beside Meili.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that a given? How else was he going to hide so many nametags? The boss isn¡¯t dumb.¡± The slenderest man among them, Wang Wenlong, took the first step. ¡°Let¡¯s get moving. Five of us should be able to find all twenty-four nametags. After we win the 4,000, we shall go for hot pot and karaoke.¡±

    ¡°Since we¡¯re already here, let¡¯s finish this. My little brother is right.¡± Wang Hailong tookrge strides. When he passed the first ssroom door, he stopped. This sudden movement spooked the others.

    ¡°Hailong, what have you seen?¡± Dou Menglu whispered.

    ¡°Look at yourselves! What is there to be afraid of?¡± He kicked the ssroom door open, and the nametag that sat on the doorframe fell to the ground. ¡°This is easy!¡±

    He picked up the nametag, and a girl¡¯s name was written on it¡ªChen Yalin.

    ¡°This nametag was ced at such a conspicuous location. It¡¯s probably to help us recognize the shape and size of the nametags.¡± Wang Wenlong took the nametag and gave it a look. ¡°Every nametag should have a student¡¯s name then. The edges are yellowed; this looks old and wouldn¡¯t be easy to replicate.¡±

    ¡°What has that got to do with us? We¡¯ve been in here less than ten seconds, and we¡¯ve already found one. As long as we¡¯re not afraid, finding the remaining twenty-three should be easy.¡± Wang Hailong took the nametag back and continued moving forward. The easy sess also rxed the remaining members.

    Wind made the nk test papers that littered Mu Yang High School flutter. None of them realized that even though all of them were wearing shoes, there were fuzzy bare footprints that appeared on the papers. The temperature lowered, and in the darkened corridor, a creepy children¡¯s luby began to y. It sounded like crying andughing all rolled into one.

    The atmosphere turned weird, and there seemed to be something hiding inside the ssrooms on both sides. It was as if pairs of eyes were looking at them in the dark.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of, but howe I feel weirdly unsettled?¡±

    The five separated to find the nametags faster. Xia Meili and Wang Wenlong went into the ssroom on the left-hand side to search while the rest searched the ones on the right. They searched a few rooms but came up with nothing.

    ¡°This boss is smarter than we gave him credit. Let¡¯s move forward, we cannot waste any more time.¡± Wang Hailong walked at the forefront. When he passed the sealed ssroom, he halted.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Brother Long? Did you discover another nametag?¡± Pei Hu turned his head in the direction Wang Hailong was looking. He only took a nce, and a chill surged through his body. There was someone standing by the ssroom window, and he appeared to be smiling.

    The scariest part was, behind him, there were twenty more mannequins who were sitting or standing in the ssroom!

    Their bodies did not move, but their necks were twisted in weird angles, and all of them were turning to smile at the visitors outside the window!

 Chapter 133 - Nightmare Difficulty

    <h4>Chapter 133: Nightmare Difficulty</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The nched Pei Hu staggered back a few steps before he stabilized himself.

    ¡°Are you alright? What happened?¡± Wang Wenlong and Xia Meili behind them rushed over immediately.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind him. It¡¯s nothing.¡± Wang Hailong¡¯s legs were shaking, and his face was slightly twitching, but he forced himself to appear calm. ¡°It¡¯s just a bunch of mannequins.¡±

    Even though they were mentally prepared, the other three still got quite a shock when they looked into the ssroom. The sudden appearance of twenty or so mannequins was scary enough, but to have them all looking in the same direction, with some of their necks twisted 180 degrees? Who would be able to prepare for a sight like that?

    ¡°I was wondering why the previous ssrooms weren¡¯t scary. It was to prepare for this ¡®surprise¡¯.¡± Wang Wenlong was probably the most collected of them all. He turned on his phone to use the shlight.

    ¡°Wenlong, the boss said to not use the phone inside the scenario,¡± Xia Meili warned.

    ¡°What he doesn¡¯t know won¡¯t hurt him.¡± As Wang Wenlong directed the shlight into the sealed ssroom, the light reflected on the mannequins¡¯ shiny bodies. ¡°Should be all mannequins. None of them blinked when the light hit their eyes. Wait! I saw nametags; there are two of them!¡±

    ¡°Where?¡±

    ¡°Hanging on the mannequin¡¯s uniform!¡± Wang Wenlong pointed his shlight, and everyone turned to look. The mannequin in the middle of the ssroom had a nametag hanging on its uniform¡¯spel while the other nametag was on the innermost table. To obtain these two nametags, one had to move through the rows of mannequins.

    ¡°This boss sure is immoral!¡±

    ¡°Thankfully, all five of us came in. If we followed his rules and came in to find the nametags alone, of course, that person would be scared witless.¡±

    ¡°Fine, time to stop praising others and lowering our own morale.¡± Wang Hailong walked back and forth several times until his legs did not feel that numb anymore. ¡°There¡¯s still time. There should be more than two nametags inside this ssroom. We not only have to go in, but we also need to search the ce carefully to find all of the nametags!¡±

    ¡°Brother Long, please think about it! There¡¯s no reason to put our lives on the line for 4,000!¡± Pei Hu still had not recovered from the scare earlier, and his brain was still a muddled mess.

    ¡°Is it as serious as you¡¯re making it out to be? Stop talking nonsense,e here!¡± Wang Hailong dragged Pei Hu to the entrance of the sealed ssroom.

    ¡°Why do I need to enter first?¡± Pei Hu showcased his survival instinct.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that you¡¯ll leave us behind if I don¡¯t watch over you!¡± Wang Hailong shoved Pei Hu into the room and turned around to tell Dou Menglu and Xia Meili. ¡°The three of us guys will go in first. If anything happens,e in to get us.¡±

    ¡°Okay, be careful.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine. Didn¡¯t Wenlong say it just now? They¡¯re all mannequins.¡± Wang Hailong and Wenlong also entered the ssroom. The three of them stood at the lectern and looked over the ssroom. Goosebumps instantly formed on their skin.

    ¡°This is just wonderful. The mannequins have taken up all the space; there¡¯s not even room for us to move.¡±

    ¡°Pei Hu, since you¡¯re so scared, you go and take the nametag in the middle of the room. Wenlong, you check the drawers, and I¡¯ll go and grab the furthest nametag.¡± Wang Hailong acted like a real big brother. Even though Pei Hu did not feel that satisfied, there was nothing he could do about it.

    Before getting down from the lectern, Pei Hu jumped back again. ¡°Brother Long, these mannequins look weird; their eyes seem to move!¡±

    ¡°Would it kill you to be a little bit quiet?¡± Wang Hailong was also made anxious by Pei Hu.

    ¡°This is called the Uncanny Valley effect. Things that are too simr to humans will naturally elicit a negative reaction,¡± Wang Wenlong exined, but he did not seem to buy his own exnation.

    ¡°Both of you be quiet! The boss has already started the countdown, and we need to find all the nametags in twenty minutes to win. Stop wasting time.¡± Wang Hailong forced himself to walk toward the innermost table.

    ¡°Brother Long, don¡¯t be angry.¡± Pei Hu moved toward the middle table with some hesitation. Due to hisrge size, when he got down from the lectern, his stomach knocked into a nearby standing mannequin, causing it to move.

    ¡°The person who designed this Haunted House must have experienced some kind of trauma to be ablee up with something as sick as this...¡± Pei Hu grumbled, but before he finished, he suddenly felt someone knock into his back. ¡°Wenlong?¡±

    He turned to look, and Wang Wenlong was several meters away from him.

    ¡°Who touched me?¡± He looked around before his gaze fell on the mannequin that was still trembling. The mannequin was very lifelike. If one did not take a closer look, one would be prone to believe it was a real person. ¡°This mannequin touched me?¡±

    Pei Hu shivered. He did not dare stay to find out and hurried to the centermost table. It was a girl who sat at the table. Her uniform was different from the others¡¯ and was drenched in blood like something horrible had happened to her at thest moment of her life.

    Pei Hu stared at the nametag on thepel and took a deep breath before reaching for it. When his fingertip was about to touch the girl¡¯s neck, the head that was turned toward the window suddenly moved.

    ¡°F*ck me!¡± Pei Hu instantly pulled his hand back like he had been shocked by electricity.

    ¡°It really moved? Could this be a real person?¡± He looked around. Wang Hailong was still moving toward the innermost table, and Wang Wenlong was near him. His friends were close, and this gave Pei Hu some degree of courage. He reached out once more and finally grabbed the nametag.

    ¡°I did it.¡± Even though it was not anything impressive, Pei Hu felt incredibly happy. However, when he was about to retract his hand, he realized that someone had strung a piece of string around the nametag, and the string was tied to a noose around the girl¡¯s neck.

    ¡°F*ck! Is this really necessary?¡± He felt like cleaving the boss in two then. He gripped the nametag and moved around the mannequin. The ssroom was dark, so he needed light to undo the knot. He took out his phone for light and bent down to get close to the girl.

    When the phone¡¯s light hit the girl¡¯s face, the mannequin¡¯s expression shifted, but Pei Hu did not notice that. Holding the phone in his hand, he stood behind the girl and had his head lowered to focus on the knot.

    However, as he was fully focused, he heard Wang Wenlong suddenly take a deep breath and whisper, ¡°This is weird, howe I feel like this mannequin has been following me?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re probably overthinking it.¡± Pei Hu, who found progress with his objective,ughed. He wanted to turn back to continue undoing the knot when he suddenly realized that the girl sitting before him had turned her head around, and the two faces, one living and one inanimate, were only half a finger away from each other.

 Chapter 134 - Brother Long Cried!

    <h4>Chapter 134: Brother Long Cried!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The young face was covered with purplish bruises. She had a pair of dancing eyes and thin lips. She looked gorgeous when she smiled. This was the first time Pei Hu had been in such close contact with a girl. Looking at the head that had twisted 180 degrees, his mind was nk.

    ¡°What is happening? I wasn¡¯t rejected, and I didn¡¯t give up from fear; these two things should bring me more happiness. It should be a dream-like happiness waiting for me... but why? Why did everything change?¡±

    The head that sat on the mannequin¡¯s shoulders at impossible angle blinked lightly, and the clear skin turned ck and blue as if from asphyxiation. Looking at the protruding set of eyes, Pei Hu¡¯s entire person was shocked beyond belief.

    ¡°Help!¡± A shrill male voice echoed throughout Mu Yang High School as Pei Hu gripped the nametag and ran out of the ssroom. The nametag was tied to the mannequin¡¯s neck, so the mannequin was dragged along with him. The tables in the room were messed up, and all the mannequins started to move. Pei Hu dashed toward the entrance like his life depended on it. The hugemotion startled Wang Wenlong, who thought the mannequin was following him, and without a second word, he headed for the door as well!

    They neared the ssroom door, one running at the front, the other at the back. Poor Wang Hailong was still moving toward the innermost table. The whole room of mannequins was toppled, heads flying everywhere and limbs copsing; it felt like they had alle to life!

    ¡°F*ck! What¡¯s happening!¡± Brother Long, who cowered in the corner of the ssroom, felt like he had entered hell; this scene was one that he would not forget for life!

    ¡°Wait for me!¡± He grabbed the nametag that was left on the table and half-crawled his way through the maze of mannequins. Before he got out, he heard Pei Hu scream, ¡°Don¡¯t follow me! Don¡¯t follow me!¡±

    Pei Hu had forgotten that the nametag in his hand was tied to the mannequin¡¯s neck. In his panic, he had dragged the mannequin along with him to the door.

    ¡°Stop chasing me!¡± He felt like something was copsed onto his back. When he exited the ssroom, without a second though, he mmed the door shut behind him!

    ¡°F*ck! Wait for me!¡± Brother Long¡¯s face was twisted in anger. Unable to stop the momentum of his full speed sprint, he rammed into the door!

    He copsed onto the floor, and the mannequin heads rolled around on the floor. He realized a roomful of eyes was staring at him. Various mannequin faces flickered before Wang Hailong¡¯s eyes. He felt the energy draining out of him; his body was frozen solid, and there were tears in his eyes.

    ¡°Pei Hu, you damnable f*cker...¡±

    Outside the sealed ssroom, Pei Hu and Wang Wenlong were leaning against the wall, gasping for air.

    ¡°That was he scary. This ssroom is definitely cursed!¡±

    ¡°The mannequin moved! She winked at me!¡±

    ¡°Pei Hu, behind you! Look behind you!¡± the two girls screamed together. Pei Hu turned around and saw that the girl mannequin was hanging on his back. He shivered from fear and hurriedly extricated himself from the mannequin before tossing it down the corridor.

    The mannequin mmed against the floor, and the beautiful head detached itself from the body. The face with a curious smile rolled before it stopped at the corner of the corridor.

    ¡°It was this mannequin that smiled at me earlier. I didn¡¯t think it would follow me,¡± Pei Hu groused weakly. ¡°How about we just surrender now? This Haunted House is too much. No wonder the boss is offering a 20,000 reward, no one will be able to win!¡±

    ¡°You want to give up after four minutes? Have you no shame?¡± Wang Wenlongined. ¡°The ssroom should be the hardest scenario. We have found the nametags inside, so the rest should be easy.¡±

    ¡°If you want to stay, go ahead. I¡¯m leaving.¡±

    ¡°Wait.¡± Dou Menglu looked into the ssroom before asking, ¡°There are only the two of you¡ªwhere is Brother Long?¡±

    ¡°Brother Long?¡± Pei Hu and Wang Wenlong looked around, and their faces dropped. ¡°He... he should be still inside.¡±

    The two of them opened the ssroom door quickly. Brother Long was copsed next to the lectern, and there were tear stains on his cheeks.

    ¡°Brother Long! Why are you still inside?¡±

    His lips were slightly purple. When he heard this question, Brother Long almost blew his top off. ¡°You two still have the face to ask me that question? I also want to know why I was left in here! Quick,e and pull me up!¡±

    After a few attempts, Wang Hailong finally found his footing. He cracked his knuckles to work some warmth into them.

    ¡°Brother Long, should we just give up? We¡¯ll just sit at the entrance for another twenty minutes then we¡¯ll leave. That way, it¡¯ll seem like we stayed for twenty minutes,¡± Wang Wenlong whispered.

    ¡°Your mind is only filled with horrible ideas like that.¡± Wang Hailong rubbed his eyes surreptitiously. ¡°That would mean that we have surrendered to this Haunted House. Remember, there are no actual ghosts in this world; everything is a trick created by the boss. He¡¯s probably looking at us through the surveince camera now.¡±

    ¡°Brother Long is right. If we go and sit at the entrance and the boss suddenly opens the wooden boards, can you imagine how embarrassing that will be?¡± Xia Meili stood with Brother Long.

    ¡°But even now, we don¡¯t know how big this ce is. If we run into something scarierter on, what shall we do?¡± Pei Hu was on the verge of tears. ¡°We have not seen a single actor, but we¡¯re already so spooked. I still think we should not be so stubborn and put ourselves through this misery for the sake of face.¡±

    ¡°Stop talking nonsense. I still haven¡¯t decided what I am going to do with the both of you for abandoning me inside the ssroom, and now you¡¯re trying to go against my orders?¡± Wang Hailong red at the two of them. ¡°Look at the two of you, even worse than the two girls.¡±

    ¡°But it wasn¡¯t the two of us that cried earlier...¡± Wang Wenlong grumbled softly.

    Wang Hailong pretended not to hear him and said, ¡°We have to pick ourselves back up. I believe we have around ten minutes left. Let¡¯s get moving¡ªwe still have a chance to find all the nametags.¡±

    Then, he opened his palm to reveal a nametag. ¡°This is the one I found inside the ssroom. Combined with the one Pei Hu found and the first one, we already have three nametags.¡±

    ¡°Make it four. I found this inside one of the drawers.¡± Wang Wenlong showed his discovery.

    ¡°Good, even though the process was tumultuous, the result was good.¡± Wang Hailong put all the nametags into this pocket. ¡°Actually, if you think about it, there is nothing scary about a bunch of surprisingly lifelike mannequins. The key is we must not scare ourselves, especially you, Pei Hu. Man up a bit.¡±

    ¡°But I really did see the mannequin wink. Her face also changed like she was dying from asphyxiation!¡± Pei Hu grumbled with dissatisfaction.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough out of you. If you¡¯re that scared, go stand behind Meili and keep your mouth shut.¡± Wang Hailong waved impatiently as he walked deeper into Mu Yang High School.

    ¡°But it¡¯s true.¡± Pei Hu trailed behind the group as they proceeded forward. None of them realized that the mannequin that had been left in the corridor was slowly crawling toward the detached head.

 Chapter 135 - Bottom of the Well

    <h4>Chapter 135: Bottom of the Well</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    When Chen Ge heard the screaming out from Mu Yang High School, he opened the boards and rushed into it. It was first day that Mu Yang High School had been open to the public, and Chen Ge was afraid that mannequins might take it too far.

    <i>Chen Yalin¡¯s nametag by the entrance has been taken already... weren¡¯t these people afraid it might be a trap? Hopefully, that nametag won¡¯t pressure the Pen Spirit to do anything dumb.</i>

    Chen Ge walked down the corridor until he reached the sealed ssroom. The mannequin on the floor was hugging its head. It seemed like it was trying to reattach the head, but it could not find the proper location.

    <i>Why is this mannequin outside? </i>Chen Ge looked into the ssroom. The tables were a mess, and several mannequins were missing their heads. <i>Based on the conditions, they probably had the fright of their lives, so they wouldn¡¯t be daring enough to bring this mannequin out.</i>

    Chen Ge picked the mannequin up from the floor and leaned her against the wall. Then he helped her reattach the head. He looked at the mannequin in her eyes. Perhaps it was the light, but he felt like there was soul in this mannequin; in fact, he could sense a trace of shyness and respect.

    After taking out his ck phone, Chen Ge looked through all the pages. There was no option rted to controlling the mannequins¡¯ lingering spirit, so he told the mannequin, ¡°You can leave the ssroom, but you cannot leave the Mu Yang High School scenario, understood?¡±

    The mannequin did not respond, but Chen Ge did not care whether she got it or not. He ced her on the side of the corridor and entered the sealed ssroom to reset all the mannequins.

    <i>There are four nametags in the ssroom, and they have taken three of them; this group of people is not bad. </i>Chen Ge moved swiftly, and when he passed the table in the middle of room, his feet knocked into something. <i>Why is there a phone here?</i>

    ...

    ¡°Did any of you hear the sound of talkinging from behind us?¡± Pei Hu¡¯s legs were shaking, and he turned back to look every three steps. Even Xia Meili was tired of the man¡¯s cowardice.

    ¡°Poor kitty, if you¡¯re that afraid, just stay here and wait for us toe back.¡±

    ¡°Who are you calling a kitty? Meili, you did not see what happened inside the ssroom. The ce was dark, and I had to use the shlight on my phone to even get a good look of what was happening. When I was focused on undoing the knot, the mannequin¡¯s head suddenly creaked and turned around!¡± Even thinking about it now, Pei Hu was still afraid. He waved his hands in the air for a long time, and when he reached into his pocket, he gasped. ¡°F*ck! I was too focused on grabbing the nametag that I left my phone in the ssroom!¡±

    ¡°Then, go and take it back, why are you telling me this?¡± Xia Meili gave Pei Hu a side-eye.

    ¡°You want me to go back alone?¡± Pei Hu nced behind him with a bitter expression on his face. The darkened corridor was like the open maw of a monster. ¡°So be it, I¡¯ll ask the Haunted House worker to get it for me after we¡¯re out.¡±

    He ran after the rest of the group, and the five stopped at the first junction.

    ¡°Just how big is this ce? The path splits, and we can¡¯t even see the end of the corridors!¡± Pei Hu squeezed beside Wang Hailong. ¡°Brother Long, there¡¯s still time for us to turn around!¡±

    ¡°Get away from me.¡± Wang Hailong was getting nervous, too, but he did not dare show it before Dou Menglu. ¡°About a third of the time has passed, and we still have twenty nametags to find. Moving in a group of five slows us down greatly. How about this? Wenlong and Pei Hu, you go down the left path, and I¡¯ll take Menglu and Meili down the right. What do you think?¡±

    ¡°We have no issue with that,¡± the two girls said.

    ¡°Same with me,¡± Wang Wenlong said with confidence. ¡°This time, even though we failed the challenge, we would have explored the entire scenario; it¡¯ll be good information for our brother.¡±

    ¡°Then it¡¯s decided. The two of you¡¯d better stick close to me.¡± Wang Hailong led the two girls down the corridor that led to the girls¡¯ dormitory.

    ¡°F*ck! No one even asked for my opinion?¡±

    ¡°Come on, Pei Hu, you¡¯re with me.¡± Wang Wenlong departed, and even though Pei Hu did not want to follow, it would be worse if he was left behind all alone.

    ¡°There doesn¡¯t seem to be anything scary here.¡±

    Wang Wenlong and Pei Hu reached the end of the path. The two looked at each other and saw the surprise reflected in each other¡¯s eyes. The corridor split in two again!

    At the narrow end of one path was an old well, and the other led to a room with the number 303 hung on the door.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go together.¡± Pei Hu grabbed Wang Wenlong¡¯s arm tightly.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Wang Wenlong looked into the distance. ¡°Why do you think there¡¯s a well at the end of the road?¡±

    ¡°An actor ying a ghost probably hides in there.¡±

    ¡°Most likely. The Haunted House¡¯s boss likes to hide the nametags in scary ces, so I believe there has to be at least one inside the well.¡± Wang Wenlong was certain. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go take a look.¡±

    The two of them walked to the well and peered in. The well was about two meters deep. Wang Wenlong took out his phone to shine the light into the well. As he expected, two nametags sat at the bottom of the well.

    ¡°This is too easy.¡± Pei Hu took a step back. Jumping into the well to take the nametags was definitely not something he would do.

    ¡°Be careful. We didn¡¯te across any scares along the way, so this well must have its own traps and secrets.¡± Wang Wenlong leaned against the well and shone the shlight at every corner, but he did not find anything weird looking. It really did look like a normal, old well.

    ¡°Have I overestimated the boss?¡± Wang Wenlong let his guard down. After all, there were so many nametags; to set a trap for each of them would be too difficult.

    He passed the phone to Pei Hu. ¡°You stay above the well and hold the light for me. I¡¯ll go into the well to collect the nametags.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Pei Hu sighed in relief. As long as he did not have to go down the well, he was good with anything. After all, with his size, it would be difficult for him to even get down the well.

    Wang Wenlong¡¯s frame was small but fit; it looked like he trained daily. ¡°Pei Hu, if you dare run away on your own when I¡¯m down there, I¡¯ll skin you alive after we leave this Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°What kind of person do you think I am? Do you think I would do something like that?¡± Pei Hu looked insulted. ¡°You guys keep underestimating me. I¡¯ll prove myself, and you¡¯ll see.¡±

    Before he finished, Wang Wenlong jumped into the well.

    The dark well looked deeper from the inside. This observation was the most obvious to Wang Wenlong. ¡°Is it me or had this well gotten deeper?¡±

    He had a softnding because the bottom of the well was covered with sand. ¡°Looks like I was right. The Haunted House¡¯s boss nned for people to jump inside the well or else he wouldn¡¯t have ced theyer of soft sand to soften the impact.¡±

    He examined the well wall. Some ces were slippery while other spots had w marks like someone had been buried alive and left the marks behind as they tried to w their way out.

    ¡°This is quite creepy.¡± Wang Wenlong looked above him and suddenly it felt like the mouth of well had moved further away from him.

 Chapter 136 - What Happened to Our Friendship?

    <h4>Chapter 136: What Happened to Our Friendship?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Something¡¯s wrong!¡± Standing inside the well, a weird feeling came over Wang Wenlong. It felt like he had sunk into the deep ocean and his body was slowly submerging. His chest felt congested. He did not dare dawdle. He bent down to pick up the nametags.

    When his fingers brushed the bottom of the well as he picked up the nametags, Wang Wenlong discovered there was something underneath the sand. It was about the size of a thumb.

    ¡°Is this some kind of trap?¡± Wang Wenlong was cautious. He did not touch the thing that protruded out of the sand but moved the sand around the thing away.

    ¡°What is hiding underneath here?¡± His fingers had made contact, and the touch was different from the slippery sensation of sand. It was something softer and colder. As the sand fell away, a human face surfaced, and the thing that had protruded earlier was the tip of face¡¯s nose.

    ¡°F*ck!¡± Wang Wenlong quickly pulled his hands back. He had looked around closely before he jumped in and did not find anything weird. ¡°The boss sure is immoral. He hid this underneath the sand!¡±

    If he knew there was a ¡®body¡¯ hiding underneath the sand, Wang Wenlong would not have jumped into the well, at least not alone. He panicked and tossed the two nametags out of the well, yelling, ¡°Pei Hu, pull me up quickly! There is mannequin inside the well as well!¡±

    ¡°Mannequin inside the well?¡± Pei Hu shone the phone into the well, and the face within the sand looked up at him. He shivered and reached into the well. ¡°This is weird, when you jumped in, the well did not seem so deep.¡±

    Wang Wenlong gripped Pei Hu¡¯s arms, and his feet climbed up the wed wall. Just as he was trying to pull himself up, he felt something cold touch his ankle. His legs gave, and he fell back into the well.

    ¡°Wenlong, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Something touched me earlier.¡± Wang Wenlong looked at his ankle, but there was nothing there.

    ¡°Could it have been a lizard or tiny bug?¡±

    ¡°No clue.¡± Wang Wenlong looked around him and realized that even without his intervention, the sand around the ¡®body¡¯ would slip away on its own. Soon, half of the mannequin¡¯s upper torso was revealed¡ªit felt like the mannequin was trying to sit up.

    ¡°It knows how to move on its own? This can¡¯t be an actor! It would have made some noise when I fell on it earlier if it was a real person.¡± Wang Wenlong¡¯s mind started to get muddled. ¡°Pei Hu, quickly pull me up!¡±

    Outside the well, Pei Hu heard his voice and quickly reached down. ¡°Grab onto my hand!¡±

    This time, Pei Hu acted courageously. With one hand on the shlight, he extended his other arm into the well. The thick arm looked weirdlyforting.

    ¡°Okay!¡± His teammate¡¯s voice made Wang Wenlong feel much better. He grabbed Pei Hu¡¯s hand and started his climb out of the well. He leaned against the wall and tried to jump out in one go. When his body had almost reached the mouth of the well, his legs that were in the air were gripped tightly by something!

    ¡°F*ck me!¡± He was pulled back into the well. Wang Wenlong turned to look behind him with disbelief, and the scene that he saw caused chills to run all over his body. The face in the sand was looking at him with its eyes open!

    ¡°It was the mannequin who dragged me down?¡± Wang Wenlong looked at the mannequin in the sand, and for some reason, he felt the eyes were following him.

    ¡°This is too much.¡± His body leaning against the wall, Wang Wenlong looked above him. The light at the mouth of the well seemed to have moved further away from him. ¡°I can¡¯t stay here any longer! Pei Hu!¡±

    ¡°Will you please be quiet? I feel like someone ising our way.¡± Pei Hu reached both of chubby hands into the well to hold Wang Wenlong. ¡°Let¡¯s give this another go.¡±

    Pei Hu pulled with all his might, but some other ident seemed to have happened to Wang Wenlong.

    This time, he was cautious. When he discovered the force on his ankle, he turned to look down. There was nothing on his ankle, but under the spot that he had been standing on earlier, a female ¡®body¡¯ had surfaced.

    ¡°There are two mannequins inside the well? Meaning I¡¯ve been standing on the woman¡¯s head?¡± A chilling feeling surged through his heart. ¡°Are there more mannequins inside the well? The person who designed the Haunted House must be mad! Buried the mannequins inside the well and waited for people to jump into it...¡±

    Gripping Pei Hu¡¯s hands, he wiggled his legs in the air, trying to kick the force on his ankle away.

    ¡°Stop moving about! I cannot hold on any longer!¡± Pei Hu pulled again, and his face was red from the effort. He put one of his hands on the edge of the well as support, and while he gave another pull, the bad feeling increased.

    Pei Hu kept looking around, and when his eyes swept the corridor that they came from, his heart froze. A girl with her head lowered stood at junction that separated the dark corridor. The uniform that was dark with blood amplified the fairness of her skin.

    ¡°That¡¯s the mannequin that I carried out of the ssroom!¡± Even the air that he breathed into his lungs was chilly, and his arms were shaking. ¡°Didn¡¯t she lose her head? Was it the worker who fixed it for her and ced her in the corridor? It has to be¡ªa mannequin wouldn¡¯t be able to move on her own!¡±

    ¡°Pull! Quick! The mannequins have opened their eyes!¡± Wang Wenlong yelled from inside the well. It sounded like the man was crying.

    At the same time, the mannequin at the junction lifted her head creakily, and the face that was purplish with blood spots turned to look in the direction of the old well.

    ¡°There is probably some hidden mechanism installed inside the neck. That exins the movement of the head.¡± Pei Hu sucked in a deep breath and turned back to the well. ¡°I mustn¡¯t be distracted; no matter what, I have to save Wenlong first!¡±

    He tried to focus, but his eyes kept wondering toward the corridor, and when he did, Pei Hu¡¯s heart almost jumped out of its chest. The girl who was supposed to be standing at the junction had moved into the left corridor!

    She stood in the middle of the corridor and was looking at him with a smile. Pei Hu¡¯s breathing raced, his palms sweated, and the fat on his body started to jiggle.

    ¡°What are you doing spacing out?¡± His calves felt like they were entwined by seaweed. Wang Wenlong tried his best, but he could not shake the shackles on his ankles off. He panicked when he saw the man and woman mannequins inside the well open their eyes. His only wish then was to get out of that damnable well. ¡°Pull me up!¡±

    Pei Hu yanked Wang Wenlong up another few centimeters. A cold draft came from the corridor, and a light creak entered Pei Hu¡¯s ear. He turned to look out of the corner of his eyes.

    In the dark corridor, the mannequin had toppled over, and the head with the weird smile was rolling speedily toward the old well like it was being pushed by an invisible hand!

    The face of the girl who had died from asphyxiation slowly approached. Pei Hu¡¯s face was twisted beyond recognition by fear. This time, he heeded the sound of his heart. He let go of Wang Wenlong¡¯s hands without hesitation and rushed into Room 303 with a speed that was disproportional to his size. He then mmed the door shut behind him.

    Without the support, Wang Wenlong slipped down the well, and as the surface that was inches away disappeared from his grasp, an expression of abject fear froze on his face!

 Chapter 137 - Pair of Eyes

    <h4>Chapter 137: Pair of Eyes</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡± <strong>Pei Hu! </strong>¡±

    Chen Ge was fixing the heads onto the mannequins in the sealed ssroom when he suddenly heard a man¡¯s screaming down from the far end of corridor. The scream was a mixture ofplicated emotions.

    <i>That doesn¡¯t sound like the scream of fear. It is mixed with surprise, anger, and terror. </i>Chen Ge fixed thest mannequin and exited the ssroom. <i>This batch of visitors sure is energetic.</i>

    ...

    Pei Hu, who had rushed into Room 303, had his back against the door, and his forehead was covered in cold sweat.

    ¡°Damn, Wenlong is still inside the well!¡± Pei Hu¡¯s palms were slick with sweat, and he looked at Wenlong¡¯s phone in his grasp. ¡°I¡¯ve even taken his phone away. The well is so dark, and there seems to be mannequins buried underneath.¡±

    Pei Hu did not dare continue that thought. He looked around the room. Room 303 had retained its original look; there was a bunch of dirtyundry sitting in the middle of the room, but the stench was missing.

    ¡°Why would they leave a pile of clothes in the middle of the room? This ce gives me the creeps. To be safe, I¡¯ll just stand by the door,¡± he mumbled to himself when someone knocked on the door behind him. However, curiously enough, the source of knocking came from the spot that was around his feet.

    ¡°People normally wouldn¡¯t knock at that spot, so this definitely isn¡¯t Wenlong.¡± The only thing that could walk outside the corridor... other than Wang Wenlong, there was only one other option left. Pei Hu¡¯s face fell, and he stared at bottom of the door, which was creating the knocking sound. ¡°It¡¯s the head! The mannequin head is knocking on the door!¡±

    The thought caused Pei Hu¡¯s legs to go weak. He wanted to lock the door and realized with horror that the lock was merely a decoration. A slight push, and the door would be opened.

    ¡°There should be a window inside this room, right? But what if the mannequin head enters the room after I leave the door?¡± Pei Hu scratched his chin in thought, but it would not work if he just stood there, blocking the door throughout the night either. The knocking continued, and each knock resounded in Pei Hu¡¯s head. ¡°I need to figure out a way to get out of here.¡±

    Pei Hu started to look around the room and then walked over the pile of dirtyundry. After an examination of the room, he came up with nothing. ¡°It¡¯s a thick cement wall outside the window; there¡¯s no exit. Will I have to stay here until the game ends?¡± Pei Hu stood in the middle of the room. ¡°How did a visit to the Haunted House turn into something like this? The winking mannequin, buried bodies in the well, and a detached head that chases people around. Is the boss a magician? How did he manage all this?¡±

    Before Pei Hu could get an answer, there was a loud bang on the door.

    ¡°The force has suddenly increased? Is it the mannequin? Has she found her head?¡± The thought of it chilled Pei Hu. He looked around, and in the urgency of the moment, he hid inside the bedroom.

    ¡°Why doesn¡¯t this bedroom even have a door?¡± He regretted it after entering the room, but everything was already toote. The only hiding ce inside the bedroom was under the bed. He shone the phone underneath the bed, and after seeing that there was not anything weird, he crawled into it.

    <i>Please just leave me be! </i>He snuck under the bed, pocketed the phone, and focused his pair of eyes at the room door. The darkened room was very quiet, and the smallest sound was amplified. A few secondster, the living room door was pushed open. After a tense silence, a very light sound reverberated through the living room.

    <i>Sounds like something is rolling on the floor... </i>The thought shed through Pei Hu¡¯s mind, and one secondter, his legs froze, and a chill travelled from the balls of his feet to the top of his head. <i>I seemed to have forgotten one thing!</i>

    The rolling sound neared, and when Pei Hu turned his head toward the door, a detached mannequin head that was smiling rolled to a stop at the bedroom door!

    Two pairs of eyes looked at each other, and time seemed to stop.

    ...

    Wang Hailong led Xia Meili and Dou Menglu to the female dormitory. Even though Brother Long had cried earlier, before his girlfriend, he had to act tough and calm. He walked ahead of the girls. They looked into the bedrooms before stopping at the one with the Pen Spirit.

    ¡°This room looks different.¡± A few chairs were ced in the middle of the room, and there was a piece of white paper that had something written on it. Brother Long picked up the piece of paper and read it out loud. ¡°The Pen Spirit knows the location of three nametags.¡±

    ¡°No wonder this feels so familiar; it¡¯s the Pen Spirit game.¡± Dou Menglu wandered closer out of curiosity. ¡°I¡¯ve seen this in the movies many times, but I didn¡¯t expect to run into one in real life.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all fake, just a gimmick.¡± Wang Hailong tossed the paper back onto the chair. ¡°But we mustn¡¯t miss out on three nametags. Do either of you know the rules?¡±

    ¡°I do.¡± Dou Menglu sat on one of the chairs and had Wang Hailong sit beside her. ¡°Just follow my lead.¡±

    ¡°Could you two be a bit more careful? ying a game like this inside a Haunted House might attract some unwanted spirit.¡± Xia Meili stood at the door. Looking at the banter between Dou Menglu and Wang Hailong, she was feeling rather ufortable.

    ¡°If a Pen Spirit really appears, that would be awesome. I want to ask whether I¡¯ll be Brother Long¡¯s future wife.¡± Dou Menglu grinned as she picked up the pen that was glued together with clear tape and held it in the middle.

    ¡°Ask away.¡± Wang Hailong did not seem to mind. Ignoring the fact that Xia Meili was there, he grabbed Dou Menglu¡¯s hand directly. Xia Meili pouted, and she turned to walk away. ¡°You two have fun; I¡¯ll go take a look around.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t wander too far, Meili.¡±

    ¡°She knows how to take care of herself. Now, listen to me, Brother Long, there are several taboos to the Pen Spirit game. One, you mustn¡¯t ask about death; two, you cannot stop the game abruptly...¡±

    When Xia Meili exited the room, even the air felt fresher. <i>That room stinks of sour sweetness; I hope the Pen Spirit teaches them a lesson.</i>

    She walked to the end of the corridor, and the ce became even creepier. Xia Meili was about to turn back when she heard Wang Wenlong¡¯s screaming from the other end of the corridor.

    <i>What happened? Based on the scream, Wenlong doesn¡¯t sound scared but more like he¡¯s angry. </i>Xia Meili retraced her steps, but this time, she entered the other corridor.

    <i>Where are they? There¡¯s another split in the road? Which way should I go? </i>Xia Meili stopped at the junction between the old well and the few rooms from Hai Ming Apartments. She hesitated. <i>Pei Hu has lost his phone, so I should call Wenlong to ask for an exnation.</i>

    The phone¡¯s ringtone came out from one of Hai Ming Apartments¡¯ rooms, but no one answered it.

    <i>They¡¯re inside one of these rooms? </i>The ringtone sounded weirdly creepy in the Haunted House. Xia Meili ended the call and walked toward the three doors.

 Chapter 138 - Its Hiding Here

    <h4>Chapter 138: It¡¯s Hiding Here</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Wenlong? Pei Hu?¡± Xia Meili called out twice at the door, but there was not even an echo inside the Haunted House; it felt like the sound was swallowed by some monster hiding in the dark.

    <i>What happened to the two of them? </i>She did not want to return to the lovey-dovey Wang Hailong and Dou Menglu, but she wanted to explore the ce alone even less. <i>Don¡¯t tell me something happened to them? But that scream from Wenlong does not sound like he was in danger.</i>

    Xia Meili stood at the doors for some time before finally pushing the door closest to her open.

    <i>304? Why is there a number on the door? What is the meaning? </i>Xia Meili peered inside. It was different from she expected; the room was very clean.

    <i>Why do I feel so worried even though the ce is so clean? </i>She stood at the door and called her friends¡¯ names twice. The more she called, the more worried she became. <i>Where could these tworge men have wandered off to?</i>

    She took out her phone to shine some light around, but the light only made her surroundings look darker, and there appeared to be something moving in the corridor behind her.

    <i>It¡¯s too dangerous standing outside. I¡¯d better go in first. </i>Xia Meili entered room 304 and closed the door behind her. <i>This room looks very normal, like a typical rental room, but the more normal it seems, the higher the chance there¡¯s something scary. The Haunted House¡¯s boss would not build a set like this just for decoration.</i>

    She was cautious and braver than most girls. With her body against the wall, she looked around the room before taking the first small step. Xia Meili finished examining the room after a few minutes and found nothing weird.

    <i>There¡¯s nothing scary in the living room, so the danger is probably in the other two rooms! Wenlong and Pei Hu probably let their guard down and fell for the trap that was ced in the other rooms. </i>Xia Meili gripped the phone tightly as she moved to the bedroom.

    <i>The bedroom does not have a door, so there will not be an actor hiding behind it. However, there are still blind spots behind the door frame. I need to be careful. </i>She moved slowly, but her heart beat ever faster. When she reached the bedroom room, Xia Meili activated the video recorder on her phone and reached the phone into the room and turned it around.

    After taking a full video, she examined it on the phone. The video was dark, but it was enough to confirm that there was no one hiding in the bedroom.

    <i>There¡¯s no one in the bedroom? Ah, I almost forgot! I haven¡¯t checked the area under the bed. </i>She retreated back to the living room, selected a specific angle, squatted down, and aimed the shlight on her phone at the space underneath the bed.

    <i>There¡¯s really nothing. Looks like I¡¯ve watched a few too many scary movies. </i>Xia Meili rxed slightly. <i>If I was the designer, of course, I would not waste this precious spot that is under the bed. I would put some trap on it to make a mannequin jump out when someone sits on the bed.</i>

    Then Xia Meili wandered into the bedroom. There really were no traps or tricks. There was, however, a light scent of detergent.

    <i>Even the table cloth has the scent of detergent to it; looks like the tenant has a strong obsession with cleanliness. </i>After exiting the bedroom, Xia Meili turned to look at thest avable room. <i>The toilet is also a prime location, but this toilet is small and has no cubicle. There¡¯s not even a ce for a person to hide.</i>

    Xia Meili treated the visit to the Haunted House as some sort of survival game. She was very careful and took deliberate steps. This type of visitor was horrid for Haunted House proprietors because they woulde up with all kinds of solutions to undo the traps set up by the Haunted House. When the traps were exposed beforehand, the scary effect would greatly dwindle.

    Theyout of Hai Ming Apartments¡¯ toilets was interesting to say the least. The mirror was facing the toilet door, so whether the resident was passing the toilet or entering it, their attention would be pulled to the mirror. It was the same for Xia Meili. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, she felt uneasy. <i>Is this the environment or a trick of the eyes? Howe I feel like the person inside the mirror is not me?</i>

    She stood at the door and shone her phone on the mirror. <i>It reflects light, so it is an actual mirror, not an actor standing behind it to scare people.</i>

    She held the wall as she entered the toilet. The space inside was small, and soon, she found herself standing before the mirror.

    <i>Either there is no a trap to this room or the people hiding inside this ce left after they scared Wenlong and Pei Hu. </i>Xia Meili reached out to touch the mirror, and her tensed feelings rxed. <i>It¡¯s just a fake scare. This is all Pei Hu¡¯s fault; I¡¯ve been infected by his cowardice.</i>

    She looked at herself in the mirror, and upon closer inspection, it looked much more normal. <i>This is just a regr Haunted House; we have been scaring ourselves for naught. Since Wenlong and Pei Hu aren¡¯t in this room, they should be in one of the other two rooms.</i>

    Xia Meili tried calling Wang Wenlong again. <i>The sound seems to being from next door.</i>

    She leaned to her side to listen, and right then, a drop of water fell from the ceiling andnded on the edge of the sink. Xia Meili¡¯s focus was fully zeroed in on determining the source of the ringtone, so she did not wonder why water was leaking from the ceiling.

    <i>It¡¯s definitelying from next door¡ªRoom 303.</i>

    Another droplet of water fell from the ceiling. This time, it fell on the tip of Xia Meili¡¯s shoes. Before she could react, the third drop fell on her nose, and it slid down her face. Finally, Xia Meili noticed it. <i>This Haunted House is leaking?</i>

    She frowned and turned her head up. In the partition above her heady a woman who waspletely drenched. Her face that was twisted from pain looked at Xia Meili quietly. A head of ck hair fell down her face, and it would soon reach Xia Meili¡¯s eyes!

    <i>No wonder I could not find anything... it was hiding up there.</i>

    Something more viscous than water fell on Xia Meili¡¯s face. She wiped at it and realized it was as red as blood. Her body weakened, and Xia Meili copsed to the floor with a thud.

    ...

    Chen Ge exited the sealed ssroom. <i>Where is the mannequin that I left out here?</i>

    The girl mannequin had disappeared, and Chen Ge rushed toward the entrance. He remembered the warning on the ck phone. Once the spirits left the Haunted House, they might go berserk.

    Chen Ge examined the wooden boards at the entrance, and they were unmoved. He sighed in relief. <i>It¡¯s almost time to get them out already.</i>

    He did not even grab the iron mallet and entered the scenario with just a bloodied shirt. He was halfway down the corridor when he heard an ear-splitting female screaming from the direction of the female dormitory!

    <i>That sounds like it came from the Pen Spirit¡¯s room, but the Pen Spirit doesn¡¯t seem aggressive enough to have caused something like this.</i>

    Chen Ge increased his pace and soon saw a woman in hot pants who had lost her heels running his way at full speed.

 Chapter 139 - Im Inside the Fourth Cubicle

    <h4>Chapter 139: I¡¯m Inside the Fourth Cubicle</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Her hair was a frazzled mess, and her delicate features were twisted from fear. Her face was nched, and one of her heels was missing. The sexiness and softness that she had disyed before entering the Haunted House hadpletely disappeared.

    ¡°Dou Menglu?¡± When Chen Ge saw Dou Menglu, this racing woman also saw Chen Ge. However, unlike Chen Ge¡¯s calm attitude, she started to scream shrilly like she had seen a ghost and turned back to run away.

    Standing where he was, Chen Ge touched his own face. <i>Is it because of the mask?</i>

    The two consecutive scares had exploded thetent potential within Dou Menglu. Her slender legs carried her away like the wind, and she disappeared from Chen Ge¡¯s view in the blink of an eye.

    <i>What has gotten into her? </i>Chen Ge pulled off the mask and walked deeper into the scenario. <i>But why is she alone? Were the others separated?</i>

    When he reached the first junction, Chen Ge still had not found Dou Menglu. <i>So be it, I¡¯ll go to the Pen Spirit¡¯s room first or else I¡¯ll have another vomit case on my hands.</i>

    He was about to move when the phone in his pocket rang, and the ringtone travelled far down the corridor.

    ...

    Inside the fourth cubicle of the bathroom, Dou Menglu had given up on maintaining her image. She was lying on the floor, her eyes looking out through the bottom opening of the door.

    <i>He didn¡¯t chase after me. Good, good.</i>

    Her chest rose and fell unevenly. Dou Menglu leaned against the wall, and there were still tears in her eyes. The images from the Pen Spirit game appeared in her mind. The game had begun smoothly, but when she asked who would be Wang Hailong¡¯s future wife, a scene like it hade out of a nightmare appeared.

    <i>What was with that hanging girl? That couldn¡¯t have been an actual person, but it did not look like 3D imaging either. </i>The more she thought about it, the more afraid she became. She hid alone in the cramped toilet cubicle and fear gripped at her heart like a pair of invisible hands.

    <i>I have to contact the others; we¡¯ll need to group up to save Brother Long. </i>Rubbing tears dry, Dou Menglu called Wang Wenlong¡¯s number. It rang for a long time, but there was no answer. <i>What happened? Did something happen to him and Pei Hu as well?</i>

    After hanging up, Dou Menglu called Xia Meili. There was still no answer, and this made Dou Menglu feel even more helpless. She retreated deeper into the corner. <i>Have they all fallen victim to the Haunted House? But there are five of us!</i>

    With shaking fingers, Dou Menglu did not give up, and with thest bit of hope, she called Pei Hu.

    <i>Pick up, fatty! Didn¡¯t you say you like me? Why are you leaving me to die on my own? </i>Due to extreme anxiety, green veins bulged on Dou Menglu¡¯s snow white skin, and she looked quite harrowing at that moment.

    Three seconds passed, and Dou Menglu¡¯s heart sank. <i>What happened to all of you?</i>

    Five seconds passed, and she gripped her fists tightly as if holding thest bit of hope in her palms.

    Ten seconds passed, and Dou Menglu felt like crying.

    However, at the thirteenth second, the phone was suddenly answered!

    ¡°F*ck! Fatty, why did you wait for so long before answering my call?¡± Dou Menglu was on the verge of tears. Like a drowning victim finding an emergency raft, she had seen that bit of hope just as despair was about to swallow her whole.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you talking? Brother Long fainted from the scare, and I¡¯m currently hiding in the fourth cubicle in the bathroom, quicklye save me!¡± After thinking a moment, Dou Menglu warned, ¡°I saw a bloody monster wandering the corridors earlier, so you have to be careful when youe here!¡±

    In her urgency, she blurted out everything. However, she waited for a long time, and there was still no response.

    ¡°Pei Hu? Are you there?¡± Dou Menglu gripped the phone with both her hands and ced it beside her ear. ¡°You are scaring me. If you can hear me, please say something.¡±

    After several seconds, there was finally a response from the other end, but it was not Pei Hu¡¯s voice. It was apletely unfamiliar, gravelly voice that said, ¡°Okay, I will find you now...¡±

    The phone slid from her fingers. When she heard the voice, Dou Menglu was stunned, and her heart skipped a beat.

    <i>Who did I call?</i>

    <i>Who answered the phone?</i>

    <i>Who ising?</i>

    She looked at the phone on the floor, but she did not dare touch it, treating it like it was some kind of cursed object.

    <i>I¡¯d better leave before he arrives! </i>Dou Menglu burst through the door and rushed out of the cubicle, abandoning her phone. As she staggered toward the bathroom room, Chen Ge entered the bathroom in the bloodied outfit.

    Dou Menglu screamed and tripped onto the floor. She crawled back into the bathroom. ¡°Go away! Go away!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, I¡¯m just...¡± Before Chen Ge could say anything, Dou Menglu had climbed up from the floor, rushed into the nearest cubicle, and used her body to block the door.

    Chen Ge did not have the time to stop her, but when he saw that Dou Menglu had entered the fifth cubicle, he immediately rushed toward her. ¡°Hey, that cubicle is off-limits!¡±

    Dou Menglu, who was on the verge of mental breakdown, did not even have time to recover when she opened her eyes to see the pairs of eyes looking at her. The impactful sight caused goose bumps to rise all over her skin, and she lost the ability to talk.

    <i>It wasn¡¯t like this earlier...</i>

    Dou Menglu fell backwards. Chen Ge quickly rushed forward to grab her by the shoulders and mmed the door of the fifth cubicle shut. ¡°Are you alright? Didn¡¯t I warn you not to use cell phone inside the Haunted House?¡±

    Chen Ge slid the phone on the floor into Dou Menglu¡¯s pocket, but Dou Menglu used herst bit of strength to toss the phone out. ¡°Take it away from me. I¡¯ll never use that phone again.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be crazy. Go rest by the door. I¡¯ll go find your friends.¡± Chen Ge dragged Dou Menglu to the bathroom entrance. ¡°By the way, you people sure are courageous to split up and wander off on your own.¡±

    After consoling Dou Menglu, Chen Ge ran to the female dormitory. Wang Hailong was copsed on the chair with tears in his eyes. He looked like he was going to faint at any given moment.

    <i>The main power of the Pen Spirit is fortune-telling. She¡¯s weak when ites to other aspects, so it looks like this big bloke is another paper tiger.</i>

    Chen Ge picked up the ball pen, and when he saw that the pen wasn¡¯t injured, he ced the pen back and dragged Wang Hailong away.

    <i>This is exactly the shock I want to see on the first day the new scenario is open for visitation.</i>

    Chen Ge reunited Wang Hailong and Dou Menglu. Then Chen Ge entered the other corridor and looked in every room.

    After rescuing the unconscious Xia Meili from the toilet of Room 304, Chen Ge pushed the female mannequin back into the ceiling partition. Then, Chen Ge dragged Pei Hu out from underneath the bed in Room 303.

    To his surprise, this cowardly fatty had the best mental state of the group of them. When Chen Ge arrived, he was in the middle of a staring contest with the mannequin head by the door. ording to the man, before Chen Ge arrived, he had been exchanging gazes with the head for about ten minutes already.

    With Pei Hu leading the way, Chen Ge arrived at thest scary stop. He stood beside Pei Hu at the edge of the well and peered into it.

 Chapter 140 - The Different Levels of Scary Scenarios

    <h4>Chapter 140: The Different Levels of Scary Scenarios</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Wang Wenlong sat in the old well with his fists punching the air before him. It looked like he was in the middle of a boxing match.

    ¡°Stand here and don¡¯t move. I¡¯ll go and pull him out,¡± Chen Ge told Pei Hu. Wang Wenlong heard him and stopped moving. Like a traumatized victim, he lifted his head upwards dumbly. When his pair of lifeless eyes caught Pei Hu, they started to focus.

    His body shaking with anger, Wang Wenlong seemed to escape from the thing that had taken hold of him earlier, and he yelled at Pei Hu, ¡°You f*cker! You daree back to face me?¡±

    ¡°Listen to me. It was a dangerous situation. If I didn¡¯t run, we both would have been in danger.¡±

    ¡°You lie!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s true! I used myself as bait to lure the scariest threat away! If you don¡¯t believe me, ask the boss!¡±

    Pei Hu felt wronged. Being targeted by a mannequin head and frozen under the bed for ten minutes, those who had not experienced that before had no idea how scary it was.

    ¡°Keep your voices low. You can continue the argument outside.¡± Seeing how spirited Wang Wenlong was, Chen Ge sighed in relief. ¡°Come, give me your hand.¡±

    Wang Wenlong stopped shouting when he saw Chen Ge. ¡°I can¡¯t. My lower body is numb.¡±

    ¡°Numb?¡± Chen Ge jumped into the well, and with Pei Hu¡¯s cooperation, they hauled Wang Wenlong out. After saving the guy, Chen Ge did not hurry to leave. He had inspected the well when he ced the nametags that morning. Other than the two mannequins, there was nothing particrly scary about.

    Outside the well, Wang Wenlong and Pei Hu had started the argument anew. Chen Ge squatted down to examine the mannequins¡¯ faces. The male mannequin¡¯s eyes were open, which was different from that morning.

    <i>The mannequins buried inside the well should represent Fan Yu¡¯s parents. If they are baleful specters, it would not be so easy to deal with. Thankfully, they are just lingering spirits. </i>Chen Ge was reminded of what had happened to Fei Youliang. His body had been taken over by the Pen Spirit, who wanted to escape, but he had been stopped by the twenty or so spirits in the sealed ssroom.

    The spirits had entered his body and controlled him to walk to the deep well. They had seemed prepared to punish the Pen Spirit but stopped at thest moment.

    <i>The mistakey with the Pen Spirit. The other spirits dragged her to the well to punish her, did they n to throw her inside the well?</i>

    Chen Ge looked at Fan Yu¡¯s parents, who were buried in the sand, and his suspicion was confirmed. The old well seemed to be some sort of prison for evil lingering spirits.

    <i>Now that I think about it. The lingering spirits in the sealed ssroom have quite a strong sense of justice.</i>

    All the spirits had been orphans when they were alive. They had been adopted by the old headmaster, and they treated Mu Yang High School as their home. Now that Chen Ge¡¯s ck phone had reconstructed Mu Yang High School inside the Haunted House, these lingering spirits probably just wanted to have a stable and peaceful life here.

    <i>As long as you do not do anything out of line, my Haunted House will be your new home.</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the mannequins buried in the sand and jumped out of the well. When he turned back to look inside the well, the eyes of the two mannequins were closed again.

    ¡°Come, it¡¯s time to walk you out.¡± Chen Ge helped Wang Wenlong get up from the floor. The fear in his eyes had not dissipated. The only reason he could appear so spirited earlier was because his anger at seeing Pei Hu had suppressed all the other emotions.

    After wasting a ton of energy, Chen Ge finally managed to drag these five people out of Mu Yang High School. When the curtains to the Haunted House opened, the surrounding visitors all took a cold gasp. They had heard the incessant screaminging from inside the Haunted House, but they had never envisioned things being so bad.

    ¡°What have these people experienced?¡±

    ¡°It was only half an hour...¡±

    Uncle Xu, who was serious in his role as the ticket seller, felt everyone¡¯s eyes focusing behind him. He had a bad feeling, and when he turned around, his hair stood on end.

    ¡°Damn! What happened to them?¡± Uncle Xu abandoned his post and ran over to help Wang Hailong and Xia Meili.

    ¡°Just a little scare, it¡¯s nothing serious.¡± Chen Ge released his grasp on Wang Wenlong¡¯s arm. ¡°Can you walk on your own?¡±

    When they heard Chen Ge, the visitors all took a step back.

    ¡°He could not even walk, and you say that¡¯s a little scare?¡±

    ¡°Are you trying to lie to us?¡±

    Wang Wenlong was embarrassed with the crowd watching him. He waddled forward two steps like a baby learning how to walk.

    ¡°Wenlong, Pei Hu!¡± Arge fe in a tank top pushed through the crowd. He had the tattoo of a wolf¡¯s head on his shoulder. He rushed over to support Wang Wenlong. ¡°What happened to all of you? I heard your screams from outside.¡±

    Chen Ge nced at the man; he was the group¡¯s sixth member. ording to their n, now was the time for the man to challenge the Haunted House alone.

    ¡°Were we that loud?¡± Wang Wenlong prayed for a hole for him to hide in as he brushed the man¡¯s hands off him. Since Wang Wenlong did not seem like he want to exin, he turned to Chen Ge, ¡°What have you done to my brother?¡±

    ¡°Brother?¡± Chen Ge thought the man¡¯s tone was a bit weird, but he did not take it to heart. He took one step forward to face the crowd. ¡°I told all of you before they entered that the scenarios are separated into levels! Only by passing the earlier scenarios will you be able to stomach the fear levels of theter scenarios, but they refused to listen to me and insisted on trying it. You can see the result of that for yourselves.¡±

    Standing before the Haunted House, Chen Ge ignored the muscr man, and his expression turned serious. ¡°When I suggested to delineate the scenarios into levels, many suspected I was trying to cheat you out of your money, but that is really not the case. I simply want to protect my customers because the newly opened two-star scenario is not suitable for everyone. Its scare factor is much higher than other Haunted Houses avable on the market!¡±

    Chen Ge gripped the gate of the Haunted House. ¡°Western Jiujiang¡¯s Haunted House has been in operation for several years already, and from the beginning until now, our rating has never dipped under 90 percent, and that is because we put our customers first. As long as you are willing to try, we will give you the scariest time you¡¯ll experience in your life!

    ¡°But have you considered this? Everyone¡¯s fear threshold is different. We strive for the ultimate scare, but for those who haven¡¯t visited a Haunted House before, certain scenarios might be a bit too much. Thus, after much consideration, we decided to set the rules to split the scenarios into levels.¡±

    The new rules had to be epted by the visitors, and what Chen Ge was doing then was introducing the rules to the visitors and making them ept the rules. On one hand, he used reward money to make people want to challenge the hard scenario; on the other hand, he made use of Wang Hailong¡¯s group as a lesson to warn future visitors of the consequence from not following the rules.

    ¡°If you want to win the reward, then you have to follow the Haunted House¡¯s rules. Start with the low-level scenarios before you challenge the scarier ones.¡±

    Once this rule was put into ce, all of the scenarios inside the Haunted House would be put to good use. And most importantly, as long as he could unlock more scenarios with higher Scream Factors, the level of attraction it would have for a certain type of visitors would increase, and this wouldy the foundation for the scary theme park.

 Chapter 141

    <h4>Chapter 141: Who Speaks First</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The live example of Wang Hailong¡¯s group lent credibility to Chen Ge¡¯s words.

    ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve heard of a Haunted House being delineated into levels, but the boss¡¯ exnation is indeed professional.¡±

    ¡°I know it is for our own good, but I still wish to try the scariest scenario.¡±

    The visitors talked among themselves before epting the new rules. Chen Ge sighed in relief and led Wang Hailong¡¯s group to the spot where the medical students had once fainted. ¡°How are you feeling? Shall we call the doctor?¡±

    ¡°Thanks, but we¡¯re feeling much better.¡± The one who spoke was Wang Hailong. His lips were purple, and his face was white. His eyes were unfocused, and they were covered with a film of mist.

    ¡°At least you¡¯re conscious enough to speak, so you¡¯re indeed alright.¡± Chen Ge squatted down beside Wang Hailong. ¡°Actually, you¡¯re lucky. Thest person who tried this scenario is still in the hospital.¡±

    Brother Long shed a bitter smile. ¡°Are you trying to console me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just telling you the truth.¡± Chen Ge took the nametags away from them and turned to tell Uncle Xu, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Looking at this familiar scene, Uncle Xu was considering building a rest stop beside the Haunted House. Making the visitors keep lying on the floor was not good for the park¡¯s image. He was quite angry initially; however, after listening to Chen Ge¡¯s exnation, he felt the young man had a point. With the separation of levels, the cases of fainting visitors would decrease.

    After examining Wang Hailong¡¯s condition personally and making sure they were alright, he followed Chen Ge.

    ¡°Xiao Chen, did you n this beforehand? Are you sure you want to separate the scenarios into levels? This will increase the Haunted House¡¯s overall ie, but have you considered it might lose some potential customers?¡±

    ¡°This must happen.¡± Chen Ge stood firm on his position. ¡°I¡¯ve exined why I¡¯m doing this. This is a protective measure for the visitors. There will be more scenarios in the future, and some of them might be too much for normal visitors.¡±

    ¡°Since you know they might be too much, why don¡¯t you edit them? After all, the aim is to serve the majority of people.¡± Uncle Xu¡¯s argument was not wrong; it was just a little conservative.

    ¡°Some things can¡¯t be edited. You¡¯ll understand in the future.¡± Chen Ge walked for a while before remembering something. ¡°Uncle Xu, do we have any extra surveince devices in the park storage?¡±

    ¡°We have some spare ones but not many. Why?¡±

    ¡°I wish to borrow a few to install them in the underground parking lot. The new scenario currently has no surveince, and I don¡¯t feel that good about it.¡±

    ¡°Borrow the surveince devices? Just what kind of person cane up with something like that?¡± Uncle Xu shrugged. ¡°Lending them is impossible, but selling them to you at a second hand price is doable. However, I cannot touch anything in storage without permission. I¡¯ll go ask Director Luo this afternoon. Your Haunted House has the potential to be this park¡¯s top attraction, so I believe he will agree.¡±

    The two returned to the Haunted House. Uncle Xu continued to sell tickets while Chen Ge reced all the nametags before entering the Murder by Midnight scenario to act as the murderer. There were a few groups who challenged Mu Yang High School, but most of them did not even dare enter the sealed ssroom. Mu Yang High School did not have a steel door but only wooden boards as entrance, so if the visitors were afraid, they could leave at any moment. There were not many who were as courageous as Wang Hailong¡¯s group, so there were no further idents.

    During the lunch break, Chen Ge removed the outfit and walked out of the Haunted House. Wang Hailong and his brother were walking toward him. ¡°Why are you two still here? Want to give it a second go?¡±

    Chen Ge was only joking, but the siblings shook their heads vehemently. ¡°No, not that. We acted rashly this morning¡ªI hope you don¡¯t mind.¡±

    ¡°Your tone ispletely different from before. Tell me, what do you want?¡± Chen Ge was not someone who had just entered society.

    Wang Hailong, who was normally so direct, appeared so bashful suddenly. ¡°Actually, Wenlong and I have a younger brother called Wang Shenglong. Before he was five, he was just like any other kid, very yful. However, for some reason, when he turned five, he suddenly went mute. He refused to speak. Our father has tried many ways, going to the doctors, even visiting fortune-tellers, but none worked.¡±

    ¡°What is your point exactly?¡± Chen Ge was confused about why a five-year-old would suddenly turn mute and what that had to do with him.

    ¡°Long story short...¡± Wang Hailong made sure no one was eavesdropping before he leaned in toward Chen Ge. ¡°Boss, I saw a scary girl in your Haunted House earlier. She was hanging behind my back, her feet stepping on my shoulders. This scenario was exactly the same as my little brother¡¯s description of the night before the strange thing happened to him!¡±

    Wang Wenlong leaned in as well. ¡°It¡¯s true. That night, the three of us were sleeping in the same room. After midnight, our little brother suddenly sat up in bed, saying someone was standing on his shoulders, begging us to move the person away. At the time, we thought he was toying with us, but the next morning, he had forgotten how to speak. He could make sounds but could not finishplete sentences.¡±

    Wang Hailong touched his shoulder and continued in shaking voice. ¡°Since he lost his voice, we had him write down what he wanted to say. The thing he wrote was... scary to say the least. He saw someone outside the walls the previous night, and the person was staring at him. For some reason, the person then entered the house.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s scary?¡± Chen Ge had experienced worse.

    ¡°When we were young, we stayed at a vige. The walls were 2.5 meters tall. If there was really someone staring at him from the wall, the person had to be at least 2.6 meters tall!¡±

    ¡°Is that even a person anymore?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the point!¡± Wang Hailong tried to exin it. ¡°The scariest thing was that the person entered the house easily and asked our little brother to y with him. If he rejected, then he would take something away from him.¡±

    ¡°Did your brother reject the person? His voice was taken away?¡± Chen Ge guessed.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not that. My little brother agreed to y. The game they yed is called¡ªWho Speaks First. After my little brother nodded, the monster climbed on my little brother¡¯s shoulders, and it became even taller.¡±

 Chapter 142 - All Roads Lead to the Same Place

    <h4>Chapter 142: All Roads Lead to the Same ce</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    It did not sound that scary on paper, but upon closer inspection, it was quite creepy.

    ¡°The monster climbed on top of your little brother¡¯s shoulders, and it grew taller?¡± Chen Ge could not picture a 2.6-meter-tall person standing on top of a child¡¯s shoulders.

    ¡°That is what our little brother wrote. We even asked him to draw a picture, and he did.¡± Wang Hailong took out his phone. ¡°This is the picture he drew from memory when we took him to the doctorst time.¡±

    Chen Ge nced at the phone; it was a weird picture. At the bottom of the picture, there was a fat and short child, he took up about a tenth of the paper. The other ny percent was dominated by the weird thing on his shoulders.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Chen Ge looked at the thing on the child¡¯s shoulder. It looked like a woman with unruly hair, but the body looked male. Very skinny, like two bamboo poles covered with a white cloth.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you recognize it? I saw something simr in your Haunted House. There was a girl who stood on people¡¯s shoulders, and at the time, I was reminded of my little brother¡¯s story.¡± Wang Hailong took back his phone. He nced at the Haunted House and residual fear pooled in his eyes. ¡°Since you created this scenario, you have to have experienced something simr. Also, when the girl was stepping on my shoulders, it felt very real. If not for my sanity, I would have thought I¡¯d run into a real ghost.¡±

    ¡°Our Haunted House utilizes thetest 4D technology and special techniques to stimte the customer¡¯s five senses; that was why you felt something on your shoulders.¡± Chen Ge lied shamelessly. ¡°The whole standing on the shoulders thing is just a coincidence.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± But Wang Hailong did not give up. ¡°Then, can you tell me what it is that inspired you to create such a scene?¡±

    This Wang Hailong was a stubborn fellow.

    Chen Ge thought about it and said, ¡°There are no ghosts in this world; those are all part of human imagination. I know that you are worried about your little brother, but I¡¯m not even a doctor. Instead of asking me, why don¡¯t you consult a psychologist? In fact, I can rmend one.¡±

    The park could close in another two months, so Chen Ge did not want to waste time on unimportant stuff. He was also doing this for Wang Hailong¡¯s brother¡¯s sake. After all, he had no official psychological training, so it would be better if this was handled by a professional.

    ¡°My dad has taken him to psychologists since he was young. In fact, there was a mental hospital beside our old house, and my little brother was admitted for a period of time, but the effect wascking.¡± Wang Hailong hesitated.

    ¡°Brother, let me.¡± Wang Wenlong held his brother. ¡°For some weird reason, our little brother has a weird aversion toward doctors. He screams and struggles or even turns violent when he is near people in a doctor¡¯s garb. Because of this, we have to notify the doctors beforehand whenever we visit a new doctor.¡±

    ¡°Aversion to doctors?¡± Chen Ge found the second anomaly about Wang Hailong¡¯s brother. ¡°Could it be that the thing on your brother¡¯s shoulders is afraid of doctors? So it harms the boy whenever a doctor is near?¡±

    ¡°We do not know the actual reason. Before he was admitted to the hospital next door, he was fine, but after he was released from it, he started to get afraid of doctors,¡± Wang Wenlong added. This was a secret they had shared for years.

    ¡°The sudden change must have a reason.¡± Chen Ge tried to help them by analyzing what he knew. ¡°Could it be that something the doctor did during his treatment scarred him for life?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. Shenglong was very young when he sought treatment at the hospital, so the family was at his side at all times. The doctors treated him well.¡±

    ¡°Since it¡¯s not the doctors, then perhaps it might have been the environment. Perhaps you can return to this old hospital, maybe you can find some clues there.¡± Chen Ge gave his suggestion and then turned to leave for lunch.

    ¡°The hospital closed down a long time ago. The third hospital building Shenglong stayed at is nowpletely sealed, so we cannot gain entry even if we want to.¡± Wang Hailong sighed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to unload all this on you. Too many things happened today that reminded us of our little brother.¡±

    ¡°The third building?¡± Due to the ck phone¡¯s mission, Chen Ge was very sensitive toward the word ¡®third¡¯. ¡°What is this hospital?¡±

    ¡°It was the hospital next to our old house. It was in the next district. We were poor back then, so we could only afford that ce. After things got better, we transferred him to another hospital.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant. What is the name of this hospital?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes that looked at Wang Hailong were rather scary.

    ¡°Jiujiang Third Psychological Convalescence Centre,monly known as Third Centre. If I¡¯m not mistaken, it has been abandoned for five or six years already.¡± Wang Hailong and his brother could not understand this change in Chen Ge.

    ¡°Is there a ce called the Third Sick Hall at this center?¡± Chen Ge was lining up the dots in his mind.

    ¡°That¡¯s what you meant. Some referred to the third building my little brother once stayed in as the Third Sick Hall. They are the same ce, just different names.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Chen Ge took in a deep breath. ¡°I know the best doctor in Jiujiang. If possible, can you bring me to meet your little brother tonight?¡±

    Afraid that he might be rejected, Chen Ge immediately started to toot Doctor Gao¡¯s horn.

    ¡°No problem, but you have to be prepared, my little brother is... how shall I put this? Is not that normal looking.¡± Wang Hailong forced a smile. ¡°If the doctor you mention ising along, remind him to wear casually.¡±

    Then, he pulled out a ck name card from his pocket. On the front, it was written ¡® Long Hu Fang <sup>1</sup> ¡®.

    ¡°You are?¡± Looking at the uniquely-designed name card and the tattoos that covered their body, it finally dawned on Chen Ge.

    <i>Are these gang members? </i>This was the first time Chen Ge had interacted with such individuals in his life.

    Noticing the shock on Chen Ge¡¯s face, Wang Hailong whispered, ¡°It is as you thought. Long Hu Fang¡¯s Szechuan Steamboat is owned by my family. The contact number is on the back of the card.¡±

    Chen Ge shed a bright smile as he epted the card. ¡°Do you have a more specific address?¡±

    ¡°Come to the old district¡¯s Hai Ming Apartments tonight. Shenglong and my father stay there.¡±

 Chapter 143 - Three Personas

    <h4>Chapter 143: Three Personas</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    When Wang Hailong mentioned the name of the location, Chen Ge was stunned. ¡°Are the Hai Ming Apartments that you mentioned situated in the deepest part of a residential area? With rubbish piling up outside and a very old looking building?¡±

    This time, it was Wang Hailong and Wenlong who were shocked. ¡°You¡¯ve been there?¡±

    ¡°I just came back from the ce the night before yesterday.¡± Chen Ge also did not think things could be so coincidental.

    ¡°Nice, this means that you know the way there. We¡¯re going there tonight. My father has a stubborn disposition, so it will be better for us to meet up downstairs first before going up together.¡±

    After drafting the n, the brothers left.

    <i>Wang Shenglong¡¯s old home is next to the Third Sick Hall. Could the monster he saw that night have escaped from the hospital? After he was admitted into the Third Sick Hall, his problem deteriorated; everything seems to lead back to the mental hospital.</i>

    Chen Ge watched as the pair of brothers walked away.

    <i>There¡¯s a monster that came out of The Third Sick Hall residing in Wang Haiming, and there appears to be another monster in Wang Shenglong, and they both chose to live at Hai Ming Apartments...</i>

    Suddenly, Chen Ge was reminded of the words mentioned by the young man in Room 302. He had once overhead the two voices in Wang Haiming argue, and one of them said that if he was not afraid of being captured by the Red Specter, he would have killed the other entity already.

    <i>Could the thing that the monster in Wang Hailing was afraid of be the monster within Wang Shenglong? If that is true, doesn¡¯t it mean the monster in Wang Shenglong is on the same level as Zhang Ya? Wang Shenglong is the scariest entity at Hai Ming Apartments?</i>

    This question was tooplicated. Chen Ge skipped lunch and sat on the steps before the Haunted House to think. The monster on Wang Haiming had been afraid of tearing away from Wang Haiming because it had felt something. It had forced the young man in Room 302 to capture living creatures it, starting from the initial sparrows, stray dogs, and finally a living human. It slowly broadened its appetite as if feeling out the bottom line of a certain presence.

    It was simr to the mirror monster, but the one at Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House had acted so brashly. Inparison, the monster at Hai Ming Apartment was cautious. Obviously, the monster was afraid, so from this hypothesis, even if the monster on Wang Shenglong was not a Red Specter, it was much stronger than normal ghosts.

    <i>Just how scary is this Third Sick Hall? There¡¯s a presence much stronger than the mirror monster, and from the looks of things, these were the two that escaped; there are probably more monsters sealed in that ce!</i>

    Chen Ge rubbed his temples. <i>A three-star scenario is already like this. Just how scary will the four-star School of the Afterlife be?</i>

    Standing up, Chen Ge gave Doctor Gao a call. He was unsure whether Doctor Gao was free or not, but if the doctor was too busy, he decided that he would go alone. The call was picked up after two rings, and Doctor Gao said, ¡°Chen Ge? How can I help you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing really. I¡¯m just calling to ask about Men Nan? How is he doing?¡±

    ¡°After a day of rest, he is getting better, but his condition is not that optimistic. In fact, I fear his situation is worse than I expected.¡± Doctor Gao sounded severe on the phone.

    ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be.¡± Chen Ge was confused, he had already helped Men Nan solve the issue in his heart. He hadpleted the mission given by the ck phone, so his condition should have improved.

    ¡°Listen to me, after Men Nan woke up, I reinitiated another psychological diagnosis, and I happened upon a startling discovery.¡±

    Doctor Gao paused, and it sounded like he was walking over to a more private area before continuing. ¡°There are three personas hiding in Men Nan¡¯s body. One is a growing persona, which is the normal Men Nan we see daily. Another persona he has adopted is his dead mother. This persona sees herself as Men Nan¡¯s mother. I suspect the appearance of this persona is a method of self-defense created by Men Nan¡¯s consciousness after witnessing his mother¡¯s murder at a young age.¡±

    ¡°What about the third?¡±

    ¡°The period of appearance for this third persona is very short, so we still don¡¯t have much information on him. The only thing that I can confirm is that he does exist. This persona is unique; he will not grow, staying stasis at the age when Men Nan was still a child. I cannotmunicate with him, and he shows up only for a short period of time. However, whenever this persona takes control of the body, Men Nan¡¯s acumen for psychology doubles!¡±

    ¡°Meaning Men Nan¡¯s talent is rted to this third persona?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve note across a more talented person.¡± Doctor Gao had high praise for Men Nan. ¡°However the need to preserve his talent means that the process of recovery will be very difficult. Normal medication will strengthen his normal persona and weaken the others. I¡¯m afraid this will ruin his talent, so I¡¯m discussing his case with other experts. Hopefully, we¡¯ll be able toe up with a treatment specifically designed for Men Nan.¡±

    When he was cured, his talent would also disappear. It was unknown whether this was a good or bad thing for Men Nan. Since Doctor Gao sounded so busy on the phone, Chen Ge did not bring up Wang Shenglong. He did not want to bother the good doctor anymore. ¡°Alright, hopefully Men Nan will have a speedy recovery. Goodbye.¡±

    When he was about to hang up, Doctor Gao said, ¡°Wait, you must have called me for a reason. Men Nan is currently too weak to undergo any psychological treatment, so I am not that busy at the moment. If you have a problem, feel free to ask me.¡±

    Since Doctor Gao had said so, Chen Ge did not hold back and told him everything he knew about Wang Shenglong. Doctor Gao was silent before saying, ¡°Okay, I wille with you tonight. After all, Men Nan¡¯s daily effects are still in Hai Ming Apartments; I have been meaning to find time to go fetch him for him.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Doctor Gao.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for thanks. I¡¯ve heard all about you from Ru Xue. As a psychology aficionado, you are more than willing to put your knowledge into practice to help others. To be honest, you make me feel ashamed of myself.¡±

    ¡°Psychology aficionado? That¡¯s what Gao Ru Xue said about me?¡± Chen Ge did not know whether tough or cry. He had a feeling that the other party had misunderstood him somewhat.

    ¡°Your Haunted House makes use of many psychological tricks, and it shows you have been reading up on psychology.¡± Doctor Gaoughed. ¡°If there¡¯s a chance, I shall pay it a visit.¡±

    ¡°You tter me.¡± Chen Ge wiped the sweat off his forehead. The thought of cing the suit-wearing Doctor Gao in his Haunted House to scare for half an hour spooked Chen Ge. His whole characterization would copse after something like that.

    Doctor Gao¡¯s voice soon returned to normal. ¡°There are plenty who self-study psychology, but there aren¡¯t many who are willing to do something for the patients. You have helped Wang Xin with her problem, and to be honest, when you called me to ask for help, I was touched. Only those who have experienced psychological trauma will understand the pain involved. Actually, I¡¯ve been trying to thank you on behalf of Wang Xin and Men Nan. It is because of you that they were able to break free from their psychological shackles and breathe a breath of fresh air.¡±

    Chen Ge was praised so much by Doctor Gao that he did not even remember ending the call. After all, this was the first time someone had praised him thusly. Chen Ge realized then that he was quite a noble person.

 Chapter 144 - We Are All Monsters (1)

    <h4>Chapter 144: We Are All Monsters (1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After lunch, Chen Ge returned to the staff breakroom. When he opened the door, he saw Xu Wan squatting by the door. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Boss, when did you get this cat? It¡¯s so pretty, but it doesn¡¯t let me touch it!¡± Xu Wan grumbled, ¡°I just want to give it a hug.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t think about it. The cat is a stray and is hostile toward human.¡± Chen Ge entered the room and ced the boards back. When the cat saw Chen Ge, it did not hiss angrily, but it did jump away like it did not want to be physically close to him.

    ¡°Then why isn¡¯t the cat hostile toward you?¡± Xu Wan was confused. Whenever she neared the cat, it would assume a hostile posture.

    ¡°Perhaps it knows I¡¯m a trustworthy, noble person.¡± Sitting on the bed, Chen Ge stretchedzily. ¡°Do you want to take a rest?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. You can take a short nap; I¡¯ll wake you at 1:15 pm.¡± Xu Wan looked at the white cat with captivated eyes. ¡°By the way, what is its name?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve tried given it many names, but it didn¡¯t like any of them. When I called it White Tiger, it was weirdly responsive, so I¡¯m considering calling it White Tiger from now on.¡± Chen Ge looked at the white cat and considered it seriously.

    ¡°You want to call a cat White Tiger?¡± Xu Wan thought that Chen Ge was kidding with her, but he didn¡¯t look like it. ¡°Well, as long as you¡¯re happy.¡±

    After Xu Wan left, Chen Ge continued to study the white cat on the chair. This cat could see those monsters, and even a baleful specter like Xiaoxiao was afraid of it. If he could make use of it, this cat could be a useful trump card for Chen Ge, but it was a living creature with its own consciousness. However, making it obedient to Chen Ge¡¯s orders would take some time. At least after a night of interaction, the cat was no longer that hostile toward Chen Ge. The cat was clever; it knew who was good and who was bad.

    ¡°Your kittens are no longer with us; even if you continue to guard them, nothing will change.¡± Chen Ge thought about it and stood up to grab the basket. The white cat followed behind him, and the pair walked out the Haunted House.

    Chen Ge used his hands to dig up a hole next to a tall tree. Then, he ced the kittens within. When he did those things, he kept an eye on the white cat, afraid that it might suddenly be frenzied.

    ¡°I understand your pain and know how important they are to you, but you have to understand...¡± Chen Ge squatted on the floor and slowly filled up the hole. ¡°Everything dies, and when it does, it is returned to nature. Only by burying them can their souls return to the Great Cycle.¡±

    He did not know whether the white cat understood him or not, but the cat kept watching the mound of dirt. Staring at the four kittens that slowly disappeared from view, its pair of different colored eyes danced slightly. It did not attack Chen Ge or lose its rationality; it just sat there quietly.

    When Chen Ge dropped in thest handful of dirt, the white cat hid inside a tree hole. No matter how hard Chen Ge tried to get its attention, there was no response. The lunch break was soon over, and the visitors returned. It was then that the white cat left the hole, but it just jumped higher into the tree¡¯s canopy.

    Chen Ge could not force the cat to do something it did not want to, so after a quick cleaning, he opened the Haunted House for business.

    With the new two-star scenario, many visitors instantly lined up again after experiencing Murder by Midnight or Minghun scenarios. The effect of the level delineation had slowlye into y. The greater the limitation, the more they wanted to try it. For thrill-seekers, the unknown scenario had an unparalleled attraction.

    Chen Ge was busy until New Century Park closed. Before he had a chance to rest, Chen Ge followed Uncle Xu to the park storage to retrieve the surveince devices. He told Xu Wan and Uncle Xu to leave first before entering Mu Yang High School alone. He installed the camera at few key locations.

    The instation took longer than Chen Ge expected. When he was finished, it was already 8 pm. After washing his face, Chen Ge called Doctor Gao and Wang Hailong before taking a taxi to Hai Ming Apartments. When he arrived, Doctor Gao and Wang Hailong were already there.

    The steady Doctor Gao who had a deep appreciation and understanding of psychology easily won over the affection of the Wang brothers. Without the introduction from Chen Ge, they were already happily chatting among themselves.

    ¡°My dad and Shenglong live on the sixth floor. I¡¯ve informed them of our visit this afternoon.¡±

    When the three entered Hai Ming Apartments, Chen Ge frowned slightly. That stench had returned. This stench was heaviest when they passed the third floor, but the others did not seem to smell it. They acted normally, discussing Wang Shenglong¡¯s condition.

    <i>What is the source of this smell?</i>

    Initially, Chen Ge thought it was the bag of animal bodies from Room 302, but those carcasses should have been taken care of by now, so howe the stench still remained?

    They reached the top floor, and Wang Hailong knocked on the door for Room 601. It was a man in his fifties who answered the door. He had peppery hair and a deep frown on his face.

    ¡°Dad, this is the Haunted House boss who experienced something simr, and this is the best psychologist in Jiujiang.¡±

    ¡°Please,e in.¡±

    There were many everyday items in the room. The room was not designed to fit that many people, and it appeared a bit small.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been told of your intention. Shenglong is inside the bedroom. If you can cure his illness, you will not worry for your financial future anymore.¡± This old father looked far more ancient than his actual age.

    ¡°Can we meet Shenglong?¡± Chen Ge stood at the very back. When the door was opened, the stench hit him like a wall, but weirdly enough, none of the others reacted in any way to it. It appeared that only he could smell this stench.

    ¡°Okay, but I hope you are mentally prepared.¡± Wang Shenglong¡¯s father pushed the bedroom door open.

    A stronger stench wafted out from the room, and Chen Ge rested his finger surreptitiously on the tip of his nose. It was not smelly per se, but it was a smell that made him feel ufortable. He instinctually wanted to escape when the smell hit him. The smell was like a voice telling him, ¡®do not get close, this thing is dangerous.¡¯

    Looking through the bedroom door, the small bedroom did not have any furniture, just a thin carpet covering the floor and several pillows in the corners. Other than these, the most eye-grabbing feature was the person who sat in the middle of the room.

    He was a squat person, perhaps only about 1.5 meters tall, and incredibly overweight. His legs were misshapen from the pressure, and he looked more like a meatball than a man.

    When he saw people walk in, the man grinned harmlessly at the door and raised his hand with difficulty in an attempt to wave.

    Whenever a new outsider saw Wang Shenglong, his father¡¯s heart felt like it was shed by a knife. ¡°Shenglong doesn¡¯t know how to speak, but his other faculties are totally normal. Ask him anything, and he will answer by writing on the board.¡±

 Chapter 145 - We Are All Monsters (2)

    <h4>Chapter 145: We Are All Monsters (2)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Wang Shenglong¡¯s father observed Chen Ge and Doctor Gao out of the corner of his eyes. He knew how unusual his son looked, and whenever someone judged his child with a weird gaze, there was an indescribable pain in his heart. However, this time was different. Both Doctor Gao and Chen Ge acted normally.

    ¡°Exercise can help stave away heart problems and release stress. Try not to keep him cooped up at home.¡± Doctor Gao removed his shoes and stepped into the room. He sat down beside Wang Shenglong without a trace of disgust or condescension. Wang Shenglong did not show fear at Doctor Gao¡¯s approach; if anything, it felt like he wanted thepany.

    He wiggled hisrge body with difficulty like he was trying his best to show his wee. Wang Shenglong and Doctor Gao shared a peaceful rtionship, but when Chen Ge prepared to enter the bedroom, everything changed.

    He followed Doctor Gao and removed his shoes, but when he stepped into the bedroom, the smiling Wang Shenglong suddenly stopped. His expression turned serious. He red at Chen Ge, and it felt like he was a lion who felt some other dangerous beast entering his territory.

    Doctor Gao, who was sat beside Wang Shenglong, felt this most directly. He looked at Chen Ge with confusion. Chen Ge himself felt this. Wang Shenglong¡¯s reaction was abnormal to his eyes.

    <i>What did the man sense on me? Is it the residual smell of the stray cat, or can the monster on him sense the presence of Zhang Ya? </i>Chen Ge stopped moving and took a seat further away from Wang Shenglong.

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s the sudden influx of strangers that has unsettled him.¡± Doctor Gao tried to smooth over the situation and started chatting with Wang Shenglong. He was a professional. He did not bring up anything rted to mental disease. It felt like he was merely chatting with a friend, and Wang Shenglong slowly rxed, using the board to respond to Doctor Gao¡¯s asional questions.

    Chen Ge did not say a word, and he focused fully on listening. Doctor Gao was tactful with his speech. It might have seemed like small talk, but unconsciously, he had drawn out many secrets from Wang Shenglong, including the darkest memory from his childhood and his daily habits as well as his history with doctors.

    The conversation continued for forty minutes, and the longer the conversation went on, the more Doctor Gao felt this was not a psychological patient. Wang Shenglong¡¯s mind was clear and bright. He was willing tomunicate with others and showed desire to receive treatment. Listening to their conversation, Wang Shenglong¡¯s family was gratified. Despite his looks, they knew Wang Shenglong was a kind and harmless child.

    After the conversation ended, Doctor Gao exited the bedroom. He pulled Wang Shenglong¡¯s father to the side to ask, ¡°The child acts very normally. It doesn¡¯t seem like he is tormented by psychological illness. I can¡¯t help but suspect he is hiding something from me.¡±

    Mental patients, for the most parts, were like normal human beings. It was only when their illness acted up that they wouldmit actions that normal people would not understand.

    ¡°The child has never hurt anyone and has not done anything weird. Other than the refusal to speak and move, he is just like a normal person.¡± Wang Shenglong¡¯s father fetched a ss of water for Doctor Gao.

    When Doctor Gao conversed with Wang Shenglong, thetter had told him about the childhood nightmare. ¡°A normal child suddenly lost his power to speak, could the story he was telling be real?¡±

    Wang Shenglong¡¯s father shook his head with a sigh. ¡°We have no idea whether it¡¯s real or not. We¡¯ve seen so many doctors, but none of them could confirm or deny it.¡±

    ¡°Whether it¡¯s real or not is not that important. The important part is even after so many years, Shenglong can still recount it in such detail; this means that the incident has impacted him greatly. As long as we can solve this problem, he should be able to regain the ability to speak.¡±

    ¡°But if this incident ispletely made up, how are we supposed to help him solve it?¡± Wang Hailong asked.

    ¡°Even if it is fictional, every single detail in it has a real meaning to Shenglong, just like how dreams often reflect real life.¡± Doctor Gao took out his phone to show that he had recorded his conversation with Wang Shenglong. ¡°We cannot take everything at a surface level. Temporarily, I cannot promise you anything, but I will try my best.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Gao, as long as you can cure Shenglong...¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have much confidence either. After all, hisnguage power must have regressed since he hasn¡¯t spoken for so many years.¡± Doctor Gao looked back into the bedroom. ¡°But the most stressing issue is not his psychological problem but his physical issue. He is seriously overweight, and this puts his life in danger.¡±

    ¡°We have talked to him about this, but he dislikes exercise. He prefers to just stay inside his bedroom. He doesn¡¯t even want to move out to the living room.¡± Wang Shenglong¡¯s father was also frustrated.

    ¡°Try tomunicate with him and tell him that this is normal to change his worldview and perspective. Then his action might change.¡±

    Doctor Gao discussed the situation with Wang Shenglong¡¯s family outside the bedroom. Inside the bedroom, Chen Ge sat across from Wang Shenglong. By then, the smile on Wang Shenglong¡¯s face had disappeared. His beady eyes that almost disappeared among his folds of fat narrowed into slits as he studied Chen Ge.

    ¡°Wang Shenglong, I want to help you, so I hope you will stop hiding things from me.¡± Chen Ge maintained a safe distance from Wang Shenglong. The man was very cautious of Chen Ge, and Chen Ge refused to get any closer because of the stench that came off the man. However, it appeared like only Chen Ge could smell it.

    Grabbing the board, Wang Shenglong wrote, ¡°I¡¯m not hiding anything; I¡¯ve told you everything.¡±

    ¡°You know whether that is true or not.¡± Chen Ge lowered his voice. ¡°Their focus is on why you aren¡¯t talking, but I¡¯m different. I¡¯m more curious about the other memory that you most detest. What happened to you when you were inside the Third Sick Hall?¡±

    The mention of the Third Sick Hall caused the flesh on Wang Shenglong¡¯s face to shake violently. His chubby hands clenched into fist, and his body shook unevenly.

    ¡°Your aversion to doctors urred after you left the Third Sick Hall, so what happened to you inside that hospital?¡± Chen Ge held Wang Shenglong¡¯s fists. ¡°You are a normal person, but you are under the threat of something abnormal. Tell me the truth, I can help you.¡±

    Wang Shenglong rejected Chen Ge¡¯s offer. He suddenly went berserk and shoved Chen Ge away with powerful force.

    Catching his breath, Wang Shenglong red at Chen Ge. After a long time, he wrote this down on the board.

    ¡°We have both transformed into monsters. Instead of worrying about me, you¡¯d better worry about yourself.¡±

 Chapter 146 - Livestream Time Confirmed

    <h4>Chapter 146: Livestream Time Confirmed</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The smile on Wang Shenglong¡¯s face had long since disappeared. He rubbed the words off the board and pain shed across his beady eyes.

    ¡°We have both transformed into monsters?¡± Chen Ge knocked into the door, and pain radiated from his back.

    Hearing themotion in the bedroom, Doctor Gao and Wang Shenglong¡¯s family ran in. ¡°Chen Ge, what happened?¡±

    ¡°I identally slipped and knocked into the door.¡± Chen Ge rubbed his back as he stood up.

    ¡°Is it serious? I have some ointment somewhere.¡± Wang Shenglong¡¯s father did not doubt Chen Ge, and he turned back into the living room to go look for the ointment. However, Doctor Gao seemed to have noticed something. His eyes scanned the unruffled carpet but did not say anything.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, not so serious.¡± Doctor Gao helped Chen Ge up. They left the bedroom together. Things were not going as smooth as he had hoped. Wang Shenglong had hidden the biggest secret from everyone else; he seemed to be cooperative on the surface, but that was merely a ploy to distract everyone away from the real cause of his illness.

    <i>But why would Wang Shenglong do that? He has his own difficulty? </i>Chen Ge remembered the expression on Wang Shenglong¡¯s face when he wrote down that sentence. It was filled with helplessness and pain, but the key problem was that he did not seem to want to change. Chen Ge moved his shoulders and realized that Wang Shenglong was actually more powerful than most adults.

    <i>He looks innocent but is actually very dangerous. </i>Wang Shenglong did not want to tell the truth, and Chen Ge could not force him before his father and brothers. Even if he did decide on force, Chen Ge had no confidence that he could overpower Wang Shenglong.

    In the end, Chen Ge asked Doctor Gao if they could leave. He wanted to ask Doctor Gao to discover the secret Wang Shenglong was hiding. Wang Shenglong¡¯s father walked them to the door. When they were leaving each other with their contact information, through the open bedroom door, Chen Ge saw that the devastated Wang Shenglong had picked up the board again.

    He seemed to know that Chen Ge was watching him. He drew quickly and turned the board towards the open door.

    <i>What was he drawing? </i>A few small people was sitting inside the house. The smallest among them had a monster standing on his shoulders. The monster had its back bent as it surveyed its surroundings, like it was prepared to jump onto other people.

    <i>Is he trying to give me a hint? </i>Chen Ge memorized the drawing and left the apartment with Doctor Gao. When they left, they went down to Room 304 to grab Men Nan¡¯s stuff.

    Chen Ge closed the door and after making sure the Wang brothers didn¡¯t follow them, he opened his lips to ask, ¡°Doctor Gao, do you think Wang Shenglong has a big problem?¡±

    ¡°He is indeed a bit not normal.¡± Doctor Gao ced Men Nan¡¯s sheets and pillows in the middle of his quilt and rolled them up. ¡°ording to Wang Shenglong¡¯s father, his condition should be very serious, but from my initial diagnosis, the man is fine. He has an open, clear, and logical mind. However, this contrasted greatly with the nk smile on the man¡¯s face. A normal person would have the ability to control the expression on his face. I am sure he is hiding something from me. This patient is very smart and is an expert at hiding his feelings, but he is being too obvious about it.¡±

    Chen Ge was surprised Doctor Gao had spotted it as well. ¡°After all, you¡¯re the professional, but since you have noticed that, why didn¡¯t you tell his father? Wouldn¡¯t that help with the treatment?¡±

    ¡°How to navigate the rtionship between the doctor and the patient¡¯s family is aplicated skill. Wang Shenglong¡¯s father might have been kind to us today, but if anything happened to his son, he would definitely be on his son¡¯s side, and he would block our ess to Wang Shenglong in the future.¡± Doctor Gao picker up the bundle to carry out of the room. ¡°Come and help me. Grab the books and notes in Men Nan¡¯s drawer and ce them in the box. They are very important to him.¡±

    Chen Ge entered the bedroom and took out the books one by one from the drawer. When the drawer was almost empty, Chen Ge saw a picture sat at the bottom of the drawer. A woman was lying in a hospital bed with a patient¡¯s garb. A shy-looking boy sat beside her.

    ¡°Is this a picture of Men Nan and his mother?¡± Looking at the picture, Chen Ge was shocked. Men Nan¡¯s mother in the picture, even though she had no make-up on, was incredibly beautiful. ¡°Men Nan¡¯s father still had an affair even though he had such a beautiful wife.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s first love letter in his life came from a baleful spectre, so he did no know much about romantic rtionships. He felt perhaps something was not right about Men Nan¡¯s father. After cing the picture in one of the books, Chen Ge ced all the books in the box and left Room 304 with Doctor Gao.

    After exiting Hai Ming Apartments, Chen Ge took a deep breath. ¡°Finally, don¡¯t need to take in that stench anymore.¡±

    ¡°Stench? If you¡¯re talking about stench, isn¡¯t it stronger out here?¡± Doctor Gao asked as he pointed at the rubbish that piled as high as small hill.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you smell a weird stench in Wang Shenglong¡¯s room?¡±

    ¡°No, his house is very clean; the old father has taken good care of him.¡± Doctor Gao sighed. ¡°Actually, the child can be considered lucky. At least he has his family¡¯s support, and they all wish for him to get better.¡±

    ¡°His family is indeed very kind.¡± The worry between family members could not be faked, and Chen Ge could feel that. He took a few steps before stopping suddenly. ¡°Family?¡±

    ¡°Yes, some patients¡¯ family dropped them at the rehabilitation centre and left them there.¡± Doctor Gao had misunderstood Chen Ge. He was thinking about another issue. In Wang Shenglong¡¯sst drawing, there were a few small people sitting in the drawing. The one with the monster standing on the shoulders seemed to refer to himself, so the people around him should have been his family. The monster was prepared to jump to other people, so could this be why Wang Shenglong refused to seek treatment? If he did anything wrong, the monster might harm his family.

    Wang Shenglong¡¯s drawing also proved that even after so many years, the two-meter-tall monster was still standing on his shoulders, and their game was still ongoing.

    ¡°The stench should originate from the monster, but why only I can smell it?¡± After solving the first problem, more problems surfaced. Chen Ge realized that he would need to enter the Third Sick Hall to answer all the questions. After cing all of Men Nan¡¯s stuff in the trunk, Doctor Gao drove Chen Ge back to New Century Park.

    When his feet stood on firm ground, Chen Ge received a call from Liu Dao. ¡°Brother, Qin Guang¡¯s next livestream schedule has been announced; it¡¯s tomorrow night!¡±

    ¡°So soon? Then do you know where the location will be?¡±

    ¡°Mu Yang High School.¡± Liu Dao mentioned a familiar name. ¡°However, this time, Qin Guang has learned his lesson. He hired someone to write a script based on your livestream, so he can now be considered paying homage and not giarising, so even the tform cannot do anything to him.¡±

    Chen Ge was silent for a long time, so Liu Dao thought that he was angry. ¡°Certain things are helpless, but as long as we work hard, it¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that, but if you have the chance, please help me send a message to Qin Guang.¡±

    ¡°What message?¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the Haunted House in the dark. ¡°Tell him to stop following me. If he does not, I have no guarantee what will happen to him.¡±

 Chapter 147 - The Approval of the White Cat

    <h4>Chapter 147: The Approval of the White Cat</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Are you serious? That sounds like a threat.¡± Liu Dao did not think that Chen Ge was kidding. He did not know Chen Ge that well, but he did know that the man was... a bit different from normal.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s sincere advice. Just tell him what I said.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice was calm. He was already praising himself for how kind-hearted he was. ¡°At the end of the day, we are merelypetitors. Even though he is rather shameless, I do not want to see him walk toward his death. Furthermore, his livestream involves such arge crew; they are innocent lives, so he should think about them.¡±

    <i>Competitor? Death? Innocent lives? Are we talking about the same topic? </i>Liu Dao felt like one of them was drunk. To tell Qin Guang that if he continued to copy Chen Ge, he would die... how was he going to say that?

    ¡°Chen Ge, I know you are angry, but please calm down. We can use our content to surpass him; there is no need to rely on threats. If anything, this might make them sue us.¡± Liu Dao tried to advise him. After all, the contract had been signed, and their first official cooperation began tomorrow, so he did not want Chen Ge to do anything stupid at such a crucial moment.

    ¡°You will not understand even if I exin it to you.¡± Chen Ge walked to his Haunted House. ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯ll see you tomorrow afternoon.¡±

    ¡°Remember toe early. There are many details we wish to discuss with you.¡±

    ¡°You got it.¡± After hanging up, Chen Ge was feeling low. He did not think that the livestream was that important; be it Qin Guang or the poprity, those were added bonuses. He only cared about one thing, which was to survive and find the clues left behind by his parents. Chen Ge nced toward the canopy of the tree next to the Haunted House, but the white cat was nowhere to be seen.

    <i>Eventually, it has left. </i>Chen Ge had grown quite attached to that cat. <i>Multi-colored eyes are notmon for a stray, but it is still a life; things can¡¯t be forced.</i>

    Chen Ge was rather saddened upon realizing that the white cat had left. He entered the Haunted House and found himself alone in the long corridor. The Haunted House was rather lifeless at night. He switched on the corridor lights, and his lonely shadow extended down the corridor. It looked quite lonely, but he had gotten used to this already.

    He went into the bathroom to wash his face before turning toward the staff breakroom. Before entering, he noticed something weird. <i>Why is the breakroom door open?</i>

    There were two sets of keys to the breakroom; he carried one on himself, and the other was hidden above the door frame. It was to make it convenient for other Haunted House workers. This hiding ce was only known to those who had worked at the Haunted House before.

    <i>If it was Xu Wan, she would have locked the door before she left. Looks like an outsider has snuck into the breakroom. </i>Chen Ge took a detour to the props room to grab Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s iron hammer.

    He pushed the breakroom door open. The room was dim, and there was no one in sight.

    <i>The key wasn¡¯t on the door frame. Has the thief has taken away the key? </i>Chen Ge nced around the room, and he realized the only difference was there was an unwashed jacket lying on the table.

    <i>I remember hanging this beside the bed when I changed out of it this morning. Why is it on the table? </i>He turned the light on and used the hammer to peel the jacket back.

    Underneath the dirtied jackety a pure white cat. It moved its head with impatience, its pair of different-colored eyes shining with resentment. Chen Ge looked behind it, and a dirty ragdoll was lying on its tail. The small ragdoll appeared like she was trying to grab onto the white cat¡¯s tail, but she did not expect that Chen Ge woulde in so suddenly. Her body froze from the scare, and very instinctively, she pretended to be dead.

    ¡°Xiaoxiao?¡± This scene surprised him. <i>Couldn¡¯t these two not stand each other?</i>

    <i>White cat, jacket... </i>Chen Ge nced at the jacket, and it dawned on him. When he took the cat to the doctor that night, he used his own jacket to wrap the cat and the kittens.

    <i>The smell of the four kittens probably lingered on the jacket. The jacket and the basket that carried the kittens were all in the breakroom, but the room was locked.</i>

    The key hidden above the doorframe was a secret to most, but for Xiaoxiao, who wandered about the Haunted House daily, she must have been privy to it. If anything, Xiaoxiao probably knew more about the Haunted House than Chen Ge by then.

    Chen Ge pulled Xiaoxiao up by her leg and shook her twice in the air. A copper key then fell from her pocket.

    ¡°Are you trying to be the Haunted House¡¯s manager?¡± Chen Ge did not know tough or cry. He ced Xiaoxiao beside the white cat and returned the key to on the door frame. Standing in the cold corridor, Chen Ge felt the breakroom was weirdly bright and warm.

    Xiaoxiaoy beside the white cat on the table. The cat gave her a cold shoulder, but it did not push Xiaoxiao aside. Ityzily on the table and did not seem like anything was going to affect it.

    Looking at this, Chen Ge¡¯s lips curved upwards. <i>I used to stay here alone, but it has gotten quite rowdy now.</i>

    After closing the door, Chen Ge sat on the chair. He took out the ck phone and started to inspect his daily missions. The three missions were respectively to hire more workers, perform safety inspection, and install a sturdy door for the Mu Yang High School scenario.

    <i>All the missions are imminent problems that the Haunted House needs to solve.</i>Chen Ge updated the Haunted House¡¯s information on the inte by introducing the new scenario and adding in the information of the reward money. After that, Chen Ge posted a recruitment post online. There was only one demand¨Cthe person had to be brave.

    <i>I must be picky with the recruitment. If Uncle Xu continues to help me sell ticket, we can still barely manage to get by, so this can be dyed for now. But as the Haunted House grows bigger, the issue of security cannot be ignored; I should pick the security option as my daily mission.</i>

    Chen Ge stood up again. He checked all the safety hazards in the Haunted House and came up with new rules, but the ck phone did not say that he was done.

    <i>What¡¯s the problem? I¡¯ve checked all the scenarios, why isn¡¯t the missionpleted yet? </i>Chen Ge stood there with the ck phone. He might need to conduct a three-star Trial Mission tomorrow, so he needed time to prepare. He had no time to waste on a daily mission.

    <i>Wait, could it be the mirror in the bathroom?</i>

 Chapter 148 - Nine Patients, Ten Rooms

    <h4>Chapter 148: Nine Patients, Ten Rooms</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge pushed open the bathroom door. The mirror on the wall was covered up by a ck cloth, and the cubicle door was sealed up.

    <i>The visitorse to visit during the day, but the blood door only appears at midnight.</i>

    <i>Normally, these two parties should not interact, unless someone sneaks into the Haunted House at night and identally opens the cubicle door, like Zhang Peng.</i>

    Chen Ge removed the ck cloth and stood before the window.

    He had no clue about the blood world behind the mirror. He did not even know why the door appeared, much less the way to destroy it.

    <i>My parents once said that the door of the Third Sick Hall has been opened again. This means that it was originally closed. Maybe the Third Sick Hall will have clues to closing the door; perhaps the door in the mirror and the door of the Third Sick Hall are connected. Then this Trial Mission will that much more important to me.</i>

    Chen Ge waited until midnight, and as the second hand passed twelve, the blood door in the mirror appeared on time. In just that one minute, various weird noises came from behind the cubicle. Compared to before, it felt like more things had gathered around the door.

    <i>Perhaps when I return from the Third Sick Hall, this door will be permanently closed.</i>

    Chen Ge returned to the staff breakroom, but he could not sleep. He sat on the chair and wrote down a list of the things he needed to prepare for tomorrow¡¯s livestream. <i>A cleaver that has tasted years of blood, a live cock, salt...</i>

    He worked on the list until 1:50 am. Chen Ge still did not feel sleepy. Every few minutes he looked at his watch, and an indescribable anxiety was spreading through him.

    <i>It¡¯s still not too safe. The difficulty of the three-star Trial Mission should be multiple times harder than the two-star Mu Yang High School. Furthermore, I¡¯m going in alone; I have to be more prepared. </i>Chen Ge inspected his life and suddenly his phone rang. <i>Who is calling me at 2 am?</i>

    Chen Ge nced at the caller ID and answered it immediately. ¡°Doctor Gao? You¡¯re looking for me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry to disturb you sote at night,¡± Doctor Gao said politely before cutting straight to the point. ¡°I¡¯ve managed to get Wang Shenglong¡¯s medical history from his father, and when I cross-referenced it with our own patient¡¯s history, I discovered something weird.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Chen Ge sat up straighter. For Doctor Gao to call him sote at night, it had to be very serious.

    ¡°This Wang Shenglong is more dangerous than he appears. In fact, when he was very small, he was involved in a murder.¡±

    ¡°A murder?¡± Chen Ge could not believe that the chubby kid could have been involved in something so sinister.

    ¡°Listen to me, this case isplicated.¡± There was the sound of typing from the other end of the phone. ¡°Wang Shenglong received his first treatment when he was six, and the hospital he received the treatment at was called Jiujiang Third Psychological Convalescence Centre. It was a private center. It was far from the city and has been closed five or six years ago.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard Wang Hailong mention this hospital before. At the time, they were poor, and the ce was close to their old home, so they admitted Wang Shenglong there. But how is that rted to the murder?¡± Chen Ge asked.

    ¡°When he was first admitted, Wang Shenglong, who was only six at the time, showcased extreme mood swings. Unable to control himself, he would attack the doctors and family members.¡±

    ¡°No matter how unruly the six-year-old was, he couldn¡¯t harm an adult, right?¡±

    ¡°That was what I thought, but the files showed that in one of his crazed moment, he bit off the finger of a fellow patient who shared the same room. I have the picture.¡± Doctor Gao sent over the picture. The gruesome parts were not even censored. Chen Ge nced at the file; it was a patient¡¯s file. The diagnosis on Wang Shenglong was he was extremely dangerous, and the suggested treatment was quarantine and istion.

    ¡°But that was only the beginning. To ensure the safety of other patients, the doctors quarantined the six years old Wang Shenglong into the third sealed building, and things only got worse from there.¡± Doctor Gao clicked on the screen. He selected the few pages that would not vite the patient¡¯s privacy and sent them to Chen Ge. ¡°In the second month after Wang Shenglong was moved into the quarantine hall, there was a harrowing murder. A nurse on duty was murdered, and after the police investigation, they confirmed that the murderer wasn¡¯t a single person. It felt like all of the patients of the third hall had cooperated tomit this murder!¡±

    ¡°The patients coborated to kill a nurse?¡± Doctor Gao was revealing information about the Third Sick Hall, and this was all inside information, so Chen Ge paid full attention. ¡°Doctor Gao, can you tell me about this case in more detail?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all I have. I¡¯m a doctor not the police.¡±

    ¡°Then, can you find more information on the other patients in the Third Sick Hall?¡± Chen Ge wanted to know everything about the Third Sick Hall.

    ¡°Why would you want to know about that?¡±

    ¡°Just curious. Don¡¯t worry, I will not leak the information to anyone else.¡± Chen Ge made a few more promises before Doctor Gao finally agreed.

    ¡°There were ten sick bays inside the Third Sick Hall, and there were nine patients. All of them were diagnosed to be extremely dangerous, so they were quarantined for specific treatment.

    ¡°The patient in room 1 was Wang Shenglong, diagnosed as suffering from Happy Puppet Syndrome or the Angelman Syndrome. The symptoms include constant smiles, spasms, loss of speech, and mental retardation. He was the youngest at the Third Sick Hall and deemed the least dangerous.

    ¡°The patient in room 2 was a woman, but the name is cked out. There is no picture, and there was only an old patient¡¯s list. She suffered from heavy depression caused by Dorian Gray Syndrome. Her symptoms include over-obsession with her personal image and over-reliance on make-up. She had undergone plenty of stic surgery and was averse to the natural aging process. In fact, many female celebrities suffer from this.

    ¡°The third patient¡¯s room was supposedly empty, and I can¡¯t tell whether it housed a patient or not.¡±

    Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of the note left by his parents. It had specifically pointed out the third room in the Third Sick Hall. ¡°Having no records does not mean that it didn¡¯t have a patient!¡±

    ¡°You have a point, but the patient¡¯s room was arranged ording to their danger level, so even if the room was upied, the patient was not that dangerous. Perhaps this was a error by the hospital.¡± Doctor Gao paused to take a sip of his water before continuing.

    ¡°The patient in room 4 suffered from Phantom Limb Syndrome after losing his arm in an ident. After the amputation surgery, he felt the arm was still on his body and could sense pain and temperature through it.¡±

 Chapter 149 - The Most Dangerous Patient

    <h4>Chapter 149: The Most Dangerous Patient</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°The man living in Room 5 was called Xu Tong. He suffered from Fregoli Delusion Syndrome. He thought that all the people around him were disguised by a simr individual, and he lived in a made-up world.

    ¡°The patient of the Room 6 was called Han Bao¡¯er. She was a midnight show type of host. There is no picture of her in the files, but her main doctor wrote down this sentence at the bottom of her patient¡¯s record¡ªJust how harsh must God be to have made a woman as beautiful as this?

    ¡°Han Bao¡¯er only stayed at the ce for two and a half months before she was taken away. She suffered from a rare disease called Body Dysmorphic Disorder. She had the tendency to exaggerate the imperfections on her body, and she could not ept the slightest w. When she was hospitalized, she once tried to chop off her fingers simply because the nails on both hands failed to be symmetrical.

    ¡°The name of the patient in Room 7 has been lost, but he suffered from Cotard¡¯s Syndrome or the Walking Corpse Syndrome. He believed that he was already a dead man, telling the doctors that his organs had all decayed. He announced to whoever would listen that he had seen the real world and that the reality we are living in isn¡¯t real at all.

    ¡°Room 8 had a reinforced steel door, and the patient inside was called Xiong Qing. This patient was once the doctor of the Third Sick Hall. It was believed that his mind snapped after dealing with too many tortured souls. He was diagnosed with Hemineglect when he was thirty. This type of patient fails to be aware of items to one side of space. When asked to draw the picture of a man, he would miss out the half of the arms and legs. When asked, he said this was the real perfect form.

    ¡°Technically, this disease was not serious, but Xiong Qing was a perfectionist, so when he saw patients with a full set of limbs, he could not control himself from wanting to fix it.

    ¡°The patient in Room 9 was called Wu Fei. There was not a clear diagnosis on this patient even when the hospital closed down. Some of the doctors thought that he suffer from Asperger¡¯s because he had exceptional memory and superhuman intelligence. Normally, he would not converse with others¡ªperhaps he thought that everyone around him, including his doctor, was too much of a dummy tomunicate with.

    ¡°During treatment, he confessed to have done many crazy things, and some of them had involved the police, but after investigation, most of them were faked, and for the real cases, the real murderer had been caught and sentenced; they had nothing to do with Wu Fei. Wu Fei had not hurt anyone when he was hospitalized, but the hospital still decided to lock him in Room 9. This was something the hospital and the police decided on after much discussion.

    ¡°ording to how the hospital kept their patients, the patient in Room 10 should have been the most dangerous, but the patient is not named. I¡¯ve looked through all the patient¡¯s records, and the space for name was only filled with a 10. The doctors never mentioned him by name, and they often referred to him as the Devil.

    ¡°This patient suffered from Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome or Juvenile Gout. When he acted up, he would use all sorts of equipment avable to ruin his own face. His perception of reality was different from normal, and he had a highly destructive tendency. Patient 10 spent most of his time tied to the bed. When he was out, he would be chained to the wheelchair with people looking after him.

    ¡°Actually, those with Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome rarely live beyond the age of twenty, so this Patient 10 is probably dead now.¡±

    Doctor Gao listed the information on all the nine patients, and Chen Ge used a pen to jot everything all down. Looking at the recorded information, Chen Ge felt a chill up his spine. ¡°Doctor Gao, do you know what happened to these nine people after they got transferred out of the Third Sick Hall?¡±

    ¡°Other than Wang Shenglong, Xu Tong, and Han Bao¡¯er, who had records from other hospitals, the rest of them seemed to have disappeared.¡±

    ¡°Then do you have ways to contact the three of them?¡± Chen Ge wanted to know more about the Third Sick Hall before starting the livestream.

    ¡°The contact numbers on the files are mostly useless now, so even if I give them you, it¡¯ll be pointless,¡± Doctor Gao rejected Chen Ge tactfully. ¡°I¡¯m calling you sote at night mainly to tell you that Wang Shenglong might be very dangerous. Mental patients morph into a different person when they act up. Do not purposely go and provoke them. If you are hurt, thew will not be on your side because these people are mentally unhealthy.¡±

    What Doctor Gao meant was simple. After Chen Ge fell down, he had noticed the carpet was t, so he suspected that Chen Ge did not trip and fall but was pushed by an outside force. He had made this midnight call to warn him of the possible dangers.

    ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll be more careful.¡± Chen Ge thought about it before adding, ¡°Doctor Gao, if you find out any more information about the Third Sick Hall, please tell me. I¡¯m very interested in that hospital.¡±

    ¡°Your hobby sure is unique. Alright then, rest well. I will inform you when Ie up with a new development.¡±

    After hanging up, Chen Ge arranged the pieces of paper on the table, his brain mulling over the nine patients. <i>Ten rooms but nine patients, why? If the rooms are arranged ording to their danger level, why did the hospital keep Room 3 empty? Has the room been empty from the very beginning, or was the room left empty for a patient who died in it?</i>

    Chen Ge did not know when he fell asleep, but when he woke up, it was already morning. Looking at his watch, he saw it was 6 am. He washed his face, exited the Haunted House, jumped on his bicycle, and headed for the nearest morning market.

    The market was already busy even though the day was just starting. Chen Ge was quite conspicuous amid the crowd of middle-aged aunties and uncles. He first went to buy a live cock and then went to the stall that sold pork. He stood beside the stall with his eyes open wide.

    When the proprietor was finally free, he moved forward. The proprietor was a man about forty. He had noticed Chen Ge a long time ago. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    When Chen Ge named his request, he felt weirdly embarrassed. ¡°I want to buy your cleaver.¡±

    ¡°You want to buy my cleaver?¡± The man¡¯s face fell, thinking that Chen Ge was ridiculing him.

    ¡°I¡¯m serious.¡± Chen Ge ced the money on the counter. ¡°Give me a price.¡±

    After a long exnation, the man finally understood why Chen Ge wanted his cleaver andughed. ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to sell you this, but nowadays, we have special machine to put the pigs down. You¡¯ll need to go to a butcher to find the kind of cleaver you¡¯re looking for.¡±

 Chapter 150 - The Second Lucky Draw

    <h4>Chapter 150: The Second Lucky Draw</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The middle-aged man also did not know how to respond. He had managed his stall for half his life already, and this was the first time he hade across such a request. ¡°If you have nothing else, go. I don¡¯t sell the kind of cleaver you want.¡±

    ¡°Then, can you sell me the cleaver you normally use?¡± Chen Ge was determined. Before the livestream, he had to obtain a cleaver regardless of whether it turned out to be useful or not.

    ¡°How am I going to operate this stall if I sell you my cleaver?¡± The middle-aged man just finished when a young man with dyed hair pushed through the crowd. He looked about neen, and his jacket was tied around his waist as he yawned. When the young man appeared, the middle-aged man mmed the cleaver on the cutting board. He wiped his hands on his apron and walked toward the young man. ¡°You still know your way back home? Where were youst night?¡±

    ¡°Karaoke with a few friends, then the inte caf¨¦.¡± The young man put on his earphones like he was trying to tune the man out.

    ¡°Then, why didn¡¯t you answer your phone?¡± Years of chopping pork meant that the middle-aged man was much more muscr then the young man. He yanked the earphones out directly. ¡°I¡¯m talking to you!¡±

    The young man used his hands to cover up his ears instead. He stood before the middle-aged man and said nothing.

    ¡°Have you gone mute? I¡¯m asking you why you didn¡¯te home yesterday night! Didn¡¯t even answer your phone, what were you thinking?¡± The middle-aged man was loud, and the customers even started to persuade him. The young man red at the middle-aged man before finding an opening to grab the earphones and run out the market.

    ¡°Come back here!¡± The middle-aged man could not chase after him since he had a business to run. He picked up the cleaver and cleaved a bone in half angrily. Looking at how angry he was, Chen Ge very understandably took back his money and left with the chicken.

    After leaving the market, Chen Ge was looking for his bicycle when he was approached by the young man from earlier. ¡°I hear you¡¯re looking for a cleaver?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but not a new one. I need one that had been used for a long time already.¡±

    ¡°I have one at home. Follow me, but don¡¯t let my father spot us.¡± The young man led Chen Ge to a building near the market. He asked Chen Ge to wait him outside and soon came out with an object wrapped in red cloth.

    ¡°My grandfather was a butcher, and he nned to carry this knife with him to the grave, saying he was not going to let his children do the same job as he did. However, my stubborn dad insisted on keeping the cleaver. From then on, bad luck has followed us. He lost his business, and my mother passed away. In the end, he had to sell pork at the market to make ends meet.¡± The young man gave Chen Ge the cleaver. ¡°The cleaver is cursed, so I¡¯m not going to ask for much. A hundred, and it¡¯s yours.¡±

    Chen Ge was intrigued by what the young man said. He pulled the red cloth back and took a close look at the cleaver. His Yin Yang Vision twitched like his eyes were pricked by needles. They only recovered several secondster.

    The red cloth wrapped around a forty-centimeter-long single de. Perhaps because it had tasted too much fresh blood, the de was a dark red color. There were grooves running down the de, and the wooden handle looked like blood veins with lingering red lines.

    Chen Ge tried the cleaver, and it was heavier than expected. ¡°This cleaver sure is unusual.¡±

    The de was no longer sharp, but the air around it had not changed.

    ¡°When I was small, I saw my grandfather enter the pig sty with this cleaver, and none of the pigs dared make a sound.¡± The young man looked at the red cloth and extended his hand toward Chen Ge. ¡°If you¡¯re satisfied, pay up.¡±

    ¡°Not bad, this is the kind of cleaver I¡¯m looking for.¡± Chen Ge passed the young man a hundred and left the young man his phone. ¡°If your father asks about the cleaver, tell him to call me.¡±

    ¡°What does this have to do with him?¡± the young man asked emotionlessly and entered the room with the money.

    ¡°Your father is quick with his words and temper, but it must be difficult on him as well. Based on my knowledge, there are no butchers near Jiujiang. To ensure fresh stock, he has to wake up every day at 3 am to get the ingredients from outside of Jiujiang or he might miss the opening of the morning market.¡±

    ...

    With the chicken and cleaver, Chen Ge returned to New Century Park. He still had some time, so Chen Ge looked at the list he had prepared the previous night.

    <i>A live cock, a cleaver, and salt... I have those already. The three-star mission will be dangerous. If I cannot return safely, all this is pointless. </i>Chen Ge tried to bring as many trump cards as he could. He took out his ck phone and scrolled to the very bottom. His eyesnding on the Wheel of Misfortune.

    Honestly, he was scarred by this specific feature on the ck phone. <i>When I finished the expansion mission, I earned a lucky draw chance. The Haunted House has been in business for a while already, and I have collected enough screams to trade for another lucky draw chance. I won¡¯t be so unlucky as to get a Baleful Specter twice, right?</i>

    Chen Ge had always stayed away from this kind of game, which depended fully on lucky. If not for the pressure from a three-star mission, he probably would have continued to ignore this function on the ck phone.

    <i>Two chances, perhaps I might really get something that¡¯ll save my life. </i>Chen Ge¡¯s finger tapped on the screen, and the wheel started to spin. As the wheel spun, Chen Ge sped his hands together. <i>Please, not another Baleful Specter!</i>

    ¡°Ding!¡± The needle finally stopped. ¡°Congrattions for winning a unique item¡ªThe White Valentine¡¯s Candy (Seven percent chance of this appearing when Zhang Ya¡¯s affection level has reached ¡®Crazy about you¡¯).

    ¡°Sincerity, Purity, rity, Romance. When you receive this present, your rtionship will advance to the next level.

    ¡°White Valentine¡¯s Candy: The sweet taste dances on your tongue. When you finish the candy, Zhang Ya will appear.

    ¡°You have received the present Zhang Ya was unable to gift when she was still alive. Zhang Ya¡¯s affection toward you has increased slightly.¡±

    Chen Ge had a bad feeling in his heart. He sat on the steps. <i>I¡¯ve received the present Zhang Ya was unable to gift when she was still alive. Goodness, this sounds so weird.</i>

    A draft blew against Chen Ge¡¯s neck, and he turned back to see a candy package was sitting behind him. The design of the bag was simr to the one Chen Ge had found in the dance studio at Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy. He opened it, and there was one piece of white candy inside. Weirdly enough, the candy had the face of a crying girl on it.

    <i>This face looks like one of Zhang Ya¡¯s roommates. Don¡¯t tell me she has made one of her roommates into candy!</i>

    Putting the candy back into the bag, Chen Ge felt like he needed to evaluate his situation. <i>Even though I didn¡¯t get a Baleful Specter, it is still rted to one. Is it because I¡¯m close to the Haunted House that I keep getting this weird stuff?</i>

    He patted the dust on his body as he stood up. He washed his face, ced the chicken in the room, and then left New Century Park on the bicycle.

    <i>ording to the introduction on the ck phone, there are many kinds of rewards I can get from the lucky draw. In terms of probability, it¡¯s about time I get something good. </i>Chen Ge stood before the rising sun and tapped on the screen. The wheel turned rapidly and stopped after a few seconds.

    <i>What is it? </i>The sun fell on Chen Ge, gilding him.

    ¡°Congrattions for winning a rare item¡ªThe Crying Tape (Three percent chance of winning!).

    ¡°When he yed the tape for the first time, he realized that something was wrong. The empty tape was filled with white noise that could not be erased. He tried every method to remove the white noise, and he heard the sound he made before he died.

    ¡°Lucky Specter¡¯s Favored, you have won another Rare Baleful Specter!

    ¡°Note: After winning five Baleful Specters, the title of Specter¡¯s Favored will be upgraded!¡±

    ...

    Chen Ge sat on the roadside with a cigarette dangling on his lips. Looking at New Century Park, which was 3,000 meters away, he sighed. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have wasted my energy toe so far.¡±

 Chapter 151 - A Certain Death!

    <h4>Chapter 151: A Certain Death!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge stood up after finishing the cigarettes. <i>Does anyone even listen to cassette tapes these day? Where am I going to find a yer?</i>

    After much difficulty, Chen Ge finally had reached a stable rtionship with Zhang Ya, but now he had another one to deal with. Chen Ge really did not expect that he would one day be troubled by being too popr.

    <i>The Haunted House is big enough for the brother inside the tape as long as he doesn¡¯t create trouble. </i>Chen Ge noticed a detail provided by the ck phone. The chance of drawing the crying tape was three percent while the chance of drawing the cursed love letter had been 0.3 percent. ording to that probability, the specter inside the tape should not be more powerful than Zhang Ya. His strength was probably between a normal Baleful Specter and a Red Specter.

    <i>Weaker is not so bad¡ªeasier for me toe to a negotiation with him.</i>

    After all, Chen Ge was rather rmed by Baleful Specter that had their own personal page like Zhang Ya. Pushing the bicycle back to New Century Park, some visitors had already arrived. Uncle Xu and Xu Wan were already standing in front of the Haunted House.

    ¡°Chen Ge, where have you been so early in the morning? And why are there chicken feathers stuck to your clothes?¡±

    The number of visitors was not that high, and Uncle Xu was considered half a Haunted House worker now. When he was free, he would stand outside the Haunted House to sell tickets.

    ¡°A morning joke.¡± Chen Ge dusted the chicken feather off naturally and opened the gate to prepare for business. That morning, Chen Ge kept spacing out, the messages from before crowing his mind. He was walking in the mist, and he could see an opening before him, but he was unable to tell whether it led to the exit or to the maw of a monster. At 4:30 pm, Chen Ge gave Xu Wan an early leave. He closed the gate and entered the staff breakroom.

    <i>It¡¯s time to start the preparation. </i>He ced his backpack on the table and shoved the mallet, the cleaver wrapped in red cloth, packets of salt, a lighter, and a shlight into it. <i>Six packs of salt should be enough.</i>

    Chen Ge then took out anotherrge bag. He nned to bring the white cat and Xiaoxiao with him.

    <i>Let me see what else I¡¯m missing.</i>

    Opening the drawer, Chen Ge saw the cassette tape sitting inside. It did not have any markings other than an irregr bloody handprint like someone had gripped it with a bloody hand.

    <i>Such an item that has already been lost in time has appeared in the Haunted House¡¯s drawer.</i>

    Naturally this was the ck phone¡¯s doing. Chen Ge did not know much about the tape, and since he was afraid that the thing inside might ruin the Haunted House when he was not around, he dropped the tape inside his bag as well.

    <i>That¡¯s all, I suppose. </i>Chen Ge found Xiaoxiao and the jacket with the kittens¡¯ odor and ced them inside the bag. He negotiated with the cat for a long time before it jumped unwillingly into the bag.

    <i>Stay here for a moment, I¡¯ll be right back. </i>Chen Ge walked into the props room and saw Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer lying in the corner. <i>This thing has a certain presence to it, maybe I¡¯ll be able to use it.</i>

    To fit the hammer inside his backpack, Chen Ge had to remove the mallet and three packs of salt.

    <i>The salt might not be useful, so there¡¯s no reason for me to bring so many. The multi-purpose mallet, though, has helped me a lot, so I have to bring this with me.</i>

    However, there was indeed no space, so Chen Ge tied to the mallet to the outside of the backpack.

    Including the ck suitcase with various livestream equipment, the table before Chen Ge was full. <i>It still feels like I¡¯m missing something.</i>

    Chen Ge thought about it, exited the staff breakroom, and entered the Mu Yang High School scenario. For this three-star Trial Mission, he could not be too prepared. He entered the female dormitory and picked up the broken ballpoint pen. ¡°Pen Spirit, I want to use today¡¯s fortune-telling chance, please help me answer a question.¡±

    Chen Ge started ying the Pen Spirit game. ¡°Will you tell me what kind of danger I will run into at the Third Sick Hall?¡±

    The pen quivered lightly, and after a long time, the pen started writing. ¡°A certain death!¡±

    As if to stress, the Pen Spirit used extra emphasis, and the pen almost tore through the paper.

    ¡°A certain death?¡± Looking at Pen Spirit¡¯s answer, Chen Ge¡¯s face fell. ¡°Pen Spirit, I asked about the type of danger, why are you giving me this answer?¡±

    Ahead of his departure, his confidence was already wavering. The Pen Spirit did not answer. Chen Ge¡¯s brows creased heavily. ¡°Hopefully you¡¯re wrong, or it¡¯s over for all of us.¡±

    Then, he nned to shove the pen inside his pocket. After all, as a part of the Haunted House, how could the Pen Spirit sit this one out?

    The Pen Spirit did not expect things would develop like this. Just as Chen Ge¡¯s arm was leaving the paper, it quickly scribbled the earlier answer out.

    <i>There¡¯s still a fighting chance?</i>

    Chen Ge was full of anticipation, but the Pen Spirit wrote another line down. ¡°Don¡¯t bring me with you!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t bring you?¡± Chen Ge pocketed the pen and waltzed out of Mu Yang High School.

    <i>Everything is ready; it¡¯s time to go! </i>Chen Ge took out the ck phone. Afterpleting three Nightmare Missions, he had the chance to unlock a Trial Mission.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored, you have unlocked the Trial Mission for the Third Sick Hall!

    ¡°The Third Sick Hall (Three Stars Scream Factor): This abandoned hospital makes strange noises at night, and you¡¯ll need to find out why.

    ¡°Mission Venue: The quarantine sector of Jiujiang Third Psychological Convalescence Centre.

    ¡°Mission Requirement: Arrive at the Third Sick Hall before midnight and survive until dawn.

    ¡°Mission Hint: The antonym of good is evil, and the antonym of right is wrong, so what is the antonym of human?

    ¡°Do you wish to ept this mission? Warning: Trial Missions are only avable for twenty-four hours. If they are not epted within these twenty-four hours, the scenario will never be unlocked.¡±

    Chen Ge had made all the necessary preparations for this moment. He clicked on ept, and the interface changed. A clock appeared in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. If Chen Ge did not enter the Third Sick Hall before midnight, the Trial Mission would be considered a fail.

    <i>The Third Sick Hall... after I finish this mission, I should be able to find more clues about my parents. </i>Chen Ge left the park with all the bags and called Liu Dao. Liu Dao told Chen Ge to wait for him at the park, and he would personally fetch him.

    When Liu Dao saw Chen Ge, he also received quite a shock. However, the man very cleverly did not ask for more details. He started the car and drove Chen Ge to Jiujiang Third Psychological Convalescence Centre.

    ¡°Qin Guang¡¯s livestream starts at 10 pm. The response to his previous livestream was positive, so the tform gave him its full support again. We have tried our best and have sacrificed the posts of two hosts to gain a not-so-bad channel and rmendation for you. Please do your best tonight.¡±

 Chapter 152 - A Unique Charm

    <h4>Chapter 152: A Unique Charm</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    At 7 pm, after taking two wrong turns, Liu Dao and Chen Ge finally arrived at their destination.

    ¡°Come on, I¡¯ll introduce you to the other workers of our studio.¡± Liu Dao parked the car and walked into the nearby brush.

    ¡°We¡¯re at the outskirt of the Jiujiang district, yes?¡± Chen Ge inspected the content of his backpack before getting out from the car. The road was filled with holes fromck of maintenance, and there was a small mound of rocks in the way like someone was purposely blocking up the road. The trees that lined the road were tall and lush, probably nted decades ago.

    The canopy blocked out the moonlightpletely, and after entering the brush, it was as dark as night. Chen Ge turned on the shlight and followed behind Liu Dao. They had been trekking for ten minutes already, and they were still trapped among the trees.

    ¡°Brother, are we lost?¡± Chen Ge looked around him, and there was no trace of any human activity.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fret, don¡¯t fret.¡± Liu Dao made a call before turning down a smallne. ¡°This area is veryplicated. There¡¯s nothing for us to refer to, so it¡¯s very easy to get lost. You¡¯re entering the mental hospital alone, so be careful. I advise you to mark some trees as you move toward the building.¡±

    After a few more minutes of walking, Liu Dao and Chen Ge finally exited the brush. Arge tent appeared before their eyes.

    ¡°This is the only open ground nearby and the ce with the best signal.¡± When they spotted Liu Dao, the people inside the tent walked over.

    ¡°Brother Liu, where have you been? You know we arecking in manpower; are you trying to work Sister Lee and myself to our death?¡± a young man who had a crew-cut and the head the shape of a pot lid grumbled. He looked about twenty and was forward with his words.

    ¡°Why did we let him go fetch the person knowing he¡¯s horrible with directions?¡± Sister Lee asked. Her skin was rough, and she was more muscr than most men.

    To diffuse the awkward situation, Liu Dao dragged Chen Ge over. ¡°This is the host who will be livestreaming inside the Third Sick Hall alone¡ªChen Ge. There¡¯s still some time before the livestream. You can teach him how to use the livestreaming equipment and camera techniques.¡±

    ¡°This is Chen Ge?¡± Sister Lee pushed Liu Dao aside and started studying Chen Ge alongside the teen. When they saw Chen Ge¡¯s get-up, there was a sh of confused shock in their eyes. <i>Isn¡¯t he going to do a supernatural livestream? Why did he bring a chicken with him?</i>

    They wanted to mock him, but since this was their first meeting, they held their tongues.

    ¡°I¡¯m Zhang Pin, and this is Sister Lee. We¡¯ll be responsible for helping you ry your livestream.¡± The teen led Chen Ge into the tent. There was plenty of equipment inside. He taught Chen Ge how to use it all and then had Chen Ge open the ck suitcase. He exined each piece of equipment¡¯s usage one by one.

    Outside the tent, Sister Lee whispered, ¡°Ol¡¯ Liu, you sure this kid can work? We have sacrificed the slot of two hosts with 100,000 viewers to earn a level two tform rmendation. The tform is afraid of earning Qin Guang¡¯s ire and purposely making this difficult for us.¡±

    Liu Dao lit a cigarette. The tform¡¯s rmendation could be delineated into five levels; one was the best, and five the worst. The highest they could wrangle for a newbie was a level two.

    ¡°He only has a level two rmendation while Qin Guang has three level one rmendations and a featured ad on the front page. It¡¯s obvious who will lose.¡± Sister Lee did not have confidence in Chen Ge, and that feeling only heightened after seeing Chen Ge in person. To be a famous host, one either had to have unnaturally good looks or immense charisma. Chen Ge seemed to have neither. He was just a normal guy, going about his life normally. He was not over the top but calm and collected. Compared to a host, he felt more like a doctor.

    ¡°You¡¯re only seeing his surface. If you chat with him, you¡¯ll realize this person has a unique charm to him. His understanding of fear is different than most.¡± Liu Dao was reminded of his first interaction with Chen Ge. He was led throughout the conversation, and his mind screamed, <i>Crazy person alert!</i>

    Later, he reflected on it and realized that it was because their thinking was not on the same level.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I look down on him, but we have invested too much on him.¡± Sister Lee sighed. ¡°Also, the fact that we¡¯ve helped him gain a rmendation will definitely get Qin Guang to target us. Now that the tform is pushing Qin Guang as their featured host, when Qin Guang¡¯s power is solidified, it¡¯ll be hell for other hosts from our studio.¡±

    Liu Dao hushed Sister Lee so that their conversation was not overheard. ¡°Have some faith in Chen Ge! To be honest, both of Qin Guang¡¯s previous livestreams were copies, and this man before us is the real deal.¡±

    ¡°But he has no script, props, or actors. This kind of dull livestream will get viewers?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to argue with you. In any case, do your work and make sure that there are no technical problems tonight.¡± Liu Daoposed himself and entered the tent. He greeted Chen Ge and took out hisptop. He opened the bookmarked website and said, ¡°Chen Ge,e and take a look at this.¡±

    Chen Ge thought it was going to be a script, but it was actually a news article.

    ¡°Writing scripts will be easily exposed, and it¡¯ll seem fake, so we¡¯ll leave it to you how you want to go about the plot.¡± Liu Dao pointed at the news. ¡°But here is some inspiration. These are three things that are most discussed online about the mental hospital. The first is the missing hospital director; his existence remains unconfirmed to this day, and no one knows whether he is still alive or dead. The second are the weird noises that reverberate through the buildings every midnight. The third is the appearance of the bloody words that seem to appear out of nowhere. Some people swore they have seen them appear at night, but as dawn arrived, the words disappeared. Focus on these three things, and the effect should be good.¡±

    Chen Ge nodded. After reading the articles in detail, he had a better understanding of the mental hospital.

    ¡°Let¡¯s take a break for dinner first. Then we¡¯ll discuss some of the details.¡± Sister Lee took out a few rice boxes from an insted cab and passed them around. At 9:30 pm, Liu Dao went out to make a call. When he returned, he told Chen Ge that it was time to start.

    Zhang Ping took out the equipment from the ck suitcase, and Chen Ge was making his final preparations. He opened the bag, and with the crowd watching curiously, he snatched the jacket away from the cat and put it on.

    The jacket had the smell of the kitchen, so only by wearing this jacket would the white cat follow him into the mental hospital.

    ¡°Why are you looking at me like that?¡± Chen Ge stuffed a ragdoll inside the jacket¡¯s pocket and released the white cat. ¡°Isn¡¯t it normal for a supernatural livestream to have a cock, a doll, and a white cat?¡±

 Chapter 153 - Jiujiang Third Psychological Convalescence Centre

    <h4>Chapter 153: Jiujiang Third Psychological Convalescence Centre</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The people from Liu Dao¡¯s studio were speechless because this was a question they had not faced in their life before. In the end, it was Liu Dao who walked over to say, ¡°You have to be careful tonight. Safety first. We took a look around the mental hospital when the sun was still up.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been inside the ce? What did you find?¡± The way Chen Ge focused on Liu Dao made him feel ufortable.

    ¡°We just took a stroll outside and didn¡¯t dare go in. But I¡¯ve downloaded a map of the mental hospital for you. ording to the rumors, it was drawn by one of its patients.¡± Liu Dao opened a file on hisptop, and it showed a very rough map. ¡°There are three buildings inside the hospital, and they are interconnected.

    ¡°The first and second sick halls housed normal patients, and the entrance and windows faced the sun. The third sick hall is a bit more mysterious; it was the quarantine hall. It housed the more dangerous patients, and its door and windows faced away from the sun.

    ¡°You have to be exceptionally careful when you are inside this third hall. ording to the description of the artist who drew the map, the third hall was forbidden for normal patients, and whenever a normal patient was discovered to be near the ce, they would be given a horrible punishment.

    ¡°Therefore, I suggest you skip the third hall tonight. If you take it slow, the first two halls should provide us with enough content already.¡±

    Liu Dao pushed the screen toward Chen Ge to make him memorize the map.

    ¡°Is this Third Sick Hall that special? Did you manage to find more details about it online?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s expression was serious.

    ¡°Not much, and some sounded made-up. Some said that the patients in there had killed a doctor, and the incident was exposed only after a few days. Some even said that the ce did not house normal humans but strange creatures.¡± Liu Daoughed. ¡°It has to be made-up, right?¡±

    Closing theptop, everyone there noticed the change in Chen Ge¡¯s presence. He seemed to be greatly worried about something.

    ¡°Check the camera, we do not have much time left.¡± Chen Ge carried his backpack and equipped the chest camera, wrist camera, and audio recorder. After testing all of them, he headed out of the tent.

    ¡°If it bes too dangerous, just turn back and run. Remember to mark your way as you head toward the ce and set my phone number as your emergency call,¡± Liu Dao shouted from behind Chen Ge. ¡°I will call you one minute before the start of the livestream. You¡¯ll be able to see the situation inside your livestream room. Lastly, no one has been to that ce in a long time, so I cannot guarantee what you¡¯ll find inside. Be careful!¡±

    Chen Ge did not expect that the man would be so worried about him. He stopped at the entrance to the tent and set Liu Dao¡¯s phone as his emergency call before everyone. He waved and said, ¡°Remember to stay inside the tent. Do not wander off, and don¡¯te to find me no matter what you see or hear. Understand?¡±

    ¡°But if...¡±

    ¡°Take care of the equipment and leave the content to me.¡± The man and the cat disappeared into the darkness.

    Watching Chen Ge walk away, Sister Lee, who was dubious of him, had her arms crossed before her chest. She said under her breath, ¡°This kid, at least his back is kinda handsome.¡±

    Chen Ge was more nervous than anyone before entering an actual three-star scenario. He understood how dangerous this ce was and knew how real those stories that Liu Dao thought were made-up were. The patient did not make up those things; perhaps it was because he could see things that normal people could not, and that was why he was treated as a patient.

    Following the memorized map, Chen Ge reached the end of the brush, and an old building appeared before his eyes.

    ¡°This mental hospital upies arge area.¡± Initially, when Chen Ge heard it was a private hospital, he had thought that the environment would be horrid and would not be big enough to fit many patients, but when he was there in person, he realized how wrong he was.

    The hospital was surrounded by thick brush, and there was only one entrance. It was sealed, and thanks to the tall cement walls, Chen Ge temporarily could not see anything more than that. When he got close, Chen Ge noticed something that unsettled him.

    The hospital¡¯s cement walls were filled with many senseless sentences, but they shared a simrity¡ªthey all mentioned someone¡¯s name. When Chen Ge saw this for the first time, he tried to memorize the names, but there were simply too many sentences and too many names. Some even repeated, so in the end, he gave up.

    <i>Are these names of the patients at the hospital?</i>

    He could not understand the meaning of those sentences, but he did think that they are very weird.

    <i>These sentences definitely weren¡¯t written by a normal person. What is it that they are trying tomunicate?</i>

    Looking at the walls, Chen Ge felt weirdly anxious, like the sentences were curses directed at him. ¡°White Tiger, don¡¯t stray too far from me.¡±

    Now that they were alone, Chen Ge did not feel that shameless about referring to the cat by that name. When they got close to the hospital, the white cat showed obvious hostility. This cat, which was sensitive to those things, had felt something.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we also have our trump cards.¡± Chen Ge raised the chicken, which was tied by the ws, and took out the mallet. He did not rush in but waited patiently for Liu Dao¡¯s call.

    ¡°The equipment is working well; the picture is clear and stable. We¡¯ve started the livestream. You can check it out on your own phone.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge logged into the tform, and the first thing he saw was the ad for Qin Guang¡¯s livestream. He clicked on it. Qin Guang and his team had a little ident outside of Mu Yang High School. It sounded like the equipment car had driven into a ditch. Qin Guang was making a personal apology on the livestream. He said that the driver saw something copse on top of the windscreen, and he lost his focus.

    <i>This bunch of people really did go to Mu Yang High School. Looks like he didn¡¯t heed my advice. Then again, even this apology video has about 400,000 views. He cannot be underestimated.</i>

    Chen Ge then entered his own livestream room. Thanks to the tform¡¯s rmendation, the number of viewers had climbed up to 250,000 people in a short amount of time.

    The video was split into different screens. Thergest one was the footage from his chest camera. It had the highest definition. There was a smaller video in the bottom left corner, which corresponded to the camera on his wrist. Like a watch, the angle could be monitored freely, and by raising his arm, he could see his own body on the video.

    <i>It¡¯s 10 pm. Time to start.</i>

    He pointed the camera on his wrist at himself and looked at the chatlog that continued to roll. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that I¡¯d be doing something so crazy tonight.¡±

    After patting his backpack and helping the cat onto the wall, Chen Ge climbed over the wall into Jiujiang Third Psychological Convalescence Centre.

 Chapter 154 - Dog Cage?

    <h4>Chapter 154: Dog Cage?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°A mental hospital and normal hospital offer different kinds of treatment, and there is a bigger stigma toward the former. Normally, people unconsciously skirt around them,¡± Chen Ge said to the camera. ¡°No one can refute that. After all, no matter the argument, the people who are treated here are different from us, but sometimes, it is hard to tell whether they are wrong or whether it is us who are not that normal.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s started to focus when his feetnded on the ground. ¡°This hospital before me is the ce where many horrific rumors took ce. When the day went quiet, weird screams could be hearding from the hospital. Words written in blood would appear on the walls of the corridors where no live people still tread. The director has disappeared without a trace, and some suspected he is still hiding in a dark corner of this hospital.¡±

    Chen Ge nced at the chat log, and most of the viewers did not buy what he said; some even made a directparison of his livestream to Qin Guang¡¯s.

    ¡°Supernatural livestream, yet another actor trying to lie to us.¡±

    ¡°Even through the screen, I can already tell your future. Some hosts are only mention such stories to survive in our memory.¡±

    ¡°I can understand what you¡¯ve said, but do you mind telling me why there is a chicken in your hand? Are you trying tobine a supernatural show with a cooking show? Is this some new direction?¡±

    ¡°Visiting a mental hospital at night? Based on that, you got my like!¡±

    The viewers were chatting and joking; there was a noticeableck of fear.

    ¡°A live cock will be able to defend against negative energy. Tonight, I¡¯ll let you experience the real sensation of fear. In fact, we took a two-hour drive before we managed to locate this hospital, aren¡¯t any of you afraid?¡± Chen Ge exined patiently, but the viewers still did not buy it.

    ¡°What is there to be afraid of? Thest host who said that is now fixing his car.¡±

    ¡°Wow! That is such a cute cat...¡±

    This helped Chen Ge calm down. After chatting for a while longer with the viewers, he finally started exploring Jiujiang Third Psychological Convalescence Centre. The mental hospital spanned arge area, and the whole hospital was surrounded by a cement wall. There was arge courtyard probably for the patients to move around in, but after years of neglect, other than the few patches of cement, the other ces were overgrown with weeds that reached up to the knees.

    Chen Ge moved forward some more, and he finally saw the three buildings that were connected to each other. The buildings were arranged into the form of the character ¡®Æ·¡¯. The second building was the one that protruded to the north, and all the buildings were connected with hallways.

    ¡°The first and second sick halls face the sun, and the one facing away from it should be the third sick hall. This is a weird design. Are there some patients that couldn¡¯t see the light in the third sick hall?¡±

    From theyout of the ce alone, this ce gave him the creeps. <i>There has to be a reason for this kind of design. Be it for the Trial Mission or to get the clues left behind by my parents, I¡¯ll need to enter the Third Sick Hall tonight.</i>

    Chen Ge walked forward, and the white cat followed behind him. The moon was full that night, and it colored the cement ground a milky white. Chen Ge took the steps that led him to the first sick hall. The entrance was made from steel. He tried to push it once, and it swung open easily.

    ¡°The lock is broken.¡± The previous Trial Missions had given Chen Ge plenty of experience. He shone the light on the lock. ¡°The spring has snapped; it was a forced entry.¡±

    Chen Ge looked down the dark corridor, and a question cropped up his mind. ¡°Who busted the lock?¡±

    Someone had returned after the hospital closed. Was it the patients or his own parents?

    Director Luo had overheard his parents mention the Third Sick Hall before they disappeared, and the note left in the park did also point to this ce, but how was this ce special? Chen Ge had no idea.

    Director Luo had heard them mention this ce before they disappeared while the bloody note only appeared after his parents¡¯ disappearance. <i>What happened to them at the Third Sick Hall?</i>

    Chen Ge pushed open the steel door wide. The corridor was filled with trash and abandoned beds. It gave one a glimpse into the past. The ce had been crowded when it was still in operation, and many patients could only rest in the corridors.

    Unlike certified hospitals, mental hospitals did not have that many specialized rooms. Along the crowded corridor were rooms of unknown usage. Chen Ge sniffed the air and could smell a stench in the air. This stench was familiar because he had once smelled it in Hai Ming Apartments; it was simr to the stench that stuck to Wang Shenglong.

    ¡°The negative feeling is already so strong even before I enter the ce.¡± This was also Chen Ge¡¯s first visit to a mental hospital. The rough map drawn by the patient was his only guidance.

    ¡°The design of the three sick halls should be simr. The danger level of the first sick hall should be the lowest. I should familiarize myself with the surroundings first before moving forward.¡± He only took one step when the white cat jumped onto his shoulder. It seemed to want tomunicate something to Chen Ge, but Chen Ge could not understand what.

    ¡°This is the first time the cat has willing been so physically close to me. What has it sensed? Is this a sign of fear or something else entirely?¡±

    As he walked down the hall, Chen Ge kept feeling like something was crunching underneath his footsteps. He lowered his head to look, and inside the cracked tiles were plenty of carcasses of unknown bugs. The hospital had not been used for year, so it could not be the effect of bug spray, so what killed these bugs?

    All the doors to the room in the first sick hall were open, and the interior design in each room was almost identical. Other than some single beds in a cramped room, there was nothing else.

    ¡°Just how many patients did this hospital admit when it was still operating?¡± Chen Ge walked into one of the random rooms to feel it out. Four wooden beds filled up the already small room, and there was only a standing ce left for Chen Ge to even turn around.

    ¡°Living in such a ustrophobic space day in and day out, even those who were normal would turn insane.¡± Chen Ge exited the room and soon reached the first junction. There was a ce that looked like the nurse¡¯s station. On top of the wooden counter, there were several empty pill bottles and cards with patients¡¯ names on.

    ¡°Looks like the patients would need toe here to get their medicine daily.¡± Chen Ge looked into the station and found two things that should not have been there.

    There were two iron-welded cages inside the station. They were not big, justrge enough to fit a medium-sized dog.

    ¡°What are these two cages for?¡± Chen Ge jumped into the station, and when he shone the shlight at the cages, he made a startling discovery. One of the cages had a half-cooked and half-feathered duck inside it.

    ¡°There¡¯s no sign of decay, which means that the duck was recently put inside the cage.¡± Chen Ge gripped the mallet and leaned against the wall. ¡°There are people inside this hospital other than myself.¡±

 Chapter 155 - More Than One Person

    <h4>Chapter 155: More Than One Person</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After exposure to open air over a certain period of time, cooked meat would harden. Chen Ge aimed the camera on his chest on the duck as he reached out to touch it. The surface was tender, and it had some warmth to it.

    ¡°This duck was cooked less than an hour ago.¡± He nudged his body as he pulled the duck out from the cage. ¡°The innards weren¡¯t properly cleaned, and the neck was snapped by brute force. The head is missing.¡±

    Chen Ge examined the duck closely. There was a bite mark on the half-cooked meat, and the stomach had been torn open. There were no duck feathers on the floor, so it meant that the creature that tore the duck apart had eaten the feathers along with the meat.

    ¡°The iron cages are used to keeprge dogs?¡± cing the duck back, Chen Ge looked at the other end of the cage. ced outside the cage were two stic bowls, and they were both filled with a colorless liquid.

    ¡°Why are there two bowls ced inside the cage? This cage houses two dogs?¡± The bowls looked simr, and Chen Ge raised them to his nose to sniff. One of them had no smell; Chen Ge believed it was normal water. However, the liquid in the other bowl had a slightly pungent smell to it.

    ¡°Smells like rat poison.¡± To prevent rats from munching on the set pieces, Chen Ge had purchased rat poison before, so he was familiar with the smell.

    ¡°Two simr bowls, one filled with water, another mixed with rat poison. Isn¡¯t the owner afraid that the pets might identally drink from the wrong bowl?¡± The scene before him was indeed weird. Chen Ge captured everything with the camera. He nced at his phone, and the chatbox was updating fast. One of thements shed before his eyes¡ªit mentioned in passing cage and page.

    Chen Ge did not have the time to climb the wall of text. He checked the iron rods of the cage and realized that the exit of the cage was dyed with arge sttering of paint like someone had been gripping it tightly, unwilling to let go.

    ¡°Could it be that the cage is not for animals but humans?¡± Empty pill bottles littered the abandoned nurse station, and there were little bags with patients¡¯ names written on them. Some of them still had weird looking pills inside. ¡°Someone is living at this mental hospital that has been abandoned for five years, and there looks to be more than one person living here.¡±

    Chen Ge became more careful. All the preparation he made was to deal with ghosts; he had not prepared to face dangerous upants at the hospital. Chen Ge examined the walls on either side as he walked out from the nurse¡¯s station.

    The person in the iron cage was forcibly dragged away. Their hands were dirty with paint, so they had to have left some traces during the struggle. Chen Ge took a few steps and saw signs of the walls being wed at, and the peeling paint was daubed with blood.

    ¡°Injured?¡± Chen Ge followed the trail up to the second floor. There, the corridor spilt into two: one led further into the first sick hall while the other connected to the second sick hall. As mentioned earlier, the three buildings were interconnected.

    Chen Ge used twenty minutes to finish inspecting the first sick hall. There were not any hidden corners for people to hide in. He failed to find the person trapped in the cage and did not find any other evidence of people living there.

    ¡°Could the person have been dragged to the other sick hall?¡± Chen Ge was walking down the stairs when his phone vibrated. It was a call from Liu Dao.

    ¡°Yes?¡± Chen Ge was so tense that even the smallest interruption influenced him greatly.

    ¡°Chen Ge, you¡¯re moving too fast! We n to livestream throughout the night, and you have finished exploring the first sick hall in just twenty minutes. What are you going to do for the rest of the night?¡± Liu Dao had been following Chen Ge¡¯s livestream. ¡°Qin Guang¡¯s livestream has broken 600,000 viewers, and you¡¯re barely breaking 50000 viewers. Don¡¯t just focus on the exploration¡ªtry tomunicate with the viewers.¡±

    Chen Ge listened to Liu Dao as he wandered back down to the first floor. When he looked down the first-floor corridor, his pupils narrowed. ¡°Wait, who closed the entrance? I remember leaving it open when I came in.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Liu Dao paused. ¡°In any case, don¡¯t feel too much pressure. Be careful.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll talk to youter.¡± Chen Ge pocketed his phone and ran toward the entrance with his mallet raised. When he passed the nurse¡¯s station, he nced into it out of habit. ¡°Something has changed.¡±

    However, since he was worried about the front door, Chen Ge did not jump into the nurse¡¯s station. He ran to the door and shook it with all his might. ¡°F*ck! It¡¯s locked! When did that happen?¡±

    Chen Ge looked through the gap and saw that there was a new lock on the door outside. He mmed into the door, but it remained unmoved.

    ¡°The speedy change of the lock means that this is not the first time the culprit has done this.¡±

    There were people living in the abandoned hospital, and Chen Ge believed that it was the patients who had returned. They were not mentally retarded. If anything, from a certain perspective, they were cleverer and more dangerous than normal people. Chen Ge could not underestimate them.

    He tried to pry the door open with the mallet, but it was to no avail. He walked into the rooms next to the front door, and the windows were sealed up with ironting. At that moment, Chen Ge could understand the feeling of the patients who were sent into the mental hospital; this ce felt like a giant jail.

    <i>Ask for help? Call the cops? </i>Chen Ge looked at the phone, and the viewership was still climbing. If he left down, this livestream would be over. Furthermore, he had the Trial Mission toplete; he had to survive inside the Third Sick Hall until dawn. If he involved the police, that would also fail.

    ¡°I remember that there wasn¡¯t anyting on the second floor windows. That¡¯s an opening if I need to escape. Temporarily, there¡¯s no need to call the police.¡± Toplete this Trial Mission and find the clues to his missing parents, Chen Ge did not hold back.

    Returning to the nurse¡¯s station, Chen Ge finally realized what had changed. The stic bowls outside of the iron cage had been toppled, and the liquid had sshed all over the floor.

    ¡°They¡¯re worried that I might discover one of them is poisoned?¡± Chen Ge could not understand the meaning of this. When he was about to stand up, he noticed rows of small handwriting that was written under the wooden counter. To take a closer look, Chen Ge twisted around and leaned his head into the space under the counter. Before he got close enough, something touched the top of his head. It felt like little worms that were trying to burrow into his hair.

    Chen Ge reached out to touch it, and he felt something touch the back of his hand. He turned his head around, and his heart skipped a beat.

    Heavy strands of hair were taped to the bottom of the counter!

    Some were long, and some were short, but it was unclear where they came from. ¡°Why is there hair here? Did it belong to the person inside the cage?¡±

    Suddenly, a cat¡¯s shrill purr could be hear from outside the nurse¡¯s station, and Chen Ge immediately crawled out from under the counter and looked out. The white cat was gnashing its teeth at the stairwell that led up to the second floor, its multi-colored eyes staring in a particr direction.

 Chapter 156 - Who Is Following Me?

    <h4>Chapter 156: Who Is Following Me?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± Chen Ge rushed down the corridor without a second thought with the mallet raised. He did not want to give the other party the chance to react.

    ¡°Come out!¡±

    The front door was already locked, so his trail had been exposed. He had nothing else to lose.

    The man and the cat ran to the corner of the stairwell, but it wasplete darkness up the stairs; there was nothing there.

    ¡°Where has it disappeared to?¡± Chen Ge had tested the white cat at the Haunted House. It was sensitive to those things and had never made a mistake.

    <i>The white cat didn¡¯t go berserk but only showed aggression, so that thing¡¯s danger level should be lowered than Mu Yang High School.</i>

    The white cat had acted up twice inside Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. The first was when it was inside Mu Yang High School scenario, and the other was when the blood door appeared in the toilet. ording to the cat¡¯s reaction, Chen Ge made a gauge of the danger threat.

    <i>But the key issue is, I have no idea whether that thing was human or ghost.</i>

    Returning to the nurse¡¯s station, Chen Ge demolished the counter with the mallet and pried the whole counter board out. The thing that he saw was rather scary. Strands of hair that were tied together by string were nailed to the wooden board. ¡°Why would someone nail hair to a wooden board? What is the meaning of this?¡±

    All the strands were neatly tied up with string. One was soft, dark, and luscious; it probably belonged to a young woman who took care of her hair. The other was rough, white, and had split ends; it probably belonged to an elder. Chen Ge deduced that there were hair samples from four different individuals afterparing their color, quality, and length.

    ¡°Of these 4 people, at least one of them has to be alive.¡± Chen Ge looked at the tworge iron cages, and their uses slowly came to him. ¡°I¡¯m dealing with actual crazies.¡±

    He ced the wooden board aside and squatted down again. This time, he got a better view of the handwriting on the wall¡ªI will repay everything that you have done to me.

    The handwriting was small, and there were other senseless sentences. It felt like the person was interrupted mid-sentence and started to write nonsense.

    ¡°When some patients act up, they mumble something incoherent to the air, quite simr to how normal people would talk in their sleep.¡± Chen Ge tried to make sense of those words, but they were iprehensible.

    Reading the words sent a chill up his spine. They reminded him of the sentences written on the outer walls of the mental hospital. There was a mention of a name in each sentence, and they came from different handwriting, meaning they were probably written by different people. It was understandable if a few patients acted like this, but to have the whole hospital act this way...

    ¡°Looks like all the patients in this hospital have some unresolved business.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone to snap a picture of the words written under the nurse¡¯s station. He then tied the cock to his backpack. ¡°Then again, the greater the number of individuals, the greater the chance of them making a mistake. It¡¯s time for me to move onto the second sick hall.¡±

    Chen Ge jumped out of the station and took out a pack of salt from his bag. He tore open a small opening and left a line of salt around the nurse¡¯s station. This was not to prevent bad luck but toy a trap for the hidden madman. With salt in his hand, Chen Ge walked to the hallway that connected the first and second sick hall. When he was about to enter the second sick hall, the white cat suddenly jumped onto the window and scratched on the ss.

    ¡°Careful, you¡¯re going to fall down.¡± Chen Ge stood beside the window. The hospital was surrounded by a thick brush, and there was light in sight.

    ¡°Who would have thought that such a building existed in the middle of nowhere?¡± Chen Ge did not notice anything weird, but the white cat refused to the leave the window. It kept its head raised and kept meowing.

    ¡°Something wrong with the window? Above us?¡± Chen Ge opened the window and looked up. Just above him, at the window of the third floor, a twisted face was looking down at him. Facing away from the light, when the person heard the sound of Chen Ge¡¯s window opening, he leaned back quickly and disappeared without even closing the window.

    ¡°That face...¡± Chen Ge also did not expect the enemy to suddenly appear above him. They had shared a look that was less than 0.1 seconds. He definitely did not get a good enough look, but he knew the face looked weird, different from normal, but he could not pinpoint what was weird about it.

    Chen Ge stopped and focused on his hearing. He did not hear any footsteps, so he knew the person had not run in a certain direction. ¡°I have a feeling that face is perhaps uneven on both sides, but it should be a person.¡±

    Chen Ge entered the second sick hall. He had thought that the first and second sick hall were going to be the same, but when he entered the second sick hall, he realized that theyout waspletely different. The second sick hall wasrger and emptier than the first. There were no crowded beds, and between individual rooms, there were chairs, tables, and tablemps.

    ¡°The environment here is definitely better than the first sick hall.¡± Chen Ge dumped a handful of salt near the staircase before entering the first room that was closest to him. The mattress was torn open, and its innards were littered all over the ce. The chamber pot was ced next to the eating utensils, and there were plenty of characters gouged out with fingernails left on the wall.

    ¡°It mustn¡¯t have been easy for the doctors and nurses to take care of patients like this daily.¡± Chen Ge exited the room and continued to move forward.

    The room types in the second sick hall were more varied than the first. There were specialized quarantine rooms, entertainment rooms, chess rooms, and shower rooms, and there was even a small hall with a stage at the end of the corridor, but the decoration inside was rather weird.

    The hall was not used to host parties or balls. The windows were sealed shut and draped with extra thick curtains. All the decorations were either ck or white, creating a weird style. Opening the door, before even stepping in, Chen Ge noticed therge ck and white picture ced on the middle of the stage.

    The picture was hanging on the wall, and it was sliced in half by an unknown culprit. However, from the remaining half, one could see that it was a middle-aged female nurse. She was of arge frame and had a scowl on her face.

    ¡°An erged ck and white picture, thick curtains, rows of wooden chairs. Why is this ce decorated like a mourning hall?¡± Chen Ge could not understand why such an event would ur at a mental hospital, and if the event was hosted by the hospital, what was the meaning of it?

    ¡°Could this female nurse have been a victim of the Third Sick Hall? But if that¡¯s the case, why is her picture in the hall of the second sick hall?¡±

    Chen Ge did not stop after memorizing the face of the female nurse. He closed the door, left a line of salt at the door, and ran up the stairs to the third floor.

 Chapter 157 - Victims

    <h4>Chapter 157: Victims</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    There was a stench in the air, and the closer Chen Ge got to the third sick hall, the more obvious the stench became. The hallway between the second and third sick hall was locked. A steel door separated the two sick halls.

    Through the small gap in the door, Chen Ge could sort of see into the third sick hall. The tables and chairs were overturned, and a mess of mattresses littered the hallway. They were bloated up like they were covering something underneath.

    Chen Ge stood beside the rusted steel door with his eyes locked on the keyhole.

    ¡°A double-sided lock?¡± Most mental hospitals used double-sided locks. In an emergency, the door could be locked from either side to prevent entry to seal up an entire area.

    This was something inconspicuous, but it had garnered Chen Ge¡¯s attention. He took out the key left behind by Wang Haiming from his pocket and tried it with the lock. Due to ack of maintenance, the lock was rusted shut, and the key could barely fit.

    ¡°I knew it would be extremely lucky if it fitted.¡± Afterparing the keyhole and the height of the key as well as the teeth, Chen Ge pocketed the key again. When he entered the hospital, he noticed that most rooms had single-sided lock, and their keyholes were small, too small for the key to fit in.

    <i>Wang Haiming brought the key out from the third sick hall, so the lock it fits should be inside the Third Sick Hall as well. If I dare make a spection, there are nine patients living in the Third Sick Hall that has ten rooms, so could the missing patient from Room 3 be Wang Haiming?</i>

    Chen Ge could not confirm his spection. Then again, Doctor Gao had searched through all the records, and there was nothing on Room 3. <i>Just a Wang Haiming shouldn¡¯t be enough for the hospital to delete all the records.</i>

    The mystery at this hospital was deep. Chen Ge was not interested in what happened here five years ago; he merely wanted to find the clue left behind by his parents and the way to close the ¡®door¡¯.

    Chen Ge held the shlight in his hands as he entered the third-floor corridor. He walked past the rooms carefully. ¡°Could the person I saw earlier be hiding in one of these rooms?¡±

    At the end of the long corridor, Chen Ge stopped at the door to a room with an unknown purpose. A heavy scent of mildew drifted out from behind the door, and the door looked different from other normal sickbays. There was also a brand-new lock that hung on the door.

    ¡°There is no rust on the lock. Simr to the lock that appeared on the first sick hall¡¯s front door, this is new.¡± Chen Ge tried Wang Haiming¡¯s key, and it still did not fit. He turned back to look down the dark corridor. After making sure there was no one around, he raised the mallet and mmed it at the door.

    ¡°Thankfully, it¡¯s a wooden door. I wouldn¡¯t be able to get in if it was a steel door.¡± As the door fell away, a heavy smell of mildew hit Chen Ge. The room was stuffed with patients¡¯ clothing and mattresses that formed a small hill.

    ¡°This appears to be theundry room for the second sick hall.¡± Chen Ge straightened up, and the camera on his chest recorded everything, including the words that left his lips. Due to the dangerous environment, he did not dare let his guard down to chat with the viewers. All he could do was vocalize everything he was thinking and seeing like a real life supernatural documentary.

    The smell of mildew overwhelmed the stench that lingered at the sick hall itself. It made Chen Ge feel sticky and ufortable. Suppressing the difort, Chen Ge walked into the room.

    The room wasrge. There were severalundry machines and special anti-bacterial machines lined up by the wall. Other than that, the room was upied by dirtyundry and old mattresses.

    ¡°This room looks normal, so why is it locked?¡± Chen Ge focused his attention on the mountain of dirtyundry. Holding his breath as much as he could, he used the mallet to move theyers of cloth aside. ¡°I have a feeling something is hiding underneath here.¡±

    Chen Ge increased his pace, and as he peeled off the stained clothes, the mallet hit something hard, and it created a metallic clink.

    ¡°An iron cage?¡± He moved theyer of mattress aside, and the sight that appeared caused his heart to skip a beat. There was a young woman whose head was shaved trapped inside an iron cage!

    Her mouth was gagged with a dirty pillow case, and her hands were tied to the cage. Her mental condition was unstable, and she kept shaking her head at Chen Ge, waving her tied hands as her legs kicked outwards at the cage.

    Chen Ge was stunned. He definitely did not expect to find a living person under the mountain of dirtyundry. The livestream exploded, and the chatlog went berserk. In fact, there were so manyments that the livestream itself hadgged.

    Chen Ge took a quiet step back. Even then, he was calm. He closed the door and moved aundry machine to block the door. He was afraid of being assaulted from behind. It was only after he blocked the door that he dared move close to the iron cage.

    ¡°Can you understand me?¡± When Chen Ge neared the cage, the woman started to resist. There was no way tomunicate with her. ¡°There are no wounds on her body and no oil stains on her lips. This woman isn¡¯t the person who was moved from the first sick hall. Perhaps there are some other people here.¡±

    Chen Ge rummaged through the otherundry, and the horrible stench hid 3 iron cages. The iron cages were arranged in the form of the character ¡®Æ·¡¯, simr to how the three buildings at the mental hospital were arranged.

    The woman was ced in the middle, and to the left of her was an old man about seventy. He was incredibly thin, and there were oily stains on his lips and fingers. To the right of the woman was a pale middle-aged man who appeared like he had not seen the sun for a long time. This man was the only one who looked at Chen Ge. His gaze wasplicated, and it was filled with a mixture of excitement, disgust, and fear.

    ¡°Three victims?¡±

    Things were greatly out of Chen Ge¡¯s expectations. A thought appeared in his mind. He gripped the mallet and retreated to a safe distance from the three iron cages.

    When one came across strangers in a dangerous situation, the safest method was to not believe what they said and try to not get too close to them because the real murderer might be hiding among them.

    Chen Ge walked around them. The cages were small; they were definitely not designed for humans. With a living person, they could not even turn their body inside the cage.

    ¡°Three cages, but only the woman is gagged and tied up.¡± More questions surfaced. If they were all victims, why was only the woman, the weakest of them, apprehended in such a manner?

    The old man had a nk expression, and the middle-aged man had a changing expression. Their limbs were not tied, but they also did not ask for help. They just sat quietly in the iron cages, looking at Chen Ge.

    Comparing the explosive livestream, Chen Ge was calm. He stood before the three cages and asked, ¡°How long have you been kept here?¡±

 Chapter 158 - Two Bowls of Water

    <h4>Chapter 158: Two Bowls of Water</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s question, the three people in the cage had different reactions. The old man kept licking his fingers silently like he was trying to recollect the pleasant taste of the food he had just eaten, whereas the young woman widened her eyes and struggled in the cage like a fish out of water. The middle-aged man had the most unusual reaction; he was the only one out of the three who kept his eyes on Chen Ge.

    ¡°Why are these three people kept at the mental hospital?¡± Chen Ge walked to the old man¡¯s cage first. Inside the cage sat two stic bowls. The old man realized that someone had gotten close to him, but he did not show any sign of fear. He sat in the middle of the cage and continued to suck on the oil stains on his finger.

    ¡°The person who was transferred from the first sick hall is him.¡± Try as he might, Chen Ge could not see anything particrly special about the old man. ¡°His hair is growing unevenly. Someone has recently shaved him, and this clump of hair should be new.¡±

    Seeing that Chen Ge was reminded of the hairs that were nailed to the nurse¡¯s station. One of the strands had white hairs mixed in ck hairs; they likely belonged to this old man before him.

    ¡°His hair is so long even after a shave. Looks like he has been trapped here for a long time already.¡± When Chen Ge wasparing the hair samples, he had decided that they came from four different people, but there were only three before him. ¡°One is still missing.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes scanned the young woman before stopping on the middle-aged man. His hair was long and unkempt. ¡°This person¡¯s head doesn¡¯t seem to have been shaved before.¡±

    Chen Ge became more careful. Shaving seemed to be the killer¡¯s weird habit. Perhaps it was a way of toying with his victim, but why would he let the middle-aged man be? Did the man know the killer, or was he the killer?

    Chen Ge was shocked by his thought. In the hallway that connected the first and second sick hall, Chen Ge had caught a glimpse of an unfamiliar face; it had been an uneven face, a face that was twisted.

    To be able to walk around the sick halls freely and follow Chen Ge, the twisted face should have been the killer, but there was now this suspicious, middle-aged man. It was possible that there was more than one crazed killer who liked to trap their victims.

    Chen Ge gripped the mallet, and a worse scenario appeared in his mind. <i>What if everyone in this mental hospital, other than me, is a killer?</i>

    Of course, the chance of that was low. He paused to think before stopping to look at the young man. Both of the men showed no sign of answering him, so Chen Ge tried to remove the gag from the young woman¡¯s mouth, hoping to get some information from her.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m here to save you.¡± Chen Ge tried the lock on the iron cage. Without a key, with just the mallet, he would need to work for who knew how long before he could release the three people.

    The young woman seemed to have a natural fear toward living people. The moment Chen Ge got close, she started to mumble, shake her head and hands.

    ¡°Stay calm, I¡¯m not going to hurt you.¡± Chen Ge walked to stop before the young woman. When he was about to remove the gag from her, the middle-aged man, who had remained silent throughout, suddenly spoke.

    ¡°I advise you to keep her gag on; she is very noisy.¡±

    Turning around, Chen Ge was greeted with a pair of dark and fully guarded eyes. It was unknown whether the middle-aged man treated everyone like this or just Chen Ge. There was a natural disgust that radiated off the man, like the things Chen Ge was doing heavily repulsed him.

    ¡°She is very noisy?¡± Chen Ge was not afraid of talking to them. What he was afraid of was their refusal tomunicate. As long as these people were willing to talk to him, he had a chance of getting useful information from them.

    ¡°Yes, very noisy,¡± the middle-aged man answered sinctly. He seemed to think thatmunication was something disgusting as well.

    ¡°Can you tell me why? Was she traumatized in some way?¡± Chen Ge asked two consecutive questions, but there was no answer from the middle-aged man.

    It was not until Chen Ge reached his hand into the cage to remove the woman¡¯s gag that the middle-aged man said, ¡°Don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Then, what do you know? Since you don¡¯t know this woman, do you know the old man in the first cage?¡± Chen Ge asked the question that was on his mind. ¡°Why does his cage have two stic bowls but yours and the young woman¡¯s only have one?¡±

    ¡°I can tell you, but in return, I hope that you won¡¯t remove the gag from that woman; she is very noisy.¡± The middle-aged kept repeating that, and Chen Ge was curious why. In any case, he agreed to the trade, at least on the surface. ¡°Okay, but only on the condition that you do not lie to me.¡±

    ¡°I never lie.¡± The man sat in the cage and began the story in a gravelly voice. ¡°The old man¡¯s body is bad, but his temper is very worse. After his wife left, he was left at home alone, and his life depended on his son. His son was a doctor, and even though his sry was not high, it was enough to keep two people afloat. However, who knew what got into the old man¡¯s head because he found himself a widow and remarried. His son did not protest. He moved out and continued to mail his father money every month.

    ¡°Unfortunately, bad things happen to the best of us. ording to rumors, extended exposure to mental patients turned the son, who was a psychiatrist, insane, and he ended up injuring a few of his patients. The son lost his job, and his victims¡¯ families pressed to sue until the son¡¯s family had lost everything.

    ¡°The son needed money for treatment, and the payment for government mental hospital was 4,000 a month. This was an amount that he did not have. When he had no one to turn to, the hospital where the son once worked at came to the rescue. With a price that was much lower than the government hospital, they epted the son as one of their patients.

    ¡°The once doctor was now the patient. This pushed the son even further over the edge, and until the hospital was closed, he remained an untreated patient.

    ¡°During the period the son was hospitalized, the old man¡¯s body continued to deteriorate. He was too old to go work, and the government stipend was all spent on his son¡¯s medical fees. Eventually, the new wife divorced him. Heined to his son, who was now home because the mental hospital had closed down. He hoped that his son would turn his life around and fight the mental sickness.

    ¡°Unfortunately, not long after that, his son was reported to have bitten someone from the same vige. Once he acted up, the son would turn highly destructive. With no option, the old man built an iron cage and locked his son within.

    ¡°This continued for some time until even the old man himself fell ill. He could barely feed himself much less seek treatment for himself or his son.

    ¡°Looking at his son inside the cage, who had gotten worse with time, he came to a decision.

    ¡°He waited until his son was acting crazy and ced two bowls outside of the cage. One was filled with clean water and the other mixed with rat poison. He was going to let his own son decide whether to live or to die.¡±

    The middle-aged man¡¯s expression did not change when he told the story, but his face turned paler, like the speech had drained him. ¡°This is why there are two bowls of water inside the old man¡¯s cage.¡±

    After listening to the story, Chen Ge was reminded of that sentence he saw at the nurse¡¯s station¡ªI will repay everything that you have done to me.

 Chapter 159 - Patient Number 8

    <h4>Chapter 159: Patient Number 8</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°He is taking revenge, with a specific n and target in mind.¡± Chen Ge thought of many things in that moment. The middle-aged man¡¯s story had revealed a lot of information, and it matched the clues that Chen Ge had kept in his mind.

    The story fitted perfectly one of the patients who had been locked up in the Third Sick Hall. The once doctor who turned into a patient after witnessing too many tragedies. Simr to the main character of the middle-aged man¡¯s story, he was highly destructive. Standing where he was, a name floated up Chen Ge¡¯s mind¡ªXiong Qing.

    This was Patient Number 8. He suffered from Hemineglect and was quarantined for treatment. He was diagnosed to be highly dangerous. Since Xiong Qing was once a psychiatrist, he had an intelligence that was higher than most, so the things that he did when he was crazy were also different from most.

    ¡°Could he be the killer hiding in the mental hospital?¡± This person was familiar with theyout of the hospital since he was both a patient and a doctor. He was fully capable of doing these things.

    ¡°The opponent has the geographical advantage, so this is going to be hard.¡± Xiong Qing was a dangerous person. Hemineglect itself was not dangerous, but to impose those perceived wed perfections on others made Xiong Qing extremely dangerous. In his mind, everything was wrong and twisted. Even if a perfect man was standing before him, he needed to snap half the limbs off before he felt things were right.

    Most patients with Hemineglect knew about their condition and would try their best to fix their wed perception, but Xiong Qing was different; he wanted to change others to fit into his wed understanding of perfection.

    If someone had lost a limb or two, while trapped inside this mental hospital, it definitely was the end for them. Chen Ge had found the hair of four people, but he had only found three living individuals¡ªthe missing fourth was probably dead.

    ¡°Before midnight, and even before entering the Third Sick Hall, there are already so many problems to deal with. It¡¯ll be difficult tonight.¡± The difficulty of the three-star Trial Mission overshot Murder by Midnight and Mu Yang High School easily. One false step, and Chen Ge could lose his life.

    One of the killers had been confirmed, but Chen Ge had not seen Xiong Qing in person. He had no idea whether the man with the twisted face was Xiong Qing or the middle-aged man trapped in the cage was Xiong Qing. He was familiar with the old man¡¯s past, so the possibility of him being Xiong Qing was high.

    Squatting down before the old man¡¯s cage, Chen Ge examined the lock. The locks on the three cages were simr. Even if the middle-aged man had hidden the key, with Chen Ge watching closely, he would not be able to ambush Chen Ge.

    Toying with the mallet, Chen Ge looked the middle-aged man in his eyes. After some thought, he decided to ask the question outright, ¡°How are you so familiar with the old man¡¯s life story? Could it be that you are his son?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± The middle-aged man could hear the suspicion in Chen Ge¡¯s voice, but he answered with something very weird. ¡°I knew you¡¯d never believe me. All of you never trust me, just like how I don¡¯t trust all of you! Please leave me be, I¡¯ve hidden myself here, so how did all of you manage to find me? Stop monitoring my life!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t trust all of us? Monitoring your life? What are you talking about?¡± Chen Ge had a hard time following.

    ¡°Whenever I exposed you, you all gave me this innocent look! This is why I am disgusted with all of you; you have been exposed, so why do you insist on lying to me?¡± The middle-aged man remained very calmly as he made this series of ims that Chen Ge could not understand. ¡°I wonder, should I refer to you as Wang Xin? Or Xu Fei? Lee Yichang? Ma Yong? Or have you changed to a new name?¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    Chen Ge tried to get the man to calm down, but it only had the opposite effect. ¡°Next, you¡¯re going to say that you don¡¯t know any of these people, including me, right?¡±

    ¡°But I really don¡¯t know any of you.¡±

    ¡°Stop lying! All of you are one single person in disguise! Your fake smile disgusts me; stop this pointless game!¡±

    ¡°One single person in disguise?¡± When Chen Ge heard the man say that, he was reminded of another patient given to him by Doctor Gao. Patient Number 5 was called Xu Tong; he suffered from Fregoli Delusion Syndrome. He thought that everyone around him was the same person in disguise, and he was living in a made up world.

    This middle-aged man¡¯s reaction was simr to Patient Number 5. He couldmunicate normally, but the moment Chen Ge showed some suspicion, histent disease started to act up. This was the first time Chen Ge had dealt with a seriously mentally ill person. He was fine one moment butpletely incoherent the next.

    Looking at the man inside the cage, another question bubbled up in his heart.<i>Why did all the patients of Third Sick Hall return to this ce? Is something attracting them here? Or are they all controlled by ghosts and have to return?</i>

    The easiest way to find out was to ask the middle-aged man directly, but his current state was not conducive formunication. Chen Ge had no choice but to turn back to the young woman.

    Noticing his approach, the woman kicked the iron rods and tried to get as far away from Chen Ge as she could. Chen Ge shone his shlight on the woman¡¯s face. She looked about twenty and had average looks, definitely not fitting the descriptions of the two female patients in the Third Sick Hall.

    ¡°This girl¡¯s and the old man¡¯s heads were both shaved; they should be the real victims.¡± Chen Ge still could not understand why the culprit want to shave people¡¯s hair. If it was revenge, then something simr probably happened to the culprit once.

    ¡°Rx.¡± Chen Ge reached his hand into the iron cage. The girl evaded him with all her life. After three minutes, she tired herself out from the struggle and finally surrendered.

    ¡°I don¡¯t intend to harm you, believe me.¡± Chen Ge pulled on the pillow case in the girl¡¯s mouth and yanked it out.

    The moment the gag was released, the girl screamed at Chen Ge crazily, ¡°HAND! HAND! HAND!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    The woman was loud and shrill. Chen Ge did not know what she had been through to react in such a manner. Hearing the girl¡¯s voice, the dazed old man suddenly copsed to the ground and yed dead.

    The middle-aged man also stopped acting crazy. He looked at the door with extreme focus, his eyes filled with terror.

    ¡°HAND! HAND...¡± The girl continued to scream, so Chen Ge had no choice but to insert the gag back into her mouth.

    ¡°She is also crazy.¡± There is not one normal individual at the mental hospital, and that unsettled Chen Ge.

 Chapter 160 - Its Real?

    <h4>Chapter 160: It¡¯s Real?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After stuffing the girl¡¯s mouth, the old man and the middle-aged man returned to normal. They seemed to be extremely sensitive to the term ¡®hand¡¯. The term opened some kind of memory in their minds, and it brought out their darkest and scariest memory.

    ¡°Why are they afraid of ¡®hand¡¯?¡± Chen Ge looked around the room and found nothing rted to a hand. He looked at the three people, and there were no obvious wounds on their bodies, so the fear was probably psychological.

    ¡°Just what is it that has scarred them so?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s brain turned, and hended on a possibility. In the information provided by Doctor Gao, Patient Number 4 lost his hand due to an ident, and he was diagnosed with Phantom Limb Syndrome after that, thinking his arm was still there. The patient had no name. Perhaps Doctor Gao had forgotten about it or the name had been purposely removed. ¡°In my memory, only this person can be said to be rted to a hand.¡±

    Phantom Limb Syndrome was not a scary disease, and it was not even considered a serious psychological problem; it was definitely treatable through medication and counselling. Chen Ge was familiar with this information, so the thing that scared him was... why would a patient with a seemingly harmless Phantom Limb Syndrome be kept at the Third Sick Hall?

    What had he done to make the hospital think that he was a dangerous threat?

    Chen Ge walked to the girl. The middle-aged man refused tomunicate, and the old man seemed to be retarded, so his only opening was the young woman. He squatted down beside the iron cage and looked the girl in her eyes. Since he could notmunicate with her normally, he was going to try something else.

    With a voice he was sure the woman could hear, he asked, ¡°Did you see many hands?¡±

    The girl did not react in any way but shrunk further from Chen Ge.

    ¡°Did you see a man with only one hand?¡± Before he even finished, the girl in the cage started to shake her head vehemently, her head banging continuously on the iron cage.

    The girl¡¯s weird reaction answered many things. The thing that gave her the nightmare was probably the person with only one hand. Staring at the girl¡¯s face, Chen Ge paid attention to the smallest twitch of emotion on her face. ¡°That man was carrying a weapon?¡±

    Her eyes widened, and veins popped on her forehead.

    ¡°What was he carrying? Saw? Knife? Or axe?¡±

    ¡°HMM!¡± The woman¡¯s mouth was gagged. She was agitated but could not make a sound.

    ¡°Looks like it was one of those things, but what would he have done to you?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice dropped. ¡°Chop? Saw? Did he say you are creatures of imperfections, so he wanted to fix you? Or did he want to borrow your arm?

    ¡°The number of victims is dwindling, so you should have been around when they were correcting the patients. You are the witness, and you have seen everything, yes?¡±

    The woman¡¯s face was twisted with popping veins, and tears flowed down her face. She continued to shake her head like she was saying that she did not see anything.

    ¡°You really don¡¯t know anything? Then, why are you so afraid of that hand? Did the hand fall beside you, or did it once capture you when you were trying to escape?¡±

    From Chen Ge¡¯s perspective, even though the woman was beyond traumatized, the scary memory was also etched in her mind. Running away from fear was a human¡¯s natural instinct, so when he mentioned something scary to the woman, her body would react to it instinctively, and the truth could be deduced from her expression and actions.

    A person¡¯s natural instincts would not lie. Chen Ge had confirmed part of his suspicion from the woman¡¯s reaction. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. If you¡¯re really innocent, I will save you. I came here tonight to uncover everything and make sure all these crazy people get punished by thew.¡±

    The smell of mildew was heavy in theundry room. Chen Ge stayed beside the woman for some time. It was unclear whether the woman understood her or not, but she did start to calm down. He reached into the cage once more and slowly pulled out the pillow case.

    Cowering inside the cage, the woman¡¯s face was etched in terror. Her lips fell open, and she kept repeating that word. ¡°Hand... hand...¡±

    ¡°Just what kind of sick experience happened to her to scar her this way?¡± Chen Ge dropped the pillow case aside when he felt a push on theundry room¡¯s door behind him. The force was small, like the person nned to sneak in but did not expect there to be aundry machine blocking the door.

    ¡°Theundry room is at the deepest end of the corridor. The rooms nearby are all locked and sealed, so it couldn¡¯t be the wind.¡± Chen Ge picked up the pillow case and gagged the woman again. He then turned to look at the white cat submerged in the pile of dirty clothes. Perhaps the heavy mist of mildew had ruined its sense of smell, but it did not give Chen Ge a warning this time.

    ¡°Looks like I¡¯ll need to depend on myself. I have to be more careful.¡± Chen Ge grabbed the mallet and focused on the door. Under his gaze, a hand reached into the room through the gap. The gap was small, and the person could only poke in several fingers, he was probably trying to see whether the lock was still working or not.

    ¡°The real culprit has arrived.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s growth after two Trial Missions was obvious. He did not panic but slowly opened his backpack¡¯s zipper. He took out the scary looking Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer, removed the camera from his wrist, ced it on the counter facing the door.

    The camera corresponded to the small window in the left corner of his livestream room. By cing the camera pointed at the door, he could see what was happening at the door via his phone.

    After preparing, Chen Ge ced his backpack beside his leg, gripped the hammer, and hid in the corner beside the door. Not long after that, theundry room¡¯s door was pushed again. The person outside the door seemed to have lost their patience, and after a few attempts, they mmed heavily on the door!

    The washing machine was toppled over, and the door fell open. Through his phone, Chen Ge could see two people standing outside the door!

    One of them had a twisted face and was holding an axe with red stains on it. The other only had one arm and was holding an iron shovel. Neither of them noticed the small camera that was pointed at them. The single-armed man nodded at the twisted face, and he moved toward the door cautiously.

    Before his body even got over the threshold, the tip of his shoe had just stepped into the room when he heard the sound of rushing wind beside his ear!

    Chen Ge swung the hammer directly at the door when the single-armed man showed intention of entering the room. The timing was perfect. When the man realized what was happening, the hammer was already close to making contact with his chest.

    The scary-looking hammer seemed to erge before his eyes. He used his remaining arm to block his chest, and with a speed several times faster than the speed he used to enter the room, he was sent flying out of it!

 Chapter 161 - Scary Livestream

    <h4>Chapter 161: Scary Livestream</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The single-armed mannded on his butt, and his army weakly by his side.

    ¡°One on one is much fairer.¡±

    Chen Ge turned to the twisted face with the iron hammer. This person was wearing the doctor¡¯s coat, and there were signs of skin grafting on his face, causing it to look twisted. Without preamble, Chen Ge¡¯s first reaction after seeing the twisted face was to hold the hammer and swing it at the man¡¯s shoulder.

    The climax that night was the Third Sick Hall. Before entering that ce, Chen Ge wanted to eliminate as many dangerous threats as he could. Technically, this was the first time that they had met, and the twisted face did not expect Chen Ge to be so cruel and enraged.

    Such aggression scared even the real crazies. Twisted face took a step back and turned to run down the corridor. The single-armed man moved even faster. He had gotten used to life with just one arm, so his lower body was extremely powerful. He stood up with just a simple roll. Without turning back, he ran even faster than the twisted face.

    The two did not even to resist and chose to escape with their lives. This came as quite a surprise to Chen Ge. However, he recovered quickly and made chase with the Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer.

    The rushed footsteps shattered the quietness of the night. The ¡®victim¡¯ trapped inside the mental hospital was chasing after the two ¡®culprits¡¯ wielding a hammer. The chase was so intense that they barely had time to talk.

    Chen Ge followed them from the third floor to the first floor. The two patients were familiar with theyout of the hospital, and they jumped into a secluded staircase. Chen Ge made to follow, and the three ran up from the first floor to the fourth floor. After some back and forth, when they passed the third-floor corridor, the two patients separated.

    ¡°They¡¯re splitting up?¡± Chen Ge did not expect the two to strategize against him, but he made the decision easily. ¡°I have incapacitated the single-armed man¡¯s only arm, so he is much less dangerous than the twisted face. He should be my target. If I can incapacitate him, it¡¯ll be much safer for me to enter the Third Sick Hall.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s mind was clear, but when he gave chase after the twisted face, the single-armed man stopped running and turned back around to block Chen Ge. Twisted face made use of this opening to run back to the fourth floor. He headed for the hallway that connected the buildings.

    ¡°The hallway connecting the second and third sick halls are equipped with security doors. The second floor¡¯s was disabled from rust, and I haven¡¯t checked the third floor¡¯s. Does this mean the fourth floor¡¯s can be used normally?¡±

    Facing the single-armed man who was rushing at him, Chen Ge¡¯s reaction was straightforward. He aimed the hammer at the man¡¯s legs. With just a few seconds, he managed to shake the man loose and turned to run toward the fourth floor.

    The twisted face¡¯s eyes were twitching as he raced down the corridor. This was the first time he hade across such aggressive prey. Twisted face shoved open the steel door that connected the second and third sick hall, and he escaped into the third sick hall.

    Looking at the twisted face that disappeared into the darkness, Chen Ge did not continue to chase. The dark corridor was like the maw of a monster; it gave him a very ufortable feeling, and the stench in the air thickened.

    ¡°The Third Sick Hall...¡± Chen Ge stopped at the corridor. He inspected the steel door that separated the corridor. The lock had been sawed off. ¡°If these people have a saw with them, things will be horrendous if I¡¯m captured.¡±

    Chen Ge was feeling rather tired after the chase thatsted for more than ten minutes. He dropped a line of salt near the steel door as a mark. After returning to the second sick hall, Chen Ge dragged the totally incapacitated man to theundry room.

    The appearance of the man caused a change in the three people inside the cages. The one with the strongest reaction was still the woman in the middle. Her body knocked into the edges of the cage like she was trying to get away from this ce.

    ¡°What have you done that shocked a normal person until she lost her mind?¡± Chen Ge had no sympathy for the twisted face and the single-armed man. This was one of the main reasons. These two were involved in some sick activities.

    The single-armed man was lying on the floor unconscious, and Chen Ge realized something. When he whacked the man¡¯s arm and legs, he had not made a sound.

    ¡°Can this man not feel pain?¡± Chen Ge was not crazy enough to test that theory. He grabbed some dirtyundry and tied the man to the hose that ran down the corner of the room. After doing that, Chen Ge picked up the camera that had fallen to the floor and reattached it to his wrist. ¡°Now that I have the upper hand, it¡¯s time to enter the Third Sick Hall.¡±

    Chen Ge nced at the livestream. He was shocked to see the viewership had reached over 80,000, and it was still climbing. It was probably due to the action-packed scenes earlier. The poprity of Chen Ge¡¯s livestream had easily surpassed others.

    ¡°My livestream should be more interesting than Qin Guang¡¯s. If this continues, I¡¯ll be able to grab some viewers from him.¡± Chen Ge nced at the chatlog. The poprity was high, but the chatlog was slowly going out of control.

    He had people hiding under dirtyundry, smashing a single-armed man¡¯s chest, and running crazily in a mental hospital with arge hammer for ten minutes. This was unheard of in the livestreaming world, and his livestream was close to exploding!

    Some praised Chen Ge for his hardworking nature and attention to detail; others mocked him for the exaggeration; there was also a small group of morally upright viewers who wanted to call the police when they saw the people trapped inside the steel cages. Chen Ge did not expect the viewers¡¯ reactions to be so exciting. He was thankful that he did not give a detailed livestream address, and he only mentioned that he was at a mental hospital shrouded in mystery.

    80,000 people was a high viewer count, butpared to the number of national citizens, it was like a drop of water in the ocean. Even if there were a handful of Jiujiang locals, they might not have heard of Jiujiang Third Psychological Convalescence Centre. After all, this ce had been abandoned for years.

    Without an address, it was difficult to get a police response. Even if the viewers managed to locate Chen Ge through the clues on his livestream, it would be after midnight already. Hiding the scary-looking hammer behind him, Chen Ge chatted for a little while with the camera to calm the viewers down. He tried to move the conversation toward good acting and a well-written script.

    In all honesty, it was hard for Chen Ge. All other hosts were afraid that their script might be exposed, so they paid good money to design original scripts and hire actors to create shocks and scares.

    But for Chen Ge, the development was so real that even he himself was scared. The ¡®scary surprises¡¯ had not stopped, and each one was bigger than the one preceding it!

 Chapter 162 - Xu Tong

    <h4>Chapter 162: Xu Tong</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The ¡®surprises¡¯ Chen Ge gave the viewers were indeed too huge and too much. He looked at the poprity ranking. Qin Guang was number 1. When he started the livestream, he was at 96, and now he was 19.

    This poprity ranking sat in the middle of the app¡¯s front page, so those who managed to squeeze into the top twenty were big hosts with more than 400,000 followers and fans. The rocket-esque rise in fame attracted the attention of many viewers. They were confused. How could a newbie with fewer than 50,000 followers enter the arena meant for the most popr hosts?

    To be honest, Chen Ge had no answer. He was merely ying the role of an ¡®innocent victim¡¯. He did not vite thew; it was all in self defense.

    ¡°Looks like my viewers are clever people. Under the corruption of money, a host like myself who pays such close attention to authentic content is a rare species.¡±

    After inspecting the cameras on his chest and wrist, Chen Ge pocketed the phone and returned to the woman.

    When he dragged the man into the room, the woman had gone crazy. She had knocked her head into the cage as she tried to escape. Chen Ge was afraid that she might have injured herself, so he picked up a thickyer of cloth to cushion her head.

    ¡°Just what has she seen to have made her so?¡±

    His eyes scanned the three cages. The old man cowered inside the cage; his arms were shielding his head like an ostrich hiding its head in the sand. He did not dare look outwards. Of the three, the old man had been trapped there the longest and seen the most.

    When he saw the single-armed man, he had closed his eyes. Obviously, he was afraid that he might identally see something that he should not.

    The young woman in the middle had the most agitated reaction. She threw her head repeatedly against the cage, and the fear was practically pouring out of her eyes. The reactions of these two people were understandable. Chen Ge, though, was exceptionally cautious of the middle-aged man.

    He was also showing signs of fear. His body was shaking, and his hands were gripped tightly together. His reaction and expression were wless. If this was anyone else, they would definitely have been fooled¡ªbut not Chen Ge. It was not that Chen Ge had that great of an observation power, but he had managed to acquire the information on the patients of the Third Sick Hall before he arrived, and this middle-aged man was most likely Patient Number 5, Xu Tong.

    The culprits came from the Third Sick Hall, so why did he end up as the victim? Starting from this point, Chen Ge slowly discovered more anomalies about the middle-aged man. For example, his rtively clean appearance. His head was not shaved, and his hands had been kept hidden under his clothes throughout. It was only when Chen Ge dragged the single-armed man into the room that the middle-aged man let it slip.

    Chen Ge saw it clearly; there was a very deep wound on the middle-aged man¡¯s left hand. It was a bite mark, and it was still bleeding.

    ¡°Your hand is injured?¡± Chen Ge walked to thest iron cage holding the hammer. When he entered the nurse¡¯s station at the first sick hall, he had noticed the paint stain on the iron cage. Following the station, he had seen a stter that was mixed with oil and blood on the wall outside of the nurse¡¯s station.

    At the time, he had thought that it was left behind by the victim inside the cage, but he had inspected the old man¡¯s body, and he was uninjured, so now he believed that the blood came from the culprit who had dragged the old man away.

    Oil was mixed with blood, so the most logical spection was that the old man was gripping the wall, unwilling to be dragged away. The culprit tried to pry the old man¡¯s hands off the wall but ended up being bitten by the old man. It perfectly exined how both oil and blood could be left on the same spot on the wall.

    When the door opened, Chen Ge noticed that neither of the twisted face nor the single-armed man¡¯s arms were injured. If there were no other residents inside this mental hospital, then Chen Ge could have guaranteed that the culprit who dragged the old man away from the first sick hall was this middle-aged man.

    He was one of the culprits at the mental hospital.

    When they discovered there were people outside the hospital, to prevent the old man from being discovered, they moved him to the second sick hall¡¯sundry room urgently.

    The iron hammer swaying before him, the middle-aged man¡¯s eyes that looked at Chen Ge were slowly filled with fear.

    ¡°I will not hurt you; I just want you to answer a few of my questions honestly.¡± Chen Ge looked at the middle-aged man, and the other party was still pretending to be dumb, too afraid tomunicate.

    ¡°Don¡¯t feel like talking?¡± Chen Ge removed the two cameras, ced them aside and blocked the cameras. He slowly turned back around and mmed the hammer into the iron cage. With just one knock, the iron cage became slightly misshapen.

    ¡°Still not talking?¡± Chen Ge continued to whack at the iron cage, and the rods twisted and turned until only three quarters of the moveable space remained.

    ¡°What... What do you want to know?¡± The middle-aged man saw the iron hammer that came closer and closer to him, and his expression fell. <i>Howe this man feels like he is even crazier than I am?</i>

    ¡°I¡¯m not one to force people to do things that they don¡¯t want to. I just have some simple questions.¡± Chen Ge looked at the twisted iron cage and ced his hammer down. ¡°What is your name?¡±

    The middle-aged paused for about two seconds before speaking again. ¡°Wang Haiming?¡±

    ¡°Wang Haiming?¡± When he heard this name, Chen Ge¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and a huge wave proceeded to swallow it. <i>This man knows Wang Haiming?</i>

    The man probably just wanted to fool Chen Ge by giving a random name. He did not expect Chen Ge to know Wang Haiming!

    ¡°You¡¯re lying.¡±

    Without leaving a chance for the middle-aged man to exin, Chen Ge swung his hammer at the iron cage. The hammer cut through the air, and the hair on the middle-aged man¡¯s body stood on end. ¡°My name is Xiong Qing! My name is Xiong Qing!¡±

    Chen Ge was in no time for games and continued to rain punishment down on the iron cage. The space within the cage continued to shrink, and the iron rods could have snapped at any moment. The middle-aged man screamed, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you would not force people to do things they don¡¯t want to?¡±

    Chen Ge ignored him. After a few more minutes of heavy work, the iron cage waspletely misshapen. Even with the key, it could not be opened anymore. It would require some time before Chen Ge could smash the iron cage into smithereens, but Chen Ge wascking time. His pupils narrowed as he reached out to grip the middle-aged man¡¯s calf. ¡°I¡¯m asking you one more time, what is your name?¡±

    The man did not know what Chen Ge was up to, and he hesitated. Chen Ge was trapped inside a mental hospital with more than one source of dangerous threats. He could not continue to be kind. He ced the middle-aged man¡¯s calf before him and aimed the iron hammer right at it.

    A shrill scream tore through the night. Chen Ge had no sympathy for those who shoved living humans into cages. He picked up the iron hammer and pulled out the middle-aged man¡¯s other calf.

    As the iron hammer went flying down, the middle-aged man screamed, and he shrank away from the hammer. ¡°Xu Tong! My name is Xu Tong!¡±

    ¡°See, was that so hard?¡± Chen Ge stopped. ¡°If you would had been honest with me from the beginning, we could have skipped all that.¡±

    Then he squatted down beside the iron cage. ¡°Just now, you mentioned Wang Haiming. What is your rtionship with him? Has he stayed at the Third Sick Hall before? Is that how you know him?¡±

 Chapter 163 - Wang Haimings Secret

    <h4>Chapter 163: Wang Haiming¡¯s Secret</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Why would you ask that?¡± Xu Tong immediately regretted asking that question. He looked at the hammer in Chen Ge¡¯s hands, and his mouth turned slippery again. ¡°Wang Haiming was once a patient here. He was locked inside the Third Sick Hall multiple times due to repeated offenses. That man is very interesting.¡±

    ¡°Be more specific.¡±

    ¡°He was a low risk patient. He stayed on the second floor of the second sick hall, but the man had something wrong with his mind. He kept saying that he was not crazy.¡± A disgusting smile appeared on Xu Tong¡¯s lips. ¡°Actually, we all know that we are perfectly fine, but only an idiot like him would announce it out loud.¡±

    To be called an idiot by a diagnosed mental patient, if Wang Haiming was still alive, Chen Ge wondered how he would have felt. A sh of wickedness entered Xu Tong¡¯s smile. His perspective was different from normal people. Perhaps until now, he still believed he was not ill.

    ¡°And then?¡± Chen Ge realized how dangerous it was tomunicate with mental patients, especially one like Xu Tong. He was wary of being unconsciously sucked into their world, influenced by their twisted worldview.

    ¡°Wang Haiming not only refused the treatment by the hospital, but when the doctors tried to administer the treatment, he started fighting with the nurses and doctors.

    ¡°Injuring the workers was the biggest mistake at this hospital. The day it happened, Wang Haiming was punished by the hospital.

    ¡°Initially he was just sent to the quarantine room, but it only made him worse. After he was released from the ce, he got into a physical altercation with the nurse because he refused to take his medicine. He announced that he was a millionaire who could buy half of the hospital if he wanted to. He promised that he would make these doctors and nurses pay.

    ¡°After ten minutes, the idiot paid for what he said. The hospital workers came with a straightjacket and moved him into the third sick hall¡¯s quarantine room.

    ¡°That was his first visit to the Third Sick Hall. We were happy to wee a new friend, but he was very unfriendly. He even spat at me. He looked energetic, and as he was escorted, his mouth never stopped cursing. This poor newbie did not know what being sent to the Third Sick Hall meant, but he would know soon enough.

    ¡°The Third Sick Hall¡¯s quarantine room has an alternative name¡ªElectroshock Therapy Room. It is amon method to treat mental illness. The doctors who had used it all said it was incredibly effective.

    ¡°Of course, as a registered private hospital, to ensure patient¡¯s safety andfort, they would cooperate with aestheticians before beginning the treatment. The quarantine room has good sound instion. When Wang Haiming exited the room, he was much more pliable. All of us thought the treatment had been highly effective.

    ¡°After a few days of peace, Wang Haiming got into argument with the workers for hiding medicine. This man had a natural instinct for adventure. Perhaps he was indeed a millionaire before being admitted into the hospital.

    ¡°When he exited the quarantine room for the second time, we all thought that he would finally admit to his fate, but the man nned a midnight escape, and to everyone¡¯s surprise, he seeded. Even though he was captured the next day, he made use of that one night of freedom to contact his ex-wife. We have no idea what he told her, but in less than a month, she arrived to arrange for him to leave the hospital.¡±

    From Xu Tong¡¯s lips, Chen Ge gained a deeper understanding of Wang Haiming. ¡°How do you know so much about the man?¡±

    ¡°After he was captured, he was detained. The hospital had him situated in the Third Sick Hall¡¯s Room 3, but he almost died in that room. Since there was no other option, the hospital workers arranged for him to temporarily stay with me.¡± The twisted expression on Xu Tong¡¯s face slowly returned to normal.

    ¡°Then, do you know what happened to him in Room 3?¡±

    ¡°He saw many people; there were many people inside the room.¡±

    ¡°He told you all that himself?¡± Chen Ge did not think things would be soplicated. Wang Haiming once stayed inside the third room.

    ¡°Why would I talk to an idiot?¡± Xu Tong scoffed with condescension. ¡°That idiot would mumble to himself every night, and I overheard his conversation.¡±

    Chen Ge nodded. He needed to enter the Third Sick Hall personally to know more about its mystery.

    ¡°The second question, why would patients from the Third Sick Hall like yourself return to this ce after the hospital was closed down?¡±

    ¡°Of course, we have our reasons. I cannot answer on other people¡¯s behalf, but for me...¡± Xu Tong looked at Chen Ge. ¡°Only by staying here can I escape from your surveince. Only by staying here will you not disturb me.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s time for you to take your medicine.¡± Chen Ge stood up. He believed that Xu Tong did not lie to him.

    The old man and young woman were shaking in fear when they saw the single-armed man, but they did not show any response when they were in Xu Tong¡¯s proximity. The old man even dared to bite his hand. This went to show, unlike the twisted face and single-armed man, Xu Tong had not done those crazy things.

    The iron cage was broken due to Chen Ge¡¯s assault. He ced the hammer beside him and asked, ¡°I heard a female nurse was killed inside the Third Sick Hall, do you know about this?¡±

    ¡°Yes. The hospital even organized a mourning ceremony in the second sick hall for her, hoping it would be a lesson for the patients, the patients¡¯ families, and the workers.¡± Xu Tong seemed to expect what Chen Ge would ask next. He shrugged and said, ¡°I really had nothing to do with the nurse¡¯s death. The police asked me, and I stayed in my room that night. I didn¡¯t say a word to her; I didn¡¯t even see her that night.¡±

    After nodding, Chen Ge asked Xu Tong questions about the hospital director. Unfortunately, Xu Tong¡¯s knowledge of this was limited.

    Xu Tong was an honest patient. His sickness prevented him frommunication with living people, and the greater the number of people around him, the more unsettled he would be. He felt like everyone was same, and they were one person toying with him. However, if he was kept in a small room with a limited amount of people, he would be just like a normal person.

    ¡°Hopefully, everything you¡¯ve said is the truth.¡± Chen Ge reequipped the two cameras and took out his phone to nce at it.

    After such a long period of a ck screen, his poprity did not drop. In fact, it had shot over 150,000 viewers.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Looking at the chatlog, Chen Ge realized that even though he had blocked the cameras, the audio recorder was still stuck to hispel!

    Xu Tong¡¯s scream, the information about the nurse¡¯s death, Wang Haiming¡¯s history, and the mystery of the Third Sick Hall had all been broadcasted!

    Due to this coincidence, Chen Ge¡¯s livestream had continued to climb the popritydder. The chatlog kept refreshing.

    ¡°This is all too real!¡±

    There were viewers who gave him likes and virtual presents.

    Chen Ge did not even know what to say. Since things had reached this stage, Chen Ge decided to throw caution to the wind.

    ¡°Thank you everyone for the presents and likes. Thank you for tuning in to my livestream!¡± Chen Ge aimed the camera at himself. ¡°What you¡¯ve seen and heard might not be fake! Tonight, I¡¯ll bring you a livestream that can never be replicated!¡±

 Chapter 164 - The Devils Bargain

    <h4>Chapter 164: The Devil¡¯s Bargain</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge exited theundry room to head for the second floor, to find the room Wang Haiming had once stayed in. There were two beds ced in the small room. The mattress and covers had been taken away, and only two bed frames remained. Perhaps due to safety concerns, there was nothing sharp in the room. Even the bed¡¯s edges had purposely been smoothened.

    ¡°Wang Haiming was sent into the hospital by his second wife. Perhaps there was something wrong with his head, but it shouldn¡¯t have been that serious. I believe this was a conspiracy against the man.¡±

    Composing all the information he had, Chen Ge realized that Wang Haiming had led aplicated life.

    His life had big ups and big downs, but he had never given up, never stopped resisting or struggling. Be it being forcibly sent into the mental hospital or fighting for his body with a monster after he left the hospital, he never stopped fighting. He was not a saint, either, considering he had cheated on his first wife, but from a certain perspective, he had already paid more than enough for his sin.

    ¡°Every door to the sick room is equipped with a single-sided lock, so even with the key, the door could only be opened from the outside. There are safety doors at every twenty meters along the corridor, and there were nurses and workers patrolling nightly, so how did Wang Haiming manage to escape?¡± Chen Ge sat on the bed frame and studied the window that was boarded up. ¡°Jumped down from the window?¡±

    Prying off the wooden boards, Chen Ge realized that the window was strengthened with steelting; it was not the exit he was looking for. Furthermore, the hospital was surrounded by a two-meter-tall cement wall and a lush forest beyond that. Without a proper guide, getting lost wasmon. But under these conditions, Wang Haiming not only managed to escape, he also got in touch with his ex-wife to get her to save him. This whole process could have been made into a movie.

    <i>It¡¯s too difficult for Wang Haiming to have escaped this ce alone. He should have relied on the power of that monster inside him as well. They managed to escape this hospital by working together. After all, their united goal was to leave this mental hospital. </i>Chen Ge understood this, but another question remained. <i>When did the monster enter Wang Haiming¡¯s body?</i>

    Remembering his conversation with Xu Tong, Chen Ge discovered something strange about Wang Haiming. Not long after his first shock ¡®therapy¡¯, he started to provoke the doctors and even physically assaulted a nurse, and the reason was simply hiding medicine. This could be understood for a crazy person, but Wang Haiming was not a crazy person.

    <i>Did he do this on purpose? He wanted to get back into the Third Sick Hall? </i>Chen Ge examined this simple sickroom. The only spot that could have hidden something was behind the curtain and under the bed.

    Standing up, Chen Ge moved the two bedframes. On one of the walls that was covered by the bed earlier, and he made a new discovery. Someone had used their fingernails to carve out a diary of sorts on the white paint. Due to the passage of time, most of the words were unreadable, but Chen Ge got the gist of it.

    ¡°Is it Wang Haiming¡¯s handwriting?¡± Chen Ge closed the door, shone his shlight on the wall, and started to read the words on it.

    ¡°Have I really gone crazy?

    ¡°Two workers and a doctor hauled me into the electroshock room. The bunch of animals locked the door, so technically, no one should have been able toe in.

    ¡°Why did I see four people in the room after the therapy?

    ¡°Who was the one wearing the patient¡¯s garb?

    Wang Haiming probably left this behind. In a room without any entertainment devices, keeping a diary became his only entertainment. It was here, after plenty of rumination, that he realized he was different from those around him.

    ¡°Is it a hallucination caused by the shock? Why could he talk to me? Why can only I see him?

    ¡°He said that he can help me escape, but in return, I have to agree to one of his conditions.

    ¡°This is truly a devil¡¯s bargain, but I have no choice.

    ¡°Perhaps something is wrong, could it be those pills? I find myself falling asleep easily like someone has poured lead into my brain. I have to leave this ce.

    ¡°The devil doesn¡¯t seem like he can leave the third sick hall. I¡¯ll need to find him there if I want to escape from this hospital.

    ¡°The workers here are heartless animals! I will ruin this ce, I swear!

    ¡°After entering that room for the second time, I agreed to his demand. Afterpleting the ritual inside the bathroom, he entered my body.

    ¡°Have I really gone insane to believe there is a devil in this world and epted his trade?¡±

    The diary stopped here abruptly. After the trade, perhaps only Wang Haiming himself knew what happened to him.

    <i>The monster inside Wang Haiming probably came from the Third Sick Hall, and the ritual waspleted in the bathroom. Could it be that the ritual required a mirror? In that case, the monster that possessed Wang Haiming was not some kind of devil but amon mirror monster. </i>Chen Ge knew a thing or two about mirror monsters. They were not particrly strong but extremely cunning. There were no other clues in the room, so Chen Ge left.

    <i>The mirror monster on Wang Haiming came from the Third Sick Hall, and the tall monster on Wang Shenglong also came from the Third Sick Hall. Why wouldn¡¯t the monsters stay there? </i>Chen Ge needed more answers. He grabbed the hammer, whistled to get the white cat, and prepared to head into the Third Sick Hall.

    He came back to the hallway connecting the two buildings on the fourth floor. Twisted face had used this path to escape into the Third Sick Hall.

    ¡°The salt hasn¡¯t been moved, so no one has passed this way.¡±

    Pushing open the steel door, Chen Ge felt submerged in the darkness. The tiles under his feet were moving, and as he moved across the corridor in the Third Sick Hall, there was a bad feeling that settled over him. He felt cold, like some scary monster was staring at him.

    Even the white cat, which was not afraid of anything, hid behind his ankle. If not for the jacket on Chen Ge, he believed that the cat would have run already.

    <i>The clue left behind by my parents is here. No matter what, I cannot turn back.</i>

    Chen Ge opened half of his backpack and pulled on the cleaver so that the handle was exposed. This way, he could grab it anytime he wanted.

    ¡°It¡¯s about time.¡± Chen Ge looked at his phone; it was 11:51 pm. Another nine minutes, and it would be midnight.

    Chen Ge experienced a strange feeling as he stepped into the sick hall. It felt like the entire Third Sick Hall was arge living entity, and the cold draft that caressed Chen Ge¡¯s body was its breathing.

 Chapter 165 - Who Is Playing Doctor?

    <h4>Chapter 165: Who Is ying Doctor?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Many mattresses littered the dark corridor. They were bulging like they were hiding something underneath. Chen Ge used his hammer to yank one open. Inside the decayed mattress was a fake person made from pillows and bedsheets. The workmanship was rough, but one could just about make out the shape of a person.

    The scariest thing was that a human face,plete with eyes, nose and a wide mouth, had been painted on the pillow. It looked like the scribbling of a child, but it made the hairs on Chen Ge¡¯s arms rise.

    ¡°This shouldn¡¯t be.¡± Chen Ge resisted the urge to smash it with the iron hammer and started to think. ¡°No matter what, the twenty-four mannequins at the Haunted House are scarier and more real than these fake dolls. I felt zero fear being around those mannequins, but standing beside these dolls, I feel weirdly unsettled.¡±

    He nudged the doll, and on the back of the pillow, an unfamiliar name was written¡ªLee Chunyan.

    ¡°Why is there a name?¡±

    These dolls were not unlike those used by girls when ying house. They would use dolls to act as their parents or to represent someone they knew in real life.

    Chen Ge observed for about two minutes after spraying the doll¡¯s face with a handful of salt. The doll did not react in any way. Chen Ge walked away to peel out another mattress. Simrly, there was a doll made from bedsheets and a pillow.

    ¡°Zhang Qisi?¡± There was another name behind the doll. Chen Ge looked at the corridor that was filled with mattresses, and a chill ran up his spine. ¡°There¡¯s a name behind each doll? Meaning they represent real people?¡±

    The bloated mattresses looked like a mass grave, and Chen Ge¡¯s hand that gripped the hammer sweated. He felt like he would be much braver afterpleting this Trial Mission. He finished two packs of salt after walking just twenty or thirty meters. Reality proved that salt had no use against those haunted things. The ufortable feeling that suffused the corridor did not decrease. If anything, it had gotten stronger.

    ¡°I¡¯ll need to ration thest pack of salt. I can¡¯t be so cavalier with it anymore.¡± Chen Ge would look over his shoulder every few steps. He was afraid of seeing a row of dolls following him as was often the case in the scary movies he had seen.

    With his whole body tensed, Chen Ge made the decision that should a doll suddenly stand up, he would rush over and smash it into smithereens with the hammer and stab it with the cleaver.

    ¡°Calm down, there are many trump cards you haven¡¯t used yet.¡± Chen Ge did not know whether he was saying this for the benefit of the viewers or himself. In any case, as he moved into the Third Sick Hall, the poprity of his livestream also climbed at a scary speed. In contrast, Qin Guang¡¯s livestream had reached a bottleneck, and his viewership was slipping.

    The Third Sick Hall was different from the other two because every room was a single room, but curiously enough, none of the rooms had any beds. It was like the ce had never been used as a hospital before.

    ¡°Doctor Gao said that the Third Sick Hall only has ten sick rooms and nine patients on record, so what are the purposes for these empty rooms?¡±

    None of the rooms had a number, and they had the same nd white doors. They did not seem like they were used to house the patients.

    ¡°The first sick hall was so crowded that there were beds on the corridor, but the Third Sick Hall has so many empty rooms. The hospital would rather keep them empty than use them for the patients, why is that?¡±

    Chen Ge was very careful. When he reached the middle of the fourth-floor corridor, the stench in the air suddenly became exceedingly heavy. Other than the cold wind, there was another sound in his ears. It was hard to describe. It sounded like the heavy breathing of a roomful of people. Chen Ge shone his shlight around as the anxiety in his heart heightened. He stuck his back to the wall and took out his phone to nce at the time. ¡°It¡¯s midnight!¡±

    At that same moment, the sound of the door being opened came from one of the rooms under the fourth floor. The feeling was strange. The sound came from downstairs, but it sounded like it was just beside Chen Ge.

    <i>The blood door inside the Haunted House¡¯s mirror will open for a minute every midnight. Is there a simr door in this hospital? </i>The door would appear at midnight, but it would not open on its own. When the door was pushed open, it only meant that something hade out from behind the door.

    ¡°Wang Haiming¡¯s diary said that hepleted the final ritual in the bathroom; this proves that there is arge mirror in the bathroom of this hospital.¡±

    After midnight, the entire sick hall seemed to change like a sleeping monstering alive. Standing in the deepest corner of the fourth floor, Chen Ge looked down the stairs. There wasplete darkness. No one knew what was hiding in the dark. Something mighte out at him from a hidden corner.

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes twitched. He held the hammer and stood at the mouth of the stairwell. After giving it some thought, he turned off his shlight. Inside the Third Sick Hall, there were mental patients, lingering spirits, and the monsters from behind the blood door; there were danger at every step.

    In such a situation, the light would expose himself, making him an easy target. Chen Ge closed his eyes before opening them again. He tried to make his eyes familiarize themselves with the darkness and stepped down the stairs to go to the third floor.

    Even though the mission had not ended, Chen Ge had already acquired a reward. At least his rtionship with the white cat had improved. Initially, the white cat did not even want to be close to him, but after they entered the corridor of the third sick hall, the cat actively jumped on his shoulder, its ws digging into his clothes and backpack. It looked like it would not let go no matter what.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be scared, everything is still under control.¡± Chen Ge patted the cat on its head, and the cat strangely did not resist. Its pair of different-colored eyes look straight into the darkness.

    The staircase seemed to have grown in the darkness because Chen Ge used two minutes to move from the fourth floor to the third floor. The windows were sealed, and the third floor was even darker. Chen Ge could barely see the mattresses that littered the corridor.

    ¡°The twisted face seemed to vanish after he entered the Third Sick Hall. There was not even a footprint. Where could he be hiding? Inside one of the rooms or the mattresses, preparing for an ambush?¡±

    There was another nurse¡¯s station at the corner of the third floor, but curiously enough, all the records and medicine were arranged neatly inside the station, and the counter was spotless, like it had recently been in use.

    Jumping into the station, Chen Ge realized that there were many prescribed pills arranged on the table. The colorful pills were separated and ced inside white bags, and each bag was taped with a patient¡¯s name.

    ¡°Lee Chunyan? Zhang Qisi? Wait, didn¡¯t I read these two names on the dolls on the fourth floor? Someonees here every night to give medicine to the dolls?¡±

    A ridiculous idea popped up in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. The Third Sick Hall was like a children¡¯s game. The child had created the dolls to act as the patients and took on the role of the doctor to dispense them medicine.

    ¡°Who would do something so sick?¡± Chen Ge looked at the names on the counter, and he felt like he had missed something important.

 Chapter 166 - Isnt She Dead?

    <h4>Chapter 166: Isn¡¯t She Dead?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge examined the bags on the counter carefully, and his expression turned grim. He used his fingers to rub at the names, and he finally discovered the source of the problem. The writing on some of the bags was still wet; the names had been written recently!

    Chen Ge whipped his head up and looked around; there was no hiding spot inside the nurse¡¯s station.

    ¡°The person who prescribed the drug should still be close. They probably haven¡¯t wandered far and are still nearby.¡± Chen Ge could not tell if the other party had discovered him, but he knew he had to be more careful. He jumped out of the station and slunk into the room opposite the nurse¡¯s station. He pushed the door open a sliver, and Chen Ge looked out into the corridor.

    ¡°The names on the bags were freshly written, so the pills were probably just prescribed. Who would do something like this at night?¡± There were several candidates in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, and the foremost was the twisted face. He had once been a doctor at this hospital, and from the way he treated his father, he had a great need for revenge.

    ¡°He prescribed the drug to force-feed his victims?¡± Then again, if this was true, he would not have needed to write the patient¡¯s name down on the bag one by one, so things could not have been that simple. It was midnight, and things were at their most unstable. Chen Ge decided to stay a little bit longer to clear up the mystery about the medicine before moving.

    About ten minutester, there was a fuzzy shadow that appeared at the end of the third-floor corridor. It was so far away that Chen Ge could not tell whether it had appeared from one of the rooms or from the other floors.

    ¡°Which patient is it?¡± Chen Ge could not see the face, but he did not dare turn on the light. The only thing he could do was hide behind the door with the hammer ready. The shadow¡¯s gait was weird; it was staggering like it could trip and fall at any moment.

    As it got near, Chen Ge made another weird discovery. The thing made no sound as it walked across the floor!

    ¡°Based on the way it limps, it shouldn¡¯t be silent.¡±

    The shadow got closer enough for Chen Ge to catch a rough glimpse of its clothes. The white nurse¡¯s outfit was rather conspicuous in the dark, and it was a contrast from the dirtied mattresses that littered the ce.

    ¡°It¡¯s not the twisted face but a woman?¡± Chen Ge could not be sure. He leaned his upper body on the door, and his eyes attached themselves to the slit. He did not blink, afraid that he might lose any details. ¡°It¡¯sing.¡±

    The shadow with the nurse¡¯s outfit had its head lowered, and it was mumbling something quietly. When it neared the room Chen Ge was hiding in, the man finally got a good look.

    The moving shadow was a monster wearing a nurse¡¯s coat. Its waist was broken, and its limbs were twisted at weird angles. It felt as if someone had rearranged the monster¡¯s body, and it had lost the correct shape of a normal human. The monster before him ruined the wonderful image of nurses that Chen Ge had maintained for the past twenty years. Through the door, his hands that gripped the hammer started to sweat.

    The tangled ck hair fell forward to hide most of her face, and when she passed Chen Ge¡¯s room, she suddenly stopped. At that moment, Chen Ge held his breath as he raised the hammer.

    The female nurse seemed to have felt something. She raised her skull slowly, and the hair parted to reveal that familiar face.

    <i>It¡¯s her? </i>The face could not have been more normal, but Chen Ge had the shock of his life because he recognized this face. He had seen it hanging in ck and white in the second sick hall¡¯s activity room!

    <i>Isn¡¯t she dead? </i>Therge female nurse was the victim who had died inside the Third Sick Hall. ording to Doctor Gao, after the police¡¯s investigation, they had concluded that the killer was one of the patients.

    <i>She¡¯s still wandering the halls after her death? </i>Chen Ge understood why there were no footsteps. His hand reached for the cleaver in his bag. After a second¡¯s hesitation, the nurse turned her body around with difficulty. As if toppling over, herrge body leaned toward the door that Chen Ge was hiding behind.

    DONG!

    Her head knocking into the door created a dull thud. Chen Ge jumped back and yanked out the cleaver. The door was not locked, and Chen Ge was prepared to hash it out with this monster.

    However, right then, there was another sound of a door opening downstairs. Hearing this noise, the nurse was like a puppet being forced to turn around. She walked to the nurse¡¯s station and entered the small door next to it.

    <i>What was that? </i>Chen Ge¡¯s back was drenched. The female nurse was probably the bottom feeder at the Third Sick Hall. She was a just lingering spirit without thought. The person who assigned her what to do was the real culprit

    Chen Ge did not dare let his guard down. To not spook the nurse, he did not jump out with the cleavershing but hid behind the door to observe her quietly.

    After returning to the nurse¡¯s station, the nurse took out a notebook with dirt and blood stains from underneath the counter. She followed the content of the notebook and started arranging the bags that were filled with drugs.

    The nurse¡¯s station was opposite Chen Ge¡¯s room, so Chen Ge could see everything clearly. Her movements were quick and masterful. She soon picked up about ten bags and wandered into the staircase to head up to the fourth floor.

    After the nurse had wandered off, Chen Ge exited the room. He jumped back into the nurse¡¯s station to examine the notebook that the nurse had been using earlier. The notebook was thick, and it was full of patient records and diagnosis reports.

    Chen Ge looked through it randomly, and he realized that all the patients in the book shared a simrity; they were all dead. For all the reports, in the box for diagnosis result, someone had used a red pen to correct everything and write¡ªConfirmed Dead.

    <i>Have the killers hiding inside this hospital been following the patients? Or have the patients who once received treatment here returned to this ce?</i>

    Chen Ge saw Lee Chunyan and Zhang Qisi¡¯s names in the notebook. He nced at the counter, and the bags with their names had been taken away by the nurse.

    <i>There are dolls on the fourth floor with these two names on their backs. All the patients who have passed away seemed to have a corresponding doll in the Third Sick Hall, and there is a ¡®person¡¯ who gives them their medication every night, like how it was when they were still alive.</i>

    The mental hospital had been abandoned for five years already, but the Third Sick Hall had remained in operation. It was just that the patients had changed from living ones to dead ones, and all these changes could be rted to that mysterious door.

    <i>Could it be that the ¡®door¡¯ had been left open for so long that the world behind the door and the real world have ovepped?</i>

    Chen Ge did not read the notebook further before tossing it inside his backpack. Then he walked down the corridor. He wanted to go take a look inside the third-floor bathroom before the nurse returned.

 Chapter 167 - Dresser

    <h4>Chapter 167: Dresser</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>After the nurse finishes handing out all the medicine, she will return. When she discovers that the notebook is missing, she will go searching for it, but it should be fine because I believe she is only slightly more powerful than Xiaoxiao and the Pen Spirit. If I face her in battle, I might not lose.</i>

    Chen Ge held the hammer and walked deeper into the corridor. If this was some other person, they would have been shocked silly already; they would not have been able to calcte and n their steps. Opening the rooms one by one, Chen Ge made no new discoveries until he reached the door to the third-floor bathroom.

    <i>The sound of door opening came from downstairs, so this bathroom should not be where the ¡®door¡¯ is.</i>

    He could feel the anxietying from the white cat on his shoulder. Chen Ge tried to push the door open, and the bathroom was shrouded inplete darkness, swallowing up any sort of light.

    The row of squat cubicles looked rather frightening in the dark. Different from the school, the cubicles had no locks, probably in case of idents inside the bathroom. Chen Ge did a tour but found nothing strange. He eventually stopped before the sink that had a mirror, and he realized how interesting the design was.

    There was a curtain draped on top of the mirror. With a pull, the mirror would be covered up easily. This little design quirk reminded Chen Ge slightly of his own Haunted House. <i>Looks like there are some problems with the mirrors here as well.</i>

    Chen Ge pulled the curtain up, and the mirror was stained with smudges, like someone had run their hands over it. The surface was smudged with so many finger marks that Chen Ge could barely see his reflection.

    <i>The door is not here, </i>Chen Ge confirmed after making sure theyout of the third floor bathroom. He came out from the bathroom and used the adjacent staircase to walk down to the second floor.

    The closer he got to the first floor, the stronger the stench in the air became. The thing that surprised Chen Ge was that some curious things had appeared on the second floor¡¯s corridors and walls.

    It was unknown whether it was caused by the building¡¯s old age or some other reason, but there were patches along the corridor where it protruded outward. The protrusions had red hues to them like the color of bruised skin. The cracked floor also had residual liquid that looked like it was blood. It was as if blood had once seeped from cracks and had now dried.

    The second floor waspletely different from the third floor. The danger rating had practically doubled. If the third floor was eerie, then the second floor was dangerous; it just made people want to turn and run.

    <i>Could this really be real blood? </i>Chen Ge picked up something that looked like congealed blood off the floor and squished it in his hands. <i>It doesn¡¯t smell bloody... probably just normal red soil.</i>

    The mattresses on the corridor were rather in the way, and as Chen Ge walked past them, he yanked some open. He realized that the closer he got to the first floor, the more authentic these dolls looked. It was not that they were visually more authentic, but they gave off a stronger feeling that they were alive.

    <i>When I enter the first floor, will the dolls in the mattresses crawl out on their own?</i>

    He was not kidding and was considering this possibility seriously. Walking past room after room as he proceeded down the corridor, Chen Ge noticed a few special rooms as he was about to turn the corner. All the patients¡¯ rooms had windows on their doors so that the doctors could see inside easily, but these few rooms were different.

    <i>The director¡¯s office? </i>Chen Ge had pretty much finished exploring the mental hospital, and this was the first time he hade across a door with a que on it. He entered the room, and the space was huge. It had been made from breaking down the walls between three normal rooms.

    There were several pots of dead nts against the wall, and next to them were empty bookshelves and an office table. There was also a resting area. It was about half the size of the working area, and it had a single bed and a disproportionallyrge dresser.

    Closing the door behind him, Chen Ge stepped into the room. The floor was littered with a massive number of patient records, but these records were different from the ones in the nurse¡¯s notebook. They were unedited. In other words, these patients were probably still alive.

    The mental hospital had been in operation for at least ten years, and the number of patients that came through its door was huge, at least much bigger than Chen Ge anticipated. Compared to Jiujiang¡¯s poption of several million, the number of mental patients was probably very small, but Jiujiang only had two certified government mental hospitals, and even at their maximum capacity, they could only handle about a thousand people. This,bined with the fact that mental illnesses required repeated treatment, meant that there were not enough hospitals to go around. This was why there were private hospitals like Jiujiang Third Psychological Convalescence Centre.

    It had the necessary certification, but at the end of the day, it was a private hospital. Their main focus was money, and their management was riddled with problems. Due to the nature of mental patients, many things were not treated with the seriousness that they deserved. epting Wang Haiming even though he was mentally fine was one such example.

    After picking up a few of the patient¡¯s records, Chen Ge soon lost interest. The diagnoses given were pretty much the same¡ªeven the treatment methods were simr to each other.

    ¡°A real doctor is someone like Doctor Gao. These doctors were merely trying to silence the patients¡¯ wills and souls, transforming them into puppets without individuality.¡±

    Chen Ge continued his search. The bookshelves and table drawers were empty. Chen Ge entered the rest area and flipped the bed upside down. There was nothing. Finally, he turned toward the suspiciouslyrge dresser. This was the only ce he had not searched.

    ¡°This dresser is big enough to fit two adults. Could the missing director be left inside?¡±

    Raising his hammer, he scanned the dresser. The dresser was sealed with police tape, and it had not been taken down since it was applied because the edges were untouched.

    ¡°Why would the police seal the dresser? Was it hiding the body?¡±

    There were many other curious things about the dresser. Its four edges were taped with duct tape, and curious mantras were written on the corners. There were also red nails that were about half the length of a normal palm protruding out of the dresser.

    ¡°It just feels like this dresser carry something important inside.¡± Chen Ge hugged the white cat and ced it down by the door. He removed the police tape and used the mallet to pry the door open.

    There was no scary scene, and the dresser was not filled with clothes or anything weird. Inside sat a few papers that were filled with words and several envelopes that had not been mailed. Picking up the top most paper, the first line that entered Chen Ge¡¯s eyes made his heart jump.

    ¡°The kid inside Room 3 is acting up again. He is the first person to have seen the ¡®door¡¯, so I suspect the appearance of the ¡®door¡¯ is rted to him.¡±

    <i>Wasn¡¯t Room 3 empty? Where did this kide from?</i>

    Chen Ge continued to read, and the letters inside the dresser exined how the single ¡®door¡¯ had caused the ruination of the entire mental hospital.

 Chapter 168 - The Patient in Room Three

    <h4>Chapter 168: The Patient in Room Three</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Jiujiang Third Psychological Convalescence Centre was opened 23 years ago. It was the earliest private mental hospital in Jiujiang. From the name, it was clear that they were not a government body but a private convalescence center.

    The center had three sick halls, and the admission fee at the first sick hall was much cheaper than government hospital, but the conditions were extremely bad. The second sick hall¡¯s fees were twenty percent higher than normal, but there were specialized nurses and doctors. The third sick hall was only open to a small number of patients. The fee was extremely high, several times the price of a normal room.

    From the notes left behind by the director, the situation when the center was first built waspletely different from how it waster. At the beginning, the third sick hall was not a sealed up area. In fact, it was the ce with the best environment and highest price.

    The center operated for three months before they received a special patient. The director recorded the scenario in detail. That day was probably a turning point for him.

    A car with foreign tes arrived at the center, and two men helped an incredibly pregnant woman out from the backseat. The director came to wee them personally. After some questions, he realized that the woman had a serious mental illness. Due to safety concerns for the mother and the baby, the director rejected their admission.

    The man seemed to have predicted this, and he offered a fee that was ten times higher than the already high asking price of the third sick hall. He told the director that he would pay for half a year of treatment at once.

    Looking at the mountain of cash on the table, the director and the doctors were swayed. After the center went into operation, the first and second sick halls were filled to the brim, but most of the rooms in the third sick hall were left empty. After all, most rich patients would select official government mental hospitals to seek treatment.

    With some coaxing from the doctors, the director finally admitted the pregnant woman and assigned her the third room of the third sick hall. After making sure that the woman had settled in, the man left the director with his phone number and imed that he was the woman¡¯s husband. However, when the director asked to see their marriage certificate, the man could not produce it.

    Nevertheless, since he had epted the money, the director could not do anything about it. It was toote for regret. All he could do was take good care of the woman. After the initial diagnosis, it was found that the pregnant woman did suffer from a mental illness, bipr disorder. She refused tomunicate and would cry one moment and be consumed by rage the next. She mmed things that she could see and would sometimes injure herself. To keep her safe, the doctors baby-proofed everything inside Room 3.

    The woman¡¯s illness was unstable, but due to her pregnancy, most medication could not be used. The only thing the doctors could do was psychological counselling. Three months passed just like that, and it was close to her due date. The hospital hired several nurses to watch over her twenty-four hours a day.

    It was unknown whether it was theing baby that had elicited the woman¡¯s motherly nature or the effects of the counselling sessions, but the woman stopped acting up. She did not like human contact and spent most of her time touching her stomach, talking to herself.

    Four monthster, the child was born, and the woman¡¯s condition improved tremendously. The director and doctors sighed in the relief, and that day, they called the husband, but there was no answer.

    A bad feeling appeared in their heart, and they hired a special PI to investigate the man¡¯s identity. It turned out that all of his documentation was fake. After a discussion between the director and the doctors, they decided that if the man failed to show up after his money had run out, they would call the police. Considering the woman¡¯s condition, they did not tell her about this.

    The woman recollected her hope in life after the baby was born and started to provide her full cooperation. She wanted to get better for her child. She would also ask about her husband because in her mind, after she was cured, her husband would return.

    However, half a yearter, the man¡¯s money had dried up, and the man seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

    There were two different voices inside the hospital. Some doctors and nurses suggested to have the mother and son transferred away¡ªtaking care of both for free was too much work. The director, out of hispassion, asked them to wait a little longer, but the nurse who took care of the woman identally let this information slip.

    The woman demanded to talk to her husband, and all she got was the emotionless machine operator telling her that the number she was calling was no longer in use.

    Before sending the woman into the center for treatment, there appeared to have been a pact between the woman and the man. Now that the pact had been broken, the woman¡¯s condition deteriorated. She started to turn hostile to everyone around her. She was lost inside a dark maze and could not find a way out. To prevent the woman from hurting her own son, the doctor removed the baby from her care.

    The woman lost her mind and refused tomunicate. The baby was too small, and the hospital could not just adopt him for her. They tried their best to cure the woman, hoping to get information on the man from her, to make him pay for the remaining of the fee.

    No one would have thought that this treatment would go on for three years. The woman¡¯s child grew up inside the mental hospital, and he learned how to walk and talk in this ce that was filled with crazies.

    The first three years of a child¡¯s life was called the baby period. It was when a human picked up the most information, and it formed the foundation for the child¡¯s future. The woman¡¯s child spent these formative years inside this twisted andplicated environment.

    The money had already run out, so the hospital was taking care of them out of kindness. It was fine for one or two days, but as the days dragged on, the sound ofints grew, and even the workers¡¯ eyes started to change when they saw the child.

    The crazy mother was locked inside her room, and the thing the child did the most in those three years was ask the doctors or nurses to carry him to Room 3. He would lean against the window on the door and look into the room at the woman.

    When the child learned how to walk, he would sometimes wander over to Room 3 on his own, looking at the door that was several times bigger than he was. Days rolled into weeks and weeks into months. Other children of his age had family and friends¡ªtheir lives were filled with colors¡ªbut the world in this child¡¯s eyes were different. White-washed hospital walls filled most of his memory, and sooner orter, he acted different from how a normal child would.

    Chen Ge had unwillingly read to the end. The letter was like the director¡¯s personal diary.

    ¡°This child¡¯s childhood is even sadder than mine.¡±

    He had thought that his own childhood of ying with mannequin heads and stic bones was sad enough, but here was someone who had it worse.

    Putting down the letter, Chen Ge turned to look at the not-yet-mailed envelopes. The envelopes had no stamps and were not addressed. They were yellow from age and seemed to have been written years ago. Chen Ge opened them ording to chronological order. The first letter was written twenty years ago. At the time, the woman¡¯s child had only been two.

    ¡°Doctor Chen, this is the first time I¡¯vee across such a brilliant child. He picks up stuff at a superhuman rate.

    ¡°Being born in a hidden corner of the ce, growing up in a sick environment, should I send him away?

    ¡°The child will definitely be a genius in the future, but his various reactions make me worry.

    ¡°Ever since he learned how to talk, just like his mother, he has talked to talk to himself. No, it feels more like he ismunicating with something we can¡¯t see.

    ¡°The doctors and nurses are very busy, and there is no one who is free to teach him to speak other than me, but I keep hearing strange wordsing from his lips. Did he pick those up from hearing the doctors and nurses? Or is someone else teaching him?

    ¡°I¡¯m materialistic, but seeing what happened to the kid has swayed my conviction. ording to rumors, a toddler can see things that adults cannot, is that true?¡±

 Chapter 169 - Door!

    <h4>Chapter 169: Door!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I¡¯m curious about everything with regards to this child, but I am also worried about knowing too much. The kid is like a swamp; the closer you get, the greater the alert in your mind.

    ¡°The mother has bipr disorder, and only when she is in thepany of her son will she not act up. To facilitate treatment, the doctors bring the son to see her often. Every child has a natural reliance on their mothers. Even though he is so small, he knows that is his mother.

    ¡°However, the weirdest thing was, when the child saw his mother, the first thing he said wasn¡¯t mom or his own name but ¡®door¡¯.

    ¡°Initially, I thought that I was mistaken, or maybe it was just a meaningless mumble by the child, but when the nurse carried him away, he used his tiny finger to point at the door to her mother¡¯s room and repeated the same word¡ªdoor.

    ¡°He seemed to be telling us that he wants to get close to that door. This is the most curious thing because I¡¯ve asked the whole hospital, and no one has taught him that word before!

    ¡°Without guidance, he managed to vocalize the world and even knew what it meant. Who told him this? Is there really something else inside the hospital?

    ¡°Then, it became even weirder. When the nurse who carried the child and I entered Room 3 to see his mother, the child looked down the corridor and waved his arms like he was greeting someone. I was sure that there was no one other than us in that corridor.

    ¡°Of course, if that was all, I wouldn¡¯t have been so worried. The nurse also noticed this, so she asked him what he was doing. Who was he waving at?

    ¡°At the time, the child stammered this name¡ªHe Yajun.

    ¡°The nurse didn¡¯t know what it meant and assumed that the child was just working on his vocal cords. She did not take it to heart and continued to carry the child away. At the time, I really wanted to stop her because He Yajun was a real person. Before the third sick hall was built, a construction worker had an ident, and that person¡¯s name was He Yajun.

    ¡°This was something even the doctors and nurses did not know, so how did hee up with that name?

    ¡°I stood at the door and saw the nurse carry the child away. When she went up the stairs, the child once again waved at the corner that was empty. Honestly, I¡¯ve treated many children with mental illnesses, but I¡¯ve never been afraid. However, that day, in that corridor, I was gripped by intense fear.

    ¡°After that incident, I paid closer attention to the boy.¡±

    That was the end of the first letter. Until the end, the director did not mention who the letter was addressed to. Chen Ge finished the whole thing, and the only thing relevant to the identity of the addressee was the Doctor Chen at the beginning.

    <i>Surname Chen? Could it be Dad? But he¡¯s a Haunted House operator, not a doctor!</i>

    Chen Ge was initially d that he had found a clue rted to his parents, but he thought about it and believed that he was being a bit too optimistic. He opened the second letter, and the content was even more unbelievable.

    ¡°Doctor Chen, we have to meet in person. Things are getting slightly out of control.

    ¡°When the child learned how to crawl, he would actively go find his mother. No one in the third sick hall knew how he managed to leave the office and end up outside the door of Room 3.

    ¡°The other nurses and doctors have also noticed the weird behavior of the child. He rarely cries and smiles at random ces. He gets more excited as the day darkens, and he is very much not acting like a normal child.

    ¡°He has great learning ability, and even at such a young age, he can vocalize his words clearly even though the things that leave his lips often make chills run down peoples¡¯ spines.

    ¡°Perhaps the world in the child¡¯s eyes is different from ours. He sees the patients who take tranquilizers and sleeping pills as toys, and the way he looks at them is like they are already dead.

    ¡°He also waves and face patients who have lost their mind, but he never looks them in the face. Instead, he looks at the area above their shoulder like there is something about the patient¡¯s shoulders.

    ¡°The weirdest thing is that he likes to go sit outside Room 3. He never goes into it; he just sits there, staring at the door. A whole afternoon could pass with him doing just that. Some doctors and nurses suggested that we send the child to an orphanage. They were spooked by this kid, but sending him away would influence the mother¡¯s recovery. We have used a year to stabilize his mother¡¯s condition, and we cannot give up now.

    ¡°I rejected the doctor¡¯s suggestion, and after several months, there was good news from the police. Using the car te as a lead, they found the boy¡¯s biological father down south. At the time, the mother¡¯s condition had mostly been cured. We hired awyer to bring the father to court, demanding that he pay for the hospital and treatment fee and, at the same time, give the child¡¯s mother an official marriage and name.

    ¡°We won the case. It was unclear whether the fear of prison or guilt changed the father. Everything was improving positively, and the mother was getting better. The young woman showed exceptional strength when she was before her son.

    ¡°The treatment continued for another half a year, and the mother¡¯s illness had fully stabilized. She did not have many friends or family, so other than the few doctors who sent her away, her departure did not cause much of an effect. The child left with his mother, but the three years growing up at the mental hospital have left their scars already. The night before he left, he snuck back to the corridor and kept saying things that people could not understand to the door.

    ¡°After they left, I assumed everything was over, but who would have thought things would progress down apletely unexpected route?

    ¡°Just one yearter, when the child was four, he was sent back to the center by his father!

    ¡°ording to his father, the woman was killed at home, and the child witnessed the whole process. When I saw the child again, he had changed a lot. The only pir in his life had crumbled, and his condition was simr to how his mother was when she first arrived.

    ¡°Due to previous reasons and history, our center didn¡¯t dare admit him. We persuaded the father to send him to an official hospital instead. On the night that we rejected him, right at midnight, the white door of Room 3 started to leak blood.

    ¡°Thissted for one whole minute before it stopped. When I found out about this, it was one weekter, and within that one week, many unbelievable things have happened at the hospital.¡±

    The second letter stopped her abruptly. Reading the letters¡¯ content and the director¡¯s description, Chen Ge was reminded of someone who experienced the exact same thing.

    He opened the third letter urgently, and inside was a picture with the mother and her son. When Chen Ge saw this picture, he was overwhelmed by emotion. This was because he had seen this picture before; it was the same picture he had seen when he was helping Doctor Gao pack up Men Nan¡¯s belongings at Hai Ming Apartments!

    A woman with the patient¡¯s garb was leaning on the bed, and a shy little boy sat next to her.

 Chapter 170 - Only One Solution

    <h4>Chapter 170: Only One Solution</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The woman in the picture had no make-up, and she looked like she had just recovered from a big illness. There was a unique charm to her. Earlier, at Hai Ming Apartments, Chen Ge had criticized Men Nan¡¯s father for having an affair even though his wife was so beautiful, and now he understood why. Chen Ge moved his gaze to study the shy boy in the picture.

    <i>Is this child really Men Nan? An incredibly talented child when he was still a baby, but howe he could not handle a mere mirror monster after he grew up? Did his talent shrink as he grew older? </i>The story told in the letter was real. Chen Ge did hear people say that toddlers could see many weird things that adults could not, but as they grew up, everything returned to normal, and the memory that they had disappeared.

    <i>It shouldn¡¯t be so simple. </i>Chen Ge was reminded of what Doctor Gao told him. After a deep diagnosis, he discovered there were three personalities within Men Nan.

    The first was a self-protecting personality that appeared in the shape of his mother. This was probably the lingering spirit of Men Nan¡¯s mother. She had attached herself to Men Nan to protect him whenever she could.

    The second was Men Nan¡¯s main personality. This persona grew up with him, and it was the normal Men Nan that his friends knew.

    Thest personality hid in the deepest recesses of Men Nan¡¯s mind. ording to Doctor Gao, this personality had stuck at Men Nan¡¯s childhood years. He refused tomunicate, and the period when he appeared was extremely short. When the third persona appeared, Men Nan would disy superhuman talent.

    <i>Is it possible that the third persona is the real Men Nan? Then what exactly happened to him? What caused this persona to appear?</i>

    Before entering the Third Sick Hall, Chen Ge had studied up on this. He was familiar with split personality disorder, and he knew that the appearance of each persona had a specific reason behind it.

    Perhaps it was loneliness, or perhaps it was self-defense mechanism. Chen Ge had no idea why Men Nan¡¯s third persona had appeared, but he had a feeling that it was rted to the door at the third sick hall.

    Putting the picture back into the envelope, Chen Ge started to read the third letter.

    ¡°The door appears punctually at midnight. It stays for a minute before disappearing.

    ¡°I¡¯ve sealed up the third sick hall and forbidden anyone from getting close to Room 3 at night. I¡¯ve asked the nurses on night patrol to keep an eye on that bleeding door.

    ¡°Three days have passed, and the nurses told me there there was a weird noiseing from behind the door. When the door returned to normal, she pushed the door open, and the room was empty. There wasn¡¯t a rat as she had expected.

    ¡°On the fourth day, I stayed vigil by the door personally. There were indeed movements behind the door, and I could hear the sound of chewing.

    ¡°On the fifth night, the thing behind the door seemed to have sensed something. There was knockinging from behind the door. There was knocking from a room that was confirmed to be empty. If not for the fact that I have just concluded a mental test, I would have thought I was crazy.

    ¡°I used wooden boards to seal up the door, and on the tenth night, there was urgent banging on the door.

    ¡°Fresh blood seeped through the door, dying it red. It was like a scene from a nightmare. I¡¯ve contacted the workers to remove the door and asked a few doctors to watch the door outside Room 3.

    ¡°On the midnight of the eleventh day, everyone present could hear the door being opened. The sound came from Room 3 even though the door was already gone.

    ¡°When the sound urred, I saw the door frame dyed red. I managed to take a close look. It was not blood but something that looked like blood vessels. One minuteter, everything returned to normal, and one of the doctors said that he saw a shadow crawl out of the room.

    ¡°Said doctor handed in his resignation that afternoon. The hospital was running low on staff, so I denied his request. It only made his emotions run wild; there was no room for negotiation at all.

    ¡°Removing the door was useless, so I asked the workers to seal it up with bricks. In the initial few days, the method seemed to be effective, but one weekter, there was a new problem with Room 3. Whenever midnight arrived, Room 3, even the walls next to it, started to turn red like bruised skin. The red was spreading, and I fear that, one day, it will cover the entire hospital.

    ¡°I¡¯ve used every method that I can think of, but I cannot stop it. This room was fine, and everything happened after the ident that befell the child¡¯s mother. Do you think I should find the boy? To find the solution or reason from him?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s face was dark after reading the third letter. This door was much more troublesome than he had anticipated. The old director had used all sorts of methods, but he had still failed. He had not only failed to close the door, but he had exacerbated the situation.

    ¡°But there has to be a solution or else the center would have closed ten years ago and not just five years ago.¡±

    Chen Ge picked up thest letter, and his expression turned serious. This was because thest envelope had something others did not: an address. It was addressed to Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I¡¯ve followed your instructions, and thankfully, the door is temporarily closed. But I don¡¯t understand, why can Men Nan close the door?¡±

    The letter was short, but it revealed two important facts to Chen Ge. One, the door could be closed; two, Men Nan was the key to closing it.

    <i>Looks like I¡¯ll need Men Nan¡¯s help if I want to deal with the door in the mirror at my Haunted House.</i>

    Chen Ge read the short fourth letter again.

    <i>At the very end, the old director has shown interest in the world behind the door. Could the reason for his disappearance be rted to that?</i>

    The center had been closed five years ago, and before it was sealed up, the director had disappeared. These two incidents had to be rted. Recing the letters, Chen Ge looked at the dresser.

    ¡°Something is not right. The letters weren¡¯t stamped. The earlier three letters did not even have an address, so they could not have been mailed. How did the directormunicate with this Doctor Chen?

    ¡°Furthermore, why would the mailed letters return to the director¡¯s office?¡±

    Chen Ge narrowed his eyes as several possibilities entered his mind.

    ¡°Could it be that the director also suffered from split personality disorder and one of his personas was this Doctor Chen? Or had the mysterious Doctor Chen who received the letters returned to the hospital after the director¡¯s disappearance and purposefully left the letters here? But why would he do that?¡±

    Chen Ge only ended up with more questions.

    ¡°Who is this Doctor Chen?¡±

    Chen Ge thought about it before putting the letter with the address into his shirt pocket.

 Chapter 171 - Something Wrong with Qin Guang

    <h4>Chapter 171: Something Wrong with Qin Guang</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    There was nothing else in the dresser. After closing the door, Chen Ge snapped a few pictures of the dresser.

    ¡°There are four blood red nails on the four corners of the dresser, and every gap was sealed with clear cellophane. The fact that the cupboard could be preserved in the Third Sick Hall for so long has got to do with this unique setting.¡±

    Chen Ge tried to yank the nail out, but he failed after giving it a try. The four nails were stuck deep into the corners¡ªit was as if they were already joined to the dresser.

    ¡°There is something unique about these four nails. I should return in the morning to pull them out.¡±

    Chen Ge had stayed for far too long inside the director¡¯s office, so he had no idea what was happening outside.

    When he stepped out from the resting area, the white cat jumped onto his shoulder and refused to get down no matter what. Chen Ge nudged himself carefully toward the office door. He did not dare to go out directly, afraid that the nurse or the twisted face was hiding at the corner to ambush him.

    With the hammer raised, Chen Ge leaned against the door to listen for weird noisesing from outside. Ten seconds passed, and he did hear something weird. The sound of doors opening and closing reverberated down the corridor, like someone was inspecting the rooms one by one.

    Chen Ge pushed the office door slightly, and in the corridor that seemed to reach into the endless dark, there was something swaying in the inky darkness. The shadow gradually gathered its shape as it flitted in and out of the rooms.

    ¡°That¡¯s a white nurse¡¯s outfit. Is she looking for her notebook?¡± Chen Ge gripped the hammer. He was considering whether to face the nurse head on or temporarily retreat. The nurse¡¯s body was very twisted, and this caused her to have a staggering gait since she could barely maintain her bnce. Even so, she was moving at a quick speed. Viewed from afar, it was quite scary.

    ¡°She appeared to have discovered me on the third floor. If not for the opportune sound of a door opening, we would have been involved in an altercation. Keeping her around means another dangerous element for me to worry about. In that case, I should use the notebook as bait and take care of her while I still have the element of surprise.¡±

    Chen Ge was as calm as he could be. He wasing up with the solution that was the most beneficial to him.

    ¡°The director¡¯s office isrge. Even if I fail to kill her with one hit, there¡¯s enough space for me to continue the aggression. It¡¯s also the perfect opportunity to see whether the cleaver is useful against these things.¡±

    Chen Ge ced the notebook before the dresser, put away the letters, and climbed into the dresser to hide with the cat. He adjusted himself until he found afortable position. After several minutes, the door to the office was opened.

    The nurse saw the notebook easily. However, she did not rush in to take it immediately. She seemed to be cautious of the dresser. She hesitated for quite some time before staggering into the room.

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes caught the nurse¡¯s every movement. When she bent down to take the notebook, Chen Ge saw his opportunity, sted the door open and swung the hammer right at the nurse. The hammer fell on the nurse, and her already misshapen body became even more distorted.

    Not giving her a chance to recover, Chen Ge grabbed the cleaver from his backpack. The red cloth fell to the ground as Chen Ge stuck the de into the nurse¡¯s outfit. There was a sharp sound beside his ears. The nurse¡¯s clothes were split open, and even though there was no blood, it was clear that a part of the nurse¡¯s body had gone missing.

    ¡°This cleaver is useable!¡±

    The nurse¡¯s dead face changed. It was filled with pain and anger. She opened her jaws wide to bite at Chen Ge¡¯s face, shrieking.

    Chen Ge raised the cleaver to defend himself, but he had underestimated the nurse¡¯s aggression level. This thing was different from a normal human being. Even though the cleaver struck her body, her movement did not slow; if anything, she moved faster.

    The cleaver dealt some damage to the nurse, but the nurse also got close to her target. Her ugly face was inches away.

    Chen Ge was seconds away from certain death. At that moment, the white cat on his shoulder suddenly jumped onto the nurse¡¯s face. The stray cat was vicious. The nurse¡¯s attack was halted, and she changed target to bite at Chen Ge¡¯s arm.

    The nurse was very aggressive. Chen Ge weaved left and right to evade her attacks. There was a cling on his wrist like something had fallen off. He did not pay the sound any attention. He focused fully on doing damage to the nurse¡¯s body using the cleaver.

    Even though there was no blood, the nurse¡¯s size was visibly shrinking, and her form started to waver. After who knew how many cuts, the nursepletely disappeared, and the torn up nurse¡¯s outfit fell to the floor.

    ¡°It¡¯s over?¡±

    Before he could celebrate, there wasmotioning from the corridor. Something seemed to be heading his way, and the number of new pursuers sounded to be quite high.

    ¡°Can¡¯t stay here any longer. I¡¯ll be dead if I¡¯m surrounded here.¡± Chen Ge grabbed his backpack, and holding the cleaver and hammer on each hand, he made a hasty retreat. He ran until he reached the staircase. He was about to catch his breath when the phone in his pocket vibrated.

    <i>Mission sess alert? </i>Chen Ge saw the message, and he felt cheated. The vibration was a call from Liu Dao. <i>I¡¯ll need to remind them not to call me during my livestream. This might be the cause of my death if I¡¯m not careful.</i>

    Chen Ge answered the call with a whisper. ¡°I¡¯m hanging up if there¡¯s nothing important.¡±

    ¡°Quick look at your livestream room!¡± Liu Dao sounded quite excited.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Chen Ge clicked his page open, and he got quite a shock when he saw the number. His viewer count had shot up to 300,000! And the number was still climbing. It would pass 400,000 in just a few minutes.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Is something wrong with the tform?¡± Seeing the rising number, Chen Ge decided to change the livestream¡¯s name to the address of his Haunted House and added an exnation in the information box.

    ¡°Nothing¡¯s wrong with the tform, but something¡¯s definitely wrong with Qin Guang! After entering a ssroom in Mu Yang High School, his visual suddenly turned ck. No one knows what happened. I initially thought this was some kind of special effect, but the screen stayed ck for as long as twenty-five minutes. For a professional livestream, even five minutes without an image is a tragedy. This can only mean one thing; some kind of ident must have happened to his team!¡±

    The more he said, the more excited he got. ¡°This is a gift from the heavens! The entire tform nned to promote a supernatural livestream because of him, but most of the viewers only got a ck screen. They went to search for simr content, and since only the two of you are doing this, and the key point being that your livestream content and quality are much higher than his, most of the viewers came and never left!¡±

    After hearing the cause and effect from Liu Dao, based on the trajectory of the viewership so far, getting to 500,000 was not impossible, and that was a dream for a newbie host like Chen Ge.

 Chapter 172 - The Monster Behind the Door

    <h4>Chapter 172: The Monster Behind the Door</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    A rocket rise in poprity was something that Chen Ge did not expect.

    <i>I¡¯ve already given Qin Guang the warning, but he refused to listen, so I can¡¯t be med. Thankfully, Mu Yang High School isn¡¯t that dangerous, and the ghosts there aren¡¯t evil, so he should be fine. </i>Chen Ge still felt like he was a kind person.<i>Hopefully, he¡¯ll speedily recover and will think twice before giarizing other people¡¯s content again.</i>

    Chen Ge made use of this opportunity to promote his Haunted House. He believed that many viewers would remember the name of Western Jiujiang¡¯s House of Horrors from this livestream. Poprity was like rising bread; in the foreseeable future, there should be a continuous stream of viewers who woulde to pay him a visit.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I¡¯ll need to talk to you about drafting a new contract. Also, I have a question to ask.¡± Liu Dao did not hang up. He was under a lot of pressure as well. ¡°You have arranged this entire livestream, right? The whole setting is controlled and operated by the team at your Haunted House?¡±

    Liu Dao did not know that much about Chen Ge even though they were partners. He knew that Chen Ge owned a Haunted House, so it was not umon for the boss to know professional actors and have the ability to design the most authentic scary experience. For someone who did not believe in the ult, he had to exin the situation with logic when he came across supernatural incidents.

    ¡°I suppose so.¡± Chen Ge gave a vague answer. He did have a team back at the Haunted House, but other than Xu Wan, the rest of the cast could not be revealed.

    ¡°I knew you are not in there alone.¡± Liu Dao sighed. ¡°Earlier, the camera on your wrist fell. After you ran out, the camera on the floor suddenly started to move, and after Sister Lee saw it, she thought an actual ghost had arrived.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Chen Ge whipped his head to look at his wrist. Indeed, the camera had fallen, probably when he was tussling with the nurse.

    ¡°Look, it¡¯s moving again!¡±

    Chen Ge silenced the chatlog and turned to look at the video on the right-hand corner. The video corresponded to the wrist camera. The video was moving forward, and the camera seemed to be hanging on the nurse¡¯s outfit. It was moving toward Chen Ge!

    ¡°It¡¯s still alive after the punishment I put her through? Is it due to the unique environment?¡±

    Liu Dao did not know how serious it was and gave Chen Ge some serious advice. ¡°You¡¯d better contact your friend and tell him to not appear before the camera. This will give the viewers a greater sense of anticipation.¡±

    ¡°What anticipation?¡± After hanging up, Chen Ge ran up the stairs immediately. The livestream showed two different camera angles, and one was running away from the other.

    This was something new for the viewers and for Chen Ge as well. He rushed into the third-floor corridor. After running a few feet, Chen Ge lowered his head to nce at his phone. He saw his back!

    ¡°She has caught up to me!¡±

    Without a way to deal with the nurse permanently, Chen Ge ran into the staircase and down back to the second floor. After losing the nurse, he changed his direction and flew down to the first floor.

    The nurse was chasing after him on instinct. After losing Chen Ge, she repeated her action of inspecting every room.

    <i>The nurse is different from the mirror monster; she has no will. It is as if she has melded herself with the environment.</i>

    After the nurse left, Chen Ge climbed out of his hiding spot. This level was where everything started. <i>The stench is now even thicker.</i>

    The corridor of the first floor was different from other floors. In the cracks on the ground, there was things that looked like worms wiggling. There were faded red bruises on the walls, and after peeling a section of the wall off, Chen Ge discovered that the red had seeped into the wall. It felt like he was examining the skin of a living person.

    ¡°The director¡¯s letters mentioned something simr, but he said that the weird changes were limited to the walls adjacent to Room 3.¡±

    There were ten rooms on the first floor, corresponding to the ten patients. Chen Ge nudged closer to the door nearest to him. The door to Room 10 was made of steel. Instead of a sickroom, it looked more like a prison. Chen Ge tried many ways, but the door did not even budge.

    ¡°The quality is good. Even after so many years, there are no signs of it getting loose.¡±

    The patient in Room 10 was known as the Devil. Even though Doctor Gao said that the patient probably would have died from his disease already, there were always exceptions to the rule.

    That night, Chen Ge had met quite a few patients from the Third Sick Hall already, perhaps Patient Number 10 was still alive.

    Room 8 and 9 were also equipped with steel doors. Chen Ge could not open them without creating a hugemotion. It was no time for sightseeing, so Chen Ge rushed to Room 3.

    The wall was peeling off, and something that looked like blood was leaking from inside the walls. The dolls were half exposed from underneath the mattresses. It felt like they would reach out to grab his legs at any moment.

    Every corner of the corridor was filled with bruises, and when Chen Ge touched it, lines that looked suspiciously like blood vessels appeared. It was a weird feeling; it felt like it was the building itself that was bleeding.

    The stench in the air was so thick that it had gotten ufortably pungent. Suppressing the rising nausea, Chen Ge walked toward Room 3. When he was close enough, he finally saw the door.

    It was a door that waspletely dyed red with blood. It was half-open, and there was a no-entry sign hanging on the door knob.

    ¡°This is the ¡®door¡¯ that has ruined this hospital.¡±

    It was not until when he saw the door that it dawned on him how dangerous his situation was. Chen Ge moved his legs forcibly forward, the cleaver and hammer in his hands giving him zero security. Every cell in his body was screaming for him to leave, but there was also a voice at the back of his brain calling him to move forward, hurrying him.

    With the hair on his body standing up, Chen Ge finally stopped at the door of Room 3. In the dark corridor, a door sat quietly amid the blood-dyed walls. It was like the heart of the Third Sick Hall, and everything revolved around it.

    <i>Will this happen to the door in my Haunted House if I leave it be?</i>

    Chen Ge looked into Room 3 through the gap. The ceiling, walls, bed... everything Chen Ge could see was red. Even though it was just a door, it was the separation between two drastically different worlds.

    He reached out to touch the door, hoping the close it. However, when he moved the door, a familiar noise entered his ears.

    He had heard this noise at the Haunted House before. It was the sound of something heavy being dragged.

 Chapter 173 - Wake Him Up

    <h4>Chapter 173: Wake Him Up</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    When he heard this sound, Chen Ge did not hesitate and mmed the door closed. With his hand around the lock, a chill snuck into his palm and spread throughout his body. He froze outside the door and focused his attention on locating the source of the noise.

    ¡°It definitely came from inside the door, but I¡¯m unable to ascertain which direction.¡± The image of a masked monster dragging a body down the corridor appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. The sound drew closer until it suddenly stopped.

    Chen Ge¡¯s muscles were tensed. It was a curious feeling. The door before him was like a mirror. The two worlds reflected each other, and the monster was standing where Chen Ge was. There was just a door between them, and neither party dared do anything rash.

    Eerie winds blew down the corridor. Four minutester, there was the sound of a door openinging from the second floor. The female nurse seemed to have caught up to him. Things were not looking good for Chen Ge. The nurse wasing, but he was caught in a situation where he could not move an inch. The monster on the other side of the door had sensed probably him. If he made any abrupt movements, the monster mighte out from the door.

    This was a silentpetition. The monster inside the door was hesitating. Outside the door, Chen Ge did not have a n to face the monster yet. His biggest goal then was to find something to temporarily close the door and survive the night at the hospital.

    The nurse, who had finished inspecting the third and second floors, finally arrived at the first floor. The nurse seemed to have been a vengeful person when she was alive because when she saw Chen Ge, she started running toward him in her tipsy gait.

    In a dark hall within an enclosed sick hall, a madwoman in a tattered nurse outfit was charging at him; this was a scary scene indeed. Chen Ge¡¯s arms were covered in green veins, and he looked at the encroaching nurse out of the corner of his eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already given you the notebook, so why are you still chasing me?¡±

    If this was another ce and another time, Chen Ge would not have panicked, but the monster inside the door had put him under too much pressure.

    He had heard the voice and had never seen the monster behind the door, and the fear of the unknown was always the biggest.

    The nurse was relentless. With her wsshing, she soon arrived within ten meters of Chen Ge. The wounds caused by the cleaver had recovered, and the nurse¡¯s misshapen body had solidified plenty. Chen Ge could even see the camera hanging on the nurse¡¯spel.

    ¡°Don¡¯t push it.¡±

    When the nurse was five meters from Chen Ge, he made a quick decision. Between the two, he picked the weaker one. He would deal with the nurse first before taking on the thing inside the door.

    Chen Ge slowly pulled his hands back from the door, and when the nurse was close enough, Chen Ge rammed into her with a speed that was faster than she was. The hammer swung freely, and Chen Ge assaulted the nurse like he was a crazed person. In reality, other than being a little bit hard to kill, the nurse was not that powerful.

    When the cleaver cut into the woman¡¯s body, Chen Ge did not continue his aggression. He knew that the bigger threat came from behind him.

    While Chen Ge and the nurse were caught in the altercation, the door to Room 3 started to bleed. Something that looked like blood slid down the door before disappearing when it hit the ground. A powerful force was nudging the door open from the inside. The door creaked as it slowly opened.

    ¡°The thing ising out!¡± Those few seconds were not enough to fully deal with the nurse, and Chen Ge found himself caught between a rock and a hard ce. The nurse seemed to hate him a lot as she curled her twisted body around him, trying to constrict him like a boa.

    With a bigger threat behind him, Chen Ge steeled his heart. He struggled loose from the nurse and whacked the nurse heavily on her back. The hammer given by the ck phone had a debilitative effect on ghosts, and this was proven when the hammernded on the nurse¡¯s body. Chen Ge hit the nurse on the same spot, and the nurse got tossed forward,nding between Chen Ge and the blood door.

    The door was already half open, and something wasing out.

    ¡°This is not where you belong!¡± Chen Ge carried on his attack. The normal method could not kill the nurse, so he tried the only method avable¡ªhe nned to force the nurse into the blood door and perhaps that might close the door.

    Things went smoother and much scarier than Chen Ge anticipated. When the nurse neared the door, a hairy hand reached out from the half-open door. The hand reached for the location Chen Ge was standing at earlier. During his fight with the nurse, Chen Ge had purposely traded his original position with the nurse.

    The palm grabbed the nurse and powerfully yanked backwards. The nurse¡¯s face was twisted, and she barely had the chance to struggle before she was pulled into the door. Seeing this, Chen Ge ran forward and mmed the door shut. He put all his weight against the door to block it from opening.

    BANG!

    There was mming from behind the door. Chen Ge had experienced a simr thing at his Haunted House, but the difference was, the door at the Haunted House only existed for a minute, but the one at the hospital might persist until dawn.

    BANG!

    Something mmed into the door heavily. It caused Chen Ge¡¯s back to go numb. ¡°Just what kind of monster is behind the door? Why is it so powerful?¡±

    He did not know the method to close the door, and there was nothing around to help him block the entrance. The worst thing was that the door-mming might attract more monsters.

    ¡°This door has to be closed, even if just temporarily. If not, I might not be able to survive to see the sun rise tomorrow morning.¡± Chen Ge forced himself to calm down. With his back to the door, he pulled out his phone to call Doctor Gao. ¡°Please pick up!¡±

    It was answered after four rings. Doctor Gao¡¯s voice drifted through the phone. ¡°Chen Ge?¡±

    Probably due to a signal problem, Doctor Gao¡¯s voice came intermittently, and this only made Chen Ge feel more nervous. ¡°Doctor Gao, get me Men Nan! I have an emergency!¡±

    ¡°He is still hospitalized, what do you want from him?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a life and death situation! He was born at a mental hospital, and the hidden third persona is the real Men Nan,¡± Chen Ge said urgently. While Doctor Gao was confused by what he had said, from Chen Ge¡¯s hurried tone, he knew the gravity of the situation.

    ¡°I¡¯ll drive to the hospital now. I¡¯ll be there in twenty minutes. Don¡¯t hang up; tell me if you need anything.¡±

    ¡°I might not survive twenty minutes.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s back was sore, and the few sickrooms next to him had started to make weird noises. ¡°Doctor Gao, you have to help me invoke the youngest persona inside Men Nan!¡±

 Chapter 174 - The Monsters Weakness

    <h4>Chapter 174: The Monster¡¯s Weakness</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°The youngest persona? Men Nan¡¯s third person is very well secluded and rarely appears. I cannot promise that I¡¯ll be able to do anything, you¡¯d better be mentally prepared for a failure.¡± There was the sound of a door opening from Doctor Gao¡¯s side; he was rushing out of his home.

    ¡°Only the youngest persona will have the answer to what I need to know. Doctor Gao, no matter what, you have to wake him up!¡± The mming of the door came from behind him, and through the phone, Doctor Gao could hear it clearly.

    ¡°I¡¯ll try my best!¡± He knew Chen Ge through Gao Ru Xue. Initially, he had treated Chen Ge as someone who liked psychology, but when Chen Ge volunteered to cure Wang Xin and Men Nan, his impression of the young man improved greatly, and at the same time, he gained many new questions about the man.

    Especially that night, he saw something questionable at Hai Ming Apartments, but he had not told anyone. He kept it inside his heart, attempting to find the answer himself. The phone stayed connected, and as Doctor Gao drove toward the hospital Men Nan was at, Chen Ge tried to hold the door behind him shut.

    About three minutester, the door mming did not end, and to make matters worse, the sound of gears unlocking came from Room 8, which was not far away from Chen Ge. The room had a reinforced door, and it slowly opened to a slit.

    A face that was uneven on both sides looked out. He extended his neck and came out of the room wearing a doctor¡¯s garb.

    ¡°The man was hiding inside the sickroom.¡± Chen Ge had tried opening the door earlier, but he had failed. Now that he thought about it, it was probably the twisted face who did something to the door. The Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer leaned against Room 3¡¯s door, and he only had ess to the cleaver.

    Chen Ge looked at the twisted face and was considering pushing him into the door as well.

    ¡°I wonder what will happen to living person if trapped behind the door. If he dares to attack me, he¡¯ll be the perfect candidate to experiment on.¡± The more dangerous it was, the calmer Chen Ge became. He held the cleaver and adjusted the position of the hammer. He formed a barricade using the hammer so that even if he left the door, the door would not be opened instantly.

    After midnight, there were some chances to the man¡¯s twisted face. His expression was more insane, and he slowly strode toward Chen Ge empty-handed.

    ¡°Something¡¯s not right.¡± Chen Ge noticed the problem instantly. When the man was at the second sick hall, he had run without a second thought even though he had the axe, but after entering the third sick hall, he dared approach Chen Ge, who had both a cleaver and a hammer, empty-handed.

    The white cat hissed dangerously. When Chen Ge was fighting with the nurse, it had jumped down from Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder, and now it was gnashing its teeth at the twisted face. Facing the cat and the man, the twisted face¡¯s expression waspletely different from before. His face that seemed to have undergone surgery revealed an ugly smile.

    He walked slower and slower with each step like there was something heavy on his shoulders, and every step was a painful ordeal for the man.

    ¡°His pose is simr to Wang Shenglong¡¯s...¡±

    With the cleaver before his chest, the thing that Chen Ge did not wish to see the most appeared. The twisted face¡¯s lips cracked open even more, and a second head appeared behind his shoulders.

    It was just a normal head, but like a person standing up, a thin monster that was about 2.5 meters long extended out from the twisted face¡¯s back. The monster¡¯s lower body was connected to the twisted face¡¯s back, and the monster touched the ceiling easily. It then curved forward, like a human-headed cobra heading toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Even though he was prepared, when Chen Ge saw the monster, he was still quite shocked. The monster was thin and long, wearing arge white cloth that was sewn together. Through the open patches, Chen Ge could see several human faces that were silent and drawn.

    At the beginning, the monster was probably not that tall, but after jumping onto people¡¯s shoulders and consuming them, it finally grew to this height. Chen Ge realized something. Wang Shenglong had once used a painting to describe his rtionship with a monster. In the painting, he had been at the bottom, and the monster was stepping on his shoulders.

    The twisted face and the monster before Chen Ge shared a different rtionship. The monster came directly out of the man¡¯s back.

    <i>Is the twisted face the monster itself, or have they achieved some kind of mutually-beneficial rtionship?</i>

    There was no time to think because even though the twisted face stopped at two meters away from Chen Ge, the long monster on his back had already reached the top of Chen Ge¡¯s skull. The monster¡¯s face was extremelymon¡ªit was the kind that would be forgotten easily, but who would have thought that such amon face hid a gruesome monster?

    ¡°Let¡¯s y a game. If you win, I¡¯ll let you go, but if you lose, you¡¯ll give me your body.¡± The monster and the twisted face¡¯s lips moved at the same time, and the voice appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. ¡°The game¡¯s name is called ¡®Who Speaks First¡¯.¡±

    This was a game that the yer was destined to lose because there was no time limit; Wang Shenglong was the perfect example. After agreeing to the game, the monster would climb onto the yer¡¯s back and start the torment.

    If the yer lost their conviction and spoke, the monster would win, but even if they did not, the monster would continue to squat on their shoulders, and the game would never end. The human faces that Chen Ge saw through the patches were probably the monster¡¯s victims.

    ¡°If you want to y a game, sure, but you¡¯ll need to edit the rules,¡± Chen Ge said in a calm tone. Doctor Gao was rushing to the hospital, so he was buying time for himself.

    The monster stopped above Chen Ge¡¯s head. It was about half a meter away, and it took in a slight breath because it had not experienced this situation before. After a moment¡¯s pause, it turned to look at the twisted face, as if asking for his opinion. <i>Shouldn¡¯t a normal person be screaming by now?</i>

    The smile froze on the twisted face. He assumed that Chen Ge was toying with them, so he pointed his finger at Chen Ge¡¯s head. The monster understood his meaning; it leaned downward, and a pair of shriveled hands reached out for Chen Ge¡¯s face, its body still extending.

    Chen Ge saw the monster approaching, but he did not lose his cool; if anything, his mind was working clearer than before.

    <i>This is the monster¡¯s weakness! When he tried to attack me, it only moved its upper body, and its lower body was still stuck to the twisted face. This means that it probably cannot move its lower body easily.</i>

    <i>No wonder it wants to y this game with people. If it could just jump on people¡¯s shoulders to take over their body, it wouldn¡¯t need to draw people in with the pretext of ying a game.</i>

    Chen Ge took a step back, but his eyes were glowing. <i>When it moves from one body to the next, that is probably when it is the weakest.</i>

 Chapter 175 - The Last Trump Card

    <h4>Chapter 175: The Last Trump Card</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge kept evading, but he was eventually cornered by the monster.

    ¡°Wait! I agree to y the game with you!¡±

    Facing certain death, Chen Ge ¡®surrendered¡¯. He pocketed his phone. Looking at the monster, he said, ¡°We¡¯ll do it your way.¡±

    The change in Chen Ge¡¯s attitude made the twisted face suspicious, but the monster was just excited.

    ¡°Before the starting the game, you need to drop the cleaver.¡± This was the first time Chen Ge had heard the man speak. He had a special voice, like his vocal cords had been operated on before, and it sounded sharp and shrill.

    ¡°If I win the game, you need to guarantee that I can leave this ce safely.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were filled with distrust. Seeing this, the twisted face felt more confident. ¡°Move away from the door, drop the knife, and after you win the game, I will tell you the exit.¡±

    The game was a losing battle. If Chen Ge really agreed to it, his future would be a life of torture inside a dark mental hospital.

    ¡°Fine, I agree. What shall I do next?¡± Chen Ge tossed the cleaver aside, but he made sure that the handle was facing him. He shoved both his hands into his pockets.

    ¡°Just stand where you are.¡± The twisted face walked forward until he was two meters away from Chen Ge. ¡°From this moment on, no matter what you see or hear, you cannot make a sound or else you lose.¡±

    He stared at Chen Ge while the monster on his back continued to extend until the verymon face was hanging upside down before Chen Ge.

    ¡°Still not speaking? Then how about something more exciting.¡± Chen Ge sat down and bent over. The monsterpletely extricated itself from his back. The monster as three meters tall. Its legs were less than one meter long, and his limbs were the size of normal people. However, its body was long, like it was attached together from the bodies of many different people.

    <i>What in the world is this? </i>The monster was so tall that it had a hard time maintaining its bnce as it wiggled its way toward Chen Ge. There were only two meters between them. The monster¡¯s upper body hung above Chen Ge while its lower body slowly climbed toward him.

    As if afraid that Chen Ge might regret his decision, its spindly hands gripped Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders to prevent him from running. Chen Ge was rather nervous as the creature walked toward him. He repeated the n in his mind multiple times as he kept his eyes on the monster¡¯s legs.

    When the legs were next to the cleaver, Chen Ge¡¯s hand inside his pocket suddenly pulled out. There was something he had that would definitely cause damage on the monster!

    The sharp tip of the pen stuck into the monster¡¯s eye. The force caused the pen that was taped together to shatter immediately.

    The pen was stuck inside the monster¡¯s eye socket, and its body wiggled like a snake. Obviously, it was damaged. In Hai Ming Apartments, Chen Ge had identally thrown Xiaoxiao at the mirror monster, and the doll had taken a bite out of the monster¡¯s body. It was then that Chen Ge realized other ghosts were the most effective method to harm ghosts.

    Using the Pen Spirit¡¯s ballpoint pen was part of his n. When the monster was screaming from pain, Chen Ge yanked out the pen and rushed forward. He acted very fast. When the twisted face realized what was happening, Chen Ge already held the cleaver in his hand.

    When he tossed the knife, he had already nned everything. He knew that even if he ced the handle toward himself, the twisted face would not have noticed it considering how dark the corridor was.

    Feeling the weight of the cleaver in his hands, Chen Ge aimed it at the monster¡¯s weakness: its legs. He had suffered a lot that night, and that cut contained all the negative emotions that Chen Ge wanted to vent. With every cut, the monster¡¯s body dwindled.

    <i>The effect of the cleaver is still too weak topletely demolish this monster. When it recovers, the situation will still be unfavorable for me. </i>Chen Ge soon calmed down from his battle rage. <i>The cleaver cannot hurt the monster, but it can definitely incapacitate the person who it relies on.</i>

    With the cleaver in his hands, Chen Ge whipped his head around to re at the twisted face.

    ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± The twisted face broke out in cold sweat. For some reason, he felt like history was about to repeat itself.

    <i>You¡¯re dead meat! </i>Chen Ge ran at him with the cleaver raised. The twisted face turned around and dashed toward the stairs. The twisted face ran for his life, and Chen Ge chased after him with the cleaver glinting dangerously in the dark. Behind them, the monster who was poked blind slithered like a snake on the floor as it tried to catch up to its prey. The three formed a curious sort of bnce as they ran from the first floor to the fourth.

    After entering the fourth-floor corridor, Chen Ge slowed down. He realized that the twisted face seemed to be purposely leading him this way. When they ran up the other floor, the twisted face did not even hesitate. He just shot up the stairs to the fourth floor.

    <i>He wants to escape to the other sick halls? Impossible, he can only control the monster when he is inside the third sick hall. </i>Chen Ge knew very well how unique the third sick hall was for these mental patients. They would not leave this ce willingly for various reasons.

    Just as the twisted face was about to leave the third sick hall, he finally stopped. He screamed loudly until his face twisted even more. Hearing the man¡¯s screams, two other men climbed out of the rooms from the sides. They were both injured, and they were Xu Tong and the patient with the Phantom Limb Syndrome.

    If it was just the three of them, Chen Ge would not have been so afraid, but he could see the monsters slowly extending out from the two other men¡¯s backs.

    <i>All the patients at Third Sick Hall are possessed by monsters? Their rtionship should be more peacefulpared to Zhang Peng and the mirror monster. This is not a good sign for me.</i>

    There were nine patients at Third Sick Hall, and after taking out Wang Shenglong, Chen Ge might need to face eight simr monsters that night. There might even be monsters that were scarier than these.

    The thin bodies snuck out from the patient¡¯s backs, and Chen Ge was surrounded by the three monsters.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, you¡¯ll soon be one of us.¡± Twisted face had the two patients block Chen Ge¡¯s way as he moved to lock the steel door that connected the second and third sick hall.

    Standing there, Chen Ge felt that all hope was lost. The three monsters had blocked all the exits, and they slowly inched closer to him. Chen Ge doubted that they would even give him the chance tomit suicide.

    <i>A three-star scenario is still too tough for me. </i>Chen Ge leaned against the wall and took out a candy with a crying face from his pocket. <i>This is myst trump card. After using this, no matter what, I¡¯ll need to leave this ce.</i>

    Chen Ge popped the candy into his mouth, and instantly, he could feel endless resentment and coldness spread through his body.

    Long ck hairs knocked into the walls like waves. An intensely wicked presence was awakening. Zhang Ya walked out of Chen Ge¡¯s shadow in red!

 Chapter 176 - Remember It

    <h4>Chapter 176:</h4>

    <h4>Remember It</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The girl¡¯s face was even more ethereal, heightened by the red in her outfit. Her ck hair fluttered in the wind. Zhang Ya stood before Chen Ge, with less than thirty centimeters between their faces. The chill seeped through his skin, and Chen Ge¡¯s lips turned purple from the cold.

    The man who was not afraid of anything felt fear curl around his heart. Instinctually, he wanted to lean backwards, but he found himself unable to move. The crying candle seemed to have melted into a flowing icy river, freezing every blood vessel in his body.

    There was a spirit crying for help surging through his body. The negative energy gathered around his heart like a pair of hands had mped over it. The candy was hard to swallow, and Chen Ge felt like he was going to faint from ack of air.

    Zhang Ya moved toward him slowly, radiating icy presence. She finally stopped before Chen Ge. That face without temperature, its beauty was enough to stop the breath in Chen Ge¡¯s throat.

    His throat could not make any sound, and the candy had melted. Chen Ge could feel a spirit surging within his body. Looking at Zhang Ya, who was just six centimeters away from him, his calves started to quiver involuntarily.

    <i>This is not what I had in mind! Someone stop her!</i>

    Perhaps the title of Specter¡¯s Favored did kick in because the monster that was blinded by Pen Spirit crawled toward him at full speed. The thin body slithered like a giant snake. Its bony hands gripped Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders, and its lower body arced like it was preparing to jump on Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder.

    The pain from his shoulders woke Chen Ge up from his fear-induced trance. He turned around to look at the monster and gave him an appreciative look.

    <i>Appreciation?</i>

    This seemed to have offended the monster, and the head that hung high went mad. It had no intention of fighting Zhang Ya and chose a spot on Chen Ge¡¯s neck to bite. The twisted human head opened its jaw but stopped when it was half a meter away from Chen Ge.

    It was not that it wanted to stop, but it was forced to. In the dark, strings of bloody hair bound its body. The monster screamed and red resentfully at Zhang Ya. It did not attack Zhang Ya earlier, but that did not mean that it was afraid of Zhang Ya.

    The three monstersmunicated with each other, and they switched their target to Zhang Ya. Chen Ge did not know what Zhang Ya was about to do, but he saw the girl¡¯s face drop. The ck hair drilled into the monster¡¯s body. Her slender arms gripped the monster¡¯s head and mmed it heavily against the wall.

    The monster wailed for the second time. The first time was when Chen Ge used the Pen Spirit to poke into its eye.

    <i>This is so cruel.</i>

    When Zhang Ya started battling the monster, the chilliness on Chen Ge decreased enough that he could move. He quickly moved backwards. The screaming of the spirit in his body weakened as the candy continued to dissolve. His eyes felt surrounded by coldness and his power of sight increased once more. He could see clearer in the dark.

    The three monsters tussled with Zhang Ya. Her red outfit zed in the dark, signaling her burning anger and resentment. It appeared like she was going to tear the monsters apart and consume them.

    Ten minutester, it was a ughter inside the corridor. The monsters were increasingly wounded. When they were joined to humans, these thin monsters were the strongest, but when they were detached from their hosts, their power greatly weakened. Even though they had the advantage of numbers, they could not do anything to Zhang Ya.

    <i>The difference in power is so huge?</i>

    The thin monster was the scariest ghost Chen Ge had ever met. Initially, he had though this monster would be as powerful as Zhang Ya, but it looked like he had underestimated Zhang Ya.

    <i>She is definitely unique to be able to have a personal page inside the ck phone.</i>

    Chen Ge gripped the cleaver; he did not dare let his guard down.

    At most, Western Jiujiang Private Academy was a three-star scenario, but Chen Ge believed it was only a two-star scenario. As the ghost from Western Jiujiang Private Academy, Zhang Ya could deal with the monsters from the three-star Third Sick Hall easily. This could only mean one thing. There should be something scarier than the thin monster hiding inside the Third Sick Hall.

    <i>There has to be a reason why the ck phone evaluates the Third Sick Hall as a three-star scenario. There should also be a Red Specter inside the hospital and perhaps even more than one.</i>

    The more Chen Ge thought about it, the more confused he became. The door had been left open for so many years already, so theoretically speaking, the whole hospital should have been a monster¡¯s den by now. <i>Did all the ghosts leave, or did something happen to them after they left the world behind the door?</i>

    Chen Ge looked around, and he realized the blood vessels that he saw on the first floor corridor had appeared on the fourth floor as well, and they were moving silently toward Zhang Ya.

    <i>This is bad. </i>Chen Ge had regained full control of his body. The candy given by Zhang Ya was made from a human soul, and the effect of the candy froze his body. When the candy fully melted, the candy was absorbed by the Yin Yang Vision. Zhang Ya did not mean to use this method to harm Chen Ge.

    <i>There is something else hiding at the Third Sick Hall! Maybe the real monster is the hall itself! </i>Chen Ge ran forward, but he only took several steps before Doctor Gao¡¯s voice came from the phone in his pocket.

    ¡°Chen Ge! I¡¯ve found Men Nan!¡± The call had not been disconnected, so Doctor Gao knew things were urgent from what he heard.

    ¡°Okay, give him the phone.¡± Chen Ge stopped moving. Men Nan was the key to this whole issue; he was the one who had seen the door and closed it before!

    ¡°This is Men Nan, thank you for helping mest time...¡±

    ¡°Skip the formalities. I know there¡¯s a child persona hiding inside your mind¡ªyou should know how to wake him up!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s situation was critical. The extremely scary thing inside the Third Sick Hall was awakening due to Zhang Ya¡¯s appearance.

    ¡°You must be mistaken? What is this different persona you¡¯re talking about?¡±

    ¡°He is inside you!¡± Chen Ge raised his voice. ¡°You were raised inside a mental hospital. I don¡¯t how that influenced your growth, perhaps you are trying to avoid it, but some things cannot be avoided even if you pretend that they can!¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Men Nan did not sound like he was lying. ¡°Perhaps I did grow up at a mental hospital, but who can remember things when they were a baby?¡±

    ¡°A baby¡¯s synapses grow rapidly, and it might cause the instability in recorded memory. Therefore, many people cannot remember things when they were a baby,¡± Doctor Gao exined from an objective perspective. ¡°But this doesn¡¯t mean that they¡¯ve forgotten all about it. They were hidden deep inside one¡¯s mind. By evoking these memories, perhaps that childhood persona can be awakened.¡±

    ¡°Evoking the memory?¡± Chen Ge rummaged through his pocket and took out the picture he had found in the director¡¯s office. He snapped a picture of it and sent it to Doctor Gao. ¡°Men Nan, take a good look at this picture; this is the sickroom your mother once stayed in! It is Room 3 in the Third Sick Hall. Focus on the door that sat between yourself and your mother!¡±

 Chapter 177 - Hes Inside the Door

    <h4>Chapter 177: He¡¯s Inside the Door</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Door?¡± Men Nan¡¯s voice had an audible change. He had been reminded of something. The picture that Chen Ge had sent, Men Nan also possessed, but his picture was ced at the bottom of a drawer under several books.

    When Chen Ge saw the picture at Hai Ming Apartments, he had been confused. This was the only picture Men Nan had of his mother, so he could not understand why he did not disy it inside a photo frame. Instead, Men Nan hid it in a secluded corner like a memory that he refused to face.

    He did not want to throw it away but refused to face it. It was the conflict inside his heart.

    ¡°Where did you get this picture?¡± Men Nan¡¯s voice croaked, and his tone slowed down. Chen Ge brought the thing that he was trying to hide up to the surface, so he could not run away anymore.

    ¡°I found the picture at the mental hospital. I¡¯ve gone inside the room your mother stayed in...¡±

    ¡°Leave that ce immediately!¡± Men Nan screamed before Chen Ge finished.

    ¡°Leave? Looks like you have remembered something.¡±

    There was another period of silence on the phone. Several secondster, Men Nan said, ¡°I don¡¯t why I said that, but my instincts told me that ce is very dangerous.¡±

    ¡°The mental hospital is locked, and I cannot leave. If it was not urgent, I wouldn¡¯t have called to disturb you.¡± Holding the cleaver, Chen Ge saw the blood vessels were still inching toward Zhang Ya. ¡°This has gone beyond me and you. Those madmen who refused treatment have returned to this ce with their twisted ideologies. They have detained living humans and experimented with axes and saws; can you imagine what else they might have done?¡±

    ¡°There are victims in the hospital?¡± Men Nan¡¯s voice was filled with uncertainty. He seemed to be doubting himself, like he wanted to say something but did not have the courage to.

    ¡°I can confirm one thing¡ªthere is more than one victim. I¡¯ve found plenty of evidence here that suggest there are multiple victims.¡± Chen Ge did not know what Men Nan was hesitating about. ¡°I¡¯m also in a dangerous situation. Monsters and patients are chasing me with axes. I cannotmunicate with them.¡±

    After a long time, Men Nan spoke. ¡°How do you expect me to help you?¡±

    ¡°Awaken the other persona inside you! He¡¯s the one I¡¯m looking for!¡± The stench in the air intensified like a monster opening its maw.

    ¡°Can you tell me why?¡± Men Nan¡¯s voice was soft, and it was filled withplicated emotions.

    Chen Ge did not have the time to y games with Men Nan, so he answered truthfully, ¡°I want to close the door of the third room at the Third Sick Hall. Your childhood persona knows the way to close it. Awaken him! I know what happened to you when you were young. I understand and rte to your pain, but you cannot run away from it forever!¡±

    ¡°Close the door...¡± Men Nan seemed to be talking to himself. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t help you.¡±

    Chen Ge did not expect the brutal rejection from Men Nan. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because he is not with me.¡± Men Nan took a deep breath. ¡°He locked himself up behind the door.¡±

    ¡°Your childhood persona is on the other side of the door?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s brows were furrowed deeply.

    ¡°Yes. To be honest, he is the real main persona. My memory started only after four years old.¡± Men Nan revealed this shocking information. ¡°The main persona was born at the mental hospital and saw the twisted as normal. His world is different from normal. Before four years old, he tried his best to fix his perspective, and his only pir of support was his mother, but when he was four, his mother was murdered, and the persona, who saw everything, decided to give up on the normal world.

    ¡°Perhaps the normal world had never shown him any kindness, so he believed that the world that we reside in is the truly twisted one. He closed himself up in his psyche, and then I appeared. He did notmunicate with me until the day the director from the mental hospital and a Doctor Chen came to find me. They pleaded for my help to close this ¡®door¡¯.

    ¡°At the time, I was so small, and without knowing anything, they brought me back to the mental hospital where the main persona once spent his childhood. They asked me many questions, questions that now I cannot answer.

    ¡°That night, they arranged for me to sleep inside Room 3, and I don¡¯t know what happened next. There were probably sleeping pills in the water because I slumbered so deeply, and it was probably then that they summoned the main persona.

    ¡°When I woke up, it was already midnight. I opened my eyes blurrily and saw myself lying in bed, but everything around me was blood red. However, the strangest thing was that the main persona was standing beside me.

    ¡°He told me to keep this a secret from everyone and pointed at the clock on the outside corridor. He told me to keep myself awake no matter how tired I was. Then he sent me out of the room. He stayed behind the door and closed it.

    ¡°After that, he stopped appearing, but there are sometimes memories that don¡¯t belong to me that appear in my consciousness. I nned to carry these secrets with me to my grave because, even now, I¡¯m unsure if these are just hallucinations.

    ¡°My situation is very simr to schizophrenia, but everything seems so real. I grew up in a state of constant self-doubt, and it is the main reason I chose to study psychology.¡±

    There was great pain in Men Nan¡¯s voice, and Chen Ge, as an outsider, understood his pain. To pretend to be a normal person and live a normal life was something of a challenge to the young man.

    ¡°This exins why he was unable to resist the mirror ghost.¡± Chen Ge held the phone, and his heart was quivering with anxiety.

    ¡°Men Nan should be telling the truth. When I detected the third persona inside his psyche, it did appear like shattered memories because the urrences were very episodic and randomized.¡± Doctor Gao took the phone from Men Nan. He did not understand the conversation between Men Nan and Chen Ge, so he could not be much help.

    ¡°Yes, he should be telling the truth.¡±

    The only person who could close the door had spent thest decade or so inside the door, and the door had been closed for that long. It was not until the hospital closed five years ago that the door opened again. Could the real Men Nan inside the door have gotten into some ident?

    Chen Ge wanted to retreat. This building was too wicked. Even with Zhang Ya, he did not feel that safe. ¡°It¡¯s safer to retreat.¡±

    He turned to look at the corridor. The draft fluttered Zhang Ya¡¯s red outfit. The ck hair that melted into the night poked through the monsters¡¯ bodies repeatedly. Of the three monsters, two were already torn apart.

 Chapter 178 - The Chase

    <h4>Chapter 178: The Chase</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ck snow seemed to be falling in the corridor. Zhang Ya stood in the midst of it as her ck hair absorbed the energy from the torn apart thin monsters, and the red on her clothes burned even brighter.

    <i>She has gotten even stronger...</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes twitched. Zhang Ya¡¯s affection level toward him was increasing at lightning speed. What if they broke through a certain level and Zhang Ya ¡®identally killed¡¯ him?

    This girl, who looked cute and quiet, had a penchant for torturing her victims. If there was a seat open for the worst viin in this story, she would be a good candidate.

    ¡°We¡¯d better leave the Third Sick Hall soon.¡± Chen Ge walked toward Zhang Ya to try to get her to leave. Of the three monsters, only the one who was blinded remained. It was heavily wounded, and the faces on its body were screaming for help. Even Chen Ge could not help but feel sorry for the helpless creature. ¡°Zhang Ya, it has received enough punishment. Stop torturing it, and just end its life. We¡¯re in a hurry, and I don¡¯t n to stay at this ce for long.¡±

    Blood streamed out like tears from the monster¡¯s only functional eye. It tried its best to struggle from the bind of the ck hairs. The faces on its body started to scream shrilly.

    ¡°It¡¯s calling for help? Just leave it be then, let¡¯s go!¡± Chen Ge walked a few steps and realized that Zhang Ya was still standing where she was, her ck hair slowly curling around the monster¡¯s feet. At the other end of the corridor, endless pulsing blood vessels seemed to reach into the monster¡¯s body like they were trying to rescue it.

    The stench in the air turned heavier. While Zhang Ya was fighting with the blood vessels, the real monster at Third Sick Hall was awakening. More blood vessels poked out from the walls and ceiling. Part of them wrapped around the monster¡¯s upper body while the rest crept toward Zhang Ya.

    <i>What is the thing that is controlling these blood streaks? </i>Chen Ge tried to go and help Zhang Ya, but before he got near, the thin monster was torn into two. Most of the body parts were wrapped up by the blood vessels and carried downstairs. Zhang Ya only got a small part of it.

    This was the first time Zhang Ya had lost, but from how Chen Ge saw it, they were lucky they kept their lives. He was about to advise Zhang Ya to leave, but before he could say anything, he saw the ck haire out of Zhang Ya¡¯s back like waves, and that sh of red rushed down the stairs!

    The blood vessels along the way were torn apart, and Zhang Ya soon disappeared down the fourth-floor corridor. A cold draft blew into Chen Ge¡¯s open mouth, and he said after two seconds, ¡°She still wants to give chase?¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the dark corridor, and various scary images crowded his mind. His rationality told him it was time to leave; things had gone beyond his expectations. Retreat was the wise solution. He wanted to leave, but Zhang Ya had rushed forward alone. In fact, she might be tricked into enter the blood door.

    It was a dangerous world on the other side of the door, and Zhang Ya might be outnumbered. The more he thought about it, the more scared he became. Chen Ge shed the cleaver on the wall, yelling, ¡°What am I doing?¡±

    Then, he gritted his teeth and rushed into the darkness. Sitting beside a bloated mattress, the white cat¡¯s eyes were filled with confusion. This man said one thing but did another; his body even ran faster than earlier.

    Chen Ge ran from fourth floor to second floor, but he still did not see Zhang Ya. More blood spots appeared on the walls, and it looked scary.

    ¡°All the blood streaks along the third and fourth floor were taken care of, but only some are destroyed on this floor, so Zhang Ya probably stopped here.¡± Chen Ge did not see Zhang Ya on the second floor, and Chen Ge went down to the first floor.

    The blood red corridor was empty. Chen Ge stepped into it cautiously. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me... Zhang Ya has already entered the blood door?¡±

    He walked to Room 3, and the originally closed door was now fully open. Obviously, someone had gone through the door. Chen Ge picked up Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer that was lying on the floor. He nced inside his backpack. The cock was already dead, and it had died without even making a noise.

    ¡°Wait outside or walk in to look for her?¡± There was no sound from the other side of the door, and Chen Ge hesitated. He would not necessarily be able to handle the dangers that were inside the door, but if something happened to Zhang Ya inside the door, Chen Ge would not be able to escape even if he stayed outside the door.

    Holding the doorknob, Chen Ge¡¯s fingers were twitching. He took a deep breath and removed the almost shattered ballpoint pen from his pocket.

    ¡°It¡¯s already a new day; I want to use my fortune-telling chance.¡± Chen Ge straightened the pen above the brown mattress. ¡°Pen Spirit, is there a way for me to save myself and Zhang Ya?¡±

    Without any hesitation, Pen Spirit wrote down three words on the mattress¡ªEnter the Door.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that a bit too fast? Don¡¯t you need to think about it?¡± Chen Ge pocketed the pen. He looked at the door and made his decision. He took out his phone. There was only a small amount of battery left. He called Men Nan to ask, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say some mysterious memories would appear inside you mind? Are there any blood red scenarios among those memories?¡±

    ¡°There are.¡±

    ¡°Try to focus on those memories, and tell me, is there anything I should pay attention to regarding these blood red scenarios?¡± Chen Ge could not just leave Zhang Ya behind. He was in too deep, and he would need Zhang Ya¡¯s help in the future. He could not lose her.

    ¡°The extra memories are rarely rted to blood red, and even when they are, they seem to happen inside a simr scenario.¡± Men Nan thought about it. ¡°It is a fully enclosed room; there are no windows and only one door. The space is small and has a wooden bed. There are binders attached to the bed, and there are machines next to it. It looks like an electroshock therapy room.¡±

    ¡°Electroshock therapy?¡±

    ¡°Yes, in the memory, various monsters entered the room. They twisted the binders around the bed, and then they conversed with each other as if saying, don¡¯t wake it up.¡± Thinking about these things seemed to put extra pressure on Men Nan¡¯s head. His tone sounded pained. ¡°I couldn¡¯t see the monsters closely, but I do know one of them seems to have a broken face and the monster mentioned a name¡ªI think it was... Wu Fei.¡±

    The broken face and Wu Fei were both patients at the Third Sick Hall. They respectively took up residence in Room 10 and Room 9. They were the most dangerous presences at this hospital.

    ¡°Is there anything else?¡± Chen Ge stood at the door.

    ¡°There¡¯s something, but I¡¯m not sure whether it will be useful or not. Ten years ago, I remember the main persona telling me that if I needed to find him one day, after entering the blood red door, I should not speak.¡±

    ¡°Okay, thank you.¡± Chen Ge zipped his mouth shut, ced the phone in his pocket, grabbed the hammer and cleaver, and stepped into the door.

 Chapter 179 - Main Persona

    <h4>Chapter 179: Main Persona</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Breathing became difficult like he had walked into a thick fog. He felt moisture on his skin, and everything had a sheen of red to it. <i>This is the world behind the door?</i>

    Chen Ge remembered Men Nan¡¯s advice. He kept his mouth shut, and with the cleaver and hammer in his hands, he looked around. The walls, ceiling, and decorations in Room 3 were identical to the one in the real world.

    He turned around, and what he saw made his heart race. The door of Room 3 was open, but the scene outside the corridor did not reflect what it was in the real world. The difference was drastic; it was a corridor without any trash, clean and well-kept.

    The mattresses and dolls that littered the floor were nowhere to be seen, and it felt like there were cleaners who cleaned the ce every day. Chen Ge nudged toward the door carefully. He reached his arm out, and his arm did not disappear; the door appeared to only work one-way!

    Since he had been warned to not speak, Chen Ge could not call Zhang Ya. Bracing himself, he walked out of Room 3, and as he stepped out, he ran into something on the corridor. It was not a monster as he expected, not a zombie or a dead body, but a doll made from bedsheets and pillows. And there was more than one.

    They stood along the corridor like scarecrows. Their drawn expressions had a nk smile, and Chen Ge could not tell whether they were happy or sad. <i>Why are there such things in the world beyond the door?</i>

    Chen Ge assumed that the dolls buried inside the mattresses were just a silly prank, but after seeing this, his opinion changed. The nurse would feed the patients their medicine every night. She even had a special notebook to record each patient¡¯s name and medical history.

    Most crucially, all these patients had died in the real world, so these dolls probably carried their lingering spirit. Lingering spirits were a lot weaker than baleful specters, but when the number of lingering spirits was at least ten times the baleful specters, the baleful specter might not win.

    When Chen Ge studied the doll, one of them seemed to sense him. Its head that was lowered suddenly raised, and its body turned. Its face that looked like it was drawn on by the hand of a child looked at Chen Ge, and Chen Ge started to sweat.

    The doll¡¯s body slowly moved, and Chen Ge raised the cleaver. The distance between the two closed, but the doll did not seem to pay Chen Ge any attention. With its wiggling gait, it walked to the other end of the corridor.

    It did not seem to have any purpose. It walked down the corridor aimlessly and stopped to lean against the wall when it was tired. It reminded Chen Ge of a mannequin puppet. Chen Ge had met many lingering spirit. The reason for their formation was a deeppulsion that they could not let go of. It caused them to remain in the real world.

    However, the lingering spirit inside the doll waspletely different. It seemed to have lost its memory, or it hadpletely silenced its heart. Since the doll did not attack Chen Ge, there was no reason for him to provoke them. He slid silently out of Room 3 and inspected the walls on the corridor.

    The wall had obvious scratch marks on it; they had probably been caused by Zhang Ya. Chen Ge followed the marks up to the second floor, and when he exited the stairwell, Chen Ge almost screamed from shock.

    Various dolls teetered on the second-floor corridor. They wandered about aimlessly and paid no need to their surroundings. There was a great number of them; some of them were fallen on the floor with ck scratch marks on them, a sign that Zhang Ya had passed through this way.

    Walking amid the tipsy dolls, Chen Ge had this weird sensation that perhaps he was the crazy one. If one was surrounded by mad people, would the normal one think he was the crazy one?

    The further he walked, the harder it was for Chen Ge to breathe. There was a heaviness on his body like he was being tossed into the ocean and s sinking. Thankfully, no one attacked him. Chen Ge sessfully reached the end of the second-floor corridor, and the scratch marks ended there.

    At the end of the corridor was a special room. Chen Ge had not had the time to examine it in real life before he was chased by the nurse to the first floor. This room that he had missed was the electroshock therapy room.

    After pushing it open, the scene that he saw surprised him. It was different from what he had expected. There was only one bed in the room, and a boy about five years old was tied to it. Chen Ge walked to the bed, and afterparing the picture, he was sure this was the young Men Nan.

    A question surfaced in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. <i>Why is he here?</i>

    Based on the memory left in Men Nan¡¯s mind, Chen Ge had a bold spection. An ident did happen to Men Nan¡¯s main persona inside the door, and it was because the door had lost its guardian that it started to go out of control.

    The scratch marks disappeared here, so this proved that she had been here before, but there was no sign of a struggle inside the room.

    Chen Ge had no idea where Zhang Ya had disappeared to, but since he had found Men Nan¡¯s main persona, he decided to rescue him first. Only by waking up the boy would he gain a new understanding of the world behind the door and perhaps a new helper.

    That was the ideal situation, but what would really happen, no one knew. Chen Ge could only hedge a bet on it going well. The cleaver slit open the binders easily, and Chen Ge lightly nudged Men Nan¡¯s body.

    It was unknown whether the boy was caught in a deep sleep or unconscious. No matter how hard Chen Ge shook him, his eyes remained closed. He could not speak inside this blood world, so Chen Ge tried other methods to wake the boy up.

    He did not know what happened to the boy, and his brain tried to fill in the nks. The culprit did not kill the boy but detained him inside the electroshock therapy room. This meant that the boy was still useful to the culprit, so they would not see any harme to the boy.

    A crazy thought shed across Chen Ge¡¯s mind. Chen Ge silently raised the cleaver. He moved the de up and down several times. He narrowed his eyes at the space close to the boy¡¯s neck and waved the cleaver downwards!

    The de did not make contact with the bed. When it was about two centimeters away, a hairy hand appeared to block Chen Ge¡¯s cleaver. Chen Ge had been paying full attention, but he still did not know where the arm came from.

    Chen Ge pulled the cleaver back and put some distance between them. Chen Ge saw the monster in its full form. It had no body; it was only a broken arm.

    The arm seemed to be protecting the boy. To try out this theory, Chen Ge unleashed another attack at the boy.

    His every sh was blocked by the arm, and as this repeated itself, the arm started to crack. Just as Chen Ge thought the arm was about to disappear, many other broken arms appeared from underneath the bed.

    The tussle between the two parties grew louder, and about ten secondster, there was a slight twitch on the sleeping boy¡¯s face.

 Chapter 180 - The World in His Eyes

    <h4>Chapter 180: The World in His Eyes</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>The boy is waking up? </i>Chen Ge had no idea how many broken arms were hiding under the bed, and there might be monsters outside the door as well. Chen Ge did not think it was wise to stay inside the room for too long. Risking the danger of being hurt by the arms, Chen Ge rushed into the fray and held the boy in the bed in his arms.

    He ced the de on the boy¡¯s neck as he retreated to the wall, his eyes scanning the room. He did not know why these arms were stopping him from harming Men Nan.

    <i>If they care about Men Nan¡¯s safety, why would they strap him to the bed?</i>

    When he entered the door, the Trial Mission had gone out of control. Chen Ge did not know what would happen next; this was something he had not faced before. Tightening the grip on the cleaver, the only thing he could do then was wake Men Nan up. This boy was his only hope of surviving this ordeal.

    When the de touched the boy¡¯s skin, the broken arms stopped attacking. Like being controlled, all of them bounced to the door to knock on it. The incessant knocking unsettled Chen Ge.

    He remembered Men Nan¡¯s order, so he had not said a word since entering the door. Even when he moved, he kept his footsteps as light as possible. The knocking was loud, and it reverberated down the corridor, shattering the peace that Chen Ge had tried so hard to maintain.

    A bad feeling appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s heart. He started to panic, but before he could do anything, arge senior appeared at the door of the electroshock therapy room. The old man was 1.8 meters tall, had a head full of white hair, and was wearing a doctor¡¯s coat. However, his coat was drenched with blood; it had turned fully red. Looking at the old man, two words shed across Chen Ge¡¯s mind¡ªRed Specter.

    The warning from Men Nan was probably to avoid this thing, but since the monster had already appeared, there was no reason for Chen Ge to be cautious anymore.

    ¡°This is surprising. I didn¡¯t think that there would be others who could enter the door other than myself.¡± The senior was kind and gentle. He looked very approachable, if one could overlooked the blood-soaked coat. ¡°This is not a ce where you should be. Put the boy down and quickly leave.¡±

    Chen Ge did not move. The boy was his only leverage, so he could not let that go so easily. The de was pressed on the boy¡¯s neck. He stared at the senior at the door, and the longer he stared, the more frightened he felt.

    The senior¡¯s hands were slightly twisted, like they had been smashed by something heavy. The kind face also felt weird; it looked very deathlike as if it was a dead person¡¯s make-up.

    <i>This man has been dead for a long time already. </i>This was the conclusion Chen Ge came up with using his talent in Mortician¡¯s Make-up.

    Seeing how Chen Ge did not say anything, the senior took the first step into the room with an unchanged expression. Sensing his movement, Chen Ge pressed on the de. The boy¡¯s eyes twitched like he could feel the pain. It felt like he was waking up.

    ¡°Don¡¯t hurt the boy.¡± The senior stopped and said something curious. ¡°If something happens to the boy, you¡¯ll never be able to return.¡±

    He snapped his fingers, and the broken arms all retreated under the bed. Chen Ge saw this and took a step away from the bed.

    ¡°You¡¯re so tense. Rx a bit.¡± The senior¡¯s voice sounded convincing. Simr to Doctor Gao, he had the ability to make the other person rx and put their guard down during normal conversation. It was unclear whether this senior relied on psychological tactics or something elsepletely. ¡°In this ce, the only one who canmunicate with you is me, and only I can help you.¡±

    Chen Ge did not reply. He raised the hammer with one hand and pointed at the door.

    ¡°You want to leave?¡± The senior shook his head. ¡°You can leave at any time, but the boy cannot. He has to stay inside this room.¡±

    The electroshock therapy room was the room at the hospital with the best sound-proofing system. It waspletely isted. No one would have any idea what happened within. Being trapped by a Red Specter unsettled Chen Ge. He started to panic, and his arm flexed. The de pressed down another few centimeters.

    The senior¡¯s face twitched, but he recovered quickly. ¡°I¡¯m not threatening you. Just give me a chance to exin myself, then you can make your decision.

    ¡°You might not believe this, but we are living in this boy¡¯s nightmare. If something happens to him, or if he wakes up, we will forever be trapped here.¡±

    ¡°Nightmare?¡± This was the first time Chen Ge had spoken since he stepped into the door. He examined the senior¡¯s reaction closely, and after realizing that there was nothing wrong with his body, he rxed slightly.

    ¡°Yes, the boy grew up in a mental hospital, and due to multiple reasons, he has developed a sickly worldview.¡± What the senior said next touched Chen Ge. ¡°You must have seen the dolls made from pillows and bedsheets wandering the halls already. In the boy¡¯s eyes, they represented the patients who receive treatment in the hospital. Dulled by the effect of medication, they slowly turned into lifeless dolls. They lost interest in everything and spent their days in a waking dream.¡±

    ¡°This is all his imagination?¡± Chen Ge looked at the bed. ¡°Then how do you exin the broken arms? They don¡¯t exist in real life.¡±

    ¡°The arms hiding under the bed are the manifestation of the boy¡¯s fears. When he was very young, a doctor purposely scared him, saying there was a hairy arm hiding under every child¡¯s bed and if the child was naughty, the arm woulde out at midnight to pull on the child¡¯s ankle and drag them into the darkness under the bed. Because of this story, the broken arms became a symbol of fear in the boy¡¯s nightmare,¡± the senior exined.

    ¡°In this nightmare, there is also a thin monster that likes to stand on people¡¯s shoulders. They are a manifestation of desire. Their original size is simr to a normal man, but as they jump onto the shoulders of different individuals, they squeeze their host dry, and their body continues to grow. Human desire is bottomless, and when it grows beyond its limit, it turns harmful and ugly.

    ¡°There are many more simr examples. Everything in this world is a reflection of the boy¡¯s subconscious.¡±

    Chen Ge could not tell whether the senior was lying or not. From his perspective, even this old man was not right in the head.

    ¡°I know it is hard to believe, but it is the truth. A human brain has 150 billion synapses, and 95 percent of them were untapped. If wepare a human brain to an iceberg, therge part that remained submerged is our subconscious.

    ¡°The adult brain is mature, but it is different for a baby. When a child is between one and three, their brain is at its most active. It is also the time when the subconscious starts to form. If during this period, the child¡¯s mindset is continuously challenged and tested, then the subconscious will be highly active even to the point of supplementing the actual conscious mind.¡±

    To be honest, Chen Ge did not really understand what the old man was saying, but he had a feeling that the senior was lying to him. He was trying to hide something.

 Chapter 181 - Youve Awoken the Devil

    <h4>Chapter 181: You¡¯ve Awoken the Devil</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    To conclude what the senior had said, the world behind the door was just a nightmare formed by Men Nan¡¯s main persona. When the boy woke up, the door connecting the real world and the dream would close, and they would be trapped in the dream forever.

    Chen Ge would have believed the old man if not for the ¡®door¡¯ that also appeared at the Haunted House. The appearance of the ¡®door¡¯ at two different ces was not something that can be exined by a boy¡¯s nightmare. Chen Ge did not reveal that fact. He looked at the senior and asked another question. ¡°You said that this is the boy¡¯s nightmare and everything here is a reflection of the boy¡¯s subconscious. Then can you tell me, what role do you y in this nightmare? Or rather, what does you being in his nightmare represent?¡±

    The expression froze on the old man¡¯s face, but he did not evade the question. ¡°Simr to you, I came from outside the nightmare. We are outsiders, so even in the nightmare, we are ying ourselves.¡±

    ¡°ying ourselves?¡± Chen Ge came from the outside world, and there was no visible change to his body. The old man did not have a trace of liveliness to him, and Chen Ge could not move his focus away from the blindingly red coat. A thought shed across Chen Ge¡¯s mind. <i>Is it possible that the old man was already wearing this coat when he entered this world? What has he done to dye a white coatpletely red?</i>

    When Chen Ge saw the old man for the first time, Chen Ge had a spection in his mind. Three years ago, the Third Sick Hall¡¯s director had mysteriously disappeared, and his location had been a mystery ever since. There was no body and no news.

    This old man before him, be it from looks or age, fitted the director perfectly, so Chen Ge suspected that the old director did not disappear years ago but stepped into the door. He had read the few letters written by the old director, and in thest letter, the director did show traces of interest toward the world behind the door.

    But it was also because he had read those letters that Chen Ge had a good impression of the man. Therefore, he had a hard time ovepping the kind director in the letter with this Red Specter before him.

    Chen Ge shook his head to calm down. His knowledge of the director was based wholly on those few letters. No one would willingly nder themselves in their own writing, so the director in the letters might not perfectly represent the actual director.

    The thought of the electroshock therapy room, the crowded and dirty first sick hall, as well as the empty and deserted second sick hall made Chen Ge suck in a light breath, and he became more alert.

    ¡°Now do you understand what I mean? Do not wake the boy up. Put him down, and I¡¯ll bring you out of this nightmare.¡± The old man¡¯s voice was soothing, and it would make others forget about the danger that he presented.

    Chen Ge slowly moved toward the door. ¡°I will not hurt the boy, but you have to tell me how to leave this ce first. Show me your sincerity.¡±

    ¡°Leaving is easy; you just need to step back over the door...¡±

    BANG!

    The old man was interrupted by a loud boom. It sounded like a room had exploded somewhere in the Third Sick Hall. Hearing this, the old man¡¯s face fell. His pale face twisted, and the forced kindness disappeared.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Chen Ge had a feeling that this was rted to Zhang Ya. When the old man first entered the room, he had noticed how twisted his fingers were, and his arms had been crooked in an unnatural way. They were probably injured when they were blocking a powerful force.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing, a small problem,¡± the old man said darkly. He stood in the middle of the room and raised his head to look at Chen Ge. ¡°Give me the boy, and I¡¯ll bring you out.¡±

    There was no extra expression on the white face. It freaked Chen Ge out. The old man had finally dropped his pretense.

    ¡°Send me out first or no deal.¡± Chen Ge stood fast. His hand that held the cleaver was shaking because this was the first time he dealt directly with a Red Specter.

    ¡°You want to leave? Fine,e with me.¡± The old man turned around, suddenly so helpful. This caused Chen Ge to grow suspicious. He followed slowly behind the old man, maintaining a distance of three meters between them. He was certain that with this three-meter distance, no matter what the old man was up to, he would be able to react timely. However, he only took two steps when he realized that he had underestimated the Red Specter¡¯s cunning and cruelty.

    Technically, he only took one step because before he could take the second step, his foot that hung in mid-air froze. He could control it no longer. He lowered his head. When he was conversing with the old man, blood vessels that had seen earlier had crawled to his feet. Now the blood streaks were drilling into his skin like viruses.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you want to leave? Come with me.¡± The old man turned around and rewarded Chen Ge with a wrinkly and creepy smile. Of course, Chen Ge did not dare follow him. He held the cleaver and wanted to take a step back, but the leg that hung in mid-air slowly moved forward!

    ¡°It¡¯s because of these blood vessels?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s mind was numb from fear. He had no idea how many blood vessels had seeped into his left leg, and the scariest thing was, as the old man spoke, more blood vessels started to bleed out from the cracked walls and floor. Like little snakes, they slithered to Chen Ge.

    A normal person would have lost their cool and waved the cleaver about, but Chen Ge had something that was different to most¡ªthe ability to stay calm no matter how dangerous the situation was.

    As the blood vessels climbed up his body, Chen Ge¡¯s cleaver continued to press downward. The old man had purposely turned around earlier to trick Chen Ge, but he had turned around again to taunt him.

    If the old man had full confidence, he could have controlled Chen Ge directly. He still seemed worried about the boy. Chen Ge could not understand why the old man was so afraid of the boy waking up, but in those circumstances, since the old man was more afraid of it, Chen Ge had more reason to do it.

    The de touched the skin, but there was no blood that trickled out from the wound. Weirdly enough, the blood vessels that the old man controlled seemed to go berserk whenever they were near to the boy, and they eventually returned to the boy¡¯s body through the open wound.

    <i>The blood seems to belong the boy to begin with. Could it be that the old man has merely stolen his power?</i>

    Chen Ge had discovered the old man¡¯s secret. He became braver¡ªthe cleaver created arger wound, and the old man¡¯s scream drifted into Chen Ge¡¯s ears.

    The wound was created around the boy¡¯s corbone, and the boy, whose eyelids had been twitching, suddenly gripped his fists, and his eyes flew open!

    The blood vessels in the room immediately split in two. A part of them continued to struggle as they retreated while the remaining ones were absorbed by the boy into his body.

    ¡°You madman! You¡¯ve awoken the devil!¡±

    The old man¡¯s face turned paler. He turned to run, but he only took several steps before arge wave of ck hair swamped through the corridor from the other side.

 Chapter 182 - Doctor Chen

    <h4>Chapter 182: Doctor Chen</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The ck hair mmed into the old man like a wave. A slender and fair arm materialized within the hair to grab on the old man¡¯s shoulder like it was trying to yank the old man into the wave of ck hair. The old man was shaking, feeling the grasp on his shoulder. Obviously, he had suffered under the threat of this arm before. ¡°I sent you out, why did you return?¡±

    The answer was a m to the ground. The old man crashed heavily against the floor, and the red on his clothes dimmed quite a bit.

    <i>Zhang Ya is here! </i>From what the old man said, it seemed he had also chased Zhang Ya out once, but Zhang Ya broke through the door again.

    <i>You came back to find me? </i>A warmth surged through Chen Ge. He was about to speak when he saw Zhang Ya walk out from the wave of hair. The girl did not even nce at him and walked straight toward the old man.

    In the quiet world behind the door, a blood curdling scream could be heard. It caused Chen Ge¡¯s teeth to chatter. <i>Are all baleful specters that prone to taking revenge?</i>

    At his prime, the old man probably could have fought back, but he had been shocked by the boy¡¯s awakening and had half of his blood stolen by the boy, so when facing Zhang Ya, he was as powerless as level 0 mob.

    <i>There should be further level differences among Red Specters as well, and this old man is probably one of the weakest Red Specter.</i>

    Spotting Zhang Ya, Chen Ge¡¯s nervous heart started to rx. In this strange ce, Zhang Ya was the only ¡®person¡¯ who could give himfort. After the situation settled down, Chen Ge wanted to switch into a morefortable position. However, when he lowered his head, he saw a pair of curious eyeholes staring back at him.

    The clothes of the young boy in his arms had been dyed red without him noticing. His face was nched, and his eyes werepletely ck, without pupils, iris, or anything else.

    Cold sweat slid down his forehead, and Chen Ge saw blood vessels climb back into the boy¡¯s body through the wound that was left on his neck.

    ¡°I did that to wake you up; I had no choice. My intention wasn¡¯t to harm you.¡±

    The boy hung on his body, and it seemed like he was trying to climb on top of him. It was quite scary having the body crawl up him. Chen Ge¡¯s first reaction was to push the boy away, but he was afraid that might cause further misunderstandings.

    ¡°Men Nan, I know your name, and I came to save you. Your second persona was assaulted by a monster; it was me who saved him.¡± Chen Ge was trying to win some points, but he was afraid that the boy might not give him the chance to say anythingter.

    Earlier, the old man had called the boy the Devil. To be able to be called the Devil by a Red Specter, this meant that the boy was not as innocent as he looked. The boy did not stop moving until his face was inches away from Chen Ge¡¯s.

    At such a close distance, Chen Ge realized there were no eyes in the boy¡¯s eye sockets, simply two empty eye holes. Chen Ge did not know what the boy was looking for, and the hairs on his neck crawled. He reached into his pocket silently, took out the picture of Men Nan and his mother, and slid it between the two faces.

    ¡°I know about your past, and I understand your pain. If you need someone to talk to, you can tell me anything.¡± Chen Ge repeated everything he had told the Men Nan in real life. ¡°We have the same experience, so perhaps we can be friends.¡±

    A man who knew no fear, this was the perfect phrase to describe Chen Ge. Even at a time like that, Chen Ge was thinking about recruiting the boy to work for him at the Haunted House. When he saw his mother¡¯s picture, the boy¡¯s attitude softened. He released his grasp on Chen Ge and jumped down to the floor. ¡°Where did you find this picture?¡±

    Men Nan in the real world had asked this question before. Their way of thinking was simr.

    ¡°In the director¡¯s dresser inside his office.¡±

    ¡°He dared hide my mother¡¯s picture.¡± The boy raised his head. ¡°Can you give me this picture?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Chen Ge passed the picture to the boy. He could feel the boy¡¯s hostility toward him had decreased. He squatted down to the boy¡¯s level. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, he asked softly, ¡°Just now, the old man said that this world is your nightmare, and after you wake up, the door that connects this ce to the real world will close. Is that true?¡±

    ¡°This world existed before me, and I¡¯m merely the first one who discovered it.¡± The boy pocketed the picture, and his hollow eyes looked at Chen Ge. ¡°Don¡¯t ask me anything about this world. The more you know, the harder it¡¯ll be for you to leave.¡±

    The boy¡¯s intelligence was disproportionate to his appearance. Chen Ge had just spoken, but he had also figured out Chen Ge¡¯s angle.

    ¡°You cannot tell me anything?¡¯

    ¡°I can only say that this world is the reflection of human beings¡¯ darkest secrets. It is filled with sin and terror. It is simr to the real world but different, just like day and night.¡± Then the boy walked out the door. The boy¡¯s red shirt was blinding. It seemed to be dripping in fresh blood.

    ¡°I still have two more questions. Don¡¯t move so fast.¡± Chen Ge rushed forward. He had regained his agility, and the blood vessels that had seeped into his arms and legs earlier seemed to have disappeared.

    The boy stopped and turned around. His empty eyes studied Chen Ge closely. ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid of me?¡±

    ¡°I am, but I have some questions that need to be answered.¡± The appearance of Men Nan¡¯s real persona was meaningful to Chen Ge. ¡°I want to ask about someone. Your second persona refers to him as Doctor Chen.¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t heard of him.¡±

    ¡°Your second persona once told me that you returned to the Third Sick Hall because you were invited by two individuals. One of them was the old director and the other was this Doctor Chen.¡± Chen Ge sounded sincere. ¡°This man is very important to me; he might be my missing family.¡±

    Perhaps the word family had touched the boy. He moved his empty eyes away. ¡°This Doctor Chen is verymon-looking but has a special pair of eyes. He¡¯s simr to you, the exact type of person that I detest.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡± Chen Ge was speechless before asking his second question. ¡°This door that connects the two worlds, how can I close itpletely?¡±

    ¡°Very simple.¡± The boy smiled. ¡°Keep a living person behind the door and ask him to guard the door for you.¡±

    ¡°What kind of solution is that?¡± Chen Ge wanted to ask about the reason behind the appearance of the door, but the boy disappeared in the blink of an eye. ¡°Is he hiding some important information from me?¡±

    Chen Ge was afraid that the boy might get into an altercation with Zhang Ya, so he hurried to follow the boy.

    After leaving the room, Chen Ge realized that the boy did not wander far. The boy¡¯s brows were deeply knitted together, and his dark eyes were looking forward.

    The red on the old man¡¯s coat had almost faded, and he barely had a human shape left. His remaining body was surrounded by Zhang Ya¡¯s ck hair and would disappear in a few seconds.

    ¡°Leave me the old man¡¯s body, and I¡¯ll let you go.¡± The boy was small, but Chen Ge felt the threating from his words.

    Her finger danced over her lips that were as bright as blood. Zhang Ya did not pay attention to what the boy said. With one leg on the director¡¯s broken body, she turned to look at the boy like she had spotted a new ingredient for dinner.

 Chapter 183 - Return

    <h4>Chapter 183: Return</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Calm down!¡± Chen Ge immediately ran to the middle of the corridor. ¡°We¡¯re all allies here; there¡¯s no need to harm each other!¡±

    His back was drenched from being squeezed between two Red Specters. Chen Ge was shocked by this scene himself. Two Red Specters were going to fight it out, but he, a living human, was the mediator. Perhaps it was due to Chen Ge, neither the boy nor Zhang Ya made a move.

    In reality, the boy was alreadypromising. After he woke up, the blood vessels inside the Third Sick Hall had continued to surge into his body, and the more he dragged this out, the more powerful he would be.

    ¡°I can give you the old man¡¯s body, but I must keep his head.¡± There was a unique connection between the boy and the Third Sick Hall. If the Third Sick Hall was a monster, then he was the monster¡¯s child, so he had perfect control of the many things here.

    Many blood vessels appeared on the surface of the corridor, and they curled themselves around the old man¡¯s neck. The old man, who had surrendered to his fate, suddenly opened his eyes and started to struggle. Unfortunately, Zhang Ya¡¯s feet were still on his body, so he could not even move.

    The blood vessels drilled into the old man¡¯s neck, and the image that happened next was a bit gory. The old man¡¯s scream reverberated down the hall. The blood vessels formed tentacles of sorts and transported the old man¡¯s head to the boy.

    ¡°What kind of mistake has the old man made?¡± Chen Ge was past feeling pity for the man. After all, he did try to kill him earlier.

    ¡°When the door was first opened, the man used the patients as test subjects.¡± The boy¡¯s hollow eyes looked at the head in his arms. ¡°He forced the patients to enter the door and that included my mother.

    The boy hugged the man¡¯s head and was smiling sweetly. ¡°He is a very fake and selfish man. The reason I fell asleep was because of him and a few of his patients.¡±

    ¡°Him and a few patients? There are other people inside the door?¡± Chen Ge nudged toward Zhang Ya; he felt safer being close to Zhang Ya.

    ¡°I promised Doctor Chen that I would guard the door after entering it. However, five years ago, the door was forced open from the outside.¡± The boy started to exin what happened five years ago. ¡°The old man suffered from cancer, and he knew that he wasn¡¯t going to live for long. To extend his life, he turned his interest toward the world behind the door.

    ¡°But he was scared, so like so many years ago, he sent a few patients into the door first. The Third Sick Hall was a quarantine building, and the patients there had no family or background, so the whole process was very hush-hush.

    ¡°After one week of trials and making sure that there was no danger, the director entered the door with a few patients.¡± The smile hung on the boy¡¯s face as he petted the old man¡¯s screaming head. ¡°After the door closed, this ce became my world, and there is nothing inside the Third Sick Hall that can harm me.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to harm them; I just wanted to find something to do after so many years of boredom. However, to my surprise, to escape, these people opened the door for the monsters to enter the Third Sick Hall. Some of them even got possessed by these monsters.

    ¡°When I discovered this, it was already toote. They trapped me inside the electroshock therapy room and had the dying director look over me while the others escaped with the sin and terror.¡±

    After listening to the boy, Chen Ge nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve seen several patients of the Third Sick Hall in the real world. A thin monster possessed each of them. The old man said that they were a manifestation of human desire.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, those are creatures that originated from inside the door, but they are also the weakest.¡± The boy¡¯s words scared Chen Ge. The thin monster was the weakest, but he had always thought that the mirror monster was the weakest.

    ¡°Five years ago, seven patients entered the door, and four of them were possessed by the weakest monsters. As for the other three, I couldn¡¯t tell.¡± The boy nced at Chen Ge. ¡°The fact that you¡¯re here means that you¡¯ve fought with them already. The remaining ones might seek you out for trouble.¡±

    ¡°Can you tell me about the three that are most dangerous?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s an incredibly beautiful woman, a man with a ruined face, and thest one is called Wu Fei.¡± The boy¡¯s teeth gritted together when he said Wu Fei¡¯s name. ¡°It was this Wu Fei who came up with the n to trap me.¡±

    Then, the boy added, ¡°But Wu Fei is not the most difficult to deal with. You have to be careful about the ruined face; he¡¯s the most dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for the reminder.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to thank me because I have a favor to ask of you.¡± The boy had observed Chen Ge for a long time and finally voiced his real purpose. ¡°I am just a persona, and this Third Sick Hall behind the door is my host. Since I¡¯ve been here for so long, from a certain perspective, you can say my consciousness has joined with the building. Outsiders cannot kill me; they can only weaken me and make me fall asleep.

    ¡°They cannot kill me, but they can influence me by harming my second persona. In fact, they might be able to control me through him. That is what I¡¯m most worried about, so, if needed, please help me protect my second persona. I have no family left in that world, and he is my only friend.¡±

    ¡°No problem. I am friends with your second persona as well, so I will never not help him.¡± Chen Ge tried to befriend the boy and wished that one day he would be able to hire him as one of his workers. His Haunted House needed someone of his age.

    ¡°Hopefully, you¡¯ll hold onto your promise.¡± The boy carried the old man¡¯s head to Room 3. ¡°Staying too long in this world will damage your spirit and body. It¡¯ll be filled by negative thoughts. If you stay long enough, you too will go insane.¡±

    He pushed the door to Room 3 open and ced the old man¡¯s head beside the bed. ¡°I¡¯ll send you off. If there¡¯s any problem, you cane find me at midnight; I¡¯ll hold the door open for one minute.¡±

    ¡°Why one minute?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes twitched.

    ¡°That¡¯s the limit of my control,¡± the boy answered. ¡°This world is huge, and there are many other doors. Some doors, like this one, are guarded by people, and some are left unattended. Normally speaking, if there is someone guarding the door, the time of door opening will be one minute.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I understand.¡± Chen Ge lowered his head, thinking about the door in his Haunted House.

    When both Chen Ge and Zhang Ya walked into Room 3, the boy closed the door. He stood beside the door. ¡°You can go back now.¡±

    ¡°But how?¡±

    The boy pointed at the door of Room 3. ¡°Push it open, you only have one minute.¡±

 Chapter 184 - Gripped by Passion

    <h4>Chapter 184: Gripped by Passion</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge still had many questions, but the boy did not give him any chance and started the countdown. He could see that the boy was also struggling. His body had not fully recovered, and the blood on his clothes was fading. ¡°Stop wasting my time, go!¡±

    When he walked closer, Chen Ge realized that the door was filled with small cracks, and there were plenty of blood vessels weaving through it to fix the wounds. He was reminded of the loud bang that apanied Zhang Ya¡¯s appearance. He thought about it. ¡°After being sent out by the old man, Zhang Ya burst through the door again. Looks like the door can be broken, but it¡¯ll repair itself.¡±

    Pushing the door open, the world that greeted him was no longer in shades of red, and Chen Ge found the darkened corridor to be quiteforting.

    ¡°Meow?¡± A white cat squatted beside the door. It turned to look at Chen Ge, its multi-colored eyes shining with intrigue. After exiting the door, Chen Ge wanted to turn to thank the boy, but the boy mmed the door shut in his face.

    <i>I have a feeling the boy is hiding something, but what is it? Is he afraid of Zhang Ya?</i>The red school uniform that fluttered in the wind appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, and he shivered. This three-star Trial Mission had given him a new understanding of Zhang Ya. The Red Specter Zhang Ya was aplete opposite of the person she had been when she was alive. She was cruel and unforgiving. She shattered the door and would attack anyone who dared stand in her way.

    <i>Zhang Ya should have exited the door with me, right? </i>Chen Ge turned to look, and Zhang Ya was standing one foot away from him. The red on her uniform was brighter than before.

    Chen Ge¡¯s fingers twitched like they were spasming, and Chen Ge let out an awkwardugh to hide how panicked he was. ¡°Just look at how funny this whole thing is. I went inside the door because I was worried about you, but in the end, it was you who saved me.¡±

    Zhang Ya was silent as she studied Chen Ge¡¯s face carefully. Chen Ge was frozen solid under her scrutiny. He was trying to figure out a way to lighten the mood when he realized that, in the twenty or so years he had been alive, his experience of talking with girls was zero.

    <i>What have I been doing for the past twenty years? </i>Finally, Chen Ge squeezed out the following. ¡°The things here have been dealt with. Let¡¯s go home.¡±

    Zhang Ya did not answer but took a step forward. When her face was almost touching Chen Ge¡¯s, she suddenly increased in speed to phase through Chen Ge¡¯s body before entering his shadow.

    The ck phone in his pocket vibrated, and Chen Ge leaned against the wall before sliding down it. His forehead was already covered in cold sweat. The pressure Zhang Ya gave him was too high.

    ¡°Is that an alert that the mission has beenpleted?¡± After taking a deep breath, Chen Ge took out the phone and opened the alert.

    ¡°Zhang Ya¡¯s affection level increased slightly! Soon, it will break through to the next level¡ªGripped by Passion!¡±

    The alert that appeared on screen made Chen Ge suck in a deep breath. <i>Gripped by passion, why does it sound so dangerous? Will Zhang Ya identally tear me apart when she is in the throes of passion?</i>

    Chen Ge hugged his head and groaned painfully from the terror. The white cat jumped onto his backpack andy downzily. It seemed like it had gotten used to the various weird antics of its owner.

    <i>In any case, there¡¯s no need to worry about that yet. </i>Chen Ge stood up, and after taking a look at his phone, he saw that all signals had been cut off after he entered the door. Then, he remembered his livestream. He entered the tform and saw that his own livestream had been temporarily banned, but his ount was not frozen. He could stillment like normal.

    <i>What¡¯s going on?</i>

    He nced at the viewer count. With this one livestream, his number of followers had shot up to 150,000. Click into any bigger livestream, and they would be talking about Chen Ge and Qin Guang¡¯s stories. Chen Ge calmed himself down and went searching for Qin Guang¡¯s livestream. The man¡¯s stream was blocked as well.

    <i>What¡¯s happening? </i>Chen Ge called Liu Dao, and it was picked up after seven rings. ¡°Liu Dao? Why are my livestream and Qin Guang¡¯s livestream both blocked? Is it because of the overly long ck screen?¡±

    After a few seconds, an unknown male voice replied, ¡°This is the city¡¯s investigation team. Give me your location immediately. Stay where you are, and don¡¯t move around.¡±

    <i>The police? When did they get here, and how did they know I¡¯m at the Third Sick Hall? </i>Chen Ge nced at the time. It was already 3:50 am. He had only been inside the door for a short time, but time had passed by so fast in the real world. After his livestream was cancelled when he entered the door, Liu Dao¡¯s team had probably called the police. Unlike those online viewers, Liu Dao understood how dangerous things could be and knew Chen Ge¡¯s exact location.

    ¡°I¡¯m at the mental hospital¡¯s third building first floor. There are two victims trapped inside the second building¡¯sundry room, and I¡¯ve collected evidence of the suspects.¡±

    ¡°The two victims have been rescued. Don¡¯t ruin the crime scene. We¡¯ll be there in a minute; keep the line open.¡±

    ¡°My phone is dying, so I¡¯m afraid it won¡¯t hold out for long.¡± Chen Ge then hung up. He immediately hid the hammer and cleaver.

    <i>I have to take the thing inside the director¡¯s dresser too.</i>

    He raced to the second-floor office. When he grabbed the letters inside the dresser, Chen Ge identally found the dresser¡¯s secret. The partition at the back of the dresser could be opened, and it led to a hidden passageway. At the end of the passageway was a steel door.

    The door¡¯s lock fitted the key Chen Ge had. After unlocking it and pushing the door open, Chen Ge was surprised to find himself back in Room 3.

    <i>This should be the secret tunnel mentioned by Wang Haiming in Room 3. This passageway is connected to the director¡¯s office, so the old man definitely knew about it.</i>

    Looking at the patient¡¯s bed, which faced the hidden passageway, Chen Ge was reminded of Men Nan¡¯s mother who stayed in this room, and he had a rough idea of why the boy tormented the old director.

    <i>Wang Haiming was once a resident of Room 3, and this key was probably stolen from the director with the cooperation of the mirror ghost.</i>

    The police wereing soon, so Chen Ge pocketed the key, returned everything back to how it had been, and sat quietly inside the room, waiting for the police to arrive.

    At 4 am, the Third Sick Hall was pried opened, and Chen Ge, who had been waiting for so long, rushed forward, carrying his backpack, a cock in his hand and a white cat slumbering on his shoulder.

    Before Chen Ge got near, the police surrounded him. Chen Ge had not seen any of these faces before.

    ¡°I¡¯m a friend! I¡¯ve found these things left behind by the suspects.¡±

    After a short interrogation, Chen Ge exined why he was at the Third Sick Hall. He removed the things rted to ghosts and said that he was chased by the twisted face and ended up being locked by the crazy people inside the Third Sick Hall.

    ¡°The suspects¡¯ fingerprints were left on the fourth floor¡¯s steel door. They are three of them; they were all once patients at this Third Sick Hall.¡±

    He struggled to stay awake until dawn, and after receiving the mission sess alert on the ck phone, Chen Ge left the mental hospital with the police.

 Chapter 185 - Is Your Brain Filled with Lead?

    <h4>Chapter 185: Is Your Brain Filled with Lead?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Get in, and don¡¯t act funny.¡±

    Chen Ge slipped into the police car, hugging the chicken and cat. From the tone of the policeman, he realized that things might have gotten a little serious this time.

    ¡°Thank God, you¡¯re okay.¡± There was another person sitting in the backseat. His face was tense, but his voice was familiar.

    ¡°Liu Dao? Why are you here? Was it you who called the police?¡± Sitting inside the police car, Chen Ge felt oddlyfortable. He was not only not worried, and he felt like falling asleep. ¡°Also, why was the livestream banned? What was the highest viewership tonight? Because my follower number has increased to 150,000.¡±

    ¡°Why do you still care about the livestream?¡± Liu Dao grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s arm. ¡°Brother, didn¡¯t you say that all the people in the mental hospital are actors from the Haunted House? I¡¯ve vouched for you in front of the cops, but you¡¯ve pushed me into the pits of hell.¡±

    ¡°But there are my workers in the mental hospital, you just are unable to see them.¡± Chen Ge was not ashamed of his words. For this livestream, he had brought the Pen Spirit, Xiaoxiao, and the white cat out from the Haunted House.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to me you, just...¡± Liu Dao¡¯s face fell. ¡°Never mind, it¡¯s my fault for not taking more precautions, and to be fair, many viewers were tricked by you.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about? Mind exining it to me.¡± Chen Ge wanted to pet the white cat¡¯s head but was warned off by the cat¡¯s cruel gaze.

    Liu Dao shrugged. ¡°Normally, when a person enters a mental hospital in the middle of the night and sees victims trapped inside cages and murderers pursuing him with axes, wouldn¡¯t that person be afraid?¡±

    ¡°Yes, fear is the appropriate reaction.¡±

    ¡°But the problem is, you chased the murderers up and down the building with arge hammer for at least twenty minutes! No matter who sees this, they¡¯ll think it¡¯s a set-up, right?¡± Liu Dao was at the verge of a breakdown. ¡°I¡¯ve been in the livestream business for four years already, and until now, I never thought that someone would go chase after a real murderer! Weren¡¯t you afraid? Is your brain filled with lead?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re exaggerating¡ªI was just doing what awful citizen would,¡± Chen Ge emphasized. ¡°To be honest, I have a strong sense of justice. When I saw the victims, I was angered by how much pain they¡¯d been through, and the anger overwhelmed my fear. That¡¯s why I dared to chase after those murderers.¡±

    Chen Ge was loud, and the two policemen in front could hear him clearly.

    ¡°It¡¯s toote to say anything now. This is all my fault. I should have called the police earlier.¡± Liu Dao massaged his temples. ¡°When you started the livestream, there was already a report. At the time, I thought that it was people from Qin Guang¡¯s side ying tricks, so I ignored it. Then, when your viewership rose to 400,000, someone demanded that we call the police, and I had my men suppressed the motion. Finally, when your livestream went over 600,000 and broke the record for any newbie host, I had a very bad feeling. You started to scream and wave that cleaver at the air. I thought that it was some kind of performance, and due to personal greed, I forced Sister Lee to continue the broadcast.

    ¡°It was not until you entered that sickroom and the screen went ck that I realized the gravity of the situation and called the police.¡± There was a trace of relief in his voice. ¡°So be it. No matter what, at least you¡¯re safe now.¡±

    Liu Dao sighed, removed a small pill bottle from his shirt, and popped two pills into his mouth.

    ¡°What are those?¡±

    ¡°Pills for angina. Give me some peace. This is my first time inside a police car, so I need to calm myself.¡±

    After they arrived at the city police station, Liu Dao and Chen Ge were led into different interrogation rooms. The police questioned him on all the details. Chen Ge stuck to his earlier exnation. He identally ran into a conspiracy, and to protect the victim, he chose to resist and fight back. The whole process was broadcasted, and that was all the evidence Chen Ge needed.

    The thing that was most difficult for the police was, all evidence pointed to the fact that Chen Ge was also one of the victims, but this ¡®victim¡¯ had chased after the culprits aggressively.

    After the interrogation, the police did not show any sign that they were going to let him go. ¡°Mr. Chen, we need to have a meeting to discuss your situation.¡±

    ¡°Okay, but can you give me back my phone? I wish to call my family to tell them that I¡¯m safe.¡± Chen Ge actually wanted to call Inspector Lee for help. This time, things were different. His livestream was no longer limited to a small circle. It had broken 600,000 viewers; in other words, the situation had gotten a bit out of hand.

    ¡°Please wait patiently.¡± The police officer rejected Chen Ge¡¯s request and left the interrogation room. It was not until noon that the door opened again. Chen Ge, who had been fully cooperative, turned to look at the door.

    A slightly fat police stood at the door. He wore a uniform that was different from others¡¯.

    ¡°Captain Yan?¡± Chen Ge was surprised. It was this officer who had presented his medal when Chen Ge helped solved the case at Ping An Apartments.

    ¡°Follow me, someone wants to meet you.¡± Different fromst time, Captain Yan¡¯s expression was severe. Chen Ge stood up slowly and wondered, <i>Am I going to meet some big character?</i>

    After exiting the interrogation room, they walked down the corridor before stopping outside a room. Through the ss window, Chen Ge looked in. The girl who had been trapped inside the cage was safe. She was wearing the police outfit someone had given her, and she cowered in a corner of the room, hugging a bottle of water. She was shivering non-stop and would notmunicate with anyone. She did not even dare to sit on the chair.

    Standing not far from her was a middle-aged man, and this was the first time Chen Ge had seen a man break down sopletely. The middle-aged man appeared to be the girl¡¯s father. He was calling the girl¡¯s name, but she did not give any response. She was still shrouded in fear.

    ¡°Go in, the father wants to meet you.¡±

    When he walked in, the middle-aged father immediately rushed to Chen Ge. His emotions were running so high that he could not even finish aplete sentence.

    ...

    About ten minutester, Captain Yan and Chen Ge left the room.

    ¡°Earlier, we were all discussing about you, to determine whether what you¡¯ve done has broken thew or not. At the end of the discussion, I also brought them here.¡± Captain Yan looked at the pair in the room. ¡°If not for you, the girl would have spent the rest of her life inside a cage and the father would have spent his looking for his only family in this world.¡±

    Chen Ge had a hard time controlling his emotions. Even though the girl was safe now, it would take a long time before the scar on her heart was healed.

    ¡°You¡¯ve done good this time.¡± Captain Yan turned to Chen Ge. ¡°After our discussion, we decided to temporarily ban your livestream, but aspensation, we¡¯ll award you a record of merit.¡±

    Instead of a punishment, banning Chen Ge¡¯s livestream temporarily was more like a protection. This was to prevent Chen Ge from being used by others due to his newfound poprity.

    As for that record of merit, Chen Ge did not know what it was. But since Captain Yan had specifically mentioned it, it should be a good thing.

    ¡°Thank you, but I was merely acting on my sense of justice. Sometimes, I just cannot control myself.¡± Chen Ge was not sure. After all, what he did yesterday night was rash. He had been armed with a cleaver and a hammer, and he had broken a culprit¡¯s leg with the hammer. ¡°Then, can I really go now?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t try to get information from me.¡± Captain Yan pointed at his uniform. ¡°We will not cheer for violence, but never will we punish a good conscience and sense of justice.¡±

 Chapter 186 - New Competition

    <h4>Chapter 186: New Competition</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After grabbing his stuff, Chen Ge left the station with the white cat.

    <i>This Captain Yan is different from the others.</i>

    Chen Ge turned back to look and decided to stay low for a period of time. This incident had reminded him that the main city is different from Western Jiujiang. The previous few times, he did not get into any trouble because Inspector Lee had been helping him.

    <i>Afterpleting the three-star Trial Mission, there¡¯s no need for me to go unlock other scenarios for now. I should focus on the Third Sick Hall.</i>

    In reality, even if there was a four-star mission for him to choose, Chen Ge would not pick it. Starting with three-star missions, the danger level doubled and tripled. After he got into the taxi, Chen Ge ced the white cat and chicken to the side before pulling out the ck phone to check his unread messages.

    ¡°yer managed to reach the Mission Location on time and survived until dawn. Trial Mission, Third Sick Hall sessful! A new scenario has been unlocked. yer can manipte the props inside the set freely using the interface avable on the phone!

    ¡°Trial Mission Completion Rate 60 percent. yer has not achieved more than 90 percentpletion rate, so the hidden item for this mission has yet to be unlocked.

    ¡°Completing the hidden quest of the scenario will increase the Trial Mission¡¯spletion rate, and when thepletion rate is above 90, the hidden item will be unlocked.¡±

    After reading the message, Chen Ge was shocked. <i>The missionpletion rate is only sixty? Where is the problem? Did Men Nan¡¯s main persona hide something from me, or does this have something to do with those mental patients who have escaped?</i>

    Chen Ge anticipated the hidden items that were rewarded after the mission, but he also discovered a pattern. The higher the star of the Trial Mission, the greater the reward of the hidden item and the hidden missions. For example, the one-star Ping An Apartment gave him a missing person notice with malice points, but the two-star Mu Yang High School gave him a rare ghost¡ªthe Pen Spirit.

    <i>Will the hidden reward for the three-star Trial Mission be the little boy? </i>Chen Ge thought that was quite possible; after all, Men Nan¡¯s main persona had said that his consciousness had merged with the Third Sick Hall. <i>Men Nan¡¯s main persona¡¯s rtionship to the Third Sick Hall is rather simr to Director Luo¡¯s daughter¡¯s rtionship to New Century Park, but one was guarding their ce behind the door while the other guarded around their location.</i>

    As for what kind of hidden missions the Third Sick Hall would offer, Chen Ge would need to enter the scenario himself to trigger it. Under the taxi driver¡¯s curious gaze, Chen Ge took his stuff and got out of the car. Once he entered New Century Park, he noticed that the visitors were tossing him weird looks.

    <i>If I¡¯m not mistaken, today isn¡¯t a public holiday, so why are there so many visitors at the park?</i>

    The normally quiet amusement park seemed to have been given a new lease on life. Chen Ge was embarrassed from being gawked at, and he escaped toward the Haunted House as fast as he could.

    Chen Ge stopped before he reached the Haunted House because he saw how long the line at his Haunted House was. It felt like he was dreaming.

    ¡°Why are there so many visitors?¡±

    ¡°Boss!¡± Xu Wan stood at the steps of the Haunted House, and she saw Chen Ge as soon as he got near. ¡°You¡¯re finally here!¡±

    The visitors all turned following her shout, and Chen Ge shriveled under their watchful gazes. He squeezed through the crowd, and after hearing Xu Wan¡¯s exnation, he understood that most of the visitors hade to see him.

    The influence of the previous night¡¯s livestream was bigger than he had expected. His livestream had been cut into pieces and shared on most big news sites. ¡®Fake livestream leads to interaction with real murderers¡¯¡ªsuch headlines had already appeared on the inte.

    The key thing was, Chen Ge realized, the decision he made while the poprity of his livestream was rising to promote his Haunted House was brilliant. Because he had used thergest font for the address, those who shared the video had to block ? of the screen if they wanted to hide the address. Instead of ruining the experience, they decided to be fair and helped Chen Ge with his promotion.

    This meant that many forums and tforms had helped Chen Ge promote his Haunted House. Some of the visitors were from Jiujiang, and they came to pay the Haunted House a visit.

    After the previous night¡¯s livestream, his ount¡¯s followers number had kept on climbing, and thements went into the millions. Even though his livestream was blocked, Chen Ge still managed to squeeze into the popr ranking for newbies.

    Chen Ge reaped many rewards, but Qin Guang was truly unlucky. The tform had used who knew how much to cultivate him, but after the constant broadcasting problems, the livestream was finally closed entirely. Based on rumors, Qin Guang was scared until he was sent to the hospital. When Qin Guang woke up, he realized that because of Chen Ge, his supernatural livestream was also banned. He probably coughed up more blood at the hospital.

    Due to therge number of visitors, Chen Ge could not rest even if he wanted to. He had a little nap that morning inside the interrogation room, so he could still hold on. After giving a brief exnation on the different levels of the scenarios, Chen Ge asked Uncle Xu to look after the crowd while he and Xu Wan went to put on their make-up and move to their designated ces.

    There was no break throughout the entire afternoon. Even when the sun was falling, there were still visitors lining up outside the Haunted House. The park had to dy its closing time for half an hour, and it was not until 6:30 pm that Chen Ge and Xu Wan managed to leave the Haunted House.

    With her face white from exhaustion, Xu Wan sighed. ¡°Who would have thought one day, we would need to work overtime at the Haunted House?¡±

    ¡°There are still many things that you wouldn¡¯t expect in the future. Stick with me, and I¡¯m sure your future will be bright.¡± Chen Ge looked at Xu Wan and smiled. Ever since he discovered that he could hire ghosts as workers, his desire to hire a new worker had died down a lot. Perhaps, throughout his career, Xu Wan would be his only living worker.

    ¡°Boss, there¡¯s something else I want to tell you.¡± Xu Wan took out a flyer from her pocket. ¡°There¡¯s a very famous travelling Haunted House that¡¯sing to Jiujiang. They¡¯ve rented the spot at the city central¡¯s merchant street, and tomorrow will be their official opening day.¡±

    ¡°Competition is a good thing, don¡¯t mind it.¡± Chen Ge nced at the flyer. The Haunted House was called Tian Teng Medical School. Itbined the themes of a scary hospital and a school. It was arge moving Haunted House following the tradition of Japanese Haunted Houses.

    ¡°When they started their promotion, I did not pay them much heed either, but this morning, when our poprity skyrocketed, they changed their promotional ad on their website, saying that their Haunted House was designed by foreign specialists and is definitely scarier than the other Haunted Houses in Jiujiang. They say that they are on apletely different level.¡± Xu Wan took out her phone to show Chen Ge the website of Tian Teng Medical School.

    Chen Ge took a look. The team behind Tian Teng Medical School did seem like they were aiming to nder. Even though they did not state it explicitly, the only other famous Haunted House in Jiujiang belonged to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Looks like they¡¯re looking for a fight.¡± Chen Ge held onto the flyer. ¡°No worries, when they are open tomorrow, I¡¯ll go to give them my ¡®support¡¯.¡±

 Chapter 187 - Tian Teng Medical School

    <h4>Chapter 187: Tian Teng Medical School</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After Xu Wan left, Chen Ge returned to the Haunted House alone. He still had many things to do. After fixing the Pen Spirit¡¯s pen, Chen Ge buried the chicken beside the Haunted House. Chen Ge had no clue what had killed the chicken. There were no wounds on its body, so he suspected that the killer came from behind the door. For the sake of security, Chen Ge did not leave the chicken¡¯s body anywhere else but chose to bring it back to the Haunted House to bury it.

    After dealing with all the chores, Chen Ge entered the underground parking lot. The Third Sick Hall had been fully copied. Its size was double the size of Mu Yang High School, and it was ced opposite from the school. All the scenarios were joined together, and the paths crisscrossed. The shape of a Maze of Terror was already forming.

    Chen Ge walked through the scenario, and after making sure that there was no danger, he installed a few of the cameras that were left from before at several key points before leaving the scenario.

    <i>Mu Yang High School came with two hidden missions, and the Third Sick Hall is a three-star scenario, so it should have more hidden missions. However, I¡¯ve walked through the entire scenario, and there is nothing out of ce. Looks like the trigger for these hidden missions isn¡¯t so easily found.</i>

    After returning to the staff breakroom, Chen Ge was about to lie down when he got the message from Inspector Lee. After thinking about it, Chen Ge gave Inspector Lee a call. ¡°Uncle San Bao, I¡¯m fine now. No need to worry.¡±

    ¡°Well, at least you¡¯re optimistic.¡± There were footsteps on the other end. Inspector Lee was walking to a secluded spot before he continued. ¡°I¡¯ve seen the footage fromst night. When you saw the trapped victims, you should have called the police already.¡±

    ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll more careful next time.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s still a next time?¡± Inspector Lee sighed. ¡°So be it. I¡¯m just trying to remind you to be careful. Also, two things to inform you. ording to your statement, three individuals were involved in the trapping of the victims. All three of them are in the wind, so you have to be careful. They all suffer from mental illnesses and could do anything.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be careful.¡±

    ¡°The second thing is rted to Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy.¡± Inspector Lee sounded like he was flipping through some files. ¡°I¡¯ve inspected all the men who were rted to the school starting from five years ago, and we¡¯ve narrowed down the pool to 21 suspects. In less than a week, we¡¯ll be able to find the culprit who forced the girl to kill herself.¡±

    Zhang Ya was finally going to get her justice. Chen Ge exhaled deeply into the phone. ¡°Inspector Lee, after you apprehend the killer, can I have five minutes alone with him?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll see about itter, but don¡¯t get your hopes up.¡± Inspector Lee hung up, and Chen Ge looked at his phone, spacing out until he eventually fell asleep.

    ...

    In the blood red room, Chen Ge sat in the bed. The blood vessels on his legs were surfacing. He looked around dumbly, and Men Nan¡¯s voice appeared beside him. ¡°You don¡¯t have much time left.¡±

    He turned around and saw the boy standing the middle of the room. Red lines were coursing through his body.

    ¡°Men Nan?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have much time left,¡± the boy said expressionlessly. When he was about to repeat it the third time, the red lines went taut, and the boy¡¯s body shredded into pieces.

    ¡°Hey!¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes flew open, and he woke up from the nightmare, his forehead soaked with cold sweat. It was 3:40 am, and this coincided with the time he exited the ¡®door¡¯.

    <i>Why would I have a dream like that? Did anything happen to Men Nan¡¯s main persona inside the door? </i>Chen Ge lost all interest in sleep. He took his phone, toolbox, and backpack and headed for the Third Sick Hall.

    Chen Ge returned to this ce at 5 am. The sun wasing up, but the buildings still looked quite creepy. Chen Ge jumped over the fence into the mental hospital. The police had broken down the locks to the Third Sick Hall, and Chen Ge headed for Room 3 immediately.

    He pushed the door open, and everything looked the same as when he left it. His investigation came up with nothing. Chen Ge walked deeper into the sick hall as he contemted. He retrieved the hammer and cleaver that he had hidden the night before and rushed to the director¡¯s office. Using the tools from his toolbox, he pried the four blood red nails from the corners of the dresser.

    <i>They look to be normal iron nails. </i>Chen Ge tore a piece off from the curtain, used it to wrap the nails, and ced it inside his backpack.

    The day was starting. Knowing that he still had plenty of things to do, he exited the mental hospital, walked quite a distance, and eventually found a taxi. He returned to New Century Park.

    After cing down his backpack, Chen Ge put up a sign for temporary closure and carried a bunch of stuff before hurrying to the city center.

    ¡°Sheng Yuan International za¡¯s third floor.¡± Chen Ge held the flyer in his hand as he waited for the elevator. There was a group of young men and women near him, and they were chit-chatting among themselves. They were very excited.

    ¡°I¡¯m shocked that Tian Teng Medical School decided toe to Jiujiang! When they were stationed at Xing Haist year, I was so ready to hop on a train to go visit them!¡±

    ¡°Sounds like you¡¯re exaggerating again. Su Su, I hear we also have a good Haunted House, and it¡¯s quite famous online.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t buy into online rumors. The Haunted Houses we have only rely on cheap tricks; they¡¯re nopetition for Tian Teng Medical School. You¡¯re not an aficionado like myself, so you wouldn¡¯t understand it.¡±

    The Su Su who spoke was a rather cute girl. She was about 1.6 meters tall, and her front was as t as her back. Standing beside Su Su was a tall young man. He added shyly, ¡°But aren¡¯t all Haunted Houses the same?¡±

    ¡°Most Haunted Houses are in it for the money, but Tian Teng Medical School is different; they¡¯re aiming for a real haunting experience. The two are leagues apart.¡± The girl seemed to be a real Haunted House fan. ¡°You won¡¯t understand it even if I exin it to you. Later, you just stick behind me.¡±

    The girl was quite interesting, and she had Chen Ge¡¯s interest. The elevator door opened, and all of them went up to the third floor. The elevator opened to reveal a hall that was filled with waiting visitors.

    ¡°Tian Teng Medical School is so famous?¡± Chen Ge had risked his life and energy doing all sort of promotion online, and he had barely gotten the poprity of his Haunted House up. Inparison, Tian Teng Medical School managed to attract so many visitors just from word of mouth alone. That was quite impressive.

    ¡°They are, of course, famous! They¡¯re the biggest moving Haunted House currently avable on the market! They hired a professional Haunted House designer from Japan who had over ten years of experience. The make-up team and every set piece are custom-made.¡± The girl called Su Su overheard Chen Ge and patiently exined to him, ¡°Uncle, even though the price of admission is rather expensive, it is definitely worth your money! The scares utilize sound, light, electricity, and smell. It¡¯s the best Japanese-style Haunted House in the nation.¡±

    ¡°Uncle?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s lips twitched slightly. The things he had seen yesterday were scary enough. After managing his expression, Chen Ge walked past the girl, mumbling, ¡°I¡¯ve not experienced a Japanese-style Haunted House before, but I wonder,pared to the Third Sick Hall, which is scarier?¡±

 Chapter 188 - One Is Enough

    <h4>Chapter 188: One Is Enough</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The hall was filled to the brim with people; there were still people downstairs, and the elevator kept bringing new visitors. At 10 am, the proprietor for Tian Teng Medical School finally appeared. He was of average height, had a short haircut, and looked to be in his thirties.

    There were two models in revealing nurse costumes trailing behind them. Even though their make-up was startling white, their eyes never stopped releasing electricity. The man tried the loudspeaker and stood at the steps before the entrance of the Haunted House and said, ¡°Everyone, thank you for your kind support. Tian Teng Medical School has always maintained...¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes scanned the two models. He was not going to pay attention to the man¡¯s introductory speech. He was thinking about designing a pretty and sexy costume for Xu Wan when his Haunted House had its next activity.

    The man talked for two to three minutes before finally getting to the point.

    ¡°Our team optimizes the Haunted House every six months. With the aid of a professional foreign team, all the scares are updated, and as the proprietor, it is my responsibility to tell everyone that Tian Teng Medical School is scarier than all the other Haunted Houses avable on the market!

    ¡°We strive for the most realistic terror, unlike certain hical Haunted Houses who rely on online water armies to brush up on their poprity. They think that this was clever, and some did fall for the dirty tricks, but to be honest, I find this behaviorughable!¡±

    Chen Ge was getting impatient from all the nder. He nudged forward through the crowd, but there were too many people. Finally, he reached the ticket seller. ¡°One ticket please.¡±

    ¡°Did you book a ticket online?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, today¡¯s tickets have all been sold. How about you stay until afternoon? Perhaps there might be an opening then.¡±

    ¡°The tickets are all gone?¡±

    The proprietor continued to speak on stage. ¡°If the Haunted Houses on the market are first generation, my Tian Teng Medical School is a fourth generation Haunted House thatbines many high-end technology!

    ¡°Today is the first day we¡¯re opening our doors for the citizens of Jiujiang. To let everyone have a clearer understanding of the situation, I¡¯ll randomly select four visitors to experience the Haunted House with an audio recorder and a portable electrocardiographic monitor! Through the speakers that are connected to the audio recorder and the cardiograph broadcasted on screen, you¡¯ll be able to see for yourself how scary our Haunted House is!¡±

    Before the proprietor finished talking, there was already cheer from the crowd. It was hard to tell whether this was a set-up or not.

    ¡°There¡¯s a code behind every ticket, and we¡¯ll select the lucky ones with a randomized code generator.¡± The man nodded to the sales counter, and the workers started to do their work.

    Chen Ge saw everything with his eyes. The man stepped on his Haunted House to bring himself up, and he could not take that lying down.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Chen Ge raised his hand and walked onto the stage. ¡°You said earlier that your Haunted House is scary but other Haunted Houses depend on online water army to brush up on their poprity. That, I don¡¯t agree with.¡±

    The man frowned. If not for the crowd, he would have called for security to haul Chen Ge out.

    ¡°I am the boss of Western Jiujiang¡¯s House of Horrors, the owner of the Haunted House that you¡¯re happily ndering online. The day before yesterday I just hosted a livestream that has more than 600,000 viewers.¡±

    When Chen Ge walked to the stage, there was a familiar voice from the crowd that called out. ¡°Boss?¡±

    Chen Ge followed the voice and saw He San and Gao Ru Xue standing in the crowd.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± Chen Ge was baffled. He San was openly supporting his enemy. ¡°If you want to experience a Haunted House, why didn¡¯t youe to me?¡±

    He San did not know how to exin himself. He could not openly admit before the proprietor of Tian Teng Medical School that Boss Chen¡¯s Haunted House was too scary. His ss was still having nightmares from their previous experience and thus decided toe to another Haunted House to seek some rxation.

    The man took this in as well. He had already recognized Chen Ge. ¡°Looks like your Haunted House is not that popr; even your own friend won¡¯t support you. Fine, if you insist on learning some tricks from us, we¡¯re willing to provide you with this opportunity. Don¡¯t say that we¡¯re not generous people.¡±

    The man was clever. Since they dared nder Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House online, they obviously knew of Chen Ge. By letting Chen Ge into the Haunted House, his intention was clear. If Chen Ge was scared inside Teng Tian Medical School, he could use this as a point of promotion and forcefully yank the customers from Western Jiujiang¡¯s House of Horrors. Chen Ge had the same idea as he did; they both wanted to persuade the other¡¯s visitors toe to their own.

    Due to the recent livestream, Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House had be a hot item online, but he knew that the poprity would notst for long. At most, it wouldst for a week. Even though Tian Teng Medical School was not as popr as Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House within Jiujiang, they had arge national poprity and a number of loyal fans like Su Su.

    ¡°Come, help him put on the audio recorder and heart monitor.¡± The two models walked toward Chen Ge. ¡°Now, we¡¯ll pick the remaining three lucky visitors.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s necessary.¡± Chen Ge shrugged. ¡°Challenging a Haunted House alone is more fun. If you can manage to scare me, I will admit that my Haunted House is not as scary as yours on my website and promote your Haunted House for a whole month.¡±

    The man was intrigued by what Chen Ge said, but he was cautious as well. He was sure Chen Ge was up to something. ¡°How are we going to gauge that we¡¯ve managed to scare you?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve installed the heartrate monitor, right? The normal heartrate when a person is walking is between 60 to 100. When they¡¯re scared, the oxygen in their blood will drastically decrease, and the heart will pump faster.¡± Chen Ge looked at the man and calmly said, ¡°If my heartrate ever rises over 100, I¡¯ll lose.¡±

    ¡°You have a deal.¡± The man did not give Chen Ge any chance to change his mind. Even a small jog would bring a man¡¯s heartrate over 100, much less being scared. From how he saw it, Chen Ge was bound to lose.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so hasty. If I lose, I will admit your Haunted House is scarier than mine online, but what if you lose?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, if we lose, we¡¯ll also admit that our Haunted House is not as scary as yours online.¡± The man pointed at the crowd. ¡°Everyone here can be your witness.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I still have one small request.¡± Chen Ge smiled innocently. ¡°I think that you still have some misunderstandings about my Haunted House. I hope that your team will be willing toe visit my Haunted House. I¡¯ve added a new scenario, and it hasn¡¯t been opened to the public yet.¡±

    ¡°Okay, no problem,¡± the man promised easily and earned affection from the crowd. Only He San and Gao Ru Xue had a curious expression on their faces. Looking at the man, they saw themselves in the past ovepping with him.

 Chapter 189 - Rivalry

    <h4>Chapter 189: Rivalry</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge removed his shirt, and the two nurses helped him apply the audio recorder and heartrate monitor. After testing, several fluctuating lines appeared on the screen in the middle of the hall. The man stood to the side of the stage and pointed at the lines. ¡°HR/PR represents heartrate and pulse rate. SpO2 stands for peripheral capiry oxygen saturation, an estimate of the amount of oxygen in the blood. RESP is respiratory rate. TEMP is body temperature. Based on these few lines, we can clearly and objectively see the change in your emotions.¡±

    After putting on his clothes, Chen Ge shrugged. ¡°Can we start now?¡±

    ¡°The entrance is to the left of the hall; the exit is on the right. We¡¯ll wait for you at the exit,¡± the man exined briefly to Chen Ge. ¡°There is a guide inside the Haunted House, so he¡¯ll tell you what to do.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge walked into Tian Teng Medical School. Looking at Chen Ge¡¯s back, the man smiled. They had organized simr activities in Xing Hai before, and the lines on the screen seemed to go through a roller coaster. Combined with the screams would be that broadcasted through the speaker, even the visitors outside could experience the fear vicariously.

    ¡°Such an interesting fe.¡± The man locked the door silently and took out his phone to inform the workers inside the Haunted House that their prey wasing. He told them not to hold back.

    ...

    As the door closed, the light in the room dimmed. Chen Ge waited until his eyes had familiarized themselves with the darkness before he moved forward. The first scene was a security stop. A person in a security outfit was sitting down, facing away from Chen Ge. There was a blood-sttered screen before him, and the images kept flitting about. They seemed to show scenes inside the hospital.

    This was the preparation room, mainly used to inform the visitor of the Haunted House¡¯s background and to bring the visitors into the story.

    <i>The key to moving forward should be the security guard. This set-up is quite interesting.</i>

    Chen Ge walked to the door of the security stop, leaned against the only window, and yelled into the small room, ¡°Boss, what are you looking at?¡±

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice, the man slowly turned around. His face was covered with sweat, and with his finger pointing at the screen, his lips stuttered, ¡°There, there...¡±

    <i>A stutterer¡¯s character setting? Very professional.</i>

    Chen Ge walked into the room to have a closer look at the screen. The screen was repeating several headlines about the hospital: Patients mysteriously jumping from the building; immoral doctors selling organs on the ck market; confirmed dead patients returning the next day. The team had put plenty of effort into these headlines because there was even a surveince tape attached to them.

    In the darkened hospital corridor, a woman in white was staggering forward with her head lowered, her ck hair covering her entire face. The video was edited so that the woman appeared to be far one second but close to the camera the next. The woman¡¯s face appeared at the camera on the third second, and a scary face filled up the screen.

    ¡°There¡¯s a ghost!¡± the security guard who sat behind Chen Ge screamed.

    He had probably practiced this many times because his timing was perfect. Chen Ge sighed as he shook his head. ¡°Great set-up, but you might be able to scary me if she¡¯s wearing red.¡±

    A female Red Specter had a special meaning for Chen Ge. At the end of the video, there was ayout page for the Haunted House. Basically, Chen Ge had to follow the designated path, and that would be all.

    This kind of design was the most effective, but it was not as entertaining as Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, which was open for you to wander about. After memorizing the map, Chen Ge prepared to leave. When he turned around and saw the security guard, his eyes narrowed, and his heartrate rose slightly.

    The security had put on a thin ghost mask, and it looked rather simr to ghost face that had appeared on screen earlier. He looked at Chen Ge silently, and Chen Ge looked at him silently. ¡°If you have nothing to say, then move on. Don¡¯t waste time.¡±

    ¡°Our Haunted House is really haunted. If you stumble across anything weird, remember to holler at the camera!¡± the security said seriously, and it did not sound like he was lying.

    ¡°Can you be more specific? What kind of ghost?¡± Chen Ge scanned the room. There was a shlight and some tools under the counter. They should have been provided to the guests, but the security did not seem like he was going to give Chen Ge any.

    ¡°You¡¯ll understand soon enough. The way to begin is on your left-hand side. Push the wall open, and your exploration of the secret at Tian Teng Medical School will officially start,¡± the security guard said mysteriously before hauling Chen Ge out of the security stop.

    ¡°There¡¯s an actual ghost? At most, it¡¯ll be a lingering spirit.¡± Chen Ge mumbled something that the security guard did not understand before pushing the wall and moved on. The Haunted House was filled with many traps. The wall opened and closed on its own. Someone was controlling it from afar.

    <i>The details are on point; no wonder they¡¯re so popr.</i>

    Just the design at the preparation room had impressed Chen Ge. He wondered if he could use that inspiration inside his own Haunted House somehow.

    Behind the wall was a long corridor. Due to the limitation of geography, the corridor was half the size of a normal corridor, and the most interesting part was that there was a dried ¡®female body¡¯ hanging in the middle of the road, as if warning the visitors of iing danger.

    The corridor was most likely a buffer zone for the visitors to prepare themselves for the uing scare. This was quite the kind design. Chen Ge walked toward the body, and when he approached, he stopped.

    At the corner of the corridor, away from the focus of the visitor, was a steel box that did not capture much attention. A normal visitor would be attracted by the female body and ignore the steel box.

    <i>There has to be someone hiding inside the box. After being scared inside the security stop, they would be tense. When they first passed through the door, their attention would be dominated by the female body, and when they tried to walk past the body, a ghost would jump out at them from the box hidden in the corner. That¡¯s quite interesting.</i>

    A heartless design met Chen Ge, who did not know the meaning of the term ¡®bottom line¡¯. The match between shameless and cunning was officially starting.

    <i>I seem to have rediscovered the childhood joy of visiting a Haunted House. </i>Chen Ge leaned his body against the wall. Since the actor was hiding inside the box, Chen Ge¡¯s position was exactly inside his blind spot.

    As he nudged closer, instead of watching the swinging body, Chen Ge kept his focus on the box. The fake box looked wless, at least from the front, but from the side, one could see that the back of the box was already loosening. There was even a small gap on the corner. Probably due to the hard-to-notice angle of the gap, the team had not fixed it.

    <i>The person inside the box must be fully focused, waiting for me to walk past so that he can jump out to scare me.</i>

    Scaring people required timing, and the more professional the actor, the better their timing.

    Chen Ge thought about it and took out his phone to set a one-minute rm. He set the rm tone as Wedding Dress, and he slowly squatted down and slid the phone into the box through the open gap.

 Chapter 190 - Dont be Scared, Im a Visitor

    <h4>Chapter 190: Don¡¯t be Scared, I¡¯m a Visitor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The corridor suddenly became so quiet that even the sound of breathing could not be heard. The ¡®ghost¡¯ inside the box did not realize what Chen Ge had done. He was still waiting for the moment to give Chen Ge the fatal blow.

    In the corner, Chen Ge was also silently counting the time. After thirty seconds, there was a creaking sound inside the box. The actor had probably gotten tired from maintaining the same pose for a long time.

    Inparison, Chen Ge was more like an experienced hunter. He arched his back and slowly nudged forward. After forty seconds, the ¡®ghost¡¯ was confused because the visitor still had not shown up. He leaned his body forward to adjust his angle in the hope of spotting Chen Ge.

    The silent confrontation was about to reach its climax. When only three seconds were left, Chen Ge took a step forward to block the front of the box. At the same time, the sound of the ghost¡¯s screaming appeared inside the box. Different from ck Friday, Wedding Dress started with a crescendo!

    The actor, who was focused on locating Chen Ge, was tense, and the sound of a shrill female scream appeared behind him. The actor knocked into the door, and in his panic, he seemed to identally trip on the prop that he was supposed to use to scare Chen Ge. He fell inside the box with a thud.

    ¡°What was that sound? What was that sound!¡±

    The dark and cramped box became his greatest nightmare because it sounded like the female ghost was just beside him. He banged on the door madly. Chen Ge, who had predicted everything, very kindly stepped one step back to block the door from opening.

    ¡°What sound is that? Let me out!¡± Afraid that the blocking might expend too much of his energy, Chen Ge soon moved to the side.

    The door was mmed open, and a male ghost in a patient¡¯s garb and fake blood over his face crawled out from it. He gasped greedily for air with his arm over his chest. He copsed in the middle of the corridor looking just like a trauma victim.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be scared, I¡¯m just the visitor.¡± Chen Ge talked into the recorder naturally. He then picked up his phone and turned off his rm. He acted like everything waspletely normal.

    As his cold sweat mixed with fake blood, the man looked at Chen Ge with mixed emotions. He looked as pitiable as could be.

    ¡°Why did you fall? Are you hurt?¡± Chen Ge turned to look inside the box. Sitting on the floor were two specially made mannequin heads, and one of the head¡¯s long hair hade off the mannequin. ¡°You guys nned to use such a scary prop? So wicked.¡±

    Chen Ge nned to go help the man, but the man crawled away from him. ¡°Don¡¯t touch me! Go ahead... I can stand up on my own.¡±

    ¡°You sure? You look so pale.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the make-up! Just leave me be, go on!¡± The male ghost struggled back into the box and closed the door behind him.

    ¡°Then you be careful.¡± Chen Ge set the rm alert back. This Wedding Dress sure was useful. Something hit him on the back of his head. Chen Ge turned back to look. The ¡®female body¡¯ was still swinging in the air.

    He reached out to grab the body¡¯s feet. They felt cold to his touch. There was even a name written on the body¡¯s patient outfit¡ªXu Zhenzhen.

    ¡°The handiwork is not bad but still worse than the mannequins inside my Haunted House.¡±

    After giving hisment, Chen Ge continued to move forward. He turned the corner, and the ¡®female body¡¯ in the corridor started to sway again.

    Chen Ge officially entered Tian Teng Medical School. The white walls were scrawled with words that were written in dried blood. There were promations like ¡®I don¡¯t want to die¡¯ and ¡®Give me back my organs¡¯.

    ¡°This Haunted House¡¯s background sure isplicated. I suppose the aim is for the visitor to explore the ce on their own ande up with the solution to reconstruct the actual origin story.¡±

    Chen Ge stood inside the corridor. The windows on the sides were painted, butbined with lighting effects, it gave the feeling that something was running outside the window. The person who designed this ce was indeed an expert. The windows on the side were a mixture of fake and real. When Chen Ge walked past the fourth window, a hand reached out to grab him. That was not all. The ceiling above him clicked, and a mannequin head that was hidden above rolled down and fell right into Chen Ge¡¯s arms.

    If this was someone else, they probably would have been screaming, but Chen Ge had never been so calm. He held the head up and felt nostalgic. ¡°When I was four or five, I used to run all over the ce with fake heads like this. Time flies.¡±

    The actor who held Chen Ge on the other side of the window was confused.<i>Holding a fake head and running about when he was four or five? What kind of upbringing is that?</i>

    The person silently released his grip and retreated behind the window. The light in the Haunted House slowly darkened, and there were green lights installed every few meters. The corridor grew smaller, and there were surgical rooms that started to appear on both sides.

    ¡°Surgical rooms? So soon?¡± Chen Ge stopped at the first room and looked around. This was something that he had learned afterpleting many Trial Missions. He needed to check the room for safety before entering it.

    When he turned back to look, he was surprised to find the security guard. He was still wearing the ghost mask. He was helping to get the man from earlier out of the box.

    ¡°Normally, there should be a ghost chasing after the visitors, and that would increase the excitement of the experience.¡±

    The man inside the box had his limbs turn into noodles and could not get up on his own. The security was in an awkward position; the whole scary atmosphere was lost.

    ¡°If there¡¯s only two of them, it¡¯ll be fine, but howe I feel that there¡¯s a third person following?¡± Chen Ge made a mental note of that before waking into the autopsy room. The tables were pushed to the side of the wall, and fake blood covered the mannequins in the room. The scene looked gory.

    ¡°The Japanese and Western styles love this kind of design.¡± Chen Ge was looking for fear and terror. Gore was more of a manifestation of violence. His eyes scanned the autopsy room, and to Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, there was no actor hiding in there, just broken mannequins.

    He picked up a few of them and realized that every one of them was missing a different kind of organ. More interestingly, everyone was wearing a patient¡¯s garb with the same name¡ªXu Zhenzhen.

    ¡°Is this a special request by the boss?¡± Chen Ge tried to go over the video he had seen in the security stop in his mind. There was no mention of this name.

    ¡°Xu Zhenzhen? Could she be the woman who was featured inside the video?¡±

    Chen Ge exited the autopsy room. The security guard and the man inside the box had disappeared; they seemed to have left the Haunted House.

 Chapter 191 - Did I Forget to Put on Make-up Today?

    <h4>Chapter 191: Did I Forget to Put on Make-up Today?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>The security guard has carried the actor inside the box out?</i>

    Standing at the door to the autopsy room, Chen Ge turned back to look down the corridor that he hade from. His eyes narrowed. The influence of a dark environment was not that huge on him. <i>I did not hear a shuffling sound, so they should only be in hiding.</i>

    Closing the autopsy room door, some rust fell from the frame. The props inside Tian Teng Haunted House looked old. Feeling the rust, Chen Ge stood up and inspected the tools in the room. <i>Doesn¡¯t look like these have been painted to look old. They seem to have been taken from an abandoned hospital directly.</i>

    For authenticity, some Haunted Houses would use a low price to buy abandoned equipment in bulk and work on them before cing them into the Haunted House, examples being the surgery bed and the electrocardiograph in the autopsy room.

    He could notice that because there was a hidden line of code behind the machine¡ª2-2-1-15. This was the code the hospital used to monitor and categorize their equipment. It represented the field, a medical equipment, maintenance, and the electrocardiograph ID. Different hospitals might have different codes, but they were more or less the same.

    <i>Lingering spirits normally attach themselves to the closest item at the time of their death. If all the props inside this ce were sourced form a real hospital, then perhaps this ce is really haunted.</i>

    Chen Ge was merely specting. After all, he had no evidence. Of course, this might just be another trick by Tian Teng Medical School.

    There was another sickroom attached to the autopsy room. It was hung with plenty of white cloths and had a use that was unclear to Chen Ge. Chen Ge did not have any interest in experiencing it, so he walked by it. At the end of the dim corridor was a locked steel door, and there was arge lock on the door.

    <i>Looks like I¡¯ll need the key before I can move on.</i>

    The road ahead was blocked, and Chen Ge had already examined the autopsy room. There was no way forward other than to go back into the room filled with white clothes.

    The white tapestries fell from the ceiling, and arge part of it was covered with blood stains. The ce looked like a crime scene. After removing the thick white curtain, Chen Ge entered a room that was even darker, and the setting was quite ufortable. The organs and limbs that were missing from the mannequins in the autopsy room were all there, and intermixed with them were several severed mannequin heads.

    <i>Now, this is not bad. </i>Chen Ge was the first to challenge the Haunted House so the fake blood on the floor had notpletely dried yet. Stepping over it, Chen Ge¡¯s shoes stuck to the floor, and it was a very ufortable feeling. <i>This room is connected to the autopsy room, and the monitor in the security stop mentioned something like illegal ck marketing of organs, so this should be where it all went down.</i>

    Tian Teng Medical School had hired a specialist team from Japan to design the ce. To pursue a visual horror, they would do many things that were horrible, things that designers in the local scene would not do. Walking to the pile of organs and broken limbs, Chen Ge scanned the pile and noticed something curious.

    <i>The female mannequin on the surgery table in the autopsy room was missing a heart. Even though other mannequins are also missing some organs, they¡¯re not as important as the heart. I¡¯ve looked through the ce and couldn¡¯t find a heart. Maybe the key is hiding inside the heart?</i>

    <i>Where would the heart be?</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the pile of abandoned organs and limbs, and an idea surfaced in his heart. He bent down to prepare to rummage through the pile of props. Just as his body slowly lowered, a head human hiding in the pile of organs suddenly opened its eyes and started to scream!

    The head was covered in scars, and her eyes were dripping with tears of blood. Her hair stuck to her neck. As she tried to stand up, the organs and limbs rolled away. However, she only stood up half way before someone pressed down on her skull!

    ¡°Shush, be quiet.¡± Chen Ge pressed the ¡®ghost¡¯ back into her hiding ce. With his improved sight, things in the darkness were as clear as they were in daylight. When he walked into the room, Chen Ge had immediately noticed this slightly abnormal head.

    Due to the mountain of props, it was a girl of slight stature who hid among the pile of fake organs. When she was pressed back down by Chen Ge, she also did not know how to react. This was something that she had not experienced before, and there was no corresponding method that taught her how to react in the workers¡¯ handbook!

    The girl then sat back down on the floor. With Chen Ge¡¯s powerful hand pressing down on her head, she had forgotten what she was supposed to say.

    ¡°Heart, heart... where are you?¡± They said that a serious man was the most handsome man, but as the ¡®female ghost¡¯ watched Chen Ge searching for his target amid the pile of fake organs, mumbling the word ¡®heart¡¯, she shivered.

    ¡°Found it.¡± Chen Ge opened the heart model that was hidden behind the girl. It was hiding an exquisite looking key. After retrieving the key, Chen Ge left immediately, leaving behind a befuddled ¡®female ghost¡¯.

    Looking at Chen Ge¡¯s back, she tried to speak multiple times but failed. After Chen Ge left, she rearranged the props around her and reassumed her position. ¡°Did I forget to put on my make-up today?¡±

    After opening the door in the middle of the corridor, the ce turned creepier. Due to geographical limitations, the design of Tian Teng Medical School paid extra attention to the details, and the scares were close to each other.

    After walking through the steel door, the green lights in the corridor kept shing, and the white cloth that lined the corridor fluttered in the wind.

    <i>The size of the corridor has narrowed by half a meter; there should be something hidden behind these walls. </i>Chen Ge knocked on the wall. <i>I¡¯m right, the wall on the left side is hollow.</i>

    Chen Ge came across the third room after taking a few more steps. The room was filled with baby cribs that had baby mannequins inside them.

    <i>A nursery? </i>Chen Ge stood at the door to look around. Just as he went over the threshold, the room was filled with the sound of children crying. ¡°Alright, don¡¯t cry. Come to Uncle. Now, where are you?¡±

    There was more than one speaker installed in the room, so the crying felt like it came from everywhere.

    <i>There¡¯s a meaning to every room inside Tian Teng Medical School. The autopsy room provided the hint about the heart, and the room with white clothes hid the heart, and the heart was the key to moving on. Therefore, this room should have something I need as well.</i>

    Chen Ge walked to the middle of the room, and he suddenly felt something pull on his shirt. He turned to look, and beside him, a baby had reached its hands out of his crib to grab at Chen Ge¡¯s shirt. The baby¡¯s face was colored with venom, and the make-up was detailed.

    <i>The baby mannequin doesn¡¯t have a rounded joint. This means that the baby¡¯s arm is probably hollow. I should be able to find some signs of wiring. </i>Chen Ge looked around him. <i>To be able to grab me while I was passing by, the person who is controlling the baby must be close, or else their timing wouldn¡¯t be so perfect. Based on that line of thinking, they should be hiding under the crib.</i>

 Chapter 192 - Youre as Good as a Real Ghost

    <h4>Chapter 192: You¡¯re as Good as a Real Ghost</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge had discovered the ¡®ghost¡¯ underneath the crib, but the ¡®ghost¡¯ did not know that.

    ¡°Come out, brother.¡± Chen Ge pushed the crib aside, and the wiring hidden under the baby pulled taut. A slim man had hidden himself underneath the crib and was holding a remote control in his arms. He was wearing scary make-up, his body drenched in fake blood.

    ¡°Let me ask you, what kind of item am I supposed to look for here?¡± Chen Ge also felt he was being a bit forward, so he added, ¡°When I came in, the security didn¡¯t tell me anything so perhaps you would be able to.¡±

    The ¡®ghost¡¯ under the crib didn¡¯t say anything and turned to run out of the room. This sudden action surprised Chen Ge.

    ¡°Why did he run?¡± To maintain his heartrate, Chen Ge did not run after the guy. He walked leisurely as he had been doing since he entered the Haunted House. ¡°A baby grabbing your clothes, this scare is a bit too in. There should be a bigger scare. Most likely, the actor is supposed to jump out when I am leaving.¡±

    Picking up the baby from the bed, Chen Ge realized that the make-up skill was still not as good as his was.

    <i>Xu Zhenzhen? </i>The nket underneath the baby had this name on it. <i>Why is it her again?</i>

    Chen Ge picked up all the nearby babies, and all the mannequins had this name underneath them.

    <i>Ever since I enter the Haunted House, I¡¯ve been seeing this name. Is this some kind of psychological trick? </i>He looked through the nursery and finally found a clue inside one of the cribs. It was a pendant in the shape of a key. The pendant was sitting on a piece of paper. It read¡ªFor my daughter, Xu Zhenzhen.

    <i>Taking something that belonged to the victim will give someone the impression that they¡¯re haunted by the dead victim. This note is probably supposed to increase the visitors¡¯ fear toward Xu Zhenzhen.</i>

    The pendant was something that Chen Ge needed to proceed. Not taking it meant the inability to move forward. This was another trick by the Haunted House.

    After picking up the pendant, Chen Ge looked at the note. He retrieved the Pen Spirit¡¯s ballpoint pen, and he added a few words to the back of note while mimicking the handwriting¡ªI¡¯ve written.

    <i>A little surprise for them.</i>

    The scare in this room had been exposed by Chen Ge. He walked toward the door, and as he stepped out, there was the sound of something rolling in the dark. Then, a woman with disheveled hair, a face covered with blood, and a bloated stomach ran toward Chen Ge pushing a cart filled with babies. The scariest thing was that the woman had no legs.

    When he saw this, Chen Ge¡¯s heart rate jumped slightly, but he soon calmed down. The woman¡¯s body was tightly adhered to the left wall, and he had confirmed that the left wall was suspicious before entering the nursery.

    Instead of saying that the woman was pushing the cart, the woman was actually sitting inside the cart and was being carried forward. The corridor was small, and the cart moved fast. The ¡®pregnant ghost¡¯ practically shed across Chen Ge.

    His gaze filled with resentment locked with Chen Ge. Their faces were merely twenty centimeters away.

    <i>So, the scariest thing is outside the room; that¡¯s quite an ingenious design.</i>

    The visitors would be afraid when looking for the key inside the nursery. They would sigh in relief when they finally found it. They would bepletely unprepared for the female ghost who waited for them as they left the nursery.

    <i>There are no tracks on the floor, so is there a machine inside the wall that pushes the cart?</i>

    Chen Ge followed the ¡®pregnant ghost¡¯ as the cart pulled back. His footsteps were light. The ¡®pregnant ghost¡¯ did not know that Chen Ge was following behind her. She enjoyed this experience of scaring people. She turned her body around, hoping to scare Chen Ge again.

    However, as she turned and met Chen Ge¡¯s extremely inquisitive face, she was caught by surprise, and the expression on her face froze.

    ¡°So, you¡¯ve been squatting inside the cart; that¡¯s quite creative.¡±

    The cart was motorized, and the woman was basically the driver. To protect the visitors¡¯ safety, half of the bottom of the cart was connected to the machine inside the wall, and the distance the cart could travel was only one meter.

    ¡°This design is quite interesting, and your gaze earlier did give me the feels. Resentment mixed with hate, it¡¯s almost like a real ghost.¡± Chen Ge was never stingy with his praise. After hearing Chen Ge¡¯s praise, the ¡®pregnant ghost¡¯ did not know how to reply. She had been in this business for years already, and this was the first time that someone had praised her acting inside a Haunted House.

    Normally, the visitors would not have paid attention to such details. They were like dancers in the dark; they focused on their work, but there was never any appreciation. Sometimes, visitors might even turn aggressive on them. Even though she hated to admit it, she quite enjoyed thepliment.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing...¡± Perhaps she had been a ghost for too long, but even her voice sounded grim.

    ¡°I¡¯m not kidding. Your gaze was simr to an actual ghost. You are an excellent actor.¡±

    Chen Ge moved on to the next scene with his key. When he left, the woman suddenly realized something. ¡°What does he mean by ¡®simr to an actual ghost¡¯? Sounds like he has seen an actual ghost before.¡±

    After the nursery, it was the bathroom. There were several mannequins hanging upside down in it. The scares at Tian Teng Medical School were mostly visual scares like these. It would give its impact at first nce, so those visiting their Haunted House would scream endlessly.

    Other than these scenarios, Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House had a different scenario. He depended on continuous influence of the atmosphere to slowly collect the fear inside people¡¯s hearts before exploding it at one shot, giving his visitors a scare that echoed deep into their soul.

    The bathroom, diagnosis room, and the doctor¡¯s resting room had no actors, and they depended on mechanisms to scare people. In other words, these were the rooms Tian Teng Medical School gave their visitors to recover themselves. Normal tricks and gory scenes did nothing for Chen Ge. He went through all three rooms easily, and then inside the nooks and crannies of the three rooms, he found three different-colored pendant keys. Including the two found inside the heart and the nursery, Chen Ge now had five keys on him.

    <i>All of the keys have different colors, so there should only be one real key.</i>

    Chen Ge pocketed all the keys and entered the fourth room. The room was small and had the d¨¦cor from decades ago.

    The paint on the walls was yellow, and the chandelier swayed in the wind. There was a ¡®dead body¡¯ lying on top of the office table, and there was a stic knife and several blood-stained patient¡¯s records on the floor.

    There were bloody palm prints on the ceiling, and the floor was covered with messy footprints. The ce was messy, like it had been visited by a bunch of ghosts.

    <i>This is interesting. Why is the dead body¡¯s frame so simr to the young man that was hiding under the crib earlier?</i>

    Chen Ge walked to the office table and found something interesting. On the bookshelf behind the table sat an old-fashioned tape recorder that was no longer in production.

 Chapter 193 - Getting Interesting

    <h4>Chapter 193: Getting Interesting</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Tape recorder had its poprity in the eighties and nies, but with the advent of inte, it had slowly be obsolete. Perhaps to preserve the feel of the bygone era, Tian Teng Medical School had ced many antiques inside this room, and the most conspicuous was the tape recorder and an old-fashioned shlight.

    Chen Ge was reminded of a horror flick he had seen a long time ago. The recorder would y on its own every midnight, and those who heard it would die a horrible death.

    <i>Is this just a prop? </i>Chen Gepletely ignored the ¡®dead body¡¯ that was copsed on the table. He walked past it to head for the bookshelf. When he was one meter away from the recorder, the y button pressed down on its own.

    <i>A sensor? No, someone is probably remote-controlling it. </i>Chen Ge turned back to look, and the dead body was lying in such a way that his head was deep buried inside his arms. Compared to the dead body, Chen Ge was more interested in this recorder before him. After the button was pressed, the tape started to y. After the initial white noise, a middle-aged man¡¯s voice could be heard.

    ¡°Please, forgive me! Please, I beg of you!¡± The man was begging, and it sounded like death would have been a release. Following his screams, there was sound of cutting and tearing. It was direct and gory. When Chen Ge heard it, the images appeared in his mind. Bones were snapped, and skin was torn open; it was the cruelest torture.

    ¡°Tian Teng probably wouldn¡¯t use this for normal visitors.¡±

    The dead body on the table twitched slightly when he heard Chen Ge say that. The reality was not far from his spection; the content of the tape had been swapped at thest minute specifically for Chen Ge. Chen Ge had gotten used to fear and terror, but he still flinched at gore and cruelty. In that manner, he was no different from a normal person.

    ¡°It¡¯s still ongoing? Do they n to use this as the background music?¡± Chen Ge listened patiently because he assumed that the recording would contain clues that might help him clear the game. However, he listened for a full minute, and it was still screaming from the torture and begging for mercy.

    ¡°The person would have fainted from blood loss earlier than this. How can he still be so spirited after one minute of fatal blood loss? Then again, the actor they hired sure is a good one. He has managed to create a scary feeling just using his voice.¡± The man¡¯s voice eventually weakened, and he started to pay for all the horrible things he had done.

    Chen Ge then realized that the victim on the tape was the director of Tian Teng Medical School, a man who would do anything for money.

    ¡°Who would have thought that this is a story with a moral of good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people?¡± At the end of the tape, the director admitted to all the bad things he had done. He begged his tormenters to not harm his daughter with hisst breath.

    Here, the twist arrived. Just as the director begged for his tormentors to not harm his daughter, there was the sound of door opening in the recording. It was quickly followed by a woman¡¯s scream, and the director screamed, ¡°Zhenzhen, run!¡±

    The recording ended there, and Chen Ge did not know what to think about this story. The director was obviously guilty, but the daughter was probably innocent. In any case, that was not important. The important thing was, the daughter had walked into the room when the monsters were tormenting her father. Then, her ending would probably be the same as her father¡¯s.

    <i>All the mannequins inside Tian Teng Medical School have the name Xu Zhenzhen written on them, what is the meaning of that?</i>

    Tian Teng Medical School was famous within the Haunted House circle, and all the scenes had been designed by a professional team. Challenging such arge moving Haunted House at its highest difficulty, there had to be something to this name.

    <i>All the workers inside the Haunted House are ying a fake ghosts, but that¡¯s all to hide an actual ghost?</i>

    From the ¡®female body¡¯ that greeted everyone at the entrance and the mannequins that had lost their organs in the autopsy room as well as the repetition of Xu Zhenzhen¡¯s name over the Haunted House, Chen Ge had an idea why Tian Teng Medical School did all these things.

    <i>No matter how realistic the actor¡¯s make-up is, the visitors know internally that they¡¯re fake, so they have to create a ¡®real ghost¡¯ that feels like she¡¯s trailing behind all the visitors, and Xu Zhenzhen takes on that role.</i>

    The creativity was there, and it gave Chen Ge a lot of inspiration. <i>All this for a real ghost? In that case, I¡¯ll give you one.</i>

    Chen Ge realized that the tape was almost done. He pressed the eject button. He was facing away from the ¡®dead body¡¯, so no one knew what he was doing.

    <i>This kind of tape recorder is no longer sold on the market. Perhaps I can find one at the flea market, but that¡¯s only if I¡¯m lucky. Now that I have one before me, I might as well use it to try this tape that I have.</i>

    He inserted his tape into the recorder and pressed y. The tape started to roll, but there was no sound.

    <i>An empty tape?</i>

    Chen Ge waited.

    He walked around the room, like he was admiring the d¨¦cor.

    After leaving Third Sick Hall, Tian Teng Medical School was like going on a holiday. Chen Ge had not felt so rxed in a long time already. <i>A Haunted House is indeed a good ce to release stress. When I go back, I¡¯ll have to change my promotional slogan.</i>

    After a stroll around the room, Chen Ge picked up a yellowed newspaper from the floor. He scanned it and realized that it was not fake. It was dated several years ago.

    ¡°Xing Hai Morning News?¡± Chen Ge was intrigued. Four years ago, a woman had run to an abandoned hospital tomit suicide. After investigation, it was made clear that the woman¡¯s name was Xu Zhenzhen. The hospital had once belonged to her father, and her father hadmitted suicide ten years before that in his own office.

    Same destination but different victim. This mysterious double suicide caused a wave through Xing Hai. The medical doctor confirmed that the woman had died from suicide, but after her death, obvious red handprints surfaced on her body; it looked very weird.

    After that, people¡¯s interest moved on, and so did the police. The case was thus ended.

    <i>The victim¡¯s name is Xu Zhenzhen. Looks like this is the secret hidden at Tian Teng Medical School.</i>

    Chen Ge put down the paper. A normal visitor would have run out screaming and would have missed details like this. Only a brave visitor would search slowly, and when they found out that the Haunted House was based on a real event, the defense in their heart would crack. They would start to doubt themselves, increasing the fear inside their heart.

    Tian Teng Medical School¡¯s design was perfect, but those designers who had been in the business for more than a decade did not expect that they would receive a customer like Chen Ge one day.

    <i>This Haunted House sure is interesting. </i>Chen Ge thought back to the map that he had seen inside the security stop. He had visited two thirds of the scenes already, and he was close to the exit.

 Chapter 194 - So Painful! So Painful!

    <h4>Chapter 194: So Painful! So Painful!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Other than the tape and newspaper article, Chen Ge found many other hints about Xu Zhenzhen inside the office. For example, in a broken photo frame left in the corner of the bookshelf, there was a picture of a father and daughter, but both of their faces had been blocked out. There was the man¡¯s will inside the table¡¯s drawer, and it did mention the name Xu Zhenzhen. There was not one picture of Xu Zhenzhen, but the mention of the girl¡¯s name could be found all over the Haunted House.

    <i>Tian Teng Medical School is using a real case to design their Haunted House. Aren¡¯t they afraid of evoking the real Xu Zhenzhen? </i>Haunted Houses were natural locales where negative energy gathered. It shied away from sunlight and was the perfect hiding location for spirits and ghosts. <i>They say dreams are reflections of real life. Every day, people in the Haunted House are calling Xu Zhenzhen¡¯s name, what if she heard them?</i>

    Tian Teng Medical School had no idea what they had done. They hadpletely replicated a real case inside their Haunted House and used all the real case¡¯s information as hints. It might have looked clever to others, but Chen Ge thought that they were ying with fire.

    <i>There are ¡®gods¡¯ everywhere. Even if you don¡¯t believe in them, you don¡¯t need to go and actively taunt them.</i>

    Even though Chen Ge was brave, it was undeniable that he had never been incautious of the unknown. It was why he would prepare extensively before going on any Trial Missions. He had finished half of Tian Teng Medical School, and the light in the corridor was getting brighter.

    <i>It¡¯s time to leave.</i>

    Chen Ge was not sure if Xu Zhenzhen was inside the Haunted House, but he knew his target. His focus was to clear the Haunted House, and that was the only thing he was going to do. After another round, Chen Ge returned to the tape recorder. When he got close, he could hear something that sounded like muffled crying. It was soft and seemed toe from inside the recorder.

    <i>The ghost inside the tape ising out? </i>Chen Ge took one step back and reached one hand into his pocket to hold the ballpoint pen while his other hand shoved the ¡®dead body¡¯ on the table lightly. He was afraid that idents might happen, and he did not have the time to look after this actor.

    However, to his surprise, he only nudged the person lightly when the man leaned to his side and copsed onto the floor.

    <i>What happened? Is it Xu Zhenzhen? </i>He had seen real ghosts before, and he knew this could be the sign that a real ghost had appeared. <i>Am I that lucky? Even when I¡¯m visiting other people¡¯s Haunted House, I ran into a ghost!</i>

    Chen Ge started to panic when he was reminded of his Specter¡¯s Favored title. He immediately rushed forward to help the man on the floor. He wanted to save the man before it was toote. <i>The actor died from ying dead? What kind of story will that make?</i>

    As Chen Ge squatted down to grab the man¡¯s hand, a human head stuck out from underneath the table. The actor had been using his body to block the space from Chen Ge¡¯s sight. It was so close that Chen Ge did not have time to evade. The human head rammed right into his chest. His heart raced and only calmed down after several seconds.

    Chen Ge looked at the mannequin head in his arms and the ¡®dead body¡¯ on the ground, and it dawned on him. ¡°Brother, are you trying to get revenge for humiliating you at the nursery?¡±

    When the ¡®dead body¡¯ was copsed on the table earlier, his face had been hidden from view. Now that his face was revealed, Chen Ge realized that the man had not even changed his make-up. His face was smudged with fake blood. He ced his finger under the man¡¯s nostrils. After making sure there was a breath, Chen Ge stood up. He did not n to stay there any longer; it was time to leave.

    He walked to the tape recorder and pressed the stop button. He pressed it multiple times, but the tape kept ying. He tried other buttons, but there was still no response. <i>It can¡¯t be stopped?</i>

    Chen Ge could not leave the tape inside Tian Teng Medical School, but taking it with him would be stealing. When Chen Ge was operating the recorder, the light crying slowly became louder, and there were some other sounds mixed into it. It sounded like electrical current but very muffled.

    Chen Ge tried to remember the introduction to the tapes. About one secondter, a voice appeared on the recording. It could have been male or female, and it only appeared for mere seconds.

    <i>Someone is talking? What is he trying to say?</i>

    This was the first time Chen Ge hadmunicated with the tape. He did not dare take this lightly; after all, this was a ghost that had been given to him by the ck phone. He listened patiently, and the voice reappeared soon.

    ¡°Pain...¡± Mixed within white noise, the voice sounded unreal. As the tape continued to y, the voice became clearer.

    <i>It¡¯s a man¡¯s voice, and it sounds young.</i>

    He focused his hearing on the tapes and suddenly the y button on the recorder pressed downwards. Chen Ge turned to look at the ¡®dead body¡¯ on the floor. The man had also heard the noises inside the recording. He silently reached into his pocket to press on a mini controller. However, it was toote to stop the recorder now. The baleful specter inside the tape had awoken. Even if he pressed all the buttons, it would be pointless.

    ¡°So painful...¡±

    The voice inside the tape continued to grow as if the baleful specter was slowly losing control. The only thing Chen Ge could think of doing then was to leave with the tape recorder.

    Following his inability to stop the recorder after several tries, the ¡®dead body¡¯ on the floor opened his lips to say, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    He sat up with the fake blood flowing down his face.

    ¡°Something wrong with your equipment?¡± Chen Ge could not possibly say that he had inserted a baleful specter into their recorder, and now he could not remove it.

    ¡°I suppose so.¡± The actor was unsure as well. He reached out to grab the recorder, but before his finger touched it, a blood-curdling scream could be hearding from the recorder.

    ¡± <strong>So painful! </strong>¡±

    The actor shivered, and he pulled back his hand like he had been shocked.

    ¡°What are you so scared? Isn¡¯t this a set-up by your Haunted House?¡± Chen Ge stood before the recorder to prevent idents from happening.

    ¡°I was there when we recorded the tape; we didn¡¯t record anything like that!¡± the ¡®dead body¡¯ said seriously. He took out his phone and asked inside a chatroom, ¡°Who tweaked with the tapes inside the director¡¯s office?¡±

    There was no answer, but in this short period, the voiceing from the recorder turned mad. It was filled with endless hate and resentment.

    ¡± <strong>So painful! So f*cking painful! </strong>¡±

    It sounded like there were actual knives poking holes in his body, and he was trying his best to stop the wounds but could only look on helplessly as more wounds appeared on his body. The actor¡¯s body was shaking. At that moment, he was truly afraid.

    ¡°Your Haunted House sure is courageous to use an actual incident to design your set. Weren¡¯t you afraid that the spirit might return to haunt you?¡±

    Chen Ge purposely lowered his voice as he stared at the actor.

    ¡°I hear people say you shouldn¡¯t repeat a dead person¡¯s name willy-nilly, whether verbally or in written form. Otherwise, bad things might happen.¡±

    ¡°Stop!¡± the actor yelped. He told everything that had happened inside the office in the chatroom. Then with forced confidence, he told Chen Ge, ¡°Just a technical ident. It¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Just as he said that, there were footstepsing from outside the door. The ¡®pregnant ghost¡¯ that Chen Ge had seen earlier rushed into the room with terror on her face!

    She was holding a piece of paper in her hand, and she was gasping for air.

    ¡°Ah Rui? Why are you here?¡± the actor asked nervously. He was already panicking, and it only heightened when he saw the female actor.

    ¡°There¡¯s something on the note! I saw it idently.¡± The woman ced the note before the actor. ¡°She is back!¡±

 Chapter 195 - Tian Teng Medical Schools Haunting Past

    <h4>Chapter 195: Tian Teng Medical School¡¯s Haunting Past</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    When the woman said that, Chen Ge could clearly see the hairs on the back of the man¡¯s neck stand upright. Chen Ge had filled in several words, mimicking the original handwriting, as a prank, but he did not think that the actors¡¯ reaction would be so big.

    With his eyes narrowed, Chen Ge stood between the recorder and the actors. He had a feeling that this Haunted House was more than it appeared¡ªperhaps it was really haunted.

    Xing Hai was arge city. Tian Teng Medical School had spent a lot of resources to set up their Haunted House there, but they had left in a hurry to move to Jiujiang City, which was far from Xing Hai, after being in operation for only a few weeks.

    <i>If they knew Xu Zhenzhen might draw her spirit back, why did they insist on using her name inside the Haunted House? </i>Chen Ge could not understand the proprietor¡¯s thought. <i>Did he really think that moving the location would be able to shake her spirit off? Or does this Xu Zhenzhen have a special meaning for the proprietor?</i>

    The light in the Haunted House was dim, so the actor had to bring the note close to his face before he could get a good look. ¡°The handwriting is still wet.¡±

    He turned to look at Chen Ge but quickly looked back. He mumbled to himself, ¡°We¡¯ve only had one visitor so far. Let¡¯s say he brought a pen with him and wrote this, how does that exin the voice in the recorder? This scene is newly added, and no one other than the design team knows about the tape recorder. I don¡¯t think someone would be weird enough to visit a Haunted House with an audio tape on him!¡±

    Just as the actor was thinking, the scream appeared once more in the recorder. The pain was different from the one recorded by the actor. Even though it was broadcasted through speakers, it was enough to make the listeners shiver from terror. It sounded like the murder was happening right beside them.

    ¡°Brother Lin...¡± The female actor moved toward the door. ¡°Howe the recording sounds so real?¡±

    ¡°I have no clue.¡± The man turned back to look, and he found Chen Ge still standing beside the recorder. He hesitated for a while before ignoring Chen Ge and rushing to the woman¡¯s side. He whispered, ¡°Other than this note, did you find anything else in the room that you¡¯re responsible for?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°What about the others?¡±

    ¡°They should being soon.¡± The woman¡¯s eyes darted about like she was on the verge of a breakdown. ¡°Did that thing return? We¡¯ve just opened for business, and didn¡¯t the boss say that he has already taken care of it?¡±

    ¡°What are you guys talking about? What happened here?¡± Chen Ge picked up the recorder. He nned to persuade the actors to let him bring the recorder out of the Haunted House with him. Looking at Chen Ge and the recorder he was carrying, the two actors froze.

    ¡°Put that thing down!¡± the female actor demanded shrilly. ¡°We did not record the voice that ising out of it now!¡±

    Of course, Chen Ge knew that, but he could not admit that he knew. ¡°The recorder is inside your Haunted House. If you didn¡¯t record this tape, who did? Are you telling me that a ghost did?¡±

    The man was stunned speechless. Afterwards, it was the woman who stepped forth in spite of the man¡¯s intervention and exined, ¡°When we were in Xing Hai, one of the visitors was so scared that she left in tears. She told us that one of our actors was really realistic in her acting, but in reality, she was not supposed to be scared at the ce that she was! We asked her for a description of the actor and realized her description matched Xu Zhenzhen perfectly!¡±

    ¡°Maybe the visitor was ying a prank on you?¡± Chen Ge asked with a weird expression. ¡°She might have been kidding.¡±

    ¡°That happened more than once. After that day, more and more visitors saw Xu Zhenzhen.¡± The man took out the Buddha pendant that was around his neck. ¡°Everyone of us has something to ward against the such things, but weirdly enough, until now, none of the workers have seen Xu Zhenzhen.¡±

    ¡°Since there is a real haunting, why did you insist on cing hints rted to Xu Zhenzhen all over the Haunted House? Aren¡¯t you afraid of calling her back?¡± Chen Ge thought this bunch of people had something wrong with their minds. ¡°Or are you still acting now? The note and recording are also tricks to scare me?¡±

    ¡°I swear to God, we¡¯re not acting,¡± both actors promised.

    ¡°First you have to understand one thing. Since our first stop was Xing Hai, we decided to incorporate the set design with a real case to increase the scare factor to draw in more visitors. Xu Zhenzhen¡¯s suicide case is quite famous in Xing Hai. The sight of the name pulls out the visitors¡¯ memories about her case.¡±

    The man did not look so good. ¡°We were forced to do this. For the past two years, the number of visitors has been dropping, and we have tested many different types of set designs. To preserve our poprity, we have to try something new.¡±

    ¡°So, you decided to incorporate a real case into the design?¡± Chen Ge felt like these people were more courageous than he was; at least he had a safety for everything he did at the Haunted House.

    ¡°Reality has proved that it works. After we did this, the reputation and fame kept rising. Many visitors came back to solve Xu Zhenzhen¡¯s secret after they found the hints.¡±

    ¡°If everything was going so well, why did youe to Jiujiang? Wouldn¡¯t it make more sense for you to stay in Xing Hai to reap in the money?¡± The recorder in Chen Ge¡¯s arms continued to scream, but the man did not seem to hear it. The two actors looked at Chen Ge and did not know what to say. As Chen Ge took one step forward, they both took one step back in unison.

    ¡°The fact that many visitors have surprisingly seen Xu Zhenzhen was a good promotion for our Haunted House. We enjoyed quite a period of very high poprity, but the fame came with a price. It attracted the ire of Xu Zhenzhen¡¯s family, and her little sister came to find us.¡±

    The female actor exined the secret past of Tian Teng Medical School. While he listened, Chen Ge turned off the audio recorder.

    ¡°During the negotiation, Xu Zhenzhen¡¯s sister said that she felt we were ruining her sister and father¡¯s names. She requested for a high amount ofpensation and wanted us to edit the content of our design.

    ¡°Our boss only agreed to remove Xu Zhenzhen¡¯s name. Compensation and editing the entire design was impossible. In her anger, she threatened to sue. I don¡¯t know what happened next, but in any case, the Haunted House closed not long after that.¡±

    The woman should have been telling the truth. It was difficult forrge moving Haunted Houses to get approval from the government, so they could get banned easily if they got into any trouble. Chen Ge knew this well because his parents had originally managed a mobile Haunted House. It was not until they had found enough poprity that they settled down at New Century Park.

    ¡°We collected the props, changed theyout as well as name, and moved to another city, but the result was horrid. The Haunted House only managed to stay in business for two weeks before the visitors dried up. After a discussion, we felt the problemy with Xu Zhenzhen. Therefore, we moved to Jiujiang, which is very far from Xing Hai, and returned everything to how it was when we were at our prime.¡±

    The two actors had already retreated to the door. Looking at Chen Ge, who held the tape recorder, they had revealed everything.

 Chapter 196 - Swaying

    <h4>Chapter 196: Swaying</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°If you have not done anything wrong, there is nothing to be afraid of. At the end of the day, you want to use Xu Zhenzhen to make money.¡±

    Chen Ge understood everything now. Originally, Tian Teng Medical School wanted to use a fake ghost to create an eerie atmosphere, but they had inadvertently summoned the real thing.

    ¡°Stop, don¡¯te any closer!¡± the woman screamed, but it was immediately swallowed by the male screaming that continued to pour out of the recorder.

    ¡± <strong>So painful! So painful! </strong>¡±

    The man¡¯s voice rang again, but this time, the three people in the room froze.

    ¡°Brother Lin, am I mistaken?¡± The woman¡¯s arm was shaking. ¡°Has that voice escaped the recorder?¡±

    The man was dumbfounded, too. He was sure that the scream earlier did note from the recorder. The two actors looked behind Chen Ge with their bodies shaking, and this unsettled Chen Ge. ¡°There¡¯s something behind me?¡±

    He reached into his pocket to curl his fingers around the ballpoint pen, and the muscles in his legs tensed.

    ¡°Not behind you...¡± As they answered, the actors retreated to the corner of the corridor, maintaining a distance of three meters from Chen Ge.

    ¡°If it¡¯s not behind me, why are you all running?¡± Chen Ge squeezed the question through his teeth. These people sure knew how to abandon him when an ident happened. Whenever anything happened at his Haunted House, whether it was a real ghost or fake ghost, Chen Ge would be the one leading the way.

    ¡± <strong>So painful, so painful... </strong>¡±

    Something even scarier happened, the source of the man¡¯s voice filled the room!

    The sound seemed to be moving forward like there was a wounded man dragging his broken body forward.

    After it disappeared for two seconds, the man¡¯s voice suddenly appeared before the woman!

    ¡± <strong>Pain, so painful! </strong>¡±

    The woman¡¯s scream almost shattered Chen Ge¡¯s eardrums. She did not expect this to happen, and without turning around, she ran down the corridor before her.

    ¡°Ah Rui!¡± The man did not dare make any sudden movements. He leaned against the wall. When there were two of them, he had been afraid, and now he had been left alone. Chen Ge picked up the recorder, and the y button was still shining like a red eye ball. The tape was still rolling, but the man¡¯s voice had escaped into the corridor.

    <i>It has left the tape?</i>

    Based on his previous experience, Chen Ge managed to gauge this baleful specter¡¯s power. Lingering spirits and the lowest baleful specters could not leave the things that they possessed. For example, Xiaoxiao had never left the ragdoll. Stronger than Xiaoxiao was the mirror ghost and Pen Spirit. They could leave their possessed item asionally but needed to return soon.

    Above that would be the thin monster inside the Third Sick Hall. They spent most of their time squatting on living humans¡¯ shoulders, but they could survive even if they were not attached to a human.

    The most powerful was naturally the Red Specters. They did not need to attach themselves to anything; they were technically the ¡®real¡¯ ghosts.

    <i>The thing inside the tape should be between Pen Spirit and the thin monster.</i>

    The man¡¯s horrible screams kept echoing everywhere. He seemed to have no purpose. He did not target the male actor, who was frozen at the wall, or the female actor, who had run down the corridor.

    This ghost acted very curiously like he was looking for something.

    <i>All the screams talked about pain. What happened to him before he died?</i>

    After winning the weeping tape, Chen Ge wanted to hear what the baleful specter had to say; that was the easiest way to get to know the specter. Due to ack of a useable recorder, Chen Ge had not had the chance tomunicate with the tape ghost, and this was technically their first meeting.

    ¡± <strong>So painful, so painful... </strong>¡± The man¡¯s voice stopped inside the corridor before slowly moving toward the Haunted House¡¯s entrance.

    <i>Did he find something?</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes suddenly glowed. The tape ghost probably had found the real ghost hiding inside the Haunted House!

    This thought shed across Chen Ge¡¯s mind, and he picked up the recorder and ran out of the room. The actor also heard the sound leaving, so he pulled out his phone and yelled into the chatroom, ¡°The ghost is heading your way! Run! Run out from the entrance!¡±

    The few actors at the front few scenarios had not been so afraid in the beginning, but after hearing the man¡¯s urgent screams, they started to panic. They were all workers at the Haunted House, so there was no reason for the man to trick his own colleagues.

    ¡°Quick! Run! The thing ising your way!¡±

    After he shouted that into the phone, the man ran the other way from the baleful specter. In his hurry, he did not even have the time to see his colleague¡¯s reply.

    ¡°What is the point in screaming?¡± Chen Ge chased after the specter, maintaining a distance of two to three meters. When he passed the cart in front of the nursery, a small girl suddenly ran out of the room that carried the mountain of fake organs. She had just pushed the door opened when the baleful specter screamed, ¡± <strong>So painful! </strong>¡±

    The gut wrenching scream sounded at the door. The girl looked at the empty corridor before teetering several steps back. She tripped on one of the props and fell into the pile of fake organs. ¡°Who¡¯s there? Come out!¡±

    Her small voice was choked with tears. She held her phone and asked for help in the employee chat group, but there was no reply.

    ¡± <strong>So painful! So painful! </strong>¡±

    The baleful specter¡¯s voice entered the room. The girl could only hear the screams but not see the person, and the make-up on her face was ruined from tears.

    There was nothing around her. The girl shrunk deeper into the pile of mannequins. She piled the mannequins around her and nned to bury herself deep within the mountain. Chen Ge followed closely behind the specter. When he walked into the door and saw this, he was shocked by what the girl was doing.

    Chen Ge yanked the girl out from the pile and said, ¡°Inform your people to leave through the entrance.¡±

    Feeling the temperature from Chen Ge¡¯s palm, the girl recovered. She stumbled out of the room. The baleful specter did not give chase after the girl. It roamed the room before entering the autopsy room. Chen Ge was now confident that this ghost was looking for something.

    There was the sound of gears turninging from the corridor. The girl had informed the other actors, and they were all leaving. Chen Ge was probably the only living human left inside the Haunted House.

    <i>Let me see what you are exactly looking for...</i>

    Chen Ge held the ballpoint pen and the tape recorder as he followed the voice to the entrance of Tian Teng Medical School.

    In the narrow corridor, a green light continued to flicker. It made the corridor look scarier than it was, and at the end of the corridor, a dried ¡®female body¡¯ swayed left and right.

    ¡°So painful...¡±

    The baleful specter¡¯s scream stopped beside the female body. Chen Ge walked to mannequin as well. Looking at the mannequin that hung in the middle of the corridor, a twinge of fear curled around his heart.

    When he entered the Haunted House and helped the man inside the box stand up, he had felt something touch the back of his head. When he turned around to look, he had discovered that it was the swaying ¡®female body¡¯.

 Chapter 197 - The Visitor Is Still Inside?

    <h4>Chapter 197: The Visitor Is Still Inside?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Looks like Xu Zhenzhen is hiding inside the female body prop.</i>

    Staring at the prop that hung at the entrance, Chen Ge felt a chill inside his heart. Who would have thought this prop hanging by the door was hiding a real ghost? Every visitor entered the Haunted House under her watchful gaze, and some of the visitors had probably even touched her.

    <i>Now I have to answer another question. Why does the Tape Ghost want to find Xu Zhenzhen? Is there some kind of rtionship between them, or was the Tape Ghost merely hungry and wanted to ingest another ghost?</i>

    Chen Ge had no clue whether Xu Zhenzhen was a baleful specter or a lingering spirit. He knew the woman had treated Tian Teng Medical School as her home, and it was because of her that Tian Teng Medical School had their current poprity.

    ¡°When Tian Teng Medical School was operating at Xing Hai, there were no idents or injuries, so this Xu Zhenzhen is probably not hostile toward humans.¡± Chen Ge had the mind to let Xu Zhenzhen be, but he did not have the power to control the Tape Ghost.

    The male screams echoed around the hanging female body. The body kept shaking like she had felt the iing threat. Several secondter, the prop was twisted by an unknown force into a weird angle, and a leg was directly pulled off.

    <i>The Tape Ghost is trying to swallow Xu Zhenzhen?</i>

    Perhaps he had imagined it, but Chen Ge saw a painful expression on the mannequin¡¯s face, and when that expression appeared, the Tape Ghost¡¯s scream suddenly stopped.

    <i>The man has transferred his pain to another ghost? Or has something happened here?</i>

    While Chen Ge was confused, the other leg of the mannequin was yanked off.

    ...

    The lines of visitors were chewing each other¡¯s ears. The proprietor looked at the t lines on screen, and his face was dropping. The Haunted House did not have brilliant sound instion, and there had been screams, but they were all female screams.

    It was a male visitor who entered the Haunted House, but they were female screams that came out of it. This was also the first time the proprietor hade across something so curious.

    ¡°So close.¡± He looked at the peak of the line that represented Chen Ge¡¯s heartrate. It had risen to 96 at its highest, so close to 100.

    ¡°Boss, how long will this activity of yours go on for? We¡¯ve been waiting for almost thirty minutes already.¡±

    Some of the visitors started toin.

    ¡°Please be patient. Give it another five minutes. I¡¯m sure the guy will be out soon.¡±

    The proprietor did not have confidence in what he said and grumbled to himself, ¡°There¡¯s a hidden plot for brave visitors. He¡¯s also the owner of a Haunted House, so he has to have discovered it. What¡¯s the holdup?¡±

    Just as the proprietor was mulling over this, the sound of rushing footsteps came out from the entrance.

    ¡°He¡¯sing out! Based on the rapid footsteps, it sounds like he is quite scared.¡± The proprietor nodded in satisfaction upon hearing the footsteps. He looked at the screen again and consoled himself. ¡°I knew that no one could maintain their heart rate below 100 when they visited a Haunted House. Something must be broken with the machine.¡±

    He took out the loudspeaker and turned to the crowd. ¡°Our first visitor ising out soon. We canpare how he was before he entered and how he is now, and then we¡¯ll ask for his thoughts.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s gaze was pulled toward the entrance. The footsteps came closer, and finally, there was a loud bang as the thick curtain and wooden door of the exit were pushed open.

    ¡°Someone¡¯s out!¡±

    She was wearing arge patient¡¯s outfit, and her ck hair stuck to her neck. Cold sweat ruined her make-up, and from afar, only her eyes that bulged from fear could be seen.

    ¡°Wait, isn¡¯t that a woman?¡± the visitor closest to the door questioned. ¡°This transformation is too huge!¡±

    ¡°Ah Rui?¡± The proprietor forgot to turn off his loudspeaker and yelled out the female actor¡¯s name. The visitor had gone inside the Haunted House, but it was the actor who yed a ghost that came out first?

    Following behind the appearance of the female actor, there was another set of footsteps. This time, without the guidance from the proprietor, everyone¡¯s gaze was turned toward the exit. The curtain was pulled back, and a male actor covered with fake blood rushed out. He was running very fast like he was running for his life. The moment he exited the Haunted House, he copsed to the floor.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°Is this another activity organized by the Haunted House?¡±

    The proprietor did not even have the chance to get over his initial shock. ¡°Why is there another?¡±

    Looking inside the Haunted House, the darkened entrance had no light, so the people outside had no idea what happened inside. The proprietor walked down the stage and ran to the exit. He wanted to ask the two actors what was going on. However, before he reached his destination, the wooden door at the exit was mmed open again.

    This was the loudest one yet. Three actors, two guys and one girl, spilled out at once. The three of them were wearing ghost make-up, but they looked very worse for wear. The smallest female actor had tears in her eyes, and half a broken hand and a model of a spleen were poking out from her uniform.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± The proprietor asked the question that was on everyone¡¯s mind.

    ¡°Boss Hu, there¡¯s a ghost inside! Really, Xu Zhenzhen has returned!¡± The only one still standing was the security ghost. He ran toward the boss with the walkie-talkie in his hand. ¡°Listen to the sound. Both Brother Lin and Ah Rui have seen her. Even Xiao Ye has heard her; it¡¯s real!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not important.¡± The proprietor pushed the walkie-talkie aside. He looked at his workers who were copsed on the floor. ¡°All of you are out here, but where is the visitor?¡±

    ¡°The visitor?¡± The security guard turned back to look, and he said uncertainly, ¡°The visitor seems to still be in there?¡±

    ¡°Still inside?¡± The proprietor felt like fainting. He had been in the business for almost a decade, and this was the first time that all of the actors had left the Haunted House while the visitor was still inside experiencing his tour.

    ¡°Wait! All of you are out here, but the visitor is in there alone. Is that because he thinks the real ghost is our actor?¡±

    ¡°That should be it. Xiao Ye said that the visitor has been following the ghost.¡±

    The proprietor felt like fainting. What kind of monstrosity had he attracted this time?

    ¡°Boss Hu, what should we do now? Call the cops?¡±

    ¡°Call the cops on our opening day? You want us to close down that quickly?¡± The proprietor red at the security guard. ¡°Bring your stuff ande back with me! All of you, get up from the floor! We need to go look for the man!¡±

    The few actors were forced to stand up. The proprietor in his smart suit, holding the loudspeaker, led the team of ¡®ghosts¡¯ carefully into the Haunted House.

 Chapter 198 - What Color Do You Prefer?

    <h4>Chapter 198: What Color Do You Prefer?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    In the center of the corridor, both of the mannequin¡¯s legs had been yanked off. The rope around the mannequin¡¯s neck tightened like someone was pulling on her.

    <i>What is this guy trying to achieve?</i>

    Ever since he reached the female body, the Tape Ghost had stopped screaming. The more he thought about it, the more confused Chen Ge felt.

    <i>The mannequin is the item of possession for Xu Zhenzhen, so the Tape Ghost is trying to force her out?</i>

    While he was thinking, the rope around the mannequin¡¯s neck snapped. The mannequin fell to the floor, and the head detached from her body and rolled several meters away until it stopped at the corner, her eyes staring at her body.

    The roughly-made mannequin face started to change from struggle to fear, then slowly reverting to normal. The fake lips moved like she was trying to say something. Several secondster, the screams returned to the corridor, but unlike before, there was now an additional female voice.

    ¡°So painful! So painful!¡±

    The voice of a male and female surrounded Chen Ge and the screams greatly unsettled him.

    <i>Why is Xu Zhenzhen screaming alongside the Tape Ghost? Does he have the ability to assimte other ghosts?</i>

    Chen Ge had no idea what the Tape Ghost had done to Xu Zhenzhen; this was the Tape Ghost¡¯s biggest secret. The alternating sound of male and female screams flooded Chen Ge¡¯s ears. It caused his eyelids to twitch. He tried turning off the recorder, but it would not work.

    ¡°Pain, so much pain...¡±

    The voice seemed to touch Chen Ge¡¯s face. Then it slowly weakened until there was a click on the recorder. The y button stopped working.

    The corridor no longer felt so depressed, and Chen Ge could breathe easier. Even the mannequin head that was left on the floor did not look so scary. Chen Ge opened the recorder. When he removed the tape, the ck phone vibrated.

    <i>A message at a time like this?</i>

    Chen Ge stood beside the female mannequin and took out his phone to take a look.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored. You have unlocked Xu Yin¡¯s affection mission. Completing the affection mission will greatly increase Xu Yin¡¯s affection level, and there¡¯s a high chance that you might be able to employ him at your Haunted House!

    ¡°Mission Venue: Fang Hwa Apartments.

    ¡°Mission Goal: You only have one night to find Xu Yin¡¯s lover!

    ¡°Mission Hint: Honey, white, ck, and red, which color do you prefer?¡±

    The information on screen was only a few lines, but Chen Ge looked through it several times.

    <i>Fang Hwa Apartments? Isn¡¯t that where Wang Xin is staying? I¡¯ve been there once when I was trying to help the Pen Spirit.</i>

    The mission given by the ck phone came with a certain danger level. Furthermore, based on what he knew of the Tape Ghost, something tragic must have happened to him for him to have such a deep level of resentment. Chen Ge did not want to take another mission after just finishing the Third Sick Hall¡¯s Trial Mission, but the reward of employing a ghost at his Haunted House was too hard to give up upon.

    <i>The Tape Ghost is slightly stronger than the Pen Spirit. If I can hire him, then doing Trial Missions in the future will be safer.</i>

    Just as Chen Ge made the decision, the phone in his pocket rang. It was from an unknown number.

    <i>There are only a few who know my number. Who could this be?</i>

    Chen Ge let the phone rang for a few seconds before he answered it.

    ¡°Chen Ge, this is Captain Yan.¡±

    ¡°Captain Yan? Why are you calling?¡±

    ¡°The three suspects that you¡¯ve found at the third sick hall... two of them have been found dead at their home.¡±

    ¡°Dead?¡± Chen Ge was shocked.

    He was about to ask Captain Yan for more details when the ck phone in his other hand vibrated. There was new information on screen. Chen Ge looked it and was shocked to see that thepletion rate of the Third Sick Hall had risen to 65 percent!

    ¡°Chen Ge? Are you there?¡±

    ¡°Sorry, just a little shocked. They were fine a few days ago; why did they suddenly die?¡±

    ¡°At 3 am yesterday, we received a call. The person who made the call said that his name was Xu Tong. He said many curious things, and he made so no sense, so we couldn¡¯t understand what he was trying tomunicate.¡±

    ¡°So, you hung up on him?¡±

    ¡°Of course not. Xu Tong was a suspect on the run. The officer who answered the call contacted us immediately; however, when we triangted his position and found him, he was already dead.¡± There was a trace of hardly discernible feeling mixed in Captain Yan¡¯s tone. ¡°He and a single-armed man were both stuffed inside a dresser. The actual cause of death is still unknown, and there were no obvious wounds on their bodies.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps the killer is their former ally? The man¡¯s name is Xiong Qing. His face is twisted, so he¡¯s easily recognizable.¡±

    ¡°Leave the detective work to us. I asked for your number from Inspector Lee because I wanted to remind you in person.¡± Captain Yan sent two pictures to Chen Ge. ¡°These are pictures that we found in the victims¡¯ phones. They might be targeting you.¡±

    The transfer was slow. Chen Ge needed to wait several seconds before he could see the content clearly. The first picture was taken when Chen Ge was hauled into the police car outside of Third Sick Hall, and the second picture was of Chen Ge when he left the police station. Both pictures were fuzzy. The person who had taken the pictures was very cautious; they had stood very far away when they took those pictures.

    ¡°These picture were taken by Xu Tong?¡± Chen Ge did not think that he would one day be stalked.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter anymore. The important thing is they seem to be part of somethingrger. They¡¯re part of a group that does things systematically, and that changes a lot of thing.¡±

    ¡°Right, I¡¯ve told you all that morning that there might be eight killers, and they were all once patients in the Third Sick Hall.¡± Other than Wang Shenglong, all the remaining patients were incurable mad persons.

    Captain Yan sighed. ¡°The clue you gave us has helped tremendously. We checked the information from four years ago, and afterparison, there were three of those eight patients who seem to have evaporated off the face of the earth after the hospital closed down. There is no physical or online trail of them anywhere.¡±

 Chapter 199 - Fang Hwa Apartments

    <h4>Chapter 199: Fang Hwa Apartments</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Even you can¡¯t find information on these few patients?¡± Chen Ge was shocked. ¡°Can you tell me which three persons they are? Maybe I can provide you with more clues.¡±

    ¡°You still remember stuff that happened four or five years ago?¡± Chen Ge had given Captain Yan many surprises. Since Chen Ge had helped greatly in the Ping An Apartment case, Captain Yan was willing to reveal some information to him. ¡°These three patients were respectively patients of Room 7, 9, and 10 inside the Third Sick Hall.¡±

    Chen Ge memorized what Captain Yan said andpared it to the information provided by Doctor Gao. Patient No. 7 suffered from Cotard¡¯s Syndrome or the Walking Corpse Syndrome. He believed that he was already a dead man, telling the doctors that his organs had all decayed.

    ording to Doctor Gao¡¯s analysis, the patient had been confirmed dead, but that was what he had read from the hospital records. No one had seen his body, so this information could be fake.

    Patient No. 9 was Wu Fei, the individual Men Nan¡¯s main persona warned him to be careful about. Patient No. 10 was the individual whom the doctors and patients dubbed the Devil. There was no information on this patient, but it was certainly rted to the old director. After all, he had managed the entire center, and he was the one responsible for managing this information.

    s, the old director had been torn apart by Zhang Ya already, and only his head remained behind the door. It would be hard to get information from him. Chen Ge¡¯s mind turned. After Xu Tong and the patient with the Phantom Limb Syndrome died, his missionpletion rate had risen by 5 percent, and this pointed a way for Chen Ge. <i>Does this mean the capture or death of all the escaped patients will continue to increase the mission¡¯spletion rate?</i>

    There was indeed such a possibility. After all, the patients had received a new life from the door inside the Third Sick Hall. They had been branded by the Third Sick Hall, and technically, they were part of the Third Sick Hall.

    Realizing that Chen Ge had remained silent for a while, Captain Yan continued. ¡°We wanted to interview the doctors and nurses who once worked at the Third Sick Hall for information on these three patients, but we came across with something horrible.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°The doctors who knew about these three patients have all died mysterious deaths, some from idents, others suicide.¡± Captain Yan paused as if gauging whether he should continue.

    ¡°Captain Yan, I promise to not leak anything you tell me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not worried about that. I don¡¯t want to scare you.¡± There was a shift in Captain Yan¡¯s tone. ¡°The most unique case was a female doctor. She moved away from Jiujiang with her boyfriend, but she couldn¡¯t escape fate. None of the deaths seem connected to each other, and the murder locations werepletely different. There wasn¡¯t a pattern to the urrence of these deaths either, so the police didn¡¯t link them. But once the connection of the Third Sick Hall surfaced, we looked over the cases again, and new patterns emerged. Taking out the idents, about ny percent of the deaths were detailed murders!¡±

    Captain Yan was trying to warn Chen Ge that his situation was very dangerous.

    ¡°This bunch of people sure is brave.¡± After giving a dryugh, Chen Ge headed for the exit. He wanted to leave this ce and return to New Century Park as soon as possible.

    ¡°They are a bunch of crazies. Their way of thinking is different from normal, and they will stop at nothing. The scariest thing is they think what they¡¯re doing is not wrong, and that is most difficult to deal with.¡± Captain Yan also had a hard time dealing with these people. ¡°In any case, be careful. If you find out anything, remember to contact me.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Before Captain Yan hung up, Chen Ge said, ¡°Captain Yan, other than these three patients, you also have the information on the other patients, right? Can I take a look at them? After all, I¡¯m the only one who has interacted with them before.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m warning you, don¡¯t do anything stupid.¡±

    ¡°You misunderstand me. I¡¯m just curious. Since you already have the information on part of the patients, why don¡¯t you capture them now and then interrogate them for more information?¡± Chen Ge could not be too careful since this involved his life. ¡°Is it because you¡¯re afraid of alerting the rest? Do you n to capture them all at once?¡±

    ¡°If only things are that simple...¡± Captain Yan did not go into the details, but it sounded like they hade into some trouble. ¡°The information is not supposed to be leaked to the public, but since you¡¯re one of the victims, I¡¯ll pick some of the files that you can see and send them to you.¡±

    After a few more words, Captain Yan hung up and sent the files to Chen Ge. Each patient had their assigned number, and all the information had beenpiled into files. What Chen Ge was reading was the information that had been arranged by the police.

    ¡°Patient in Room 1, Wang Shenglong...¡± The first page was the information on Wang Shenglong. The information on him was the most detailed, including where he had been treated in the past few years, how many times he moved over the past five years, and the people he had interacted with. The police had everything on him.

    The second page was on a woman. The woman looked perfect, practically wless. However, there was an uneven feeling about her like she did not think the face belonged to her. Chen Ge had some memory of this second patient. Doctor Gao said that this woman suffered from Dorian Gray Syndrome. She was particrly afraid of aging, had undergone plenty of stic surgeries, and relied on arge amount of make-up. ording to the police¡¯s information, the woman had disappeared half a year ago, and thest ce she was seen was at Fang Hwa Apartments.

    When Chen Ge saw the name of the location, his heart shook. Everything was revolving around the same ce, which could not be a coincidence. Chen Ge hurried down the corridor and passed all the scenes until he found the exit.

    There was light at the end of the tunnel. Just when he was several meters away from the exit, he saw a group of six or seven huddled together moving forward slowly with a bitter expression on their faces.

    ¡°What are you guys doing?¡± Chen Ge walked toward them with the tape recorder.

    ¡°Wait!¡± the proprietor yelled at Chen Ge through the loudspeaker. ¡°Are... are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I be? Do you think I¡¯m possessed or something?¡± Chen Ge walked past the proprietor and his workers with a shrug. ¡°Your Haunted House is now safe, but let me remind you, the money earned on the back of ghosts could be cursed.¡±

    The light was rather blinding when he left the Haunted House. Seeing Chen Ge, the crowd¡¯s gazes all turned toward him. This was the first person who had entered a Haunted House but managed to scare all the ¡®ghosts¡¯ out. They were all visitors, but Chen Ge had managed to do something they could not.

 Chapter 200 - Come to My Haunted House Next Time

    <h4>Chapter 200: Come to My Haunted House Next Time</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge did not have the time to dawdle. He had just received the call from Captain Yan, and the news about the Third Sick Hall had unsettled him.

    ¡°Boss!¡± He San and Gao Ru Xue squeezed through the crowd to run toward Chen Ge. ¡°What did you do to the Haunted House¡¯s workers?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just a visitor, what can I do to them?¡± Chen Ge raised his brow. ¡°Also why aren¡¯t you at least a little bit worried about my safety?¡±

    He Sand Gao Ru Xue were baffled. Indeed, under normal circumstances, when a visitor was left alone inside the Haunted House, they should have been worried for the visitor. However, for some reason, when the two of them saw Chen Ge walk into the Haunted House, they became worried for the workers instead.

    ¡°Of course, we were worried about you.¡± He San shed his signature smile, not at all awkward at his lie.

    ¡°Fine, remember toe to visit my Haunted House when you have time. I¡¯ve created new scenarios, and I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be very exciting.¡± Chen Ge hurried to leave. He reached into his shirt to remove the electrocardiograph monitor and the audio recorder. He turned to face the proprietor. ¡°My heart rate hasn¡¯t gone over 100, right?¡±

    ¡°Right, the lowest was 60, and highest was just over 90.¡±

    ¡°Just over 90? Why was it so high?¡± Chen Ge was a little surprised. He did not feel anything inside Tian Teng Medical School. It had felt as rxing as returning home, but his heart rate had still jumped quite high. Looking at the dissatisfaction on Chen Ge¡¯s face, the proprietor felt like crying as the despair in his heart started to overflow. ¡°Brother, this is my first day of business...¡±

    ¡°Your Haunted House is not bad to be able to raise my heart rate so high. However,pared to the New Century Park¡¯s House of Horrors, which you can reach by taking the number 13 bus, it¡¯s still quitecking,¡± Chen Ge said openly. ¡°Actually, your Haunted House is good enough that you don¡¯t need to rely on underhanded tactics like mming our Jiujiang¡¯s local Haunted House to bring up yourself and adopt real news to increase poprity.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the few Haunted House actors who had not recovered from the trauma, and his brain started to turn. ¡°Your set design is very professional, and the story background is very interesting. You even have two storylines in ce to include puzzle-solving into your scare. To be honest, I had fun today.¡±

    <i>Fun? You had fun inside the Haunted House?</i>

    The proprietor and group of actors were praised by Chen Ge, but they did not feel too happy. ¡°The reality is, we lost. We will edit the unfairment that we¡¯ve levelled at your Haunted House online.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. If youe across simr trouble, feel free toe find me; I¡¯m very impressed by your professionalism.¡± The ¡®pregnant ghost¡¯s¡¯ expression and the ¡®dead body¡¯s¡¯ gaze had both been practiced before the mirror many times before they got the expression down. Tian Teng Medical School¡¯s actors had been in this business for many years, and they were Tian Teng Medical School¡¯s biggest wealth.

    ¡°That¡¯s all I want to say. Get back to work and remember toe pay me a visit when you¡¯re free.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s gaze scanned the proprietor and the actors, and he smiled before turning to leave. Chen Ge did not gloat when he won, nor did he say anything sarcastic.

    Also, he had been left inside the Haunted House alone while all the workers were outside; this could be considered an ident already. If this was a personal visit, then perhaps it could be swept under the mattress, but this was in public. If Chen Ge insisted on making this big, then it would be over for Tian Teng Medical School. However, Chen Ge did not do that. In fact, he had praised the Haunted House, and this surprised the proprietor. He felt thankful.

    <i>The guy is not as bad as I thought. Perhaps like us, he is not in it for the money but the meaning of true terror.</i>

    The proprietor watched Chen Ge walk away and was reminded of his younger self who adored ghost movies and pranks. <i>The bad economy for the past few years has caused me to focus on earning money, and I¡¯ve forgotten the initial reason I opened a Haunted House.</i>

    The proprietor was too kind. Chen Ge did not treat them aspetition from the beginning. The reason he said so much was because he wasying the foundation to swallow Tian Teng Medical School whole in the future to add to his terror-themed amusement park.

    ¡°Boss.¡± The security guard tapped the proprietor on his shoulder.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, let¡¯s be ready to get back to work!¡±

    ¡°Erm...¡± The security lowered his voice. ¡°He seems to have taken our Haunted House¡¯s tape recorder with him.¡±

    ¡°What? When did that happen?¡±

    ...

    When Chen Ge left the building and got on the bus, he realized that he was still carrying the tape recorder. <i>I was too focused on making the speech that I didn¡¯t realize I was still holding their tape recorder. Oh well, I¡¯ll return this when theye over to visit my Haunted House.</i>

    Chen Ge returned to New Century Park. The moment he removed the sign from the door, the visitors started to swarm toward him. In less than a few weeks, the reputation and visitor number of his Haunted House had dramatically increased.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be open in the afternoon. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ve designed a new scary scenario! Definitely will give you the scare of your life!¡± Chen Ge called Xu Wan before entering the Haunted House. He thought back to the tricks that he experienced at Tian Teng Medical School and tried to apply them in his own Haunted House.

    ¡°The update rate for my Haunted House is very fast, and it is still growing. When the hidden missions for the Third Sick Hall arepleted, I¡¯ll need to rearrange the scary scenes to add some scary items and mix in the real ghosts with fake ghosts. That will be more interesting.¡±

    Visiting Tian Teng Medical School had given him plenty of inspiration. He wrote all his thought down in a notebook so that he would not forget them.

    At noon, Chen Ge took out the information provided by the police and memorized the information of all the escaped patients. The information could prove useful at any moment. After a simple lunch, the doors to his Haunted House was open for business. Beforepleting the hidden missions, Chen Ge did not n to open the Third Sick Hall for the public. That was not such a big problem because most of the visitors had not digested the earlier scenarios yet.

    He kept himself busy until 6 pm. After sending the visitors away, Uncle Xu, who stood at the door selling tickets, shed him a rare smile. Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House was driving the poprity of the entire theme park upwards, and the management was trying their best to cooperate with the Haunted House.

    ¡°Nice work today.¡±

    Chen Ge waited until Uncle Xu and Xu Wan left before he returned to the staff breakroom. He put the tape and the cleaver wrapped in red cloth inside his backpack and started to search for the white cat.

    He looked through the entire Haunted House and finally found the white cat on top of the tree at the entrance of the Haunted House. The white cat was very clever. It seemed to sense that a bad thing was about to happen, and it jumped up to the top of the tree. No matter how hard Chen Ge tried to persuade it, it refused toe down.

    ¡°What are you so afraid of? The ce I¡¯m going is safer than the Third Sick Hall! Come down!¡±

 Chapter 201 - Mad Woman

    <h4>Chapter 201: Mad Woman</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Even when Chen Ge¡¯s throat was raw from screaming, the white cat refused to budge. After a few more minutes of that, Chen Ge gave up. <i>This cat is very intelligent. It wandered over on its own when it was lunch time, but the moment I started to pack, it ran outside.</i>

    Looking at tree, Chen Ge sighed helplessly. He picked up his backpack and left the park. When he arrived at Fang Hwa Apartments, the sky was already dark.

    <i>Last time I was here, I forgot to ask about this ce from Doctor Gao. The buildings here are quite old already. I wonder if there are any weird incidents that have happened here.</i>

    Chen Ge scrolled through his phone for the information provided by the police. It stated that Patient No. 2 had once been seen here, but there was no detailed address.

    <i>This is not going to be easy. The police use code for each patient, so I don¡¯t even know her name. Just based on a picture, it¡¯s going to be hard.</i>

    Fang Hwa Apartments was considered quite high-end in Jiujiang. The buildings in front were six older buildings; they were smaller than the three new buildings that were built at the back. Each building was over twenty stories, and Wang Xin¡¯s family was staying in one of the newer buildings.

    <i>I should start by asking the security guards.</i>

    The main reason Chen Ge was there was toplete the Tape Ghost¡¯s wish so that he could hire him as an employee. That was his main mission, but since he was there, Chen Ge would not mind finding out about Patient 2 as well.

    He walked over to the security room and turned his phone to show them the picture that had been given to him by Captain Yan. <i>I¡¯m sorry, but have you seen this woman before?</i>

    The individual aspects of Patient 2¡¯s face was wless, but when put together, there was just this incorrect feeling to it. The security guard not only did not answer Chen Ge¡¯s question. He looked at Chen Ge with rm like he was someone suspicious. ¡°You¡¯re not a tenant here, are you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not,¡± Chen Ge answered honestly.

    ¡°Then I don¡¯t need to answer your question.¡± The man walked out from the room. ¡°If thisdy is our tenant, we will not reveal any information about her, and if she¡¯s not, I won¡¯t know anything about her.¡±

    Chen Ge was baffled by the security guard. He did not expect such hostility.

    ¡°Xiao Gu, don¡¯t be such a spoilsport.¡± There was another guard inside the room. He was much older than the one who talked to Chen Ge. He was about sixty and was just removing his guard outfit to change into his casual clothes. He walked out of the room, chuckling. ¡°Forgive him. He was scolded this morning for something that wasn¡¯t his fault, and he¡¯s not feeling so good.¡±

    ¡°My feeling is perfectly well. Ol¡¯ Wong, quickly go home. Your family is waiting for you. Leave this to me,¡± the young security guard said impatiently.

    ¡°If I leave this to you, you¡¯ll end up getting lectured again tomorrow. You never learn. Would it kill you to be a little nicer to our guests?¡± Ol¡¯ Wong sighed, shaking his head. ¡°How many times have I told you? We¡¯re just the security; move your limbs more than your lips. Whether it is right or wrong, it is not our ce to judge.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, I quite admire his attitude, straightforward and not pretentious,¡± Chen Ge said. He instinctively felt this young security was quite an interesting character. ¡°And how may I refer to you?¡±

    ¡°Gu Feiyu, you can call him Xiao Gu. He¡¯s our night guard, very brace and is a kind person. However, there¡¯s no filter on the words that leave his lips.¡± It was obvious that Ol¡¯ Wong was very protective of Gu Feiyu.

    ¡°Night guard? Do you need to patrol this ce at night?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s focus was not Gu Feiyu. He slowly moved the topic of conversation away.

    ¡°We have to ensure the safety of our tenants every hour of the day.¡± Ol¡¯ Wong patted the dust on his trousers. ¡°By the way, you¡¯re looking for someone, right? Tell me the name, I¡¯ve been here for a decade already, so I practically know everyone.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know her name, but I have her picture.¡± Chen Ge clicked onto the picture and passed his phone to the kind gentleman.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be easier with a picture.¡± Ol¡¯ Wong epted the phone and lowered his head to look. When his eyes feel on the screen, the blood drained from his face, and Chen Ge¡¯s phone almost fell from his fingers.

    ¡°You know her?¡± Chen Ge moved one step forward. Ol¡¯ Wong pushed the phone back to Chen Ge like it was some kind of dangerous object.

    ¡°This woman is very important. She¡¯s involved in many cases.¡± Chen Ge was considering shing Captain Yan¡¯s name.

    ¡°This woman again? The police already asked about her yesterday.¡± Gu Feiyu was a straight shooter.

    ¡°Then what did you tell the police?¡± Chen Ge was even more intrigued.

    Ol¡¯ Wong reached out to stop Gu Feiyu. With aplicated gaze, he said, ¡°This woman is mad. That¡¯s what I told the police yesterday.¡±

    ¡°Mad?¡± Chen Ge stood before Ol¡¯ Wong. ¡°Your reaction was not exactly subtle earlier, so it looks like you have a deep impression of this woman.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± Ol¡¯ Wong was more experienced in dealing with people, and he only revealed half of the information. ¡°The woman in the picture has the surname Bai, but I suspect that is fake. The woman in the picture is totally different from what she looks like in person.¡±

    There was a trace of fear at the bottom of Ol¡¯ Wong¡¯s eyes. ¡°The reason I remember her so clearly is because two or three years ago, when she first moved into Fang Hwa Apartments, her neighbors keptining about her, saying there was a weird smelling from her room, and there would be intense arguments at night.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡±

    ¡°Initially, it was fine. Thendowner visited the woman, and after somemunication, the woman admitted her mistake. She not only apologized but also volunteered to pay mary reimbursement.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t make her mad, does it?¡± Chen Ge was arranging the information internally. The woman had moved out from the Third Sick Hall four years ago. She moved to Fang Hwa Apartments three years ago and disappeared from this ce two years ago.

    ¡°Two to three months after that, there came this rumor that her building was haunted. Someone said that there would be a white shadow in the corridor at midnight.

    ¡°Some tenants even said that they heard scratching outside their doors at midnight and a soft woman¡¯s voice asking, ¡®Is anyone home? If no one¡¯s home, I¡¯ming in.¡¯

    ¡°This was worse than a prank, so the security team was tasked with standing guard in her building. But weirdly enough, whenever we were on duty, the white shadow and the woman¡¯s voice would not appear. It was like she was ying hide-and-seek with us.

    ¡°We are not made of steel. After we kept up the stake-out for two weeks, many gave up. For the whole month after that, both the white shadow and the woman¡¯s voice didn¡¯t appear, and we thought things were over. However, we still ordered two security guards to patrol the building every night.

    ¡°On the second month, our colleague who was supposed to patrol the building with me took an emergency leave, and I didn¡¯t dare patrol the ce alone. Unfortunately, I received a call from one of the tenants saying that the voice had returned. I grabbed my baton and took the elevator to that tenant¡¯s floor.

    ¡°The moment the door opened, I saw, not far away, a white shadow lying against one of the doors, its lips mumbling, ¡®Is anyone home? If no one¡¯s home, I¡¯ming in.¡¯¡±

    The wrinkles on Ol¡¯ Wong¡¯s face was squeezed together. Even now, when he thought about that particr memory, he would still feel fear.

    ¡°That white shadow is the mad woman?¡± Chen Ge could imagine how Ol¡¯ Wong must have felt then.

 Chapter 202 - Third Building, 13th Floor

    <h4>Chapter 202: Third Building, 13th Floor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Ol¡¯ Wong nodded, and he regained his senses after some time. ¡°When the elevator opened, I was given the fright of my life; my mind went nk.¡±

    ¡°And then? Did the white shadow attack you?¡±

    ¡°She ran right away when she saw me, and even now, I cannot understand how she made no noise when she ran!¡± Ol¡¯ Wong¡¯s gaze kept wandering to Chen Ge¡¯s phone. This was a memory that he refused to remember.

    ¡°Were you so anxious at the time that you didn¡¯t notice the footsteps? Even someone running barefooted would create some noise.¡± Chen Ge was afraid of heightening the trauma for Ol¡¯ Wong, so he did not say the real spection he was thinking.

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± This was a mystery that Ol¡¯ Wong had not solved. ¡°The white shadow turned and ran when she saw me. Looking at her retreat, I stopped being so afraid and chased after her. We ran for some time, and I saw her run into the woman¡¯s house. When I arrived, the woman¡¯s door was locked.

    ¡°The tenant who was harassed called the police. When the police arrived to pry the door open, we realized the room was empty. The police came to ask me questions, but I had many questions myself. Between white shadow entering the woman¡¯s room and the police arriving, I had stayed outside, and no one had left.

    ¡°The woman came back the next day. She told the police that she had stayed at a friend¡¯s ce and wasn¡¯t home the previous night.¡± Ol¡¯ Wong¡¯s voice turned slightly bitter. ¡°Because of this, I was sent to jail for one night. I was telling the truth, but no one wanted to believe me.¡±

    Chen Ge could empathize with Ol¡¯ Wong. A normal person would be flustered if they ran into something like this; in fact, he had acted simrly when this happened to him for the first time, but he had slowly gotten used to it.

    ¡°Did you manage to catch the white shadow¡¯s face? Did she have any unique features on her body?¡± Ol¡¯ Wong was Chen Ge¡¯s opening. He had already gotten a lead when he just arrived at Fang Hwa Apartments. He was quite lucky.

    ¡°I was scared out of my mind; do you think I would pay attention to her looks?¡± Ol¡¯ Wong¡¯s wrinkled scrunched up, and he suddenly looked older.

    ¡°Fang Hwa Apartments is considered a well-off residential area in Jiujiang. Your surveince never once captured the white shadow on film?¡± Chen Ge wanted to take a look at the videos, perhaps he mighte up with something.

    ¡°When the rumors of haunting appeared, thendowner and tenants discussed to have security cameras installed in various corners, but due to the fact that neither party wished to pay for the cameras, they ended up only installing one camera on the floor that the woman stayed at.¡±

    ¡°One is better than none. Did this camera capture anything?¡± Chen Ge was more and more curious.

    ¡°Perhaps due to a technical issue or something else, this camera goes offline every midnight and recovers on its own ten minutester. Until now, no one can exin why.¡± Ol¡¯ Wong looked at his phone. ¡°Everything I¡¯ve told you is the truth, and that was what I told the police when they came yesterday. It¡¯s gettingte, so I should be going.¡±

    It was obvious that Ol¡¯ Wong was getting away. He did not want to continue this conversation.

    ¡°One minute, can you tell me the room number that the woman once stayed in?¡± Chen Ge blocked Ol¡¯ Wong.

    ¡°I¡¯m really not kidding with you; I don¡¯t even dare patrol that floor to this day. The other tenants on that floor have basically all moved out already,¡± Ol¡¯ Wong told Chen Ge. ¡°The police came yesterday, so before theye up with a result, you¡¯d better stay put.¡±

    Then he walked out from the room, but his gait was rather unnatural. When he almost reached the door, Ol¡¯ Wong waved for Xiao Gu¡¯s attention. After he whispered something into Gu Feiyu¡¯s ears, Ol¡¯ Wong finally left.

    ¡°I know, don¡¯t worry.¡± After sending Ol¡¯ Wong away, Gu Feiyu returned to the room. He saw Chen Ge still standing there and rolled his eyes. ¡°Our captain has said that we¡¯re not allowed to let any suspicious characters enter the premises.¡±

    ¡°Do I look like someone suspicious?¡± Chen Ge leaned toward the window of the room. ¡°Do you think what Ol¡¯ Wong said is real?¡±

    ¡°No clue, I¡¯m new here,¡± Gu Feiyu answered honestly. Talking with him was easier than talking to Ol¡¯ Wong.

    ¡°You¡¯re new?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes darted about. ¡°They hired you to take up the role of a night patrol, but did they tell you why the previous one left? Do you think it¡¯s rted to the haunting?¡±

    Gu Feiyu was writing something in the notebook, but when Chen Ge said that, his hand that held the pen stopped. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°When did you find out about the haunting?¡±

    ¡°Yesterday, when the police came to question about the woman. I was standing beside Ol¡¯ Wong when he told them the story.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like they tricked you into this job. The management sure is awful. You¡¯re the only night patrol. Are they that unafraid of ident?¡± Chen Ge was the kind who would lend his aid when he saw injustice in this world. ¡°How about this? I won¡¯t ask you to bend your rules, but here is my phone number. If anything weird happens tonight while you¡¯re on patrol, please call me. I will try my best to cooperate with you, and so I hope you won¡¯t reject my kindness.¡±

    ¡°Kindness? Where? I can¡¯t see it.¡± After a few more exchanges, Gu Feiyu finally agreed to exchange phone numbers with Chen Ge. ¡°Remember to call me if youe across any danger tonight.¡±

    After that, Chen Ge took a detour to the backdoor of Fang Hwa Apartments and walked through it like he belonged there.

    <i>The old security guard definitely wouldn¡¯t tell me about the woman¡¯s address. Looks like I¡¯ll need to trouble Wang Xin¡¯s mother.</i>

    Chen Ge walked to the three new buildings. He did not notice it when he first arrived, but this time, he made a new discovery. The three buildings formed the shape of the character ¡®Æ·¡¯, simr to the three buildings at the Jiujiang Third Psychological Convalescence Centre.

    Chen Ge walked to the third building. He was not doing that on purpose, but that was where Wang Xin¡¯s family stayed at. ¡°Third building 14th floor.¡±

    Night had arrived. Chen Ge stepped into the building, and for some reason, he felt the temperature inside was lower than outside. The hall was empty. Chen Ge stood beside the elevator and saw the number dancing up and down.

    There were 23 floors to the building, but there were 24 numbers above the elevator. Chen Ge did not quite understand what the extra number meant. When the number went to 13, it stopped for ten seconds. Then, it continued to move, meaning that someone had stepped into the elevator at floor 13.

    Not long after that, the door opened, and a woman in red high heels walked out. She was very fashionable and tall. Like a celebrity, she was wearing a mask and a cap.

 Chapter 203 - I Saw It Myself

    <h4>Chapter 203: I Saw It Myself</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The two brushed shoulders, and Chen Ge turned around to look at the woman. There was a weird scent radiating off the woman. It didn¡¯t smell like perfume, more like the smell of hospital disinfectant.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Chen Ge stood at the door of the elevator and called after the woman. The woman stopped and turned around. Through the small gap between her mask and the rim of the hat, a pair of beautiful eyes blinked. They were filled with confusion. Based on the eyes, this woman was different from the picture of the woman provided by the police, and she was not be the Patient No. 2 Chen Ge was looking for.

    ¡°Are you that celebrity from the movie? Can I take a picture with you?¡± Chen Ge knew that he had acted rather rashly. He did not know what to say, so he created a rough excuse.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but you¡¯ve got the wrong person.¡± The woman¡¯s voice was soft like she was sick or something. Then, she turned to walk away. Thinking of Chen Ge as some sort of bad buy, she practically jogged away.

    <i>She¡¯s different from the picture, but Patient No. 2 suffers from Dorian Gray Syndrome. She has undergone plenty of stic surgery, so looks cannot be my basis ofparison.</i>

    With technology nowadays, changing a new face was not difficult. Just in case, Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and ran after the woman.

    Running out of the third building, Chen Ge followed the woman to the underground carpark. Chen Ge wandered about the ce but realized the woman had disappeared.

    ¡°Where did she go?¡± There were cameras inside the parking lot, and afraid of being misunderstood by security, Chen Ge gave up on the woman and returned to the third building. He took the elevator to the 14th floor and knocked on the door to Wang Xin¡¯s home.

    ¡°Is someone there?¡±

    There were footsteps behind the door, and someone opened the door wearing slippers. ¡°You¡¯re looking for?¡±

    It was a middle-aged woman wearing a ck-and-white suit behind the door. She looked after herself well. Her skin was tight, and she looked much younger than her actual age.

    ¡°It¡¯s me. I helped Wang Xinst time...¡±

    Before Chen Ge finished, the woman recognized him. ¡°Doctor Chen! Pleasee in, I¡¯ve been meaning to thank you in person but didn¡¯t have the chance.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Chen?¡± The way the woman addressed him made Chen Ge feel weird. Even though this was the first time he had been thusly addressed, it felt weirdly familiar. ¡°I¡¯m not a professional doctor.¡±

    ¡°To me, you¡¯re the best doctor because you saved Wang Xin¡¯s life. Don¡¯t be so humble, I¡¯ve heard so many good things about you from Doctor Gao. Pleasee in!¡± The woman practically pulled Chen Ge into the room.

    ¡°Sorry to disturb you. I came to visit today mainly to check up on Wang Xin and to ask you some questions.¡±

    ¡°There are apples and bananas on the coffee table. Take a seat while I go brew a pot of tea.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to trouble yourself.¡± Chen Ge sat on the sofa. Visiting Wang Xin was just an excuse; the main reason Chen Ge was there was to find Patient No. 2 andplete the Tape Ghost¡¯s affection mission. Of course, he would not tell Wang Xin¡¯s mother that. Maintaining an image was important.

    When Chen Ge was talking to the woman, the bedroom door opened, and a thin girl walked out. They had not seen each other for a few days, but Wang Xin already looked much betterpared to before. She would not have been able to leave her room before this, but now she walked out to meet him voluntarily.

    She had opened her heart before Chen Ge. When the girl hugged the Pen Spirit¡¯s pen and cried, the words that she said were still fresh in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. Chen Ge was genuinely happy seeing the positive changes in Wang Xin.

    Wang Xin sat down across from Chen Ge. She did not seem like she had gotten used to conversing with people, and her voice was very low. Chen Ge had learned many things from Doctor Gao, including how to talk to patients. He did not interrupt Wang Xin but listened patiently and put himself in Wang Xin¡¯s shoes.

    Slowly but surely, a smile blossomed on the girl¡¯s face. After the issue in her heart had been solved, the girl was also trying to interact with the outside world. After Wang Xin left, the woman came out with the tea. ¡°There are many things kept inside the child¡¯s heart, but she never tells us anything. It is because you¡¯re here that she can smile so happily.¡±

    Chen Ge epted the cup but did not drink it. ¡°Wang Xin¡¯s condition is improving smoothly, and the effect of the treatment is showing.¡±

    He looked at the time and said, ¡°Actually, I¡¯m here because I have a question for you.¡±

    ¡°Go ahead.¡± The woman was very cooperative.

    ¡°I hear one of the buildings in Fang Hwa Apartments is haunted? Is that true?¡±

    The woman¡¯s expression froze. She stood up and sidled to Wang Xin¡¯s room silently. She listened for the sound before leading Chen Ge into the kitchen. After closing the kitchen door, she said, ¡°Doctor Chen, I¡¯m not lying to you. This is real.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s really haunted?¡± Chen Ge did not expect such confirmation from the middle-aged woman.

    ¡°I saw it myself.¡± The woman pointed at her feet. ¡°The haunting happened in this building on the 13th floor.¡±

    When the woman mentioned the 13th floor, Chen Ge was reminded of the woman he met earlier. Without prompting, the woman continued. ¡°Fang Hwa Apartments was built around twenty years ago. Initially, the ce wasn¡¯t so huge. There were only the six older buildings in front. The three buildings behind were built four or five years ago, and I was one of the first tenants who moved in.¡±

    The woman held the cup of tea and started to exin the weird events that happened two or three years ago. Her story matched with what Ol¡¯ Wong said, but hers was scarier because she personally ran into the white shadow leaning outside her door.

    She said, that midnight, she heard something weirding outside the door, like someone was scratching it. Initially, she had thought it was a puppy or kitten, but not long after that, she heard someone talking. The first thought that came to the woman¡¯s mind was burry. She went into the kitchen to grab a cleaver before moving to the door. She looked through the cat¡¯s eye.

    The voice-controlled lights in the corridor seemed to have broken down because she could only see a cloud of whiteness. The woman called the police and used the cleaver to sh at the front door. She finally managed to scare the white shadow away.

    The woman¡¯s retelling of the white shadow¡¯s escape was simr to Ol¡¯ Wong¡¯s. The white shadow ran very fast, but there were no footsteps.

    ¡°I have no idea what that thing is, but I heard from the police that it was a mental patient pulling some prank.¡± The woman put down the cup and sighed. ¡°I bought this ce on a loan, and all my life¡¯s savings have been thrown into this ce. If not, I would have moved already.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve seen the white shadow at a close distance before?¡± Chen Ge mulled over what the middle-aged woman had said. His eyes swept across the woman¡¯s face that did not fit her age and the white-and-ck pantsuit she was wearing.

    It was not that Chen Ge did not trust Wang Xin¡¯s adopted mother, but he was curious why the woman seemed to love ck and white. When they first met, she had also been wearing a white shirt and ck pants.

 Chapter 204 - Dont Take the Elevator

    <h4>Chapter 204: Don¡¯t Take the Elevator</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The hint given by the ck phone for the Tape Ghost¡¯s affection mission was: Honey, ck, white, and red, which color do you prefer?

    Because of this, Chen Ge was very sensitive to these three colors. Wang Xin¡¯s adopted mother loved ck and white clothes, and the woman he met in the elevator was wearing red high heels. They both were worth suspecting in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes.

    Chen Ge studied Wang Xin¡¯s mother closer, and Chen Ge realized that the woman¡ªbe it from physical appearance, presence, or looks¡ªwas younger than her actual age. She could still be considered a beauty, much less when she was younger.

    <i>Patient No. 2 is very afraid of getting old... </i>Chen Ge became more cautious around the woman. He nced at the cup of tea the woman was holding, and he was thankful that he did not drink it earlier.

    ¡°Doctor Chen.¡± The woman took one step forward. She seemed to have noticed the change in Chen Ge. ¡°Did I scare you with the story?¡±

    ¡°A little bit.¡± Chen Ge went along with it. ¡°Do you mind telling me which room was haunted?¡±

    ¡°Room 3133 on the 13th floor. The police said the white shadow ran into this room, but at the time, the owner wasn¡¯t even home. I heard that she moved away not long after that, and the incident was thus forgotten. After all, there was no injury or economic loss; there wasn¡¯t anything we tenants could do about it.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps she hasn¡¯t moved away,¡± Chen Ge muttered to himself.

    ¡°What did you say?¡±

    ¡°Nothing. I¡¯m just curious as to why there are so many threes in her room number.¡± Ever since leaving Third Sick Hall, Chen Ge had realized that the number three appeared very often in his life. In fact, when he summoned the mirror ghost, the countdown started with three.

    ¡°3133 represents the Third Building, 13th floor, Room 3,¡± the woman exined to Chen Ge.

    ¡°I heard from your security that most of the tenants on the 13th floor have moved away already, is it because something else happened within these one or two years?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Then again, most of us don¡¯t go out at night.¡± The woman thought about it before adding, ¡°But I have to remind you one thing. When you leave, don¡¯t take the elevator. Several months ago, a drunkard took the elevator, and it stopped at the 13th floor. A white shadow entered the elevator from that floor.¡±

    ¡°Normally, an elevator is fitted with surveince; it should have recorded the whole process. Didn¡¯t thendowner give the tenants an exnation?¡± Chen Ge memorized the woman¡¯s words closely.

    ¡°The drunkard was so scared that he went to find thendowner the next day. I remember the issue got quite big at the time.¡± Wang Xin¡¯s mother thought back to the incident. ¡°Thendowner pulled out the video, but there was no white shadow on screen. It only showed the drunkard pressing all the buttons aimlessly. He took the elevator from the first floor to the top floor and then back down again. The elevator stopped several times in the middle, but no one was captured entering the elevator.¡±

    ¡°The doors opened several times?¡±

    ¡°But it was very quick each time. Only when it opened on the 13th floor did it stop longer than normal. The exnation given by thendowner was probably someone wanted to use the elevator, but they decided against it when they saw the drunkard inside.¡±

    ¡°That reason sounds quite forced.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, but ever since then, we rarely use the elevator at night.¡±

    As he nodded, Chen Ge asked with some hope, ¡°Do you think I can get my hands on the surveince?¡±

    ¡°The owner probably has a copy. I can ask for you in the morning.¡±

    ¡°Okay, thank you.¡± Chen Ge was not a police officer, so he had no right to go through a building¡¯s surveince footage. He left after talking to the woman. After the door closed, Chen Ge turned back after walking for a few meters. He took out a piece of paper from his backpack. He folded it multiple times before slipping it into the edge of the door.

    The woman had told him personally that she rarely went out at night. If her door was opened at night, then she would be a worthy suspect. After doing everything, Chen Ge used the stairs to walk to the 13th floor.

    Of the entire building, only the 13th floor did not have a voice-operated light. The sole light source in the dark corridor was the green sign above the safety exit. The faded green light only made the ce look creepier. Chen Ge held the ballpoint pen in his hand as he entered the corridor. The ce looked very abandoned. The doors on both sides were thick with dust.

    ¡°Room 3133.¡± Chen Ge found the room that the mad woman once stayed in. Weirdly enough, the door of the room was very clean, as if someone was staying here. He aimed his shlight at the door, and Chen Ge found something new. There was a piece of white paper taped to the door with cellophane tape. It said that the owner wanted to sell or rent the room at a low price, and it came with a phone number.

    <i>Someone bought this ce after the mad woman left?</i>

    The paper looked new like it had been put up recently. Chen Ge stopped outside the door for a while, and after realizing there was no sound from inside the room, he left. Then he used his phone to call the number. The call rang for almost half a minute. Just as Chen Ge wanted to give up, the call was picked up.

    ¡°Hello, I saw the advertisement at Fang Hwa Apartments. The price is very reasonable, and I¡¯m interested.¡± Chen Ge was rather nervous. Calling at a time like this might tip the person off to his intention.

    There was silence on the other end of the phone. After a long time, a female voice said, ¡°I¡¯m suffering from a serious illness, and I need the money for my medical bills, that¡¯s why the price is so low. If you are serious about buying the ce, give me a time. We¡¯ll meet at Xin Kang Apartments in the old part of town.¡±

    ¡°Xin Kang Apartments?¡±

    ¡°My illness might deteriorate any time soon, so I moved to a ce closer to the hospital. I¡¯m staying on the third floor.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go now.¡±

    ¡°Now?¡± The voice on the phone rose slightly, and the tone got shriller. ¡°Okay,e now then.¡±

    After hanging up, Chen Ge¡¯s suspicion deepened. There were not any big hospitals in the old part of town, so why was the woman lying on the phone?

    After leaving the third building, Chen Ge felt lighter in person. He called a taxi to get to Xin Kang Apartment. Chen Ge ran to the third floor and called the person again. ¡°I¡¯m here. There are three rooms on the third floor, which one are you in?¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± After the phone hung up, the door on his left-hand side opened. ¡°Come in, the room is a bit messy, but I¡¯m not in the mood to clean up.¡±

    When Chen Ge pushed the door open and saw the woman, his heart squeezed. The woman had no hair or brows. Her face was a swathe of white, and that looked quite scary.

 Chapter 205 - She Is My Sister

    <h4>Chapter 205: She Is My Sister</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Quickly close the door.¡± The woman quickly rushed into the room as if she knew how scary she looked.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge did not close the doorpletely but left a small sliver open. Before he got deeper into the house, he was already considering his exit options. Chen Ge stood in the middle of the living room and looked around. The woman sat on the bedside and pulled over a thin nket to cover her body. ¡°Don¡¯t mind the mess, just sit anywhere you want.¡±

    The ce could not be considered messy, but it was littered with many pill bottles. Chen Ge picked up a random one, and it wasbelled with terms that he could barely understand.

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch my stuff,¡± the woman urged. She looked at Chen Ge with eyes filled with uncertainty. ¡°What is inside your backpack? It doesn¡¯t seem like you¡¯re here to buy any real estate.¡±

    ¡°The bag might be old, but all my life savings are inside it.¡± Chen Ge gave a random excuse. ¡°Your apartment¡¯s location is nice, but can you nudge the price further?¡±

    ¡°The apartment is huge. If not for the fact that I¡¯m in need of money, I wouldn¡¯t be selling the ce.¡± The woman¡¯s skin was unnaturally white, and it was weirding Chen Ge out.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking, what kind of illness are you suffering from that you need to sell your home to make money?¡± Chen Ge was not there to buy the apartment; he was there to find out more information.

    ¡°Cancer.¡± The woman pointed at his face. ¡°Long term chemotherapy makes me lose all my hair and brows.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Because that was the logical thing to say.

    ¡°Now, I just want to live as many days as I can. There¡¯s nothing else that I can ask for.¡± The woman was selling her home to extend her life. It sounded logical on the surface, but upon closer inspection, the story was wed.

    ¡°Let¡¯s talk about the price.¡± The woman had taken a huge step back. The price she had given was thirty percent lower than the market price for a simr apartment. ¡°If you agree, we can sign the documents tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I want to take advantage to of you, but the price is still quite high.¡± Chen Ge pretended to be a shrewd homebuyer.

    ¡°A price like this is still high?¡±

    ¡°I pity your condition, but before I came here, I asked around. The ce that you¡¯re selling was haunted several years ago, and that is why it hasn¡¯t been sold until now.¡± Chen Ge patted his backpack. ¡°I admit that I have a bigger heart than most, but honestly, I don¡¯t have that much capital, and that¡¯s why I¡¯m reaching out to you.¡±

    The woman knew her tail was caught, so she asked, ¡°Then how much you¡¯re preparing to pay?¡±

    ¡°One-tenth the market price, I only have that much.¡±

    ¡°One-tenth?¡± The woman scoffed. ¡°And you said you¡¯re not trying to take advantage of me?¡±

    ¡°After all, the ce is haunted. If not for theck of money, I wouldn¡¯t buy a haunted apartment.¡± Chen Ge hadpletely morphed into his character. Hesitation appeared in his eyes like he found pity for the woman¡¯s condition. ¡°How about we both take a step back? I know you¡¯re selling this house to pay your medical bill, so I can borrow some loan from family and friends, but your asking price is still too high.¡±

    Perhaps the woman was feeling the pressure since the ce had been vacated for a long time. She was silent before saying, ¡°One-tenth is too low. My bottom line is half the market price. If you want, I can have thewyer draft up the document tomorrow. If you don¡¯t want it, then leave.¡±

    ¡°Half...¡± Chen Ge lowered his head like he was contemting.

    ¡°Don¡¯t listen to those rumors. None of the tenants have been injured before, so how could there be a haunting?¡± The womany down on the bed. She noticed that Chen Ge¡¯s stance was loosening, so she started to persuade Chen Ge.

    ¡°Don¡¯t try to lie to me. Your security guard told me that he personally saw a white shadow enter your home several years ago, and his story was corroborated by the police. You weren¡¯t home that night, so you might not know these things.¡± Chen Ge followed the woman¡¯s thread of conversation, picking for information that he wanted to know.

    ¡°How can I not know about things at my own home?¡± The woman sighed. There was a conflict in her eyes. ¡°Actually, I did not want to tell you in case it scared you, but that white shadow wasn¡¯t a ghost.¡±

    ¡°Not a ghost?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s heart rose. Things might advance further than he thought.

    ¡°Yes, the white shadow is my sister. She was a mental patient who was just taken out from the mental hospital.¡± The woman¡¯s face scrunched up in pain, and she coughed violently for several minutes. ¡°My sister did something wrong when she was small, and her illness was discovered then. After that, she was sent to the mental hospital and only came out four or five years ago.¡±

    ¡°Something wrong? Was it anything serious?¡± The woman¡¯s sister matched the description of Patient No. 2, so Chen Ge paid closer attention.

    ¡°It was very serious, and it ruined her life.¡± The woman sighed for her sister. ¡°My sister¡¯s condition is very unique. She was a patient that needed to be quarantined because she could pose a danger to the public. If she was discovered by the police, they might have pulled her away from me and locked her up in another mental hospital.¡±

    ¡°So, you have harboring her inside your home?¡±

    ¡°After ten years of treatment, her condition has gotten a lot better.¡± There was a shift in the woman¡¯s tone like she had faith in what she said. ¡°How many decades are there in a person¡¯s life? She has suffered too much in her early life, and it¡¯s only fair that she has the chance to enjoy a normal life now.¡±

    Chen Ge felt like there was something wrong with the woman¡¯s words. ¡°So, you hid your sister inside your own home, but you didn¡¯t expect that she would go out to haunt other tenants? That was the truth behind the haunting?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the haunting was merely their imagination.¡±

    ¡°Then, what happened to your sister? You¡¯re so sick now; shouldn¡¯t shee take care of you?¡±

    ¡°I also have no idea where she has disappeared to. Since that night, I have not seen her again.¡± The woman appeared rather helpless. ¡°She¡¯s my only family, and asionally, I return to Fang Hwa Apartments, hoping to run into her.¡±

    ¡°I understand your pain. If no onees to buy the ce, can you please help me reserve the ce first? I¡¯ll go ask for a loan tomorrow,¡± Chen Ge said sincerely, but what he did was to try to stabilize the woman first. He had something else that he needed to check desperately.

    ¡°Okay, then I¡¯ll see you tomorrow.¡± The woman ended the conversation. She seemed very tired already, leaning against the headboard.

    ¡°See you tomorrow.¡± He picked up his backpack and left.

    When the door closed, the expression of the people inside and outside the door changed. Chen Ge stood where he was and inserted the few English terms that he remembered from the bottlebel into his phone.

    ¡°It¡¯s as I expected¡ªthis woman is very suspicious. The pills in her room have nothing to do with cancer treatment. They¡¯re mostly for wound recovery and anti-infection.¡±

    Chen Ge called a taxi to rush to Fang Hwa Apartments. Chen Ge called Inspector Lee on the way there and told him everything about Xin Kang Apartments.

 Chapter 206 - She Is My Sister

    <h4>Chapter 206: She Is My Sister</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Inspector Lee, I¡¯ve found one of the suspects from the mental hospital. She¡¯s currently hiding in Xin Kang Apartments.¡± Chen Ge told Inspector Lee the physical features of the woman.

    ¡°Are you mistaken? The woman you described soundspletely different from the person we¡¯re looking for. Furthermore, she shouldn¡¯t have the ability to detain someone.¡±

    ¡°Her information matches Patient No. 2 from the third sick hall very well. She might have a partner. In any case, I¡¯m fifty percent sure of my suspicion.¡± Chen Ge was afraid that the driver might overhear him and arouse unnecessary misunderstanding, so he kept his voice low.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll personally take a look.¡± After getting Inspector Lee¡¯s reply, Chen Ge ended the call and returned to Fang Hwa Apartments. He entered through the backdoor and made sure to avoid the cameras.

    <i>The drunkard in the elevator saw the white shadow several months ago, and it ran without sound. That thing has to be a ghost. There¡¯s a ghost living in the building, but for the past few years, there have not been any injury report at Fang Hwa Apartments. Are people purposely hiding the information, or is something else going on here?</i>

    After sneaking into the third building, Chen Ge moved the cleaver to a spot where he could reach it easily. If there was a nasty surprise, he would be able to pull the cleaver out at first notice. He climbed up the stairs and used half an hour to familiarize himself with theyout of the building. <i>There¡¯s no basement, so only 23 floors in total. Why does the elevator have twenty-four numbers?</i>

    This was a question that Chen Ge did not understand. However, due to the warning from Wang Xin¡¯s mother, he did not dare take the elevator. After a few more turns, Chen Ge returned to the 13th floor. With Inspector Lee watching, he did not need to worry about Xin Kang Apartments. His responsibility was to stay put and watch over Room 3.

    <i>If it really is Patient No. 2 staying in Room 3133, the white shadow is probably the thing that possessed Patient No. 2.</i>

    If the creatures inside the door wanted to survive outside the door, they needed to possess a living person. Their rtionship was quite symbiotic. The corridor was very quiet because most of the tenants of this floor had already moved away.

    <i>I wonder if I can run into the white shadow tonight.</i>

    He looked down the corridor and saw one of the doors open. The light from inside the room filtered out into the corridor.

    <i>Someone¡¯s home? </i>Chen Ge walked toward the door, and the closer he got, the weirder he felt. <i>Wait, isn¡¯t this Room 3133?</i>

    The paper that was pasted to the door had been taken down, and it had been crumbled up and tossed to the floor. Chen Ge nced into the room. The floor was tiled, and there was little furniture. There was a curtain that sat in the living room to split it into two.

    <i>The owner has returned? </i>After Chen Ge left Xin Kang Apartments, he had taken thirty minutes to tour around the building, so this was entirely possible. He waited by the door, and two minutes passed, but there was still no sounding from inside the room.

    Chen Ge pulled the cleaver out from his backpack and silently pushed the door open. He snuck into the room and pushed the door back to its original angle. He made sure he did not leave any footprints before entering the room.

    The room was tiny, and two anomalies caught Chen Ge¡¯s attention. There was a veryrge bathtub in the bathroom, and other than a fridge, there was a locked freezer in the kitchen.

    <i>Is it hiding a body?</i>

    There was no other logical exnation than this. All the doors in the room were open. After exiting the kitchen, Chen Ge entered the bedroom. There were several dark coats hanging in the closet, and on top of the closet was arge ck leather suitcase. The case looked old, and just as Chen Ge stood on his tiptoe to pull the case down, there was clicking of high heelsing from the outside corridor.

    He looked around and carried his backpack to hide inside the closet. <i>If I¡¯m discovered, it¡¯s over.</i>

    Chen Ge looked through the open slit of the closet. The front door was pushed open, and a man and woman stood outside of the door. The man walked in front, holding a police baton. He was wearing the security¡¯s outfit and looked to be in his twenties.

    ¡°You really saw the white shadow?¡±

    ¡°Yes, around half an hour ago. When I was opening the door, a sh of white appeared from the elevator! I was so scared; I didn¡¯t think to close my door and dashed into the stairwell to save my life.¡±

    The woman who trailed behind wore a pair of red high heels. She was very fashionable. Her frame was on the slighter side, and she had a head of luscious ck hair. Chen Ge could not see her face clearly because she was wearing a mask.

    Chen Ge had seen them both tonight. The male was Gu Feiyu, the new night guard, and the female was the woman who had taken the elevator from the 13th floor and run in a hurry to the underground parking lot.

    ¡°Stay here, I¡¯ll go to the elevator to take a look.¡± Gu Feiyu was not only straightforward, he was very brave as well.

    ¡°Don¡¯t leave me here alone...¡± The woman pulled on Gu Feiyu¡¯s uniform.

    ¡°I won¡¯t go too far.¡± Gu Feiyu did not care about the woman¡¯s feelings. He grabbed his baton and shlight as he ran to the elevator. He inspected the corners seriously but did not find any trace of the white shadow.

    ¡°Did you see wrongly?¡±

    ¡°Impossible.¡± The woman¡¯s voice was trembling. ¡°Do you think that thing has entered my home?¡±

    She stood behind Gu Feiyu, watching her own home, but did not dare step forward.

    ¡°ording to the captain, this ce is haunted. If you¡¯re that afraid, you should consider moving out,¡± Gu Feiyu said what was on his mind without filter. ¡°The earlier tenant was a mad woman, so you might have been cheated when you bought this ce.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t me who bought this ce. The mad woman you mentioned is my big sister. After her disappearance, this apartment got transferred to my name.¡± When the woman mentioned her sister, her expression fell. ¡°All of you say that she¡¯s mad, but she¡¯s the person who treated me with the most kindness in this world.¡±

    The woman walked into the room. The sound her high heels made against the tiles was very crisp. ¡°Don¡¯t just stand out there. If you keep the door open, something might slip in.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I still need to return to my patrol.¡±

    ¡°Pleasee in and help me find the white shadow. You can leave after we make sure it¡¯s not here.¡± The woman dragged Gu Feiyu into the room and closed the front door.

    ¡°Okay...¡±

    Gu Feiyu walked through the living room to the balcony while the woman turned into the bedroom. Chen Ge held his breath as the woman got near. If she opened the closet door now, she would get a ¡®surprise¡¯ that she would never forget.

    After closing the bedroom door, the woman walked to the make-up table and removed her mask in front of the mirror. She pulled out many cans and bottles from the drawer and started to touch-up her make-up. When she was done, she slipped a small stic canister into her pocket and left.

    ¡°I¡¯ve checked the bedroom; the white shadow is not in there.¡±

    When the woman turned, Chen Ge caught a glimpse of her face. Her skin was pale, and she looked very familiar.

 Chapter 207 - Black or White?

    <h4>Chapter 207: ck or White?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Did you see the white shadow?¡± When the woman exited the bedroom, her expression slowly changed. Hershes quivered lightly, and with theck of color in her face, she looked like a real damsel in distress.

    ¡°No.¡± Gu Feiyu¡¯s eyesnded on the woman who had removed the mask, and an awkwardness appeared on his face before he silently moved his face away.

    ¡°Take a seat. I have a feeling the appearance of the white shadow might have a story behind it.¡± The woman asked for Gu Feiyu to sit on the sofa. Probably tired from wearing the high heels, she removed them and walked into the kitchen barefooted.

    Both of his hands gripping the police baton, Gu Feiyu was obviously nervous. He looked very agitated, and his legs shook unnaturally. The woman took two opened bottles of drinks from the fridge and ced them on the coffee table. ¡°Thank you for your help today.¡±

    ¡°Just doing my job.¡± Gu Feiyu was embarrassed.

    ¡°No, I should really thank you. If not for you, I wouldn¡¯t have known what to do. After my elder sister¡¯s disappearance, I¡¯m all alone in Jiujiang. I don¡¯t have much savings. I¡¯m waiting for this ce to get sold, and I¡¯ll be moving away forever.¡± The woman sat across from the security guard. She looked like she was still scared. She curled her legs around the edge of the sofa, and her hands massaged them gently.

    ¡°Leaving is not a bad idea.¡± Gu Feiyu nodded, and his gaze that went to the woman was colored with pity. ¡°But you don¡¯t need to feel so depressed. Your sister is just missing, perhaps she might return one day.¡±

    ¡°Things are not as simple as you think. I share a very good rtionship with my sister. After all, we grew up together. She would share everything with me and tell me every one of her secrets, but one day, she just disappeared. I suspect that she¡¯s already...¡± The woman choked on her words. It felt like she had forced herself through that revtion; she was opening up before a stranger.

    Her frame was small, and her limbs were thin; she gave off a sense of fragility. When she started to cry, the heart of every man would go to her. Gu Feiyu was all flustered, and he did not know what to do. After some time, he put down the baton and passed the tissue box on the table to the woman. The woman epted a tissue, but afraid of ruining her make-up, she just used to it to dab around her eyes. ¡°When I came back from work and saw the white shadow, I was shocked beyond words. Do you think the white shadow has taken my sister?¡±

    Her voice wasced with despair. ¡°Now that I¡¯ve seen the white shadow, will I be taken next?¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t.¡± The woman was so focus on her sadness that she did not notice that her skirt was wide open. Gu Feiyu saw this and immediately moved his eyes away.

    ¡°I hope you¡¯re right.¡± The woman picked up the drink before her and lightly touched the bottle in front of Gu Feiyu. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry to drop this on you.¡±

    She raised the bottle to her mouth, and it was then that Gu Feiyu recovered. Out of politeness, he also took a sip from the bottle.

    ¡°I think you shouldn¡¯t be that pessimistic. These few days, there were many individuals who havee to ask about your sister, so I¡¯m sure she¡¯s still alive. Perhaps there¡¯s some reason that prevented her froming to see you.¡±

    The drink just came out from the fridge, so it was cool. It tasted so good that Gu Feiyu naturally took another sip. ¡°Your sister probably has her reasons for going away. In any case, I don¡¯t believe in that talk of ghosts. She probably made some mistake and came up with that excuse to hide from thew. Actually, I feel sorry for her. She couldn¡¯t even see the person that loves her the most in the world; what is the meaning of being alive then?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand her. None of you have ever tried to understand her.¡± The woman¡¯s expression filled with sadness, but her tone had a small change to it. ¡°She is the best older sister one can ever ask for. She was willing to share her most precious thing with me.¡±

    Gu Feiyu suddenly felt very tired. He hugged the baton and leaned against the sofa. ¡°Looks like you two do share a very good rtionship.¡±

    The woman seemed to go down her memory, but her gaze had never left the half-empty bottle that was on the table. ¡°When I saw small, people liked to bully me, and my sister would be the first one to jump out to defend me. As we grew older, our personalities started to form and differ from each other. I was selfish and prone to throw temper tantrums, but no matter what I did, my sister would always forgive me. She was perfect, beautiful, graceful, and had a great smile.

    ¡°At the time, I didn¡¯t appreciate it. The more she was tolerant toward me, the more I hated her. I hated everything she liked. She liked white, so I liked ck. I had to be different from her. This continued for several months until that incident happened.¡±

    Studying the guard, the woman continued after a long time. ¡°Even though I hate to admit it, we fell in love with the same thing.

    ¡°In our neighborhood, there was this handsome boy who fell in love with my sister. He liked to listen to music andpose pieces. He was a wonderful singer, too. Whenever they went on their dates, my heart twisted like it was cut with a thousand knives. I could not allow the thing that I loved to be someone else¡¯s.

    ¡°I look simr to my sister, so I started to put on her make-up and wear her clothes. Initially, the dates were sessful, but slowly, the boy discovered my secret. After all, I was not my sister, and we havepletely different personalities. I cried and begged him to stay, but he only loved my sister.¡±

    The veins on the woman¡¯s arms were scary, but Gu Feiyu sitting opposite from her did not seem to notice this. His eyes kept closing like he was too tired from the long evening patrol.

    ¡°For him, I gave up my pride to beg my elder sister, but the sister who imed she loved me went silent this time. We did not speak for an entire week. In the end, it was sister whopromised. She said that she would call the boy over and had him choose.

    ¡°When the boy got my sister¡¯s invitation, he was so happy. He even went out to buy a new shirt and fresh flowers. He also spent the whole night recording my sister¡¯s favorite song. When he arrived, the boy confessed directly to my sister, but she did not ept it immediately. Instead she called me out and told the boy to make the choice.

    ¡°My sister was wearing her favorite white dress, so I wore ck. She asked the boy, ¡®Honey, white or ck, which color do you prefer?¡¯

    ¡°I¡¯ve never prayed for something so hard in my life before, but it only took several seconds for my hope to be shattered. The boy didn¡¯t hesitate at all and chose my sister.¡±

    Her nails cut into her flesh. Even after so many years, the woman still felt the sting of betrayal. Her breathing became ragged, and it only calmed down after a long time. ¡°I felt my heart being torn open. Words cannot describe the pain. I just wanted to leave and go somewhere people could not find me.

    ¡°Elder sister saw the pain I was in. She seemed to have already expected this ending. At my lowest point in life, it was again my sister who stepped forth to help me. She fed the boy a bottle of water and then removed her white dress before walking into the kitchen to retrieve a cleaver.

    ¡°She told me that other than white and ck, there was another choice that was fairest to all.¡±

    The woman stopped talking and pulling out a cleaver from underneath the sofa. She used the tissue that Gu Feiyu had given her to wipe away the make-up on her face. As if remembering the things that happened so many years ago, the woman held the cleaver high as she moved toward the immobile Gu Feiyu. The wig fell off her head, and thepletely hairless face leaned close to Gu Feiyu¡¯s ear.

    ¡°Honey, ck, white, and red, which color do you prefer?¡±

 Chapter 208 - This Is a Love Song

    <h4>Chapter 208: This Is a Love Song</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The woman¡¯s face was startlingly white. When she was agitated, her features twisted dangerously. Her slender arm curled around Gu Feiyu¡¯s neck, and her icy finger slid down the man¡¯s face.

    Licking away her bright lipstick, her thin purplish lips leaned against Gu Feiyu¡¯s ear and continued to mumble, ¡°Two of us have fallen in love with the same thing, so the fairest way is to cut it into half so that we can have one half each.¡±

    The cleaver cut through the uniform¡¯s button, and the woman¡¯s movement was gentle and soft. The security guard tried his best to open his eyes. He had notpletely fainted.

    ¡°Both me and my sister got our love; he was the first for both of us.¡± The woman leaned against Gu Feiyu¡¯s chest. ¡°You have a personality that¡¯s simr to his. Initially, I wanted to wait for a few months before asking you toe up, but those people have already found me, so I need to leave this city as soon as possible.¡±

    Listening to Gu Feiyu¡¯s heartbeat, the woman raised her head to say, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t hurt you.¡±

    She walked into the bedroom to retrieve the ck suitcase from the top of the closet. From within, she took out an ancient tape recorder. Kneeling beside it, the woman picked out a tape that was covered in dust. She kissed along the edge of the tape slowly like she was doing some sort of ritual.

    She put in the tape and pressed the y button, and a boy¡¯s voice drifted out from it. The woman held the cleaver and listened to the song quietly. The boy had a clear and warm tone. It was filled with love. It was a love song.

    ¡°I¡¯ve made about ten copies of this tape, but most of them have been lost.¡±

    The familiar melody surrounded the living room, and it seemed to bring the woman back many years. She tossed Gu Feiyu¡¯s uniform aside and took out the bundle of rope from underneath the sofa. After securing the knot, she dragged Gu Feiyu into the bathroom.

    Hiding inside the closet, Chen Ge saw everything. ¡°The locked freezer, therge bathroom... this woman has prepared everything. This is pure madness.¡±

    Chen Ge knew he had to make his move soon or Gu Feiyu would be in mortal danger. He lowered the volume on his phone and stood beside the bedroom door. He grabbed the chair from the make-up table and called Gu Feiyu¡¯s number.

    The woman dropped Gu Feiyu into the bathtub, and the man¡¯s phone in the living room rang. ¡°Why at a time like this?¡±

    The woman walked out of the bathroom barefooted and picked up the security uniform that was left in the corner. When the woman was looking through the uniform for Gu Feiyu¡¯s phone, Chen Ge walked silently behind the woman.

    As if sensing something, the woman turned. However, before she could turn fully around, Chen Ge already swung the heavy chair at her.

    The woman did not expect another person in the room. She copsed to the floor, and the top of her head was bleeding. Her pair of eyes red at Chen Ge like they were bulging from the socket.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    Chen Ge was not one to waste time talking, especially when his target was not incapacitated. The chair went down once more on the same spot. The woman¡¯s head lulled to the side. She was already weak to begin with, but now she could not even stand up.

    Chen Ge untied the ropes from Gu Feiyu and used them to tie up the woman¡¯s legs and arms. ¡°Who would have thought the two missions are ovepping? Then again, this makes thing easy for me.¡±

    He pulled out his own tape and ced it inside the recorder. The singing stopped, and only white noise could be heard.

    ¡°Those who disrespect life will be disrespected by life.¡±

    Fresh blood dyed the woman¡¯s face. She was lying on the ground, but she kept her eyes ring at Chen Ge. The expression on her face was curious. There was no fear or worry but plenty of surprise and shock. Taking out his phone, Chen Ge called Inspector Lee. Just as the call was picked up, the lights in the room went off.

    <i>The woman came out from the Third Sick Hall, so she should carry a monster from inside the door on her.</i>

    Chen Ge opened the shlight function on her phone and retrieved the cleaver from his backpack.

    The red cloth fluttered to the ground, and Chen Ge cautiously looked around. After some time, there was a sounding from the front door. It sounded like someone was scratching at the door with their nails. It sounded shrill to the ears. Chen Ge got quite unsettled listening to it.

    <i>It¡¯s that white shadow!</i>

    The first moment Chen Ge heard the scratching, he knew who it was.

    ¡°Is anyone home?¡± There was a rather ambiguous voiceing from beyond the door, and it had a weird tone. It repeated the same question. Holding the cleaver, Chen Ge did not know whether to answer or not.

    When it repeated itself the seventh time, the voice said, ¡°Is anyone home? If no one¡¯s home, I¡¯ming in.¡±

    The front door creaked open, and a white shadow about the size of a normal person stood at the door. This was the fourth monster Chen Ge hade across after the mirror monster, the thin monster, and the broken-arm monster. It had a blurry face and iplete facial features, but it moved very fast.

    Chen Ge blocked the cleaver before his chest. The monster gave him plenty of pressure; this creature was weaker than the thin monster but much stronger than a normal mirror monster. When he was at Third Sick Hall, a thin monster had chased him all over the ce. If not for Zhang Ya, Chen Ge might not even have survived.

    The white shadow faced Chen Ge and morphed to his side in the blink of an eye. Chen Ge waved the cleaver, and when it cut through the white shadow, it screamed like it was injured. It then red at Chen Ge.

    The white face morphed before Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. It finally changed into the face of Patient No. 2. However, the facial features were unstable. It felt like the result of too many stic surgeries. The whole face was fragile like the features coulde loose if the woman made too many facial expressions.

    As the face leaned closer, Chen Ge used the ballpoint pen in his pocket to poke the ghost. He struggled as best as he could. Caught in their fight, no one realized a man¡¯s painful scream was echoing through the room.

    ¡°So painful...¡±

    The tip of the pen stuck into the white shadow¡¯s forehead. The monster gripped Chen Ge¡¯s wrist tightly and slowly moved its face toward Chen Ge¡¯s face. It seemed like it was trying to steal Chen Ge¡¯s face!

    ¡°So painful, so painful, so painful!¡±

    Just as the white shadow was about to touch the tip of Chen Ge¡¯s nose, its body was pulled back by an unknown force, and its hair was pulled taut.

    ¡°So painful!¡± When the scream appeared behind the white shadow, the expressions of both Chen Ge and the woman on the floor shifted.

    ¡°Xu Yin! Is that you?¡± The woman¡¯s reaction was bigger than Chen Ge¡¯s. Since she was all tied up, she used her forehead to move forward; she was trying to sit up.

    When the woman was distracted, the white shadow¡¯s face disappeared, and its presence weakened.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? It was the woman who was controlling the white shadow?¡± Chen Ge was the only one who maintained his calm. He kept his eyes on the white shadow. Realizing it had weakened, he made use of this opportunity to injure it.

    The Tape Ghost had incapacitated the white shadow, so it was the perfect chance to give it a heavy blow. However, to Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, at thest minute, the Tape Ghost let go. It seemed to have recognized the woman on the floor.

    ¡°So painful...¡±

 Chapter 209 - Why Are You Here Again?

    <h4>Chapter 209: Why Are You Here Again?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After losing the grip on it, the white shadow retreated. Its speed was fast.

    ¡°Don¡¯t run!¡± This was such a perfect opportunity, so naturally, Chen Ge would not let it run away so easily. He raised the cleaver and chased after the white shadow. Without the woman¡¯s control, the white shadow¡¯s presence continued to weaken. Its face became blurrier, as did its body.

    The monster felt threatened. It scurried to the ck suitcase and grabbed something from within before dashing out the front door. Chen Ge did not have a good look of what it was, but since they were enemies, he knew he had to keep what the white shadow was attempting to take.

    The cleaver managed to do some damage to the white shadow. With the decision made in his mind, Chen Ge shifted the target to the thing the white shadow tried to carry away with it. He saw the opportunity and made a sh. As the white shadow evaded, Chen Ge grabbed at the thing it was holding.

    In their tussle, the thing was torn apart. Half of it fluttered to the floor. In its hurry to escape, the white shadow did not stay to grab it. Chen Ge chased it to the door. There was nothing in the darkened hallway. He thought about it logically. Without the Tape Ghost¡¯s aid, he might not be able to fight the white shadow if cornered.

    Chen Ge thus gave up on the chase. Chen Ge closed the front door and turned on the lights of the living room. The scene that he saw made his eyes twitch. On the cold floor, the woman¡¯s limbs were twisted at a curious angle, and her eyes bulged outwards. She screamed violently, and her hairless face showed an expression that confused Chen Ge. It felt like pain, but it also felt like release and joy.

    ¡°Is it painful?¡± How to deal with the woman was the Tape Ghost¡¯s business. His mission was to find this woman to help the Tape Ghostplete his wish. He turned around to pick up the torn piece of paper that had fallen to the floor.

    It looked like an advertisement flyer. The actual content was on the other half that was taken by the white shadow. Chen Ge¡¯s half only had three red words and a small slogan. <i>Ghost stories society? Sharing a real ghost story every week?</i>

    This half-torn flyer caught Chen Ge¡¯s attention not only because the white shadow insisted on bringing this thing with it but also because the background for the flyer was a half-opened blood red door!

    <i>It¡¯s about the world behind the door?</i>

    The flyer belonged to Patient No. 2, and she had been behind the door before.

    <i>Could it have been set up by the escaped mental patients? But what does it mean by one horror story every week?</i>

    Looking at the roughly made flyer and curious introduction, Chen Ge realized that even those flyers on the telephone poles advertising loans were more detailed than this.

    <i>The members have to tell actual ghost stories, so what would happen if they have no story to tell? Fake one? How will they know it¡¯s real or fake? </i>Chen Ge pocketed the flyer. If he told people the things that had happened to him recently, he would probably be able to scare plenty of people. Of course, the premise was people. If his audience consisted of ghosts, then it would be hard to tell who would be scaring who.

    The screams in the room slowly stopped, and in their ce was a robotic female voice repeating, ¡°So painful...¡±

    ¡°The woman was forced inside the tape?¡± Chen Ge walked to the woman¡¯s side. Her gaze was dull and lifeless, like her soul had been sucked out of her body. Chen Ge had no clue what the Tape Ghost had done to the woman, and he did not care; this was between the Tape Ghost and the woman.

    cing the woman on the sofa, Chen Ge turned off the recorder. As he pressed on the power button, the ck phone vibrated. A new message had arrived.

    ¡°Congrattions forpleting Xu Yin¡¯s wish. His impression of you has improved greatly. Would you like to employ the Tape Ghost as a member of the Haunted House?¡±

    <i>The Affection Mission ispleted just like that?</i>

    The Tape Ghost was more powerful than the Pen Spirit, so inparison, the Tape Ghost¡¯s affection mission was more dangerous than the Pen Spirit¡¯s.

    ¡°Would you like to employ the Tape Ghost as a member of the Haunted House? No answer within twenty-four hours means that you have forfeited the choice.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Chen Ge clicked on the screen. Normal person would not even imagine how excited he was.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored, you have hired a special-type baleful specter¡ªXu Yin.

    ¡°Xu Yin (Baleful Specter): He has a very unique voice (Can temporarily control lingering spirits and disturb other baleful specters. Unless on a Red Specter, useable once per week).

    ¡°Note: Xu Yin feeds on the visitor¡¯s frightful screams. The visitor¡¯s fear will improve Xu Yin¡¯s power, but if you keep Xu Yin isted and depressed, he might decide to leave you.¡±

    Reading the information, Chen Ge was satisfied with Xu Yin. This was a special-type baleful specter simr to the Pen Spirit; they each had their own special power.

    <i>Not bad, for future Trial Missions, I have another trump card.</i>

    Removing the tape from the recorder, Chen Ge ced it next to the ballpoint pen.

    <i>The only downside is the Tape Ghost will only appear when the tape is yed. Looks like I need to go to the flea market to find myself a portable recorder.</i>

    After doing everything, Chen Ge realized that there was another ¡®victim¡¯ lying inside the bathroom. He ran into the bathroom and realized that Gu Feiyu hadpletely fainted.

    <i>I bet this will scar the young man for life.</i>

    Chen Ge dragged Gu Feiyu out of the bathtub and used the uniform to cover his body. He hid his cleaver at the bottom of his backpack and sat in the living room, waiting for Inspector Lee to arrive.

    Twenty minutester, Inspector Lee came with thendowner. To contain the chaos, they did not make too much noise.

    ¡°Chen Ge!¡± As he stepped into the room, Inspector Lee saw Chen Ge, who sat in the middle of the room. ¡°Are you injured? Where¡¯s the suspect?¡±

    ¡°Already tied up. The victim is the security guard; he¡¯s still unconscious.¡±

    Inspector Lee entered the room to inspect the crime scene. He frowned and asked Chen Ge, ¡°The female one is the culprit, and the male is the victim?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Why are you here? What is your role?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Chen Ge blurted out, ¡°Actually it¡¯s quite a coincidence. There¡¯s a girl on the 14th floor who suffers from depression, and I was here to help her. I came tonight to check up on her condition; if you don¡¯t believe me, you can go up and ask her mother.¡±

    ¡°Meaning you ran into this murder casepletely on ident?¡±

    ¡°I suppose so.¡± After he said that, Chen Ge realized the eyes of the few policemen who looked at him changed. ¡°I¡¯m not joking; it¡¯s all a coincidence.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to exin, I believe you,¡± Inspector Lee reassured.

    ¡°Ah Yong, call the ambnce. We need to get the victim to the hospital for treatment and examination. The rest of you, deal with the crime scene and collect the fingerprints, but don¡¯t touch the drinks on the table. Females are naturally physically weaker than males, so they normally depend on poison, so we have to carefully preserve the crime scene.¡±

    Inspector Lee was very experienced. With just a nce, he managed to predict part of the case. Chen Ge stood to the side quietly and did not say a word, holding the half-torn flyer in his hand.

 Chapter 210 - Rest Stop

    <h4>Chapter 210: Rest Stop</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    About half an hourter, Captain Yan¡¯s people also arrived at the scene. They were the ones who were tasked to follow up on the Third Sick Hall¡¯s case.

    ¡°You¡¯re Chen Ge?¡± The one leading was arge young man.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Chen Ge had not seen this man before, so he likely was not a normal police officer at the station.

    ¡°Come with us. Before the victim is conscious, we¡¯ll be responsible for your safety.¡± The content was polite, but the tone was not. Chen Ge saw the surreptitious signal that Inspector Lee gave him, and he rxed enough to follow this group of people to the hospital.

    At 11:30 pm, Gu Feiyu awoke and told the police everything that happened. When Chen Ge tackled the mad woman, he still had half a wisp of consciousness left to remember seeing Chen Ge.

    He had thought that he was going to die. This experience was something Gu Feiyu would never forget for life. Under his fervent demand, the police found Chen Ge and arranged for the two to meet. Meeting Chen Ge again, Gu Feiyu¡¯s expression and tone werepletely different from the first time they met. The young man was a man of simple beliefs. Holding Chen Ge¡¯s hand, he thanked Chen Ge sincerely.

    Seeing this, the police¡¯s suspicion toward Chen Ge slowly dissipated. The leading young officer even praised him so much that Chen Ge felt rather embarrassed. At around midnight, Chen Ge exited the hospital. Standing at the empty junction, he looked at the city that was shrouded in darkness.

    ¡°I should tell them.¡± Holding the half-torn flyer, Chen Ge called Captain Yan.

    ¡°Xiao Chen?¡±

    ¡°Captain Yan, I have something to tell you.¡±

    ¡°Is it about Patient No. 2? Don¡¯t worry, I got the report already. You¡¯ve saved a human life, well done.¡± But Captain Yan¡¯s tone turned serious. ¡°But I still don¡¯t agree with your ways of private investigation. You¡¯re toying with your life.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the discovery of Patient No. 2 today was pure coincidence. It won¡¯t happen again.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice sounded raw. ¡°I¡¯m calling for another purpose. When I was eavesdropping on Patient No. 2, I overheard her mention a special organization; it¡¯s called the ghost story society.¡±

    ¡°Ghost story society?¡±

    ¡°Yes, listening to the name, it sounds like a gathering for horror story aficionados, but instead of making up stories, they only tell actual stories.¡±

    ¡°When you overheard this? Who was Patient No. 2 talking to? Will we be able to find the record on her phone?¡± Captain Yan was suspicious.

    ¡°She wasn¡¯t talking on the phone. There was a big sister persona hiding inside this woman, so you can understand why she was talking to herself.¡± Chen Ge kept the half-torn flyer. ¡°I suspect that this society is formed by the mental patients who escaped from the third sick hall, and the woman is probably one of the members.¡±

    ¡°A ghost story society founded by a bunch of mental patients?¡± Captain Yan thought about it and told Chen Ge seriously, ¡°I will have my people follow up on this. If you have any more information, please remember to call me.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    After hanging up, Chen Ge pulled up his cor. <i>They have to share a real story every week, but what if there¡¯s no story to share? Create one themselves?</i>

    Chen Ge returned to New Century Park. When he entered the Haunted House, the white cat jumped down from the tree and followed behind him gracefully. ¡°Next time, I¡¯ll tie you up and bring you with me!¡±

    After feeding the cat, Chen Ge took out the ck phone to look over his refreshed daily missions. Chen Ge had seen two of them before; they were to deal with hidden security threats and to hire a new employee. The third daily mission Chen Ge saw for the first time. It asked Chen Ge to build a rest stop outside of the Haunted House. The time limit was one day, and the difficulty was normal.

    <i>The missions given by the ck phone are the things that I need to do at my current status. Indeed, as the number of visitors increases, asking them to stand in line for a long time isn¡¯t a good idea.</i>

    Chen Ge clicked on the screen to ept this mission. Then he used a pen and paper to design a simple rest stop.

    <i>There¡¯s not enough budget. If there was enough money, I could set up a multi-purpose building next to the Haunted House to sell drinks and food for the visitors to recover and rest as well as a ce to sell Haunted House merchandise.</i>

    Inspiration flooded into Chen Ge. <i>I can learn from Tian Teng Medical School and get arge screen to introduce the background to each scenario. Then I can pick selected videos of certain visitors to broadcast on screen, and that should be able to incite curiosity and interest in other visitors.</i>

    Chen Ge drew on the paper. With the delineation in difficulty level, he had even prepared a ranking board depending on the difficulty and clear time. That would definitely motivate the thrill-seekers and achievement-hoarders. When he was done, the paper design was several pages thick.

    Chen Ge arranged them and prepared to take them to meet Director Luo tomorrow morning. Hopefully, he would be able to convince the man. He nced at the time; it was already 2 am. Chen Ge stretchedzily.

    <i>The only hidden security risk inside the Haunted House now is that door, but the ¡®door¡¯ only appears at midnight, so it won¡¯t affect the visitors. The constant hints on the ck phone should be a reminder that I should do something about that ¡®door¡¯. The recruitment mission is even easier; I can just hire some from Tian Teng Medical School. s, now is not the time to make the move yet.</i>

    Chen Ge tapped his pen on the table as hepared the strengths and weaknesses between the two Haunted Houses. He was not one who was blinded by pride, and he knew which areas of his Haunted House were weakerpared to Tian Teng Medical School.

    <i>Tian Teng Medical School is small, but their scenes are seamlessly linked. Inparison, even though my Haunted House is bigger, there is also a lot more empty space.</i>

    This was not Chen Ge¡¯s fault. He had gained the ck phone about a week ago, and he had been busypleting the missions to expand the Haunted House, so there had to be some ws.

    <i>I should add more scares in my Haunted House. Looks like I need to go make a new batch of props and mannequins tomorrow.</i>

    After several Trial Missions, Chen Ge had mastered more ways to scare people. His mind was filled with ideas, and he could not help but smile, imagining the screams from his visitors.

    <i>I can¡¯t wait. I wonder who will be so lucky to be the first visitor to visit the Third Sick Hall.</i>

    Cat fur shed before Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. The white cat seemed to think Chen Ge was being very noisy. It jumped on the table, then jumped onto the bed and snuggled into the mattress.

    Chen Ge also realized it was quitete. He set the rm for 7 am andy down beside the cat to sleep.

    The sun rose, and Chen Ge cleaned the Haunted House. Then he left the ce with the ideas he had jotted down the previous night.

 Chapter 211 - Scary Mannequins

    <h4>Chapter 211: Scary Mannequins</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Along the way, Chen Ge called the workshop boss. The boss thought that Chen Ge had changed her mind and was willing to help the poor souls in the world. Without waiting for Chen Ge to exin, he left his home in a hurry. Chen Ge waited at the front door of the workshop while having his breakfast. In just twenty minutes, the boss arrived.

    ¡°Boss Qian, I need to borrow your workshop again. Money is not an issue.¡± Chen Ge was not exactly lying. He might not have money now, but he would have it soon.

    ¡°Why are we talking money at the first meeting? We¡¯re old pals already. Talk of money hurts the rtionship.¡± The slightly overweight boss sat next to Chen Ge. ¡°Just leave me one of your mannequins, and it¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure? My mannequins are not for human use.¡± Chen Ge did not want to lie to the boss since he had treated him with nothing but kindness. ¡°I will design a few new mannequins today. You can decide after I¡¯m done.¡±

    The boss opened the ss door, but before entering, he bowed three times.

    ¡°What are you doing? Are you that afraid?¡± Chen Ge remembered that the boss did not have this habit when they first met.

    ¡°I also don¡¯t know why. Ever since you created your first batch of mannequins, I¡¯ve had a feeling something is watching me from inside the door.¡± Boss Qian scratched his head. ¡°In any case, it¡¯s no loss on my part to be careful. If there¡¯s really something, this way perhaps it might leave me alone.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not wrong.¡± Chen Ge shook his head as he entered the workshop. Now he appeared to be more familiar with theyout than Boss Qian. He picked up the tools that he needed and walked into the storage room. ¡°Some of your materials are going to expire if you don¡¯t use them soon. Speaking of which, the ce looks the same as when I left thest time. Have you had no business during this whole period?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± Boss Qian walked into the storage room to help and used this opportunity to say, ¡°I¡¯ve just came back from the adult doll market research. The market is booming, and we can go the custom-made route.¡±

    ¡°We can talk about thatter.¡± Chen Ge brushed him off. With all the materials ready, Chen Ge tried to remember the woman¡¯s face that had gone under the knife many times. In a few minutes, he hadpleted a broad draft.

    ¡°Running a Haunted House is a real waste of your talent.¡± Boss Qian sighed. Chen Ge ignored him and focused on the y. Very soon, hepleted the woman¡¯s face. The woman might have been insane, but it had to be said that she was incredibly beautiful.

    ¡°But something is missing.¡± Chen Ge held the model for inspection before ruining it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± Boss Qian cried out. ¡°At least give it to me to show the customer!¡±

    ¡°The face is not what I want,¡± Chen Ge mumbled and soon came up with another face. Compared to before, this face was filled with sickness and madness. ¡°Still wrong, the woman¡¯s madness isced with pain.¡±

    Chen Ge started over again. Then Chen Ge felt the face was missing a brilliance. This was repeated several times until Boss Qian had gotten used to it. He looked at Chen Ge with sadness in his eyes, and he was humming a sad bad.

    ¡°Where is the problem?¡± Chen Ge thought back to the introduction of his Dollmaker¡¯s talent, and a brave idea appeared in his mind. ¡°The woman¡¯s lingering spirit was trapped by Xu Yin inside the tape. I can use Xu Yin¡¯s power to release the lingering spirit to control the mannequin. The madwoman is still alive, and in the phone, living doll has this introduction¡ªusing a live person as basis. If I follow the ck phone¡¯s introduction and instill the madwoman¡¯s lingering spirit into the mannequin, what will happen?¡±

    Looking at the y body in his hands, Chen Ge could only envision this. The woman had been involved in multiple murders. Even if she yed the mad card, it was impossible for her to see the light of day again.

    ¡°Looks like I still need to depend on myself.¡± To reconstruct the woman¡¯s face, Chen Ge continued to work. ¡°She has been through many stic surgeries. Her face is indeed gorgeous if you look at the facial feature individually, but oncebined together, there¡¯s this uncanny feeling.¡±

    Chen Ge tore the woman¡¯s apart and focused on making individual features before joining them together. When Chen Ge patched thest piece of the face together, a miracle appeared. The woman¡¯s face was replicated perfectly; even the expression was hauntingly simr. Looking at this face, Chen Ge was finally satisfied.

    ¡°The features are made individually and joined together using steel wires. This way, the face won¡¯t be broken so easily.¡±

    However, that did not mean that the face would not break open. If a visitor got too close, the woman¡¯s face could still crack. Chen Ge chuckled, imagining the scare that would have on people.

    Before 9 am, Chen Gepleted five mannequins, based on the madwoman, Xu Tong, Xiong Qing, the single-armed patient, and the resilient nurse. If possible, Chen Ge wanted to copy the entire Third Sick Hall, including all the patients and doctors.

    ¡°Now that I have the characters. With the corresponding props, each mannequin will be their own scary tale.¡±

    It needed time for the filler to freeze, so Chen Ge left after bidding Boss Qian farewell.

    Chen Ge reached the Haunted House at 9 am. He opened the gate to wee a new day of work. New Century Park opened at 9 am. Many visitors stepped into the park and made a beeline for Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. The number was not small either.

    Uncle Xu did not miss this. From certain angle, Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House had be the park¡¯s main attraction.

    ¡°Uncle Xu, you¡¯re here. This is perfect; I was just looking for you.¡±

    ¡°Want me to help you sell tickets? Sure, I¡¯m free anyway.¡± Uncle Xu naturally moved to the door of the Haunted House. Looking at the long line of visitors, a rare smile appeared on his face.

    Chen Ge waved. ¡°I want to build a rest stop next to the Haunted House. It¡¯s horrible that we ask the visitors to stand in line all day.¡±

    ¡°No problem. Director Luo has specifically ordered us to aid you in the next two months.¡±

    ¡°I still feel like it¡¯s better if I go talk to Director Luo in person.¡± Chen Ge was preparing for the future. He had more things in mind than a mere rest stop.

    ¡°Director Luo will be in his office around noon, so you can go see him then.¡± Uncle Xu gave the other workers their assignments through his walkie-talkie. Soon, the park¡¯s van arrived, and several workers helped move the benches and shed covers out from the vehicle. They were going to build a simple shed beside the Haunted House.

    ¡°These were from when the park still had activities; we¡¯ll use them for now. As for the actual rest stop, the size and everything, you will need to discuss it with Director Luo first.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    Uncle Xu and the park workers helped maintain the line. Most of them were lining up obediently, but arge young man cut through the line, rushing toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°Wang Hailong? Why is he here?¡± Chen Ge walked forward assuming some ident had happened to Wang Shenglong. ¡°Did the child finally lose his patience and speak?¡±

 Chapter 212 - As Kind as the Sun

    <h4>Chapter 212: As Kind as the Sun</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Stopping the worker, Chen Ge went forward. ¡°Are you looking for me?¡±

    Wang Shenglong was covered with sweat, and he gasped for breath as he pushed through the crowd. ¡°My little brother spokest night! He¡¯s just outside the park; he says that he has something important to tell you!¡±

    ¡°Bring me to him.¡± Things were as Chen Ge expected. He looked at the long lines and gave Uncle Xu some simplemands. He opened the Minghun scenario to the visitors before leaving with Wang Hailong.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to disturb your business.¡± Wang Hailing swiped the sweat from his forehead. ¡°Life has been really difficult for Shenglong, and I couldn¡¯t say no to him.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    The two of them reached the entrance of the park. There was a van parked across the street, and the outside of the van was painted with a logo that read ¡®Long Hu Fang¡¯.

    ¡°In here.¡± Wang Hailong led Chen Ge toward the van. ¡°You¡¯ve seen how my brother looks. He¡¯s afraid of scaring others, so he didn¡¯t want to show himself in public.¡±

    Tussling with the thin monster meant that Wang Shenglong¡¯s mental age had not grown; he was no different from a child, but his body was seriously twisted. He stayed inside his room for most of the time, and he was so fat that he could not get on a bed, so he had to lie on the floor with a thinyer of mattress.

    Chen Ge was reminded of the famous Disney movie¡ªThe Hunchback of Notre Dame.

    When Chen Ge first met Wang Shenglong at Hai Ming Apartments, he had drawn a picture. Inside the picture, the monster had been standing on the boy¡¯s shoulders, its eyes targeting the people around him like he was ready to jump on other people¡¯s shoulders at any moment.

    Wang Shenglong used that picture to tell Chen Ge of his difficulty. If he did not follow the monster¡¯s instructions, it would jump to his other family members, harming them. Thus, he had taken on the suffering all by himself, ying this unfair game. He had not said a word for the past five or six years.

    Wang Hailong opened the back of the van to reveal a mountain like shadow at the deepest recesses of the van. ¡°Shenglong, I¡¯ve invited Boss Chen. If you have something to say, please tell him now.¡±

    Hearing that, the shadow moved forward slightly, causing the whole wan to shake.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move, I¡¯lle in.¡± Chen Ge and Wang Hailong jumped into the van and closed the door. This was the second time he had been in such close contact with Wang Shenglong. It was impossible to tell Wang Shenglong¡¯s age from his looks. His face was covered by folds of fat, and his body was impossibly wide.

    ¡°Wu...¡± The years of non-speech meant that Wang Shenglong had forgotten how to speak. He could only formte the start of the word but not theplete term.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You can write the things that you want to tell me down.¡± Chen Ge had initially maintained a distance from Wang Shenglong. He had stood near the door, and if there had been something amiss, he would have jumped out immediately. However, after some observation, Chen Ge realized that Wang Shenglong was indeed different from before. The most obvious difference being that the stench around him had already disappeared. He grabbed the notebook from the seat next to him. Wang Shenglong held the pen and wrote down two words on the paper.

    ¡°I won.¡±

    It was two simple words, but it took Wang Shenglong five to six years toplete them. It was because of these two words that his life had been ruined. The pen almost scratched through the paper; it was obvious how excited Wang Shenglong was feeling.

    ¡°Boss Chen, do you still remember the story I told you?¡± Afraid that Chen Ge did not get the reference, Wang Hailong leaned toward him. ¡°My little brother got into this game with a monster when he was young called ¡®Who Speaks First¡¯. This gamested for almost six years, but from the looks of thing, my little brother has won.¡±

    Then, Wang Hailong added in a whisper, ¡°Boss Chen, my little brother just recovered, so please go along with everything that he says.¡±

    Chen Ge turned to nce at Wang Hailong. Thisrge man was gentler than Chen Ge had expected.

    ¡°Your little brother is indeed impressive. I¡¯ve met many who yed this game, and your little brother is the only one who has won it.¡± Chen Ge held Wang Shenglong¡¯srge hand. ¡°You¡¯re amazing.¡±

    The pen moved, and Wang Shenglong added on the notebook, ¡°It had only left temporarily. It said that it would return to find me.¡±

    ¡°It will return?¡± Looking at the words, a question surfaced in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. ¡°The monster has wasted almost six years on you, why did he suddenly leave?¡±

    ¡°It felt so threatened that it woke up from its slumber. It tried to forcibly take over my body, but it failed. Then, it left.¡±

    ¡°Threatened? Is it because the appearance of Doctor Gao and myself?¡± Chen Ge pressed. ¡°When did the monster awaken?¡±

    ¡°At 3 am two days ago,¡± Wang Shenglong answered on the notebook honestly. Looking at the date on the paper, Chen Ge was shocked.

    Two nights ago, he had been livestreaming inside Third Sick Hall. <i>After I entered the world behind the door and awakened Men Nan¡¯s main persona, it also woke up the slumbering monster?</i>

    Chen Ge thought about it. He was almost certain that the two were linked, but that should not be the main reason.

    ¡°That night, when the monster left, did you see or hear anything out of ce?¡±

    ¡°There was the sound of people walking backwards in the corridor.¡±

    ¡°Walking backwards?¡±

    Wang Shenglong wrote a lot of stuff on the paper, but Chen Ge still failed to understand him. This caused Wang Shenglong to start sweating profusely.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. That¡¯s already a good enough clue.¡± Chen Ge did not understand the difference between people walking forward and walking backwards. Before the Wang brothers, Chen Ge called Captain Yan.

    ¡°Captain Yan, I just received new information about the Third Sick Hall. The escaped patient might have appeared at Hai Ming Apartments recently.¡± The monster on Wang Shenglong hade out the door in the Third Sick Hall. Instead of sticking around the other monsters, it had left the ce¡¯s control. To be able to scare the monster, it was probably the appearance of the other monsters from the Third Sick Hall.

    The monsters had to possess living humans if they want to stay outside for a prolonged period of time. Therefore, the backwards footsteps that Wang Shenglong heard that night were probably the result of one of the patients from Third Sick Hall.

    Watching the conversation between Chen Ge and Wang Shenglong, Wang Hailong thought Chen Ge was just humoring his little brother, but he panicked when Chen Ge called the police. ¡°What¡¯s happening? Why did you call the police?¡±

    He suddenly realized the gravity of the situation, and he realized that Chen Ge was not kidding.

    ¡°Boss Chen, what have you been talking about? The police areing to Hai Ming Apartments?¡± Wang Hailong¡¯s face was filled with worry.

    ¡°Your brother¡¯s story is rted to another case; that¡¯s all I can tell you.¡± Chen Ge chatted some more with Wang Shenglong before leaving the van.

    Wang Hailong chased after him because he was worried. ¡°Boss Chen, my brother has spent his whole life inside the house; he hasn¡¯t done anything illegal.¡±

    ¡°That I know. To be precise, the case is rted to the monster inside your brother¡¯s story.¡±

    ¡°The monster?¡± Wang Hailong¡¯s face shifted. After a long time, he asked, ¡°Will my brother be affected? He has suffered too much, and it took him so much time to be ready to speak.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t affect your brother.¡± Chen Ge looked inside the van. Wang Shenglong, who was like a small mountain, sat in the corner. He hid in the shadows where the sun would not hit. He gripped the pen in his hands, and it looked like he was drawing.

 Chapter 213 - Boss Chen

    <h4>Chapter 213: Boss Chen</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Boss Chen, tell me the truth, what is going on with my brother? Will he rpse?¡± The vaguer Chen Ge was, the more unsettled Wang Hailong felt.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it will repeat because it wasn¡¯t a sickness.¡± Chen Ge tried to make Wang Hailong calm down. ¡°Don¡¯t think too much of it. The most important thing you need to do now is assimte Shenglong into a normal life.¡±

    Wang Hailong still wanted to say something more, but he was interrupted by Chen Ge. ¡°Your little brother has been cut off from the outside world for a long time; he seems to have gotten used to closing himself up. This is not helpful if he wants to return to a normal life. If possible, you should bring him out some more.¡±

    Chen Ge pitied Wang Shenglong¡¯s condition. He was an innocent boy but ended up like this. Afraid of scaring others with his looks, he felt he had to hide in the corner of the van.

    ¡°I¡¯ve discussed that with our father, but how can we bring Shenglong out in his condition? If people start pointing at him, won¡¯t that just make things worse?¡± Wang Hailong also worried about this. Even though the thin monster had left, the trauma it left on the boy would take a long time to undo.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I introduce you to a psychologistst time? He might be able to help with these problems.¡± Looking at the silent Wang Shenglong hiding in the corner, Chen Ge did not feel that well either. ¡°There needs to be a process for him to get reconnected with the world. If you need my help, don¡¯t be afraid to ask.¡±

    He turned to leave. With regards to how to help Wang Shenglong return to a normal life, Chen Ge had an immature idea in his mind. <i>The child looks scary on the surface but has a gentle heart. If there is nowhere else for him to go, perhaps he cane help me at the Haunted House. Xu Wan is too small to make people think she¡¯s a murderer. Wang Shenglong¡¯s size is more in line with what the visitors think a murderer look like.</i>

    When he returned to the Haunted House, the shed was a third ready. All the benches had been arranged. To experience the Haunted House, many visitors chose to sit on the benches rather than visit other attractions.

    ¡°Xiao Chen, your Haunted House is truly popr.¡± Uncle Xu was impressed. ¡°I heard a few foreigners talking among themselves about how they rode on a train for several hours just toe visit your Haunted House. Now that you have the fame, it¡¯s time to focus on the management to bring visitors the best terror experience. If they¡¯re impressed, every single one of them will be free promotion for the Haunted House.¡±

    Chen Ge had a n of his own. Terror was the most intense of all human emotions. After one experienced something scary, ny percent of them would share it with someone else, and this would indirectly help promote his Haunted House. Sometimes, they might conclude their whole experience with one, ¡°It¡¯s scary¡±, but that was possibly the highest praise for a Haunted House.

    Chen Ge entered the Murder by Midnight scenario to act as the murderer while Xu Wan stayed in the Minghun scenario to y the bride. About three hourster, many visitors survived these two scenarios. Some already got their fill while others wanted to challenge Mu Yang High School after resting.

    Afraid that an ident might happen inside Mu Yang High School, he would trail after them from a distance wearing Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s outfit. The whole morning passed, and the highest record was a group of six locating fourteen nametags in twenty-five minutes.

    After entering Mu Yang High School, many visitors realized how different this scenario was from the others, and they escaped for their lives. The underground was not locked with a steel door, so they could exit any time they wanted. However, if they regretted that decision and wanted to try again, they would have to line up once more.

    <i>Is the goal of twenty nametags too difficult? </i>Chen Ge thought about it. Everything he did, he did to bring the visitors a better service. <i>The mannequins consumed the visitors¡¯ fear and screams, so they appear to be more alive. With how things are going, I doubt anyone will enter the Third Sick Hall this week.</i>

    After giving it some consideration, Chen Ge reduced the clear requirement to sixteen nametags, but even so, there were no sesses. ¡°These visitors are too cowardly. Now I kinda miss those medical students.¡±

    Chen Ge pulled the gates shut and helped Xu Wan remove her make-up.

    ¡°You miss them, but they might not miss you.¡± Uncle Xu stood outside the door, counting the tickets. ¡°Things had been going well these past few days. Keep it up. Don¡¯t make the visitors faint or vomit again. You¡¯ll just give me more scares by doing that.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll try to keep that under control.¡± Chen Ge just said that when his phone rang. He lowered his head and saw that the caller was He San. ¡°The boy is calling at a time like this, is this a sign from above?¡±

    Sitting on the steps, Chen Ge answered it. ¡°Boss! The proprietor from Tian Teng Medical Schools wants your phone number, can I give it to him?¡±

    ¡°Wants my number?¡±

    ¡°Yes, after you left that day, it was chaos outside the Tian Teng Medical School. The visitors were split into two camps; one said that Tian Teng Medical School¡¯s name was unfound and demanded a refund because they wanted to go to your Haunted House. The other half were Tian Teng Haunted House¡¯s loyal fans. They said that it was normal for you not to be afraid because you own a Haunted House yourself.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what does all that got to do with the proprietor wanting my phone number?¡±

    ¡°Of course, it has everything to do with it! To not disappoint his own fans, the proprietor was forced to promise that he woulde to visit your Haunted House to prove that owners of Haunted Houses would not be scared in other people¡¯s Haunted Houses,¡± He San said on the phone. Chen Ge had a feeling that his wicked streak had rubbed off on the young man because he sounded really excited on the phone.

    ¡°They¡¯re ready to visit your Haunted House tomorrow morning, and they¡¯ll be bringing their own fans with them. Apparently, they want to record the whole process to face-p those visitors who demanded a refund.¡±

    Chen Ge was rather speechless. ¡°Are these mindless fans?¡±

    ¡°No idea, I¡¯m just calling to warn you.¡±

    ¡°Sure, give him my number. We¡¯re both in the same business; moremunication is beneficial for both parties.¡±

    Not long after He San hung up, Chen Ge¡¯s phone rang again. This time, it was an unknown number.

    ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°Boss Chen, I¡¯m the proprietor for Tian Teng Medical School. We met some time ago.¡±

    ¡°Yes, how can I help you?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re nning to visit your Haunted House tomorrow, and some of our fans will tag along. Hopefully, Boss Chen will be kind to us.¡±

    ¡°Of course, you know I¡¯m not the kind to hold grudges. My Haunted House is all for your visitation.¡±

    ¡°Boss Chen sure is nice.¡± Tian Teng Medical School¡¯s proprietor added in a hurry, ¡°Then we¡¯ll pick one that has intermediate difficulty, not too scary but also not too simple.¡±

 Chapter 214 - A Seven-Week Miracle

    <h4>Chapter 214: A Seven-Week Miracle</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Intermediate difficulty? No problem,¡± Chen Ge promised readily. He was going to invite them to try out Mu Yang High School. If they survived that, then Chen Ge would invite them to try the Third Sick Hall.

    ¡°Then, I shall thank you in advanced.¡± After hanging up, the proprietor was impressed by Chen Ge¡¯s kindness. He thought the man was quite friendly and nice.

    Chen Ge was rather happy that the people from Tian Teng Medical School wereing to visit. Ever since the introduction of the Third Sick Hall, no visitors had managed to challenge it, and it pained Chen Ge that he did not get to share the treasure with others. Since the workers from Tian Teng Medical School wereing, they might be able to challenge the Third Sick Hall because they were people who spent most of their time inside a Haunted House, and that meant they should be more courageous than normal visitors.

    ¡°The filler for the mannequin should be dry by now. I¡¯ll go get them to decorate the Third Sick Hall tonight.¡± Chen Ge nned to employ what he had learned from Tian Teng Medical School inside his own Haunted House and then use the workers from Tian Teng Medical School to try it out. During lunch, Chen Ge took his own design proposal to the office building. ¡°Director Luo, I have a proposal that I want you to see.¡±

    Director Luo was facing theptop in his room, and his brows were creased deeply. When he saw Chen Ge, the expression on his face lightened slightly. ¡°If you need anything, ask Ol¡¯ Xu. I¡¯ve already told him to cooperate with you fully.¡±

    ¡°He can¡¯t make the call on this.¡± Chen Ge ced the document that he had spent the whole night writing on the desk. ¡°I wish to build a multi-purpose hall next to the Haunted House. I have great ns for the future, so the building will be quite big.¡±

    Director Luo looked at Chen Ge¡¯s proposal twice before putting it down. ¡°The park now is facing financial issues; it¡¯s already difficult keeping the ce running normally. We do not have the budget to invest in more attractions.¡±

    ¡°Director Luo, this multi-purpose building will serve us well; I have full faith in that. An eatery will be able to provide the visitors a better environment to recover. Limited mementos tomemorate the different scenarios they have cleared will entice visitors to go try out new scenarios.¡±

    ¡°I know you have confidence and I believe in your ability, but certain things need to be inspected from the bigger picture.¡± Director Luo turned theptop to face Chen Ge. ¡°This is a promo video for the futuristic theme park at Eastern Jiujiang. Take a look at this first before youment.¡±

    Director Luo clicked on the button, and arge whale jumped out from the surface of the sea, sshing water everywhere. As the whale submerged back underwater, the video took the viewers to an underwater world following the whale. Many fish and water creatures filled up the screen. There was even a ghost ship travelling underwater.

    The angle changed, and it felt like the video was taken on the deck of the ghost ship. Under the deep sea, the ship neared an underwater trench, and the ship narrowly escaped the explosion of an underwater volcano.

    ¡°This is one of the attractions provided by the park; it¡¯s called ¡®20,000 Miles Underwater¡¯.¡± Director Luo probably had his own channel to acquire this video. ¡°Tell me, what do you think?¡±

    Chen Ge understood why Director Luo was looking so glum earlier. The video had given him plenty of awe and shock, so he could only imagine how exciting it would be if he was on the cruise himself.

    ¡°Thepetition is strong, but that doesn¡¯t mean we have no chance.¡± Chen Ge sat down on the sofa. He would not give up not until thest minute.

    ¡°Keep on watching.¡± Hearing his answer, Director Luo did not get mad. In fact, his expression softened even more. The remaining part of the video featured a futuristic city with skyscrapers, flying cars, and various robots keeping the whole city running. Visitors could be seen sitting inside a capsule-like vehicle as they explored the city.

    ¡°This is the other main feature of the park¡ªVirtual City. The visitors will be given 3D sses to experience life in the future inside this virtual city.¡± Director Luo closed the video and looked at Chen Ge. ¡°Are you amazed? Actually, several years ago, I anticipated this day. A third-generation theme park that depends on actual rides will eventually be reced by arger, 4th generation theme park with a futuristic theme.¡±

    ¡°Director Luo, what we saw were promo videos. Current technology is not advanced enough to create the scenes we saw in the video,¡± Chen Ge countered. ¡°Most video games show incredible effects in their promotional videos, but the finished product is often different from advertised.¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t need to replicate it a hundred percent. Even if the actual park is thirty percent as shown in the video, it will get enough visitors interested to visit it.¡± Director Luo walked to stand before the window. ¡°New Century Park was built at the beginning of this century. Over ten years have passed since then. It has enjoyed its prime, but now it is reaching its end. Probably starting from next week, the whole of Jiujiang, perhaps even our own district, will be filled with advertisements for the futuristic park, and it¡¯ll only get more difficult for us.¡±

    ¡°Director Luo, how long do we have until the park¡¯s official opening?¡±

    ¡°Less than two months, to be precise only seven weeks.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a bit rushed, but we still have a fighting chance. Perhaps there might be a miracle at the end.¡± Chen Ge stood up to leave. The promotional period for the futuristic park had given him plenty of pressure.

    ¡°Don¡¯t hurry to leave. I have something to tell you, and I hope you¡¯re ready.¡± Director Luo returned to the table and clicked open a report on theptop.

    Chen Ge stopped. ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°I had Ol¡¯ Xu came up with a report about the visitors who came to the park for the recent week. 35 percent wereing just for your Haunted House, and the number is still growing.¡± Director Luo did not hide anything from Chen Ge. ¡°Now, your Haunted House is the feature of this park. This kinda reminds me of how it was when your parents first came to New Century Park.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s mainly because everyone is being too kind to me.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be too humble, this is the result of your hard work.¡± Director Luo looked at the data and analyzed, ¡°Your Haunted House is the main reason the park even has visitors. Many peoplee to the park solely for your Haunted House, and I believe the number might berger if not for the high admission price toe into the park. After all, they¡¯re only here for the Haunted House and have no interest in the other attractions.¡±

    Chen Ge listened quietly. He realized that Director Luo might want to tell him something very important.

    ¡°Compared to the futuristic park, we have zeropetition power, so the only thing we can do is lower the admission price to attract more visitors. Initially, we nned to do this in two months¡¯ time, but considering the rising poprity of your Haunted House, we decided to move it forward,¡± Director Luo announced. ¡°The admission price to the park will be decreased, but the ticket price to your Haunted House has to be raised. How much the number will be moved, we¡¯re discussing, and I¡¯m just preparing you for this by telling you now.¡±

 Chapter 215 - The Second Apparel

    <h4>Chapter 215: The Second Apparel</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After exiting Director Luo¡¯s office, Chen Ge had a quick lunch before throwing himself back into work. He worked until 6:30 pm, and while most of the attractions at the park had already stopped working, the crowd outside of the Haunted House was still quiterge.

    Many visitors sat at the tent tomunicate with each other. The few who survived Mu Yang High School became celebrities of sorts. The other visitors wanted to know what a two-star scenario was like, but they did not dare challenge it themselves.

    Those who survived Mu Yang High School had pale faces dripping with cold sweat. However, they refused to admit that they were scared, so they exaggerated the fear factor of Mu Yang High School, making those who had not challenged it even more curious.

    After a long discussion, the group of visitors joined together to form a massive team, specifically to challenge the Haunted House. They jotted down the detailed location of each discovered nametag and it had a professional ir to it. After closing for the day, Chen Ge went out and discovered what the visitors were doing. Looking at how excited they were, Chen Ge was d.

    ¡°Hopefully they can find all sixteen nametags soon; the Third Sick Hall has been vacant for too long.¡±

    After cleaning the Haunted House, Chen Ge rushed to Boss Qian¡¯s workshop. Inside the underground workshop, Boss Qian had moved a chair to sit next to the front door. When Chen Ge arrived, he saw the man looking at the mannequins.

    ¡°Boss Qian, I¡¯m here for the mannequins.¡± Chen Ge patted Boss Qian on his shoulder and thetter jumped from shock.

    ¡°When did you arrive?¡±

    ¡°Just now. What¡¯s wrong with you? You¡¯re so distracted.¡± Chen Ge walked into the workshop to add the finishing touches to the mannequins. Boss Qian stood beside him, staring at the mannequins wordlessly.

    Sensing Boss Qian¡¯s strange behavior, Chen Ge asked probingly, ¡°Is it because you ran into something strange today?¡±

    Boss Qian¡¯s brow raised like someone had exposed the deepest secret inside his heart. ¡°How did you know?¡±

    ¡°You were quite obvious about it.¡±

    ¡°Since you¡¯ve found out, then I have no reason to hide from you anymore.¡± Boss Qian sidled to Chen Ge and said mysteriously, ¡°Actually, I have Yin Yang Vision, and I can see things that others can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Yin Yang Vision?¡± Chen Ge turned to give Boss Qian a once-over. ¡°Have you been watching too many scary movies?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s real. When I was young, a monk once told me that I came from a line of royalty, and I was even named Qian Guigen because my father believed the monk,¡± Boss Qian exined.

    ¡°If you came from royalty, why are you in such a state?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps my opportunity hasn¡¯t arrived yet.¡± Boss Qian shook his head. ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s not important¡ªthe important thing is that I saw something unbelievable today.¡±

    ¡°Well, what is it?¡±

    Boss Qian got close to Chen Ge and said in a whispered tone, ¡°About four hours ago, this female mannequin winked at me.¡±

    He even used his hand to cover half of his lips like he was afraid the mannequin might overhear him.

    ¡°That¡¯s all? But why is it the female mannequin and not the male one?¡±

    ¡°Boss, the mannequin blinked! Can you focus on the main point of the problem?¡± Boss Qian gripped Chen Ge¡¯s arm. ¡°I¡¯m not lying to you!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say you were, did I?¡±

    ¡°But you didn¡¯t react when I told you I have Yin Yang Vision and saw the mannequin blink!¡±

    ¡°I hear Yin Yang Vision is quite amazing. Does this mean you don¡¯t need to wear 3D sses when you got to watch 3D movies?¡±

    Boss Qian¡¯s mouth fell open. He thought long and hard about it before finally squeezing out, ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°From how I see it, you¡¯re probably too tired. Go back home and get a good rest. We still have plenty of chance to work together in the future.¡± Chen Ge used a white cloth to cover up the few mannequins and moved them out of the underground workshop.

    ¡°Was I really imagining things?¡± Boss Qian started to doubt himself.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Call me if anything happens.¡± Chen Ge patted his chest to reassure Boss Qian. Then, he called a taxi and prepared to leave.

    The more Boss Qian thought about what Chen Ge had said, the more unsettled he felt. <i>Normally, when one tries to console others, they would say, ¡®Don¡¯t worry, nothing will happen.¡¯ So, why did Boss Chen tell me to call him if something happens?</i>

    After Chen Ge hauled the mannequins back into the staff breakroom, his expression turned serious. He ced the white cat around the mannequins. After several seconds, the white cat jumped onto the female mannequin¡¯s body. Using its ws, it toyed with the mannequin¡¯s hair like it was toying with a mouse.

    ¡°So there is really something.¡± Chen Ge had not expected this. The mannequin that was created using the madwoman as a basis turned out to be different than others. Chen Ge ced the cleaver on the female mannequin¡¯s neck. ¡°I¡¯m your creator, so you¡¯re my responsibility. Hopefully, you¡¯ll listen to my orders and quietly move into your new home.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s pupils narrowed, and he could sense emotions like fear and anxiety from the mannequin. He thought about it before retracting the cleaver. ¡°I¡¯m just trying to scare you. In reality, I¡¯m a real softie; I¡¯ll never harm any of you on purpose.¡±

    Chen Ge opened the door to the underground parking lot and deposited the mannequins inside the Third Sick Hall. ¡°Wee, this will be your new home in the future.¡±

    He ced the four mannequins in different areas, and using his own ideas, he came up with several mechanisms. He only finished working when the clock struck twelve. Chen Ge returned to the staff breakroom. Lying in bed, fatigue washed over him. Chen Ge had not rested throughout the day.

    Chen Ge pulled out the ck phone to nce at the daily missions. When the tent was constructed outside the Haunted House, the message alert that he had finished the mission was received.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored, you havepleted a normal mission. Terror requires a corresponding buffer period. Considerate service will leave a good impression on the visitors. You¡¯ve earned the mission reward¡ªThe Uniform of the Faceless Nurse!

    ¡°Uniform of the Faceless Nurse (Prop Apparel): Jennie is the wife of Doctor Skull-cracker, rk. That night, she saw her husband entering the sickroom with the iron mallet. She had no idea what her beloved husband was up to. It was not until the hammer came right at her face that she realized what was happening.¡±

    <i>A Skull-cracker doctor and Faceless Nurse, this is quite a scary story.</i>

    Chen Ge switched off the phone and turned to sleep. When he woke up early the next morning, he entered the dressing room, and inside the wooden box where he found Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s outfitst time, there was a blood-drenched nurse¡¯s outfit.

    <i>This is too small for a male mannequin, but it should fit the female mannequin nicely.</i>

    Chen Ge took a tour around the Third Sick Hall. After he made sure that there were no hidden security threats, he opened the Haunted House¡¯s gate to prepare for business.

 Chapter 216 - I Have a Bad Feeling

    <h4>Chapter 216: I Have a Bad Feeling</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Boss, you¡¯re looking swell this morning.¡± When Xu Wan arrived, she saw Chen Ge arguing with the white cat, which was perched at the top of the tree. Instead of being surprised, she found this to be quite normal.

    ¡°Xiao Wan, go and put on your make-up first. Today, the people from Tian Teng Medical School will be visiting us for a cross-study. You¡¯re my only presentable worker, so I¡¯ll be counting on you today!¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Xu Wan pointed at the white cat munching on Chen Ge¡¯s jacket. ¡°Do you need my help?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. I can handle a mere cat.¡±

    Long story short, when Chen Ge woke up that morning, he had realized that there was still time forundry, so he had collected the dirty clothes that needed washing. While he was not paying attention, the white cat had dragged the jacket in which the kittens had once been wrapped up in to the tree. ¡°I¡¯m not going to wash that jacket! Pleasee down!¡±

    New Century Park opened at 9 am, and it was quite obvious that almost half of them headed directly to the Haunted House. ¡°Today¡¯s visitors are even more numerous than yesterday.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House was by far the most popr attraction.

    ¡°Boss Chen!¡± There was a small group of familiar faces at the front of the crowd. When Chen Ge saw them, his face lit up. Seeing Chen Ge¡¯s smile, the proprietor from Tian Teng Medical School shivered involuntarily. He lowered his head and coughed. ¡°We came with a few friends from within the circle, and everyone wishes to visit your Haunted House.¡±

    The proprietor winked at Chen Ge, and the inherent meaning was quite clear. They came with their fans and friends, so hopefully, Chen Ge could save them some face. ¡°Friends from within the circle?¡±

    Chen Ge looked behind them and discovered the weird atmosphere. Other than the few actors from Tian Teng Medical School, the rest of them did not seem like they were there to y.

    ¡°Let me make some introductions. This is Han Qiuming, our district¡¯s best Haunted House designer. He has worked with many international teams and is the brain behind Tian Teng Medical School. When you visited us, Mr. Han was overseas.¡± The proprietor leaned sideways to show a tall, thin man with thick spectacles. The man¡¯s attitude was cold.

    ¡°The short-haired girl next to Mr. Han is Ye Xiaoxin. She¡¯s a famous online blogger with more than 600,000 followers. Her focus is reviewing Haunted Houses, and she has reviewed more than fifty Haunted Houses throughout the country.¡± The proprietor¡¯s face froze. ¡°When she heard about you, she reached out to me because she was curious and stated her wish toe along.¡±

    ¡°Nice to meet you.¡± The girl looked like she was only slightly over twenty and had very fair skin. She was about 1.74 meters tall, and her long pair of legs grabbed everyone¡¯s attention. Her style was very unisexual. With cropped hair, she looked as handsome as a young man. This kind of girl going into a Haunted House alone would be entertaining, so it was no wonder she had a huge following online.

    ¡°Boss Qian, don¡¯t underestimate her.¡± The proprietor seemed to have suffered at the hands of the young woman before. ¡°She has a high tolerance for fear. When she first entered Tian Teng Medical School, she yed some nasty prank on our workers. Unfortunately, she was very bad with directions and requested us to lead her out after she wandered about the Haunted House for a full forty minutes.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s wonderful. I admire people with big hearts.¡± Many female visitors said that they were not afraid before entering the Haunted House, like the initial Gao Ru Xue. Chen Ge smiled kindly on the surface, but internally, he wondered if his Haunted House had scared this type of female visitor before.

    ¡°Oh well. If you¡¯re fine with it, then alright.¡± Tian Teng Medical School¡¯s proprietor saw how unfazed Chen Ge was, so he waved and said, ¡°Come over here, we should be preparing to enter the Haunted House now.¡±

    Three more people departed from the crowd, two boys and one girl. The girl looked familiar to Chen Ge. He remembered seeing her in the line when he visited Tian Teng Medical School. She had a cute face, very girl next door.

    She walked forward to greet Chen Ge. ¡°Do you still remember me? We met each other in the elevator at Tian Teng Medical School. My name is Su Luoluo.¡±

    ¡°Luoluo is a Haunted House aficionado, and most of us know her. The main reason she¡¯s here is because of a lucky draw. She was chosen to experience your Haunted House with us,¡± the proprietor exined awkwardly. He could not bring himself to say the truth. His own workers had refused toe along, and since there were not enough people, he had toe up with this fan service, a ¡°lucky draw¡±.

    ¡°Is that so? Then she sure is ¡®lucky¡¯.¡± The sun hit on Chen Ge¡¯s face, and his smile was like a spring breeze, calming and soothing. Su Luoluo looked at him before lowering her face embarrassedly.

    ¡°You¡¯ve met the other two. They¡¯re the workers from my Haunted House.¡± The proprietor pointed at the two men who stood at the back. ¡°Therge one is Song An; he was the security ghost. The smaller one is Du Chaojin; he was the one hiding inside the steel box.¡±

    Since Song An was not ¡®attacked¡¯ by Chen Ge, he came forth and greeted Chen Ge politely. However, Du Chaojin reacted differently. He had been hiding inside the steel box to scare Chen Ge, but he had instead been shocked by the ¡®Wedding Dress¡¯ tune that suddenly appeared behind him. To make matters worse, Boss Chen moved to block the front of the box, so he could not escape even if he wanted to. He had screamed and yelled before being allowed to crawl out of the steel box with half of his soul gone.

    Meeting his ¡®nemesis¡¯ again, his face turned paler and paler. Chen Ge walked to Du Chaojin and was surprised. The young man was at most eighteen, and he was incredibly thin and youthful. He was probably working at Tian Teng Medical School part-time. ¡°Without the make-up, I barely recognized you. Who would have thought you¡¯re the patient who was yelling so desperately to get out from the box?¡±

    Before Xiao Du exploded, the proprietor pulled Chen Ge aside swiftly. ¡°Boss Chen, six of us are visiting at the same time, so we¡¯ll depend on your arrangement.¡±

    The proprietor stood facing away from the other guests and kept winking at Chen Ge. Chen Ge understood what he was getting at. ¡°Currently, my Haunted House has four themed scenarios. Minghun, Murder by Midnight, Mu Yang High School, and the newly added Third Sick Hall. The difficulty for Minghun and Murder by Midnight is just normal, and Third Sick Hall is the most difficult, so I suggest you take the moderately difficult Mu Yang High School.¡±

    ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll visit that one.¡± The proprietor nodded, but the people behind him had things to say.

    ¡°Boss Chen sure is being unkind.¡± Han Qiuming pushed on his thick sses. ¡°Before we arrived, we asked around, and people told us your Haunted House¡¯s most difficult scenario. The one that no one has solved to this day is Mu Yang High School. This is already the most difficult challenge, and you are trying to pass it off as moderately difficult? Isn¡¯t that a bit too much?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m being unkind?¡±

    ¡°Are you afraid that letting us clear the most difficult scenario will make you lose face? That¡¯s why you made up this scenario that is supposedly more difficult?¡± Han Qiuming smirked. ¡°Designing arge themed scenario takes two to three months. Mu Yang High School has only been open for less than a week; where did you find time to design a new set?¡±

    His thin lips continued to rise. ¡°But no matter, the result will be the same. The reason we¡¯re here today is to clear all of your scenarios!¡±

    ¡°Qiuming, don¡¯t be silly. Boss Chen is not that kind of person.¡± The proprietor pulled on Han Qiuming¡¯s arm. A bad feeling surfaced in his heart. Chen Ge listened to the man quietly and did not retort. Uncle Xu had once said, as a theme park worker, he should try his best to satisfy the visitors¡¯ need.

    He thought about it, and the smile returned to his face. ¡°In that case, how about we start with the Third Sick Hall? If you can still manage to walk after that, we¡¯ll go to Mu Yang High School.¡±

 Chapter 217 - Putting Visitors First

    <h4>Chapter 217: Putting Visitors First</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Sure.¡± Han Qiuming patted the proprietor¡¯s hand, telling him not to worry.

    ¡°Follow me.¡± Chen Ge did not give them the chance to reject. The proprietor stood where he was. ¡°Qiuming, you¡¯ve acted too rashly.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re all in the same business. You should be able to tell whether he was lying or not.¡± Han Qiuming shrugged. ¡°If you are that afraid, I¡¯ll walk at the front.¡±

    ¡°You weren¡¯t there that day; you don¡¯t know about the situation.¡± The proprietor felt a headacheing. ¡°This Boss Chen is not a normal individual. He entered the Haunted House alone and managed to maintain his heartrate below 100.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not all,¡± Song An added. ¡°That day, Zhenzhen¡¯s spirit seemed to appear again. All of us actors ran out of the Haunted House for our lives, but he remained inside the Haunted House alone.¡±

    ¡°What is so scary about that? You people are just too cowardly.¡± Han Qiuming pushed the sses up his nose. ¡°If it was me, I would have stayed inside the Haunted House as well.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not done.¡± Song An shared a look with his boss. He continued when he got thetter¡¯s permission. ¡°After Boss Chen left, we inspected the Haunted House closely. Guess what we found.¡±

    ¡°Stop talking in riddles.¡±

    ¡°The female body that hung at the entrance was decimated. The head was rolled to the side, and its eyes looking in a fixed direction. Both of its legs were torn apart and were deposited far away from the body.¡± Just retelling it made Song An scared. ¡°Would a normal visitor do something this crazy? I almost called the police then.¡±

    The proprietor also walked over. ¡°After Boss Chen, I¡¯ve learned something. Sometimes, people are scarier than ghosts.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Song An nodded in agreement. ¡°We should leave as soon as possible when the visitation is over. Our two Haunted Houses should stay as apart as possible in the future.¡±

    ¡°Is that necessary? You¡¯re all acting like such babies. We¡¯re already here, and it¡¯s toote to be afraid now.¡± Ye Xiaoxin swiped on her phone and turned back when she realized that the people from Tian Teng Medical School had not moved. ¡°You¡¯re both in the same business, so howe the difference is so big?¡±

    The young woman was a straight-shooter, and she had a unique tone. It sounded quite raspy and sexy. She walked toward the Haunted House and updated her status online. ¡®Trying out a new local Haunted House today.¡¯

    ¡°See, we¡¯re looked down upon now.¡± Han Qiuming¡¯s gaze swept the pair of long legs and rushed after Ye Xiaoxin without looking back.

    ¡°He¡¯s acting too rashly.¡± The proprietor was worried. ¡°Song An, stick close to him when we¡¯re in there. Qiuming is talented, but pride might be his biggest downfall.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll try my best.¡± Song An sighed as they walked into the Haunted House. The curtain was like a wall separating the two worlds. There was barely any light inside the Haunted House, and it was much cooler inside.

    ¡°This ce looks quite old.¡± Song An looked around. ¡°Who would have thought Jiujiang still had a localized Haunted House of this scale?¡±

    ¡°The Haunted House was built by both my parents and the park five or six years ago. At the time, it was the park¡¯s main feature.¡± Chen Ge pulled out the disimer notices to give his guests. ¡°Sign these first before we move forward.¡±

    ¡°Are you serious?¡± Han Qiuming looked at the long list of ims on the form before tossing it back on the table. ¡°Save the paper. We¡¯re both operators of Haunted Houses. We know what you¡¯re getting into, so there¡¯s no need to make this so official.¡±

    The rest of Tian Teng Medical School did not move. They thought this was a trick by Chen Ge. The form itself was not useful, so the main purpose was its psychological pressure. On the other hand, Ye Xiaoxin and Su Luoluo signed the papers readily.

    ¡°I think there might be some misunderstanding. My papers are authorized by the government; they¡¯re stamped and sealed.¡± Chen Ge ced the disimers beside the group. ¡°There¡¯s no entry if you don¡¯t sign the form; that¡¯s the rule.¡±

    ¡°Understood, understood.¡± The proprietor signed his name¡ªGuo Miao. The rest of them followed suit. Since everyone was doing it, Han Qiuming had to follow, but that did not stop him from grumbling. ¡°Tsk, so much trouble to visit a Haunted House. Fine, let me see whether it¡¯s worth it or not.¡±

    Chen Ge ignored Han Qiuming as he put their forms aside. ¡°The Third Sick Hall is a newly built scenario, so many ces are not yetpleted. If youe across things that you cannot handle, remember to find the security spots to call for help.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t waste your breath. We¡¯re more familiar with the rules of a Haunted House than you are; we¡¯ve tried more than twenty ways of introducing changes to the game for the past few years, so if anything, we¡¯re more professional than you are.¡± Han Qiuming had never stopped harassing Chen Ge.

    ¡°In that case, I¡¯ll keep the exnation brief.¡± Chen Ge did not get angry and maintained a good attitude. ¡°The scenario that you¡¯re visiting is called the Third Sick Hall. This is a story where the patients took up the role of the doctors, and logic is twisted. The whole scenario is not entirely fake, and I have to warn you that some of the patients are still atrge.¡±

    ¡°Based on a real story? Isn¡¯t that a direct copy of our idea?¡± Han Qiuming continued tombast Chen Ge as if he could not see the warning in the eyes of the proprietor. ¡°I¡¯ve visited more than a hundred Haunted House of various sizes both locally and overseas. There are Haunted Houses in western countries that are built directly on top of abandoned prisons. Compared to those, yours is still too green.¡±

    The proprietor finally rushed forward to say something. ¡°Boss Chen, Qiuming is a bit direct with his words; he didn¡¯t mean anything by them.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. In this business, I always put the customers first, and I will listen to all suggestions and ideas seriously.¡±

    Ye Xiaoxin took out a notebook from her pocket and wrote, ¡°Great staff, + 5 points.¡±

    ¡°You are...?¡± Chen Ge turned toward the youngdy.

    ¡°I¡¯m marking your Haunted House. Full score is 100. If you score above 80, I¡¯ll help you promote it on my blog.¡± Ye Xiaoxin pocketed her notebook. ¡°I know Haunted Houses don¡¯t allow phones, so I use this notebook to record everything I see.¡±

    ¡°Very professional.¡± Chen Ge swiped the sweat in his palm. ¡°The Third Sick Hall is an open scenario, so feel free to explore the ce. As long as you can bring out the tape recorder that I took from your Haunted House in twenty minutes, you will have cleared the scenario.¡±

    With kindness and sincerity, Chen Ge repeated, ¡°Don¡¯t let your guard down. You have to retrieve the tape recorder from the Third Sick Hall in twenty minutes to win.¡±

 Chapter 218 - Different From What I Thought

    <h4>Chapter 218: Different From What I Thought</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°So simple?¡± Han Qiuming and the few workers from Tian Teng Medical School were in disbelief. The tape recorder was quite huge, and it should not have been too hard to find.

    ¡°Boss Chen, you¡¯re not kidding, right?¡± Ye Xiaoxin pulled out her notes. She had reviewed many Haunted Houses, and this was the first time she hade across such an interesting challenge.

    ¡°The tape recorder is from Tian Teng Medical School anyway, so I shall make use of this chance to return it to you.¡± Chen Ge locked the forms inside the cupboard. He had a feeling that he might need them soon.

    ¡°You¡¯ve given up so early?¡± Han Qiuming seemed to be rather disappointed.

    ¡°This way please.¡± Chen Ge ignored him and led the group to the entrance of Night of the Living Dead.

    ¡°These props are from the beginning of the century, and it looks like they haven¡¯t been maintained in the past month. The mannequins look like they were made by a child¡¯s hand, and the props are allowed to stack over themselves in a giant mess. There¡¯s no semnce of a plot. You want us to experience this kind of scenario? Are you trying to humiliate us?¡± Han Qiuming said wickedly. But at least the man was talented; he managed to pinpoint the issue with Night of the Living Dead with one nce.

    Even Ye Xiaoxin and Su Luoluo felt the scenario was quite underwhelming. Listing the weaknesses of the scenario, Han Qiuming made to enter the scenario, but he was stopped by the proprietor, Guo Miao.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Gao, why are you stopping me?¡± The man shook his head. His heart was racing, and he had a bad feeling. ¡°The atmosphere inside this ce is very weird.¡±

    ¡°What is so weird about it?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t really tell, but it is different from a normal room.¡± Gao Miao sucked in a cold breath. ¡°When I went to inspect the hospital where Xu Zhenzhen had her incident, this was the feeling that I felt. My heart was all flustered even though it was broad daylight, and I ran out after a five-minute tour.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t scare yourself for no reason.¡± Han Qiuming flung the man¡¯s arm away and walked into Night of the Living Dead.

    ¡°I abandoned this scenario quite some time ago. Due to certain reasons, I had not had the time to remove it.¡± Chen Ge looked at Han Qiuming, and he was reminded of Fei Youliang. He had a feeling that Fei Youliang would not be so alone at the hospital after Mr. Han finished his tour.

    Pulling up the wooden board, a draft of cold air surged forward. Chen Ge¡¯s gaze scanned the group of visitors and pointed down the darkened stairs. ¡°The Third Sick Hall you¡¯re visiting is down there.¡±

    ¡°Underground?¡±

    The group of visitors crowded around the entrance. Looking at the staircase that seemed to lead into endless darkness, a curious feeling formed in their hearts. Unfinished test papers settled on the charred steps, and a faded stench filled the air. It was not obvious, but it was enough to imnt some horrible ideas in the visitors¡¯ minds.

    ¡°The left side leads to Mu Yang High School, and the right side leads to Third Sick Hall. The two scenarios are connected, so make sure you go in the right direction.¡± Chen Ge gave a few final warnings. ¡°The two scenarios are incredibly big, so I advise you all stick together.¡±

    After exining everything, Chen Ge took out his phone. ¡°Find the recorder in twenty minutes and bring it out. The game will be over.¡±

    The group of visitors did not move. It was unknown who pushed Han Qiuming from the back, but he staggered forward.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have the time to waste.¡± With Chen Ge¡¯s urging, the visitors took the stairs down into the basement. When thest of them disappeared into the darkness, Chen Ge picked up the wooden boards and waved at them. ¡°Have fun.¡±

    After closing the boards, Chen Ge went back to the main control room, but he faced a difficulty when choosing the background music. He rarely used Wedding Dress and ck Friday for his normal visitors. At most, he mixed them in between normal music as a hidden surprise of sort.

    ¡°Han Qiuming is a Haunted House designer. He managed to pinpoint the various weaknesses with Night of the Living Dead with just one nce, so he is more than just a mouth. The workers from Tian Teng Medical School are used to the atmosphere inside the Haunted House, so normal scares won¡¯t work on them. Ye Xiaoxin is a professional Haunted House reviewer, so she naturally has a strong heart. Only Su Luoluo is the innocent victim who has been dragged into the mud by the proprietor.¡±

    Since the visitors were all professionals, being too nice would be a sign of disrespect. His hand on the mouse, Chen Ge teetered between the two music tracks. ¡°Which is more suitable? Oh well, only a child will pick one. Since we¡¯re all adults, there¡¯s no need to hesitate.¡±

    He entered both songs into queue before going to the dressing room to put on Doctor Skull-Cracker¡¯s outfit and some make-up. ¡°They won¡¯t be able to tell that the face under the skin mask is scarier, right?¡±

    Chen Ge packed everything and entered the Third Sick Hall with the faceless nurse¡¯s uniform.

    ...

    The wooden boards closed as if sealing the hope and warmth of the outside world. The youngest, Du Chaojin, shuddered. He had only been in the ce for ten seconds, but he had already started to regret. He should not have agreed so easily that day. <i>I should have followed the examples of Sister Rui and Brother Lin¡ªI¡¯m still too young for this.</i>

    A cold draft of mysterious origin blew past them, causing the empty test papers on the left corridor to flutter. Shadows seemed to move in the ssrooms on both sides like something was watching them. The ce was dark, and the group stood where they were for a full minute. In the end, it was Gao Miao who stepped forward. ¡°Mr. Han, you¡¯re the most experienced among us, so we¡¯ll be relying on you today.¡±

    Han Qiuming pushed on his sses. He had not stopped observing since entering the Haunted House. Based on atmosphere and recreation of the scene alone, Western Jiujiang¡¯s House of Horrors was already better than most of the Haunted Houses that he had visited. ¡°No wonder he dares call this the scariest Haunted House in Jiujiang, interesting.¡±

    They stood in the corridor and looked down it. At the end of the left corridor were plenty of mannequins. They were either lying on the ground or standing up. Looking at the mannequins, fear gripped the visitors¡¯ hearts. It was as if the mannequins were also looking at them.

    ¡°Boss, didn¡¯t that mannequin¡¯s head move?¡± Song An grabbed Gou Miao¡¯s arm.

    ¡°It didn¡¯t.¡± Gou Miao¡¯s face was quite pale as well. ¡°But I have a feeling that female student in the middle just smiled at me.¡±

    ¡°I saw that, too. Wait, did she just move? Why is she suddenly closer to us?¡±

    ¡°Should be some illusion...¡±

    ¡°Are you two done?¡± Han Qiuming walked ahead. ¡°The scarier the scenario on the left side, the better it is for us. You all should be thanking me.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡± Xiao Du hid at the back, considering just calling it quit.

    ¡°That Boss Chen was definitely trying to trick us! The scenario on the left side is his Haunted House¡¯s main feature, so it must be scariest! Thankfully, I saw through his ploy.¡± Han Qiuming walked down the right corridor. It was the door to a hospital building. His hands gripped the handle. ¡°If not for me, we would be experiencing the left scenario now.¡±

    ¡°He has a point,¡± Xiao Du concurred meekly.

    Song An also nodded. ¡°The left scenario looks creepy. Thankfully, we selected the right one. Mr. Han, nice job.¡±

    All of them moved to the right corridor. Only Gao Miao did not feel so good. ¡°Boss Chen didn¡¯t give me the impression that he was a liar.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll know when we see what is behind this door.¡±

    The group stood in the middle of the corridor, and Han Qiuming pulled the door to the Third Sick Hall open. The door creaked on its rusted hinges, and the first thing that hit them was the pungent smell of antibiotics. The old walls were left with scratch marks and blood notes. There were barely discernible screams that came from the depths of the hospital.

    The most shocking thing was, along this dark corridor, innumerable mannequins wrapped in mattresses were left on the path. It looked like an open grave.

    ¡°This...¡±

    Their limbs went numb, and a chill rose from the bottom of their feet to the top of their heads.

 Chapter 219 - Like the Real Thing

    <h4>Chapter 219: Like the Real Thing</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Teacher Han, are you sure the right scenario is less scary than the left one?¡± Xiao Du held onto to the door handle. He found himself missing Tian Teng Medical School and the steel box that he could hide himself in.

    ¡°Why are you acting all panicked like this? The Chen person has said that the Third Sick Hall isn¡¯t fullyplete yet, so what is so scary about an unfinished scenario?¡± Han Qiuming was the first to recover from the initial shock. He grabbed Guo Miao¡¯s arm. ¡°Ol¡¯ Guo, both of us will go first.¡±

    ¡°What has it got to do with me?¡± Guo Miao shook him off. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you¡¯re going to go alone?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid you might run in the middle of the experience.¡± Han Qiuming¡¯s face was as dark as the abyss, but due to theck of light, no one could see it. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll take the front line. The rest of you follow closely, don¡¯t get left behind.¡±

    Han Qiuming pushed the doorpletely open, and pieces of rust fell to the ground. The group of them walked into the Third Sick Hall. There was an indescribable stench in the air, and abandoned pills as well as patients¡¯ records littered the ground. Han Qiuming walked forward alone, and the sights gradually unraveled his confidence.

    Words of madness filled the wall, andbined with words of desperation, it made the skin of those who read them crawl. These were not things that a person with a sane mind coulde up with. To make matters worse, as he walked deeper into the hospital, the bloody letters on the walls did not decrease but only became more frequent. They ovepped with each other, and none of them were repeated!

    ¡°How did the mane up with these sentences? Is he really a madman?¡± He squatted down and yanked off a corner of the mattress. It revealed a doll that was made from pillows and bed covers. It was a roughly-made doll, but Han Qiuming found it hard to pull his gaze away.

    ¡°You can even use this method to create the props inside the Haunted House? I¡¯ve indeed learned something new today.¡± Looking at the painted face on the doll, Han Qiuming knew that it was probably scrawled on by Chen Ge, but he was still greatly unsettled by it.

    ¡°Look here!¡± Su Luoluo stood at the door that led into the first sickroom. The group followed the direction of her finger. The doorknob was covered in blood streaks and scratch marks made from fingers.

    Shepared them to her own fingers. ¡°They look real, unlike those that were gauged from tools.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re telling me the designer used his hands to leave those marks on the door?¡± Han Qiuming closed the mattress to cover the doll. ¡°Be careful not to touch anything in here. You might trigger the trap. Especially these mattresses, I believe the actors are probably hiding in one of them.¡±

    He continued to move forward. The rest of them did not follow except the short-haired woman who entered the first sickroom alone. The windows were sealed, and a thick cement wall could be seen through the wooden slits. It created a sense of despair, like they were being trapped inside a prison cell.

    Ye Xiaoxin dragged her finger carefully over the bed frame and discovered digging marks on the sides of the frame. ¡°Come help me pull the bed up.¡±

    ¡°We only have twenty minutes to clear this scenario, can you guys pick up your speed? Just ignore those insignificant details.¡± Han Qiuming stood outside the room alone. Xiao Du and Song An entered the room to help Ye Xiaoxin. What they saw when they lifted the bed was out of their expectation.

    There was a long, dark-red scratch mark down the side of the bed. There were even broken fingernails mixed into the grooves. It went to show the amount of pain the patient was in.

    ¡°Fake blood should have a faded red color when it dries up. This kind of dark red stain...¡± Song An pulled his neck back and whispered to Ye Xiaoxin beside him, ¡°Looks like human blood.¡±

    ¡°You sure this is human blood and not fake blood?¡± Ye Xiaoxin looked at the wooden frame and bent close to sniff at the groove. ¡°There¡¯s no smell.¡±

    Song An was shocked by the girl¡¯s courageous move. Heughed awkwardly. ¡°It could be pig¡¯s or cow¡¯s blood. To achieve authenticity, sometimes Haunted Houses use animal blood in ce of fake blood.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s normal for Haunted Houses to have props with blood marks, especially a local Haunted House like Boss Chen¡¯s. Most of his props should be directly purchased from abandoned hospitals.¡± Gou Miao had probably done something like that before. ¡°Either way, we shouldn¡¯t let our guard down. There is blood on the bed frame, so that means that something very bad happened at this mental hospital before.¡±

    Ye Xiaoxin nodded before asking, ¡°How do you exin the bloody scratch marks on the door knob? You¡¯re telling me the door knob was also taken from the mental hospital?¡±

    Guo Miao was stumped.

    ¡°You also can¡¯t answer that, right?¡± Ye Xiaoxin took out her notebook. ¡°I¡¯ve visited many Haunted Houses before, and most of them only paid attention to the details around the scare points, but this Haunted House has an authenticity to every single detail. It is as if the boss has some kind of OCD.¡±

    ¡°I also discovered something very scary.¡± Su Luoluo turned to look at the ceiling. The sentences written with blood seemed to move before her eyes. ¡°The handwriting for each sentence ispletely different. They don¡¯t look like they¡¯re written by the same person.¡±

    ¡°Different handwriting?¡± Guo Miao looked around closely, and his face turned paler. ¡°You¡¯re right. How did Boss Chen manage to do this?¡±

    Han Qiuming had moved forward, but he had turned back when he realized that the rest of his group was not following. He leaned against the door knob and boasted, ¡°Didn¡¯t he say his Haunted House has been in operation for several years already? Give me five years, and I¡¯ll definitely be able toe up with something better than this.¡±

    ¡°Will you spend a whole five years on a single scenario?¡± Guo Miao felt rather annoyed. He had already arranged everything, but it was ruined by Han Qiuming. ¡°Boss Chen probably wasn¡¯t lying. This scenario is the scariest one he has at his Haunted House. We had better locate that tape recorder as soon as possible; I don¡¯t think we should stay here any longer.¡±

    Ever since entering the Third Sick Hall, he had felt ufortable. When he saw the interior decoration, that feeling had only intensified. The red marks on the door knob, the grooves on the side of the bed frame, the bloody sentences on the walls and ceiling¡ªeverything unsettled him. The memories buried within him were awakened, and it brought him back to the hospital where Xu Zhenzhenmitted suicide.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Guo, I didn¡¯t know you¡¯re such a scaredy cat. Yes, I admit that his Haunted House is amazing with his attention to detail, but this only proves that he is good at mimicking.¡± Han Qiuming¡¯s eyes surreptitiously swept Ye Xiaoxin before he pushed on his sses. ¡°When I visited arge Haunted House overseas, the worker there told me that their props were all taken from an actual prison. Compared to that, this Haunted House is barely passable.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll regret that overconfidence soon enough.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just telling the truth.¡± Han Qiuming waved at them. ¡°We only have sixteen minutes left, so let¡¯s get moving.¡±

    The few of them moved down the corridor, and only Xiao Du was left at the entrance to the Third Sick Hall. Looking at the letters on the wall, his heartrate started to rise. As he stared at them, the random letters seemed to move together to form a word.

    Death.

    ¡°This ce is too cursed; I¡¯ll just stay by the door.¡±

    He walked out of the Third Sick Hall and turned to look down the corridor that led to Mu Yang High School. He realized with a shock that the mannequins that were supposed to be at the end of the corridor had moved to a spot that was very close to them.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Xiao Du staggered back. He did not dare stay there alone, so he hurried to catch up to the others.

    After he left, a mannequin with a nametag pinned to itspel silently adjusted its head.

 Chapter 220 - Shadowing

    <h4>Chapter 220: Shadowing</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Boss! Mr. Han! Look behind us!¡± Xiao Du ran to the rest of the group. He gasped for air, and his face was white.

    ¡°Behind us?¡± Guo Miao looked behind them, and the long corridor did not have anything weird in it.

    ¡°The mannequins! The mannequins are chasing after us!¡± The scream from Xiao Du caused the group, which had walked several meters into the Third Sick Hall, to stop moving again.

    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re not mistaken?¡± Song An asked Xiao Du softly as his body moved closer to Guo Miao.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure! They really did move!¡± Xiao Du gasped for air. ¡°Come talk a look for yourself. Those mannequins were at the end of the left corridor earlier, right? But now, they¡¯ve reached the point between the two scenarios!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t fret,¡± Han Chu said calmly. ¡°I saw something like this in a Japanese Haunted House three years ago. It was a doll-themed Haunted House. The smaller dolls were equipped internally with machines, so they could move and change facial expression. Only four fifths of therger dolls were props; the rest were yed by actual actors.¡±

    ¡°So, these mannequins are real people?¡± Mr. Han¡¯s exnation confused Xiao Du, and he felt even more unsettled.

    ¡°I noticed the mannequins when we first came in.¡± Han Chu crossed his arms before his chest. ¡°The mannequins are life-size, as if they were meant to model actual humans. You have to understand something, even for Tian Teng Medical School, there are natural deficiencies to the mannequins that are used at normal props. This is because manufacturing a custom-made mannequin requires too much money. One of them costs about 30,000 and requires a master dollmaker. This is not something a normal Haunted House can afford.¡±

    ¡°Then, why would this Haunted House invest so much money into making these mannequins?¡± Ye Xiaoxin kept writing on her notebook, but no one knew what she was writing.

    ¡°Very simple. This goes to show that these mannequins are an important scare point for his Haunted House!¡± Han Qiuming held his chin as his gaze fell on Ye Xiaoxin. ¡°Mixing real actors among mannequins could have startling effects¡ªjust look at what happen to Xiao Du. It looked like the mannequins had moved on their own, but it was actually the live actors who moved. If we hide in the dark to observe, perhaps we might even see them in motion.¡±

    Song An nodded. ¡°Mr. Han has a point. We¡¯ve used simr tactic in Tian Teng Medical Schoolst year, but the mannequins were too fake. The visitors identified the real actors immediately.¡±

    ¡°That has to be it.¡± Color returned to Xiao Du¡¯s face. ¡°I was really spooked just now. Those mannequins look so real that I though they knew how to move on their own.¡±

    ¡°You know that¡¯s impossible.¡± Mr. Han said confidently; he had logic on his side. ¡°If not for the time limit, I would hide in this room to record the whole scene of the Haunted House¡¯s actors moving the mannequins for you to see.¡±

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s move on. We still need to find the tape recorder.¡± Guo Miao had a feeling that things were not as simple as that, but he had no basis to counter Mr. Han.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Guo, we have to pay attention to two things with regard to that tape recorder.¡± Mr. Han might have said that he was not afraid, but it was clear that he was extremely cautious. ¡°That Chen fe told us that our tape recorder is hidden inside this ce, so he must have put down some traps around the tape recorder.¡±

    ¡°I know that.¡± Guo Miao moved forward. The mattresses made a mess of the ce. Stepping on them had a curious feeling like he was stepping on bundled up hair.

    ¡°That is only the first point. I have to tell you another thing. Don¡¯t you think that the game rules that heid down are also very weird?¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°Finding the tape recorder won¡¯t clear the scenario. We have to bring it out of the Third Sick Hall to end the game.¡±

    ¡°But that recorder belongs to us. Isn¡¯t it normal for us to take it out with us?¡± Xiao Du chimed in.

    ¡°You have underestimated this boss¡¯ cunning.¡± Han Qiuming took out a cloth to wipe his sses. The sses were very thick. ¡°The recorder itself is probably tied to some mechanism inside this ce. In other words, when we find the recorder, the scary stuff will start to appear inside this scenario. Until then, we should be safe.¡±

    ¡°That sounds logical, but no one can guarantee that.¡± Song An was thergest of them all, but he was quite a coward.

    ¡°In any case, I personally don¡¯t think we have any reason to be scared. Familiarizing ourselves with the environment and memorizing the route should be the most important. After all, this scenario is open-ended. The environment will beplicated. Only by retracing our steps will we be able to leave as quickly as possible when the recorder is found and the actors start to move in earnest.¡± Han Qiuming finished his analysis. It was unclear whether the others bought his words or not, but he believed himself.

    ¡°You have a point. Haunted Houses still need to rely on actual actors to scare us. As long as we¡¯re collected and don¡¯t scare ourselves, we should be fine.¡± Ye Xiaoxin shoved the notebook into her pocket.

    Han Qiuming was validated after getting the approval from Ye Xiaoxin. The fear in his heart slowly dissipated. He was about to increase his pace to walk beside Ye Xiaoxin when someone pulled on his shirt. He turned to look, and this moment-wrecker was none other than the witless and youngest Du Chaojin.

    ¡°Mr. Han, look.¡± They turned to look outside the Third Sick Hall. In the middle of the entrance that led to the Third Sick Hall stood a female mannequin in a school uniform. Her head was lowered, and her limbs were slightly twisted.

    While they were busy with their analysis, the mannequins had moved closer to them.

    ¡°This is nothing out of the ordinary, the most basic of psychological tricks. The Chen fe is probably hiding inside the control room to give the actors theirmands. He wanted to use this group of advancing mannequins to pressure us, to make us lose our footing.¡±

    Han Qiuming tried to rationalize everything. ¡°At the end of the day, this is all fake. A few years ago, I used something simr. Don¡¯t worry, these mannequins won¡¯t dare toe to within five meters of us. Five meters is a safe distance. Once the mannequins got too close, the actors will have a hard time controlling them. I can use my decade of experience to promise you that.¡±

    Then he ignored Xiao Du and ran to walk beside Ye Xiaoxin. He started to judge the various decorations inside the Haunted House.

    ¡°This guy.¡± Guo Miao sighed. He told his group, ¡°All of you stick close to me. Don¡¯t touch anything in the corridor, and don¡¯t enter a sickroom alone.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Xiao Du walked at the back of the group, but he did not realize that when he moved, the mannequins outside the door also started to move.

 Chapter 221 - The Wrong Scenario

    <h4>Chapter 221: The Wrong Scenario</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I think we¡¯re almost near the end. No wonder Boss Chen calls this ce a Third Sick Hall¡ªstay here long enough, and those without sickness will also go crazy.¡±

    ¡°I wonder how the workers manage to survive. Working at such realistic location every day, looking at this insane writing on the wall, Boss Chen must have provided them with some counselling.¡±

    ¡°Now that you mention it, we¡¯ve been here for about ten minutes already, but we have not seen one Haunted House worker.¡±

    ¡°Stop chattering. We¡¯re rounding the corner. Be careful of things jumping out at you.¡±

    The few visitors took seven minutes to reach the end of the corridor. They kept their backs against the wall, and when they looked down the corner, they were stunned. ¡°More corridor?¡±

    The setting was almost the same: old walls, cracked floor, endless blood writings, and the dolls wrapped up in mattresses. The only difference was that the colors on the wall had deepened, and looking through the cracks, things like blood vessels could be seen.

    ¡°A background loop?¡± Standing at the corner, Han Qiuming frowned and uttered a term that was unfamiliar to outsiders.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this a repetition of the earlier set?¡± Luoluo and Xiao Du heard the term for the first time.

    ¡°It looks the same, but every repetition, there are some changes that have escaped your attention. When you¡¯re at your most vulnerable, the scary stuff will appear all at once.¡±

    Han Qiuming confidently said, ¡°I¡¯ve seen this before at an overseas Haunted House called Recurring Nightmare. The whole scenario was made up of nine rooms, and each room was scarier than the one before it. Most importantly, the nine rooms could be freely moved, so you had no idea what kind of stuff had been added to the rooms after you opened the door.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re talking about individual rooms that are easier to manipte, but here, the whole corridor is decorated the same way.¡± Gou Miao touched the wall and said softly, ¡°Everything here has an authentic touch to it; it¡¯s like Boss Chen has moved a real mental hospital into the Haunted House. I don¡¯t know why I think that, but I have a feeling I¡¯m right.¡±

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Guo, you¡¯re being too sensitive.¡± Han Qiuming chuckled. ¡°Ever since you came back from the hospital where Xu Zhenzhenmitted suicide, you have turned into a coward. As the operators of Haunted Houses, we live on fear and terror. If you¡¯re so afraid, how do you expect to scare others?¡±

    ¡°Qiuming, it¡¯s something I also did not believe in initially, but after some more interactions, you¡¯ll see what I mean.¡±

    ¡°From how I see it, you¡¯re regressing.¡± Han Qiuming and Guo Miao faced each other. ¡°For real though, you managed to take it even though your ce was taken down on the first day of work? Do you know how much effort and time we have spent to prepare for our opening day? Yet it was all ruined by that Chen fe. Even then, you still think he is a good man? You n to have a truce with him? Have you lost your mind, or have you gone senile?¡±

    ¡°Qiuming, this is not boss¡¯ fault.¡± Song An¡¯s voice was low. ¡°If anything, it is your fault for suddenly changing the advertisement. You had to add that we¡¯re the scariest Haunted House in Jiujiang, ndering other people¡¯s names.¡±

    ¡°So, you mean the fault lies with me?¡± Han Qiuming¡¯s face dropped. ¡°Tian Teng Medical School is thetest enclosed Haunted House that I personally designed,bining my years of experience. It even has a hidden plot. I admit that his Haunted House has some points that we can learn from, butpared to my design, his is still too juvenile.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to argue with you. You were not there that day, so you don¡¯t understand what happened.¡±

    ¡°If I was there, things would have gone differently. As Haunted House workers, you were scared out of the Haunted House by a visitor. You¡¯ve been made theughingstock within the industry.¡± Han Qiuming¡¯s single sentence had insulted all the workers there, but he did not seem to mind it. ¡°Looks like we¡¯ll need to increase your training after we return.¡±

    ¡°Qiuming, we can talk about thister; there are other visitors with us.¡± Guo Miao brushed Han Qiuming¡¯s needling words off.

    ¡°Yes, when we return, I¡¯ll need to have a chat with our sponsor. I feel like you¡¯ve be too old to be the proprietor of this business anymore.¡±

    In his anger, Song An roared at Han Qiuming, ¡°Han Qiuming! Boss has been nothing but kind to you. Don¡¯t cross the line!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve crossed the line? Every single decision I¡¯ve made is for the benefit of the Haunted House. Tian Teng Medical School has been redesigned four times already, and I¡¯m the one responsible for three of them.¡± Han Qiuming chuckled. ¡°You all know how good they were.¡±

    ¡°Incorporating a real case into the Haunted House and using a dead victim¡¯s name as a prop to send us to court, that¡¯s the good effect you¡¯re talking about?¡±

    ¡°Sorry, but I¡¯m only interested in the result. Based on the data, after including the dead Xu Zhenzhen, the ticket sales increased by five times.¡± Han Qiuming shrugged. After all, he had the right to be proud. ¡°It was me who saved your career. Plus, please remember that I¡¯m the designer that your sponsor begged toe help you, and you¡¯re just a worker hired by the Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°Using actual cases as material and using a dead person¡¯s name to attract attention. When you were designing it, did you consider the feelings of the victim¡¯s families?¡±

    ¡°Now you¡¯re turning on me? Why didn¡¯t any of you say anything in the beginning?¡±

    ¡°Stop arguing!¡± Guo Miao pulled Han Qiuming and Song An away from each other, ¡°We can resolve this when we return. Boss Chen cleared our Haunted House alone, and if we fail to clear his with so many of us, that will be a real source of shame.¡±

    Han Qiuming and Song An both harbored a stomach full of fire, and it helped to overwhelm the fear in their hearts.

    ¡°Who has the time to argue with person like this?¡± Song An strode forward alone.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Song, don¡¯t walk away on yourself!¡± Afraid that something bad might happen to Song An, Guo Miao chased after the man, moving a distance away from the rest of the group.

    ¡°There are indeed all sorts of people in the world.¡± Han Qiuming walked easily at the back. When he first entered the Third Sick Hall, he had been shocked by what he saw, but now, he felt much better.

    He turned back to look. ¡°The three of you stick close to me. We have ten minutes left, but don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll clear this scenario. Honestly, this Haunted House might be something within the country, butpared to those foreign Haunted Houses, it¡¯s nothing.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Han, I understand what you¡¯re trying to say, but there¡¯s something that I want to confirm with you.¡± Xiao Du was at the back of the group. His face was nched. He had not paid attention to the argument between Han Qiuming and Song An because his attention had been upied elsewhere.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say the mannequins wouldn¡¯t get within five meters of us?¡±

    Xiao Du pointed behind them, and those incredibly real mannequins had all entered the Third Sick Hall!

    The leading mannequin was the female student with a nametag. Her head was lowered, and she stood only three to four meters away from Xiao Du.

 Chapter 222 - Dont Be Afraid!

    <h4>Chapter 222: Don¡¯t Be Afraid!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Why are they following us?¡± Xiao Du¡¯s voice was shaking. He was closest to the group of mannequins.

    ¡°Did you hear any footsteps?¡± Han Qiuming moved his eyes away to look at Xiao Du. ¡°There should be more than one worker mixed in the mannequins since they need to move so many mannequins.¡±

    ¡°There was no sound. It was as if they suddenly appeared behind us, I swear.¡± Xiao Du was afraid that Han Qiuming would not believe him.

    ¡°No sound?¡± Han Qiuming¡¯s brows were creased together. He stared at the mannequins for a while before suddenlyughing. ¡°I know the reason!¡±

    He strode toward the mannequins like he had really discovered their secret. ¡°The Third Sick Hall is filled with mattresses. The workers will not create any footsteps if they step on them. The designer of this Haunted House has an impressive mind. He purposely hid the dolls underneath these mattresses to distract our attention, making us forget their actual purpose.¡±

    Han Qiuming stopped beside the female mannequin with his lips turned up. ¡°Using the mattresses to hide the sound of footsteps, that is a great idea, but your lousy performance gave it away. You have to maintain a safe distance if you aim to psychologically pressure the visitors. Making the visitors aware of your presence but not close enough for them to touch you is the best method.¡±

    Xiao Du did not quite get what Han Qiuming was saying. ¡°Why is that the best? For me, this kind of encroaching assault is scarier.¡±

    ¡°Pushing it too far will cause the opposite reaction in the visitors, and they might do something like this.¡± Han Qiuming pulled the mannequin¡¯s head off and shoved her to the ground. Facing the group of mannequins in the darkened corridor, he shouted, ¡°Come out on your own. Don¡¯t make me go in to catch you¡ªthat will just be awkward for everyone.¡±

    ¡°Who are you talking to?¡± Xiao Du found him unable to catch up.

    ¡°The workers inside this Third Sick Hall. They are hiding among the mannequins with special make-up!¡± Han Qiuming pushed on his sses. His face stated that he had everything under his control.

    However, ten secondster, the mannequins in the corridor still had not moved. The shadows stood unmoving in the dark corridor, and it was weirdly scary with how still they were.

    ¡°Mr. Han, should we just move on? It¡¯s fine if their workers don¡¯t want toe out,¡± Xiao Du advised, but Han Qiuming felt like this was an affront to his face. ¡°If they¡¯re exposed, then this is no longer their choice. It¡¯s their bad luck that I¡¯m in such a foul mood today. That Chen fe has ruined our Haunted House, hasn¡¯t he? Today, I¡¯ll repay his kindness and wreak havoc inside his!¡±

    Han Qiuming strode inside the group of mannequins. He pulled off the heads of the mannequins one after another and kicked them to the ground. ¡°Fine, continue to hide. Let me see how long you can hold on!¡±

    The rolling heads made the situation worse.

    ¡°Pleasee back, Mr. Han!¡± Looking at the mannequin heads that rolled across the floor, Xiao Du¡¯s heart raced.

    ¡°What are you in such a hurry for?¡± Han Qiuming yanked out five heads. ¡°This worker sure is loyal. He¡¯d rather watch the props get destroyed thane out to surrender.¡±

    ¡°Boss and Brother Song have wandered far away, we need to catch up!¡± Xiao Du urged. More heads rolled on the floor, and his scalp went numb because their facial expressions seemed to be changing¡ªthey were smiling!

    ¡°Don¡¯t fret!¡± When Han Qiuming pulled off the eighth mannequin head, he also realized that something was wrong. ¡°The mannequins are installed with metallic joints and support. Even an adult would have a hard time moving four of them at the same time. Could the workers be hiding at the back of the group? That has to be it. Even with special make-up, the workers will be exposed if they wander too close, so they have to be hiding at the back!¡±

    Han Qiuming convinced himself. He charged forward, knocking the mannequins all over the ce.

    ¡°Mr. Han!¡± Watching as Han Qiuming rushed into the group of mannequins alone, Xiao Du was worried. With a grit of his teeth, he ran after the man. ¡°Let¡¯s go! It¡¯s not nice for us to ruin so many expensive props.¡±

    ¡°He dares wreck our Haunted House, so he should be prepared to face such consequences.¡± Han Qiuming strode toward thest four mannequins, which were lying on the ground. ¡°You are making me do this to you.¡±

    His hands tightened around the fourth mannequin. With a light yank, the mannequin¡¯s head came off easily.

    ¡°It¡¯s also a mannequin?¡± Xiao Du¡¯s voice was shaking. ¡°Mr. Han, are you sure the mannequins weren¡¯t moving on their own? When I came over, I swear the expressions on the mannequins¡¯ faces changed.¡±

    ¡°What do you know? Stop talking!¡± Han Qiuming pulled off another two mannequins¡¯ heads. His hands started to tremble when they tightened around thest mannequin¡¯s head. With a strong pull, a face that was crying got separated from its body.

    ¡°What the f*ck?¡±

    Holding the head, Han Qiuming stared at Xiao Du.

    ¡°They¡¯re all mannequins?¡± Xiao Du¡¯s voice was shaking. Standing in the grave of the mannequins, he did not even dare move.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid! The workers probably ran to hide inside the sickrooms on both sides when they saw meing.¡± Han Qiuming dropped the head to the ground and rushed to inspect the sickrooms. ¡°Come out now! I¡¯ve seen you!¡±

    He searched several rooms, but there was no reward. Han Qiuming returned with a stern face.

    ¡°Mr. Han, do you think this ce is really haunted? That Boss Chen is a madman; he is someone who will do anything. I was trapped inside a steel box by the man before.¡± Xiao Du was covered in chills and started to ry his nightmarish experience.

    ¡°Enough, that¡¯s not something to boast about.¡± Han Qiuming waved to interrupt Xiao Du. He was calcting the distance between the corridor and the entrance to Third Sick Hall. ¡°The workers wouldn¡¯t have time to run out the entrance after they moved the mannequins. Yes, I know it now. They should have left through a workers¡¯ pathway. There is probably some hidden passageway underneath one of these mattresses.¡±

    No matter what he said, Xiao Du would not believe him anymore. Now he just wanted to get as far away from Mr. Han as possible. Xiao Du had a feeling that staying close to the man would not lead to anything good.

    ¡°If you want to go look for that, you have fun. I¡¯m leaving.¡± Xiao Du turned and ran.

    ¡°With such cowardice, no wonder he was spooked by the visitor.¡± However, the confidence in Han Qiuming¡¯s voice had disappeared. He walked back to the Third Sick Hall, and a headless mannequin¡¯s finger pulled on his pants. He promptly kicked the mannequin away. ¡°Who are you trying to scare?¡±

    After turning the corner, Han Qiuming heard the sound of stuff rolling on the flooring from behind him. ¡°That is so fake.¡±

    However, he did not turn back around the corner to look but increased his speed to catch up to the rest.

 Chapter 223 - He Has to Be a Patient!

    <h4>Chapter 223: He Has to Be a Patient!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± Looking at Xiao Du, who was covered in cold sweat, Su Luoluo also started to get nervous.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you the truth, but don¡¯t be scared.¡± Xiao Du huddled with Su Luoluo. ¡°I suspect that this ce is really haunted.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t try to scare me.¡± Su Luoluo had visited many Haunted Houses before, but she had never seen one like Boss Chen¡¯s before. The ce was like a maze, and it waspletely open for visitors to explore.

    ¡°Mr. Han¡¯s earlier spection was all wrong; there was not one worker hiding among the mannequins! They were moving on their own!¡± Xiao Du gripped his hands tightly, causing his knuckles to crack. ¡°We cannot depend on Mr. Han. I have to report this to boss and Brother Song.¡±

    ¡°They left a long time ago... wait, don¡¯t run so fast!¡± Xiao Du rushed forward in a hurry, leaving Su Luoluo behind. The girl did not know whether she should run after Xiao Du or stayed behind with Ye Xiaoxin to wait for Mr. Han.

    ¡°A haunted Haunted House? Mannequins moving on their own?¡± Ye Xiaoxin added these twoments into her notebook. ¡°Even professional actors from other Haunted House can be scared. This Haunted House sure is something else.¡±

    She gave a very high review. ¡°I¡¯ve note across such a high-quality Haunted House in a long time, so today should be fun.¡±

    ¡°The boy did not look like he was lying,¡± Su Luoluo reminded Ye Xiaoxin. ¡°Let us move as well. It¡¯s better if we¡¯re together.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my opinion that Haunted Houses are no different from magic. They depend on illusions and psychological tricks to surprise visitors. The realer the illusion, the more sessful it¡¯ll be.¡± Ye Xiaoxin removed her jacket and tied it around her waist. She stretchedzily, and her voluptuously figure annoyed the only audience somewhat. ¡°In this respect, Western Jiujiang¡¯s House of Horrors is undeniably sessful.¡±

    ¡°Then you stay here, I¡¯ll go join them.¡±

    The few visitors were thus separated. None of them realized that the bloody letters on the wall continued to deepen as if the blood was trying to seep out of the wall.

    ...

    ¡°Boss, stop defending him. Han Qiuming is talented, yes, but that doesn¡¯t mean we should allow him to insult us like this!¡± Song An was angry on Guo Miao¡¯s behalf. ¡°Yes, he came up with the design, but all of us contributed to building the set. In fact, he barely contributed in the construction, so what is he so proud about?¡±

    ¡°Calm down, I understand everything you said, but patience goes a long way. After all, he was the designer invited by our sponsor.¡± Guo Miao was old enough to see many things lightly. ¡°Haunted Houses are a dying trade, and we¡¯re all trying to find work. There¡¯s no reason to fight among ourselves.¡±

    ¡°But did you not see how arrogant he was? He even wanted to rece you! Honestly, if the sponsor listens to him and reces boss, I¡¯ll hand in my resignation immediately.¡± Song An was a straightforward person.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the sponsor wouldn¡¯t agree.¡± Guo Miao sighed. Actually, he was not that confident. After being forced to leave Xing Hai, their numbers had been dropping. ¡°Let¡¯s find that tape recorder first. There are fans of Tian Teng Medical School out there, so we cannot disappoint them.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± The two of them continued to move forward. After turning a corner, they found themselves in another corridor. ¡°What is the meaning of this? They want us to keep on walking until the end?¡±

    The ce was dim, and the color of the walls deepened as if they were bruised. Stepping on the uneven mattresses, smelling the mixture of antibiotics and some weird stench that perforated the air, it felt like they were inside the intestine of some weird creature.

    ¡°There has to be a reason for Boss Chen to design the ce like this. It¡¯s probably to increase the authenticity.¡± Guo Miao peeled off a piece of the wall, and it crumbled in his fingers. ¡°Along the way, I realized some of the numbers outside the rooms weren¡¯t removed. The rooms in the first corridor all started with four, those in the second corridor started with three, and this corridor uses the number two.¡±

    ¡°The numbers are decreasing?¡±

    ¡°I suspect that this whole scenario is based on a building that has four floors in total, and Boss Chen has replicated it perfectly. Each corridor represents a floor of the building.¡± Looking at the walls, Guo Miao continued. ¡°Even the numbers are preserved in their well-worn state. Not one detail has been missed. This is more than a mere OCD.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I have that impression as well. We create Haunted Houses mainly to scare the visitors, but this Boss Chen¡¯s creations feel like it is more of a reduplication. So many details, including the bloody letters on the walls, this is already a kind of illness.¡± Song An¡¯s anger started to dwindle as it was reced by fear. ¡°The bloody sentences have not stopped since we entered this ce. It is hard to imagine how the man managed to write all these letters.¡±

    ¡°Some of the bloody letters look fresher than others.¡± Guo Miao also felt unsettled as an image appeared in his mind¡ªin the middle of the night, the Haunted House¡¯s boss carried a bucket of red paint alone in the dark and started to write down all these letters like he was possessed.

    ¡°Before entering this Haunted House, Boss Chen told us that the ce has been in operation for five to six years already. Could it be that he nned this scenario with the help of his parents?¡±

    ¡°To use five years to build a single scenario? What is the point of that?¡± Since they were in the same business, Guo Miao knew how much time and effort were needed to build a scenario asplicated as this. ¡°When we were at the entrance, a few of us peeled off the flooring. Boss Chen even paid attention to ces that normal visitors wouldn¡¯t pay attention to. That was incredibly out of ce.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute, the name ¡®Third Sick Hall¡¯ sounds quite familiar to me now.¡± Song An took out his phone, and the result made his face fall. ¡°Boss, the Third Sick Hall is a real ce in Jiujiang! Its patients were involved in many crimes like murders. In fact, a few days ago, the police sent out a warrant to capture the escaped patients!¡±

    ¡°So, Boss Chen wasn¡¯t lying?¡± Guo Miao¡¯s pupils danced. ¡°He brushed over such an important fact?¡±

    ¡°The inte says that the Third Sick Hall was abandoned five years ago, and his Haunted House began operation five years ago!¡± Song Anpared the timelines, and they were a match.

    ¡°This is bad!¡± Guo Miao suddenly remembered something. ¡°Examine the articles closely. Look at the warrant. See whether there is anyone that matches Boss Chen, like simr weight, height, and so on.¡±

    ¡°Boss, you suspect that Boss Chen was once a patient of the Third Sick Hall?¡±

    ¡°Do you think a normal person would spend five years to reconstruct a mental hospital? Every detail here is so authentic¡ªonly someone who spent a long time inside a mental hospital could replicate them so perfectly!¡± The more he thought about it, the more afraid Guo Miao became. ¡°This Boss Chen cleared Tian Teng Medical School with his heartrate not going over one hundred once. How can someone like that be a normal person?¡±

    ¡°How about we just stop this tour and leave immediately?¡±

    ¡°Leaving now might cause us to get targeted.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°The Third Sick Hall is not normally open to the public, and Boss Chen said that the scenario is not yetpleted. Thinking about it now, those were probably all excuses.¡± Guo Miao felt like killing Han Qiuming. ¡°This ce is probably hiding a huge secret.¡±

    Song An realized how severe Guo Miao¡¯s expression had gotten. He whispered, ¡°What kind of secret?¡±

    ¡°Before I arrived, I spoke with the manager of New Century Park. The man mentioned in passing that Boss Chen¡¯s parents disappeared mysteriously half a year ago without leaving behind any clues.¡± Looking at the crazed sentences written in blood, Guo Miao¡¯s heart was frozen in fear.

    ¡°Mysterious disappearance?¡± Song An¡¯s shock turned into terror. His eyes bulged as if he was suddenly reminded of something.

 Chapter 224 - Limitation

    <h4>Chapter 224: Limitation</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Could Boss Chen¡¯s parents...¡± Song An felt like his throat was filled with ice. When he said that, his lips were shaking uncontrobly.

    ¡°You saw the blood streak on the side of the bed in that room earlier. I didn¡¯t want to say anything then because we had outsiders with us.¡± Guo Miao reached into his pocket to pull out a cigarette to dangle on his lips. ¡°Fake blood is definitely not that color. The scratch marks and blood stains that we saw probably came from an actual human.¡±

    ¡°There are many more simr scratch marks and blood stains inside this scenario. If all those are real...¡± Song An shivered as he looked around. <i>This is not a Haunted House; it¡¯s a ughterhouse!</i>

    ¡°Boss, shall we call the cops?¡±

    ¡°I had the same idea, but we¡¯re in here for only ten minutes. If this is a misunderstanding, we¡¯ll be shamed for the rest of our lives.¡± Guo Miao bit on the cigarette. ¡°Let¡¯s meet up with the others first.¡±

    ¡°Boss! Brother Song!¡± When Song An was conversing with Guo Miao, Xiao Du ran over, gasping for air. ¡°The mannequins are alive! The mannequins are following behind us even though no one is carrying them!¡±

    ¡°The mannequins are alive?¡± The bad news just kepting.

    ¡°Yes, Mr. Han said that it was because of the workers hidden among the mannequins. To expose them, he dashed into the group of mannequins to drag them out.¡± Xiao Du¡¯s breathing became calmer. He did feel safer around Guo Miao and Song An.

    ¡°Did he find any workers?¡± Guo Miao and Song An¡¯s faces shifted. This Haunted House had many nasty surprises!

    ¡°There was not one worker among the mannequins!¡±

    ¡°If they were not manually moved, why are the mannequins following us? Han Qiuming might be an annoying person, but he is indeed a professional in this business.¡±

    ¡°No idea, but Mr. Han failed to discover any secrets after destroying all the mannequins. They¡¯re just normal mannequins.¡±

    ¡°Wait, Mr. Han destroyed the mannequins?¡± The bad feeling within Guo Miao was slowly materializing.

    ¡°I warned him about it, but he still went ahead and pulled off all the heads.¡± Xiao Du pouted. ¡°You don¡¯t know what happened then. Mr. Han was standing amid the broken mannequins, saying that since Boss Chen has ruined Tian Teng Medical School, he was going to create chaos within his Haunted House as well!¡±

    Listening to Xiao Du, both Guo Miao and Song An froze. <i>What the f*ck! Does he not know the limits? Why do you have to go and provoke a crazed murderer?</i>

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with the both of you?¡± Xiao Du realized that both Guo Miao and Song An were not speaking, and the atmosphere was rather heavy. ¡°Are you both scared as well? I was walking at the back of group, and it felt like people were following us. Every time I turned back to look, the mannequins moved closer, and I swore one of them even smiled at me!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Du, the mannequins aren¡¯t that important.¡± The cigarette in Guo Miao¡¯s mouth had been chewed in half. He removed it and shoved the broken halves into his pocket.

    ¡°How is that not important? Boss, there are at least twenty of those mannequins. If they alle alive, how are we going to survive?¡± Xiao Du was surprised by his boss¡¯ reaction. This was different from what he had expected.

    ¡°Boss is right. There is a bigger problem that we need to deal with.¡± Song An¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°Let¡¯s go find that Han Qiuming first.¡±

    Song An¡¯s sudden change in attitude confused Xiao Du. ¡°Brother Song, didn¡¯t you just have an argument with Mr. Han? You¡¯re still going to look for him?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no choice.¡± Song An said with a serious expression. ¡°I cannot just let him die, can I?¡±

    ¡°Let him die?¡± Xiao Du¡¯s lips fell open. <i>When did things be so serious? Aren¡¯t we only visiting a Haunted House?</i>

    ...

    After Xiao Du and Su Luoluo left, Ye Xiaoxin stood where she was. She was brave and enjoyed the visit. asionally, she would take out her notepad to jot things down.

    ¡°You¡¯re waiting for me?¡± Han Qiuming¡¯s heart soared when he saw Ye Xiaoxin was alone.

    ¡°I prefer to do things slow and alone. Your friends are all ahead.¡± Ye Xiaoxin pointed forward with her pen. Due to the corner, they had no idea what had happened ahead.

    Han Qiuming nced at Ye Xiaoxin and did not move his gaze away anymore. He increased his pace to walk beside her. ¡°I can help with your review; after all, I¡¯m a professional. I¡¯ve visited many Haunted Houses and worked with many foreign teams.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Ye Xiaoxin pushed open a random door and looked through everything with patience.

    ¡°Haunted Houses with a mental hospital theme alone, I¡¯ve been to three. One of them was built directly on an abandoned mental hospital; that is true authenticity.¡± Han Qiuming saw that Ye Xiaoxin wanted to move the bed, so he quickly hurried in to help.

    As he attempted to flirt, Guo Miao and Xiao Du¡¯s call came from the corner. ¡°Where is he? Qiuming! Han Qiuming?¡±

    ¡°He was just behind me earlier, where has he gone?¡±

    ¡°This ce is too dangerous; we need to find him!¡±

    ¡°Han Qiuming!¡±

    There were rushing footsteps in the corridor, and Han Qiuming pretended to not hear them. He helped Ye Xiaoxin move the bed and ced it on the floor.

    ¡°They¡¯re calling you, aren¡¯t you going to respond?¡±

    ¡°Why should I when they only want me when theye into danger?¡± Han Qiuming chuckled. ¡°There¡¯s probably something very scaryter. These guys might lookrge, but they¡¯re all useless. They all need to depend on me.¡±

    Ye Xiaoxin did notment, and they reced the bed. ¡°Actually, you can go with them, I would prefer to explore the ce alone.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. This way we can be on the lookout for each other.¡±

    Since she could not chase Han Qiuming away, Ye Xiaoxin did not say anything else. She exited the room and entered the corridor. Guo Miao¡¯s group had just run past.

    ¡°Did you notice the numbers left on the door? All of the rooms here start with the number 2.¡± Han Qiuming tried his best to show off, but Ye Xiaoxin was not interested. They walked for a short distance when Ye Xiaoxin stopped.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°This door is different from other rooms.¡± Ye Xiaoxin pointed at the que. It was smudged, but roughly, they could make out the words ¡®Director¡¯s Office¡¯.

    ¡°Maybe the recorder is inside. Come on, let¡¯s take a look.¡±

    ...

    Guo Miao and Song An ran all the way. They screamed until their throats were raw, but there was no reply from Han Qiuming.

    ¡°This shouldn¡¯t be! He was just behind me!¡± Xiao Du had a full head of sweat as various scary thoughts filled his mind. ¡°Do you think Mr. Han was kidnapped by the mannequins?¡±

    ¡°Probably not. He would have screamed if something happened to him, but we didn¡¯t hear anything.¡± Guo Miao frowned, looking at the copsed mess of mannequins and the rolling heads. He gritted his teeth. ¡°Don¡¯t panic. He¡¯s probably in one of the sickrooms. We¡¯ll turn back and look.¡±

 Chapter 225 - Tape Recorder

    <h4>Chapter 225: Tape Recorder</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Boss, you still want us to find him?¡± Xiao Du grumbled. The young man did not have a good impression of Han Qiuming because of his sharp tongue.

    ¡°Something might really happen to him if we don¡¯t find him.¡± Guo Miao¡¯s expression was serious. ¡°Perhaps something has already happened to him. No, we can¡¯t leave him behind! We¡¯re retracing our steps now!¡±

    ¡°I agree with you, boss.¡± To everyone¡¯s surprise, Song An did not hold onto his grudges and was willing to help. ¡°It¡¯s a mistake to get separated inside a Haunted House. We¡¯d better stick together.¡±

    Xiao Du nodded after a long pause. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll follow you.¡±

    The most innocent was Su Luoluo. The girl did not know anything and had no idea what the workers from Tian Teng Medical School were talking about. She just followed them and ran all over the ce.

    ¡°We should be more detailed with our examination. We need to look inside every room.¡±

    With Guo Miao leading the way, the group returned into the Third Sick Hall.

    ...

    Han Qiuming and Ye Xiaoxin entered the director¡¯s office. The room was separated into two smaller rooms, equipped with simple desks and chairs.

    ¡°The drawers are empty, and there are no books on the shelves. It¡¯s impossible to know the boss¡¯ personality from his reading preferences, but this is a good thing as well because it saves our time. Many Haunted Houses like to hide passwords or clues inside books,¡± Han Qiuming exined to Ye Xiaoxin, but it felt like he was talking to himself. Ye Xiaoxin moved away from the man and walked deeper into the room. She looked at therge dresser.

    ¡°Let me, this dresser is obviously custom-made. Ny percent chance there¡¯s a worker or trap hiding inside.¡± Han Qiuming walked forward to pull the door open. The dresser was empty. Heughed awkwardly. ¡°Looks like this is the ten percent. The worker probably didn¡¯t have the time to return after scaring Ol¡¯ Guo.¡±

    Ye Xiaoxin waspletely uninterested in the man. She knocked on the walls of the dresser light. ¡°cing a special dresser inside a special room, there has to be a reason.¡±

    When Ye Xiaoxin knocked on the back wall of the dresser, the sound changed. It was obvious that the back was hollow. The two worked together to remove the wall, and a hidden passage was revealed.

    ¡°The worker¡¯s passageway?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s shouldn¡¯t be.¡±

    There was no light inside the passageway, so Ye Xiaoxin took out her phone to use its shlight. When both her and Han Qiuming entered the path, an invisible force pushed the wall of the dresser, and it slowly closed. The passageway was so cramped that it was difficult to even turn. Thankfully, it was only several meters long.

    At the end of the oppressive tunnel was a steel door. Ye Xiaoxin pushed it open, and before her was a wooden board. She shoved it open, and the scenery changed. This was a sickroom that she had not been in before.

    ¡°The director¡¯s office is connected to a sickroom? What is the meaning of this design?¡± Ye Xiaoxin waspletely drawn into the authentic recreation of the Third Sick Hall.

    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s because the director kept the patient in his room as his possession?¡± Han Qiuming suggested. ¡°I hear this is somethingmon when the private hospitals weren¡¯t professionally managed like nowadays.¡±

    ¡°Possibly.¡± They entered the room and started inspecting it. There sick bed, tables, and chairs had their corners ground down. The decoration was simple; there was nothing special.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go out to take a look.¡± Han Qiuming opened the door, and a weird stench entered his nostrils. It smelt like the mixture of medicine and blood. He staggered one step back and extended his neck to look down the corridor.

    The walls were cracked, and the blood vessels behind them seemed to be pulsing. It gave a very creepy feeling like the building was alive and the walls were hiding its blood vessels.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like we¡¯ve been to this corridor before.¡± The set design was almost the same, but the feeling it gave waspletely different. The Third Sick Hall had made use of the looping design to its maximum potential. The visitors did not know what was at the end, and they had no idea how many corridors awaited them.

    The mattresses on the floor were well-worn, and the dolls poked their pillow heads out. Weird expressions were drawn on their faces. It felt like their eyes were following the duo. Han Qiuming wanted to retreat. They came from the secret passageway, so they did not know how far this corridor was from the rest, and they had no idea how many scary things it was hiding.

    He used his phone to shine the light down a corridor. The end of the dark corridor was not an exit but yet another corner.

    ¡°Don¡¯t block the way.¡± Ye Xiaoxin exited the sickroom. Her legs that stepped out felt like they were touched by chills. This corridor was obviously different from those before it.

    ¡°Let¡¯s look around. The tape recorder should be one of these rooms.¡± Ye Xiaoxin entered the sickroom next door to investigate, but Han Qiuming stood where he was. His hand that gripped the door was covered in sweat, and he peeked over his shoulder to look at the room door.

    The upper half of the door was normal¡ªit had the sign ¡®3¡¯¡ªbut the lower part of the door was quite scary. It waspletely covered in red paint, but the paint was bright and sticky. The red seemed to be alive, and it grew on the door. ¡°Room 3? Why are the number of the rooms in this corridor different from others?¡±

    Han Qiuming and Ye Xiaoxin examined the first three sickrooms. When they reached the end, they discovered a room without a number or a sign. ¡°Let¡¯s go in and see.¡±

    The room was small andpletely enclosed. There was sound-instion on the walls, and there was a bed with straps installed in the room. There was some broken equipment left by the bed.

    ¡°This looks like an electroshock therapy room. I¡¯ve seen something simr in many other mental hospitals and movies.¡± Han Qiuming looked around the bed before examining the cluster of broken equipment. Then he started to chuckle. ¡°Found it!¡±

    Han Qiuming moved the equipment aside to retrieve a tape recorder that was hidden among it.

    ¡°And here I thought the Haunted House would be difficult.¡± He tried his best to pretend like this was nothing, but the excited expression on his face betrayed his true feelings.

    Inparison, Ye Xiaoxin was much calmer. She looked at the recorder and frowned for the first time since she entered the Haunted House. ¡°Do you hear that?¡±

    ¡°Hear what?¡± Han Qiuming did not know what Ye Xiaoxin was talking about. ¡°Let¡¯s ignore it. We need to leave now. There¡¯s a time limit to this game. I¡¯m going to make a perfect game clear and shut that Chen fe up.¡±

    ¡°You really don¡¯t hear that?¡± Ye Xiaoxin pointed at the tape recorder in Han Qiuming¡¯s arms. ¡°The tape inside is turning, and the y button is lit up. The recorder has been running.¡±

 Chapter 226 - Believe Me

    <h4>Chapter 226: Believe Me</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Wearing the bloodied doctor¡¯s outfit, Chen Ge opened the wooden boards wearing the skin mask. <i>Ten minutes have passed, and there haven¡¯t been any screams. Looks like they have gotten used to the Third Sick Hall.</i>

    Chen Ge felt like he had be too soft. Afraid that the visitors might get too spooked by initial scares, he gave them a ten-minute buffer.

    <i>They should have found the tape recorder. Things will be a little more difficult from now on.</i>

    Chen Ge moved down the darkened steps. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he turned to look down the left corridor. There was not one mannequin outside the sealed ssroom. <i>They sure are obedient today. Normally, a few of them would be out loitering.</i>

    Holding the faceless nurse¡¯s uniform and the hammer, Chen Ge pushed the Third Sick Hall¡¯s steel door open.

    <i>The Third Sick Hall hasn¡¯t beenpleted yet, and the hidden mission has not been triggered. The scenario is only fifty percentplete at most, so it can¡¯t be treated as a real three-star scenario. The group is also apanied by many professionals, so they might really seed. </i>Chen Ge walked slowly. He was not in a rush. <i>Gotta go find that madwoman¡¯s mannequin and test the effects of this nurse¡¯s outfit first.</i>

    After turning the first corner, Chen Ge suddenly stopped moving. In the middle of the corridor, over twenty mannequins blocked the road with their bodies, their heads rolling left and right. They seemed to be having quite a good time.

    ¡°Why are you all here?¡± Chen Ge stood in the middle of the road, and the rolling heads stopped immediately. All of them started to y dead. ¡°Is this your scenario? Why are youing to the mental hospital with your school uniforms?¡±

    Naturally, the mannequins were silent. They stopped moving like primary school students who had been caught by their teacher at the arcade.

    ¡°It¡¯s one thing toe here, but you¡¯re disposed of as well?¡± Chen Ge sounded angry, but he felt sorry for them. He carried the heads up from the floor and returned them to their owners. ¡°This group of visitors wouldn¡¯t even leave the harmless mannequins be, such cruelty.¡±

    His progress was slow because there was no light. After patching up the sixth mannequin, he stood up and announced, ¡°When I send them out, I¡¯ll return to help the rest of you.¡±

    There was angercing his voice as Chen Ge gripped the hammer and ran down the corridor.

    ...

    Inside the electrotherapy room, Han Qiuming leaned toward the recorder. He listened for a long time, but there was no sound.

    ¡°Could it be an empty tape?¡± This was the only conclusion that he coulde up with.

    ¡°Would the boss do something that pointless?¡± Ye Xiaoxin had a feeling there was something more to this tape, but it was true¡ªthere was only faint white noise. She reached out to press the buttons on it, but no matter which button she pressed, the y button did not change, and the tape kept ying.

    ¡°The boss has probably modified this recorder; the buttons are only for appearance. The real power switch is hidden somewhere else.¡± Han Qiuming looked for a long time but could not find the real switch. His face was dark. Even since entering the Third Sick Hall, he had tried to make himself look useful, but the props inside this ce kept going against him.

    ¡°We should leave first.¡± Han Qiuming looked at his phone. ¡°We have three minutes left. If we hurry, we should be able to make it.¡±

    He exited the room with Ye Xiaoxin. They nned to use the secret passageway in Room 3 to exit.

    At the same time, at the other end of the corridor...

    Guo Miao¡¯s group rushed back into the deep ends of Third Sick Hall. They looked cursorily inside the rooms along the second and third corridors, including the director¡¯s office, but they could not find Han Qiuming.

    ¡°Boss! We¡¯ve looked through all the rooms, but there¡¯s still no sign of Han Qiuming!¡± Song An eximed between hurried breaths.

    ¡°The corridors only leads one way, so we should have run into each other. Where is the guy?¡± Guo Miao patted himself on his face lightly. He had not been so worried in the past ten years. ¡°Let me think about this. There are three possibilities to Han Qiuming¡¯s disappearance. One, he has found a secret passageway and run into it; two, he was hiding in one of the rooms earlier when we were looking for him, and now, he is deeper inside the Haunted House; and three...¡±

    At this point, the bloody scenes that one associated with mental hospitals appeared in his mind. He did not have the courage to continue. He looked at Song An and saw fear reflected in his eyes.

    ¡°This is bad!¡± The two guysmunicated with their eyes, and it caused Su Luoluo¡¯s scalp to go numb.

    ¡°Do you guys want to continue this tour? Because I¡¯m leaving!¡±

    She was getting more scared. Even her own teammates were more professional than these Haunted House workers, who kept saying things to make her scared.

    ¡°No! You can¡¯t go alone; it¡¯s too dangerous! We mustn¡¯t separate from each other!¡± Song Anmanded like something bad would happen to Su Luoluo if she left them.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Song is right. Being separated will give them the chance to take us down one by one. Only by staying together will the enemy not dare do anything rash.¡± Guo Miao forced a smile at Su Luoluo. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for dragging you into this mess, but don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll definitely bring you out safely.¡±

    Su Luoluo felt like crying when she heard Guo Miao¡¯s apology. <i>Why are you suddenly apologizing? What is happening? You told me I was lucky to have been selected to join you on this visit, but I¡¯ve done nothing except run all over the ce. Why are you doing this to me?</i>

    Su Luoluo suspected that she had been tricked and that she was the only real visitor. The rest of them were actors! The two Haunted Houses had worked together to scare her!

    ¡°We don¡¯t have time to waste. The longer we stay here, the more dangerous it is for Han Qiuming. We need to find him now!¡± Guo Miao decided. ¡°Come on! Let¡¯s move down the other corridor!¡±

    He and Song An walked in front while Xiao Du followed at the back. Before they moved on, he turned to tell Su Luoluo, ¡°Brother Song and Boss are reliable people. With them around, nothing dangerous will happen to you.¡±

    ¡°What kind of danger will happen to me inside a Haunted House? Is that how you console someone?¡± Standing alone in the corridor that was covered with bloody letters, Su Luoluo followed Guo Miao¡¯s group unwillingly. She did not dare go back to the exit alone. The group walked to the fourth corridor. They looked through all ten rooms, but they still had not found Han Qiuming.

    ¡°We¡¯ve reached the end? Where is this Han Qiuming?¡± Song An leaned against the wall, physically drained.

    ¡°A live person disappeared just like that?¡± Guo Miao¡¯s heart was racing. He looked around and realized that the blood letters on the wall had deepened in color.

    ¡°We must have missed something!¡± Guo Miao gripped Song An¡¯s shoulder. ¡°All Haunted Houses have pathways specialized for workers¡ªit should be the same for the Third Sick Hall. In the few sickrooms that we checked earlier, a few of them had unique structures. I believe that the pathway is hidden in one of them.¡±

    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll go back to look together!¡±

    Su Luoluo, who had been following them, was tried. This was the first time she had visited a Haunted House like this. ¡°I just ran here, and you guys are running away again?¡±

    ¡°The worker¡¯s pathway and Han Qiuming should be in one of those rooms.¡± Guo Miao looked at Su Luoluo. He had not been so serious for a long time. ¡°Trust me, I won¡¯t be mistaken!¡±

    ...

    Holding the tape recorder, Han Qiuming and Ye Xiaoxin exited the director¡¯s office. The white noise from the tape had gotten more pronounced.

    ¡°Where are your teammates? I seem to hear running.¡± Ye Xiaoxin kept her distance from Han Qiuming.

    ¡°Ignore them, let¡¯s get out first.¡± Holding the tape recorder, Han Qiuming felt like something was observing him. It made the skin on his back crawl.

 Chapter 227 - Help! Help!

    <h4>Chapter 227: Help! Help!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°You go first. I hear this Haunted House delineates its scenarios into different stages of difficulty. Since it is not often that we get to visit the hardest scenario, I wish to look around some more.¡± Ye Xiaoxin stood inside the director¡¯s office.

    The noise that came out from the tape recorder grew louder, and some other sounds could be heard within the white noise. It sounded like gasps of air and also crying.

    Han Qiuming looked at the time; they still had two minutes left. He did not have time to dawdle. ¡°Okay, you take care of yourself.¡±

    Then he turned toward the exit with the recorder. Watching as Han Qiuming¡¯s back merged into the darkness, the eyes of Ye Xiaoxin, who had kept her cool throughout, bulged wide. <i>Why is there someone lying on his back?</i>

    She was someone who did not believe in the supernatural, which was why she could so bravely review so many Haunted Houses. However, just now, she saw something that her experience could not exin. <i>Who was that lying on his back? Is it one of the workers?</i>

    ...

    Han Qiuming ran at the top of his speed with the recorder. <i>Two minutes left!</i>

    His body temperature fell. Han Qiuming did not know why, but there was a chill that radiated from his back and suffused through his body before finding its way into his heart.

    ¡°Pain...¡±

    A voice appeared beside his ear. It was fleeting.

    ¡°Who was that?¡± Han Qiuming turned his head around to look behind him. It was like a girl was lying on his back, but when he looked, there was nothing there. ¡°Was I mistaken?¡±

    He ran faster with a simple goal in mind, to leave as soon as possible. ¡°I already have the item, and I¡¯ll win the moment I escape. I¡¯ll gain back the face that Tian Teng Medical School has lost!¡± Han Qiuming ignored everything and dashed madly ahead.

    ¡°So painful...¡±

    The voice came closer, moving from his back to the side of his ears like it was trying to find its way into his earlobes.

    ¡± <strong>So painful! </strong>¡±

    ¡± <strong>Ahhh! </strong>¡± Han Qiuming waved his arms at the air around him angrily. ¡°Come out! Who is it?¡±

    There was no response other than silence. There were only the echoes of his voice and the tape¡¯s white noise in the long corridor.

    ¡°Is it this recorder?¡± Other than himself, only this recorder could produce sound. Han Qiuming ced it before his eyes. The tape was still turning, and the y button¡¯s light had changed from the earlier green to red. ¡°This has to be it!¡±

    Han Qiuming could not figure out what was wrong. Time was ticking. With a grit of his teeth, Han Qiuming grabbed the recorder and continued his mad sprint. <i>There has to be something wrong with the recorder, but it is also the key to clearing this scenario! It took us so much time to find this¡ªI¡¯m not going to throw it away! It¡¯ll be a waste of all my previous effort!</i>

    Han Qiuming cursed Chen Ge within his heart. <i>Such despicability!</i>

    He needed to exit with the tape recorder to win, and this was the hardest decision. Ditching the recorder meant losing, but keeping the recorder meant having to suffer the torment that it brough. This was a scenario that normal people would not be able to solve!

    ¡°Argh!¡± Han Qiuming gritted his teeth. He was going to give up his life to clear Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. He continued to run, but the weight on his shoulders gradually increased. It was as if something was pressing on his shoulders, and the chill seeped into his bones.

    ¡°So painful...¡±

    The voice from behind him became clearer and clearer. From the initial fuzzy male voice, it had now turned into a female voice. It sounded familiar. It was a voice that was filled with helplessness and despair.

    <i>Wait a minute!</i>

    When this voice appeared, the hairs on Han Qiuming¡¯s body stood up. <i>I¡¯ve heard this voice somewhere before.</i>

    His sanity was almost shattered. In a Haunted House that he had not visited before, he had managed to hear a voice that he was familiar with. <i>Where did I hear this before?</i>

    Cold sweat slid down his forehead. He did not have many female friends, practically none from his age group. <i>No, I must have heard this somewhere before!</i>

    A memory from about half a year ago floated up in his mind. When editing the design to Tian Teng Medical School to increase the attraction of the Haunted House, ignoring the objections from others, he had insisted on adding the death of Xu Zhenzhen and her father into the plot. To add to the authenticity, he had thoroughly researched Xu Zhenzhen.

    The girl had once worked at her father¡¯s hospital. Later, she had been fired due to medical mistake. At the time, the patient¡¯s family had made a huge deal out of it, and there was even a video online. The family had gone to the hospital to demand an exnation from Xu Zhenzhen. In a nurse¡¯s uniform, Xu Zhenzhen had been surrounded by other doctors and nurses. She had exined herself with her soft voice, but no one had paid her any attention. Later, the situation had spiraled out of control, and she had been shoved to the ground. Someone had even stepped on her fingers.

    ¡°So painful...¡±

    <i>Yes! This is the voice!</i>

    Han Qiuming¡¯s head was exploding. He was listening to a dead victim¡¯s voice inside a Haunted House!

    He threw the tape recorder away instantly. Even if he had ten more hearts, and he would not go near that tape recorder again.

    <i>Why would Xu Zhenzhen¡¯s voice be caught inside the recorder? Is it the work of that Chen fe? Impossible! He wouldn¡¯t have known we were going to visit the Third Sick Hall. It was my suggestion that the n was changed. </i>Han Qiuming wanted to give himself a huge p on his lips. <i>I shouldn¡¯t have said that!</i>

    <i>The tape recorder originally came from Tian Teng Medical School. Could it be that the Xu Zhenzhen that I took inspiration from returned as an actual ghost?</i>

    His body temperature was dropping, and his skin was cold. The pressure on his shoulders continued to increase. <i>I¡¯ll need to leave this ce first; this house is too haunted.</i>

    Han Qiuming continued to run, but he only took several steps before he started to gasp desperately for air. The soft mattresses did not provide his feet with any purchase, and every step he took made his body feel heavier.

    <i>What¡¯s going on? It feels like I¡¯m carrying something.</i>

    Han Qiuming looked behind him. The tape recorder that he had dropped in the corner was unharmed because the fall had been cushioned by the mattresses, and it was still rolling. The tape that kept on turning was like a curious smile or a whirlpool that was designed to draw him in.

    <i>I need to escape.</i>

    The tape recorder was far away from him, but the white noise felt like it was just beside his ears.

    ¡°So painful, so painful...¡±

    The woman¡¯s voice filled Han Qiuming¡¯s mind, and there was a crazed look in his eyes. ¡°Stop talking! I told you to stop talking!¡±

    He punched the air and turned wildly about. He wanted to search for the source. In a sh, he saw a woman¡¯s face ced on his shoulder, whispering into his ear.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got you now!¡± He turned on his phone¡¯s shlight and used the camera to point behind him. As the camera turned, the familiar face that he had seen many times on newspapers and medical reports appeared in his phone. ¡°Xu... Xu Zhenzhen!¡±

    The phone slipped from his grasp, and Han Qiuming dashed down the corridor, running for his life. His body turned colder ,and the voice refused to leave him be.

    ¡°So painful, so painful, so painful!¡±

    After turning the corner, Han Qiuming returned to the mess of mannequins. He did not notice the changes to the mannequins and charged forward blindly. He knew that he had paid attention to where he was stepping, but for some reason, something tripped him up, and he copsed amid the mess of mannequins. During his fall, his thick sses were sent flying as well.

    ¡°My sses!¡±

    Han Qiuming crawled on all fours. His surroundings werepletely blurred, but he could still make out the shapes of hands, legs, and heads. He crawled toward his sses, but the sses kept on moving away from him like they were being moved by the mannequins.

    In the dark, he could sense the many heads and body parts moving toward him.

    ¡°What are you? Don¡¯te any closer! Help! Help!¡±

 Chapter 228 - The Devils Story

    <h4>Chapter 228: The Devil¡¯s Story</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Han Qiuming only managed to shout once before something mped on his lips. Endless terror swallowed him whole. Unable to see anything clearly, the icy feeling shot through his body and was carried in a certain direction. The door closed, and the corridor returned to its original state.

    The Third Sick Hall was huge, and all of the corridors were quite a distance from each other, but Ye Xiaoxin still heard somemotion. She hesitated before leaving the director¡¯s office. This courageous girl was very careful with her every step. She turned the corner, but there was still nothing.

    <i>Where has that man disappeared to? Did he trigger some trap? </i>Ye Xiaoxin continued to move through the dark corridor.

    Suddenly, she heard footsteps. <i>Han Qiuming¡¯s footsteps are weak and light; this person¡¯s are stable and powerful, like someone who has a purpose and knows what he¡¯s doing.</i>

    Ye Xiaoxin hid in the nearby sickroom and snuck a look through the slit.

    Not long after that, an incredibly scary monster emerged. He was wearing a bloody doctor¡¯s outfit, and his face was sewn together. He was covered in a murderous aura and holding a horrific-looking hammer. The hammer was covered in blood stters, and it dragged across the floor. It did not look like a prop but like an actual murder weapon.

    <i>The actor inside the Third Sick Hall? The actor only appears after twenty minutes?</i>

    The first time Ye Xiaoxin lost her cool was when she saw the person on Han Qiuming¡¯s back, and the second time was now. The monster was slowly advancing, and Ye Xiaoxin¡¯s fair fingers gripped the door tightly. This was something she had not experienced in other Haunted Houses, and she could not understand why.

    <i>Why am I so afraid? </i>Looking at the monster wave the hammer about expertly, Ye Xiaoxin¡¯s instincts told her to hide. <i>Actors in other Haunted Houses are just putting on a show, but looking at this doctor, it feels like he has really done something sick with that hammer before.</i>

    It was not until the doctor left that Ye Xiaoxin silently exited the sickroom. She jotted down a brief few words on her notebook before starting to follow behind the doctor.

    ...

    In the deepest part of Third Sick Hall, Guo Miao and Song An stood before the door to Room 10.

    ¡°The numbering on this corridor is different from others, and Rooms 8, 9, and 10 are the most unique because their doors are made from steel.¡±

    Guo Miao shared his findings with others. ¡°We should focus on investigating these three rooms. Take care to not lose sight of one another. If you discover anything, call for help and do not touch anything on your own.¡±

    The group went into Room 8 first. The window was installed with anti-theft gauze, and there were detaining straps attached to the steel bed on both sides. The whole room gave a weird feeling, but it was not noticeable at first nce.

    ¡°This room...¡± Guo Miao stared at the bed for a long time and said uncertainly, ¡°Looks like everything here is uneven.¡±

    With that reminder, the other visitors saw that as well. Half of the dresser had been destroyed but the other half was perfectly preserved. The left side of the bed was fine, but the right side was heavily twisted. Even the floor was half dirty and half clean. ¡°What is the meaning of this room? The clue to clearing the scenario is unevenness?¡±

    The patient Room 8 housed was Xiong Qing, a patient with Hemineglect. Harmony in the eyes of normal people would be twisted in his perspective, so the world in his eyes was sick and twisted and thus required correction. The group searched for a long time inside Room 8 but came up with nothing. They left Room 8 and entered Room 9.

    Room 9 was the cleanest room in the Third Sick Hall. There was no trash or rubbish, and there was no weird drawing on the wall. However, inside the Third Sick Hall, this only made things seem weirder. The group searched the room and still came up with nothing.

    ¡°What is Boss Chen trying to say? This design is difficult to understand.¡± The patient in Room 9 was Wu Fei. This was someone even Men Nan¡¯s main persona had thought was dangerous.

    Pushing open thest steel door, the group who stood outside the door were assaulted by a pungent stench. Everyone had their hairs stand upright and they prepared to run.

    When Chen Ge was doing his Trial Mission, Room 10 had been locked, so he had not been inside this room in reality.

    ¡°Should we leave?¡± Su Luoluo asked outside the door with her hand over her nose.

    ¡°The smell is not as strong inside the room, but you and Xiao Du can stay outside.¡± Guo An and Song An entered Room 10, and the decoration inside this room could only be described as madness. There were no windows¡ªit was apletely enclosed area. There was no bed or furniture like tables or chairs. Only several dpidated and smelly mattresses were left on the floor.

    When Guo Miao and Song An¡¯s gaze moved to the wall, even they were spooked. All the surfaces in the room were covered in blood letters of various sizes. They were so ovepped with each other that it created an illusion that they were moving.

    The scariest thing was, opposite from the room door was a man¡¯s face, embedded in the wall. It was just a thinyer, and he looked like he was smiling and was not at the same time.

    ¡°Boss, that face doesn¡¯t look like a prop¡ªmanmade rubber wouldn¡¯t be able create this kind of feeling.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    Guo Miao took several steps toward the human face. He raised his hands to touch it to confirm, but his hand hung several meters away from the face, and he could not move forward anymore. ¡°So be it, I feel like the clue won¡¯t be rted to this face. It¡¯s probably hiding among the blood letters.¡±

    Guo Miao looked at the letters around the human face and realized with a shock that unlike the words out in the corridor, the sentences had basic logic to them, as if they were telling a story. Using his phone as light, he read them aloud.

    ¡°My wife used me of being a killer, my parents refused to talk to me, the neighbors pointed at me, and everyone abandoned me.

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t be alive, but I found no reason to die. I am the killer of my own children. Yes, I have never denied that fact.

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have left him alone at home. I shouldn¡¯t have left the fire on and rushed to work.

    ¡°Three lives, three children.

    ¡°What can I do to seek salvation?

    ¡°I wish to tear out my heart for you to see.

    ¡°Please stop ming me. I¡¯m sorry, it¡¯s all my fault.

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have argued; I should ept my mistake silently. If I didn¡¯t argue with my wife that night, perhaps she wouldn¡¯t have leftte at night to find her parents, and she wouldn¡¯t have been harmed by those people.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, this is all my fault.

    ¡°I wish to atone for my sins, but who would ept my atonement?

    ¡°There¡¯s a needle inside my body, standing over my heart. Every breath I take, it pierces through my heart.

    ¡°What should I do? Try my best to live.

    ¡°I¡¯ve moved to apletely new ce, but the situation hasn¡¯t changed.

    ¡°Guilt torments me. I am a killer, an unforgivable killer.¡±

 Chapter 229 - The Flyer for Ghost Stories Society

    <h4>Chapter 229: The Flyer for Ghost Stories Society</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°No matter where I was, when the sun rose up and I woke up from my dream, I would tell myself it¡¯s a new day. Yet, whenever I opened my eyes, the monster within me awakened. It would tear open my wounds relentlessly, and that bone-piercing pain reminded me.

    ¡°I¡¯m my children¡¯s killer, the source of all tragedy.

    ¡°I sought help from doctors, and they told me the monster was a manifestation of my conscience and guilt; it was me torturing myself.

    ¡°They suggested that I put my focus elsewhere, find a ce where my heart could rest.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid of interacting with people, so I relied on medication and books as well as religion to seek escape.

    ¡°I have a small wish in my heart. Perhaps God will be able to forgive my sin to give me my salvation.

    ¡°In everyone¡¯s eyes, I¡¯m my children¡¯s killer, but my God wouldn¡¯t. I will give my everything to God.

    ¡°Three years ago, the pain finally stopped¡ªperhaps the medicine was working. In fact, I could feel myself improving. I was more at peace with myself.

    ¡°The fall of the fourth year, the police came to me with a stranger. They said that this was one of the culprits who harmed my wife. The man came to me because he wanted to seek forgiveness. But why should I forgive him?

    ¡°My wife lost three of her children, and she was taken away from me forever not long after. I will never forgive him, never!

    ¡°The stranger opened his heart to me, but I didn¡¯t feel a shred of pity for the man. If anything, I felt like he had not suffered enough punishment. Those kinds of people do not deserve forgiveness.

    ¡°After he was done, he seemed to feel better. Looking at how relieved he was, I was angry. I charged at him, and during our tussle, the locket on his neck snapped, and the ne that had the carving of God fell to the ground.

    ¡°As if afraid that his most precious treasure would be stepped on, he used his body to shield the locket, to beg the God for forgiveness.

    ¡°I saw myself in the man; he was very simr, including the God in the locket. I had the very same locket¡ªwe believed in the same God!

    ¡°Why would my God forgive the murderer who harmed my wife?

    ¡°After the stranger left, I smashed the locket around my neck and burned everything religious I had in my house.

    ¡°The monster that had been silent for the past four years awakened once more. I thought I was healed, but I was merely lying to myself. However, this was perfect. I no longer needed to suppress the monster that was now a part of me.

    ¡°I found a knife inside the kitchen and chased after the stranger.

    ¡°God might have forgiven him, but I had not.¡±

    The blood letters filled the wall. There were plenty more, but they became more and more iprehensible, although they all had a feeling of confession to them.

    The more he looked at them, the more afraid Guo Miao became. ¡°Could this be Boss Chen¡¯s past? The patient in this room was once Boss Chen? This mask is one he has used before?¡±

    His mind went to impossible ces to scare himself. ¡°Could this be actual human skin?¡±

    With a grit of his teeth, he held his breath and reached out to touch that face. When his fingertip was about to touch the face, there was a sudden screaming from the corridor!

    ¡°Who is that? I saw it! A face! There was a face inside Room 3!¡± The shrill female scream made Guo Miao¡¯s legs turn to mush, and he copsed to the floor. His heart was racing, and Guo Miao had his hand over his heart. He turned to yell outside the room when something caught his attention. He was kneeling before the human face, and from his vantage point, a yellowed piece of paper was poking out between the wall and the human face.

    ¡°What is this?¡± With shaking hands, he reached into the human face to pull the piece of paper out. Careful not to ruin the human face, Guo Miao finally pulled out the piece of paper that was about the size of his palm.

    ¡°Ghost stories society?¡± The paper looked like a flyer. The back was a picture of a half-opened red door, and on the top half was written ¡®Ghost Stories Society¡¯. The lower half of the flyer introduced the way to get into this society.

    ¡°Look for a building with twenty-four floors and take the elevator at midnight?¡±

    Holding the paper in his grasp, Guo Miao¡¯s heart kept skipping. He could no longer tell what was real and what was fake. At the same time he found the flyer, Chen Ge exited the secret tunnel into Room 3, and the ck phone in his pocket vibrated.

    <i>A message at a time like this? </i>Chen Ge retreated into the secret tunnel and closed the steel door. He checked his message.

    ¡°You¡¯ve triggered the only hidden mission inside Third Sick Hall¡ªGhost Stories Society!

    ¡°This will your first opponent before you master nightmares! Find them!

    ¡°Mission Hint one: The ghost story society congregates in one of the rooms on the 24th floor.

    ¡°Mission Hint two: A building with 23 floors, but it has 24 numbers. Why?

    ¡°Mission Hint three: Only by taking the elevator at midnight will you be able to enter the 24th floor.¡±

    When he was waiting for his elevator at Fang Hwa Apartments, he had identally discovered that the building only had 23 floors, but the elevator had 24 numbers!

    <i>The Ghost Stories Society is inside that building?</i>

    Inside Room 10, Guo Miao put his phone close to the flyer. ¡°Only by taking the elevator at midnight will you be able to find the ghost stories society. After entering the elevator, press to go to the 23rd floor. When you¡¯ve reached the 23rd floor, press to go down to the second floor. When you reach the second floor, go up to the 22nd floor. Repeat this many times before pressing the button for the 24th floor.¡±

    Just looking at the flyer, Guo Miao was scared. He folded the flyer back up and shoved it back under the human face.

    ¡°This has to be some kind of prank, right? Taking the elevator alone at midnight, going up and down endlessly. The elevator opens to the corridor. What if those spooky things join you in the elevator?

    ¡°This ce is too weird, we cannot stay here any longer. Ol¡¯ Song, help me up, we¡¯re leaving!¡±

    Chen Ge pocketed his ck phone and swung the hammer before him. <i>The visitors have triggered the hidden mission. How did they manage to do that?</i>

    Before the Third Sick Hall was opened to the public, Chen Ge had inspected every single corner of the scenario. He had examined Room 10 as well. However, the flyer was hidden masterfully. Only be looking at the mask from the floor would one be able to spot it. This meant that one had to be afraid of the mask until one fell on the floor to discover it. It was a pure coincidence that Guo Miao had found it.

    Inparison, when Chen Ge saw the face, he had gone over to squeeze the nose and cheeks to try it out. He was not afraid at all; if anything, he was happy because he suspected that this was Patient 10¡¯s face, which meant that he was closer to solving the puzzle.

    <i>The hidden mission was discovered the visitors¡ªI need to thank them nicely.</i>

    Listening to the footstepsing from outside the tunnel, he touched the skin mask on his face andy in wait for the perfect moment.

 Chapter 230 - Surprise!

    <h4>Chapter 230: Surprise!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Was it this room?¡± The few visitors entered Room 3, but the ce was empty.

    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re not mistaken?¡± Song An held Guo Miao to look around the room. There was no hiding ce in sight.

    ¡°There was a face! He was wearing a doctor¡¯s outfit, and his face was sewn together. He shook and then disappeared back into the room.¡± Su Luoluo was very sure of herself. Everyone else had their attention turned to Room 10, but she had been paying attention to things behind them.

    ¡°Never mind, stop looking,¡± Guo Miao said weakly, his legs still weak. ¡°Let¡¯s go out now.¡±

    ¡°Impossible, I was staring at Room 3, and the face hasn¡¯t appeared again. He should still be inside this room.¡± Su Luoluo grabbed Xiao Du¡¯s arm. ¡°You were also in the corridor earlier; did you see anything?¡±

    ¡°Maybe, I¡¯m not sure.¡± Xiao Du¡¯s answer was too vague. The few of them stayed in the room for a while before retracing their steps and preparing to leave.

    <i>Leaving just like that? </i>Chen Ge exited the secret tunnel and followed behind the group of visitors. <i>So be it. Their fans are waiting for them outside; I¡¯ll save them some face.</i>

    He entered Room 10. <i>When the hidden mission was triggered, they were inside this room.</i>

    Everything in the room was normal; only a few footprints were left on the mattresses. Chen Ge walked over to inspect the footprints and noticed the small changes in the human face. He squatted down, reached into the face¡¯s mouth, and pulled out a flyer from within.

    <i>Looks like they found this.</i>

    Chen Ge pocketed the flyer and entered the toilet opposite from the electrotherapy room. He carried a female mannequin out from it. He put the faceless nurse¡¯s uniform on the mannequin, preparing onest surprise for this group of visitors.

    Exiting Room 10, Chen Ge could hear some noiseing from the third corridor. He nced in that direction and saw the person, but he did not expose her. After turning the corner, he leaned against the wall and waited quietly. Several secondster, there were soft footstepsing from the corridor. The person who was following him was very cautious.

    The sound of footsteps was adjacent to the wall. In the darkened corridor, danger coulde from anywhere. Only the sturdy wall could bring her the security she needed. The two parties got close, the corner blocking their sight of one another. The person was afraid that Chen Ge was still around, so she did not turn the corner instantly butmitted to the same pose as Chen Ge¡ªher back against the cracked wall, her legs tensed as she leaned her upper body forward. She bent over and silently moved her face toward the corner.

    ¡°Are you looking for me?¡±

    The pair of eyes met, and Ye Xiaoxin¡¯s breathing stopped. Her heart was racing, and blood rushed to her eyes. Her ears were numb, and she could not hear anything!

    Her body temperature was dropping, and her body shook involuntarily. Chen Ge looked down on the short-haired woman, and his sewn face was slightly twisted. Without a second word, he raised the hammer in his grasp!

    BANG!

    The hammer connected on the wall that was two meters above the girl¡¯s head. The wall chipped, and the debris fell on her face; this made Ye Xiaoxin realize that she was not in a dream. Herposure was shattered, and blood drained from her face. She turned and dashed toward Room 3.

    ¡°Wait, don¡¯t run!¡± Chen Ge maintained his distance. He did not catch up to her, but he did not slow down. The hammer scratched the wall, creating a sound that chilled Ye Xiaoxin¡¯s heart. She did not dare turn back to look; there was only one thought in her mind¡ªRun!

    She dashed into Room 3¡¯s secret passageway, and Chen Ge followed closely behind her.

    One ran, and one chased.

    They passed through the tunnel in the blink of an eye and exited at the director¡¯s office.

    In the corridor outside, the other visitors did not know what happened, but they could hear the weird noisesing from the surrounding sickrooms.

    ¡°Boss, I¡¯m worried. It feels like something ising.¡± Song An held Guo Miao and kept turning his head about.

    ¡°There are so many of us. If something is reallying, we don¡¯t need to worry.¡± Guo Miao tried to keep the morale high, but before he could finish, a disheveled woman burst out of the director¡¯s office. It was Ye Xiaoxin. She saw the group of people that she had stunned and yelled, ¡°He¡¯sing to get us! Run! Run for your lives!¡±

    Her face was red from ack of oxygen, a different person from the calm reviewer that walked in.

    ¡°He? Who is he?¡±

    Ye Xiaoxin ran after she gave the warning. About one second after that, the half-open door to the director¡¯s director was cracked open by brute force!

    The door mmed against the wall, and it shattered into pieces. The thing that came into the visitors¡¯ sights was a blood-stained hammer!

    Chen Ge, in his bloodied outfit, exited the director¡¯s office. He was chasing after Ye Xiaoxin but came into Guo Miao¡¯s group instead. His body blocking the only exit, Chen Ge turned to look at the few visitors. ¡°This is such a coincidence.¡±

    The emotionless eyes sent chills down the visitors¡¯ spines. Before Chen Ge could make his next move, Su Luoluo and Xiao Du at the back of the group screamed and ran back into the deeper part of Third Sick Hall.

    ¡°Hold your ground...¡± Guo Miao was about to say, but he reached out to grab air. Song An, who had been holding onto him, had abandoned him to rush after Su Luoluo and Xiao Du. He was already several meters away.

    ¡°It¡¯s wrong to abandon your friend no matter the situation.¡± Chen Ge made the decision and ran past Guo Miao to chase after the escaping three. The smell of blood sted past him, and Guo Miao slowly slid down the wall. He looked at Chen Ge¡¯s rushing figure and took in a deep breath before crawling toward the Haunted House¡¯s entrance. ¡°The truth mustn¡¯t be suppressed. Someone has to escape this ce alive...¡±

    The deepest part of the fourth corridor was a dead-end, and this was also the ce where Chen Ge hadid the most traps. This group of visitors had been scared before they even reached the fourth corridor. They did not really inspect the fourth corridor, so this meant that many scare points that Chen Ge had hidden were not activated.

    Chen Ge chased after them, giving them tons of pressure. When the three reached the dead end, their minds copsed.

    ¡°There¡¯s no way forward.¡± Xiao Du punched on the wall covered with blood vessels, and the fear he was feeling could not be put into words.

    ¡°We¡¯re trapped.¡± Song An¡¯s face was equally filled with despair.

    Of the three of them, Su Luoluo was the calmest. ¡°There should be a hidden passageway. Don¡¯t you remember? I said I saw a face inside Room 3, but we couldn¡¯t find anyone, so I suspect there¡¯s a secret passage there.¡±

    ¡°Room 3?¡± The three looked at one another and decided to gamble. They ran toward Chen Ge, and when they were about to meet, the three snuck into Room 3.

    ¡°There¡¯s really a secret passage!¡± When Chen Ge was chasing after Ye Xiaoxin, he had forgotten to close the passage embedded into the wall, so the visitors discovered the hidden passageway easily.

    ¡°We¡¯re saved!¡± Before they could be relieved, Chen Ge appeared at the door. ¡°Hey!¡±

    ¡°Run!¡± Su Luoluo was the first to crawl into the tunnel; Xiao Du and Song An followed closely behind her. The dark tunnel wasrge enough to allow one person to pass through at a time. Su Luoluo saw the exit that was approaching, and her heart was in her mouth. The escape was imminent!

    She crawled faster, and when she was about one meter away from the exit, a face covered with bandages appeared on the other end of the tunnel!

    She was wearing a bloodied nurse uniform, and Su Luoluo could hear a woman¡¯s giggleing from the nurse. ¡°What is this?¡±

    Su Luoluo felt like cursing. She forced herself to stop, but the momentum still sent her careening into the monster. The realistic head fell into her chest. The bandages loosened, and the curiously beautiful face was revealed. Then the scariest thing happened. Due to the physical trauma, the nurse¡¯s facial features fractured, and the face shattered before Su Luoluo!

    ¡± <strong>Ahhh! </strong>¡±

    She tried to crawl backwards while Xiao Du and Song An were mindlessly charging forward. The three rammed into one another, and the collision could be heard miles away. The three tripped, and due to the small space of the tunnel, they got entangled in one another and were unable to escape, lodged in the middle of the tunnel.

    Seeing this, Chen Ge chuckled as he moved closer to them with the hammer. ¡°Why are you doing this to yourselves?¡±

 Chapter 231 - I Forgot I Have on Make-up

    <h4>Chapter 231: I Forgot I Have on Make-up</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The three were entangled with one another. This was the first time Chen Ge had happened across something like this in his Haunted House. ¡°Call 911? There¡¯s no need. I¡¯ll help you myself.¡±

    Using his feet to ce pressure on Song An¡¯s back, he pulled on Xiao Du¡¯s arm. ¡°Brace yourself!¡±

    He leaned back to pull Xiao Du out from the mess.

    ¡°Ow! Ow!¡±

    After a long time, he finally managed to separate the three of them. Looking at the three who were copsed on the floor with pale faces, he could not help but sigh. ¡°The physical condition of my recent visitors sure has been weak.¡±

    Wearing the doctor¡¯s outfit, holding the hammer, Chen Ge got no response from his visitors. For them, this day was going to be forever sealed in their hearts, bing a ¡®precious¡¯ memory that they would never forget.

    ¡°Can you still walk on your own? I¡¯ll lead you out.¡± Chen Ge picked up the female mannequin¡¯s head and ced it beside her body. Then, he helped the few exit the director¡¯s office.

    At the entrance of the Haunted House, the visitors were separated into two groups. One group consisted of the real visitors; they were seated at the resting tent, being busybodies. The other group consisted of Tian Teng Medical School¡¯s fans; they were anxious to see the result.

    ¡°Manager Xu, it has been almost forty minutes, why aren¡¯t they out yet?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve received SOS calls! Manager, are you sure nothing will go wrong?¡±

    Uncle Xu stood outside the Haunted House to sell tickets. Surrounding him were four young men and women. If Chen Ge was there, he would definitely have recognized them. These were the other workers from Tian Teng Medical School.

    ¡°This... I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be fine.¡± Uncle Xu was covered with sweat. To be honest, he had no idea. The normal visitation time was twenty minutes, and once they went over that time, something bad was bound to happen.

    ¡°You¡¯ve wiped your sweat at least ten times within two minutes. Boss, you¡¯re making us worried!¡± The man who shouted had the surname Lin. He was the dead body who had hidden under the baby crib. Without his make-up, he looked even paler in person.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± He might have said so, but Uncle Xu was more nervous than they were. When Fei Youliang came to visitst time, he had been dyed by eight minutes before he was let out, and he had been sent directly to the hospital. This time, the dy was twenty minutes! This was bad!

    Uncle Xu did not dare think of the possible reasons. In fact, he had called the park¡¯s medical team ten minutes ago; stretchers were already ready at the resting tent.

    ¡°Let¡¯s wait a little longer. Perhaps they¡¯re having too much fun.¡±

    Another minute passed, and the curtain was finally pushed open. A sexy woman ran out of it. There was no color in her face, and her short hair was stuck to her face and her forehead. The moment she saw the light, she crumbled the ground. Her chest rose and fell violently like she had just finished a marathon.

    ¡°Someone is out!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Ye Xiaoxin!¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t she the country¡¯s most professional Haunted House reviewer? How did she end up in this state?¡±

    ¡°This proves that you cannot believe everything on the inte. After all, she wasn¡¯t a professional from Tian Teng Medical School, so it¡¯s understandable that she is this scared.¡±

    Seeing Ye Xiaoxin manage to run out of the Haunted House, Uncle Xu sighed in relief. <i>Thank God!</i>

    He opened the gate to go to help Ye Xiaoxin when the curtain was opened a second time.

    Guo Miao looked so much older. He knocked into the wall before copsing out of the entrance. There was no life in his eyes. Seeing Ye Xiaoxin on the left, he very instinctively copsed to the right. Kneeling under the sun, he doubled over like he was about to vomit.

    ¡°Boss!¡±

    The other workers from Tian Teng Medical School all rushed forward. Looking at how distressed their boss was, the shock in their heart could not be described. The fans outside the Haunted House were speechless as well.

    ¡°It was only a Haunted House visit, right? Howe it feels like he went on a roller-coaster?¡±

    Not long after that, the thick curtain was pushed back again. Song An limped in front while Chen Ge followed behind him with the two other visitors. He did not remove his mask, so his appearance caused some in the crowd to scream. Even Uncle Xu was shocked by Chen Ge. He was a coward, so he had never entered Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House before.

    ¡°Nothing serious, they¡¯re just spooked.¡± Chen Ge dropped Xiao Du and Su Luoluo at the front door. He saw the other workers from Tian Teng Medical School. Before they interrogated him, Chen Ge said, ¡°You¡¯re here in support of Tian Teng Medical School, right? Don¡¯t worry, in ten minutes, I can arrange for you to visit the Haunted House.¡±

    The words that they wanted to say were stuck in their throats.

    ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯m going back. There¡¯s still one visitor I haven¡¯t found.¡±

    The workers from Tian Teng Medical School looked at one another. They were all in the same business, and they knew of the surprise idents, but what exactly did he mean by thatst sentence?

    Entering the Haunted House again, Chen Ge pulled up the surveince for the Third Sick Hall to look. Han Qiuming was struggling within the pool of mannequins before being dragged into one of the sickrooms.

    Chen Ge returned to Third Sick Hall to find Han Qiuming. Pushing open the wooden door, he found Han Qiuming fainted on the floor. His sses were hanging on his face, and around him were numerous mannequin parts.

    ¡°You guys even helped him find his sses. Nice job, very polite.¡±

    Chen Ge ced his finger under Han Qiuming¡¯s nose. There was still breathing. He looked okay on the surface, but whether or not he would leave with an emotional scar that would make him scream in the middle of the night while hospitalized like that Fei Youliang, Chen Ge could not tell.

    Holding Han Qiuming¡¯s arms, Chen Ge dragged him to the door. When he was moved, Han Qiuming slowly opened his eyes, regaining his consciousness. When he saw he was being dragged by a bloody doctor, he instinctively started to struggle. Chen Ge was not saving him but was pulling him somewhere to get butchered.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move, I¡¯m here to help,¡± Chen Ge told him kindly, but Han Qiuming¡¯s consciousness was fraying. He could not understand Chen Ge and kept mumbling, ¡°Ghost... ghost...¡±

    ¡°What ghost? Are you hallucinating?¡± Chen Ge did not know what happened to Han Qiuming, but ording to his design, even if they triggered all the traps, they should not end up in Han Qiuming¡¯s state.

    ¡°How are you a Haunted House designer if you¡¯re so easily scared?¡± Chen Ge released the man, and Han Qiuming pulled on the mattress on the floor and tried to crawl toward the corner.

    ¡°What are you so afraid of? I¡¯m here to lead you out. I¡¯m one of the workers here.¡±

    Han Qiuming refused to listen to Chen Ge. Out of options, Chen Ge grabbed Han Qiuming by his shoulders and removed his skin mask. ¡°Look at me, I¡¯m the Haunted House¡¯s boss.¡±

    Han Qiuming was forced to turn his head to look at Chen Ge. Underneath the skin mask was a face without life.

    ¡°Dead, dead, dead people...¡±

    Looking at Han Qiuming who had fainted once more, Chen Ge touched his face and suddenly realized that he had applied the dead people¡¯s make-up before putting on the skin mask.

 Chapter 232 - Wednesday

    <h4>Chapter 232: Wednesday</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Then again, this is not bad. At least I don¡¯t need to exin myself anymore.</i>

    Dragging the unconscious Han Qiuming, Chen Ge exited the Haunted House and very naturally headed for the resting tent. ¡°Where are the doctors? This brother here might need a little aid.¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge!¡± Uncle Xu rushed over in a hurry. He was not surprised when he saw this. He had prepared plenty of emergency rescue kits in the tent outside of Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. ¡°The stretcher is at the corner! Stop dragging him! Let him lie down naturally. Make some space, give him some air!¡±

    The park doctor who stood ready quickly ran out to help Han Qiuming. ¡°His physical condition is fine, and there are no obvious wounds. It was not because of physical trauma or sickness that he fainted.¡± The more he inspected, the more curious the doctor became. ¡°The reason of his fainting was probably because he was put under high pressure, continuously causing his brain to shut down. This is the human body¡¯s natural self-defense mechanism. He will wake up on his own in a while.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Liu, will he end up with some kind of side effects?¡± Uncle Xu asked worriedly.

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. After all, cases like this aren¡¯tmon.¡± Doctor Liu peeled Han Qiuming¡¯s eyelids back; his pupils were not concentrated, his mouth was agape, and his body temperature was low. ¡°Just what kind of experience did he go through to end up like this?¡±

    When the other workers saw Han Qiuming, they were also scared. ¡°Boss Chen, Mr. Han became like this when he was visiting your Haunted House. You have to give an exnation.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I¡¯m also quite curious myself. All of you went to visit the ce together, so howe he¡¯s the only one who became like this?¡± Chen Ge shrugged. They moved to Guo Miao and Ye Xiaoxin. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, our Haunted House is very experienced dealing with things like this, and there will definitely be a satisfactorily exnation.¡±

    ¡°Very experienced?¡± The other workers followed Chen Ge dumbly. For some reason, this Boss Chen¡¯s words unsettled them. Ye Xiaoxin and Guo Miao each upied the left and right side of the stairs, and they were still recovering.

    ¡°Boss Guo, Han Qiuming entered the Haunted House with the rest of you. You should be clearest about what happened to him.¡± Chen Ge tossed the question to Guo Miao.

    ¡°I have no idea, we were separated.¡± Guo Miao looked at the smile on Chen Ge¡¯s face, and his scalp went numb. He grumbled internally, <i>Why did he end up this way? Shouldn¡¯t you know?</i>

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll change the question. In which corridor did you get separated, and what was he doing at the time?¡± Guo Miao did not understand the purpose of Chen Ge¡¯s question. Staring at the unconscious Han Qiuming, he did not know what to say. Han Qiuming had gloated proudly that he wanted to ruin Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, but in the end, he had disappeared two minutes after saying that.

    That was the truth, but Guo Miao felt it was embarrassing enough. If he said that before their workers and fans, how was he going to survive in this business in the future? Compared to what Chen Ge did at Tian Teng Medical School, Guo Miao clutched his heart, feeling the pain originating from it.

    ¡°Mr. Han might be a Haunted House designer, but he is not that courageous; he was probably spooked by some prop.¡± Guo Miao forced a smile to end this topic as soon as possible.

    ¡°Boss, isn¡¯t Mr. Han not afraid of anything, not even the curse of the dead?¡± The female worker called Ah Rui wanted to say something more but was warned off with a dead gaze by Guo Miao.

    ¡°We can talk about this when we return.¡±

    He pointed surreptitiously at the gathering fans, hoping that she would take the hint.

    They helped each other up, and when they looked toward the resting tent, Han Qiuming was already being carried away by the doctor and park workers. The stretcher passed through the crowd, and the people parted to let him through. The man had fainted, so he did not know anything, but his fainted image with the white foam on his lips was forever seared in everyone¡¯s mind.

    ¡°My Haunted House¡¯s scenarios are delineated into different levels. The Third Sick Hall is a three-star scenario, currently my scariest. Most of you haven¡¯t fainted, so that¡¯s already very impressive.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice was not loud, but it was loud enough to be heard by the nearby visitors. ¡°Normally, if you experienced the scenarios one after another, you would be able to get used to the terror, and it would be a lot simpler.¡±

    The workers from Tian Teng Medical School had been used as teaching material, and this shamed their fans. Some of them had silently moved into the line, also wanting to experience Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House.

    ¡°Some of the props are ruined, and I have half an hour to fix them. In the meantime, you can visit the Minghun scenario.¡± Chen Ge returned to the Third Sick Hall to fix all the mannequins and reced them in Mu Yang High School. ¡°Stop running about! The doctors and patients can handle the other scenario just fine.¡±

    Chen Ge closed the door to Third Sick Hall. Based on how things were going, it would be some time before any of his visitors could challenge this scenario. He continued his work. During the lunch break, Ye Xiaoxin sought out Chen Ge to do an interview, saying that she wished to help Chen Ge promote the ce. After answering a few simple questions, Chen Ge sent the girl away and prepared to work the afternoon shift. The Haunted House closed at 6:30 pm. After cleaning the bathroom, Chen Gey in the staff breakroom alone.

    <i>This is not a bad life, scaring people in the day and counting money, toying with cat at night.</i>

    Chen Ge called for a take-out. Before he could even dig in, a phone call pulled him back to reality. ¡°Captain Yan? You¡¯re looking for me?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve checked the surveince around Hai Ming Apartments, and we didn¡¯t find anyone suspicious. I need you to tell me where you got this clue.¡±

    When the monster left Wang Shenglong, he had heard weird noises from the corridor. It sounded like someone was walking backwards. Chen Ge suspected at the time that it was due to the patient from Third Sick Hall and so he had called Captain Yan to report it.

    He told Captain Yan everything honestly, and after a drawn-out silence, Captain Yan replied, ¡°We have heard about this from one of the neighbors from another case. I hope that you will stay out of this from now on.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve also found something rted to this ghost stories society.¡± Captain Yan¡¯s tone became serious. ¡°They¡¯re very dangerous, and they¡¯re rted to many cases.¡±

    ¡°What kind of cases?¡± Chen Ge was intrigued.

    ¡°Don¡¯t ask, I¡¯ll exin those that you can know, but for those you cannot know, you will not get me to say anything.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Chen Ge did not mind. After all, he had plenty of secrets of his own.

    ¡°For the sake of your safety, I¡¯ll reveal some information to you. All the cases rted to the society happen on Wednesday. This day seems to have some significance to them, but currently, we still don¡¯t understand why.¡±

    ¡°Wednesday? Meaning I¡¯ll need to be careful on every Wednesday?¡± Chen Ge looked at his phone; it was a Tuesday.

    ¡°Take care of yourself.¡±

    Hanging up the phone, Chen Ge lost his appetite. He pulled out the flyer from his pocket. Instead of waiting, he preferred to be active in his pursuit.

    ¡°What is the purpose of this society?¡±

    When he was thinking, his phone rang again. This time, it was from Inspector Lee.

    ¡°Chen Ge,e to Western Jiujiang¡¯s police station immediately! We found the killer who forced the girl from Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy tomit suicide four years ago!¡±

 Chapter 233 - Zhu Xiu

    <h4>Chapter 233: Zhu Xiu</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°You¡¯ve found the killer?¡± Chen Ge jumped up immediately. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be there in a minute!¡±

    Chen Ge grabbed his jacket and dashed out of the Haunted House. The first date in his life had been at a haunted school with a Red Specter. There had been no excitement or joy during his first date, but he did familiarize himself with the sad past of a girl. Falling from a high building, lying in the pool of her own blood. Pain had assaulted her from everywhere, but death had taken its sweet time to arrive.

    Looking at the killer walking away from the scene, the truth had thus been buried. Her ballet shoes had slowly been dyed red, and the kind girl had morphed into a malicious specter. Zhang Ya had told Chen Ge everything, and the only one who could speak on her behalf was him. Chen Ge took a taxi to the police station.

    Ah Yong, who waited outside, recognized Chen Ge at first nce. ¡°Inspector Lee is in the room on the left.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    The office was small, and Inspector Lee was in it alone. ¡°You¡¯re finally here, take a seat.¡±

    When Chen Ge saw that there was only Inspector Lee in the room, he had a very bad feeling. ¡°Has the killer been confirmed? Didn¡¯t you say the pool of suspects still has three people?¡±

    ¡°Nah, it¡¯s been confirmed. It¡¯s him.¡± Inspector Lee picked up a file from the desk to retrieve a photograph. ¡°The man¡¯s name is Zhu Xiu. He was the manager for the equipment room at Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy. There was nothing to his name. At the same time, he was the headmaster¡¯s youngest son and the ex-husband of the dance teacher, Sun Meijing.¡±

    The picture had been taken from a surveince video. A thin man was captured in the picture. He sat at a roadside stall. Many beer cans crowded the dirty table.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Zhang Ya had once reyed the original scene using the mirror in the dance studio. Chen Ge had not gotten a good look of the killer¡¯s face, but he did have a sense of the man¡¯s physical body. The killer in the mirror wasrge,pletely different from the man in the picture.

    ¡°Initially, we also only saw him as one of the suspects. Our focus was on the physical education teachers and guest teachers of the Private Academy. When we did our interview, Zhu Xiu¡¯s ex-wife, Sun Meijing, identally revealed an important detail to us.¡±

    ¡°What did she say?¡±

    ¡°Her lips were tight and refused to say anything, but we discovered a picture that she had posted online many years ago.¡± Inspector Lee took out his phone, and it was the picture of a couple that he showed to Chen Ge. The woman looked normal, but she kept her figure tight and fit. The man looked younger than the woman, but he wasrge. He appeared to weigh about 180 kilograms.

    ¡°This man is Zhu Xiu from five years ago.¡± Comparing the man in the picture and the man in real life, they werepletely different. ¡°In five years, Zhu Xiu has lost about 60 kg; this attracted our attention. When we investigated deeper, we discovered that this man has no stable job but has a great spending habit, and most importantly, he appears to be a hoarder.¡±

    Inspector Lee took out another photograph. ¡°After Zhu Xiu¡¯s father passed away, Sun Meijing filed for a divorce. The house went to Sun Meijing, and he has been living inside rental home. We found hisndlord, and using ¡®fixing an electrical line¡¯ as excuse, we looked around his room. His ce was a huge mess and absolutely reeked. There were several pairs of female shoes hidden underneath his bed.¡±

    Thest picture was taken in secret, and it captured the situation inside Zhu Xiu¡¯s room.

    ¡°His upation, physical stature, and obsession match perfectly! It is ny percent certain that he¡¯s the killer!¡± Chen Ge hissed. This kind of person should be locked behind bars, awaiting the judgement of thew.

    ¡°But we only have circumstantial evidence. He had the motive and ability tomit the crime, but that doesn¡¯t prove he¡¯s the killer. We need more concrete evidence.¡± Inspector Lee rubbed his temple. ¡°Now, I have good news and bad news¡ªwhich do you want to listen to first?¡±

    ¡°Bad news,¡± Chen Ge said.

    ¡°Based on the clue you provided, we found that the other girls who were Zhu Xiu¡¯s aplices in forcing the girl tomit suicide have all mysteriously died. We do not have any living witnesses.¡±

    Chen Ge could not do anything about that. The witnesses whom Inspector Lee wanted had been cursed inside chairs, and one of them had been made into candy and eaten.

    ¡°We couldn¡¯t do anything to him without witnesses?¡±

    ¡°No, as long as we have concrete proof, we¡¯ll get a guilty verdict as well. However, this case happened four or five years ago, so all the physical evidence has been ruined. Most importantly, the coroner¡¯s report states that the girlmitted suicide, and there was no sign of a physical altercation before her death.¡±

    ¡°That was because she was forced to jump! The bastard cornered her at the window! This is definitely a murder!¡± Chen Ge had seen that scene for himself in the mirror.

    ¡°That is not for me or you to decide. We need evidence.¡± Inspector Lee put away all the pictures. ¡°Now, do you want to listen to the good news?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°Somehow, Zhu Xiu found out we were onto him. On the second day of our investigation, he disappeared.¡± Inspector Lee removed the remaining pictures from a document.

    ¡°How is that good news?¡± Chen Ge could not understand. He turned to look at the pictures on the table.

    ¡°Refusing to cooperate and obstruction of justice enable us to take more forceful advances like asking for aid from other stations.¡± Inspector Lee said many things, but they fell on deaf ears. Chen Ge picked up one of the pictures, and his eyes were shaking. ¡°Why is this picture here?¡±

    Inspector Lee nced at it. ¡°That is thest picture we have of Zhu Xiu. Apparently, he disappeared inside this building.¡±

    ¡°Why would he go there?¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. The building in the picture was the third building of Fang Hwa Apartments!

    ¡°We¡¯re also wondering about that.¡± Inspector Lee did not know why Chen Ge was acting this way. ¡°After further investigation, we realized that this was not the first time Zhu Xiu visited Fang Hwa Apartments. We pulled the surveince footage for the most recent three months and realized that Zhu Xiu has visited the third block three times, and interestingly enough, his visits were all at midnight, Tuesday midnight to be exact.¡±

    ¡°How long does he spend there each time?¡±

    ¡°About ten minutes.¡±

    ¡°Can you give me an exact time frame?¡±

    ¡°He would arrive at Tuesday night 11:50 pm and then leave right after midnight. No one knows what he is up to.¡± Inspector Lee stated his suspicions. ¡°The man seems to know that his sin will be exposed sooner orter and thus is finding an escape route for himself.¡±

    ¡°After the midnight of Tuesday, it would be Wednesday.¡± Chen Ge ced the picture down. The number three kept appearing. Now, he suspected that Zhu Xiu had received the flyer from the ghost stories society. The man tried to search for the society but had failed so far.

    ¡°Fang Hwa Apartments is now the focus of our investigation, but the main city is currently dealing with a big case, and we do not have enough manpower to cover the whole building.¡± Inspector Lee had his own difficulties. ¡°We might need to wait another few days, but don¡¯t worry. Catching him will be easy, but the difficult part will be collecting enough evidence to charge him.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Chen Ge memorized all the pictures on the table in his mind. ¡°Thank you, Uncle Lee!¡±

    ¡°What are you thanking me for? I¡¯m just doing my job.¡± Years of experience made Inspector Lee realize that something was wrong with Chen Ge¡¯s tone.

    ¡°Okay, if there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯ll be leaving.¡±

    ¡°Be careful.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    After leaving the station, Chen Ge reached his hands into his pocket to pinch at the flyer inside it.

    ¡°After today, it¡¯ll be Wednesday.¡±

 Chapter 234 - No One Else

    <h4>Chapter 234: No One Else</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Looking at Chen Ge¡¯s back, Inspector Lee felt worried. He called for Ah Yong toe in. ¡°I have something to do tonight, so I¡¯ll be leaving now.¡±

    ¡°Is it rted to Chen Ge?¡±

    ¡°Yes, after his parents disappeared, he has managed to keep a cool head no matter what happened. This is the first time I¡¯ve seen him react so harshly to something.¡± Inspector Lee ced the file back on his table. ¡°Inform the officers on night shift to not let their guard down. There might be an emergency tonight.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Inspector Lee changed into his casual clothes and left.

    ...

    After leaving the police station, Chen Ge called a cab to return to New Century Park. He locked himself up in the staff breakroom. <i>The killer who forced Zhang Ya tomit suicide should be searching for the ghost stories society as well. He wasst seen at the third building of Fang Hwa Apartments. There¡¯s a high chance that he has entered the 24th floor and found the society.</i>

    Chen Ge knew nothing about the society, and the flyer he had only introduced the address.

    <i>Zhang Ya¡¯s death happened many years ago, and too much time has passed since then. Even if the police catch Zhu Xiu, it will be difficult to prove his crime. They¡¯ll need concrete evidence. </i>Chen Ge was not aw student and had not done anything rted tow, so he was not sure what the punishment would be for a man who forced a girl tomit suicide.

    <i>If you make a mistake, you have to face the consequences. </i>Chen Ge took out the flyer. <i>Perhaps I should let Zhang Ya handle this herself. My mission now is to locate that bastard.</i>

    The blood red door that was half-open caught Chen Ge¡¯s attention. This was the society¡¯s logo.

    <i>Taking the elevator at midnight, repeating at every floor and press the button for the 24th floor will bring me to the ghost stories society.</i>

    There were other warnings written at the bottom of the flyer.

    ¡°This has to be done at midnight and alone. If other passengers enter the elevator in the middle of the process, you will need to start from the beginning. No matter what you see in the corridors during this process, you cannot step out of the elevator.

    ¡°Whether you find the society or not, you have to bring a mask with you. Every member of the society has to hide their real identity, and they are forbidden from revealing their own information or asking about others.

    ¡°Thest and most important point is, no member is allowed to reveal any information about the ghost stories society, and they cannot let a second person know they¡¯re looking for the society.¡±

    Chen Ge could satisfy all these requirements.

    <i>I can go alone, but they didn¡¯t say I can¡¯t bring the undead with me. </i>Chen Ge took the ballpoint pen and the tape with him. He thought about it and still believed it was not enough.

    <i>There is too much of a limitation on Xu Yin¡¯s power. He¡¯ll only be useful when the tape is ying, but it¡¯s too inconvenient to carry a tape recorder.</i>

    He walked around the Haunted House and decided to carry Xiaoxiao with him.<i>It¡¯s unclear whether the members of the society are people or ghosts. Carrying Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer and the cleaver might cause them to be unnecessarily alert.</i>

    <i>But it¡¯s better to be careful.</i>

    Chen Ge used a piece of string to tie the cleaver that was covered in red cloth around his calf. He decided to give up on the hammer; that thing was too eye-catching. <i>That¡¯s everything I can do for now.</i>

    After inspecting all his gadgets, Chen Ge went online to order a thin recorder, but he needed to wait until tomorrow for this order to arrive. Chen Ge took a pen and some paper to jot down everything he needed to pay attention to that night.

    At 10:30 pm, his phone finished charging, and Chen Ge left the Haunted House to head for Fang Hwa Apartments.

    The night was dark; there was no moon or stars. It was a different world inside and outside the taxi. Chen Ge felt like he was a visitor, passing through a colorful world.

    Chen Ge arrived at Fang Hwa Apartments at around 11 pm. His n had been to sneak through the backdoor, but when he nced at the security post, his n changed.

    ¡°Gu Feiyu? You¡¯re already back at work?¡± Chen Ge saw the young man inside the post wearing his security uniform and was surprised. It had only been one or two days since the madwoman captured him, but he was already back at his post.

    ¡°Brother Chen, why are you back here?¡± Gu Feiyu was embarrassed. Facing Chen Ge again, his attitude waspletely different.

    ¡°Something to do here and came to check up on you.¡± Chen Ge smiled. ¡°How are you recovering? Why don¡¯t you take a few days of rest?¡±

    ¡°I came to the city with my uncle. One day of hospitalization costs three days of pay. In fact, it was my uncle and family who helped me pay the medical fees for that night.¡± This shamed Gu Feiyu. ¡°I¡¯ve been here for a month already. I haven¡¯t collected any money but keep creating problems for others.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s nice of you to think about them.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone. ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving for the third block in a minute, and I have a favor to ask of you.¡±

    ¡°Sure, anything you need.¡± Chen Ge had once saved his life, so naturally, Gu Feiyu would not reject.

    ¡°Listen closely.¡± Chen Ge changed both of their call alerts to the simplest vibration mode. ¡°If you receive my call after midnight, do not pick it up. If I hang up after it rings three times, I need you to do something very simple for me.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Call the police immediately.¡±

    Gu Feiyu had more questions but was stopped by Chen Ge. ¡°Just follow my instructions. Remember, do not answer the call, just call the police.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Ever since Gu Feiyu was saved by Chen Ge, he had felt that Chen Ge was destined for something big.

    After leaving the security post, Chen Ge entered Fang Hwa Apartments and headed for the third building. The building looked so normal on the surface, but it yed host to the ghost stories society.

    <i>If I run into anyone else during the process, I¡¯ll have to start over. If this were any other building, the chance of failure would be very high, but this building is different. ording to Wang Xin¡¯s adopted mother, none of the tenants use the elevator at night because the ce is cursed. Thinking about, the supernatural experiences they had are probably rted to the ghost stories society. They probably came across people or ¡®ghosts¡¯ looking for the society.</i>

    Chen Ge hid inside the stairwell until 11:30 pm. The floor that the elevator was on had not changed, meaning that the elevator was vacated. Perhaps it was the changing of the day, but as the time moved forward, Chen Ge felt the temperature in the building continue to drop.

    <i>The temperature inside the building is even lower than outside. Have all the tenants gotten used to this?</i>

    At 11:50 pm, Chen Ge exited the stairwell to walk to the elevator. <i>I shouldn¡¯t run into anyone else now.</i>

 Chapter 235 - The Old Lady Outside the Elevator

    <h4>Chapter 235: The Old Lady Outside the Elevator</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After entering the elevator, Chen Ge pressed the button for the 23rd floor. The silvery-gray door slowly closed as if separating him from the outside world. Chen Ge¡¯s breathing turned ragged. He did not like taking the elevator¡ªnot because he had ustrophobia but because he did not like the feeling of being trapped in an enclosed space.

    The elevator¡¯s number kept jumping.

    <i>Looks like Wang Xin¡¯s mother was right; the tenants here rarely take the elevator at night.</i>

    The elevator rose quickly, and the number soon hit 23. The chime sounded, and the door opened. The light filtered out from inside the elevator before it was swallowed by the darkness of the corridor. Shut doors lined the corridor on both sides.

    <i>Reached the top so quickly?</i>

    The 23rd floor did not look so different from the other floors except for the window at the end of the corridor, which was left open, so Chen Ge could hear the howling wind.

    <i>It does feel weird taking the elevator alone at night.</i>

    After the door closed, Chen Ge pressed the button for the 2nd floor. The elevator descended, and he soon arrived at the second floor.

    <i>What is the meaning of this design? Repeating this will really get me to the hidden 24th floor?</i>

    The door closed, and Chen Ge went up to the 22nd floor. When the elevator started and stopped, its speed would change, creating a temporary shift in the gravity. This was the reason certain people would feel lightheaded whenever they took the elevator.

    Chen Ge had always had a good physical body, but the continuous going up and down for five minutes still made him feel quite ufortable. His heart was racing. He was unable to calm down, like something was about to happen. After he repeated this several times, he had a bad feeling in his heart even though he did not know why.

    The elevator went from the 18th floor to the 7th floor, and he pressed for it to go to the 17th floor. There were no idents throughout the whole process, and this instruction given by the ghost stories society felt more like a psychological game.

    The elevator continued to rise, and the number kept changing. The elevator slowed down, and the door slowly opened. Chen Ge leaned out to take a look.

    There was nothing on the corridor. The tenants appeared to be sleeping, and the ce was quiet.

    <i>I¡¯ve been lucky enough to not run into anyone so far. After few more times of time, I should be able to reach the 24th floor.</i>

    Chen Ge had gotten used to the process. When he pressed the button, his eyes went to the number. The red number made his arm hang in mid-air.

    <i>16?</i>

    He swore that he was heading toward the 17th floor. The button for the 17th floor on the elevator control panel was still lit up, but the elevator had stopped mysteriously on the 16th floor.

    <i>Someone has called for the elevator on this floor!</i>

    He bent down and lowered his right hand to touch the cleaver around his calf. Chen Ge looked around the empty elevator, staying on high alert. The corridor outside waspletely dark; he could not see more than ten meters beyond him. The surroundings were quiet.

    <i>Could it be a prank?</i>

    That idea was immediately rejected by Chen Ge.

    Several secondster, the door slowly closed. Chen Ge looked at the empty elevator, but he didn¡¯t dare to let his guard down. They could have been something that he could not see standing near him. He reached into this left pocket. He nced at the time on his phone¡ª00:01 am. It was already Wednesday.

    The elevator continued to move upward and stopped at the 17th floor. Chen Ge leaned against the wall and pressed the button for the eighth floor, but something else happened not long after that.

    The elevator stopped on the 11th floor, and after the door opened, Chen Ge saw a white dress hanging in the middle of the corridor.

    <i>Something else is getting on the elevator?</i>

    There was no wind in the corridor, but the dress kept swaying like it was moving toward the elevator. With one step, Chen Ge reached to press the close door button. The dress swayed even harder like someone running in the corridor.

    <i>Close the f*cking door!</i>

    When the dress was two to three meters away, the door closed, and the elevator continued to descend. Chen Ge copsed to the corner, and his palms were coated with cold sweat. From that moment onward, this building had changed. The elevator reached the 8th floor safely, and Chen Ge decided to wait on that floor for a while.

    ording to the flyer¡¯s introduction, he should be heading for the 16th floor next, but if the elevator moved to the 16th, it would definitely pass the floor with the white dress. He was afraid that the elevator would open on its own on the 11th floor, the white dress outside waiting.

    His finger stopped at the control panel for a long time as he tried to convince himself.

    <i>I have the Pen Spirit and Xu Yin with me. If the thing dares to do anything, I have the advantage in numbers.</i>

    The elevator rose, and when it reached 11th, Chen Ge¡¯s heart skipped a beat. But to his surprise, the elevator did not stop. The number continued to change. Before he could take a breath, however, the elevator stopped at the 13th floor.

    <i>Someone else ising in?</i>

    The door slowly opened. There was an old woman wearing dark clothes and a thick scarf standing outside the elevator. She looked very old, the wrinkles on her face like folds. Her hair waspletely silver, and her limbs were all covered by her thick clothing.

    The olddy did not seem to expect anyone to be inside the elevator and surprise crossed her face.

    ¡°Weird...¡± Her voice was soft. The elevator door closed, and she did not move toward it. ¡°Why are there so many people taking the elevator sote at night? There¡¯s not even enough space for me.¡±

    When Chen Ge heard the olddy, cold sweat broke out on his forehead. It looked like he really did not have the advantage in numbers. <i>No wonder the Pen Spirit has been acting so calmly. She didn¡¯t even warn me.</i>

    He looked around, but he could only see himself inside the elevator. Thinking back to what the olddy said, Chen Ge¡¯s heart raced even faster.

    <i>Something must be wrong somewhere. Even inside the Third Sick Hall, I wasn¡¯t this nervous. </i>Chen Ge tried to calm down, but there was something stuck in his mind, telling him that he was in deep danger.

    <i>That olddy is suspicious as well. Wearing all ck and a scarf sote at night, is she that cold?</i>

    After meeting the olddy, the rest of the trip continued without further incidents. It was just as she said, the elevator was already full, so the people on the outside could not enter it even if they wanted to.

 Chapter 236 - Four New Members

    <h4>Chapter 236: Four New Members</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The elevator finally opened at the 12th floor, the middle floor of the building.

    <i>The game is over, but the 24th floor hasn¡¯t appeared.</i>

    The elevator opened to a darkened corridor, and Chen Ge stood within the elevator as he took out the ghost stories society¡¯s flyer. <i>1st floor corresponds to the 23rd floor, and the 2nd floor corresponds to the 22nd floor, but the 12th floor is right in the middle; there¡¯s no corresponding floor.</i>

    Chen Ge thought about it but could not be sure whether he had been sessful or not. <i>Is it because of the old woman? Is that why I failed? Should I try again?</i>

    It was already Wednesday. Standing inside the elevator, looking out, Chen Ge felt unsettled. ¡°There are 24 numbers on the elevator, but there is no button for the 24th floor on the control panel. Is this a mistake by the elevatorpany, or is there a second meaning?¡±

    Chen Ge would not give up so easily, so he decided to go back up to the top floor. He pressed the button for the 23rd floor, and the elevator started to climb. The number kept changing, and it did not stop.

    <i>20, 21, 22...</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the number, and when the number changed from 22 to 23, unlike before, the elevator did not slow down. The number deepened like it was bleeding. The enclosed elevator booth suddenly gathered a cold gust, and weird sounds could be hearding from outside the elevator.

    Chen Ge stood in the corner and half-arced his body. His fingers reached toward the cleaver tied to his calf. After about two seconds, the elevator started to slow. When the elevatorpletely stopped, the number on disy lit up.

    <i>The 24th floor!</i>

    The silvery-gray door opened, and as the two halves parted, a sticky substance that looked suspiciously like blood was stuck to them. A stench surged into the booth like a wave. Covering his lips and nose, Chen Ge was very familiar with this smell. He had smelled something simr when he was at Hai Ming Apartments and the Third Sick Hall.

    <i>This smell seems to be unique to the monsters behind the door!</i>

    The elevator door opened fully. Chen Ge looked down the corridor, and he started to hesitate. He did not walk out immediately but changed the speed dial on his phone to Gu Feiyu¡¯s number. Even though this added an extra procedure to calling the cops, it could prevent the emergency call to the police from exposing his identity.

    When he set up everything, Chen Ge removed one other thing from his pocket. Before he arrived, he had also been wondering if he should bring this out of the Haunted House.

    <i>There is a requirement on the flyer that since all the members are not allowed to reveal their information, they must wear a mask.</i>

    There were plenty of masks inside Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, but the one he was mostfortable with was the skin mask for Doctor Skull-cracker. <i>With this, it should be easier for me to join the group of insane people.</i>

    It was understandably unnatural since this was the first time he had put on the mask outside of the Haunted House. However, now was not the time to be concerned about these details.

    Exiting the elevator, Chen Ge turned back to look. On the walls beside the elevator door, there were some blood stains and blood prints like people were struggling to crawl toward the elevator but were cruelly pulled back.

    The elevator slowly closed, and it did not return after it left.

    <i>How am I supposed to leave?</i>

    There had to be a way¡ªthat was the only thing Chen Ge could think of to console himself. He inspected everything he had before moving down the corridor.

    When he was inside the elevator, Chen Ge could hear people¡¯s screams, but now that he was outside, he realized that the ce was suspiciously quiet. All the doors were locked, and there was no sounding out from within.

    <i>It doesn¡¯t seem like there is anyone alive on this floor.</i>

    As he moved forward, the light dimmed, and more blood stains appeared on the wall.

    <i>Will the society be in one of these rooms?</i>

    Chen Ge walked for about ten meters when he came across a door that was open. He sidled carefully toward it. He was about to enter when a person wearing a bird¡¯s mask suddenly came out from it.

    Chen Ge stopped moving, but the birdman jumped back like he was spooked. Chen Ge did not speak. In this unfamiliar environment, the more he said, the greater the danger he put himself in.

    Both were silent. After several breaths, the birdman asked with suspicion, ¡°A new member?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Chen Ge changed his voice to make it sound gravellier and lower.

    ¡°But three new members have already arrived today, why is there a fourth one?¡± Birdman blocked Chen Ge¡¯s path. ¡°How did you find this ce?¡±

    Chen Ge showed the man the flyer for the ghost stories society. The man nced at it, and his curiosity deepened. ¡°This is indeed a flyer that we sent out, but how can there be a fourth one?¡±

    He leaned toward Chen Ge until the beak on his mask was almost touching Chen Ge¡¯s face.

    ¡°You smell nice...¡± The birdman closed the door behind him and said with uncertainty, ¡°Come with me.¡±

    Chen Ge followed with his head lowered. His eyes twitched. When the birdman was closing the door, he tried to nce inside the room. A few wooden boxes sat in the dark room. One of the boxes had not been sealed¡ªan arm was poking out from it. There was a circr hole in the middle of the palm like it had been poked through by a bird¡¯s pecking.

    Following the birdman, they reached the end of the corridor.

    ¡°Go in.¡± He pointed at the door at the end of the corridor.

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Chen Ge did not waste time. He opened the door and waited for two seconds to make sure this was not an ambush before walking in. When he saw what was inside, Chen Ge sucked in a cold breath.

    The room was bigger than he had expected. There was a long dining table in the middle of the room, and sitting on its sides were ten people with faceless masks and dark robes, five on the left and five on the right. There were three people in casual outfits standing to the side.

    <i>Thirteen of them...</i>

    In a few seconds, Chen Ge memorized the characteristics of everyone there. <i>Is it because of the light? Howe the five on the left don¡¯t have shadows but the five on the right do?</i>

    ¡°Get in, our fourth new member. Good luck.¡± The birdman did not give Chen Ge any chance to run and mmed the door shut.

    The sound was loud, and it attracted the attention of everyone in the room. All the masks turned toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°Why is there a fourth new member?¡± The man who sat on the first seat to the right stood up. His voice sounded sharp, and there was a cigarette burn on his exposed pinkie.

    ¡°Do not interrupt someone¡¯s story,¡± the first person on the left said in a faded tone. He sounded disgruntled.

    ¡°But how can there be four new members?¡± The man on the right took his seat back.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. After all, in the end, there¡¯ll only be three people left,¡± the man on the left said darkly. When he said so, the three new members who stood by the dining table became nervous.

 Chapter 237 - Tell Me Your Story

    <h4>Chapter 237: Tell Me Your Story</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Only three will remain...</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s heart chilled. Considering the situation, being abandoned probably meant death.

    ¡°Go over there. You still haven¡¯t earned the right to sit with us,¡± the fifth person on the right said. He was closest to Chen Ge, and he eyed him with interest. ¡°I like your mask.¡±

    Chen Ge ignored him and walked to stand beside the three new members.

    ¡°No. 1, continue your story. This time, no one will interrupt you.¡± The first man on the left seemed to be the backbone of the society; his word was thew.

    The new member dubbed No. 1 looked old. He was wearing a ck mask that covered his whole face, but it exposed his white hair. His limbs were slender, and he looked weak. His skin was sagging, and old people¡¯s spots could be seen on his exposed arms.

    ¡°Then I shall continue the story.¡± No. 1 coughed. He had a habit of waving his arm around when he spoke, so he gave people a humorous feeling.

    ¡°This incident happened at the People¡¯s Hospital. I saw it with my own eyes, so it is definitely real. I am the victim of lung cancer and have been receiving treatment at the hospital. I stayed inside ICU.

    ¡°There was an old man who shared the room with me. I have no idea what kind of illness he was suffering from, but I know that he was in deep pain, moving along the boundary of life and death.

    ¡°This story starts one week ago at night. He was a light sleeper and would wake up from the slightest sound. That night, I suddenly realized that the old man wasn¡¯t asleep. He had his eyes open, looking in a certain direction in the room.

    ¡°I also turned to look, but there was nothing there. I turned on the light to ask him what he was looking at. He said, there was someone standing there.

    ¡°When I asked him for the person¡¯s description¡ªwhat he looked like, what he was wearing¡ªthe old man stammered for his answer. Around midnight the next day, I felt that the room was rather cold. When I woke up, I realized that the old man in the bed next to me was looking at me with his eyes bulging.

    ¡°I was given the shock of my life. After I turned on the light, the man turned his head to the side. No matter what I asked, he refused to say anything.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t dare turn the bedsidemp off when I settled down on the third night. The small light gave thefort I needed to sleep until morning. However, when I woke up, I realized that there were dusty footprints on the bed and mattress, like someone had been standing on my bed the previous night.

    ¡°It unhinged me, and I didn¡¯t dare fall asleep. I felt like the moment I did, something bad would happen. I only dared sleep in the day and kept myself awake at night.

    ¡°Nothing happened on the fourth day, but on the night of the fifth day, I saw something scary.

    ¡°The old man stood up from his bed after midnight. He stood on his tiptoes just like this...¡±

    No. 1¡¯s arms dangled at his side, mimicking the old man. He stood on his tiptoes and jumped around the room. It looked quite frightening.

    ¡°The old man walked around my bed several times. I didn¡¯t know what he was doing. His face copsed within, but his eyes poked out. The wrinkles on his face were folded together. I yelled to wake him up. He returned to his bed, but his eyes kept staring at the door.

    ¡°He said that someone was calling his name from the outside, but he didn¡¯t know whether he should answer the door or not.

    ¡°On the sixth day, after night fell, the old man¡¯s conditions worsened. He had troubles and could not speak due to the endless coughs. It felt like something was stuck in his trachea. The doctor performed an emergency operation, and his conditions finally stabilized after 11 pm. However, his face turned paler, like there was a gray mist hanging over his face.

    ¡°After midnight, the old man opened his eyes again. He stared at the door, and his mouth kept mumbling something. When it was 1 am, the old man got out of bed and used that weird stance to move out of the room. He has not been seen since then.¡±

    When he was done, No. 1 started to cough again. He looked very fragile.

    ¡°Fascinating story.¡± The first man on the left nodded.

    ¡°Thank you for thepliment.¡± No. 1¡¯sugh sounded like the cawing of a crow; it was grating to the ears.

    The people on both sides of the table leaned in to critique No. 1¡¯s story. Chen Ge stood at the back silently, making his own judgment. He had realized that something was off when the old man spoke his first sentence.

    ording to the old man, he had been staying inside the ICU room, but ording to Chen Ge¡¯s knowledge, most of the ICU rooms in Jiujiang were single rooms, so there should not have been a shared room.

    In the beginning, he had thought the old man was lying, but the more he listened, the more he was able to confirm that the old man was telling his own story. He was the ill patient who had run out of the hospital on his tiptoes!

    In terms of timeline, it was entirely usible. No. 1¡¯s story started one week ago, and it was on the midnight of the sixth day that he escaped the hospital. That day would be the seventh day.

    The ghost stories society requested that every single story shared be real, and none of the people at the table had any objections, so that meant the old man¡¯s story was probably real. Chen Ge lowered his head to nce at No. 1¡¯s feet out from the corner of his eyes; the man did not seem to have a shadow.

    ¡°No. 1¡¯s story is very interesting, a good beginning. Now we shall listen to No. 2¡¯s story,¡± the first man on the left said, and the other people immediately became quiet.

    ¡°It¡¯s your turn, No. 2.¡± No. 1 was weirdly excited, and he kept coughing.

    No. 2 was wearing a smelly jacket and was wearing a stic pig¡¯s mask that one could buy from roadside stalls. He was almost Chen Ge¡¯s height, but he was very thin.

    ¡°It was my ex-wife who told me this story, but I can guarantee it is real. She was the dance teacher for a school, and there was an extremely talented girl in her ss. Be it from looks, ability, or physicality, she was leaps and bounds ahead of others.¡± No. 2 coughed slightly. ¡°The child was like the real white swan, and inparison, the other students were nothing more than ugly ducklings.

    ¡°The story started several years ago when my ex-wife selected six girls from her ss to form a dance troupe to enter the city¡¯s dancepetition. Out of envy, the five girls grouped up to iste the most talented student.

    ¡°During thepetition, the most talented girl practically carried them to victory, but no one invited her for the celebratory party.

    ¡°To prepare for the provincialpetition, the six of them started to train during summer break, and the real conflict exploded then.¡±

 Chapter 238 - Found You!

    <h4>Chapter 238: Found You!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°The brighter the girl shone, the more envious the other girls became. The truth was, even if she did not do anything, others ostracized her. Sometimes, being loved by God was not necessarily a good thing. After all, most of us are demons.

    ¡°Of the five girls, one of them was in love, and what happened next could not have been moremon. She wrote a love letter for her confession, but the boy did not like her at all. In fact, he only approached her because he wanted to know more about the other girl.

    ¡°After she discovered everything, envy and shame pushed her into a crazy decision. She found the worker who managed the equipment, and they came up with n to ruin that girl.

    ¡°As the date drew closer to thepetition, the six girls went to the dance studio to practice every afternoon. Because it was summer break, the school was vacant. The other girls yed nice with the girl, and in her innocence, the girl really thought that they wanted to be her friend.

    ¡°She volunteered to take on many chores and even made homemade candy to give her ¡®friends¡¯.

    ¡°However, she should have known it was all a trap. It was her ¡®friends¡¯ who pushed her into the depths of hell.¡±

    No. 2 was still telling his story, but Chen Ge¡¯s fingers were already clenched.<i>Found you!</i>

    The killer was telling his story of sin to everyone there, and there was no regret in his voice.

    <i>Zhang Ya... </i>Chen Ge called in his heart. Knowing the whole story added a different emotion in Chen Ge¡¯s heart. It was heartache. The color of his shadow changed, but Zhang Ya did not appear. Perhaps she had eaten too many ghosts at Third Sick Hall and was still digesting them.

    As if knowing something was up, No. 2 nced at Chen Ge.

    ¡°The girl called for her ¡®friends¡¯ to help, but instead ofing to help her, one of them took out a love letter from her backpack. It had been written by the boy she loved, but the recipient was not her.

    ¡°The cornered girl looked at the window behind her. She fell from the fourth floor, and blood blossomed around her. Even then, she was beautiful.

    ¡°She was still alive. She could not make a single noise, and her eyes were open, staring at her ¡®friends¡¯ who abandoned her.

    ¡°Her white ballet dress was dyed blood red. No one knew her exact time of death, and her body wasn¡¯t discovered until the next day.¡±

    With every single sentence, the blood lines in Chen Ge¡¯s shadow deepened slightly. After consuming two thin monsters and arge part of the Red Specter that was the old director, something seemed to have changed within Zhang Ya. Chen Ge had no way of summoning Zhang Ya. Zhang Ya had aided him thrice, but every time, she had appeared of her own volition.

    ¡°Other than the wounds from the fall, there were no other injuries on the girl¡¯s body. With the testimonies from the ugly ducklings, her case was deemed a suicide.¡±

    No. 2 could keep his calmness initially, but as he talked, his breathing started to get ragged, and he kept looking at Chen Ge. He seemed to have noticed something, and he sped up to tell the ending of the five girls. They would receive unknown love letters written in blood at night, and the girl who received it would die a weekter due to unknown reasons. Coincidentally enough, all of them had ended up in a chair.

    ¡°The school rumor says that it¡¯s a cursed musical chair game, but the truth is the girl has returned as a specter and has been roaming the dance studio.¡±

    No. 2 took a step back. ¡°That¡¯s the end.¡±

    ¡°The plot is not bad, but your pacing is all over the ce. In the future, you will have to learn how to tell a good story from others.¡± The man on the right yawned before turning to the other side of the table. ¡°What do you guys think?¡±

    ¡°At least it¡¯s interesting, unlike the new member fromst week.¡± The first man on the left tapped his finger on the table, his eyes shining coldly. The man on the rightughed before adding, ¡°Since he has passed, it¡¯s No. 3¡¯s turn.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute,¡± the man on the left said. His gaze slowly moved away from No. 2 toward Chen Ge. ¡°No. 2, No. 4, do you two know each other?¡±

    Chen Ge had not expected the man to be so astute. Zhang Ya did not give him any response, so he could only try to drag things out.

    ¡°No, we don¡¯t know each other,¡± No. 2 said. He also was surprised that his slight tell had been caught by the man.

    ¡°Since you don¡¯t know him, why did you keep looking at him both consciously and unconsciously when you told your story?¡±

    After the man said that, all the masks seated at the table turned to look at No. 2 and Chen Ge. Gazes that were sharp as knife prated them.

    The atmosphere in the room tensed. Chen Ge kept calling for Zhang Ya in his heart, but there was no reply. However, the blood lines in his shadow did turn redder. Inparison, No. 2 was more honest. ¡°He makes me feel ufortable. There¡¯s a voice in my head telling me this person is dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Dangerous?¡± The masks focused on Chen Ge. ¡°A dangerous new member?¡±

    ¡°Is it because of his mask?¡± asked the person who had expressed an interest in Chen Ge¡¯s mask earlier. Holding his chin, he seemed to be admiring Chen Ge¡¯s mask. ¡°It is indeed a work of art. One day, it¡¯ll be mine.¡±

    The man did technically help take the focus away from Chen Ge. The first man on the left did not press. He shrugged and said, ¡°No. 3, let us hear your story.¡±

    Of the four new members, only No. 3 was a woman. Her height and weight were average.

    ¡°My surname is Zhong, and I work at a chemical nt.¡± The woman touched the homemade mask on her face, and her first sentence made everyone frown.

    ¡°Miss Zhong, for the sake of your safety, please do not reveal any private information,¡± the man on the right warned, but the woman did not seem to mind it.

    ¡°The story I wish to tell is rted to my wife.¡± The woman¡¯s voice was soothing like the chirping of a bird. ¡°She was four years younger than me and was a DJ for a midnight radio show.

    ¡°Her time slot was between midnight and 2 am, so she would return homete every night. When we first got married, I would wait for her toe home so that we could fall asleep together, but since I had work early each morning, I only managed this for a while.

    ¡°I would make dinner for two of us and left her a note, telling her to warm it up when she returned home.

    ¡°Initially, it was still fine, but starting from one night, my wife stopped touching the food left on the table. When I woke up the next morning, the food looked untouched, but the cooking utensils in the kitchen showed signs of use.

    ¡°My wife seemed to be cooking in the dark.¡±

 Chapter 239 - My Turn?

    <h4>Chapter 239: My Turn?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Initially, I thought it was because my cooking was not to her taste, so I didn¡¯t mind it that much. However, I soon realized that things were different. e night, I woke up from my sleep due to a sounding from the kitchen. I climbed out of bed silently.

    ¡°The house was dark, so I assumed it was a thief. When I got close, I realized that the person looked like my wife. She picked up arge piece of meat from a stic bag and held a cleaver in her other hand.

    ¡°Cleaving meat would create a loud sound. Probably afraid of waking me, she only cut the meat¡¯s surface open, seasoned it, and then ced it whole inside the pot.

    ¡°Making stew? My wife was making stew in the middle of the night? Perhaps she was preparing for tomorrow¡¯s breakfast and lunch. I loved my wife. Even though I thought it was weird, I didn¡¯t disturb her. I returned to our room and observed her through the open door.

    ¡°It was 3 am when the stew was ready. She looked behind her. She saw that the bedroom door was open and I was sleeping in bed. As if not willing for me to see her, she closed the kitchen door.

    ¡°Then I heard the sound of chomping. About twenty minutester, my wife came out of the kitchen holding arge ck garbage bag. For some reason, I was scared when I saw her.

    ¡°Her stomach was slightly bloated, and there were oil stains on her face. She had a satisfied smile. After tossing the garbage bag away, she went to take a bath to wash the odor away from her body. Finally, shey down beside me like usual.

    ¡°The person sleeping next to me had this habit. From that day onwards, I realized that I did not know her at all. I was awake the whole night. I got out from bed in the morning, preparing to go to work. My wife was still sleeping soundly.

    ¡°She looked just like Sleeping Beauty. It made me want to kiss her, but the things that had happened in the kitchen the previous night stopped me.

    ¡°I looked at her stomach; it was no longer that bloated. Everything that had happened the previous night was just like a dream. I put on my clothes and headed downstairs. The rubbish bin had been cleaned, and the ck garbage bag fromst night was gone.

    ¡°The same thing happened again the next night. She seemed to have fallen ill with some kind of meat-eatingpulsion. I spent the night awake, observing her. I waited until 4 am, and my wife had fallen asleep. Then I put on my clothes and headed out.

    ¡°I rummaged through the pile of rubbish and finally found the ck garbage bag. It was filled with bones with teeth marks on them. It looked like a chicken. My wife had managed to consume a whole chicken on her own. I suddenly realized that I did not know her at all.

    ¡°A new day arrived, but she was still so weird. I also made it a habit to rummage through her rubbish every night. The more I saw, the more chilled my heart became.

    ¡°My wife seemed to be trying different meat, from the initial chicken and fish to bags that I found attached with the fur of cats and dogs.

    ¡°I was an animal lover, and it was that day that I knew I have to talk to her. She must have fallen ill, or maybe a demon had moved into her stomach. No one would allow the person sleeping beside them to do something like this.

    ¡°I confronted her. Initially, she denied it, but when I offered the garbage bags as evidence, she knew that she was cornered. She told me that she could not control herself. She would get unreasonably hungry at night, but other than that, she was just like a normal person.

    ¡°She said that she would take good care of me and love me, but who would be willing to sleep with a crazy person?

    ¡°After much consideration, I decided to opt for a divorce, to end the marriage as soon as possible. My wife begged me to stay, and I really did still love her, but her actions worried me deeply.

    ¡°I left her and moved out to live alone. My wife still loved me. She would call me and message me daily, trying to get me back. To be honest, other than that quirk, she was perfect, kind and fair, pretty and gentle.

    ¡°Slowly, guilt formed in my heart. About one monthter, I received a call from a stranger. He said that he was the police. He suspected that my wife was rted to a missing person case at the radio station. He asked me some questions and told me to be careful.

    ¡°I was d that I had left my wife. If I had been several days toote, the person missing would be me. I returned to my rental home, and after reheating the food that had gone cold, I swallowed it quickly.

    ¡°After I was done, I swore that I was hallucinating. I saw my wife crawl out from underneath the bed.

    ¡°She looked at me with a smile and said I was still the same. Even after so long, I still had not changed the habit of not wasting leftovers.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know how she got into my home, but I did know that I wouldn¡¯t be able to leave her again; I would be a part of her forever.¡±

    The woman¡¯s story ended there, and No. 2 and Chen Ge subconsciously moved away from her. The woman had told the story from the husband¡¯s perspective, but ording to her storyline, the husband was probably dead by now.

    Therefore, the only living person who would know all this should be the wife. The wife¡¯s job was a DJ, and the woman had a beautiful voice. Furthermore, the story kept beautifying the wife.

    From these details, it was apparent that No. 3 was the crazy woman who liked to eat meat in the story.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t heard such a wonderful story in a long time.¡± The man on the left pped lightly. His eyes thatnded on the woman looked slightly invasive. ¡°The stories of all three new members are so interesting. It¡¯ll be so hard to choose.¡±

    Then, he raised his head to look at Chen Ge. The eyes underneath the mask locked on Chen Ge¡¯s face. ¡°No. 4, it¡¯s your turn now.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s finally my turn?¡± Chen Ge was thinking many questions. No. 3 beside him had a very recognizable voice. Based on her voice alone, Chen Ge confirmed her identity. No. 3 was ate-night DJ for Jiujiang¡¯s radio station. Her name was Lychee, and Chen Ge had even heard her show before.

    Everyone anticipated Chen Ge¡¯s story. After all, he was the fourth new member that should not have been there. Chen Ge stood in the corner of the room, and no one could see the blood twisting in his shadow. The blood vessels were like needles and threads, slowly knitting a bright red dress.

    ¡°I have many stories. Let me think, which shall I share?¡±

 Chapter 240 - Real Stories

    <h4>Chapter 240: Real Stories</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°No. 4, before you start your story, I must warn you.¡± The first man on the right turned to look at Chen Ge. ¡°The story you tell must be real. We have our own detection method, and if you¡¯re fabricating a lie, there¡¯ll be an appropriate punishment.¡±

    ¡°I know the rules.¡±

    ¡°Then begin.¡±

    Chen Ge thought about it and prepared to tell his first story. ¡°This is a real story that happened to my friend. His surname was Wang, and he loved his wife very much, but his wife mysteriously disappeared several months ago.

    ¡°He reported it to the police and looked for his wife all over the city, leaving missing person reports at every corner he went. Everyone pitied him, and the investigating police also realized that he really loved his wife to the stage of pampering her, so they understood his actions.

    ¡°However, there is no such thing as a real fairytale in this world. After half a year of searching, his wife had still not been found. The police had already given up, but he did not. This became his only drive to live. He left home very early every morning with the missing person notices and only returned homete at night.

    ¡°He repeated this day in and day out until, one day, his hard work was rewarded. He suddenly received a message from his wife.

    ¡°Save me...

    ¡°It was sent from his wife¡¯s phone. It was short, but it sent endless terror in his heart!

    ¡°He was hiding a secret that he had not told anyone. Actually, he was responsible for his wife¡¯s disappearance. He had killed his wife and hidden her body. The endless search was to drain himself, to lighten the guilt he felt toward his wife. However, he didn¡¯t expect his dead wife to message him from beyond the grave.

    ¡°He hurriedly removed his wife¡¯s body from the hiddenpartment in his house and drove to the countryside to bury her. He thought that was the end of the story, but scarier things happened.

    ¡°Whenever he woke up from his dream, his wife¡¯s clothes would appear in the bed beside him like his wife had returned in the night!

    ¡°But how could the person he buried return in the night?

    ¡°He woke up and returned to the countryside with his tools to move his wife deeper into the woods. However, no matter what he did, he would wake up to find his wife¡¯s stuff appearing around him. It was as if his wife hade back from the grave and would return to him after he fell asleep.

    ¡°He was increasingly scared, and his phone kept getting messages from his wife. However, he didn¡¯t have any recollection of receiving them. The only exnation was that they were sent after he fell asleep.

    ¡°Things only got worse from there. Sometimes when he woke up, he would discover he was wearing the clothes his wife died in. He was on the verge of copse, and he knew the problem was with his wife. So, he returned to her grave to move her onest time.

    ¡°To prevent her froming back again, he came up with a crazy idea¡ªhe was going to seal his wife inside the wall of an old apartment building.

    ¡°Seeing his wife merge into the wall, he sighed in the relief. This time, there was no way his wife wasing back.¡± Chen Ge stopped abruptly. ¡°That¡¯s the end of the story.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± The two at the table were deep in the story. ¡°Then what happened next? What happened to your friend?¡±

    Chen Ge was telling Wang Qi¡¯s story. He wanted to say, <i>That ¡®friend¡¯ met me and is now rotting in jail.</i>

    ¡°Your story isn¡¯t finished, right?¡± the first man on the left said with annoyance.

    ¡°That¡¯s all I know. If I continue, it would be a lie.¡± Chen Ge changed his voice to sound old. The first man on the left shared a look with the rest at the table, and they all turned to the fifth person on the left. The person was swallowed up by the ck robe. Not one inch of skin was revealed.

    Feeling everyone¡¯s gaze, the person spoke. ¡°I cannot get a clear reading, but his story should be real.¡±

    ¡°Not a bad story, but I don¡¯t like this feeling.¡± The first man on the left ced his left hand on the table¡ªthat looked like how they voted. Of the other nine, eight ced their left hand on the table. Only the man who showed interest in Chen Ge¡¯s mask did not move.

    ¡°One forfeit and nine in agreement. Looks like our main course for tonight has been decided.¡± The man on the left chuckled wickedly. The rest also looked at Chen Ge with viciousness.

    Chen Ge tried calling Zhang Ya, but there was no response. He knew that if he did not do something, he was going to be in grave danger.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so hasty. This is just my first story.¡± Chen Ge was very calm. The mask on his face revealed a twisted smile. ¡°Like I said, I have many stories.¡±

    Initially, the other new members had sighed in relief, but they got tense again.

    ¡°Many stories?¡± The man who had interest in his mask studied Chen Ge. ¡°The rules of the ghost stories society state that if you finish threepletely real ghost stories that are approved, you can make a demand or choose to leave the society. So, if you can tell me another two real ghost stories, we might develop a different opinion of you.¡±

    His statement was approved by the rest. Only the first man on the right hesitated. ¡°No. 10, you seem to value this new member a lot.¡±

    ¡°I just feel he is very interesting.¡±

    The ck robed individuals seated at the table had their own numbers; they never referred to each other by name, not even nicknames.

    ¡°Real ghost stories aren¡¯t so easily made. Normal persone across them once or twice and would have a mental breakdown already.¡± The man on the left retrieved his left hand from the table. ¡°Hopefully, he won¡¯t be dumb enough to tell lies.¡±

    Chen Ge did not interrupt their exchanges. After all, he was trying to drag out the time.

    ¡°Tell us the rest of your stories.¡±

    ¡°My second story is another real story that happened to my friend.¡±

    Chen Ge first told about how Fan Yu saw his parents fall into the well and how he lived in the house with his murderous aunt and house filled with ghosts. Then Chen Ge told the story about the Pen Spirit and the girl with depression. He realized that Zhang Ya had not awoken yet, so he also ryed the story about Men Nan¡¯s washing hair at night and the encroaching monster in his dream.

    Finally, he stood at Xu Yin¡¯s perspective and told his bloody love story.

    All his stories were real. When he was done, all the members were speechless. Just what kind of life he had lived?

    His ¡®friends¡¯ were either sick or mad, and they would die every few years, but this fe was still alive and went there to share his story. Could it be that he was the real culprit behind all these stories?

 Chapter 241 - Who Is the Chairperson?

    <h4>Chapter 241: Who Is the Chairperson?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The room was extremely quiet. Even the two who liked to critique the most were quiet. The atmosphere around the dining table was weird. The ten ck robes looked at one another, and they seemed to bemunicating with gazes.

    ¡°If that¡¯s not enough, I have other stories.¡± Chen Ge was buying time for Zhang Ya. He was not interested in the other members; he only had one target that night, which was to capture Zhu Xiu.

    ¡°You still have other stories?¡±

    The dining table fell silent again. The first man on the right scratched his head before turning to the fifth person on the left. ¡°No. 5, are all his stories real?¡±

    Everyone then turned to this most mysterious No. 5. The ck robe fluttered slightly, and a gender-neutral voice came from the mask. ¡°I cannot detect any signs of deceit in his words.¡±

    Five ghost stories, all real... what kind of ¡®amazing¡¯ life had he led?

    ¡°Looks like we have to redo the judging.¡± The man on the left moved his gaze to fall on the three other new members. ¡°All of your stories are amazing, but we can only keep three new members.¡±

    He ced his left hand on the table and extended one finger. The second vote had begun. Other people came to the decision equally quick. Six of them extended one finger.

    ¡°You got more than half of the votes.¡± The man on the left turned to No. 1. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, No. 1, but you can leave now.¡±

    ¡°Leave?¡± No. 1 started to panic and wanted to say something but was cut off by the man on the left.

    ¡°You cane back next Wednesday.¡±

    The alert No. 1 was sent out of the room. The birdman had been waiting. When he saw it was not Chen Ge, he was rather surprised.

    ¡°Follow me.¡± The birdman led No. 1 away and closed the door.

    When the door shut, the first man on the left finished his sentence. ¡°Provided you can survive until the next Wednesday.¡±

    The moment he said that, there was screaming from the corridor and then something heavy fell on the floor. No. 2¡¯s legs shook. Earlier, four people had picked him. If there were two more votes, he would have been the one outside.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the new member lives on in another form.¡± The first man on the left softened his voice. ¡°Wee to the ghost stories society. You will be respectively No. 11, 12, and 13.¡±

    Chen Ge came inst, so his number was 13. The blood in the shadow behind him grew obvious. Chen Ge, who had survived the first wave of danger, slowly rxed. The ghost stories society was the hidden mission for the Third Sick Hall. It was rted to the world behind the door, and the reward was probably Men Nan¡¯s main persona, a Red Specter who could control the opening and closing of the ¡®door¡¯.

    ¡°I have a question,¡± the woman who was now No. 12 said. Her emotions had always been light. ¡°The flyer says that I can find a way to soften the pain, so how do I do that?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, everyone here has once been in depths of pain. We¡¯re all patients, and the purpose of building this society is to help everyone seek salvation.¡± The man on the right stared at the woman. ¡°When you tell us three real ghost stories, we¡¯ll find a way to help you ording to your situation.¡±

    Chen Ge listened quietly. He had initially thought that this society was a bunch of madmen ying with themselves, and he did not expect that it would have such a deep meaning behind it.

    ¡°How do you expect real ghost stories to happen so often?¡± When the woman was speaking, she turned to look at Chen Ge with slight alert.

    ¡°Ghost stories surround us¡ªyou haven¡¯t been paying attention. All the words written on the flyer are real, and many members have sought salvation with us. There was once a member who had been tormented by her stepfather since she was young. She was whipped and drowned, making her fear water very much. After she came to us, her illness was fixed, and she no longer feared water.¡±

    ¡°How did you cure her?¡±

    ¡°Very simple, we forced her stepfather underwater and had her personally destroy the phobia in her heart.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it is that simple. Every one of us is sick, but we suffer from different conditions. The reasons for our illnesses are different. Don¡¯t worry, when it¡¯s your turn, we¡¯ll draft a solution designed for you.¡± The man on the right¡¯s voice was calm and confident. Chen Ge imagined a trustworthy face under that mask.

    ¡°You already know the condition. Once you can tell three real ghost stories, you can demand something from us, or you can choose to leave.¡± The manughed and added with humor, ¡°And it¡¯ll be real that time.¡±

    ¡°Three ghost stories?¡± The woman lowered her head to think.

    Listening to their conversation, Chen Ge was shocked. <i>This is not therapy; it¡¯s murder! Then again, only mad men woulde up with these therapy methods.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s gaze swept over everyone at the table. The patients from the Third Sick Hall were probably among them!

    The devil from Room 10 and Wu Fei from Room 9, these two were probably the founders of the ghost stories society. They themselves were patients. In fact, Room 10 was filled with records of the devil¡¯s suffering. In a way, no one could empathize with these crazy people more than them.

    Since medicine could not solve their pain, they would provide treatment themselves, using the crazy method to give crazy people their salvation.

    ¡°Every new member is given the right to ask a question.¡± The man looked at No. 2 and Chen Ge. ¡°Which one of you would like to go first.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve run into some trouble recently. I have the police on my back.¡± When No. 2 said so, he raised his head to look around. No one reacted; this seemed to be somethingmon here.

    ¡°I can probably guess your problem, another man pushed to the wall.¡± The man on the left leaned against the back of his chair. ¡°We cannot help you solve that problem, but the society can provide you a ce to stay. We can even let you stay forever.¡±

    No. 2 nodded, slightly disappointed.

    The room turned back to Chen Ge. ¡°What is your question?¡±

    ¡°My question is simpler.¡± Chen Ge felt a chill run down his spine. He did not expect the monsters behind the door to work together with the patients from Third Sick Hall to organize something like this. After a long pause, he directly stated, ¡°I want to know who the society¡¯s chairperson is.¡±

    ¡°The chairperson?¡±

    The ck robes went silent once more. They looked at one another, and in the end, it was the first man on the left who spoke. ¡°Change your question.¡±

    ¡°You cannot tell me?¡± The more they wanted to hide it, the more interested Chen Ge was.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that,¡± the man on the right said. ¡°We know the chairperson is among the ten of us, but which of us it is, we ourselves do not know.¡±

 Chapter 242 - You Are My Next Story

    <h4>Chapter 242: You Are My Next Story</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Even you don¡¯t know who the chairperson is?¡± Chen Ge thought he could use this question to identify Wu Fei or Patient 10, but he did not expect this answer.

    ¡°Everyone wears a mask and has the same ck robe on. Even if the people underneath the masks change, we won¡¯t be able to tell.¡± The first man on the left pointed to himself. ¡°I¡¯m No. 1. Here, your number is more important than your name. If you do not wish to be reced, you¡¯d better be on full alert.¡±

    His words were meant for No. 12. The woman¡¯s voice was unique, and her story had exposed her husband¡¯s surname and many details about her life. If one wanted to, one could definitely identify her.

    Since Chen Ge had heard her voice before, he was fairly sure he knew who she was. To be fair, Chen Ge did not expect the famed DJ to be such an individual.

    ¡°The society doesn¡¯t have any other rules except the need to prepare enough ghost stories.¡± The man¡¯s voice turned chilly. ¡°When the three of you finish telling three stories, we will try our best toplete your wish. Then, it¡¯s your choice to stay or leave.¡±

    ¡°No. 1 has exined everything you need to know.¡± The man on the right snapped his finger. ¡°Dinner will be served soon, and after that, you¡¯re free to leave.¡±

    <i>Dinner? </i>Chen Ge was suspicious but did not ask. The room thus fell to silence. About half an hourter, there were footsteps in the corridor. The door was pushed open, and the birdman who poked his head in had obvious scratch marks on his neck. ¡°There was an ident, so we might need a little more time.¡±

    ¡°No worry, after all, there¡¯s still quite a long time until sunrise.¡± The first man on the right nced at the three new members. ¡°You might not be used to this since it¡¯s your first time, but it¡¯ll get better.¡±

    When he finished, No. 10, who liked Chen Ge¡¯s mask, said, ¡°If you¡¯re in a hurry, you can choose to leave first.¡±

    When he said so, all the other ck robes did not say anything, but it seemed like they did not understand why he would say that.

    ¡°In that case, I¡¯ll skip the need. I need to rush to find new ghost stories.¡± No. 11 seemed the most normal among everyone there. He was not used to dealing with these mad people. If not to evade the police, he would not have attended the gathering. The men at the table did not say anything but waved their hands. Their gazes were locked onto No. 10. That day, No. 10 had been acting rather curiously.

    Chen Ge had more things he needed to find out about the ghost stories society, and the blood lines in his shadows only needed one or two minutes before they finished knitting. It would be such a waste if he just leaves like that. From how he saw it, since they were all gathered together, it was the perfect chance to round them up in one go!

    The chairperson was one of the ten, but they themselves did not know who the chairperson was. In this case, the simple solution would be to deal with all of them.

    ¡°Goodbye, we¡¯ll meet again next Wednesday.¡± The second new member immediately rushed out. The birdman was still standing at the door, his pair of eyes following the man like he was eyeing a piece of meat.

    ¡°Will you two be leaving as well?¡± No. 10 asked Chen Ge and the woman.

    ¡°I¡¯m curious about the food served here.¡± For the first time, there was emotion in the woman¡¯s tone; she sounded excited. ¡°I¡¯ll stay.¡±

    There was sound of runninging from the corridor. No. 11 was close to the elevator.

    ¡°I have an emergency, see you again next Wednesday.¡± Chen Ge walked out of the room. When he passed the birdman, he smelled a faint hint of blood.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you could walk out alive.¡± The birdman¡¯s voice was hiding surprise and perplexity.

    ¡°There will more surprises in store for you in the future.¡± Chen Ge smiled at him, the skin mask looked especially scary.

    The birdman did not answer immediately. He waited until Chen Ge had left before grumbling, ¡°For some reason, I am not anticipating them.¡±

    No. 11 with the pig¡¯s mask stood beside the elevator. His finger pressed the button hastily, and the number slowly changed.

    ¡°Why is it so slow?¡± He felt like he was suffocating. Compared to those crazies, the scariest thing he had witnessed in his life was nothing. Especially the fourth new member, how did he manage to survive all those things? ¡°No way, I need to leave immediately.¡±

    The elevator rose but stopped at the 23rd floor. After a long time, the number finally changed to 24 like there was a long distance between the 23rd and 24th floors. No. 11 rushed into the elevator immediately. Not knowing there was someone behind him, he pressed the close door button. Just as the silvery-gray door was about to close, a hand reached out to stop it. Chen Ge walked into the elevator. ¡°Let¡¯s go together.¡±

    The man silently gulped. He wanted to reject, but he did not have the courage to. ¡°Sure.¡±

    After pressing the button to go to the first floor, Chen Ge stood beside the elevator door. After the door was fully closed, he turned back to nce at No. 11. ¡°Will you being back next Wednesday?¡±

    ¡°No idea, but if Ie across a new ghost story, I will.¡± No. 11¡¯s tone sounded stiff. He did not want to talk to this man.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re worried about that.¡± Chen Geughed. ¡°I know many ghost stories; would you like me to share one with you?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re willing to share them with me?¡± Hope rose within No. 11¡¯s heart. If Chen Ge was willing to tell him one ghost story, he only needed to find one more story to get the society to fulfil his wish.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Chen Ge turned around, the shadow behind him pulsating. The blood burst forth like a blood swan opening its wings. ¡°After all, you¡¯re the main character for this story!¡±

    Endless ck hair crawled out from Chen Ge¡¯s shadow to cover the entire elevator!

    A woman in bright red dress was leaning on Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder, her pale and beautiful face twisted by endless torment.

    ¡°Zhang Ya!¡±

    In the enclosed elevator, there was nowhere to run!

    Chen Ge dashed forward to yank No. 11¡¯s mask off and then covered his lips. The number on the elevator kept decreasing, but time seemed to have slowed down.

    ...

    When the number reached 1, the elevator door opened, and there was a man frozen in terror lying in the corner.

    His heart was still working, but other than fear, there was no other expression on his face. If one took a closer look, one could see his pupils that seemed to shatter like ss beads, and they were bleeding.

    Chen Ge hauled Zhu Xiu, who seemed to have turned into a vegetable, out of the elevator. Zhang Ya floated behind him, ying with a new toy in her hand.

    The toy looked exactly like Zhu Xiu. When one got close, one could even hear a faded scream.

 Chapter 243 - Four-Star Trial Mission

    <h4>Chapter 243: Four-Star Trial Mission</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After removing Zhu Xiu from the elevator, Chen Ge did not leave. He returned to the elevator. Zhang Ya followed behind him, not willing to leave his side. ¡°Since you¡¯re out here, why don¡¯t we go and create some chaos?¡±

    Chen Ge looked at Zhang Ya behind him. This Red Specter seemed to have grown stronger. The dress that she was wearing seemed to have been knitted from red threads; it looked very real. Zhang Ya kept her head lowered. She stuck close to Chen Ge, her fluttering hair asionally caressing Chen Ge¡¯s arm. There was something that looked like blood linesing out from underneath the dress, and they seemed ready to drill into Chen Ge¡¯s body.

    It looked quite scary, and Chen Ge did not expect such arge change would happen to Zhang Ya. In reality, when he had held Zhu Xiu¡¯s lips shut, there was an alert on the ck phone. Zhang Ya¡¯s affection level had broken through Gripped by Passion and was close to reaching the next stage.

    Like an overflowing vase, Zhang Ya¡¯s minor actions exemplified her affection toward Chen Ge. <i>Do you like ghosts? If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll turn everyone you like into one, including yourself.</i>

    The blood vessels and ck hair gently curled around Chen Ge¡¯s blood, and it chilled the man to his core. He turned to look at Zhang Ya, but Zhang Ya pretended like she did not know anything, just following behind him.

    <i>I can feel the murderous intent. I need to distract her somehow.</i>

    Chen Ge pressed the button for 23rd floor. He had decided to return to the 24th floor. Actually, he did not want to act so rashly, but he was reminded of an issue.

    Normally, Zhang Ya would return to his shadow on her own, but this time, it did not seem like Zhang Ya had any interest in returning!

    He was afraid that if he did not find something for Zhang Ya to do, he would be her next target. Love and hate were extreme emotions. The way Zhang Ya looked him made him feel ufortable; it was like she was hesitating over turning him into a doll as well. That way, they could be together forever.

    The door slowly closed. Chen Ge¡¯s hair rose on the back of his neck. He suddenly wished to be back in the room with the rest of the members. He felt safer with them. It wasplicated getting back to the 24th floor. Chen Ge hid himself in the corner and took out the ck phone when Zhang Ya was not looking.

    ¡°Resolving herst wish, Zhang Ya¡¯s affection level has reached Gripped by Passion!

    ¡°Specter¡¯s Favored, congrattions forpleting Zhang Ya¡¯s Bloody Heart Mission with a hundred percentpletion rate!

    ¡°Choice of Reward One: Unlocking three-star scenario, Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy! The scenario includes seven mini scenarios: White Valentines, Red Dancing Shoes, Cursed Love Letter, Female Dormitory, Crying Chairs, the Hanging Man, and the Stink!

    ¡°Warning: After you select this reward, Red Specter Zhang Ya will be confined to the scenario!

    ¡°Choice of Reward Two: Remove all scenarios rted to Zhang Ya, leaving only the Hanging Man and the Stink. This will downgrade Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy to a two-star scenario, but Zhang Ya¡¯s movement will be unlimited!¡±

    The message surprised Chen Ge. He did not expect that Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy would be a three-star scenario and Zhang Ya would be rted to five mini scenarios!

    The Third Sick Hall was judged a three-star scenario probably due to the ten patients and the creatures behind the door, but Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy was judged as three-star simply due to Zhang Ya.

    <i>She¡¯s scarier than I thought!</i>

    After swallowing some of the creatures and the old director in the Third Sick Hall, Zhang Ya had grown stronger, her malice increasing, the blood in her dress glowing brighter.

    <i>If I pick the first reward, I¡¯ll get aplete three-star scenario, but I¡¯ll lose Zhang Ya¡¯s aid whenever I¡¯m out of the Haunted House.</i>

    Chen Ge turned back to sneak a look at Zhang Ya. He thought long and hard before selecting reward number two. He was not afraid that if he picked reward one, he was not going to leave the elevator alive. Furthermore, he felt like he was the only person Zhang Ya could rely on. He felt like giving as much warmth as he could to someone who had suffered so much in her life. He clicked option two, and a new message appeared.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to select Reward Number Two?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Congrattions for unlocking the two-star scenario, Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy! This scenario is a gift frompleting the Bloody Heart Mission, so it has no hidden missions and no security threats!¡±

    <i>No security threats? Meaning I can allow my visitors to explore the ce to their hearts¡¯ content?</i>

    Since the ck phone had said so, it should be fine. This meant that Chen Ge had been gifted a two-star scenario, so he was quite happy. Then another message appeared.

    ¡°Specter¡¯s Favored, congrattions forpleting Zhang Ya¡¯s Bloody Heart Mission with a hundred percentpletion rate! Sessfully triggered the Trial Mission for four-star scenario¡ªSchool of the Afterlife!

    ¡°Warning: four-star scenarios are extremely dangerous! The Trial Mission for School of the Afterlife isprised of eight side missions and one final mission. The active time toplete them is three months.

    ¡°Currently, you havepleted seven side missions at Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy and Mu Yang High School. Afterpleting the 8th side mission, Eternal Life, you will unlock the final mission!

    ¡°Side Mission 8: Eternal Life (In an undisclosed underground morgue, there¡¯s a group who seek eternal life). Mission Venue: Western Jiujiang¡¯s Medical University.

    ¡°Final Mission: Currently locked.¡±

    Chen Ge pocketed the phone when he was done reading it. Every increase in the star of a scenario would double or triple the difficulty. When he conducted the Trial Mission for the Third Sick Hall, he would have died if he had faced the thin monster alone. If Zhang Ya had not been there to help him, he would not have had the chance to enter the blood door.

    Looking at this from a different perspective, Zhang Ya herself was the reason Western Jiujiang Private Academy was a three-star scenario. How scary Zhang Ya was equaled to how scary a three-star scenario was.

    <i>I should just ignore the four-star mission for now. Three-star missions already have the presence of Red Specter, so the four-star mission probably has something worse.</i>

    Chen Ge tried to understand that world, but the more he found out, the more confused he became.

    <i>The active time for clearing School of the Afterlife is three-months. I still have time. The most immediate concern is to deal with ghost stories society and solve the hidden mission inside the Third Sick Hall.</i>

    Chen Ge followed the introduction on the flyer and returned to the 24th floor, but this time, he did not enter alone.

 Chapter 244 - Things You Shouldnt See

    <h4>Chapter 244: Things You Shouldn¡¯t See</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The red number on the disy was rather eye-catching. When 24 showed up, the elevator door opened. There were wet blood stains in the corridor and many more scratch marks on the walls. There was the smell of blood in the air like something horrible had just happened. Chen Ge removed the cleaver from his calf and hid it inside his sleeve.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go in.¡±

    Chen Ge did not turn back to look; based on the chilling from behind him, he knew Zhang Ya was following. The corridor was silent, and he could hear every sound. When he was a third of the way down the corridor, Chen Ge heard the sound of sawing. He took several more steps forward and confirmed that the sound came out from the room Chen Ge had seen the birdman exit when he first arrived.

    <i>There were ten seats around the table. They probably represented the ten initial patients, and the birdman is responsible for the odd jobs. But what exactly is his role in the ghost stories society?</i>

    Chen Ge thought about it before shaking his head. There was no need to consider that. He was not there to get to know the society; he was there to ruin it. <i>They¡¯re both from three-star scenarios, so Zhang Ya should be able to hold her own against them.</i>

    Standing outside the room, Chen Ge peered through the door, and his brows involuntarily creased. The birdman was squatting in the corner with some tools in his hands. There was an old man lying before him, and a mask was lying to the side. Chen Ge had seen that mask before; new member No. 1 had worn it earlier.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Chen Ge blocked the door and suddenly spoke. The birdman jumped at the sudden intruder. The man did not turn around and spoke while facing away from Chen Ge. ¡°Everyone has left; why are you still here?¡±

    ¡°Are you guys serving dinner? I just left for a while, and you¡¯re already done?¡± Chen Ge had some regret. No matter the reason, the n that night had to be changed.

    ¡°There was a small problem. One of them received a message from the chairperson, and they had to leave.¡± The birdman still had not turned around. His upper body seemed frozen. He kept his back to Chen Ge and his face to the old man on the floor.

    ¡°A message from the chairperson?¡± Chen Ge thought that the man was acting funny. He walked into the room. ¡°Can you tell me where they have gone?¡±

    ¡°No idea.¡± The man paused before adding, ¡°I suggest you stay away.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s only one elevator at the end of the corridor, and I did not leave the elevator. Is there another exit here?¡± Chen Ge managed to gain many clues from what the man said. Now that everyone had left, this birdman was his sole source of information.

    ¡°In the future, people will inform you about that, but now, please leave.¡± The birdman¡¯s actions were stiff, like he purposely did not want to turn his face around. Chen Ge was not there to discuss things with him. After the birdman said so, he not only did not leave but moved deeper into the room.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you follow them and leave then? Do you stay here?¡± Chen Ge kept his questionsing.

    ¡°I¡¯m only responsible for cleaning and cooking.¡±

    ¡°Interesting.¡± Chen Ge had his suspicions regarding the birdman. He could stay at the 24th floor for as long as he wished, and he had ess to everything. Could he be the chairperson? Perhaps the chairperson was not one of the other members.

    Chen Ge wanted to prove that, but he knew that even if he asked directly, the birdman would not be honest with him. Therefore, he decided to go for the most direct method. Regardless of whether he was the chairperson or not, as long as he disappeared forever, he would not be the chairperson.

    The birdman realized that Chen Geing close, and he raised his voice. ¡°Newbie, no matter what you¡¯ve done outside, now that you¡¯re here, you¡¯d better follow the rules of the ghost stories society.¡±

    ¡°The rules? But there¡¯s only one rule, right? I only need to tell ghost stories. What are the other rules?¡± Since Chen Ge realized that this person was suspicious, he was not going to leave so easily.

    ¡°You¡¯ll have to pay if you see things that you shouldn¡¯t. Now that all the members have left, you and I are the only one left on this floor.¡± The birdman stood up, and at the same time, there was sound of water falling. Chen Ge looked at the bottom of the man¡¯s body. His pants were drenched with blood, and the blood was sliding down his pants.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re trying to say. All the members have left; that should be bad news for you.¡± Chen Ge continued to move forward like he did not notice the blood on the birdman¡¯s clothes.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± The birdman moved to the side to reveal the old man¡¯s body. His face was carved in terror.

    ¡°asionally, there are newbies who mysteriously disappear, and everyone has gotten used to it.¡± He seemed to be talking to himself, but he wanted to let Chen Ge hear him as well. Then, the birdman turned around. Compared to the weird tools in his hands and his bloodied clothes, the point of attraction was his face.

    He did not need a mask!

    The man¡¯s mouth protruded out of his face like a beak, and the blood vessels that were unique to the monsters behind the door swam across his cheeks. This man was not a human being!

    ¡°I¡¯ve given you the chance, but you don¡¯t want to appreciate it.¡± The birdman waved the tools in his hands to create a weird sound. ¡°I¡¯ve been meaning to do this since I first met you. s, there were too many people, but you came back on your own.¡±

    Things were different from what Chen Ge thought; he had thought that he was talking to a human.

    <i>If I¡¯d known, I wouldn¡¯t have wasted so much time.</i>

    Chen Ge stared at the man¡¯s face. If the monster behind the door wanted to survive outside the door, they needed to attach themselves to a living person. The monster that seemed to grow out of the man¡¯s head should be a new monster that he had not seen before.

    Their rtionship should be simr to Xiong Qing and the thin monster. The monster behind the door grew on them, and the living human controlled them to a certain degree by satisfying the monsters¡¯ desire.

    <i>All the real members of the ghost stories society will have monsters attached to them. This is rather difficult, especially if they have a Red Specter among them.</i>

    Chen Ge stood where he was, thinking about this problem. The birdman thought he was scared witless, and a cruel smile appeared on his face. He liked to see people struggle; it was the little enjoyment in life he allowed himself. It was because of that there were so many bloody scratch marks around the elevator.

    He loved to yank people down into the depths of despair when they thought they saw hope.

    ¡°The ghost stories society is not a charity. If you wish to have salvation, you need to pay the price!¡±

    The birdman rushed toward Chen Ge with his tools, his beak-like mouth calling shrilly.

    Suddenly, his neck was strangled by ck hair, lifting him off the ground. His legs kicked about out of desperation, and his face turned purple as the blood vessels dispersed.

    ¡°What is this?¡±

 Chapter 245 - No. 10s Identity

    <h4>Chapter 245: No. 10¡¯s Identity</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge did not answer the birdman¡¯s question. When the ck hair wrapped around the birdman¡¯s neck, his ending had been written. Zhang Ya had never left a living person behind once she acted.

    In the Third Sick Hall, she had dashed into the door just to chase after the thin monster. In the process, she had even injured the old director, who was a Red Specter. Zhang Ya after death was theplete opposite of who she had been in life. Thankfully, she seemed to have a soft spot for Chen Ge.

    Chen Ge stood at the door obediently and pretended like he did not see anything. He picked up the weird tools that the birdman had left and started studying them.

    There was a horrible screaming from inside the room. The blood vessels on the man¡¯s face congregated to from a sharp-beaked raven. It attempted to fly out of the room. Its speed was fast, and it reached the door in the blink of an eye, but something else awaited it.

    When the birdman was speaking earlier, the ck hair had already spread through the room and sealed the entire corridor. The wave of ck hair swallowed the blood raven and the birdman whole. Momentster, the blood raven disappeared, and only a crippled man was left on the floor. His eyes were unfocused, like his consciousness had beenpletely shattered.

    After swallowing the blood raven, Zhang Ya still did not feel satisfied. The ck hair crawled into all the rooms. She seemed to find something at the end because she started to pull back her hair.

    ¡°Did you find something?¡± They were at the base for the ghost stories society, so there were probably some important items there.

    Zhang Ya titled her head to study Chen Ge for a long time. Without saying anything, she hid back inside his shadow. Chen Ge was frozen solid while being studied by Zhang Ya. He only dared to breathe when the bloodpletely disappeared from his shadow.

    <i>The affection level is rising so fast that Zhang Ya now refuses to return. If this continues, she might identally kill me in the future.</i>

    Thinking back to Zhang Ya¡¯s gaze, Chen Ge¡¯s scalp felt numb. The girl seemed to be considering killing him so that he could join her in death.

    <i>I didn¡¯t think I was so popr with girls before this! I didn¡¯t really do anything, but the affection level keeps climbing. I should stop bothering Zhang Ya in the future unless truly necessary.</i>

    Chen Ge walked to the birdman and took a look at his face. He had been possessed by the monster behind the door for so long that his face had be twisted.

    <i>I won¡¯t be able to gather any information if his face is ruined like this.</i>

    Chen Ge exited the room and walked to the end of the corridor. He pushed thest door open. The dining table sat in the middle of the room, but no one remained.

    <i>How did they leave? Where is the hidden exit?</i>

    Holding the cleaver, Chen Ge walked around the table. It was a normal table, and the chairs had numbers on them¡ª1 to 10.

    <i>The chairperson is one of them, and using the power of the monsters behind the door, they created this society. This person mustn¡¯t be underestimated.</i>

    At that moment, Chen Ge stopped beside the chair for No. 10. When he first entered the room, No. 10 had said something. At the time, Chen Ge¡¯s focus had been directed at summoning Zhang Ya, so he had not paid it any heed. Now thinking back, No. 10 was suspicious.

    <i>The first sentence he told me was that he liked my mask. Why would he specifically talk about my mask?</i>

    Chen Ge was wearing Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s mask, and those who had visited the Haunted House before would have seen it.

    <i>Could No. 10 be one of my former visitors? When the other nine voted to give up on me, No. 10 forfeited. His forfeit, in a way, was a vote of support, and he would not save a stranger for no reason.</i>

    There were many anomalies beyond that. For example, when the dinner was supposed to be served, No. 10 suddenly told the three new members that they could leave if they wanted to. Combined with what had happened earlier, that was probably meant for Chen Ge. <i>The meal for new members has its problem as well?</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the chair for No. 10 as he thought back to No. 10¡¯s every move. <i>Everyone¡¯s hands were hidden inside the ck robe, but No. 10 ced his hands underneath the table.</i>

    Squatting down, Chen Ge looked under the table. Where No. 10 was sitting, there were several small words that had been carved out using fingernails. Chen Ge took out his phone and looked at them for a long time before he could recognize what they were.

    <i>Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station?</i>

    The name sounded familiar. He thought about it, and his eyes widened with shock. There were four letters inside the Third Sick Hall¡¯s director office, and the only addressed letter was to Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station!

    <i>The letter was addressed to Doctor Chen, so No. 10 is this Doctor Chen?</i>

    All the clues seemed to be connected, but none of them could be proved. A key piece was missing from the puzzle.

    <i>This is the first time I¡¯ve worn the mask outside of New Century Park. He has seen my mask before, so he should be a visitor or a park worker. However, it hasn¡¯t been long since I got the mask, so could it be someone I met recently?</i>

    The body had been covered by the ck robe, and No. 10¡¯s voice was weird. He had probably been faking his voice so that Chen Ge would not be able to identify him. The only thing that Chen Ge was certain about was No. 10 was a man. <i>Could it be a patient from Third Sick Hall and this is just a method to trick me?</i>

    The members of ghost stories society were definitely not normal; Wu Fei and the devil would likely be the most difficult to deal with.

    <i>Captain Yan has shown me the picture. The patients from Third Sick Hall were following me. They have seen me enter New Century Park from the pictures on the phones of Xu Tong and the patient with Phantom Limb Syndrome.</i>

    <i>This bunch of crazies know I¡¯m at New Century Park, so they have perhaps masqueraded as visitors before to enter my Haunted House, so it is normal for him to have seen my mask before.</i>

    <i>It was the old director who wrote the letter to Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station. The director chose to cooperate with the patients to extend his life, so it is to be expected that the patients know about this address.</i>

    <i>He might seem to be helping me on the surface, but that might be because he sensed danger and was actually helping the society!</i>

    <i>The most crucial clue was given by the birdman. He said that someone received a message from the chairperson and decided to leave in a hurry. I left, and the next minute, they escaped through the hidden exit? That cannot be a coincidence!</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s gaze darkened as he looked at the carving under the table. He suspected that this was a trap. He had to be careful because all the patients who had escaped from the Third Sick Hall were mad. They could not be understood using normal logic.

    <i>He managed to react instantly once he realized that something was wrong. He controlled the situation from the dark. If No. 10 isn¡¯t someone whom I know, he¡¯s most likely the chairperson.</i>

    Two different spections, two different results. One heaven and one hell.

 Chapter 246 - Cigarette Wounds

    <h4>Chapter 246: Cigarette Wounds</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    No. 10 could have been Chen Ge¡¯s acquaintance who was trying to help him, or he could have been a mental patient trying to make Chen Ge drop his guard. To find out the real answer, he had to go to Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station.

    After making sure he did not miss anything, Chen Ge walked out of the room and returned to the elevator.

    <i>There have to be other secrets behind these closed doors. Perhaps the hidden exit that the members used is behind one of them. </i>Chen Ge regretted that he did not bring the hammer or else he could have broken down all the doors. <i>I¡¯ll need to pay attention next time.</i>

    Back in the elevator, Chen Ge looked at the number dropping, and he finally sighed in relief. He tied the cleaver back on his calf and removed the mask. He took a deep breath. The elevator stopped at the first floor. Before he walked out, Chen Ge could hear someone talking, and the tone was stern.

    ¡°How did he get in here? I¡¯m asking you, how did he get in here?¡±

    ¡°Supervisor Huang, I really don¡¯t know how he managed to sneak in here.¡±

    ¡°We have a murderer in our building, and you¡¯re telling me you don¡¯t know anything?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°I paid you to protect the tenants, not for you to apologize to me! How many troubles have happened recently? You can count for yourself!¡±

    Chen Ge looked outside the elevator. Zhu Xiu, who he had hidden in the corner, had disappeared.

    <i>Where is the man?</i>

    Chen Ge nced outwards. Gu Feiyu, in the security uniform, was holding his phone, his head lowered. Standing across from him was a middle-aged man who looked refined but had a huge temper.

    ¡°Xiao Gu? What¡¯s going on?¡± Chen Ge walked over.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± The middle-aged man turned to Chen Ge. ¡°You don¡¯t look familiar. You¡¯re not one of our tenants, are you?¡±

    Then, he turned to re at Gu Feiyu. ¡°He¡¯s your friend?¡±

    They were not supposed to allow strangers to enter the premises after midnight; this was a written rule. Gu Feiyu knew that he had made another mistake. He removed his cap and nodded.

    ¡°Supervisor Huang.¡± There was a police sirening from outside, and a middle-aged man in a causal outfit walked in. ¡°That is my friend.¡±

    Chen Ge was shocked when he saw the man. ¡°Inspector Lee?¡±

    ¡°I knew that something was wrong when you left the police station, but I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d be able to flush this man out.¡± Inspector Lee pointed at the door, where the unconscious Zhu Xiu was lying.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been following me from the police station?¡± Chen Ge had not noticed that at all. Thinking back, he was scared.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been a cop for twenty years already. If you managed to discover me, then it¡¯s time for me to retire.¡± Inspector Lee turned to Supervisor Huang. ¡°Don¡¯t me the kid, he did well this time. The culprit is very cunning and has been avoiding the police. Even our inclothes are unable to notice him, so it¡¯s normal for him not to notice.¡±

    ¡°Even the police failed to capture him?¡± Supervisor Huang turned to Chen Ge and apologized immediately, aplete change in attitude. ¡°So, this is another policeman? Thank you so much for your service.¡±

    Chen Ge ignored him and looked at Inspector Lee with embarrassment. ¡°You¡¯ve been waiting outside the building?¡±

    ¡°What do you think? I observed you for one and a half hour at New Century Park and then followed you to Fang Hwa Apartments. Been waiting for you to show up since then.¡± Inspector Lee moved his shoulders. ¡°When you came down with the suspect, I was ready toe in, but then you went back into the elevator.¡±

    ¡°Uncle Lee, do you know how dangerous that was?¡±

    ¡°If I¡¯m not worried about you doing something stupid; do you think I¡¯d care?¡± Inspector Lee lowered his voice and pulled Chen Ge aside. ¡°Zhu Xiu seems to have suffered some kind of trauma; was he like when you found him?¡±

    Inspector Lee¡¯s tone was weird. Chen Ge looked at the inspector¡¯s expression, and it dawned on him. He exined, ¡°Yes, he was already like this when I found him. I returned upstairs to find out why.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Inspector Lee nodded. ¡°That does sound logical.¡±

    Not long after Zhu Xiu was taken away in the police car, an ambnce arrived. It also stopped in front of the third building. The people looked at one another. ¡°Who called the ambnce?¡±

    No one admitted to it. After a while, the number on the elevator moved before it stopped at the thirteenth floor.

    ¡°The tenants here rarely use the elevator at night. Something must have happened.¡± Supervisor Huang and Gu Feiyu rushed to the elevator at the same time. Not long after that, the elevator opened, and a middle-aged man ran out carrying an olddy.

    ¡°Doctor! Doctor!¡± The man¡¯s mother seemed to have fainted from her illness. Chen Ge did not pay much attention initially, but when he saw the old man¡¯s face, shock registered in his eyes. The olddy was the elder who had nned to leave on the 13th floor earlier. When she saw the elevator, she had grumbled,<i>¡°Why are there so many people taking the elevator sote at night? There¡¯s not even enough space for me.¡±</i>

    The olddy¡¯s outfit was different from what Chen Ge had seen. He was unsure whether the elder he had seen was the olddy or her soul.

    ¡°Since she didn¡¯t take the elevator, the senior should be able to live.¡±

    After the ambnce left, it was time for Chen Ge to go, but before that, he had something to do.

    ¡°Xiao Gu, how much are they paying you monthly to act as the night guard?¡±

    ¡°3,000.¡±

    ¡°I see you¡¯re quite brave and have a good personality. If you ever feeling like quitting or have nowhere else to go,e find me at Western Jiujiang¡¯s New Century Park.¡± Chen Ge pointed at his phone. ¡°Give me a call then.¡±

    Gu Feiyu looked rather interested. ¡°Okay.¡±

    After saying goodbye to Inspector Lee, Chen Ge rushed back to New Century Park. He felt safer when he was at home.

    <i>I feel morefortable here.</i>

    He jotted down everything that he needed to pay attention to. He memorized it all before burning the paper.

    <i>Tomorrow will be a new day. After work, if there¡¯s time, I should pay Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station a visit.</i>

    It was gettingte. Chen Ge fed the white cat andy down to sleep, but as he did so, his phone rang.

    <i>Is this Inspector Lee? </i>Chen Ge assumed something had happened to Zhu Xiu, but he realized that it was a call from Captain Yan.

    ¡°Sorry for disturbing, Chen Ge, but I have something to confirm with you.¡±

    Captain Yan sounded so polite that it would have been rude for Chen Ge to reject. ¡°Okay, but please make it quick.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve sent you the picture. Take a look at it. We saw this when we were looking over the surveince around Hai Ming Apartments.¡±

    Chen Ge clicked the picture open. It was a picture taken from the surveince video but had been made clearer.

    There was a man in a jacket, and he seemed to be talking with someone through the phone in his right hand. He was holding the flyer for Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House in his left hand. There were cigarette wounds and small injuries on the back of his hand.

    ¡°Do you recognize the person in the picture?¡±

 Chapter 247 - Second Expansion

    <h4>Chapter 247: Second Expansion</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Cigarette wound?¡± Chen Ge was reminded of the man who had sat in the first chair on the right at the ghost stories society. His finger that was exposed had a cigarette burn on it.

    ¡°We¡¯ve gone through the tapes for the time frame of twelve hours and the surveince for nearby five hundred meters. There was no one particrly suspicious, but this did catch our attention.¡± Captain Yan¡¯s voice had suspicion in it. ¡°He used the jacket¡¯s hood to hide his face, and the screen on his phone was ck. He looked like he was talking on the phone, but he was actually observing the surroundings. However, there is one thing I don¡¯t understand, why would he have the flyer to your Haunted House?¡±

    ¡°My Haunted House does not have that many workers, and I have not gone out of the park to give out flyers, so either he or a friend of his has been to the park and my Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°Do you have any recollection of this man?¡±

    ¡°There are many scenarios inside the Haunted House, and I¡¯m only responsible for one of them, so I cannot give you an urate answer.¡± Chen Ge had started to plot against this man. ¡°Captain Yan, I¡¯m sure you did plenty of investigation when you pinpointed this suspicious guy. What did youe up with?¡±

    Captain Yan¡¯s voice was hoarse, probably due to ack of rest. ¡°We¡¯ve discovered that he¡¯s the producer for a private radio station. He has no criminal files and is considered a sessful man who loves his family and has a good career. He¡¯s not what we would normally call a suspect.¡±

    ¡°A radio station¡¯s producer? That sounds impressive.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a station specializing inte night shows. Its influence has grown over the past two years. Most of the listeners are young people who are curious and people who have nothing to do at night.¡±

    Captain Yan¡¯s revtion demolished Chen Ge¡¯s drowsiness. There was only one radio station that specialized inte night show in Jiujiang. The same station that No. 12, Lychee, worked at¡ªGhost Talk. Before their change in format, they focused on rtionship issues, but their poprity kept falling. They were forced to change, and incidentally, the first show they did with Ghost Talk broke records.

    ¡°Captain Yan, the radio station you¡¯re talking about is Ghost Talk?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the one. You¡¯ve heard of it before?¡±

    ¡°Yes, a few times. They have a DJ by the name of Lychee who has a wonderful voice.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s mind moved. If No. 5 was the producer at this station and Lychee worked for him, then was it possible that he was the one who sent the ghost stories society¡¯s flyer to Lychee?

    If that was the case, it meant that Chen Ge had uncovered the identities for two of the members.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand why he would appear at Hai Ming Apartments, but to not spook him, we didn¡¯t stop him for an interview.¡± Captain Yan¡¯s voice sounded tired. ¡°There are so many things that have happenedtely. Take care of yourself. If youe across anything, call us.¡±

    Captain Yan hung up soon after. Chen Ge sat on his bedside and used his phone to search for the radio station. The DJ on duty that night was indeed not Lychee but someone else.

    <i>Should I strike first? Take them down one by one?</i>

    ...

    At around 7 am, when the sun rose, Chen Ge was woken up by the vibration of his phone. He searched his clothes for a long time before he realized that it was an alert on the ck phone.

    ¡°Two-star scenario Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy failed to unlock! Lack of space inside the Haunted House. Please conduct a second expansion.¡±

    <i>Not enough space? But there is so much empty space in the underground parking lot.</i>

    Chen Ge had thought he would have a new scenario to use when he woke up, but he ran into this trouble instead. He put on his clothes and ran out of the Haunted House and the park. It had been one or two years since a visitor came to this ce. To prevent visitors from wandering close, the park even usedrge rubbish to block the two entrances.

    Climbing over the trash, Chen Ge entered the underground parking lot. New Century Park had used quite a pretty penny to build this ce. That was when the park had been in its prime. Chen Ge walked for quite a distance before he saw an old cement wall that blocked the parking lot off from the scenarios. The wall went up into the ceiling, cutting the two spaces off from each otherpletely.

    <i>About two thirds of the ce is empty, so why would it say there¡¯s not enough space? Or one expansion can only fit three scenarios?</i>

    Before the first expansion, Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House had three scenarios, and then after the first expansion, the underground added Third Sick Hall, A Room of Three, and Mu Yang High School. Therefore, he came up with this spection.

    <i>I didn¡¯t even realize I already have six scenarios, but it¡¯s still not enough!</i>

    The sun continued to rise, and its rays filtered into the parking lot. Chen Ge discovered something interesting. The scenarios were all built at the ce where the sun would not reach. It was unclear whether this was done on purpose or the ck phone might lose part of its power once it touched the sunlight.

    <i>It¡¯s better if I seal up the cepletely. Today, I¡¯ll get someone to block the two entrances. That way I¡¯ll feel much better.</i>

    Chen Ge took out his phone to look for the expansion option. The condition for second expansion was more than a thousand monthly visitors and over seventy positive reputation.

    He had reached this goal several days ago, but he did not consider it because he had assumed that he still had enough space in the parking lot.

    ¡°Do you wish to expand for the second time? There¡¯s a chance of obtaining a unique construct.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    After he pressed yes, there was no change in the underground parking lot.<i>Perhaps I¡¯ll need to wait until midnight.</i>

    Chen Ge pocketed the ck phone and retraced his steps. He was anticipating the unique construct, but he would need to wait until the following day for the expansion to finish.

    The park opened at 9 am, and it was worth noting that Gu Feiyu dide. It was perfect because Chen Ge wascking in manpower. Xiao Gu was brave, and Chen Ge wanted him to take over Murder by Midnight, but before that, he had to get familiar with the Haunted House.

    Therefore, Chen Ge had Gu Feiyu experience the ce with other visitors. After finishing three scenarios, a weak-legged Gu Feiyu said that he wanted to leave no matter what. Chen Ge used a lot of effort to finally convince him that being scared and scaring others were two different experiences.

    Gu Feiyu, who had been scared witless, refused to enter the Haunted House again. After some more negotiation, Xiao Gu decided toe back again tomorrow. After sending Gu Feiyu away, Chen Ge felt that the young man was quite interesting.

    He valued Gu Feiyu not only because of his courage but also his personality. He had saved Gu Feiyu¡¯s life once, and with his personality, he would help keep Chen Ge¡¯s secrets no matter what he saw inside the Haunted House in the future.

    <i>The number of people that I can use is still too small.</i>

 Chapter 248 - A Game That Cant be Cleared

    <h4>Chapter 248: A Game That Can¡¯t be Cleared</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    During his lunch break, Director Luo personally came to pay Chen Ge a visit. Seeing how full the resting tent was, he was satisfied. ¡°You have so many visitors waiting during lunch¡ªthat¡¯s not easy.¡±

    Director Luo sighed. Several weeks ago, the Haunted House had been the most deserted ce at the park, but now it was the park¡¯s main feature and saving grace.

    ¡°Director Luo? Why are you here?¡± Chen Ge held the box of rice that Xu Wan had bought for him in one hand, and his other hand used a pen to make his ounts.

    ¡°I¡¯m here to tell you two pieces of good news.¡± Director Luo inspected the rough-looking tents and handed the document he was holding to Chen Ge.

    ¡°I¡¯ve not received good news in a long time already.¡± Chen Ge opened the file. Inside was the resting hall proposal that he had drafted, but underneath the amateur drawing was a detailed blueprint, filled with notes and exnations.

    ¡°This is?¡±

    ¡°Even though the park is not as big as it once was, we can still provide this much mary support.¡± Director Luo seemed like he was in a good mood. ¡°Take a look at the edited proposal, and if anything needs amending,e to me.¡±

    Chen Ge dropped what he was doing and looked through the blueprint closely. He was very satisfied with the updated blueprint; it was much more detailed and thought-out than the one he had drafted.

    ¡°Director Luo, what is the other good news?¡± Chen Ge raised his head. He was intrigued.

    ¡°Starting from tomorrow, the ticket price for park entry will be lowered to 60 RMB, and we¡¯ll start pushing promotions and discounts for those who buy in bulk or groups.¡± Director Luo had finally made the decision. The futuristic park was giving him too much pressure. Lowering the ticket price was a marketing strategy and, at the same time, taking a step back.

    ¡°Lowering so much?¡± Ever since it opened its door, New Century Park¡¯s ticket price had been rising; this was the first time it would fall.

    ¡°Actively lowering it now will be better than being forced to do soter.¡± Director Luo had an open mind about this. ¡°If the ticket price for the park is falling, then the admission for your Haunted House has to rise. I¡¯ve discussed this with other managers, and we believe 50 per admission sounds about right.¡±

    ¡°50? Won¡¯t that be too expensive?¡± Chen Ge had inherited the Haunted House from his parents, and he had not changed the pricing.

    ¡°As long as your quality matches it, 50 is the most reasonable pricing. Now that the park¡¯s ticket price is dropping, those who are unwilling to spend the extra money will be interested, so be prepared for arge crowd in the next few days.¡± Director Luo was confident.

    ¡°But the doubling of the price might cause some of the visitors to leave. There is never going to be enough money to earn, so why not take it slow?¡± Chen Ge treated the Haunted House as his own home. He had finally seen life return to it, so if the bounce up in ticket price chased people away, he would be greatly saddened.

    ¡°I¡¯vee up with the solution for that as well.¡± Director Luo took the document from Chen Ge and flipped it to thest few pages. It was not a blueprint but a proposal to promote the amusement park. ¡°The futuristic park will be starting arge promotional period soon, so we must be ahead of them and make use of this opening to invest in arge promotion! The main selling point will be the lower ticket price and your Haunted House!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re tying the park with my Haunted House for the promotion?¡±

    ¡°Currently, New Century Park¡¯s only selling point is your Haunted House.¡± Director Luo said something that made him grimace. ¡°If the effect is less than desirable, this will most likely be ourst promotion.¡±

    Chen Ge suddenly felt an increase in responsibility; he was bearing the survival of the entire park on his shoulders.

    ¡°Don¡¯t feel too much pressure. To increase the attraction of the Haunted House and to make sure the visitors are willing to take the first step, I¡¯ll be there to aid you.¡± This was also thest stand for Director Luo; they could not hold anything back.

    ¡°But none of you know how to design or operate a Haunted House.¡± The Haunted House was Chen Ge¡¯s territory. It was hiding too many secrets for other people to intervene.

    ¡°That might be true, but I do not how to manipte the visitors.¡± Director Luo seemed to already have a n. ¡°I hear from Ol¡¯ Xu that when you decided to separate your scenarios into levels, you offered 20,000 as a cash prize?¡±

    ¡°That is true.¡± At the time, Chen Ge had been left with no other option. The separation was a safety for the visitors as well. Pushing unprepared visitors into a three-star scenario directly might have led to some unforeseeable problems.

    ¡°That was a great idea, but 20,000 is too little to call it a prize.¡± Director Luo pointed at the empty space before the Haunted House. ¡°Tomorrow, I¡¯ll have the men build a banner here, saying the first one to clear all of the scenarios in your Haunted House will get a reward of 200,000 cash!¡±

    ¡°200,000?¡± Boss Chen did not even have 50,000 in his bank ount. ¡°Isn¡¯t that too much? What if someone really seeds in doing so?¡±

    Director Luo walked forward and lowered his voice. It was different from his normal generous and kind image. ¡°That¡¯s why I need you to design a game that cannot be cleared. I¡¯m telling you, if someone manages to win the 200,000 within thising week, I¡¯m only paying for half of it; you¡¯re handling the rest.¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re telling me to cheat?¡± Chen Ge felt troubled by the dishonesty.

    ¡°Why would you think that? We¡¯re an amusement park; the reason of our existence is to entertain our visitors. When they find out that the first to clear the Haunted House will get 200,000, will they be happy or not?¡± Director Luo exined it patiently to Chen Ge.

    ¡°They definitely will. They get to visit the Haunted House and have a chance at winning the reward.¡±

    ¡°Then, when they find out that the cash prize has been taken by others, will they still be happy?¡±

    ¡°They will probably be disappointed.¡±

    ¡°Therefore, to ensure that all the visitors are happy, you have to help me design a game that cannot be won.¡± Director Luo was satisfied with Chen Ge¡¯s attitude. ¡°Xiao Chen, you¡¯re a smart kid, don¡¯t disappoint me!¡±

    If this was several years ago, 200,000 would have been nothing for Director Luo, but things were different. Chen Ge had heard from Uncle Xu that to keep the park running, Director Luo had remortgaged his own house to the bank.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Director Luo. Other than myself, no one will be able to clear my Haunted House. It itself is an impossible game.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll leave this to you. The promotion will officially start tomorrow.¡± Director Luo looked at the crowd outside of the Haunted House and walked away. He seemed several years younger.

    <i>That was indeed good news. It seems like after I help the lingering spirits or specters resolve their issues or after I¡¯ve killed the monster behind the door, my luck will improve.</i>

    Chen Ge stood at the steps of the Haunted House. He had felt something simr after he killed with mirror monster.

 Chapter 249 - Late-Night Taxi Driver

    <h4>Chapter 249: Late-Night Taxi Driver</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Tomorrow, the park would help promote his Haunted House, and Chen Ge could not afford to waste this chance. Director Luo had ced all his hope on him, so naturally Chen Ge did not want to let the man down.

    <i>After the expansion tonight, Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy should be unlocked. Having a new two-star scenario will be beneficial for the n tomorrow.</i>

    The second expansion might even get him a new unique construct, and Chen Ge was anticipating it.

    <i>The Midnight Ticket Counter can help me attract special visitors. I wonder, what will the use of the new construct be?</i>

    He continued to work after lunch break. At around 3 pm, the recorder Chen Ge ordered online finally arrived. This meant that he could call Xu Yin for help whenever he wanted.

    <i>It still feels weird bringing a recorder on my missions, but that is more natural than bringing arge tape recorder.</i>

    The Haunted House closed at 6:30 pm. With the increase in visitors, the closing time for Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House slowly got pushedter andter. Looking at the darkening sky, Chen Ge removed the idea of visiting Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station. The ce was far from New Century Park, and he did not want to rush into things, especially since he had not confirmed No. 10¡¯s identity.

    After cleaning, Chen Ge entered the underground scenarios.

    <i>Tian Teng Medical School has strong yability and interactivity; that is one area where my Haunted House can improve. If I add more exploration and mystery, it should be able to draw the visitors deeper into the scenarios.</i>

    Chen Ge busied himself inside the Haunted House until 10 pm.

    <i>Xu Wan is responsible for Minghun, and I look after the underground Mu Yang High School and Third Sick Hall. This means that Murder by Midnight still needs someone to act as the murderer. </i>Chen Ge did not have that many people he could trust. Uncle Xu was too old to run around the Haunted House, and his personality was too kind to be a murderer. Inparison, Gu Feiyu was a much better fit.

    <i>The kid is not experienced, but Murder by Midnight has Xiaoxiao¡¯s family watching over him, so he should be fine.</i>

    Now, Chen Ge¡¯s worry was that Gu Feiyu might be scared by Xiaoxiao¡¯s family.<i>It¡¯s hard to find useable workers; my ghost employees are more trustworthy.</i>

    He returned to the staff breakroom to look over the information in his phone. The pictures that Captain Yan had sent him unsettled Chen Ge.

    <i>I¡¯m now in the ghost stories society¡¯s crosshairs. If they mix into the visitors and make trouble at key moments, it¡¯ll ruin Director Luo¡¯s n. I need to deal with them as soon as possible.</i>

    The patients from the Third Sick Hall would do anything. Unfortunately, Chen Ge would have a hard time identifying them if they mix into the sea of visitors. The only method to prevent that from happening was to capture them beforehand.

    <i>No. 12 is the DJ for Ghost Talk, and No. 5 is the show¡¯s producer. Should I start with them?</i>

    Chen Ge searched for Ghost Talk using his phone. One of the promotional pieces caught his attention. Normally, Ghost Talk started at midnight, but today, the show had been moved ahead an hour. The reason given was since Lychee had been on holiday yesterday, today she was going to apany the listeners for an extra hour.

    <i>That does sound like a valid reason.</i>

    However, when Chen Ge saw the show listing, he was alerted. All five stories in the first hour were rted to taxi drivers.

    <i>Is it a taxi driver special today?</i>

    Then again, why would they arrange all the stories to be before midnight? This looked like a set-up. Chen Ge tuned into the station andy down in bed to listen.

    At 10:55 pm, the woman¡¯s mellifluous voice appeared.

    ¡°We meet in the night but part before morning. However, our parting is to prepare for ater reunion. Good evening, I¡¯m yourte night DJ, Lychee.¡±

    The woman¡¯s voice was nice on the ears. She did not make use of any technique; her voice alone wasforting enough.

    <i>Such a waste of a beautiful voice. </i>Chen Ge continued to listen.

    ¡°Jiujiang is a historical city, and there are many old buildings left in the old part of the city. The most famous among them is a street called Huai Hua Street. However, the reason for its fame is not its history but several incidents that have happened there. The street is called Huai Hua street even though there is not a single Huai Hua tree. Even the older generation at Jiujiang have no idea why the street has that name.¡±

    The woman continued her story. Her style was hard for others to mimic. She started off gentle, like she was knitting a to pull in her listeners. When they were dragged in, she would yank on the all of a sudden to make all the scare points explode.

    Lychee¡¯s first story happened at Huai Hua Street. A taxi driver picked up a customer at Huai Hua Street at midnight. The customer said that she had left something behind and wished for him to help her retrieve it.

    After giving a rough address, the driver started to move. However, the customer was weird. The driver drove her to the destination that she listed, but each time, she said that he had gotten the ce wrong. Just as the driver¡¯s patience was running thin, the customer gave herst address¡ªThe bus stop next to the crematorium.

    The ending was rather shocking. The customer did find what she had lost. It entered the driver¡¯s body and left while the driver¡¯s soul got reced in the ceremonial urn that she had lost.

    <i>The story is passable, mainly because it was Lychee who told the story. She told it like it was a real story.</i>

    Then Chen Ge thought about something. Could Lychee¡¯s story have been real?

    After all, Huai Hua Street really did exist.

    <i>Could she have heard her story from other members of the ghost stories society?</i>

    Lychee started her second story. It also happened at Huai Hua Street, and the main character was still ate-night taxi driver.

    ¡°Something¡¯s off,¡± Captain Yan had told Chen Ge on the phone that the cases rted to the ghost stories society all fell on a Wednesday. The day seemed to have a special meaning for them.

    ¡°Ghost Talk has been moved earlier by one hour today, so before midnight, today is still Wednesday. Are they nning to do something tonight?¡±

    After hearing Lychee¡¯s second story, Chen Ge¡¯s suspicion grew. Her second story also had the same ending¡ªthe ghost was reborn by sacrificing innocent humans.

    ¡°Huai Hua Street, taxi driver...¡± Chen Ge thought about it and grabbed his jacket. ¡°Human lives are on the line. I should go take a look.¡±

    He put the recorder, tape, and ballpoint pen in his bag and dashed out of the staff breakroom. After his previous experience, when he passed the Props Room, he also shoved Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer into his bag.

 Chapter 250 - He Was Going on a Date

    <h4>Chapter 250: He Was Going on a Date</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>It does feel safer with the hammer.</i>

    Chen Ge put on his backpack and left the Haunted House, carrying his phone. Lychee¡¯s show was continuing; she had moved onto the third story. This story was particrly detailed, like she had been through it herself.

    To scariest part was that it seemed to be a sequel of the first story. In other words, in the third story, the taxi driver was actually the ghost from the first story.

    <i>A ghost taxi driver, that does sound like their style.</i>

    Chen Ge waited for a long time at the entrance of New Century Park before they finally found a taxi. It was already 11:30 pm.

    <i>Should be enough time.</i>

    Chen Ge opened the car door, and before he got in, he heard the rather old-fashioned songing from the radio. The air-con was not on, and the driver was a middle-aged man. He leaned his arm on the car window, and he moved his head following the rhythm.

    <i>This man looks so familiar.</i>

    After looking at the man¡¯s face for a long time, he finally remembered it was this driver who had driven him to Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy toplete Zhang Ya¡¯s Bloody Heart Mission. When the knife identally fell from his pocket as he reached for his phone, the driver had thought that he was trying to rob him. He had used the banner at the top of his car to ask for help. This was such a coincidence.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    Chen Ge was afraid that the man might reject him if he recognized him, so he blocked half of his face with his hands and climbed into the car quickly. He closed the door and said, ¡°Huai Hua Street at the old part of town. I¡¯m in a rush, so please be quick.¡±

    ¡°Huai Hua Street?¡± The driver lowered the volume on his radio. It seemed like he was conflicted.

    ¡°Is there a problem? Do you need extra money?¡±

    ¡°The ce is not far, but I hear the ce is cursed. Many of my fellow drivers won¡¯t go there.¡±

    ¡°You still believe in stuff like that in this day and age?¡± Chen Ge said without batting an eye. ¡°Do you mind hurrying? I¡¯m in a rush.¡±

    ¡°But sometimes you have to believe it. A few weeks ago, I ran into something weird.¡± The driver started the engine and continued. ¡°There was this man who wanted me to drive him to an abandoned school in the middle of the night. I didn¡¯t think too much of it and drove him there, but guess what happened.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°The guy said that he was going on a date, do you know how I felt then? I had a mad man in the car with me in the middle of the night. I was fearing for my life!¡± The more he talked about it, the more distressed he became. ¡°I suffered from a fever the next day. It was really a curse. I quickly asked my wife to acquire a talisman from the nearby temple. After I took a weeklong rest, I finally found the courage to drive again.¡±

    ¡°Was it that scary?¡± Chen Ge felt embarrassed. He did not realize that his adventures would cause trouble for others.

    ¡°You have to believe me, I¡¯m not lying to you. The man was actually about your size. He looked so normal, but who knows...¡± The driver nced at Chen Ge through the rearview mirror, and a chill slowly climbed up from his feet. <i>Why is there a sense of familiarity?</i>

    The color on his face faded, and he asked as a test, ¡°Brother, have we met somewhere before?¡±

    Chen Ge believed that the man had recognized him already. ¡°Thank you for driving me to Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academyst time. I didn¡¯t expect it would give you so much trouble, I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    The driver¡¯s face froze. He took out the talisman from inside his clothes and tore it up. ¡°Actually, I recognized you when you got in the car. I was just kidding, I hope you don¡¯t mind.¡±

    ¡°Of course not. How shall I refer to you? I¡¯m a worker at the amusement park, perhaps we can be friends.¡± Chen Ge had run into this uncle twice already. He did not know what the uncle thought about him, but he admired the uncle¡¯s optimistic attitude.

    The driver looked at thepletely empty and dark amusement park, and he said in a quivering voice, ¡°My name is Zhang.¡±

    The two chatted for a while. The driver was still guarded around Chen Ge, just like a rabbit trapped inside a cage with a lion. His hands that gripped the steering wheel were bursting with veins.

    Chen Ge was rather helpless when he saw this. It looked like he had left too big a trauma in the driver¡¯s heart that night. Since the driver did not feel like making friends, Chen Ge did not disturb him. He continued to listen to Lychee¡¯s story, hoping to find some information on the ghost stories society.

    The eerie music filled up the car, and Lychee¡¯s stories were based on Huai Hua Street. The victims were all taxi drivers, and this made the uncle who drove the taxi start to sweat. He forced himself not to listen, to focus on driving.

    When it was neen minutes away from midnight, the taxi arrived at the old part of town. The car stopped fifty or so meters away from Huai Hua Street. No matter what Chen Ge said, he would not move forward anymore. Chen Ge felt sorry for the uncle, so he left in a hurry.

    The moment he closed the door, the taxi drove away without hesitation.

    <i>Am I that scary? The uncle sure is a coward.</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the leaving taxi, but it stopped after moving about fifty meters. There was someone waving at him from another alleyway.

    A shadow exited the alley and got into the car. The driver did not want to stay there any longer, so after the door closed, he left like his life depended on it.

    <i>Wait, someone was calling for a taxi?</i>

    Chen Ge thought back to the man¡¯s every action. The distance was far, and the day was dark, so he did not get a good look.

    <i>Wait, the person who exited the alley...</i>

    Chen Ge narrowed his eyes.

    <i>They were running backwards!</i>

    Chen Ge put away his phone. Lychee had started her fifth ghost story that was also rted to taxi drivers. He ran to the alley, but the taxi had already left.

    <i>I need to find him! </i>Chen Ge rushed to stand in the middle of the street. He did not care whether the next taxi had passengers in it or not; he halted it.

    ¡°There should be a chat group among all the taxi drivers, right? Help me find someone, quick! He¡¯s in mortal danger!¡±

    The driver was spooked by Chen Ge. Using Chen Ge¡¯s description, the driver managed to contact that Zhang driver.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Zhang, where are you now?¡±

    ¡°Tonight¡¯s customers are all so weird. I just dropped someone at Huai Hua Street, and this new customer wants me to drive him to the bus stop near Jiujiang Crematorium, saying he has left something there.¡±

 Chapter 251 - Black Package

    <h4>Chapter 251: ck Package</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    While waiting for the traffic light to turn green, the taxi driver took out his phone to look at the message in the chatgroup. He had just dropped Chen Ge at Huai Hua Street and listened to a series of ghost stories along the way, so his heart was quivering with fear.

    ¡°The car is fitted with a driving record, triangtion system, and security rails, so everything should be fine,¡± the driver said loud enough for the passenger at the back to hear when he replied in the chatgroup.

    ¡°Things are rather chaotic at night for the past few days, so you be careful.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    The light turned green, and the driver put his phone aside to continue driving the car. The scenery on the side shed by, and the number of cars on the road dwindled. The driver snuck a look at the passenger in the back. The person could not be considered tall, and he was wearing a ck jacket on top of a faded red t-shirt.

    The person had jumped into his car in a hurry and had not said anything after giving the address. The weirdest thing was that he did not remove his jacket or his hood even when he was inside the taxi. Due to the angle, the driver could only see half of his face.

    ¡°Brother, we have some unspoken rules among uste night taxi drivers¡ªwe normally wouldn¡¯t go to those kinds of ces.¡± Out of fear, the driver started to ramble. ¡°But since you¡¯re already in my car, of course, I won¡¯t kick you out. However, I can only drop you close to the address, and you¡¯ll need to walk the remaining hundred or two hundred meters, is that okay with you?¡±

    He had acted simrly when he drove Chen Ge for the first time. He had a small heart. Before they arrived at the destination, he had started nning his retreat route. He was going to turn and leave once the passenger left his car.

    ¡°No, I just want to go and grab something. My house is back at the city.¡± The man raised his head, and his voice did sound normal. ¡°If you leave, it means that I¡¯ll be stranded at the crematorium. How do you expect me to get back to the city? Will taxise to the crematorium at night?¡±

    Driver Zhang thought about it, and he had to concede to his passenger¡¯s point.

    ¡°If you drive me there and then drive me back, that¡¯ll earn you two rounds of payment; won¡¯t you earn morepared to driving back with an empty car?¡±

    Ol¡¯ Zhang was slowly convinced by the passenger. Indeed, why should he give up on the extra money?

    If this was before driving Chen Ge, he would have agreed readily, but now, he was a lot more cautious. ¡°That sounds doable, but I¡¯ll wait for you at the end of the road, and youe to find me after you retrieve your stuff.¡±

    ¡°Sure, as long as you don¡¯t mind the wait.¡± The male passenger ced his hands into his pockets, and he looked like a permissible man.

    <i>Other than his insistence to keep his hood on, this man sounds perfectly normal... at least much more normal than the dude who went for a date at an abandoned school,</i>Ol¡¯ Zhang grumbled internally. There were so manyte-night taxis at Jiujiang; howe he kept running into these weird passengers?

    He had run into the same mental patient twice already, which was already rare enough, so it should have been time for his luck to turn already. Ol¡¯ Zhang tried his best to console himself, but his hands that gripped the steering wheel still sweated.

    He drove fast and reached the vicinity of the crematorium that was situated at the outskirts in ten minutes. The people started to disappear, and the neon lights of shop signs could not be seen anymore. Only Ol¡¯ Zhang¡¯s taxi sped down the lonely road.

    ¡°We¡¯re about there.¡±

    Ol¡¯ Zhang kept ncing at the passenger in the back. The man sat patiently and had not moved throughout the journey.

    ¡°Please move slightly forward. Don¡¯t need to drop me at the door, just a little bit forward,¡± the passenger in the back said. His voice sounded weirdly raspy, like he was taking in his breaths while speaking.

    There was no light in the surrounding hundred meters, and the ce was eerily quiet. The taxi moved slowly on the road like a moving ck coffin.

    ¡°You can stop here.¡± The night breeze slipped in to the slightly ajar window, and Ol¡¯ Zhang¡¯s hands that held the steering wheel were shaking.

    ¡°Okay, give me two minutes.¡±

    ¡°Wait, the fare!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯lle back to pay you,¡± the passenger said lightly. There was something different about his voice.

    ¡°You...¡± Ol¡¯ Zhang thought about getting out of the car to reason with the man; he was afraid that the passenger might escape from his payment. However, the thought of leaving the car was too much for him. <i>Jesus, who woulde to the crematorium at midnight? Does he work here or something?</i>

    Ol¡¯ Zhang looked at the time¡ªit was 11.56 pm.

    <i>Keep running into these weird customers who want toe to these ces. The only good thing is that I don¡¯t need to worry about traffic.</i>

    He looked at the man who ran away. He thought that the man¡¯s movement was rather awkward, like he was not used to walking. The passenger entered the crematorium through the side door. Ol¡¯ Zhang sat alone in the taxi. He closed the windows, and the enclosed space gave him the security that he needed.

    <i>He¡¯s taking too long. </i>Ol¡¯ Zhang was unsettled after ten seconds. <i>Is he cheating me? Will he note out again?</i>

    He thought about it, and his expression slowly changed. He realized something horrible. <i>The passenger who went to Huai Hua Street didn¡¯t pay his fare either!</i>

    When Chen Ge was fifty meters away from Huai Hua Street, Ol¡¯ Zhang had already urged him to get out and refused to move forward anymore. When Chen Ge got out and wanted to pay him, Ol¡¯ Zhang¡¯s taxi had already left.

    He tapped himself lightly on his face. Ol¡¯ Zhang grumbled internally, <i>Started work an hour ago but earned nothing, even got to pay for the fuel. Oh well, as long as I do not run into him again, those few notes are nothing.</i>

    Ol¡¯ Zhang was flustered. He turned on the radio to distract himself, but it only made him more nervous. Outside the car was the crematorium. It waspletely dark and silent. The sound inside the car only made him feel like he was being watched. Before the song finished, he switched it off and gripped the steering wheel as he looked around.

    <i>Why isn¡¯t he back yet?</i>

    It was one minute to midnight. Ol¡¯ Zhang had a bad feeling; he felt like something bad would happen. He picked up the torn talisman, mumbled a few prayers, and shoved it back into his shirt.

    In a pure coincidence, when he lowered his head to pick up the talisman, his eyes swept the backseat. To ensurefort, Ol¡¯ Zhang had ced a cushion on the back, and there was an inconspicuous blood stain on the white cushion.

    <i>Was this there before? I was sure this wasn¡¯t there when I started the trip tonight.</i>

    Ol¡¯ Zhang turned to look behind him, and he was suddenly reminded of his passenger¡¯s weird outfit. There was a faded red t-shirt under his jacket.

    <i>The red on that shirt wasn¡¯t even, could that be...</i>

    Bang! Bang bang!

    Someone knocked on his car window. The passenger had returned from the crematorium and was holding a package wrapped in ck cloth in his hands. Ol¡¯ Zhang was scared and quickly pulled his gaze back.

    ¡°Found the thing, let¡¯s go back to the city.¡± The passenger¡¯s tone waspletely different from before. Something had changed.

    Ol¡¯ Zhang nced at the ck package that the passenger was holding via the rear-view window. His rubbed his palms on his shirt¡ªthey werepletely drenched with sweat.

 Chapter 252 - Not Human

    <h4>Chapter 252: Not Human</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    When the passenger got back into the car, it was exactly midnight. He hugged the ck package and kept his head hidden under the hood of his jacket. The color of his shirt seemed to have be deeper. Ol¡¯ Zhang forced himself to not look at the mirror, but his gaze kept wandering toward it.

    ¡°Howe it feels like a different person has returned,¡± Ol¡¯ Zhang muttered softly to himself as he clicked the warning page on his phone open.

    ¡°Going back to Huai Hua Street?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Do you live there? There are normally elders who live at Jiujiang¡¯s old streets, so it¡¯s rare for someone your age to reside there.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not staying there.¡± The passenger¡¯s tone was weird. He answered with short phrases, and they sounded dark.

    ¡°Listening to your ent, are you a Jiujiang local? Lately, it has been rather unpeaceful at night, so I¡¯d suggest you go home instead of running about.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhang did not want to return to that damn street; he was afraid of running into yet another weird customer. ¡°Where is your home? How about I just drive you home?¡±

    ¡°My home?¡± The passenger lowered his head even more to focus on the ck package on hisp and did not add anything else. Since the man did not borate, Ol¡¯ Zhang was too embarrassed to press. He turned the taxi around, back toward the city.

    The atmosphere got even more depressed after the car started moving. Sitting inside the same space with the passenger, Ol¡¯ Zhang felt weirdly congested. He opened the car windows. As the night breeze entered the taxi, Ol¡¯ Zhang felt more refreshed. He turned to look at the passenger.

    No matter how the car bounced about, the passenger kept his upper body in the same fixed position. The man had probably been in a hurry earlier because the t-shirt looked wrinkled, like he did not have time to change it. The uppermost buttons were undone, and there was an inconspicuous strangtion mark.

    <i>Was he assaulted inside the crematorium? Wait, those looks like marks left behind from a hanging!</i>

    Ol¡¯ Zhang was even more nervous. Half of his attention was focused on the passenger; he was afraid that something might happen once he pulled his gaze away.

    His pupils shook, and Ol¡¯ Zhang¡¯s heart was racing. He was worried that his action would be discovered, but he was even more worried that the passenger might do something insane. He stepped on the gas because that was the best solution. As long as he got back to the city with crowds around, he should be safe.

    The car windows were open. The wind blew into the car, and Ol¡¯ Zhang kept his gaze on the backseat. The passenger seemed to be frozen, but the ck cloth around the item on hisp lifted up at a corner. The cloth slid away to reveal the package¡¯s real identity.

    His blood rushed to the brain, and Ol¡¯ Zhang¡¯s heart raced. It was a ceremonial urn! The thing that the man had taken from the crematorium was an urn!

    His arms started to shake, and his fingers curled inward like he was suffering from an involuntary spasm. A chill climbed his spine.

    The passenger did not seem to notice that the urn had been revealed. The taxi continued to fly down the road. With the wind doing its work, the other half of the cloth had been lifted off as well.

    Now, Ol¡¯ Zhang had a closer look. The ck cloth was holding a ck urn, and there was a picture on top of the urn. The driver slowed down as he turned his focus on the picture. He could not get a good look, but the chin and lips of the man in the picture had simrities to those of the passenger inside the car.

    <i>He went to the crematorium to retrieve his own urn in the middle of the night?</i>

    Ol¡¯ Zhang did not dare to finish his thought. His body was shaking. He kept one hand on the steering wheel while his other sought out his phone to call the police. However, when his hand touched the phone, he nced behind out of habit, and a pair of bloodshot eyes were looking back at him!

    The passenger, who had kept his head lowered, had raised his face¡ªa face that was simr to the picture on the urn, just a little bit whiter. Ol¡¯ Zhang¡¯s skin crawled. Thanks to his years of driving experience, he managed to keep hold of the car or else they would have been in an ident already.

    The taxi continued to move. They would enter the city in the next few minutes, but Ol¡¯ Zhang¡¯s situation was getting worse. The passenger kept his eyes on the rear-view mirror, so whenever Ol¡¯ Zhang tried to look in the mirror, a pair of eyes would be staring at him.

    The breeze had blown the ck cloth away, so the passenger sat in the back,pletely unmoving, holding his own urn in hisp.

    ¡°What is he thinking?¡±

    There were no other cars on the road, and Ol¡¯ Zhang¡¯s heart was burning. He had an illusion that he was driving the wrong way. This was not the road heading to the city but deeper into the countryside.

    ¡°What should I do?¡± He had called the police and sent out a SOS message in the chatgroup, but there was no one around to help him. Whenever he raised his eyes to the mirror, Ol¡¯ Zhang felt as if the eyes had gotten closer to him.

    He gripped the steering wheel tightly as the temperature in the car dropped. He was leaning against the chair, but it did not feel soft at all.

    His phone that he had dropped to the side started to vibrate. Someone was calling him, but Ol¡¯ Zhang did not dare answer.

    ¡°Hey.¡± The passenger suddenly spoke, and it caused Ol¡¯ Zhang to shiver.

    Two secondster, he said, ¡°Y... Yes?¡±

    ¡°Someone is calling you.¡±

    Ol¡¯ Zhang looked at his phone. The app to call the police with one touch had disappeared, and in its ce was an unknown number calling in. The call was hung up soon enough, like the person on the other end of the phone also realized that something was wrong.

    ¡°Just ignore it. We can¡¯t talk on the phone while driving anyway.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhangughed drily.

    Then he nced at the phone again¡ªa message hade in.

    ¡°Quickly stop your car! Run down the road as fast as you can! It¡¯s not a human being sitting at the back of your car!¡±

    The message showed on the screen for several seconds. Ol¡¯ Zhang saw it, and the passenger at the back also saw it. ¡°My friend, always a joker.¡±

    Ol¡¯ Zhang picked up the phone to ce it beside the steering wheel. He was about to say something, but when he raised his head to the rear-view mirror, he was shocked to realize the passenger had his face stuck to the partition between them!

    There was an inexplicable smile on the passenger¡¯s face.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to deny it. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve noticed it already.¡± The hood of the jacket fell off. The passenger¡¯s neck slowly moved, and there was another face growing on the back of his head.

    ¡°Technically, he is still human, but I¡¯m not.¡± This sentence was said by the face on the back.

    Ol¡¯ Zhang had forgotten what he should do. His mind was nk. He remembered stepping on the brake. The taxi stopped several meterster. He ran out of the taxi, screaming.

    The passenger also got out. He turned away from Ol¡¯ Zhang, and an ugly smile appeared on the face behind his head.

    ¡°There¡¯s nowhere to run. This body has been targeted by a madman, so I need a new partner.¡±

    The passenger faced away from Ol¡¯ Zhang, and like a puppet pulled along by a string, he chased after Ol¡¯ Zhang, running backwards.

 Chapter 253 - A Hammer to the Face

    <h4>Chapter 253: A Hammer to the Face</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Help!¡±

    It was the middle of the night, and they were in the countryside, so there were no cars on the road. Ol¡¯ Zhang remembered thest message that he had seen before he jumped out of the car. He did not run into the forest by the road but ran down the middle of the road. The wind gathered in his ears, and after several meters, Ol¡¯ Zhang realized that there were no running footstepsing from behind him, so he turned to look.

    ¡°You won¡¯t be able to run!¡± The face that grew on the back of the head had be severely twisted like it was trying to crawl out of the passenger¡¯s head. The passenger was only half a meter away from Ol¡¯ Zhang.

    <i>It wants to drill into my head.</i>

    Ol¡¯ Zhang didn¡¯t know why he would have that thought, but he knew that he needed to focus on escaping. He did not dare turn back to look again. However, certain things would not just disappear simply because one did not look at them.

    There was a needling paining from the back of his head, like a sharp knife was slowly poking into it.

    ¡°Help!¡± he screamed, but the only reply was silence. His neck turned cold, and he did not even have the energy to turn back to look. His speed slowed down, and the oxygen in his lungs ran dry. He could not run anymore.

    ¡°You¡¯ll get used to it.¡± An eerie smile came from the back of his head. Ol¡¯ Zhang forced himself to move forward. The road was lined on both sides by woods, and since there was nothing but a crematorium in front, people would not normally use this road at night.

    His head felt like it was being peeled open. The pain was insufferable. Ol¡¯ Zhang¡¯s eyes rolled upwards as he started to faint.

    ¡°So painful!¡±

    That was the only thought in his mind. That and... <i>Will I be a monster with a face on the back of my head when I wake up?</i>

    A chilliness entered his brain, and his memory was muddled. Ol¡¯ Zhang reached his limits and copsed to the floor. There was a chill on his back like a venomous snake was slithering on it. There was nothing he could do to stop it. The pain on the back of his head grew intense. Ol¡¯ Zhang wanted to scream, but he had lost his voice. He shook his head, trying to shake the thing off, but it was pointless.

    ¡°So painful...¡±

    He did not make any noise, but there was a sound that entered his ear. ¡°Was that me who was talking?¡±

    Ol¡¯ Zhang¡¯s consciousness was fraying as he turned toward the noise. The only source of light in the dark was car headlights. The trees on the side rustled. Something wasing down he road.

    ¡°So painful, so painful!¡±

    The sound continued to speak. Ol¡¯ Zhang¡¯s face was white as ash when he realized the sound did note from his lips.

    <i>Another monster ising?</i>

    Ol¡¯ Zhang tried to keep his eyes open. All he wanted to do was earn a living for his family; he did not expect something like this to happen to him.

    <i>Will someone operate on my body to investigate after I die?</i>

    Weird thoughts appeared in his mind. The chilliness on his back started to dissipate, but the pain on the back of his head did not decrease. Hearing that voice, the passenger also sensed danger, and he started to increase in pace.

    <i>Howe the monster feels like it is afraid?</i>

    Before his eyes closed, Ol¡¯ Zhang saw a taxiing his way. He wanted to warn the man about the danger, but his lips would not move. The car door flew open, and the mental patient he had seen several times exited with his backpack.

    <i>Why is he here?</i>

    The mental patient dropped the backpack on the ground and he pulled out a creepy looking hammer from it before dashing at Ol¡¯ Zhang.

    <i>Looks like I¡¯m definitely going to die this time.</i>

    Despair swallowed up Ol¡¯ Zhang, and the precious memories of his life started to y. When the man was about two meters away from him, he raised the hammer and aimed at the back of Ol¡¯ Zhang¡¯s head!

    BANG!

    The pain disappeared instantly. Something that looked like a person tumbled backwards and rolled on the road. The sound of skull cracking resounded in his ears, and his sight was covered by a screen of red. Ol¡¯ Zhang turned his head with difficulty. When he saw the mangled body of his passenger, he could no longer hold the fear within his heart. The terror gripped his mind, and he fainted fully.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid!¡± Chen Ge gasped for air. He arrived just in time. Ol¡¯ Zhang had fainted, so he naturally did not hear him. The other driver also got out from the car then. When he saw the fainted Ol¡¯ Zhang, he screamed.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Zhang! Ol¡¯ Zhang, wake up!¡± The peace of the night was shattering. When the passenger saw Chen Ge, he quickly climbed up from the floor and ran into the woods.

    ¡°Call the police immediately! Tell them the culprit is an escaped patient from the Third Sick Hall!¡±

    After giving that order, Chen Ge followed the man into the forest. The passenger ran, and Chen Ge chased. Both of their speeds were affected by the woody terrain.

    They continued this for several minutes before the passenger¡¯s physique started to weaken. His body tumbled left and right. Half of his shoulder had been shattered from the hit earlier, and his step seemed to be going to break his body.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to run away!¡±

    Chen Ge would never let this man go. Be it for the hidden mission or another reason, he had to make the ghost stories society a part of history. Listening the taunt from Chen Ge, the passenger gritted his teeth. A few minutes ago, he had said the same thing.

    The passenger identally tripped, and his already imbnced body crumbled to the ground.

    ¡°Not going to run anymore?¡± Chen Ge, of course, would not let go of such a good opportunity. He closed the distance, and the scary hammer expanded in the passenger¡¯s eyes.

    There was a weird panicky feeling in his heart. The passenger crawled on the floor, trying to hide deeper in the forest. Chen Ge found him several secondster. The hammer went flying at the passenger¡¯s leg, and at thest minute, the passenger used his elbow to forcibly move his body away.

    BANG!

    The hammer fell on a tree trunk, causing the entire tree to shake violently. The passenger¡¯s face was white; he looked paler than a dead person.

    ¡°Don¡¯t force me!¡± The face on the back of his head started to move, and blood vessels began to seep out from underneath its skin. They started to reknit themselves. Several secondster, the face on the back changed into a face that looked suspiciously like Chen Ge.

    ¡°You¡¯re definitely from behind the door if you can control these blood vessels.¡±

    Before the monster could finish his transformation, Chen Ge rushed forward. He would never hold back against these monsters.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for you!¡±

    When Chen Ge got close, the passenger suddenly jumped up to grapple him. He used every ounce of his energy to grab Chen Ge. The face that looked like Chen Ge revealed a sick smile as it leaned toward Chen Ge¡¯s face.

    He had nned this when he saw Chen Ge, but he had forgotten something important. In the small space between the two Chen Ge¡¯s faces, a blood-curdling scream erupted.

    ¡± <strong>Painful, so painful! </strong>¡±

 Chapter 254 - Scary Xu Yin

    <h4>Chapter 254: Scary Xu Yin</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The blood-knitted face seemed to knock into something and halted thirty centimeters away from Chen Ge.

    ¡°This is?¡±

    The face was stunned. The blood vessels on the face started to pull back. There was now a young man standing between it and Chen Ge.

    ¡°They peeled my skin back, and as the blood fell, I saw how they nned to share me.¡±

    The young man did not look old, and there were tears in his eyes. He slowly raised his head, and his emotions started to run wild as blood started to flow from every orifice of his body. ¡°It was painful, so painful!¡±

    His face twisted, and the facial features moved. Maddened, he dug his hands into the face on the back of the passenger¡¯s head before gnawing and chewing on the blood vessels that formed the face like a crazed dog!

    The passenger and the face screamed at the same time, and Chen Ge staggered onerge step back. This was the first time he had seen Xu Yin in the flesh. Probably due to the pain and torment he had suffered before death, Xu Yin had turned into an extremely violent specter, like aggression was the only way to vent the pain and resentment he had suffered in his life.

    <i>This is mad.</i>

    The scene turned increasingly bloody, and Chen Ge nudged another step back.

    <i>He won¡¯t hold back once he is summoned; that is quite scary.</i>

    Chen Ge gripped the hammer tightly.

    <i>But it won¡¯t be good for him to hold onto his rage. I should try to counsel him somehow.</i>

    Xu Yin was not a Red Specter, so his ability was weaker than Zhang Ya. However, in terms of ruthlessness and tendency for violence, this young man was much more intense than Zhang Ya.

    <i>Every single specter in the Wheel of Misfortune is unique. Looks like I need to be careful in the future.</i>

    With the title of Specter¡¯s Favored, Chen Ge had a feeling that he would only get Baleful Specters or items to increase the specters¡¯ affection from the spinning wheel. In the end, he would only end up with more specters around him.

    <i>I might have a greater courage than most, but ultimately, I¡¯m just a human being. Some things should not be pushed too far.</i>

    The passenger crawled on the ground. The face behind his head was much stronger than Chen Ge had thought. Xu Yin also suffered some injuries in the battle; his body started to flicker. However, the face did not have a good time, either. It was almost yanked out of the passenger¡¯s head by Xu Yin.

    ¡°What kind of monster is this?¡± The face continued to wail in pain, but no one answered it. The blood vessels continued to crumble, and Xu Yin¡¯s attacks looked more like he was yearning for death. Chen Ge felt pity, looking at him.

    <i>Looks like I shouldn¡¯t summon Xu Yin unless it¡¯s a moment of life and death.</i>

    Chen Ge now missed the Pen Spirit. Of all his employees, she was the gentlest. Despite her cunning nature, she had never once gone against Chen Ge¡¯s orders.

    Xu Yin started to lose himself in his angered aggression. Chen Ge came out from his hiding ce in a hurry. He could not bear to witness this bloodshed anymore and decided to end it as soon as possible.

    <i>The monsters from behind the door needed to possess a human being if they want to survive for long outside the door. The Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s effect on the blood face is limited, so I¡¯ll need to target the passenger.</i>

    Chen Ge charged at the passenger with the hammer raised. He locked onto his target and swung the hammer. <i>Couldn¡¯t whack the head, so where should I aim to knock him out without endangering his life?</i>

    The passenger seemed to have heard Chen Geing. The hairs rose on his back, and he turned to look at Chen Ge. His eyes were almost falling out of his face. ¡°I...¡±

    He seemed to want to say something, but Chen Ge did not give him the chance. The hammer fell, and the bone cracked.

    The member from ghost stories society copsed onto the floor with a broken leg. The blood face seemed to know it needed a host, so it peeled itself off to transform into a malicious human head and escaped toward the crematorium. The instant it left the passenger, the soul of the passenger seemed to be sucked out, and he crumbled to the floor. There was no life in his eyes.

    ¡°Chase after it!¡± Even before the reminder from Chen Ge, Xu Yin had already started to move. This young man, who looked quite mncholic and artistic when he first appeared, now had a twisted expression on his face. Wounds dripped blood all over his body as he chased after the human head.

    ¡°Don¡¯t kill it! I still have questions to ask it!¡± Chen Ge warned, but he was still toote. Xu Yin waspletely out of control. He grabbed the human head and started to feast on it. Ear-splitting screams caused the leaves to fall, and the human head slowly disappeared from Xu Yin¡¯s hands.

    After consuming the monster, Xu Yin stood where he was for a long time. The wounds on his body started to heal, but the blood stains on his shirt did not recede. When the blood stains covered his whole clothes, he would be the second Red Specter at Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House.

    His arms hanging by his side, Xu Yin slowly turned, and a pair of hollow eyes looked at Chen Ge. Like a man trapped in a house on a rainy day, he wished to leave but was afraid of getting wet. Seeing Xu Yin like this, Chen Ge did not know what to say. He could sense the pain and loneliness in Xu Yin.

    ¡°I know about your past and your pain, but you can select another method to vent them in the future. Perhaps you cane talk to me.¡± Chen Ge did not berate Xu Yin but walked toward him and reached out his hand. ¡°Perhaps we can be friends.¡±

    He had told Zhang Ya the same thing some time ago but slightly edited. Chen Ge noticed the change in Xu Yin¡¯s expression and realized that he could use this speech in the future again.

    Xu Yin stared at Chen Ge¡¯s face for a long time. However, he did not reach out to take Chen Ge¡¯s hand but slowly dissipated into the darkness.

    ¡°So painful...¡±

    The tape in the recorder stopped turning, and the woods returned to silence like everything that happened was a dream. Chen Ge picked up the unconscious passenger and pulled the sleeves back to inspect his arms.

    Afterparing the location of the cigarette wounds, Chen Ge could confirm this was the man who had appeared at Hai Ming Apartments and was No. 5 of the ghost stories society!

    <i>After the death of Xu Tong and the patient with Phantom Limb Syndrome, the ck phone gave an alert about increasing missionpletion rate. The monster from No. 5 has been dealt with, and the person is unconscious, but the ck phone has not responded in any way. Looks like the chance of him being a patient from the Third Sick Hall is very low.</i>

    Chen Ge dragged No. 5 out, and he only took few steps when he was reminded of something.

    <i>This is weird! With the power of the thin monster on Wang Shenglong, it shouldn¡¯t have needed to run from the blood face. But ording to Wang Shenglong, the thin monster felt threatened, so it chose to leave.</i>

    <i>No. 5 wouldn¡¯t be able to create such threat, which means that...</i>

    There was a glow in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes.

    <i>There must have been others who apanied No. 5 to Hai Ming Apartments!</i>

    The surveince had probably caught the face of other members as well, but they hid themselves well, so they had not been discovered.

    <i>There could only have been a Red Specter who made the thin monster feel threatened!</i>

 Chapter 255 - Thank You for Tuning In

    <h4>Chapter 255: Thank You for Tuning In</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After exiting the woods, Chen Ge dropped the passenger by the side of the road. When Ol¡¯ Zhang saw Chen Ge, he involuntarily crawled backwards.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Zhang, you should really give the young man a sincere thank you. If not for him stopping my car toe save you, the robber would have taken your life already.¡±

    The other taxi driver apanied Ol¡¯ Zhang. He did not know what had happened, but he did see Ol¡¯ Zhang being pressed to the ground when he arrived. The first thought that hade into his mind was robbery gone wrong since that was what they were taught in safety sses.

    ¡°You have no idea what I¡¯ve been through,¡± Ol¡¯ Zhang rambled as he pointed at Chen Ge and the ¡®body¡¯ on the ground. Then again, he would not know how to exin it. Ol¡¯ Zhang had been through a lot that night, and Chen Ge suspected that the man would need to stay at home to rest for a long time after this.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Chen Ge held the scary-looking hammer, found his backpack, and shoved it back into it.

    ¡°Y-Yes.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhang looked at Chen Ge. He could not understand why a normal person woulde outte at night with such arge hammer. Technically, it was Chen Ge who had saved him and he should have been thankful, but for some reason, he felt scared looking at Chen Ge.

    ¡°Good, be careful in the future,¡± Chen Ge said to make the two drivers calm down. He called Captain Yan on his phone to exin the situation before the two of them. Listening to the conservation between Chen Ge and Captain Yan, Ol¡¯ Zhang¡¯s impression of Chen Ge slowly improved. He was a normal person who had gotten involved in something supernatural. In his mind, police were there to protect the normal people, and since Chen Ge knew the police and did save his life, he had to be a good man.

    After putting his guard down, Ol¡¯ Zhang gave it some thought. Chen Ge did not hurt him once when he took his car. <i>Looks like I¡¯ve misunderstood him. He¡¯s probably a ins cloth on some special duty. This is horrible! Did he have to give up his original mission to save me? That is verymon in television series.</i>

    Even though Ol¡¯ Zhang was a normal person, he had a big heart. He had decided to try his best to say good things about Chen Ge when the police arrived. Chen Ge did not know what Ol¡¯ Zhang was going through. He talked to them for a while and asked the taxi who hadeter to drive him to the office of Ghost Talk¡¯s radio station.

    <i>No. 5 is the radio station¡¯s producer, and No. 12, Lychee, is the DJ tonight. The two of them have probablymunicated before this.</i>

    After Lychee received the news that No. 5 had fallen, she might choose to escape and go into hiding. To prevent that from happening, Chen Ge decided to help Lychee seek ¡®salvation¡¯ instantly.

    <i>No matter the reason, if you¡¯ve done the crime then you have to do the time.</i>

    Chen Ge messaged Captain Yan to exin his location. He used less than twenty minutes to reach his destination.

    <i>Brother, thank you for your help tonight. Go back to look after Ol¡¯ Zhang. I¡¯ll handle the rest.</i>

    After paying his fare, Chen Ge entered the building alone. A radio station had a high standard for its interior. If the standard did not meet the requirements, then the broadcast might be influenced. Therefore, arge radio station like Ghost Talk normally had their own recording studio, situated at the deepest part of the station. Chen Ge evaded the cameras. He stopped at the front door for a while before taking out his phone to tune into Ghost Talk.

    Lychee was still telling a story. She used herself as a model and employed a curious method to exin the various changes happening around her. It was not particrly scary, but the extreme details gave the listeners chills. Looking at the list for the future shows, Chen Ge realized that Lychee nned to turn the ghost stories into a whole series until next Tuesday.

    <i>She¡¯s nning to personally make her own ghost story? Those who listen to her broadcast might have idents happen to them?</i>

    Chen Ge did not understand what the madwoman was thinking. He snuck into the office. The studio was soundproof, and since Lychee was inside the studio, Chen Ge was not worried about her hearing him.

    <i>There¡¯s not even one security guard at this office. Looks like No. 5 has great confidence in hispany and believed no one woulde to create trouble here.</i>

    Chen Ge understood that reasoning because he too was never worried a thief mighte into his Haunted House.

    He still locked the door at night. However, that was not because he was afraid of thieves breaking and entering but because he was afraid of scaring innocent people, and that might draw him into unnecessary trouble.

    Following the map provided on the second floor, Chen Ge took the elevator to find the studio. Then, the rest would be simple. He took out Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer and started to wait outside the door. Lychee was still inside, recording, not knowing that danger was already so imminent.

    <i>You¡¯re telling other people¡¯s ghost story, not knowing you¡¯re going to be a part of one soon.</i>

    In the dark corridor, Chen Ge held the hammer, listening to Lychee¡¯s broadcast on his phone. There were barely several meters between them.

    ...

    Lychee described the weird things that had happened to her inside the recording studio. In the story, she appeared as the weak victim, looking for the culprit who had ruined her life, but in reality, she was the real killer.

    ¡°The show will end here tonight. Thank you for tuning in. Wish you a wonderful dream, good night.¡± Lychee finished all the ghost stories at 2 am. She turned off all the equipment and sat in the chair. There was a creepy expression on her face that was different from normal.

    She seemed to have gotten too attached to the ghost stories and had a hard timeing out. The recording studio was very quiet, and after a long time, a voice said, ¡°What should I try tonight?¡±

    She bit on her own fingers and rambled to herself. This was the real her. When she had just arrived at the station, she had been very afraid. A girl had to tell ghost stories in the middle of the night and then leave the silent building to go back home.

    For the high pay, she had forced herself to continue, but after some time, perhaps because she had gotten used to the terror or she had reached the threshold for fear, she no longer felt as scared. However, as she lost the sensation for fear, her mind and heart started to morph into something abnormal.

    She liked to see herself as the monsters inside the story. She liked to hide herself in the darkness and would not be afraid of anything.

    ¡°There¡¯s still some meat inside the fridge, but today, I can change up the cooking method.¡±

    Lychee¡¯s voice was as beautiful as before. She moved her ruined hand away, and there was fresh blood left on her lips.

 Chapter 256 - Chairpersons Voice

    <h4>Chapter 256: Chairperson¡¯s Voice</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Lychee licked her lips excitedly like she had just remembered something wonderful. She went into the restroom anxiously and took out a lipstick from her purse to redo her make-up when her phone rang.

    ¡°An unregistered number?¡± Lychee tossed her make-up kit back into her purse. She was rather annoyed that the caller had ruined the mood that she was in. She tried to arrange her emotions to make her tone and voice sound as normal as she could. ¡°Such a joykill.¡±

    Lychee picked up the phone and walked to the door of the recording studio. ¡°Hello, how can I help you?¡±

    Her sweet voice was like a fruit champagne, fresh and bubbly. Hear it too much and one might get drunk.

    ¡°No. 5 is dead. I need you toe to Fang Hwa Apartments¡¯ 24th floor now.¡± The person on the other end of the phone was not seduced by her voice and got straight to the point.

    ¡°Dead?¡± Lychee¡¯s bleeding fingers slowly pulled taut, and the blood fell on her phone¡¯s pink casing.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care what No. 5 told you or what your rtionship is; I need you toe over now.¡±

    ¡°Now?¡± Lychee hesitated. She held the phone in one hand and opened the door with another. The corridor outside was incredibly quiet. The room door opened a sliver, and Lychee pressed, ¡°How is his death rted to me? Why should I go to the 24th floor?¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to die,e immediately!¡± The voice on the phone filtered out the door through the open gap.

    ¡°Fine.¡± Lychee opened the door fully. She just took half a step outside when she saw the head of a scary hammer flying at her. She did not even have the chance to scream before she was knocked back into the studio.

    The pain registered several secondster, and a shrill scream exited the recording studio. Chen Ge picked up the phone that fell to the floor and put it beside his ear.

    ¡°No. 12?¡± There was a chilling and raspy sounding from the other end. The person was using a fake voice, but even so, Chen Ge felt that the voice was rather familiar. Chen Ge wanted to continue to listen in, but the person seemed to realize something was wrong and hung up immediately.

    <i>Even though I only heard a little, that is a huge reward already.</i>

    Standing in the darkened corridor, Chen Ge shed a smile, holding Lychee¡¯s phone. All the members were not supposed to know each other¡¯s identity, but the person who called Lychee was the obvious exception. He even knew the connection between Lychee and No. 5, so he had called to warn Lychee to leave.

    <i>The owner of this voice is probably the chairperson who is controlling everything from the shadows.</i>

    Chen Gepared the voices that he had heard at the ghost stories society, and he could be certain that the voice did not belong to the first man on the left, No. 5, or No. 10.

    <i>The range is slowly closing in. Detaining him will copse the entire society.</i>

    cing Lychee¡¯s phone on the table, Chen Ge stood guard at the door as he called Captain Yan. Captain Yan¡¯s team mobilized faster than Western Jiujiang¡¯s police team. They arrived in less than ten minutes. Chen Ge put away his hammer, suggested that the police examine Lychee¡¯s home, and then told them about how she had killed her ex-husband.

    The few people had been taken away from investigation. At the station, Chen Ge ran into Captain Yan again. The slightly rotund police office looked worse for wear.

    ¡°Captain Yan, long time no see.¡±

    ¡°Howe I feel like I see you daily?¡± Captain Yan looked at Chen Ge and was reminded of the things that Inspector Lee had told him in private about Chen Ge. He felt a headacheing. However, he could not me Chen Ge. He was the one who had awarded the medal to Chen Ge, and he was the one who had encouraged him. He had made his bed, and now he had to sleep in it.

    ¡°Xiao Chen, well done!¡± Captain Yan¡¯s smile looked forceful. ¡°But you were acting too rash.¡±

    ¡°I understand, but I couldn¡¯t control myself when I saw they were trying to harm the innocent.¡± Chen Ge did not deny he had acted rashly. However, he would never admit to things that he did not do either. ¡°Captain Yan, the fainting of the kidnapper that ran into the woods had nothing to do with me. I made sure to avoid hitting his vitals, and it was me who dragged him out of the woods after he inexplicably lost his consciousness.¡±

    Captain Yan nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve heard the exnation from the two taxi drivers. If you did not appear in time, things would have been worse.¡±

    The appreciation that the driver had for Chen Ge was sincere¡ªCaptain Yan could see that.

    ¡°So, can I leave now?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House was going to have a huge promotion tomorrow, and he had to make sure he was present.

    ¡°Not yet, we still have plenty of questions to ask you. You need to finish giving your statement before you can go. That¡¯s the rules.¡± Captain Yan and two other officers asked Chen Ge for the details of the cases, and Chen Ge, who had prepared the answers beforehand, dealt with them easily.

    He described what he could in detail, and he made up certain things that he could not exin did not happen. Other than that, Chen Ge provided Captain Yan with another important piece of information. The surveince camera at Hai Ming Apartments might have captured the image of No. 5¡¯s aplices.

    At 3:30 am, Captain Yan saw how tired Chen Ge was, so they allowed him to return to New Century Park. After stepping into the Haunted House, the tired-looking Chen Ge had a rebirth. After eating Zhang Ya¡¯s candy, Chen Ge realized that he did not need too much sleep to maintain a healthy spirit. This was his secret that he would not share with others.

    <i>I should keep a low profile for a while. I might be able to survive it, but Captain Yan and his team might not.</i>

    Chen Ge entered the staff breakroom, removed the white cat from his bed,y down, and slept without changing his clothes. At 8 am, Chen Ge was woken up by a phone call. He was surprised to see it was from Gu Feiyu.

    After experiencing the Haunted House with a bunch of visitors yesterday, he had refused Chen Ge¡¯s offer to work there. Money was important, but his life was more important. However, he could not deny Chen Ge¡¯s persuasion and promised to give it another try.

    <i>I¡¯mcking an actor for Murder by Midnight. Xiao Gu will be the perfect fit.</i>

    Chen Ge changed his clothes and ran to the park entrance to greet Xiao Gu after washing his face.

    ¡°Brother Chen, I don¡¯t think I have the talent to scare people. I¡¯ve thought about it the whole night. While I appreciate you giving me this job offer, I cannot allow myself to ruin your Haunted House¡¯s reputation.¡± Xiao Gu was an honest young man.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I can teach you how to scare people.¡± Chen Ge inspected Xiao Gu. ¡°Come with me. We¡¯ll get you into your work clothes first.¡±

    He brought Xiao Gu into the dressing room. When Xiao Gu saw the bloodied doctor¡¯s outfit and the skin mask sewn from different faces, he felt like leaving.

    ¡°Hold this and this hammer. Now, swing it several times for me.¡±

 Chapter 257 - The Ghosts Changing Room

    <h4>Chapter 257: The Ghost¡¯s Changing Room</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Holding the heavy Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer, Gu Feiyu¡¯s eyes naturally wandered to fall on the blood stain left on the hammer¡¯s head. A strong smell of blood reached his nose.

    ¡°Are your Haunted House¡¯s props all so realistic?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s our Haunted House. Now, quickly put it on.¡± The park was opening at 9 am, so Chen Ge did not have much time left. After putting on the outfit, Gu Feiyu turned to look at the mirror, and he could not believe that the monster that he saw was himself.

    ¡°Not bad, it feels right.¡± Chen Ge nodded with satisfaction. Gu Feiyu was as tall as he was, but he was not familiar with it, so he appeared rather sluggish. ¡°The mask sticks onto your skin, so if you want to change the expression on the mask, you need to rely on your facial muscles.¡±

    Gu Feiyu tried to make a smile. However, it did not look scary but rather annoyed.

    ¡°You¡¯re ying the character of a crazed murderer, a madman, let me see that craziness in you!¡± Chen Ge gave him several examples. He had seen plenty of madmen in his life. In less than few seconds, he switched through multiple styles. ¡°Find your own niche first¡ªafter all, there are many different types of madmen.

    ¡°The one with the lowest difficulty is the silent, cold-hearted type. It¡¯s the easiest to mimic, I would say, so you just need to keep calm in all situations. Think of yourself as a killing machine that has no feeling.

    ¡°A level higher than that is the bestial type. You need to make the visitors feel like you¡¯re constantly just one corner behind them. They¡¯re your prey; they could struggle but never escape your grasp.

    ¡°Harder than that is the maddened type. This kind will be able to give the visitors the most fear but correspondingly requires a greater acting skill to embody the madness both in your eyes and your bodynguage. You¡¯re a wildfire; without sense and reason, you just want to consume everything.¡±

    Chen Ge had seen many types of madmen, which lent the sense of authenticity to his Haunted House. Gu Feiyu was already confused, so he could only nod continuously.

    ¡°You¡¯re new here, so I won¡¯t ask too much of you.¡± Chen Ge found Xiaoxiao and led Gu Feiyu to the Murder by Midnight scenario. ¡°You went through the whole scenario yesterday. Have you memorized the routes?¡±

    Reminded of the nightmarish experience he had yesterday, tears were rolling in Gu Feiyu¡¯s eyes. ¡°Not yet, I was too scared to remember anything from yesterday.¡±

    ¡°A qualified Haunted House worker must be familiar with theyout the ce. You have to create this impression that you¡¯re not a living human but a stubborn lingering spirit, a crazed murderer who might appear at any time!¡± Chen Ge walked into the scenario openly while Gu Feiyu followed him cautiously, holding the hammer.

    ¡°I¡¯ll bring you to go take a look at all the hidden passageways again. You¡¯ll need to remember them this time,¡± Chen Ge said seriously. ¡°Actually, there¡¯s another reason to knowing these paths. If something happens to the visitors, you have to go and assist them at the first notice. Here, we¡¯re both demons and angels.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t be able to do it. Honestly, I was already feeling rather unsettled after walking in. I¡¯m afraid, thinking about the need to stay in such arge ce alone for a long time.¡± Gu Feiyu was wearing the scary skin mask, but there were tears in his voice. ¡°I still think I¡¯m not suitable for this job.¡±

    ¡°Snap out of it! How can you admit defeat without even trying?¡± Chen Ge looked into Gu Feiyu¡¯s eyes. ¡°There¡¯s a process to everything. It¡¯s normal for you to be afraid now, but after you get used to the fear inside your heart, it¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Then Chen Ge passed Xiaoxiao inside his pocket to Gu Feiyu. ¡°Don¡¯t panic no matter what happens to you inside the scenario; this little fe will protect you.¡±

    Gu Feiyu held Yin Xiaoxiao in one hand. No matter what Chen Ge said then, he would choose to believe. Chen Ge led Gu Feiyu to familiarize himself with all the hidden paths and traps inside Murder by Midnight and taught him some simple methods to scare people. Like the distance needed to be maintained to create pressure for visitors and how to make use of the visitors¡¯ blind spots. At 8:40 am, Chen Ge left Gu Feiyu inside the scenario to wait and he left.

    Gu Feiyu was left alone inside the scenario, hugging the hammer and Xiaoxiao. He leaned against the corner, and as he looked down the eerie corridor, his body slowly slid to the floor. ¡°Several months ago, I was nting paddy in the fields. The big city is tooplicated. Sigh, I miss Grandma¡¯s cooking...¡±

    After closing the door to Murder by Midnight, Chen Ge heard amotioning from outside the Haunted House. He walked over to realize that there were several people working on the banner.

    ¡°Chen Ge!¡± Uncle Xu was talking with arge middle-aged man under the resting tent. When he saw Chen Ge walk out the Haunted House, Uncle Xu waved at him.

    ¡°Uncle, you¡¯re early today.¡±

    ¡°Today is the day our park will bounce back, so I have to be early.¡± Uncle Xu was full of smiles and seemed to be in great mood. ¡°This is Foreman Yang. He¡¯ll be responsible for building your resting hall. You cane to him if you have any questions orments.¡±

    ¡°Just call me Ol¡¯ Yang.¡± The middle-aged man looked like a friendly person.

    Meeting Foreman Yang, Chen Ge was reminded of something. ¡°Foreman Yang, actually, I do have a favor to ask.¡±

    ¡°Director Luo has given me the order, so what do you need?¡±

    ¡°I need you to help me seal up the two entrances to the park¡¯s underground parking lot as soon as possible. Don¡¯t need topletely close it, but make it so that it won¡¯t be easy for people to walk in and walk out.¡±

    Currently, the park only usedrge objects to block the way, so people could still squeeze through the gaps.

    ¡°Okay, no problem.¡± Director Luo had rented the underground parking lot to Chen Ge for free¡ªUncle Xu knew that, so he did not stop him.

    ¡°Then, thank you in advanced. I¡¯ll need to go back into the Haunted House to inspect all the scenarios.¡± Chen Ge returned to the Haunted House and took out the ck phone.

    <i>A night has passed; the expansion should be ready by now.</i>

    He clicked on the screen and there were indeed two unread messages on it.

    ¡°Second expansion sessful! Obtained unique construct¡ªThe Ghost¡¯s Changing Room.

    ¡°Another expansion, and the Haunted House will upgrade to Maze of Terror!

    ¡°The Ghost¡¯s Changing Room: The police who wandered into a haunted tower, students abandoned at school, reporters that visited the hospital at night, patients who lost their memories, here, visitors can relive the experience of the characters themselves. The Ghost¡¯s Changing Room provides costumes to the visitors, and changing into the costumes will greatly increase immersion!

    ¡°Warning: The Ghost¡¯s Changing Room has a one percent chance of triggering the extreme experience! It can make the visitor enter a memory that doesn¡¯t belong to them to experience terror that cannot be replicated!¡±

 Chapter 258 - Unwanted Guests

    <h4>Chapter 258: Unwanted Guests</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Changing room? Costumes?</i>

    Chen Ge reread the information on his phone. The new feature surprised him.

    <i>The visitors can pick the identity that they want to increase immersion¡ªthat, I understand, but what is this one percent chance of triggering the extreme experience?</i>

    Chen Ge would have to see it in action to know what it did. After all, it was only after Fan Yu¡¯s appearance that Chen Ge truly understood the effect of the Midnight Ticket Counter.

    <i>Based on previous experience, the reward provided by the ck phone should be safe, but just to be extra sure, I¡¯d better be careful about it. </i>Chen Ge thought about it and soon came to a decision. <i>I¡¯ll limit the number of people using it. To use the changing room, the visitors have to pay an extra 20. I¡¯ll just call it a costume renting fee.</i>

    Those with a small heart naturally would not spend money to find more trouble for themselves. The Ghost¡¯s Changing Room¡¯s main audience were those veteran Haunted House visitors. The more authentic the experience, the greater the fun they would have. Using the ck phone as a guide, Chen Ge headed under the first floor staircase. There was a small partitioned cubicle outside of the Night of the Living Dead scenario.

    <i>Murder by Midnight has already taken up a part of the Night of the Living Night, and now the changing room has made it even smaller. Looks like I¡¯ll need to move things around soon.</i>

    Chen Ge entered the cubicle, and two doors greeted him. They were marked with the male and female symbols. He pushed open one of them, and Chen Ge saw plenty of costumes hanging on the wall. However, different from reality, all of the costumes had blood stains on them, and some were torn or wrinkled. It was not that hard to imagine what the original owners of these costumes had been through.

    <i>I guess I understand why this ce is called the Ghost¡¯s Changing Room.</i>

    The costumes on the wall had probably been left behind by the ghosts and monsters¡¯ actual victims. Putting them on would put the visitors in the despair once felt by the victims.

    <i>Pick their identity and then challenge the increasingly difficult scenario. The first to clear every scenario will get the 200,000 reward. This system will probablyst for quite a while.</i>

    Chen Ge exited the changing room and clicked on the ck phone to read the second message.

    ¡°A new two-star scenario, Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy, has been unlocked. You can manipte the props inside the set freely, using the interface avable on the phone!¡±

    <i>Looks like the failure to unlock before was due to ack of expansion. This means that each expansion only allows me to add three new scenarios.</i>

    Chen Ge opened the wooden boards that led to the parking lot. With instructions from the ck phone, he entered deep into Mu Yang High School. The new Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy was adjacent to Mu Yang High School. Its size was slightly smaller than Mu Yang High School, but it added more junctions and corners. The ce could already be called a small maze.

    <i>Thebination of a couple of two-star scenarios and a one-star scenario takes up almost half of the parking lot, so how big will thepleted four-star School of the Afterlife be?</i>

    Shaking his head, Chen Ge realized that it was not yet time to think about that. <i>I should take it slow.</i>

    To ensure there were no security threats, he entered the Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy scenario alone. There were two individual mini scenarios, one was the Hanging One, and the other was The Stink.

    With the aid of the recorder and the ballpoint pen, Chen Ge used five minutes to clear the scenario with a bunch of highly interested mannequins watching. When he exited the scenario, his expression was weird. There were two real spirits inside the scenario, but it was unclear what had happened to them. Their spirits were weak, almost disappearing.

    The weirdest thing was, when they sensed Chen Ge¡¯s entry, they started to run and hide as if knowing that something very scary was approaching them. Chen Ge basically used four of the five minutes to look for them. After he found them, Chen Ge realized that these two could not be considered baleful specters, and they had been tamed.

    <i>As long as they¡¯re not dangerous.</i>

    Chen Ge returned to the first floor and waited until 8:55 am before opening the Haunted House¡¯s gates. The sun filtered its ray down on him, and several meters away from the Haunted House¡¯s front door was therge banner. There were park workers waiting under the resting tent. Everything was ready.

    The day was not a holiday but there was already a long line waiting outside the park. The park officially opened at 9 am. The moment it did, the visitors all surged toward the Haunted House. The amount was several times bigger than normal. The reward of 200,000bined with the heavy promotion by the park, the poprity that Chen Ge had earned through his livestreams and videos, and the verbal promotion among the visitors had finally led to this.

    ¡°Boss, they¡¯re all here to visit our Haunted House?¡± Xu Wan stood beside Chen Ge, unable to believe her eyes.

    ¡°Of course, but this is just the beginning. More people wille visit us in the future.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s hands were shaking, he was actually more excited than Xu Wan. ¡°Quick, go and put on your make-up. It¡¯s time for work!¡±

    Xu Wan was responsible for Minghun, and Gu Feiyu was running Murder by Midnight. Uncle Xu, who came to help, stood outside to sell tickets, and Chen Ge monitored everything.

    ¡°All the visitors who have visited Murder by Midnight and Minghun, please gather over here! We have scarier and more exciting scenarios waiting for you!¡±

    Some of the visitors gave up directly after visiting the one-star scenario, but some of the braver ones chose to continue to challenge the two-star scenario. Among them were visitors who had visited the Haunted House several days ago. They had formed a chat group to discuss the guide to clearing the Haunted House.

    ¡°Don¡¯t rush. Please wait at the resting tent. We¡¯ll open the scenario when we have ten people in a team!¡±

    Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy and Mu Yang High School were linked together, so the ce was big enough to let a team of ten enter at the same time. Uncle Xu cut through the crowd to find Chen Ge. He had received a call from Director Luo, who said that there would be reportersing to help the promotion and wished for Chen Ge to pay attention to that.

    Chen Ge did not think that Director Luo had such influence, but since this was a good thing, he naturally did not reject it. There were visitors running out from the Haunted House. Some had given up halfway through the scenario, and some forced themselves to finish the whole tour and came out with their legs shaking. Others even nted themselves under the sun and refused to budge.

    About one of every four visitors managed to survive the one-star scenario and continue to challenge the two-stars scenarios.

    Twenty minutes passed, and only seven people wanted to challenge the two-star scenarios. Chen Ge decided to make an exception for them and send them underground.

    His gaze swept over these seven visitors, and when he saw the seventh one, Chen Ge paused. The visitor looked very normal, but Chen Ge felt like he had seen him before. Then he remembered¡ªit was in the surveince picture at Hai Ming Apartments that also caught No. 5.

 Chapter 259 - Three Taboos Inside the Haunted House [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 259: Three Taboos Inside the Haunted House [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Boss, your Haunted House is not bad.¡± The man realized Chen Ge had been watching him, so he smiled politely and added, ¡°I was a very cowardly child and thus the target of bullying for neighborhood kids. It was my big brother who brought me here to train my bravery, but I ended up falling in love with the exciting experience.¡±

    ¡°Then you will definitely enjoy the uing scenario.¡± Chen Ge thought that this man was acting weird. He did not ask him anything, but the man had already volunteered all of his experience. <i>Is this because he is worried?</i>

    Chen Ge did not expose the man. He maintained a smile before the visitors, so he left a friendly and kind impression in front of them.

    ¡°Alright, it¡¯s time for us to go in.¡± Chen Ge led the way by walking in front and pulled back the curtains that blocked the sunlight. When they were inside the Haunted House, Chen Ge took out the disimer contracts and showed them to the seven visitors. ¡°Two-star scenarios are different from one-star scenarios, so before you enter the two-star scenario to start your visitation, you¡¯ll need to sign these disimers.¡±

    He ced the printed paper on the table, and of the seven visitors, three of them signed it without hesitation. Two of them picked the contract up to read over it carefully.

    ¡°Do we need to sign this?¡± The seventh visitor, the one who Chen Ge had noticed earlier, started to show obvious hesitation when he found out about this. His gaze silently went over to meet the eyes of another visitor.

    <i>He has a partner?</i>

    Chen Ge also did not point that out. He continued as if nothing had happened. ¡°Of course. Actually, entering our one-star scenario also requires the visitors to sign the disimer, but due to the high influx of visitors, we changed the rules at thest minute.¡±

    ¡°Okay then.¡±

    Chen Ge watched these few people closely, not letting the smallest action escape his eyes. Today was the first day the park had begun the heavy promotion, and it could be considered a new beginning for the Haunted House. Chen Ge would not allow any mistakes or idents to happen.

    The visitors started to sign their names. The man with normal looks was called Wei Wu, and the other visitor whom he surreptitiously shared a look with was called Kong Xiangming. These two people,pared to other visitors, werecking in excitement and nervousness, and they kept a very low profile.

    The other five visitors were a lot more normal. Three of them looked quite young, like university students, and thest two were a couple in a bit of an argument. Chen Ge ced his attention on Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming, but to his surprise, when he walked over to take the disimers, one of the female students called out his name.

    ¡°You¡¯re Chen Ge, the Haunted House boss that He San mentioned on the forum, right?¡±

    Once Chen Ge¡¯s name was mentioned, all the other visitors also turned to look at him.

    ¡°You know He San? Wait, are the three of you students from Western Jiujiang¡¯s Medical University? The forensic science department?¡± Chen Ge pulled his gaze back without a trace. The two visitors whom Chen Ge suspected were members of the ghost stories society did not know they had been exposed.

    ¡°Now, He San can be considered a celebrity at our school.¡± The girl had one pigtail. She had a little extra weight on her body and very fair skin. She could not be considered a traditional beauty, but there was something endearing about her. ¡°There are many students from our university who have visited your Haunted House. There is even an ongoing bet on the forum guessing which of the departments will clear your Haunted House first.¡±

    ¡°Clearing my Haunted House won¡¯t be easy. You should find He San to ask for some pointers.¡± Chen Ge piled on the smiles. He looked as friendly as he could possibly.

    ¡°It is indeed not easy. Six of us came to visit, but half have already given up.¡± A rather weak looking young man stood next to the girl. He seemed to have a crush on her. His face was drained of blood, and his legs were weak, but for the sake of winning the girl¡¯s heart, he insisted on apanying her.

    ¡°Why are we wasting time? If we fail this time, we¡¯ll try again. If we repeat the same scenario many times, it won¡¯t be so scary anymore.¡± This time it was thest student who spoke. He stood on the other side of the girl, and he looked like the type to rush headfirst into things.

    Chen Ge nced at their names on the disimer and memorized them.

    ¡°Since everyone has waited for so long, I¡¯m not going to waste any more time exining. Your goal is to find the nametags. Since there are only seven of you, you only need to find 17 nametags to clear the scenario.¡± Chen Ge looked at the group of visitors. ¡°Other than that, the Haunted House ising out with a new feature. For just 20, you can rent the costumes that we provide. There are choices of police, doctor, reporter, and so on for you to choose.¡±

    ¡°We can change costume?¡± The girl was rather interested but was stopped by the weak-looking man.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. The three of us won¡¯t be trying it.¡±

    ¡°How about the rest of you?¡±

    The pair of couple was still arguing, so they ignored Chen Ge. The two who might have been members from ghost stories society were not interested in dressing up. Chen Ge felt rather sad; he had been hoping that they would help him try out the new construct.

    Pulling the wooden boards back, Chen Ge sent the group of visitors into the scenario. ¡°The scenario you¡¯re visiting is called Mu Yang High School. It¡¯s on the left, make sure to not take the wrong turn. The one on the right is called Third Sick Hall, and it¡¯s our only three-star scenario. It¡¯s very dangerous. Our previous visitor was scared until he was sent to the hospital.¡±

    Chen Ge purposely mentioned the Third Sick Hall not because he wanted to remind the visitors out of kindness but because he wanted to test the reaction of the two suspicious visitors. If they were the patients who had escaped the Third Sick Hall, when they heard the name, they would definitely react in some manner. The few visitors all nodded and promised would not wander off on their own. There was no change in the expressions of the two suspicious visitors. They did not seem to know about the presence of the Third Sick Hall.

    <i>Am I mistaken? </i>Chen Ge gave a few more pieces of advice before closing the wooden boards and running to the main control room. <i>Even though those two don¡¯t look like they¡¯re the patients from the Third Sick Hall, chances are high that they¡¯re members of the ghost stories society.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were calm, but the smile on his face had already disappeared.<i>Captain Yan found pictures of me entering New Century Park on Xu Tong¡¯s phone, so this means that members of the ghost stories society already know what I look like.</i>

    Last night, the monster possessing No. 5 had been consumed by Xu Yin, and No. 12 had been taken away by the police. Most crucially, Chen Ge had managed to hear the voice of the chairperson on No. 12¡¯s phone. Even though the person did not say much, it was the biggest reward for Chen Ge that night. <i>I¡¯ve heard the chairperson¡¯s voice somewhere before. He is probably someone I know or can recognize!</i>

    There should have been a monster possessing each member of the ghost stories society. This meant that they were the most powerful at night, but they had chosen to enter Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House during the day. From this unusual behavior, Chen Ge could surmise two things.

    One, the exposure of the chairperson¡¯s voice was more significant than Chen Ge believed. The person was worried that Chen Ge might suddenly remember who he was, and so he needed to make sure Chen Ge shut up forever before that.

    Two, perhaps they were cautious of Zhang Ya. As the monsters¡¯ powers were strongest after midnight, they would be weakened in the day. That was no different for Zhang Ya.

    <i>But why would they pick this particr time toe? They arrive just as the promotion period is beginning. Looks like they have been nning this for a long time already. They¡¯re trying to mix themselves among the visitors, hoping to escape my detection.</i>

    The ghost stories society¡¯s n was good, but they were simply unlucky. They did not expect Chen Ge to happen to catch Wei Wu¡¯s face on the surveince picture that also captured No. 5. This meant that their n had already been exposed before they even started.

    <i>I need to y along at least for now. There are too many visitors, and I cannot disturb the everyday running of the Haunted House.</i>

    When the ghost stories society tracked down the thin monster at Hai Ming Apartments, they had sent out at least two people. Based on how much they valued Chen Ge, he believed they would not send out fewer people than that.

    <i>Not including myself, there are twelve members at the ghost stories society. Zhu Xiu, No. 5, and No. 12 have been taken care of, so only nine of them remain.</i>

    Chen Ge entered the main control room and nted himself before theputer screens.

    <i>After today, there will only be seven left.</i>

    Chen Ge called Xiao Gu on his phone. Chen Ge asked him to remove the Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s outfit and enter the hidden passage reserved for the workers to head to the main control room.

    ¡°Have the visitors left?¡±

    ¡°They have found the exit. I have a feeling they¡¯re not that afraid of me.¡± Xiao Gu sounded depressed on the phone. ¡°I¡¯ve tried my best. Perhaps I simply don¡¯t have the talent to do this.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t give up so soon.¡± Chen Ge changed into the costume that Gu Feiyu had removed. His lips twitched, and a scary smile appeared on the skin mask. ¡°Are you interested in learning how to master this character?¡±

    ¡°I have zero interest.¡± Gu Feiyu shook his head determinedly. After Chen Ge put on Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s uniform, the whole aura about him changed. It was as if the outfit was specially made for him.

    ¡°In that case, we¡¯re going to help you cultivate that interest. Come with me.¡± Chen Ge grabbed Gu Feiyu by his shoulders and dragged him underground.

    ...

    The wooden boards closed to block thest ray of light. The underground scenario was very dark, and the group of visitors needed time to get used to it.

    ¡°Everyone, don¡¯t panic. Even though the difficulty for this scenario is high, there is a fair chance of clearing it.¡±

    The student who looked weak and flimsy before Chen Ge suddenly changed into a different person when he was underground. His voice sounded stable and calm. He took out a notebook from his pocket and said, ¡°Please lend me thirty seconds of your time. I wish to go through some things that we need to be careful about.¡±

    ¡°We need notes to visit a Haunted House? Also, what era are you from? Don¡¯t you know how to use a phone? Why are you still using a notebook?¡± the woman from the couple grumbled with annoyance. She was quite angry.

    ¡°That is the first point I want to bring up.¡± The young man pointed at the first thing in his notebook. ¡°You mustn¡¯t use your phone inside Boss Chen¡¯s Haunted House! It¡¯s best if you don¡¯t even touch it!¡±

    He waved the notebook in his hand. ¡°You might not believe it or think I¡¯m exaggerating, but every detail in this notebook was learned from sweat and tears of our seniors. You can consider it a tradition at our school.¡±

    ¡°I consider you have lost your mind from too much studying,¡± the woman said snidely. The man behind him pulled on her sleeve. ¡°Na Na, please. Stop making trouble.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch me!¡± The woman was in a very foul mood. She swiped the man¡¯s hand off her. ¡°Chen Zining, the first time we met was two years ago inside this Haunted House, so today, we will break up here as well! It is time for us to part ways! Goodbye!¡±

    ¡°Will you stop being so unreasonable? I don¡¯t have time to apany you because I¡¯m at a crucial point of my career; I cannot afford to be distracted!¡±

    ¡°So now I¡¯m being unreasonable? I¡¯m the distraction? Do you think I want your money that much?¡± The woman was wearing a pair of high heels and had on some make-up. Even though the clothes on her back were not expensive brands, she wore them stylishly. ¡°Chen Ziming, I stayed by your side when you were at the lowest point of your side, and I¡¯ve apanied you for two long years!¡±

    ¡°I know, Na Na...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t waste your breath. I know things are different now. Just like this Haunted House, in these two years, too many things have changed.¡± As she said what she wanted to, the woman strode deeper into Mu Yang High School scenario. The man immediately gave chase after her.

    ¡°Hey, please wait!¡± The weak-looking young man held the notebook in his hand, and he appeared rather uneasy. ¡°The second point that I want to say is to never split up!¡±

    He shouted loudly, but the pair of couple was too deep in their argument to pay him any attention.

    ¡°Yang Chen, let¡¯s just ignore them. We can definitely do this on our own.¡± The other two students from Western Jiujiang¡¯s Medical University came to give him support.

    ¡°But clearing this scenario requires coboration from many people, and we already started with a disadvantage of having so few people with us.¡± The young man by the name of Yang Chen sighed with regret. ¡°Now that only five of us are left, we must be careful not to split up anymore.¡±

    He turned to look at Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming. ¡°Gentlemen, would you be interested in a cooperation? After all, only by finding 17 nametags will we be able to clear this scenario.¡±

    ¡°Cooperation?¡± Wu Wei shared a look with Kong Xiangming, but neither of them said anything beyond that.

    ¡°You have no idea how mad the boss of this Haunted House is. If we do not work together, the chance of clearing this scenario is zero.¡± Yang Chen took out a hand-drawn picture from the notebook. There were 41 red cross marks on it.

    ¡°This is something to show our sincerity. Since Mu Yang High School was opened to the public, many seniors from our school havee to challenge it. They have found the nametags at these 41 ces.¡± Yang Chen showed the two the hand-drawn map. ¡°The nametag¡¯s location does change, but there are a few constant locales where we can be sure to find them. So, the first thing is for us to search these 41 ces as soon as possible.¡±

    Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming were interested in the map in Yang Chen¡¯s hands, but clearing the scenario was thest thing on their mind.

    ¡°Sure, we¡¯ll be d for a chance to cooperate. After all, it benefits all of us.¡±

    The two visitors who acted suspiciously like the members of the ghost stories society showed their willingness to coborate with Yang Chen.

    ¡°We¡¯re on a time limit, so I¡¯ll assign the jobs for each of us.¡±

    ¡°Two gentlemen, if you don¡¯t mind, will you please focus on the ssrooms on the left, and Wang Dan, Li Xue, the three of us will focus on the ones on the right. Please be careful! Make sure that your friends are always in your sight, and if you need to separate, make sure to go in a group of two.¡±

    Yang Chen then pocketed the map. He looked at the rest with severity. ¡°There are several taboos inside Boss Chen¡¯s Haunted House. Do not y with your phone, don¡¯t wander off alone, and do not ask about marriage or rtionships. These few warnings are the conclusion of our seniors. Some of them I don¡¯t quite understand, but I¡¯m sure they have their reason to exist. Please remember them in your heart, and don¡¯t attempt them simply because you¡¯re curious.¡±

    Yang Chen¡¯s expression was serious, and his words confused Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming.

    The team parted down the middle as they inspected the ssrooms on both sides of the corridor. When the distance was drawn adequately apart, Wei Wu silently walked to stand beside Kong Xiangming. ¡°This Haunted House is making me ufortable. Those taboos feel weirdly cursed.¡±

    ¡°Stay far away from me. Remember, we¡¯re not supposed to know each other. There are cameras inside the Haunted House. Be careful not to be seen.¡± Kong Xiangming was very cautious as he pretended to look for the nametags.

    ¡°For some reason, I feel uneasy.¡± Wei Wu also helped look for the nametags, but his soul was not in it.

    ¡°Stop talking and start working. Don¡¯t forget the real reason we¡¯re here.¡± Kong Xiangming kept his head lowered, and blood vessels shed across his eyes. He turned to look at the entrance. ¡°That Boss Chen should being soon.¡±

 Chapter 260 - Performance

    <h4>Chapter 260: Performance</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    A cold draft blew down the corridor, and empty test papers fluttered in the wind. There was no one in the ssrooms on either side, but weird noises kepting out from them. Kong Xiangming and Yang Chen¡¯s teams searched the rooms on the left and right. They only took three minutes to reach the end of the corridor, where they met up again. They were standing at the door to the Sealed ssroom.

    ¡°The boss has changed the locations again.¡± Yang Chen¡¯s face did not look so good. ¡°How many have you found?¡±

    ¡°None,¡± Wei Wu said readily. After all, his purpose there was not to look for any nametags.

    ¡°You sound so happy even though you haven¡¯t found anything?¡± Wang Dan was a straight shooter. ¡°Ol¡¯ Yang, I think we should just move on our own; bringing them will only increase our burden.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a familiarization process since we¡¯ve just entered the ce. The ce isplicated, and the boss understands psychology. The hiding spots are masterfully designed, so it¡¯s normal to not find anything.¡± Yang Chen thought that these two were weird, but he could not pinpoint exactly what was weird about them. ¡°There will be at least three nametags inside this ssroom. We¡¯ll all go in together and finish this as soon as we can!¡±

    After pushing the door to the Sealed ssroom open, Yang Chen was the first one to rush into it. ¡°Don¡¯t dawdle. Our seniors explicitly ordered us to move as fast as we can! The longer we stay, the higher the chance of something scary happening!¡±

    The three medical students each took responsibility for their own section. They kept their heads lower so that they would not meet the eyes of the mannequins. They did not reach out to touch the mannequins and grabbed the nametags when they saw it. Their action was urate and fast; it appeared like they had been training for this. Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming did not enter the ssroom. They stood outside the door, looking at the mannequins in different poses.

    ¡°I seem to see living spirits in these mannequins.¡± Kong Xiangming forced this observation out from his lips. His voice was soft enough that only Wei Wu could hear him.

    ¡°Making living humans into toys so that they won¡¯t have their peace after death. This is a cruel fe.¡± Fear shed through Wei Wu¡¯s eyes. ¡°Do you think the mannequins represent the people who were once his enemies?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s probably not that simple. There are too many mannequins. I suspect arge part of them are innocent victims, perhaps even unfortunate Haunted House visitors.¡± Kong Xiangming took in a soft breath. ¡°There are so many people who go missing in the city annually. Perhaps some of them have be mannequins inside this Haunted House. Our target this time is crueler than we thought. We have to be extra careful.¡±

    After hearing Kong Xiangming, Wei Wu took a cautious step back. His eyes thatnded on the few students were filled with pity. How would these visitors know that the mannequins that scared them so were probably the visitors that once disappeared?

    ¡°Come in to help! What are you standing there for?¡± Wang Dan finished searching his area and saw Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming still standing outside. A fire surged through him, and his tone turned heavier.

    ¡°Calm down.¡± Yang Chen tried to calm Wang Dan. The three of them searched the ssroom for a long time but could only find two nametags.

    ¡°Things have changed; we need to speed up.¡± Yang Chen left the ssroom with the nametags. When he passed Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming, the curious feeling heightened. ¡°Gentlemen, if you n to cooperate with us, please show us some sincerity.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a waste of time cing our hope on them; we should rely on ourselves.¡± Wang Dan lost his patience. He and Lee Xue followed behind Yang Chen as they entered the bathroom next to the ssroom. Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming did not follow but instead shared a look.

    ¡°These three students are quite interesting. Shall we turn them into mannequins as well?¡± Blood vessels surfaced on Wei Wu¡¯s neck. Kong Xiangming shook his head. ¡°Be careful not to draw unwanted attention.¡±

    Yang Chen pushed the partitions open one by one. He found another nametag inside the fifth cubicle. Looking at the painted eyes, Yang Chen shivered. ¡°This Haunted House sure is insane.¡±

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Yang, those two visitors are very weird.¡± Lee Xue was the only female. Even though she was young, she had all the good points of a female forensic doctor. Courageous but cautious with extremely good observational skills.

    ¡°I¡¯ve noticed that as well.¡± Ol¡¯ Yang signaled for Lee Xue to keep her voice low. ¡°Those two are too calm, and they don¡¯t seem nervous even though they¡¯re in an unknown space. In fact, they seemfortable with this area.¡±

    ¡°Especially the one that looks ugly. He appears like he¡¯s in deep thought often like he¡¯s nning something.¡± Lee Xue nodded. ¡°I suspect they¡¯re not really visitors. Do you think they¡¯re the Haunted House¡¯s actors?¡±

    Yang Chen and Wang Dan was shocked by this sentence, and a chill climbed up their spines. ¡°That¡¯s a real possibility!¡±

    ¡°ording to He San, the boss is someone who would do anything. One time, he mixed himself among the visitors. Seven people entered the Haunted House, but in the picture, there were eight people...¡±

    ¡°No wonder they don¡¯t look scared and couldn¡¯t find a single nametag.¡± The more they discussed it, the more convinced they were. ¡°Thankfully, we found this out sooner rather thanter. If we were tripped at the most crucial moment, we might really have been scared until we peed our pants.¡±

    ¡°This Haunted House has reached the stage of being crazy to scare people! Where¡¯s the humanity?¡± Yang Chen took out the notebook and added a new rule to the three taboos¡ªDon¡¯t trust any strangers!

    ¡°Even the most cunning fox cannot beat a good hunter. Since we¡¯ve guessed their identity, we¡¯re one step closer to victory!¡± Yang Chen was good at raising morale. ¡°We¡¯ll continue to pretend we haven¡¯t discovered anything. When they expose their true identities, we¡¯ll prove that we¡¯ve known all along. I believe their expressions then will be very interesting!¡±

    ¡°Indeed, we just need to focus on searching for the nametags. One, this can help make them lower their guard, and two, even if we¡¯re mistaken, it won¡¯t be awkward.¡±

    ¡°You need to be careful of others when you visit a Haunted House. Before this, I thought the 200,000 was just a promotional trick, but now that I¡¯ve experienced it myself, I think the prize money is too little.¡±

    ¡°Hurry up, we¡¯re on a tight schedule. If we stay here too long, it¡¯ll arouse their suspicion.¡± Yang Chen waved at the two of them. ¡°We¡¯ll try to catch up to that couple as well. They¡¯re still in the middle of argument, so they will be perfect to distract the attention of these two actors.¡±

    The three students finished their discussion and exited the bathroom. They paused for a while at the first junction inside Mu Yang High School before turning down the corridor to head to the Deep Well.

    ...

    Chen Ge took the recorder and led Gu Feiyu into the underground scenario. Unable to resist Gu Feiyu¡¯s endless begging, he did not force the young man to follow him.

    ¡°Xiao Gu, after I go down, go into the scenario on the side to pick out severalrger props to block the entrance.¡± Chen Ge checked the items he had and entered the parking lot after making sure that he had everything. ¡°Stay guard over the entrance. I won¡¯t call you, and don¡¯t move the props no matter what happens down there.¡±

    Gu Feiyu looked at Chen Ge in the Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s outfit and failed to see him as a Haunted House actor. From his perspective, his boss did not look like he was going to scare people butmit murder.

 Chapter 261 - The Map Is Wrong?

    <h4>Chapter 261: The Map Is Wrong?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Okay, don¡¯t worry.¡± Gu Feiyu did not understand why Chen Ge wanted to block off the exit if he was just going to scare people. He grumbled internally, <i>Is this to give the visitors a sense of despair?</i>

    After sending Chen Ge off, the honest Xiao Gu closed the wooden boards and hauled the props to cover it up.

    ...

    The group of visitors chose the left path, and they walked for some time until they reached another junction. ¡°This is the second junction. The road on the left leads to a deep well, and the end of the right corridor is three empty rooms.¡±

    Yang Chen looked at his notebook. It had a detailed exnation of all the scenarios. To be able to record everything so clearly, it showed how deep the despair his seniors had experienced was, such that they could still remember everything so clearly after they returned to school.

    ¡°The three rooms have their own number, and in the ceiling of the one of the rooms¡¯ bathroom is a female body. ording to the record, there¡¯s a nametag inside her pocket.¡±

    Listening to Yang Chen¡¯s description, Lee Xue and Wang Dan frowned. Just the sound of it made them refuse to go forward.

    ¡°Leave this nametag to us.¡± Kong Xiangming, who had been silent, suddenly spoke. Wei Wu wanted to say something but was stopped by Kong Xiangming with a look.

    ¡°Okay, shall we wait outside the room for you? ording to the notebook, when the visitors are inside the room, there might be mannequin dolls thate to interrupt.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need. Didn¡¯t you say we¡¯re running low on time? You can go on to the other path. We¡¯ll meet upter.¡± Kong Xiangming left right away. Wei Wu followed behind him, and the two did not share a word as they walked away.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Yang, let us go.¡± Wang Dan pointed down the other corridor. He whispered, ¡°It¡¯s good that we¡¯re splitting up; this means we don¡¯t need to worry about them.¡±

    Even though the notebook said not to split up, this was a unique situation. The two visitors were most likely actors. Yang Chen nodded. The three of them jogged to the deep well. As recorded in the notebook, there were two nametags inside the well.

    ¡°Two nametags. The seniors are right; this well is very dangerous.¡± Lee Xue took out a ball of string from her purse and then removed the hair clip she was wearing to tie to the end of the string. ¡°Thankfully, we came prepared.¡±

    ¡°The boss wouldn¡¯t expect this as well.¡± This was the first time the students had felt happy inside the Haunted House; it was as if they had just scored a psychological victory. Lee Xue dropped the makeshift fishing line into the well and very easily hooked one of the nametags. She pulled it up slowly, and when the nametag left the well, the three sighed in relief like they had just won the Super Bowl.

    ¡°Well done!¡± When Lee Xue dropped the fishing line into the well again, she realized that the well seemed to have gotten deeper. She tried several times before finally hooking the other nametag, but when she tried to pull it up, something scary happened.

    The sand parted to reveal a dead person¡¯s face. Half of the nametag was exposed out of the sand while the other half was in the dead person¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°F*ck me!¡±

    ¡°What the hell?¡±

    The three students gasped. For the first time, they felt how malicious the adult world could be.

    ¡°Xiao Xue, try to yank harder. See if you can pull the nametag out.¡±

    The girl pulled on the string. The sand moved, and the dead body started to surface.

    She tried this several times until the string snapped. The nametag was still at the bottom of the well, and the girl¡¯s hair clip now rested next to the mannequin¡¯s lips.

    ¡°No, this won¡¯t work. The boss is not even giving us a chance!¡± Lee Xue looked at her hair clip, and she felt the sting of regret.

    ¡°You two stay here, I¡¯ll go grab the hair clip and the nametag.¡± Wang Dan put his hands on the wall of the well. ¡°It¡¯s just a mannequin that looks like a dead body, right? We¡¯ve seen real dead bodies.¡±

    ¡°But have you seen one that can move?¡± Chen Yang stopped Wang Dan. ¡°This well has been marked by the seniors as extremely dangerous. It¡¯s just one nametag. Without this, we can still clear the scenario by searching for other nametags. Don¡¯t be blinded by the small benefit before us.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Wang Dan was a rash person, but he was not dumb. ¡°Should we ask the two actors to go down the well for us?¡±

    ¡°If they¡¯re real actors, they won¡¯t go down the well; if they¡¯re normal visitors, that¡¯s not a moral thing to do,¡± Lee Xue argued.

    ¡°We still have time. We haven¡¯t seen the couple on our way here, so they probably went to the other side; we should go meet up with them first.¡± Yang Chen looked at the map. ¡°There¡¯s a connecting passageway next to the deep well. The scenario on the other side will be the female dorm.¡±

    Yang Chen followed the map, but the female dorm did not appear. Instead, there was another junction.

    ¡°The map is wrong?¡±

    Yang Chen turned the map around to look. ¡°How can there be a new route here? Have we triggered a hidden scenario? Is this some new trick by Boss Chen?¡±

    The three students looked at one another. The map that they had been relying on now lost its purpose.

    ¡°No wonder there are so few nametags in the previous scenarios, looks like part of the nametags have been moved into this hidden scenario.¡± Yang Chen tore out a page from the notebook and drew some lines on it. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go take a look. Even if we cannot clear it today, at least we canplete the map for our friends.¡±

    The three students thus became the first batch of visitors who entered Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy. After turning the corner, the architectural style of the building changed. There were no longer charred marks on the walls, but the ce looked more realistic.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Yang, do you smell something bad?¡± Wang Dan stopped at the entrance with his hands over his nose. ¡°It¡¯s a very weird smell like something gone bad.¡±

    ...

    Kong Xiangming stood outside the Room of Three scenario silently.

    ¡°Why did we purposely avoid the three students toe here?¡± Wei Wu was confused.

    ¡°Look at this ce, doesn¡¯t it look like Hai Ming Apartments?¡± Kong Xiangming pulled the door open. The ce reminded him a lot of Hai Ming Apartments.

    ¡°You¡¯re right, how can things be so coincidental?¡± Wei Wu was surprised. ¡°We just went to Hai Ming Apartments several days ago to capture that runner, and today we see the building replicated here.¡±

    ¡°He would have needed time to build something this scale. Looks like the boss discovered the secret at Hai Ming Apartments a long time ago,¡± Kong Xiangming spected. ¡°I believe he might have seen the person that escaped from behind the door.¡±

 Chapter 262 - The Hanging Man [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 262: The Hanging Man [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I can understand why the chairperson is targeting him. The man has probably gone into the door before and might even have a ¡®door¡¯ of his own.¡± Kong Xiangming kept his voice very low, afraid that a third person might overhear him.

    ¡°It does not matter¡ªso what if he has gone behind the door? Ultimately, there is only one of him.¡± Wei Wu did not sound that confident when he said so; it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself. ¡°Since this mission is so important, the chairperson wouldn¡¯t have sent only the two of us. The other members from the society are probably also here already.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t put your hopes on others. What if the chairperson¡¯s n is to sacrifice the two of us to scout out the way for everyone else?¡± Kong Xiangming closed the door. ¡°The society¡¯s members can change at any moment, but the number will never change. Each number corresponds to a monster behind the door. Owning this number means you have a cohesive rtionship with the monster that it corresponds to. Therefore, in the chairperson¡¯s eyes, the real thing of import is the monsters living in us and not ourselves.¡±

    He narrowed his eyes and suddenly brought up something that was not relevant. ¡°The rules of the ghost stories society forbid us from exposing our own identity and investigating others. The two rules are to protect our personal safety since the members of the society either are crazed maniacs or butchers with bloody hands. However, have you considered the opposite implication?¡±

    ¡°What is it? What is the opposite implication?¡±

    ¡°Not interacting with the other members means that we will never find out who the chairperson is.¡± Kong Xiangming¡¯s thoughts went deep. ¡°Everyone knows that the chairperson is hiding among the ten people at the dining table, but none of us know who the chairperson is. I now have my suspicion that the chairperson might be a monster behind the door, and we are nothing but vessels to contain monsters.¡±

    ¡°Why are you telling me all this?¡± Wei Wu tried to distance himself from Kong Xiangming. ¡°No one has ever betrayed the ghost stories society, and that is the scariest point. Do you understand what I mean?¡±

    Kong Xiangming shrugged. ¡°You joined the society in the same batch as me, so I can be sure you¡¯re not the chairperson. That is why I actively approached you during ourst mission together and revealed my real identity. You¡¯re the only person I can trust inside the society.¡±

    Wei Wu had a feeling there were other things that Kong Xiangming did not tell him. He wanted no part of this, but he had already been roped in.

    ¡°All the monsters are escapees from behind the door. Therefore, it is a certainty that the chairperson has a door of his own!¡± Kong Xiangming¡¯s voice stopped as a thin smile appeared on his face. ¡°Owning the door means owning the right to create the rules. Don¡¯t you want to be the chairperson?¡±

    ¡°You really have lost your mind.¡±

    ¡°I have not. I simply have no other ghost stories left to share. If the rules aren¡¯t changed, the next time we meet, I might be the food served on your te, turning from diner into dinner.¡± Kong Xiangming¡¯s words were like cold water hitting Wei Wu¡¯s face. The ghost stories society was not a ce for charity. Even the members were afraid of the power of the society.

    ¡°Tell me your n.¡±

    ¡°If this was before, I wouldn¡¯t have done something so risky, but I found a chance recently. The chairperson has been having more constant interaction andmunication with us. He is in deep waters, and that is where his weakness is exposed.¡±

    ¡°What weakness?¡±

    ¡°The chairpersonmunicates with us through the monsters that are possessing our bodies, but the monsters can onlymunicate when they are within fifty meters of one another. We have tested this out ourselves before.¡± Kong Xiangming came to the key point of his speech. ¡°In other words, the chairperson was within fifty meters of us when hemunicated with us.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡±

    ¡°During the meeting, I¡¯ve always sat close to No. 10. Whenever I¡¯m next to him, the monster in my body will reveal a strange emotion. It is akin to a desire. I can sense its desire; it wants to consume No. 10.¡±

    ¡°But that doesn¡¯t mean that No. 10 is the chairperson. The monsters in all ten of us are different from one another.¡±

    ¡°I know, but the point is several seconds before my monster received the message from the chairperson, it also responded with this strange desire.¡± Kong Xiangming¡¯s voice slowly changed. ¡°When the message was sent, both No. 10 and the chairperson were around the vicinity of my house. Is this not the perfect proof of their rtionship?¡±

    ¡°Could this be a coincidence?¡±

    ¡°The society chairperson should be the one who sent us the flyer. He is also the only one who knows the real identity of all the members. For both times whenmunication was made, No. 10 and the chairperson appeared around my house; I don¡¯t think there is such a coincidence in this world.¡±

    Kong Xiangming finished his spection, and Wei Wu gonepletely silent. The mysterious chairperson was like a sharp sword hanging over all the members¡¯ necks.

    ¡°No. 10 is the chairperson? Then how do you n to cooperate with me?¡± Wei Wu walked alongside Kong Xiangming. Since they had the same target, they formed a temporarily truce. If there was no shared benefit, the two would be at each other¡¯s throats because they knew the other person¡¯s real identity.

    ¡°The chairperson wants us to target the boss of this Haunted House. This means that the boss is not an easy character. We must let them fight it out among themselves, and we¡¯ll find the opportunity.¡± Kong Xiangming entered the bathroom and removed the female body from the ceiling. He pulled out a nametag from her pocket. ¡°We¡¯re here as visitors, so just be careful not to let the boss think otherwise.¡±

    The two left the room with the nametag. One or two minutester, there was a sound in the room. It sounded like something rolling on the floor.

    A mannequin¡¯s head had rolled out from underneath the bed.

    ...

    The three medical students congregated together. Without the map, they finally understood the ¡®joy¡¯ of visiting a Haunted House.

    ¡°Lee Xue, wait for us!¡± The girl with a babyface walked in front all alone. The two male students followed behind her, leaning so close to each other that it would have been easier if they were holding hands.

    ¡°When we were outside, every one of you boasted more than the other, but without the guide from our seniors, howe you are so weak?¡± Lee Xue turned around to look at her partners and sighed. ¡°Are you two even men?¡±

    ¡°What does this have to do with gender?¡± Even though Wang Dan was hiding at the very back, his attitude had not changed. ¡°This is called being careful. Can¡¯t you see that we¡¯re just trying to watch your back?¡±

    ¡°Ha ha.¡±

    Yang Chen was blushing from embarrassment. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid, but this ce is too simr to my high school. The set earlier looked fake at first nce, but this ce gives me the feeling that I¡¯ve returned to my high school.¡±

    ¡°What is so scary about returning to your high school?¡± Lee Xue did not quite understand.

    ¡°If the set is obviously different from reality, I can convince myself that everything is fake, but this set is so simr to the high school from my memory that no matter how hard I tell myself, I cannot help getting immersed into the atmosphere.¡± Yang Zhen was still holding the notebook and a pen. He was drawing out the map with shaking fingers.

    Most of Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy had been cut out due to certain reasons, so the space that it upied was not big. The three students soon reached the end of the corridor, and before them sat a verymon ss door.

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± Yang Chen stopped Lee Xue, who was trying to open the door. He leaned against the door and looked through the dusty mirror. ¡°This looks like one of the floors of a dormitory. There is even a number on the door.¡±

    ¡°Could this be the female dorm that was supposed to be on the map?¡± Lee Xue urged Yang Chen to open the map to do aparison and realized that the location was much too different.

    ¡°Should be a hidden scenario,¡± Yang Chen said as if that was the answer, ¡°When I first got the map, I was wondering why there was only a female dorm and not a male dorm. Now it looks like the male dorm has been made into a hidden scenario. But I¡¯m curious, how did we manage to trigger the hidden scenario? We didn¡¯t do anything out of the ordinary, did we?¡±

    ¡°The boss probably felt too afraid because we were clearing the map too fast.¡± Wang Danughed cockily as he joined Yang Chen at the door. ¡°This looks simr to our school dorm. Let¡¯s go in and take a look.¡±

    Although he said that, his body did not move. Eventually, it was Lee Xue who pushed the door open. The rusted lock fell to the ground, and as the ss door slipped open, a strange smell permeated from within.

    ¡°Why does this smell like body decay?¡±

    ¡°Should we even go in?¡±

    ¡°To be honest, since we¡¯re here and discovered the hidden scenario, we¡¯ve already broken the seniors¡¯ record.¡± Wang Dan raised his hand. ¡°I suggest we leave while we can.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a guarantee that we¡¯ll be able to trigger the hidden scenario next time. Since we¡¯re already here, why don¡¯t we enter the ce? Are you really going to leave just like that?¡±

    Yang Chen and Lee Xue grabbed Wang Dan as they entered the corridor.

    There were half open room doors on either side of the dark corridor. It was unclear which room the horrible stench came from.

    ¡°This ce is so unnecessarily creepy.¡± Wang Dan¡¯s voice became low as if being too loud might awaken the monsters that were slumbering there.

    ¡°We still have time. We mustn¡¯t give up on any of the rooms. This ce must be hiding plenty of nametags.¡± Yang Chen apanied Lee Xue as they walked in front. Wang Dan followed unwillingly at the back. He was deeply unsettled, but he did not have the courage to leave on his own, so he could only power on with everyone else.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be such a scaredy cat. The scary scenes are probably at the back, so the front few rooms should be perfectly safe.¡± Yang Chen tried to use his own experience to console Wang Dan. ¡°Which Haunted House will put the scariest scenario at the beginning of the scenario?¡±

    As he said so, he pushed open the door to the first bedroom on the left side of the corridor. Dust fell from the wooden door frame like a curtain. It appeared like it had been many months since someone visited the ce. As the door creaked open, Yang Chen walked into it. However, he only took one small step before he stopped. His upper body was leaning forward, but his lower body was frozen to the ground.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Yang? What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± The door fell fully open, and Lee Xue as well as Wang Dan behind him took in a cold breath. There was someone hanging in the middle of the room.

    ¡°A mannequin?¡± Yang Chen was the first one to recover. He rubbed his hands on his clothes to wipe away the cold sweat that had formed in the middle of his palms.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go in first.¡± Wang Dan pointed at the mannequin¡¯s feet. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like a real hanging. Look at the feet, they¡¯re still standing on the ground. I suspect this is a Haunted House actor.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± Lee Xue was the most courageous of the party. She walked into the room directly. ¡°The rope is pulled taut. Maintaining this pose for a long time, even while standing, will heavily stress one¡¯s neck.¡±

    She walked to the other end of the room carefully. The hanging mannequin was wearing a dark ck coat and had its head lowered, so the face could not be seen clearly. Lee Xue reached out slowly until the tip of her finger touched the ¡®dead body¡¯s¡¯ skin.

    ¡°It¡¯s not human skin. Come in, it¡¯s safe.¡± There was an audible sigh of relief. All three of them had been given quite a shock.

    ¡°What is the meaning of hanging a mannequin in the middle of the room? And even purposely letting it stand on the ground?¡± Wang Dan touched the dead body¡¯s hand. He was a forensic science student, so he understood the difference between fake skin and real human skin. The fake skin felt colder and harder to the touch.

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch anything randomly. This dead body might be the answer to a puzzle that we haven¡¯t discovered yet.¡± Lee Xue¡¯s hands lightly pulled on the dead body¡¯s chin, slowly raising its head. When they saw the dead body¡¯s face, the three medical students started to get bothered.

    <i>It looks too real!</i>

    Because they had seen actual dead bodies before, the fear that gripped them at that moment was far greater than if this had happened to a normal individual.

    ¡°The rope stressed the front of the neck, causing the tongue to be squeezed upward, blocking the back of the throat and the windpipe. The cause of death is probably asphyxiation.¡±

    After Lee Xue said that, she herself was stunned. She did not expect that the first time she would use her professional knowledge that she had picked up in ss would be inside a Haunted House.

    ¡°Look closer at the mannequin¡¯s face. There are irregr blood spots. This is different from a normal asphyxiation.¡± Yang Chen walked around the mannequin. ¡°The neck snapped, causing ack of blood flow to the brain. The real cause of death should be brain anemia.¡±

    ¡°Guys, does it really matter how the mannequin died? We should focus on leaving this ce!¡± Wang Dan urged. ¡°Don¡¯t you two feel afraid? A dead mannequin in the Haunted House not only has the looks of an actual real body but perfectly mimics its cause of death!¡±

    ¡°The Haunted House¡¯s boss also knows forensic science?¡± Lee Xue turned to look at Yang Chen standing beside her.

    Yang Chen did not look so good. ¡°An amateur wouldn¡¯t be able replicate the unique properties of a dead body so perfectly... unless he had a real dead body as a model.¡±

    There was an image that appeared in the minds of the three students. None of them said anything, and they very uniformly left the bedroom.

    ¡°We have gone deep enough into the Haunted House¡ªhow about we leave now?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s look at a few more rooms first. By the way, did you spot any nametags in the room earlier?¡± Yang Chen asked, and both Lee Xue as well as Wang Dan shook their heads.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t pay much attention.¡±

    ¡°Oh well, let¡¯s go look in the other room, then we¡¯ll return to this roomst.¡±

    The three students discussed their tactics outside of the door. None of them realized that the standing body that was facing their backs inside the bedroom slowly opened its eyes.

    There was another junction at the front of the corridor. The deeper they went, the stronger the stench in the air.

    Dirty stains started to appear on the floor tiles and walls. The three students reached the end of the corridor at one go. The few rooms at the end of the corridor were all locked.

    ¡°The stench seems to flow out from this ce.¡± Lee Xue walked in front, so it was her who pushed open the door to the deepest room.

    There were four beds in this room, but only one of the beds had a mattress on it. The other three beds were piled high with various rubbish.

    ¡°That¡¯s it? I thought something very scary would be hiding in this room. Hell, the first bedroom is a lot scarier than this.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re running out of time; focus on locating the nametags. Wang Dan, stop spacing out,e in and help!¡±

    Yang Chen and Lee Xue entered the room, and only Wang Dan was left in the long, dark corridor. Something seemed to be jumping down the corridor!

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Yang,e out quickly! I seemed to hear the footsteps of a fourth person.¡±

 Chapter 263 - The Stench

    <h4>Chapter 263: The Stench</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Yang Chen and Lee Xue ran out in a hurry. The three of them stood in the corridor and looked down. They saw nothing but darkness.

    ¡°Where are the footsteps?¡±

    ¡°I really did hear them! It sounded like someone was jumping down the corridor!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re just scaring yourself,e help us.¡±

    Lee Xue dragged Wang Dan into thest room while Yang Chen stood outside for a moment. He repeated the thing that Wang Dan mumbled about earlier. ¡°Jumping?¡±

    The three ransacked thest bedroom. Most of the trash on the bed was made from foam and wooden blocks. It looked dirty and messy, but none of it would produce any weird smell.

    ¡°Was this room purposely left open to store trash?¡± Lee Xue used the sleeve of her shirt to block her nose. ¡°But why does that bed have a mattress on it? Who would sleep in an environment that is as dirty as this?¡±

    ¡°Now our consideration shouldn¡¯t be the upant of this room.¡± Yang Chen picked up one piece of trash from the bed and gave it a good sniff. ¡°When we entered this secret scenario, there was a weird stench in the air, and the stench is the most intense in this room. This means that the thing that gives out that stench should be here. We need to find that thing to solve the mystery of this scenario.¡±

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Yang has a point. There is so much trash inside the room, but none of that is radiating this stench. It¡¯s very weird.¡± Wang Dan walked to the only bed with a mattress. ¡°This rtively clean bed has the strongest smell.¡±

    He put his hand on one of the corners of the mattress before yanking it back. There was nothing scary underneath the torn mattress except a notebook. Wang Dan picked it up and gave it a read.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I shouldn¡¯t have gotten too close; I just wanted to help you pick up the ball.

    ¡°Teacher, it wasn¡¯t my n to dirty my shirt. No one bullied me, this is all my fault.

    ¡°Father, I will do my best to be a better person. Please don¡¯t hit me anymore.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t know why I look so ugly when I smile. I will stop doing that.

    ¡°Where did you think I went wrong? I can change, I really can change!

    ¡°I just want to be like them, I¡¯m sorry...¡±

    The notebook was thin, but it was filled with apologies.

    ¡°Is something wrong with the writer? Why is he only focused on apologizing? He should fight back if someone bullied him!¡± Wang Dan scoffed. He was very much against what the owner of the notebook did or rather did not do.

    ¡°Come take a look at this.¡± Lee Xue found a torn picture inside the dustbin. She picked up all the pieces, and after joining them together, a picture could roughly be seen. ¡°Looks like a father and son.¡±

    The son was dangerously obese, and hisck of self-esteem could be seen even through the picture. He seemed to be afraid of the camera, so he hid behind his father. His father had a scowl on his face. He was rough with his child. He had one hand around his boy¡¯s neck as he dragged him forward.

    ¡°Is this a stepfather?¡±

    Wang Dan flipped open the notebook for the other two to read. The front few pages were fine, but the more they read, the more ufortable they felt.

    The boy did not have a name; the students all called him Piggy. His father was one of the sponsors of Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy. He came from a rich family, but his father was extremely strict with him. The notebook did not exin why explicitly, but it could be read from between the lines. The boy¡¯s mother had betrayed his father, and the father had moved that resentment onto the son.

    The boy desired his father¡¯s love, but no matter what he did, no matter how obedient he was, the only reaction he got was violence and lecturing. He led a very careful life, and only when he was ingesting food would he feel a sense of satisfaction. Food thus became the way for him to release stress. This led to the consequence where the boy¡¯s weight had gone beyond the epted standard even when he was a child.

    Seeing the boy¡¯s ugly exterior, the father did not feel a shred of worry but felt a rush in taking revenge. The boy, who did not know better, forced himself to eat even more to see the smile on his father¡¯s face. After he grew up, both his physique and heart were ill.

    At school, the boy retreated into himself, which was perfect because no one wanted to sit with him anyway. When he was at home, whenever he was not careful, he would be greeted by his father¡¯s punches and kicks. Slowly but surely, the boy¡¯s heart started to twist. The things that others saw as beautiful were ugly in his eyes¡ªthe things that others could not wait to escape from, he saw as treasure.

    The boy would often be caught doing stupid thing like stealing the leftovers from the canteen and grabbing stuff from dumpster. His father would beat him up every time he did so, but the boy could not stop himself anymore. His worldview hadpletely changed.

    After this repeated several times, there was one instance where the father was too heavy on his beatings, and the boy had to be sent to the hospital, which alerted the police. With pressure and advice fromw enforcement, the father finally agreed to send the boy to the school dorm.

    The father was a sponsor at the school, so the school was willing to specially open a room for the boy to live in. After moving into the dorm, the boy had to interact with other students. The amount of times he apologized to others drastically increased, and his illness turned several.

    Not long after that, the boys in the rooms near him started to smell a stench. The school followed the trail and forced open the single room that the boy was assigned to. When the door was open, they were shocked. The originally clean bedroom was filled with assortments of trash. However, the dirty, smelly trash became the best decoration in the boy¡¯s eyes.

    The school had someone cleaned up the room, punished the boy, and informed his father. The way the father taught his son was the same. It was yet another round of heavy beating. The notebook recorded the punishment that night in close detail. His father left only after midnight.

    No matter how hard his life was, life had to go on. After the wounds on his body healed, the wounds on his heart only got deeper. There was again a deep stench in the dorm corridor. The school could not do anything. His father was one of the sponsors, so expelling his son made no sense.

    The room was cleaned again and again, but the boy did not change. In the end, the school had to clear away the rooms near to the boy¡¯s bedroom and then had someone clean his room every few days.

    As days moved into the weeks, the stench seemed to stick to the room, seeping into the floor and walls.

    At the time, Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy was too busy dealing with the ¡®idents¡¯ happening at the female dorm, so they did not have time to pay the boy any attention. Even the cleaners stoppeding.

    The boy whose heart was twisted kept bring trash to his bedroom, and the stench got thicker.

    From this point onwards, the boy¡¯s diary started to repeat itself. He kept apologizing to his father, asking him for forgiveness.

 Chapter 264 - Plastic Wrap

    <h4>Chapter 264: stic Wrap</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After finishing the diary, the three medical students each had a different take on the story.

    ¡°Helping outsiders to bully his own child, he doesn¡¯t deserve to be a father.¡± Lee Xue looked angry. Even though she knew this was probably just a made-up story by the Haunted House, she still immersed herself in it, feeling sorry for the boy.

    ¡°The boy is too weak. If it was me, I would have bullied them back twice for what they had done to me!¡± Wang Dan punched the air.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think the boy is weak. If anything, I think he¡¯s scary.¡± Yang Chen inspected the diary closely. ¡°Did you realize the boy spent thest few months in the diary apologizing to his father?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the perfect proof of his weakness? Bowing his head to the real culprit.¡±

    ¡°The boy used to apologize to everyone daily, but starting from a particr point in time, the diary only recorded his apology toward his father.¡± Lee Xue also saw the anomaly. ¡°Why would he need to do that?¡±

    ¡°Look at the time.¡± Yang Chen flipped to the front of the diary. Thetter half of the diary was mostly about his apology and penance to his father. ¡°The boy started apologizing to his father after the school called his father on him and after the night his father beat him until midnight.¡±

    Yang Chen held the diary and stood in the middle of the dorm to think.

    ¡°The diary wrote it very clearly. The father locked the bedroom from inside and barred anyone froming close. He even used the bedsheet to tie over the boy¡¯s mouth. So cruel.¡± Lee Xue pitied this boy from her heart.

    ¡°You have to be clear about one thing. The diary is written by the boy, so he¡¯ll only let us see what he wants us to see.¡± Yang Chen closed the diary. ¡°Almost the entire book is about apology, but think about this¡ªa madman whose worldview haspletely twisted, seeing beauty as ugly and vice versa. How could someone like that be filled with penance?¡±

    He sat on the smelly bed and immersed himself into the character of the boy. ¡°The other students hated him, stomping his show of kindness; they thought he was disgusting. His only family saw him as his nemesis. The boy¡¯s life was filled with violence and negativity. Therefore, he could only hide his real self in his heart and use theyer of apology as a shield to protect himself.¡±

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Yang, what are you trying to say?¡± Wang Dan and Lee Xue thought Yang Chen¡¯s emotions were slightly off.

    ¡°I was a victim of abuse myself, but luckily, I had a strong and clever big brother to look after me.¡± Yang Chen sat on the bed. ¡°I understand the pain he went through, so I can guess his actual thoughts.¡±

    There was an indescribable emotion in his eyes. Yang Chen picked up the rubbish model from the floor. ¡°The design of this Haunted House is amazing. It¡¯s as if everything is real.¡±

    ¡°Well, tell us! Why are you sighing to yourself?¡± Wang Dan mimicked Yang Chen to pick up a model of his own, but he could not see what was so different about it.

    ¡°The boss has given us the hint since we stepped through the door.¡± Yang Chen sniffed at the rubbish model. ¡°The rubbish in the room doesn¡¯t give out any smell, but the stench is still in the air.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t we establish that earlier?¡±

    ¡°Then, have you considered why the boy kept hoarding rubbish in his bedroom?¡± Yang Chen had guessed the truth, but he did not feel a rush from guessing it correctly. If anything, he felt slightly ufortable.

    ¡°Because the boy is mentally twisted, isn¡¯t the diary the best proof? He has been suffering from this illness since he was young, and his worldview has copsed, seeing ugly things as beautiful.¡±

    ¡°Wrong. Actually, the answer is really simple.¡± Yang Chen toyed with the rubbish. ¡°The rubbish in real life will be smelly.¡±

    ¡°Real life?¡±

    ¡°The boy wanted to use the smell of rubbish to cover the actual thing that is creating the stench! That¡¯s why he kept bringing the rubbish home!¡± Standing up, Yang Chen looked around the room. ¡°What kind of thing will create a stench? A stench that mustn¡¯t be discovered by others.¡±

    Wang Dan and Lee Xue looked at each other. They were forensic science students, and a phrase appeared in their minds. ¡°The stench of decaying body!¡±

    ¡°Starting from that night onward, the diary turned to a devoted apology to his father. I wondered what he has done to his father that he needed to apologize for endlessly.¡± Yang Chen already had the answer in his heart. He stood before the only locked dresser in the room and reached out to grab the lock.

    The lock was heavily rusted, but it was only a prop inside the Haunted House. He pulled slightly, and it fell away.

    The door fell open, and the stench hit them like a wave!

    There was a dead body standing in the middle of the dresser wrapped in stic warp!

    His face was twisted, and his eyes were bulging. The man had a horrible death. The three students stopped before the dresser, looking at the body inside the stic wrap. None of them spoke. The fear and horror knitted around their hearts, making it difficult for them to even breathe.

    ¡°This should be the answer. The day the boy started collecting the rubbish in his room, the n was already forming.¡± Ever since that night, the boy kept apologizing in his diary. Itsted for ten full pages before it stopped. It was hard to imagine how he managed to spend so long in a room with a dead body.

    ¡°The saddest thing is he wasn¡¯t discovered for so long. Even after shoving the real culprit inside the dresser, the boy¡¯s life didn¡¯t change. No one cared about him; no one realized he was even there.¡±

    Yang Chen closed the door and put the lock back on. ¡°To be able to design such a scenario, I¡¯m truly impressed by Boss Chen. His Haunted House is more than just a simple scare.¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡± Lee Xue¡¯s hands slowly loosened. Her emotions were still raging.

    ¡°Stopmenting a prop. Twenty minutes should have passed already. Let¡¯s get moving.¡± Wang Dan thought about the dead body inside the dresser and was unsettled. ¡°The dead body mannequins in his Haunted House look scarier than the real deal.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Yang Chen was the first one to turn. When he reached the door, he suddenly stopped. ¡°Did you notice the stench in the air seemed to get thicker?¡±

    ¡°Is it because we¡¯ve opened the dresser?¡± Lee Xue followed behind Yang Chen. ¡°Stop reading so much into it. We¡¯ve failed this time, but we can always try again.¡±

    The three of them exited the dorm. When they retraced their steps, they suddenly discovered someone standing in the corridor. The man had his head lowered while facing them. A rope swayed before his neck.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the hanging mannequin from the first room? Why is it here?¡±

    Wang Dan turned back to look at his partners and realized that both Lee Xue and Yang Chen¡¯s eyes were filled with fear.

    The stench in the air thickened. Just as the three students were hesitating, the lock on the dresser slowly loosened and fell to the ground.

    Creak...

    The old dresser door was slowly pushed open from within.

 Chapter 265 - I Give Up!

    <h4>Chapter 265: I Give Up!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The three students were squeezed together. Their focus was on the mannequin in the corridor, so none of them heard the weird noiseing from the room behind them.

    ¡°Shall we retreat back into the bedroom?¡± Yang Chen¡¯s suggestion was the most conservative. He had no idea why he was afraid of a mannequin.

    ¡°Since we¡¯ve given up on the visitation, there¡¯s no need to keep moving forward,¡± Wang Dan said inly. ¡°Find a security camera and call for the worker to bring us out.¡±

    Lee Xue looked at the mannequin standing in the middle of the corridor and whispered, ¡°When we entered this ce, I noticed that this ce isn¡¯t fitted with any security cameras.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Xue, why didn¡¯t you tell us about something that important earlier?¡± Wang Dan managed to keep his cool because he knew, within his heart, when the visitors called for help at the camera, the Haunted House worker would appear to help them. Since they could escape at any time, he had not been worried.

    ¡°Because you didn¡¯t ask.¡± Lee Xue rolled her eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I believe a professional like Boss Chen will have equipped his Haunted House with enough security cameras. Perhaps he utilized those hidden cameras in this hidden scenario to not ruin the atmosphere.¡±

    ¡°Now it¡¯s not an issue of atmosphere, okay?¡± Wang Dan squeezed behind Yang Chen. ¡°The mannequin suddenly appeared in the middle of the corridor; it must have followed us out!¡±

    ¡°It is weird.¡± Yang Chen frowned. The stench intensified, and his heart quivered. ¡°ording to the diary, the boy who was abused by his father was quite fat, but the hanging man in the first room is rtively thin.¡±

    ¡°Will you stop the analysis at a time like this?¡± Wang Dan rushed them with a series of grumbles. ¡°Shall all three of us rush forward at once? The mannequin only has two hands; he won¡¯t be able to stop all of us.¡±

    ¡°Be quiet for a moment.¡± Yang Chen pushed Wang Dan¡¯s arm away. ¡°The boy is fat and thus doesn¡¯t match the hanging man. This means that there is another theme inside this hidden scenario! This whole scenario should be made up from two separate stories!¡±

    ¡°Two stories? Meaning there¡¯s another monster that hasn¡¯t shown itself?¡± Lee Xue understood what Yang Chen meant immediately, and she looked behind Yang Chen with fear. When her gaze fell on the bedroom that they had just exited, her eyes widened as color left her face.

    ¡°Xiao Xue? What¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

    Lee Xue seemed to have lost her ability to speak. The words stuck in her throat, and she forced them out two secondster. ¡°Behind you!¡±

    Yang Chen and Wang Dan looked around at the same time. The dead body in stic wrap was standing at the bedroom door. Its body was heavily twisted like it was trying to struggle free from the stic wrap. The scariest thing was that there was a ball of smog radiating a thick stench forming behind the body, and it slowly morphed into a ball-like shadow!

    ¡°Is this special ef... What is this?¡± Wang Dan was at the back of the group, so he was closest to the stic wrapped body. When he turned around, his face was merely inches away from the dead body¡¯s face. Naturally, he did not expect this. Before his head even turned back, his body already carried him forward. When he was about one meter away, he screamed, ¡°Run!¡±

    Yang Chen and Lee Xue were also shocked out of their daze. They chased after Wang Dan. They ran for their lives, but there was more surprise in store for them. Blocking the corridor was the hanging mannequin. It suddenly raised its head to reveal a face that was bloated with purplish spots. It used a speed that was faster than the three students to jump toward them!

    ¡°F*ck me!¡± Wang Dan, who ran from the back of the group to the front, saw the hanging mannequin that was rushing at them, and his face turned green!

    He was stuck between a rock and a hard ce. He was afraid, but he did not dare stop. Wang Dan used all the courage he had in his life as he closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and rammed into the mannequin!

    BANG!

    The mannequin was knocked into the wall. Wang Dan continued to charge blindly ahead with his hands shielding his face. After he cleared the way, Yang Chen and Lee Xue also sessfully ran past the hanging mannequin. However, these two students failed to notice one small detail.

    After the mannequin fell, its lips creaked open to form a creepy smile. The rope around its neck slowly slithered toward Lee Xue¡¯s ankle. Just as the rope was about to curl around the girl¡¯s ankle, the mannequin seemed to remember some scary memory and quickly pulled the rope back.

    ¡°They¡¯re still chasing after us!¡±

    The three made such amotion that the other visitors in the scenario could hear them clearly. They finally escaped Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy. Fear, terror, shock, and extreme physical activities, the three medical students felt like they had juste back from a tour of hell.

    ¡°I can¡¯t run anymore.¡± Lee Xue was physically the weakest of the three. Her face was white as she gasped for air, cold sweat trailing down her face.

    ¡°Take a break. We... we can afford to take a break.¡± Yang Chen was also running out of air. He leaned against the entrance to Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy and turned to check up on Wang Dan. When they running for their lives, Yang Chen had clearly seen Yang Chen knock into the mannequin that blocked their way.

    ¡°Wang Dan, are you okay?¡±

    The Wang Dan who would never admit defeat even when he was afraid was squatting on the floor. He had his hands over his head. He gritted his teeth to stop the tears from falling.

    ¡°Wang Dan! Don¡¯t scare me!¡±

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Yang, I don¡¯t think I can do it anymore.¡± The feisty young man had tears in his voice. ¡°The mannequin was not hollow. It¡¯s so f*cking scared. I give up, let¡¯s call the cops.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay. We¡¯ll stop now. Let¡¯s find the exit.¡± Yang Chen also had quite a shock of his own. He tried to pull Wang Dan up, but all his attempts failed. Wang Dan¡¯s energy hadpletely left him, and his legs were like jelly.

    ¡°Find the camera to call for the worker toe save us. I think I¡¯ve seen through this Haunted House¡¯s tactics. The scary stuff is all at the back, and the beginning is easy to make us let our guard down.¡± Lee Xue had given up on the struggle. She did not dare stay outside the scenario alone. With gasping breath, she walked toward the two male students. ¡°With our current condition, walking to the exit normally is impossible.¡±

    ¡°I remember there¡¯s a camera at every junction. Wait for me here, I¡¯ll go get help.¡±

    Yang Chen prepared to leave when Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming arrived. The two seemed to have noticed something. Instead of looking at the three students, their attention was focused on the entrance to Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy.

 Chapter 266 - Stay a Little While Longer

    <h4>Chapter 266: Stay a Little While Longer</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    In the crazed doctor¡¯s outfit and with a scary hammer in hand, Chen Ge stood at the first junction. This time, he entered the Haunted House not to save the visitors but to use the Haunted House¡¯s unique environment to capture the two potential ghost stories society members. <i>Now where have they run off to?</i>

    Standing quietly in the junction, Chen Ge strained his ears. Not long after that, he heard something from the corridor that led to the deep well. A human head was rolling toward him like it was pushed along by some unknown force.

    ¡°You¡¯re out to y again?¡± Chen Ge walked toward the mannequin head. He assumed that the head could not find its body, so it had rolled out to seek help. However, before he got close, the head rolled in another direction. It was neither fast nor slow, just fast enough for Chen Ge to keep up.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to be my guide?¡±

    Chen Ge did not hesitate to follow. The draft fluttered his bloodied doctor¡¯s coat. Chen Ge wore the skin mask and held the redrge hammer in his grasp as he followed the rolling human head deeper into the Haunted House.

    ...

    When Yang Chen saw Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming, his heart jumped with joy. From his perspective, whether they were real visitors or Haunted House employees, it was only beneficial to him.

    ¡°You guys just came out from that ce?¡± Wei Wu looked at the three students. His tone was cold. Since he felt the threat, he did not n to keep up the pretext anymore.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Yang Chen wanted to ask Wei Wu for help, but he found Wei Wu¡¯s attitude grating. It made him ufortable. It did not feel like an attitude an employee in the service business should have.

    ¡°What did you find in there? Why are all of you in this state?¡± Kong Xiangming also walked over. The two¡¯s questions confused the three students. They had assumed that Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming were the employees at the Haunted House, so their questions confused them.

    <i>Are these two really clueless about theyout of the Haunted House, or are they toying with us?</i>

    Before the students could reach a conclusion, Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming did something weird. They both suddenly turned their heads to look at the ss door that led into Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy. Their actions were weirdly unified.

    ¡°What are you two looking at?¡± Yang Chen was unsettled. He retreated to his friends. Things appeared moreplicated than he had initially thought. After two seconds, the ss door opened on its own, and a faded stench drifted out.

    ¡°Other than those mannequins, there are other souls trapped inside this Haunted House. This is quite surprising.¡± Wei Wu kept his voice low. If not necessary, they would not reveal their identity to outsiders.

    ¡°The one on me has already awakened, and it¡¯s hungry.¡± Kong Xiangming stood where he was as a pair of arms appeared around his shoulders, and then a shrunken head climbed up from his back.

    ¡°Have you lost your mind? There are other people here!¡± Wei Wu wanted to stop Kong Xiangming, but it was already toote. The three medical students had seen everything.

    ¡°I have no power to stop it when it¡¯s hungry.¡± Kong Xiangming¡¯s voice was calm like this was not the first time he had experienced this. ¡°It¡¯s fine if they see it. We¡¯ll just take care of them as well. Too bad this identity is going to waste though.¡±

    Wei Wu did not expect that the normally reticent Kong Xiangming would be so direct when he made his move.

    ¡°Fine, after all, the one on me is also hungry already.¡± There were blood vessels moving on the back of Wei Wu¡¯s head. He turned to look at the three students, and to his surprise, they did not show fear but gave a look that said, <i>See, I thought so.</i>

    ¡°They¡¯re not afraid of us?¡± Wei Wu did not know what the three students had experienced. Inparison to the things they had been through, the monsters on the members looked rather cute.

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave the three to you.¡± Kong Xiangming walked into Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy alone. In the dark, something else seemed to crawl out from his back. Seeing Kong Xiangming walked into the scenario alone, the three students had different expressions.

    ¡°Shall we go and warn him?¡± Lee Xue felt sorry for the man.

    ¡°Stop worrying about him, these two have to be employees.¡±

    Normally, when one saw a ghost inside the Haunted House, one¡¯s first reaction would be to think they were workers. Wang Dan climbed up using the wall as support. He was scared, but his tone still had not changed too much.

    He sighed and stumbled toward Wei Wu. ¡°We give up, please bring us out.¡±

    The face was almost forming on the back of Wei Wu¡¯s head, but when he heard what Wang Dan had to say, the process stopped. ¡°You want me to lead you out?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the three of us have given up already.¡±

    <i>What is going on? </i>Toplete the ghost society¡¯s mission, Wei Wu had created quite a number of ghost stories himself. Whenever his victims saw his real identity, they would be too scared for words.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Wang Dan¡¯s legs were shaking. He held his head with one hand, and his other reached out to hold Wei Wu¡¯s arm. ¡°Boss, can we go now? My head is spinning, and we have ss to attend this afternoon.¡±

    Wei Wu tried to shrug Wang Dan off, but he failed. ¡°Are you blind? Do you not see the blood face on the back of my head? How about a little respect?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve already surrendered, what else do you want from us?¡± Wang Dan was annoyed; he had lost much of his confidence and pride that day.

    Wei Wu thought that something was wrong with these students. In any case, he decided to end it as soon as possible. ¡°Looks like none of you will be leaving.¡±

    The blood vessels knitted into a scary face. The face was blurry as the vessels moved about to slowly form a face that looked suspiciously like Wang Dan.

    ¡°Brother, can you please stop with the tricks? We¡¯re tired after leaving the hidden scenario. If you continue to be like this, I¡¯m going to give you a negative review on the inte.¡± Wang Dan¡¯s head was hurting, but holding Wei Wu¡¯s arm, he felt weirdly secure.

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Wei Wu gathered his strength to shove Wang Dan aside. His two faces had the same dark expression. ¡°The n was to finish this as fast as possible, but now...¡±

    Wind picked up in the corridor, and Wei Wu was halfway through his speech when the face behind him screamed!

    Wei Wu turned around and saw a monster in a bloodied outfit and giant hammer running at him as he followed a rolling head!

    Wei Wu¡¯s head went numb as a giant sense of danger gripped his heart. ¡°Not good!¡±

    He turned to run instinctively to meet up with Kong Xiangming, but the ¡®monster¡¯ did not give him the chance.

    ¡°Since you¡¯re already here, why the rush to leave?¡±

 Chapter 267 - Please Forgive Him!

    <h4>Chapter 267: Please Forgive Him!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The appearance of Chen Ge in Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s outfit not only scared Wei Wu but also the three medical students. They were not sure who that sentence was directed at; after all, who would care about those details when their lives were on the line? The need to survivepelled them to start running for their lives!

    Yang Chen and Lee Xue squeezed next to Wei Wu as they ran down the corridor to head into Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy.

    ¡°Wait for me!¡± Wang Dan, who had been shoved to the ground, screamed. He was surprised to find the energy returning to his limbs as he climbed up from the floor.

    ¡°Why are you guys running as well?¡± Wei Wu looked at Yang Chen and Lee Xue, who had run ahead of him. He was both angered and anxious. ¡°Get out of my way!¡±

    The blood face on the back of his head screamed. This was the first time he had seen the monster on his back react in such a drastic manner. Blood vessels seeped out from his back and trailed down his arm to reach toward Lee Xue, who was in front of him. He felt deeply threatened and knew he had to meet up with Kong Xiangming no matter what.

    Chen Ge¡¯s pupils narrowed, and his Yin Yang Vision allowed him to see clearly in the dark. He caught the changes that happened to Wei Wu¡¯s body. ¡°It is you, ghost stories society!¡±

    There was still a distance between him and Wei Wu, but the blood vessels were almost touching Lee Xue already. In his desperation, Chen Ge picked up the rolling head and lobbed the head, which now had a shocked expression, at the back of Wei Wu¡¯s head!

    BANG!

    The mannequin head knocked into Wei Wu, causing him to lose bnce. He staggered unsteadily, almost copsing to the ground, and the mannequin head rolled to the side. The blood face at the back of Wei Wu¡¯s head was smashed into a messy pulp. Therge crack stunned the three students. Whacking one¡¯s head with another head? Even a stunt actor would not dare do that!

    ¡°Still want to run?¡±

    Wei Wu¡¯s speed slowed down after he was hit by the mannequin head. Chen Ge rapidly closed in on him. The blood face had not even used its power, and it had already been injured. Seeing this, Wei Wu did not dare stay any longer, ¡°Get out of my way!¡±

    Lee Xue, who ran before him, did not have the chance to evade and was shoved roughly to the side. Yang Chen, who stood before the ss door, frowned with confusion.

    ¡°Wait! Isn¡¯t he an actor? Why is he running faster than we are?¡± Yang Chen had several answers in his mind. ¡°Is still part of the experience? Some kind of insider drama?¡±

    Seeing how Lee Xue was shoved to the side, he was rather angry. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, that¡¯s so rude. How can they disrespect their visitor like this?¡±

    Wei Wu charged ahead savagely, but Yang Chen did not let him past. Instead, he purposely moved to block the door. ¡°If this is part of a performance, please stop. Your earlier action has...¡±

    ¡°Get lost!¡± The blood vessels seeped out from Wei Wu¡¯s skin to knit on his face. It was very dark underground, so Yang Chen did not catch the changes on Wei Wu¡¯s face. However, it did not escape Chen Ge¡¯s Yin Yang Vision.

    He sprinted, and before Wei Wu attacked Yang Chen, he raised the hammer to swing at Wei Wu¡¯s left arm!

    The bones snapped, creating a crisp sound. All five visitors, including Wei Wu, seemed to petrify. This was especially true for Yang Chen, who blocked Wei Wu¡¯s way. He was closest to the man, so he heard it the clearest. As a forensic science student, he could even hear the tearing of the cartge between the humerus and scap. Yang Chen had forgotten what he wanted to say. He was dazed. Losing the control of his arm, Wei Wu gritted his teeth until it was bloodied. Using his other arm, he pushed the ss door open and ran down the corridor.

    ¡°That¡¯s a dead-end; I¡¯ll see where you¡¯re going to run this time!¡± Chen Ge put down the hammer and turned to look at Yang Chen. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Y-yes.¡± Yang Chen shivered. If he was not leaning against the wall, he would have been sitting on the floor already.

    ¡°Great. Normally, I¡¯m a gentle person, but that visitor is not a normal visitor¡ªhe¡¯s different from the rest of you.¡± Chen Ge tried his best to exin. He had to turn to violence earlier because he was afraid Wei Wu might harm the innocent.

    ¡°I understand. That big brother was the employee at the Haunted House, right?¡± Yang Chen stated his thought.

    ¡°Employee?¡± Chen Ge did not know why Yang Chen woulde to this conclusion. He thought about it and admitted ¡®honestly¡¯, ¡°You guys knew that already? The new actors don¡¯t know how to do their job. He acted too harshly earlier; I apologize on his behalf.¡±

    The three students looked at Chen Ge holding the hammer. They could not believe their ears. How could this person be so insouciant after severely injuring someone?

    ¡°We don¡¯t mind it.¡± Yang Chen was screaming internally, <i>Compared to us, shouldn¡¯t you be more worried about that actor that you assaulted?</i>

    ¡°Okay, when you go out, go find the uncle who sells tickets. When youe again in the future, I¡¯ll give you an eighty percent discount.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone to call Gu Feiyu. ¡°Xiao Gu, you can stop blocking the door now. Come in to help me lead these visitors out.¡±

    He had asked Gu Feiyu to block the door because he was afraid the two from ghost stories society might escape. However, now that both of them were inside the Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy, which was a dead-end, there was no need to block the door anymore.

    ¡°Block the door...¡± The three students wiped their cold sweat. It looked like they were not going to make use of that discount any time soon.

    ¡°The three of you, wait here. An employee wille get you. I¡¯ll go and take revenge for you.¡± Chen Ge waved the hammer around. ¡°As a service business, we should always put the visitors first!¡±

    As if sensing the murderous aura on Chen Ge, Yang Chen quickly advised him, ¡°No, no! We¡¯re all really fine. Please don¡¯t take any revenge on our behalf!¡±

    ¡°Yes, actually, that brother is not that bad.¡± Wang Dan also walked over, but he did not dare get too close to Chen Ge. He grumbled in his heart, <i>At least he looks much friendlier than you do...</i>

    ¡°Stop trying to make excuses for him. If he¡¯s made a mistake, then he needs to be punished.¡±

    Chen Ge opened the ss door. The three students felt guilty, so they stood outside the scenario and yelled.

    ¡°Boss, we¡¯re really fine!¡±

    ¡°Punishment is one thing, but you broke his arm!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve already epted your apology, so please forgive him!¡±

    There was a faded stench in the air. Chen Ge sighed as he heard the shoutsing from behind him. <i>These few visitors sure are good people. Western Jiujiang Medical University produces some wonderful students. They are helping the people who harmed them earlier.</i>

    After turning on the recorder, Chen Ge walked deeper into the corridor.

 Chapter 268 - Value of Your Life

    <h4>Chapter 268: Value of Your Life</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    There were weird noisesing from the belly of the scenario, and the stench in the air seemed lighter than usual. <i>They¡¯re of equal power? Looks like these two members from the society are quite powerful.</i>

    Chen Ge upped his pace. He did not see Wei Wu along the way; the poor sap had probably run straight for the deepest part of the scenario after being spooked by Chen Ge.

    <i>Where can you run to? This scenario ispletely sealed, and there is only one exit.</i>

    The ghost stories society¡¯s members hade to create trouble at his Haunted House during his working hours. This created a great sense of danger in Chen Ge. If he did not terminate the society, they would return in the future, so Chen Ge did not hold back. After walking ten meters, Chen Ge finally saw the fighting.

    Kong Xiangming had a dark expression on his face. There was a thin monster standing on his shoulders, but the monster was longer and stronger than the ones he had seen at the Third Sick Hall. Most likely, it had consumed many innocents. The monster on Kong Xiangming was almost four meters long, and the crying faces on its body made it look like a twisted centipede!

    Facing the monster was a mannequin with a rope around its neck. There was obvious damage on the mannequin¡¯s body, but it kept charging at the monster.

    ¡°The more savage the soul, the greater it tastes.¡±

    Kong Xiangming looked at the mannequin, and there was a yfulness in his eyes. The monster on his shoulders did not pay the mannequin much attention but was looking in another direction with rm.

    The stench that covered the scenario had congregated to form a shadowy version of arge man. The fat man had a blurred face but extremely high strength. However, his agility left much to be desired, and he could not do anything in the cramped corridor.

    The fat man and the mannequin did not know anything aboutbat, and with the tactics from Kong Xiangming, the battle was one-sided. Slowly, the wounds on the mannequin and the fat man increased. Their bodies turned blurry, and the stench in the scenario slowly dissipated.

    <i>Are they that weak? </i>Chen Ge thought about it and could understand why. Most of the powerful and resistant baleful specters at Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy had been consumed by Zhang Ya already, and only the two weaker ones remained.

    Wei Wu was hiding behind Kong Xiangming. When the blood face saw Chen Ge approach, it screamed!

    ¡°Be careful! Our target ising toward us!¡±

    Even though Kong Xiangming had the upper hand, he was still facing two enemies, and if Chen Ge joined in the fight, it would not be good for him.

    ¡°Why did you lead him here?¡± Kong Xiangming could still maintain the calmness in his voice, but his words came out faster than before.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to! How about we swap ces? You go and deal with him while I take care of these two?¡± The blood face on Wei Wu had a special power, and like Pen Spirit, it was not suitable inbat¡ªKong Xiangming understood that much. ¡°Fine.¡±

    This was not the first time they had cooperated. They stood back to back as they moved. Blood vessels surged out from behind Wei Wu¡¯s head, and the expression on the face slowly morphed to mimic the mannequin. Weirdly enough, when the blood face changed to mirror the mannequin, the savage mannequin suddenly became quiet, and its eyes turned hollow.

    Wei Wu had stopped the mannequin, but he could not do anything toward the fat man. He could only watch on as the fat man¡¯s body slowly recovered, and the stench in the scenario returned. Leaving the specters to his teammate, Kong Xiangming and the thin monster on his back both turned to look at Chen Ge.

    Wearing Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s outfit, the skin mask, and holding the hammer, it was hard to tell who the scarier party was. The things that Kong Xiangming told his victims when he created his ghost stories did not seem appropriate. Compared to the ¡®monster¡¯ before him, he felt like he was the more normal one.

    ¡°Actually, we can talk this out,¡± Kong Xiangming said very naturally. ¡°Neither one of us came with malicious intentions; we¡¯re here because someone ordered us to.¡±

    Chen Ge did not respond. The man had managed to survive for so long inside that crazy society, so this meant that none of the words that left his lips could be trusted. He raised the hammer. Perhaps Kong Xiangming was telling the truth, but he did not dare bet on it, nor did he want to bet on it.

    ¡°Think about it first before you make your move. I know you have gone into the world behind the door already. I can tell you a secret about the door, but you must promise me one condition.¡± Kong Xiangming increased his talking speed because he sensed the danger. ¡°This is a valuable opportunity. We can cooperate, and you only need to promise me one condition; this is my bottom line.¡±

    ¡°Bottom line?¡± Chen Ge took one step before suddenly increasing in speed. ¡°You dare to talk conditions with me inside my Haunted House? You really don¡¯t understand the value of your life! Xu Yin!¡±

    Following Chen Ge¡¯s call, a mncholic young man covered in wounds appeared beside him. Both the man and the ghost rushed toward Kong Xiangming.

    Kong Xiangming¡¯s lips twitched as he realized an issue. The thin monster could stop his opponent¡¯s specter, but who was going to stop the madman with the hammer?

    ¡°So painful!¡± His legsnded on the floor, and the wounds on his body opened to pour out blood. Xu Yin, with his face twisted from anger and resentment, charged at the thin monster. The monster¡¯s power was stronger than Chen Ge had expected. The faces on its body started to cry and wail, causing Xu Yin¡¯s speed to decrease. The thin monster¡¯s arms gripped Xu Yin¡¯s neck, and the human faces on its body chewed on Xu Yin¡¯s clothes.

    The thin monster used the faces to apprehend Xu Yin temporarily, but the key problem was, after he got entangled with Xu Yin, who was going to protect Kong Xiangming?

    Chen Ge, who had battled simr monsters before at the Third Sick Hall, knew its weakness. After the thin monster left its host, its power would decrease by at least thirty percent, so the thin monster was not Chen Ge¡¯s target to begin with.

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡±

    The hammer cut through the air, and Kong Xiangming¡¯s face paled. Desperate, he forced the thin monster to ignore Xu Yin toe protect him. The monster also knew the importance of its host, so it immediately let go of Xu Yin to shield Kong Xiangming.

    Without the restraint, Xu Yinnded on the ground and charged at the thin monster again. He bit ravenously on the thin monster¡¯s neck. The more he consumed, the brighter the blood stain on his shirt.

    At the same time, the hammer also made contact with the thin monster. Chen Ge did not slow down to check the effect of his attack or give Kong Xiangming any chance to speak. He took the hammer and went ham on his opponent!

    Kong Xiangming tried to block, but Wei Wu behind him was losing ground. The hanging man was controlled by Wei Wu, but the key problem was that he could not do anything to the fat man that was slowly recuperating.

    ¡°If we stay here, both of us are going to perish. Ol¡¯ Kong, good luck!¡± Wei Wu yelled and then chose to abandon the war. He turned around and ran past Kong Xiangming and Chen Ge!

 Chapter 269 - Turning into a Red Specter

    <h4>Chapter 269: Turning into a Red Specter</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Wei Wu¡¯s sudden reaction surprised not only Kong Xiangming but also Chen Ge. ¡°From the beginning, it¡¯s your friend that has been under pressure, but why is it you who chose to run first?¡±

    ¡°Wei Wu!¡± Kong Xiangming yelled with bloodshot eyes. He was surrounded by three baleful specters and one madman. He did not expect his teammate to abandon him so easily. In the blink of an eye, Wei Wu was already several meters away. Chen Ge had the two specters take care of Kong Xiangming while he and Xu Yin ran after the deserter.

    ¡°Xiao Gu has already opened the door; I cannot let him slip away.¡±

    Chen Ge chased after Wei Wu, and after he left Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy, he realized that the three students had already left. There was nothing left for him to worry about anymore. ¡°Stop struggling, you¡¯re not going to escape!¡±

    Hearing the call behind him, Wei Wu ran faster. The face behind his head kept screaming, urging him to run faster!

    The distance between them grew. Chen Ge did not have any good idea to catch up. Running in the Haunted House with the hammer hindered his speed. To be able to follow the man so closely was mainly because of his good physique. Wei Wu ran with all his might. There was a voice in his mind saying, <i>Faster, faster!</i>

    He remembered the exit was just several corners away and hope lit up in his heart. <i>I mustn¡¯t fall into his hands! Yes, I can definitely make this!</i>

    He ran out of the corridor adjacent to the deep well. Wei Wu was about to charge forward when he suddenly realized the tight corridor was filled with numerous mannequins!

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t they be inside the ssroom? Why are they here?¡±

    With intertwining arms and teetering bodies, the mannequins¡¯ faces with creepy smiles looked at Wei Wu, causing him to shiver.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Whenever he wanted to do something, there would be people or things trying to stop him; that had happened several times already that day. Wei Wu dashed into the group of mannequins. As he knocked the mannequins down, they gripped his clothes, pulling him down with them. If this was any other time, he could have used to the blood face to slowly escape the trap, but Chen Ge was close behind him.

    As Wei Wu fell down, he turned to look, and the scary-looking hammer was closer than he expected. He was reminded of the first time he created his real ghost story. <i>Once, I chased innocent people like this before...</i>

    BANG!

    His other arm was incapacitated, and therge pound sent Wei Wu sprawling across the ground. Not giving him any chance to escape, Xu Yin jumped on the man¡¯s back and poked his hands into the back of Wei Wu¡¯s head to yank the blood face out!

    A blood-curdling scream reverberated through the Haunted House. After dealing with Wei Wu, Chen Ge dragged him to a corner. The blood face on Wei Wu was torn apart by Xu Yin, and the blood that sttered all over the ce became nutrition for the many mannequins.

    ¡°Not bad, very clever.¡± Chen Ge was never stingy with his praise, and he could sense joying from the group of mannequins. Bringing Xu Yin along, Chen Ge returned to Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy.

    Kong Xiangming¡¯s thin monster had harmed many innocent people, so it was incredibly powerful. There was a long trail of human faces on its body, and it did not show any sign of being cornered even facing three baleful specters.

    Unfortunately, this was just a battle between ghosts. While the thin monster had a handle on the ghost situation, Chen Ge was already chasing Kong Xiangming all over the ce with the crazed hammer.

    ¡°Save me! Save me!¡± he yelled inside the scenario, but the thin monster was unable to do anything. After Kong Xiangming took a hammer strike to his back, the monster was forced to leave Kong Xiangming and escape on its own. With the lesson from Wei Wu, Chen Ge was prepared this time. The three specters jumped on the monster and apprehended it tightly. Several minutester, the monster was shared among the three specters, and its host, Kong Xiangming, fainted.

    ¡°There¡¯s no notification on the ck phone. Looks like these three aren¡¯t patients from the Third Sick Hall either.¡± Chen Ge looked at the baleful specters who were feasting, and he mumbled to himself, ¡°Seven left...¡±

    The thin monster soon disappeared down the specter¡¯s stomach. The fat specter held its stomach like it had not had enough yet. It wiggled itsrge body around to look for more food when it noticed Chen Ge looking at it. It panicked and immediately dispersed to merge into the stench that covered the scenario.

    <i>Am I that scary? </i>Chen Ge turned to look at the other specter. The hanging man was even more shameless. After it had its fill, it leaned and fell to the ground like nothing had ever happened.

    The two specters probably did not eat much since Chen Ge was there. Most of the thin monster had been consumed by Xu Yin. This time, Chen Ge could see the obvious change in the man. Xu Yin¡¯s shirt bloomed with arge blood stain, and it was still growing. ¡°A Red Specter?¡±

    Chen Ge knew that Red Specters were stronger than normal specters, but he did not know how they were formed.

    <i>One-third of Xu Yin¡¯s outfit is bloodied, so normal specter can change into Red Specter? </i>He looked at the hanging man lying on the floor andpared it to Xu Yin. He had a feeling that things were not that simple.

    <i>Perhaps only a certain type of baleful specter has the ability to turn into a Red Specter. </i>Chen Ge thought long and hard before he came up with this spection. He had seen many ghosts before, but other than Zhang Ya, only Xu Yin, this specter that was surrounded by hatred and resentment, showed any chance of bing a Red Specter.

    <i>I should use other ghosts inside the Haunted House to give it a try when I have the chance next time. </i>He imagined Xiaoxiao in a red dress shing her ws, and he silently shook his head. <i>Even when she¡¯s a Red Spectre, I have a feeling she¡¯ll still be bullied. I should use the Pen Spirit to give it a try.</i>

    Chen Ge realized that Xu Yin had reverted to his original form. He lowered his head, and his eyes were hollow like everything that was reflected in them would lose their color. Taking out the recorder, Chen Ge walked toward Xu Yin. He was about to speak when Xu Yin, who sensed his approach, disappeared. The tape stopped moving, but the blood on it seemed to have deepened.

    <i>Looks like moremunication is in order. </i>Chen Ge understood the source of Xu Yin¡¯s pain, but he had done everything he could. The rest depended on Xu Yin.

    Dragging Kong Xiangming out of the Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy, Chen Ge returned to the corner where he had left Wei Wu. From afar, he saw Gu Feiyu standing in the middle of the junction with a shlight. The young man was worried about Wei Wu¡¯s safety. He wanted to help Wei Wu, but the group of mannequins made him hesitate. He paced where he was and did not dare to move forward.

    ¡°Xiao Gu,e and help me!¡± After removing the skin mask, Chen Ge waved at Gu Feiyu. ¡°Have the three medical students been sent out?¡±

 Chapter 270 - Anything Can Be Solved with a Swing of the Hammer

    <h4>Chapter 270: Anything Can Be Solved with a Swing of the Hammer</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Seeing Chen Ge in the doctor¡¯s outfit, Gu Feiyu took an involuntary step back. He recovered secondster and quickly replied, ¡°Yes, the three students all gave the Haunted House five stars in front of me. They said that they had a great time and hope you won¡¯t make it too difficult for that Haunted House actor.¡±

    ¡°They had a great time?¡± Chen Ge nodded. ¡°Well, as long as they had fun.¡±

    ¡°Brother Chen, what is it with those two visitors? They¡¯ve both fainted; is it really alright?¡± Gu Feiyu added onest question after some hesitation. ¡°Also, what did the students mean by the Haunted House employee?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing important, Xiao Gu. If you want to work here, then you need to be familiar with these things. By the way, I need you to learn some first-aid skills in the future.¡± Chen Ge had Gu Feiyu carry Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming. ¡°Now, we lock them in the dressing room first.¡±

    ¡°First-aid skill? Lock them in the dressing room?¡± Gu Feiyu¡¯s head was covered in cold sweat. For some reason, he felt like he had entered a trap.

    ¡°They¡¯re not visitors.¡± Chen Ge knew that Xiao Gu had misunderstood him, so he exined roughly, ¡°The New Century Park is bouncing back, and that is tied to this huge promotion the Haunted House is having. Some people are not happy that we¡¯reing back and so sent their men toe sabotage us.¡±

    ¡°Oh, is that so?¡± Xiao Gu nodded seriously. ¡°Life in the big city sure isplicated.¡±

    Xiao Gu carried Wei Wu, and Chen Ge dragged Kong Xiangming. The two stopped at the entrance to the Sealed ssroom. ¡°There are still two more visitors in the Haunted House. They should be in the scenario on the right. Stay here and wait for me. I¡¯ll be back in a minute.¡±

    Chen Ge left Kong Xiangming behind and ran into the female dorm. Gu Feiyu stood outside the ssroom, and for some reason, he felt like someone was looking at him from inside the ssroom.

    ¡°Brother Chen, wait for me! I¡¯m going with you!¡± They had just entered the corridor on the right when they heard the sound of argument. The visitor by the name of Na Na was still at the height of her temper. She was adamant about breaking up with the man. Her fury hadpletely nulled her sense of fear.

    <i>What are these two doing? Fighting inside a Haunted House?</i>

    The two visitors stood in the middle of the corridor, and there were no other scare points around them. They were locked in a deep argument and did not seem like they were going to stop anytime soon.

    ¡°Brother Chen, please slow down.¡± Gu Feiyu half-tow and half-dragged the two members from the ghost stories society with him.

    ¡°Why did you follow me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m worried about you, so I came to help.¡± Gu Feiyu looked ahead and changed the topic. ¡°The two are in a serious argument. Shall we go help?¡±

    ¡°Do you know them personally? How do you expect us to help?¡± Chen Ge swung the hammer. He felt dealing with them was easier. At least things could be solved with a swing of the hammer.

    ¡°But they¡¯re arguing so vehemently, will this be good for us? After all, we¡¯re inside the Haunted House. If people hear of this, it might influence our reputation.¡± Gu Feiyu stood behind Chen Ge. Eavesdropping on a couple¡¯s argument inside a Haunted House still did not seem that moral to him.

    ¡°If these two really want to break up, they wouldn¡¯t have let this drag on for half an hour already.¡± Chen Ge retrieved the skin mask, put it on, picked up the hammer, and headed for the couple.

    Before he got close, he saw the girl shove the man back and snuck into the bedroom where Pen Spirit resided alone. Then she locked the door. The man mmed on the door repeatedly. The woman cried inside the room, but she did not open the door.

    ¡°Yan Na Na!¡± The woman locked the door and windows. The man called her name outside the window, but the woman seemed insistent on ending this rtionship.

    ¡°Chen Ziming, we met each other inside a Haunted House, so we¡¯ll end it here today, okay? Two years, six months, and one day, thank you for everything that you¡¯ve given me.¡±

    ¡°I really don¡¯t understand why you¡¯re breaking up with me! Am I not good to you?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re very good; it¡¯s all my fault. Are you satisfied?¡±

    The argument kept going, and it grated on Chen Ge¡¯s ears. He dragged the hammer across the floor and picked up his pace. The footsteps echoed down the corridor. The man outside the door saw Chen Ge. Honestly, he was a little afraid, but his anger had overwhelmed that fearpletely. In fact, when he saw Chen Ge get close, he intended to turn his fury onto Chen Ge, who dared to disturb them.

    With his finger pointing at Chen Ge, the man¡¯s lips were already opening, but before he could make any sound, Chen Ge suddenly charged forward and picked up the hammer to swing at the door¡¯s lock!

    The wooden door broke into splinters, and the lock flew into the wall, creating a crisp sound.

    The pair waspletely stunned, especially the man, who was about to say something. When the hammer swung through the air, he could hear the air being sliced through clearly. His lips could not close. The man looked at Chen Ge¡¯s skin mask, and his eyes twitched. His body would not listen to his brain¡¯smands.

    The woman stopped crying and started to scream.

    The man tried to enter the bedroom, but his legs were not moving. His ears hummed, and after he staggered a step back, his body leaned weakly forward.

    ¡°Ziming!¡± The woman ran to grab the man¡¯s shoulders. This time, she stood before the man to shield him from Chen Ge.

    Chen Ge pulled the hammer out from the hole in the door, and he was feeling rather embarrassed. He had been using the hammer so much recently that he had forgotten how to gauge his strength.

    He coughed awkwardly before removing the skin mask. Looking at the two shocked visitors, before the two recovered and their fury returned, he said, ¡°When danger appeared, your partner¡¯s first thought wasn¡¯t to run but to enter the room to look for you. This shows how much he cares about you.¡±

    Chen Ge then turned to tell the male visitor who tripped, ¡°When you fell to the ground, your partner let go of everything toe help you and shield you. If you miss a woman as good as her, you¡¯ll regret it for the rest of your life.¡±

    His bloodied shirt fluttering in the wind, Chen Ge helped the two get up with a smile.

    ¡°You two love each other. No matter what happens, as long as you have that, it¡¯s enough.¡± Chen Ge ced the hammer aside. ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, we can y a little game to test it out.¡±

    The two visitors were picked up from the floor and arranged by Chen Ge to sit on both side of the chair. They had their fingers intertwined and a ballpoint pen wrapped in cellophane tape within their grasp.

    ¡°This Haunted House has been open for years already, so some of the things have gained their own spirit. This ballpoint pen is one of them. You can ask it the question that you wish to be answered inside your heart, and it will give you the answer.¡±

    The couple had just woken up from the shock that Chen Ge delivered. They looked into each other¡¯s eyes and felt the warmth that came from the other¡¯s palm. After a long time, they finally started the Pen Spirit game. ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, you are my spirit from my previous life, and I am your spirit in this life. Can you tell me if they love me the most in this world?¡±

    Looking away from the couple, Chen Ge rolled his eyes. He kept giving hints to the Pen Spirit; he needed to send this couple out as soon as possible. Several secondster, the ballpoint pen started to move, and both visitors captured the surprise in their partner¡¯s eyes.

    The pen started to move on the paper to write a word. ¡°Yes.¡±

    After sending the Pen Spirit away, the game officially ended, but the two visitors had let their hands go.

    ¡°Ziming...¡± The woman apologized softly, and the man went over to pull her into a hug.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make more time to apany you in the future!¡±

    ¡°I should have been more understanding.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, honey.¡±

    ¡°Are you two done?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s hands that gripped the hammer were bursting with veins. He felt like he was going to lose control soon.

    ¡°Boss, we¡¯re so sorry for creating all this trouble for you.¡± The two visitors finally parted. They apologized and thanked Chen Ge profusely.

    ¡°If not for the fact that you two met inside my Haunted House, I wouldn¡¯t have cared.¡± Chen Ge put the hammer away. ¡°Good luck in your future. Don¡¯t leave any regrets.¡±

    ¡°We won¡¯t!¡±

    After sending the two visitors away, Xiao Gu was shocked. When he saw Chen Ge knock down the door, he had been ready with his phone to call the police. He was surprised by this ending.

    ¡°Brother Chen, you¡¯re amazing.¡±

    ¡°Stop dawdling. Go upstairs and help me get the toolbox, we need to fix this door.¡±

 Chapter 271 - Are You There? [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 271: Are You There? [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After fixing the door and the lock, Chen Ge and Xiao Gu dragged the ghost stories society¡¯s members back to the first floor and locked them inside the dressing room.

    ¡°Boss, are you sure this is safe?¡± Xiao Gu wiggled the door lock. ¡°I mean, do you want me to go grab some ropes to tie them up?¡±

    Chen Ge could see the improvement in Gu Feiyu. He removed the outfit that he was wearing and handed it to Xiao Gu. ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary. Put this back on and return to the third floor. The visitors are already waiting.¡±

    ¡°No problem, leave it to me.¡± This time, Xiao Gu put on Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s uniform without hesitation. In fact, he looked quite enthusiastic, so enthusiastic that Chen Ge wondered if he had been taken over by the monsters from the ghost stories society. After all, it was as if he was apletely different person from how he had been that morning.

    ¡°Weird, when you entered the Haunted House earlier, it felt like I was asking you to walk to your execution¡ªwhy the sudden change?¡±

    ¡°Change?¡± Xiao Gu scratched his head in embarrassment. Wearing Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s outfit, doing that action, it gave Chen Ge a sense of incongruity. ¡°Actually, I thought your Haunted House was only meant to scare people to their death. I don¡¯t quite approve of that way of making money, but after seeing you fix the rtionship problem of that couple, I suddenly feel like our Haunted House is quite warm.¡±

    ¡°Looks like you have been having these misunderstandings about our Haunted House. Fear can help people remove the disguise that they wear daily. Here, you don¡¯t need to watch your every move or calcte how to appear to others; just focus on screaming,¡± Chen Ge said seriously. ¡°A fast-paced life means plenty of everyday pressure. In this city, there has to be a location where people can vent their pressure without fear. You assumed we¡¯re earning people¡¯s money by scaring them, but in reality, we¡¯re merely here to add a little color to their mundane lives.¡±

    Patting Gu Feiyu on his shoulder, a smile that was as warm as the rising sun appeared on Chen Ge¡¯s face. ¡°Try your best to scare the visitors. The couple from before is the perfect example. We often forget the things that we have, so only in the deepest despair can we be reminded of what is the most important in our lives.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right!¡± After listening to what Chen Ge had to say, Gu Feiyu heavily nodded several times. He suddenly found his job to be quite saintly. ¡°I will try my best to do my job!¡±

    ¡°Good luck.¡± Looking at how eager Gu Feiyu was, Chen Ge feltforted. ¡°That is how you should do it. By the way, you better set my phone number as your number one speed-dial. If youe across anything you cannot solve inside the Haunted House, call me immediately.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± The arguing couple was nothing more than an interlude for Chen Ge, so he really did not expect it would be the incident that would help him gain Gu Feiyu¡¯s approval. Of course, it was the Haunted House that his Boss Chen had ¡®built¡¯ in his mind.

    Opening the thick curtain, Chen Ge walked out of the Haunted House. The resting tent was filled with waiting visitors. The promotion¡¯s effect was much better than he had expected. Many visitors who could not wait any longer went to try out other attractions. For the first time in a long time, there were bustling crowds inside the park. Even though it was still far from how it had been during the height of New Century Park, it was good enough to make the park workers rejoice. They finally had things to do and get busy with; the theme park that been built for almost a decade saw life again.

    After losing two members, the ghost stories society stoppeding to test Chen Ge. Perhaps they had sensed the problem. If they continued to test Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House out like this, the society would run out of members in a few days. The crowd was still bustling outside the Haunted House when it was 6:30 pm. However, for the sake of security, Chen Ge stopped epting visitors. The workers began to clean up the park, and the visitors started to leave the park around 7 pm.

    The number of visitors had broken the record at New Century Park in the most recent six months. During lunch, Uncle Xu was called away by Director Luo. They seemed to be discussing the next phase of the promotion n. ¡°Thank you for your help today!¡±

    After closing the gates, Chen Ge counted his earning. Combining the online payment and cash payment, he earned almost 15,000. The number was smaller than he expected, and the main reason was because Chen Ge limited the number of visitors that could visit his Haunted House simultaneously. This was for the sake of their safety. Minghun could only allow 4 visitors at most, and the limit for Murder by Midnight was seven. Due to the demand for Mu Yang High School, Chen Ge upped the limit to twelve. The first two scenarios took about twenty minutes per visitation, but Mu Yang High School was sorge that a normal visitation even for twelve visitors wouldst forty minutes.

    The rate of earning money was low, but the good reputation kept climbing. More and more people actively helped Chen Ge promote his Haunted House by telling their family and friends either in person or through social media.

    This was a positive cycle. For a normal Haunted House, due to its limitation in setting, once the freshness was over, the number of visitors would drop. However, since Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House was delineated ording to the scare levels, as long as he could provide newer and scarier scenarios, the number of visitors would only continue to increase. For him, a good name and reputation was far more important than temporary benefits.

    After a whole day of operation, only one group managed to find eighteen nametags. The group included other students from Western Jiujiang¡¯s Medical University that came with Yang Chen and other visitors who had tried the scenario once before. Chen Ge asked them whether they would give the other scenario a try, and the team, who all looked like they had been ravaged, very adamantly rejected Chen Ge¡¯s offer.

    The day¡¯s operation finally ended. After Xu Wan and Xiao Gu left, Chen Ge used his phone to transfer some bonus money into their ounts. After dealing with all the misceneous tasks, Chen Ge opened the door to the dressing room. Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming had already woken up.

    However, since the monsters that possessed them had left, their minds seemed to be heavily affected. They looked dull and dim-witted, like they could not remember anything. Chen Ge led them out of the Haunted House and personally took them to the police station to find Captain Yan.

    ...

    Xiao Gu wandered aimlessly down the road. He kept touching his face. After wearing the weird mask for a whole day, even after taking it off, it felt like something was still sticking to his face.

    <i>Where will I sleep tonight? After the big falling out with Manager Huang, it doesn¡¯t sound like a good idea to return to the security dormitory. Brother Chen has helped me so much already¡ªasking him for early pay is too hard to do.</i>

    He pushed his hands inside his pockets. While he was desperate for a solution, there came a message from the bank on his phone.

    <i>Brother Chen has given me a bonus? But it¡¯s only my first day.</i>

    Xiao Gu looked at the message that stated 800 had entered his ount. It was enough for him to rent afortable room at Western Jiujiang. Comparing that the experience he had had at the security team, Xiao Gu could not help but be touched. <i>Boss Chen is a really good man!</i>

    After pocketing his phone, Xiao Gu headed for Fang Hwa Apartments¡¯ security dormitory. He was going back to pack his stuff and would leave to find a ce for himself tomorrow. He arrived at his destination at around 8 pm. When he walked in, he saw Manager Huang standing there with a lousy expression on his face.

    ¡°Where have you been?¡± He was in a sharp suit, and his suede shoes were sparklingly clean. Manager Huang seemed to always have a bone to pick with Gu Feiyu.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been looking for you. I¡¯ve found a new job, so I¡¯ll be moving out of here tomorrow.¡± Gu Feiyu had always been straight-shooter, so he told the man everything that was on his mind. Ol¡¯ Wong was also inside the bedroom. He quickly rushed out to pull on Gu Feiyu¡¯s sleeves. He lowered his head to apologize to Manager Huang. ¡°Please don¡¯t mind him. Xiao Gu is too young to mind his words.¡±

    He then turned to re at Gu Feiyu, ¡°Why don¡¯t you know how to edit that temperament of yours?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for him to change. After all, this ce is too small for a personality as big as his.¡± Manager Huang ced the piece of paper he was holding on the table. ¡°Even if you don¡¯t n to quit, I won¡¯t be keeping you around. Fill out this form, and I don¡¯t want to see you here again after tomorrow.¡±

    Pushing Ol¡¯ Wong aside, Manager Huang walked to the door and stopped. ¡°There¡¯s another thing. Ol¡¯ Wong, the kid came on your rmendation, so the money to pay for the damage that he has done and his medical fees will be taken out from your sry.¡±

    ¡°What does this have to do with Uncle Wong? Just remove that from my sry.¡± Xiao Gu tried to keep himself calm.

    ¡°Your sry? When you came, things were clearly written in the contract. You have to work for a full month before your sry can be counted. Now you¡¯re quitting in less than a month; do you really think the contract is just a piece of paper? Think about how much trouble you¡¯ve created for me even though you¡¯ve been here less than a month.¡± Manager Huang walked away without even turning back. ¡°You want to talk to me about sry? In your dreams!¡±

    Gu Feiyu wanted to charge forward to punch the man into a pulp, but he was stopped by Ol¡¯ Wong. ¡°Xiao Gu, don¡¯t act too rashly. Be patient.¡±

    ¡°Uncle, I don¡¯t mind if he didn¡¯t give me my sry, but I cannot rest easy knowing he¡¯ll take those fees out from your sry!¡±

    ¡°How old are you already? Why are you still acting so rashly?¡± Ol¡¯ Wong asked for Gu Feiyu to sit down while he walked to close the bedroom door. ¡°It¡¯s not easy to find a job these days. Tell me what kind of new job you¡¯ve found. If the conditions are good, perhaps I¡¯ll also want to switch over to help.¡±

    Ol¡¯ Wong was worried about Gu Feiyu. He was afraid that he might have been tricked, so he used a round-about way to ask about Gu Feiyu¡¯s situation. The mention of his new job did make Gu Feiyu calm down slightly. ¡°I¡¯m currently employed at a Haunted House, and the job is to scare people. The boss is very nice. It¡¯s my first day of work, but he¡¯s already given me a bonus.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Ol¡¯ Wong was still a bit suspicious. ¡°You¡¯re too trusting. You¡¯d better be on the lookout for yourself even if you¡¯re working for others. Don¡¯t create trouble for people, but you have to be careful of cheaters.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine, Uncle.¡±

    Ol¡¯ Wong gave him plenty of advice because he worried about the young man. He changed into his security uniform when it was about 8:30 pm and prepared to leave.

    ¡°Uncle, I remember you had the morning shift today, right? Where are you going sote at night?¡±

    ¡°After the murderer was discovered at this ce, everyone has been quite unsettled, and there has to be more than one person for the night shift.¡±

    ¡°How about I help take your ce for one night?¡± Xiao Gu felt guilty. If not for him, Ol¡¯ Wong¡¯s wages would not have been docked.

    ¡°You take a good rest so that you can be energized for work tomorrow morning.¡± Ol¡¯ Wong exited the room with his thermos cup. He walked out the door before turning back. ¡°If you don¡¯t like your new job, remember to give me a call. I still have some connections here.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. As tiring as the new job is, it¡¯s still much better than working security.¡±

    ¡°You cheeky kid.¡± Ol¡¯ Wong shook his head and left for real this time.

    He walked slowly to the backdoor of Fang Hwa Apartments. After chatting with the guard whose shift he was taking over, he stood in the guard post alone. There were two guards on night shift¡ªone looking after the front door, the other the back door¡ªso they would not meet each other.

    The night darkened, and the normally deserted backdoor became even more deste. Since a murderer had just sneaked into the residential area, Ol¡¯ Wong did not dare lower his guard. He sat beside the window and kept raising his head to inspect the backdoor. After a whole morning of work,bined with his advanced age, Ol¡¯ Wong soon found himself copsing on the table.

    At around 11 pm, the phone on his table suddenly rang. It woke Ol¡¯ Wong up from his sleep. He looked around the room guardedly with his forged police baton. There was no one under the dim street lights.

    <i>Phew, scared me.</i>

    Ol¡¯ Wong opened his thermos cup to take a sip. He looked at his phone. There was a message on his WeChat.

    ¡°Are you there?¡±

    He was far too old to use much social media, so Ol¡¯ Wong was confused. <i>Who sent this message?</i>

    The messenger¡¯s profile was private, so only friends could see it. Ol¡¯ Wong looked at the person¡¯s name and profile picture, but he really could not remember adding this person as his friend before. <i>Other than my family and colleagues, the only people who would know my WeChat are the tenants of this residential area.</i>

    Holding the phone in his hands, Ol¡¯ Wong thought for a long time, but the memory did note to him. However, for some reason, the person did seem familiar. He ced the phone on the table. He thought about replying with a voice message, but considering howte it was, that might have been impolite. So, he used his fingers to slowly type out a message. ¡°Yes, how can I help you?¡±

    Several secondster, the reply came.

    ¡°I¡¯m a tenant on the third building¡¯s 23rd floor. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going with the family across from me, but the children in the room keep crying. However, I cannot hear the voice of any adult. Quickly call someone toe take a look.¡±

    <i>Crying children? 23rd floor third building? </i>Ol¡¯ Wong looked at the message and assumed it was from a tenant. After all, something simr had happened before.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll being in a minute.¡± Out of caution, Ol¡¯ Wong messaged the guard that was manning the post at the front door. Then he called Manager Huang, but the call was not picked up.

    <i>Why is it the third building again? So many things are happening here.</i>

    Ol¡¯ Wong picked up his baton and ran to the third building. He had heard the rumors about the elevator at the third building, but the tenant lived on the 23rd floor, and climbing the stairs would have been too slow if there was an emergency.

    <i>I should wait for Ol¡¯ Wei before I get into the elevator. </i>Ol¡¯ Wong waited in the lobby for the other guard toe, but then his phone rang again.

    ¡°Are you there?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°The children are crying even harder. Something is wrong! Where are you people?¡±

    Reading the message on his phone, Ol¡¯ Wong pressed the elevator button. To his surprise, the elevator was already waiting on the first floor. ¡°Coming, don¡¯t worry.¡±

    As the silvery-gray elevator door slowly closed, Ol¡¯ Wong¡¯s heart started to race. The ustrophobic environment made his breathing be rather uneasy. The number on disy soon turned to 23, and the doors opened. The darkened corridor was unusually quiet, and Ol¡¯ Wong stepped out of the elevator carefully. He switched his shlight on, but for some reason, the light did not give him the sense of security that he wanted. It only made him feel even more uneasy.

    ¡°I¡¯m already on the 23rd floor. Can you give me your room number?¡±

    ¡°3239.¡±

    Taking a deep gulp, Ol¡¯ Wong slowly nudged forward in the dark. He used his shlight to shine on the room number, and it felt like he had walked for a long time before he found room 3239.

    <i>There¡¯s no crying? </i>He stood at the door for a long time, and Room 3239 was very quiet. There was no sound of children. <i>Is this a prank, or has something bad already happened?</i>

    Ol¡¯ Wong was not sure. He took out his phone, ready to ask the person, but the person sent him another message.

    ¡°Are you there?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m already at Room 3239, but there¡¯s nothing here. Are you mistaken?¡± Typing was too slow, so Ol¡¯ Wong sent a voice message. Not long after that, his own recorded voice appeared behind him.

    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡±

    Ol¡¯ Wong slowly turned around. The door opposite from Room 3239 was slightly ajar, and a deathly pale figure was squatting at the door, holding the phone.

    ...

    Xiao Gu nned to lie down for the night at 11:15 pm when his phone vibrated. He picked it up to read and saw it was a message from Ol¡¯ Wong. The content was simple; there were only three words.

    ¡°Are you there?¡±

 Chapter 272 - Hes Not Ol Wong!

    <h4>Chapter 272: He¡¯s Not Ol¡¯ Wong!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Uncle Wong?¡± Gu Feiyu looked at his phone and replied without thinking. ¡°I¡¯m here, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a tenant that said he saw someone suspicious sneak into the third building. You know we¡¯re running low on staff, so if you¡¯re still awake, do you minding to help?¡±

    ¡°Someone suspicious? Okay, I¡¯ll be there in a minute!¡± Since he was the reason Ol¡¯ Wong got fined, Xiao Gu was ravaged by guilt. He had been hoping for a chance to make up for that, so he agreed readily.

    Grabbing his phone, Gu Feiyu ran to Fang Hwa Apartments. The third building was just adjacent to the backdoor. Gu Feiyu nced inside the guard post. Ol¡¯ Wong had left in such a hurry that he did not even close the door.

    ¡°Did something happen already?¡± He called Ol¡¯ Wong, but there was no answer. After he entered the third floor, there was another message on his WeChat. ¡°The person who sneaked in appeared to be a thief. We have cornered him on the 23rd floor. When youe, remember to be careful.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Xiao Gu was worried about Ol¡¯ Wong¡¯s safety, so he rushed into the elevator and pressed the button for 23rd floor. The elevator doors slowly closed, and Xiao Gu started to frown, looking at his phone.

    <i>Uncle Wong types very slowly, and he normally sends voice messages. Also why didn¡¯t he answer my call earlier? </i>He was confused, but Xiao Gu did not think this was a trap. <i>I just came to the city to find work. I have no looks and no money; there is no reason for people to trick me. Perhaps Uncle Wong¡¯s team is on a stake-out, so it¡¯s inconvenient to answer the call.</i>

    The number shifted, and the elevator soon arrived on the 23rd floor. ¡°Uncle, I¡¯m already here. Where are you?¡±

    Xiao Gu slid out of the elevator silently. He hid around the corner and messaged Ol¡¯ Wong to ask for his location.

    ¡°The thief seems to have enter Room 3239. We¡¯re hiding in the room across from it. When youe over, make sure not to make too much noise.¡±

    Raising his head to look down the darkened corridor, Xiao Gu memorized the room number that he had been given before advancing. The only source of light in the corridor was Xiao Gu¡¯s phone. He looked at the closed doors that lined both sides of the corridor, and he slowed down.

    He moved further away from the elevator. When he was halfway there, Xiao Gu turned back to look. The number on the elevator shifted. It appeared like someone had called the elevator, or perhaps someone had entered the elevator. In any case, the elevator had returned to the first floor. If something dangerous happened then, it would be impossible to escape via the elevator. It would take at least one minute for the elevator toe back up again.

    <i>Someone ising up from the first floor? Is it the other guard? </i>Xiao Gu waited for a while and realized that the elevator was still at the first floor. He was suspicious, but before he could understand why, Ol¡¯ Wong started to rush him through WeChat.

    This triggered an rm in Xiao Gu.

    <i>Uncle Wong couldn¡¯t have typed so fast; the person sending the messages is not him!</i>

    Xiao Gu had already suspected that before, but he had believed that there was nothing worth getting from him. There were so many contacts on Ol¡¯ Wong¡¯s WeChat, so why was he selected?

    Xiao Gu slowed down. He called Ol¡¯ Wong again, and simrly, there was no answer. ¡°Don¡¯t want to pick up the phone but keep sending messages¡­ is it because the real messenger wants to hide their voice?¡±

    Not long ago, Xiao Gu met the madwoman in the third building. He had almost been brutally murdered. The experience had left a deep scar in his heart, but it had also taught him a valuable lesson¡ªone cannot be too careful. He did not dare move forward anymore but slowly nudged toward the elevator.

    <i>I should leave this building and get help from the other guards. </i>Xiao Gu regretted rushing into the elevator. Just hours ago, Ol¡¯ Wong had reminded him to not act so rashly. He stuck to the wall, and as he moved down the eerie corridor, he became more unsettled.

    <i>The elevator is still sitting on the first floor. This is weird. If someone on the first floor didn¡¯t call the elevator, why did it go down? Did someone enter the elevator on this floor when I wasn¡¯t paying attention?</i>

    In the silent corridor, Xiao Gu¡¯s phone suddenly vibrated. It gave him quite a scare. He lowered his head to look. There was another message from Ol¡¯ Wong. ¡°Have you arrived?¡±

    For some reason, when Xiao Gu saw this message, he panicked. He increased the speed of his retreating footsteps. He moved several meters, and there was another message on his phone. ¡°Are you there?¡±

    Xiao Gu stopped replying. He retreated to the elevator and pressed the button to call for it. The elevator that stopped at the first floor started to move. Xiao Gu stared at the number on disy, and his heart raced. The person who sent him the message seemed to sense something because the frequency of messaging drastically increased. Xiao Gu¡¯s phone kept vibrating, and the same message repeated itself.

    ¡°Are you there?¡±

    ¡°Are you there?¡±

    ¡°Are you there?¡±

    Now Xiao Gu was certain it was definitely not Ol¡¯ Wong on the other end of the line!

    The more he thought about it, the more scared he became. Seeing the messages that filled up his inbox, a chill ran through his body. <i>What is happening?</i>

    When the elevator reached the 11th floor, Ol¡¯ Wong suddenly stopped sending him messages. Xiao Gu sighed in relief. He swiped his sweating forehead and realized it was soaked in cold sweat. <i>Someone should have taken Ol¡¯ Wong¡¯s phone already. I need to leave before I¡¯m discovered.</i>

    Xiao Gu pressed on the button rapidly. When the elevator reached the 14th floor, he turned over his shoulder to look. One of the room doors at the end of the corridor creaked open, and a pale figure holding Ol¡¯ Wong¡¯s phone was poking their head out.

    ¡­

    ¡°My parents taught me to be aw-abiding citizen from a young age. That filled me with a sense of justice and cultivated the habit of helping others whenever I can. Therefore, when I saw people ignoring thew and harming the innocent, I had to apprehend them. I admit I might have acted a little bit emotionally, but the situation didn¡¯t allow me any other options. If I didn¡¯t act, more people would have gotten injured.¡±

    Chen Ge wiggled the handcuffs and announced openly in front of the three officers and Captain Yan that sat across from him in the interrogation room.

    ¡°That is the reason you used violence to knock them out?¡± The officer who sat next to Captain Yan frowned.

    ¡°But I¡¯m the victim here. After all, there are more of them than me.¡±

    ¡°Have you seen a victime to make a police report with two unconscious culprits?¡±

    ¡°They attacked me first; I was only acting in self-defense.¡±

    Chen Ge stared at the four policemen, who stared back at him. In the end, it was Captain Yan who coughed and said, ¡°Stop arguing. The officers who were sent out to verify the news should return shortly.¡±

 Chapter 273 - Xiao Gu, Run!

    <h4>Chapter 273: Xiao Gu, Run!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The interrogation room door was pushed open at 11 pm. Two officers walked into the room and ced two printed files on the table.

    ¡°Wei Wu, real name Zhang Wu, male, 36, works at a pharmaceuticalpany. He has been spotted going outte at night for the past six months and has been using his fake identity to rent many underground storage rooms. Investigation is still ongoing for his properties.¡±

    ¡°Kong Xiangming, real name Kong Yin. A wanted man on the run. Xing Hai police suspect this man is rted to two homicides.¡±

    Looking at the information on the table, Chen Ge sat up straighter. Things were even more sessful than he thought. Kong Xiangming was a wanted man. He did not even have to say much to prove his innocence.

    ¡°See, I¡¯m not lying to you, am I?¡± Chen Ge raised both of his hands. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but what is the reward for capturing a wanted man? Xing Hai is a bigger city than Jiujiang, so the reward money should be higher, right?¡±

    ¡°Reward money is decided by the department of public security; it has nothing to do with locality.¡± Captain Yan had the man beside him uncuff Chen Ge. He then personally poured a ss of water for Chen Ge. ¡°Tell me, how did you discover these two?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve told you. I¡¯m the victim!¡± Chen Ge pouted. Listening to him, the few policemen in the room felt their scalps numb.

    ¡°We believe you, but everything needs to be based on the evidence.¡± Since no one had any sign of saying anything, Captain Yan stepped forward. ¡°Don¡¯t mind it too much, but if there¡¯s a next time, try to take a lighter hand. If you identally take someone¡¯s life, things will be veryplicated.¡±

    Captain Yan did not know why he would say that, but he had a feeling this was only the beginning.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll try.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll personally go ask about the reward money for you tomorrow, so now can you tell us about these two?¡± Captain Yan was familiar with Chen Ge¡¯s personality, so he threw out the reward money as bait.

    ¡°Told you, I¡¯m really the victim.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice turned serious. ¡°You guys still remember how I identally came into the group of madmen detaining live hostages at the mental hospital, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Captain Yan seemed to remember something. ¡°The group of madmen had a picture of you entering the New Century Park, so do you mean these two people were sent by them to the Haunted House to disturb business?¡±

    ¡°Disturb my business?¡± Chen Ge shook his head and sighed. ¡°They were sent to kill me.¡±

    The interrogation room became quiet after he said that. Based on the investigation and their years of experience, the officers believed Chen Ge was right.

    ¡°This is part of their revenge against me.¡±

    ¡°Just because you exposed their secret at the abandoned mental hospital? That made them want to kill you?¡± a young looking officer at the table asked.

    ¡°They¡¯re all mental patients; their worldview is different from us.¡± Chen Ge thought about it, and he prepared to tell Captain Yan the things that he could reveal to prevent the police from having unnecessary sacrifices. ¡°After a short interaction, I realized these people¡¯s hearts have been fully twisted. They use their own twisted views to understand the world, and the scariest thing is they believe they are right and it is this world that is wrong. You cannot apply normal logic to them; they are extremely dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Mental patients going around killing people with a twisted worldview?¡± Captain Yan tapped lightly on the table. This was something he would subconsciously do when he was in deep thought.

    ¡°What I¡¯m saying is the truth. You have to be very careful; they¡¯re different from normal mental patients.¡±

    ¡°Different how?¡±

    ¡°During the day, they can act incredibly normal. Only when after midnight or when they¡¯re alone will their side that is ill be shown.¡± Chen Ge was giving Captain Yan¡¯s team a warning. This group of madmen were different from normal, and most of them were smarter than normal people.

    ¡°I understand. Most serial killers have deficiencies in terms of mental and spiritual health.¡± Captain Yan wanted to say something more when Chen Ge¡¯s phone rang.

    ¡°Xiao Gu?¡± Chen Ge nced at his phone and was quite surprised. ¡°Why is he calling me?¡±

    He was detained inside the interrogation room, so he asked Captain Yan, ¡°Do you mind if I answer this call? It¡¯s from my employee.¡±

    ¡°You can answer it here.¡± The few officers ced their absolute focus on Chen Ge. They perked up their ears to listen. Chen Ge picked up the call, and before he could move the phone to his ears, Gu Feiyu¡¯s scream at the top of the lungs came through. ¡°Brother Chen! Fang Hwa Apartments¡¯ third building! Uncle Wong has already...¡±

    The voice suddenly stopped. Xiao Gu¡¯s phone sounded like it was pped away by something and knocked into the wall. There were only running footsteps that could be heard in the call.

    ¡°Fang Hwa Apartments¡¯ third building?¡± Chen Ge did not end the call. He paid full attention, hoping to get more information. The sound of footsteps soon disappeared. It was unclear whether Xiao Gu had run to another floor or tragedy had befallen him.

    ¡°Chen Ge, what was that about?¡± The few officers leaned forward.

    ¡°It¡¯s at the third building again.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were rather scary. ¡°The bunch of crazies have reached out to attack my employee. They¡¯re inside Fang Hwa Apartments¡¯ third building!¡±

    The interrogation room was silent for a second before everyone mobilized. ¡°Call the local station! Get them moving instantly!¡±

    If this was before, Chen Ge would not have told the police. After all, Captain Yan would not have chosen to help him capture the members of the ghost stories society based on his few words. But things were different now. The police had confirmed that the two members that Chen Ge had caught were involved in many crimes. Chen Ge was not lying.

    ¡°Captain Yan, can you drop me off at New Century Park first? I need to go get something important.¡±

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Wu, you drive Xiao Chen.¡± Captain Yan seemed to morph into a different person. He walked out of the interrogation room and yelled, ¡°Stop dawdling! Get moving!¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Chen Ge chased after the man. ¡°Captain Yan, don¡¯t make too big amotion. I fear this is a premeditated n.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    After getting the promise from Captain Yan, Chen Ge took Ol¡¯ Wu¡¯s car to return to New Century Park. He grabbed the recorder and ballpoint pen, and since the police wereing with him, he did not take the hammer.

    <i>The ghost stories society targeted Xiao Gu mainly to get to me. They want to lead me there with Xiao Gu as bait. </i>Chen Ge did not n to take a big risk. He sat inside the police car and thought about it carefully. <i>Since you have set up such a big n, there has to be a trap. Conservatively speaking, I suspect there will be at least four members at Fang Hwa Apartments.</i>

    Chen Ge looked out the window at the night sky, and his finger traced the y button of the recorder. <i>But they won¡¯t be expecting me toe with the police.</i>

 Chapter 274 - Fatal Message [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 274: Fatal Message [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    At 11:34 pm, Chen Ge received a call from Captain Yan when he was still inside the police car.

    ¡°The situation is not looking good. The opponent is on high alert; they seem to have discovered us.¡± Captain Yan sent Chen Ge a picture on his phone. ¡°After our investigator entered the elevator, they discovered a phone that was left inside it. There was this message that they discovered inside the phone. It was still typing.¡±

    The picture was of Xiao Gu¡¯s phone. There was a weird paragraph in the typing space.

    ¡°Daddy killed us and ced us on the stairs.

    ¡°Big brother is lying behind me.

    ¡°Little brother is lying in front of me.

    ¡°Can you find us?¡±

    ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± Chen Ge looked at the message on Xiao Gu¡¯s phone, and he frowned with confusion. He did not quite understand the message that it was trying to say.

    ¡°I suspect they have noticed us, and that¡¯s why they purposely left us this message to find in the elevator.¡±

    ¡°Your team has entered the third building?¡± Chen Ge had already warned Captain Yan, telling them not to make such a hugemotion.

    ¡°The two teams of in clothes haven¡¯t entered Fang Hwa Apartments yet. Their vehicles are parked at the junction about 150 meters away from the building, but they are fully ready, just waiting for themand.¡±

    ¡°Then, how could you have been discovered? Did the scouting investigator slip up or something?¡±

    ¡°Impossible, the investigator that entered the third building to scout is our senior officer. He has seven years of experience and has helped us clear many impossible cases.¡± Captain Yan did not think the problemy with his men. ¡°Furthermore, the phone was the first thing he saw when the elevator opened. If they wanted to ce this phone without anyone seeing, they needed at least three minutes, and three minutes before this, our teams had not even entered Fang Hwa Apartments yet.¡±

    ¡°I understand what you mean. In other words, the suspects had ced the phone before you arrived.¡± When Chen Ge understood that, his face shifted. ¡°Where is the investigator that found the phone now?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s still inside the third building; it was he who sent me the picture.¡±

    ¡°Damn it! Get him out immediately!¡± Chen Ge understood that the reason the ghost stories society trapped Xiao Gu was to deal with him! So, the phone with the weird message was probably meant for him as well!

    After dealing with many ghosts, Chen Ge had discovered some rules about them. Including the Red Specters, most ghosts needed a medium if they wanted to do something in the physical world. For example, Zhang Ya¡¯s love letter, Xu Yin¡¯s tape, and the Pen Spirit¡¯s ballpoint pen. In turn, normal people needed these ¡®special items¡¯ as a trigger to allow them to interact with the other world.

    The message left on Xiao Gu¡¯s phone was probably one of these triggers. After reading the message, it meant that the person was targeted by one or several unknown ghosts.

    ¡°Understood.¡± Captain Yan did not ask for details. He used the internalmunication device to ask for the investigator to escape the scene immediately, but to his surprise, even though only minutes had passed, the investigator had already lost contact!

    ¡°This is bad!¡± Captain Yan did not hang up, so Chen Ge could hear him clearly.

    ¡°I still need 3 to 4 minutes before I arrive. Do not send any more people into the building!¡±

    The few officers on the other end of the phone were discussing ns. After several seconds, Chen Ge heard the door being open. It sounded like someone was looking for Captain Yan. After their brief conversation, Captain Yan told the man to stay in his vehicle while he picked up his phone to inform Chen Ge, ¡°The trainee of the investigator that I told you about just came to find me. He said that his instructor just sent him a WeChat message.¡±

    ¡°But weren¡¯t you unable to reach the investigator when you tried to contact him earlier?¡± Chen Ge was intrigued. ¡°What did the message say?¡±

    ¡°Just three words¡ªAre you there?¡±

    ¡°Are you there?¡±

    ¡°This message is definitely not sent by the investigator.¡± Captain Yan¡¯s voice turned serious. ¡°An experienced investigator would know not to send meaningless messages to his trainee when he is in the middle of a mission. If he needed any assistance or anything happened to him, the first person he should call is the chiefmander.¡±

    <i>Looks like something bad has already happened to that investigator. </i>Chen Ge did not say that out loud, but he did think it.

    ¡°No matter what has happened to him, we have prepared for the worst scenario.¡± An investigator could be in mortal danger. This meant that Captain Yan could not just wait outside the residential area anymore. ¡°Contact Team 1 and Team 2, we move out immediately! Go into the third building!¡±

    ¡°Captain Yan, don¡¯t act rashly! The mental patients hiding in that building are very dangerous!¡±

    ¡°The situation has changed. We can only do this now. Give your phone to Ol¡¯ Wu. Have him drive the car here to meet up with me.¡±

    People¡¯s lives were on the line; Chen Ge knew he would not be able to persuade Captain Yan, so hepromised. ¡°Captain Yan, you have to make sure the officer who received the message from the investigator does not step close to the building; he might have been targeted already.¡±

    After the investigator saw the message on Xiao Gu¡¯s phone, some tragedy befell him. After that, he immediately sent a curious message to his trainee. Chen Ge had a feeling there was something problematic about this. He thought back to what Xiao Gu told him when he made the call. The first thing he said was rted to Ol¡¯ Wong.

    He tried to arrange the information in his mind. After Xiao Gu got his job at the Haunted House, the chances of him returning to Fang Hwa Apartments for night patrol were extremely low. So why did he return to the third building?

    <i>Xiao Gu¡¯s incident is probably rted to Ol¡¯ Wong! Perhaps Ol¡¯ Wong sent him a message as well! </i>Chen Ge wanted to tell Captain Yan something else, but Captain Yan had already ended the call tomand the teams. Three minutester, Chen Ge finally arrived at Fang Hwa Apartments.

    ¡°Have you found the missing investigator?¡±

    ¡°Yes, thankfully, we found him at the corner of the staircase leading up to the second floor. Physically, he¡¯s fine, but he¡¯s unconscious. ording to the men that found him, his eyes were unfocused, and his face was pale.¡± Captain Yan stood beside the fleet. Holding their internalmunication device, his brows were creased deeply. ¡°Now I¡¯m curious; how did the culprit manage to knock out a perfectly healthy adult male with fighting experience in less than a few minutes?¡±

    When the two were conversing, said investigator had been taken out. There was a specialized unit looking after him. Chen Ge nced at the investigator¡¯s apparel. Without taking off his shirt, thus revealing the police undershirt, he looked just like a normal citizen. His identity would not have been discovered so easily.

    ¡°The ghost stories society probably took him as a stranger who identally walked into their trap. They see human lives as disposable and won¡¯t hold back even when facing an innocent, but this time, they have made a regrettable mistake.¡±

    When Chen Ge arrived at the 24th floor for the first time, Zhu Xiu had once requested the ghost stories society to help him evade thew enforcement. However, the ghost stories society had firmly rejected him. This little detail proved one important thing. The ghost stories society would not dare start an open conflict withw enforcement. They were like rats living in the shadows of the city, creating chaos and rot, but they would never face the light.

    ¡°Captain Yan, what about the phone left inside the elevator? Have your people found it?¡± Chen Ge asked another crucial question. The unfinished message left on Xiao Gu¡¯s phone was a trap left behind by the ghost stories society. Taking a look at it might lead to some serious bad luck.

    ¡°Team 1 has found it. It¡¯s now inside the evidence bag.¡± Captain Yan did not realize the severity of the situation, but Chen Ge was different. Too many people¡¯s lives were on the line; he did not dare to waste any more time. ¡°Captain Yan, the bunch of mental patients¡¯ real target is me; I cannot let other people fall victim on my behalf.¡±

    Then, he walked toward Fang Hwa Apartments.

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± If this was some other citizen, Captain Yan would have stopped him, but he knew Chen Ge was different. He took out a walkie-talkie from inside the vehicle and pushed it to Chen Ge. ¡°Do you know how to use this?¡±

    ¡°Yes, when my Haunted House still had quite a number of employees, every one of us had one.¡±

    ¡°Perfect.¡± Captain Yan still worried about him. He waved at Ol¡¯ Wu, who had driven Chen Ge over. ¡°You two go in together. At least you¡¯ll have the other person to watch your back.¡±

    Chen Ge did not reject Captain Yan¡¯s kindness, and he entered Fang Hwa Apartments with Ol¡¯ Wu. To revent the eruption of unnecessary panic, Captain Yan did not inform the tenants who stayed there, and the third building was eerily quiet. The dim light fell on the curiously white walls. Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Wu walked to stand beside the elevator.

    ¡°Captain Yan wants us to follow behind Team 2, so we¡¯ll head to the 5th floor immediately.¡± Ol¡¯ Wu had just confirmed the location of the two task forces on his walkie-talkie. ¡°Make sure you stay behind me, and don¡¯t wander off on your own.¡±

    Apprehending the culprit with the victim, that was something that was incredibly rare. However, considering the things that had happened to Chen Ge recently, Ol¡¯ Wu soon got over it. The man who was beside him used three weeks to fill up a whole row of filing cabs at the Serious Crimes Unit. Thinking about this, Ol¡¯ Wu subconsciously nudged to the side, introducing arger distance between him and Chen Ge.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Wu, let¡¯s go find Team 1 first! That phone is seriously problematic, and Team 1 is in grave danger because of it!¡± Chen Ge said urgently. The more they dragged this out, the higher the chance Team 1 mighte across danger.

    ¡°No, we can¡¯t do that. Captain Yan has given explicit orders for us to follow Team 2.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll just go to take a look at Team 1. If they¡¯re perfectly fine, we¡¯ll go meet up with Team 2.¡±

    ¡°Alright, fine.¡± Ol¡¯ Wu hesitated for a long time before entering the elevator with Chen Ge. He pressed the button for the 8th floor. ¡°Team 1 and Team 2 are each responsible for the stairwells on both sides of the building. Team 1¡¯s progress is faster than Team 2¡¯s, so the chance of them running into danger is also much higher. That is why Captain Yan wants us to stick to Team 2. He doesn¡¯t want us to put you in unnecessary danger.¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± Chen Ge answered absentmindedly. He looked at the number changes but his gaze kept wandering to the button that should not be there¡ª24. The two soon arrived at the 8th floor.

    By that point, Team 1 had already reached the 9th floor. They searched the floor one by one, and their speed was fast. Ol¡¯ Wu gained contact with the leader of Team 1 on the walkie-talkie, and the two entered the safety passage to gain ess to the ninth floor.

    They waited in the stairwell for a while until the team leader for Team 1 and two other officers ran out from the corridor. ¡°Why did you bring him with you?¡±

    The leader for Team 1 wasrge and muscr. When Chen Ge was interrogated at the station, the man had been sitting across from him. Chen Ge remembered Captain Yan calling him Lee Zheng.

    ¡°I¡¯m just following Captain Yan¡¯s orders.¡± Ol¡¯ Wu looked at the two men beside Lee Zheng. ¡°Why are there only three people in your group?¡±

    ¡°I had Xiao Jia and Ah Cheng are waiting for us at the other end of the corridor to prevent the suspects from running away when we¡¯re searching through the building.¡± Lee Zheng looked down the corridor. ¡°This is weird. Didn¡¯t youe across them when you came up?¡±

    When the man said so, Chen Ge had a bad feeling forming immediately. ¡°The phone that you guys picked up inside the elevator, is it with them?¡±

    ¡°Yes, what¡¯s wrong with that?¡± Lee Zheng knew Chen Ge¡¯s name already. Chen Ge¡¯s reputation had preceded him even before the interrogation incident at the police station that day. Then something hit him. Lee Zheng frowned. He took out his walkie-talkie and yelled down the darkened, horribly-lit corridor, ¡°Xiao Jia! Ah Cheng!¡±

    The man¡¯s booming voice echoed down the corridor. After a long time, the response finally came on Lee Zheng¡¯s walkie-talkie. ¡°Brother Zheng, I don¡¯t know what came over Xiao Jia; he kept running upstairs! I tried to make him exin it to me, but he is not responding in any way! We¡¯re now on the 14th floor, and I just caught up to him... Xiao Jia! What are you doing? Have you lost your mind?¡±

    There was chaos on the walkie-talkie followed by something heavy being thrown to the floor.

    ¡°Ah Cheng?¡± Lee Zheng gripped the walkie-talkie. He yelled behind him and led the remaining group member up the stairs. Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Wu also followed. The group ran up to the 14th floor, where they found Ah Cheng lying on the floor with his hands over his face. Blood seeped through the slits between his fingers.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Wu! The two of you escort Ah Cheng back down immediately.¡±

    ¡°Brother Zheng, I¡¯m fine. You have to go and get Xiao Jia; he looks like he was possessed!¡±

    Lee Zheng peeled Ah Cheng¡¯s fingers back slightly. There was a huge bite mark on his cheeks, and there was arge wound on the back of his hands.

    ¡°That phone, is it on Xiao Jia?¡± Of everyone there, Chen Ge could be considered the one that was the calmest and most collected. ¡°Did either one of you take a look at the message inside the phone?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t, but Xiao Jia did nce at it before putting it inside the evidence bag,¡± Ah Cheng answered honestly.

    <i>I knew it! It is rted to that message. </i>Chen Ge thought back to the content of the message. It was very weird, and he chewed on it in his mind. <i>Father has killed us and ced us on the stairs¡ªthe message should be hinting at the stairs, but what is the meaning of the pair of siblings ced one in front and one at the back? Also, why is the directive to find them at the end?</i>

    When Chen Ge was thinking about this, Lee Zheng had brought him men up to the 15th floor.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Wu, stay here and watch over Xiao Jia. I¡¯ll go take a look.¡± Chen Ge did not give Ol¡¯ Wu any chance to speak and ran up the stairs straight away. <i>The first investigator who read the message fainted, but Xiao Jia, the second officer who read the message, went berserk. Why is there this difference?</i>

    Lee Zheng did not want to split up his group, but they were afraid to miss the floor Xiao Jia could be at, so they chased up the stairs. Chen Ge did not have this worry. He ran to the 15th floor and then walked to the elevator. After he got into the elevator, he pressed the button for the 23rd floor. He nned to head directly to the most dangerous 23rd floor. After all, this was the floor that Xiao Gu mentioned on the phone. <i>Hopefully, Xiao Gu is still safe.</i>

    The elevator doors slowly closed, and Chen Ge kept his finger on the y button of the recorder. If he hade alone, he might really have fallen for the ghost stories society¡¯s trap, but this time, he hade with the police, and in terms of numbers, he had the advantage.

    The number on the elevator kept changing, and when the elevator reached the 21st floor, Chen Ge¡¯s phone suddenly vibrated.

    He clicked on the screen to open the message, and he was surprised to find a message from Xiao Gu¡¯s phone.

    ¡°Are you there?¡±

    After reading the message, Chen Ge replied to the number.

    ¡°Give me your location. I will go find you now.¡±

 Chapter 275 - The Ghost in His Heart! [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 275: The Ghost in His Heart! [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The person on the other end of the line did not seem to expect such a direct reply. The new message came after about ten seconds. ¡°I¡¯m hiding inside the dresser in Room 3239. There seem to be things around me.¡±

    ¡°Do you mind describing the shape and size of those things?¡± Chen Ge was toozy to type, so he sent a voice message.

    ¡°I cannot take a good look¡ªit is too dark in here¡ªbut I can sense their presence.¡±

    ¡°But don¡¯t you have your phone with you? Couldn¡¯t you turn on the shlight feature to take a better look around you?¡±

    ¡°I will be discovered.¡±

    ¡°Then how did you manage to hide inside Room 3239? Does this mean you have the key?¡±

    ¡°No, the door was open, so I snuck in immediately.¡±

    ¡°What about Ol¡¯ Wong?¡±

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Wong?¡±

    The conversation had been going back and forth very quickly until this point. On Chen Ge¡¯s side, it showed that the other party was typing, but there was no new message.

    <i>Did I kill the conversation? </i>Chen Ge waited for a long time, but there was still no reply. He took out his phone and sent ¡®Xiao Gu¡¯ a message. ¡°Are you there?¡±

    When the elevator arrived at 23rd floor, Chen Ge had already sent thirteen of the same message.

    ¡°Are you there?¡±

    When he was about to send the fourteenth one, Chen Ge realized that he had been blocked. <i>You¡¯re the one who harassed me, but you¡¯re also the one who blocked me; what¡¯s wrong with you?</i>

    He walked out of the elevator and pressed the y button on the recorder.

    The bloodied tape slowly turned. Chen Ge narrowed his pupils, lowering the influence darkness had on him to its lowest. <i>Well, fret no more because I¡¯m here to correct you.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s nerves tensed as he leaned toward the wall. Then he slowly walked down the corridor.

    <i>After reading the message on the phone, Xiao Jia lostplete control of himself and even injured his partner by biting him. This means that the ghost hiding in the dark should have the power to influence a person¡¯s mind. The blood face of the ghost stories society had a simr power, but the blood face needed to be close to their target and morph into the same facial features of their target before they could initiate their power.</i>

    <i>This is a special type of ghost. Normally, these ghosts that have special powers aren¡¯t be good atbat, like the Pen Spirit.</i>

    When Chen Ge came, he did not bring Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer or the cleaver. He pushed his hand into his pocket to grab at the ballpoint pen inside it while his other hand held onto the wall. He was afraid that the door before him would suddenly open and a ghost head would stick its head in. Counting the number on the door, Chen Ge soon arrived at Room 3239. He wiggled with doorknob, but the door did not move.

    <i>Should be this room. </i>He knocked on the door. ¡°Is anyone there?¡±

    The bloodied tape created a shrill white noise; it felt as if Xu Yin was warning Chen Ge. He knocked on the door several times, and to Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, a man¡¯s voice did eventuallye out from within Room 3239. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m here! Who is disturbing people sote at night? What do you want?¡±

    <i>Someone is in? </i>Chen Ge was actually more surprised than the man inside the room. He knew this was either someone who had been taken control by the ghost stories society or the man inside the room himself was the member of the ghost stories society. He was severely anxious, and his attention was pulled taut.

    Fang Hwa Apartments¡¯ room doors all came with a doubleyer and soon the door inside was pulled open. A man about 1.7 meters tall stood inside the room, looking at Chen Ge with a cold expression. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here to assist the police in capturing a fugitive. In a minute, the rest of the police troop will arrive.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s tone and mannerisms were a perfect mimic of Captain Yan.

    ¡°Another fugitive?¡± The man¡¯s face turned even harsher. His brows were creased together.

    ¡°Hubby, what¡¯s wrong?¡± A woman about thirty walked out of the living room.

    ¡°There¡¯s another fugitive apparently.¡±

    ¡°Wait, didn¡¯t we just have a fugitive sneak into this ce a few days ago? This ce is so dangerous. How many times has this happened now?¡± The woman¡¯s voice turned shrill. ¡°I¡¯ve told you, we should move from this ce as soon as possible, but you just refuse to listen to me!¡±

    ¡°Move, move, move? Where do you suggest we move to?¡± The man¡¯s temper was lit up. Neither of them was backing down, and an argument soon started. Chen Ge looked at them with a detached gaze. He was unable to be sure whether they were members of the ghost stories society, but his instinct told him that there was something off about this couple.

    <i>When people are in the middle of an argument, they would hold the other person¡¯s gaze. Compelled by emotions, they might even use their nonverbal actions; however, these two don¡¯t do that. Their bodies are extremely awkward. Is it because they don¡¯t want to act out because I¡¯m here, or is this all just a show? </i>The argument went on for a while before the woman left the man at the door and strode back into the room.

    The man looked like he was harboring a great ball of fire, and his attitude toward Chen Ge was harsh and pointed. ¡°We¡¯re tenants of this building; we have not seen any fugitives or heard any weird noise. Go along and disturb someone else.¡±

    Normally, one would not have opened the door for people to enter at the middle of the night. Chen Ge had expected that. If the man suddenly opened the door and allowed him to inspect the interior, Chen Ge would really have needed to be careful.

    ¡°I just have a few questions for you.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the few adjacent doors. ¡°Do you know your neighbors well?¡±

    ¡°The rooms next to us are all empty, and there¡¯s a single man living opposite from us. He just moved in one or two months ago, and he rarely leaves his room, so can¡¯t say I know much about him.¡±

    ¡°When was thest time you saw him?¡±

    ¡°Probably Wednesday night. I came back home three hourster than usual due to overtime, and I ran into him at the elevator.¡±

    ¡°Wednesday night? Elevator?¡± Chen Ge immediately tied the man in the opposite room to the ghost stories society. ¡°Do you know the man¡¯s name?¡±

    ¡°No idea.¡± The man mmed the door shut after that. The sound of the door closing echoed down the corridor. Chen Ge stood in the middle of the corridor, and he turned to face the room opposite from Room 3239.

    ¡°Could a member of the ghost stories society be hiding inside this room?¡± There was suspicion in his eyes. The couple in Room 3239 might have looked normal, but they had ¡®inadvertently¡¯ revealed several pieces of key information to Chen Ge¡ªWednesday and the elevator. Only members of the ghost stories society would know such details. <i>Did they do that on purpose? Is their aim to lure me to the opposite room?</i>

    Chen Ge did not know whether this was a coincidence or a trap. Ever since he gained the ck phone, he had be more and more cautious. His right hand curled around the ballpoint pen, and his left hand grabbed the doorknob of the room opposite from Room 3239. Chen Ge turned the doorknob, and the door slowly opened.

    <i>It¡¯s not locked? </i>When he realized that the door was not locked, Chen Ge immediately took a step back. The real trap should be this room opposite from Room 3239. Just as he released his grasp on the doorknob, a bloody hand the size of a child reached out to grab him!

    It missed, but they were just centimeters away from each other!

    <i>What was that?</i>

    In the dark corridor, the door creaked open slowly. As if climbing out of the door, there was a little boy with tiny limbs, arge head, and a face that was purple from ack of oxygen!

    What made Chen Ge¡¯s heart quiver was that the boy was wearing a red shirt!

    The twisted lips slowly opened to reveal a row of uneven teeth. The boy seemed to be smiling.

    ¡°Daddy killed us and ced us inside the door.

    ¡°Big brother is hiding behind the door.

    ¡°And he told me to hide in front of the door.¡±

    Just as the boy finished, another misshapen head poked out from inside the room. Its face was bloated, and the eyes were almost popping out of their sockets.

    ¡°Daddy killed us and ced us inside the door.

    ¡°Little brother is hiding in front of the door.

    ¡°And he told me to hide behind the door.¡±

    Both boys had curious expressions. They climbed out of the door and stood before Chen Ge, one standing in front, the other at the back. Fresh blood trickled down their bodies to form blood vessels that slowly crept away. They were like millipedes crawling on the ground and walls. The corridor became very dangerous, but the ghost stories society¡¯s trick was not done yet.

    A white shadow slowly crawled out from Room 3239. It was the white shadow that escaped from the woman who killed Xu Yin. There was only one third of its body left. It looked like it was trying to escape. It crawled on the carpet of blood vessels, but its body was quickly dragged back into the room, and there was soon the sound of chewinging from behind the door.

    <i>There are other monsters inside that room? </i>Chen Ge was unfortunate enough to be right. A hand covered with blood vessels reached out. It looked no bigger than a normal person¡¯s hand, but the thing that rmed Chen Ge was the hand seemed to have been serious scorched. There were no finger prints.

    The air in the corridor seemed to coagte. A thick smell of blood filled the air. The air pressed on one boy¡¯s head like a kind father tussling its beloved child¡¯s hair. ¡°He has found us, so now it is your time to find him.¡±

    The man¡¯s voice was throaty and raw. It sounded like he had consumed highly corrosive things before. Just the voice alone made Chen Ge¡¯s skin crawl. After hearing the man¡¯s voice, the two boys with Red Shirts gave an extremely happy smile, and they replied in unison, ¡°Yes, Father.¡±

    The broken faces rushed toward Chen Ge. Xu Yin could barely handle one Red Specter, much less two. Chen Ge was under immense pressure, to a degree that he had not felt before. Without hesitation, he yelled out the name on the cursed love letter. ¡°Zhang Ya!¡±

    Like water dripping into a deep well, ripples started to form in Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. The crawling blood vessels suddenly stopped moving. Even the hand that hung outside the door with no fingerprint shuddered slightly. ck hair crawled out of Chen Ge¡¯s shadow like waves. It crashed into the walls on both sides of the corridor, using this powerful and violent method to crush all the blood vessels that were heading toward Chen Ge.

    The temperature on the 23rd floor continued to drop. Zhang Ya¡¯s beautiful face appeared behind Chen Ge. That bone-chilling presence was hiding a soul that was burning with passion!

    ¡°This is the ghost in your heart?¡± The man slowly walked out from behind the door. He was wearing arge red jacket, and even though he was wearing a mask on his face, the mask did nothing to hide the man¡¯s face that waspletely ruined.

    ¡°Zhang Ya, be careful!¡± Chen Ge decided to take a step back from the battlefield. He would bepletely useless in the battle between Red Specters anyway. Chen Ge¡¯s reminder fell on deaf ears. After all, Zhang Ya would not have listened to him anyway.

    Without wasting time talking or testing, Zhang Ya¡¯s eyes filled with resentment, and her ck hair rose up like waves, scratching the walls as it rushed toward the two boys!

    Blood vessels entwined with ck hair as they crashed forward like engulfing waves. Chen Ge hid behind Zhang Ya while contemting something else in his mind.

    <i>The man controlling the two boys in red shirt should be Patient 10 from the Third Sick Hall. </i>The man¡¯s face, his body, and even the finger prints on the man¡¯s hands had been burned off. This fitted the description for Patient 10 perfectly.<i>The Haunted House recovered all the sickrooms in Third Sick Hall, and the walls of Room 10 had a thorough recording of its upant¡¯s history. The reason for his madness was the ident that killed his two children. The immense guilt and continuous trauma caused his mental breakdown.</i>

    Everything matched perfectly. Chen Ge did not think that he would face the scariest patient from Third Sick Hall that night!

    He had underestimated the ghost stories society¡¯s desire to kill him. They had probably started drafting this murder plot after they lost contract with Kong Xiangming and Wei Wu. With a strategist like Wu Fei, who was smarter than normal people, they would not make the same mistake twice. The ghost stories society might have sent out all its members tonight!

    Zhang Ya¡¯s appearance did not give Chen Ge any security. After all, Patient 10 alone had two Red Specters, and other than him, the ghost stories society still had six remaining members!

    BANG!

    The blood vessels exploded, and Zhang Ya¡¯s ck hair curled tightly around one of the boys¡¯ necks, mming him heavily on the ground. Weirdly enough the boy did not seem to feel any pain. In fact, there was a smile on his misshapen face. ¡°Big brother, I¡¯m running out of breath.¡±

    The already crooked head grew bigger, and blood vessels started to surface on his face. It appeared like his head was about to be popped by the leash of ck hair around his neck.

    At this crucial point, however, the other Red Specter and the man who stood by the door did not seem willing to help. The man even ordered the older brother to jump over Zhang Ya to focus his attack on Chen Ge.

    The ck hairpletely covered the younger brother. After a blood-chilling scream, the blood vessels did not get absorbed by the ck hair but seeped out through the seams to slowly form a new boy standing not far away. His head was smaller, and the red on his body lighter, but other than that, he was no different from before.

    ¡°What are you two waiting for?¡± The man with the ruined face growled with pain in his voice. Other than that, there was a trace of anger as well.

    ¡°We just wanted to wait until things were more stable. After all, the ghost in his heart is definitely stronger than most.¡± The door to Room 3239 slowly opened. The pair of husband and wife walked out from it. There was a thin monster standing on the man¡¯s shoulders while the woman walked backwards. The blood face on the back of her head was shing a creepy smile.

    The two walked outughing. They assumed victory was already theirs. However, to their surprise, when the door was open, the ck hair rushed at them and curled around their bodies like a huge python.

    Facing four baleful specters at once? And two of them were Red Specters!

    The man and woman looked at each other. They saw fear, terror, shock, and despair reflected in each other¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you can halt the monster on the target¡¯s body?¡± the woman screamed, but that was all she managed to get out before the ck hair surged into the holes on the blood face.

    The man was screaming as well. The thin monster wanted to curl back into the man¡¯s body, but it was already toote. The ck hair tightened its grasp as it slowly pulled the monster out from the man.

    ¡°One versus four?¡± The man with the ruined face slowly clenched his wounded hand. He had thought that this was a perfect n, but there was still unforeseeable problem.

    The ck hair was like a river rushing through the blood red world. In her fluttering red dress, Zhang Ya stood silently in the middle of the corridor. She heard the man¡¯s voice and slowly moved her gaze away from Chen Ge.

    When her eyes fell on the man with the ruined face, her eyes twinkled like she had found a brand-new toy.

 Chapter 276 - Just a Little More

    <h4>Chapter 276: Just a Little More</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The man with the ruined face felt pressured from being targeted by the Red Specter. Compared to the manic gaze standing amid the pool of ck hair, his cruelty and madness paled inparison. He could feel the enmity directed his way.

    ¡°Stop her!¡± The two boys controlled the blood vessels, trying to stop Zhang Ya, but they were powerless before the waves of ck hair. The two of them could barely protect themselves.

    ¡°Useless!¡± The ruined man¡¯s face twisted. He was not powerful enough to face Zhang Ya. His main source of power was the two Red Specters that were made from the souls of his two children. Berated by their father, the two boys started to scream. Their bloated heads squeezed out more blood vessels, and they used their bodies to block Zhang Ya¡¯s path.

    Ravaged by the ck hair, the two boys¡¯ bodies were torn apart once more. The blood vessels seeped through the ck hair, but the boys¡¯ rate of recovery had slowed down conspicuously.

    ¡°It¡¯s impossible for there to be such a powerful Red Specter! How many baleful specters has she consumed already?¡± The man was in throes of disbelief. After so much nning, the cooperation of so many members were unable to deal with Chen Ge!

    There was regret crossing his eyes. He saw his two boys being torn apart again, and his heart was bleeding. ¡°Just a little bit more...¡±

    Both Room 3239 and the room opposite from it were set up with traps. As long as Chen Ge had stepped into either one of them, he would have been killed instantly. There would not have been a chance for him to summon his ghost. When the boys were squeezed until they popped for the fifth time, the scars on the man¡¯s ruined face throbbed violently. There was a sensation that had not appeared in his heart for a long time¡ªFear.

    The man grabbed his arms. His fingers dug into the scars, and blood dyed his fingers red. ¡°This is such a horrible experience.¡±

    The wounds were torn open, and blood leaked out. The man seemed to be acting up. His hands kept tightening. ¡°What should I do? What should I do? What should I do?¡±

    The two boys were squeezed until they exploded. They recovered and rushed forward again. They tried everything they could, but they could not stop Zhang Ya.

    She was getting close!

    The blood trailed down her fingers andnded on the floor. The man with the ruined face felt like retreating. He glowered at Chen Ge, who stood behind Zhang Ya.

    ¡°Looks like I¡¯ll have to sacrifice that thing.¡± The man plucked out his fingers from his open wound. His blood formed a trail in the air. He took out a wooden box from his pocket; the interior of the box was left with an inky ck blood stain.

    The few baleful specters showed signs of losing control¡ªthe ck blood stain seemed to be highly attractive to them!

    The man gave some orders silently, and then he grabbed the wooden box and ran down the corridor, abandoning the two boys. The ck hair slithered on the ground like snakes. There was greed in Zhang Ya¡¯s gaze like a glutton spotting their favorite food.

    After tearing the boys up for the seventh time, Zhang Ya lost her patience. All the ck hair rushed toward the man. The blood vessels from the carcasses of the two boys morphed into blood globules, and they moved behind Zhang Ya with a speed that was observable to the naked eye. Their speed was very fast, and soon, the blood gathered together. A monster that looked like conjoined twins was reborn behind Zhang Ya.

    ¡°Not good!¡± Chen Ge ran down the staircase behind him without hesitation. The man with the ruined face had made hisst bet. He was going to use himself as bait to create the chance to kill Chen Ge!

    ¡°We¡¯ve... found you!¡± The conjoined twins crawled at Chen Ge with surprising speed. Chen Ge had greatly underestimated the power of the Red Specters. They had been limited by Zhang Ya¡¯s ck hair earlier, so they did not have the chance to disy their true power.

    With its ability to morph into blood vessels and be reborn as well as its high mobility, if Chen Ge faced this thing alone, his chance of survival was zero.

    ¡°Xu Yin! Chen Yalin!¡± Chen Ge called out all the ghosts that he could manage to buy time for himself.

    A girl with a purplish face and a man wearing half a red shirt appeared in the corridor. They stood side by side, blocking the conjoined twins. To Chen Ge¡¯s despair, the monsterpletely ignored Xu Yin and the Pen Spirit. Its fingers covered with blood vessels seemed to cut through their bodies like a knife.

    His wounds opened, and Xu Yin was knocked into the wall. One of his arms was torn off. The Pen Spirit also suffered grievous wounds when she was touched by the blood vessels. Her body faded like she was about to disappear. However, they were not the conjoined twin¡¯s target. After damaging the two baleful specters, it charged at Chen Ge without decreasing in speed!

    There were no other ghosts he could summon. Chen Ge realized how few employees he had at his Haunted House. The conjoined twins¡¯ heads were radiating with a horrible stench. Their facial features were shifting. The crooked lips hung open, and thepletely unrecognizable faces were staring at Chen Ge. ¡°We¡¯ve found you!¡±

    When they were about one meter away, the conjoined twins suddenly slowed down. Its bulging eyes turned to the side. The male ghost with one of his arms torn apart was using his remaining arm to hold onto the conjoined twins¡¯ leg!

    A blood red hand reached for Xu Yin¡¯s arm. The conjoined twins picked Xu Yin up from the floor, aiming to tear him in half. His body split open down the middle. The wound that was left behind by his beloved leaked out blood. ¡°So painful, so painful!!¡±

    Xu Yin ignored his half-torn body and tried his best to bite at the conjoined twins. The cruelty of the battle between baleful specters could not be put into words. Chen Ge knew that the current Xu Yin was no match for the Red Specter. He was only trying to buy him time.

    ¡°I need to meet up with the police immediately!¡± He ran out the corridor. When he was almost at the stairwell, a bespectacled man ran up the stairs. When Chen Ge saw the man, his heart skipped a beat. It was not the police but Manager Huang.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Quick, follow me!¡± Manager Huang gasped for air with his hands holding onto the railing. He extended his hand toward Chen Ge like he was going to bring Chen Ge to safety.

    Looking at that hand, Chen Ge took a deliberate step back.

    The night when he entered the ghost stories society, Manager Huang had also been inside the third building. When he reached the lobby, Manager Huang had been lecturing Xiao Gu. The other suspicious point was the additional number on the elevator. A 24th floor that did not exist, the manager of the residential area had to know about it, but he did not do anything to remove it. Removing the number from the elevator would not have taken too much time.

    Furthermore, Fang Hwa Apartments was the gathering ce for ghost stories society, but there was no trace of them on the surveince. Someone might have helping them from the dark, and that someone was probably rted to Fang Hwa Apartments.

    Sensing Chen Ge¡¯s suspicious gaze, Manager Huang knew that he had probably been exposed already. He removed his disguise and slowly turned around to reveal the blood face on the back of his head. ¡°I don¡¯t want to do this, but after joining the society, I too have be a monster...¡±

    While Manager Huang wasmenting his face, Chen Ge took out the walkie-talkie that Captain Yan had given him, and he pressed the button and shouted, ¡°23rd floor! All four killers are on the 23rd floor!¡±

 Chapter 277 - Even the Shadow Is in the Shape of Love

    <h4>Chapter 277: Even the Shadow Is in the Shape of Love</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Seeing how Chen Ge took out the walkie-talkie from his pocket like magic, the other half of Manager Huang¡¯s words were stuck in his throat.

    ¡°You¡¯re a police officer?¡± His reaction was one beat slower.

    When he realized the situation was getting out of hand, Chen Ge already received the reply from Team 1¡¯s leader, Lee Zheng. ¡°Hang in there! We¡¯reing!¡±

    There were rushing footsteps echoing up the stairs. Team 1 was not far away!

    Manager Huang¡¯s face fell. When he created his own ghost stories, there were victims who tried to call the police as well, but there would be a process of taking out their phone and calling the police. However, Chen Ge pulled a walkie-talkie out of his chest pocket without warning. Plus, Manager Huang did not get the feeling of a cop from Chen Ge!

    Resentment, fear, and screams were a baleful specter¡¯s favorite food. Manager Huang was forced to do some cruel and scary things to prevent himself from being eaten by the monster possessing him. However, the man before him was cultivating three baleful specters on his own, and it included the scariest Red Specter. Based on the standard of the ghost stories society, the lives this man had imed would not be less than ten!

    However, this butcher whose hands were covered with blood also worked with the police?

    Incensed, Manager Huang knew that things would not be so easily settled tonight. Even after he killed Chen Ge, the identity that he was using then would have to be abandoned. ¡°This is all because of you!¡±

    The things that happened in the shadows had to be dealt with using the rules that governed the shadows. However, none of them expected there would be a ¡®traitor¡¯ among them!

    The blood face¡¯s reaction was much more violent than Manager Huang¡¯s. The face knitted from blood flew toward Chen Ge. In that process, the facial feature had started to morph into Chen Ge¡¯s face.

    <i>This thing again. </i>Chen Ge used the walkie-talkie to swipe at the blood face, but it was to no avail. His assault just passed through the blood face, he could not even touch his enemy.

    ¡°Killing you or temporarily taking control of your body might give me a chance to escape.¡± Only Chen Ge knew Manager Huang¡¯s real identity. If the blood face took over Chen Ge and made him shut up permanently, Manager Huang still had a chance at escaping.

    When the blood face was close to Chen Ge¡¯s face, the man¡¯s pupils suddenly transformed into narrow slits like those of a cat, and they radiated a chilly forcefield.

    ¡°Yin Yang Vision!¡± However, that was only enough to stop the blood face for half a second. Thankfully, that half a second was all Chen Ge needed. He thrust with his legs and sprung forward to do something crazy.

    He knocked into Manager Huang, sending both of them careening down the stairs. His arms were scratched, and pain radiated through his body. However, to Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, the pain onlysted for a moment before it disappeared.

    When his vision returned to normal, after Chen Ge stood up and prepared to run down the stairs, he realized the joints of his body were wrapped in ck hair.

    <i>Zhang Ya? </i>Other than some surface bruises, Chen Ge waspletely unharmed.

    However, the same could not be said for Manager Huang, who was slowly being dragged up the stairs by the ck hair.

    The blood face was punctured, and Manager Huang was unconscious. His body was twisted in various angles after being dragged by the ck hair.

    Chen Ge turned around and looked up the 22nd floor stairwell. Zhang Ya, dressed in red, stood quietly on the 23rd floor. The waterfall of ck hair behind her was binding the conjoined twins, blood face, and thin monster. It formed a river that flooded the entire corridor.

    The red dress was as bright as blood, and the ck hair pooled around her legs. The ugly and scary monsters screamed and groaned before being torn into pieces and swallowed. To be honest, Chen Ge was quite frantic when he saw this.

    Zhang Ya moved toward Chen Ge, and the bone-chilling fear and heavy smell of blood permeated Chen Ge¡¯s senses. There was another change to Zhang Ya¡¯s body. She seemed to have obtained the thing she wanted.

    The lowered head tilted upward, and the ck hair parted like curtains. Zhang Ya¡¯s face stopped several centimeters away from the tip of Chen Ge¡¯s nose. She looked into Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, and her pale, lifeless hands were carrying a normal-looking wooden box.

    ¡°For me?¡± The moment Chen Ge opened his lips, a cold draft sucked into his body. He epted the wooden box and opened it to take a look. The ck blood stain had disappeared, and in its ce was a weird looking doll.

    ¡°The man with the ruined face!¡± The doll was one-tenth the size of the man. His mask had been taken away. Other than the eyes, the rest of his facial features had been ground t. He had no nose or lips, just like a devil in people¡¯s nightmare.

    ¡°You¡¯ve turned him into a toy?¡± The doll in the box was a soul that had been pulled out of his physical body. The scary face turned left and right. Chen Ge could feel the wicked presence radiating off it.

    Zhang Ya had also taken out Zhu Xiu¡¯s soul to make a toy when she dealt with her killer.

    Chen Ge¡¯s hair stood on end looking at the man who struggled inside the box. This was the second scariest present that he had received in his life; the first was undeniably Zhang Ya¡¯s love letter.

    ¡°Thank you, I... like this present a lot. You¡¯re the first girl who has given me a present.¡±

    Zhang Ya moved her gaze away when she heard Chen Ge say that. She lowered her head like she did not want Chen Ge to see her expression. However, Chen Ge could sense the joy in her heart.

    The ck hair continued to move. Chen Ge could not believe that while they were having this ¡®friendly conversation¡¯ on the 22nd floor, the ck hair was still consuming the monsters on the 23rd floor.

    The ck hair slowly returned to Zhang Ya. Chen Ge caught sight of Xu Yin¡¯s broken body, and his lips fell open. He immediately told Zhang Ya, ¡°Wait a minute! The young man who is screaming pain and the girl in school uniform are my friends, please don¡¯t hurt them!¡±

    The good atmosphere was thus ruined. When Zhang Ya raised her head again, she had returned to her usual self. Xu Yin and the Pen Spirit were ejected from the river of ck hair. The ck hair curled upon itself, crushing the other monsters, bathing the corridor with fresh blood.

    Zhang Ya¡¯s body wavered like she was feeling sleepy. She raised her head to look at Chen Ge before walking past him. When Chen Ge turned around, she had already disappeared.

    However, the chilliness behind his back did not dissipate. Chen Ge felt like there was a pair of resentment-filled eyes following him. After two minutes, when he heard Lee Zheng¡¯s voiceing from downstairs, the feeling finally left.

    Chen Ge¡¯s body was frozen solid. He copsed to the floor and summoned back the seriously injured Xu Yin and Pen Spirit before shoving the weird box into his pocket.

    The presents given by Zhang Ya were scarier than the one preceding it. First it was a candy made from human soul, and now there was a ¡®toy¡¯ made from a mad murderer.

    Chen Ge turned back to look with a bitter smile. With the light on his phone, he discovered with a shock... his shadow did not reflect himself!

    The faded lightnded on him, but the shadow was that of a long-haired woman!

    Chen Ge changed his words without hesitation. ¡°But these gifts are too precious! There was never a girl who was this nice to me! I¡¯ll remember this feeling for as long as I live!¡±

 Chapter 278 - Another Spin at the Wheel

    <h4>Chapter 278: Another Spin at the Wheel</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°We¡¯ve found Xiao Jia. He¡¯s unconscious, but physically, he¡¯s fine.¡± Lee Zheng paused before adding, ¡°But that Chen Ge seems to be facing some problems.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Chen is injured? Where are you! I¡¯ll be there in a minute!¡± Captain Yan¡¯s voice could be heard on the walkie-talkie.

    ¡°No, he¡¯s fine, but he probably went through some trauma. After all, when we received his distress call, both he and the four mental patients were on the 23rd floor. He probably went through something traumatic.¡± Lee Zheng looked at Chen Ge, who sat frozen on the stairs, and he did not feel so good.

    Initially, he had a bad impression of Chen Ge. Especially inside the interrogation room, he thought Chen Ge was being incredibly proud. However, when he heard Chen Ge cry for help earlier, he put aside all his prejudice and led his men to save Chen Ge, but he was still one step toote.

    As the team leader for the investigation team at the city police station, Lee Zheng knew how rare it was for a victim of an attack to survive. The physical wound might heal over time, but the mental scars would probably remain forever.

    ¡°If only we got here sooner.¡± He wanted to encourage Chen Ge, but he did not know what to say.

    Chen Ge sat on the stairs between the 22nd and 23rd floors. He had been staring at his shadow for about ten minutes already, and he realized something scary.

    His shadow was not changing back!

    When the light hit him, he could see two shadows ovepping over one another.

    <i>Something has changed within Zhang Ya. Previously she was hiding inside my shadow, but now she wants to morph into my shadow!</i>

    Chen Ge thought back to the curious reaction that Zhang Ya had shown when she saw the wooden box.

    <i>The ck blood stain inside the box must be really important to her. ck-colored blood? Red Specter? Is there a rtionship between them? After absorbing that ck blood, has her power broken through another limit?</i>

    The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. Chen Ge looked at his own shadow, and Zhang Ya¡¯s shadow was slowly recing his. It looked like she was nning to follow him forever, until he no longer cast a shadow.

    His finger touched the wooden box that was by his chest. Honestly, this was the first time a girl had given him a present. It was wrong on so many levels, but it also felt quite nice.

    <i>This is such a weird feeling.</i>

    No matter what happened to Zhang Ya in the future, one thing was for sure¡ªhe would never say anything negative about Zhang Ya ever again.

    <i>Temporarily, there should be no worry. After Zhang Ya swallowed the hospital presidentst time, she was asleep for several days, and I had to call her to wake up. This time, Zhang Ya has consumed two full Red Specters, two blood faces, one thin monster, and that mysterious ck blood. She will probably will down for quite a while after such a feast.</i>

    Zhang Ya was Chen Ge¡¯s main fighting force. With Zhang Ya¡¯s presence, Chen Ge had managed to beat the ghost stories society; without Zhang Ya, Chen Ge would not have been able to deal with one Red Specter.

    <i>The man with the ruined face, the couple, and Manager Huang¡ªafter removing four of them, the society only has three members left.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s face was calm, his thoughts unreadable.

    <i>The remaining three include the chairperson, No. 10, and Wu Fei. Currently, I still cannot confirm their identities, but one thing¡¯s for sure¡ªthese three are extremely dangerous and cunning.</i>

    <i>The society sent out a full party, and they failed to kill me, so temporarily, they won¡¯t be making any moves.</i>

    Zhang Ya was still asleep. Even though Chen Ge could not stop the ¡®love¡¯ from Zhang Ya, at the same time, it was undeniable that he had entered a period of weakness. If the society sent out another two Red Specters, it would tten his Haunted House.

    It was then that Chen Ge suddenly missed Zhang Ya. Without her, Chen Ge felt so unsafe. <i>The number of visitors has been climbing recently, and the Haunted House has collected so many screams. Perhaps it¡¯s time to spin the wheel again.</i>

    Chen Ge did not want to use the Wheel of Misfortune, but he could not think of a better way to increase his power in a short amount of time. He needed more party members.

    <i>The ck blood is something mysterious. When Zhang Ya awakens again, she might have morphed into a new stage already.</i>

    Something that was scarier than a Red Specter... Chen Ge shuddered just from the thought of it. Holding the railing, Chen Ge tried to stand up. His body was covered in dust, and his arms were scratched. He looked like he might fall any time soon.

    ¡°Be careful.¡± Lee Zheng stayed by his side, so when he saw Chen Ge try to stand up, he immediately went to help.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. Please help me find Xiao Gu and Ol¡¯ Wong; I can look after myself.¡± Chen Ge did not know why Lee Zheng¡¯s attitude toward him had changed so suddenly. He had a feeling Lee Zheng had misunderstood something, but he was in no mood to exin himself.

    The two returned to 23rd floor. The monsters had all been consumed by Zhang Ya, so the members of the society were heavily damaged mentally and unconscious. The man who looked the scariest was lying in the middle of the corridor like a vegetable. His eyes were open, and they were soulless.

    Lee Zheng looked at this with a frown. A weird thought bubbled up in his mind.<i>Howe these people look like the real victims?</i>

    No one knew what had really happened on the 23rd floor. The only witness imed that he had tripped on the stairs and knocked his head. He could not remember anything except that he was being chased.

    Pushing open Room 3239¡¯s door, Lee Zheng smelled something like blood. He rushed into the bathroom and saw a family of three lying unconscious in a pool of their own blood. Their wrists were cut open like it was a bloodletting ritual.

    ¡°There¡¯s still breathing! Come over and help, call the ambnce!¡±

    Team 2 had already arrived. They hauled the real victims out of the room. Chen Ge could not be of much help. He stood in the corner of the room and quietly inspected the weird drawing on the wall.

    The drawing that was painted in fresh blood looked like some sort of alphabet. When Chen Ge got near, the ghosts he was carrying shuddered.

    <i>Words that can make specters feel fear? Looks like the ghost stories society does have some power.</i>

    He was thankful that he did not walk into this room. After several minutes of inspection, he took out his phone to snap a picture of the drawing.

    The drawing on the wall slowly faded without the contribution of fresh blood, losing its function.

    Exiting Room 3239, Chen Ge and Lee Zheng entered the opposite room.

    The d¨¦cor in the room was startling. There were three hanging ropes swaying in the middle of the living room. The unconscious Ol¡¯ Wong and Xiao Gu were lying under the first two ropes while the third one seemed to have been prepared for Chen Ge.

    <i>Three nooses, a family of three, and three final members. They seem to like the number three a lot.</i>

 Chapter 279 - Ive Been Waiting for You

    <h4>Chapter 279: I¡¯ve Been Waiting for You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Ol¡¯ Wong and Xiao Gu were sent to the hospital while Chen Ge stayed behind to help the task force finish up their work at Fang Hwa Apartments. Seeing how hardworking he was, the few officers¡¯ impression of Chen Ge improved tremendously.

    Standing in the room opposite from Room 3239, Chen Ge avoided the gazes of the officers and took out his phone. When the man with the ruined face was made into a doll by Zhang Ya, the ck phone had vibrated. However, the situation had been too dangerous for him to take a look.

    A new message appeared on the screen. After the man with the ruined face was taken care off, the Third Sick Hall¡¯spletion rate had increased to eighty percent!

    <i>If thepletion rate reaches ny percent, there will be a reward, so I need another ten percent.</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the phone. When thepletion rate went over ny percent, he would get the reward of a Trial Mission. Afterpletely demolishing the ghost stories society, he would gain the reward that came from the Third Sick Hall¡¯s hidden mission.

    <i>In other words, the ck phone is pitting me against the ghost stories society. Why does it hate the society so?</i>

    After the multiple interactions with the society, Chen Ge had a deeper understanding of them. Each member was the vessel for a monster from behind the door. To feed these monsters, or rather, to not let themselves be eaten by the monsters on their bodies, they had to continuously create ghost stories to fulfil the monsters¡¯ needs.

    From a certain perspective, they were no longer human beings but puppets controlled by the monsters. This was the biggest difference between Chen Ge and the majority of the members.

    <i>I have a feeling the society is not that simple. Their promotional flyer features a blood red door. This bunch of crazies must know more about the world behind the door than I do. Perhaps the mysterious chairperson is a ghost from behind the door himself.</i>

    Chen Ge got gripped by a sense of danger. He had a feeling the current employees at his Haunted House were not enough anymore.

    ¡°Xiao Chen!¡± The room door was pushed open, and Captain Yan walked in. Chen Ge immediately pocketed the ck phone and slid down on the sofa to pretend to be weak.

    ¡°Captain Yan, you¡¯re looking for me?¡±

    ¡°Take a look at this yourself.¡± Captain Yan took out Xiao Gu¡¯s phone from the evidence bag. At around twenty-five minutes ago, there was a curious message that came into Xiao Gu¡¯s WeChat¡ª¡±Chen Ge, I will remember your name.¡±

    ¡°This message was sent from the phone of Wang Dajun, the security guard. We¡¯ve searched the entire 23rd floor, but we cannot find his phone. Thus, we suspect that there are other runners, and they have Wang Dajun¡¯s phone with them!¡± Captain Yan ced Xiao Gu¡¯s phone on the coffee table. ¡°There¡¯s another question. Why would your name appear in the message?¡±

    Wang Dajun was Ol¡¯ Wong¡¯s full name. Ol¡¯ Wong was the reason that Xiao Gu had been at the third building.

    ¡°This person who took Ol¡¯ Wong¡¯s phone should be the culprit, the person who nned everything tonight.¡± Chen Ge understood the meaning of the sentence. The person had carefully nned, but he had underestimated Zhang Ya¡¯s power and Chen Ge¡¯s caution. If Zhang Ya did note to his aid or he was pulled into either one of the two rooms, Chen Ge would have died.

    Thinking about it, Chen Ge shuddered with fear.

    ¡°The message came from the culprit, proving two things. One, he is fearless, and two, you have done something to enrage him a lot.¡± Captain Yan ced Xiao Gu¡¯s phone back into the evidence bag. ¡°Neither is good for you. They might exact crazier revenge on you.¡±

    The ghost stories society had lost four members at once. Even the man with the ruined face who controlled two Red Specters had been made into a doll. If Chen Ge were a remnant of the ghost stories society, he would have been mad as well.

    ¡°Remember my name? Is this a threat toward me?¡± Chen Ge looked at Captain Yan, who had turned to leave. A thought shed across his mind, and he jumped from the sofa. ¡°Wait a minute!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Captain Yan was shocked by Chen Ge.

    ¡°The phone! The time the message was sent!¡± Chen Ge grabbed the evidence bag from Captain Yan. He opened the phone to take a look; the message had been sent twenty-five minutes ago.

    Twenty-five minutes ago, the man with the ruined face had just died, and Lee Zheng¡¯s group had not arrived yet!

    ¡°There¡¯s another society member hiding inside this building, and that person is most likely the real culprit!¡± Chen Ge narrowed his gaze. Said person had witnessed the whole process, but due to Zhang Ya, they did not show themself.

    ¡°The culprit is hiding inside the building?¡± Captain Yan nodded. ¡°We¡¯ve controlled all the exits, and the roads leading to and from Fang Hwa Apartments have been sealed. Temporarily, there is no one suspicious. Don¡¯t worry, if they¡¯re still inside this building, they won¡¯t be able to escape.

    The remaining three members were the hardest to deal with. Chen Ge could not ce his hope in Captain Yan and his men. He gripped his hands together, and his knuckles cracked. Chen Ge felt like he had missed something.

    <i>The man is very clever. The message was sent twenty-five minutes ago, and he might have left already, but how did he escape the detection of the police?</i>

    Looking at the message on Xiao Gu¡¯s WeChat, Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of something. Xiao Jia had started to go berserk after reading the message on Xiao Gu¡¯s phone. However, the investigator who saw the message first only copsed. Their conditions werepletely different.

    ¡°Captain Yan, what happened to the investigator who entered the building first? Who has been taking care of him?¡±

    ¡°When Ist saw him, he was lying inside the police car, still unconscious. Twenty minutes ago, the ambnce arrived, so he¡¯s probably at the hospital now.¡±

    ¡°Twenty minutes ago, the ambnce arrived?¡±

    ...

    The nurse station was silent. The People¡¯s Hospital at 2 am was extremely quiet. Most of the patients were already asleep when a pair of eyes that werepletely white slowly peeled open.

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡± The words left his lips unconsciously. Then he sat up in bed like he was sleep-walking. ¡°This new scapegoat¡¯s body is not bad, but the sensation of splitting consciousness is too painful.¡±

    He clenched his fists, and the man¡¯s expression turned eerie. There was a trace of envy in his words when he said, ¡°No matter how good the scapegoat is, it won¡¯t be better than the Red Specter.¡±

    The man climbed out from bed and walked toward the door like an awkward puppet. He slowly got used to his body and picked up pace.

    With no one watching, he entered the hospital¡¯s safety passageways. He avoided all the cameras in the lobby and sneaked into the dark alleyway behind the hospital.

    ¡°Three hours left, I should have enough time to return to the main persona.¡±

    He staggered down the alley that was filled with pebbles and trash. His arms and feet were wounded from scratches, but he did not mind it one bit. Looking at the exit that was nearing, he slowly rxed.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine even if the n failed. As long as I¡¯m alive and bring the message back, nothing is certain.¡±

    The streetlights outside the alleyway emitted a yellowish light. As the man got close to exit, a man holding a hammer walked out from the shadows to block the exit.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for you for quite some time.¡±

 Chapter 280 - Door Knocker

    <h4>Chapter 280: Door Knocker</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    There were no cars on the road, and the surroundings were eerily quiet. asionally, there would be a stray cat wandering past, but they soon left the scene as if sensing that things were not right. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    The investigator stood in the muddy, ck alley. His shoes were missing, and his feet were stepping on piles of rubbish. Blood trailed down from his wounds.

    ¡°Have you forgotten my voice already?¡± The man slowly walked out of the shadow. He was holding a scary-looking hammer in his hands. The streetlights lengthened his shadow. It was a man who spoke, but his shadow was the shape of a long-haired woman. The investigator finally got a good look of the man¡¯s face. His gritted his teeth and forced out two words. ¡°Chen Ge!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know you, but you managed to call out my name. Looks like my spection is correct.¡±

    The man who blocked his way was none other than Chen Ge. He and Captain Yan had searched the entire third building, but they could not find thest member that was in hiding.

    At the time, Chen Ge had already had his suspicions. After getting the hospital¡¯s address from Captain Yan, Chen Ge had returned to New Century Park to grab his hammer before going to the People¡¯s Hospital to set up an ambush.

    ¡°How did you find out?¡± At this juncture, the investigator became surprisingly calm. There was a weird smile on his face as he stared at Chen Ge.

    ¡°Why should I tell you?¡± Pressing the y button on the recorder, Chen Ge entered the alleyway holding the hammer.

    ¡°Killing me will bring you no benefit. You¡¯re just talking to one of my scapegoats. Also, before you forget, you¡¯re talking to a policeman.¡± The investigator had initially been shocked when he saw Chen Ge, but he soon calmed down. ¡°If I die, this policeman is going to die with me.¡±

    Chen Ge did not have time to waste on chewing words. The phone in his pocket was recording their conversation. Looking at the approaching hammer, the investigator¡¯s lips twitched. Chen Ge¡¯s emotionless expression seemed to be telling him, <i>We¡¯re not good men, so stop trying to threaten me with these despicable techniques.</i>

    ¡°Actually, we can sit down and have a good talk. Aren¡¯t you curious about my real identity? Don¡¯t you want to know who I am?¡± The patient was trying his best tomunicate with Chen Ge, but Chen Ge did not look like he was in the mood for talking

    Seeing as Chen Ge inched closer to him, the patient changed his tact. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to know who the chairperson really is?¡±

    ¡°The identity of the chairperson is a multiple-choice question, and now I¡¯m using the elimination method to find the correct answer.¡± Chen Ge was telling the investigator in a round-about way that he was not going to survive the night.

    Chen Ge did not n to kill an innocent man. He did this behind Captain Yan¡¯s back because he had another n. He had prepared to detain the investigator and bring him back to the Haunted House for interrogation. After all, he had the numerical advantage there.

    ¡°I¡¯ll detain him before I hand him to the police.¡± Chen Ge said so because the phone was still recording. His real n was to break the investigator¡¯s legs to incapacitate him but keep him alive. The investigator¡¯s n to find an opening in Chen Ge failed, but his expression did not change much. It looked like he still had a trump card up his sleeves.

    ¡°Chen Ge, what I¡¯m going to say next will definitely get your attention. If you allow me to leave, I will tell you why the door forms in the first ce and how to open and close the door.¡± The investigator had a curious expression. He looked like he was smiling but not really. He seemed to be able to tell Chen Ge would be interested in what he had to say.

    ¡°Think about it. You should know how valuable this information is,¡± the investigator calmly said even though his body still moved two steps back. ¡°The policeman you¡¯re talking to is just a scapegoat. Only one third of my consciousness is in this body. Even if you kill him, I won¡¯t be harmed.¡±

    ¡°If you won¡¯t be harmed, why are you in such a hurry to leave?¡± Chen Ge slowed down. ¡°Let me see your sincerity; that is the preface to our deal.¡±

    The investigator sighed in relief. ¡°Since you want to know about the information regarding the door, I believe you know the location to one of them.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Chen Ge admitted.

    ¡°The reason for the door¡¯s formation is veryplicated. For now, no one can really tell why. I only know they will appear in a location where Yin energy gathers and human activity is rare. However, those are just minor factors; the key factor is there has to be someone who knocks on the door.¡±

    ¡°Someone who knocks on the door?¡±

    ¡°The world behind the door is one colored by not only red but also despair and distraught. It is filled with human beings¡¯ various negative emotions. In contrast to this world, it is filled with endless nightmares.¡± The investigator¡¯s voice turned soft. ¡°Normal people cannot see that world. Only those with a copsed mental state or those who have lost all hope will have the chance to push open these doors.

    ¡°I once heard this from the first door-pusher. That day, he was just going about his life like normal. He didn¡¯t do anything different. Like usual, he pushed open that door that he passed through daily, but the world behind the door changedpletely. The door appeared suddenly without warning.¡±

    ¡°Without warning?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you own a door yourself, so you must have had simr experience. For example, you¡¯re standing outside the door and suddenly you hear...¡±

    Siren suddenly came from outside the alleyway, cutting the investigator off. A few police cars were heading their way!

    ¡°Did you call the cops?¡± The smile on the investigator¡¯s face instantly disappeared.

    Chen Ge shook his head. ¡°Continue. Tell me more about the door, and I can help you escape this.¡±

    ¡°Will you?¡± The investigatorughed coldly.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have any other choice.¡± Chen Ge looked around, trying to find a spot to hide the hammer.

    ¡°I¡¯m a resident of hell. Do you think a demon will trust the devil?¡± The investigator turned and ran down the alleyway. Chen Ge followed close behind.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move!¡± The other end of the alleyway was blocked by another police car. The investigator¡¯s path was blocked. He did not hesitate and ran back into the hospital.

    <i>Is he trying to use theplicatedyout to escape, or is he trying to find a hostage?</i>

    Chen Ge chased behind him, and he soon discovered that he had greatly underestimated the investigator¡¯s decisiveness and viciousness.

    After kicking the door open, the madman rushed for the roof of the hospital.

    ¡°Don¡¯te any closer!¡± The investigator stepped on the railing. He was just inches away from the building¡¯s edge!

    The night breeze fluttered the patient¡¯s garb that he was wearing. Under his feet was the city. He stood in the dark night, looking at everything below him.

    Chen Ge stopped three meters before the investigator. He did not continue pressuring the man.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I¡¯ve remembered your name. Next time we meet, I¡¯ll give you a surprise.¡± A smile bloomed on the investigator¡¯s face. He looked at Chen Ge and slowly opened his arms.

    The rooftop¡¯s safety door was pushed open, and Captain Yan and his men rushed out.

    ¡°Yao Qinyi!¡±

    Seeing them, the smile on the investigator¡¯s face turned brighter. He leaned slowly backward like he was returning to the embrace of the dark night.

 Chapter 281 - Spider Sister

    <h4>Chapter 281: Spider Sister</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge rushed forward when the investigator leaned back. The distance of three meters was like a gap that could not be crossed.

    He did not make it.

    The night breeze rushed through his ears, tearing his eardrums. The investigator¡¯s face twisted as his body fell through the air. Those were hisst three seconds in this world. The distance between them increased. The investigator seemed to say something, but due to the distance and the howling wind, Chen Ge could not hear anything. Through the shape of the man¡¯s lips, Chen Ge roughly made out two words¡ªMen Nan.

    Chen Ge could not understand why the investigator would bring up Men Nan at thest moment of his life. Perhaps he was trying to confuse him, or he wanted to leave him a message.

    ¡°Yao Qinyi!¡± Lee Zheng¡¯s deep roars came from the safety door. A few officers rushed to the edge.

    The bodynded with a thud. This was the first time Chen Ge had heard a life being lost.

    Yao Qinyinded on his head. Before he died, he kept his face looking at the roof. His eyes were smiling, and a wicked grin hung on his lips.

    Half of Chen Ge¡¯s body was hanging off the building, and his arms grasped at nothing but air.

    ¡°Ghost stories society...¡± The society made up from mental patients and killers had revealed its true face before Chen Ge. They had never been concerned about human lives.

    ¡°Chen Ge, what¡¯s going on!¡± Lee Zheng demanded with red-rimmed eyes.

    Chen Ge slowly retracted his arms and asked with a suppressed voice, ¡°Who called you here?¡±

    ¡°It was the nurse who made the call. A patient saw Ol¡¯ Yao escape from his room in the middle of the night. It looked like he was sleep-walking. Considering Xiao Jia¡¯s condition, we were afraid some ident might happen to Ol¡¯ Yao, so we rushed over from Fang Hwa Apartments immediately.¡±

    ¡°It was the nurse who called the police?¡± Chen Ge gripped the railing with both of his hands. He looked down at Yao Qinyi, at the smile on his face.

    <i>What he said before he died, was that the truth or a lie? Who is the real person behind these scapegoats? Wu Fei? Chairperson? No. 10?</i>

    There were three members left in the society, but if he did not remove the chairperson, the society would add more members soon. Tragedy and despair happened daily.

    When pain pooled in one¡¯s heart and was slowly allowed to influence the soul, the flyer from the ghost stories society would arrive.

    <i>I¡¯ll need to destroy the ghost stories society before next Wednesday. </i>Zhang Ya had gone into her slumber, so dealing with three members alone would be difficult.<i>I need a new Red Specter!</i>

    The police cars had surrounded the People¡¯s Hospital. Since Lee Zheng and many other officers were there when Yao Qinyi jumped off the building, they did not make things difficult for Chen Ge. He was sent back to New Century Park at around 4 am.

    Chen Ge locked himself up inside the staff breakroom and ced the ck phone on the table. He still needed to work tomorrow morning, but he did not feel tired. He sat on the chair to go through the mission message on the phone.

    <i>Daily Missions can get me rewards, but only the Nightmare Mission will improve my ability. Ever since the rules of triggering Nightmare Mission have been changed, I¡¯ve never stumbled across another Nightmare Mission. Normal Missions are to focus on improving the Haunted House. I can do those when I¡¯m free.</i>

    <i>There are two Trial Missions inside the ck phone. The Hearse, a two-star scenario, and School of the Afterlife, a four-star scenario. Unlocking new scenarios andpleting their hidden mission will give me rewards that might include new ghost employees. Trial Mission will improve the power of the Haunted House, but a low-star Trial Mission won¡¯t have much influence on me, and a high-star Trial Mission will be too dangerous.</i>

    Chen Ge was conflicted. After Zhang Ya went into slumber, he suddenly realized that he could be fearless before this only because of this Red Specter who seemed particrly interested in him.

    <i>The visitor¡¯s screams from the past two days of work should be enough to exchange for two spins at the wheel. The Wheel of Misfortune is a method to increase my power, but there is too much uncertainty.</i>

    Chen Ge thought back to his previous lucky draws, and he shook his head. He decided to dy the activity to tomorrow afternoon when the sun was shining.

    <i>The situation is urgent. If the ghost from the wheel isn¡¯tpliant, I¡¯ll have to feed them to Xu Yin.</i>

    Xu Yin had the ability to be a Red Specter, and only a Red Specter would be a threat for the ghost stories society.

    <i>The society has owned their door for many years already, so they must have more than two Red Specters. The only reason they haven¡¯t made a move is probably because they don¡¯t know my bottom line. If they knew Zhang Ya is currently asleep and cannot wake up to help me, they would make use of this chance to deal with me.</i>

    He turned to look at his shadow. The long-hair woman¡¯s shadow was still a shock to him then!

    <i>Zhang Ya has probably considered that already. </i>Chen Ge took out the wooden box from his chest. He toyed with the doll and examined it closely. <i>Why would Zhang Ya give this to me? Can this thing save me when the situation is dangerous?</i>

    Taking a doll made from a man¡¯s soul everywhere was not a good experience.

    Keeping it inside the wooden box was awkward to carry to ces, so Chen Ge found a ck stic bag and tossed the doll inside.

    He turned off the phone,y on the bed, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

    ...

    Chen Ge was woken up by his rm at 8:30 am. He only had caught three or four hours of sleep for the past few days, but he did not feel tired. The only difference he could tell was that his body temperature seemed to drop lower than normal, but it did not seem to affect him.

    The park opened to wee a new day at 8:55 am.

    Xiao Gu was still at the hospital, but Captain Yan said that he was mostly fine and had survived the fatal period. He would probably be released from the hospital in a few days.

    Ol¡¯ Wong though had the shorter end of the stick. Due to his old age and the great trauma, he fell ill, and the high fever would not recede. During his period of consciousness, he told the police that he nned to quit his security job. The police did ask him about what happened that night, but Ol¡¯ Wong could not remember anything.

    The visitors rushed into the park, and the number was greater than yesterday.

    Xiao Gu¡¯s absence meant that Chen Ge had to take turns dealing with two scenarios. He only got to rest during lunch.

    The Haunted House¡¯s reputation grew bigger. Even though Chen Ge¡¯s workload had increased, he felt satisfied. At 12:30 pm, Chen Ge sat on the steps leading to the Haunted House to count his morning ie. He was only halfway through when his phone rang.

    He nced at it and realized it was an unregistered number. He wanted to ignore the call as he was too busy to deal with it, but in the end, he still picked it up.

    A woman¡¯s voice came through. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, are you Chen Ge?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am.¡±

    ¡°Good afternoon, I¡¯m calling from Jiujiang¡¯s Children Home. In the space for Fan Yu¡¯s guardian, your name has been listed. Now that his aunt is currently in jail, we need you toe over to the Children Home to deal with some things.¡±

    ¡°Is it rted to Fan Yu?¡± The boy who drew about ghosts had left a deep impression on Chen Ge.

    ¡°Yes, he has found an older sister for himself at our Children Home.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good thing; the boy doesn¡¯t like tomunicate with people. I¡¯m d that there have been positive changes...¡±

    ¡°But what if that sister is not a human but a spider?¡±

    ¡°A spider?¡±

 Chapter 282 - Jiujiangs Childrens Home

    <h4>Chapter 282: Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Yes, Fan Yu adopted a spider as his sister. The situation is slightlyplicated. If you have time, do you minding over to Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home?¡±

    ¡°Of course, is it okay if I arrive at 6 or 7 pm?¡±

    ¡°No problem. Thank you for your cooperation.¡±

    After hanging up the phone, Chen Ge thought back to thest sentence the worker said. <i>¡°But what if that sister is not a human but a spider?¡±</i>

    Fan Yu was the Haunted House¡¯s first special visitor and a poor child. He had witnessed how his father killed his mother and how his aunt pushed his father into the well. Then he had lived for several years under the same roof as the killer.

    <i>The boy no longer has any family left on this world. No matter what, I should go take a look.</i>

    Chen Ge initially wanted to run out to the sun to spin the wheel, but thanks to the call from the Children¡¯s Home, his mood was lost. The lunch break soon ended. Chen Ge busied himself until 5:30 pm, but the number of visitors did not decrease. Chen Ge¡¯s team had to dy the closing time until almost 7 pm.

    The sky was darkening. Chen Ge did not even have time to do his ounts. After Xu Wan left work, he rushed toward the Children¡¯s Home. This was the first time Chen Ge had visited Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home. It was different from the dirty, cold, and unfeeling orphanages that he had seen on television. The decor of Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home was very friendly, and it had its own courtyard that was filled with various flowers.

    ¡°Hey, what are you doing here? We do not allow outsiders!¡± The gentleman who guarded the door blocked Chen Ge.

    ¡°Nice to meet you. I¡¯m Chen Ge, Fan Yu¡¯s family. This afternoon, a member of staff here called me.¡±

    ¡°Fan Yu¡¯s family?¡± The old gentleman studied Chen Ge, and his attitude changed instantly. ¡°Please wait here for a moment. I¡¯ll go ask. Be back in a minute.¡±

    The gentleman did not use his phone but ran into the courtyard to yell up the stairs. Not long after that, a woman who looked about Chen Ge¡¯s age came out from the building. She was wearing a nurse¡¯s outfit, and she gave off a friendly feeling.

    ¡°Mr. Chen, you¡¯re finally here.¡± The nurse signaled for Chen Ge to follow her. ¡°Let me introduce myself first. I¡¯m Fan Yu¡¯s mother; you can call me Xiao Liu.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re his mother?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we have adopted many abandoned children and babies here. To make them feel the warmth of home, we normally allow them to call us mother and father. Of course, it¡¯s not forced, but most of the children here like it.¡± The nurse was a friendly character, but she was shy. She did not even dare look at Chen Ge¡¯s eyes when she was talking to him.

    ¡°That¡¯s wonderful. I admire that.¡±

    Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home was like a big family. It waspletely different from what Chen Ge thought an orphanage would be like. The nurse shed a sunny smile. She was about to say something when the window on the other side of the courtyard flew open, and a middle-aged man who held a tray of tea cups in his hands yelled at the nurse, ¡°Xiao Liu, you¡¯re running off again? Get back to your post! Keep an eye on Jiang Ling and Fan Yu! They¡¯re getting worse!¡±

    The man¡¯s voice sounded angry, but Xiao Liu was not afraid. Instead, she was embarrassed. ¡°Yes, I understand.¡±

    The nurse led Chen Ge into the building. The wall was pasted with cute decorations, and the corridor was very clean.

    ¡°Who was that? The president?¡± Chen Ge asked.

    ¡°That was Doctor Chen. He can be quite grumpy, but he¡¯s a good man. He used to work at arge clinic, but after that, he came to serve here.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Chen? There¡¯s a specialist attached to the children¡¯s home?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we have doctors, nurses, nutritionists, and teachers. Each of us is responsible for different jobs, but we¡¯re all these children¡¯s fathers and mothers.¡± Chen Ge nodded. Compared to the orphanage that Mu Yang High School¡¯s headmaster had built privately, this ce was much more official. When they walked down a corridor, one of the doors was suddenly pushed open, and two kids ran out holding a toy between them.

    ¡°Jiang Jin, Jiang He! Stop making noise in the corridor¡ªit¡¯s past 8 pm already. Get back to your room!¡± the nurse scolded, and the boys went back to their room unwillingly. Before the door closed, Chen Ge nced into it. There were two bedrooms and one living rooms, and it housed six children.

    ¡°You have quite a good ce here. The children have new toys and new clothes.¡± Chen Ge looked at the painted cards on the door. They were written with the children¡¯s names. ¡°This is weird. Why do the names of all the children here start with Jiang?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re Jiujiang¡¯s children, so we used Jiujiang as inspiration for their surname.¡± The nurse exined and smiled with embarrassment. ¡°Of course, some of the children arrive with a name, so we wouldn¡¯t force them to change.¡±

    The nurse led Chen Ge to the first room on the left on the third floor. She walked in without knocking.

    ¡°President, Chen Ge is here.¡±

    There was an old man in his sixties watering the nts by the windowsill. He was wearing a pair of spectacles and looked like a retired teacher.

    ¡°You¡¯re finally here, please take a seat.¡± The man looked at Chen Ge like he was their savior. This confused Chen Ge even more.

    ¡°Sir, what is the problem? Did our Fan Yu create some problem at the Children¡¯s Home?¡± Chen Ge felt like he was attending a parent-teacher¡¯s conference for Fan Yu. He was asked to stay until the end because the teacher wanted to have a private chat with him about Fan Yu.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be frank.¡± The old president gave the nurse a look. As if afraid that they might be overhead, he had her close the door. ¡°You¡¯re the guardian assigned to Fan Yu, so you should know about his condition better than us. The boy is not a social person... how shall I put this? He has no knowledge of concepts like family, groups, or happiness. We tried our best to help him, but the effect has beencking.¡±

    Chen Ge knew Fan Yu better than most, so he understood the trouble the Children¡¯s Home was facing. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry for creating all this trouble.¡±

    The president shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s fine. We¡¯ve seen children who were more introverted. The main problem is that, not only are we unable to fix his problem, he has also managed to influence our other children who are facing recovery.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Chen Ge understood why that Doctor Chen was so angry when he saw Xiao Liu.

    ¡°It¡¯s a sad truth that many children who have faced trauma or been abandoned by their family will have some psychological problems that need counselling.¡± The president smiled sadly. ¡°Fan Yu is a good example, but this boy keeps arguing with the doctor. He not only refuses to ept his treatment but keeps saying weird things to the other children. Some of the children¡¯s conditions have worsened after interacting with him. With no other choice, we had to send those children away.¡±

 Chapter 283 - Sister Is Behind That Man

    <h4>Chapter 283: Sister Is Behind That Man</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Fan Yu told other children weird things?¡±

    The sensitive Chen Ge realized the source of the problem. Fan Yu had a pair of eyes that could see ghosts. The boy was not bad, and the things that he said might sound weird to adult ears, but they were most likely true.

    ¡°Yes, to not interrupt the other children¡¯s treatment, we had to send them to an actual children¡¯s psychiatrist for counselling. You have to understand that we¡¯re a public institution; the budget we receive is limited. Most of the time, our operation depends on kind donations from the public.¡± The president sighed. ¡°It¡¯s fine if we need to send the children to a psychiatrist once or twice, but we won¡¯t be able to afford it if this continues.¡±

    Then, the president raised his head to look at Chen Ge like he was trying to gauge his attitude. He saw Chen Ge was in deep contemtion. He assumed Chen Ge understood what he was trying to say, so he sighed in relief. He said directly, ¡°Based on Fan Yu¡¯s condition, the chance of him being adopted is low, and since you¡¯re Fan Yu¡¯s only family, I feel likepared to an environment like the Children¡¯s Home, Fan Yu is more suitable staying with his family.¡±

    The room fell into silence.

    After two minutes, Chen Ge came to a decision. ¡°Fan Yu did not do anything wrong.¡±

    The president was startled. He thought that he did not exin himself clearly enough. ¡°I know this is not Fan Yu¡¯s fault. We¡¯re merely hoping he can have a healthy growth, so do not misunderstand.¡±

    ¡°What did Fan Yu tell these kids?¡± Chen Ge looked at the president seriously. ¡°You have to tell me without missing a word; these kids might be in danger.¡±

    ¡°Danger?¡± The president stared at Chen Ge for a full three seconds. His lips fell open, and the speech that he had prepared waspletely useless. They were not on the same wavelength. Looking at Chen Ge, he suddenly felt that Fan Yu¡¯s condition might be hereditary.

    ¡°Yes, please tell me what Fan Yu has said and the names and contact information of those children. They might be in serious danger,¡± Chen Ge repeated seriously; it did not sound like he was kidding.

    The president forced a smile. ¡°Mr. Chen, I¡¯ll be direct. Fan Yu doesn¡¯t feel any sense of belonging to our Children¡¯s Home; he probably wishes to stay with his family. He¡¯s a very clever child, but he has some internal issues. If you have the financial power, we hope that you can bring him away with you and send him to an official and professional psychiatrist for treatment.¡±

    ¡°Temporarily, that is not possible. My ce is not safe.¡± Chen Ge was telling the truth. At least until the ghost stories society had been taken care off, he could not take Fan Yu back to his Haunted House.

    The president had heard many excuses when people refused adoption, but ack of security was a first. ¡°Okay, but you have toe see him often tomunicate with him. We will try to do our best.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    The nurse led Chen Ge out of the president¡¯s room. The nurse felt embarrassed, and she said, ¡°It¡¯s not our intention to chase Fan Yu away. The boy is obedient and clever; he just tends to do weird things.¡±

    Chen Ge smiled but did not argue. ¡°I know what you¡¯re trying to express, but have you considered that what he says is the truth?¡±

    The nurse slowed down. She nced at Chen Ge. For some reason, she felt like this man was rather convincing. ¡°We¡¯re here.¡±

    The nurse stopped at the door next to the room when they ran into the two boys earlier. Both rooms¡¯ doors were open. ¡°Jiang He and Jiang Jin are on the run again.¡±

    She entered one of the rooms in a hurry. Then there came the sound of ss shattering from the bedroom. A girl started to cry, wailing the words, ¡°Big Sister!¡±

    It sounded like her sister was being bullied.

    ¡°Jiang Jin, Jiang He! Go and face the wall!¡± The nurse lectured the two boys while Chen Ge stood at the door. He looked at the painted card, and among all the children with the surname Jiang, Fan Yu¡¯s name stood out.

    <i>This boy sure likes to make people worry about him. </i>Chen Ge entered the bedroom and saw Fan Yu, who was seated at the table, drawing with his head lowered. He did not seem to mind the outside world. Beside Fan Yu was a little girl who could not stop crying. She used her small hands to wipe her eyes, but the tears would not stop falling. She kept calling for her sister.

    After the nurse dealt with Jiang Jin and Jiang He, she hugged the girl to console her, but the girl only cried even harder. Her watery eyes turned red, and her finger pointed at Jiang He and Jiang Jin. ¡°They killed sister! They killed my big sister!¡±

    The girl was cute, and the clothes she was wearing was rather thick. Carried in the nurse¡¯s embrace, she looked like a ball of cotton. But from the lips of the cute girl, cruel terms like killed and murder kepting out.

    ¡°Jiang Jin, Jiang He! What have you two done?¡± The nurse was angry, feeling pity for the little girl.

    ¡°We just wanted to take a look at her ss cup, but she refused to give it up. It identally broke, and someone identally stepped on the spider inside the cup,¡± the two boys grumbled with dissatisfaction.

    ¡°Spider? Big sister?¡± Chen Ge turned to look at the center of the bedroom. The ss cup was shattered, and amid the broken pieces, there was a ttened spider.

    After the situation had been cleared up, the nurse had the two boys leave the room first, and she focused on consoling the girl. However, the girl refused to listen, and she cried even harder. She struggled from the nurse¡¯s embrace and picked up the ttened spider from the ground. Without any disgust, she held the spider in her palms and ran to Fan Yu. With a despairing voice, she wailed, ¡°They killed sister! Big sister is dead!¡±

    The little girl looked like she was only four or five. Even when she stood on her tiptoes, she was just slightly taller than the table. Fan Yu, who was focused on his drawing, ignored the girl.

    In the end, however, his patience was worn thin by the girl. He put down the pen and ced his hand on the girl¡¯s head. ¡°Sister is not dead¡ªshe just left temporarily.¡±

    Fan Yu used his other hand to pick up the picture and showed it to the girl. ¡°Your sister was just behind you.¡±

    On the normal paper, a ck coloring pencil drew out a little girl that was closely bound, and behind the girl was arge humanoid monster that was sketched out using a red pencil!

    It was lying behind the girl, and its head was stretched to rest on the girl¡¯s head. Its limbs were arced on the ground just like a spider. Looking at Fan Yu¡¯s drawing, the little girl finally stopped crying.

    He tussled the girl¡¯s hair, and Fan Yu turned to look at Chen Ge at the door. ¡°Look, Sister is now standing behind that man.¡±

 Chapter 284 - Jiang Ling

    <h4>Chapter 284: Jiang Ling</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The little girl stopped crying and turned around to look at Chen Ge with a nk expression. Her palm-size face was covered with tears, and her eyes were red with ayer of mist. The girl¡¯s pitiable eyes could melt anything. Even the cruelest person would let their guard down in her vicinity. The nurse could not help herself anymore. She picked up the little girl and pressed her face to the girl¡¯s head, patting her lightly on her back.

    If the picture was just of the nurse and the two children, it would have been nice. It was like an older sister looking after two younger siblings with all her might. Even though things were tough and difficult, life was blissful with family around. However, the image turned curious after adding Chen Ge into the picture.

    Chen Ge stood at the door with his muscle all tensed. It was like he was stranded alone in the jungle, and a monster was eyeing him from the dark.<i>ording to the ratio on Fan Yu¡¯s picture, the monster is about three times the size of a normal man.</i>

    Knowing Fan Yu, Chen Ge had long realized that the boy¡¯s eyes could see ghosts. In other words, this meant that the spider in Fan Yu¡¯s picture was really standing behind him!

    His finger hung over the recorder, and veins popped on his arm. Before he arrived, Chen Ge did not expect that he would run into a monster at this heart-warming children¡¯s home.

    ¡°Fan Yu looks like he has a good rtionship with the girl, and Fan Yu knows me. Does this mean that I¡¯m also a friend of the girl?¡± Chen Ge grumbled to himself at the door. He kept his voice low, just enough to be heard if there was someone behind him.

    ¡°Stop crying, big sister left already. We¡¯ll go find her tomorrow.¡± Fan Yu tussled the girl¡¯s hair. He was especially kind to her.

    ¡°Okay.¡± The girl rubbed her reddened eyes and struggled loose from the nurse. She sat on the little chair in the bedroom unwillingly and still held the spider¡¯s body in her hands; she refused to throw it away.

    When Fan Yu said that the girl¡¯s sister had left, Chen Ge sighed in relief. He walked into the room and picked up the broom to sweep the ss to the corner.

    Standing in the middle, the nurse felt awkward, like she had been ignored.

    ¡°Mr. Chen, let me.¡± The nurse swept the ss pieces into a dustpan and very naturally pulled Chen Ge out of the room.

    ¡°You¡¯ve seen the situation for yourself.¡± The nurse¡¯s voice was filled with helplessness. ¡°I was the one who took care of Jiang Ling after she was sent here. It has been almost six months already. She used to call me mother and wouldn¡¯t leave my side. She was just like a little angel, but ever since Fan Yu arrived, everything changed. She follows behind him every day and only listens to him¡ªno one else.¡±

    ¡°Why do I hear envy in yourint?¡± Chen Ge leaned against the wall. He had a good impression of this Children¡¯s Home; they were doing good work.

    ¡°I¡¯m not!¡± The nurse red at Chen Ge. ¡°If Jiang Ling was ying with other kids, of course, I wouldn¡¯t stop her, but Fan Yu is the only exception. You¡¯ve seen those things that he draws. Do you think it¡¯s appropriate a six-year-old girl to see those drawings every day?¡±

    ¡°That is indeed not so appropriate.¡± Chen Ge did not know how to exin it to the nurse.

    ¡°It is more than inappropriate!¡± The nurse closed the door and dragged Chen Ge to the corner of the living room. ¡°Jiang Ling was found at a crime scene. You do not understand what she has been through. When she arrived at the Children¡¯s Home half a year ago, she wouldn¡¯t even speak and had a fear of everyone. Doctor Chen spent half a year conducting counselling, and her condition was finally improving.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s expression turned serious. ¡°Do you mind telling me about Jiang Ling¡¯s past?¡±

    The nurse lowered her voice. ¡°I also heard this from the police. Jiang Ling came from a happy family, and the family of four lived outside the city. Even though they weren¡¯t rich by any means, they were happy. Her father was an honest farmer, but her mother didn¡¯t look like a local. She was fair and beautiful. Jiang Ling also had a big sister who inherited her mother¡¯s genes; she looked very pretty.

    ¡°Around one year ago, her father made a loan to buy a plot ofnd to raise peach trees. They lived far from the already isted vige and thus separated themselves from human contact. Just as the peaches were getting ripe and things were going to be better for their family, disaster struck.¡±

    After a sigh, the nurse continued with anger and pity. ¡°First it was Jiang Ling¡¯s sister who disappeared, and not long after that, Jiang Ling¡¯s parents passed away. Their food was mixed with a lot of rat poison; the killer wanted them dead.¡±

    ¡°Has the killer been caught?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± The nurse shook her head. ¡°The police didn¡¯t reveal too much information. The only thing I know is that the killer didn¡¯t steal any of the money, and it wasn¡¯t a crime of passion. I suspect the killers are the vigers who were envious of the family¡¯s happiness! The ce was isted, and other than the vigers, nobody would have gone there. Also, a few days before the poisoning, one of the vigers was caught trying to steal the ripening peaches. He was caught by Jiang Ling¡¯s father, and they had a scuffle inside the peach ntation.¡±

    After listening to the nurse, Chen Ge also felt like the vigers might be the killers. Murder usually had a motive, and revenge was a very good one.

    ¡°After the investigation, the police couldn¡¯t find any suspect in the vige. The only survivor was Jiang Ling, who didn¡¯t drink the soup. Perhaps she was stunned after watching her parents copse. The police suspected that Jiang Ling had seen the murderer, but since they couldn¡¯tmunicate with Jiang Ling, they couldn¡¯t do anything. After that incident, something was wrong with the girl¡¯s mental state.

    ¡°As you can see for yourself, she calls every spider her big sister. People usually run from these creepy crawlies, but she feels close to them. Can you imagine the girl leaning close to spider webs, talking sweetly to spiders?

    ¡°After some interaction, I noticed other problems with her. There is something wrong with the girl¡¯s conception. She calls the quilt on the bed mother and the rope hanging from the ceiling her father. Others did ask her about it, but she couldn¡¯t exin herself.¡±

    The nurse was sad. It seemed she really did care for the girl. ¡°Our Children¡¯s Home has been trying to correct her mindset, and she has now stopped calling rope and quilt her parents. After she stops referring to spiders as her sister, she will be able to live life like normal. However, with Fan Yu¡¯s arrival, he only took few days to ruin all our effort.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about Fan Yu for now.¡± Chen Ge needed ghosts to deal with the ghost stories society, so he was more interested in them. ¡°Have the police investigated Jiang Ling¡¯s sister? Why did she disappear? Could she be the killer?¡±

    ¡°The police did suspect that the killer could be Jiang Ling¡¯s sister, but even now, they have not found Jiang Ling¡¯s sister.¡±

 Chapter 285 - What Happens to You After You Die?

    <h4>Chapter 285: What Happens to You After You Die?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Now is not the time to specte who the killer is. That is the police¡¯s job.¡± The nurse sighed. ¡°I¡¯m more worried about Jiang Ling¡¯s therapy.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll handle that, but you have to give me some time.¡± Chen Ge had a brief understanding of the story. The case described by the nurse had many inconsistencies, and they demanded a closer look.

    ¡°You¡¯ll handle it? You¡¯ll bring Fan Yu away with you?¡±

    ¡°I mean, I¡¯ll cure Jiang Ling¡¯s sickness.¡± Chen Ge was the one who was most familiar with Fan Yu. He knew that the boy had not lied.

    The nurse was baffled. ¡°How are you going to cure her? You¡¯re not a doctor.¡±

    ¡°Letting me try is no skin off your back anyway.¡± Chen Ge ignored the nurse and walked back into the bedroom. He had a wealth of experience dealing with baleful specters and knew how to gain their goodwill.

    <i>The death of their parents should be the source of the problem within Jiang Ling and her sister. Finding the murderer and bringing them to justice should gain me the affection of the sisters.</i>

    From Fan Yu¡¯s painting, Jiang Ling¡¯s sister did not seem to be that weak, she might even be a Red Specter. If he could build a good rtionship with her or even invite her to join the Haunted House, Chen Ge would not be so worried during this period when Zhang Ya was in her slumber.

    Chen Ge tried tomunicate with Jiang Ling, but the little girl ignored him other than asionally using a fearful gaze to look at him.

    ¡°What do you want to know? I¡¯ll ask.¡± Fan Yu walked to the girl and pointed at Chen Ge. ¡°He¡¯s a good guy; he can also see your big sister.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± The little girl turned to Chen Ge with innocence, and Chen Ge nodded quickly. Using this chance, Chen Ge asked the girl several questions and promised that he would help her find her sister. Jiang Ling was very happy when she heard Chen Ge say that. She even gifted the ttened spider to Chen Ge, saying that was what her sister looked like.

    Chen Ge did not reject the child¡¯s kindness. Carefully, he slid the spider¡¯s body into a stic bottle and kept it on him. After their rtionship got close, Chen Ge tried to get more information from the girl.

    However, the more he asked, the more confused he became. Perhaps due to her young age, she could not remember much, and most of the things that she said did not make sense. In the end, Chen Ge only managed to get the girl¡¯s former address and her sister¡¯s name¡ªZhu Xingrou.

    Chen Ge left the Children¡¯s Home with the apaniment of the nurse at 9 pm. After retuning to New Century Park, Chen Ge packed his backpack with the hammer and Xiao Xiao. He nned to visit the address that Jiang Ling had given him that night.

    <i>I should bring this with me¡ªperhaps it might be useful. </i>Chen Ge shoved the stic bottle with the spider into the backpack as well. Then he called a taxi to head for Lin Guan Vige, which sat at the edge of Western Jiujiang¡¯s district limit.

    While he was inside the taxi, Chen Ge tried to give Inspector Lee a call to see whether he could get some information on the case, but to his surprise, his phone was not on.

    <i>Is he on a mission? </i>Chen Ge looked at his watch. <i>Being a cop these days is not easy.</i>

    Chen Ge finally arrived at Lin Guan Vige at around 11:30 pm. The ce was so isted. It was carved into the mountains, and the roads leading there had only been repaired a few years ago. The winds in the mountain were cold. There was no light even though it was just 11 pm. The people there either had a habit of sleeping early or the ce waspletely deserted.

    <i>There¡¯s not even a streetlight or a convenience store; how am I supposed to ask for directions? The ce the girl mentioned should be further inside the mountain, but it will be easy for me to get lost if I wander into the mountain alone. </i>Chen Ge realized howplicated things were when he arrived at the destination. He walked into the vige using the recently repaired asphalt road.

    He walked for ten meters when the asphalt road turned into a muddy road. The vige looked new from the surface, but its interior was old and broken down. Many of the buildings were several decades old already.

    <i>Something is not right. Why does this vige feel so creepy? </i>Chen Ge stopped moving. He opened the zipper on his backpack to reveal the head of Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer.

    <i>Most of the doors are covered with dust. This vige should have plenty of empty houses, and the number of vigers still living here should be very small.</i>

    He wandered to a random home, and when he got near, he realized the door was locked from the outside. <i>If someone was in, the lock would definitely be on the inside. What has happened to this vige?</i>

    He slowly retreated. When he nned to leave the vige, the two phones in his pocket vibrated at the same time.

    <i>What¡¯s going on? </i>Chen Ge first took out the ck phone to nce at it. The message said that thepletion rate for Third Sick Hall¡¯s Trial Mission had been increased to 87 percent. <i>Looks like another patient has been captured.</i>

    Chen Ge opened his own phone. It was a call from Inspector Lee. ¡°Uncle San Bao, I thought you¡¯d blocked me. That saddened me.¡±

    ¡°There was a mission tonight, and everyone involved had to switch off their phones.¡± Even though Inspector Lee sounded tired, his good mood could be heard through the phone. ¡°Good news, the Third Sick Hall¡¯s Patient 8 has been captured.¡±

    ¡°Xiong Qing has been captured?¡±

    ¡°You should be d. The man has been seen patrolling around New Century Park for the past few days; he was probably targeting you.¡±

    ¡°Where is he? Can I talk to him?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s in the ICU. The madman assaulted many officers, and the people from the main station had to shoot him in his legs and shoulders to detain him. He is now unconscious.¡±

    ¡°Inspector Lee, capturing the murderer is a good thing, but you have to be careful. After all, safety first.¡±

    ¡°Stop going in circles with me. What do you want?¡± Inspector Lee was familiar with Chen Ge. Once Chen Ge tried to care about him, he naturally wanted something in return.

    ¡°Then I¡¯lle right out with it. About six months ago, there was a poisoning case at Western Jiujiang¡¯s Lin Guan Vige; do you have any recollection of it?¡± Chen Ge asked directly.

    ¡°I do, but that is not within our jurisdiction.¡±

    ¡°But it within Western Jiujiang!¡± Chen Ge did not expect that answer.

    ¡°Lin Guan Vige is counted as part of the mountains.¡± Inspector Lee sighed. ¡°Listen to me. Don¡¯t go starting some insane investigation. Many weird things have happened in that vige before. At the time, the case was quite a big one; it was followed by Captain Yan¡¯s team.¡±

    ¡°What weird things?¡±

    ¡°That will be confidential information.¡±

    ¡°Then can you tell me about the poison case six months ago? Fan Yu is staying at the same Children¡¯s Home with the only survivor, a little girl. I¡¯m doing this to help them.¡±

    ¡°A little girl...¡± Inspector Lee paused, and his tone suddenly turned serious. ¡°Chen Ge, you¡¯d better keep a safe distance from that girl.¡±

    ¡°I admit she¡¯s a bit weird, but there¡¯s no need to avoid her.¡±

    ¡°ording to the investigation, the final suspect and the one who had the power tomit the murders was the little girl.¡±

    After a brief pause, Inspector Lee added, ¡°She once said something very curious.¡±

 Chapter 286 - What Is He Digging?

    <h4>Chapter 286: What Is He Digging?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Inspector Lee did not seem like he was willing to talk about it. There were footstepsing from the other end of the phone. He walked to a more secluded ce before exining, ¡°The child has a twisted misunderstanding about death.¡±

    After meeting Men Nan¡¯s main persona, the weirdest child looked normal in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. ¡°At the time, a child¡¯s worldview hasn¡¯t been shaped yet. Perhaps death is just a journey to somewhere faraway¡ªthat, I can understand.¡±

    ¡°If only that¡¯s all. After the girl was rescued, she didn¡¯t say a word for the next three days. She didn¡¯t make a fuss or even cry. She was so obedient that it was quite creepy.¡± Inspector Lee thought back to those days. ¡°It was until the fourth day that things changed. A female officer found the girl curled up in the corner of her bed, spacing out while looking at a spider. She thought the girl was scared solid by the spider, so she reached out to kill it. However, the girl started crying, saying the officer had killed her big sister.

    ¡°That was the first time the girl spoke, and it was from then that we realized there was something off about her. A child her age didn¡¯t feel sorry about the passing of her parents but cried like it was the end of the world for a dead spider. What kind of world she was living in?

    ¡°We tried to exin the meaning of death to her, and we realized that, in her heart, death was not the final destination. The girl told us,pletely serious, that people would turn into something else after they died. It was not that different from the talk of reincarnation. It was because she was not fearful of death that we kept hearing some cruel words from the girl¡¯s lips.

    ¡°A cute girl that looked as innocent as an angel using her childish tone to talk about death. Is she an angel or a demon?

    ¡°After further investigation, we unearthed more details. The first who reported the case was a passing viger. ording to the autopsy report, the girl had been living with her dead parents for at least two days before she was rescued.¡± Inspector Lee lowered his voice. ¡°A child of five was already mature enough to think for herself, but she didn¡¯t call the police for two whole days and didn¡¯t even go searching for help from other adults. Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s weird?¡±

    ¡°Could it be that her parents hadn¡¯t taught her about these things?¡± Jiang Ling¡¯s pitiable appearance surfaced in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, and he also felt that something was off about this girl.

    ¡°There were only the girl and her parents¡¯ fingerprints inside the house. The method of killing was direct, but it was surprisingly sessful. There were many other anomalies. In any case, this case is not as simple as you think.¡±

    There was someone who called Inspector Lee¡¯s name. Someone was looking for him, and he answered back. ¡°Chen Ge, I need to leave. I know I wouldn¡¯t be able to stop you, but I still want to remind you. Be careful of that child, and do not go to that vige at night.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°Look at the map, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s weird that there¡¯s nothing else around the vige for several miles? When we interviewed the nearest vige¡ªwhich was basically in another district¡ªfor the case, there was an elder there who told us there was an epidemic at Lin Guan Vige some time ago, and it killed many people.¡± Someone was rushing Inspector Lee. After a few more reminders, Inspector Lee ended the call, leaving Chen Ge stranded in the dark, abandoned vige.

    Chen Ge pocketed his phone. <i>He said some time ago; how many years ago was that?</i>

    Looking at the rectangr blocky houses in the door, he realized that they looked like coffins. ¡°Lin Guan Vige, after separating the Lin <sup>1</sup> , it¡¯ll beMu Guan Vige <sup>2</sup> !¡±

    He exited the vige and stopped beside the asphalt road. Even in broad daylight, Chen Ge would not have found a taxi, much less at midnight. His way back to the city was gone.

    <i>Jiang Ling said that her father¡¯s peach ntation is to the western side of the vige. I should go take a look.</i>

    Chen Ge turned on his shlight and followed the road to the western side of the vige. The road became smaller as he neared his destination. Chen Ge hiked over a small hill, and just as he was about to give up, he suddenly saw a light ahead of him.

    <i>Someone¡¯s there? </i>The light moved slowly into the mountains; it did not seem to have noticed Chen Ge. Chen Ge nudged the hammer further out of the backpack and ced Xiao Xiao in his chest pocket before moving forward. The mountain roads were rocky, so he did not dare move too fast. After tailing it for ten minutes, the light slowly disappeared.

    <i>Wait... Could it be spirit fire?</i>

    Left alone in the mountains, he was reminded of the ghost stories that he had been told when he was a babe. They were about how ghosts led innocent people deep into the forest with stray light.

    <i>Calm down. </i>Chen Ge patted himself on his face. He pulled the jacket tighter and jogged slowly toward the direction of the light. After turning around hill, the scene before him changed. A peach ntation appeared to have been inserted into the face of the mountain.

    Due to theck of care, the ntation was overgrown with grass, and the peach trees tipped to their sides. From afar, they looked like living humans with abnormal growths. The light reappeared amid the trees.

    <i>This should be the peach ntation that belongs to Jiang Ling¡¯s father. </i>Chen Ge did not feel happy even though he had found the location. If anything, he was tense due to the appearance of the mysterious light.

    <i>Everyone nearby knows about the murder case in this vige, so why would someone purposelye here in the middle of the night? </i>Chen Ge moved cautiously. He switched off the shlight. Thanks to his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could see better than most in the dark.

    He slowly moved into the ntation, and then came the sound of shoveling.

    <i>What is he doing? </i>Chen Ge was close enough to get a good look. There was amp hanging on a peach tree¡¯s branch, and underneath it was an old man in his sixties. He was using a hoe to unearth the soil of the ntation like he was looking for something. The old man¡¯s behavior was weird. Chen Ge did not announce himself and slowly followed behind the old man to continue his observation.

    Even though the man had a halo of white hair, his body was strong. His hands were filled with calluses, a sign of a lifetime of farming. He was wearing a shirt that had almost been washed white, and his face was tense like he did not know how to smile.

    <i>Just a normal old man...</i>

    No matter how Chen Ge saw it, this was an elderly farmer. However, why would hee to a crime scene to work the plot in the middle of the night?

    He was afraid that his sudden appearance might shock the old man, so he purposely returned several meters back and turned on his shlight before yelling in the peach ntation¡¯s direction, ¡°Is someone here? Is there a way to leave this mountain?¡±

    The old man was still frightened by Chen Ge¡¯s voice, which seemed to appear out of nowhere. His forehead was covered with cold sweat instantly.

 Chapter 287 - No Matter What You Hear, Dont Come Out

    <h4>Chapter 287: No Matter What You Hear, Don¡¯t Come Out</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Sir, I¡¯m a young man who likes to explore, and I¡¯m an outdoor livestream host.¡± Afraid that the old man might not believe him, Chen Ge told out his phone and showed him the page with his videos. ¡°I¡¯m quite famous online. You can Google me if you want to.¡±

    He confused the old man since he kept saying terms that the senior could not understand. ¡± Goggle you? <sup>1</sup> How would staring at you help?¡±

    The old man tightened his palms around the hoe, and he looked at Chen Ge with rm.

    ¡°To put it simply, I¡¯m a famous outdoor explorer,¡± Chen Ge summarized. He did not care whether the old man understood him or not. He took out a banknote from his pocket. ¡°I¡¯m lost exploring this mountain, and it was lucky for me to run into you. Can you please tell me how to get back to Jiujiang City?¡±

    The old man did not reach for Chen Ge¡¯s money. He kept his eyes on Chen Ge. Obviously, he did not trust Chen Ge. The two stood in the ntation. The weather in the mountain was prone to change. There was a chill in the air, and it soon started to rain.

    ¡°It¡¯s raining?¡± Chen Ge opened his palm and allowed the rain to fall on it. The moment the rain turned heavier, the environment in the mountain would turnplicated. It would be bad for him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know where you¡¯re from, but this ce is called Lin Guan Vige. It is right in the middle of Jiujiang and Lin Jiang. It¡¯s far from the city, and there are no cars nearby. It¡¯ll be difficult for you to return to Jiujiang.¡± The man leaned on the hoe. His legs were weak from the shock that Chen Ge had given him. Who would have thought that a man would suddenly appear behind him in the middle of the night?

    ¡°Then what should I do?¡± Chen Ge twisted his face like he was really worried.

    ¡°I can walk you to the foot of the mountain, but it¡¯ll probably take the whole night.¡± The old man sighed. ¡°Right, there¡¯s a vige at the bottom of the mountain. I can walk you there, but do not go into the vige. Head straight for the road.¡±

    ¡°Why can¡¯t I enter the vige? If there are some vigers, I don¡¯t mind spending a night there.¡±

    ¡°Just listen to me! Why do you have so many questions?¡± the old man said sternly. This seemed to be especially important.

    ¡°But you¡¯ve said so yourself, there are no cars. Even if I leave the mountain, I won¡¯t be able to return to Jiujiang. It looks like it¡¯s going to pour soon; I¡¯ll need a ce to hide from the rain, right?¡± Chen Ge was telling the truth, and the old man could note up with a retort. He red at Chen Ge, and the silence stretched between them.

    The rain picked up, and the old man sighed. ¡°Since it¡¯s raining now, it¡¯ll be misty in the morning. If you don¡¯t mind, you can stay with me for the night.¡±

    He removed themp from the branch. He dragged the hoe for about three meters before asking Chen Ge, ¡°Are you really an famous explorer?¡±

    ¡°Why would I lie?¡± Chen Ge did not feel afraid even though the old man could assault him with the hoe. He took out his phone with one hand while his other reached for the hammer inside his backpack. ¡°You can search for me online. Look, this is me.¡±

    Chen Ge showed the video of himself inside the Third Sick Hall. It was the most normal video of himself that he could find.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been on television before?¡±

    ¡°I suppose you can say that. I¡¯m considered quite famous in Jiujiang.¡±

    Looking at Chen Ge inside the phone and thements that followed it, the old man nodded. ¡°No wonder. A normal person wouldn¡¯te here sote at night.¡±

    After that, he realized that he might have let something slip, so he picked up the hoe and continued on. ¡°Come with me.¡±

    Chen Ge and the old man exited the peach ntation, and after a few minutes of walking, they came across four wooden huts.

    ¡°You can take the first one. After I turn off the light, stay in your room. No matter what you hear, do note out.¡± The old man unlocked the first hut, but he did not give Chen Ge the key.

    ¡°That sounds scary. Is it because there are wolves here?¡± Chen Ge came up with a lie. ¡°I hear wolf attacks aremon in the mountains...¡±

    ¡°There are no wolves. Just lie down and sleep. Nothing will happen to you if you don¡¯te out.¡± The old man ushered Chen Ge into the hut. When Chen Ge was in the wooden hut, he added, ¡°Remember, don¡¯te out. Don¡¯t even push your hand or head out, remember?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m easily-scared. I will never purposely do things that are dangerous.¡± Chen Ge sat on the bed inside the wooden hut honestly.

    ¡°Good. Then rest well. When the morning mist disappears tomorrow morning, I¡¯ll lead you out of the mountain.¡± After the old man bade Chen Ge farewell, he entered the second wooden hut.

    <i>This ce is just weird. </i>Chen Ge looked around the room. There was not much furniture; there was only a wooden bed, and it did not even have a nket. The first wooden hut had been vacant for a long time already. Dust was everywhere, and the corners of the room were filled with spiders¡¯ webs.

    <i>How does one live in a ce like this? Did the old man purposely give me this hut, or are there problems with the other huts as well? </i>Chen Ge walked to the door to inspect it, and he realized something weird. Normally, the door lock was inside the door, but the lock for this hut was on the outside.

    <i>He told me not to leave, but the door can¡¯t even be locked from the inside. </i>Chen Ge felt like the old man had to be hiding something from him. He leaned against the door and yelled at the hut opposite, ¡°Sir! I still don¡¯t know your name!¡±

    ¡°Can you please keep your voice down? I¡¯m not deaf.¡± The old man¡¯s voice was shaking. He seemed to be worried about something. ¡°My surname is Bai. Quickly go to sleep!¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    After twenty minutes, Chen Ge yelled at the hut next door again, ¡°Master Bai, are you there?¡±

    ¡°What now?¡±

    ¡°Nothing, I just want to thank you and wish you a healthy life!¡±

    ¡°Go to sleep!¡±

    Chen Ge leaned against the wall, and the expression on his face was serious. He yelled at the hut next door at twenty minutes interval. Normally, if someone was woken up, their voice would be mixed with anger or drowsiness, but Master Bai¡¯s replies did not sound like that. None of his replies sounded like he was asleep, and his voice was shaking. This meant that he was not sleeping. If anything, it felt like he was waiting for something to arrive!

    <i>Master Bai looks like an honest man, and he even warned me about the vige at the bottom of the mountain. He doesn¡¯t seem like a bad person, but his curious activities make me worry. </i>Chen Ge silently opened the wooden door a sliver. The rain was pouring, and darkness covered everything.

    <i>These four huts should be Jiang Ling¡¯s family¡¯s old home, but it¡¯s unclear which one is the hut where her parents died.</i>

    Pressing the y button on the recorder, Chen Ge pulled open his backpack to grab the handle of the hammer. He did not stay in his hut but slowly inched toward the three other huts.

    The sound of rain muffled his footsteps. Chen Ge held the hammer and stopped before the old man¡¯s hut. He leaned his ear on the door.

 Chapter 288 - Friends?

    <h4>Chapter 288: Friends?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The wooden hut waspletely silent. Chen Ge stayed at the door for about ten seconds until Xu Yin¡¯s suppressed voice came out from the recorder. ¡°So painful...¡±

    The old man probably was still awake because when Xu Yin spoke, there was amotion inside the hut. The old man heard the noiseing from outside the door, but he did note out to take a look. Instead, he buried his head deeper under the covers.

    <i>He must be very afraid.</i>

    The door of the second wooden hut was also locked from the outside. Chen Ge tried to wiggle the lock loose, but the door only moved a centimeter before it got stuck on something. Chen Ge looked through the gap, and the second wooden hut was filled with more furniture than his hut. There was a wooden bed, a wooden table, a chair, and a dresser without the doors. A bunch of clothes that had been washed a few too many times were hanging inside it.

    <i>Looks like he has lived here a long time already.</i>

    Chen Ge could not understand it. The old man was obviously afraid, so why did he move to live at the crime scene? Even more curiously, why did go digging at the peach ntation at night? It was not yet time to demand an exnation from the old man. Chen Ge retreated silently and headed for the third wooden hut.

    There was no moon or stars, and the rain made the night even darker than usual. Chen Ge did not turn on the shlight, but his Yin Yang Vision allowed him to see clearly in the dark. He soon arrived at the third wooden hut. The third wooden hut was thergest. There was a rusted lock on the door. Chen Ge pushed on it slightly, and to his surprise, the lock was just for decoration.

    The door creaked opened, and this door of the third wooden house was different from others because it could be locked from both inside and outside. Chen Ge felt confused by this anomaly.

    For a normal vige house, there would be locks on both sides. Even if there was not a lock on the inside, there would be a door bolt so that the person inside could lock the door if they wanted some privacy. However, it was not like that for the first and second wooden huts. The inside of the door waspletely nk.

    <i>It feels like the first and second wooden huts act as a livestock pen, and the lock is on the outside to prevent the animals locked inside from getting out.</i>

    Chen Ge entered the third wooden hut. The hut was separated into two rooms. There was arge wooden bed in the inner room, and the outer room had a wooden table and a simple hearth.

    <i>This should be the house where Jiang Ling¡¯s parents died.</i>

    Chen Ge did not feel ufortable¡ªperhaps he had gotten used to it. He ransacked the ce and realized that there were many hemp ropes hanging on the walls, and he found a set of carpentry tools under the bed.

    <i>Theyer of dust is very thick, meaning that the tool box hasn¡¯t been touched for a long time already. It probably belonged to the victims. </i>Chen Ge reced the box and looked at the wooden hut. <i>Jiang Ling¡¯s father was probably a carpenter. Did he build these wooden huts himself? So, were the doors of the first two huts designed like that on purpose?</i>

    Chen Ge left the third hut and headed for thest one. The hut was situated at the deepest part of the ntation. It seemed isted from the other three, and it sat at least ten meters away. Chen Ge treaded along the muddy path before he reached the fourth wooden hut. There were two locks on the door, one rusted and the other new.

    <i>The new lock should be the old gentleman¡¯s doing. What kind of secret is this hut hiding?</i>

    Chen Ge walked around the hut, but the house did not even have a window. It waspletely sealed. He leaned at the gap of the door and looked into the room. There were plenty of nails in the walls, and several hemp ropes hung from them. The corners were filled with spider webs.

    There was something that looked like a medieval torture device in the middle of the room. It was built from several wooden parts, and it could shackle someone in the middle of it, to stop said person from moving.

    ¡°So painful...¡± Xu Yin¡¯s voice came from the recorder. Different from the earlier voice, this time he sounded like he was warning Chen Ge.

    <i>This is weird. There¡¯s not even a table or bed in this fourth hut; what is the purpose of this ce?</i>

    Chen Ge took out his hammer, and after a short hesitation, he convinced himself not to smash the wooden door.

    <i>I shouldn¡¯t act too brash; it might leave a bad impression.</i>

    The rain continued to pour, and lightning asionally crossed the sky. Chen Ge did not find anything. He returned to his own room. <i>There¡¯s nothing here other than the bed. It¡¯s hard to even block the door.</i>

    He was worried that someone might sneak into his room at midnight, so he moved the bed to the door. <i>Looks like that¡¯s all I can do.</i>

    Chen Ge curled up in bed, holding Xiaoxiao while he kept his eyes on the small window of the hut. The window was about the size of a basketball. Living inside the wooden hut felt like he was trapped inside a prison. <i>If nothing happens, I¡¯ll go ask the old gentleman for an exnation when the sun rises.</i>

    The rain picked up the pace outside the window. The wind caused the branches to creak, and their shadows looked like small hands reaching for the wooden huts. Chen Ge was looking through his phone at 2 am when he heard the sound of a door opening. It did not sound like it came from the hut next door but the third wooden hut.

    <i>The old man didn¡¯t leave his room, and it was someone else who opened the door. Looks like the thing that he is afraid of has finally appeared!</i>

    Chen Ge took in a deep breath and grabbed the sheets that were covered with spider webs. Ignoring the dirt, he covered his body with them, only leaving his eyes outside. He kept his eyes on the window.

    The rain kept falling, and it sounded like something was moving outside. The footsteps were rushed and irregr like a crowd was bustling to get somewhere. <i>It¡¯sing!</i>

    There was scratching on the wooden door next door; it sounded like several hands were scratching the wooden door. Itsted for a whole minute ,and Chen Ge suddenly heard a woman¡¯s voiceing from the old man¡¯s hut. ¡°Save me, save me.¡±

    The woman was crying, and from the voice, it sounded like she was young.

    <i>This is the thing the old man is afraid of?</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s mind turned. The old man seemed to know that the woman would appear, so he pretended to be asleep inside the hut and did not respond in any way. The voicested for about ten minutes before it disappeared. The irregr footsteps began again, but this time, they were heading toward Chen Ge¡¯s hut.

    The scratching sound began outside the door. The other party seemed to realize something because it increased its strength until the wooden door started to swing. Curling inside the covers, Chen Ge was thankful to have moved the bed to block the door.

    The wooden door could not be opened, and the monster scratched madly. After several seconds, the woman¡¯s crying voice started. ¡°Save me, save me, save me!¡±

    The door continued to swing. Chen Ge reached into his backpack to grab the hammer. He was ready for the confrontation, but the voice onlysted for several seconds before it disappeared alongside the scratching noise.

    <i>I don¡¯t hear footsteps; she hasn¡¯t left yet! Such a cunning creature.</i>

    Chen Ge stayed inside the covers. He wanted to poke his head out to look at what was happening, but when his gaze swept across the window, his breath stopped.

    A woman¡¯s head hung outside the window. Her eyes werepletely white, and blood red spider silk dangled from her lips, intertwining with her ck hair.

    ¡°Save me, save me!¡±

    The woman opened her lips, and the blood red spider web climbed into the hut. Numerous hands gripped the edge of the window.

    Chen Ge tossed the backpack aside after grabbing the hammer. He looked at the woman and walked toward her voluntarily!

 Chapter 289 - Body Inside the Peach Plantation

    <h4>Chapter 289: Body Inside the Peach ntation</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The temporarily sh of light made the dangling head look even scarier. Several slender hands reached for the window, and the edge was covered with fingers¡ªcreepy! At this crucial moment, however, Chen Ge was thinking about something else.

    <i>The woman¡¯s face is simr to the spider monster drawn by Fan Yu. She doesn¡¯t look old; it fits perfectly. She should be Jiang Ling¡¯s older sister.</i>

    The wooden beam creaked. The hut seemed like it was going to crumble under the pressure and was shaking. The spider web crawled toward Chen Ge, and the woman squeezed her head into the room. ¡°Save me, save me!¡±

    ¡°I dide here to save you!¡± Chen Ge did not dare wait anymore lest the situation got out of control. This was probably the first time the woman had heard such an answer. She stopped talking but continued to crawl into the room. Blood red web stuck to the wall, and the woman¡¯s face twisted with various emotions.

    ¡°You¡¯re Jiang Ling¡¯s sister; we¡¯ve met before!¡± The woman was unfazed like she did not understand what Chen Ge was talking about. ¡°Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home! Don¡¯t you remember?¡±

    Chen Ge was ready to call Xu Yin when he suddenly remembered something. He retrieved a stic bottle from his pocket. ¡°This is what your little sister gave me!¡±

    There was a ttened spider inside the bottle. When he left the Children¡¯s Home, Jiang Ling had given Chen Ge the spider¡¯s body as a present. The hut stopped shaking. The woman¡¯s eyes that werecking pupils looked at the stic bottle. She stopped destroying the window. After looking at Chen Ge for a while, she leaned her head toward him.

    The woman¡¯s neck was fair and sexy, but the length was double that of a normal human neck. Chen Ge twisted the bottle open and handed it to the woman with one hand. The scary monster finally calmed down. She kept her mouth closed like she was considering some stuff.

    ¡°I bear no ill will toward you. I just feel like you and your sister are very sad, so I came to help you.¡± Chen Ge silently turned off the recorder. ¡°Your sister has told me many things. I can understand your situation and your pain. Technically speaking, we¡¯re about the same; I too have survived some despairing ordeals.¡±

    Chen Ge had told Xu Yin the same thing before. He was not good at social interactions, so the only thing he could do was ce himself in other people¡¯s shoes. The ghost and the human looked at each other with a wall between them.

    ¡°I¡¯ll help you clear your name, and I¡¯ll take care of your family!

    ¡°Why do you think I entered the mountain alone in the middle of the night?

    ¡°I just want to help you little sister, who wants to relieve her sister¡¯s pain!¡±

    In the end, even Chen Ge believed in what he was saying. He looked serious and pain could be heard in his voice. The woman pulled back her head. She looked at Chen Ge with her head titled. The expression on her face did not look that angry anymore, and in its ce was confusion.

    ¡°I can help you put down your resentment and bring you away from this painful ce. I can find you a new home to live,¡± said Chen Ge earnestly.

    The woman appeared like she had started to believe Chen Ge. She did not quite understand what Chen Ge was saying, but when he mentioned bringing her away, she shook her head.

    ¡°I know you love your sister and want to protect her, but do you know? It is because of your presence that your sister is bullied by other children and is seen as a monster, a patient. She cannot return to a normal life, love normally, and enjoy being loved.

    ¡°I can understand you, but others can¡¯t. Believe me, if you continue to shadow her, one day, you¡¯ll be her darkest nightmare!

    ¡°Do you want to hear from your own sister¡¯s lips that she hates you?¡±

    The woman felt like things had developed beyond her expectations. Her white eyes turned before she shook her head again.

    ¡°I will not force you to make any choice. I¡¯m just telling you the truth. It¡¯s for your own good.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice had a trace of indescribable sadness in it. ¡°The pain that you¡¯ve suffered and might suffer in the future, I¡¯ve experienced it before. If you find yourself with no ce to go, you cane find me.¡±

    Then, he made a brave move. He hid the right hand that was holding the hammer behind him and reached out with his left hand to the woman. ¡°My little brother is your little sister¡¯s best friend. If possible, how about we be friends as well?¡±

    He did not purposely lower his voice. When he said so, there was a weird sounding from next door. It sounded like someone had fallen from the bed. The woman¡¯s eyes turned crazily. She leaned back, looking at Chen Ge¡¯s extended hand.

    ¡°We can be friends.¡± Chen Ge walked forward, and the woman¡¯s eyes turned even faster. She opened her lips to shoot a spider web at the door before retreating into the ntation and disappeared.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Chen Ge moved the wooden bed away and rushed out the door, but the woman had already disappeared. <i>I still haven¡¯t given her my address... Never mind, this was a good start. To employ her at the Haunted House, I still need to go through Jiang Ling.</i>

    The door next door flew open, and the old man rushed out, holding both themp and the hoe. He stood at the door, shaking. He was truly afraid of Chen Ge. The man did not get scared meeting a ghost but even opened the door to chase after it! What was with that expression of regret on his face?

    ¡°Master Bai, you¡¯ve been eavesdropping, right?¡±

    Rain wet Chen Ge¡¯s hair. He turned to look at the old man. Chen Ge¡¯s gaze caused the old man to quiver with fear.

    <i>What is he going to do? Kill me to silence me? Also, where did he find that hammer that looks like a murder weapon?</i>

    ¡°No, I was awoken by the words you said when you were sleeping. I¡¯ll be going back to sleep since you¡¯re fine.¡± The old man gripped the hoe tightly until the back of his hand was popping with veins. He was so nervous that his lips were quivering.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to lie to me anymore. This ce is a crime scene. A family of four: the parents were poisoned, the older sister went missing, and I believe that the creature I just saw was that sister.¡±

    Chen Ge thought about it before adding, ¡°She disappeared into the peach ntation, and when I first met you, you were digging inside the ntation. If my guess is correct, you should have been searching for her body.¡±

    The old man was stunned. After a long time, he said with a voice heavy with guilt and regret, ¡°How did you find out?¡±

    ¡°Not only do I know that you¡¯re looking for her body, I also know that her body is hidden under the tallest tree at the ntation.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the blood red spider web on the door. It was the clue left behind by the woman.

 Chapter 290 - Coffin Village

    <h4>Chapter 290: Coffin Vige</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    There was a line of words that was formed by the spiderweb, but weirdly enough, when the old man turned to look, the words dissolved into blood and washed away.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been searching for Jiang Ling¡¯s sister¡¯s body; is it because you¡¯ve done some wrong by her?¡± Chen Ge heard the guilt and self-reprimand in the old man¡¯s words.

    ¡°Come in first.¡± The old man hung themp by the door. He was flustered because his secret of many years had been discovered. Chen Ge joined him in the second wooden hut. The old man released a long sigh. ¡°Actually, I know who the killer is that poisoned the couple.¡±

    ¡°You do?¡± Chen Ge stood at the door holding the hammer; he did not walk in.

    ¡°I can make a guess.¡± The old man peeled back the wooden bed, and there was a coffin hiding under it. It was smaller than a normal coffin, and it was pure ck.

    ¡°cing a coffin under the bed?¡± Chen Ge was confused.

    ¡°The coffin was prepared for the Zhu family¡¯s eldest daughter.¡± The old man pushed the coffin lid open and took out an iplete que. It was carved with the name¡ªZhu Xinrou.

    ¡°Why did you prepare this coffin for her? Are you rted to her disappearance?¡±

    ¡°The story starts a long time ago.¡± The old man looked at the que in his hand dumbly. ¡°When I was a child, I heard from the adults that there was a Coffin Vige deep in the Jiujiang mountains. The vigers there never interact with outsiders, and the vigers all have weird growths. They observe weird traditions like preparing a living coffin inside every home, but no one knows what they are for.¡±

    Chen Ge could still follow the earlier half of what the old man said. Since the vigers did not mingle with outsiders, this led to consanguineous marriages <sup>1</sup>, and it wasmon for that to lead to abnormal growths. However, what the old man said next confused Chen Ge.

    <i>What is the meaning behind every family owning a living coffin? cing a coffin inside the house is much too unlucky.</i>

    Chen Ge closed the door and softly asked, ¡°Master Bai, is the vige still there today?¡±

    ¡°Initially, I thought the vige was just a rumor. After all, no one had seen it before, but one day, we were proven wrong.¡± The old man ced the que down and reached into the coffin to look for something. ¡°About a decade ago, there was a tragedy that happened at Coffin Vige, and several families managed to escape.

    ¡°The families who managed to escape looked just like normal, and they did not follow these weird rumored traditions, so Bai Family Vige, which sits at the foot of the mountain, epted them. However, no one expected that, within that same year, Bai Family Vige would be struck with an epidemic as well.¡± The old man¡¯s voice was steeped in regret. It felt like some of the vigers were against keeping these people, but the majority epted them.

    ¡°The few families brought the epidemic out from inside the mountains?¡±

    ¡°Who can really tell? Those with the power to move migrated long after, and the vige was practically deserted. However, the families from Coffin Vige stayed and extended their roots there. In fact,ter, they even changed the vige name, and that is the Lin Guan Vige you see today.¡± Master Bai finally found the thing he was looking for. It was a ck outfit.

    ¡°This jacket was made for the Zhu family¡¯s eldest daughter. Those who died outside was requested to wear ck when they were moved into the coffin¡ªthat way, the blood wouldn¡¯t be so obvious.¡±

    There was something curious about the clothes that the old man was holding. The ce where the back was located had four sleeves that were about a quarter the length of normal sleeves.

    ¡°You too realize how weird this outfit looks, right? But that¡¯s what the Zhu family¡¯s eldest daughter looked like.¡± The old man¡¯s voice became smaller and smaller. Chen Ge could hear the pain in his voice. ¡°The child¡¯s parents were one of the families who escaped from Coffin Vige. Her mother already carried her at the time of their escape, so in other words, the child was Coffin Vige¡¯sst ¡®seed¡¯.¡±

    ¡°This level of abnormality can no longer be exined by consanguineous marriage; something is very wrong with that Coffin Vige!¡±

    Chen Ge did not expect that would be the answer. Looking at the ck jacket, Chen Ge could imagine what Zhu Xinrou looked like.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know much about the problem Coffin Vige was facing; I only know that the child had a harsh life. Her parents were afraid to let other vigers see her, so when she was small, she would be wrapped in manyyers even when the weather was scorching hot.

    ¡°However, the secret would inevitably be exposed when she got older. Therefore, the parents came up with the idea to lock the child inside their home, to prevent her from leaving.¡±

    The old man folded the outfit and ced it on the coffin lid. It would serve its purpose soon.

    ¡°Then, what happened?¡±

    ¡°Eventually, the vigers still found out about the Zhu family¡¯s eldest daughter, and to my surprise, the other families who escaped from Coffin Vige did note out to help the couple but even prepared to kill the poor child.

    ¡°They were close to holding a riot. In the end, it was Bai Family Vige¡¯s people who stepped out to calm the crowd. They decided to chase the family out of the vige. The Zhu family¡¯s father was a coffin maker, so he was good at carpentry. After leaving the vige, he moved the family to this peach ntation and lived a fairly isted life.

    ¡°Life went on as usual, and there was a rumor in the vige that the family had given birth to a second daughter.

    ¡°Just as everyone thought that was thest that we would hear about them, the couple ran back to the vige to warn everyone because their eldest daughter had gone missing. Yes, you heard right. They didn¡¯te to ask for help to search for their daughter but came to warn us to be extra careful.

    ¡°A few dayster, the eldest daughter was found in the mountain, and her parents dragged her home to be given heavy punishment. They strung her up and beat her.

    ¡°Every few months, the eldest daughter would escape, and she would be dragged back every time to be delivered corporal punishment whenever she was found.

    ¡°The wooden hut that was built at the deepest part of the ntation was used to lock up the eldest daughter. To punish her, her father even built a special device.

    ¡°The eldest daughter was treated as monster by the vigers, and her parents seemed like they wished she hadn¡¯t been born. Only her younger sister was good to her and treated her as family.

    ¡°There was an abnormality about the youngest daughter too, but it was not as obvious as her sister, plus she was kind and cute. She was a well-loved child.¡± The old man sighed. ¡°Mynd is just adjacent to the peach ntation, so I had many interactions with the little girl. She was never shy around strangers, and we became fast friend.

    ¡°One day, while I was working the field, the girl came crying to me, asking me to save her sister. I knew about her family¡¯s condition, so I ignored her...¡±

    At this point, the old man choked on his words like he could not continue anymore. His muddy eyes stared at the ck jacket on the coffin, and his hands gripped his knees. ¡°I should have helped her even though she was treated as a monster. The girl left crying. In the end, I couldn¡¯t stop myself from worrying, so I came to the ntation to take a look.

    ¡°I saw the eldest daughter inside the fourth hut, and that was thest time I saw her. Her body was shackled to the wooden device, and her several arms were tied by ropes. There were plenty of wounds on her body, and she appeared to be dying.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t imagine what she had been through. She begged for me to save her, but I was too afraid and ran in a hurry.

    ¡°Several dayster, I finally gathered enough courage to return, but the couple told me that their eldest daughter had escaped again.¡±

 Chapter 291 - New Three-Star Mission

    <h4>Chapter 291: New Three-Star Mission</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I missed the only chance to save her.¡±

    The old man kept his head lowered with he spoke. His words were filled with guilt and regret. After some time, he continued.

    ¡°I visited them again after one month to see whether they had found the girl. I knocked on the door for a long time, but there was no answer.

    ¡°I walked to the side of the hut and saw that the window had been shattered. I stood on my tiptoes and nced through the window. The girl¡¯s mother was copsed by the window, and one of her hands was gripping the edge of the window. She seemed like she was trying to escape, but the room was built like a prison. The window was too small for her to fit through.

    ¡°I grabbed the hoe to smash the lock on the wooden door. The father had built a sturdy house, and I needed to knock several times before the door fell open. There was a faded stench inside the room, and the tables and chairs were all tipped over. The father was lying beside the door, and there was a deep scratch mark gouged into the door. It must have been painful for him.

    ¡°I called the police and the ambnce. When I was about to run back to the vige to call for help, the door to the hut next door suddenly opened. It was the Zhu family¡¯s second daughter. She walked out obediently from the house.

    ¡°Seeing the key in her pocket, I was reminded of the fact that the door was locked from the outside!

    ¡°This ce was so isted that normal people wouldn¡¯te here, and the vigers gave the family a wide berth, so no one woulde to poison them for no reason and lock them inside the hut. There was only one possibility, the killer had to be the daughter.

    ¡°Suddenly, looking at the young girl, it felt like I could not recognize her anymore. Perhaps she saw her future in her sister, so she was just trying to protect herself. After all, the little girl had been born with a not-so-noticeable abnormality.

    ¡°However, a scarier thing happened. When the girl saw me, she did not panic or show fear. She walked over like normal. She raised her beautiful face and looked so innocent, but the words that left her lips still chill me to this day.

    ¡°She said them with a t tone without any emotion. She told me that her sister had been buried inside the peach ntation several weeks ago, and she hoped that I would help her find her sister. I wanted to tell her, after one was buried in the ground, they were dead already. I tried to exin the concept of death to her, but she just smiled happily at me. She told me, after we die, we would change into something else, and her sister actually hadn¡¯t left!¡±

    The old man gripped his hands tightly. Thinking back to the day, his forehead still broke out in cold sweat. ¡°I didn¡¯t know how tomunicate with the child, so I ran back to the vige alone to call a few young men to guard the perimeter of the ntation while we waited for the police to arrive.

    ¡°Then there was a long investigation. I told the police there might be a body buried in the ntation, but the police couldn¡¯t find Zhu Xinrou. They tried to use the little girl as an opening, but she refused to speak; it was as if she had turned mute overnight.

    ¡°Due to my guilt toward Zhu Xinrou, I didn¡¯t expose her sister. Furthermore, from how I see it, their parents got what they deserve.¡±

    There was a bitterness in the old man¡¯s voice.

    ¡°The couple always hit their children, and when the escapees from Coffin Vige wanted to execute Zhu Xinrou, they not only did not stop them but even gave their silent approval. If not for the people from Bai Family Vige, a tragedy would have happened a long time ago.¡±

    ¡°Other than the little girl, you¡¯re the biggest suspect, right? Didn¡¯t the police say anything to you?¡± Chen Ge was calm; the case was as he expected.

    ¡°I tried to hide the little girl, but the police were not so easily fooled. They managed to discover many things from the little clues, and I believe that one of them by the name of Yan seemed to have figured out everything. However, he did not point it out.¡±

    The old man looked at the coffin and reminisced about the past.

    ¡°He was not that interested in the poison case but showed more interest in Coffin Vige. After giving my statement, I was free to go.

    ¡°The girl was taken away by the police, and I moved to the city to live with my son. However, whenever night came, I could hear Zhu Xinrou¡¯s voice crying, ¡®Save me, save me.¡¯

    ¡°I asked my son and daughter-inw, but they imed that they didn¡¯t hear anything. It was normal for the two adults, but my grandson who had just started kindergarten would point at the bottom of his bed or the cupboard and yell, ¡®Spider! Spider!¡¯

    ¡°We ransacked the house but could not find any spiders. I suspected it had something to do with Zhu Xinrou, so I bought the peach ntation and moved here. My aim is to find Zhu Xinrou¡¯s body. I¡¯m old now, with a few years ahead of me. I only have two wishes left in my life¡ªone is the safety of my family, and the other is to find Zhu Xinrou.¡±

    The old man held the ck jacket and stood beside the coffin. He seemed to be ready. His voice lowered like he was talking to himself. ¡°Whether she can be found or not, at least this coffin can be put into good use already.¡±

    ¡°Old master, don¡¯t be that pessimistic. Now that we know the exact location of the burial site, we can report to the police tomorrow.¡±

    Digging for body would disrupt the crime scene, so Chen Ge wanted to leave that to the police.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine but I wanted to go and check. When the poison case happened, I told the police there is a body inside the ntation, but they couldn¡¯t find it. I¡¯m afraid of an ident.¡±

    The old man grabbed themp and the hoe.

    ¡°You have a point.¡±

    The rain outside had receded. Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and followed the old man to thergest tree that was at the middle of the ntation. They dug around it for a long time but could not find Zhu Xinrou¡¯s body.

    ¡°This shouldn¡¯t be.¡± Chen Ge believed Zhu Xinrou had no reason to lie to him. After all, he only wanted to help her.

    ¡°Sigh, looks like it¡¯s not here either.¡± There was a thick disappointment in the old man¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Chen Ge looked at the decaying tree, and he retrieved the hammer from his bag to smash at the trunk. The trunk wasn¡¯t that thick to begin with, and it shook from the force.

    ¡°The roots are dead; the trunk might be hollow.¡±

    The two worked together to loosen the soil around the roots and then pushed the trunk down. Underneath the cluster of roots was a hole filled with spiders¡¯ webs, and through it was something that looked like a woman¡¯s legs.

    ¡°This is it!¡±

    Zhu Xinrou was buried headfirst, and the peach tree sealed off her body.

    ¡°Save me...¡±

    When the body was found, Chen Ge¡¯s ck phone vibrated. He took several steps back to look at the message.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored! You¡¯ve triggered the trial mission for a three-star scenario¡ªCoffin Vige! The scenario is extremely dangerous! Please decide whether to ept the mission within a week!¡±

 Chapter 292 - A Miracle Draw?

    <h4>Chapter 292: A Miracle Draw?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The night rain slipped through his cor and chilled Chen Ge¡¯s skin. He stood at the fringe of the ntation and stared at the message on his phone. In the slot where he could choose the Trial Missions, there was a new option¡ªCoffin Vige!

    <i>A three-star scenario is still too difficult for me. The Third Sick Hall is also a three-star scenario. Without Zhang Ya, I would have died then.</i>

    Since the difficulty was three-star, this meant that the scenario possibly had more than one Red Specter. Based on the information Chen Ge had, the only source of threat to a Red Specter was another Red Specter.

    <i>The Trial Missions given by the ck phone are more than just a mission. I need to consider the other variables both in real life and in the future. I cannot rush into this.</i>Chen Ge hesitated. <i>Well, I have a week to think. Perhaps Zhang Ya will wake up in a few days. If that happens, I will not hesitate to take the mission.</i>

    He came to the decision and nced at his shadow before shoving the phone into his pocket. <i>I¡¯ll decide in five days.</i>

    Coffin Vige was a new choice, but ultimately, it was a choice. Based on the ident revolving around Jiang Ling and Zhu Xinrou, Chen Ge had a feeling that this three-star mission would be as dangerous as Third Sick Hall. The key problem was that the vige at the foot of the hill was called Lin Guan Vige, but the mission venue given by the ck phone was called Coffin Vige. Based on what the old man had told him, Chen Ge suspected that the real mission venue was that mysterious vige hidden in the depths of the mountain!

    After unlocking such a scenario, it would be a real attraction at the Haunted House. After all, there were not that many Haunted Houses that used an abandoned haunted vige as the theme. Once unlocked, it would attract many new visitors. To be honest, Chen Ge was intrigued. However, he was also cautious.

    Coffin Vige was situated deep in the mountain, not near anything. The ce probably would not have telephone signal. If something dangerous happened to him then, seeking escape alone would be difficult.

    <i>The vigers of Coffin Vige are born with abnormalities, and each family prepares a living coffin. This ce is probably hiding plenty of monsters. Those who escaped to Bai Family Vige looked normal, but their attitude toward those with abnormalities was curious. It was like they wanted to kill all of them.</i>

    <i>Why did these people escape from the mountains? Was it really because of an epidemic?</i>

    Chen Ge could not understand why, but he was certain of one thing. Before entering Coffin Vige, he needed to make friends with Jiang Ling. The girl was definitely not as innocent as she looked.

    <i>Both Yin Xiaoxiao and Fan Yu seem to like me. Perhaps I¡¯m more natural around children than adults. It shouldn¡¯t be too hard to make friends with Jiang Ling.</i>

    The peach trees rustled in the dark. The old man used the hoe to pry the hole underneath the tree open. His motion was soft, and guilt hung on his face.

    Chen Ge wanted to help but was rejected by the old man. He removed his jacket and hung it over an overhanging branch like he was trying to keep the body from being ruined by the rain. The old man moved the soil away, and the female body started to slide. When Chen Ge saw the small arms that grew under her normal arm, he did not feel so good. She was born into this body, so why did the people around her fault her for it?

    Chen Ge thought back to Zhu Xinrou¡¯s childhood that the old man had described. No matter the weather, she would need to be wrapped up tightly, and when her abnormality was discovered, she had to face the bullying and mockery from people around her, and she had to apologize to them for something that she could not control.

    <i>She must have loved the winter when she was young.</i>

    When he saw Zhu Xinrou¡¯s full body, the shock could not be described by words. However,pared to disgust and istion, what Chen Ge felt was pity. He had seen many monsters and many people who had seen many monsters, so he could see it from a more subjective perspective.

    ¡°It¡¯s not your fault.¡±

    Chen Ge stood facing the wind to block the rain that threatened to pour into the hole.

    Suddenly the ck phone in his pants vibrated again. He took it out and the ck phone said the affection Zhu Xinrou had for him increased from stranger to Slightly Favorable Opinion.

    <i>When I first saw Xiaoxiao, that was how she thought about me. Looks like this one also won¡¯t attack me for no reason.</i>

    Without a taxi, leaving the isted Lin Guan Vige in the middle of the night was difficult, but Chen Ge already had a n.

    ...

    At 3:15 am, the police arrived at the scene. As the one who found the body, Chen Ge requested to follow the police to the station to give his statement. At 5:30 pm, Master Bai and Chen Ge were in Inspector Lee¡¯s office.

    Compared to the nervous Master Bai, Chen Ge was more rxed. He even managed to get some shut-eye in the police car.

    ¡°Master Bai, just tell the truth, don¡¯t be afraid. Our Jiujiang¡¯s police are the best of the best; they will not purposely make things difficult for you.¡±

    When Inspector Lee walked into the room, Chen Ge was trying to teach the old man how to face the police like he was an experienced master. Inspector Lee did not even know how to react. ¡°This kid looks more and more like our informant as the days go by.¡±

    ¡°Uncle San Bao!¡± Chen Ge stood up when he saw Inspector Lee. ¡°Tonight, we¡¯ll trouble you again. The police¡¯s work is never done, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    The old man beside him nodded. He was an honest man. He realized that they had reported the case in the middle of the night, and the police officers had trekked into the mountain before daylight. They were indeed hardworking. ¡°Thank you for all the trouble you¡¯ve gone through, sir.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s our job,¡± Inspector Lee told Master Bai with a smile then he turned toward Chen Ge. ¡°Jiujiang is so big. Can you please wander out of our district once in a while? I beg you to leave the district for holiday¡ªgive yourself a break and give us a break.¡±

    ¡°Inspector Lee, you¡¯re so nice to me. Don¡¯t worry, my body can still stand it.¡± Inspector Lee looked at Chen Ge and wanted to stand up to smack him, but since an outsider was there, he held it in.

    Inspector Lee rubbed his temples, and after taking their statements, he hastily called Da Yong to lead Chen Ge out. Da Yong, who had dark circles under his eyes, walked Chen Ge to the door. He gripped Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder as he said, ¡°Brother, Inspector Lee is a straight shooter, don¡¯t mind him. But if you don¡¯t feel like going on a holiday, how about staying home to rx for a few days?¡±

    Da Yong sounded sincere; he was really looking out for Chen Ge. epting the kindness from Western Jiujiang¡¯s police station, Chen Ge nodded and replied with sincerity, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll try my best.¡±

    Chen Ge jumped into a taxi and returned to New Century Park. The sun was just climbing over the horizon. Staring at the sun, standing before the Haunted House, Chen Ge suddenly took out the ck phone.

    <i>I remember the effect of lucky draw during midday is not so good. They say a good morning is a good start to everything. Perhaps I might be lucky if I initiate the lucky draw now!</i>

    Chen Ge thought about and spent one hundred screams to spin the Wheel of Misfortune.

 Chapter 293 - Drawer

    <h4>Chapter 293: Drawer</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Sunlight fell on his face as Chen Ge stared at the phone screen. When the spinning needle slowed down, his heart tightened. One hundred screams was not a small number; if he won something useless from the lucky draw, it would have been such a waste.

    <i>I purposely picked early morning to do the draw. It shouldn¡¯t be a baleful Specter this time. Just from the perspective of probability, it¡¯s time for me to see what other things the Wheel has to offer, right?</i>

    Chen Ge could not remember thest time he had been so nervous. His heart rose with anticipation while he kept his eyes on the phone.

    It stopped!

    ¡°Lucky Spinpleted. Congrattions for having won a Rare Special Item: The Drawer that Cannot Be Opened (Chance of Winning: 1/100)!¡±

    When he saw the message, Chen Ge sucked in a cold breath. A series of nouns appeared in his mind. <i>Cursed Love Letter, Crying Tape, Drawer that Cannot Be Opened. They sound like they¡¯re from the same series!</i>

    Chen Ge continued to read.

    ¡°I felt like someone was watching me. He was probably hiding in this room. I searched all the corners that someone could hide in, but I could not find him. I grew afraid. Whenever I worked at the table with my back facing the living room, the feeling of being watched returned. He was spying on me. I was so afraid that he would sneak to stand behind me when I was not looking.

    ¡°To save myself, I hid a knife inside the desk¡¯s drawer. One night, the feeling of being watched reappeared. I couldn¡¯t wait any longer and pulled the drawer open to grab the knife. But when the drawer was pulled open, I realized the man wasn¡¯t hiding in the living room.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored! You¡¯ve won another rare Baleful Specter.

    ¡°Warning! If you win five Baleful Specters from the Wheel of Misfortune, your title will be upgraded!¡±

    The morning breeze touched his face, and the sun was warm. Chen Ge slowly moved his gaze away from the screen. <i>Why is it a drawer this time?</i>

    When Chen Ge saw the name of the reward, he knew it was a baleful Specter. He had spun the wheel four times already and won three Specters. His title would be upgraded soon based on his luck.

    <i>I have a feeling I won¡¯t be seeing anything else in the wheel. Then again, how is a drawer going to help me fight the ghost stories society? </i>Chen Ge felt like he needed a bigger backpack. <i>The probability of drawing Zhang Ya¡¯s love letter was one in one thousand, and this drawer was one in one hundred. It should be weaker than Zhang Ya but slightly more powerful than Xu Yin. It¡¯s at least a rare item, which is better than nothing.</i>

    Chen Ge ran into the Props Room. When he earned any reward from the wheel, the item would appear inside the wooden box that his parents had left behind. Chen Ge kept the box inside the Props Room. However, Chen Ge searched for a long time, but he could not locate that drawer that could not be opened.

    <i>Could the ck phone be referring to the actual drawers inside the Props Room?</i>

    He pulled open the drawer one by one and found a rental notice in one of them.

    ¡°Room 304, Jiujiang Third Hospital¡¯s Staff Residence.

    ¡°Room model: 2 Bedrooms, 1 Living Room, 1 Bathroom.

    ¡°A brand-new home! Upscale furniture! 46-inch LED television! Large sofa! Wooden floor! Can move in immediately!

    ¡°Rental: 900 per month

    ¡°Phone number...¡±

    Chen Ge was made confused by the string of exmation marks that were used on the flyer. <i>Two bedrooms and one living room. The location is not bad. Normally, it should cost 3,000 per month, so why is it so cheap?</i>

    The notice looked old like it was from several years back, but even so, it should not cost 900 per month. <i>There¡¯s something fishy about this room; it¡¯s probably haunted.</i>

    Although Chen Ge could not find the drawer, he did find this notice. Chen Ge understood what the ck phone was trying to say.

    <i>This new friend requires me to go find him personally. </i>Chen Ge leaned the hammer against the wall. He looked at the time. <i>I can take a half an hour nap before the park opens at 9 am. In the afternoon, I¡¯ll go to Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home to visit Fan Yu and Jiang Ling. On the way home, I¡¯ll go deal with the drawer.</i>

    After changing his clothes, Chen Ge prepared to feed the white cat. He tried to use the cat food as bait to train the white cat to find the food itself. He tried for long time, and he came to the conclusion that taking care of Xiaoxiao and the Pen Spirit was more convenient.

    <i>Since I can¡¯t train the white cat to look for its food on its own, perhaps I should train Xiaoxiao to feed it. </i>Chen Ge rustled Xiaoxiao¡¯s head and suddenly felt like there were many abilities of his current employees that he had not yet discovered.

    ...

    The Haunted House opened at 9 am, and the number of visitors was obviously bigger than before. Director Luo¡¯s promotional tactic was good, but Chen Ge believed that the power of his Haunted House yed a bigger part.

    To match the promotion, New Century Park had made a lot of adjustments. One could purchase tickets online, and the visitors could also share the link on social media to enjoy a greater discount. After the discount, New Century Park¡¯s ticket did not cost much anymore.

    This meant that those who had tried one-star scenarios before invited their friend to challenge harder scenarios. After all, visiting a Haunted House alone was a vastly different experience to visiting with friends.

    With the growing poprity, there were guides to Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House appearing online. The number who cleared the two-star scenarios increased, but none of them had a perfect clear. The highest record was held by a group of students from Jiujiang Medical University and normal visitors. Twelve of them worked together to find 21 nametags in twenty minutes.

    It was to Chen Ge¡¯s regret that when one group finally gathered to challenge a three-star scenario, the Third Sick Hall, they swiftly retreated when Chen Ge opened the door and they saw the mattresses that littered the corridor like mass graves.

    <i>Some visitors are already challenging the Third Sick Hall. Looks like I need to unlock a new scenario soon.</i>

    Chen Ge finally got time to rest when the park closed at 6 pm. After Xu Wan left, Chen Ge grabbed the rental notice and left New Century Park. He stopped at a supermarket to purchase a bunch of snacks and toys before arriving at Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home. The president thought Chen Ge finally decided to bring Fan Yu away, so he came out personally to wee Chen Ge.

    Of course, he was disappointed by the result. Chen Ge carried the bunch of snacks into Fan Yu and Jiang Ling¡¯s room. The two kids, who did not know that he was going to visit them, were drawing quietly in the room.

 Chapter 294 - Fan Yus Warning

    <h4>Chapter 294: Fan Yu¡¯s Warning</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Red and ck were still the only colors on the paper; Fan Yu¡¯s style had not changed.

    ¡°This is the room we¡¯re living in, and your sister was lying there at the time.¡± Fan Yu¡¯s finger moved on the painting. It passed several ck people before stopping at a ck window. The nurse looked at Fan Yu¡¯s drawing, and she was confused. She was standing near the window, so if Fan Yu was right, the spider-like humanoid monster was just above her head.

    ¡°Ling Ling, let¡¯s go back to the room to y, okay?¡± The nurse squatted down and moved her gaze away from Fan Yu¡¯s drawing. Her rational mind told her that Fan Yu was drawing those thing from his imagination, but the more she looked at it, the more unsettled she became, as if there was a real monster beside her.

    <i>No wonder many mental doctors fall ill with psychological issues. After extended interaction with these abnormal patients, their worldview will slowly be twisted as well.</i>

    The nurse told herself that the source of her fear was her brain ying tricks on her. She tried to hug the little girl away, but the girl struggled; she did not want to leave Fan Yu¡¯s side.

    ¡°Let me, you should not be so rough with kids.¡± Chen Ge ced the toys and snacks on the table before reaching for Jiang Ling¡¯s small hand.

    ¡°I¡¯m rough?¡± The nurse stood to the side with a speechless expression. ¡°I just think daily exposure to these scary drawings will have a negative effect on Jiang Ling¡¯s growth, so I¡¯m trying to lead her away.¡±

    ¡°Understood. Taking care of children is not easy.¡± Chen Ge looked confident and mature. There was an indescribable warmth in his smile. The nurse nced at him before turning her head away with a harrumph. Even so, her gaze would drift back to Chen Ge asionally.

    ¡°Jiang Ling, I¡¯ve met your sister,¡± Chen Ge said directly. He did not treat Jiang Ling as a little kid. ¡°I just came back from Lin Guan Vige, and I¡¯ve gained a new understanding of what happened to you and your sister. After some time, I¡¯ll go deep into the mountains to Coffin Vige to investigate the truth!¡±

    The girl stopped crying when she heard the terms Lin Guan Vige and Coffin Vige. Her watery eyes seemed to be conveying a special emotion; it appeared like fear and shock. Neither of them spoke, and the room suddenly turned quiet. The nurse grumbled to herself, ¡°What is this man doing? Coffin? Investigation? Why did he start ying along? There has to be a limit; don¡¯t lie to children!¡±

    To the nurse¡¯s surprise, Jiang Ling, who had been crying, suddenly reached out her hand to grab Chen Ge¡¯s cor. ¡°Don¡¯t go.¡±

    ¡°Is it very dangerous there?¡± Based on what Master Bai had said, Jiang Ling also had some slight abnormality. Simr to her big sister, Jiang Ling was that vige¡¯s ¡®seed¡¯ and probably knew some secrets about it.

    ¡°Yes.¡± The girl nodded obediently. ¡°My mother said that the vige has many things simr to big sister, but they¡¯re very bad.¡±

    ¡°Simr to your sister? What else did your mother say?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch the coffin.¡± Jiang Ling¡¯s left hand tightened, and her right hand held onto Chen Ge¡¯s cor tightly. ¡°Don¡¯t go. You won¡¯t return if you go.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Chen Ge tussled Jiang Ling¡¯s head. He picked her up from the floor and ced her on the chair. The girl did not resist.

    ¡°What are you two talking about?¡± Afraid that Chen Ge would say more weird things, the nurse immediately snatched Jiang Ling away. This time, Jiang Ling did not make a fuss, but before they left, she kept her eyes on Chen Ge.

    <i>Don¡¯t touch the coffin¡ªthis is quite crucial information. </i>Chen Ge closed the door and sat beside Fan Yu. Fan Yu had started his second picture. There was a ck man who stood in the middle, and around him were plenty flying red shadows.

    ¡°Fan Yu, would you like to move to my Haunted House?¡± Chen Ge peeled open the bag of snacks and started eating. Fan Yu put his pencil down and turned to look at Chen Ge before nodding seriously.

    ¡°After I deal with this issue, I¡¯lle and fetch you, but I need you to promise me a few things.¡± Chen Ge leaned closer to Fan Yu. ¡°I know that you have no psychological issue, and the reason you¡¯re acting so strange is because you have an ability that others don¡¯t. Actually, inparison, you¡¯re much smarter and more mature than people your age. I will not force you to go seek psychiatric help or medication. I just need you to do one thing for me.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Fan Yu raised his head.

    ¡°I will enroll you into a normal school and give you a life simr to other children. I don¡¯t ask that you score in ss, but I hope you can make a friend your own age and walk out of the enclosed world that you¡¯ve built for yourself.¡± Chen Ge was being sincere.

    When he made this decision, he had already prepared the money required to start Fan Yu¡¯s schooling. He was not one to splurge, but some expenses were necessary. Fan Yu did not reply. He lowered his head and started on his third drawing.

    ¡°Think about it.¡± Chen Ge looked at Fan Yu¡¯s drawings but did not force him to decide. ¡°Also, onest piece of advice. Stop looking like the world owes you money. You have to learn how to smile, like me. Do you know why I¡¯m so popr? It¡¯s because of my winning smile.¡±

    The expressionless Fan Yu finally got tired of Chen Ge¡¯s bbering. He shoved histest drawing into Chen Ge¡¯s hands. He theny down in bed and used the quilt to cover his face.

    ¡°This kid...¡± Chen Ge shook his head and looked at the drawing. He had thought that Fan Yu was just doodling, but Chen Ge could not move his eyes away when he saw what the drawing was.

    There was a little girl drawn in ck standing in the middle of the drawing. Behind the girl was arge red spider monster. This was simr to what Fan Yu had drawn earlier, but after a closer look, Chen Ge realized that there was a pair of crying red shadows twined around the girl¡¯s left and right hands. They appeared to be her parents.

    <i>Is this a warning from Fan Yu?¡±</i>

    Chen Ge pocketed the drawing. He looked at the boy who hid himself under the quilt and sighed. He picked up his backpack and left the Children¡¯s Home.

    <i>The girl is not as she appears. </i>Chen Ge called for a taxi and gave the address on the rental notice. <i>After taking this drawer, I¡¯ll need to rest for the night.</i>

    He called the phone number given by the notice, but the number had already been disconnected. Since he could not contact the person who issued the flyer, he had to visit the ce personally. Third Hospital¡¯s Staff Residence was part of the old city. The ce had low poption, and the buildings were generally low.

    Chen Ge found the ce at around 9 pm. The area was quiet, and most of the streetlights were not functioning.

 Chapter 295 - Disappearing Arm

    <h4>Chapter 295: Disappearing Arm</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Third Hospital¡¯s Staff Residence looked old and battered. There was not even a guard post. Chen Ge nced at the rooms on the first floor and realized that none of the rooms there had a room number.

    <i>The rental notice only stated Room 304. How am I supposed to find it?</i>

    Chen Ge stood at the entrance holding the backpack. He wanted to find someone to ask for direction. Ten minutester, a high-schooler entered the area on an e-bike.

    ¡°Hello, do you mind telling which building Room 304 is in?¡± Chen Ge spoke when he was quite far away. He did not want to spook the kid.

    ¡°Room 304? That sounds familiar.¡± The high-schooler stopped the bike and pointed toward the residential area. ¡°Should be somewhere inside, I¡¯m not sure.¡±

    ¡°I have another question if you don¡¯t mind. Has any weird stuff happened in this residential area before?¡± Chen Ge tried to make himself look as friendly as possible. ¡°After all, the Electrical nt¡¯s Residence is as old as this ce, but theirs is livelier and more exciting.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so...¡± The kid looked at Chen Ge guardedly, thinking that the man was weird.

    ¡°Yawen! Who are you talking to?¡± A middle-aged woman¡¯s voice came down from the third floor. Chen Ge turned to look and saw a woman in pajamas looking at Chen Ge with caution and waving for the high-schooler toe home.

    ¡°Coming.¡± The high-schooler pushed off and quickly left.

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± Chen Ge did not want to miss this opportunity. He was there to take the drawer, so he did not want to make things soplicated. He then yelled at thedy upstairs, ¡°Sister, do you know which building has Room 304?¡±

    He shouted that once, but after that, all the lights in the building switched off simultaneously.

    ¡°Is it that serious?¡± Only the middle-aged woman¡¯s home had its lights on.

    ¡°Walk down there. The third floor of the first building on your left.¡± Thedy¡¯s face was dark, and when she returned to her own home, the light was turned off as well.

    <i>What is with this reaction? </i>Chen Ge did not leave instantly but quietly tailed the high-schooler. The kid, who did not know anything, parked his bike and went up the stairs.

    ¡°Mum, what are we having tonight?¡±

    The kid was opening the door when the middle-aged woman could be heard yelling, ¡°Don¡¯t touch the door! Stomp your feet on the ground beforeing in!¡±

    ¡°Mum, what are you saying? I just came back from a long study session, and I¡¯m tired.¡±

    ¡°Stop arguing with your mom!¡± The woman¡¯s voice suddenly turned up like she was incredibly angry. It shocked Chen Ge, who was hiding on the second floor. The kid followed the order unwillingly. Then the woman opened the door, her lips mumbling, ¡°The child doesn¡¯t know anything. Please forgive him...¡±

    She repeated it several times before allowing the kid to enter the room. ¡°Remove your clothes. I¡¯ll wash them for you.¡±

    ¡°But just I changed this morning!¡±

    ¡°No dinner if you don¡¯t change.¡±

    The door on the third floor slowly closed. Chen Ge walked out from the stairwell, thinking to himself, <i>What¡¯s with the people at this ce?</i>

    The chance of winning the drawer was one in one hundred. Xu Yin¡¯s was three in one hundred, so technically speaking, the drawer was just slightly stronger than Xu Yin. However, it should not be a Red Specter. <i>So be it, I need to get the thing before night falls.</i>

    Probably due to his shout earlier, the number of rooms with their lights on had decreased dramatically. Chen Ge found the building that the woman mentioned and did not sense anything weird when he stepped into it. The ce looked old and had been abandoned for a long time already. He came to the third floor, and there were two adjacent rooms. Neither of them had a room number, but the one of the left had a contact number pasted on the door.

    <i>Is this Room 304?</i>

    Chen Ge took out his phone to call the number. It only rang twice before it was picked up. ¡°Thank you for calling Yi Ju Real Estate, how can we help you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like this. I¡¯m interested in a room you¡¯re renting in Third Hospital¡¯s Staff Residence. I¡¯m in the area, so if it¡¯s not too much trouble, can I look at the ce tonight?¡±

    ¡°Please wait a minute. I¡¯ll ask our agent who is responsible for that area.¡±

    After a while, the reply came. ¡°He just got off from work, but I¡¯ve reported your situation to him. He¡¯s currently heading your way. This is his number...¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Around ten minutester, a man in a ck shirt, holding a suitcase, stopped outside the building. He looked around thirty and very friendly. ¡°This is such a coincidence. My home is nearby. If you want to look anywhere else, you¡¯d have had to wait until tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like fate if you ask me.¡± Chen Ge chuckled, thinking about how he could shuttle the drawer away without the man noticing. ¡°How about we go take a look at the room?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± The man was obviously scared, looking at the darkened stairwell, but he did not show it on his face. ¡°Come with me.¡±

    He took out his phone to use as a shlight and started his sales pitch. ¡°This area is not bad. It has plenty of nearby amenities like a hospital, school, library, and so on. Plus, the price is cheap.¡±

    He took out a cluster of keys when they reached the third floor. With the aid of Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge realized that every key was taped with a number. The man prepared to use the key to Room 305.

    ¡°Is this Room 304?¡± Chen Ge asked.

    Hearing that, the keys almost fell from the man¡¯s fingers. He turned tough drily at Chen Ge. ¡°This is Room 305. Room 304 is haunted, so how could we...¡±

    ¡°I want Room 304. I don¡¯t mind its history as long as the price is right. Bring me to Room 304,¡± Chen Ge said firmly. The man gripped the key to Room 304, but he did not dare open the door.

    The stalemate continued for a long time before he moved to the door with a saddened face. ¡°If I knew you¡¯re interested in Room 304, I wouldn¡¯t havee.¡±

    He pushed the key into the door. ¡°The price for Room 304 is half of Room 305, but I have to tell you some things just in case youin to meter.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Chen Ge focused; he had a feeling that he had won an unusual drawer.

    ¡°The first tenant of Room 304 was a gambler. He put the house on sale to clear the debt that he owed the loan sharks, but it was not enough. In the end, the man jumped out from the window of his room and died.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the cause of it being haunted?¡±

    ¡°When I tell you the truth, you won¡¯t want to rent this ce anymore.¡± The man pushed the door open. ¡°Hemitted suicide after midnight. When the police arrived, they realized that one of his arms had been chopped off, but even now, no one knows where the missing arm is.¡±

 Chapter 296 - You Want to Scare Me?

    <h4>Chapter 296: You Want to Scare Me?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    If it was just a suicide, it would not have been so scary, but the dead man¡¯s detached arm still had not been found. No one dared move in¡ªwhat if an arm poked out at them when they were cleaning the ce?

    ¡°I still want to take a look,¡± Chen Ge said calmly, like this was nothing serious to him.

    ¡°Okay.¡± There was a patch on the back of the man¡¯s shirt that was wet, drenched by cold sweat. ¡°Actually this ce is not bad. The same model at Electrical nt¡¯s residence is four times the price.¡±

    After the door opened, a weird stench flew out¡ªit smelled like mildew. The man tried the light in the living room, but perhaps because it had not been used for a long time, he had to work for it for some time before the light came on. The light banished the darkness and seeped into the room. Chen Ge walked into the room. He did not want to do anything extra; his purpose was to look for that drawer.

    <i>The ck phone provided a description of the drawer. It sounds like it belongs to the desk in the bedroom.</i>

    Before the man standing at the door could stop him, Chen Ge had already entered the bedroom. However, he searched both bedrooms, but there was no table, only arge dresser.

    <i>The description is different to what¡¯s described by the phone.</i>

    Chen Ge walked out from the bedroom and nced at the agent with confusion. ¡°Brother, are you sure this is Room 304?¡±

    ¡°That is what it says on the key; it can¡¯t be mistaken.¡± The man showed Chen Ge the key. There was no desk in the bedroom, but there were tables in the other areas of the ce. <i>It¡¯ll take time for me to go through them. Will I really need to stay here tonight?</i>

    ¡°What do you think of the room? We can still discuss the price.¡± The man was afraid; he stood at the door and did not dare enter.

    ¡°I like this room a lot. Can you let me stay here for a night?¡± Chen Ge reached into his backpack to search for something.

    ¡°A stayover? We don¡¯t provide that service. If you¡¯re not satisfied, how about we look at the room next door?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need; I want this one.¡± Chen Ge interrupted the man. He took out his ID and 500 from his bag. ¡°500 for one night, and this is my ID. I will not destroy anything in the house. If nothing weird happens tonight, I¡¯ll take this ce.¡±

    The agent had not seen this kind of customer before. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but thepany has rules that I need to follow.¡±

    ¡°Are many people asking for this ce? If you don¡¯t sell it to me, this room will remain vacant for who knows how long.¡± Chen Ge finally managed to persuade the man to give him the key.

    ¡°There are security cameras around the residential area. If you need help, just run out. I¡¯ll be back tomorrow morning at 8 am.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d bettere sooner because I have something else to do in the morning.¡± Chen Ge sent the agent out. Looking at the key in his hand, he felt something was off. The key itself was old, but the tape was new.

    <i>This is weird.</i>

    A sound in the kitchen interrupted his thought. He took out the hammer from his backpack. Chen Ge walked into the kitchen and saw that the cleaver on the chopping block had fallen into the sink.

    <i>Where was this cleaver earlier?</i>

    He picked up the cleaver to take a look. Then he opened the gas stove. Holding the wooden handle, he seared the cleaver. <i>Baleful Specters should be afraid of fire, right?</i>

    The bright knife was burned until it was charred. Chen Ge then dropped it back into the sink.

    <i>There are so many drawers, but one of them has to be one I¡¯m looking for.</i>

    He turned on all the lights in the room and started to search for that drawer that could not open. Night had fallen, and the residential area was freakishly quiet, like none of the rooms were upied.

    One hour passed without Chen Ge noticing. Chen Ge sat in the living room, looking at the drawers that had been pulled out.

    <i>All of the drawers in this ce can be opened. There¡¯s nothing out of the ordinary with them.</i>

    Leaning against the sofa, Chen Ge felt drowsy. He had not had a good rest in a long time already.

    <i>This is different from my previous draws at the wheel. Is it because the Specter is particrly powerful? Or does it have a special power?</i>

    He ced the recorder beside him and fell asleep on the sofa, hugging the hammer. He was about to close his eyes when his phone rang.

    <i>The real estatepany? Why are they calling? </i>Chen Ge answered the call, and it was the familiar female voice. ¡°Hello, I¡¯m sorry but I just received the news that the agent responsible for Third Hospital¡¯s Staff Residence just ran into an ident while he was on his way to find you. He¡¯s currently unavable to provide his service. If you¡¯re still interested in that room, pleasee back in three days.¡±

    <i>Car ident? </i>Chen Ge lost his desire to sleep instantly. The agent had gotten into an ident, so who was the man who had shown him the room? A baleful Specter that haunted the residential area or the agent¡¯s soul? Either way, the result was the same; he had met a ghost!

    ¡°Can you describe the appearance of the agent?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m only responsible for customer service. I¡¯m not really familiar with the individual agents in Jiujiang.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not familiar with your ownpany¡¯s employees?¡± Chen Ge looked at the key in his hand. This key had been left behind by the soul. The more he looked at it, the more off he felt about it. The tape was new, but the key old. He pulled the tape back, and there were three crooked numbers written underneath¡ª305.

    <i>The room that the man tried to rmend me earlier was the real 304! The one that he wanted me to buy is the real haunted room!</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯sck of rationality surprised the man. Normally, people would avoid haunted ces, but that ¡®customer¡¯ was theplete opposite and was adamant about entering the haunted room!

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, is there anything else I can help you with?¡± The woman on the phone was very nice, and her tone was polite.

    ¡°Since you¡¯re with the agency, you should have the information on the house, right? Can you help me check the information on the former tenants of Room 304? I know it¡¯s haunted, but I¡¯m interested in it because the price is low, so there¡¯s no need to hide anything from me.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± The agent answered quickly. ¡°There were three former tenants in Room 304. The third tenant was a gambler, and the loan sharks chopped one of his arms off because he didn¡¯t have the money to pay his debt. In the end, he was cornered and jumped off the building. The second tenant was an English teacher who mysteriously disappeared in the house. The first tenant...¡±

    Chen Ge focused on the phone when there was a knock on the door.

    <i>Someone is outside? At this time? </i>Chen Ge grabbed the hammer and muttered into the phone, ¡°Please snap a picture of that information and send it to me. I¡¯m definitely taking this ce!¡±

 Chapter 297 - Are You a Ghost?

    <h4>Chapter 297: Are You a Ghost?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge hung up the phone and gripped the doorknob. With his right hand on the hammer, his left hand pulled the door open a sliver. The light filtered into the corridor, and the simple door seemed to split the world in two.

    ¡°Who are you looking for?¡±

    There was a thin,nky man standing at the door. His eyes were sunken, and his skin looked rough. He seemed tired.

    ¡°I came to give you a warning.¡± The man kept a fair distance from the door. ¡°Don¡¯t stay here overnight. If you have to stay within this residential area, do not stay on this floor.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Chen Ge wanted to hear what this strange man had to say.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind why. Just don¡¯t stay here overnight.¡± He coughed twice and pulled his hand out of his right pocket to put over his mouth like he did not want people to hear him. He whispered, ¡°Someone went missing on this floor before.¡±

    ¡°Went missing?¡± Chen Ge was reminded of the information given to him by the agent. The second tenant was an English teacher and mysteriously disappeared inside the room.

    ¡°Leave while you still can.¡± The man appeared like he hade to warn Chen Ge out of kindness.

    ¡°How do you know about all this? Are you also a tenant here?¡± Chen Ge exposed half of his body while he kept his hand that held the hammer behind the door.

    ¡°Yes, I live upstairs, and I overheard your conversation with yourself earlier.¡± The man was wearing a dusty jacket and kept both his hands in the pockets. He looked physically weak and teetered unstably. ¡°I thought you¡¯d leave in the end, but you ran into the room. You look like you¡¯re nning to stay overnight, so I came to warn you.¡±

    ¡°Conversation with myself?¡± Chen Ge gulped. Other people would have start to panic by now. ¡°Have simr events happened at this building before?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but normally peoplee during broad daylight. This is the first time someone has visited at night.¡±

    ¡°What happened to those people?¡±

    ¡°Some went mad, and others stayed as tenants. Then again, I¡¯d say those that went mad got lucky. After all, the tenants eithermitted suicide or disappeared.¡±

    ¡°Went mad? Disappeared? Why are the endings so different?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s apparently a reason.¡± The man signaled for Chen Ge toe closer with his right hand, but Chen Ge did not follow his order. In the end, the man had to lean closer to Chen Ge to whisper, ¡°I heard that those who went mad found this ce through the actual agent while those that stayed as tenants called the ghost agent¡¯s number.¡±

    ¡°Ghost agent?¡± Chen Ge was reminded of the girl¡¯s voice who remained the same throughout their conversation, the only defining feature about her voice being the politeness. ¡°What is a ghost agent?¡±

    ¡°This story began several years ago. There was a murder in this Room 304 next to you. The victim was a real estate agent, but even now, the murderer hasn¡¯t been caught.¡± The man took in a deep breath and turned his attention upstairs. Other than Chen Ge¡¯s room, every corner was shrouded in darkness, so Chen Ge had no idea what he was looking at.

    After checking their surroundings, the man continued. ¡°Ever since his death, this room has been vacant, but weird things kept happening. People woulde to see the room, but when asked where they got the information, their answers would be different. Some said they saw it online, others said roadside advertisement, but some of them could not even remember how the information got into their mind.¡±

    The man paused while he looked at Chen Ge with confusion. ¡°By the way, how did you find out about this ce? And... how did you get the key to the room next to Room 304?¡±

    ¡°The process is ratherplicated.¡± Chen Ge nced at Room 304. ¡°I saw the phone number left on the door and called it. Then a man about thirty wearing a ck shirt gave me the key.¡±

    ¡°About 30? ck shirt?¡± the man mumbled before his eyes widened. ¡°He¡¯s returned!¡±

    After saying that, the man rushed upstairs like he was running for his life.

    ¡°Hey! Finish your story!¡± The man was too suspicious, and Chen Ge did not intend to let him slip away. He grabbed the hammer and chased after the man. It was unclear whether the man saw the hammer or just focused on running upstairs. The building was old, and it only had eight floors. When Chen Ge chased the man until the fifth floor, Chen Ge¡¯s phone started to ring.

    ¡°Stop!¡± Chen Ge did not allow himself to get distracted. He rushed until the sixth floor when he finally caught up to the thin man. ¡°Why did you run?¡±

    ¡°The agent was thirty plus! When he died, the white formal shirt that he was wearing was dyed ck by blood!¡± The man was panicking, and the fact that Chen Ge was holding a scary-looking hammer did not help.

    <i>It¡¯s like I thought. Looks like the agent I saw was the first tenant. Now the issue is whether the female agent is same or not. </i>Chen Ge¡¯s phone was still ringing, and he pulled it out. The thin man leaned against the railing like he did not want to be close to Chen Ge.

    The screen unlocked, and it was the information sent by the agent. The first picture recorded the information on the third tenant, the gambler. Chen Ge swiped the screen to the bottom, and the agent was nice enough to include the gambler¡¯s picture.

    ¡°Tired-looking, sunken eyes, and slight of frame!¡± When he saw the picture, Chen Ge¡¯s body moved faster than his mind. He picked up the hammer and swung at the railing. When he saw the thin man, Chen Ge already had this spection. No matter what the man did, he only used his right hand and kept his left hand in his pocket. At the time, Chen Ge had suspected that this man had no left hand!

    The hammer smashed the railing, and the thin man evaded to the side as his body twisted in unnatural angle. He did not fight back. With a weird smile on his face, he jumped over the railing and disappeared to the third floor.

    <i>He¡¯s probably run back to Room 304.</i>

    When Chen Ge left the room, he did not take the recorder with him. To prevent further ident, he decided to return to the third floor first. Chen Ge felt better when he was inside Room 305, and he turned on the recorder.

    <i>This building sure is interesting. Everyone looks like they¡¯re telling the truth, but everyone is lying. I can¡¯t trust anyone. </i>Chen Ge thought back to his conversation with the thin man. <i>The gambler kept persuading me to leave. Why is that?</i>

    After picking up all his stuff, Chen Ge took out his phone and looked at the screen.

    <i>The agent only gave me the information on the gambler but not the other two tenants. Did she do that on purpose? What is the connection between these people to the drawer? </i>Chen Ge shook his head. <i>Looks like the Baleful Specter I¡¯ve won this time is rather unique!</i>

    He called the agent¡¯s number. He held the hammer in one hand, and his other held his phone to his ear.

    ¡°Good evening, the information has been sent to your phone. How can I help you?¡± The voice on the phone was still very polite, but the time was already close to midnight!

    ¡°Yes, I still have onest question to ask.¡±

    ¡°Please, go ahead.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but are you a ghost?¡±

 Chapter 298 - Videotape

    <h4>Chapter 298: Videotape</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s directness surprised thedy on the phone¡ªshe did not expect a question like that.

    ¡°Are you a ghost?¡± Chen Ge repeated the question, and he sounded easy on the phone, like he was asking if a friend had eaten dinner yet.

    The woman¡¯s breathing turned urgent, and she felt weirdly agitated. The line started to break up, and the signal suddenly worsened.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a silent admission.¡± Chen Ge leaned against the door with his phone on his ear. He looked like he was chatting with an old friend.

    ¡°I...¡± The woman wanted to say something but eventually held back. She could not understand how Chen Ge managed to make a ghost feel ufortable.<i>Shouldn¡¯t a person¡¯s first reaction be screaming as the phone drops from their hands when they realize they are conversing with a ghost?</i>

    <i>Even if you don¡¯t do that, at least end the call with shaking fingers! Why aren¡¯t you doing that but instead asking those questions?</i>

    The call was abruptly ended.

    Hearing the dial tone, Chen Ge was not surprised. <i>Looks like she was angered after her lie was exposed.</i>

    He pocketed the phone and stood in the darkened corridor. <i>There are three tenants that found their tragic end inside Room 304. I¡¯ve met the gambler and the agent, so the woman on the phone is probably the second tenant, the English teacher.</i>

    It was not yet midnight, and Chen Ge had already met three different ghosts. He felt this was only the beginning.

    <i>I wonder what kind of weird creature I¡¯ll meet after midnight. Looks like I need to be prepared.</i>

    Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and headed for Room 304.

    <i>Instead of waiting for them toe to me, I should be more active.</i>

    The light from Room 305 fell into the dark corridor. In Third Hospital¡¯s Staff Residence, only Chen Ge¡¯s room had the light on.

    <i>Most of the tenants live in the two buildings in front. Looks like this block is a no-go zone for them.</i>

    Chen Ge grabbed the lock to Room 304. He shook on it twice, and it broke off. Perhaps due to the many murders, the police had broken down the lock many times, so there were obvious signs of tempering on the edge of the lock.

    <i>Breaking down the door is too rude and not something I like to do, but there¡¯s no better option now.</i>

    Chen Ge made his aim and swung at the door.

    Bang! Bang!

    Several hitster, the lock yielded under Chen Ge¡¯s assault. Chen Ge fitted the handle of the hammer into the open sliver and pried the door open. <i>No one came to stop me even though themotion was so loud. Looks like the ghosts here have left quite an impression on the nearby tenants.</i>

    After turning on the light in the living room, Chen Ge realized how weird Room 304 was. The furniture, like the sofa and dining table, was all normal, but everything that could be opened like drawers and dressers were all sealed up with wooden nks.

    <i>Now this looks like a haunted house.</i>

    Perhaps due to the old wiring, the light kept flickering, and it made one uneasy.

    Walking to stand in the middle of the room, Chen Ge touched the back of the sofa. The ce had been vacant for a long time, but there was no dust. It was as if there were daily cleaners.

    <i>Two bedrooms and one living room. Theyout is simr to Room 305, but the stuff is much older.</i>

    Chen Ge walked to the shoe rack. Looking at the nails on the boards, he was curious. <i>Why are all the racks and drawers sealed? Are they hiding something scary?</i>

    With a swing of his hammer, the shoe rack was opened. It was holding several pairs of shoes, nothing interesting about them. <i>Were these left behind by the victims?</i>

    Slippers, high heels, and boots were shoved inside the rack. Chen Ge tossed the shoes out, and he was surprised to find out they had all been shed through with a knife. <i>Knife marks? Who did this?</i>

    Chen Ge could not find anything on the shoes, so he looked elsewhere. The living room was small, and across from the sofa was a television cab. Interestingly enough, even the drawers under the television were sealed up by nks.

    <i>The thing that I won is called the Drawer That Cannot Be Opened. Does this mean, after I try all the drawers, the one that cannot be opened is mine?</i>

    No one could give Chen Ge an answer, so he could only try it out himself. Due to the positioning of the cab, Chen Ge took some time before he managed to pry the nks off.

    He pulled open the drawer, and videotapes that were kept inside ck boxes fell out.

    <i>Videotapes? How old are these?</i>

    He found a rather new-looking one from the bunch and slotted it into the videotape yer situated under the television. He plugged the machine in and switched it on. As the television came on, a shadow shed crossed the screen.

    <i>Was that a shadow? Something just ran past me? </i>Chen Ge stayed on high alert. He knew the gambler who had lost his left hand had run into Room 304, and he was hiding in one of the corners.

    The videotapes were from many years ago, and the quality was bad. Adding to the problem was the television; it was filled with white pixels and stripes. Then again, the fact that the antique was working was already a miracle. Chen Ge ignored the details and squatted down before the television to watch the video.

    The video was showing the image of the room. The video was still, so the person who recorded it had probably fixed the camera to a certain corner.

    <i>What is he trying to record?</i>

    After one minute, the video had not changed. Chen Ge was getting impatient, he used the remote to fast forward. The first half of the video was normal, but thetter half was weird.

    Thetter half was shot at night, and the video looked simr to what Chen Ge was experiencing in real life. The light was on in the room, and the camera was ced on top of the television. The camera was facing the living room, so the angle included the entire living room and the two bedrooms.

    <i>The whole drawer is filled with videotapes, meaning the person recording them has been recording this home for a long time already.</i>

    Chen Ge could venture a guess at the person¡¯s intention. They had probably experienced something supernatural, and to prove the point, they wanted to use the video camera to record everything.

    <i>Didn¡¯t they know curiosity kill the cat? He should have moved when he noticed something is wrong with the ce.</i>

    Chen Ge hugged the recorder to his chest and continued watching the video.

    The video quality was horrible. When Chen Ge reached the end of the video, the image that remained the same suddenly changed.

    The lights in the video, like in reality, started to flicker, and after each flicker, the closed bedroom door in the video opened little by little.

 Chapter 299 - Bunch of Actors!

    <h4>Chapter 299: Bunch of Actors!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The camera was ced on top of the television, meaning the video on screen was the image that Chen Ge would see if he turned around. With the flickering light, squatting before the television, Chen Ge felt as if he was not looking at a recorded video but what was happening behind him.

    The lights continued to flicker, and the flickering in real life started to match the tempo of the flicking in the video. When the light dimmed in the video, it also did in reality. Then, the light came back at the same time.

    <i>The video is influencing reality? No, the ghosts are ying tricks on me.</i>

    Chen Ge did not turn around but kept his focus on the bedroom door in the video that was slowly opening. Whenever the light turned down, the door would open several centimeters. When the light flickered for the seventh time, Chen Ge saw a head of ck hair poking out from behind the door.

    <i>The hair is long, should be a woman. Could she be the second tenant?</i>

    Chen Ge still did not turn around, but his grip on the hammer did tighten. When the light flickered for the eighth time, the hair swayed in the wind, and half an exposed face reached out into the living room. Chen Ge stared at the face in the video, and he counted silently. The time between each flicker seemed to be constant.

    When the face in the video was about to show itself, the light in the video and in reality suddenly shut off at the same time!

    ¡°Xu Yin!¡± Chen Ge reacted in seconds and swung the hammer behind him!

    The hammernded on the soft cushion, and Chen Ge looked around him. The room was dark, and something seemed to be moving. Several secondster, the light came back on. Nothing changed in the living room in reality, but the bedroom door was open, just like the one in the video!

    Chen Ge turned back to look at the television. The screen was white; the video had ended. Kicking the sofa aside, Chen Ge looked at the slowly turning tape. When Xu Yin¡¯s voice returned, he moved toward the bedroom slowly. The wooden door was half open, and there were several strands of long hair on the floor. Chen Ge picked them up and rubbed them between his hands.

    ¡°If you are intent on trying my patience like this, I might just torch the whole ce down.¡±

    Walking into the bedroom, Chen Ge was greeted by a mess. Various trash littered the ground, and there were wooden nks on the dresser. Even the bedside table was sealed up.

    <i>Everything that can be opened is sealed up. What is this furniture hiding? Which tenant left the videotapes behind?</i>

    Looking at the sealed furniture, an idea appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. <i>Did the tenant find the reason of the haunting from the videotapes, so he closed up all the drawers and dressers?</i>

    The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became. The tenant probably saw the ghost crawl out from a piece of furniture, and to prevent that from happening again, they sealed up all the furniture that could be opened.

    Chen Ge stood in the middle of the bedroom, and he thought of another problem. <i>Counting that female ghost, I¡¯ve met three ghosts already. All of them can move through the room freely, meaning sealing up the furniture was pointless. This means that the tenant probably missed a drawer, and this drawer is probably the one I¡¯m looking for.</i>

    He ced Xiaoxiao on the bedroom door to act as a lookout, and he used the hammer pry open all the drawers and dressers. <i>All the furniture is sealed tight. Could the drawer be in the other bedroom?</i>

    Xiaoxiao copsed onto the ground like she was trying to crawl out. When Chen Ge picked her up, he realized her hand was pointing outside of Room 304. Initially, he did not pay it much attention, but when he passed the living room, he nced out the door identally.

    The doors to both Room 304 and 305 were not closed, and in the middle of the two rooms stood an old woman with a hunched back. The olddy did not say anything as she faced Room 304. The wrinkles on her face were like tree rings; she looked quite scary. Chen Ge stood where he was and unconsciously moved the hammer to hide behind him.

    ¡°Elder, are you a tenant here?¡± Chen Ge kept his voice calm and collected. The olddy did not answer Chen Ge. She was not even looking at Chen Ge but at the drawers that Chen Ge had pried open with force.

    ¡°It¡¯s gettingte. Elder, your family will be worried about you if you don¡¯t return home.¡±

    An olddy standing quietly in the dark, there had to be something weird about her. If this was someone younger, Chen Ge would not have hesitated to reward them with a hammer to the face.

    ¡°Was it you who opened these drawers?¡± Thedy¡¯s voice was hoarse. It sounded like tree bark grinding against each other.

    ¡°Yes, I n to buy these two rooms, and now I¡¯m arranging the furniture.¡± Chen Ge kept his gaze on the olddy. If she did anything suspicious, he would summon Xu Yin.

    ¡°You¡¯d better leave immediately. Find a good doctor to look at you¡ªperhaps you¡¯ve been haunted by her already.¡± The olddy gave Chen Ge this advice before turning to walk away. She moved slowly, her footsteps wobbly.

    ¡°Haunted by her? What do you mean?¡± Chen Ge followed her to the stairs. The olddy pointed at Room 304. ¡°Before this, an English teacher stayed in that room. She was very pretty and had a sweet voice.

    ¡°In the end, she was killed by her lover. She was chopped into pieces and hidden inside the drawers. She was discovered a long time after her death, so she bore great resentment. She haunts everyone who lives here.¡±

    ¡°English teacher?¡± Chen Ge realized that the olddy¡¯s story match what he knew. She probably was not lying, but the problem was... why would an olddy stand outside the door in the middle of the night?

    ¡°Elder, why would you tell me all this?¡± Chen Ge stood under the light and did not follow her down the stairs. He asked, ¡°Can you tell me how you know these things?¡±

    ¡°I live in the next building; the English teacher was my daughter.¡± The old woman¡¯s face fell, and even her tone turned sad.

    ¡°You¡¯re the third one. She has done many bad things, and I don¡¯t want her to do it anymore.

    ¡°Leave, don¡¯t stay in that room any longer.¡±

    The old woman continued down the stairs. She walked slowly like she was waiting for Chen Ge to catch up.

    ¡°But I still have a question.¡± Chen Ge was about to ask who the other two victims were when he received a message on his phone. It was from the female agent.

    ¡°Do you know why the tenants at that residential area don¡¯t dare make any noise and turn off their lights so early at night? There¡¯s an olddy haunting the ce, and she tries to find her way home by following the light and noise!¡±

    After reading the message, Chen Ge raised his head. The old woman stood at the corner of the stairwell. The wrinkles on her face were folded together, and she said in a creepy voice, ¡°Come with me. That room is very dangerous.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s gaze flitted between the phone and the olddy. Chen Ge suddenly dropped his backpack as a story slowly formed in his mind. <i>None can be trusted, but there¡¯s no need for me to trust anyone.</i>

    He summoned Xu Yin and tightened his grip around the hammer. ¡°I¡¯m just here to retrieve the thing that I¡¯ve won. I¡¯m really not interested in your stories.¡±

 Chapter 300 - The Artist

    <h4>Chapter 300: The Artist</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Xu Yin slowly climbed out from behind Chen Ge, and the pair rushed toward the olddy in unison. The wrinkles on her face folded together.

    When the olddy saw Chen Ge exit Room 304 and enter the shadow, her dry lips curved into a smile. However, before she could do anything, a man wearing a half red shirt suddenly rushed at her!

    ¡°So painful!¡±

    The wounds on his body oozed blood, and the mannded on all fours like he was some feral animal. The smile froze on the olddy¡¯s face, and with a speed that did not match her age, she morphed into a shadow and escaped down the stairs.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you ask me to follow you?¡± The hammernded heavily at the spot where the olddy had stood a moment ago, and the sound echoed throughout the building.

    ¡°None of you are escaping me tonight!¡±

    Xu Yin and Chen Ge gave chase after the olddy.

    The stairwell was filled with the sound of rushing footsteps. The steps were like endless, and this was the first time the olddy had felt that the stairwell was so long; this was probably the scariest night she had ever experienced.

    The exit was just before her.

    The shadow ran with all her energy. She was just a normal lingering spirit; her soul was lost when she saw Xu Yin with half a red shirt.

    ¡°Stand right there!¡± Chen Ge called after her.

    Xu Yin was slightly faster than the shadow. Just as the shadow was about to escape, he managed to grab its arm. The shadow shuddered, and without hesitation, it tore its arm off and rushed out of the building, disappearing into the darkness.

    <i>Looks like I need more training¡ªI was running too slow. </i>Chen Ge sighed with regret.

    When he turned to look at Xu Yin, he realized that the broken arm had already disappeared, and the blood stain on Xu Yin¡¯s shirt seemed to have grown.

    <i>Perhaps it won¡¯t be a terrible thing if Xu Yin bes a Red Specter. </i>Chen Ge looked down at the dark residential area. <i>Since we¡¯ve met, I can¡¯t just sit idle. After I find the drawer, I¡¯lle back to deal with the olddy¡¯s lingering wish.</i>

    Calling Xu Yin, Chen Ge returned to the third floor. He called the agent¡¯s number. The call was not answered, so Chen Ge messaged the number asking for a reply. He wanted to ¡®thank¡¯ the agent in person for her reminder. <i>Why isn¡¯t she taking my call?</i>

    Chen Ge held the phone in his left hand and dragged the hammer back into Room 304 with his right. <i>I¡¯ve inspected the living room and the bedroom closest to the door. The only remaining room is the deepest bedroom. These spirits have been trying to stop me from going there.</i>

    Thest room was locked from within, but this was solved by a swing of the hammer. <i>The bedroom is locked from the inside; does this mean the gambler¡¯s missing arm is inside?</i>

    Chen Ge cracked the door open and finally gained entry to thest room. The bedroom was tiny; arge bookshelf and a desk took up half of the space, and the remaining half was upied by a rusted mini-fridge and a tattered sleeping mat.

    <i>The edges of the mat are frayed, looks like the owner used this mat often, but there¡¯s a bed in the other bedroom, right? Why did he insist on staying in this room? Was he afraid of something?</i>

    The atmosphere in this room was totally different from outside. There was no chill in the air, and the drawers and shelves were not sealed up with wooden nks.

    <i>The working table and shelf are perfectly clean. They look like they¡¯ve been cleaned daily.</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the tidy bookshelf, and a weird thought appeared in his mind. <i>Feels like it¡¯s the lingering spirits that help with the cleaning; does this mean the spirits here have an obsession with cleanliness?</i>

    The bookshelf had literature rted to drawingics.

    <i>How to draw a famousic series, how to create an exciting world, an understanding of human anatomy...</i>

    <i>These books don¡¯t seem to fit the previous tenants¡¯ identities, so has this ce yed host to a fourth tenant?</i>

    Chen Ge reced the books and found a box of abandoned drafts under the bookshelf. The weirdest thing was the drafts had signs that they had been crumbled, and some had been torn apart, but someone had gruelingly pieced them back together with tape.

    <i>Why are all the drafts preserved? </i>Chen Ge picked up the thick stack and started to read. The characters drawn were off. It was obvious that the artist had tried to make the characters look cuter and more mainstream, but the effect was just scarring.

    The artist was definitely not a professional. The characters did not have vibrant expressions, and in fact, a few of them had nk eyes¡ªsome of them were frozen in fear. However, it was observable that the artist had been trying to improve, to fit the taste of the public, but something was different about his eye for beauty. Even if he was mimicking other people¡¯s work, he managed to draw the famousic book character like a female dead body.

    <i>It¡¯s a kind of talent to be able to draw every picture as scary as these.</i>

    Chen Ge ced the drafts down and saw a thin notebook with a yellow cover at the back of the shelf. He flipped through it and realized that it was a budget book. It recorded the artist¡¯s weekly expenses and what he earned from selling his script.

    Reading the content, Chen Ge¡¯s face slowly creased into a frown. Technically speaking, theic artist was also a tenant at Room 304, but he shared it with someone else, and the ce he rented was this small bedroom.

    He had a hard life. He was aic book lover, but looking through the notebook, for the three years the artist stayed in the room, the ie he gained from drawing was a measly 1,200. The 1,000 was sponsored by the oldndy or his only fans, and the other 200 was the payment he got when he moved under the bridge to do people¡¯s portraits.

    In the end, he drew the living people like a dead men, and he was chased by the angry customer for several blocks. After the police came to intervene, the person gave him 200 aspensation.

    He powered on with his passion and love. He kept his monthly expenses to under 400, and his belief held firm¡ªone day, he would seed. However, the cruel reality was, even until his final day, his work did not find any appreciation. Thest page of the notebook was a folded newspaper; one of the articles was on a middle-aged man who sacrificed himself to save a drowning boy. The article did not mention the man¡¯s name.

    <i>This is different from the other spirits. Just how many tenants Room 304 has had?</i>Chen Ge reced the notebook and walked to the desk. <i>It¡¯s facing away from the living room. This should be the table mentioned in the ck phone.</i>

    The table was filled with a lot of drawing equipment like it was waiting for its owner to return. Chen Ge scanned the desk, and he saw the three drawers that came with it. He pulled open the first drawer, and it was filled with drawing pencils and pens.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t it.¡± Chen Ge pulled the second drawer open. It was filled with the rejection letters that the middle-aged man had received. They were almost overflowing out of the drawer.

    Then Chen Ge tried the third drawer. He gave it a powerful yank, but the drawer remained unmoved.

 Chapter 301 - Ill Take Care of You in the Future

    <h4>Chapter 301: I¡¯ll Take Care of You in the Future</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Try as he might, Chen Ge could not get the third drawer to open. He pulled out the top two drawers to try to see the contents of the third drawer from above. However, to his disappointment, there were wooden boards partitioning the different levels, so he could not see anything.

    ¡°The room is purposely kept clean, and I do not want to ruin it. If you can hear me, you¡¯d bettere out on your own.¡±

    This was not the first time that Chen Ge had threatened a ghost, but he had no idea whether it would work or not. He grabbed the edge of the drawer and tried to pull, but the drawer seemed stuck on something.

    ¡°Xu Yin!¡± Chen Ge summoned Xu Yin, and they grabbed the drawer on both sides. As Xu Yin channeled his strength, the wounds on his body opened again. The red blood trailed down his white arms to drop on the edge of the drawer. The drawer that remained unmoved started to loosen.

    ¡°Keep going!¡±

    Xu Yin did not hold back. He would do what Chen Ge told him to. The wounds on his body tore open, and blood dyed his shirt. His face was twisted from the exertion, and his hands were covered with his own blood.

    ¡°So painful!¡±

    The tightly-closed drawer finally was pulled open the width of one¡¯s finger. Xu Yin¡¯s power seemed to affect the stuff inside the drawer. The blood continued to flow, and the drawer was slowly pulled open by Xu Yin. When the drawer opened to the size of half a palm, several human hands suddenly reached out from within!

    There were male and female hands. They tried to stop Chen Ge and yanked the drawer close. Surprised, Chen Ge and Xu Yin released their grip, and the drawer closed shut with a bang.

    ¡°Why do you insist on this struggle?¡± Chen Ge stopped Xu Yin, who intended to repeat the earlier effort. He picked up the hammer and said, ¡°I¡¯m trying to be nice. After all, we might work again in the future.

    ¡°I hope you¡¯ll give this serious consideration. I can use brute force to smash the table or use fire to burn everything and look for what I need in the rubble, but I won¡¯t. I¡¯m a kind person, and you can ask any of my friends to confirm that.¡±

    Chen Ge squatted beside the drawer; he was not afraid of the stuff that might reach out from within the drawer. He gripped the drawer¡¯s handle. ¡°This drawer belongs to me, and I¡¯m just taking it back.¡±

    He increased his strength and said, ¡°I will forget what happened tonight. Even though all of you have tried to trick me again and again, none of you came for my life. You only wanted to scare me away. I¡¯m telling you not to waste your time. I¡¯m someone who you can reason with. If you have any issues,e out and talk to me.¡±

    Then Chen Ge¡¯s empty hand picked up the hammer. ¡°Like now, you have no other option. Eventually, you¡¯ll need to face me. Why not lower your guard so that we can start this over the right way?¡±

    The drawer slowly vibrated like the spirits inside it were in a disagreement. After ten seconds, the drawer voluntarily bounced out for one centimeter. ¡°Good, I do appreciate cooperative spirits.¡±

    Chen Ge took out the third drawer and ced it on the table. It contained severalic books. ¡°These are by the artist¡¯s hand?¡±

    The notebook said that none of the publishers wanted to work with the artist, so he probably went the route of self-publication.

    ¡°So many ghosts came from theseic books?¡± Chen Ge thought back to his experience that night, and he understood certain things. He flipped through theic books that looked to be the artist¡¯s work.

    The artist had a semi-realistic style, and it was understandable why no publishers wanted to work with him. The characters in his story felt uncannily real. The wholeic was made up by five individual stories. The main character of the first story was a gambler. He was thin and tall; he looked simr to the man Chen Ge had seen earlier. The gambler was born in a single-parent family. He had never seen his father and was raised by his mother. He did not receive any worthwhile education.

    If he did not make anything of himself, it would have been fine, but he suffered from the vice of gambling. Even in his thirties, he had no work and relied on his mother. For him, life was meaningless other than being alive.

    However, when he was 37, his peaceful life was shattered. The mother who took care of him fell seriously ill, and they quickly burned through his mother¡¯s savings. His mother wanted to give up on the treatment, but the gambler did not agree. He sold everything they had but the old house that was under his mother¡¯s name.

    Even so, the surgery still needed some money, and even if the surgery was sessful, she could not do heavy work again. He thought about it and began to borrow money from loan sharks.

    The surgery was sessful, but the loan had tripled from the interest. The loan sharks forced the gambler to sell his mother¡¯s home to settle the debt. The gambler asked them to give him one night to consider.

    The second day, the loan sharks returned, and they got a shock of their life when they pushed the door open. There was a basin on the round table, and it was filled with blood. The gambler¡¯s left hand was chopped off, and he stood next to the table with the cleaver in his right.

    He said that he had not done anything worthwhile for his mother before in his life. Now that his mother could not do heavy work anymore, if he sold the house, she would have nowhere else to go. Therefore, he would never sell the house. If they wanted something aspensation, then he would give them his life.

    He was the one who signed the loan papers. He rushed out of the bedroom, shing the cleaver, so no one dared to stop him. They watched on as the man jumped from the eighth-floor window. The gambler died on the spot, but the arm that he chopped off was still not found.

    The main character for the second story was an interning English teacher. The oldndy rented her the living room and the master bedroom while she stayed in the small bedroom. After her son passed away, the olddy became quite confused and absent-minded. The teacher took care of her like she was her real mother. The two got close, and things were moving toward a positive ending.

    The English teacher would conduct tuition at night, so she came homete. However, when she returned, the olddy would have dinner prepared for her. She was already old, so she would be asleep when the teacher returned.

    Afraid that she might wake the olddy up, she would advise the olddy to close the door when she went to sleep. One day, the teacher came homete again. She did not realize that someone was following her. Once she left the stairwell, someone reached out from behind to mp his hands over her nose and lips.

    She struggled vehemently and tussled with the culprit in the corridor. Surprised by her vehemence, to prevent her from making noises and attract attention, the murderer slit her throat. The body could not be left in the corridor, so he dragged the teacher¡¯s body back into the bedroom. He cut her into pieces to hide them inside the many drawers.

    It was the olddy who found the teacher inside the drawers the next day.

    The killer was caught five dayster, but the olddy¡¯s condition worsened. With the neighbor¡¯s help, she was sent to the hospital.

    It was then that the room weed its third tenant. It was a real estate agent, and he was the main character of the third story.

 Chapter 302 - Ill Fulfil Your Dream

    <h4>Chapter 302: I¡¯ll Fulfil Your Dream</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Since the old woman was in the hospital for her treatment, she rented the whole room to the agent. The agent, who was around thirty, was not a local, and following thepany¡¯s requirement, he wore a white formal shirt every day. He was polite and kind.

    However, that was hiding a broken man. He was an unlucky man. No matter what he did, he would fail for some reason. Other than that, weird things kept happening to him like having nightmares that his wife had been chopped up and shoved into drawers. It would haunt him for the whole night, and then he woke up in the morning, realizing he did not even have a girlfriend.

    When he left home, the sun was shining, but the moment he stepped out, it started to pour. His shirt was soaked, and he decided to stop at the nearby shop to have breakfast. After breakfast, he realized that he had left his wallet at home. This meant that he could not call for a taxi. He walked to thepany and was scolded by his boss for beingte. He lost the client because he waste to the appointment, and when he returned home, he realized that a burr had broken into his home.

    Such a day of tragedy was an everyday urrence for the man. However,pared to these things, the real despairing event was the realization that his own house was haunted!

    He stayed in the old house alone, and whenever he wanted to rx at night by watching the television, before the punchline, someone wouldugh behind him. There were many simr things. In the middle of his shower, someone would pass him the shampoo, and when he was trapped on the toilet without paper, the toilet paper would roll in on its own.

    He had once been a firm non-believer, but the many things he had experienced inside the house changed his worldview. To prove that he did not suffer from a mental illness, he bought a camera and started to record his own home. One weekter, he realized that there was indeed a ghost inside the home, and it was hiding inside the drawers!

    The agent used wooden nks to seal up all the drawers and dressers, and the ghost stopped appearing. However, his bad luck seemed to worsen. About one monthter, he was fired from his job, and on his way home, he died in a car ident.

    After he died, the agent realized that a malicious ghost had been following him, and it was the spirits inside the home who had been helping him. After he sealed up the drawers and dressers, the malicious ghost had stopped being affected by the spirits, and it eventually took the agent¡¯s life.

    The main character of the fourth story was the oldndy. The tenants who rented her ce had all died from idents. Her heart was wrought by guilt, thinking this was all her fault. Slowly, the olddy¡¯s mind twisted. She had this feeling her own son and the two tenants had not left the room and had stayed to apany her.

    She asked the neighbors, but those who knew about the home¡¯s past gave her a wide berth. They thought that she was a tragic woman. Some even moved away like the olddy would curse them. The tenants in the building slowly decreased, and the olddy retreated into herself.

    Slowly, there were rumors that the old residential area was haunted, and the olddy was equated to the source of these stories. Everyone stayed away from her, and no one wanted to interact with her.

    This went on for a long time until the olddy met a poor artist under the bridge. The man¡¯s face was wounded like he had just been in a physical altercation. The old woman pitied him and asked the artist to draw a portrait of her dead son.

    Initially, she just wanted to find a reason to give the artist some money so that he could eat, but the finished portrait was not just simr to her son¡ªhe managed to capture his presence, aura, and gaze. The olddy treasured the portrait and hung it in her house.

    To her surprise, there was someone who came to ask her about the rental the next day, and the newest tenant was the artist. The artist was surprised that thendlord was the olddy. He went through the old residential area and found the cheapest room.

    Life was constructed by many coincidences. The artist found his first fan in his life, and the old woman found someone who was not afraid of her and wished to talk to her. The artist became the home¡¯stest tenant. The olddy took the rental from him in a symbolic manner. She treated the artist like her own son, and her favorite thing to do was talk about his dreams and wishes.

    One monthter, the olddy found something weird about the artist. He would converse with his drawings, and every night at midnight, there would be weird noisesing from his room.

    During the third month, the olddy finally followed her curiosity and sneaked into his room when the artist was out. In the end, inside the artist¡¯s drawer, she found a homemadeic made from a sketchbook. It had four stories.

    The creepy drawing style and scary stories brought the characters to life, and the most surprising detail was that the first three stories matched the olddy¡¯s son, the English teacher, and real estate agent perfectly.

    The more she read, the more afraid she became. Then she turned to the fourth story. To her surprise, she was the main character of the story, and it was telling the events that happened after she met the artist. The fourth story ended there, and it was thest story.

    The fifth story was very short¡ªit felt more like an epilogue. The main character was aic artist. He did not look extraordinary. He was just like a normal middle-aged man.

    Theic introduced his daily life. He woke up at 5:20 am and gave himself a pep-talk in the mirror. Then he started working. He would work until 8:20 am. He arranged his draft and personally went to Jiujiang¡¯s local publisher to rmend his story to the editor.

    s, a month¡¯s hard work was denied in less than fifteen minutes. He left the office like a walking dead. He held the draft and sat by the road. He looked at the cars that zoomed past him and only returned home when the sky was dark.

    He walked through the busy city and into the darkened staircase. He pushed the door open to Room 304.

    The warm light fell on his body. Thendy cooked him dinner and said that she had seen the painting that he drew that morning. She told him it was a masterpiece. The artist could not remember how many times he had been rejected already. He apologized to the olddy and promised he would not pick up the paint brush again.

    He hid himself in his room and locked the door. Hugging his knees, he curled up in the corner of the room. He looked at the drawer full of rejection letters and buried his head in his chest.

    He had failed once more. He crumbled the rejected script into a ball and tossed it inside the dustbin. He keptining, saying that he had no talent, and decided to give up everything. He would jump from the building before he continued drawing. He talked to himself until midnight, and the tired artist fell asleep on the mat.

    The lights in the room flickered before going outpletely.

    The draft in the trashcan floated out on its own, and it ttened itself out. It was ced carefully into the box under the bookshelf, and the table was carefully arranged to a tidy state.

    Thest panel of theic was ck and white. In the small room, the artist was already asleep, but there were several ¡®people¡¯ floating around him.

    The first was a thin man; he used his remaining right hand to cover the artist with a nket, grumbling how worrisome the man was. Beside him was a woman whose body seemed like it was going to copse anytime soon. The woman¡¯s beautiful face was locked in a deep frown. She carefully taped the torn drafts together.

    On the other side of the table was a man in a ck shirt. He was using a pen to correct and edit theic artist¡¯s draft.

    The night passed by just like that. At 5:20 am the next morning, the rm rang punctually, and theic artist woke up from his dream. He turned off the rm and looked at himself in the mirror. He smiled and gave him the daily pep talk. ¡°A new day has begun. Give it your best shot! At least you¡¯re alive. One day you¡¯ll make it!¡±

 Chapter 303 - Lesser Red Specter

    <h4>Chapter 303: Lesser Red Specter</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge was absorbed in his reading, but when he flipped to the next page, all he saw was nk. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±

    He looked at the date that was marked by theic artist and then picked up the notebook that was sitting beside him.

    He removed the yellowed newspaper andpared the dates. The day after finishing this panel, the artist died. The newspaper was probably slotted into the notebook by the oldndy or the other tenant. ¡°That was the day his dream died.¡±

    Chen Ge sat on the bed with the homemadeic and a new appreciation for the few ghosts he had met that night. Theic told the five stories of the five tenants of Room 304. None of them could be considered bad people.

    Chen Ge¡¯s initial guess was that the ghost in theic had affected reality, but after reading theic artist¡¯s own story, he understood the ghosts in reality had entered hisics.

    <i>To get all the spirits to look after him, this uncle is quite amazing.</i>

    Turning to the fifth story, Chen Ge told the despondent middle-aged man, ¡°I understand your dissatisfaction. You wished for your stories to be seen and loved by more people¡ªI can help you do that.¡±

    The ears of the uncle who was hiding in the corner while hugging his knees perked up when he heard Chen Ge. It felt like he wanted to turn his head around.

    <i>Theic is indeed interesting. It should be something that spirits can attach themselves to.</i>

    Lingering spirits that were not Red Specter needed to possess a certain item to ensure their longevity. Theic of the artist had over thirty empty pages. If this thing could let other spirits inhabit it, Chen Ge would not need to carry a backpack with him everywhere. In fact, he could bring the twenty-four students from Mu Yang High School to go for a stroll whenever he wanted to.

    Thinking about this, Chen Ge was intrigued. ¡°Uncle, neither yourself nor the characters by your hand had your wishes fulfilled. Why don¡¯t you tell me what you need? I can help you undo the regrets that you still have in this life.¡±

    To increase his persuasion, Chen Ge provided many examples like helping theic artist publish his work, helping the real estate agent deal with the malicious spirit that gave him bad luck, helping the gambler find his missing left hand, or helping the English teacher meet up with the families she had not seen for many years.

    After some time, the middle-aged man in theic finally turned his face around. He had a typical middle-aged man, and he looked like he had no love for life. He stared at Chen Ge with caution and suspicion.

    Several minutester, the panel underneath him had these few words surfacing on it. ¡°Please take care of us.¡±

    At the same time, the ck phone vibrated. Chen Ge did not mind the middle-aged man, and he opened the message before him.

    ¡°Lucky Specter¡¯s Favored! You have just obtained a Lesser Red Specter!

    ¡°Yan Danian: A Rare Special-Type Baleful Specter.

    ¡°Ability One: Affinity with Baleful Specters (He looks so saddened and devastated that he can easily get the pity from other spirits.)

    ¡°Ability Two: Spirit Drawing (After seeing a baleful Specter, there¡¯s a chance for drawing it into theic¡¯s sketch book, excluding Red Specters.)

    ¡°Ability Three: ?¡±

    Reading the message on the ck phone, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes almost fell out of their sockets. He could not imagine that the middle-aged man wearing a white shirt, curled up in the corner, with sadness overflowing from his face could be a Lesser Red Specter!

    <i>You really cannot judge a book by its cover!</i>

    This was the first time Chen Ge had met a Specter with three abilities, but the appearance of this Specter shamed all Specters. Even Xiaoxiao tried day by day to pretend to be scary, but this uncle hadpletely given up. He did not have any pride as a Specter. He did not look scary; he looked sad, tired, despondent, and depressed.

    <i>The third ability has not been unlocked yet; it¡¯s probably the reason the uncle is called a Lesser Red Specter. Perhaps it¡¯s a power that allows him to control all the ghosts that are not Red Specters. </i>Chen Ge understood theic artist¡¯s meaning. He had not fully trusted him yet. He needed to wait until he finished the uncle¡¯s wish before he could be an official Haunted House employee.

    <i>The uncle is familiar with drawing, and his style is a perfect match for a Haunted House. Other than him, there are other spirits inside hisics. Buy one, get four for free. I can probably ask them to help me maintain the props or clean the house. When the situation calls for it, I¡¯ll get them to help around the scenarios. This bunch of actors will be perfect inside a Haunted House.</i>

    A smile formed on Chen Ge¡¯s face. He promised sincerely, ¡°Brother, I understand your wish. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll definitely help you make it a reality!¡±

    Collecting all the drawings, Chen Ge shoved the painting equipment on the table into his backpack before exiting to the narrow corridor. ¡°It¡¯s time to say goodbye to the past.¡±

    He closed the door to Room 304. When he exited the stairwell, a faded ck shadow floated out from behind the nearby bush and entered theic. It was the escapedndy.

    Chen Ge returned to New Century Park and headed for Mu Yang High School. He exined the situation to all the mannequins, holding theic, and left without knowing whether his message had been understood or not.

    <i>The Specters inside theics aren¡¯t malicious spirits. They will help me resolve theck of manpower inside the Haunted House. Yan Danian himself has three abilities. Afterpleting his wish and unlocking the strongest power, he might give me another surprise.</i>

    Returning to the staff breakroom, Chen Ge logged into his video-sharing app¡¯s ount. His livestream room was still blocked, but his followers had jumped to 510,000 already. The private messages kepting.

    <i>Looks like people still care about me.</i>

    The Haunted House¡¯s first exposure had been through the app, so Chen Ge did not n to give up such a wonderful promotional channel. He opened theic and snapped the panels that looked the weirdest.

    ¡°Boss, I¡¯m going to show your work to 500,000 people, and that is first step I¡¯m going to take to help you promote your work.

    ¡°Times have changed. A few years ago, you still needed to personally beg the publishers to look at your work, but this time, I¡¯ll make theme to you.¡±

    Chen Ge did not worry about Yan Danian¡¯s poprity. Only those who had seen his drawing would understand the creepiness that they radiated. It was a style that could not be changed or mimicked. The characters looked like they were captured at the time of their death.

    Chen Ge shot a few short videos inside the Haunted House to announce his return and used Yan Danian¡¯s name to start a serialic called ¡®Ghost Tenants¡¯ on the tform¡¯s forum.

    Very soon, Chen Ge¡¯sment section exploded. With thebined promotion of online and offline activities, in less than ten minutes, Western Jiujiang¡¯s House of Horrors became a hot topic search, and the poprity was still climbing.

 Chapter 304 - Ghost Stories Night

    <h4>Chapter 304: Ghost Stories Night</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Qin Guang and Chen Ge¡¯s livestreams were blocked at the same time, but Chen Ge had announced his return, whereas Qin Guang was still nowhere to be seen. A bunch of curious viewers swamped Chen Ge¡¯sments; they wanted to know what had really happened that day. Chen Ge did not even tell the police about what really happened inside the Third Sick Hall; naturally, he would not reveal the secrets to the viewers. He gave a few vague replies before going offline. It was then that his phone rang; it was a call from Liu Dao.

    Since they were once partners, Chen Ge epted the call.

    ¡°Chen Ge, has the tform approached you to inform when your livestream will be unblocked?¡±

    ¡°Not yet, but I believe it shall be soon. What¡¯s wrong?¡± Livestreaming was just another promotional method for Chen Ge, he did not worry over the details. As the fame of the Haunted House grew, he had the intention of making the livestream a way ofmunicating with his fans, like releasing daily progression of the visitors and releasing information about new scenarios.

    ¡°It¡¯s like this. Our previous cooperation was really sessful, so I want to do something simr, but something easier to control.¡± Liu Dao had not given up yet. His cooperation with Chen Ge was the first time he had managed to facep Qin Guang¡¯s studio ever since their falling out.

    ¡°What kind of idea do you have in mind?¡±

    ¡°I will arrange a few of my most popr hosts to enter your Haunted House to do a livestream. What do you think?¡± Liu Dao anticipated Chen Ge¡¯s answer. Before asking Chen Ge, he had made multiple investigations already.

    ¡°It sounds like a great idea, but the timing is not right. You¡¯ll need to wait for a while first.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll definitely give you a number that you¡¯ll be satisfied with. Furthermore, the livestreams will help promote your Haunted House, won¡¯t it?¡± Liu Dao was an experienced member of the business, so he knew Chen Ge¡¯s concern. ¡°Plus, we will never leak the content of your Haunted House. They¡¯ll use phones to carry out the livestreams, so the quality will not be that clear.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have enough scenarios. I¡¯ll get back to you.¡± Chen Ge did not want to expose the details of the Haunted House, so he rejected Liu Dao in a roundabout way. Even though there were many detailed guides to Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House online, reading the guide and experiencing it were two different experiences. One had to experience terror to know how it would grip one¡¯s heart.

    After ending the call, before Chen Ge put the phone down, another call came in. He thought it was Liu Dao, so he was surprised when he saw that the call was from Captain Yan.

    ¡°He won¡¯t be bringing me good news,¡± Chen Ge grumbled, having no idea the other person was thinking the same thing.

    ¡°Captain Yan? How can I help you?¡± Chen Gey in bed and sighed. He was in a good mood that night.

    ¡°I heard from Inspector Lee that you went to Lin Guan Vigest night.¡± Compared to Chen Ge, Captain Yan sounded serious. He used this tone whenever a case was involved.

    ¡°Is there a problem with that vige?¡± Chen Ge sat up immediately. He did not think much of Lin Guan Vige, which was at the foot of the mountain. After all, the real scary vige was Coffin Vige inside the mountain.

    ¡°Stay away from Lin Guan Vige¡ªdon¡¯t go there at night.¡± Captain Yan seemed to have talked to Inspector Lee before making this call and knew something about Chen Ge.

    ¡°Captain Yan, you have to be clearer than that, or you¡¯re just going to make me more interested.¡±

    ¡°You should know about the poisoning case at Lin Guan Vige, right? The only survivor of the family of four was a little girl.¡±

    ¡°I do. In fact, I just met the girl at the Children¡¯s Home.¡±

    ¡°The girl¡¯s previous caretaker was found dead inside an abandoned old house at Lin Guan Vige.¡± Captain Yan¡¯s voice was chillingly calm, but his suppressed anger could be heard.

    ¡°Why would the body be ced in Lin Guan Vige?¡± The first suspect that came to Chen Ge¡¯s mind was Jiang Ling¡¯s sister, but he had interacted with her before. Even though she had a monstrous exterior, internally, she was no different from a normal person.

    ¡°That is a question that confuses me as well. At the time, the case came to a standstill because of this as well. We traced back all the victim¡¯s words and actions for the few days prior and found something weird.¡± Captain Yan sounded like he was hesitating over revealing this sensitive information to Chen Ge. After several seconds, he sighed. ¡°The victim utilized the channel she obtained through her career to purchase blood.¡±

    ¡°Human blood?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that was our only lead.¡± Captain Yan reminded Chen Ge again. ¡°Do not go to Lin Guan Vige alone at night, at least before we have a clearer idea of what¡¯s going on.¡±

    ¡°Then how long shall I wait?¡± Chen Ge could wait, but the mission on the ck phone could not. The three-star scenario, Coffin Vige, would disappear in six days. The missions that passed their expiration date would not be unlockable in the future.

    ¡°At least until all the mental patients from the Third Sick Hall have been caught.¡± Speaking of this, Captain Yan felt a headacheing. ¡°Initially, they still acted rather normally, but after that incident at Fang Hwa Apartments, we realized that we¡¯ve greatly underestimated their lethality.¡±

    Chen Ge heard the message that Captain Yan did not say. ¡°Is there another rted case?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m standing at the crime scene, dealing with the mess.¡±

    ¡°Crime scene?¡± Chen Ge slowed down. ¡°Someone died?¡±

    ¡°Yes, two deaths to be precise, and the crime scenes are weird to say the least.

    ¡°The first victim was a burr. ording to the camera, the victim justmitted a crime and escaped into the back alley, but he never exited it. A passing drunk called the police. The victim¡¯s eyes had been gouged out, and he died from an unknown cause.

    ¡°The second victim was a fugitive hiding in Jiujiang. He was found hanging in his rental room. If not for the gouged eyes, we wouldn¡¯t have tied the two cases together.¡±

    Listening to the description, Chen Ge was confused. ¡°Why would they gouge out the victims¡¯ eyes?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re dealing with mental patients, so who really knows why? They¡¯re operating on a different worldview.¡± Captain Yan sighed. ¡°In any case, these kinds of simr cases are due to something in the killer¡¯s history. The gouged eyes could be some sort of ritual, or the killer might have experienced trauma rted to eyes when they were young. Or possibly this is just something to throw our investigation off.¡±

    ¡°The chance of childhood trauma is big. The patients at the Third Sick Hall were all traumatized when they were young.¡± Chen Ge remembered what Captain Yan said. The killer was most likely the chairperson; he wanted to try his best to understand this sick man.

    ¡°Instead of the eyes, I¡¯m more curious about another thing.¡± There was a drumming on the table from the other side of the phone, Captain Yan¡¯s habit when he was thinking. ¡°Why would they purposely target these sinners? Are they trying to tell us they¡¯re different from normal criminals?¡±

 Chapter 305 - Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station

    <h4>Chapter 305: Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°They are indeed different from normal criminals. They have a purpose, and they¡¯re more insane.¡± Chen Ge was reminded of a story he had heard while he was at the ghost stories society. ¡°The bunch of crazies once drowned a middle-aged man to help cure one of their partners¡¯ illness.¡±

    ¡°Killing for the purpose of curing an illness?¡± Captain Yan could not believe it.

    ¡°The patient was abused since she was a child; her father forced her head into the water many times. Curses and threats, iming he was going to drown her. This left a mental scar that couldn¡¯t be forgotten. After she grew up, she had an irrational fear of water. Even when she drank normal water, she felt like it was suffocating her soul. Other patients thus drafted this treatment for her. It was to deal with the source of the fear. From their perspective, she wasn¡¯t afraid of water but her own father.¡±

    This was the story that Chen Ge had overheard when Lychee asked about other members of the society. ¡°The whole group of patients from the Third Sick Hall are insane. They know they are not normal and are sick, but they do not approve of the traditional methods and intend on using their own methods to cure themselves.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s words caused Captain Yan to think. ¡°Every citizen¡¯s personal safety is protected by thew; no one has the right to deprive another of their life. No matter their reason, they will never escape the persecution of thew.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not giving them a reason; I¡¯m just telling you the truth.¡± Chen Ge paced in the room. ¡°All the victims this time are sinners, and their eyes were gouged. The simrity is too obvious, so I believe this is another attempt at curing one of their members.¡±

    ¡°What kind of belief will link trauma together with sin and eyes?¡± Captain Yan thought Chen Ge had a point.

    ¡°That, I don¡¯t know, but you have to be fast. You¡¯ve found two victims, but based on my understanding of these people, their favorite number is three.¡±

    ¡°You mean there will be a third victim?¡±

    ¡°No matter what they do, they always aim for three. I don¡¯t understand why.¡± Chen Ge told the police everything he knew. The society was his enemy, and helping the police was helping himself.

    ¡°Okay, we will pay closer attention to this.¡±

    After the call ended, Chen Ge could not sleep. ¡°There are only three members left. Xiong Qing has been captured, so he isn¡¯t one of the members. Plus, with his personality, he would expose me during the Wednesday meeting. From the list of patients that escaped from the Third Sick Hall, only three confirmed living ones remain¡ªWang Shenglong; Patient 6, Han Bao¡¯er; and Patient 9, Wu Fei.

    ¡°Wang Shenglong was at home during the Wednesday meeting, and this was confirmed by the police. He isn¡¯t a society member, and the monster possessing him escaped silently from behind the door. Then this will lead to another problem. Of the three remaining members, only two came from the Third Sick Hall.¡±

    Chen Ge had plenty of information on the ghost stories society. He was familiar with the chairperson¡¯s voice¡ªshe was someone he had seen before¡ªand then No. 10 seemed to know him, but his stance was still an unknown.

    ¡°When the investigator jumped off the building, his dying words were Men Nan. Could thest unknown member be Men Nan?¡± Chen Ge then soon vetoed this spection. He could not trust the enemy¡¯s words fully. At the time, the investigator had been under the control of the society member, so his message could have been to lead him astray.

    ¡°Whether the investigator was lying or not, at least I garnered an important piece of information from him. The person controlling him knew about Men Nan, or else he wouldn¡¯t have left Men Nan¡¯s name at that crucial moment.

    ¡°Wu Fei is hiding in the shadowy corners of the city while Men Nan is theplete opposite. He¡¯s trying to live a normal life and can be found at any time. Neither of them are my opening.¡± Chen Ge thought about it and decided to make Han Bao¡¯er his next target. ¡°If I just send all of them into jail, then I won¡¯t need to waste time guessing who the chairperson is.¡±

    Chen Ge cleared his mind and slowly fell asleep.

    At 8:30 am, Chen Ge stretchedzily in bed. He went for a shower, and when he past the first floor toilet, his heart almost stopped. There was a very thin crack on the cubicle door. It looked like a narrowed eye looking at the world outside the door with evil intention.

    ¡°Something appeared behind the door at midnightst night and left this crack.¡±

    After Chen Ge sealed the cubicle up with wooden boards, it had been rtively peaceful. He had thought that the problem was resolved and tossed it out of his mind.

    However, after discovering the crack, the anxiety in his heart returned.

    ¡°The crack is very even, and the surface is smooth. This should be a new ghost that I¡¯ve not seen before.¡±

    The world behind the door was still too unknown to Chen Ge, and he did not want to deal with them yet. ¡°The ghost stories society knows how to close the door, and Men Nan¡¯s main persona should know some secrets as well. Now that there¡¯s a change to this door inside my Haunted House, the mission for the Third Sick Hall cannot be dyed anymore.¡±

    Chen Ge had a n after he exited the toilet. The park opened at 9 am, and the resting tent at the door was filled up within twenty minutes. There were a few familiar faces. They were excited as they talked with their friends, their voices filled with anticipation.

    ¡°Every Haunted House boss would love to see something like this. Their work is renowned and can bring in many visitors.¡± Chen Ge put on Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s mask. It had not been easy leading the Haunted House to this stage; he could not allow everything to go to ruin due to a door.

    ¡°Before the trial mission for Coffin Vige disappears, I need to capture all the society members and get the way to close the door out of them.¡±

    Filled with pointed hatred, Boss Chen gave the visitors a few authentic experiences. The screams inside the Haunted House rose like waves and did not stop for the whole day. At 3 pm, Captain Yan called Chen Ge several times. Chen Ge was busy chasing after visitors inside the Haunted House, so he did not notice it.

    Chen Ge saw it when the park closed, and he immediately returned Captain Yan¡¯s calls.

    ¡°Captain Yan, you¡¯ve caught the killer?¡± Chen Ge wiped the make-up from his face and gave Xu Wan the permission to leave.

    Captain Yan was silent, and after a long time, he said, ¡°We¡¯ve found the third victim; it¡¯s an employee at Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station. We found him in the same state as the other two victims.¡±

 Chapter 306 - Disappeared

    <h4>Chapter 306: Disappeared</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    This was not the first time Chen Ge heard the name Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station, but he had not had the time to go take a look.

    ¡°The time of death wasst night?¡± What Chen Ge predicted did happen¡ªthe ghost stories society seemed particrly obsessed with the number three.

    ¡°The coroner believes the time of death is between 3 am to 4 am yesterday morning. Cause of death is still currently unknown. The victim is a worker, and he left work at 6 pm. However, at 11 pm, he sneaked back to this ce. There is no camera inside the building, so no one knows what really happened. We only know that he didn¡¯t leave after he entered.¡±

    ¡°The murders are very symbolic and ritualistic. Since the patients from the Third Sick Hall have selected this worker, he must have done something wrong in the past; we should investigate that.¡±

    ¡°We did, and the man is squeaky clean. He doesn¡¯t have a criminal record, and the other workers said he¡¯s an honest man and doesn¡¯t have any enemies or bad habits.¡±

    Captain Yan¡¯s words confused Chen Ge. In his mind, the ghost stories society was very specific on their rituals, and rarely were they mistaken.

    ¡°Could that honesty be just a front? Perhaps he¡¯s a sinner within?¡±

    ¡°Our investigation hasn¡¯t reached that part yet, so temporarily, we cannot make any conclusions. However, one thing¡¯s for certain¡ªthis victim is slightly different from the rest. Not only were his eyes gouged out, a painting was carved into his back.¡±

    ¡°Can I take a look at that painting?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s heart skipped. <i>The crucial clue should be this painting.</i>

    ¡°I have to follow the rules. Pictures of the crime scene mustn¡¯t be leaked. If you want to see it, thene here.¡± Captain Yan did not agree to Chen Ge¡¯s demand. He made this call and gave Chen Ge all this information because Chen Ge was the only person who had interacted with the patients from the Third Sick Hall. He was the person who was most familiar with that group of crazies other than the police.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be there in a minute.¡± After hanging up, Chen Ge took out his phone and sat at the entrance to the Haunted House to think.

    <i>After Ipleted the Nightmare Mission for the first time, the mirror monster wanted to kill three people, and there was a corresponding number on the mirror that reflected the blood door. Is the ghost stories society rted to the door in such a way as well?</i>

    Chen Ge soon reached Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station in a taxi. This was somewhere isted, and people rarely came here. Chen Ge found the officer on duty and exined his purpose. The officer did not let him into the crime scene but led him to one of the adjacent buildings.

    ¡°Captain Yan, Chen Ge is here.¡± The officer called out Chen Ge¡¯s name directly. He no longer needed an introduction.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Captain Yan waved for Chen Ge toe closer. He ced the photos on the table. ¡°This is the most I can do for you.¡±

    Chen Ge scanned all the pictures before stopping at a bloody picture of the victim¡¯s back. The victim¡¯s back was torn open, and a half-open door was carved in flesh and blood. Unlike the blood door Chen Ge saw on the society¡¯s flyer, in the middle of this door stood a little girl. She poked half of her face out and had a bright smile on her face.

    ¡°Did you discover anything?¡± Captain Yan agreed to have Chen Gee over because he believed that he could get some information from him.

    ¡°This little girl looks very familiar.¡± Chen Ge did not sound like he was joking. He focused on that bloody picture.

    ¡°The blood hasn¡¯t even been cleaned yet. Can you really tell anything from these rough lines?¡± Captain Yan had studied every photo on the table for a long time already.

    ¡°Yes, very familiar.¡± Chen Ge picked up the picture and when he leaned in, a sense of familiarity appeared in his mind like he had seen this image before. He tried this several times before it hit him. ¡°Isn¡¯t this Jiang Ling?¡±

    Chen Ge focused on the girl¡¯s face that was exposed outside the blood door. It reminded him of Jiang Ling when she ran over to give him the spider.

    ¡°The little girl from Lin Guan Vige¡¯s poisoning case?¡± Captain Yan was part of the investigation team responsible for that case, so he was familiar with the girl¡¯s new name after she moved to Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Chen Ge passed the photo to Captain Yan. ¡°Compare the face shape of the two children. Even though painting isn¡¯t that detailed, the general frame matches perfectly.¡±

    Captain Yan looked at it. Initially, the name Jiang Ling did not even cross his mind, but now that Chen Ge mentioned it, he also felt it could be her.

    ¡°We¡¯ve investigated Jiang Ling and her family; they have no connection with the patients from the Third Sick Hall.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re a bunch of crazies who can do anything. They don¡¯t need reasons or connections.¡± Chen Ge pulled out his phone to call the nurse. He wanted to make sure of Fan Yu and Jiang Ling¡¯s safety. The painting on the victim¡¯s back was hinting that their target was Jiang Ling. The girl was the only seed remaining from Coffin Vige. Perhaps like Men Nan, she had once opened a door!

    The phone rang twice before a slightly alert voice said, ¡°Mr. Chen? Why are you calling sote at night?¡±

    ¡°Can you give the phone to Fan Yu? I have something to tell him.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re in the middle of counselling with Doctor Chen. If this is nothing urgent, can you wait several minutes?¡±

    ¡°As long as they¡¯re safe. Tell Fan Yu to call me backter.¡± Chen Ge pocketed his phone. He looked at the photos and considered creating an ambush around Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home.

    ¡°Captain Yan, I have a feeling that the murders are just a prelude. Most of the patients have been detained, and the remaining patients should be prepared something big.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, things might get messy tonight.¡± Captain Yan tapped his fingers on the table and turned to Chen Ge. ¡°You will stay with us tonight.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡±

    ¡°The real person they want to kill is you.¡±

    Thinking about it, Chen Ge realized that Captain Yan had a point. After all, it was no inconvenience for him; he only swapped a ce to sleep. If that could help capture the remaining ghost stories society¡¯s members, it would be a good thing. Captain Yan nodded after he got Chen Ge¡¯s agreement.

    They talked for another twenty minutes to discuss the details when Chen Ge¡¯s phone rang. He saw that it was from the nurse, so he picked it up naturally.

    ¡°Mr. Chen! Both Fan Yu and Jiang Ling have disappeared! I swear they were still inside the home this afternoon!¡± The nurse¡¯s urgent voice came through the phone. ¡°I¡¯ve already informed the president. Now everyone is looking for them!¡±

    ¡°Disappeared?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes turned serious. ¡°Weren¡¯t they with that Doctor Chen? Get him to answer the phone!¡±

    ¡°Doctor Chen has also disappeared. Everything in the room is tidy and untouched, but the person has disappeared!¡±

    ¡°Wait for me, I¡¯ll be there in a minute!¡±

 Chapter 307 - Going Home

    <h4>Chapter 307: Going Home</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge knew that the ghost stories society was going to make their move, but he did not expect it to be so soon!

    ¡°That Doctor Chen is suspicious. I¡¯ve seen that name in the letters written by the Third Sick Hall¡¯s old president, but they were addressed to Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station.¡± The surname Chen was verymon, so when Chen Ge heard about Doctor Chen, he did not think much of it. After all, the letter was addressed to the control station, not Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home.

    ¡°Jiang Ling has gone missing?¡± Captain Yan looked at the picture on the table; he was getting more intrigued by Chen Ge. The man not only had very powerful observational skills but also a special instinct and talent, one that Captain Yan felt the man himself did not realize.

    ¡°Three people have gone missing. Fan Yu, Jiang Ling, and the doctor, who was supposed to be with them.¡±

    ¡°The doctor is a patient in disguise?¡± Captain Yan could not believe a patient would turn up as a doctor yearster.

    ¡°We still cannot confirm that doctor¡¯s identity.¡± After hanging up, Chen Ge forced himself to calm down. Based on his analysis, of the remaining three society members, two were from the Third Sick Hall, and one of them had met him in real life before. The one who was familiar with him could be the chairperson!

    He had met Doctor Chen once when he visited Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home, so the chance of him being the chairperson was slim.

    ¡°Captain Yan, can you go through all the information on the workers here starting from five years ago; there might be a detail on the killer.¡± The letter at the Third Sick Hall was addressed to this ce, so the old president¡¯s correspondent should have working here back then.¡±

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll get Ol¡¯ Wei to follow you to Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home. Go take a look around and leave the investigation here to me.¡± Captain Yan called Ol¡¯ Wei over on the walkie-talkie. It was Ol¡¯ Wei who had driven Chen Ge when they were saving Gu Feiyu. Chen Ge did not reject Captain Yan¡¯s kindness. He might need to travel to many ces that night, and being with Ol¡¯ Wei would be more convenient.

    ¡°Captain Yan, you¡¯re looking for me?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei would retire in a few months. Normally, Captain Yan would not send him to the frontlines¡ªhe wanted to let the senior officer enjoy a few peaceful months before his retirement.

    ¡°You¡¯ll be partnering with Chen Ge tonight, take good care of him.¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡±

    When Captain Yan brought Ol¡¯ Wei up to speed, Chen Ge was still trying to understand the connection between Jiang Ling, the ghost stories society, and the New Schistosomiasis Control Station.

    Chen Ge leaned against the table. <i>There has to be a reason the ghost stories society selected theirst victim from this ce, and several years ago, the old president was also conversing with someone working here. The key question is, what is the connection between the New Schistosomiasis Control Station and the girl from Coffin Vige?</i>

    ¡°Chen Ge, don¡¯t waste time. Both of you move out immediately.¡± Captain Yan patted Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders. He assumed that Chen Ge was worried about Fan Yu and Jiang Lin. ¡°I¡¯m sure the two kids are safe.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m thinking about something else.¡± Chen Ge suddenly turned around to face Captain Yan. ¡°You told me before that Jiang Ling¡¯s former caretaker was found inside an old home at Lin Guan Vige.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Captain Yan did not know where Chen Ge was going with this.

    ¡°That person bought blood before she died!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes sparkled. ¡°There has to be a connection between Jiang Ling, this New Schistosomiasis Control Station, and the patients from Third Sick Hall, and I believe that connection is rted to blood.¡±

    ¡°You misunderstood something; this New Schistosomiasis Control Station doesn¡¯t have blood storage.¡± Captain Yan shook his head. ¡°This ce mainly deals with prevention of diseases contracted via blood. You can call it a specialist hospital.¡±

    ¡°Then could there be another possibility. They¡¯re breeding a special kind of parasite that needs human blood to survive? Or it¡¯s not a parasite but something else that need human blood to survive. The patients need this, and Jiang Ling has this!¡±

    Chen Ge voiced his opinion, and it confused Captain Yan and Ol¡¯ Wei. Chen Ge only exined half of his thought; Jiang Ling was Coffin Vige¡¯s final seed. Most of vigers from that vige were born with abnormalities, and the rate of urrence was too high to be exined by close marriage. Chen Ge now suspected that the abnormality was caused by this thing.

    ¡°Go to the Children¡¯s Home first. I¡¯ll have someone inspect the station closely. If there¡¯s any update, I¡¯ll inform you.¡± Captain Yan thought about what Chen Ge said, and he believed it could be a good opening.

    ¡°Be careful, it¡¯s best if the investigation is done in groups.¡± Chen Ge was worried. The thing the society wanted might not be a physical parasite; it could be a curse or even a rare Specter.

    The sky was dark when Ol¡¯ Wei drove Chen Ge to the Children¡¯s Home in the police car. When they arrived, the old guard and nurse were already waiting for them.

    ¡°We cannot find them, and the camera at the front door didn¡¯t catch them. They should have slipped out through another channel.¡± The guard was feeling guilty.

    ¡°Bring us to the room where Fan Yu and Jiang Ling werest seen.¡± If this was really the society, then it was normal for them to miss the clues.

    ¡°Follow me.¡± The nurse led Chen Ge into the counselling room. The room was painted brightly and could make people feel rxed as they walk in.

    ¡°At 4 pm, the two children were still ying in here, but when I came to take a look, they had disappeared,¡± the nurse exined as she fidgeted all over the ce.

    ¡°Calm down.¡± Chen Ge did not touch anything in the room and just looked around. ¡°There¡¯s no sign of struggle, and everything is in its ce; the two children probably left voluntarily.¡±

    ¡°Could it be Doctor Chen who brought them away? Impossible! Doctor Chen is a good man. He had saved many children here, giving them the courage to face life again.¡± The nurse¡¯s voice turned loud; she refused to ept this reality.

    ¡°Sometimes a good person and a bad person is just a thought away.¡± Chen Ge walked to the table where he saw several weird drawings. In the first drawing, two ck people were sitting in the middle, and a red person with a long body reached in through the window.

    <i>This should be Fan Yu¡¯s; he¡¯s leaving me clues. </i>Chen Ge picked up the drawing. <i>The ck ones are people, and red ones, ghosts. Looks like the society has really targeted Jiang Ling.</i>

    He flipped over to the second picture, and a red woman shaped like a spider tore the ghost that was reaching through the window apart. She seemed to be feasting. <i>Jiang Ling¡¯s sister saved them. Of course, with Jiang Ling¡¯s sister around, unless the society came with full force, they wouldn¡¯t be able to hurt them.</i>

    Chen Ge turned to the third drawing. Under the protection of the spiderdy, the two ck people walked into a door, and beside the door was something written in red crayon¡ªGoing home.

 Chapter 308 - I Want to Go Take a Look

    <h4>Chapter 308: I Want to Go Take a Look</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Since he still had time to draw, this means that both of them aren¡¯t injured. They probably left on their own since they sensed dangering.¡± Chen Ge had never treated Fan Yu and Jiang Ling as normal children.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei and the nurse wandered over. They saw the writing on the paper. ¡°Going home? What does it mean?¡±

    ¡°Before they became orphans, they had their own home.¡± When he saw these words, the first thing that entered Chen Ge¡¯s mind was Lin Guan Vige; that was the ce Jiang Ling grew up. ¡°Brief the situation here to Captain Yan; tonight, we might be heading to somewhere remote.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Chen Ge turned to look at the fourth drawing that was at the very bottom. It was a broken home drawn in ck, and something that looked like a coffin was leaning against its left wall. <i>The third picture is entering the door, and thisst picture is a home. Fan Yu is trying to tell me the door¡¯s location?</i>

    He folded thest drawing and pocketed it. Based on his spection, the ¡®door¡¯ that Fan Yu and Jiang Ling entered should be hiding inside this old home with a coffin. <i>Last time I entered Lin Guan Vige, I didn¡¯t see anyone cing coffin outside their door. The home in Fan Yu¡¯s painting should be referring to Coffin Vige inside the mountains.</i>

    The people had disappeared, and the only way to rify this spection was to go Coffin Vige personally. Chen Ge took a deep breath. <i>I have to find them as soon as possible. After entering the door, it will be difficult for them to leave!</i>

    ¡°Mr. Chen, do you think anything will happen to Jiang Ling and Fan Yu?¡± the nurse asked with worry. Chen Ge looked at the nurse and ced the drawings down. There was another question that needed answering.

    None of Fan Yu¡¯s four drawings featured Doctor Chen!

    What kind of role did the doctor y in this disappearance? If Doctor Chen was a member of the ghost stories society, why did the thin monster in Fan Yu¡¯s drawinge from outside the window and not from Doctor Chen¡¯s back?

    Based on Chen Ge¡¯s understanding of the ghost stories society, after the ghost possessing someone was torn open, the human would suffer mental pain and faint, but Doctor Chen could not be found at the scene.

    <i>The guy is not simple; I have to be careful.</i>

    After consoling the nurse, Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Wei left Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home. ¡°I¡¯ve already reported what happened here to Captain Yan, where are we going now?¡±

    ¡°Back to New Century Park first, I need to go grab some tools.¡± The society had lost three quarters of their member in a week; they had been forced to jump the gun, so naturally, Chen Ge would not be careless. Ol¡¯ Wei did not question Chen Ge; the order that he had received from Captain Yan was just to protect Chen Ge.

    When they arrived at New Century Park, Chen Ge rushed into the Haunted House to grab the hammer, the recorder, Pen Spirit, and Xiaoxiao. Then he took theic from Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy and invited the boy with the stench and the hanging student to join him.

    <i>If Zhang Ya was here, then this wouldn¡¯t be so troublesome.</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the bulging backpack and sighed. ¡°I still don¡¯t feel safe!¡±

    He nced at the white cat that wasying on the table biting its tail. He thought about it and picked up the cat. ¡°There¡¯s a saying in the countryside that ghosts are afraid of cats.¡±

    With the white cat looking at him with confusion, Chen Ge ced it in another bag. ¡°Having fed you for so long, I¡¯ll depend on you tonight.¡±

    Before the cat could react, Chen Ge rushed out of the Haunted House carrying the tworge bags.

    Inside the car, Chen Ge opened the bag for the cat to breathe. ¡°Ol¡¯ Wei, start the car. Today, we¡¯re going to Lin Guan Vige at the edge of the mountain.¡±

    Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s face turned with curiosity when he saw Chen Ge enter the car with the tworge bags. He thought Chen Ge had overreacted. After all, from a normal person¡¯s perspective, between looking for missing children and the group of murderers going around gouging people¡¯s eyes out, thetter obviously was more dangerous.

    ¡°What are you carrying? Why do I hear a cat meowing?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei started the car. He had been on the same team as Captain Yan for the poisoning case, so he knew the vige¡¯s location.

    ¡°My cat can protect us from curses.¡±

    ¡°Whatever you say.¡±

    ...

    At 10 pm, they finally arrived at Lin Guan Vige. As the car stopped, Chen Ge jumped out of the car and raced into the vige with the white cat trailing behind him.

    ¡°Wait for me!¡± Ol¡¯ Wei parked the car, and when he looked out, Chen Ge had already disappeared. Chen Ge took out Fan Yu¡¯s drawing andpared it to the buildings inside the vige.

    There was a road leading to Lin Guan Vige, but it was a halted project. It ended at the entrance to the vige. The surrounding buildings were abandoned, and all the houses were locked.

    <i>It¡¯s only just gone ten, but the vige is alreadypletely dark.</i>

    Simr to hisst visit, Chen Ge could not see another living person inside the vige.

    ¡°Don¡¯t wander around like this; you¡¯re going to cause unnecessary misunderstanding.¡± Ol¡¯ Wei finally caught up to Chen Ge and quickly rushed over to drag him out of the vige.

    ¡°Then what do you suggest we do?¡±

    ¡°How about we find someone to ask?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei knocked on one of the doors. Initially, the man had a bad attitude, but after Ol¡¯ Wei showed his badge, the viger obediently opened the door and weed them in.

    ¡°Did you see a middle-aged man around thirty leading two kids into Lin Guan Vige today?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei asked directly.

    ¡°A child-kidnapper?¡± Their host was an honest farmer.

    ¡°Just answer the question.¡±

    ¡°No, people rarelye to this ce anymore.¡± When they were talking, Chen Ge looked around the room. There was a small shrine, and on top of it was a ck-and-white picture of an old day. Other than that, the ce was a normal farmer¡¯s home.

    ¡°Look at this drawing, does this vige have something simr?¡± Chen Ge ced Fan Yu¡¯s drawing before the farmer.

    He scratched his head. ¡°What is this? Is that a shelf beside the house?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a coffin.¡± Chen Ge said and this caused the other two to go silent.

    ¡°Who would leave a coffin by the door. We don¡¯t have that here.¡± The farmer sneaked a look at Chen Ge. For some reason, he felt afraid of the man.

    ¡°I¡¯ll ask you another question, do you know Coffin Vige inside the mountain?¡±

    When Chen Ge said Coffin Vige, the farmer¡¯s eyes twitched, and he grabbed the water to hide his panic. ¡°Why are you asking that? The ce was cursed by an epidemic. Those who didn¡¯t die escaped. None of the vigers here dare bring up that name lest we too get cursed.¡±

    ¡°Looks like you do know about the vige. Do you know where it is?¡± Chen Ge spoke calmly, but his gaze was scary. ¡°I want to go to take a look.¡±

 Chapter 309 - Black and White Photo

    <h4>Chapter 309: ck and White Photo</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Now? A-are you kidding?¡± the farmer stammered.

    ¡°Yes, now. My two kids are missing, and they might have wandered into Coffin Vige.¡± Chen Ge could not afford to dy this any longer. The mountains were hard to trek through, and the two kids might get into some ident.

    ¡°Go ask another family.¡± The water in the host¡¯s cup spilled out. He was clearly nervous and afraid. ¡°I¡¯ve only heard about the stories from the older generation; I don¡¯t really know the location.¡±

    He noticed Chen Ge¡¯s gaze changing, like it was turning colder, so he immediately added, ¡°You can ask the seniors in the vige. They must know something. I can bring you to go meet them.¡±

    When the farmer said so, Chen Ge nodded. ¡°Please.¡±

    ¡°Of course, of course.¡± The farmer wiped the sweat from his brow and went inside the house to look for a shlight.

    ¡°Chen Ge, be careful, don¡¯t scare the poor man,¡± Ol¡¯ Wei, who stood beside Chen Ge, reminded him. To be honest, he was worried about partnering up with Chen Ge, especially when he thought back to the things that Chen Ge had done.

    ¡°I know what I¡¯m doing,¡± Chen Ge said softly. Now was not the time to mind the details; they needed to find the children first.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard from my grandparents that the vige once epted a group of people who escaped from the mountain; they shoulde from Coffin Vige.¡± The farmer walked out with the shlight. ¡°Those people are staying at the western side of the vige, and the rest of us live on the east side. Normally, we have no interaction. Before my grandmother passed away, she used to tell me that those people aren¡¯t clean.¡±

    The farmer was honest and did not hide anything from Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Wei. ¡°At the time, I secretly mocked her for believing in something like that in this day and age. I just brushed it off as her superstition, but as time went by, I realized that there was something off about these people.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Wei were curious.

    ¡°They rarely leave their homes, especially after the sun has fallen, like there are things waiting to harm them outside,¡± the farmer said softly. ¡°Every one of their houses has a rope hanging across the window and a cleaver hidden behind the door. I asked them once why they did that, and they said it was to prevent thieves.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s also one very strange thing.¡± The farmer¡¯s voice turned even smaller. ¡°Every few days, one of them will go missing, but they never seem worried. If anything, they appear very happy just like...¡±

    ¡°Like what? Tell us,¡± Chen Ge urged.

    ¡°Just like as long as it wasn¡¯t them who got caught.¡± The farmer¡¯s words were a bit usatory, and it made Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Wei silent.

    ¡°I¡¯m just sharing my thoughts. Please don¡¯t read too much into it!¡± the farmer quickly exined. The trio walked to the middle of the vige and turned left. After a short walk, they saw a broken brick home.

    ¡°Here we are.¡± The farmer prepared to knock on the door, but when his hands fell on the door, it swung open on its own. ¡°Elder Zhu?¡±

    He walked into the room, but he only took one step before he froze. On the dining table facing the door sat an old man¡¯s ck and white picture. The old man¡¯s face in the picture was looking at the door, and the scariest thing was, the eyes in the picture were gouged out.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic.¡± Chen Ge patted the farmer on his shoulder. He strode into the room without putting on the light and picked up the ck and white photo from the table. ¡°The picture looks old, and the edges are worn. He probably knew this day wasing a long time ago.¡±

    Thinking about what the farmer said earlier, Chen Ge believed that the old man in the photo had gone missing.

    <i>The people who escaped from Coffin Vige hang rope across the window and hid a cleaver behind the door. Obviously, they are afraid of something getting in. </i>Chen Ge scratched his chin. <i>Could it be the monster from Coffin Vige? Also why are the eyes gouged out in the picture? This is too simr to the ghost stories society¡¯s MO.</i>

    ¡°Big brother, can you please put the picture down? I have a feeling he¡¯s looking at me for some reason.¡± The farmer stood at the door and showed no intention ofing in. ¡°Shall we move on to another family?¡±

    ¡°Sure, let¡¯s go ask them about Elder Zhu.¡± The trio went to the house next door. Before they reached it, Chen Ge had a bad feeling. With Yin Yang Vision, he could clearly see that the family¡¯s door was open. As he expected, the family residing there was also missing. Creepily enough, there was also a ck and white picture on the table, and the eyes were also gouged out.

    ¡°Where are they?¡± The farmer led Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Wei here. The two outsiders didn¡¯t say anything but the local started to panic.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go look at the other homes first.¡± They looked through other homes, and it was as if all the people who escaped from Coffin Vige had disappeared. There were ck and white pictures on the table, and the whole vige felt like a ghost vige.

    ¡°What is going on?¡± The farmer¡¯s face was nched, and he turned to Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Wei for help. Looking at his inquisitive gaze, Chen Ge pulled out his backpack to grip the hammer. ¡°Everyone has disappeared, but why are you still here?¡±

    Chen Ge told the farmer that, and it honestly freaked him out. ¡°I really don¡¯t know! The mouth of the vige still has a few families from Bai Family Vige; they should be fine.¡±

    The farmer was proven right. Only those from Coffin Vige were missing.

    ¡°Chen Ge, where do you think those people have disappeared to? And why did they leave behind these ck and white photos?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei had a feeling that things were heading down a weird direction.

    ¡°They probably returned to the Coffin Vige.¡± Chen Ge took out Fan Yu¡¯s third drawing, which read¡ªGoing home.

    ¡°We cannot wait any longer. We need to enter the mountains now!¡± He walked to the farmer. ¡°Someone at the vige has to know how to get to Coffin Vige, right? Several lives are at risk, please show us your cooperation.¡±

    ¡°Brother, I really want to help you, but the people who knew about the vige are either missing or dead or too old.¡± The farmer staggered back and stopped beside Ol¡¯ Wei.

    ¡°Too old?¡± Chen Ge suddenly thought about a suitable candidate. He called Ol¡¯ Wei and headed for the peach ntation in the mountain. ¡°Master Bai should know where Coffin Vige is!¡±

    Hopping over the mountain, Chen Ge found Master Bai inside the wooden hut. After exining his intention, the old man pretended not to know anything. However, when he heard two kids might have been kidnapped and taken to Coffin Vige. He agreed to take them into the mountain.

 Chapter 310 - Move Faster

    <h4>Chapter 310: Move Faster</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Chen Ge, should we wait for Captain Yan¡¯s support team toe before we head into the mountain together?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei looked at his phone that had no signal¡ªthe time shown was 00:50 am.

    ¡°It takes at least one hour toe from Jiujiang to Lin Guan Vige. If we need to wait for them to enter the mountain, the sun will have already risen.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s group had been walking through the forest for almost two hours, but there was still no sign of any vige. All they could see were mountains and mountains.

    ¡°But can we do this with just the three of us?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei was worried that if there was a real altercation, they probably still needed to worry about Master Bai.

    ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡± Chen Ge had initially been worried about Master Bai¡¯s physical condition, but after one hour of trekking, he realized that his worry was unfounded. Master Bai was healthy since he had grown up in the mountain and knew the local geography very well.

    ¡°What are you two mumbling about?¡± Master Bai walked in front with a branch. ¡°A few more steps, and we¡¯ll reach a fork in the fork. If we take the road going over the mountain top, we¡¯ll need to walk for another two hours, but if we take the shortcut that crosses through the mountain valley, we¡¯ll only need thirty minutes before we reach Coffin Vige. Which one should we take?¡±

    ¡°Is the shortcut not an easy path to trek?¡± Chen Ge clearly understood that since Master Bai had brought it up, something had to be wrong with that path.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Master Bai¡¯s face was serious. ¡°The mountain valley is haunted.¡±

    ¡°Hauntings are fine. I thought you¡¯re going to say that it is home to wolf dens.¡± Chen Ge patted his backpack, and the white cat poked its head out with dissatisfaction.

    ¡°Now, I¡¯m curious. In your world, why are wolves more terrifying than ghosts?¡± Master Bai leaned against the branch. He could not understand Chen Ge¡¯s way of thinking.

    ¡°Ghost are immaterial, but wolves are real.¡± Ol¡¯ Wei did not believe in the talk of ghosts.

    Chen Ge rolled his eyes but did not argue. ¡°We¡¯ll trek through the valley.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure? There are things in this world that can¡¯t be exined.¡± Master Bai once again asked for their opinion.

    ¡°Master Bai, did something happen to you before?¡± Chen Ge saw the unnatural expression on the old man¡¯s face. He was really reluctant to go through the valley. ¡°You are very familiar with this path, so you must have taken it more than once already. We¡¯re doing this to save the children, so I hope you won¡¯t purposely hide something from us.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not trying to, but I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t believe me even if I tell you.¡± Master Bai shared the events from his youth. ¡°My father knew a thing or two about medicine. In the forties, when there was an epidemic of the measles, he trekked through the mountains to help all the nearby viges, and it was then that he discovered Coffin Vige.

    ¡°This vige is isted from the world, and there weren¡¯t many who even knew how to read. They depended on folk remedy for their sickness, and when my father arrived, the condition of the vige was very serious. To save the vigers of Coffin Vige, my father paid the ce several visits.

    ¡°At the time, I was still young, and my father wanted me to take over his practice. After all, a doctor is more respected than a farmer, so he would bring me on these visits. Everything was fine the first few times, but there was that one time my father got into an argument with one of the vigers. I¡¯m not sure what the cause was.

    ¡°Normally, we left at 2 pm, but that day, when we left Coffin Vige, it was alreadyte afternoon. However, since the sun hadn¡¯t fallen, we decided to trek through the valley. Half way through, my father suddenly urged me to move faster. All I was thinking about then was the hot meal at home, so I did run faster.

    ¡°However, after some time, my father urged me again from behind, telling me to run even faster. It was then that I realized something was wrong. I was about to turn around and ask him what was wrong when he used his hand to cover my eyes.

    ¡°All he said was for me to move faster. I peeked through the slit in his fingers, and I saw someone leaning on my father¡¯s back!

    ¡°My father¡¯s face was white, and he walked behind me, pushing me forward. Perhaps due to his regr acts of charity, the thing on his back didn¡¯t harm him. However, I remember that when we entered the valley, the sky was bright, but when we exited it, the sky waspletely dark.

    ¡°After that, my father fell seriously ill, and we stopped visiting Coffin Vige. Even now, I have no idea what the source of the argument was or what the thing that was leaning on his back was.¡±

    Master Bai sounded sad when he told this tale. Chen Ge understood why Master Bai would feel so guilty for not helping Jiang Ling¡¯s sister. He had seen a ghost when he was young, so he believed these things more than most.

    ¡°Do you still n to go through the valley?¡± Master Bai asked.

    ¡°The detour will take too much time; we¡¯ll take the valley.¡± Chen Ge gripped the Pen Spirit. ¡°The two of you can walk in, and I¡¯ll close up the back.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you can do that?¡± Originally, that was the role assigned to Ol¡¯ Wei. He had been making marks on trees as they moved through the forest. Master Bai wanted to advise Chen Ge, but he remembered what had happened that night. Chen Ge chased Jiang Ling¡¯s sister out of the room and even seemed like he was trying tomunicate with her. The old man¡¯s lips twitched. Now he suspected that Chen Ge had purposely told them to use the shortcut through the valley because he heard it was haunted.

    ¡°Why are you two looking at me? Don¡¯t worry, let¡¯s go.¡± Chen Ge did not feel panic. His backpack had a white cat, so if the ghost wanted to have someone to lean on, it would attack the white cat first. He nuzzled the cat¡¯s head gently before following Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei into the valley.

    The trees became moremon and twisted like everything around them was changing.

    ¡°Move faster, we must leave within twenty minutes.¡± Master Bai¡¯s emotions were shaking. He looked nervous, probably because the memory from his youth was returning.

    ¡°Chen Ge, you be careful at the back.¡± Ol¡¯ Wei walked in the middle. Although he gave Chen Ge a reminder, he did have some faith in thed. They walked for five minutes before the narrow path becamepletely covered by brush and branches. They could see half-buried coffins by the side of the road. The coffins looked like they were ced there on purpose. Some of them were not even closed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid.¡± Master Bai¡¯s voice was shaking. He forced himself to calm down. ¡°This is Coffin Vige¡¯s tradition. These are all empty coffins. They line the side of the road in increasing height, representing moving higher in life.¡±

    ¡°Not really afraid, but I agree that we should move faster.¡±

    Chen Ge turned to look behind him, and a shadow seemed to be trailing them. He did not tell Ol¡¯ Wei or Master Bai about this. He rummaged in his bag for something.

    <i>Only one? Don¡¯t say I¡¯m bullying you with my advantage in numbers.</i>

 Chapter 311 - You Done Crying?

    <h4>Chapter 311: You Done Crying?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei rushed ahead, but Chen Ge purposely slowed down to put some distance between them. <i>This should be good enough. Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai are still in my sight; I don¡¯t need to worry about losing them.</i>

    Chen Ge ced the recorder in his hand but did not look back; he just pretended like nothing was happening. The wind in the valley stilled, and the surroundings became quiet, as if they had gone through some limit and entered a different world. The temperature dropped, and Chen Ge could feel a cold draft encroaching. <i>It¡¯sing.</i>

    Perhaps because he had the white cat as a meat shield, Chen Ge walked forward with ease. When the cold draft was just three meters away from Chen Ge, it suddenly stopped like it could sense something.

    <i>I haven¡¯t even turned the recorder on yet¡ªwhy did it stop? </i>Chen Ge gauged the distance in his heart. He pretended like he was afraid and scared, shaking too much to move forward. He slowed down again, trying his best to ¡®lure¡¯ the ghost to attack him.

    <i>Why isn¡¯t iting? Does it want me to lean back to knock into it? </i>Chen Ge was seriously considering walking backward. He had confidence in his acting, but he was afraid his unusual movement might scare the monster off. <i>I should wait a little while longer.</i>

    The road narrowed, and it was almost swallowed up by brush and branches. Even Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei had to slow down to deal with the blockage. Chen Ge knew that he could not make it too obvious. If the monster was not going to take his bait, then so be it. He walked forward to help Master Bai.

    However, the moment he picked up speed¡ªperhaps panicking¡ªthe monster finally made its move. Chilliness climbed all over his heart, and this familiar feeling reminded Chen Ge of his first date when Zhang Ya stood behind him. The hairs on his neck rose, and the temperature dropped even more as iciness surrounded him.

    Before Chen Ge could do anything, the white cat in his backpack suddenly squeezed its way out. It meowed at him twice before running away!

    <i>You coward! Don¡¯t they say cats have nine lives?</i>

    Well, at least the white cat warned him before it left. The chill grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders like a pair of hands.

    <i>This feels familiar.</i>

    A woman¡¯s sobbing came from behind Chen Ge. It sounded scary and sad. Weirdly enough, it seemed like only Chen Ge could hear this. Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei were busy with their own stuff and did not seem to hear anything.

    Iciness curled into his heart, and his shoulders slowly slumped from the pressure. Chen Ge was reminded of Master Bai¡¯s story. The old man¡¯s father should have been experiencing this kind of pain then. To protect Master Bai, he had forced himself to carry the ghost the entire journey. His body turned heavier, and there was a pulling forceing from behind him like it was trying to pull Chen Ge into one of the open coffins.

    <i>Is it what they call a scapegoat? </i>The air seemed to freeze into ice, and it froze up Chen Ge¡¯s lungs. The crying beside his ears influenced Chen Ge¡¯s thought. The trees around him moved like they wereing alive. The sobbing echoed in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, and a pale white face slowly appeared from Chen Ge¡¯s back. It leaned toward Chen Ge¡¯s ears, but before it could say anything, Chen Ge suddenly turned around.

    ¡°You done crying?¡±

    The face stopped on Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders, its dark abyss of a mouth wide open.

    ¡°If you¡¯re done crying, then be on your way.¡± Chen Ge pressed the recorder, and Xu Yin appeared in half a red shirt to yank the monster off from Chen Ge¡¯s back. Before it could resist, it was torn into pieces and consumed by Xu Yin!

    The screams echoed through the woods, and even Chen Ge thought Xu Yin was a bit cruel. ¡°If you¡¯re not done crying, why didn¡¯t you tell me? I¡¯m a reasonable person.¡±

    When Xu Yin finished his feast, the blood stain on his shirt grew. Based on this speed, it would not be long until he became a real Red Specter.

    ¡°Chen Ge! What are you doing back there! Don¡¯t stay too far from us!¡± Master Bai waved at Chen Ge. They did not notice anything weird until Xu Yin disappeared. With their sense of alertness, without Chen Ge, both of them would have been pulled into the coffins already.

    ¡°Coming!¡± Chen Ge pocketed the recorder, and the white cat, which had escaped earlier, returned. It jumped on Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder and refused to enter the backpack again.

    ¡°A life of contentment has dulled your survival instincts. You weren¡¯t this cowardly before. Looks like I¡¯ll need to bring you out with me more in the future.¡± Chen Ge nudged the cat¡¯s face. ¡°This is for your own good.¡±

    After catching up to Ol¡¯ Wei, Chen Ge suddenly realized that since the ghost had been eaten directly by Xu Yin, he was not even sure what kind of power it had.<i>It¡¯s probably a normal ghost. There¡¯s so many coffins¡ªit should have friends.</i>

    With Master Bai leading way, they used twenty minutes to exit the valley.

    ¡°Thank God nothing happened.¡± Master Bai was covered in cold sweat. ¡°We were lucky this time. We¡¯ll reach the ce after ten minutes or so. Before entering the Coffin Vige, let me go talk to them first.¡± He stared at Chen Ge. ¡°After we¡¯re in the vige, no matter what happens, do not act rashly! I¡¯m considered a vige friend, let me handle this.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been back here for decades already, do you think they will still give you face? Furthermore, the vigers knew you might not even be alive anymore.¡± Chen Ge was telling the truth.

    ¡°Inparison, I know about their culture better than you do. We¡¯re here to find people, not to wage a war. It¡¯s better not to make enemies.¡± Master Bai tried his best to advise Chen Ge. He was afraid that he might do something dumb.

    ¡°We¡¯ll do what you say.¡± Ol¡¯ Wei dragged Chen Ge. ¡°Finding the children is more important.¡±

    Master Bai did not continue this topic. He pointed the cat on Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Keep your cat inside your bag or else the vigers will kill it on sight.¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t keep cats to deal with rats? Don¡¯t you say every family has a coffin? Aren¡¯t they afraid rats might bite through the wood?¡± Chen Ge chased the cat for a long time before he caught it and shoved it inside the bag.

    ¡°There are not many living creatures inside this vige. In fact, I¡¯ve not seen them rear livestock,¡± the old man said. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you about it as we walk. The vige has many weird taboos, and they look different from normal humans, so you¡¯d better be prepared.¡±

 Chapter 312 - Dont Knock on the Door at Night

    <h4>Chapter 312: Don¡¯t Knock on the Door at Night</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After leaving the valley, his phonepletely lost its signal. The electricpass that Chen Ge downloaded beforehand malfunctioned as well. Something told him that the world inside and outside the valley were different. Perhaps because he had met plenty of ghosts, he was sensitive to these things. He tipped his head back and nced through the canopy. There was no moon or stars in the sky. The night was like a cloth smothering them no matter where they went.

    ¡°Be careful, we¡¯ve almost reached the ce.¡± After another ten minutes of walking, Chen Ge¡¯s group finally left the jungle. They looked down the horizon, and what they saw confused and shocked them.

    ¡°Those are...nterns?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei touched Master Bai¡¯s shoulder, but this was also the first time Master Bai hade to Coffin Vige at night.

    ¡°I have no clue.¡± He took out a piece of jade and wore it around his neck. ¡°I¡¯ll scout ahead. Stay close to me; don¡¯t wander off.¡±

    The three of them walked toward the vige, and the shapes of the buildings became clearer and clearer. No one would have expected a vige to be hidden in such a deste ce. All the building were built in a style from decades ago; they looked old and abandoned, but the most curious point was every family had a whitentern hanging before the door.

    Thenterns were like white eyeballs, hanging by the side of the road, staring at the three neers.

    There were people inside the vige!

    This vige that was supposedly abandoned decades ago due to an epidemic still had people living there.

    ¡°Master Bai, are you going to enter just like this?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei moved to stand beside Chen Ge. He still remembered Captain Yan¡¯s order. His mission that night was to protect Chen Ge.

    ¡°Let me think about this.¡± Master Bai looked at the empty vige and the whitenterns that lined the road, and his palms were covered with cold sweat. ¡°In the past, my father always came in the morning, so I had no idea this is how Coffin Vige looks at night.¡±

    With the bitter smile on his face, Master Bai¡¯s meaning was clear; he did not want to enter the vige. Of the three of them, he was the only one who had entered Coffin Vige before. He understood the creepiness of the vige, and if morning was already so scary, night did not bear thinking about.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic, we don¡¯t need to enter directly.¡± Ol¡¯ Wei then patted Chen Ge on his shoulder. ¡°How about we take a look around the vige first?¡±

    Chen Ge did not answer, and he stood at the back of the party alone. His expression was unreadable.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei was worried about Chen Ge. Even though he admitted Chen Ge could be a bit rash, he had to admit that facing the entrance to this ghost vige, standing beside Chen Ge gave him the most security.

    ¡°I¡¯m thinking about something.¡± Chen Ge shrugged and lowered his head to look at the ck phone. When they neared the vige, Chen Ge¡¯s ck phone had vibrated, and he had received a new message.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored! You¡¯ve found Coffin Vige deep inside the mountain. Do you wish to ept the Trial Mission for the three-star scenario, Coffin Vige?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s on your mind, why don¡¯t you share it with us?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai walked close to him.

    ¡°Thanks, but I¡¯ve already made up my mind.¡± Chen Ge clicked on the ept key.

    ¡°Coffin Vige (three-star scenario): Survive until morning inside Coffin Vige, and the new scenario will be unlocked.

    ¡°Mission Hint: That day, other than me, they all came.¡±

    Memorizing the mission hint, Chen Ge pocketed the ck phone and turned to look at Coffin Vige, shrouded in darkness. ¡°Let¡¯s go, we¡¯ll go take a look.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s arm and gave Master Bai a look, hoping that the old man would help him convince Chen Ge. However, the night was too dark for Master Bai to see it.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already made up my mind.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s consideration was different from Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s.

    ¡°Stop arguing. It should be fine for us to enter the vige. Even though the vigers look strange, they¡¯re quite kind.¡± Master Bai had interacted with Coffin Vige¡¯s people before, so he had the most right to speak.

    ¡°Master Bai, are you sure these kind vigers would light whitenterns at night?¡± Of the three, Ol¡¯ Wei was the most rational.

    Master Bai touched the jade around his neck like he was remembering something from long ago, ¡°My father once told me, a bunch of poor people are living inside the vige. He said that when I master medicine, I should go help them.¡±

    When Chen Ge¡¯s Yin Yang Vision caught sight of Master Jade¡¯s Jade Ne, he felt pain in his eye. However, that pain onlysted for a second. If he was not sensitive enough, he would not have noticed it.

    ¡°Master Bai, your father left you the ne?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he would wear it whenever he went out to help people. After we came out from Coffin Vige for thest time, he gave it to me and then soon after he fell ill.¡±

    <i>There¡¯s more to this ne than meets the eye. </i>Chen Ge wanted to study it. He had run into ghosts and monsters many times already and had been trying to find something that could affect them. He had been searching for weeks, but he had only found a butcher¡¯s cleaver.

    ¡°My father said that others cannot touch the jade or it¡¯ll lose it powers.¡± Master Bai seemed to be telling the truth. ¡°I cannot give you the ne, so you¡¯d better stay close to me tonight.¡±

    ¡°Master Bai, can you remember other things that your father told you?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei asked. ¡°We¡¯re entering the vige, so you need to tell us everything.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all I believe. He told me, no matter where I go, I have to face my conscience and those with a clean conscience will be protected by both humans and ghosts.¡± When he said so, Chen Ge understood why the old man was so focused on helping Jiang Ling and her sister; Master Bai¡¯s family was good-hearted people.

    Chen Ge had his own philosophy and had been following his own conscience. <i>He has a point, but ghosts are like people; there are good ghosts and evil ghosts.</i>

    The three walked around the outer perimeter of Coffin Vige. The vige was very big. To get an overall view of the vige, they needed to climb up to the adjacent hill.

    ¡°There are probably more than a hundred families living inside the vige. Be careful not to get into an altercation with them.¡± Master Bai was mainly talking to Chen Ge. ¡°We¡¯ll go in through the entrance; there¡¯s no need to hide.¡±

    Thus, the three entered Coffin Vige. The road was overgrown with grass, and the houses on both sides were closed. Weirdly enough, the doors were not pasted with themon pictures of door guardians but white paper with the character ¡®¸£¡¯ (good fortune) turned upside down. It looked scary.

    ¡°The culture here seems to be the total opposite of the outside world.¡± Chen Ge stopped before one of the doors. ¡°Shall we go in?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s rude to barge in like that.¡± Ol¡¯ Wei moved his hand to the gun in his holster. This ce gave him plenty of pressure.

    ¡°We¡¯re here to look for the children. Eventually we need to interact with the vigers. We will need Master Bai¡¯s help to liaise with them.¡± Chen Ge raised his arm, and when his hand almost reached the door, the whitentern hanging above the door suddenly went out.

 Chapter 313 - Three Rooms

    <h4>Chapter 313: Three Rooms</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The sudden disappearance of the light cast where Chen Ge¡¯s group was standing into darkness.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Both Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei were spooked. Chen Ge¡¯s hand hung in midair and did not fall on the door. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. It doesn¡¯t seem like a coincidence.¡±

    There was no wind, and thentern was hung high enough that they would notice if someone reached out to extinguish the light. The other whitenterns swayed even though there was still no wind.

    It felt weirdly suffocating.

    Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Wei turned to look at Master Bai, but he had not experienced this before either. ¡°Shall we retreat for now?¡±

    He walked two steps back and turned to look down the road, then he stopped. ¡°Be careful, someone¡¯sing!¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± Chen Ge looked down the direction Master Bai was looking. Under the glow of the swayingnterns, a blurry human-shaped shadow slowly approached them. ¡°It seems to be waving at us?¡±

    The shadow moved faster, and Chen Ge finally got a good look at it. It was an olddy who was wearing a dark-colored jacket. She kept her head lowered as she moved forward, and she only stopped when she almost ran into Chen Ge.

    ¡°You also came from the outside?¡± The olddy¡¯s voice was weird and made Chen Ge feel ufortable.

    Noticing the olddy¡¯s choice of words, Chen Ge asked in return, ¡°Also? There¡¯s another party that entered the vige earlier?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The woman kept her head lowered when she spoke like she was afraid of others seeing her face. Chen Ge was reminded of Jiang Ling¡¯s sister. The vigers of Coffin Vige were born with abnormalities, so Chen Ge would not be rude enough to purposely sneak a look at the olddy¡¯s face.

    ¡°Was it a middle-aged man and two kids who entered the vige before us?¡± Chen Ge asked a follow-up question, but the olddy ignored him. It seemed like she was not there for Chen Ge. Keeping her head lowered, it felt like the olddy¡¯s head was almost falling to the ground. However, she did not seem bothered by this. ¡°Don¡¯t knock on the door at night. It might not be people who answer the door.¡±

    It was unclear who the olddy was talking to. She blocked them in the middle of the road, and thenterns on both sides swayed harder.

    ¡°Things have beenplicated in the vigetely. Don¡¯t wander about. Come with me, I¡¯ll bring you somewhere to stay.¡± The olddy turned to head back in the direction she came from. Her steps were small, but she moved fast. Combined with her head that almost reached her chest, the whole thing was just weird.

    ¡°Shall we follow her?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei turned to look at Chen Ge and Master Bai. When he saw the olddy earlier, he already wanted to leave.

    ¡°Let¡¯s follow her for now.¡± It was Master Bai who spoke. ¡°I feel familiar around the olddy. Is it possible that I¡¯ve seen her when I came to visit as a child?¡±

    Master Bai walked ahead, and Chen Ge as well as Ol¡¯ Wei followed behind him. The olddy led them deeper into Coffin Vige. They took several turns before they stopped. ¡°Tonight, you can stay here. We can discuss the rest when morninges.¡±

    She still kept her head lowered, and the tone of her voice had not changed; it felt like they were talking to a puppet. ¡°There are three rooms inside the house. Each of you can take one. Remember to stay inside your room, and do not share rooms. Do not touch the rope on the window or the cleaver behind the door. Stay in bed and wait for the night to pass.¡±

    ¡°One room each? We¡¯ll share one room; it¡¯ll be fine for one night.¡± Master Bai had to stay close to Chen Ge. If he did not keep a good watch on him, he would run off on his own.

    ¡°There are three rooms inside the house; each of you can take one...¡± To their surprise, when Master Bai said so, the olddy only repeated her earlier instruction, but this time, her tone was uglier.

    ¡°Granny, we¡¯re here to look for two children. We have no time to waste, especially not until morning. Can you bring us to meet the other group who came from outside?¡± Chen Ge studied the old woman and could not find anything weird about her. Could it really be her face?

    When the olddy turned around, Chen Ge bent down to nce at her face. The face was totally normal.

    <i>The eyes are still there, and the face looks normal, but she does look familiar, </i>Chen Ge thought to himself. He looked at the olddy and then nced at Master Bai. ¡°Master Bai, you said the olddy gives you a sense of familiarity, could she be from Lin Guan Vige?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see her face, but based on her attire, you might be right.¡± Master Bai pushed the door open. The ce was not big.

    ¡°Looks like someone from Lin Guan Vige and familiar to you and me.¡± Chen Ge thought about it, and his face slowly changed. ¡°Wait, I know who she is!¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Wei, do you still remember the first home we visited when we arrived at Lin Guan Vige?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the owner was a middle-aged farmer.¡± Ol¡¯ Wei had good memory.

    ¡°He has a shrine in his room, and an olddy¡¯s ck-and-white photo sat on it.¡± Chen Ge kept his voice lowered. ¡°The olddy who showed us the way earlier looks exactly like the old woman in that picture!¡±

    ¡°How is that possible? Are you sure?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei couldn¡¯t believe Chen Ge.

    ¡°Now that you mention it, she does look like an olddy from Lin Guan Vige!¡± Master Bai made the connection in his mind. ¡°But that olddy died a long time ago!¡±

    ¡°No matter what, it has happened.¡± Chen Ge calmed down quickly. ¡°If the olddy is not a living person, then should we still stay in the home that she assigned for us?¡±

    The white paper on the door fluttered. Neither Master Bai nor Ol¡¯ Wei could not make the decision.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go in to take a look first. The olddy had a good rtionship with me before she died; she won¡¯t harm us.

    ¡°At least, I think she won¡¯t.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s group entered the home, and the ce was simr to other houses, but there was not a whitentern outside the door.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t like what the olddy said; there¡¯s only one room in here.¡± Chen Ge walked in front, and after crossing the empty courtyard, he opened the inner room door.

    A weird smell drifted out from the room. When they got used to it, the three of them turned to look inside the room with their eyes bulging. Inside the home¡¯s only room sat three ck coffins.

    ¡°One home, three rooms? Could the olddy be referring to the coffins?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s face waspletely white. ¡°Something is seriously not right with this ce; we should leave.¡±

 Chapter 314 - Inversion

    <h4>Chapter 314: Inversion</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Since we¡¯re already here...¡± Chen Ge walked toward the coffins.

    ¡°Calm down!¡± Master Bai grabbed Chen Ge. ¡°Those are for dead people!¡±

    He was a bit loud, and Ol¡¯ Wei came to stop both of them. ¡°This ce is off; we need to be very careful.¡±

    ¡°The three rooms mentioned by the olddy should be these three coffins. She¡¯s not a living person, so for her, coffins are rooms.¡± Chen Ge pried Master Bai¡¯s hand off calmly. ¡°Is there something wrong with my logic?¡±

    ¡°The problem is...¡± Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei did not know how tomunicate with Chen Ge.

    After a long pause, Ol¡¯ Wei asked, ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid around these things?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I am, but fear is not going to help us in this situation, is it?¡± Chen Ge looked at Ol¡¯ Wei. ¡°Don¡¯t let it get to you. Come help me.¡±

    The three walked to the coffins. They were roughly made, and they had ayer of dark brown coating. There was a light smell.

    ¡°Is that dposition?¡± Master Bai looked at Ol¡¯ Wei.

    ¡°No, dposition is much worse. This should be the smell of decaying wood.¡± Knowing Chen Ge would not leave that easily, Ol¡¯ Wei quickly got into the correct frame of mind. After all, he was an experienced police officer and would be dependable during the crucial moment. ¡°Listen to me, we cannot believe the olddy fully. We¡¯d better be careful.

    ¡°When we were led this way, I memorized the route. The three of us will stay here for now, but if dangeres, we¡¯ll run out immediately. Remember to follow behind me, and make sure not to get left behind!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s only one way to find out whether the old woman was lying or not.¡± Chen Ge put his hands on the coffin lid.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Opening the coffin.¡± Chen Ge pushed, and the lid slid off a little.

    ¡°You seriously n to sleep here with one of the coffins?¡±

    ¡°It depends.¡± Chen Ge pushed the coffin half open, and he peered in. It had a set of graveclothes at the bottom of the coffin.

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch it! This is a real taboo. What if you offend the spirits?¡± Master Bai held Chen Ge¡¯s hands tightly, and Ol¡¯ Wei also ran over to pull Chen Ge back.

    ¡°I just want to see what¡¯s so mysterious about this ce.¡± Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai sighed when they finally got Chen Ge to calm down. However, what Chen Ge said next got them all worried again. ¡°My n is to open all the coffins we find in this vige. The vige¡¯s biggest secret should be inside the coffins.¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t say something like that when you¡¯re outside; I¡¯m afraid the vigers might kill you if they hear you.¡± Master Bai walked to stand beside the coffin. He thought about closing the coffin, but when he nced at the clothes inside, his brows locked. ¡°Why are their graveclothes bright red?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that confused me when I first saw it too, so I nned to take it out to have a closer look.¡± Chen Ge joined Master Bai. ¡°Whitentern above the door, white paper on the door, red graveclothes; this vige seems to invert all themon Chinese practices. This reminds me of Minghun.¡±

    ¡°You even know about Minghun?¡± Master Bai nced at Chen Ge.

    ¡°One of the scenarios at my Haunted House is Minghun-themed. A living bride for a dead groom...¡±

    Chen Ge wanted to continue the story when both Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei waved at him to stop. ¡°That¡¯s enough, it¡¯s already scary enough.¡±

    The two of them stood beside the coffin, looking inside at the red graveclothes, and it just did not feel right.

    BANG!

    A sudden noise spooked Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei. They turned and saw Chen Ge was pushing the other two coffins open. Three coffins meant three set of red graveclothes. As they shone the shlight at them, it looked like the coffins were bleeding.

    ¡°All the sizes are different, there¡¯s for male and female. Looks like a family of three.¡± Chen Ge stood beside the coffin, ¡°I¡¯m wondering, the coffins are inside the house, so where are the bodies?¡±

    He turned to ask Master Bai, ¡°Could this be one of Coffin Vige¡¯s cultures? Every family will prepare a living coffin even when they¡¯re still alive?¡±

    ¡°I suppose so.¡± Master Bai could not be sure.

    ¡°There aren¡¯t any bodies inside the coffins, and if this is really a living coffin, then it means that the owners are still alive.¡± Chen Ge scratched his chin. ¡°What do you think the chances are that they will return tonight? How will they react when they see we¡¯re inside their home?¡±

    He was just asking that, but Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei each sucked in a cold breath.

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯ll be good if they return; we can ask them what¡¯s going on with the vige.¡± Master Bai still insisted that Coffin Vige¡¯s people could bemunicated with.

    ¡°Special times call for special measures. Would normal people leave their home in the middle of the night inside a deep mountain?¡± Chen Ge gave his suggestion. ¡°I think we should ambush them at the door and capture them when they walk in. They¡¯re a family of three, and there¡¯s three of us. After detaining them, remember to keep their mouths shut. Shove them inside the coffins, and we¡¯ll use the graveclothes to bind them. Then we can start the interrogation.¡±

    Chen Ge gave his n, but Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei looked at him with weird expressions.

    ¡°That isn¡¯t good, right? They haven¡¯t done anything bad to us after all.¡± Master Bai was an honest man. He moved away from Chen Ge and stood beside Ol¡¯ Wei. At a time like this, he felt better siding with the police.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be toote to react when we realize they want to harm us. This is called taking the initiative.¡± Chen Ge said so and moved to stand behind the door. He appeared masterful as he readied himself for the ambush, as if he had done this many times already. ¡°Ol¡¯ Wei, you can hide under the window, and Master Bai, you hide beside the second coffin. I checked it earlier¡ªthat corner is perfectly hidden from sight.¡±

    ¡°Who did you learn all this from?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai moved to their spots. For some reason, they followed Chen Ge¡¯s instruction.

    ¡°I operate a Haunted House, and the best skill is to make use of the geography to scare the visitors.¡± Chen Ge looked through the slit into the small courtyard. ¡°You two can rest for a while; it must have been tiring walking for so long already.¡±

    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll do this one hour each, so everyone can have the chance to rest.¡± Ol¡¯ Wei suggested.

    Master Bai nodded. ¡°No problem, I might be old, but I¡¯m still healthy. I should be able to survive one sleepless night.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡± Chen Ge turned back from the door to look at Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai. He reached into his backpack to sooth the angry white cat. ¡°Shush, they¡¯reing.¡±

 Chapter 315 - Look Up

    <h4>Chapter 315: Look Up</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai zipped up their lips and held their breath. Chen Ge grabbed the hammer¡¯s handle in his backpack and turned his eyes back to the door. Along the dark road, a cold misty light was getting closer. ¡°What is that?¡±

    The light stopped at the front door and filtered into the courtyard through the slit in the door.

    CREAK...

    The front door was pushed open. There was nothing outside the house; there was no one at the door. The only change was an additional whitentern hanging on the door. When Chen Ge¡¯s group entered the house, there had definitely not been a whitentern. Inside this vige, thentern seemed to have some special importance.

    ¡°They¡¯reing in?¡± The whitentern shone a pale light on the floor. There was no one in the courtyard, but there were three shadows on the floor, two tall and one short. The shadows flickered in the courtyard, and they did not seem to notice the three outsiders hiding inside the room.

    A cold draft picked up, and the front door closed on its own. When the pale light disappeared, three strange creatures appeared. Their heads were pressed to their chests, and they walked forward on tip-toe. The unkempt hair blocked their faces, and their clothes were stained with blood. They were radiating a strange stench.

    <i>It¡¯s simr to the smell at the Third Sick Hall! They¡¯ve been inside the door?</i>

    Chen Ge signaled for Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai to hide. The three creatures stood in the middle of the courtyard, and as Chen Ge expected, there were two adults and one child. The way they were standing was very weird. They leaned forward like they would topple into the room at any moment.

    The atmosphere was tense.

    As time passed, the three creatures outside the room seemed to sense something. They moved forward at the same time and walked to the door with a weird gait. Since they were just separated by a door, Chen Ge could see the pattern on their clothes. The three shadows did not enter the room but stopped at the door.

    The two adults kept their heads lowered, but the child had a paper doll in its hands. It kept using its fingers to tear on the doll, and whenever he did so, the paper doll seemed toe alive, its expression filled with pain as it begged for mercy. However, the child did not stop. If anything, it continued to find other ways to ¡®y¡¯ with the doll.

    <i>It seems like there¡¯s a name on the doll.</i>

    With his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could see the name on the doll, and he felt like he had seen that name in Lin Guan Vige. <i>Wait, could the doll be one of the people who disappeared from Lin Guan Vige?</i>

    There was a bunch of Coffin Vige¡¯s escapees that settled at Lin Guan Vige, but other than themselves, no one knew the real reason they escaped from Coffin Vige. The shadows stopped at the door for several seconds. Seemingly intent on investigating if there were people hiding inside the room, one of the shadows walked to the window.

    Chen Ge could clearly see the lowered head stick itself to the window and use it to push the wooden windowpane open. The sticky hair dangled downward. It nned to poke its head in!

    At the time, Ol¡¯ Wei was squatting below the window. He did not know there was another head just above his own. Chen Ge looked at Ol¡¯ Wei, but his expression did not change. Ol¡¯ Wei saw Chen Ge looking at him, and based on the young man¡¯s expression, he thought everything was fine.

    The hair touched Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s neck, and he even reached out to scratch it. Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s hand practically brushed past the face above his head. Master Bai, who hid behind the coffin, saw everything. His lips were chattering, and he tried his best to alert Ol¡¯ Wei.

    Perhaps Ol¡¯ Wei also felt that something was wrong. He moved his eyes away from Chen Ge and turned to Master Bai. Master Bai reached out one finger, and he kept pointing upward; it was hard to miss the hint.

    <i>Above me? </i>Ol¡¯ Wei reached out to touch his head, but he did not find anything. Since Master Bai kept pointing up, he raised his hands upward. Behind the door, Chen Ge gripped the hammer. His original n had been to wait for the ghost to reach half of his body in before he made his move, but Ol¡¯ Wei had pushed his n forward.

    As Chen Ge expected, under Master Bai¡¯s instruction, Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s hands kept moving upward. His fingertips touched something, and it felt very cold. His neck froze, and Ol¡¯ Wei slowly turned his head upward. He leaded back and looked right into the male ghost¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Now!¡± Chen Ge pressed the recorder and swung the hammer at the window above Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s head!

    Almost at the same time, the three ghosts attacked from the door and window. The ghost that was closest to Ol¡¯ Wei peeled his mouth back. Blood vessels moved within it as he tried to bite Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s face.

    Ol¡¯ Wei, who had been wondering what was above him one second earlier, did not have chance to react. He did not even have time to show fear when the ghost¡¯s mouth opened wide. He was about to scream when a scary-looking hammer flew past his head!

    BANG!

    Chen Ge did not hold back, and the hammernded right on the ghost¡¯s face. It sent the ghost flying along with the window frame!

    ¡°My god...¡± Ol¡¯ Wei had not even closed his lips, and Chen Ge also fell out of the room with a man wearing half a red shirt standing beside him. After the ghost at the window was knocked out of the room, the two shadows raised their heads. The dead faces exposed vicious expressions. They wanted to charge into the room, but Chen Ge was running at them.

    The battle ended as soon as it started. In less than one second, Xu Yin already got two of the shadows on the ground. Xu Yin was maddened by bloodlust. He did not have the habit of leaving things alive, so the two shadows soon became blood stains on his shirt.

    Thest shadownded on all fours. It was about to mber out when it was pressed down from behind by Xu Yin. The whole process took, at most, ten seconds. During that time, the only thing Chen Ge could do was turn around to close the door.

    <i>Xu Yin seems to have gotten stronger.</i>

    The shirt knitted with blood stuck to his body. Xu Yin was like a lonely pianist, waving his tapered fingers to flick the blood off his hands. His body disappeared as Chen Ge turned the recorder off.

    ¡°What happened earlier?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai ran out of the room. They were covered in cold sweat, and panic was apparent on their faces.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡± Chen Ge shrugged. ¡°When I gave chase after them, the three shadows immediately left the ce.¡±

    He pointed at the open front door and picked up the hammer. ¡°We should be more careful. We made a loudmotion earlier¡ªperhaps more monsters will being.¡±

    ¡°Do you know the meaning of the word ¡®careful¡¯?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei touched his head as he looked at the hammer in Chen Ge¡¯s hand. He could not believe that thing flew inches away from his head earlier.

 Chapter 316 - Graveclothes

    <h4>Chapter 316: Graveclothes</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°That was to save you.¡± Chen Ge shoved the hammer back into his backpack. ¡°The escape of the three shadows means that we¡¯ve been exposed; we cannot stay here any longer.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re finally leaving?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei had been wanting to leave for a long time already.

    ¡°Coffin Vige is very quiet at night, so our fight earlier must have echoed very far. I¡¯m afraid other monsters might hear that ande to surround us.¡± Chen Ge had his own n. ¡°The first reaction of the earlier three monsters when they saw us was to attack. This goes to show that it wasn¡¯t out of kindness the olddy led us here. The vigers here are not as kind as Master Bai assumed.¡±

    Master Bai disagreed with Chen Ge. ¡°I haven¡¯t been inside Coffin Vige at night before, but I don¡¯t understand this change. In my memory, Coffin Vige¡¯s real vigers would not do something like this; they¡¯re no different from normal people.¡±

    ¡°Master Bai, you haven¡¯t been back here for years already; you don¡¯t know what happened when you were gone, so we¡¯d better be careful.¡± Chen Ge looked around and bent over to pick up the paper doll on the floor. The paper doll that had been tormented by the boy had its limps almost torn off, and its expression was one of pain.

    ¡°Zhu Fengxi?¡± There was a name on the back of the doll. It was unknown what kind of ink it was, but based on Chen Ge¡¯s experience, it felt like dried blood.

    ¡°This name is rather familiar.¡± Master Bai moved close to Chen Ge to take a look at the doll. ¡°He sounds like one of the escapes from Coffin Vige.¡±

    ¡°The dolls have the names of the escapees.¡± Chen Ge rted this to the weird phenomena he had observed at Lin Guan Vige. Many old houses had a cleaver behind the door and a rope by the window. Combining that with what had happened to them inside the house, he had a brief understanding why things were that way.

    If a monster tried to crawl in through the window, then the rope was to tie around their neck, and the cleaver behind the door was for self-defense. The more isted the vige, the weirder the tradition¡ªthat was the only way Chen Ge could interpret these traditions.

    <i>Those who escaped from Coffin Vige spent their days in fear. Could the thing that cause that fear be the ghost from Coffin Vige? If they were captured, would they end up as paper dolls to be tormented eternally?</i>

    Chen Ge had another question that needed to be answer. <i>Why did these people escape from Coffin Vige in the first ce? What kind of event transpired at this old vige to cause a mass exodus?</i>

    <i>To know all that, I¡¯ll need to find a viger to ask. </i>Chen Ge pocketed the paper doll. ¡°I have a n to discuss with you.¡±

    ¡°Tell me.¡±

    ¡°First, we leave this vige.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai nodded. They also felt that the vige was too dangerous.

    ¡°Then, we¡¯ll inspect each house, starting from the ones near the entrance, moving inwards. No matter what wee across, we must detain them.¡± There was a sparkle in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. ¡°As long as we don¡¯t make too much noise, we should be able to take them down one by one.¡±

    Chen Ge had given his n much thought. Whenever Xu Yin consumed a ghost, the blood stain on his clothes increased. Based on this progression, there was a high chance of him turning into a real Red Specter that night!

    There was a great power difference between a normal Specter and a Red Specter. Without a Red Specter by his side, Chen Ge did not feel safe.

    ¡°You¡¯re nning to demolish a whole vige?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei was a police officer, so he frowned when he heard Chen Ge¡¯s suggestion. However, Master Bai had gotten used to Chen Ge¡¯s crazy ideas.

    ¡°We should leave the vige first before we decide what to do.¡± Master Bai walked ahead, his hand holding the jade. A pale-faced Ol¡¯ Wei followed behind Master Bai, but Chen Ge stood where he was. After the three monsters were consumed by Xu Yin, the white cat did not return to normal. It was still hissing and scratching the backpack.

    <i>Something is still nearby. </i>Chen Ge looked around him. A human head seemed to sh across the left wall of the room with the coffins.

    <i>The room next door? </i>Chen Ge did not stay and walked out.

    Whitenterns hung on both sides of the road, shining a pale light. For some reason, Chen Ge had a feeling the number of whitenterns had increased. <i>What is the meaning of thesenterns? If there¡¯s a whitentern, meaning the ce is upied?</i>

    ¡°Chen Ge, why aren¡¯t youing?¡±

    ¡°Coming.¡± Chen Ge passed the door next door, and he turned to look. The wooden door was locked, and weirdly enough, there was not a whitentern on this door. <i>The thing I saw earlier wasn¡¯t a ghost?</i>

    Chen Ge maintained his distance from Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai, but he kept his attention on the road behind him. When he turned the corner and Chen Ge would be lost behind the wall, he slowed down, leaned back, and nced down the corner. The door had been opened, and bright red graveclothes dangled at the door.

    To not expose himself, Chen Ge stopped for less than one second, but his heart was gripped with concern. ¡°The graveclothes moved on their own?¡±

    They continued walking through the weird vige decorated with whitenterns, followed by the red graveclothes. The wind blew, and it carried out voices from the houses on both sides. It sounded likeughter and tears. If one paid more attention, there was also the sound of chewing. As the night deepened, the vige became creepier.

    <i>Other ces be quieter at night, but this ce ispletely different. Theter it gets, the livelier it bes. </i>Chen Ge tried to remember the ghosts that he had met that night. <i>The ghost who wanted to drag me into the coffin inside the valley and the family of three seem to be different. Inparison, the one inside the vige is smarter.</i>

    They had been inside Coffin Vige less than half an hour, but so many weird things happened already. Chen Ge suspected that a blood door was hiding inside this vige, and it was a door that was wide open without anyone watching over it!

    <i>If we search the houses one by one, eventually, we¡¯ll find that home in Fan Yu¡¯s drawing.</i>

    When Chen Ge turned the next corner, he nced behind him. The graveclothes were copsed on the floor and closer to them.

    <i>Being chased by clothes worn by dead people doesn¡¯t feel good. </i>Chen Ge reached for the recorder, and he bumped into Ol¡¯ Wei. ¡°Why did you stop?¡±

    ¡°Something is wrong...¡± Ol¡¯ Wei looked atpletely unfamiliar street, and his face turned paler. ¡°The road that we used earlier seemed to have disappeared.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re lost?¡± Chen Ge thought about it and patted Ol¡¯ Wei on his shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we only need to ask for directions.¡±

    ¡°This ce has more ghosts than people; who are you going to ask?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei said, but there was no reply. He turned around and saw Chen Ge walking away with the hammer.

 Chapter 317 - Baby

    <h4>Chapter 317: Baby</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Don¡¯t move away on your own! Slow down!¡± Ol¡¯ Wei grabbed Master Bai and rushed after Chen Ge. Theirbined age was more than one hundred, but they tried to keep up.

    ¡°I¡¯m just trying to ask for directions, why are you guys following me?¡± Chen Ge did not want to expose Xu Yin before Ol¡¯ Wei, so he moved his finger away from the recorder.

    ¡°There are no living souls in this vige; who are you going to ask?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei was worried that Chen Ge might do something stupid like using the hammer to break down the door of some of the houses.

    ¡°You¡¯ll see.¡± Chen Ge told Ol¡¯ Wei to keep quiet. He leaned against the wall by the corner. He counted his heartbeat and tightened his grip on the hammer. He waited for a full minute, but the red graveclothes did not show up. Chen Ge leaned forward, and the clothes had already disappeared. ¡°It ran away?¡±

    It had probably heard Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s voice, so it had gone into hiding. Chen Ge leaned back against the wall and considered his next course of action.

    <i>Coffin Vige is a three-star scenario, but the fright level so far hasn¡¯t reached the standard of a three-star scenario. </i>Chen Ge looked at the many houses that were no different from one another. <i>Making us lose our way is just the beginning. The monsters inside this vige are slowly waking up.</i>

    There had to be a Red Specter in the vige somewhere!

    That was what Chen Ge worried about the most; he knew how dangerous those two words could be.

    <i>Temporarily, there is no better option. I¡¯ll need to continue this investigation and feed the stragglers to Xu Yin. If he can transform into a Red Specter tonight, even if I fail the mission, not all is lost. </i>Chen Ge was a good person, but he was afraid of running into a bad Red Specter. If Xu Yin consumed so many spirits inside the vige, it might anger the Specter.

    Chen Ge calcted the ghosts that he had, and the only one he could depend on was Xu Yin. The newly acquired Yan Danian might be a Lesser Red Specter, but hisst power had not been unlocked. Furthermore, based on his usual appearance, he did not look like a particrly aggressive spirit. If he was torn apart by the Red Specter, then Chen Ge would cry for a long time.

    <i>I¡¯ll need to be careful. </i>Chen Ge reminded himself and turned toward Master Bai. ¡°The monsters inside the vige are rousing. You¡¯ve been here before; do you know if there are any special buildings at this ce?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s an ancestral hall at the deepest part of the vige; the ce is forbidden to outsiders. The vige has many wells, but the vigers normally go to the other side of the mountain to gather fresh water instead of using the wells. They gave wells a wide berth.¡± Master Bai tried his best to jog his memory. ¡°There¡¯s also another strange thing. This vige has no vige elder; the one who looked over everyone was a woman. She wasn¡¯t old and lived at thergest house alone.¡±

    ¡°Forbidding outsiders from going to the ancestral hall is understandable, but why are they afraid of wells? Is the water tainted? Does the water caused the abnormalities?¡± Chen Ge was confused.

    ¡°The water was fine. My father once used a captured animal to test it out, and it was normal water. However, the vigers refused to drink it and even forbade us from doing more testing.¡± Master Bai also did not know why.

    ¡°We have to pay attention to these ces; the more they stop us from getting close to these ces, the higher the chance they¡¯re hiding something.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so where shall we go now?¡± Completely lost with the whitenterns swaying in the wind, it was scary.

    ¡°We¡¯ll keep moving on for now.¡± The three went back down the road, but the old home with the coffins was gone. Instead, there were homes with whitenterns on their doors.

    ¡°Now, we¡¯re truly trapped.¡± Master Bai¡¯s hand went to the jade ne on his neck. ¡°It¡¯s not good for us to keep going around in circles. Why don¡¯t we just stay in one of the houses for the night?¡±

    ¡°The houses with whitenterns are mostly upied by ghosts, but the information was given by the olddy. She might be trying to trick us.¡± Ol¡¯ Wei thought back to what had happened that night, and it felt like a dream.

    ¡°Shall we go inside to confirm?¡± Master Bai walked to one of the homes. He raised his hand but did not dare to knock on it. The warning given by the olddy reverberated in his mind¡ª <i>Don¡¯t knock on the door at night.</i>

    Chen Ge did not stop Master Bai. He was concentrating on what to do. He might have appeared rash, but that was because, of the three of them, he knew how dangerous Coffin Vige was.

    ¡°We cannot stay at the same ce anymore; it might attract the ghosts.¡± Chen Ge was trying toe up with a solution when the white cat in his backpack suddenly meowed. It was shrill and mixed with a rare emotion of fear. Thest time Chen Ge heard this was at his Haunted House when the door in the toilet was almost open.

    ¡°Something ising!¡± Chen Ge responded immediately. He grabbed Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei, and the three of them rushed into the house with the whitentern.

    ¡°Chen Ge, what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Shush, do not say a word!¡±

    Chen Ge closed the wooden door, and in that instant, there were the cries of a babying from the street.

    ¡°It¡¯s a child?¡±

    ¡°Quiet!¡±

    Seeing how intense Chen Ge was, Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai were also made nervous. They stood where they were, unwilling to move. The crying sound came closer and closer. Even with their hands over their eyes, the blood-curdling cries still echoed in their brain.

    Chen Ge¡¯s upper body leaned forward; he did not dare to make a move lest he made a sound. He leaned closer to the middle gap in the door and used his Yin Yang Vision to look out at the street.

    Thenterns hanging on the doors darkened like they were dyed red. The wind stopped howling, and only the baby¡¯s crying remained.

    <i>It¡¯sing!</i>

    A small arm reached out from the corner. Chen Ge¡¯s pupils narrowed as he focused his gaze in that direction. Soon, the monster showed its face. It looked like a drowned baby. He had no hair, and his skin was bloated. His facial features were blurry, and he was swaddled in a red cloth!

    <i>A Red Specter? A Red Specter this young?</i>

    The baby continued crying. He crawled speedily on the ground like he was looking for something. He crawled until he reached the house that Chen Ge¡¯s group was hiding in.

    The boy¡¯s face turned up, and the wrinkled skin was pulled back to reveal his real face. The baby had no eyes and nose but only three ck holes and a weirdly-shaped mouth.

    Chen Ge held his breath. He was thankful that he had brought the white cat with him because without its warning, with the monster¡¯s speed, he would not have had time to start the recorder before he was assaulted.

 Chapter 318 - Series of Weird Events

    <h4>Chapter 318: Series of Weird Events</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    His finger pressed on the y button, and Chen Ge slowly bent his body down. His muscles tensed like a bow ready to fire. The memory of fighting the ghost stories society¡¯s Red Specter was still fresh in his mind. That day, he had summoned Xu Yin and the Pen Spirt at the same time, but they could barely stop the Red Specter for ten seconds. This was the second time he was going to face a Red Specter without Zhang Ya. Different from Fang Hwa Apartments, this time, he had brought all of the ghosts inside the Haunted House with him.

    <i>Ten against one, it should be fine!</i>

    His hair stood on end; Chen Ge was ready forbat. The ghost baby outside looked at the wooden door, and its body slowly turned wrinkled. Pungent red liquid seeped out of his skin, and after itnded to the floor, it circled around him like tadpoles. All the blood seemed to possess its own consciousness. It looked simr to the blood vessels on the monsters possessing the ghost stories society¡¯s member. It was filled with resentment and malice.

    ¡°The child looks only several months old¡ªhe shouldn¡¯t remember much about life¡ªso how can he carry such strong resentment?¡± Chen Ge had not discovered all the details concerning the formation of a Red Specter. He knew what the key points were: they had to filled with resentment at the time of death, and they were naturally aggressive!

    Red Specters were the representation of cruelty and violence. The first reaction when they saw other ghosts was to tear them open and consume them! Both Zhang Ya and Xu Yin showed this quality. Chen Ge did not dare let his guard down when facing the Red Specters.

    The light shining from thenterns dampened, and the street was slowly dyed red. The baby turned his body around, but he did notunch an attack directly. Instead, he crawled slowly toward the door. The blood flowed underneath him like it would rush at the door at any moment.

    Chen Ge rehearsed the event in his mind. He would call out Xu Yin first and then jump back to use Yan Danian¡¯s power. Even if he could not pull the ghost baby into theic, at least it would be able to slow him down. Using that chance, he would summon the other ghosts in theic. With the collective power of all the ghosts, maybe they could ambush the ghost baby. Chen Ge had been avoiding altercations with Red Specters, but that did not mean that he waspletely helpless.

    <i>The risk is huge, but if I can kill the ghost baby for Xu Yin to consume then he will certainly transform into a new Red Specter!</i>

    Thinking about this, Chen Ge made the decision to bet his life on this chance!

    His Yin Yang Vision was radiating with coldness. He waspletely ready when the ghost baby outside the door stopped. His wrinkled ears moved. A woman¡¯s voice was calling his name from somewhere faraway.

    The ugly face showed a trace of fear and concern. The pool of blood on the floor returned to his body, and the skin returned to its usual plumpness. The ghost baby then left the scene quickly. When the ghost baby disappeared, Chen Ge loosened his tightly gripped fists, and he sighed.

    <i>Hard to tell whether his departure is a good thing or a bad thing.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s expression wasplicated. The ghost baby¡¯s departure meant that he had avoided a battle that he would have had a hard time winning, but since the woman¡¯s voice could scare the baby away, this meant that the vige had a Red Specter that was scarier than the ghost baby.

    <i>After all, it is a three-star scenario.</i>

    Massaging his fingers, Chen Ge straightened himself and returned to Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai. ¡°Temporarily, it¡¯s fine. The thing has left.¡±

    ¡°What happened earlier? What came? Did it stay outside the door for a while?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei rubbed his nose. ¡°Even through the door, we could smell the pungent smell of blood.¡±

    ¡°It was a little baby.¡±

    ¡°A baby?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to exin,¡± Chen Ge grumbled. ¡°But remember this. If you see anything wearing red clothes in this vige, go into hiding immediately. Do not try to fight it; running is probably pointless.¡±

    ¡°Red clothes...¡± Ol¡¯ Wei nodded and remembered this warning. ¡°So, where shall we go now?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s stay here for now.¡± The night deepened, and more and more scary things started to appear inside Coffin Vige, so Chen Ge did not dare move about wantonly. ¡°This Coffin Vige¡¯s Trial Mission only asks me for one thing, but the difficulty is probably higher than the Third Sick Hall.¡±

    Staying alive, two simple words, but for Chen Ge, it was a huge challenge.

    <i>Ghost baby and the woman who summoned the ghost baby away, Coffin Vige has at least two Red Specters, and that woman is probably stronger than a normal Red Specter.</i>

    Chen Ge turned to look at his own shadow. Other than Zhang Ya and Xu Yin, the other Specters from his Haunted House only looked scary on the surface.

    <i>Thankfully, there was no fight, or the ten might have lost to the one.</i>

    Chen Ge patted the white cat on its head. The cat had done a good job, but it still had not recovered from the shock. Its pair of multi-colored eyes looked at Chen Ge with resentment, and the hair on its neck was still standing. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, tell me if there¡¯s danger. I will not leave you behind.¡±

    Chen Ge carried his backpack and stood in the courtyard with the hammer. The old house was huge. The courtyard was filled with weeds, and it had two dead trees. ¡°There arenterns on the door, so this ce probably houses some ghosts. Be careful.¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge, wait a minute.¡± Master Bai used the shlight to shine at the two trees. ¡°Don¡¯t you think these trees are familiar? Dried branches, exposed roots, and a bulging trunk. Doesn¡¯t it look like the tree that covered the Zhu family¡¯s eldest daughter?¡±

    Chen Ge did feel that way after being reminded by Master Bai. At the time, Zhu Xinrou had been shoved into the hole under the tree headfirst. He pushed the tree, and the roots were already rotten. Chen Ge could see roughly someone was buried under the tree.

    ¡°Don¡¯t knock the tree down.¡± Master Bai stopped Chen Ge. ¡°It is an ancient tradition to bury cursed people in the ground like this after they die. People nt a peach tree above their grave because, ording to legend, a peach tree can stop the curse they¡¯re carrying.¡±

    ¡°Meaning it is for protection?¡± Chen Ge touched the trunk, but something was not right. ¡°Master Bai, these don¡¯t appear to be peach trees.¡±

    The three studied for a long time before they managed to identify the trees as locust trees.

    ¡°Locust trees are the most wicked of all the trees; this is the first time I have seen people nting locust trees above someone¡¯s grave.¡± Master Bai gripped Chen Ge¡¯s arm. ¡°Let¡¯s not create any more trouble. We¡¯ll stay away from them, and perhaps they will leave us alone.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s hard to say. There are two bodies buried in the courtyard, so this ce is definitely haunted. Perhaps we¡¯ve already been targeted.¡±

 Chapter 319 - Secret of Coffin Village

    <h4>Chapter 319: Secret of Coffin Vige</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Why are you so intent on jinxing us?¡± Master Bai still minded these things, but Chen Ge was theplete opposite.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine. Just follow behind me.¡± He walked through the courtyard with the hammer and entered the main room.

    Theyout of the old house was very interesting. There were bedrooms on each side of the main room, but there were no beds. Instead, each bedroom had a coffin in it.

    ¡°Have you noticed something peculiar about these houses?¡± Chen Ge leaned against the hammer and scanned his surroundings.

    ¡°You mean the coffins inside the house?¡± Master Bai pushed the door open through his clothes; he did not want to touch anything there.

    Chen Ge shook his head. ¡°Not that.

    ¡°The houses don¡¯t seem to have an oven or a fire starter.¡±

    Ol¡¯ Wei looked at Master Bai. If Chen Ge had not brought that up, they would not have noticed this problem.

    ¡°The fire starter is the ce where people a light fire and cook meals. Without that, how are they supposed to eat?¡± Chen Ge sat on the chair, and his tone slowed down, ¡°Or do the vigers not need to eat? Is this a dead person¡¯s home? If that is true, then it would make sense to have coffins instead of beds.¡±

    His voice was calm, but it sent chills up his two listeners¡¯ spines.

    ¡°The whitenterns, white paper on the door, coffin in the room, could this whole vige be a Ghost Vige?¡±

    Chen Ge thought back to the information he found when he was building the Minghun scenario.

    ¡°There was a story about a massacre that happened to a vige deep in the mountains during the war period. Several yearster, people got lost inside the mountain, and they identally wandered inside the vige. Then they saw every family was having a funeral, and the vigers looked weird. The outsiders didn¡¯t dare ask any question and escaped the vige in the middle of the night. When they returned to the vige in the morning, the ce had been abandoned for a long time already, and there was no sign of people living there.¡±

    ¡°You mean, we¡¯re now inside a Ghost Vige?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei asked uncertainly.

    ¡°Coffin Vige is scarier than that. I feel this ce has a bigger secret that we haven¡¯t uncovered yet.¡± Chen Ge ced the hammer on his feet and cupped his chin in his palm. ¡°The people in this vige are much moreplicated than we think. There are original vigers that turned into ghosts, escaped vigers who were captured, and then us outsiders. The olddy¡¯s soul had no need to lie to us about the outsiders. Other than us, other people are also trapped inside this vige. No matter who they were, I think we should meet up with them.¡±

    ¡°But how do we do that? We can¡¯t even find a way out ourselves.¡±

    ¡°I think we need to be more careful of our surroundings then.¡± Chen Ge then turned to look outside. He identally saw half a human face lying on the wall.

    ¡°Someone¡¯s there!¡± He jumped up immediately. The sudden warning alerted Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai.

    ¡°What did you see?¡±

    ¡°There was a human face on the wall. I saw it once inside the previous home. At the time, it shed past temporarily, and then I saw a set of graveclothes walking out the door; it was following us.¡± Chen Ge told the situation to Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai.

    ¡°He¡¯s just next door; shall we go take a look?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei was just suggesting that; he did not want to wander off.

    ¡°If the person wants to run, we won¡¯t be able to catch it.¡± Chen Ge looked at the wall. ¡°I have a feeling it has a reason for following us, and it didn¡¯t seem like it¡¯s going to harm us.¡±

    He just finished when the front door slowly opened and bright red graveclothes stood in the middle of the door.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fret. This is the thing that has been following us.¡±

    In the middle of the night, the door was pushed open, and the graveclothes stood alone. Anyone would have been scared looking at this.

    ¡°Are you a person or a ghost?¡± Chen Ge stood inside the room and hid the hammer behind him. The person seemed to struggle for a long time beforeing to a decision. The graveclothes were opened from the middle, and they were hiding a thin, short man. His lips fell open, and after a long time, he said, ¡°I¡¯m here to help you.¡±

    ¡°Help us? Wonderful, why don¡¯t youe in first?¡± Chen Ge smiled kindly. He gripped the hammer; he wanted to trick the man toe into the room first. The man shook his head. He had been following Chen Ge, so he knew Chen Ge¡¯s tricks.

    ¡°I¡¯ll just stay out here.¡± The man removed the graveclothes, and when his bodypletely removed itself from the graveclothes, Chen Ge saw that the man had onerge arm and one small arm.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen you when you entered the vige, but before I could ost any of you, you were tricked away by the ghosts. I was worried, so I trailed behind you while wearing the ghost¡¯s graveclothes. I wanted to find the chance to save you.¡±

    The man sounded sincere, but Chen Ge did not believe that the man would put himself in such danger for a stranger. ¡°You followed us just so you can save us?¡±

    ¡°Saving you is saving me. You might not believe me, but if we are unable to leave this vige tonight, we¡¯re all going to die.¡± The man lowered his voice, and fear and anxiety were apparent in his tone. ¡°The door will open tonight, and the thing wille out from behind the door again.¡±

    ¡°The door will open tonight?¡± Chen Ge frowned. ¡°You¡¯re one of the original vigers here, right? Can you tell us what happened to Coffin Vige? Why did it turn into its current situation?¡±

    ¡°Coffin Vige? I guess the name fits.¡± The man closed the door and walked to the middle of the courtyard. It was hard to tell how old he was from his looks. ¡°No one can remember this vige¡¯s original name. The reason it has be like this has plenty to do with a woman.

    ¡°Our vige is hidden deep inside the forest, and this istes us from the rest of the world. It was very difficult for a man to find an unrted wife, so we settled with close marriage. However, that led to many abnormalities.

    ¡°The elder at the time worried that we would die out eventually, so after a discussion with the vigers, they decided to ¡®kidnap wives¡¯ from the outside. The first few times were perfectly fine. If the new wife refused to listen, they would be locked up, starved, and beaten. Eventually, they would learn.

    ¡°However, thest time, they caught the youngdy of a schr¡¯s family. She was stubborn and refused to submit. She escaped several times, and she was almost beaten to death every time. It was not until she was pregnant that she stopped running away. The vigers thought that was the end of her resistance.

    ¡°But just as the girl¡¯s new family was preparing to celebrate the happy asion, she jumped into the well.¡±

 Chapter 320 - Sacrifice!

    <h4>Chapter 320: Sacrifice!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°One body, two deaths. All the vigers said that the woman was unlucky, so they found a few young fes toe crack open the well to haul the body up. However, weird things happened then. The woman¡¯s head was facing downward when she jumped, but half way through the digging, people saw the woman¡¯s face turning upward.

    ¡°The dead person¡¯s face was soaked until it was white. Her eyes were bulging, staring at the people outside the well. With guilt suffocating their hearts, the young men were all spooked, and none had the courage to continue digging.

    ¡°But they couldn¡¯t just leave the body inside the well. The elder discussed this with the girl¡¯s new family, and they would provide the money to hire outsiders to dig the well. However, when they returned to the well the next day, the body, which had been facing upward, changed to legs facing upwards. It looked like she was trying to swim deeper into the well.

    ¡°Those who saw this reported it to the elder. To prevent panic, the elder said the earlier digging must have affected the water flow and the body slipped down on its own. No one bought this excuse, and on the third day, the vigers discovered that the body inside the well had disappeared!

    ¡°There are in total four wells around the vige. They were built on top of the same underground river. Since the body had disappeared, they thought it might float up in any one of them. Then weird things continued to happen. The well that the woman died in was the west well, so to avoid her, many people went to the east well.

    ¡°The water looked normal, but when they used it to cook rice, they would discover woman¡¯s long hair in the rice. One weekter, those who lived near the well heard the sound of water sshing in the middle of the night like something was climbing up the wall of the well.

    ¡°The viger looked out the window and saw a red shadow climbing out the well!

    ¡°The following day, the vigers discovered the woman¡¯s husband dead in his own bedroom. The woman¡¯s husband was one with a deformity; he had a problem on his face and his arms. When he died, his head was shoved inside a water barrel, cause of death was drowning. This sent a wave of panic through the vige. The elder called everyone and suggested calling a doctor from outside to take a look, but before the doctor arrived, the livestock in the vige started to die by massive numbers.

    ¡°Some who were afraid uprooted and left. However, the scariest thing was, every night, those deserters would be found deposited at the valley in front of the vige with various causes of death.

    ¡°It appeared like whoever drank the well water would be dragged back and killed. The vigers didn¡¯t have time to build coffins and have funerals because there were too many dead people, so they just left them half-buried.

    ¡°Escaping the vige meant certain death, and staying behind wasn¡¯t going to save us either. The vigers tried many things, but they couldn¡¯t do anything to the female ghost. Her resentment was too deep, and every night, one or two families would be found dead.

    ¡°The number of deaths soared. The people here were superstitious, and we believed if the dead weren¡¯t buried inside coffin, they would return as a hungry ghost. No one knew who would die next, but death wasing. Therefore, every family started to make their own coffins, and this was why each family had coffins instead of beds.

    ¡°One monthter, the woman finally stopped, but by then, there was no normal looking person left in the vige. She had killed every normal person and sinner in the vige.

    ¡°Then, people understood what she was trying to do. It was because the vigers were afraid of the effects of consanguineous marriages on the future generations that they started kidnapping outside women. Thus, the female ghost would kill all the normal vigers and leave behind the abnormal monsters inside the vige. Her message was¡ªlet the vigers only show themselves as monsters!¡±

    The more the man got through his story, the more agitated he became. He waved his arms of different lengths. ¡°The ancestry¡¯s lineage has been corrupted, and only monsters remain in the vige. Those who were born normal were killed, and only deformed creatures please the woman and might escape her wicked ws.¡±

    The man¡¯s story was rather heavy. Chen Ge did not say anything; it was Ol¡¯ Wei who spoke first. ¡°My identity aside, there¡¯s no one I hate more than human kidnappers.¡±

    ¡°That happened many years ago, and the people have been punished and killed. Now, only the innocent are being affected.¡± The man waved his arm. ¡°No one wishes to be a monster. When I saw my reflection in the water, I wanted to die, but I¡¯m not satisfied!¡±

    He clenched his fists, and it looked funny, but no one wasughing.

    ¡°If this was one year ago, I wouldn¡¯t have thought to resist, but things are different.¡± There was an indescribable expression on his despair-filled face. ¡°I have my own child, a little boy with no deformities.¡±

    ¡°You have your own child?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it is miracle. Two monsters with their own child.¡± The man sighed. ¡°I cannot leave him here; he¡¯ll be targeted by the woman. Even if the woman doesn¡¯t discover my child, the other monsters in the vige will sacrifice him to her to save their own lives.¡±

    Chen Ge heard the anomaly in the man¡¯s words. ¡°The other vigers will sacrifice your child?¡±

    ¡°The people here have gone insane. No, they can¡¯t even be known as people anymore.¡± The man¡¯s nails scratched his skin. ¡°Many years ago, when the ghost massacred the vige, only one family escaped her vengeance. The family had a single daughter. The family was the Zhu family.

    ¡°It was this Zhu woman who aided her first escape. After the woman got caught, even the Zhu daughter suffered the same fate and got tied up and beaten. Then, when the woman got bullied, it was often this Zhu woman who came to her aid. That was probably why Zhu family was spared.

    ¡°As the number of vigers dwindled, the remaining vigers asked the Zhu woman to be the new elder to protect themselves. They wanted her tomunicate with the female ghost. The vigers thought she would help them beg for mercy, but reality was different. The Zhu woman sided with the ghost, and she became the tool for the ghost to manage the vige.

    ¡°To enjoy better torment, the ghost demanded that whenever we spot a normal newborn, we have to carry it to the Zhu woman. If someone dares to hide that secret, they will be tortured and killed!

    ¡°No one knows what happens to the babies after they are brought to the Zhu family. We only know that after the Zhu woman carries the babies into her darkened home, they never return.¡±

    His eyes were filled with fear and uncertainty. The man sped his abnormal hands together. ¡°This rule persists until today. My boy¡¯s situation has been exposed to the vigers, so I can only choose to coborate with you outsiders. Please take my son out of this ce before it is toote!¡±

 Chapter 321 - Ghost Village

    <h4>Chapter 321: Ghost Vige</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s group of three looked at the man before them, and each of them had a different expression.

    ¡°Is what you¡¯re saying real?¡± Master Bai was shocked. He and his father hade to Coffin Vige a long time ago. At the time, he had only thought the vigers looked weird, but other than that, they were no different from normal people. He did not expect they would be hiding such a scary secret.

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s all real.¡± The man took several steps forward and stood inside the inner room¡¯s door. ¡°I could keep all this to myself, but I told you everything. This is proof of my sincerity.¡±

    It was quite curious to hear a deformed man saying these words inside a vige filled with coffins. Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei looked at each other before their gaze collectively fell on Chen Ge.

    ¡°Wait a minute, I want to ask him a question first.¡± Chen Ge asked for the man to move forward. ¡°How shall I refer to thee?¡±

    ¡°You can call me Ah Qing.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge walked to the man, dragging the hammer. ¡°You can get us out?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I know the way, and I have that power.¡± The man was urgent, like he was running out of time.

    ¡°In that case, why didn¡¯t you leave the vige with your son on your own?¡± From Chen Ge¡¯s perspective, they were using each other. Since Ah Qing had volunteered his service then there had to be something useful on the outsiders for him, ¡°You¡¯re afraid of being chased by the spirits, so you¡¯re nning to use us as bait?¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s really not my intention!¡± Ah Qing waved his hands. He was trapped inside the vige and had little interaction with the outside world. His expression was obvious, and it showed his real thoughts easily.

    ¡°Then, why do you need us?¡±

    ¡°The first month after a baby is born, the Zhu woman pays the family a visit personally to inspect the baby. If the baby is normal, she takes the baby away, but there was an exception.¡± An Qing counted on his finger. ¡°Every year, on the day the female ghost jumped into the well, the vige will hold a sacrificial ceremony. Around that time, the Zhu woman collects all the babies born in the vige for the past three months. She will carry them into a room and let the female ghost choose the sacrifice.¡±

    ¡°Let the ghost choose?¡± Chen Ge frowned. <i>This female ghost is possibly the scariest Red Specter!</i>

    ¡°Today is the day she jumped into the well. The ceremony is starting soon; this is our chance! When the ceremony starts, everyone will be summoned by the ghost, but as long as we manage to sneak into the building to steal the baby away before she wakes up, it¡¯ll be fine!¡±

    ¡°You sure are optimistic.¡± Chen Ge interrupted the man. ¡°The female ghost, you¡¯re saying, has the power to wipe out an entire vige with her own power. Even if we manage to escape, I don¡¯t see why she would leave us be.¡±

    ¡°This is the best solution.¡± Ah Qing¡¯s nails dug into his flesh. ¡°The female ghost¡¯s resentment is only directed at this vige; she doesn¡¯t seem interested in outsiders.¡±

    ¡°Is that true?¡±

    Ah Qing nodded with difficulty. ¡°Just as she has never harmed the Zhu woman, I¡¯ve never seen the female ghost attack an outsider. When you see my child, bring him away, and I will go back to the vige. If you¡¯re identally exposed, I¡¯ll try my best to buy you some time.¡±

    ¡°But the key problem is, your child is a viger. If we bring him with us, it might get us targeted by the female Specter.¡±

    ¡°If she chases after you...¡± Ah Qing released his tightened hand and sighed with resignation. ¡°Then you can put my son down and run away on your own.¡±

    Master Bai felt pity for the man. ¡°Why don¡¯t we promise him for now? After all, we don¡¯t have any better options.¡±

    ¡°The man¡¯s words have too many holes,¡± Ol¡¯ Weimented. ¡°He said that female ghost wouldn¡¯t hurt outsiders, but count the amount of times we¡¯ve been assaulted since we entered this vige. I believe he just wants to take our lives as bet. If we¡¯re really chased by the female ghost, both us and the child won¡¯t be safe.¡±

    ¡°The things that happened to you so far have nothing to do with the female ghost.¡± An Qing sighed. ¡°There are fewer and fewer living souls in the vige, and this attracted plenty of Yin energy. This is not something that I can exin easily. In summary, the poption of this vige is ten percent living, ten percent dead and eighty percent ghost.¡±

    Ol¡¯ Wei still wanted to ask something when Ah Qing put the graveclothes back on. ¡°The ceremony is starting soon. If you miss this chance, there will be no chance of leaving in the future!¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we follow him? After all, it¡¯s unsafe to stay here, and the ghost baby knows that we¡¯re here.¡± Chen Ge put the hammer inside his backpack.

    ¡°Er... why don¡¯t you leave your bag here?¡± Ah Qing¡¯s voice came out from the graveclothes. ¡°The graveclothes of Coffin Vige can hide you from the detection of the ghosts to a certain degree, but your backpack is too obvious.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine.¡± Chen Ge took out the recorder and walked into the adjacent bedroom.

    ¡°What are you doing? We don¡¯t have much time.¡±

    ¡°Taking some graveclothes. It won¡¯t take much time.¡± Chen Ge closed the bedroom door and hit the y button. One minuteter, Chen Ge exited the room with two sets of graveclothes he found inside the bedroom.

    ¡°These are for both of you. Consider putting them on when the situation calls for it.¡± Chen Ge passed them to Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai. Master Bai had the protection of the jade ne, so Chen Ge did not worry that much about him. The issue was Ol¡¯ Wei; he did not want something bad to this retiring policeman.

    ¡°You took these from the coffin?¡± Ah Qing looked at the clothes Chen Ge was holding. The fabric still had signs of nail wing. Since the man was perfectly unscathed, the w marks were probably made by the original owner of these graveclothes.

    ¡°Yes, I saw them deserted, so I picked them up.¡± Chen Ge smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, if there¡¯s a chance, I¡¯ll return them in the future.¡±

    Ah Qing moved his gaze away, not daring to meet Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. The man gave him a unique feeling. Standing in the dark, he was filled with power and hope, like the sun was surrounding him.

    ¡°Follow me closely, and put on the graveclothes or you might run into ghosts,¡± Ah Qing said as he moved forward. He stuck to the left wall and turned left at every corner. After eight minutes, different buildings appeared on both sides of the street.

    ¡°We¡¯ve left the maze?¡± Wearing the graveclothes, Ol¡¯ Wei looked so tired.

    ¡°I¡¯ll bring you to the center of the vige; the ceremony will start there.¡± Ah Qing led Chen Ge¡¯s group into an old home. ¡°I hear outsiders will be participating in this year¡¯s ceremony. I will find some way to contact them, to hear what they have to say.¡±

 Chapter 322 - Its Only Just Beginning

    <h4>Chapter 322: It¡¯s Only Just Beginning</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Other outsiders?¡± The main reason Chen Ge¡¯s group had entered the vige was to search for Fan Yu and Jiang Ling, so when they heard there were other outsiders, their ears perked up.

    ¡°Before you arrived, two kids identally entered the vige because they were lost.¡± Ah Qing tried to remember the details. ¡°A boy and a girl. The boy is very thin and of average height. The girl looks about four; she¡¯s just like a China doll, very cute.¡±

    ¡°Fan Yu and Jiang Ling!¡± Hearing Ah Qing¡¯s description, Chen Ge¡¯s spection was confirmed. He grabbed Ah Qing¡¯s graveclothes. ¡°Where are they now? Bring me to see them!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s possible.¡± Ah Qing tried to pry Chen Ge¡¯s hand away, but he realized that the thin-looking man before him was quite strong. ¡°When they entered the vige, they were spotted by the other vigers. Then the Zhu woman appeared and personally arranged a ce for them to stay. She paid special attention to the girl.¡±

    ¡°Jiang Ling? Why?¡± Chen Ge was confused.

    ¡°ording to rumors, that Zhu woman ns to have the girl join the ceremony. At the time, I was also confused. This is the first time in decades that someone from the outside has joined the ceremony.¡± Ah Qing finally stopped struggling and allowed Chen Ge to grip his shoulder.

    <i>Did the woman notice Jiang Ling¡¯s history? She ns to gift Jiang Ling to the female ghost? </i>Chen Ge started to think. <i>Zhu Xinrou is staying by Jiang Ling¡¯s side, and she wouldn¡¯t let any harme to Jiang Ling, so there are only two possibilities. Either Zhu woman has some method to suppress Zhu Xinrou, or Jiang Ling joined the ceremony voluntarily.</i>

    On the drawing that Fan Yu had left behind, he had written two words¡ªGoing Home. There had to be a reason they returned to Coffin Vige that night. Coincidentally, that day was the day the ghost stories society made their move and ced their target on Jiang Ling. All roads led back to Coffin Vige.

    <i>Other than the vigers at Coffin Vige, I have to be cautious of the society¡¯s members. </i>Chen Ge released his grasp and patted Ah Qing¡¯s shoulder lightly. ¡°If possible, try to bring that thin boy out.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Ah Qing rubbed his shoulder. ¡°When the ceremony starts, the whole vige will be affected. The maze will automatically be deactivated, and the sleeping monsters will awake. You¡¯ll see this vige¡¯s real face.¡±

    He spoke very fast, and he kept looking around. ¡°There have been too many deaths in this vige, collecting a heavy amount of Yin energy. It¡¯s the perfect birthing ground for ghosts and monsters. They will wake up following the ceremony. You have to be careful, don¡¯t taunt them. After stealing the baby, leave immediately.¡±

    ¡°But how are we supposed to steal the baby?¡±

    ¡°The ceremony starts at the ancestral hall that is in the middle of the vige. All the children will be taken inside the ancestral hall, and then the procession will move toward the well that the woman died in. All you need to do is sneak into the ancestral hall after the procession leaves to find a baby with a copper coin around his neck and bring him away with you.¡± Ah Qing paused and took out a cloth from his pocket with hesitation. ¡°The vigeyout can get quiteplicated. Some roads lead to hidden monsters and ghosts. If you want to leave, follow this map.¡±

    He handed the cloth to Chen Ge. ¡°You have to save my son!¡±

    After that, Ah Qing left in a hurry. Chen Ge looked at the cloth in his hand. It was a simple map for Coffin Vige, and more than twenty spots were marked with a red cross.

    ¡°He trusts us so much to leave the map with us? Isn¡¯t he afraid we¡¯ll leave without saving his child?¡± Master Bai looked at the map, and his heart was chilled. He had been to many ces with crosses when he was young, but at the time, it had been during the day.

    Chen Ge shook his head. ¡°The man has nned this for a long time. He wouldn¡¯tmit such a careless mistake. This could be a fake map and the real one is probably on the baby.¡±

    The streets outside started to change. All the whitenterns were extinguished at once, casting the whole vige into darkness. In the silence of the night, someone¡¯s house was pushed open, and a woman¡¯s voice rang in the dark.

    She seemed to be calling someone¡¯s name like she was trying to rouse them. The doors were pushed open, and footsteps echoed on the street. The deformed viges exited their homes with masks on their faces. They held whitenterns in their hands, but none spoke. They passed the door of the old home Chen Ge¡¯s group was hiding in and stopped about ten meters away. The woman¡¯s screamed became clearer, and the weird vige was shedding its disguise.

    Night fell like silver, suffocating those underneath it. Blood stains started to surface on the vige¡¯s clean walls, and scratch marks as well as knife marks appeared on the ground. The things that once happened at this vige had been bloodier and scarier than Ah Qing¡¯s described. The story he told was probably part of the whole truth.

    The maze was broken, and where all the streets intertwined was an old ancestral hall. Standing just next to this building was a bright red coffin!

    The woman¡¯s voice stopped. The deformed vigers stood before the ancestral hall. They looked like soulless puppets with their heads lowered and hands holding thenterns. No one spoke; the ce was deathly quiet.

    <i>Creak...</i>

    A door of a two-story building next to the ancestral hall was pushed open. The building was the tallest inside the vige and was also the best preserved. The darkened home puffed out a cold draft. Several minutester, a woman in a bright red dress came out of it. Her face was white and lips purple like a frozen dead person.

    Her eyes scanned all the vigers as she walked to the ancestral hall. She gesticted to the coffin three times, mumbling some localnguage. When she was done, several vigerse out of the crowd holding bamboo baskets. The baskets were covered with ayer of fabric, and the crying of babies came out from underneath it.

    The woman walked past them one by one, lifting the cloth off to inspect the product closely. When she came to the forth basket, she stopped and opened her lips to say something. The one holding the fourth basket was Ah Qing in his mask. His arms of different lengths shuddered like the woman was telling him something scary. After looking at all the babies, the woman pulled out a bloodied scissors from inside her sleeve.

    She stood beside the coffin and had the first viger ce the basket in the middle of the ancestral hall. Then she walked into the hall with the pair of scissors. The door closed, and the baby cried. The ques in the hall creaked, and all the vigers lowered their head with despair. Only the red coffin at the door emitted the echoes of augh.

 Chapter 323 - Only Kindness

    <h4>Chapter 323: Only Kindness</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The door of the ancestral hall opened again. The scissors in her hands were dripping with blood, matching the color of her dress. Seeing this, the viger who sent the basket into the ancestral hall copsed to the ground. She tried to hold it in, but she still cried. No one came to help her; no one even dared raise their head to look.

    The woman walked out the ancestral hall to stop beside the coffin. She whispered to the coffin like she wasmunicating with the thing inside it. Then, she turned to speak to the vigers.

    The viger who held the second basket kept shaking her head like she was unwilling to give her child away. The woman held out three fingers; before she finished the countdown, the vigers beside the second viger grabbed the basket away from her and ced it before the woman.

    The hand that held the scissors lifted up the basket. With the smell of blood surrounding him, the baby cried harder, but no one dared to stop this travesty. The woman entered the ancestral hall, and the door mmed shut. No one knew what happened inside.

    The ceremony continued. As the babies¡¯ cries rose, Coffin Vige turned creepier and creepier. Strange eyes opened in the dark.

    Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Wei, who were hiding in the room, also faced a problem. The rtively quiet courtyard started to move. The soil loosened like something was trying to crawl out. The pieces of fabric that were tied to the beam fluttered in the wind. Some of them seemed to be covering twisted faces. Shadows were cast on the windows, and there were weird noises inside the room like someone was knocking on the wooden bedframe from underneath the bed.

    The ghosts were waking up, and horror gripped every viger¡¯s heart. The old door of the ancestral hall was pushed open, and the crying stopped. The blood trailed down the scissors, and even against the red of her dress, one could pick out the blood stains.

    <i>That¡¯s the second one. </i>Chen Ge kept his gaze on Ah Qing. The man¡¯s arms kept shaking. The woman stood beside the coffin. A woman¡¯s cackles could be hearding out from the coffin; it was like a curse that could not be broken.

    The hand that held the scissors rose. The woman seemed to understand the meaning of the red coffin. She turned to look at the viger holding the third basket.

    Detached, aloof, and hopeless, the viger voluntarily ced the basket before the woman. When the woman took the third basket inside the hall, the ceremonial table shook, and the ques all fell to the floor like they could not witness this anymore.

    The door mmed shut, and the baby¡¯s crying intensified before it stopped suddenly. Blood seeped out from the door, and various voices echoed around the vige like the ground itself was crying.

    The old house Chen Ge¡¯s group was in started to change. The coffins in the bedroom creaked. The eyes of the people in the pictures on the wall flew open, and their expressions twisted with pain. The female ghost seemed to be tormenting the people inside the vige. Even when they were dead, they were not going to have their release.

    The woman came out of the ancestral hall for the third time. Blood trailed down her dress, and Chen Ge finally understood why she was wearing such a bright red dress. With every step, a bloodied footprint formed on the ground. The woman asked the coffin, but onlyughter was her answer.

    Hearing this sound, Ah Qing¡¯s quivering legs finally gave. He crumbled to the floor, and his arms of uneven length held tight to the bamboo basket. The woman held out her three fingers, and the other vigers wearing the masks forcibly separated Ah Qing from the basket. Before the countdown finished, the basket was handed to the woman.

    The ancestral hall¡¯s door closed. No one knew what the woman did to the baby, but they knew all the souls in the vige were crying. The forgiveness that the vigers prayed for did not happen. It was not until all the babies were carried inside the ancestral hall that theughter inside the coffin stopped.

    The woman¡¯s dress waspletely drenched. She put the scissors away and had the vigers open the red coffin. There was no body inside the coffin but a set of jewelry. They were probably what the woman had been wearing when she was kidnapped to Coffin Vige. The woman put the jewelry on piece by piece. The more she added to her body, the chillier her presence became, and even her skin turned whiter.

    After putting on all the jewelry, the woman walked into the crowd. The vigers moved away, and only a pair of boy and girl remained in the center of the ground. The boy was thin, and even though he was surrounded by such a creepy environment, he did not feel fear.

    The girl¡¯s reaction waspletely different from the boy. Her body was shaking, and she looked pitiable like a newborn kitten. The children were Fan Yu and Jiang Ling.

    ¡°Wee home, no one will be able to harm you here.¡± The woman touched Jiang Ling¡¯s head. She held her hand and led her toward the vige entrance. The other vigers followed behind with the whitenterns. The crowd soon left the center of the vige, taking Fan Yu and Jiang Ling with them.

    <i>Based on the woman¡¯s tone, it doesn¡¯t sound like they will harm Jiang Ling. Fan Yu escorted Jiang Ling home, so they have no reason to harm him either.</i>

    With his Yin Yang Vision, he could see the wounds on Fan Yu¡¯s body. His shirt had been torn apart by branches, his arms were scratched, and there were mosquito bite marks on his face. To protect Jiang Ling, he had suffered quite a bit.

    <i>The woman said no one can harm Jiang Ling here, so it does look like Jiang Ling and Fan Yu had to run back here to protect themselves. </i>Chen Ge thought about it from another perspective. <i>In Jiujiang, the only party that can cause Jiang Ling¡¯s sister such pressure that they had to escape is probably the ghost stories society.</i>

    The vige was still changing. Chen Ge did not dare to dy. He called Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei as they headed for the ancestral hall. Once he pushed the door open, the smell of blood hit them like wave. The scene they saw made them frown.

    ¡°Would the woman have... those babies...¡±

    Chen Ge entered the ancestral hall. The ceremonial table was covered with dust like it had not been cleaned for a long time already. The ques were on the floor. Some were cracked, but no one had cleaned them up.

    ¡°Chen Ge, this blood probably didn¡¯te from the babies.¡± Ol¡¯ Wei touched the blood on the floor. ¡°When the woman entered the ancestral hall, she was holding a pair of scissors. If that was from a murder, the blood stter wouldn¡¯t have been so uniform.¡±

    ¡°In other words, the babies might be safe?¡± Chen Ge followed the trail of blood and eventually stopped at the corner of the hall where a bunch of trash was piled up. He moved it away and discovered an underground tunnel.

    ¡°Stay out here. I¡¯ll go take a look.¡± Chen Ge pressed on the recorder and climbed into the tunnel. The tunnel was only three meters wide, and the end was covered by a wooden board. Chen Ge pushed the board aside and found himself inside the two-story building next to the ancestral hall.

    <i>Isn¡¯t the home for the Zhu woman?</i>

 Chapter 324 - Approved by the Spectres

    <h4>Chapter 324: Approved by the Spectres</h4>

    Chen Ge crawled out of the tunnel and looked around. There were no windows in the room, and not far from the mouth of the tunnel were a few livestock that had just died.

    ¡°She used animal blood? This can trick the baleful Specter?¡± Chen Ge muttered to himself.

    Hearing the faded sound of a baby crying, he followed the voice and went up to the second floor. The room felt obviously feminine. There was simple furniture in the room. Different from other vige homes, there was not a coffin but a wooden bed.

    Pulling the heavy curtain back, there were several bamboo baskets ced next to each other on the wooden bed, and each baby¡¯s lips were covered with a piece of grass. The grass seemed to have some sort of tranquilizing effect. Even though the babies were taken away from their parents, they did not cry that heavily.

    ¡°The reason the Zhu woman takes the babies away every time is to save them?¡± Chen Ge found a notebook underneath the pillow. He flipped it open and realized it recorded a list of names and address. The author of this notebook was probably barely literate, so most of the pages were represented by symbols.

    ¡°The Zhu woman outside looks to be in her thirties or forties, but this book is already yellowed; this should be from many years ago.¡± Chen Ge read through the book, but he could not understand the content. It looked like Chinese, but Chen Ge could not recognize the characters. ¡°The addresses are fuzzy. I can recognize a few of the names. Could they be the children that were rescued?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. These are all the children that I¡¯ve managed to smuggle out.¡± An olddy¡¯s voice suddenly came out from behind him. Chen Ge turned with his finger on the recorder. ¡°I should be the one that¡¯s afraid, or do you think this olddy that has one foot in the grave can still harm you?¡±

    The olddy¡¯s speech was off, probably because she had no teeth. Chen Ge walked deeper into the room with the recorder. In a small room, he found a seriously hunchbacked olddy with wrinkled face. She was leaning against the wooden bed. Both of her legs and one arm had severely atrophied, and she could only barely move her head and the remaining arm.

    ¡°Madam, you are?¡± The woman looked so old that Chen Ge felt the need to show her respect. The senior looked at Chen Ge and smiled. ¡°I¡¯m someone who is favored by the Specters.¡±

    Hearing that, Chen Ge¡¯s mind woke up. He could not have been more familiar with that term!

    ¡°You have this sense of familiarity about you. You have interacted with them before, yes?¡± The ¡®them¡¯ on the olddy¡¯s lips naturally referred to the baleful Specters.

    ¡°You¡¯re right. I¡¯ve not only interacted with them; I¡¯ve built them a home to give them a ce to live.¡±

    ¡°Then, you¡¯re much stronger than I am.¡± The olddy tried her best to express her goodwill. ¡°Come, take a seat. I didn¡¯t hear the door open, so you must have entered from the tunnel connected to the ancestral hall. I believe you¡¯re here to smuggle the babies away while the ceremony is ongoing?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is the n.¡± Chen Ge did not get close to the olddy, but he did move his finger away from the recorder.

    ¡°It is as I thought; those who are favored by the Specters have something approved by the Specters.¡± The woman¡¯s voice was t butforting.

    ¡°Something approved by the Specters?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The old woman nodded with difficulty. With Chen Ge pressing her, she told Chen Ge what really happened that year. It was simr to what Ah Qing had said, the only difference being the baleful Specter was notpletely inhumane. She still had some humanity left. The old woman had once told the woman ¡®three times¡¯, so she promised to do three things for her that were not out of bounds.

    She was also showed some kindness to the olddy, like she would never enter the olddy¡¯s home, and whenever a Specter in the vige tried to harm the olddy, she would consume them.

    ¡°She massacred the vige, and all the sinners were killed. I can understand why she did that. In fact, I agreed with her actions, but what happened next unsettled me.¡± The olddy¡¯s physical condition was weak. She needed to rest after speaking for some time. ¡°A red door suddenly appeared at the family home that she stayed in, and only she can open the door. She nned to leave the vige and let go of her resentment after massacring the vige. She nned to enter the door before leaving the vige, and that was when the problem started.

    ¡°When she exited the door, resentment consumed her, and her eyes were filled with venom; she had morphed into a different person. I don¡¯t know what happened behind the door, but I could see that she was filled with hatred. She nned to trap the future generations of sinners here and force them to live their lives as monsters. Her mind became so twisted that those who looked normal became sinners in her eyes.¡±

    There was deep pain in the olddy¡¯s voice. ¡°I have no power to stop her; the only thing I can do is use my own method to save some innocent children when she was in a rage. Like what you saw today, every year, she will awaken to enter the world behind the door. If the children were ced somewhere else, she will definitely kill them, so the only safe refuge for these innocent lives is my home. After surviving tonight, once she exits the door, she will go back to sleep.¡±

    The olddy did not know what was behind the door; all she knew was that the ghost would enter the door every year around this time.

    ¡°Then why didn¡¯t you escape, leave the vige altogether?¡± Chen Ge asked.

    ¡°Those who drank the well water will never escape; she haunts us forever. That is the reason I only save newborns.¡±

    ¡°Forever? But around one and a half decades ago, some vigers managed to escape, and nothing happened to them.¡± Chen Ge was referring to Jiang Ling¡¯s father and the rest.

    ¡°That was an ident. Around one and a half decades ago, she entered the door, but that night, she did not return. The vigers lived the whole month in fear. When they found out she still hadn¡¯t returned, some thought she had died behind the door.

    ¡°At the time, two voices appeared within the vige: one was to stay inside the mountain, and the other was to use this opportunity to escape. In the end, those with minor deformities chose to escape. On the third day of their escape, she returned.

    ¡°I begged her to let them go. I used two favors in exchange for twenty years of safety for them.¡±

    The olddy started to cough violently. Chen Ge did not dare press her anymore; he had found out enough from the senior.

    ¡°Madam, please take a good rest. I¡¯m not going to disturb you anymore. I¡¯ll only take one of the babies; that is a promise I made with one of the vigers.¡± Chen Ge turned to find Ah Qing¡¯s boy.

    However, he only took several steps before the olddy spoke again. ¡°Actually, there¡¯s another reason why I called for you.¡±

    ¡°Is it rted to the female ghost?¡± Chen Ge had found the baby with the coin around his neck. He looked so cute.

    The olddy shook her head. She kept her gaze on Chen Ge¡¯s face. ¡°Did you discover that your body temperature is dropping?¡±

 Chapter 325 - Crying Soul

    <h4>Chapter 325: Crying Soul</h4>

    His hand hanging over the bamboo basket, Chen Ge slowly turned around. Starting from several days ago, he had discovered the changes to his body. Even if he had only three to four hours of sleep, he would still wake up refreshed the next morning, his senses were extra sensitive in the dark, and his mind turned agile. The only drawback was the sudden chill that gripped his body. It would not be alleviated even if he wore thickyers.

    ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve noticed it.¡± The olddy raised her arm to reveal the row of red pieces of string that were tied around her wrist. Each string was attached to a small jade pearl. ¡°Of course, a living person will not be able to digest the Specters¡¯ favors. A few years after the vige massacre, probably due to my constant interactions with ghosts, weird things started happening to my body, the most obvious being the drop in body temperature. No matter the season, my body rarely feels warmed.¡±

    Chen Ge had the condition the olddy described, but there was a small difference between them. Chen Ge held the basket that carried Ah Qing¡¯s children and returned to the small room. ¡°Granny, you noticed the drop in your body temperature a few years after dealing with the Specters?¡±

    ¡°To be urate, it was ten yearster, and at the time, I was just like you; I didn¡¯t pay it much attention.¡± The old woman sounded kind. ¡°Your condition is still light, so you must have started interacting with them several years ago, right?¡±

    ¡°Several years?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes twitched, and after some hesitation, he told the truth. ¡°I saw my first baleful Specter several weeks ago.¡±

    The room became silent. The olddy stuttered, probably due to old age, ¡°Sev... several weeks ago?¡±

    ¡°In any case, it¡¯s less than a month.¡± Chen Ge touched the back of his hand, and it did feel colder than normal.

    ¡°I live in a haunted vige and thus interact with ghosts often; the noticeable changes urred a few yearster. You only saw Specters several weeks ago, so howe the body temperature changed so soon?¡± There was confusion in the olddy¡¯s voice. ¡°Did you garner the attention of many ghosts at the same time?¡±

    ¡°Not really.¡± Chen Ge counted in his heart. ¡°Those directly rted to me are like ten.¡±

    The olddy was silent as she processed this message.

    ¡°Probably it has to do with my home. I live inside a Haunted House, so you can consider them my housemates.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at his shadow. ¡°Right, there¡¯s also a Red Specter hiding in my shadow; she sticks close to me.¡±

    The olddy did not speak. Using her own arm as support, she nudged backward like she was trying to get away from Chen Ge. Noticing the changes to the olddy¡¯s behavior, Chen Ge was unsettled. ¡°Granny, how did you resolve the problem? If the issue isn¡¯t solved, what will happen in the future?¡±

    ¡°Our situations are not the same; I don¡¯t think I can help you.¡± The olddy removed a piece of string from her wrist. ¡°Extended exposure to ghosts will gather Yin energy inside the body. The bead on this string is made from Heat Jade. The people rear the jade, and the jade rears the people. If you wear this long enough, the Heat Jade will bnce the Yin and Yang energies in your body. Other than that, you¡¯ll need to go to crowded pces and absorb the sunlight.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll remember that.¡± Chen Ge nodded. There would be crowds at New Century Park in the morning, and the number of visitors would only increase.

    ¡°Be careful, my legs became like this because I didn¡¯t pay close attention to this.¡± The olddy tied the string back on her wrist. ¡°Actually, I nned to give you several jade beads, but based on your situation, even if I give you all of my Heat Jades, it won¡¯t be useful. The key now lies in you.¡± She looked at the row of babies on the wooden bed. ¡°There is a difference between humans and ghosts; make sure that line is still there.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge was frustrated, but he had no solution. He did not tell the senior that Specters¡¯ Favored was just the beginning for him. After winning five baleful Specters, his title might upgrade!

    ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else, take the child and leave. The person hosting the ceremony is called Zhu Shumei; she¡¯s my handpicked sessor. She¡¯s a kind woman, and as long as you do not purposely show up before her, she will not harm you.¡± The olddy raised her hand. ¡°After midnight, the creatures inside this vige will rouse. Be careful when you leave the vige, do not enter doors that are open, do not answer when people call your name, hide when you see bright lights, and do not touch any of the coffins.¡±

    After thanking the olddy, Chen Ge grabbed the basket and retraced his step. He could sense the pure kindness inside the olddy, so he did not doubt what she said.

    Just like I thought, those who are favored by the Specters have pure, kind hearts.

    He crawled out of the tunnel, and the cold gripped Chen Ge. There was only a wall of difference, but the world changed.

    ¡°You¡¯ve found the child? Let me hold him.¡± Master Bai took the kid.

    When he saw the leaf on the baby¡¯s lips, he tried to take it off but was stopped by Chen Ge. ¡°That leaf seems to be able to stop the baby from crying, don¡¯t touch it.¡±

    Chen Ge had wasted some time inside the olddy¡¯s home. Chen Ge waved for Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei to join him at the ancestral hall¡¯s door. He pulled out Ah Qing¡¯s map. ¡°The ceremonial procession will pass the wells around the vige; we must be careful not to run into them.¡±

    The trio soon decided their route, left the ancestral hall, and walked down the street. The ceremony was still ongoing, and the vige had changed. Those who had left returned, and death was in the air. All the old houses became creepy, like their original owners had returned for the night.

    There were knockingsing from inside the coffin, and unknown footprints could be seen on the streets. The blood on the walls turned vibrant like time was returning to that night. Chen Ge¡¯s group turned a corner when Master Bai, who carried the baby, suddenly stopped.

    ¡°Did you hear that? Someone is calling my name.¡± The cold wind brushed against their faces, and there was a wispy female voice that resounded in their ears.

    Reminded of the olddy¡¯s warning, Chen Ge told Master Bai, ¡°Ignore it. No matter what she says, do not answer back.¡±

    The three continued to move forward. The previously-clean roads were filled with paper money, and the white paper on the doors of old house fell off. The wooden boards creaked. The sound of the woman became clearer, and it felt like it wasing from all sides. They could not tell where she wasing form, but they did know she was getting closer.

    This vige is hiding a Red Specter and many tortured souls. Since the Red Specter hasn¡¯t awakened yet, these souls will probably attack us so that they can take over our bodies and leave this ce.

    Chen Ge knew that with the awakening of the many ghosts, the real horror of this three-star scenario was showing itself.

 Chapter 326 - Dangerous Roads!

    <h4>Chapter 326: Dangerous Roads!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The woman¡¯s voice circted around their ears, and it made them panic. The harder they tried to ignore it, the sharper the sound became, as their brains tried to figure out what the female voice was saying. Bloody handprints appeared on the wall. The street that Chen Ge¡¯s group was going down seemed to have been the setting for one heavy tragedy before this.

    ¡°Don¡¯t listen to it! Move!¡± Chen Ge felt something was chasing after them. With his trusty hammer in hand, he stood at the back of her group, carrying the backpack. These tortured souls did not want to be tormented by the female ghost anymore, and this was their only chance to escape her control.

    Invisible rain seemed to fall from the sky, and there was moisture in the air. A light smell of blood touched their nostrils as the street turnedplicated. The woman slowly approached, and her voice changed; it ovepped with a voice in their memory. She called after them like family calling them home.

    ¡°That sounds like my daughter?¡± Master Bai tried to turn behind him to look. ¡°Is that real or fake?¡±

    Chen Ge grabbed his shoulders. ¡°Do not turn back! Do not answer!¡±

    He had just told Master Bai that when Ol¡¯ Wei screamed at the front of the group, ¡°Look up at the house on the left!¡±

    Ol¡¯ Wei kept his hand on the holster, his emotions running wild.

    ¡°Look up?¡± Chen Ge looked up, and his pupils narrowed. There was someone squatting on the top of the building!

    The man¡¯s body was very thin, and his arms very long; he looked like a monkey.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Chen Ge had not seen a monster like that before; it did not look like a ghost.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard my father tell stories about them before¡ªthey¡¯re called Eaves Ghosts.¡± Master Bai¡¯s face was white. ¡°They will lie in wait on top the eaves at night. After the home owner falls asleep, they will crawl in through the window to steal the owner¡¯s belongings and suck their blood dry. It¡¯s amon rumor in viges, but no one has really seen them.¡±

    Chen Ge moved his gaze away from the monster. As long as it was not a Red Specter, there was nothing he was afraid of. ¡°Ignore it, we¡¯ll run past him!¡±

    The group ran past the Eaves Ghost carrying the baby. The thing on the eaves seemed to be particrly interested in living humans. Its elongated arms grabbed the pir as it swung downward. It moved between beams as it chased after Chen Ge¡¯s group. The thing was very clever; it maintained its distance, staying not too close and not too far. It was biding its time. Soon, a second Eaves Ghost appeared. Their appearance was different from a living human. Their skulls protruded outward, their eyes were small, and their mouths were filled with sharp teeth.

    ¡°Chen Ge, we cannot just keep running blindly!¡± This was the first time Ol¡¯ Wei had seen something like this. If given a second chance, he would never follow Chen Ge toe to this isted vige.

    ¡°Ignore everything, just focus on running.¡± Chen Ge did not mind those Eaves Ghosts. The only thing he was afraid of was the Red Specter and the voices that circted around their ears. The danger that they could see was not really dangerous; what they could not see was the real fatal threat.

    They ran for several meters, and when they about to turn the second corner, the Eaves Ghosts who were tailing them finally got impatient. However, they were cunning and careful. They did not attack the living humans directly but ced their focus on the backpack Chen Ge was carrying.

    Several thin hands reached for the backpack, and Chen Ge finally lost his patience. He swung the hammer to smack the Eaves Ghosts¡¯ arms away and pressed on the recorder.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get this over with quick!¡±

    When Zhang Ya was asleep, Xu Yin was Chen Ge¡¯s biggestbat power. This young man would pursue his target relentlessly when he was let out. Chen Ge was afraid that Xu Yin might be led away, so he did not summon him until thest moment. He wanted to keep a trump card for him. However, the incessant provocation from the Eaves Ghosts had erased his patience.

    After releasing Xu Yin, Chen Ge grabbed Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai¡¯s shoulders to tell them to slow down. When the two Eaves Ghosts saw Xu Yin, they turned and ran. With red in his eyes, Xu Yin grabbed one of them and tore it into pieces. When he finished his meal, the other Eaves Ghost was already several meters away. Xu Yin was in a bloodlust; without waiting for Chen Ge¡¯s order, he leaped forward to chase after his dinner.

    The tape in the recorder continued to y. Chen Ge¡¯s group had to leave the vige before the ceremony ended; the time was limited, so they could only force themselves to move forward. Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei followed Chen Ge¡¯s instruction. They covered their ears to ignore the woman¡¯s voice carried by the wind and focused on running forward.

    The distance was slowly pulled away. Neither one of them discovered the faces that appeared on the wall before them. The expressions on the faces were all different. They looked like mural and were inconspicuous in the dark. They chose to strike when their targets were close enough by reaching out their hands from the wall!

    ¡°The baby!¡± Master Bai¡¯s first reaction was to use his body to protect the baby. He exposed his back to the wall. The many arms reached for the old man; all of them wanted to take over his body. Due to the great number, it felt like the arms were trying to tear Master Bai apart.

    ¡°Watch out!¡± Due to desperation, Chen Ge mmed the hammer into the wall without thinking twice. The hammer made contact with the wall, creating a loud noise that echoed throughout the vige.

    ¡°We¡¯re definitely exposed now. The vigers of Coffin Vige and the hidden members of the ghost stories society will definitely confirm there are other outsiders in the vige,¡± Chen Ge said calmly; there was no panic in his eyes. ¡°Since we¡¯re already exposed, there¡¯s no need to hide anymore.¡±

    He aimed the hammer crazily at the wall of faces. The faces cried for mercy. ¡°Don¡¯t stop, keep moving!¡±

    Regardless of whether the monsters inside the walls reached out for them or not, whenever Chen Ge saw a wall with human faces, he would greet them hammer first. The man¡¯s madness stunned even Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei. Master Bai used his palm to cover the baby¡¯s eyes.

    Chen Ge turned to yell at Master Bai, ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. Those looked like Wall Spirits. In other words, people who died close to walls. Their power is limited; they just look scary.¡± Master Bai waved his hands repeatedly. He was worried about the Wall Spirits.

    The three continued to move forward. By then, Xu Yin had returned, and he had two more small blood stains on his shirt. The tape in the recorder made some white noise. This time, Chen Ge did not tell Xu Yin to return to the tape. He had made the decision to level Xu Yin up to a Red Specter that night!

    ¡°The whole vige of malicious spirits, if we fight our way out, it should be enough to dye your whole shirt red!¡± They continued to move forward as paper money fluttered on the street.

    The old house¡¯s front door was blown open, and a voice floated out from within. ¡°Help me, my death is so unjust...¡±

    BANG!

    The old wooden door was kicked open by Chen Ge. He rushed into the house with the hammer and Xu Yin!

    ¡°Where are you? I¡¯m here to deliver your justice!¡±

 Chapter 327 - Why Do You Run?

    <h4>Chapter 327: Why Do You Run?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Theyouts of the old homes were simr to one another. There were two dead locust trees in the courtyard, arge water tank under the tree, and beyond that was the inner room and bedrooms. The wooden door mmed open; Chen Ge¡¯s kick almost broke the door. ¡°Tell me about your injustice!¡±

    He walked forward, and the soil in the courtyard started to loosen. The dead locust trees started to lean like something was trying to crawl its way out. Chen Ge walked to the locust tree. The soil fell off to reveal a shallow grave, and a pair of arms were trying to reach out.

    ¡°You want toe out? Fine! I¡¯ll help you!¡± Chen Ge looked at the venomous gaze of the body, and he raised the hammer. ¡°I¡¯ll smash your skull so that you won¡¯t get stuck!¡±

    The hammer fell, and a series of creepy voices came out from the old home. It was worth noting that the other locust tree stopped moving, and the soil flowed backwards. After he was done, Chen Ge and Xu Yin yanked the ghost out from underneath the tree. After that brief exercise, Chen Ge turned his attention elsewhere. ¡°They were hiding under the tree earlier, so it wasn¡¯t them who called for help.¡±

    The voice earlier came from inside the old home, but once Chen Ge entered it, the voice stopped. He looked around and noticed a round rubber ball floating inside the water tank. The weird thing was the ball slowly sunk downward like it was trying to drown itself. ¡°The ball is sinking on its own?¡±

    Chen Ge walked to the water tank with the hammer. He looked into it and saw the ghost hiding inside the tank. Its body was bloated from being soaked in water, and its bloated head floated on the surface like a rubber ball. ¡°Was it you who called for help me? If you have some injustice in your heart, you have to say it out loud!¡±

    The hammer smashed the tank, and water flew everywhere. Chen Ge left Xu Yin to help the ghost with its ¡®injustice¡¯, and he walked into the inner room. The room was filled with paper money like they had just held a funeral. There was a dark coffin sitting in the middle of the room, and weird pictures hung on the walls.

    ¡°Where are you? Why aren¡¯t you talking?¡± Chen Ge stared at the pictures for quite some time. The vigers here did not pray to Gods but spirits of the mountain. The pictures on the wall were all creepy-looking monsters. ¡°They look so real.¡±

    They were paintings, but there was something about them that made Chen Ge feel there was more than met the eye. Chen Ge was not sure whether it was because he had stared at them for too long or it was due to another reason, but he saw one of the eyes in one of the paintings move.

    <i>Wait, it moved! Are the ghosts hiding in the painting?</i>

    While Chen Ge was contemting, Xu Yin walked in with half of his red shirt. At the same time, several shadows escaped the paintings and rushed into the bedroom. Xu Yin gave chase immediately. When he entered the bedroom, the coffin in the middle of the room shuddered, and the lid of the coffin was pushed open slightly.

    A ghost with some blood stains on its body looked at Xu Yin cautiously before pushing the coffin lid open and running for its life!

    ¡°There are blood stains on the body. This ghost also has the potential to be a Red Specter?¡± Chen Ge called Xu Yin and gave chase. The ck shadow discovered Chen Ge and Xu Yin chasing after it, and it ran faster. The old home was filled with the sound of soil moving, ss shattering, water sshing, and the coffin bursting open. Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei stopped outside the front door and did not dare go in.

    ¡°Who is Chen Ge talking with inside? Why hasn¡¯t hee out yet?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei was worried. He gathered some courage and walked to the door. Before he got close, a ck shadow with shes of red sted past him.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s heart gripped. Before he recovered, he saw a bloodshot Chen Ge ran out, waving the scary-looking hammer in the air.

    ¡°Stop right there!¡± The death gs on the streets were snapped, and Chen Ge¡¯s voice echoed down the street.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on...¡± Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai stood at the door holding the baby. They looked at the whole hide-and-seek and felt it looked perfectly normal.

    ¡°Xiao Chen is chasing after the person in front?¡±

    ¡°Looks like it.¡±

    ¡°But shouldn¡¯t we be the party on the run? Why is he chasing after some other people?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure, perhaps because he looks scary?¡± There was another sound of the hammer hitting the wall. Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei immediately ran after them.

    The ck shadow moved very fast. Chen Ge could barely keep up, but Xu Yin slowly closed the distance. <i>The movement speed is so fast, so its power must be quite high. After consuming it, Xu Yin might be a Red Specter!</i>

    Inside this creepy vige, he had to have a Red Specter to apany him before he could feel safe. <i>If Xu Yin can be a Red Specter, then this mission will have been worth it!</i>

    The ck shadow did not dare slow down, but its escape route seemed predetermined; it was heading toward one of the buildings inside the vige. The atmosphere turned heavy. The paper money became lessmon, and in their ces were the ¡®joy¡¯ characters cut from white paper.

    After another ten meters of chasing, at the end of the street, Chen Ge saw a wedding sedan. The red sedan and the white ¡®joy¡¯ characters formed a great contract, and the sedan was radiating a heavy sense of resentment. The wind fluttered the curtain, and the woman¡¯s voice came again. The shadow stopped at the door where the sedan was ced before it ran into the old home.

    ¡°It knows how to ask for help? This ghost is clever.¡± Chen Ge lifted the curtain on the sedan, but there was nothing inside. He followed the ck shadow and ran into the old home. The old home looked grander than other homes, but the lingering blood stains and signs of struggles were also more numerous than others.

    ¡°Could this be the vige elder¡¯s home?¡± Chen Ge pushed open the door, and there were white ¡®joy¡¯ characters everywhere. This looked like a wedding where an ident had cut it short.

    ¡°When the shadow stopped at the door, I saw clearly it was wearing the groom¡¯s outfit. He came back to find his wife?¡± Chen Ge waved the hammer and scoffed. ¡°What a man.¡±

    He entered the inner room, and the woman¡¯s voice in his ear intensified; it influenced Chen Ge somewhat.

    ¡°The thing that has been calling is the shadow¡¯s wife?¡±

    The woman¡¯s voice seemed to drill into the body and curled around the heart like strings. With every beat of his heart, the familiar notes flowed to every part of his body following the blood. The voice felt very close, and it made one lower one¡¯s guard involuntarily.

    <i>Looks like the shadow¡¯s wife is the one with the greater ire.</i>

    Chen Ge was considering whether the wife could be the Red Specter when the door closed, and the candles on the ceremonial table were lit on their own, shining an eerie red light.

    Cast in the light, a woman in bright red wedding dress poked her head out from inside the bedroom. She was wearing a pair of embroidered shoes and looked rather scary.

    <i>A Red Specter? </i>Chen Ge gripped the hammer until the veins on the back of his hands popped.

    Walking forward, the woman revealed the lower half of her body. The wedding dress was notpletely drenched by blood. It was half torn to reveal the dirtied underclothing.

 Chapter 328 - Tonight, Ill Let You See

    <h4>Chapter 328: Tonight, I¡¯ll Let You See</h4>

    The wedding candles gave off an eerie red light, making the old home look even creepier. At the bedroom door, the woman in a tattered wedding dress looked at Chen Ge. Her lips moved, and the voice echoed in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. The memories were muddled, and a weird feeling gushed up his heart. She seems to be calling my name.

    When he was young, Chen Ge once heard the elders of his family say that there was a kind of ghost in the world that called passersby¡¯s names in the middle of the night and then transformed into the person who was the most memorable in the passerby¡¯s mind to approach them and harm them.

    This female ghost has a simr power?

    The voice that they had been hearing amplified; it disturbed Chen Ge¡¯s power of thought. He tried to focus, but his body rxedpletely. He raised his eyes to look, and the woman¡¯s face changed. There was a general outline, but it slowly turned familiar like he was looking at someone from his memory.

    The wonderful memory was sewn together by threads, and the dead woman lifted her sleeves lightly to cover her face. She walked out of the bedroom gracefully. The embroidered shoes stepped on the white paper. The woman¡¯s wedding dress glowed redder. She lowered the sleeve slightly, and the originally scary face became exquisite and beautiful. The facial features slowly formed, and there was a sense of familiarityforting Chen Ge. She should be someone important in my life.

    The woman¡¯s voice sneaked into his bone marrow like strings controlling Chen Ge¡¯s body, stopping his means of harming the other party. His mind froze, and his body moved on its own. Chen Ge took a step forward like someone in his mind was urging him to not give this opportunity up lest he regretted it forever.

    Such a familiar voice, who is she?

    The memory buried in his heart was pulled to the surface, and Chen Ge felt like his soul was leaving his body. The voice echoed in his mind, and the hall stopped being scary. The surrounding melted away, and with the voice leading him forward, Chen Ge took his steps.

    The distance between the two closed, and the woman¡¯s bright-red sleeves slowly lowered. The pale face shifted as she flipped through Chen Ge¡¯s memory and found the woman who loved him the most. The blurry facial features became clear and wless. Even the pickiest artist would gasp and say, ¡°Beautiful!¡±

    With the familiar face, the exquisite expression, the woman lifted her head to look at Chen Ge in anticipation. Their eyes met, and Chen Ge, who was under the woman¡¯s spell, felt struck by lightning!

    His body shook continuously, and his heart raced. An indescribable terror tore through the memory and romance. ¡°Zhang Ya?¡±

    A strong survival instinct made Chen Ge jump backward. No matter how the woman called for him, it was useless. The flickering candlelight extinguished, and facing the extreme fear, the woman¡¯s voice had lost its power over Chen Ge. The woman¡¯s face turned back to normal. She was holding a pair of scissors and red string, standing the middle of the room.

    She used her power to morph into the most memorable woman in Chen Ge¡¯s memory. She used that to weave a trap for Chen Ge to walk into. Initially, everything was going ording to n. The man was under her full control, so she could not understand why, when the man saw the woman who loved him deeply, his reaction would be so drastic?

    Chen Ge gasped greedily for air. This was the first time he had felt the true meaning of fear since he entered Coffin Vige. He did not expect to see Zhang Ya¡¯s face when she was slumbering. The voice in his mind disappeared. Chen Ge wiped the cold sweat off his forehead and calmed down again.

    That was most likely the ghost¡¯s special power. The ghost was powerful, her voice carried his own memory and could enter a normal person¡¯s mind with being noticed to make others lower their guard around her. That was a hard threat to deal with; it was because of pure luck that Chen Ge managed to survive this time.

    When Chen Ge escaped the ghost¡¯s control, even the ghost herself was injured. Her voice stopped, and a part of memory was left in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. Chen Ge thus gained a new understanding of this ghost who had the potential to be a Red Specter.

    She was the vige elder¡¯s daughter, and the night of her wedding was also the night of the massacre. Her whole family had been torn apart, and there was not enough of them left to be ghosts. She was the only survivor. Her resentment kept her alive, and as the years passed, she became more and more powerful... until she met Chen Ge.

    The ghost in the wedding dress was several steps away from Chen Ge, and her face twisted with a pair of eyes burning with vengeance. Xu Yin was battling the groom, but it was not much of a match. All the groom could do was buy time. Their original n was probably to possess Chen Ge and then cooperate to kill Xu Yin. Unfortunately, the ghost¡¯s n ran into some trouble.

    Looking at Chen Ge, who had regained his sanity, the ghost was irrationally angered. Her hands reached out from underneath the sleeves, and her wounded palms were tied with red strings. She screamed, and the red strings that flowed out from her flesh rushed at Chen Ge.

    The door was sealed, and the hammer did not have much use against the red strings. Xu Yin, who was some distance away, saw the situation Chen Ge was in, so he tore the groom¡¯s arm off and turned to fight the ghost in the wedding dress.

    The red strings stuck into Xu Yin¡¯s body, but it did nothing to stop him. The greater the pain, the stronger Xu Yin got. Fresh blood spurted out, and it almost dyed his shirt. Both Xu Yin and the bride were half Red Specters, and they were equally powerful.

    His senses returned, and Chen Ge could feel the weight of the hammer in his hand again. He circled the outskirts of the battle, trying to find a chance to help Xu Yin, but did not anticipate the ambush from the groom. Xu Yin was unable to help Chen Ge, and the groom realized this was a perfect chance.

    His cracked face revealed a dirty smile. He walked toward Chen Ge like he nned to return all the damage that he had suffered from Xu Yin¡¯s hands to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Going for the weaker party? Then you¡¯ve got the wrong target.¡± Chen Ge did not retreat. He was also quite mad that day. ¡°Even if you have the potential to be a Red Specter, as long as you¡¯re not a Red Specter now, you possess no threat to me!¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s calm voice sounded like a bluff to the groom. He hugged the torn arm and walked toward Chen Ge with a wicked grin!

    ¡°Don¡¯t believe me?¡± Chen Ge did not fight back as the groom approached. In fact, he put his only weapon, the hammer, down on the floor. ¡°Actually,pared to a duel, I prefer a brawl.¡±

    Chen Ge took out theic from his backpack. He flipped through it, and a heavy stench covered the old home. ¡°Tonight, I¡¯ll let you see what the real meaning of strength in numbers is!¡±

    The stench coagted to form arge fatty, and more shadows appeared from theic!

 Chapter 329 - Sedan Kids

    <h4>Chapter 329: Sedan Kids</h4>

    In the blink of an eye, Chen Ge was surrounded by several shadows. They had different expressions; some were curious, some harsh, some cunning, and some quivering with fear. The ghosts filled up the courtyard, and the old home became several times scarier than before!

    Chen Ge put theic back and pointed at the groom. The situation changed instantly as the shadows surrounded the poor man. ¡°It¡¯s time for dinner.¡±

    Chen Ge picked up the hammer and charged ahead. The battle was not fair from the beginning. The groom was slightly more powerful than normal ghosts, but he could not fight so many of them. The wounds on his body increased, and his body started to fade. When he was almost at his limits, the groom tried to lean toward the bride like he was trying to get his wife to help him.

    However, the bride was locked in the battle with Xu Yin and did not have the time to deal with him. Chen Ge saw this opportunity to attack. The groom had already been injured by Xu Yin earlier; one of his arms had been torn off, and he could not even fight back. The ghosts tore him apart. He wanted to run, but the door was sealed. He had nowhere to escape to.

    There¡¯s still an advantage in numbers. Chen Ge took a step back after making sure his workers could handle the groom just fine. Ten secondster, the groom who acted as bait was consumed by Chen Ge¡¯s workers.

    ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there, go help Xu Yin!¡± Chen Ge ordered again, but only the fatty marched obediently forward. The rest of them jumped back when they saw the heated battle between Xu Yin and the bride. ¡°Stop wasting time! Attack together!¡±

    Xu Yin had been cruelly murdered by his loved ones, so he had a great amount of dissatisfaction and resentment to begin with. He had consumed so many ghosts, but he only fought to a stalemate with the bride.

    The bride has a very powerful special power, and she is herself quite strong. If only she could be a worker at the Haunted House.

    Realizing how fitting the bride was to the Minghun scenario, Chen Ge¡¯s interest was piqued. However, he thought about it from a different perspective. The bride was filled with resentment, and it was probably caused by her desire to take revenge for her family. That meant killing the Red Specter that jumped into the well.

    That was too much to handle for Chen Ge.

    The Haunted House workers have to bepletely obedient so that they won¡¯t hurt the visitors. This particr one is too unruly, and her wish cannot be fulfilled. Even if I forcibly take her back, it¡¯ll only cause more problems. Chen Ge never suffered from hesitation. He called the other ghosts to help Xu Yin.

    ¡°Rest in peace. Actually, if you didn¡¯t attack me in the beginning, this wouldn¡¯t have happened.¡±

    The red strings were soaked with Xu Yin¡¯s blood. With the aid from the other ghosts, Xu Yin finally found the break he was looking for. A blood-curdling scream echoed through the old home, and several minutester, everything returned to normal.

    Afraid that they might influence Xu Yin, Chen Ge held the other ghosts back. The bride was consumed fully by Xu Yin. The red strings on the ground lost their color, and the bright wedding dress turned old and dusty.

    Chen Ge anticipated the change to Xu Yin, wishing that he would turn into a Red Specter in that instant. Standing in the middle of the room, the wounds on Xu Yin¡¯s body recovered, but the blood that drenched his shirt did not recede. He raised both of his hands to look at his palms before turning to look at Chen Ge. His body slowly faded as he returned into the tape. ¡°So painful...¡±

    The recorder¡¯s y button bounced back. Xu Yin seemed to have exhausted all of his power to deal with the bride.

    ¡°Wait, something¡¯s wrong. If Xu Yin also slumbers...¡± Chen Ge looked at the shadows that might even be afraid of himself, and his lips twitched. ¡°What am I supposed to do tonight?¡±

    After collecting the ghosts into theic, Chen Ge grabbed the hammer and raced out of the old home. ¡°I need to leave this vige as soon as possible.¡±

    He ran out of the front door and saw Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai. They were walking around a sedan, talking among themselves.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, we must leave this vige immediately.¡± Chen Ge took out the map given by Ah Qing and started to study it. ¡°Follow closely, don¡¯t wander off. This ce is getting more and more dangerous!¡±

    You have the map. We¡¯ve been following you!

    Before Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai could say that, Chen Ge hollered, ¡°This way.¡±

    ording to the map, they were still quite far away from the perimeter of the vige.

    The three prepared to leave when the sedan at the door started to shake. Two kids appeared beside the sedan, and they were humming some kind of luby. Their faces were painted with something that looked like blood, and they were wearing clothes that were ck and red.

    Hearing the song behind him, Master Bai turned to look. He rushed forward from the back, holding Ah Qing¡¯s baby. ¡°Quick, run! Those are Sedan Kids!¡±

    Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Wei did not even turn back to look and raced down the street. The sedan shook, and the two children smiled happily. They pped their hands and danced some weird dance.

    ¡°Master Bai, that¡¯s a dead-end! Stop!¡± Chen Ge pulled Master Bai. ¡°It¡¯s safe now. The two kids didn¡¯t chase after us.¡±

    ¡°Good...¡± Master Bai sighed. As healthy as he was, the strain on his body was bing clear. ¡°Thankfully, we ran fast. If we¡¯re haunted by Sedan Kids, it¡¯s over.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? Those children are that scary?¡±

    ¡°These are stories I heard when I was small. Sedan Kids hide under sedans and wear masks and uniforms from Chinese opera. They show up whenever there¡¯s a ceremony. It¡¯s okay if you don¡¯t run into them, but if someone exposes them, they will find said person¡¯s home and use different faces to y with you.¡± Master Bai felt better after the short rest.

    ¡°But didn¡¯t you call out their names earlier?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei was worried.

    ¡°Yes, I regretted it right after. Who knew things from legend will appear in real life!¡± Master Bai gave himself quite a fright.

    ¡°Master Bai, where did you hear these stories from? Do you know other stories? Why don¡¯t you share them with us so that we can be prepared?¡± Chen Ge held the hammer. Now that Xu Yin had returned to the tape, he had lost a powerful trump card.

    ¡°My father told me those. He was a wandering doctor, so he had been to many ces and heard many things. He shared these stories with me. I thought he made them up, but who would thought I would run into them one day?¡± Master Baiughed bitterly. He felt like the night was a dream.

 Chapter 330 - Scared to Death

    <h4>Chapter 330: Scared to Death</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The three slowed down. Before Master Bai could finish, the sound of a nursery rhyme came from behind them. Master Bai turned to look behind him. The two kids with red paint on their faces did note close, like they were afraid of something. They just stood a distance away to look at Chen Ge¡¯s group.

    ¡°Talk as we move.¡± Master Bai dragged Ol¡¯ Wei and Chen Ge to move forward. Hebed his mind toe up with the stories that his father had once told him. ¡°These kinds of viges deep in the mountain will be filled with various monsters at night. Other than the Pir Ghost, Sedan Kids, Wall Spirit, the more difficult ones include the Pillow Ghost, Mummy Wraps, and Skull Lantern.¡±

    ¡°Skull Lantern? Can you tell us specifically what these three look like?¡± Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Wei had not heard of this before.

    ¡°In these viges, the pillows that people sleep on have to be burned after the person passes away. This is to prevent the formation of a Pillow Ghost. This kind of ghost is normally the lingering spirit of the dead person remaining in the pillow. If one falls asleep on these pillows, they will be tormented by nightmares and even hear the person whispering in their ears.

    ¡°If you¡¯re lucky, you might sleep until morning, but if you¡¯re not, you might wake up in the middle of the night and find someone lying beside you, sharing the pillow, and that person will be the Pillow Ghost.¡± The senior did not have a talent in storytelling; the description was rather dry. However, Chen Ge made a not of the details of this Pillow Ghost¡ªperhaps he could use it in his Haunted House in the future.

    ¡°Pillow Ghost cannot stray too far from the pillows, so as long as we don¡¯t enter these houses, it should be fine. The things that really concern us are the Mummy Wraps and Skull Lantern,¡± Master Bai said carefully. He was worried these thing might really appear in real life.

    ¡°Mummy Wraps are more difficult to deal withpared to Pillow Ghosts. These are the clothes that vigers put the dead person in when they carry out the burial. There are taboos and traditions to abide by for the clothes that dead bodies are buried in. If they are not followed closely, it might form the Mummy Wraps. They will wander the street when the Yin energy gathers. They look like a person, but it is actually only ayer of cloth.

    ¡°They will attack by wrapping themselves around the body of a living person. They make the living person wear the clothes of a dead body and use it to control the living human. If you see someone wearing a new set of clothes but they smell weird, remember to stay away from them because they might be wearing a dead person¡¯s clothes.¡±

    Master Bai looked around him. The ceremony was still ongoing, and the streets were empty. Only the two Sedan Kids trailed behind them with hesitation. Master Bai hugged Ah Qing¡¯s baby and sped up. He continued to exin, ¡°The skullntern is the scariest ghost from all the stories my father has told me.

    ¡°No one knows how they¡¯re formed, but people have seen them inside abandoned viges or ces where high concentration of resentment gathers. Those rushing in the night would see lights inside a vige. They rushed over, thinking it¡¯s human activity, but the light kept moving away from them.

    ¡°They called for the light to stop, and it did. When they got close, it was actually a floating head, and it was biting antern with its teeth. ording to legend, Skull Lanterns are spirit trying to seek help, so they float about with thentern.¡±

    After Master Bai finished thest story, he realized that neither Ol¡¯ Wei nor Chen Ge replied. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with the two of you? I still know quite a bit of this vige folklore.¡±

    ¡°Master Bai, you said the Mummy Wraps look just like normal people?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei looked at the street behind them.

    ¡°Yes, they look just like humans because the clothes will take on the shape of a human. However, they have no face or hands; they are only clothes.¡± Master Bai had a very bad feeling.

    ¡°Then did you father tell you what to do if we run into Mummy Wraps?¡± Chen Ge grabbed the hammer and simrly looked behind Master Bai. Master Bai did not dare turn back, but his face paled. ¡°My father said, if wee across these things, we need to run.¡±

    Xu Yin was digesting the bride, so Chen Ge grabbed hold of the hammer and thought about it. ¡°Looks like we have to change a different route.¡±

    The three of them turned down a different street. Behind them, them old sets of clothes with weird smell stood in the middle of the road. The nursery rhyme beside their ears did not stop, and new things appeared. As the ceremony continued, more monsters woke up from the night. The number was unimaginable.

    This is the real three-star scenario! Chen Gepared Coffin Vige and The Third Sick Hall. When he arrived at Third Sick Hall, most of the patients had already left, like the Devil and Wu Fei. The craziest ones had joined the ghost stories society; only those normal ones were left behind to watch over the blood door. This was the biggest difference between Third Sick Hall and Coffin Vige. In other words, this was the first time Chen Ge had entered an actual three-star scenario.

    Various monsters were crawling out from their hiding spots, gnashing their sinister teeth.

    This vige has all sort of monsters. If they¡¯re fully replicated inside the Haunted House, the visitors will be scared to death!

    Chen Ge was quite excited. Coffin Vige was different from the Haunted House theme that was currently popr on the market. The style was unique and would be one of a kind if Chen Ge had it inside his Haunted House. The key was, the scenario would be three-star, and it would be enough for the visitors to explore it for a long time.

    Chen Ge scouted ahead. He followed theplicated roads that was mapped out on the cloth. They walked for some time when bits of light appeared before them. The olddy in the two-story building had warned him to evade the bright lights. Master Bai¡¯s story also had simr effect.

    They stopped where they were as the monsters slowly surrounded them. The lights swayed in the wind and formed blurry human faces. Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai did not look so good. They had not encountered scenes like this before, so they involuntarily turned their attention to Chen Ge.

    ¡°What should we do?¡±

    Holding the hammer, Chen Ge felt the pressure. ¡°We have no other choice but to power ahead. Stay close to me and try not to get separated.¡±

    The three of them had just confirmed the route when a loud boom urred at the western part of the vige. It was much louder than the sound Chen Ge had made earlier.

    ¡°A fight has happened? The ghost stories society is fighting with the ceremony?¡±

    Coffin Vige¡¯s peace waspletely shattered. The night thickened. As long as they survived this, dawn would not be far away.

    ¡°Chen Ge, should we avoid the eastern exit and take a longer detour?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have time! Let¡¯s charge out of this ce first!¡±

 Chapter 331 - Give the Child a Future

    <h4>Chapter 331: Give the Child a Future</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    No one knew for sure how many ghosts were hiding inside Coffin Vige. Chen Ge was reminded of what Ah Qing had said¡ªCoffin Vige had ten percent dead people, ten percent living people, and eight percent ghosts. Based on that percentage, we¡¯ve only seen a small part.

    Chen Ge¡¯s situation was not that optimistic. The three sets of dirty clothes floated toward them, the two kids with red paint on their faces bounced happily toward them, the door of the old house next to them creaked open, and something that looked like a human face poked out from underneath the pillow. All the roads were blocked off. They could only move forward, but what waited ahead seemed to be creepy bright lights.

    Using his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could see these were swaying human skulls. He charged ahead with the hammer. He did not n to slow down. Rushing ahead meant he needed to deal with some of the ghosts, but if they stayed, they would be surrounded by all the ghosts.

    ¡°Chen Ge, slow down! It was so dark earlier; the sudden appearance of lights has to be a trick. Those are probably the Skull Lanterns that Master Bai mentioned earlier!¡± Ol¡¯ Wei was not consumed by fear, and he tried to warn Chen Ge.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I got a good look. Those are just normal lights. Charge ahead! Don¡¯t be afraid!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s footsteps did not slow down. The three ran with all their might. The baby in Master Bai¡¯s arms started to wail, which drew more monsters to them. With the light from the Skull Lantern, the surrounding darkness was banished, and they could clearly see the advancing shadows.

    Weird footsteps echoed down the street. Chen Ge raised his head to look. A dark coffin was moving through the alley. The coffin was carried on all four sides by vigers who had their heads lowered. They looked like normal vigers, but their expressions were extremely scary. Their lips cracked open with creepy smiles like they were not carrying a coffin but food.

    ¡°The Pallbearers? Xiao Chen! Stop! Chen Ge! Don¡¯t go any closer!¡± Master Bai hugged the bamboo basket and used his arm to shield the baby. He could not stop Chen Ge.

    Running at the front, Chen Ge saw the four weird men carrying the coffin, but he could not stop himself anymore.

    The four Pallbearers walked out of the alley, and the coffin blocked Chen Ge¡¯s way. It looked like a coincidence, but it could have been premeditated too. Chen Ge was not one to underestimate his enemy, even if they were ghosts. Since they were unwilling to let them past, he had to find a way to push through. Only by disrupting the opponent¡¯s n could they be safe.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mess with the Pallbearers!¡± Master Bai yelled, but his warning fell on deaf ears. ¡°We¡¯ll talkter!¡±

    The hammer fell right on the coffin. Splinters flew, and all the ghosts stopped.

    ¡°Quick!¡± Ol¡¯ Wei grabbed the baby from Master Bai and hopped over the coffin. He had been a police officer for about twenty years, and this was the first time he had met someone as rash as Chen Ge. The four Pallbearers slowly raised their heads. The smiles froze on their faces as they looked at the shattered coffin lid. Green surfaced on their pale faces!

    Shrill screams echoed down the narrow street, and the four Pallbearers chased after Chen Ge. The lingering spirits escaped from the coffin. They bowed toward Chen Ge before disappearing. Chen Ge had no idea what he had done. At the time, he only wanted to smash the coffin; he did not even turn to look at the aftermath.

    The three raced down the road. They got close to the lights. Ol¡¯ Wei, who carried the baby, realized that something was wrong. Behind the bright lights, there appeared to be something circr like a ball.

    ¡°Chen Ge, are you sure those are normal lights?¡± The baby in his arms cried, and a cluster of ghosts chased behind them. Ol¡¯ Wei did not dare slow down.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure!¡± Chen Ge dragged Master Bai to follow Ol¡¯ Wei. The lights swayed. They moved for another few meters, and even Master Bai, with his poor eyesight, could see the pale faces behind the lights. ¡°Chen Ge, stop! Those are Skull Lantern!¡±

    Master Bai pulled for Chen Ge to stop, but the man¡¯s speed did not decrease. If anything, he dragged Master Bai forward. ¡°Skull Lanterns are stillnterns, right?¡±

    The hammer waved, and the first Skull Lantern that floated toward them was sent flying before it even managed to attack!

    The candle fell to the ground and extinguished next to Chen Ge¡¯s feet. ¡°Follow me!¡±

    The three raced through the group of human heads, and there was suddenly the sound of a marching band. They turned to look. Inside the street that Ah Qing had marked with a red cross on a map was a group of people. They were blowing sad music on the trumps, and people were wearing mourning clothes. They wailed and wailed, but there were no tears. Paper money fluttered in the wind, and the death g waved. They held paper dolls that were bright red as they headed for Chen Ge¡¯s group.

    ¡°This is bad!¡± Master Bai¡¯s heart was racing. His fists tightened, and he was so nervous that he could not finish a normal sentence.

    ¡°These are different from normal ghosts?¡± Chen Ge also realized something. When the funeral procession appeared, the Skull Lanterns floated off immediately¡ªthe Sedan Kids and Mummy Wraps also stopped. Only those four Pallbearers became more insane.

    ¡°Of course, this is the Death Funeral, the dead holding a funeral for the dead! The Pallbearers are part of the Death Funeral. If the coffin is not delivered, the Death Funeral procession cannot end,¡± Master Bai exined.

    ¡°Then, we¡¯d better get a move on.¡±

    The Skull Lanterns had been scared off by the Death Funeral, so the three made use of this opening to charge ahead. There was a split in the road. The left was an empty road, and the right led to the Death Funeral.

    ¡°Go ahead, I¡¯ll stay back to buy us some time.¡± Chen Ge shoved the map into Master Bai¡¯s hands. He had memorized the map. The ghosts that were at the front of the Death Funeral had already caught up with the Pallbearers. When they saw the coffin that Chen Ge had shattered, their expression was amusing.

    ¡°Go on, I have a feeling I¡¯m being targeted.¡± Chen Ge felt the gazes of the ghosts on him. He stood in the middle of the road, holding the hammer, like he was telling them he was the culprit. Chen Ge was made ufortable by the hatred that collected on him. ¡°Quick! I¡¯ll dy them! Just leave me be!¡±

    He slid theic in his chest. Chen Ge did not want them around because it might affect the real power of his workers. However, his words had a different effect on Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid! We¡¯ll go together!¡± Ol¡¯ Wei grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s arm, and he sounded urgent.

    ¡°I¡¯ll catch up in a bit, go!¡± Chen Ge was calling Xu Yin and Zhang Ya¡¯s name internally, and Xu Yin seemed to respond.

    ¡°No!¡± Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai said at the same time. They did not think Chen Ge would make such a choice; they could not handle the pressure.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have time to argue.¡± Chen Ge pushed Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s hands away as he said seriously, ¡°Do this for the sake of the baby. He was born in the darkness and hasn¡¯t had the chance to see the sun. You have to get him out of this ce!¡±

    Then Chen Ge charged into the fray. He was like a moth flying toward the me. Seeing the young man submerged in the sea of monsters, Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s eyes were red. In this starless light, his figure was like the only brightness.

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡± Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai could not speak. There was really such an honorable person who would sacrifice their lives to save others. Ol¡¯ Wei hugged the baby tightly. ¡°Looks like I¡¯ve misunderstood him. We were mistaken!¡±

    Chen Ge rushed at the Death Funeral and immediately ran down the other direction. There was a whole group of ghosts chasing after him. Of course, he did not dare to turn around. As he called Xu Yin¡¯s name, he flipped through theic. ¡°Uncle! Are you there? Help me!¡±

 Chapter 332 - Fight for the Well

    <h4>Chapter 332: Fight for the Well</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Without Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei holding him back, Chen Ge ran much faster. He raced through the vige filled with monsters and screamed Xu Yin and Yan Danian¡¯s names. Zhang Ya was hibernating, so she gave no response. Xu Yin did give some response, but he was in the middle of a crucial transformation, so he could not help Chen Ge.

    Yan Danian was the only ghost Chen Ge could rely on, but this Lesser Red Specter was cowering in the corner of hisic. He picked up his pen and drew circles on the floor, pretending not to hear anything. It was obvious that he was more scared than Chen Ge.

    It was understandable. The uncle had locked himself inside the drawer and refused to interact with people. The first time he had chosen to trust some and exit hisfort zone, Chen Ge brought him to Coffin Vige. The vige that was filled with monsters and danger unsettled the uncle. The world that he had in mind was not like this.

    The ceremony had reached its end. All the monsters inside the vige had awakened. He could turn down any corner, and he would see dangerous monsters.

    ¡°There are only two rtively safe ces left in this vige. One is the small building next to the ancestral hall. The Red Specter cares about the olddy who lives there, so none of the ghosts dare get close. The second is to meet up with the ceremony procession. Jiang Ling and the Zhu woman are there. Based on the loudmotion earlier, they¡¯re probably fighting with the ghost stories society.¡±

    Chen Ge thought about it and decided to head to the loud noise. There was an olddy living inside that building next to the ancestral hall. If something happened, the olddy would suffer with him. Therefore, he decided to bring this chaos to the ghost stories society. Chen Ge ran for his life, and the monsters behind him continued to gather. Chen Ge was feeling wronged; all he did was wreck a coffin, why were these spirits so relentless?

    The people who were fighting probably also did not expect Chen Ge to cause the whole vige to chase after him. Seeing the group that grew behind him, Chen Ge stopped caring about the red crosses on Ah Qing¡¯s map. He ran past them; his only wish was to leave as soon as possible. This caused the group trailing behind him to get bigger.

    Gradually, the chaos that he had caused was not smaller than themotion near the outskirt of the vige. The cold wind caressed his face, and the wails echoed endlessly behind him. Chen Ge forced his way through the Coffin Vige. Probably because it had taken down so many spirits, blood trails appeared on Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer, and it looked even scarier.

    Chen Ge leaned against the wall and took in big gulps of air. Even if he was physically stronger than most, he was fast approaching his limit. He turned to look back, and what he saw made his scalp tingle.

    The quantity was unbelievable. In this situation, even Xu Yin broke through to Red Specter, it would not change the situation. Chen Ge needed Zhang Ya¡¯s help. ¡°I knew a three-star scenario wouldn¡¯t be so simple!¡±

    There was still some time to dawn, but Chen Ge did not think he could hold on any longer. ¡°If I fail to unlock this three-star scenario, it won¡¯t appear again. I have to give it my all.¡±

    With a grit of his teeth, Chen Ge raced down another street and finally reached the western side of the vige, the ce where he heard the sound of fighting. Dragging the hammer, leading the host of ghosts, when Chen Ge exited the street, the two forces that were fighting stopped at the same time. When they saw Chen Ge, Chen Ge also saw them.

    There were four wells around Coffin Vige. The ceremony started at the western well. The ceremony then rounded the vige and ended back at the western well.

    The Zhu woman was hugging a Red Specter ghost baby with no facial features but few apertures on his face. Jiang Ling and Fan Yu were standing behind her. Facing them were two people wearing ck robes. Their whole bodies were covered by the robes.

    <i>Ghost stories society!</i>

    These words appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind when he saw the ck robes.

    <i>Two at once? Could the chairperson be among them?</i>

    The continuous murders, the trek into the mountain, it looked like the ghost stories society was determined to finish something that night. For the sake of their goal, they even went head-to-head withw enforcement.

    <i>Since it¡¯s something so important, the chairperson who has been hiding behind the veil might do this personally.</i>

    The situation was chaotic. The ghost stories society and the Zhu woman seemed to be fighting for the well. Standing next to the well, wearing a white and red shirt, was the spider-like Zhu Xinrou who was fighting a uniquely-shaped thin monster.

    The thin monster, which symbolized human desire, was the mostmon monster inside the society. The stronger the monster, the longer its body and the more human faces it had on its body. However, this monster that was fighting Jiang Ling¡¯s sister was slightly different. It was sewn together by 6 shadows, but they shared the same lower body. It looked weird but was very strong. It had the upper hand when fighting Jiang Ling¡¯s sister.

    The fight was bloody, and both had numerous wounds on their bodies. However, Zhu Xinrou, who had less fighting experience, was slowly losing.<i>These two Specters looked to be stronger than Xu Yin, but they¡¯re not Red Specters.</i>

    Chen Ge initially thought that Zhu Xinrou was a Red Specter, but inparison to the ghost baby, the difference was quite obvious. When the ghost baby showed up, the whole street¡¯snterns turned red; the presence waspletely different.

    <i>Looks like I¡¯ve underestimated the terror of a Red Specter.</i>

    Due to Zhang Ya, Chen Ge thought Red Specters were quitemon. However, after witnessing the fight between these two Specters, he realized the gap between Red Specters and normal ghosts.

    Jiang Ling¡¯s sister was barely hanging on, but the Zhu woman held the ghost baby tightly. It did not seem like she was going to help Zhu Xinrou. She did not turn to look at the adjacent battle. Her eyes were on the ck robes.

    <i>The only threat that can make a Red Specter cautious is another Red Specter. The ck robe opposite from the Zhu woman has to have a Red Specter on them.</i>

    The society¡¯s power surprised Chen Ge. The patient known at the Devil had two Red Specters, and now this ck robe had another Red Specter. The society had three remaining members, but there were only two before him¡ªthe most dangerous one was probably still in hiding!

    The two parties stood around the well; they were trying to feel each other out, and no one made a move.

    Their n was probably wait for Zhu Xinrou to lose, and then the situation would be bad for the Zhu woman. However, neither party anticipated Chen Ge¡¯s arrival. The scariest part was, this intruder was leading half the vige¡¯s ghosts with him!

    In just a few seconds, Chen Ge understood what was happening. He waved the hammer and yelled over his shoulder, ¡°Come and get me!¡±

    With numerous ghosts following behind him, Chen Ge led them to rush at the two ck robes.

 Chapter 333 - Chaos

    <h4>Chapter 333: Chaos</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The members of the ghost stories society were surprised by Chen Ge¡¯s sudden appearance, but when they saw the stampede following Chen Ge, they had difficulty calming down. One Chen Ge was not that scary, but a whole vige of angry ghosts was. There were so many of them!

    The two members had chills run up their spine. The ghosts led by Chen Ge rushed at them like tsunami; the whole process only took several seconds. They were not even sure whether the ghosts were following Chen Ge or chasing after him.

    As an outsider, the two naturally treated Chen Ge and the ghosts behind him as enemies. The monster that was sewn together from six thin monsters forced Zhu Xinrou back as it tried to return to the ck robes. However, it was just one monster, so it was powerless before the wave of angry ghosts. Only a Red Specter could suppress a whole vige of ghosts!

    The ck robes knew this fact well. They shared a quick word, and the one who had been staying back sighed lightly as he took out his hand from his sleeve. He was holding a wooden box in his palm. When the ck robe showed his hand, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes narrowed. The blood in his body sped up, and he was reminded of the Wednesday meeting. ¡°Very fair skin, tapered fingers, I¡¯ve seen this hand before¡ªthe owner of this hand was just next to me!¡±

    The familiar event appeared in his mind, and Chen Ge couldn¡¯t control himself anymore and shouted, ¡°No. 10! You¡¯re ghost stories society¡¯s No. 10!¡±

    When Chen Ge shouted out the number, the hand shook before it quickly recovered. The ck robe was not affected by Chen Ge and opened the wooden box. The box was simr to the box Zhang Ya had snatched from the devil; there was a piece of ck blood left on the edge.

    As the box opened, the ghost baby in the Zhu woman¡¯s arm seemed to sense something. Its body started to leak blood like it was ready for battle. However, since the member dared to take out the wooden box, they had naturallye prepared. They did not mind the ghost baby but put their focus fully on the box. ¡°Xiong Qing, you cane out now. Your wish will be fulfilled.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s heart shook when he heard that. ¡°Wasn¡¯t Xiong Qing injured by the police and is currently hospitalized?¡±

    He remembered this patient with hemi syndrome. Half of his face was covered with wounds, and the other half was normal. When he was at the Third Sick Hall, Chen Ge had chased this Xiong Qing throughout the building. The ck robe continued to call, and the ck blood at the edge of the box slowly dissipated as a strong stench leaked out from the box.

    The blood vessels crawled out from the box and knitted themselves together to form a man in a red patient¡¯s garb. Half of this man was no different from normal while his other half was made up from pulsing blood vessels. It looked like the one half of the man had been torn apart when he was alive. The blood vessels tried to coagte several times, but they failed.

    <i>Just how much pain was he in before he passed away?</i>

    Xiong Qing suffered from hemineglect, so his worldview was different from others. From how he saw it, the whole world was nted, and only he had the means to fix it. He had once been the doctor at the Third Sick Hall and tried to do that to his patients. Now it appeared like he was trying to fix himself.

    His eyes slowly open, and his bloodshot eyes fell on Chen Ge. Xiong Qing¡¯s resentment toward him was palpable, and even after his death, he wanted to kill Chen Ge!

    <i>What¡¯s going on? Didn¡¯t Inspector Lee say Xiong Qing has been captured? Then why would his soul show up here? And in the form of a Red Specter?</i>

    Rushing toward a Red Specter was thest thing Chen Ge thought to do, but now he had no other choice. If he ran in any other director, the ghosts behind him would follow him, and the members of the society would discern the problem.

    The chance was slipping. For Chen Ge, his only chance of survival was to make the ghost stories society and the ghosts at the vige fight one another. He yelled Xu Yin and Yan Danian¡¯s names as he rushed at the ck robes!

    Leading the innumerable ghosts, Chen Ge charged at Xiong Qing with the hammer. Xiong Qing waspletely different from when he was alive. When he smiled, half of his lips raised slightly, but the other half broke to his ears. This was probably the most ¡®correct¡¯ image in his mind.

    Many blood vessels curled out from the left side of Xiong Qing¡¯s body. It seemed like he was going to bind Chen Ge and slowly pull him into his body. The blood vessels blocked his way like a carnivorous flower, waiting for Chen Ge to jump into it.

    Shielding himself with the hammer, Chen Ge aimed for the spaces between the vessels. He tried to jump through them, but Xiong Qing expected that, and the blood vessels knitted themselves together.

    Chen Ge was charging right into a beast¡¯s mouth and tried to squeeze through the gap between the teeth. He had zero point something seconds to do this, but Xiong Qing did not give him the chance. The smile on his face was filled with malice. Xiong Qing started to pull the vessels back; he was trying to pull Chen Ge into his body!

    The vessels closed, and the road ahead narrowed. Chen Ge only managed to reach one of his arms out when the blood vessels almost consumed him. However, at this time, theic in his pocket moved on its own, and a heavy sigh escaped from it.

    The uncle hiding in the corner raised his pen and took up theic. He flipped to an empty page and sketched Xiong Qing¡¯s face. When he was finished, Xiong Qing, who was now a Red Specter, stopped for a second like he was knocked in the head. A force tried to pull him away, but it only took Xiong Qing one second to undo the force.

    However, with this one second, Chen Ge managed to squeeze through the blood vessels!

    He held the hammer and rushed ahead without turning back to look. He did not have any intention of fighting the ck robes, so he picked up his pace.

    When they saw this, the two ck robes understood something. Chen Ge was not there to fight them but use them as the scapegoat!

    Chen Ge had survived certain death and charged ahead. He only dared to stop after putting some distance between them. Behind him, Xiong Qing, who had been stumped by Yan Danian, was angered, and he got into a battle with the ghosts from Coffin Vige.

    The Zhu woman also realized this was a great chance. She had the ghost baby and Zhu Xinrou ambush the ck robes. The three-sided battle wasplete chaos, and there were screams everywhere.

    Yet, the instigator of this battle hid in the corner and watched the battle like a spectator. Hugging the hammer, Chen Ge¡¯s shirt was drenched.

    <i>That was too close!</i>

    <i>The Red Specter suddenly paused... this is Yan Danian¡¯s power?</i>

    Chen Ge flipped theic open to thank uncle in person, but he was in a low mood. Tonight¡¯s experience hadpletely shattered the hope toward life that Yan Danian had just regained. The uncle seemed to lose all hope and pick up his pen to draw circles in the corner.

    Chen Ge looked at Yan Danian in theic seriously. ¡°Uncle, please cheer up! I promise you, tonight is really an ident! Your choice to follow me is really the correct one!¡±

 Chapter 334 - Losing

    <h4>Chapter 334: Losing</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After a long day of constion, Yan Danian finally found the courage to face the world again. He told Chen Ge it was his power that paused the Red Specter earlier, Spirit Drawing. There was a chance for him to drag the ghost that was seen into theic, but for a Red Specter, he could only dy them for less than a second.

    Temporarily, Chen Ge did not know what kind of limitation this power had, but he realized there were not many empty pages in theic, so the number of ghosts that could be stored was limited, and the sess rate of the power was low. This power was not enough for Yan Danian to be a Lesser Red Specter; that hidden power was the most exciting for Chen Ge.

    However, no matter how hard Chen Ge tried to convince Yan Danian, he did not reveal any information; it felt like he himself did not know he had that power. Xu Yin and Zhang Ya were asleep, so he still needed the uncle¡¯s help today. Therefore, Chen Ge did not press any further. Afterforting the uncle, he put theic away.

    ¡°Uncle Yan is not bad, just a little withdrawn.¡± When Chen Ge was trying to console Uncle Yan, he felt like he was speaking the truth. ¡°The things that happened tonight caught you by surprise, but after experiencing this several times, you should be able to get used to it.¡±

    Looking at the rampaging ghosts and Red Specter around the well, Chen Ge nodded slightly. ¡°This kind of scenery is only visible if you stay with me. Perhaps in the future, you will understand my intention.¡±

    When he recovered, Chen Ge took theic and hammer to circle around the outside of the battle. He called out his employees from theic to have them pull the stragglers into the corner. Chen Ge believed that he was a reasonable person. He would have his employees beat the ghost until they were almost dead before asking whether they would join the Haunted House. If they were willing, it was a win-win situation as the ghosts entered theic. If they were not willing, they would be food for his employees.

    <i>I will need quite a number of ghosts from this vige if I want toplete the three-star scenario. I¡¯m doing this for the sake of the visitors.</i>

    Initially, the employees in theic did not know how to cooperate, but with Chen Ge¡¯s guidance, they slowly learned what to do. In the end, without Chen Ge¡¯s intervention, they would drag the isted ghosts to their corner.

    ¡°Very talented.¡± Chen Ge was satisfied with his employees¡¯ performance. He held the hammer and hid in the corner as his eyes narrowed on the two ck robes.

    ¡°No. 10 is probably someone who knows me in real life. The chance of him being the chairperson is very high. If I can knock him unconscious, Xiong Qing will be somewhat affected.¡± Xiong Qing was a hurdle that he had to take down if he wished to harm the members. Therefore, Chen Ge¡¯s gaze returned to Xiong Qing. When he arrived at Coffin Vige, he had received the call from Inspector Lee saying that Xiong Qing had been captured around New Century Park.

    However, two dayster, Xiong Qing had appeared before Chen Ge as a Red Specter. The conditions to form a Red Specter were very harsh. This was observable from Xu Yin. They had to be tortured at the time of their death, filled with ire and resentment, and be highly aggressive.

    <i>Half of Xiong Qing¡¯s body was almost torn apart. If this is how he was when he died, then it¡¯s quite obvious how much pain he was in, but the key question was, why did he wander around New Century Park alone? Was it a coincidence that he was captured by the police? Where were the other members of the society when he was captured?</i>

    With these questions, some spection appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. <i>Was it the society¡¯s n to abandon Xiong Qing from the very beginning? To make him lose thest bit of hope and then slowly torture his body? Then, using his pain and resentment and the ck blood inside the wooden box, they would create a Red Specter?</i>

    The ghost stories society had retained ess to a blood door for as long as five years, so they knew about more secrets than Chen Ge. Creating a Red Specter could be one of them. <i>They purposely abandoned Xiong Qing to make him lose all hope? But how did theyplete the rest of the transformation after Xiong Qing was captured? How did they gain ess to Xiong Qing inside police detention?</i>

    This confused Chen Ge. He looked at Xiong Qing, whose body was breaking apart, and his gaze darkened. <i>Did the society rely on ghosts, or is someone cooperating with them?</i>

    Regardless of the process, it was an undeniable truth that Xiong Qing was now a Red Specter. The society had managed that, and they had to have a bigger reason foring to Coffin Vige. <i>What is their n?</i>

    While Chen Ge was deep in thought, the scenario at the well started to change. The ghosts attacked everything in sight, their resentment exploding. A Death Funeral was verymon at Coffin Vige. It had been a tradition for many years, and no one dared to disturb the Death Funeral. However, that day, not only did someone interrupt the ceremony, he even smashed their coffin!

    This was an offense that they could not stomach; all the ghosts were in a frenzy. The two members of the ghost stories society who were trapped by Chen Ge were angry as well. They felt seriously wronged. The boss of the Haunted House had done something horrible to provoke the entire vige of ghost, but they were left to face the consequences.

    If possible, the ck robes wanted to reason with the ghosts to call for a truce so that they could work together to deal with the most horrible individual. However, the Zhu woman did not give them the chance. When she saw the vige ghosts tangle themselves with Xiong Qing, she had the ghost baby crawl over to deal with the two ck robes.

    The members of the society were familiar with human psychology, at least better than the people trapped in this isted vige. When Chen Ge led the group of ghosts, they already anticipated this, so they called the special thin monster back to block the rampaging ghosts and had Xiong Qing deal with the ghost baby.

    The two Red Specters fought, and their battle was different from normal Specters. Simr to other ghosts from the society, Xiong Qing used the blood vessels that came out from half of his body to change into different shapes to try to consume the ghost baby.

    The ghost baby¡¯s tactic was weirder. His baby started to leak blood, which formed tadpoles that swam toward Xiong Qing. They tried to crawl into his body. Both of them were fast, but they purposely avoided the well during their fight.

    The situation was worsening for the society. The thin monster was slightly stronger than Jiang Ling¡¯s sister, but it was ultimately not a Red Specter. Facing the vige of ghosts, it was slowly losing.

 Chapter 335 - Wu Fei

    <h4>Chapter 335: Wu Fei</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Ever since we ran into that guy, everything started to derail; this cannot be a coincidence.¡±

    No. 10 was looking at the corner that Chen Ge had disappeared to. His face was hidden inside the robe, so no one could tell his expression.

    ¡°Who can tell for sure?¡± The ck robe standing beside No. 10ughed. ¡°I have something I forgot to tell you, but I suppose now is as good a time as any.¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s bad news, then you can spare it. I¡¯ve heard enough recently.¡± No. 10 squeezed on the wooden box until it had a noise.

    ¡°Several days ago, when I used my scapegoat to escape Fang Hwa Apartments, I was spotted by the man.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already warned you to not do unnecessary things.¡± No. 10 turned around. His voice was raspy and throaty. Even with his aplice, he was using a fake voice.

    ¡°That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. That scapegoat had a worthwhile death because I got some valuable information from his mind.¡± The ck robe¡¯s voice wasced withughter. Even though the situation was looking bad, he did not seem worried.

    ¡°What information?¡±

    ¡°That door at his Haunted House is currently unupied. This means that the door-pusher has already left.¡±

    ¡°The door-pusher left? He¡¯s not the one who opened the door?¡± There was a discernible change to No. 10¡¯s voice, but it returned to normal secondster. ¡°Why did you wait until now to tell me such an important thing?¡±

    ¡°The Red Specter in his shadow is not weaker than the female ghost haunting this vige. The difficultly is almost the same; that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t tell you anything.¡± The mention of the Specter in Chen Ge¡¯s shadow ended the cheeriness in the ck robe¡¯s voice. He turned to look in the direction Chen Ge escaped. ¡°However, he has just revealed several details, and this, I feel, is a chance.¡±

    The ck robe¡¯s voice turned chilly. ¡°The people that we sent to kill him haven¡¯t returned. All the Specters should have been consumed by the Red Specter in his shadow already.¡±

    He took in a deep breath and turned to look at No. 10. ¡°Including the Devil¡¯s two Red Specter children.¡±

    No. 10 understood immediately. ¡°Overconsumption of Specters will lead to hibernation. However, no Specter dares to consume so many things at once. Have you considered the possibility that Devil¡¯s two children have been made into puppets and the Red Specter in his shadow isn¡¯t asleep? This could just be a trap for us to walk into.¡±

    ¡°You have a point. He does feel like someone who would do something like that.¡± The ck robe made a flutteringughter. ¡°Actually, I admire the man. He¡¯s wicked, cruel, and cunning but manages to disguise himself so perfectly and live a harmless life under the sun.¡±

    Regarding Chen Ge, the ck robe gave a very goodment. No. 10 nodded and agreed, ¡°The enemy is too cunning, so we have to be careful. Actually, I also wanted to take him down, but you saw it yourself. Earlier, when Xiong Qing wanted to kill him, he suddenly stopped. Only a Red Specter can affect a Red Specter. No matter whether the Red Specter in his shadow is asleep or not, the man is hiding yet another Red Specter!¡±

    ¡°So, are you willing to give up? If we can control all of them, then we can get two doors.¡± The ck robe was very persuasive.

    ¡°This is not a question of whether we¡¯re willing or not.¡± No. 10 nced at the ck robe coldly. ¡°Several days ago, the society still had twelve people, but how many of us remain today?¡±

    An answer appeared in the ck robe¡¯s mind. He was silent and did not answer.

    ¡°Only three of us remain, and he only taken five days to do that. Therefore, we cannot afford to be too careful when dealing with this man.¡± No. 10¡¯s heart was bleeding. Each of the numbers was a living person, a valuable ¡®patient¡¯ that they had handpicked from the society.

    ¡°Then, we shall proceed ording to n.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s move on before things change again.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± The ck robe moved his neck. Ignoring the ghost baby and Xiong Qing as well as the rampaging ghosts, he walked toward the well.

    ¡°Jiang Ling, have your sister stop him,¡± the Zhu woman said. Jiang Ling, who stood behind him, called for her sister, and after a while, the wounded Zhu Xinrou rushed at the ck robe.

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯m afraid of you?¡± Theughter in the ck robe¡¯s voice increased. He pulled off the robe, and a blood red monster made from faces appeared!

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m that clever, but people around me are too dumb.¡± He pointed at Zhu Xinrou, and the faces monster blocked her way.

    Chen Ge saw this, and his heart shook. ¡°The society has another Red Specter!¡±

    When he heard what the ck robe said earlier, he had a good guess as to this man¡¯s identity. This ck robe was most likely Wu Fei from the Third Sick Hall. Jiang Ling¡¯s sister was already wounded, and she was facing a Red Specter, so the battle was concluded before it even started.

    Wu Fei and the Devil were the most dangerous patients of the Third Sick Hall, and both of them carried Red Specter. No one dared stop him as he walked toward the well. He looked in and took out another wooden box from his chest. He opened it to reveal the ck blood stain. Several minutester, the water in the well did not change. The man smiled. ¡°No Red Specter can resist this ck blood. They cannot remain calm like this. It is as I suspected¡ªthe female ghost has already left the well!¡±

    He closed the wooden box and turned to look at the Zhu woman. ¡°If she¡¯s not inside the well, where can she be?¡±

    The man¡¯s eyes were cold and icy; they felt like the eyes of a scorpion. He slowly walked toward the ceremony procession. The Red Specter that was covered with faces hadpletely apprehended Zhu Xinrou; they were not on the same level.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been investigating this vige for half a year. The ghost has already left the well; you¡¯ve been lying to the vigers.¡± The ck robe red at the Zhu woman, his gaze sharp as knife that stuck into one¡¯s heart. There was no chance of lying before him.

    Hearing that the ghost had left the well, the first to speak were the deformed vigers. They were stunned before they got angry for being lied to. One of them wanted to demand an exnation from the Zhu woman, but before he could say anything, the Red Specter with faces dragged him away.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like to be interrupted.¡± The ck robe¡¯s voice lowered dangerously. He walked up to the Zhu woman. ¡°You have to know where the ghost in the well has escaped to, right?¡±

 Chapter 336 - The Start of the Nightmare

    <h4>Chapter 336: The Start of the Nightmare</h4>

    ¡°She¡¯s inside the well. She just hasn¡¯t awakened yet.¡± The Zhu woman did not get scared off but stood firmly, shielding the two children.

    ¡°In that case, I¡¯ll go look for her myself.¡± The ck robe waved at the Red Specter beside him. The ghost that was just faces crawled into the viger¡¯s body. In less than one second, the viger copsed to the floor, dead.

    ¡°Looks like it¡¯s not him.¡± The ck robe raised his head. ¡°She was forced to her death by the vigers, so even if her ghost form might disperse, she would not possess a viger, then who could it be?¡±

    Instead of contemtion, it sounded more like the ck robe was trying to see the Zhu woman¡¯s reaction. Before entering Coffin Vige, the ghost stories society had gathered a lot of information, but it was vague and needed confirmation. Hearing what the ck robe had to say, the Zhu woman was anxious.

    ¡°She hates the vigers, but there is onedy by the surname Zhu who is the sole exception.¡± The ck robe called the Red Specter to return. His finger stroked the creature¡¯s hair gently like he was treating his lover. ¡°If I were that woman, I would leave my spirit with the person I trusted the most.¡±

    He patted the Red Specter¡¯s forehead lightly, and his tone changed as he pointed at the Zhu woman. ¡°Kill her!¡±

    The crazy man was still talking about something else thest moment, but the next second, he turned aggressive. The Zhudy did not expect this turn of events. During the crucial moment, the jewelry that she took out from the red coffin changed. Each of the jewels was hiding a half Red Specter; this was the woman¡¯sst trump card.

    She whispered something to Jiang Liang before turning to focus on controlling the ghosts to deal with the man¡¯s Red Specter. Jiang Ling and Fan Yu heard what the woman had to say and slowly retreated.

    The Red Specter with faces elicited a creepyugh. This Red Specter was different from others; it was more like a coagtion of people¡¯s resentment, and it had most likelye from behind the ¡®door¡¯. The ghosts that came out of the jewelry were torn apart, and all the faces on the monster made the same small action¡ªthey opened their mouth to bite at the Zhu woman.

    The ck robe seemed to have been waiting for this moment for a long time already. His voice was shaking. ¡°We¡¯re going to consume a top Red Specter. This was unimaginable in the past!¡±

    The man finally said the real reason the society came to Coffin Vige. They had managed to find out there was an injured powerful Red Specter in Coffin Vige through some means, and their n was surrounding this Red Specter. After consuming a powerful Red Specter, the society would have their own powerful Red Specter.

    The mouths bit on the woman¡¯s body. After two to three seconds, the face monster stopped.

    ¡°She¡¯s not on here?¡± The ck robe was surprised as he moved his gaze to Jiang Ling and Fan Yu. ¡°This is rather troublesome. In that case, we¡¯ll just need to ughter everyone.¡±

    The face monster charged at Jiang Ling while the ck robe stood where he was. He seemed to already know the result, so he did not care about the rest and started to do his own stuff. He reached into his robe to search for something. He took out a handful of paper dolls, and each of them had a pained expression on their face.

    ¡°All 34 vigers of Lin Guan Vige are here. ording to their answers, all the vigers that escaped from Coffin Vige decade ago had some connection to the Zhu woman. It even included her own progeny.¡± The man slowly stood up and looked at Jiang Ling. ¡°Of all the deserters, only that little girl wasn¡¯t made into a paper doll by me. In that case, there¡¯s a very good chance the ghost is in her body.¡±

    Fan Yu grabbed Jiang Ling¡¯s hand as they raced into the vige, but how could the two kids outrun a Red Specter? As the face monster approached then, Fan Yu suddenly heard a familiar voiceing from the corner ahead. ¡°This way!¡±

    Chen Ge shoved the hammer andic into his backpack. He stood before them with both of his hands empty. He looked like he was ready to run.

    ¡°Chen Ge?¡± Fan Yu slowed down. He was surprised, and this was also the first time he had said Chen Ge¡¯s name.

    Before he reacted, Chen Ge grabbed them off the ground. ¡°How rude! Call me big brother!¡±

    One in each arm, Chen Ge raced down the vige. The same thing happened several minutes ago, but this time, the burden on Chen Ge increased, and the thing chasing him was a Red Specter.

    Chen Ge called Xu Yin, Zhang Ya, and the uncle¡¯s name. Zhang Ya gave no response; Xu Yin wanted to help but could not. When Uncle Yan saw the Red Specter, he hid himself immediately.

    To drag the time until dawn, Chen Ge purposely ran through the dangerous spots that he could remember. The map given by Ah Qing was immensely helpful. Chen Ge ran through all the spots that were marked by a red cross, but even so, the distance between them and the society¡¯s Red Specter did not increase.

    ¡°I cannot run anymore! Is there anything you want to tell me?¡± Chen Ge felt like there was a ball of fire in his chest, and his legs were getting numb.

    ¡°Uncle, put us down. We can walk on our own.¡± Fan Yu¡¯s voice lost its usual coldness.

    ¡°If you cannot do this anymore, run to the western side of the vige and go into the third house on the left.¡± Jiang Ling¡¯s voice appeared the same time as Fan Yu. However, it startled Chen Ge because the girl¡¯s tone waspletely different from before. She sounded like a young woman talking.

    The society is right? The Red Specter is hiding inside Jiang Ling? This thought shed across Chen Ge¡¯s mind. He had been hiding next to the well, so he knew what had happened.

    ¡°Okay! We¡¯ll go that way!¡± He changed direction and raced to the third home. ¡°What now?¡±

    ¡°Go in the house and ce me before the door to the left bedroom.¡± Jiang Ling¡¯s voice was bing weird.

    Chen Ge kicked open the wooden door to enter the inner room. There was no coffin in this home and no furniture either. Even the walls were peeling. There was no time for Chen Ge to consider why. He ced the girl on the door of the left bedroom and then copsed to the ground. He had raced throughout the vige with all his might. Even if he was made of steel, he could not run anymore.

    A wickedugh echoed outside the house. The faces squeezed through the front door. The Red Specter had arrived.

    ¡°I know who has been kind to me. After we deal with this thing, I¡¯ll thank you personally.¡± Jiang Ling looked at Chen Ge as she bit on her thumb. She allowed the blood to soak her palm. ¡°I just want to be a human, why is that so hard?¡±

    She leaned lightly against the wooden door. When her body touched the door, the simple door started to get covered with a thickyer of blood.

    ¡°It was me who left thisyer of blood; this home was the start of my nightmare.¡±

    Jiang Ling pushed the wooden door open, and there was a blood red world behind it.

 Chapter 337 - Other Than Myself, They All Came

    <h4>Chapter 337: Other Than Myself, They All Came</h4>

    Jiang Ling held Fan Yu¡¯s hand as she walked into the door. Chen Ge had no other choice. Compared to the Red Specter that was just faces, the world behind the door felt safer. The moisture in the air thickened, and a stale smell of blood hung into the air. Chen Ge¡¯s sight was affected like he was standing in a world of fog.

    This is different from the door in the Third Sick Hall.

    This was the second time Chen Ge had entered the blood door. The world behind the door in Coffin Vige was covered by a blood fog, and he could only see three meters before him.

    ¡°Be careful not to get lost. There are man-eating creatures in here.¡± Jiang Ling hadpletely shed her disguise. Her childish voice wasced with undeniable strength.

    ¡°Understood.¡± Chen Ge had a hard time believing this. ¡°This is hard to process. A little girl who cannot hit me even if she jumps her highest is a powerful Red Specter.¡±

    ¡°Even if you¡¯ve saved me, please watch your mouth, or I might need to repay your kindness only in death.¡± Jiang Ling looked at Chen Ge coldly. After entering the door, her dress started to change. The blood in the fog surrounded her like she was the master there. Chen Ge¡¯s eyes twitched slightly because the words were very familiar. It reminded him of Zhang Ya¡¯s love letter.

    After Chen Ge got in, Jiang Ling closed the door. When she opened it again, the scene outside the door had changed. It was a blood red vige, and the fog covered up the sky.

    ¡°The Red Specter will arrive soon. This door will not stop it for that long.¡± When the blood fog got close to Jiang Ling, it would seep into her body. However, probably because she was injured, she could not summon the fog on her own. With Jiang Ling leading the way, the three headed into the vige. The closed door behind them shuddered slightly, and there were echoes of growlinging from behind it.

    ¡°Where are you taking us?¡± The blood fog had no effect on Jiang Ling, but it made Chen Ge and Fan Yu feel ufortable. It felt like they were submerged in a swamp.

    ¡°Be quiet.¡± Jiang Ling signaled for them to hide inside the small hut. They waited for several seconds, and a curious monster walked past them in the fog. The monster wasrge, and his arms were deformed. His facial features were twisted, and he wore a roughly-sewn coat. He looked around like he was searching for something.

    The monster soon walked past them and disappeared.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Chen Ge pointed at the monster.

    ¡°The vigers.¡± The hatred in Jiang Ling¡¯s eyes could not be eclipsed. ¡°They are how the vigers look in my eyes.¡±

    ¡°The vigers in your eyes? The blood red world was constructed with your psyche in mind?¡± Chen Ge valued any information rted to the world behind the door.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure how this world is formed, but this world is very simr to a nightmare that I once had. In that nightmare, all the vigers look like that, deformed and creepy. They¡¯re constantly looking for me, trying to drag me back.¡± Jiang Ling did not continue. She changed direction and headed for the inner part of the vige.

    There was a blood red world behind the door, but even now, Chen Ge had no idea whether these worlds were connected or isted. Based on the suicidal investigator, everyone had a door in their heart, and only at the most despairing moment could one push open the door.

    The door at the Third Sick Hall was pushed open by Men Nan, and the world behind it reflected how Men Nan saw the world¡ªthe mummified patients, twisted doctors, and broken arms that formed from fear. The world behind Coffin Vige¡¯s door was covered by blood fog and popted by the vigers that wanted to capture her. This fitted the girl¡¯s understanding of the vige.

    The world behind the door reflects the human heart? Is it a real nightmare? Chen Ge was reminded of the door at his own Haunted House. Then what about the door at my Haunted House? Who left that door behind?

    The sound of fighting came from the fog. It was likely the society¡¯s Red Specter fighting the vigers behind the door.

    ¡°Let them fight, we need to find something.¡±

    Wading through the fog, Jiang Ling led Chen Ge and Fan Yu to the center of the vige. The fog there was light, and in the middle of the vige, a group of vigers were kneeling. Their bodies were heavily deformed, and their faces looked ugly. Even though they were wearing human clothes, they could not be considered humans.

    ¡°What are they doing?¡±

    ¡°Repenting.¡±

    The monsters had their heads lowered, and their bodies were facing the ancestral hall. Right in front of it was a red coffin!

    Different from real life, the coffin behind the door blocked the entrance to the ancestral hall. The hall was the ce where the vigers sent respect to their ancestors, but the coffin blocked the entrance fully.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be able to survive after we open that coffin.¡± Jiang Ling walked around the crowd to slowly head toward the ancestral hall. ¡°Do not awaken these monsters.¡±

    The three held their breath as they moved slowly toward the ancestral hall. The fog moved like it could sense the presence of living humans. Some of the monsters slowly raised their heads.

    Fan Yu and Jiang Ling walked ahead, and Chen Ge covered them from behind. His heart chilled as he looked at the monsters on the ground. Red paper money covered the floor, and the monsters looked like they were attending a funeral. They were forced to make sad expressions, but the tears could not be forced out.

    A funeral?

    After Chen Ge entered the Coffin Vige, he realized that the vige had many traditions rted to funerals, like the whitenterns that hung on the street, paper money, and coffins.

    Both in real life and the world behind the door, there was a funeral, a funeral that had not ended until today. Chen Ge took out his ck phone to take a look. Even after I entered the world behind the door, the phone didn¡¯t say that the mission has failed. Looks like as long as I am inside the vige, regardless of whether it is inside the door or outside of it, the mission is still in effect.

    He looked for the mission message. He saw the name Coffin Vige on the ck phone. Initially, he had thought this name was weird, and he did not think much of it. However, after concluding the stuff that he saw at the vige, he had some ideas.

    The screen moved, and Chen Ge looked at the details provided by the mission. ¡°That day, other than myself, they all came.¡±

    The mission hint was short. Chen Ge slowly narrowed his eyes. He finally understood what it meant. These people came to ¡®my¡¯ funeral to cry on ¡®my¡¯ behalf. That is why there¡¯s a myself. The hint is telling me that the key is the funerals.

    Chen Ge turned to look at the ancestral hall, and Jiang Ling had already reached the red coffin.

 Chapter 338 - Where Did the Cat Come From?

    <h4>Chapter 338: Where Did the Cat Come From?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The small, fair hand pressed on the cold, antique coffin lid. When Jiang Ling touched the red coffin, all the kneeling monsters stopped mourning, and the twisted, scary faces started to rise.

    ¡°Come help me!¡± Jiang Ling screamed shrilly. Her face had lost the usual cuteness, and her expression looked scary.

    BANG!

    The solid coffin lid fell to the ground, and everyone turned to look inside the coffin. A woman was lying inside therge red coffin. Wet dark hair stuck to her slim body. Her skin was pale, and her face was handsome. Chen Ge would not describe her as pretty, but there was definitely something unique about her.

    ¡°Help me buy some time.¡± Jiang Ling walked into the red coffin and stared at the woman in the coffin. The vigers all stood up. They were conversing in a localnguage, and they looked so happy.

    ¡°How do you expect me to buy time?¡± Chen Ge turned to look at Jiang Ling, and he got another surprise. Jiang Ling lifted her hair back, and there was a bone missing from the back of her skull. Her head curved inwards. <i>This is the only deformity on Jiang Ling¡¯s body?</i>

    Walking forward, Jiang Ling rubbed her own blood on the woman¡¯s hand and then ced the hand on the back of her head. The blood vessels reached out from the woman¡¯s palm and crawled into Jiang Ling¡¯s head through the depression.

    <i>What is she doing now? Has she reincarnated into Jiang Ling, or is she just possessing her body?</i>

    When the vigers saw the woman sleeping in the coffin, they charged at her like a bunch of crazed animals.

    ¡°This is why I hate children!¡± Chen Ge took out the hammer from his backpack and shielded himself before the red coffin. He felt himself being the target of a mob. Seeing the group of monsters charging at him, Chen Ge was flustered. The only thing he could do then was give it his best and call for Zhang Ya to appear.

    When the crazed monsters had almost reached Chen Ge and the red coffin,ughter came from the blood fog. ¡°If the female ghost doesn¡¯te out to save you at a time like this, she must really be in a slumber.¡±

    A red wave made from faces sted through the fog, knocking Chen Ge and the vigers away.

    <i>The society¡¯s Red Specter!</i>

    Chen Ge was just brushed by the monster, but his face felt frozen. He looked at his chilled left hand. In the urgency of the moment, he raised both of his hands to shield his head, and his elbow brushed up against the Red Specter.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been tailing you for this particr moment.¡± The faces coagted to form the monster again. A ck robe walked out from behind him. The man stopped beside the red coffin and turned to look at Chen Ge. ¡°Surprised to meet again so soon?¡±

    The ck robe said thest sentence in a different voice. He was mimicking the voice of the investigator.

    ¡°So, it¡¯s you.¡± Chen Ge still had a trump card on him¡ªYan Danian¡¯s power¡ªbut he could not use it willy-nilly because his opponent had seen this power before, and they might have prepared for it already.

    ¡°Two birds, one stone. You¡¯re one of our targets. You¡¯re too dangerous; we cannot let you leave this ce alive.¡± The ck robe took out a small vial from his sleeve. It was half-filled with blood. He swirled it lightly, and the liquid parted to form individual vessels. ¡°Enjoy yourst few moments of freedom. In a bit, it¡¯ll be your turn.¡±

    The face monster had stopped the crazed vigers, so the ck robe did not waste time and opened the cap, pouring the vial over Jiang Ling¡¯s head.

    ¡°These blood vessels were found behind the ¡®door¡¯. They¡¯re extremely precious and extremely useful. They also hide the biggest secret with regards to Red Specter.¡± The situation was in the ck robe¡¯s full control. He stared at the vessels that crawled out of the vial with extreme focus. ¡°As long as they¡¯re touched by these blood vessels, even Red Specter won¡¯t be able to escape.¡±

    Chen Ge stared at the vial as the vessels slid down its wall and touched Jiang Ling¡¯s hair.

    ¡°If the ceremony between Jiang Ling and the woman is interrupted, it¡¯s over for me.¡± Chen Ge patted his backpack and surreptitiously tapped the white cat¡¯s head. ¡°It¡¯s your time to shine. Snatch that vial away. Remember, it¡¯s that ss thing in the man¡¯s hand!¡±

    Chen Ge pointed at the ck robe¡¯s palm. He did not know whether the white cat understood him or not. The blood vessels might affect the Red Specter¡¯s psyche. If the female ghost was controlled by the ck robe, then there was definitely no chance for Chen Ge to survive the night. This was hisst bet. He was going to use everything he had to protect Jiang Ling and the woman in the coffin.

    Chen Ge did not have much time left. He was not one to hesitate. Just as the vessels were about to crawl into Jiang Ling¡¯s head, he grabbed the hammer and charged at the ck robe!

    ¡°Such ipetence.¡± The ck robe did not move and maintained his posture. When Chen Ge was two meters away, the face monster burst through the vige and blocked Chen Ge with a weirdugh.

    ¡°Yan Danian!¡± The uncle in theic knew if he did not do anything now, he would also be affected, so he picked up his pen to draw the face monster in hisic. When he finished, the Red Specter stopped, and Chen Ge charged at the ck robe. This was the chance he was looking for!

    ¡°We will not fall for the same trick twice.¡± The ck robe used his empty hand to send a bunch of paper dolls flying at Chen Ge¡¯s face. The paper dolls screamed and cried as they tried to climb on Chen Ge.

    Chen Ge¡¯s movement was affected, and the Red Specter had already recovered. His situation was dire, but Chen Ge was exceptionally calm. He grabbed his backpack and threw it at the ck robe.

    ¡°So god damn stubborn.¡± The ck robe used his free hand to grab the backpack, but when he did so, a white shadow flew out from within!

    Even though he had created many ghost stories, he was stunned. ¡°What was that?¡±

    The distressed white cat did not really understand what Chen Ge told it. It just thought there was something special about the vial. It opened its jaw and bit the vial. It then bounded away from the ck robe and climbed onto the roof of one of the buildings.

    ¡°A cat?¡± The crazed vigers, the ck robe, and Chen Ge were all looking at the white cat. Its pure white coat was a great contrast to the blood red world.

    ¡°Well done!¡± Chen Ge cheered, but what happened next stunned him.

    The white cat looked at the people underneath it as the vial dangled from its lips. Its little head swung left and right, and the blood vessels that were at the mouth of the bottle slid down its throat.

    The white cat did not seem to realize the vial was empty. It blinked several times like it was trying to find Chen Ge among the crowd.

 Chapter 339 - Owe You a Favor

    <h4>Chapter 339: Owe You a Favor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ording to the ck robe, the blood in the vial was the most precious thing they had found behind the door. It carried the Red Specter¡¯s secret and seemed to be the main method the ghost stories society used to control Red Specters. However, to everyone¡¯s surprise, it was swallowed by a cat.

    ¡°It ate it?¡± The ck robe was so angry that his fingers were shaking. He really did not expect that someone would bring a cat to a ce like this. ¡°Get it to vomit it out!¡±

    The ck robe¡¯s voice turned shrill; this appeared like it was his real voice.

    The white cat¡¯s ears were pressed against its skull. It sensed the aggression from the ck robe and prepared to escape.

    ¡°Go and catch it! I want to split its stomach open and squeeze every drop of blood from its body!¡± The face monster beside him heard the order and rushed to the roof. The arrival of the Red Specter made the cat run immediately. It jumped over the rooftop before disappearing among the group of deformed vigers. The vige was a mess. The ck robe gritted his teeth. He was a careful person, but even he did not expect a turn like this.

    ¡°I need to catch it; that was thest bottle.¡± The ck robe saw the Red Specter that was led away by the white cat, and the distance between them grew bigger. After the Red Specter was ten meters away from him, the ck robe had a ck feeling starting in his heart. He turned over his shoulders and saw Chen Ge charging at him with the hammer.

    ¡°Enjoy yourst minute of freedom! That was what you said earlier.¡± Chen Ge found the opening he needed.

    ¡°I hate people like you who need to rely on others the most. Humans have to rely on themselves!¡± Chen Ge roared with the hammer iling. ¡°If you dare, let¡¯s hash this out among ourselves!¡±

    The ck robe looked at the hammer in Chen Ge¡¯s arms, and he sucked in a cold breath. ¡°This madman.¡±

    He turned to run, and Chen Ge followed close behind. The Red Specter had been lured away; this was the perfect opportunity, and Chen Ge definitely would not let it pass so easily. The ck robe no longer had the ease to maintain the sense of mystery. He kept his hands on the hood as he called for the Red Specter to return.

    This situation was simr to how it had been at Fang Hwa Apartments. After the Red Specter was lured away, those who were possessed opened themselves up to being attacked.

    <i>Looks like the Red Specters aren¡¯t omnipotent. </i>Chen Ge, having experienced this twice, realized the problem. <i>That¡¯s right, a single Red Specter is not enough. Looks like I need to befriend a few more of them!</i>

    They were both parties protected by ghosts, but the ck robe¡¯s physical condition was much worse than Chen Ge¡¯s. This was probably because the way they interacted with ghosts waspletely different. Chen Ge used tricks and goodwill to make the ghost ept him while the rtionship between the society and their ghosts was more like a contract.

    The ck robe slowed down after some running. When Chen Ge noticed this, he picked up the pace!

    ¡°Today, I shall avenge the dead investigator!¡± Those who did not respect life would not be respected by life. The Red Specter heard the ck robe¡¯s call for aid, and it quickly hurried back.

    However, when it passed the red coffin, the expression on all its faces changed like it had seen something very dangerous. The ck robe was in grave danger, but the Red Specter did not go over to help him. It stopped beside the red coffin on high alert.

    The blood fog in the vige thickened. The deformed vigers seemed to feel something; they all turned to look at the red coffin, and their bodies shook.

    ¡°Another failure.¡±

    The voice came from inside the red coffin, and the woman inside slowly opened her eyes. Her eyes were different from a normal person¡¯s, reflecting the shadow of the little girl, Jiang Ling. ¡°In the end, I cannot sever my rtionship with you.¡±

    The blood vessels crawled into her palm, and the woman touched the back of the girl¡¯s head lovingly. ¡°I owe you a piece of your skull, so I owe you a favor.¡±

    Jiang Ling copsed to the ground, and the woman turned her gaze to the Red Specter that was covered with faces. ¡°Since you refused to give me the opportunity to be a human, then I shall refuse you the chance to be a ghost.¡±

    When she finished, the blood fog turned and formed invisible shackles controlling everyone present. The woman walked out of the red coffin, and there were numerous blood vessels trailing behind her. The face monster tried to struggle, but the blood fog kept it firmly in ce. Half a vige¡¯s fog morphed into blood water to stick on the society¡¯s Red Specter.

    ¡°Still want to fight me in the world behind my door?¡± The woman reached out to touch the thing¡¯s faces. When her fingers reached into its body, all the faces started to scream, but it was pointless. What happened next was gory and bloody. The woman peeled the faces off one by one and threw them right into the red coffin.

    ¡°Now, it¡¯s your turn.¡± The woman controlled the blood fog to lift up the kneeling vigers. The louder they begged, the happier she was.

    With the woman¡¯sughter ringing beside his ears, Chen Ge, whose movement was also impaired, shivered involuntarily. He looked at those vigers in pain and shook his head. ¡°Those who you¡¯ve injured would eventually turn into your nightmare.¡±

    The blood fog seeped into the woman¡¯s body. After she finished tormenting the vigers, she carried Jiang Ling off the floor and walked to Chen Ge.

    ¡°You said I cannot hit you even if I jump?¡± The woman looked at Chen Ge with a faded smile.

    ¡°Did I say something like that? I don¡¯t remember anything like that.¡± The hair on Chen Ge¡¯s body stood on end. The woman before him had a vengeful heart, and she was much more difficult to deal withpared to the ghost stories society.

    ¡°If you can¡¯t remember it, then so be it.¡± To Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, this vengeful and scary woman did not trouble him. She moved several steps to the left and squatted down before Fan Yu. ¡°You discovered me a long time ago, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    Fan Yu nodded. He was just a child, so he did not think about lying at all.

    ¡°Then why did you choose to stay by my side?¡± The woman leaned her face close to Fan Yu like she was trying to see his expression closely.

    ¡°It was you who apanied me. I don¡¯t have that many friends.¡± Fan Yu pointed at Chen Ge. ¡°Unless you count him.¡±

    The woman smiled and took out a jade bangle from her sleeve. ¡°You can see them. Wear this, and they won¡¯t harm you anymore.¡±

    Standing up, the woman ced Jiang Ling beside Chen Ge. ¡°Take her and leave. This vige is going to be buried forever.¡±

    Chen Ge did not quite get what the woman was saying. He carried Jiang Ling and grabbed Fan Yu¡¯s hand. ¡°I can leave?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then can I bring him with me?¡± Chen Ge pointed at the ck robe. ¡°I have something to ask him.¡±

 Chapter 340 - It Split

    <h4>Chapter 340: It Split</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge lifted up the hood, which was hiding a ruined face. ¡°Who is your chairperson?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not me.¡± The ck robe¡¯s face was filled with a smile. ¡°Have fun guessing. You¡¯ll definitely see him before you die.¡±

    Then, blood vessels crawled out of the man¡¯s lips. The blood seemed to have a life of its own. Veins popped up on the man¡¯s skin; he seemed to be experiencing some kind of extremely painful torture. His lips fell open, and his throat and mouth were filled with blood vessels.

    <i>The blood in his body seems to be consuming him. </i>Chen Ge gripped the hammer and wanted to give him a whack but was stopped by the woman beside him. After the blood crawled out from his mouth, it wrapped the man up fully, and only his general shape remained.

    ¡°The chairperson is just next to you. He has been watching you and is the most interesting person among all the people you¡¯ve met.¡± The ck robe croaked. Chen Ge and the woman watched as the ck robe was slowly consumed from within. He gradually be a pool of blood and seeped into the blood-soaked ground.

    ¡°What are those blood vessels?¡±

    ¡°You can understand them as part of a Red Specter.¡± The woman picked up the ck robe and seemed to discover something interesting within. ¡°Take the children and leave. If you stay too long inside the door, you¡¯ll be trapped here forever.¡±

    The woman held the ck robe and disappeared amid the blood fog. Chen Ge looked in the direction she had disappeared, and his heart was filled with confusion. ¡°What was inside that ck robe? Howe I heard traces of joy in her voice?¡±

    Chen Ge found the white cat on the rooftop of the ancestral hall. It still did not understand what had happened. It held the vial in its lips, and its white fur was standing on end. Obviously, it was spooked.

    ¡°Come down here, it¡¯s safe now.¡± The white cat eventually jumped down from the beam. When Chen Ge caught it, he realized that the cat had gotten heavier.

    ¡°Why do you have to eat everything?¡± Chen Ge pried the cat¡¯s mouth open to take a look, but he could not see anything off about it.

    ¡°That thing was prepared by the ghost stories society. Is it harmful to a cat if consumed?¡± This was the first time Chen Ge hade across such a problem. Realizing there was nothing wrong with the white cat, he ced it inside his backpack and led the two children to the bedroom where the woman had once stayed.

    ¡°The blood door is her room door, so for her, every time this door is opened, it¡¯s the return of her nightmare.¡± The blood door was closed. Chen Ge tried pushing it several times, but it would not budge.

    ¡°Let me. Jiang Ling has taught me how to open the door.¡± When Fan Yu pressed against the door, the bangle gifted by the woman started to bleed, and the blood covered his palm. Slowly but surely, the door was being pushed open.

    After they left the blood door, Chen Ge took out his ck phone to take a look. He had been waiting for the message on his phone. The ck robe was most likely Patient 9 from the Third Sick Hall¡ªWu Fei!

    However, the ck phone did not update after the man¡¯s death. Whenever one of the patients from Third Sick Hall was killed, the missionpletion rate would increase, and after gaining a ny percentpletion rate, he would receive the hidden item for this three-star scenario!

    When Xiong Qing was captured and the Devil was killed, the ck phone updated, but this time, there was no update after Wu Fei¡¯s death.

    <i>What¡¯s wrong? </i>Chen Ge thought back to the events with the ck robe and felt like he had overlooked something important.

    <i>The ck robe has been tailing us and only made his move after he made sure Zhang Ya was asleep. When he saw me, the second sentence out of his mouth was uttered in the voice of the investigator. </i>Chen Ge frowned. There was not anything particrly suspicious about the ck robe. <i>Is he still alive? The blood vessels carried his soul and escaped? Or did he hide his real consciousness somewhere else, like how it was with that dead investigator?</i>

    Chen Ge thought back to the woman¡¯s reaction when she picked up the ck robe and realized the key might have been that robe.

    ¡°This is such a waste.¡± Zhang Ya was asleep, and he had no power to demand the robe from that woman. ¡°The one who pushed open the door seemed to be more powerful than a normal Red Specter inside the door.¡±

    Chen Ge gave it some thought after leaving the old home. He decided not to return to the well but find a ce to hide until dawn. Chen Ge led the two children to the middle of the vige. He crawled through the secret tunnel to reach the two-story building.

    ¡°Granny, are you asleep?¡± Chen Ge carried the two children into the room, and when he went upstairs, the olddy was not in the small room.

    ¡°Where is she?¡± Chen Ge put down Jiang Ling and grabbed the hammer. ¡°The olddy¡¯s legs are seriously atrophied, so she couldn¡¯t move on her own. Someone got here before me?¡±

    All the furniture in the room looked tidy and untouched. If the olddy had been forcefully taken away, the ce would not have been so clean. Chen Ge tapped Fan Yu¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Can you see anyone inside this room?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Fan Yu shook his head.

    ¡°Then where can she disappear to?¡±

    A baby¡¯s crying filled up the room. The ce was not big. Chen Ge ransacked the ce, but he could not find the old woman.

    ¡°This is weird.¡± Chen Ge ced the unconscious Jiang Ling on the bed. He sat on the ground. He was about to take a breather when a gunshot was heard from the western end of the vige!

    ¡°A gunshot? Is that Ol¡¯ Wei?¡± Chen Ge climbed up from the ground. ¡°They¡¯ve returned? Or have some idents befallen them? Or has backup arrived?¡±

    There was only one gunshot before the world became quiet again. Chen Ge was worried about Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s safety, so he led Fan Yu and Jiang Ling out of the house and headed for the western part of the vige. By then, the sun wasing up.

    When Chen Ge arrived at the western part of the vige, No. 10 had left. Xiong Qing and the ghost baby had disappeared. Only the fainted vigers remained.

    ¡°What happened here after I left?¡± Chen Ge grabbed a viger to ask, but the man was too traumatized to say anything other than the repeating, ¡°It split. It split.¡±

    Chen Ge was not sure whether that was local ng or something really did split. He looked around and saw the Zhu woman copsed next to the well. Her hair was a mess, and she looked horrible.

    ¡°Can you hear me?¡± Due to his work, Chen Ge was very good at treating fainting spells. With his aid, the woman slowly awakened.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the ck robe has already left.¡± Chen Ge held the weakened woman in his arms. ¡°Can you tell me what happened here? Where is the ck robe carrying the wooden box?¡±

 Chapter 341 - Seamstress Wedding Dress

    <h4>Chapter 341: Seamstress¡¯ Wedding Dress</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The woman blinked several times before she fully regained consciousness. She gripped Chen Ge¡¯s sleeves, and the first sentence out of her lips was... ¡°It split open. The person¡¯s body split open!¡±

    ¡°Huh? Slow down. There¡¯s no need to rush.¡± Chen Ge patted the woman on her back and slowly helped her to sit upright.

    ¡°After you left with the two children, the six-headed monster was torn apart by the vige¡¯s ghosts, and throughout the process, the ck robe didn¡¯t move a finger.¡± The Zhu woman¡¯s body was weak, and her words came slow and stunted. ¡°After the vige¡¯s spirits shared the monster, they turned their attention to the ck robe, but the moment they got near, they screamed and ran away.¡±

    ¡°The ghosts were afraid of him?¡±

    ¡°Yes, red blood started to seep from his body, and after the robe was peeled off, I saw that he was carrying a dead woman on his back.¡±

    The woman¡¯s description made Chen Ge think of himself, but Zhang Ya had been hiding in his shadow. ¡°When he pulled off the ck robe, did you see his face?¡±

    ¡°No, actually, it felt like it was the female body that yanked the robe off.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s a female body? Not a female ghost in a red outfit?¡± In Chen Ge¡¯s mind, the difference between a female body and a female ghost was still big.

    ¡°I can still tell the difference between something like that. However, there¡¯s something unique about that body that is different from all the dead bodies that I¡¯ve seen before.¡± The Zhu woman tried her best to exin the situation, but since she had spent her whole life cooped up in Coffin Vige, the words just could note to her as easily. ¡°The body looked like it had been dolled up. It looked more like a disy than a body.¡±

    ¡°The society is indeed filled with mad people.¡± Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of something and he asked, ¡°Was the body beautiful?¡±

    So far, other than Wu Fei and Wang Shenglong, only Han Bao¡¯er was still unknown. Thement of the Third Sick Hall¡¯s doctor about this female patient had been¡ª <i>Just how harsh must God be to make a woman as beautiful as this?</i>

    Chen Ge paid attention when he saw this message. <i>Xiong Qing was made into a Red Specter, so Han Bao¡¯er might have been made into something else. It¡¯s hard to understand the world of the crazies.</i>

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you can call the body pretty.¡± The woman also did not understand why she was being asked to judge a body¡¯s beauty, but she suddenly stopped. ¡°I almost forgot, the body didn¡¯t show any sign of decay, but the skin looked weird, radiating an aura of death.¡±

    The more she described, the stranger it became. The thing No. 10 was carrying seemed to be different from everything he had seen so far.

    ¡°What happened next? Why did all of you say the person split open?¡± Chen Ge was curious about this.

    ¡°The woman¡¯s body was made up from numerous red threads, and regardless of whether it was living or dead, she shoved everything into her mouth like food. When she ate, her lips could split until here.¡± The woman pointed at her ear. ¡°The woman¡¯s body could split open any ce it wished. In a way, she looked like a moving body of lips.¡±

    Listening to the Zhu woman¡¯s description, the monster sounded like a Red Specter, but if it was a Red Specter, there was no way the Zhudy and the vigers could have survived.

    ¡°So why did the monster leave?¡±

    ¡°The ck robe wanted to capture the baby before turning to deal with us, but right then, someone entered the vige.¡±

    ¡°Was it the police?¡±

    The woman shook her head. ¡°It was a doctor. He was wearing a white doctor¡¯s garb, and many ying children surrounded him.¡±

    When this image crossed his mind, Chen Ge was weirded out. ¡°A bunch of children circling the doctor?¡±

    ¡°All those children are ghosts. They seem to treat the doctor as their father.¡± Now that the woman said that, it reminded Chen Ge of someone¡ªDoctor Chen from Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home!

    ¡°The doctor looks around forties, has a square face and thick eyebrows?¡±

    ¡°I was too far away to tell.¡± The woman thought about it. ¡°After the doctor entered the vige, he headed right for the ck robe. They seemed to be nemeses.¡±

    ¡°Did they exchange any conversation?¡±

    ¡°No, when the ck robe saw the doctor, he immediately left. We were attacked by the children following the doctor. However, they did not harm us; they merely knocked us out.¡±

    ¡°Onest question. Was it you who transferred the babies from the ancestral hall to your home through the secret tunnel?¡± Chen Ge stood up and prepared to leave.

    ¡°You even know that?¡± The woman did not deny it. ¡°Whenever the female ghost returns for the annual massacre, only my ce is rtively safe.¡±

    ¡°I heard that from the olddy. Is she your family?¡± Chen Ge asked, but there was no answer. He turned to realize there was a weird expression on the woman¡¯s face. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°My grandmother passed away a long time ago; you couldn¡¯t have spoken with her.¡±

    Even though he had suspected that, Chen Ge¡¯s heart still skipped a bit.

    ¡°But don¡¯t you worry, she probably had something she wanted to tell you.¡± The woman signaled for Chen Ge to inspect the western side of the vige. ¡°Before I fainted, I saw the ck robe and the doctor heading that way.¡±

    ¡°The gunshot came from that side as well. They probably ran into Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai.¡± Chen Ge was worried about the almost-retired police officer and quickly rushed ahead. He ran for a while and started to hear the sound of a baby crying. Following the voice, he saw Master Bai and Ol¡¯ Wei copsed next to a dirt wall with the basket between them.

    They were not injured, and to Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s gun was sitting snugly in his holster. Chen Ge lifted the gun to take a look, and there was a shot missing.

    ¡°There is no slug around here. Did the thing that was shot get taken away?¡± He stayed on guard beside Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai until they woke up.

    It felt like a nightmare. Master Bai could still remember some of the details from the night before, but the situation with Ol¡¯ Wei was slightly moreplicated. He looked worried and kept telling Chen Ge that something scary had happened to him. When Chen Ge asked him about it, he had no recollection of said event.

    Ol¡¯ Wei was clearly traumatized. He had forgotten everything that had happened in Coffin Vige, but he kept saying that something was not right.

    The night dispersed, and the sun wasing up. Chen Ge received the message that his mission had beenpleted.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specters¡¯ favored! You¡¯vepleted the random three-star mission¡ªCoffin Vige! A new scenario has been unlocked!

    ¡°You have sessfullypleted the mission within the allocated time. Congrattions for winning the reward¡ªSeamstress¡¯ Wedding Dress!¡±

 Chapter 342 - Who Stole My Memory

    <h4>Chapter 342: Who Stole My Memory</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Seamstress¡¯ Wedding Dress. My bone as the needle, my blood as the thread, my skin as the cloth¡ªhopefully, you won¡¯t mind my blood red wedding dress.

    ¡°Congrattions for obtaining the special-type baleful Specter¡ªSeamstress¡¯ lingering spirit!

    ¡°The three-star mission for Coffin Vige has beenpleted. Completion rate: seventy percent¡ªunable to obtain the hidden item.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the message on the ck phone twice to make sure he did not see incorrectly. Thepletion rate is only seventy percent? I¡¯ve run through the vige several times already tonight, and I¡¯ve been to all the ces. Howe thepletion rate is only seventy percent?

    The ck phone would never make a mistake, so he started to think. The ghost stories society¡¯s interruption caused the Coffin Vige¡¯s ceremony to fail. Could that be a reason why?

    The key topleting the mission should be the female ghost. Either help herplete the ceremony or killing her will bring two different results¡ªthat should be the core of the mission. The woman said, since they refused to let her be a human, she wouldn¡¯t give them a chance to be ghosts. This shows that the Red Specter¡¯s desire has changed; she wants a rebirth!

    Either helping her or stopping her would increase thepletion rate, but due to the arrival of the society, before Chen Ge couldmit to any choice, he had to start running for his life.

    Safety first. As long as I¡¯m alive, there¡¯s a chance to raise thepletion rate in the future. Chen Ge leaned against the wall and slid the phone in his pocket. But what shall I choose in the future? Help her get her rebirth or stop her?

    Coffin Vige was hiding arge secret. The whole vige could be seen as a tomb¡ªall the vigers were paper doll sacrifices, the Zhu woman was the tomb guard, and the only dead buried here was the Red Specter!

    Rebirth is impossible. Possessing others to create a nightmare is more likely, but if I stop her, we¡¯ll turn into enemies, and it will be an endless battle. Chen Ge turned to look at Fan Yu. The boy had his head lowered as he toyed with the jade bangle on his wrist. Inside the jade bangle were lines of red blood.

    The ghost seems to value Fan Yu a lot, and she has given him a precious bangle. She is Fan Yu¡¯s friend, and Fan Yu is my friend, so in a way, I¡¯m also her friend. That¡¯s not so bad. Even though the woman is a vengeful spirit, she knows right from wrong, and she deserves the help. Furthermore, as a Haunted House boss, isn¡¯t it my job to befriend souls from the other side?

    Chen Ge very quickly convinced himself. He told Fan Yu to try to keep that Red Specter big sister as happy as possible. For today¡¯s Trial Mission, Chen Ge was just an observer. Zhang Ya was asleep, and Xu Yin was in the middle of his transformation. That meant that he had lost the right to join the battle. Thankfully, the result was not so bad. The scenario was unlocked, and Xu Yin had a high chance to be a Red Specter. Even the white cat that swallowed the society¡¯s blood might experience some special change in the future.

    I¡¯ve been running for a whole night, but howe I feel I¡¯ve been heavily rewarded?

    The day was starting. It was 5 am. Chen Ge calcted the time. Even if he rushed nonstop, it would be hard for him to reach New Century Park before 9 am.

    Director Luo has given everything for this promotion; I cannot let him down. I¡¯d better return as soon as I can. Chen Ge found the Zhu woman to discuss the issue regarding Ah Qing¡¯s son with her. In the end, Chen Ge did not take the baby away but left him to be taken care of by the Zhu woman.

    Ol¡¯ Wei also asked the woman many questions, but the woman sided with the Red Specter in the well. She did not reveal any information. She said that this was just a normal vige with a unique ceremony during that time of year. Ol¡¯ Wei felt like he had forgotten something. It was as if he had drunk too much the night before and could not remember what had happened.

    Chen Ge was afraid that Ol¡¯ Wei was affected by the society, so he led him to a room and had his employees check on him. They discovered that he was just fine. The gunfire from the night before should havee from Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s gun. He must have seen something and fired. It was probably that thing that stole his memory. Only Ol¡¯ Wei had seen the thing that stole his memory, but he could not remember what that thing was.

    Chen Ge told Ol¡¯ Wei to be careful and advised him from going out alone. He was worried that the death of the investigator might repeat itself.

    The vigers hated the outsiders¡ªprobably because they were afraid that others would see their abnormalities¡ªso they stayed far away from Chen Ge¡¯s group. At 6 am, Chen Ge, Ol¡¯ Wei, and Master Bai led the two children out of Coffin Vige. They walked for one hour through the forest before Ol¡¯ Wei and Chen Ge¡¯s phones rang.

    ¡°Finally, there¡¯s signal!¡± Ol¡¯ Wei recovered and called to report the situation to Captain Yan. The two kids had been discovered, but the doctor at the Children¡¯s Home had disappeared. Based on Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s understanding, he suspected that this was a premeditated kidnapping; the two children had probably been kidnapped by Doctor Chen to be sold.

    Captain Yan also rxed when he found out that Ol¡¯ Wei and Chen Ge were safe and the kids were found. He had them bring the kids to the station.

    When Ol¡¯ Wei reported the situation to Captain Yan, Chen Ge logged into his social ount. He realized from 1 am to 3 am, He San and Gao Ru Xue had messaged him many times. They seemed to have urgent things to tell him.

    Chen Ge called He San and asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Boss! Why didn¡¯t you answer earlier? Something big has happened!¡± He San was so loud that even Ol¡¯ Wei could hear him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t act so flighty, slow down.¡± Chen Ge walked ahead to introduce some distance between them.

    ¡°Do you still remember Gao Ru Xue? It was the senior who joined me to visit your Haunted House. Someone has disappeared from her dorm!¡± Even though He San had lowered his voice, it still caused Chen Ge¡¯s ear some pain.

    ¡°In that case, you have to go to the police. Whye to me?¡±

    ¡°The person didn¡¯t disappear. I don¡¯t know how to exin this. The person looks the same, but the personality ispletely different, like the soul has been exchanged!¡±

    ¡°A ghost possession?¡±

    ¡°Yes, just like that! Boss, do you want toe to our school to take a look tonight? This thing is just weird, and now my senior really needs your help.¡±

    ¡°Temporarily, I don¡¯t have time.¡± Chen Ge thought about it but did not reject directly. ¡°I¡¯ll call Gao Ru Xue to ask for more details.¡±

    After hanging up, Chen Ge took out the ck phone. Thest side mission for the four-star scenario School of the Afterlife was at Jiujiang¡¯s Medical University.

    I should give myself some time to rest. At least I have to wait until Xu Yin wakes up first.

 Chapter 343 - Look Behind You

    <h4>Chapter 343: Look Behind You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    When Chen Ge ended the call, Gao Ru Xue¡¯s call came in. He San had probably contacted her. ¡°Is it that urgent?¡±

    Chen Ge answered the call, but before he could say anything, Gao Ru Xue¡¯s purposely suppressed voice came through. ¡°I¡¯m not wearing earphones, and my roommate is just outside the corridor, so don¡¯t raise your voice.¡±

    Gao Ru Xue did not sound like she was in a good state¡ªChen Ge could hear uncertainty and anxiety in her voice. ¡°I just heard from He San that your roommate is possessed?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s scarier than that. I feel like she has changed into apletely different person.¡±

    ¡°Is it because of change in habit?¡±

    ¡°She acts like normal, but I can feel that it¡¯s not her!¡± Gao Ru Xue sounded confident. ¡°Listen to me. This is rted to legend at our school. There¡¯s a stone statue underneath the old education block whose eyes can bleed. ording to legend, as long as you can find it before midnight, you can ask it a question.

    ¡°I have two roommates. One of them is Ma Xin, and the other is Liu Xianxian. That night, they went out together.¡±

    ¡°Why did they want to go look for that statue? Just out of curiosity?¡± Chen Ge interjected with a question.

    ¡°Liu Xianxian has fallen in love with a man that she shouldn¡¯t. She has been wondering whether she should get together with him or not. Shees from a single-parent family, so shecks security. She would fall for anyone who treats her slightly better. We¡¯ve tried to advise her, but she refused to listen.

    ¡°She stubbornly thought the man also loves her deeply but cannot be together with her due to multiple reasons. She wanted to have a clear answer, but she was afraid to ask the man, so she thought to ask the statue to see whether the man¡¯s love for her is sincere or not.¡±

    Chen Ge was inexperienced in the field of rtionships, so he did notment. ¡°Then what about the other girl?¡±

    ¡°Ma Xin has a big sister, and she managed to get into Jiujiang¡¯s Medical University five years ago. However, during her second year, she disappeared while she was on the way home and has remained unfounded to this day. She wants to find out about her sister¡¯s location, her whole family do. When she heard about this rumor, she yearned to give it a try.¡±

    Gao Ru Xue was halfway through when another female voice came from the corridor. It sounded like it was rushing her. After she answered, Gao Ru Xue spoke faster into the phone. ¡°The two wanted to find the statue, but they¡¯re both scared, so they dragged me with them.

    ¡°We departedst week and entered the old education block¡¯s underground rooms at 11 pm. The ce was filled with so many abandoned materials, so it was hard to find a statue. We searched the majority area on the first night but didn¡¯t find anything.

    ¡°On the second night, I thought they would give up, but they dragged me with them again. Since we¡¯ve been roommates for so long already, I didn¡¯t have the heart to reject them, so I followed them underground a second time. However, this time, things were different. We didn¡¯t walk too far into the ce before I heard somethingughing.

    ¡°I asked them about it, but both of them said they didn¡¯t hear anything. I had a feeling something was wrong, so I forcibly dragged them out with me. I thought it would end then, but on the third night, they told me they still wanted to go.

    ¡°That was the first time I realized something off about them. I warned them if they insisted on doing this, I would report them to the school and dormitory security. Realizing I was serious, they unwillingly went back to bed.

    ¡°The real event that sent a chill down my spine happened on the morning of the fourth day. When I opened my eyes, both of my roommates were already awake. Theyy in their beds, looking at me, with smiles on their faces.

    ¡°On the fourth night, they didn¡¯t show any signs of going out, but I just felt something was not right. Iy in bed and pretended to fall asleep. At 2 am, they sat up simultaneously and sneaked out of the room like this was something nned.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t dare chase after them. They returned at 3:30 am. They went back to bed like nothing had ever happened.

    ¡°The same thing happened on the fifth and sixth nights, butst night, things changed. They also left at 2 am and returned at 3:30 am, but when they returned, three of them returned¡ªnot two!

    ¡°The light in the bedroom was off, so I could not see clearly, but it felt like all three of them were dressed simrly. They walked to the three beds andy down, and the strangest thing happened!

    ¡°There were only three beds in the room, so this meant that one of them crawled into my bed. I didn¡¯t dare move throughout the whole night. I used my hands that were hidden inside my bed to call and send messages. You might not believe me, but this is the truth.

    ¡°All the replies, no matter who it was, was¡ªLook behind you. Only when I messaged you did the system reply normally. The additional person should have been lying behind me, and at the time, I could only message and call you, but you were unreachable.

    ¡°I stayed put until morning. When I looked behind me, there was nothing on the bed. One hour ago, my roommates woke up, and they acted like normal, calling me to breakfast and ss, but...¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you ready yet?¡± There was another female voice on the phone, and it sounded like a door had been opened.

    ¡°Coming, just talking with a friend on the phone.¡± Gao Ru Xue¡¯s voice changed; she sounded calm.

    ¡°You rarely talk so much even to us; this isn¡¯t like you. You sure it¡¯s just a friend?¡± The other girlmented with augh. ¡°In any case, don¡¯t just chat on the phone. Today¡¯s autopsy ss is quite important.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Then Gao Ru Xue spoke into the phone. ¡°If you have time, why don¡¯t youe over for dinner tonight? This is the first time I¡¯m inviting someone over, so you¡¯d better think about it.¡±

    ¡°Hurry on to your ss. I¡¯ll be over tonight.¡± Chen Ge sounded maic on the phone like a confident, mature man.

    After hanging up, Chen Ge¡¯s expression changed. Gao Ru Xue asked me to meet her in person tonight, looks like this thing has really spooked her. Then again, why could only my contact be reached normally?

    He ced both of his phones in his palm, but he could not figure it out.

    Statue, the additional person, phone message...

    Actually, Chen Ge wanted to ask Gao Ru Xue if that underground room had anything to do with a morgue or not.

    No. 10 was carrying a body on his back. Could that body be rted to the underground morgue at Jiujiang¡¯s Medical University?

    Chen Ge examined all the clues in his mind, and the dots started to line up.

 Chapter 344 - Open for Business!

    <h4>Chapter 344: Open for Business!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°When I see Gao Ru Xue tonight, I¡¯ll warn her that it might be time to move out of that bedroom.¡± There was something scary buried underneath Jiujiang¡¯s Medical University that Gao Ru Xue did not know about.

    After pocketing the phone, Chen Ge ran out of the mountain. Chen Ge reached Lin Guan Vige at 9 am, and Xu Wan¡¯s phone call came, asking him why he was not at the Haunted House and if something happened to him. Chen Ge brushed her off with some random excuses, and Xu Wan told him some good news¡ªGu Feiyu had gotten out of the hospital already.

    This young security had been assaulted by the ghost stories society at Fang Hwa Apartments and only recovered recently. He had already reported for duty at New Century Park early in the morning. ¡°Xiao Gu is quite a responsible worker, and the Haunted House does need the manpower.¡±

    Chen Ge told Xu Wan that he would arrive at the park within three hours. He hoped that she would be able to calm the visitors down. Bringing the two kids into the police car, Ol¡¯ Wei nned to drive them to the station, but with Chen Ge begging him, he finally agreed to drop Chen Ge at New Century Park first. Chen Ge caught a quick forty-winks inside the police car and arrived at the park at around 11 am.

    He had been rushing throughout the night, and his clothes had been torn open by branches and trees. There was a dirty cat on his shoulders. He looked rather worse for wear. ¡°So sorry I¡¯mte.¡±

    The resting tent beside the Haunted House was already full, as were the steps. Many visitors came purposely for the Haunted House. The visitors were filled withints since they had been waiting for so long, but when they saw Chen Ge, theints were stuck in their throat.

    ¡°Xiao Chen, you¡¯re sote! Don¡¯t you know the time?¡± Uncle Xu had the park workers hand out some free gifts and water, and then he asked the question that was on everyone¡¯s mind. ¡°Where have you been all night?¡±

    Many visitors came closer to listen. After all, they were intrigued by Chen Ge appearance.

    ¡°Last night, two kids went missing from Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home, and I went to help them look for the missing kids. We followed the trail into the deep mountain and discovered a vige filled with deformed people. The whole vige is just like a tomb where joyful asions are shunned, and funerals are weed. There are whitenterns and paper money everywhere. When I arrived, they were in the middle of a ceremony with babies in bamboo baskets and a red coffin standing upright. The woman at the vige held a pair of scissors in her hand as she carried the babies into the ancestral hall. When she exited, her clothes are drenched in fresh blood...¡±

    ¡°Okay, you can stop now.¡± Uncle Xu quickly grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s arm. There was already a group of visitors around them. They were originally filled with displeasure, but the story was quite interesting.

    ¡°Why did you tell him to stop? What happened next?¡±

    ¡°What kind of ceremony is this bloody? Is this vige real?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s leave, the boss has gone insane.¡±

    Uncle Xu tried to calm the crowd, but Chen Ge spoke louder. ¡°That¡¯s not even the scariest thing!¡±

    He grabbed the loudspeaker that the worker used to maintain order and stepped on the railing to climb onto the Midnight Ticket Counter. He was dressed normally, but he grabbed everyone¡¯s attention.

    ¡°After some deeper investigation, I realized the vige is a ghost vige!

    ¡°A ce for the living in the day but for the dead at night. After midnight, the whole vige is filled with ghosts!

    ¡°You definitely have not seen things like that before! Dead people holding a funeral for dead people, the funeral procession moving through the vige!

    ¡°If you think that¡¯s all, then you¡¯d be mistaken! The most dangerous thing about this vige was the houses. The courtyards were nted with locust trees, and they had weird-looking monsters buried underneath them. If you¡¯re lucky enough to escape into the inner room, don¡¯t be happy so soon!

    ¡°Every room in the vige is ced with a coffin, and a set of red graveclothes is ced inside each one. Regardless of whether you touch them or not, the clothes will crawl out of the coffin to follow you!

    ¡°You have to be careful with your every breath because, at any given moment, someone will call your name. If you answer the call, you¡¯ll enter the wedding night, and your partner will be a bride wearing a wedding dress made from human skin!

    ¡°Death funeral, ghost vige, skullntern! All sorts of monsters reside in this vige!

    ¡°A unique setting! Scary design! You only need to pay 30 to experience such an interesting scenario! That¡¯s the reason I¡¯mte today; I¡¯ve been busy building this new scenario!

    ¡°Thistest three-star scenario will be opened for a limited period! Believe me, this is definitely the scariest vige-themed scenario on the market!¡±

    When Chen Ge finished, his voice still echoed through the park.

    ¡°It was just a sales pitch, but why do I feel so excited?¡±

    ¡°What was I trying to say earlier?¡±

    ¡°Since you have a new scenario and a special offer, I¡¯m willing to forget that you¡¯rete. Losing memory...¡±

    ¡°I want to try it out, but I¡¯m afraid. This is so hard!¡±

    The update speed of Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House would scare hispetition out of the market. Chen Ge nodded in satisfaction, looking at the visitors in deliberation. The new scenario and limited time offer would save him from beingte. He jumped down from the ticket counter and returned the loudspeaker to the worker. He opened the Haunted House¡¯s doors.

    ¡°We¡¯re open for business!¡±

    Chen Ge had Gu Feiyu change into the doctor¡¯s outfit and handed him the upgraded hammer. He was tasked with acting as the serial killer in Murder by Midnight. Xu Wan was tasked with handling the Minghun scenario.

    The two one-star scenarios above ground had someone looking over them, and the underground Mu Yang High School had the twenty-four students. Uncle Xu was selling ticket, and Chen Ge was left with nothing to do.

    <i>I should find more spirits like Uncle Yan and the students. They aren¡¯t malicious. If this continues, I can rest myself at the counter daily, with the sole responsibility of counting my ie.</i>

    Chen Ge rested at the door after sending the visitors in. He wanted to ask Gao Ru Xue for an update when he saw someone looking for him on WhatsApp.

    ¡°Ye Xiaoxin?¡± That was the professional critic who entered Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House with the people from Tian Teng Medical School. She had been scared until she almost vomited. Then, she gave Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House a very high remark online and asked for his contact, saying she nned to help him do the promotion online.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? How can I help?¡±

    ¡°Lately, there have been manyments trying to give your Haunted House a bad review online. I searched high and low and finally found the culprit.¡± Ye Xiaoxin sent Chen Ge several pictures. ¡°One of them is also a Haunted House reviewer. We share quite a rocky rtionship. As long as it¡¯s a Haunted House rmended by me, she will critic it heavily. They might be visiting your Haunted House soon, so be careful. Among the pictures that I¡¯ve sent to you, there¡¯s the reviewer¡¯s selfie that she posted on the tform.¡±

 Chapter 345 - The Kind Boss Chen

    <h4>Chapter 345: The Kind Boss Chen</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge nced at the picture. This woman looked just like a good little girl; she was wearing a cute dress in the picture and was aplete opposite to the tomboyish Ye Xiaoxin. He moved the picture, and when Chen Ge saw the second screenshot, he started to get unsettled.

    The unassuming girl kept creating chaos online. One could find her on all the reviews Ye Xiaoxin had ever released. This was particrly obvious with Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House review. Initially, it was 9.7, but after a wave of negative reviews, it was pushed down to 8.9. Thankfully Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House had its own fans and many good reviews, or the point would have been lower.

    The other screenshots showed the woman going around to bring down the reviews for other Haunted Houses and raise the ratings for the ones she reviewed. The main point was that many online users were tricked by her looks and supported her no matter what.

    Theparison was quite obvious. The reviews on her main page were all maintained above 9, but the other reviews pointed out how unfair they were. However, she showed no sign of changing them. In Ye Xiaoxin¡¯s review, the highest was Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, and the second highest was only 6.

    ¡°It¡¯s one thing if you make enemies with Ye Xiaoxin, but you¡¯ve flooded my Haunted House with negative reviews. In that case, I¡¯ll need to fight for myself or else it¡¯ll be unfair to my loyal employee.¡± Chen Ge nced at this woman¡¯s ID and even remembered what she looked like. There were many other screenshots. Other than this woman, there were parties purposely talking about New Century Park on forums and websites. It felt like they were trying to attempt something bad.

    ¡°I should tell Director Luo about this. After all, the Haunted House is now the park¡¯s main attraction, so the lowering in the Haunted House¡¯s review will affect the park¡¯s name.¡±

    Sitting at the door, watching the visitors being led into the scenarios, and listening to the screams that escaped from within, Chen Ge felt quite aplished.

    Earlier, Chen Ge had been calling all day, saying that the three-star scenario was temporarily open to public, but most of the visitors were experienced. They would google the review before they entered the Haunted House. For most, a three-star scenario was like a taboo for living humans. Chen Ge sat at the door until noon. He almost fell asleep when he was shaken awake by Uncle Xu.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Uncle Xu?¡± Uncle Xu coughed twice and pointed behind him. ¡°These few visitors want to challenge that new scenario that you mentioned.¡±

    ¡°The environment is passable, four points. The worker is sozy that he fell asleep at work, two points.¡± Five visitors stood at the door, three males and two females. One of the females was typing on her phone. When he saw the woman¡¯s face, Chen Ge stunned before he turned habitually to a smile. ¡°Wee, the new scenario hasn¡¯t been tested before. You¡¯re so lucky.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s toote to change your attitude now. I want to see the most authentic experience your Haunted House has to offer.¡± The woman raised her head. She had a baby face, but her voice was coarse, revealing her actual age.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you here to visit the Haunted House?¡± Chen Ge pretended like he did not know what she was talking about.

    ¡°You can call me Cassie. I¡¯m a professional Haunted House reviewer, and I have several hundred thousand fans online. If I feel like your Haunted House is not bad and I ce it on my rmendation page, your visitor number will increase by 33 percent.¡± The woman was prideful. ¡°Of course, you have to make me believe your Haunted House is worth it, but so far, it is not living up to its name.¡±

    Chen Ge was toozy to listen the woman¡¯s boasting. ¡°Do you have a Chinese name? Like Tie Zhu or Gou Dan <sup>1</sup> , something easier to remember.¡±

    The woman¡¯s face fell immediately, but she did not get into an argument with Chen Ge. This girl would maintain her persona around her friends. She did not speak, but the two men saw how hurt she was and walked forward to defend her.

    One of them had a head of hair dyed yellow, with an earring and nose ring. He looked like a hippie. The other was more normal, but he was around 1.9 meters tall.

    ¡°Fine, since you¡¯re here, you¡¯re my visitors. Let¡¯s not waste time, sign these disimers.¡± Chen Ge did not want to get into an altercation with them. He gave them the contract to sign, and the excitement in his voice made the hair on Uncle Xu¡¯s body stand upright.

    ¡°Xiao Chen, they just want to give an objective review, don¡¯t act recklessly.¡±

    ¡°Haunted House has been open for long already, don¡¯t you know me? When have I been reckless before?¡± Chen Ge pushed Uncle Xu out the door. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    ¡°You say that every time.¡± Uncle Xu did not voice his real opinion since there were outsiders around, but there was obvious worry in his eyes.

    The five visitors noticed the look in his eyes, and for some reason, they felt creeped out. <i>Is this uncle also employed at the Haunted House? He¡¯s such a good actor! Just a look can express so manyplicated feelings.</i>

    After sending Uncle Xu away, Chen Ge¡¯s smile grew brighter. ¡°Come, sign the disimer. Coffin Vige is open for the first time for visitation, so you have to be careful of safety. If youe into any danger, do scream, and the worker wille save you.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s attitude was wless, but the more he acted like this, the more worried the five visitors became.

    ¡°The new scenario is just a gimmick; there¡¯s nothing to be afraid of. Actually, this is just a trial. A uniquely eastern haunted house experience I made using local folklore; it¡¯spletely different from the western and Japanese horror houses,¡± Chen Ge exined theme of Coffin Vige briefly.

    When the visitors heard it was not the western and Japanese horror theme that weremon on the market, they sighed in relief. Actually, there were few eastern-themed Haunted Houses in the country, but probably due to budget and inexperience, the effect wascking.

    ¡°An eastern-themed scenario? Earlier you also mentioned it was a haunted vige, right? That¡¯s very rare.¡± The one who spoke was the other woman. She had pigtails and looked quite young. Chen Ge nced at the woman¡¯s name on the disimer. It was rathermon¡ªZhang Lan.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m interested to give it a try.¡± Chen Ge collected all the disimers carefully. It felt like he knew they woulde into use eventually. ¡°Come with me. The new scenario is underground.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± The woman suddenly spoke. She was a cunning one. Before she arrived, she had looked over all the information on Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. Furthermore, they were challenging a three-star scenario, so she had to be careful. ¡°I hear for scenarios above two-stars, you ept teams of ten. There¡¯s only five of us now; why don¡¯t we wait for other visitors to join us?¡±

    Chen Ge thought about it and agreed. ¡°Then let me go see if there are any other visitors who wish to join.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± The woman smiled sweetly.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. Our Haunted House always put our visitor¡¯s request first.¡± Chen Ge turned and walked out. After Chen Ge left, the few visitors started to talk among themselves.

    ¡°Sister Mao, what are you afraid of? The five of us have cleared how many Haunted Houses already? Other visitors will only drag us down,¡± the yellow hair grumbled with dissatisfaction.

    ¡°This guy is friends with Ye Xiaoxin. I¡¯m afraid he might trap us inside the Haunted House. If there are other visitors, he won¡¯t do something like that.¡± The woman took out her phone and added, ¡°The worker has attitude, three points.¡±

    Five minutester, Chen Ge pushed open the door. He slid theic into his pocket, and three people followed behind him.

    Two guys and one girl.

    The woman was very pretty, but her body was unsteady. One of the guys had his left hand stuck in his pocket, and the other was wearing a ck shirt, grumbling about his recent bad luck.

    ¡°You¡¯re so lucky. These three visitors also want to visit the new scenario, so the eight of you can experience it together.¡± A smile hung on Chen Ge¡¯s face like serving the visitors was a very happy thing for him.

 Chapter 346 - Wave of Ghosts Coming Through

    <h4>Chapter 346: Wave of Ghosts Coming Through</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I¡¯ve already introduced the scenario. Three-star scenario, there¡¯s no path to follow, and it¡¯spletely open. All you need to do is find a blood red wedding dress and bring it out.¡± Chen Ge came up with the rules on the spot. After all, this was his Haunted House; his words were the rules.

    ¡°That simple?¡± The young hair turned back to ask Chen Ge, ¡°Are there any hidden conditions? Some Haunted Houses will design multiple side missions to make the experience more enjoyable. They allow the visitors to explore the ce on their own, to increase yability.¡±

    ¡°There are many hidden plots inside my Haunted House. You can explore it to your heart¡¯s content.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s smile was like the sun, it made people feel warmed.

    ¡°Then how about time requirement for clearing the scenario?¡± Therge man chimed in. It was quite obvious that they were experienced yers. They knew the ins and outs of Haunted Houses.

    ¡°Since this is the first time the ce has been open to the public, I¡¯ll give you more time. As long as you can find the wedding dress in forty minutes, I¡¯ll consider it a sess.¡± Chen Ge was kind. He wanted the visitors to experience Coffin Vige fully, so he purposely extended the time limit.

    ¡°We won¡¯t need forty minutes.¡± The young hair flicked his bangs back. He too was a prideful man. ¡°We¡¯ve reviewed many Haunted Houses, and the longest we¡¯ve taken was thirty minutes.¡±

    ¡°Forty minutes is indeed too long, but this way we can look around.¡± The leading woman still held her phone, having no intention of putting it away. When Ye Xiaoxin entered the Haunted House, she had used her paper and pen for her notes. Based on this alone, one could see they were not on the same level. Actually, Chen Ge knew what the woman was up to. The Haunted House review was just a gimmick. She wanted to use the scary atmosphere to create a contrast to her cute demeanor. She was a lesser reviewerpared to Ye Xiaoxin, who knew and respected the rules of Haunted Houses.

    ¡°Yes, go look around, you might find more hidden joys.¡± Chen Ge was so kind that even the three ¡®visitors¡¯ following him could not stand it. After he had the three new visitors sign the disimers, he led the eight of them to the end of the corridor and lifted up the wooden boards. A st of cold air came from underground, causing them to shiver.

    ¡°Only a wooden board is used to separate the scenarios. It¡¯s too rough, minus one point for set design.¡± The woman added another note to her phone.

    Chen Ge was not angry. He was so nice that even his reminder was given with a kind smile. ¡°Our Haunted House doesn¡¯t allow the usage of phones and other recording devices. Please do mind that.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a certified reviewer. The phone is just to record data. Don¡¯t just assume stuff.¡±

    ¡°Understood, when you start your review, please be kind.¡± Chen Ge politely sent the eight into the scenario. ¡°The one on the left is the two-star scenario Mu Yang High School; the one behind the steel door on the right is the Third Sick Hall. Coffin Vige, which you¡¯re challenging today, is just ahead.¡±

    When Chen Ge entered the underground earlier, he had seen a meandering path appearing between the Third Sick Hall and Mu Yang High School. At the end of the path was a pale light.

    ¡°Coffin Vige is at the end of the path. This is where I¡¯ll leave you, have fun.¡± Chen Ge stood at the mouth of the path and sent the visitors away. <i>It¡¯s nice that the three scenarios are separated, but after the expansion turns the Haunted House into a maze, all the underground scenarios might join together to create arge scary scenario.</i>

    After three expansions, the Haunted House would morph into a Maze of Terror. It had been expanded twice already, and the third time was not that far away. Chen Ge looked down the other two scenarios. Inside the Mu Yang High School, the sealed ssroom¡¯s door was pushed open. A mannequin head peeked out as if to see whether Chen Ge had already left or not. When it saw Chen Ge, it rolled back into the ssroom and closed the door.

    <i>Those students sure are naughty. I¡¯ll need to have them memorize the worker¡¯s rulester. </i>Chen Ge returned to the surface and headed to the props room. He ransacked the ce and finally found the reward at the corner¡ªSeamstress¡¯ Wedding Dress. The tattered wedding dress was red as blood. It was possessed by a hatred-filled spirit. If one leaned close enough, one might even hear the weeping of a woman. If the visitors saw this, they would be so angry. Chen Ge had not even ced the thing that they were supposed to look for into the scenario. <i>The happiness in finding it after looking for a long time is the real fun of the game.</i>

    He wrapped the wedding dress inside a ck cloth. Chen Ge entered the changing room. This was the unique construct that he had obtained after the Haunted House¡¯s second expansion. None of the visitors had tried it before. Chen Ge selected one of the less conspicuous outfits and put on some make-up. ¡°This is not bad. I look normal from afar, but upon closer inspection, it¡¯s quite scary.¡±

    Chen Ge entered Coffin Vige again. He used the ck phone to inspect the hidden tunnels and pathways inside the vige and took out theic. When the ghost stories society was battling the Zhu woman, Chen Ge had made use of the opportunity to collect a few ghosts into theic. After a whole night of ¡®education¡¯, the lingering spirits had been reformed.

    ¡°I¡¯ve told you it¡¯s a good decision to follow me. This is the new home I¡¯ve arranged for all of you. The whole vige is yours. You can feed on the visitors¡¯ fear and screams, but remember one thing, you cannot harm the visitors and no physical contact, understood?¡±

    Chen Ge walked through Coffin Vige and tossed out the ghosts as he went. ¡°Thepletion rate for the mission is only seven percent, which means the scariest thing at this scenario hasn¡¯t arrived. Thankfully, I remembered to carry some ghosts from the vige itself.¡±

    Looking at the vige that came back to ¡®life¡¯, Chen Ge shed a satisfied smile. ¡°Even though it is quite harsh and demanding, all the sacrifice is worth it to give the visitors the best experience.¡±

    Chen Ge felt like he was the kind that worked in the background. If he revealed all the effort he had done, the visitors would be so touched.

    ...

    Amid creepy music and a heavy atmosphere, when the eight visitors reached the end of the path, what they saw stunned them¡ªrows of old houses, intertwining streets, fluttering paper money, and the white papernterns giving off pale light hanging at the door.

    ¡°This is Coffin Vige?¡± The leading woman shrunk back and silently hid behind herpanions.

 Chapter 347 - Theres No Need to Go Fast

    <h4>Chapter 347: There¡¯s No Need to Go Fast</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Such a real setting,¡± therge man mumbled. ¡°How did he do this?¡±

    ¡°Of course, he has to be talented to have opened a Haunted House. Furthermore, Ye Xiaoxin gave this ce such a high review. This means this Haunted House has its positive points.¡± The woman stood behind the yellow hair. She walked toward the other three visitors with a friendly smile.

    ¡°Are the three of you together?¡± The woman was good at socializing. Her tone and attitude were very friendly.

    ¡°No,¡± the man with his arm in his pocket replied coldly before he walked away.

    ¡°Be careful, this is a three-star scenario!¡± The woman grabbed the thin man¡¯s sleeves. The man turned back to re at her, and she quickly staggered back. ¡°I just want to remind you.¡±

    ¡°Sister Mao, just ignore him. When he is spooked until he wets his pants, he¡¯lle back to us.¡± The yellow hair stood between the man and the woman.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. Since we¡¯re in the same group, we should help one another.¡± The woman did not seem to mind the man¡¯s offensive behavior. She walked back to him. ¡°My name is Cassie, but you can call me Sister Mao like the rest of them if you like.¡±

    The thin man thought about it and epted her kindness. ¡°The name¡¯s Bai Qiulin. My mood has been very awfultely, so I came to this Haunted House for stress release.¡±

    ¡°Understood, a Haunted House is a ce like that, right? To scream and release stress.¡± Sister Mao nodded with understanding before she turned to the other two visitors. ¡°Then how about the two of you?¡±

    The man in ck shirt looked smart, and he was very friendly. ¡°My name is Zhou. I¡¯m a real estate agent. I came with my girlfriend today...¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s your girlfriend?¡± The woman beside him smacked his arm. She did not have any make-up on, but she looked pretty.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s only a matter of time.¡± Mr. Zhou winked at the woman as he grabbed the woman¡¯s hand. ¡°This is my girlfriend, Duan Yue. She¡¯s a high school English teacher. Normally, she has no break and has to tutor kids at night. It¡¯s rare that we both have a day off, so I brought her here to rx.¡±

    ¡°You two sure are sweet.¡± Sister Mao smiled. There was a trace of resentment in her eyes, but she hid it very well. ¡°Later, the three of you can follow along. This way, we¡¯ll be able to be on the lookout for one another.¡±

    ¡°You sound very professionally. Are you all professional Haunted House visitors?¡± Mr. Zhou asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m a Haunted House reviewer. I have tons of fans online, and these guys are members of my team.¡± Sister Mao introduced the people around her. The yellow hair was Huang Xing, therge man Ma Tian, and the other girl was Sister Mao¡¯s assistant, Zhang Lan. Sister Mao didn¡¯t introduce thest man, who looked older than the rest of them, in detail, but she called him Brother Wong.

    Each of them had a different personality. The only reason they could work together was because they had Sister Mao as the mediator.

    ¡°You all are indeed professionals. Then today we¡¯ll be depending on you.¡± Mr. Zhou was a people person as well. He continued to chat happily with Sister Mao like he could not see the fiery gaze Duan Yue was directing his way.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯vepleted more than ten of such Haunted Houses already.¡± Huang Xing was the bravest and the rashest of the group, so he walked ahead.

    ¡°Come on. The online review for this ce is very high. I want to see how good it is.¡± To make it convenient for recording, Sister Mao walked into the scenario with her phone on. A wind of unknown origin picked up the paper money from the floor. The whitenterns swayed as the pale light washed the street white.

    ¡°There are three main elements to a Haunted House¡¯s design¡ªstory, setting, and atmosphere. For this setting, I can give him six points, but s, without a story to go with it, it¡¯s difficult for visitors to feel invested. The atmosphere is the worst; I don¡¯t feel afraid at all. It¡¯s such a waste of these realistic props,¡± Sister Mao said and the two men next to her nodded.

    Only Zhang Lan kept turning back to look at Bai Qiulin. She felt something was wrong with this man. <i>Howe he keeps his left hand inside his pocket?</i>

    The eight of them squeezed together, and five of them were professional yers. Naturally they were not afraid.

    ¡°The boss said there¡¯s a time limit. The ce is so big, why don¡¯t we split into two groups?¡± Mr. Zhou thought about it and voiced his suggestion.

    ¡°Forty minutes is more than enough for us to clear this game. For a Haunted House, especially one that is open like this, it is crucial not to fall into their tempo.¡± The yellow hair looked experienced. ¡°The two of you just follow behind me. To tell you the truth, I¡¯ve always been brave. Even if a real ghost appears, I¡¯ll fight them with my bare hands, much less Haunted House actors.¡±

    ¡°Impressive.¡± Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue followed behind the yellow hair. Sister Mao walked with the tall guy while Zhang Lan stood between Brother Wong and Bai Qiulin. She realized Bai Qiulin had many habits that were quite abnormal. For example, his neck was slightly twisted like it was sprained.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Brother Wong nced at Xiao Lan. He seemed to have his own reason to be there. He was not familiar with Sister Mao¡¯s team members. It was the first time Zhang Lan had met Brother Wong. She also had no idea why he was tagging along. ¡°It¡¯s nothing. By the way, I¡¯ll be following youter. Sister Mao told me that.¡±

    The group walked ahead, and Bai Qiulin looked at their backs with a smile on his face. The pale light pulled their shadows long as they formally entered Coffin Vige. When they stepped into Coffin Vige, the whitenterns lining the street on both sides started to sway. The vige turned darker like something was waking up.

    CREAK...

    Yellow hair pushed open the door to the first old home. The empty courtyard had nothing.

    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡± He sounded disappointed. With Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue apanying him, the three entered the inner room together. There was a ck and white picture sitting on the altar. The person in the picture had their eyes gouged out. There was painting of a mountain spirit on the walls, and a coffin sat in the middle of the room.

    ¡°The decoration is simple; there¡¯s nothing particrly scary.¡± The yellow hair turned around the room. He picked up the picture on the altar and started to study it. ¡°Why did they gouge out the eyes? Is it hiding the clue to clear the scenario?¡±

    He undid the frame and took out the picture. ¡°The person looks like he¡¯s crying?¡±

    The man prepared to examine closer when Mr. Zhou¡¯s voice came from behind him. ¡°What are you looking at?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing, just looking around. I like to clear all the stories inside a Haunted House¡ªit¡¯s more fun that way.¡±

    ¡°I feel like we shouldn¡¯t be wandering about. The crucial thing is to find the wedding dress. What if we run out of time?¡± Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue walked over on tip-toe.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, there is enough time.¡± The yellow hair flicked his hair back and raised two fingers. ¡°We can finish this ce in twenty minutes, but there¡¯s no need to. It won¡¯t be fun that way.¡±

    He faced Mr. Zhou, so he did not notice the ghosts in the pictures that were all looking at his back.

    ¡°You¡¯re right. Taking it slow is more fun.¡± Mr. Zhou silently moved the ck and white picture away. The position of the man inside the picture had changed like he had moved one step forward.

 Chapter 348 - Somethings Wrong

    <h4>Chapter 348: Something¡¯s Wrong</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Reaching out to press the face of the man in the picture, Mr. Zhou agreed with the yellow hair. ¡°Indeed, why should we be in such a hurry? It¡¯s rare that we have the chance toe in here, so we should make the most of it.¡±

    Mr. Zhou was actually talking to the spirit inside the picture, but yellow hair thought the man was talking to him, so he concurred. ¡°That¡¯s right. That¡¯s the spirit you should have when you¡¯re inside a Haunted House! Come on, I¡¯ll bring you to go visit some other ces. This Haunted House is not that scary; it¡¯s probably just a hoax online!¡±

    Yellow hair led the two out of the old home. They searched through many homes before they reached the center of the vige.

    ¡°The scenario is rather big. With our current speed, we might not be able to finish it in forty minutes. If we cannot find the wedding dress before forty minutes, it¡¯ll be such a shame,¡± therge man told the rest. ¡°I think we should split up. With this ancestral hall as the center, Sister Mao, Mr. Wong, and myself will go to the left, and the rest of you go to the right.¡±

    ¡°Why should you be with Sister Mao? I think it¡¯s better if we switch ces.¡± The yellow hair was unhappy. In the end, it was Sister Mao who convinced him to let it go.

    ¡°Then it¡¯s decided.¡± Ma Tian¡¯s group walked down the meandering road, leaving the rest in the middle of the vige.

    ¡°We should n this out as well. Xiao Lan, you go with the couple, and I¡¯ll stick with the other guest. This way, we can save time and hopefully find the wedding dress before them.¡± Yellow hair took up the leadership role naturally.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good idea. We¡¯re already split. What if we run into danger?¡± Zhang Lan walked to stand beside the yellow hair, hoping he would change his mind.

    ¡°Listen to me, this Haunted House¡¯s atmosphere is not bad, but the scares are horrible.¡± The insouciance in yellow hair¡¯s tone made Zhang Lan anxious. She wanted to tell yellow hair, <i>The visitor that you¡¯re pairing yourself with is quite abnormal!</i>

    However, she did not want to say that before Bai Qiulin.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine, let¡¯s go.¡± Yellow hair extended his hand toward Bai Qiulin, wanting to shake his hand, but Bai Qiulin did not show any intention of pulling his hand out of his pocket¡ªhe just nodded.

    ¡°You sure are something else. Later, don¡¯te to me with tears, begging me to help you out.¡± Yellow hair was quite angered. He took back his hand and walked ahead on his own. Bai Qiulin trailed behind him and still kept his hand inside his pocket. Zhang Lan saw this clearly, and her painted brows creased. ¡°Something is just not right.¡±

    ¡°What is not right?¡± The friendly Mr. Zhou came to stand beside her.

    ¡°By the way, I have some questions to ask you.¡± Zhang Lan pointed at Bai Qiulin, who walked away. ¡°That man came together with you. When you were in the lines outside, did he do anything weird? Or something out of the ordinary?¡±

    ¡°When we were in the lines?¡± Mr. Zhou scratched his chin in thought. ¡°When Boss Chen shouted that there was a special discount for visitation of this three-star scenario, we were closest to the entrance, so we were selected. I don¡¯t have any special impression of the man. He¡¯s probably just a normal visitor.¡±

    ¡°I hope so.¡± Zhang Lan was still worried. ¡°Let me tell you something. There was one time when I apanied Sister Mao to review a Haunted House, and a mental patient sneaked into it. He looked just like a normal person, but he acted up inside the Haunted House. You have no idea how scary it was.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you tell me?¡± Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue were curious.

    ¡°He thered himself with the fake blood inside the Haunted House and then grabbed the prop to assault the other visitors. The worst thing was initially the visitors thought he was an employee at the Haunted House. They were afraid, but they did not resist. This caused many injuries.¡± Zhang Lan still had nightmares of that experience.

    ¡°How could something like that even happen?¡± Mr. Zhou¡¯s hand went to his lips. His action was quite exaggerated.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m worried about Huang Xing. He might be hard to deal with, but he¡¯s mypanion.¡± By then, yellow hair and Bai Qiulin had already disappeared from their view.

    ¡°If I were you, I would be worried, too.¡± Mr. Zhou very naturally took up Duan Yue¡¯s hand and turned to look at her with love. ¡°If you went missing, I would look all over the world for you.¡±

    Duan Yue¡¯s reaction was cold. She only said one word. ¡°Lies.¡±

    ¡°You two sure are a loving couple.¡± Zhang Lanughed. She had juste to visit a Haunted House¡ªshe did not expect to be fed dog food. ¡°Let¡¯s start moving as well. The earlier we find the wedding dress, the sooner we have the upper hand.¡±

    The mention of the mission made Zhang Lan turn serious. ¡°I¡¯m Sister Mao¡¯s assistant. I investigated this Haunted House before we arrived. The information I¡¯ve found is quite scary. The reviews from actual visitors are all above 8. Minus the trolls, all the reviews said this ce is scary. We¡¯ve reviewed many Haunted Houses before, and this is the first time we¡¯ve seen something like this.¡±

    ¡°Meaning this Haunted House is very scary?¡± Mr. Zhou looked around him. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s that scary so far, just a bit cold.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t let your guard down. I suspect the boss is just biding his time.¡± Zhang Lan took out her phone to click open a page. ¡°Look at the online review for the boss.¡±

    Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue nced at Zhang Lan¡¯s hone and saw about ten anonymous reviews.

    ¡°The boss is insane! Like a serial killer, he discovered me but didn¡¯t say anything, trailing behind me silently. The man followed me for ten minutes! If not for my friend who screamed, I really didn¡¯t know there¡¯s something behind me!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t ask me why I¡¯m an Anon, I still want to see tomorrow¡¯s sunrise... The boss is too scary.¡±

    ¡°My friend asked why I brought extra underwear with me to a Haunted House. I say, if you want to prepare diapers, it¡¯s also fine.¡±

    Reading all the anonymous reviews, Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue¡¯s expressions changed. They had a new understanding of Chen Ge.

    ¡°Scary, right?¡± Zhang Lan pocketed her phone. ¡°So, I say we better find the wedding dress as fast as we can and leave this ce.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Mr. Zhou arranged his emotions. ¡°Then, what shall we do next?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a little worried about Huang Xing. Let¡¯s go meet up with him first.¡± Zhang Lan pointed toward the road that yellow hair had headed down earlier. Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue followed behind her.

    By then, yellow hair and Bai Qiulin had reached the end of the street. They found a sedan at the corner.

    ¡°A bridal sedan?¡± Yellow hair was excited. ¡°Looks like the wedding dress will be nearby! I¡¯ve found the right ce!¡±

    He ignored Bai Qiulin and walked into the house where the sedan was parked alone. ¡°There¡¯s white paper everywhere. Is this a Minghun?¡±

    Yellow hair looked left and right but forgot to look behind him. The sedan that he had passed earlier started to move on its own.

 Chapter 349 - Where Is My Hand?

    <h4>Chapter 349: Where Is My Hand?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After yellow hair entered the home, two children with painted faces poked their heads out from the sedan. Bai Qiulin acted like he did not see this creepy scene and walked past the sedan. The whitentern above the door swayed several times before they went out, throwing the home into darkness.

    White celebratory posters were pasted on the wall, and yellow hair stood in the courtyard alone. ¡°This ce isrger than the others. Plenty of traps must be around here.¡±

    He might be reckless, but he was not dumb. The atmosphere in the home was slightly off¡ªhe had already noticed that.

    ¡°Huang Xing...¡± Someone was calling his name. It sounded ethereal and seemed toe from the inner room.

    ¡°Someone¡¯s calling me?¡± He tried to follow the voice, but it disappeared as if he had imagined it. ¡°It should be some kind of surround sound system. I¡¯m surprised such a dpidated set design has high-end equipment.¡±

    Without him realizing, Huang Xing was nervous, and he pushed the door open carefully. White draperies covered the room. It was a wedding, but the ce was decorated like a funeral. ¡°It really is a Minghun, such an old, used theme.¡±

    ¡°Huang Xing...¡±

    Yellow hair talked to himself when that weird noise appeared again, and this time, he heard it clearly. ¡°The voice is familiar!¡±

    It was a strange feeling. It sounded like a familiar person who called his name, but he could not remember who it was. The old home, the paper money, the white decoration¡ªthere was no change to the surroundings, but Huang Xing felt like everything had shifted, like it had turned creepier. A draft picked up behind him to chill the back of his neck. He turned around instantly. ¡°Who is it?¡±

    ¡°Why are you panicking? It¡¯s just me.¡± Bai Qiulin had his hand in his pocket and started to look around the room.

    Seeing a second visitor, Huang Xing sighed in relief. ¡°Did you hear a woman¡¯s voice earlier?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± Bai Qiulin ¡®studied¡¯ the decorations, but he made sure to stay close to the door.

    ¡°But I did hear someone calling my name.¡± Yellow hair looked outside the door, and there were two children with blood red paint on their faces running through it. ¡°Someone¡¯s outside!¡±

    Bai Qiulin also looked out the front door. There was only an empty street. ¡°What are you talking about? Where are the people?¡±

    ¡°But they¡¯re there! There were two kids with something painted on their faces.¡± Huang Xing tried his best to describe the features of the two kids.

    ¡°Do you think the Haunted House would employ children to scare people? If it was not mannequins, then you were definitely mistaken.¡± When Bai Qiulin turned away, the two children poked their heads through the front door again.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not mistaken!¡± This time, Huang Xing matched the gaze of the two children and ran out immediately. ¡°Wait for me, I¡¯ll catch them for you to see!¡±

    Huang Xing rushed to the front door, but the two kids had disappeared. The street was empty other than the paper money and the creaking bridal sedan. ¡°Where are they? I only took several seconds to run out here. Where can they disappear to?¡±

    ¡°Huang Xing...¡± Yellow hair shivered, and the woman¡¯s voice came again. ¡°Why does it sound like the voice is closer when I¡¯m outside? It feels like she¡¯s talking into my ear.¡±

    He took out his phone to use the torch to find the hidden audio system, but when he turned the torch on, the woman¡¯s voice picked up again.

    ¡°Huang Xing...¡±

    This time, the voice was even closer, like it was trying to drill into his mind.

    ¡°This is cursed, too cursed.¡± Yellow hair had been to many Haunted Houses, and this was the first time he had run into something like this. ¡°I cannot stay here alone. I need to find the wedding dress and meet up with Sister Mao.¡±

    He turned back into the inner hall and discovered something even scarier¡ªBai Qiulin had disappeared! How could a live person disappear just like that!

    ¡°Where is he?¡± A rare emotion rose in yellow hair¡¯s heart¡ªfear.

    ¡°Bai Qiulin!¡± Yellow hair called the man¡¯s name as he moved into the bedroom. The room was different from others. The bed and mattress were red in color, but it did not feel auspicious; if anything, it felt bloody. It was not paint but blood that dyed the fabric.

    ¡°This looks like the room of the bride. The wedding dress should be here, right?¡± Yellow hair walked forward, and he saw many red threads on the ground. They were particrly conspicuous in the room filled with paper money.

    He walked over those red threads to the bed. The red pillows were tossed in a messy way, and there were needles, thread, and scissors left on the bed. However, there was no wedding dress. The ce that should have had the wedding dress did not have it. Huang Xing gritted his teeth. ¡°I knew it wouldn¡¯t be so simple.¡±

    He lifted up the mattress, and there was an obvious bloodstain. It looked real.

    ¡°Huang Xing, look down...¡± When he was focused on his search, the woman¡¯s voice appeared in his mind without warning again. When a person was highly tense, they would be spooked by a tap on the shoulder, much less a voice in their head. Yellow hair almost fell to the ground, and he grabbed the edge of the bed to stop himself from falling.

    He took a deep breath, and his fists tightened. ¡°That wasn¡¯t an audio system! It couldn¡¯t be!¡±

    He twisted his arms, and his heart raced. ¡°That voice said something else. Yes! She said look down!¡±

    Huang Xing looked on the ground, and he realized all the red threads led to the space underneath the bed. ¡°Underneath the bed?¡±

    His Adam¡¯s apple moved as he slowly squatted down. He held the edge of the bed with one hand, and his other supported his weight on the ground as he lowered his head. His sight slowly lowered, and his senses were taut. He gritted his teeth, and just as his head was about to reach the ground, a hand suddenly reached out at him!

    ¡°F*ck!¡± Huang Xing copsed to the ground. He crawled backwards with fear in his eyes. ¡°That was a chopped hand! There was no arm, just a hand!¡±

    He had not recovered from his shock when he knocked into something on his back. Turning back to look, yellow hair saw Bai Qiulin standing behind him. ¡°Are you trying to kill me? Where have you been!¡±

    ¡°Just walking around. By the way, what did you see under the bed?¡± Bai Qiulin asked with curiosity.

    ¡°A chopped hand. It doesn¡¯t feel like it was remote-controlled. It just poked out from underneath the bed.¡± Yellow hair wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his calves still shaking. ¡°We need to leave this ce,e give me a hand.¡±

    Huang Xing reached out to grab Bai Qiulin¡¯s left hand, but he missed. Holding the empty sleeve in his hands, yellow hair¡¯s face was nk. His brain could not process the information. ¡°Where... where is your hand?¡±

    His neck snapped like he had fallen headfirst from a tall building, and blood seeped from Bai Qiulin¡¯s mouth and nose. He turned to look at his empty left sleeve, and a happy smile was on his face. ¡°You¡¯re right, where is my hand?¡±

 Chapter 350 - Triple the Happiness

    <h4>Chapter 350: Triple the Happiness</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    His eyes bulging out of their sockets, yellow hair felt like he was about to faint!

    ¡°Have you seen my hand?¡± Bai Qiulin looked down at him when his neck snapped, and his head fell to the ground. ¡°Where is my hand?¡±

    ...

    Zhang Lan¡¯s group, who were heading toward Huang Xing, heard the man¡¯s scream that came from the corner. The scream pierced through their ear drums. Just what had the man been through to make him scream like that?

    ¡°This is bad!¡± Hearing that, Zhang Lan¡¯s face changed. She told Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue, ¡°Something happened to Huang Xing! I told you something is wrong with that Bai Qiulin!¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it normal to scream inside a Haunted House? It probably has nothing to do with Bai Qiulin,¡± Mr. Zhou said.

    ¡°If it was a prop, then he would scream continuously. There wouldn¡¯t be a brief shout like this,¡± Zhang Lan analyzed as she walked forward.

    ¡°Understood.¡± Mr. Zhou remembered what Zhang Lan said. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that Bai Qiulin is a real mental patient?¡±

    ¡°Not necessarily.¡± Zhang Lan¡¯s expression was serious. ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve been hiding something from you.¡±

    She stopped moving and turned to Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue. ¡°ording to inte rumors, this Haunted House is really haunted.¡±

    ¡°Haunted? You¡¯re trying to say Bai Qiulin is a ghost?¡± Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue stopped together. ¡°You¡¯re kidding, right? Who would believe that in this day and age?¡±

    ¡°I also don¡¯t think so. When a person is past their fear threshold, other than fainting, they might see illusions,¡± Duan Yue said that, but it was obvious that she was afraid, too. She held Mr. Zhou¡¯s hand, and she looked panicked.

    ¡°Regardless, this Haunted House is scary. The boss knows psychology. Even if there¡¯s no ghost, he can make the visitors feel like there is one.¡± Zhang Lan slowed down to walk beside Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue. The three turned the corner and saw the sedan at the end of the street. The curtains were open.

    ¡°Huang Xing and Bai Qiulin have been here.¡± Zhang Lan did not dare go into the old home alone. For support, she dragged Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue with her. When she pushed open the front door, they saw Bai Qiulining out from the inner room.

    ¡°Stand there and don¡¯t move!¡± Zhang Lan screamed. ¡°Where is Huang Xing? Weren¡¯t you two together earlier?¡±

    ¡°How am I supposed to know? We got separated, and I also just rushed here when I heard his scream.¡± Bai Qiulin had his hand inside his pocket, and he seemed impatient. He was offended by the interrogation.

    ¡°Then what did you find?¡± Zhang Lan was very cautious. She did not take a step toward Bai Qiulin.

    ¡°I¡¯ve searched the house inside out, but I cannot find him,¡± Bai Qiulin said and walked toward them.

    ¡°Don¡¯te any closer!¡± Zhang Lan warned him again.

    ¡°Xiao Lan, we¡¯re all visitors. There¡¯s no reason to do this.¡± Mr. Zhou tried to ease the tension.

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand. I¡¯ve seen the review that said the boss once had his worker join the visitors to ¡®y¡¯ with them! The man¡¯s insane!¡± Zhang Lan pointed at Bai Qiulin. ¡°Something must be wrong with this man! You have to believe me; the most dangerous threat is often just standing next to you!¡±

    ¡°You suspect I¡¯m a Haunted House employee?¡± Bai Qiulin chuckled. ¡°Have you lost your mind?¡±

    ¡°If not, why do you keep your left hand inside your pocket? Is it because it¡¯s painted, or is it holding some remote control?¡± Zhang Lan had the support of the two visitors, so she was not afraid. ¡°If you dare take out your hand and there¡¯s nothing wrong with it, then I¡¯ll take back everything I¡¯ve said.¡±

    Bai Qiulin narrowed his eyes. ¡°You sure?¡±

    ¡°Yes! I¡¯m sure! You¡¯re definitely not a normal visitor!¡± Zhang Lan sounded confident.

    ¡°Fine, as you wish.¡± Bai Qiulin pulled out his left arm; it was only an empty sleeve. ¡°Can¡¯t a disabled person visit the Haunted House? Must you tear open my wound again? Now are you satisfied?¡±

    Zhang Lan was stunned. She really did not expect Bai Qiulin¡¯s left sleeve to have nothing.

    ¡°Xiao Lin, you¡¯ve crossed the line this time.¡± Mr. Zhou came forward to try to calm everyone down. He smiled apologetically at Bai Qiulin. ¡°This girl doesn¡¯t mean anything bad. I understand what you¡¯re feeling¡ªI¡¯ve been through something simr.¡±

    ¡°This is just a misunderstanding.¡± Duan Yue tried to persuade Zhang Lan. ¡°Stop being so suspicious. Isn¡¯t it the biggest taboo to scare yourself inside a Haunted House?¡±

    ¡°No, I still think something is wrong with him. The two of you, follow me. We¡¯ll investigate the house together. I suspect he¡¯s lying to us.¡± With Zhang Lan leading the way, Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue walked into the inner room. The paper money flew into the air.

    ¡°Not in this room.¡± Zhang Lan walked into the bedroom. ¡°The mattress has been moved; someone has been in here before. That Bai Qiulin was indeed lying! Mr. Zhou, you go and keep an eye on him outside. Don¡¯t let him out of your sight.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Mr. Zhou promised. He left the room with Duan Yue.

    ¡°I¡¯ll need to inform Sister Mao about this.¡± Zhang Lan took out her phone. She looked around the room before settling on the wooden bed, ¡°The only cerge enough to hide someone is under the bed.¡±

    The phone rang briefly before it was epted by Sister Mao. ¡°Xiao Lan, I was about to call you, what happened to Huang Xing? We could hear his scream from here. Did some ident happen?¡±

    Zhang Lan squatted beside the bed. Her voice was urgent. ¡°That Bai Qiulin is suspicious! Do you remember that mental patient that we ran into at the Haunted House overseas? I suspect either Bai Qiulin is an employee or a madman on a rampage!¡±

    ¡°Okay, I understand. Where are you now? We¡¯ll meet up with you.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a sedan outside this old home...¡± Zhang Lan looked below the bed, and multiple red threads intertwined forming a web of sorts. In the middle of the web was a man covered with a red wedding dress.

    ¡°Huang Xing?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Xiao Lan, have you found Huang Xing?¡± Sister Mao asked on the phone. Zhang Lan was about to reply when a cold hand suddenly reached out from underneath the bed to grab at her!

    Zhang Lan¡¯s phone flew from her grasp. She wanted to go grab it when she noticed a person standing beside her. The man¡¯s spine was twisted, his neck snapped, but his bloody face made Zhang Lan feel familiar.

    ¡°Bai Qiulin!¡± Zhang Lan was scared. She did not understand how Bai Qiulin walked into the room with Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue watching the door. She called out instinctually, ¡°Mr. Zhou! Come help me!¡±

    The chopped hand silently ended the call. Hearing Zhang Lan, Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue walked into the room. However, their looks hadpletely changed. All three ¡®humans¡¯ squeezed inside the room to give Zhang Lan triple the ¡®joy¡¯.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, we won¡¯t hurt you.¡±

 Chapter 351 - I Was So Scared!

    <h4>Chapter 351: I Was So Scared!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Xiao Lan? Say something! What¡¯s happening over there?¡± Sister Mao screamed into the phone. However, there was no answer but the sound of chaos.

    ¡°Mr. Zhou! Come save me!¡± Xiao Lan screamed before the call got cut off. Sister Mao put down the phone with a worried expression. ¡°Xiao Lan said Bai Qiulin is a crazy person? The five of them are together, Huang Xing has already been taken down, and now we¡¯ve lost contact with Xiao Lan as well. What is happening over there?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t Xiao Lan call for Mr. Zhou toe save her at thest minute? Looks like Mr. Zhou and his wife are also victims. We should go find the couple, and then we¡¯ll know for sure,¡± Ma Tian suggested. ¡°But we need to hurry before Bai Qiulin harms them.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care about that Mr. Zhou and his wife, nor do I care about your teammates. I¡¯ve paid my money, so you have to help me finish my mission.¡± The one who spoke was Brother Wong. He held his phone and kept recording everything, ignoring the rules of the Haunted House.

    ¡°You...¡± Ma Tian was about to say something when Sister Mao stopped him. ¡°Brother Wong, the situation has changed. There appear to be employees from the Haunted House mixed in with the visitors. We need to rify this first.¡±

    ¡°What kind of danger can happen in a Haunted House?¡± Brother Wong used his phone to record everything inside the Haunted House. Sister Mao knew that she would not be able to persuade Brother Wong, so she said, ¡°In that case, why don¡¯t you wait here? We¡¯ll be back in a bit.¡±

    ¡°Beforeing here, your group kept gloating, saying that going to a Haunted House is like returning home. Now we¡¯re just halfway through, and you¡¯re this panicked already? Looks like my money was spent at the wrong ce.¡± Brother Wong¡¯s identity was rather unique.

    Sister Mao did not dare counter, so she nodded and said, ¡°That is our fault. Brother Wong, just give us three minutes. If we cannot find Huang Xing and Xiao Lan, we¡¯lle back to get you.¡±

    ¡°Never mind, I¡¯ll go with you.¡± Brother Wong turned and inspected the video he had just recorded.

    ¡°Thank you, Brother Wong.¡± Sister Mao dragged Ma Tian out of the old home and said, ¡°We¡¯ll wait for you outside.¡±

    Once they were out the door, Ma Tian could not help but grumble, ¡°This Ol¡¯ Wong really think we¡¯re his bodyguards.¡±

    ¡°Just focus on our work.¡± Sister Mao patted Ma Tian¡¯s hand lightly. ¡°Calm down.¡±

    ¡°Sister Mao, actually, I¡¯m curious¡ªwhat is this man¡¯s identity? It¡¯s true that we did take his money, but that doesn¡¯t mean we need to be so servile toward him; we don¡¯t owe him anything.¡±

    ¡°He is one of the top brass at the futuristic theme park. He¡¯s well connected in the business, so there¡¯s no reason for us to offend him.¡± Sister Mao turned to look back into the house.

    ¡°In that case, why did hee to New Century Park personally? Why didn¡¯t he just send ackey?¡± Ma Tian was confused. He thought that the man¡¯s actions were unreasonable.

    ¡°This is a matter between the tworge theme parks; it¡¯s none of our business.¡±

    When Brother Wong came out, he had already pocketed his phone. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    The three returned to the center of the vige where they had separated from Huang Xing¡¯s group.

    ¡°There¡¯re so many houses. Where should we start looking?¡±

    ¡°On the phone, Xiao Lan said that she was inside a house with a sedan. We should follow the route that they used when they left.¡± The three were about to head down that way when footsteps echoed down the streets. A man and woman ran their way with fear on their faces.

    ¡°Mr. Zhou?¡± Ma Tian realized something and immediately went to meet up with them. Before he could say anything, he heard Mr. Zhou¡¯s urgent calls. ¡°You have to go save Xiao Lan! That Bai Qiulin is a monster!¡±

    Even from a far, Sister Mao and Ma Tian could hear the panic in Mr. Zhou¡¯s voice. ¡°Monster?¡±

    Mr. Zhou gasped for air as he held Duan Yue¡¯s hand. His eyes were filled with terror, and his hair was shaking from fear. ¡°Huang Xing suggested that we split up so we could find the wedding dress faster. He went alone with Bai Qiulin, and the two of us stayed with Zhang Lan. It didn¡¯t take long for us to hear Huang Xing scream!¡±

    Mr. Zhou¡¯s voice was shaking like he had just been through a traumatic event.

    ¡°We also heard Huang Xing¡¯s scream. What happened next?¡± Sister Mao urged him to continue.

    ¡°Zhang Lan had a suspicion that something was off about Bai Qiulin; she said there are inte rumors that this ce is really haunted! This Bai Qiulin is either an employee, a madman, or an actual ghost.¡± Mr. Zhou took a deep breath. ¡°Initially, we didn¡¯t believe Zhang Lan, but what happened next was too weird.¡±

    ¡°Tell us, what happened!¡±

    ¡°When the three of us arrived, we saw Bai Qiuline out from one of the old houses. Xiao Lan got into an argument with him then.¡± Mr. Zhou took out his left hand. ¡°All of you still remember Bai Qiulin kept his left hand inside his pocket, right?¡±

    ¡°Xiao Lan thought he was an employee and believed his left hand that was hidden must be controlling the mechanism inside the Haunted House. However, when Bai Qiulin took out his left hand, all three of us were shocked!¡± Mr. Zhou¡¯s voice was agitated. He shook his hand a bit dramatically. ¡°That Bai Qiulin has no left hand; the wound was clean, like it had been chopped off by a knife!¡±

    Based on Mr. Zhou¡¯s description, Sister Mao¡¯s group was feeling unsettled already.

    ¡°The scarier thing happenedter. Me and Duan Yue tried to persuade Xiao Lan to leave this man, but Xiao Lan insisted on going into the house. She believed that Huang Xing was inside the house somewhere.¡±

    ¡°So, the three of you entered the house?¡±

    ¡°The ce was big; Duan Yue and myself went to the bedroom on the right. Worried about Huang Xing¡¯s safety, Xiao Lan entered the bedroom on the left alone. Less than one minuteter, I heard Zhang Lan¡¯s scream!¡± Mr. Zhou¡¯s face was filled with guilt. ¡°I rushed toward her, but when I arrived, she had already disappeared from the room.¡±

    His fingers seemed to be shaking from fear. ¡°Then we saw the scariest thing. That Bai Qiulin walked out from behind the bed carrying his broken hand. His face was twisted and his body broken, just... just like he had been in a car ident!¡±

    Mr. Zhou was babbling. It was obvious that the man was traumatized.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic, calm down, we¡¯re here with you!¡± Ma Tian tried to console Mr. Zhou.

    ¡°It was too scary...¡± Mr. Zhou seemed to be caught in the fear. How he looked made Sister Mao and Ma Tian worried as well.

    ¡°Then the five of us should stick together and go back to the house.¡± Ma Tian was the first one to calm down. ¡°Mr. Zhou, you lead the way.¡±

    After some hesitation, Mr. Zhou nodded. ¡°It¡¯s my fault for not looking after Zhang Lan. Alright,e with me.¡±

 Chapter 352 - Its Not the Worst Situation Yet

    <h4>Chapter 352: It¡¯s Not the Worst Situation Yet</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue walked in front, Ma Tian stayed in the middle, and Sister Mao apanied Brother Wong at the back.

    ¡°Brother Wong, you have to stay close to me,¡± Sister Mao said softly. ¡°This Haunted House has a very high review online; even the 50-cent army I hired barely managed to knock its review down. Therefore, there has to be something unique about it.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve been here for about ten minutes already. We¡¯ve not run into any actors or scary props. I wonder how this Haunted House operates. Do they just allow their visitors to wander about on their own?¡± Brother Wong used his phone to record everything along the way but did not find anything that was particrly scary. ¡°The three-star scenario should be the most difficult and thus have the best design, but so far, the only thing I¡¯m feeling is boredom.¡±

    ¡°His old Haunted House cannot rival the Haunted House that you¡¯ve designed, but we still mustn¡¯t let our guard down.¡± Sister Mao smiled and did not dare say anything against Brother Wong.

    ¡°Recently, New Century Park has been showing signs of recovering, and it is all thanks to this Haunted House, but I cannot understand how a Haunted House is going to revive an entire park.¡± Brother Wong walked slowly, so Sister Mao did not dare walk too fast.

    The group was either worried about Zhang Lan and Huang Xing¡¯s safety or concerned about something else, so they did not notice the doors of the houses on the side of the street creak open, nor did they notice the shadows that crossed the wall. In fact, none of them noticed the shadow that hung from the rooftop that trailed behind them. The good actor, Mr. Zhou, slowly led them into the grasp of the ghosts.

    Funeral music appeared in their ears, and the whitenterns swayed, causing the light to flicker.

    ¡°Wait, something is not right!¡± Ma Tian signaled for them to stop. ¡°The atmosphere is different from before; it feels like many pairs of eyes are staring at us.¡±

    ¡°In that case, we better get out of here first.¡± Mr. Zhou was even more of a scaredy cat than Ma Tian. ¡°I really don¡¯t want to go any further!¡±

    ¡°We haven¡¯t found the wedding dress, and we¡¯ve lost our teammates. The time limit is forty minutes, and we¡¯re leaving in less than ten minutes? If this is heard by other people, how are we going to continue to survive as Haunted House reviewers?¡± Sister Mao took a step forward. ¡°We¡¯ll keep moving on. At the very least, we have to see what¡¯s happening in front.¡±

    After that, she turned to smile apologetically at Mr. Zhou. ¡°Please continue to lead the way, but don¡¯t worry, as long as you¡¯re with us, you¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    After a little more persuasion, Mr. Zhou finally relented. ¡°Then, we¡¯d better get a move on. I¡¯ll lead you to the ce, and then we¡¯ll leave on our own.¡±

    He and Duan Yue picked up speed, and Ma Tian followed close behind. The paper money on the ground flew up into the air, and there was the sound of crying. There were children giggling, and thenterns at the end of the street were moving on their own. They moved another few meters, and footsteps came from the other street. Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue acted like they did not hear anything and continued to move forward. Ma Tian followed without paying attention.

    However, after they crossed the street, the funeral music sounded, and two men with their heads lowered, carrying a broken coffin between them, walked out from the other street. The coffin blocked the road. Sister Mao and Brother Wong were separated from the three by the coffin.

    ¡°This is?¡± They finally saw the Haunted House¡¯s actors, but both Sister Mao and Brother Wong were unsettled. The two men were not wearing make-up, but howe they... looked just like dead people?

    The air froze, and Sister Mao pulled on Brother Wong¡¯s sleeves as she took a step back. She felt like she had knocked into something. She turned and saw a boy with a painted face smiling right at her. Before the fear in her heart exploded, Mr. Zhou, who was at the front of the group, suddenly screamed, ¡°There he is! He killed Zhang Lan!¡±

    In the middle of the courtyard stood Bai Qiulin with his spine broken and his face mangled. His body covered with blood, he ran at them waving his hand madly!

    ¡°I¡¯m not a killer! I¡¯m not a killer!¡± he screamed, but there was a hole on his throat, and his voice came out together with gushing blood. Mr. Zhou, who stood at the start of the group, turned and ran. Fear spread through the group. Ma Tian only saw Bai Qiulin¡¯s look before he also joined Mr. Zhou and ran. It was too scary! That was more than make-up; Bai Qiulin¡¯s head was almost falling off!

    ¡°Run!¡± Mr. Zhou cried out, but a coffin blocked their way. The two pallbearers seemed to hear their signal and let go of the coffin together before they reached for Sister Mao and Brother Wong.

    BANG!

    The coffin crashed to the ground, and the coffin lid slid off. A red set of graveclothes stood up on its own!

    Brother Wong and Sister Mao could not get a good look at what was happening in front. She barely had the chance to recover from the fright given by the boy before the world changed. The dead people charged at them, and the graveclothes inside the coffin jumped out and walked toward them!

    She was not a particrly courageous person. Normally, she depended on Ma Tian and Huang Xing. This sudden ident had spooked her too much. She grabbed Brother Wong, found the closest street, and ran down it.

    ¡°Sister Mao!¡± Ma Tian cried, but Sister Mao had already run away. The coffin sat between them, and the graveclothes now climbed back to stand on the coffin. Given this situation, the man did not dare get close to the coffin.

    Without any options, he followed Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue and ran into another street. Human faces appeared on the walls. Ma Tian did not dare to stop; the bloodied Bai Qiulin was right behind him!

    <i>He really looks like he has killed someone!</i>

    When that thought shed in his mind, Ma Tian¡¯s heart could not stop shaking. He had juste to visit a Haunted House; howe such an unfortunate thing happened to him?

    ¡°A madman hid inside a Haunted House and chopped off his own hand. This is insane!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t run away! I¡¯m not a killer! I swear!¡± Bai Qiulin¡¯s voice came from behind him, and it was getting closer to Ma Tian. He did not dare turn back and run full speed ahead. His heart raced, and he made sure to stay close to Mr. Zhou. He soon reached his limit, and his speed slowed down. Mr. Zhou, who was in front, screamed at the top of his lungs at Ma Tian, ¡°Quick! Don¡¯t stop!¡±

    After turning another corner, Mr. Zhou pushed open the door to one of the homes, and he waved at Ma Tian. ¡°This way!¡±

    Ma Tian followed Mr. Zhou into the room, but after closing the door, he started to regret it. ¡°Mr. Zhou! This is a dead end!¡±

    ¡°My wife cannot run anymore! You want me to abandon her?¡± Mr. Zhou helped Duan Yue into the inner room. ¡°We¡¯ll hide here for now.¡±

    The urgency of the moment made Ma Tian miss the change in Mr. Zhou¡¯s reference toward Duan Yue, which had changed from girlfriend to wife. He followed them into the inner room. ¡°But there¡¯s no ce to hide in here!¡±

    ¡°Come, we¡¯ll hide inside the dresser!¡± Mr. Zhou pulled the bedroom dresser open, and the three crawled into it. The door closed. There were three people inside the small space, but Ma Tian did not feel warmth. If anything, it felt like he had fallen into an icy cave.

    ¡°Something¡¯s not right...¡±

    ¡°Shush!¡± Mr. Zhou red at Ma Tian. ¡°I¡¯ve closed the front door; the madman probably won¡¯t know we¡¯re hiding here.¡±

    The moment he finished, the front door creaked open. The sound was close to shattering Ma Tian¡¯s heart.

    ¡°How can the monster know we¡¯re in here?¡± Mr. Zhou¡¯s face was filled with terror, but he soon recovered. ¡°He probably just came in here to take a look.¡±

    This time, before he even finished, the door of the inner room was pushed open. Ma Tian¡¯s heart went to his throat, and his breathing became uneven.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic! He definitely wouldn¡¯t know we¡¯re hiding here!¡± Mr. Zhou was like a fortune teller because Bai Qiulin was heard stepping into the bedroom and stopped before the dresser. Ma Tian¡¯s face nched, and he held his breath from fear of being discovered.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be scared. Now is not the worst situation. At least there are three of us humans visitors facing one ghost.¡± Mr. Zhou¡¯s voice changed. ¡°But if there were three ghosts chasing one human visitor, then you should be afraid.¡±

    Hearing that, a thought crossed Ma Tian¡¯s mind. How did Mr. Zhou know there was a wooden dress in this bedroom?

    Other houses did not have dressers, and this was the only exception!

    An indescribable terror filled his head, and it made every hair on his body stand on end.

 Chapter 353 - Ball Blowing Bubbles

    <h4>Chapter 353: Ball Blowing Bubbles</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    His calves weakened, and he felt like his energy was drained from his body. Ma Tian did not dare move his gaze as he felt the two visitors beside him changing. The footsteps got closer. He looked through the gap, and the teetering Bai Qiulin used his hand to press against the dresser door.

    Just as Ma Tian thought Bai Qiulin would open the dresser, Bai Qiulin took out a key and took his time to lock the dresser!

    Seeing this, Ma Tian understood everything before he fainted. ¡°The three of you... are all ghosts!¡±

    His scream echoed through Coffin Vige, and Brother Wong as well as Sister Mao heard it as they raced down the street. ¡°Ma Tian is the most stable of us all. To be able to make him scream like that, it must have been something really scary.¡±

    Sister Mao¡¯s heart fell. Five of them had entered, and in less than fifteen minutes, three of them had already disappeared. The scariest thing was, even now, she had no idea what had happened to her partners. Cold sweat ran down her forehead. She was different from Ye Xiaoxin. She was not that courageous a person, which was why she formed a Haunted House reviewer group.

    ¡°Your friends don¡¯t seem that reliable.¡± Brother Wong was not that physically fit, so he stopped running after a while.

    ¡°It¡¯s this Haunted House that¡¯s too scary!¡± Sister Mao dropped her disguise. She stopped wasting energy to pretend to be cute. It was hard when her mind was filled with various scary images.

    ¡°Let¡¯s leave this ce first. There¡¯s no need to sacrifice our lives for the sake of face.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡±

    Sister Mao held Brother Wong as they returned to the center of the vige. Looking at the branching paths, they were stunned.

    ¡°Which is the road that we took when we arrived?¡±

    ¡°Brother Wong, that¡¯s not the problem! When we arrived, there weren¡¯t so many paths!¡± Sister Mao felt like crying.

    ¡°Calm down, don¡¯t forget what you do for a living.¡± Brother Wong took out his phone. ¡°Thankfully, I took those pictures and videos.¡±

    He looked through the files and found the road that looked rather simr to the one they had taken when they arrived. ¡°Should be this one.¡±

    The two walked down that road, but the further they walked, the more they felt it was not right.

    ¡°When we entered the vige, it only took us several minutes to reach the center of the vige. Howe it feels like now we¡¯re walking deeper into the vige?¡± Sister Mao looked at Brother Wong¡¯s phone. ¡°Are we on the correct path?¡±

    As time went on, the pure terror of Coffin Vige slowly revealed itself. The whitenterns released a faded red light, and things started to change.

    ¡°We¡¯re really on the wrong path?¡± Brother Wongpared the road to his video. The path really did look to the one on his phone initially, but the more they walked down it, the more different it became. ¡°We should turn back to the vige center and select another path.¡±

    ¡°That might not be such a good idea.¡± Sister Mao grabbed Brother Wong¡¯s hand and led him into a nearby courtyard. They had just hidden themselves when children could be heard singing. Two boys with blood red mask ran past the front door. They looked to be seven or eight, and they sounded like innocent boys. However, put in this environment, it just felt creepy.

    ¡°They seem to have left.¡±

    Sister Mao wanted to look outside but was stopped by Brother Wong. ¡°Don¡¯t do it! What if the two boys are hiding behind the door? If this ce is as immoral as you said, they might do something like that.¡±

    ¡°But we cannot stay here forever?¡± Sister Mao tightened her clothes. ¡°Brother Wong, have you noticed the temperature dropping?¡±

    ¡°Not really, you¡¯re probably too nervous.¡± Brother Wong was very careful. He used his phone to look around. ¡°We should inspect this courtyard to make sure it¡¯s safe.¡±

    The whitenterns gave off a red light, and there was a strange smell in the air. The soil was moving, and the dead locust trees swayed lightly.

    ¡°Is this some kind of mechanism?¡± Brother Wong looked at the locust tree and used his hand to push it. He just wanted to see what kind of mechanism was responsible for moving it, but the locust tree fell with a slight push. ¡°The material used for the prop sure is unreliable.¡±

    The moment Brother Wong finished, Sister Mao pulled him back. ¡°Brother Wong, look under the tree!¡±

    There was a hole underneath the dead locust tree, and a body¡¯s legs were poking out.

    ¡°What kind of design is this?¡± Brother Wong and Sister Mao did not expect something to be buried underneath the tree.

    ¡°The tree is just a normal locust tree; there¡¯s no mechanism connected to it. Was it the legs that caused the tree to move? So, the mechanism is this body that is buried under the tree?¡± Brother Wong looked at the mannequin buried in the hole, and his curiosity to inspect it closer was silenced. He walked away from the hole. ¡°This is such mad design.¡±

    Sister Mao followed behind Brother Wong, holding his arm. ¡°Should we enter the house?¡±

    ¡°Let me think.¡± Brother Wong gripped the phone, feeling afraid. The two stopped in the middle of the courtyard when they suddenly heard a ssh, like a fish jumping out of the water. The surroundings had been so quiet that it was difficult for them to not notice this.

    ¡°The sound seems to havee from the water barrel.¡± Sister Mao hid behind Brother Wong. She seemed to have forgotten her identity as a Haunted House reviewer, and given the fact that her make-up had already been ruined, she just looked slightly better than a ghost.

    ¡°Come, let¡¯s go take a look.¡± Brother Wong neared the water barrel, and even when he got closer, he could not spot anything weird; it just looked like a normal water receptacle. However, there was a white ball floating on the surface.

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember anything floating on the water when we came in!¡± Brother Wong was confused. ¡°Where did the balle from?¡±

    The light was too dim for him to see clearly. It was not until they were standing next to the water barrel that they heard something that sounded like bubbles.

    ¡°The ball is making bubbles in the water?¡± Brother Wong leaned forward and turned on the shlight on his phone. He shone it at the water barrel. The light cut through the water and lit up the round ¡®ball¡¯.

    Their mouths fell open. It was not a ball but a human head soaked in the water until it had be white!

    With a ssh, the ghost jumped out from the barrel. The sudden light from the phone seemed to give him plenty of displeasure. The bloated face rushed toward the two visitors. Brother Wong was so spooked that he turned and ran. However, he only took several steps before he tripped on something.

    He looked at the ground, and the body that originally had its leg up now had its head upwards, poking through the soil!

    The face smiled at him like it was trying to crawl out from the hole. Brother Wong crawled toward the front door like his life depended on it. But at this moment, the sound of children singing came from the front door.

    ¡°Little old mister, sitting before the funeral, his face stern. Adults and babies sat watching. The son¡¯s legs were sore from kneeling.¡±

 Chapter 354 - They Are the Ghosts!

    <h4>Chapter 354: They Are the Ghosts!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The red door was pushed open, and the two boys bounded into the courtyard. They continued to sing their weird luby, and blood slid down their faces. When they got closer, Brother Wong realized that the red was not from paint but a mask that was carved into their faces.

    ¡°Don¡¯te any closer!¡± Brother Wong copsed to the ground. His hands reached back, hoping to grab something to use as a shield. His fingertips touched something cold. He turned back to look, and the mannequin that had been half-buried in the ground earlier had crawled out and was resting beside him!

    Brother Wong called for Sister Mao to help him, but Sister Mao was facing quite a big problem herself. The bloated ghost had climbed out of the water barrel, and water dripped to the ground, his swollen face staring at the two visitors inside the courtyard. A shrill female scream escaped her throat. Sister Mao was scared until she lost her rationality. She abandoned Brother Wong and raced out of the house like crazy.

    Thenterns on the side of the street elicited a red light. The originally-creepy vige changed in several minutes; it felt like she had arrived at hell!

    Two boys ran out from the courtyard. The eerie luby filled her ears, and Sister Mao raced for her life. ¡°Help!¡±

    As a Haunted House reviewer, she was screaming for help inside a Haunted House¡ªthat was something Sister Mao had not expected before she arrived. Her speed slowed down, and the Sedan Kids caught up to her. Despair almost swallowed her whole. ¡°Howe this road is so unending? Someonee and help me!¡±

    After turning the corner, Sister Mao saw the red graveclothes standing in the middle of the road. The clothes stood upright, and when it discovered Sister Mao, it chased after her without warning. Her throat was raw from screaming. Sister Mao focused on running.

    Fortunately, the Lord rewards hard work.

    Sister Mao saw light at the end of the road!

    At the end of the other street, there were several dim oilmps. Even though the light was weak, they managed to chase the darkness away. ¡°That should be the exit!¡±

    Sister Mao tried her best to run toward the light, but as she ran, she realized that something was wrong. Those lights did not seem fixed to anything; they seemed to be moving on their own!

    ¡°The lights are floating in the air?¡±

    With monster chasing behind her, Sister Mao did not have the time to consider these details. She ran another few meters before she saw the lights for what they were!

    Pale faces floated behind the lights¡ªeach oilmp was hanging from the mouth of a floating human head!

    Sister Mao¡¯s brain had gone into shutdown. Her body continued to move for several meters due to inertia. Just as she was about to charge into the group of Skull Lanterns, a hand reached out to grab her.

    ¡°Follow me!¡± the man said harshly. He pulled Sister Mao into one of the old homes and led her to jump through the window.

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Shush, it¡¯s very dangerous here.¡± The voice was rather familiar, so Sister Mao allowed him to drag her for two streets. After they ran away from the monsters, they finally stopped. They hid behind the door, and Sister Mao turned to look at the man who saved her from certain death. Her gaze moved up, but when she saw that face, her face quivered. ¡°Bai Qiulin?¡±

    ¡°Will you please quiet down?¡± Bai Qiulin hissed at her. ¡°Why? Is it that surprising to see me?¡±

    Sister Mao¡¯s brain was a puddle, and she staggered back. ¡°But Xiao Lan said on the phone...¡±

    ¡°It was me who hurt her, right?¡± Bai Qiulin said coldly. ¡°You¡¯ve all been tricked by the dirty things inside this Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°Dirty things?¡± Sister Mao looked at Bai Qiulin with suspicion. When the five of them had gone to find Zhang Lan earlier, the pallbearers had left the coffin in the middle of the road, splitting the group in two. At the time, Sister Mao¡¯s attention had been focused on the pallbearers and the Sedan Kids, so she did not know what happened on the other side of the street.

    ¡°You might not believe what I have to say next, but it¡¯s all true.¡± Bai Qiulin¡¯s throaty voice made her ufortable. ¡°The couple with you are ghosts!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue are ghosts?¡± Sister Mao widened her eyes, having trouble believing it.

    ¡°This Haunted House has been in operation for many years already, and there have always been rumors of ghost hauntings.¡± Bai Qiulin¡¯s pupils shook. ¡°Several months ago, a couple decided tomit a suicide pact since their love wasn¡¯t blessed by their families. The location was this Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°Suicide pact?¡± Sister Mao leaned against the wall¡ªher legs could no longer support her body.

    ¡°Initially, everything was fine, but slowly, more and more visitors had visions of that couple. It appears like their souls have stuck around the Haunted House after they died!¡± Bai Qiulin¡¯s voice was scary. ¡°Huang Xing was tricked by that couple. I wanted to save him, but I was toote.¡±

    ¡°But on the phone, Zhang Lan said you¡¯re the one who harmed her, and she asked Mr. Zhou for help before the call was cut off...¡±

    Before Sister Mao could finish, Bai Qiulin interrupted her. ¡°You people are so dumb! Don¡¯t you know how to use your brain when you receive her call? Why would the call be ended right after Zhang Lan called for Mr. Zhou¡¯s help? Why didn¡¯t they end the call earlier? They had to wait until Zhang Lan pointed me as the murderer first. Why is that?¡± The more Bai Qiulin argued, the louder he became. Sister Mao was led in circles by Bai Qiulin, and she started to buy his story.

    ¡°At the time, I just wanted to tell Zhang Lan everything. I purposely avoided the couple, but Zhang Lan misunderstood me, thinking I wanted to harm her.¡± Bai Qiulin¡¯s expression was serious. ¡°All I wanted to do was help, but my good intentions were taken advantage of by that ghost couple!¡±

    Every time Bai Qiulin spoke, it heightened the terror in Sister Mao¡¯s heart. Her conviction started to shake. ¡°So, those two are the real ghosts.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s unsafe here; I¡¯ll lead you out.¡±

    Before giving Sister Mao any chance to think, Bai Qiulin opened the front door. The two ran down the street, and when they reached the end of the street, two figures turned the corner and stood under the light of the redntern.

    Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue!

    ¡°Sister Mao?¡± Mr. Zhou was stunned, and his expression changed within seconds. With his finger pointing at Bai Qiulin, he pleaded, ¡°Get away from him! You¡¯re standing next to a ghost!¡±

    The desperation in Mr. Zhou¡¯s voice unsettled Sister Mao. Both parties said that the other was the ghost¡ªwho was she going to believe?

    Her footsteps moved involuntarily forward. Sister Mao still believed Mr. Zhou a bit more.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go! The ghost couple are lying to you.¡± Bai Qiulin stood where he was. His tone was sharp but shaking like he too was afraid. Hearing that, Sister Mao started to hesitate.

    ¡°Sister Mao,e over here!¡± Mr. Zhou screamed at the top of his lungs. Then he suddenly remembered something. ¡°That madman ran out from the mental hospital! He chopped off his left hand! Tell him to show you his left arm!¡±

    One side was a couple thatmitted suicide inside a Haunted House, the other was the convicted patient who chopped out his hand, and Sister Mao stood in the middle. She did not know who to trust. <i>Who among them is lying? Who should I believe?</i>

 Chapter 355 - They Fell Before I Did Anything

    <h4>Chapter 355: They Fell Before I Did Anything</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Believe me, they are both ghosts. Don¡¯t go over there!¡± Bai Qiulin moved one step forward. ¡°Come with me before it¡¯s toote!¡±

    ¡°Sister Mao, you have to think this through! He was around when the idents happened to Zhang Lan and Huang Xing!¡± Mr. Zhou¡¯s face was covered with fear. ¡°Quicklye to us!¡±

    Sister Mao was tormented by the opposing voicesing from both sides! This was more than just simple fear. Terror had seeped into her bones¡ªjust the thought of it sent chills up her spine. ¡°Heaven on one side and hell on the other, one wrong step and everything¡¯s over.¡±

    She gritted his teeth and finally came to her decision. Perhaps because Mr. Zhou had said more words and was the friendlier party before all hell broke loose, Sister Mao chose to nudge toward Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue.

    ¡°You will regret this.¡± Bai Qiulin moved backward like he was ready to run. Seeing how determined Bai Qiulin was to leave, Sister Mao¡¯s heart started to shake again. ¡°If he wants to harm me, he wouldn¡¯t leave like this. Am I really making the wrong choice?¡±

    Sister Mao looked at Mr. Zhou and his wife, and she suddenly remembered that both Bai Qiulin and Mr. Zhou were there when idents happened to Huang Xing and Xiao Lan, but when Ma Tian was caught, only Mr. Zhou and his wife were with him!

    ¡°I know the truth already!¡± Sister Mao was covered with cold sweat; it felt like she had just taken a jaunt around the gate of hell.

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± Sister Mao ran to Bai Qiulin. ¡°I¡¯m going with you!¡±

    ¡°Now you choose to believe me?¡± Bai Qiulin did not turn around, and his voice was cold.

    ¡°I¡¯ve always believed you!¡± Sister Mao tried to argue to regain Bai Qiulin¡¯s confidence.

    Bai Qiulin slowed down but still did not turn around. ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯m a crazy murderer?¡±

    ¡°Now is not the time for that; they¡¯ll catch up soon!¡± Sister Mao had tears in her eyes. ¡°I really believe you. Please, take me to the exit. Earlier I must have been possessed by the ghosts¡ªthat¡¯s the only reason I hesitated.¡±

    ¡°Possessed by the ghosts?¡± Bai Qiulin stopped. Sister Mao finally caught up to him, and he slowly turned around. His neck snapped, mouth and nose bleeding, Bai Qiulin had a twisted smile on his face. ¡°Are you talking about a ghost like myself?¡±

    Sister Mao forced out a scream from her sore throat. She had lost her soul, and her body turned to run toward Mr. Zhou. ¡°Save me! Save me!¡±

    Sister Mao rushed toward Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue, her mindpletely nk.

    ¡°I told you he¡¯s a ghost, but you refused to listen. Come with us!¡¯ Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue led Sister Mao into an alley. They ran for a while before Sister Mao saw the end of the road¡ªit was a wall!

    ¡°Wait, is this a dead end?¡± She turned to look at Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue beside her, and she lost the ability to speak.

    ¡°Of course, where else would dead people lead you but a dead end?¡± Mr. Zhou¡¯s ck shirt started to leak with blood, forming floral patterns. Duan Yue was even scarier; her body split into blocks like she could shatter at any moment. ¡°I only said Bai Qiulin was a ghost, but have I said that we aren¡¯t?¡±

    Her eyes rolled backward, and Sister Mao felt it was a nice thing to faint.

    ...

    Inspecting the make-up on his face, Chen Ge, who was waiting at the entrance of Coffin Vige, finally entered the scenario. ¡°It¡¯s time to add some pressure now that twenty minutes have passed.¡±

    Boss Chen decided to do this personally, but once he stepped into the vige, several shadows crawled out and entered theic. ¡°What happened?¡±

    He flipped open theic, and Uncle Yan drew five spots on the ck paper, signaling the five locations where the group had fainted. ¡°It has already ended? All five of them got taken down already?¡±

    Chen Ge ran into the nearest old home in Uncle Yan¡¯s drawing. He first pulled out Zhang Lan and Huang Xing before finding the unconscious Ma Tian with foam on his lips. Then, at the end of the alley, he found Sister Mao, who had lost her fake eyshes.

    ¡°But only twenty minutes have passed, right? What the f*ck happened?¡± When Chen Ge visited the old building, he did not think that the three ghosts were that scary, even though they were exceptional actors.

    ¡°The three of them definitely could manage a whole scenario on their own, but pretending to be visitors can¡¯t be repeated too often. I¡¯ll consider this a special experience for the first batch of visitors.¡± Putting away theic, Chen Ge found the ce where Brother Wong lied unconscious. Different from other visitors, the phone beside Brother Wong was still reying the video. When he and Sister Mao were trying to escape, they had used the recording to find the way back. ¡°Another content stealer.¡±

    Initially, Chen Ge did not pay much attention, but after Director Luo put out the 200,000 reward, there had been people paying for information on his Haunted House online. The newer the information, the higher the price. However, there were not many who had the guts to enter a three-star scenario. After all, even if they earned the money, they had to be alive to enjoy it.

    Picking up the phone, Chen Ge deleted the video. Just as he was ready to ce the phone back in Brother Wong¡¯s pocket, he noticed the many videos and pictures of a different theme park. The theme park¡¯s design was futuristic, and inparison, New Century Park was old and traditional.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this the futuristic theme park? Why would the man have the designs of a theme park on his phone?¡± Chen Ge nced at Brother Wong. ¡°Be it from age group or presence, this man is different from the other members of the reviewer group. He should be someone from the futuristic theme park!

    ¡°Looks like the Haunted House has gotten famous enough to attract the attention ofpetition. New Century Park was on itsst legs¡ªeven Director Luo nned to close the ce¡ªbut recently, due to the existence of the Haunted House, the theme park is experiencing its second wind. It¡¯s understandable for them toe to feel out thepetition.¡±

    Chen Ge came to this conclusion after looking through a few more videos. ¡°Good idea, but you started with a three-star scenario. You sure don¡¯t value your life.¡±

    Chen Ge took out his phone and aimed it at Brother Wong¡¯s screen. He took down everything that he could use in the future.

    ¡°Sister Mao hired a 50-cent army to bring the rating of the Haunted House down, and there are groups bringing up discussion of New Century Park online. Could the culprit be the people from the futuristic theme park?¡± Chen Ge knew fairly well that Jiujiang was only so big, so the tworge theme parks would have to fight for visitors.

    ¡°Based on current situation, New Century Park is still on the losing end, but thankfully, there¡¯s one more month until the official opening of their park.¡±

    After Chen Ge removed all the pictures, he returned the phone to brother Wong and dragged him out of the scenario. ¡°I¡¯ll need to report this to Director Luo. He probably also realized that someone has been trying to bring theme park down.¡±

    All five visitors had fainted, and Chen Ge could not haul all of them out at once. So, he could only drag Sister Mao and Zhang Lan out with him first. ¡°They¡¯re so heavy. Looks like, in the future, I¡¯ll scare them until they¡¯re half-unconscious so that they can still walk out on their own.¡±

    When Uncle Xu saw Chen Gee out dragging two women with him, his eyes twitched. He stopped selling tickets and ran over to help.

    ¡°Get the stretchers from the resting tent! Where is the doctor on standby? Go get the man! Just tell them there¡¯s another ident at the Haunted House. They know what to do!¡±

    Uncle Xu and the workers helped Sister Mao and Zhang Lan get onto the stretcher. They were about to leave when Chen Ge suddenly grabbed Uncle Xu¡¯s shoulders.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Uncle Xu¡¯s forehead was covered with sweat. He was in the hurry to send the visitors to the doctor.

    ¡°Are there more stretchers in the resting tent?¡± Chen Ge raised three fingers.

    ¡°Three people fainted?¡± Uncle Xu¡¯s expression fell; he was about to say something when he was stopped by Chen Ge.

    ¡°I mean, I need three more stretchers.¡±

 Chapter 356 - Promise Me Something

    <h4>Chapter 356: Promise Me Something</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Uncle Xu¡¯s hands shook, and he almost dropped Sister Mao. ¡°Three more stretchers? But only five visitors entered the scenario!¡±

    Not only Uncle Xu, but all the nearby visitors took a step back.

    ¡°I also didn¡¯t expect Haunted House reviewers to be so easily scared.¡± Chen Ge shrugged helplessly. ¡°Help me get the stretchers here and I¡¯ll go get the rest of the visitors.¡±

    After saying that, Chen Ge turned to walk into the Haunted House, leaving a group of visitors that were stunned.

    ¡°Five people entered, and all five fainted, meaning that the three-star scenario has a 100 percent chance of making people faint.¡± The team who nned to challenge the Third Sick Hall stopped to have a discussion. Without refunding the ticket, they ran to the spot in the sunlight. They formed a circle and started to reassess the danger of challenging Third Sick Hall.

    ¡°Both the Third Sick Hall and Coffin Vige are three-star scenarios, so I think we need to reconsider this.¡± The one who spoke was Yang Chen, who had met Chen Ge before. This student from Jiujiang¡¯s Medical University seemed to be the core member of the team. ¡°All the information on the Third Sick Hall was mostly rumors. Apparently, they were imed to be testimonies from visitors who had visited the Third Sick Hall themselves, but the authenticity can be challenged. I just asked an insurancepany¡ªthere¡¯s no im for idents that happen inside the Haunted House.

    ¡°The risk is still too high, we haven¡¯t even cleared the two-star scenario perfectly, so I personally suggested that we finish the two-star scenario before we even consider three-star scenario.¡±

    ¡°But someone has to take the first step. We stayed upte until three am to discuss thisst night toe up with eleven emergency ns. Are you willing to give up now that we¡¯re at the door?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s have a vote.¡± Yang Chen raised his arm. ¡°I don¡¯t agree that we should challenge a three-star scenario today.¡±

    ¡°I support you.¡± The group of thirteen formed a circle under the sun. They seemed like they were discussing something important, and the nearby visitors thought they were quite mysterious.

    ¡°Seven votes for no, two surrendered their votes, four yes. Majority wins, so I announce that we¡¯ll be giving up on this challenge for today!¡±

    The team members returned to the resting tent to discuss the next course of action. Other people had no idea what they were up to, but they felt the group look rather impressive.

    By then, the five visitors had been retrieved from the Haunted House. They were hauled onto the stretchers and sent to the medical room by the park workers. ¡°The park workers are getting more and more professional. Last time, when Fei Youliang fainted, it took them more than half an hour to send him to the hospital. They¡¯re much faster now.¡±

    Chen Ge saw the fear on the other visitors¡¯ faces as they saw the workers walk away with the stretchers, so he consoled them. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, our Haunted Housee with full medical protection. We¡¯ve alreadye to an agreement with a famed hospital, so you can visit without worry. It¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Part of the visitors did feel better hearing that, but others were confused. Why would a Haunted House have an agreement with a hospital? These were not supposed to be ces that were rted!

    After the promotion done by the five reviewers, many visitors who intended to visit a three-star scenarios all retreated, and the terror of three-star scenarios rose in their heart once more. That was probably human nature. Thing that they could not get, they wanted it the most; ces that they could not go to, they were curious about it.

    After making sure there were no visitors, Chen Ge returned to the Haunted House to look through the pictures on his phone. As he looked through them, his eyes turned serious.

    ...

    Gu Feiyu and Xu Wan were each responsible for a one-star scenario, and the two-star scenario had the twenty or so mannequins. Only when visitors wanted to challenge three-star scenario would Chen Ge follow behind them to protect them from the shadows. The afternoon flew by. It was six pm, but there were still many visitors at the Haunted House.

    Inparison to the service provided by the Haunted House, the ticket price was not expensive, so some of the visitors wanted to try out other scenarios after they finished one. This was one of the reasons the lines in front of the Haunted House had not reduced.

    The Haunted House operated until 6.30 pm, and Chen Ge stopped selling tickets due to security concerns. After sending away thest batch of visitors, Xu Wan and Gu Feiyu strode out from their scenarios.

    ¡°Nice work today.¡± Chen Ge helped Xu Wan remove her make-up and called the two workers to join them in the dressing room. ¡°We¡¯ll have a short meeting. Starting with Xiao Gu, today, you¡¯ve done a wonderful job. I didn¡¯t receive anyint from the visitors, meaning you have talent for this job.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because I have a good boss who knows how to teach.¡± Xiao Gu removed the Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s outfit and ced it neatly back at the corner of the room.

    ¡°ying a ghost for a long time inside a Haunted House may take a toll on your psyche, so stay away from oily food and depressing movies or drama. Let yourself get used to the environment first.¡±

    ¡°Yes, boss.¡±

    ¡°Okay, you can go now. If youe across any problem in your life, you cane to me. I hope you won¡¯t treat the Haunted House only as a working space; this is also a home that you cane back to,¡± Chen Ge said tly, but it was filled with warmth and strength.

    Xiao Gu nodded heavily, feeling truly touched.

    After Gu Feiyu left, Chen Ge started to remove his own make-up. ¡°Xiao Wan, have you noticed any changes in the Haunted House recently?¡±

    ¡°No, but...¡± Xu Wan sat beside Chen Ge. ¡°Boss, I feel the biggest change has happened to you.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Chen Ge turned to look at Xu Wan. ¡°What kind of changes you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t put my finger on it.¡± Xu Wan passed a make-up sponge to Chen Ge and sat quietly. ¡°For some reason, I feel like you¡¯re different from before.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps I¡¯m getting older.¡± Chen Ge smiled as he continued to take off the make-up. He looked at himself in the mirror and suddenly said, ¡°Xiao Wan, on the off chance that the Haunted House closes down, will you promise me one thing?¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you when the dayes.¡± Chen Ge let Xu Wan go, and he cleaned up the Haunted House. When he was done, it was seven pm. He locked the door to the Haunted House and headed for theme park¡¯s office building. Due to the recent business at the park, Director Luo had moved into the ce.

    He knocked on the door and realized that Director Luo was skyping with someone. He was in formal wear and sounded like he was discussing something very important. After several minutes, the meeting stopped. Director Luo waved at Chen Ge. ¡°Xiao Chen, are you here for those few visitors? I¡¯ve handled that for you. Just be more careful in the future.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s about something else.¡± Chen Ge took out his own phone and showed Director Luo the pictures that he had taken.

 Chapter 357 - Who Are You?

    <h4>Chapter 357: Who Are You?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Of the five who fainted, one of them participated in the design of the futuristic theme park.¡± Chen Ge closed the door and gave his phone to Director Luo. ¡°After someparison, it¡¯s quite obvious that a third-generation theme park like our own is stillcking.¡±

    Every picture featured a different scene thatbined imagination and incredible settings. Director Luo gasped with surprise when he saw the pictures. Honestly, if he was given a choice, he would also visit the futuristic theme park.

    ¡°Did you knock them out after discovering this man¡¯s real identity?¡± Director Luo asked without taking his eyes from the phone.

    ¡°That was just an ident.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not trying to use you. In fact, I think you¡¯ve done a great job. However, I¡¯m worried you didn¡¯t consider the consequences of your actions.¡± Director Luo put down the phone. ¡°After all, every single picture in here can be considered business secrets.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I took the picture on my phone, so there won¡¯t be any data trace. Plus, I grabbed his phone through the protection of my sleeve, so even if he goes to the police, there will not be actual proof.¡± Chen Ge sounded like this was everyday stuff for him.

    Director Zhou was silent. Since Chen Ge had even considered his fingerprints, what else could he say?

    ¡°Lately, there has been an online presence trying to nder the Haunted House by hiring people to leave fake reviews. Initially, I didn¡¯t think too much of it until the appearance of this man.¡± Chen Ge moved the slideshow forward. ¡°Look at these messages. They¡¯re behind it.¡±

    Director Luo nodded. ¡°The futuristic theme park has several shareholders. I believe one of them realized our threat and thuse up with these underhanded tactics. Don¡¯t you worry about this, I¡¯ll take care of it. You just focus on building your Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°Director Luo, there¡¯re a few more pictures. Perhaps due to poprity of our Haunted House, they decided to add their own Haunted House¡ªthe Authentic 4D Haunted House.¡±

    It was at this point that Director Luo¡¯s face shifted. ¡°They also wanted to open a Haunted House?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. They n to build a Haunted House thatbines virtual reality and true reality. I¡¯ve seen the preview online; the visitors im it was like living in a horror movie.¡±

    ¡°How does itpare to your own Haunted House?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House was New Century Park¡¯s main attraction, so if it lost byparison, New Century Park had nothing topete with.

    ¡°Those things are ultimately fake; mine is one hundred percent real.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House would never shy fromparison.

    ¡°I feel like you¡¯re hiding something behind your words, but never mind, just give it your all. I¡¯ll support you.¡± Director Luo continued to flip through the pictures. When he saw thest one, his brows slightly creased, but they quickly rxed. ¡°You also took this picture from his phone?¡±

    The picture was of a staff gathering. When Chen Ge took the picture, it had been for the benefit of his own employees. If they saw these faces, there was no need to hold back. ¡°Yes, is there anything wrong with the picture?¡±

    ¡°Just saw an old friend.¡± Director Luo returned the phone to Chen Ge. ¡°As long as you have confidence in your Haunted House, there¡¯s no reason for us to be afraid of them. Don¡¯t need to worry about the visitor number because we have something they don¡¯t.¡±

    He stood up to look out the window at the park. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t limit ourselves to Jiujiang. The uniqueness of your Haunted House will carry us forward. With enough promotion, everywhere that has ess to the inte will have potential customers.¡±

    In terms of business management, Director Luo was much more experienced than Chen Ge. ¡°They can shift ording to the trend, but that doesn¡¯t mean that we have to stand still either. I have something for you to see.¡±

    Director Luo turned theptop around, signaling for Chen Ge to scan the QR code that appeared on-screen.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± After scanning, Chen Ge realized his phone had downloaded an app called Haunted House. After clicking on it, it provided a small description of each scenario with the number of visitors that had tried it, the pass rate, and the time limit.

    ¡°This is the app that I asked people to design for you.¡± Director Luo pulled out a wristband from the drawer. ¡°Put this on.¡±

    Chen Ge put on the band and paired it with the app. He opened the personal page, and it revealed his heartrate, blood pressure, and many more statistics.

    ¡°The data might not be a hundred percent urate, but at least it will be able to fool many people. The real purpose of the wrist band is digital location. Each band has its own code, and if a visitor faints inside your Haunted House, you only need to click on theputer to find them.¡± Director Luo was probably afraid of how Chen Ge was going about doing things, so he stressed the importance of the digital location.

    ¡°The app can be used on its own or bound with the wrist band. How to operate it, I¡¯ll discuss with Ol¡¯ Xu. We¡¯lle to a decision within three days.¡±

    This app that was designed for the haunted House had many uses. The visitors could use it to check the ranking and thetest clear rate. There were also previews for new scenarios and inside guides. This app was more like amunity project for all Haunted House lovers.

    ¡°Director Luo, you¡¯ve read my mind. I¡¯ve thought about designing something like this for my Haunted House.¡± Chen Ge had big ambitions. The three-star scenario was just the beginning; his goal was to build the first terror-themed theme park in the country.

    ¡°In that case, I¡¯ll give you that wrist band¡ªthe code is 000.¡± Director Luo smiled. Perhaps it was Chen Ge¡¯s influence, but he had felt younger in spirit recently. Chen Ge left Director Luo¡¯s office at eight pm. With Director Luo¡¯s full support, he did not have anything to worry about.

    <i>The futuristic park will open in a month; I don¡¯t have that much time left.</i>

    Chen Ge returned to the Haunted House to move the recorder, hammer, andic into his backpack before calling Gao Ru Xue. He nned to meet Gao Ru Xue that night, and perhaps he might discover a clue rted to Jiujiang Medical University¡¯s underground morgue. The phone rang for several seconds, but no one answered. Chen Ge hung up and tried again.

    <i>I did promise to meet her tonight; did something happen to her?</i>

    There was still no answer. Chen Ge called for the third time. If there was still no answer, he would call He San and Gao Ru Xue¡¯s father.

    <i>Did something really happen to her?</i>

    Chen Ge waited for nine seconds. Just as he wanted to give up, the call connected. He held his breath but did not say anything. He waited for the other person to speak first.

    After one second, an unfamiliar female voice said, ¡°Who are you?¡±

 Chapter 358 - Their Real Purpose

    <h4>Chapter 358: Their Real Purpose</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge heard this female voice for the first time¡ªit sounded almost the same age as Gao Ru Xue. The tone wasced with impatience and a very well-hidden resentment.

    ¡°I¡¯m Gao Ru Xue¡¯s friend. I wish to ask her out for dinner tonight,¡± Chen Ge said randomly. ¡°Where is she?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s washing her hair. I¡¯ll have her call you backter.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± After hanging up, Chen Gey on his bed.

    <i>If this was a normal date, then it¡¯s understandable for Gao Ru Xue to prepare, but she was obviously in a panic, and asking me out is to resolve the issue with her roommate. Under this circumstances, with her personality, she wouldn¡¯t have wasted time with her appearance. </i>Chen Ge had a feeling something bad had happened to Gao Ru Xue.

    Five minutester, Gao Ru Xue¡¯s call came. After picking up, the girl¡¯s familiar voice said, ¡°I¡¯m preparing to leave now.¡±

    The door closed, and she sounded like she was in the corridor. The amount of background noise had decreased. ¡°Where shall we meet tonight?¡±

    ¡°Name a ce, I¡¯ll go there now.¡± Chen Ge rxed slightly when he heard it was Gao Ru Xue¡¯s voice. She sounded fine.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t youe to our school? Come in from the western gate. It normally isn¡¯t guarded. We¡¯ll meet behind the old education block.¡± Gao Ru Xue seemed to have walked into the bathroom. ¡°Come quick, I keep finding weird stuff about that two roommates.¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°During school, Liu Xianxian copsed on the table and slept for the whole afternoon.¡±

    ¡°She explored the underground building at night, so it¡¯s normal for her to sleep in the day.¡± Chen Ge did not think there was any problem with that.

    ¡°If she was just sleeping, I wouldn¡¯t have been so worried.¡± Gao Ru Xue lowered her voice, feeling very unsafe. ¡°During the second ss, my pen fell to the ground. Just as I bent down to pick it up, I identally saw that Liu Xianxian wasn¡¯t actually sleeping; her eyes were wide open, staring at the mirror inside her drawer.¡±

    ¡°A mirror?¡±

    ¡°Yes, to be precise, she was looking at herself inside the mirror.¡± Gao Ru Xue reconstructed the situation for Chen Ge. ¡°Her eyes were bloodshot like she hated the person in the mirror very much, but wasn¡¯t it herself inside the mirror?¡±

    ¡°Your roommates sound like they are possessed. Why don¡¯t you move back home for now?¡±

    ¡°Okay, but I¡¯ll meet you at school first. I still have many things to inform you.¡±

    After the call was ended, Chen Ge was about to leave when his phone rang again. This time, it was from Captain Yan. ¡°Such a coincidence? At a time like this.¡±

    Chen Ge epted the call, and before he could say anything, he heard Captain Yan say, ¡°Come to the police station now. I have something very important to tell you.¡±

    ¡°Now?¡±

    ¡°Yes! It¡¯s very important!¡±

    Captain Yan sounded very serious, so Chen Ge promised, ¡°I¡¯ll be there in a minute, but I have something else to do tonight. I cannot stay for long.¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t take too much of your time.¡±

    After ending the call, Chen Ge called for a taxi to get to the police station. He called Gao Ru Xue on his way there, but this time, there was no answer.

    Chen Ge reached that station at around 8 pm, and once he stepped through the door, he realized that the atmosphere was wrong. The officer on duty recognized Chen Ge and led him directly to Captain Yan¡¯s office. He pushed the door open, and other than Captain Yan, there were two other people in the room¡ªOl¡¯ Wei and Master Bai.

    The door closed, and Captain Yan signaled for Chen Ge to take a seat. ¡°Last night, the three of you entered the mountain to find the two kids, but when my men went into the mountains this morning, they followed your directions, but they could not find that vige after searching for six hours.¡±

    ¡°Last night, it was Master Bai who led the way. You will have to ask him about this.¡± Coffin Vige had been unlocked, and Chen Ge temporarily had no reason to return to the ghost vige.

    ¡°My directions are correct.¡± Master Bai leaned against the chair, feeling better after a good night¡¯s sleep. ¡°I saw the pictures taken by the other officers. The route is correct; Coffin Vige is just beyond that valley.¡±

    ¡°But the problem is there is no vige after crossing that valley.¡± Captain Yan sat at the table. ¡°What happened to the three of youst night?¡±

    ¡°I cannot remember clearly, but there is indeed a vige,¡± Ol¡¯ Wei said with his head lowered. He had done a good deed, but he looked so despondent.

    ¡°The children have been saved. There¡¯s no rush to find that vige.¡± Chen Ge stood to the side. He did not even sit because he wanted to leave as soon as possible.

    ¡°If it was just that, then we could have investigated slowly, but the issue is...¡± Captain Yan took out an evidence bag from his drawer; it had a gun inside it. ¡°Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s gun had a shot missing. ording to ballistics, the gun was usedst night, but Ol¡¯ Wei has no memory of it. Do you know what this means?¡±

    Chen Ge shook his head. He understood it was Ol¡¯ Wei who fired the gun, but as for why he fired and what happened then, Chen Ge had no idea.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Wei is an experienced officer; something must have been intense to make him shoot the gun! Did you guys encounter such dangerst night?¡± Captain Yan kept his eyes on Chen Ge, waiting for him to answer.

    Chen Ge nced at Master Bai and said, ¡°No.¡±

    Hearing him, Master Bai¡¯s tightened fists slowly rxed.

    ¡°Then do you have any memory of Ol¡¯ Wei firing this gun?¡±

    ¡°I did hear the gunshot when I was at the vige, but at the time, I wasn¡¯t with Ol¡¯ Wei and Master Bai.¡±

    ¡°The gun is the most important to an officer; it cannot be touched by outsiders. Now, we can confirm the gun was shot once. Whether the shooter was Ol¡¯ Wei or not, this is serious business. If you have any clues, you have to tell us.¡± Captain Yan looked at Ol¡¯ Wei, who had his face lowered, and sighed. ¡°The doctor said that Ol¡¯ Wei is suffering from temporary memory loss due to trauma, but no matter what, I¡¯ll get to the bottom of this.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Chen Ge nodded, and after some hesitation, he added, ¡°Captain Yan, Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home¡¯s Doctor Chen was also at the vige. He had been following us. This might be rted to him.¡±

    ¡°A BOLO <sup>1</sup> is out on the man. The result should being back soon.¡±

    As he said so, Captain Yan rummaged through the drawer, and secondster, he took out a map with pictures pasted on it. ¡°Actually, there¡¯s a second reason I called for you.¡±

    Chen Ge examined the map, and his pupils narrowed. There had been five eye-gauging cases around Jiujiang over the past two days, and if the crime scenes were all joined together, they aligned with New Century Park at the center!

    ¡°All the cases are surrounding my Haunted House? Is this some kind of ritual by the ghost stories society?¡±

 Chapter 359 - The Phone

    <h4>Chapter 359: The Phone</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge had run into two ghost stories society¡¯s members at Coffin Vige. This meant that onest member remained in Jiujiang to toy with the police. Initially, Chen Ge thought the cases were rted to Coffin Vige, but it looked like the society¡¯s real target was him all along.

    Zhang Ya and Xu Yin were both asleep, so the only Specter Chen Ge had left was the Lesser Red Specter Yan Danian, but technically speaking, Uncle Yan could only use support skills. <i>The society realized my limit at Coffin Vige. They now know that Zhang Ya is asleep; this situation is very bad for me.</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the map on the table silently. The situation was bad for him, but it was worse for the ghost stories society. Wu Fei had been killed by the ghost inside the door, but the ck phone did not show that he had died. This was probably due to the detail where the ghost appeared to be quite excited after she picked up the ck robes that Wu Fei wore.

    After some consideration, Chen Ge suspected that Wu Fei had hidden a part of his consciousness on a scapegoat and then ced that scapegoat somewhere else. The female ghost was so happy after she found the ck robe, which meant that the robe was hiding something important. If it was a scapegoat then, falling into the hands of that female ghost would be a fate worse than death for Wu Fei.

    The society¡¯s n at Coffin Vige had failedpletely, and they had lost a member. There were two members left. One of them was under great investigation by the police, and the other had gotten into a fierce fight with Doctor Chen at Coffin Vige. Chen Ge knew that the days of the ghost stories society were numbered, but he was afraid that they might do something drastic when cornered. After all, these were crazies; they would do anything.

    ¡°Five murders surrounding New Century Park, this isn¡¯t an ident. You might be their next target.¡± Captain Yan put the map aside. ¡°We¡¯ve found the killer and will capture him in about three days. During this time, you¡¯d better not stay at the park at night.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Chen Ge realized this was the real reason Captain Yan called him to the station¡ªhe wanted to protect him. Captain Yan asked Chen Ge some questions, and during that process, the captain kept releasing information on the cases consciously and subconsciously. Chen Ge remembered these details in his heart. Captain Yan allowed him to leave at 9 pm.

    When he exited the station, Chen Ge took out his phone; there was no record of a call or message from Gao Ru Xue.

    <i>I¡¯ve made her wait for so long, but she didn¡¯t once call me. Did something happen to her?</i>

    Chen Ge felt like the Gao Ru Xue on the phone had acted rather weird. He hopped into the taxi and rushed to Jiujiang Medical University. Inside the cab, Chen Ge called Gao Ru Xue. Simr to before, there was no answer the first two times, and it connected on the third ring. ¡°Sorry to keep you waiting.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m at the old education block. Come quick, my roommates are getting more and more abnormal.¡± Gao Ru Xue¡¯s voice sounded urgent like she was running to find a ce to hide.

    ¡°If you¡¯re running into any danger, I advise you call the police immediately. The police will be able to do more for you than me.¡± Chen Ge urged the driver to drive faster.

    ¡°My worry is my roommates are being possessed. Do you think the police will believe that? My two roommates are not who they were.¡± Gao Ru Xue seemed to know many things, which was obvious from her tone.

    ¡°Put the police on speed dial and go somewhere crowded. I¡¯ll be there in half an hour.¡±

    After hanging up, Chen Ge grabbed the phone and started to think. <i>Whenever I call Gao Ru Xue, it¡¯ll be put through on the third ring. Also, on the phone, she was somewhere quiet. If she was in danger, why would she purposely go somewhere quiet?</i>

    Sitting inside the taxi, Chen Ge called Doctor Gao and He San.

    ...

    At 9:30 pm, Gao Ru Xue looked at the self-study room that had be increasingly deserted, and she called Chen Ge one more time. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but the number you¡¯re calling is currently busy...¡±

    This was the twenty-third time that she had called Chen Ge, but every time the line was busy. <i>Did something happen to him?</i>

    Gao Ru Xue borrowed her friend¡¯s phone to make the call, but there was still no answer, like the number was cursed.

    ¡°Last night, when the three shadows came in, I called everyone, and only Chen Ge¡¯s reply was different, but howe it has turned aroundpletely today? Everyone else¡¯s number is fine, but only his is busy. Who is he on the phone with?¡± Gao Ru Xue was spacing out holding the phone when someone patted her on her shoulder.

    ¡°Xiao Xue, let¡¯s go. It¡¯s time to go back to the bedroom.¡± Liu Xianxian called Gao Ru Xue toe with her. She looked just like normal, be it her mannerisms or actions; even her tone and habits were perfect. However, this was the thing that scared Gao Ru Xue the most. She knew for a fact that this was not her roommate.

    ¡°You can go first. I still want to stay back to study.¡± Gao Ru Xue pocketed her phone and flipped through the book on the table.

    ¡°You look so distractedtely. You really have a new boyfriend, don¡¯t you?¡± Liu Xianxian sidled up to Gao Ru Xue, a familiar action¡ªeven the joke was simr to how the girl would do it normally. Her best friend sat beside her, but when Liu Xianxian neared Gao Ru Xue, her body froze involuntarily.

    ¡°Then, go back to the bedroom when you¡¯re done studying. I¡¯ll go back first.¡± Liu Xianxian grabbed her book and left. When she disappeared from the room, Gao Ru Xue sighed in relief.

    ¡°I cannot stay at the bedroom tonight.¡± Gao Ru Xue took out her phone to call Doctor Gao. ¡°Dad, are you home tonight? I want toe home for the night.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m still at the hospital. I¡¯ll probably reach home at 12. Why are you suddenlying home?¡±

    ¡°My roommates have been acting strange recently. I¡¯ll tell you all about it when I reach home.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Gao Ru Xue grabbed her book and water bottle as she left the room. She saw Liu Xianxian and Ma Xin talking at the stairs. It looked like they were waiting for her. Avoiding them, Gao Ru Xue took the stairs at the other end of the corridor. She did not return to the bedroom but hailed a taxi to head home.

    <i>This is weird, howe only Chen Ge¡¯s number is unavable? </i>Gao Ru Xue took out her phone and called Chen Ge for the twenty-fourth time.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but the number you¡¯re calling is currently busy...¡±

 Chapter 360 - Open the Door

    <h4>Chapter 360: Open the Door</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    There¡¯s still no answer. Never mind, I¡¯ll leave school for now.

    A weird feeling was crawling out of Gao Ru Xue¡¯s heart. She was very nervous and saw everything as suspicious. ¡°Sir, will you drive faster? I¡¯m in a hurry.¡±

    The enclosed space caused Gao Ru Xue¡¯s breath toe short. She rolled the window down, and the wind tussled her hair. There were crowds outside milling about the street, but she did not feel one bitforted; she kept feeling like someone was watching her from somewhere.

    ¡°You¡¯re a student at Jiujiang¡¯s Medical University, right? Better not go out alone at night, it¡¯s rather chaotictely.¡± The driver held the steering wheel and said, ¡°There have been quite a number of murders around the area recently, and the victims were found in poor state. I hear their eyes were all gouged out. I¡¯m not trying to scare you, but before the killer is caught, you¡¯d better stay in your school dormitory at night.¡±

    The driver probably meant well, but it sounded different to Gao Ru Xue¡¯s ears. She could not stop her mind from wandering. Murders? Multiple murders? Why would he ask me to go back to the dormitory? Is he the killer?

    In Gao Ru Xue¡¯s eyes, the driver¡¯s normal face turned dark, and his every movement seemed to be hiding some sinister intention. Gao Ru Xue did not reply as she grabbed her phone and turned to look out the window. However, she would surreptitiously nce at the driver once in a while.

    Twenty minutester, the taxi arrived at Xi Xia Hu Residence. Doctor Gao had bought a home here two years ago. After paying the fare, Gao Ru Xue got out of the car quickly. It was about ten pm, and there were not that many people around the area. Xi Xia Hu Residence could be considered a silk-stocking district at Jiujiang. The environment was nice, and Xi Xia Lake was just next to it. However, the ce was rather isted from the city.

    After entering the residential area, Gao Ru Xue moved forward with her head lowered. The streetlight released pale light, and she did not dare look into the forest to the side because the green looked rather creepy at night.

    Damn, I left my book and water bottle in the taxi.

    She had left in such a hurry that she had identally left her stuff in the taxi. The water bottle was fine, but she needed that textbook for her ss. Thinking about that, Gao Ru Xue felt more agitated. The taxi had already left, so it was toote for her to go and grab it.

    She nced at the time on her phone. It was about ten pm, and the residential area was practically abandoned. However, the lights of the building faraway was still on, which gave Gao Ru Xue some semnce offort. Xi Xia Hu had its own garden. Crossing through it, Gao Ru Xue came to the third building. Her home was on the 13th floor of the third building.

    It sure is quiet tonight.

    After entering the corridor, Gao Ru Xue¡¯s exposed arms felt cold. She pped, and after the voice-activated lights came on, she did not move forward. Compared to before, nothing seemed to have changed, but Gao Ru Xue just felt something was not right.

    The words that the driver had told her inside the car kept shing through her mind. Murder, eye-gouging, they were like a rope slowly tightened around her neck. Is that driver the killer?

    His tone was extremely weird. The serial murders happened across town, which means that the killer had to be able to move around town quickly. They have to have ess to easy transport, so it¡¯s not impossible for the killer to be a taxi driver. Did I just sit where a dead body oncey? Could the trunk be filled with bloodied murder weapons?

    The more she thought about it, the more afraid she became. She would turn back to look every few steps, afraid that people might just appear behind her. She walked to the elevator and pressed the button. When the door opened, the voice-activated lights went out in unison. Darkness fell, and Gao Ru Xue¡¯s body froze. She saw a dark human shape walking out from the elevator!

    Gao Ru Xue bumped into the man, and she realized he was wearing a raincoat. He did not apologize and strode quickly down the corridor. ¡°A raincoat? But it¡¯s not raining.¡±

    The hood blocked the man¡¯s face from view. He was not tall, and therge raincoat covered his legs and shoes. The man left in a hurry, but Gao Ru Xue did not notice anything suspicious like blood on the raincoat.

    Will it rainter tonight? Gao Ru Xue nced at the weather forecast on her phone. There was a chance that it would rainter in the night. What a weird man.

    Gao Ru Xue waited for the man to disappear around the corner before she got into the elevator. The lights were on in the corridor. She watched as the elevator doors closed, and an indescribable pressure surfaced. She felt like a hooked fish, having trouble even breathing.

    Maybe I shouldn¡¯t take the elevator.

    She reached out to stop the closing door and stepped out; she had a bad feeling standing inside the elevator. She opted for the stairs. She started to climb, but it felt like the stairs were never-ending. When she reached the sixth floor, she heard the door on the first floor open like someone else had entered the safety entrance.

    Someone is following me?

    The first thought that came into Gao Ru Xue¡¯s mind was the strange man in the raincoat. At the same time, the words by the driver also resurfaced.

    Could the man be the serial killer? He just killed someone in his building?

    Her face paled.

    I¡¯ve identally be one of the witnesses, so now he wanted to silence me?

    Gao Ru Xue initially walked slowly so that she would not make too much noise, but with the pressure from fear, she started to run. I need to get back home as soon as possible!

    Footsteps echoed from underneath her. It sounded like someone else was racing up the stairs as well!

    The distance closed. Gao Ru Xue ran as fast as she could. Her home was on the 13th floor, and there was only a five-floor distance between them. She climbed to the 13th floor without catching her breath. Gao Ru Xue shoved the safety door open and staggered into the corridor. She rummaged through her pocket for the key. The echoes of the footsteps became clearer inside the stairwell; the man was just steps behind her!

    Her fingers froze, and she had to try twice before she managed to push the key into the keyhole. She twisted the key to open the outer anti-theft door. The sound in the stairwell came closer; the person was probably only one floor away.

    Quick!

    Finally finding the key to the inner door, Gao Ru Xue pushed the key in, and the footsteps beside her ears turned into a running gait! The person had already reached the 13th floor!

    The inner door was pushed open and Gao Ru Xue rushed in without closing the outer door. She turned to m the door close. She leaned against the door and started gasping for air. ¡°Finally, home.¡±

    She adjusted her breathing. Gao Ru Xue turned around and looked outside through the peephole. There was no one in the darkened corridor. All the room doors were locked, and only Gao Ru Xue¡¯s outer door was left half open.

 Chapter 361 - Phone

    <h4>Chapter 361: Phone</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>He doesn¡¯t seem to have followed me.</i>

    Finally getting the chance to breathe, Gao Ru Xue turned on all the lights in the room without taking off her shoes. The light banished the darkness and rxed her nervous tension.

    <i>The outer door is still open, but opening the inner door to close it is too dangerous. What if the person is hiding in a blind spot?</i>

    Closing the blinds, Gao Ru Xue picked up the fruit knife from the table. As a medical science student, she was familiar with the fatal spots on the human body. With the steel of the knife in her hand, she did not feel that nervous anymore. Sitting in the living room, Gao Ru Xue took out her phone to call Chen Ge. This was the twenty-fifth time that she had called Chen Ge¡¯s phone, and the line was still engaged.

    <i>Still busy? It¡¯s already ten pm. </i>Gao Ru Xue looked at the messages on her phone. She tried many methods to contact Chen Ge, but there was no response.

    <i>Did something happen to him? The line is busy every time. No matter who he¡¯s calling, it wouldn¡¯t take that long to exin something, unless... </i>Gao Ru Xue seemed to remember something. <i>Unless he¡¯s on the phone with a ghost.</i>

    Gao Ru Xue understood the problem with her phone. The previous night, when her two roommates returned, they brought a ¡®friend¡¯ with them. At the time, she had used her phone to send other people SOS messages, and everyone¡¯s reply was ¡®look behind you¡¯. Only Chen Ge¡¯s number was replying normally.

    <i>Last night, the shadow thaty behind me didn¡¯t seem able to change anything rted to Chen Ge. It couldn¡¯t rece the messages from Chen Ge.</i>

    A thought crossed Gao Ru Xue¡¯s mind, and the phone slipped through her fingers and fell to the ground.

    <i>The ghost cannot change anything rted to Chen Ge. It cannot mimic Chen Ge to give me a reply, so when I call Chen Ge, the number is constantly busy and cannot be connected.</i>

    <i>In other words, during this period where I cannot contact Chen Ge, the thing is probably controlling my phone. If that is the case, when I used the phone to call my father earlier, the person who answered probably wasn¡¯t my actual father. It was the ghost pretending to be my father.</i>

    Cold sweat slid down Gao Ru Xue¡¯s face. She had purposely avoided her roommates and snuck home because she was afraid of an ident, but on the phone, she had told her ¡®father¡¯ that she would be staying at home for the night.

    If her spection was correct, the ghost already knew she was not at the dormitory but at her own home. Her eyes fixated on the phone on the ground; Gao Ru Xue did not dare to move. Suddenly, her body felt chilled.

    Just as she was thinking, the screen of the phone lit up. Someone called her at a time like this. The phone vibrated on the cold floor. The sound unsettled her. After some hesitation, Gao Ru Xue bent down to pick it up. The caller was Doctor Gao!

    Her finger danced between epting and denying the call. Eventually, Gao Ru Xue chose to ept it.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Howe it took you so long to answer the call?¡± The familiar voice gave Gao Ru Xue a sense of security that she desperately needed at the time.

    ¡°My phone was on silent, so I didn¡¯t see it.¡± Gao Ru Xue gave the reason that she had thought of earlier. She wanted to test out the person on the other end of the phone. When she wanted to ask something that would only be known between her and her father, the Doctor Gao on the phone said, ¡°Don¡¯t go out now that you¡¯re home. It¡¯s been rather chaotictely. I still have something to do at the hospital, so I¡¯ll be a bitte.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I understand.¡±

    The call ended. The person on the other end of the phone seemed to know what she wanted to do and didn¡¯t give her the chance to ask any questions. <i>It feels like something is observing my every move.</i>

    There was an urge in Gao Ru Xue¡¯s heart to grab the fruit knife to sh the phone screen. She took several deep breaths, and in the end, rationality won out. <i>The phone is probably controlled by the ghost, and there¡¯s probably a murderer hiding outside the door. What should I do now?</i>

    This was the 13th floor, so it was impossible for her to escape through the window. She wanted to use the front door, but she could not be certain the murderer was not just beyond it. Even if the man had left, the corridor might not be safe.

    <i>If I use the phone to call the police, it might be the ghost that answers, and it might not be the police whoe to save me. Maybe I should call out the window for help, but Xi Xia Hu has so few upants. Never mind, this is the only method left I can try.</i>

    Gao Ru Xue walked to the window and pulled the curtain back to look out the window. It was only ten pm, but the residential area waspletely dark. All the lights were off.

    <i>How could this be possible?</i>

    Only the streetlight reflecting off Xi Xia Lake gave off the little light.

    <i>Am I hallucinating?</i>

    Gao Ru Xue became more afraid. She initially wanted to cry for help, but something was obviously wrong with the residential area. The area was quiet, and a strange atmosphere was in the air.

    Looking out the window, the strange feeling that Gao Ru Xue had felt inside the taxi returned. She felt as if everywhere was unsafe, like every corner was hiding some source of danger. She collected her gaze and turned to look at her neighbor¡¯s room. In her memory, her neighboring rooms were empty. The room on the left had its windows sealed shut, and the interior was empty. The room on the right had some dead potted nts on the windowsill.

    Gao Ru Xue was rather disappointed. She looked upward to the right at the family on the 14th floor. At the edge of the window, there was a human face with the eyes gouged out looking back at her.

    Gao Ru Xue staggered backward, and her back knocked into the cupboard.

    <i>A dead body? There¡¯s really a murder in this building? In the room just above me?</i>

    She grabbed the knife and used the point of the knife to lift the curtain up. She nced at the room above her again, and the human face had disappeared. In its ce was someundry.

    <i>Did my eyes deceive me?</i>

    After some hesitation, Gao Ru Xue still picked up her phone to call the police. The police¡¯s reply was normal, but she just felt that something was not right.

    Gao Ru Xue pulled on her hair. This feeling was simr to when she faced her roommate. The person was simr to how they were normally, but she just knew they were not them.

    <i>Everything is simr to normal, including father¡¯s voice, the police¡¯s answer, and the taxi driver, but howe I just feel like things are wrong? But what¡¯s wrong?</i>

    Gao Ru Xue called Chen Ge for the twenty-sixth time. The call was busy for two times before the synthetic voice replied. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but the number you¡¯re calling is currently busy. Please try again after death... <sup>1</sup> ¡±

 Chapter 362 - Where Are You?

    <h4>Chapter 362: Where Are You?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Call againter?</i>

    Gao Ru Xue felt like she had heard incorrectly. The system voice did not sound like it had said that, but what else could it have said?

    After hanging up, Gao Ru Xue looked at her pale face reflecting on the disy. It was her own face, but it showed a different expression. <i>I¡¯m smiling?</i>

    Gao Ru Xue flung the phone to the sofa and stood in the middle of the empty room with her hands twisted together. Time ticked by, and Gao Ru Xue stood in that position by the window. She did not dare move, be it the bedroom or the bathroom, it just gave her an ufortable feeling.

    <i>The ghost also knows my location. Does this mean that my two roommates will be here soon?</i>

    Outside the window, the clouds were thick in the sky. There was no light at all, and it felt like it was about to rain. <i>Father would normally be home by now.</i>

    Holding the knife, Gao Ru Xue nced at the room above her. Theundry was still there. The tense nerves made her tired. She leaned against the window, and looking at the dark residential area outside, her heart started to race again.

    The whole residential area was dark, and only her room had its lights on. She had switched them on due to fear. It was like walking through the jungle with a torch raised. The light would bring her a sense of security, but it also exposed her location. <i>It¡¯s too obvious!</i>

    Just as Gao Ru Xue hesitated over turning off the light, she saw something shed across the gate of the residential area. She turned to look, and Gao Ru Xue¡¯s heart raised. There was a foggy shape of a woman standing at the gate. It looked like her roommate. <i>Why is she here?</i>

    Gao Ru Xue was fully focused on the gate when the phone left on the sofa rang!

    The screen radiated a faded cold light, and the humming noise made her teeth chatter. She quickly ran to the sofa to pick up the phone. It was her roommate who was calling her.

    <i>Should I answer it or not? </i>After some hesitation, Gao Ru Xue answered it. ¡°Liu Xian?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s already ten pm, why aren¡¯t you at the dormitory yet?¡± Liu Xianxian¡¯s voice came on the phone. ¡°Where are you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m outside. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be sleeping at the dormitory tonight.¡±

    ¡°Be careful since you¡¯re alone! Lately, it¡¯s been dangerous around here. There¡¯s a mad killer going about killing people and gouging out their eyes.¡± Liu Xianxian¡¯s voice sounded creepy.

    ¡°Okay, I know all that. If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯ll hang up now.¡± Gao Ru Xue ended the call and ran back to the window with the phone. She looked at the gate, and the shadow had already disappeared. <i>Did I imagine it?</i>

    Her eyes moved, and when she saw the area before her own apartment building, the color drained from her face. The shadow had moved to the entrance to her apartment building!

    <i>Was it the light that attracted it? </i>Gao Ru Xue hid behind the curtain. Her body was ice-cold. Just as she thought about turning off the light again, the phone started to vibrate. She lowered her head to look. Again, it was still from Liu Xianxian. The two shadows were just downstairs, and this time, Gao Ru Xue would not answer the call no matter what.

    She tossed the phone at the couch. She used the cushion to cover the phone, but the sound of vibration still made her panic. After ten secondster, the call finally ended. Then, there was a message from Liu Xianxian. ¡°The dormitory manager is asking about your location. The school rules have been quite tight recently, so you¡¯d bettere back to the dormitory.¡±

    Gao Ru Xue did not reply and switched the phone to silent. She had just changed the setting when the second message from Liu Xianxian came. ¡°Xiao Xue, are you in some kind of trouble? Do you need me toe fetch you? Where are you now?¡±

    The message on the phone looked normal¡ªjust her friends being worried of her safety. There did not seem to be any other meaning, but ced in Gao Ru Xue¡¯s current situation, the meaning waspletely different. There was a ghost standing at the entrance to her apartment building!

    With trembling fingers, Gao Ru Xue turned the phone off. She pulled the curtain open a smidgen and saw that the shadow was still standing where it was. <i>It¡¯s that thing that¡¯s calling me?</i>

    Gao Ru Xue kept her eyes on the shadow downstairs; she wanted to take a good look at who it was. She adjusted her position, and just as she was about to chance a nce, the phone in her palm, which was switched off, lit up again.

    <i>What¡¯s happening?</i>

    As she stared at the phone, the messages from Liu Xianxian kepting.

    ¡°Where are you? It¡¯s very dangerous outside. Come back to school! Do you want us toe fetch you? Where are you?¡±

    Gao Ru Xue did not reply, and Liu Xianxian sent about ten more messages before she stopped. Just as Gao Ru Xue thought it was finally over, the phone suddenly unlocked on its own and snapped a picture of Gao Ru Xue and the furniture beside her.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re home! I¡¯ming to fetch you now!¡±

    When the new message appeared, Gao Ru Xue¡¯s scalp turned numb. She tried to switch the phone off with one hand as she nced out the window. The shadow had disappeared. It felt like it had entered the building. The phone vibrated¡ªa new message.

    ¡°I¡¯m on the first floor.¡±

    Gao Ru Xue looked outside the window. The third building was reflected on Xi Xia Lake, and the voice-activated lights on the first floor lit up.

    ¡°I¡¯m now on the second floor.¡± Just as the second message was sent, the light on the second floor in the reflection of theke came on. The thing was moving fast!

    ¡°I¡¯m now on third floor!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m on 4th floor!¡±

    ¡°5th floor!¡±

    ¡°6th floor!¡±

    The lights came up floor by floor. Gao Ru Xue gripped her hair. Reading the messages that appeared on screen, her eyes turned red. Her emotions were fraying.

    ¡°I¡¯m on the 13th floor. Why has the anti-theft door to your home been left open?¡±

    Footsteps echoed from the corridor; something was hurrying toward her! The sound from the outside and the message on the phone broke Gao Ru Xue. She used the fruit knife to stab repeated at the phone before smashing it at the ground. The phone cracked like everything had ended. All the lights in the corridor went off, and the residential area was swallowed by darkness again. There was silence in the corridor.

    <i>Did it leave?</i>

    Gao Ru Xue walked to the phone, and the broken disy had onest message.

    ¡°I¡¯m standing outside your door.¡±

    BANG!

    There was knocking at the door!

    Initially, it was slow, but the force slowly picked up. Gao Ru Xue felt like the whole door was shaking; this was not something achievable with human strength.

    <i>The thing is here. It¡¯s just outside the door!</i>

    The lights in the room flickered, and Gao Ru Xue¡¯s expression twisted as the fear in her heart was brought to the surface. She stood beside the window, and her heart raced. There were only fear and terror in her eyes.

    Pulling open the curtain, Gao Ru Xue pushed the window open. There was onest way she could escape this room. Gao Ru Xue¡¯s breath caught in her throat as she sat on the window of the 13th floor. Her hands grabbed the windowsill. Looking down, all the fear in her heart exploded at that moment.

    Her body slowly leaned forward, and just as she was about to let go, the door was kicked open, and a man¡¯s voice appeared beside her ears.

    ¡°Xu Yin!¡±

 Chapter 363 - I Knew from the Beginning

    <h4>Chapter 363: I Knew from the Beginning</h4>

    At 9:20 pm, Chen Ge¡¯s taxi arrived at Jiujiang¡¯s Medical University. After getting out, he realized that the university looked more dpidated than he thought. ¡°It¡¯s so quiet. It¡¯s not even 10, so why isn¡¯t there a student in sight?¡±

    After paying the fare, Chen Ge took his backpack and entered the campus. When he passed the guardhouse, he nced at the guard. The man did not stop him. I knew I don¡¯t look like a suspicious person.

    There were many trees nted by the side of the road. The university cared about nature, but it was quite scary walking down the street alone.

    Where is the old education block? All the buildings here look quite old.

    Chen Ge called Gao Ru Xue again. ¡°I¡¯ve reached your campus. Where shall we meet?¡±

    ¡°Keep walking from the southern gate. You¡¯ll eventuallye across an old building that¡¯s sealed. That¡¯s the old education block, hurry.¡± Gao Ru Xue¡¯s voice was low like she did not want to be heard. ¡°My roommates know I¡¯m here. I can sense them following me. They¡¯ve probably discovered me.¡±

    ¡°I advise you call the police immediately. Where are you now?¡±

    ¡°Behind the education block. I gotta hang up; I can see them!¡± The call was ended by Gao Ru Xue.

    Influenced by her tone, Chen Ge shivered involuntarily. He raised his head to look at the sky. It felt like it was going to rain soon. The sky looked dark. When he entered the gate, he could see some people, but as he entered the campus, the poption slowly decreased to zero. Has there always been such an isted ce at the campus?

    Chen Ge took out his phone to do some investigation. He realized that Jiujiang Medical School was the old campus. The school moved to a new site, leaving the forensic science department and a few other more unique specializations back at the old campus. No wonder there were so few people around.

    Thest side quest for School of Afterlife is at this ce? Chen Ge was not thinking of epting this quest. At Coffin Vige, he had Xu Yin¡¯s help. Now he only had Uncle Yan. If he challenged a three-star scenario, it was simply asking for trouble.

    ¡°Once something goes wrong, we¡¯ll retreat instantly.¡± Chen Ge ced theic inside his pocket. ¡°Uncle Yan¡¯s third power should be the key to why he¡¯s called a Lesser Red Specter. After I¡¯m done with this, I should focus on fulfilling his dream.¡±

    The ck phone gave Yan Danian a very good review, meaning that in spite of his appearance, the uncle had great potential. Chen Ge had wandered into the campus and arrived at the location Gao Ru Xue specified.

    Two buildings sat in the dark, and there was a lock on the door. Standing at the entrance, the dark windows looked like eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯m here,¡± Chen Ge said into the phone.

    ¡°There¡¯s a storage room at the corner of the first floor,e get me! They¡¯re looking for me!¡± Gao Ru Xue kept her voice lowered, but the nervousness and terror was obvious. A weird emotion appeared within Chen Ge. He frowned slightly. He did not spot anything out of ce, but something was not right.

    Is it because I¡¯m worried about Gao Ru Xue¡¯s safety? Chen Ge did not hang up the phone. He reached out to pull on the lock. It broke. Pushing the door open, Chen Ge stepped in. There was no trace of light inside the building, and the closed ssroom doors looked rather scary.

    Ever since leaving Mu Yang High School and Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy, I¡¯ve note across any scary ssrooms again, but I started to panic after stepping into this ce. Is it because something scary is hiding here? Could this be rted to the mission at the underground morgue? Chen Ge stopped at the door and ced his phone next to his ears to facilitatemunication with Gao Ru Xue.

    ¡°The corner of the first floor. You have to be careful, my two roommates...¡± Gao Ru Xue suddenly stopped talking. There was the sound of a door opening from the other end of the phone. The sound moved closer to Gao Ru Xue, and it caused Chen Ge¡¯s heart to race like he was experiencing the terror himself.

    The corner of the first floor? Or should I go downstairs? Chen Ge did not move, but the tape recorder in his backpack turned on itself to create white noise. ¡°Xu Yin?¡±

    Xu Yin finally gave Chen Ge some response after sleeping for one whole night and day after the adventure at Coffin Vige. Normally, Xu Yin would only appear after Chen Ge turned on the recorder, but this time, he found Chen Ge on his own. ¡°The breakthrough has been sessful?¡±

    Baleful Specters that were below Red Specter normally would not leave their item of possession. Their movement was limited.

    ¡°Is Xu Yin trying to tell me something?¡± There was a muddled voice. Chen Ge tried to listen for a long time before he understood Xu Yin¡¯s meaning. The sound on the phone kept approaching, and it sounded dangerous. Technically speaking, Chen Ge should have been influenced to be nervous, anxious, but he hugged the recorder with an unknown smile on his face. Fear did not have the chance to appear before it was overwhelmed by joy. For Chen Ge, there was nothing better than the news of Xu Yin¡¯s recovery.

    ¡°Chen Ge! Come quick! They¡¯ve discovered me!¡± Gao Ru Xue screamed on the phone. She had already been discovered, so she screamed loudly for help. Footsteps came from the phone, but weirdly enough, the building was quiet.

    Chen Ge took a deep breath after shoving the recorder into his pocket. He put on a serious expression and shouted into the phone, ¡°Just hang on a little longer! I¡¯ll be there in a minute!¡±

    He took out the hammer, ran to the corner of the stairs, and kicked down the door that was not locked. There was no light on the first floor, but with the aid of his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge saw three shadows running on the other side of the corridor. ¡°Gao Ru Xue!¡±

    Chen Ge ran forward with the hammer. While he was running, he felt his body temperature drop, and a cold presence surrounded him. However, out of his trust in Xu Yin, he pressed forward. When he chased the shadows until the stairs that led to the second floor underground, Xu Yin warned him to stay put.

    There¡¯s some problem with this floor? Chen Ge stopped moving and started to move back. Several secondster, something scary happened.

    Just at the corner, three shadows covered in blood poked their heads out! The three of them were working together, and they had been waiting for Chen Ge!

    Chen Ge looked ahead. ¡°Almost ran into your trap. Let me guess, your real trap is just ahead?¡±

    The three shadows walked out from the corner and made the corridor turned colder. Their movement was slightly awkward like they were dead people.

    ¡°Your guess is correct, but you¡¯ve missed the perfect opportunity to save your life.¡± The voice came from the phone. It was filled with venom and resentment.

    ¡°You¡¯re not Gao Ru Xue?¡± Chen Ge ced the phone beside his ears but did not show much fear.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it toote for you to discover that now?¡± Gao Ru Xue¡¯s voice turned shrill and sharp.

    ¡°Actually, when you called me this morning at 6 am, I knew you¡¯re not Gao Ru Xue.¡± Chen Ge looked rxed. ¡°At the time, I called He San first, asking him why he called me. Not long after he hung up, you called. You told me other than my number, all the other numbers cannot be reached. However, I checked my phone history, and between 1 am to 3 am, both you and He San contacted me!

    ¡°If you were telling the truth, how did He San find out about this?

    ¡°Therefore, the answer is simple¡ªit was you all along! You tried to trick mest night, but my phone wasn¡¯t in the service area. You couldn¡¯t reach me no matter what, so the n had to be dyed to tonight!

    ¡°There¡¯s also one very important point. If you really did experience something this scary, you would have asked to meet me in the morning, but not only did you not do that, you even asked for me to meet you at night!

    ¡°I¡¯ve been curious, why did you insist on meeting at night? It was since then that I was eighty percent certain you¡¯re not Gao Ru Xue!¡±

    With a smile, Chen Ge pressed the y button on the recorder. ¡°I knew I¡¯ve been talking to a ghost from the very beginning. I yed along with your trick because I¡¯ve been looking for you as well!¡±

 Chapter 364 - Missing a Heart

    <h4>Chapter 364: Missing a Heart</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    With the sound of white noise, an extremely cold presence radiated from Chen Ge. The blood dripped, and in the dark, a dark red arm grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s phone. The blood vessels grew to envelope the machine, and the Gao Ru Xue on the phone screamed from sheer pain.

    ¡°Is it painful?¡± The familiar voice echoed beside Chen Ge¡¯s ear, and the red Xu Yin walked out from the shadows. Without the order from Chen Ge, Xu Yin rushed at the three shadows down the corridor. His voice seemed to possess a powerful spell; whenever he spoke, the three shadows would pause, like their minds were seriously affected. Is this the new power Xu Yin gained after bing a Red Specter? His voice can affect other ghosts?

    Chen Ge held the cold phone. After the phone was cleaned by Xu Yin, Chen Ge escaped the influence of the phone. The world in his eyes returned to normal, and the fear in his heart gradually calmed down. Looking at the phone in his hand, Chen Ge started to get worried about the safety of that phone spirit. It wouldn¡¯t die just like that, right? Xu Yin is good, but he¡¯s too reckless. This phone spirit can heighten the fear in people¡¯s heart and even take over their phone, isn¡¯t that the perfect addition to my Haunted House?

    There were going to be more people who would be like that Brother Wong. There were guides and pictures of the Haunted House¡¯s low-level scenarios online. Even though visitors were not allowed to use cameras inside the Haunted House, many of them still refused to listen. Chen Ge was one person; he had no time nor the right to stop these visitors. But with the aid of the phone spirit, things would be a lot easier.

    It should still be alive. Even though they were enemy, Chen Ge worried about the phone spirit. He gave himself a like for his kindness. People like myself who are so kind to others will often ignore themselves. That is not good. Perhaps I should learn to be more selfish.

    The result of the battle in the corridor was obvious. However, the scene was rather bloody. Chen Ge looked at Xu Yin tearing the ghosts apart coldly as he thought about something else. The phone spirit purposely led me here but didn¡¯t set a powerful trap. Looks like the society¡¯s real concern is the door at the Haunted House. They didn¡¯t want to kill me, but of course, that could be because their power has been greatly decreased, and they didn¡¯t have that many people left to spare.

    Five murders surrounded New Century Park¡ªthe society¡¯s target had been the door at the haunted House since the very beginning. They seem to be nning some kind of special ritual. Luring me away is because they¡¯re afraid I might disrupt their ritual?

    Chen Ge was not sure about anything else, but he had full faith in his ability to create chaos. The thing that they don¡¯t want to let me see, I¡¯ll have to see it.

    Chen Ge called Xu Yin¡¯s name as he prepared to return to New Century Park. He called several times, but Xu Yin showed no response. After swallowing the three ghosts, Xu Yin stood at the corner of the stairs like he was in confrontation with something. Wounds started to form on his body.

    Once he got near, Chen Ge also realized something was wrong.

    The underground first floor and second floor were separated by a steel door, but the lock on the door was forced open. Cold wind kepting from underground, and there were several wet footprints on the stairs. Squatting down, Chen Ge used his finger to touch the stain before sniffing it.

    ¡°Formalin?¡± Chen Ge had no idea how many floors there were in total, and he did not want to create trouble for himself. ¡°Xu Yin, let¡¯s go.¡±

    There was something underground that made Xu Yin feel threatened. This was not good news for Chen Ge. He called several times before Xu Yin turned. When he faced Chen Ge, his expression was more rxed, and he did not seem to be in as much pain as before. This was the first time Chen Ge had seen Xu Yin closely after he transformed into Red Specter.

    Blood oozed from his wounds to knit together with the bloody shirt. However, one thing that confused Chen Ge was that the blood seemed to move away from the spot where Xu Yin¡¯s heart would sit. The shirt had a conspicuous spot around his heart that was not dyed red.

    ¡°Why is there ack of change around the heart?¡± Chen Ge looked at Xu Yin. He inspected the ck phone, but there was no change to Xu Yin¡¯s tab. Chen Ge could not even tell whether Xu Yin counted as Red Specter or not.

    ¡°This is different from Zhang Ya. When she first appeared, she was already in a full red costume. Is there a second trigger to bing a Red Specter?¡± Chen Ge tried tomunicate with Xu Yin, but the man was even more confused than Chen Ge.

    ¡°Could it be rted to the door? The society only used several days to make Xiong Qing into a Red Specter. Can only the ck blood found behind the door make a ghost into Red Specter? Then how did Zhang Ya be a Red Specter?¡±

    Chen Ge realized he still knew too little about that world. After Xu Yin returned to the tape, he ran out of the building. The coldness surrounding his body had dissipated. Chen Ge took out his phone to call Gao Ru Xue. His phone had returned to normal, but Gao Ru Xue¡¯s number was still busy.

    ¡°The society used Gao Ru Xue¡¯s name to lure me to the campus, so they definitely wouldn¡¯t let Gao Ru Xue meet up with me.¡± The phone spirit could affect people¡¯s emotions. Worried about Gao Ru Xue¡¯s safety, Chen Ge called Doctor Gao directly. Without the influence of the phone spirit, Chen Ge managed to sessfully reach the real Doctor Gao. He told him what might happen to Gao Ru Xue.

    When he heard his daughter might have been targeted by a group of mad killers, Doctor Gao dropped everything. He called the police and the school. The counsellors found Gao Ru Xue¡¯s roommates, but they had no idea where she was either. They said that Gao Ru Xue had looked disturbed that day, and it might be rted to a new boyfriend.

    At about 10 pm, one of the guards provided some valuable information. About half an hour ago, a kind-hearted taxi driver came to the school gate to return a water bottle and a textbook with Gao Ru Xue¡¯s name. The driver said that the girl left in such a hurry that she forgot her bottle and book. He had no idea which block she stayed in, so he could only return to the school and hope that the guard would return the girl her stuff.

    The driver¡¯s kindness revealed an important detail¡ªGao Ru Xue was home. Chen Ge got the address from Doctor Gao, and he quickly called a taxi to get to Xi Xia Hu. The area was nice but rather isted.

    After getting out of the car, Chen Ge kept the phone on tomunicate with Doctor Gao as he ran to the building where Gao Ru Xue stayed.

 Chapter 365 - Raincoat

    <h4>Chapter 365: Raincoat</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    At 10 pm, Chen Ge arrived at the block where Doctor Gao¡¯s family stayed. Looking up, he saw one of the windows had their light on, like all the lights in the home had been switched on. <i>Should be that room.</i>

    The windows were closed, and there was a woman standing behind the curtain. She looked nervous and kept opening the curtains to look downstairs. ¡°Gao Ru Xue?¡±

    The girl also saw Chen Ge, but she did not show joy or surprise but a face filled with fear like she just saw something scary.

    <i>Looks like she¡¯s still under the phone spirit¡¯s influence.</i>

    When someone reached the threshold of fear, they would faint¡ªthat was the human body¡¯s inherent protective system. However, the fear created by the phone spirit was different. The fear came in levels to slowly tormented the victim, pushing them slowly toward the edge of mental breakdown. Under such circumstances, the victim might be pushed to do something extremely irrational.

    ¡°Don¡¯t do anything stupid!¡± Chen Ge rushed into the corridor and pushed on the elevator button, but the elevator stopped at the 13th floor and refused to budge. Given no other choice, he had to use the stairs. Afterpleting so many missions,pared to logic and bravery, the biggest improvement to his body was his physical condition.

    He activated the recorder and grabbed the hammer. He was not afraid of disturbing the other tenants and charged upstairs.

    He moved fast!

    The voice-activated light came on for each floor as Chen Ge ran to the 13th floor. There was only one anti-theft door that was open on the quiet corridor. ¡°Found it!¡±

    Chen Ge rushed to the door and called Gao Ru Xue¡¯s name. There was no replying from within, but he heard Gao Ru Xue¡¯s moan of pain and something being smashed. The girl that was normally calm and collected was like a madwoman. Chen Ge did not dare waste any more time. He used the hammer to smash the inner door open.

    The blood vessels on the groove moved, and Chen Ge had no idea how many times he smashed at the door before the lock was smashed away. Chen Ge rushed into the room, and the first thing he saw was Gao Ru Xue leaning out the window.

    The scarier thing was that there was a very thin boy sitting on Gao Ru Xue¡¯s head. He hugged her head and used his body to cover her ears, his hands mped over her eyes.

    ¡°Xu Yin!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s shout echoed through many floors, and all the light in the room was extinguished in that moment. Air seemed to freeze as a bloody shadow charged at Gao Ru Xue!

    The boy on top of Gao Ru Xue¡¯s head showed extreme fear when he saw Xu Yin and released his grasp without hesitation and disappeared. Gao Ru Xue, who returned normal, had not recovered when he saw a Red Specter with blood dripping charging at her. She wanted to scream, but there was no voice in her throat. Her arms weakened, and her body fell backward.

    ¡°Hold onto me!¡± The familiar voice appeared again. Gao Ru Xue¡¯s pupils started to focus. The red banshee that she had seen earlier had disappeared, and only Chen Ge was grabbing her arm. The lights went off, and staring at the man in the dark, Gao Ru Xue¡¯s mind started to collect its thought.

    With one leg on the windowsill, Chen Ge tried his best to pull Gao Ru Xue up. Looking at the shocked Gao Ru Xue, Chen Ge¡¯s heart was also racing. ¡°Thankfully, the outside door was left open. If that door was locked, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to get in so quickly.¡±

    Copsing to the ground, Chen Ge was still worried about Gao Ru Xue. He dragged her to the sofa. ¡°You¡¯re fine now. Get some rest, I¡¯ll go call Doctor Gao.¡±

    Ten minutester, the lights in the room came on, and there were footstepsing from the corridor. Chen Ge raised his head to see Doctor Gao, who looked different from his normal image. His usual confidence and maturity were gone. Gasping for air, his eyes were filled with concern.

    ¡°Xiao Xue.¡± Kneeling by the sofa, Doctor Gao grabbed Gao Ru Xue¡¯s hands, and the girl finally showed her vulnerable side. Silently putting the hammer back into his backpack, Chen Ge picked up the phone that Gao Ru Xue had dropped and walked out the door alone.

    It was not over yet. He had to get that phone spirit no matter what!

    <i>Specters that are not Red Specter cannot expose themselves too long outside in the world; they have to attach themselves to something. That phone spirit won¡¯t have gotten far.</i>

    Chen Ge did not chase blindly. His mind was clear. <i>When I entered building, the elevator did not budge from the thirteenth floor. At the time, the phone spirit was on Gao Ru Xue¡¯s head, suppressing her senses, so the one inside the elevator has to be another person or a ghost.</i>

    Someone was controlling the phone spirit, and said person should have been the one stopping the elevator from moving.

    <i>If the n was to lure Gao Ru Xue away, there was no need to do this because he has no reason to kill Gao Ru Xue. After the n failed, the best solution is to escape¡ªdoing more than that will only expose himself. So, why did he change the n to kill Gao Ru Xue?</i>

    There were many different answers in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, but there was only one that was most possible¡ªGao Ru Xue had identally seen the killer. To not let any witnesses survive, the person changed his intention to kill Gao Ru Xue.

    <i>The person behind the phone spirit lured me out of New Century Park and then lured Gao Ru Xue home. The culprit should be from the ghost stories society. </i>Chen Ge leaned against the wall and looked out the window. All the clues started to line up. <i>After tonight, they should only be the only member left.</i>

    Chen Ge returned to the room and had Doctor Gao pull up the surveince of the thirteenth floor. He squatted down beside the sofa and asked, after Doctor Gao left, ¡°Did you run into anyone weird on the way home?¡±

    ¡°Weird people?¡± Gao Ru Xue thought about it. ¡°The driver who drove me home was weird. He kept telling me about those murders.¡±

    ¡°Who else other than him?¡± Gao Ru Xue had been influenced by the phone spirit, so she would have thought the worst of everyone.

    After some thought, Gao Ru Xue suddenly said, ¡°When I wanted to take the elevator earlier, someone wearing an extrarge raincoat was leaving the elevator. I bumped into him.¡±

    ¡°Raincoat?¡± Chen Ge was interested. ¡°Did you managed to see his face?¡±

    ¡°No, the person waspletely hidden inside the raincoat.¡± Gao Ru Xue hesitated before saying, ¡°After he left the elevator, for some reason, I felt fearful of the elevator. I was afraid I might get trapped inside, so I took the stairs, but when I reached the sixth floor, the safety door on the first floor was pushed open, and someone began to chase me.¡±

 Chapter 366 - Chen Ges Method of Elimination

    <h4>Chapter 366: Chen Ge¡¯s Method of Elimination</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I was so scared that when I got home that I forgot to close the anti-theft door.¡± Gao Ru Xue was still shaking, thinking about what happened then.

    ¡°Your choice was correct. The person trailing you had malicious intent.¡± The phone spirit amplified the fear in Gao Ru Xue¡¯s heart to cause her to experience various illusions. No matter the situation, she would imagine it in the worst scenario, but that might have been the reason she was saved. ten minutester, Chen Ge received the call from Doctor Gao, calling him to the building¡¯s surveince room.

    Chen Ge was worried about leaving Gao Ru Xue alone in the room in her current state, so he carried her in his arms as he moved downstairs. They entered the surveince room where Doctor Gao and two security guards were stationed before theputers.

    ¡°Any discoveries?¡±

    ¡°Take a look at this.¡± Doctor Gao had the guard rey the footage, and they saw something hair-raising. After Gao Ru Xue entered the safety door, a person wearing arge dark-colored raincoat followed behind her. He tailed Gao Ru Xue closely like her shadow.

    In the next screen, Gao Ru Xue had already arrived on the 13th floor. She raced to her home and searched for the house key with her hands shaking. Even through the screen, one could sense her fear. The man in raincoat slowly crept up on her. When he appeared on the 13th floor, Gao Ru Xue was still fiddling with the door.

    He picked up speed, and during that process, the wind blew the sleeve off. It could be seen clearly on the screen that he was holding a uniquely-shaped metal device that was covered in blood.

    The distance between the two closed. When there was less than ten meters between them, Gao Ru Xue finally got the inner door open and ran into the room. The door was mmed shut, and the corridor became quiet again.

    However, the man in the raincoat did not leave. He stopped at the door to Gao Ru Xue¡¯s room and slowly squatted down, hiding in the blind spot. If Gao Ru Xue thought the man had left and opened the door, the consequences would have been unimaginable. The time continued to move, but the screen felt like it had stopped. The killer kept himself frozen beside the door.

    ¡°Could this man be the culprit behind those eye-gauging cases? Is the sharp device in his sleeve the murder weapon?¡± When they were looking at the video, the surveince room door was pushed open and in walked two policemen.

    ¡°We¡¯re from the station precinct. I¡¯m sorry, but where is Doctor Gao?¡± Chen Ge was familiar with the man who asked the question. It was Lee Zheng, whom he had met at Fang Hwa Apartments, one of Captain Yan¡¯s trusted officers.

    When Chen Ge recognized Lee Zheng so did Lee Zheng recognize Chen Ge. The next question out of Lee Zheng¡¯s lips was... ¡°Has there been another murder?¡±

    ¡°Almost.¡± Chen Ge did not think he would run into Lee Zheng, and he was surprised Lee Zheng seemed to know Doctor Gao quite well.

    ¡°If not for Chen Ge¡¯s help, my daughter would have been the victim.¡± Doctor Gao was stilling down from his emotions. His daughter had almost died; anyone would need some time to process that worry.

    Lee Zheng walked to theputer, and when he saw the person in the video, his expression changed. He immediately took out his phone to call a number. ¡°Captain Yan! The suspect for the eye-gouging cases has been spotted at Xi Xia Hu residential area! It is simr to how the suspect was captured in other videos; the killer is wearing a dark-colored raincoat!¡±

    After making the report, Lee Zheng asked for everyone¡¯s cooperation and to stay in the room. Ten minutester, Captain Yan arrived with his men. After asking about the situation, he had the perimeter surrounded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we have pinpointed the general location of the killer, there¡¯s no way he¡¯ll be escaping tonight!¡±

    Themotion was muchrger than Chen Ge had expected. With police cars and hounds, all the streets were sealed. It was obvious that this time the police had given it their all.

    ¡°The video shows that the suspect has left the third building in thest twenty minutes. Without the aid of a runaway car, the suspect should still be around the area.¡± Captain Yan marked down several points on the map on his phone and sent it to the officers¡¯ phones. ¡°Listen to me,b the area inch by inch! Even if she¡¯s buried three feet underground, we¡¯ll find her tonight!¡±

    With Captain Yan¡¯s order, the officers started to move like a well-oiled machine. After Captain Yan finished his order, Chen Ge sidled up to the man. ¡°Captain Yan, the killer ispletely covered inside the raincoat, and none of you have seen him before. Will he be able to escape by just walking out the perimeter?¡±

    ¡°Even though we have not seen her face, it doesn¡¯t mean that we cannot recognize her.¡± Captain Yan followed the movement of the teams closely and exined to Chen Ge, ¡°This killer is cruel and cunning. Her targets are totally random, and there is no rhyme or reason. This is an incredibly hard case for the investigation team, but the most cunning fox will eventually fall to a better hunter. She thought she hadmitted the perfect crime, but she¡¯s made some mistakes because she was in too much of a hurry to get the job done.

    ¡°We¡¯ve pulled out more than one hundred cameras from the five crime scenes, and through digital reconstruction and the hair follicle and skin particles that we¡¯ve collected at the crime scene, our criminal profiler hase up with this painting.¡±

    Captain Yan pointed at his phone, and on the screen was an average-sized woman that was impossibly gorgeous.

    ¡°The killer is a woman?¡± Chen Ge was rather surprised.

    ¡°Not only a woman, an impossibly beautiful woman.¡± The walkie-talkie made a noise, and Captain Yan turned away from Chen Ge to focus on his work. What Captain Yan said repeated itself in Chen Ge¡¯s mind; he had a good idea who the real killer was now.

    She was rted to the ghost stories society, was incredibly beautiful, and had a mental illness; there was only one woman who fit the criteria¡ªThird Sick Hall¡¯s Patient No. 6, Han Bao¡¯er!

    There was ament on her patient¡¯s report¡ªJust how harsh must God be to make a woman as beautiful as this?

    Other than Wang Shenglong, this woman was thest patient at Third Sick Hall. After removing her, thepletion rate would go over ny percent, and Chen Ge would get the hidden reward!

    <i>It should be her. </i>Chen Ge moved back silently. <i>The real reason for gouging out the eyes should be rted to the door at my Haunted House. This means that Han Bao¡¯er is a member of the society. As long as she is captured or removed, the society will only have one member left.</i>

    After confirming the identity of Han Bao¡¯er, another detail could be confirmed.

    <i>No. 10 was taller than Han Bao¡¯er and a man, so No. 10 isn¡¯t Han Bao¡¯er! If this is true, then that familiar No. 10 should be the chairperson!</i>

    In less than one week, Chen Ge had used his own method of elimination to discover the chairperson.

    <i>Quite a good hider, but it¡¯s useless before me. After Han Bao¡¯er is captured, it¡¯s your turn next!</i>

 Chapter 367 - The Rag Doll Before the Door

    <h4>Chapter 367: The Rag Doll Before the Door</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    A dangerous glow appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. Since the chairperson gave him a sense of familiarity, it was all the more reason for him to expose the man. <i>The five killings look like they¡¯re part of a ritual. The society has spent so long preparing this, so they should have started the moment after luring me out from the Haunted House.</i>

    The ghost stories society was afraid that Chen Ge might ruin the ceremony, and Cheng Ge was worried about his life. After all, at the time, Xu Yin had not awakened yet. He could only use those Specters that looked scary but were not at all harmful. But things had changed; Xu Yin had awakened. Even though his condition was a bit weird, he did raise Chen Ge¡¯sbat ability.

    <i>With the cooperation between Xu Yin and Yan Danian, they might stop the opponent¡¯s Red Specter. Then I will have the chance to stop the person behind all this.</i>

    Thinking about this, Chen Ge walked over to Captain Yan. ¡°Captain Yan, I have an emergency back at the Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d better stay put until the killer is apprehended. Don¡¯t forget, you¡¯re one of their primary targets.¡± Captain Yan did not agree to le Chen Ge go. He talked into the talkie-walkie, busy with the teams.

    Returning to the chair, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes swept Captain Yan and the two officers in the room. Since he first met Captain Yan, he had never suspected this policeman that was filled with a sense of justice, but this time, his conviction swayed.

    Two hours ago, it was Captain Yan who had personally called Chen Ge toe to the station. His reason was wless, and he did sound like he wanted to protect Chen Ge, but the timing was too coincidental. It was about the time the society went to his Haunted House.

    Looking further back, when the society wanted to snatch the door at Coffin Vige, their preparation was soplete. They knew both Jiang Ling and Coffin Vige very well, but where did they get that information?

    Coffin Vige was well hidden within the mountains, separated from the world. Those escaped vigers in Lin Guan Vige had rarelymunicated with the outside world as well. That was until half a year ago, when Jiang Ling¡¯s parents were poisoned, and this isted vige came under the police¡¯s radar. Captain Yan was also part of the investigation team then.

    It was Captain Yan who entered Coffin Vige, and it was his men that took care of Jiang Ling¡ªthat was undeniable truth. When Chen Ge saved Gu Feiyu at Fang Hwa Apartments, Captain Yan had also been there. It was Captain Yan who followed up on the cases from the Third Sick Hall. Now that he thought about it, there were reasons to suspect Captain Yan. Of course, these were merely suspicions. From how Chen Ge saw it, Captain Yan had no reason to do all this; it could just be a coincidence.

    <i>After Han Bao¡¯er gets captured tonight, the society will only have the chairperson left.</i>

    Chen Ge made sure that Captain Yan was not looking at him when he sneaked out from the room and took a taxi back to New Century Park. Chen Ge arrived at the park at around 11 pm, and once he got out, he knew that something was wrong. There was a very light smell in the air. The stench was simr to the stench at the Third Sick Hall and Hai Ming Apartments but much lighter.

    ¡°It¡¯s that smell again.¡± Chen Ge had noticed this smell when he first arrived at Hai Ming Apartments. At the time, he had asked Doctor Gao about it and realized that only he could notice this very weird smell. After greeting the park guard, Chen Ge entered the premises.

    The more he walked through the park, the more he felt something was wrong. The attractions looked normal, but they looked suddenly old to Chen Ge, like they were covered in ayer of dust. Pressing the y button on the recorder, Chen Ge took out the hammer from his backpack as he approached his Haunted House.

    The park was rather creepy at night, and Chen Ge moved slowly. <i>This is weird. Could it be that thest member of the society hasn¡¯t left yet?</i>

    When he was thirty meters away from the Haunted House, the bushes nearby suddenly moved. Chen Ge narrowed his eyes and readied the hammer. Several secondster, the leaves were pushed back, and a white cat poked out its small head. Its multi-colored eyes were obvious in the dark. When it saw Chen Ge, it jumped out and climbed onto Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders, feeling this was the safest ce.

    <i>At least help the Haunted House when I¡¯m away. All you do is flee.</i>

    Chen Ge touched the white cat¡¯s head. The cat looked spooked. Chen Ge continued to move forward until he reached the gate.

    <i>The lock is untouched, so the person probably didn¡¯t go through the front door.</i>

    He walked around the Haunted House and stopped at the toilet¡¯s window. Due to the incident with the mirror monster, the room had been sealed off, but now the window was open again.

    <i>He¡¯s here for that blood ¡®door¡¯.</i>

    Chen Ge pulled the window opened and ced the cat on the windowsill. Seeing that the cat showed no response, Chen Ge jumped into the room.

    <i>Someone has moved the stuff in here.</i>

    The mop and brooms that should have been standing at the corner were on the ground, and the newly reced toilet door was broken down. There were cracks on the mirror in the toilet, and the wooden boards on the toilet cubicle had all been removed.

    <i>Zhang Ya is sleeping inside my shadow, and Xu Yin has been with me. Other than them, who in this Haunted House can rival the people from the ghost stories society?</i>

    The chairperson would definitely have a Red Specter, and Chen Ge did not think that he had anyone at the Haunted House who could beat a Red Specter.

    <i>Did I miss something?</i>

    Chen Ge turned on the light in the toilet. He cleared away the trash and finally found something after removing all the boards. In front of the cubicle door sat a tattered rag doll.

    <i>It¡¯s her?</i>

    This scene was quite familiar. When Chen Ge did the Nightmare Mission for the first time, it was also this rag doll that hadin before the mirror to stop the mirror monster froming out. He picked up the rag doll. After his parents¡¯ disappearance, the police had only managed to find two things, the ck phone and this rag doll that Chen Ge made when he was a child.

    Afterpleting the third Nightmare Mission, Chen Ge had confirmed the rag doll¡¯s identity. It was a soul that protected the Haunted House and New Century Park; she was Director Luo¡¯s daughter.

    The rag doll had many wounds on its body. There was a gash about the size of a finger on the back, and the cotton inside had been roughly pulled out. Chen Ge pushed the cotton back into the body and ced the rag doll on the counter.

    After doing all that, Chen Ge turned to look at the cubicle door. The rag doll had blocked the way, so this meant that the society had not been sessful. Their target was this door, but from its appearance, nothing had changed with this blood door.

    Chen Ge was still worried. He pulled the door open, and when he did, he noticed a faded smell of blood in the air. He lowered his head to look. There was a painting of a weird Specter behind the door. It gnashed its teeth and was carrying many torture devices. The strangest thing was that the creature had ten eyes, and all of them seemed to be looking at Chen Ge.

 Chapter 368 - The Pen Spirits Will

    <h4>Chapter 368: The Pen Spirit¡¯s Will</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>An evil Specter?</i>

    When he saw the drawing, this was the term that appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

    <i>Why would the society draw an evil Specter behind the door? What is the meaning of this?</i>

    It was very quiet inside the Haunted House, and being stared at by ten eyes, even with Chen Ge¡¯s experience, he still felt ufortable.

    <i>There have been five murders near New Century Park, and all the victims¡¯ eyes have been gouged out. The monster here has ten eyes; could this be a coincidence?</i>

    Chen Ge slowly squatted down and used his finger tip to touch the board. The drawing had not been painted on the door but was more like inside the door. Chen Ge could not feel anything with his fingers.

    <i>Before departing for Coffin Vige, Captain Yan told me some things about the case. All the victims were sinners, including thieves, robbers, and fugitives. Sinners are used for the ceremony, and the Specter is carrying multiple torture devices; it does symbolize punishment. The weirdest thing is that the drawing is facing inside, meaning it¡¯s facing the world behind the door.</i>

    Chen Ge scratched his head but could not understand the society¡¯s aim.

    <i>I shoulde back to look at midnight.</i>

    Chen Ge closed the door, and to prevent an ident from happening, he picked up the wooden boards and used them to seal up the cubicle again. After dealing with all that, Chen Ge picked up the torn rag doll and the white cat and walked to the props room. He switched the light on to find the needle and thread to repair the rag doll.

    There were few males who knew needlework, but Chen Ge was an exception. When the Haunted House had not been making much money, most of the outfits had been handmade by Chen Ge. After poking his fingers several times, Chen Ge had be quite proficient at the job.

    <i>My parents were nicer to you than me when we were small. If they saw you in this state, they would be devastated.</i>

    Chen Ge patiently sealed up the wound on the rag doll¡¯s back. The rag doll might have looked rough and simple, but Chen Ge knew it was hiding a beautiful and pure soul. When he was half-way through, Chen Ge realized that there was a long and thin red nail hiding in the doll¡¯s sleeve, one that would not be discovered if one did not look closer.

    <i>Wait, isn¡¯t this the nail I brought back from the Third Sick Hall?</i>

    During that trial mission, Chen Ge had found many letters inside the dresser in a room. The dresser had not been touched in all those years, and the four corners were sealed up by these long nails. At the time, Chen Ge had thought that they were useful to stop the ghosts, so when he returned to grab his hammer, he had pulled the nails out and brought them back to the Haunted House.

    <i>There is a blood stain on the nail, perhaps it¡¯s from the killer. Tomorrow, I should call someone to test this.</i>

    Chen Ge pocketed the nail and continued his work. Time slowly passed, and the bored white cat started to y with the ball of thread. Eventually, its body was tangled up in the thread, and it started ying with it in the room. Chen Ge ignored the cat and focused on fixing the cuts on the doll.

    There were two conspicuous cuts on the doll¡¯s body, one old and one new. The new wound had been left behind by the ghost stories society, and the old wound was across its neck, almost chopping the doll¡¯s head off. Touching the wound on the neck, Chen Ge thought back to an event that happened many years ago.

    After making the rag doll, Chen Ge¡¯s parents had told him to keep the doll with him no matter where he went. Chen Ge had refused because it looked weird for a boy to go everywhere carrying a doll, but he did not get into an argument with his family over this.

    Since he had lived at a Haunted House since he was young, Chen Ge had greater courage than most and had a more vibrant curiosity. His parents never limited him but only barred him from going to the eastern side of Jiujiang.

    Chen Ge could not understand his parents¡¯ rule until that one time when the school arranged a trip for everyone to go the dam at the eastern side of Jiujiang to y. Initially, everything had been fine. At around three to four pm, Chen Ge had seen someone waving at him. The person had felt familiar and was calling his name. Chen Ge had told the teacher this, and with the teacher¡¯s apaniment, they had walked down that small path.

    He could see a red house at the end of the road, and there were kids ying weird games around the house. He could not remember anything beyond that. Wen he woke up by the side of the street with his fainted teacher, he had the wounded rag doll in his arms.

    ¡°It should be you who have saved me then too.¡± Chen Ge touched the wound on the rag doll¡¯s neck, and now he understood many things. ¡°Before now, you¡¯ve been protecting me, but from now on, I shall be protecting all of you.¡±

    He ced the rag doll inside his pocket. Chen Ge grabbed the hammer and went to inspect all the scenarios.

    Xiaoxiao¡¯s family was inside the Murder by Midnight scenario. They were not hurt. He pulled off the wooden boards and entered the Mu Yang High School scenario. Twenty-four mannequins sat quietly in the sealed ssroom¡ªnone of them was missing. They looked just like real mannequins. He moved forward, and when he entered the female dormitory, the Pen Spirit, who was wrapped up by tape, gave Chen Ge a surprise.

    There was a sentence on the piece of paper.

    ¡°The killer is carrying a dead body on his back and he calls her his wife! Help me take care of Wang Xin and avenge me!¡±

    Chen Ge was surprised when he saw the ¡®will¡¯ left by the Pen Spirit. ¡°You sure are a kind person. Even at a time like this, you still care about that friend of yours.¡±

    Chen Ge sighed in relief when he picked up the ballpoint pen and realized that the Pen Spirit was safe. He had a Pen Spirit that knew how to pen her own will; the chairperson definitely would not expect something like that.

    <i>The person is carrying a body, so it¡¯s confirmed that the person who intruded into my Haunted House is No. 10. He called the body on his back his wife. That is a crucial clue.</i>

    After inspecting all the scenarios, probably due to the limited time, the chairperson did not ruin the Haunted House. His main target was still the door inside the first-floor toilet. Realizing that the Haunted House was untouched, Chen Ge felt relieved. He returned to the toilet with all of his equipment, waiting for time to go by.

    The door inside the Haunted House was a treasure for the society, but it was worthless for Chen Ge. He knew too little about the world behind the door. He guarded the door until 11:59 pm.

    The white cat that was ying suddenly rushed into the toilet while gnashing its jaw. Chen Ge also felt the changes in the room. Just as the door was about to open, all the souls in the Haunted House reacted.

    Chen Ge gripped the hammer and had his finger over the recorder, ready to call Xu Yin for help.

    The seconds ticked by.

    When it was midnight. The drawing that was inside the door appeared on the other side of the door. All ten eyes came to life. They did not look like drawing but ten actual eyes that could move.

    As time continued to move, blood vessels appeared on the door, and the monster¡¯s expression turned twisted. The vessels crawled all over the monster. When they passed through the eyes, they would turn blood red, and that continued until the tenth eye. But no matter how long the blood vessels curled around thest eye, they could not dye it red.

    Chen Ge got closer, and he realized that thisst eye had been poked blind by something sharp.

 Chapter 369 - Im Also a Member of the Society

    <h4>Chapter 369: I¡¯m Also a Member of the Society</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>There¡¯s a long nail in the rag doll¡¯s sleeve, so she should be the one who did this.</i>

    Thest eyeball was not dyed red, and the ghost stories society¡¯s ritual had been interrupted. It could not be considered sessful, but it did not failpletely either. The blood vessels entered the Specter¡¯s body, making it more authentic, like it could jump out of the door at any moment.

    After thirty seconds, there was a weird sounding from inside the door. It sounded like a ball bouncing on the ground.

    ¡°A human skull?¡±

    Chen Ge summoned Xu Yin and guarded the door with the hammer. If he had not just boarded up the cubicle, he could have been fighting the thing then. The sound came closer until it rammed into the door, causing the cubicle to shake slightly.

    When the monster knocked into the door, nine eyes of the Specter painted on the door opened wide. A boy¡¯s scream escaped the door, and the bouncing ball quickly retreated. The sound disappeared, and the one minute ended. The Specter did not escape from the door. It appeared like it was forever stuck inside the door due to the one eye that had been poked blind. The blood door returned to normal like nothing ever happened.

    <i>The monster behind the door screamed loudly when it touched the door. The voice was filled with pain and terror. Looks like this Specter painted by the society is not to be messed with.</i>

    The drawing disappeared alongside the blood, but the memory was still fresh in Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

    <i>The Specter has the eyes of five sinners and carries tons of torture devices. It looks scary and can force dark spirits away. Howe it feel like a door guardian? Normal families will put up pictures of door guardians during New Year to protect the family. Is this the same purpose for the ghost stories society?</i>

    At Coffin Vige, Wu Fei had once said that the door at Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House was probably unupied. At the time, No. 10¡¯s reaction had been huge, like an unupied ¡®door¡¯ was extremely rare.

    <i>A weird painting to control a ¡®door¡¯? That¡¯s too unrealistic, but the key to bing the owner of a door should be inside the door.</i>

    Now that he thought about it, Chen Ge suspected that the painting was a way to protect the door. The door was the connection between the two worlds. To explore the world behind the door, first one had to guarantee the door¡¯s safety. That way, one could retreat instantly in case of danger.

    <i>To protect the door from outsiders, that should be one of the purposes of this painting. I¡¯ll need time to discover its other uses.</i>

    To ensure that the painting would not influence the daily operation of the Haunted House, Chen Ge used Xu Yin and Yan Danian to try it out. Neither of them reacted in any special way.

    <i>I still worry about this, I shoulde back at midnight tomorrow.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s initial attitude toward the door was to avoid it and seal it up, but after Zhang Ya charged into the door at the Third Sick Hall, his attitude toward the door had slowly changed.

    <i>If there¡¯s a chance, I should go look behind this door. </i>Chen Ge then recalled Xu Yin and turned to look at his shadow. <i>When Zhang Ya awakens, I should try to take a spin behind the door.</i>

    It was already midnight, but Chen Ge did not feel tired at all. He tried to sleep but could not. His mind was still on that phone spirit. He felt like it would be immensely helpful to have that spirit as a Haunted House employee. Letting it die alongside the society was such a waste.

    Normal people tried their best to avoid Specters and ghosts, but Chen Ge was theplete opposite.

    <i>The phone spirit belongs to the ghost stories society, and technically speaking, I¡¯m also a member. Even though they didn¡¯t admit it, that¡¯s not important.</i>

    Chen Ge suddenly realized this as the society was almost crumbling. The society had more than one door and had been hiding in the shadows of the city for so many years, so they should have collected many goodies. Taking this one step further, even if they did not leave behind anything physical, just the information they had on ghosts would be extremely beneficial to Chen Ge.

    <i>This is such a wealth of treasure!</i>

    The society, including its chairperson, would all be captured soon. As the sub member of the society, Chen Ge felt like it was time for him to step up. Carrying his bag, Chen Ge dragged the hammer back to Mu Yang High School. He entered the female dormitory and found the Pen Spirit.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m here. No one can hurt you.¡±

    After consoling the Pen Spirit, Chen Ge used her power to determine Han Bao¡¯er¡¯s location. The sessful rate of Pen Spirit¡¯s prediction was fifty percent, and the prediction could not be beyond her power. These conditions made her ability rather weak.

    However, that day, perhaps instigated by outside influence, after Chen Ge asked the question, she wrote down a very detailed address on the paper.

    ¡°Xi Xia Hu¡¯s third building 23rd floor? The killer herself is a tenant at Xi Xia Hu?¡±

    This was an important detail, and Chen Ge memorized the address on the paper. He took out his phone to call Captain Yan, but after a moment¡¯s hesitation, he put the phone away.

    Locking the Haunted House, Chen Ge left New Century Park.

    <i>If she has a Red Specter, then we¡¯ll retreat and ask the police for help; if she only has normal ghosts, we¡¯ll capture her alive and suck all the ghosts she has into theic to be trained.</i>

    Chen Ge was hiding in the dark and had the element of surprise thanks to the Pen Spirit. Combined that with Xu Yin and Yan Danian, he had every advantage. The taxi arrived at Xi Xia Hu; the roadblock was still ongoing. To prevent the hammer in his bag from being confiscated, Chen Ge got out early.

    <i>The killer can be handed over to the police, but I need that phone spirit.</i>

    Chen Ge returned to the surveince room. Captain Yan and his men had already left. Weirdly enough, Captain Yan did not ask about Chen Ge¡¯s location. It was unclear whether he was too busy or it had already be a habit.

    After a long search, Chen Ge finally found Lee Zheng. He told him about the Pen Spirit¡¯s prediction and attached that with a long list of spection. Lee Zheng listened to him with a frown. Chen Ge¡¯s analysis waspletely unreliable. If this had been someone else, he would have asked them to leave.

    However, Lee Zheng did not disregard Chen Ge¡¯s input. After all, the man was special and had a brilliant case clearing record. He seemed to be the kryptonite of sinners.

    After somemunication, Lee Zheng found the information for all the tenants on the 23rd floor, and with the apaniment of the owner, they went up to said floor.

 Chapter 370 - The Sickest Beauty [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 370: The Sickest Beauty [2 in 1]</h4>

    ¡°When Gao Ru Xue wanted to take the elevator, she ran into the person wearing the raincoat leaving the building. That should be just a coincidence.¡±

    The police¡¯s investigation pressured this person in the raincoat greatly. Chen Ge tried to envision this from her perspective, and he believed that the killer should be trying to escape Xi Xia Hu to find a new hiding spot.

    ¡°For now, that cannot be confirmed. There¡¯s also the possibility that the killer was tailing Gao Ru Xue.¡± Lee Zheng look at the camera inside the elevator. ¡°We once suspected that the killer is a resident here because some of the cameras within the residential area were maliciously destroyed three days ago, and three days ago was exactly when the first murder wasmitted.¡±

    After he said that, Lee Zheng nced at Chen Ge with suspicion. The police had gathered many clues and pieces of information before they came to the suspicion that the killer might be a tenant at Xi Xia Hu, but Chen Ge had managed that alone without the aid of a team. Not only had he pinpointed Xi Xia Hu, he had even managed to provide the floor that the killer was staying at.

    Honestly, if Lee Zheng was not familiar with Chen Ge, he would have suspected that Chen Ge was rted to these murders. Exiting the elevator, the owner provided Chen Ge and Lee Zheng all the basic information of all the tenants on 23rd floor. Han Bao¡¯er¡¯s name was not on the list, and based on the owner¡¯s memory, there were not any particr beautiful tenants on the 23rd floor.

    ¡°Chen Ge, could you be mistaken?¡±

    When the police arrived at Xi Xia Hu, the first thing they did was seal up the third building, and they had investigated most of the tenants. Chen Ge honestly was not that convinced about the Pen Spirit¡¯s prediction. After all, she only had a fifty percent chance to be correct.

    After giving it some thought, Chen Ge turned around to ask the owner, ¡°Are there any surveince cameras on the 23rd floor?¡±

    ¡°The cameras above the 15th floor have been broken for a long time, and there¡¯s hasn¡¯t been free time for us to call people in toe fix them. The main reason though is because we¡¯ve tried fixing them before, but weirdly enough, they kept getting destroyed. In the end, the management kinda left them be after a while.¡± The owner spoke very carefully. After all, this was their mistake. ¡°Our residential area has three groups of patrolling guards, and there has been no record of incidents happening here.¡±

    ¡°None in the past doesn¡¯t mean none in the future.¡± Chen Ge did not n to argue with the owner. ¡°Are you familiar with the tenants on the 23rd floor? Are there any suspicious tenants here?¡±

    ¡°Suspicious people?¡± The owner shook his head.

    ¡°Then have you receivedints like weird noisesing out from a certain room at night? Or some horrible, pungent smell?¡± Chen Ge fired off so many questions that Lee Zheng could not find an opening to chime in.

    The owner thought about it and looked down at one of the doors at the end of the corridor. ¡°We did receive a call from the tenant once. However, it was not to lodge a report but to ask for help.¡±

    ¡°Ask for help?¡± Both Chen Ge and Lee Zheng stopped moving.

    ¡°There¡¯s a family on the 23rd floor that has serious domestic abuse issues, but we never once received a call from the principal parties. Normally, it¡¯s the neighbors who called us when they couldn¡¯t bear it any longer.¡± The owner led Chen Ge and Lee Zheng to the door at the end of the corridor. ¡°This is it.¡±

    ording to the tenant list, the tenant staying there was a man by the name of Qiu Meng. He was an employed physical trainer at an established gym. ¡°The person you¡¯re looking for is not him. Qiu Meng is almost 1.9 meters tall. I¡¯ve nced at the person wearing the raincoat in the camera¡ªat most, that person is 1.7 meters. They are definitely not the same person.¡±

    ¡°Open the door. We¡¯ll take a look first before wee to a decision.¡± At a time like this, Chen Ge would not let go of any suspicion.

    The owner seemed to be afraid of Qiu Ming. He knocked on the door rather unwillingly. ¡°Is anyone in? We¡¯re from the management.¡±

    The room was very quiet. There was no reply.

    Chen Ge touched Lee Zheng¡¯s shoulder. ¡°This family might be problematic. Why don¡¯t you call your people? If they won¡¯t open the door willingly, we¡¯ll just knock it down.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s easier for you to say. Without any evidence, we have no right to trespass onto private property.¡± Lee Zheng thought about it and added, ¡°At least we need permission from Captain Yan.¡±

    While they were conversing, they suddenly heard footstepsing from inside the room. Momentster, the door was pulled open, and arge, handsome man stood at the door. He had blurry, red eyes. He yawned. It looked like he had not had a good night¡¯s sleep in days already.

    ¡°How can I help you?¡±

    The owner forced a smile on his face and said rather abashedly, ¡°A killer seems to have hidden himself inside our residential area, so the police would like to ask you some questions.¡±

    ¡°Ask me questions?¡± The man was confused. He slowly woke up. When he saw the police uniform that Lee Zheng was wearing, his gaze shifted slightly. ¡°I¡¯ve been sleeping at home. I don¡¯t know anything.¡±

    ¡°Can wee in?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s sense was very sensitive. When the door opened, he could sense the faded scent of blood in the air. Qiu Meng nced at Chen Ge. He was uncooperative and refused to let strangers into his home.

    ¡°This is my ID. Please provide your cooperation.¡± After Lee Zheng showed his ID, he pulled out his walkie-talkie before Qiu Ming and called for the rest of the members to gather at the 23rd floor of the third building. Knowing he could not escape from this, Qiu Meng pulled the anti-theft door open. ¡°Come in, sorry for the mess.¡±

    The table in the living room was overturned, and things were strewn everywhere. The vase was shattered, and a few fresh rosesy pitifully on the floor. They had been stepped on¡ªthe petals were pulverized.

    Domestic abuse? Chen Ge was the first one to step into the living room. When he saw this scene, that was the first thought that appeared in his mind.

    ¡°Ask if you have any question.¡± Qiu Ming¡¯s face was dark. He hated allowing outsiders into his home. It felt like his secrets were all exposed.

    ¡°Where were you from 8 pm to midnightst night?¡±

    ¡°At home, ying on theputer.¡±

    ¡°Can someone coborate that?¡±

    ¡°Why do I need that? I¡¯m not a murderer. You¡¯ve got the wrong guy!¡± Qiu Meng roared. He was a feisty character. Even facing the police, he could not stop himself from exploding.

    ¡°I¡¯ll repeat that. Who can coborate that for you?¡± Lee Zheng seemed to change into a different person. In terms of height and size, he was no match for Qiu Meng, but he gave the feeling that if this was a fight, he could apprehend Qiu Meng in a few moves.

    ¡°I reached home around 7:30 pm. I had dinner and started ying my game.¡± Qiu Meng surrendered in the end, and he opened hisputer. ¡°I¡¯m also a livestream host, teaching people how to train their muscles, but today, I didn¡¯t feel like giving people advice, so I streamed myself ying some games.¡±

    The rey of the livestream proved that Qiu Meng was not lying. From eight to twelve, he was ying on theputer.

    ¡°Then why do you seem so hostile tonight?¡± Lee Zheng did not let go off any details that escaped from Qiu Meng¡¯s lips.

    ¡°I had an argument with my girlfriend.¡±

    ¡°Did you hit her?¡± Lee Zheng nced at the living room that was a mess.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Why did you hit her? At what time did you hit her?¡±

    ¡°Do you really need to know that?¡± Qiu Meng seemed like he was at his limit, and he was going to explode any time soon. ¡°At around 10 pm, I suppose. I was livestreaming at the time, and the camera was left open. If you don¡¯t believe me, you can check the rey.¡±

    The time Qiu Meng mentioned was the time the raincoat person was squatting outside Gao Ru Xue¡¯s room, waiting to ambush her. If Qiu Meng was telling the truth, then he and his girlfriend were both innocent. Lee Zheng used Qiu Meng¡¯sputer to find that particr moment.

    Qiu Meng was parked before theputer until 10 pm, and his girlfriend¡¯s voice was caught by theputer. They had an argument over something small, and then Qiu Meng left the camera. There was the sound of vase being shattered and the table overturned. Then it was followed by the sound of curses and cries.

    ¡°I know I did wrong, but sometimes I just cannot control myself.¡± The way Qiu Meng tried to brush it off as something insignificant made people mad.

    ¡°No matter what, using violence on an innocent person is a vition of someone¡¯s dignity. You need to understand that causing damage through domestic abuse is punishable byw.¡± Lee Zheng stood up and told the owner, ¡°If this happens again in the future, you have to take it seriously. Ignoring it will only cause him tomit a bigger mistake in the future.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    Lee Zheng turned back with concern on his face. ¡°Where is your girlfriend now? I wish to take a look at her injuries.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s inside the bedroom. She has locked the door, so I cannot get in.¡± Qiu Meng leaned against the sofa and showed no signs of getting up.

    ¡°You should have spare key to the bedroom, right? Use it to open the door.¡±

    ¡°Are police officers that free? Didn¡¯t you say you have a killer to catch? I¡¯ll handle the problem at my own home.¡± Qiu Meng¡¯s brows were creased together, and veins popped up on his arm.

    ¡°It is because I am a police officer that I cannot leave this be.¡± Lee Zheng stared at Qiu Meng and pointed at the door. ¡°Open it.¡±

    He was adamant, and Qiu Meng knew that he could not get out of this that easily, so he stood up to rummage through the dresser for the spare key. He used it to open the bedroom door. Different from the chaotic living room, things were neat and tidy inside the bedroom. It was unclear whether it had been cleaned up or the ce had not been touched earlier.

    A woman¡¯s sobbing could be hearding from inside the room. It was soft, like she did not dare cry too loudly.

    ¡°We cannot tolerate domestic abuse. If you need help, you can find the local woman¡¯s organization or just call the police.¡± Lee Zheng looked at the woman whoy in bed facing away from him. He could not see anything wrong from her back. However, his years of investigative experience told him that something was wrong. He walked around the bed to attempt to look at the woman¡¯s face.

    The team¡¯s profiler hade up with the killer¡¯s appearance. There were several properties to the killer; she was not strong and was very beautiful. She appeared kind and would easily make others feelfortable in her presence. Lee Zheng remembered these details. Just as he was about to have a look at the woman¡¯s lowered face, his phone suddenly rang.

    He took out his phone to answer it. Lee Zheng discovered that it was from Captain Yan. Captain Yan said that they had discovered the killer for the eye-gouging case, and he wanted Lee Zheng to bring his men as backup. Receiving the order, Lee Zheng nced hurriedly at the woman on the bed. The woman¡¯s hair covered half of her face, so he had no idea what she really looked like. Having implicit trust in Captain Yan, he left the woman with a few more words before he walked out of the bedroom.

    ¡°The killer has been captured. Chen Ge, let¡¯s go now!¡± Lee Zheng headed out the front door but was stopped by Chen Ge at thest minute.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to leave in such a hurry, this man looks like he is lying to us.¡±

    When Lee Zheng almost caught a glimpse of the woman¡¯s face, he had received the call from Captain Yan. From how Chen Ge saw it, that was definitely abnormal. A bigger anomaly was that Captain Yan would normally use the walkie-talkie tomunicate at the crime scene, so why did Captain Yan use his phone to contact Lee Zheng this time?

    ¡°Come look at this broken vase.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the shattered pieces on the ground. ¡°If the vase was identally knocked from the cupboard or it rolled from the cupboard, then the pieces should have been lying around the cupboard. But take a look at the spray pattern of these pieces. The distance between them is as far as one meter. In other words, this vase didn¡¯t fall on its own; someone raise it up and smash it on the ground.¡±

    Lee Zheng inspected the evidence and realized that Chen Ge was right. The evidence did suggest that the man was lying to them.

    ¡°When you entered the bedroom earlier, I made use of the chance to also nce into the room. The bedroom was clean and tidy, and there wasn¡¯t even a water stain on the ground. This ispletely different from the living room. I¡¯m wondering, how did a man that lost his cool manage to contain his destruction within the living room?¡± Chen Ge looked around the house. ¡°The kitchen and toilet are untouched as well. Only the living room is in this messy state, and the mess is very contained. So, this looks like it is purposely made to look this way.¡±

    He pulled on Lee Zheng to take a step back. ¡°An innocent husband and wife, why do they need to create the illusion of domestic abuse? Are they hiding something? Also, the alibi provided by the man earlier¡ªin the whole livestream video, only he appeared in the video. We did not see a trace of his girlfriend, so I now suspect that video is also problematic.¡±

    Now that Chen Ge brought that up, Lee Zheng also found the man and woman to be quite suspicious. He told the owner to leave the room to get help from the officers while he worked together with Chen Ge to surround Qiu Meng from both sides. While Chen Ge began his hypothesis, Qiu Meng showed a face that said that he was wrong andined that he was framed, but near the end, he chose the method of silent admission instead.

    ¡°Don¡¯t waste your energy on resistance, stand up now!¡±

    Facing both Lee Zheng and Chen Ge, Qiu Meng lowered his head. He was silent for a very long time before he seemed toe to a decision. ¡°Those five murders with the gouging eyes, I¡¯m the one whomitted all of them. I will surrender myself and go with you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re admitting that you are the murderer?¡± Lee Zheng shared a look with Chen Ge. Both of them understood in that instant that the man was trying to shoulder the me for his girlfriend.

    ¡°Stand up and don¡¯t move!¡± Lee Zheng took out the walkie-talkie to prepare to report to Captain Yan when his phone started to ring again. He took it out to take a look and was surprised to find it was a call from Captain Yan.

    ¡°Hello? Captain Yan! I¡¯ve spotted the suspect! Requesting back-up!¡±

    After Lee Zheng finished, the Captain Yan on the phone only said three simple words.

    ¡°Look behind you.¡±

    Due to his training, Lee Zheng did what he was told. The woman inside the bedroom earlier had walked to stand behind him, and children that looked scrawny and malnourished climbed on top of Lee Zheng¡¯s body. The curious part was that Lee Zheng did not seem to notice the children. His eyes stared into the woman¡¯s dark pupils like he was hypnotized.

    ¡°I did not have any intention of killing you, but you insisted on courting death.¡± The woman¡¯s voice sounded coarse and rough. It belied her advanced age, but if anyone took a nce at her face, they definitely would have had their breath taken away.

    The beauty was not something that could be described with words. It was mixed with both sickness and madness, just like the brightest rose that bloomed in a lonely cemetery. It fed on the nutrients of death and blossomed into a beauty that would strike at one¡¯s soul.

 Chapter 371 - Han Baoer

    <h4>Chapter 371: Han Bao¡¯er</h4>

    This was the first time Chen Ge had met a woman with such unnatural beauty. Her figure and appearance were wless, and that was the scariest thing. Chen Ge was reminded of Han Bao¡¯er¡¯s patient file¡ªthis Patient No. 6 suffered from Body Dysmorphic Disorder. She tended to exaggerate the ws of her body and would never be satisfied, thus taking drastic measures to fix them.

    ording to the record, this perfect woman before him had once tried to chop off her finger because the nails on both hands were not symmetrical. She had the most perfect appearance, but her heart was twisted beyond recognition. Instead of saying that she was a beautiful woman, it was more urate to describe her as a monster who had the most beautiful human skin.

    Since her appearance, the atmosphere in the room changed, and all the lights were switched off. In the dark, malnourished children climbed out from behind her, and they were all connected to her through faded red lines.

    ¡°These are your ghosts?¡± Chen Ge took a step back. He scanned the room, and after realizing there was no Red Specter, his heart rxed. ¡°There are so many of them. It must have been hard trying to rear so many young ghosts.¡±

    ¡°They were once my children, and only I can make them listen to me.¡± This sentence from Han Bao¡¯er seemed to mean a lot to her. Her eyes that looked at the ghost kids on the floor and on Lee Zheng were filled with pain.

    ¡°Children?¡± Chen Ge looked at these ghosts, and a few of them looked rather simr to Han Bao¡¯er. He seemed to understand something, and a wave of disgust washed over him. ¡°Looks like you¡¯re quite sick.¡±

    ¡°Of course. If I wasn¡¯t sick, why would I stay with these dirty things, and why would I talk to you guys that are filled with that disgusting stench?¡± Han Bao¡¯er used her nail to w at her arm to form even-looking wounds. Blood dripped out, and it looked beautiful in all the wrong ways. ¡°I hate dirty things, but the world itself is dirty. The only solution I have is to use these dirty things to ruin this dirty world.¡±

    The blood fell, and the red lines between her and the ghosts became more obvious.

    ¡°I have no idea what you¡¯ve been through, so I have no right to critique your decision. Perhaps you have your own reasons for doing these things, but that doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯re correct.¡± Chen Ge pressed the y button on the recorder and grabbed the handle of the hammer. ¡°The members of this ghost stories society are all insane. You chose to treat yourself to alleviate the pain in your heart, but the choice of method is wrong.¡±

    ¡°Treatment method?¡± Han Bao¡¯er moved the red lines in her grasp.

    ¡°Life has been unfair to you, but it¡¯s time to let go.¡±

    ¡°You sure sound calm, but I¡¯m sure you must be very afraid. You¡¯re only pretending to be calm, waiting for the police toe save you, right?¡± Han Bao¡¯er thought she had seen through Chen Ge¡¯s ploy, so she did not waste time discussing this with Chen Ge. She ordered her ghosts to rush at him. At the same time, Qiu Meng picked up the fruit knife on the coffee table, but he knew not to get close to Han Bao¡¯er. Like a ve, he moved to the other side of the room.

    ¡°Other than the ghost on the police officer¡¯s shoulder, you can do whatever you want to the others.¡± Chen Ge leaned against the wall. He had nowhere to run, but he did not look afraid. He talked to the air like he was mad.

    The ghost children crawled on the ground. There were many of them, and they moved fast. When they had almost surrounded Chen Ge, a blood red shadow appeared and mmed the children into wisps of smoke with one stomp. Xu Yin appeared with his arms lowered. His wounds were dripping with blood, dying his shirt red.

    ¡°A Red Specter? Isn¡¯t your Red Specter hibernating?¡± The lines between Han Bao¡¯er and the children started to tremble. Her children were afraid. That fear channeled into her body, and she blurted that out without thinking.

    ¡°Looks like you recognized me a long time ago.¡± Chen Ge was quite surprised. After all, this was his first time meeting Han Bao¡¯er. Then again, there were only two people left in the society, so the chairperson would definitely inform Han Bao¡¯er of Chen Ge.

    ¡°You¡¯ve had two Red Specters with you all this time?¡± The blood lines that Han Bao¡¯er controlled shook even harder, like the ghost children were trying to escape.

    ¡°Yes, I never did say I only have one Red Specter.¡± Chen Ge let Xu Yin deal with Han Bao¡¯er while he took out the hammer from his backpack. ¡°This small space is quite limiting to such a big hammer. Oh well, so be it.¡±

    Chen Ge did not dare let his guard down while facing a fitness trainer that was muchrger than he was. Flipping through theic, he summoned the English Teacher, the real estate agent, and the gambler.

    The battle shifted in a second. Qiu Ming gripped the fruit knife the size of a palm, and he asked in a shaking voice, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just the boss of a Haunted House.¡± Chen Ge nced at the corridor. ¡°We have no time to waste. We need to settle this before the police arrive.¡±

    Chen Ge and the three ghosts attacked at once. It did not take long for the man to scream for mercy and the sound of bone snapping. There were sounds of other doors opening; it sounded like concerned neighbors. Chen Ge ran to the door, and with Qiu Meng watching on with despair, Chen Ge locked the door. ¡°Now, no one ising to save you before the police arrive.¡±

    Chen Ge used Yan Danian¡¯s power to drag the phone spirit into theic and allowed Xu Yin to do whatever he wanted. Xu Yin no longer needed to feed on normal ghosts. He followed Chen Ge¡¯s order and massacred the group of ghost children. The ghost children were connected to Han Bao¡¯er, so whenever one died, a baby handprint would appear on her body.

    Even through the distance, Chen Ge could feel the heavy resentment in those handprints. The person Han Bao¡¯er¡¯s children hated the most in the world was her.

    ¡°They are your children, so you shouldn¡¯t have weighed them down with your own misfortune.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at Han Bao¡¯er and realized that beauty was indeed a sin at times. In this world, there were many ces where sunlight could not reach and ces where selfishness and ugliness fester. Chen Ge did not know why Han Bao¡¯er snapped mentally, but he knew that every mental patient had their own sorry and painful past. It was also due to that past that they used even crazier and crueler methods to seek salvation.

    The baby handprints on Han Bao¡¯er¡¯s body increased; the dead ghost babies seemed to want to drag their mother down into hell with them. The blood lines snapped one by one. When thest ghost child was vanquished by Xu Yin, Han Bao¡¯er finally copsed. Tiny baby handprints surfaced on her wless face.

 Chapter 372 - If Beauty Is a Sin

    <h4>Chapter 372: If Beauty Is a Sin</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Han Bao¡¯er suffered from Body Dysmorphic Disorder and would not allow any w to appear on her body. When the baby handprints surfaced on her skin, she scratched at them wildly and screamed in throes of madness, trying her best to yank the handprints from her skin. Unfortunately, even after she fainted, the handprints still stuck to her body like birthmarks.

    The blood slid down her perfect skin onto the floor. The wounded Han Bao¡¯ery in the middle of the room with scratches all over her body. When Han Bao¡¯er lost consciousness, so did Lee Zheng, who was controlled earlier. At the same time, the ck phone vibrated, but Chen Ge did not have time to look. He needed to deal with the other culprit before the police arrived.

    Qiu Meng, who had both of his arms broken, was like amb waiting to be ughtered. He was stronger than Chen Ge, but he did not have practical survival knowledge like Chen Ge did.

    ¡°What else do you have to say?¡± Chen Ge looked at Qiu Meng, and he felt a headache. If only Zhang Ya was there, then she could turn the man¡¯s soul into a doll, and that would not expose Chen Ge. The war had been won. The incapacitated Qiu Meng looked at the copsed Han Bao¡¯er, and the emotions in his eyes wereplicated.

    ¡°She was ultimately the victim. If you knew what she has been through, you¡¯d understand the meaning behind her every word.¡±

    ¡°Then, tell me, what has she been through?¡± Chen Ge was still curious about this person known as Han Bao¡¯er.

    ¡°She lived with her mother when she was young. She was just like those kids crawling on the ground, attached to that venomous woman. She was a living person, but to her mother, she was nothing more than merchandise. Beauty became a sin; it brought indescribable despair. It was the world that was wrong, and she just wanted to fight back when she was cornered.¡±

    The sound of footsteps entered the room from the outside corridor; the police wereing. Chen Ge did not have time to waste. He tried tomunicate with Xu Yin to ask whether there was a way to knock Qiu Meng out and erase his memory of the night without taking his life. Xu Yin misunderstood Chen Ge. He had his hands on Qiu Meng¡¯s head, and the wounds on his arms opened. Red blood soaked into Qiu Meng¡¯s body.

    The man¡¯s eyes were dyed red. Just as Chen Ge thought Qiu Meng¡¯s eyes were about to explode, the color disappeared from his eyes, and he fainted. Xu Yin seemed to have stolen something from Qiu Meng¡¯s mind, and the heart that he was missing recovered a slight hue of red.

    <i>The key to bing a Red Specter is rted to living humans? What is it that Xu Yin¡¯s heart is missing?</i>

    The door was knocked down, and Chen Ge knew that the police had arrived. He recalled all the ghosts. Then, he chose the mostfortable spot to ¡®faint¡¯ on and started to figure out how to deal with the uing interrogation.

    ¡°Quick, we have injured personnel! Call the ambnce!¡± Police officers¡¯ voices echoed in his ears. When Chen Ge felt his body move, he peeled his eyes open slightly and realized that Team 1¡¯s officers had all arrived. He felt weirdlyforted.

    Han Bao¡¯er and Qiu Meng had fainted, and it was unknown when Lee Zheng would wake up. To avoid unnecessary trouble, Chen Ge chose to act unconscious. Theck of rest for the past few days caused Chen Ge to fall asleep inside the ambnce that ferried him to the hospital.

    At the hospital, the doctor inspected Chen Ge and Lee Zheng¡¯s bodies. They were both fine, but Han Bao¡¯er and Qiu Meng were sent to the ICU. Lying in bed, Chen Ge still remembered to silently set an rm for himself before he fell back to sleep.

    At 7 am, the rm rang, and Chen Ge stretchedzily. He had not had such a good sleep in a long time. He pulled the sheet back and looked around. Lee Zheng had already left, so he was alone in the room.

    <i>Lee Zheng was hypnotized by Hao Bao¡¯erst night, so he shouldn¡¯t remember what happened after then. </i>Chen Ge stood up and inspected the backpack that was left on the bedside table. The recorder andic were in there, but the hammer had disappeared. He put on his clothes hurriedly and ran out of the room.

    ¡°You¡¯re awake?¡± Standing guard at the door was Ol¡¯ Wei, who had apanied him to Coffin Vige. ¡°The killer¡¯s identity has been confirmed, and Lee Zheng has given you all the credit. You¡¯ll probably appear on television again in a few days.¡±

    ¡°Given me all the credit?¡± Chen Ge smiled. ¡°Then I have to ask, is there a reward to solving this case?¡±

    ¡°At the very least, you¡¯re a business owner, but all you can think of is the money. Can honor be measured by money?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei felt Chen Ge¡¯s way of thinking was a problem. ¡°Come with me. Captain Yan is waiting for us downstairs in the ICU. He has some questions for you.¡±

    Chen Ge followed Ol¡¯ Wei down the stairs, and from a far, they saw a room that had officers standing at the door. After getting their permission, Ol¡¯ Wei told Chen Ge to enter the room. The atmosphere was not right, but Chen Ge did not think anything would happen to him in broad daylight.

    He pushed the door opened, and there was only one bed in the room. Qiu Meng was lying in bed with a respirator. The doctor exined the situation to Captain Yan. They had tried their best, but they could not resuscitate Qiu Meng. When Captain Yan saw Chen Ge, he had the doctor leave the room before closing the door.

    ¡°Captain Yan, Ol¡¯ Wei said you¡¯re looking for me?¡± Chen Ge nced Qiu Meng on the bed. His head, both arms and a leg were wrapped in bandages. The man looked pitiable.

    ¡°This is yours, right?¡± Captain Yan dragged out a scary-looking hammer from the nearby cupboard. It had a police seal on it.

    ¡°It might look scary, but it¡¯s just a small prop I use at my Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°A small prop?¡± Captain Yan needed to use both hands to steady the hammer. ¡°We have checked the wounds on Qiu Meng¡¯s body. He suffered from torn muscles and shattered bones. Without immediate medical attention, he would be lying in bed for the rest of his life.¡±

    ¡°He attacked me first¡ªyou can ask Lee Zheng that¡ªI was just trying to defend myself.¡± The way Chen Ge did not seem to be sorry about anything made Captain Yan feel helpless.

    ¡°I know that, but sometimes I hope you¡¯d try something more rational like calling me when you have a clue and waiting for back-up.¡± Captain Yan pulled the seal from the hammer. ¡°Now both the killer and the aplice are unconscious. We cannot get any testimony, so people with malicious intent can turn this around on you.¡±

    He returned the hammer to Chen Ge and whispered, ¡°Hide this inside your bag, and make sure it¡¯s not discovered when you leave. I don¡¯t care where you get this thing, but it¡¯s a banned item, so try not to bring it with you in the future.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    ¡°Go talk to Ol¡¯ Wei and Lee Zheng. They still need yourplete statement.¡±

    After leaving the sick room, Chen Ge mulled over every word Captain Yan said, and he could not connect Captain Yan to the chairperson of the society.

    <i>Perhaps I¡¯m mistaken.</i>

 Chapter 373 - Third Special Visitor

    <h4>Chapter 373: Third Special Visitor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge reached into the sidepartment of the bag. There was a sealed bag wrapped up in oil paper. <i>Good, it hasn¡¯t been touched.</i>

    The bag contained the bloodied nail used by the rag doll the night before. Recing the bag, Chen Ge was led by Ol¡¯ Wei to write his statement before he left.

    He rushed back to New Century Park and prepared for a new day of work. Opening the gate, Chen Ge helped Xu Wan and Xiao Gu with their make-up and had Uncle Xu sell the tickets. There were workers assigned by Director Luo to help maintain order. Chen Ge wandered around the Haunted House and realized that he had nothing else to do.

    Xiao Gu was getting into the groove, and Xu Wan herself was an experienced employee. With Chen Ge¡¯s guidance, the twenty-four mannequins became better at their job. They knew the rules of the Haunted House, and when they identally caused the visitors to faint, afraid that Chen Ge might get mad, they would try to resuscitate the visitors.

    In any case, things were slowly moving upward, and now all Chen Ge needed to do was manage the general environment. Sitting where the visitors were required to sign the disimer, Chen Ge took out the ck phone.

    After Han Bao¡¯er fainted, the ck phone had vibrated like a new message had been epted. Chen Ge had not been able to read through the message at the time, so he waited until now.

    ¡°Thepletion rate for Third Sick Hall is over ny percent! Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored, for acquiring the hidden item for this Trial Mission¡ªThird Sick Hall¡¯s Patient List!

    ¡°Third Sick Hall¡¯s Patient List (100 Malice Point): I don¡¯t understand why I became like this; all I ever did was try to be human.¡±

    Looking at the message, Chen Ge was slightly disappointed. He had thought that the hidden item for the Third Sick Hall would be Men Nan¡¯s main persona, but it seemed that he had overestimated everything. Pocketing the ck phone, Chen Ge went to the prop room and found several yellowed patient records inside the wooden box.

    The curious thing was that only five of them had a ck and white photo. Wang Shenglong, Men Nan¡¯s mother, Wu Fei, the Devil, and Xiong Qing did note with the photo. <i>Only those who are confirmed dead will have photo attached?</i>

    Wang Shenglong was still alive, Men Nan¡¯s mother was guarding Men Nan¡¯s second persona, Wu Fei had been taken away by the well ghost at Coffin Vige, the Devil had been made into a doll by Zhang Ya, and Xiong Qing had turned into a Red Specter with the society¡¯s help. Other than these five, the rest of the patients had their own ck and white photos.

    Chen Ge examined the photos and realized that each photo seemed to be trapping a twisted soul. Some of them were crying, others wereughing, some stared at Chen Ge silently, and others contained the desire to destroy the world.

    <i>The lingering spirit of the dead patients concentrated on their patient¡¯s list?</i>

    The memory of their life made it so that their spirit would not have the release of eternal sleep. When they were alive, they were the best hosts for monsters behind the door, but after they died, they became special Specters with unlimited potential.

    Chen Ge touched the patient list, and a chill radiated from the pictures. <i>The hidden item for Third Sick Hall should be the souls of these ten patients.</i>

    Chen Ge did not know whether that was a good reward or not. These ten spirits had great potential; with their help, Chen Ge could even rebuild the ghost stories society. However, there were two sides to everything. All ten of these patients werepletely mad, and every one of them was extremely dangerous, so making them submit would be very difficult.

    <i>The most dangerous presence at the Third Sick Hall is actually these ten patients. Now that all ten of their spirits have returned to me, in a bit, I should be able toplete a fully-operating three-star scenario!</i>

    There was a hidden mission attached to the Third Sick Hall¡ªdemolishing the ghost stories society. Afterpleting that mission, Chen Ge would see the real terror of a three-star scenario for himself.

    <i>Theplete Third Sick Hall should include the ten crazed patients, the mad doctors, or something even scarier.</i>

    Leaving the visitors in the hands of these ten patients, just thinking about it made Chen Ge scared.

    <i>When I did the Trial Mission, I only ran into a few of them. If I return all the patients, the visitors might really need mental treatment after this.</i>

    Putting the patients¡¯ list away, Chen Ge had a new understanding of a three-star scenario.

    <i>Temporarily, three-star scenarios are enough to hold the interest of the visitors. Before Zhang Ya awakens, there¡¯s no need to rush to unlock that four-star scenario.</i>

    After exiting the prop room, Chen Ge sent more batches of visitors into the Haunted House. Hearing their screams and the way they shook as they exited the Haunted House, Chen Ge felt satisfied. The visitors swore to note again, but they also were curious enough to ask others what the other scenarios were like. Whenever this happened, Chen Ge would wander over to introduce the selling points of the other scenarios, telling them since they had already paid the park¡¯s ticket price, why not try everything? Life should not have any regrets.

    Some would buy what Chen Ge had to say and start to line up again. Of course, there were visitors who were so spooked that they started to run when they saw Chen Geing toward them.

    The sound of ¡®joy¡¯ reverberated above the Haunted House, giving new life to New Century Park. Lunchtime came, but the number of visitors had not decreased. Xu Yan and Xiao Gu went for their lunch break while Chen Ge joined Uncle Xu to sell tickets.

    ¡°Uncle Xu, what happened to the few people who were sent to the hospital a few days ago?¡± Chen Ge worried about this because he was afraid it might affect the park.

    ¡°Director Luo has helped you cover it. Just stop creating trouble in the future. It¡¯s a key time for theme park, and we cannot afford to tumble over these small mistakes.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Chen Ge wanted to say something more when the ck phone in his pocket vibrated. He walked to somewhere with the sun and switched on the screen.

    ¡°The effect of Midnight Ticket Counter has been triggered! The third special visitor has appeared! Please make use of this opportunity; the results will be different based on your choices!¡±

    <i>A special visitor at a time like this? </i>Chen Ge looked down the long line, and he frowned. <i>This is one of the bad things about having too many customers¡ªhow am I supposed to identify the special visitor?</i>

    He aimed his phone at the visitors lining up. This way even if he failed to find said visitor today, he could slowly examine the lines to see which visitor was acting strange.

    ¡°What are you doing taking pictures? Quickly lead the visitors into the Haunted House,¡± Uncle Xu urged. When Chen Ge was taking picture, a group of five young people bought tickets.

    ¡°Follow me.¡± Chen Ge led the way. The five seemed to know him because they kept whispering among themselves behind his back.

 Chapter 374 - The Girl Who Doesnt Know Fear

    <h4>Chapter 374: The Girl Who Doesn¡¯t Know Fear</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House had be quite famous in Jiujiang, and a bunch of videos about it could be found online. In fact, some of the visitors had photoshopped Chen Ge holding the hammer as an emoji, so from how he saw it, it was quite normal for him to be recognized. ¡°Which scenario are you guys going to challenge?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve cleared all the one-star scenarios, so we n to challenge Mu Yang High School today.¡± It was a girl who spoke. She looked normal but very tall. She had a nasally voice, and based on the lines on her palm, she seemed to be a basketball yer.

    ¡°Two-star scenarios are much scarier than one-star scenarios. I hope you¡¯re prepared.¡± Chen Ge waved at them. ¡°Come this way, please sign the disimer first.¡±

    Chen Ge handed the forms to the group. He stood to the side, thinking they were normal visitors. However, when he saw the name of one of the girls, he realized that he was wrong.

    <i>Liu Xianxian? Isn¡¯t that Gao Ru Xue¡¯s roommate? </i>Chen Ge looked at the other disimers and saw the name written by the tall girl¡ªMa Yin. The chance of having two names repeated was rare. What were they doing at the Haunted House?

    Chen Ge had just received the hint from the ck phone when Liu Xianxian and Ma Yin entered the Haunted House, so Chen Ge paid full attention. He sidled to the group of young people and asked casually, ¡°Are you students from Jiujiang¡¯s Medical University?¡±

    Once he said that, all five of them raised their heads. They looked nervous like they had been targeted by a bad person.

    ¡°How did you know that?¡± Liu Xianxian was closest to Chen Ge. She wore a faded perfume.

    ¡°I not only know you¡¯re students from Jiujiang¡¯s Medical University, I know you are facing some inner problems, so youe to the Haunted House to release stress,¡± Chen Ge said randomly, but it sounded quite reasonable to the group of youngsters. ¡°Three guys and two girlsing to visit together, but the two girls stick close together, not ncing once at the guys. I believe your hearts are already taken and are troubled over this thing in your heart.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s word hit Liu Xianxian¡¯s heart. Her lips fell open with surprise. ¡°The onlinements say you¡¯re proficient at psychology. I didn¡¯t believe it at first, but it looks like I was wrong.¡±

    When Liu Xianxian agreed to Chen Ge¡¯s hypothesis, the three boys looked rather disappointed. Probably due to curiosity, Liu Xianxian asked Chen Ge, ¡°Boss, do you think I should be together with that man or not?¡±

    Chen Ge hesitated and remembered the information that was revealed when he conversed with the phone spirit. After some time, he shook his head and said, ¡°I can only guess what you¡¯re thinking from your emotions and actions; I¡¯ve not met the man you like before, so I cannot give you an answer. But if you believe me, why don¡¯t you bring me to go meet that person? I definitely will give you a satisfactory reply.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Liu Xianxian was desperate to know whether the man really liked her or not, so she was considering Chen Ge¡¯s offer.

    ¡°Liu Xian, the boss is just joking with you. Do you really believe him?¡± Ma Yin put her hand on Liu Xianxian¡¯s shoulder¡ªthe two seemed close.

    ¡°I¡¯m not kidding. Jiujiang¡¯s Medical University¡¯s students are my local customers, and that¡¯s why I¡¯m trying to help. Do you see me offering to help other visitors?¡± Chen Ge felt like, between Liu Xianxian and Ma Yin, one of them was possibly the special visitor, and that was why he said those things.

    Seeing the wavering conviction in her roommate, Ma Yin sighed. ¡°Well, as long as you¡¯re happy.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing to lose from trying it out.¡± Liu Xianxian exchanged phone numbers with Chen Ge. ¡°Boss, my friend is a straight shooter¡ªthat¡¯s how she is. Don¡¯t mind her.¡±

    Chen Ge pocketed his phone and nced at Ma Yin. ¡°Straight shooter? From how I see it, the trouble in your roommate¡¯s heart might not be smaller than yours.¡±

    ¡°Do you really think you¡¯re a psychologist? What kind of trouble am I facing?¡± Ma Yin rolled her eyes and took her arm back from Liu Xianxian¡¯s shoulders.

    Chen Ge looked into Ma Yin¡¯s eyes, and after five seconds, he told her, ¡°Big sister?¡±

    It was quiet inside the Haunted House, so even though Chen Ge was not loud, everyone present could hear what he said. Ma Yin, who had remained calm until then, widened her eyes after she heard those two words. Her heart skipped a beat, and her body froze.

    ¡°Ma Yin!¡± Liu Xianxian shook Ma Yin¡¯s shoulders. Several breathster, Ma Yin seemed to wake up from her dream, and she shook Liu Xianxian¡¯s arm away. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? Ma Yin!¡±

    Suddenly realizing something, Ma Yin calmed down immediately. She ignored Chen Ge and pushed the disimer on the table forward. ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I was indeed thinking about my big sister earlier. I was just surprised boss managed the guess, gave me quite a shock.¡±

    ¡°Then, shall we leave? You look so pale.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re making too big a deal out of this.¡± Ma Yin smiled apologetically at Chen Ge. ¡°We¡¯ve signed the disimer. Let¡¯s begin the experience.¡±

    ¡°I just made some random guess, don¡¯t think too much of it.¡± Chen Ge picked up the disimers and led the way forward. ¡°Mu Yang High School is underground,e with me.¡±

    Pulling up the wooden board, Chen Ge watched the batch of visitors enter the scenario. ¡°Have fun.¡±

    Closing the boards, the smile on Chen Ge¡¯s face slowly disappeared. ¡°Ma Yin¡¯s reaction was too weird when she heard the words big sister. Could she be my third special visitor?¡±

    Liu Xianxian was a possible candidate as well, but inparison, Ma Yin gave Chen Ge a stranger feeling. Entering the surveince room, Chen Ge followed the students¡¯ progress in Mu Yang High School, focusing on Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian. The five were quite brave, and they knew theyout well¡ªthey had probably read the guide before they arrived.

    As they went down the corridor, the five soon arrived at the sealed ssroom. When they passed by, the mannequins in the room turned in unison. The three boys and Ma Yin were spooked, but Liu Xianxian wasughing. ¡°Why is sheughing? Is this funny?¡±

    Inside the creepy environment, being stared at by a group of mannequins, a normal person should have felt scared. Chen Ge had his hand under his chin. Initially, he thought Ma Yin was the special visitor, but seeing how Liu Xianxian acted inside the Haunted House, his opinion changed.

    ¡°Is it because it¡¯s not scary enough?¡±

    Chen Ge opened the list of background music and entered ck Friday and Wedding Dress into the ylist.

    The five stopped outside the sealed ssroom. None of the boys dared go in. In the end, Liu Xianxian told them something, and all five of them entered the ssroom together.

 Chapter 375 - The Missing Wife

    <h4>Chapter 375: The Missing Wife</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Cutting to the camera inside the ssroom, Chen Ge made a discovery. Liu Xianxian was not without fear, but the way she showed it was different from normal. When she walked past two mannequins, one of the heads fell off. The other four were scared, but Liu Xianxian, who was closest to the human head, maintained herposure. With a smile on her face, she bent down to pick up the mannequin head and put it back. Chen Ge paused the video and studied the smile on Liu Xianxian¡¯s face when she picked up the mannequin head.

    <i>Her smile looks forced. Whenever she smiles, the angle of her smile looks as if it has been trained. When a person is scared, isn¡¯t it normal to show a scared expression? Why did she train herself to smile?</i>

    Oveing fear and facing fear with a smile were two different concepts. What Liu Xianxian was doing confused Chen Ge as well.

    <i>The body is shaking, but the face is smiling. Is the girl suffering from some kind of psychological issue?</i>

    Chen Ge thought back to the first two special visitors that the Haunted House had weed¡ªFan Yu and Men Nan. When they first arrived, they had also shown weird reactions.

    The video continued to y. The five had already exited the sealed ssroom. They had been walking for some time when a few mannequins tumbled out of the sealed ssroom like they were blown by the window. There was nothing interesting to see after that. Chen Ge paid special attention to Liu Xianxian, and the more he studied her, the more he felt she was acting abnormally.

    For example, when they were at the male dormitory in Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy, the hanging mannequin suddenly jumped out from the bedroom and chased after the group. The other four screamed for help and ran at their top speed, but Liu Xianxian stood where she was with her body shaking. The smile stayed on her face, but tears were in her eyes. It was clear that she was afraid. Her chest rose unevenly, and it looked like she would faint at any moment.

    Of course, the hanging man would not really hurt her. It jumped to stand before her before falling into her chest. The dead man¡¯s face looked up at her. Finally, Liu Xianxian lost herposure, and she screamed a series of apologies. However, Chen Ge had no clue who she was apologizing to.

    Chen Ge did not dare stay inside the surveince room any longer. His Haunted House had just sent five visitors to the hospital yesterday. If another visitor fainted on his watch, it would be hard to exin. Pulling the wooden boards back, Chen Ge ran into the scenario. When he arrived, the other four students had already dragged Liu Xianxian out. They screamed at the camera for help, choosing to give up the tour.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. I¡¯ve been following you on the camera. If there¡¯s an ident, I¡¯lle to save you.¡± Chen Ge was friendly. He arrived less than a minute after the ident.

    ¡°Boss, will anything happen to Liu Xianxian?¡± Ma Yin was worried.

    ¡°Hard to say for now.¡± Chen Ge looked at Liu Xianxian, who was calming down. Her facial muscles twitched. Even at a time like this, she did not forget to smile. ¡°Actually, I¡¯m curious; why didn¡¯t she run when she saw something scary but stood there dumbly?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t really know. She has acted simrly at the dormitory, but it was nothing serious.¡± Ma Yin held Liu Xianxian as they moved to the exit.

    ¡°Something simr happened before?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Liu Xian was very afraid of bugs, but one day, that fear disappeared. I even saw her use her bare hands to catch those bugs before.¡±

    ¡°It just happened miraculously one fine day?¡± Chen Ge was now certain that something must have happened to Liu Xianxian at school. However, he understood not to push it. ¡°We have a professional doctor here at the park. Let¡¯s bring her to him.¡±

    Chen Ge personally led Liu Xianxian to the medical room. He wanted to take this chance tomunicate with Liu Xianxian, to find out some information, but he was needed at the Haunted House, so he could not leave. He waited until 6 pm, but there was no message on the ck phone, and Chen Ge started to suspect that he had got the wrong person. <i>Neither of them was the special visitor?</i>

    He busied himself until 6:30 pm. Chen Ge closed the door and cleaned the toilet before he exited the park. He hopped into the taxi and sent Inspector Lee a message, telling him that he had something important to tell him and that it had to be done in secret.

    Inspector Lee¡¯s reply came very fast, and he asked to meet Chen Ge at the Purple Briars Park next to Western Jiujiang¡¯s police station. At 7:10 pm, Chen Ge found Inspector Lee at one of the alcoves.

    ¡°Chen Ge, why are you acting so mysteriously? Why did you call me?¡± Inspector Lee lit a cigarette and leaned against the column.

    ¡°I need you to analyze something for me.¡± Chen Ge took out the seal bag from his backpack. ¡°There¡¯s an iron nail inside this. There¡¯s a blood stain on the tip of the nail. Don¡¯t the police have a DNA databank? Can you help me check if the blood stain matches anyone?¡±

    Inspector Lee epted the bag, but he did not make any promises. ¡°Was this left behind by the killer?¡±

    Chen Ge nodded.

    ¡°Then, why didn¡¯t you send this to the police station? Why did you sneak this to me in private?¡± Inspector Lee snuffed out the cigarette and puffed out the smoke. He looked at Chen Ge with interest. ¡°You suspect the killer is a police officer?¡±

    Chen Ge did not deny it. ¡°Uncle San Bao, this thing is tooplicated. I don¡¯t have the answer myself.¡±

    ¡°You only create problems for me.¡± Inspector Lee shoved the bag inside his pocket. ¡°The results will be back by tomorrow night.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°No need. It¡¯s what the police should do.¡±

    Inspector Lee turned to leave. Chen Ge called a cab to return to New Century Park. When he was inside the car, his phone rang.

    <i>Liu Xianxian? </i>Chen Ge epted the call. ¡°Hello? Are you feeling better?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Why are you calling?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like this.¡± Liu Xianxian sounded rather flustered. ¡°Can youe to Jiujiang¡¯s Medical University tonight? I¡¯ve asked the man out. I¡¯m not sure whether he likes me or not, so I want you to give me your opinion.¡±

    Chen Ge did not expect that Liu Xianxian would really call him about this. After some consideration, Chen Ge said, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be there in a bit.¡±

    After he agreed to Liu Xianxian¡¯s request, the ck phone in his other pocket vibrated. He took out the phone and saw the new message.

    ¡°The third special visitor has left. You¡¯ve sessfully unlocked the mission information! Unlocked Hidden Trial Mission¡ªThe Missing Wife!¡±

 Chapter 376 - Perhaps he Doesnt Like Me

    <h4>Chapter 376: Perhaps he Doesn¡¯t Like Me</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°The Missing Wife (One-star Mission): Find Liu Xianxian before midnight.

    ¡°Mission Hint: Perhaps he doesn¡¯t love me.

    ¡°Do you wish to ept this mission? Warning: Trial Missions are only avable for twenty-four hours. If they are not epted within these twenty-four hours, the scenario will never be unlocked.¡±

    Naturally, Chen Ge epted it. Since this was just a one-star mission, he didn¡¯t think it would that difficult. <i>I only need to find Liu Xianxian? There¡¯s no other requirement?</i>

    Chen Ge had a feeling that the sentence had another meaning, but temporarily, he had no idea what. After hanging up, Chen Ge returned to New Century Park to grab all of his equipment before rushing to Jiujiang Medical University. At 7:40 pm, Chen Ge arrived at his destination and found Liu Xianxian at a nearby teahouse.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± Chen Ge was curious. The things there were expensive, and Liu Xianxian did not look like she was much of a tea-drinker.

    ¡°He prefers a quiet ce.¡± Liu Xianxian was embarrassed. She had put quite some effort into her appearance, but she looked rather pale. ¡°I¡¯ve booked the private room for you next door, you can hide in there.¡±

    Chen Ge moved to oblige. From his vantage page, he could look clearly into the room next door. Then it was a long wait. Liu Xianxian asked to meet the man at 8 pm. Combining the time Liu Xianxian waited for Chen Ge, she had been waiting for at least half an hour already.

    She checked her appearance again and again as she looked out the window carefully. She was both fearful and excited. The man did not show at 8 pm. She took out her phone to call the man, but when she found the man¡¯s name on the contact list, she hesitated. ¡°Did something happen to him?¡±

    Liu Xianxian waspletely different from when she was with her friends. She asked the waitress for a cup of water. She picked the cup up but, worried that it might ruin her lipstick, she put it down again. She wanted to show the man her best. The man still had not arrived at 8:20 pm. Liu Xianxian looked at the food on the table, but she had no appetite.

    She held her phone, and after some hesitance, she finally called the man¡¯s number. The call rang, but no one answered.

    ¡°Something must have happened to him.¡± Liu Xianxian looked out the window. The crowd was starting to thin because it was gettingte. She waited until 9 pm, and he was still a no-show.

    ¡°Let¡¯s stop waiting, he won¡¯t being tonight.¡± Chen Ge walked out from the room. ¡°From how he treats you, it looks like he doesn¡¯t care about you that much.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s wait a little longer.¡± Liu Xianxian waited until the teahouse closed, but the man did not show up. They left the teahouse together, Liu Xianxian looking quite devastated. Due to the mission by the ck phone, Chen Ge stuck close to Liu Xianxian. ¡°Can you tell me the story between the both of you? Perhaps I can give you some advice.¡±

    Liu Xianxian shook her head, but it was uncertain whether she did not want to share the story or had something that she could not say.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t tell me anything, how am I supposed to help? If you hold something within your heart for too long, it might ¡®decay¡¯. Now you need someone to talk to. Your roommates are a close part of your life¡ªyou walk in the same circle¡ªso telling them might affect your friendship, but I¡¯m different. I¡¯m an outsider who has no interaction with your life; you don¡¯t need to worry about me interrupting your normal life.¡±

    Chen Ge kept trying to loosen Liu Xianxian¡¯s lips, and Liu Xianxian was slowly convinced. The stuff in her heart was piling up so high that she had trouble breathing.

    ¡°Say it out loud, you¡¯ll feel much better.¡± Chen Ge sounded like the boy next door, very warm and friendly.

    She paused in thought, and after onest struggle, Liu Xianxian began. ¡°I was brought up by my mother, and I¡¯ve never seen my father. Sometimes, I wonder what my father looks like. Perhaps due to that, when I first saw him, there was a very special feeling.

    ¡°With or without the romantic feeling, I just feel safe around him.¡± Liu Xianxian looked up at the streetlight, the soft light falling on her pained expression. ¡°I was like a child lost in the field, finding a hunter with a torch and a gun.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s quite an interesting analogy, what happened next?¡±

    ¡°He is much older than I am and has all the good qualities of a mature man. In my eyes, he is a perfect man, and I cannot prevent my heart from falling in love. However, as our interaction increased, I realized that he is rather different from normal men.¡±

    Liu Xianxian¡¯s eyes were wavering. ¡°Liking someone means knowing everything about him. I heard from his close family that his wife died in a car ident seven years ago. It was because I found out about that news that I started to pursue him. Initially, he rejected me, but with my tireless approach, the distance between us closed. It was also at the time that I found out the biggest secret about him.¡±

    Liu Xianxian paused for a long time before she continued. ¡°He is under the impression that his wife is still alive. There are two sets of everything at his home, and he sometimes talks to the air like his wife is standing there.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s an obvious sign of trauma.¡±

    When Liu Xianxian heard Chen Ge¡¯s assessment, she shook her head with hesitance. ¡°I don¡¯t think he¡¯s sick. He just loves his wife too much.¡±

    ¡°Your mind is muddled from love¡ªthat¡¯s why you¡¯reing up with all these reasons for him. If you really have his interests at heart, you should bring him to a psychologist.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll understand what I mean when you see him. I¡¯m not lying to you.¡± Liu Xianxian saw the number on her phone, and she thanked Chen Ge. ¡°Thank you for everything today. I¡¯ll deal with this myself. I hope that you¡¯ll keep this to yourself.¡±

    ¡°Of course, you have my word.¡± Seeing Liu Xianxian¡¯s back, the smile on Chen Ge¡¯s face slowly disappeared. He caught a deep hint of despair when she spoke; he had heard the same trace of despair when he interacted with members of the ghost stories society.

    ¡°The man Liu Xianxian likes thinks his dead wife is still alive. This is simr to No. 10. In the Pen Spirit¡¯s ¡®will¡¯, she overheard No. 10 calling the body on his back his wife.¡±

    Chen Ge was increasingly curious about Liu Xianxian. While no one was watching, he carried his backpack and sneaked into Jiujiang Medical University.

 Chapter 377 - Big Sisters Video

    <h4>Chapter 377: Big Sister¡¯s Video</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Liu Xianxian was despondent because her date did not show, so she did not notice Chen Ge, who was trailing her.

    <i>She¡¯s going back to the dormitory. What should I do? Wait outside the dormitory?</i>

    Chen Ge looked around the female dormitory. Even though there were good hiding spots, if he was discovered there, he would definitely be handed over to the police. He looked on as Liu Xianxian entered the dormitory and disappeared up the stairs.

    <i>I cannot follow her any longer, but if I leave just like that, the Trial Mission will definitely fail.</i>

    Caught in a conundrum, he headed in the direction of the abandoned education block.

    <i>Based on the phone spirit¡¯s description, Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian leave the bedroom at 1 am every night; it shouldn¡¯t be any different tonight. I only need to find a ce to wait for them to show up. The abandoned building won¡¯t have any peopleing at night, and the guards don¡¯t normally patrol there.</i>

    Chen Ge very easily found the abandoned education block. He climbed to the second floor and kept his eyes on the road. <i>I feel like such a Peeping Tom, but no one will probably suspect there¡¯s someone inside this abandoned building.</i>

    Leaning against the wall, Chen Ge took out his phone to y. <i>I should have brought the white cat with me. Guarding this ce alone is quite boring.</i>

    He googled his own Haunted House online, reading through thetestments and articles before logging into the video sharing app. He was surprised at how busy his inbox was. He clicked it open and was shocked to see so many of them urging him to update theic. Of tenments, about half of them had to do with the horroric. <i>Uncle Yan, you¡¯re going to be huge!</i>

    After Chen Ge posted Yan Danian¡¯sic on the website, he had stopped following it. He was surprised to find theic had more than 10,000ments. Manymenters thought that Chen Ge was the artist and praised him for his talent. Beyond the streams and videos, he was such a goodic artist. They praised him for being a genius.

    <i>Thankfully, I didn¡¯t upload everything at oncest time. </i>Chen Ge clicked through his phone. He had saved Yan Danian¡¯sic into a collection called Ghost Tenants, and he had only uploaded the first part. He opened the inbox and nced through it, but he could not find anyic website or publisher contacting him.

    <i>Looks like the influence is not big enough, but Uncle Yan should be happy knowing so many people like his work.</i>

    Chen Ge was reminded of Uncle Yan¡¯s disappointed face. He was so sad that even ghosts did not have the heart to bully him. He took out theic from his pocket and called Uncle Yan¡¯s name softly.

    Perhaps because Chen Ge had been calling Yan Danian when he was in throes of danger, it hadpletely ruined the man¡¯s hope for life. Chen Ge called the man about ten times, but the middle-aged man that faced the wall refused to turn around.

    ¡°Uncle Yan, look at the number of people who enjoyed your work! 10,000ments, all asking for updates! They¡¯re all your fans!¡± Chen Ge swiped thements before theic page, and for the first time, the expression on Yan Danian¡¯s face shifted. He was shocked. He did not even imagine there woulde a day when his work would get so popr.

    ¡°Uncle Yan, don¡¯t get too ahead of yourself. This is just a beginning. In the future, you¡¯ll gather more fans, and countless publishers wille to you. Youric might even have the chance to be adapted into a cartoon or movie.¡±

    Chen Ge did not know how the business worked, but he tried his best to create a hopeful blueprint for Yan Danian toy the groundwork for what he was going to say next. ¡°It was the correct choice to follow me. I¡¯ve told you before, I¡¯ll help you fulfil your dream.¡±

    In the corridor on the abandoned education block, Chen Ge held the phone and talked about dreams and the future to aic. As his only listener, Yan Danian believed Chen Ge. He sat in the corner of theic with his fists gripped tight like he was holding the hope of the future in them.

    With Yan Danian watching, Chen Ge uploaded the second part for Ghost Tenants and added at the bottom¡ªJoint production of Western Jiujiang¡¯s House of Horrors.

    Seeing thements that rolled in, Yan Danian was even more excited than Chen Ge.

    <i>Based on this development, Uncle Yan¡¯s third power should be unlocked soon.</i>

    Yan Danian was categorized by the ck phone as a Lesser Red Specter, but his first two power were support-based, so Chen Ge was anticipating his third power. He arranged theic pages that the Ghost Tenants would use in the future, and without him realizing it, it was 1 am, and the campus was very silent.

    ¡°Are Liu Xianxian and Ma Yin not nning toe out today? Were they influenced by Gao Ru Xue¡¯s incident?¡± Chen Ge was rather bored waiting alone inside the building. He looked down the dark corridor and hoped that some ghost woulde down it to quench his boredom.

    At 1:48 am, there was finally some movement from the female dormitory. The old dormitory¡¯s front door was slowly pushed open, and the two girls walked out.

    ¡°Finally, you¡¯ve arrived.¡± Chen Ge collected everything into his backpack and went downstairs.

    ...

    Ma Yin gently slid the dormitory¡¯s door shut. They looked around and made sure no one was watching before running past the surveince camera. The two sneaked into the nearbyne and headed for the abandoned education block.

    ¡°We only have the north-eastern side of the warehouse that we haven¡¯t searched. We¡¯ll definitely find that statue tonight.¡± Ma Yin looked at how sad Liu Xianxian was, but she did not know how to console her. ¡°Then we¡¯ll find all our answers.¡±

    With puffy eyes, Liu Xianxian looked at the phone in her hands and sighed with uncertainty. ¡°But we¡¯ve been looking for so many days already. I¡¯m beginning to think that the statue isn¡¯t even real.¡±

    ¡°It has to be real. In the video that my big sister left before she disappeared, there was a description on that statue.¡± Ma Yin took out her phone and clicked open one of the videos. The video was only thirteen seconds long, but the shot image was quite scary.

    The video had probably been shot in secret. The angle was weird; the camera seemed to have been ced under the bed, and the screen was aimed at the room outside.

    There was a swinging rope in the middle of the room like someone was nning to hang themselves. There was blood on the floor, and a bloodied bedsheet dangled by the edge of the bed.

    There was no dead body captured on the screen, but there was the edge of a bloodied bedsheet squeezed through the dresser door. Facing the bed was a western sculpture, and there were plenty of unfinished sculptures on the table.

    The video soon reached its end. The screen shook slightly, and at thest second, the camera turned to the window. At the windowsill, there was a woman with unnatural skin color poking out half of her head, looking into the room.

    The screen went dark, and the video ended.

 Chapter 378 - Someone Has Been Here

    <h4>Chapter 378: Someone Has Been Here</h4>

    ¡°This is thest video my sister sent me before she disappeared. I¡¯ve been searching for this room, paying close attention to any clues in the video. Finally, my hard work was rewarded. I was randomly scrolling through the university forum when I came across a ghost story thread about our school. One of the stories was about a weeping statue.

    ¡°ording to legend, as long as we can find this statue before midnight, it could help us diagnose the authenticity of any statement. If it is true, it¡¯ll cry tears of blood, and if it¡¯s fake, something scary will happen.¡±

    Ma Yin found the screenshots of said thread on her phone. There was an attached picture of the statue at the end of the thread, and the statue looked simr to the sculpture captured in her sister¡¯s video. It was a western sculpture of a western man. It wasrger than a normal person, and he looked ugly. There was a sentence carved into the base¡ªDeceit is the most beautiful, but truths are often the ugliest.

    ¡°I private messaged the OP to know how he managed to get the picture, but he didn¡¯t reply. Then, I contacted that person through the teachers. He said that he took the picture at an abandoned warehouse. He thought that the statue matched the story he was telling, so he attached it to the post. Ever since the movement of the campus several years ago, no one has been to this warehouse. If he was telling the truth, then the statue must still be inside that warehouse.¡±

    Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian were close friends who shared everything. Once Ma Yin trusted someone, she would share her every secret.

    ¡°Let¡¯s hope we can find it this time. I really want to know the answer.¡±

    The two girls jumped over the blockade and sneaked into the abandoned building.

    ¡°Every time wee here, it feels weird, like there¡¯s someone here other than us.¡± Since they were afraid light might attract the attention of the security, Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian did not switch on the shlight on their phones. They touched the wall and slowly walked down the corridor.

    ¡°It¡¯s quite a waste to keep this building abandoned. I wonder why the school doesn¡¯t rent this ce out,¡± Ma Yin mumbled to herself. She was actually quite scared, but she did not dare show that before Liu Xianxian. She treated Liu Xianxian as her best friend. When they moved forward, she kept Liu Xianxian behind her to protect her.

    The physically smaller Liu Xianxian followed behind Ma Yin. After entering the education block, she also started to feel nervous. ¡°Xiao Yin, after we¡¯ve been here several times, I reached out to the graduated seniors to ask about it. They said there¡¯s a reason this ce is abandoned, and it¡¯s rted to the move of the other courses to a new campus.¡±

    ¡°What kind of reason?¡± Ma Yin was tall and much stronger than normal girls, but that did not mean she was braver.

    ¡°It seems to be rted to cadavers. This block was sealed up because it was too close to theboratory block.¡± Liu Xianxian looked out the window. There was a strange phenomenon at Jiujiang Medical University at 2 am. If the campus was separated into four directions¡ªnorth, south, east, west¡ªthe north, south, and east sides of the campus had some lights, but the west side waspletely dark.

    ¡°ording to legend, thergest underground morgue in Jiujiang is within the western side of our school. Wasn¡¯t there a tradition to turn off the lights after midnight? It is because, since the cadavers were tired in the morning, they needed to rest at night. Do you believe something like that?¡± Liu Xianxian¡¯s voice was weird, and she looked extremely pale that night.

    ¡°That is rather weird.¡±

    ¡°There are more weird things about this school. Do you remember what the counselling instructor said when we first registered? Do not go to the western part of the campus after midnight. People asked him why, but he stammered a nonsensical reason. After asking the seniors, there was a student who went out at night and saw someone waving at him. He walked into the western part of the campus at night and saw a cadaver that was ruined inside theb.¡± The more Liu Xianxian continued, the darker her face became. ¡°There are many simr stories, and I cannot tell which are real and which are fake anymore.¡±

    ¡°Liu Xian, we¡¯ve been searching for several nights already; we cannot give up now.¡± For Ma Yin, Liu Xianxian was her only partner. If Liu Xianxian retreated, she would need to look for the statue rted to her sister¡¯s disappearance alone.

    ¡°I know, I just feel dumb for having this insistence.¡± Liu Xianxian took out her phone and had the urge to delete someone¡¯s number from the contact list. They walked to the corner and down the stairs to first floor underground. They turned on their shlights after making sure that no one was following them.

    ¡°This ce suddenly feels so cold.¡± The cold draft caressed Ma Yin¡¯s hair, and she squeezed to stand beside Liu Xianxian. ¡°There¡¯s no venttion in this ce, so I have no idea where the draftes from.¡±

    Their shoulders leaned together, and Ma Yin suddenly realized that Liu Xianxian¡¯s body was very cold, like it was frozen.

    ¡°Liu Xian, why are you so cold?¡±

    ¡°Nervous.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m here with you. No matter what happens, I¡¯ll stay by your side.¡±

    They moved down the corridor and did not stop to turn into the rooms on the side but headed straight for the stairs to go down to second floor underground. There were some stains on the stairs. It looked dirty, like someone had dragged something up or down the stairs.

    ¡°Seems like someone has been here before us.¡± Ma Yin looked at the water stain on the ground and sniffed at the residual scent in the air. As a medical student, she was familiar with this smell. ¡°It¡¯s formalin.¡±

    ¡°Formalin is not allowed to be taken out of theb. How can it be here?¡± Liu Xianxian knew the usage of formalin¡ªit was to preserve the cadavers. ¡°The underground here is connected to the western side of the campus. Did someone really sneak into the underground morgue? Earlier this year, I heard that someone has been stealing the cadavers to sell on the ck market.¡±

    ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be the case. Even if the person can move the cadavers out of the morgue, how would they transport them out of the school? There is surveince everywhere.¡± Ma Yin tried to console Liu Xianxian. ¡°Don¡¯t read too much into this. There are people whoe to maintain the underground morgue once in a while; this is probably their doing.¡±

    ¡°In that case, they wouldn¡¯t havee through this building but used the front door. I still think something is wrong.¡± Even though she said so, Liu Xianxian went down the stairs faster than Ma Yin. She held onto the wall and raised the shlight when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

    The path split in two. There was a sign on the wall. The right path led to a normal storeroom while the left led to the underground morgue. The water stains on the ground became more obvious, and they were all on the left path.

    ¡°Looks like someone really has entered the underground morgue.¡± Ma Yin looked down the left corridor and raised her phone to shine the light down the dark corridor.

 Chapter 379 - Envy

    <h4>Chapter 379: Envy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The corridor was long, and the walls on both sides were painted white. Every few meters was a rusted steel door, and aged police tape was sealed off each of the doors. ¡°We¡¯ve been here several times already, but we never did notice that this is a corridor used to transport cadavers.¡±

    Some medical schools had pathways specifically used to transport cadavers. This type of special pathway was usually underground, and the floor would be t to ease transportation. The other obvious feature was theyer of white paint on the walls. Other than that, there was not any special decoration.

    ¡°Let¡¯s stop wasting time standing here. Let¡¯s get to the storeroom.¡± Liu Xianxian pulled on Ma Yin¡¯s arm and led her down the right corridor. The left led to the underground morgue, and the right was a normal storeroom where various abandoned equipment had been left. The two walked down the corridor for some time when Ma Yin heard footstepsing from behind them. She stopped and used the shlight on the camera to shine behind her.

    ¡°Xiao Yin, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Someone seems to be following us.¡± Ma Yin was not sure herself because when she tried to focus on the noise, the footsteps disappeared again.

    ¡°You must be mistaken.¡± Liu Xianxian forced an unnatural smile. Facing fear with a smile, that had be her habit.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get into the storeroom first. There¡¯s nowhere to hide in this corridor.¡± Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian increased in speed until they reached the first turn in the corridor. There was a scratched wooden door. The lock was seriously broken, and there were various ck scratches on the door. The most curious thing was that someone had carved the word ¡®Paradise¡¯ on the door.

    ¡°This is weird. Before we left, I remember us closing the door.¡± The door was half-open like someone had gone in while they were away.

    ¡°Be careful.¡± Ma Yin ced both of her hands on the wooden door to push it open. She stopped at the door and did not rush in. The girl might appear that way, but she was more careful than she looked. She used her phone to scan every corner in the room, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.

    ¡°This time, we should stick together instead of separating.¡± Ma Yin took care of Liu Xianxian, walking in front. The block had been sealed up for quite some time already, so logically speaking, the ce should have been deserted. Yet, weirdly enough, there was little dust. It was as if someone still went there to clean the ce every so often.

    Most of the abandoned equipment for Jiujiang Medical University was ced there, including almost every manner of thing imaginable. There were many vails on the racks, and some of them had viscous red liquid inside, like they were preserved human organ.

    There were many simr things. If this was a normal person, they would have turned around and left immediately, but as medical students, Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian did not think any of that was scary.

    Along the rows of racks, the stuff inside was messier. There were abandoned fire extinguishers, broken photocopiers andputers, and unused tables and chairs piled up in the corner. There were reports stuck inside the drawers, and broken gym equipment sat on the chairs. Further into the storeroom, there were drama costumes abandoned by the drama society, canvases given up by the arts society, and a lot of other junk. When the university moved campus, most of the junk had been deposited down there.

    ¡°I¡¯ve asked the people at the new campus. Before the move, a few of the societies left the more difficult to deal with pieces for the school to deal with. To save money, the school left them in this underground storeroom.¡± Ma Yin walked ahead and used her phone to search amid the mountain of rubbish. ¡°The only society that I can think of that would have any use for statue and sculpture is the arts society, so we should focus on this section tonight.¡±

    After taking a few more steps, Ma Yin realized that Liu Xianxian was still standing where she was. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

    ¡°Look at that.¡± Liu Xianxian pointed atputer that sat in the corner. The plug for the monitor was plugged inside the socket. ¡°When we were here thest time, I was afraid that the plug might cause a short-circuit, so I removed the plug, but now the plug is still inside the socket.¡±

    ¡°Looks like someone has indeed been in here. Could it be a thief?¡±

    ¡°Why would a thief purposelye here to use theputer? Furthermore, this is an abandoned model. I don¡¯t think it can be operated anymore.¡± Liu Xianxian pressed the power button, and to her surprise, theputer powered on. The screen shone a cold light, but the image froze, like it could not process beyond that.

    ¡°Just ignore it, we should focus on our search. Even if someone did sneak in, it won¡¯t affect our progress.¡± Ma Yin turned to focus on the corner where most of the arts and crafts stuff sat. She moved some of the amateur paintings aside to look for the statue. Liu Xianxian stood where she was, staring at the monitor. It was unclear whether it was a flicker in the system or the shadows, but she could swore that she saw the shape of a human on screen. She leaned in closer to take the look, and the person¡¯s face became increasingly clearer. It looked like a bald man, and his face was twice the size of a normal person¡¯s.

    ¡°Liu Xianxian,e help me!¡± Ma Yin shouted, carrying arge canvas.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Liu Xianxian removed the plug and walked to help Ma Yin with the canvas. The two worked together to move all the canvases out of the way, and beyond all of that was a wooden cupboard.

    ¡°There should be something inside this cupboard,¡± Ma Yin said as she moved to open the door. However, when her finger touched the door, she immediately jerked back.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something on the surface.¡± Ma Yin rubbed her fingers and gave it a sniff. ¡°Why is there formalin on the door handle?¡±

    The formalin on the stairs outside could be exined as an idental ssh, but what about the cupboard behind the canvases? That was too weird.

    ¡°Could there be a cadaver hiding inside this cupboard?¡± Ma Yin¡¯s heart raced, and her breathing became uneven. She took in a deep breath before edging the door open. She looked inside the gap, and there were no bodies inside the cupboard, just several paintings.

    Ma Yin sighed in relief as she took the paintings out. However, when she saw the content of one of the paintings, her heart squeezed again.

    The painting style was rather derivative. It was a painting of medical students operating on the cadaver, but the weirdest thing was that the drawing was painted from the cadaver¡¯s perspective.

    Lying inside the cold storage, looking at the tightly-covered medical students, the scalpel in his hands, and then at the cadaver¡¯s own body.

    There was an emotion that was running through the painting. It was an envy of life, an envy of that supple skin, those movable joints, the things that he had lost. He wished that he could have that instead of lying on the b, unable to do anything as the students cut open his body.

 Chapter 380 - The Third Person

    <h4>Chapter 380: The Third Person</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°The painter is quite creative, painting this from the perspective of the cadaver.¡± Ma Yin looked at the painting in her hands. She was influenced by the emotions elicited by the painting, and she did not feel so good.

    ¡°It¡¯s quite weird, don¡¯t you think? Painting from the cadaver¡¯s perspective, as if it¡¯s a living person... it looks off.¡± Liu Xianxian nced at it once before she lost interest. ¡°I have a feeling this painting is for the dead. Perhaps the painter is the cadaver.¡±

    ¡°Stop joking.¡± Ma Yin put the painting aside. When she prepared to pick up the second painting, her finger identally brushed against the canvas, and it felt wet, ¡°It still hasn¡¯t dried?¡±

    She stood where she was with her mind nk. ¡°The painting feels like it just been painted. There has to have been someone else in this storeroom recently, but why would they paint in here? And why paint such a weird topic?¡±

    Ma Yin thought about what Liu Xianxian said before they entered the building. A student saw someone waving at him when he passed by the western section of the campus, and following the shadow, he discovered a seriously ruined cadaver.

    <i>Could the painter really be the cadaver? </i>A scary thought appeared in her mind. Ma Yin could not stop herself as she staggered backward. She wanted to stay away from the cupboard, but she was curious about the other painting. Eventually, curiosity won over fear. Ma Yin walked to the cupboard and took out the second painting.

    It was an oil painting, and the colors used in the painting were quite depressing. A gray sky, a ck crow poking at a startling white body, and a decaying arm poking through the ground.

    <i>Such a depressing view of the world, there¡¯s no color at all.</i>

    Ma Yin turned to the third painting. It was a painting of a young girl holding an apple. This painting waspletely different from the other two. The girl was wearing a cute, vibrant outfit, standing under the neon lights. The apple in her hands was a burst of red. From the background to the character, it was filled with brightness and color, but the painting still gave one an ufortable feeling.

    The reason was the main character. The little girl waspletely different from the rest of the painting. Her exposed skin showed an unnatural gray-ashy color. She held the apple in her hand, wanting to give it a bite, but she knew, even if she did, she would not know the taste of apple. There was a simple desire on the girl¡¯s face; she wanted to know the taste of apple.

    Putting down the third painting, Ma Yin looked at thest painting. It was a realistic painting, and it had a dead person as its subject. A normal person might have been ufortable, but Ma Yin was unaffected. After her first autopsy ss, she understood something. A dead person was categorically different from a living one. A dead person was no different from a cold machine,prised ofplicated parts, but it was a machine that could not run again.

    The man in the painting looked at his body, probably wondering whether he could still be called human. After staring at the human portrait in the painting for a long time, Ma Yin suddenly remembered something. She took out her phone and clicked open the video that her sister had sent her before her disappearance. When the video reached twelve-second mark, she pressed pause.

    The camera was aimed at the window. A woman was hanging on the windowsill, exposing half of her face. Comparing the face to the painting, Ma Yin suddenly realized that the color of the woman¡¯s skin was simr to all the human characters in the paintings!

    <i>What¡¯s going on? One is real since it¡¯s captured on film, but the other is fake because they were painted.</i>

    Her arm shook involuntarily. She had a feeling that the woman in the video and the people in the paintings were all looking at her. She put the paintings back into the cupboard and closed it¡ªonly then did the feeling disappear.

    <i>The main characters of the paintings are all cadavers, so in that case, the woman climbing on the window is also a cadaver? But how could a cadaver climb onto the windowsill?</i>

    When the video stopped, the woman by the window was staring at the person behind the camera. Through the screen, Ma Yin felt like the woman was staring at her.

    <i>There was aplicated emotion in her eyes¡ªthat is not something possible for cadaver.</i>

    Ma Yin closed the video. She was quite afraid staring at the woman.

    <i>My sister¡¯s disappearance has to do with this woman and these few paintings are my clues.</i>

    With her hand on the cupboard door, Ma Yin touched the sticky substance, and she was confused. <i>There is residual formalin on the door, and the paintings are painted from the perspective of the cadaver. Sis disappeared after she saw something simr to a dead body, did the cadavers reallye back to life?</i>

    ¡°Xiao Yin!¡± Liu Xianxian¡¯s voice came from behind her. This cowardly girl sounded like she had walked deeper into the storeroom alone.

    ¡°Where are you?¡± Ma Yin could only hear Liu Xianxian¡¯s voice, but she could not see her. There was too much trash in the storeroom blocking her view.

    ¡°Xiao Yin!¡± Liu Xianxian called again. Ma Yin, who had been spooked by the paintings and the video, was cautious. She picked up a broken chair lying to the side and walked toward the sound of the voice. Walking through the racks, she saw a straight shadow standing in an inconspicuous corner of the room.

    ¡°Liu Xian?¡± Ma Yin held the chair with one hand as she raised her phone. Before the light hit the shadow, she felt someone touch her shoulder. ¡°Who is it?¡±

    Her arm moved, and Ma Yin swung the chair behind her. Just as the chair was about to hit the person, she saw who it was and forced herself to stop. The chair brushed against the person and knocked into the rack, creating a loud bang.

    She pulled back her arm. Liu Xianxian was also scared because she did not think Ma Yin would react so violently. ¡°Xiao Yin, what¡¯s wrong with you tonight?¡±

    Putting down the chair, Ma Yin took in a deep breath. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with me? Were you trying to scare me to death by tapping on my shoulder like that?¡±

    ¡°But we¡¯ve been here several times already. There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of.¡± Liu Xianxian thought she saw a twisted expression on Ma Yin¡¯s face for that moment.

    ¡°This time¡¯s different. Now I can be sure someone has been in here before us!¡± Ma Yin was suddenly reminded of something. She aimed her phone at the corner!

    ¡°Where is he?¡± The corner waspletely empty.

    ¡°Xiao Yin, stop scaring me. Who is here other than us?¡± Liu Xianxian stood behind Ma Yin. ¡°Even if someone was here, he must have left already.¡±

    ¡°No, he¡¯s still here. I just saw him with my own eyes!¡± Ma Yin could not have imagined that, while they were searching through the storeroom, there was another person in there with them. ¡°We have to leave immediately. I have a very bad feeling.¡±

    Ma Yin picked up the chair from the floor and tried to persuade Liu Xianxian to leave.

    ¡°No, we cannot go now.¡± Liu Xianxian stood her ground as she held onto Ma Yin¡¯s arm. ¡°I just came back from the other side of the storeroom. I found the statue.¡±

 Chapter 381 - The Weeping Statue

    <h4>Chapter 381: The Weeping Statue</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    At this most dangerous moment, Liu Xianxian found the statue they were looking for. This should have been a happy asion, but Ma Yin found it so difficult to smile. She was certain that there was a third person hiding in the storeroom¡ªmaybe he was hiding in a corner, watching them at that very moment. Should they leave or take a risk?

    ¡°No, I still think it¡¯s too dangerous. Since we know where the statue is now, we cane back tomorrow. There¡¯s no need to rush this.¡± Ma Yin tried to convince her best friend. ¡°Listen to me, we need to leave.¡±

    ¡°Two questions won¡¯t take that much time.¡± Liu Xianxian was stubborn. The man that she loved had be a thorn in her heart. Releasing her grasp on Ma Yin, Liu Xianxian walked deeper into the storeroom alone. ¡°It¡¯ll end soon. In a few minutes, I¡¯ll know the real answer.¡±

    She sounded like she was possessed.

    ¡°Liu Xianxian!¡± Ma Yin was agitated. She wanted to leave, but she could not abandon Liu Xianxian. Her two hands holding the chair, she gave chase after Liu Xianxian.

    The two girls reached thest rack that was on the left side of the storeroom. Liu Xianxian pointed at the gap between the rack and the wall. ¡°The wall behind that rack is hollowed out, and the statue is just behind it.¡±

    Ma Yin leaned on the rack and shone the light into the gap. There was an ugly face that looked back at her. When the light hit the statue, the eyes of the statue seemed to blink.

    ¡°There¡¯s only one statue inside this storeroom, so this has to be it.¡± Liu Xianxian grabbed the edge of the rack. ¡°What are you doing standing there? We¡¯ve finally found the thing we¡¯ve been looking for so long¡ªwhy aren¡¯t you helping?¡±

    ¡°I feel like there¡¯s a reason someone purposely hid the statue behind the rack.¡± Ma Yin looked at the statue, and for some reason, it felt familiar to her. The two of them moved the rack aside, and a faint smell drifted out.

    ¡°What is that smell? It seems toe from the statue. It smells like... dposition?¡±

    ¡°Why would a statue smell like dposition?¡± Liu Xianxian walked to the statue with her phone, and the light hit the statue fully. It was a sculpture of a mature male. It wasrger than a normal man, and it was well-built. However, the face was distorted, so ugly that people would not look at it directly. Very rarely would a sculptor do something like this, unless there was a special meaning.

    ¡°The words at the base and the face, it¡¯s the same as the statue in your video.¡± Liu Xianxian looked at this statue, and her fingers shivered. She had finally found the solution to the question that had been bothering her for so long.

    The hollowed-out alcove was only one meter wide, and the statue was ced at the very back. He looked like a devil with his arms open, ready to wee the lostmbs. Standing before statue, the smell intensified, but Liu Xianxian did not seem to smell it. She put her hands together and lowered her head silently.

    ¡°In my heart...¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± Ma Yin interrupted Liu Xianxian. ¡°You¡¯d better think about this carefully before you ask the question. ording to the legend, this statue can verify the validity of any statement. If the statement is true, it will shed blood tears, but if it¡¯s fake, then something scary will happen.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Liu Xianxian was closed to any advice. She took another step and told the statue softly, ¡°The man inside my heart, he also likes me, yes?¡±

    Inside the darkened storeroom, the girl asked the question inside her heart, and she turned to focus on the statue¡¯s eyes with anticipation. If the statue wept, then she was right. Liu Xianxian started to get nervous; she could even hear her own heartbeat.

    One second, two second...

    Half a minute went by, and nothing happened. The statue did not cry, and nothing scary happened.

    ¡°The legend¡¯s fake?¡± Liu Xianxian leaned weakly against the wall like her energy had been sucked out of her body. Her hope morphed into a bubble and was popped. Ma Yin stood behind Liu Xianxian¡ªshe seemed to have expected this result. Often, people did something not to wish for any result, but it was because of that drive of hope. Ma Yin patted Liu Xianxian¡¯s shoulder lightly, but she did not know how to best console her roommate.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± The trained smile appeared on Liu Xianxian¡¯s face. ¡°This statue once appeared in your sister¡¯s video. You have to go and check whether there¡¯s any clue regarding her disappearance. I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Ma Yin nodded. She took out her phone to pause the video where the statue was on screen. ¡°The statue in the video ispletely identical to this statue. I only need to find out who this statue¡¯s original owner is, and I¡¯ll be able to find the killer.¡±

    She recorded the statue on her phone, not letting go of any details. The camera moved from the statue¡¯s chest to its cheeks. The sense of familiarity in Ma Yin¡¯s heart increased like she had done something like this before.

    ¡°Have I forgotten something?¡± After recording everything, Ma Yin put her phone away. ¡°The legend involving the statue is fake, but at least the appearance of this statue has proven something¡ªthe video that my sister sent me is real.¡±

    She stared at the statue before her. Looking at that ugly face, an urge blossomed in her heart. She reached out to touch the statue¡¯s icy skin, and Ma Yin asked the question that had been troubling her. ¡°My big sister is dead, isn¡¯t she?¡±

    Disappeared and dead were two different things. Even after so many year, Ma Yin still had some hope in her heart.

    After two seconds, Ma Yin shook her head. ¡°The legend is fake, so why am I doing this? It¡¯s just a story to trick children, and we¡¯ve fallen for it.¡±

    She was talking to herself, but when she finished, the stench in the air grew, and the light from the phone twisted. The originally silent storeroom started to echo with a pounding sound like something was knocking into the racks.

    Ma Yin sensed the change in the air, and she prepared to leave when Liu Xianxian yelled, ¡°Xiao Yin! Look at his eyes!¡±

    ¡°His eyes?¡± Ma Yin understood it immediately and turned to look at the statue¡¯s eyes. Two lines of blood were flowing down the statue¡¯s eyes. The blood was thick and red, forming a great contrast to the ster-white skin.

    ¡°The statue cried?¡±

    Ma Yin stood where she was, and soon, she was covered by fear. ¡°The statue will cry when it¡¯s a truth, but when Liu Xianxian asked her question earlier, it didn¡¯t respond.¡±

    The light was distorted even more, and the pounding sound became more consistent.

 Chapter 382 - Even Greater Despair

    <h4>Chapter 382: Even Greater Despair</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Ma Yin looked at the blood tear on the statue¡¯s face, and a weird emotion formed in her heart. It was fear and familiarity, like she had been through this before.

    ¡°We cannot stay here any longer. We have to leave now!¡±

    Liu Xianxian waspletely unmoved by the urgency in Ma Yin¡¯s voice. Her slender arms curved inwards to hug her shoulders like she was suddenly feeling very cold.

    ¡°So, he really doesn¡¯t love me. I¡¯ve been reading too much into this.¡± Liu Xianxian¡¯s emotions were unravelling, and she started to cry, talking to the air. ¡°Since he doesn¡¯t love me, then why did he give me hope? Why did he torture me?¡±

    Ma Yin shook Liu Xianxian. ¡°We can talk about this outside. It¡¯s not safe here.¡±

    She was about one head taller than Liu Xianxian, and she was also stronger. She forced Liu Xianxian out from behind the rack. When the two of them turned, the statue at the inner most part of the storeroom elicited the sound of teeth grinding. The tears of blood kept falling like the statue was about toe to life at any moment.

    Unlike when they entered, a weird change was happening to the storeroom. The racks moved to form a maze, and the trash blocked the road, making it difficult for them to exit.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t we move the canvases to the side of the wall? Why are they still blocking the path?¡± Ma Yin needed to take care of Liu Xianxian, who was in the middle of a breakdown, and tried to mow their way out. She moved the heavy canvasses aside, her heart screaming, <i>Faster, faster!</i>

    The pounding sound entered her ears. It sounded like it came from a particr corner of the storeroom. Ma Yin¡¯s forehead was covered with sweat; she had never been so fearful in her life.

    After moving several canvases, she moved forward and realized that the tables and chairs that were stacked up in the corner earlier had been moved to sit in the middle of their escape route.

    ¡°Did the chairse alive? Who could have moved so many of them in such a short amount of time without making a noise?¡± Ma Yin dragged Liu Xianxian forward. She did not have the time to move the tables and chairs one by one anymore. ¡°Follow me, we¡¯re jumping over these things!¡±

    Liu Xianxian had also noticed the differences. Even though she was devastated, she did not want to drag her roommate down with her. The two girls climbed over the teetering tables and chairs. When they reached the highest spot, Ma Yin saw that the monitor, which had been turned off, was on again. The monitor was rather obvious in the dark storeroom.

    <i>Who turned theputer on? The person that I saw earlier?</i>

    The thought had just appeared in her mind when the shape of a human face appeared on screen. It was a bald man with a bloated face.

    At the same time, the photocopier beside it started to operate on its own. Paper shot out from the chute, and there was a human face printed on each page. The paper flew out, and the human face became clearer. Without any hesitation, Ma Yin jumped down from the table. The room waspletely dark, and she could not see anything without the light from her phone.

    ¡°Quick! This way!¡± Ma Yin took out her phone to provide Liu Xianxian with some lighting. Liu Xianxian aimed for a spot that had no trash, and when she was prepared to jump, something touched Ma Yin on her back. Ma Yin jumped and immediately turned her phone around. At the same time, Liu Xianxian jumped.

    The spot that was originally empty suddenly had an extra chair that only had three legs. Liu Xianxian¡¯s left leg stepped on the edge of the chair. She screamed as she fell to the ground. Her arms were bruised, and she sprained her leg.

    Ma Yin just turned around when Liu Xianxian screamed behind her. She felt like she was losing her mind.

    ¡°Come, I¡¯ll carry you!¡± Ma Yin had just picked Liu Xianxian up when she felt something touch her back. This time, she was prepared. Her fist tightened as she turned back. She missed, and she lowered her head to look. She then realized it was the paper from the photocopier that had hit her.

    She shone her phone on it, and there was a faded human face on the paper. His face was bloated and ugly. His hair and brows seemed to have fallen off due to extended period of submersion in a certain type of liquid. He looked like a rubber ball.

    ¡°Why would such a thinge out from the photocopier?¡± She had Liu Xianxian climb onto her back and powered forward. The face on the paper became clearer, and Ma Yin ran past the monitor. When she passed the photocopier, the paper slowed down, and she turned subconsciously to the scanner on the photocopier. In the faded light of the scanner, there was a bald man smiling at her!

    Her breathing became slow as Ma Yin forced herself to run faster. She was already scared, and she still needed to carry Liu Xianxian. Her energy quickly drained. She only ran for a short distance before her legs felt like lead.

    ¡°Xiao Yin! Put me down!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± The two girls continued to move forward. The closer they were to the door, the louder the pounding sound.

    ¡°Will something block the door?¡± Fear curled around Ma Yin¡¯s heart. Various ghost stories rted to cadavers and underground morgues flooded her mind, and the color drained from her face. ¡°Impossible! That is all fake.¡±

    She ran at the door. At first, it was just a pounding sound from the door. Then there was a pounding sound from under the rack. Finally, the pounding sound came from everywhere.

    ¡°What is making that noise?¡± Ma Yin¡¯s face was white. She did not dare stay. She ran through the racks to get to the door. The wooden door¡¯s lock was broken, so it could not be locked, but the pounding sound now came from the door.

    ¡°It¡¯s just outside the door!¡±

    Just as Ma Yin hesitated whether to go out, one of the lockers beside the rack was shoved open. Following the pounding sound, something dripping wet, hairless with the shape of a human,nded on the ground and slithered toward them like a snake!

    ¡°Be careful!¡± Liu Xianxian screamed. Ma Yin decided to run out the door¡ªstaying in the storeroom meant death. At least out the door, she had a chance of getting to the surface.

    ¡°Hold onto me!¡± Ma Yin shoved the door open, and she saw something like a human bouncing on the ground. The pounding sound was its head knocking against the door

    ¡°Run!¡± Liu Xianxian screamed. Ma Yin carried her and ran back the way they came. However, as they turned the corner, something even more despairing happened.

    Standing in the corridor was a man. His face was shrouded in darkness, but she could see the half-a-meter-long murder weapon he was holding in his arms!

 Chapter 383 - Im Not a Bad Guy

    <h4>Chapter 383: I¡¯m Not a Bad Guy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    There was a shadow holding a creepy-looking hammer standing in the dark corridor that seemed to lead right to hell. The man blocked the only way out¡ªhe was the manifestation of despair itself. Ma Yin did not have much energy left in her body. Her footsteps slowed down, and the color disappeared from her eyes as she looked down the corridor with helplessness. Compared to this man who held the murder weapon, it was obvious that the weird thing that slithered on the floor behind them was easier to deal with.

    She did not dare move forward. Her legs weakened, and fear drained the energy from her body.

    ¡°What should we do?¡± Ma Yin asked for Liu Xianxian¡¯s opinion. At this moment, they only had each other.

    ¡°The underground passage isplicated and connects to the variousbs at the western side of the campus. Should we just run backward? If we¡¯re lucky, we might find a way out, but it¡¯s more likely that we¡¯ll get trapped inside the tunnels.¡± Liu Xianxian bit on her lips and made the second decision. ¡°The other choice is to rush forward. If the man tries to attack you, toss me at him. I¡¯ll try my best to stop him, and you run as fast as you can to go and find the teacher and the security.¡±

    ¡°No, I won¡¯t do that.¡±

    ¡°My ankle is sprained, so I cannot run. It¡¯s that, or both of us are going to die here!¡± Various newspaper headlines that stated how a young girl was found dead in her campus shed across her mind, and even though she tried to stop them, the tears kept on falling.

    ¡°Die here...¡± Ma Yin was reminded of the few paintings that she had seen inside the cupboard. The paintings made her feel fear and terror. Ma Yin nodded as she made this painful decision. ¡°I will run at the top of my speed and find someone toe save you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll wait for you.¡± When they finished their discussion, the monsters had been catching up to them. The man who blocked the corridor had noticed them as well. The half-a-meter-long murder weapon twirled in the air, and the man walked toward them.

    The smell of blood crept through the underground corridor, and there was a red shadow flickering beside the man. Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian were trapped by threatsing from both ends. The two girls moved toward the man as they had nned, but they only took several steps when Ma Yin was unable to move anymore, and on her back, Liu Xianxian was as pale as a sheet of paper.

    Blood vessels seemed to crawl over the man before them, and perhaps due to fear, Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian heard the sound of blood dripping in their ears. That introduced a change to their n. Ma Yin¡¯s bodily instinct told her to slow down, her brain giving her signal to tell her to stay away from the man. Liu Xianxian¡¯s heart was filled with regret. When she was really facing death, she found out how cowardly she was. With tears falling down her cheeks, she grabbed Ma Yin¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Should we try going deeper into the underground morgue? Perhaps we might be able to find other exits?¡±

    Before Ma Yin could answer, the man¡¯s speed suddenly increased. She screamed, and before her mind came to a decision, her legs carried her away from the man. It was too scary!

    Turning back the corner, there were several fish or snake-like humanoid monsters in the corridor. They were quite happy when they saw Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian return on their own, but their smile soon disappeared. The smell of blood in the corridor overwhelmed the smell of formalin, and the blood vessels crept along the wall like spider web.

    What were those things?

    The sound of footsteps echoed down the hall. With the Red Specter following behind him, Chen Ge ran to the girls with the hammer. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid! I¡¯m here to save you!¡±

    However, no one stopped because he said that. Including the monsters, everyone ran deeper down the corridor. Looking at Liu Xianxian and Ma Yin running along the monsters down the corridor, Chen Ge¡¯s lips twitched. ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡±

    The corridors would get even more crisscrossed down the line. Afraid that Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian might get lost in the tunnels, he picked up his speed again. ¡°Stop running!¡±

    Ma Yin was carrying Liu Xianxian, so her energy was exhausted after a short distance of running. Noticing the man catching up to them, she experienced the sting of despair so acutely for the first time in her life. It was exactly as depicted in that painting. The decayed hand reached for the sky, but it could never touch it.

    ¡°Xianxian, I cannot run anymore.¡± Ma Yin did not know what kind of tone she was using when she said that sentence. She turned to look at Liu Xianxian, who was crying. She gripped her fists trying to fight the man behind them, but when she turned around and met his gaze, she understood how fragile her courage was before this man. She stopped moving like she had surrendered.

    The smell of blood intensified. The blood vessels that crept on the wall became more numerous as the despairing shadow got closer to them. Ma Yin closed her eyes; she did not want to watch her own demise.

    The footsteps approached them in mere seconds. The imagined pain and assault did not appear, but when the footsteps stopped beside them, they could not help but scream. Even after their screams, the pain did not appear. Just as they thought this was going to be a cruel game of cat and mouse, they opened their eyes to realize that the man had already wandered away.

    He waved that unknown weapon in his arms and ran down the corridor. With wet tears still in their eyes, Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian watched Chen Ge run away from them, and it felt like they had been given a second chance at life.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± The two had notpletely lost their sensibility. They supported each other and staggered down the corridor. Chen Ge was chasing the retreating monsters when he turned back to see the escaping girls. He hesitated and decided to give up on the monsters.

    <i>If I continue to chase after them, I might identally trigger the Trial Mission at the underground morgue. Since Zhang Ya hasn¡¯t awakened, I¡¯d better be more careful.</i>

    Chen Ge stopped moving. There was another reason he made this decision¡ªthe underground tunnels wereplicated, so it was very disadvantageous to him.

    <i>Looks like I need to make more preparation. At the very least, I need a map of the underground morgue.</i>

    Chen Ge put the hammer away and continued to walk backward. The two girls shook violently when they saw himing their way. They wanted to run but could not. Recalling Xu Yin into the tape, Chen Ge stood in the dark corridor so that the girls could not see his face clearly. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, I¡¯m here to save you.¡±

    He was quite a bright person, but since he had spent so much time with Specters, it had introduced a contradictory element to his presence.

    Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian did not dare move. In fact, Liu Xianxian almost fainted from fear.

    ¡°Even though it would take a long for anyone to discover your bodies and there is enough time to deal with the evidence and clues, don¡¯t worry, I would never do something like that.¡± Chen Ge held the hammer with both of his hands. ¡°Actually, I only have a few questions to ask you. I hope that you can answer honestly.¡±

 Chapter 384 - It Was Here Earlier

    <h4>Chapter 384: It Was Here Earlier</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The two girls squeezed together with their backs against the wall, and they kept nodding to Chen Ge¡¯s every word.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, just answer honestly to my questions.¡± Chen Ge waved the hammer in his hand. ¡°I will not hurt you, provided that you do not purposely lie to me.¡±

    ¡°Please just ask your questions. We promise to tell you everything we know.¡± Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian had pale faces. Their bodies kept shaking, causing their words to stutter.

    ¡°What are your names? What is the number of your dormitory, and who is your counselor?¡± Chen Ge started with known information to test if they would lie to him. The two girls provided honest answers. Whether Chen Ge asked or not, they told him everything.

    ¡°Sounds like you two are just normal students, so why are you here sote at night?¡±

    ¡°There is a campus legend about a statue. As long as you can find it before midnight, you can ask it a question.¡± Ma Yin told Chen Ge the reason that she and Liu Xianxian were there. To prove their innocence, she even took out her phone to show Chen Ge the video.

    This was the first time Chen Ge had seen the video left behind before Ma Yin¡¯s sister disappeared. The victim had shot the video from underneath the bed. There seemed to have been a recent tragedy in the house because there was blood everywhere. The video was only thirteen seconds long, and the frame froze on the woman by the window at thest second.

    ¡°My sister¡¯s disappearance should have everything to do with this woman with a skin disease.¡± Ma Yin offered her opinion in a soft voice.

    ¡°Don¡¯t rush to any conclusions. The victim is recording from under the bed¡ªthe bed sheet is rumpled, and a bloodied sheet can be seen peeping out from the dresser door. Obviously, a murder just took ce in this room. In other words, other than the person holding the camera, there was a second victim.¡± Chen Ge looked through the video again. ¡°There is a noose hanging in the middle of the room, giving the impression that someonemitted suicide by hanging. However, there is no stool on the ground, so could it be that this is just as set-up created by the killer? Even though the room is a mess, weirdly enough, the sculptures on the shelf are all untouched, and the statue is not wounded. The bedroom is possibly not the first crime scene.¡±

    A murderer analyzed the situation logically while holding the camera. This unsettled Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian. They did not know what kind of emotion they should be showing.

    ¡°The woman by the window is definitely suspicious. From the muscules on her arms and the point she grabs to the window, her feet should be supported by something. If the wall outside the window didn¡¯t have a protruding spot for her to put her feet on, then the other exnation is that this room is on the ground floor.¡± Chen Ge stared at the woman¡¯s face in the video. ¡°Of course, that is provided this woman is not a ghost.¡±

    ¡°Ghost?¡±

    ¡°Look at the woman¡¯s skin color for yourself. Does she look like a normal person to you?¡± Chen Ge returned to phone to Ma Yin.

    ¡°In that case, this woman has to be the killer!¡± Ma Yin felt some energy returning to her.

    ¡°Do you have some kind of misunderstanding about ghosts? Not all ghost would harm people for no reason. Look at the woman¡¯s eyes closely; she has no malicious intent. Furthermore, if she was the real killer, why would she stay at the window aftermitting the crime?¡±

    Ma Yin did not know how to answer that¡ªthis was the first time she had met someone who woulde to a ghost¡¯s defense. Her palms became sweaty as the thought entered her mind. <i>Could this man be a ghost, too?</i>

    Chen Ge could feel the fear from Ma Yin, but he had no idea which sentence of his had spooked her. ¡°Okay, that¡¯s all the question I have. Now take me to go see that statue.¡±

    ¡°The statue is inside the storeroom, but it¡¯s not s-safe in there,¡± Ma Yin stammered. ¡°It¡¯s haunted.¡±

    ¡°What kind of ghost is haunting it?¡± Chen Ge asked the first question that came to his mind, but it stumped both Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian.

    <i>How should we answer this? </i>Ma Yin¡¯s forehead was covered with cold sweat. When a normal person heard that a ce was haunted, even though they might not be afraid, they would be suspicious. <i>What kind of question is this man asking? How many kinds of ghost are there?</i>

    ¡°I¡¯m not really sure.¡± Her voice shaking, Ma Yin felt like the tears were about to fall from her eyes.

    ¡°Bring me to go take a look.¡±

    There was power in Chen Ge¡¯s voice that ensured hismand was not denied. Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian did not think about running. They supported each other as they staggered step by step to the storeroom door.

    ¡°Paradise?¡± Chen Ge saw the words that were painted unevenly on the door. ¡°Why is the abandoned storeroom called paradise? Does it have rxation and entertainment facilities?¡±

    Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian shook their heads. They did not understand it either.

    ¡°This ce is rather interesting.¡± Chen Ge squatted down to examine the w marks on the door. He ced his finger over the groove; it fitted perfectly. ¡°These should have been gouged out by human hands.¡±

    This observation made the w marks even creepier.

    ¡°The number of the monsters is higher than I thought.¡± Chen Ge pushed the door open and led the way. ¡°Where is the statue you mentioned?¡±

    ¡°Behind the rack at the back of the storeroom.¡± Then Ma Yin softly reminded him, ¡°Theputer and photocopier are weird. When we were in here earlier, they activated on their own.¡±

    ¡°The photocopier you say?¡± Ma Yin sessfully piqued Chen Ge¡¯s interest, and he ran to the photocopier. The tables and chairs blocked the way, and the white papers that covered the floor was printed with the face of a man.

    ¡°Such an ugly mug, but it is creative to hide inside a photocopier.¡± Chen Ge looked at the photocopier that had stopped working. He pushed the plug into the socket and switched the monitor on.

    Weirdly enough, he tried the power button many times, but theputer refused to switch on. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Both of the girls were shocked as well, and they started to plead, ¡°We¡¯re not lying to you. There is a ghost inside this photocopier. I saw it myself!¡±

    Ma Yin pulled the photocopier¡¯s lid open, but there was nothing underneath it. ¡°Where did it go to? It was just here earlier!¡±

    ¡°I know you aren¡¯t lying to me. It¡¯s probably run away already.¡± Chen Ge moved the tables and chairs away. He smashed those that were too tangled, and a path was cleared.

    The two girls followed behind Chen Ge. Seeing the hammer in his hand, they had zero intention of trying to escape.

    The three walked to the alcove behind the rack, and Chen Ge finally saw that ugly statue.

    ¡°This is the weeping statue?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he can verify the authenticity of a statement. If the statement is true, he will bleed tears of blood. We tried it earlier, and it¡¯s real.¡±

    Chen Ge nodded. He did not quite get the theory behind this statue, but that was not an issue because if he did not know the answer, he could just ask the question.

 Chapter 385 - No Tears Left to Cry!

    <h4>Chapter 385: No Tears Left to Cry!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    With his hand on the hammer, Chen Ge walked up to the statue. He looked at the statue¡¯s eyes and asked his first question.

    ¡°You can verify the validity of my every sentence, yes?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s question was not that difficult because he did not n to make an enemy of the statue. He waited for half a minute, but the statue did not react.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why didn¡¯t he cry?¡± Chen Ge turned to look at Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian. When the two girls saw him turn around, they shivered involuntarily.

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible! We¡¯ve tried it earlier; the statue is real.¡± They were underground, and the only source of lightning they had with them came from the phone. Ma Yin wanted to take a closer look at the statue, so she raised the phone that she had in her hand. However, just as the light hit the statue, she immediately put her hand down like she had realized something.

    She urgently apologized to Chen Ge. ¡°I understand your rules. I didn¡¯t see your face, and I don¡¯t know what you look like. I didn¡¯t see anything! We will not speak a word of what happened here to anyone!¡±

    Her gaze focused on that creepy-looking murder weapon, and Ma Yin wished to throw her phone away. Now that she had been taken hostage, she was worried that they would be silenced for knowing too much.

    Inside the basement at 2 am, first they ran into ghost, and then they were chased by monsters that looked like bald fishes and finally this murderer. A series of mental copses had hollowed out Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian¡¯s minds. Their minds werepletely nk¡ªthey just wanted to return to the surface as soon as possible.

    ¡°Afraid that you might get killed?¡± Chen Ge said to himself. ¡°I cannot say your worry is not unfounded.¡±

    Hearing that, the two girls almost cried. ¡°It¡¯s alright, I won¡¯t me this on the two of you.¡±

    Chen Ge turned back to the statue. With his Yin Yang Vision, he could see the blood stain around the statue¡¯s eyes. ¡°Was my question to difficult?¡±

    When he was studying the statue, Liu Xianxian, who stood behind Ma Yin, slowly calmed down. Listening to Chen Ge¡¯s voice, she felt it sounded very familiar, simr to someone in her memory. ¡°Impossible, why would he be here at 2 am? I should be mistaken.¡±

    Chen Ge ignored the two girls and walked around the statue, dragging the hammer. ¡°A stench ising out from inside the statue, I do wish to break it open to take a look.¡±

    He moved to stand before the statue again. ¡°This time, I¡¯ll try a simpler question. I hope you¡¯ll give it much consideration before giving the answer.¡±

    Chen Ge pressed the y button on the recorder and picked up the hammer. ¡°Do you think I can smash you into pieces in under a minute? If you don¡¯t, then I would love to give it a try.¡±

    White noise came out from Chen Ge¡¯s backpack, and several secondster, two lines of blood escaped the statue¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Looks like the legend is real.¡± Chen Geughed satisfactorily. Listening to hisugh, the two girls behind him shivered. They looked at the statue in the dark corner, and for some reason, they felt pity for it.

    <i>The Pen Spirit can predict the future, but it is only fifty percent urate. This statue can verify the authenticity of every word. If Ibine their powers, doesn¡¯t that mean I will have a one hundred percent urate prediction every time?</i>

    Chen Ge started to have ideas for this statue.

    <i>I don¡¯t think it¡¯s possible for me to carry this thing out alone. Asking two girls to help me is quite unreasonable. I suppose there¡¯s nothing I can do for now.</i>

    The blood tears slid down the statue¡¯s face, making it look quite pitiful. It only stopped crying when Chen Ge turned off the recorder.

    <i>I suppose I won¡¯t walk away empty-handed tonight. </i>Chen Ge turned to ask the girls, ¡°Is there a limitation to number of questions I can ask in that legend?¡±

    ¡°Amount of question?¡± Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian thought that Chen Ge was going to leave already, but who would have thought he would ask something like that? ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±

    ¡°No limitation?¡± Chen Ge felt rejuvenated. The statue had been ced in the storeroom for such a long time, so he must be familiar with this ce. Chen Ge put the hammer away and very gently helped wipe the tears on the statue¡¯s face away.

    ¡°Okay, now I will ask you the second question.¡± Chen Ge looked at the statue¡¯s ugly face. ¡°The monsters that hid in this room earlier came from the underground morgue, yes?¡±

    Several secondster, blood red tears came from the statue¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Very good, third question, there are people or monsters scarier than me in the underground morgue, yes?¡± The blood tear did not stop. The scene made the two girls close their eyes.

    ¡°Fourth question: someone is secretly helping the monsters in the morgue, yes?¡± The statue¡¯s tears had dried, but his survival instinct forced him to push out some tears.

    ¡°Looks like my previous spection was not wrong. This underground morgue isplicated.¡± Chen Ge realized that the statue was reaching its limits, so he asked thest question. ¡°This is thest and most important question, so you¡¯d better consider it carefully. The chairperson of the ghost stories society is Captain Yan from the police department, yes?¡±

    The term ¡®ghost stories society¡¯ seemed to have a special meaning to the statue. When it heard these four words, the stench disappeared instantly like the soul on the statue had escaped.

    ¡°You cannot say? Could the society be the one who ced the statue here? Is the underground morgue also rted to the society?¡± Chen Ge leaned close to the statue. His finger brushed across the statue¡¯s eyes, and there was onest blood tear drop that was oozing out.

    ¡°Looks like Captain Yan is really unrted to the society.¡± Chen Ge touched the statue¡¯s head, ¡°Thank you for your help, but I have to remind you, none of the members of the society are sane; it¡¯s dangerous if you follow them. Why not go toward the light? I¡¯ll protect you in the future.¡±

    The statue did not show any response, and Chen Ge did not force it. He pushed the statue and ced it horizontally on the ground. He looked from underneath the base¡ªthe statue was hollow.

    ¡°The Pen Spirit can predict the future because it is possessed by a spirit. This statue has a simr ability, so it is probably rted to a ghost as well.¡± Chen Ge reached his hand into the statue. ¡°The space is very big. I thought the statue would be hiding a body, but I¡¯m mistaken. But something must be different about this statue since it can be possessed by a spirit. There might not be a body inside it now, but it doesn¡¯t mean that it wasn¡¯t hiding a body before this.¡±

    Chen Ge talked to himself, not caring about how the others with him felt. Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian were greatly panicked. They thought the man was finding a suitable spot to abandon their bodies.

    ¡°Anyway, the result is not bad for tonight. Let¡¯s leave for now.¡± Chen Ge stood up and picked the statue back up. ¡°The statue says that there is something scarier than me in the underground morgue. Based on my current ability, it is probably not enough to deal with that three-star trial mission.¡±

 Chapter 386 - Boss Chen?

    <h4>Chapter 386: Boss Chen?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The three-star Trial Mission at Jiujiang Medical University would be a hard ce to navigate without a map, so Chen Ge knew that he had to be careful. ¡°I¡¯ll need to leave the statue here for now. Perhaps I should try tomunicate with the school first. After all, if I need toplete the underground morgue mission, the school will be involved somehow.¡±

    The underground morgue was thest side mission that led to the four-star School of the Afterlife, so Chen Ge could not afford to be too cautious. <i>A three-star trial mission is already so scary¡ªa four-star mission would have been unimaginable, much less the five-star mission.</i>

    The ck phone had its own system of categorizing the scary scenarios, but Chen Ge still had not grasped the standard of measurement yet.

    His mind filled with thoughts of other things, he walked back to the two girls, holding the hammer. Without his Yin Yang Vision, he would not have been able to see the girls in the dark.

    ¡°Come on, I¡¯ll walk you out.¡± Chen Ge seemed to change into a different person as his tone softened. ¡°In the future, try not to wander off into strange ces. If I didn¡¯t arrive in time, who knows what would have happened.¡±

    The two girls had pained expressions on their faces. The man had almost killed the statue from their campus ghost story, and he had the audacity to say the ce was dangerous.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. I was acting so harshly earlier because this ce is too creepy. If you¡¯d shown any trace of fear or retreat, you¡¯d be targeted by the monsters.¡± Chen Ge held the hammer in one hand. ¡°Actually, in real life, I¡¯m a gentle and kind person.¡±

    ¡°Gentle and kind?¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice was now filled with warmth. Unlike earlier, there was a sense of familiarity that arose in the hearts of Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian. It felt like they had heard this voice somewhere before.

    ¡°Come on, it¡¯s time to leave.¡± Chen Ge walked ahead. When he passed theputer and photocopier, he gave them another try. After making sure that theputer could not be activated, he gave up.

    The three exited the storeroom, and when they closed the wooden door, Chen Ge hearding from down the corridor, something that sounded like a bubble bursting, like many things were bouncing on the ground.

    ¡°What is that sound?¡± Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian heard that as well.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t this corridor lead to the underground morgue?¡± Even with the Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could not see what was happening.

    ¡°Don¡¯t know, but it should extend to the underground basement of the western part of campus. That section was sealed up several years ago.¡± Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian¡¯s eyes twitched violently like something seriously bad was about to happen.

    At the end of the corridor, the sound of bouncing became more rapid, and it was mixed with the weird sound of a beast breathing. There was no venttion underground, but they could feel the presence of a draft, covering their nostrils with the smell of formalin.

    ¡°Run, it¡¯s not safe to stay here!¡± Chen Ge grabbed the hammer and yelled at the girls, ¡± <strong>Run! </strong>¡±

    Before Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian realized what had happened, Chen Ge had already turned around and charged forward.

    ¡°Is something chasing after us?¡± Liu Xianxian¡¯s ankle was sprained. She wanted to move fast, but her body did not allow it.

    ¡°Come, I¡¯ll carry you.¡± Ma Yin¡¯s own physique had not recovered. After picking up Liu Xianxian, she slowed down. The sound of bouncing came close, causing their hair to stand on end. They did not dare imagine the thing that made that sound.

    ¡°What should we do?¡± Her legs slowed down, and Ma Yin felt like copsing.

    ¡°Put her down!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice came from the front. Ma Yin wanted to say no, but before she could say anything, she saw Chen Ge pull Liu Xianxian off her back and onto his own. Then he continued running. ¡°Follow me!¡±

    Ma Yin felt rejuvenated by hope seeing this, and she tried her best to keep up to Chen Ge. Chen Ge had an average build, and he did not look that muscr, but his explosive power and persistence was not worse than a trained athlete. They rushed forward.

    When they ran out of the underground second floor, Ma Yin felt like fainting already, but Chen Ge showed no sign of slowing down. ¡°Keep it up, this ce is very dangerous!¡±

    Chen Ge rarely put himself in a dangerous situation that he could not handle. When the underground morgue gave out that sound, the recorder activated on its own, and Xu Yin kept giving him a warning. To be able to make Xu Yin do that, the enemy had to be at least a Red Specter, which was why Chen Ge chose to run immediately.

    The end of the corridor was a three-star scenario, and Chen Ge had never underestimated three-star scenarios. The Third Sick Hall aside, whether it be the well ghost in Coffin Vige or Zhang Ya at Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy, they were the most powerful existences among Red Specters¡ªone Xu Yin would not be able to rival their power.

    When they arrived at first underground floor, Ma Yin did not have much energy left in her. It was Chen Ge who dragged both of them out from the underground. After leaving the stairs, Chen Ge kicked the front door open and dropped Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian on the grass. He was also exhausted.

    Of the three, only Liu Xianxian was not that tired. She looked at Chen Ge¡¯s face in the dark, and that sense of familiarity heightened. She gathered her courage and took out her phone to shine on Chen Ge.

    ¡°Boss Chen?¡± She gasped. Even though she had suspected that earlier, it was still quite unbelievable.

    ¡°After you that surprised? I thought you realized that earlier,¡± Chen Ge said and provided the reason that he had thought of earlier. ¡°When you came to my Haunted House this morning, I noticed that the two of you were hiding some secrets. I was worried about you two, so I¡¯ve been following you.¡±

    Ma Yin had other questions, but she was interrupted by Chen Ge. ¡°Don¡¯t need to thank me. You¡¯re my guests, and since I noticed it, I couldn¡¯t just let it be.¡±

    He silently moved the hammer inside the backpack. ¡°I don¡¯t have anything to ask for. The reason I¡¯m doing is so that I can sleep at night. If you really feel like repaying me, then bring more friends toe visit my Haunted House.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s image increased tremendously in the girls¡¯ hearts. Even though Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian still had many questions, there was one thing they could not deny¡ªit was Chen Ge who had saved them that night.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Quickly return to your bedroom. It won¡¯t be good if you¡¯re discovered wandering around the campus at 3 or 4 am.¡± Chen Ge nced at his own shadow. ¡°We can continue this discussion in the morning.¡±

    Chen Ge sent the two girls away, and he prepared to return to New Century Park. He turned around to nce onest time at the old education block. He wanted to say something like When Zhang Ya wakes up, I¡¯ll return, but to his surprise, the door that he had kicked earlier had been opened again.

    <i>Something came out? Why didn¡¯t I notice it?</i>

    Chen Ge looked around him before turning to look in the direction that the two girls had left. His pupils narrowed, and he saw a third woman following behind the two girls.

    Then the three of them entered the female dormitory together.

 Chapter 387 - I, Chen Ge, Am a Good Citizen [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 387: I, Chen Ge, Am a Good Citizen [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>How long has there been a third one?</i>

    Chen Ge was startled before he ran toward the female dormitory. The woman who trailed behind Liu Xianxian and Ma Yin seemed to notice him as well as she turned around to nce at Chen Ge. The ashy skin spoke of death, and her eyes were filled withplicated emotions.

    <i>Wait, that face?</i>

    The woman who followed behind Liu Xianxian and Ma Yin was the woman who appeared in Ma Yin¡¯s video!

    The facial features and the emotions filling her gaze were all the same. Chen Ge did not dare waste time and charged forward.

    ¡°Be careful!¡± he screamed, but Liu Xianxian and Ma Yin did not seem to hear him. The woman ced her hand on Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian¡¯s shoulders. She leaned into the space between them and whispered something into their ears. Due to the distance, Chen Ge could not hear her clearly, but he did see the girls¡¯ bodies turn stiff and the focus in their eyes swaying. They eventually closed their eyes, but their bodies kept moving like they were sleep-walking.

    ¡°Ma Yin! Liu Xianxian!¡± Perhaps Chen Ge¡¯s shout had its effect because the two girls slowed down, and the expression slightly changed like they were caught in a nightmare. They were also struggling, but the result was different from what Chen Ge anticipated. The two girls did not wake up, but after moving for a few more steps, they fainted and copsed to the ground.

    The woman who trailed behind them turned to look at Chen Ge. She held his gaze as she pointed toward her heart. She made a weird sign before turning to disappear inside the female dormitory. The woman disappeared in the blink of an eye. Chen Ge managed to catch that there was a hole in her clothes near her shoulder like it had been shot through by a bullet.

    ¡°Why did she point at her heart? Was that a threat? Was she trying to warn me?¡± Chen Ge ran to the female dormitory and mmed on the window. In reality, his scream earlier had already awakened the dormitory manager.

    ¡°Someone fainted! Just outside the dormitory front door! Help!¡±

    A man banged loudly on the window at the entrance of a female student¡¯s dormitory at 3 to 4 am. The manager, who was an auntie, did not daree out on her own. She picked up the phone to call the security and the school admin.

    ...

    A ss of warm water that had gone cold was ced on the table. Chen Ge nced at the clock on the wall¡ªit was already 5:40 am. The light filtered down on him. He ced both of his hands on the table and looked at the seven people who sat across from him calmly.

    There included police officers, school security, and teachers at the university.

    ¡°I have told you many times, I am not a prevent, and it was not me who made the two girls faint. You can doubt me, but please remember everything that I am saying now. When the two girls wake up, I want you to personally apologize to me.¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge, of course, we believe that you are innocent, or else Captain Yan would not have personally assigned me to watch over this case.¡± Lee Zheng had dark circles under his eyes. They had just parted about ten hours ago, and ten hourster, they met up again in a different environment. Looking at Chen Ge, Lee Zheng felt like he was looking at one of his colleagues.

    ¡°The two girls came to visit my Haunted House yesterday morning. I realized that they were seriously troubled by something, and after I asked them, I found out the taller girl¡¯s elder sister has gone missing, and it has been troubling her for a very long time.¡± Chen Ge ced his hand over his heart. ¡°Perhaps you might think my action is very weird¡ªwhy would I help them if I am not rted to them? But I want to tell me, my parents also had a mysterious disappearance half a year ago, and since I understand what she is going through, I have the urge to help her!¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s voice echoed in the office, and it sounded quite convincing.

    ¡°Two girls fainted in front of the female dormitory at around 3 am. We have looked through the surveince video. At the time, you were the only one who was following them. If you are not the culprit, then who could it be?¡± The person who spoke was a man in his thirties who dressed fashionably. He normally stayed at the staff dormitory, so when the news exploded, he was one of the first toe over.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. It could be anyone, including you.¡± Chen Ge did not show any intention to back down, and he would take on anyone who dared challenge him. ¡°The fainting of two girls might not appear to be that serious, but there is a bigger case behind it.¡±

    There was a chilliness in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. Other than the few police officers, the other people felt unsettled in their heart.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already told you, the two girls came to find me at my Haunted House. The girl called Ma Yin... her sister has disappeared, and she studied so hard to enter Jiujiang Medical University to find her missing sister because her sister was once a student here...¡± Chen Ge told the school how Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian had been sneaking out of their dormitory every nighttely to find the statue that was part of the campus legend.

    ¡°Most of the urban legends are fake, but a small portion of them are based on real events. However, after being tossed around as rumors, it was exaggerated to an impossible proportion.¡± Chen Ge took a sip of the water. He sounded calm, but his brain was turning fast, trying toe up with a way to distract everyone¡¯s attention.

    ¡°You mean, the story of the weeping statue is real?¡± Lee Zheng wasparatively familiar with Chen Ge, and at the very least, he knew that Chen Ge would not create stories.

    ¡°There is a video on Ma Yin¡¯s phone that was sent to her before her sister¡¯s disappearance. The weeping statue in the underground storeroom showed up in the video. As long as we can find the owner of the statue, I¡¯m sure we can use that as a clue to look for her sister¡¯s killer!¡± Chen Ge cupped his hands over the ss, and veins were popping on the back of his hands.

    Not everyone in the room bought his story. They were there because they were told there was a pervert who was caught trailing female students. They definitely did not expect that to lead to a murder case.

    ¡°We¡¯ve found the video that you mention.¡± Lee Zheng¡¯s expression was weird. ¡°The video wasn¡¯t taken on Ma Yin¡¯s phone. A few years ago, when Ma Yin¡¯s sister disappeared, her parents came to the police station to seek our help. At the time, they also provided that video, and after analysis by our technicians, we found that the video wasn¡¯t sent by Ma Yin¡¯s sister; it was shot by Ma Yin herself.¡±

    ¡°Ma Yin was the person who shot the video?¡± Things were different from what Chen Ge expected.

    ¡°Indeed, to be precise, when Ma Yin¡¯s elder sister disappeared, she was together with Ma Yin, but Ma Yin cannot remember what happened that day.¡± Lee Zheng flipped through his phone. ¡°We still have the case files with us. A few years ago, her parents regrly came to check up on the progress, but they gave up recently.¡± Lee Zheng sighed softly. ¡°When Ma Yin¡¯s sister disappeared, Ma Yin hadn¡¯t even enrolled in university yet, but now she is about to graduate.¡±

    ¡°No wonder she is so desperate to find her sister.¡± After Chen Ge heard what Lee Zheng had to say, he was not feeling so well. He turned the cup in his hand, and he was suddenly reminded of something. ¡°The video is shot from the first-person view. Obviously, there had been a murder in the house, and when I first saw the video, I managed to confirm the presence of a second victim. Since it has been revealed that the video was not sent to her from her sister¡¯s phone and shot by Ma Yin herself, the one who shot everything under the bed was Ma Yin! The other victim was most likely her sister!

    ¡°The murderer was inside the house, so how did she manage to survive the ordeal? In thest second of the video, she saw the woman hanging on the windowsill. Is it possible that it was this strange woman who saved her?

    ¡°She had lost the memory for an entire day. Could that be the doing of this strange woman as well? She didn¡¯t want Ma Yin to remember certain things.¡±

    At this point, Chen Ge stood up from the chair. ¡°Have Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian woken up? Quick go and check up on the two of them. I suspect they might have forgotten the things that happenedst night!¡±

    The woman who entered the female dormitory with Liu Xianxian and Ma Yin earlier was simr to the woman who leaned on the windowsill several years ago. A few years ago, she managed to make Ma Yin lose her memory, so there was no reason she would not do the same thing several yearster.

    ¡°Calm down, I will call the doctor down.¡± Lee Zheng dialed a number on his phone. ¡°Doctor Zhang, have the two girls awakened? Is it okay if we go and talk to them?¡±

    The not-so-optimistic voice of the doctor came through the phone. ¡°They have already woken up, and they¡¯re physically fine. However, they seemed to have suffered some kind of trauma, so their mental state is not that stable.¡±

    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll be there in a bit.¡± Lee Zheng and the other officer led the way. The security guard at the campus and the male lecturer nked Chen Ge on both sides. They did not seem like they trusted Chen Ge that much. The group entered the infirmary together. Liu Xianxian and Ma Yin were lying in bed, and their faces were pale.

    ¡°Are you feeling better? I have a few questions that I need to ask you two aboutst night.¡± Lee Zheng moved a chair over and sat down beside the beds. He saw both Liu Xianxian and Ma Yin shake their heads at the same time.

    ¡°Last night, we were in our bedroom, but for some reason, we ended up in the corridor. We cannot remember anything that happened in between.¡±

    ¡°Please try to remember. Last night, the three of us went into the underground morgue together. In the end, it was me who saved both of you!¡± Chen Ge squeezed his way to the side of the bed. He was pulled back by the security and the doctor; they were afraid that Chen Ge might scare the girls. But it was weird¡ªthe pale-faced Liu Xianxian and Ma Yin felt much calmer when they saw Chen Ge. It was as if this man gave them a sense of security.

    ¡°I cannot remember what happenedst night, but I cannot sense any malicious intent from him.¡± Ma Yin touched her head. ¡°I feel like I¡¯ve forgotten something very important.¡±

    Liu Xianxian had a deeper impression of Chen Gepared to Ma Yin, perhaps because Chen Ge had carried her and run for quite a distance. Now, even though part of her memory was missing, staring at Chen Ge, she knew instinctually that this man was a good person, someone reliable. ¡°Last night, he helped me and Ma Yin. I cannot tell what happened exactly, but I am sure that without his help, Ma Yin and myself would have been in serious danger.¡±

    Liu Xianxian sounded so sure and confident when she said that. She even smiled and added a thank you to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Last night, you say.¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. The memory loss of these two girls had to do with that woman with ashy skin. He remembered seeing the woman lean into Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian¡¯s ears to say something before they started to look like they were sleep-walking.

    <i>The ability to eclipse a part of someone¡¯s memory, I¡¯ve seen this ability before. </i>Chen Ge thought about it internally. Looking at Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian, Chen Ge was reminded of a different person¡ªthe police officer who was retiring, Ol¡¯ Wei. When Ol¡¯ Wei entered Coffin Vige with Chen Ge, he seemed to have a run-in with No. 10 from the ghost stories society, and then part of his memory disappeared as well.

    <i>Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s condition is simr to Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian! Does this mean he has also run into the woman with ashy skin? The Zhudy said that No. 10 had a dead body on his back; could that dead body be this woman with ashy skin?</i>

    When Chen Ge asked the statue in the underground storeroom about the ghost stories society, the soul inside the statue had disappeared instantly. Therefore, the underground morgue was probably rted to the ghost stories society as well.

    <i>The ghost stories society¡¯s chairperson should have ess to more than one door. One of the doors is the blood door at the Third Sick Hall, so could the other door be the door in the underground morgue? </i>Chen Ge was shocked by the thought that surfaced in his mind. He felt like he was getting close to uncovering the real identity of the society¡¯s chairperson!

    <i>No. 10 should be very familiar with Jiujiang Medical University.</i>

    Familiarity with Jiujiang Medical University, seen him wearing the Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s mask at least once, and participated in many cases where Chen Ge was involved... At this point, a name suddenly popped up in Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

    <i>He Feng!</i>

    When Murder by Midnight was first introduced, He San hade to visit with a few other students from Jiujiang Medical University, and the eldest and tallest among them was He Feng. At the time, Chen Ge had been impressed by this young man¡¯s ability to stay calm under duress and even exchanged numbers with him. Chen Ge had nned to invite the man to join him as he expanded his empire.

    <i>Could it really be him? </i>Chen Ge was still deep in thought when the eyes of Liu Xianxian, who was in bed, suddenly reddened. She was looking at someone among the group. Following the direction of her gaze, Chen Ge realized that the clean-looking man had his eyes jumping all over the ce. He was trying his best to remain unaffected. <i>Looks like this is the man Liu Xianxian was in love with.</i>

    <i>Perhaps beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder.</i>

    The perfect man in Liu Xianxian¡¯s eyes had zero advantages in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes other than his passable fashion sense.

    <i>The ck phone hasn¡¯t announced that the one-star mission isplete. Looks like I need to be cautious of this man.</i>

    Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian became Chen Ge character witnesses. They both said that Chen Ge was a kind person, and with the testimony from Lee Zheng, the incident was thus settled. When the sun rose, Lee Zheng brought the campus security into the underground morgue to remove the statue.

    Then, they connected the school admin at the new campus, and the investigation to check who left the statue inside the underground morgue began. Things were taken out of Chen Ge¡¯s hands. While no one was noticing, he picked up his backpack and prepared to slip away from the campus. As he waited for a taxi to arrive, he suddenly saw the man whom Liu Xianxian had a crush on also trying to run away from the scene.

    <i>Now should be the time the school is busiest, but he is not staying behind to help, so where is he rushing to? </i>Chen Ge hid inside the convenience store, and after the man got into the car, Chen Ge also hailed one of his own to follow after the man.

    The taxi drove for about ten minutes before stopping at Fang Hwa Apartments.

    <i>ording to Lee Zheng, the man has a permanent residence at the staff dormitory, so what is he doing at Fang Hwa Apartments?</i>

    Chen Ge did not have a good impression of Fang Hwa Apartments. He got out of the taxi and silently tailed the man.

 Chapter 388 - The Three Actors

    <h4>Chapter 388: The Three Actors</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The man that Liu Xianxian had a crush on was very alert. Thankfully, this was not the first time Chen Ge had needed to tail someone, and it was due to his experience that he was not exposed. His apartment is in Fang Hwa? This ce is not that far from Jiujiang Medical University, and the buses pretty often. In that case, why did he ask for a staff residence at the school?

    Chen Ge did not dare get too close. He watched as the man entered the third building. It¡¯s the third building again. This cannot be a coincidence.

    After enough time had passed, Chen Ge also entered the building. He was familiar with the building¡¯syout. He pretended to be a tenant and very naturally head for the safety door. He was halfway through and realized that there was no one waiting for the elevator.

    The man didn¡¯t take the elevator? Chen Ge held his breath as he entered the safety passage. There were no footsteps echoing down the stairs either. Right then, there was the sound of door opening on the first floor.

    He¡¯s living on the first floor itself. Chen Ge stood in the half-open door and leaned out to look down the corridor.

    Room 3004.

    He remembered the room number before slinking over it to stick his ear to the door.

    The man¡¯s voice on the phone filtered out from inside the room. ¡°Brother-inw? The school has not been safe recently. Things keep happening at night. Do you mind if I stay at your ce for a while? Don¡¯t worry, I will not mess up the ce. I will not touch a thing of yours or sister¡¯s. I know how important this ce is to you. I know, I understand. I promise to not enter your study! Will not touch anything!¡±

    After the call ended, the man¡¯s tone changed immediately. ¡°Do you really think I want to be here? Such a pretender. Do you think I really want your charity?¡±

    Outside the room, one could hear the man rummaging through the room. He appeared mature and confident, but apletely different soul was upying his body. After a bit more grumbling, the man continued to ransack the room. The sound of doors and drawers being pulled open echoed endlessly.

    ¡°That room has been rearranged, so theyout is different from before. No one should be able to tell the difference. I need to check it again.¡± The man moved inside the room, and he had no idea his monologue was audible to Chen Ge.

    One of the rooms has been rearranged? Why would he conduct an investigation at a time like this?

    The man¡¯s actions were weird. Chen Ge initially thought that he was a weirdo and did not rte him to the murder, but with every sentence that escaped the man¡¯s lips, his suspicion of the man continued to grow.

    After a few more minutes, the man seemed to have gotten all the necessary tools and entered the room. Due to the distance, Chen Ge could not hear anything. He remembered the room number and exited the building to walk to the window. He squatted down and crawled to the window of room 3004. Chen Ge nced into the room. The man had a toolbox in his hands, and the look on his face as he stared at the bed in the room was quite scary.

    ¡°When I first stepped into this room, I felt it was cold. Even after so many years, I still cannot forget about it.¡± When the man focused on the bed, Chen Ge clicked open the camera on his phone and silently recorded theyout of the room. The room had many partitions, making it feel smaller and more cramped than it was.

    There is no table or bookshelf, and the mattress is also different from the one in Ma Yin¡¯s video, but the location of the bed hasn¡¯t changed. Peeking through this window allows me to have a clear view of stuff under the bed.

    The furniture inside the room had been changed, and the interior had been transformed due to the partitions. On first nce, it was indeed different from the room in Ma Yin¡¯s video. However, he missed a very important element¡ªthe window.

    The man had not seen Ma Yin¡¯s video. He only knew that Ma Yin had captured a video from inside the room, but he had no idea about its exact content. Based on theyout of the room and the man¡¯s words, Chen Ge was fifty percent certain that this man, who Liu Xianxian had a crush on, was rted to Ma Yin¡¯s sister¡¯s disappearance. His hand went to the hammer inside the backpack, and he was itching for action.

    No, the sun is still out. It¡¯s too inconvenient to do things like that in broad daylight.

    It was almost the beginning of the working day. There were many people in the residential area. If Chen Ge injured the man, he would definitely scream. If a crowd gathered, Chen Ge would really have no way to exin himself.

    He works at Jiujiang Medical University, and so many things happened at the campusst night. He must have a lot of things to do, so he wouldn¡¯t dare stay too long at home. He¡¯ll be leaving soon. I¡¯ll take my chances then.

    Chen Ge took out theic to attempt to negotiate with the ghosts inside it. However, probably it was daytime, only one of them answered his call.

    So heartless?

    In the end, it was Yan Danian who helped Chen Ge convince the other three ghosts. Chen Ge could sense a trace of liveliness in Yan Danian that was absent before this.

    After summoning the gambler, Ol¡¯ Zhou, and the English teacher, Chen Ge told them his n. He needed them to ¡®identally¡¯ steal the key. The three ghosts were doing this for the first time, and it was a challenge for them too.

    Several minutester, as Chen Ge expected, the man exited Room 3004. He put on the confident smile. His clothes had no wrinkles, and his shoes were shined.

    It¡¯s time to move.

    Perhaps because the light in the room was stronger, the three ghosts could only stay in physical form for twenty or thirty seconds, so Chen Ge only had one chance. When the man was about several meters away from the safety door, Chen Ge put all three of them out at the same time.

    The very moment he did that, before he even realized what was happening, Ol¡¯ Zhou alreadynded a punch on Bai Qiulin¡¯s face. ¡°You dare to cheat with my wife! You f*cker!¡±

    Then, he started tussling with Bai Qiulin. Their fight was dragged out of the safety passage and knocked into the man.

    ¡°Stop fighting!¡± Duan Yue screamed as she ran out to try to stop the fight. Everything happened so suddenly that even Chen Ge himself was stunned, much less the man. The three tossed and turned, and the man was pushed against the wall. The argument was so intense that he did not dare interrupt them. At a time like this, he just wanted to escape.

    After about fifteen seconds, Bai Qiulin swung Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s hands away, and he ran into the safety door.

    ¡°I will definitely kill you today!¡±

    Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue chased after him. The threepleted the mission in about twenty-three seconds.

    Holding the key in his hand, Chen Ge felt the event was quite surreal.

    ¡°My God, what just happened?¡±

 Chapter 389 - The Owner

    <h4>Chapter 389: The Owner</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The man cursed under his breath, patted down his clothes, and made sure his shoes were sparkly clean before leaving. He did not notice theck of a key in his pocket. After the man had been gone for several minutes, Chen Ge used his key to enter Room 3004.

    If this was someone else in this situation, they would have been cautious and tense, worried that the owner might return because, after all, the man was a suspected murderer. However, Chen Ge did not have that worry. Thest murderer that had set his sight on him was still in the ICU with two arms and one leg broken.

    ¡°As long as I have good intentions in my heart, there is nothing to be scared about.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the opened drawers and cupboards, but he did not venture to randomly touch the stuff in the room. Instead, he walked into the bedroom and ced the phone down under the bed. He tweaked the phone until the camera angle was simr to the video on Ma Yin¡¯s phone.

    ¡°Even though partitions have been added to the room, they did not change the location of the window.¡± Chen Ge tapped the partition lightly and memorized theyout of the room. ¡°This man is very suspicious.¡±

    Chen Ge stood in the middle of the room, thinking about thements that Liu Xianxian had made about the man.

    ¡°After we left the teahouse, Liu Xianxian told me that this man is different from other men out there. He had all the good points of a mature man, but there was one thing weird about him¡ªhe thinks that his wife, who died in a car ident a few years ago, is still alive. The man packages himself as an emotional and trusting person, but reality does not seem that way. From how I see it, the man hasn¡¯t even married, and this room is not even his; it¡¯s his brother-inw¡¯s.¡±

    People in the throes of romance would lose their rationality, and Liu Xianxian was a naive girl, so Chen Ge suspected that she had been conned by this man.

    ¡°Perhaps Ma Yin¡¯s sister was conned by the man as well.¡± Chen Ge came up with various possibilities. ¡°When she discovered the man¡¯s real identity, they had an argument, and the man identally killed Ma Yin¡¯s sister.¡±

    He wanted to call Liu Xianxian to ask for more details, but he was afraid that the girl might act rashly and do something unnecessary. To prevent himself from being exposed, Chen Ge eventually decided against that.

    ¡°The man¡¯s maturity and confidence are a facade. Internally, he is a very self-abasing person. Based on the conversation he had with his brother-inw, it is obvious that he hates his brother-inw. Perhaps the brother-inw is the source of his self-abasement.¡± Chen Ge was suddenly interested in this brother-inw. ¡°On the phone earlier, the brother-inw forbade him from entering the study. This means that there is probably something important inside. Perhaps I can use that to figure out the brother-inw¡¯s identity.¡±

    Chen Ge entered the study. The study was twice the size of the bedroom. Two bookshelves were stocked with various types of books, and there was a study table near the window.

    ¡°The man¡¯s brother-inw appears to be a heavy reader.¡± The man had an eclectic collection from philosophy to art, from modern medicine to study of the ult. Chen Ge did not touch the books on the shelves because, for a real book lover, they would know the exact position of each book, and Chen Ge was afraid of leaving a trace. He opened the dresser to take a look; it was very tidy inside. Chen Ge walked to the table and pulled open the drawer. It had twoptops of the same model.

    ¡°Why are there twoptops, and why are they kept inside the drawer?¡± He took them out and ced them on the table. He pressed the power buttons. One of them opened like normal, but the other one had a password lock. ¡°They serve different purposes?¡±

    Chen Ge got even more interested in the owner. ¡°Since theptop is locked, there must be something important sorted in this.¡±

    Chen Ge clicked open a random folder on the desktop, and when he did, he was shocked. The folder contained more than one hundred pictures and about twenty videos. Most importantly, all of the media was rted to Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House! The pictures covered all the scenarios, including Coffin Vige!

    ¡°The only visitors who have visited Coffin Vige are Sister Mao¡¯s group, so where did these picturese from?¡± Chen Ge did not feel so good. He looked at the time stamp, and they matched the day of Sister Mao¡¯s visit. In other words, the owner of this house had taken the pictures from Sister Mao¡¯s group after they visited the Haunted House in the morning.

    ¡°But they were sent directly to the hospital after their visit. Does this mean the owner is someone working at the hospital?¡±

    The more Chen Ge scrolled through the media files, the more unsettled he became. All the pictures and videos were time-stamped. He clicked open the earliest video. It was shot about one month ago at exactly the time he unlocked Murder by Midnight!

    The video was blurry, and a few students¡¯ voices could be heard in the recording.

    ¡°That is He San and his friends¡¯ voices!¡± Chen Ge immediately thought back to the scene at the time. He had just unlocked Murder by Midnight when the students from Jiujiang Medical University came to create problems for him, to take revenge for Gao Ru Xue.

    At the time, one of the students nned to take a video inside the Haunted House and shared it online. Chen Ge had mixed himself into the group of students. There should only have been seven people, so he had be the eighth one.

    The video was shaking badly. When the cameraman realized there was an additional person caught on video, he dropped the phone out of fear. The camera was facing up, and it caught Xu Wan walking over from the other side of the corridor wearing Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s outfit. The video froze on Xu Wan¡¯s face. She was wearing the scary mask that was sewn together from many human faces.

    The video itself had no problem, but the timing and location was too weird.

    ¡°When I arrived at the ghost stories society for the first time, No. 10 recognized me immediately because he had seen the mask on my face.¡±

    Initially Chen Ge thought No. 10 was definitely one of his customers, but after watching this video, he realized that things might not have been that simple.

    ¡°No. 10 is someone I know in real life, but that person might not have visited the Haunted House personally.¡±

    When the group from Jiujiang Medical University first came, it was He Feng who led the group. Chen Ge suspected the young man to a certain degree, but be it from the aspect of age and presence, Chen Ge did not think He Feng was No. 10.

    ¡°The chairperson should be someone else.¡± Chen Ge stared at theputer screen. ¡°Why is this ce¡¯s real owner so interested in my Haunted House? On top of that, why did he purchase a house in Fang Hwa Apartment¡¯s third building?¡±

    The top floor of the building was the headquarters for the ghost stories society. The owner was familiar with Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House and lived in this building. Chen Ge¡¯s conclusion was the real owner should be thest survivor of the society.

    He desperately needed to know the owner¡¯s real identity. He clicked open the other folders to find for more clues.

 Chapter 390 - Xiaoxiaos Special Power

    <h4>Chapter 390: Xiaoxiao¡¯s Special Power</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The cursor clicked on the other files on the desktop. Most of them were in English, and Chen Ge could barely understand it. He opened theic to summon the English teacher, but ghosts seemed to receive plenty of damage when they appeared in ces where sunlight could hit them directly. Chen Ge looked at how fragile Duan Yue was and did not force her. Without any other solution, Chen Ge took out his phone to snap all the information. Chen Ge exited the camera app and called Inspector Lee.

    ¡°Uncle San Bao, I have a favor to ask.¡±

    ¡°Is it about the blood test result on the nail? I¡¯ll go help you rush it in the afternoon.¡± Inspector Lee sounded like he was outside and not at the police station.

    ¡°No, I want you to help me investigate the owner of Room 3004 at Fang Hwa Apartments.¡±

    ¡°Why do you want to do that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s rted to the culprit. I feel like I¡¯m close to catching the man!¡±

    ¡°Okay, I will try my best.¡±

    After hanging up, Chen Ge thought back to everything that he had touched in the room. He cleaned up his fingerprints and left Room 3004. He called a taxi to get back to New Century Park¡ªa new day had begun.

    The one-star mission triggered by the Special Visitor, Liu Xianxian, had not beenpleted. Technically speaking, Chen Ge had already followed the ck phone¡¯s requirement to find Liu Xianxian, but he did not receive the message that the mission had beenpleted. <i>I probably need to help her solve the issue in her heart.</i>

    The mission would not be that difficult. The man that she loved might be a murderer, so if Chen Ge could prove that, Liu Xianxian should know what to do. After all, one of the man¡¯s victims was her best friend¡¯s older sister.

    With his employees getting more familiar with the work, Chen Ge became freer. Since he had nothing to do, he called Lee Zheng during his lunch break to ask for an update on the case. In reality, he was more concerned about that statue. He wanted to sneak that statue to his Haunted House.

    Lee Zheng was at the new campus, interviewing people. No one had any recollection of that statue. It felt as if the statue had walked to the underground storeroom itself. The case ended up in a standstill. Chen Ge gave Lee Zheng a hint, asking him to pay close attention to the man Liu Xianxian had a crush on.

    There was no ident that business day. One thing worth noting was that some people had started to challenge the three-star scenario. This group had probably heard about how Coffin Vige had caused five people to faint, so they very naturally avoided that scenario and targeted the Third Sick Hall.

    They were so confident before they entered, but they all surrendered before they were even halfway through. However, this did raise an rm in Chen Ge. As more visitors started to challenge the three-star scenarios, eventually, the scenario would be cleared.

    <i>I should pace myself. The most crucial thing is to deal with the ghost stories society andplete Third Sick Hall¡¯s hidden mission.</i>

    Sitting inside the room, Chen Ge took out hisic. He had Yan Danian and the other ghosts try tomunicate the phone spirit. He allowed them to use any method to convince the phone spirit that it was such a wonderful and blissful thing to work for Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House.

    Time slowly passed. Chen Ge¡¯s phone suddenly rang at 4 pm. He thought that it was Inspector Lee calling him with an update, but when he nced at the caller ID, it was an unfamiliar number.

    ¡°Why would a stranger call me?¡± Chen Ge epted the call and ced the phone beside his ear.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but is this Mr. Chen?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me.¡± It was the first time Chen Ge had heard the voice on the other side of the phone, and it wasced with sadness.

    ¡°Are you the one who helped solve the case at Ping An Apartments?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Do you have time now? The old gentleman¡¯s condition is deteriorating. I¡¯m afraid he won¡¯t be able to stay with us any longer.¡± Hearing that, Chen Ge was stunned. ¡°Hello? Are you there? Can you pleasee over? The old gentleman stated his wish to see you in person.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be there in a minute.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone to call Xu Wan and Gu Feiyu, who were working. He told them that they should close up after the current visitors left. They were not going to ept any more visitors.

    He ran into the staff breakroom, holding the phone. Pushing the door open, he saw Xiaoxiao hugging the white cat¡¯s tail. They looked at one another like they were in some sort of fight. In the end, it was the white cat who surrendered. It allowed Xiaoxiao to hug its tail as much as she wanted. It revealed a haughty expression like it did not want to lower itself to a girl¡¯s standard.

    Xiaoxiao snuggled herself face into the white cat¡¯s body. Smothered by the puffy white fur, she felt it was quite interesting.

    ¡°Xiaoxiao...¡± Chen Ge stood at the door and silently shoved the phone into his pocket. He walked to the bed and picked Xiaoxiao up. ¡°Let¡¯s go pay your grandpa a visit.¡±

    This time, Chen Ge did not ce her inside his pocket but held her in his cupped palm. Xiaoxiao seemed to sense something as she looked at Chen Ge with a strange expression. Closing the door, Chen Ge charged out of the Haunted House.

    ¡°Uncle Xu, we¡¯re closing early today. Please help me console the visitors. When Xu Wanes out, please remind her to close the gate before she leaves.¡± Chen Ge ran toward the park exit.

    ¡°You¡¯re closing at 4 pm? Where are you going?¡± Uncle Xu waspletely caught by surprise. The visitors standing in lines were nervous, too, especially the few who were at the front of the line.

    ¡°Boss, how can you do business like this? The closing hour is 7 pm, but it¡¯s only 4 pm now!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t have the chance to line upst time! This time, it¡¯s finally my turn. Can¡¯t we discuss this?¡±

    ¡°This is so rude!¡±

    The visitors berated him. Chen Ge was surrounded in the middle, and in his arms, Xiaoxiao were shivering with fear. Chen Ge used his hand to caress Xiaoxiao¡¯s head, and he turned to tell the visitors, ¡°This is my Haunted House¡¯s responsibility. If you have bought the ticket but haven¡¯t entered the scenario, then I¡¯llpensate double the price.¡±

    Chen Ge turned to nce at Uncle Xu. ¡°Uncle Xu, please help me record who needspensation, I¡¯ll payter.¡±

    ¡°You can leave if you have an emergency, but we still have Xu Wan and Gu Feiyu. Couldn¡¯t we just let them carry on until you return?¡± Uncle Xu was confused. ¡°Initially, only you and Xu Wan managed the ce, and everything was fine, right?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s different. Safety first. I don¡¯t want to risk it.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s tone brooked no argument. ¡°Just do what I ask.¡±

    Chen Ge did not hesitate and carried Xiaoxiao as he squeezed through the crowd. Perhaps because there were so many people, Xiaoxiao curled up in Chen Ge¡¯s embrace like she was afraid.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine, I¡¯m here.¡±

    Chen Ge touched Xiaoxiao¡¯s face and called for a taxi to get to the hospital.

    Chen Ge arrived at 4:30 pm. He called the doctor and rushed up the stairs.

    When he pushed open the door to the second-floor corridor, two familiar faces walked toward him¡ªDoctor Gao and Ol¡¯ Wei.

 Chapter 391 - Suicide

    <h4>Chapter 391: Suicide</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Chen Ge?¡± Ol¡¯ Wei and Doctor Gao said in unison. Neither of them had expected to run into Chen Ge here.

    ¡°I¡¯m here to see the old man from Ping An Apartments. Excuse me, where is Room 269?¡± Chen Ge spoke quickly. It was not the time to chat.

    ¡°Come with me, I¡¯ll take you there.¡± Doctor Gao seemed to be very familiar with the ce. He led Chen Ge down the corridor, and Ol¡¯ Wei followed. After double checking the number of the room, Chen Ge nced into the room through the door¡¯s window. Two nurses and a doctor were standing beside the bed. They seemed to bemunicating with the old man. The old man¡¯s condition was bad. He had his eyes closed, and his lips moved, but no one seemed to understand what he was saying.

    Chen Ge knocked the door before entering. One of the nurses recognized him and whispered something to the doctor. The doctor nodded and signaled for the nurses to leave the room.

    ¡°Mr. Chen, I called you here today because of two things.¡±

    ¡°How is the elder doing? Didn¡¯t he seem like he was recovering when I leftst time?¡±

    The doctor sighed softly and walked to stand beside Chen Ge. He kept his voice low to prevent the old man from hearing him. ¡°We have tried our best. His physical condition was not good to begin with, and he suffered under the hands of the non-professional, trapped in his apartment for so many years. It is a miracle that he survived for so long. He held onto life because he wanted to find the killer that murdered his son.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the old man lying in bed who could not even open his eyes, and his mind was nk.

    ¡°Life hasn¡¯t been fair to this old gentleman. His apartment is a haunted property, so it is hard for it to get sold. A few years ago, the government wanted to level the ce to build a vi. They promised to give himpensation if he moved, but he refused no matter what. They tried all kinds of tactics, including cut off the electricity and water, but he refused to budge.

    ¡°Finally, when the workmen came to the door, the elder sat in the middle of the road with his wheelchair. He said that if the house got torn down, the clues to the murder would be gone, and the killer would never be caught.

    ¡°I cannot imagine how he managed to survive all these years. He¡¯s malnourished and is down with many different diseases, but he held on for five years until the case was solved.¡±

    At this point, even the doctor was overwhelmed with emotion. Since Chen Ge did not pick up the thread of conversation, he continued.

    ¡°We called you over because we want to respect his final wishes. This case is the only thing that kept him alive. You have fulfilled his wish, so he is thankful to you from the bottom of his heart.¡± The doctor gave Chen Ge a phone number. ¡°This is number for the public notary office. He split all of his assets, including that apartment, into four parts.

    ¡°One will be donated to missing children funds; one will be donated to Jiujiang¡¯sw enforcement; one is the reward for you forpleting his dying wish; thest one is also for you, but the content stated is he wished you would take good care of his granddaughter. If it¡¯s okay with you, please contact the people from the public notary office as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°I have a question.¡± Chen Ge finally spoke. ¡°Why are we talking about his will when the person is still alive? You should try your best. Don¡¯t give up until thest moment.¡±

    The doctor wanted to say something, but Chen Ge stopped him. ¡°Do you mind if I have a private moment with the elder?¡±

    Chen Ge did not show greed from the sudden windfall¡ªthis was different from what the doctor expected. He told Chen Ge several words and walked away. The room door closed. Chen Ge sat on one side of the bed and ced Xiaoxiao on the old man¡¯s shoulder. There were sound of weeping in the room, but it was soft and unclear. Chen Ge held the old man¡¯s hand¡ªit was skin and bone. Holding it, it felt like he was holding a dried branch buried in snow.

    ¡°Sir, Xiaoxiao is still here. You¡¯re her only family.¡± Chen Ge did not know whether the old man could hear him or not. He saw the old man¡¯s mouth move as it made some incoherent noises like he was trying to say something.

    He had many things that he wanted to tell Xiaoxiao¡ªhe probably did not want to leave just like that either. The door was pushed open lightly, and Doctor Gao walked into the room. He made a hand sign at Chen Ge and sat down on the other side of the bed. The long fingers massaged the old man¡¯s shoulders and neck, and the man slowly rxed.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go out for now. We mustn¡¯t give him too much stimulus at a time like this. He should rest.¡± Doctor Gao was simr to how he was when Chen Ge first met him¡ªmature and kind, like he could handle everything.

    Chen Ge looked at Xiaoxiao, who was leaning next to the old man¡¯s shoulder, and he shook his head. Yin Xiaoxiao was the first baleful Specter that he found when he got the ck phone. She was very unique and not at all scary. After so long, Chen Ge had gotten used to her presence, treating her as part of his family. ¡°I wish to stay to apany them a little longer.¡±

    ¡°Them?¡± Doctor Gao nced at the old man and the rag doll in bed before patting Chen Ge on his shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s okay to be sad, but don¡¯t forget to lift your head up to look at the sky.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because that is life.¡± Doctor Gao walked out the room. ¡°A few year ago, my wife got into a car ident. I also thought about ending my life then, but due to Xiao Xue, I understood something. Giving up on life means leaving the guilt of ¡®not doing enough¡¯ to those that really love you.¡±

    ¡°Your wife?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the love of my life.¡±

    Doctor Gao walked out the door. After the door closed, Chen Ge sat beside the bed, thinking about what Doctor Gao said. His hand did not let go of the old man¡¯s hand. He looked at the rag doll and the old man.

    <i>Actually, the fact that there are ghosts in the world is not so bad. At least there¡¯s a chance to make up for regrets.</i>

    The old man¡¯s condition was worsening, but with Xiaoxiao¡¯spany, he slowly calmed before falling asleep. The ck phone in his pocket vibrated. Chen Ge took it out several minutester. He had received a new message. He clicked it open and realized that the affection level Xiaoxiao had for him had increased to Partners for Life.

    <i>Partners for life? Does that mean...</i>

    Chen Ge ced his finger under the old man¡¯s nose. He sat back down after feeling the old man¡¯s breath. He continued to look through the phone. After the increase in affection level, there was an additional sentence to Xiaoxiao¡¯s tab.

    ¡°Yin Xiaoxiao (Baleful Specter): Special Power¡ªSoul Comfort.

    ¡°Soul Comfort: Canfort other Specters and cleanse their soul.¡±

    After putting away the ck phone, Chen Ge finally understood why the old man would be able to fall asleep easily whenever Xiaoxiao came to apany him.

    It was not only because Xiaoxiao was his granddaughter¡ªit was also because Xiaoxiao had the power to calm and warm souls.

 Chapter 392 - Its Him?

    <h4>Chapter 392: It¡¯s Him?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Releasing his grasp on the old man¡¯s hand, Chen Ge straightened out the bedsheet for him and walked out of the room. Doctor Gao and Ol¡¯ Wei were waiting outside. When they saw Chen Ge, they walked forward. ¡°Is the old gentleman asleep?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Chen Ge looked at the two, and his gaze lingered longer on Doctor Gao. ¡°Why are the two of you here?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s still about that memory loss.¡± Ol¡¯ Wei sounded frustrated. ¡°Ever since our return from the vige, I¡¯ve been receiving therapy from Doctor Gao to try to bring the memory back.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Gao is helping you with the memory loss?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s the best psychiatrist at Jiujiang, and he¡¯s familiar with criminal psychology. We¡¯ve worked with him several times already.¡± Ol¡¯ Wei seemed familiar with Doctor Gao. ¡°However, before this, I was bringing others toe see him. Who knew the day woulde when I¡¯m the one who needs treatment?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s expression did not change. He was thinking about something else. The night beforest at Xi Xia Hu, when Lee Zheng entered the surveince room, he had also acted like he was familiar with Doctor Gao. The doctor¡¯s ability to mix well with the police should have been due to more than his personal charm¡ªit probably had to do with the fact that he had helped thew enforcement with cases before.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Wei¡¯s problem is more serious, so he needs medication during his sessions. Even though I have the right to prescribe, the normal drugs that I have wouldn¡¯t have much of an effect on Ol¡¯ Wei,¡± Doctor Gao said before leaving with Ol¡¯ Wei.

    Watching them walk away, Chen Ge leaned against the wall, and his gaze becameplicated.

    <i>Just in the room earlier, he pushed open the ¡®door¡¯ after mentioning he loves his wife. Hopefully, I¡¯m overthinking.</i>

    He sat at the door for about ten minutes before the doctor and nurses returned to check up on the old man. The old man¡¯s condition did not improve, but he looked much better, and he was quietly asleep. Chen Ge picked up Xiaoxiao and stood beside the bed.

    ¡°Mr. Chen, if you have time, pleasee visit the patient more often in the future. Whenever you arrive, the patient¡¯s condition stabilizes.¡±

    ¡°No problem,¡± Chen Ge promised.

    ¡°I thank you on the gentleman¡¯s behalf. Honestly, I¡¯ve worked here for ten years already, and this is the first time that I¡¯ve seen someone help a stranger to such an extent without the promise of inheritance.¡± The doctor smiled at Chen Ge. ¡°It¡¯s rare to find people like you in today¡¯s society.¡±

    Chen Ge walked out from the room with the doctor. Then he was reminded of something. ¡°Doctor, did Western Jiujiang¡¯s New Century Park send over several patients a few days ago? I hear they were scared until they fainted inside a Haunted House?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is true. Why are you asking about that?¡± The doctor was surprised.

    ¡°Which sickbay are they in? I wish to visit them.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± The doctor hesitated. ¡°They are on the fourth floor. Our president is familiar with the director of the park, so he specially set up a room to ce the visitors who fainted. After that, he even set up a special emergency care unit to respond to the idents that might ur at that theme park.¡±

    The doctor led Chen Ge to the fourth floor, and he grumbled softly, ¡°I don¡¯t understand these people. If they are so easily scared, why did they insist on visiting a Haunted House?¡±

    ¡°What if it¡¯s not that they¡¯re too cowardly but it¡¯s the Haunted House that¡¯s too scary?¡± Chen Ge smiled and did not borate.

    When they reached the fourth floor, Chen Ge nced at the surveince camera. There was a camera in the corridor that would capture the whole corridor.

    ¡°It¡¯s room 437. Please don¡¯t enter the room. The few patients are still quite weak, and they need the rest.¡± The doctor left after reminding Chen Ge. Chen Ge walked past the room. He did not dare look through the window for fear of scaring the patients inside.

    <i>There were videos from the Coffin Vige scenario on theptop in Room 3004. The only visitors who have visited that scenario are these few. Meaning, while they were hospitalized, someone came to steal the video footage from them.</i>

    Looking at the camera, Chen Ge called Lee Zheng.

    ¡°Chen Ge, why did you call?¡±

    ¡°Have you found the statue¡¯s owner?¡±

    ¡°The man that you pointed out for me is definitely suspicious.¡± Lee Zheng was still thankful toward Chen Ge. After all, the man had given him a hint that restarted the progress of his investigation.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let him run away, but there¡¯s another favor that I need to ask of you.¡± Chen Ge mentioned that he needed Lee Zheng to use his name to get the footage from a surveince camera in a hospital. Of course, Chen Ge did that in a roundabout way. Lee Zheng denied it initially, but when he heard it was rted to the murder, and thinking about Chen Ge¡¯s track record, he agreed.

    With the apaniment of a member of staff, they entered the security room. Chen Ge checked the footage for when Sister Mao¡¯s group was sent to the hospital. They arrived at the hospital around noon and were given rest until 3 to 4 pm when the visitors woke up one by one.

    However, their mental state was still very unstable. The staff could not imagine what they had been through to be in a state like this. At 5 pm, the second batch of doctors arrived. The staff exined that this batch of doctors were there to help with psychological counseling.

    Chen Ge nodded slightly. He kept his gaze on the video, his eyes following a man on screen. As he expected, that afternoon, Doctor Gao had been to the sickbay!

    Exiting the security room, Chen Ge had a feeling that was hard to describe.<i>Things shouldn¡¯t be that simple. I cannote to any conclusions rashly. I should at least wait for the result toe from Inspector Lee first.</i>

    Reminded of that, Chen Ge called Inspector Lee again to ask about the blood result. Inspector Lee¡¯s answer surprised him. The technicians had found two samples on the nail. One of them came from a victim of the eye-gouging case, and the other was not avable to thew enforcement, meaning that the other person had no crime record.

    Chen Ge chatted with Inspector Lee for a few more minutes. He had Inspector Lee keep the blood samples and results before hanging up. When he left the hospital, it was already dark. Chen Ge bought some food from roadside stalls before calling a taxi to get back to New Century Park.

    The park was already close. Xiao Gu and Xu Wan waited for him at the door with their make-up off.

    ¡°No idents today, I hope.¡± Chen Ge looked at the Haunted House and could not help but worry.

    ¡°We¡¯ve paid back all the unused tickets, and since the park has encountered this issue before, the visitors are quite understanding.¡± Xu Yin studied Chen Ge. ¡°I¡¯m actually more worried about you. You look like you need a good rest.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Hearing that everything had been handled perfectly, Chen Ge sighed. However, this also made him realize a weakness to his Haunted House.

    Xu Wan and Gu Feiyu could handle the one-star scenarios, but normal people could not handle three and two-star scenarios. Therefore, he was required to stay at the Haunted House when it was in operation.

    <i>Looks like my Haunted House needs a managerial-type ghost who can help me watch over the business when I¡¯m not around.</i>

 Chapter 393 - Just the Talent I Need

    <h4>Chapter 393: Just the Talent I Need</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Seeing how quiet Chen Ge was, Xu Wan thought that he was not feeling well, so she added as constion, ¡°You have been taking care of everything on your own, and you don¡¯t tell us anything. Don¡¯t forget, we¡¯re your employees, and we¡¯ll stick with you.¡±

    Xiao Gu also walked over to say, ¡°Yes, boss. Even though I don¡¯t know much and haven¡¯t been to a good school or anything, if you need any help, I¡¯ll do it without any question.¡±

    ¡°Why are you two suddenly bing so sentimental?¡± Chen Ge recovered, and his expression softened. ¡°The profits of our Haunted House are slowly rising, and our reputation is slowly growing beyond the confine of Jiujiang. Perhaps, in the near future, we will have foreigners among our visitors. The future is filled with hope, so just focus on your work, and there¡¯s no need to worry about anything else.¡±

    After letting Xu Wan and Xiao Gu go home, Chen Ge walked into the Haunted House. He walked around the underground scenarios. All the ghosts were where they should have been¡ªthere had been no incidents.

    ¡°Everyone is doing their job, but this is not a permanent solution.¡± Chen Ge walked into Mu Yang High School. ¡°To able to control all the ghosts inside the Haunted House, the Specter will have to be powerful. Zhang Ya and Xu Yin fit this criteria, but neither of them know anything about management. If they were given this post, war would surely happen.¡±

    Xu Yin had not really gotten out from his emotional turmoil. Even with Chen Ge¡¯s order, he would probably think that as long as the person did not die, everything else would be fine. With regards to Zhang Ya... even Chen Ge was afraid of that. If she was given the managerial job, it would be a miracle to see the visitors walk out from the Haunted House with their lives intact.

    Stopping at the entrance to the sealed ssroom, Chen Ge looked at the mannequins, and a suitable candidate appeared in his mind. ¡°When I was doing the Trial Mission for Mu Yang High School, other than the students, there was arge older gentleman inside the sealed ssroom. He was standing on the podium, and he even smiled at me.

    ¡°Before it was Mu Yang High School, the ce was an orphanage. So, that old man should be Mu Yang High School¡¯s first principal. He gave so many children a home when he was alive and even used his money to build Mu Yang High School, so he should be a good man.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes scanned the mannequins and the ssroom, and they were all shaking. Chen Ge did not know what he had done wrong, but the upants in the ssroom looked like they had been grabbed by fear.

    ¡°The old principal is kind and is familiar with the twenty-four mannequins. Most importantly, he has managed a school before, so he should have plenty of managerial experience.¡± Chen Ge held his chin. ¡°Isn¡¯t this the type of talent I¡¯m looking back? Looks like I will have to return to Mu Yang High School. No matter what, I have to hire that old principal.¡±

    There were probably other secrets surrounding that old man, but with Xu Yin and Yan Danian helping him, Chen Ge was not worried. He had a faded smile on his face, and he turned to look at the mannequins. ¡°It won¡¯t be long before you all get a warm reunion with your principal.¡±

    Hearing that, the mannequins appeared to be even more scared.

    Then, Chen Ge inspected Third Sick Hall and Coffin Vige. When he entered, all the ghosts avoided him. After making sure that there were no problems, Chen Ge walked out from the underground parking lot. He looked at the wooden nks and thought, <i>When I have time, I should set up a steel door¡ªthat way, the visitors won¡¯t be able to escape whenever they feel like it.</i>

    Returning to staff breakroom, Chen Ge ced Xiaoxiao on the bed. Xiaoxiao¡¯s power seemed to drain her a lot. Following the hospital visit, Xiaoxiao had not tried tomunicate with Chen Ge¡ªit was like she was just a normal doll.

    <i>Calming and cleansing souls. Xiaoxiao¡¯s power might be incredibly useful in the future. </i>Chen Gey down beside Xiaoxiao, and after a while, the white cat jumped down from the table to squeeze between them. It seemed to realize how fragile Xiaoxiao was. It used its tail to curl around Xiaoxiao and allowed her to lean against its body.

    <i>When the white cat first arrived at my Haunted House, it was very feral. It¡¯s probably because of Xiaoxiao that the cat was tamed. Thinking of it that way, Xiaoxiao is quite amazing.</i>

    Before this, Chen Ge had only considered Xiaoxiao as a pillow or a lucky charm. If not for the rise in affection level, he would not have noticed Xiaoxiao¡¯s special power. Taking out the ck phone, Chen Ge nced at Xiaoxiao¡¯s profile page. Other than the special power, Xiaoxiao had nothing else.

    <i>In the future, when I go hunting with Xu Yin, I should ask him to leave some food left for Xiaoxiao and the Pen Spirit. Perhaps they might bring me more surprise.</i>

    Looking through the phone, Chen Ge realized that he had gathered enough screams for two more spin at the Wheel of Misfortune. Chen Ge was tempted to use both spins. Perhaps this was the gambler¡¯s mentality¡ªthe next round would be the lucky one.

    <i>Calm down, I mustn¡¯t rush ahead. If I gain two more Specters, my title will upgrade. Now I already run into ghosts everywhere I go. If I level up further, those things will probably actively seek me out.</i>

    Chen Ge put the phone away to remove the thought from his mind. <i>Winning Zhang Ya¡¯s love letter was a three in one thousand chance. Then does that mean there¡¯s a ghost stronger and rarer than Zhang Ya in the wheel? Like one with one in one thousand odds?</i>

    Chen Ge realized that he was going down a dangerous path, and he quickly stopped himself. He stretchedzily. He had not slept in over twenty-four hours, and his body had reached its limit.

    ncing at the time, it was only 8 pm. He set an rm for 11:55 pm and prepared to go to sleep.

    <i>Tonight, I need to pay the toilet another visit. Hopefully, everything will be fine.</i>

    ...

    The rm rang, and Chen Ge woke up to a room of darkness. Night had fallen. Putting on his jacket, he walked to the toilet with the backpack.

    <i>Three more minutes.</i>

    Chen Ge pressed the y button on the recorder and held the hammer in his hands.

    Time ticked by, and when midnight arrived, the drawing of a ghost appeared on the door. Blood curled around its body, and the eyes slowly opened. The one minute passed really fast. The ghost¡¯sst eye still did not open, butpared to before, the eye that was poked blind seemed to have healed slightly.

    <i>It¡¯s recovering?</i>

    The drawing slowly disappeared, and the toilet returned to normal.

    <i>The drawing was left behind by the ghost stories society¡¯s chairperson. The best solution that I can think of is to demolish the society and leave no prisoners.</i>

    Chen Ge returned to staff breakroom to prepare to go back to sleep, but as he scrolled through the ck phone, he identally discovered a blood red mission amid his refreshed daily missions.

    He stopped and stared at the phone for a long time.

    <i>A Nightmare daily mission has returned after so long. Is my luck finally changing?</i>

 Chapter 394 - Nightmare Mission

    <h4>Chapter 394:Nightmare Mission</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The reward from Nightmare Missions would improve his physical conditions directly. The previous rewards from Nightmare Missions included the Mortician¡¯s Make-up, Yin Yang Vision, and the Dollmaker¡¯s Talent. Unfortunately, the three Nightmare Missions were technically part of the beginner¡¯s stage. After clearing them, the chance of getting a Nightmare Mission in the daily missions became randomized. Chen Ge would check the daily missions every night, and this was the first time that he hade across a Nightmare Mission sincepleting the first three.

    The ck phone said that Nightmare Missions are extremely rare, so I shouldn¡¯t missed out on it.

    Standing in the corridor, Chen Ge looked at the mission detail.

    ¡°Nightmare Missing: They said, at the end of the tunnel, another you is buried.

    ¡°Warning! Nightmare missions are extremely dangerous. Please choose carefully!¡±

    Before epting the mission, the hint was just a single sentence. Chen Ge read it several times, but the meaning did not be clearer to him.

    Tunnel? The first previous Nightmare Missions were conducted inside the Haunted House, but it feels like I¡¯ll need to go outside for this third mission.

    The first three Nightmare Missions were technically arranged by the ck phone, meaning that, starting from this mission, the real Nightmare Missions began.

    I have the help of Xu Yin and many other employees. If the Nightmare Mission¡¯s difficulty is simr to before, then I have nothing to worry about.

    That was correct, but reading the blood red words on his phone, Chen Ge could not help but worry. When he first got the ck phone, the few Nightmare Missions had almost killed him, so one could not me him for being careful.

    After thinking about it, Chen Ge still chose to ept it. The reward of a Nightmare Mission was something that other missions could not give him. Ghost helpers were important, but Chen Ge knew that he had to improve his own physical condition too. After epting the Nightmare Mission, theplete mission message appeared. Chen Ge only read few sentences before his expression started to change.

    ¡°Congrattion Specter¡¯s Favored, your luck is unbelievable!

    ¡°The game is called Tunnel. After crossing the tunnel, you¡¯ll see the secret that has been forgotten.

    ¡°Mission requirement: At 2:44 am, enter a tunnel that is at least forty-four meters long. Walk forty-four steps and call your own name forty-four times. After that, mission will bepleted.

    ¡°Warning: This mission is unique. If you do notplete the mission within a certain time, the mission will never reappear.

    ¡°Warning: For the duration of this mission, you will not be allowed to take any ghosts or items away from the Castle of Nightmares, or else you¡¯ll never get the mission reward!¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes focused on thest part of the message. I cannot take any ghosts and items with me? This I¡¯ll need to consider.

    Without thatst limitation, the mission would not have been that difficult for Chen Ge. Too caught up in the limitation of the mission, Chen Ge did not pay attention to how the ck phone referred to his Haunted House. He thought about it and finally decided to give it a try.

    With no risk, there¡¯s no reward. The reward of Nightmare Mission is too important. As Ie into contact with more ghosts, my body temperature keeps decreasing; the granny at Coffin Vige has reminded me of that. Perhaps I should be paying more attention to my body.

    Nightmare Missions rarely came, and Chen Ge did not want to give it up.

    Since I cannot bring any ghosts and items, I cannot count on neither Xu Yin and Yan Danian.

    Chen Ge looked around, and only the white cat fit the mission requirement.

    I have a feeling it won¡¯t be of much use, but at least it can apany me.

    After selecting the white cat, Chen Ge turned to look at his shadow.

    Zhang Ya is still sleeping in my shadow. If the ck phone counts her, then the mission will definitely know.

    Chen Ge had no way to telling whether the ck phone considered Zhang Ya as breaking the rules or not, but it was also because Zhang Ya was hibernating in his shadow that Chen Ge felt okay to ept this mission.

    I need to give it a try; the reward is too important for me.

    Chen Ge took out his phone to look for nearby tunnels on the inte. The Nightmare Mission would start at 2:44 am, so he had to find a tunnel that fit the criteria but was not far away.

    Jiujiang has many tunnels but few that fit the requirements.

    Chen Ge looked on the inte for a long time, and he discovered something very weird. Of the entire Jiujiang, there was only one tunnel that fit the requirement demanded by the ck phone. It was the White Dragon Cave Tunnel on the eastern side of Jiujiang. The other tunnels were either too far away or too short.

    The eastern side of Jiujiang...

    Due to his childhood experience, Chen Ge did not like that part of Jiujiang, and his parents had warned him from going to that area alone when he was young.

    White Dragon Cave Tunnel, that sounds familiar like I have heard of it from the news before.

    Chen Ge did not look so good. He searched the tunnel online, and several news articles instantly appeared. Ever since construction for the tunnel began fifteen years ago, there had been endless idents, and many of them had a mysterious or supernatural element. More than one driver said that when they passed byte at night, a woman would wave at them by the side of the road.

    If they did not stop, the woman would chase after them. The woman would be slow, but the distance between them would close until the woman was running beside them. If they stopped, it was even worse. The woman would sit at the back, and the car would get into an ident inside the tunnel.

    The waving woman was just one of the many urban legends about the ce. Some drivers said that they would see a car cutting past them, and when they turned to look, the car would be driverless. When they exited the tunnel, the car would already have disappeared.

    There were many simr incidents and many idents, so the tunnel had been closed five years ago. Even so, that did not stop the legend from continuing. When people passed the tunnel at night, they could hear people crying for help, and some saw a woman standing inside the tunnel, waving at them, asking them to enter the tunnel.

    Chen Ge read all the articles, be it news or stories. This ce is more dangerous than I thought!

    Holding the phone, Chen Ge started to hesitate. The reward would be beneficial for him, but equally, he would only be able to rely on himself toplete the mission.

    The ck phone has always been fair; the effort and reward are equal.

    Chen Ge soon came to a decision. He grabbed the white cat that was hiding under the pillow and ced it on his shoulder.

    ¡°Tonight, we¡¯re going to somewhere exciting.¡±

 Chapter 395 - Please Reconsider

    <h4>Chapter 395: Please Reconsider</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The white cat blinked several times at Chen Ge and allowed the man to carry it in his arms. It did not seem to understand what was really happening. This time, Chen Ge did not even bring his backpack. He left the Haunted House with just some spare change.

    ¡°When I was small, my parents refused to let me go to the eastern part of Jiujiang alone. Thinking back, there should be something very dangerous hiding there. My parents knew about their presence, so these things might know stuff about my parents as well.

    ¡°The people who know you best are not your friends but your enemies. Perhaps I can get more clues about my parents from these presences.¡± Chen Ge looked at the hint on the ck phone. ¡°Walking through the tunnel will allow me to witness the secret that I have forgotten. This Nightmare Mission might be able to give me a critical hint.¡±

    Every Nightmare Mission was very important to Chen Ge, not only because Nightmare Missions could improve his physical body, but most importantly, the Nightmare Missions seemed to be rted to his parents¡¯ disappearance. Chen Ge left New Century Park, carrying the cat. He waited by the roadside for a long time before a taxi stopped for him.

    ¡°Boss, bring me to White Dragon Cave Tunnel please.¡± Chen Ge pulled the door open and climbed in.

    ¡°White Dragon Cave?¡± The driver turned to look at Chen Ge with a shocked expression. ¡°Why are you going to that ce sote at night?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m coborating with a friend to shoot something there.¡± Chen Ge ced the white cat on his legs and took out his phone. ¡°Please go, I¡¯m in a hurry.¡±

    ¡°You need to reconsider this. That ce is not safe. A few years ago, one of my colleagues ran into an ident there.¡± The driver still did not start the car. Based on his tone, it sounded like he was unwilling to go there.

    ¡°What are you talking about? It¡¯s fine. Just drive me to somewhere close then. I¡¯ll walk there myself.¡± Chen Ge did not want to push the driver. It was because he had considered this that he left early.

    ¡°Why are you so stubborn? It is not the first or second time that idents have been reported at White Dragon Cave. Just look for it online and think this over.¡± The driver finally moved the car forward. ¡°When the tunnel was still operating, us taxi drivers didn¡¯t dare go to that ce at night. We would rather take the long way. We were not trying to cheat the passengers; that ce is simply too cursed.¡±

    Chen Ge thought the driver was quite a friendly man, so he started to chat with him. ¡°Can you tell me more about what happened to your colleague? I¡¯m more curious about that.¡±

    ¡°The man was the stingy type, the one who would trick foreigners. On the day of his ident, after he dropped his passenger off, he took the White Dragon Cave tunnel because he wanted to save time. It was around 2:30 am then.

    ¡°At the time, he was still talking on the walkie-talkie. While he was chatting with us, there was suddenly a female voiceing from his end. We thought that he had just taken on a passenger, so we did not think much of it.

    ¡°But then we noticed that something was off. The man did not seem to realize that there was another person in his car and kept gloating about how much he had made that day from tricking his passengers. I was listening at the time. I used the walkie-talkie to remind him of this, but there was no reply for a very long time.

    ¡°The next day, when I reported to thepany in the afternoon, we received the news that all of the drivers have to attend a safety ss, and after some asking around, we realized that the man had died in a car ident inside that tunnel.

    ¡°At the time, his car had been the only one inside the tunnel, and his car was found to have no issues. However, weirdly enough, the ident happened. He was stuck inside the twisted driver¡¯s seat for a whole night, and in the end, they had to use a saw to cut his body out.

    ¡°ording to investigation, the reason for his ident was fatigue, but the few of us whomunicated with him knew very well that before his ident, he sounded very excited; he was not at all tired.¡±

    After hearing the driver¡¯s story, Chen Ge voiced his thought. ¡°You mentioned all of you heard a female voice on the walkie-talkie, so technically speaking, that woman should be the murderer.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Another person got into his car, but he did not realize it. If that is not cursed, what is?¡± The driver gripped the steering wheel. ¡°I¡¯m not trying to scare you; I¡¯m giving you sincere advice. When you are close to the tunnel, if someone weird calls your name, do not get close to it.¡±

    The taxi moved slowly, and on the journey, Chen Ge chatted a lot with the driver. The buildings by the roadside became fewer, and the light disappeared. The ce looked abandoned.

    ¡°Are we not there yet?¡± Chen Ge opened the map on his phone. It said that they were close to the destination.

    ¡°White Dragon Cave has been sealed for some years now, so we need to take a detour if we want to get there.¡± The taxi continued to drive down the road. Ten minutester, the driver slowed down.

    ¡°We¡¯re here?¡±

    ¡°No, look at that thing on the road, what is it?¡± The driver did not dare to stop, but he pointed ahead. With his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge saw something that looked like a man lying in the middle of the road about seventy meters in front of them.

    ¡°Is that a man?¡±

    The driver moved the steering wheel, and when the taxi was about thirty meters away, the thing thaty in the middle of the road suddenly crawled away. It was fast, and it disappeared after charging into the bushes like it had never been there.

    ¡°What the hell was that?¡± The driver was obviously spooked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Chen Ge was not lying. The thing looked simr to a person and was wearing a tattered shirt, but the face was blurry.

    ¡°You still want to continue?¡± The driver was afraid. ¡°Shall we just turn back?¡±

    ¡°How far is it from White Dragon Cave?¡± Chen Ge had never had a habit of forcing people. ¡°If it¡¯s close, then I¡¯ll just walk there from here.¡±

    ¡°You sure are brave.¡± The driver cracked his frozen knuckles. He continued to drive for another few more minutes before parking the car before a junction. ¡°See that road blocked by tree branches? Just keep walking down that road.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Chen Ge paid the fare and got out.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to do this? Not many cars will pass this ce at night. After I leave, you¡¯ll probably need to spend a whole night here.¡± The driver looked at the road ahead, and he subconsciously lowered his voice like he was afraid that he might wake something up.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Chen Ge felt like the man was quite nice, so after exchanging numbers with the man, he hugged the white cat and left. Climbing over the branches, Chen Ge walked down the road alone. The surroundings were very quiet, like there was no living creature in the woods.

    ¡°Something is not right.¡± Chen Gepletely ignored the resentment in the white cat¡¯s eyes and proceeded toward the end of the road.

    There were residual dust and pebbles on the ground, and everywhere he turned, there were broken tree branches. The rusted safety rails by the road were twisted from the multiple car collisions. This road seemed to have seen many idents in the past.

 Chapter 396 - Tunnel

    <h4>Chapter 396: Tunnel</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    It¡¯s now 2 am sharp; I still have forty-four minutes left. Chen Ge followed the trail and felt like he was not that far away from that tunnel. The trees by the road swayed, and the leaves rustled. The white cat in his embrace was getting increasingly uneasy, and its ws stuck into Chen Ge¡¯s clothes.

    Looks like the white cat has already sensed something. Chen Ge patted the animal¡¯s head. You were so feral before this. Howe you¡¯re so easily scared nowadays?

    The white cat looked at Chen Ge withplicated emotions in its eyes. It would probably have had a hard time exining itself as well.

    I cannot bring any ghosts or items from inside the Haunted House on a Nightmare Mission, but the white cat has perfectly avoided all these limitations. It is not a ghost, and it once chased a ghost to run away from it. Looks like I¡¯ll need to focus on training it in the future. Chen Ge started to make ns for the white cat. The ghost stories society¡¯s blood was prepared for a Red Specter, but even after it consumed it, nothing happened. After I dealt with the chairperson, I should take over the 24th floor at Fang Hwa Apartments. Hopefully, something woulde from it.

    Holding the white cat, Chen Ge was thankful that he had the thought to save the cat back then. This won¡¯t be myst Nightmare Mission. In the future, the white cat should have more uses.

    The white cat gripped Chen Ge¡¯s clothes tightly as if it was heavily reliant on Chen Ge as well and felt connected to the man. I suppose good thingse to good people.

    One man and one cat travelled alone on the abandoned road. From afar, the picture was quite charming. The night breeze moved the tree branches, and the shadows danced on the road. After another twenty minutes of walking, the temperature suddenly dropped. The wind howled in their ears, and a strange smell rushed at them. ¡°We¡¯ve arrived.¡±

    Chen Ge slowly raised his head to look at the tunnel that cut through the mountain, and his pupils narrowed. The tunnel was dark, and he could not see the end. The wind lifted the edge of his shirt, and Chen Ge suddenly shivered. The chill was not the type that could be felt on his skin¡ªit was the kind that originated from his skull and traveled to every inch of his body.

    I haven¡¯t felt this in a long time already.

    Before the six-meter-tall tunnel that was more than ten meters wide, the man looked so small. He looked into the darkness, and it felt like the thing inside the darkness was also looking back at him.

    Without the apaniment of his employees, Chen Ge was reminded of his first Nightmare Mission. He stood there and took a deep breath.

    No wonder this is called a Nightmare Mission!

    The tunnel was definitely longer than forty-four meters. Chen Ge took out his phone and shone it into the dark. There were various scratch marks and strange markings on the wall. The road itself was rather t, but there were animal bodies strewn all over it.

    There is still some time until the mission starts. Chen Ge stomped his feet and tapped his cheeks lightly. Calm down, don¡¯t panic.

    He looked onto the video sharing app, sharing a few pictures and updated his status. Generally, he was saying that he would post a videoter tonight and told everyone to be ready.

    The replies from the people online did help to disperse the fear in Chen Ge¡¯s heart. He leaned against the stone wall of the tunnel and did not forget to do a promotion for his Haunted House.

    At 2 am, someone ran to a haunted tunnel to update their status¡ªthat was something rare. People soon flocked to Chen Ge¡¯s page, and it reached a point where the admin private messaged Chen Ge, begging him not to do such a dangerous thing in the future. They worried about his safety. After replying to some of thements, Chen Ge exited the app at 2:43 am. He did not care much about the people¡¯sments; he was there just for the mission. He stood back at the mouth of the tunnel.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to start.¡± Clicking open the video recording function on his phone, Chen Ge ced the white cat on his shoulder. When the time on the phone turned from forty-three to forty-four, he started to walk into the tunnel. It was much darker inside, and it felt like he was wading into a sea of darkness. Entering the tunnel, Chen Ge¡¯s body was enveloped by chilliness until it became difficult for him to breathe.

    ¡°Chen Ge, Chen Ge...¡±

    Whenever he took a step, Chen Ge would call out his name. This way, when he took the 44th step, it would also be the time when the mission ended. Chen Ge moved further and further away from the entrance. The light behind him faded until everything was swallowed up by darkness.

    The phone was like a flickering light in the dark, and Chen Ge was like a lost ship at the sea. The only thing he could do was focus onpleting that forty-four steps. The deeper he went into the tunnel, the greater the pressure he felt. His brain screamed in rm, telling him to leave immediately.

    Cold sweat drenched his forehead, and his voice echoed within the tunnel. The echoes were so consistent that he had a hard time telling which of those originated from his lips. When he made the 15th step, the white cat in his arms suddenly perked its ears up, and its multi-colored eyes stared at the side of the tunnel.

    Some noise came from the deeper part of the tunnel. It sounded like footsteps mixed with cries for help. Something ising.

    In the dark, something that felt like a giant spider moved above him. Small specks of dust fell on Chen Ge¡¯s body, and his back was wet with sweat. He resisted the urge to look up and continued marching forward. The thing above his head did not move, and to make matters worse, footsteps of a second individual appeared behind him.

    The footsteps sounded uneven, like the body was twisted and it could not walk with a normal gait. Chen Ge maintained his speed. The footsteps slowly closed the distance until they were only one meter behind him.

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡±

    After he said his name, a green vein popped on the back of his palm, but he did not turn back.

    When he took the 26th step, the white cat seemed to have finally gotten a good look at the thing in the dark, and it hugged Chen Ge¡¯s arm tightly. Standing not far from Chen Ge was a woman in red dress. Her head was lowered, and she looked like a madwoman. Her hair was a mess, and it hid her face. She stood on one side of the tunnel, several meters in front of Chen Ge.

    Chen Ge ignored the white cat¡¯s attempt to rustle his shirt. He also saw that woman, the woman that popted so many legends regarding this tunnel.

    His calves numbed, and his palms filled with sweat. Chen Ge tried to not make his eyes move toward the woman. He kept his gaze fixed on the darkness ahead. When he walked past the woman, out the corner of his eyes, he saw the woman suddenly move.

    Like she was asking for help, she raised her arm to wave at Chen Ge!

    A chill ran up his spine to his brain. Chen Ge¡¯s mind was flooded with the stories rted to this woman. The drivers that did not save her would be haunted by her until they left the tunnel, and those who responded to her would be caught in an ident inside the tunnel.

    In that case, it was better if he just ignored her.

 Chapter 397 - A Question with No Solution

    <h4>Chapter 397: A Question with No Solution</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Even though Chen Ge had found so many weird legends about White Dragon Cave tunnel online, most of them had mentioned this waving woman. They described this woman as a scary spirit, and most who encountered her experienced a horrible ending.

    Chen Ge was caught in a not-so-good situation; there was a spider-like shadow moving above him, there were echoing footsteps about one meter behind him, and the woman in a red dress was waving at him not far away in front of him. Under such circumstances, he was experiencing an impossible pressure.

    Moving forward, Chen Ge continued calling out his name. He calcted the number of steps in his mind, and he slowly walked past the waving woman. He ignored her, and there was no shift in his expression, like he had not even noticed her.

    Different from Chen Ge¡¯s calmness, the white cat in his arms kept groaning softly, like it was reminding Chen Ge to stop walking into the tunnel. When he made the 30th step, Chen Ge turned his head slightly to look beside him.

    The woman who kept her head lowered did not give up. She leaned against the left side of the tunnel and followed him. They moved down the tunnel together. Technically speaking, they each walked their own path, so they should not have been interfering with one another, but Chen Ge felt the distance between them decreasing.

    <i>The reason a spirit lingers in this world is because of resentment¡ªjust what happened to her before she died? Why would she attack those who wanted to save her? Was she killed by a driver who offered her a ride?</i>

    As that thought entered his mind, Chen Ge turned to look at the woman. She was wearing a normal looking red dress, and her legs were covered with cuts and bruises. She was only wearing one white sandal¡ªthe other one apparently missing. The skin that was exposed was stuck with pins from some nts.

    <i>A Red Specter? </i>Chen Ge was not sure of his spection. <i>I¡¯m just doing a daily quest. There shouldn¡¯t be a Red Specter.</i>

    With the title of Specter¡¯s Favored, Chen Ge was not really sure of that. <i>I¡¯ll just ignore her for now and finish the forty-four steps first. If anything happens, I¡¯ll just run.</i>

    This tunnel had been abandoned for years already. However, due to Chen Ge¡¯s entry, the things inside started to awaken. Pairs of eyes stared at him from the dark. Repeating the same motion made Chen Ge feel like his legs were frozen, and it took great effort to move each step.

    ¡°Chen Ge.¡± His voice was low, but somehow, there was an echo. It sounded like there was another Chen Ge standing at the end of the tunnel, calling his name back to him.

    <i>That should be the 34th call. </i>Chen Ge kept the number in his mind, and he prepared to call for the 35th time.

    Chen Ge raised his foot, and before he opened his lips, a woman¡¯s voice appeared in his ear. It was unclear, and it seemed toe from the female ghost!

    Freezing on the spot, Chen Ge nced at the left side of the tunnel from the corner of his eyes. The tussled hair blocked her face, and the woman studied Chen Ge through the curtain of her hair. Her eyes were hidden under the hair like two dark holes. The lips that were bruised opened and closed. It seemed like a wooden pipe had been shoved down the woman¡¯s throat because her voice was special, and each time she spoke, it sounded like she was puffing out air.<i>What is she saying?</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s tempo was disrupted. He lowered his foot, and when he was about to speak, the woman once again made another noise. This time Chen Ge heard it clearly, the woman was calling his name. ¡°Chen Ge...¡±

    His forehead was covered in cold sweat. If this was just a normal ghost, he would not have been so afraid, but this could be a Red Specter. Chen Ge ignored the woman and continued to move forward. He could sense more things congregating in the darkness. He was like a person dropped into the sea, where many creatures hid in the dark. His heart raced, and Chen Ge did not slow down. Hisst shred of rationality told him that the ck phone would not send him on a mission that he could not survive. Nightmare Missions were hard, but there had to be a way to survive them.

    <i>There have been so many car idents inside this tunnel, so there must be many spirits here. However, other than this woman, none of the other ghosts have shown themselves. This is very weird. </i>Chen Ge nced at the woman, and as those drivers on the inte said, the woman was slowly catching up to him.<i>ording to the drivers, the woman would eventually show up beside the car window, her face stuck to the ss. I¡¯m not in a car, so if I continue to ignore her, will she stick herself to my face?</i>

    Chen Ge started to miss the hammer as he wiped the sweat from his palms. The woman slowly moved toward Chen Ge. She maintained the same speed as Chen Ge. When Chen Ge increased in speed, she did too, and when Chen Ge stopped, she stood at the wall, looking at Chen Ge silently. <i>A few more steps, and it¡¯ll be over. However, the problem is... how do I leave?</i>

    When he first entered the tunnel, Chen Ge could feel the chillinessing from within. Just ten meters into the tunnel, he had been covered by that chilliness, the shlight in his hand giving him no sense of security.

    <i>The way back is already blocked, and I still have no idea what is following behind me. If I turn around, I might see something scarier.</i>

    Rubble asionally fell from above his head. Therge shadow that looked like a spider stretched its limbs. It moved with Chen Ge like it had picked Chen Ge as its prey.

    <i>Have Nightmare Missions always been so difficult?</i>

    Without any outside help, facing several Specters at once was too difficult for Chen Ge. <i>Have I missed out on something important?</i>

    He put his focus back on the woman. He studied her closely, and when he paid attention, the woman¡¯s head suddenly crumbled inwards like it had been hit by something blunt and hard. The whole face was misshapen, and her eyes were poking out. Chen Ge resisted the urge to scream and forced himself to ignore the woman, taking the 40th step.

    <i>Only four steps left. </i>The woman¡¯s body was still changing. Chen Ge did not turn to look, but the sounds kept drilling into his ears. <i>If it is just a simple car ident, she wouldn¡¯t have ended up like this. Something horrible must have happened to her.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s hands were shaking, and the pressure mounted.

    ¡°I¡¯m here, save me.¡± The woman¡¯s voice turned uglier, and the distance between them narrowed. ¡°I¡¯m here, just beside you, I¡¯m here!¡±

    The woman asked Chen Ge for help, but Chen Ge did not dare extend his aid. Helping her would be bad, but not helping her would be worse.

 Chapter 398 - The Secret

    <h4>Chapter 398: The Secret</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Both choices would lead to danger, and while this rarely happened, Chen Ge was stuck. The woman¡¯s cries for help became louder, but weirdly enough, her voice did not echo in the tunnel¡ªit was as if only Chen Ge could hear her voice.<i>Those who saved you died in the tunnel, and as for those who didn¡¯t, while they might not have ended up on the news, I doubt they have good ending.</i>

    After taking a deep breath, Chen Ge decided to ignore this woman for now. He wanted to finish the nightmare mission first. When he made the 41th step, the sound of howling wind seemed to decrease, but it was unclear whether it was due to the ghosts that had congregated around Chen Ge or something else. The light from his phone started to twist, and the surroundings had be darker.

    Chen Ge called out his name.

    <i>Three more steps left.</i>

    The woman on the left side of the tunnel was getting closer, and many other ghosts were before his eyes. Chen Ge kept his eyes on the end of the tunnel and made his 42nd step. Just as his footnded on the ground, the shlight on his phone went out.

    It happened without warning, and no matter how hard Chen Ge tried to reopen it, the phone remained dead. The night fell to swamp Chen Ge, and even with the Yin Yang Vision, he could only see two to three meters further than a normal person. Without any light to guide him, Chen Ge stood where he was, afraid to move recklessly.

    Suspended in perfect darkness, one¡¯s five senses would be eclipsed, and without any guidance, it was easy to get lost. He was afraid that he might trip and lose his sense of direction. If he got lost inside the tunnel, that was the end. He might end up wandering deeper into the tunnel instead of walking out.

    The surroundings quieted down, and so did the woman in the red dress. However, the feeling was not good. He knew that ghosts surrounded him, but he could not see them. Chen Ge¡¯s breathing became difficult, and pressure came from all sides. <i>I cannot stay here any longer.</i>

    Lifting his leg, Chen Ge made the 43rd step. The tunnel became even quieter, like all the ghosts had disappeared, and weirdly enough, there was a lighting from inside the tunnel. It was soft and unclear.

    <i>Is that the exit?</i>

    The light did not stop. It kept moving, like someone holding antern. Chen Ge did not lose hisposure¡ªhe focused fully on that light. It felt like something was pushing down on his body, and he feltpressed. As the light wandered closer, the pressure on his body increased.

    <i>Onest step. I¡¯ll make this step and see what happens!</i>

    He felt like his body was about to be torn apart. He picked up his foot and was ready to make the 44th step. The light neared, and the figure hidden behind the light also became clearer. Chen Ge¡¯s left leg hung in midair. His pupils narrowed, and he could not believe his eyes.

    <i>That is...</i>

    It was a boy behind the light. He was carrying a school bag, and the bag was half-opened to reveal a roughly-made rag doll. Someone was holding the boy¡¯s left hand, and his right hand was holding a phone. The phone was an old model, the kind that did not have an integrated shlight function. He could only rely on the weak light of the disy to slowly move forward step by step. The boy had a serious expression like he was looking for something.

    His hand was lifted upward, so obviously, he was there with an adult. Probably because he had been holding the phone, he was tired. He put down his arm and moved another few steps before he stopped before Chen Ge. The boy did not seem to notice anyone before him, and he focused his gaze on the endless darkness.

    The adult next to him seemed to converse with him, probably advising him to give up, but the boy did not agree and kept his eyes on the darkness. The boy seemed to have felt something. He raised his head and aimed the phone directly before him. Inside the dark tunnel, the light, so weak that it could be ignored, helped connect the gazes of the two people.

    Chen Ge stood on the other end of the tunnel like a statue, and his eyes stared at the boy¡¯s face. The boy was him from the past!

    His arms shaking, Chen Ge had a hard time describing it.

    <i>I once saw a red house on the eastern side of Jiujiang, and there were many children ying around the house. Then I fainted. When I woke up, I was already inside a car. As for what happened in between, even now, my memory is a nk.</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the boy, and the boy looked at him.

    Under the faded light of the phone, the boy opened his lips. Chen Ge could not hear him clearly, but from the movement of the lips, the boy seemed to say¡ª<i>Found it!</i>

    The boy probably had other things to say, but the adult beside him did not give him the chance to continue. Chen Ge could see the boy¡¯s neck starting to twist, as if the adult who apanied him into the tunnel was strangling the boy¡¯s neck. His body turned cold, and Chen Ge gasped greedily for air. He wanted to stop the adult, and he moved his leg, making the 44th step!

    He stepped on air, and his body started to fall. Then, it felt like his soul was knocked out of his body, and it was sucked into something. The light started to drift away. He wanted to hold onto something, but no one was able to help him. An indescribable sense of despair suffocated his heart, and he slowly closed his eyes.

    However, just as his eyes were about to close, a red shadow appeared at the end of the light. Blood covered everything, and the person was like a red sun. She banished the enveloping darkness, and everything in sight became blood red.

    ¡°Zhang Ya?¡±

    There was a pain on the back of his arm, and Chen Ge¡¯s eyes flew open. His clothes were drenched in sweat, and Chen Ge¡¯s phone came back on. He was still standing inside the tunnel.

    <i>I saw myself from about a decade ago? That was the thing I¡¯ve forgotten? </i>Chen Ge¡¯s heart was chilled. <i>So, someone has been trying to kill me since then.</i>

    In his memory, there was nothing about this killer, and none of the people around him had been sent into jail. This meant that this person who wanted to kill him was probably still in his social circle.

    <i>Now, I can only confirm that person is in the eastern part of Jiujiang. The problem is not big. There¡¯s still time to even things out. </i>Chen Ge looked at the spot where the pain had originated. The white cat had bitten his skin until it bled. ¡°Thankfully, I brought you with me.¡±

    Chen Ge touched the white cat¡¯s head, but he wanted to thank Zhang Ya even more. As he turned his head to look at his shadow, he suddenly realized that the woman in a red dress was standing just beside him.

    Her body broken and her head caved in, she looked at Chen Ge and repeated her plea. ¡°I¡¯m here, help me. I¡¯m here...¡±

    ¡°I almost forgot about you.¡± Chen Ge could no longer avoid her since she was so close. He gritted his teeth, nced at his shadow, and turned to face the woman. ¡°How do you want me to help you?¡±

 Chapter 399 - Im a Saint!

    <h4>Chapter 399: I¡¯m a Saint!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The woman¡¯s head was caved inward, her body was mangled, and her face was misshapen; one could barely make out the shape of a human. Even for Chen Ge, who had grown up with the props inside a Haunted House, he found this hard to stomach.

    <i>Isn¡¯t this a bit too much?</i>

    The woman had suffered a horrible death, and Chen Ge resisted the urge to escape, standing where he was.

    ¡°Help me, I¡¯m right here...¡± The woman waved her hand even though she was standing before Chen Ge. It was as if she was afraid that he could not see her.

    The face neared, and Chen Ge¡¯s hair stood on end. He immediately answered, ¡°You¡¯ve been telling me you¡¯re here. Is it because, when you called for help before, those who passed by ignored you?¡±

    When he said that, the woman slowed down, and her mangled lips pressed together. When Chen Ge saw the opportunity, he adopted the same tone that he used to converse with Xu Yin and Zhang Ya. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not like those people.¡±

    Although he had no employees with him, Chen Ge was weirdly calm. He felt like he was slowly returning to his normal state.

    ¡°I can imagine the pain that you must have been through¡ªevery plea for help was a grasp for the veryst hope; however, reality has injured you time and again.¡± There was pity in Chen Ge¡¯s gaze, and he raised his head to look into the woman¡¯s eyes. ¡°I know you have been waiting for someone to lend you a hand, and perhaps if someone had stepped forward, you¡¯d have the hope to face life. I understand what you¡¯re doing, and I know what you¡¯re feeling. I don¡¯t ask that you trust me fully, but I ask that you give yourself a chance and me a chance.¡±

    Chen Ge reached out his hand. ¡°They didn¡¯t help you, but I will. They ignored you, but I won¡¯t. They won¡¯t save you, but I will!¡±

    With a small step forward, he said, ¡°This tunnel is dark and hiding many sorrowful histories, so how about I bring you out with me?¡±

    When Chen Ge stepped forward, the woman subconsciously took a step back. A huge part of her head was missing, and only three quarters of her face remained. Her face forced out a weird expression. It was difficult to tell what she was trying to express. Perhaps she was also surprised by Chen Ge¡¯s reaction; she had note across someone like him, and she did not know how to react.

    Staring at the woman¡¯s face, Chen Ge asked in a serious tone, ¡°How do you want me to help you?¡±

    The woman¡¯s waving hand gradually stopped. Using her almost falling head to look at Chen Ge, after a long time, she said, ¡°I¡¯m here. There¡¯s an opening in my head, and blood drenched my eyes. I cannot see anything, help me.¡±

    Blood oozed out of the giant cut on the woman¡¯s head¡ªit was gory to say the least. Chen Ge pulled a part of his shirt out, and with the woman watching curiously, he raised his hands. ¡°I¡¯ll help you stop the blood loss first, then I¡¯ll bring you out with me.¡±

    The woman¡¯s pupils danced inside the protruding sockets, and she said, ¡°My arms and shoulders were shattered on impact, help me.¡±

    The woman seemed to be repeating what she had said at her moment of death. It sounded sad and heavy with despair.

    ¡°Left arm or right arm?¡± Chen Ge stared at her. The woman did not seem to have considered that question before. He moved slowly forward. ¡°Then you can lean against me.¡±

    Whenever Chen Ge spoke, the woman was stunned. This was the first time that she had heard this kind of heartwarming offer. The woman stood in the tunnel for a long time before the blood in her eyes slowly dispersed.

    However, that onlysted for several seconds before she seemed to remember something very painful and resentment as well as venom leaked out of her eyes again. ¡°The car ran over my legs, and I cannot move.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Chen Ge stared at the woman with sincerity, ¡°Don¡¯t be scared, I¡¯ll carry you.¡±

    ¡°Carry me?¡± The woman¡¯s eyes were filled with shocked. She did not expect Chen Ge to do this too. The resentment in her eyes slowly decreased, and she was fiddling with a decision in her mind. Chen Ge did not know if he should make use of this opportunity to run. He was familiar with the power of a Red Specter and knew that he would not have been able to escape.

    While the woman was hesitating, Chen Ge turned around and slowly squatted down. ¡°Come, I¡¯ll carry you out of this tunnel.¡±

    Seeing Chen Ge¡¯s back, the woman was flustered. This was the first time that she hade across someone so kind.

    ¡°Carry me?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s forehead and cor were drenched in cold sweat, and his fingers were trembling. However, he had great mental pressure resistance, and his voice was as calm as ever. ¡°This tunnel is filled with painful memories. Staying here is a form of torture for you as well.¡±

    Chen Ge suddenly felt a heavy mist of blooding from his back. He turned to look, and the woman with twisted limbs and broken face was pressed against his face. The woman¡¯s eyes were knitted with resentment, venom, and a trace of uncertainty. She was probably also wondering if she should kill Chen Ge. The pressure on his back increased, and Chen Ge¡¯s body slowly became numb. His neck felt like it was roped by vines, and he knew that the woman still had not given up the idea of killing him.

    ¡°I know that you might not trust me and think I¡¯m doing all this to lie to you, but that is not the truth. I¡¯ve helped many souls in your condition, and that is probably why you can feel this trace of kindness from me.¡± Chen Ge sighed¡ªhe sounded tired. ¡°I don¡¯t ask for much for doing all this. I just want to help those in need.¡±

    With a self-deprecatingugh, Chen Ge shook his head lightly, and helplessness filled his voice. ¡°In my daily life, people often make fun of me for being so stupid to forgive my enemy and opponent. Why wouldn¡¯t I believe in the darker side of reality and insist on seeing the good in people and in my heart? Perhaps I¡¯m that type of idiot.¡±

    The voice sounded sad, but in it, there was also a forgiveness that overcame all the misunderstandings. The resentment in the woman¡¯s eyes drastically reduced. With her hands on Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders, she tried to view this man from a different angle.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move and don¡¯t let go. Trust me, just this time, let me carry you out.¡±

    Chen Ge moved one step deeper into the tunnel and called his name. However, the light did not reappear. After confirming the mission had beenpleted, he turned around and carried the woman out the tunnel.

    ¡°I came here at night for no other reason than wanting to help you, so please, let¡¯s leave this tunnel together.¡±

 Chapter 400 - He Is... Mine!

    <h4>Chapter 400: He Is... Mine!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The slowly red disappeared as did the resentment in the woman¡¯s eyes. She felt her body getting lighter. Perhaps this was how it felt to be given salvation. If only I run into him when I was still alive.

    The things that had happened to her at the time of her death appeared in her mind, and whenever that happened, the woman had the urge to destroy every living thing that she saw. She did not need to die that day, but no one had been willing to extend a helping hand, and that had led to theter tragedy.

    A weird tone escaped from the throat, and the woman¡¯s body turned cold. Her bone structure was shifting, and it sounded like her body was falling apart. Chen Ge¡¯s spine was numb, and he knew that something scary was happening behind him, but he did not n to put the woman down.

    If possible, why don¡¯t I save her?

    Carrying the poor woman, the other ghosts hiding in the dark did not daree any closer. Even therge spider following Chen Ge gave up unwillingly. Following the rustling that came above him and the following of peddles, therge shadow that looked like a spider climbed deeper into the tunnel.

    Just what kind of monsters are living here?

    Treating the woman as a shield, Chen Ge carried her slowly out the tunnel. The white cat had already jumped ahead of Chen Ge. It would turn around to look at Chen Ge asionally, the respect in its eyes seemingly saying, ¡°You¡¯re really something else.¡±

    When he entered the tunnel, Chen Ge only took forty-four steps, but when he tried to leave, Chen Ge realized that the tunnel was exceptionally long. The woman¡¯s impression of him changed due to his words, but that did not mean that she had given up the murderous instinct. Chen Ge knew that the more he spoke, the greater the chance of him screwing up. Since he was not the type to waste time on words, he would use actual action to prove to the woman that he really wanted to save her. As he stepped toward the exit, the darkness was banished, and the air felt fresher.

    The shape of the tunnel exit was getting closer. Wind blew in from the entrance, and the smell of blood became lighter. Starlight shone down on the woman¡¯s face, and her crumbled head and twisted body slowly returned to normal. The weight on his back slowly lightened. When he turned to look, Chen Ge saw the woman looking at the night sky.

    Chen Ge tried to take another step, but when he tried to leave the tunnel, the woman on his back experienced a great change. Her head and limbs kept shattering as if her body would break into pieces should he move any further.

    What¡¯s happening? Is she not allowed to leave the tunnel?

    There were only two choices then. Put the woman down and run away before she recovered was the safest option. Based on the ck phone, Chen Ge had alreadypleted the Nightmare Mission, and Chen Ge would not be returning to this ce until he had full confidence. The other option was to stand and wait until the woman¡¯s body recovered and then ask her for her opinion.

    Chen Ge turned to look at the woman and took back his advancing step, standing at the mouth of the tunnel. Before him was the star-filled sky, and behind him was the dark tunnel that seemed to have no end.

    Several secondster, the woman gave up her struggle, and with the starlight shining down on her, she returned to her original state. The red coat hung on her misshapen body. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she slowly released her hands. ¡°s, I no longer need anyone toe save me.¡±

    She climbed off Chen Ge¡¯s back and slowly retreated. Only by hiding inside the tunnel could she maintain her presence.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Chen Ge called at the woman. ¡°I really want to help you.¡±

    The woman could be a great help, so Chen Ge arranged his emotions toe up with a speech that was quite sentimental. When the woman in the tunnel heard what he had to say, she smiled at Chen Ge before turning to jog back into the tunnel.

    Howe it feels like she is in a hurry to run away? Is she sealed inside the tunnel? The closer she is to the entrance, the bigger the exhaustion?

    The tunnel was not as simple as it appeared¡ªthe presence of a Red Specter proved that. Under Chen Ge¡¯s gaze, the woman disappeared into the tunnel, and when he prepared to leave, he noticed the white cat was running away from him before finding a hiding spot a few meters away, shivering.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. She has already left. At least we know each other now, so we will have more friends in the eastern part of the city in the future.¡± Chen Ge walked toward the white cat, but that one step seemed to trigger some bad feeling in the cat. When it saw Chen Geing close, it immediately ran in the opposite direction.

    Why is it acting this way? Chen Ge also noticed the problem. When the white cat saw the woman in the tunnel, it had not run off. This meant that there was something scarier than the woman around Chen Ge!

    Taking a small breath, Chen Ge exited the tunnel cautiously. He did not sense any scary ghosts until he lowered his head to look down at his feet. He froze where he was like his body was struck by lightning. The ce where the woman released her hold on Chen Ge was the ce where Chen Ge¡¯s shadow fell, and someone had carved a few words in the ground. Each letter was filled with endless bloodlust and resentment. His legs shook involuntarily, and with trembling, pale lips, Chen Ge read out the few blood letters. ¡°He is... mine!¡±

    His breathing became difficult, and Chen Ge nced at his shadow. He noticed his shadow¡¯s shape was changing like the person hiding in the shadow had sensed something and was forcing herself awake!

    ¡°Calm down, Zhang Ya! It¡¯s just a misunderstanding!¡± Chen Ge did not expect there toe a day where he would need to yell at his own shadow to exin his situation. However, teetering between life and death, Chen Ge did not have much choice. He made the correct choice, using hisrgest voice and the sincerest words to exin everything that happened. If anyone else saw him like this, they would think that he was crazy.

    In the middle of the night, he ran to the tunnel to shout at his shadow.

    Chen Ge did not hide anything, and when he provided the exnation, his shadow finally returned to normal. His back was soaked wet, and Chen Ge copsed to the ground. He swiped the sweat from his forehead and sighed. That pressure is even greater than facing a Red Specter. Zhang Ya seems to have grown stronger.

    He looked at the shadow who was recovering and whispered to himself, ¡°It is not a good thing for Zhang Ya to keep hiding inside my shadow. If it stays like this, I will have no free...¡±

    Before he finished, his shadow started to boil again!

    The numbness crawled to his scalp, and Chen Ge bit on his tongue. His trembling hand held his forehead, and he chanted in a mncholic voice, ¡°It is not a good thing for Zhang Ya to keep hiding inside my shadow. If it stays like this, my heart will feel very empty. If possible, I wish for her to move into my heart.¡±

    The boiling shadow calmed down instantly. The person in the shadow appeared like she did not expect to hear Chen Ge say that, and she disappeared like she could not deal with the shyness.

 Chapter 401 - Truck

    <h4>Chapter 401: Truck</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge maintained his pose for a full minute before he dared look behind him. His shadow had returned to normal like everything that had happened earlier was a dream. Chen Ge did not let his guard down. He tried to call Zhang Ya for several times, and after confirming that she had gone back to sleep, his heart finally rxed. He copsed to the ground,pletely drained.

    The stars lit up the sky, and Chen Ge did not know what to think. After a while, the white cat came over, and it ced its furry paw on Chen Ge¡¯s forehead like it was trying to see whether Chen Ge had gotten a cold. ¡°You sure run fast earlier. What about our pact?¡±

    His heart was still racing. Chen Ge felt like he had used too much of his brain power that night, and he was suffering from ack of oxygen. The white cat¡¯s multi-colored eyes were dancing with condescension as if it was saying, ¡°If you have the capability, why don¡¯t you stand up and tell me that?¡±

    He ruffled the cat¡¯s head and ignored the expression on its face. Lying on the ground, he pulled out the ck phone to go through the message.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored! You havepleted the Nightmare Mission and gained the reward¡ªElementary Talent, Ghost Ear.

    ¡°Ghost Ear: Before you ept this talent, I hope you think about it because, from this moment onward, you will hear the voices from the other world.¡±

    The message was short. Chen Ge touched his ear after reading the text, but he did not feel any change. He closed his eyes and focused on his hearing. Somewhere deep inside the tunnel, someone was whispering, and something was running through the bushes. Even though they were several meters away, he could hear them clearly.

    ¡°Sounds like something ising.¡± Chen Ge realized the thing crawling the bushes wasing close, and he used his Yin Yang Vision to look in the direction that the sound wasing from.

    Around eight meters away, something that looked like a woman crawled out from the bushes. It was wearing a tattered jacket, and its head was lolling to the side. It was looking at Chen Ge from a confusing angle, and it appeared like it was trying to ambush Chen Ge. ¡°It¡¯s you!¡±

    When Chen Ge had arrived in the taxi, he had seen something simr lying on the ground. When the car passed, the thing had quickly retreated into the bush. The monster did not expect Chen Ge¡¯s ears to be so sensitive. It tried to ambush Chen Ge from behind, but it was still exposed. It gave up immediately and slithered away like there were no bones in its body.

    ¡°What the hell is that thing?¡± Chen Ge stood up from the ground. He was not sure if the thing that escaped was the same as the one that he had encountered earlier. ¡°Their existence should be rted to this tunnel.¡±

    Patting away the dust on his clothes, Chen Ge decided to leave this ce first. ¡°After Zhang Ya awakens, I shall return here with all of my employees. Perhaps I might meet some friends with simr ideals. In that case, I will invite them toe join me at the Haunted House.¡±

    Carrying the white car, Chen Ge walked back to the main road.

    ¡°You seem to have gotten heavier. Next time, if you need to bite me, try not to bite so hard. You see? I¡¯m bleeding. Now I don¡¯t even know whether I need to take a shot or not.¡±

    Chen Ge walked down the road for thirty minutes, but he did not see any cars pass by. This ce was too isted. It was not until 4 am that a truck affiliated with a movingpany passed by. The truck was heading toward Jiujiang City, and Chen Ge cried loudly for the driver to stop.

    Thankfully, the driver was a nice person. He slowed down but did not open the door directly. He rolled down the window and studied Chen Ge cautiously.

    ¡°Boss, can you give me a lift? I wish to get to the city.¡±

    While the driver was studying Chen Ge, Chen Ge was also studying the driver. The driver looked around forty, and his face was pale. He looked weak, and his eyes were rimmed with dark circles, probably because he had driven through the night.

    ¡°Why are you all alone at a ce like this sote at night? And why are you hugging a cat?¡± The driver thought Chen Ge was suspicious. There was just something off about this man.

    ¡°I¡¯m the proprietor for a Haunted House and a famed host online. I like to do supernatural series, and I¡¯m here to look for inspiration for my Haunted House.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s unique self-introduction surprised the man, and he did not respond for a long time.

    ¡°Look, this is my online profile and the reports on how I have assisted the Jiujiangw enforcement.¡± Chen Ge tossed his phone through the gap to the driver. The man looked through the articles before believing Chen Ge.

    ¡°This is a movingpany truck. If you don¡¯t mind, then you can crawl inside the cargo, and I¡¯ll drive you back to the city.¡± The driver passed the phone back to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Chen Ge did not hesitate. He opened the door and jumped in. ¡°Boss, you can drive now.¡±

    ¡°Remember to close the lock or else the stuff will tumble out.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± After Chen Ge locked the door, the car started. Standing inside the back, his body swayed alongside the other stuff. He wanted to find something to sit on, so he turned his shlight on. He discovered that the cargo had many ropes lying around. The ropes should be used the driver to tie down the furniture¡ªthey were normal¡ªbut Chen Ge notice that parts of the ropes were dyed with blood. He used his finger to touch them, and the blood had already dried.

    ¡°Boss, where are youing from? Howe you¡¯re still working sote at night?¡± Based on the voice, one could not hear anything weird. It sounded like Chen Ge was just trying to make conversation.

    ¡°Don¡¯t remind me. Yesterday, we ran into a very weird client. He paid us double to help him move at night,¡± the driver answered.

    ¡°Moving at night? We?¡± Chen Ge focused on the curiosities in the man¡¯s reply almost instantly. ¡°But boss, you¡¯re the only one in the car. Where¡¯s your colleague?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re still at the man¡¯s house. The client is very generous. Every one of them was given a three hundred tip.¡± There was envy in the driver¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Is thismon for movingpanies? To move at night?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just to move furniture into the house. It¡¯s very normal.¡± The driver did not think too much of it. If anything, he thought that Chen Ge was acting quite weird.

    ¡°Boss, I see that you¡¯re a good man, and that¡¯s why I¡¯m telling you this.¡± Chen Ge snapped a few pictures of the ropes. ¡°When you helped move the furniture, did you discover anything weird?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re there to lend our muscles; why would we care about such details?¡±

    The car sped up, and the road became narrower. With no other questions, Chen Ge gave up his questioning and thought that he was perhaps overthinking things. When he nned to close his eyes to rest, his phone vibrated. It was a call from Lee Zheng.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably some very important discovery.¡± Chen Ge answered the phone. ¡°Captain Lee, how can I help you?¡±

    ¡°The coroner found epithelial cells of a missing person on the interior of the statue. A few years ago, someone used that statue to move a dead body!¡±

 Chapter 402 - Patients, Doctors [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 402: Patients, Doctors [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The police¡¯s discovery was simr to Chen Ge¡¯s previous spection¡ªthe statue had been used as a transport mechanism. After getting Lee Zheng¡¯s reply, Chen Ge¡¯s mind cleared. ¡°After the suspect killed the victims, he hid them inside the statue and then had someone move the statue into the underground storeroom. When no one was looking, he sneaked back into the storeroom to deal with the dead body. Then the body was dragged into the underground morgue, and the crime waspleted without a trace.¡±

    Jiujiang Medical University was special because the area underneath the western part of the school was a morgue. Without wasting much energy and effort, one could take care of a dead body easily. ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be anyone who would consider going to look for missing people inside the underground morgue, so reality proved that the culprit is a really smart person.¡±

    Chen Ge stated everything Lee Zheng had on his mind. Lee Zheng, on the other end of the phone, was silent for a while. ¡°It is still unclear who the owner of the statue is, but the suspect pool is narrowing. After our detailed investigation, we can confirm that the statue does not belong to Jiujiang Medical University but appeared one day inside the Arts Society without warning.¡±

    ¡°Sudden appearance?¡±

    ¡°We managed to find the man who was the chairperson at the time. He could remember how he felt when he entered the activity room and found a new statue. At the time, most of the members thought that it was a new purchase by the school, so they did not think much of it. Since the school campus was also moving soon, in the end, the thing was moved by several male students into the underground storeroom.¡±

    ¡°This means that the killer was not a part of the moving process.¡± Chen Ge thought about it. ¡°The killer probably knew about the imminent campus movement and that those unusable items would be sent to the underground storage. In fact, he might even have been present then to silently insinuate things to his liking.¡±

    ¡°I was thinking the same. The killer can move in and out of the campus freelyte at night and knew about all this information with regards to the university. So, chances are high that he is a student, a teacher, or some other staff at the university.¡± Someone was talking to Lee Zheng, so he replied the man before turning back to inform Chen Ge. ¡°After our investigation, we have narrowed down our pool to four suspects.

    ¡°The first one is the male counselor that you told me about yesterday. His name is Liu Zhe, and he¡¯s a popr figure at the school. He¡¯s a sharp dresser and quite handsome, so you can imagine his poprity with the female students. However, as our investigation deepened, we found that the man is really not as he appears. He has not been to a reputable school, and the university was unable to provide a clear answer to how he managed to be a counselor. The only thing we found out is that the reason is rted to his brother-inw.

    ¡°The second suspect is the night security guard at the old campus¡ªZhang Li. The man is thirty-five years old this year, and he is a private person. Theplete opposite from Liu Zhe, the students shy away from him, and for some reason, he is weirdly hated.

    ¡°The third suspect is an original member of the Arts Society and the only female of the four suspects. Her name is Zhang Sihan. She is Zhang Li¡¯s little sister and had a tense rtionship with Ma Yin¡¯s sister. Before the sister¡¯s disappearance, many people remember her having many ugly confrontations and arguments with Ma Yin¡¯s sister.¡±

    Lee Zheng stopped at this point, and Chen Ge was deeply intrigued. ¡°The security guard, Zhang Li, has the ability and means to be the killer while Zhang Sihan has the motive and timing; however, neither of their lifestyles have any connection to a western sculpture. I still think the first suspect is the most likely killer. By the way, didn¡¯t you say there are four suspects?¡±

    ¡°Actually, ording to our investigation, the chance of the fourth suspect being the killer is the highest.¡± Lee Zheng sounded weird on the phone like he did not want to reveal the name of the fourth suspect. ¡°You are familiar with this fourth person; it¡¯s Doctor Gao.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Gao?¡± This answer was quite surprising to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Just as you said earlier, be it Zhang Li or Zhang Sihan, their lives have nothing to do with the statue. However, it is different for Doctor Gao.¡± Lee Zheng lowered his voice. ¡°I first met Doctor Gao about five years ago. I was asked to go on a psychological assessment after using my gun to kill a criminal. During the two weeks of conversations, we became friends.¡± Chen Ge listened closely; he was surprised that Lee Zheng had known Doctor Gao for five years.

    ¡°To be honest, Doctor Gao can be considered the perfect man. In my eyes, he has no weaknesses. In fact, I can list the good points about him, and it would take all night.¡± Lee Zheng¡¯s voice sounded depressed, and Chen Ge understood why the man had chosen this time to make this call. ¡°I admired the man, but this does not mean that I won¡¯t do my job. During my therapy sessions, I found out many things about him. This includes his hobby of collecting artwork¡ªfor instance, he likes to collect paintings by Van Gogh.¡±

    ¡°Being an art lover doesn¡¯t make him a killer, or have you seen that statue before at Doctor Gao¡¯s ce?¡± Using the statue to hide and move the body looked like a brilliant n, but when it was put into action, there were many loopholes. If Doctor Gao was the real killer, Chen Ge believed that he would have utilized a more perfect method to conduct the crime.

    ¡°I have not been to Doctor Gao¡¯s home, but I do know that he appreciates artwork that has conflicting contrast, those that have stunning visual impact. I also know that the few nights before Ma Yin¡¯s sister disappeared, Doctor Gao¡¯s car was caught on camera around Jiujiang Medical University.¡± Lee Zheng sounded tired on the phone. ¡°He knows the school inside out and managed to avoid all the surveince. It was not until we broadened the scope of the search that we noticed his car showing up in the area around the school. Wepared all the footage from the nearby cameras, and the final conclusion was, in that twenty-seven minutes where he disappeared from screen, he was actually inside the school.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute, could there be someone who was driving his car? Using his car to conduct these crimes?¡±

    ¡°That is what I was about to say.¡± Lee Zheng¡¯s tone slowly turned serious. ¡°There might be two killers to this case.¡±

    ¡°Two killers?¡±

    ¡°Whether Doctor Gao is the killer or not, it is an undisputed truth that his car was inside the campus during that sensitive period of time, and there were only two people who could drive his car into the campus¡ªone was Doctor Gao himself, and the other person was Liu Zhe.¡±

    Lee Zheng¡¯s words made Chen Ge¡¯s eyes widen. ¡°Wait, you¡¯re telling me Liu Zhe¡¯s brother-inw is Doctor Gao?¡±

    ¡°Indeed! This was a crimemitted by two people. The person who killed Ma Yin¡¯s sister and wanted to move the dead body through the statue was Liu Zhe, and he should be the one who did all the dirty work.

    ¡°However, the man was dumb and exposed too many clues. If hemitted the crime alone, it would have surfaced in a matter of days. However, weirdly enough, when we looked through the files on the case, all the clues that the police coulde up with were silenced. It felt like an invisible hand was snuffing out these trails before the police could get their hands on them.¡± Lee Zheng sighed. ¡°Liu Zhe would not be able to do something like that. I¡¯ve been a police officer for almost a decade already, and in my mind, there is only one person who is capable of doing something like that¡ªDoctor Gao.¡±

    ¡°But why would Doctor Gao do all these things to protect Liu Zhe, to help him cover up the crime?¡± Chen Ge voiced the biggest question that he had.

    ¡°Liu Zhe is the little brother of Doctor Gao¡¯s wife and the only family she had that is still alive.¡± Lee Zheng seemed to know what Chen Ge was about to say, so he pointed it out first. ¡°Doctor Gao¡¯s wife died in a car ident about seven years ago. Asking him to take care of her family was her dying wish.¡±

    Chen Ge was not Doctor Gao, and he did not understand that feeling, so he chose to be silent.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I know you are close to Doctor Gao, but I hope you will be rational at a time like this. I made this call because this is an order from Captain Yan. We suspect that Doctor Gao is involved in this somehow, but all the clues and trails have been cleaned up, and everything that we currently have is just a suspicion.¡±

    ¡°What do you want me to do?¡±

    ¡°Gao Ru Xue is Doctor Gao¡¯s only daughter and the person he loves the most in the world. If we contact Gao Ru Xue without any warning and evidence, it would only tip off Doctor Gao. Only you can do that.¡± Lee Zheng stated the real intention of his call in a roundabout way. ¡°Gao Ru Xue is an opening; you have saved her life once, so she will not be cautious around you. Therefore, we need you to approach Gao Ru Xue to find out more about her father.¡±

    ¡°Why me?¡± Chen Ge had always ¡®volunteered¡¯ to help the police. This time, he was requested by thew enforcement to help in a case, and that made him rather ufortable.

    ¡°Because you are the only avable candidate.¡± Lee Zheng chatted some more with Chen Ge, but he did not force Chen Ge; he merely suggested it. After hanging up, Chen Ge sat in the dark truck, and his expression wasplicated. If Liu Zhe¡¯s brother-inw was Doctor Gao, then the real owner of Room 3004 at Fang Hwa Apartments was Doctor Gao.

    Theptop that contained all the information on his Haunted House was Doctor Gao¡¯s, and the person who stole the video footage from his visitors was Doctor Gao. Chen Ge did not have the brain power to consider helping Lee Zheng because there was a bigger question upying his mind. <i>Is Doctor Gao really the chairperson of the ghost stories society?</i>

    His body moved along with the car; the road condition was not so great. Chen Ge took out his phone to check back the information that Doctor Gao had sent to him when he first went to the Third Sick Hall. At the time, he had known nothing of the Third Sick Hall and asked Doctor Gao for a list of patient records. Now that he thought about it, the records were definitely suspicious. The records were not essible to anyone, but Doctor Gao produced them in minimal time.

    <i>Why would he help me back then? </i>Chen Ge looked at the records and could not figure out Doctor Gao¡¯s mind. <i>Did he just think it was exciting, or did he want to use the Third Sick Hall as a test for me?</i>

    After Zhang Ya made short work of the Third Sick Hall, themunication between Doctor Gao and Chen Ge had drastically decreased. Before this, be it Men Nan or the Pen Spirit¡¯s friend, it was Doctor Gao who had acted as the bridge.

    <i>This is what I know about No. 10: he has seen my Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s mask, is familiar with the movement of the police, has long fingers, is close to me, knows Jiujiang Medical University very well, and calls the dead body on his back his wife.</i>Chen Ge realized that Doctor Gao fitted all the characteristics of No. 10 perfectly. He was not sure whether it was positive reinforcement or not, but when he thought about it, Chen Ge realized that No. 10 sounded a bit like Doctor Gao. The height and body shape of No. 10 in the ck robe slowly ovepped with Doctor Gao.

    <i>Could it really be him? </i>Chen Ge¡¯s fingers were intertwined together. He thought back on the visit he made with Doctor Gao to the home of Pen Spirit¡¯s friend. The friend had suffered from serious depression, and after Chen Ge brought the Pen Spirit over to help ease the guilt in her friend, Doctor Gao had thanked Chen Ge on the patient¡¯s behalf. The thank you came from his sincere heart, and even now, Chen Ge could still remember the words that Doctor Gao said. He really could not believe someone like that could be the chairperson of the ghost stories society.

    <i>Patients, doctors... </i>However, as he thought about it, the basis for the founding of the ghost stories society was to help those special patients relieve their pain. They used extreme methods to heal themselves to seek salvation, to try to be normal people. However, the final result was that they sunk deeper and deeper into the depths of hell until they could not be called normal human beings anymore.

    <i>Was this all Doctor Gao¡¯s n from the beginning? </i>Chen Ge had heard from one of the members that they had once tried to save a person who was afraid of water by making her face the source of her fear. They had made her ovee it by personally drowning her father. The treatment method was inhumane and could never be epted by the society, so it could only be carried out in the shadows of the city. Holding the phone, Chen Ge felt conflicted for the first time.

    He could whack any of the patients from the Third Sick Hall with the hammer without hesitation, but he was not sure that he could do that to Doctor Gao. Whether it was when he was treating Men Nan or his other patients, Doctor Gao was wless. If he was acting, he was a very good actor. However, it did not feel like he was. Chen Ge could sense that he really did want to help those people.

    <i>Human beings sure areplicated. </i>Chen Ge leaned against the wall of the truck. Hugging the white cat in his embrace, he nced out through the gap in the wall. <i>It¡¯s almost dawn.</i>

    The truck drove for another hour, but it did not enter the city. The driver drove Chen Ge to the edge of town when he said that he had something urgent to attend to and had to go somewhere else. Chen Ge¡¯s mind was muddled by the phone call from Lee Zheng, so he did not think much of it. He thanked the man and got out of the truck.

    As he watched the movingpany¡¯s truck drive away, the cold breeze touched his face, and Chen Ge felt his mind brighten and clear. <i>Something is wrong with this truck driver.</i>

    When he first got into the car, the truck had been shaking violently. This proved that the driver had not been using the ttened main road. In fact, it felt like he was driving them further away from civilization, using the small roads.

    The change happened when he received the call from Lee Zheng. The truck driver probably heard the phone call between Chen Ge and the police, so he changed the direction and drove the truck back to the main road.

    <i>Was he trying to silence me? Did he change his mind after hearing my phone call with the police?</i>

    When Chen Ge was trying to figure out this issue, a taxi came from the road that the movingpany¡¯s truck had disappeared down earlier.

    Chen Ge waved his hand to stop the taxi. He climbed in. ¡°Boss, drive me to Western Jiujiang¡¯s New Century Park please.¡±

    ¡°Is the theme park open so early in the morning?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m one of the workers there.¡± Chen Ge smiled. He pointed at the road that the taxi hade from. ¡°When you came from that road, did you see the truck of a movingpany? That driver...¡±

    ¡°Truck? There was no such thing. I was the only car on the road.¡± The taxi driver was even more confused than Chen Ge.

    ¡°No truck?¡± Chen Ge touched the white cat¡¯s head. ¡°Then who gave me the lift? But the white cat did not warn me.¡±

 Chapter 403 - The Phone Spirits Request

    <h4>Chapter 403: The Phone Spirit¡¯s Request</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge held the cat in his arm. He wondered if it was because the white cat had stopped caring about normal ghosts since it had seen too many powerful baleful specters. The white cat did not get Chen Ge¡¯s meaning. It moved its head as it struggled to escape from Chen Ge¡¯s grasp.

    ¡°Perhaps I haven¡¯t been paying any attention.¡± The taxi driver thought about it. ¡°I came over from the industrial area. There is a junction there. If the truck went east, then I would have missed it.¡±

    The driver was quite optimistic and did not think about the supernatural possibility.

    <i>The truck driver just drove me over from Eastern Jiujiang, so why would he drive back there after dropping me off? </i>Chen Gemitted the driver¡¯s face to his memory. <i>Did he feel unsettled after hearing my conversation with the police and go back to deal with some unsightly things?</i>

    Afraid that the white cat might ruin the taxi¡¯s cushion, Chen Ge hugged the white cat in his arms. ¡°Boss, have there been any serious events in Eastern Jiujiang? Like murders and stuff?¡±

    The driver nced at Chen Ge through the rear-view mirror, and he looked panic. He had never seen a customer that started a conversation with a topic like this. ¡°There hasn¡¯t been anything like that in Eastern Jiujiang, but Western Jiujiang has been quite unsafetely. There have been a few serious cases in the past two months.¡±

    ¡°Western Jiujiang?¡± Chen Ge felt that sounded weirdly familiar. ¡°I think Western Jiujiang is still rather peaceful.¡±

    Since he could not get any more news from the driver, Chen Ge took out his phone and went online to search. As the driver had said, other than the articles on the Futuristic Theme Park, there was nothing big happening in Eastern Jiujiang.

    <i>The undercurrent flowing beneath this calm surface is rapid and dangerous. I¡¯ll need to investigate this further.</i>

    After shifting into a morefortable position, Chen Ge opened the video recording software to inspect the video that he had recorded that night. He had begun recording before he entered the tunnel, and in the video, he was calling out his own name as he stepped into the tunnel.

    Without any post-editing, the realistic video was already scarier than most scary movies. From Chen Ge¡¯s expression, it was clear that the man himself did not know what to expect, and the fear of the unknown was often most alluring to the viewers. After he walked ten steps, the light darkened, and the screen blurred.

    From the video, one could hear the sound of another person¡¯s footsteps. However, Chen Ge was calm on camera. It created a great contrast to the flighty white cat. This was a unique viewing experience. The white cat scratched his clothes madly like it was trying to warn the man about the encroaching danger. However, as the main character, Chen Ge was unfazed. This was amon trope in scary movies, and if the viewers were pulled into Chen Ge¡¯s perspective, they would be worried for him.

    As he walked deeper into the tunnel, the scare level heightened. In the video, Chen Ge seemed to have spotted something. His expression changed, and he kept turning his head to look in a particr direction. However, in the video, there was nothing there.

    When he made the 42nd step, the light suddenly went off, and Chen Ge¡¯s yelp and the white cat¡¯s shrill hiss were all captured on camera. Several secondster, the video returned to normal, but Chen Ge in the video looked like he was possessed. He talked to the air alone and finally bent down like he was trying to carry something on his back. The ending of the video was Chen Ge carrying that thing out of the tunnel.

    ¡°I have a feeling this is going to be another popr video.¡± Looking at the video, Chen Ge felt nervous for himself, much less those viewers. Attaching the logo of his Haunted House, Chen Ge gave the video a good title and uploaded it on the app.

    ¡°Shocking! Unknown Man did WHAT inside a tunnel at 3 am?¡±

    Once his video was released, all the fans that followed him would receive notification. It did not take long for hisments section to explode. Exploring a tunnel at 3 am was something intriguing, so most came to check it out due to curiosity. Early morning was when the app had the least traffic, and Chen Ge believed that the video would gain traction when morning came.

    He updated the information about the Haunted House on his profile page to include the various promotions of theme park. When he was done with all that, he exited the app.

    <i>My videos and livestream can help me find poprity, and Yan Danian¡¯s serialic will maintain that poprity. If this continues, I can even create a super terror theme park that has an online presence.</i>

    Chen Ge had confidence in his future. It would have been difficult toplete this alone, but thankfully, he had many good employees.

    Be it Yan Danian, Pen Spirit, or even Ol¡¯ Zhou and Bai Qiulin, each of them had great potential.

    <i>When I have enough money, I can even shoot scary movies and dramas.</i>

    With the aid of his employees, Chen Ge would save plenty of money on special effects. His workers would need to y themselves.

    <i>I have too many good employees. I wonder who would take the center spot.</i>

    Chen Ge put this phone away. Employees like Yan Danian and Ol¡¯ Zhou were good employees for Chen Ge, so the more the better. Sitting inside the taxi, Chen Ge looked at Eastern Jiujiang and muttered, ¡°I¡¯ve explored almost all of Western Jiujiang. Perhaps I can find more valuable workers in Eastern Jiujiang.¡±

    Then he closed his eyes to rest. The driver gripped the steering wheel tightly. He nced at Chen Ge through the rearview mirror. For some reason, he had a feeling that Eastern Jiujiang was going to get very busy soon.

    ¡°I have said something wrong...¡±

    Chen Ge reached New Century Park at 5 am. He walked into the staff breakroom and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. However, he only slept for two hours before being shaken awake. Theic that he had left on the table was making plenty of noise. Yan Danian seemed to be looking for him.

    Climbing up from bed, Chen Gemunicated with Yan Danian and realized that the phone spirit had been ¡®persuaded¡¯. He was willing to join Chen Ge, but he had one small request.

    The phone spirit was very useful to Chen Ge, and he valued this ghost a lot. Chen Ge was afraid that the sun might hurt the phone spirit, so he walked into the underground scenario with theic before he let the phone spirit out.

    After being educated by the other ghosts inside theic, the phone spirit saw the fault of his ways. He looked like he was just seven or eight. He had his head lowered and looked scared, like he was afraid of Chen Ge.

    ¡°I¡¯m different from the ghost stories society. I¡¯m someone who can be reasoned with.¡± Chen Ge looked at the boy. He was overly thin, and there was an old-fashioned telephone hanging around his neck. ¡°Tell me, what is your wish? If it is not too unreasonable, I will help you fulfill it.¡±

 Chapter 404 - Im Sorry [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 404: I¡¯m Sorry [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The phone spirit looked at Chen Ge shyly and fearfully. He picked up the old phone around his neck with both of his hands. The disy that was glowing weakly had ny-nine unanswered calls, and every single one of them came from the same registered number¡ªMom.

    Chen Ge felt like the phone spirit was not an evil spirit; he could not feel any vengeance or venom from him. If anything, the phone spirit felt like a boy who did not know anything.

    ¡°You want me to help you find your mom?¡± The phone spirit nodded. He raised his thin arms and waved them before Chen Ge, trying to tell him something. However, Chen Ge could not get what he was trying tomunicate. The phone spirit then grabbed the phone around his neck and wrote a message to send to Chen Ge. His phone vibrated, and Chen Ge read the message that he had just received.

    ¡°My mom has been searching for you. I want you to use my phone to send a message to her. My phone is in Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s Li Wan City.¡±

    ¡°Your wish is for me to send a phone message to your mother?¡± Chen Ge nodded. Each of the ghosts had their own story, and it was because of unfulfilled dreams that they remained in the human world. Chen Ge put the phone spirit back into theic. He nned to help him fulfill his wish that day. <i>The ghost stories society has wasted such a special spirit. Only I will be able to support him to his full potential.</i>

    The phone spirit would be immensely useful to Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. If the phone spirit was willing to help him, the number of visitors using their phones to take pictures and videos inside the Haunted House would drastically decrease.

    After taking a cold bath, Chen Ge changed into a set of clean clothes and then cleaned the Haunted House for a while. The theme park opened for business at 9 am. The sky was rather dim and cloudy, but that did not dampen the visitors¡¯ passion. Compared to the previous few days, the number of visitors had increased a lot.

    One-star scenarios had already lost their attraction to the returning customers. Most of the visitors had started to challenge the two-star scenarios, and the most experienced visitors were already challenging three-star scenarios. In just one morning, six to seven batches of visitors entered Coffin Vige and Third Sick Hall. The visitors¡¯ adaptive skill toward the new scenarios was much greater than Chen Ge had expected.

    Everyone had a threshold for fear inside their heart, and as they experienced more scary scenarios, the threshold would slowly increase, which created pressure for Chen Ge.

    <i>The reward for the Third Sick Hall¡¯s Trial Mission was the ten mental patients. If I really ce them inside the Third Sick Hall, even without the other set-ups, I will be able to scare the visitors until they pee their pants. However, the key problem is that I cannot guarantee that the souls of these mental patients will listen to mymand. They are mental patients after all.</i>

    To ensure the patients¡¯ safety, Chen Ge did not use the patient¡¯s list for the Third Sick Hall.

    <i>There is temporarily no better solution. When someone is close to beating the scenario, I¡¯ll just have to ask Ol¡¯ Zhou and his friends to go ¡®help¡¯ the group of visitors.</i>Chen Ge¡¯s concern for the visitors¡¯ enjoyment was multi-faceted. While he was thinking about ways to scare the visitors, he was still concerned about their safety as well. <i>Nowadays, it is certainly hard to do business.</i>

    Sitting inside the Haunted House, after Chen Ge sent the visitors in the underground scenario, he grabbed a chair and sat down to rest. His current biological clock was almost simr to Zhang Ya; his day was night, and night was day. He had tons of activities at night, and in the morning, he needed to find time to sleep. Taking out his phone, Chen Ge went online to look for information on Li Wan City. It was just a normal small town.

    <i>The phone spirit¡¯s phone is in Eastern Jiujiang, so he should have been haunting Eastern Jiujiang. How did he end up in the hands of the ghost stories society? Does this mean the society is also somehow rted to Eastern Jiujiang? </i>Chen Ge shook his head. He believed that the chance of that was very low.

    After a whole day of working, the Haunted House only stopped operations at 6:30 pm. After Xu Wan and Gu Feiyu got off work, Chen Ge first gave Lee Zheng a call, asking how he was supposed to cooperate with them. The answer given by Lee Zheng was for him to not do anything for now and wait for their update. Since the police had said that, naturally, Chen Ge would not go and stir the pot.

    He entered the staff breakroom to put the hammer and the tape recorder inside his backpack. After making sure that he had not forgotten anything, he exited the Haunted House, closed the door, and hailed a cab to get to Eastern Jiujiang.

    Unlike the previous night, Chen Ge felt confident. He did not feel any trace of fear in his heart. If anything, he felt anticipatory and excited. Li Wan City was not that isted; the taxi drove for thirty minutes before Chen Ge arrived at his destination.

    During the journey over, it started to rain. The rain was not heavy, but Chen Ge did not have an umbre with him. After paying the fare, Chen Ge rushed into a mobile operation center that was close by.

    Seeing how curiously dressed Chen Ge was, the person behind the counter eyed him suspiciously and asked with caution, ¡°Sir, how can I help you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I¡¯ll just be looking around on my own.¡± Chen Ge took out theic and found a silent corner tomunicate with the phone spirit. After a while, his phone received a new message from the phone spirit.

    ¡°Pu Ming Apartments¡¯ top floor on Li Wan City¡¯s East Street? Is this the address?¡± Chen Ge read the address on the phone and then turned to find that person who served him earlier. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but how do I get to Pu Ming Apartments?¡±

    ¡°Just follow this street and walk straight until you see the oldest building.¡± The person was quite nice, and she thought that Chen Ge was an outsider who had just moved to the city and was looking for a ce to rent. ¡°East Street is rather unsafe, and the ce is not clean. I suggest you find a ce at West Street. Yes, the rent might be higher but not by much.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Chen Ge carried his backpack and ran to Pu Ming Apartments in the rain. After about ten minutes of light jogging, he finally found the apartment building that was described by the phone spirit. The building looked like it was well over thirty years old¡ªit looked old and decrepit. ¡°Is this the ce?¡±

    Chen Ge entered the building, and the ce looked vacant. Most of the room doors had a thickyer of dust. He climbed all the way to the top. The door that led to the rooftop was locked. The lock was rusted until the keyhole waspletely rusted shut.

    <i>Looks like this ce has been abandoned for a long time already. </i>Chen Ge took out the hammer from his backpack to smash the lock away. He pushed the door open. The rooftop was filled with garbage, and there was a row of potted nts by the wall. However, the nts inside were all already dead. <i>The phone spirit¡¯s phone is here?</i>

    Chen Ge looked around the ce before focusing his attention on the few water tanks. The water tanks looked like they had been used by the tenants to marinate cabbage. The tanks were all sealed, and a boulder was ced on top of them. Chen Ge inched closer to them with the hammer in hand. He moved the boulder away and opened the first water tank. The tank was empty; it had nothing inside.

    Then, Chen Ge moved the boulder away from the second water tank. Before he even opened the tank, a weird smell drifted out from inside. He flipped open the lid, and when he looked in, Chen Ge¡¯s eyelids twitched.

    There was a desated child that was as thin as a twig trapped inside the tank. His facial features were simr to the phone spirit¡¯s, and there was an old-fashioned phone hanging around his neck. Chen Ge stood beside the tank for a long time until his hair was slick from rain. ¡°Found you.¡±

    He took out his phone to prepare to call the police when the phone spirit sent him a message. ¡°Before calling the police, I wish to use my own phone to send my mom a message. She must be very worried.¡±

    ¡°Must we use your phone?¡± Chen Ge did not know why the phone spirit stopped him from calling the police, but he respected the boy¡¯s decision. ¡°Okay.¡±

    He did not want to ruin the crime scene. He snapped a few pictures of the water tank and removed the phone from the boy¡¯s body. After so many years, of course, the phone could not be operated anymore. He reced the tank¡¯s lid and prepared to return after hepleted the phone spirit¡¯s wish.

    Putting away the hammer, Chen Ge ran downstairs to return to the mobile center where he had hidden from the rain. The rain became heavier, soaking his shirt.

    ¡°Sir, how can I help you again?¡± The person had just met Chen Ge, so she was surprised to see him return so soon.

    ¡°Can you help me charge this phone? Is there still charger for this model? If the phone cannot be used anymore, then please help me remove the sim card.¡± Chen Ge passed the phone to the woman. The woman looked at it, and her face scrunched up in difficulty. She rummaged through the counter but could not find a suitable charger. ¡°Sir, your model is quite outdated already.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t used this phone for many years already. I understand the difficulty. If you cannot really turn the phone on, can you help me remove the sim card? I need to get the phone number.¡± Chen Ge understood the phone spirit¡¯s thought. His mother had been looking for him, so he wanted to use his own phone to send his mother onest message.

    ¡°Hasn¡¯t been used for many years?¡± The person shook her head. ¡°But sir, if you haven¡¯t paid the phone bill for more than three months, the number will automatically be deleted, so I believe your number has been deactivated already.¡±

    ¡°Deactivated?¡± Chen Ge stood beside the counter; his hand subconsciously went to grip theic in his pocket.

    ¡°Wait, let me check for you.¡± The person was very patient and kind. She opened the casing and removed the sim card. She then copied the number on the card into theputer to pull out its information. Looking at the information that came on screen, the person was shocked. ¡°Your card is still in operation.¡±

    ¡°Really? But didn¡¯t you say the number would be deactivated after three months? The phone hasn¡¯t been used for years already.¡± Chen Ge tried to nce at the screen. He also felt this was rather impossible.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s if you haven¡¯t paid for over three months. But since your number was activated seven years ago, every month, someone woulde to pay the bill. Here is the payment record.¡± The screen showed all the payment records for the past seven years, and thetest transaction had happened the day before!

    The woman looked at Chen Ge, and her face turned up into a smile. ¡°Sir, even though you forgot about this number, someone did not. She held on for seven years¡ªthat is quite unbelievable on her part.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Chen Ge bought a new phone that could use the sim card from the woman and left the center. He slotted the card into the new phone. Looking at the dim sky, he walked into the nearby alley to summon the phone spirit.

    ¡°This is our deal.¡± Chen Ge passed the phone to the phone spirit. The small boy held the phone, and his body was shaking. The rain continued to pour. Chen Ge squatted down silently before the phone spirit and looked into his eyes as he asked, ¡°How about I bring you to go meet her?¡±

    The phone spirit shook his head. He held the phone but did not dare send the message. After a long time, he passed the phone back to Chen Ge.

    ¡°She is afraid that you will not be able to contact her after your number gets deactivated, so she goes to pay the phone bill monthly to keep your number activated. She has been waiting for you.¡± It was unknown whether it was Chen Ge¡¯s words or not, but the phone spirit sent Chen Ge a message and disappeared.

    Opening the message, it contained an address¡ªthirty-seven Pu Yuan Road, Tong Tong Florist. Chen Ge did not stop to rest but called a taxi to drive him to the address given by the phone spirit.

    At around 8 pm, Chen Ge reached thirty-seven Pu Yuan Road, and by then, it was pouring heavily. Chen Ge¡¯s shirt waspletely drenched. He leaned against the wall and studied the florist that was on the other side of the street. The shop was small, but the d¨¦cor wasfortable and weing. When he walked toward it, he could even smell the flowers in the air.

    He pushed open the ss door, and the wind chime jingled. A woman who looked about thirty was working on a flower arrangement. When she heard the wind chime, she stood up and quickly put the flower arrangement down.

    Chen Ge studied the woman before him. She looked very normal. ¡°Hi, I wish to buy a bouquet of carnations.¡±

    ¡°Is it for your mother? What type of carnations does she like?¡± The woman led Chen Ge deeper into the shop.

    ¡°I don¡¯t quite know. How about you pick the ones that you think are pretty.¡±

    ¡°Okay, then you cane pick it up tomorrow morning. Or I can send you a picture, and if you¡¯re satisfied, I can have it sent to you.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge looked around the shop and found a small wooden board on top of the cashier counter. There was a picture of a cute boy pasted on it. ¡°Is that your son?¡±

    The woman nodded, and the emotions in her eyes wereplicated. ¡°His name is Tong Tong. He disappeared around the shop about six years ago. The police suspect that he was kidnapped by human traffickers.¡±

    ¡°Human trafficker?¡± Chen Ge did not ask for the woman to borate. When she was spacing out, Chen Ge left the money for the bouquet on the counter. ¡°I¡¯m sure your boy is fine, perhaps he is thinking about you now.¡±

    Chen Ge walked out the store, not wanting to disturb the woman anymore.

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± The woman suddenly called after Chen Ge.

    ¡°What is it?¡± While Chen Ge was surprised, the woman came out from the shop with an umbre. ¡°It¡¯s raining outside, take this and use it. You can return it to me tomorrow when youe to collect the bouquet.¡±

    Chen Ge thanked the woman, but he did not ept the umbre, striding right out of the florist. The sound of the wind chime was swallowed up by the rain. Chen Ge walked around the block before entering the caf¨¦ across from the florist. He picked a spot that was next to the window and summoned the phone spirit. ¡°Talk to her. She has been waiting for you.¡±

    Chen Ge passed the newly bought phone to the phone spirit. The little boy, who looked thin and vulnerable, held the phone in his two arms and stood beside the window, looking at the opposite street.

    The lights in the florist went off, and the woman came out with her bag and the umbre. Like usual, she locked the door and walked away.

    Seeing her shadow disappear into the distance, the phone spirit finally picked up the phone. He thought about it for a long time and used his phone number to send a message to the woman.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Across the street, when the woman heard the message alert on her phone. She did not pay it any heed at first. She held the umbre in one hand and pulled out the phone with another. However, when she saw the message on screen, her body seemed to freeze.

    The umbre fell from her hand, and she stood alone in the pouring rain with the phone in her hand.

    Inside the caf¨¦, the phone spirit leaned against the window, and the window reflected the tears that poured down his face.

 Chapter 405 - No One Can Bully My Employee

    <h4>Chapter 405: No One Can Bully My Employee</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The rain continued to pour, and the sight was blurred. Chen Ge sat across from the phone spirit and watched this silently. The phone spirit was one street away from his mother, but those several meters was the distance between two worlds, viewable but not touchable.

    ¡°Do you want me to bring you to meet her?¡± Chen Ge asked softly. The phone spirit shook his head quickly. He used his hand to wipe the tears from his face, but the tears just would not stop.

    After a long time, he sent a message to Chen Ge. ¡°Call the police, she has waited long enough.¡±

    Through the window, the phone spirit looked at the woman who stood in the rain. His hand fell on the window lightly, and he said something before disappearing. The woman on the street seemed to have heard him because she turned toward the caf¨¦ as if subconsciously, but she could not see the person that she wanted to see.

    After the woman left, Chen Ge walked out of the caf¨¦. He looked at the city covered by rain, and his expression wasplicated. He had been through many thingstely; first it was Xiaoxiao and her grandfather, and now it was the phone spirit and his mother.

    Some people had already departed, but the people living still missed them. Perhaps it was also because of this emotion that they had hope. Leaning against the wall, Chen Ge ignored the rain that fell on his body. He was contemting a question that had been bothering him.

    <i>What exactly is a ghost?</i>

    After he gained the ck phone, he hade across many different types of ghosts, but the more he encountered, the more confused he became. He nced at Tong Tong florist, which had closed for the night, and walked into the alley with his phone.

    ¡°Captain Yan, I want to ask you for a favor. About seven years ago, a boy by the name of Tong Tong has disappeared in Eastern Jiujiang, the police suspected he was taken by human traffickers. Can you still find the file on that case?¡±

    Captain Yan heard the unusual tone in Chen Ge¡¯s voice, and he thought about it before replying, ¡°The case was probably handled by Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s police force; I¡¯ll call them in a bit to ask.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Are you alright? You sound disturbed.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± After ten minutes, Captain Yan called Chen Ge again. ¡°Found the case file. There was no suspect. The only information is that the car that captured Tong Tong was from Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s Li Wan City. However, the police were unable to find Tong Tong there. They suspected that the culprit had already moved him elsewhere.¡±

    ¡°Did they investigate Pu Ming Apartments?¡±

    ¡°Pu Ming Apartments? Let me ask.¡± Captain Yan sent a message to the people at Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s police station, and after a while, he replied, ¡°They did, but they did not see the kid or hear any crying.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I understand.¡± Chen Ge stood in the alley, his body swallowed up by darkness.

    ¡°Are you hiding something from me?¡± Captain Yan sounded worried.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing serious, just that someone has wronged my employee.¡±

    ¡°Employee?¡± Captain Yan could hear the ruthlessness in Chen Ge¡¯s voice, something that he had not heard before. ¡°Chen Ge, no matter what happened, don¡¯t act recklessly!¡±

    ¡°I will not act recklessly; I¡¯m just asking for justice.¡± After hanging up, Chen Ge got the rest of the information from the phone spirit. The human trafficker stayed at Pu Ming Apartments. After the police entered Li Wan City, he panicked. The child was crying, so afraid of being discovered, he killed Tong Tong and shoved the body and the phone into the water tank at the rooftop.

    ...

    At 11:30 pm, Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s police station received a call saying that someone had discovered the human trafficker responsible for the missing child several years ago. The caller even reconstructed the whole case for them, including the capturing, the killing, and the hiding of the body.

    The police mobilized immediately. When they left the police station, they discovered a man lying unconscious by the front door. Afterparing details, they realized with a shock, this man was the human trafficker!

    The police hauled the man away, and Chen Ge left in the taxi. He hadpleted the phone spirit¡¯s wish. The phone spirit¡¯s affection toward Chen Ge had greatly increased, and Tong Tong¡¯s name appeared on the ck phone as an employee of the Haunted House.

    However, Chen Ge was not that happy. He had suggested to reveal certain information to Tong Tong¡¯s mother several times, but he had been denied every time. The boy did not want to stop his mother from moving on.

    Chen Ge finally had a good night¡¯s sleep that night. The next day, sunlight shone into the room. He stretched and looked out the window. ¡°It¡¯s finally a sunny day.¡±

    At 8:15 am, Xu Wan arrived at the Haunted House with breakfast. She looked like she had just woken up. Looking at Chen Ge, whose hair was cowlicked, she shook her head. ¡°Boss, this is for you. Eat it while it¡¯s hot.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Chen Ge brushed his teeth and started munching on Xu Wan¡¯s breakfast offering.

    At 8:25 am, Gu Feiyu rushed over from theme park entrance. He wore the new worker¡¯s tag that Uncle Xu had given him around his neck. He greeted everyone that he met. It seemed he loved this job a lot.

    ¡°Go and start the preparation, the visitors will being soon.¡± Chen Ge personally helped them with the make-up and sent him into the scenarios.

    There was still fifteen minutes to opening time when Director Luo came over with Uncle Xu. Apanying them were several other park workers.

    ¡°Director Luo, why are you here?¡± Chen Ge had done quite a few thingstely, giving Director Luo plenty of trouble.

    ¡°I came to give you something good.¡± Director Luo pointed at the workers, who were carrying several boxes. ¡°Do you still remember the triangtion wristband and software app I told you about?¡±

    Chen Ge nodded and then turned to look at the boxes. ¡°The app is done?¡±

    ¡°It has passed the internal test; we can use them now.¡± Director Luo had the workers pull over a table and ce the boxes on it. Many wristbands sat inside. ¡°These one thousand wristbands can be given away for me. You can say it¡¯s for the open beta test. In the future, the visitors will have to purchase the band on their own. The front of the box and the logo on the side has a QR code¡ªthey can download the app by scanning it directly. There¡¯s a promotion going on: the first one thousand users can apply for a discount and enjoy a ny percent discount when theye to visit next time.¡±

    The workers were busy, and the people walked in and out of the resting hall. It looked like they were setting up some electronics.

    ¡°I¡¯ll also help you aquire a bigger monitor that can show the progress of the visitors and a brief introduction to each scenario. The proposal for the multi-purpose hall has been approved, and work will start in three days.¡± Director Luo felt like he was ying a very serious game of chess. ¡°I n to remove attractions like the merry-go-round and some others, which should make it more convenient for you to expand in the future. Secondly, our current technical level is still a distance away from the futuristic park, so I n to purchase a batch of new devices to try to narrow down this distance.¡±

 Chapter 406 - Surrender

    <h4>Chapter 406: Surrender</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    He had not met the man for a few days, but Chen Ge realized that Director Luo suddenly had new confidence in New Century Park, and this confused him.

    ¡°Director Luo, you have to think about this closely. The distance between our New Century Park and the futuristic theme park in terms of technical power cannot be resolved by buying some new devices or attractions.¡± Chen Ge believed that Director Luo should have been more familiar with that than he was.

    ¡°Updating the attractions is to shorten the distance. The influence of your Haunted House is still growing, so the park mustn¡¯t pull you back; we have to update ordingly.¡± Director Luo knew what Chen Ge was worried about. ¡°The budget is already there. Don¡¯t underestimate the power that the theme park has collected over the years.¡±

    Before the workers, Director Luo always maintained his look of confidence like everything was within his control. Of all the people there, probably only Chen Ge really understood Director Luo¡¯s difficulty. The theme park already had no money, and this new asset was probably something that Director Luo collected through his connections and channels with some sacrifices.

    Updating the attractions and building the multi-purpose hall required a great amount of money, but since Director Luo had said that, Chen Ge would not counter him in front of the crowd. Everyone was working to save the theme park. The futuristic theme park in Eastern Jiujiang was opening in a few weeks, and this was the most crucial moment for New Century Park. Their morale could not be shaken at a time like this.

    The park opened at 9 am, and Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House had be the park¡¯s main attraction. Thus, he had the most visitors. In just a few minutes, a long line had formed in front of the Haunted House. The visitors realized the changes in front of the Haunted House, and many downloaded the app. Initially, they were merely curious, but they slowly realized that the app was quite interesting.

    The visitors that came early in the morning were mostly the Haunted House¡¯s loyal fans. They had a shared interest, and after downloading the app, they started chatting on the forum.

    ¡°I, Ol¡¯ Zhang, have returned! This time, I will clear this one-star scenario!¡±

    ¡°First group to challenge three-star Coffin Vige today! Bringing two girls with me!¡±

    ¡°Mu Yang High School looking for teammate, no heart problem and will not abandon teammates during crucial moment.¡±

    ¡°Fighting for the dead, protecting the living! Communication thread for Jiujiang Medical School students!¡±

    The forum quickly became rife with activity. The visitors were all very passionate¡ªit felt like this one app had gathered everyone with the same interest, giving them a ce to share their thoughts, thus cultivating loyalty in the fans of the Haunted House. As the visitors entered the Haunted House and the ranking on the big monitor changed, the visitors waiting also became more excited.

    The points earned from clearing a three-star scenario was the highest, so the number of visitors wanting to attempt three-star scenarios increased. Chen Ge did not have time to rest; he kept moving between the few underground scenarios to prevent any idents. He busied himself until noon when Director Luo came over again. After confirming the poprity of the app, he left with a satisfied smile.

    Xu Wan and Gu Feiyu left for lunch, and Chen Ge left the underground at around 2 pm. He was rather tired from so many visitors. Most visitors just passed Mu Yang High School and directly moved to challenge Third Sick Hall or Coffin Vige. This meant that the screams had not stopped from the underground.

    Chen Ge ran back and forth between the few scenarios. He had just helped the visitors out from the Third Sick Hall when he heard the blood-curdling scream from Coffin Vige. In the end, he had to ask help from Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s group. He did not need them to scare people but needed them as ushers to prevent the wandering visitors from running into idents.

    The moment they appeared, they were ready to do something big, but after strong persuasion from Chen Ge, they finally surrendered to his demand. Afraid that their faces might be recognized, Chen Ge ran to the changing room to pick out outfits that would cover up their faces before letting them go. Chen Ge sighed in relief with the help of the three ghosts.

    No one cleared the three-star scenarios, and no visitors fainted from the scare¡ªthis was the best solution for Chen Ge so far. The few scenarios opened at the same time, and Chen Ge felt greatly pressured. He really needed a managerial ghost. ¡°If I have nothing to do tonight, I should return to Mu Yang High School.¡±

    Chen Ge sent off thest visitor at 6 pm. He called Xu Wan and Gu Feiyu, telling them to remove the make-up and leave work. After dealing with everything, Chen Ge returned to the staff breakroom and climbed into bed. ¡°After a whole day of work, I don¡¯t feel that tired. I wonder if my body is changing or if I¡¯ve gotten used to this type of high-stress lifestyle?¡±

    Just as Chen Ge was wondering what to do that night, his phone rang. He realized that it was a call from Lee Zheng.

    ¡°Do you need my help now?¡± Chen Ge was working with the police for the first time. He did not know what he was expected to do.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I have something to tell you.¡± Lee Zheng seemed to be at the office¡ªthe background was quiet. ¡°Liu Zhe has juste to surrender.¡±

    ¡°Surrender?¡± Chen Ge sat up in bed. With Liu Zhe¡¯s selfish personality, he would not do something like this.

    ¡°We suspect that Doctor Gao has realized something and decided to give up on Liu Zhe and push the me onto him.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. That Liu Zhe has a lot of resentment toward Doctor Gao. If something really happened, he would have dragged Doctor Gao down with him.¡± Chen Ge managed the Haunted House and woulde into contact with many people, so he was a good people reader.

    ¡°Let me finish. Even though Liu Zhe came to confess his crimes, his condition is very off. He looks very distracted like he is in a state of sleep-walking.¡± Lee Zheng also felt that something was off. ¡°We are thinking along the line of hypnosis or mental suggestion, but Jiujiang doesn¡¯t have this type of expert, and we cannot do anything for now.¡±

    ¡°Meaning the trail on Liu Zhe has gonepletely cold?¡± Liu Zhe¡¯s condition was simr to Liu Xianxian and Ma Yin that day when they returned to their bedroom. Chen Ge believed that this was the doing of that ashy-skinned woman.

    ¡°Unfortunately, that is the case until he recovers.¡± There was helplessness in Lee Zheng¡¯s voice. This time, their opponent had covered up everything, not giving them a chance. ¡°Therefore, we hope you can gain contact with Gao Ru Xue silently and the actual details that we need you to get from her. I will send you an email tomorrow; this call is just a reminder.¡±

    ¡°Of course, I understand.¡± After receiving the ck phone, Chen Ge had troubled the police many times, and now that they needed his help, of course, he would not reject it.

 Chapter 407 - Four Strange Events

    <h4>Chapter 407: Four Strange Events</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After getting the reply from Chen Ge, Lee Zheng sounded more rxed. The man also could not understand why he would feel pressure whenever he talked to Chen Ge. ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else, I shall hang up. Rest early.¡±

    Lee Zheng was about to hang up, Chen Ge said, ¡°Wait a minute, I have a question.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°When Liu Zhe surrendered, did he give up the location where he hid the body, and was the body found?¡±

    ¡°It is as we thought. Liu Zhe was university staff, so he used the convenience of his identity to have the students move the statue into the underground storeroom. He went thereter at night to remove the body from inside the statue and transport it to the morgue.¡± Lee Zheng¡¯s voice lowered like he remembered something traumatic.

    ¡°Meaning you have entered the underground morgue?¡± Chen Ge listened closely. The underground morgue was a three-star scenario and was thest mission to unlock the four-star scenario School of the Afterlife, so any information rted to the underground morgue was crucial to him.

    ¡°I entered the morgue with the university staff this morning and found the body in morgue no. 5. We ran a DNAparison, and she was indeed Ma Yin¡¯s missing sister.¡±

    When Lee Zheng said that, Chen Ge¡¯s ck phone vibrated. He took it out and saw that there was a new message. He did not read it immediately but continued to question Lee Zheng. ¡°Brother Zheng, can you tell me about theyout of the underground morgue? Or do you have the map?¡±

    The underground hadplicated terrain, and a map would be important. Lee Zheng was thirty so, it was not out of ce for Chen Ge to refer to him as Brother Zheng. However, for some reason, when he heard that, the hair on the back of his head stood like something bad was about to happen. ¡°We don¡¯t have a map as we had the university staff with us, but I do know the roughyout. Why are you asking about this?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just curious.¡± Chen Ge moved the topic around before Lee Zheng finally gave him the information he needed.

    ¡°The underground morgue at the university was the biggest underground morgue in Jiujiang, perhaps even in Northern China. It had been in use since the university started, so it had more than several decades of history already. When we entered, the staff told us not to wander off because the tracks were very confusing, but based on their function, they could be generally separated into three types.

    ¡°One was the white corridors that were used to transport the bodies, another was the unpainted corridors for people to walk, and thest type was painted red. The staff did not tell me what the red corridors were for, but he did remind us to not walk down the red corridors.¡± Lee Zheng¡¯s words intrigued Chen Ge. He was hearing about these red corridors for the first time. ¡°Could it be due to the influence of the ¡®door¡¯?¡±

    ¡°Hmm, what did you say?¡± Lee Zheng did not catch Chen Ge¡¯s mumbling.

    ¡°Nothing, please continue.¡±

    ¡°How big the underground morgue was, the staff were not clear. There were six morgues on the records, but after we entered the ce, we only walked a third of the distance, and we had already passed three small morgues and two middle-sized morgues.¡± Lee Zheng sounded like he had something to do because he picked up his speed. ¡°Thergest morgues are deeper in, and I hear they are body pools. Meaning it¡¯s a big pool filled with formalin, and the dead bodies are left soaking in the pool. When they are needed for experiments, they have to be hauled up tond. However, that was something used many years ago; they have been abandoned. Nowadays, they use freezers to store the bodies.¡±

    Lee Zheng gave Chen Ge a brief introduction of the morgue, but it was not of much use to Chen Ge. The ce was tooplicated and without a guide, Chen Ge felt like it would be very dangerous if he entered alone.

    ¡°Brother Zheng, when you all were down there, did you hear any weird noises? Or did anything weird happened?¡± The underground morgue was simr to his own Haunted House¡¯s underground parking lot¡ªthe ghosts coulde up in the day because the ce was hidden from the sunlight.

    ¡°Anything weird?¡± Lee Zheng paused to think. ¡°Now that you mention it, there are a few. We were passing through the unpainted corridors for people, but when we passed a white corridor, we heard something that sounded like pping at the end of the corridor.¡±

    Chen Ge was interested. ¡°Can you tell me in more detail?¡±

    ¡°It sounded like something was pping at the other end of the corridor, but when we passed it, there was no one. However, there was this weird observation where the white corridors were cleaner than the unpainted corridors, like people still used them to this day.¡± Chen Ge took out a pen and paper to jot down all the details that Lee Zheng gave him.

    ¡°The second strange event was, when we passed Morgue No. 1, a member saw someone moving inside the morgue, but the morgue was locked, and we should have been the only ones underground at that time. We asked one of the staff, and he said that the member was probably too tired. The underground morgue was stuffy, so the member probably mistook a shadow for a person. He even consoled my member, saying that he would get used to it.

    ¡°The third strange event happened after we entered Morgue No. 5. When everyone was looking for the body described by Liu Zhe, the door suddenly closed on its own. It felt like someone close it from the outside, trying to lock us in.

    ¡°Thest thing happened when we prepared to leave with the body. We exited Morgue No. 5 and retraced our steps, but the time it took us to leave was twice the time it took us to enter.¡± The fourth strange event confused Lee Zheng the most. Even now, he could not figure out why. ¡°You might not believe me, but it was a strange feeling, like the corridors had been stretched.¡±

    ¡°You make it sound so scary.¡± Chen Ge looked at the paper and the details that he had jotted down.

    ¡°Not quite scary.¡± Lee Zheng seemed to hear something in Chen Ge¡¯s voice, and he changed his tone. ¡°Chen Ge that ce is particrly dangerous. Don¡¯t youe up with some weird thought.¡±

    ¡°What kind of weird thought could I have?¡± Chen Ge was speechless. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m that kind of person?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just reminding you not to go there alone. I still have something to do, so I¡¯ll hang up now.¡± Lee Zheng then ended the call. Chen Ge sat in the room alone. He realized that he had underestimated the danger of the underground morgue.

    ¡°Both Coffin Vige and the Third Sick Hall were three-star scenarios, but the scariest presence of the ce had been removed due to some reason, and I was lucky in that sense.¡±

    When Chen Ge arrived at the Third Sick Hall, of the ten patients only three remained, and it was even luckier for Coffin Vige; the strongest ghost had been in Jiang Ling¡¯s body, and she had meant Chen Ge no harm.

    ¡°A full three-star scenario is still too dangerous for my current state.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at his shadow, and he felt conflicted.

 Chapter 408 - Liu Zhes Special Hobby

    <h4>Chapter 408: Liu Zhe¡¯s Special Hobby [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    If this three-star scenario had been at an open space, Chen Ge would not have been so conflicted. With the help of his workers, if he could not win the fight, at least he could have made a swift retreat. However, the problem was, the morgue was underground. If something happened, there was no ce for him to run, and there was a high chance that he might be trapped down there.

    Holding the pen and paper, Chen Ge made a quick assessment of the baleful Specters that he had on his side. ¡°Technically speaking, my Haunted House can be considered a three-star scenario. I have many ghosts and most of them have special powers, but generally, theirbat ability is very weak.¡±

    Eighty percent of the Haunted House¡¯sbat power came from Zhang Ya, fifteen percent was Xu Yin, and thest five percent was everyone else. ¡°I have the power to force my way through other three-star scenarios, but I¡¯ll need to wait for Zhang Ya to wake up first.¡±

    Honestly, there were ways to make Zhang Ya wake up sooner¡ªChen Ge only needed to find other female ghosts to chat with. However, should Zhang Ya wake up from that provocation, he might be the one who died. Chen Gey in bed. He told himself that he probably should not rely on Zhang Ya so much, but it felt nice having someone to depend on.

    ¡°The other Specters at the Haunted House have potential to improve. Xu Yin¡¯s heart hasn¡¯t been dyed red yet, and he is just one step away from bing a real Red Specter. Thisst step should be rted to the door.¡± Turning the pen in his hand, Chen Ge thought back to the door at the Third Sick Hall. ¡°Should I go ask Men Nan¡¯s main persona? That boy is a door-pusher, so he should know plenty of information.¡±

    Chen Ge was subconsciously averse to the world behind the door, but he had already lost that choice a long time ago. ¡°The chairperson of the ghost stories society has at least two Red Specters, Xiong Qing and his wife, so I have to be prepared to face two Red Specters at once.¡±

    Chen Ge looked out the window at the darkening sky. ¡°Since I have nothing to do tonight, I should pay the Third Sick Hall a visit.¡±

    After packing his backpack, Chen Ge nced at the ck phone before he left. When Lee Zheng mentioned the missing person¡¯s body had been found, the ck phone vibrated, and Chen Ge had not read the new message. He clicked the message open.

    ¡°The Special Visitor¡¯s Mission, The Missing Wife, has beenpleted. Specter¡¯s Favored, congrattions for unlocking the scary scenario¡ªWife¡¯s Room!

    ¡°Wife¡¯s Room (One-star Scream Factor): I thought that he would marry me, but he shoved me inside the statue and ced me inside the morgue that could see no sun.¡±

    The hidden mission for the special visitor Liu Xianxian had beenpleted, but there were many unanswered questions. For example, why would Liu Xianxian force herself toe into contact with these scary things? And why would she force herself to smile when she was fearful?

    Chen Ge knew that Liu Xianxian was hiding something from him. The girl¡¯s rtionship with Liu Zhe was not simple, so he might be able to get some information on Liu Zhe from her. ¡°Now that Liu Zhe is mentally unstable, I should focus my investigation on Liu Xianxian. The weird reactions that she has been showing should be rted to Liu Zhe. This might be a useful opening.¡±

    Carrying his backpack, Chen Ge stopped at the entrance to the Haunted House. After some thought, he changed his mind and hopped into a taxi to head to Western Jiujiang Medical University. When he arrived, Chen Ge walked into the campus like he usually did.

    ¡°Hey, what are you doing?¡± A tall and thin security guard stopped Chen Ge. The man looked like he was not in a good mood, and his expression was dark.

    ¡°Going to look for someone.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s gaze scanned the tag that hung before the man¡¯s chest. The man was one of the suspects that Lee Zheng had told Chen Ge about, Zhang Li. Before Liu Zhe surrendered, Lee Zheng had also suspected Zhang Li. On the night that Ma Yin¡¯s sister disappeared, it was Zhang Li who had been on the night shift.

    ¡°The security at the campus is heavytely, and outsiders are not allowed into the campus. You need to call that person out to meet you.¡± Zhang Li was not going to give Chen Ge any leeway¡ªthat was probably one of the reasons he was not popr among the students.

    Chen Ge did not waste time arguing with Zhang Li. He called Liu Xianxian and told her to meet him at the campus entrance.

    ¡°Boss Chen, you want to talk to me?¡± Liu Xianxian had a good impression of Chen Ge. He was a nice person, friendly and passionate, and most importantly, he had saved her life once.

    Chen Ge nodded and led them to the teahouse that they had met up at the previous time. He asked for a private room. After the door was closed, the room became very quiet.

    After a moment¡¯s silence, it was Chen Ge who spoke first. ¡°How well do you know Liu Zhe?¡±

    The mention of Liu Zhe¡¯s name made Liu Xianxian¡¯s face fall. The color seemed to seep from her eyes as she told Chen Ge of her story with Liu Zhe. Listening to Liu Xianxian¡¯s description, Liu Zhe was a perfect man. He had no weakness, but his overwhelming memory of his wife was the reason he was so hesitant to ept a new romantic rtionship.

    After hearing what she had to say, Chen Ge looked at Liu Xianxian and asked his second question. ¡°That day, when we were inside the underground storeroom, Ma Yin risked her life to protect you, and when it was at the most dangerous, she did not give up on you. Now, I¡¯m asking you a question. One day, if both Ma Yin and Liu Zhe fell into the water and you could only save one, who would you save?¡±

    It was a very clich¨¦d question, but Chen Ge sounded very serious.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Liu Xianxian picked up the tea cup from the table. She was feeling ufortable from Chen Ge¡¯s stare. It felt like Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were like knives, puncturing her heart.

    ¡°Liu Zhe has just handed himself in to the police.¡± Chen Ge cut right into the main reason she was there. ¡°The killer that murdered Ma Yin¡¯s sister several year ago was him.¡±

    The tea cup ttered to the ground, and the scalding tea sshed all over Liu Xianxian, but the girl seemed like she could not feel the pain. Her eyes widened as she stared blindly at Chen Ge. ¡°This happened two hours ago, and Liu Zhe is in police custody.¡±

    ¡°Impossible!¡± Liu Xianxian sprung up from her seat. The man that she loved was the killer of her best friend¡¯s sister¡ªthat was quite hard for her to ept. Seeing Liu Xianxian¡¯s reaction, Chen Ge sighed in relief. He was afraid that Liu Xianxian would choose to help the man cover up the truth even though she knew Liu Zhe was the killer.

    ¡°Things have not reached the worst situation yet.¡± Chen Ge tried to make Liu Xianxian calm down and told her the whole process of how Liu Zhemitted the crime. Before the truth, all arguments and lies were powerless, and Liu Xianxian sat across from Chen Ge dumbly.

    ¡°Actually, I believe you should have noticed the various problems surrounding Liu Zhe, or else you would not have gone to search for that statue to ask whether the man still loved you or not.¡± Chen Ge gave Liu Xianxian some time to process the truth before he continued with his questions. ¡°When you entered my Haunted House for the first time, I noticed that when you were facing scary things, even if you were really terrified, you would not hide from them. In fact, you would try your best to smile at them. Ma Yin said that this change happened to you in the second year of university. Is this change rted to Liu Zhe as well?¡±

    After a long time, Liu Xianxian nodded, and she told Chen Ge everything. ¡°Actually, when I saw Liu Zhe for the first time, I already had a crush on him. He is a caring man and knows how to take good care of others. When I was with him, I was very happy and very satisfied.

    ¡°Everything was going fine until the night of the second semester of the second year. We had juste back from a movie and parted at the campus entrance. I was halfway back to the dormitory when I realized he left his glove in my purse. I ran back to find him but found out he did not return to the ce he was staying but sneaked into the western part of campus.

    ¡°The way he looked so nervous was different from how he was usually. I was worried that he was caught in something bad, so I followed him quietly. The night was exceptionally dark, and I saw him sneak into theb building that was supposed to be sealed. When I got closer, I heard him in the middle of a conversation with someone with terms like dead bodies and blood vessels being thrown around.

    ¡°I climbed onto the window to sneak a look, and that was a scene that I would not forget for the rest of my life. Liu Zhe was standing in front of a specimen box, talking to a human head that was encased in it. I never thought that the man I love could be a madman, and I almost screamed.

    ¡°I bit on my fingers to stop the scream from escaping. The n was to sneak away unnoticed. Liu Zhe was facing away from me, so he did not notice me, but the human head inside the box seemed to have stopped me!

    ¡°The heavy eyelids that were supposed to be close moved open an inch, and without any outside force, the human head bounced against the ss lightly. Then Liu Zhe seemed to have understood something, and he turned to run out of the room. I knew then that I had been discovered. I tried my best to run out of the building, but I was still caught up by Liu Zhe.

    ¡°I was so scared, afraid that he might do something crazy like those mad people in movies. However, to my surprise, Liu Zhe stopped when he was about three to four meters behind me. Using a painful and hopeless tone, he told me his story.

    ¡°Seven years ago, after his wife¡¯s car ident, he had be a different person. He swore he could sense the presence of those things, and he could even hear his wife calling his name every morning like she used to do.¡± Liu Xianxian looked at her hands that were red from the scalding tea, and her voice was raw. ¡°I was touched by his loyalty. This type of man should not be judged by the world, so I promised to help him keep this secret.¡±

    ¡°He has taken advantage of your kindness. Based on my investigation, Liu Zhe has not been married, and what he told you was what happened to his brother-inw.¡± Chen Ge pressed the service bell and had the servere over to help Liu Xianxian with her burned hands.

    ¡°I know, I realized some things after a while.¡± After the server left, Liu Xianxian continued her story. ¡°After spending some more time with Liu Zhe, I started to notice some weird things about him, like he would enter the underground morgue every Wednesday.¡±

    ¡°Enter the underground morgue every Wednesday?¡± Chen Ge took a sip of the tea. Wednesdays were the day of the week when the ghost stories society would meet up.

    ¡°Yes, but no one knew what he was doing there. I tried to question him about it, but he would explode and get angry at me, saying that he did not want to do it either. He was forced; he was also a victim.¡± Liu Xianxian took out her phone and found a recording for Chen Ge to listen to. ¡°I didn¡¯t understand why he needed to get so angry so during one of our arguments, so I silently recorded it.¡±

    Chen Ge put on the ear buds and listened to the recording for a while. Other than anger, there was also traces of nervousness and fear in Liu Zhe¡¯s voice. He sounded like he was afraid of something. ¡°Was there anything else curious about the man in his everyday life?¡±

    Liu Xianxian thought about it. ¡°Liu Zhe¡¯s closet radiates this formalin smell, and whenever he cooks, the dishes have a simr smell. The stench seems to have seeped into his body, so he has made a habit of putting on heavy cologne before leaving the house.¡±

    Liu Xianxian hesitated before she exposed something even scarier. ¡°Liu Zhe is not a medical student, but there was a lot of research on autopsies and death study on hisputer. His interests and hobbies are rather unique, or some would call it scary. It seems he is an adrenaline seeker. The more dangerous something is, the more excited he bes.¡±

    Her face forced a smile, and Liu Xianxian touched the corner of her upturned lips. ¡°You are right in the sense that this is also because of him. He once told me that there are many scary presences in this world that are beyond humanprehension. However, if we turn to smile at them, they will not harm us.¡±

    ¡°Is that why you have been trying so hard to train yourself?¡±

    ¡°Liu Zhe has been very nice to me; he bought me many things and took good care of me. I lost my father when I was very young, and the feeling he gave me is very unique. Perhaps I was possessed at the time, but for his sake, I was willing to do anything.¡±

    Chen Ge felt like he had found out everything he needed to on Liu Zhe, so he jumped over that topic. ¡°How well do you know Liu Zhe¡¯s brother-inw?¡±

    ¡°Honestly, not much.¡± Liu Xianxian shook her head. ¡°He would go far away from me whenever he answered his call. He seems to be afraid of his brother-inw. Oh, right, there was one time when Liu Zhe had an argument with his brother-inw. At the time, Liu Zhe practically begged the man with tears in his eyes, saying he did not want to go through those red corridors anymore.¡±

    ¡°Then what did his brother-inw say?¡± The underground morgue¡¯s corridors were separated into three types; Lee Zheng had told Chen Ge that before.

    ¡°His brother-inw¡¯s voice was low, so I couldn¡¯t hear it clearly, but he seemed to be saying that everything would be fine if he did not make a sound after entering the red corridors.¡±

    ¡°So, one needs to be quiet inside the red corridors. Okay, I understand it now.¡± Chen Ge nodded. Liu Xianxian had inadvertently revealed some important information to him. He asked some more questions, and after making sure that he did not leave out any details, Chen Ge sent Liu Xianxian back to the university. Before they parted, he reminded her to stay in the dormitory if she had nothing else to do and to not go anywhere with few people.

    Chen Ge called the taxi to drive him to the Third Sick Hall. Inside the taxi, Chen Ge keyed in all the information on his phone. He was preparing a guide to take down the underground morgue. Chen Ge arrived at the Third Sick Hall at around 11 pm. This time, he had the whole group of employees with him, so he was not afraid of a fight with Men Nan¡¯s main persona.

    After paying the fare, Chen Ge hopped over the wall and ran to the third building. Thest time he was there was several weeks ago, but the ce had not changed. Pulling off the seal on the door, Chen Ge pushed open the steel door and stood before the door to Room 3.

    Back then, Men Nan¡¯s main persona had said that whenever midnight struck, the blood door would open for a minute, and if Chen Ge wanted to find him, he coulde at this time. Standing outside Room 3, as time ticked by, Chen Ge became increasingly nervous. This was the first time he would reach into the world behind the door actively.

    His palms sweated, and his heart raced. Chen Ge stared at the door of Room 3. When the first blood vessel appeared, he pressed the y button on the recorder.

 Chapter 409 - Arent We Friends?

    <h4>Chapter 409: Aren¡¯t We Friends?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Blood leaked out from the edges, dying the whole door red. Chen Ge held the hammer in one hand and pushed the blood door open. The world before his eyes turned cloudy, and his body was enveloped by a red mist; it felt like he had walked into a viscous liquid. Waving the hammer, Chen Ge took a shallow breath, and the smell of blood sucked into his nostrils, making him slightly ufortable.

    ¡°Whenever I enter the world behind the door, I¡¯m weirdly worried like something inside this world is calling me.¡± Chen Ge called out Xu Yin to follow behind him before he felt better. ¡°The world behind the door should influence Red Specters somewhat. This ce is filled with various negative emotions, stacked with human despair. The longer one stays here, the greater the resentment will be, making it more difficult to seek salvation.¡±

    With Xu Yin¡¯spany, Chen Ge felt confident. He pushed the doors to each room open, but he could not find Men Nan.

    ¡°Where did he go?¡± Chen Ge walked to the end of the corridor and saw the door that led to the electrotherapy room. ¡°Last time I was here, this is where I met Men Nan.¡±

    He pushed the door open. The cold bed was covered with various blood red equipment, and all the equipment¡¯s circuit was connected to an old man¡¯s head. Chen Ge nced at it and realized that the man was familiar. The old man was the former director of the Third Sick Hall. He had escaped to the world behind the door with the patients to ambush Men Nan because he suffered from a terminal disease.

    ¡°How are you doing, old director?¡± Chen Ge walked over with a friendly smile like he had happened across an old friend. The old man looked much weaker and tired, but even in his condition, when he heard Chen Ge¡¯s voice, his eyes flew open.

    ¡°You...¡± He saw Chen Ge and remembered the incredibly violent female Red Specter, and the words that he wanted to say got stuck in his throat.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? What do you want to tell me?¡± Chen Ge sat down next to the old man¡¯s skull, and his tone was light like he was visiting a neighbor. The old man nced at Chen Ge, and his eyes turned like he wasing up with a n. However, he soon saw Xu Yin, who walked out from behind Chen Ge.

    ¡°Another Red Specter?¡± The red eyes red at the old man¡ªthe evil intention in Xu Yin¡¯s eyes was on full disy. It felt as if with amand from Chen Ge, the old man¡¯s head would be torn into pieces.

    Collecting his thoughts, the old man looked at the pair of bandits, and his voice sounded even weaker. ¡°Why are you back here?¡±

    ¡°Where is Men Nan¡¯s main persona? I have something to ask him.¡± Chen Ge was not worried about the old director¡¯s trick. He might have plenty of dirty tricks, but in terms of power, he was no match for a Red Specter.

    ¡°He should be on the fourth floor now. The windows there have been broken, so he¡¯s fixing them.¡± The man spoke quickly like he was trying to make Xu Yin and Chen Ge leave as soon as possible.

    ¡°You should know the consequence of lying to me.¡± Chen Ge believed that the chance of the old man lying was low, but he was a cautious man.

    ¡°Why would I lie to you?¡± The old man sighed. He had a feeling that Chen Ge was merely seeking a reason to annoy him.

    ¡°If you say so.¡± Chen Ge led Xu Yin out of the room and walked past the patients that filled up the corridor to the fourth floor. Once he exited the stairwell, Chen Ge noticed that something was wrong. The mist on the fourth floor was much thicker, and the smell of blood in the air was pungent.

    ¡°Has there been an ident? Have the people from the society been here?¡± Chen Ge pushed open the doors on both sides carefully. When he almost reached the end of the corridor, he saw a small figure walk out from one of the sick bays. The shirt that was dripping with blood was a great contrast to his babyish face. He was surrounded by the blood mist like he was the one that caused it.

    ¡°Chen Ge?¡± The mist gently dispersed, and when Men Nan raised his head and saw Chen Ge, he frowned. Honestly, he did not know why he frowned, but he knew that whenever he saw this man, trouble would not be faraway.

    ¡°I heard from the director that you¡¯re here, so I came to see you.¡± Chen Ge nced inside the room that Men Nan had just walked out from and saw the window in the room seem like it could not be closed.

    ¡°Just say whatever you want to.¡± Men Nan might have looked like a child, but his IQ was beyond normal. He was a genius, but he had grown up inside a mental hospital, so his worldview was different from others.

    ¡°You¡¯re being too aloof now.¡± Chen Ge led Xu Yin to walk toward Men Nan. ¡°You do not have much family in Jiujiang, and I can be considered your only friend, so isn¡¯t it normal for me toe visit you?¡±

    Stopping beside the boy, Chen Ge squatted down to put himself at Men Nan¡¯s eye level.

    ¡°We¡¯re not friends. I have no friend and don¡¯t need one.¡± Men Nan took steps back like he was cautious of Chen Ge. ¡°You came to find me because of that Specter behind you, right? He¡¯s missing a heart before he can be a Red Specter. You don¡¯t know how to do that, so you came to ask me.¡±

    Before Chen Ge said anything, Men Nan had already guessed everything. Men Nan took another few more steps back to maintain a safe distance from Chen Ge. ¡°There exists a small set of normal Specters that have the potential to be Red Specters. Such ghosts normally have a great resentment at time of death and are highly aggressive. They are very murderous or in other words, extremely dangerous, uncontroble maniac.¡±

    ¡°But aren¡¯t you a Red Specter, too? Howe I feel like that description doesn¡¯t fit you?¡± Chen Ge looked at Men Nan, who had sidled away from him like he was afraid of him.

    ¡°I was talking about ghosts like him who have the potential to be Red Specters. People like myself who pushed open the ¡®door¡¯ will naturally turn into a Red Specter after death.¡± Men Nan let slipped a great secret.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that. Then doesn¡¯t that mean each door represents a Red Specter?¡± Chen Ge stood up. He had a feeling that he would be able to get a lot of useful information from Men Nan that night.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how doors are formed, but I can be sure every door has at least one Red Specter behind it.¡± Men Nan nced at Xu Yin. ¡°For people like him who are about to be a Red Specter, there are only two methods. Make him be the owner of a door or feed him a fully-established Red Specter.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that too difficult?¡± Chen Ge shook his head; both methods were too hard. He had a door at his Haunted House, but he did not know anything about the world behind it and did not dare explore it.

    Eating a Red Specter was even harder. Other than the story, he only knew three Red Specters at Jiujiang¡ªthe female well inside the well at Coffin Vige, the woman at the tunnel, and Men Nan.

    Each Specter was more malicious than the one before it. Men Nan looked the weakest, but the boy was the cleverest. Even the reason he told Chen Ge this information now could be a test.

 Chapter 410 - The Spectreâ€™s Heart

    <h4>Chapter 410: The Spectre¡¯s Heart</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Are there any other methods? The only spot that has not been dyed red for Xu Yin is his heart, so I¡¯m sure this is a unique situation, right?¡±

    When Chen Ge was speaking, Men Nan had been staring at him. After confirming Chen Ge did not have the intention to murder him, his expression softened a lot.

    ¡°There are indeed other methods, butpared to these two methods, it is more troublesome.¡± Men Nan only reached the top of Chen Ge¡¯s knees, but he did not sound much different from an adult. ¡°Normal Specters need to attach themselves to something to ensure that they will not dissipate as time goes by; however, Red Specters do not have this concern. The reason is because a Red Specter has a heart.¡±

    ¡°Heart?¡±

    ¡°Or the ghost¡¯s equivalent of a heart.¡± Men Nan sighed. ¡°Or anger, or vengeance, or resentment, when a certain emotion reaches its maximum, it will be a Specter¡¯s heart. This heart will aid them in leaving the object of possession and enable them to exist in the physical world. The baleful Specter behind you has consumed enough ghosts, but he has not found his ¡®heart¡¯. If he can find that ¡®heart¡¯, then he can easily be a Red Specter.¡±

    He nced at Xu Yin, and the young face was filled with confusion. ¡°The Specter you have is mixed with different kinds of emotions. There is despair, pain, regret, and a desire that I cannot understand. It is rare for a ghost to have so many intertwining emotions, and that should be the reason he is not yet a Red Specter.¡±

    Hearing Men Nan say that, Chen Ge realized that Xu Yin was indeed different from other Specters. He listened to his order fully and did not ask for anything in return. At Fang Hwa Apartments, Xu Yin almost sacrificed himself to stop the society¡¯s Red Specter. Chen Ge wondered, why would Xu Yin be somitted? Just because he had once saved him?

    It appeared like Xu Yin was forcing himself to believe everything that Chen Ge said; he trusted Chen Ge unconditionally like he was trying to prove a point. Chen Ge could still remember the first time he saw Xu Yin. At the time, he had just been slightly stronger than a normal ghost, and he could not even defeat the thin monster from the society. However, even when he was at his weakest, as long as Chen Ge gave the order, he would follow it without considering the consequences like he was seeking death.

    ¡°The greater the pain, the stronger he bes. Perhaps I¡¯ve been underestimating Xu Yin.¡± Chen Ge felt like he had a need to have a chat with Xu Yin, but not there. Men Nan¡¯s main persona was very clever. Before he joined the Haunted House, Chen Ge did not want to reveal too many trump cards to the boy.

    ¡°The simpler the emotions, the easier one can be a Red Specter. Simrly, when a negative emotion has reached its full potential, one can be a door-pusher.¡± Men Nan felt like he has said a lot that night, so he waved at Chen Ge. ¡°I still have something else to do, so I won¡¯t be walking you out. See you again.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not often that Ie to visit, why are you so insistent to chase me away? After all, I did save your life.¡± Chen Ge walked closer to Men Nan with Xu Yin.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Men Nan became alert immediately.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I just want to make aparison.¡± Chen Ge pointed at his shadow. ¡°There is another Red Specter living in my shadow. Can you tell how she became a Red Specter?¡±

    Chen Ge had always been curious about Zhang Ya. Because of her disappearance, the scream factor for Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy instantly dropped by one-star. Therefore, before Zhang Ya swallowed the old director and the Red Specters from the society, she could already hold up the entire three-star scenario on her own.

    Men Nan stared at Chen Ge¡¯s shadow for a long time, and his face suddenly turned very nervous. ¡°I can sense something familiar from the Red Specter in your shadow. She should be simr to me. We both pushed open a door when we were alive.¡±

    ¡°Zhang Ya is also a door-pusher?¡± Chen Ge thought back to Zhang Ya¡¯s history, and he shook his head. ¡°The ce that she haunted doesn¡¯t have a door though.¡±

    After Chen Ge said that, Men Nan¡¯s expression became even more nervous. He slowly retreated into the blood mist. ¡°My feeling is never wrong. If she is not the door-pusher then she must have consumed a door-pusher!¡±

    Men Nan¡¯s body slowly dissipated. He realized that he was afraid of Chen Ge. This man was like a walking monster den. ¡°I¡¯m warning you, don¡¯t have any silly ideas. The door-pusher can garner two hundred percent power in the world behind the door.¡± Men Nan thought about it and probably realized that number was still not enough to fight Zhang Ya, so he changed his words. ¡°The door at the Third Sick Hall has been broken by those few mental patients. If I¡¯m not here to watch over the door, the consequence would be unimaginable.¡±

    Chen Ge had always been curious about the world behind the door, so he followed Men Nan¡¯s words and asked, ¡°What kind of consequence? The monsters behind the door will escape into the real world?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re underestimating the world behind the door. This blood red world is filled with various negative emotions and the memories abandoned by living humans. If the door is not closely watched over, these things will slowly seep into the real world. As the gap deepens, something very scary will appear.¡± Men Nan led Chen Ge into the room where the window could not close. The window frame was intertwined with blood vessels that knitted into human faces. ¡°I cannot mention their name in this world, but you only need to know they are different from normal Specters.¡±

    Men Nan pulled a vessel from the frame, and it made a human scream. He passed the vessel to Chen Ge as if he was trying to tell Chen Ge something. When he touched the blood vessel, a despairing and painful memory flooded his mind. The memory¡¯s owner had a face that was simr to the one formed by the vessels. He had been chased before being horribly murdered.

    ¡°Each blood vessel is a horrible memory.¡± Men Nan leaned on the window and looked into the world. ¡°This is a fully blood red world.¡±

    Men Nan tried to tell Chen Ge something, but he did not dare say it in detail. Chen Ge did not quite get it, so he could onlymit what the boy had said to memory. Chen Ge still had many questions to ask Men Nan, but the boy did not have the patience and quickly sent Chen Ge out the door.

    Whenever Men Nan opened the door, he would be vulnerable for a period of time. Chen Ge memorized that as well. That seemed to be the weakness for the door-pushers.

    After leaving the Third Sick Hall, Chen Ge walked on the highway for a long time before he ran into a kind person. The man dropped him somewhere close to the city, and Chen Ge called for a taxi to drive him to Mu Yang High School.

 Chapter 411 - Charity and Sin

    <h4>Chapter 411: Charity and Sin</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°It¡¯s only 2 am; there¡¯s still time.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone to look through the stuff that he had recorded. He was considering how toplete the mission at the underground morgue.

    The passenger wanted to go to an abandoned school in the middle of the night, and that caused great pressure on the driver. With sweat running down his face, he kept studying Chen Ge through the rear-view mirror.

    Chen Ge felt ufortable being scrutinized so closely. He suspected that if he continued to do this, he might be going on the cklist of the taxipany at Jiujiang.

    ¡°Looks like I should consider buying a car, but I don¡¯t have a driver¡¯s license. Or I should try to find a Specter that knows how to drive.¡± The truck driver that Chen Ge had met in Eastern Jiujiang shed across his mind; the man was quite suitable. ¡°Afterpleting the mission at the underground morgue, I should pay Eastern Jiujiang a visit. If the truck driver is willing to join the Haunted House, I can save the money on buying a car.¡±

    Finding a potential employee, Chen Ge could not help but smile. Chen Ge arrived at Mu Yang High School at 2:40 am. He waded through the brush and soon found the school hiding in the darkness.

    ¡°This ce is only a two-star scenario, but how could it feel creepier than the Third Sick Hall?¡± Chen Ge pulled open the backpack. He was there to ask the old principal for his help, so he did not want to make it look like he came with aggression in mind. However, without the hammer in his hands, Chen Ge could not calm down. Holding the hammer, Chen Ge pressed the recorder and entered the school. ¡°The old principal once appeared in the sealed ssroom.¡±

    The bodies inside the well had been discovered, and after the police left, it had been a long time since a living person returned to this ce. The grass had swallowed up the school grounds, and Mu Yang High School had returned to its original state.

    Walking down the charred corridor, Chen Ge entered the education block. He pushed open the door to the sealed ssroom and looked inside. The tables and chairs were arranged neatly, and like how he did on his first visit, Chen Ge sat in the middle of the room.

    There was weird writing on the ckboard, various senseless requests were carved on the table, the windows rattled slightly, and the wind blew into from the cracks on the ss. Nothing had changed, but the questions in Chen Ge¡¯s mind were different from the previous time he was there.

    ¡°Where could the old principal be hiding?¡± Chen Ge did not have any bad intention toward the old principal¡ªhe just wanted them to have a reunion. After thinking for a while, Chen Ge removed the ballpoint pen from his backpack. Sitting there, Chen Ge started ying the Pen Spirit game.

    ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, you are my spirit from my previous life, and I am your spirit in this life. Can you tell me where Mu Yang High School¡¯s first principal is?¡±

    The ballpoint pen stood perpendicrly on the table, and after some hesitance, she wrote, ¡°Office.¡±

    Chen Ge nodded when he saw the word. He felt like the Pen Spirit had found a sense of belonging in the Haunted House and even pride; he feltforted by that. He stood up and left the sealed ssroom. Chen Ge walked to the office block. He looked through every room and found the principal¡¯s room at the end of the corridor.

    To leave a good impression on the principal, Chen Ge knocked on the door five times, and after hearing no answer, he used the hammer to knock it down. Chen Ge then realized that the room was quite empty. ¡°The old principal built Mu Yang High School from the ground up, so he shouldn¡¯t have left this ce.¡±

    Perhaps the timing was not right, or perhaps he had some reasons to not show up. ¡°In his life, the old principal was a nice person. After death, he came back to take care of the students because he was worried. Now that I¡¯m taking care of the students, could he have moved on before he had no other reason to stay in this world anymore?¡±

    Chen Ge thought about it and realized that the possibility of that was not zero. Chen Ge stepped into the room. The principal¡¯s office was tidy; other than the table, chair, and a shelf, there was nothing else.

    ¡°The Pen Spirit must have her reasons for telling me toe to this office. Could it be that the old principal knows that I¡¯m looking for him so he left already?¡± The image of a fat old man appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, and he was wrought with uncertainty. He walked to the table to pull the drawers open. The first drawer had several certificates for city-levelpetitions. Mu Yang High School had few students and teachers, and the students did not really score good marks. Normally, when they were invited topetitions, they were there to take up thest ce. The number of certificates that they had won was little, but the old principal had kept every single one of them. ¡°The old principal really did want to build a good school, but he couldn¡¯t do it alone.¡±

    Chen Ge opened the second drawer. It was filled with appreciation letters. Most of them came from students, and some were for donations of outside parties. ¡°He even kept these things.¡±

    After rummaging through those letters, he did not find anything useful.

    He pulled open thest drawer. It had a pair of reading sses and several thick ount books. ¡°Contribution and donation statistics?¡±

    Chen Ge flipped through the books, and when he saw the name on the first line, he was stunned.

    ¡°Jiujiang Mental Illness Research Center, Doctor Gao?¡±

    To make sure that this was the Doctor Gao whom he knew, Chen Ge went online to search for it. ¡°Indeed, this is Gao Ru Xue¡¯s father.¡±

    Flipping through the books, Doctor Gao had always been the top donor every month, and this changed Chen Ge¡¯s impression of the man again. There were donations from different organizations in thetter half of the book. Chen Ge knew about those because they always made a big deal out of the donations like they could not wait for the whole world to know about their charity. However, in reality, their donations were much lower than Doctor Gao¡¯s.

    Doctor Gao did not once mention that he was so charitable. ¡°Could someone like this be the chairperson for the society?¡±

    Chen Ge stood next to the table. If Doctor Gao was really the chairperson of the ghost stories society, then he had to be the mostplicated person that Chen Ge had ever met. ¡°On one hand, he is supporting charity, helping patients, but on the other, he murders and aids the monsters behind the door. What is his real purpose?¡±

    Chen Ge could not fathom Doctor Gao¡¯s thoughts. The best psychologist in Jiujiang had his own thoughts buried deep in his heart. Thest ount book contained the replies that Doctor Gao had written to the children. These were all kept by the old principal. Chen Ge found a picture that was slid between the pages.

    The picture was blurry, but he could recognize it with one nce. Doctor Gao was in the picture. He was standing next to a young man and surrounded by children. Standing not far from them was a shy woman. The woman¡¯s face was blurred, but from her frame and size, she seemed simr to the strange woman that Chen Ge had run into at Western Jiujiang Medical University.

 Chapter 412 - That Sense of Familiarity

    <h4>Chapter 412: That Sense of Familiarity</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°This woman is Doctor Gao¡¯s wife?¡± The woman¡¯s face was extremely blurry, and as Chen Ge tried to study the picture, his gaze slowly fell on a different person. The two young men that stood in the middle of the phone¡ªone was Doctor Gao, and the other also looked very familiar. ¡°This person who is standing next to Doctor Gao looks like Doctor Chen from Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home.¡±

    On the night that he visited Coffin Vige, Jiang Ling and Fan Yu had disappeared alongside Doctor Chen, so at the time, the police had suspected that it was the doctor who kidnapped the two children. ¡°Doctor Chen and Doctor Gao are friends, and it looks like they have both worked at Jiujiang¡¯s Mental Illness Research Center before.¡±

    Looking at the picture in his hand, Chen Ge sat down in the chair. The old principal had really given him a surprise. The appearance of this picture solved a problem that had been troubling Chen Ge. ¡°At Coffin Vige, the Zhu woman said that No. 10 got into a fight with an outsider, and it was because of that outsider that No. 10 did not have time to enter the blood door with Wu Fei.¡±

    Chen Ge thought back to how the Zhu woman described the outsider. He was wearing a white coat and looked like a doctor with children surrounding him. That mysterious outsider, Chen Ge believed, was Doctor Chen. ¡°Looks like there is more than meets the eye about this Doctor Chen, but why would he get into a fight with Doctor Gao? From this picture, they should be friends.¡±

    Doctor Gao and Doctor Chen seemed to beplete opposites. One was someone mature who could handle everything thrown at him perfectly while the other was a doctor who could not survive in arge hospital and was forced to take up a job at the children¡¯s home.

    ¡°The old director mentioned a Doctor Chen in his letters, and that Doctor Chen is probably not my father but the Doctor Chen at the Children¡¯s Home, but why would the old director address his letters to Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station? Did Doctor Chen once work at Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station? But wasn¡¯t he a psychologist?

    ¡°The old director started themunication with Doctor Chen, so how did it end up with Doctor Gao liaising with the patients at the Third Sick Hall? Did the conflict between the two doctors started at the Third Sick Hall? Their opinions on how to deal with this issue split?¡±

    Chen Ge wanted to ask the old director, who was now just a head, but the door only opened at midnight. Once he missed it, he would need to wait another twenty-four hours.

    ¡°My parents also left some information about Third Sick Hall. Director Luo once mentioned that he overheard them talking about the Third Sick Hall before they disappeared, so what is the role my parents y in this whole situation?¡±

    Chen Ge had been looking for information on his missing parents, and he had a feeling that Doctor Chen and Doctor Gao should know something. Leaving the principal¡¯s office, Chen Ge wandered around Mu Yang High School. He wanted to thank the old principal in person, but the man did not seem like he was going to show up. ¡°Where else could he be hiding?¡±

    With some regret, Chen Ge left Mu Yang High School. He arrived at the Haunted House around dawn, and as he stepped through the door, the ck phone vibrated. It was to inform him that the set-up for the one-star scenario Wife¡¯s Room had beenpleted.

    ¡°One-star scenarios are not that useful for me now.¡±

    With the responsibility toward his visitors, Chen Ge entered the underground scenarios with his backpack. With the stairs as the center, to the left was Mu Yang High School, to the right was the Third Sick Hall, straight in front was Coffin Vige, and behind the stairs was the new Wife¡¯s Room. ¡°The House of Horrors is starting to shape up. After the underground morgue has beenpleted, it will be about time to expand the ce for the third time.¡±

    The third expansion was a benchmark. After that, Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House would upgrade to be a Maze of Terror!

    As for what kind of reward or functions would be added, Chen Ge had no clue. Based on the introduction on the ck phone, he just knew that he would be heavily rewarded after the upgrade.

    Standing in the underground tunnel, Chen Ge looked at the new scenario, the isted room. Opening the door, the room looked simr to Room 3004. However, the walls, the kitchte, and the coffee table were covered with blood, giving a huge visual impact. ¡°The Wife¡¯s Room should be a reconstruction of the crime scene for Ma Yin¡¯s sister¡¯s death.¡±

    Chen Ge did not look ufortable. Holding the hammer, he walked around the room and soon discovered something weird about it. The room was decorated with many broken art pieces, and as he entered, the pieces seemed to turn to focus on him.

    Chen Ge summoned Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s group to let them get a sense of the ce, and the three ghosts¡¯ reaction was weird. They were sure that there was a ghost hiding in the room, but they could not tell where the ghost was hiding. They could sense its weak presence like it was still asleep.

    When Chen Ge heard that there was a ghost hiding in the room, his eyes lit up. He pushed open the bedroom door, and the expression froze on his face. There was a long noose hanging in the middle of the room, and there was a bloodied bedsheet poking out from the closet. There were some blood stains on the ground, and sitting on the headboard was a very ugly statue. ¡°This room ispletely identical to the room in Ma Yin¡¯s video.¡±

    Chen Ge walked to the bed and studied the statue for a long time. He held the statue¡¯s chin and said the sentence that he had uttered several days ago. ¡°You can verify the validity of my every sentence, yes?¡±

    Hearing his voice, something inside the statue seemed toe alive¡ªthe presence around it was different from before, like a person had been wakened up from their sleep. The ugly face revealed a shocked expression, and blood tears fell down the statue¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°This is such a coincidence. We meet again.¡± By then, Chen Ge already knew it was Ma Yin¡¯s sister¡¯s soul that was trapped inside the statue, so he did not want to torment her. ¡°This will be your new home in the future. Don¡¯t worry, I know what happened to you and will treat you like family.¡±

    Fingers sliding across the cheek, Chen Ge helped dry the statue¡¯s tears. His action was so gentle and soft. ¡°The murderer who killed you has already been captured by the police. If you have any other needs, feel free to tell me.¡±

    The blood tears kept falling, but Chen Ge could not tell whether it was due to fear or excitement.

    ¡°I feel like there¡¯s a small misunderstanding between us. Actually, I¡¯m not the kind of person you think I am.¡± Chen Ge knew that he should not force himself forward, but he had confidence that he could change the ghost¡¯s impression of him. Was the Pen Spirit not the perfect example?

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you three try to persuade her? I¡¯ll wait outside.¡± Chen Ge tossed Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s group a look, and then he exited the bedroom. He closed the door and stood beside it, and soon Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s group¡¯s voices came from inside.

    ¡°In the future, we¡¯ll be colleagues, and you might not believe me, but this period when I¡¯m at the Haunted House is the happiest moments of my life.¡±

    ¡°Our boss might look scary, but he is a good and kind person. He respects us and understands us.¡±

    ¡°You will slowly learn to like this ce. We have many different types of ghosts here, and we are all friends. Everyone has their own unique power, but we are all honest and hardworking people.¡±

 Chapter 413 - Security Pass

    <h4>Chapter 413: Security Pass</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Even Chen Ge, who stood at the door, was feeling embarrassed. ¡°Should I tell them that the statue can verify the authenticity of their sentences? Oh well, it could be worse.¡±

    Leaving the underground scenario, Chen Ge returned to the staff breakroom. He opened the door and crawled into bed. ¡°Ran to three ces in one night. I sure have a vibrant night life.¡±

    Removing his jacket, Chen Ge fell asleep when it was almost dawn. Chen Ge was woken up by the rm at around 8 am. He brushed his teeth and washed his face before starting to clean the Haunted House. Xu Wan arrived at the Haunted House with breakfast at 8:30 am. She had a brief conversation with Chen Ge before going to the dressing room. The moment he finished the breakfast brought by Xu Wan, Gu Feiyu arrived. The young man looked spirited and bright. Without make-up, one could not tell that he worked at the Haunted House.

    ¡°Good morning, boss!¡±

    ¡°Quick, go and get your make-up done. The visitors will being soon.¡± Chen Ge sat on the steps and put the finished breakfast away. When he saw the smile on Gu Feiyu¡¯s face, he asked, ¡°Did something good happen to you?¡±

    ¡°No, I just found something interesting.¡± Gu Feiyu squatted down next to Chen Ge and bounced lightly into Chen Ge. Then he asked in a conspiratorial tone, ¡°Boss, do you have a thing with Sister Xu Wan? She brings you breakfast daily, and that one time, I even saw her arguing with the boss that sells breakfast, telling him to skip the spicy stuff cause you always sleepte so you cannot have anything spicy.¡±

    ¡°I always sleepte? How does she know that?¡±

    ¡°She cares about you.¡± The smile on Gu Feiyu¡¯s face grew bigger. ¡°Actually, Ie very early every morning, but I walk very slowly because I don¡¯t want to disturb you two.¡±

    ¡°That is not an excuse for you to bete. If you don¡¯t report to work by 8:30 am next time, I¡¯ll reduce your sry.¡± Chen Ge stood up.

    ¡°Please have mercy!¡± Gu Feiyu followed behind Chen Ge. ¡°Boss, I just think you have many admirers, and I wish to be as popr as you.¡±

    Xiao Gu followed Chen Ge into the Haunted House, and he sounded sincere in wanting to learn. ¡°When my uncle got discharged from the hospital, he told me to learn from you, but I¡¯m dumb, and I don¡¯t know where to start.¡±

    ¡°You want to learn how to be a popr person from me?¡± Chen Ge thought about it for a while, thinking back to the stuff that he had done, and he felt like if he told Gu Feiyu everything, his image would crumble instantly. After some hesitance, Chen Ge patted Xiao Gu¡¯s shoulder lightly. ¡°Be calm, hardworking, and fearless; that¡¯s all I can tell you.¡±

    Gu Feiyu ruminated on Chen Ge¡¯s words, thinking that Chen Ge had wisdom.

    ¡°You¡¯re still young, plenty of things to learn.¡± Chen Ge looked at the young man. ¡°Since you work at the Haunted House during the day, why don¡¯t you go attend some sses at night. One day, if the Haunted House closes, at least you¡¯ll have a skill you can sell.¡±

    Entering the dressing room, Chen Ge helped Gu Feiyu get into the Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s outfit. After sending the man away, he started to do the make-up for Xu Wan. Looking at his employee in the mirror, Chen Ge¡¯s lips moved like he wanted to say something.

    ¡°Boss, if you want to say something, just say it.¡± Xu Wan knew Chen Ge well. After all, they had been through the Haunted House¡¯s hardest times together.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing serious. I just feel like it¡¯s embarrassing for me as a boss to be taken care of by my employee daily,¡± Chen Ge said as he continued the make-up.

    ¡°I saw how tired you were and just wanted to help you, but I don¡¯t know how to, so I can do something minor like bringing you food.¡± Xu Wan looked at her reflection in the mirror, and she felt satisfied. ¡°I shall enter the scenario now.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Chen Ge sat on the chair that Xu Wan had just vacated and watched the girl walk away. ¡°How did she know that I was about to talk about the food before I even said anything?¡±

    Shaking his head, Chen Ge stood up. He did not think that Xu Wan would ever harm him¡ªhe just got an increased interest in the girl.

    Exiting the dressing room, Chen Ge pushed the gate open, and the warm sunlight showered his body. He stretchedzily. The theme park opened at 9 pm.

    Due to the new introduction of the horror app, many old visitors returned, and the ranking on the screen kept changing. The theme park¡¯s workers handled the lines, and Chen Ge only needed to look after the underground scenarios. Each scenario had visitors, and Chen Ge was under great pressure. Director Luo was worried about Chen Ge, so he set up a special emergency rescue center at the resting tent. Regardless of whether they would need it or not, the fact that several doctors and nurses were standing on duty gave the visitors a different experience.

    To facilitate the transportation of fainted customers, Director Luo even had someone design a special trolley, and it was painted with the words ¡®Specially for Fainted Visitors¡¯.

    With Director Luo and Uncle Xu helping him with the admin stuff, Chen Ge was not worried. His focus was on unlocking new scenarios. The day flew by. After sending away thest batch of visitors at 6:30 pm, Chen Ge had Xu Wan and Gu Feiyu, who had been busy as well, get off work, and then he grabbed the tools and started to clean the Haunted House.

    He busied himself until 7 pm, and the people at New Century Park had almost all left already. Compared to the rowdiness in the day, the theme park was scarily quiet at night. After cleaning, Chen Ge entered the scenarios to take a spin. Interestingly enough, whenever he entered the scenario, the ghosts would ce the stuff that the visitors had left behind at the Haunted House at the entrance.

    Chen Ge collected the items andbelled them before sending them to lost and found. This was something that he would do daily, but this time, when he was going to the lost objects, he found something weird. ¡°A security pass?¡±

    Staring at the picture and name, Chen Ge was shocked. ¡°Why would Zhang Li¡¯s security pass be here?¡±

    Zhang Li was the security guard who had horrible reputation at Western Jiujiang Medical University; Chen Ge had met him once.

    ¡°He came to visit the Haunted House today?¡± After some contemtion, he pocketed the pass. After sending the stuff to lost and found, Chen Ge entered the surveince room holding the security pass. He focused on the footage in Minghun and Murder by Midnight. Chen Ge knew everyone who visited the underground scenarios, so if Zhang Li hade to visit, he would have visited a one-star scenario aboveground.

    Chen Ge nced through the video, focusing on the faces. He spent half an hour before he found Zhang Li on screen. This guard who had a bad personality was together with a young girl. They visited Minghun and Murder by Midnight respectively.

 Chapter 414 - I Want to Help You

    <h4>Chapter 414: I Want to Help You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    From the footage, Chen Ge could clearly see that Zhang Li and the woman next to him stayed away from the students from Western Jiujiang Medical University. They did not seem to not share a good rtionship. Zhang Li did not have any close interaction with the woman; they did not look like lovers, more like siblings. ¡°Could this girl be Zhang Shihan?¡±

    Lee Zheng had once mentioned this girl to Chen Ge as well. She had been in an altercation with Ma Yin¡¯s sister before her appearance, and that was why she was also on the suspect list. In the video, they looked like normal visitors. They would run when something scary happened and they would scream at the expected spots. However, as time went by, Chen Ge noticed something strange.

    Zhang Shihan initially walked in front of Zhang Li. She was a forensic science student, so it was expected she had a stronger heart than Zhang Li, the security guard. However, at thest scene of Minghun when Xu Wan appeared, Zhang Shihan almost copsed to the ground. When her body fell backward, it was Zhang Li who held her from falling. From the expression, it was also noticeable that when Zhang Shihan was almost dazed from terror, Zhang Li was still very calm.

    ¡°Howe a forensic doctor who faces dead bodies daily is more scared than a normal security guard?¡± Then when Zhang Shihan and Zhang Li entered the Murder by Midnight scenario, when they were chased by Xiao Gu, Zhang Shihan showed nervousness and terror, but Zhang Li was very calm. ¡°It feels like this security guard has been through something big.¡±

    The two visitors left the Haunted House after Murder by Midnight. Chen Ge pulled out the surveince by the door. Zhang Shihan and Zhang Li stood by the corner of the resting tent. Even though Zhang Shihan¡¯s face was white, she was excited. Her hands waved animatedly while she told Zhang Li something. Zhang Li also showed a rare smile; it was as if whenever his sister was happy, he too would be happy.

    It sounded like Zhang Shihan wanted to try out the two-star scenario. She pulled Zhang Li along to the back of the line, but Zhang Li resisted. No matter what, he refused to move. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t Zhang Li visit the two-star scenario? Could he tell that there are real ghosts inside the two-star scenarios?¡±

    The pair of siblings stayed inside the tent for a long time before they moved onto other attractions. ¡°Zhang Shihan is acting normally, but this Zhang Li sure is suspicious.¡±

    Chen Ge thought about it. He shoved the pass into his pocket and left the Haunted House with his backpack. ¡°Before Lee Zheng calls, I need to collect as much information on the underground morgue as I can.¡±

    When he arrived at Western Jiujiang Medical University, Chen Ge ran to the security stop. He nced into the ce, but Zhang Li was not there. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m looking for Zhang Li. I work at New Century Park. When he visited us this morning, he left his stuff there.¡±

    ¡°You personally came to return the item?¡± The one who spoke was a rotund guard. He looked friendly, and his stomach was huge; his guard outfit could barely fit hisrge body.

    ¡°It¡¯s what we should do.¡± Chen Ge nced at the fat guard¡¯s security pass; his name was Wang Erbao. ¡°Do you mind telling me where he stays? I wish to hand him his stuff personally to make sure there is no mistake.¡±

    ¡°With his strange personality, Ol¡¯ Zhang cannot mix with the rest of us. He moved out on his own. You can find him at Hai Ming Apartments.¡±

    ¡°Hai Ming Apartments?¡± Chen Ge was startled. That was where Men Nan¡¯s side persona had once stayed.

    ¡°It¡¯s normal if you have not heard of it. The building is old and dirty. Other than the low rent, there¡¯s nothing good about it.¡±

    ¡°What room is he staying in?¡±

    ¡°Room 403.¡± Then, Wang Erbao added with concern, ¡°Ol¡¯ Zhang is a weird character. If he is rude toward you, please don¡¯t take offense, he was just born that way.¡±

    ¡°Okay, thank you.¡± Chen Ge called a cab to rush to Hai Ming Apartments. Inside the car, Chen Ge was considering one question¡ªwas it a coincidence that Zhang Li was staying at Hai Ming Apartments, or was there a deeper reason?

    ¡°Men Nan said that he saw the rental message on the school forum. Could that person who spread the news be Zhang Li? If it¡¯s him, why would he do that?¡± Chen Ge arrived at Hai Ming Apartments with the question unsolved.

    Knocking on the door to Room 403, Chen Ge waited for a long time before a suppressed voice said, ¡°Who are you looking for?¡±

    The door did not open, and there were no footsteps. The owner seemed to have moved to stand beside the door carefully and nce at the guest outside before he answered the knocks.

    <i>Is he afraid of something?</i>

    Chen Ge tried to make himself sound friendly. ¡°I¡¯m from New Century Park. Your security pass was left inside the park. I asked about you from your colleague before I found this ce.¡±

    There was no reply. Several secondster, the door opened. ¡°Give me the pass.¡±

    The door was only opened a sliver, and Zhang Li¡¯s body was hiding behind the door. Chen Ge was even more suspicious upon seeing how cautious the man was.

    ¡°Fine, but you at least need to let see what you look like, right? I don¡¯t want to get scolded for giving the pass to the wrong person.¡± Chen Ge took out the pass to show the man behind the door. The man hesitated before he opened the door.

    Tall and thin, with sunken eyes, Zhang Li was wearing a pair of sports shoes. He wore a pair of normal gray jacket, and his pockets were full. He looked like he was about to go out. ¡°Now can you give me the pass?¡±

    ¡°Not yet.¡± Chen Ge looked at Zhang Li¡¯s expression. The man should have recognized him by now. Anymore deception would have been pointless. ¡°Other than to return the pass, I still have a few questions to ask you.¡±

    Zhang Li¡¯s face fell, and without warning, he closed the door. Chen Ge reacted fast to block him. ¡°I don¡¯t have bad intentions; these few questions are crucial to you and me!¡±

    Zhang Li red at Chen Ge and warned, ¡°Let go!¡±

    ¡°I know there is a problem in your heart. Think about it. Perhaps I can help you.¡±

    ¡°I told you to let go!¡± Zhang Li raised his voice, and his face twisted. ¡°I don¡¯t need your help, let go!¡±

    Seeing the insistence on Zhang Li¡¯s face, Chen Ge did not force the man. He dropped his backpack to the ground and pulled out the half-meter-long hammer. When the hammer showed itself, the stench of blood flooded the corridor, and one could even hear the sound of wailing souls.

    ¡°It is my intention to help you, but whether you want my help or not, that is not my concern.¡±

    Staring at the weapon in Chen Ge¡¯s arms, Zhang Li¡¯s eyelids twitched. After a long time, with a straight face, he forced out, ¡°Come in.¡±

 Chapter 415 - Informant

    <h4>Chapter 415: Informant</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Zhang Li moved his steps slowly; he did not dare expose his back to Chen Ge. When Chen Ge entered the room, he added in that dark and suppressed voice of his, ¡°Keep the door open for air venttion.¡±

    BANG!

    Chen Ge locked the door and dragged the hammer into the room. He looked around. The room was simple with little furniture, and there was a pungent smell of subpar cigarette smoke in the air. There was a metal te on the coffee table, which was filled with cigarette butts, and there were holes on the couch that were probably cigarette burns.

    ¡°You¡¯re a heavy smoker?¡± Chen Ge acted like he had returned to his own home. He grabbed a chair and sat in the living room close to the door.

    ¡°Does that count as a question?¡± Zhang Li crossed his arms and stood beside the coffee table. He looked very guarded.

    ¡°Just answer the questions that I ask. This is for your own good.¡± Chen Ge nced at the cigarette butts; they came from various brands, but they were all cheap brands.

    ¡°For my own good?¡± Zhang Li retreated several steps to lean against the window. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Chen Ge ced the security pass on the table and put the hammer away. ¡°Who is the girl that came to the Haunted House with you this morning?¡±

    ¡°My little sister. She just got fired from her job. She wasn¡¯t feeling great, so I asked for a day off to apany her to the theme park.¡±

    ¡°When the two of you entered the Haunted House, why did you purposely evade the students from Western Jiujiang Medical University? Were you afraid of being recognized?¡± Chen Ge kept his questions broad. When Zhang Li fell into the trap, he would then tighten the scope.

    ¡°The students don¡¯t like me. If they recognized me, it might be troublesome.¡± Zhang Li took a deep breath. ¡°But my sister and I have gotten used to it already.¡±

    Realizing that there were words left unsaid, Chen Ge asked, ¡°Gotten used to what?¡±

    ¡°My sister used to study at the university, but she got into an argument with another girl at the school due to some conflict. Coincidentally, the girl disappeared the next day.¡± Zhang Li¡¯s fingers tightened. ¡°Then someone created a rumor at the school, saying that the girl¡¯s disappearance had something to do with my little sister.¡±

    The thing was indeed quite a coincidence, or else Lee Zheng would not have listed Zhang Shihan and Zhang Li as suspects. Chen Ge nodded. ¡°What did the rumor say?¡±

    ¡°Initially, those jerks would at least gossip behind my sister¡¯s back then, but then they came to confront my sister, saying the girlmitted suicide because her depression triggered after she had a falling out with my sister. Some even called my sister a murderer, and it was her who hid the body.¡± Zhang Li paused to grab a cigarette from his pocket and light it. After a puff, Zhang Li felt better. ¡°Many of my sister¡¯s friends left her, and my sister was at her lowest point of her life then. She even walked around the school personally to find that missing girl, but unfortunately, she couldn¡¯t find her.¡±

    ¡°No wonder you¡¯re so cold to the students at the university.¡± Chen Ge looked at Zhang Li and after a while, he said, ¡°The police once contacted me, saying in that missing girl¡¯s case, you and your sister were both serious suspects, and their suspicions were not unfounded. From motive, time, and ability, you two were the biggest suspects.¡±

    ¡°We did not kill anymore! The girl¡¯s disappearance had nothing to do with us!¡± Zhang Li was annoyed, but he did not dare show it. He could only chew on the cigarette to vent his anger.

    ¡°I know you two didn¡¯t kill anyone, and you¡¯re not the real killer; you¡¯ve just been used.¡± When Chen Ge heard the details from Zhang Li, he understood how careful the mastermind was. He not only dealt with all the clues, he even made use of these students and came up with two scapegoats to confuse the police. When Zhang Li heard Chen Ge use a confident tone to say that they were not the killers, the man looked at Chen Ge with surprise, and he realized that perhaps this man was not so bad.

    ¡°You took a day off from work today, so you might not have heard the news. The body of the missing girl has been found, and her killer has turned himself in.¡± Chen Ge did not hide anything from the man.

    ¡°Who is the killer?¡± Zhang Li squeezed the cigarette out and walked to Chen Ge.

    ¡°It¡¯s the staff from your university who always dresses smartly. I think his name is Liu Zhe.¡±

    ¡°Liu Zhe?¡± Zhang Li stood there stunned like he could not ept this reality.

    ¡°Liu Zhe is just one of the killers. There is still another one that is missing. We only know that he is rted to the underground morgue.¡±

    ¡°We?¡± Zhang Li felt Chen Ge¡¯s term was curious.

    Chen Ge¡¯s face turned serious. He pointed at the door. ¡°Do not tell anyone what I¡¯m going to say.¡±

    Zhang Li nodded quickly. ¡°I¡¯m the only tenant on this floor, so there¡¯s no need to worry about eavesdropping, and I will not tell a third person.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge told out his phone to show his conversation with Captain Yan, Inspector Lee, and Lee Zheng, then he added, ¡°Actually I¡¯m an informant nted by the police. I¡¯ve helped them with many cases before.¡±

    Zhang Li nodded dumbly. For some reason, he was slowly convinced by Chen Ge.

    ¡°The condition of you and your sister is still dangerous.¡± Chen Ge then dropped another bomb. ¡°The other killer is still out there, and things are still dangerous. He is very familiar with Western Jiujiang Medical University and should be hiding in in sight. Temporarily, we have no idea who he is, and to stop people from panicking, I came to see you privately to find out some information.¡±

    ¡°I will tell you everything I know.¡± Zhang Li no longer sounded that guarded. He sat down next to Chen Ge, his attitudepletely different from before.

    ¡°We need information on the underground morgue, the more detailed the better.¡± Chen Ge voiced his need.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t the school provide some to the police already when you camest time?¡± Zhang Li was suspicious, but he still chose to believe Chen Ge. ¡°There is a blueprint for the morgue inside the library¡¯s database. If you need it, I can snap a few pictures for you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good start.¡± Chen Ge was not satisfied. ¡°You¡¯ve been working at the school for so many years already, have you discovered anything weird at the underground morgue or run into something not exinable by science?¡±

 Chapter 416 - Expansion of the Morgue

    <h4>Chapter 416: Expansion of the Morgue</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The reason Chen Ge came to find Zhang Li was because the security guard had been acting weirdly inside the Haunted House, and Chen Ge believed that the man had experienced something unique before. Zhang Li¡¯s somberness came from his soul; he should be hiding many secrets that he could not share with others in his heart. Being stared by Chen Ge, Zhang Li was nervous. His lips opened several times, but he made no sound.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t be hesitant, tell me everything you¡¯ve seen and heard.¡± The more Zhang Li acted like this, the more curious Chen Ge became.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to, but I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t believe me even if I do.¡± Zhang Li took out a cigarette from his pocket and asked, ¡°Do you mind?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, this is your ce. Don¡¯t mind me.¡±

    After he got Chen Ge¡¯s approval, Zhang Li lit the cigarette and took a deep puff. He enjoyed the feeling of the smoke filling up his lungs; it was as if only then would he be able to forget these annoying problems. The smoke escaped from his lips, and the first words Zhang Li said already grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s attention. ¡°The cadavers down in the underground morgue know how to move on their own.¡±

    ¡°Moving corpses?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not even the scariest thing.¡± Zhang Li¡¯s arm trembled slightly. ¡°When I first took up the guard post at Western Jiujiang Medical University, the school was in the middle of expanding the underground morgue. The pools that were originally used to store the cadavers had to stop their usage, and the admin nned to make a more advanced mortuary. The morgue is underground, so the work was hard.

    ¡°Initially, the school nned to transform thergest morgues at the deepest part of the ce, they wanted to crack open the cadaver pools and redo everything. They hired a professional team to handle it, and the renovation was scheduled to finish in less than half a month. However, on the second day of the renovation, an ident happened.

    ¡°When one of the workers was cleaning the Formalin inside the pool, he identally fell into the pool. The pool was not deep, but the worker was simply unable to climb out. He said there were many hands holding him back, refusing to let him go.¡± Zhang Li soon finished the cigarette. He shrugged and said, ¡°Therge cadaver pools were simr to the open bathing pools that weremon in the past; however, the liquid in the pool was brownish in color and opaque. You could only see the cadaver¡¯s limbs, back and hair floating above water.¡±

    ¡°What happened to the worker that fell into the pool?¡± Chen Ge was more curious about that.

    ¡°There was a metal hook used to fish the cadavers out from the water. The workers who were present dropped the hook into the pool and had the man who fell in grab the hook. With the cooperation of many people, they finally fished him out of the water.¡± Zhang Li lit another cigarette. He was a heavy smoker, especially when he was thinking about those dark memories stored in the back of his mind. ¡°When the man fell into the pool, he identally swallowed a mouthful of the formalin, and thus, he was quickly rushed to the hospital to have his stomach pumped. The man was fine, but I heard that after he recovered, something was wrong with his mind. He was simply not the same anymore.¡±

    ¡°Do you still have contact with that man? Did he say anything before he went insane?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, this was already so long ago. But if you really need to know, I can help you ask around at the school. Don¡¯t keep your hopes up though.¡±

    ¡°Okay, do continue.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone to record any details that he deemed important.

    ¡°After the man was sent to the hospital, the renovation work continued as normal, but on the night after that, another strange event happened.¡± Zhang Li¡¯s expression was one of distress like he still felt ufortable thinking about it. ¡°The number of cadavers that had been moved out by the team in the morning changed.¡±

    ¡°This is what you meant by moving corpses?¡±

    ¡°I suppose so, but the scariest thing happenedter.¡± Zhang Li was telling the stories of others, so he did not exin how he became like this. His voice dropped, and Zhang Li took another puff of the cigarette. ¡°The team went deeper into the morgue on the third day. After they dealt with all the bodies inside the first morgue and moved away the pool that was built more than twenty years ago, all the workers were stunned by what they found.

    ¡°At the bottom of the pool, just like in a human body, the ground was covered with blood vessels. When light hit them, they quickly squirreled away.¡± Zhang Li had a frown on his pale face. ¡°At the time, I was present, and I also looked in. How shall I put this? It felt like the pool was alive.¡±

    ¡°Blood vessels underneath the pool?¡± Chen Ge recorded Zhang Li¡¯s words.

    ¡°The person responsible for the team found the school admin to report this, but the school didn¡¯t have a good exnation. In the end, they said that it was some kind of extremely rare fungus.¡± Zhang Li shook his head. ¡°Even an uneducated man like myself knew they were lying. The renovation team said that they want to stop the work, but after the school offered to double the sry, the team continued.

    ¡°That afternoon, the team dug deeper into the pool because they wanted to expand the space, but the more they dug, the more worried they became. The soil underneath the pool reeked of formalin, and the soil was reddish in color. One could also spot lines that were dark brown, and they broke once you tried to touch them. No one knew what they were; they did not look like nt roots or insects.

    ¡°The team ryed the situation to the school. They even collected some soil samples and sent them to the school. The school could not give a clear exnation¡ªthey just rushed the team to move faster.

    ¡°To calm the people from the renovation team, the school arranged for someone to apany them, telling them not to worry and everything that they hade across so far was something normal.¡± Zhang Li seemed to have plenty of issues with how the school handled the situation. His tone shifted slightly. ¡°At the time, I was a newbie, and no one wanted to enter the underground morgue, so the task naturally fell on my shoulders. I was just ackey for the school, and I didn¡¯t know anyone from the renovation team, so I was stuck between a rock and a hard ce.

    ¡°The renovation speed was very slow because weird things kept happening. The team members kept getting injured, and eventually, they all gave up and refused to work. The school eventually relented, and after some discussion with the foreman, they changed the n.

    ¡°They nned to expand the mortuary outwards and stopped using the original morgue, abandoning itpletely.

    ¡°However, there was a condition to the school¡¯spromise. They needed the team to finish the work within a month. If the renovation couldn¡¯t bepleted within the time limit, then it would be viewed as a vition of contract.¡±

 Chapter 417 - Scary Night

    <h4>Chapter 417: Scary Night</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°The renovation team already did not want to stay inside the deeper part of the morgue, so they sealed up the road that led into the morgue and started expanding outward, following the blueprint. After we left the deeper part of the morgue, the idents stopped, and the renovation started to rush for the deadline. When they were close to the deadline, to rush the progress, they worked into the night.

    ¡°The school also knew how hard it was for the team, so they would assign people to send them water and provide aid.¡± Zhang Li¡¯s teeth gritted as he continued. ¡°The school handed this chore to the teachers that stayed at the school dormitory and the security team. Initially, everyone would go together, but after a while, the teachers would leave early since everything was going well. Other people from the security team took this opportunity to push all the work onto me.

    ¡°The underground morgue had been renovated many times, so the internal routes were veryplicated. I was new, and even with the map, the chance of getting lost was still high. Three days to the deadline, the people from the team were nervous, and they had to hire a new batch of workers to hurry up the process. They worked day and night, so I had to stay to apany them. It was fine during the day, but the ce changed after the sun fell.

    ¡°It was middle of summer at the time, and outside was as hot as an oven. However, once you entered the morgue, it was not only not hot, you would shiver uncontrobly for no reason. The new batch of workers did not know about the things that happened in the deeper part of the morgue and they thought the working environment was alright. When some of them got tired at night, theyid a mattress on the floor and slept just like that.¡± Zhang Li squeezed the cigarette against the metal te as his story was reaching its end.

    ¡°The underground morgue was different at night, but how different, I could not really tell. In any case, that night, the strange thing happened again.

    ¡°I received a call at 1 am saying that someone on the team had disappeared. I quickly called everyone else and headed to the underground morgue. When we were halfway there, the people called again, saying that the man had been found. At the time, I was so angry, but I was even angrier at the teacher who was responsible for watching over the renovation. The man berated me, saying that I had disturbed his sleep and worried him before I understood everything.

    ¡°I could not say anything to exin myself. So, I returned to my bedroom. Not long after that, the people from the renovation team called again, saying that a different person had disappeared. This time, I asked the man for more details. The man said, when the first person disappeared, he said that he heard someone calling his name and he raised his head to see someone waving at him, so he had followed the person. When he was halfway down the corridor, he had realized that the corridor led deeper into the morgue. At that moment, he knew that something was wrong, so he quickly ran back.

    ¡°The second person disappeared after he went out in search of the first man. His phone was not reachable, and no one knew where he was. The incident sounded serious, so as I rushed to the morgue, I called the teacher. After the teacher knew the gravity of the situation, he told me to calm the people first, and he would arrive shortly.

    ¡°That night, I stayed with the renovation team in the underground morgue, and around dawn, we found the missing man inside the deeper part of the morgue. He was lying next to the half-dug pool, unconscious.

    ¡°No one could exin this situation, and anxiety spread through the team. They refused to stay there any longer, but since the deadline wasing soon and their work was almost done, it would be a waste to give up then.

    ¡°In the end, it was the school who settled the problem. They assigned the security team to stay with the renovation team in the underground morgue to ensure that the project could be finished on time. That night, two guards and I stayed back so that the team coulde to us directly if there was any problem.

    ¡°I really could not stand it anymore after midnight, so I found a corner to take a nap. It was quite peaceful that night; there was no ident. The project was reaching its end. After spending so much time in the morgue, that morning, I hit the bed and slept.

    ¡°On thatst night, we returned to the underground morgue. Everything was going fine, and I believed that the peacefulness would persist through the night, so I found an isted room and covered myself up with several old cement bags as I tried to sneak a bit of shut eye. Perhaps my mind had been too stressed at the time¡ªsleep came quickly.

    ¡°When I opened my blurry eyes, the underground morgue became so dark. The lights brought by the renovation team had all been switched off, and only the old-fashioned lights on the wall were still on.

    ¡°I curled up in the corner and looked outward. People were moving in the outside corridor, and it sounded like the team was still working. I had just woken up, so my mind was not that sharp. I took out the phone to check the time. Before I got a clear look at the time, I suddenly heard footsteps. Someone wasing into the room. I was sleeping while people were working¡ªthat wasn¡¯t good, so I hid myself deeper and kept myself quiet.

    ¡°The person walked around the room and left. I nced at the time; it was 3:40 am. There were several unanswered calls and unread messages on my phone. I clicked the messages open and realized that they were from my teammates, asking me where I was.¡±

    The smoke in the room had not dissipated, but Zhang Li took out another cigarette. He lit it and puffed on it.

    ¡°At the time, it really did not cross my mind, so I replied to him¡ª¡¯I¡¯m still in the morgue. Where are you guys? Did you two sneak back into the bedroom already?¡¯

    ¡°I was a newbie, so I¡¯d been trying to buddy up to him. I even joked about how they left without telling me.

    ¡°About ten secondster, the man replied, telling me to show myself instantly because people were looking for me.

    ¡°I was confused. The team was still working outside, and these two had run away from their post. Yet, they told me that people were looking for me.

    ¡°Just as I was about to send a reply, the man called. After I answered it, I realized that things were different from what I thought.

    ¡°The man immediately told me that the renovation had finished a long time ago, and the team had already all retreated. They wanted to know what I was doing inside the underground morgue.¡±

    Zhang Li bit the cigarette in his mouth into half, and his hands gripped his knees. ¡°When he said that, I nced out the room. One of the people walking on the corridor seemed to have heard me and was walking toward the room that I was hiding in.¡±

 Chapter 418 - Heavier than Living People

    <h4>Chapter 418: Heavier than Living People</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°If the renovation team had all evacuated, who were the people walking in the corridor? I hung up the phone and moved the cement bags to cover my body even more, only exposing my eyes. The footsteps came closer, and I turned my eyes to look. The light was dim, and a blurry shadow walked to stand beside me. The way he moved was weird, like he could not coordinate his limbs. I held my breath and did not dare to move. The man walked around the room and prepared to leave. I edged the cement bag slightly away, and what saw will follow me forever.¡±

    Zhang Li¡¯s lips were purple, and he finally voiced the nightmare that had followed him for so many years. ¡°The man¡¯s face was empty; his whole face had been picked clean.¡±

    The cigarette dust fell on the couch, and Zhang Li¡¯s arms could not stop shaking. ¡°Way before body donor was a thing, the medical university used dead bodies from the penitentiary. After a criminal died from a gunshot, their head would look like that.¡± Zhang Li had problem continuing.

    This time, Chen Ge did not dare force the man. ¡°Why don¡¯t you take a rest? Have some water.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Even though it had been years, thinking back, Zhang Li was still very afraid. He finished the cigarette and continued. ¡°When I saw the criminal, I knew the problem. The people who entered the room and the people in the corridor, they were all dead bodies used for autopsy sses.¡±

    What Zhang Li described was indeed scarier than moving corpses. At the time, there had been a party down in the morgue, and Zhang Li had been the only living human guest. He had survived at that party until morning¡ªno wonder he ended up in this state.

    ¡°I really did see it, and I kept it in my heart. I didn¡¯t dare tell anyone, not even my sister.¡± His pupils danced, and Zhang Li¡¯s frowned creased deeply. His expression was filled with pain. ¡°A few years ago, when the girl who had the argument with my sister disappeared, my sister suspected that she might have wandered into the underground morgue. She nned to expand her search there, but I stopped her firmly. The ce was not somewhere a living person should go.¡±

    After sharing the thing that was trapped inside his heart, Zhang Li did feel better. He touched the box of cigarette and realized that he had already finished the whole box.

    ¡°Maybe you should stop taking so many cigarettes¡ªit¡¯s not good for your body.¡± Chen Ge sat in the chair and recorded everything that Zhang Li said on his phone.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. After that night, I no longer cared about these things.¡± Zhang Li crumbled the paper box, and without the cigarette, he was feeling rather unnerved. ¡°Do you think I have lost my mind? Was I hallucinating that night?¡±

    Chen Ge shook his head. He knew about the danger in the underground morgue. The ck phone hinted at a group of people who were in search of immortality.

    ¡°Actually, I myself suspect that I was hallucinating that night.¡±

    ¡°Do you still remember how you escaped that night?¡± Based on what Zhang Li had said, there should be in an insurmountable number of dead bodies.

    ¡°When I was hiding underneath the bags of cement, my body felt like it was frozen. I didn¡¯t even dare move an inch. I stayed in that position until 5 am, and the thing in the corridor started to move deeper into the morgue.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you ask for help through the phone that night?¡± Chen Ge put down his phone. He was interested in the school¡¯s response.

    ¡°When I had just woken up, I already talked on the phone with that security guard. I told them that I was still in the morgue, but they didn¡¯t send anyone toe find me. I didn¡¯t know what was up with them.¡± From Zhang Li¡¯s tone, it sounded like he was still mad about that.

    ¡°Then did you discover anything weird when you left, like a big stain of formalin in the corridor or scratch marks on the wall.¡±

    ¡°I waited until 8 am and crawled out when I couldn¡¯t hear any movement anymore. My body was pulsing with pain, and there were many bruises. I was in a hurry to escape, so I didn¡¯t pay attention to such details.¡± That was where Zhang Li¡¯s story ended. After that, he saw the underground morgue as a banned location, and his personality turned bitter. ¡°I advise you to stay away from that ce. But if you insist on going, call people to apany you and go during the day.¡± Zhang Li told Chen Ge other things that he had heard about the ce.

    ¡°The corridor connecting theb and morgue normally wasn¡¯t locked because even if it was, the door would be opened.

    ¡°During the previous expansion, the school added seven new morgues, but when people went to retrieve the bodies, they came across an 8th morgue. The morgue was closest to the original morgue, and it doesn¡¯t have a number.

    ¡°The roads that lead deeper into the morgue have been sealed many times, but no matter what, there is always a problem. I remember one time the school used bricks to seal up the corridor, but only two weekster, the walls crumbled. When the admin went to check, they found out each brick was reeking with a thick stench of formalin.

    ¡°There are many simr legends. The migration of the old campus is rted to this as well. I hear Western Jiujiang Medical University is also moving next year September. After that, this campus will be locked down.¡±

    Chen Ge did not expect the school to move. Things were getting quite serious.

    ¡°The information that you¡¯ve given me is very useful. I¡¯ll pass it on to the other officers. Also, it would be great if you can give me the map of the underground morgue tomorrow.¡± Chen Ge nned to leave after that, but when he was at the door, he suddenly remembered something. ¡°Zhang Li, why are you staying at Hai Ming Apartments? I¡¯ve heard rumors about this ce, and it happened in the room just below yours.¡±

    ¡°Some madmanmitted suicide, I know that. I¡¯m already an old tenant here.¡± Zhang Li¡¯s expression did not change. It appeared to be a mere coincidence that he was staying here.

    ¡°Then do you a student by the name of Men Nan who also used to stay here?¡± Chen Ge asked as an added thought.

    ¡°I know, the kid just wanted a cheap bargain and stayed inside the room next to the dead man. The room is cursed. A doctor once stayed there, but he moved away after one night.¡±

    ¡°How did you know he was a doctor?¡± Chen Ge paused to ask. ¡°Doctors wouldn¡¯t wear their white robes outside of the hospital, and he only moved in for one day. No offense, but based on your personality, you wouldn¡¯t have gone forward to greet him, I don¡¯t think.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen him around the campus before, that Doctor Gao. He is rich, so I wondered why he would move to such a dpidated building.¡± Zhang Li was confused. ¡°When I went downstairs to purchase cigarettes that night, I saw Doctor Gao standing in the corridor alone, doing God knows what.¡±

 Chapter 419 - Helper

    <h4>Chapter 419: Helper</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Before Men Nan moved in, Doctor Gao once spent a night in that room?¡±

    ¡°Yes, don¡¯t you think that¡¯s weird? He has so many assets at Jiujiang, so why would he purposely stay a night at a cheap apartment?¡± Zhang Li¡¯s words caused rm bells to ring in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. The first person to discover something wrong with Men Nan was Doctor Gao; the person who took care of Men Nan was also Doctor Gao. That could all have been a n set up by Doctor Gao. Men Nan had moved into this ce due to a thread that he had seen on the school forum, and now that he thought about it, that thread was also highly suspicious.

    <i>People from Hai Ming Apartments would not have purposelye to the medical school¡¯s forum to post a thread. The thread was probably published by Doctor Gao, but why would Doctor Gao do something like this? What is he trying to aplish? What is he trying to get from Men Nan¡¯s second persona?</i>

    After giving it some thought, Chen Ge realized that the only thing that could have attracted Doctor Gao¡¯s attention was Men Nan¡¯s connection to his main person. When the ghost stories society was at its full glory, they could have easily killed Men Nan¡¯s main persona, but they did not do that¡ªthey just made him fall into aa.

    <i>Is Doctor Gao trying to figure out how to control the door-pusher? </i>Chen Ge repeated the conversation that Doctor Gao had with Men Nan in his mind. <i>If Doctor Gao is really No. 10 from the ghost stories society, did Men Nan¡¯s main persona know about that?</i>

    Chen Ge wanted toplete the Trial Mission at the underground morgue, but that was hard with his power alone. If only he could drag Men Nan down with him, after all, Men Nan¡¯s main persona was also a Red Specter.

    <i>Whether Doctor Gao is the chairperson or not, I can make use of this point to convince Men Nan. He won¡¯t want to see his other persona fall into the hands of the enemy.</i>

    With his mind made, Chen Ge nned to return to Third Sick Hall that night. ¡°Zhang Li, you need to fetch me the map as soon as possible¡ªit¡¯s very important.¡±

    Chen Ge was about to leave when his phone rang. It was from Lee Zheng.

    ¡°Do you need me to give you some privacy?¡± Zhang Li asked.

    ¡°No need.¡± Chen Ge answered the phone before Zhang Li. ¡°Inspector Lee, how can I help you?¡±

    ¡°Doctor Gao is the most cunning and careful person I¡¯ve met in my years of being a cop! He has already noticed our n, and two hours ago, he left Jiujiang.¡±

    ¡°He left Jiujiang? Are you sure?¡± Doctor Gao leaving Jiujiang was good news for Chen Ge¡ªit meant that there would be one less variable to worry about when he visited the underground morgue.

    ¡°Howe I hear excitement in your voice?¡± Lee Zheng was confused. Doctor Gao¡¯s sudden departure meant that all their preparation had been wasted.

    ¡°This only means that he is really hiding something, looks like he¡¯s scared.¡± Chen Ge said that on his lips, but his real n was to make use of this opening toplete the mission at the underground morgue.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you understand the situation. Based on our investigation, we¡¯ve discovered more and more problems with Doctor Gao.¡± Lee Zheng lowered his voice. ¡°There is no one around you, right?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Based on our investigation, Doctor Gao might be rted to several murders. He was not a direct participant, but he was always involved somehow.¡±

    ¡°Several?¡± Chen Ge still had a hard time believing it. ¡°Could it be that he was framed?¡±

    ¡°With his intelligence, all over Jiujiang, the only person who could frame him is himself.¡± There was a tiredness in Lee Zheng¡¯s voice. ¡°I cannot deny the fact that he is a good doctor, but under that fa?ade hides a madman. There is some information that I cannot reveal to you. the main reason I¡¯m calling you is because I want you to prepare to make contact with Gao Ru Xue tomorrow night. Other than that, I¡¯ll send you some information. I want you to take a look at it.¡±

    ¡°Okay, no problem.¡± Chen Ge hung up and left after telling Zhang Li a few more things.

    <i>Doctor Gao leaving Jiujiang is the perfect chance for me. When I get the map, I¡¯ll start the mission.</i>

    For this mission, Chen Ge had prepared a lot, but he was still worried. Compared topleting a mission by the breath of a hair, he preferred to have andslide victory.

    <i>Looks like I still need a few helpers. </i>The door at Third Sick Hall would only open at midnight, so Chen Ge did not rush there. Instead, he called a cab to get to Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home. When the guard saw Chen Ge, he was agitated and stood up to lock the door.

    ¡°Uncle!¡± Chen Ge ran over and forced his way in. ¡°Are Jiang Ling and Fan Yu around? I have something important to discuss with them.¡±

    ¡°The police just dropped them back here yesterday. The two children are tired, so please just leave them be and let the children¡¯s home have some time to recuperate.¡± Before Chen Ge¡¯s arrival, the children¡¯s home had been so peaceful. However, after his appearance, two kids had gone missing, their only doctor had disappeared, and they were now under great public pressure.

    ¡°It won¡¯t take too much time.¡± Chen Ge strode in after that. The Children¡¯s Home was the same as before. There were flower pots along the path and paintings of cartoons on the wall. The uncle could not stop Chen Ge, so he called the nurse toe help him.

    However, the nurse had a good impression of Chen Ge. She told the uncle, ¡°He was the one who found Fan Yu and Jiang Ling in the mountains. If not for him, we would have closed down already.¡±

    With the nurse leading the way, Chen Ge came to the room where Fan Yu and Jiang Ling stayed. He pushed the door open, and the scene was quite friendly. A single tablemp was open in the bedroom, and Fan Yu sat at the table drawing while Jiang Ling watched him draw while standing on her tip-toes.

    ¡°Fan Yu, look who came to visit you.¡± The nurse called into the room. If this was other children, they would have run out happily, but to make things awkward, Fan Yu and Jiang Ling ignored her. The nurse smiled embarrassedly at Chen Ge. She wanted to say something but was stopped by Chen Ge. ¡°Let¡¯s go in and take a look.¡±

    Inside the room, the warm light fell on Chen Ge. Everything here feltfortable and warm until he saw the painting on the table. On the white paper, a ck man walked ahead while various scary red shadows followed behind him.

    Fan Yu¡¯s painting ruined the friendly atmosphere, and when he finished the painting, he turned to look at Chen Ge. ¡°You¡¯re here.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Chen Ge had never treated Fan Yu as a normal child. He squatted down beside Fan Yu and nced at his wrist. ¡°Fan Yu, I have something to discuss with you. Do you mind if you lend me your wrist bangle for one night?¡±

 Chapter 420 - Departure!

    <h4>Chapter 420: Departure!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Sure, but the bangle only seems to work when I¡¯m wearing it.¡± Fan Yu removed the bangle given to him by the ghost in Coffin Vige. When the bangle left his wrist, the red blood vessels disappeared, and it looked just like a normal bangle. When he put it on again, the red blood returned. ¡°If you need my help, you can bring me with you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± Chen Ge did not want to put Fan Yu in danger and had to take care of the boy. He scratched his chin and moved his gaze to settle on Jiang Ling. After the ghost from Coffin Vige left her body, she was just a normal child. When Chen Ge looked at her, the girl almost cried.

    The girl hid behind Fan Yu, and this made things awkward for the two adults there. Chen Ge did not know how to make his request, and the nurse felt like she had been ignored. After a small cough, Chen Ge had the nurse leave the room first. Then he came up with the kindest expression that he could. ¡°Jiang Ling, I¡¯m going to do something big tomorrow night. Please can you lend me your sister?¡±

    Chen Ge tried his best to sound nice, but when Jiang Ling heard him say that, she still cried.

    ¡°Am I that scary?¡± Chen Ge did not know how to deal with kids. He felt children like Fan Yu and the phone spirit were easier tomunicate with. Jiang Ling cried louder, and eventually, it was Fan Yu who leaned into the girl¡¯s ears and made her stop crying. Her teary eyes looked at Chen Ge.

    ¡°Is that a yes? What did you tell her?¡±

    ¡°I said you¡¯re her sister¡¯s best friend. You¡¯re a nice person and can make her sister happy.¡±

    ¡°Well said.¡± Chen Ge nodded. He felt like Fan Yu was picking up the good quality from him; the child was improving fast. Jiang Ling jogged to the sofa to pick out a stic can from behind the cushion. Unwillingly, she handed it to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I just needed her to fill up the numbers; I will not let her get injured.¡± Chen Ge epted the can. There was a very small spider inside. ¡°Is your sister inside here?¡±

    Jiang Ling nodded with uncertainty. She felt like she had been tricked. His goalpleted, Chen Ge did not stay any longer. He left the Children¡¯s Home and returned to the Third Sick Hall. He waited until midnight and sneaked into the door after it appeared.

    When Chen Ge showed up next to the old director, the lonely human head was about to cry because he noticed a different ghost behind Chen Ge. Chen Ge did not waste time with the old director but went directly to find Men Nan. He exaggerated the story and told Men Nan everything. After Men Nan heard him, he started feel conflicted. After leaving the blood door, his power would greatly decrease, and from his perspective, the threat that Chen Ge represented was no smaller than Doctor Gao. Men Nan was afraid that he might escape from a wolf¡¯s den into a tiger¡¯s cave. ¡°Let me think about it.¡±

    ...

    Chen Ge left the Third Sick Hall at 1 am. He turned back to look. If everything was fine, this would be thest time that he visited the ce. Returning to New Century Park, Chen Ge arranged all the information on the underground morgue.

    ¡°Be careful of red corridors, and be extremely quiet inside them.

    ¡°There are only seven morgues¡ªdo not enter the 8th morgue.¡±

    He memorized all the details before going to bed. The park opened at 9 am. At almost the same time, Zhang Li sent the map to Chen Ge. There were ten pictures and two one-minute videos. <i>Did the man really think I¡¯m a police informant?</i>

    Since Doctor Gao was not in Jiujiang, Chen Ge nned to activate the Trial Mission in the underground morgue that night. He sent the visitors into the scenario and sat down to study the pictures. The underground morgue wasrge, and it had been updated thrice. The first expansion¡¯s date and blueprint could not be found anymore, the second expansion was when the two medical schools at Jiujiang joined together, and the third expansion was the one Zhang Li was a part of. <i>This ce covers the entire western side of the campus. It¡¯s so damn big.</i>

    The underground morgue could basically be categorized into three parts. The outer perimeter was for various transport corridors and two storerooms as well as five morgues. The middle section was where the abandoned cadaver pools were; this ce had been abandoned years ago. Based on what Zhang Li had said, there was a central hub at the deepest part of the morgue. It was recorded on the paper, but no one could find the path that led that way. Zhang Li noted specially that he suspected that something had happened there before, and that was why the paths leading there had been fully sealed.

    Chen Ge looked through all the videos and pictures. There was only a map for the outer perimeter; the middle section¡¯s map was not there. It had probably been removed by someone already. ¡°The underground morgue¡¯s biggest secret should be hiding at the central hub; I need to find the way to get there.¡±

    He memorized the map in his heart, and he looked through it for the whole afternoon. Chen Ge worked for the whole day until 6:30 pm. After Xu Wan and Gu Feiyu left, Chen Ge locked himself inside the staff breakroom. He took several deep breaths. After making sure he had everything, he took out the ck phone.

    <i>The underground morgue is the eighth side mission to the four-star School of the Afterlife. Afterpleting this, I have the right to unlock the four-star mission.</i>

    Sitting next to the table, Chen Ge¡¯s finger danced over the screen before he pressed on that mission.

    ¡°Do you ept the 8th side mission for School of the Afterlife?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Side Mission 8: Eternal Life (In an undisclosed underground morgue, there¡¯s a group who seek eternal life).

    ¡°Mission Location: Western Jiujiang Medical University.

    ¡°Mission Hint: Life¡¯s meaning is not whether you can breathe or not but something else.

    ¡°Mission Requirement: Enter the underground morgue¡¯s central hub before midnight and survive until dawn!¡±

    Based on the information on the ck phone, Chen Ge¡¯s expression was dark. <i>If I need to get into the central hub before midnight, I¡¯ll need to get moving now.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes focused on thest few words. <i>This kind of requirement that needs me to survive until dawn normally means a hard mission. Thankfully, I¡¯m fully prepared.</i>

    Picking up the backpack, Chen Ge exited the room. Like his visit to the Coffin Vige, he nned to take all the employees with him.

    <i>Even without fighting power, at least they will be able to fill up the numbers.</i>

    Pen Spirit, Xiaoxiao, Xu Yin, the hammer¡ªChen Ge poured everything that he could think of into his back, and when the white cat was not paying attention, he also picked it up.

    <i>Have I forgotten something? Right, there¡¯s still that statue in the underground scenario.</i>

 Chapter 421 - Five Entrances [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 421: Five Entrances [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The statue had once had a rtionship with the ghost stories society, but she now belonged to Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. Rushing down into the underground parking, Chen Ge pushed open the door to the one-star scenario Wife¡¯s Room. The ugly statue stood next to the bed, her expressionless eyes gazing toward a particr direction in the room. No one knew what she had faced in the past. <i>Just what did Ol¡¯ Zhou and the rest tell her? Howe she looks so devastatedpared to before?</i>

    Chen Ge walked to stand beside the sculpture and took out Yan Danian¡¯sic. ¡°I¡¯ve identified your real killer, and as long as you¡¯re willing to be my employee, even if I put my life on the line, I will help you take revenge.¡±

    The statue did not understand what Chen Ge said, but Chen Ge could feel her body shivering like there was a change to her emotion. ¡°The man who killed you is hidden at the deepest part of the underground morgue. The ce is very dangerous, but if you are willing to join my Haunted House, I¡¯ll bring all the employees with me to demand a justice for you.¡±

    Chen Ge hade fully prepared, and he sounded confident and strong. It was obvious that he was not kidding; he really did n to do this. The statue still felt that something was wrong. However, after she used her power, she confirmed that what Chen Ge had said was the truth; he was not lying to her. ¡°I will take revenge for you. Tonight, I will enter the underground morgue to capture the culprit that once harmed you.¡±

    The statue¡¯s ugly face looked at Chen Ge, and blood tears started to fall from her eyes. Chen Ge was telling the truth; he was really prepared to go down into the underground morgue that night to risk his life. ¡°Come with me, you are more familiar with the ce. If you are willing to help me, things will be a lot simpler.¡±

    The statue was afraid. She really did not want to return to the underground morgue¡ªthe terror of the ce was something unimaginable to outsiders¡ªbut she could not say no to Chen Ge¡¯s invitation. The man before her had helped her solve her problem and was willing to sacrifice his personal safety to venture into somewhere so dangerous. He intentions provided some semnce of warmth to her cold heart.

    Seeing that enough groundwork had beenid, Chen Ge flipped open Yan Danian¡¯sic. ¡°Come with me. When we¡¯re there, I still have a lot more questions that I wish to ask you.¡±

    The statue had stayed in the underground storeroom for years, so she would be very familiar with the ce. That was one of the main reasons that Chen Ge had to take her with him. The tears in the eyes stopped flowing, and the statue¡¯s ugly face started to change. The face that represented truth softened, and a 1.7-meter-tall girl appeared before the statue. The girl looked quite simr to Ma Yin¡ªshe was very reserved, and it was probably hereditary because both girls were very tall.

    After the girl left the statue, she immediately crawled into Yan Danian¡¯sic, and on the empty page, a female statue appeared. The statue was radiating sadness, pain, betrayal, and despair.

    <i>With the girl¡¯s aid, the chance of sess for tonight¡¯s mission has increased a lot.</i>Chen Ge left the Wife¡¯s Room and headed to Mu Yang High School. He transferred the boy with the heavy stench and the hanging man into theic as well.

    <i>When thepletion rate of the Third Sick Hall was over ny percent, I was rewarded a patient¡¯s list of all the mental patients. Each record carried the soul of a mad person, should I bring that with me?</i>

    The mad people were originally members of the ghost stories society. Even after their deaths, they were controlled by their madness, and Chen Ge normally did not dare use them.

    <i>I should bring them with me. At the very least, I¡¯ll gain an additional trump card.</i>Chen Ge thought about it and shoved the patient¡¯s list into his backpack. <i>When the society¡¯s chairperson sees all of his members standing on my side, I wonder how he¡¯ll react.</i>

    Chen Ge also thought that he had perhaps crossed a line; he had not only inherited all the items that the ghost stories society collected over the years but also recruited all of its past members. <i>The ghost stories societycked good leadership, and that was why they all acted this way. After I take over as the chairperson, I will change everything so that the members can receive real salvation.</i>

    Carrying the bag and holding the hammer, Chen Ge left the Haunted House. He did not even have the chance to close the gate before Lee Zheng¡¯s phone call came. ¡°After Doctor Gao¡¯s disappearance, Gao Ru Xue¡¯s emotional state has be very unstable. She seems to know something; we need you to go over to make contact with her immediately and try to dig for valuable information.¡±

    ¡°Brother Zheng, I have something else to do tonight, and I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t be able to stay for long. How about you try to find other people tomunicate with Gao Ru Xue?¡±

    ¡°It can only be you,¡± Lee Zheng said firmly. ¡°On the day, she was targeted by the eyes-gouging killer, and we have been through her phone. She had been calling you endlessly that day. I do not know the nature of your rtionship, but I am sure it is not that simple. Chen Ge, I hope you¡¯ll be able to recognize the good from the bad and hold onto your principles when the situation calls for it.¡±

    By then, Chen Ge realized that Lee Zheng had a wrong idea about their rtionship. That day, Gao Ru Xue¡¯s phone had been taken over by the phone spirit, and she could contact everyone but Chen Ge. Gao Ru Xue had kept calling him that day because she was feeling nervous and unsafe.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be heading over now.¡±

    From Lee Zheng, Chen Ge found out that Gao Ru Xue had been staying alone at Doctor Gao¡¯s practice. She did not want to return to the dormitory to stay with her roommates nor did she want to move back to Xi Xia Hu. Chen Ge arrived at Doctor Gao¡¯s practice, and when he got down from the taxi, he realized that the practice was very close to Western Jiujiang Medical University.

    There were in clothes looking after Gao Ru Xue twenty-four hours, and when Chen Ge got out from the car, the man in charge immediately spotted him. While Chen Ge¡¯s get up gave the man pause and his gaze settled on the white cat lying on Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder for a long time, he decided to follow the superior¡¯s order and went over to make contact with Chen Ge. The man gave Chen Ge some updates on Gao Ru Xue¡¯s situation, and then he handed him a recording pen before leaving.

    He knocked lightly on the door, and after a long time, Gao Ru Xue came to open the door. She did not look like she had rested recently¡ªshe looked tired and spiritless. ¡°Chen Ge, what are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°I heard you are not feeling well, so I came to visit you because I was worried.¡± Chen Ge carried the heavy backpack, and he realized how awkward he sounded. To smooth things over, he picked up the white cat and said, ¡°Do you like cats?¡±

    The furry head with the multi-colored eyes turned to look at Chen Ge with confusion. The white cat¡¯s ¡®cute¡¯ reaction did make Gao Ru Xue feel a little better. She reached out to rustle the white cat¡¯s head and moved back. ¡°I¡¯m doing fine. Pleasee in. Do you want anything to drink?¡±

    Gao Ru Xue had been trapped alone for quite some time already, and she actually wanted to find someone to talk to, but she did not know who.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Chen Ge followed Gao Ru Xue into Doctor Gao¡¯s office. What popted the room were books. There were many different kinds of books, and most of them were limited editions that could not be found online. ¡°Is Doctor Gao really such a heavy reader?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he does not have any other hobbies. Other than reading, he likes to collect some weird art pieces.¡± Gao Ru Xue brew two cups of coffee and ced them on the table.

    Chen Ge took a small sip and rambled a bit before hemented offhandedly, ¡°By the way, we have known each other for quite some time already, but I never once heard you call Doctor Gao your father. It feels like you two are quite unfamiliar around each other.¡±

    Gao Ru Xue had a private personality. She was not purposely trying to freeze people out, but perhaps she had gone through some experience to make her this way, and the type of experiences that she had been through, that was the thing that Chen Ge was tasked to find out.

    After hearing what Chen Ge said, Gao Ru Xue did not answer immediately. She looked at the coffee inside her cup, and after a long time, she finally said the secret that she had hidden in her heart for a long time.

    ¡°A few years ago, one of the patients got into an ident in the middle of his session, and his condition suddenly worsened. No one knew whether it was his medication or my father¡¯s treatment method. Halfway through his session, the patient went insane and jumped out of the window. At the time, my father hadn¡¯t acquired his own practice yet, so he was practicing at home, and our house was on the 8th floor.

    ¡°The death of the patient naturally fell on his responsibility. The family hounded us endlessly. We tried to exin, apologize, but they would not ept it. Eventually, we moved, but it was still no use. At the time, my father was under great pressure, but thankfully, he had Mom to give him the support he needed. At the time, I thought it was just a hurdle and everything would be fine after we stepped over it. However, no one knew that the event would have such devastating repercussion.

    ¡°The patient¡¯s family went to the hospital to block my father. They created such a ruckus, and things were worsening. Worried about my father, my mother called a cab to get to the hospital, but she got into an ident on the way there. No one answered the call. My father did meet Mother at the hospital, but...¡±

    Gao Ru Xue held the cup with both hands. Her voice was very low, and she looked just like an abandoned doll. ¡°It was toote. The rescue was unsessful. Mom left us, and my father trapped himself at home for a long period of time after that. It seemed like he had sealed himself off from the world.

    ¡°He refused tomunicate with the outside world. When I passed his room in the night, I could sometimes even hear him calling my mother¡¯s name. From then onward, my father seemed to change into a different person. He started to do weird things like going out at night anding back smelling of blood and formalin. When they were preparing to bury my mother, he did something unimaginable. He stole her body.

    ¡°Only I knew about that. I once asked him about it, but he seemed to transform into a different person. I will never forget how he looked at me then. Despair, sadness, and a madness that was intent on destroying everything.

    ¡°About a month after the disappearance of Mother¡¯s body, my father slowly returned to normal. His gaze became dark and deep like an ocean that had no limit; all the negative emotions had disappeared within it. He became more mature than before, like there was nothing in this world that was going to stop him.

    ¡°Other people assumed that he had walked out from the grief and regained a renewed hope on life, but only I knew that he had only buried those emotions deeper in his heart. The calmer he presented himself, the greater the pain in his heart. From then on, my father rarely appeared at night. He worked in the morning and would leave alone at night. Since then, I learned to live on my own.¡±

    Gao Ru Xue had been hiding that in her heart for a long time, and this was the first time that she had shared it with another person. Chen Ge had saved her life in the nick of time, pulling her back from certain death, so she trusted Chen Ge a lot.

    ¡°Working in the day, going out at night and still very energetic.¡± Chen Ge felt like Doctor Gao¡¯s condition was simr to his. He believed that Doctor Gao had also been influenced by a ghost to be like this. When Gao Ru Xue finished her story, she was tired and curled up on the couch.

    Chen Ge did not disturb her; the girl did not seem to have realized that her father had gone missing. After all, her life would go on unchanged. She would survive the night alone since her father would never return at night. Looking at the time, Chen Ge went into the adjacent room to grab a nket for Gao Ru Xue, then he picked up the white cat and tip-toed out of the ce.

    After the door clicked shut, Gao Ru Xue, whom Chen Ge assumed was asleep, slowly opened her eyes. She touched the nket that covered her body and turned to look at the door that was closed.

    ...

    After leaving the practice, Chen Ge walked toward Western Jiujiang Medical University. He needed to enter the underground morgue¡¯s central hub before midnight. On the way there, Chen Ge called Lee Zheng to report what he heard about Doctor Gao from Gao Ru Xue. After he hung up, he threw these thoughts out of his mind. He waspletely focused onpleting this Trial Mission.

    The underground morgue was different from other three-star missions. It was perfectly preserved and not destroyed, so Chen Ge could not afford to be careless. He did not enter the university from the front entrance but took a long detour to the western gate. ording to the map provided by Zhang Li, the real entrance to the underground morgue was near the western gate. Compared to the other gates, this ce was very quiet; there were not even stalls lining the road waiting to do business with students.

    Chen Ge looked left and right. After he made sure that no one was looking, he avoided the surveince camera and hopped into the campus. <i>It is 9 pm now. I still have three hours.</i>

    Even though there were street lights around the western part of the university campus,pared to other parts of the campus, this ce felt quite deserted. Chen Ge walked through the bushes that lined the road and kept his back to the wall. Following the map that he had memorized, Chen Ge slowly sought his way to the entrance to the underground morgue.

    The western part of the campus was thergest part of the campus. There were twob buildings and several other buildings whose usages were unknown to Chen Ge. However, most of the buildings were sealed shut, and entry was not allowed. Chen Ge continued to move forward, and he came across three security guards who were patrolling the area. They were patrolling very far from Chen Ge. Even with his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could only tell their general frame.<i>Why are the three security guards just going around this small area?</i>

    ording to the map, there were five entrances that one could use to enter the underground morgue. The three guards were patrolling the front door. When Zhang Li and the renovation team were expanding the morgue, they had used this entrance. Of the four remaining entrances, two were attached to theb buildings, one was attached to the abandoned education block, and thest one was an emergency entrance. It was probably to prevent an underground emergency, so this entrance should lead outside of the campus.

    The security guards had blocked the front entrance, so Chen Ge had no choice but to use other entrance. He walked to theb building on the left. He pushed the window open and jumped into the room. He only walked a small distance before he saw a ss container that was ced on a shelf. There was something that looked like a human head being soaked within.

    <i>I heard from Liu Xianxian that when she was following Liu Zhe, she discovered the man talking to a human head inside a ss bottle inside one of thebs.</i>

 Chapter 422 - Cadaver Walkway

    <h4>Chapter 422: Cadaver Walkway</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Liu Xianxian had once caught Liu Zhe in this room talking to the detached head in the ss jar.

    <i>How suspicious. </i>Chen Ge turned on the shlight function, and the light hit the ss jar. Even after so many years, the human head in the jar still looked very much alive.

    <i>It¡¯s quite scary seeing these things at night. </i>Chen Ge stared at the jar for a long time. The head seemed to be suspended in liquid andpletely immobile. It did not wink or move, different from what Liu Xianxian described. To be safe, Chen Ge summoned Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s group to inspect the jar, but they discovered nothing weird.

    <i>The thing that possessed it has probably left already. </i>Chen Ge was deep in thought, staring at the jar. The fact that Liu Zhe would talk with the human head suggested that there was something here that could possess these samples andmunicate via these things that were suspended in jars.

    If that was true, then things might be shaky. The whole western part of the campus was under the enemy¡¯s surveince. There were so many organ parts in the underground morgue andbs, and any one of them could be silently watching him. <i>I need to stay away from these things as much as possible.</i>

    Chen Ge ced the white cat in his backpack and walked out from the room. There was a ten-meter-long corridor, and the doors on both sides were locked. There were a few doors that even had the yellow police tape. He looked in through the windows on the doors, and rows ofb tables were ced in the rooms. His pupils narrowing, Chen Ge saw something that looked like water stain left on the experiment b that was at the front of the room. It felt like something had just crawled up from that b.

    <i>The entrance is not here. </i>If not for the mission and the time limit, Chen Ge would have liked to visit every room. <i>Theb is a good scenario¡ªthe atmosphere here is not bad. I should try to build something simr at the park.</i>

    The reason Director Luo had taken down the surrounding attractions was to prepare for the Haunted House¡¯s expansion. To build a terror theme park, an underground parking lot was not enough.

    He walked to the end of the corridor, and Chen Ge realized that one of the autopsy rooms was not locked. The door had been left half-open, and the seal was broken. <i>There is no dust on the door handle¡ªsomeone has been through here recently.</i>

    Chen Ge squatted down and noticed the friction and scratch marks on the ground. Chen Ge tried to push the door. The door was slightly twisted, and one had to hold the door upwards when they pushed to make sure no scratch marks would be left on the ground. <i>Looks like the person was in a hurry when they used this door, so they did not notice these details.</i>

    As the door swung open, the stench of formalin hit Chen Ge. Chen Ge did not hurry to get into the room as that he knew whenever he could smell formalin, those things were nearby. Chen Ge ced the white cat on the table and touched its head. ¡°Can you tell where this smell ising from?¡±

    Chen Ge tried to use his gestures to make the cat understand his meaning. The multi-colored eyes looked at Chen Ge, and after a while, the cat suddenly jumped down from the table and walked toward a single room at the back of the autopsy room.

    ¡°Found it?¡± There was another wooden door inside the room, and the cat snarled at the door. The formalin drifted out from behind the door. Chen Ge tried to push it and realized that it was locked.

    ¡°Move back a bit.¡± Chen Ge raised the hammer, and the cat jumped back.

    BANG!

    The hammer aimed at the lock, and the key cylinder cracked. Chen Ge had gotten far more familiar with how to break down a locked door. He only needed to focus on the lockpared to knocking down the whole door, that would create a smallermotion.

    There was a dark corridor behind the wooden door. Based on the map provided by Zhang Li, this was one of the entrances that led to the underground morgue. The corridor would lead Chen Ge to the outer perimeter of the morgue. cing the cat back in his backpack, Chen Ge raised his shlight into the darkness. He only nced inward when he frowned. There was broken ss on the stairs and some indeterminate objects like someone had broken ss jars with organ samples there.

    <i>The three guards at the front door will probablye to check on the noise soon. I should hurry.</i>

    Chen Ge did not want to waste time, but when he turned to close the door, his gaze was attracted by something else. The back of the wooden door was filled with nail marks. It looked scary. <i>Something was trying to get out.</i>

    There were so many nail marks that Chen Ge could not tell whether they came from one thing or multiple. Chen Ge snapped a few pictures on his phone and went down the steps, being careful not to step on any of the detritus.

    Soon, he reached the underground level, and there was a split in the road. The corridor on the left was unpainted, and the one on the right was painted white. When he walked closer, Chen Ge saw some words painted on the wall¡ªthey were squiggly like worms, barely readable. The left corridor was called a human walkway, and the one on the right was called the cadaver walkway.

    <i>The handwriting is about two meters high, so the writer should be an adult, but this handwriting looks like a child¡¯s handwriting. </i>Chen Ge took out his phone to nce at the map.

    If he wanted to get to the underground morgue, he had to take the white corridor. For the sake of the mission, Chen Ge walked down the cadaver walkway. Perhaps it was his imagination, but once he entered the corridor, it felt like someone was moving in front of him. He tried to pick up the speed, and the person did as well; he slowed down, and so did the person.

    He walked for half a minute when there were red letters surfacing on the white walls.

    ¡°You¡¯re on the wrong path. This is a road for dead people only.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m warning you¡ªturn back now.¡±

    ¡°Why are you so stubborn?¡±

    ¡°I know, you also want to be a cadaver, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Chen Ge did not care what they said. He was more curious about the words¡¯ location. Some of them were on the wall, and some were on the ceiling. Chen Ge looked at them for a long time, and he realized that to create this effect, the person had to be crawling on the surfaces.

    <i>Could it be a lizard?</i>

    He stopped, and the person before him stopped.

    The corridor became so quiet.

    <i>All three-star scenarios have their own unique ghosts. I wonder what kind of monsters the underground morgue has. </i>Chen Ge ced the cat on the ground. When he started moving, so did the person before him. <i>Hearing this echo, we¡¯re about twenty meters away from each other. The person is just around that corner.</i>

 Chapter 423 - Apple

    <h4>Chapter 423: Apple</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Could he be the one who left these blood letters?</i>

    Chen Ge decided to ask the person directly. He held the hammer and took out the recorder from his backpack. When he pressed the power button, the person before him suddenly disappeared. Only Chen Ge¡¯s footsteps echoed in the corridor. He turned the corner and a sentence was left on the white wall¡ªYou¡¯ll regret this!

    <i>Is that a threat?</i>

    There was nothing else on the wall other than the ugly handwriting. Chen Ge slowly put the recorder away.

    <i>Now is not the time to get hung up over these things. The crucial thing is to get to the morgue¡¯s central hub within the time limit.</i>

    Chen Ge knew very well, for a three-star scenario, the real terror started after midnight. Chen Ge walked down the white corridor, and he found more strange things. There were water stains on the painted walls, and it was unclear where the water came from. If one looked closer, one could find human hair on the ground¡ªsome were long and others short. Chen Ge picked one up, and it smelled faintly of formalin. The smell had soaked into the hair, not something that had been thered on.

    Other than that, the most confusing thing for Chen Ge was definitely the blood letters on the wall; the person seemed to understand that the white corridor was specifically for transporting cadavers only, and they kept warning outsiders of that fact. <i>Are these letters used to warn the medical students?</i>

    The staff and students would use this corridor to enter the morgue to retrieve cadavers. The words felt like they had been written by cadavers, as they carried warning, threat, and a hint of hopelesspromise. Chen Ge could see new letters appearing every few steps, and the handwriting got worse like something happened to the author¡¯s wrist or hands. At some points, the handwriting stopped halfway like the brush had fallen out of the writer¡¯s hand.

    <i>These sure are strange.</i>

    Until now, Chen Ge had no idea what kind of monsters were hiding inside the underground morgue. The mission was just starting, and he still had many ces to explore. The white corridors had slopes to them, and when Chen Ge reached the end, he was already at the second underground floor or the outer perimeter of the morgue.

    <i>This is simpler than I thought.</i>

    Perhaps due to Xu Yin¡¯s appearance earlier, everything went smoothly. Chen Ge only got a taste of danger; there was nothing really threatening. The end of the corridor was another split. One was unpainted, but it looked dark and creepy; the other corridor was still painted white, and there were signs of drag marks on the ground from the trolleys.

    <i>These should have been left behind by the staff when they moved the bodies.</i>

    There were carts specialized for moving dead bodies in the morgue. They looked light and convenient, which intrigued Chen Ge.

    <i>The trolleys made by Uncle Xu are a bit too rough around the edges. After the underground morgue has been unlocked, perhaps I can use these to transport the fainted visitors.</i>

    Being moved out of a morgue in a cart used to transport dead bodies, that would be a unique experience.

    Taking out his phone, Chen Ge referred to the map. He was at the edge of the morgue and would reach the outer perimeter if he followed the white corridor. About seven meters down the path, there were three small morgues and a medium-sized morgue; beyond that, it was unknown. Chen Ge looked at all the map, but he could not find any more information. Brandishing his hammer, Chen Ge walked to the first small morgue. The steel door was not locked, and the door did not have any dust. The morgue had recently been essed.

    <i>Should I go in to take a look?</i>

    Chen Ge hade up with a n before he arrived. He nned to leave no rock unturned¡ªthat way, it would be safer on his way back. In this type of underground situation, the most dangerous thing was being cornered. The door creaked noisily, and there were four body freezers in the room.

    The freezers were working normally and had notices saying things like ¡®please do not touch without permission¡¯. The room was small. Chen Ge walked around the room with the cat, and the cat showed no visible response. Exiting the morgue, Chen Ge entered the other few small morgues, and they were all fine.

    <i>The marks on the floor stop at the medium sized morgue. Looks like the staff from the school will not go further than this. </i>Chen Ge tried the door of the medium-sized morgue, and he realized that it was not locked. <i>There¡¯s a no entry sign on the door, but the door isn¡¯t locked. Is this a slip-up by the staff, or did someone open the door after the staff left?</i>

    Chen Ge pulled the door open a sliver and nced into the room. Other than the freezers, there were a few metal tables along the corner. When his eyes caught the tables, Chen Ge¡¯s gaze changed. The few tables were joined together, and there was something human-like lying on it.

    It was both humanlike and not human¡ªthe thing had a human shape, but its four limbs were all twisted at impossible angles. The white cat elicited a soft growl, and Chen Ge slowly moved along the wall. He walked past the row of freezers, and they were not shut. The cooling air covered Chen Ge, and he shivered. <i>Are these freezers filled with bodies?</i>

    Chen Ge moved away from the freezers, and when he got close to the table, he saw that it was a human stic model that was picked apart which was on the table. It was probably a teaching aid in ss, but it was abandoned there. The stomach was cracked open, and all the organs were arranged on the side neatly. This was fine, but the model¡¯s eyes were open, and they looked so real, like a human¡¯s eyes had been sewn into the model. There was a desire in that pair of beautiful eyes. Following his gaze, next to the model¡¯s head was a rotten apple.

    The rotten apple with the bruised, splotchy skin was a contrast to the shiny model. It was a work of art in a way. Chen Ge stood next to the table and was about to lean closer to take a look when there was a weird sounding from the outside corridor. It sounded like mud falling from great height.

    <i>Something ising?</i>

    Chen Ge did not have time to look. He took out the hammer and hid behind the door. He turned off the shlight on his phone and used his Yin Yang Vision to focus on the white corridor outside.

 Chapter 424 - Staff?

    <h4>Chapter 424: Staff?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The sound of mud flopping on the ground approached. Chen Ge leaned against the wall next to the door and raised the hammer in his hands. There was a sh of light in the dark, and then a white shadow walked out from the corridor painted white. The man was wearing a white coat and a thick mask. There was a shlight squeezed under his armpit, and both of his arms were carrying tworge red-colored buckets.

    He moved very fast, and the content of the buckets, which looked sticky, kept getting sshed out from the bucket. As he walked near, the pungent smell hit Chen Ge. It was more than pure formalin; there was a worse stench mixed within. <i>That... looks like a living human.</i>

    Chen Ge did not put down the hammer and kept his eyes trained on the man.

    <i>University staff? But why would hee down to the underground morgue at 10 pm?</i>

    The man¡¯s coat was too small for his muscr frame. He was clearly powerful¡ªeven though he was carrying tworge buckets, he was moving quite fast.

    <i>What is the man doing? Why is he going deeper into the underground morgue?</i>

    The man was suspicious. He looked like a member of staff, but the thing that he was doing and his time of appearance confused Chen Ge. Chen Ge thought about it and gave up on specting. He knew too little and decided to approach this in the most direct way. <i>If he enters this room, I¡¯ll have a talk with him, but if he doesn¡¯t, I¡¯ll trail behind him and temporarily not spook him.</i>

    Perhaps due to his personality, Chen Ge rarely forced others¡ªhe gave the man a choice so that way, even if he identally injured the man, he would feel better. Gripping the hammer, Chen Ge held his breath. The footsteps neared, and the content of the buckets kept sshing out. The man frowned like he was not in a good mood. He continued walking ahead. When he walked past the medium-sized morgue that Chen Ge was in, he looked toward it and realized that the door had been pushed open.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I close this door earlier? Who opened this? Is Li Jiu also in here?¡± The deep male voice drifted out from behind the mask. He stopped to look around and cursed. The man was in a bad mood. He put down the buckets, and the hands that were covered by stic gloves headed for the doorknob. Just as his fingers were about to grab the doorknob, another man¡¯s voice came from the other end of the corridor.

    ¡°Brother Wei! Are you done yet? Why are you taking so long today?¡± A man who was thin and short, with tanned skin ran out holding a shlight.

    ¡°There was a bit too much that needed cleaning today.¡± The man who was called Brother Wei did not enter the room. He pulled his hands back and turned to look at the skinny man with a frown. ¡°Why are you here? Didn¡¯t I tell you to go distract the guards? If they walk in here and see us, this will be so hard to exin.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you worry about that. Those guards are as cowardly as mice; they will nevere in here.¡± Li Jiu looked into the medium-sized morgue. When he noticed that nothing was out of ce, he turned his head back. He lowered his voice and moved to Brother Wei. ¡°In any case, we¡¯d better not finish this as fast as we can. When the guards were chatting, I overheard some things.¡±

    ¡°What did they say?¡±

    ¡°This morgue is haunted,¡± Li Jiu said in a creepy voice.

    ¡°Haunted? You believe in something like that?¡± Brother Wei ced the red bucket before Li Jiu. ¡°Stop wasting time. Since you¡¯re here, help me with these things. They look so disgusting.¡±

    When Li Jiu saw Brother Wei did not believe him, he added, ¡°Not only the security, even the students who are seniors at this school know that this ce is haunted. Brother Wei, think about it, when we are normally tasked with dealing with the cadavers at a medical school, they prepare everything beforehand, and we only needed to transport them into the cars, but this school would rather pay us double the price but refuse toe in here to deal with things themselves. This is definitely suspicious!¡±

    ¡°As long as we¡¯re getting paid, everything is fine. What is scarier than poverty?¡± Brother Wei grabbed the red bucket and walked deeper into the corridor. The bucket was practically overflowing, so once he moved slightly faster, the content would ssh out.

    ¡°But I¡¯m not wearing any gloves!¡± Li Jiu cried. Brother Wei ignored him, so without any other option, he picked up the bucket that was left for him with both hands and chased after Brother Wei.

    After the two walked away, Chen Ge came out from the room. He looked at the sticky liquid on the ground, but he too could not identify it. ¡°This is perfect. They¡¯ll help me scout ahead. If there¡¯s danger, I¡¯ll go and help them.¡±

    Chen Ge was about to leave the room when the white cat on his backpack cried. Chen Ge turned to look and saw that the human model had turned its head. It had originally been looking at the rotten apple, but it was now looking right at Chen Ge.

    <i>The apple should represent life, and since the model was looking at the apple, it should desire life. Now that the thing is looking at me, does it mean that it¡¯s nning to take over my body?</i>

    If not for the warning from the white cat, Chen Ge would not have noticed this.

    <i>Being stared by a model from the back, that is quite scary.</i>

    Without hesitation, Chen Ge walked to the model and had a staring contest with it. After a while, he gripped the model¡¯s head with both hands and twisted it off.

    ¡°Since you like to look at me so much then, I¡¯ll grant you the pleasure of watching me clear this mission.¡±

    Chen Ge ced the head inside his backpack, putting it next to theic and recorder.

    The footsteps in the corridor faded away. Afraid that he might lose them, Chen Ge hurried to catch up. The white corridors looked rather scary. Chen Ge walked past a few more morgues, and the deeper he ventured into the morgue, the more confused he became. ¡°Zhang Li said that there were seven morgues at the outer perimeter, and if we move any further, we would reach the middle section of the morgue, but that zone is supposed to be banned from any entry.¡±

    The temperature was so low that it felt like all the freezers had been swung open, and the chill seeped out from the walls and floor tiles. The two that walked ahead also felt that something was wrong. They slowed down, and Chen Ge made use of this opportunity to catch up to them. There were only several meters between them. Chen Ge hid in the corner and focused on them using his Yin Yang Vision.

    ¡°Brother Wei, can¡¯t you help carry this? The thing in the bucket just hit my hands.¡± Li Jiu put the bucket down and shed the light on his hands. There were red spots surfacing on his palm that looked like insect bites. ¡°They don¡¯t feel like anything, but they do look scary.¡±

    ¡°You sure know how to create problems. Those are chemical baths. You¡¯ll be fine after washing it away.¡± Brother Wei handed his shlight to Li Jiu to have him shine the way, and he picked up the tworge buckets.

 Chapter 425 - Morgue No. 8

    <h4>Chapter 425: Morgue No. 8</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°You¡¯re trying to me this on me? If not for you forcing me to carry the bucket, this would not have happened,¡± Li Jiuined. He tried to wipe his hand on his shirt, but it did not have much effect. If anything, the red dots only got deeper in color.

    ¡°Stop wasting time. Come over and help. We¡¯ll leave after we¡¯re done. Why is this sted ce so cold?¡± Brother Wei walked ahead and held the buckets as he walked down the corridor following the map in his memory. They would pass a door that led to a morgue every few meters along the white corridor, and the number would be painted on the door. The two walked past Morgue No. 6 and then 7. Just as they were continuing to move forward, Li Jiu suddenly pulled on Brother Wei¡¯s shirt.

    ¡°What is it this time?¡± Brother Wei red at Li Jiu with impatience. Standing where he was, Li Jiu shed the shlight at the door next to Morgue No. 7.

    ¡°When we entered this ce earlier, there is a wall next to Morgue No. 7, right?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t really remember, why?¡± Brother Wei¡¯s voice sounded pressed because it came out from behind the mask.

    ¡°Look at this. Why is there another morgue next to Morgue No. 7? Is it a new addition?¡± Li Jiu did not dare move forward anymore. ¡°There is such a thickyer of dust on the doorknob, so this must have been built some time ago. Howe I have no memory of it?¡±

    ¡°Stop scaring yourself. You probably remember the wrong details.¡± Brother Wei walked past Morgue No. 7 and stopped before the extra morgue. The morgue¡¯s door looked the same as the doors that preceded it. The unclear number was the only difference, like someone had scratched it out with nails.

    ¡°Shall we go in to take a look?¡± Brother Wei searched his mind, and he did remember that Morgue No. 7 was supposed to be thest morgue.

    ¡°If you want to go, you need to go in alone. I don¡¯t dare.¡± Li Jiu shook his head as he held the shlight.

    ¡°Why are you so easily scared? We probably handle even more dead bodies at the crematorium every day than what¡¯s down here, so why are you acting like this?¡± Brother Wei said that, but in reality, his heart was shaking as well. He skipped over this topic and picked up his pace as he ran past the extra morgue.

    ¡°Wait for me!¡± Li Jiu chased after Brother Wei, and something unexpected happened. The distance between Brother Wei and Li Jiu increased. Just as Li Jiu was about to run past the morgue, the steel door of the morgue opened on its own. It was very sudden, like someone from within had pushed it open.

    Li Jiu was already shaking in his boots. The sudden movement of the door scared him, and he yelped in fear. Hearing that, Brother Wei stopped and turned to look. When he saw that the door was open, his face nched. ¡°Why did you go and open the door? If you have time to go sight-seeing, why don¡¯t youe over to help me?¡±

    Brother Wei lectured Li Jiu, but thetter was feeling wronged as well. ¡°The door opened on its own; I didn¡¯t even touch it.¡±

    He nced into the room, and the moment he did, his body froze with his eyes locked in a certain direction.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you now?¡± Brother Wei had been partners with Li Jiu for years already. He knew his colleague well; he was not someone who was into pranks. He put down the buckets and walked to stand beside Li Jiu and look into the morgue.

    In a ss tube not far from the door was a body soaked in liquid, and the scariest thing was that the body¡¯s eyes were open.

    ¡°Brother Wei, howe it feels like it¡¯s watching us?¡± Li Jiu kept his voice low. Whenever he opened his lips, it felt like cold air was running into his lips.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look.¡± Brother Wei grabbed Li Jiu by his shoulders, and two of them entered the morgue. The morgue looked more like a disy room. There was a que on the wall. It said, ¡®Every donor deserves to be respected, and that respect should exist at all times.¡¯

    The que was pasted on the wall, but Brother Wei and Li Jiu¡¯s attention waspletely captured by the body with the eyes open. They did not notice the words on the wall. The two moved slowly into the room and stopped next to the dead body.

    ¡°Liu Zhengyi?¡± There was a short introduction on the bottom of the tube. The body¡¯s name was Liu Zhengyi, a graduate at Western Jiujiang Medical University who had stayed as a lecturer after his graduation. The man was a morally-upright man. The introduction said that on the day that he became a teacher, he had already decided to donate his body to the school after his death.

    Once upon a time, a student had been joking with the cadaver¡¯s looks in ss, and he had scolded the student severely. He looked so young in the tube, and the introduction did not mention his cause of death.

    ¡°The preservation is so well done; it looks like a real person.¡± Brother Wei reached out to tap on the ss tube. The body inside did not respond.

    ¡°What are you doing? What if you really wake him up?¡± The red dots had already spread from Li Jiu¡¯s arm, but he did not notice it. He yanked Brother Wei to the side. ¡°Those security guards said that the underground morgue is haunted, and their own people refuse toe down here. Let¡¯s leave immediately and not take any work from this school ever again.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s finish this contract first.¡± Brother Wei flung Li Jiu¡¯s hand off. He looked to the side. There were other ss tubes in the room next to Liu Zhengyi, and each of them had a cadaver inside it. There was a kind-looking old man. He looked peaceful and had the presence of a university professor. There was a muscr teen of about twenty. His eyes were closed, and there was a bright smile on his face like he was having a sweet dream. Brother Wei¡¯s eyes scanned all the ss tubes, and when he saw the tube behind the door, he was startled.

    The tube was empty. The weirdest thing about it was the cover at the top of the tube, which was open like something inside had just crawled out from it. The two sidled close to the tube and shone the shlight on it. Then they discovered something even weirder. The top of the tube reeked of formalin, and there were two wet hand prints on the cover. Brother Wei and Li Jiu shared a look, and they both panicked.

    ¡°The thing inside the tube has crawled out?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic.¡± Brother Wei looked around the tube. ¡°If something did crawl out, it would have left more than two handprints, but there aren¡¯t any more handprints or footprints.¡±

    Li Jiu looked around with the shlight, and he realized that Brother Wei was right. ¡°Then how do you exin the two handprints?¡±

    ¡°No idea but we should leave immediately.¡± This was second floor underground, and they were surrounded by darkness. The darkness was so thick that it felt like it could not be banished by the light from the shlight. As Brother Wei was retreating, he turned and walked out with Li Jiu.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go deal with the stuff inside the buckets. You stay here and wait for me.¡±

    ¡°Okay,e back quickly.¡±

    Brother Wei and Li Jiu left the room, and neither of them discovered that there was a cupboard behind the ss tube whose gaps were continuously leaking formalin.

 Chapter 426 - Cadaver Pool

    <h4>Chapter 426: Cadaver Pool</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Brother Wei picked up the tworge water buckets and walked down the corridor. Li Jie stood where he was. He held the shlight in his hand and forced himself to resist the urge to sh it into the morgue. He knew, in the darkness, the cadavers were all looking at him. ¡°I¡¯d better close the door.¡±

    Li Jiu closed the morgue and looked around. Brother Wei had already left, and it was quite scary standing there alone.

    He turned back to look, and it felt like there were monsters just hiding in the edge of the light. He wanted to go and check, but he did not have the courage. After much deliberation, he felt it was safer to stay with Brother Wei. ¡°This ce is too creepy. Being together at least means that we have someone to look after each other.¡±

    Holding the shlight, Li Jiu turned back every three steps that he made, deadly afraid that he might find someone following him. ¡°Hopefully, I¡¯m just being overly sensitive.¡±

    After Li Jiu walked away, a scary-looking hammer peeked around the corner. Chen Ge poked his head out to look at the pair that wandered away. His eyes were filled with confusion. <i>Did the man discover me?</i>

    He walked out from the corner and stood at the door. <i>The pictures given by Zhang Li didn¡¯t show this morgue. Could this be the mysterious Morgue No. 8 that shouldn¡¯t exist?</i>

    Chen Ge pushed open the steel door and looked in. Other than the ss tubes with dead bodies, there was nothing out of the ordinary. <i>The dead look peaceful, so they should be voluntary donors. There is no trace of bad energy in here. This is not what I expected from Morgue No. 8.</i>

    Due to his experience, Chen Ge took a look around, and his confusion grew. The situation at the underground morgue seemed moreplicated than he had anticipated. <i>Just now, I think I heard the two talking about handprints and something crawling out.</i>

    Chen Ge was about to enter the room when the white cat jumped down from his shoulder and ran down the corridor.

    There were other people in the corridor, and Chen Ge did not want to expose himself yet. Thus, he quickly retreated out of the morgue to chase after the cat. After consuming the society¡¯s blood, the cat¡¯s body seemed to have grownrger, and its reactions became faster. In a blink of an eye, it was already several meters away.

    <i>What is attracting it? </i>Chen Ge was very familiar with the white cat. Whenever they were out on a mission, the white cat would stick close to him. The cat used to be very feral, but that had been lost after a period ofcency. Most of the time now, it would be very cowardly. Therefore, unless truly necessary, it would not leave Chen Ge willingly. To stop the white cat from going missing, Chen Ge also picked up his speed, and they reached the end of the corridor.

    The ce seemed to have been sealed up at one time, but something hadter happened that caused the brick wall to crumble. There was all sorts of trash in the road, and there was a sign that read¡ªLack of maintenance over the years. Danger of falling objects. No entry!

    There was trace of that sticky substance on the bricks next to the sign. Brother Wei and Li Jiu had gone this way. <i>The outer perimeter with the seven morgues was thest expansion. Beyond this will be the middle section of the morgue.</i>

    Western Jiujiang Medical University had been built decades ago; it was Jiujiang¡¯s earliest medical university. The underground morgue had perfectly preserved the medical scene at the time.

    Back then, they had still used cadaver pools to store dead bodies. The pools would be filled with formalin, and the bodies that the university gathered through various channels would be soaked there. When the students needed to experiment, the teachers would lead them to the underground morgue to fish the cadavers from the pools.

    <i>The road to the central hub should be somewhere in the middle section. </i>Chen Ge put away his phone. The map provided by Zhang Li was mostly about the outer perimeter. There was little on the middle section and nothing on the central hub. Hopping over the sign, Chen Ge walked into the middle section, holding the wall.

    The air in the corridor turned murky. There was a weird smell in the air. Chen Ge sniffed the air, but he could not tell where the smell came from. It felt like the smell wasing from all sides. It had soaked into the bricks of the ceiling and the walls.

    ¡°The middle section is the forbidden zone of the university. Normally, even the security team and the people from the school don¡¯t daree here, so what are the two outsiders doing here?¡± Chen Ge really did not get it. The two seemed to like ¡®adventure¡¯ more than he did. Chen Ge slowed down and covered his nostrils and mouth with his hand. He stared at the white cat, making sure that the cat did not leave his sight.

    After running several meters, the white cat leaned low to the ground and entered the hunting state like it had spotted a rat. This was the first time that Chen Ge had seen the white cat in such a serious state. He moved slowly with his body bent low.

    After a while, the stench in the air thickened. The white cat continued to prowl. The corridor became older and more dpidated. The white paint peeled of the wall to reveal the gray bricks.

    After a few more meters, Chen Ge heard the voices of Li Jiu and Brother Weiing from one of the rooms. The thing that had attracted the white cat came from that room as well. Afraid that the cat might do something hasty, Chen Ge picked it up and ced it in his backpack. He walked to the door and peered in.

    The room wasrger than Chen Ge anticipated. There was arge rectangr pool. Brother Wei stood in the middle of it while Li Jiu stood by the edge. <i>Every time, they collect such arge amount before they call us toe deal with it. Do they really think we¡¯re not humans?</i>

    Li Jiu coughed twice. He had seen many bodies before, but whenever he saw these things, he could not stop his gag reflex.

    The repulsive smell oozed from the pool, and Li Jiu¡¯s eyes were watering from it.

    ¡°I told you to wait outside, so who can you me but yourself?¡± Brother Wei poured the content of the buckets inside the pool. ¡°Just be satisfied, based on our contract with the school, we should be bringing these things back to our crematorium to burn them, but with this convenient dumping spot, we¡¯ve already saved a lot of trouble.¡±

    ¡°You have a point.¡± Li Jiu¡¯s face was white. Looking at the things that had been dumped into the pool, he still felt like vomiting, ¡°Just how did the medical students manage to do this? These are all picked from the human bodies. Just thinking about it makes me shudder.¡±

    The two continued their conversation, and Chen Ge heard everything. He finally knew the two¡¯s identity and their purpose for being there. Li Jiu and Brother Wei were workers at some crematorium. The university asked them to deal with the leftovers after autopsy sses.

    Normally, each cadaver had theirbel. After cremation, the remains would be returned to the families or buried in a public cemetery. They could not do anything about that, but there were rarely whole cadavers in an autopsy room. There were many things that were left behind after autopsies.

    These things were very hard to deal with, and they took a great deal of time. Li Jiu and Brother Wei wanted to save themselves some trouble, so they prepared to dump these things at the underground morgue.

    They seemed to have done something like this before, and they had not been exposed.

 Chapter 427 - It Was Hiding Inside the Hole

    <h4>Chapter 427: It Was Hiding Inside the Hole</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Brother Wei, is the hole stuck? Howe it feels like it¡¯s sinking slower than usual this time?¡± Li Jiu resisted his difort and nced at the cadaver pool.

    ¡°There¡¯s probably something stuck down there.¡± Brother Wei frowned while holding the buckets. He was getting agitated. They needed to leave the ce as soon as possible, but weird things kept happening. ¡°Go and look for items like brooms and sticks.¡±

    ¡°Brother, we¡¯re in a morgue¡ªwhere am I supposed to find a broom?¡±

    ¡°Then, are you suggesting we just leave it like this? If the university finds out, a fine is one thing, but we¡¯ll definitely lose our jobs. They are very particr about the cadavers.¡± Brother Wei was not in a good mood. He waved his hands to fling the remains stuck to his stic gloves away. ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there, go!¡±

    Brother Wei was wearing a white coat, gloves, and a mask, but he only had a pair of sneakers on. He lowered his head to take a look, and he felt like his sneakers were soaked with something¡ªit felt ufortable. After he was yelled at, Li Jiu had no choice but to go look around the room with a shlight. He eventually walked to a wooden closet that was ced in a corner. He opened the closet, and it was filled with severalrge rusted metal hooks that had long chains attached to them.

    ¡°What are these for?¡± Li Jiu did not want to venture out of the room, so he took out one of the hooks. ¡°Brother Wei, can this work?¡±

    Brother Wei did not want to waste time either, so he epted the hook from Li Jiu. The hook wasrge, but the end was not sharp. However, it was very heavy. If he dropped it into the pool, it would probably sink immediately. ¡°I guess it¡¯ll have to do.¡±

    There was a hole that wasrger than a normal man¡¯s shoulders in the pool, and Brother Wei had no idea what it was for. Brother Wei lowered the hook toward the hole, and the hook was slowly submerging into the hole. Blocked by the floating substance, Brother Wei could not see into the hole. He stood by there and gripped the chains that were attached to the end of the hook.

    ¡°Why hasn¡¯t it reached the end yet?¡± The hole was much deeper than he thought. ¡°Who would dig such a deep hole at the bottom of the pool? Could it be the dead bodies?¡± If he had been anywhere but standing in a cadaver pool, he would haveughed.

    ¡°Just how deep is this hole?¡± When they were there the previous times, they just wanted to get things done, so he had really not considered that question before. To make sure the hook could continue to sink, Brother Wei squatted down. When there was about a quarter of the chain left, the hook finally hit something. Brother Wei grabbed the chain by both hands and pulled. He was shocked to discover that the hook was stuck.

    ¡°There was nothing in the way when it was sinking though, did it get caught on something? Maybe the thing that was clogging up the hole?¡± He pulled harder. Brother Wei was known for one thing¡ªat the crematorium, he was the strongest. Brother Wei pulled like his life depended on it. The chain slowly pulled back, and it felt like the thing that was stuck on the end of the hook was especially heavy.

    It looked like Brother Wei was fishing, but what could he possibly catch in a cadaver pool? Brother Wei had not considered that question. Half of his face was red, and even through the thick mask, one could hear him catching his breath. The chain was pulled out slowly, and it was covered with various indeterminate substances that gave it a creepy feeling.

    ¡°Come and help!¡± Brother Wei had pulling halfway through it when he suddenly realized that things were off. Earlier, when the hook stuck on something, it had been hard to pull, but at least the chain was still moving upwards. However, as he pulled, he noticed a resisting force from the other end. It felt like something was hiding inside the hole pulling back!

    ¡°Brother, I¡¯m not wearing any gloves!¡± Li Jiu looked at the chain that was pulling out from the hole, and his legs were weak. Brother Wei gritted his teeth and leaned backwards. He used the weight of his body to stop the chain from sinking. He tried his best, and his mind was thinking about nothing but pulling that chain up.

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe I¡¯m going to lose this.¡± With his feet firmly nted on the ground, Brother Wei slowly moved back, and the chain pulled out little by little. The top of the hole started to bubble, and just as the hook was about to surface, the force inside the hole increased as if the thing inside the hole was only getting serious.

    The chain was pulled taut for about a second before the force inside the hole suddenly increased. Without warning, Brother Wei¡¯s body was pulled toward the hole. His feet slipped, and he fell. He was yanked toward the hole!

    ¡°Ma Wei!¡± Li Jiu jumped into the pool and grabbed Brother Wei¡¯s coat at thest minute. His face almost touching the surface of the water, the smell of formalin made his eyes water. The chain danced on the water, and it was pulled into the hole by the force. The water was brownish and very murky. Ma Wei could see a blurry shadow sinking into the hole.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Cold sweat slid down his face. Ma Yin could not imagine what would have happened if he had been pulled into the hole. With both of his hands on the edge of the hole, Ma Yin copsed to the ground with a nched face.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t touch those things, right?¡± Li Jiu asked uncertainly. He was having a hard time just looking at the hole, much lessing in close contact with it.

    ¡°No.¡± Ma Yin recovered after a long time. He stared at the hole and shivered. ¡°Li Jiu, do you know of any fish that can survive in chemical water?¡±

    ¡°I know catfish can survive in sewers for a long time, but these chemicals are used to soak dead bodies¡ªthey¡¯re for dead people. No matter how strong the organism is, it would be useless!¡± Li Jiu got quite a scare as well. If Ma Yin had fallen into the hole, he would have needed to change partners.

    ¡°If it¡¯s not a fish, what could it be?¡± Ma Yin looked at the bubbling hole, and his voice shook. ¡°When I was pulling on the chain, it was obvious that it got stuck on something. It felt like the thing was still asleep initially, but it got woken up by me.¡±

    Ma Yin was spooked. He looked at his hands. ¡°The thing was powerful, at least twice as strong as me. Even with the advantage of the ground, I was still pulled away.¡±

    ¡°Living deep inside a pool that is filled with formalin and dead bodies, twice the strength of a normal man...¡± Li Jiu did not dare to think any further. ¡°Brother Wei, let¡¯s hustle! It¡¯s fine if we lose the job; our lives are more important!¡±

    Ma Wei nodded. He also did not want to stay there. ¡°Pull me up.¡±

    He grabbed Li Jiu¡¯s arm and tried to stand up, but he realized that his legs were powerless. He looked down, and Ma Yin saw that his shoes werepleted wet like the content of the buckets had sshed on them.

 Chapter 428 - Who Am I?

    <h4>Chapter 428: Who Am I?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Can you stand up?¡± Li Jiu took a long time before he helped Ma Wei up. Ma Wei stomped his feet on the ground, but he did not feel any better. He felt like the parts below his calves were slowly losing their senses.

    ¡°The thing in the bucket is probably poisonous. It must¡¯ve reacted with the other chemicals in the water.¡± Ma Wei had dropped out after high school, so he was not familiar with these things. He only knew that he needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. ¡°Li Jiu, your hands touched those things as well, right? Are they getting better?¡±

    Li Jiu raised his palms. The red dots were spreading to form a rash, and it looked scary. ¡°Some sshed on me, and it¡¯s bing like this. Your whole shoes were soaked, so it must be worse for you. We need to leave this ce fast.¡±

    Abandoning the two buckets, Li Jiu carried Ma Wei as they headed out from the pool. Before they could do so, the hole behind them gurgled like something was crawling out from it. At the same time, the tools closet ced in the corner of the room started to shake like there was someoneing out from inside.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Li Jiu was panicking. He jumped out of the pool and grabbed Ma Wei¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Quick! Those monsters areing!¡±

    He grabbed Ma Wei by both hands and yanked him out of the pool. The weird noises in the room grew, and the monster inside the hole started to crawl faster. The closet door burst open, and the rusted hooks fell to the ground.

    After Ma Wei got out from the pool, the only thought they had was to run. The two stumbled to the door. The shlight flickered, making the underground morgue scarier. The two were focused on escaping. When they reached the door, a man¡¯s face suddenly turned from the corner!

    ¡°What the f*ck!¡± Li Jiu was walking ahead, but he was not that brave. Under the light from the shlight, the man¡¯s face looked paler than it was. The pair of eyes focused on them, and it felt like their bodies had frozen under his gaze. The face had appeared so suddenly that Li Jiu¡¯s heart almost jumped out from his chest. He staggered back several steps to knock into Ma Wei, who was behind him. His legs having lost all feeling, Ma Wei had trouble even walking. The sudden collision with Li Jiu made him lose his footing. The two rolled and copsed to the ground, their voices echoing in the underground morgue.

    ¡°I saw it!

    ¡°There was a face at the door!

    ¡°The thing¡¯s outside!¡±

    Their whole focus was on the hole in the cadaver pool and the closet at the corner, so they did not expect the real danger toe from the door. The only exit was blocked, and Li Jiu cried for help. Crawling on the ground, he mbered back into the room.

    Ma Wei still had no idea what was happening. He was just scared by how Li Jiu was reacting. Not raising his head, he followed behind Li Jiu and crawled after the man. The room was only so big, and there was no ce to hide. The two leaned against the innermost wall and saw despair in each other¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°There were no footsteps. It was just a face that showed up at the door!¡± Li Jiu waved his hands. He did not even know how to describe it anymore. Ma Yin had followed behind Li Jiu, so he did not see the face, but based on his partner¡¯s description, he was already feeling scared.

    His legs were turning into jelly. If they ran into danger, he would not even be able to run. However,pared to Li Jiu, Ma Wei was calmer. He lifted the shlight and slowly moved the light to the door.

    A man with a backpack was standing on the corridor. He was of average build and had a smile on his face. He looked kind, but when Ma Wei¡¯s eyes moved to the man¡¯s left hand, his heart skipped a beat. The man was holding a hammer that was at least half a meter long. The hammerhead was covered with sticky blood stains, and the handle looked like it was made from human bones. It looked so scary!

    A smiling face and wicked murder weapon, the first thing that came into Ma Wei¡¯s mind was the movies about crazed murderers. ording to the movies, the killers would look like this when they were about to kill, and they saw torture as a hobby, an enjoyable activity. His body curled backwards. Ma Wei squeezed together with Li Jiu, and the two workers could not stop shaking.

    ¡°I was still discovered.¡± Chen Ge also did not expect that the duo would suddenly run outside. He wanted to hide, but he realized that the next corner was about six meters away. He walked into the room with the hammer. Chen Ge did not think it was such a big issue being discovered by these two. From their reaction, they did not have that much courage.

    The hammer dragged along the ground, and the white cat followed behind it. Weirdly enough, when Chen Ge entered the room, the sound from the hole and the closet became silent. Li Jiu and Ma Wei saw Chen Ge walk closer, and their foreheads were sweating. In the end, it was Ma Wei who gathered the courage and demanded in an officious tone, ¡°Who are you? What are you doing in the underground morgue sote at night?¡±

    ¡°Who am I?¡± Chen Ge toyed with the hammer in his hand. Stopping before Li Jiu and Ma Yin, he smiled. ¡°I still haven¡¯te up with the answer yet. How about you help me think up an identity?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Ma Wei was shocked. He certainly had not been expecting that. He looked at Chen Ge and the hammer that reeked of stale blood. He forced a smile and said, ¡°You must be one of the security guards.¡±

    ¡°Western Jiujiang Medical University¡¯s guards have a uniform, so obviously I¡¯m not one of them.¡±

    Ma Wei did not know what to say. He had a feeling that the man was about to kill them. With someone holding his arm, Li Jiu beside Ma Wei opened his lips. ¡°I believe you¡¯re one of the university staff. I know you have something to do here. Neither of us saw your face, so we will not disturb you from working.¡±

    With the help of the wall, Li Jiu slowly stood up. He held Ma Wei¡¯s shoulders, and they tried to move away from Chen Ge.

    ¡°Not a bad guess.¡± Chen Ge looked at the two. ¡°Then why are you two here? Don¡¯t try to lie to me. Tell me everything that has happened here.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re employees at Jiujiang¡¯s Song Lin Crematorium, and we¡¯re here to help the school deal with the cadavers.¡± Li Jiu told Chen Ge in general what had happened. When he mentioned the monster in the hole and shaking closet, Chen Ge¡¯s interest was piqued.

    Chen Ge walked to the closet first. He opened the closet and knocked on the back wall. ¡°It¡¯s hollow behind this closet; I suspect there is a pathway behind this.¡±

 Chapter 429 - Red Corridor

    <h4>Chapter 429: ¡®Red¡¯ Corridor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Turning to look at Li Jiu and Ma Wei, Chen Ge ordered, ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there,e and help.¡±

    The ck phone¡¯s mission requirement was for him to enter the central hub before midnight. Without a map, Chen Ge had no idea where the corridor heading to the central hub was, so the fact that he had stumbled across a hidden pathway greatly interested him. The three pushed the closet aside, and behind it was a secret passage that was only wide enough for a single person. There was wind howling on the other end, and the air smelled of decay and rot.

    Chen Ge reached out to touch the edge of the passage. It was wet and slippery, and there was something that looked like moss growing on the walls. However, the ¡®moss¡¯ was not green in color but dark brown. In fact, when it caught the light of the shlight, it would glow red.

    ¡°Give me the shlight.¡± Chen Ge epted the shlight from Li Jiu and shone it down the passage. The passage was narrow and had many turns, so he had no idea where it led.

    ¡°Why would there be a secret passage in the room where the cadaver pool is? This looks like it has been dug years ago, what was the purpose?¡± Chen Ge looked at the two men, and they both shook their heads.

    ¡°Shall we go in to take a look?¡± Chen Ge was talking to himself, but when the two heard that, their expressions dropped. Probably worried that they would be forced by Chen Ge to scout ahead, Li Jiu said in a soft reminder, ¡°We¡¯d better not wander about. Even the security said this ce is haunted. Brother Wei and I have personally experienced that this ce is not safe¡ªperhaps the legends are really true.¡±

    Chen Ge also did not want to crawl into the tunnel. The space was too small, and it limited his power. Furthermore, if he ran into monsters from both ends when he was inside the tunnel, it would be very dangerous. When he was hesitating, the white cat called, and it slowly crawled into the tunnel.

    <i>The thing that attracted the white cat is inside this passage? </i>Chen Ge grabbed the hammer and leaned his upper body into the passage. <i>There¡¯s a draft, so the chance of asphyxiation is low.</i>

    Hearing the cat, Li Jiu and Ma Wei realized that the scary-looking man brought a cat with him. Their eyes wandered between Chen Ge and the white cat, and their impression of Chen Ge changed slightly.

    ¡°You two stay here. I¡¯ll be back after I go and take a look.¡± Chen Ge was worried that his retreat would be blocked, so he had the two workers help him guard the entrance. ¡°That person over there, give me your phone. If there¡¯s an ident, at least we can call each other.¡±

    Chen Ge was pointing at Li Jiu, but the man was confused. Normally, people asked for phone number if they wanted to keep constant contact, right? Why did this man ask for his phone directly?

    However, since he was too afraid to refuse, Li Jiu passed his phone to Chen Ge. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, if we can leave this ce alive, I¡¯ll definitely return you your phone.¡±

    Hearing that promise, Li Jiu became even more nervous. After some brief conversation, Chen Ge found out the two¡¯s names. If something happened, he would use Li Jiu¡¯s phone to call Ma Wei.

    ¡°If you run into danger, you can call me as well. If you cannot hold them off, just run after you¡¯ve called me.¡± Chen Ge put Li Jiu¡¯s phone into the pocket of his jacket and followed the white cat into the tunnel. It did not feel like anything when he first entered the tunnel, but after he turned the first corner, Chen Ge realized that the air had be murkier, and the moss on the wall had increased.

    <i>The white cat has swallowed the blood that the society found behind the door. Now that it¡¯s running ahead, the thing attracting it might be rted to the society.</i>

    The passage narrowed and the deepest part of the tunnel waspletely covered by the moss-like nt. Chen Ge used the hammerhead to scrape away some of the ¡®moss¡¯, and he realized that this thing was no different from a human. After the surface fell away, a red liquid would seep out from it. Chen Ge leaned in to sniff and found that the liquid was quite fragrant and did not have the smell of blood.

    <i>Something like this can grow underground?</i>

    After the liquid leaked out, the ¡®moss¡¯ that was scraped away regrew at a speed that was unimaginable. It seemed like the liquid had some regenerative power. Chen Ge continued to move forward. The tunnel had be so small that he needed to bend over to move forward. The ¡®moss¡¯ continued to grow, and it felt slick stepping on it.

    <i>Where will this passage lead to?</i>

    The air became misty, but the color of the ¡®moss¡¯ turned brighter, from brownish yellow to a faded red. After a few more corners, Chen Ge¡¯s breath caught in his lungs, he had trouble breathing. He called after the white cat and slowed down. He moved several meters, and the ¡®moss¡¯ on the wall hadpletely turned blood red.

    Chen Ge looked around, and he was suddenly reminded of what Lee Zheng said. There were three types of corridors inside the underground morgue¡ªthe one with white paint, unpainted, and red paint. The blood red corridor was the creepiest and most mysterious. One had to be absolutely silent inside it, or something bad might happen.

    <i>Is this the red corridor that he mentioned?</i>

    The deeper he moved, the redder the ¡®moss¡¯ on the walls and the narrower the space. Chen Ge practically leaned against the ¡®moss¡¯ as he nudged further. He held the hammer in one hand, and as he turned a corner, the sharp part of the hammer scratched the wall.

    Initially, Chen Ge was not paying attention, but when the ¡®moss¡¯ fell off, with the aid of the Yin Yang Vision, he could see something hidden behind the ¡®moss¡¯. He stepped back and slowly squatted down. He looked at the opening that the hammer had just made, and his pupils narrowed.

    There was a human face under the ¡®moss¡¯¡ªthe face of a woman. Her skin was bleeding, and the most curious thing was that the blood from her face had a light fragrance to it.

    <i>This whole passage is built from human bodies?</i>

    Chen Ge froze, and he looked around. He wondered how many human faces were hidden under this ¡®moss¡¯.

    <i>This is insane.</i>

    The white cat continued to run ahead. Chen Ge looked at the woman¡¯s face and hesitated. In the end, he chose to not abandon the white cat and continued to follow it.

    ...

    At the entrance, Li Jiu and Ma Wei looked at each other.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to stay here to wait for him toe out?¡± Li Jiu lowered his voice to the smallest. He was afraid that Chen Ge might overhear him.

    ¡°What else can we do? I have a feeling he might be testing us. The moment we run, he mighte out and kill us,¡± Ma Yin warned. The two of them could not understand why they would run into a young man holding a hammer in an underground morgue in the middle of the night.

    ¡°I still think we should leave. That man could be the ¡®ghost¡¯ that the guards talked about.¡± The more he thought about it, the more scared Li Jiu became. His face was white. ¡°When we saw him, he didn¡¯t even carry a light. This ce is so dark, so how did he manage to look in the dark?¡±

    Ma Wei conceded to Li Jiu¡¯s point. ¡°That¡¯s right, something is definitely different about his eyes. Whenever our eyes met, my heart would race with panic.¡±

 Chapter 430 - Party Starts [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 430: Party Starts [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Which normal person woulde to a ce like this in the middle of the night? If we stay any longer, we probably won¡¯t be able to leave.¡± Li Jiu silently nudged himself away from the secret passage behind the closet. Ma Wei used his shlight to shine inside the passage. After he made sure that Chen Ge was not hiding around the next corner, he also started his retreat.

    The two worked well together, and neither of them spoke as they helped each other walk out from the room. Compared to when they entered the ce, the corridors seemed to have changed. They had a feeling that something was different from before, but what was different, the two could not put their fingers on it. Li Jiu walked in front with the shlight. Ma Wei activated the shlight function on his phone and followed closely behind.

    ¡°Be careful, there might be more than one monster in this underground morgue.¡± The scenario was like the most difficult escape-the-room game for Li Jiu and Ma Wei. They had to face cadavers that came back to life, monsters that could show up at any time, crazed murderers walking around with a murder weapon, and unknown deadly traps.

    ¡°Li Jiu, should I just drop my phone here? Holding it makes me feel like the man might call me at any time.¡± Ma Wei held his phone, but he did not feel any trace of security. The image of Chen Ge dragging Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer across the floor appeared in his mind more than once. The young man had a creepy smile on his face, and imagining him on the other end of the phone gave Ma Wei the creeps.

    ¡°I think we should keep it. This is our only means ofmunication with the outside world. However, remember to change it to silent mode in case our location gets exposed during the key moments.¡± Li Jiu thought further and deeper. Being caught in a dangerous situation seemed to have brought out his hidden potential. Ma Wei followed his partner¡¯s advice and changed his phone¡¯s setting. The two stuck their backs to the wall and walked back the way they came.

    After turning the corner, when they passed Morgue No. 8, Li Jiu, who walked in front, suddenly stopped. ¡°Did the man open the door of the morgue? We closed the door when we left earlier, right?¡±

    There was a sticky liquid stuck to the door handle. A thick mist of formalin circted in the morgue. Li Jiu raised his shlight and looked into the room. When he did, his eyes widened into two big circles.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Realizing something was wrong, Ma Wei also leaned over to take a look. The ss tubes in the room were sitting where they were, but the cadavers that they were supposed to be holding had allpletely disappeared!

    Li Jiu¡¯s legs were shivering, and he pointed his shlight to the ground. There were a few water trails leading out of the room and entering the corridor they were in. ¡°The ¡®people¡¯ inside the tubes have escaped, and they are now also in this corridor.¡±

    Li Jiu¡¯s Adam¡¯s Apple was quivering. He moved his shlight slowly to the corner, worried that something scary might pop out.

    ¡°Should we continue to move forward?¡± Ma Wei asked with uncertainty. His legs were still weak, and he could not run fast. If they ran into danger, he would be stuck there, waiting for death¡ªthat was the most despairing thing for the man. Li Jiu was also conflicted. The dark corridor was hiding the cadavers that crawled out from the ss tubes and various unknown dangers. However, if they stayed there, they would need to face the crazed murderer who was not less dangerous than the monsters.

    ¡°I think we should still move forward. If we move at full speed, we should be able to leave in about ten minutes if there¡¯s no ident.¡± Li Jiu grabbed Ma Wei¡¯s phone. ¡°The person with the hammer is probably still in the passage. I¡¯ll call the police first before contacting the security guards that are outside.¡±

    Li Jiu used the phone to call the police, and the number was answered; however, the signal was so bad that he could barely finish aplete sentence.

    ¡°This shouldn¡¯t be! Even though we are underground and the signal is understandably not so good, it shouldn¡¯t be at the level where we cannot even contact the police!¡± There seemed to be something in the underground morgue disturbing the phone signal, and Li Jiu had to give up after giving it a few more tries. Misery lovespany¡ªhe felt like all the bad luck had gathered on him that night.

    ¡°Let¡¯s move outward first. If we run into any monster, we¡¯ll retreat backward.¡± Li Jiu held Ma Wei, and he forced a smile. ¡°At the very least, the man with the hammer doesn¡¯t seem like he¡¯s in cahoots with the monsters inside this ce. That¡¯s good news.¡±

    The shlight shone the light down the corridor. The two picked up speed, and when they passed Morgue No. 8, there was a weird sounding from inside the room. Of course, they did not have the courage to stop to take a look. They pretended they did not hear anything and continued to move forward.

    The corridor was so dark that it felt like it was endless. They ran past Morgue No. 7, and at the end of the corridor was a split in the road. Standing in the middle of the junction was a dark figure. It was not tall and very thin. It seemed to be holding something in its palms. Ma Wei touched Li Jiu¡¯s arm. ¡°Shall we continue to move forward?¡±

    Li Jiu could not tell for sure. He felt like the underground morgue was exceptionally crowded that night. He raised the shlight slowly to let the light fall on the person before them.

    Wearing a white, loose jacket, with a head of long flowing hair, it was a little girl who stood at the junction. She had her face lowered and was holding a rotten apple in her hands. This curious scene made Ma Wei and Li Jiu stop moving. They froze where they were as a chill crawled up their spines.

    Feeling the light on her, the girl slowly raised her head. She looked cute and sweet. It gave the feeling that she was a quiet, introverted child. She had a pair of light brown eyes, and her gaze was locked on the apple like she was considering giving the apple a bite.

    With her silky-smooth skin, exquisite facial features, and cute appearance, the girl formed a great contrast with the rotten apple. However, the most curious thing was, staring at the apple, there was more than a hint of desire that was inexplicable in the girl¡¯s eyes. The light from the shlight made the girl frown slightly. Her small nose twitched like she smelled something fresh, and she continued to lift her head.

    The light brown eyes turned to fall on Ma Wei and Li Jiu. The edge of the girl¡¯s lips moved, and the thin lips curved into a light smile. The smile was pure and innocent. There was not really kindness, but there was no maliciousness either; it was as if the girl had found a toy that she liked. Other than the smile that appeared on the girl¡¯s face, nothing changed about her. The girl seemed to be acting ording to her own consciousness.

    ¡°Her hair and dress are all wet, and her skin color is not normal. Do you think she could have crawled out from the ss tubes?¡±

    ¡°But when we entered the morgue earlier, we didn¡¯t see any tubes holding a girl.¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t there a tube that was already opened? I suspect she came out from that particr tube.¡±

    Ma Wei and Li Jiu were shivering under the girl¡¯s scrutiny. Considering the fact that she might be a dead body, the shivers became even more violent, and their bodies staggered involuntarily backward. The girl stood where she was, but there were weird noisesing from the corridor. There was the sound of wheels running on the grounding from the corridor that was painted white, and Morgue No. 7 that was next to them had a knocking sound like the thing trapped inside was trying toe out. The smell of formalin in the air thickened. Li Jiu and Ma Wei did not have much time left to make a choice.

    ¡°Going back is definitely a dead end¡ªwe might still survive if we move forward!¡± Li Jiu gritted his teeth and grabbed Ma Wei¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Let¡¯s give it our all! We¡¯ll charge our way out of here!¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± The two made their decision, and like a cornered animal, they nned to make theirst stand!

    Li Jiu aimed for the opening next to the girl. Dragging Ma Wei, the muscles in his legs tensed, and he jumped forward like a spring. ¡°The corridor on the right is not painted!¡±

    Normally, it was Li Jiu hiding behind Ma Wei, but now that Ma Wei¡¯s legs were injured, Li Jiu stepped forward. He cut a way out for them, and his expression turned ugly due to fear. His features scrunched up together, and a yell escaped from his throat. ¡°Quick!¡±

    The two charged toward the girl, and the sound of the wheelsing from the corridor was nearing. What Li Jiu and Ma Wei needed to do was enter the corridor that did not have the white paint before the wheels arrived. Every second was important. The girl saw the two men charge after her, and she remained immobile. The smile continued to hang on her face like she was unaffected by what was happening around her.

    ¡°This is our chance!¡± The girl was too careless. Li Jiu raised the shlight. He had nned everything in his mind. When they ran to the girl¡¯s side, they would crawl past the opening next to her. The gap wasrge enough for him and Ma Wei to go through. If the girl did anything to stop them, he would use the shlight in his hands to whack at her. This was the most tense and important moment of Li Jiu¡¯s life, but he had confidence that he would be able to do this.

    ¡°Come on!¡± Running at full speed, when the sound of the wheels stopped, Ma Wei and Li Jiu had already reached the split in the road!

    When they ran past the girl, the girl did not stop them; she just stood where she was, maintaining the same pose, not moving at all. It was surprisingly sessful, but Li Jiu did not have the time to get excited because he knew it was not yet time to rx and celebrate. Running past the girl was just the first step; there was still a long journey before they could leave the underground morgue.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let your guard down!¡± He turned to look down the corridor that was painted white. There was a trolley used by the university staff to transport dead bodies sitting in it. They did not see anyone pushing the trolley, but they did see the several human bodies sitting inside the trolley, and one of them even had its head already yanked off!

    ¡°Thankfully, we didn¡¯t run down that way. Those bodies are definitely suspicious from the looks of it.¡± Li Jiu was d that he had made the right choice at the most crucial moment. He pulled back his gaze and used his shlight to illuminate the unpainted corridor.

    A sticky liquid dripped on his face. Li Jiu raised his head in confusion, and what he saw would be branded in his mind forever. The unpainted corridor was crawling with dead bodies, and their limbs and bodies were sewn together with red threads. They walked toward Li Jiu and Ma Wei like string puppets. There was so many of them. The pungent smell caused Ma Wei and Li Jiu¡¯s sense of smell to go haywire temporarily. Twisted dead faces fill their sight; everywhere they turned there were broken limbs and shattered bodies. Their brains were buzzing, and their thoughts were put on hold.

    ¡°Who would be able to survive this?¡± Running on inertia, Li Jiu almost ran into the crowd of dead bodies, but thankfully, Ma Wei pointed on his shirt at thest minute. ¡°Back, back! Retreat!¡±

    The two were quite good at survival. They had danced on the line of life and death so many times, and they had survived each time. There was definitely no way they were getting out. Seeing the corridor filled with monsters, Ma Wei and Li Jiu suddenly realized that the man with the iron hammer looked much friendlier and nicer.

    They retreated quickly, and when they passed the girl, the child who stood where she was slowly turned her head. Like a toy whose spring had been turned, the girl¡¯s spine creaked noisily as the head slowly twisted around. The lips were turning white, but the smile still did not leave her face.

    The head turned 180 degrees, and the girl who looked so normal hadpletely shattered Li Jiu and Ma Wei¡¯sst psychological bulwark. The fire running through their veins froze instantly, and a deep chasm of chilling helplessness opened up to swallow the two men. At a time like this, they could only try their best to run and escape. In their mind, the only person who could save them then was the young man from before.

    Without once turning back to look, they raced back down into the middle section of the underground morgue. They rushed into the room with the cadaver pool, locked the door from the inside, and moved the closet to block the entrance. There were footstepsing from the corridor. After a few seconds of silence, something mmed heavily into the room where the cadaver pool was. Ma Wei and Li Jiu leaned against the closet.

    Just as they were locked in a standstill with the monsters outside the door, the hole in the middle of the cadaver pool started to gurgle and bubble again. After some time, the human remains that were supposed to have sunk to the bottom of the hole started to gush upward like there was something pushing them up from below.

    ¡°We cannot stay in this room any longer. Brother Wei, let¡¯s go into the secret tunnel as well!¡± Li Jiu¡¯s suggestion was very risky. After all, no one knew what was at the other end of the passage. ¡°Since there was no other option, why not just give it a try? The man did not hesitate when he entered the passage earlier. I feel like he should know something about this ce.¡±

    ¡°Okay! We¡¯ll do it your way.¡± Ma Wei picked up the chain from the ground to tie the closet tight to the door. They needed to buy as much time as they could. The two crawled into the secret passage, and they moved so quickly, giving no thought to the type of danger that they might face inside the passage. The passage was small and narrow, so the two moved with one in front and the other at the back. The distance between them and Chen Ge slowly closed.

    After running several meters, they could hear the sound of the closet being shoved downing from outside. Their hearts shook, and they raced as fast as they could down the secret passage.

    ...

    Chen Ge walked for a long time inside the passage, and the deeper he went, the thicker theyer of ¡®moss¡¯ became. It became so ubiquitous that he could not stop his shirt and body from identally touching it.

    However, weirdly enough, when the fragrant liquid from the ¡®moss¡¯ touched the surface of his skin, his body temperature that had be so much lower than normal started to rise again. Even though it was only temporary, it made him feel warm, a sensation that he had not experienced in a long time.

    <i>This might not be a good development. </i>Chen Ge was familiar with the fact that the ¡®moss¡¯ was covering human bodies. Even though he had been searching a method to make his body temperature return to normal, if the method was rted to body bodies, he would need to give it a second consideration.

    The ceiling of the corridor lowered, and the walls squeezed in from both sides. At the deepest part of the corridor, the path was almostpletely swallowed by the ¡®moss¡¯. The white cat scratched its way through, and without any other choice, Chen Ge had to use his hand to move the peels of ¡®moss¡¯ that blocked the way apart.

    His fingers touched the wall. Under the bright red ¡®moss¡¯ were human faces. Their eyes were tightly closed, and Chen Ge literally walked before their eyes.

    <i>These human bodies are probably preserved with some special method. They look no different from normal, living humans. </i>Chen Ge felt slightly ufortable. <i>It would be noughing matter if they suddenly opened their eyes when I am walking past them.</i>

 Chapter 431 - Too Difficult for Them

    <h4>Chapter 431: Too Difficult for Them</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    This was a corridor made from dead bodies and covered in red moss. Chen Ge remembered the reminder¡ªhe had to maintainplete silence inside the red corridor. It was Lee Zheng who had told him that, but he did not tell Chen Ge why. He had only said that was what the school staff had told him. <i>Will the noise wake the bodies in the wall?</i>

    Seeing the faces in the wall, Chen Ge softened his movement¡ªhis every step was the epitome of caution. With the white cat leading the way, he was not that worried. However, after he took a few steps, Chen Ge suddenly heard sounding from behind him¡ªit sounded like people running in the corridor.

    <i>The two workers are afraid of me; they wouldn¡¯t havee into the corridor if not necessary. This mean they were in danger, probably ran into some monsters.</i>

    With the increased movement, Chen Ge could feel the whole corridor shaking. As the footsteps echoed down the passage, the ¡®moss¡¯ started to leak red liquid. Much of the ¡®moss¡¯ from above his head, next to his body, and under his feet started to peel to reveal the many faces. They were so well-preserved that one could easily mistake them for being alive.

    Theirshes quivered. When the red liquid slid past their faces, their skin seemed to be revitalized, and their eyelids twitched like they would open in the next second. Chen Ge did not dare stay in the corridor any longer. The area was too cramped, and if the bodies in the wall woke up, he had a feeling he would be buried alive.

    <i>Buried alive by the bodies and stay here forever, bing one of them?</i>

    Chen Ge took in a cold breath, and he had a vague idea why there were so many dead bodies there. He moved faster to catch up to the white cat.

    The corridor was very long, and the surroundings were all blood red. ¡®Moss¡¯ was still falling, and the bodies that formed the foundation of the wall vibrated slightly. Some of the bodies seemed to hear the noise, and they tried to extricate themselves from the rest. The whole corridor was shaking, and cracks appeared on the wall. Eventually, arms fell out from the ceiling!

    The scene would make anyone¡¯s skin crawl. Even Chen Ge¡¯s heart was racing, much less a normal person. Holding his hands above his head, Chen Ge practically crawled forward. The arms that fell from the ceiling felt like they were grabbing after him. The sound behind him was nearing, and the bodies in the wall slowly awakened. Chen Ge could sense their movement.

    <i>This three-star scenario is more dangerous than I thought.</i>

    If the corridor copsed then, even if he summoned all of his employees, it would have been useless. Only Zhang Ya would be able to use her long hair to force an opening for Chen Ge. The ghosts were only one of the standards to gauge the danger level of a scenario; some of the scenarios were naturally dangerous. For example, this underground morgue, due to it being built underground, was hard to be taken down.

    The white cat¡¯s call came from ahead of him. After consuming the society¡¯s blood, the white cat had be smarter. It too could sense the changes in the corridor, and it called urgently for Chen Ge toe out. Since the bodies were awakening, Chen Ge threw caution to the wind and started running.

    Some parts of the corridor werepletely blocked by the red ¡®moss¡¯, and Chen Ge could only use his body to force his way through. If not for the fact that Chen Ge knew where the white cat was, he probably would not have charged forward so heedlessly.

    The ¡®moss¡¯ peeled off, and the fragrant liquid stuck to his body. In this creepy environment, Chen Ge felt like his body was enveloped by a warm mist, like he was sitting beside a heater in the winter, and his body temperature was slowly rising. If not for the impending danger, he might even have thought about staying there a bit longer.

    The footsteps behind him approached. Chen Ge did not have time to care about other people. He drilled forward, and after who knew how long, the pressure around his body suddenly gave, and his sight brightened. ¡°Finally got out from there!¡±

    His jacket was soaked and was radiating a light fragrance. The hammer in his hand also smelled less bloody, but it looked scarier. The other side of the corridor was most likely the central hub of the underground morgue. This ce was no different from inside the corridor. Everywhere he turned, everything was covered by a thickyer of blood red ¡®moss¡¯.

    <i>This ce is technically a room quarantined by using dead bodies.</i>

    The echoes of the footsteps inside the corridor did not influence the central hub much. Chen Ge waited for some time beside the exit, waiting for the two workers. He also wanted to know what was happening outside.

    It was Li Jiu who poked his head through first. The man was obviously in shock. When he saw Chen Ge, his lips fell open like he was about to say something. Chen Ge expected such a response, so he quickly rushed forward to cover the man¡¯s lips and then whispered into his ear, ¡°Keep quiet.¡±

    Two secondster, Li Jiu understood the message and nodded quickly. Then, Ma Wei struggled out of the tunnel. Simrly, Chen Ge covered his lips before he could say anything. After the two calmed down, Chen Ge said, ¡°This ce is buried with endless bodies. If you don¡¯t want to wake them up, be quiet.¡±

    ¡°Brother, the cadavers in the ss tubes outside have alle out. When we went past them, we saw theming this way.¡± Li Jiu sounded worried, and his face was covered with sweat.

    ¡°When you went past them?¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes, and his detached tone scared Ma Wei and Li Jiu. ¡°Were you two nning to escape?¡±

    ¡°No, really not, we just nned to go look around,¡± Li Jiu stuttered.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s understandable if you tried to run. I¡¯m more curious, am I that scary? You¡¯d rather go find dead bodies than listen to my advice.¡± Chen Ge used the hammer to peel the ¡®moss¡¯ on the red corridor away. The bodies did not follow them.

    Ma Wei and Li Jiu did not know how to answer, so they kept their heads lowered and kept quiet, afraid that they might say something wrong. Actually, it was not their fault for being afraid. If a murder wasmitted there, the murderer could even skip the process of dealing with the carcass.

    ¡°Never mind. It¡¯s fate that we manage to meet down here. If you two listen to my orders closely, I won¡¯t make things too difficult for you.¡± Chen Ge sounded warm in his previous sentence. ¡°But I shall warn you first, if you create problems for me...¡±

    He picked up the hammer to allow Ma Wei and Li Jiu to see the blood stains clearer. ¡°Please reconsider, this is human blood on the hammer.¡±

    Li Jiu and Ma Wei nodded in quick session without a second thought.

 Chapter 432 - Patient 41

    <h4>Chapter 432: Patient 41</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The Trial Mission required Chen Ge to enter the central hub of the underground morgue before midnight and survive until down. When he exited the corridor, it was about 11 pm, so there was still enough time to prepare.

    ¡°Tell me, what kind of monsters did you run into outside?¡± Chen Ge stood beside the tunnel to pay attention to things that were happening to it.

    ¡°There was a girl who held an apple and many dead bodies that came from who knows where¡ªtheir bodies were sewn together, and the thread that held them together was all red in color.¡±

    ¡°Red threads? Are you sure you¡¯re not mistaken?¡± This was the first time that Chen Ge had heard people using red threads to sew up the injuries on a dead body.

    ¡°The thread was definitely red in color, but it was thinner than the thread we use in daily life. Also, it can move on its own.¡± Li Jiu¡¯s description reminded Chen Ge of the blood vessels used by the society.

    ¡°Other than that, did you run into other monsters? Like monsters that climb on the wall like a lizard or dead bodies that bounce on the ground like fish?¡±

    ¡°Not really.¡± Li Jiu and Ma Wei shook their heads. They really did not know there were so many creepy monsters down in the underground morgue; this ce felt like hell, isted from the human world.

    ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve only run into a small part of them.¡± This was thergest underground morgue in Jiujiang, and it was also the oldest. Perhaps even the ghost stories society did not know how many monsters were collected there.

    ¡°Brother, what shall we do now?¡± Ma Wei and Li Jiu focused their eyes on Chen Ge.

    ¡°You should consider yourself lucky that you ran into me, or else you probably would not leave this ce alive.¡± Chen Ge lowered his head to look at the clock on his phone. ¡°Things are just waking up now. The real terror will show itself after midnight!¡±

    ¡°Midnight?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the monsters will all wake up after midnight. It¡¯s a party for the dead.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice escaped between his teeth. He red at Ma Wei and Li Jiu. ¡°My n was toe in to look around and leave before midnight, but now that you have attracted the monsters, we¡¯re trapped because the exit has been blocked! Because of you two, I¡¯m also trapped here and have to stay here until dawn!¡±

    Li Jiu and Ma Wei¡¯s faces were immediately wrought with guilt and apology. ¡°Brother, we didn¡¯t have the luxury to think at the time. Who would have thought that something like this could happen?¡±

    They lowered their heads and apologized sincerely to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Never mind, it¡¯s toote to do anything now. It has be an undeniable truth that we¡¯re trapped here. The only thing that we can do now is try to figure out how to survive.¡± Chen Ge was calm, and in a moment like that, he was like a safe harbor. ¡°The monsters will hibernate in the morning, and they only move around at night. Therefore, we need to figure out a way to survive until dawn.¡±

    ¡°Until dawn? With just the three of us?¡±

    ¡°Never give up on hope. If you don¡¯t want to die, try your best to survive.¡± Chen Ge stood in the room covered with blood red ¡®moss¡¯ and turned to walk deeper into the room. Looking at his back, Li Jiu and Ma Wei suddenly realized that this person might not be as bad as they thought.

    Li Jiu and Ma Wei were unexpected helpers for Chen Ge. Chen Ge did not have many demands for them. He was thinking how to use these two crematorium workers to their full potential. They could help move stuff about and could scout ahead for him, and if they were really swamped by monsters, they could help dy them some time for him to call Zhang Ya. ¡°Wait for us!¡±

    Li Jiu ran to catch up to Chen Ge, and he whispered, ¡°Brother, don¡¯t hesitate to order us to do things for you. The situation earlier will never happen again¡ªyou can be sure of that.¡±

    ¡°Even though we might not be the sharpest tools in the box, we are powerful. If we work together, we¡¯ll definitely survive this.¡± Ma Wei also walked over. His shirt was drenched with the weird liquid. The two workers volunteered to help Chen Ge; this was something expected by Chen Ge because they did not have any other choice.

    ¡°We¡¯ll look around first.¡± He had not explored fully the central hub of the underground morgue yet. This area was fully covered by red ¡®moss¡¯. After some walking, Chen Ge discovered a second tunnel that was hidden behind the ¡®moss¡¯. If not for his Yin Yang Vision, he would not have discovered it. Chen Ge memorized its location silently, but he did not say anything about it. He followed the white cat and continued to move forward. In total, he discovered three tunnels; this matched the number of cadaver pools in the middle section.

    <i>Does each tunnel connect to a pool?</i>

    The three tunnels came from different directions, but they congregated at the middle of the hub. After walking around with the white cat, Chen Ge finally had a basic understanding of the underground morgue¡¯s central hub. There were so many dead bodies stacked there that it was impossible to tell what the ce had originally looked like. The walkway was in the shape of a circr screw, and at the end of the path was a steel door. It looked like a normal door, but that was the weird issue. The red ¡®moss¡¯ had covered everything else in the room, but this extremely normal-looking steel door had been left untouched by the ¡®moss¡¯.

    ced in the quiet, dark, and moist underground, the door was not a bit rusted. ¡°Wait for me outside, don¡¯te in.¡±

    Chen Ge picked up the cat that was lying before the door, and he tried to pull the door open. The room was very clean, and there was various medical equipment. Chen Ge did not know the names of most of them, but he knew that he had seen them at hospitals before. <i>This looks like it is for emergency resuscitation.</i>

    The equipment was covered with dust, and the wires were all snipped. It was clear that none of it had been used for a long time. Surrounded by the equipment was a modified surgery table. The table was high on the edges and low in the middle. The grooves on the table were filled with the fragrant liquid.

    <i>Someone has been collecting this liquid. </i>Chen Ge stood next to the table. Actually, he was also curious about the liquid. Earlier, he had identally touched some of it, and his body temperature had started to return to normal. If there was enough liquid, perhaps it could undo the effect that the ghosts brought to him?

    <i>The fragrance is alluring. Who would have thought it leaked out from human bodies? </i>Chen Ge sighed when the white cat hissed. It ran deeper into the room and scratched at the door that led to a different room. Chen Ge walked over to push the second door open. This room was only half the size of the first room. The walls were filled with pictures of victims, each of them representing a murder victim.

    Chen Ge pulled out a random picture. The man looked to be in his forties, and the cause of death was drowning. There were a few notes on the bottom of the picture.

    ¡°Wednesday, Patient 41.

    ¡°Diagnosis result: ustrophobia, Aquaphobia.

    ¡°Treatment solution: Patient forty-one was tormented by her step father when she was young. Her head was pressed into the water multiple times, and this left a psychological scar. It¡¯s not hard to resolve this issue. I suggested that she does the same thing back to her father, to make her personally drown the fear and memory that she has been avoiding in her heart!¡±

 Chapter 433 - The Number Three

    <h4>Chapter 433: The Number Three</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge was hit with a sense of familiarity when he read the treatment method.<i>When I was invited to the society for the first time, one of the members told me this. All the pictures pasted here are victims of the society?</i>

    The pictures covered the entire room with no space left. Most of them were taken after the victims¡¯ death, recording their death in picture. <i>The ghost stories society, the victims, the underground morgue, the central hub that is made from entirely human bodies...</i>

    Chen Ge linked all the clues in his mind. His eyes widened, surprised at the lengths that the culprit had gone to for his n.

    <i>The owner of the underground morgue is the chairperson! He needed arge number of dead bodies, so he volunteered to help the crazies at the Third Sick Hall and used a much-crazier method to help with their treatment, to turn them into his helpers to create the endless string of ghost stories. When he was treating the members, he transported all the dead victims here to build a kingdom made purely from cadavers!</i>

    The Third Sick Hall had been abandoned five to six years ago, and it was then that the old director had disappeared behind the door.

    ording to the timeline, the society had been active in the city¡¯s shadow for about five to six years already. They had never brushed shoulders with the police but left many untraceable ghost stories around the city with their own creepy method. Chen Ge pulled down another picture from the wall. The victim was a woman who looked around twenty and had a smoking body. There were some notes on her picture as well.

    ¡°Wednesday, Patient 107.

    ¡°Diagnosis result: Depression and anorexia.

    ¡°Treatment method: Lowering estrogen and thyroxin, and raising corticosteroid hormone. Patient 107 suffers from both biological and mental pressure. Investigation reveals that she has been mocked by ¡®her best friend¡¯ since she was young. The solution is to make a special appetizer for the patient¡ªthe ingredient shall be her ¡®best friend¡¯.

    ¡°Follow-up: Patient 107¡¯s anorexia has been treated, and the depression is recovering. However, it is suspected that now she is suffering from a new mental illness, and the symptom includes cooking all of her favorite things.

    ¡°Treatment method: To be considered. Suggest absorbing her into the society as a new member to start the second level of treatment.¡±

    The second picture was describing the DJ who arrived at the society with Chen Ge¡ªLychee. The DJ would be on the air every Wednesday to talk about cooking and food. <i>The treatment by the society is indeed insane. They are not curing people but creating demons, slowing pushing living people into hell.</i>

    Lychee was the perfect example. She suffered from anorexia, but she eventually got turned into a monster. Standing in the middle of the room, looking at the pictures on the wall, Chen Ge suddenly realized that the craziest person of all was actually the chairperson. To be able to create so many crazy events and then maintain his rationality and calmness toe up with new treatment ns and diagnoses, the man¡¯s world was definitely different from a normal person¡¯s.

    <i>Half of the missing people in Jiujiang are probably here.</i>

    Each picture represented a victim, but most of the victims had iting. For example, that middle-aged man who tortured his own adopted daughter or Lychee¡¯s childhood ¡®best friend¡¯.

    Every death had a reason behind it, and a case could be made that they deserved to die, but this was not applicable on the side of thew. If these people were allowed to live, they would be the demon in the hearts of the patients forever. Therefore, they used the most direct way to even things out.

    Initially, the ghost stories society might really have been a support group for a group of mental patients, but as time went on, things changed. Those who were crazy did not get saved, and the twisted worldview got normalized. They slowly thought that they were the normal ones. The insane people who rationalized themselves as the normal ones were often the scariest.

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes swept the group of pictures, and he could see apletely different human history that was covered with pain and struggle. After the white cat entered the room, it ran to the left wall and continued to call after Chen Ge.

    Knowing that the cat had discovered something, Chen Ge searched the wall that was covered with pictures closely. He eventually found a hidden door handle. Pushing the door open, Chen Ge entered the third room. If the rooms outside were like disy rooms, then this innermost room was probably the chairperson¡¯s office. Two tables were joined together, and there were various books and files in the room. Everything was arranged neatly.

    The clean and neat environment created an illusion that they were inside an underground office. Flipping through the data and notes, the handwriting was beautiful, but the content was chilling. They were filled with various ghost stories, and behind each story was a human life.

    <i>These should be the crimes that the chairperson hasmitted for the past five to six years.</i>

    Chen Ge did not have the chance to look closer when the cat called again. It stopped before the bookshelf and started to walk in a circle.

    <i>There¡¯s another door? </i>Chen Ge moved the shelf away, and as he expected, there was indeed another door. Pushing the door open, the cat did not enter but called endlessly at the threshold like it was trying to warn Chen Ge.

    Seeing the weird reaction from the cat, Chen Ge did not rush to go in. He stood at the door and looked into the room. The room had a double bed, and the wall opposite the bed had several pictures.

    The first picture had been taken during summer, it was already so long ago, and there were three children of differing ages inside the picture. The girl looked innocent and cute. Standing in the middle of the two boys, she looked helpless as she tried to stop the boys from arguing.

    The second picture was taken during winter. The three who were now older stood under a building. The girl looked at the burning building, and she was crying. She wanted to run back into the building but was stopped by the two boys and the nearby adults.

    The third picture was much clearer. The three children had all grown up. The girl had grown into a beauty. She carried her textbooks and sat in the middle of the two young men. She was talking with one of them while the other young man, who appeared rather awkward, moved his head away to focus on the ss on the table. The picture had been taken from the side, and one could see the ss captured the girl¡¯s reflection perfectly.

    The fourth picture was a wedding photo. The awkward boy had disappeared, and only the pair remained.

    Thest picture was next to the wedding photo. There was only the girl inside the picture frame. This was a ck-and-white picture of the girl who had passed away.

 Chapter 434 - The Door Is Open

    <h4>Chapter 434: The Door Is Open</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Seeing the row of pictures on the wall, Chen Ge had a feeling that he could not describe. Without knowing when he made the first step, he walked into the room and stopped before the few pictures. The truth that he had been looking for was before his eyes, but Chen Ge felt lost.

    <i>So, it is you.</i>

    He stared at the wedding photo silently, the young Doctor Gao looking back at him. The man in the picture had a bright and happy smile, but Chen Ge had never seen that smile on Doctor Gao¡¯s face before.

    <i>Is it because the things on his back are too heavy?</i>

    More than one hundred human lives formed a web to secure Doctor Gao tightly, and they were like needles pierced into his soul, making it difficult for him to breathe.

    <i>Three of them eventually turn into one¡ªis this why the society is so obsessed with the number three?</i>

    Many clues lined up in his mind, but the first thing that popped up in Chen Ge¡¯s mind first was surprising. At the home of the girl who suffered from heavy depression, Doctor Gao had once said, ¡°You have not gone through what they have, so you have no idea how hard it is. The fact that they have been able to survive is also a form of strength.¡±

    Thinking back, it felt like Doctor Gao was telling himself that. As the best psychologist in Jiujiang, he had to have known that he was already sick. However, he chose a different treatment method, not topromise but to resist with the most drastic measure.

    Walking to the bed, Chen Ge opened the bedside table¡¯s drawer. It was filled with syringes and pills of unknown usage. Many medicine bottles had warned about overdosing on theirbels.

    <i>The packages were already opened, and this ce is filled with dead bodies¡ªthe only living person is Doctor Gao¡ªso this medicine should be for him.</i>

    When Xiaoxiao¡¯s grandfather was dying, Doctor Gao had also been present, and he had revealed the fact that he had considered suicide. Sitting on the double bed, Chen Ge ced his hands on top of one another, thinking back to everything that Doctor Gao had said.

    <i>That day in the room, after Doctor Gao said that his wife had gotten into a car ident, he added,that he loved his wife and then... </i>Chen Ge stood up and looked at the door. <i>Then Doctor Gao pushed the door open and walked out.</i>

    The white cat wandered outside the door and refused to enter the room. The thing that attracted it seemed to be at the threshold between the two rooms and the thing connecting them was a normal looking wooden door.

    <i>Could it be that Doctor Gao pushed a blood door open at the lowest point of his life?</i>

    This ce that was hidden at the deepest part of the underground morgue was filled with medical equipment and many other weird things. Doctor Gao seemed like he was attempting to bring someone back from the dead. However, he had failed. Crushed by despair, he nned to end everything, but something happened that changed his mind. ¡°Standing inside the deepest pool of despair, there¡¯s a great chance he opened a door that led to the blood red world.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the wedding dress. The woman in the picture appeared in Ma Yin¡¯s video, but in the picture, she looked lively and had a unique presence about her.

    <i>The dead has returned¡ªthat¡¯s something that is only possible due to the things behind the door.</i>

    Chen Ge understood what was attracting the white cat. The blood that it had swallowed came from behind the door, so it was those things that were attracting it.

    <i>The blood door appeared at midnight, and the ck phone¡¯s mission required me to enter the central hub before midnight. Does this mean that the real mission location is really behind the door?</i>

    Just the morgue in the real world had given Chen Ge plenty of pressure, much less the world behind the door.

    <i>The world behind the door is much more dangerous than the outside world. Since the ck phone did not state that I have to enter the door, I might as well hide in this room until dawn.</i>

    He knew that thepletion rate would not be high that way, butpared to solving secrets and finding the truth, Chen Ge valued his life more. He sat at the table and flipped open the notebook. He used his phone to snap pictures of all the important stuff. The ghost society had created multiple ghost stories, and all the scares were jotted down in the notebooks. A whole table of notes and data, this was a treasure trove for Chen Ge.

    <i>If I can recover all these ghost stories, it¡¯ll greatly improve the content of my Haunted House; it couldy the foundation for a terror theme park.</i>

    Chen Ge sat on the chair and started studying. Time ticked by, and the white cat called nervously. It wandered between the two rooms like the thing it had been waiting for was about to appear.

    At 11:55 pm, the table shook. There were still five minutes to midnight, and the central hub had started to change. The walls trembled, and blood leaked from the walls. Li Jiu and Ma Wei tumbled into the room. They did not dare to speak loudly, so they crowded Chen Ge to give him the updates.

    ¡°Brother, things are not looking good! The ¡®moss¡¯ outside is leaking blood; you need to go and take a look!¡±

    ¡°Leaking blood?¡± Chen Ge nced at the time and followed the two out. The moss that grew on the ceiling, floor, and walls started to drip. Red liquid leaked out from the walls, and the scariest thing was following behind it.

    After the ¡®moss¡¯ fell off, it revealed the dead bodies that it had been hiding!

    The victims¡¯ faces showed themselves. The room that was built from dead bodies finally revealed its true form at midnight. Li Jiu and Ma Wei were bbergasted. They had no idea behind the thick ¡®moss¡¯ was a wall made from pure cadavers.

    Their lips fell open, but no words came out. Cold air rushed into their throat, freezing their lungs.

    ¡°Move back.¡± With his Yin Yang Vision and Ghost Ear, Chen Ge¡¯s senses were sharper than normal people. When Li Jiu and Ma Wei were in shock, he had realized that something was wrong. There were thingsing from the other end of the corridors, and there were many of them!

    <i>Shouldn¡¯t be from the secret tunnels.</i>

    The walls, ceiling, everywhere they looked¡ªthere were dead bodies everywhere.

    Red liquid seeped from their bodies, and Chen Ge could clearly see the thread of blood snaking through the dead bodies like viper, tying them together.

    As midnight approach, more blood threads leaked out from the bodies¡ªthe number had reached an impossible stage.

 Chapter 435 - The Scariest Scenario So Far

    <h4>Chapter 435: The Scariest Scenario So Far</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Brother, what should we do now?¡± Li Jiu and Ma Wei had not experienced something like this before, so the fact that they had not fainted directly was a miracle. There were still two minutes left until midnight, and the blood threads mixed with the red liquid, so one could not distinguish one from the other. Things only got worse. The blood threads were used to stabilize the dead bodies inside the walls. When the threads loosened and moved, the whole central hub shook like there was an earthquake.

    ¡°Come in here first.¡± Chen Ge pulled Ma Wei and Li Jiu into the room. He stood alone at the door, holding the handle. Midnight wasing, and the outside corridors had undergone various changes. The dead bodies that were sewn into the walls seemed to have lost some limitation. Arms fell from the ceiling, and they shook with the whole scenario.

    <i>If this gets moved to the Haunted House, I doubt anyone would survive it.</i>

    When Chen Ge moved his gaze, the eyes of the dead bodies suddenly opened!

    <i>The dead opened their eyes?</i>

    The eyes of the dead bodies were different from normal people. They had no pupils, or rather, the pupils hadpletely dissolved, and their eyes were ayer of something yellowish-brown. Thankfully, Chen Ge had a greater threshold for fear than most, and he could still maintain eye contact with the bodies calmly. However, what happened next caused even Chen Ge to panic.

    More eyes opened in the dark. These were victims of the ghost stories society, and even now, they were still part of the society. The faces woke up from their slumber. Their faces twisted, and their bodies lost the humanoid shape. Their necks were turned in weird angles as they looked at Chen Ge. This was a hard scene to describe. Endless twisted arms and elongated necks reached toward Chen Ge. The caved-in heads opened their jaws as they moved toward him.

    Chen Ge¡¯s back was covered with cold sweat. He tried his best to stay calm, and that was because his courage had been honed frompleting the missions given by the ck phone over the past two months. If he had seen this before he received the ck phone, then he probably would have fainted.

    <i>Is this what aplete three-star scenario looks like?</i>

    His body stepped backward subconsciously. Chen Ge gripped the hammer, and it gave him a sense of security. When there was one minute left until midnight, the whole hub felt like it hade alive. All of the bodies had been awoken. The walls copsed as the dead bodies crawled out from it. There were even cadavers that fell out from the ceiling. Their bodies were sewn together by red threads, and most of the body parts were attached even though they looked like they were falling apart.

    Chen Ge now understood how scary the society¡¯sir was, and he had a new understanding of Doctor Gao, who was behind all of this. As the chairperson of the ghost stories society, to be able toe up with the treatment methods for so many mental patients and murderous madmen, Doctor Gao was truly the scariest existence.

    In the day, he was the best psychologist in Jiujiang, concerned about his patients, a wless man. But at night, he stayed with the cadavers and used the victims¡¯ bodies to build an undergroundb. This contrasting lifestyle somehow existed within the same man. The scariest thing was that he had lived this life for five years, and in these five years, no one had suspected him. ¡°How did he do it?¡±

    The cadavers rushed at them in waves. It was impossible for them to leave. Chen Ge could only retreat into the room and lock the door from the inside. ¡°Come with me, don¡¯t ask anything. Whenever I order you to do something, just do it.¡±

    The cadavers seemed to be afraid of this door¡ªthey did not dare get too close. However, the bodies at the back pushed them forward, and the death masks would imprint themselves on the door.

    ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there,e on!¡± The steel door creaked noisily; Chen Ge had no idea how long it couldst. He returned to the innermost room, staring at the time on his phone, he stood before the door quietly. Midnight finally arrived. Blood bloomed on the wooden door like roses. The heavy stench of blood leaked from behind the door, and it soon dyed the whole door red. Ma Wei and Li Jiu had not seen something like this before. What they had experienced that night stunned them. Their brains were running on autopilot, and all they knew then was to follow Chen Ge.

    ¡°What I¡¯m saying next is very important so listen closely. You have two choices¡ªeither you follow me through that door or stay here and await your deaths,¡± Chen Ge said seriously. He picked up the agitated white cat and used the hammer to push the door open.

    The smell of blood swallowed them like a wave. Ma Wei and Li Jiu dry heaved from the smell. Their faces were white, but they still followed closely behind Chen Ge. ¡°Since you¡¯re willing to take this risk with me, I shall give you another reminder.¡±

    Chen Ge pointed at the half-open blood door. ¡°Based on my understanding of the blood door, if there is no one holding the door open, it will close on its own after one minute, and it can only be opened after twenty-four hours. You¡¯d better be prepared.¡±

    Having been inside the door before, Chen Ge knew that only the door-pusher could control the door. The door-pusher in Coffin Vige was the ghost in the well, and the door-pusher at the Third Sick Hall was Men Nan. Neither of them meant to harm Chen Ge, so after the mission waspleted, they had helped Chen Ge open the door to let him return to the real world. However, this time was different. He was in an opposing situation with the chairperson.

    After Chen Ge entered the door, no matter the result, the opponent would not open the door and let him leave. Therefore, Chen Ge would need to wait until the following midnight to leave.

    <i>If this is just to avoid the danger, there shouldn¡¯t be too much of a problem. The world behind the door is scary, but the door-pusher, Doctor Gao, is not in Jiujiang. This is just like how the Third Sick Hall was after losing Men Nan¡ªthe level of danger will be greatly lowered.</i>

    When Chen Ge was ruminating, the steel door outside copsed. The blood vessels crawled on the ground, and the cadavers crawled into the room. Without wasting any time, Chen Ge led Li Jiu and Ma Wei into the door.

    <i>I properly prepare every time I go on a Trial Mission, but even so, idents cannot be avoided. </i>Chen Ge looked at the dead bodies outside, and his eyes were filled withplicated emotions. The dead bodies controlled by blood threads were different from Specters. Even if he unleashed all of his employees, it would have been pointless.

    <i>Perhaps that is Doctor Gao¡¯s aim, and that¡¯s why he did all of this. </i>Chen Ge realized the another limitation of Specters, but he soon recovered. <i>Normal Specters might not do anything to dead bodies, but Red Specter could be the exception. If I had enough Red Specters, I would have no reason to be afraid of these cadavers.</i>

    Chen Ge was never overconfident, but he would not give up easily. In this Trial Mission, he had found himself a new target.

 Chapter 436 - Doctor Gaos World

    <h4>Chapter 436: Doctor Gao¡¯s World</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Before the cadavers reached them, Chen Ge closed the door. Once the blood door closed, the blood fog stuck to Chen Ge, forming a very thin membrane.

    <i>The world here seems to be different from the Third Sick Hall and Coffin Vige.</i>

    Chen Ge touched the thin membrane on his skin. It felt like his whole person had been enveloped. It brought difficulty to his breathing, and he felt very ufortable.

    <i>This did not happen when I was at Coffin Vige and the Third Sick Hall.</i>

    He was feeling panicked. He took out theic and realized that there was a thin blood membrane covering it as well. Walking to the corner, Chen Ge called Yan Danian and Ol¡¯ Zhou, but neither replied. Chen Ge opened his backpack and activated the recorder. However, no matter how hard he pressed, the recorder would not operate normally. Even the sound of static could not be heard.

    <i>Is the blood membrane preventing the connection between me and the Specters?</i>

    Gripping the hammer, Chen Ge resisted the urge tosh out.

    <i>I¡¯ve seen the female ghost control the blood mist behind the door at Coffin Vige, and Men Nan also disappeared into the blood fog in the Third Sick Hall, so the door-pusher can control the blood mist.</i>

    <i>The blood membrane covered me once I entered the door. Is this a trapid out by Doctor Gao, or has he not left Jiujiang and used some kind of Specter to trick the police? Is he currently hiding here and controlling the blood mist?¡±</i>

    Doctor Gao was the enemy that Chen Ge was the most unwilling to face¡ªthis was true from multiple aspects.

    <i>The longer we stay here, the thicker the membrane will get. This is troublesome.</i>

    Losing the Specters, Chen Ge could only rely on the hammer and the white cat, so things were not looking good for him. Slightly unsettled, Chen Ge squatted down to look at his shadow. He reached out to touch it, and the shadow was not affected by the blood membrane.

    <i>She¡¯s still here.</i>

    Feeling reassured, he tried to call Zhang Ya, and someone seemed to reply. However, the distance between them was very far. Even when he used Ghost Ear, he could not hear it clearly.

    ¡°What is this ce? I can¡¯t even breathe.¡± Ma Wei and Li Jiu were also covered by the membrane, but weirdly enough, they could not see it. However, they kept scratching their neck like there was an invisible noose there.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic. Keep calm no matter what happens.¡± Chen Ge then pushed on the handle and opened the door again. One minute had passed, and it was a preposterous and scary world beyond the door. The twisted road looked like a small intestine, and the walls were protruding outward like some kind of organ. Everything was covered with a thinyer of membrane. On the ceiling, there was a messyyer of blood vessels. Blood could be seen running through them. This ce looked like it was a weird living organism.

    <i>Is this how Doctor Gao views the world? Just how twisted does a person have to be to imagine the world in this manner? What is on Doctor Gao¡¯s mind?</i>

    The door at Coffin Vige had been pushed open by the female ghost. In her eyes, all the vigers were malformed freaks, and the greatest desire within her then was to escape and not be discovered. Therefore, the world behind her door was had a thick fog and a visibility of about one to two meters. The vigers looked as she imagined them to be, human-shaped monsters.

    In the same vein, in the door behind the Third Sick Hall, the patients were like zombies, the broken hands that symbolized fear hid under the bed, and thin monsters that symbolized desire roamed the ce. They were how Men Nan viewed the world¡ªtheseplicated emotions became monsters in the boys¡¯ eyes.

    The underground morgue was the third door that Chen Ge had entered. It was also the scariest and the one that confused Chen Ge the most.

    <i>The door will not lie; this is how Doctor Gao really thinks. </i>Chen Ge turned back to look. <i>Even after the world changed into an organ, this room with his wife¡¯s pictures hasn¡¯t changed. This should be thest oasis in his heart.</i>

    Grabbing the hammer, Chen Ge thought about it before removing the pictures from the wall carefully and cing them in his backpack. When he pulled open the zipper, Chen Ge was surprised to find a detached head inside his backpack. He had almost forgotten about this. The head was hiding at the bottom of the bag, and it looked like it was shivering.

    Chen Ge touched its face before pulling it out. <i>This is weird. The thing is not covered by the blood membrane. Is it because it belongs to the underground morgue?</i>

    The sudden appearance of a human head almost caused Li Jiu and Ma Wei to faint. After they made sure it was just a stic model, they sighed in relief. However, what happened next made them worried again.

    Chen Ge ced the head on the double bed and raised the hammer and stood before the head. ¡°Tell me how to remove this membrane. Tell me everything you know!¡±

    The room became very quiet. Other than Chen Ge, no one dared say anything. The expression on the face changed. Chen Ge heard a very faded plea. <i>It¡¯s speaking?</i>

    Ghost Ear came into use. Chen Ge put down the hammer and ced the head beside his ear and asked the same question. A voice from an indeterminate direction came into Chen Ge¡¯s ear, and it sounded like it was crying. The voice onlysted for a brief minute. Chen Ge had to pay close attention before he realized that it was saying one word on repeat¡ª¡±Approval.¡±

    cing the head back down, Chen Ge ruminated on the meaning of the word.<i>Could it mean that I need to gain the approval of this world to remove the blood membrane? I am the chairperson¡¯s nemesis, so that is almost impossible.</i>

    Chen Ge shoved the head back into his backpack and made his first step into the world beyond the door. His shoes stepped on the ground, and it felt like he was stepping on flesh. It was very soft, slippery, and somewhat sticky. It was not a great experience. If a normal person entered a corridor like this, they would probably be scarred for life.

    ¡°Don¡¯t force yourselves, but it¡¯s best if you follow me.¡± Chen Ge took the second step. Blood flowed across the vessel that was above his head, and the road underneath his feet would asionally shiver.

    <i>Theyout is simr to that of the real world, but the walls, ceiling, and everything in sight have been changed into flesh and blood.</i>

    Chen Ge took a deep breath. He ced the cat on the backpack and walked down the corridor.

 Chapter 437 - Do You Need Help?

    <h4>Chapter 437: Do You Need Help?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The walls twitched like they were alive. A light mist seeped out from them to surround Chen Ge¡¯s body, thickening the membrane on his skin. The world behind the door seemed to mimic how reality was when the door was first opened. Theyout there waspletely identical to the underground morgue. The central hub was used to collect organs and fat. In reality, it was sealed due to various reasons and had been transformed into a uniqueb by Doctor Gao using the cadavers as building blocks.

    ¡°Once you get used to it, it¡¯s nothing scary,¡± Chen Ge said that for the benefit of Ma Wei and Li Jiu. They made a few attempts but failed to leave the room. When Chen Ge looked at them, they shook their heads vehemently. ¡°This is indeed too much for normal people.¡±

    Chen Ge pointed at the room behind them and walked ahead on his own. The strange world, corridors made from flesh, blood mist everywhere¡ªthis ce was like a nightmare that one could not wake up from.

    Themp in the ceiling became a human eyeball and did not release any light. Stay there long enough, and one would assume that they were originally from this ce and were part of this world. The sides of the corridor had doors that were covered in blood vessels. Chen Ge opened a few of them, and they were filled with machines that he could not identify. Most of them were made from flesh, but some of them were normal machines covered with flesh and blood.

    <i>Such a crazy world.</i>

    After he turned the corner, Chen Ge saw a living person. Standing about five meters in front of him was a little girl in a white dress, squatting next to the wall. She had a red apple in her hands, but her eyes were focused on the organs that were dancing inside the wall. It was unclear what she was thinking about.

    The girl surprised Chen Ge. Be it the pure white dress or the innocent-looking face, the girl formed a great contrast to this fleshy world. Why would a girl like that appear in such a world?

    Chen Ge walked out from the corner and slowly moved forward. When the girl heard his footsteps, she was spooked like a deer caught in headlights. She turned in a fluster and ran away. The apple that she held fell to the floor. Chen Ge looked at the apple that rolled to his feet, and he bent down to pick it up.

    The apple looked delicious, but it felt weird in his palm. It was slippery and soft. Chen Ge also swore that he could feel it pulsing.

    <i>Is this a real apple?</i>

    When Chen Ge picked up the apple, the girl was worried. She wanted to take it back from Chen Ge, but she was too afraid.

    <i>Something¡¯s not right.</i>

    Chen Ge ced the apple back down and moved back several steps. Seeing this, the girl immediately ran away and hugged the apple against her chest. Her face was the size of a palm. Combined with that expression of panic and relief, she looked so cute.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t mean to harm you. I¡¯m just lost.¡± Chen Ge maintained his distance from the girl. In reality, he was also guarding against the girl. After all, she was a resident here.

    The girl was still anxious like a girl who had wandered a bit too far from home to y and was now approached by a stranger. She was trying to find a way to escape. Chen Ge could see that he was making the girl panic. He did not force his way forward. None of the Specters could be used, and if he pushed the girl too far, it was hard to tell who would lose.

    Taking another step back, Chen Ge ced the hammer back inside his backpack. ¡°I just want to ask you some questions.¡±

    The handle was exposed at a spot where Chen Ge could grab it easily. If there was danger, he could pull it out in a second. The girl looked at Chen Ge but refused to get close to him. Holding the fleshy wall, she walked away from Chen Ge cautiously before turning and running away.

    Chen Ge did not give chase. After the girl left, he was shocked to realize that his breathing had gotten smoother, and the blood membrane covering him had gotten thinner.

    <i>I have not done anything but help the girl pick up her apple. Will helping them gain me this world¡¯s approval?</i>

    Due to thecking clues, Chen Ge could not be certain. He proceeded in the direction that the girl had run off in.

    <i>The child doesn¡¯t look like a dead body. She is agile and has vibrant facial expressions.</i>

    Chen Ge rxed with the girl¡¯s appearance.

    <i>This world might be scary, but the residents here have maintained their humanity. I saw desire and fear in the girl¡¯s eyes¡ªonly humans can possess suchplicated emotions.</i>

    Each world behind the door was different. Chen Ge was most afraid a massacre-filled world where the residents would kill without reason.

    <i>Looks like there¡¯s still hope.</i>

    The world behind the door reflected the heart of the door-pusher. The world was made of flesh and blood, but the residents had the appearance of living individuals. This contrast left a deep impression on Chen Ge. Exploring the world was actually no different from understanding the door-pusher. This was a valuable chance to get to know the person.

    Chen Ge followed the girl to the end of the corridor. He pushed the door open and exited the central hub to enter the middle section. The blood mist was heavier there, and the walls were uneven, looking more like human organs.

    There were three rooms in the middle section and each room had a cadaver pool. There was even a que on the door. ¡®To thank the selfless contribution of the cadavers, we should give them the utmost respect. I, as a medical student, make this solemn promise to treat every ss seriously and will not take any pictures for entertainment purposes.¡¯

    <i>The words on the que are not yet dry. They look new. </i>Chen Ge nced through the ss on the door. The pool was filled with a red-brownish liquid, but there was no cadaver in it.

    <i>The most urgent thing is to find the ¡®people¡¯ living here. That way, I can destroy this blood membrane and unlock my employees.</i>

    Chen Ge did not enter the room. He was about to leave the middle section when he heard a man¡¯s voice. It seemed toe from one of the autopsy rooms on the left.

    ¡°Life¡¯s meaning is not to do with anything material but what you¡¯ve done. When you stand before the autopsy table, everything you see is just skin, fat, blood vessels, muscles, organs, and bones¡ªdo you understand?¡±

    Chen Ge walked up to the room. The door was half-open, so he peaked into the room.

    There was a male lecturer standing before the table. He was wearing a white coat, and his voice was stable and powerful. He was lecturing eight students in the room.

 Chapter 438 - Liu Zhengyi

    <h4>Chapter 438: Liu Zhengyi</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    With the mask covering most of his face, the male lecturer walked through the two groups of students with a glow in his eyes. ¡°This is your first ss, so feelings of nausea and curiosity are normal, but do not let me catch you making jokes at the cadaver¡¯s expense. They deserve our respect. Inside this room, every death is so that the living could keep on living. What you should be focusing on now is the connection of the nerves, the arrangement of the blood vessels, the joints of the muscle, and the cement of organs.¡±

    Only the male lecturer was speaking inside the room. He did not look old, but he was quite stern. Western Jiujiang Medical University had the biggest underground morgue, so probably only the students here had the privilege of being in such small groups to conduct autopsies on one cadaver. Due to theck of resources, most medical universities had eight or even sixteen people per group.

    Chen Ge stood outside the door to watch over all of this silently. He followed the male lecturer and felt like he had seen him somewhere before. ¡°That pair of eyes is familiar. I think I¡¯ve seen them inside Morgue No. 8 earlier.¡±

    After some ruminating, he remembered that there was a cadaver soaked inside the ss tube of Morgue No. 8, and the special thing about that cadaver was that its eyes were open. <i>Are the dead bodies that are soaked in formalin in real life reborn within the door? Is this part of Doctor Gao¡¯s imagination, or has he trapped the dead¡¯s spirits here?</i>

    The blood membrane on his body thickened. Just as Chen Ge was hesitating over whether to enter the room or not, he heard heavy breathing echoing down from the other end of the corridor. A smelly draft blew past him. Following that, the organs embedded in the wall started to pulse rhythmically. <i>What ising?</i>

    There was a monstering from the other end of the corridor. The feeling it elicited in Chen Ge waspletely different from the white-dress girl and the male lecturer. It was filled with negative emotions like destruction, murder, and anger.

    The white cat scratched Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders, and its ears tipped backward. It hissed in a low voice; it also felt threatened. When Chen Ge¡¯s attention was fully on the corridor, the door to the autopsy room suddenly opened. Chen Ge turned to look and realized that the male lecturer was standing next to it and was studying Chen Ge curiously.

    ¡°I...¡± Before Chen Ge coulde up with a reason, the male lecturer pulled him into the room.

    ¡°Come in first.¡± Then he closed the door and said, ¡°Go and hide. Don¡¯t let it see you.¡±

    The breathing neared in the corridor. With the urging from the male lecturer, Chen Ge crawled under one of the tables. It was a tform that could be raised, normally used to raise or lower cadavers.

    When Chen Ge got into the room, he realized that the eight students were all cadavers as well. They had their heads lowered and their frozen fingers holding the scalpels in weird manners. <i>No wonder they didn¡¯t respond. This teacher is most likely also a madman.</i>

    Chen Ge hesitated before crawling under the table.

    Themotion was getting louder outside. The heavy breathing came closer, and Chen Ge nced out through the gap in the walls. The blood vessels pulsed heavily. Soon, a humanoid creature with its face carved out walked by. Its body was much more muscr than normal, and it was about 2.4 meters tall, its head almost touching the ceiling.

    The man¡¯s body structure was different from the girl Chen Ge saw earlier. Instead, it mimicked the walls. Its skin was just a thin membrane enveloping the inner organs, meaning Chen Ge could see into his body. The monster walked slowly. It seemed to have incorporated itself into this world and was just patrolling aimlessly.

    The corridor shook and the monster paused when it passed the autopsy room. The faceless thing turned toward the door. Even though he was inside the room, Chen Ge could feel the door shake violently. After the monster realized that the door was locked, it went away. Several minutester, Chen Ge crawled out from the table.

    ¡°What was that?¡± The male lecturer had been hiding behind the door. He did not answer Chen Ge¡¯s question but studied him with a strange gaze. After a while, he removed the mask. His facial features looked simr to the human face soaked in formalin in the real world.

    ¡°That¡¯s the new security guard hired by the school. He¡¯s quite a fiery one. If he discovers students like you who run away from ss, he will most likely take you to see the headmaster.¡±

    ¡°Students? Headmaster?¡± Chen Ge did not quite understand what he said. The world in the male lecturer¡¯s eyes seemed to be different from what Chen Ge was seeing, and the next sentence out of the lecturer¡¯s lips confirmed that.

    ¡°Which ss are you from? Who is your lecturer?¡± The lecturer did not get mad when Chen Ge did not answer. ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t feel like answering, but truancy is not good. Quickly get back to ss. I know how a child like yourself might feel¡ªI¡¯vee across many sensitive students.¡±

    ¡°A child like me? Do I look like a child?¡± Chen Ge was confused, but he could hear kindness in the lecturer¡¯s voice. The tone used by the man when he talked to Chen Ge was different from when he talked to his own students. It was as if he was afraid of harming Chen Ge¡¯s pride.

    ¡°A physical deformity doesn¡¯t prove anything; a courageous heart is more important.¡±

    The lecturer seemed to be consoling Chen Ge, and this confused him even more. ¡°I¡¯m deformed in your eyes?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my mistake for misusing the word. I apologize to you, but please go back to ss.¡± The lecturer, who had been berating his ss earlier, changed his tone. It was obvious that he was indeed a good man. From the man¡¯s various reactions, Chen Ge believed that he understood what was happening. In the lecturer¡¯s eyes, the world that was made from flesh was the normal one, and someone with his appearance was the deformed one.

    Chen Ge had no idea how the world presented itself in the lecturer¡¯s eyes, but he tried to gain more information from the man. ¡°Sir, how should I refer to you?¡±

    ¡°My name is Liu Zhengyi; you can call me Mr. Liu. If you face any problems in the future and have no one to go to, you cane to me.¡±

    Mr. Liu was probably just being kind, but Chen Ge did not n to let that chance slip. He slid the hammer back into his backpack. After some hesitation, he said, ¡°Mr. Liu, actually, I¡¯ve been bullied by people at the school, but I don¡¯t dare share the secrets with anyone.¡±

    ¡°School bullying? Such a thing happened here?¡± Mr. Liu turned serious, and his tone immediately changed. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, tell me everything. I will definitely help you settle everything!¡±

 Chapter 439 - Touch of Death

    <h4>Chapter 439: Touch of Death</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge did not expect it to go so sessfully¡ªhe had just wanted to make himself look vulnerable so that it would be easier to endear himself to the man. Who knew that Mr. Liu would be so direct, ask for the culprit, and be so ready to represent him?

    <i>He¡¯s a good teacher. </i>Chen Ge sincerely thought this Liu Zhengyi was not bad. <i>The Haunted House currently needs someone to manage the mannequins; he looks like the perfect candidate.</i>

    After sighing, Chen Ge did not instantly answer Mr. Liu¡¯s question. Instead, he whispered, ¡°Sir, I know you mean well, but I cannot say.¡±

    ¡°Are you afraid they¡¯ll retaliate for being a tattle-tale?¡± Mr. Liu frowned. ¡°Then have you considered that the more you refuse the resist, the weaker you¡¯ll be in their eyes, creating a vicious cycle?¡±

    Chen Ge lowered his head like he was seriously considering what Mr. Liu said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, I¡¯ll help you,¡± Mr. Liu promised, and he was ready to take action. After a while, Chen Ge slowly raised his head like he hade to a decision. ¡°Mr. Liu, this involves many people, and then you¡¯ll realize the students and even colleagues around you have a side you don¡¯t know. You are a good person; I don¡¯t want to drag you into this mess.¡±

    ¡°Involves many people? I know most people at this school; they wouldn¡¯t do something like that.¡± Mr. Liu had a great sense of justice, but he was not dumb. After thinking about it, he said, ¡°Other than the headmaster, there are only six teachers, not including myself, and a few experienced clinical doctors. Based on my understanding of them, they would not be involved in something like bullying students.¡±

    Chen Ge kept his head lowered, memorizing everything that Mr. Liu said.

    ¡°Minus the teachers, there are only students, security guards, and general staff.¡± Mr. Liu thought about it but could note up with an answer. However, Chen Ge did not look like he was lying.

    ¡°Sir, these people look a certain way before you, but they change when you are not around. They are wolves under sheep¡¯s clothing.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s fists tightened when he said that, and the words were squeezed through his teeth. Seeing that, Mr. Liu felt sorry for Chen Ge.

    ¡°I cannot drag you down with me, but if there¡¯s a chance, I¡¯ll personally expose those people for you to see.¡± Chen Ge was not joking¡ªhe had sensed endless malice from that security guard earlier. The security guard who had merged with the world was not interested in Mr. Liu, but if he saw Chen Ge, he would attack relentlessly. Mr. Liu would then see the real face of these ¡®people¡¯.

    ¡°Alright then.¡± Mr. Liu did not force Chen Ge to continue. He walked back to the students and continued the ss. Chen Ge was quite bored. The longer he stayed, the thicker the membrane became.

    <i>Mr. Liu is a nice person. I can make use of this chance to verify my spection about whether helping the souls behind the door can help me gain the world¡¯s approval or not.</i>

    He walked toward Mr. Liu, but before he got close, Mr. Liu stopped him. ¡°No one is allowed toe near the autopsy table without the proper equipment.¡±

    ¡°Sir, I just want to see whether there¡¯s anything that I can help you with.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, but as long as you focus in ss and use that knowledge to help other people in the future, that is the biggest help you can give me.¡± Mr. Liu looked at Chen Ge and shook his head. ¡°There areb coats in the decontamination closet, go and put one on. You can attend this ss for now, but after ss is over, I¡¯ll go with you to find your teacher.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge put on the coat and the heavy mask. He walked to the autopsy table and stood next to the four dead students, looking at the cadaver on the table. Before Chen Ge entered, the room had only had Liu Zhengyi¡ªthe rest were all dead bodies. When he thought about it, that was quite scary.

    Liu Zhengyi gave his lecture to a ss of dead people and would gesture at the cadaver. There was a textbook on the table, but Chen Ge did not understand most of the medical terms. He turned the page to one with pictures and graphs. He studied it and understood about thirty percent of it.

    After a long time, the cadaver on the table was still the same, and the students were all dead bodies, so of course, they did not reach out to touch the cadaver. However, Mr. Liu did not seem to notice any of that.

    Chen Ge was at least given a valuable ss in autopsy. When hepleted his first Nightmare Mission, he had been given a talent, Mortician¡¯s Make-up. A good mortician should be familiar with human anatomy and dead bodies. Chen Ge grabbed the scalpel from the student next to him and steadied his breathing.

    Only through practice could he know that he had learned something from Mr. Liu. The first step of the autopsy was to separate the skin. Chen Ge¡¯s hand that held the scalpel was steady. Initially, Mr. Liu thought about giving Chen Ge some pointers, but after Chen Ge finished scouring the cadaver¡¯s skin, he stood to the side and watched silently.

    The scalpel ran up the neck, and the incision started at the ipital point. The knife cut through the scalp and severed the hair. When the hair was snipped, and the sound echoed in the room, Chen Ge¡¯s heart beat with its rhythm. This was the first time that he hade into such close contact with a cadaver and in this manner.

    The cadaver¡¯s skin was thick from long submersion in formalin. It was like cow hide,pletely lifeless. Chen Ge felt death so clearly and closely for the first time that he would remember this feeling forever.

    <i>After death, every emotion and desire changes into regrets, and my Haunted House is the ce where all these regrets collect.</i>

    Following the autopsy, the blood membrane became thinner and his breathing easier.

    Mr. Liu would asionally correct Chen Ge¡¯s mistakes. Initially, Chen Ge was very irregr in his actions and made many mistakes, but his learning capability surprised Mr. Liu. The autopsy only went halfway. When Chen Ge prepared to continue, he realized that the blood membrane would not thin anymore.

    <i>What¡¯s going on? </i>Chen Ge put the scalpel down. He had nned to remove the membrane fully in this room. He lifted his head to look. Mr. Liu, who stood not far from him, was spacing out. The floor underneath his feet that was made from flesh had blood vessels squirmed about, and it crawled into his eyes.

    The blood pulsed underneath the skin, and gradually, Mr. Liu¡¯s eyes turned blood red, filled with blood vessels.

    Losing control, the man seemed to morph into a different person. He moved his body slowly to remove the cadaver from the table. He put theb coat on it and then moved one of the students to rece its ce on the autopsy table.

    After he was done, he turned to look at the table where Chen Ge was standing.

    The bloodshot eyes moved down the group, and he seemed to be wondering why there was an extra person.

 Chapter 440 - Five Types

    <h4>Chapter 440: Five Types</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The membrane was still there, so Chen Ge could not summon his employees. He had left his hammer near the closet when he got changed, so he could not grab it at short notice. Wearing the coat and thick mask, Chen Ge mixed into the group of students. He stopped everything he was doing.

    His legs surrounded by blood vessels, his eyes red, Mr. Liu walked around his students. With a heavy mist of blood around him, Mr. Liu was under something¡¯s control and had lost his rationality. He could not make his own choice, and whenever he tried to think for himself, his brain felt like it was about to explode.

    His hands pulling out his hair, Mr. Liu punched his own body, and the organs embedded in the walls pulsed following his changing emotions. The heavy breathing returned to the corridor. The monster slowly returned. It was so tall, and its skin was near transparent. It wore the blood vessels like a second skin.

    The corridor shook slightly, and Mr. Liu slowly calmed down. He nced outside, and without hesitation, he grabbed one of the students and dragged them to the door. The blood dripped silently. Through the door¡¯s window, Chen Ge saw a mouth open in the middle of the monster¡¯s stomach, and Mr. Liu pushed the student into it.

    The monster was enjoying this process, and when he was done, his body grew bigger. After the student disappeared, the monster did not leave. The empty face looked through the window like it was not satisfied and wanted more.

    Mr. Liu mmed the door shut, not stepping out of the ssroom. After clearing away the student, he returned to the table. He removed the cadaver, put the coat on it, and then moved the student next to Chen Ge onto the table.

    Everything was the same as when Chen Ge first stepped into the room, but now, he had reced one of the students. The blood vessels around Mr. Liu¡¯s legs slowly retreated, and the red in his eyes dissipated. When the wall stopped pulsing, Mr. Liu¡¯s eyes regained their rity.

    He held his chest and copsed on the ground, gasping for air like a drowning victim who had just been saved. Chen Ge rushed over to help Mr. Liu. His face was nched, and his body seemed to have be slightly more transparent.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just an old ailment.¡± Liu Zhengyi stood up. He seemed to have forgotten everything and treated Chen Ge as his student. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s continue the ss.¡±

    He repeated the lesson to a room of cadavers. He lectured passionately, basically to himself. Chen Ge tried to ask whether he needed help.

    Mr. Liu¡¯s answer was the same. However, this time, when Chen Ge tried to follow Mr. Liu¡¯s instructions to conduct the autopsy, the blood membrane did not thin. This blood world was really unique. It was like a living organism with its own consciousness that allowed it to correct the loopholes.

    <i>If I stay here too long, I might be discovered. </i>Chen Ge felt pressured. He needed to solve the blood membrane problem before he was discovered. Putting the scalpel down, Chen Ge called out, ¡°Sir, I need to use the toilet.¡±

    ¡°Come back quick.¡± Mr. Liu wasmunicating with his students, so he did not pay Chen Ge much attention. When Chen Ge walked past him, he suddenly remembered something. He looked at Chen Ge with curiosity. ¡°Student, did you tell me something earlier? I feel like I¡¯ve promised you something.¡±

    ¡°Sir, remember this face. I believe we¡¯ll meet again soon.¡± Chen Ge wore the coat, picked up the white cat from his backpack, and left immediately. There was no blood in the corridor. If not for the fact that he had seen it with his own eyes, Chen Ge would not have believed that a ¡®murder¡¯ had taken ce there several minutes earlier.

    <i>Liu Zhengyi has identally revealed some important information to me. There are five types of ¡®people¡¯ in the underground morgue¡ªthe headmaster, teachers, students, security, and general staff.</i>

    <i>The blood world has changed Liu Zhengyi¡¯s worldview. In his mind, everything here has been normalized, but what do these five types represent in real life?</i>

    <i>Liu Zhengyi himself is a teacher; they have their memory and professional skills. Most importantly, they retain their human image and even their personality in life.</i>

    <i>Students should be the cadavers. They do not resist or speak; they should be the mostmon in this world.</i>

    <i>I¡¯ve seen the security. They look like aposite of many body parts. They have fully epted this world and help to maintain order.</i>

    <i>The general staff should be the victims of the ghost stories society. If their spirits linger in the real world after their death, Doctor Gao most likely drags them into this world to serve it.</i>

    <i>Lastly, the headmaster must be Doctor Gao. He represents the consciousness of this world.</i>

    Five types of people made up this twisted world. It was impossible for Chen Ge to face them alone. <i>This three-star scenario sure is something else.</i>

    Different from the cautious Chen Ge, the usually cowardly white cat charged ahead with a glow in its eyes. <i>Feels like this cat has grown bigger.</i>

    Arming himself with the hammer, Chen Ge followed closely behind the white cat. They exited the middle section and reached thergest part of the morgue, the outer perimeter.

    ¡°Stop running!¡± Chen Ge grabbed the white cat and ced it on his backpack. He stopped at the corner of the corridor and peered down. At the junction between the outer perimeter and the middle section was a sealed door. There was the number eight written on the door.

    <i>Morgue No. 8, which is not in the school records, exists in the world behind the door? Looks like this ce did exist once in real life but was hidden for some reason.</i>

    Chen Ge pulled on the chains that had blood stains on them. He looked at the lock for a long time.

    <i>This lock is different from the one that I¡¯ve seen before. Hacking through it will be difficult.</i>

    Smashing through the lock would create too much of amotion, so even though Chen Ge was curious about what was behind it, with the blood membrane still around him, that was not a good idea.

    <i>Once I canmunicate with my people, I cane back with the employees. Judging by the fact that they went through to trouble of hiding these things, they should be valuable to me.</i>

    Remembering the location of Morgue No. 8, Chen Ge did not stay any longer and continued to proceed down the corridor.

 Chapter 441 - Am I Dead?

    <h4>Chapter 441: Am I Dead?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    In the fleshy corridor, the organs pulsed inside the wall, various vessels crossed the ceiling, and asionally, blood would seep through. Compared to when Chen Ge first entered the ce, the world behind the door started to change like a sleeping person slowly waking up. Walking down the hall, Chen Ge heard the conversation between two peopleing out of Morgue No. 7.

    ¡°I hear the experiment failed again.¡±

    ¡°Yes, they¡¯re all dead. No one survived to leave that room. It¡¯s so scary. I hope it¡¯s never my turn.¡±

    ¡°You wish, I predict we¡¯ll be part of the next batch. Did you realize there have been ack of neerstely?¡±

    ¡°I did. Perhaps that¡¯s the reason the experiments are getting more frequent¡ªsomething has happened outside.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I pity that body. Loved by a madman and has to endure the torture even after death, never to acquire actual peace.¡±

    ¡°Shush, that is not something we can discuss. Focus on the work.¡±

    Chen Ge nced into the room¡ªit was two monsters chatting. They had the shape of a human and face of a human, but their bodies were glued together like putty. If not for the red threads, they would have crumbled already. When Chen Ge saw the two monsters¡¯ faces, he was quite shocked.

    Even though the bodies were probably an amalgamation, the faces were theirs. Chen Ge had seen them inside the room filled with pictures. Both of them were the society¡¯s victims. One of them was Patient 41¡¯s father, the middle-aged man who had tortured his child.

    Chen Ge did not rush into Morgue No. 7. His brain turned¡ªwhat he had seen confirmed his spection. These two should be the general staff mentioned by Liu Zhengyi¡ªthey were formed from the lingering spirit of the society¡¯s victims and served the ¡®headmaster¡¯.

    From how Chen Ge viewed it, the ghost stories society was an organization with no bottom line. Even after death, they captured the victim¡¯s lingering spirit to force them intobor.

    <i>Wait a while longer. I will save all of you. </i>Chen Ge gripped the hammer and squatted down on the corridor. He focused on Morgue No. 7 with his Yin Yang Vision. The two monsters pulled up the blood cloth covering the ground. Underneath it were plenty of cadavers. They looked like they had been transported here from outside. They ced the cadavers on the trolley, facing the door of the freezer.

    ¡°Ready, open the freezer.¡± One of the monsters stood next to the freezer nervously. It took a deep breath, extended its arm that had plenty of sewing marks, and pulled open the lock on the freezer.

    When the lock slid off, the thick door of the freezer was shoved open, and countless thick blood vessels sprung out like giant cobras. The other monster, who was experienced, immediately pushed the trolley forward. The vessels covered the cadavers like octopus tentacles and dragged the cadavers into the darkness.

    ¡°Quick close the door!¡±

    The two monsters cooperated to close the door, but an ident happened then. One of the blood vessels slithered out from the gap and curled around one of the monsters¡¯ arm. The vessel had something like looked like a teethed orifice on its tip, and it munched the monster¡¯s arm right off.

    There was the sound of mming on the door like there was a beast trapped inside the freezer. The monster did not scream even though its arm was pulled out. In fact, it treated this like it happened daily. When the blood vessels retreated, it quickly locked the door. About ten secondster, the morgue became quiet again, and the monsters prepared to open the second freezer. When all the cadavers were sent into the freezers, the two sighed in relief. By then, they were already fully wounded, with scars all over their bodies.

    ¡°Finally done.¡± The two monsters left Morgue No. 7, pushing the trolley. Chen Ge followed them silently.

    <i>They sent the cadavers in real life inside the freezers, allowing the blood vessels to absorb them. Is it a way to feed the blood world? </i>Chen Ge looked at the thick vessels above him and the blood threads that flowed through them and he got even more confused by this world.

    <i>The society discovered the ¡®door¡¯ five years earlier than me, and they seemed to have mastered the way of transforming the ¡®door¡¯. </i>Chen Ge nced into the room when he passed Morgue No. 7. This ce was looking less and less like a blood school and more like a blood factory. <i>Doctor Gao is scarier than the monsters here. The man has lost his mind; there¡¯s no telling what he¡¯s thinking.</i>

    He walked forward, and there were two doctors wearing white coats arguing at the door to Morgue No. 6. Many professional terms were tossed around, and Chen Ge could not understand any of them. Doctors seemed to possess great ranking in this world¡ªthe two general staff did not dare get close to them like close proximity could be treated as an offense.

    After the argument finished and the doctors left, the two monsters only dared to whisper softly to voice their disgruntlement.

    ¡°Looks like the experiment has failed again. That room has already consumed more than one hundred people.¡±

    ¡°Actually, it¡¯s not really a failure. Didn¡¯t the body move some time ago?¡±

    ¡°What do you know? The body is alive, but the soul has already disappeared. The madman wants to find his wife¡¯s soul¡ªonly bybining the soul and the body can the thing be counted as a person.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know anything since it has nothing to do with me, but let¡¯s get moving. We¡¯re close to that crazy old man¡¯s ce, and if we run into him, something bad is bound to happen.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. I almost forgot about that.¡±

    The two monsters shut up. When they passed Morgue No. 4, they slowed down, afraid of making any noise. However, to their surprise, an old man was just standing behind the door. When he saw someone pass, he yanked the door open.

    ¡°You two, stop right there!¡± The old man¡¯s voice was strict and stern. It could strike fear into people.

    ¡°Doctor Wei, are you looking for us?¡± The two monsters squeezed together and did not dare get too close.

    ¡°Answer my question.¡± The old man had a pair of eagle eyes.

    The monsters did not dare to say no, so they nodded unwillingly. ¡°What do you wish to ask?¡±

    The old man asked with confusion, ¡°Am I dead?¡±

    When the answer was revealed, the blood in the vessels sped up, and the organs inside the walls pulsed harder.

    ¡°You¡¯re alive of course!¡± The two monsters forced a smile.

    ¡°But I remember dying very clearly.¡± The old man¡¯s brows creased, and he started to think.

    One of the monsters pulled on the other, and they slowly retreated down the corridor and ran away.

 Chapter 442 - The Key Person

    <h4>Chapter 442: The Key Person</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The door was open, and the old man stood beyond it¡ªthere was befuddlement in his eyes. ¡°Am I not dead?¡±

    Chen Ge had seen this old man before, also within Morgue No. 8. His body had been just next to Liu Zhengyi. Soaked in formalin, he had looked so peaceful,pletely different from how he was now.

    <i>Looks like everyone in Morgue No. 8 retains their memory and personality. They are not affected by the blood world.</i>

    The world behind the door was filled with many negative emotions. Staying here for a long time would cause one to be assimted into it, and only those with strongest conviction would be able to survive.

    It was that way for Liu Zhengyi, whom Chen Ge had run into earlier. When he heard his student was bullied, he prepared to stand up for the student. It should be the same for this old man. Combined with what happened to Liu Zhengyi, Chen Ge understood something. <i>Perhaps the blood world cannot assimte them, so it forcibly controls them every few hours to make them forget certain things to preserve the order here.</i>

    Chen Ge was a calm man, and another observation appeared in his mind.

    <i>Compared to mind-controlling them, killing them should be easier, but the blood world didn¡¯t do that. There is no pity or protection here, and since they¡¯re still alive until now, this means that they serve some purpose!</i>

    The monsters referred to him as a doctor, be it Liu Zhengyi or this gentleman, they should be the best in their respective field. The owner of the door sounds like he¡¯s trying to revive someone. He kept these two doctors alive probably to aid him inpleting that revival experiment.

    Through the conversation of the two monsters and the clues gathered, Chen Ge came to a conclusion.

    <i>The two monsters refused to interact with the old gentleman because they were afraid of trouble, but it¡¯s different for me.</i>

    Chen Ge ced the white cat and hammer into his backpack and walked along the corridor openly.

    Hearing his footsteps, the old gentleman slowly raised his head. When he saw Chen Ge, he was startled like he had seen a ghost.

    <i>I wonder how I look like in their eyes. </i>Chen Ge walked to the old man and asked politely, ¡°Sir, I have a few words to discuss with you¡ªcan you give me a few minutes of your time?¡±

    ¡°It should be lecture time now. Which ss are you from?¡± The old gentleman nced at Chen Ge a few more times like he was slowly getting used to the sight, and his expression returned to normal.

    ¡°Sir, I heard your conversation with the two people earlier,¡± Chen Ge said directly. He did not n to waste any more time.

    ¡°So what? You think I¡¯m mad?¡± The old man held the door and prepared to return to his room.

    ¡°You¡¯re not mad. Actually, you¡¯re indeed dead.¡± When Chen Ge said that, the whole corridor became quiet. He could clearly hear the sound of the blood flowing through the vessels. The old gentleman focused his gaze on Chen Ge. He did not speak but nodded slightly and allowed Chen Ge to follow him into the room. Chen Ge did what he was told. Morgue No. 4 was a small morgue. Due to wiring, Morgue No. 4 had stopped being used, and it had been turned into a sample room.

    The door closed, but the old gentleman still did not say a thing. He walked to the racks that carried multiple samples. Chen Ge did not know what the old man was up to, but he still followed him silently.

    The old man led Chen Ge to the inner part of the racks. ¡°If you have something to say, we can discuss it here¡ªthis ce is hidden from outside view.¡±

    Chen Ge nodded. ¡°Sir, can you describe what I look like in your eyes?¡±

    ¡°Your features are ced at impossible ces. The fact that you¡¯re alive is a miracle,¡± the old man said directly.

    ¡°Then how do the surrounding walls and racks look in your eyes?¡±

    ¡°The walls?¡± The old man knew that Chen Ge was hinting at something. ¡°They are painted white and look new.¡±

    ¡°Do you know how they look in my eyes?¡± Chen Ge pointed at them. ¡°Their surface is covered with a transparent membrane, blood vessels of varying sizes run through them, and they pulse like living organs.¡±

    Then Chen Ge pointed at his face. ¡°The world in my eyes is the real one. I believe you¡¯ve noticed that already.¡±

    The stronger one¡¯s will, the harder it was to control them behind the door. The old gentleman was this type of individual. He was not influenced by the negative emotions, and while he fought with the blood world, he slowly got tipped off to certain things.

    ¡°I know you might not be able to ept this so suddenly, but that is the truth.¡± Chen Ge had a close watch on the old man. Once he acted strangely, Chen Ge would act quickly. ¡°I saw you once in Morgue No. 8 at the underground morgue. Your real body is soaked inside formalin, and you look peaceful.¡±

    ¡°You mean, I¡¯m not only dead, but I¡¯ve also donated my body to the university?¡± The old man tried to force himself to remember. He did remember something, but right then, things changed. Blood vessels leaked out from the walls and ground¡ªthey charged at the old gentleman all at once. Chen Ge had seen this before, so he came prepared. When they appeared, he took out his hammer and beat them off.

    However, more blood came from the surrounding. There were so many of them that it was scary.

    ¡°Sir! Think about what you¡¯ve done in the past! Everything you see is fake!¡± He protected the old man from the encroaching threat, but Chen Ge only managed that for a few seconds. There was heavy breathing from the outside corridor¡ª¡¯security¡¯ had been informed as well.

    ¡°What I¡¯ve done in the past?¡± The old man¡¯s eyes glowed, but right then, the blood vessels slid past Chen Ge and attacked the old man. The man¡¯s eyes changed between red and white, his expression one of torment. Just as he was about to copse, his body reacted like it had been programmed to do so. At the height of pain, he reached his arm into his sleeve. In the end, the old man failed to resist the control. When the blood vessels disappeared, he copsed to the ground weakly.

    ¡°Sir?¡± Chen Ge squatted down to help the old man up from the ground. ¡°Can you remember who I am?¡±

    Holding his chest, the old man stood up from the ground. He looked at Chen Ge nkly and shook his head. Then, he appeared like he had remembered something and pulled down his sleeve. On his thin wrist, there were plenty of wounds gouged out by nails.

    He looked at thetest wound and asked, ¡°When did the new scar appear?¡±

 Chapter 443 - Wei Jiuqin [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 443: Wei Jiuqin [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge did not expect the old man to use this type of method to jot down the recording. When the blood vessels were crawling all over his system, when he was in the deepest depths of pain, he could still do something like this. It went to show how strong the old man¡¯s will was¡ªmuch stronger than a normal man.

    ¡°Sir, you dug out these scars yourself. You canpare them to your own nails. I saw with my own eyes earlier that you used your other hand¡¯s middle and first fingers to scratch them out.¡±

    ¡°This is my own doing? Howe I have no recollection of this?¡±

    While the two were speaking, heavy breathing came from outside the door. The monster with the empty face had arrived. The creepy face leaned on the window of the door to Morgue No. 4. Its gaze was blocked by the racks filled with samples. When it could not look into the back of the room, it sounded like it was going to barge its way in. The door shook and trembled¡ªthe monster was incredibly strong.

    ¡°Stay here, and don¡¯t move.¡± The old man pulled down his sleeves and walked out from behind the racks. He walked to the door and pulled it open. Therge monster that was sewn together from various dead bodies poked its head into the room. It had no face, and the skull was clean and shaven. It was anyone¡¯s guess how it sensed the surroundings.

    ¡°Who let you in here?¡± the old man demanded in a stern voice. In terms of size and frame, the old man was just half of the creature, but in terms of presence and aura, they were not even on the same level. The old man¡¯s gaze was sharp and prating. When he realized the monster was not moving, he raised his arm to block the monster. ¡°This is not a ce that you can enter. Get out!¡±

    Hiding behind the racks, Chen Ge also thought this scene was quite amazing. The power level behind the two was night and day but their presence was theplete opposite. ¡°The world in the old gentleman¡¯s eyes is probably different from mine. Perhaps in his eyes, the monster is just a normal dude with malicious intent.¡±

    The monster was blocked at the door by the old man. It seemed to have sensed Chen Ge. Arge crevice appeared on its stomach and itsrge palm pulled out a rope filled with blood stain from behind him. The stench of blood and something else filled up the room. The monster gnashed its teeth, but the old man did not retreat. In fact, he took a step forward. He yelled at the monster, his voice rising. The two were at a standstill at the door. The stomach of the monster peeled open, and it created a sound that was simr to breathing. It was angered beyond belief, but there was nothing it could do. In the end, it left unwillingly.

    When the monster disappeared down the corridor, the old man closed the door. He returned to the racks and pulled up the sleeve of his shirt. ¡°Let¡¯s continue our earlier conversation. You said that you saw me leave this wound on my arm, but howe I have no memory of it at all?¡±

    ¡°Sir, do you have any memory of wounds, blood vessels, and death in your mind?¡±

    ¡°Now that you mention it, I have been suffering from this recurring nightmare. When I close my eyes, I can see many blood lines curling around my body. I try my best to struggle, but I cannot resist being pulled into the darkness by them. After that, I wake up.¡± The man touched the scars on his arm. ¡°When did I leave these wounds? I cannot remember them at all.¡±

    Chen Ge told the old man what had happened earlier. However, he was only halfway through it when the organs in the wall started to react violently and the heavy breathing outside the corridor returned. With no other choice, Chen Ge had to stop.

    ¡°We¡¯ll need to wait a little longer. Now we have no means to protect ourselves, so it¡¯s pointless to reveal these things to you.¡± Chen Ge finally understood something. If the old man remembered something important, the blood world behind the door would forcibly control him, and the monsters that were patrolling the corridor would congregate. The old man had been able to save him this time, but Chen Ge did not want to test his luck. Compared to recovering the old man¡¯s memory, removing the blood membrane was more important.

    ¡°Sir, do you have anything else that you need my help with?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s sudden offer confused the old gentleman. He thought about it for a long time, and his eyes eventually focused on Chen Ge. ¡°I want you to bring me to Morgue No. 8.¡±

    ¡°Morgue No. 8?¡± Chen Ge was surprised the old gentleman would make such a request. ¡°The morgue was sealed shut by someone¡ªwhy would you want to go there?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t really tell, but I have a feeling something dear to me is locked inside there. Perhaps I¡¯ve been there before and left something important there.¡±

    ¡°Do we have to enter Morgue No. 8?¡± Breaking the lock would require plenty of time, and that process might attract more than one monsters. In that case, they would put themselves in grave danger.

    ¡°Yes.¡± The man nodded. He could be quite stubborn, but he was certain this was the only andst favor that he needed from Chen Ge. Entering Morgue No. 8 would be dangerous, but since Chen Ge could not find a second ¡®person¡¯ to help in a short amount time, he would have to do it. He knew the blood world was onto him, and if he dragged this out, it would be dangerous to him.

    ¡°Staying in this ce will continue to thicken the membrane on the skin surface. There are two more unfortunate souls in the room at the central hub. If I drag this any longer, the two of them might just die from asphyxiation.¡± Chen Ge finally nodded. ¡°Okay, I will bring you to Morgue No. 8.¡±

    After getting the confirmation from Chen Ge, the old man¡¯s expression softened. His eyes thatnded on Chen Ge filled with admiration. For some reason that he could not understand, he felt the young man was quite friendly and nice. Actually, the reason the old man felt that way was because Chen Ge was an outsider. Different from the people inside the door, there was humanity in Chen Ge. If it was Ma Wei or Li Jiu who came over, the old man might have felt even closer to them.

    ¡°The key to Morgue No. 8 should be in the headmaster¡¯s room, but it is not going to be easy to go there. I know many ways that lead there. The closest route has the most security, and the other route is more deserted, but...¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to go through so much trouble; there is more than one way to open a door.¡± Chen Ge assumed he only needed toplete the old man¡¯s wish to clear the blood membrane, so he did not want to make things tooplicated. ¡°You can just follow me to Morgue No. 8.¡±

    Chen Ge walked to the door and the old man reminded him with uncertainty, ¡°Whenever I leave this room, a bad feeling forms in my heart. I don¡¯t know why, but you¡¯d better be careful. Also, there¡¯s one other thing¡ªwe mustn¡¯t be spotted by others.¡±

    The old man seemed to have the experience of running away before. However, he could not remember what had happened then¡ªhis memory was blurry.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be there.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s body only had a thinyer of blood membrane left. Afterpleting the old man¡¯s wish, he should be able to get the full approval, and after that, he would not need to run and hide anymore.

    Opening the door, Chen Ge walked out of the room. Nothing happened. However, when the old man left the room, the whole corridor shook slightly, and the organs on the wall pulsed faster.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not waste time, we¡¯ll go there directly! Quick!¡± The underground morgue¡¯s outer perimeter had aplicatedyout because it was connected to many buildings. Chen Ge was d that he had taken a picture of the map and memorized it in his head before he started the journey. Holding the hammer, Chen Ge weaved through the corridors to head to Morgue No. 8. The old man followed closely behind him with conviction shining in his eyes.

    After the old man left the room, the blood world started to change. If before it was the calm before the storm, now, the storm was arriving. With no return route and no other choice, Chen Ge led the old man quickly through the corridors. He had done all the preparation; no matter who blocked his way, he would force his way through!

    There was a strange smell in the air. The blood that flowed above their heads started to speed up. The freezers in the morgues on both sides echoed with the mming sounds as if the cobra-like blood vessels felt hungry again. After turning another few corners, Chen Ge heard footstepsing from the other end. He gripped the hammer tightly but did not slow down. In fact, he ran even faster.

    The person at the other end of the corridor heard his running footsteps. They were more cowardly and stopped immediately. Turning the corner, Chen Ge saw two general staff that looked like a pile of decaying mud fixing the corridor. They were pushing a trolley that was filled with broken carcasses. They ced the body parts into the gaps of the walls and then used a red thread to sew them back together. The two monsters worked seriously. They did not give Chen Ge much heed, but when they saw the old man behind him, they started to worry.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been discovered.¡± Chen Ge raised the hammer to n to silence the witnesses but was stopped by the old man. ¡°Ignore them, these people are too cowardly to report us. If you harm them, the security will rush over immediately.¡±

    The old man then stared at the two monsters. The two creatures very tactfully turned their heads away to continue working like they could not see Chen Ge and the old man. ¡°I have interacted with them a fair bit, so I know them well.¡±

    Chen Ge already knew these ¡®monsters¡¯ were quite afraid of the old man. ¡°Sir, you must have been quite a vicious character.¡±

    ¡°You tter me. We should get to Morgue No. 8 first; we can continue the conversation there.¡±

    It was not looking great in the corridors. The organs in the wall started to leak blood, and the situation was quickly turning south. After a few more corridors, Chen Ge and the old man finally arrived at the entrance to Morgue No. 8. By then, the walls, floor and the blood vessels on the ceiling had started to leak blood, and the surrounding blood mist had gotten a lot thicker.

    ¡°The door is locked. How are we going to open it without a key?¡± The old man stood in the mist. Ever since he left the room, a headache had been following him. It felt like there was something that was trying to crawl its way out of his head.

    ¡°Leave it to me.¡± With no other option, Chen Ge focused on the lock on the door and raised his hammer high!

    BANG!

    The door shook, and the shockwave caused the walls next to it to bleed. ¡°Sure is tough.¡±

    Gritting his teeth, he smashed at the thing like his life depended on it. He aimed at the ce where the door was joined to the wall. When he passed the door for the first time, he had nned to smash through the door already.

    No matter how tough the door was, Chen Ge was not afraid. At most, he would knock a hole through the adjacent wall. If there was a way in, he would find it.

    As Chen Ge continued to demolish the ce, more blood vessels continued to pour out from the grooves on the hammer, and they made the weapon look scarier. After about ten more hits, Chen Ge realized that the blood was not just a decoration¡ªit seemed to have a special effect. It was as if due to these blood vessels that it increased the damage effect of the hammer against anything inside the blood world.

    Chen Ge had no idea how many strikes he had made. The ce was chaotic, and this was different from the old man¡¯s n. He wanted to have Chen Ge steal the key and thene over to silently open the door and retrieve the important thing that he had lost. However, Chen Ge¡¯s action was so beyond the normal realm of human actions that perhaps even the ¡®headmaster¡¯, who was hidden at the deepest part of the underground morgue, did not expect someone to be so crazy.

    The door shook, and the lock rattled noisily. The lock wasing loose, and the scariest thing was the adjacent wall wasing loose as well. Chen Ge almost smashed his way through. Heavy breathing came from both sides of the corridors; ¡®security¡¯ was on their way.

    ¡°Are you done?¡± The old man was in a shocked state, seeing this from the back. His admiration toward Chen Ge earlier had now changed into something else.

    ¡°Soon!¡± Chen Ge bit on his teeth, took several steps back, and used the running start to swing the hammer onest time!

    BANG!

    The door of Morgue No. 8 mmed into the wall. The hammernded on the edge of the wall, pulling off a huge chunk of flesh. The locked door was sted through by Chen Ge. Now, the security from both sides were running at them. They were tall andrge since they were made from multiple cadavers. With resentment and pain, a hole opened on their stomachs, and various arms reached out from them.

    ¡°Come in here!¡± Chen Ge entered Morgue No. 8 with the old man. The old man¡¯s wish had been fulfilled, and the blood membrane on Chen Ge¡¯s body started to thin. He mmed the door shut and used the hammer to block the door. ¡°Hopefully, this canst until the blood membrane disappears...¡±

    Chen Ge did not care much about this Morgue No. 8, but when he raised his head to look around, he was stunned. Morgue No. 8 behind the door was only slightly different from the one in the real world. There was an additional unique container made from flesh and blood in this Morgue No. 8. It was holding a man who looked around forty wearing a white coat.

    ¡°Doctor Chen?¡± The man who was trapped here was Doctor Chen from Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home. At thest minute of the trial at Coffin Vige, it was this man who had chased away No. 10 of the ghost stories society. ¡°Why is he here? Did he lose during that battle?¡±

    When Chen Ge was thinking, something mmed heavily into the door behind him. Many arms covered with blood tried to force their way through the cracks. The two faceless monsters had arrived!

    ¡°Sir, have you found the thing you have lost? I cannot hold on much longer!¡± There was still a very thinyer of membrane on Chen Ge¡¯s skin. He could not rub it off no matter how hard he tried. He started to call for his employees¡¯ names, but there was still no reply.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic.¡± The old man walked before the many empty tubes. He finally stopped at the ss tube that carried his dead body in real life. His palm fell on the ss, and his eyes fell on the introduction that was before the ss tube.

    ¡°Wei Jiuqin, Western Jiujiang Medical University¡¯s Professor, the man who built Jiujiang¡¯s Life Science Research Center. He donated his body for the pursuit of science after he died at the age of seventy-three from lung cancer.¡±

    Reading the letters on the tube, various memories exploded in his mind. Various images of his life and research flooded his mind before thest memory fixated on thest moment of his life.

    Inside the sickroom, he prepared to donate his body to the university. At the time, his children had tried to stop him, and with thest bit of strength in his body, he had written, ¡°I¡¯d rather they leave millions of wrong cuts on my body than make one mistake on their patients.¡±

 Chapter 444 - Who Has More People?

    <h4>Chapter 444: Who Has More People?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Memories flooded his mind. The headache was mounting but his gaze was peaceful. Blood vessels squeezed out from the walls and ground to curl around his body. The old man did not move, still standing before the ss tube. The blood drilled into his body and pulsed under his skin. They looked like snakes travelling to his brain. Just from the look of it, Chen Ge could imagine how painful it must have been, but the old man did not even frown. Chen Ge wanted to go help the old man, but he was in a less than positive situation himself. The monsters mmed crazily into the wall, and the arms with sewing marks tried to reach into the room to grab his body.

    ¡°Sir, you have to make it!¡±

    The blood vessels still made their way to the old man¡¯s brain, but unlike before, the old man¡¯s eyes did not get overtaken by the blood immediately. He retained his consciousness. His face was filled with popping veins; the pain was unimaginable. However, the old gentleman suffered through it, standing quietly next to the ss tube.

    His not-so-tall frame stood upright like nothing in the world was going to make his body bend. The organs on the wall vibrated crazily, and the blood vessels above them expanded. The blood rushed through them, and endless blood threads leaked out.

    The blood world did not expect an ident like this, and it was trying its best to fix itself. More blood came out from the corners of the room, and the ce looked like hell. Compared to those blood vessels, the old man was slender and thin, like an inconspicuous rock caught in a heavy storm.

    More blood curled into his body, but the old man seemed to have noticed them¡ªno one could tell what was going through his mind then. Standing from afar, Chen Ge noticed that the old man kept his gaze on the ss tube. His body looked like it was about to be torn open by the blood vessels, but he was unfazed. His palm still on the cold ss surface, his gaze wasplicated. He was yearning for life, but he was not afraid of death.

    ¡°Looks like I should be in here.¡± The old man finally remembered everything about himself. His fists tightened, and a low growl came out from his throat. The pain and torture faded to the background, and his eyes glowed brightly.

    The blood expanded his body, making him look scary, but his expression was so peaceful and kind. Other people definitely would not have expected the stern old man to have such a side to him. He moved his eyes away from the ss tube and shook his head lightly. ¡°What are these kids up to? I donated my body not for them to prop me up like a disy, how pretentious! After I¡¯m out, I¡¯ll have to go teach them a lesson!¡±

    With anger in his voice, the old man suffered through the endless pain and recovered all his memories. When the blood vessels realized that they could not influence the old man, they upped the ante. The whole room was shaking, and the organs in the wall and the blood vessels above them creaked open, blood dripping everywhere.

    Standing in the downpour of blood, the old man maintained the same pose. It was clear that he was in great pain, but he did not surrender. If anything, there was condescension in his eyes!

    The blood world and the old man¡¯s will were battling within the old man¡¯s body, a battle that could not be intervened in by outsiders. Chen Ge could not help; all he could do was block the door to prevent the security from harming the old man.

    Chen Ge gritted his teeth and gave it his all. There were cracks forming on the walls next to the door, and the organs above him leaked. The surface was wrinkling, and like leaves in fall, they started to fall. The cracks on the wall widened. It did not take long for one of the security guards to poke one of his arms and head through.

    Its stomach split open, and it was heaving heavily. When it saw Chen Ge, the heaving became rapid just like a glutton finding its favorite food.

    BANG!

    The door shook, and two monsters rammed at the door. Chen Ge was in a dire situation, and it almost reached the end for the old man as well. Due to the rapid eleration of the organs on the walls, the blood vessels on the ceiling had expanded to their maximum size, but even so, it could not bend the old man¡¯s will. Compared to the power of the blood world, the old man was nothing. However, he had somehow managed to stop the blood world from controlling him.

    His short life shed across his mind, and the old man¡¯s eyes glimmered. The blood vessels reached their limits, and they started to crack before exploding with a snap. A rain of blood urred in the room, and the room made of flesh started to darken. The vessels that curled around the old man lost their life, and they copsed to the ground like died vines.

    ¡°Is that all?¡± The old man stepped over the dried vessels, his will as strong as diamond. When the old man forced the vessels to explode and shielded his own memory, the blood membrane on Chen Ge also disappeared. Chen Ge took a deep breath, and air thick with the stench of blood entered his nostrils. He had never felt better!

    Like someone who had been submerged in water for a long time breaking through the surface, that feeling could not be put into words!

    The door was mmed open, and the monsters tried to squeeze their way in. The body made from flesh and blood was pulled apart and the arms reached for Chen Ge. Seeing this, there was a smile on Chen Ge¡¯s face. He knew that, from that moment onward, he was no longer fighting alone. Activating the recorder, when the static noise appeared, Chen Ge gripped the hammer and opened the morgue¡¯s door.

    ¡°Xu Yin!¡± The blood red shadow appeared beside him, and Xu Yin¡¯s murderous gaze studied the monsters that approached Chen Ge. The red shirt was dripping with blood, and he flexed his arms with his knuckles cracking. There was now a third breathing sound in the corridor; the monsters had started to gather.

    ¡°Flesh and blood make up everything; nothing here is right. So, I¡¯ve been living in a ce like this.¡± After the old man recovered his memory, he no longer saw the fake view. He soon understood everything afterbining the memories he had before and after his death.

    Walking next to Chen Ge, the old man softly reminded him, ¡°We should leave now. I know a way out. There are too many monsters here¡ªthere¡¯s no need to fight them head on.¡±

    Moving his limbs, Chen Ge felt so refreshed after the blood membrane was shed. He looked at the monsters behind the door and had no intention of running.

    ¡°More monsters will gather; it¡¯ll be toote for us to run then.¡± The old man was calmer.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, leave this to me.¡± Chen Ge put the white cat aside and took out theic. Then many figures appeared around him. ¡°In terms of numbers, I don¡¯t believe I¡¯ll lose!¡±

 Chapter 445 - Doctor Chen With a Surname That Is Not Chen

    <h4>Chapter 445: Doctor Chen With a Surname That Is Not Chen</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge had felt restricted with the blood membrane covering his body. When the blood membrane burst open, he could finally move his muscles. Just in case the membrane returned, Chen Ge called out all the ghosts in theic. It was a wave of ckness. There were people from various ages and size, and even the old man was shocked by this.

    ¡°They¡¯re all nice people.¡± After Chen Ge told the old man that, he whispered to his employees, ¡°That is your future coworker, so make sure you leave a good first impression.¡±

    The old man heard that as well, but he did not understand what he meant. However, the workers understood what Chen Ge meant, and their eyes that looked at the old man became different. The sudden appearance of so many people gave the security guards pause. They started to feel unnerved.

    ¡°Want to run now? It¡¯s toote! Weren¡¯t you having so much fun chasing me around earlier?¡± Once Chen Ge finished, the smell of blood around him thickened. Xu Yin moved his arms, and the red shirt cracked to form wounds as he pounced like a leopard.

    ¡°Go and help him.¡± Chen Ge stood at the door to study the battle. The security guards were more powerful than the thin monster at Third Sick Hall but not by much. However, they were much harder to kill than the thin monster.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let any of them run away!¡± The underground morgue was a three-star scenario, and Chen Ge¡¯s own Haunted House could be counted as a three-star scenario as well, so Chen Ge had confidence. With all of the employees hungering after them, none of the three security guards managed to escape. Their ugly souls became the food for the employees. Temporarily, no one could tell the change, but if this was allowed to continue, perhaps the Haunted House might have a new Red Specter. Chen Ge knew that the chance was low, but there was no loss in trying.

    After dealing with the three security guards, the blood world started to change again. The flesh on the sides started to wilt, the vessels above them burst, and the blood slid down the wall.

    ¡°Should we go now?¡± The old man¡¯s body shook along with the corridor.

    ¡°No need to rush, we still need to rescue a friend.¡± Chen Ge called Xu Yin into the room and stopped before the container made from flesh. The vessels in Morgue No. 8 had been destroyed, so the surface of the container looked drabber. Chen Ge had Xu Yin open the container, and a horrible stench drifted out. Chen Ge suspected that the man might already be dead.

    Blood mist rushed into the container, and the middle-aged man, who had a tense expression, suddenly peeled his eyes open. The eyes were red, and he roared like a beast. Thatsted for some time before he stopped. When the man calmed down, Chen Ge pulled the blood vessels around him off and then yanked him out of the container.

    <i>Doctor Gao and Doctor Chen were childhood friends and fell in love with the same girl. They¡¯re also both psychologists, but their lives are so different.</i>

    Rescued from the container, Doctor Chen¡¯s eyes slowly returned to normal, and Chen Ge¡¯s shadow reflected in his gaze. After he got a clear view of Chen Ge¡¯s face, he shivered slightly but slowly returned to normal.

    Chen Ge caught all of those details. He squatted down next to Doctor Chen and asked, ¡°Doctor Chen, are you that surprised to see me?¡±

    After some time, Doctor Chen croaked out the reply. ¡°I thought this looked familiar, and they keep calling me Doctor Chen, but my surname is not Chen.¡±

    ¡°Then, why do you call yourself Doctor Chen?¡± Chen Ge thought this man was rather amusing. Doctor Chen did not reply. He held the broken container and slowly stood up. Throughout the whole process, he kept his eyes on Chen Ge¡¯s face, and this made Chen Ge feel rather ufortable.

    Chen Ge did not dare lower his guard around this Doctor Chen. Doctor Gao should be the door-pusher for the underground morgue and had probably controlled the door for more than six years. He had many ghosts and bodies. Under such circumstances, Doctor Chen had managed to fight Doctor Gao to a draw¡ªthis man was not to be underestimated either.

    ¡°The reason I call myself Doctor Chen is toplete someone¡¯s favor. They want me to use this surname to do something in Western Jiujiang.¡± Doctor Chen¡¯s body was weak. He had trouble even standing. After a pause, he added, ¡°That man has the surname Chen too.¡±

    Hearing this, Chen Ge knew something was up. However, no matter how hard he pushed, Doctor Chen had nothing else to say. Chen Ge did not force Doctor Chen; he did not like to force people. ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to share, but I will escort you out safely.¡±

    There was still an arrest warrant out on Doctor Chen due to ¡®kidnapping¡¯ children. He definitely would not have been to escape in his state, so Chen Ge nned to drop him at the Haunted House after they left this world. After Doctor Chen recovered, he could leave then. Having Ol¡¯ Zhou support Doctor Chen, Chen Ge collected the ghosts that had nobat ability back into theic, and a space immediately opened up.

    ¡°Sir, you know the way to the headmaster¡¯s office, yes? Let¡¯s go there now.¡± Chen Ge raised the hammer and looked different from before.

    The old man did not get it. ¡°Why are we still going there when the door is already open? We don¡¯t need the key anymore.¡±

    ¡°It hasn¡¯t been easy for us to get here, so how can we return empty-handed?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s face had a smile that the old man did not quite understand. ¡°You just need to tell me what kind of monsters we might face and what to be cautious of.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be rash. I¡¯ve remembered many things. This ce is more dangerous than you think.¡± The old man was worried about Chen Ge¡¯s safety.

    ¡°I know it¡¯s dangerous here, but this is something I have to do.¡± Chen Ge put away his smile and looked down the wandering path. ¡°The blood world has entrapped more than you, Doctor Wei. I can¡¯t just leave them here.¡±

    He tried to brush up the old man¡¯s good impression of him. After hearing that, the old man nodded. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll lead the way.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, sir.¡±

    ¡°You have to be prepared. The deeper we go, the more dangerous it gets. There are things scarier than that security monster.¡± The old man thought about it. ¡°This ce is simr to the underground morgue. The bodies here can be separated into two types¡ªone is like me, who volunteered their body, and the other type consists of criminals on death row that were purchased from alternative channels. The second type are harmful and dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Can you tell me in more detail?¡±

    ¡°The faceless monsters you saw earlier are the death row inmates. After the gunfire, the bullets shattered the skull and exploded inside the brain. They were already carrying resentment, but normally, they are put into their ce by people like us. However, in this world where negative emotions fester, they be even crazier and more uncontroble.¡±

 Chapter 446 - Iâ€™m Also a Doctor!

    <h4>Chapter 446: I¡¯m Also a Doctor!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°These dead people hate everything living. They are not satisfied with their current state and desire to be reborn. Their eyes are filled with nothing but venom and hate. Following that, their bodies also start to twist, reflecting the ugliness of their heart!¡±

    After getting all the information from the old man, Chen Ge had a gauge in his heart. The blood door at the central hub had already closed, so if they wanted to leave, there was no other option than to capture the door-pusher to get him to open the door.

    <i>If Doctor Gao is the door-pusher, there¡¯s a great chance that he¡¯s currently not inside this world, so capturing the door-pusher is impossible. Then again, the door-pusher is the scariest presence here. If he¡¯s not around, doesn¡¯t that mean I can do whatever I want here?</i>

    Chen Ge looked down the red corridor, nning to search through the rooms one by one. Perhaps he might run into ¡®potential employees¡¯.

    After clearing away as many obstacles as possible, when the door-pusher returned, Chen Ge would have one less thing to worry about.

    ¡°Our power is pooled at one spot, but our enemy hasn¡¯t realized that; their people are spread at various corners. With the old sir leading the way, I still have the greater winning of chance.¡± Chen Ge still had trump cards that he had not used yet, so he was confident. ¡°Sir, let¡¯s go to where the headmaster could be. Perhaps there might be a surprise reward.¡±

    The old man could not persuade Chen Ge otherwise, so he agreed. The blood vessels on the ceiling started to crack, and the blood dripped on their bodies. This blood looked different from normal; it was formed by the smaller blood threads.

    ¡°Let¡¯s move fast.¡± The old man¡¯s shirt was soaked. ¡°I once saw a general staff identally cut a blood vessel when he was fixing it. The blood sshed on him, and although we didn¡¯t think much of it initially, when I returned about one hourter, I realized that his body had be a warm bed for the blood threads. Innumerable blood threads crawled out from his body and dragged him into the cracks on the wall.¡±

    ¡°Meaning at most we have forty minutes left?¡± The burst blood vessels caused the whole world to rain¡ªthey could not avoid it. ¡°This feels like a nned cleansing. The whole world will probably be affected.¡±

    Chen Ge and the old man walked away while the other ghosts protected Doctor Chen, who was at the back. Soon, they walked past the several morgues and reached the end of the outer perimeter.

    ¡°The headmaster could be in any of three ces¡ªtheb, surgery room, and office. I know the location of theb and surgery room, but I¡¯ve only heard about the office from the general staff.¡±

    ¡°Meaning the general staff might know the location of the office? No problem. In that case, we can go to the other two ces first. If there¡¯s nothing there, we¡¯ll catch a few general staff to interrogate them.¡± Chen Ge twirled the hammer in his hands. The old man trusted that he had enough power, but he was afraid that they did not have the time. The group ran down the corridors and soon arrived at theb.

    No one could tell what the room had originally been. The blood vessels covered the door, the blood and flesh squishing together. The old man pushed the door open, and the blood vessels on the door was pulled apart. The room was big and had a lot of medical equipment.

    When the door was open, there were two doctors arguing in the room. Their eyes were red, and they looked unhinged. The old man coughed, and hearing that, the two doctors turned around. When they saw that it was the old man, they stopped arguing, and the blood in their eyes lessened.

    ¡°Doctor Wei? Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°You came at the right time; the experiment has failed again.¡± The two doctors pulled Doctor Wei into the room. Chen Ge wanted to stop them, but the old man waved his hands. The two doctors pulled the table in the middle of the room open, exposing the blood vessels and trough that was made from flesh.

    There was a living person encased in the trough. He had many wounds on his body, and he still had hisst breath in him. His chest rose and fell, dancing on the line of death. The two doctors pointed at the person like they were saying something, but the old man ignored them as he studied the person in the trough.

    To ensure that he stayed on the brink of death, the doctors would rescue him and control his injury while adding wounds to his body. Chen Ge looked from a far with his Yin Yang Vision. He seemed to have seen the man on the wall of victims before. He was a victim of the ghost stories society. The man had enjoyed bullying his ssmate when he was twelve. He had used a pencil to poke his friend¡¯s leg and pull on the friend¡¯s hair. These were just pranks, but in his friend¡¯s eyes, he was a monster; it had deeply affected his growth.

    ¡°The picture looked new, but with the recent movement of the society, theypleted this ¡®hunt¡¯ at least three weeks ago, meaning the guy has been stuck in the trough in this state for three weeks already.¡±

    The two doctors were still talking, but Doctor Wei ignored them. He turned to Chen Ge. ¡°The aorta has been burst, so there¡¯s nothing I can do. I nned to save him.¡±

    The two doctors also noticed Chen Ge. They followed behind the old man and looked at Chen Ge cautiously. ¡°Who are you? Howe we haven¡¯t seen you before?¡±

    Chen Ge ignored them and asked the old man, ¡°Are you familiar with them?¡±

    ¡°These two have already lost their humanity, I remember now.¡± The old man still had not looked at the two. ¡°The tall one is Wei, a renowned surgical specialist. However, after he was exposed to be involved in selling organs on the ck market, he spent his life on the run. The short one is Wang, also a brilliant doctor. He has an explosive personality, and while he looks kind on the surface, he¡¯s really a creep. I have no idea where the headmaster found these people.¡±

    ¡°So, two madmen.¡± Chen Ge heard the disgust in the old man¡¯s voice, and he knew what to do. ¡°Sir, do you mind leaving first and giving me one minute?¡±

    ¡°What do you n to do?¡± Before he got an answer, he was pushed out by Chen Ge.

    Actually, the old man¡¯s question was the exact question on the two doctors¡¯ mind. They looked at Chen Ge as he closed theb door and felt the temperature in the room dropping.

    ¡°Are you one of the general staff? Howe you look different from others?¡± The two doctors were unnerved. The man felt off.

    Chen Ge shook his head. He pointed at theb coat that he was still wearing. ¡°I¡¯m also a doctor.¡±

    ¡°A new doctor?¡± The two were even more confused.

    ¡°You can say I¡¯ve invited myself.¡± Chen Ge called Xu Yin and raised the hammer. ¡°My treatment method is simple. Many of my patients like to call me Doctor Skull-cracker.¡±

 Chapter 447 - A Picturesque Contrast

    <h4>Chapter 447: A Picturesque Contrast</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Blood expanded on the hammer like spider web. Chen Ge¡¯s fingers grabbed the handle that looked like a human spine. He stood in the middle of the room, his feet on the flowing blood. ¡°Is there anything else you two wish to say?¡±

    The doctors retreated at the same time. In their eyes, Chen Ge was not a normal man. ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else, we shall start the treatment. Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t be painful.¡±

    Chen Ge and Xu Yin rushed forward. The two doctors who had done bad things in their life received karma in their death. One minuteter, Chen Ge opened the door and walked out with Xu Yin. ¡°We can now move on.¡±

    The old man looked into the room. The two doctors had disappeared. He did not ask Chen Ge about the two doctors, and he moved forward like nothing had happened. The vessels above them pulsed harder. The white cat poked its head out from the backpack. It seemed to sniff the thing that had attracted it, and it kept meowing at Chen Ge from inside the backpack. Whenever they rounded a corner, it would create a small chaos inside the bag.

    ¡°This cat sure is cunning.¡± The white cat could probably sense the negative impact of the blood, so it hid inside the backpack. Chen Ge looked at its watery eyes and sighed. After asking for the old man¡¯s opinion, they tried their best to follow the route demanded by the cat. The corridor shook, and heavy breathing came from the end of the corridor.

    ¡°Finally, couldn¡¯t resist it anymore?¡± Chen Ge had the old man stand behind him, and he walked ahead with Xu Yin. One of the vessels burst, and the blood slid down the cracks. Between the organs, various teetering shadows appeared at the end of the corridors.

    Sewn from various cadavers, the blood vessels twisted and turned within the faceless skull to transform into an ever-changing fa?ade. The arms werebined together from various body parts. The fingers were missing, and the fingernails were ckened flesh. The heaving came from the open stomach, and it sounded like there was a different monster living inside them.

    ¡°No wonder we didn¡¯t run into them after the earlier ones¡ªthey have been gathered here. Is this the order of the blood world?¡±

    The appearance of all the security guards meant that the surgery room was thest oasis of the blood world. It also went to show the importance of the location. It was probably hiding something important.

    ¡°This is more than I expected.¡± The old man did not retreat. Instead, he stood beside Chen Ge. ¡°You¡¯d better deal with them as soon as possible. This is a flesh factory, and these monsters were made from various ¡®abandoned meat¡¯, a material that is bountiful in this underground morgue.¡±

    Chen Ge nodded. After the earlier altercation, he understood the make-up of these monsters. They were constructed out of different cadavers and joined together by threads. The core was the soul of one or several death-row inmates, filled with resentment and hatred. ¡°From outside to inside, it is an amalgamation of trash,pletely worthless.¡±

    The two drew closer, and the brawl was about to break out. Only Chen Ge would be able to analyze the situation at a time like this. The underground morgue was a top three-star scary scenario, so Chen Ge had endless anticipation for this world behind the door. However, when he was really inside, he realized that most of the monsters could not be brought out with him. They were different from the ghosts of Coffin Vige. These monsters made from dead bodies were too aggressive. They could not bemunicated with anymore.

    ¡°Such a shame they¡¯ll never experience the warmth of the human world.¡±

    To leave a good impression before the old man, he did not charge ahead but pulled out theic to push his employees forward.

    ¡°Seeing how troubled you are, how about I give you an early release?¡±

    With a Red Specter leading the charge, the other employees became courageous and brave. However, most of them just huddled around Xu Yin. After Xu Yin dealt with the monsters, they did the follow-up.

    The corridor was thin, and Xu Yin stood in the middle of it. As long as he was not taken down, no matter how many monsters there were, they would only be torn apart. The red on his shirt brightened, but the wound around his heart was not affected. He was mad in the massacre but could not find his heart.

    The chaos ran down the corridor. The walls started to crack. Xu Yin morphed into a blood red shadow; wherever he looked, blood would flow. He was so fast, and his fingers were like the sharpest knife¡ªthis was his grand feast. Facing the endless security guards, Chen Ge¡¯s group was slowly moving forward.

    The blood world¡¯s consciousness realized the problem, and heavy breathing came from the deepest part of the corridor. This sound was different from the sound made by the security guards¡¯ stomachs; it was much more powerful. In fact, the whole corridor shook as it breathed.

    Xu Yin, who was covered in blood, finally ended his massacre. He flung the blood on his fingers away and stood in the middle of the flesh corridor alone. His lowered head slowly looked up, and his pale face was calm and collected as his bloodshot eyes looked down the end of the corridor.

    He had heard this breathing before. When Chen Ge entered the education block for the first time, tricked by the phone spirit, he had heard this sound once at the third underground floor. At the time, there had been other sounds like slithering fish apanying this voice.

    ¡°Looks like the monster is huge. I wonder if it¡¯s a Red Specter.¡±

    The cooperation of Xu Yin and the other employees cleared the security. After consuming so many souls and spirits, the employees gave Chen Ge a surprise. Bai Qiulin, who had the missing hand, had a blood stain that could not be removed on the sleeves where his hand was supposed to be. This faded blood stain proved that he had the potential to be a Red Specter!

    <i>The gambler?</i>

    Thinking about Bai Qiulin¡¯s past, the man was quite a character in all honesty. To clear the debt, he had chopped off his hand before his debt collector. He was a ruffian and a thug, but it was also undeniable that there was a shining redeeming quality¡ªthat was his guilt toward his mother.

    <i>I should focus on cultivating him next. He¡¯ll be my third Red Specter.</i>

    Chen Ge nned to pour all the resource on Bai Qiulin to speed up his growth.

    <i>It is such joy to be my employees. There¡¯s no need to worry about anything but eating and having fun.</i>

    The surgery room was at the end of the corridor. After the security was cleared away, the path was clear. ¡°This is it.¡±

    The old man pointed at the door at the end of the corridor. To Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, the door to the surgery room was not made from flesh but looked simr to the one in the real world. Chen Ge was unnerved by such normalcy in this blood world. He walked to the door, and the door was closed. The door itself was painted with different colors.

    This should be Doctor Gao¡¯s room. Fruits and half-read books were ced on the coffee table, and an advertisement yed on the television. The remote was ced on top of the couch, and the clock beside it showed the time as 3:15 pm. The painting was detailed and beautiful like the image was etched in the painter¡¯s mind. A serene afternoon and warm scenario, this was a fresh contrast to the world of flesh and blood around it.

    ¡°Surprised? I had the same expression as you when I saw it for the first time.¡± The old man sighed. ¡°This painting shows the headmaster¡¯s former home. He hopes for this to be the first thing his wife sees when she wakes up.¡±

    ¡°Looks like he knows home is warmer than flesh and blood.¡± His hand on the handle, Chen Ge pushed the door open. The surgery room was veryrge, about triple the size of theb. This was the source of all the blood vessels, so it was the equivalent of the heart.

    Many blood vessels congregated here at the center of the surgery room. There was a pool that was much bigger than a normal cadaver pool, and right there was a middle-aged man in white robe standing at its edge.

    He was tall and strong, mature and rational. His eyes were holding a world. Hearing the door, the man lifted his head like he had anticipated everything.

    Chen Ge stopped, and when he saw everything, he realized that he could not stop his heart from racing.

    ¡°Doctor Gao, we meet again.¡±

 Chapter 448 - What Is a Human? [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 448: What Is a Human? [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The thick blood vessels covered the entire surgery room. They were like the roots of an old tree, ringing everything and everyone within it. The organs on the wall shrank and expanded. Human faces were incased in the ceiling, and from a far, it looked simr to arge puzzle fitted with human bodies. Chen Ge had imagined meeting Doctor Gao again. There had been many scenarios, but he had not once expected that they would meet again in such circumstances.

    The blood dripped on the white coat, but it slid off without leaving a trace. Doctor Gao was the most unique presence in this world. He stood amid the blood, flesh, and dead bodies, but he was wearing a white coat that signified hope and salvation. Doctor Gao looked at Chen Ge with a calm and collected expression. ¡°You have arrivedter than I expected.¡±

    ¡°You knew I woulde here?¡±

    ¡°I knew it would eventuallye down to this. When I first saw you on the 24th floor of Fang Hwa Apartments, I already knew this would happen. You gave me a deep and acute sense of danger.¡±

    ¡°Is that why you kepting to my rescue then, to prevent me froming into conflict with the other members of the ghost stories society?¡± Chen Ge thought back to the incident back then. No. 10 had been helping him, and at the end, he had eventually left a hint underneath the table, giving him the location of Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station.

    Doctor Gao nodded. ¡°You are all my patients. Isn¡¯t it normal for the doctor to look out for his patients?¡±

    ¡°Patients?¡± Chen Ge shook his head. ¡°You have no right tobel other people that because, in my eyes, you are the one who suffers from the most serious illness. The world behind the door does not lie. This nightmare that ispletely twisted and constructed from flesh and blood is a true reflection of your heart.¡±

    ¡°A soul and heart filled by carcasses is not an illness. Everyone has something twisted in their hearts. If this is an illness, then all of us are sick, including you.¡± Doctor Gao smiled. He seemed to enjoy chatting with Chen Ge. This young man before him, be it in terms of thoughts or understanding of people and situations, was different from most. Doctor Gao found something like a ¡®kindred spirit¡¯ within Chen Ge. ¡°I am a psychologist and thus have seen many twisted souls. The reason they be like that, most of the time, is not their own doing.¡±

    The voice paused, and the smile on Doctor Gao¡¯s face slowly disappeared. ¡°When you arrived, you should have seen the pictures on the wall already, right?¡±

    Chen Ge nodded. ¡°Those are the victims of the ghost stories society for the past five years? The sins that they havemitted?¡±

    ¡°Victims?¡± Doctor Gao lifted his head to look at the puzzle of human faces above him. ¡°From my perspective, they are the real offenders. They did what they liked with no consideration for others or the consequences. They live around us, wearing a human skin, but like the devil, they kept creating endless misfortunes. Every one of them had a reason to die, and what I¡¯ve done is merely make their death more meaningful and valuable.¡±

    ¡°But is this fair to them?¡± Chen Ge stood from the viewpoint of an outsider and tried to y the devil¡¯s advocate. He was not particrly partial to anyone. ¡°I ran across a man who was barely alive in theb. ording to what the doctors here said, they had purposely suspended him in that state for the sake of an experiment. While they rescued him, they also added new wounds to his body. He suffered such endless torture mainly because of pranks that hemitted when he was a child. So, he bullied his friend? Admittedly, it should not have happened, but does that deserve a punishment so cruel? Is that fair?¡±

    ¡°You can stand there and question the fairness because you are not taking the perspective of the victims. You cannot see the wounds in their hearts, so you cannot understand the despair that they have faced. You cannot understand the pain that caused them to suffocate, the pain that makes them want to tear themselves open.¡± Doctor Gao spoke faster, as if he had been reminded of himself. ¡°That kind of pain is permanent, a pain that seeps into every single cell of your body. It will torment you endlessly. It follows you like a shadow, like bugs that crawl into each inch of your body. You know they are there and have dominated every part of your body and soul, but you cannot release them.

    ¡°No matter what you do, they will follow you, breed, and fester inside you. They feast on your soul, and you can hear them tear through your memory until every part of your brain and memory is filled with these disgusting bugs. You¡¯ll see them when you close your eyes and will never forget about them when you¡¯re alive.

    ¡°Can you understand this feeling? This is the pain that every patient who suffers from a mental illness has to face twenty-four hours daily. Do you still think what I did was wrong?¡± Doctor Gao looked into Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. ¡°Even with such an amount of pain, they tried their best to live, to be alive. However, ignoring the pain is not going to give them salvation; if anything, it is only going to heighten the pain.

    ¡°Human beings are called human beings because we have self-consciousness. When a person can use ¡®I¡¯ to refer to themself, they are considered a human. However, my patients, they have been slowly losing their self-identity because the pain has been slowly consuming their ¡®I¡¯, their self-identity.¡±

    This was the first time that Doctor Gao had shared these things with Chen Ge. His argument not only included psychology but also sociology and philosophy. ¡°Human beings are a life form made up from multiple contradictions. Human being is not a simple noun because the experience and pain every one of us is expected to suffer through life cannot be summed up by these two simple words, human being.¡±

    After hearing what Doctor Gao had to say, Chen Ge gripped the hammer tightly. Perhaps due to the discrepancy in cultural level, he did not really understand what Doctor Gao said. With pleading in his eyes, Chen Ge turned back to look at Doctor Wei. This seemed to be the first time that the senior doctor had heard any of that as well. He coughed lightly and told Chen Ge, ¡°Don¡¯t mind what the mental patients say too much. Don¡¯t fall into their worldview, or else you¡¯ll end up as crazy as them.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t use crazy as an excuse to devalue us. You are only doing yourself a disservice,¡± Doctor Gao snapped. ¡°When you see something you cannot understand, you¡¯ll always use abnormal to define it, but have you once considered who came up with the standard to define what is normal and what is abnormal?¡±

    Doctor Gao stood beside the blood pool. In a way, he was the center of this world. This blood world that was constructed of abandoned flesh and blood would shift and change ording to Doctor Gao¡¯s every whim and fancy. ¡°When your eyes fall on a person, what are you looking for? How would you study said person? Humans are called humans, not because of the sound that they make, not because of their actions or looks, but because of their soul. Everything is surrounding the soul. The soul is the center of a human.¡±

    Even though Chen Ge did not quite understand what Doctor Gao was saying, he felt the man had his point. Chen Ge realized that this was an extremely dangerous thing. When a person epted the worldview of a madman, they were not far from being a madman themself.

    ¡°Doctor Gao, no matter how hard you try to convince yourself, there is one point that you cannot deny. They died because of you. Your hands are covered with blood, and that means you have vited thew.¡± The blood threads started to crawl underneath his skin. Chen Ge was running out of time. He flipped through hisic to release all of his employees. ¡°You are one of the few people I have admired in my life, and because of that, I cannot allow you to continue this anymore. Doctor Gao, you¡¯re already sick. Since pushing the door open, you¡¯ve not been yourself anymore. Even if you manage to revive your wife, when she opens her eyes and see the state you¡¯re in, she will not be able to recognize. This is not the man that she married.¡±

    Doctor Gao stood where he was and did not move. He was calm, but the blood vessels underneath his feet started to pulsate violently. The same was happening to the flesh on the wall. The human faces on the ceiling all showed expressions of terror. The world behind the door was a reflection of Doctor Gao¡¯s heart. Everything there was rted to the man. When the man¡¯s mood changed, so would the whole world.

    ¡°You are not her, so how would you know what she feels?¡± Doctor Gao was a master at hiding his emotions, but the world that was changing belied them. This top psychologist of Jiujiang was starting to lose his cool. He might have looked collected in person, but the world that represented his heart was bubbling. In this case, thetter was a clearer representation of Doctor Gao¡¯s emotions than the former.

    ¡°Actually, you know it yourself.¡± Chen Ge took one small side to the side to reveal the door behind him. ¡°The entire world is filled with rotten meat and dirty blood, but this door that is facing the blood pool is the most normal. If I¡¯m not mistaken, your wife should be inside the pool, right? You hope that the first thing she sees when she wakes up is the home that you once shared, not this whole world that is twisted beyond belief.

    ¡°Doctor Gao, stop running from the truth. Only when one is at the deepest depths of despair will they be able to push open the door, and the door doesn¡¯t lead to salvation but a world of deeper despair. You wish to use more despair to give yourself salvation¡ªthat is impossible.¡±

    Chen Ge still wanted to say something, but he was interrupted by Doctor Gao. ¡°You don¡¯t need to continue anymore. I¡¯ve understood what you¡¯re trying to express.¡±

    He returned to his original emotion with an added detachment in his eyes. ¡°I told you all that because I hoped you would understand my feelings.¡±

    Doctor Gao trained his eyes on Chen Ge and revealed thest secret. ¡°When I first saw you, I used every connection and power I had to investigate your history. I realize that we are very simr, and in a way, that is very true. You think it is crazy for me to spend five years down here in the morgue with the apaniment of dead bodies, but do you know, in my eyes, you are also an undeniable madman?¡±

    Chen Ge did not expect that he would have such a high appraisal in Doctor Gao¡¯s eyes. He had always thought that he was just a normal man; there was nothing particrly special about him.

    ¡°The deeper the investigation went, the more problems I found with you. Perhaps you have not realized this yourself, but I can tell you clearly, the madness hibernating in the deepest part of your heart is even scarier than mine. That is a fire that cannot be quenched and will consume everything in its path.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re talking about me?¡± Chen Ge did not quite understand why Doctor Gao was telling him all this, but the man had no reason to lie to him either.

    ¡°It is fine if you don¡¯t want to believe me, but it is very simple to prove it. There is a ¡®door¡¯ inside the toilet at your Haunted House. Open it, and you will be able to see the real you.¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s eyes were still as cold as ice, but there was a smile on his face. ¡°That night, I entered the door. I¡¯ve seen your world, so I know very clearly. When we are ced next to each other, you are the real madman.¡±

    ¡°That door is rted to me?¡± Chen Ge did not know whether Doctor Gao was purposely leading him down a rabbit hole or being sincere. ¡°Based on what you¡¯re saying, I¡¯ve opened a door before?¡±

    Only those in deepest grasp of despair had the chance to open ¡®doors¡¯. Chen Ge did not think that he had experienced something that traumatic before, and he had always believed that the door had been pushed open by someone else.

    ¡°I am sure of that. You are the door-pusher because I¡¯ve seen the real you inside that door.¡± Doctor Gao had an unreadable fear in his smile. His lips looked quite unnatural.

    ¡°I am the door-pusher?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s heart sunk. ¡°What else do you know?¡±

    ¡°I still know many things. As long as you promise me three things, I will not only tell you everything that I know, I will even help you enter that ¡®door¡¯ and help you find the thing that you are looking for.¡± The blood vessels were bubbling, and the floor was filled with blood threads that seemed to expand on their own. The blood pool behind Doctor Gao was also bubbling. Obviously, Doctor Gao¡¯s emotions were changing like he was anticipating Chen Ge¡¯s answer. ¡°This is a transaction that is mutually beneficial. There is no reason for you to reject it, right?¡±

    Chen Ge was indeed curious about the world behind the door. When he was thinking, his eyes kept wandering to the blood pool that was changing.

    <i>When I first entered, the color of the pool was not as vibrant as this. </i>Chen Ge looked at other ces. The flesh on the wall seemed to have wilted like flowers¡ªit had became darker in color, and things were continuously dumped into the pool through the many blood vessels. It looked like Doctor Gao was nning to soak up all the ¡®nutrients¡¯ of this blood world and channel them into the blood pool.<i>Is Doctor Gao trying to buy time?</i>

    His mind turned, and Chen Ge came to a more stable solution. As long as he managed to detain Doctor Gao or the wife that he loved the most, then he would definitely have the upper hand.

    ¡°What are the three things? Tell me about them first, and I will consider whether to ept the conditions or not.¡± Chen Ge purposely took three steps forward when he said those words as if to prove that he was being sincere.

    ¡°When you took those steps, your gait was 0.2 times smaller than usual. This means that you are nning toplete something within your heart, but you are not certain it will seed. The grip of your hands on the hammer is tighter than usual. Even though you¡¯re trying to make it seem as natural as possible, before your consciousness caught up to this problem, there were about 0.3 seconds when your pinkie subconsciously curled tightly around the handle.¡± Doctor Gao took out a ck wooden box from his pocket. ¡°Looks like you have discovered I am trying to drag the time out. Then again, this might be better. I am not doing all this because I have no confidence in winning. I just wanted to give you a chance, a choice.¡±

    The wooden box opened, and the thick smell of blood flooded the stench that was inside the room. The surrounding blood vessels started to copse, and innumerable blood threads came out from them and gathered inside the wooden box. About one or two secondster, a blood red palm that was filled with wounds reached out from inside the wooden box.

    Covered with vengeance and fury, a monster that was half twisted and half covered with wounds crawled out from inside the box. The red eyes focused on Chen Ge, and the face that looked like half of it was licked by the mes revealed an ugly smile.

    Without any order from Doctor Gao, it charged madly at Chen Ge.

    ¡°Xiong Qing?¡± Chen Ge gripped the hammer with both of his hands, but he did not take a step back. ¡°You are just on time. After consuming you, I will gain another Red Specter! It is time for a feast!¡±

 Chapter 449 - How Many Spectres Does He Have?

    <h4>Chapter 449: How Many Spectres Does He Have?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Half of Xiong Qing¡¯s body morphed into blood threads like a wing that was pulled out from his body. Resentment and vengeance filled his gaze. Whenever he saw Chen Ge, he would lose control, and the desire to tear this seemingly harmless man into pieces filled his mind. It was unimaginable that a living man would be a Specter¡¯s nightmare, but Chen Ge had somehow managed that. It was Chen Ge who had chased him around the hospital with the hammer that night. Running away like a rat, he had lost all of his pride.

    His fury burning, the memory at Coffin Vige also appeared in Xiong Qing¡¯s mind. He had been tricked again and again. Chen Ge, and Chen Ge alone, dominated his red eyes. There was only one thought in Xiong Qing¡¯s mind¡ªKill him! Kill him with the cruelest method possible!

    The roar echoed in the surgery room, and Xiong Qing rushed at Chen Ge instantly. The blood red wing opened, and an arm that was filled with wounds reached out for Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. The Red Specter was just inches away from him, but there was no reaction in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes.

    The fingers that were missing skin were surrounded by blood. They were so close that Chen Ge could see the missing flesh between the man¡¯s fingernail and finger, but he did not evade. When Xiong Qing¡¯s hand was ten centimeters away from his face, it stopped; the wounded hand was held in ce by a pale hand. The blood spread, and Xu Yin stood before Chen Ge.

    ¡°Is it painful?¡± The five fingers tensed, and they poked into Xiong Qing¡¯s arm like knives. The red flowed like rain, and Xu Yin and Xiong Qing got into each other. Cruel, mad, and holding nothing back, the battle entered the highest part almost instantly!

    The blood threads from the world kept crawling into Xiong Qing¡¯s body, while Xu Yin had not found his ¡®heart¡¯, so he was technically not a real Red Specter.

    ¡°Looks like your friend is not in a good state. He¡¯ll be eaten in about ten minutes.¡± Doctor Gao was very familiar with Chen Ge¡¯s ability, and he hade up with the solution already.

    ¡°It is not going so well, yes, but ten minutes is more than enough.¡± Chen Ge held the hammer, and when he spoke, he already walked to within five meters of Doctor Gao. ¡°I actually don¡¯t like to rely on others. When you need to get something done, you need to do it yourself.¡±

    In terms of physique, he was much better than Doctor Gao. With the hammer, if they were involved in a physical fight, the prospects were not good for Doctor Gao. Seeing Chen Ge walking toward him with the hammer, Doctor Gao frowned. ¡°Before you arrived, I envisioned twenty-four different scenarios and came up with twenty-four different solutions...¡±

    Before Doctor Gao finished, Chen Ge charged at him with the hammer. He was not going to give the man any chance to speak¡ªhis thoughts had beenpletely read. Facing an opponent as scary as this, the best solution was to talk with the fist. If he was not going to win the battle of the wits, then there was no pointing up with a n.

    ¡°9 minutes left!¡±

    The hammer headed for Doctor Gao¡¯s skull. At this stage, Chen Ge had no reason to hold back.

    The hammerhead knocked into Doctor Gao¡¯s shoulder before mming on the edge of the pool. The blood sttered everywhere. Doctor Gao was still calm, but his face was paler. If he had not evaded it earlier, his head would have caved in already. ¡°Earlier, you were still talking about humanity and justice, and now you viciously charge at me; is this the fairness you speak of?¡±

    Chen Ge raised the hammer again. He had no idea why Doctor Gao was saying these things, but he knew that if he did not apprehend the man soon, he probably would not leave that ce alive. Without stopping to think about what Doctor Gao had said, Chen Ge red at the man. He raised the hammer and charged at him again.

    ¡°Evolving from beast to man, we have taken thousands of years, but regressing from man to beast often takes only several minutes. Chen Ge, you shouldn¡¯t have acted so rashly.¡± Doctor Gao did not evade this time. He waved his hand lightly. The flesh above them started to move, and the tortured monsters fell down like rain. They were all victims of the ghost stories society. Their resentment was high, and they tried to attack Doctor Gao instinctively, but they could not control their bodies.

    The blood threaded through their bodies, joining the flesh and blood. They were controlled to surround Chen Ge. Doctor Gao did not order them to attack but just had them stop Chen Ge. He understood that if he allowed the battle drag on, he would be the ultimate victor.

    More monsters fell from the ceiling. This flesh factory had stored all of the dead bodies. After so many years, even Doctor Gao had no idea how many carcasses this ce had.

    ¡°You are indeed prepared, but you¡¯re still one step behindpared to me.¡± Chen Ge took out a stic bottle from his backpack and let out the spider that had been dead for a long time. ¡°You severely injured this girl at Coffin Vige¡ªit is now time for payback.¡±

    Many arms reached out from the blood mist and tore apart the carcasses to clear out an empty space. The girl¡¯s pretty face was a direct contrast to the twisted armsing out of her body. She was also a half Red Specter. When her clear eyesnded on Doctor Gao, her expression started to twist like she had remembered something awful.

    This new Specter was Jiang Ling¡¯s sister, Zhu Xinrou. When they were in Coffin Vige, Doctor Gao had broken half of her arms. Specters were all vengeful entities. They would always take vengeance. Once targeted, they would never let go!

    A screech echoed through the room. Zhu Xinrou ced her arms on the ground and crawled forward like a spider. The scene looked weird and scary.

    ¡°Stop her!¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s expression still had not changed much¡ªit was so hard to read. While Doctor Gao gave his order, Chen Ge also called out all the ghosts to help Zhu Xinrou clear the way. Neither party stepped back while specting how many trump cards the other party had.

    The cadavers that fell from the ceiling were mostly the society¡¯s victims. Their resentment was directed at Doctor Gao. Furthermore, they were just normal ghosts, so they were powerless before Zhu Xinrou.

    It did not take long for Zhu Xinrou to charge her way through. To make things worse for Doctor Gao, Chen Ge was hiding behind Zhu Xinrou with the hammer. This man who had spoken of fairness and justice earlier seemed to have forgotten his own speech. From the looks of things, he was looking for an opportunity tounch an ambush.

    ¡°Just how many specters do you have? This is the first time I¡¯ve met such a troublesome person.¡± Doctor Gao looked at Chen Ge, but thetter was not up for a conversation. As the battle continued and more trump cards were revealed, Doctor Gao had a harder and harder time reading Chen Ge.

 Chapter 450 - Trump Cards

    <h4>Chapter 450: Trump Cards</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Six more minutes!¡±

    More cadavers fell from the ceiling, and the bodies teetered as they tried to stand up. Their bodies filled the room with a disgusting stench. They were not afraid of death, and they followed Doctor Gao¡¯s orders to assault Chen Ge.

    The employees surrounded Chen Ge to protect him. Among them, the boy with the stench gave Chen Ge a great surprise. As he consumed the stench of decay, he kept growing, and his own scent also became more obvious.

    The smell seemed to have affected the dead bodies around him as well. They were controlled by the blood thread, but once they were inside the zone of the boy¡¯s stench, their movement slowed down, and the madness in their eyes was slowly reced by disgust. The victims¡¯ original target was not Chen Ge to begin with, so after they felt disgusted, their resistance to Doctor Gao¡¯s orders became more obvious.

    The bodies started to slow down, and the resistance against Zhu Xinrou felt became smaller. The half Red Specter showed her true power. Her arms opened, and like arge spider, she charged through the crowd, creating chaos and massacring!

    ¡°Time¡¯s up!¡± Chen Ge hid behind Zhu Xinrou, but his eyes were locked onto Doctor Gao. He dragged the hammer, finding the time to charge forward. Doctor Gao stood next to the blood pool, and he was expressionless, facing the sea that seemed to have no bottom.

    ¡°Chen Ge, it still came to this. Ever since I first met you, I¡¯ve tried to stop us from getting to this stage, but fate cannot be changed.¡± Doctor Gao sighed. This was the first time since Chen Ge knew Doctor Gao that he had heard him sigh. ¡°Since conflict cannot be avoided, I will use my own way to resolve this.¡±

    Doctor Gao looked at Zhu Xinrou, who was still growing, and he raised his hand again. ¡°It is time to end this petty game.¡±

    Zhu Xinrou got closer to Doctor Gao, but the doctor did not panic. As his arm slowly raised, the blood in the pool continued to rise. It looked like there was a scary monster living inside it.

    ¡°This is my world.¡± The expression on Doctor Gao¡¯s face slowly changed; it spoke of absolute confidence. ¡°This ce is mine!¡±

    The pool churned to form a whirlpool. At the deepest part of the pooly a woman in a blood red wedding dress. Her skin was glowing red. Other than that, she looked perfectly normal, sleeping on a bed of blood and dead bodies.

    She looked so pure and innocent, but underneath her were endless body parts! It felt like she was still alive and using the dead bodies as a bed and pillow.

    ¡°Chen Ge, this is my wife, the core of this door and my entire world.¡±

    When Zhu Xinrou was two meters away from Doctor Gao, the woman inside the pool seemed to have felt something. Hershes twitched before her eyes peeled open!

    The blood flushed, and everything started to boil!

    The woman¡¯s presence was stronger than all of the Specters that Chen Ge had ever met. She was part of the blood pool, and when she awakened, so did the entire blood world. The organs danced, and the blood vessels expanded. This woman was the heart of this world; everything there was possible because of her. The blood red dress dragged out from the pool. The blood formed into steps as she walked toward Chen Ge.

    The indescribable pressure made Zhu Xinrou stop. She did not dare move, as a single wrong step would cause her to be demolished.

    ¡°Only a Red Specter can fight a Red Specter.¡± Doctor Gao seemed to have nned everything. Only when his eyes fell on the woman would they soften.

    ¡°Chen Ge, you¡¯ll never win. Once you stepped through that door, you¡¯d already lost.¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s expression returned to normal, like everything had returned to his expected tracks. ¡°I know you well, and it¡¯s because I know you well that I felt so uneasy. The ghosts around you are growing at an unprecedented speed. If this had dragged on any longer, the situation would only have gotten worse for me.¡±

    ¡°So, you created this illusion of leaving Jiujiang to make me lower my guard and enter the underground morgue?¡±

    ¡°I knew that you might have guessed this beforehand, but based on my understanding of you, even if you knew this might be a trap, you would stille. There is a demon living in your heart that will only continue to lead you deeper into the abyss.¡± Doctor Gao looked at Chen Ge, and this was the first time that there had been uncertainty on his face. ¡°The confusing thing is that you seem to like this experience.¡±

    ¡°Why would you say that?¡± Chen Ge thought Doctor Gao was past trying to drag the conversation; he sounded sincere. Chen Ge himself was feeling nervous, being diagnosed of this illness by a top psychologist.

    ¡°You are the strangest patient whom I¡¯ve met. You make me curious and excited. I will make sure to preserve your soul and then conduct the treatment.¡± Doctor Gao thought he had the victory, and while he was distracted, Chen Ge took two more steps forward to close the gap between them.

    ¡°It¡¯s useless. No one can overpower the Red Specter.¡±

    Doctor Gao knew that there was another Red Specter on Chen Ge, and it was the strongest Red Specter that Chen Ge had.

    ¡°No one can fight the Red Specter?¡± Chen Ge grabbed the hammer. He did not slow down but charged full speed ahead with the Red Specter watching him!

    The woman looked at Chen Ge, and multiple blood threads weaved into chains to rush out from the pool. They were like blood constrictors as they tried to yank Chen Ge into the pool. The air was filled with the smell of blood. The chains rattled, but Chen Ge did not retreat, instead continuing forward.

    ¡°Men Nan!¡± The blood chains that came at Chen Ge were stopped by an invisible force. A five-year-old boy came out from Chen Ge¡¯s side with a dark face.

    ¡°Using my own life to force me out, you sure are something else!¡± The day before Chen Ge came to the morgue, he had visited Third Sick Hall again. Using the reason that Doctor Gao would control him through his side persona, he finally convinced Men Nan.

    ¡°You throw me to fight this type of opponent immediately. Chen Ge, the biggest mistake of my life was trusting your words!¡± Men Nan roared as he blocked the woman¡¯s chains. He was mmed into by the chains, and with just one hit, his body lightened greatly.

    ¡°Help me hold on for three minutes!¡± Chen Ge charged at Doctor Gao without turning back. This was hisst chance. As long as he managed to kill Doctor Gao, everything would be over. All the ghosts had been stopped, and this was a perfect chance for Chen Ge. He charged at Doctor Gao like a madman, but to his consternation, even at a stage like this, Doctor Gao was still so calm.

    ¡°Chen Ge, you¡¯ve surprised me, but you have overlooked one thing.¡± The white coat that he was wearing started to surface with blood threads to knit into aplicated picture.

 Chapter 451 - Changing Shadow

    <h4>Chapter 451: Changing Shadow</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I pushed the door open, and you are in my world.¡± Time seemed to have slowed down. As Doctor Gao¡¯s emotions changed, the whole blood world seemed to be affected as well. ¡°There is no absolute bad or wrong, good or evil in this world. Even the so-called sins are human constructs.¡±

    Doctor Gao stood where he was quietly. Many blood threads crawled out from his body and morphed into different human faces. ¡°I know you suspect me of creating a reason for myself, but when you stand in my perspective, you¡¯ll realize I¡¯m doing the right thing¡ªor at least you cannot judge me formitting a simple sin.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Gao, stop arguing. No matter who is it, no one, not even I, would do something this crazy!¡± Chen Ge raised the hammer. He was close to Doctor Gao. ¡°Everything has its opposite in this world. If there¡¯s good, there¡¯s evil. The difference is the choice; since you have made the choice, why are you finding yourself the reason?¡±

    Xu Yin and Xiong Qing¡¯s battle was equal. Men Nan was not a match for Doctor Gao¡¯s wife¡ªthe battle might seem evenly-matched for now, but it would copse in a few minutes. If Chen Ge wanted to win, he had to deal with Doctor Gao before that was over. If he showed a single speck of kindness, it would be over for him. He did not want to suffer endless torment of having his soul experimented on by a madman after death.

    The blood rain fell on their bodies, and Doctor Gao listened to what Chen Ge had to say seriously. He looked at the hammer that flew at him, andplicated emotions collected in his eyes.

    ¡°You still haven¡¯t understood this world. The world is constructed by people; it is different in different people¡¯s eyes. Like you said, everything has its opposite in this world; the opposite of good is evil. So, tell me, what is the opposite of human?¡±

    ¡°Opposite of human?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s heart skipped a beat. He felt like he had heard that before, but he could not remember where. The hammer almost reached his body. The wind was whipping in his ears, but Doctor Gao still did not move. His eyes that looked at Chen Ge seemed to be inhabiting a different world.

    Chen Ge remembered something vaguely in his mind¡ªhe seemed to have had a simr conversation with someone before. ¡°The opposite of human is beast, monster, or ghost.¡±

    ¡°They are all wrong. I¡¯ve researched man for so many years, and if we have to pinpoint something that is opposite of man, it should be God.¡±

    The blood bloomed on Doctor Gao¡¯s coat like a rose. It started to crawl up the coat like it signified salvation and life. ¡°For the past five years, I¡¯ve spent every night in the apaniment of bodies, staying inside this underground morgue, building my own world. Slowly, I forgot the purpose of being human¡ªI even forgot that I was a human. I¡¯ve seen more than one thousand patients and the different worlds they inhabit. Some are twisted; some are just weird. I¡¯ve been wondering, these people that seem to exist only in their own world, could they be considered human?

    ¡°Or perhaps from another perspective, all insane people are the Gods of their own world.¡±

    When he finished, Doctor Gao¡¯s coat waspletely dyed red. ¡°This is my world; I am the God here. How can a human resist God?¡±

    The hammer fell on Doctor Gao¡¯s head. If one looked closer, one could see the hammer head touching his hair, and it squeezed several hairs. Chen Ge used all of his strength, but the hammer would not move another millimeter.

    ¡°Stop wasting your energy As I¡¯ve said, from the moment you entered the door, you¡¯d lost.¡± Swathed in red, Doctor Gao exposed a side that waspletely different from before. His eyes were burning red, and various negative emotions piled up in his heart.

    Despair. Anger. Disgust. Pain.

    His body seemed to have connected with the blood world, and he suffered the pain of this world alone. If the world behind the door was a nightmare for the door-pusher, then Doctor Gao was the man who swallowed the nightmare whole. He bore all of the sins with his unhinged madness.

    ¡°Chen Ge, stay with me. You will be my best assistant, and I will try my best to cure your illness.¡±

    The red shirt on Doctor Gao seemed to represent this world¡ªChen Ge could see the many souls crying on it. He wondered how the madman managed to aplish all that.

    ¡°To use the whole society to trade for you, this is a huge bet.¡± His fingers grabbed the hammer, and the blood on the hammer slowly got consumed by the blood on Doctor Gao¡¯s coat. ¡°Stop resisting, and stay here forever!¡±

    The negative emotions in Doctor Gao¡¯s eyes were overflowing. He was at the edge of losing control. He reached out toward Chen Ge like he was about to pluck his heart out. The fingertips were like knives that easily cut through Chen Ge¡¯s skin. Chen Ge did not feel pain but a chill in his heart.

    Doctor Gao was moving so fast and without warning. He did not make a move earlier, but once he did, he reached for the jugr. His chest felt frozen, but suddenly, Doctor Gao stopped moving.

    There was surprise in his eyes. ¡°You want to help him?¡±

    Hearing Doctor Gao¡¯s voice, Chen Ge looked down. A small doll with a cut face stood between Chen Ge and Doctor Gao. Its body was punctured, and it tried to resist, but the ck hair in its body locked it in ce.

    Zhang Ya had made this doll using the soul of the patient called Devil in the Third Sick Hall. Since it was a gift from Zhang Ya, Chen Ge had carried it with him. However, he did not expect it to save him in the nick of time. It felt like the doll could help him block the fatal blow once.

    ¡°Then again, what¡¯s the point?¡± Doctor Gao ignored the doll, and the fingers pierced through it. The ck hair binding the doll slowly broke. Whenever one hair snapped, the shadow behind Chen Ge darkened.

    Doctor Gao seemed to have sensed something as well. Anxiety circled his heart, and he did not waste time. He only had one purpose them, which was to kill Chen Ge!

    The young man before him gave him an indescribable sense of danger, and the scariest thing was that the sense of danger was mounting.

    The doll was punctured through by Doctor Gao, and his fingertips reached for Chen Ge¡¯s heart.

 Chapter 452 - Long Time No See

    <h4>Chapter 452: Long Time No See</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The cold fingers peeled open Chen Ge¡¯s skin. Doctor Gao¡¯s hand that was covered by blood threads pierced through the doll. He was attempting to reach into Chen Ge¡¯s chest to pluck out his heart. The sound of his beating heart was amplified in Chen Ge¡¯s ears. However, Chen Ge could feel no pain, only a certain iciness.

    The organ that was supposed to supply his body with warmth was now frozen. The bone-chilling tingle spread from his heart to the rest of his body. His brain froze, and he could not sense the passing of time. Chen Ge tried to gather all the strength in his heart, but all he could do was move his eyes. He watched as Doctor Gao¡¯s hand reached through the door. The ck hair that bound the doll¡¯s limbs and joints started to copse and snap under the pressure.

    The ck hair fell in the blood rain, and Chen Ge felt something important leaving his body. He was familiar with that feeling. Initially, it was fear, then concern, but starting from a momentter, many other things were mixed in as well. It was more than pity; it was a feeling that Chen Ge himself had a hard time exining. The heart slowed down, and Doctor Gao¡¯s fingers were just right above his heart.

    The blood threads that were formed from despair crawled away from Doctor Gao¡¯s fingers. They were climbing toward Chen Ge¡¯s heart to rece the blood vessels around it. They were preparing to surround his heart from all sides and perfectly remove it. ¡°You are the person that I admire the most. I will help you preserve this heart.¡±

    The heart was the warmest ce in Chen Ge¡¯s body. It also gave Doctor Gao a sense of warmth that he had not felt for a long time. His hands slowly closed. Just as he was about to grip the heart, the shadows behind Chen Ge rippled, and a woman¡¯s voice could be heard echoing through the entire blood world. ¡°Let go.¡±

    All the ghosts and carcasses stopped moving. Even the owner of this world, Doctor Gao, subconsciously stopped what he was doing. The shadow that was as dark as night was like an abyss that opened up on the ground. Looking down, it was a wave of ck hair that was expanding quickly!

    Chen Ge was facing Doctor Gao, so he had no idea what was happening behind him. This was also the first time he had heard the woman¡¯s voice. She had only said two words, but it had managed to ignite the hope in his heart. His frozen train of thought started to run again. Chen Ge¡¯s heart that was close to be being plucked out started to beat, and a familiar name appeared in it. ¡°Zhang Ya?¡±

    The reply he got was a scream that seemed to shake the whole world down to its core!

    The shadow behind him dissolved into a dark sea in an instant. Endless ck hair flooded the ce and mmed into everything with the cruelest method. She did not hold back and tore everything that was caught in the wave of hair into pieces!

    The doll had alreadypleted its mission, so it morphed into a ck cloud. There was unwillingness in its departure. Doctor Gao was forced back. His expression was livid; his perfect n had been poked through by a sudden intruder.

    He had purposely exposed his weakness and even gone to the hospital to drop a huge hint for Chen Ge. He had used the scapegoat to send false information to the police to trick Chen Ge, all to lure the man into the underground morgue. Doctor Gao knew full well that there was a top Red Specter living in Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. However, since she had consumed too many Red Specters, so she had entered a slumber, and this was the perfect time to deal with Chen Ge!

    He had controlled the blood door for many years already and had conducted many experiments on Red Specters. He was familiar with the fact that Red Specters needed to hibernate after consuming too many Specters. It was also because he was familiar with that fact that he hade up with this trap.

    s, something that he could not have foreseen urred. When the woman¡¯s voice appeared in this world, things had already gotten out from his control. Various negative emotions shed across his eyes. Doctor Gao stared intensely at the ck hair that rushed at him. The hair came at the Specters and cadavers like a tsunami, swallowing everything in its path.

    ¡°This is my world...¡±

    Where Chen Ge stood was the center of the ck hair. There was an open wound on his chest, and the blood kept leaking. His body temperature gradually dropped. Chen Ge¡¯s body teetered, and just as he was about to copse, he felt a familiar sense of coldness on his back.

    It was without malice; if anything, it felt like a hug. He reached his hand behind him, and Chen Ge touched something cold. The blood continued to drip down his palm. Several strands of hair curled up his arm to sew up the wound on his chest. The veryst strand did not pluck itself off but sewed itself into Chen Ge¡¯s heart.

    Chen Ge slowly turned his head around, and standing half a step behind him was a woman wearing a red dress. The dark red blood flowed on the dress, and the beautiful face slowly lifted. Chen Ge¡¯s shadow was reflected in her bloodshot eyes.

    ¡°Zhang Ya, long time no see.¡± His hands slowly raised. Chen Ge used all the energy in his body to try to grab her shoulders. He seemed to try to pull her into his embrace, but he was so weak that he could not even do that anymore. His pale lips slowly opened, and Chen Ge uttered in a tone that he had a hard time deciphering, ¡°The man tried to steal the home that I¡¯ve prepared for you...¡±

    Before he could say a second sentence, the ck hair held Chen Ge up. The Red Specter behind him opened her arms and walked past him with a gentleness that was extremely rare.

    When the Red Specter walked past Chen Ge, the gentleness on her facepletely disappeared. In its ce was endless resentment and the desire to kill. There were emotions akin to a bloody sea roiling in her eyes. The ck hair poked into the surgery room that was made from flesh, and the whole world started to scream.

    Pieces of flesh were peeled out from the wall, and simr injuries appeared on Doctor Gao¡¯s body. Blood was leaking from his body, but he did not react in any way. He had prepared for this worst scenario as well!

    ¡°Looks like after tonight, I will need to go look for a new ¡®door¡¯.¡± Doctor Gao opened his arms, and the organs in the room started to align their beating into the same tempo. ¡°You cannot win.¡±

    He leaned backward to fall into the pool. Several secondster, the blood world continued changing. The bubbles started to form inside the pool like a monster was breathing.

    When Chen Ge entered the underground morgue for the first time, he had heard this sound; when he entered the ce the second time with Liu Xianxian and Ma Yin, he had also heard this sound.

    Something wasing out from the pool. The red dress stood beside the pool. Zhang Ya looking down into it.

    Her expression did not change. She was not worried about the thing that might appear from the pool. To her, whether it was a ghost or a god, as long as it could be killed, it was all the same.

 Chapter 453 - Zhang Ya! Zhang Ya!

    <h4>Chapter 453: Zhang Ya! Zhang Ya!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Doctor Gao sank into the pool. His body dropped on top of the pile of cadavers, and various arms pulled him down into the abyss. Bubbles escaped from underneath the pile of dead bodies. Slowly, the dead bodies that covered the blood pool started to shake. All the bodies seemed to havee back alive and charged at the pile like starving individuals fighting over food.

    The blood inside the pool started to decrease at a rate observable to the naked eye. The blood morphed into red threads and crawled into the pile of dead bodies, sewing them all together.

    The flesh on the walls wilted, and the blood vessels on the ceiling that supported the entire world snapped and copsed. The world was irreversibly damaged, and the emotions that created the world were sucked out. The doctor standing amid the endless bodies suffered all this despair alone.

    A hand made from dead bodies reached out of the pool. The arm, legs, and the deformed body were all twisted together. Blood dripped, and the monstrosity was covered with blood threads. The hand mmed on the edge of the pool heavily, crushing it. The five fingers gripped the ground, and a bestial roar came from the deepest depths of the pool!

    In the roaring blood sea, another hand that was constructed from cadavers reached out from the viscous liquid. The whole world was shaking, and arge monster climbed out from the pool. It was madepletely of dead bodies, and the blood threads were exposed on the body¡¯s surface. It had no nose or eyes but a gaping maw.

    The entire head consisted of human faces that were screaming. The monster raised its arm, and many cadavers fell, pulled by gravity, but it did not mind that as it tried to swipe at Zhang Ya!

    Compared to the monster that was constructed from all the cadavers in the surgery room, Zhang Ya appeared so small¡ªthey were not on the same level. However, facing this monster, Zhang Ya showed no sign of dodging. The red dress stood where she was. She stared at the monster before her, and the madness was ignited in her eyes!

    She showed a version of herself that Chen Ge had not seen before. Facing away from Chen Ge¡¯s pale face, dark veins pulsed on her face, and her eyes were filled with murder and venom!

    She was a Red Specter, a real Red Specter!

    The shrill scream echoed in the room, and the ck hair rushed forward like waves. Perhaps because she had consumed the dark blood, Zhang Ya¡¯s hair seemed to have be darker, and from a far, the rush of hair looked like theing of the endless night. Without evading, without waiting for the monster¡¯s hand to fall, Zhang Ya¡¯s hair rammed into the monster.

    Arge chunk of cadavers fell, and the monster¡¯s hand was blocked. It could not m down but was slowly lifted upward. The monster¡¯s split mouth roared, and more cadavers fell from its lips. It could not believe this Red Specter could manage to stop it and had an even harder time believing that this Red Specter was even more unreasonable than it was.

    It lifted its other hand, but before it could make a move, the ck hair had already swallowed everything. Things shook even harder, and the surgery room felt like it was about to copse.

    Doctor Gao, who had gathered everything he had, was still on the losing end. Things had gone off track to such a state that all he could then was try his best to kill Zhang Ya. Another scream escaped from the monster¡¯s lips. The woman who was fighting with Men Nan paused, and the blood on the red wedding dress started to move.

    She heard Doctor Gao¡¯s voice and traded wounds for wounds. Risking the danger of having her arm torn off, she poked her other arm into Men Nan¡¯s stomach to heavily injure the boy. Without stopping to consume Men Nan, the woman dragged her wedding dress and charged at Zhang Ya.

    ¡°Be careful!¡± Chen Ge gripped the hammer and wanted to help but was stopped by the ck hair. Zhang Ya turned to give Chen Ge a view of her profile. The ck veins were getting more obvious on her face, and Zhang Ya split out a part of her ck hair to deal with Doctor Gao¡¯s wife. She did not seem like she understood the concept of defense, and no matter the enemy, she would choose offense over defense.

    The assault of the ck hair caused the woman in the wedding dress to increase in speed. It was not until then that Chen Ge and Men Nan realized that she had been reserving her strength. Just as the woman was about to get entangled by the ck hair, her body exploded into numerous birds.

    Each of the birds was small, and they had no legs. This meant that they could only fly forward to charge at Zhang Ya. Some of the birds were stopped by the ck hair, but some of them reached Zhang Ya. They collided together and transformed back into the woman with the wedding dress.

    The ck hair was too far away from her to return. This was an opening. Zhang Ya had lost the protection of her hair. Her fingers that were sharp as knife reached for Zhang Ya¡¯s face. Zhang Ya had no defense, but there was no fear in her eyes, like such emotions had been shattered the moment she faced death. The woman was very fast, but just as she was about to poke through Zhang Ya¡¯s eyes, no one heard the voice of the man at the corner.

    ¡°Yan Danian!¡±

    When the woman morphed into the birds, Chen Ge had already activated Yan Danian¡¯s power¡ªSpirit Drawing. It had a chance to pull normal Specter into theic and had the chance to freeze a Red Specter for half a second.

    In that crucial half a second, the ck hair had already returned. The ck veins pulsed on Zhang Ya¡¯s face as they crawled forward. She raised her hand to grab the woman¡¯s arm. The woman also realized the problem. She immediately morphed into the flock of birds, but this time, most of her body had been consumed by the ck hair, which stood at the ready.

    The ambush failed, and the woman suffered grievous damage, causing her body to turn transparent.

    Due to the damage suffered by the woman, the monster in the pool lost its rationality and started to attack Zhang Ya madly. The woman¡¯s arms were swallowed by the ck hair. ck veins popped up on Zhang Ya¡¯s neck. She was not just manipting the hair now. After she consumed the ck blood, something seemed to have happened to her hair.

    Facing away from Chen Ge, Zhang Ya did not let Chen Ge see her face. Her eyes were swirling with vengeance, and as she controlled her hair, she pulled both the woman in wedding dress and the corpse amalgamation into the fray.

    ¡°Has she lost her mind? Even if she¡¯s a Red Specter...¡±

    The wound on Men Nan¡¯s stomach was recovering. His body slowly turned transparent, and he was preparing to sneak away when he saw how cruel Zhang Ya was. He started to have second thoughts.

    ¡°Men Nan! Come with me, deal with him first!¡± Chen Ge was calmer than anyone there. While Zhang Ya was dealing with the two, he called all of his employees to surround Xiong Qing!

    ¡°If Xu Yin can consume Xiong Qing, they will lose one Red Specter, and we will gain another!¡±

 Chapter 454 - The Last Red Specter

    <h4>Chapter 454: The Last Red Specter</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The ck hair dragged the monster and the woman into it. It looked like a suspended ck ocean from outside,pletely barring the blood world. The people on the outside had no idea what was happening inside.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind them!¡± Chen Ge was straightforward. Since he had no power to intrude into the fight between Zhang Ya and the other two Red Specters, if he wanted to help Zhang Ya, he had to figure out a different method. Xiong Qing, who was isted, was perhaps the opening.

    Xu Yin and Xiong Qing¡¯s battle had reached the climax, and Xu Yin¡¯s body had started to crack with wounds. Blood flowed out, but the more intense the pain, the stronger he became. In contrast, things were not looking good for Xiong Qing. After Doctor Gao stole all the blood from the world, Xiong Qing had lost the blood world¡¯s support, so he no longer had the home field advantage.

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s call, Men Nan pouted and controlled the blood mist unwillingly as he walked toward Xiong Qing. The boy had no choice. If he did not help Chen Ge, after Doctor Gao dealt with Zhang Ya, he would be next. Turning back to sneak a look at the endless ck hair, fear crossed his eyes. If he helped Chen Ge deal with Doctor Gao, he was afraid that he would be Zhang Ya¡¯s next meal. Hemented his weakness. He had brought shame to the name of Red Specter. However, with no better solution, he could only try his best to help Chen Ge and pray that the man would say a few good words for his sake before Zhang Ya.

    ¡°I must have lost my mind back then! Why would I tell him that the best way to be a Red Specter is to consume a Red Specter?¡± Xu Yin and Xiong Qing continued to trade blows. They fought like they had no use for their lives. Men Nan tried to find the opportunity to sneak in some attacks, and the other employees also surrounded them.

    The pressure on Xiong Qing increased. There were no fewer wounds on his body than Xu Yin¡¯s, and his wounded body was almost at his limit.

    ¡°Do not give him the chance to rest! Get him!¡± Chen Ge was out for blood. Xiong Qing had tried to kill him so many times, so of course, he would not show the man mercy. From Chen Ge¡¯s perspective, Xiong Qing was the key to winning this battle. If Xu Yin could consume Xiong Qing, their chance of winning would increase tremendously.

    Compared to a one-on-one fight, Chen Ge was more familiar with swamping his enemy with numbers. He grabbed theic, looking for an opening. Xiong Qing was very familiar with Chen Ge. If anyone was targeted by this man, regardless of whether they were a ghost or a living person, their ending would not be good. The man was like misfortune incarnate¡ªonly by killing him could he sigh in relief.

    The ghosts assaulted him, and the wounds on Xiong Qing¡¯s body increased. He felt like amb surrounded by wolves. The most horrible thing was that the ghosts had no honor and exploited tactics like ambushing to their maximum. They kept picking his blind spots to attack.

    ¡°Too slow! Don¡¯t hold back!¡± Chen Ge urged his people. Men Nan finally made his move. His body slowly morphed into the blood mist and hid behind Bai Qiulin. A few ghosts were swept away by Xiong Qing¡¯s blood wing. Bai Qiulin skipped upward and used this opportunity to bite at Xiong Qing¡¯s neck.

    He was too slow, at least much slower than Xiong Qing. Before he got close, Xiong Qing had already responded. The blood curled together to form a needle to pierce at Bai Qiulin. Just as the needle was about to puncture Bai Qiulin, the blood mist moved him away, and it slipped through the attack to cover itself around Xiong Qing¡¯s head.

    ¡°Such trouble.¡± The mist condensed into Men Nan¡¯s shape. He stood on Xiong Qing¡¯s shoulders, and his fingers pierced directly into Xiong Qing¡¯s neck!

    ¡°I disliked you when you were at the Third Sick Hall. Kept telling me ghost stories about the broken hands under the bed, and now look, we¡¯re both ghosts! I have no reason to be afraid of you anymore!¡±

    His eyes turned red, and his expression twisted. Men Nan did not reach his fingers deeper into Xiong Qing¡¯s neck. Instead, it looked like the boy n to yank the head right off. Facing two Red Specters and on the brink of death, Xiong Qing unleashed his full potential. The half of his body that was covered with injuries exploded, and the blood threads slowly reknitted themselves in the air.

    ¡°This world is uneven and unfair; it should be given the necessary correctional treatment!¡± Xiong Qing¡¯s remaining eye stared straight at Chen Ge. ¡°All I ever wanted is fairness!¡±

    Xiong Qing had turned from a doctor to a patient because he suffered from hemineglect. Everyone knew he was sick, but no one knew why he was sick¡ªperhaps only Doctor Gao knew his actual diagnosis. Chen Ge realized that he had underestimated the power of the Red Specter. The fact that Xiong Qing had been selected by the society and transformed into Red Specter meant that there had to be something special about him.

    This specialty might not be physical but mental. The blood threads expanded, and Xiong Qing¡¯s other half was also slowly unraveling. His body had always been uneven¡ªhe had looked like half human and half ghost, but at that moment, his body was slowly turning into a full ghost.

    ¡°Stop him!¡± Chen Ge used Yan Danian¡¯s power again to create the opportunity for Men Nan and Xu Yin. Just as their battle was about to reach its climax, the sea that was created from ck hair boomed with an echo!

    The ck hair expanded, and many carcasses fell from the sky. The blood rained, and in that whole area, only a red shadow stood. Other than her, no one else was standing. The ceiling above them cracked like it would copse at any moment. Chen Ge wanted to deal with Xiong Qing to help Zhang Ya, but she had already won the battle.

    ¡°Already won?¡± He nced toward the blood pool. The red dress stood in the middle of the blood rain. Zhang Ya was facing away from Chen Ge, and he could only see her back. ¡°Zhang Ya¡¯s dress seems to have deepened in color¡ªher arm is bleeding!¡±

    With Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could see these things clearly. He had Men Nan and Xu Yin continue to attack Xiong Qing while he slowly approached Zhang Ya with the hammer. He wanted to check personally because that Red Specter that was shining like a red sun seemed to have been injured.

    The ck hair fluttered on the ground. When Chen Ge got close enough, he saw the seriously wounded Doctor Gao sitting next to the blood pool with his wife in his arms. His wife¡¯s body was severely damaged, and he seemed to have exploded the cadaver monstrosity to escape from Zhang Ya¡¯s ck hair because he was worried about his wife¡¯s safety.

    ¡°Zhang Ya, is your arm injured?¡± Chen Ge stood next to Zhang Ya, but thetter¡¯s reaction was weird. She turned her head away like she did not hear Chen Ge, and when he looked again, the blood stain on her arm had already disappeared.

    Chen Ge moved his gaze to look at Doctor Gao. ¡°Follow me to the police station. Regardless of whether you¡¯re right or wrong, there has to be someone who answers to the loss of more than one hundred human lives.¡±

    ¡°Answer?¡± Doctor Gao lifted his head. With one hand holding his wife and his other supporting his body, he slowly stood up. ¡°Chen Ge, you might not believe me when I say this, but I foresaw this possibility as well. Everything that has happened, I predicted it all a week ago.¡±

 Chapter 455 - I Cannot Lose Unless I Dont Want to Win

    <h4>Chapter 455: I Cannot Lose Unless I Don¡¯t Want to Win</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Doctor Gao hugged his heavily-injured wife and leaned against the blood pool. He reached his hand into his white coat. He was barely standing, and Chen Ge knew that he had no energy left to pose a threat. Yet, in that condition, Doctor Gao still had a smile on his face, and that smile made Chen Ge ufortable. The blood world was copsing, and the flesh that made up the walls and floor lost its color. Even the blood rain was drying up.

    ¡°I am familiar with every single Specter that you have, including Men Nan from the Third Sick Hall. I¡¯ve predicted everything, and this scenario did cross my mind a few times.¡± Doctor Gao took out a sticky notebook that was covered with blood from his pocket and tossed it at Chen Ge.

    For the sake of safety, Chen Ge did not reach out to grab it and allowed the notebook to fall to the ground. The book fell open, and the draft flipped through the many pages. It was filled with the predictions of what might have happened. Looking at the date, they had been written a few days ago.

    ¡°Why are you showing me this? To prove that you did not lose in terms of intelligence?¡± Chen Ge also had a habit of recording important stuff, and in that regard, he was really simr to Doctor Gao.

    ¡°I just want to tell you that everything is part of my design. I want to force myself into a decision. Only when you have no other options and no hope will you make the most correct choice.¡± Doctor Gao reached into his coat again to pull out a sharp scalpel from his pocket.

    ¡°In these five years, I¡¯ve done multiple experiments, but I cannot find a way to awaken my wife. She has lost all of her memory, and I cannot find her soul. I can only order her to do something to lie to myself. I know that when she was pushed into the emergency room, I¡¯d already lost her.¡± Doctor Gao looked at the reflection on the scalpel. He hugged his wife, whose expression was rather dumb without an order from Doctor Gao. ¡°Everything I did was to bring her back. Is that not a simple wish?¡±

    When Doctor Gao spoke, ck threads crawled out from the cadavers around him, and they drilled into his body. The ck threads carried with them heavy negative emotions. They were formed from pure negative feelings.

    ¡°This day has finally arrived. It is sooner than I expected; I originally nned to make this decision after Xiao Xue¡¯s wedding.¡±

    ¡°What are you trying to say?¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s emotions were very unstable, and Chen Ge silently called after Zhang Ya.

    ¡°Actually, in his blood world, there is another hidden Specter.¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s eyes were so emotionless that it was quite scary.

    ¡°Another Specter?¡±

    The ck threads kept crawling into Doctor Gao¡¯s body. These were more than one hundred human lives that had been taken by the ghost stories society.

    ¡°Chen Ge, you¡¯ve been to Coffin Vige, so you should know, after death, the door-pusher will be the scariest Specter.¡± Doctor Gao raised the scalpel, and the ck threads danced in a maddened frequency in his eyes. The whiteness in his eyes waspletely eclipsed, and his eyes turned as ck as onyx. ¡°Actually, I¡¯m curious about what is above a Red Specter!¡±

    As a doctor, Doctor Gao knew which part of his body to hit to deliver a fatal blow!

    The silver de plunged downward, and no one was close enough to stop him. This happened so suddenly. Chen Ge did not expect Doctor Gao¡¯sst trump card to be himself. No wonder he was able to keep his cool. Like he said, he was already prepared for any eventuality.

    ¡°Thest Specter in this world will be Doctor Gao, who pushed the door open.¡± Chen Ge looked at the man from afar. When Zhang Ya¡¯s hair curled around Doctor Gao¡¯s arm, the de had already punctured his skin. No one could stop him. Just as Chen Ge was about to give up, there was a scream of a girling from the door. ¡°Dad!¡±

    The familiar voice reminded Chen Ge of someone, but said person had not used such a tone in her words before. In his mind, the girl was calm in the face of everything. She used the hardest shell to protect her heart.

    Turning back, a fair girl stood at the entrance. She looked at Doctor Gao with red-rimmed eyes, her fingers tightly intertwined. Behind the girl were two crematorium workers. They slowly walked out with shaking legs.

    ¡°Gao Ru Xue?¡± Chen Ge thought back to the fact that he had visited Gao Ru Xue before he came to the underground morgue. When he left, he had even covered her with a nket.

    Hearing his daughter¡¯s voice, Doctor Gao¡¯s hand paused, and the de stopped moving. However, he did not stoppletely. Two different types of emotions battled in his ck eyes, and the de inched down his skin little by little.

    When Gao Ru Xue saw this, she screamed and cried as she ran toward Doctor Gao. The scalpel was still reaching toward the heart. When it was a third of the way through, five slender fingers reached out from Doctor Gao¡¯s embrace to lightly curl around his hand that held the scalpel.

    His body shook¡ªthere was a shock and rity in Doctor Gao¡¯s dark eyes. He turned to look at the woman in his embrace with disbelief. At that moment, he had not given the woman any orders. The man and the body seemed to have frozen in time. Gao Ru Xue finally caught up to them. Her warm hands gripped Doctor Gao¡¯s hand tightly.

    ¡°Please follow me home.¡± Feeling the warmth on the back of his hand, Doctor Gao looked at the wife in his embrace. That five slender fingers were between his hand and Gao Ru Xue¡¯s like she wanted to grab hold of both of them at the same time.

    The ck threads in his eyes were temporarily suspended, and the pupils slowly returned to normal. Doctor Gao released his hands that held the scalpel. He held his wife¡¯s hand and then turned to look at Gao Ru Xue.

    ¡°This is the first time you¡¯ve called me...¡±

    ¡°I know what you¡¯ve been doing, and I wanted to help you keep the secret, so I didn¡¯t dare tell anyone anything. I couldn¡¯t even sleep peacefully at night because I was afraid that I might say something wrong in my sleep!¡± Gao Ru Xue was detached and disliked human interaction. She finally revealed the reason why; she had been hiding this secret for so long.

    ¡°I know.¡± Doctor Gao did not touch Gao Ru Xue, as if afraid that he might curse the girl with his touch.

    Gao Ru Xue held Doctor Gao¡¯s white coat, which was dyed with blood, and used a pleading tone to beg, ¡°Dad, let¡¯s go home.¡±

    Shaking his head, Doctor Gao tightened his embrace to pull his wife closer. ¡°From the moment I pushed the door open five years ago, it has been destined that I cannot go back.¡±

    He moved his gaze to look at Chen Ge, and he grabbed the scalpel stuck in his chest again.

    Blood flowed out from the wound, and the madness in the doctor¡¯s slowly receded. The way he looked at Chen Ge reminded Chen Ge of the first time he met the good doctor at Fang Hwa Apartments. He was confident but mature, a man with a story. ¡°I should be the only one who can understand you. All of your reactions, I¡¯ve predicted them one week ago. I cannot lose unless I have no intention of winning from the very beginning.¡±

    His grip tightened and slowly pulled the scalpel out of his chest.

 Chapter 456 - The Third Door

    <h4>Chapter 456: The Third Door</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The scalpel fell to the ground, releasing a sharp tingle. Doctor Gao held his heart. As his life slowly disappeared, the ck threads in his eyes returned. ¡°At the moment of death for the door-pusher, the stronger the resentment around them, the stronger the Specter they will be be after death. This is why I have been cultivating this world behind the door since five years ago. Every inch of this ce is filled with despair and blood.¡± Doctor Gao hugged the wife in his arms. ¡°Human power is limited, and I have already reached my limit. To find her, I need to acquire a stronger power.¡±

    ¡°Therefore, you¡¯ve been nning to be a Specter for five years?¡±

    ¡°Lingering spirit, baleful Specter, Red Specter¡ªI¡¯ve been thinking about what is above a Red Specter. Perhaps if I reach that state, I can finally aplish what I want.¡± The ck threads in Doctor Gao¡¯s eyes were running out of control; he would be losing it soon. ¡°Chen Ge, while I still retain my sanity, I wish to make a trade with you.¡±

    ¡°You want me to help revive your wife?¡±

    ¡°Not that, it won¡¯t go against your morality.¡±

    ¡°Tell me.¡± Doctor Gao was not acting right. Chen Ge was unsure what this madman might do next, so he thought to agree to his demand first.

    ¡°Since you have visited the Third Sick Hall, you should have noticed that many things the society did is rted to the number three; this number is very special to me. It represents Room 3 in the Third Sick Hall, the three people in my heart, and the three doors the society owns.¡±

    ¡°Three doors?¡± Chen Ge sucked in a breath. He had thought that the society only had two doors¡ªhe did not expect that they would have a third door other than the underground morgue and the Third Sick Hall doors.

    ¡°The door is in Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s Li Wan City. It is a door that has gonepletely out of control.¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s body was shaking. The threads made from despair and negative emotions crawled all over his body. ¡°One third of the stuff that the society has umted over thest five years is behind that door, and I can give you everything inside it.¡±

    ¡°Are you kidding? The door has already gone out of control; even if there¡¯s a treasure inside, I¡¯ll need to be alive to enjoy it.¡± Doctor Gao was willing to surrender all of the things that the society had gathered, which was indeed tempting to Chen Ge, but what the man said about the door losing control unnerved him.

    ¡°That is the content of the trade. I hope you can help me look after Ru Xue and do everything within your power to close that door.¡± Doctor Gao was not worried that Chen Ge might reject him. ¡°In return, other than the treasure left behind by the society, I will share the method to close these doors with you.¡±

    There was a door in Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. In terms of business, that door was a security risk, and he had been looking for a way to close it. ¡°Looking after Gao Ru Xue is no problem. I can handle her future expenses like school fees and even future employment, but I will need to consider about closing that door.¡±

    ¡°You will say yes.¡± Doctor Gao looked at Chen Ge, but it felt like he was looking into the man¡¯s heart. ¡°Your parents know the door-pusher, and she knows your parent¡¯s location.¡±

    Doctor Gao had used the society¡¯s power to investigate Chen Ge¡¯s past.

    ¡°How do I know you¡¯re not lying to me?¡± The clues about his parent had already gone cold; Chen Ge was shocked that he would find more information from Doctor Gao. Reaching into his pocket, Doctor Gao pulled out a picture. ¡°This is the picture taken when the society was going after the door-pusher. The picture was taken one week before your parent¡¯s disappearance.¡±

    The background of the picture was a creepy alley, and normal buildings bookended it on both sides. It looked so normal but also abnormal at the same time. A husband and wife stood facing away from the camera, and facing them was a little girl in a red shirt.

    In the picture, the girl seemed to have discovered the photo-taker and was screaming down the alley. The couple was in the middle of turning. From their backs, Chen Ge could confirm that they were his parents. Doctor Gao had no reason to lie to him.

    ¡°Where was this taken?¡±

    ¡°Li Wan City after midnight.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been to Li Wan City, and the streets don¡¯t look like this. However, my parents did go out every night one week before they disappeared like they were looking for something.¡± Chen Ge walked forward to take a closer look at the picture, but his legs were wound by the ck hair. Zhang Ya did not let Chen Ge leave her side, like there was still hidden danger.

    After seeing this, Doctor Gao slid the picture to Gao Ru Xue. ¡°The door has now gone out of control, and no one knows what will happen next or what kind of monster will escape from behind the door.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Gao, there is one question that I don¡¯t quite understand.¡± Chen Ge interrupted Doctor Gao. ¡°From my perspective, you have never cared about people¡¯s lives before, so why do you insist that I close this door? How does that benefit you?¡±

    ¡°The door has lost control. After you enter it, you¡¯ll understand why.¡± Doctor Gao took Chen Ge¡¯s response as a yes, so he told him how to close the door. ¡°There is only one method that I¡¯ve discovered to close the door. That is to find the door-pusher, have them suffer all the despair in the world behind the door, and then detain them outside the door. The world behind the door exists solely on the door-pusher¡¯s despair. After losing that sustenance, the door will slowly disappear.¡±

    ¡°Therefore, I need to find the door-pusher? But what if the door-pusher has already changed into a Red Specter or has been vanquished?¡±

    ¡°Red Specters can still suffer despair, but as for if they have been vanquished, I have note across that situation before.¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s voice was turning weak. The ck threads in his eyes kept jumping like they were preparing to shoot out of his body. Just looking at the man, Chen Ge could imagine the pain that he was in.

    ¡°Take Gao Ru Xue away with you¡ªthis world is copsing. I will go and search for more methods to close the door.¡±

    The organs and flesh fell from above them. The underground morgue started to copse. The negative emotions that sustained this world had entered Doctor Gao¡¯s body, so it was copsing on itself.

    The corridor shook, and Doctor Gao touched Gao Ru Xue¡¯s head. ¡°Go back home. I¡¯ve already opened the door.¡±

    Without waiting for the girl to speak, the woman in Doctor Gao¡¯s head raised her head to look into Gao Ru Xue¡¯s eyes. Their eyes met for a brief moment before the girl fainted. The woman¡¯s body became transparent, and with an order from Doctor Gao, she also made the two workers who had brought Gao Ru Xue there faint.

 Chapter 457 - Medic Unit

    <h4>Chapter 457: Medic Unit</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°The memories they have of tonight have been buried deep in their mind. After you entered, I had the cadavers move the dead bodies in real life into the door. I¡¯ve demolished all the evidence. I hope you can also forget everything that has happened tonight.¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s body shook. The ck threads were almost crawling out of his eyes. ¡°Take them and go.¡±

    Doctor Gao really had considered everything. No matter the choice Chen Ge made, he would not lose. Kill him, he would be an entity stronger than a Red Specter, and everyone would die; not killing him meant agreeing to the trade and expanding the benefits to their maximum.

    ¡°Looks like I have no choice.¡± Under Zhang Ya¡¯s gaze, Chen Ge had Bai Qiulin carry Gao Ru Xue. Trusting that the Doctor Gao would not harm his own daughter, the fact that he had handed Chen Ge his daughter was a sign of his sincerity.

    <i>He has been doing so much investigation¡ªis it possible that he was also looking for a suitable candidate to look after his daughter?</i>

    The society had been living in the shadows for so long and had made plenty of enemies. After Doctor Gao¡¯s departure, it would be dangerous for Gao Ru Xue.

    The ceiling cracked, and blood red mist drifted into the surgery room. Whenever Chen Ge entered the world behind the door, he would be limited inside a building¡ªthis was the first time that he had seen the view outside a building. That was the real world behind the door. The space that was constructed by the door-pusher¡¯s heart was like a medium between the two.

    The red light fell on Doctor Gao, and the ck threads grew at an exponential rate. At the same time, the white cat in Chen Ge¡¯s backpack crawled out, and one of its eyes had turnedpletely red. The thing attracting it was just outside the crack!

    The white cat wanted to jump out, but this time, Chen Ge was prepared. The morgue was copsing; they needed to leave as soon as possible. He hugged the cat and shoved it back into the bag before zipping it up. Ignoring the resistance, Chen Ge slowly retreated. His purpose there was toplete the mission on the phone¡ªsurviving until dawn was more important.

    The walls were cracking. The ground fell, and a loud boom echoed from the ceiling. Arge piece of flesh fell and knocked heavily into the ground. Looking through the crack, there was a heavy fog outside the morgue. The fog seemed to be covering a blood red city!

    ¡°The city¡¯s structure looks no different from Jiujiang, but the whole style gives a unique sensation.¡± The underground morgue was exposed, and Chen Ge saw something approaching in the mist.

    ¡°Go now. If the door is destroyed, you¡¯ll be stuck here forever.¡± Doctor Gao hugged his wife, and his eyes were nowpletely dark. ¡°We might meet again in the future. I¡¯ve already marked one of the doors.¡±

    ¡°Marked one of the doors?¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s tone was getting weird like there was more than one person speaking. His eyes that looked at Zhang Ya and Chen Ge were turning as well.

    ¡°Zhang Ya is already injured. Getting into a conflict with Doctor Gao now will only benefit the creature in the mist. We should leave now.¡± Chen Ge retreated, and during that process, he asked Zhang Ya to surround Xiong Qing. The man had just unleashed his potential, but he was cruelly ughtered. His body was shattered into pieces, and his head was stolen by Xu Yin.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s too dangerous here. I¡¯ll bring you with me.¡± Chen Ge smiled at Xiong Qing as he dragged the two workers and started to run.

    Xiong Qing shuddered from Chen Ge¡¯s smile. He screamed for help until Xu Yin covered his lips. The world was crumbling. Chen Ge turned to look at Doctor Gao. The man¡¯s skin was cracking, and his pair of dark eyes focused on his wife. Their bodies leaned close together like they were prepared to be buried side by side.

    ¡°Such a scary enemy.¡± Before Chen Ge arrived, Doctor Gao hade up with many different scenarios. This was the worst scenario for Doctor Gao, but even so, he had not lost.

    The corridors shook greatly. Chen Ge and Doctor Wei ran toward the central hub. When they passed one of the morgues, a few more doctors joined Chen Ge with Doctor Wei¡¯s persuasion. Chen Ge was surprised by the sudden addition. If not for the crumbling location, he would have looked around the area. Chen Ge managed to reach the central hub before the entire world copsed. The door was half open. The blood was peeling off, and the door did not look as red.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to leave.¡± Chen Ge led all of his employees and ran out the door. It sounded like there were cries for helping from behind the door, but that had nothing to do with Chen Ge anymore.

    The door closed, and the blood retreated. When it opened again, everything had returned to normal like everything earlier had been a nightmare and they had now awakened. There were stains on the ground. The pictures on the wall and the dead bodies had all disappeared. Doctor Gao had thoroughly prepared, so all the evidence had been destroyed.

    ¡°Since the world has copsed, the door probably cannot be used anymore.¡± Chen Ge opened the backpack to release the white cat. It seemed like it was about to growl at Chen Ge, but when it saw the Red Specters standing next to Chen Ge, it mellowed out and crawled back into the bag. It scratched at the zipper like it was trying to close the zipper on its own.

    ¡°Such a curious cat.¡± Chen Ge took out theic to calcte his earnings. He first looked at Xiong Qing. Being stared at by a group of Specters and the fiendish Haunted House operator, Xiong Qing experienced despair that he had not experienced in his life before.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, it won¡¯t be painful.¡± Chen Ge signaled for Xu Yin to consume Xiong Qing, but Xu Yin¡¯s reaction was weird. He shook his head and pointed at his heart. No matter how hard Chen Ge persuaded, Xu Yin refused to consume Xiong Qing¡ªhe seemed more interested in finding his heart.

    The man and ghost pushed back and forth; the only result was that it scared the hell out of Xiong Qing.

    ¡°It¡¯s nice that you have your own consciousness.¡± Chen Ge called for Bai Qiulin. Of all his employees, only he had a blood stain on his shirt, so he had the potential to be a Red Specter.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Bai, don¡¯t let me down.¡± Chen Ge reached over to pat Bai Qiulin¡¯s shoulder, but he missed. He already treated his employees as actual people. Bai Qiulin had a bitter smile on his face. He was afraid just standing before Xiong Qing, much less consuming him. In the end, it was with Xu Yin¡¯s help that Bai Qiulin finished the consumption.

    When he did, Bai Qiulin copsed to the ground. He tore at his body like a fire was burning in his heart. His process was different from those of Zhang Ya and Xu Yin. He did not go into a slumber but had his fight at the line of being vanquished. Thissted for more than one hour before he returned to normal. His body no longer looked that fragile, and his heart was dyed red by blood. Bai Qiulin¡¯s situation was theplete opposite of Xu Yin¡¯s. He had already found his heart. By consuming more ghosts, he would one day be the Haunted House¡¯s new Red Specter.

    <i>This kind of Red Specter might be weaker than Xu Yin, but it is still a Red Specter.</i>

    With a new Red Specter in his employment, just that alone would make Chen Ge¡¯s adventure that night worth it.

    He took out theic to move his employees into it before turning to Doctor Wei and the three doctors standing next to him. The four were the best of their field, and the admirable thing was that they had all donated their bodies to the university.

    ¡°Nice to meet all of you. I admire you from the bottom of my heart. If possible, I hope you¡¯lle stay with me as guests,¡± Chen Ge said sincerely. He had left a good impression on Doctor Wei. Doctor Wei saw him as a young man who was not afraid of darkness and evil.

    ¡°You¡¯ve saved my life. I cannot reject your request.¡± Doctor Wei nodded and turned to look at the rest. ¡°What about you?¡±

    ¡°I like this kid. He is a very studious person and is a student of Jiujiang Medical University. I have high hopes for him.¡± The doctor who spoke walked to stand beside Chen Ge. This man was Liu Zhengyi. The two other doctors also agreed.

    ¡°Thank you very much.¡± Chen Ge bowed. He was so happy. He had gained four top doctors at once. They had managed to save dead people from inside the door, so of course, they could handle small things like fainting.

    He had already started a n in his heart. If people came to annoy him again, he would scare them until they fainted. Then he would stand and watch as they got resuscitated. He would give them another surprise to make them faint again and then revive, then faint, repeating this process.

    With the smile on his face, even though they were standing inside the dark underground morgue, they could sense the happiness Chen Ge was radiating.

    ¡°Is he so happy simply because we¡¯ve agreed to join him as guests?¡± The few doctors saw this and felt that this man was not bad.

 Chapter 458 - Maze of Terror!

    <h4>Chapter 458: Maze of Terror!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge used Yan Danian¡¯sic to collect the four doctors. It seemed that dawn had not arrived¡ªhe had not received the message from the ck phone saying that the mission had beenpleted.

    <i>Now that the Haunted House has a medic unit, the safety of the visitors will be guaranteed. Uncle Xu won¡¯t have to worry about me scaring the visitors anymore.</i>Chen Ge was satisfied. <i>Perhaps I can try toe up with more exciting features in the future. After all, I doubt there are any Haunted Houses on the market that will have the best medic unit like I do.</i>

    A Haunted House had to be unique andsting to be able to stand the test of time. It had to have something that could not be replicated by thepetition to stand out. Chen Ge felt like his Haunted House had managed to do that. In all of Jiujiang, even the whole country, Chen Ge did not think any other Haunted House could rival his own.

    <i>This is thepetition of business.</i>

    Chen Ge had gotten a lot of rewards from that night¡¯s trial mission. Bai Qiulin would be a Red Specter after he consumed enough Specters. The addition of the four doctors solved a problem that Chen Ge was facing. The threat of the ghost stories society had been resolved as well. He could focus on building up his Haunted House to face the futuristic park that was opening.

    <i>As long as I can stop the futuristic park from stealing my customers, and the visitor number doesn¡¯t drop exponentially, it can be considered a victory.</i>

    The opponent was strong. This was a tussle between a physical theme park and futuristic theme park. From all the information so far, the only advantage that New Century Park had over the futuristic theme park was Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. Director Luo had already noticed that, which was why he had decided to fully support Chen Ge.

    <i>There are less than three weeks left.</i>

    It was crunch time, but Chen Ge was not worried. The Haunted House was improving, and after the four-star scenario appeared, it might change again. Chen Ge found a trolley that was used to transport cadavers and ced the two crematorium workers in it. When he picked up Gao Ru Xue to move her into the trolley, he felt a bone-chilling presenceing from behind him.

    <i>Looks like there is one Specter that has not yet returned.</i>

    ck hair reached out from Chen Ge¡¯s back, and it felt something was curling tightly around his spine. With his life dependent on it, Chen Ge dropped Gao Ru Xue on the trolley and stood where he was honestly.

    The chill did not disappear. The girl behind him seemed to have walked into his body and moved into his heart. His heart froze, and it slowed down. Chen Ge felt his body be frigid. If this continued, he might not be able to live to see the sun.

    ¡°Zhang Ya.¡± Chen Ge turned around, and she was standing behind him. Zhang Ya had her head lowered, and her ck hair covered half of her pale face. No one could tell what was on her mind.

    ¡°This should be our second date, right?¡± Chen Ge very naturally raised his hand to caress Zhang Ya¡¯s hair. ¡°It has only been a few days, but it feels like we have not seen each other for a long time.¡±

    He sat next to the trolley and stretchedzily. Zhang Ya stood where she was for a long time before slowly moving to the trolley. Blood dripped, and after some hesitation, she sat down beside Chen Ge. ¡°Our first date was at the abandoned school, and the second date is at the underground morgue. I believe that I will remember them for a long time.¡±

    Chen Ge nudged toward Zhang Ya as he leaned against her. He could feel that chill reaching for his heart, and he lowered his head to look at Zhang Ya¡¯s face. Neither of them spoke. In the dark, creepy morgue filled with the smell of formalin, the man and the ghost sat side by side, enjoying the rare ¡®peace and quiet¡¯.

    Chen Ge leaned against Zhang Ya¡¯s shoulder and asked softly, ¡°Did you get yourself injured?¡±

    Zhang Ya shook her head. When she was alive, she had never had a friend, much less lover. Now, Chen Ge was being too close to her, and she did not know how to act.

    ¡°Give me your hand.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice drifted into her ear. Zhang Ya could feel the warmth from Chen Ge¡¯s body, and her hands that gripped the red shirt slowly loosened. Her fingers moved toward Chen Ge, and when she was about to touch Chen Ge¡¯s hand, she suddenly pulled back and crawled back into Chen Ge¡¯s shadow without warning.

    The morgue seemed to have turned brighter and the atmosphere not as stuffy. Chen Ge, who was covered in cold sweat, leaned against the two workers. He had chosen to sit next to the trolley earlier because he had realized that his legs were numb and his body was frozen. He was already having trouble standing.

    ¡°I, Chen Ge, have never been afraid of anyone. I¡¯m acting thusly before Zhang Ya because I feel her affection toward me, and I don¡¯t want to disappoint her.¡± Chen Ge sounded like he was trying to convince himself. He tried multiple times but failed to stand up. Half of his body was numb from the cold. <i>If this is allowed to continue, something bad is bound to happen. Zhang Ya¡¯s affection level seems to have increased again. It probably won¡¯t take long to break through the current level of ¡®Gripped by Passion¡¯.</i>

    Copsed on the ground, Chen Ge tried to think. <i>Just what is it about me that deserves the affection of so many ¡®people¡¯?</i>

    After a long rest, when the ck phone received the message, Chen Ge finally stood up from the ground. He opened the unread message.

    ¡°Sessfully reached the central hub of the underground morgue before midnight and survive until dawn.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specters¡¯ Favored, forpleting the three-star trial mission¡ªThe Underground Morgue!

    ¡°Missionpletion rate is sixty percent, not enough to unlock the mission¡¯s hidden item.

    ¡°Congrattions for demolishing the entire ghost stories society,pleting the only hidden mission at the Third Sick Hall¡ªGhost Stories Society!

    ¡°Obtained the reward¡ªThe Chairperson¡¯s Letter of Appointment!¡±

    Reading the message on the phone, Chen Ge was surprised. <i>Thepletion rate for the underground morgue is only sixty percent? That is probably because the culprit, Doctor Gao, is still alive, but the hidden mission from the Third Sick Hall states that I have already demolished the entire ghost stories society. The ck phone couldn¡¯t have made this mistake, or is it because Doctor Gao is not considered a human anymore?</i>

    Not living but still alive.

    Chen Ge turned to look at the door. The world behind it had already copsed, and the door could not be used anymore. The ck phone kept vibrating; more messages wereing in.

    ¡°The interior space iscking! The third expansion will ur tonight!

    ¡°Afterpleting the third expansion, three-star scenario Underground Morgue will be fully unlocked!

    ¡°Warning! After the third expansion, the Haunted House will officially upgrade to be a Maze of Terror!

    ¡°Warning! After the upgrade, you¡¯ll get a chance to win a random unique construct, and the Haunted House will unlock new features!¡±

 Chapter 459 - Big Business!

    <h4>Chapter 459: Big Business!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The underground morgue¡¯s mission was a turning point for Chen Ge. After upgrading to Maze of Terror, the Haunted House would gain a new feature. This meant that he was closer to finding his missing parents.

    <i>Maze of Terror, that does sound scary. Although it doesn¡¯t say what kind of new feature will be added, hopefully, it won¡¯t be a disappointment.</i>

    Counting the underground morgue, Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House had already unlocked ten scenarios. There were three aboveground¡ªThe Night of the Living Dead, Minghun, and Murder by Midnight¡ªand seven underground: Mu Yang High School, Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy, A Room of Three, Third Sick Hall, The Wife¡¯s Room, Coffin Vige, and Underground Morgue.

    Currently, the scenario with the highest difficulty was the Third Sick Hall because this scenario¡¯spletion rate was more than ny percent, so all of the scare points had been unlocked.

    <i>The hidden quest at the Third Sick Hall was for me to vanquish the society, and the reward I have been given is this chairperson¡¯s letter of appointment. What is its usage? Perhaps it can be used to order the lingering spirit of the dead members?</i>

    When thepletion rate for the Third Sick Hall¡¯s trial mission went over ny percent, Chen Ge had been rewarded a patient¡¯s list. It was possessed with the souls of all the patients. These patients were all maddened individuals, and only Doctor Gao could control them. Chen Ge was afraid that they might harm the visitors if he released them, so he had not been using the patient¡¯s list.

    Based on his former experience, these two rewards should be rted. Therefore, the first thing that came into Chen Ge¡¯s mind was to use the letter of appointment to control the patients¡¯ lingering spirit.

    <i>Those few are pure madness, but with this, it will be perfect for them to handle Third Sick Hall.</i>

    Chen Ge felt happy thinking about the ¡®joy¡¯ that he would be able to give to his customers. He stretched his body and ced Doctor Chen, who was also unconscious, into the trolley. The four of them moved together.

    <i>Doctor Chen is currently on the police¡¯s wanted list because he is suspected in ¡®children kidnapping¡¯. Before the misunderstanding is cleared, I should let him temporarily stay with me. It just so happens that I have plenty of question to ask him.</i>

    Doctor Gao had Specters with him because he had opened the door, but Chen Ge could not understand why Doctor Chen could control spirits. He nned to uncover the man¡¯s secret.

    The trolley moved outward, and the corridor slowly opened. The bodies and the pictures had been demolished by Doctor Gao. Before the match was concluded, he had alreadye up with all the solutions.

    <i>The underground morgue is separated into three sections. While the size of the ce is smaller than Coffin Vige, the scarier part is that it is much harder to escape from the underground morgue. </i>Chen Ge had already started to consider how to set up the scenario. As the experience he faced that night crossed his mind, insanity shed across his eyes. <i>How about we go for a big one this time?</i>

    Chen Ge pushed the trolley round and round before he managed to leave the middle section. When he passed Morgue No. 7, he stopped to nce into it. He did not see Morgue No. 8 fromst night like it had not existed in the first ce.

    <i>They should have been guarding this ce from the dark.</i>

    Western Jiujiang Medical University had been spreading the legend about Morgue No. 8, but none of the students had gotten into an ident in the morgue. This probably had plenty to do with the people inside Morgue No. 8. They were no match for Doctor Gao and could not stop him. All they could do was their best to protect their students.

    <i>If the two crematorium workers did not show disrespect to the cadavers, those unfortunate events wouldn¡¯t have happened to them.</i>

    Chen Ge turned to where he imagined Morgue No. 8 had been and bowed. Then, he continued to move forward.

    <i>When the workers came in to deal with the cadavers, security should have been waiting outside. The workers didn¡¯t leave for the whole night, so they should have called the police. Why is the underground morgue so quiet?</i>

    Chen Ge reached for one of the workers¡¯ cell phones to look at the time. It was 5:30 am; the sun was just climbing up.

    <i>I should wait for the uing interrogation. </i>Chen Ge realized that he had gotten way too good at this. He shoved the cell phone back into the man¡¯s pocket. He eventually reached the entrance.

    The cold morning wind touched his face, and he felt more refreshed. The crematorium¡¯s van was parked at the front door. The section where the cadavers should have been had two unconscious men in security uniforms.

    <i>Is this Doctor Gao¡¯s doing as well? </i>Chen Ge looked into the car. The two men were fine; their condition was simr to Gao Ru Xue. Since the trial mission had beenpleted, Chen Ge did not want to create more problems for himself. He ced the two workers in the trunk and then pushed Gao Ru Xue and Doctor Chen away from the campus, avoiding the camera.

    Chen Ge sighed in relief after he got into the taxi. He first dropped Gao Ru Xue home before taking Doctor Chen to New Century Park. This was the first time that Chen Ge had weed a guest into his Haunted House, so he wanted to make sure Doctor Chen feel weed. He ced Doctor Chen inside the room that was deepest in the Third Sick Hall and prepared snacks and water for the man. Before he left, he even dropped his phone number.

    <i>I¡¯m still worried. </i>Chen Ge thought about it and took out a pen to leave a note for Doctor Chen. He wrote that he was Fan Yu¡¯s family, and he had no bad intentions. He just wanted to talk to him.

    After exiting the room, Chen Ge ced a sign on the door that read¡ª¡¯No Entry. Hungry ghost inside.¡¯ He activated the recorder, ced it by the door, and left.

    He felt drowsy when he reached the staff breakroom. However, Chen Ge did not go to sleep immediately because he had many things he needed to do.

    He took out his phone and called the mannequin workshop. It rang about ten times before it was picked up.

    ¡°Boss Qian? Were you asleep? I have big business I want to discuss with you.¡±

    ¡°Big business?¡± The boss, Qian Guigen, heard that, and he woke up immediately. ¡°How big are we talking?¡±

    ¡°I wish to make one hundred human-sized mannequins.¡±

    ¡°Wait, how many?¡±

    ¡°One hundred. I will go and make them myself; you only need to provide me with the materials and facilities.¡± Chen Ge looked at the rising sun, and his eyes reflected the light. ¡°This might just be the beginning. If possible, I n to enter a long-term cooperation with you because my Haunted House will need more mannequins in the future.¡±

 Chapter 460 - Youre Awake?

    <h4>Chapter 460: You¡¯re Awake?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Boss Chen, one hundred mannequins is not a small number; do you mind if I ask why are you creating so many mannequins?¡±

    ¡°This is not our first cooperation, so I¡¯m not going to hide certain things from you.¡± Chen Ge told Qian Guigen directly, ¡°I¡¯m making dead people mannequins. These one hundred mannequins will be made into cadavers and ced inside the Haunted House.¡±

    Just hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice on the phone made the skin crawl on Boss Qian¡¯s back. He shuddered. ¡°Since it is for dead bodies, you can just use normal material, the material for one mannequin is about one hundred RMB.¡±

    ¡°The material needs to be of high quality, as least as good as the previous ones,¡± Chen Ge said firmly.

    ¡°Boss, your Haunted House is so dark, and it¡¯s for dead bodies. Using good material is going to be a waste!¡± Qian Guigen did not quite get it.

    ¡°You might think I¡¯m making mannequins but I¡¯m actually creating a body that could rece blood and flesh. These mannequins are very important to the Haunted House.¡± Chen Ge had his own n. Topletely replicate the underground morgue, the real ¡®paradise¡¯ for the dead, he needed many mannequins, and each of them would be filled with lingering spirits of the dead.

    ¡°If it¡¯s simr tost time, then the material for each mannequin will be around nine hundred, but since you¡¯re asking for so much, I can try to help you get some discount. If one mannequin is 800, then it¡¯ll cost 80,000.¡±

    ¡°No problem, please get it settled as fast as possible; I need them soon.¡±

    ¡°My workshop is currently vacated, and I will lend it to you for free as long as you let me stay and watch you work. I can pick up some skills from you.¡± Boss Qian was conflicted. ¡°The biggest issue is I only have enough material to make twenty mannequins currently. I¡¯ll need to leave the city to procure the rest of the material¡ªsome of them even came from overseas. You¡¯ll need for wait for at least a week.¡±

    ¡°Just make it as fast as possible. By the way, do you have time now? I wish to go to your workshop toplete the base for the twenty mannequins.¡±

    ¡°Now? Sure, I¡¯ll meet you in half an hour.¡± After hanging up, Chen Ge took out a new set of clothes from his cupboard and went for a shower. He put on the new clothes and left the Haunted House.

    ¡°Howe I still smell like formalin after a shower?¡± Chen Ge did not mind it too much. When he left Qian Guigen¡¯s workshop, it was already 9 am.

    ¡°The base for the mannequin is ready. Tonight, I can rush the rest. Tomorrow, the mannequins will be ready for use.¡±

    Dropping 20,000 as down payment, Chen Ge left the workshop and returned to New Century Park.

    He did not sleep for the whole night, and his body was at its limit. After greeting Uncle Xu, Xu Wan, and Gu Feiyu, he sat in the corridor and started to rest. The Haunted House¡¯s framework was starting toe into shape. Each scenario was manned by someone or something, and it saved Chen Ge plenty of trouble. Now, all he needed to do was make sure the visitors signed the disimers.

    The holidays wereing, and it was obvious that the number of visitors was rising. Other than the younger visitors who were there for the adrenaline, there were also families who came with their children. Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House pushed New Century Park back into the public eyes, and this park that had almost been forgotten by time started to revive.

    <i>Director Luo is right. For New Century Park to get back on track, it has to be the contribution of more than just the Haunted House. The other facilities need to be updated as well. Only then will we be able to get the visitors toe and stay.</i>

    For the expansion of the Haunted House, Chen Ge could depend on the ck phone, but the updating of the old facilities needed arge amount of money. Director Luo would have to deal with that.

    With Director Luo around, Chen Ge did not need to get himself concerned with these things; he only needed to be focused on managing his Haunted House. The line in front of the Haunted House was getting longer. The scores of the visitors in the resting hall were changing as well, and the speakers around the ce broadcasted the visitors¡¯ live screams.

    A one-star scenario was no biggie for most visitors, and most of them had started to challenge two-star scenarios. As that number increased, so did the people who wanted to challenge three-star scenarios. There were more pictures and information of the three-star scenario online, but so far, no one had been able to clear it.

    Actually, this was not the visitors¡¯ fault. Chen Ge had drafted the difficulty based on his own experience. To clear Coffin Vige, the term was to find that tattered wedding dress. A lingering spirit was attached to that dress, and leaving with the dress meant leaving with a ghost.

    To clear the Third Sick Hall, the visitors had to find a tape dyed with blood. Chen Ge told the visitors that the tape held the biggest secret of the Third Sick Hall. Actually, he did not lie. The biggest secret at the Third Sick Hall was that there were not only Specters here but also a Red Specter.

    The morning went by, and no idents urred. When it was time for lunch, Chen Ge went to the canteen to purchase two boxed lunch and went into the underground scenario. He entered the Third Sick Hall and walked to the deepest room. The sign on the wall had not been touched, and the recorder was where it had been.

    Chen Ge picked the recorder up. The tape inside was slowly turning. Chen Ge nced at it. After making sure that there was nothing wrong, he picked it up and opened the door.

    There was a sick bed in the middle of the room. Doctor Chen was already awake. He looked at the water on the table as if gauging whether it was poisoned or not.

    ¡°You¡¯re awake? Do you still remember what happened yesterday?¡± Chen Ge gave the boxed lunch to Doctor Chen. He sat to the side and started eating.

    ¡°Chen Ge?¡± Doctor Chen was quite surprised to see him. ¡°It was you who saved me?¡±

    ¡°What do you think?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t remember anything.¡± Doctor Chen rubbed his temples. He picked up the water and took a sip and his throat felt better.

    ¡°What is thest thing you can remember?¡± Chen Ge was more curious about that.

    ¡°I followed Jiang Ling and Fan Yu to Coffin Vige and got into a fight with Doctor Gao at the vige. I was too careless and lost.¡± Doctor Chen tried his best to think. ¡°I remember being dragged through a door. The madman said that I was his only friend, so he wanted to keep me as a souvenir. That¡¯s all I can remember.¡±

    ¡°Hopefully, you¡¯re not lying to me.¡± Chen Ge swallowed the mouthful of rice and looked at Doctor Chen seriously. ¡°Doctor Gao is dead, and the door at the Western Jiujiang Medical University is closed. It was me who saved you at thest moment.¡±

    ¡°I believe you, but...¡± Doctor Chen was uncertain. ¡°That madman had at least two red specters on him. How did you manage to defeat him?¡±

 Chapter 461 - The Man

    <h4>Chapter 461: The Man</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Are two Red Specters that scary?¡± Chen Ge continued eating without raising his head.

    Hearing that, Doctor Chen was speechless. He had heard some rumors about Chen Ge before, and he shook his head with a bitter smile. ¡°That is very scary for me already.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Chen, I still have other things to do, but I¡¯lle backter to ask you some questions. Hopefully, you¡¯ll answer them honestly since I¡¯ve saved your life.¡± Chen Ge put down the boxed lunch and took a sip of the water. His action and expression was different from what he was going to say next. ¡°Down at the underground morgue, you once told me, your surname is not really Chen Ge. You only go by that name because someone asked you to use it to do something for him in Western Jiujiang.¡±

    ¡°I told you that?¡± Doctor Chen hesitated but did not deny it. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Who is that person? Why the surname Chen? What is the favor that he asked of you to do in Western Jiujiang?¡± Chen Ge asked three questions at the same time.

    Doctor Chen thought about it, and he gave Chen Ge the reply. ¡°I knew the old director from the Third Sick Hall and once worked under him. When the door there first appeared, the old director approached me. I personally went to look around the door and even went behind it.¡±

    Doctor Chen lowered his head in thought. ¡°I should be the first person to have entered the world behind the door other than Men Nan. I¡¯ve seen many things there; it was like a nightmare. I¡¯ve only told this secret to two other people¡ªthe old director and my best friend, Doctor Gao.

    ¡°The three of us decided to seal up the door with cement, but the effect was not so good. The door would still appear, and the blood would seep through the adjacent walls at midnight.

    ¡°Perhaps because I¡¯ve been to the world behind the door, I felt like it was being possessed by something. Whenever midnight arrived, I could hear the scratching of nails underneath my bed. There was no one in the toilet from the half-open door, I could see a ck shadow in the mirror. It was facing my bed like it was trying to crawl out from the mirror.

    ¡°I was a psychology student, so when these things first appeared, the first thing I did was diagnose myself to ensure that these were not part of a hallucination. There have been cases of psychologists ending up in the psychiatric ward before, so I thought something had happened to me. However, a series of things that happenedter changed my mind.

    ¡°On the third night aftering out from the blood door, I saw a man standing outside the window, his head facing my bed. My house was on the third floor, and there was no security on the second floor¡ªthat was not where the air-conditioning machine was ced. After taking away all the possibilities, the only conclusion was that the man was at least three meters tall. The man looked at me for a long time before crawling into a family¡¯s apartment on the second floor.

    ¡°I immediately called the police, but they couldn¡¯t find that suspicious man on the second floor. With theints from the downstairs neighbor, the police brought me away to be interrogated instead. The next morning, when I was at the station, I heard the news of my downstairs neighbormitting suicide. The victim¡¯s death was very strange. His shoulders were sunken, and his expression was filled with terror.

    ¡°I suspected that the man¡¯s death had something to do with that man I saw. I told the police everything, but the police officer suggested I go for a psychiatric consultation. I remember showing him my ID.

    ¡°The police still refused to believe me. Instead, a brother at the station who looked friendly got interested in my story. Initially, I thought he was also an officer, but after a long conversation, I realized the man was just released from lockup due to impersonatingw enforcement, speeding, and so on.¡±

    Doctor Chen sighed. ¡°I didn¡¯t dare go home and tried my best to figure out a way to stay at the station. It was not until rumors about my mental state started to do the rounds at my workce that I had to leave the police station.

    ¡°After I went home, the man¡¯s shadow kept appearing at the window. I was afraid that I would be the next victim, so I directly moved to the most crowded and popted hotel in the city.

    ¡°That continued for a month. The man stopped appearing, and my life returned to normal.

    ¡°However, it was not a solution to stay at the hotel forever, so I nned to sell my old home and buy a new one in the city. Actually, I had nned that for a long time already. After paying the down payment, I contacted a movingpany in Eastern Jiujiang and nned to move some important stuff during the day.

    ¡°The new ce was fifteen floors tall, and I purposely chose the top floor. After all the furniture had been moved, it was alreadyte afternoon. I treated the moving workers to dinner and had a few drinks myself. I was ready to move into a new ce to start a new life.¡±

    Here, Doctor Chen paused. ¡°Returning to the new home, Iy in the familiar bed and soon fell asleep. At around midnight, I woke up from the chill. I curled up in the mattress, and when I turned my head to the side, I suddenly realized that there was a man in the room. I was awakened by the shock instantly. Upon closer inspection, the man in the room was the monster I¡¯d seen before!

    ¡°He was more than three meters tall. His upper body was straight, and his lower body was still crawling out from underneath the bed. There was a strange smile on his face, and his lips said, ¡®You¡¯ve finally returned.¡¯

    ¡°I did not expect that the monster would be hiding under my bed, and I ran out like crazy. I did not stop to put on my shoes as I charged out the door. I did not dare turn back to look. I ran down the corridor and cried for help, but there was no response.

    ¡°My shoulders became heavier like the monster was standing on my shoulders. Aughter came from above me, and my sight turned blurrier. The corridor seemed to have twisted, and I knew that I was about to fall.

    ¡°Resisting the nausea, I reached the mouth of the stairs. When I felt like my five senses were about to be taken over, I heard the sound of a lighter.

    ¡°A dancing me appeared in my sight, and I soon saw a man leaning against the wall of the stairs, lighting the cigarette on his lips. This man was familiar. It was the man whom I saw at the station, the one that had been brought in due to his many criminal activities.

    ¡°His cigarette burned slowly, and as the ash fell, I heard begging noisesing from above my shoulders. The cigarette burned to its end, and the monster on my shoulderspletely disappeared.

    ¡°It was he who saved me. I had a long chat with him that night. He told me about the hidden world and taught me how to close the door in the Third Sick Hall. He was the one who asked me to use his surname to do something for him in Western Jiujiang.¡±

    Doctor Chen stopped to take a sip of the water. He looked at Chen Ge and said, ¡°The man looked very simr to you, and the request he asked of me is rted to you.¡±

 Chapter 462 - Were a Family of Lawful Citizens

    <h4>Chapter 462: We¡¯re a Family of Lawful Citizens</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Looks like me, the favor he asked is rted to me, smokes cigarette, and is happy go lucky.¡± Chen Ge did feel like Doctor Chen was describing his father, but then he thought about it and realized that was not right. ¡°I am such a big helper andwful citizen; how could my father impersonate the police and speed drive? There has to be some misunderstanding.¡±

    Doctor Chen looked at the bloodied tape that was turning in the recorder, and he did notment but just nodded slightly. ¡°That is what I thought as well. Whether that was your father or not, the favor he asked was definitely rted to you.¡±

    ¡°Tell me.¡±

    ¡°For that, we have to go back to the Third Sick Hall. I followed the man¡¯s instructions, and with Men Nan¡¯s main persona¡¯s help, we sessfully closed the door. However, about half a yearter, I realized that the door was opened again.¡±

    ¡°Was it the old director?¡± When Chen Gepleted the mission at the Third Sick Hall, he had found out that the old director was suffering from cancer. He did not want to die, so he had escaped into the world behind the door.

    Doctor Chen shook his head. ¡°The director was too old, and he did not have the guts. It was Doctor Gao who opened the door, and it was him who was talking into the old director¡¯s ears.¡±

    Sighing, the emotions in Doctor Chen¡¯s eyes becameplicated. ¡°I treated Doctor Gao as my dearest friend, so I understood why he did that. If I was in his shoes, I perhaps would have done the same thing because I know how much he loved his wife.¡±

    Finishing the water, Doctor Chen described what had happened over the past few years. ¡°On how to deal with the door, there was a difference of opinion between me and Doctor Gao. I believe that the door is misfortune, an omen of tragedy, a problem that needs to be fixed immediately.

    ¡°However, Doctor Gao¡¯s opinion was different from mine. He believed that the door could be used. Emotions like despair, pain, and anger could be manipted. At the time, I didn¡¯t know he had already opened a door of his own. Due to the difference of ideals, we eventually broke off.

    ¡°In the end, when I was forcing my way to close the door, I realized that he not only had a very good understanding of the door, he even owned a Red Specter. I was not his match, so I went to the man for help. From his perspective, we probably looked like two children arguing.

    ¡°He did not ost Doctor Gao. Instead, he went into the door at the Third Sick Hall. He seemed to make an important discovery inside that world, and that was rted to hister disappearance.¡±

    Doctor Chen suddenly paused. He looked at Chen Ge as if wondering whether to tell the rest.

    ¡°Don¡¯t hesitate¡ªjust tell me everything you know.¡± While Chen Ge was listening to Doctor Chen, he had already finished the boxed lunch.

    ¡°You should have been to the world behind the door at the Third Sick Hall already, but I wonder if Men Nan¡¯s main persona has told you that the window in one of the rooms can¡¯t be closed.¡±

    ¡°Window?¡± Chen Ge thought about it. When Chen Ge recently visited the Third Sick Hall, Men Nan did appear like he had been busy fixing the windows. ¡°Yes, I do know that.¡±

    ¡°The man crossed swords with a monster behind the door, and they broke the window. I do not know what happened, but when the man left the door, there was a frown on his face. Then he asked me of this favor.¡±

    Doctor Chen stood up from the bed, and his expression was serious. ¡°He gave me three scenarios, and the favor would be different depending on these three scenarios. If you did not take up the Haunted House and chose to enter another field, then I was supposed to help you from the dark; if you took up the Haunted House but the results were not great, I was supposed to write you a letter every year with Mr. Chen¡¯s name to tell you to give up; if you took up the Haunted House and did a good job, I was supposed to find you and tell you something in person.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Chen Ge had a feeling that his parents had already predicted that he would take good care of the Haunted House.

    Doctor Chen¡¯s expression turned the most serious that it had been so far. He looked into Chen Ge¡¯s eyes and said, ¡°Do not go looking for them.¡±

    ¡°Do not go looking for them?¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes, smiling, but did not add anything beyond that.

    ¡°It¡¯s such a shame because I failed to help you and even ended up needing your help.¡± Doctor Chen did not know what to say. Chen Ge¡¯s parents probably would not have predicted this as well.

    ¡°What were they doing before they disappeared? Anything weird they have told you or done, tell me everything.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s words sounded more like an order than a question.

    Doctor Chen was afraid that Chen Ge might do something stupid, so he answered honestly. ¡°They stopped contacting me after telling me this. I know that they had been going to Eastern Jiujiang before their disappearance like they were looking for something.¡±

    ¡°If they stopped contacting you, how do you know they had been to Eastern Jiujiang?¡± Chen Ge ced his finger on the recorder, and the bloodied tape turned slowly.

    ¡°These things are easy to find out. Eastern Jiujiang was rtively quiet, but for a period before your parents¡¯ disappearance, mysterious cases of ghost arson, ghost highways, cursed hospitals, water ghosts, cursed babies, and many other things were revealed.¡± Doctor Chen shivered just talking about them. ¡°Whenever midnight arrived, something would happen in Eastern Jiujiang. After your parent¡¯s disappearance, Eastern Jiujiang became quiet again.¡±

    ¡°You suspect that those things have something to do with my parents?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m ny percent sure.¡±

    ¡°Are you kidding?¡± Chen Ge held the recorder and frowned. ¡°We¡¯ve always been a family ofwful citizens¡ªwhy would they be involved in those things? Were they perhaps dragged into a big conspiracy?¡±

    ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be the case. Eastern Jiujiang used to be quiet like it is now. There haven¡¯t been any big case or too many supernatural happenings.¡± Doctor Chen subconsciously lowered his voice.

    ¡°Something is up. After I¡¯m done here, we shall both go to Eastern Jiujiang to take a look. There has to be a storm under the calm surface,¡± Chen Ge told Doctor Chen. ¡°You can stay here for now; I¡¯ll bring you out when the night falls.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Doctor Chen sneaked a look at the recorder. ¡°I will not run away, so you can take that recorder with you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re my guest; how can I leave you here alone?¡± Chen Ge exited the room and ced the recorder by the door. ¡°If you have any demand, just tell the Red Specter. I¡¯lle back at 7 pm.¡±

    ¡°Then... thank you.¡± Doctor Chen picked up the boxed lunch and started to eat. Watching Chen Ge disappear down the corridor, he shook his head with a bitter smile. ¡°This feeling sure is familiar...¡±

 Chapter 463 - Where Are You Going?

    <h4>Chapter 463: Where Are You Going?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After moving the trash out of the Third Sick Hall, Chen Ge went to the toilet to wash his face and threw himself back into work. At 6:30 pm, the Haunted House closed down for the day. Chen Ge had Xu Wan and Xiao Gu clean up the ce while he went to look for Uncle Xu to borrow the park¡¯s van. He wanted to use it to transport the mannequins back from the workshop. When he was done with all that, he entered the underground scenario to find Doctor Chen.

    They exchanged contact details. Then Chen Ge used the ck cloth to close Doctor Chen¡¯s eyes and led him out of the Haunted House. He left the doctor in Western Jiujiang¡¯s countryside. It did not take that long because Chen Ge returned to New Century Park at almost 7 pm. Xu Wan and Gu Feiyu had already cleaned the Haunted House by then.

    ¡°Thank you for your hard work. Leave the rest to me.¡± Chen Ge epted the broom and took out his phone to call Qian Guigen.

    ¡°Boss Qian, please prepare the materials now. I might spend a whole night at the workshop to rush the first batch of mannequins.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll wait for you at the workshop,¡± Boss Qian answered easily. Just as his little shop was running out of business, it was Chen Ge who gave him hope.

    After hanging up, Chen Ge turned around to see Xu Wan and Xiao Gu, who were still standing there. ¡°Is there anything else?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the boss, but howe I feel like you have it worse than the employees? It feels like you¡¯re always working through the night right now.¡± Without the dead people¡¯s make-up, Xu Wan was cute, butpared to when she first arrived at the Haunted House, she had a maturity about her now.

    ¡°Brother Chen, is there anything the two of us can help with?¡± Xiao Gu also walked over. ¡°After all, there¡¯s nothing important waiting for me at home anyway.¡±

    The employees volunteered to work extra time, and that was quite touching for Chen Ge. He thought about it and realized that carrying twenty mannequins alone was quite tiring, so he did not reject their help. ¡°Okay, you twoe with me then. We¡¯ll try to finish everything by midnight.¡±

    Closing the door, Chen Ge hopped into the park¡¯s van and drove Xu Wan and Gu Feiyu to the workshop. Chen Ge had already done the base that morning, so he gave his employees a brief lesson and handed them work like transportation and filling, which did not require much skill. At 11 pm, the twenty mannequins were all done.

    The mannequins used the best material and were human-size. However, to save time, Chen Ge did not put make-up or clothes on the mannequins yet. The group worked together to move the mannequins into the van and back to the Haunted House. ¡°I¡¯ll work on the rest myself. You can go home now.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the time. The Haunted House would wee its third expansion at midnight, and it would upgrade to a Maze of Terror. He was afraid that the sudden change might arouse Xu Wan and Xiao Gu¡¯s suspicion.

    ¡°Boss, there are so many mannequins here. How long will it take you to carry them yourself?¡± Xiao Gu looked at the mannequins lined up in the corridor, and it did look quite scary in the dark.

    ¡°I¡¯ll need to put some make-up on them so that we can put them into use tomorrow.¡± Chen Ge thanked the two and closed the Haunted House¡¯s door.

    ¡°Do you n to do that alone?¡± Gu Feiyu still wanted to say something, but Chen Ge had already started working. ¡°So hardworking. Sess in this world really onlyes to those who work hard for it.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s a life lesson for you. Anyway, I¡¯ll see you tomorrow morning.¡± Xu Wan shrugged and left. Gu Feiyu was left alone in the park.

    Compared to the rowdiness in the morning, the park at night was dark and silent. The image of the mannequins copsing over one another appeared in his mind, and he shivered. ¡°The boss is ultimately the boss. If it was me, I would have run out after the first night.¡±

    Xiao Gu walked out from New Century Park. It was already 11:30 pm, and the bus had stopped running. His rental was quite far from the park.

    ¡°Should I call the cab?¡± Gu Feiyu reached into his pocket and felt sorry for himself. He had lived in the city for months already, but Chen Ge was the only boss who had paid him his sry. The rent and hospital had taken up quite arge amount of money. Normally, he would not even call for take-out; he had been cooking for himself to save money.

    ¡°Since I have nothing better to do, I could try walking home. I should cover as much distance as I can before I need to call the cab¡ªthat¡¯s the best way to save money.¡± Gu Feiyu plugged his earphones in and started to walk down the road. The chilly night breeze crawled through his sleeves. There was no one else on the road, and the lights on the sidewalk were getting dark.

    He walked for around forty minutes, and at around midnight, Gu Feiyu suddenly heard someone ask him for his destination and whether he would like to hop into his car.

    He pulled his earphones out and looked around, but there was no one there.

    ¡°That¡¯s weird. Did the sound came from the earphones?¡± He put the earphones back in and repeated the previous song, but he did not hear anything unusual. ¡°That was weird.¡±

    Gu Feiyu did not understand it. The lights by the street dimmed, and he walked ahead on his own. The buildings became smaller and the road quieter. He used this road when he returned home every day, but that day, something was different. He walked for another ten minutes when he reached a junction. One was the normal road that he used to head home, and the other looked so unfamiliar like he had not seen it before.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± That voice appeared in his ears again. Gu Feiyu removed the earphones and looked to the side. He realized that a bus was stopping behind him. The bus itself looked old, and it did not even have the headlights on. There were a few passengers on it¡ªthey had their faces lowered, probably looking on their phone.

    ¡°There are still buses running at 1 am?¡± Gu Feiyu was weirdly worried. He walked back to the wall, and right then, his phone suddenly vibrated. Opening it, Gu Feiyu realized that it was a bonus from Chen Ge. It was attached with a voice message. ¡°Thank you for your help earlier, Xiao Gu. This is your bonus for the overtime.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s voice was warm in the cold night. Xiao Gu was about to tell Chen Ge about the weird things that night, but before he could make the call, he turned around to look, and the bus had already driven away. It entered the road that he felt was very unfamiliar. Standing at the junction, Gu Feiyu saw the bus leave. The lights returned to normal, and he no longer felt as cold.

    ¡°That was strange.¡± Gu Feiyu did not dare to wander about anymore. He waited at the junction and called a passing cab.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    ¡°The apartment next to Ming Hwa Zhuang.¡± Gu Feiyu was still thinking about the bus. He asked the driver with some uncertainty, ¡°Boss, did you spot a bus when you wereing over?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± The driver nced at Gu Feiyu through the rearview mirror and grumbled, ¡°What is wrong with you youngsterstely? A few days ago, I picked up a passenger in Eastern Jiujiang, almost the same age as you. The first thing he asked was whether I¡¯d seen a movingpany¡¯s truck when I was driving on the road. The road is big, can you tell whether a vehicle has passed or not for yourself?¡±

 Chapter 464 - Welcome to the Maze of Terror!

    <h4>Chapter 464: Wee to the Maze of Terror!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°You didn¡¯t see it?¡± Xiao Gu turned back to look, and the buildings on the side of the road seemed to change again. ¡°That¡¯s weird; the bus was still there earlier.¡±

    ...

    Inside the dressing room of the Haunted House, after sending the bonuses to Xu Wan and Xiao Gu, he tossed the phone aside and focused on putting the make-up on the mannequins. With Mortician¡¯s Make-up, he reconstructed the cadavers¡¯ most realistic look. Their eyes were popping and filled with envy toward the living.

    <i>I should hollow out the faces for these few, maybe I can make them detachable. The face will turn and shatter when the visitors get close.</i>

    Chen Ge tried his best and worked until 2 am, when he finished the make-up on all twenty mannequins.

    By then, Chen Ge was feeling tired. He set his rm and went to sleep. He had justin down when the phone in his pocket vibrated. In his blurred state, he sought out his phone and realized that it was a new message on the ck phone.

    ¡°Congrattions forpleting the third expansion! The Haunted house has been upgraded to a Maze of Terror! The maximum number of ownable Red Specters has increased! The limitation on the number of employees has increased!

    ¡°Maze of Terror¡¯s Special Effect: Lowering of sense of direction (The rest of the special effect will unlock after the fourth expansion; it will be a process of the body and the soul being lost).

    ¡°Specter¡¯s Favored, congrattions for upgrading the Haunted House to Maze of Terror. The random unique construct won is ¡®The Screaming Door¡¯!

    ¡°The Screaming Door: When you¡¯re all prepared to scream, you¡¯ll be able to push open this door! Third expansionpleted; three-star scenario underground morgue has been unlocked!¡±

    Chen Ge woke up instantly from the sessive messages. <i>The expansion is already done?</i>

    He put on his jacket and ran out the staff breakroom. When he prepared to go underground, he realized that the wooden boards next to the entrance to Night of the Living Dead had disappeared. In their ce was a pure-ck, steel door that was carved with the faces of various baleful Specters!

    <i>This is the new reward? The Screaming Door? </i>The solid door blocked the only entrance and exit. Chen Ge walked to the door and touched the realistic carving, and the screams echoed in his mind. He held the door handle and pushed it open.

    After the upgrade, the underground scenario looked creepier. Walking in it, it felt like someone was calling his name and he was almost convinced to follow it.

    <i>There should be other hidden effects. </i>He walked down the stairs. The left path led to Mu Yang High School, the right led to the Third Sick Hall, the road forward led to Coffin Vige, and the newly unlocked underground morgue was directly behind.

    Chen Ge took a spin, and with the ck phone¡¯s help, he checked all the scare points. After confirming that there were no security threats, he returned to the ground floor to move the mannequins into the scenario.

    <i>The mannequins can house several ghosts. After they get used to this tempo, this shoulde as quite a surprise to the visitors. Oh right, where should I put the doctors? Scaring people is not their specialty¡ªmaybe I should set up a special medic room for them to stop them from running about.</i>

    Chen Ge designed the scenario, and when he was done, it was already dawn. He slept for as long as he could, and he woke up punctually at 8:15 am. He opened the door. <i>A new day has arrived. Hopefully, the visitors will love the new scenario.</i>

    He took out his phone and released the information on the new scenario on the app designed by Director Luo for the Haunted House. When this new introduction appeared in the app, it immediately attracted the attention of all the online users.

    Many were surprised at how fast Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House was expanding. Their clearing speed was slower than the boss¡¯ expansion. Many people left messages that they were going to challenge the new scenario, and some pointed out that Chen Ge really did love his job or else he would not have worked so fast to make such great quality content for them to enjoy.

    ¡°This system designed by Director Luo sure has its uses.¡± Chen Ge snapped a few pictures of the new scenario and uploaded them. Seeing the reception, he logged off. ¡°The warm reception is to be expected. Today will probably mark the return of the fervent aficionado.¡±

    Xu Wan entered the park at 8:20 am. Chen Ge helped her with the make-up, but even after Xu Wan got into the scenario, Xiao Gu was still not there. ¡°Stuck in traffic?¡±

    He tried to call, but no one answered. At around 9 am, Chen Ge saw Xiao Gu run into the park.

    ¡°Boss, I¡¯m so sorry!¡± Xiao Gu gasped for air, and his face was rather pale.

    ¡°Did something happen to you?¡± Chen Ge looked at Xiao Gu and felt that something was wrong.

    ¡°I returned tootest night and did not have a good night sleep, so I woke upte this morning.¡± Xiao Gu apologized multiple times. ¡°Boss, I¡¯ll go do my make-up now.¡±

    ¡°Okay, no need to rush.¡± Chen Ge looked at Xiao Gu, who ran into the Haunted House, and could not shake the feeling that something was off. He reminded himself to pay him extra attention.

    The park opened at 9 am. The visitors rushed in, and Chen Ge could clearly tell that the holiday wasing¡ªthe number of visitors had increased so much.<i>When the holiday arrives, the real battle between us and the futuristic park will begin. As long as we do not lose too many visitors, there¡¯s a chance we can win this.</i>

    Chen Ge had seen the inside information of the park, so he was familiar with their strength.

    In just five minutes after the park opened, there was already a long queue at the Haunted House. Some had even started lining up before the park even opened. They rushed toward the Haunted House when the gate opened.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t push!¡± Uncle Xu and the workers came to help maintain the order. Chen Ge entered the resting hall to use his phone to enter the intro that he had written for the new scenario into the screen.

    ¡°Weird noises came from the morgue, and the trolley that transported the dead bodies moved up and down the corridor. Formalin was thick in the air. To leave this ce, you need to make a choice¡ªa choice between red or white corridor.

    ¡°There is a group of immortals living under the biggest underground morgue in Jiujiang. Their eyes open when they smelled the formalin. This is thetest three-star scenario at the Haunted House¡ªThe Underground Morgue.¡±

    The intro managed to grab the attention of many visitors, but they were clever now. No one was willing to be the first test subject.

    ¡°Like usual, since today is the first day for the new scenario, the ticket price for the new scenario will be halved!¡±

 Chapter 465 - More People Could Be Safer

    <h4>Chapter 465: More People Could Be Safer</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    A new scenario was open, but no one was willing toe visit. From the interaction of the visitors on the app, they were curious about the new scenarios, but only experienced visitors who had survived a two-star scenario could withstand the terror of a three-star scenario. Every one of them was more cautious than thest; they waited for others to scout the road ahead for them and bring back firsthand information. Some who were familiar with Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House had even found seats at the resting hall to wait for the show to begin.

    <i>This batch of visitors sure iscking; they are too cowardly. None of them are willing toe forward. </i>Chen Ge took his phone and walked back to the Haunted House. After he left, the situation became excited. The visitors whispered to one another, talking about the new scenario.

    Every scenario in Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House felt very realistic; they were the boss¡¯bor of love. Three three-star scenarios, each offering a different experience. This made the visitors¡¯ hearts all conflicted. They were curious and wanted to try them out, but they were afraid of the possible scares.

    ¡°Mr. Mu, it was this Haunted House that sent Brother Wong to the hospital. Even now, he¡¯s still recovering.¡± There was a young man in jeans in the crowd, whispering to the middle-aged man standing next to him. ¡°He opened a new scenario in just a few days. I believe they have already prepared everything beforehand and are just waiting for the holidays to unveil everything to fight with us. Thistest scenario is quite possibly not thest scenario that he has prepared.¡±

    ¡°Of course, people will keep the best forst. However, it is still too difficult for New Century Park to fight with us with just a Haunted House. They¡¯re walking on the edge of the knife; it is very problematic for them to position their theme park thusly. The focus is too singr,¡± the middle-aged man exined.

    ¡°Then, should we just ignore them? Let them die out on their own?¡± The young man thought that the middle-aged man had a point.

    ¡°We cannot do that either.¡± The middle-aged man looked at the excited visitors around them and lowered his voice. ¡°One theme park is more than enough in Jiujiang. We only need to incorporate New Century Park¡¯s uniqueness into our own. Then, this ce will have no reason to exist.¡±

    ¡°Incorporate their uniqueness into our own?¡± The young man nodded like he understood somewhat. ¡°Meaning we should open a Haunted House of our own? I seem to remember Brother Wong saying something like that when he camest time.¡±

    ¡°Our technical ability is at least five years ahead of New Century Park¡¯s. We have stuff that they don¡¯t, and we can easily copy what they have. Therefore, they have technically zero chance of winning.¡± The middle-aged man had alreadye up with a n. ¡°However, before that, we have to solve a problem, which is to figure out why this ce is so popr. Based on my understanding, New Century Park¡¯s House of Horrors managed to create unprecedented poprity on the inte. The good reviews are so high that it is something that has not been achieved by other Haunted Houses before.¡±

    ¡°Understood, shall we visit the scenario that Brother Wong experienced before?¡± The young man nced at the screen in the hall. ¡°But it feels like his new scenario is quite interesting as well.¡±

    The middle-aged man considered it seriously. ¡°Xiao Lee, you are the most courageous person our team has. Today¡¯s mission will be very important. I will cooperate with you from the outside. Remember to send me all the important details.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re noting with us?¡± The young man was startled.

    ¡°There has to be someone who stays outside. I heard that Brother Wong recorded important footagest time, but unfortunately, it was deleted. We cannot allow that to happen again. After you finish the recording, send it to me immediately, and I will upload it to thepany¡¯s server.¡±

    Mr. Mu¡¯s words were very convincing, but Xiao Lee was not feelingfortable. Only when a person fainted could others delete the stuff on their phone without being discovered. Listening to Mr. Mu¡¯s n, thepany sounded like they were prepared to sacrifice him. ¡°Then, let me start with a one-star scenario.¡±

    Many visitors were curious with the arrival of a new scenario, but they werecking a leader. Chen Ge stood inside the Haunted House, observing the situation outside. He wished that he could summon some ghost to take the lead for them. It was not until 11 am that someone in the lines finally lost their patience.

    ¡°We have already visited the Third Sick Hall and Coffin Vige¡ªthe requirement to pass is to find a specific item. To find something in such arge area is too difficult. Wait for me while I go ask the boss. If the clearing requirement for the new scenario is not a treasure hunt, I think perhaps we still have some hope of clearing it.¡± The person who spoke was Yang Chen from Western Jiujiang Medical University. He had seen the introduction to the Haunted House¡¯s new scenario that morning. He had skipped school ande with two of his friends toe visit.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to try that new scenario? Boss, did forget how the three of us were sent out of the Haunted House before?¡± The one speaking was Wang Dan. He was still running that mouth of his.

    ¡°We should think this through.¡± Thest to speak was Lee Xue, the girl who looked so studious. The three of them had visited the ce before. When they visited, they happened to be with the same group as the members of the ghost stories society. After Chen Ge dealt with the members, he had given the three free tickets for their next visit.

    ¡°We came because this is a new scenario. If you surrender now, what¡¯s the point of us skipping ss?¡± Yang Chen looked at the line that was approaching the Haunted House. ¡°How about this? We¡¯ll buy the ticket first but not go in yet. When there are more than enough visitors to go with us, we can go in together. The bigger the group, the harder it¡¯ll be for us to get scared.¡±

    The two friends agreed. Under Uncle Xu¡¯s pity-filled gaze, they bought the ticket to the new scenario and moved into the Haunted House.

    ¡°Sign the disimer first. The pen and paper are on the table.¡± Chen Ge lifted his head, and when he saw it was his old customers, he immediately turned friendly.

    ¡°Boss, we¡¯re here to try out the new scenario.¡±

    Hearing the words ¡®new scenario¡¯, the smile exploded on Chen Ge¡¯s face. ¡°The new scenario has a half-price promotion today; you came at the right time.¡±

    Seeing the smile on Chen Ge¡¯s face, Yang Chen¡¯s hair stood on end. He quickly exined, ¡°We want to wait for more people before we go in.¡±

    ¡°No problem. Go and rest over there for now. I¡¯ll go get some drinks for you.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need, boss. We¡¯re not that thirsty...¡± Yang Chen still wanted to say something but was interrupted by Chen Ge.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to be so polite around me. We¡¯re family, right? I feel so close to you students from the university.¡± Chen Ge passed water to the three. ¡°Wait here, I¡¯ll go look around outside.¡±

    Chen Ge walked out and yelled at the visitors, ¡°Does anyone else want to experience the new scenario? Now, we already have six visitors registered for this session. Since this is the first time, to give everyone a chance to get used to things, I will allow ten people to go in together!¡±

 Chapter 466 - Come Together!

    <h4>Chapter 466: Come Together!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The sudden announcement from Chen Ge spooked Uncle Xu. From Chen Ge¡¯s tone, he could hear the excitement in this Haunted House boss who did not know the meaning of the phrase ¡®bottom line¡¯.

    ¡°The new scenario is very scary and is only open to visitors who have challenged a two-star scenario. Are there any courageous visitors who are willing to give it a try? We¡¯re having a half-price promotion, and we already have six participants!¡±

    Using the loudspeaker, Chen Ge repeated the promotion. With his Yin Yang Vision, he could see the interest on some of the visitors¡¯ faces.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go!¡± When most were hesitating, a young man in jeans walked out. His face was rather pale, and when he left the crowd, he turned back to share a look with a middle-aged man in the crowd.

    ¡°How shall I refer to you?¡± Chen Ge looked at the young man and nodded. With someone leading the way, the rest of the visitors were swayed.

    ¡°My surname is Lee.¡± The young man had juste out from the one-star and two-star scenarios. He really could not connect the experience that he had just been through with this smiling boss before him.

    ¡°Okay, Mr. Lee, please hold on for a moment.¡± Chen Ge picked up the loudspeaker and shouted again, ¡°We already have seven participants! We need three more, and the underground morgue will be officially open! This is an extremely meaningful day! All of the participants¡¯ stories will be written into the app¡¯s introductory page!¡±

    Finally, another group of visitors came forward. ¡°Boss, count the three of us in.¡±

    Two girls and one guy walked forward. These three were quite unique. The man was pale and very thin. He looked very polite and shy. There was arge bag on his arm, filled with food and drinks. The girl on his left wore sports sneakers, and she looked very outgoing. Her hair was tied in a ponytail, and there was a certain air about her. The girl on his right was theplete opposite of the other girl. She was only 1.6 meters tall, and she had a cute face. She looked so young like the friendly girl next door.

    The three did not look like siblings or partners. They walked to Chen Ge and started their self-introduction. ¡°We are editors from a supernatural magazine and your Haunted House¡¯s loyal fans. We¡¯ve already visited all of your scenarios.¡±

    Chen Ge had no recollection of these people, but he pretended like he just remembered them. ¡°Now that you mention it, I think I can remember.¡±

    ¡°Your Haunted House¡¯s design is very good. How did youe up with these ideas? If you have time, we have to sit down and talk.¡± The man wanted to exchange numbers with Chen Ge, and although Chen Ge initially rejected it, after seeing that the introduction of theirpany that was situated at Eastern Jiujiang, Chen Ge changed his mind. Perhaps he might run into them again in the future.

    ¡°Alright, ten people, this is perfect. What are your names?¡± Chen Ge was very polite to his customers, with a sincere smile on his face always.

    ¡°My name is Ah Nan, and this big sister is our main editor, Hu Ya. The girl on the other side is called Tails. Don¡¯t be fooled by her appearance; all the innocence is just a front.¡± The man held tworge bags, and ignoring the eye-rolling from his colleagues, he continued the introduction.

    ¡± Hu Wa <sup>1</sup> ? Tails? Those sound like pen names.¡± Chen Ge nced at the big sister. The woman was wearing sportswear, and her presence was something that radiated from within. Perhaps from her job scope of managing writers, she gave the impression that she was not to be messed with, but she looked pretty when she smiled.

    ¡°Hu Ya does have canine teeth, but why is Tails called Tails?¡± Chen Ge nced at the girl and thought the girl was quite cute. ¡°The four of you, pleasee with me.¡±

    Just as they were turning to go, someone in the crowd screamed, ¡°Wait a minute! Boss, you allowed more than ten people to enter Mu Yang High School, and this is a three-star scenario; can¡¯t you allow more people to go as a group?¡±

    The one who spoke was a man who was about 1.9 meters tall. His sleeves were rolled up, and even though the day was not that hot, he was sweating profusely.

    ¡°You also want to visit the new scenario? Sure!¡± Chen Ge preferred this type of visitor¡ªstraight forward and open with his demands.

    ¡°We¡¯re partners.¡± The tall man walked toward the Haunted house and dragged a fatty with a drawn face behind him. ¡°Do you mind adding two more people?¡±

    ¡°Even adding three more is fine! Let me tell you, there¡¯s no need to worry so much. The most important thing from visiting a Haunted House is to have fun!¡±

    ¡°Boss Chen is awesome!¡± The man gave Chen Ge a thumbs up, thinking that Chen Ge was a forthright man.

    ¡°Other visitors have said that, but I just try my best.¡± Chen Ge waved at them. ¡°Follow me!¡±

    Other visitors had justpleted their tour and were running out. Chen Ge had the six visitors wait outside while he went in to sign the disimers. Entering the Haunted House, he ran to the ghost¡¯s changing room to grabbed a few outfits. At the corner of the corridor, he summoned Ol¡¯ Zhou, Duan Yue, and Bai Qiulin.

    ¡°Wear these clothes. Make sure not to expose your heart that is dyed.¡± Chen Ge thought about it closely. After the employees put the outfits on, he ran to Yang Chen¡¯s ce to grab several disimers. Chen Ge had Bai Qiulin¡¯s group sign the disimers and then went to the door to give the disimers to the rest. After they signed them, Chen Ge collected the disimers and put them away.

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go meet up with the other visitors.¡± Chen Ge led the six visitors deeper into the Haunted House, where the temperature was much lower than it was outside.

    ¡°Give me your disimers as well.¡± Chen Ge collected the paper from Yang Chen¡¯s group. After making sure that everything was in ce, he led the twelve visitors to the scenario entrance. ¡°This is the first time that the underground morgue has been open to the public; there are many things that might not bepleted yet. If you see anything weird or aren¡¯t sure if they are props, you¡¯d better turn and run.¡±

    ¡°But wait... Boss, what do you mean by that? Is there stuff here that is not part of your Haunted House¡¯s props?¡± Yang Chen knew how scary Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House was and paid attention to every single word that Chen Ge said.

    ¡°Of course. Other than props in the new scenario, there are many surprises waiting for you.¡± Chen Ge sped up. ¡°The underground morgue¡¯s clearing requirement is different from the others. I have pasted five pictures of the victims on the wall in the central hub. You don¡¯t need to go look for them¡ªI¡¯ve already told you their location¡ªbut remember, there are only five pictures, and only those with a picture will clear the scenario.¡±

 Chapter 467 - Why Is This Place So Familiar?

    <h4>Chapter 467: Why Is This ce So Familiar?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Only five pictures? Then what about those without pictures?¡± Yang Chen felt very strong negative emotions from the rules set up by Chen Ge; this was encouragingpetition between the visitors.

    ¡°Those without a picture will just fail the scenario. Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s no punishment for those who fail.¡± The more Chen Ge said so, the more afraid Yang Chen became. This was not the first time that he had interacted with Chen Ge. Due to curiosity, he had approached the famed criminal psychological professor at his university to discuss Chen, Ge and the lecturer by the name of Gao only had two words toment on Chen Ge¡ªStay away.

    With Chen Ge leading the way, they all walked down the corridor.

    ¡°Come this way. Go down the stairs, and the entrance to the scenario will be behind you.¡± Chen Ge looked at the twelve visitors following him. ¡°I repeat again, safety first. When youe across anything weird or cannot be certain if it is a prop, you¡¯d better stay away from it.¡±

    His hands on the heavy Screaming Door, Chen Ge pushed it open. Screams echoed in his mind, and a st of cold wind came at them!

    The temperature dropped even more. The few visitors squeezed together, and Chen Ge stood at the dark entrance, smiling at them. ¡°The visitation time is thirty minutes. Have fun and good luck.¡±

    After the visitors walked down the stairs, Chen Ge closed the door. He locked the door with chains, and it could not be opened from the inside.

    ¡°Those who visit three-star scenarios have survived the trials of a two-star scenario. They have a higher stress resistance level and should be able to visit the entire scenario.¡± Chen Ge entered the dressing room and put some make-up on. He opened the door to the changing room and selected an outfit that was suitable for him. ¡°The new scenario has just been released, so I shouldn¡¯t go overboard. Some background music and the phone spirit should be more than enough.¡±

    ...

    The solid door mmed shut, and the sound of the lock moving made their skin crawl. The visitors stood on the stairs, and it felt like they were being imprisoned. A sense of helplessness rose in their hearts.

    ¡°Whenever wee here, it¡¯s like we¡¯re entering a different world.¡± The man from the supernatural magazine walked ahead. ¡°My name is Ah Nan. These two are my colleagues...¡±

    ¡°Nice to meet you, I¡¯m Yang Chen. These are my friends, we¡¯re students from Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy. This is our fourth time visiting this Haunted House.¡± Yang Chen shook Ah Nan¡¯s hand. He understood the importance of working together.

    ¡°Three editors from a supernatural magazine and three students from a medical university. With the six of you, I have a feeling we¡¯ll seed this time!¡± Therge man swiped the sweat from his forehead. ¡°My name is Fan Dade; I¡¯m a chef at New East International Hotel. This is my younger brother, Fan Chong; he just came out from a break-up and cooped himself up at home, so I dragged him out to give him a distraction and rx.¡±

    ¡°You came to a ce like this to rx?¡± The young man in jeans had a pale face. This was his second timeing underground. If not for the order from the futuristic park, he would not havee back to this ce.

    ¡°How about the rest of you?¡± Fan Dade was friendly and reliable with hisrge physique.

    ¡°You can call me Xiao Lee. I... I¡¯m a maintenance worker for robotics.¡± Xiao Lee put his hands inside his jeans. Thinking about the uing challenge, he felt like he was even stuttering.

    ¡°My surname is Zhou. I¡¯m in real estate. This is my girlfriend, Duan Yue.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou picked up Duan Yue¡¯s hand under her wrathful gaze as he patted her palm lovingly. Duan Dade¡¯s little brother hugged hisrge stomach and felt that it was warm.

    Everyone¡¯s eyes eventually fell on the thin man that was at the back of group. He had one hand in his pocket and a face that told others to not get too close to him. Sensing everyone else¡¯s gaze, he dropped his name. ¡°Bai Qiulin.¡±

    ¡°Alright, now that we know each other, let¡¯s get moving¡ªwe don¡¯t have much time.¡± Fan Dade thought that he was quite lucky. Be it the editors or the students, they were people with strong hearts.

    ¡°Wait a minute, we have something to share with all of you.¡± Yang Chen took out a small notebook from his pocket. He shared the experience that his seniors had collected at the Haunted House with everyone else. Different from before, this time, everyone was a veteran, and they knew the terror of the Haunted House, so they paid him full attention.

    ¡°This information is so important; it must have taken you a lot of time to collect it, yes?¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou nodded his thanks at Yang Chen.

    ¡°Of course, this is the precious experience our seniors gained from sacrificing themselves. Don¡¯t spread this news or upload it on the app to prevent the boss from changing things,¡± Wang Dan said. He sounded unwilling, like he thought it was a bad idea to share this inside information with outsiders.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will not leak it.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou held Duan Yue¡¯s hand as they walked forward. Thinking about the notes, he said, ¡°This Haunted House sure is scary. There is already a full notebook just on the things that people need to pay attention to.¡±

    ¡°The scarier things are still waiting for us. This time, we¡¯re trying out a new scenario, and we¡¯re the first batch of visitors. The experience of our seniors might not be able to be of much use, and we¡¯ll need to depend on ourselves.¡± Yang Chen put the notebook back into his pocket. ¡°Let¡¯s prepare to go in now. We¡¯d better switch our phones to silent mode, and do not use your phone in the middle of the visitation.¡±

    ¡°What will happen if you use it?¡± Xiao Lee was reminded of the mission that he had been given. He was there that day to take pictures and videos.

    ¡°Something scary will happen. I advise you not to try your luck. Once something happens to you, all of us will be affected.¡± Yang Chen knew that very well.

    ¡°Is it something that serious?¡± Xiao Lee grumbled and switched his phone to silent. The twelve visitors walked down the stairs and stopped at the entrance to the underground morgue. Before them was a rusted steel door, and behind it was a dark corridor.

    ¡°Why is there a room here?¡± Tails nced to the side and saw a door next to the corridor. She pushed the door open, and the room was decorated like a crime scene. Things were cluttered, and there was arge blood stain.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get separated. During the visitation, our biggest enemy is ourselves. Try to keep your curiosity in check and focus on the mission,¡± Yang Chen exined to the girl whom he saw as being younger than him.

    ¡°Okay.¡± As Tails pulled her gaze away, she saw the statue in the room blink. She was about to say something when Yang Chen and Wang Dan pushed the steel door to the underground morgue open.

    There was a wall sconce every few meters in the corridor, and the walls were painted white. There was a weird smell in the air. When Wang Dan and Yang Chen smelled it, they were shocked. This was a familiar smell.

    ¡°This smells like... formalin?¡±

 Chapter 468 - First Split in the Road

    <h4>Chapter 468: First Split in the Road</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Wang Dan and Yang Chen shared a look. As forensic students, they knew this smell too well.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this too realistic? It¡¯s just a Haunted House, but it has applied actual formalin. Does Boss Chen not even care about cost?¡± Wang Dan stood at the entrance and did not enter.

    ¡°Underground morgue, formalin, corridor that is painted white...¡± Yang Chen nced down the corridor, and he also stopped. ¡°Howe it feels like I¡¯ve returned to school.¡±

    ¡°Have you two entered your university¡¯s underground morgue?¡± Ah Nan walked over. He frowned slightly when the smell of formalin hit him. ¡°I hear that when you students attend autopsy sses, the teacher will personally lead you to collect the cadaver, so you students should be more familiar with this underground morgue, right?¡±

    ¡°Who told you medical students have to be familiar with the underground morgue?¡± Wang Dan recovered and took several steps back. ¡°In any case, I have not been to the underground morgue before. How about you ask the two of them?¡±

    Lee Xue shook her head, but Yang Chen¡¯s reaction was weird. He walked into the corridor alone and sniffed at the wall. ¡°The stench of formalin leaks directly out from the wall; this means that it has been soaked fully into the wall. This is not achievable by just sshing the wall with formalin. I now suspect that Boss Chen has broken down the morgue from some university and moved it here.¡±

    ¡°This smell is not directly harmful to the human body, right?¡± Xiao Lee looked down the corridor but refused to take the first step.

    ¡°We smell it daily, and we¡¯re just fine, right? Furthermore, this smell is really not that strong.¡± Yang Chen touched the wall and used his finger to lightly scrape the white paint. ¡°I once heard from a senior who said that the underground morgue at our school is also painted white. ording to legend, those corridors that are painted white are specifically for cadavers, while the unpainted corridors are for students and staff.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s such a story?¡±

    ¡°I thought that was a unique situation at our school, but based on what we¡¯re seeing, I guess it is the same for all morgues.¡± Yang Chen called after Wang Dan and Lee Xue. ¡°The three of us will walk ahead; no matter what, the rest of you¡¯d better stick close to us. Don¡¯t split up no matter what happens! Only by sticking together will we be able to clear this scenario.¡±

    ¡°I agree with your suggestion, but how do you suggest we split the pictures? The boss has said that there are only five pictures avable.¡± Bai Qiulin¡¯s face was drawn like the whole world owed him money. ¡°I¡¯ve visited this ce before. The boss often says the opposite. He said the pictures are not that useful, so this proves that the pictures are the key to clearing this scenario!¡±

    ¡°Five pictures, but since the three of us move together, we only need one.¡± Yang Chen made a huge concession. ¡°The aim is to clear the scenario. Boss Chen said those things probably to drive a wedge between us. Based on our understanding of the man, before we enter the central hub, nothing too scary will happen. However, that will change once we get our hands on the picture.¡±

    ¡°I also think so. Perhaps the picture is nothing but a red herring.¡± Ah Nan agreed with Yang Chen. ¡°The three of us editors are just here for the experience. We also only need one picture.¡±

    ¡°Five pictures, and the six of us have already taken two. I came in alone, so it¡¯s not too much to ask for me to have one, right?¡± Bai Qiulin looked at others, and before he finished, the chef Fan Dade spoke.

    ¡°My little brother just has a break-up. I¡¯m going to fight to get one for him.¡±

    ¡°Big brothers, I¡¯ve challenged two one-star scenarios and one two-star scenario already. The aim is to clear a three-star scenario. I¡¯m begging you to give me one picture.¡± Xiao Lee was quite helpless. He had the futuristic theme park to answer to. He hade here to look for something useful. From the sound, the picture it was cursed, but it seemed to be important as well. Toplete the mission given to him by Mr. Mu, he had to get one picture somehow.

    The pictures had all been assigned, and only Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue did not get one. The rest of the visitors turned to the two of them. With a smile, Ol¡¯ Zhou grabbed Duan Yue¡¯s hand and said, ¡°It¡¯s alright. The two of us will follow the rest of you. As long as we don¡¯t get separated, everything should be fine.¡±

    Ol¡¯ Zhou did not create an issue due to the picture, and this improved the other visitors¡¯ impression of him.

    ¡°We still have not reached the central hub yet, so what¡¯s the point discussing all this?¡± Wang Dan felt that their group would contribute the most, but they only got one picture. That felt wrong, but he did not point it out even though his tone was rather rough.

    ¡°Then, everyone, please follow closely.¡± Yang Chen walked at the forefront. The deeper they went, the darker it got. Without the aid of lighting, they needed to be within six meters of each other to see each other¡¯s faces.

    ¡°Bro, should we just give up?¡± Fan Chong stopped at the entrance. The fat on his body jiggled like he was shivering from fear.

    ¡°That would be so much of a waste since we¡¯re already here.¡± Fan Dade looked at his brother and ced his arm over his shoulder. ¡°You always coop yourself up at home. You have toe out to experience some new things. Don¡¯t just keep yourself locked up at home. I know you¡¯re not feeling the mood, but a break-up is not the end of the world, right? Life moves on.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really not staying at home because of the break-up.¡± Fan Chong sighed. He seemed to have his own secret, but since he could bring himself to say it, he had no choice but to allow himself to be dragged down to the morgue.

    The chef and the brother walked at the back, and before them were Duan Yue and Ol¡¯ Zhou. The single visitors, Xiao Lee and Bai Qiulin, walked side by side, and ahead of them were the editors and Yang Chen¡¯s group.

    The party soon reached the first split; one was unpainted, and the other was painted white. On the corridor that was painted white, blood red letters read¡ªNo Living Humans Allowed.

    The unpainted corridor, inparison to the white corridor, looked rather dark and creepy.

    ¡°The white corridor is used for cadaver transportation, so we should use the unpainted corridor.¡± Yang Chen did not hesitate and walked forward. However, he stopped once he took several steps.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Yang, what¡¯s wrong with you?¡± Wang Dan ran into Yang Chen. He followed Yang Chen¡¯s gaze, and he also stopped. The few visitors all surrounded him. In the unpainted corridor, they could clearly see a ball-like object bouncing up and down.

    ¡°Is that a human head?¡±

    ¡°Too dark to tell.¡± Yang Chen did not expect toe across something so weird at the start of their visit. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, there are many of us. Let¡¯s go take a look.¡±

 Chapter 469 - Starting Now! [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 469: Starting Now! [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After Yang Chen said that, he took several steps forward. He felt cold wind caressing his back, and when he turned, he saw the other visitors still standing where they were earlier, including Wang Dan and Lee Xue.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you guys moving? Let¡¯s go together!¡± Yang Chen was not that courageous of a person in reality¡ªhe was justparatively more rational than others.

    ¡°Based on the personality of the Haunted House¡¯s boss, the most dangerous ce is often the safest ce. Based on your earlier analysis, the white corridor is to transport the cadavers, so it should be the dangerous path, but I feel like the unpainted corridor that you chose is the real dangerous one. We cannot use a normal way of thinking to dissect the boss¡¯ design,¡± Bai Qiulin said. His voice was cold and made some of their hearts tremble, but they could not deny that the man had a point.

    ¡°Then how do you suggest we carry on?¡± Wang Dan¡¯s tone was pointed. His group of three friends had contributed the most, but they only were given one picture¡ªhe was still hung up over that.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter which path we choose; the most important thing is that we do not split up from one another.¡± An Nan from the magazine walked forward. ¡°As long as the twelve of us stick together and don¡¯t panic unnecessarily, we have a good chance of clearing this scenario.¡±

    He looked at the object that bounced up and down inside the corridor, and his expression became rather unnatural. ¡°The exploration time is thirty minutes, so we have time to go down both paths. There is no reason to argue due to a small issue like this.¡±

    Ah Nan tried to mediate the situation. Bai Qiulin looked at the three medical students like he muttered like he was talking to himself, ¡°This is just weird. Why do the three of them insist on leading us down that path?¡±

    His volume was so soft that only Fan Dade, Fan Chong, and Xiao Lee, who were standing beside him, heard him.

    With the three medical students leading the way, the twelve visitors officially entered the corridor. The lights on the wall flickered nonstop, and there was a faded smell of formalin in the air. The corridor narrowed as they moved forward, and the floor became more dirtied and stain. They had no idea what they were, and it was sticky when they stepped on it.

    ¡°Bro, should we just return and leave?¡± Fan Chong suggested again. He really did not understand why his big brother would bring him to a ce like this to rx.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be scared, I¡¯m here for you.¡± Fan Dade himself did not notice that when he spoke, his expression was nervous like he was a thief who had broken into someone¡¯s home. Wet handprints started to appear on the wall, and the ceiling above their heads seemed to have gotten lower. The tallest among them, Fan Dade, could touch the ceiling just by raising his hand.

    The few continued to move forward. After they walked another ten meters, it was Ah Nan who first realized that something was wrong. ¡°Wait a minute, we have been walking for so long, but howe it feels like the distance between us and that ball object hasn¡¯t changed?¡±

    Now that he mentioned it, the others came to the same realization. They realized that he was right. The bouncing object seemed to be moving at the same speed as them, and it maintained a constant distance behind them.

    ¡°There is still time to walk away now.¡± Bai Qiulin stood in the middle of the group, where it was the safest. ¡°You all know that is probably not some kind of ball, but a human head that is moving on its own. This has to be something designed by the Haunted House¡¯s boss, just waiting for us to scare ourselves.¡±

    Bai Qiulin seemed to have a lot of experience visiting the Haunted house. He ced his hand inside his pocket. He did not go after anyone, just exining the situation, ¡°Think about it, when we were distracted by the human head and continued to move into the corridor, what if the human head suddenly increased in speed to move toward us? Will we be flustered? If some other monsterse from the other end of the corridor then, the twelve of us will be surrounded and probably separated in the chaos.¡±

    Ah Nan nodded and agreed with Bai Qiulin. He shouted at the visitors behind him, ¡°Please remember to stick close together, and don¡¯t run off on your own. It is safest when we stick together.¡±

    ¡°It is futile to say something like that. We all know what we¡¯re supposed to do, but when the real terror arrives, the thing that decides what we¡¯ll do is not rationality but human instinct. The body will move before the brain thinks.¡± Bai Qiulin¡¯s tone was detached and straight-forward, but other people could not find a counter-argument. ¡°If I¡¯m not mistaken, if we continue to move forward, there will most likely be another split in the path, and the corridors will be more and moreplicated. The human head and monsters will appear then. The Haunted House¡¯s aim is to heighten the fear in everyone¡¯s heart, and to do that, it tries everything within its power to separate us. At the split, when people are scared, they might run down different corridors. Theyout here is soplicated that once you run down a corridor, it¡¯ll be hard to get out.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve said so much, but that is all your imagination.¡± Wang Dan was not feeling well. They were so kind to bring other visitors with them and had shared the knowledge of their seniors. They were even the ones leading the way. Yet, someone kept trying to go up against them.

    ¡°Indeed, that is just my spection, but I hope everyone will be ready when the timees. If there¡¯s a spliting up ahead, everyone must pay attention and follow me.¡± Obviously, Bai Qiulin was trying to wrangle the leadership away from Yang Chen¡¯s group.

    Wang Dan still wanted to say something but was interrupted by Yang Chen. ¡°He¡¯s only looking out for all of us. There¡¯s no need to argue over this.¡±

    Yang Chen felt unnerved. He sniffed the formalin in the air, and his eyes scanned the group of visitors. There was something that was not right. ¡°When we came to visit this ce before, something simr happened.¡±

    As they moved forward, steel doors that were sealed up started to appear on both sides of the corridor. They looked old and rusted. ¡°Where did Boss Chen get all these things?¡±

    The human head continued to bounce forward. It kept a certain distance from the group of visitors. They walked for another minute before they came across a four-way junction. The corridor on the left was painted white, and it was covered with many blood letters; the corridor on the right was unpainted, but the human head turned and entered it; the corridor right in front of them was also not painted, and there was a room down the corridor that was open.

    ¡°This ce is just like a maze; we have been down here for less than a minute, and we¡¯ve alreadye across two junctions. If we continue to move forward, it is guaranteed that we¡¯ll get lost.¡± Fan Dade had a bad sense of direction. He was thergest, but he was also the most cowardly. He kept talking to Fan Chong and Ol¡¯ Zhou to distract himself from the surroundings.

    ¡°I still say we follow the human head. First, I can promise that our seniors once said, if we get lost inside the underground morgue, we need to follow the corridors that are unpainted. They will eventually lead us out; this is the design of the morgue before it was built. Second, there¡¯s no need for us to make this into something that is soplicated. We¡¯re just here to visit a Haunted House; we¡¯re not going on some kind of exploration and adventure. In fact, this human head could very well be a guide.¡± Yang Chen believed in what he said.

    ¡°I think we should go look inside the room where the door is open. Perhaps we can find some useful clues there.¡± Ah Nan did not agree with Yang Chen this time.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care what kind of choice you make. I just want to remind all of you to not stay so long in the junction. It is very dangerous here.¡± Bai Qiulin did not look at Yang Chen or Ah Nan. Instead, he kept turning his head to look behind him, like there was something scary approaching them from the dark and eerie corridor. He did not say anything scary, but his one small motion also made the rest of the visitors turn their heads to look back down the corridor. Inside the dark corridor, it really seemed like something was moving, and there was more than one of them!

    ¡°We have been walking for so long already.¡± Fan Dadeughed drily as he dragged his little brother to the front of the group. So far, it had been the two of them who stood at the back.

    ¡°Er... I¡¯m sorry.¡± Tails, who stood next to Ah Nan, raised her hand. The girl¡¯s voice was soft, and it was impossible to tell her real age from her appearance and her voice. ¡°Have you guys discovered something? That human head keeps on moving, but I¡¯ve been looking around. There is no mechanism controlling it inside the walls, and look at its movement pattern¡ªit went up and down, up and down. That doesn¡¯t look like it was pulled along by a string.¡± Tails exined her keen observations.

    ¡°Perhaps the mechanism is hidden inside it? Perhaps the boss is giggling while he looks at us from the surveince camera.¡± Xiao Lee shrugged. He was an employee at the futuristic theme park, so he knew a thing or two about devices at the park. He knew that with current technology, many things that seemed impossible could be done

    ¡°But look closer.¡± Tails used the cutest expression to say something that made the rest of the visitors so ufortable. ¡°The degree that it moves up and down is different each time. It doesn¡¯t look like a programed thing. In fact, it looks more like an invisible person is bouncing the thing repeatedly against the ground, or the human head is moving on its own.¡±

    Before the visitors could recover from the shock of the shadowsing from the corridor behind them, their focus turned to the human head inside the corridor to their right. They looked at it long enough, and it really did feel like the human head was bouncing on its own. It bounced andughed, and the distance between them seemed so close.

    Fan Dade wiped the sweat from his forehead. Suddenly, he felt like standing in the middle of the group was not that safe anymore.

    ¡°We should ignore the human head for now. We should go straight ahead to inspect what is behind that open door.¡± Ah Nan looked at Yang Chen. ¡°Based on your spection, the human head is a guide. If that is the case, when we exit the room, it should still be here waiting for us, so there is no reason for us to hurry and leave.¡±

    ¡°I also think it is better that we check out the room first.¡± Hu Ya had been silent throughout, but when she spoke, it meant that the three editors would be following her direction. Yang Chen felt like arguing his case, but he surrendered after Hu Ya stated her stance. The beautiful main editor had a mature and warm voice¡ªit was apletely different style from Tails. In fact, she reminded Yang Chen of Chen Ge. Yang Chen felt this was a very well-hidden, ck-belly big sister and not someone he could cross.

    ¡°Then, we will do that first.¡± The twelve visitors walked past the junction and squeezed themselves before the open door. This was a wooden door, and the bottom end was dug out. The door itself was covered with scratch marks. There was a sign written on the side of the door in pen that read ¡®Paradise¡¯.

    ¡°A paradise inside theme park?¡± Yang Chen walked at the front of the door. He used his hands to touch the deep gouges on the door. Inside the grooves, there were blood stains and some brownish-ck substance. ¡°Do you think these marks were made by human hands?¡±

    After entering the underground morgue, everything that he saw was so authentic to a point where he almost forgot he was visiting a Haunted House. Pushing the door open, the room was filled with many different items. There were bottles and vials arranged on the racks. Various organ models were soaking with yellow liquid inside the containers.

    ¡°What kind of paradise is this?¡± The room was very small, and it could not fit all twelve visitors. As Ah Nan entered the room, he told the rest of the visitors, ¡°The rest of you should stay outside. Don¡¯t wander off on your own. Wait for us toe out, and we will move out together.¡±

    The three students from Western Jiujiang Medical University and the three editors entered the room. Toplete the mission handed to him by Mr. Mu, Xiao Lee also entered the room. After they entered, Bai Qiulin very naturally stood guard at the entrance to the room.

    Fan Dade, who was more cowardly, dragged his little brother and squeezed next to Ol¡¯ Zhou. ¡°The two of us should just stay here. When they¡¯re done with the search, we¡¯ll just continue to follow them.¡±

    When he finished his sentence, he turned to smile at Ol¡¯ Zhou with an embarrassed smile. ¡°We don¡¯t visit ce like this often. When we move in deeper, do you mind if we stick with you?¡±

    ¡°Of course not.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou looked like such a friendly person. Kind, passionate, and loyal. Inside the dark and eerie corridor, Fan Dade was surrounded by Ol¡¯ Zhou, Duan Yue, and Bai Qiulin. He felt safe. These three were more trustworthypared to the young¡¯uns inside the room.

    ¡°We sure are lucky this time. We¡¯ve found ourselves goodpany to party with¡ªperhaps we really can clear the scenario this time.¡±

    While the big brother was happy with their luck, the little brother had a bad feeling growing in his heart. The meat on his body jiggled as Fan Chong turned back to look down the corridor that they hade from. The lights that were attached to the walls had been extinguished. He had no idea when that had happened.

    The scariest thing was that the lights continued to get extinguished starting from the furthest one every few minutes. The corridor became darker, and the thing hiding inside the darkness seemed to be moving forward.

    ¡°It really feels like something ising.¡±

    ...

    Yang Chen, Ah Nan, Wang Dan, Lee Xue, Xiao Lee, Tails and Hu Ya ransacked the ce, and other than the dust that covered their hands, they did note up with any worthwhile discoveries.

    ¡°The haunted House¡¯s boss would not have wasted such a huge amount of energy to create a useless room. There has to be a big secret hidden inside this room.¡± Ah Nan led the two female editors to walk through the racks. ¡°This ce looks very much like an abandoned warehouse.¡±

    There were some ruined tables, chairs, and society equipment left in the corner. Ah Nan went to pick up one of the costumes from the pile. He discovered that the costume was wet like someone just had a bath and then put the clothes on. Putting the costume down, Ah Nan moved his finger to his nose, and he smelled a weird stench.

    ¡°This doesn¡¯t smell very much like water.¡± While Ah Nan was caught in his thought process, Hu Ya walked deeper into the warehouse alone. She opened the cupboard that was ced at the corner and looked through the weird paintings that were stored inside.

    Tails followed behind them. Since the path was blocked, she leaned against the printer that was by the wall. She identally hit the switch, and a rather pudgy face appeared on the printer.

 Chapter 470 - Start?

    <h4>Chapter 470: Start?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The light on the printer suddenly came on. The first piece of paper fell next to Tails. The girl, who was an editor at a supernatural magazine, had quite a strong heart. Her first reaction after seeing the sheet of paper was not to get scared but to pick it up. ¡°Did I trigger some mechanism? So lucky?¡±

    She picked up the white piece of paper to take a look. There was a rough frame on the A4 paper.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Tails looked at it for a long time but could not get it. ¡°Ah Nan,e and take a look at this. It suddenly fell out from the printer, and there is a vague pattern on it.¡±

    Ah Nan, who was researching the costume, took a look. He was confused, studying the pattern on the paper.

    ¡°There¡¯re no letters and numbers, so it shouldn¡¯t be a code.¡± Ah Nan shed his phone at it. ¡°It¡¯s just a normal piece of paper.¡±

    He used his saliva and rubbed it on the pattern. ¡°The color doesn¡¯t change; it doesn¡¯t look like it has been chemically treated.¡±

    He tried every method that he could think of, and the conclusion was that it was a verymon piece of paper.

    ¡°I¡¯ve tried all the methods I¡¯ve learned from detective novels.¡± Ah Nan handed the paper back to Tails. ¡°Why don¡¯t you keep it? Perhaps we might need itter.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Tails folded the paper. Before she pocketed it, the printer ¡®spat¡¯ out another piece of paper. It was the same size, and there was also a pattern. However,pared to before, the pattern seemed to have gotten clearer.

    ¡°Is someone controlling this printer?¡± Ah Nan opened the printer¡¯s lid to inspect it. He did not discover any problems; it was just a normal printer. ¡°This is weird. These are things that we use in everyday life, but howe it bes so cursed when they¡¯re moved inside this Haunted House?¡±

    Pulling out the printer¡¯s plug, Ah Nan ignored the second piece of paper. He was feeling nervous. ¡°We have spent quite some time here already. It¡¯s time to move on.¡±

    Hu Ya, who was at the deepest part of the warehouse, was still studying the few paintings. Her expression was off, like she was stunned by the paintings¡¯ weird style.

    ¡°Sister Hu Ya? We¡¯re leaving,¡± Ah Nan urged.

    ¡°Come and look at these paintings. They look like they¡¯re painted from the angle of the cadavers. Even I can feel the desire that is seeping through the painter¡¯s hands. It¡¯s hungering for life, like it was close to crawling out of these paintings to drag the viewers into it.¡± Hu Ya wanted to take out her phone to snap some pictures, but considering that they were inside a Haunted House, she resisted the urge. ¡°If there¡¯s a chance, I wish to speak with the artist. If possible, I want to hire him toe draw for our magazine.¡±

    ¡°If you let our art team hear that, they¡¯re going to be so pissed.¡± Ah Nan smiled. Hu Ya and Ah Nan walked out of the warehouse. Tails followed behind, and she was about to leave when the printer issued a sound, and theputer next to it was switched on.

    The sound was amplified in the quiet surroundings. Tails had been watching theputer, and she was sure that no one had touched it.

    ¡°Is the boss controlling it remotely?¡± Tails stood where she was, and her mind started to wander. ¡°The boss could not have created this space for nothing. Could the secret of this warehouse be hidden inside theputer?¡±

    When they entered the warehouse, Tails had already been curious about why the ce was called paradise¡ªthere had to be a reason.

    Herrge eyes widened as she neared theputer. The screen gave out a weak light, and the screen was still ck. However, a person¡¯s face could roughly be seen on it. Initially, Tails thought that it was her own reflection on the screen, but the more she looked at it, the more she felt that was not the case.

    ¡°That¡¯s a man¡¯s face, right?¡±

    There were many things inside the warehouse, and the ce was chaotic. The three editors were at the deeper part of the room while Yang Chen¡¯s group was closer to the door. There were some broken cupboards lying between them.

    ¡°Lee Xue, look at these organ models inside the ss containers¡ªthey are perfect replicas of the ones we have at our school.¡±

    ¡°They are even to scale.¡± Even a medical student could not tell the difference with these props, and this unhinged Lee Xue. After all, they were supposed to be inside a Haunted House, not a medical hospital.

    ¡°People that don¡¯t see human organs on a daily basis will not be able to replicate them so perfectly.¡±

    Organ models were different from mannequins. Only by splitting an actual human open would one be able to see them. Furthermore, human organs were different from animal organs. Yang Chen could confirm that all the containers there were holding human organs.

    ¡°During ourst visit, I already sensed that the boss is very familiar with human anatomy. Only two types of people will have that¡ªeither they are doctors that save lives or murderers that take lives.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been watching too many movies, haven¡¯t you?¡± Wang Dan was chilled by what Yang Chen said. ¡°The boss pays attention to details. He probably hired someone to custom make these things.¡±

    ¡°I feel things are not that simple.¡± Yang Chen moved his gaze away and headed out the room. ¡°There¡¯s a different experience every time we visit this ce. Each scenario is different from thest, but they are all so real like they have been moved from the real world into this ce.¡±

    The three students prepared to leave the warehouse. Xiao Lee held the phone in his hands, but he could not find the chance to snap some pictures. Behind him was Bai Qiulin, who stood at the door. He had one hand in his pocket and nced at Fan Chong.

    The man¡¯srge stomach moved. Fan Chong had no idea that he had already been targeted¡ªall of his focus was on the corridor. The lights went off one by one, and the rate at which they were being extinguished had picked up. It gave the impression that the darkness was moving faster. His fingers tightened subconsciously, and his eyes widened. There seemed to be shadows in the dark, and some of them looked like they were crawling on the ceiling.

    His heart raced, and Fan Chong grabbed Fan Dade¡¯s arm. ¡°Bro, careful! Something ising!¡±

    ¡°What thing?¡± Fan Dade was a rather dull person. He only started to look around when he was reminded by Fan Chong.

    ¡°Right there! Quick, call them toe out!¡± Fan Chong remembered what Ah Nan had said. No matter what happened, they had to stick together.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic, I¡¯ll go take a look.¡± Fan Dade walked to the junction. He was cowardly, but he would not show that before his little brother. He walked several steps and stopped. He reached out his neck and tried his best to look down the corridor.

    The lights went out faster and faster, and the ce dipped into darkness. Fan Dade started to panic, too.

    After Fan Dade left, Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue retreated to the back. They worked together with Bai Qiulin to surround Fan Chong in the middle of them.

 Chapter 471 - Chance to Struggle

    <h4>Chapter 471: Chance to Struggle</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The atmosphere in the corridor changed tremendouslypared to before. The people that stood at the entrance of the warehouse all turned to look down the junction. The sound of the bouncing head became clearer, and the lights went off one by one. Fan Dade, who stood at the forefront, could clearly see a human shadow standing in the dark.

    The body swayed, and the head that was attached to the shoulders looked like it could fall at any moment. There was also a pair of arms of different length. It looked like they had hurriedly been sewn on. It hid in the dark and jumped up and down on its tiptoes.

    A woman¡¯s mumbling drilled into his ears. It was soft and sad. No one could hear exactly what she was saying, but it sounded like pleading and alsoining. The content was about how she wanted to borrow something.

    Anxiety, fear, and pressure injected into their souls, and terror crawled out from the corner. Fan Dade¡¯s legs were weakening, and a chill ran up his neck like a pair of icy hands leaning out from his shirt to caress him. Sweat trickled down his forehead, and his legs shivered. All the lights in the three remaining corridors at the junction went out; only darkness remained.

    The sound of a beating heart and bouncing head slowly limated to each other¡¯s rhythm. The lights were still going off, and the light several meters in front of Fan Dade was extinguished without warning.

    The teetering body was closing in on them.

    His legs shook even more. As Fan Dade was about to turn, the light next to him went out. Half of his body was shrouded in darkness, and hisrge body was like a wall, bordering on the edge of light and darkness.

    His neck turned colder and colder. The shivers crawled up his leg like millions of ants had crawled into his clothes. His energy was slowly drained, and he tried to scream, but his throat was locked. His pupils almost narrowed into dots.

    A pool of darkness reached out from the shadow toward Fan Dade. Soaked in formalin for so long, their skin was as tough as cows hide. It stuck to Fan Dade¡¯s body, and the shadow was darkening before the face revealed itself.

    The skull was hollowed, and when it appeared, it shattered Fan Dade¡¯s mind. In that moment, it felt like his heart had stopped beating and the blood in his body ran the other way. It was something that was hard to describe. Fainting or screaming became a luxury.

    <i>Who can save me? Who can save me?</i>

    It was unclear who made that noise or the ce that it came from. Fan Dade¡¯s frame started to shake, and his skin color slowly turned abnormal.

    ¡°Bro? What¡¯s... wrong with you?¡± Fan Chong¡¯s voice appeared behind Fan Dade. It gave the man some semnce of light in the whirlpool of darkness. He was reminded of the sibling whom he had grown up with. Fan Chong had said something simr when they were young.

    The blood rushed to his brain, and Fan Dade slowly turned his head around. His face was filled with popped veins. His expression was twisted, and his quivering lips slowly opened. Standing in the darkness, Fan Dade used every ounce of energy he had to scream, ¡°They¡¯reing! Run!¡±

    His back was chilled, and liquid came out from his ears. His ears were dominated by the sound of nails scratching in the dark. He felt like the faceless monster had crawled onto his body in the dark and the hands that were dripping with formalin covered his ears.

    His mind was nk. He saw his little brother¡¯s lips open but could not hear his voice. Fan Dade screamed at the top of his lungs. He was like a spooked bull. He grabbed his little brother, who was also shaking, and ran down the corridor whose lights were still on.

    ¡°Run! They¡¯reing! They¡¯re just behind us!¡± His scalp felt like exploding, and his every strand of muscle was shaking. Fan Dade did not turn around and did not care about the other visitors; his mind was filled with the image of that face!

    ¡°Brother!¡± His arm was grabbed, so Fan Chong could not struggle, only allowing himself to be dragged by Fan Dade.

    ¡°Where are you two going? Come back here!¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou called after them. His voice could be heard by everyone inside the warehouse.

    Bai Qiulin was the first to run after them. Behind him were Xiao Lee and the medical students.

    ¡°Come back!¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou screamed again. With an anxious expression, he pulled Duan Yue to make chase as well.

    ¡°Follow them!¡± Bai Qiulin, Xiao Lee, and Yang Chen¡¯s group chased after the two. Things happened too suddenly¡ªno one expected a visitor to suddenly go insane. Fang Dade and Fan Chong reached the end of the corridor and rushed down one of the split paths without looking. Ol¡¯ Zhou was the closest to them, but after Ol¡¯ Zhou got into the corridor, he paused.

    Before him was a T-junction, and the curious thing was... there were footstepsing from all three corridors!

    ¡°Should be this way.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou grabbed Duan Yue¡¯s hand and ran down one of the corridors, but he only took few steps when Bai Qiulin held him back. ¡°Stop, we mustn¡¯t lose our stability at a time like this!¡±

    ¡°Let me go!¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou swung Bai Qiulin¡¯s aside. He could not watch their friends disappear into the darkness!

    Ol¡¯ Zhou shoved hardly, and Bai Qiulin staggered backward to knock into the wall. Xiao Lee and the medical students who followed behind them saw this clearly.

    ¡°Brother! Don¡¯t act so impulsively! We cannot chase them anymore!¡± Yang Chen said quickly. His mind moved fast, and he realized that this was a trap. ¡°Calm down, we need to calm down!¡±

    He was afraid that Ol¡¯ Zhou would run off and stopped him with Xiao Lee¡¯s help, but right then, the only light in the corridor went out!

    The whole corridor was plunged into darkness.

    ¡°Squat down and stay where you are! Don¡¯t move!¡± Yang Chen shouted.

    No one could tell what happened in the dark. The footsteps of the Fan siblings slowly disappeared, and they were reced by the wheeling sound of a trolley.

    Something was following behind the brothers!

    Thirty secondster, the light came back on.

    The group of people slowly came up from the ground. They looked at each other and saw terror reflected in each other¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°The lights went off, and two visitors disappeared. What about that trolley sound? What is chasing after the brothers? What did they see?¡± Yang Chen¡¯s mind was filled with questions. The more he thought about it, the more unsettled he became. What happened earlier was like a pail of ice water that fell on him, making him chilled from head to toe.

    All that preparation was for nothing, and the feeling of helplessness was worse than despair!

    Yang Chen gripped his hands and took in a cold breath. ¡°Are we not even given the chance to struggle?¡±

 Chapter 472 - Do You Still Want to Clear the Game?

    <h4>Chapter 472: Do You Still Want to Clear the Game?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Squat down and stay where you are! Don¡¯t move!¡± When all the lights went off and darkness fell, Yang Chen¡¯s voice echoed down the corridor. At the time, the three editors were still inside the warehouse. Ah Nan and Hu Ya were in the middle of the racks. They were walking ahead and did not realize that Tails was no longer behind them.

    The warehouse sunk into darkness, and the only source of light was the ray from theputer screen. Tails moved her face to the screen. As she leaned closer, the face in the screen became clearer. The dark frame leaned forward like a body soaked underwater slowly surfacing. She stared at the face on the screen¡ªit was bald, and due to the long soaking in certain liquid, its face was pale and white.

    ¡°These features...¡± Removing the paper from her pocket, Tails opened the paper before the screen. The clean, fair fingers fell on the paper, and Tails¡¯ eyes widened. She realized that the face on the paper was simr to the one that was showing on theputer screen!

    ¡°It was a human face?¡± She turned back to look, and all the lights outside in the corridor had been extinguished. In the darkness, she clearly saw the power light for the printere back on. A piece of paper fell down next to her. This time, there was no face on the paper; instead, there was something written on it¡ªLook behind you!

    Holding the paper with both her hands, Tails was enveloped by the fear of the unknown. Her body chilled as she squatted alone in the dark, unable to find her friends. Her neck froze, and she forced herself to not turn around. The cold light from the screen fell on her body, and her slight frame was shivering. Her pupils quivered in the dark, and try as she might, her eyes kept wandering to the corner.

    The dark screen started to ripple like water, and something underneath it was swimming to the surface. Tails did not dare to move, and she stared at the screen from the corner of her eyes. The ripple expanded, and inside the screen that no one else was paying attention to, a bloated face that was blue from asphyxiation crawled outward!

    It happened so fast that Tails could not react in time. She could only see the face charge at her. She wanted to scream, but there was no sound. Her eyes widened like they were about to pop out from their sockets. The face was still closing in on her¡ªthe neck, the arm, the upper body.

    The wet arms grabbed the helpless girl like it was trying to pull Tails into theputer with it!

    The lights in the corridor finally came back on. Ah Nan turned toward the door and shouted, ¡°What just happened?¡±

    He and Hu Ya quickly ran out. The faces of all the visitors were bad. Ol¡¯ Zhou was still gasping for air. It appeared like he too had been given quite a shock.

    ¡°Tell me, what happened?¡± There was a bad feeling in Ah Nan¡¯s heart. He scanned the group and frowned. ¡°The chef and his little brother are missing?¡±

    ¡°They ran away on their own.¡± Bai Qiulin massaged his shoulder. When he was shoved by Ol¡¯ Zhou earlier, he had been knocked into the wall.

    ¡°All of you were outside then, why did the two of them suddenly go crazy?¡± Ah Nan kept his eyes on Bai Qiulin.

    ¡°Just now, the lights in the corridor went off one by one. The little brother saw something approaching in the dark, so the chef went back to the junction to check. Then, he suddenly went insane, grabbed his brother, and started running.¡± Bai Qiulin told him everything that he had seen, not hiding anything.

    ¡°Things in the dark?¡± The frown deepened. ¡°This means that the monster in the darkness has copsed the chef¡¯s mind, but only the chef has seen the actual monster.¡±

    When Ah Nan said that, everyone¡¯s heart shuddered¡ªthe unknown was the most terrifying. Just how scary must something be to be able to scare a 1.9-meter-tall man to such an extent? The scarier thing was that the monster was still hiding in the dark, and any one of them could be next.

    ¡°Did any one of you trigger any traps while you were outside?¡± Ah Nan hugged one of his arms, and his other held his chin.

    ¡°No, we were shocked by things that happened as well,¡± Bai Qiulin said firmly. ¡°I¡¯ve already told you that the junction is the most dangerous ce and that we should not stay here any longer, but you all refused to listen to me.¡±

    He sighed. ¡°We must be under the boss¡¯ constant surveince. He is looking for opening to get us, and when he saw one, he tore at our mental health like piranhas finding food.¡±

    With the truth before them, none of them could retort. The three editors and three medical students were their own cliques. Even if they agreed with Bai Qiulin, they would not have stated so. However, Xiao Lee was different¡ªhe was an isted visitor like Bai Qiulin who had entered the Haunted House alone to challenge a three-star scenario. His impression of Bai Qiulin improved greatly. Be it in terms of logic or physical power, he was much greater than normal. Therefore, he was thinking of forming a group with Bai Qiulin so that they could look out for one another.

    ¡°I think we should listen to everyone¡¯s opinion before we make a decision.¡± Xiao Lee did not openly support Bai Qiulin, but he was on the man¡¯s side. Plus, he was facing Yang Chen and Ah Nan when he said those things, so that was clear enough.

    ¡°It was my idea to explore the warehouse. That was my mistake.¡± Ah Nan apologized, and he turned serious. ¡°Next time, before I make any decision, I willmunicate more with everyone else.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Bai Qiulin pointed toward the corridor that Fan Dade and Fan Chong had disappeared down. ¡°What shall we do next?¡±

    ¡°We should go look for them, right?¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou was kind. ¡°If we can be scared when all twelve of us are around, it¡¯ll be worse for the two of them when they¡¯re stranded.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Bai Qiulin and Ah Nan agreed. They turned to look at Yang Chen, who stood in the middle of the corridor. ¡°What do the three of you think?¡±

    ¡°I agree that we should go find the chef and his brother, but before that, I hope you all understand something.¡± Yang Chen scanned everyone there. ¡°We now have the power of agency because we can choose whatever path that we want. Once we start to go look for the two of them, we¡¯ll lose that power and be toys in the boss¡¯ hands, falling into the traps that he set up.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou was not satisfied.

    ¡°I was being very clear. If we want to clear this game, we have to try our best to go the furthest.¡± Yang Chen turned away from the corridor that the chef took to the opposite corridor and said, ¡°I suggest we move forward to find our own way.¡±

 Chapter 473 - I Will Be Here with You

    <h4>Chapter 473: I Will Be Here with You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The cleverer the man, the more arrogant he would be. Yang Chen desired a clear¡ªeven if it was just one time, it was a proof ofpetence.

    ¡°I disagree.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou was the first to reject the idea. ¡°When we came in, you said that we¡¯re all teammates, but now that something has happened, that is thrown out of your mind? Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re being a bit much?¡±

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Zhou...¡± Duan Yue smiled at the crowd apologetically as she pulled on Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s sleeves. It appeared like she was used to apologizing on Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s behalf since the man was a man filled with justice and would often run his mouth on certain events.

    ¡°I also do not think that we should abandon them.¡± It was Xiao Lee who spoke. Since he came in alone and had no team support, he was afraid that if the same thing happened to him, he would face the same issue as the Fan siblings¡ªcruelly abandoned.

    ¡°I was just stating my thought. Whatever the decision, it¡¯ll still be dependent on the majority.¡± Yang Chen raised his hand. ¡°I think we should go back to the junction and go down the other corridor.¡±

    When he finished, Wang Dan and Lee Xue also raised their hands.

    ¡°Only three, now who agrees with searching for the chef and his brother.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou was the first one to raise his hand. It was followed by Duan Yue and Xiao Lee. Three versus three. ¡°The rest of you, stop wasting time.¡±

    ¡°I have no issue with going to find the chef, but the student has a point as well.¡± Bai Qiulin gave a third option. ¡°I agree we should go look for the chef, but we cannot take the corridor that he took.¡±

    Then he turned to look at Ah Nan. ¡°What does the rest of you think?¡±

    Ah Nan had been thinking, and he turned to Ol¡¯ Zhou. ¡°We¡¯re a party, and internal conflict will only bring us down, so I also choose to find the chef.¡±

    He and Hu Ya raised their hands. ¡°Five versus three, so let us move out.¡±

    When Ah Nan was doing the headcount, he suddenly raised something. He looked left and right. ¡°Wait, where is Tails?¡±

    ¡°Is she still inside the room?¡± They all ran into the warehouse and hopped over the trash and squeezed through the racks. They searched the whole ce but could not find Tails.

    ¡°Where is she?¡±

    ¡°I swear she was just behind us!¡±

    When darkness fell, it was not two people who disappeared but three!

    A chill wrapped itself around everyone present. They stood where they were, and some were already ready to quit. They had prepared everything that they could. Yet, in just a few minutes, a quarter of the team had already disappeared.

    ¡°A living person could not have disappeared just like that! There has to be a hidden passage in this room!¡± Ah Nan had not given up. ¡°The boss would not build apletely useless space.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps Tails has discovered the secret of the room, triggered some kind of trap, and fallen into the secret passage?¡± Hu Ya thought back to where Tails was standing. She walked to the printer and stared at the power button that was flickering. She moved her eyes downward and saw the printed paper that littered the ground.

    ¡°I remember there wasn¡¯t so much paper.¡± She squatted down to pick them all up. The few earlier pictures were rough frames, but thest sheet had the words ¡®Look behind you!¡¯ written on it.

    It was three simple words, but it created a different type of terror due to the unique circumstance they were in.

    ¡°Looks like Tails really did discover something, but how did she trigger the trap, and where is this trap?¡± Hu Ya looked at the paper and then at the printer. ¡°Could it be rted to this thing?¡±

    She waved behind her, and the few worked together to move the printer away. On the wall that was behind the printer, they saw a deep tunnel that they had no idea where it led. The edges of the hole were uneven like they were gouged out by human hands.

    ¡°Tails?¡± Ah Nan screamed into the hole, but there was no reply.

    ¡°I have to confirm Tails¡¯ safety.¡± Hu Ya took out her phone to call Tails, but there was no answer. ¡°We already said to keep our phones on when we entered this ce to ensure a constant channel ofmunication. Did something happen to her?¡±

    ¡°Did she not pick up the call? Then, shall we crawl right in?¡± Ah Nan was also worried.

    ¡°Follow me.¡± Hu Ya was more courageous than Ah Nan. She turned on the shlight on her phone and crawled into the hole.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Yang Chen wanted to remind them about the danger of using phones inside the Haunted House, but he knew that Hu Ya was not going to listen to his order, so he shifted his tone. ¡°Don¡¯t make a rash decision. There might be something waiting for us on the other end.¡±

    ¡°Feel free to choose other routes, but the two of us will take this one.¡± Hu Ya was worried about Tails¡¯ safety. She picked up her phone and moved into the hole. The tunnel walls were slippery, and this lowered her speed.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I have to listen to the big sister.¡± Ah Nan was the next to follow. The few that stood outside were caught in a conundrum.

    ¡°We should follow them. It¡¯s not a good idea to get separated.¡± Yang Chen sighed. The situation had totally gotten out of control.

    ¡°Brother Bai, shall we follow them?¡± Xiao Lee wanted to butter up to Bai Qiulin, so he was very polite around the man.

    ¡°Since Fan Dade and Fan Chong¡¯s disappearance, things have been taken out of our hands, and it¡¯ll only get worse from here.¡± Bai Qiulin did not sound optimistic. ¡°We mustn¡¯t split up anymore, but we cannot stay at one spot for too long. It¡¯ll give the boss more time to set up traps and monsters. We have to try to be ahead of him¡ªonly then will we have a chance of winning this.¡±

    Then, he crawled behind Ah Nan. Xiao Lee, Duan Yue, and Ol¡¯ Zhou followed.

    There were only the medical students left in the warehouse. When they first entered the underground morgue, they had been the leaders, but now, no one was paying them any heed.

    ¡°Something is just not right.¡± Yang Chen looked at the team that wandered off, and he sighed tiredly.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Even with just the three of us, we can still do this.¡± Lee Xue consoled Yang Chen. The three wanted to discuss something else, but suddenly, they heard the sound of bouncing. They turned to look. The lights in the corridor started to go out again, and the human head moved to the entrance of the warehouse.

    ¡°We should move forward for now. We need to leave this ce first.¡± With the three students at the back, all the visitors crawled into the tunnel.

    They moved several meters before they came across some light. Hu Ya poked her head carefully out, and at the end of the tunnel were three corridors that were painted white.

    ¡°Another split? Which corridor would Tails choose?¡± Hu Ya called Tails¡¯ number again, but there was still no answer. ¡°Just what is happening?¡±

    Gritting her teeth, this main editor was starting to lose her cool.

    ...

    Tails, who was stranded, walked down the dark corridor alone. Her eyes were watery with tears as she held her phone like she was talking with someone.

    ¡°Sister Hu Ya, where are you all? I¡¯ve been walking for so long, but I still haven¡¯t found you!¡±

    ¡°I can hear your footsteps, keep moving forward.¡± Hu Ya¡¯s voice came from the phone.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Tails nudged herself forward. With one hand on the wall, her slight frame slowly disappeared into the darkness.

    ¡°Why haven¡¯t I seen any of you guys yet?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be scared, Tails. Just keep moving forward. I will be here with you...¡±

 Chapter 474 - Best Teammate

    <h4>Chapter 474: Best Teammate</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Hu Ya¡¯s voice that came out from Tails¡¯ phone was soft and gentle. It shone directly into her heart like the sun.

    ¡°Sister Hu Ya, listen to me. The ghost was hiding inside the printer. It dragged me into the hole, one that you¡¯ll be able to see once you move the printer away.¡±

    ¡°Okay, don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll meet up soon.¡±

    Hearing the sound on the other end, Tails was still worried. ¡°You have to take the left corridor! When I just exited the tunnel, there was the sound of wheelsing from behind me. I didn¡¯t have the time to think and just ran in a random direction. I only dared to call you after the sound disappeared.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯reing. Just keep moving forward. Don¡¯t be scared. Don¡¯t hang up the phone.¡± Hu Ya¡¯s voice continued toe from the phone like a kind and patient big sister. With Hu Ya¡¯spany, Tails felt rejuvenated, and she wandered deeper into the darkness.

    ...

    ¡°The phone is still not working.¡± Ah Nan stood in the middle of the split and looked at the white corridors on both sides. ¡°Which path shall we take?¡±

    This question had bothered him for a long time. The underground morgue was different from other scenarios; this ce was like an extremelyplicated maze, and they were already lost in it.

    ¡°There is no answer. The boss has figured out everything. There is probably something that disturbs the reception here.¡± Xiao Lee tried to exin it using the scientific way.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that. The signal is at its maximum, but there is simply no answer.¡± Hu Ya put her phone away and moved to stand next to Ah Nan. There was worry in her eyes. ¡°Tails probably dropped her phone when she was trying to run away.¡±

    Hu Ya had stated the most likely scenario, and it was also the exnation she gave herself.

    ¡°Then what shall we do next? Which corridor shall we take?¡± Yang Chen looked at Hu Ya, who used her phone inside the Haunted House, and he moved silently away from her. Now that things had gotten out of hand, he surrendered the position of leader and tried to be as unnoticeable as possible. He looked surreptitiously at the other visitors, and the anxiety in his heart grew. He told himself to be careful as he tried to find this source.

    ¡°There are no signs on either corridor, but they are both painted white. Based on the medical students, these are used to transport cadavers¡ªthey are roads for the dead¡ªso we¡¯d better be careful.¡±

    After Xiao Lee voiced his opinions, he turned to look at Bai Qiulin. He probably wanted to get Bai Qiulin¡¯s support, but thetter had not been paying him any attention.

    ¡°We¡¯ll need to take a gamble.¡± Hu Ya and Ah Nan shared a look and chose the left corridor without consulting anyone else. ¡°Tails¡¯ phone is still ringing, but no one is answering, so she should have dropped it somewhere. There has to be something scary chasing her for her to do something like this. It is probably that trolley that was moving about. Under the circumstance, she will definitely choose the path closest to her, and the corridor on the left is rtively close.¡±

    ¡°Your analysis sounds more like a self-persuasion; it doesn¡¯t hold any water.¡± At the end of the day, Yang Chen was young, and he disagreed due to the flimsy analysis. ¡°What if the thing that chased Tails came from the left corridor? In that case, she would have taken the right corridor, and if we go down the left corridor, we will run right into those monsters.¡±

    ¡°Inparison, the possibility of Tails entering the left corridor is higher, and that is enough for me.¡± Hu Ya and Ah Nan entered the left corridor without waiting for the rest. Since the two editors had already made their move, to ensure that the team stuck together, as unwilling as Yang Chen was, he had to follow. A team of twelve had already dwindled down to nine; if they split up further, it would only get worse for them.

    Sighing, Yang Chen realized that he could not understand the boss anymore.<i>Based on my understanding of the boss, the real terror of this scenario will ur after we obtain the picture. Everything so far is just an appetizer.</i>

    However, when he followed that train of thought, Yang Chen could not help sweating. Since the team was already having so much internal conflict at the very beginning, if this continued, perhaps they would be fully taken down before they even saw the pictures.

    <i>The boss is too insane; he didn¡¯t even give us a chance to win! </i>Yang Chen sighed internally, but his expression did not change. He was afraid his emotions might affect other people.

    <i>We mustn¡¯t depend on other people, at a time like this¡ªwe have to put ourselves first.</i>

    Yang Chen turned to look. This batch of visitors had moved into their own cliques. The two editors moved at the front, Bai Qiulin and Xiao Lee were in the middle, and Ol¡¯ Zhou as well as Duan Yue followed at the back.

    <i>The two editors have already lost their rationality, and they are too stubborn. Bai Qiulin is too arrogant, and I have a feeling that he is still hiding something. </i>Yang Chen looked around, and eventually, his eyes fell on Ol¡¯ Zhou. <i>The couple is kind. The husband upholds justice, and the wife is gentle and soft. These two are perfect teammates; I have tomunicate more with them.</i>

    Yang Chen whispered something to Lee Xue, and he slowed down to walk to Ol¡¯ Zhou. Noticing Yang Chening over to him, Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s guard went up. He still remembered how cold Yang Chen had been when the chef and his brother disappeared. He did not give Yang Chen any face. Since Yang Chen could abandon the chef, then in the future, he could abandon them too.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou had a drawn face, but Duan Yue kept apologizing on his behalf.

    Yang Chen lowered his voice to apologize to Ol¡¯ Zhou. He exined his situation and analyzed the situation to Ol¡¯ Zhou, and finally, Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s expression softened. However, when Yang Chen brought up the possibility of a cooperation, Ol¡¯ Zhou denied it without giving it much thought. Duan Yue beside him asked why, and Ol¡¯ Zhou answered in a voice loud enough for Yang Chen to hear, ¡°Cooperating with them is simr to asking a tiger for its skin. We¡¯re not as cunning as them¡ªwe¡¯ll only be taken advantage of.¡±

    Duan Yue nodded like she understood what her husband was saying. Yang Chen could only smile awkwardly. However, hearing Ol¡¯ Zhou say that, he was even more certain that he needed to get Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s cooperation.

    For some reason, the anxiety in his heart grew like the danger was just next to him, perhaps even hidden among the visitors. Therefore, he needed to work together with others to prevent idents.

    As Yang Chen tried to persuade Ol¡¯ Zhou, the corridor that they were walking on changed. The formalin in the air thickened, and drafts of cold wind came out from an open steel door that was at the end of the corridor.

 Chapter 475 - The Sound in the Morgue

    <h4>Chapter 475: The Sound in the Morgue</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Tails?¡± Hu Ya walked at the front of the team. She yelled into the half-open steel door, but there was no reply. ¡°I¡¯ll go take a look.¡±

    The light on the door gave off a weak, yellowish glow. Hu Ya moved forward alone. She leaned against the wall and slowly moved toward the door. The door was covered in rust, and something that looked like blood was flowing down it. ¡°What is this room used for?¡±

    Hu Ya moved her feet to nudge forward one more step. She leaned her body forward and adjusted her head to nce inside the room without touching the door. However, before she got a close look, a drop of liquid fell from the ceiling and hit the back of her hand. It was sticky, kind of like blood, but it was mixed with something else that gave off a strange stench.

    ¡°It¡¯s leaking?¡± She slowly raised her head when the lights around them dimmed, and the steel door vibrated.

    ¡°Be careful!¡± Yang Chen shouted, and the lights in the corridor started to go off again. They went off very fast like a hungry beast dashing at them!

    Without giving them a chance to prepare, darkness swallowed everything.

    ¡°Squat down now! Stay where you are!¡± Yang Chen was agitated, but there was no better solution. <i>When the lights went offst time, three people disappeared. How many will disappear this time?</i>

    The whole corridor was thrown into darkness, and it was so quiet that they could hear the breathing and beating hearts of the people next to them. Everyone was squatting on the floor, and nobody moved. In the dark, the wind picked up, and a blurry shadow could be seen teetering at the end of the corridor before disappearing. It felt like it had joined their ranks.

    Time dragged on, and the heartbeat echoed in their ears. Combined with the creepy background music, the fear in their hearts was amplified.

    Creak...

    An ear-scratching sound came from Hu Ya¡¯s direction. The door before her had been pushed open. ¡°Who would open the door at a time like this?¡±

    As the steel door opened, formalin filled up the air. A different sound now echoed in the corridor.

    Tik tok, tik tok...

    It was the sound of water dripping. It dropped from a high position and fell against the ground. The sound neared Hu Ya before stopping in front of her. In the dark, no one could see anything, but the dripping sound kepting.

    ¡°The thing is just standing next to me.¡± Hu Ya¡¯s palm was soaked with sweat as an indescribable pressure swallowed her. She gathered her courage and raised her hands to reach forward, but she touched nothing but air.

    ¡°It should be here; the sound came from here.¡± Hu Ya was certain, and her hands continued to reach forward.

    Tik tok...

    Another drop fell, and this time, it fell on her arm. ¡°I couldn¡¯t touch it, and it is moving and dripping. Could it be... that it¡¯s above me?¡±

    Her eyes had gotten used to the darkness. Hu Ya lifted her head and saw a humanoid shadow attached to the ceiling above her. It was leaking like it had just crawled out from a pond. Its four limbs were attached to the ceiling like a lizard, and its skull dangled downward. Its empty skull hung just above Hu Ya¡¯s head like it was preparing to bite away her face!

    ¡± <strong>What is this! </strong>¡± Hu Ya¡¯s half-squatting body went numb, but her mind was moving fast. The woman¡¯s courage should have been the greatest among all the visitors.

    ¡°It¡¯s above me!¡± Hu Ya screamed. She grabbed the phone in her pocket and flung it at the spot above her head.

    The phone hit the wall, and a sh of light appeared behind Hu Ya. Ah Nan turned on the shlight on his phone. The light came on, and the monster on the ceiling ran away in response. All they could see was the shadow slithering away.

    ...

    The sound of the trolley became clearer. Fan Dade and Fan Chong could not move anymore. The two of them had already lost all sense of direction. They were not hoping to clear the scenario now¡ªthey just wanted to get rid of the thing following them.

    ¡°Quick,e in here!¡± The two of them ran into a white corridor, and they saw a half-open steel door. The words ¡®Morgue No. 2¡¯ were written on it. Without stopping to take a look, Fan Dade dragged Fan Chong into it and mmed the door shut.

    ¡°Bro, slow down.¡± Fan Chong struggled loose from Fan Dade¡¯s grasp. He gasped for air and leaned against the wall as he slid down to the ground. He had not done such intense exercise for so long. Several secondster, the sound of the wheel passed by the door and disappeared.

    ¡°We¡¯re saved.¡± Fan Dade was soaked in sweat like he had just been pulled out of water. His legs were weak, and he copsed to the ground. ¡°That was too tiring. I need to rest.¡±

    Fan Chong did not expose his big brother for his stubborn lips. He sat next to his brother and added, ¡°Why did we have to do this,ing to the Haunted House to find trouble for ourselves? We¡¯re a family of cowards, so why do this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s that attitude of yours that makes me want to do this. No one is born a coward; plus, the reason we¡¯re here has nothing to do with Mom and Dad. It¡¯s purely because I want you toe out to take a walk. Don¡¯t just stay at home to y those games; a little exercise is good for you.¡±

    ¡°Bro, that is more than just a simple game.¡± Fan Chong thought about it and decided toe clean. ¡°That game, ording to legend, is made by a killer, and the evidence of his child abuse cases are hidden inside it. However, no one has been able to solve it.¡±

    ¡°Stop finding excuses. I¡¯m your old brother¡ªdo you really think that I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re going through?¡± Fan Dade shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s just a break-up. If you lose this one, there¡¯s always a next one.¡±

    ¡°Who told you all that?¡± Fan Chong was toozy to argue with his brother. ¡°I¡¯m not going to waste time arguing with you. We¡¯re not going to clear this scenario. We¡¯ll just stay here for thirty minutes and wait for the boss toe save us.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not so nice, right?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong about that? No matter what, I¡¯m not leaving this ce again.¡± Before Fan Chong finished, the row of freezers that lined the walls suddenly issued a sound. His whole body shivered from the shock. ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t know, but it sounds like it came from the freezers.¡± Fan Dade crawled up from the ground. The brothers leaned against the door and were panicking.

    ¡°I think we should just stand here. As long as we don¡¯t trigger the trap, nothing wille out.¡± The sweat covering Fan Chong had not gotten the chance to dry before new sweat appeared.

    ¡°You have a point.¡± Neither of them had the courage to get close to the freezer, but the thing inside the freezer did not seem like it was going to let them go.

    The light in the room flickered, and one of the freezers elicited the sound of nails scratching on the metallic door. It sounded like the thing was looking for an opening to crawl out.

 Chapter 476 - A Recurring Nightmare?

    <h4>Chapter 476: A Recurring Nightmare?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Something was trying to get out of the freezer. The nails scratched at the edges of the door like the thing inside was slowly searching for the mechanism that would unlock the door. The spine-tingling sound echoed in their ears. The thing inside the freezer scratched for a long time until it became agitated, and the brothers could hear the sound of low breathing like it was getting frustrated.

    ¡°Bro, did you hear that sound?¡±

    ¡°I did. It should be the worker that is hiding inside the freezer. He¡¯s waiting for us to go closer the freezer, and then he¡¯ll jump out to scare us.¡± Fan Dade tried his best to remain calm. ¡°This is a used and worn trope¡ªthere is no need for us to get panicked over this.¡±

    ¡°No, I was more focused on something else.¡± Fan Chong was clearly the thinker in the family. ¡°Have you noticed just how good the actors of this Haunted house really are? It¡¯s like they¡¯re really living the character they¡¯re given.¡±

    Fan Dade was reminded of the faceless monster that was hiding in the dark, and the hair on the back of his arms stood. ¡°Now that you mention it, yes.¡±

    ¡°There is often not device installed on the inside of the freezer to unlock the door. After all, this is a storage room designed for the dead.¡± Fan Chong listened to the breathing sound that came from inside the freezer, and his heart pumped very fast. ¡°The sound of nails scratching against the door earlier sounded like the deading back to life. It failed to find the device to open the door, and because of that frustration, its breathing became heavier. This is a valid and understandable process to make it feel like there is a really a monster that hase back to life currently trapped inside the freezer.¡±

    With a bitter smile on his face, Fan Chong reached out to grab the door handle. ¡°If my spection is not wrong, the monster inside the freezer will adopt a more stringent method to try to escape. For example, ramming into the door to create a louder noise. Then, it will not only attract the other monsters roaming the corridors toe attack us, it will also tip off the other monsters that might be residing in this room. In that case, if we are surrounded on both sides, it really will be over for us.¡±

    ¡°Then what good suggestion do you have? I will listen to you, little brother.¡± Fan Dade was a chef. Even though his little brother was not that physically strong, Fan Chong was much brighter than him.

    ¡°Those familiar with escape and survival games will know there is a hidden rule to this sort of game, and that is to not stay at a fixed location for too long. This rule is particrly written to target those cowards who try to hide in one ce for the entirety of the game. It will ruin the fun.¡± Fan Chong rubbed the sweat away from his forehead. ¡°New Century Park¡¯s House of Horrors is famed on the inte for their scares. The Haunted House¡¯s boss is also said to be familiar with psychology and has a sadistic streak about him. I am one hundred percent certain that he will have simr rules set up inside his Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°In other words, you suggest we leave this ce soon?¡± Fan Dade was feeling regretful. If he had known this would be the situation that they found themselves in, he would not have run so fast earlier. Now that they had been separated from the rest of the group, things were not looking so good for them.

    ¡°Not soon but now.¡± Fan Chong did not dare to stay there any longer. ¡°We have to leave now since the monster inside the freezer is still stuck inside, and the sound of the trolley has wandered away.¡±

    ¡°We should leave now?¡±

    ¡°Yes, this should be the only chance that the Haunted House¡¯s boss is going to give us. If we miss this, we¡¯lle head to head with a scarier existence.¡±

    When Fan Chong said those things, the breathing inside the freezer picked up, as did the sound of scratching. The thing inside the freezer fought with desperation like it was going to die from ack of oxygen. The nails snapped, and blood leaked out from the edges of the door. The monster inside the freezer seemed like it was in great pain, and its emotions were fraying. There was a sudden loud bang against the door¡ªit sounded like someone had used their head to m into the steel door.

    Fan Dade and Fan Chong¡¯s hearts both squeezed with that loud bang. The brothers looked at one another, and they both realized that what Fan Chong had predicted earlier was slowly bing reality.

    ¡°We have to leave now!¡± Almost at the same time as Fan Chong said that, the sound of the trolley returned to the corridor.

    ¡°I knew it.¡± Fan Chong ultimately had underestimated the terror of the Haunted House¡¯s boss. The man had indeed given them the chance, but the chance was only several seconds long.

    ¡°What should we do now?¡± The sound of the trolley wheelsing from the corridor triggered the scary memories in Fan Dade¡¯s mind. He leaned against the door and peered out. He was just in time to see the lights in the corridor going out one by one until the whole corridor fell into darkness, and only the sound of the wheels could be heard.

    This symbolic cart inside the corridor was slowly moving forward, and the freezer inside the morgue kept making sounds. The scariest thing was, initially, it was only the first freezer that made the sound. However, it seemed as if the activity had started to spread, and the two freezers next to it started toe alive with activity.

    Their hesitation was dragging on; Fan Dade and Fan Chong still had note to a decision. At this crucial moment, the two looked at one another, and they saw panic reflected in each other¡¯s eyes. They were only there for a Haunted House visit¡ªwho would have thought they would need to make a decision as scary as this?

    The sound of the wheels came closer and closer, and the speed did not slow down. Fan Chong and his brother had already given up on resistance. They prayed silently in their hearts, hoping that the monster outside the door would not notice them and give them a second chance to try again.

    Ten secondster, the two brothers¡¯ faces paled considerably. The miracle that they had hoped for did not appear. The sound of the wheels suddenly disappeared when it passed Morgue No. 2. This meant that the trolley had probably stopped outside the door!

    Cold droplets of sweat slid down their faces. The monster that had been chasing after them was finally going to reveal its real identity. Fan Chong and Fan Dade leaned against the door. The two did not even dare to breathe too loudly as they focused on the situation outside the door.

    Several secondster, there was still no sounding from the corridor. The trolley seemed to have disappeared into thin air, and everything was in Fan Dade and Fan Chong¡¯s imagination.

    ¡°The thing has left?¡± Fan Chong pressed his ear to the door and listened intently.

    ¡°Shall we go out to take a look?¡± The freezers behind him started to shake. The monsters kept using their heads to knock into the doors. kes of rust on the old freezers continued to fall. Fan Dade was really worried that something might crawl out from the freezers and charge at the both of them. He curled his five fingers around the door handle and slowly pushed down. The spring turned in the lock, and just as it was about to spring open, something from the corridor mmed heavily into the morgue door!

    Bang!

    The heavy collision caused Fan Dade to loosen his grasp on the door immediately, and he jumped back several steps. ¡°That thing is still outside!¡±

    The IQ of the monster outside the door was not lower than a normal human. After the ambush failed, it had given up on stealth and started to ram against the door like its life depended on it. The door rattled endlessly, and the freezers behind them shook. Fan Dade stood in the middle of the room, and the veins on his neck popped due to the rush of blood all over his body. He did not know where to hide, and his body started to get weakened. He subconsciously teetered backward.

    ¡°Bro, don¡¯t go there!¡± However, Fan Chong¡¯s warning was toote.

    The blood flowed down the wall from the edges of the door. When Fan Dade was several meters away from the freezer, the old freezer door burst open, and a bloody face rushed out. It had both of its arms open like it was trying to hug Fan Dade and then drag him into the freezer.

    His whole body was swallowed by the sense of chilliness. The cold rushed to his mind. Before he could figure out a solution, his body already carried him forward. All the freezers in the room started to move, and the blood continued to leak. The whole room looked like it was going to be dyed red.

    ¡°Go! Go now!¡± If they were trapped there, then it would be over. Fan Dade and Fan Chong ran toward the only exit. They pulled on the door handle and pushed the steel door open. Before the two managed to run out, several shadows rushed at them from the dark. Each of them had weird expressions like they were wearing faces that did not belong to them.

    ¡°Go, run!¡± Fan Dade screamed. He tightened his fist, and the man who was about 1.9 meters tall decided to fight it out with these monsters!

    His mouth issuing some weird noises and voices that he could understand, Fan Dade charged at the monsters. However, before his fistnded on them, something that he would remember for the rest of his life urred. The human faces slowly started peeling! This was the first time in his life that he had seen something like this. He did not even know that human faces could peel and fall!

    ¡°What the f*ck is this?¡± This was beyond his expectations and his threshold for terror. The courage that he summoned earlier dissipatedpletely. He wanted to run back into the room, but when he turned to look, he had a renewed understanding of the term ¡®despair¡¯.

    The freezers inside Morgue No. 2 had all been forced open, and the monsters with the shape of humans had crawled out from their containers. The smell of formalin crawled into his nostrils and refused to leave. His sight was slowly swallowed by the color red. Surrounded by the monsters, Fan Dade and Fan Chong lost consciousness and crumbled to the ground.

    Half a minuteter, all the monsters returned to their hiding spots like the nightmare earlier was just an illusion. If not for Fan Dade and Fan Chong, who were foaming at the mouth, lying unconscious on the ground, no one would have realized that something so terrifying had happened there minutes ago.

    Time slowly ticked by. At the end of the corridor, several ¡®people¡¯ wearing white coats slowly walked over. ¡°I kinda pity them.¡±

    ¡°Me too. We are not used to seeing these things, much less them, and we¡¯re ghosts.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a good idea to dump them here. We should try to resuscitate them.¡± One of the doctors moved his ear close to Fan Dade and Fan Chong¡¯s nose to listen for their breathing. Then, he checked both of the men¡¯s pulses. ¡°The physical condition is not bad, and there is no sign of heart issues. Still rescuable.¡±

    ....

    Five minutester, Fan Chong slowly opened his eyes, and the sight of his world gradually cleared. ¡°Where the hell am I?¡±

    There were no monsters or dead bodies around them. He wobbled up to a standing position, and everything that had happened earlier rushed back to his mind.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t I already fainted?¡± He held the wall and looked around him. He realized that he was still locked inside Morgue No. 2.

    The sound of nails scratching the doors came from the freezers, and the sound of wheels returned. The show looked like it was going to restart.

    ¡°Wait, this isn¡¯t right! Did I forget something? Haven¡¯t I already experienced this?¡±

 Chapter 477 - Bro, Wake Up!

    <h4>Chapter 477: Bro, Wake Up!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Bro, wake up!¡± Fan Chong shook Fan Dade¡¯s shoulders. After a while, Fan Dade finally woke up.

    ¡°Where are we?¡± His eyes focused. Therge, well-built Fan Dade was lying on his side on the ground, and he looked so weak. Seeing his brother in this state, Fan Chong¡¯s lips moved, and he had no heart to answer his brother¡¯s question.

    ¡°Have we been moved out of the Haunted House by the workers?¡±

    Fan Chong did not say anything for a long time, and he looked like he was possessed. Fan Dade realized that something was wrong, and he struggled upward to look around. The steel door, freezer, and the sound of wheels that crawled into his ears. The d¨¦j¨¤ vu feeling stunned Fan Dade. ¡°This scenario... Haven¡¯t we been through this already?¡±

    The sound of nails scratching became clearer as well as the breathing sounding from the freezer. Without the answer from Fan Chong, Fan Dade already knew what was happening. The trolley whipped past with the wind and stopped at the door. The freezer doors were pushed open, and blood spilled out. A greater number of monsterspared to before crawled out. His legs weakened, and Fan Dade¡¯s hands starting to shake as he leaned against the morgue¡¯s door.

    The door behind him kept being mmed into, and his body shook alongside the door. Fan Dade felt like his skeleton was about to break.

    ¡°Stop! This is too much! I just woke up! I just f*cking woke up!¡± Fan Dade felt like crying, but inparison, Fan Chong was much calmer. For someone smart, he knew not to make the same mistake twice. Wiping away the cold sweat, Fan Chong copsed to the ground like his legs were cramping. He fell down next to Fan Dade.

    ¡°Bro, if you wake up first from the shockter, remember not to wake me up and let me sleep a little longer.¡± With that, Fan Chong closed his eyes and ¡®fainted¡¯. Before Fan Dade realized what was happening, the lights in the room went out.

    ¡°Bro, Xiao Chong? Fan Chong?¡±

    The door to the morgue was sted open, and Fan Dade was surrounded by several shadows. The whole underground scenario was filled with Fan Dade¡¯s screams.

    ...

    Half a minuteter, the light came back on, and the corridor returned to normal. The shadows had dissipated, and Fan Dade¡¯s eyes were gyrating wildly next to the wall; the man could no longer produce anymore white foam.

    Facing the ground, Fan Chong, whoy next to Fan Dade, slowly opened his eyes. While he was scared, there was also a trace of excitement in his heart.

    ¡°The monsters will not attack us if we y dead? No, probably because my brother has attracted all the aggression.¡± Thinking back to what happened earlier, Fan Chong¡¯s scalp was dull. ¡°I have to leave this ce as soon as possible; any ce is better than here.¡±

    He forced himself to stand up and went to shake Fan Dade¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Bro, wake up! Hey!¡±

    Fan Dade did not respond, and Fan Chong was getting nervous. He dragged Fan Dade¡¯s shoulders using both of his hands, wanting to carry him on his back. He just pulled Fan Dade up when he heard a sighing from the end of the corridor.

    ¡°Fainting spell due to fear is categorized as sudden fainting. The first thing you need to do is toy him t on the ground to ensure a constant flow of air and then conduct cardiac resuscitation. Moving his body like what you¡¯re doing now is not good for him.¡±

    This was an unfamiliar voice that did not belong to the other visitors. Fan Chong could not clearly hear what the person said. When the person said the first sentence, he released his grip and copsed to the ground. Fan Dade¡¯s body also fell, and the two brothersy dead in the middle of the corridor.

    The person did not expect that his kind reminder would cause the man to faint. Several secondster, the lights dimmed, and a cold draft picked up in the corridor. Four doctors wearing white coats, masks, and gloves walked over. They were covered so tightly that their faces could not be seen.

    ¡°Why did he faint? Wasn¡¯t he perfectly fine earlier? Perhaps his mental state was too tense.¡±

    ¡°Thisrger man is physically not bad; the skin is not bruised after so many falls. Thest time we had a patient like this, it was in Autopsy Room 7. It was a building site worker; it was quite a breeze when we had to remove the body fat.¡±

    ¡°Stop wasting time, we need to rescue them first. Leaving them lying in the middle of the road like this is too dangerous.¡±

    One of the kind doctors went to help Fan Dade while the others surrounded Fan Chong. The wind that touched his skin was cold, but Fan Chong could not stop himself from sweating.

    <i>I seem to be surrounded, what should I do? What would a normal person do in a situation like this?</i>

    There was a cold touch on his neck, and one of the doctors gasped. ¡°But he¡¯s fine. Why has he fainted?¡±

    ¡°His heart is moving so fast; he should be acting.¡±

    ¡°Then, doesn¡¯t it mean that he has seen us? How about we...¡± When the doctors were discussing, Fan Chong on the ground silently opened his eyes slightly, and he happened to look into the sharp gazes of the few doctors.

    ¡°So, he is acting.¡± The leading doctor looked to be the youngest, but he was also the scariest. ¡°I hate people who rely on tricks the most.¡±

    Fan Chong¡¯s face jiggled as he smiled an embarrassed smile. His fatty hand pressed against the floor as he tried to sit up. ¡°I¡¯m surprise that this Haunted House has its own group of doctors. This is so rare even internationally. No wonder this is the best Haunted House in Jiujiang.¡±

    He nced at the doctor who was saving his brother. No matter how he looked at it, there was something weird about the whole thing, but he could not tell what. His body temperature dropped as he was surrounded by the group of doctors. Fan Chong forced himself to reveal a happyugh. ¡°In that case, I won¡¯t disturb you anymore. Please continue.¡±

    He pushed his hand into his pocket, and his finger glided on the phone disy. He leaned backward. He did not even want his brother anymore. At a time like this, he needed to save himself.

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± The group of doctors spoke at the same time, and their eyes focused on Fan Chong¡¯s hand that was inside the pocket. Fan Chong knew that things were getting worse, and he moved faster. After he turned a corner, he realized that it was a dead-end, and the only exit was blocked by the doctors.

    ¡°You¡¯re overly obese, and your heart rate is irregr after multiple scares. We have professional equipment, so I hope you¡¯ll cooperate with us to conduct an examination.¡± After he finished, the doctor turned to ask with uncertainty, ¡°We do have the equipment, right?¡±

    ¡°You want to help me treat my illness?¡± Fan Chong grabbed his phone and slowly got close to the doctor. When he was one or two meters away, he suddenly picked up speed. ¡°Thank you for your kindness, but I¡¯m fine¡ªthere¡¯s no need for you to worry about me!¡±

    Fan Chong¡¯srge body rammed into the group of doctors. He knew that he could not stay. He needed to fight his way out. His arms iled about and brushed against the doctors¡¯ coat. Fan Chong felt like his fingers had hit something.

 Chapter 478 - Exposed

    <h4>Chapter 478: Exposed</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Fan Chong¡¯s iling arm hit the leading doctor. He had no idea what he had brushed up against, but it felt wet. <i>The doctors¡¯ coats are all wet?</i>

    Fan Chong nced out of the corner of his eye. The spot where Fan Chong had hit the doctor sunk underneath the skin, and it did not return to normal after a long time. <i>What happened to his neck?</i>

    It was quite a scary scene. The doctors were wrapped up in their uniform, but only his neck had sunk downward. It looked very irregr, like the uniform was holding not a person but a muddy statue.

    The uniform moved, and the cor split open a small slit. A heavy mist of formalin leaked out, and it caused Fan Chong¡¯s eyes to water.

    ¡°Spirited and rambling,plete with irregr actions. These are early signs of mania. Looks like you are seriously ill.¡± The leading doctor¡¯s cor slowly returned to normal. He shared a look with the two other doctors. ¡°Detain him. We have to perform a full physical examination for him.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sick!¡± Fan Chong was feeling despair. At other people¡¯s Haunted Houses, at most, he would be scared until he fainted, but this Haunted House would recover them after fainting. He did not understand why people with such good medical skill woulde to this Haunted House to be actors. ¡°I¡¯m really not sick, don¡¯te any closer!¡±

    Hearing the yells from Fan Chong, the leading doctor shook his head. ¡°Whether you¡¯re sick or not is not dependent on you but the doctor. If you don¡¯t believe us, you can go to the nearest hospital to have it checked out.¡±

    ...

    Fan Chong¡¯s screams echoed throughout the underground scenario. All the visitors who heard it shivered uncontrobly and turned to look at the direction where the screams came from.

    Xiao Lee squatted on the ground and whispered to Bai Qiulin next to him, ¡°This person sounds familiar.¡±

    ¡°Looks like something has already happened to Fan Chong and Fan Dade. There¡¯s no need for us to go look for them.¡± Bai Qiulin still maintained his cold tone. He did not like to converse with others, a lone wolf.

    The lights came back on, and the monster above Hu Ya¡¯s head had disappeared.

    ¡°What was that earlier?¡± Ah Nan jogged over to help Hu Ya up from the ground. ¡°Did you get a close look?¡±

    Hu Ya shook her head. ¡°It seems to have no face.¡±

    ¡°No face? If that¡¯s not some kind of special make-up, then it has to be some kind of robot, right?¡± Ah Nan looked at the ceiling, and there were some water stains on it.

    ¡°The Haunted House looks old, but it is fitted with so much new technology. The boss sure is willing to invest.¡± The people who said it did not mean it, but the person who heard it did. Xiao Lee took out his phone to record this important discovery, and he sent it out.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. This boss sure is something else. I hear Haunted Houses¡¯ props are different from other fields. They cannot be recycled, and other thanpetitors, no one would want them.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue were close to Xiao Lee, and they saw everything that he did. With a smile of his face, Ol¡¯ Zhou released his grasp on Duan Yue. The two of them stood next to Xiao Lee, surrounding him on both sides.

    When Xiao Lee saw Ol¡¯ Zhou walk toward him, he smiled. He had a good impression of Ol¡¯ Zhou. From his perspective, the most reliable person was Bai Qiulin, and the nicest ones were Ol¡¯ Zhou and his wife.

    ¡°Now that the lights havee back on, we should hurry to find Tails.¡± Yang Chen looked at the time. ¡°I¡¯ve calcted it¡ªthe time between the two lights out is three and a half minutes. I¡¯m not sure whether the timing is fixed or random, but if it¡¯s fixed, I suggest we find a rtively safe ce in the next three minutes and wait until the next lights out is over.¡±

    Yang Chen¡¯s eyes scanned the rest of the group. When he was done, he lowered his head. ¡°Fan Chong and Fan Dade are already out. Only we remain. We need to find what the monster in the dark looks like and confirm what will happen during lights out before we can decide what to do next.¡±

    There was a spection in his heart. Combining his previous experience, the way Yang Chen looked at other visitors became different. He did not share his inner thoughts, afraid that it might be used by the hidden threat, so he had to rely on himself. He had to find that person before the next tragedy happened.

    Yang Chen was very smart, but ultimately, he was just a university student, just over twenty. He emphasized clearing the scenario¡ªthis was a challenge and validation for him. However, this was different for other visitors. For example, Ah Nan and Hu Ya. Compared to clearing the scenario, they were more concerned with finding Tails.

    ¡°There are only two paths¡ªthe chance of Tails taking this path is very high.¡± Ah Nan did not continue, but his meaning was very clear. The two editors continued to move forward. Bai Qiulin obviously did not care about what Yang Chen said. He and Xiao Lee followed the editors.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Yang, should we just ignore them and go off on our own?¡± Wang Dan suggested. ¡°After all, we¡¯re not close to them, and if they are so insistent of finding that missing girl, then let them be.¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s better for us to stick together.¡± Yang Chen looked at Ah Nan and Hu Ya¡¯s shadows, and his expression changed. He suddenly remembered a small detail.

    When they were asked to sign the disimer, Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s group and the three medical students signed them inside the Haunted House, and he did not see the other visitors sign them. <i>Indeed, they came in directly and skipped over the signing process.</i>

    A whirlpool appeared in Yang Chen¡¯s heart. <i>This means that the person I¡¯m looking for should be hidden among the six people who came inter. One of them didn¡¯t sign the disimer!</i>

    Fear crawled around his heart. Yang Chen narrowed his eyes, and he thought back to what he had said to the boss¡ªthey needed to gather ten people before they could start the visit. If they did not gather ten people in the end, could the boss have added his own workers into the ranks?

    The boss had done that before. That had happened during their visit to the Mu Yang High School scenario.

    <i>I get it now. </i>Yang Chen revealed a cold smile. <i>No wonder I felt we¡¯ve been dragged by the nose, and all of our suggestions were denied. A ghost has infiltrated our group.</i>

    He realized this secret, but he did not tell anyone. Instead, he trained his focus on the few visitors that had enteredter.

    <i>The editors, maintenance worker, and the missing chef¡ªeach of them could be the ghost.</i>

 Chapter 479 - There Is Only One Truth! [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 479: There Is Only One Truth! [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Yang Chen stayed at the back, and his eyes were shining as he calcted. He kept his head lowered and arranged his expression to ensure that no one would be able to see through his thoughts. <i>If you all want to y, then fine, we¡¯ll y, but I will win this round.</i>

    Because he had not done it before, that was why he was desperate for sess. Yang Chen was enjoying this whole process very much. He liked this sense of excitement; it was something that other modes of entertainment failed to provide him.

    <i>There is a ghost mixed within the twelve visitors, and capturing them will clear the scenario.</i>

    Yang Chen walked between his friends as well as Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue. After ensuring his own safety, he silently started to observe the activity of the two editors and Xiao Lee.

    <i>The Haunted House boss never ys by the rules. Even Fang Chong and Fan Dade, who sounded like they were eliminated, could still be the ghost. Their earlier disappearance might be preparation for them to appearter in the disguise of victims.</i>

    Yang Chen thought of everything. He was very careful and kept adding more spection and proof to his analysis.

    The lights on the wall gave off a weak, yellow glow. The steel door on the side was left half open, and there were water stains on the ground. It was a whole row of rusted freezers inside the room.

    ¡°Morgue No. 1?¡± This sign was written in horrible handwriting by the side of the door. Hu Ya peered into the room¡ªall the freezers were locked.

    ¡°Tails?¡± she yelled into the room, but there was no answer. ¡°Tails wouldn¡¯t have gone to hide inside one of the freezers, would she?¡±

    The two editors went inside the morgue to have a look around. They did not discover anything. The group of people continued to move forward.

    The morgue in Jiujiang Medical University was not arranged ording to their location but their usage and size. The few visitors continued down the corridor for another three minutes before they came across yet another half open steel door.

    ¡°Morgue No. 5? All of these morgues look the same from the inside. Why would the Haunted House boss build so many morgues? What is their purpose? Don¡¯t tell me he is really nning to use these freezers to hide human bodies?¡± Wang Dan reached out to touch the cold freezer. ¡°This is identical to the ones I read about in the text books. These freezers should be the real thing¡ªperhaps equipment that has been abandoned and somehow ended up in the hands of the Haunted House¡¯s boss.¡±

    When he said that, his expression was not that pretty, and his voice was shaking.

    ¡°Abandoned medical equipment?¡± Xiao Lee ruminated over what Wang Dan had said, and his face started to pale. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean that these freezers really have had dead bodies in them before?¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡± Yang Chen nodded as he kept his eyes on Xiao Lee. He tried to discern some information from Xiao Lee¡¯s reaction, but unfortunately, Xiao Lee¡¯s reaction was totally normal. ¡°ording to my analysis, the lights will go out in another ten seconds. I suggest we stay here in the room and survive this third wave of darkness before we continue our search.¡±

    There were different kinds of monsters hiding in the dark. Hu Ya and Ah Nan knew that Yang Chen was looking out for everyone, so they agreed. The time ticked up. It had been four minutes since the previous lights out, and everything was fine. The group huddled close together, and they turned their heads in unison to look at Yang Chen.

    ¡°The lights did not go out¡ªthis means that the ckouts arepletely random. Perhaps the boss is currently watching us and will make his move once he notices an opening.¡± Yang Chen had more to say, but he was interrupted by another visitor.

    ¡°Stop with the pointless analysis.¡± Hu Ya shook her head, and she turned to leave the room. ¡°Follow me. As long as we stay together, there is nothing for us to be afraid of.¡±

    This main editor from the supernatural magazine showed her side that took charge. She pulled open the door and headed out directly. Ah Nan jogged to catch up to her.

    ¡°That woman sure is interesting.¡± Bai Qiulin looked at Hu Ya¡¯s back and coughed. ¡°Let¡¯s move. She¡¯s right about one thing. Most of the time, we¡¯re just scaring ourselves¡ªthere¡¯s no need for us to be so nervous. Let us not forget that this is just a Haunted House, just a ce to scare people. What, you think they have actual ghosts here?¡±

    ¡°Brother Bai has a point.¡± Xiao Lee exited the room with Bai Qiulin.

    ¡°We should follow as well.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue were leaving as well when Yang Chen at the back of the group suddenly whispered to them in a very low voice, ¡°Ol¡¯ Zhou, if you want to win, you two must stay away from those two editors.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou turned his head around. He felt like this medical student was acting very strangely.

    ¡°I still cannot tell you the real reason now, but just remember this warning.¡± After that, Yang Chen led Lee Xue and Wang Dan to walk in front of Ol¡¯ Zhou.

    ¡°Stay away from the two editors?¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou scratched his chin in thought. When Yang Chen walked from him, surprise and understanding crossed his eyes. He took in a cold breath. ¡°Could it be that there are some issues with those two editors?¡±

    Yang Chen did not provide any further exnation for Ol¡¯ Zhou. The seed had been sown, and now he only needed to wait for it to grow. The lights in the corridor did not go out, and the group of visitors passed by Morgue No. 6 and Morgue No. 7. They did not run into any danger or scares. However, it felt like they were experiencing the calm before the storm.

    When they walked past Morgue No. 7, the temperature in the corridor seemed to have dropped. The smell of formalin in the air seemed to have turned heavier as well. The group of visitors had arrived at the crossing point between the underground morgue¡¯s outer perimeter and middle section.

    There was a half-taken down wall standing in the middle of the corridor, and tons of trash was piled up around the hole in the wall. The pile included wooden chairs, bent guard rails, and a few mannequins with limbs that were twisted at weird angles.

    ¡°Is this not the end of the scenario yet?¡± Wang Dan was wearing a short sleeve top, and the cold air crawled onto his skin through the opening. The entrance that led to the next zone was very small and blocked by so many things¡ªit felt like those undisclosed location.

    Hu Ya walked to the hole and used her phone to illuminate the darkness. She just wanted to see what was on the other side of the wall, but when the light shone through, she was given a sudden glimpse of a girl who looked like Tails holding her phone and walking into some corridor.

    ¡°Tails? And she¡¯s holding her phone? Who is she on the phone with?¡± Hu Ya mmed her palm against the wall and yelled down the corridor, but only her screams echoed back at her.

    ¡°I just saw Tails! Ah Nane and help me move these things away!¡± Hu Ya gripped the broken table and chairs. Probably out of concern for the visitors¡¯ safety, the edges of these objects had been sanded down. They were not sharp. In a way, that was also a sign that they were meant to be moved.

    ¡°We should go and help.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou was kind. He and Bai Qiulin as well as Xiao Lee moved forward to lend a hand to help the two editors clear the way. The three medical students stood to the side with their arms crossed. Yang Chen looked at Hu Ya and Ah Nan silently, fully on guard.

    He did not believe what Hu Ya said one bit, and he had a feeling this was a calcted trap.

    <i>Such a coincidence that she saw her missing friend? Isn¡¯t this too much of a coincidence?</i>

    The more he studied these three editors, the more suspicious Yang Chen got. The three of them had entered the Haunted Housest, and they probably did not even sign the disimers. Furthermore, their upation was editors for supernatural magazine, so their threshold for fear should be very high. That identity meant that they did not have the need to purposely create this image that they were fearful and scared. That was a good disguise to assume.

    <i>When I suggested to follow the human head earlier, it was the male editor who strongly argued for us to check out the warehouse first. It was since then that the series of weird events happened. Also, back then, Bai Qiulin warned us of the danger of staying at the junction, but they insisted on investigating the ce. That is highly suspicious.</i>

    <i>When the chef and his brother were assaulted by the monsters outside at the corridor, all three editors were inside the warehouse. They seemed to know beforehand that the visitors outside would be attacked, and they created the perfect alibi for themselves. The most important thing is, there isn¡¯t anything inside that warehouse, so how did Tails, one of the editors, disappear?</i>

    <i>There is a hidden passage behind the printer, but under normal circumstances, the first thing one would do when faced with this situation is not to run into the tunnel alone to explore but scream to get help from other people. The woman by the name of Tails purposely ran down the tunnel behind the printer to create the illusion that she has disappeared, and that created the perfect excuse for her friends to take charge of the group!</i>

    <i>It is truly a perfect n. The disappearance of their friends caused the two remaining editors to get agitated, so even if they do anything out of line, it can be understood and forgiven as nerves and worry.</i>

    Yang Chen¡¯s eyes gradually glowed with light.

    <i>So, they have already nned everything from the beginning. No wonder they have been unable to reach Tails via her phone. It is not as they said. She has not lost her phone¡ªTails never nned to ept the call in the first ce.</i>

    There were too many suspicious points about the way that the three editors had acted. In Yang Chen¡¯s eyes, the only valid exnation was that the three editors were the ¡®ghosts¡¯ assigned by the Haunted House boss to infiltrate the group of visitors!

    <i>I should have been able to realize that sooner.</i>

    Cold sweat could be seen sliding down Yang Chen¡¯s forehead.

    <i>They said that their magazine is called Primal Fear, but I have not even heard of this publication before. It is probably just a random made up name. When we first entered the Haunted House, the male editor promised to cooperate with me, but it did not take him that long to turn on me and slowly rece the three of us who are the most experienced here and take on the leadership role silently.</i>

    After the fear faded away, Yang Chen swiped the sweat from his forehead.<i>Thankfully, I¡¯ve been paying them close attention. This time, I will not follow them blindly into death anymore.</i>

    Yang Chen moved his gaze away from the three editors, and his hands gripped together.

    <i>I have to figure out a way to expose them. This scenario itself is very big¡ªit is just like a maze. To enter the central hub while evading the attacks from the monsters and to find the pictures under thirty minutes is virtually impossible. The Haunted House boss would not havee up with such an impossible design, a scenario that cannot be cleared¡ªthat would make the game lose its purpose. If I think about it that way, the key to clearing this underground morgue is probably still rted to those five pictures.</i>

    Yang Chen thought back to everything that the Haunted House boss had said.<i>The pictures of the five victims are going to help clear the scenario, but how exactly is that possible? Will one not be attacked by the monsters if one is holding the picture? The boss probably will note up with design that is so simple and mundane. The usage of a protection seal aside, what could be the usage for these five pictures?</i>

    <i>Before entering the Haunted House, the boss specifically stressed the term ¡®victims¡¯. This means that the individuals in the five pictures should be dead people. </i>His brain churned and Yang Chen had his hand holding his chin. <i>Five pictures of the dead...</i>

    His eyes suddenly widened, and Yang Chen¡¯s body shook violently as a thought flew through his mind!

    <i>I¡¯ve got it! The individuals in the five pictures could very well refer to my team mates! They represent five dead people! Meaning the five ghosts that have mixed into the visitors¡¯ group!</i>

    His heart was bouncing all over the ce. Yang Chen felt like he had discovered the real method to clear this underground morgue.

    <i>The true requirement for clearing the underground morgue is not to leave the scenario with the pictures but to find the five ghosts hidden inside the team! The five pictures are the most crucial hint given by the boss!</i>

    His heart started to race erratically. Yang Chen was overwhelmed by excitement. He had seen through the Haunted House boss¡¯ ploy and grasped the hidden rule.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Yang, are you okay?¡± Wang Fan saw Yang Chen suddenly wave his fists and turn ecstatic. He was worried about his friend¡¯s mental state, scared that he had suffered from some kind of breakdown.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. This time, I¡¯ll definitely help you clear this scenario!¡± Yang Chen¡¯s lips curved up with a smile. His eyes that locked onto the two editors were as sharp was knives. <i>Five pictures of the five victims. So, the Haunted House boss has already given us such a big clue from the very beginning. There are five ¡®ghosts¡¯ hidden among us.</i>

    <i>The six visitors that came after us are neers. This means that of those six visitors, five of them are Haunted House workers. The boss sure is evil!</i>

    Of the twelve visitors, five of them were ghosts! Who would have thought that?

    Yang Chen assessed the six visitors that did not sign the disimers all at once in his mind. <i>The possibility of the three editors is the biggest. That Primal Fear is definitely fake. The next suspect is the chef who suddenly ran away and his little brother. Thest one is Xiao Lee.</i>

    After giving it some serious thought, Yang Chen felt like he had understood everything. <i>Xiao Lee came in alone and doesn¡¯t know the rest, so if he is not the ghost, then there is only one remaining truth.</i>

    <i>The three editors as well as Fan Chong and Fan Dade are all Haunted House actors. Fan Dade suddenly going berserkbined with his brother¡¯s help created a scary atmosphere, causing the real visitors to sink into terror and suspicion. Then three editors cooperated to take over the group¡¯s rhythm and lead the visitors deeper into the abyss of despair to experience the scares that are lying in waiting. This is too scary¡ªthis ce sure is insane!</i>

    Five people corresponded to five pictures, meaning five different ¡®ghosts¡¯! Yang Chen had already confirmed the identity of these five ghosts. He pushed his fingers into his pocket as he tried to formte a message and silently send it to Lee Xue and Wang Dan.

    ¡°What are you three standing over there for? Come over and help. Don¡¯t stay here for too long. The junction is the most dangerous ce.¡± Bai Qiulin looked at the three medical students and shouted at them.

    ¡°We should go help them.¡± Lee Xue felt ufortable. She and Wang Dan joined the others and slowly cleared out a path.

    By then, Wang Dan, Lee Xue, Xiao Lee, Bai Qiulin, and the two editors were at the entrance of the corridor. Ol¡¯ Zhou and his wife were standing on the further corner while Yang Chen stood at the far corner alone. He had been looking for the chance to publicly expose the two editors.

 Chapter 480 - Why Arent You in Class? [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 480: Why Aren¡¯t You in ss? [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The tables, chairs, and mannequins were moved away. The few visitors were standing in the cleared corridor.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Yang,e on!¡± Wang Dan saw Yang Chen standing alone at the back, and he called out to urge him. He did not know about the great emotional turmoil inside Yang Chen as the man was caught in the middle of an arduous battle of wits.

    ¡°Why are you two being so nervous?¡± Yang Chen asked Wang Dan. He did not have the time to send the message. He was about to call Wang Dan and Lee Xue to fall back when the light next to him flickered.

    ¡°The lights?¡± Yang Chen suddenly realized something, and he ran toward Wang Dan and Lee Xue crazily. ¡°Come next to me! Quick! The lights are going out!¡±

    The lights in the corridor started to go off one by one, and this time, it was even faster than before. Lee Xue heard Yang Chen¡¯s order and immediately ran to him. However, Wang Dan was further away from them. He was only halfway through when all the lights went off. This was the third time that the corridor had fallen into darkness. To make matters worse, they were now at the intersection between the outer perimeter and the middle section. No one knew what kind of monster was hiding on the other side of the hole in the wall. It waspletely unexplored territory.

    <i>The Haunted House boss turned off the lights when I was about to bring up the five ghosts. Could it be that he has already guessed that the five ghosts have been exposed? If that¡¯s the case, then this time, it could be me who is attacked. Of all the other visitors, the most difficult visitor to break is that detached Bai Qiulin. Other than him, I¡¯m the next target. I¡¯ve visited this ce many times and have learned the boss¡¯ thought process. He will definitely target me and pin a focus on my back.</i>

    rmed, Yang Chen did not n to be taken down without a fight. He stood up, grabbed Lee Xue, and yelled down the other side of the corridor, ¡°Wang Dan,e to me!¡±

    There were shadows moving in the dark. Liquid dripped from the ceiling as a shadow slithered quickly over them.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Wang Dan, who was in the middle of running, felt a cold breath hitting him in the face. He looked up, and his pupils slowly got used to the darkness. He was about to have a good look of the monster when someone suddenly tapped on his shoulder. His body shivered, and Wang Dan turned over his shoulder to look on reflex. There was no one there. ¡°Who is behind me?¡±

    A drop of a cold liquid fell on his neck, and it caused Wang Dan to quiver. Before he recovered, there was another pat on his shoulder. This time, he could feel clearly someone had ced their hand on his shoulder.

    ¡°I got you!¡± Wang Dan was feisty, and he was not good with analysis and thought. However, his physical reactions were fast, and his physique was good. Before the hand got the chance to retreat, Wang Dan caught it. The person chose a moment like this to scare him, and this made Wang Dan rather angry.

    Wang Dan decided to rough it up with the person. He grabbed the hand tightly and pulled it forward. The arm moved, and the whole hand was dragged to the front. The five tapered fingers were intertwined with Wang Dan¡¯s fingers. The man turned back to look. It was a clean arm and a knob that had uneven cuts on it like it had been cut off by a cleaver. This was a severed arm, cut off at the wrist, and Wang Dan was currently holding the hand in his palm.

    ¡°A hand?¡± His mind froze for one second before Wang Dan was overwhelmed by fear. ¡°Where did the hande from?¡±

    He swung his arm wildly in the dark. Just as he was about to scream, the broken mannequins that littered the area seemed toe to life, and they all turned toward Wang Dan. Wang Dan, who was dominated by fear, screamed at the top of his lungs. He barreled in a direction that did not have the mannequin. He had no idea where he was going, and he started running.

    ¡°Wang Dan!¡± Yang Chen immediately took out the phone from his pocket when he heard his friend¡¯s voice. Just as he flipped over the phone and searched for the shlight function, liquid dripped from the ceiling. The thick darkness coagted above him, and a faceless skull slowly leaned downward like it was nning to swallow Yang Chen¡¯s head whole.

    With his focus fully on Wang Dan, Yang Chen did not notice the dark shadow above him. However, Lee Xue next to him screamed. She retreated backward quickly and tripped and fell. Her body leaned against the wall, but even so, she kept moving back. Seeing Lee Xue¡¯s reaction, Yang Chen knew that something wasing for him. ¡°Is the boss¡¯ real target really me?¡±

    The light from the phone flickered in the dark, and the monsters that were formed by darkness appeared in huge number.

    ¡°Do not panic! The darkness will onlyst for a short period of time!¡± Yang Chen jumped to the side to evade the attack. He raised the phone high and stood before Lee Xue to protect her. There were many footsteps in the corridor. In the dark, some of the visitors had started to run in a certain direction.

    ¡°Stay where you are! Don¡¯t run away! Stop!¡± Yang Chen knew that something was off when he heard the urgent footsteps. He believed that the boss had noticed that some had realized that ghosts were mixed in the group of visitors, so this time, he switched off the lights to separate the team, to create a more beneficial environment for his workers.

    Yang Chen yelled at the top of his lungs, but Wang Dan, who waspletely panicked, did not register it. He continued to il his arm madly. To make matters worse, the broken hand gripped tighter and tighter, refusing to let go. Their fingers twined with one another like the hand was stuck to his palm.

    The monsters from the ceiling were approaching, the mannequins on the floor had revived, and the human heads rolled on the ground. Standing in the middle of the corridor, Wang Dan had lost his ability to think.

    Footfalls appeared next to him. There was a visitor who was running away. Wang Dan leaned backward. He did not care anymore as he gave chase after the sound of footsteps. All he wanted to do then was break through being surrounded by the mannequins and the monsters on the ceiling.

    ¡°Who is running? Get down on the ground! Lean against the wall! Stay where you are!¡± Hu Ya and Ah Nan also ordered. They realized there were people who were purposely chaos in the team, spreading terror.

    The shadows flickered. The lights did note on. Pursued by the mannequins and monsters, Wang Dan ran into the middle section. He followed the visitor in front of him, and he had no idea how long he had been running. He remembered passing several corners, meaning that there was no way he would be able to go back.

    After he calmed down, Wang Dan started to regret his actions. However, there was no other choice. The force on the hand increased. He was a medical student, and the hand gave him the feeling that it was no different from an actual human hand. However, it was cold as death.

    Lowering his head to avoid the monsters on the ceiling, Wang Dan suddenly heard Bai Qiulin¡¯s voice that was filled with surprise and anger. ¡°Who is it? Show yourself!¡±

    Then, he heard a scream from Xiao Lee. Wang Dan was sure that Xiao Lee had been following Bai Qiulin.

    ¡°What happened? What else did they run into?¡± There was a corner in front of him. Wang Dan got closer, and he saw two people copsed by the corner. Xiao Lee was copsed in front andpletely unconscious. Bai Qiulin was lying behind him. He was still conscious as he waved at Wang Dan.

    Wang Dan was feeling worried because he did not see the monster that assaulted the two visitors. He did not dare get too close, and he really did not have any intention of saving others. However, he was lost and had no idea where he was. If he did not stay close to these two, it would be easier for him to get into danger if he was alone.

    After a few seconds of hesitation, Wang Dan bent over to catch his breath. He was nning to squat down next to Bai Qiulin to ask what had happened.

    His legs bent, and Wang Dan looked at Bai Qiulin with his lips open. The sentence that was in his mind never got the chance to leave his lips when he saw Bai Qiulin¡¯s spine suddenly turn ny degrees! The face that he could not have been more familiar with fell into Wang Dan¡¯sp. The holes started to bleed, and a scary face looked up at Wang Dan while the lips kept repeating the same plea.

    ¡°Give me back my hand!¡±

    Wang Dan was so spooked that he knelt down to the ground. His body leaned to the side, and the sentence was caught in his throat until his face was purple. His eyes rolled back, and Wang Dan finally understood why Xiao Lee would faint.

    ...

    His body was moved, and his blurry eyes eventually forced open a slit. Wang Dan saw several doctors in white coats standing around him. They were even holding his school tag like they were in a great discussion.

    ¡°Where am I? Is this the hospital?¡± Wang Dan turned his head around to look. He realized that he was lying on a clean bed, and Xiao Lee had randomly been deposited on a wooden tform.

    ¡°You¡¯re finally awake.¡± The four doctors stood around Wang Dan¡¯s bed, and from the man¡¯s perspective, this was quite scary.

    ¡°I... Wasn¡¯t I visiting a Haunted House?¡¯ Wang Dan could not tell anymore. He was in too much shock; he needed some time to work out where he was.

    ¡°We are the doctors at the Haunted House. You fainted, and it was us who rescued you.¡± The doctors look so kind and friendly. They were patient with Wang Dan.

    Surrounded by fully wrapped doctors inside Jiujiang¡¯s House of Horrors, this was a surreal and creepy experience for Wang Dan.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± He looked at the few doctors carefully and did not dare to move his muscle. ¡°Can I leave now?¡±

    ¡°Of course, take good care of your school tag, don¡¯t lose it again.¡± The leading doctor ced Wang Dan¡¯s school tag lightly next to the man. ¡°It¡¯s fine to have a little fun mixed into study, but there has to be a limit to everything. When you¡¯re done here, go back to school and focus in ss.¡±

    It sounded like it had been so long since the leading doctor had said those words to people, and he sighed. However, he also felt d. ¡°I really did not think that one day, I could see them again and share these words with them. This familiar setting makes me feel so touched.¡±

    Wang Dan was weirded out. The doctors were so kind to him, but they did not extend the same kindness to Xiao Lee, who had also fainted.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but have we met somewhere before?¡± Wang Dan looked at the leading doctor¡¯s frame, and he found the man weirdly familiar. The leading doctor smiled with kindness and love glowing in his eyes. ¡°Actually, the few of us...¡±

    The doctor who was older coughed lightly, and he shook his hand. ¡°Let¡¯s not create trouble for Boss Chen.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± The leading doctor sounded depressed.

    Wang Dan had no idea what the few doctors were talking about. He gripped the school tag. ¡°I¡¯m indeed a first-year student from Western Jiujiang Medical University. Could you all be our school¡¯s seniors? But that¡¯s not right. Today is a Wednesday, and every Wednesday afternoon, the university has an important ss, so the students wouldn¡¯t have picked this hour to take on a part time job.¡±

    ¡°First year? Wednesday?¡± The leading doctor was surprised before his brows slowly locked together. ¡°You did remind me. If I¡¯m not mistaken, shouldn¡¯t you be in ss now?¡±

    The doctor¡¯s tone became serious. Wang Dan¡¯s legs quivered, and he got even more confused. He had a feeling that he was facing his school director. He answered in a soft and weak voice, ¡°Today, the Haunted House had a new scenario, so I skipped ss with a few other students toe visit.¡±

    Wang Dan had no idea what he was afraid of, and this fear was different from the one he had faced so far.

    ¡°Skipped ss?¡± The leading doctor nodded, and his face became drawn with severity. The atmosphere in the room turned heavy, and the four doctors were radiating cold auras. ¡°Skipping ss in your first year? Aren¡¯t you afraid you¡¯ll be punished by your teachers?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be so unlucky, right? Plus, this is the first time I¡¯ve done something like this,¡± Wang Dan stuttered. He became more nervous.

    ¡°Don¡¯t scare the student,¡± the very kind voice said again. The older doctor said, ¡°Come on, I¡¯ll bring you out of the scenario. Go back to ss when you¡¯re done here. Don¡¯t skip any more lessons.¡±

    The doctor then turned to yell at the other side, ¡°Also you, stop faking death. We¡¯ll leave now.¡±

    Xiao Lee, whoy on the ground, slowly opened his eyes and showed an embarrassed smile. He climbed up from the ground. ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving now. So sorry.¡±

    Xiao Lee and Wang Dan supported each other as they left the room. Looking at the maze-like corridor, the two had no idea where they should go. They had a feeling that they would be transported back to this ce very soon.

    ¡°Take the left turn, and at the next junction, walk forward. Enter the second room, and there is a closet in the room. Open it, and the exit is just behind the closet.¡± The senior doctor exined the route to them patiently. After ensuring that they knew the way, he shook his head and went back into the room, closing the door behind him.

    ¡°Thank you again!¡± Xiao Lee dragged Wang Dan excitedly down the corridor. He could finally leave this damn ce. He had forgotten all about the mission given by Mr. Mu. He just wanted to leave. ¡°Brother, who are you really? Howe it feels like those actors are so close to you? Do you know them?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I don¡¯t.¡± Wang Dan shook his head and felt like something was not right. ¡°This is just weird. Actors at the Haunted House advising people to not skip ss? Are actors nowadays so nice and positive?¡±

    ¡°No matter what, I owe you one. When Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s futuristic park is open for business, the ce will be packed, but I¡¯ll help you get a few free passes.¡± Xiao Lee tapped his chest to promise.

    ¡°Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s new park?¡± Wang Dan shook his head. ¡°Thanks, but no thanks. Stay close together, and we leave this ce first.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡±

    The two ran to the room that had been described by the doctor. There was arge cadaver pool in the middle of the room, and there was arge hole in the middle of the pool. The pool was filled with sticky liquid, and the hole was bubbling constantly like it was hiding something.

    ¡°It¡¯s this closet.¡± Xiao Lee and Wang Dan worked together to move the closet aside to reveal the tunnel behind it.

    ...

    The few doctors stood inside of the room. The leading doctor turned to look at the senior door, and his expression was awkward. ¡°Elder Wei, why did you lead them to the tunnel going to the central hub? Xiao Chen has ced so many traps inside that tunnel¡ªjust the looks of it scare even me.¡±

    ¡°Skipping ss in his first year, that is just too much. This Xiao Zheng... he doesn¡¯t even know how to manage the school! One day, I¡¯ll have to return there to teach him a lesson!¡± The doctor who was called Elder Wei drifted to the middle of the room.

    The other doctors looked at one another before turning to ask the senior doctor, ¡°Elder Wei, are you sure that nothing will happen if we do something like this?¡±

    ¡°What will happen? As long as I, Wei Jiuqin, have a breath in me, I¡¯ll be able to rescue them! I am going to use this student¡¯s lips to inform the rest of Western Jiujiang Medical University¡¯s students that this is the result of skipping ss!¡±

 Chapter 481 - All Kill [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 481: All Kill [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Wang Dan looked at the tunnel behind the closet and felt flustered. The impression that the few doctors had left on him earlier was very weird. They had initially been kind and friendly, but their tone had changed conspicuously after they found out that he had skipped ss.

    <i>Did I say something wrong? Skipping ss is not something serious right? Without skipping ss, one¡¯s university life is notplete. Many seniors have said that.</i>

    Wang Dan moved one step deeper into the tunnel. The temperature inside the tunnel was much higher than the temperature outside. After a long moment of hesitation, he retreated backward.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Xiao Lee stuck close to Wang Dan from behind. He could not wait to leave that godforsaken ce already.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I just have this feeling that those doctors from before feel so simr to our disciplinary teacher.¡± Wang Dan¡¯s feelings wereplicated. ¡°This is just impossible. I¡¯ve imagined the many different scary things that might happen to us here, but I really did not expect to run into a school teacher while skipping ss. Could it be that so many students havee to visit Boss Chen¡¯s haunted house that the university was worried about its students, so they sent over some of the lecturers toe catch us?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not making sense. This has to be your first experience skipping ss, right? It¡¯s normal to feel nervous. You¡¯ll get used to it after several more times.¡± Xiao Lee urged Wang Dan to move. ¡°Both of us fainted at the same time, but you were ced on the clean bed with two mattresses ced under you whereas I was directly dumped on a wooden board. From how they treated us, it is clear that those few doctors know you, so they would not lie to you.¡±

    ¡°I also sensed a certain familiarity from them, but I could not ce it.¡±

    The holes in the pool in the middle of the room kept bubbling, and the lights on the wall flickered. The steel doors in the corridors creaked slightly, like people were moving them back and forth. Under the circumstances, Wang Dan did not dare drag things on for too long. He was afraid that the lights might go off and the monsters would start chasing them again.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go. If you¡¯re afraid, I¡¯ll walk ahead, and you only need to help me remember the route that we should take.¡± Xiao Lee had been at this job for quite some time. He was smart and sharp. He would be one of the futuristic theme park¡¯s most important workers in the future, and he courageously volunteered to take the lead this time.

    Wang Dan did not reject Xiao Lee¡¯s kindness. He leaned back for Xiao Lee to walk past him. He saw Xiao Lee crouch and enter the tunnel. ¡°Be careful.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Xiao Lee took out his phone and used the shlight to guide his way. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s get moving. I don¡¯t want to open my eyes and see the doctors again.¡±

    The two entered the tunnel one after another. The tunnel became narrower as they moved forward. There was something that looked like moss growing on the wall.

    ¡°Why haven¡¯t we reached the end yet?¡± The more they moved forward, the more unsettled Wang Dan felt. The tunnel wasrge enough to only allow one person to pass through at a time. This meant that it was unavoidable for him to brush up against the ¡®moss¡¯ on the wall. His clothes got wet, and his skin became itchy. He followed closely behind Xiao Lee, feeling incredibly nervous.

    ¡°This should be the way that will lead us outside.¡± Theplete opposite of Wang Dan, Xiao Lee was very confident. ¡°Did you notice we can barely smell the formalin in the air anymore? Instead, there is a nice floral scent in the tunnel.¡±

    He sniffed the air, and indeed, Wang Dan did smell a pleasant smell, but he was not as optimistic as Xiao Lee. ¡°Is it because of the moss on the wall?¡±

    He reached out to touch the wall, and the hard walls were covered in the moss, soft under his touch.

    ¡°Finally, we don¡¯t need to suffer that weird stench anymore. This tunnel should lead us outside. The hidden passage is for the visitors to use. After all, this Haunted House is really not for everyone, and this hidden passage is like a surprise for people like us.¡± Xiao Lee bent lower. The tunnel became smaller, and the ground softened like it was covered with a thick carpet.

    ¡°I still think the smell of formalin is more familiar andforting.¡± The fragrance that curled around his nose gave Wang Dan a nauseous feeling. ¡°This is not a natural fragrance, but it doesn¡¯t feel like it¡¯s a chemical fragrance either. It smells very weird.¡±

    Wang Dan tried to search through his mind, and he finally remembered it. ¡°When I was studying the history of autopsy, it introduced something called cadaver fragrance, and the description is very simr to this smell.¡±

    ¡°Cadaver fragrance?¡± Xiao Lee shivered. This was the first time that he had heard of something like this.

    ¡°There are many types. The most famous is to harvest the oil from a beauty¡¯s cadaver and then process it through a special method to create a candle-like substance...¡±

    ¡°Stop! Please stop!¡± Xiao Lee picked up his speed. He started to maintain a distance from Wang Dan. Normal people still had some reservations about things rted to human bodies, and they were unable to talk about certain subjects with such insouciance like a medical student would.

    Xiao Lee, from the futuristic theme park, continued to move forward, and Wang Dan could only follow. The two walked for several meters before Xiao Lee suddenly stopped.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Wang Dan used his phone to shine the light in front of him. Xiao Lee stood where he was, and after a long time, he forced out, ¡°There¡¯s no way to move forward anymore.¡±

    By then, the two¡¯s bodies were arcs, their faces almost touching the ground. The tunnel was so narrow that it was hard to even turn around. They were surrounded by the red ¡®moss¡¯, and their clothes were drenched. The air was filled with that strange fragrance.

    ¡°So... should we go back the way we came?¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Xiao Lee was indeed courageous. He lifted his hand to press on the red-colored moss before him. His fingers increased in force, and his palm slowly sunk.

    ¡°It¡¯s hollow behind this.¡± Xiao Lee cursed silently. He did not expect toe into such a trial so close to the exit. ¡°Thankfully, I gave it a try. If we¡¯d just turned back like that, I would¡¯ve regreted it forever.¡±

    He was proud of himself. He was going to turn around to tell Wang Dan the good news. His body leaned against the wall, and Xiao Lee tried his best to turn his neck around. ¡°The moss is used to trick us. It is a disguise. The exit is just in front of us. We¡¯ll be able to...¡±

    When he spoke, Xiao Lee¡¯s eyes swept the space behind him. He saw Wang Dan... as well as the person following behind Wang Dan!

    Silently, quietly, and its face falling as it moved. Those things had been following them!

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Wang Dan used the phone to shine at Xiao Lee¡¯s face. Before he could get a clear look, when the light from the phone swept the ceiling, a pale arm dropped down from the moss above them. The swinging arm fell right before Wang Dan¡¯s face. His stunned face looked upward, and more arms fell down on him.

    In the cramped passage, enveloped by the soft red moss were the passionate and warm ¡®dead bodies¡¯ that Boss Chen hadpleted the night before.

    ...

    At the edge of the central hub, Yang Chen, Lee Xue, Ol¡¯ Zhou, and Duan Yue stood together, looking at the two editors who were standing two feet away from them.

    ¡°Three people have disappeared, but why are the two of youpletely fine?¡± Yang Chen¡¯s voice was shaking. He had already seen through the boss¡¯ ploy and was familiar with the two editors¡¯ real identities.

    ¡°How is their disappearance rted to us?¡± Ah Nan thought that Yang Chen was being unreasonable. ¡°When the lights went off and the footsteps started, I even told them to not run away, but they refused to listen to us. Now that they¡¯ve disappeared, you turn around to pin the me on us?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still acting?¡±

    From the depths of the corridor earlier, he had heard Wang Dan scream, ¡°I will never skip ss again!¡±

    It had sounded so raw and desperate; it did not sound like it was fake. It was because he had heard Wang Dan¡¯s scream that Yang Chen had started to get panicked. He did not n to wait anymore and decided to expose everything.

    ¡°We¡¯re acting?¡± Hu Ya frowned. ¡°Do you have some kind of misunderstanding?¡±

    ¡°Drop the act. I¡¯ve already seen through your ploy. Actually, I have to admit that you are quite professional.¡± Yang Chen took one step forward to shield Lee Xue, Ol¡¯ Zhou, and Duan Yue behind him. ¡°You two are the Haunted House¡¯s paid actors, right? This is a setup organized by Boss Chen, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Hu Ya and Ah Nan¡¯s lips twitched. In the end, it was Ah Nan who lost his patience and turned to look at Yang Chen. ¡°Have you lost your mind?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m right, aren¡¯t I? You must be surprised it only took me neen minutes to expose you.¡± Yang Chen stood together with the rest of the group, and his voice turned cold. ¡°The three of you editors, as well as the chef and his little brother that disappeared earlier, all of you are hired actors belonging to this Haunted House. The pictures on the wall should be the five of you! You are the ghosts that have mixed into the group of visitors. You are the dead victims!¡±

    The ce was quiet. Not only Hu Ya and Ah Nan, even Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue took in a deep breath. How were they supposed to continue this conversation? This was a scenario that they had not imagined!

    ¡°You suspect there are employees mixed into our ranks? Someone has been acting?¡± The two editors seemed to realize that something was wrong. The two had read many crime and supernatural novels before, so their logical thinking was much stronger than normal. They had not noticed this problem before because they had not considered this possibility. However, with the reminder from Yang Chen, the two of them seemed to realize something.

    ¡°The ghosts are among us!¡±

    Ah Nan and Hu Ya stood together. ¡°Listen to me. I think there are indeed ghosts among us. However, these ¡®ghosts¡¯ aren¡¯t the three of us but someone else.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Hu Ya tried to think back to the start. ¡°The ghost should be that Bai Qiulin. I also thought he was acting weird when he entered the Haunted House. Why would the man keep his hand inside his pocket and refuse to take it out? At the time, I thought it was his force of habit, but now I realize how weird that is!

    ¡°When the ident happened earlier, Bai Qiulin disappeared. The footsteps were messy, and that was probably his doing! If we move further back, when the ident happened to the chef and his brother, Bai Qiulin was standing at the door of the warehouse. He expertly chose the position between the corridor and the warehouse. That way, he would be able to buy the monsters time if they needed it!¡±

    ¡°That person is very problematic! He has to be the ghost, and he has more partners!¡± Ah Nan¡¯s mind was clearer. His way of analysis was different from Yang Chen¡¯s. He did not carry any prejudice when he studied all of the visitors¡ªhe was only studying them the most rational way.

    ¡°If the ghost is Bai Qiulin, then his partners will not show off any evidence that they are close to him, so Xiao Lee is basically not the ghost. Of the remaining people, removing the ones that have been ¡®victimized¡¯, we are all that¡¯s left.¡± Ah Nan¡¯s eyes danced between Ol¡¯ Zhou and Yang Chen. Both of them had their suspicious points, and he could not tell what was the truth.

    Duan Yue grabbed Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s hand and asked softly, ¡°What is happening?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not really sure. I believe there is an actor employed by the Haunted House among us.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou lowered his head to answer Duan Yue. The two were close to Yang Chen, so Yang Chen heard their conversation.

    ¡°Believe me, those two are the actors. I have the critical evidence.¡± Yang Chen revealed the issue about the disimer quietly to Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue. The two were shocked when they heard him.

    Ah Nan and Hu Ya had originally thought that Yang Chen was probably not the ghost, but when they saw how convinced he was and the way Ol¡¯ Zhou reacted when Yang Chen told him something, their conviction was shaken. They could not hear what Yang Chen said, but they thought that it was very suspicious.

    ¡°There are ghosts mixed into the group. Staying together with them is too dangerous. We should split off to find Tails on our own.¡± Hu Ya turned to walk down the corridor. ¡°When I first arrived at the junction, I believe I saw Tails walk this way.¡±

    The editors did not stay and left directly.

    ¡°They cannot keep up the acting anymore,¡± Lee Xue added on Yang Chen¡¯s behalf. No matter what happened, she had absolute faith in Yang Chen.

    ¡°It¡¯s good that we¡¯re getting separated. We need to take this opportunity to go look for the photos to prevent them from doing anything stupid.¡± Yang Chen chose the direction opposite from the two editors and led Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue deeper into the corridor.

    ...

    Screams echoed through the scenario. The first two screams were from Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue. They sounded pitiful like they happened across something very horrible. Thetter two shouts were issued by Yang Chen and Lee Xue. Other than fear in their screams, there was also a thick sense of despair in them. The four screams urred almost at the same time. Since Hu Ya and Ah Nan had not wandered too far off, so they heard it clearly.

    ¡°All four of them have been assaulted?¡± Ah Nan¡¯s heart shook. His earlier spection seemed to be mistaken. Based on their earlier analysis, the remaining ghost should either be him or Hu Ya, but how was that possible?

    ¡°Now, there¡¯s only two of us left.¡± Hu Ya¡¯s smile was forceful. ¡°A team of twelve, but only two remain, and it took the boss less than twenty minutes to do that. This boss is too familiar with the twists and turns of the human heart.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps there wasn¡¯t a ghost among us from the very beginning...¡± Ah Nan shook his head. His mind was a mess. He felt like not only his body but also his mind had fallen into a maze.

    ¡°Let¡¯s forget about them. We need to find Tails first. I remember that she was heading this way.¡± Hu Ya and Ah Nan leaned against the wall as they moved forward. They reached the end and saw a steel door that was closed. ¡°This door isn¡¯t locked.¡±

    Somewhat agitated, Ah Nan shook the door heavily. ¡°It feels like it was blocked from the other side.¡±

    ¡°Could this be Tails¡¯ doing?¡±

    ¡°Probably.¡±

    The steel door shook, and the lights in the corridor flickered like they were about to go out again.

    ...

    Tails was hiding inside the unknown room at the end of the corridor. She hugged the phone and tapped on the number madly.

    <i>Why isn¡¯t anyone picking up? Please pick up!</i>

    The steel door was shaken loudly. The rust fell, creating a loud noise. Tails¡¯ heart raced. Her baby face was as pale as paper. Her fingers gripped the phone tightly, and the blood vessels on her neck pulsed. She was truly afraid.

    <i>Those things have found me! It must be them!</i>

    The door shook even harder. Tears wereing to her eyes. She curled up inside the closet, and her pupils that stared at the door narrowed.

    <i>What should I do? What should I do?</i>

    BANG!

    The wooden table that blocked the door was pushed down, and the steel door fell open. Her heart jumped to her throat, causing Tails to almost faint from asphyxiation. She bit on her lips, and her hands squeezed together.

    ¡°Tails?¡± The familiar voice came from the door. Tails was stunned. The happiness came so suddenly that it felt surreal. The lights flickered at the corridor, so she could only see the person¡¯s frame. However, from the frame alone, she was sure that it was Hu Ya.

    With her hands on the door, Tails¡¯ tears were rushing out. She was too excited. This feeling of flying from hell to heaven was hard to describe. However, just as she was about to push the door open, the phone disy lit up. The call that she had been unable to make earlier was finally connected, and it was Hu Ya¡¯s name on the disy.

    <i>But isn¡¯t she at the door?</i>

    Tails¡¯ finger went to the ept button, and Hu Ya¡¯s urgent voice came through.

    ¡°Tails, we¡¯ve already left the Haunted House. Stay where you are and don¡¯t move! The police are going in to get you. This Haunted House is very problematic! Remember to stay where you are, and don¡¯t move!¡±

    <i>Already left? Police? </i>Tails listened to the familiar voice on the phone and the familiar frame of the person at the door, and her mind went into shut down.

 Chapter 482 - Two Trolleys

    <h4>Chapter 482: Two Trolleys</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    On the phone, Hu Ya had said that she had already left the Haunted House, so who was the person standing at the door?

    The lights went off, and darkness arrived. Tails curled up in the closet and shook endlessly. The employee would not have the heart toe after her. Her eyes were filled with tears, and her lips were bitten. She hugged her arms together and did not make too much noise with her breathing. Hu Ya¡¯s phone call ended, and the phone returned to normal. The house returned to silence.

    Several secondster, the footsteps showed that someone had entered the room. With the sound of shoes brushing against the sandy surface, Tails heard every step clearly.

    The first freezer that was nearest to the door was forced open, and the smell of disinfectant drifted out.

    ¡°Not here.¡± Hu Ya¡¯s voice sounded different from normal. She sounded stressed. Then again, who could me her after all that she had been through?

    The second freezer was also pulled open. They were forceful and violent. Some of the doors were already rusted, and they yanked them open with force. The sound moved closer to Tails. She was hiding behind thest freezer. If they walked to the side, they would see her.

    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go. This might be another trap. If she heard our voice, there is no reason for her not to answer unless she has already fainted.¡± Ah Nan and Hu Ya had already opened four freezers, and they did not spot Tails, so they chose to give up.

    ¡°Where could she have gone?¡± Hu Ya looked deeper into the room. Between thest freezer and the wall was a gap that was justrge enough for a small figure to hide. She walked toward it, and just as she was about to get close, her phone vibrated. A message came in. ¡°It¡¯s from Tails?¡±

    ording to the message, Tails said that she was trapped inside a secret tunnel that was overgrown with red moss, and the tunnel was inside the room with the cadaver pool.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, we¡¯ll be there now.¡± Hu Ya did have an impression of such a room in the middle section. She stopped and called Tails¡¯ number. She turned and left the room with Ah Nan. The footsteps disappeared, but Tails still did not dare leave. She was undecided and called Hu Ya again.

    However, this time, the call was not connected. The phone operator told her that the number was busy; Hu Ya was on the phone with someone else.

    <i>Just now, the person that looked like Sister Hu Ya was calling someone. Now that I¡¯m calling her, she is also on the phone. What is going on?</i>

    Tails held her phone and slowly walked out from the room. She followed the two editors who left the room urgently from a distance.

    ...

    Both hands held the heavy steel door, and Chen Ge entered the underground in full dress up. He found a trolley from the nearby storeroom and slowly wandered into the underground morgue.

    <i>One cart should be enough. With the doctors from Western Jiujiang Medical University holding the fort, this time, there shouldn¡¯t be that many fainted people.</i>Chen Ge continued forward with a smile. <i>The biggest reward frompleting the underground morgue¡¯s trial mission should be the group of doctors. With them around, the safety of the visitors will be guaranteed.</i>

    At the end of the corridor, a ball-like object bounced up and down like it was waiting for Chen Ge. Seeing that, Chen Ge was not afraid. <i>Please lead the way.</i>

    The ball-like object was the model head that Chen Ge had brought back from the underground morgue. The model had stayed in the underground morgue for decades. Every day, it was inpany of those negative energy, so it had slowly been influenced. However, the model was really not that evil. It was only too lonely and wanted to find a friend.

    Those were the things that Yan Danian had told Chen Ge. During the mission, Chen Ge had pushed the head into his backpack with theic, recorder, and white cat. They had quite a good time in there, so Chen Ge decided to adopt this homeless model head.

    With the head leading the way, Chen Ge first found Fan Dade and Fan Chong lying in the middle of the road. The brothers felt like they were neither conscious nor unconscious, like they could not decide whether they should wake up or not.

    <i>It¡¯s already a great achievement that they did not faint directly. No wonder they¡¯re visitors that have survived the two-star scenarios.</i>

    Chen Ge hauled the brothers onto the trolley. The wheels rolled, and Chen Ge arrived at the middle section. Yang Chen and Lee Xue were ced side by side, leaning against the wall. Probably afraid that the ground was too hardy, someone had been kind enough to push some pillows underneath them. The service was top notch.

    ¡°Not bad, this is the way to treat customers. While scaring them, we have to show some care toward them.¡±

    Gaining Chen Ge¡¯s approval, three shadows came out from the corridor and ran into theic.

    <i>These two should be Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s group¡¯s handiwork. </i>Chen Ge ced Lee Xue onto the trolley and looked at the fainted Yang Chen. He shook his head. <i>Ultimately, you got the experience you wanted. This time, you really did run into an actual worker.</i>

    With four passengers, the trolley was full. Chen Ge found another trolley inside the scenario and walked to the secret tunnel at the middle section with the model head leading the way.

    <i>Someone really came here? What were they thinking?</i>

    Boss Chen entered the tunnel, and the first person he saw was Tails. The girl was copsed on the ground. Probably afraid that she might injure herself from the fall, one of the mannequins was holding her.

    <i>The three editors were together, so there should be more.</i>

    The more Chen Ge headed into the tunnel, the weirder he felt. This group of visitors were like crazy, one by one falling into the trap that he had set up.

    <i>Are the visitors these days so wild?</i>

    After dragging out all five people, Chen Ge looked at the two full trolleys, and he felt quite embarrassed.

    <i>This shouldn¡¯t be! Before the visitors came in, I told the doctors to rescue any fainted visitors if they came across them.</i>

    Chen Ge wheeled the two trolleys out and looking at the visitors, he suddenly took in a cold breath.

    <i>This is bad, I forgot to tell the doctors to send them to the exit after saving them. The doctors have probably saved them multiple times already.</i>

    It was toote to say all that. Chen Ge quickly pushed the visitors to the room where the doctors stayed. After confirming that everyone was fine, he pushed the two trolleys out of the underground morgue.

    ...

    When the Haunted House¡¯s curtains were pushed open, the noise outside dwindled. The visitors acted like their ability of speech had been stripped as they all turned to the entrance. The wheels rolled, and Chen Ge walked into the sunlight with the two trolleys of visitors.

    The sun fell on his body, and his smile was as bright as ever. His muscr arms pushed the trolleys, and the visitors inside the cart looked so peaceful.

    ¡°Uncle Xu, I¡¯ll leave the rest to you. They are not in any danger; I¡¯ve already asked people to check them. They¡¯ll wake up on their own after some time, don¡¯t worry.¡±

    Handing over the trolleys to Uncle Xu, Chen Ge waved at the visitors. ¡°There are many Haunted Houses on the market that boast about their scares to attract visitors, but my Haunted House is different. The thing that we value the most here is the visitors¡¯ safety, so pleasee visit us. We have the best service. To facilitate a good experience, we even have professional doctors and many items to transport the visitors. Don¡¯t worry. We are not like other faithless ces; we do not charge extra for these services.¡±

 Chapter 483 - Boss Chenâ€™s Personal Charm

    <h4>Chapter 483: Boss Chen¡¯s Personal Charm</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    His hands in the pockets, the sun extended Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. This was a man who had normal looks but oozed charm. After Chen Ge returned to the Haunted House, the stunned visitors exploded. The sound of discussion threatened to swallow the whole theme park.

    ¡°All nine visitors have been pushed out? This is a wipeout!¡±

    ¡°This has to be a four-star scenario, right?¡±

    ¡°My legs are already weak even though the game hasn¡¯t started, what do I do?¡±

    ¡°Listen to yourself, it¡¯s just nine fainted visitors, what is so surprising about that? Boss, I just bought the ticket to the underground morgue, but can I change the ticket? I¡¯m really not afraid. I just think the Third Sick Hall is more suitable for me.¡±

    The visitors crowded around the entrance, and the situation was getting out of control. Uncle Xu was swallowed by the wave of people, and he could not move even if he wanted to. He yelled at the top of his lungs, ¡°Where are the doctors? You don¡¯t need to bring the stretcher¡ªjust roll them away like this!¡±

    ¡°Boss, can we swap our tickets here?¡±

    ¡°This is too much!¡±

    ¡°Can we take a picture with the nine visitors?¡±

    ¡°Yang Chen! My god, I saw people from our school!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s really our school¡¯s students! Wait a minute, why do these trolleys look so familiar?¡±

    The crowd rushed forward, and Uncle Xu screamed, ¡°Chen Ge! Chen Ge! Get out here!¡±

    The heavy curtains were already closed. Chen Ge sat next to the table and poured himself a ss of water. <i>This time, they really misunderstood me. Technically, the ce shouldn¡¯t be that scary. Is it because the Haunted House has been upgraded to Maze of Terror? Does that make it easier for the visitors to get scared?</i>

    Unlocking the ck phone, Chen Ge found the exnation for Maze of Terror. As the Haunted House continued to expand, the visitors would get lost both physically and mentally. <i>After the House of Horrors upgraded, it became a Maze of Terror. What is after Maze of Terror? A scary theme park? Howe it fits my aim of creating a terror-based theme park so perfectly?</i>

    The appearance of the underground morgue gave Chen Ge a breather. This one scenario was enough for Chen Ge to explore for a long time.

    <i>All nine visitors who have survived two-star scenarios were taken down. In the future, this three-star scenario might be a local legend.</i>

    This batch of visitors were powerful, but they had all fainted before they reached the central hub. All the scares that Chen Ge had prepared there were wasted.

    <i>Temporarily, I have more than enough scenarios to use. The thing that I need to focus on is to expand the other functions to unlock the Haunted House¡¯s full potential to deal with the futuristic theme park.</i>

    Chen Ge pretended to not hear the noiseing from outside and studied the ck phone. <i>I haven¡¯t gotten the chance to see the item that I got frompleting the Third Sick Hall¡¯s hidden mission. I should make use of this chance to go take a look.</i>

    After the ghost stories society was eliminated, Chen Ge got the reward from the ck phone¡ªthe chairperson¡¯s letter of appointment. He entered the Props Room and found an envelope inside the wooden box left in the corner. He opened it to see a letter written with familiar handwriting.

    ¡°When I¡¯m walking in the darkness, I¡¯m the scariest ghost story in this city.¡±

    It was not signed, but Chen Ge believed that it had been written by Doctor Gao. Chen Ge ced the letter next to the patient¡¯s list, and he could clearly sense the mad souls of these patients calming down.

    <i>All these patients have unlimited potential. I should try to summon them in the future.</i>

    Putting away these things, Chen Ge returned to the entrance because there was a new batch of visitors waiting.

    The visitors woke up at around 2 pm. Everyone felt like their head was heavy, and they were tense. The cute girl among them smashed her phone after she woke up. The few others seemed to have some scars left in them about doctors. Whenever they saw people in white coats, they would subconsciously shy away.

    Chen Ge cared about his visitors. After he heard that they had woken up, he immediately ran to the infirmary.

    The three editors woke up first. They chatted for a long time with Chen Ge and invited Chen Ge toe to their office in Eastern Jiujiang. They believed that the designer behind such a Haunted House had to be a storied person.

    The three medical students¡¯ situation was not that serious. In fact, when they were still inside the Haunted House, they had already been checked by the group of doctors. Doctor Wei and Mr Liu had only let them go after confirming that they could still go back to ss like usual and did not need to take a day off.

    ¡°Boss Chen...¡± Yang Chen was young, and he was naturally arrogant. He was the top of his ss, and he had always been praised since he was young. He rarely got beaten like this, and that was why he was so adamant to clear the Haunted House.

    ¡°What is it that you want to tell me?¡± Chen Ge had no idea what the child had experienced in the Haunted House.

    Yang Chen opened his lips but did not know what to say. Finally, he gripped his fists and stared at Chen Ge. ¡°This is just a temporarily set back. I will definitely return!¡±

    ¡°I admire your courage, and I will give you a twenty percent discount for your future tickets, but remember you¡¯re still a student, don¡¯t lose sight of that.¡± Chen Ge also considered that Yang Chen was a student and thus had limited funds, so he added that.

    Hearing that, Yang Chen¡¯s fists slowly released. He looked at Chen Ge, and his heart was conflicted. He knew that the man had toyed with him for the whole day, but facing Chen Ge, Yang Chen was unable to hate him.

    Walking past the three students, Chen Ge turned to look at Xiao Lee. ¡°You cleared all the one-star and two-star scenarios alone in just one morning, then you quickly followed them to challenge the newly released three-star scenario. Actually, I noticed you when you came in for the first time¡ªyou are different from others. Other people came to enjoy the experience¡ªthey were either nervous or excited¡ªbut you look like you¡¯re forced.¡±

    When Xiao Lee was challenging the one-star scenario, he had already been detected by the phone spirit, so Chen Ge had known about him from the start. Since the guide for the earlier scenarios was already on the inte, Chen Ge did not mind him.

    Xiao Lee did not dare to raise his head to meet Chen Ge¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°The reason you¡¯re here should be rted to the futuristic theme park, right?¡± The smile on Chen Ge¡¯s face had not changed. He sat down next to Xiao Lee. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will not expose you. No matter your intention, as long as you¡¯re in my Haunted House, you¡¯re my guest, and for that, you deserve the best service we have to offer.¡±

    Chen Ge looked out the window. ¡°Haven¡¯t you people been wondering why my Haunted House has so many visitors? The answer is actually very simple. I sincerely want to give my visitors their best experience, and to that end, I do my best every time.¡±

    Xiao Lee nodded like he somewhat understood it. Then he quickly shook his head. The clumsy way that he reacted made Chen Ge smile. ¡°If you were my worker, I would have followed you to do the visitation, not dumped you to face the ordeal alone and refused to show up to bring you back.¡±

    Standing up, Chen Ge still did not mention the word ¡®phone¡¯. ¡°Take good care of yourself.¡±

    He turned to walk to Fan Dade and Fan Chong. Xiao Lee looked at Chen Ge¡¯s back, and he held the phone that was hidden under his pillow, feeling ufortable

 Chapter 484 - Midnight Hearse

    <h4>Chapter 484: Midnight Hearse</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge finally stopped next to Fan Dade and Fan Chong. These two visitors¡¯ situation was more serious than others. Fan Dade¡¯s eyes were unfocused as he stared at the ceiling. It looked like he was contemting his life and future. His brother, Fan Chong, had returned to normal, but his body would spasm asionally, and it looked quite scary.

    ¡°Feeling better?¡± Chen Ge sat down next to the bed with a thermos of hot water. Fan Dade looked at Chen Ge, and he really could not believe that this unassuming man was the culprit behind all those things that they had experienced.

    ¡°Thank you, we¡¯re feeling much better.¡± After being scared so many times, Fan Chong seemed to have walked out from the haze of the break-up and found a new lease on life.

    ¡°Good.¡± Chen Ge poured two cups of water and left them on the table. He nned to leave right after. The business was still running, so he could not be away for too long.

    ¡°Boss Chen, wait a minute.¡± Fan Chong sat up in bed and looked at Chen Ge.

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Can I ask you a question?¡± Fan Chong¡¯s chubby hands held the edge of the bed. He thought about it for a long time before asking, ¡°You¡¯ve designed so many ghosts and monsters at your Haunted House, so do you personally believe in the existence of ghosts in this world?¡±

    ¡°Many visitors have asked me that.¡± Chen Ge looked at Fan Chong with some surprise. Thisrge child seemed to have an unknown past. ¡°I don¡¯t know the real answer. Perhaps there are ghosts, but in any case, I have not seen any.¡±

    ¡°You have not?¡± Fan Chong looked quite saddened.

    ¡°Why would you suddenly ask that?¡± Compared to whether there were ghosts in this world or not, Chen Ge was more curious about what had happened to Fan Chong. The man looked normal, but he had managed to retain his sanity after so many repeated scares. That was quite impressive.

    ¡°Actually, it¡¯s nothing. Recently, I¡¯ve been ying a game that is said to have been created by a murderer, and the game is supposed to contain hints of his murders.¡± Fan Chong used one sentence to attract the attention of everyone in the room.

    ¡°A game designed by a mad murderer?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s interest was piqued. ¡°But how is that rted to the existence of ghosts in this world?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it was the sound effects, but after some time ying the game, I began to hear the sound of children crying. I like to wear earphones when ying games, and that is a source of curiosity because even after I took the earphones out, I could still hear the sound of crying.¡± It was the first time Fan Chong said these things, and his expression was strange. ¡°I suspected that I was hearing things, but after examination, the doctor told me that my body was fine. So, those children crying must have been real.¡±

    ¡°Can you tell me what the crying said?¡± Chen Ge stopped at the door.

    ¡°She kept crying and only appeared at night.¡±

    ¡°What is the game generally about?¡± Chen Ge asked another question.

    ¡°On the surface, it is a clothes-changing game. You can pretty up your avatar daughter in the game and use her toplete various missions. Afterpleting the mission, you¡¯ll be awarded with more clothes and essories. Things like school uniform, sun dress, things like that.¡±

    ¡°Daughter? Dress up?¡± Chen Ge looked at Fan Chong with suspicion. ¡°Why would you y a game like that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not important. The important part is that after I cleared all the missions, the game gave me the veryst reward¡ªit was a piece of clothing.¡± Fan Chong hugged his head, and his fingers poked through his hair. ¡°The clothing was named ¡®Mummy¡¯s Pajamas¡¯. After I got that outfit, a window appeared on-screen, and it said that Xiao Bu had found a key that leads to the dungeon in Mummy¡¯s Pajamas.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Bu was the name that you gave your daughter in the game?¡± Chen Ge asked.

    ¡°No.¡± Fan Chong shook his head. ¡°At the time, I had just broken up with my girlfriend of four years. I named the avatar in game after her, Liu Jiaru.¡±

    ¡°You named your virtual daughter after your real girlfriend?¡± Chen Ge was just beyond speechless. He sat back down and decided to ask for more.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind those details. At the time, I was confused. My daughter¡¯s name was Liu Jiaru, but why would the game change the name on its own to Xiao Bu? I googled the game online but could not find any information on it.¡± Fan Chong saw the question on Chen Ge¡¯s face, so he exined, ¡°I found the game on a small gaming forum. The forum has plenty of indie games and mod files for mainstream games.¡±

    ¡°In essence, youpleted the game and got a key that led to some dungeon. What happened after that?¡± Chen Ge took a sip of the warm water and continued to listen.

    ¡°The setting of the game is not big; it¡¯s just a small town, and all the missions can bepleted in said town. After I got the key, I had the girl whose name had already changed, put on Mummy¡¯s Pajamas, and exit the room to look for the dungeon entrance.¡± Fan Chong curled up on the bed, and his expression slowly changed. ¡°The game¡¯s style is very warm and kid-friendly, filled with sun and flowers. Every character in the town is kind and helpful. Actually, it is because of how warm the game felt that I chose to y it after the break up. I thought that the game might be a good distraction, but something scarier than the break up happened.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t need to exin so much. Just give me the result.¡± Chen Ge was eager to find out what happened.

    ¡°I spent one week and used the mouse to click on every inch of the town until I eventually found the entrance in one of Xiao Bu¡¯s friend¡¯s houses behind a dresser.¡± Fan Chong raised his head to look at Chen Ge. ¡°The window popped up to inform me that I had already found the entrance of the dungeon and asked whether I wanted to use the key or not.¡±

    His hands closed and opened; it was clear that Fan Chong was very nervous. ¡°After I clicked yes, the door opened. I controlled Xiao Bu to enter the space behind the dresser. Myputer went nk instantly, and about two secondster, when the screen returned, the style of the game becamepletely different.¡±

    ¡°Was it a blood red world behind the dresser?¡± Chen Ge was reminded of the ¡®door¡¯.

    ¡°No.¡± Fan Chong shook his head. ¡°The world behind the dresser was dim. There were dead sunflowers littering the ground, and the walls were thick.

    ¡°There was a grey road, and there were streetlights on the side of the road, but the distance between them was very far. It was recognizable that I was still inside the town, but night had arrived. The surrounding buildings looked so differentpared to how they had looked in daylight.

    ¡°I controlled Xiao Bu to walk down the road and eventually came across a bus stop. Waiting at the bus stop was a rather old, worn public bus.¡±

 Chapter 485 - Red Raincoat

    <h4>Chapter 485: Red Raincoat</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°There were no other roads. When I controlled Xiao Bu to walk past the bus, I saw a woman standing at the bus stop, a woman in a red raincoat.

    ¡°The whole world was gray, so the woman¡¯s red raincoat was very conspicuous. I used the cursor to click on the woman, and a message popped up¡ªHave you seen my child?

    ¡°That should be the woman¡¯s speech bubble, and no matter how many times I pressed, she kept repeating the same question.

    ¡°The game changed too much, and I was feeling scared. I continued ying simply because I was curious. I ignored the woman and wanted to move forward, but Xiao Bu refused to follow my control; her body stopped moving.

    ¡°I leaned closer and saw that the woman in the raincoat had grabbed Xiao Bu¡¯s arm, and the scary thing was that the woman¡¯s body was shaking. A bug seemed to have corrupted the game because the windows kept popping out saying¡ªHave you seen my child?

    ¡°I clicked on the cursor crazily. Finally, I clicked on the bus, and the girl managed to get away from the woman by running into the bus. The vehicle started and drove down the road.

    ¡°I had no idea how long it had been driving when Xiao Bu, who was wearing her Mummy¡¯s Pajamas, started to pace inside the bus. She heard the sound of children crying.¡±

    Fan Chong did not continue for a moment. His emotions were jangled, and his hands held his chest. ¡°It was from then on that I started to hear the voice clearer. That day, I yed until 3 am. I was afraid, so I turned off theputer directly. However, after I crawled into bed, I could still hear the crying of the child. The sound seemed toe out from theputer, but when I turned to look, the source changed direction again. It felt as if the child had crawled out of theputer and into my room.¡±

    ¡°When did this begin?¡± Chen Ge took out his phone to exchange WeChat IDs with Fan Chong.

    ¡°Around one or two weeks ago. No wait, I can¡¯t remember clearly.¡± Fan Chong¡¯s face scrunched up in pain. ¡°You cane over to Eastern Jiujiang to find me next time, and we can talk this out.¡±

    ¡°Okay, where is your home?¡±

    ¡°The first apartment at Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s Li Wan Town¡¯s West street.¡±

    Chen Ge memorized this address and left after chatting for a while longer with Fan Chong.

    <i>Recently, all the strange things have been happening in Eastern Jiujiang. Looks like that ce is quite messy and not as quiet as it appears on the surface. </i>Chen Ge returned to the Haunted House to work. A few visitors were scared dumb, but no oneined or argued with Chen Ge.

    For those real adrenaline seekers, they would never be angry because it was too exciting; they would onlyin when it was not exciting enough. However, there were few such visitors. Most of the visitors would regain their senses after trying out the one-star or two-star scenarios. In their eyes, only those who had lost their mind would challenge three-star scenarios.

    Chen Ge¡¯s House of Horrors ended its business at 6:50 pm. After sending away thest batch of visitors, the few employees could finally leave their own scenario.

    ¡°Thank you for your work today. The weather forecast said that there could be rain tonight, so you¡¯d better leave while it¡¯s still bright.¡± After cleaning the ce, Chen Ge followed Xiao Gu and Xu Wan out the haunted house.

    ¡°Boss where are you going?¡±

    ¡°There are some materials left at the workshop. I n to make some extra limbs; the new scenario still needs some more additions.¡± Chen Ge locked the door.

    ¡°More additions?¡± Xiao Gu widened his eyes. ¡°Boss, I heard you scared nine visitors until they fainted today. That is enough to get you on the news. Are you sure you want to add more stuff to the new scenario? Why don¡¯t you show some pity to the visitors?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t do that.¡± Chen Ge denied it without thinking. ¡°You don¡¯t understand the human heart. The more they could not get it, the more they wanted to fight for it. We must be able to guarantee that we have a scenario that can never be cleared at our Haunted House. With this scenario, the visitors will return to challenge it again and again. If all our scenarios could be cleared easily, then our Haunted House would be no different from all the others on the market.¡±

    ¡°Yes, to create a Haunted House that the visitors will never clear, that should be our focus.¡± No matter what Chen Ge said, Xu Wan would support it unconditionally. She walked next to Chen Ge with her head lowered and concurred with Chen Ge¡¯s words every so often.

    ¡°I seem to understand it now.¡± Xiao Gu nodded with a semi-nk expression.

    ¡°Make sure not to leak this information to outsiders¡ªthis is the secret of our Haunted House,¡± Chen Ge reminded with a light smile.

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    The three walked down the road and soon reached the workshop. Xu Wan and Xiao Gu did not leave and wanted to stay to help Chen Ge. Chen Ge had already informed Boss Qian, so the three walked into the workshop directly.

    At 8 pm, considering his two employee¡¯s health and the fact that they still needed to work tomorrow, he told them to go home first. ¡°I still have too few members of staff. There is too much pressure on Xiao Gu and Xu Wan. After the impact from the futuristic park is over, I should bring all of my employees out for a trip.¡±

    Boss Qian had already left, so Chen Ge closed the door. He nned to spend a whole night there. After all, the materials would have gone to waste left at the workshop, so he nned to give them a new ¡®life¡¯.

    After Xu Wan and Xiao Gu left the workshop, since their homes were at different ce, after saying goodbye, Xiao Gu walked to the countryside alone.

    ¡°It¡¯s only 8 pm, so there should be enough time for me to catch up to thest bus.¡± Xiao Gu walked to the nearest bus stop to look at the bus stop. ¡°The ce I¡¯m staying at is too far from the city. After I get this month¡¯s pay, I should find an apartment closer to New Century Park. But if I move out before finishing the three months, I probably won¡¯t get my deposit back...¡±

    Calling a taxi would waste too much money. Xiao Gu looked at the bus route as he waited for the bus to arrive. As he stared at the ss panel, he suddenly realized that the panel reflected the shadow of a woman. The woman was standing at the opposite bus stop, and she was silently looking at him.

    ¡°She sure is dressed strangely. The weather forecast did mention rain, but it¡¯s not yet raining, so why is she wearing a raincoat already?¡± Xiao Gu was ufortable being stared at by the woman. He took out his phone, wanting to snap a picture of her. However, when he turned around, the woman had already disappeared.

    ¡°Her reflection was in the ss, so she was just there. Where did she disappear to?¡±

    Xiao Gu held his phone and looked left and right. The woman disappeared like she had never been there in the first ce.

    The thunder rumbled in the night, and the rainclouds hung low in the sky. There would probably be heavy rain that night.

    Just as Xiao Gu was spacing out, a bus came toward him from afar. The bus was driven slowly, and there were few passengers.

 Chapter 486 - Have You Seen My Child?

    <h4>Chapter 486: Have You Seen My Child?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Route 17? </i>Xiao Gu turned back to look at the bus route map. The bus for Route 17 would not pass his apartment. <i>I need to take Route 104 to the end and walk for another two blocks.</i>

    ording to the map, thest bus for Route 104 would be at 9 pm. Xiao Gu sighed in relief when he saw that. He leaned against the bus stop and waited patiently for bus on Route 104 to arrive. The bus for Route 17 stopped by the bus stop. The driver was a middle-aged man with little care for his appearance. After the passengers got off, the bus did not leave and waited where it was.

    <i>What¡¯s the meaning of this? </i>Xiao Gu did not n to take this bus. He lifted his head to look at the driver and saw the driver staring at the space one to two meters in front of him like there was someone standing there.

    After about seven seconds, the driver grumbled with impatience, <i>If you want to get on, then get on. If you don¡¯t want to get on, then stand back. Don¡¯t block the door!</i>

    The door closed, and the bus trundled away, disappearing down the road.

    <i>Who was he talking to? </i>Xiao Gu looked around; he was the only one waiting at the station. The rainclouds pooled above him, and the stars were eclipsed. It made him feel quite alone. At 8:20 pm, the rain started to fall. People on the road started to rush to their destination, and the originally quite busy street became quite deserted.

    <i>It feels quite cold. </i>Xiao Gu, who was rather bored, went online to look at thetest news around Jiujiang.

    ¡°Latest update on the cadaver theft cases at Central Hospital. The surveince caught some possible suspects and has already denied the possibility of an inside job.¡±

    ¡°A famed livestream host disappeared at Mu Yang High School in the middle of his streamst night. ording to our sources, there have been multiple disappearances at Mu Yang High School since its abandonment.¡±

    ¡°A Schistosomiasis Control Station¡¯s employee, surnamed Wang, was found dead under mysterious circumstances. Thirty percent of the victim was drained, and there was a wound in the shape of a rose on the victim¡¯s back.¡±

    ¡°Three men drowned when they were out swimming near Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s dam. The weathertely has been warm, but due to the geographical nature of Jiujiang city, which has had plenty of rain and water, the local government would like to remind the public not to y in the water at open water locations to prevent ident.¡±

    ¡°Jiujiang Update: A couple was found dead from self-immtion at Li Wan City¡¯s shopping center. It¡¯s suspected that this was some sort of ritual.¡±

    ¡°There has been another serious car ident involving thest bus ride on Route 104! The minister of traffic promises to improve the route map.¡±

    Putting away the phone, Xiao Gu looked at the empty bus stop and shivered. He had no idea when this had started, but the news had stopped being about celebrity gossip and more about the supernatural cases that happened around the city. <i>Howe it feels like the world has gotten more dangerous?</i>

    Xiao Gu squatted down as the rain continued to pour. He did not carry an umbre so he could only hide inside the bus stop.

    <i>Other than Brother Chen and Sister Xu Wan, I have no other friends at Jiujiang. It¡¯s already toote to call them for help¡ªafter all, we¡¯ve all been working for a whole day already.</i>

    Xiao Gu was a kind person, and he was a straightforward thinker. For those who treated him well, he would treat them back in kind. He was not one to harbor hidden intentions. The bus stop was caught in the storm. The rain fell down the roof. Xiao Gu wondered when the rain would stop.

    <i>Where is the bus?</i>

    The shape of the buildings from afar looked blurry due to the rain. The cars on the road dwindled. The onlypany that Xiao Gu had at the bus stop was the street light next to him.

    The yellow light dimmed after it filtered through the pouring rain. Chills climbed into Xiao Gu¡¯s sleeves. He poked his head out to look down the road. There were no cars or trucks, much less a public bus.

    The road was empty, washed clean by the rain. Every few dozen meters, there was a street light, and it was these lights that warmed Xiao Gu¡¯s heart in this lonely night. The rain turned heavier, and Xiao Gu became increasingly worried. He paced under the bus shelter, thinking that if a taxi passed by, he would just g it down. The street lights dimmed. He waited for another ten minutes. When it was almost 9 pm, Xiao Gu saw a busing from the end of the road, heading slowly to the stop.

    Perhaps it was the rain, but while Xiao Gu could see the busing, he could not hear any noise made by the vehicle.

    <i>That looks like it¡¯s for Route 104.</i>

    Xiao Gu searched for change inside his pocket, and as he turned around, he saw someone standing at the bus stop!

    Standing not far from him was a woman in a red raincoat. She seemed to be waiting for a bus as well.

    <i>Wasn¡¯t thisdy on the opposite side of the road earlier? When did she get over here?</i>

    The raincoat was wet, and the woman had her head lowered. The exposed hair stuck together to cover the view of her face.

    <i>She doesn¡¯t seem to be wearing any shoes... could she be a mad woman?</i>

    Xiao Gu carefully edged away. He stood at one side of the bus stop, but the woman stood right in the middle.

    The rain became heavier. The bus slowly entered the station, stopping between Xiao Gu and the woman. Xiao Gu, who had already prepared his change, charged toward the door, but to his surprise, the woman who kept her head lowered suddenly moved. She reached out to grab Xiao Gu without warning, and her wet hair fell on Xiao Gu¡¯s arm.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    The woman slowly raised her head. Hair covered most of her face, but through the gap between the hair, one could almost see a pair of eyes that did not seem to have ck pupils.

    ¡°Have you seen my child?¡±

    ¡°No, I have not.¡± Xiao Gu was given a fright by the woman. He wanted to struggle loose, but the woman¡¯s thin hands held onto him tightly.

    ¡°Have you seen my child?¡± The woman took another step forward. There was arge stain on the red raincoat. Since the stain had a dark red color, Xiao Gu had not noticed it initially because it blended perfectly into the color of the raincoat.

    ¡°Big sister, I really have not seen your child!¡± The door of the bus had already started to close. Xiao Gu did not want to continue his tussle with the woman. He tried his best to struggle loose and jumped onto the bus. He put in the coins and found a seat by the window to sit down. Through the window, Xiao Gu saw the woman still standing in the middle of the bus stop. Her head was lowered, and her hair was dripping wet.

    <i>She too is a sorry character. She probably lost her child, and her mind broke from the overwhelming sadness. </i>Xiao Gu¡¯s eyes were shining with pity.

    The rain seeped through the gap in the roof, and a few drops fell on the woman. It slid down her raincoat to create a red puddle around her feet.

    ¡°The vehicle will start soon. Please take your seat. Wee to the driverless bus for Route 104. Dear passenger, please move closer to the backdoor. Our next stop is Central Hospital.¡±

    The cold operator voice came from the front of the vehicle. Xiao Gu stretchedzily and leaned against the car seat.

    <i>What is this sticky feeling?</i>

    Xiao Gu turned to look around. The middle of the backseat was wet like someone had just taken this seat not that long ago.

 Chapter 487 - She Has Been Following me

    <h4>Chapter 487:</h4>

    <h4>She Has Been Following me</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Did some passenger sit here earlier with their wet clothes from the rain?</i>

    Xiao Gu touched the seat; it felt wet but not like water. He could not really describe it.

    <i>I¡¯d better switch seats.</i>

    The bus drove safely. The sights on both sides flew past very fast, and he could not feel the bus tumble. Standing up, Xiao Gu looked around. There were few people on thisst bus¡ªincluding him, there were only six of them.

    The first three rows on the left were empty, and an olddy sat on the fourth row. She kept looking out the window like she had something on her mind.

    A woman sat on the same row on the right, and she kept her head lowered as she yed on her phone. She looked about thirty and dressed fashionably. Xiao Gu believed that she was an employee from nearbypany and had been working overtime until she had to take thest bus.

    Xiao Gu sat in the middle of the bus alone. Behind him was a woman around forty or fifty who was hugging a young child on herp. The woman was seriously obese, and her face was filled with freckles, but the child on herp looked handsome and beautiful,pletely unlike her.

    Looking further back, there was a student sitting at thest row. He carried a school bag, and his uniform was drenched. He looked like he had just finished tuition.

    <i>Students nowadays sure are under a lot of pressure.</i>

    Xiao Gu was about to turn his head away when the student suddenly raised his head to meet his eyes before quickly averting his gaze.

    <i>His face looks so pale, and his body is shivering¡ªis he sick?</i>

    He changed his seat and sat near the back door. ying a crazed murderer inside a Haunted House was hard work. He needed to run back and forth, and sometimes, to create a surprise, he needed to follow the boss¡¯ orders and run the long route to block the visitors¡¯ way on the other end of the path. After a whole day of work, Xiao Gu was feeling tired. He leaned against the seat, and his eyelids became heavy.

    Just as Xiao Gu was about to fall asleep, something hit him lightly on the back of his head. He turned to look and saw a ball of paper on the ground. ¡°Was this from that student?¡±

    Xiao Gu picked up the paper. He thought it was a prank, but on second thought, thinking back to how the student looked, he did not think that was it. Holding the paper, Xiao Gu turned back to look. The student had his head turned downward. There was no sign that it was him who had tossed the ball of paper.

    Xiao Gu opened the paper and saw a sentence that had hastily been written on it.

    ¡®Don¡¯t fall asleep or you¡¯ll miss your station.¡¯

    It was a normal reminder, and Xiao Gu knew that the person who wrote it had written it out of kindness. He kept the paper and turned to smile at the boy at thest row, and he said softly, ¡°It¡¯s okay. I¡¯m going to get off on thest stop.¡±

    He purposely lowered his voice, but because there were no other people on the bus, it was very quiet, and his voice came out much louder than he expected. When the words st stop¡¯ left his lips, the bus suddenly turned. Gu Feiyu nced at the driver¡¯s seat, and he realized that the driver was actually watching him through the rear-view mirror.

    The driver was wearing the uniform from Jiujiang¡¯s public transportpany. The jacket looked old, and his Adam¡¯s apple jumped up and down. His face was filled with sweat¡ªhe looked nervous and scared. He had both hands on the steering wheel. Like the student, the driver quickly moved his gaze away.

    <i>What is he afraid of?</i>

    Xiao Gu was confused. The way the driver looked at him was weird, like he was trying to tell him something.

    The rain turned heavier. It was two different worlds inside and outside the bus. Xiao Gu lost his desire to sleep and turned to silently study the other passengers on the bus. The bus flew in the night, and it soon arrived at the next station. The bus entered the station, and when it was safely stopped, the electronic voice said, ¡°Ding! We¡¯ve arrived at Central Hospital. Departing customers, please make sure that you have all of your belongings with you, and please alight from the back door.¡±

    Both front and back doors opened at the same time, and the rain outside dripped into the bus. Soon, a middle-aged man with a red thread around his wrist stepped onto the bus. He was wearing a white coat, so he was probably a doctor at Central Hospital.

    The doctor rummaged through his pocket for a long time to look for change, but he could not find it. The driver saw that it was raining, so he waved for the man to get in first, and he could look for the change at his seat.

    The front door closed, and the doctor walked onto the bus, holding the rails. When he passed Xiao Gu, he paused and turned to look at him. Sitting in his seat, Xiao Gu raised his head to look at the doctor. He realized that the doctor had a strange look. His brows were thick, and when he looked at people, his eyes would bulge like they were going to fall out.

    ¡°Hello...¡± Xiao Gu felt awkward, being stared by the doctor. He stood up and prepared to leave at the next stop.

    Seeing Xiao Gu stand up, the doctor moved backward and smiled apologetically at Xiao Gu. He sat on the seat on the other side of Xiao Gu. The bus was dark, and Xiao Gu believed that he had seen that the doctor¡¯s mouth had no teeth when he smiled earlier. He held the paper in his pocket and did not stay long at his seat. He moved to the backdoor directly.

    <i>Maybe I should just call for a taxi.</i>

    Holding the rail, Xiao Gu moved to the door ,and when he arrived, his body froze, and his face filled with disbelief.

    Standing at the bus stop was a woman in a red raincoat. The woman had her head lowered, and her wet hair stuck together to block her face.

    <i>The same woman from before? Why is she here? This isn¡¯t the same stop, right?</i>

    Gu Feiyu was stunned when the cold voice began again. ¡°The vehicle will start soon. Please take your seat. Wee to the driverless bus for Route 104. Dear passenger, please move closer to the backdoor. Our next stop is Hong Si Restaurant.¡±

    The backdoor slowly closed, and Xiao Gu snapped back to reality. <i>Why would the woman in the raincoat appear at the station near Central Hospital? And she was closer to the doorpared to before! Is she following me?</i>

    With sweat sliding down his face, Xiao Gu¡¯s expression was no different from the driver¡¯s earlier. He held the railing tightly and did not return to his seat instantly.

    ¡°Are... you feeling okay?¡± A chilling voice suddenly came from behind him¡ªthe doctor was staring at Xiao Gu.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Xiao Gu went back to his seat, and he lowered his voice to ask, ¡°Sir, did you see a woman in a red raincoat standing near the backdoor at the stop earlier?¡±

    ¡°Red raincoat?¡± The doctor shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±

    ¡°Impossible.¡± Xiao Gu turned to ask the student at thest row. ¡°Did you see that woman earlier? She was standing at the bus stop!¡±

    The student ignored Xiao Gu. He did not even turn his head to him. He kept his face on the rain outside the window, but his hands kept moving inside his bag like he was looking for something.

 Chapter 488 - Three or Four People

    <h4>Chapter 488: Three or Four People</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    He pulled the bag half open, and the student looked very nervous. His hand held something, but he did not pull it out of the bag.

    <i>A fruit knife?</i>

    Xiao Gu saw something reflective from the opening, but it was unclear whether it was a mirror or a knife. The bus started moving, and Xiao Gu went back to his seat. His eyelid kept twitching¡ªhe was feeling anxious. The rain outside continued to pour, and it was so heavy that he was unable to see the buildings that lined the road. Inside the bus, it was so quiet. No one spoke; it was a strange atmosphere.

    <i>Every one of the passengers is acting weirdly.</i>

    Xiao Gu leaned his body against the car window. The doctor that was across the aisle from him kept ncing his way with an unreadable smile on his face. It felt like he had found an interesting piece of art.

    Taking out his phone, Xiao Gu activated the camera and chose the selfie setting. He raised the phone and nced at the student at thest row using the camera. The boy seemed to suffer from carsickness. He ced the bag on his knees, and his face turned paler by the minute. Sweat kept forming on his forehead, but he never once took his hand out from his bag.

    <i>Is he not feeling well?</i>

    Xiao Gu was worried about the boy. However, before he stood up, the student realized that Xiao Gu had been watching him from the camera. The boy seemed like he did not want to be on camera. He used his hands to cover his face, silently used his finger to point at the doctor in the white coat next to Xiao Gu, and waved his hand back and forth.

    <i>Is he hinting at something? The doctor is dangerous?</i>

    After that small gesture, the student lowered his head to hug the bag.

    Xiao Gu put down his phone and studied the doctor from the corner of his eyes. Suddenly, he was reminded of a new article that he had read getting on the bus¡ª¡±Latest update on the cadaver theft cases at Central Hospital. The surveince caught some possible suspects and has already denied the possibility of an inside job.¡±

    Opening the link, the article attached a very blurry picture¡ªit was believed to be the picture taken by the hospital surveince. A man in white coat was crawling rapidly on the ground before disappearing into the morgue.

    ¡°White coat?¡± Xiao Gu erged the photo. The light was weak inside the bus. He focused on the picture. ¡°The face is too blurry, but the frame is very simr.¡±

    Suddenly, a phone rang. Xiao Gu, who was extremely focused, jumped in his seat. He put his phone away and raised his head. The ringtone came from the purse of the woman in the professional dress. She took out the phone and nced at the caller ID¡ªher face dropped.

    As she answered the call, an anxious male voice came from the other side. ¡°Huang Ling, where are you? Are you still working? The lights at your office have all gone off already.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already left. Where were you? You said you were going toe to pick up, but I didn¡¯t see you even though I waited for half an hour!¡± Huang Ling did not have it good either. It was raining, and she had worked until sote. She had waited so long for the man, but he did not arrive.

    ¡°You¡¯ve already left? Howe I didn¡¯t see you?¡±

    ¡°Stop pretending, this is not the first time you¡¯ve beente. You nevermit to the promises that you¡¯ve made¡ªI¡¯ve had enough!¡±

    ¡°I know I was bad before, but I swear, this time, I wasn¡¯tte. I waited at the door to yourpany at 6 pm and saw the lights at your building go off one by one, but I didn¡¯t even see you.¡± The voice on the phone became hurried. ¡°Where are you now? I hear something is wrong with your voice. Is it because that old hound is making things hard for you again?¡±

    ¡°He did not do something like that. I just feel very tired.¡± Huang Ling slowed down. She looked at the city covered in rain outside the window. ¡°Jia Ming, I¡¯m not afraid of working hard with you, but you have to at least work together with me. I¡¯m almost thirty, and I don¡¯t want to work until 8 pm every day and then take thest bus with three or four people and return to your rented room to make dinner for you.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Ling, I¡¯ve found the way to make money. We¡¯ve both moved from our old home to Jiujiang and have survived so many years. Please give me some more time.¡±

    Huang Ling took at the rain outside the window, and her eyes were dull. ¡°If you say so.¡±

    ¡°Where are you now? I¡¯ll go pick you up...¡± Before the man finished, Huang Ling ended the call and shoved her phone inside her bag.

    <i>It¡¯s not easy for couples these days... </i>Xiao Gu sighed internally. When he saw Huang Ling earlier, since she dressed so fashionably, he assumed that the woman was rich. Upon closer inspection, he realized that her attire was mostly fake, and she looked so pretty because she herself was pretty.

    ¡°Ding! We¡¯ve arrived at Hong Si Restaurant. Departing customers, please make sure that you have all of your belongings with you, and please alight from the back door.¡±

    The bus had arrived at its next destination, and both doors opened. This time, no one got on the bus. Xiao Gu nced outside at the bus station. The mad woman in the red raincoat was really standing at the bus stop, and she seemed to have moved even closer to the bus.

    <i>This is really something else.</i>

    Xiao Gu was panicking. He sat close to the back door. If the woman got on, she would see him first.

    <i>Don¡¯t tell me she¡¯ll follow me home? If she appears at every stop, then won¡¯t she be waiting for me at thest stop?</i>

    The doors closed. Suddenly, there was a child¡¯s coughinging from the middle from the bus. It was the middle-aged woman holding the child. She patted the child¡¯s back lightly, but it was to no avail. If anything, it only made the child cough harder.

    ¡°Sounds like he has a fever. Do you even know how to take care of a child? The difference in temperature from day to night is so big, but you only give him a thin shirt to wear?¡± Huang Ling heard the coughing, and she got annoyed.

    ¡°I¡¯m just helping my rtive look after his child...¡± The middle-aged woman¡¯s voice was coarse¡ªshe sounded like a man. She forced a smile. She did not feed the child water or medicine. Instead, she just kept patting his back. The child coughed harder, and his body was shivering.

    ¡°I think you should bring him to the hospital.¡± Xiao Gu stood up and removed his own jacket to pass it to the woman. ¡°Use this to wrap around the child first.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± The woman hesitated before epting the jacket. Even with the jacket, the child kept coughing. Xiao Gu held his phone and the change that he had taken from the jacket¡¯s pocket and went back to his seat.

    The door closed, and just as he was about to reach his seat, there was a sounding from the backdoor. A thin person pped her hand against the door.

    ¡°The vehicle will start soon. Please take your seat. Wee to the driverless bus for Route 104. Dear passenger, please move closer to the backdoor. Our next stop is Li Wan Mall.¡±

    The bus started, and the hand soon disappeared.

    Xiao Gu went back to his seat. He turned to look at the stop, and the red shadow was turning blurry.

    <i>Can the other passengers really not see the woman in the raincoat?</i>

 Chapter 489 - Chen Geâ€™s Message

    <h4>Chapter 489: Chen Ge¡¯s Message</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Have you seen my child?¡± a voice said in Xiao Gu¡¯s ear. Within his view, the woman from afar turned her head like she was looking into his eyes. Shivering, Xiao Gu involuntarily staggered backward.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± The doctor stood up and very kindly went to hold Xiao Gu. There was a weird smell on the man.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, thank you.¡± Xiao Gu turned back to look. Because he was so close, he realized that the doctor wore nothing under his white coat. Xiao Gu¡¯s expression changed, and he quickly introduced some distance between him and the doctor.

    ¡°Good, good.¡± The doctor maintained the smile on his face. He stood next to Xiao Gu for a while before returning to his seat. Forcing a smile, Xiao Gu hugged his arms, which were covered with goosebumps. ¡°The man is a pervert. Just what kind of person I¡¯ve met tonight?¡±

    Xiao Gu wanted to leave, but once he remembered the woman with the red raincoat waiting for him, he started to have second thoughts. Between the pervert and a ghost, he thought about it and felt like it was safer to stay in the bus. Even though the passengers were weird, at least they were human.

    Along the way, Huang Ling¡¯s phone rang several more times. The man on the phone kept asking where she was even though Huang Ling had told him many times already. Whenever her phone rang, it was the man asking for her location. This repeated several times until Huang Ling thought that the man was toying with her, so she switched off her phone directly.

    ¡°You¡¯ve failed so many of the promises that you¡¯ve given, now do you finally regret it?¡± Huang Ling seemed to have many things in her heart. Through the conversation, Xiao Gu had a brief idea of Huang Ling¡¯s situation. Her husband was not working. On the surface, he told others he was a frencer, but in reality, it was Huang Ling who held up the whole family on her own.

    After the phone got switched off, the bus became quiet again expect for the asional cough from the child. The rain flooded the city. The bus raced down Route 104¡ªno one had any idea where its final destination would be.

    <i>The bus is supposed to drive around the city, but howe it feels like we¡¯re leaving the city? There are no people around, and the surroundings look so deserted.</i>

    The lights in the buildings outside were off, and the ce felt strange.

    Several minutester, the bus arrived at Li Wan Mall, and the doors opened. Xiao Gu leaned against the ss to look. The woman in the red raincoat was standing right at the edge of the station, looking at the bus silently.

    <i>At the next stop, she¡¯ll be showing up at the door. Should I wait until she gets on first before I get off?</i>

    Xiao Gu wasing up with an escape when an argument came from the other side of the bus stop. They were being very loud. The woman¡¯s voice was shrill, and the man was not holding back; it felt like they were going to get physical.

    Turning to look, Xiao Gu saw a man and a woman hugging each other tightly but caught in the middle of a big argument. The man wanted to get on the bus, but the woman tried her best to make him stay. She scratched, pawed, and screamed, basically going anything she could to make him stay.

    <i>What is up with them? </i>Xiao Gu pulled his head back. <i>Already in such a big argument, why are they still stuck together? They can¡¯t tear themselves apart from each other?</i>

    The bus stopped for a full minute. With the woman¡¯s madness, the man failed to get on the bus. The bus moved away from the bus stop slowly.

    ¡°The rain has been falling for an hour already, but the two¡¯s clothes were dry. Looks like they have been arguing here for a long time already.¡± Xiao Gu turned to look back at the stop. The arguing couple had already disappeared¡ªonly the red shadow was left.

    ¡°Where did they go?¡± He stood up to take a better look. He wanted to open the window, but he was unable to get it to open. The lock seemed to be broken.

    <i>This is too weird. </i>Xiao Gu was getting more and more uneasy. <i>Could that couple be ghosts, too? But they acted so normally...</i>

    Holding the phone, Xiao Gu looked down, and he was reminded of the articles that he had read earlier.

    <i>Li Wan Mall? Something happened here too! </i>Xiao Gu looked through his phone and found the news about the couplemitting self-immtion at Li Wan Mall. The picture attached had blurred out their faces, but the couple hugged each other tightly in the fire like they did not want to be separated even after death.

    <i>Isn¡¯t this too much of a coincidence? The doctor and couple are the same as the news¡ªare they all ghosts? Do ghosts also need to take the bus?</i>

    Xiao Gu nced at the doctor across from him. The man in the white coat kept his eyes glued on Huang Ling like he was having some dirty thoughts in his mind.

    <i>Nah, this man is probably just a pervert, not a ghost.</i>

    The bus continued to move forward. No one got on the bus, but Xiao Gu noticed something weird. The bus would stop for a full minute at every stop. Xiao Gu intended to leave several times, but his courage would disappear whenever he saw the woman at the station. The situation was different from what he thought. The woman got closer and closer to the bus, but she did not look like she was getting on. She only stood at the backdoor like she was waiting for someone.

    <i>Why is she so hung up on this bus?</i>

    The more Xiao Gu thought about it, the more afraid he became. In the end, he took out his phone and searched for Chen Ge¡¯s number.

    <i>Directly calling Brother Chen might not be a good idea. If I¡¯m really haunted, then I¡¯ll only drag Brother Chen down with me.</i>

    Xiao Gu hesitated. In the end, he decided to message Chen Ge. He wrote down everything that happened that night, and after confirming he did not leave anything out, he sent it to Chen Ge.

    While he was writing the message, the bus stopped at its next station¡ªEastern Jiujiang¡¯s Dam.

    The bus stopped, and there were footstepsing from the tform. Three soaking wet men got on the bus. They had their heads lowered, and their clothes were dripping wet. They were silent and shuffled onto the bus without paying the fare. The driver pretended to not see the three, but from the sweat that trailed down to his chin, it was clear that he was very nervous.

    After the three got on, they sat around Xiao Gu. One of them even sat next to him. A smell of decay drifted into his nostril, and Xiao Gu leaned closer to the window. Since they were so close, Xiao Gu could see that the three looked like they had just been hauled out of the water. Their skin was pale and wrinkled.

    Xiao Gu did not dare to look any closer. He took out his phone to send the message to Chen Ge. The bus started again. Probably because they had entered the countryside, the bus wiggled. Slowly, they left the dam and officially entered Eastern Jiujiang.

    Water dripped from the men¡¯s bodies. The eyes of the three men slowly pushed out from their sockets. Their bodies swayed along with the bus. and they slowly leaned toward Xiao Gu.

    After the bus left the station, Xiao Gu¡¯s phone vibrated. It was Chen Ge¡¯s reply. ¡°Can you call me now? It¡¯s very important!¡±

 Chapter 490 - Follow My Instruction

    <h4>Chapter 490: Follow My Instruction</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>The boss has replied! </i>Xiao Gu¡¯s heart felt a lot better reading the short message on his phone. He took out the earbud from his pocket, connected it to his phone, and called Chen Ge. It was picked up after one ring, and Chen Ge¡¯s voice came through.

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk and starting from this moment on, just follow my instructions.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Xiao Gu leaned against the window and used his arm to block the view of the earbud line. His body swayed along with the bus.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen the message you sent me. Whether you believe me or not, I have to tell you something.¡± Chen Ge kept his voice calm and steady. ¡°Before I tell you that, I want you to be ready¡ªdo not visibly react. If you¡¯re ready, then send me a message.¡±

    ¡°Okay, boss. Tell me.¡± Xiao Gu sent the message and took in a deep breath. He was still feeling afraid.

    ¡°I just investigated the bus that you¡¯re on. The bus ran into three idents within one month, and thetest ident happenedst night. When the bus passed Eastern Jiujiang Fresh Water nt, it ran into an ident. It skidded and almost went into Bai Long Lake. Because of that, the people on top gave an emergency order to temporarily change the Route 104, and the bus is not going to Eastern Jiujiang anymore.¡±

    ¡°Not going to Eastern Jiujiang?¡± Xiao Gu could not help himself and ask, ¡°Then what about this bus that I¡¯m currently on?¡±

    ¡°Route 104 has not long changed its route. Thest bus at 9 pm has also been ordered to stop. So, the bus that you¡¯re currently on is probably not the real bus but a hearse specifically for dead people.¡± Chen Ge used a t tone to describe something really scary. Resisting his urge to shiver, sweat poured out of Xiao Gu¡¯s forehead. He did not dare turn his neck to look at the other passengers. His hands gripped the phone tightly like it was his only hope.

    ¡°What... what should I do now?¡± Xiao Gu wanted to write a message, but his fingers kept shuddering. Chen Ge had once saved his life, so he trusted Chen Ge unconditionally. However, it was also because of that he knew that Chen Ge had no reason to lie to him.

    ¡°Calm down, you have to calm down at a time like this.¡± There was no additional emotion in Chen Ge¡¯s voice. ¡°Do not speak in case the other passengers hear you. Use written messages tomunicate with me. How far are you from the next stop?¡±

    ¡°The next stop will be Eastern Jiujiang Fresh Water nt. The distance between stops is rather far since we¡¯re at the countryside. I suppose it¡¯ll take another seven to eight minutes before it arrives.¡± Xiao Gu used his frozen fingers to type this reply.

    ¡°That water nt is the ce where the bus came into the ident. That stop will be yourst chance. You have six minutes to prepare. Tell me how far you are from the backdoor, and how many passengers are in your way?¡±

    ¡°My seat is close to the backdoor, but there is a drenched passenger sitting next to me.¡± Xiao Gu nced next to him silently. The man with his head lowered had his body leaning toward Xiao Gu. His whole body was dripping, and there seemed to be a dirty spot around his shirt pocket that was not cleaned.

    ¡°Since you¡¯re close to the backdoor, you shouldn¡¯t worry that much. Once the bus stops, you have to try your best to escape from the backdoor.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t need to worry? But I still think I¡¯m in a dangerous situation.¡± Xiao Gu hugged the phone and sent another message to Chen Ge after some thought. ¡°Boss, there¡¯s a woman wearing a red raincoat, and she¡¯s been waiting at every stop! It¡¯s real! I¡¯m not lying! I suspect the woman is not a human.¡±

    Xiao Gu took in a deep breath and found the courage to admit that possibility. At Fang Hwa Apartments, he had seen a ghost once, but that memory was buried deep inside his heart. He kept lying to himself, but what had happened that night revived that memory again.

    ¡°Boss, at least my safety is somewhat guaranteed on the bus. Once I leave, I¡¯ll need to face her alone, face the ghost in red raincoat alone.¡± Xiao Gu¡¯s palms were filled with sweat. He did not have much time left.

    ¡°I understand your thoughts¡ªthere is only one ghost outside the bus, but there are probably still humans on the bus. So, in terms of bigger picture, it might be safer on the bus.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s my current situation. I¡¯m trapped.¡± Xiao Gu felt like crying. He just wanted to go home, but who would have thought this might happen to him?

    ¡°You¡¯re not trapped¡ªyou just haven¡¯t looked at it objectively enough.¡± Chen Ge used the fastest speed to help Xiao Gu analyze the situation. ¡°From your earlier message, it is observable that the female ghost on the tform wasn¡¯t after you. She just kept asking if you have seen her child. This proves that at least for now she is not going to harm you; she just wants to find her child.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Have you wondered where her child could be, and why she kept standing at the bus stops?¡±

    Xiao Gu seriously had not considered that. Who would really put themself in a ghost¡¯s shoes? Furthermore, he was scared out of his mind seeing that ghost¡ªwhere would he have time to think about these things?

    ¡°The woman in the red raincoat has been following this bus on Route 104. This means that her child is probably on the bus.¡± Chen Ge tried to rationalize it the best he could. ¡°The red raincoat cannot get on the bus for some reason, but you are on the bus¡ªthat could be the key to solving this issue!¡±

    ¡°The woman¡¯s child is on the bus...¡± Xiao Gu looked at the middle-aged woman. She did not seem to care about the livelihood of the boy in her embrace. He could be suffering from a high fever or coughing fit, but she just kept on patting his back with impatience on her face.

    ¡°Boss, I think I know where the raincoat¡¯s child is.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t broadcast that knowledge. When the bus reaches the station, grab the child, and leave the bus with him! If you can fulfil the woman¡¯s wish, I¡¯m sure she will not harm you.¡±

    ¡°But she is a ghost¡ªwill she let me go even if I help her? She is a ghost, not a living human!¡± The more Xiao Gu thought about it, the more scared he became.

    ¡°It was humans who killed them, so why do you have such deep prejudice against ghosts?¡± Chen Ge kept his tone light. ¡°Just follow my instructions¡ªthis is the only way you can save yourself. Remember, do not stay on the bus for too long!¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Xiao Gu¡¯s heart raced uncontrobly. He was getting more nervous.

    ¡°There is more than one ghost on the bus. Perhaps other than yourself, all the other passengers are ghosts. When you leave the bus, you have to be resolute¡ªdo not let them hold you back, other than that...¡± Chen Ge paused. ¡°After you get off the bus, do not give the child over to the red raincoat immediately. Watch her reaction first before youe to a decision.¡±

 Chapter 491 - They Are All Ghosts!

    <h4>Chapter 491: They Are All Ghosts!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Xiao Gu listened to Chen Ge¡¯s words on the phone, and he was confused. Why was his boss so familiar with ghosts? He was not only not afraid of them, and he even taught him how to acquire the ghost¡¯s affection, each sentence shining with intelligence and experience.

    Xiao Gu was curious but not suspicious. It never crossed his mind that Chen Ge would harm him. To him, Chen Ge was a very unique presence. This boss that looked so normal had saved him from the brink of death twice.

    The first time, he had been drugged by the mad woman and was about to cut into two. At the time, it had been Chen Ge who saved him from the mad woman. The second time had been at Fang Hwa Apartments again. He had entered the third building and realized that a faceless white shadow had been following him. He had fainted, and after he woke up, the police had said that it was Chen Ge who saved him.

    <i>This is already the third time.</i>

    Xiao Gu put the phone back into his pocket. He suddenly realized how dangerous his life was, and only by sticking to Chen Ge would his life be safe. He did not end the call. Xiao Gu wore the earbuds and leaned against the bus window. He memorized every instruction that Chen Ge gave. The rain fell harder. It waspletely dark outside the window¡ªhe could not even see the road. Xiao Gu counted the time silently. He confirmed the child¡¯s location and prepared to run at the first¡¯s notice.

    Five minutester, the bus slowed down. Xiao Gu¡¯s calves tensed, and he spoke very softly. ¡°We¡¯re almost to the stop.¡±

    ¡°After the door opens, do not hesitate and move immediately. Do not give the middle-aged woman any chance to react,¡± Chen Ge said on the phone.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Through the window, the shape of the bus stop could be seen. The red shadow was still standing there. The bus stop at the countryside was not equipped with a roof. The woman in red raincoat stood in the rain all alone; she looked so obvious in the rain. The bus slowed down, and suddenly, a phone rang.

    Huang Ling, who sat at the front, opened her phone. Her husband had called her again. Perhaps she was feeling better as she did not end the call directly but answered it.

    ¡°Huang Ling! Get off from the bus now!¡± A man¡¯s yell came from the phone. Huang Ling ended the call before the shouting continued.

    Honestly, she was quite spooked. ¡°Has he lost his mind?¡±

    The call had just ended when the ringtone began again. It was still her husband. Huang Ling lowered the volume to its minimum. She looked around apologetically and realized that all the passengers were staring at her. The many faces carried varied expression. They looked at her with half-smiles, and she was creeped out by it.

    ¡°I¡¯m really sorry...¡± The phone in Huang Ling¡¯s palm kept vibrating.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you answer the phone?¡± The olddy who sat behind the driver spoke for the first time. Theyers of wrinkles were thick on her face, and her eyes were covered by ayer of white film. When Xiao Gu first got on the bus, the olddy had not looked like that, and he had no idea when the change had happened. The olddy looked scary. Huang Ling held the phone and could not understand what the olddy was trying to say, so she apologized profusely.

    ¡°I think you should answer his phone. The more you don¡¯t answer it, the more he is going to be worried about you,¡± the man in the white coatmented darkly. His eyes moved between Huang Ling and Xiao Gu. The red thread around his wrist had disappeared, and in its ce was a brownish-red wound.

    Huang Ling ignored the doctor. The child behind her started to cough again. The middle-ageddy¡¯s patience was wearing thin. Her already ugly face twisted, and the features titled to the side. She red at the child fiendishly like she was nning to kill him. The atmosphere in the bus became tense.

    At that time, the robotic voice on the audio said, ¡°Ding! We¡¯ve arrived at Eastern Jiujiang Fresh Water nt. Departing customers, please make sure that you have all of your belongings with you, and please alight from the back door.¡±

    The bus pulled up at the stop, and the doors slowly opened. When the bus stopped, Xiao Gu stood up. He brushed past the passenger next to him and walked down the aisle. Following Chen Ge¡¯s earlier instructions, he headed directly for the middle-aged woman. Xiao Gu stopped next to her. ¡°I want to take something, do you mind returning me my coat?¡±

    When the child was coughing earlier, Xiao Gu had lent the woman his jacket. The middle-aged woman was in a bad mood. She lifted her head to re at Xiao Gu. With one hand holding the child, her other hand went to grab the jacket. Xiao Gu¡¯s Adam apple quivered, and he slowly raised his hands.

    At the same time, Huang Ling¡¯s phone-started to vibrate again. Her husband seemed to have lost his mind, and he kept calling her like there was really something urgent. The jacket was slowly removed from the child. The middle-aged woman held the child with her right hand and handed the jacket back to Xiao Gu with her left hand.

    Everything was going ording to n, and Xiao Gu¡¯s heart rose to his throat. He saw the approaching jacket and kept his eyes glued to the woman¡¯s other arm. His legs moved, and Xiao Gu¡¯s body leaned forward. He also raised his arm. Time seemed to have slowed down. As Xiao Gu¡¯s fingers were about to touch the cloth, Huang Ling answered the call again. ¡°If you have something to say, leave it at home, don¡¯t...¡±

    ¡°Get off! The bus that you¡¯re on is filled with ghosts! They are all ghosts!¡±

    All the passengers heard the voice on the phone clearly. It was toote for Huang Ling to turn off the phone.

    ¡°Ghost?¡± She did not expect her husband would say that. She turned back to look, and many expressionless faces looked at her. The bus shuddered, and the driver was filled with terror. He seemed to be seeing how he died, and he kept his eyes on the road as sweat dripped down his face.

    The middle-aged woman who held the child had her facial features tilting even more. Her body grewrger like a balloon.

    The passenger who had been sitting next to Xiao Gu earlier started to vomit. He reached his finger into his throat, and balls of weeds fell out of his lips like hairballs.

    ¡°How can we be ghosts? We¡¯re all alive, aren¡¯t we?¡± The olddy who sat at the front turned around to speak. The thick a covered her pupils that her eyes appeared fully white. All the passengers had changed. Chen Ge heard these things on the other end of the phone, and he told Xiao Gu to leave immediately. ¡°Run!¡±

    Xiao Gu¡¯s arms that went to the jacket increased in speed. He reached past the jacket to grab the child. As his fingers touched the child, he realized that the child¡¯s body was surprisingly cold and lifeless.

    ¡°This...¡± In that split second, the middle-aged woman saw through Xiao Gu¡¯s n.

    ¡°You want to steal my child?¡± The woman¡¯s chubby hands reached for Xiao Gu, and her face turned incredibly ugly.

 Chapter 492 - Give Her the Phone

    <h4>Chapter 492: Give Her the Phone</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The woman¡¯s face kept expanding within Xiao Gu¡¯s eyes. He had never seen such a twisted face before, and his mind was nk from fear.

    ¡°Get off the bus!¡± At the crucial moment, Chen Ge¡¯s voice in the phone reminded Xiao Gu. The brain regained control of the body. With the reaction power trained at the Haunted House, Xiao Gu sessfully evaded the middle-aged woman¡¯s hand. He missed the dead child, his fingertips just barely had time to grab his own jacket.

    ¡°Just run as fast as you can!¡± Holding the jacket, Xiao Gu pulled it out. When he turned back to look, the woman called Huang Ling was still seated where she was. The phone in the woman¡¯s palm kept eliciting her husband¡¯s scream, but the woman herself seemed to be stunned. She did not even shout or make a noise.

    ¡°That should be a living human as well.¡± The bus shook. Inside the crowded bus, some area started to leak. The three monsters with their heads lowered stood up from their seats. Their mouths regurgitated more hair, and their eyes rolled backward. Their arms shook like they were in some sort of spasm as they tried to grab at Xiao Gu.

    It was toote to rush to the backdoor. Xiao Gu decided to make a bet and change his escape route. He jumped to the front door, and when he passed Huang Ling, he grabbed the woman¡¯s wrist without hesitation. ¡°Come with me!¡±

    The doors started to close, and the terror-filled driver had his eyes glued to the road. His feet stepped on the gas pedal. He seemed to see something horrifying, and his body reacted on instinct. The bus swayed even harder. At thest minute before the door closer, Xiao Gu dragged Huang Ling out from the front door of bus on Route 104.

    The two copsed in a pile of mud, and the heavy rain instantly drenched both of their bodies. Beside them, the bus whose doors were nowpletely closed suddenly sped up.

    On this stretch of road, only one street light was still on, so it was hard to see the road in the darkness. The bus sped forward and soon disappeared into the night. ¡°It did not turn, but I remember there¡¯s a river not that far ahead.¡±

    Xiao Gu did not have the time to help Huang Ling next to him before Chen Ge¡¯s voice came through the phone. ¡°Xiao Gu, are you alright?¡±

    Hearing that, Xiao Gu¡¯s heart was filled with warmth, ¡°I injured myself a little bit, but I got off the bus.¡±

    After saying that, Xiao Gu was about to stand up when he felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck. He turned back to look and saw the rain was trailing down the head of ck hair before it fell on the back of his neck. Slowly raising his head, Xiao Gu looked at the woman in the red raincoat standing behind him, and the edge of his eyes twitched. ¡°Boss, what should I do now?¡±

    ¡°Have you seen my child?¡± A pair of woman hands gripped Xiao Gu¡¯s shoulders. Therge Xiao Gu was thus picked up from the ground by the pair of thin hands. The hair fell, and the woman¡¯s eyes that were filled with blood looked at Xiao Gu through the gap in the curtain of hair. She seemed to have started losing her rationality since she sensed her child¡¯s presence on Xiao Gu.

    ¡°Have you seen my child?

    ¡°You must have seen my child!¡±

    Her lips fell open, and the curtain of hair parted. It was then that Xiao Gu saw that the woman¡¯s lips were sealed together by threads! As she screamed, her lips cracked, and the threads snapped one by one!

    Pain came from his shoulders. Xiao Gu was scared dumb. The scene before him was way beyond the threshold for a normal person. If he had not received the special training from Chen Ge, he would have already fainted.

    The woman¡¯s body kept changing. The sound of joints cracking issued from underneath the raincoat as her body kept growing. The color of the raincoat deepened like it was slowly being dyed by blood.

    ¡°Xiao Gu? Gu Feiyu! Hang in there! Try tomunicate with her! She is looking for her child! Haven¡¯t you seen her child on the bus? Tell her that! Tell her all that!¡± Chen Ge screamed.

    Hearing the voice on the phone, Xiao Gu¡¯s wandering gaze started to focus. With quivering lips, he uttered, ¡°I... I saw your child. He was on that bus. He was being held by a middle-aged woman...¡±

    ¡°Stick to the main point!¡± Chen Ge was being nervous for the man. ¡°You have to let her know that you tried your best to help her! Stress the fact that you did try to save her child, and you almost lost your life because of it!¡±

    Xiao Gu nodded quickly, but he did not dare look at the woman before him. His eyes kept moving away, and he uttered through chattering teeth, ¡°I did try to save your child... I was so close.¡±

    The pain on his shoulders grew. Xiao Gu felt like his shoulders were about to be shattered. He groaned in pain and his arms fell away weakly. The jacket that he had once lent to the child slipped from his fingers.

    Just as the jacket was about to fall into the mud, the woman suddenly released her hand to reach for Xiao Gu¡¯s jacket. Without the grip from the woman, Xiao Gu copsed to the ground. With his life intact, Xiao Gu staggered backward, trying to get as far away from the woman as he could.

    <i>This impossible! The method taught by the boss really did work!</i>

    With shivering body, Xiao Gu only stopped when he was next to Huang Ling.

    The woman in the red raincoat held Xiao Gu¡¯s jacket like she was holding her precious child. Seeing this, the hair on Xiao Gu¡¯s body all froze and stood up.

    ¡°Xiao Gu? Are you still alive?¡±

    ¡°Boss, she seems to have forgiven me!¡± Xiao Gu climbed up from the mud. His legs were shaking. ¡°Should I just run home now?¡±

    ¡°Do you want to be haunted by her forever?¡± Just a sentence from Chen Ge turned Xiao Gu¡¯s face green.

    ¡°Then what shall I do now, boss? I¡¯m really afraid.¡± Xiao Gu saw the woman in red raincoat caress the jacket he had worn softly and lovingly, and his heart was chilled.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, remain calm.¡± Chen Ge seemed to be thinking. After a while, he told Xiao Gu, ¡°Let¡¯s see... give her your phone and let me talk to her.¡±

    ¡°Give her my phone?¡± Xiao Gu was surprised.

    ¡°Just follow my instructions.¡±

    Under the curious gaze of both Huang Ling and the raincoat woman, Xiao Gu removed the earbuds with shivering hands and walked to the raincoat woman with the phone and raised his hand. ¡°My boss has something to tell you.¡±

    His eyes twitching, Xiao Gu¡¯s arm that held the phone was shaking violently. The woman stopped her movement and titled her head to look at Xiao Gu. Her cracked lips had not recovered, the threads mixed together with her hair.

    ¡°My boss... boss said he wants to talk to you.¡±

    The woman in the raincoat held the jacket and stood where she was. Xiao Gu took a deep breath and another step forward. He gathered his courage and ced the phone next to the woman¡¯s ears. ¡°Boss, I¡¯ve turned on the speaker phone. You can speak now.¡±

    There was a child¡¯s cryinging from the phone, but it soon returned to normal, and finally, Chen Ge¡¯s voice came through.

    ¡°I¡¯m the leader of the ghost stories society, Chen Ge. I can help you find your missing child! If I fail to do that within one week, you cane to im my life any time you want. In return, I only have one request¡ªplease let my employee go.¡±

 Chapter 493 - Children

    <h4>Chapter 493: Children</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    With the phone on speaker mode, Xiao Gu heard Chen Ge¡¯s words clearly. When he heard Chen Ge request that the ghost spare him, his hands tightened.

    He had always felt that he was an unlucky person. No matter where he went, he had been a trouble to others¡ªit was that way at Fang Hwa Apartments, and that had not changed when he moved to the Haunted House. However, even so, his boss had not onceined about him. In fact, he said something like that at the crucial moment.

    The rain was falling heavily, but his heart was warm. He felt like he had found a home at Jiujiang.

    The woman in the raincoat heard Chen Ge as well. She stood in the rain, and her body slowly returned to normal. The rain slid down her blood red raincoat. After a long time, the woman turned her head to face the phone. She leaned close to the speaker and asked, ¡°Have you seen my child?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll let you reunite with your child within one week,¡± Chen Ge promised. The woman did not say anything else. She slowly lowered her head and left Eastern Jiujiang Fresh Water nt with Xiao Gu¡¯s jacket. It seemed like she was heading to the next stop. Seeing the woman¡¯s disappearance, Xiao Gu slid down to the muddy ground like all his energy left him.

    ¡°Boss, she left! I¡¯m saved!¡± Xiao Gu¡¯s voice was shaking since he had just survived an impossible ordeal.

    ¡°Stay where you are and find a ce to hide from the rain. I¡¯ll fetch you in a bit. Also, make sure your phone is charged and set my number to speed dial.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°Talk to youter. Remember, we have toplete the thing that we promised.¡±

    After hanging up, Xiao Gu did what he was told. Once he had done everything, he put the phone away and walked to the other unlucky passenger, Huang Ling.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine now.¡± He reached out toward Huang Ling. The woman who was spooked took a long time before she grabbed Xiao Gu¡¯s hand and climbed up from the ground.

    ¡°Earlier... what was that?¡± Huang Ling did not even know what to say. Her eyes were filled with terror. She had a hard time believing that just two hours ago, she was being scolded at thepany, and then she got on a bus filled with dead spirit toe to the countryside.

    ¡°I also can¡¯t tell. Let¡¯s wait for my boss¡ªhe¡¯ll exin it to you.¡± Xiao Gu led Huang Ling to the water nt and found an awning to hide from the rain. Huang Ling¡¯s clothes were drenched, and her make-up was ruined. However, she did not care about all that. She grabbed her phone and kept calling one number, but there was no answer.

    ¡°Are you calling your husband?¡± Xiao Gu heard the conversation between Huang Ling and her husband on the bus. The two were in a huge argument, and Huang Ling had even threatened divorce.

    Huang Ling nodded. She felt weirdly uneasy and afraid. This sensation was different from before¡ªit was mixed with uncertainty and pain. ¡°Why isn¡¯t he answering? What is he doing? Answer the phone.¡±

    Xiao Gu looked at Huang Ling, who was breaking down, but he did not say anything.

    On the bus earlier, Huang Ling¡¯s husband had kept calling her, asking her where she was and then calling out directly that she was on a bus filled with ghost. Her husband was not on the bus, so how did he know Huang Ling was on a hearse? And how did he know that all the passengers were ghosts?

    Huang Ling probably knew the answer herself, so she had been trying so hard to reach her husband. Xiao Gu watched Huang Ling silently¡ªthis woman, who was much more mature than he was, leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to the ground. Lightning shed, and the light reflected in the tears and rain that fell down the woman¡¯s face.

    ...

    After hanging up, Chen Ge stood in the workshop alone. He took out an obsolete phone that operated onrge sim card. ¡°Tong Tong, the ghost on the other end earlier was a Red Specter, right?¡±

    After Chen Ge knew that Xiao Gu had run into some ident, he immediately summoned the ghost spirit to follow Xiao Gu¡¯s movement. The phone spirit acted strangely. He did not answer Chen Ge¡¯s question and picked up the old phone. Several secondster, Chen Ge received a message from the spirit. It only had two words. ¡°Don¡¯t go.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s very dangerous? A Red Specter?¡± Chen Ge felt like the phone spirit did not know much about the power of his ghosts, so he tried to stop him. ¡°Even if it¡¯s a Red Specter, it¡¯s fine. There¡¯s only one of her.¡±

    The phone spirit shook his head and sent another message. ¡°I¡¯ve seen her before. She died in Li Wan City, and it¡¯s very dangerous there.¡±

    Seeing the message, Chen Ge was reminded that the boy¡¯s body had also discovered at one of the buildings at Li Wan City, so the boy seemed to know the small town well.

    ¡°Are the ghosts that die in Li Wan City different from other ghosts?¡± Chen Ge was curious about Li Wan City. Before Doctor Gaomitted suicide, his dying request was for Chen Ge to deal with the door that had gotten out of control in Li Wan City. ¡°Is it because of the door that the ghosts are different?¡±

    The phone spirit shook his head. He did not seem like he knew how to describe it. Chen Ge looked at the boy and felt uneasy. ¡°Li Wan City is in Eastern Jiujiang, and the memory that I saw at the tunnel also happened in Eastern Jiujiang.

    ¡°At the time, I was still a child, and someone wanted to kill me, but said person failed. The game that Fan Chong was describing this morning, its setting seemed to be Eastern Jiujiang as well, and the main character is a child. Wait a minute, I seem to notice a connection.

    ¡°The woman in the raincoat¡¯s child also disappeared in Eastern Jiujiang, and the phone spirit was kidnapped at Eastern Jiujiang. In fact, in the picture that Doctor Gao showed me, my parents were also talking to a girl in a red dress in Eastern Jiujiang. Howe it feels like everything is rted to children?¡±

    The phone vibrated. The phone spirit sent Chen Ge another message. ¡°I cannot say for sure, but you can bring me with you. I¡¯ll help you lead the way.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge pocketed the phone and locked the door. He ran back to the Haunted House in the rain. He packed lightly, grabbed his backpack, put on the raincoat, and left. Chen Ge waited for fifteen minutes before he found a taxi. Even wearing the raincoat, waiting in the rain made his clothes wet. This increased the man¡¯s desire to find an affiliated vehicle for his Haunted House.

    <i>I need to go fetch Xiao Gu first. Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s investigation can be conducted slowly.</i>

    Sitting in the taxi, Chen Gemunicated with the phone spirit on his own phone. They headed down Route 104. The rain continued to pour. After they entered the countryside, the number of streetlights dwindled. It felt like they were driving into a nket of darkness.

    <i>The peace in Eastern Jiujiang seems to be an illusion. The situation here is probably much worse than it appears.</i>

    Chen Ge had never handled a door that had gotten out of control before. He looked out the window expressionlessly. No one could tell what was on his mind.

 Chapter 494 - Iâ€™m the Child That Youâ€™ve Killed

    <h4>Chapter 494: I¡¯m the Child That You¡¯ve Killed</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Sitting inside the taxi, Chen Ge spoke twice on the phone with Xiao Gu. After confirming that the woman in the raincoat had not returned, he sighed in relief. ¡°The main mission tonight is to bring Xiao Gu home safely. I¡¯ll deal with Eastern Jiujiangter.¡±

    Chen Ge had his own hesitation. Both the taxi driver and Xiao Gu were normal people, and Chen Ge did not want to drag them into this mess. The rain fell on the car window, and it blurred the view. The rainclouds hung low in the sky, and it felt like the sky was falling.

    ¡°The weather forecast has never been urate; they said it was going to be a light drizzle, but this rain has been falling for how long already?¡± The driver was a young man. He looked about the same age as Chen Ge. He focused on driving. Due to the weather, he did not dare lose his focus.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to fetch a person, and then we¡¯ll take your taxi back. Don¡¯t worry, we won¡¯t waste your fare.¡± Chen Ge pulled his gaze back.

    ¡°I¡¯m not worried about that.¡± The driver did not turn around. ¡°Don¡¯t you think the rain tonight is very weird? The further you go into Eastern Jiujiang, the heavier it bes. The road is almost flooded.¡±

    ¡°How is that weird? It¡¯s just a heavier rain. You¡¯re being too sensitive,¡± Chen Ge joked.

    ¡°Sometimes, it¡¯s better to believe something than not.¡± The driver pointed at the religious bracelet hanging by the rearview mirror. ¡°I once fetched passenger from Eastern Jiujiang before. The people there are very superstitious and have many rules. Like if there¡¯s a newborn in the house, the man has to stomp his feet at the door before entering; if there is a nightmare, they have to turn the pillow around after waking up; if you receive a phone after midnight, do not speak first; if you see some strange vehicle at the site of a traffic ident, do not get too close. Initially, I did not believe these things, but over time, you get convinced.¡±

    The streetlights dimmed. The driver looked through the sweeping wipers and felt nervous. ¡°There is a scary urban legend here. It is easy to get lost if you take the road during heavy rain. You look like you¡¯re heading home, but eventually, you¡¯ll end up at an unfamiliar location.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a legend like that?¡± Chen Ge was interested. Many urban legends had traceable origins, and they could be based on reality instead of being fully fictional.

    ¡°Even though there hasn¡¯t been any big news in Eastern Jiujiang, of all the disappearances throughout Jiujiang, twenty percent happened in Eastern Jiujiang. It¡¯s like the ce can consume people,¡± the driver said darkly, and Chen Ge memorized everything that he said.

    ¡°Keep your eyes on the road. If we run into anything weird, we¡¯ll call the police directly.¡±

    ¡°Call the police?¡± The driver was not used to the jump in Chen Ge¡¯s thought. ¡°I guess that could work. I¡¯m just reminding you out of kindness. Don¡¯te wandering in Eastern Jiujiang alone at night. This ce is rather isted...¡±

    Half way through his sentence, the driver suddenly shut up. He narrowed his eyes to look ahead and then suddenly turned the steering wheel! The taxi turned, and Chen Ge mmed into the door. He did not say anything as he reached into his backpack to activate the recorder. The car slowed down. The driver gasped greedily for air, and his forehead was covered in sweat.

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°There was someone standing in the middle of the road earlier.¡±

    ¡°You probably saw wrongly. It¡¯s raining so heavily, and it¡¯s so dark¡ªwho would stand there in the middle of the road?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s hands searched inside his backpack before curling around something.

    ¡°That¡¯s true...¡± The driver wiped his sweat. He looked to the side, and all he saw was darkness.

    ¡°Can you describe the person¡¯s appearance? Was she wearing a red raincoat?¡±

    ¡°It was nothing like that. It was just a shadow... perhaps I really saw wrongly.¡± The driver scratched his head. He removed the bracelet from the mirror, put it on his wrist, and continued driving.

    ¡°Don¡¯t drive so fast. There are many rivers in Eastern Jiujiang. Safety first.¡± Chen Ge was not afraid of ghosts, but he was afraid that the ghosts mighte after the driver. If the taxi skidded on the road, then he would die inside the vehicle. The sound of static echoed in the small space. The rain outside the car seemed to purposely avoid the taxi.

    The two reached Eastern Jiujiang Fresh Water nt safely. Chen Ge told the driver to wait at the entrance. He put on his raincoat, opened the door, and got out. Once he was outside, Chen Ge felt weirdly pressured like something was watching him.

    The ce felt weirdly familiar, like he had been there before perhaps in the past or in his dream. Standing in the rain, the sound of falling rain started to disappear into the background. Chen Ge frowned slightly as he took out his phone to call Xiao Gu.

    The dial tone entered his ear, but there was no answer. The rain poured, but Chen Ge could not hear the sound of rain. All he heard was the dial tone of the phone. He felt isted from the world. Darkness came from all sides, and all that remained in his sight was the old door leading inside the nt. Moved by the wind, the steel door creaked. From the inside drifted out theughing and crying of children.

    Little footprints appeared on the water puddles. Something came out from the nt. They ran and skipped before surrounding Chen Ge. His body froze, and the memory inside his heart slowly surfaced.

    When he was young, Chen Ge¡¯s parents had reminded him multiple times not toe to Eastern Jiujiang, but one of the school trips had brought them to Eastern Jiujiang.

    When he was ying next to one of the dams, he had heard someone call his name. With his teacher¡¯s apaniment, they had walked past the small forest and spotted a blood red house at the end of the road. Many children had been ying around the house. They were crying andughing. It felt weirdly simr to now.

    <i>Looks like many things that happen at Eastern Jiujiang are rted to that red house. Could the door in Li Wan City be rted to it as well?</i>

    The footsteps slowly inched forward. Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. Even with his Yin Yang vision, he could not see them clearly.

    <i>The kids seem to have perfectly melded into the environment.</i>

    The children¡¯s crying andughing came closer. They hugged his legs and slowly crawled up his body. Chen Ge gripped the hammer. Just as he prepared to summon Xu Yin, the chilling sensation disappeared. The voices of the children escaped. At the same time, a familiar voice came from afar.

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡±

    Raising his head, Chen Ge saw a human shape standing inside the nt. He looked as tall as he was.

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± The shadow raised his hands to slowly reach into his chest, and then he pulled out yet another child from inside him. The child¡¯s face was blurry, and he looked quite simr to a young Chen Ge. His neck was titled like someone had snapped it with pure force.

    ¡°I¡¯m the child that you¡¯ve killed...¡±

    ¡°The child that I¡¯ve killed?¡± Chen Ge dragged the hammer and thought for a long time. ¡°But howe I have no recollection at all? Why don¡¯t youe closer so that I can take a better look of your face?¡±

 Chapter 495 - Scariest Story in Eastern Jiujiang

    <h4>Chapter 495: Scariest Story in Eastern Jiujiang</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s voice was calm as he seriously questioned the person.

    ¡°You¡¯ve forgotten everything? Then I shall give you a hint.¡± The child with the blurry face reached out to strangle his own neck. ¡°At that time, you tricked me into entering some abandoned tunnel with you. You said that you heard someone calling your name. However, once we entered the tunnel, you stood next to me like this and then suddenly reached out to strangle my neck!¡±

    The child¡¯s head lolled to the side, and the hands slowly twisted the neck. His face turned purple, and veins popped on his forehead. ¡°Do you remember it now? At the time, your fingers slowly reached into my skin as you increased your force...¡±

    The child¡¯s voice echoed in Chen Ge¡¯s ears, and some isted images appeared in his mind. This scene really did appear real. To make things stranger, when he saw the child strangle himself, his body shied back like this was a familiar feeling, like the murderer was really him.

    ¡°I¡¯ve killed someone?¡± The rain wetted his hair. Chen Ge shook his head. He was reminded of something else. When he conducted the fourth Midnight Mission earlier, he had seen his young self enter a tunnel with an adult. The image before his eyes was familiar but different from what the child said¡ªthe victim then was Chen Ge himself. It was not him killing someone but someone trying to kill him!

    If he had not done that Nightmare Mission earlier and seen that memory, Chen Ge might not really have believed that he was a murderer, but his conviction would have been shaken.

    ¡°Perhaps he is the killer, or else he would not have remembered these things,¡± Chen Ge mumbled to himself. He nudged toward the child, trying to get closer.

    Seeing Chen Ge maintain his serenity, the child removed his hands, and his head went back to normal. ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve really forgotten everything.¡±

    Rain slid down the boy¡¯s face and it slowly became clear. The expression on his face was weird. Seeing him, Chen Ge felt like he was looking at himself in a mirror. ¡°It was you who killed me¡ªyou killed me with your own hands. I will never forget that feeling, and soon, you¡¯ll experience it as well.¡±

    The child slowly retreated, and the shadow stuffed the boy back into his body, silently standing where he was. Chen Ge was about ten meters away from the shadow. Just as he prepared to move closer, a very pale hand slowly touched him on his shoulder.

    The static came from the recorder. Xu Yin had suddenly appeared in red shirt next to Chen Ge. He shook his head, stopping Chen Ge from moving forward.

    ¡°Is he that dangerous?¡± Chen Ge had his own suspicion. As he went to move his leg, someone hugged it. He looked down, and a little boy around the age of three pulled on his leg tightly.

    ¡°Men Nan?¡± After the child had been brought away from the Third Sick Hall, he had never had the chance to return, or perhaps Chen Ge had selectively forgotten about that. So, Men Nan had remained inside theic.

    <i>Stopped by two Red Specters? But the shadow doesn¡¯t look like a Red Specter. He¡¯s just a shadow. </i>Chen Ge stopped moving.

    After a while, children¡¯s footprints started to appear around the shadow. The children¡¯sughing and crying slowly disappeared, and the shadow started to solidify. When thest cry disappeared, the shadow looked at Chen Ge. He was as tall and as big as Chen Ge. In fact, it felt like he was Chen Ge¡¯s shadow.

    ¡°It was you who killed me.¡± The body was that of an adult, but the voice that came from the shadow¡¯s lips was juvenile. It was dark, cold, and filled with resentment. After he said that, he looked past Chen Ge at the space behind Chen Ge before turning to disappear into the rain.

    <i>He left, just like that? </i>Chen Ge followed the direction that the ck shadow had looked earlier. Under the light of the phone, he could see somewhat his shadow changing into the shape of a girl.

    <i>Is he worried about Zhang Ya? It doesn¡¯t look like it. He seems to be worried about something else. </i>The sound of the rain returned, and everything returned to normal. The rain washed over thend, and the ck shadow had already disappeared.

    <i>Two Red Specters stopped me, and even Zhang Ya felt threatened¡ªwhat was that?</i>Chen Ge only had one concept when dealing with ghost. If it was a Red Specter, run; if it was not, run after them. Now, he had met a third type of ghost, a shadow that imed that Chen Ge had killed him.

    <i>This ghost is rather special. Perhaps the disappearances in Eastern Jiujiang are rted to him. The scariest ghost story in Eastern Jiujiang mentioned by the driver is probably him.</i>

    The shadow had left, so Chen Ge did not waste time. He called Xiao Gu and ran to the nt. ¡°Xiao Gu, I¡¯m here, where are you?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re here?¡± Xiao Gu¡¯s voice was filled with surprise. ¡°Is the person standing still at the door you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, where are you now?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯reing now!¡±

    The phone hung up, and Xiao Gu and a woman, who werepletely drenched, ran out from a bush next to the nt. ¡°Boss!¡±

    Xiao Gu was happy, but the woman was unwilling to follow. She looked at Chen Ge, who held the hammer standing in the rain, and she was feeling nervous. In the middle of nowhere, with the rain pouring, she held her arms to her chest, and her body kept shivering.

    ¡°Why is there a woman with you?¡±

    ¡°She was one of the passengers on the bus.¡± Xiao Gu exined Huang Ling¡¯s situation briefly to Chen Ge.

    ¡°There were other living humans other than you on the bus.¡±

    ¡°It was not only me and Sister Huang Ling. There was also a student on the back row. He helped me once on the bus before¡ªhe didn¡¯t seem like a bad person.¡± Xiao Gu felt regret. ¡°I was too far from him when I got off, or else I would have dragged him with me.¡±

    ¡°Those who helped you might not be humans, and those who harm you might not be ghosts.¡± Chen Ge looked at Huang Ling for a long time before waving his hand. ¡°The taxi is just over there,e on.¡±

    Back at the taxi, Chen Ge realized that the taxi window was covered with children¡¯s muddy footsteps, and the poor driver had already fainted in his seat.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he is still breathing. He¡¯s just fainted.¡± Chen Ge moved the driver to the backseat, and then he stood outside to think. Finally, he turned to Xiao Gu and Huang Ling. ¡°Do either of you know how to drive?¡±

    Xiao Gu shook his head. ¡°Boss, don¡¯t you know how to drive? I remember you drove the park¡¯s vanst time.¡±

    ¡°I know how to drive.¡± Chen Ge paused. ¡°But I don¡¯t have a driver¡¯s license. The taxi is fixed with recording equipment and a camera. If the driver reports it to the police, this will be very hard to exin.¡±

    ¡°Er... how about I drive?¡± Huang Ling walked to the door and added with hesitation, ¡°I can drive you back, but before that, do you minding over to my ce? I¡¯m worried about my husband.¡±

 Chapter 496 - Not His Calls

    <h4>Chapter 496: Not His Calls</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge nodded and did not reject the offer. ¡°Let¡¯s get in the car.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Huang Ling climbed into the driver¡¯s seat. ¡°My home is not far from here; we¡¯ll reach it in ten minutes.¡±

    The lights came on, and Huang Ling drove down the road through the rain. Inside the car, no one spoke; everyone had something on their mind. The taxi reached Huang Ling¡¯s rental at 1 am. The ce was deserted and close to Li Wan City.

    ¡°In the past, the city tried to expand Eastern Jiujiang, but for some reason, they stopped. This plot of half-finished buildings is one of the aftereffects, and most of the original tenants have moved away due to traffic and living arrangements.¡± Huang Ling drove the taxi into the residential area. In therge area, none of the lights were on, and it felt like they had entered a ghost town. ¡°A few years ago, when Eastern Jiujiang was expanding, the real estate was so expensive, but now, the ce is so deserted because only the few of us who were tricked stayed.¡±

    After the conversation, Chen Ge found out more about the woman¡¯s past. She and her husband pooled their money together a few years ago to buy a house in Eastern Jiujiang. Initially, they had been happy about nabbing a good ce. They only needed to wait for the development toe to Eastern Jiujiang, and the real estate value would rise. However, not long after that, the developer failed to live up to their promise due to ack of funds and debt.

    To buy the house, the couple had expended all of their funds, and they even had some debt. They worked together with other tenants to demand an exnation from the developers, but the appeal was still ongoing. The project had been called to a stop, and the house that they bought was a building that was not safe for living. The couple could only survive on rental. Life was not easy, and during this period, the husband got into an ident. Now it was basically Huang Ling who held up the family alone.

    ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± Huang Ling parked the car, grabbed her bag, and ran upstairs. Chen Ge and Xiao Gu followed behind her. In the building, only the lights on the first floor were usable. The walls were dark, probably from the moisture, and there was a musty smell in the corridor.

    ¡°Jia Ming!¡± Huang Ling arrived at the 4th floor. As she opened the door with the key, she yelled into the room. She was afraid, scared that the thing she was worried about had be reality.

    Looking at the panicking Huang Ling, both Chen Ge and Xiao Gu did not speak. From their perspective, since Huang Ling¡¯s husband chose to call at that time and knew that all the other passengers were ghosts, this proved that he was most likely dead and that he himself had turned into a ghost.

    Huang Ling¡¯s hands were shaking too much to be able to insert the key into the hole, but suddenly, a man¡¯s voice came from inside the room.

    ¡°Why have you only just got home? Where have you been all night? I called yourpany earlier...¡± The door was opened from within, and a haggard looking man with a broken leg appeared before them.

    ¡°Jia Ming?¡± Huang Ling was very ecstatic when she saw the middle-aged man. She reached out to hug him, but the man silently but expertly escaped the hug. ¡°You¡¯re all wet. What happened to you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell youter. It¡¯s more important that you¡¯re fine. You really gave me quite a scare today.¡± Huang Ling choked. ¡°I¡¯ll go change first. These two are my saviors. I¡¯ll drive them hometer.¡±

    Huang Ling entered the room, and the man blocked the door, showing no sign of inviting Chen Ge or Xiao Gu into the room. Chen Ge and Xiao Gu had a weird impression of the man as well. The man was alive, so how did hemunicate with Huang Ling on the phone? And how did he know that the passengers on the bus were all ghosts?

    ¡°Your wife ran into some bad people, and it was us who saved her.¡± Chen Ge nced inside the room. The room was tidy, and the man was a typical home maker¡ªthere was nothing weird about him.

    ¡°Hey! What are you looking at?¡± The man was very alert around Chen Ge.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, can I borrow your phone? My phone is dead, and I want to call my family to tell them I¡¯m safe,¡± Chen Ge said.

    ¡°Then, wait here.¡± The man limped back into the room beforeing out with a phone for Chen Ge.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Chen Ge looked through the phone records quickly. The man did call the woman many times, but none of the calls had been picked up. <i>It was not him who made the calls?</i>

    Chen Ge pretended to send some messages and then deleted the record before handing the phone back to the man.

    Huang Ling had changed. The woman in the casual dress radiated a mature beauty. ¡°Honey, you stay at home. I¡¯ll drive them back; this is what I promised them.¡±

    ¡°No way!¡± The man denied it without giving it any thought. ¡°It¡¯s already 1 am¡ªI¡¯m worried about you going with them. Tell them to get a taxi on their own; we¡¯ll pay for the fare.¡±

    ¡°How do you expect us to find a taxi in this rain?¡± Chen Ge turned to look at Huang Ling. ¡°What do you think?¡±

    Huang Ling hesitated before leaving the room. ¡°Honey, it¡¯splicated. I¡¯lle back and exin it to youter.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not going anywhere tonight! You¡¯re going out at 1 am? Have you lost your mind?¡± The man reached out to grab Huang Ling¡¯s shoulder but was blocked by Chen Ge. The man was obviously afraid of Chen Ge, and there was a slight quiver in his voice. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Holding his backpack, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes narrowed as he stared at the man¡¯s face. ¡°I¡¯m a man of my word. I¡¯vepleted her request, so if she does notplete the part that she promised, then I¡¯m sorry, I might have to do something.¡±

    The atmosphere was tense. In the end, it was Xiao Gu and Huang Ling¡¯sbined persuasion that made the man scoff and give his consent.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. My husband is a bit of a worrier. He¡¯s always been like that.¡± Huang Ling passed the umbre and towel to Xiao Gu. ¡°I haven¡¯t had the chance to thank you for everything on the bus.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, I understand.¡± Xiao Gu epted the towel with a smile and rubbed his face.

    ¡°Stop wasting time. We can talk downstairs.¡± Chen Ge walked downstairs expressionlessly and did not add anything else.

    Chen Ge crawled into the taxi. He opened the backpack and took out something. After Huang Ling saw that her husband was fine, her heart had rxed. Only after losing something would one learn to cherish it. She promised not to fight with her husband again.

    The taxi drove into the rain, and Chen Ge, who had been silent, finally opened his lips.

    ¡°Huang Ling, did you discover that your husband changed into a different person from a certain point onward?¡±

    The rain fell on the window. When Huang Ling heard Chen Ge, she went silent to think before answering, ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Why would you say that?¡±

    Chen Ge paused before answering slowly.

    ¡°I suspect that man from before is not your husband.¡±

    __________________

    Note: We saw someone post spoilers in thest chapter¡¯sments. Although it wasn¡¯t a major spoiler and it was done with good intentions, <strong>please do not post spoilers in thements </strong>.

    As there is no spoiler protection, you might identally spoil it for people who anticipate the surprise and mystery.

    A spoiler is anything ahead of the current chapter, and if you see a spoiler, please do not like it and hopefully it will be buried.

    Instead, please find other ways to contact each other or use the spoiler channel in our Discord server: https://discord.gg/E9N8KV3

    Ps. The note was put here so that more people would see it. I¡¯ve checked the word count, and this note won¡¯t cost you extra ??

 Chapter 497 - Stranger Husband

    <h4>Chapter 497: Stranger Husband</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Are you kidding? I should know whether he¡¯s my husband or not!¡± Huang Ling thought Chen Ge was joking.

    ¡°I looked through his phone earlier, and he called you seven times.¡± Chen Ge lowered his head and kept his hand in his bag.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that show that he¡¯s worried about me?¡± Huang Ling thought that Chen Ge was weird, in more than one respect.

    ¡°However, none of the calls were connected. It was a different person who talked to you on the bus.¡±

    ¡°A different person?¡± Huang Ling turned around to look at Chen Ge from shock. ¡°Impossible!¡±

    ¡°Focus on driving.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the road and said, ¡°I have no intention of lying to you; I¡¯m just telling you out of kindness. It¡¯s up to you whether to believe me or not.¡±

    After that, Chen Ge went quiet, and the taxi fell silent. Huang Ling¡¯s lips were pressed as she drove. However, her hands that gripped the steering wheel tightened. Several minutester, Huang Ling stepped on the brake without warning. The taxi stopped in the middle of the rain, and the atmosphere was weird.

    Huang Ling looked at the steering wheel for a long time before slowly turning around to look at Chen Ge. ¡°Jia Ming was indeed different from before. Ever since the car ident, he has be a lot quieter, rarelymunicates with me, and suffers from insomnia. ording to the doctor, he probably suffers from depression.¡±

    ¡°Meaning the change in your husband was instigated by that car ident?¡± Chen Ge did not look at Huang Ling and kept his head lowered.

    ¡°Do you understand what I said? Jia Ming suffers from depression due to that car ident¡ªhe fell sick.¡± Huang Ling held the steering wheel and forced a smile. ¡°Considering how difficult things are for our family, he volunteered to give up the treatment and stopped the medicine after a while. This is because the medicine costs quite a lot, and I am the only one supporting the family. I know that he felt guilty about it, and I can understand these changes happening to him.¡±

    ¡°Think about it closer. Other than feeling down, are there any other weird things that he has done? I mean things that are not rted to his illness.¡± Chen Ge gave a few random examples. ¡°Like you realized he was staring at you in the middle of the night when you woke up, or there was another voice that came out from his lips, or he killed some small animal without you knowing and hid the bodies in the room.¡±

    Huang Ling listened to what Chen Ge said, and she turned to look at Xiao Gu at the back. She was starting to be fearful of Chen Ge. ¡°No, the things that you mentioned did not happen at all.¡±

    ¡°You can look at your own phone records and think about it closely. This thing could be rted to your life.¡± Chen Ge was not that interested in the man at Huang Ling¡¯s home. He was more interested in the person that called Huang Ling on the bus.

    ¡°My phone records?¡± Huang Ling took out her phone to take a look. There were seven calls, but it did not show the call that she had with her husband on the bus.

    ¡°You may think that I am lying, but your phone won¡¯t.¡± Chen Ge looked at rain outside the window. ¡°I ask you to not hide anything from me. The person at your home might already suspect something. The next time you stay in the room with him, he might do something weird.¡±

    Huang Ling held her phone and said after a long time, ¡°After the car ident, Jia Ming became very averse to children and things like toys and dolls.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes lit up.

    ¡°A long time ago, he gave me some stuffed animals. Even though I¡¯m already past the age to enjoy those things, since those were my memory with him, I didn¡¯t throw them away. I put them inside a cupboard and would asionally take them out to reminisce about old times.

    ¡°One day, I realized that one of the dolls had gone missing. Initially, I did not even notice, but a few dayster, another doll went missing. I asked Jia Ming, and he said that he did not know anything.

    ¡°One month after that, I went home early because I had fever. When I reached home, the door wasn¡¯t locked. I thought that there was a thief, so I shuffled in quietly. I saw that the stove in the kitchen was on, and there was a pot sitting on it like someone was cooking soup.

    ¡°A thief wouldn¡¯t havee to someone¡¯s home to cook, so I called Jia Ming¡¯s name several times. No one answered. I went into the kitchen to see what kind of soup he was cooking. However, when I opened the lid, I was shocked.

    ¡°There was a tattered doll inside the pot, and the stic face was bobbing up and down. I quickly turned the fire off, and the door was then pushed open. I saw Jia Ming, who was holding a cleaver, walk in, and he was also holding arge ck bag,ing in from outside.

    ¡°To this day, I cannot forget that scene. I remember asking why he would he cut up the doll and cook it. He mumbled to me that there was a spirit living inside the door and only that way would chase it away.

    ¡°There were many things like this that are rted to children and dolls.

    ¡°A few months ago, our neighbor had a newborn in the house. It ismon for babies to cry in the night, but the child would cry the entire night until morning like there was something scary in the house.

    ¡°Whenever the child cried, Jia Ming¡¯s mental state would deteriorate. He kept getting into arguments about it with the neighbor. In the end, it was the neighbor who relented and moved to Western Jiujiang.¡±

    After Huang Ling finished, she put her phone away. ¡°Before this, we did not have a child because we could not afford one, but now, it is because he doesn¡¯t want one.¡±

    ¡°After the ident, your husband became afraid of children and dolls. This doesn¡¯t sound like depression to me.¡± Chen Ge called Huang Ling to continue trying. ¡°Do you mind telling me what happened on the day of Jia Ming¡¯s ident?¡±

    ¡°Jia Ming¡¯s working ce, like mine, is close to where we stayed. Normally, Jia Minges to fetch me on his e-bike, but that day, the client kept me at thepany until veryte. It was raining heavily that night, just like tonight in fact. I waited for a long time, but Jia Ming did not show up. In the end, it was the police who called, telling me that Jia Ming had gotten in an ident.

    ¡°ording to the video, he ran into the bus on Route 104 when he was crossing the street. From the video, it looked like he could not see the bus at all. He kept his gaze fixed in a certain direction as he kept riding.¡± Huang Ling shivered, thinking about that video. ¡°I was so scared when I got the call. I rushed to the hospital. Jia Ming¡¯s leg was cracked, and for some reason, he did not wake up until the next day.¡±

    ¡°You said Jia Ming was hit by bus 104?¡± Chen Ge interrupted Huang Ling. He had found the information he needed. ¡°In other words, the thing that is possessing your husband¡¯s body now probably came from the bus on Route 104.¡±

    Huang Ling and Xiao Gu did not react for a long time, but in the end, they felt chills run up their spines.

 Chapter 498 - Objective of Ghost Stories Society

    <h4>Chapter 498: Objective of Ghost Stories Society</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Huang Ling and Xiao Gu had just escaped from the bus on Route 104, so they were familiar with the type of passengers it carried. When Jia Ming got into the ident, the camera had shown that he was walking toward the bus. A lot of anomalous behavior showed that there was something strange about his ident. It was indeed this ident that triggered the change in Jia Ming to do something as strange as cooking chopped up dolls.

    ¡°You¡¯re trying to say that my husband is possessed by the ghost on the bus?¡± Huang Ling was silent for a long time before forcing herself to ept reality.

    ¡°Possessed? You¡¯re being too optimistic.¡± Chen Ge looked at the woman¡¯s phone. ¡°You received calls from your husband when you were on the bus. The person who called you was most likely your real husband. He knew that you were on the bus and knew that the passengers were all ghosts, so this means that he was also on the bus with you, or rather his spirit was trapped on the bus, trading ces with the thing that calls himself your husband now.¡±

    Huang Ling had a hard time processing what Chen Ge said. If she had not just gotten off the bus and seen the ghosts for herself, she would have thought that Chen Ge was crazy. Her lips fell open. Huang Ling had many things to say, but in the end, she only uttered, ¡°What should I do?¡±

    She gripped the steering wheel helplessly. Thinking about the man who slept next to her at night and might not be her husband, her breath caught in her throat.

    ¡°Do you want to find your real husband?¡± Chen Ge took his hand out from the backpack. From Huang Ling¡¯s tone and reaction, he had confirmed that she was a victim.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Huang Ling turned her head around.

    ¡°To find your real husband, we have to start with the fake husband. He should know a lot about thatst bus. Your real husband is on the bus¡ªonly by knowing everything about the bus can we find it and save him.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s lips curved into a smile. While it seemed like he was simply dealing with a bus, he had not forgotten that there was a locked two-star scenario on the ck phone, the name of which Midnight Hearse.

    In terms of difficulty, the Midnight Hearse was simr to Mu Yang High School, but since it was mobile, it was harder to find.

    ¡°You want me to trick Jia Ming?¡± Huang Ling understood Chen Ge¡¯s meaning instantly. She shook her head lightly. She refused to believe these things even though she had her suspicion.

    ¡°That¡¯s not my intention, and I hope you won¡¯t act too recklessly. I just need you to silently observe Jia Ming and tell me all about his weird actions.¡± Chen Ge left his contact details with Huang Ling. ¡°You can consider me your lifeline. Perhaps in the future, only I will be able to help you.¡±

    Huang Ling repeated what Chen Ge had said in her mind before she understood what he meant. In her heart, the man, as weird as he appeared, radiated a sense of trustworthiness.

    ¡°Remember to keep in touch. Also, do not tell anyone what happened tonight, including your husband and parents.¡± Chen Ge wanted to turn the car around and interrogate Huang Ling¡¯s husband, but the effect would not be good, and it might cause Huang Ling to turn on him.

    ¡°I know.¡± Huang Ling put her phone away and focused on driving. Chen Ge¡¯s lips smiled. He did not share his real thoughts.

    <i>This is the first time that I¡¯vee across a mobile scenario. There¡¯s no way I¡¯m letting this escape. But thinking back, the bus, the passengers, the child, and the woman in red raincoat, these few things should be connected somehow.</i>

    The taxi continued to move in the rain. Chen Ge leaned on the chair and closed his eyes to rest. Huang Ling sent Chen Ge and Xiao Gu back to New Century Park at 2 am. When he got out, Chen Ge inspected the driver¡¯s body again. After making sure he was fine, he paid twice the fare.

    ¡°Be careful on the road, and set my number as your speed dial to make it more convenient.¡± After reminding her of a few more things, Chen Ge left with Xiao Gu.

    After Huang Ling drove away, Xiao Gu opened the umbre and ran to walk beside Chen Ge. ¡°Boss, do you really want to help Huang Ling? This sounds quite scary.¡±

    ¡°Helping her is just a convenience. My real goal is to find the raincoat woman¡¯s child. Didn¡¯t you say her child was on the bus?¡± Chen Ge was just concluding the event, but it caused Xiao Gu to me himself.

    ¡°This is all my fault.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t dwell on it. You¡¯re my employee, so I have to take care of you.¡± Chen Ge walked ahead and allowed the rain to ssh on him.

    Following behind Chen Ge, Xiao Gu looked at the man¡¯s back and hesitated for a while before asking, ¡°Boss, when you were on the phone with the woman, you introduced yourself as the chairperson of ghost stories society. What kind of society is this? Howe it feels like you¡¯re not that afraid of these things?¡±

    ¡°Are you really that curious?¡± Chen Ge had saved Xiao Gu¡¯s life more than once. Plus, Xiao Gu was a straightforward person and did not have ulterior motives, so Chen Ge was still rxed around him.

    ¡°A bit. Actually, the things that happened for the past few months have scared me.¡± Xiao Gu pouted. ¡°One month ago, I was drugged by a madwoman and almost got dismembered. Two weeks ago, I¡¯d just got out from the hospital and was sent back to the emergency room due to fainting. Combining tonight¡¯s episode, this is the third time that these things have happened. I feel like if this continues, and I don¡¯t take any counter measures, it¡¯ll only be a matter of time until something serious urs.¡±

    Xiao Gu looked so down, and his usual liveliness was absent. ¡°Perhaps I¡¯m cursed.¡±

    ¡°If you move near New Century Park in the future, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be fine.¡± Chen Ge did not know what to say, but he knew Xiao Gu¡ªother people would have gone mad already.

    ¡°Boss, I have a feeling something else will happen, so I wish to know more about these things. Do you think I can join that society of yours?¡± Xiao Gu said something that surprised Chen Ge. He stood beside Chen Ge shyly.

    ¡°You want to join the ghost stories society?¡± Chen Ge stopped moving to size Xiao Gu up. Then he shook his head. ¡°The society might not sound like it, but it¡¯s actually a support group for mental patients, to reignite their desire for life.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Xiao Gu felt like what Chen Ge described did not match the idea that he had in his mind at all.

    ¡°Yes, don¡¯t read too much into it.¡± Chen Ge shoved the handle of the hammer that poked out back into the bag and zipped it up. ¡°The ghost stories society has three objectives¡ªto respect and care about people, to show understanding and eptance toward others, and to have appreciation and thankfulness for the gift of life.¡±

 Chapter 499 - A Pot of Soup

    <h4>Chapter 499: A Pot of Soup</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I suppose if you put it that way...¡± Xiao Gu was rather disappointed.

    ¡°If you stand straight, you will not be afraid of your shadow being nted. As long as you do not do anything wrong and live your life openly and freely, then even if you run into a ghost, they will be the one afraid of you.¡± Chen Ge shared the lesson with Xiao Gu, and the young man listened closely.

    ¡°I understand now. Thank you, boss, for the lesson.¡±

    ¡°You still have many things to learn in the future. I will help you see more things that you will never believe.¡± Chen Ge did not have a useful person next to him, and many things were quite inconvenient for him. Xiao Gu¡¯s appearance made Chen Ge realize that this might be his perfect chance. He nned to cultivate an actual Haunted House employee in the young man.

    ¡°Do not tell anyone what happened on the bus, and this includes Xu Wan.¡± Chen Ge opened the door to the Haunted House and waved for Xiao Gu to follow him. ¡°Tonight, you can stay inside the staff breakroom. Remember, do not leave the room and wander off on your own. Especially remember to stay away from the scary scenarios.¡±

    ¡°Boss, where will you sleep? I¡¯m sure the two of us can share the same bed if we just move around.¡± Xiao Gu was quite embarrassed to take advantage of Chen Ge¡¯s kindness.

    ¡°I have my ways. Later, I¡¯ll apany you to the bathroom to change. After that, remember to stay inside the staff breakroom until the sunes up.¡±

    ¡°I can go to the toilet on my own; I¡¯m not a child anymore.¡± Xiao Gu still had not realized that he was currently standing inside the scariest location in Western Jiujiang. ording to the assessment on the ck phone, Chen Ge¡¯s House of Horrors could be considered a three-star scenario already.

    ¡°There are some props that I¡¯ve ced inside the bathroom, and I¡¯m afraid you might mess them up.¡± Chen Ge found a random excuse and quickly moved away from this topic. He entered the staffroom and took out two sets of his own clothes. He handed one set to Xiao Gu. ¡°Put these on. Give me your wet clothes.¡±

    After he was done with everything, Chen Ge closed the door to the staff breakroom. ¡°Have a good sleep. I¡¯lle find you tomorrow morning.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± The door closed. Xiao Gu sat beside the bed, and his heart was feeling quite embarrassed. He slept on the bed, and the boss slept on the floor. This was the first time that he had run into a situation like this. <i>Brother Chen has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. Even though he doesn¡¯t mention it enough, I can see from his actions that he is a good man.</i>

    He pulled the thin cover off, and Xiao Gu was about to lie on the bed when he suddenly heard a cat meow. He quickly stood up. Underneath the cover was a big white cat with a pair of multi-colored eyes. It ncedzily at Xiao Gu. The gaze seemed to say, <i>Who are you, and where did youe from?</i>

    ¡°Nice to meet you.¡± Xiao Gu held the cover and stood next to the bed. He did not know what to do. The white cat did not bully Xiao Gu. It bit on a cute doll and jumped to the study table next to the table agilely. The cat scratched the light switch, and the staff breakroom fell into darkness. Holding the cover, Xiao Gu stood where he was dumbly.

    <i>My god, he even knows how to turn off the lights on his own...</i>

    Chen Ge stood outside the door for a while. He left after he saw the lights inside the room go off. He also changed into the new set of clothes and carried the half-drenched backpack into the props room.

    <i>The situation in Eastern Jiujiang is quiteplicated. This probably rted to the door in Li Wan City that has gone out of control. Doctor Gao said that the door was once under the ghost stories society¡¯s control. If I wish to gain more information on this door, I can try to get some from the members of the society.</i>

    Rummaging through the drawers, Chen Ge finally found the chairperson¡¯s letter of appointment and the patients¡¯ list for Third Sick Hall. He took these things and entered the underground scenario.

    He activated the recorder and pushed open the door to thest ssroom at Mu Yang High School. The mannequins in the school uniforms sat at their tables obediently. They looked so serious like they were preparing for an imminent and important exam.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I just want to introduce some new friends to you.¡± Chen Ge stood on the podium and tried for the first time tomunicate with the spirits inside the patient¡¯s list. He released the souls of the mad people all at once. In life, they had been the most twisted maniacs. In death, their souls had refused to leave, and they had all turned into baleful spirits. The ssroom was filled with dark winds, and the table, chairs, door, and windows rattled noisily. Screams and wails echoed in the room, and vengeful eyes charged at Chen Ge directly.

    ¡°Xu Yin.¡± Dripping with blood, Xu Yin materialized next to Chen Ge. All the sounds and screams in the ssroom were silenced instantly. When the few spirits finally quieted down, Chen Ge walked past them one by one. The group of spirits was indeed different from normal spirits. Even with a Red Specter staring them down, their eyes were radiating a dangerous glow as they red darkly at Chen Ge.

    ¡°We¡¯re unable tomunicate?¡± Chen Ge took out the chairperson¡¯s letter of appointment again. He showed Doctor Gao¡¯s handwriting to the spirits, and when they saw the handwriting, dark red blood vessels appeared in the spirits¡¯ eyes. In just a few seconds, all the spirits bowed down before Chen Ge.

    <i>Still unable tomunicate? Or do they refuse tomunicate with me because they have some issues with me?</i>

    As the new chairperson of the ghost stories society, Chen Ge had some connections with these old members. He summoned all of the employees at the Haunted House to surround the patients and then left the ssroom.

    ...

    The rain started to lighten. Huang Ling drove the taxi, and the car was nearing her home, but the speed was slowing down. Her heart was knotted in a conflict. Whenever she remembered what Chen Ge had said, she would be afraid. <i>Should I return home tonight or not?</i>

    Before this, she did not know anything, so she had not been afraid. Now, Huang Ling did not know whom she should trust. Chen Ge¡¯s points were valid and logical, but ultimately, he was just an outsider. Jia Ming was her husband, and they had shared a life for so many years already.

    After giving it some more thought, Huang Ling still could note to a decision. <i>Perhaps I should go back home, but if I don¡¯t go back, where would I go? Stay inside the taxi throughout the night? But how will I exin myself should the taxi driver wake up?</i>

    The taxi reached the entrance of the residential area, but Huang Ling still had note to a decision. Suddenly, she saw a man holding an umbre, waiting anxiously at the stairwell. ¡°Jia Ming? Is he waiting for me?¡±

    His shirt was wet, and Jia Ming looked quite look shabby.

    ¡°Why are you onlying back now?¡± Jia Ming¡¯s voice sounded quite angry. Huang Ling parked the car, and she only pushed the door open when Jia Ming held the umbre at the door. ¡°Come back home with me now!¡±

    ¡°Let me leave my phone number with the driver first. If he wakes up, he can contact me.¡± Huang Ling found a note inside the taxi and wrote a memo for the driver.

    ¡°What happened to you today? Why did the driver faint? Should we drive him to the hospital?¡± Jia Ming saw the driver that was still fainted on the backseat and was worried.

    ¡°My friend said he¡¯s fine. He was just shocked, so he¡¯ll be fine after some time.¡±

    ¡°Your friend? You¡¯d better stop hanging out with those strange people. From their appearance, the two that came today do not look like good people.¡± Jia Ming held the umbre and supported Huang Ling as they headed upstairs. The room door was open. The warm light from inside the room cleared the fear and anxiety inside Huang Ling¡¯s heart.

    ¡°I¡¯ve reheated the food around seven to eight times already, but you are sote.¡± Jia Ming pointed at the dishes on the table. ¡°I even purposely stewed a pot of soup for you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, but I don¡¯t have much of an appetite.¡± Seeing the table filled with food, Huang Ling was still quite touched. However, once it crossed her mind that this man standing beside her might not be her husband, all the warm feelings turned into an indescribable terror.

    ¡°Okay then, I¡¯ll clear the table. You¡¯d better go and sleep; you still need to work tomorrow morning.¡± Jia Ming was rather angry, and he had to rein it in to not explode in his wife¡¯s appearance. Huang Ling entered the bedroom, but she did not remove her jacket and pants. She pulled the cover over her body andy down in bed.

    In the other room, Jia Ming was clearing away the table. The sound of the tes falling into the sink kept echoing through the room. After who knew how long, the lights in the living room finally went off. Someone entered the bedroom andy down next to Huang Ling. There was a small gap between the two.

    Inside the cramped room that was shrouded in darkness, even though Huang Ling was tired, she was unable to fall asleep. The more she allowed her mind to wander, the more afraid she became. Her palms kept sweating.

    About ten minutester, when Huang Ling heard the light snoring from her husband and confirmed that the man had fallen asleep, she finally sighed in relief. After a whole day of work and the long drive, she was already at her limit. Her eyes slowly closed, and Huang Ling had no idea she was falling asleep. The fatigue from the eventful night was slowly catching up to her.

    About one or two hourster, Huang Ling found herself inside a very scary dream. Her own husband stood at the door with a glinting cleaver in his hands, mumbling about the type of ingredients that he would use that night to cook soup with.

    Cold sweat slid down her face, and her head jostled. After some struggle, her eyes flew open. The bedroom waspletely dark and incredibly quiet. She confirmed that there was no one standing at the door.

    ¡°That was too scary.¡± Huang Ling rubbed her head. She grabbed the phone that she had left on the bedside table. She found Chen Ge¡¯s contact number. She wanted to check whether she had set his number as speed dial or not. To prevent herself from identally waking up her husband who was sleeping, Huang Ling curled her body under the covers.

    The phone screen¡¯s light fell on her face. Huang Ling opened the phone record, and her eyes followed on the list of numbers that had called her that night.

    ¡°These came from my husband.¡± Her eyes slowly moved downward. Huang Ling focusedpletely on the disy. However, suddenly, a finger appeared in her sight to press on her disy, like it was trying very hard to call a particr number. Looking at that finger that appeared out of nowhere, Huang Ling shivered and jumped up in bed!

    The phone fell in the middle of the bed, and the light from the disy hit her husband¡¯s face. His face looked so familiar, but the expression was so strange. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you sleeping? Is it because you¡¯re hungry?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Huang Ling hugged the cover and got up to turn on the light. However, weirdly enough, she gave it several tries, but the lights refused to turn on.

    Her husband sat up in bed like a robot, and his voice became increasingly weird. The man mumbled to himself like he was unable to process what Huang Ling had said earlier. ¡°If you¡¯re hungry, let¡¯s go and eat. I even stewed a pot of soup for you.¡±

 Chapter 500 - Scary Husband

    <h4>Chapter 500: Scary Husband</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    With thebination of the strange expression as well as the weird tone, Huang Ling¡¯s husband looked and sounded like he was sleepwalking. He stood up in bed and stood on his tiptoes. There seemed to be something tied around his neck even though there was nothing there, and he nced down right at Huang Ling.

    His eye lids were peeled back, and his eyeballs bulged outward. Inside the bedroom that was suffocated by darkness, the husband whom Huang Ling had shared the bed with for more than a few years stared at her darkly and creepily. ¡°The soup that I specially cooked for you is in the kitchen. You¡¯d better savor it while it is still piping hot.¡±

    The ce that they rented was not big. The bedroom was very small. Huang Ling leaned against the wall with her back and her fingers curled tightly around the phone. There was a very bad feeling in her heart. If she made a call, this man that she called her husband might just reach forward to kill her.

    ¡°I... I¡¯m not that hungry.¡± Huang Ling moved to the door of the bedroom. She grabbed the door handle, but before she could pull the door open, her husband jumped down from the bed. Jia Ming¡¯s body was very stiff. None of his joints seemed like they could bend normally. It gave the impression that he was a puppet pulled along by strings.

    The scarily white hands grabbed Huang Ling¡¯s arms, and a rush of iciness overwhelmed her. This was the first time that Huang Ling had discovered that she could feel no warmth at all from her husband¡¯s palms. She was so nervous that she lost the ability to talk. Her body shook slightly, and her pupils darted about nervously. She was on the verge of copsing.

    To make matters worse, her husband¡¯s face leaned close to her. His eyelids were fully peeled back, and most of his eyes were dominated by the white of his eyes. The pupils had practically disappeared. ¡°I¡¯ve already cooked it, so why don¡¯t you just have a few sips of it? Are you that afraid of my cooking? I assure you, it¡¯s very good.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll drink the soup...¡± Caught in that situation, Huang Ling did not dare say no; she was afraid that she might die inside this little, dark bedroom if she made the wrong decision. The husband opened the bedroom door for her. The familiar yet strange man stood on his tiptoes and used a very strange pose and gait to drag Huang Ling out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. The door and windows of their rental home were all closed. It felt like they were inside a different dimension, detached from the rest of the world. It made Huang Ling felt isted and alone. Normally, she would not have felt that way because she had thepany of her husband, but that night, it was exactly because of her husband¡¯s presence that she felt so strangely unsettled.

    Huang Ling did not dare to resist, and she allowed herself to be dragged by her husband into the kitchen. Once she walked in, she saw a pot that was used for boiling soup sitting on top of the stove. ¡°I made sure to stew it for a very long time, so the ingredients are soft and tender. Quick,e and have a taste of it.¡±

    Jia Ming stood on his tiptoes and very awkwardly raised his hands to remove the pot from the stove. This was because his elbows were unable to bend. He then ced it on the dining table. After Jia Ming opened the lid, the temperature in the room seemed to have lowered even more. He found two sets of bowls and chopsticks and ced them next to the pot. Then he stared right at Huang Ling, adding darkly, ¡°Quick,e and have a taste. I¡¯m sure the soup is very nice.¡±

    ¡°Er... okay.¡± Huang Ling nodded slightly. She nced inside the steel pool. There was a torn-up doll floating inside. Various tattered parts floated on the clear soup, and the most conspicuous part was definitely the stic doll face. The doll¡¯s face was partially melted, but Huang Ling managed to recognize with a nce that this doll was the first doll that Jia Ming had given to her.

    It was very cheap. At the time, the two had just moved to Jiujiang, and they were still dating, not yet married. They had been young and in love, full of hope for their future together. Seeing the doll floating inside the pot, Huang Ling felt like a part of her heart and her memory was yanked apart and brutally chopped into pieces.

    ¡°How could you use this doll to make soup? How could you do something like this?¡± Huang Ling could not resist it andined.

    Yet, Jia Ming did not answer Huang Ling¡¯s question. He found adle to scoop up the soup and fill up a whole bowl for Huang Ling. ¡°Come, have a sip. It tastes so good.¡±

    ¡°This is the memory between the two of us!¡± Huang Ling stood next to the man, and she felt like the energy within her body was slowly seeping out of her.

    ¡°Memory?¡± Jia Ming looked at the doll inside the pot and used a very confused tone to give a scary answer. ¡°Isn¡¯t this our child? What does it have to do with memory?¡±

    He swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and a very uglyughter issued from his throat. ¡°There are so many children. Even after tossing them away, they still return, so the best solution is to consume them all!¡±

    Huang Ling held a spoon in her hand. She looked at the broken pieces and the doll¡¯s face inside the bowl, and she felt like vomiting. Her fingers touched the screen of her phone. She wanted to call Chen Ge¡¯s number, but then she had a different thought. What good would that do? Chen Ge could not rush over immediately, and when he arrived, she would most likely be dead already.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you eating it? Is it not good? Do you not like the taste? But listen! Don¡¯t you hear the sound of children crying? That is such a wonderful sound. It is music to my ears.¡± Jia Ming picked up thedle that was still inside the pot. He drank directly from thedle. The soup was nothing more than boiled water, but from the way he reacted, one would think that he was drinking some kind of incredible broth. He looked so satisfied and happy. ¡°I hate children the most, especially those horrible kids that ran out from the red house. They have stolen stuff from behind the door¡ªhow I wish to eat them and put them in my stomach.¡±

    After having his fill, Jia Ming¡¯s pupils, which had rolled upward, slowly returned to normal. He turned to look at Huang Ling. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you drinking? Or do you want me to feed you?¡±

    Gripping the spoon, Huang Ling tried her best but was unable to put the spoon to her lips. The conflict that was apparent on her face fell into Jia Ming¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know how to eat it? Come, let me help you.¡± Jia Ming picked up the fruit knife that was left on the dining table. ¡°Let me help you cut it open. Don¡¯t worry, very soon, you will be able to finish this whole pot of soup. In the future, I will make more delicious soups for you, using even fresher ingredients. You will never be able to resist them once you have a taste.¡±

    Jia Ming walked toward Huang Ling on his tiptoes, and his words and tone sounded incredibly scary. Huang Ling could not help it anymore. Things had gotten way out of control. She threw the soup spoon in her hand away and quickly pressed speed dial number 1. Coincidentally, when she was about to press the one button, the disy on her phone changed. Someone was calling her at a time like that. Before her fingernded on the number 1, her finger pressed the ept button to answer the call.

    ¡°You are the passenger who took my taxi ride tonight, right? You have ruined my car, and you think you can sweep the issue under the rug by tossing me 200? If you do not give me a valid exnation and enoughpensation tonight, then I will...¡±

    ¡°Help me! Help me! Please call the police! I¡¯m staying on the fourth floor! My husband has gone insane, and he¡¯s trying to kill me!¡± Hearing the voiceing from the other end, Huang Ling immediately lost control. She held the phone in her hands and screamed at the top of her lungs as she ran to the living room door. Like a drowning personing across thest straw, the potential within Huang Ling exploded. She ran so very fast.

    There were twoyers to the living room door. She pulled the inside door open easily, but the outside door was locked. She needed to find the key if she wanted to open it. ¡°Help me! Please someone,e and help me!¡±

    Huang Ling¡¯s voice echoed down the corridor. The chilling wind rushed into her sleeves as she shook at the door lock violently. Perhaps she thought that by shaking the lock hard enough, it might unlock on its own.

    ¡°I am warning you, don¡¯t y games with me. Don¡¯t try to scare me into submission. I will still require an answer from you.¡± The young driver¡¯s voice was shaking on the phone. He had been unconscious for almost the entire night. He had just woken up and seen the note that someone had left next to his phone. It was the reason he had made this call. He wanted to ask for a rification about what had happened that night and, if possible, get some morepensation.

    Huang Ling was still screaming at the top of her lungs. She rammed against the door, and the door shook violently. It could be heard echoing throughout the entire building.

    ¡°Come and just take a sip. Just one sip.¡± The husband appeared behind Huang Ling silently and without warning.

    ¡°Help me!¡± Huang Ling tore through her throat as she continued to scream. She mmed into the door using her back, and her phone shone its light on Jia Ming. The scene that she saw made her mental state copse even further!

    Jia Ming¡¯s head was lolled weakly on his shoulders. His pupils had already disappeared, and his eyes were bulging. He appeared like he was standing on his tiptoes, but in reality, that was not the case. It was the shadow behind him that was holding him by his neck, and he had been moved across like that. ¡°Come, take a sip.¡±

    ¡°Help! Don¡¯te any closer! I¡¯m warning you!¡± Huang Ling¡¯s voice travelled very far down the corridor. Several secondster, the door of the family across from Huang Ling was suddenly pulled open from the inside. An olddy poked her head out to look around. By then, Jia Ming had already managed to shove the soup inside the bowl down Huang Ling¡¯s throat. He watched as Huang Ling¡¯s body softened and lost its power. The woman¡¯s eyes slowly turned dull and lifeless.

    The olddy from the opposite room seemed to be familiar with this happening. She opened the door and walked to Huang Ling¡¯s door. With a trace of pity in her voice, she asked, ¡°Xiao Jia, is Huang Ling acting up due to her illness again?¡±

    Jia Ming held Huang Ling in his arms, and his lowered head slowly rose. His face looked perfectly normal, but his expression was rather awkward. ¡°Sigh, she always suffers from nightmares at night, but she refuses to take her medicine.¡±

    ¡°This must be so hard on you as well, taking care of a patient alone.¡± The olddy shook her head. ¡°I think you should take her to an official state hospital to have the doctors check up on her. This is the third time she has reacted this way this month. If you let this go on, it will only get worse.¡±

    ¡°Of course, you have a point.¡± Jia Ming took the phone away from Huang Ling and deactivated it. He dragged Huang Ling back into the room and closed the door.

 Chapter 501 - Bad Endings

    <h4>Chapter 501: Bad Endings</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The corridor returned to normal. The olddy looked at the opposite door and sighed with pity. ¡°Lost the house and the child, no wonder she went crazy. Poor Xiao Jia.¡±

    Outside the building, the taxi driver heard the call being ended, and he still had not recovered from the shock.

    ¡°What is the meaning of this? Have I been dragged into a murder? What about the mention of mental illness?¡± The driver¡¯s mind was nk. He had just woken up and found his car parked at an unfamiliar ce. He did not even know where he was.

    ¡°I should call the police.¡±

    With shaking hands, the driver called the cops and told them how he had been kidnapped.

    ...

    Chen Ge rested outside thest ssroom for a while before reentering the room. The dark winds had disappeared, and the bodies of the few mental patients were close to being transparent. However, they were still as ferocious as ever and refused tomunicate.

    ¡°They sure are mad.¡± Chen Ge summoned them back into the patient¡¯s list. He left Mu Yang High School and entered the Third Sick Hall. He found a random bed and went to sleep without removing his clothes. The next morning, Chen Ge was woken up by the rm on his phone at 8 am.

    ¡°That was quite a good sleep.¡± Chen Ge rubbed his eyes as he opened the sickroom¡¯s door. ¡°It¡¯s quite a waste to have so many empty beds. Perhaps I can open a hotel that only operates at night.¡±

    Exiting the underground scenario, Chen Ge cleaned himself up and ran to the staff breakroom.

    ¡°It¡¯s time for work.¡± Chen Ge was worried that Xiao Gu might have been bullied by the white cat and Xiaoxiao, but he realized that Xiao Gu was sleeping nicely. ¡°The guy sure is brave, but this type of person will have an easier time epting new things.¡±

    After waking Xiao Gu up, the two worked together to clean up the Haunted House and prepared to start a new day of work. Opening the gates, the sun fell on Chen Ge. <i>Ever since I came back from the underground morgue, my body temperature has still been dropping, but the rate seems to have lessened.</i>

    ¡°Boss, you have been gettingter at opening the gates.¡± There was a girl with impressive upper body that walked from the resting hall. She held a box of breakfast in her hands. ¡°This is for you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s barely 8:20 am; it¡¯s you that¡¯s too early.¡± Chen Ge epted the breakfast when Xiao Gu exited the Haunted House.

    ¡°Good morning, Sister Xu Wan!¡± Xiao Gu was quite dim-witted at social events. He waltzed out from the Haunted House and looked at Chen Ge¡¯s breakfast with some envy. Xu Wan greeted Xiao Gu, and she was about to walk away when her pupils suddenly danced. She stopped where she was as she nced at Xiao Gu.

    ¡°The gates just opened. This means you did not go homest night.¡± Before Xiao Gu responded, her expression became weirder. ¡°Why are you wearing boss¡¯ clothes?¡±

    ¡°It was rainingst night, and when I was going home...¡± Xiao Gu stopped himself when he was halfway through exining because he suddenly remembered that Chen Ge had told him not to tell anyone what had happened the previous night. He turned to look at Chen Ge. Xu Wan also looked at Chen Ge with someint like she was asking for an exnation.

    Sensing the curious atmosphere, Chen Ge was stunned. ¡°Why are the both of you looking at me?¡±

    The entire Western Jiujiang¡¯s House of Horrors only had three living people. Chen Ge did not want any misunderstandings between them, so he quickly exined, ¡°Xiao Gu was unable to find a taxi homest night, and it was raining heavily, so I had him stay at the staff breakroom for the night. I busied myself inside the scenarios. Right, I almost forgot. Xiao Gu, I¡¯m giving you a half day off. You go back to pack your things and move to a ce near the park. I¡¯ll help you cover the down payment.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, boss.¡± Xiao Gu did not really understand what was happening, but he was d. He went to the dressing room happily.

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s exnation, Xu Wan¡¯s mood turned better. ¡°Boss, I shall go to the dressing room as well. Remember toe help me with the make-upter.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Seeing the happiness on his workers¡¯ faces, Chen Ge feltforted. The park opened at 9 am, and the visitors swamped the ce. However, the curious thing was that no one dared to challenge the underground morgue again.

    He kept himself busy until twelve noon. When the employees went for their lunch break, two shadows, one small and one big, came out from the resting hall. When Chen Ge saw them, he put down his lunch and rushed back into the Haunted House.

    ¡°Boss Chen! I have something important to tell you!¡± Therge shadow used an agility that did not match his size to catch up to Chen Ge.

    Knowing that he was unable to avoid them, Chen Ge turned back with a friendly smile as he grabbed the man¡¯s arm. ¡°Fan Chong? Why are you here? Come and take a seat, we¡¯re considered friends now. What scenario would you like to challenge today?¡±

    The ones who blocked Chen Ge were Fan Chong and his brother¡ªthe chef at New East International Hotel, Fan Dade.

    Fan Chong¡¯s hands were cold, and he had tworge dark circles on his face like he had not slept for a long time. ¡°Boss Chen, I really need your help this time.¡±

    He sounded so serious and that caused Chen Ge to turn serious as well. ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°Do you still remember the game that I told you aboutst time?¡±

    In the park¡¯s medical room, Fan Chong had described the weird game for Chen Ge before. He suspected that the game was based on a real murder.

    ¡°I remember, the main character¡¯s name is Xiao Bu.¡± Chen Ge had asting impression of the game, and the reason was simple. Fan Chong had said that the style of the game changed after the main character opened the door to the basement. The first thing that the main character saw was a bus stop. There was a red shadow and an old bus at the bus stop.

    This matched what had happened to Xiao Gu perfectly!

    The red shadow represented the woman in the red raincoat, and the old bus was thest bus on Route 104. In other words, the game creator had perhaps experienced that.

    ¡°Good that you still remember it.¡± Fan Chong rubbed his hands. After a while, he added, ¡°I¡¯ve cleared the game, but...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, just tell me everything.¡± Chen Ge was more nervous than Fan Chong. By now, he was certain that the game was hiding a big secret.

    ¡°I¡¯ve cleared the game four times, sacrificing my sleep for the past two days, and I got four different endings.¡± The flesh on Fan Chong¡¯s face scrunched up together. ¡°But the four endings were all bad endings. Xiao Bu died four times in different ways, but I suspect there are more endings, meaning more ways for Xiao Bu to die. This is a game without hope, or I can¡¯t find the hope.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t rush, take it slow.¡± Chen Ge had Uncle Xu take over, and he pulled Fan Chong to the resting hall. ¡°Tell me the whole process, or if possible, you can bring me over to your ce to see the game tonight.¡±

 Chapter 502 - The Murder Inside the Game

    <h4>Chapter 502: The Murder Inside the Game</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Fan Chong was very unstable; it was obvious that this had affected him deeply. ¡°Boss Chen, the game is really too much. Whenever Xiao Bu dies, I feel like she¡¯s looking at me like I¡¯m the one who killed her.¡±

    Taking a breath, Fan Chong took out his phone. ¡°Whenever I clear the game, I record the game process so that I can select a different route to go for a different ending next time.¡±

    Swiping on the screen, Fan Chong opened the note on his phone¡ªit was filled with words. ¡°Unlocking all the achievements in the game, the system awarded me with Mommy¡¯s Pajamas, and the key to the basement was found inside the pajamas. It was after the discovery of the key that the name of the main character was changed to Xiao Bu.

    ¡°The entrance to the dungeon was hidden behind the closet at a friend¡¯s home. After using the key, the style of the game changedpletely. I¡¯ve told you what happened next. I controlled Xiao Bu to go through the dungeon, and she saw a bus stop. To evade the red monster, she was forced to get on the bus.¡±

    So far, it matched what Fan Chong had said earlier.

    ¡°The bus started its engine and moved on the road. Xiao Bu, in her mother¡¯s pajamas, wandered up and down the bus. Some timeter, the sound of a child cryinge from the game. Then, two options came on screen: Find the source of the crying or ask the driver.

    ¡°The first time, I chose to ask the driver. However, when I reached the driver¡¯s seat, I realized that the bus had no driver. In fact, the whole bus was empty. The crying became louder and it felt like it appeared next to my ears and not from the game.

    ¡°The bus soon reached its first stop¡ªLi Wan City. A line appeared on screen then: I have to leave this ce.

    ¡°I controlled Xiao Bu to leave the bus. She turned back to look, and the scary part happened. The windows were filled with human faces, and they stared at me through theputer screen. Before I could react, a red shadow appeared. It was the scary woman in a red raincoat. To evade her pursuit, I ran into the nearby Li Wan City.

    ¡°The city was the map where the main character did her mission. The building andyout were all the same, but the style hadpletely changed. From a city filled with warmth and sunlight, it turned into a city of fear, dullness, and terror.

    ¡°The woman chased after me. I controlled Xiao Bu to run down the street. Words kept popping up¡ªHelp me! Help me!¡ªbut there was no one in the city. In the end, I was forced to hide inside an old building with no other escape.

    ¡°The woman got closer and closer. The screen focused on her face until it was fully dominated by it. The sticky hair parted to the sides, and the woman revealed her real face. Her eyes were filled with blood, and her mouth was sewn shut. It looked so scary.

    ¡°A very scary smile issued from theputer, and then a sentence appeared on screen¡ªXiao Bu has be her new child.

    ¡°Xiao Bu¡¯s head was covered by the red raincoat woman¡¯s hair, and I lost control of her.¡±

    Fan Chong took a deep breath after that. The image was too scary, and just thinking about it made him scared.

    ¡°Was this one of the bad endings?¡± Chen Ge got a bottle of water from the worker and handed it to Fan Chong.

    ¡°Compared to the other endings, this might be the best one.¡± Fan Chong did not reach for the water. His face was pale as he continued his story.

    ¡°After Xiao Bu was taken away, the screen went dark. The sound of childrenughing and crying came from theputer, and then a row of gray words appeared¡ªWhy did you kill me?

    ¡°The handwriting was like the child¡¯s dark and helpless eyes. It made me feel so guilty. After a long time, the words disappeared, and the screen returned to normal. Xiao Bu woke up in her own room, wearing her mother¡¯s pajamas.¡±

    At this point, Chen Ge raised his hand to interrupt Fan Chong. ¡°Sleeping in her own room? Meaning after the character¡¯s death, the game reloaded at the bedroom?¡±

    ¡°Yes, she was lying in bed, like what had happened earlier was just a nightmare. The sun outside the window was still shining. People hurried to work, and they greeted each other.¡± Fan Chong did not think too much of it. ¡°The game restarted. I controlled Xiao Bu to enter the dungeon and got on the bus, but this time, I made a different decision.¡±

    ¡°You chose to search for the child¡¯s crying on the bus?¡± Eastern Jiujiang was different from Western Jiujiang. All the ghost stories seemed to be connected, and the trigger of one would create a domino effect. Therefore, Chen Ge memorized everything Fan Chong said¡ªhe felt like the game was hiding a very important clue.

    ¡°Yes, I controlled Xiao Bu to walk to thest row on the bus. She found an old school bag. Then a sentence popped up¡ªXiao Bu found a wet phone inside the bag. Xiao Bu activated the phone, and then a few more windows popped up. It looked like Xiao Bu was reading the content of the phone.¡±

    ¡°There was a phone inside the bag? At thest row? What did it say?¡± Chen Ge remembered Xiao Gu say that there had been a high-schooler at thest row on the bus, and the student had kept hugging his bag. His hand had been inside the bag like he was holding something.

    ¡°I¡¯ve jotted it down. These few words were the reason I came to find you today because I think this has gone beyond just a simple game. There has to be something more.¡± Fan Chong passed his phone to Chen Ge. Three paragraphs were written on the note.

    ¡°1st September, my mother and I moved into a new apartment. Our neighbor is a young man who lives alone. He rears arge dog. It looks so tame¡ªits name is Xiao Bu.

    ¡°7th September, when I came back, I saw the neighbor walking down the stairs hugging a big ck stic bag. He looked so sad and said the pet that he had looked after for so many years had left him. The dog seemed to have ingested some poison and died at home.

    ¡°At the end of October, the young man moved away. Thendlord found a fridge filled with dog meat in his home. The neighbor must have been devastated when Xiao Bu died.¡±

    The three sentences might look normal, but upon closer inspection, they read so weirdly. The neighbor carried arge bag down the stairs, saying his pet was dead, but then thendlord found a fridge filled with dog meat. Then what was really inside the man¡¯s stic bag on the night of 7th September?

    Fan Chong slid the disy downward. ¡°I checked the news around Jiujiang in September, and there was indeed a simr murder around the time. And the crime scene was in Li Wan City as mentioned in the game.¡±

 Chapter 503 - All Xiao Bu

    <h4>Chapter 503: All Xiao Bu</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The information left on the mobile phone matched a case that had happened in real life, and this made Fan Chong fearful. ¡°I¡¯ve investigated all the news. ording to the article, the dead body was wrapped inside a ck stic bag, the time of death was 7th September, and the dumping site was close to Li Wan City.¡±

    ¡°You came to find me because of this?¡± Chen Ge also realized the gravity of the situation. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you go to the police directly?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t dare. The cases that this game is involved in is more than one.¡± What Fan Chong said surprised Chen Ge.

    ¡°More than one case?¡± Chen Ge signaled for Fan Chong to continue.

    ¡°After I controlled Xiao Bu to grab the phone, there were no more pop ups. The bus soon arrived at Li Wan City. After she got off, the woman in the red raincoat chased after her, but this time, the situation changed.¡± Fan Chong frowned. ¡°This might be a small bug. After Xiao Bu handed the student¡¯s bag to the woman, the mad woman stopped chasing her, hugged the bag like it was her child, and left.¡±

    What Fan Chong did not understand, Chen Ge did. The owner of the bag had probably once saved the woman¡¯s child on the bus, so when she saved the bag, she chose to let Xiao Bu go. The previous night, the same thing had happened to Xiao Go. The woman in the red raincoat was probably a Red Specter, but she was different from other Red Specters. Underneath her cruel exterior hid a heart pining for her child, and that was a strong emotion that could not be reced.

    ¡°After the woman left, I controlled Xiao Bu to head back into Li Wan City. Without someone chasing after me, I felt so relieved, but after entering the city, I realized how na?ve I was. I underestimated the madness of the game creator and underestimated the evil in people¡¯s hearts.¡± Fan Chong¡¯s eyes reddened. What happened next made him very ufortable.

    ¡°After dropping Xiao Bu off, the bus continued to move forward. The bus was still echoing with the sound of childrenughing and crying. I have no idea where the bus was heading. From Xiao Bu¡¯s perspective, the bus was eventually swallowed by a ball of gray mist and disappeared. I believe the bus is like a hearse for lost souls, sending them to some ce.¡±

    Fan Chong kept his voice low. Even though it was noon, the time when the sun was the harshest, he looked so cold. When he spoke, his body shivered. ¡°After the bus left, I controlled Xiao Bu to continue walking. The fog covered the gray streets, and the buildings on both sides were pale. Walking down the road, it felt like I was travelling in a different world.

    ¡°There was no one else on the road. All the shops were closed, and each house had some white paper pasted on the door. Some weird signs were painted on them. I felt like it was some kind of nightmare. I saw something symbolic on the buildings, and everywhere I turned, there were creepy pictures.¡± Fan Chong slowly slipped down into fear. Other people had a hard time sharing his fear.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Just tell me what you¡¯ve seen.¡± Chen Ge tried to console him.

    ¡°I controlled Xiao Bu to walk to the center of the street. Then a question popped on screen. It asked me to choose: East Street or West Street?¡±

    ¡°What did you choose?¡± To resolve the phone spirit¡¯s wish, Chen Ge had personally been to Li Wan City. He knew the difference between East Street and West Street.

    ¡°I chose the West Street, which looked livelier.¡± Fan Chong chuckled bitterly. This seemed to be the moment when the nightmare started. ¡°After making the choice, I controlled Xiao Bu to head down West Street. All the shops were closed, and I wandered about until I reached a small area.

    ¡°The ce looked old as the walls were peeling. The windows on the buildings were all closed, but one could see eyes peeking out from behind the windows. This seemed to be Xiao Bu¡¯s imagination, or perhaps there was a special meaning to it. The eyes followed Xiao Bu as she walked through the neighborhood.

    ¡°When I was controlling Xiao Bu, suddenly a chat box appeared at the bottom of the screen. ¡®Xiao Bu feels like someone is watching her. The eyes are like that of a beast, a hungry beast that wants to swallow her whole.¡¯

    ¡°Clicking the window made the chat disappear. A middle-aged man wandered out from the neighborhood. He looked unkempt and rather drunk. After the man got close to Xiao Bu, the window appeared again. ¡®The man ising over. He is holding a beer bottle, and there is a blood stain on his pants.¡¯

    ¡°I controlled Xiao Bu to avoid the drunk, but the drunk chased after her. With no other choice, I controlled Xiao Bu to run. Even after running around the neighborhood, the drunk was still following behind her. In the end, I remembered perhaps the most dangerous ce is the safest ce, so I made the decision to run into the neighborhood.

    ¡°The drunk wandered around the entrance. Suddenly, a different girl appeared from inside the building. She seemed to be very afraid of drunken man as well. She jogged past the man, but the man¡¯s mind seemed to be consumed by alcohol, and he hounded the girl relentlessly.

    ¡°Several minutester, the drunk dragged the girl back into the building and slithered down one of the corridors.

    ¡°Then, another option appeared on screen, whether or not to follow the drunken man into the corridor.

    ¡°I wanted to save the girl, so I chose to follow. However, what happened next was really hard to ept.¡± Fan Chong could barely continue. ¡°I controlled Xiao Bu to follow the man into the corridor to Room 104, and another sentence showed up¡ª¡¯You saw with your own eyes that Xiao Bu was made into a y sculpture. Your body is frozen in fear.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Xiao Bu?¡±

    ¡°Yes, all the victims in the game seem to share the name, Xiao Bu.¡±

    ¡°Understood, then what happened next?¡±

    ¡°The damn game keeps trying to challenge the yer¡¯s humanity. I could only see as the drunken man closed in on Xiao Bu, and then the screen said¡ª¡¯Xiao Bu felt the cement solidify her body, and she was changed into the artist¡¯s newest creation.¡¯¡±

    Fan Chong paused, and he raised his head. His eyes were red. ¡°After the previous experience, after Xiao Bu¡¯s death was announced, I went online to search the news. As I expected, on 11th Octoberst year, in Room 104 of a certain building on Li Wan City¡¯s West Street, a strange art piece was discovered! The killer was apprehended. However, the police did not catch the artist but the owner of Room 104, thendlord.¡±

    ¡°They got the wrong person?¡±

    ¡°At least that¡¯s what the game said. I tried to go anonymous to reflect on this online, but there was no response.¡± Fan Chong had a sad face. He still had things that he had not gone through.

    ¡°Two murders already... too many things are involved in this.¡± The more he listened, the more Chen Ge felt this game was different.

 Chapter 504 - Key Detail!

    <h4>Chapter 504: Key Detail!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°The first ending, Xiao Bu was taken away by the woman in the red raincoat and became her daughter; the second ending, Xiao Bu was turned into a sculpture, bing the artist¡¯s creation. These two were undoubtedly bad endings.¡± There was a helplessness in Fan Chong¡¯s voice. ¡°The save reloaded, and Xiao Bu woke up again in her room. I controlled her to begin the game for the third time.¡±

    Fan Chong was a gamer lover, and this game had a weird attraction to him. He was both afraid and curious about it. ¡°Unlike before, I chose to turn to the East Street, which wasparatively older. The buildings on the side were gray, the walls were spotted, and the roads wereplicated.

    ¡°The game was incredibly free. It was an open world where deadly traps wereid everywhere. As the yer, you have no idea what kind of scary things you might run into or how you will die.

    ¡°After ying the game for some time, I realized a problem. In this game, humans are scarier than ghosts. Running into ghost might not mean absolute death, but running into a human definitely led to death.¡± Fan Chong shared his thoughts.

    ¡°The game maker¡¯s thoughts are rather narrow. Perhaps this is rted to his personal experience.¡± Chen Ge told Fan Chong to continue. ¡°What happened to Xiao Bu on her third try?¡±

    ¡°I controlled Xiao Bu to wander the street. When she passed past an apartment building, a very thin man ran out from the stairs. He seemed to be in a hurry to leave the town. If this was any other game, this would have been a very normal NPC, but in this game, as long as the character was alive, there had to be something wrong with them.

    ¡°The person ran past Xiao Bu, and a window appeared. ¡®Why would they need so many children? Damn, the police areing. I knew I should not have epted this case.¡¯

    ¡°After the man left, two choices appeared on screen again¡ªenter the stairs or continue moving past the building.

    ¡°Due to curiosity, I chose to enter the stairs. The apartment¡¯s corridor was filled with rubbish, and the ce looked old. I controlled Xiao Bu to get to the rooftop and realized that the door to the rooftop was open.

    ¡°There was a small garden on the rooftop, but all the vegetables and flowers were all dead. There were severalrge water tanks next to the garden. They were perhaps used by the tenants to pickle stuff, and each water tanks had arge boulder resting on top of them.

    ¡°Initially, I did not think too much of it. The rooftop was windy, so perhaps the boulders were used to stop the lids from flying away. However, when I passed the one of the tanks, there was another window on screen. ¡®Xiao Bu heard the sound of a phoneing from inside the water tank.¡¯

    ¡°I knew I had probably triggered some kind of event. I controlled Xiao Bu to find the tools to move the boulder away.¡± Fan Chong¡¯s expression became sad. ¡°You have no idea what is inside the water tank.¡±

    ¡°Is it a boy?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s expression also changed. This third story was exactly the phone spirit¡¯s story! The poor boy that was stored inside the water tank at the rooftop, that was the phone spirit.

    Fan Chong looked at Chen Ge with surprise and then nodded. ¡°There was a boy whose body got twisted when he was shoved into the tank. The boy was hugging a phone.

    ¡°The face was green and purple, and his skin was greyish white. When Xiao Bu found him, he was already dead. I controlled Xiao Bu to remove the phone from the boy¡¯s body. The call was from the boy¡¯s mother. At the time, I epted the call, and perhaps this action triggered some event. Footsteps came from the corridor, and the man who had run out the building earlier poked his head out from the door. The expression on his face was scary. He strangled Xiao Bu and shoved Xiao Bu into a water tank.

    ¡°Xiao Bu was shoved into the water tank¡ªthat was the third bad ending.¡± Fan Chong did not want to continue anymore. He felt like this game was a torture and used the worst method to interrogate humanity.

    After hearing Xiao Bu¡¯s third ending, Chen Ge thought for a long time. He put the water in his hand away and told the man seriously, ¡°Fan Chong, I think you should report this to the police. I¡¯ll go with you.¡±

    The boy whom Fan Chong had found in the water tank was the phone spirit. All the details matched perfectly. Chen Ge also noticed another thing. When the phone spirit¡¯s murderer ran into Xiao Bu, he said one thing. <i>Why would they need so many children?</i>

    This sentence revealed a very important detail. There was a darker secret behind the child kidnapping! The real culprit was probably the person who had turned the whole of Eastern Jiujiang into a ghost town!

    <i>The creep who killed the phone spirit should still be inside the jail. Looks like I need to travel to the police station today.</i>

    Chen Ge needed Captain Yan¡¯s help if he wanted to meet the murderer.

    <i>A game is hiding so many cases; Eastern Jiujiang is much scarier than Western Jiujiang.</i>

    Afterparing the two ces, Chen Ge realized that all the scary scenarios at Western Jiujiang were limited to a particr location. This might have something to do with his parents. It was different for Eastern Jiujiang; all the scenarios were interconnected, and they kept expanding in the dark. It seemed that there was even a hidden force that was pushing it along. The final result was, in the day, Eastern Jiujiang looked normal, but at night, the line between man and ghost started to blur.

    <i>I just want to stably expand my Haunted House, but if I allow them to expand freely, it¡¯ll eventually affect me. </i>Chen Ge gave himself a reason to strike first. <i>There are good and bad people, and it is the same with ghost. After the Haunted House upgraded to Maze of Terror, it can now house more Red Specters and baleful Specters. After dealing with all the bad ghosts, I can provide a ce to stay for the good ghosts.</i>

    Chen Ge and Fan Chong fell into thought, but they were thinking different things. Several minutester, Fan Chong opened his lips to say, ¡°Boss Chen, I need some more time before reporting this to the police.¡±

    ¡°Why do you need more time? The game is hiding murders; this is very serious.¡± Chen Ge was confused.

    ¡°Let me think about it.¡± Fan Chong seemed to be hiding some more secrets, and it was probably due to this secret that he had gone to Chen Ge first and not the police. The sun fell on his body, but Fan Chong could not feel warm.

    ¡°Okay then, take your time, but give me an answer within three days. If it¡¯ster, I fear something bad might happen.¡± Chen Ge was really worried that Fan Chong was being targeted by something. After all, this game had recorded many cruel and realistic events.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Fan Chong bit his finger. During his earlier visit, Chen Ge had noticed this habit about Fan Chong. He would bite his finger whenever he was nervous.

 Chapter 505 - Meeting

    Chapter 505: Meeting

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    Chen Ge did not force Fan Chong to go to the police. He had to have his reason. The only thing that he could do was exin the situation, and it depended on Fan Chong to go to the police.

    ¡°Can you tell me about the fourth ending?¡± Chen Ge was interested in the game.

    Standing under the sun, Fan Chong was quiet. His mind was a mess. ¡°The fourth ending is moreplicated. After experiencing three deaths, I had basically mastered the game¡¯s rules and setting. I explored the town for half an hour before I was killed. This fourth ending needs some time to exin. How about youe to my ce tonight, and I¡¯ll let you see it for yourself?¡±

    ¡°That works.¡± Chen Ge nodded. ¡°Then you should rest here first. If you need anything, just call me anytime.¡±

    Then Chen Ge headed to the Haunted House. Afterpleting the Nightmare Mission at Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s tunnel, the ck phone had rewarded him with a new talent¡ªGhost Ear. So, even over such a distance, he could hear the conversation between Fan Dade and Fan Chong.

    ¡°Xiao Chong, do you really n to hide the thing that happened at our ce from him?¡± Fan Dade was worried. ¡°The ghost in the game seems to have escaped. Even if we go to the police with something like this, they will not believe us.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll wait and see what happens after Boss Chenes tonight. I don¡¯t dare y the game anymore. Perhaps we can find a new owner for it.¡± Fan Chong bit his fingers, and his brows were locked together. The brothers did not know Chen Ge had overheard their conversation. They were seated at the corner, quietly talking among themselves.

    Lunch break was over, and Chen Ge threw himself back into work. At 6 pm, the Haunted House closed. Chen Ge had Xiao Gu go and find a new ce nearby to move to while he stayed with Xu Wan to clean the Haunted House. When they were done, it was almost 7 pm.

    After removing her make-up, Xu Wan picked up her bag, and as she walked past Chen Ge, she casually asked, ¡°Boss, there¡¯s a new restaurant that opened up near our park, would you like to go with me?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t make it tonight; I need to go to the police station.¡± Chen Ge saw no change in the girl¡¯s expression, so he did not think much of it. ¡°I¡¯ll treat you next time.¡±

    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s a promise.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    After sending Xu Wan away, Chen Ge returned to the staff breakroom. He ced theic and the recorder inside his bag. ¡°Bringing the hammer to the police station doesn¡¯t sound so good. After all, I¡¯m just going to ask some questions.¡±

    Holding the bag in one hand, Chen Ge locked the door and ran out of the park. When he was waiting for his car, Chen Ge took out his phone to call Captain Yan. The call was answered after three rings, which showed Chen Ge¡¯s importance to Captain Yan. ¡°Captain Yan, this is Chen Ge. Did you catch the killers for the previous cases?¡±

    ¡°The cases with the eye-gouging have been cleared, and the culprit for the body inside the statue has surrendered, but the main suspect, Doctor Gao, is still missing. However, it¡¯s just a matter of time before he is caught. The whole city is under our watch, so he will fall into our trap eventually.¡± Captain Yan was so busy, and it was not until two days ago that he had gotten the chance to rest.

    ¡°In other words, most of the earlier cases have been cleared?¡± Chen Ge saw a taxiing, so he quickly waved.

    ¡°Why? Sounds like you n to give us more things to do...¡± Captain Yan became alert. This fellow, Chen Ge, was too cursed; cases followed him everywhere.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a small thing. Captain Yan, do you mind if Ie to the station to meet now?¡± Chen Ge entered the taxi.

    Hearing Chen Ge, Captain Yan paused for three seconds before reacting. Even though he had predicted as much, he still found it uneptable. ¡°Wait a minute. Don¡¯t you think you have been paying the station too many visits recently?¡±

    ¡°Captain Yan, you don¡¯t know the issue. Earlier, I discovered a murder at Eastern Jiujiang, and the suspect has been surrendered to Eastern Jiujiang¡¯sw enforcement, but then I realized that the case is not that simple¡ªit might be rted to other cases.¡± Chen Ge thought about it and added, ¡°It¡¯s rted to disappearances and child abductions.¡±

    When the words child abductions were mentioned, Captain Yan changed his mind instantly. ¡°I¡¯m at home now. I¡¯ll see you at the station in fifteen minutes.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge hung up and told the driver, ¡°To the police station please.¡±

    After he said that, the driver started the engine slowly, but he kept ncing at Chen Ge through the rear-view mirror.

    ¡°Boss, is there anything on my face?¡±

    ¡°No, no...¡± The driver quickly turned his eyes away like it was a scary thing to talk to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Then why have you been looking at me?¡± Chen Ge did not think the driver would harm him¡ªhe was just curious about his attitude. The driver did not reply and focused on driving.

    After paying, Chen Ge just got out of the car, and the driver quickly escaped.

    ¡°It feels like he doesn¡¯t want to ferry me. Did I do something in the car that caused some misunderstanding? Is it because I¡¯ming to the police station?¡± Chen Ge thought about it, and it made sense. From a normal citizen¡¯s eyes, who would go to the police station for no reason?

    ¡°Xiao Chen, an emergency came up for Captain Yan, so he might bete. Why don¡¯t you brief me on what¡¯s happening first?¡± Lee Zheng from Team one was asked to intercept Chen Ge. He was familiar with Chen Ge already although he had no idea why an inspector would get so close to a normal citizen.

    Lee Zheng led Chen Ge into his office. He opened theputer and prepared a recorder and pen. ¡°Tell me all the important things you know. If the reason is not enough, we won¡¯t be able to help you meet the criminal.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Chen Ge did not tell Lee Zheng about the game. Instead, he just described how the murderer kidnapped and murdered Tong Tong. When the police investigated a case, they found the murderer through clues, but Chen Ge¡¯s investigation was the opposite. He had asked the phone spirit directly for the murderer. After knowing the murderer, he had collected evidence with that target in mind.

    Lee Zheng, of course, did not know that Chen Ge already knew the killer from the beginning. He thought Chen Ge¡¯s analysis was too creative, but the seemingly unrted events were connected in some mysterious ways and managed to create an irond evidence chain in the end.

    When Chen Ge was almost done, Captain Yan arrived. He came with good news. ¡°I¡¯ve already contacted the people at the prison. They¡¯ve scheduled for us to meet the killer tomorrow 8 am.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Captain Yan, but is it possible to move the meeting forward? I just have a few simple questions for him; I just need ten minutes.¡±

    There were too many variables at Eastern Jiujiang. Chen Ge did not want to wait any longer; he nned to go there tonight.

 Chapter 506 - Reap What You Sow

    <h4>Chapter 506: Reap What You Sow</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°That¡¯s not impossible. We have procedures to follow.¡± Captain Yan picked up the record that Lee Zheng had made. ¡°On the way here, I logged into the case file on the server, and the case you mentioned did have many loopholes.¡±

    ¡°There are many things hinging on this case, and I fear it is rted to arge child kidnapping ring. That is why I¡¯m so worried.¡± Chen Ge rushed through his words, but he did not reveal everything that he knew.

    ¡°It is because this case is so big that we have to be careful.¡± Captain Yan looked at the record, and his fingers tapped the table absent-mindedly. ¡°The situation in the case is simr to what you described, but there is something that confuses me. When the killer was dropped at the door of the station, he was fully unconscious, and the doctor said that he suffered from great mental trauma...¡±

    Chen Ge realized what Captain Yan was getting at, and he stressed firmly, ¡°Perhaps that came from all the times he has kidnapped children, and the guilt has been eating at him.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like he was already half-mad when you caught him,¡± Captain Yan added this observation to the record.

    ¡°No matter who asks, that is my answer because that is the truth.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s reaction was fact, and he knew what Captain Yan meant.

    Nodding, Captain Yan put away Chen Ge¡¯s written record and passed it to Lee Zheng. ¡°Bring this along. I¡¯ll go make a few more calls.¡±

    Taking out his phone, Captain Yan left the office to make some calls.

    ¡°The old ginger is the spiciest.¡± Chen Ge looked at Captain Yan, and he realized something. When he was dealing with other officers like Lee Sanbao or Lee Zheng, when they came into a problem that they were not certain with, they would say that they had to wait for orders from above, but Captain Yan had never said something like that.

    Three minutester, Captain Yan pushed the door open. ¡°Lee Zheng, go and get the car. We¡¯ll go with Chen Ge.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Things went smoother than Chen Ge expected. At 8:30pm, they reached Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s prison. After showing the necessary documents, they were led by an officer to a prison cell.

    ¡°Ma Fu is temporarily in isted quarantine. He¡¯s half dumb and half mad, probably knowing he is going to get the chair.¡± The officer also knew why Ma Fu had been sent there, so he had no pity for freaks like that. ¡°Be careful of your safety during interrogation. People on death row have nothing to lose.¡±

    The few shared some words outside the cell. Ma Fu probably heard them because there were footsteps from the room and then loud banging sound on the door. ¡°Help me! Let me out! They have returned! Ghosts! There are ghosts in this room!¡±

    It was a middle-aged man¡¯s voice, and the parts of his sentence did not add up.

    ¡°You¡¯ll get used to it. When the man was first sent here, he did not even dare to use the covers and wear the clothes. Every night, he would lean against the wall and fall asleep buck naked.¡± The officer frowned at the memory.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t dare to use the covers, afraid of wearing clothes?¡± This was the first time that Lee Zheng had heard something like that, and he turned to Chen Ge subconsciously. Chen Ge shook his head silently even though he knew what had really happened to Ma Fu. That night, after Chen Ge found Ma Fu, the phone spirit had used his power on Ma Fu to amplify the deepest fear in Ma Fu¡¯s heart.

    At midnight, Ma Fu, who was asleep in bed, had felt something moved under the cover. In his half-asleep state, he had looked under the cover seen an ashy child staring at him. He had woken up immediately and pulled the cover back. His bed had been surrounded by children, all of them his previous victims.

    The many faces and many hands had reached toward him and crawled under his skin. Soon, his whole body had been covered in children faces. The screams had echoed through the night. Those whom he had once hurt would eventually return.

    ¡°Stop making so much noise! Stand back!¡± the officer yelled into the room. ¡°You might want to stand aside first. We¡¯ll apprehend him for you.¡±

    Three officers stood next to the door to prevent a possible ident.

    ¡°Please let me out! I beg you! Let me out! There are ghosts! There are ghosts in this room!¡± The middle-aged man kept using his head and his hands to knock against the wall. His mind waspletely broken.

    ¡°What¡¯s the point of knowing fear now? Why didn¡¯t you think of this when you did the crime?¡± The officer held his fists, considering there were outsiders present. ¡°Why don¡¯t you wait outside? I¡¯ll have people send him to the interrogation room in a bit.¡±

    ¡°You have an interrogation room here?¡± This was the first time that Chen Ge had spoken since he entered the prison.

    ¡°This is?¡± The officer did not have any memory of Chen Ge. The order that he had received was to aid the city police the best they could.

    ¡°My name is Chen Ge.¡± Ignoring the officer, Chen Ge walked to the door and looked inside through the steel window on the door. His pupils narrowed, and in a voice that was barely audible to the people around him, he said, ¡°So, your name is Ma Fu.¡±

    The middle-aged man suddenly stopped moving when he heard Chen Ge¡¯s voice. He slowly raised his head, and when his eyes caught Chen Ge, he screamed like he was shocked and staggered back several steps.

    ¡°Ghost! Ghost!¡± His eyes filled with terror. His lips quivered, and he repeated the same word.

    This shocked everyone present. Just one nce managed to scare the man so badly. Just who was this young man?

    ¡°Please open the door, I wish to have a chat with him.¡± Chen Ge stood at the door. The officer hesitated; he was afraid that something bad might happen. He worried that Ma Fu might die from fear inside the prison before the sentence arrived. The door open, and the three officers rushed into the room to apprehend Ma Fu.

    ¡°Ask your question. You only have twenty minutes.¡± One of the officers stood between Chen Ge and Ma Fu. ¡°Make some distance. Here is good enough.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge knew more information from Fan Chong¡ªMa Fu probably had seen the mastermind at Eastern Jiujiang before. ¡°Have you abducted a boy called Tong Tong a few years ago?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t remember.¡± Ma Fu shook all over. He did not look like he was lying.

    ¡°Then, can you remember killing a boy and shoving him inside a water tank? You then used arge boulder to block the lid, right?¡± Chen Ge spoke slowly. His words were like a sharp saw, cutting through Ma Fu¡¯s thread of sanity.

    ¡°I remember...¡± Ma Fu¡¯s expression was conflicted.

    ¡°Tell me, who bought this boy from you? Tell me everything you know about this person!¡±

 Chapter 507 - Buyer

    <h4>Chapter 507: Buyer</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The cell became really repressed, and the few officers felt ufortable. Honestly, they had quite a good first impression of Chen Ge, but why would the personality of this polite and sunny young man suddenly change?

    ¡°Answer me, do you still remember the buyer¡¯s face?¡± Chen Ge rarely used this type of tone. His face was expressionless as his eyes zeroed in on Ma Fu. Ma Fu was curled up in the corner with his body shaking. He seemed to have remembered something scarier. His fingers dug into his skin, and he banged his head against the wall like he was trying to kill himself.

    ¡°We¡¯ve asked him the same thing before, but whenever we brought up the buyer, he would be like this.¡± The officer ced his palm behind Ma Fu¡¯s head and pressed down to stop the man from hurting himself.

    Seeing the condition of Ma Fu, Chen Ge thought of a possibility¡ªthe buyer had done the same thing he did to Ma Fu. However, Chen Ge was trying to take revenge on the phone spirit¡¯s behalf, whereas the buyer simply did this to stop Ma Fu from ever selling him out.

    Walking into the cell, Chen Ge squatted down next to Ma Fu. Looking at this half-mad human trafficker, he whispered into his ears, ¡°Did you remember something scary? I can see that your life is a whole misery, and death would be a release for you, right?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s voice lowered until only Ma Fu could hear him clearly. ¡°If you don¡¯te clean, those children that you killed wille back to get you. I can already hear their voices, and they¡¯reing from inside your body. They are watching you every second of every day. Their faces look at you from under your skin. The sin that you havemitted, they will make sure that you pay for them.¡±

    Ma Fu desperately wanted to get away from Chen Ge, but since his shoulders were being pressed down by the officer, he could not move.

    ¡°Still refuse to say anything? In that case, I can only find ways to dy your punishment and stay a lot longer in this tiny room with them. Enjoy your life, we shall meet again.¡±

    Just as Chen Ge was about to stand up, Ma Fu raised his head. The blood vessels on his face were popping, and his eyes were bloodshot. ¡°I remember it now.¡±

    ¡°You remember it now?¡± The few officers were caught by disbelief.

    ¡°Lee Zheng, go get the recorder.¡± Captain Yan was the first to recover. He entered the room with Lee Zheng, and they surrounded Ma Fu. ¡°Start talking.¡±

    Ma Fu was copsed on the ground, and he spoke with his head lowered. ¡°I once talked on the phone with the buyer. The man was very cautious, and he was likely using some kind of voice changer because he sounded like a boy around eight on the phone.¡±

    ¡°A boy?¡± Ma Fu¡¯s first words shocked everyone present.

    ¡°Yes, I don¡¯t know how he managed to get my number, but I was sure it was a customer.¡± Ma Fu stuttered through his confusion, and his face was nched. ¡°He sounded like a boy, but the words he said were definitely not something a child would say. I have no idea whether someone was feeding him those words or he had practiced them before.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve not met in real life?¡± Chen Ge was more concerned about that.

    ¡°He¡¯s very cautious and changed several locations before telling me to bring the children to Li Wan City. When I arrived, he made a strange request. He agreed to raise the money, but he wanted me to stay in Li Wan City for three nights.¡± Ma Fu did not sound like he was just telling a story.

    ¡°What happened next? Why did you kill that innocent child?¡± With Captain Yan there, no one dared interrupt the questioning.

    ¡°It was not easy bringing the kids to Li Wan City, and it was too big a loss to just leave. I thought about it for a long time before epting the request.¡± Ma Fu¡¯s expression was weird like it was a mixture of fear and many negative emotions. ¡°During the first night, I had a dream where all the walls in the room were filled with children¡¯s handprints. Something was running before they coagted into a shadow and stood beside me.¡±

    ¡°Stop messing around.¡± The officers thought that Ma Fu had gone insane.

    ¡°Let me talk.¡± Captain Yan waved his hand. ¡°The size of the shadow, height, and what it did inside the room, can you still remember?¡±

    ¡°The shadow...¡± The fear in Ma Fu¡¯s eyes heightened. ¡°The shadow was as tall as I was, almost the same as well. I felt like it was just me. The dream felt very real, but when I tried to look at the face closer, it vanished.

    ¡°When I woke up the next morning, everything returned to normal. I thought it was just a dream, but the next night, the same dream happened. The shadow appeared again, but the scary thing was it came out directly from behind me like it had morphed into my own shadow.

    ¡°I saw it clearly, and I tried to call for help, but my body won¡¯t move. I could only watch as the shadow walked down from the bed to open the closet door. The kids that I had brought were locked in the closet. The shadow looked at the kids silently until I woke up.

    ¡°The morning of the third night, the buyer called again and told me to transport the kids to Eastern Jiujiang Ming Yang Residence Unit 3, Room 104. The residence was just next to Li Wan City, and it was not yet built. ording to rumors, many weird things had happened since the project started, and for the sake of good luck, the residence was called Ming Yang <sup>1</sup> . You know what happenedter. The police suddenly stormed the city, and the kid started crying nonstop like he was cursed...¡±

    Ma Fu was lying on the ground and looked at the people out of the corner of his eyes. His story ended there.

    ¡°Lee Zheng, contact the people at the station immediately and tell them to check the address that he gave.¡± Captain Yan left the cell. He was afraid that he might hurt Ma Fu if he stayed. ¡°In ten minutes, I need the details of all the tenants.¡±

    ¡°You done?¡± The officer turned to Chen Ge. Only he remained unmoved. After hearing what Ma Fu had to say, Chen Ge was reminded of the shadow monster that he had met outside of the fresh water nt. It was a reflection of Chen Ge like it had the ability to be a person¡¯s shadow.

    ¡°Zhang Ya is hiding inside my shadow, could the monster have fought her that night?¡± Chen Ge did not have a clear answer. He did not n to summon Zhang Ya for a small question like that either. What if she refused to return after that?

    After leaving the cell, they did not walk for that long before Captain Yan received the call from the station. The information had been gathered.

    ¡°Ming Yang Residence is still under construction after seven years?¡± Captain Yan stopped moving as he read the message on his phone. He waved at Chen Ge. ¡°Found the tenant of Room 104, his name is Jia Ming. We will investigate this further.¡±

    ¡°You already got the name? The efficiency...¡± Chen Ge paused in shock.

    <i>Wait, Jia Ming? Isn¡¯t that Huang Ling¡¯s ¡®ghost¡¯ husband¡¯s name? But that isn¡¯t right! The thing with the phone spirit happened seven years ago, and at the time, Jia Ming hadn¡¯t been possessed yet...</i>

 Chapter 508 - Eastern Jiujiang Police Station

    <h4>Chapter 508: Eastern Jiujiang Police Station</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°You know this man?¡± Captain Yan saw something on the change to Chen Ge¡¯s expression.

    ¡°Last night, it rained heavily. One of my employees was stranded at the bus stop with Jia Ming¡¯s wife. He called me for help, so I called a taxi to go fetch them and helped take Jia Ming¡¯s wife home. That was how I met the man.¡± Jia Ming¡¯s situation was rather unique, and he was rted to thest bus on Route 104, so Chen Ge did not go into detail. Instead, he quickly changed the topic. ¡°Can I see the information on Jia Ming?¡±

    Captain Yan passed his phone to Chen Ge. It not only had Jia Ming¡¯s phone but also his work history and thements that his employers had for him. ¡°Jia Ming once came to the station due to an altercation with a client, so we have his information in our system.¡±

    Chen Ge epted Captain Yan¡¯s phone. Jia Ming was just over thirty this year. He had arrived in Jiujiang around ten years ago, and he had done many jobs in the past, but none of them hadsted long. However, the reason for his dismissals were not because he was not good nor because he had problematic personality. In contrast, Jia Ming, who had just arrived in Jiujiang, was honest and hard-working. His only weakness was that he was too stubborn.

    The young Jia Ming was simr to Xiao Gu in a way, a straight shooter who did not know how to adapt. Because of that, he would identally offend people. When he was sent to the police station, technically speaking, the fault did not lie with him. At the time, both he and his wife worked at an insurancepany. One of the clients got into car ident, and the family demanded a settlement. However, based on the report of the ident, the client got into ident because he was driving under influence. Because of that, thepany could reject the settlement.

    Jia Ming followed thepany¡¯s rules closely, but the client¡¯s family did not understand that. They would call daily to scold and insult him. In the end, they called people to create a fight at the insurancepany. The client¡¯s family came from power. The manager closed the door and hid in his office. He tossed Jia Ming out to be the scapegoat. After he was beaten up and humiliated, out of self-defense, Jia Ming grabbed the scissors on the table and identally shed the client.

    That was when things had gone from bad to worse. The wound was very light, but the client called the police immediately. The police came to mediate, but it failed. The client would not rest until Jia Ming was arrested. The injury on the client was not serious, but the family refused to let it go. Thepany refused topensate them, so this dragged on. The worst victim of all this was none other than Jia Ming.

    To save him from the police station, Jia Ming¡¯s wife, Huang Ling, practically travelled to the station daily. After he left the station, Jia Ming quit his job out of anger. After that, Jia Ming¡¯s working life dropped into a weird cycle. He kept looking for work and kept quitting. He hated human interaction and became increasingly resistant to human conversation.

    The misery did not stop there. Jia Ming got into a car ident and broke one of his legs. Since then, he had remained cooped up at home and refused to go out for work anymore. The information provided by police gave Chen Ge a fuller understanding of Jia Ming. Before he dealt with the ghosts, even though Jia Ming¡¯s life was not perfect, at least he had good morals and would not do something like child kidnapping.

    ¡°Did something go wrong? Why would the buyer select Jia Ming¡¯s home as the address?¡± Chen Ge returned the phone to Captain Yan. He was not defending Jia Ming; he was merely viewing this from an objective view. ¡°Could this be a coincidence? At the time, Ming Yang Residence was still under construction, and few people stayed at the ce. Could it be that the buyer just needed a random ce toplete the transaction?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. Tomorrow, we will send someone to follow up on this case.¡± Captain Yan put away his phone and led Chen Ge and Lee Zheng outside. When they were at the door, they saw an officer holding a bag of sweets as he headed to Ma Fu¡¯s cell.

    ¡°You guys even feed the criminal sweets?¡± As it was Chen Ge¡¯s first time at a prison, he thought that this was the ce¡¯s rules.

    ¡°Why would we be so free?¡± the officer answered casually. ¡°After Ma Fu recovers from his mania, he will ask for sweet. If we refuse, he will try to peel his skin off. After experiencing that a few times, everyone on duty now keeps several bags of sweets in the office just in case.¡±

    ¡°Sweets can help with his symptoms?¡± Chen Ge thought about it and realized it probably had something to do with Ma Fu¡¯s past. Perhaps the children in his body were asking for sweets. After taking another step, the phone in Chen Ge¡¯s pocket suddenly rang. ¡°Huang Ling? Why would she call me at a time like this?¡±

    ¡°Your friend?¡± Captain Yan thought the name was familiar like he had seen it somewhere before.

    Chen Ge shook his head. ¡°She¡¯s Jia Ming¡¯s wife. The woman I dropped at her ce with my employeest night.¡±

    ¡°Why would she call you?¡± Lee Zheng asked.

    ¡°Perhaps just to thank me?¡± Chen Ge epted the call before Captain Yan and Lee Zheng. ¡°Hello? How can I help you?¡±

    ¡°Are you Chen Ge? Last night, did you call a taxi to head to Eastern Jiujiang?¡± An unfamiliar male voice came from the phone.

    ¡°I did call a taxi to Eastern Jiujiangst night. What¡¯s wrong?¡± Chen Ge thought the man¡¯s voice was very unfamiliar. He had not heard it before.

    ¡°We¡¯ve finally got you. I¡¯m calling from Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s police station. Pleasee over to us immediately!¡± The man on the phone was tough and loud. Even Captain Yan and Lee Zheng could hear him.

    ¡°You have to give me a reason for summoning me, right?¡± Chen Ge felt this was strange. He had been honesttely. Why would Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s police station summon him?

    ¡°You need us to remind you what you have done? Get over here now to assist the investigation!¡± Chen Ge nned to visit Ming Yang Residence that night, and he did not want to waste time. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that¡¯s not possible. I¡¯m now at the prison, and this is not somewhere that I can leave just like that.¡±

    ¡°The prison?¡± The officer did not expect such an answer from Chen Ge. ¡°Okay, then you tell the people to call the prison director, Director Wang. No matter what, you have toe tonight.¡±

    ¡°The prison director is not Director Wang but Director Bai.¡± Captain Yan already recognized the person on the phone. He took Chen Ge¡¯s phone and said, ¡°Tian Lei, this is Ol¡¯ Yan from the branch station. Chen Ge is now with me, what crime has hemitted?¡±

    ¡°Captain Yan?¡± The man on the phone-startled, and his tone softened plenty. ¡°Last night, when it was almost dawn, there was a taxi driver that called us saying he was abducted. He was supposed to be in Western Jiujiang, but when he woke up, he was in Eastern Jiujiang. The camera and driving record were all ruined, and we suspect that the culprit is someone antisocial but with high intelligence. After a brief investigation, we suspect the culprit is Chen Ge.¡±

    ¡°Where are you getting all this information? Don¡¯t randomly use people without a clear investigation. This should be a misunderstanding. I¡¯ll bring him there with me in a bit.¡± After hanging up, Captain Yan returned the phone to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Captain Yan, what happened?¡± Lee Zheng asked softly. He was quite good with Chen Ge.

    ¡°It was a call from Eastern Jiujiang police station.¡± Captain Yan¡¯s expression was weird as he turned to look at Chen Ge. ¡°A few days ago, Ol¡¯ Leeined to me that work at Western Jiujiang was too harsh, and he wanted to transfer to Eastern Jiujiang.¡±

 Chapter 509 - That Is the Man!

    <h4>Chapter 509: That Is the Man!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Lee Zheng drove Chen Ge and Captain Yan to Eastern Jiujiang police station. On the way, Chen Ge did not say a word. Eastern Jiujiang police station had used Huang Ling¡¯s phone to call him, meaning they had already interrogated Huang Ling, and Huang Ling had probably sold him out. He just worried that Huang Ling had also told them about thest bus.

    The previous night, Huang Ling had driven the taxi back to Eastern Jiujiang, and the taxi driver had stayed inside the car. What happened to themter, Chen Ge did not know. Now that the driver had called the police, Chen Ge had to be prepared to not let things go down a route that would be unbeneficial to him. The three arrived at their destination in less than twenty minutes.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Tian, you sure are a hard worker. Even now, you¡¯re still at work.¡± Once Captain Yan stepped into the room, he saw a group of officers chatting among themselves. He turned to address the officer who looked the most muscr.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to have you make this journey.¡± Tian Lei told the officers next to him something and then walked to his office. ¡°We¡¯ll talk inside.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Captain Yan and Lee Zheng followed while Chen Ge stood for a while in the lobby. The atmosphere there was different to Western Jiujiang Police Station where Uncle San Bao was posted. The ce was neatly arranged, and there were two rows of chairs ced in the corner. Leaning unsteadily against the corner was a drunkard while there was an old man with a nk expression on the other side.

    Of the two officers that had spoken to Tian Lei earlier, one of them was patiently conversing with the old man, asking him for his address, but the man only mumbled incoherent nonsense.

    The other officer rolled up his sleeves and grabbed the mop to clean up the drunkard¡¯s vomit. With a frown, he grumbled, ¡°People in Western Jiujiang have heavy crimes every few days, and here, we are cleaning up vomit and taking care of drunkards and old people. We¡¯re the police, not a nursery.¡±

    ¡°Pipe down. If the director hears you, you¡¯re going to get it. You¡¯reining that there¡¯s no serious case? You have no idea how much people from Western Jiujiang envy us.¡± The other officer rubbed the old man¡¯s frozen hands to help soothe him to increase the blood flow. It looked like this was not the first time that he hade across something like this. ¡°Xiao Qing, after you¡¯re done, go help me pour a ss of warm water for the old gentleman and grab me the nket as well.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t call me Xiao Qing!¡± The young police man ced the mop back and continued to grouse. ¡°This is different from what I imagine a police officer¡¯s life would be like.¡±

    He walked to the water machine and saw Chen Ge. ¡°Why are you still standing there?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just looking around.¡± Chen Ge walked past the young officer and added casually, ¡°Actually I don¡¯t think you need to envy Western Jiujiang¡¯s police station. I have a feeling that things are going to get quite busy around here.¡±

    ¡°I sure hope so, or else my limbs are going to get so rusted.¡± The young officer looked at Chen Ge, and he felt he looked so familiar. As he opened the office door, several eyes fell on Chen Ge. Instantly, a familiar voice said, ¡°That¡¯s him! That¡¯s the person who called my servicest night! He wanted to go to Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s fresh water nt around midnight. I knew something was wrong with him!¡±

    ¡°If you knew something was wrong with me, why didn¡¯t you say it sooner?¡± Chen Ge was rather speechless. He was one of the victims as well.

    ¡°Police officer, you see? You see how arrogant and proud this man is!¡± The driver was not that old. He had been so scared back then, but he had calmed down now.

    ¡°Stop arguing.¡± Tian Lei was tired. He did not expect Captain Yan would show up; this disrupted his n. ¡°Captain Yan, you¡¯ve seen the written record, and we¡¯ve checked the video surveince at New Century Park¡¯s entrance. Last night, Chen Ge did hail a cab to get to Eastern Jiujiang.¡±

    ¡°What about the video after that? Now the biggest problem is at the fresh water nt. The driver said that Chen Ge used some special method to knock him out, but what kind of method, he could not remember. If the driver cannot tell us what really happen, the entire usation barely holds water.¡± Captain Yan looked at the record and easily picked out the problems.

    ¡°The surveince at the fresh water nt was all destroyed beforehand. I feel like this is a premeditated crime.¡± Tian Lei took out another document. ¡°This morning, we had the people from the tech department look over the driving record and camera inside the taxi. The damage was expertly done. The machine itself wasn¡¯t damaged, so this could be a high-tech criminal.¡±

    Captain Yan turned to look at Chen Ge and put the document down. ¡°Does he look like someone who knows how to do that to you?¡±

    ¡°One can never tell. We cannot judge a book by its cover.¡± Tian Lei insisted on his conclusion. Captain Yan knew that he would not be able to convince Tian Lei, so he turned to the driver. ¡°On the record, you said that you fainted at the fresh water nt but woke up at an old residence in Eastern Jiujiang?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The driver was a good observer. He saw that Captain Yan was the leader, so his tone was reverential. ¡°When I woke up, there was a paper note next to me. It had a phone number and these few words¡ªMy name is Huang Ling. I live on the 4th floor.¡±

    ¡°This means you did not lose your money or your phone? The person was even so kind as to leave you a note and did not run from the responsibility?¡±

    ¡°Hey, you can¡¯t just brush it off like that!¡± The driver sweated. ¡°I¡¯m just a normal taxi driver. I was waiting in the car, and suddenly, I fainted. When I woke up, I was at a strange ce. Who would be able to ept that so easily? And the person on the call, just talking about it made me mad. I never thought to call the police. At the time, I was so afraid, so I made the call. Guess what happened?¡±

    Everyone turned to look at the driver. ¡°What did the person on the phone say? Threatened you? Refused to give youpensation?¡±

    ¡°This is already beyond that. My god. I just made the call and barely said anything, and it sounded like there was a murder. A woman was screaming for help at the top of her lungs. Then before I can say a second word, the call was ended. Tell me, wouldn¡¯t you be afraid if this happened to you?¡± The driver was agitated, and he got up from his seat.

    ¡°You said you called thedy? She was asking for help?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes turned serious and he also stood up. ¡°Did you go upstairs to see if something had happened to the woman?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have the courage to do that. This is the thing that made me angry the most. I thought that there was a real murder, and when the police arrived around dawn, they went to the house to check. The wife suffers from a mental illness, and she was acting upst night.¡±

    ¡°I can prove that. Wemunicated with the woman¡¯s husband.¡± Tian Lei told the driver to sit down and took out a bag from his drawer. There was a phone inside. ¡°This is the mad woman¡¯s phone. All the phone records have been deleted, but we discovered something weird.¡±

    He looked at Chen Ge. ¡°Why would the patient have your number as her first speed dial? What is your rtionship with her?¡±

 Chapter 510 - Ming Yang Residence [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 510: Ming Yang Residence [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge was silent as he fell under Tian Lei¡¯s scrutiny. Then, he said something that shocked everyone there. ¡°Last night, when my employee and I dropped Huang Ling at her home, she revealed to us that her husband was a mental patient with serious control issues.¡±

    ¡°The crazy person is not her but her husband?¡± Tian Lei put down his phone. ¡°What evidence do you have to make that im?¡±

    ¡°Huang Ling has been working to support the whole family. Her husband cooped himself up at home and rejected humanmunication. From how they both carried themselves, it is clear that Jia Ming is the one that has a bigger possibility of being a mental patient.¡± Chen Ge turned to Captain Yan. ¡°Before this, I asked Captain Yan to investigate Jia Ming; you can ask Captain Yan for the details.¡±

    ¡°You have not seen them in person and barely investigated, so how could you make such a rushed conclusion? I¡¯ve met both Jia Ming and Huang Ling already. Even Huang Ling herself thought she was sick, but you said it was her husband that is sick. Don¡¯t tell me you know the patient better than she knows herself?¡±

    Worried that there might be an ident, Tian Lei had rushed to Huang Ling¡¯s home early in the morning after getting the report from the taxi driver. He did not see the so-called murder, and there was no domestic violence. There was not one trace of injury or wound on Huang Ling¡¯s body.

    ¡°I still insist on my point of view. I feel like you have been tricked by Huang Ling¡¯s husband. He was once a kind and gentle person, but people change. After being let down by life again and again, there is now a demon living inside his body.¡± Things had developed out of his expectations. Before Huang Ling could investigate, she had been taken over by the ghost. This triggered a sense of rm within Chen Ge. ¡°The opponent this time is very cunning; I shan¡¯t let my guard down.¡±

    Chen Ge and Tian Lei argued nonstop, and the taxi driver was confused. Who was the real mental patient? Who was lying? He never once considered that, but there was one thing that was certain¡ªhe was never going to drive to Eastern Jiujiang in the middle of the night again.

    ¡°Please, both of you. Quiet down.¡± Captain Yan wanted Chen Ge and Tian Lei to stop arguing. ¡°Do you have the written records from Huang Ling and her husband?¡±

    ¡°We only have the one given by her husband. Huang Ling suffered from a mental breakdownst night. We were afraid of triggering her, so we just asked a few simple questions.¡± Tian Lei was stationed in Eastern Jiujiang, so he was more attached to the citizens therepared to those who came from Western Jiujiang. However, at times, attachment and kindness could cloud one¡¯s objective analysis.

    ¡°The direction of your investigation was wrong from the beginning. It was Huang Ling who was with Chen Gest night, and it was also Huang Ling who drove the taxi and left the note for the taxi driver. This woman is the most crucial part of the entire case.¡± Captain Yan dropped the record that the officers from Eastern Jiujiang had collected on the table. ¡°Come, we¡¯ll go to Huang Ling¡¯s ce now. I also wish to meet them in person.¡±

    ¡°You also wish to go? There¡¯s no need. Just leave this case to us.¡± Tian Lei did not realize the severity of the issue that was hiding behind this case. He believed that their own officers could handle this case perfectly fine.

    ¡°Since I¡¯ve run into this case, then I¡¯ll just take a look. I can¡¯t just walk away¡ªthat is not what a police officer should do.¡± Captain Yan opened the office door and walked out immediately. Lee Zheng and Chen Ge followed closely behind him. Soon, only Tian Lei and the taxi driver were left inside the room.

    ¡°Sir, what is happening now? Can I leave already?¡± The driver had already gave up hope that he would get any morepensation.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t youe with us? You¡¯re the victim; you should be there.¡± Tian Lei put on his cap and also walked out of his office. ¡°Xiao Qing, Xiao Wen, stay back to look over the ce. We might be workingte tonight. If there¡¯s an emergency, just call me.¡±

    ¡°Captain Tian, where are you going?¡± Xiao Qing had just cleaned up the floor, but the drunkard vomited once more.

    ¡°To solve a case.¡± Tian Lei waved his hand and led the driver out of the police station.

    The two police cars arrived at Huang Ling¡¯s ce around 9 pm.

    ¡°Captain Yan, isn¡¯t it a bit rude for us to show up like this without informing them?¡± Tian Lei jogged over after he got out from his car.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you informed them this morning already?¡±

    ¡°But the rules...¡±

    The group reached the fourth floor and knocked on the door for a long time before they heard footstepsing from inside the room.

    ¡°Who is it?¡± The man was very cautious and did not open the door immediately.

    ¡°We¡¯re the police. Please open the door now to assist in our investigation.¡±

    ¡°Inspector Tian?¡± The door was pushed open, and a haggard looking middle-aged man pushed his head out. ¡°Why did youe back? Didn¡¯t you ask everything in the morning?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll talk inside.¡± The few people all entered the room. Chen Ge followed at the back and kept his presence low. The ce was not big, and it looked very spartan. The couch was old, likely a second-hand purchase. There was a stain on the coffee table, and a bag of fruit candy was sitting on top of it.

    ¡°Sit anywhere you want.¡± The middle-aged man looked much older than he actually was. He walked into the kitchen and came out with several sses of water.

    ¡°Where is your wife? Is she doing better? Actually, we have a few questions to ask her.¡± On the surface, Captain Yan asked about Huang Ling, but in reality, he kept his gaze on the middle-aged man¡¯s face to focus on the changes to his expression.

    ¡°She is feeling much better. I¡¯ll go get her.¡± The middle-aged man walked to the bedroom door and knocked on it lightly. ¡°Huang Ling, the police officers want to ask you something.¡±

    Several minutester, a woman who looked like she had lost all will to live dragged herself out from the bedroom.

    ¡°You¡¯re Huang Ling?¡± Captain Yan studied the woman before him for a very long time. How she looked in person was so different from the picture. ¡°Where did you run into Chen Gest night? Why would you set his phone number as your no. 1 speed dial?¡±

    ¡°I cannot remember anymore. I cannot remember anything that happenedst night.¡± The woman sat on the sofa, and she did not even look at Chen Ge to acknowledge his presence.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have any memory at all?¡±

    ¡°No! No! No!¡± Huang Ling suddenly raised her voice, and she used both of her hands to knock heavily on her head. Jia Ming, who was closest to her, did not rush over to help immediately, but it was Chen Ge and Tian Lei, who were further away, that stepped up to the te. They grabbed Huang Ling¡¯s arms at the same time. ¡°Please calm down!¡±

    ¡°I did not see anything! I did not see anythingst night!¡± Huang Ling was weirdly agitated.

    ¡°This was how she reacted when we arrived this morning. She would act up whenever we brought up anything rted tost night.¡± Tian Lei leaned back to inform Captain Yan after Huang Ling calmed down slightly. ¡°She was already a sick person. She probably was traumatizedst night, and it exacerbated her condition.¡±

    ¡°There has to be a trigger that caused this change in her.¡± Captain Yan turned to look at Jia Ming, who stood to the side. ¡°What did you dost night?¡±

    ¡°I was staying at home the whole night. When Huang Ling returned, she was already acting strangely like she was being threatened by someone. The condition was simr to what happened earlier. Whenever I tried to ask her what happened, she would hit her own head heavily.¡±

    After Jia Ming said that, he silently looked around the room and added, ¡°What happened to themst night, you should ask the taxi driver and the creep called Chen Ge. They were togetherst night.¡±

    Jia Ming was very familiar with his wife¡¯s condition. After Huang Ling stopped struggling, he picked up a candy from the table and ced it in Huang Ling¡¯s mouth. Weirdly enough, once the candy entered the woman¡¯s mouth, Huang Ling calmed down almost immediately.

    ¡°She likes candy?¡± Captain Yan and Chen Ge noticed this detail, and they were both instantly reminded of Ma Fu, whom they just met at the prison. When Ma Fu was acting up, only by feeding him candy would he be able to calm down.

    ¡°But the candy is not medicine, right? Why would it have this calming property?¡± Captain Yan was confused, but Chen Ge next to him had a brief idea already. Ma Fu was able to calm down after eating the sweets because several children¡¯s souls had entered his body. The children seemed to be interested in the candy. Following that vein of thought, Huang Ling¡¯s body might be ying host to one or several ¡®children¡¯.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a very normal candy. If you don¡¯t believe me, you can take a few to conduct tests on it.¡± Jia Ming then picked up the bag of candy and gave it to Captain Yan. Captain Yan did not ept it but reached out to pick out one candy. ¡°One is enough. Thank you.¡±

    Huang Ling finally settled down. Captain Yan did not have any questions for her anymore. He had Lee Zheng help her back to the bedroom to rest. He and Tian Lei asked Jia Ming a few more questions. They only prepared to leave around 11 pm.

    ¡°Thank you for your cooperation. We will definitely uncover the truth.¡± Captain Yan walked at the front. After the other officers left the room, Chen Ge only moved away his gaze that had been staring at the bedroom door. Now, only Jia Ming and Chen Ge remained in the room, and the room temperature was drastically dropping.

    ¡°My friend, how can I help you? Do you have any question you want to ask?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. It¡¯s not simple for you to take care of a mentally-unstable woman by yourself.¡± Chen Fe tapped Jia Ming¡¯s shoulders lightly. He did not say anything else and headed out the door. After they were downstairs, Lee Zheng took out his phone and silently walked near to Captain Yan. ¡°When I sent Huang Ling back into the bedroom, I snapped a few pictures of the interior. There doesn¡¯t seem to be any problems. This Jia Ming doesn¡¯t have a motive tomit this crime.¡±

    ¡°Jia Ming is definitely rted somehow to Huang Ling¡¯s mental illness,¡± Captain Yan said firmly. ¡°When Huang Ling was acting up earlier, Jia Ming was closest to her, but he just stood there, not doing anything. There were many simr details.¡±

    ¡°However, based on Tian Lei and his team¡¯s investigation, all of the neighbors only had good thing to say about Jia Ming. They thought that he was a very good guy. Haven¡¯t we looked through this man¡¯s working history? No matter how you look at it, he is a good person. Why would someone like this torture his wife until she went crazy?¡± Lee Zheng had studied criminal psychology before. The change in human character has a process and symptoms. Jia Ming¡¯s performance was different from the thing that was described in the books.

    ¡°Will a good person be good forever?¡± Captain Yan looked at the candy in his hand before opening the wrapping.

    ¡°But a good person will have a moralpass in their heart, and they will not do things that are too over the line.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. When a good person loses their moralpass, they will be even worse, falling into the endless abyss.¡± Captain Yan ced the candy inside his mouth and added an observation seemingly out of nowhere. ¡°This is because he knows the candy is no longer sweet.¡±

    Opening the door of the police car, Captain Yan gave Lee Zheng one final order. ¡°Your team has done a very good job solving the case of the eye-gouging murderer. Team two can temporarily take over the rest of the case. I want you and your team to silently investigate the case of Jia Ming and Huang Ling.¡±

    ¡°Captain Yan, isn¡¯t this case under the Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s police station¡¯s jurisdiction? Isn¡¯t it a bit over the line if we go ahead and butt in?¡± He did not think that the case was small, but Lee Zheng said so because he was worried that the people from Eastern Jiujiang Police Station might have somements.

    ¡°That is why I told you to carry out your investigation in the dark.¡± Captain Yan¡¯s fingers tapped the edge of the car window, and his countenance slowly turned serious. ¡°Keep your eyes open. I have a feeling this is rted to a very big case.¡±

    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be. Eastern Jiujiang has always been peaceful.¡± Lee Zheng also turned serious. He knew that Captain Yan was not one to joke around. ¡°It has been peaceful, yes, but now...¡±

    Before Captain Yan could finish, the door opened, and Chen Ge, who had just gotten down the stairs, very expertly crawled into the police car. ¡°Sorry I¡¯mte.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Lee Zheng, we¡¯ll go back to New Century Park to drop Chen Ge off first.¡± Lee Zheng and Captain Yan both stopped talking about the earlier topic.

    ¡°Thank you, do you mind driving faster?¡± Chen Ge said. He still had something else to do that night. After the police left, he had touched Jia Ming¡¯s body. He wanted to use the ghost on his person to test out the enemy. However, after heid his hand on Jia Ming, Chen Ge had realized that other than Zhang Ya in his shadow, he did not carry any other employees with him. He had left his backpack at the haunted house.

    Chen Ge was unable tomand Zhang Ya, and he was afraid that his action might alert Jia Ming, so he prepared to return to New Century Park to grab all of his equipment and turn backter, using the most direct method to get to the bottom of the truth.

    The police car had not started when an olddy walked out from the stairs. The olddy walked slowly to the car and tapped lightly on the car window.

    ¡°How can I help you?¡± Captain Yan opened the car door and stepped out.

    ¡°Sir, my son bought me an apartment at Ming Yang Residence. It has been several years already since then, but I still am unable to move into that house. Can you ask around to find out when the ce will bepleted?¡± The olddy sounded so saddened that one was unable to say no.

    ¡°Ming Yang Residence? Okay, I will help you ask around. Please return to your room. It¡¯s gettingte, and the winds are strong.¡± Captain Yan walked the olddy back to her room and returned to the car. ¡°Go and get Tian Lei. He should be more familiar with this ce.¡±

    Lee Zheng called behind him, and Tian Lei got out from his police car and raced to Captain Yan. ¡°Captain Yan, are you looking for me?¡±

    ¡°How much do you know about Ming Yang Residence?¡±

    Tian Lei shook his head. ¡°The Ming Yang Residence project has been inactive for many years already. The tenantse and create trouble every year, and we have to send out our people to talk to them and tell them that we pity them. We know that most of them have used all of the saving to buy this ce, but this is something that can¡¯t be helped.¡±

    ¡°Something that can¡¯t be helped?¡± Captain Yan raised his head.

    ¡°There have been three investors. The first one died from illness, the second one got into a car ident when the ce was half-built, and the third one decided tomit suicide by jumping off the half-finished building in the middle of the night. Rumors started flying around that the ce is cursed, so no one dares to take over anymore.¡±

    ¡°All three investors met a bad end; this shouldn¡¯t be a coincidence.¡± Captain Yan thought about it and told Lee Zheng, ¡°When we get back, go and pull all the records on Ming Yang Residence.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Lee Zheng gave an okay sign.

    ¡°Captain Yan, I suggest you stay away from this. That Ming Yang Residence is a hot mess; anyone who gets too close to it will be unlucky.¡± Tian Lei seemed to have experienced that himself.

    ¡°Also, you. I need a file from you as well.¡± Captain Yan raised the car window and ignored Tian Lei, who stood next to the car with an unhappy face.

    The car engine started. After they left the area, Captain Yan suddenly turned to look at Chen Ge and tossed out a random question. ¡°Chen Ge, did you know Jia Ming before this?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Chen Ge answered on reflex.

    Captain Yan nodded, and his expression softened. ¡°You¡¯d better watch over yourself. I have a feeling that Jia Ming has a strange hostility against you. During the questioning, he kepting up with ways to push the me on you.¡±

 Chapter 511 - Room 104

    <h4>Chapter 511: Room 104</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°me me?¡± Chen Ge felt like it should be because Jia Ming felt threatened by him, and that was why he used these dirty tactics on him.

    ¡°Just be careful. We¡¯ll handle the bigger picture, and more than that, the trust I have in you is not something that can be shaken with a few words.¡± Captain Yan¡¯s words were a hugefort to Chen Ge. ¡°Please don¡¯t intervene in the things in Eastern Jiujiang. Leave it to us.¡±

    Probably he was still worried, Captain Yan added, ¡°I¡¯ve already arranged special people to take over. Just wait for the good news.¡±

    Chen Ge nodded, but he was already nning the action tonight. Huang Ling was innocent. Letting her stay with the devil worried Chen Ge. The man might do something even worse to her. The police car drove out the residential area. They drove for about a hundred meters when Tian Lei¡¯s voice came through the walkie-talkie.

    ¡°Captain Yan, I justmunicated with the officers at the station, and we found something weird.¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°Nine years ago, Jia Ming was working at Qin Tai Insurance. The client that he had the altercation with was one of the three investors for Ming Yang Residence¡ªJiang Long.¡± Tian Lei sounded weird on the phone. It was different from before. ¡°Several years ago, Jiang Long¡¯s car got into an ident with thest bus on Route 104. Jiang Long died on the spot, and I¡¯ve informed you earlier, the second investor that died in an ident was him.¡±

    ¡°But how is that rted to Jia Ming?¡±

    ¡°Let me continue. The coincidence is that, several yearster, Jia Ming got into an ident as well, and the ident was again with thest bus on Route 104. We saw the video from back then and realized that it was Jia Ming who voluntarily walked forward to be hit by the bus. And the location that he was hit was exactly the same as where Jiang Long was hit!¡± Tian Lei¡¯s voice slowly grew like he had made some great discovery.

    ¡°In other words, this Jia Ming is the actual mental patient?¡± Lee Zheng did not quite get what Tian Lei was saying.

    ¡°That I can¡¯t tell. What I know is that Xiao Jing just looked through the registration for the tenant, and the address for the second investor, Jiang Ling, has been changed to Ming Yang Residence Room 104. The actual owner of this ce was Jia Ming.¡±

    ¡°Someone changed Jiang Long¡¯s registration?¡±

    ¡°Who would be so bored to change a dead person¡¯s registration? Plus, the man is dead¡ªwhy would someone care about his address?¡± Neither Tian Lei nor Lee Zheng understood it. Of everyone there, only Chen Ge who looked out the window had a sh of understanding cross his eyes.

    The address on Jiang Long¡¯s registration changed to match Jia Ming¡¯s; this could represent that the ghost that escaped from bus 104, the ghost that took over Jia Ming¡¯s body, was none other than Jiang Long. He became the new owner for Room 104.

    <i>Jiang Long got into an ident with the bus on Route 104; that should just be a coincidence. After the ident, Jiang Long¡¯s soul was trapped on the bus, and he wanted to use Jia Ming as his recement. </i>That would be how a normal person think, but havingpleted many missions on the ck phone, Chen Ge had a more rounded thinkingpared to most; he would not give up any small details.

    <i>All three investors of Ming Yang Residence met bad endings. If these were all idents, then it would be too much of a coincidence. This means that all that killings are probably premeditated. </i>Chen Ge was more and more curious. <i>Why would Jiang Ling target Jia Ming? Is there something special about Jia Ming, or was he just unlucky to have bought Room 104?</i>

    Jiang Long and Jia Ming were like Heaven and Earth in terms of background and wealth, so Chen Ge could not understand why Jiang Long would choose Jia Ming.

    ¡°Room 104? Someone has entered the registration server? Stop the car!¡± Captain Yan had been silent, and he rarely made his thoughts known, but once he did, there was no need for discussion. ¡°Tian Lei, help me drive Chen Ge back to New Century Park. Lee Zheng and I will go to Room 104 to check the ce out.¡±

    ¡°Captain Yan, it¡¯s too dangerous to go to that ce now. I feel like we should make a decision after daybreak.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s fingers fidgeted. Without the hammer, he just felt like something was missing.

    Captain Yan shook his head. ¡°Never underestimate your opponent. If Jia Ming is really problematic, then when we showed up earlier, we will have already tipped our hands. He might do something tonight to destroy the evidence.¡±

    ¡°But we¡¯re not familiar with Eastern Jiujiang, and there were so many weird things happening at Ming Yang Residence. Isn¡¯t it a bit reckless to go there with just the few of us?¡± Chen Ge asked.

    ¡°You know the meaning of the word, reckless?¡± Captain Yan turned to look at Chen Ge before turning away. ¡°This should be you goading me into action, right?¡±

    Chen Ge really did not expect Captain Yan to view him in such a manner; he was feeling quite helpless.

    ¡°Enough, you go and take Ol¡¯ Tian¡¯s car, leave the rest of us.¡± Captain Yan had Lee Zheng open the door, but Chen Ge refused to leave. They were all adults, and they were quite helpless seeing Chen Ge act like this.

    ¡°The damn young man doesn¡¯t look so muscr, but why is he so powerful?¡± Tian Lei tried to yank Chen Ge out of the car, but he was unable to move the man.

    ¡°Captain Yan, please let me go with you. I really am afraid that you might run into danger.¡±

    ¡°No matter the case, we always put the citizens¡¯ safety first. In other words, your safety is more important than the case, understood?¡±

    ¡°Quick, get out from the car. This is the first time I have seen someone refusing to leave the police car.¡±

    After two more minutes of back and forth, and under Chen Ge¡¯s insistence, Captain Yan finally relented. The two police cars turned to head to a more isted part of Eastern Jiujiang. Ten minutester, they arrived at Ming Yang Residence. This ce was close to Li Wan City.

    ¡°This sure is in the middle of nowhere.¡± Once he got out from the car, Chen Ge sighed. The area was covered with grass the old buildings stood in the dark. The front two buildings were almost ready, and the two buildings at the back were mostly just starting the construction.

    ¡°This is such a waste.¡± Tian Lei pulled out the police-use shlight. ¡°I¡¯ve been here before, so I¡¯ll lead the way.¡±

    They had just moved in with Chen Ge felt something wrong. ¡°Isn¡¯t Ming Yang Residencepletely abandoned? Why would there be light?¡±

    With his Yin Yang Vision, even over such a distance, Chen Ge could see the lightsing from the building at the forefront.

    ¡°This ce has no water and electricity. Who would live here?¡± Tian Lei was equally confused.

    ¡°Stop guessing, we¡¯ll know once we get there.¡± Captain Yan and Tian Lei walked into the residential area. Chen Ge looked at the weak light and fell into deep thought.

 Chapter 512 - The Dolls Inside the Room

    <h4>Chapter 512: The Dolls Inside the Room</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°The construction was stopped halfway, and the electrical circuit has not beenpleted, so there isn¡¯t electricity. Then, what is giving out light in the building?¡± The four buildings stood in the dark. The lights that came from the building were like eyes that were looking at the approaching people.

    Lee Zheng saw that Chen Ge did not follow, so he turned back to yell, ¡°Chen Ge, don¡¯t stay too far from us, and keep your guard up!¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Chen Ge knew that Lee Zheng was only worried about him, so he rushed to his side. ¡°I just thought it was weird. The buildings have no electricity, so why are lightsing out from the room?¡±

    ¡°There could be many reasons. It could be reflection of the moonlight, or perhaps there are squatters. No matter the reason, we have to be careful when exploring abandoned buildings like this.¡± Lee Zheng seemed to have a bad memory. ¡°Abandoned factories or warehouses in the countryside for the favorite ces for people with illegal backgrounds to hide. There are also crazy madmen who prefer these kinds of ces to conduct their weird rituals. I once oversaw a case where the killer has been stealing dead bodies from the hospital, attempting to summon a legendary monster from a myth. In the end, we apprehended the person inside an underground sewer.¡±

    ¡°Summoning a ghost inside an underground sewer? Has he considered how the ghost feels?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s answer stumped Lee Zheng. He did not know how to continue. ¡°You sure have an interesting mind. Never mind, I¡¯m not going to chat with you anymore. Just understand that it¡¯s dangerous here.¡±

    Ming Yang Residence was huge. The four unfinished buildings stood before their eyes, and they looked like four tombstones. The night breeze swayed the grass and leaves. Looking up from the ground, there was an ominous feeling, like the four buildings could copse at any moment and bury them alive.

    ¡°Shall we head toward the light first?¡± Lee Zheng suggested. ¡°The closest light is on the second floor of the first building. Since we¡¯re going to pass it anyway, why don¡¯t we go check it out?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Room 104 is on the tenth floor. As we go up, we can check all the rooms once. Perhaps we might find some clues.¡± Tian Lei was very familiar with Ming Yang Residence; he had once handled the cases of the investors.

    ¡°Room 104 is on the tenth floor, huh? How did they arrange the room number?¡±

    ¡°The front two numbers are the floor number, and the third number is the room number, so Room 104 is the fourth room on the tenth floor,¡± Tian Lei exined to Chen Ge.

    ¡°But there are four buildings here. Does that mean that there are four ¡®Room 104¡¯s?¡±

    ¡°The numbering of the four rooms on the tenth floor of the first building is one to four and the second building is five to eight, so the condition you mentioned doesn¡¯t happen.¡±

    ¡°The room numbers of the different buildings are linked together?¡± Chen Ge was just curious, but what Tian Lei said gave him some idea. ¡°Why would the designer do that?¡±

    ¡°Apparently, it was a request of the investor. They even nned to build bridges between the buildings to connect the four buildings. They nned to make Ming Yang Residence thendmark in Jiujiang, but that obviously did note to be.¡±

    ¡°Shush, we¡¯re preparing to enter the building now.¡± Captain Yan held the shlight and was the first to enter the dark building.

    ¡°To join four buildings together?¡± Chen Ge remembered this. There had to be a reason behind the death of all the investors.

    After they entered the stairs, the temperature noticeably dropped. There was a chill in the air like every breath that they took was filled with cold air. There were many rivers that cut through Eastern Jiujiang, so this ce hadparatively more moisture than other ces in Jiujiang. Lichen grew on the walls, and the ster was wrinkled. As one¡¯s finger cut across it, one could peel back arge piece.

    ¡°The light came from this room.¡± The group turned the corner of the second floor and stopped before one of the rooms.

    ¡°Lee Zheng, go in first. Tian Lei will cover you.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The three officers did not carry their weapon, so they were very careful. Lee Zheng entered the room with the shlight raised. There were weird pictures on the wall, and trash littered the ground. These things proved that someone had been staying there.

    There was a small sounding from inside the bedroom. A ss bottle tipped over.

    ¡°Come out now! I¡¯m the team leader of investigation team one¡ªLee Zheng! Come out of the room now and cooperate with the investigation!¡± Lee Zheng shone the light into the room, and soon, a homeless person walked out from it. He looked around sixty, and his beard and hair grew together. He was wearing a tattered sweater and coat. Even with twoyers, he was still shivering. He was wearing a frayed cap and gloves with his fingers showing.

    ¡°Name and age, why are you here?¡± Perhaps Lee Zheng¡¯s uniform was useful because the homeless person did not resist and act honestly.

    ¡°My surname is Zheng. Full name... cannot remember anymore. I¡¯m the seventh of the family.¡± Probably because he did not speak often, the man spoke very slowly. ¡°I just want to find a ce to hide from the rain. Since the building is abandoned, I stayed here. If you want me to move, I will leave now.¡±

    ¡°Lee Zheng, put the light down.¡± Captain Yan walked into the room and looked at the man for a long time. ¡°The weather is so hot, but you¡¯re so wrapped up¡ªaren¡¯t you hot?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m very cold.¡± From the man¡¯s answer, his mind was still working. He did not appear to have any mental problems. However, he was wearing so manyyers like he was already in the winter.

    ¡°Cold?¡± Captain Yan looked into the bedroom that the man had vacated. ¡°Stand there by the wall. We won¡¯t hurt you. For the sake of your safety, I suggest you don¡¯t live here alone. Jiujiang has many shelters; you can seek help there.¡±

    Captain Yan took one step forward, and the man became nervous.

    ¡°You¡¯re afraid?¡± Captain Yan moved his eyes away from the man¡¯s face and suddenly picked up speed to run into the bedroom.

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± The man wanted to stop him, but it was toote. Lee Zheng and Tian Lei stopped him. ¡°Don¡¯t go in! You¡¯ll all die!¡±

    ¡°Be quiet!¡±

    The man screamed, and his face filled with terror. He was unable to stop Captain Yan and Chen Ge. The bedroom was small, and it was thick with a bad stench. Broken dolls were piled up in the middle of the room.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t me who killed them. I just identally found them; I have not killed anyone.¡± The man started to struggle like he had gone insane. ¡°I didn¡¯t kill anyone! It¡¯s not me!¡±

    ¡°These are all dolls, so of course, we know you didn¡¯t kill them. Quiet down.¡± Tian Lei pressed the man against the wall, and when he turned around to look at the broken toys, he also took in a cold breath.

 Chapter 513 - Cooked

    <h4>Chapter 513: Cooked</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Are you blind? Those are not dolls; those are dead bodies! Let me go!¡± No matter how hard the homeless man tried to struggle, he was unable to escape from Lee Zheng and Tian Lei¡¯s grasp. He finally quieted down after a few minutes.

    ¡°No wonder he¡¯s homeless¡ªthe man is mad.¡± The man stopped resisting, so Tian Lei rxed. However, Lee Zheng acted different from Tian Lei. He took out a handcuff to apprehend the man.

    ¡°Hey, Ol¡¯ Lee, it¡¯s just a mad homeless person. Is that really necessary?¡±

    Lee Zheng kicked the trash next to them aside to reveal several hidden, sharpened metal sticks. ¡°Don¡¯t let your guard down. These people could do anything when they¡¯re pushed to their edge.¡±

    Seeing those hidden weapons, Tian Lei stopped talking. He remembered that the man had been trying to move that way when he was struggling earlier.

    ¡°I¡¯m not crazy! I¡¯m trying to save you!¡± the man screamed stubbornly.

    ¡°Stop wasting our time. You picked these broken parts from thendfill, right?¡± Lee Zheng looked at the dolls. After the toys were abandoned, they had lost their charm. They turned weird and ugly. The broken faces were filled with loneliness and sadness.

    ¡°No, they¡¯re not toys. They were already here when I came! They have nothing to do with me!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still trying to argue?¡± Tian Lei kicked the metal rods aside to make sure the man would not be able to reach them. ¡°There are so many rooms here¡ªwhy did you stay in one that is filled with broken toys? You are a sick man.¡±

    The man looked like he was really wronged, and he did not sound like he was lying. ¡°Many have died here, so Ming Yang Residence is cursed. All the tenants that moved here became cursed; everyone in Eastern Jiujiang knows that. If not for the storm and theck of any other shelter nearby, I would not havee here.¡±

    ¡°Stop trying to change the topic! Answer my question! Was it you who collect these dolls?¡± Tian Lei¡¯s voice turned up.

    ¡°No, when I entered the room for the first time, the room was already filled with dead bodies.¡±

    ¡°Then why did you stay here?¡± Tian Lei already stopped correcting the man.

    ¡°You can¡¯t leave after you¡¯ve seen the dead bodies! They will follow you, and it¡¯s pointless to run!¡± The man screamed like mad. ¡°Now you¡¯re stepping on their bodies, but one day, they will step on your cold, dead bodies!¡±

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Lee, what do you think?¡± Tian Lei was perturbed by what the man had said. If they were somece else, he would not have felt that way, but standing there, he just felt unsafe.

    ¡°You believe a mad person? Keep a close eye on him. I¡¯ll go ask Captain Yan.¡± Lee Zheng entered the bedroom where Captain Yan and Chen Ge were investigating. ¡°Captain Yan, the man is mad. He said that these dolls are dead bodies and touching them will get you cursed.¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s toote for that.¡± Captain Yan pointed at Chen Ge helplessly. This boss of a Haunted House was more zealous than a cop. Without shlight, he squatted down to inspect each doll closely. With a light cough, Captain Yan asked, ¡°Xiao Chen, did you find anything?¡±

    ¡°Most of these dolls are made by stic, and the date of production ranges across many years. They should have been collected from all over the ce by the homeless man. But I¡¯m curious, why would he break them?¡± Chen Ge picked up the head of the doll. ¡°Look, the cut is obviously made by knife, or else it would not have been so clean.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s to vent?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that simple. I studied toy design in university, and I know a thing or two about the materials. These parts have problems from the material to the coloring.¡± Chen Ge ced the head next to Captain Yan. ¡°Look closer, what is wrong here?¡±

    Captain Yan looked at it and eventually said, ¡°The color is faded?¡±

    ¡°Yes, these parts appear like they have been cooked. The color fell off, and the edges were messed up from the heat.¡± Chen Ge looked at the room of dolls and said to himself, ¡°Who would cook these dolls for no reason?¡±

    Captain Yan did not get it either. After taking the pictures, he walked out of the room. ¡°Let¡¯s go to Room 104. That room is the key to solving the issue.¡±

    The homeless man saw Captain Yan walk out, and he screamed again, ¡°You saw the dead bodies. They will find you tonight!¡±

    ¡°You keep saying they¡¯re dead bodies. Then does this mean that this is a human dead in your eyes?¡± Chen Ge took out the doll head, and when the man saw it, he mmed against the wall. His arms were in a defensive posture before his chest, and his expression was frozen in fear like he was really looking at a decapitated head.

    ¡°Take it away! Take it away!¡±

    The man did not look like he was acting. This was out of Chen Ge¡¯s expectations.

    ¡°Can he really see something?¡± Chen Ge initially did not think much of the homeless man, but when he saw this reaction, he thought about it again. He moved the head away and followed the man¡¯s line of thinking. ¡°If these are all dead bodies, do you know who killed them?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t kill anyone! I don¡¯t know anything! He only asked me to stay behind to watch over these bodies; I don¡¯t know anything else!¡±

    ¡°He?¡± Both Chen Ge and the three officers were shocked before surrounding him. ¡°Who is he? Why would he ask you to look after the bodies?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t say, or I¡¯ll die! I will die! He will kill me and all of you!¡± The homeless man copsed to the ground and started wailing.

    ¡°The murderer sure is something else to threaten a homeless man that is already so senior in age.¡± Tian Lei looked at Lee Zheng and Captain Yan. ¡°Shall we bring him in?¡±

    ¡°Have an officer from your station to bring him back for interrogation.¡± Captain Yan looked at the homeless man. ¡°I¡¯ve seen such a reaction many times from murder witnesses; he might not be lying to us.¡±

    ¡°Mur... murder?¡± Tian Lei did not imagine a report from a taxi driver could lead to a murder. He quickly called Xiao Qing, who was on duty.

    ¡°Lee Zheng, remember to take all the picture evidence. Give me the shlight. We¡¯ll go to Room 104 first.¡± Captain Yan and Chen Ge walked out of the room and walked up the stairs. From the stairs, Chen Ge saw an electric bike move past the two parked police cars as it entered Ming Yang Residence.

    ¡°Captain Yan, I saw someone enter the area. The person was riding an electric bike. Doesn¡¯t seem like he¡¯s here to avoid the rain.¡±

    ¡°Be careful. After we confirm Room 104 is fine, we¡¯ll leave immediately.¡± Captain Yan walked ahead. No one stayed, and soon, they arrived at the tenth floor.

 Chapter 514 - He Arrived

    <h4>Chapter 514: He Arrived</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Stay close to the wall and away from the rails. Be careful of your step.¡± Captain Yan found Room 104 and entered it. The biggest difference about this room was that there was plenty of old furniture inside, and the wall had many children¡¯s drawings.

    ¡°It feels like a family of three once lived here.¡± Chen Ge followed behind Captain Yan. With his Yin Yang Vision, he did not need the shlight and started wandering about the room. ¡°What is this?¡±

    Beside the wooden table, which was missing a leg, there were many dried apples, and there was one under the table that had a bite mark on it. ¡°The tenant here must have loved apples.¡±

    Chen Ge used a piece of paper to pick one up. The apple had gone rotten, and seeing this, he was suddenly reminded of the apple that he had seen inside the underground morgue. <i>Apples seem to have a special meaning to dead people. If I have time, I should consult the few doctors.</i>

    ¡°Look at this!¡± Tian Lei, who had been silent, suddenly opened his lips. He shone the shlight on the left wall of the living room. The cracked wall had a weird painting on it. Two adults and a girl were talking, and not far away from them was a boy drawing.

    ¡°These two adults should be the parents, and that makes the girl their daughter. The boy was the one who painted on the wall.¡± Lee Zheng tried to analyze the painting. ¡°So, it¡¯s actually a family of four.¡±

    ¡°When we interviewed Jia Ming, didn¡¯t he say that they didn¡¯t want kids because of Huang Ling¡¯s physical condition?¡± Tian Lei raised his brow. ¡°Did this man find a mistress, or was he lying to us?¡±

    ¡°He definitely lied to us, but he probably wasn¡¯t lying when ites to the issue of children.¡± Captain Yan walked out from the kitchen. ¡°The house isn¡¯tpleted. It wasn¡¯t Jia Ming and Huang Ling who lived here, and the kids probably had nothing to do with them.¡±

    ¡°Are they homeless children?¡± Lee Zheng stood next to the window and looked out. ¡°But why would they choose this room? The building does not have elevator¡ªwouldn¡¯t it be easier to stand on the ground floor?¡±

    ¡°The answer is probably hidden in this room.¡± Chen Ge tilted his head back to look at the ceiling, and he did not look away. The three officers saw that and also looked up. On the ceiling of Room 104, someone had used a sharp stone to carve out four human faces. They were ced at all four cardinal directions. They surrounded a girl in the middle, and the four faces bit on her limbs. ¡°What is this painting trying to represent? It doesn¡¯t look like a children¡¯s painting.¡±

    The faces of the two adults had the names Jiang Long and Zhang Chuyu. The two children¡¯s faces had the names Jiang Bai and Jiang Xiaohu. ¡°Jiang Long? Isn¡¯t that the name of the investor who jumped from the building? Why would his name be here?¡±

    ¡°This looks like the name of his family.¡± Tian Lei thought about it and said, ¡°This was probably the owner venting their frustration on Jiang Long. After all, he is the developer.¡±

    ¡°As angry as people can be, they would not vent on a dead person. Furthermore, in this picture, it is Jiang Long who bites someone else.¡± Captain Yan looked at the painting. ¡°The handwriting looks young, like it¡¯s written by a child. But a child wouldn¡¯t have reached the ceiling, and there are no stools in the room.¡±

    The three officers were thinking of various possibilities while Chen Ge entered the bedroom alone. He had to control his expression. Only he knew that Jia Ming had been taken over by Jiang Long, and the discovery of Jiang Long family¡¯s name in this room only heightened that suspicion. Jiang Long had taken over Jia Ming¡¯s body for this Room 104.

    <i>But what is so different from this room? </i>Chen Ge looked for a long time but found nothing. He stood up and looked out the window. Standing there, he could see the buildings in the distance.

    <i>Li Wan City?</i>

    In the dark, Li Wan City had no lights, like a dead city.

    <i>I really don¡¯t understand what Jiang Long is after. If Captain Yan did not insist ofing here, I would have detained Jiang Long already. </i>Chen Ge looked at the other buildings, and he realized a problem. Four buildings were ced at the four cardinal directions, and they all had neen floors. The tenth floor was the middle and had four rooms, and Room 104 was on the westernmost side.

    <i>Theyout of the four buildings matched the location of the four faces perfectly. Jiang Long¡¯s face was at the western side, and it matched the location of this Room 104 nicely. </i>Chen Ge walked out to look at the painting. <i>Why would they bite the girl? If each face is rted to a building...</i>

    Chen Ge did not understand it, but he walked to the most west side of Room 104. After moving the trash away, Chen Ge realized that the color of the ground was different. He found some items to clear the area, and under the clueless gazes of the police, he cracked the topyer of cement.

    <i>It really is hollow. </i>Chen Ge reached his hand into it and felt like he had touched something. It was not soft but not hard either. He pulled the thing out. When he raised his hand, everyone was stunned.

    The shadow morphed into the shape of a woman, but Chen Ge did not realize that. He looked at the thin arm, which was wrapped in food wrap, that he had pulled out. With difficulty, he turned around to look at the officers. Honestly, he did not expect that it would be hiding an arm.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move! Put it down slowly!¡± Captain Yan took over the scene. He walked closer to Chen Ge with the shlight raised. He took the arm, and with just a nce, he was certain about something. ¡°Tian Lei, have your peoplee here in twenty minutes! Lee Zheng, contact team one and have theme over to Eastern Jiujiang Ming Yang Residence now to take over the body dismemberment case!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    After giving the order, Captain Yan¡¯s face softened. He asked for a cigarette from Lee Zheng and passed it to Chen Ge. ¡°Are you okay? Why don¡¯t you go for a smoke break?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Chen Ge did not ept the cigarette, and his face was ugly. ¡°Captain Yan, do you still remember the question that I asked Inspector Tian when we first arrived here?¡±

    ¡°What question?¡±

    ¡°Why the number for this room is 104 when it¡¯s on the tenth floor. If that¡¯s the arrangement, how are the rooms for the other buildings numbered?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I remember. What about it?¡± Captain Yan was befuddled.

    ¡°Four buildings, and all have neen floors. Each floor has four rooms, and normally, they should be numbered with four digits. Like the first room on the eleventh floor at the first building should be 1111, but ording to Inspector Tian¡¯s exnation, these four buildings are one entity, and the developers even nned to connect them with bridges. This means that the numbering ispletely messed up.¡± Chen Ge tried his best to exin.

    ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±

    ¡°Look up.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the painting above them. ¡°We found the body¡¯s left arm at this building that was on the west side. It matches the painting perfectly. If the four buildings are a whole entity, then doesn¡¯t this mean that Ming Yang Residence represents the girl that was bitten by human faces in the picture? And her other parts are hidden in the corresponding rooms of the other buildings?¡±

 Chapter 515 - Professional

    <h4>Chapter 515: Professional</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s analysis, the officers were shocked. Chen Ge did not normally act like he was much of a quick thinker, but whenever he was at a crime scene, he woulde up with discoveries like he was born to fight crime.

    ¡°Go, we¡¯ll need to go to the other buildings to see.¡± Captain Yan took the arm. They rushed down the stairs to get to the second building. Like Chen Ge expected, they found another arm in the room on the tenth floor of the second building.

    ¡°Take the picture first; don¡¯t ruin the scene. When the killer buried the body, they might have left some evidence behind.¡± After Lee Zheng took the pictures, they rushed to the third building. The building was only halfpleted, and the stairwell did not even have a railing¡ªone wrong step, and it would be a long way down.

    ¡°Be careful!¡± The group climbed up the stairs, and it took them quite some time before they arrived at the tenth floor. When they did, they were greeted by a surprise. They searched all the rooms but could not find the body. However, they did find signs of the wall being pried open in one of the rooms.

    ¡°Someone came before us?¡± Chen Ge touched the edge of the wall and was reminded of the e-bike that came earlier. ¡°Captain Yan, do you remember I told you someone arrived on an e-bike? That person could be the killer! It was him who took the female body¡¯s legs away!¡±

    ¡°Go to the fourth building now!¡± The group ran to the fourth building, but they were still toote. The killer¡¯s target was clear and knew what was important. After he took the legs, he had left immediately and given up the arms.

    ¡°Risking the chance of being exposed, he came back to take the legs. Looks like there is conclusive evidence on the legs,¡± Tian Lei analyzed, but Captain Yan stood in the middle of room with a dark face.

    ¡°Stealing the body parts while the police is around, this killer sure is brave.¡±

    Chen Ge picked up the pieces from the ground and tried to piece them back. ¡°The person came with professional tools. There¡¯re hammer and gouges. But the question I have is, how did the killer know we¡¯reing tonight? Does he have a spy at Ming Yang Residence, or was the killer one of the people whom we¡¯ve met tonight?¡±

    Chen Ge had ny percent confidence that it was Jia Ming who came to steal the body parts. Only Jia Ming knew that the police were going. There was another detail; Jia Ming¡¯s home had an e-bike. He had gotten into the ident when riding one.

    Captain Yan understood Chen Ge¡¯s hint, but he had his own consideration. ¡°The eye-gouging case and the dismemberment case, both these cases have a simrity¡ªthey¡¯re both very ritualistic. Could the culprits be rted somehow?¡±

    ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be a rtion. The MOs are so different.¡± Chen Ge was surprised by Captain Yan¡¯s instinct. Li Wan City¡¯s door going out of control had something to do with ghost stories society, and the change to Ming Yang Residence was technically due to Li Wan City, so if they were really splitting hairs, this case might really be rted to the society.

    Twenty-five minutester, the people from Eastern Jiujiang Police station arrived. Four police cars stopped within the area. Since this was the first murder within the past year, many officers arrived, and almost all the officers on duty were called over.

    ¡°Inspector Tian, we¡¯ve arrived!¡±

    ¡°Get into groups and listen to Captain Yan¡¯s orders.¡± Tian Lei walked to Captain Yan. ¡°Captain Yan, my people have arrived. There are three teams in total.¡±

    ¡°Team one, go and look up the nearby surveince; focus on someone riding an e-bike. Team 2, stay to seal up the crime scene and start collecting evidence. Team 3, I need you to go keep a surveince on these people.¡± Captain Yan gave a list, and it included Jia Ming and Huang Ling.

    Chen Ge was standing right next to them. He nned to add more me onto Jia Ming, but after seeing Captain Yan¡¯s arrangement, he held his tongue. ¡°Captain Yan, what do you need from me?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll inform you when we have the result tomorrow. After all, this is the police¡¯s job. You have done more than enough tonight.¡± Captain Yan turned to tell Tian Lei, ¡°Get someone to drive Chen Ge home. There are no taxi at this ce, and he has worked hard tonight.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Qing! Come over here. I have a mission for you.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± This was Xiao Qing¡¯s first heavy crime case, so he was rather nervous.

    ¡°You see that man? Drive him home.¡± Then Tian Lei left with Captain Yan, leaving behind the young officer.

    ¡°We meet again.¡± Chen Ge greeted the young man with a smile. ¡°Told you things will start to get busy.¡±

    Xiao Qing thought Chen Ge¡¯s smile was rather scary. ¡°Stop joking. Where is your home? The inspector told me to drive you home.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the time. His life officially began after midnight, so he might not be able to sleep after he got home. ¡°Wait a minute, let me make a call.¡±

    ording to Chen Ge¡¯s original n, he had intended to meet Fan Chong after dealing with Ma Fu. Who would have thought so many things would happen? Taking out his phone, Chen Ge messaged Fan Chong.

    To his surprise, Fan Chong was still awake, and his reply came several secondster. He said that the game would be creepier after midnight, so if Chen Ge was not afraid, he could go now. After getting Fan Chong¡¯s agreement, Chen Ge had Xiao Qing drive him to Fan Chong¡¯s ce.

    ¡°The first residential area at Li Wan City¡¯s West Street? There is such a ce? You don¡¯t know the name of the residential area?¡± Xiao Qing looked online for a long time before he found the exact location and drove Chen Ge there. The ce was close to the countryside, so it was quite isted. The only good thing was the fresh air. The car drove into Li Wan City, and at the end of the road was a series of old buildings.

    ¡°You live here?¡± Xiao Qing looked at the empty Li Wan City, and he felt weirdly unsettled.

    ¡°This is my friend¡¯s ce. Since I¡¯m in Eastern Jiujiang, I decided to pay him a visit.¡±

    ¡°Visiting at midnight? You sure your friend won¡¯t get mad?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Thank you for the ride. Be careful on the way back.¡±

    Chen Ge waited until Xiao Qing left, and he thought, <i>Now that I think about it. It is quite interesting that Fan Chong¡¯s home is in Li Wan City.</i>

    He made the call, and with Fan Chong¡¯s directions, he entered the first building.

    ¡°Boss Chen, you really havee. Quick,e up.¡± In a tank top, Fan Dade came down to wee Chen Ge. ¡°My brother has been ying for a whole day already. I feel like he¡¯sing down with addiction. You have to help me.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I will.¡±

    The two came to the top floor. The family on the right had a mirror the size of one¡¯s palm on the door while the door on the left was half-open. Fan Dade led Chen Ge to the left door. He yelled into the bedroom, ¡°Fan Chong, Boss Chen is here!¡±

    Hearing that, there was amotion from the bedroom; it sounded like something had fallen. Then the door flew open, and a Fan Chong with dark circles poked his head out. He looked so tired. Chen Ge closed the living room door. He raised his head to look at the mirror on the opposite door. He took a picture on his phone and entered the room. ¡°Fan Chong, how is the gameing along? Any new discoveries?¡±

    ¡°The plot jammed. This game is really not for humans. I feel like I¡¯ming down with depression ying it.¡± Fan Chong dragged Chen Ge into the bedroom, grabbed the can of c that was left on the table, and took a healthy gulp.

    ¡°Jammed?¡± Chen Ge thought about it. ¡°How about you let me try? I can be considered someone who designs real life horror games. Tackling it from the perspective of a designer, perhaps there might be a breakthrough.¡±

 Chapter 516 - Scarier Than a Murderer (1)

    <h4>Chapter 516: Scarier Than a Murderer (1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Inside the cluttered bedroom, there was hardly a ce to stand. The floor was covered with clothes and books, and the coffee table was piled high with empty cans and food boxes. The only ce that was rtively clean was theputer table.

    ¡°Fan Chong, you¡¯ve been ying for too long. Try to do some exercise by cleaning the room.¡±

    Chen Ge walked to theputer table carefully and looked at the screen. The dark screen had a sentence written in blood¡ªYou killed Xiao Bu.

    ¡°This looks like it¡¯s written by a child.¡± Chen Ge had seen simr handwriting in Room 104.

    ¡°Don¡¯t wear the headphones when you¡¯re ying; the music will just disturb you.¡± Fan Chong was very experienced. He clicked on the screen, and the words slowly disappeared. With a flicker, the screen returned to normal. ¡°The controls are very easy; you just need to click with the cursor. Do you want something to drink? How about a can of coke?¡±

    ¡°Sure, thank you.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s attention was fully focused on the game. The game¡¯s style was clearly aimed at very young girls; the main color palette was pastel, and it looked very cute and warm. ¡°It¡¯s quite amazing that you were able to clear a game like this.¡±

    ¡°I was just bored.¡± Fan Chong looked rather embarrassed. ¡°Bro! Help me get two cans of cold coke!¡±

    A whileter, Fan Dade came in with a tray. ¡°I made two dishes of simple food. You can eat it if you¡¯re hungry.¡±

    After putting down the tray, Fan Dade did not look like he was leaving. He also turned to look at theputer screen. ¡°Boss Chen, you have to be careful when you y. The game has many jump scares¡ªdon¡¯t be fooled by the cute images.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Chen Ge did not touch the things on the tray. He had a habit of not eating other people¡¯s food after he left the Haunted House. Moving the mouse, Chen Ge soon got used to the control. He controlled Xiao Bu to get out of bed and leave the room.

    With Fan Chong¡¯s exnation, Chen Ge very quickly grasped the map of the game. The town in the game was almost identical to Li Wan City in real life. After ten minutes, Chen Ge found Xiao Bu¡¯s friend¡¯s home. He was about to open the door to the dungeon when a chat box appeared¡ª¡¯The friend¡¯s house is so big. Should I go take a tour of the second floor?¡¯

    This should be Xiao Bu¡¯s inner monologue. After Chen Ge saw that, he turned to ask Fan Chong, ¡°Have you been to the second floor?¡±

    ¡°The only thing noteworthy is the friend¡¯s certificate from winning a contest. I¡¯ve clicked the entire surface using a nket search.¡± Fan Chong sounded very certain.

    Chen Ge thought about it and still controlled Xiao Bu to go to the second floor. The wall with the brightest paint had a certificate hanging on it. Clicking it with the cursor, the chat box popped up again¡ª¡¯The certificate is awarded to student Jiang Xiaohu for his good performance and good behavior.¡¯

    <i>Jiang Xiaohu? Isn¡¯t that name of Jiang Long¡¯s child? I saw this name inside Room 104 earlier! </i>Chen Ge stared at the screen for a long time before he recovered. ¡°Only a certificate in such arge room, what is the purpose of this?¡±

    He could not understand it. He controlled Xiao Bu to go back down to the first floor, opened the hidden door, and entered it. The cute style immediately turned creepy and dark. The floor was filled with the petals of wilted sunflowers. Between the crevices of the tiles on the ground, there seemed to be pairs of eyes looking at him. It felt like a sweet dream turning into a nightmare.

    ¡°Boss Chen, you have to be careful starting from now. Danger cane from anywhere, and you¡¯ll die if you¡¯re not careful.¡± Fan Chong started to worry. Gripping the can, his eyes were glued to the screen. After exiting the dungeon, there was the bus stop and the woman in the red raincoat. Fan Chong had already cleared this part, so Chen Ge only needed to follow his guide.

    ¡°You said that you got stuck¡ªwhat part is it?¡± Chen Ge passed the few challenges sessfully. Escaped the woman in red raincoat, hid himself from Ma Fu, lost the drunken artist¡ªunder his control, Xiao Bu seemed toe alive and moved agilely.

    ¡°After dark, it¡¯s better to not wander the street, or you¡¯ll die from mysterious circumstances. It¡¯s better to hide inside the buildings.¡± Fan Chong pointed at the top of the screen. ¡°You see the color of the sky? It¡¯s gray now. When it¡¯spletely ck, then it¡¯s dark. The game pays close attention to such details.¡±

    ¡°Then what should I do now?¡± Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu and stood at a junction. She seemed lost.

    ¡°Based on my precious experience, there are ten minutes until night. You have to find a safe ce for Xiao Bu before dark. I got stuck here.¡± Fan Chong put down the can and scratched his head. ¡°You can¡¯t enter normal houses. I tried many ces. After dark, you can only enter the hotel and Xiao Bu¡¯s own apartment building in this city.¡±

    ¡°Then, couldn¡¯t you just let her go home?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a dead body at her home. There¡¯s a female ghost living next door. Inside the grass at the bottom of the house, there¡¯s a murderer dismembering his victim. I¡¯ve tried many times, and there¡¯s only one ending if I go home, death.¡± Fan Chong¡¯s eyes were red. ¡°After dark, the game¡¯s difficulty increases tenfold; there¡¯s no way of escape!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s rather harsh. Then we¡¯ll go to the hotel.¡± Chen Ge kept calm. He was counting the time.

    ¡°It¡¯s even worse at the hotel. The owner is a crazed murderer in disguise. The chef is also a mental patient. Other than Xiao Bu, all the tenants there are insane.¡± Fan Chong vented everything. ¡°This afternoon, I tried to choose the hotel. In the end, I was chased by the boss for twenty minutes. The game designer is heartless. Once Xiao Bu is touched, she¡¯ll die, and the yer only has one life. After you die, you need to start again.¡±

    ¡°Therefore, this is a game that is working against itself?¡±

    ¡°The only way that I can think of to clear this game is to y a night of hide and seek with the boss and leave the hotel at dawn. Other than that, there is no other way,¡± Fan Chong suggested.

    ¡°Let me try.¡± Chen Ge looked at the watch. ¡°There is seven minutes until night fall. Let me go to Xiao Bu¡¯s home to take a look.¡±

    He controlled Xiao Bu toe to a rather high-end residential apartment. After the style changed, the warm area became dark and cold. All the friendly neighbors had disappeared.

    ¡°You¡¯ll die if you go home.¡± Fan Chong did not have the heart to look. Whenever Xiao Bu died, he had an indescribable sadness in his heart like the game had affected the man in real life.

    There was rustlinging from the brush, Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to move away from it. She entered the building directly. The elevator opened, and a person in a ck rain coat came out. The man kept his head lower. A chat box appeared¡ª¡¯You didn¡¯t see his face, but you remembered his body size.¡¯

    Taking the elevator to her home, Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to open the door. The box reappeared¡ª¡¯You saw your stepfather lying in a pool of blood in the middle of the room.¡¯

    Entering the room, three options popped up.

    <i>1. Call the police immediately and ask the neighbor for help.</i>

    <i>2. Find a needle and thread to close the wounds and turn your stepfather into a doll.</i>

    <i>3. Ignore him and go to sleep.</i>

    Chen Ge thought about it and chose the third option.

    ¡°Bro, be careful.¡± After he made his choice, Fan Chong quickly stood up. ¡°Are you sure you want to pick three?¡±

    ¡°You already said that the neighbor is a female ghost, so one is out. Option two doesn¡¯t match a normal person¡¯s way of thinking, and inparison, three sounds more normal,¡± Chen Ge answered seriously.

 Chapter 517 - Scarier Than a Murderer (2)

    <h4>Chapter 517: Scarier Than a Murderer (2)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Then you think that option three matches a normal person¡¯s way of thinking?¡± Fan Chong held his forehead with both of his hands, and that pushed his hair up.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. Spending a night with a dead body, that¡¯s still quite uneptable for most people.¡± Chen Ge signaled for Fan Chong to sit down. ¡°The real gentleman doesn¡¯t speak when he watches others y chess. Stop talking, I¡¯m going to be serious.¡±

    The game did manage to arouse Chen Ge¡¯s attention.

    ¡°Don¡¯t y it willy-nilly! I suspect there¡¯s a ghost living inside the game, and if you let it out, what are we going to do after you leave?¡± Fan Chong had a crying face. When he saw Chen Ge¡¯s serious expression, he was worried.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine.¡± Chen Ge ignored Fan Chong and controlled Xiao Bu to walk around the room. Her step-father¡¯s body was in the living room, and it was still bleeding. After choosing three, Xiao Bu in the game seemed to not see the body anymore and started to walk around the room.

    ¡°Her home is quite big? I wonder what her parents¡¯ upations are, and why would her mother¡¯s pajamas contain the key to the dungeon?¡± Chen Ge was more and more curious about the plot. He controlled Xiao Bu to walk into the toilet and the chat box appeared¡ª¡¯You look at the mirror, and your reflection is missing from the mirror. You escape immediately.¡¯

    ¡°The mirror doesn¡¯t show Xiao Bu¡¯s reflection... Is Xiao Bu a ghost, or is there a ghost living inside the mirror?¡± Chen Ge did not dwell on that for long. He went to the bedroom. The chat box reappeared as he opened the door¡ª¡¯You hear the sound of someone tapping on the wall; it seems toe from the next door. What do you n to do?¡¯

    <i>1. The person sounds like she¡¯s asking for help. Call the police immediately.</i>

    <i>2. Jump through the window to take a look.</i>

    <i>3. Ignore her and go to sleep.</i>

    ¡°Boss Chen, it is the female ghost who¡¯s making the sound. Her head keeps bouncing on the wall. If you pick one, the female ghost¡¯s voice will appear on the phone; if you pick two, half-way there, the female ghost will open the window to capture you; so you can only pick three, but three is a dead end as well. At midnight, the sound will disappear, and you¡¯ll open your eyes to see the ghost¡¯s head pass through the wall.¡± Fan Chong exined the plot to Chen Ge. ¡°I¡¯ve tried all the choices, and there¡¯s no way you¡¯ll survive.¡±

    Chen Ge thought about it and chose three. ¡°The ghost¡¯s head wille over at midnight, so there¡¯s still chance to struggle.¡±

    After choosing three, Chen Ge found thread and a needle on the bedside table, the tools to make the step-father into a doll. ¡°The details are very spot-on. Even now, I¡¯m curious about the second choice.¡±

    Chen Ge was feeling regret when another chat box showed up¡ª¡¯The bell rang. Someone is standing outside the door.¡¯

    ¡°Who woulde at a time like this?¡± Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to walk back to the living room door, and the box popped up once more¡ª¡¯The person announces himself as the police. He received a report from the neighbor saying that there was a murder in the area. Someone witnessed a murder and he requested for your cooperation. What will you do?¡¯

    <i>1. Open the door and help the police capture the killer to take revenge for step-father.</i>

    <i>2. Tell him you¡¯ve already saved your step-father by turning him into a doll.</i>

    <i>3. Ignore him and go back to sleep.</i>

    Seeing the options, Chen Ge thought about it before concluding, ¡°The person outside the door probably isn¡¯t the police. He¡¯s probably the man in the raincoat from before, the real killer of her step-father.¡±

    ¡°Impressive, no wonder you¡¯re a Haunted House designer.¡± Fan Chong had yed it through a few times before he realized that. He noticed that there was a big difference between him and Boss Chen. The difference was not in terms of intelligence but the agility of the mind. Boss Chen could always easily put himself in the shoes of the crazed killer.

    ¡°The man in the raincoat ran into Xiao Bu at the elevator, and now he wants to take care of the loose end, so he¡¯se back to kill Xiao Bu. This matches how the game is set up.¡± Chen Ge moved the cursor to the second choice. ¡°If the step-father is saved, this might anger the killer, and after hearing that he¡¯s been exposed, he will go insane and force the door open. Xiao Bu is just a child, and there is no way she will survive. For the sake of safety, we¡¯ll go with three.¡±

    After hearing Chen Ge¡¯s analysis, Fan Chong had to nod. ¡°Option three is best for now, but when midnightes, the female ghost wille over from the other side, and there will be nowhere for you to run. You can only escape from home, and once you open the door, you¡¯ll realize that the murderer has not left.¡±

    ¡°Meaning, after I chose option three, the murderer who pretended to be the police didn¡¯t leave and waited for me toe out at the door?¡± Chen Ge looked at the screen. ¡°The design of this game sure is harsh.¡±

    ¡°Yes, all the options lead to death; there is no survival.¡± Fan Chong pulled on his hair in frustration.

    ¡°That¡¯s not entirely true.¡± Chen Ge thought about it and controlled Xiao Bu to open the balcony window. He clicked on the backpack and dropped the thread and cloth that he had just obtained out the window.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Fan Chong was confused.

    ¡°Attracting the attention of the other murderer. Didn¡¯t you say there¡¯s a crazed murderer dismembering his victim in the grass?¡± Chen Ge abandoned the items calmly. He was unable to shout in this game, and there was nothing else around him, or else he would have dropped something heavier.

    ¡°Attract the attention of the other killer?¡± Fan Chong and Fan Dade were lost. This way of thinking was way beyond theirs.

    ¡°Most serial killers are lone wolves because they have a w in their personality. They will feel unsettled around other people; the only person whom they can trust is themselves. If two murderers cross paths under such circumstances, the biggest oue is that they¡¯ll get into a fight between themselves.¡± Chen Ge dropped many items when a man in a factory outfit got out from the grass. He raised his head to look at Xiao Bu.

    After sharing a look, Chen Ge immediately controlled Xiao Bu to retreat. ¡°Now it is the most crucial time.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure that he wille up?¡± When Fan Chong yed the game, he did not do this, so he had no idea what would happen.

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand murderers. In that shared look, he was probably confirming the floor and the room that Xiao Bu was in. He will definitelye up to silence the witness.¡± Chen Ge realized something when he said that, and he added, ¡°I am just familiar with a murderer¡¯s MO, don¡¯t get any misunderstanding.¡±

    It was fine if he did not exin himself because once he did, both Fan Chong and Fan Dade shivered. Fan Chong was better, but Fan Dade waspletely wrought with worry. He felt this the most as the spectator.

    It was the same game. His own brother had yed it, and he had almost gotten depression from the pain and despair; however, when Chen Ge yed it, it was a different stylepletely¡ªhe was calm and confident. In fact, it felt like he found joy when he was ying the game.

 Chapter 518 - Scary Control

    <h4>Chapter 518: Scary Control</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°When I entered the building, I memorized all the routes. There are only two ways to move up and down the floors¡ªthe elevator or the stairs.¡± Chen Ge looked at the screen and was very calm. ¡°In a bit, we¡¯ll see what happens, and we¡¯ll pick the route that is further from the killers. Of course, the best result is they both kill each other.¡±

    Then, Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu into the kitchen.

    ¡°What are you looking for?¡± Fan Chong¡¯s heart was at his throat. The game had entered a phase that he had not experienced before. This made him excited and worried.

    ¡°I¡¯m looking for weapons like a cleaver or fruit knife. After the tussle between of the two murderers, the survivor will probably be injured as well. If we have a weapon with us, there¡¯s a greater chance of survival.¡±

    Fan Chong did not know how to reply to Chen Ge¡¯s exnation; this man felt like he was ying a survival game rather than a horror game. Looking around the kitchen, Chen Ge did not find any sharp objects; there was only thread and cloth in the room. ¡°Looks like the game prevents resistance from the yer; the yer can only hide and try their best to survive.¡±

    The graphics of the game were so-so, but the attention to detail was impressive, allowing the yer to enter the role of Xiao Bu seamlessly like they were the poor, defensive girl in the game. When Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to return to the balcony, the man in the factory outfit had already disappeared.

    Several minutester, there was a chat box¡ª¡¯The sound of fightinges from the door. The knife cut through skin, and it sounds like it punctured through a bag filled with water. Someone is running, and someone is chasing.¡¯

    ¡°The two murderers are fighting among themselves!¡± Fan Chong was more excited than Chen Ge when he saw the chat box. ¡°The two killers are too busy fighting among themselves; this is our chance!¡±

    The killer that blocked the door had left. Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to open the living room door¡ªthe corridor was dyed red by blood.

    ¡°The blood trailed toward the stairs, so they went toward it. We¡¯ll leave with the elevator!¡± Fan Chong¡¯s heart jumped to his throat. This was not the time to dawdle¡ªthe killer could return at any moment.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to hurry. The sky is already dark outside. Even if we leave this ce, where can we go? Didn¡¯t you say that you¡¯ll die mysteriously from walking through the street at night?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s brain was turning. ¡°Furthermore, if we take the elevator, the murderer will definitelye after us if he realizes that; it¡¯s too dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Then what do you suggest we do?¡± From Fan Chong¡¯s perspective, the ending was definitely death. The most that they were doing was dying the time of death.

    ¡°The killers running to the stairs is within my expectations because taking the elevator requires waiting; he had to take the stairs if he wants to escape.¡± Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to walk out from the room. Under the shocked gaze from Fan Chong and Fan Dade, they saw Xiao Bu stop at the door of her neighbor.

    ¡°What are you nning to do?¡± The brothers fixed their eyes on the screen.

    ¡°I n to deal with the other killer as well.¡± Chen Ge clicked on the backpack and dropped the remaining thread and cloth by the door of the ghost neighbor. This shocked Fan Chong and Fan Dade. After a long time, Fan Chong asked, ¡°Do you n to create the impression that Xiao Bu has gone hidden inside the neighbor¡¯s home, tricking the killer to go into the ghost neighbor¡¯s ce?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the ideal situation.¡± After dropping the stuff, Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to head to the stairs. The two killers ran down the stairs, and Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to stand at the corner of thending. In other words, if the killers turned back, they would have a hard time seeing her.

    ¡°You sure are courageous.¡± Fan Chong sighed sincerely.

    ¡°There¡¯s no other choice. You¡¯ll be discovered if you stay at home, and the killer will chase after you if you take the stairs, so I have to take matters into my own hand.¡± Chen Ge looked at the screen. Ten secondster, the man in the factory outfit ran up the stairs.

    ¡°Looks like the man in the raincoat lost.¡± Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to lean against the wall. From this angle, he had a good view of the killer. What happened next surprised Chen Ge. The man was cleverer than Chen Ge expected, unlike a designed NPC. In fact, he felt like an real, cold-blooded maniac.

    He did not enter Xiao Bu¡¯s home immediately. He rushed to the elevator and kept his head on Xiao Bu¡¯s home¡¯s door. After some minutes, he returned from the elevator. No one had used the elevator, so he was certain that Xiao Bu was on that floor.

    Holding a sharp knife, the man entered Xiao Bu¡¯s home. He opened the door and saw the dead body. Interestingly enough, the chat box appeared at a time like this; it seemed to be the killer¡¯s mumbling¡ª¡¯F*ck! I have to deal with four bodies tonight even though I only wanted to kill one!¡¯

    The man entered the room. He could not find Xiao Bu, and the chat box reappeared¡ª¡¯Where did the little girl wander off to? She saw me dismember the body, so she should still be in this building.¡¯

    The murderer searched the ce but was unable to find Xiao Bu. He walked out from the room and discovered the broken cloth on the ground¡ª¡¯The girl has left the room? There is blood on this cloth. Did she try to bandage the dead person¡¯s wound? The trail of cloth stops here...¡¯

    The killer stopped for a long time before the neighbor¡¯s door, then he knocked on it¡ª¡¯This is the police. I received a report from the tenants that there has been a murder. Please open the door to assist with the investigation.¡¯

    The door did fall open. The murderer had a wicked smirk and entered the room, holding the sharp knife.

    ¡°It¡¯s time for us to make our move.¡± Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to exit the stairwell. He clicked on the neighbor¡¯s door, and Xiao Bu closed the door.

    The chat box bounced up¡ª¡¯You can hear screams for mercy from inside the room, but you are unaffected.¡¯

    Ten minutester, a new tapping sound came from the door. On the screen, Xiao Bu stood at her neighbor¡¯s door. The girl in her mother¡¯s pajamas looked so innocent and cute, aplete contrast to the world around her. However, from Fan Chong and Fan Dade¡¯s perspective, this little girl was the scariest presence.

    ¡°You even closed the door?¡± Fan Chong drank the coke, needing to calm down. Fan Dade thought that Chen Ge was someone not normal, and he did not dare to breathe anymore watching him y the game.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m just helping society clear away the rubbish.¡± Chen Ge did not waste any time since night was falling. He controlled Xiao Bu to enter the stairwell and find the dead body of the man in the raincoat. He kept clicking on the body.

    ¡°What are you doing now?¡± Fan Chong had given up guessing Chen Ge¡¯s thought.

    ¡°To find the key or something useful. There¡¯s a ghost living next to Xiao Bu¡¯s home, so going back is impossible. If we can find the key on this man¡¯s body, then we¡¯ll go spend a night at the killer¡¯s home.¡±

 Chapter 519 - Danger in the Dark

    <h4>Chapter 519: Danger in the Dark</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Staying at the killer¡¯s ce?¡± Both Fan Chong and Fan Dade turned to look at Chen Ge in unison.

    ¡°The most dangerous ce is also the safest ce.¡± Chen Ge clicked on the dead man¡¯s body madly. When the cursor fell on the man¡¯s shirt pocket, a chat box popped up¡ª¡¯You ransacked the dead man¡¯s clothing and found a room card in the man¡¯s blood-soaked pocket.¡¯

    ¡°You really found something!¡± Fan Chong leaned forward to the screen, and his face was colored by curiosity.

    Putting the card in the backpack, Chen Ge kept clicking until the sound of a human head banging against the door became louder in the background. With regret, he walked down the stairs. ¡°There¡¯s no weapon. An opportunity like this is not going toe again in the future.¡±

    Chen Ge clicked on the backpack to look at the room card. The pure ck card was dyed with blood, and there was a number four written on the back. ¡°Fan Chong, how many hostels and hotels are there in this town?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s only one. The small hotel that I told you earlier where the owner is a killer and the chef is mental. All of the other tenants have been killed.¡±

    ¡°Is the hotel far from the residential area?¡±

    ¡°Not far, it¡¯s just a street away, but are you sure you want to go there?¡± Fan Chong did not quite understand Chen Ge¡¯s thoughts. ¡°Haven¡¯t we just killed all the murderers at the residential area? All we need to do now is stay put and wait until dawn breaks.¡±

    He saw that Chen Ge was still hesitating. He reached out to touch Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me... you¡¯re nning to use this little girl to deal with an entire hotel of crazed people?¡±

    ¡°How are we supposed to do that without even a fruit knife?¡± Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to walk down the stairs. The weird thing was that the banging sound in the background did not soften due to the distance but instead became louder.

    ¡°Then why are you leaving?¡±

    ¡°Focus on the background music. The tapping sound is made by the ghost; it has be more rapid. This means that after we lured the murderer into the neighbor¡¯s home, the ghost inside it has gone rampage.¡± Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu toe to the ground floor. He looked at the dark street. ¡°Why would you die when walking down the street at night? When you were ying, was there any warning before you die?¡±

    ¡°There was no warning. You just die like that, like that is an invisible killer roaming the streets.¡±

    ¡°Invisible killer?¡± Chen Ge shook his head. ¡°The many scenarios of this game are inspired by things that happened in real life, so it shouldn¡¯t be too fantastical.¡±

    ¡°Bro, the whole town is filled with ghosts and killers, isn¡¯t that fantastical enough?¡±

    ¡°That is still eptable. At the very least, it doesn¡¯t go against the game designer¡¯s setting.¡± Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to walk back and forth between thending of the first floor and second floor. Fan Chong really did not understand what Chen Ge was up to. After holding it in for quite some time, he finally asked, ¡°Boss Chen, what are you doing this time?¡±

    ¡°Things are not looking great.¡± Chen Ge looked at the screen andmented, ¡°A game¡¯s control normally decides how it will scare the yer. Did you notice as the time of survival increases, the speed of Xiao Bu¡¯s movement increases?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that a good thing?¡± Fan Chong looked at Xiao Bu running back and forth and realized that she did move a little bit faster.

    ¡°The creator won¡¯t be so kind for no reason. This is a game where you can¡¯t run away from despair. The increase in Xiao Bu¡¯s speed means that we will run into something faster and scarierter.¡± Chen Ge held his chin with one hand. ¡°If I¡¯m not mistaken, we¡¯ll be running away from more than murderers after midnight.¡±

    What Chen Ge said chilled Fan Chong¡¯s heart. ¡°Killers, ghosts, traps, and death mechanisms that will trigger randomly, the creator doesn¡¯t want any yer to clear the game.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t just see this as a mere game, try to figure out why the creator created this game. Only by understanding what the creator is trying to express and by following his train of thought will we be able to find the answer.¡± Chen Ge had been trying to do that. Fan Chong was ying the game, but he was trying to see things from the creator¡¯s perspective.

    Every game would express an emotion, be it rage, resentment, or sadness. However, to his surprise, even though the game was deeply despairing, there was no emotion; Xiao Bu was like an emotionless robot. She would not feel fear or pain, nor did she worry about her family. She was very detached.

    <i>This main character, Xiao Bu, is very interesting. After seeing her step-father¡¯s body, she even thought of changing him into a doll; this isn¡¯t a normal child, but what exactly happened to her that made her this way? Is what I¡¯m experiencing a reflection of what Xiao Bu experienced before?</i>

    Chen Ge was deep in his thought when Fan Chong drew him back to reality. ¡°Then what should we do now?¡±

    ¡°Our most important mission is to survive this night. The stairwell is temporarily safe, so we should stay here for now. After the ghost from the neighbor¡¯s homees out, we¡¯ll go to the hotel.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s mind was sharp. ¡°The only thing that worries me now is triggering the death mechanism when we cross the street.¡±

    ¡°Do you really think that way? Howe I feel like you¡¯re waiting for the ghost toe out and use your own body to lure it to the hotel?¡± Fan Chong asked softly.

    ¡°Well, you gotta do what you gotta do.¡± Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to walk back and forth; he had mastered Xiao Bu¡¯s speed and walking method. ¡°This is an open world game, so we can¡¯t stay here the whole night. After luring the ghost away, this area will be safe, and we cane back if necessary.¡±

    Through the background music, the sound of banging increased. Chen Ge moved the cursor to afortable space. ¡°She should being soon.¡±

    As he finished, on the screen, a woman holding her own head appeared on the second floor¡¯s corner, and her shirt was red with blood.

    <i>A Red Specter? </i>Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to run out the stairs. He did not forget to adjust the angle to observe the female ghost holding her own head.<i>Counting the woman in the red raincoat, this is the second Red Specter in this town.</i>

    In the game, the ghost moved fast. Chen Ge became serious and controlled Xiao Bu to run crazily. Chen Ge managed to escape the residential area in a few seconds. There was no light on the street. Chen Ge narrowed his eyes, and he managed to see the roads with the use of his Yin Yang Vision.

    He controlled Xiao Bu to run toward the hotel. When she passed a window, the window suddenly opened, and an arm reached out, attempting to grab Xiao Bu. Thankfully, Chen Ge had Yin Yang Vision. When he saw the arm, he changed direction immediately and escaped narrowly.

    ¡°The danger is lurking in the dark!¡± Sweat slid down Chen Ge¡¯s face. Fan Dade and Fan Chong saw the dark screen and could not understand why this man was crazily moving the mouse and typing madly on the keyboard.

 Chapter 520 - Hotel

    <h4>Chapter 520: Hotel</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°What is he doing?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea.¡± Neither Fan Dade nor Fan Chong dared interrupt Chen Ge; they felt like Chen Ge had entered a certain state. In reality, Chen Ge did not have time for the brothers as well, he was fully focused on controlling Xiao Bu to escape the dangers hiding within the darkness.

    The game creator was definitely insane. There were many threats hiding in the dark¡ªthe arms that suddenly reached out from the windows, the murderers that hid around the corner, the female ghost that chased after her, and the sound ofughing and barkinging from the some ce. If it was just those things, Chen Ge would not have been so worried; the real thing that concerned him was something else.

    After running for about half a minute down the dark street, Chen Ge saw something behind Xiao Bu standing up.

    It looked like her shadow.

    <i>Has something entered her shadow? Or can the night in the small town awaken one¡¯s shadow?</i>

    Chen Ge was in a highly intense state. He did not dare split his focus, but his mind kept shing back to what had happened that night at the fresh water nt. All the ghosts in Eastern Jiujiang seemed to be rted to that shadow.

    When Xiao Bu¡¯s shadow in the game stood up, it leaned on Xiao Bu¡¯s shoulder to whisper something, and Xiao Bu¡¯s speed started to slow down.

    ¡°Fan Chong, how far are we from the hotel?¡± Chen Ge asked in a hurry without turning his head.

    ¡°It¡¯s just in front, the only building that you can enter at the end of the street!¡±

    ¡°It dares to be open at midnight; this hotel is also something else.¡± Chen Ge could already make out the shape of the old building in the dark. He controlled Xiao Bu and dashed left and right, the sound of mouse and keyboard reverberating across Fan Chong¡¯s room. On the fifty-seventh second after she left the residential area, Xiao Bu arrived at the hotel. The female in red holding her head stopped outside the hotel and did not follow Xiao Bu.

    ¡°The female ghost doesn¡¯t dare toe in?¡± When Chen Ge saw the ghost stop, he also paused Xiao Bu immediately. He controlled Xiao Bu to wander up and down the hotel entrance, trying his best to lure the female ghost in.

    ¡°Boss Chen, what are you doing? Taunting her?¡± Fan Chong really could not understand Chen Ge¡¯s actions.

    ¡°If I don¡¯t pull her into the hotel, how do you think we are supposed to deal with the owner? Xiao Bu is just a harmless child¡ªhow is she supposed to fight with these crazed murderers?¡± Xiao Bu danced at the door. The female ghost wanted to charge forward. The expression of the head that she was holding was conflicted.

    <i>Even as a Red Specter, she is so careful. The quality of the ghosts in Eastern Jiujiang sure is impressive.</i>

    Chen Ge tried for a long time, and eventually, the Red Specter lost her patience and prepared to head into the hotel. However, before she got in, a rotund man from the room next door suddenly charged out and mmed the front door shut.

    At the same time, a chat box came up¡ª¡¯There was a tapping sound on the hotel¡¯s wooden door. It was unclear when the customer outside would have the chance toe in.¡¯

    Clicking the chat box, the second sentence appeared, and this time, it came with the profile of the fat man. It seemed to be him talking¡ª¡¯Every night, some weird customerse visiting. They are very dangerous. I only have one bullet left in this hunting rifle left behind by dad, so we have to be careful.¡¯

    ¡°Is this the mad owner that you mentioned? He looks quite friendly.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the screen. After entering the hotel, Xiao Bu¡¯s shadow had already returned to normal. Based on Chen Ge¡¯s analysis, this was a trigger added by the game designer. After dark, they were not supposed to wander the street for more than one minute or they would be killed by their own shadow.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be fooled by his fa?ade; this mad man has killed all the guests in his hotel. After you check in, there¡¯s no checking out.¡± Fan Chong¡¯s voice was trembling¡ªthis hotel owner had given him quite a deep mental scar.

    ¡°Tell me when the owner will go mad¡ªat least I can be prepared.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t receive a room card. When I arrived at the hotel, the owner kindly gave me a free room.¡± Fan Chong started to exin his experience. ¡°I stayed quietly in my room, thinking that I¡¯d just stay there until dawn. However, several minutester, the room door creaked open. I saw the owner standing outside the door with a cleaver. The insane thing was that he did not move, and he had a smile on his face. If you ignore him, he will open the door wider and wider until he charges into the room and stabs you!¡±

    ¡°That scary?¡± Chen Ge clicked on the screen. The owner had asked him whether he had a room card or not. Chen Ge clicked on the backpack and showed the card for Room 4, which he had taken from the man in the raincoat. The owner nced at the card and told Chen Ge that there would be supper at midnight, and he hoped that all the guests woulde.

    ¡°Supper at midnight? Are the ingredients the guests?¡± Chen Ge turned back to look at Fan Chong. ¡°Have you experienced this scenario before?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t possess the room card, so our plot ispletely different. I have seen all the other tenants, but when I saw them, they were already dead.¡± Fan Chong shrugged helplessly. He wanted to help Chen Ge, but he could not.

    ¡°What do you know about the other guests?¡± Chen Ge was quite surprised; this was an important find. ¡°Tell me everything you know. Perhaps I can cooperate with the other tenants to find a way out.¡±

    ¡°The owner¡¯s father has Room 1. There is a picture of him and the owner in his room. The man seems to possess the spare keys for all the room. There¡¯s a woman in Room 2; she has a revealing outfit on, and if I¡¯m not mistaken, she¡¯s a woman of the night. Room 3 has a student who carries a school bag, and there¡¯s a phone inside the bag. Room 4 is empty. Room 5 has a guest wearing a police uniform, but it¡¯s unclear whether he¡¯s a real cop or a fake one.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s even a police officer?¡± Chen Ge nodded. Fan Chong had given him plenty of clues.

    ¡°If there are other guests, the chance of surviving tonight has gotten much bigger.¡± He controlled Xiao Bu to go the room, but once he closed the door, there was a gun shot. Then the chat box popped up¡ª¡¯You heard the sound of gunfire. There seems to have been a murder at the hotel. What will you do?¡¯

    <i>1. Find the owner to ask what happened.</i>

    <i>2. Find the police to ask for his help.</i>

    <i>3. Ignore them and go to bed.</i>

    The cursor wandered back and forth between the three choices, and Chen Ge prepared to choose the third choice after some hesitation.

    ¡°Why would you go to sleep at a time like this?¡± Fan Chong quickly stopped Chen Ge. ¡°Don¡¯t be reckless. This third choice is rather weird, and I fear it might affect the future plot.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to think. The gunshot came from the hunting rifle, so it should be the owner who fired it. The first choice is a dead end.¡±

    ¡°Then, we can go find the police!¡±

    ¡°What police?¡± Chen Ge picked the third choice. ¡°The owner only has one bullet in his rifle, and in these circumstances, he will definitely kill the police. In fact, he might be at the police officer¡¯s room now.¡±

    ¡°The owner is inside the police officer¡¯s room?¡±

    ¡°You need to see this from the perspective of the killer. The police officer might have a gun, and after obtaining that, he can continue to massacre the rest of the hotel guests. So other than the third choice, the other two are not eptable.¡± Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to open the door of Room 4 and run to Room 1, which was furthest from the police officer¡¯s room.

 Chapter 521 - The One Trustworthy Person

    <h4>Chapter 521: The One Trustworthy Person</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The time between the choices being revealed and a decision being made was only several seconds. Chen Ge showed inhuman calmness. When Fan Chong finally caught up to his reasoning, Chen Ge had already controlled Xiao Bu to reach Room 1.

    He used the cursor to click on the door, and the chat box read¡ª¡¯Your room card is unable to open this door. You leaned against the door and heard sighinging from within.¡¯

    ording to Fan Chong¡¯s description, the owner¡¯s father would die soon in Room 1. The old man probably knew the type of person that his son was and knew that his time wasing. Room 1 was locked, so Chen Ge did not stay for long. He rushed to Room 2, where a woman believed to be ady of the night stayed.

    He clicked on the room door, and this time, the door swung open without resistance. ¡°Does this woman not lock her door when she sleeps?¡±

    Entering Room 2, Chen Ge saw a woman in her undergarment kneeling next to arge box. It looked like she was picking her clothes.

    ¡°Boss Chen, be careful. When I entered Room 2 earlier, there was no box in the room,¡± Fan Chong warned. Chen Ge stopped moving. All of the tenants of this hotel could be killers.

    Chen Ge tried to use the cursor to click on the woman, and a new selection appeared on screen¡ª¡¯This woman who looked sexy and beautiful is selecting her clothes. Do you want to tell her about the murder that happened earlier?¡¯

    <i>1. Tell her that the hotel is very dangerous and she needs to be careful.</i>

    <i>2. Grab the table light and swing it at the back of her head.</i>

    <i>3. Ignore her and go back to sleep.</i>

    Looking at the three choices, Chen Ge started to think. ¡°Those who are kind will pick Choice 1, but going too close to her might be dangerous¡ªthe woman has not gained my trust. Those who are evil will probably pick 2, but after a rational analysis, with Xiao Bu¡¯s strength and the weight of the tablemp, no matter the angle, there is no way that the woman will be knocked dead or unconscious. The choice is rather fake¡ªit would be better if there was a knife.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s analysis scared Fan Chong, and he silently moved the fruit knife that was on the table further away. After a brief hesitation, Chen Ge picked the third choice. When he made that choice, the woman squatting at the corner turned around to nce his way.

    There was no skin on her face, and she had a knife in her hand. A silky white arm was poking out from therge box.

    ¡°Is she changing clothes or changing face?¡± Chen Ge hurriedly controlled Xiao Bu to leave the woman¡¯s room and helped her close the door. ¡°The hotel owner is a murderer, and the guests are either insane or maniacs; am I the only one that is normal at this small town?¡±

    ¡°Boss Chen, how about we leave the hotel? I think this ce is more dangerous than the residential area.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s still a female ghost outside the door¡ªhow are we supposed to leave?¡± Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to Room 3. ¡°The high-schooler can¡¯t be a murderer as well, right?¡±

    He was afraid that the woman from Room 2 woulde out, so he clicked on the door of Room 3 quickly. The chat box appeared again¡ª¡¯Someone was talking on the phone inside the room. He spoke very softly, but you could hear terms like big brother, mother, hiding body, and hidden room.¡¯

    ¡°This guest in Room 3 is very weird as well, who is he talking to?¡± Chen Ge looked at the screen and contemted.

    ¡°Could it be his father? The phone mentioned big brother and mother but not the father.¡± Fan Chong made a prediction. ¡°Boss Chen, this guest might be the only person who can help Xiao Bu.¡±

    ¡°Why would you think that?¡± Chen Ge was surprised.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say to think from the perspective of the game creator? I¡¯ve yed this game for a few weeks already and have died several times, but that has given me a brief understanding of this world.¡±

    With Chen Ge¡¯s guidance, Fan Chong started to give his analysis. ¡°All the adults are either ghosts or crazy maniacs, while all the children are victims. This could be how the creator views the world¡ªadults are fake and scary, and the only ce to find innocence and kindness is from children. The high-schooler is technically not an adult; he¡¯s between a child and an adult, so I think you should try to approach him.¡±

    Fan Chong knew that this game was not a simple game; it had a very deepyer to it, but with his current understanding, he could only understand so much.

    ¡°You¡¯re underestimating the game. Xiao Bu¡¯s worldview is filled with despair. To understand this game¡¯s world, we have to understand Xiao Bu, this main character.¡± Chen Ge turned back to look at Fan Chong. ¡°The name of every child in this game is Xiao Bu, and every child that died, killed, and ran into misfortune is called Xiao Bu. Would you call a child like this to be kind and innocent?¡±

    Chen Ge turned back to the screen. ¡°Actually, after ying for so long, the longer I control Xiao Bu in this strange world, the more unsettled I feel. You¡¯ve done the research¡ªall the tragedies that happen in this game is based on real life cases. Then have you considered a problem. If this Xiao Bu really does exist in real life, how did she manage to survive after experiencing so many scary and despairing tragedies?¡±

    Chen Ge spoke quickly, and neither Fan Chong nor Fan Dade grasped what he was trying to say. ¡°Boss Chen, what are you trying to say?¡±

    ¡°The things that I controlled Xiao Bu to do, Xiao Bu might have really done them in real life.¡± Chen Ge had a brief idea what the core of the game was. He still wanted to exin some more, but there was change on the screen.

    Room 3 opened, and a student in a school uniform stood at the door. Then the chat box appeared¡ª¡¯It¡¯s dangerous outside. The guest of Room 3 was worried about your safety and invited you to join him in his room. You stood at the door and saw a family photo in the guest¡¯s hands. It was a picture of a father and mother standing happily together, and next to them was a pair of boys who looked suspiciously simr.¡¯

    Chen Ge clicked the chat box again, and there was new content¡ª¡¯You overheard the boy talk about hiding the body on the phone. You were afraid, and you refused to enter the room. Guest 3 swore to God that even though he hadmitted murder, he was forced. He was the only trustworthy person in that town.¡¯

    ¡°See, I was right. This high-schooler will be our biggest aid.¡± Fan Chong was happy that he had helped.

    ¡°Those who call themselves trustworthy are almost always not.¡± Chen Ge shook his head. He clicked the chat box again, and thest sentence appeared¡ª¡¯You¡¯re curious about Guest 3, so you decide to listen to his story beforeing to a decision.¡¯

 Chapter 522 - Equal Share

    <h4>Chapter 522: Equal Share</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I have an older brother who looks very simr to me, but our personalities are very different. I¡¯m reserved and obedient, but my older brother likes to create trouble no matter where he goes.

    ¡°One time, my brother and father got into a serious argument, and it got physical. In the panic, my brother identally shed my father. At the time, I was there as well but did not expect this to happen. I tried to stop him, but he turned on me and tried to kill me. In that process, I identally stabbed him.

    ¡°When mother returned, both big brother and father were dead. A perfect family was shattered. Mother knows me well and understands that I would never lie and kill, so she helped me lie during the police¡¯s interrogation and pushed all the me onto my brother.

    ¡°Everyone at this city is mentally deranged, but I¡¯m the only exception because I never intended to kill anyone; it was just an ident.¡±

    Guest 3 told his story. When he was done, the chat box asked¡ª¡¯What will you do next?¡¯

    <i>1. Enter the room and tell him about the danger lurking at the hotel.</i>

    <i>2. Do not enter the room and ask him to scout the other rooms for you.</i>

    <i>3. Ignore him and go to sleep.</i>

    Entering the room meant leaving his life in the student¡¯s hands while asking the student to scout for him meant asking the student to go to die on his behalf. Choices one and two represented good and evil.

    ¡°Shall we take a risk? I don¡¯t think this student sounds like a bad person.¡± Without knowing it, Fan Chang had already finished drinking the coke as his eyes wandered between Chen Ge and theputer screen.

    ¡°We¡¯re not taking any risk; this student is definitely lying to us,¡± Chen Ge said confidently and chose the third choice.

    ¡°But it was due to self-defense that he killed someone. Plus, look at his mannerisms and reaction¡ªhe¡¯spletely different from those murderers that we¡¯ve met. He looks shy and reserved; a child like this probably wouldn¡¯t kill someone.¡± This time, it was Fan Dade who spoke. He shared his brother¡¯s view.

    ¡°Theck of confidence means a defect in his personality; most murderers spent their childhood in shame and fear. They are incrediblycking in confidence, but at the same time, they desperately wish for respect, and that is why their personality gets twistedter in life.¡± Chen Ge got tired of exining. ¡°This student is very dangerous, but he is not strong enough, so he goes after targets weaker than him.¡±

    ¡°You mean, he¡¯s lying?¡± Fan Chong opened another can of coke. It was already midnight, but he was not feeling sleepy.

    ¡°I can be sure that this student is lying. Think about it, if his mother really pushed all the me onto the big brother, why would he appear in this town full of murderers at midnight?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice was low. ¡°Now, I have two spections. One, he killed his big brother and father and then pinned everything on his brother. He made use of his mother¡¯s trust to escape the persecution. Two, this student is the big brother. He killed his father and his little brother, and to escape thew, he assumed the character of his little brother.¡±

    When Chen Ge was done, both Fan Chong and Fan Dade were silent, unable to find an argument to counter. They were covered in cold sweat.

    ¡°The possibility of it being the second spection is higher.¡± Chen Ge looked at the screen, chose the third option, and controlled Xiao Bu to leave in a hurry. ¡°Him appearing in this town means that he probably has killed his mother as well, and the reason for that is simple. Even if they¡¯re twins, no matter how hard he tried, his mother would have been able to tell the difference.¡±

    After getting to know the hotel¡¯syout, Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to head to the entrance. He was prepared to let the Red Specter into the hotel. ¡°There are no innocent people in this hotel, but they should be able to buy me some time.¡±

    Chen Ge came to the door and saw a fatty standing in the lobby. He had a chef¡¯s hat on and was arranging many pieces of cake on the dining table.

    ¡°That is the hotel¡¯s chef. He¡¯s crazy, but I¡¯ve never seen him kill anyone,¡± Fan Chong whispered. Chen Ge nodded as he controlled Xiao Bu to stay away from the chef. However, whenever she neared the entrance, the chef would walk her way.

    After wasting a few minutes at the lobby, Chen Ge tried to click on the chef with the cursor, and the chat box appeared¡ª¡¯The tapping continues. It¡¯s midnight, time for supper at the hotel.¡¯

    After the chat box disappeared. The old man, the woman, the student, and the hotel owner came out from the guest rooms. The police officer was nowhere to be seen. The owner stood next to the chef, and adjacent to them were four chairs. There were nine pieces of cake on the table.

    After everyone came, four options appeared¡ª¡¯Please pick a seat.¡¯

    <i>1. Sit between the chef and the old man.</i>

    <i>2. Sit between the old man and the woman.</i>

    <i>3. Sit between the woman and the student.</i>

    <i>4. Sit at the end of the table.</i>

    There was finally no ignore and sleep option, but Chen Ge did not know how to pick. ¡°Why would the game suddenly ask me to pick a seat, and what¡¯s the meaning of different seating arrangement?¡±

    Chen Ge did not get it. For the sake of safety, he chose four and sat at the end of the table alone. After he made the choice, the other characters also took their seats. When Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to take her seat, the chat box appeared¡ª¡¯The chef ced the knife on the table. He and the hotel owner looked at the guests with bright smiles and posed a question: How do you split nine pieces of cake evenly among four guests with just one cut of the knife?¡¯

    ¡°Four people sharing nine pieces of cake? Cut three pieces down the middle? That won¡¯t work¡ªthe request is equal sharing.¡± Fan Chong and Fan Dade were deep in thought. Neither of them realized that Chen Ge, who saw the sharp knife, waspletely excited!

    ¡°This should be the owner purposely making things difficult for the guests. No matter how you slice it, there can¡¯t be equal sharing.¡± Fan Dade was a chef, and he could note up with a solution.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, no matter how you cut it, the icing on the cake will stick to the knife somehow. There can¡¯t be an equal in this situation.¡± The brothers were discussing it when they saw the old man, woman, student, and Xiao Bu that Chen Ge controlled reach for the knife at the same time!

    They were all different distances away from the knife. Xiao Bu was furthest, and the old man was closest.

    ¡°This is bad!¡± Chen Ge saw the old man pick up the knife, and he immediately controlled Xiao Bu to run away!

    ¡°Why are you running?¡± Fan Chong and Fan Dade were confused. ¡°Aren¡¯t we supposed to answer the question? Why are you running?¡±

    Xiao Bu ran without even turning back. On screen, the old man who held the knife shed at the woman next to him with his full strength!

    ¡°How do you share nine pieces of cake among four people with one cut? Simple, cut the four people down to three!¡±

 Chapter 523 - The Last Secret at the Hotel

    <h4>Chapter 523: The Last Secret at the Hotel</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The old man¡¯s knife came at the woman¡¯s neck. Before the knife fell, the woman quickly evaded, and the knife fell on her shoulder. Blood sttered on the dining table, and the old man, the woman, and the student got into a physical altercation.

    The old man wanted to kill the woman, but the woman resisted. The student tried to grab the knife. Since the old man did not kill the woman with one cut, he had already failed, so it was now his chance.

    Of the four guests, only Xiao Bu stayed away. ¡°They¡¯re really a bunch of crazies. If we could just sit down and talk this over, even if the owner has a gun, we would still have chance of survival. Such a shame.¡±

    The owner and the chef watched happily as the three guests tried to kill one another. Chen Ge made use of this chance when their attention was distracted to walk to the entrance and click the cursor madly on the door.

    He let the female ghost holding her head in. ¡°This hotel can operate at night, so there has to be a dark secret hiding at this ce. When the ghost chased Xiao Bu to the hotel, she hesitated for a long time beforeing in. This means that she felt threatened.¡±

    Standing in the dark street, the ghost who knocked her head against the door for a long time was filled with anger. When she saw Xiao Bu, she rushed directly into the hotel.

    ¡°What did I do to deserve such resentment? Could her death be rted to Xiao Bu¡¯s step-father? Since the man has already died and her resentment cannot find any release, is she channeling it toward Xiao Bu?¡± Chen Ge felt like the female ghost¡¯s presence was more like a game mechanism aimed to make sure that the yer did not stay in one ce for too long.

    Moving the mouse, Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to run deeper into the hotel to introduce distance between them. He calcted the distance between himself and the hotel entrance. If there was a change to the situation, he would leave immediately. Three gunshots shattered the background music¡ªthe hotel owner fired at the female ghost.

    ¡°Fight, have fun fighting among yourselves.¡± Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to hide in the corner. The female ghost¡¯s head rolled on the ground as it chased the group of crazed murderers.

    ¡°Boss Chen, what should we do now? Leave the hotel now?¡± Fan Chong¡¯s reasoning had really improved that night. After seeing Chen Ge work the controls, he had realized that there were different ways that the game could be yed. The originally quiet hotel was now a mess, and Xiao Bu, who Chen Ge controlled, was the source of that mess.

    ¡°You told me earlier that the old man is the owner¡¯s father, and he has the spare keys to the hotel, right?¡± Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to lean against the wall and moved toward the guest rooms.

    ¡°Our plots arepletely different. When I arrived at the hotel, the old man was already shot dead, and I found the keys in the drawer inside his room.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s get the keys first then.¡± Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to enter Room 1. The room belonged to the old man, and there were many pictures on the wall. There was a picture of the old man with the hotel owner as well as a picture of the old man when he was young standing next to a woman. ¡°Is the woman the old man¡¯s wife?¡±

    Chen Ge used the cursor to click on the drawer, and the chat box appeared¡ª¡¯You saw a rusted key, many human teeth, and an old notebook.¡¯

    ¡°The old man has the weird habit of collecting people¡¯s teeth?¡±

    Chen Ge clicked on the notebook, and the chat box scrolled down.

    ¡®1st March, my husband has gone mad. He trapped me inside the hidden room behind the kitchen refrigerator and only gave me three pieces of bread and one ss of water each day. He forbade me from leaving and forbade me from interacting with the guests. He has lost his mind.

    ¡®2nd March. The chef is making something tasty. I smell meat. So hungry. The mad man is purposely torturing me!

    ¡®1st April. I¡¯ve been hungry for so long. I need to escape this ce. Right, I¡¯ll sneak out tonight.

    ¡®2nd April. I was discovered, and we had a fight. The madman is so scary when he¡¯s angry. Like a crazed brown bear, he tackled me and pulled out my teeth.

    ¡®5th May. So hungry. I¡¯ll be tortured to my death if I stay here. I must find a way to leave!

    ¡®6th June. Who can save me? My husband is a devil. He tried to pull out all of my teeth, this insane man!

    ¡®1st November. I will never taste meat again. So hungry, so hungry...¡¯

    The content of the notebook was very weird. On the surface, it recorded the madness the old man when he was young, but after reading it closer, Chen Ge realized that things were not so simple. However, before he could figure it out, another gunshot went off again. Then three options appeared on screen¡ª¡¯You finished reading the diary of the old man¡¯s view and found out the hotel¡¯s biggest secret. Please choose one of the following to bring with you, the item that you think is most important.¡¯

    <i>1. You choose the rusted key because you believe that this is the spare key to the hotel entrance.</i>

    <i>2. You choose the human teeth because you believe they are valuable mementoes.</i>

    <i>3. You choose the notebook because you believe it is hiding an important clue.</i>

    Looking at the options, Chen Ge frowned. ¡°Fan Chong, have you been given these choices before?¡±

    ¡°Yes, these three options pop out after you open the drawer. Back then, I chose the hotel key because you can enter and leave the hotel whenever you want with it even if it¡¯s locked.¡± Fan Chong thought about it before shaking his head. He had a feeling that he might be thinking the same thing as Chen Ge this time.

    ¡°Looks like we can remove option one.¡± Chen Ge seemed to be talking to himself. The cursor alternated between option two and three.

    ¡°Let¡¯s choose three. The notebook probably has its unique usage. I¡¯ve seen many scary movies, and the notebook usually contains a message left behind by the murderer or victim.¡± Fan Dade could only use his own life experience to make the choice.

    ¡°The notebook is indeed important, but haven¡¯t we already read its content?¡± Hearing what Fan Dade said, Chen Ge shook his head and chose the second option.

    ¡°The teeth? What use could they have?¡± Fan Dade and Fan Chong were confused, but they did not dare challenge Chen Ge openly, so they just whispered among themselves.

    ¡°It should be the teeth,¡± Chen Ge exined. ¡°When the options showed up, the question also attached the statement, ¡®you finished reading the diary of the old man¡¯s view and found out the hotel¡¯s biggest secret.¡¯¡±

    ¡°But what can that prove?¡± Fan Chong still thought the key was the most important.

    ¡°The biggest secret at the hotel is about the old man¡¯s wife. In other words, the reason the hotel has be like this is because of his wife.¡± Chen Ge used the cursor to click on the notebook to read it again.

    ¡°The old man¡¯s wife should be innocent.¡± Fan Dade also could not understand Chen Ge¡¯s choice. ¡°Both her husband and her son are maniacs. She was captured, detained, and had her teeth pulled out. She was tortured; she was just a victim.¡±

 Chapter 524 - Clearing the Game with One Life!

    <h4>Chapter 524: Clearing the Game with One Life!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°The birth of a murderer has plenty to do with his living environment. The hotel owner and the old man have such a cavalier attitude toward human lives¡ªthere has to be a reason, and that reason should have plenty to do with the old man¡¯s wife.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes darkened. ¡°Pay attention to the notebook¡¯s content. On the first of March, the wife was captured. She said that her husband had gone insane and would only give her three slices of bread and one ss of water each day. For a normal person, that¡¯s enough food to live; the old man was probably purposely trying to limit her food intake.

    ¡°Then, you pay attention to theter content. The wife¡¯s diary circtes around the topic of food. The way the old man tortures her is not by breaking her limbs but by pulling out her teeth. This proves that he hates that she was consuming food.

    ¡°In a normal family, why would the husband hate his wife eating? Did the wife have an eating disorder? On the first of march, when the wife was captured, the husband stopped the wife from approaching other guests¡ªwhy would he do that?

    ¡°On the sixth of June, the husband pulled out all of his wife¡¯s teeth. What could she have done to deserve such a punishment? What did she eat to make her husbandmit to such a crazy act?¡±

    What Chen Ge said made Fan Chong and Fan Dade fearful. ¡°Could the wife be a cannibal? Did she consume a guest on the first of March?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s possible.¡± Chen Ge pointed at thest entry on the notebook. ¡°On the sixth of June, all of the wife¡¯s teeth were removed, and the wife took down herst entry on the first of November. She said that she could not have meat anymore, and she could not survive a day without meat since the first of November, so shemitted suicide.¡±

    ¡°Suicide?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the wife¡¯s death is the start of the change in the hotel.¡± Chen Ge did not say everything. He predicted that the wife had turned into a Specter after her death, and the old man and the owner were made twisted to fulfil the ghost wife¡¯s wish.

    ¡°But what does that have to do with you choosing to bring the teeth?¡± Fan Chong was still clueless about that.

    ¡°You¡¯ll see.¡± Chen Ge had great experience dealing with ghosts. He knew that most ghosts had something that they would attach their spirit to. The wife had loved eating meat when she was alive, and even if she did not possess the teeth after her death, they would mean a lot to her.

    ¡°There has to be a reason that these teeth are hidden inside the old man¡¯s drawer.¡± Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to run toward the kitchen. ¡°The fact that the hotel dares to operate at midnight means that they¡¯re not afraid of normal ghosts. That confidence probablyes from the wife.¡±

    When Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to head into the kitchen, the bloodied man was crawling his way to Room 1. The other guests and the chef had been consumed by the Red Specter. Right now, she was chasing after the hotel owner.

    ¡°Sure is scary.¡± Chen Ge did not waste any more time. He headed into the kitchen and stood before the refrigerator. ¡°Inside the notebook, it said that the old man initially locked his wife inside the hidden room behind the fridge.¡±

    ¡°Based on what you said, the old man¡¯s wife has already turned into a ghost. After you sure you want to attract her attention while you already have a female ghost on your back?¡± Fan Chong held the coke in his hand, and he found it difficult to calm down.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. She¡¯s the key to us solving this problem tonight!¡± Chen Ge used the cursor to click on the fridge. The door opened, and the back of the fridge was carved out. It was hiding a monster with thin limbs but arge stomach.

    The monster had its mouth that was toothless fully opened. Its eyes were closed, waiting for people to feed her. Seeing the monster, both Fan Chong and Fan Dade nudged backward, feeling very ufortable, but Chen Ge acted differently. He moved the mouse to adjust Xiao Bu¡¯s position to make the girl look right at the monster. After noting the red outfit that the monster was wearing, a satisfied smile appeared on his face, and he mumbled something weird, like only a Red Specter could deal with a Red Specter.

    ¡°She should be able to wake up after recing her teeth.¡± Chen Ge clicked the backpack but did not put the teeth back immediately. He controlled Xiao Bu to run to the kitchen door and silently watched the female ghost chase after the hotel owner. After all the murderers in the hotel were taken care of by the ghost, Xiao Bu returned to the fridge.

    When the teeth fell into the monster¡¯s gaping maw, the monster¡¯s eyes flew open and zeroed in on Xiao Bu. At the same time, the female ghost holding her head also spotted Xiao Bu.

    The atmosphere was weird. Be it the two female Red Specters in the game or Fan Chong and Fan Dade in real life, every person and ghost remained still.

    ¡°She probably did not expect to run into her.¡± Chen Ge moved his fingers. Before the two Specters came to, Xiao Bu ran away. The girl¡¯s movement cause the two ghosts to make their move.

    The ghost holding her head had just killed the fridge ghost¡¯s husband and son; their fresh bodies were still on the ground. The fridge ghost¡¯s eyes were red as she charged at the enemy. The two Red Specters fought among themselves. Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to run away. He sneaked to the owner¡¯s dead body and clicked on it madly. ¡°Where¡¯s the gun?¡±

    There was no message on the screen. Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to run to the dining table and pick up the knife used to cut the cake. ¡°This should work.¡±

    Under Chen Ge¡¯s control, the cute and innocent Xiao Bu was like the darkest boss. She held the knife in her hand and stood at the entrance, watching the fight between the two Red Specters.

    Probably because she had consumed more souls, the fridge ghost was more powerful than the ghost holding her head. Soon, thetter was overwhelmed, and the former swallowed the ghost holding her head.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to leave.¡± Chen Ge was satisfied with this result. ¡°After the ghost holding her head is taken care of, the residential area should be safe. There¡¯s a ce that I can spend the night.¡±

    Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to leave the hotel and even kindly closed the door for them. Then she charged back home. When Xiao Bu returned to her room, the dark sky in the game slowly turned gray. Dawn was breaking.

    ¡°That was fun. The game was not as difficult as I thought.¡± Chen Ge stretchedzily and realized Fan Chong and Fan Dade had moved far away from him. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with the both of you?¡±

    ¡°Nothing, nothing. Don¡¯t mind us.¡± Fan Chong looked at Chen Ge, and his face twitched. This man before him could no longer be described in terms of strong or weak. He had first had a murderer kill the other murderer and then had the murderer provoke the neighbor ghost before using the female neighbor ghost to kill the murderer and lure the ghost to clean up a whole hotel of murderers. Finally, he had used the ghost at the hotel to murder the neighbor ghost.

    Not only had he survived a whole night, he had created a safe space and even managed to obtain a knife in a pure puzzle game!

 Chapter 525 - Taking Them Down in Real Life

    <h4>Chapter 525: Taking Them Down in Real Life</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After the dawn came, the chat box came up with three more options¡ª¡¯With your impressive luck, you managed to survive the first night. You were gripped by uncertainty and fear. You started to hesitate, not knowing whether to stay and look after your mother or return through the dungeon and leave this ce.¡¯

    <i>1. You feel at home in this ce. You like the atmosphere of this small town and decide to stay to experience it for one more night.</i>

    <i>2. You miss your mother a lot, but you feel like you¡¯re already at your limit. You decide to leave.</i>

    <i>3. You are conflicted and in so much pain. Everything here is different from the real world, but you decide to stay until you find your mother.</i>

    The cursor moved between the three choices. As a yer who wanted to know more about the world, he was leaning toward the first choice, but if he was choosing for the sake of Xiao Bu, he had to choose the second choice. Xiao Bu would grow up safely after leaving this scary world.

    After a long silence, Chen Ge moved the cursor to the third choice. ¡°The first choice is the most stable, the second is best for Xiao Bu, and the third is probably what Xiao Bu would have chosen.¡±

    Not leaving until Xiao Bu¡¯s mother was found... if Xiao Bu¡¯s mother was harmed, then Xiao Bu would never find the person she was looking for, and she would be trapped there forever. Chen Ge clicked on the mouse, choosing the third one. ¡°If we need to seek salvation for Xiao Bu, we mustn¡¯t lie to ourselves even in-game.¡±

    After confirming his choice, there was a new save point in game. The original save point was Xiao Bu¡¯s home in real life, and this new one was Xiao Bu¡¯s home in the other world. ¡°With this new save point, I can get Fan Chong to explore the other side quests without worry.¡±

    Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to get to the rooftop. The sky was low and gray like a fog covering the whole town.

    ¡°I wonder how many stories this ce is hiding. Solving it in one night is impossible.¡± Chen Ge was clear that the method that he had used that night would not be repeated every time. ¡°I¡¯m curious... if everything did happen in real life, how did Xiao Bu survive until the end?¡±

    ¡°Boss Chen, I don¡¯t think you should think too much of it. Just y it your way.¡± Fan Chong looked at Xiao Bu, who nced at the town holding the knife, and realized that the game had truly changed.

    ¡°The new save file has appeared. The tempo of the game will probably slow down. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to clear the game tonight; I¡¯ll leave that in your capable hands.¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes like he wasing up with a n.

    ¡°Leave it to me?¡± Fan Chong rubbed his hands. After seeing Chen Ge y the game, he was too embarrassed to take up his mantle.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, just rx. But you have to remember one thing. Record every death and case that youe across, and try to explore every inch of this map within these few days.¡±

    ¡°Every inch of the ce?¡± Fan Chong¡¯s lips moved, and he added softly, ¡°Then that means I¡¯ll die so many times... Isn¡¯t that a bit too cruel?¡±

    ¡°Try your best.¡± Chen Ge worked his fingers, and his eyes glowed. He was no longer satisfied with exploring the town in a game; he prepared to bring all his employees and find this town in real life. The game was reflecting real life, and with the knowledge of the potential danger, Chen Ge decided to strike first and conquer this small town with his power.

    ¡°It¡¯s dangerous to go out at night, so you have Xiao Bu stay at home when night falls. Keep the exploration mainly to the day.¡± Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to leave the residential area. The town looked peaceful under the sun. The blood on the ground had been cleaned, and the signs of the terror from the night before had been swept away.

    <i>Xiao Bu found the key to the dungeon inside her mother¡¯s pajamas. After entering the dungeon, she came into a town that waspletely different from the real world. The strange thing was, whenever Xiao Bu died in the town, the game would load at Xiao Bu¡¯s room in real life, and she would be lying in her bed like everything was just a dream.</i>

    Chen Ge thought about it for a long time and came up with a possibility.

    <i>The game world mirrors Li Wan City. Before Doctor Gao¡¯s death, he said that the door that had gotten out of control is at Li Wan City. Combining the content of the game, could it be taken that Xiao Bu opened the door at her friend¡¯s dungeon? She entered the world behind the door, so is she the door-pusher?</i>

    Controlling Xiao Bu to wander aimlessly down the street, Chen Ge¡¯s mind turned. <i>If Xiao Bu is the door-pusher, what has she seen at her friend¡¯s dungeon? What allowed her to push the door? Why was she wearing her mother¡¯s pajamas?</i>

    Chen Ge wanted to summon Men Nan and ask him. After all, Men Nan was almost the same age as Xiao Bu, and they were both door-pushers, so there might be connection between them.

    <i>Xiao Bu must have some secrets as well if she was able to survive in such a dangerous environment. That secret could be that she is the door-pusher.</i>

    Looked at the innocent, cute girl who was holding a sharp knife in the game, a feeling formed in his heart¡ªit felt like pity and care.

    ¡°Perhaps I understand the message of the game after all. It should be trying to tell the gamers that Xiao Bu is actually the most innocent victim.¡± Chen Ge suddenlymented, and it frightened Fan Dade and Fan Chong. They could not catch up to Chen Ge¡¯s thought but were too embarrassed to say that, so no matter what Chen Ge said, they would concur.

    Making use of the daylight, Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to walk around the city. He ran into many murder cases and saw many crazed murderers and ghosts, but beyond that, there was no other discovery.

    The day in the game passed by quickly. Before the day ended, Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to return home. The sky darkened, and the second night arrived.

    The street outside rang with a curiousugh and approaching footsteps. Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to close the door and sat beside her step-father¡¯s body while holding the knife. ¡°The Red Specter at the hotel shouldn¡¯te after me, but we have to be careful. After she consumed the ghost next door, she will need time to digest it. When she¡¯s hungry again, she will ughter and consume as she mows down the road. After all, her feeders have been killed.¡±

    ¡°Then, won¡¯t it be dangerous in a few days?¡± Fan Chong was worried. Chen Ge decided to leave the responsibility to him, and he did not want to disappoint Chen Ge¡¯s trust.

    ¡°You¡¯ll be fine. The ghost at the hotel will need at least a week to digest the Red Specter. By then, you should have been able to fully explore the map.¡± Chen Ge stood up. He nced at the time; it was 2:30 am.

 Chapter 526 - Uncle, I Have to Go Home to Fix the Window

    <h4>Chapter 526: Uncle, I Have to Go Home to Fix the Window</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Sorry for disturbing you tonight, rest early.¡± Chen Ge had been so focused on the game that he did not realize it was already sote.

    ¡°Are you really going now? Why don¡¯t you stay here for one night? There¡¯s more than enough space on my bed.¡± Fan Chong moved the wrinkled clothes on his bed away.

    ¡°Thank you, but I still need to open my Haunted House for business tomorrow.¡± Chen Ge rejected the kind offer and prepared to leave. ¡°I remember you saying that there have been some weird happenings when you yed the game. You felt like the thing in the game hase out, right?¡±

    Fan Chong and Fan Dade shared a look. The two were confused as well. When they were ying, even after they turned the background music off and moved as far away from the screen as they could, they would still be scared. But when they saw Chen Ge y, the source of fear had moved from the game itself to the person who was ying the game. This had happened for the first time for them.

    The brothers did not know how to exin, and it was Fan Dade who moved the topic away. ¡°It¡¯s probably a psychological thing. Now that I think about it, how could something from the gamee out into real life?¡±

    ¡°It never hurts to be careful. There is indeed something off about this game, so I suggest you only y it when there¡¯s daylight.¡± Chen Ge told Fan Chong a few things and left after making sure that there were no more problems.

    ¡°Boss Chen, it¡¯s hard to get a taxi here, how about I drive you home?¡± Fan Chong chased after him. Chen Ge¡¯s gaming ability had greatly impressed him, and he had many things that he wanted to ask Chen Ge.

    ¡°Thank you, but I¡¯ll be fine.¡± After ying the game, Chen Ge¡¯s rtionship with the Fan brothers had improved a lot.

    ¡°There is no taxi at Li Wan City at night¡ªyou¡¯ll need to walk to Eastern Jiujiang Business Center to get car service.¡± Fan Chong took out a key from his drawer. ¡°Why don¡¯t you take my e-bike? I n to visit New Century Park tomorrow, so you can return the bike then.¡±

    Chen Ge did not reject it this time and epted the key from Fan Chong. ¡°Then, I shall thank you.¡±

    Opening the door, Fan Dade and Fan Chong walked Chen Ge down the stairs. The whole area was dark, and only Fan Dade¡¯s home had light.

    ¡°Howe there are so few residents at this residential area?¡± Chen Ge thought back to Fan Dade¡¯s neighbor, who had a mirror on the door to ward away evil spirits.

    ¡°This ce is too isted, and traffic is not convenient. Those who can afford to move have already moved.¡± Fan Dade led Chen Ge to the e-bike. ¡°Be careful on the road, see you tomorrow.¡±

    Chen Ge inspected the electrical meter and thanked the brothers again before leaving. After a while, the lights in Fan Chong¡¯s home went off as well, and the whole area plunged into darkness.

    <i>Eastern Jiujiang sure is creepy. </i>Chen Ge turned back to look. <i>Shall I go visit the ces pointed out in the game tonight?</i>

    After thinking about it, Chen Ge gave up on the thought. <i>I should do this with more of a n. After Fan Chong pinpoints out all the dangerous zones, I can start to look for the door that has gone out of control.</i>

    Driving out of Li Wan City, it took him almost one and a half hours to reach New Century Park. Chen Ge¡¯s taut nerves finally rxed after he walked into the Haunted House. Resisting the urge to sleep, Chen Ge found the backpack at the staff breakroom and opened the steel door to enter the underground scenario.

    Sitting inside thest ssroom, Chen Ge activated the recorder and then flipped open theic to release Men Nan. The boy who was just slightly taller than Chen Ge¡¯s knees crawled out from the book and looked at Chen Ge with some resentment.

    Chen Ge coughed from the embarrassment. ¡°How are things?¡±

    ¡°When are you going to let me go back! If no one fixes the broken window of the door in the Third Sick Hall, many scary things will happen!¡± Men Nan talked like an adult, but the cute face looked at Chen Ge seriously.

    ¡°What will happen?¡±

    ¡°The door in the Third Sick Hall already has the symptoms of going out of control. During the period when I was unconscious, the world behind the door was slowly ovepping with the world outside the door! They are influencing each other, and if we leave them be, the door will never be closed again. The negative emotions behind the door will overflow into the real world.¡± Men Nan tried his best to exin the severity of the problem to Chen Ge.

    ¡°The negative emotions behind the door will overflow into the real world?¡± Chen Ge thought of the scenarios that he had seen inside the game. The small town was filled with ghosts and crazed murderers¡ªeveryone had gone mad.

    ¡°Yes, if the door is left open for too long, it will slowly affect everything around it.¡± Men Nan crawled onto the chair. He hated talking up to people. ¡°Those who are within the vicinity of the ¡®door¡¯ will be affect. First, it¡¯s a small change to the psychology like a person turning silent and losing interest in life. Then, one¡¯s habits will change; for example, they might have liked ny percent cooked steak in the past, but now, they prefer thirty percent cooked andterpletely uncooked steak.¡±

    Men Nan described how a normal person might slowly be insane.

    ¡°Can this process be undone?¡± Chen Ge knew that the door in Li Wan City had already gotten out of control. This time, he was facing not only ghosts but also people who had been corrupted and monsters from behind the door.

    ¡°The best method that I can think of is to make sure that the door doesn¡¯t lose control. Of course, you can find them a good therapist to help counsel them one by one.¡± Men Nan was dropping hints. He was desperate to return, but he could not beat the ghosts that Chen Ge had in a physical fight. This made him feel conflicted like he had been cheated to leave the Third Sick Hall.

    ¡°A door that has lost control cannot be closed anymore?¡± Chen Ge had his own n, and he maintained his calmness at all times.

    ¡°You have to be certain about the sequence of events. A door is said to have gone out of control because it cannot be closed,¡± Men Nan answered sadly.

    ¡°Even the door-pusher cannot close it?¡± Chen Ge leaned against the chair. He was rather sad. His original n had been to find the door in Li Wan City, enter the door to find Xiao Bu, and use a reasonable method to convince Xiao Bu to close the door.

    ¡°The door-pusher might have the power to close it, but that is different for each pusher because everyone has different strengths and weaknesses.¡± When Men Nan said that, his eyes darkened further. The reason that he did not sneak away was because he was not a fighter type. Even if he was inside the door in the Third Sick Hall, he was no match for Zhang Ya, so he had been staying obediently inside theic.

    ¡°I¡¯ve told you everything I know. Even if you ask me more, I can¡¯t answer you.¡± Without waiting for the question from Chen Ge, Men Nan looked at him openly and said, ¡°It¡¯s really scary if a door goes out of control. I have to return soon. Without me behind the door, Western Jiujiang will eventually be like Eastern Jiujiang.¡±

    ¡°Western Jiujiang will eventually be like Eastern Jiujiang? You know about Eastern Jiujiang?¡± Chen Ge was surprised. In their conversation, he had never once brought up the words ¡®Eastern Jiujiang¡¯.

 Chapter 527 - Dream

    <h4>Chapter 527: Dream</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    With that slip of the tongue, Men Nan knew that could not fool Chen Ge anymore.

    ¡°What¡¯s the difference between Eastern and Western Jiujiang? On the surface, Eastern Jiujiang appears to be more peaceful, and the public security there is better; this is observable from the working state of the two police stations.¡± Chen Ge knew that Eastern Jiujiang was dangerous, but the danger was hidden. Until now, he had not caught a glimpse of the enemy.

    ¡°My advice is for you to not go to Eastern Jiujiang anymore.¡± Men Nan hesitated for a long time before saying that.

    ¡°You have to give me a reason, right? The night beforest, at the fresh water nt, both you and Xu Yin came out to stop me. Is that shadow really that scary? Are neither of you Red Specters his match?¡± Chen Ge had been meaning to ask Men Nan that.

    Shaking his head, Men Nan looked at Chen Ge¡¯s shadow and worry crossed his eyes. ¡°That night, if not for the person inside your shadow, it would have been over for all of us.¡±

    ¡°Zhang Ya got into a fight with the shadow? Howe I had no idea about that?¡± Chen Ge did not even realize that.

    ¡°The guy was too unlucky. He nned to take over your shadow and make you his puppet, but he did not expect the most powerful Red Specter to be living inside your shadow. Due to his carelessness, he was injured by the Red Specter inside your shadow.¡± Men Nan did not dare call Zhang Ya by name because he was scared. Any normal ghost would be scared when they saw Zhang Ya.

    ¡°Then, was Zhang Ya injured?¡± Chen Ge was worried. He was familiar with Zhang Ya¡¯s style; she was the kind who left no prisoner. However, that night, after the match with the shadow, Zhang Ya did not show up.

    ¡°The Red Specter inside your shadow was already injured before the fight started. One of her arms was filled with cracks.¡±

    ¡°Cracks?¡± Chen Ge thought back to the fight between Zhang Ya and Doctor Gao. No one knew what had really happened between them as the surgery room had been smothered by Zhang Ya¡¯s hair.

    ¡°Your biggest reliance is injured and is currently resting, but that shadow is just a shadow. As for whose shadow it was and how strong the actual body is, we have no idea, so you¡¯d better stay away from Eastern Jiujiang.¡± Men Nan reached out and climbed onto the table. Finally, he did not need to look up to Chen Ge anymore.

    ¡°Could the body be a presence greater than a Red Specter?¡± Chen Ge thought about it for a long time. The question sounded like it was for Men Nan but also a question for himself.

    ¡°No one knows what is above a Red Specter, or rather, no one has managed to survive to tell the tale.¡± Men Nan did not know the answer, but he did not deny the possibility that such a presence might exist in Eastern Jiujiang.

    ¡°All who have met one have died?¡± Chen Ge thought about Doctor Gao, who hadmitted suicide to be a ghost. The madman had once controlled three doors so that he could reach the limit of a Red Specter after death.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I¡¯m just saying this for your own good. Eastern Jiujiang is different from Western Jiujiang. Haven¡¯t you realized that none of the patients from the Third Sick Hall dared venture to Eastern Jiujiang?¡± Men Nan tried his best to exin; he was really afraid that Chen Ge might drag him to Eastern Jiujiang again. ¡°The danger in Western Jiujiang is visible like the patients from the Third Sick Hall.

    ¡°The scariest thing about Eastern Jiujiang is that we do not know about the potential danger. You can read through Jiujiang¡¯s local news. There are few casesing from Eastern Jiujiang, but of the annual disappearance around Jiujiang, ny percent happened in Eastern Jiujiang. This data is more than enough proof to show the danger of Eastern Jiujiang.¡±

    ¡°I know Eastern Jiujiang is dangerous, but I have to go. Before my parent¡¯s disappearance, they once showed up in Eastern Jiujiang.¡± That was the reason that Chen Ge had started this adventure.

    Since this was to find his missing parents, Men Nan was careful with his words. ¡°I¡¯ve only heard about the things in Eastern Jiujiang from the mental patients. If you really want to know about the ce, you can ask them.¡±

    ¡°I also wish to ask them, but the key is that they do not seem like they have gotten used to their ghost identity.¡± Chen Ge had the patient¡¯s list of the Third Sick Hall, but those spirits refused tomunicate with Chen Ge.

    After chatting with Men Nan some more, Chen Ge finally relented to the boy¡¯s pleas and decided to send Men Nan back. Chen Ge was actually worried about the door in the Third Sick Hall going haywire as well.

    ¡°The theme park and the Haunted House can only grow without worry if Western Jiujiang is safe.¡± Chen Ge pulled Men Nan back into theic and walked out of thest ssroom. ¡°Eastern Jiujiang is such a mess, but the futuristic theme park decided to open there¡ªthey sure are lucky.¡±

    Exiting the underground scenario, Chen Ge entered the staff breakroom and slept.

    Chen Ge was woken up by the rm at 8 am. After brushing his teeth, he started to clean the Haunted House. A new day was beginning, and the park opened at 9 am. The visitors swarmed in, and Chen Ge could feel the poprity of his Haunted House rising.

    ¡°The capacity of my Haunted House is stillcking... if only I have more scenarios.¡± Standing at the door, Chen Ge suddenly noticed a few familiar faces. ¡°He San? Why is that boy here today?¡±

    He San also saw Chen Ge, and he waved his hands. ¡°Boss, long time no see!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still as loud as ever.¡± Chen Ge asked Uncle Xu to help him with the tickets, and he walked into the crowd.

    ¡°Boss, this time, our school has made all the necessary preparations and selected the most courageous students from each age group. Today, there is only one purpose for us being here, and that is to clear the game!¡± He San pointed behind him, and there was a group of people.

    ¡°Are they all from your school? Did you all skip ss today?¡± Chen Ge had no idea what was wrong with Western Jiujiang Medical University¡¯s students¡ªso many of them hade that day. ¡°Clearing the scenario is one thing, but don¡¯t abandon your studies.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s real thought was: if this was found out by the doctors in the underground morgue, things might get really scary.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we didn¡¯t skip ss today,¡± Yang Chen grumbled darkly beside He San. ¡°Even our president knows about your Haunted House now.¡±

    ¡°Even your president knows about this ce?¡± Chen Ge felt weirdly ashamed.

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s a weird story actually. Our president had the same dream for four consecutive nights. His teacher from when he was young scolded him while standing inside your Haunted House. There was no way he could have defended himself.¡± He San lowered his voice. ¡°Our president was scolded for four days, and now, whenever he closes his eyes, the old teacher will appear before his eyes; he couldn¡¯t suffer it anymore.¡±

    ¡°Your president had the same dream for four days?¡± Chen Ge felt likeughing. ¡°Was his former teacher someone called Wei Jiuqin?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the old man¡¯s name! How did you know?¡± He San was surprised. ¡°Our president then had some discussion with the staff, and someone said that the old teacher was telling him in his dream that our students, who should not be afraid of dead bodies, are scared witless inside your Haunted House, and that is too embarrassing.¡±

    ¡°So, your president allowed you toe visit me today, huh?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s basically it. The president said that a qualified medical doctor has to be calm no matter what. Even if the sky is falling, we shouldn¡¯t panic. He encouraged us toe to your ce to test our courage whenever we¡¯re free. If we cannot conquer a Haunted House as medical doctors, how are we going to survive in our career in the future?¡± He San mimicked the way that the president spoke, and he had a knack for it.

    ¡°Your president probably misunderstood the old gentleman¡¯s meaning.¡± But since they were there, Chen Ge was not going to chase them away. All he could do was to use his power to give the students onest piece of advice. ¡°You can visit any scenario that you want, but remember to stay away from the underground morgue.¡±

 Chapter 528 - She Is Xiao Bu?

    <h4>Chapter 528: She Is Xiao Bu?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    This was not the first time that the students of Western Jiujiang Medical University had dealt with Chen Ge. They knew for a fact that those who did not follow Chen Ge¡¯s advice would end up in a horrible state.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re nning to challenge the Coffin Vige scenario this time, and we have done plenty of preparation before we arrived.¡± After He San said that, he retreated into the crowd and several of his seniors came forward.

    ¡°It should be fine as long as you stay away from the underground morgue, but be careful when you¡¯re in there. If you see anyoneing toward you wearing a medical uniform, wave at the camera for help immediately, and I will help you,¡± Chen Ge reminded them and led them personally into the underground scenario. The students were all returning customers, and their president was so kind. So, this time, Chen Ge did not make things difficult for them. He used normal background music and did not send out the trio to go in with them.

    ¡°Have a good time down there.¡±

    About forty minutester, there was chaos at the resting hall; the ce was boiling with excitement. On the screen that showed the score, the scores of the students from Western Jiujiang Medical University soared as they became the first batch of visitors to clear Coffin Vige.

    When Yang Chen walked out from the vige with the wedding dress, he had the urge to cry. Only God knew what he had experienced in the past forty minutes. All nine of his seniors had ¡®sacrificed¡¯ themselves, and they had ced their hope in him to escape the vige with the wedding dress that carried the lingering spirit of the female bride.

    ¡°We did it!¡± Coffin Vige was a three-star scenario, and clearing this scenario was different from clearing Mu Yang High School. This meant that the visitors had the capability of clearing three-star scenarios. Even though this was the first time, it was also a beginning. With more guides and inside scenes leaking on the inte, more and more people would clear it. Seeing the joy on the visitors¡¯ faces, Chen Ge was full of smiles as well. He enjoyed this feeling a lot. It was his goal to provide the best service to his visitors.

    <i>Thepletion rate of Coffin Vige was only seven percent¡ªthe ghost in the well is still alive, and the scenario iscking. In terms of scariness, it¡¯s only just slightly scarier than Mu Yang High School.</i>

    At Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, the two scariest scenarios were the Third Sick Hall and the underground morgue, and they hadpletely different styles.

    <i>I have the patient¡¯s list for Third Sick Hall. If I can control these patients to help me scare the visitors, the scare level will definitely increase a lot.</i>

    Chen Ge had never underestimated his visitors. It had been a month since he had obtained the ck phone, and the visitors had already managed to clear a three-star scenario.

    <i>I need to update the Haunted House often to keep up the mystery so that the visitors will be interested.</i>

    After taking out the ck phone, Chen Ge looked at the four-star Trial Mission¡ªSchool of the Afterlife.

    <i>I should wait. Zhang Ya is injured, Xu Yin is missing his heart, and Bai Qiulin has notpletely digested Xiong Qing¡¯s soul; it¡¯s still too early to challenge a four-star scenario.</i>

    Chen Ge decided to collect more power first.

    <i>I only need to unlock the School of the Afterlife before the futuristic theme park opens for business. With this four-star scenario as my trump card, no matter what the futuristic theme park does in the future, it will not affect me. Now, I should focus on dealing with Eastern Jiujiang. At the very least, I have to obtain thatst bus before moving onto something else.</i>

    Seeing someone clear Coffin Vige, the other visitors were excited. Those who did not dare challenge the three-star scenarios before started to have the urge. The day soon passed. When the Haunted House closed at 6:30 pm, there were still plenty of visitors outside. In the end, it was the park workers who advised them to leave.

    ¡°The peak season ising; I can consider opening the Haunted House at night. Then again, few people will dare to challenge that.¡± Chen Ge and his two employees cleaned up the ce, and Chen Ge allowed them to go home.

    Returning to the staff breakroom, Chen Ge called for a take-out. He leaned on his bed. ¡°I should call Captain Yan to ask about the update for the case at Ming Yang Residence. Not to mention the progress Fan Chong has made with the game as well as keeping an eye on Huang Ling¡¯s husband, Jia Ming...¡±

    After dinner, Chen Ge called Lee Zheng.

    ¡°Inspector Lee, did you manage to find the remaining parts of the female body at Ming Yang Residence?¡±

    ¡°Not yet, ording to our analysis, the girl¡¯s body should be hidden among the four buildings, but even after a long day with the police hounds, we found nothing.¡± Lee Zheng¡¯s voice was hoarse like he was not feeling well. ¡°However, we discovered something else. The forensic doctorpared the body with our internal data, and the girl¡¯s identity has been confirmed. Her name is Bu Yi. Five years ago, she had an operation at the People¡¯s Hospital due to a car ident.¡±

    ¡°Bu Yi? Her surname is Bu?¡± This was the first time that Chen Ge had heard of someone with the surname Bu.

    ¡°Yes, the child disappeared from Eastern Jiujiang three years ago. Who would have thought someone would do such a cruel thing to a mere girl?¡± Chen Ge could hear the anger bubbling under Lee Zheng¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Ming Yang Residence was built eight years ago. Jiang Long¡¯s family was painted on the ceiling of Room 104, and Bu Yi¡¯s left arm was hidden inside Room 104.¡± Chen Ge tried to line up all the clues. ¡°Inspector Lee, do you know when the date of Jiang Long¡¯s car ident was?¡±

    ¡°There are three investors for Ming Yang Residence. The first investor got into an ident six years ago. The second investor, Jiang Long, met his end three years ago, and the third investormitted suicide at the building site two years ago.¡± Lee Zheng had memorized all the data.

    ¡°The year that Jiang Long got into the car ident, Bu Yi disappeared.¡± Chen Ge held the phone, and a question was stuck in her mind¡ªcould this Bu Yi be Xiao Bu?

    Chen Ge remembered the scene in the game where he controlled Xiao Bu to go to her friend¡¯s home to open the dungeon. When she was on the second floor, she noticed the certificate on the wall. The recipient was Jiang Xiaohu, who was Jiang Long¡¯s son. This meant that in the game, Xiao Bu and Jiang Xiaohu were friends and ssmates.

    ¡°Other than that, Jiang Long has anotheryer of rtionship with Bu Yi.¡± Lee Zheng¡¯s team had done a thorough investigation. ¡°Bu Yi¡¯s father died when she was very young. Later, Bu Yi¡¯s mother became Jiang Long¡¯s mistress to support her family.¡±

    Hearing that, the image of Xiao Bu wearing her mother¡¯s pajamas to find the dungeon shed across Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

    ¡°Then where is Bu Yi¡¯s mother now?¡±

    ¡°Before Bu Yi disappeared, her mother disappeared. If not for Bu Yi¡¯s school reporting the girl¡¯s disappearance to the police, we would not have known that about her mother.¡± Lee Zheng was flipping through the old case file, and the content was harrowing.

    ¡°Bu Yi¡¯s mother disappeared, and Bu Yi disappeared after she went searching for her mother.¡± That matched the game that Chen Ge had yed perfectly. His hands tightened, and the image of Jiang Ling¡¯s family of four biting the girl¡¯s four limbs appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

 Chapter 529 - Bad Child

    <h4>Chapter 529: Bad Child</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    In the game, Xiao Bu found the key to the dungeon inside her mother¡¯s pajamas. However, the entrance to the dungeon was not at her own home but that of her ssmate, Jiang Xiaohu. The thing that worried Chen Ge was that Xiao Bu seemed to have opened that door at the dungeon inside Jiang Xiaohu¡¯s home.

    Only when one had lost all hope could one open the door. Then what had Xiao Bu seen and experienced in the dungeon?

    ¡°Inspector Lee, do you have any information on Jiang Long¡¯s family?¡± Only Jiang Long¡¯s family would have information about the things that happened inside the dungeon, and Chen Ge wanted to know that.

    ¡°Why are you asking that?¡± From Lee Zheng¡¯s perspective, Jiang Long¡¯s family had nothing to do with the case.

    ¡°I feel like Bu Yi¡¯s murderers could be Jiang Long and his family. Do you still remember the painting on the ceiling of Room 104? Jiang Long¡¯s family¡¯s names were written on it.¡± Chen Ge dropped some hints for Lee Zheng. If he could get police cooperation, his life would be easier.

    ¡°The killers wouldn¡¯t be so dumb as to carve down their names at the crime scene.¡± Lee Zheng had been a police officer for at least a decade, and he had not seen something like that. ¡°Leaving their own names at the crime scene to purposely announce to the world that they¡¯re the culprits?¡±

    ¡°That painting could have been carved by someone else, or it might have some ritualistic significance.¡± Chen Ge knew that as a police officer, Lee Zheng could not reveal certain information to the public, but he tried the best he could.

    On the phone, Lee Zheng was silent for ten seconds before continuing. ¡°Actually, we¡¯ve already investigated Lee Zheng¡¯s family. His family situation is a bitplicated.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s heart had a bad omen. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me his whole family has disappeared...¡±

    ¡°Before Jiang Long¡¯s car ident, Jiang Long¡¯s wife took their two kids to visit a therapist. Then, within one week, Jiang Long died in the car ident, and Jiang Long¡¯s wife, Zhang Chuyu, and their eldest daughter, Jiang Bai, disappeared. Of the family of four, only Jiang Xiaohu remains.¡± Lee Zheng hesitated like he was not sure whether it was wise to reveal this information or not.

    ¡°Jiang Xiaohu is still alive? Where is he staying now? I wish to ask him a few questions in person.¡± Chen Ge had a feeling this boy could be the key.

    ¡°The child has gone insane. He stabbed his therapist, and sometimes, he acts like a deranged beast. There is no way he canmunicate with anyone. If you have to see him, then go to Jiujiang¡¯s Mental Asylum. We met him there this morning.¡± The police had investigated everything that Chen Ge could think of, but they had failed to get any useful information from Jiang Xiaohu.

    Hearing what Lee Zheng said, Chen Ge immediately thought, <i>Could the boy be pretending to be mad?</i>

    He would not underestimate any adversary even if he was a child.

    ¡°Inspector Lee, can you get me to meet the boy?¡± Chen Ge pleaded for many times before Lee Zheng relented.

    After he hung up, Lee Zheng called back immediately. ¡°I¡¯ve notified the asylum. We¡¯d better go early; they do not allow visitation after 9.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Inspector Lee!¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge, listen to me, I have something that I need to warn you about.¡± Lee Zheng¡¯s tone was off. ¡°Take care of your safety. Remember to stay a safe distance when you¡¯re conversing with the boy, and be careful of getting harmed when he¡¯s acting up.¡±

    After that, Lee Zheng hung up. With the murders at Eastern Jiujiang, the man was very busy.

    ¡°Why would Lee Zheng warn me about that boy?¡± Chen Ge sat up in bed. He grabbed the backpack and inspected the content before leaving the Haunted House in a hurry. Jiujiang¡¯s Mental Asylum was a government hospital. Different from the Third Sick Hall, it was closely monitored. If they were toote, they might not even get to enter the building.

    At 7:20 pm, Chen Ge hailed a cab to get to the mental asylum. He gave Lee Zheng¡¯s name to the guard, and then a doctor in a white coat came out to greet him.

    ¡°You¡¯re Chen Ge, who Inspector Lee mentioned, are you?¡± The doctor was tall and thin. He wore ck-rimmed sses. The man was quiet like the kind that did not like to talk. ¡°My full name is Pei Jiaoyang, but you can call me Doctor Pei. The patient has already been brought to the interrogation room that was used in the morning. Considering the issue of safety, the conversation has to end before 9.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± With guidance from Doctor Pei, Chen Ge entered the mental asylum. This ce was so different from the Third Sick Hall.

    ¡°This is the room. The workers and I will apany you, so you don¡¯t need to worry about safety.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Chen Ge realized how useful the police¡¯s name was. If he hade alone, he probably would have been shown the door.

    ¡°Human lives are involved, and it¡¯s our duty to cooperate with the police.¡± Doctor Pei entered the room and pointed at the boy on the bed. ¡°He¡¯s Jiang Xiaohu. Later, people will send in his information.¡±

    The room was simple with just a bed and three wooden chairs. The boy was sitting on the bed. His limbs were tied up with ropes, and his gaze was nk. Even if people went near him, he would not acknowledge them.

    ¡°Do you mind removing the ropes?¡± Chen Ge sat on the chair next to the bed. He noticed that the ropes had already cut into the boy¡¯s flesh.

    ¡°Those are for your safety. When he acted up this afternoon, he bit whomever he saw. We expended a lot of energy before we could detain him.¡± Doctor Pei sat next to Chen Ge and added, ¡°Don¡¯t be fool by the boy¡¯s appearance. He looks innocent and harmless, but when he acts up, we¡¯ll need two adult males to apprehend him.¡±

    When Doctor Pei was speaking, there was knocking on the door. A female nurse came in with a document. ¡°Doctor Pei, the patient information that you wanted.¡±

    Doctor Pei epted the document and handed it over to Chen Ge. ¡°Jiang Xiaohu came to us three years ago. The document contains all of his diagnoses from then till now. Take a look at it yourself. You can ask me if you have any question.¡±

    Chen Ge looked through the document. He noticed that the doctor who had counselled Jiang Xiaohu three years ago was Pei Jiaoyang, andter, Doctor Pei also became the boy¡¯s principle therapist.

    ¡°Three years ago, you counselled Jiang Xiaohu?¡± Chen Ge had found the person whom he was looking for. He desperately wanted to know what had happened three years ago. ¡°Can you tell me more details about that?¡±

    The room suddenly became quiet. Doctor Pei did not answer immediately. The diagnosis three years ago seemed to be a memory that he did not want to remember.

    ¡°I noticed that Jiang Xiaohu¡¯s initial diagnosis was bipr disorder, but then, it was changed to schizophrenia, and finally, it was edited to say that the patient¡¯s personality was rather stable and had sufficient self-cognizance, that there was no sign of mental illness. How could one person have three different results from three diagnoses?¡± Chen Ge put down the document and looked at Doctor Pei. ¡°What happened three years ago? And why would Jiang Xiaohu¡¯s family send this boy over to the mental hospital over and over so many times?¡±

 Chapter 530 - A Whole Family of Crazy

    <h4>Chapter 530: A Whole Family of Crazy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After a whole full minute, Doctor Pei finally spoke. He looked at Jiang Xiaohu on the bed, and his expression was curious.

    ¡°From how I see it, the whole family is sick, and I don¡¯t mean it in a demeaning way¡ªthat¡¯s just my professional prognosis.¡± Doctor Pei stood up and walked around the bed. ¡°Three years ago, Jiang Xiaohu¡¯s mother came with his sister for his illness. I can remember that day like the back of my hand. His mother¡¯s name is Zhang Chuyu. She was very pretty, and she wore a thick mist of perfume.

    ¡°From head to toe, there were many branded clothes, but I couldn¡¯t feel a trace of happiness. She was thinking about something because she kept spacing out during our conversation. After a brief conversation, I had a rudimentary understanding of the family¡¯s situation.

    ¡°The sister, Jiang Bai, suffered from paranoia. She felt like everyone was out to kill her, like everyone was a murderer.

    ¡°Jiang Xiaohu¡¯s illness was rather curious. He would often do things that were very dangerous like turning on the stove on his own, sshing water on the electrical socket, ying with fire, and so on.

    ¡°Zhang Chuyu had scolded him more than once, but it did nothing to stop the boy. After her husband, Jiang Long, found out, he beat the boy several times, but the violence did not improve Jiang Xiaohu¡¯s condition. If anything, it only exacerbated his condition.

    ¡°Reckless, irritable, and often getting into fights with his ssmates. Sometimes, it felt like he was possessed as he tried his best to harm the people around him. That was my first time running into a patient like that. Considering his young age, I did not write a prescription for Jiang Xiaohu but encouraged his parents tomunicate more with him.

    ¡°I was only being concerned for the child¡¯s future, but Zhang Chuyu disagreed with me. She was adamant that since her child was sick, he needed the medication. There was a disagreement with the treatment method. As a psychiatrist, we¡¯re always misunderstood, so I did not mind that.

    ¡°The change in a child¡¯s personality often has much to do with his environment. From how I saw it, Jiang Xiaohu¡¯s illness had plenty to do with his parents. To treat Jiang Xiaohu, I had his mother and sister leave the room so that I couldmunicate with the boy on my own. From our conversation, I realized something incredibly creepy and scary.¡±

    Doctor Pei did not show concern for Jiang Xiaohu, who was within earshot, and he continued. ¡°When I was talking to Jiang Xiaohu, the boy identally revealed some information to me¡ªhis mother was lying.¡±

    ¡°Lying?¡± Chen Ge was confused. ¡°The mother lied to send her child to an asylum? That¡¯s unlikely. Perhaps it was Jiang Xiaohu who was lying.¡±

    Doctor Pei shook his head. ¡°I also could not tell the authenticity of his im at the time, but after Jiang Long got into the car ident and passed away, I realized that perhaps Jiang Xiaohu wasn¡¯t lying to me.¡±

    ¡°What did he tell you?¡±

    ¡°Jiang Xiaohu told me in confidence that he did not want to do those dangerous things. He had been forced to do those things by his mother to create the impression that he had gone mad!¡±

    ¡°The mother forced her boy to do dangerous things?¡± Chen Ge got even more confused. ¡°Then what was her purpose for doing that?¡±

    ¡°The purpose was to kill Jiang Xiaohu¡¯s father¡ªJiang Long.¡± Doctor Pei looked at Jiang Xiaohu, and his eyes were swirling withplicated emotions. ¡°The boy told me that the one that had gone crazy was his mother, Zhang Chuyu. After his mother found out that the husband had a mistress, she nned to create an ident to kill the father, collect the insurance premium, and consume Jiang Long¡¯spany.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to imagine a child would say such things. Things shouldn¡¯t be that simple, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I had the same thought as you.¡± Doctor Pei leaned against the bedside, and his eyes were dark. ¡°I didn¡¯t think a boy could understand so many things, and perhaps someone told him to say these things. In this family of four, the father spent most of his time working outside, and the mother couldn¡¯t have implicated herself, so the most possible candidate who could teach these things to Jiang Xiaohu was his sister, Jiang Bai.¡±

    Chen Ge did not interrupt and allow Doctor Pei to finish.

    ¡°Then, I called Jiang Bai in to have a private talk with her; the result was unexpected as well.

    ¡°Jiang Bai told me that the real madman was her father¡ªJiang Long. After Jiang Long invested in the Ming Yang Residence project, she felt that her father had changed. He would often returnte and do things that she could not understand. The way that he looked at his family had changed as well.

    ¡°One time, after Jiang Long got drunk, he got into an argument with the mother. Jiang Long, who had always been a gentle spirit, raised his hand to hit Zhang Chuyu and then ran into the kitchen to grab a knife.

    ¡°He waved it in the air and scolded at a spot where no one was standing. He was like apletely different person. After that, Jiang Long returned home even less. No one knew what he was up to. He even bought an apartment for himself in Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s Li Wan City and moved out to live on his own.

    ¡°If that was all, Jiang Bai would not have thought that her father had gone mad, but something happenedter that made Jiang Bai fearful of her father.

    ¡°It happened one month before they came to me for treatment. When Zhang Chuyu was pouring water for herself, Jiang Xiaohu identally ran into her, and they were both injured by the hot water. Jiang Bai sent both of them to the hospital. She called her father on the phone, but there was no answer. Then she ran to Jiang Long¡¯s home in Eastern Jiujiang to see him in person.

    ¡°When Jiang Long heard that Zhang Chuyu and Jiang Xiaohu were injured, he grumbled a few words before saying that he was busy, so he wouldn¡¯t be visiting them. Jiang Bai was angry when she heard that. She stayed at Jiang Long¡¯s house and would not leave until her father agreed toe with her to the hospital. That night, Jiang Long received a call and left in a hurry, leaving Jiang Bai alone at his ce.

    ¡°After midnight, Jiang Bai heard movement inside the house. She thought that it was mice. She followed the sound and found a secret room behind the closet. Entering the ce, she saw a steel cage, and there was arge doll trapped inside the cage!

    ¡°There appeared to be someone sewn into the doll. The person couldn¡¯t speak, and the body was weak. When the person heard the door open, they started to curl up in the corner due to primal fear.

    ¡°Jiang Bai did not go in. She was spooked. She closed the closet and ran back to the hospital that night. She told her discovery to Zhang Chuyu and Jiang Xiaohu.

    ¡°Jiang Xiaohu was too young to understand anything, but Zhang Chuyu¡¯s reaction was weird. When she heard there was arge doll trapped inside a steel cage, sheughed happily.

    ¡°Based on Jiang Bai¡¯s description, both her parents were mentally unstable, but here is the problem. Zhang Chuyu said that Jiang Bai suffered from paranoia, so everything that she saw was just her imagination.¡±

    Doctor Pei finally finished the story. ¡°In any case, that¡¯s the situation with the family. The mother said that the brother and the sister are both crazy, the brother said the mother is crazy, and the sister said the mother and the father are crazy. I¡¯m not afraid of you having a bad judgment of me, but even today, I cannot tell for sure who was really lying.¡±

 Chapter 531 - Get All the Red Spectres

    <h4>Chapter 531: Get All the Red Spectres</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After hearing to Doctor Pei, Chen Ge went into silent contemtion. Jiang Long¡¯s whole family was something else; anyone would think they were crazy, but after some close studying, Chen Ge realized that perhaps none of them were crazy.

    They just had different perspective due to their difference stance. Thanks to Fan Chong¡¯s game, Chen Ge had plenty of inside information.

    Of the family of four, the brother, Jiang Xiaohu, was probably the most innocent. He was just a boy whose worldview had not matured, and everything that he had done was on someone else¡¯s order. The person urging him to do those things could be Zhang Chuyu or Jiang Bai.

    The sister, Jiang Bai, was probably not suffering from paranoia at first. The giant doll that she had found in her father¡¯s house in Eastern Jiujiang was probably Xiao Bu¡¯s mother. She was not lying, but her mother, Zhang Chuyu, had said that she had trouble with her mind.

    As a mother, Zhang Chuyu¡¯s action was really unreasonable. She had personally sent two of her children to the mental hospital and insisted that they suffered from mental illnesses. Chen Ge thought about it and felt like the reason Zhang Chuyu did that was because she wanted to hide something. After Jiang Bai told Zhang Chuyu about the doll, she hadughed happily. This was not the reaction of a normal person. Perhaps she had been doubting her husband, but after hearing that, she had understood that her husband did not betray her and was merely plotting something.

    ¡°Why would someone trap an adult inside a doll?¡± This should be the source of all the tragedy. Jiang Long died, and Zhang Chuyu and Jiang Bai went missing. Of all the victims and culprits, only Jiang Xiaohu was alive. Chen Ge sat on the chair and looked at the clean bedspread.

    <i>Ming Yang Residence¡¯s curse started eight years ago, but Bu Yi disappeared three years ago¡ªthat is a contradiction.</i>

    <i>If she¡¯s the door-pusher, then the door that she pushed appeared three years ago, but the weird things in Eastern Jiujiang happened way before that. In other words, other than this door that has gone out of control, there are other things hiding in Eastern Jiujiang.</i>

    When Chen Ge was small, his parents had told him many times to stay away from Eastern Jiujiang.

    <i>The door in Li Wan City had already gone under Doctor Gao¡¯s control, but for some reason, it went out of control. Could this be the doing of those things in Eastern Jiujiang?</i>

    Chen Ge was familiar with Doctor Gao. To make a psychologist who was powerful enough to own several Red Specters take a step back, the threat in Eastern Jiujiang had to be very powerful!

    <i>He sure left a big problem for me.</i>

    The door in Eastern Jiujiang had already gone berserk. If he let it be, no one would know what will happen.

    <i>Before Doctor Gaomitted suicide, he gave me a look at a picture. It was taken in Li Wan City, and it captured my parents standing with a girl in a red dress. That girl was most likely Xiao Bu. In the picture, my parents didn¡¯t go after the girl; they weren¡¯t in a hostile rtionship.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s mind started to turn. He was not one with preconceptions.

    <i>Be it Men Nan or the well ghost in Coffin Vige, all the door-pushers saw the door as their property. It should be the same for Bu Yi as well. Now that door in Li Wan City has gone out of control and the ghost behind the door have run all over the ce, Bu Yi probably does not want to see that.</i>

    The world behind the door was formed from the door-pusher¡¯s memory. It reflected the door-pusher¡¯s most authentic heart and was a nightmare that would not dissipate.

    <i>No one would want their inner world syed open like that for the whole world to see, so the door-pusher probably doesn¡¯t want the door to go out of control.</i>

    Chen Ge felt like the reason for the rampage in Eastern Jiujiang was due to the interference from other ghosts. After confirming that, Chen Ge had a thought.

    <i>Perhaps I can work together with Xiao Bu to vanquish the ghosts in Eastern Jiujiang and close the door in Li Wan City!</i>

    A normal person would not think of cooperating with a Red Specter. Even if they did, they would not know how to do that. However, Chen Ge was different. He had plenty of experience interacting with Red Specters from various age groups. He had confidence that he could convince Xiao Bu.

    <i>There have to be more secrets to the death of Xiao Bu and her mother. After the truthes out, I¡¯ll seek justice for her.</i>

    The more that he thought about it, the higher the confidence Chen Ge had in the n.

    <i>The hardest part of this n is not to convince Xiao Bu but to find her.</i>

    Narrowing his eyes, he looked so scary that the doctor and workers did not dare speak openly.

    <i>Other people might not know where Xiao Bu is, but I have an advantage. If I continue to clear that weird game with Fan Chong, I¡¯ll definitely get a clue to Xiao Bu¡¯s location.</i>

    The character that he and Fan Chong controlled was not simple data but a young soul who had experienced the bottomless despair again and again.

    <i>Men Nan also said that to fully close a door, the simplest way is to find the door-pusher.</i>

    Chen Ge had a draft in mind. He was to work together with Xiao Bu and all the Red Specters to clean up Eastern Jiujiang.

    <i>There¡¯s a Red Specter at White Dragon Tunnel, a Red Specter at the bus stop for Route 104, and a Red Specter in Coffin Vige. Perhaps they can lend me their strength.</i>

    Chen Ge had already interacted with the Red Specter at the tunnel. He had even almost carried the woman home. His touching words had managed to break down her defense.

    The Red Specter in Coffin Vige had a good rtionship with Fan Yu. Chen Ge could prepare a time to bring Fan Yu into the mountain to go search for her. With Zhang Ya awakened as well as Xu Yin and Bai Qiulin, there was no telling who might survive Coffin Vige.

    ¡°The female ghosts at the vige and tunnel can be persuaded, but the key is the woman in the red raincoat. I¡¯m not familiar with her, but I¡¯ve promised to find her child within a week. Three days have already passed, but I still have no idea what her child looks like.¡± Chen Ge really did want to help her, but he did not know where to start.

    Chen Ge mulled over the choices and eventually chose to try his luck at the bus stop at night.

    <i>Temporarily, that¡¯s the only thing that I can do.</i>

    With the n in mind, Chen Ge turned his gaze back to Jiang Xiaohu.

    Weirdly enough, when other people looked at him, Jiang Xiaohu had no reaction, but when Chen Ge¡¯s eyes fell on the boy, his expression changed. His body leaned backward until the ropes that tied his limbs became taut.

    <i>Howe it feels like the child is afraid of me?</i>

    Chen Ge walked forward and sat down on the bed. ¡°I know you can understand me, and I know you¡¯re harboring many secrets in your heart. Why don¡¯t you talk to me? Perhaps I can help you.¡±

 Chapter 532 - If You Dont Tell me, Ill Come Back Everyday

    <h4>Chapter 532: If You Don¡¯t Tell me, I¡¯ll Come Back Everyday</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Jiang Xiaohu obviously did not want to get too close to Chen Ge, but his limbs were tied down, so he could only watch as Chen Ge sat down beside him.

    ¡°You look so nervous¡ªis it because there are too many people in the room?¡± Chen Ge looked at Jiang Xiaohu with concern. ¡°Rx, we¡¯re all here to help you.¡±

    Then he turned to look at Doctor Pei. ¡°Do you mind if I have some alone time with him? The child doesn¡¯t seem like he¡¯s used to being surrounded by so many people.¡±

    Doctor Pei had difficulty written on his face. Honestly, he did not think that Jiang Xiaohu¡¯s anomaly was because of the crowd. ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s wise. Jiang Xiaohu has the record of harming others, and if we leave you here alone, I¡¯m afraid...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine. There¡¯s no need for you to worry about me.¡± Chen Ge put down his backpack. The bag looked so heavy, but no one could tell its content. ¡°The child justcks a chance tomunicate. There¡¯s a kind-hearted side that is hiding within him.¡±

    The nurse and workers turned to Doctor Pei. When the police came to investigate Jiang Xiaohu, even they did not have a request like this. Doctor Pei wanted to deny the request, but considering Lee Zheng¡¯s introduction and the number of lives that were involved in the case, after thinking about it again, Doctor Pei nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll be just outside the door. If the boy suddenly acts up andes after you, you only need to call, and we¡¯ll rush in to save you.¡±

    ¡°Alright, thank you.¡±

    The workers at the asylum filed out of the Room 1 by one. Seeing their departure, Jiang Xiaohu became more nervous. He made a weird throaty noise like an injured animal sensing danger. The door closed. When the doctor and workers left, Chen Ge took the recorder out from his bag and activated it. The sound of static filled up the room; it felt like the sound could crawl into one¡¯s mind to y with one¡¯s nervous system. ¡°Don¡¯t you feel better with a little rxing music?¡±

    Chen Ge looked at Jiang Xiaohu, watching his every move. Ten secondster, he suddenly said, ¡°You should have seen a ghost before, right?¡±

    Jiang Xiaohu¡¯s pupils shook as he tried to get away from Chen Ge.

    ¡°Based on your reaction, I suppose I¡¯m correct. Let me think. Did you see her dead body in person but she came back to life several dayster and appeared somewhere else?¡±

    The sanity of Jiang Xiaohu aside, based on Chen Ge¡¯s question alone, if Doctor Pei was present, he would have thought that Chen Ge was crazy as well. The ropes were pulled tight, and Jiang Xiaohu was agitated.

    ¡°Whether you¡¯re real crazy or fake crazy, I hope you understand one thing¡ªyou are the only one who survived not because you¡¯re lucky but because she allowed you to live.¡±

    When Chen Ge was ying the game, he had a question in his heart. How did Xiao Bu know about the dungeon at her friend¡¯s home?

    Initially, Chen Ge had thought that there was a message left behind by her mother, but what her mother did was not exactly something to be proud of, and she should not tell that to her young daughter. There was a detail in the game worth noting¡ªXiao Bu found the key inside her mother¡¯s pajamas, but upon closer inspection, why would someone who was trapped have the key to the exit inside her pajamas?

    After meeting Jiang Xiaohu, Chen Ge had a spection. Could it be this boy who stole the key and handed it over to Xiao Bu¡¯s mother?

    Xiao Bu could get into the dungeon probably because Jiang Xiaohu told her about it. After all, they were ssmates.

    ¡°I will not side with either party. I just want to know what happened back then.¡± The static sound grew. The lights in the room flickered, and the room darkened. A red shadow materialized next to Chen Ge. Jiang Xiaohu was really scared. He could not control himself anymore and started to scream.

    ¡°You can sense his presence? Are you reminded of something?¡± Chen Ge had summoned Xu Yin not to scare Jiang Xiaohu but to have Xu Yin inspect Jiang Xiaohu¡¯s body to see whether he was possessed or not. Jiang Xiaohu¡¯s face was frozen in fear. He mumbled incoherently as he pointed at Chen Ge.

    ¡°Has he lost his ability of speech after a long period of zeromunication, or has Xu Yin scared the boy?¡± Chen Ge turned off the recorder. Xu Yin had not found any signs of ghosts on the boy; he was just a normal child.

    The static disappeared. Chen Ge grabbed Jiang Xiaohu¡¯s hands that were tied by ropes. ¡°I¡¯m helping you and helping her in the process. I know that there¡¯s a shadow in your heart. Tell me, treat me as someone that you will never see again. I can guarantee what you tell me will never be revealed to a third person.¡±

    Several minutester, Jiang Xiaohu slowly calmed down. His head was covered with cold sweat as his chest rose and fell, mbering for air. Chen Ge had just summoned a Red Specter; an adult would have been scared witless, much less a child.

    cing the recorder on the bed, Chen Ge said seriously, ¡°If you don¡¯t tell me, I¡¯ll probablye back every day until you tell me the truth.¡±

    Jiang Xiaohu finally relented and opened his mouth to speak. ¡°What do you want to know?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s start with your father. Why would he capture a living person? And why did idents keep happening at Ming Yang Residence, which he was overseeing?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened, but I remember that Jiang Long once said that the project at Ming Yang Residence was a faux. Someone forced him to do it. The four buildings weren¡¯t for human tenants but for ghosts.¡±

    He stuttered endlessly, and Chen Ge took a long time before he understood what Jiang Xiaohu said, ¡°Who would force him to do something like that?¡±

    ¡°At the very beginning, Jiang Long said that someone was watching over him. He went to many doctors, and they all said that it was his work pressure, but his symptoms worsened. Eventually, he started to ramble nonsensical stuff. He said that he saw his shadowe alive. He believed that his shadow had its own consciousness and couldmunicate with him.¡±

    ¡°How did your father¡¯s conditions get under control?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Starting from one morning, Jiang Long suddenly became energized, but it was from that day onward that he became someone else and gained many weird habits...¡± Jiang Xiaohu paused and hesitated. ¡°I stopped calling him father from that day because I had a feeling there was another person living inside him. I suspect he was taken over by his shadow.¡±

    ¡°Taken over by his shadow?¡± Chen Ge was reminded of the shadow at the fresh water nt. The monster had beenying seeds all over; it was an enemy that was more difficult to deal with than he had expected.

    ¡°Regarding the capturing of living person, that was his idea; it has nothing to do with my family. A few years before Jiang Long¡¯s ident, he appeared to be doing that constantly. He would lead people to Li Wan City to torture them both physically and mentally to drop them into despair. I don¡¯t know why he would do that. Perhaps it was his personal hobby.¡±

    Jiang Xiaohu¡¯s childhood experience had matured him. After he was done, he sneaked a nce at Chen Ge before going silent again.

 Chapter 533 - Li Wan City West Street

    <h4>Chapter 533: Li Wan City West Street</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Purposely lead people to Li Wan City to be tortured?¡± Chen Ge felt that had to do with the ¡®door¡¯. They needed someone to open the door in Li Wan City, but that would lead to a question. Why would the ghosts in Eastern Jiujiang be so insistent on this door in Li Wan City? How was it different from the other door?

    Jiang Long had captured Xiao Bu¡¯s mother and trapped her inside the doll. Chen Ge had no idea what had gone on in detail, but he could make an educated guess. However, even until her disappearance, the door was not pushed open. Instead, it was Xiao Bu who opened the ¡®door¡¯ after witnessing what happened in the dungeon; this was probably something that had escaped the ghosts¡¯ expectation.

    ¡°Do you have any other questions?¡± Jiang Xiaohu interrupted Chen Ge¡¯s thoughts. ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else, can you take this away?¡±

    He pointed at the recorder with fear in his eyes.

    ¡°Since you knew that your father hadmitted a crime, why didn¡¯t you call the police?¡± Chen Ge put the recorder back in his bag. He smoothed down the bedsheet like he had not taken the thing out.

    ¡°My sister did n to call the police. Mom tried to stop her, but it was to no avail. When I woke up the next morning, my sister had already disappeared. Mom said that sister¡¯s condition had suddenly worsened and she needed to be sent for treatment.¡± Jiang Xiaohu gripped the bedsheet by both hands. ¡°Mom also told me that if I didn¡¯t act obediently, I¡¯d be sent for treatment as well.¡±

    ¡°You were threatened by your mother? Looks like she might be involved in the whole incident somehow.¡±

    ¡°Jiang Long is dead, and both my mother and sister are missing, so what¡¯s the point in asking these questions now?¡± Jiang Xiaohu raised his head to look at Chen Ge. He seemed to have realized something, and his tone softened. ¡°When the police came earlier, I said the same thing. I¡¯ve told you everything I know.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve told me everything you know?¡± Chen Ge looked into Jiang Xiaohu¡¯s eyes. A normal lingering spirit would not be able to hold Chen Ge¡¯s gaze, much less a child. Just as Jiang Xiaohu turned his head away out of guilt, Chen Ge asked thest question, ¡°I saw a painting on the ceiling in Room 104 at Ming Yang Residence. In the painting, your family of four was biting a little girl¡¯s four limbs. Perhaps you and your sister were dragged into this, but in that painting, you¡¯re all killers, or at least that¡¯s the perception of the painter.¡±

    ¡°Painting?¡± Jiang Xiaohu was startled. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about that.¡±

    ¡°You said that Ming Yang Residence was made for ghosts, so the painting was probably done by ghosts as well.¡± Chen Ge had a feeling that Jiang Xiaohu was still hiding something from him. He was about to continue the interrogation when the boy¡¯s eyes suddenly rolled backward, and his limbs started to spasm. His lips whispered pleas of help like he was about to die from asphyxiation.

    Hearing that, Doctor Pei and the workers rushed in immediately. He held onto Jiang Xiaohu¡¯s limbs and gave him a sedative shot. The spirit went out of the boy¡¯s eyes, and he slowly stopped struggling before losing consciousness.

    ¡°Mr. Chen, did the boy hurt you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ve already asked all that I need to. Thank you for your help.¡± Chen Ge stood up to thank Doctor Pei.

    ¡°I¡¯m d to be of help. If you need any help in the future, don¡¯t hesitate to ask.¡± Doctor Pei was just being polite, but Chen Ge treated it seriously. He beckoned Doctor Pei, and the two left the room together.

    ¡°Mr. Chen, do you have something else to ask me?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not suitable to ask this in there. I wish to ask you a few questions privately.¡±

    ¡°Are you afraid that Jiang Xiaohu might overhear us?¡± Doctor Pei thought Chen Ge was being a bit too cautious. ¡°Based on our diagnosis, the boy does suffer from mental illness...¡±

    ¡°Sometimes, mental patients are cleverer than normal person. I know several examples.¡± Chen Ge walked further away before he sighed in relief. ¡°Doctor Pei, you said earlier that Jiang Xiaohu¡¯s sister went to Jiang Long¡¯s ce in Li Wan City and found a hidden room?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Jiang Bai told me that in person.¡±

    ¡°Then, have you been to Li Wan City to confirm her statement?¡± Chen Ge was more curious about that. If Doctor Pei had told the police that, then the police would definitely have gone for a follow up, but in his conversation with Lee Zheng, the man did not bring up anything about a hidden room.

    ¡°I¡¯ve not been there myself, but the police have.¡±

    ¡°Did they find anything?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s heart raced because the ¡®door¡¯ should be in that room. If nothing went wrong, the police should have found something.

    Doctor Pei shook his head. ¡°I heard them say it was just a normal home. There was indeed a hidden room behind the closet, but there was no iron cage orrge doll. There were instead several safes with business documents and cash.¡±

    ¡°Cash?¡±

    Doctor Pei saw the change in Chen Ge¡¯s expression, and he exined patiently, ¡°The police took some pictures. Apparently, that¡¯s Jiang Long¡¯s inheritance, and he was nning to leave them to Jiang Xiaohu.¡±

    ¡°Do you mind telling me the house¡¯s exact location? I just want to go there in person to check it out.¡± The map of the game was very simr to Li Wan City three years ago, but it was only a simrity; it was a reconstruction of Li Wan City based on Xiao Bu¡¯s nightmare. Therefore, it was Li Wan City in Xiao Bu¡¯s eyes, so there were differencespared to real life.

    ¡°His father stayed in the first residential area on Li Wan City¡¯s West Street. First floor, Room 1. The building looks rather old. When the police went to the ce, they were surprised that Jiang Long would buy an apartment in a ce like that.¡±

    When Chen Ge heard that, it hit him immediately. That was the same ce where Fan Chong and Fan Dade lived. It looked like there was a reason that Fan Chong would happen upon that game. <i>Looks like I have to go back to Fan Chong¡¯s home again and return the e-bike.</i>

    Realizing that Chen Ge was preparing to go to Li Wan City, Doctor Pei reminded him, ¡°Mr. Chen, I suggest you go in the morning. It¡¯s not safe to go there at night. I have many patients from Eastern Jiujiang here. From talking to them, I¡¯ve realized that they all saw something or heard something at night, and that caused problems to their mental state.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something like that?¡± Chen Ge realized how serious the condition in Eastern Jiujiang was. The monsters werewless and had seeped into every corner of the ce.

    ¡°Just take an example from the patient that came to me yesterday. One month ago, he went to the airport to fetch his wife. It was a midnight flight. The couple drove back to Eastern Jiujiang.

    ¡°Based on his exnation, when they passed a junction, the buildings on the side suddenly became strange and unfamiliar, and the streetlights dimmed.

    ¡°They continued driving, and then, in the rear-view mirror, the driver saw an approaching bus. It was already midnight, so why was there a bus on the road? He not only saw the bus but also all the passengers waving at him, and he heard unknown voices calling his name.¡±

 Chapter 534 - The Promise

    <h4>Chapter 534: The Promise</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°He was spooked, so he quickly turned the car around. But the road seemed unending like there was no way for him to go back. Just as he was about to give up, his phone suddenly rang. His grandmother was worried about him, calling him to ask for his location. He told her what had happened, and the strange thing was that while he was talking with his grandmother, the car for some reason drove out of Eastern Jiujiang.

    ¡°After he hung up the phone, he realized with a shock that his grandmother had passed away at homest year. He had been caught up at work, unable to return to see her on herst journey.¡±

    ¡°His deceased grandmother saved him?¡± When Chen Ge heard the story of the bus and the changing buildings, he believed that this patient was not crazy; he was telling the truth.

    ¡°Instead of saying that his grandmother saved him, it should be the good memory that he had of her in the subconscious of his mind saved him. From the perspective of psychology, he has been harboring guilt because he did not return to visit his grandmother at her death bed, and this guilt enabled him to retain his rationality when his mental state was gging.¡± Doctor Pei stuck his hands into the coat. ¡°I used this example because he was lucky, but there are many more patients here that were not as lucky. I¡¯m telling you this because there are many weird happenings in Eastern Jiujiang, so be careful when you do your investigation. I know it¡¯s strange for me as a doctor to tell you this, but I still hope that you¡¯ll be careful.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Pei, do you have more patients like that driver here?¡± The more he listened, the more Chen Ge felt like he hade to the correct ce. ¡°Can you tell me more about them?¡±

    ¡°There are so many stories, but they will affect your worldview. Plus, this is the patient¡¯s privacy. Even if you¡¯re with the police, I¡¯m not allowed to reveal their information to you without a warrant.¡± Doctor Pei rejected Chen Ge¡¯s request.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. I still need to thank you for your help.¡± Chen Ge thought that Doctor Pei was a good man, at leastpared to the other psychologist that he knew. After leaving the asylum, Chen Ge called a cab to return to New Century Park. He looked at the time; it was only 9 pm.

    <i>This is roughly the time for thest bus on Route 104 to arrive. Maybe I should go and try my luck tonight?</i>

    When Chen Ge returned the previous night, he had recharged the electricity in Fan Chong¡¯s e-bike. He had been afraid that there might not be enough fuel when Fan Chong came to fetch his vehicle. However, Fan Chong did not show up in the morning, probably because he had something else to do.

    <i>I can follow Route 104 tonight to wait for the bus. Whether I run into the woman in the red raincoat or the bus, it¡¯ll be fine. If it¡¯s already toote when I arrive in Eastern Jiujiang, I can just stay the night at Fan Chong¡¯s ce.</i>

    Chen Ge plotted out the schedule in his mind.

    <i>It¡¯s getting closer to the date that I¡¯ve promised the woman in red raincoat. That is the most important mission; if I have time after that, I¡¯ll send Men Nan back to the Third Sick Hall.</i>

    After inspecting his backpack, Chen Ge rode the e-bike to the gate of New Century Park. He greeted the guard. The guard was used to Chen Ge going out at night, and he never asked him any questions. It was worth noting that Chen Ge shared a good rtionship with the guard.

    When Chen Ge¡¯s parents disappeared, Chen Ge had moved into the Haunted House. After the visitors and workers left, only the guard and Chen Ge would remain at the theme park. Sometimes, the guard woulde to get help from Chen Ge. When he was in a particrly good mood or bad mood, he would secure two bottles of alcohol and have Chen Ge follow him into the cafeteria at night to ¡®borrow¡¯ the kitchen to cook supper.

    When Chen Ge had been at the lowest point of his life, many people at theme park had reached out to help him, so when theme park faced its trouble, he would help it back without hesitation.

    ¡°Xiao Chen, you¡¯re at least a boss now. Riding an e-bike is not that suitable with your current identity.¡± The aged guard held a cup in his hand. Even over the distance, Chen Ge could smell the alcohol.

    ¡°We¡¯ll talk about thatter. I haven¡¯t even gotten my driver¡¯s license. I swear the people at the driving school are prejudiced against me. They keep saying my driving style is too wild.¡±

    ¡°Then, why don¡¯t you change? They¡¯re only concerned about you¡ªsafety first.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s toote to change now. In the future, I¡¯ll just hire a driver to ferry me around.¡± Chen Ge rode the e-bike out of New Century Park. After his exchange with the guard, he noticed a problem.

    <i>If I really do get the bus, I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll only be able to ride it around the countryside; going to the city is still not that convenient. But I hear the number four subway is haunted, so perhaps I can go check it out in the future.</i>

    Riding the bike, Chen Ge rushed to the nearest stop for Route 104. He stood in the cold wind and waited for half an hour. There was no sign of the bus or the woman in the raincoat. ¡°Does it need to be raining?¡±

    Chen Ge did not give up; he followed the route and rode to Eastern Jiujiang. Chen Ge reached Eastern Jiujiang at 11 pm. He could feel the change in the air. There were suddenly no cars on the road.

    ¡°When I camest time, there was still the asional taxi on the road. Is it because of me that even taxis don¡¯te here at night anymore?¡± Chen Ge shook his head. He felt like he was not that powerful; something else scary had probably happened in Jiujiang.

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s not destined for me to meet them tonight. This is not my fault.¡± Chen Ge would stop at every bus stop. Initially, he had hoped that the bus would show up, but he slowly gave up hope as he neared Li Wan City. The condition of the road worsened. At 11:30 pm, Chen Ge felt a cold caress on the back of his neck. He reached out to touch it, and rain drop as soft as silk fell on his hand.

    ¡°It¡¯s raining?¡± Chen Ge took out his phone and looked for the weather forecast. It said that it should not rain in Jiujiang for the few days.

    ¡°But rain is a good sign. The gathering of Yin energy means a higher chance of running into ghosts. The woman in the red raincoat might show up.¡±

    Putting his phone away, Chen Ge looked around. Even though he had been to Eastern Jiujiang several times, he was still unfamiliar with the cityscape. The streetlights showered dim, yellow light. The light was barely powerful enough to banish the darkness.

    ¡°I¡¯m still currently on the bus route for Route 104. Should I wait for it at the bus stop?¡±

    The changes to his surroundings were simr to the description provided by Doctor Pei. Chen Ge had a feeling that the bus hearse might show up that night.

    ¡°Xiao Gu said that the woman¡¯s child is on the bus. I only need to help her save her child and show it to her.¡±

    Chen Ge had his own n. He was only going to show the child to the woman in the red raincoat. He did not n to return the child to her. He had only promised to help her find her child¡ªwhether he would return the child or how was he going to return the child, that was apletely different issue.

 Chapter 535 - The Hearse

    <h4>Chapter 535: The Hearse</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The night sky was like a thick cloth, smothering all the light. Chen Ge sat on the e-bike and held his arms open. The rain fell into his open palms as he murmured, ¡°Looks like the rain is picking up.¡±

    The buildings on the side looked rather blurry. It was not thatte yet, but there was already no light in the neighborhood. ¡°Do people in Eastern Jiujiang like to sleep early?¡±

    Chen Ge had already noticed the anomalies. He parked the bike by the bus stop and took out his phone to look at the time.

    ¡°Not yet midnight. Normally, those things be active after midnight.¡± Chen Ge had not brought a raincoat or umbre, so he was worried of getting theic wet. ¡°Should I stay here and wait or continue moving before the rain picks up?¡±

    After some thought, Chen Ge decided to keep moving. ¡°If the rain gets too heavy, I¡¯ll find a ce to hide from it. I cannot waste the whole night waiting for the bus to appear. The main mission for the night is to go to Jiang Long¡¯s apartment where Xiao Bu¡¯s mother was supposed to be trapped.¡±

    Chen Ge was a quick thinker and would move after he came to a decision. His bike was the only vehicle on the road, but he did not panic.

    ¡°Route 104 is the longest route in Jiujiang, and it has the most stops. Other than that, it is also the only route the goes from Western Jiujiang to Eastern Jiujiang. Back then, the city council opened this route to better connect Western and Eastern Jiujiang.

    ¡°Thinking back, of all the routes, the ghosts only targeted Route 104. This means that the culprit wished to use the bus to transport the ghosts and spirits between Eastern and Western Jiujiang.¡±

    Chen Ge was unclear what the culprit was up to, but it felt like they were preparing to make Eastern Jiujiang into a paradise for ghosts. They had even built a home for these ghosts at the fringe of Li Wan City.

    ¡°Eastern Jiujiang is more dangerous than Western Jiujiang; I have to be careful.¡± The deeper he travelled into Eastern Jiujiang, the dimmer the streetlights became. The twisted light failed to provide him warmth and safety, but it made him even more nervous. The buildings by the road were things that one could see normally, but there was something off about them like the tenants were not living humans but something else.

    When he passed a T-junction, Chen Ge stopped. He stood next to a bus stop. He looked at the forks of the road. He tried tob his memory, but he could not remember which turn to take. Afterpleting so many missions given by the ck phone, Chen Ge had cultivated the habit of memorizing the routes so that he could have a quick escape. After visiting Li Wan City so many times, he had memorized the routes, but when he tried to follow the direction in his memory, he realized that this path was something that was not in his memory.

    ¡°Did I remember incorrectly, or have I entered the territory that is influenced by the door?¡± He took out his phone and opened the GPS. It took a long time before telling Chen Ge it failed to capture his location. ¡°Looks like I¡¯ve run into the situation that Doctor Pei mentioned.¡±

    However, Chen Ge did not repeat the patient¡¯s mistake. He parked the e-bike by the road and picked up his backpack to walk to the nearest shop and mmed heavily on the curtain door.

    ¡°Such a rapid hammering at midnight, but no one came out to check the situation, huh?¡± Chen Ge turned back to look. The buildings in the distance were receding into the darkness. The darkness was like a beast, preparing to swallow everything including Chen Ge.

    ¡°The longer the door is left out of control, the greater the ovepping of the despair and strangeness of the world behind the door and the real world.¡± Chen Ge had gotten this information from Men Nan. He had not witnessed this before, so he could not tell for sure.

    ¡°Never mind, it¡¯s not the time to think.¡± Chen Ge opened the zipper of his bag. He was about to take out the hammer to test the reaction of the citizens behind the door when something suddenly moved through the inky darkness. The broken appearance said plenty about theck of maintenance. Instead of a bus, it looked more like a mobile coffin.

    ¡°Is this the bus?¡± Chen Ge looked at the bus that had appeared at the junction, and his eyes narrowed. At the same time, the ck phone he kept in his shirt pocket vibrated. Like his usual habit, Chen Ge took it out to take a look.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specters¡¯ Favored! You¡¯ve triggered a two-star Trial Mission¡ªThe Hearse!

    ¡°Would you like to ept this mission?

    ¡°Warning! If you give up this mission, the scenario will never be unlocked!¡±

    Seeing the message, Chen Ge epted it without hesitation.

    ¡°The hearse carrying dead people is already on the road. If you fail to leave within one hour, you¡¯ll be left on the bus forever!

    ¡°Mission Requirement: Take the bus on Route 104 to Li Wan City after midnight and disembark it safely.

    ¡°Mission Hint: Afterpleting this mission, a new Trial Mission will be unlocked!¡±

    After two seconds, Chen Ge put the ck phone away. The mission information confirmed his spection. ¡°Of the few Trial Missions given by the ck phone initially, the Hearse should be the key linking Western and Eastern Jiujiang! Afterpleting this mission, the ck phone should update me with more difficult missions from Eastern Jiujiang!¡±

    Chen Ge carried his backpack and returned to the bus stop. He looked at the bus that was slowlying in like a coffin, and his eyes narrowed. ¡°There should be something above a Red Specter in Eastern Jiujiang. Afterpleting this mission, the ck phone will probably provide a four-star Trial Mission.¡±

    Taking a deep breath, Chen Ge was ready. He stood in the dark alone, and his expression was serious. ¡°In a way, this is a new beginning, so I must be cautious.¡±

    The wind fluttered his sleeves, and the rain wet his hair. Chen Ge looked at the approaching bus, and his one hand reached into the backpack. The rain continued to fall. The eerie bus on Route 104 entered the bus stop, and Chen Ge¡¯s heart started to race. He heard the machine voice report the bus¡¯ arrival.

    ¡°It¡¯s finally here.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the passengers inside the bus who had their heads lowered. He walked forward, but before he left the tform, the bus drove away. It picked up speed and sped into the darkness. Watching the bus scurry away, Chen Ge only came to after a long time.

    ¡°Is it not allowing me to get on the bus?¡±

    The ck phone¡¯s mission requirement was for him to take the bus to Li Wan City and get off safely, but the bus did not n to let Chen Ge get on at all. If he could not get on the bus, then the mission would naturally fail. This was something that Chen Ge had not anticipated.

    To prevent the mission failure, Chen Ge hopped onto Fan Chong¡¯s e-bike and started to race down the street to chase after the bus.

    ¡°Wait, you left a passenger behind!¡±

 Chapter 536 - Road Rage

    <h4>Chapter 536: Road Rage</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The thickyers of cloud filled up the sky. There was no light shining through. The darkness fell, and there were shadows shing within the buildings by the road. Many vicious eyes were spying on the road in the dark. In the empty city, a man rode an e-bike to chase after the bus.

    ¡°You¡¯ll need to stop at the next station, so why not stop now?¡± Chen Ge hissed through gritted teeth. This was his first encounter with the hearse, and the enemy did something out of his expectations.

    ¡°Does the bus only allow entry to dead people and ban living people from entering? But that doesn¡¯t seem right. Howe no one stopped Huang Ling and Xiao Gu when they stepped onto the bus?¡±

    The e-bike had limited fuel. At most, Chen Ge could chase for four stops before he needed to use human power to propel him forward. He was so caught up in the mission that he ignored the directions. All those precautions that he told himself to take were tossed to the wind as he chased after the bus like his life depended on it. ¡°I¡¯m going to need a reason when I catch up to you on why you refuse to let me on the bus!¡±

    It was hard to use an e-bike to catch up to a bus. However, that was not impossible. Perhaps because the bus itself was too old, or maybe there was some other reason, but its speed was quite slow. Chen Ge chased after it relentlessly but could not close the gap between himself and the bus. He could only hope that the bus would stop at the next station.

    The buildings on the side receded into the background. The rain soaked Chen Ge¡¯s shirt. After a long time of chasing, he finally saw the next bus stop.

    ¡°Someone is waiting for the bus?¡± Chen Ge clearly saw that there was a middle-aged man standing at the next stop. He was wearing a winter coat, a scarf, a hat, and a mask to cover his entire face. The bus pulled up to the stop and started to decelerate. Before it parked fully, the door opened.

    The driver seemed to wave at the man, telling him to get on the bus. The middle-aged man looked confused but got on the bus after hesitating for a moment. This little interaction enabled Chen Ge to drastically close the distance between himself and the bus.

    ¡°This is my chance! The purpose of this hearse seems to be to transport the special passengers waiting at the bus stops to a certain ce, so if there¡¯s ¡®someone¡¯ waiting at the tform, it will stop.¡± The middle-aged man was still confused after he got on the bus. The bus had continued moving toward the next stop.

    The cold rain hit Chen Ge¡¯s face. The buildings on the side turned unfamiliar and strange. The rain became heavier, but none of that was going to stop Chen Ge. Ever since obtaining the ck phone, he had not failed a mission.

    ¡°If this was any other mission, I might have given up already, but this is rted to the unlocking of the other missions in Eastern Jiujiang, so I have to seed!¡± Chen Ge was cing his life on the line. Riding an e-bike to chase after a hearse at midnight, a normal person would never do something like that.

    After crossing several junctions, Chen Ge saw the next stop. There was a strange figure standing there. His body movement was extremely uneven, giving off the feeling that he might topple over at any moment. The bus decelerated as it flew into the tform, and the doors opened.

    The strange figure who was squatting on the ground noticed something and was hesitant. The atmosphere inside the bus was strange, so he did not hop on immediately. A passenger opened the bus window to wave at him, but the strange figure could not understand it. This short hesitation made Chen Ge¡¯s day. He stepped on the pedal and rushed forward. After a short interaction, the strange man eventually got on the bus.

    The driver seemed to have noticed the approaching Chen Ge. He skipped the broadcast inside the bus, closed the doors, and sped away.

    ¡°Soon! If there¡¯s a passenger at the next stop, I should be able to catch up to it!¡±

    Chen Ge pretended not to notice the fuel and gave it his all. Several minutester, the third bus stop appeared in the distance.

    A couple was standing at the tform, their bodies glued tightly together. The bus pulled up to the stop, and the doors opened. The driver shouted through the door. The man prepared to get on the bus, but the woman stopped him. She tried her best to make him stay and even started crying.

    There was conflict between the two. Earlier, they had been sweet as honey, but in the blink of an eye, they started to argue. The man said something like, it was already the seventh day, so they had to leave. He gripped the handle on the door, but the woman refused to let him go and even started to bite the man.

    ¡°This is my chance!¡± Chen Ge saw this from afar and became excited. There was not much fuel in the e-bike. If he missed this chance, it would all be over. The couple was still arguing. The driver inside the bus felt like he was about to go insane. He red at the couple and started to yell at them.

    Seeing that Chen Ge was not far away, he decided not to wait anymore and directly closed the doors. However, this time, the man was determined to get on the bus, and he used his body to stop the door from closing. The woman yanked him out, but the man held onto the handle inside the door and refused to let go.

    The driver grew agitated. He almost stood up to give the man a kick. The couple continued to tussle, the driver screamed, and the other passengers¡¯ expressions all changed. They could feel something.

    The man blocked the door, but the driver could not wait anymore. He started the engine, but at that moment, everyone inside the bus heard the sound of electric whirring. It did note from inside the bus.

    ¡°Finally, I caught up to you!¡± A growl came from outside the bus. Chen Ge rode past the bus and parked the e-bike before the bus. His palms were wet with sweat. The fuel was running out, and he had almost failed the mission.

    Standing by the door, Chen Ge did not waste his energy arguing with the driver. He reached into his bag to take out the hammer.

    The arguing couple saw the scary weapon and immediately turned docile.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s because of two of you that I could catch the bus, so I will treat you well.¡± Chen Ge raised the hammer and looked at the driver, who was sweating. ¡°Are you going to open the door on your own, or do you want me to open it for you?¡±

    The driver¡¯s Adam apple moved and unwillingly opened the bus¡¯ front door.

    ¡°You¡¯re driving a public bus, and everyone has the right to take public transport, so why are you discriminating against me?¡±

    Under the watchful gazes of all the passengers, Chen Ge picked up the e-bike and told the man, ¡°Brother, do you mind lending me a hand?¡±

    The man was rather confused, but he still followed Chen Ge¡¯s order and hauled the e-bike into the bus.

    ¡°You two, hop on as well.¡± Chen Ge told the couple.

    The man wanted to reject, but Chen Ge grabbed his sleeve. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. With me here, the driver will not dare bully you.¡±

 Chapter 537 - Name? Occupation? Hobby and Interest?

    <h4>Chapter 537: Name? upation? Hobby and Interest?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The man¡¯s body was glued to his girlfriend, and Chen Ge pulled on his sleeve. He stood before the front door of the bus and uttered with some regret, ¡°How about you give me some time to think about it?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve helped me a lot tonight, and I¡¯ll need to thank you personally.¡± Before the man could say anything, Chen Ge pulled him and his girlfriend onto the bus. The door closed, and the bus continued to move. Hearing the robotic and cold announcement, the man and his girlfriend felt equally chilly.

    After dropping in the fare, the couple shuffled to the back of the bus under the driver¡¯s venomous gaze. However, Chen Ge held the e-bike and stood next to the driver. He turned his head to look at the man but did not say anything.

    Cold sweat slid down the driver¡¯s face. He was wearing an old uniform. His hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that the back of his palms were pulsing with green veins.

    ¡°Are you okay? You don¡¯t look so good.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, it¡¯s just an old illness.¡± The driver avoided Chen Ge¡¯s gaze and kept his eyes on the road. ¡°Er... please move to the back of the bus. Ourpany has a rule that prohibits the driver from talking with passengers when the bus is moving.¡±

    ¡°Thepany has a rule to prevent you from conversing with the passengers? Then does yourpany have rules that stop you from epting passengers at night?¡± He had almost failed the mission. Chen Ge had chased the bus for three stations before he finally got on, so he was still irked at that.

    The driver thought about it and forced out an excuse. ¡°I saw you on the e-bike, and I thought you were rushing to the bus stop to hide from the rain, so I didn¡¯t stop.¡±

    ¡°That does sound reasonable.¡± Chen Ge silently shoved the hammer back into his bag. He looked at the driver and nodded meaningfully. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Tang Jun.¡± The driver had a feeling that he had been targeted, and his legs kept shaking.

    ¡°Not bad.¡± The driver treated his passengers well, and his mind was active. He had a great sense of self-preservation. Was this not the type of ghost that Chen Ge was looking for?

    Chen Ge did not trouble the driver anymore and moved to look at the other passengers on the bus.

    Other than the couple who sat at the back and Chen Ge himself, there were eight other passengers on the bus. One was the man who was smothered in thick clothing. He was wearing a hat and a mask, so only his eyes were revealed. Sitting next to the man was the person who had gotten on at the previous stop. His limbs were uncoordinated like a toy that had seen better days.

    Other than those passengers whom Chen Ge had seen get on the bus, there were four women in patients¡¯ garbs. They sat next to the window and had their heads lowered. The long, ck hair covered their faces, and they looked quite scary.

    Chen Ge scanned them with his gaze, and his eyes eventually fell on a middle-aged woman who sat on the third row. The woman looked so ugly and so fat. She was holding the hand of a young boy who sat next to her. The boy looked around four or five. He was leaning against the woman. No matter how much the bus shuddered, he did not open his eyes.

    <i>He doesn¡¯t look like he¡¯s asleep but feels more like he¡¯s unconscious.</i>

    This was Chen Ge¡¯s first time on the bus. The situation inside the bus was different from what Xiao Gu had described. He did not see any high schooler or men who were drenched. The only one that matched was the middle-aged woman.

    <i>Is the boy next to her the red raincoat woman¡¯s child?</i>

    Chen Ge was not sure because the description provided by Xiao Gu regarding the child was different from this boy.

    <i>Could the woman have kidnapped another child from Eastern Jiujiang?</i>

    That thought shed across Chen Ge¡¯s mind. He parked the e-bike nicely and walked to the back of the bus. The couple hid far away from him, but they did not expect Chen Ge toe to them. The couple nudged deeper into the seat awkwardly, and their bodies did not once separate from each other.

    ¡°This is a public space, why don¡¯t you act more normally?¡± Chen Ge sat down next to the man like he could not see the other empty seats on the bus. ¡°Brother, thanks for your help earlier.¡±

    The man did not know what Chen Ge was up to, so he smiled at Chen Ge politely.

    Once he got a closer look, Chen Ge realized that there were burn marks underneath the man¡¯s neck, and the scary scars were a huge contrast to his smooth skin and handsome face. Xiao Gu seemed to have run into this couple before, but back then, they did not get on the bus.

    ¡°What¡¯s with the two of you?¡± Chen Ge asked. ¡°You were so sweet at the station, but once the bus showed up, you started arguing.¡±

    ¡°I wanted to move to Eastern Jiujiang, but she didn¡¯t want to, so we started arguing.¡± The man¡¯s voice was hoarse like his windpipe had been scorched by mes.

    ¡°What is so good about Eastern Jiujiang? It¡¯s far morefortable to live in Western Jiujiang. Once you¡¯ve tried living there, I swear you¡¯ll fall in love with it.¡± Chen Ge stared at the other passengers and did not let his guard down too much. The Hearse was a two-star scenario, so the difficulty was simr to Mu Yang High School. Even though there was no Red Specter, it was still quite dangerous for Chen Ge.

    ¡°Western Jiujiang?¡± That was not an option within the man¡¯s n, but he was too cultured to deny Chen Ge¡¯s suggestion, so he said absent-mindedly, ¡°I¡¯ll definitely go take a look if there¡¯s a chance.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t regret it.¡± Chen Ge revealed a kind smile. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking, what do the two of you do for a living?¡±

    The man lowered his head slightly like he did not want to talk about it, but the woman next to him said, ¡°He was my violin tutor. My dad hired him from overseas with a high payment.¡±

    ¡°You know how to y the violin?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes lit up immediately. This was a talent!

    The man touched the woman to stop her from talking, but the woman seemed to have been reminded of something sad and gripped the man¡¯s hand tightly, refusing to let go. Her nails had cut into the man¡¯s flesh, but the wound did not bleed. ¡°Compared to the violin, he¡¯s better at lying and cheating.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± The man¡¯s voice turned severe. ¡°I¡¯ve never lied to you; I just wanted you to give me more time.¡±

    The woman looked the man in the eye. She moved her gaze away after a while. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter anymore. After all, now we¡¯re finally together, and no one will be able to separate us again.¡±

    Chen Ge listened patiently. He preferred a storied life. A conflict-filled experience would give birth to a different rtionship, and a strong rtionship would be able to touch other people.

    Taking out his phone, Chen Ge searched for the news in Jiujiang. The keywords were ¡®couple¡¯ and ¡®fire¡¯, and he soon found what he was looking for.

    After thest investor for Ming Yang Residence killed himself, his only daughtermitted suicide with her violin tutor at Li Wan Mall. The police originally suspected that it was thepany worker whomitted this crime. This had been big news at the time when it happened.

 Chapter 538 - The Living Humans on the Bus

    <h4>Chapter 538: The Living Humans on the Bus</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Reading the message on the phone, the way Chen Ge looked at the couple next to him changed. Ming Yang Residence was built for ghosts, and all three investors died; there had to be a bigger secret behind it. Chen Ge even suspected that the three investors were possessed by the scary shadow. That was the only exnation for them focusing on an abandoned site at the fringe of Li Wan City.

    <i>The deaths of the three investors probably have something to do with the shadow. The shadow will stop at nothing to reach its goal, and he killed off all the people once they outlived their use; this shadow sure is cruel.</i>

    After discovering the couple¡¯s identity, Chen Ge saw them in a new light.

    The man insisted on getting on the bus and prepared to head to Li Wan City probably because he had overheard some news, but the woman refused to get on the bus. She probably had her own reasons as well. They had different thoughts, but their bodies were joined together when theymitted suicide, so the conflict caused them to stay at the bus stop. If not for Chen Ge, they probably would not have gotten on the bus.

    <i>This couple will help me understand Li Wan City and Ming Yang Residence better. Looks like I¡¯ll need to treat them more than just simple employees.</i>

    For the time being, Chen Ge was more interested in the other passengers.

    <i>Tonight, I¡¯m destined to get away with plenty of reward.</i>

    Chen Ge liked to challenge this type of low difficulty mission. They could just sit around the table and solve the problem, how nice. The couple argued among themselves, and Chen Ge carried his bag to leave thest row. He sat down next to the man with uneven coordination.

    ¡°Brother, how are you doing?¡± Chen Ge hugged his backpack and looked at the man.

    The head turned awkwardly, and the man paused for a long time before realizing that Chen Ge was talking to him. He raised his hand to gesture for a while. Seeing the confusion on Chen Ge¡¯s face, he pointed at his mouth and then waved his hands.

    ¡°A mute?¡± Chen Ge did not expect such a passenger, so he bowed slightly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    The man waved his hands again. The tip of his finger touched the back of Chen Ge¡¯s arm¡ªit was warm.

    <i>The hand is harm? This is a living person?</i>

    Narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision. He failed to capture anything off about this man. <i>He should be someone who got on the bus identally like Xiao Gu and Huang Ling.</i>

    However, after thinking about it, Chen Ge realized that his assessment was not so urate. The bus arrived at the station at 11:30 pm¡ªwho would wait for a bus at a time like that?

    Chen Ge stared at the man for a long time and slowly noticed the problem. The man¡¯s IQ seemed to be stunted. His throat could make noises, but he did not know how to speak. A mentally-challenged person taking a hearse to go to Li Wan City at night, was he really dumb or faking it?

    Taking out his phone, Chen Ge opened his contact page. ¡°It¡¯s very dangerous for you to be alone outside at night like this. Where are you heading? Why don¡¯t I go with you? This is my phone number.¡±

    The man did not quite to get what he was saying; he only knew how to shake his hands. Chen Ge looked at the man¡¯s attire. His clothes looked unwashed, and his trousers were ragged. This image really did not fit a murderous culprit.

    Unable tomunicate, Chen Ge tried several times before giving up. He nned to finish the Hearse¡¯s mission and followed the man to Li Wan City to see what he was up to. If he was problematic, then Chen Ge would detain him immediately. If he was just a normal person, Chen Ge would follow him as well to prevent him from being ambushed by ghosts.

    At night, Li Wan City would be hiding many things. Under the influence of the door, the town had be the ce where the two worlds ovepped.

    Standing up, Chen Ge walked down the aisle. The passengers looked at him, but none said anything. The driver did not breathe a word, only focusing on driving to thest stop. Stopping next to the man in manyyers, Chen Ge studied the man. ¡°Aren¡¯t you hot from wearing so much?¡±

    The man raised his head to look at Chen Ge. Then he lowered the rim of his cap and said coldly, ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±

    He was covered up by thick clothes. With the cap, gloves, and mask, only his eyes were revealed.

    ¡°Are you sick?¡± Chen Ge used Yin Yang Vision, and he realized that this man looked like a living person as well.

    <i>Howe the humans act more strangely than ghosts?</i>

    Chen Ge sat down next to the man. He could sense coldnessing from the man, a coldness that radiated from his body. Chen Ge had seen this situation before. In Coffin Vige, the body temperature of the olddy who had been the well ghost¡¯s friend for several decades had dropped over the years, and in the end, it was only with the ghost¡¯s help that she managed to maintain her body temperature.

    Did this mean the man had constant interactions with ghosts?

    Chen Ge could not get a good look of the man¡¯s face. He was unable to tell anything from just the eyes and voice.

    <i>When they got on the bus, the driver did not stop them. This means that the driver did not sense any threat from them. Even if they have a trump card, it¡¯s not stronger than Zhang Ya.</i>

    Realizing that, Chen Ge rxed and leaned against the chair. He kept ncing to his side, and he noticed some useful information from certain clues.

    The scarf around the man¡¯s neck was knitted from wool. The edge of the hem was messy. The end wasing loose. Normally, just like knitting a braid, the edges should have been brought back into the hem. Chen Ge had done something simr when he made the clothes for his mannequins at the Haunted House. They looked wless.

    But the scarf was obviously less than perfect. The person who had knitted the scarf was probably an amateur. From the design of the scarf, this was probably from at least ten years back. Furthermore, even on the bus, the man did not take the scarf off. This thing was very important to him¡ªthis normal-looking scarf was something special to him.

    Lastly, the man¡¯s voice when he spoke. Chen Ge believed that the man to be around forty. He likely had a wife who loved him a lot, and his wife had probably died, perhaps in a car ident. The man¡¯s body was cold. Like Chen Ge, he had probably stayed with a ghost for a long time.

    Combining all the clues, Chen Ge believed that the man had a ghost who apanied him always, and that ghost was his wife.

    Chen Ge was only specting since he did not have actual proof, butpared to the man¡¯s identity, he was more curious about why the man was going to Li Wan City at night.

    <i>Most of the ghosts I¡¯ve met in Western Jiujiang were trying to consume each other. The ghosts in Eastern Jiujiang seem to be different.</i>

 Chapter 539 - People [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 539: People [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Being stared by Chen Ge for a long time, the man tightened the cor of his jacket and coughed lightly. ¡°Do we know each other?¡±

    His voice was clear and full of stories like he had witnessed many things in his life and had already seen through the vicissitudes of life.

    Chen Ge did not expect the man to suddenly speak. He paused for a beat before answering the man¡¯s question. ¡°You look very much simr to a friend of mine. The presence is almost the same. Have we met somewhere before?¡±

    The man turned his head away. There was a trace of tiredness in his eyes. ¡°You¡¯ve probably got the wrong person.¡±

    ¡°Impossible, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ve met you somewhere before. Are you sure we haven¡¯t met before?¡±

    This was Chen Ge¡¯s first meeting with the man; he said these things only because he wanted to chat further with the man to obtain more valuable information. The man was silent for quite some time. He looked at Chen Ge, and after another bout of hesitation, he raised his hand to remove the mask from his face.

    He had a tall nose. His skin was pale and lips purple. After the man took off the mask, he coughed heavily. ¡°You¡¯ve got the wrong person; I¡¯m not the person you¡¯re looking for.¡±

    Then, he put the mask back on. There was a pool of indescribable emotions in his eyes when he added, ¡°That is because I have no friends.¡±

    The man was not afraid of Chen Ge. He was a passenger who had gotten on the bus, and he was still breathing. He did not know what was hiding inside Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. Perhaps in his eyes, Chen Ge was no different from the other passengers. Chen Ge wanted to get to the bottom of the events in Eastern Jiujiang and also wanted to bring all the ghosts on the hearse back to his Haunted House. However, out of his expectations, there were two living passengers on the bus that night.

    He did not want to expose his secret, so he did not do anything that was too out of line in front of the two living passengers. Therefore, he had a change of n. He was going to keep a good profile. After they arrived at Li Wan City and the two surviving passengers got off the bus, then he was going to have a good chat with the other passengers. He sat in his seat obediently. Chen Ge moved his eyes away from the man and looked out the window.

    The rain fell on the ss. The buildings on the sides were already blurred beyond recognition. They were surrounded by darkness. The bus that they were on was like a small ind floating on a piece of dark sea.

    The car suddenly became very quiet. The man realized that Chen Ge had stopped talking after he conversed with him, and he thought that he had misspoken and offended Chen Ge. He ced both of his hands on his knees and suddenly asked Chen Ge in a whisper, ¡°Did you take this bus to find that friend of yours?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes started to focus. The expression on his face started to change like the man had guessed the secret hiding in his heart. There was some uncertainty, some pain, and some self-me. Nodding slowly, Chen Ge turned to look at the man next to him. ¡°How did you know that?¡±

    ¡°All the passengers on this bus have their own story and secret, or else we would not have purposely taken this bus after midnight.¡±

    ¡°Listening to your tone, it sounds like this is not the first time you have taken this bus.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s lips moved to reveal a smile that was simr to the one that he had when he got on the bus. However, there was a deep pain in his eyes, and those who saw it would feel sorry for him.

    ¡°I took this bus on Route 104 to go to work every day for almost twenty years.¡± The man talked very slowly like he had not spoken to someone for a very long time and needed time to get used to using his voice. ¡°At the time, the unit that I worked at was rather busy, and there were not enough people to go around. I always had to workte, so I would always take thest bus home. Initially, I quite liked taking thest bus. There would not be too many people, so it was very quiet. But after some time, looking at the darkened buildings by the roadside, the loneliness within my heart started to grow.¡±

    ¡°Unit? What was your upation in the past?¡±

    ¡°I was a doctor, a doctor at the burn unit.¡± The man stressed the term ¡®burn unit¡¯. A ripple crossed his eyes like he was reminded of something.

    ¡°Burn unit?¡± Chen Ge had only interacted with psychologists in the past, so he was not familiar with the burn unit.

    ¡°Surgery, skin transntation, recovery, those are our job,¡± the man said in a casual tone, but Chen Ge could hear the heaviness behind his words. The man also noticed the extreme pain in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. He seemed to see his own shadow reflected in Chen Ge, and he subconsciously treated Chen Ge as a kindred spirit.

    After that brief conversation, the two became quiet again. After some time, Chen Ge opened his lips to ask, ¡°Since you¡¯re taking this bus, are you also looking for someone?¡±

    The man nodded slightly, and his gloved hands fell on the scarf.

    Finding the opening and asked in a nonchnt manner, ¡°Was it your wife who knitted you this scarf?¡±

    Hearing that, the man halted for a moment. He moved his hand away from the scarf before slowly shaking his head.

    ¡°It¡¯s not from your wife?¡± The reality was not as Chen Ge expected. Now he was curious. ¡°Do you mind telling me your story?¡±

    The rain increased in intensity and fell on the window, creating a crescendo. The man was silent before removing his mask to take a deep breath. ¡°The patients at a burn unit are different from other units. Theyck skin, a face, and even the shape of a normal human being. When I was doing my residency, I really thought I¡¯d entered hell. However, I slowly got used to the horror, the stench, and the decay.

    ¡°At the time, I really thought that I¡¯d be desensitized to everything, and when I faced the patients, I would not get too emotional.

    ¡°That was true until I was thirty and ran into a patient who was fourteen. She was still a child, and her back had been severely scalded. I used half an hour before I could separate her clothes from her skin. The girl was very quiet, and she did not make any noise or even cry.

    ¡°To prevent possibleplications to her growing brain, I did not apply full sedation. When I was operating on her back, the girl just opened her eyes and looked at me. Her back and her face were like two extremes. I consoled her just like how I consoled my other patients.

    ¡°After dealing with all the wounds, I went in search for the adult who brought her to the hospital. There were some follow-up details that I needed to tell them, but after some asking around, I realized that it was the neighbor who brought her to the hospital. The wounds on her body were not because of an ident; it was her parents who did that to her.

    ¡°I called the police.¡±

    When the man spoke, he would cough asionally. His physical condition was ailing.

    ¡°The girl¡¯s father had serious violent tendencies. Her mother was a deaf and mute; she could barely take care of herself. The police detained her mother for a month. In the end, it was her mother who went to the police station to beg for mercy. After all, the whole family depended on her father for survival.

    ¡°During the period of her recovery, I apanied her daily. The child was like a wild flower blooming by the roadside. Being by her side, I, someone who had gotten used to the ugliness of the world, felt a sense of happiness and joy.

    ¡°About two months after her discharge from the hospital, I received a phone call from an unknown number. It was her voice on the other end. Unable to withstand her father¡¯s actions after he got drunk, she decided to run away from home. I took her in, hiding that fact from the police and her family.

    ¡°I know that it was wrong of me to do so, but I couldn¡¯t imagine what would happen to her if I sent her back.¡±

    At this point, the man paused. Seeing that the expression on Chen Ge¡¯s face did not change, he continued. ¡°When she was twenty, she confessed to me. At the time, I was thirty-six. We skipped the romance; we did not register at the necessary department. We held a small wedding, for just the two of us.

    ¡°The five years that followed was the happiest period of my life, but the pressure that came was immeasurable.

    ¡°When I was forty-one, her parents found her. Humiliation, beating, and scolding came. They created chaos at her school and at my hospital. Life suddenly changed. Rumors are a very scary thing. I was able to withstand it, but she gave up.

    ¡°When I took thest bus home that day, I called her several times, but no one answered. I reached home and opened the door; the dishes that she had cooked wereid out on the table. Beside them was a long letter that she had written for me. In the end, I found her inside the bathroom. Her body was soaked inside the water, and she was already gone.¡±

    The man¡¯s face was startlingly white, and the coughing became more severe. Chen Ge reached out to pat him on his back.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± The man did not put the mask back on. The tiredness in his eyes could not be hidden anymore. ¡°Actually, all the passengers on this bus have their own stories. In the morning, everyone is busy, so the stories are well-hidden amid the hustle and bustle. At night, these helpless, pained, and despairing people take this bus to head to thest stop.¡±

    From the way that the man told the story, he did not seem to realize that the other passengers were ghosts, or perhaps he already knew that but treated them as people.

    ¡°Do you know anything else?¡±

    ¡°I know too much. Like that mute next to us. I¡¯ve met him before.¡± There was a pity in the man¡¯s voice. ¡°He is mentally challenged and doesn¡¯t know how to speak. He was a worker at a supermarket. He often gets bullied by others but smiles back at them, thinking they¡¯re saying good things about him.¡±

    ¡°Then why would he get on this bus? An innocent person wouldn¡¯t get involved with these negative things.¡± Chen Ge was confused.

    ¡°He¡¯s going to thest stop to find his daughter.¡± The man did not have the heart to continue anymore. ¡°Due to a certain reason, someone reached out to a gang of ruffians to bully his daughter. They scorched her palms with cigarettes and pulled out her hair, and the camera even caught them doing worse thing to the girl. The girl did not tell her father because she did not want to worry him. However, in the end, the pressure was too much for the girl to bear, and she ended her life.¡±

    ¡°School bullying?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes darkened. These things really did happen; he had personally witnessed it before. ¡°Did he call the police? How did the police handle this?¡±

    The man next to them was mentally challenged, and his limbs were uncoordinated. He would even trip on himself when he was just out walking. Someone needed to help him fight for justice.

    ¡°Call the police?¡± The man smiled darkly. ¡°The man who is mentally-challenged, the mute, the man who has trouble even walking, knocked out the bunch of the ruffians and the culprit and dragged them to an abandoned building in Eastern Jiujiang. Then, he doused the ce with fuel and burned them all in arge fire.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not physically capable, and he¡¯s mentally challenged. How did he manage to do all that?¡±

    ¡°The police had the same question, so even today, the case is still open. The murderer has not been found.¡± The doctor and Chen Ge turned to look at the man at the same time. He sensed their eyes on him, and the man turned around to smile nkly at them.

    ¡°Using violence to stop violence, it will only lead to more problems. The heart that is already broken from pain will have trouble resisting the pressure thates after taking revenge. He might go from one extreme to another.¡± Chen Ge could not judge the father¡¯s actions. If he put himself in the father¡¯s shoes, he could not guarantee what he might do.

    ¡°An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I think it¡¯s quite fair. Let¡¯s not talk about him anymore. I¡¯ve seen more serious cases on this buspared to him¡± the doctor said. ¡°There was one night when it was raining heavily. After I got on the bus, I saw a young man in a well-made suit get on. He looked so energetic and bright. He stood out easily from the rest of the passengers, but underneath that surface hid a very broken mind.¡±

    ¡°What is the story about him?¡±

    ¡°The young man was once a wedding host. He was very popr, and he had hosted several hundred weddings even though he had only worked in the field for a few years. Finally, it was his turn to get married. He dressed up nicely to wee the bride, but they got into a car ident on their way back from the wedding.

    ¡°The bride died on the spot. Even though he survived, his face was ruined. Thepany politely requested him to quit. After that, he changed field to be a funeral designer. When his service was needed, he would help people design the funeral, and when he was free, he would look over the graveyard.

    ¡°That¡¯s quite normal, but in our conversation, he identally revealed some information. When the night was quiet and there was no one around, he would help the dead bodies connect the dots and help them with Minghun, and of course, he would be the host.¡±

    The story told by the man was rather scary. ¡°He came on the bus to find his wife, and then he prepared to finish the wedding that he was owed.¡±

    After hearing the story of the doctor from the burn unit, the mentally-challenged father, and the wedding host, Chen Ge realized the bus on Route 104 was different from what he had imagined. The bus seemed to have be a route for the living humans in Jiujiang to use to enter the darker side of the city. People from all walks of life used it to find theirst hope.

    Chen Ge did not know how to tell the doctor from the burn unit that while everyone treated this bus as theirst hope, they were destined to fail. This was because thest stop of this bus was made from the deepest pain and despair.

    Chen Ge even suspected that the culprit in Eastern Jiujiang made this bus to collect despair and various negative emotions.

    <i>The ghost stories society created so many ghost stories to collect despair and negative emotions; the thing behind the door needs stuff like this. Other than that, only those living with extreme pain and despair can be vessels for ghosts.</i>

    There were humans and ghosts on thest bus. They sped toward thest station with thest piece of hope, but the world that weed them would be one of endless despair.

    <i>I cannot allow this to continue anymore. Looks like I¡¯ll need to drive this bus away. Perhaps I can use this to open a new path that leads directly to the Haunted House.</i>

    The strange living passengers on the bus reminded Chen Ge of the game that he had yed at Fan Chong¡¯s home. Inside the game, other than Red Specters and other ghosts, there were many crazed murderers. Chen Ge now suspected that these murderers had once been living passengers on this very bus heading down Route 104.

    <i>The whole town will be filled with baleful spirits and crazed murderers. The culprit in Eastern Jiujiang is much crazier than the ghost stories society.</i>

 Chapter 540 - Have You Heard About the Ghost Stories Society?

    <h4>Chapter 540: Have You Heard About the Ghost Stories Society?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After hearing the doctor¡¯s stories, Chen Ge understood that every passenger on the bus had their own sad past. They had secrets buried inside their heart, and thest stop that the bus was heading toward in the middle of the night was for thatst piece of hope. This was a bunch of sad people¡ªChen Ge wondered if he should tell them the truth.

    If he did not, they could still try to survive with that bit of hope, but if he did, these passengers might copse from losing thatst hope.

    <i>The final destination of the hearse is Li Wan City, the ce that is influenced by the world behind the door. It is filled with evil and despair. All their effort is destined to be in vain. I cannot allow them to sink deeper into this abyss. These people deserve to be treated better.</i>

    Telling them the truth might cause them to copse, but if he also provided them with new hope, then things would be different. After giving it some thought, Chen Ge decided to use his own method to help them.

    The doctor noticed that Chen Ge had started to space out, so he asked, ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±

    Chen Ge did not answer. His brain was turning and the stories of Wang Qi, Xu Yin, and even Doctor Gao appeared in his mind. He could fool them easily by taking these people¡¯s experiences as his own.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t feel like sharing it. Perhaps we might see each other again on this bus.¡± The man¡¯s eyes scanned Chen Ge, and his lips moved slowly. ¡°This is your first time on this bus, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Chen Ge nodded.

    The doctor nudged closer to Chen Ge and lowered his voice. ¡°When you arrive at the ce and someone asks you to choose between giving and epting, remember to choose epting.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Chen Ge noticed the problem easily. ¡°I just want to find my friend, and I need to give or ept something? Brother, what is really at thest stop?¡±

    The doctor turned his head and looked around before he spoke. ¡°There is a ghost apartment in the small town. You can hear the voice of the person you¡¯re looking for inside the building. If you wish to meet them, then you have to give up something.¡±

    Chen Ge memorized what the doctor said in his heart. He had revealed some important information¡ªthere was a ghost apartment in Li Wan City. He answered back in whisper, ¡°Brother, I just want to see my friend. Do I need to give up something for that?¡±

    ¡°There is no free meal in this world. If you want to meet your friend, then you have to either ept something or give up something.¡± The doctor was a kind-hearted person. He removed the glove and pulled up the sleeve. There was a red thread around his wrist. ¡°This is to ward against evil. Whenever I enter the ghost apartment, I choose to ept. Every time I leave, there is a certain heaviness on my shoulders like something is on my back, following me out.¡±

    Chen Ge knew what kind of eptance the doctor was referring to. No wonder the doctor was radiating coldness and was so weak. The culprit used these despairing people to feed the ghosts, to use them as vessels.

    This was simr to the members of the ghost stories society, but there was a small difference. These passengers had no idea that their bodies had be homes for ghosts and that their emotions had be food for ghosts. They had no power to control the ghost and could only ept everything passively.

    ¡°Then what happens when you choose to give? Why won¡¯t you let me pick that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what the father next to us chose. Initially, you only needed to give up your nails or hair, but as time progresses, the things that you need to give up be worse, like teeth, fingers, your conscience, and the kindness in your heart.¡± The doctor¡¯s voice was low. If Chen Ge did not have Ghost Ear, he would not have been able to hear it.

    ¡°Even the conscience can be given up?¡±

    ¡°They will have to go to the small town to do some things like stealing, mugging, or killing some things. After you choose giving, you¡¯ll realize that you¡¯ll slowly be someone that you cannot recognize.¡± The doctor saw how curious Chen Ge was, and thed did not look the least afraid, so he did not want to exin anymore. ¡°You only needed to remember that those who chose to give, after they have given everything, will stay inside that building.¡±

    ¡°Meaning, in the end, they will give up themselves?¡± Without heart, humanity, and memory, they had lost their identity. Chen Ge realized that these people whom the doctor mentioned were simr to the crazed murderers inside the game. They were cultivating darkness and highly aggressive.

    <i>If the game represents the world behind the door in Li Wan City, then those who chose to give probably end up being sent into the door.</i>

    Those who chose to ept became vessels for monsters and were slowly being consumed; those who chose to give eventually became monsters behind the door.

    Chen Gepared the methods of the culprit in Eastern Jiujiang and the ghost stories society. The society had people control the ghosts to investigate how to take control over the ¡®door¡¯, but the situation in Eastern Jiujiang waspletely different. The culprit had the ghosts control the people and then continued to feed the ¡®door¡¯ nutrients¡ªthis made the already open door more chaotic in nature.

    If Doctor Gao was the epitome of both rationality and madness, then the culprit at Eastern Jiujiang was aplete monster. They no longer viewed human beings as human beings and tried their best to ruin everything that was good about humanity.

    <i>This sure is a scary enemy. </i>Chen Ge understood many things from his conversation with the doctor, and he slowly calmed down. <i>The shadow at the fresh water nt managed to cross swords with the healing Zhang Ya. Could the shadow¡¯s body really be an existence above Red Specter?</i>

    Chen Ge would run every time that he saw a Red Specter before this, but with Xu Yin and Bai Qiulin¡¯s growth, he had ovee his fear of Red Specters. However, something scarier than that had appeared soon after.

    He had no idea how powerful the enemy was. Thinking about the fact that his parents had disappeared in Eastern Jiujiang, Chen Ge suddenly felt unsettled. He looked at the e-bike parked in the middle of the aisle, and he grumbled to himself, ¡°Have I been a bit too high profile recently?¡±

    The woman in the raincoat was a Red Specter, and she knew that her child was on the bus, but she still did not dare get on the bus¡ªthis went to show her terror due to the culprit. <i>I¡¯ll need to reassess the enemy¡¯s ability since they are able to scare a Red Specter.</i>

    Chen Ge grumbled to himself. The doctor next to him thought he was spooked by the stories he scared so he consoled him. ¡°You¡¯ll be fine if you choose to ept. Perhaps you¡¯ll be able to see her before the burden bes too much.¡±

    The doctor¡¯s wish was really simple. Chen Ge did not want to see the kind man walk step by step into the darkness, and he decided to use his own method to save these people. ¡°Actually, I know another way that you might be able to meet them, and you don¡¯t need to pay such a horrid price.¡±

    ¡°What kind of way?¡± The doctor¡¯s brow rose. He was interested.

    Turning around to look the doctor in the eye, Chen Ge said, ¡°Have you heard about the ghost stories society?¡±

 Chapter 541 - Give Me the Child

    <h4>Chapter 541: Give Me the Child</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°What is that?¡± The doctor frowned. From the name alone, he felt like the society was not that friendly.

    ¡°A support group that is formed through mutual support. The members are people like us, people with stories.¡± Chen Ge wanted to say that it was a support group for mental patients, but he realized how that sounded, so he changed his mind.

    ¡°I¡¯m not used to crowds.¡± Various rumors had forced his lover to her death, so ever since then, the doctor did not like tomunicate with other people. The only reason that he talked so much to Chen Ge was because he was the one who had approached Chen Ge, and he felt the passengers on the bus might have worse stories than he did.

    The doctor denied the offer. Chen Ge did not force him. After all, anyone would be suspicious when they were invited to join a strange society.

    ¡°If you ever find yourself unable to carry the burden anymore but you still wish to see your wife, you can call me.¡± Chen Ge left his phone number with the doctor. The doctor thought that he was weird, but he still memorized Chen Ge¡¯s number.

    ¡°Brother, you mentioned the ghost apartment at Li Wan City earlier, can you tell me more details about it?¡± Chen Ge wanted to find out more information from the doctor. This was also a way to help the doctor.

    ¡°You need to search for the building on your own when you arrive at the city. Sometimes...¡± The bus suddenly lurched to a stop. All the passengers leaned forward, and it also interrupted the doctor.

    The e-bike leaned to the side and knocked into a woman who wore a patient¡¯s garb with her head lowered. The ck hair covered her face fully. After the bike knocked into her, she maintained her pose,pletely immobile.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Did it hurt you?¡± Chen Ge quickly moved the bike back. He looked at the four women in patient¡¯s garbs, and he titled his head to the side and slowly squatted down. He wanted to see the four women¡¯s faces to confirm their identity. With one hand on the bike and another on the back of the seat, Chen Ge adjusted his angle, but he still could not see the woman¡¯s face. Hair seemed to grow out from the women¡¯s entire head. However, Chen Ge still got away with a clue. He saw the name of the hospital from the woman¡¯s garb.

    It was a hospital with four characters, but the first character was blocked. Thest three words were ¡® Xin Yi Yuan <sup>1</sup> ¡®.

    Chen Ge cross-referenced with the local hospitals in Jiujiang¡ªthe more famous ones were Central Hospital, the People¡¯s Hospital, and Jiujiang¡¯s Female and Children¡¯s Hospital. He could not figure out which hospital had the word Xin in its name.

    <i>Why did they leave the hospital in the middle of the night?</i>

    These four women were definitely not living humans. When Chen Ge approached them, his hair stood on end on reflex. He had even gotten used to this feeling.

    <i>Four ghosts sitting in a row, but why are they heading to Li Wan City? </i>Chen Ge already understood why living humans went to Li Wan City, but he still did not understand why the dead were going to Li Wan City.

    <i>I¡¯m already so close to her, but howe they still haven¡¯t responded in the slightest? At least give me a nce.</i>

    Ghosts were different from normal humans; he could not just drag any ghost back to the Haunted House. He needed to understand them and observe them for a long time before he feltforted enough to allow them to reside at the Haunted House.

    When Chen Ge wanted to get more information from the four female patients, the announcement rang¡ªthey had arrived at the next stop. The doors opened, and the wind carried the rain into the bus. It fell on Chen Ge¡¯s back.

    <i>Why is it raining so heavily? Howe the weather forecast was so far off?</i>

    Chen Ge turned around. He only nced at the bus stop, but he found himself unable to move his eyes away. The rain fell like the heavens had opened up. A woman in a red raincoat stood alone in the middle of the bus stop. The rain slid down the rim of her cap and wetted her hair.

    ¡°Were you the one on the phone with me that day?¡± Chen Ge stood inside the bus and looked at the woman outside the bus. Hearing this familiar voice, the woman slowly raised her head. A pair of strange-looking eyes looked at Chen Ge through the gap in the hair.

    ¡°I promised to find your child within a week, so I risked my life to get on this hearse. I have not forgotten the promise that I¡¯ve made you.¡± Chen Ge sounded confident and trustworthy. The way that the woman looked at Chen Ge was different from how she looked at Xiao Gu. She stood where she was and did not nudge forward.

    The announcement began again. The driver, Tang Jun, saw Chen Ge conversing with the woman outside the bus, and cold sweat slid down his face. He pressed the button to close the door. He hurried to the next station.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Just as the backdoor was about to close, Chen Ge used his backpack to block the door. ¡°I have something I need to do.¡±

    ¡°This... is not so good. Everyone has right to ride the public bus. We can¡¯t ask the whole bus to wait for you alone, right?¡± The driver was worried that Chen Ge might do something stupid. Whenever he heard Chen Ge¡¯s voice, he would panic.

    ¡°You still remember that this is public transport, huh? Then why didn¡¯t you stop to let me get on earlier?¡± Chen Ge walked toward the front of the bus. He did not argue with the driver anymore but stopped next to the middle-aged woman. The whole bus was looking at Chen Ge, waiting for what he was going to do.

    ¡°What do you want?¡± Therge middle-aged woman moved deeper into her seat, and her voice dropped. Chen Ge did not waste time with her; he was not one to drag things out. Since the woman in the red raincoat had shown up, he could not dy the things with her child anymore.

    ¡°Is the boy next to you yours?¡± Chen Ge rarely used this type of tone. It was devoid of emotion and chilling.

    ¡°Ye... yes.¡± The woman ced herself between Chen Ge and the boy to stop Chen Ge from getting closer to the boy.

    ¡°I¡¯ll ask you again, is the boy yours?¡± Under the shocked gaze of the other passengers, Chen Ge took out the hammer from his backpack. The middle-aged woman looked around the bus with a pleading look, but none of them dared say anything.

    Her lips opened, and after a long hesitation, she said, ¡°This is my rtive¡¯s child. They are working in Jiujiang, and they¡¯re so busy, so I was asked to look after him.¡±

    ¡°So now, he¡¯s your rtive¡¯s child?¡± Chen Ge swung the hammer. ¡°Wake the boy up. I have a few questions to ask him.¡±

    Themotion was so loud, but the boy continued to slumber; he showed no trace of stirring. The middle-aged woman¡¯s face was conflicted. She pushed the boy, but he gave no response. ¡°He¡¯s quite a heavy sleeper...¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s a heavy sleeper, or have you slipped him some drugs?¡± Chen Ge held the hammer with one hand. ¡°Let me take a look at the child.¡±

    The middle-aged woman¡¯s face slowly lowered. Her expression was changing. She seemed to know that there was no escape. She reached into her pocket to grab something.

    ¡°Xu Yin!¡± Chen Ge did not give her the chance. When he noticed the change of expression on the woman¡¯s face, he immediately summoned Xu Yin. ¡°I¡¯ll repeat myself onest time, give me the child!¡±

 Chapter 542 - Get On

    <h4>Chapter 542: Get On</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The space inside the bus became cold and oppressive like something was standing next to Chen Ge, but he could not see it clearly. The middle-aged woman slowly removed her hands from the pocket, and her body was shaking. Without waiting for another order from Chen Ge, she moved the boy to the seat next to the aisle.

    Chen Ge picked up the boy from the seat. He still had some warmth, and Chen Ge could hear the heart beating. The boy was alive.

    <i>Why would the woman bring the child to Eastern Jiujiang? Is it because they believe a child has an easier time to be a door-pusher?</i>

    Having witnessed many tragedies in Eastern Jiujiang, Chen Ge had noticed that the main characters of these stories were mostly children, but he still had not figured out why yet.

    Chen Ge walked to the backdoor. He did not get off nor did he hand the boy over to the woman in the raincoat directly. He had heard Fan Chong say that one of the endings of the game was Xiao Bu being taken by the woman in the red raincoat. The woman was not Xiao Bu¡¯s mother, but she had still taken Xiao Bu with her and treated Xiao Bu as her child¡¯s recement.

    Chen Ge was unsure whether this ending was good or bad. Compared to death, it was better, but this was unfair to Xiao Bu. This situation that he was facing then was simr to the game. The boy was unconscious, and no one could tell whether he was the woman¡¯s child. If he handed the boy to the woman in the raincoat, she would not reject it and would probably treat the boy as her child¡¯s recement.

    Touching the boy¡¯s face, Chen Ge asked the woman outside, ¡°Is he your child?¡±

    The woman¡¯s gaze softened. She did not answer Chen Ge¡¯s question but took one step forward.

    ¡°Looks like he¡¯s not.¡± Chen Ge had been staring at the woman. A mother who would stand in the heavy rain to wait for her child would definitely not act so calmly if the child that she had lost had been found. Chen Ge took one step back and ced the boy on the seat next to him.

    When the woman in the red raincoat saw that, her mouth that was sewn shut by red threads started to growl. The gentleness in her eyes disappeared instantly, and blood poured out from her eyes. It looked scary.

    ¡°I only promised to help you find your child¡ªI did not say I would give you another person¡¯s child.¡± If this was one month ago, Chen Ge definitely would not have been brave enough to tell a Red Specter off, but things were different now. He was on the hearse, and he had Xu Yin. Even though Zhang Ya was injured, she was not asleep. She could be summoned anytime.

    ¡°You don¡¯t look that happy.¡± Chen Ge held the hammer and looked the woman in the red raincoat up and down. ¡°I¡¯m curious, since you know your child might be on the bus, then why don¡¯t youe in to inspect it yourself? What are you afraid of?¡±

    The lips that were sewn together could not speak. The lips moved, and the blood started to twist. The woman¡¯s emotions were agitated. Chen Ge could see her pain and anger.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been standing at the bus stop to look for your child, so did you get separated from him at the bus stop? Your body is injured. After you lost your child, what happened to you when you were searching for him?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s words reminded the woman of the past, and the painful images shed across her mind. The rain fell on her body, and the droplets turned into blood when they hit the floor. In the rain, the woman stood alone at the bus stop, and blood pooled around her.

    A dark blood vessel was popping on the pale face. The woman lifted her head. She wanted to open her mouth, and the threads on her lips were slowly being pulled taut. Her face was torn by the action. She took deliberate steps toward Chen Ge. Standing at the door, Chen Ge stood in front of the boy, and he looked at the woman silently. ¡°You¡¯re afraid¡ªI can see the fear in your heart. It¡¯s not that you don¡¯t want to get on this bus, but you¡¯re afraid to do so. You¡¯re fearful of the real owner of this bus, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    A living person was speaking to a Red Specter so calmly about the fear in her heart. This was a very scary thing for the other passengers. The woman ultimately stopped before the door. She knew that the bus belonged to something else, and stepping onto it would be a vition of that something¡¯s rules.

    ¡°Your child disappeared on this bus, but for some reason, youck the courage to even step on this bus. How do you expect to find your child like this?¡± With the other passengers watching him, Chen Ge extended his hand toward the woman. ¡°Get on, we¡¯ll look for your child together.¡±

    The blood soaked the tform. The woman stopped at the door, and her expression was conflicted. She was a Red Specter in Eastern Jiujiang. If she got on the bus, she would break the contract that she had with another being, and they would end up in an opposing situation. Chen Ge could see the anxiety and pain within the Red Specter; he took a step forward and ced his hands lightly on the woman¡¯s shoulders.

    The rain drenched his clothes, but he ignored it. He looked right into the woman¡¯s eyes. ¡°Stop hesitating. I¡¯m sure when your child wakes up from his nightmare, the first person that he¡¯ll want to see is you.¡±

    The driver stared at the backdoor through the rearview mirror. His heart raced as he watched the interaction between Chen Ge and the Red Specter. His leg was hovering over the gas pedal. If they got into a fight or Chen Ge left the bus, he would leave this ce immediately. However, what happened next was outside his expectations.

    The Red Specter, who was losing her control, started to calm down. She raised one hand to reach into the bus; this was something that had not happened before. The Red Specter had been watching outside the bus, and she had never once touched the bus before.

    ¡°Another one is getting on?¡± The driver¡¯s Adam apple shook. He suddenly realized that the lives of all the passengers were on his shoulders, and the pressure was huge.

    Under Chen Ge¡¯s persuasion, the woman finally made a decision, but just as her hand was about to reach into the bus, the sound of children crying came from both sides of the road. Hearing this, the woman seemed to be reminded of something incredibly scary. The hand that reached out immediately pulled back. Her bloodied eyes looked at Chen Ge. She stopped for several seconds before turning and leaving the bus stop.

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    The door closed, and the bus continued to move. Chen Ge looked at the empty bus stop and felt quite confused.

    He walked to the driver¡¯s seat while dragging the hammer. Before he said anything, the driver quickly said, ¡°I don¡¯t know anything, I¡¯m just the driver. I swear!¡±

    Since the driver had said that, Chen Ge did not give him more trouble. He put the hammer back into his backpack. He hugged the boy and took his seat next to the doctor.

    <i>Well, at least the rtionship between the woman in the red raincoat has improved.</i>

    Chen Ge turned and saw the doctor looking at his backpack with fear, like he had not recovered from the things that happened earlier.

 Chapter 543 - The Disappearing Bus Stop

    <h4>Chapter 543: The Disappearing Bus Stop</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I¡¯m out and about in the middle of the night by myself. I have to bring something to protect myself in case of danger, right?¡± Chen Ge gave his exnation.

    ¡°You have a point there.¡± After a brief moment of hesitation, the doctor asked, ¡°The members of the society that you mentioned earlier, are they all like you?¡±

    ¡°Compared to them, I¡¯m the more rational one.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the more rational one?¡± The doctor coughed. His body was failing him.

    ¡°Yes, call me if you have the time. We can sit down and discuss this slowly.¡± Chen Ge felt like he had good rapport with this good doctor, and the feeling seemed mutual. The bus moved in the rain. It soon arrived at the next station. Chen Ge stood up to nce out the window and did not see the woman in red raincoat.

    <i>Where has she disappeared to? Did something happen to her? There were children crying at the previous stop, and I heard that sound at Eastern Jiujiang Fresh Water nt before. Did the shadow show up earlier?</i>

    When the shadow showed up, Men Nan and Xu Yin had appeared to stop Chen Ge. This went to show how scary the shadow was.

    <i>I hope that woman will be alright. </i>Chen Ge was worried about the woman in the red raincoat, but he soon traced the thought back to himself. <i>This bus connects Eastern and Western Jiujiang to collect all the despairing souls from the city. The woman merely attempted to break the rules, and something happened. If I drive the whole bus away, will the culprit show up directly?</i>

    Chen Ge thought about it and figured the chance of that happening was very low. <i>The culprit is probably busy with something else, or else he would not have used his shadow to handle everything. Then again, there¡¯s also a possibility that the shadow itself is the culprit. It has no body, or the body is seriously injured, and everything it¡¯s doing is trying to fix its body.</i>

    Chen Ge was not going to risk it. He decided to drive the bus away to test the enemy¡¯s reaction. <i>Even if it¡¯s an existence above a Red Specter, it won¡¯t havee to Western Jiujiang to seek me out for no reason, right? If it reallyes to that, I¡¯ll just hide myself inside the Haunted House until Zhang Ya is fully recovered.</i>

    As someone who was optimistic, only a personality like that enabled him to survive against the wave ofplicated scenarios. The bus passed several stations before it reached the final destination¡ªLi Wan City.

    The bus stop was next to the mouth of West Street. It was very simple. The bus stopped, and to Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, the woman in the red raincoat showed up again. However, she looked rather winded like she had just experienced a horrible battle.

    The bus stopped at thisst bus stop for three minutes, but none of the passengers moved. Three minutester, under the watchful gaze of the woman in the red raincoat, the bus drove into Li Wan City. The situation was simr to what Chen Ge had experienced in the game. After struggling loose from the woman in the red raincoat¡¯s assault, Xiao Bu had gotten onto thest bus and headed into Li Wan City. The blurry buildings became clearer, and the bus trundled down the deserted street. The whole city felt empty; there was no light or sound.

    ¡°We¡¯ve already passed the bus stop. Where are you taking us?¡± Chen Ge held his backpack and walked to the driver.

    Now, whenever he heard Chen Ge¡¯s voice, the driver would be scared. ¡°Thest stop is inside the town. We haven¡¯t reached it yet.¡± He just wanted to finish the route and drop Chen Ge off. However, weirdly enough, he drove around the city for a long time but failed to find the bus stop.

    ¡°Are you lost?¡±

    Hearing the annoyance in Chen Ge¡¯s voice, the driver started to exin, ¡°I¡¯m not lying to you. There was a bus stop here¡ªit¡¯s thest stop¡ªbut that ce disappeared today.¡± The driver pointed at an empty space next to the junction. ¡°How is it going to benefit me by lying to you? I also wish for all of you to get off my bus as soon as possible, but we have a rule that we can only stop by bus stops, or bad things will happen.¡±

    ¡°If there¡¯s no stop, do you n to continue driving aimlessly around town?¡± The doctor stood up. He had been silent because things had nothing to do with him, but now that the bus could not stop, he was unable to get to the ghost apartment to hear his wife¡¯s voice.

    ¡°I also want to stop, but I just stop anywhere¡ªsomething special will get on the bus!¡± The driver turned the car around. ¡°The only idea that I have now is to return to the earlier stop and park there. If you want to enter Li Wan City, you can walk there.¡±

    The driver nced at Chen Ge when he spoke¡ªhe was worried that Chen Ge might have a different opinion. Reality proved that his worry was founded.

    ¡°Just stop here.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the empty space. In the game, the bus taken by Xiao Bu had stopped there. Everything so far matched the game, so the ce where the bus stop should be a piece of emptynd.

    Once Chen Ge said so, the driver did not even resist and park the bus. ¡°We¡¯ve reached the final stop. Please get off now. I cannot stay here for too long.¡± Then, he turned to look at Chen Ge with a polite smile. He sighed like a great burden had been lifted. ¡°Have a good journey.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Chen Ge held the bag with one arm as he turned toward the driver. ¡°Since we¡¯re here, why don¡¯t we get off together?¡±

    ¡°Together?¡± The smile froze on the driver¡¯s face. ¡°My job is to transport you all here safely. I still need to drive the bus back, so I can¡¯t apany you.¡±

    ¡°Just park the bus here, there¡¯s no need to rush.¡± If there were no living people on the bus, Chen Ge would have taken out hisic and started a massacre. Seeing the persistence from Chen Ge, the driver relented and cursed his back luck internally. He realized thatpared to angering Chen Ge, it was better to just follow his orders.

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll get off with you.¡± The driver pressed the button, and all the doors opened at the same time. Just as that happened, the four women in patient¡¯s garbs who had been so silent throughout the journey suddenly went mad and rushed out the backdoor with incredible speed. Chen Ge was standing by the driver¡¯s seat, so when he recovered, the four had already disappeared into the dark city.

    It was toote to give chase, but Chen Ge did not mind it. <i>Have fun running. After all, I¡¯ve already found out the name of your hospital. There¡¯s nowhere else you could have run off to.</i>

    He had Xu Yin look after the backdoor to prevent an ident from happening again. Chen Ge allowed the mentally-challenged father and doctor to get off first. Then he closed the bus doors.

    <i>Don¡¯t worry, we will have many chances to see each other in the future.</i>

 Chapter 544 - The Story of the Driver Ghost

    <h4>Chapter 544: The Story of the Driver Ghost</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After the living humans left, Chen Ge took out hisic to summon all his employees. He did not exin that much and strode directly to the back of the bus. The crowd of ¡®people¡¯ swarmed the tight space. The couple was scared. They did not expect to run into something like this. ¡°It will get dangerous here. You shoulde with me for now.¡±

    Chen Ge did not ask for the couple¡¯s opinion and had Yan Danian pull them into theic directly. The couple was just stronger lingering spirits¡ªthey were simr level with Duan Yue and Ol¡¯ Zhou¡ªso Chen Ge was not worried about them creating trouble.

    After dealing with the couple, Chen Ge led his people to surround the driver, Tang Jun.

    ¡°Speak, why wouldn¡¯t you let me get on the bus at the bus stops?¡± The driver did not expect Chen Ge to be so resentful and would not forgive him after they had reached thest stop. The driver cowered into himself, sensing the pressureing from all sides, and he uttered softly, ¡°Red Specters are not allowed on the bus. The bus is only for despair-filled people and spirits.¡±

    ¡°How did you know that I have a Red Specter with me?¡± Chen Ge nced at the driver, but he did not dwell on that and instead asked, ¡°Who asked you to drive this bus?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± the driver answered carefully. He had not been surrounded like this before. Without waiting for Chen Ge to ask, he told him everything, ¡°I was just a normal bus driver; I used to drive thest bus on Route 104. Ourpany had many ghost stories rted to thisst bus, saying it would run into many strange things, so many people refused to drive it. In the end, the leader had no choice but to offer extra money for those who were willing to drive it. I was rather brave, so I took up the offer.¡±

    ¡°Then, what happened to you?¡± Chen Ge looked at the driver¡¯s face. The man was probably not lying.

    ¡°Route 104 is very long; it cuts through Jiujiang, joining Eastern and Western Jiujiang. When I reported for work on the first day, the old driver who got off his shift gave me a few pointers.¡± The driver looked at Chen Ge, and regret overwhelmed him. ¡°He told me, whenever I reached a bus stop, regardless of whether there was anyone on the bus or at the bus stop or not, I have to open both the doors and wait several minutes. Other than that, he warned me from stopping at any ce that doesn¡¯t have a bus stop sign and told me to not stay at a bus stop for more than three minutes. Thest tip, which was also the most important, was to drive as slow as I can on rainy days.¡±

    The sweat collected on the driver¡¯s face. He kept using the towel on his shoulders to wipe it, but it was no use. After a while, Chen Ge realized that it was not sweat but water. As the conversation continued, the driver¡¯s face paled. His skin started to bloat like it had been submerged in water for a long time.

    ¡°I remembered the pointers by heart. For the first few weeks, I followed his orders to the tee. No matter what, I would stop the bus and wait at the bus stop. It was not until one monthter that things changed. It was raining that night. After entering Eastern Jiujiang, no one got on the bus.

    ¡°I was the only one on the bus. I followed the old driver¡¯s advice for the first few stops, but after a while, I thought, if there was no one on the bus and the bus stops was empty, why should I open and close the doors? It was a waste of time.

    ¡°The day was simr to today. The rain continued to pour, and I was in a rush to go home, so when I passed theter bus stops and saw that they were empty, I would drive past them. When I passed the bus stop for the fresh water nt, I suddenly heard someone talking inside the bus. I couldn¡¯t tell for sure what they said, it sounded like they were telling me to stop.

    ¡°The world outside was so dark, and I was nowhere near a bus stop, so I did not stop. After driving for a while, I realized that something was wrong. There was no passenger on the bus! So, where did the voicee from?¡±

    At this point, the driver¡¯s shoulders started to shiver. He lowered his head, and his hands gripped his hair. The ¡®sweat¡¯ from his forehead slid down his face. ¡°I felt like my whole body was frozen. I raised my head to look at the rearview mirror, and I saw someone standing behind me. His skin was white and bloated; his eyes were popping out of their sockets.¡±

    The driver slowly raised his head. His skin was nched, and his eyes were popping, simr to his own description.

    ¡°In my panic, I turned the steering wheel, and the bus flew into the river.¡± The driver had a talent for story-telling. After he finished, he nced at Chen Ge, he realized that Chen Ge did not go on the offensive, so he continued, ¡°I saw myself fall into the water. Then after who knows how long, when I opened my eyes, I realized that I was still on this bus. There was a shadow standing next to me, and it told me that I would get my freedom after ferrying one thousand passengers.¡±

    ¡°A shadow? Describe it for me.¡±

    ¡°The shadow was my size, it felt like my own shadow hade alive. I could not describe its voice, or rather, I forgot all about it after hearing it.¡± Based on the driver¡¯s tone and expression, he did not seem to be lying.

    <i>This ghost sure is something else. It¡¯s much more cunningpared to the other ghosts I¡¯ve faced.</i>

    ¡°If you want to investigate that shadow, I can provide you with one extra piece of information.¡± The driver¡¯s face was expanding and scary¡ªhe had shed his disguise. ¡°But you have to promise me one thing.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Let me go.¡± The driver looked at Chen Ge expectantly. ¡°My family must be worried about me. I want to go back to take a look at them.¡±

    ¡°I will definitely apany you to go back home. Tell me if you have any other wish, I will do my best to help you fulfill them.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s attitude softened aplenty; he already treated the driver as one of his own.

    ¡°You will follow me home?¡± The driver had no idea what Chen Ge was up to. He had a feeling that this man before him might go after his family. After a long hesitation, the driver sighed and gave up on his struggle. ¡°I once asked the shadow why it needed me to transport the passengers to Li Wan City. It told me it was rearing something there, and it needs a constant supply of pain and despair.¡±

    ¡°Making a door lose control and sending all the pained souls from Jiujiang to this ce just because he¡¯s cultivating something?¡± Chen Ge remembered what the driver said. He asked a few more questions before pulling the driver into theic.

    The middle-aged woman was the only passenger that remained. She had witnessed Chen Ge¡¯s ¡®acts of violence¡¯, and she was shivering like a leaf.

    ¡°Don¡¯t waste my time. Tell me everything you know.¡±

 Chapter 545 - New Trial Missions!

    <h4>Chapter 545: New Trial Missions!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Having seen the passengers disappear one after another, the anxiety in her heart grew.

    ¡°I was only responsible for sending the children to Li Wan City; I don¡¯t know about anything else!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know about anything? Then I have no reason to keep you around.¡± Chen Ge had Xu Yin and the other employees surround her. The woman screamed, and her ugly face started to shift. The clothes that looked so old-fashioned started to leak out with blood. They formed into small children¡¯s handprints.

    ¡°Let me off the bus!¡± The voice was hoarse, and the woman¡¯s body creaked and cracked as she expanded in size. Seeing the changes, Chen Ge and the surrounding passengers were calm. They were like visitors watching the beast roar from outside the cage.

    ¡°If you want to get off the bus, then you just need to tell me where all the children have been taken.¡± Chen Ge had promised the woman in the red raincoat to find her child within one week, and three days had already passed.

    The woman did not appear to hear Chen Ge¡¯s voice, and she continued tosh out at her surroundings. Interestingly enough, Chen Ge did not seem to be able to witness the changes on the woman. He kept his voice calm and even. ¡°It was you who kidnapped all these children, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    He pointed at the boy who was still unconscious with an innocent-looking face. The woman seemed to realize that Chen Ge was the center of all the ghosts. Chen Ge had just ced the hammer inside his backpack, and he was empty-handed. She did not hesitate. Her venomous eyes focused on Chen Ge, and she charged forward!

    Chen Ge looked at the woman who charged at him, but he did not even pretend to evade. ¡°A half Red Specter, looks like you¡¯re the strongest presence on this two-star mission.¡±

    The woman stopped in the middle of her charge. Her body was frozen due to fear. There was someone else that appeared between her and Chen Ge. The red on the clothes fell like rain. Without an order from Chen Ge, Xu Yin already appeared before him

    ¡°Thest bus on Route 104 is a two-star scenario, and the strongest enemy here is a half Red Specter. Now that I think about it, there should be a simrly strong presence at Mu Yang High School.¡± Chen Ge was still hung up on the old headmaster. Considering that he might be a half Red Specter, Chen Ge¡¯s interest heightened. After having Xu Yin detain the woman, Chen Ge did not kill her directly; he nned to hand this woman over to the woman in the red raincoat. ¡°Karma always catches up to you.¡±

    The woman had no idea what Chen Ge was thinking, but seeing the smile on Chen Ge¡¯s face, terror gripped her heart. After putting the other employees away, Chen Ge picked up the unconscious boy and got off the bus. When both his feet touched the ground, the ck phone vibrated.

    ¡°The mission has beenpleted?¡± Chen Ge turned back to look at the bus. The whole bus was empty. At the end of the mission, he had been thest passenger to descend.

    ¡°With my current capability, I should be able to challenge a more difficult mission.¡± Chen Ge was familiar with the changes to his ability. A few months ago, a two-star mission would have been a struggle to even survive, but now, things hadpletely changed.

    ¡°Looks like all my effort so far has paid off.¡± Chen Ge took out the phone and clicked the new message to read.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored! You¡¯ve sessfullypleted the two-star Trial Mission¡ªThe Hearse!

    ¡°Missionpletion rate is one hundred percent! Congrattions for obtaining the hidden item¡ªThest bus on Route 104!

    ¡°Last bus on Route 104 (A hearse signifying misfortune and tragedy, it¡¯s involved in many idents. It can only go on the road on the morning after a rainy night).

    ¡°Warning! Now you have two choices!

    ¡°1: Unlock the scenario ¡®The Hearse¡¯ inside the Maze of Horror. After unlocking this scenario, the hearse will be unable to leave the Maze of Horror!

    ¡°2: Keep the hearse, the vehicle that can only go on the road on the morning after a rainy night. When you pass a bus stop, there¡¯s a chance to attract special passengers.¡±

    After reading the message, Chen Ge chose the second one without hesitation. There would be plenty more scary scenarios but only one hearse, and the special power matched Chen Ge¡¯s desire perfectly. A specific chance to attract special passengers. Once such passengers got on Chen Ge¡¯s bus, there was no chance that they were going to leave the bus after that.

    After making his choice, the ck phone vibrated again.

    ¡°Two-star scenario ¡®The Hearse¡¯ has beenpleted. The Castle of Nightmares will now unlock new Trial Missions!

    ¡°New unlockable scenarios increased!

    ¡°Twin Water Ghosts (Big sister tied the rock to my feet, and as my body sunk, I saw a lot of dark water grass dancing in the dam. Scream Factor: 2 stars).

    ¡°Ghost Fire (There are constantly weird noisesing from the neighbor¡¯s home, but the ce is supposed to be vacant. Scream Factor: 3 stars).

    ¡°End of the Tunnel (What is at the end of the tunnel? Scream Factor: 3 stars).

    ¡°Ghost Town, Li Wan City (Mummy, I¡¯m Xiao Bu... Scream Factor: 3.5 stars).

    ¡°Ghost Fetus (One day, I will be you! Scream Factor: 4 stars).

    ¡°The Game of Curse at Xin Hai¡¯s Central Hospital (There¡¯s a game of curse and death going on at this abandoned hospital. Scream Factor: 4 stars. It will only be unlocked after youplete the preceding missions).¡±

    The ck phone updated with six new Trial Missions, and the easiest one had a two-star difficulty. The thing that made Chen Ge frown was that the only two-star mission seemed to be underwater.

    He knew how to swim, but it was still inconvenient. <i>The mission is called Twin Water Ghosts, so there should be more than one enemy. Also, the mission description is weird¡ªis the water grass that ¡®I¡¯ saw actual grass or the hair of dead people?</i>

    The difficulty of the missions had increased drastically, and of the two newly unlocked three-star scenarios, he had just heard about the Ghost Fire for the first time while the End of the Tunnel should be rted to his previous Nightmare Mission.

    Chen Ge had met the Red Specter at the tunnel once, and he felt like this should be the easiest mission. <i>If there¡¯s a chance, I should go andplete this tunnel mission first. Perhaps my Haunted House will be able to wee a new Red Specter.</i>

    It was worth noting that the mission that Chen Ge was currently doing, The Ghost Town, Li Wan City was 3.5 stars. Chen Ge predicted that this was due to the door that had gotten out of control.

    <i>After the door went out of control, the difficulty increased to 3.5 stars. Then again, this also means that the situation at Li Wan City was not as scary as a four-star mission!</i>

    Thest two missions were both four-stars¡ªChen Ge did not expect that. Eastern Jiujiang was much more dangerous than he had thought.

    <i>Now, there are three four-star mission on the list. There¡¯s no need to rush; I need to prepare first.</i>

    Chen Ge was calcting the opening date for the new futuristic park. He wanted to do a four-star mission ande out with a big announcement right before the new park opened.

 Chapter 546 - Persuasion

    <h4>Chapter 546: Persuasion</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After the hearse connected Western Jiujiang to Eastern Jiujiang, Chen Ge did not expect the ck phone to unlock two 4-star scenarios and one 3.5-star scenario.

    <i>The few missions are probably rted, and the culprit in Eastern Jiujiang might be hiding at one of the scenarios.</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the mission information on the phone and had a hard time calming down.

    <i>Xin Hai Central Hospital, I have not heard of this ce. And the ghost fetus, there¡¯s no way I can tell the mission content from the name alone.</i>

    Conflicted, Chen Ge thought about the situation. The previous three-star scenario had led him to face a weird individual like Doctor Gao, then the four-star scenario might have a presence more powerful than a Red Specter. Chen Ge was familiar with the difference between a normal spirit and a Red Specter.

    Simrly, the ghost above Red Specter would be far more powerful than a normal Red Specter. Even a top Red Specter like Zhang Ya might not be able to fight them. Chen Ge thought back to all the ghosts that he had encountered since obtaining the ck phone to try to specte the power of a ghost above Red Specter.

    <i>Lingering spirits cannot bemunicated with¡ªthey¡¯re just a thought that refuses to leave. They are even afraid of people with too much Yang energy.</i>

    <i>Normal baleful Specters will not appear in broad daylight, and they normally possess a certain object for survival. However, rare-type Specters arepletely different. Each of them possesses a special power, and even though their spirit might be limited, they are able to toy with human beings with their power.</i>

    <i>Above that will be a half Red Specter¡ªthese are baleful Specters that have the potential to be Red Specters. All of them are cruel and violent monsters. After finding their heart, half Red Specters will be real Red Specters, and they can control these weird blood threads along with many other weird powers.</i>

    <i>I¡¯ve seen the way Zhang Ya fights people¡ªit was simr to other Red Specters, but the only difference is that her ck hair appeared endless, like once touched, you¡¯d be dragged into an endless ckened sea of despair.</i>

    Zhang Ya was undeniably the strongest Red Specter that Chen Ge had currently; however, her attack method was still quite singr. She was merely the strongest among the Red Specters, and there was no tactical change about her.

    <i>The ck blood stain that the ghost stories society obtained from behind the door seems to be useful to Zhang Ya. However, Zhang Ya became obviously more ruthless after she consumed it. If she continues to consume those ck blood stain, she might one day run amok.</i>

    Regarding this top Red Specter that lived in his shadow, Chen Ge really did not know what kind of attitude he should use to face her.

    <i>There¡¯s no use cracking my head over it now. I¡¯ll think about it when I chance upon the ck blood.</i>

    Li Wan City¡¯s mission was 3.5 stars¡ªit was half a star more difficult than the underground morgue. Zhang Ya was injured, and Xu Yin still had not found his heart. Chen Ge thought about it and decided that it was not yet time to start this mission.

    <i>I should try to finish the first few three-star missions first ande back to this mission after I obtain more Red Specters.</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the empty space where the bus was parked. The driver had said that there was supposed to be a bus stop there, and he had seen it in the game. However, in real life, the bus stop had disappeared. This went to show many things. The ghosts that were hidden deep inside Li Wan City were probably cautious of Chen Ge as well.

    <i>The driver said that his mission is to send living humans to Li Wan City because the shadow is rearing something at Li Wan City. The culprit is probably afraid that I might show up to ruin his npletely.</i>

    The n had been started several years ago, to siphon all the despair to a small town and then purposely make a door go out of control. Tomit to such arge scale, this was definitely more than cultivating a Red Specter.

    Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of the many children who had met grisly ends in the game at Lin Wan City. His eyes moved to the four-star Trial Mission¡ªGhost Fetus. ¡°These two missions are probably rted¡ªcould the ghost fetus be the thing that the shadow is cultivating in Li Wan City?¡±

    The ghost fetus was rated a four-star mission by the ck phone, so there had to be something scary about it. However, Chen Ge currently had too little information toe up with a useful hypothesis.

    <i>I need to find Xiao Bu first! Before clearing the game, I shouldn¡¯t start the trial mission in Li Wan City.</i>

    The game reflected reality, and the plot in the game reflected the actual murders that happened in real life. Chen Ge believe that bypleting the game and mastering all the side quests, it would be greatly helpful when he tackled the mission in Li Wan City in real life.

    <i>But I¡¯m stillcking power.</i>

    His heart was unsettled. The appearance of two four-star scenarios made Chen Ge feel a sense of danger.

    <i>I cannot give up any chance to improve the Haunted House¡¯s power.</i>

    Reminded of something, Chen Ge picked up the unconscious child to return to the bus. Sitting at the driver¡¯s seat, Chen Ge tried to operate the bus. He realized that the bus was seriously outdated like it could crumble at any minute.

    Stepping on the pedal, Chen Ge turned the bus around. Therge Li Wan City had no trace of light. Chen Ge drove the bus alone down the road. He drove the bus to the entrance to Li Wan City. There was a singr red shadow standing at the bus stop by the roadside.

    The bus stopped, and Chen Ge had Xu Yin escort the middle-ageddy off the bus. Once the middle-ageddy was carried off the bus, the woman in the red raincoat¡¯s eyes turned red immediately, and she almost lost control.

    ¡°If you kill here, the clue to your child¡¯s location will be lost.¡± Chen Ge stood before the woman, the desire to kill that radiated from the woman overwhelmed Chen Ge. ¡°She sent your child into Li Wan City, so we need her to give us the exact location.¡±

    The woman slowly calmed down. Her eyes moved from the middle-aged woman to fall on Chen Ge.

    This was the first time that Chen Ge had seen the woman¡¯s face up close. There were small nicks on her cheeks and neck. Her lips were sewn shut by blood threads, and they would tear whenever she wanted to speak.

    ¡°Life sure is hard for you as well, and I sincerely want to help you. I will leave you to deal with this middle-aged woman¡ªI hope you can get the location of your child from her.¡± Chen Ge sighed. ¡°I know that you have your own reason for not entering Li Wan City, but if you wish to find your child, you will have to enter it. I don¡¯t ask that you listen to mymand¡ªI just want to tell you that I will apany you to help you find your child.¡±

    The woman in the red raincoat was shaken, and Chen Ge added while the iron was hot, ¡°After you get your child¡¯s location, you cane find me at Western Jiujiang¡¯s New Century Park. I promise you in the capacity of the chairperson of the ghost stories society, no matter how dangerous Li Wan City is, I will apany you into the city to help you find your child.¡±

 Chapter 547 - First Building First Floor

    <h4>Chapter 547: First Building First Floor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After that, Chen Ge had Xu Yin hand the middle-aged woman to the woman in the red raincoat. ¡°I¡¯ll wait for your news.¡±

    He did not stay at the bus stop but led Xu Yin back onto the bus. The woman¡¯s screams came from the bus stop. Blood pooled around the raincoat, and it crawled into the middle-aged woman¡¯s body like snakes. Hearing the cries for mercy from the woman, thedy in the red raincoat did not appear happy. Her red eyes looked at Chen Ge on the bus, and the emotions in them wereplicated.

    Chen Ge did not use the middle-aged woman as a bargaining chip to force her to do something but handed her over to her directly. This action made the woman in red raincoat¡¯s impression of him improve by a lot.

    The bus left the stop and headed directly for Fan Chong¡¯s home. The rain started to lighten, and Chen Ge carried the e-bike from the bus and up the building. After an eventful journey, Chen Ge arrived at Fan Chong¡¯s ce at around 2 am. He was afraid that Fan Chong would already be asleep, so he sent him a message first. After some time, Chen Ge¡¯s phone-started to vibrate. Fan Chong called him directly after seeing his message. ¡°Boss Chen, are you downstairs?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I hope I didn¡¯t wake you up. I guess you aren¡¯t sleeping yet.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s raining outside! I¡¯lle get you immediately.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need. I came today to ask you some things.¡±

    The phone hung up, and Chen Ge ced the e-bike at the parking lot and then entered the building with the keys. He reached the top floor, and the door to Fan Chong¡¯s ce was open.

    ¡°My brother is sleeping in the other room; he needs to work tomorrow morning.¡± Fan Chong was excited when he saw Chen Ge. ¡°Boss Chen, I got a few other endings. The game has quite a few Easter eggs <sup>1</sup> .¡±

    ¡°This time, I¡¯m not here for the game.¡± Chen Ge had not forgotten what had happened at Jiujiang¡¯s Mental Asylum. He wanted to go take a look at Jiang Long¡¯s apartment. In the game, after Xiao Bu opened the door behind the closet in her ssmate¡¯s home, the style of the game changed. If the game was a reflection of real life, then the ¡®door¡¯ that had gotten out of control in Li Wan City was probably in Jiang Long¡¯s home. Chen Ge wanted to see the difference between the door that had gotten out of control and a normal door.

    ¡°You¡¯re not here for the game? You came sote at night just to return the e-bike?¡± Fan Chong was confused.

    ¡°That is one of the reasons. Let¡¯s go in first, and I¡¯ll tell you.¡± Chen Ge stood in the corridor, and he had a bad feeling about the ce like something was eavesdropping on them. After closing the door, Fan Chong handed Chen Ge a towel. ¡°You¡¯re so soaked. Why don¡¯t you change into some of my clothes first?¡±

    ¡°Thanks, but it¡¯s fine.¡± Chen Ge cut right to the chase. ¡°Fan Chong, you have yed the game before. Did you realize that the building where Xiao Bu¡¯s ssmate lived was very simr to the first building of your residential area?¡±

    Initially, that did not even cross Fan Chong¡¯s mind, but once Chen Ge brought it up, his eyes slowly widened. ¡°Now that you mention it, the residential area where Xiao Bu¡¯s ssmate stayed is rather simr to theyout here.¡±

    ¡°I n to visit Xiao Bu¡¯s ssmate¡¯s home tonight.¡± Chen Ge stood. Because his clothes were wet, he did not want to stain the furniture.

    ¡°Xiao Bu¡¯s ssmate¡¯s home? In real life?¡± Fan Chong had trouble following Chen Ge¡¯s thought.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already contacted the police. Xiao Bu¡¯s ssmate is now a mental asylum patient, and I know his home¡¯s exact location.¡±

    With that, Chen Ge confused Fan Chong even more. ¡°Boss Chen, aren¡¯t you a Haunted House operator? Why would you have a rtion with the police?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I didn¡¯t reveal anything about the game, and the connection to the police is due to a dismemberment case.¡±

    ¡°Dismemberment case?¡± Fan Chong¡¯s face paled immediately.

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s at Ming Yang Residence not far from here.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not far from here?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the murderer is still currently on the loose, but I already have a few suspects in mind.¡± Chen Ge did not consider Fan Chong¡¯s feelings when he said those things. He forgot how terms like murder, dismemberment, and killer might affect a normal person.

    Fan Chong also got nervous hearing what Chen Ge was up to. ¡°What do you need from me?¡±

    ¡°Based on my previous investigation, I confirmed that Xiao Bu¡¯s ssmate¡¯s home was this residential area¡¯s first building¡¯s first floor, and first unit. You and your brother have stayed here for so long already, did you notice anything weird?¡±

    The first building was just opposite from Fan Chong¡¯s building¡ªhe only needed to pull back the curtain to see it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything weird about the ce, but now that you put it that way, it does look quite creepy,¡± Fan Chong answered with a bitter smile.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to hurry, give it time to think. When your brother wakes up tomorrow, you can ask him as well or ask the other old tenants at the area.¡± Chen Ge did not expect to have a result on day one. ¡°This is the key to your bike; I¡¯ll ce it on the table. Your bike was the MVP tonight.¡±

    Fan Chong did not know what Chen Ge was talking about. He thought about it and then waved at Chen Ge. ¡°Come with me. I¡¯ve thought about it and realized that there was something weird about that building.¡±

    The two entered the bedroom, and Fan Chong pulled back the curtain.

    ¡°Li Wan City is the easternmost side of Eastern Jiujiang, so the traffic here is very inconvenient. Many people have moved away because of that, and the tenancy rate here today is only one third.¡± Fan Chong pointed at the building opposite. ¡°When we first moved here, we nned to stay at the first building because the rental there is much cheaperpared to the three other buildings. However, our currentndlord told us that the ce is not safe, and many tenants that moved into that building would disappear due to mysterious circumstance.¡±

    ¡°Disappeared?¡± Chen Ge was immediately reminded of the ¡®door¡¯; he suspected that these people had entered the ¡®door¡¯.

    ¡°Yes, we saw people move in, but one day, they stopped appearing. No one knew whether they had moved or something else happened.¡±

    ¡°Did no one call the police?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s no use calling the police. Eastern Jiujiang is near the countryside, and most of the people here are not locals, so they move about a lot. The police woulde to check whether it was a big case like murder. They realized that there was no sign of fighting inside the home, and everything looked normal, so they left. After this carried on for a while, everyone sort of got used to it.¡±

    ¡°Other than that, what else happened?¡± Chen Ge looked at the first floor of the first building. All the windows had tape seals on them. ¡°Was it the police who put those seals up?¡±

    ¡°Yes, there was once someone who lived on the first floor. It was an olddy who lived alone. She often said that there was a little child standing outside her window at night. The people around her knew that she was not a liar, and they even came up with a group to ambush the child who wanted to scare the olddy.¡±

    ¡°And then what happened?¡± Chen Ge was intrigued. The mention of the child connected his thought to the ghost fetus directly.

    Fan Chong shook his head. ¡°There was no child. The old woman was probably too old and confused. The people squatted there for a whole night and saw no child. In the end, they entered the old woman¡¯s room to inspect and realized that the window in her room was caked with grease and grime, so standing inside, there was no way she could have seen anything that was outside.¡±

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t see out the window?¡± Chen Ge thought about it and asked, ¡°Could it be that the child has been standing inside the room?¡±

 Chapter 548 - The Room

    <h4>Chapter 548: The Room</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The bedroom suddenly became quiet. Fan Chong looked at Chen Ge¡¯s face, forgetting what he was going to say.

    ¡°No, that can¡¯t be right...¡± After a long time, Fan Chong forced a smile. Every time he was with Chen Ge, he had to remind himself to be quiet and calm, but he often found himself being stunned by the words that left Chen Ge¡¯s lips and the things that he did. ¡°The door and windows of the olddy¡¯s ce are unharmed, and the child wouldn¡¯t have shown up inside the room.¡±

    ¡°Could it be that the child sneaked into the room when the olddy was out and had been hiding inside the room? And he¡¯d only appear after the olddy crawled into bed and fell asleep.¡±

    ¡°Howe you¡¯re making it sound so scary?¡± Fan Chong could not catch up to Chen Ge¡¯s train of thought. He did not think that this would be that scary, but once Chen Ge gave his thought, his heart quivered.

    ¡°I just stated the most possible scenario with the limited clues.¡±

    ¡°Even so, what was the child doing at the olddy¡¯s home at night? Prank? To steal stuff?¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the building opposite, his eyes focusing on the tapes. ¡°It¡¯s quite a heartless for a child to prank an olddy. The chance of it being a thief is bigger but not by much. By the way, was the child that the olddy saw a girl or a boy?¡±

    ¡°Is that important?¡± Fan Chongbed his memory. ¡°It should be a girl.¡±

    ¡°A girl?¡± Chen Ge turned around and looked at the game that was ying on screen. ¡°Could it be that Xiao Bu has returned?¡±

    The leap in Chen Ge¡¯s thought was big. Before Fan Chong could get it, Chen Ge continued. ¡°The first floor of the first building was where Xiao Bu¡¯s ssmate¡¯s house was. If the game reflects reality, then Xiao Bu would show up there. After all, that is the door¡¯s location.¡±

    He did not hesitate. ¡°I wish to go over to the building to take a look. Do you want toe with?¡±

    ¡°Now?¡± Fan Chong shivered. ¡°You¡¯re going there at 2 am?¡±

    ¡°There are too many people in the morning, and that will limit our actions. It¡¯s better at night.¡±

    ¡°Boss Chen, it¡¯s not that I¡¯m a coward.¡± Fan Chong took up the c from the table and took a sip. This seemed to be the way the man calmed himself down. ¡°The olddy passed away soon after she saw the girl¡ªshe died from a sudden heart attack. When the ambnce arrived, they were already toote.

    ¡°At the time, I was also there. I heard the medical people say that the olddy was too old, and the sudden heart attack meant that she shouldn¡¯t have been able to make the emergency call. I didn¡¯t think too much of it at the time, but after what you told me tonight, the more I think about it, the more confused I am. The olddy stayed at her ce alone, so when she lost her mobility due to the heart attack, who was the person who called the emergency number for her?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t this show that the child did not have any intention of harming her? Perhaps she was just passing by.¡±

    ¡°Brother, aren¡¯t you being a bit optimistic?¡± Fan Chong shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t feel that safe going there now.¡±

    ¡°Never mind then, you can stay here. We will keep in contact over the phone. If you see anything weird from the window, remember to tell me on the phone.¡± Then Chen Ge picked up his backpack and headed out. Fan Chong tried to stop him, but looking at his back, he did not know what to say. Chen Ge stood alone in the darkened residential area.

    <i>Li Wan City¡¯s difficulty is 3.5 stars. The final enemy is more powerful than Doctor Gao. If I can find Xiao Bu andbine the help of all the victims, the sess rate of this mission will drastically increase.</i>

    From how Chen Ge saw it, it was just a coincidence that Xiao Bu opened the ¡®door¡¯. Even though the door was ultimately the reason Li Wan City had be how it was, the culprit was not Xiao Bu¡ªshe was technically also a victim.

    Chen Ge reached the first building. The first floor had two rooms, one on the left and the other on the right. The olddy¡¯s home was the one on the west side, and Jiang Long¡¯s was on the east side. Studying the rusted door, Chen Ge opened the backpack, activated the recorder, and pulled out his phone to call Fan Chong. ¡°Fan Chong, I¡¯ve entered the building. Now I have a question for you.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Are there still tenants living in the first building?¡± Chen Ge gripped the hammer. If this ce was already abandoned or all the tenants were on the top floor, then he was going to rely on violence.

    ¡°A few days ago, I ran into the mother on the third floor at the market. There are still tenants but probably just two or three families.¡± Fan Chong¡¯s answer disappointed Chen Ge. He released the grip on the hammer and zipped up the bag.

    ¡°Why did you ask that?¡±

    ¡°If there are still tenants, I have to be more careful.¡± Chen Ge walked toward the window. He held the bag, leaned against the window, and looked in.

    ¡°Boss Chen, it¡¯s 2 am. You¡¯re leaning against the window. What if someone sees you? How are you going to exin this?¡±

    ¡°If you keep this up, I¡¯m going to hang up.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s pupils narrowed. He used Yin Yang Vision to look inside the room. The ce had two rooms and one living room. It was probably around eighty meters wide, and the decoration was very simple, but there were many handcrafted art pieces. It was very stylistic, and the people who lived there seemed to have a passion for life, happy people. The decoration was different from the story that Chen Ge knew and did not fit Jiang Long¡¯s identity.

    ¡°To open the door, one has to bepletely wrapped in despair, from the heart to the body.¡± Chen Ge felt like when Jiang Long first met Xiao Bu¡¯s mother, he probably promised something to make Xiao Bu¡¯s mother fall in love with him. When the woman was feeling the haze of happiness, he changed into a different person,vishing her with endless cruelty and despair. Chen Ge moved his gaze and saw the closet in the living room.

    The world outside the closet was filled with happiness, but behind it was torture and torment. This contrast was just like Xiao Bu¡¯s game. Before the style changed, it was filled with color and sunlight, but once the style changed, the game became filled with ghosts and murderers.

    ¡°The ¡®door¡¯ should be here.¡± Chen Ge walked past the few windows. He noticed the window at the bathroom was cracked. It had probably been hit by the children when they were ying with a ball.

    ¡°I can get in through here.¡± Chen Ge used the hammer to make the hole bigger. He reached in to open the lock of the window. He jumped into the room. He summoned Xu Yin to follow behind him as he entered the living room and pushed the closet aside.

    ¡°It¡¯s simr to the game.¡±

    Underneath the closet was a wooden board that shared the same color as the tiles around it. After lifting it up, there was a hidden passage that led downward.

    ¡°The space underneath here is quite big.¡±

    Chen Ge studied the wooden board. He felt like this probably was not the door that Xiao Bu opened. He prepared to enter the hidden dungeon to take a closer look.

 Chapter 549 - The Missing Door

    <h4>Chapter 549: The Missing Door</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Having Xu Yin lead the way, after making sure there was no danger, Chen Ge entered the ce. He followed the wooden stairs to get to the bottom of the room. Chen Ge ended the call and used the shlight function on his phone. He bent down and crawled forward. After three or four meters of walking, there was a steel door with police tape.

    Probably due to the moisture underground, the door was covered with red rust. Chen Ge tried to push the door and discovered something surprising. The door seemed to have grown into the surrounding soil and formed a whole entity. No matter how hard he pushed, the door did not budge.

    <i>Is it locked?</i>

    Chen Ge inspected the door. There was no even a keyhole, so the possibility of it being locked was zero.

    <i>Looks like I have to use another method.</i>

    After taking out the hammer, Chen Ge did a quick calction between the tunnel and the surface.

    <i>If I start working here, I don¡¯t think the tenants above will be able to hear me.</i>

    He took several steps back and raised the hammer to hit on the edge of the door heavily.

    The impact caused the rust to fall, and dust from above him fell on his shoulders. It gave him the sensation that the ce was caving in

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    When Chen Ge ended Fan Chong¡¯s call, he had already been prepared. He swung the hammer multiple times before the door was cracked open. Clots of soil fell out, and Chen Ge felt the ground under his feet move. The ce was dangerous, but since he was there, not going in to look was not Chen Ge¡¯s style.

    He looked at the door that he had cracked open, and he reached out to touch the edge. At the ce where the door was connected to the soil, there were many nt roots that looked dried and dead. Most of them were gray, but some were blood red.

    <i>Are these the blood vessels that crawled out from behind the door? What¡¯s the difference between a normal door and one that has lost control?</i>

    The longer Chen Ge inspected the door, the more confused he became.

    <i>The whole door was encased into the tunnel, and it was hard to open. An adult like myself had a hard time opening it, much less Xiao Bu.</i>

    Chen Ge suspected that this door was not the door that Xiao Bu had opened but was one that was added onter by the police to prevent people from trespassing into the dungeon.

    <i>The door had a police seal, and there was no keyhole. Instead of a door, this was more like a partition to block people¡¯s way. If this door was installed by the police, then where is the real door to the dungeon?</i>

    Studying the edge of the steel door, Chen Ge soon discovered something. Inside the steel door, somewhere further away was a wooden door frame that was bright red. However, weirdly enough, while the frame was there, the door itself had disappeared.

    <i>There should be a second door to the dungeon, so where is the door? Did the door disappear after going out of control, or have the police taken it away as evidence? Did they discover something on the door? </i>Chen Ge thought to himself. He raised his phone, and when the light fell on the space behind the door, his heart skipped a beat.

    There was a hidden room around thirty meters behind the steel door. There was arge cage in the middle of the room, and inside it was a mound of wooly doll¡¯s clothes. Right in the middle of the doll¡¯s dresses stood a little girl.

    ¡°Xiao Bu?¡± Xu Yin did not react, and Chen Ge walked closer with the hammer. He moved one meter forward, and when he was close enough to the ¡®girl¡¯, he realized that it was a mannequin. The mannequin¡¯s face was scrawled fully with the name ¡®Jiang Bai¡¯; it looked quite scary since the marker used was red.

    <i>Jiang Bai is Jiang Long¡¯s daughter. Why is her name written on the mannequin¡¯s face?</i>

    The iron cage was not locked, and Chen Ge soon made a new discovery. All the doll¡¯s clothes had the name ¡®Zhang Chuyu¡¯ written on them with color pencils. Chen Ge was familiar with this name as well; that was Jiang Long¡¯s official wife.

    <i>Did Xiao Bu have Zhang Chuyu put on all the doll¡¯s clothes and trap her inside the cage for revenge?</i>

    Xiao Bu had pushed the door open, and there was no chance of her surviving behind the door with her young age. Based on Chen Ge¡¯s spection, when Xiao Bu exited the door, she was already a Red Specter.

    <i>From the Jiang family of four, Jiang Xiaohu was sent into a mental asylum, Jiang Long died in a car ident, and the wife and daughter went missing¡ªwas all that Xiao Bu¡¯s doing?</i>

    Red Specters were normally made from the intensification of a particr feeling, often pain or resentment. They were more powerful than normal ghosts, but they were still limited by emotions. They would act more recklessly and crazily. Chen Ge was not surprised by what Xiao Bu had done, but he was confused about one thing¡ªhow did Xiao Bu lure Zhang Chuyu and Jiang Bai to Li Wan City?

    Unlike normal Specter, Red Specters did not need to possess something to survive, but they could not leave their ce of origin. For example, Zhang Ya had been trapped at Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy until Chen Ge won her love letter. The only reason she could wander about was because she had made Chen Ge¡¯s shadow her home of sorts. In other words, Chen Ge was her vessel, and that was the reason she was able to follow Chen Ge to wander all around Jiujiang.

    <i>Did someone help Xiao Bu drag Zhang Chuyu and Xiao Bu here?</i>

    From his experience dealing with ghosts, Chen Ge knew that ghost could sometimesmunicate with one another. He now suspected that the culprit had a deal with Xiao Bu. They would sacrifice Jiang Long¡¯s family to Xiao Bu, and in return, they needed Xiao Bu to do something for them.

    <i>The ghost stories society once controlled the door at Li Wan City before. ording to Doctor Gao, they even pushed some of the stuff the society has collected behind the door. Could it be that Xiao Bu cooperated with them?</i>

    Chen Ge thought about it, but the chance of that was low.

    <i>The ghost stories society was probably tricked by the shadow. The door here is different from the Third Sick Hall. This one was purposely created; it was one of the shadow¡¯s plots.</i>

    From the perspective of an outsider, Chen Ge could see the situation clearly.

    <i>The society limited its activity to Western and Northern Jiujiang, but they happened to chance upon this door in Eastern Jiujiang. Perhaps it was the shadow who was behind this¡ªhe probably wanted to swallow the society whole.</i>

    At its prime, the society had many normal ghosts and several Red Specters. Other than that, they had Wu Fei, the mad genius, and Doctor Gao, the maddest of the madmen. But even so, they had the rug pulled out under them by the shadow. This made Chen Ge even more cautious of the culprit in Eastern Jiujiang.

    <i>Before Doctor Gao¡¯s death, he mentioned the door in Eastern Jiujiang. Looks like this ce left a huge impression on him. He probably fought the monsters here before but did not get a victory.</i>

    Chen Ge actually wanted to borrow Doctor Gao¡¯s power, but since the man was barely a human now, he thought about it and abandoned this dangerous idea.

 Chapter 550 - How Many People Are in My Room?

    <h4>Chapter 550: How Many People Are in My Room?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The soil at the ceiling continued to peel. This ce appeared very unsafe, like it could fall at any moment. With no other discovery, Chen Ge prepared to leave.

    <i>The door that connects both worlds often appears for a minute after midnight. I wonder if this door retains that property. Perhaps I can find the time toe back to look.</i>

    The police had sealed the door and did not discover the secret of the door. It was probably because they had missed the opening. After all, the police had regr working hours, and no one would go back to the crime scene for no reason at midnight.

    Calling Xu Yin, Chen Ge exited the tunnel, closed the door, and reced the closet. Looking at the art pieces inside the room, and thinking about the dolls¡¯ clothes inside the iron cage, Chen Ge¡¯s mood beganplicated.

    <i>Despair is something natural, and life is already hard enough. Why are they doing something as meaningless as this?</i>

    Chen Ge checked the room again, but he came up with nothing. He jumped out from the window and then closed the window that had lost the ss.

    <i>I¡¯vepleted the mission for The Hearse, returned the e-bike, and inspected the secret room at Jiang Long¡¯s ce¡ªthat¡¯s everything that I set out to do. Guess it¡¯s time to go home.</i>

    Looking at the time, Chen Ge realized that it was 3 am, the time when the night was darkest.

    <i>I¡¯d better drive the bus back before the sunes up. If I run into any traffic police, so much trouble will follow.</i>

    The ck phone had said that it was best to use the hearse after midnight on a rainy night. Chen Ge remembered that closely¡ªhe did not want the police to tow his bus on his first day on the road.

    Fan Chong¡¯s home was on the top floor. Chen Ge found it too troublesome to climb up again, so he used the phone to call Fan Chong down instead. The phone rang once before it was answered. ¡°Brother, why did you break the man¡¯s window! Didn¡¯t you say you just wanted to go take a look?¡±

    ¡°I checked the surroundings¡ªthere was no surveince.¡± As Chen Ge stood by the building, the rain began to ease up.

    ¡°No, how is that rted to surveince?¡±

    ¡°I also wanted to clear the murder case; the family of the victim need their justice. And most importantly, the murderer is still on the loose, and new victims might soon appear. Think about it, you¡¯re living in this type of danger every day, aren¡¯t you afraid? Furthermore, if I break one piece of ss to save one or more lives,pared to human lives, is a simple pane of ss more important?¡±

    Fan Chong did not know how to counter Chen Ge. He thought about it and somewhat agreed with the man.

    ¡°By the way, before I cracked the ss, I ended the call, so how did you find out about that?¡± Chen Ge was one who paid attention to details. It was the reason he had managed to survive so many Trial Missions.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been watching you from upstairs. If something happened to you, I was ready to call the police.¡±

    When Fan Chong said that, Chen Ge lifted his head to look up. The room that was on the leftmost side on the opposite building had a faded lighting from the window. Fan Chong was standing next to the window, and he held the phone in his hand. When he saw Chen Ge look up, he even waved at him.

    ¡°Boss Chen, I¡¯m really impressed. You dared to jump into a cursed home at 2 am,¡± Fan Chong said and waited, but there was no reply from Chen Ge. He looked down. Chen Ge had the phone beside his ear, but the man looked petrified. He stood where he was with his head titled upward.

    ¡°Boss Chen? Why aren¡¯t you saying anything?¡± Fan Chong noticed the anomaly about Chen Ge, and he started to panic. ¡°Don¡¯t scare me! Are you alright? F*ck! I told you not to go to that ce already!¡±

    ¡°Stop talking for now.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice came from the phone. Perhaps it was psychological, but Fan Chong felt that Chen Ge¡¯s voice seemed different from before.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Maintain your posture and remember, do not turn back no matter what happens!¡±

    This was the first time that Fan Chong had heard Chen Ge use such a stern tone, and he promised quickly. ¡°Okay, I will not turn back.¡±

    He said so, but his heart could not resist the urge to turn back. Fan Chong felt a chill run up his spine, crawling right up to his brain.

    ¡°Boss Chen, is there something behind me?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re fine. Now use your hand that is holding the phone and slowly reach behind you.¡±

    ¡°Like this?¡±

    ¡°Yes, go a bit further. Perfect. Maintain that posture, don¡¯t move.¡± Chen Ge stood under the building, and his eyes were narrowed as he kept his gaze on Fan Chong¡¯s room. The weak light came from inside the room, and Fan Chong stood at the window. He gripped his pajamas with one hand, and his other held the phone that he had extended behind him. Not far away from his phone was a girl in a red shirt.

    The ck hair fell on the red shirt. The girl did not have any clear facial features but several dark holes. She had no eyes, nose, or teeth. Her limbs were covered by the shirt. There was no way of telling her age, appearance, or height. Everything about her about was a mystery.

    ¡°Red Specter...¡±

    ¡°Red? Boss Chen, what¡¯s going on? Don¡¯t scare me! I promise that I will not tell anyone about your trespassing!¡±

    ¡°Stop talking! Let me try tomunicate with her.¡± Chen Ge arranged his thoughts. The Red Specter that had suddenly appeared in Fan Chong¡¯s room was probably Xiao Bu. Chen Ge already had the suspicion that the child was hiding at the deepest part of the game.

    ¡°All the children in the game are called Xiao Bu, and all the tragedies happened to Xiao Bu¡ªthere has to be a reason for that.¡± Chen Ge took up the phone and stated his stance. ¡°Don¡¯t act recklessly. What do you want? What do you desire? You can tell me.¡±

    In the bedroom, neither Fan Chong nor the Red Specter behind him moved. Time seemed to have stopped. Realizing that the girl did not have any intention of harming Fan Chong, Chen Ge continued. ¡°I have not experienced your pain before, so I cannot say I can understand you fully, but I beg you to give me a chance. Perhaps we can sit down together and talk this out.¡±

    Fan Chong¡¯s body was shaking. He listened to Chen Ge on the phone and felt like either he had gone mad or Chen Ge had gone insane. ¡°Brother, who are you talking to?¡±

    Chen Ge ignored Fan Chong. He would not dare stay in the same room with a Red Specter without help, but Fan Chong had done that.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen many children like you, or perhaps their experience was nothingpared to yours, but with my help, they found a new direction in life.¡± Chen Ge had yed Xiao Bu¡¯s game before. He looked through his backpack and found an old phone and called out the phone spirit, Tong Tong.

    ¡°Can you see the boy beside me? His story is included in that game, so you should know about him. I helped him fulfilled his wish and helped punish those who hurt him. You can ask him to confirm these details.¡± The phone spirit understood what he was supposed to do. He nodded and tried to smile, but probably because he had not smiled for a long time, the smile was rather ugly.

    Listening to Chen Ge, Fan Chong looked at the empty space next to Chen Ge. ¡°What do you mean? Howe there¡¯s another one? How many people are in my room?¡±

    The girl seemed to have met Tong Tong before. She tilted her head to the side. After a moment of consideration, she lifted her sleeve. There was no hand. One could only see her sleeve wave several times at the window.

    Minutester, blood started to leak on Fan Chong¡¯s window, and the blood slithered to form words.

    ¡°You will die if youe back to Li Wan City.¡±

 Chapter 551 - Reason for Being Chosen

    <h4>Chapter 551: Reason for Being Chosen</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The blood letters surfaced on the window. Both Chen Ge and Fan Chong saw it. However, their reactions werepletely different. Chen Ge frowned slightly, but Fan Chong¡¯s legs weakened, and he copsed to the ground.

    ¡°I will die?¡± If the Red Specter was really Xiao Bu, then she was not a normal Red Specter but a Red Specter who was also the door-pusher. In that case, she would be able to sense Zhang Ya¡¯s presence.

    ¡°Even with Zhang Ya and Xu Yin, I will still die, huh?¡± Chen Ge did not reveal his trump card to the girl. His real n was to bring along Men Nan, the woman in the red raincoat, and the woman at the tunnel¡ªfive Red Specters in total.

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice on the phone, the girl waved her sleeve again, and a new sentence appeared.

    ¡°He has already discovered you. If youe back to Li Wan City, you will die.¡±

    ¡°He?¡± Seeing the sentence on the window, Chen Ge caught onto the important information. The culprit was a male, or perhaps he had been male when he was alive. The blood letters disappeared soon after. Chen Ge wanted to ask the girl more questions¡ªhe tried several times, but Chen Ge soon realized that no matter the question, the answer from the girl was the same.

    ¡°Come back to Li Wan City, and you will die.¡±

    It was devoid of emotion; the girl was merely stating a fact. Chen Ge tried to get some more information from the girl, but it was to no avail.

    Several minutester, Fan Chong, who was on the floor, finally could not resist it anymore. His arm waspletely frozen, and his mind was nk. Just as he moved his body, his neck turned instinctively around. The girl did not seem like she wished to be seen by more people. Just as Fan Chong turned his neck, she disappeared and went into hiding.

    ¡°Boss Chen, did you see something in my room? Howe I can¡¯t see anything!¡± Fan Chong had been given quite a fright. Initially, he had thought Chen Ge was purposely trying to scare him, but once the blood letters appeared on the window, he had entered full panic mode.

    ¡°Stay inside the room. I¡¯ll be there in a minute!¡±

    ¡°Okay, er, can you not end the call? I¡¯m rather afraid.¡±

    Chen Ge did not hear what Fan Chong said. He charged up the stairs at one go. ¡°Fan Chong, open the door.¡±

    The door finally opened after a long time. Fan Chong held onto the wall, and his steps were uneven.

    ¡°Boss Chen, what was behind me earlier? You didn¡¯t tell me anything, but it only makes it feel much scarier with my imagination!¡± Fan Chong was technically a witness, so Chen Ge thought about it and decided to tell him the truth. ¡°There was a very cute little girl standing behind you earlier. I suspect that she is Xiao Bu from the game.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Bu?¡± Fan Chong was stunned. ¡°She came out from the game?¡±

    ¡°Quiet down. Your big brother is still sleeping. Don¡¯t wake him up.¡±

    ¡°What time is it? Who cares about that anymore! Tomorrow, we¡¯re going to move!¡± Fan Chong was really spooked. He had fainted at the Haunted House, but at least he could still tell himself that everything there was fake. However, this was his home. In the future, he would think about this every time he closed his eyes.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic, let¡¯s talk about this first.¡± Chen Ge led Fan Chong into his bedroom. Everything looked the same. Chen Ge walked to theputer to look at the game¡ªthere was nothing different about Xiao Bu in the game.

    ¡°Boss Chen, you don¡¯t need to advise me anymore; I have to move. This is too scary, and I will stop ying the game. Take it with you. In fact, I¡¯ll gift you my wholeputer setup.¡±

    ¡°Calm down.¡± Chen Ge patted Fan Chong¡¯s shoulders. ¡°The girl looks very cute. She doesn¡¯t look like a bad person.¡±

    ¡°The key point is that she is a ghost!¡± Fan Chong sat down beside theputer table. Then he was reminded of something, and he nudged the chair back.

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t mean you harm. If she did, you would have been injured a long time ago.¡± Chen Ge looked at the game. ¡°How many tenants are there here?¡±

    ¡°Most of the tenants have moved away, so I¡¯d guess, about two hundred people remain.¡± Fan Chong was confused. ¡°But why would you want to know about that?¡±

    ¡°The area has around two hundred people, so why did the girl choose you?¡± Chen Ge looked at Fan Chong with suspicion.

    ¡°Because I¡¯m unlucky, that¡¯s why. Mocked, dumped, and fired. I¡¯m aplete loser in life.¡± The flesh on Fan Chong¡¯s face jiggled.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s theplete opposite¡ªthe girl probably wanted to help you.¡±

    ¡°Help me?¡± Fan Chong slowly calmed down.

    ¡°Tell me in detail what happened during the time you came into contact with this game. There has to be a reason the girl chose you.¡± Chen Ge felt weird. How did Xiao Bu in the gamee into contact with Fan Chong?

    Fan Chong gripped his hands together. He thought about it for a long time before saying, ¡°Okay, but you have to promise me that you won¡¯t tell my brother. I don¡¯t want him to worry.¡±

    ¡°Okay, no problem.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I was in deep despair quite some time ago. I¡¯d been at work for several years already, but the work wasn¡¯t going well. I¡¯m probably the type of person who is destined to never shine. From school to work, I was always isted. A few weeks ago, my boss came to me to ask about my real passion, something that was not rted to work. I got the hint that he was hoping that I would quit, and I agreed.¡± Fan Chong finally told the truth and revealed his secret to Chen Ge.

    ¡°When I got home, I called my girlfriend. Iined to her on the phone. She listened to me patiently, and when I was done, she told me calmly that she wanted a break-up. She said that she was tired of listening to me talk about such things. She lost the ability to even act interested in my life.

    ¡°I apologized to her and tried many ways to salvage the rtionship, but no matter what I did, she did not forgive me. I bought a present and waited for her at herpany, and I saw her leave the ce with a man who was very tall and handsome.

    ¡°I asked her colleague, and she did not seem to know about my existence. She told me that my girlfriend had been with the guy for a long time already, and they were apparently discussing marriage.¡±

    His face was squeezed together, and Fan Chong¡¯s grip tightened. ¡°I have no idea how I got home. My thoughts were a mess, and I hated people, but more than that, I hated myself. At the time, I thought about leaving.

    ¡°I went to the roof and stood there for three hours. Whenever I thought about making that step, I would hear someone call my name. I stood there from afternoon to dusk. My stomach growled, and suddenly, I missed my brother¡¯s cooking. I turned back and went back home.

    ¡°Then, I found this game. I locked myself in the game, and I¡¯ve dedicated myself to clearing the game ever since.¡±

    ¡°It will get better.¡± Chen Ge attempted to console him. ¡°I believe I know why Xiao Bu found you. It was probably Xiao Bu who pulled you back from the edge of despair. Perhaps from her perspective, you are both people cut from the same cloth, so you should be able to understand her situation.¡±

 Chapter 552 - New Employee

    <h4>Chapter 552: New Employee</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°If not for her, you wouldn¡¯t be here anymore. It is because of her that you survived. She lent you a hand when you most needed it, so why would you be afraid of someone like that?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice was warm and calm¡ªit seemed to possess a unique power.

    Fan Chong thought about it for a long time. He suddenly felt that Chen Ge had a point. ¡°You have nothing after death, not even the chance to chase after happiness. You¡¯re right, I should thank her.¡±

    ¡°Actually, when you told me the olddy¡¯s story, I was instantly reminded of Xiao Bu. The olddy stayed next to Xiao Bu¡¯s home, so the girl that she saw was probably Xiao Bu.¡± Chen Ge looked at the little girl on screen who wore her mother¡¯s pajamas. ¡°The olddy lived alone, and when she suffered from heart attack, with none of the neighbors clued in, someone called the emergency line. Who do you think made that call?¡±

    ¡°Xiao Bu?¡±

    ¡°Who else could it be? From this, we know that the child still knows the difference between good and bad.¡± Chen Ge pushed Fan Chong¡¯s chair back to theputer. ¡°So, you can continue ying the game. Xiao Bu will not harm you for no reason. She reached out to you with this game probably because she wants to share her story with you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just that? Even ghosts have the need to share their stories?¡± Fan Chong kept his voice low. He sat before theputer and still had a hard time getting used to this.

    ¡°This should be one of the reasons she made this game. With regards to other reasons, we will know once we clear the game.¡± Chen Ge noticed that Fan Chong was not that worried anymore, so he sighed. ¡°Good luck, the child is probably trapped at the deepest part of the game, surrounded by pain and despair. She has saved you, so now it¡¯s your turn to save her.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s hiding in myputer?¡± Fan Chong¡¯s gaze slowly focused. He ced his hands back on the keyboard and mouse. ¡°I understand. I will try my best to clear this game.¡±

    Then he exited the game and cleaned up the partitions of hisputer. ¡°By the way, Boss Chen, you saw the blood words that showed up on the window earlier, right? Were those written by Xiao Bu?¡±

    ¡°Should be.¡±

    ¡°Then why would she warn you away from Li Wan City? Is this ce that dangerous?¡± Fan Chong seemed to be afraid that Chen Ge might misunderstand him, so he added, ¡°I¡¯m worried about my big brother. He¡¯s a careless person and is often spacing out.¡±

    ¡°At the moment, Eastern Jiujiang is ratherplicated. Try to stay at home at night, but it should be better in one or two weeks.¡±

    ¡°One or two weeks? Okay.¡± Fan Chong had no idea how Chen Ge knew that, but he chose to believe him.

    ¡°If something happens, remember to contact me. I won¡¯t being to Li Wan City for the next few days.¡± Xiao Bu¡¯s message had attracted Chen Ge¡¯s attention. He was a cautious person and would not risk his life for no reason. After that, Chen Ge left. He wanted to get the bus back to New Century Park before dawn.

    He got on the bus and saw the boy that he had left on thest row. The boy was still unconscious. He checked the boy and confirmed that he was not injured. Chen Ge sighed in relief. ¡°The boy¡¯s parents must be worried. After I drive the bus back to the park, I should send the child to Western Jiujiang¡¯s police station.¡±

    The bus on Route 104 hade from Western Jiujiang to Eastern Jiujiang, so the middle-aged woman had probably snatched the boy from Western Jiujiang. ¡°The surveince in countryside is not thatprehensive, but I can¡¯t be too careful.¡±

    Chen Ge opened theic to summon the driver ghost, Tang Jun. ¡°So, what is your decision?¡±

    With the ¡®brain-washing¡¯ from Bai Qiulin, Ol¡¯ Zhou, and the other ghosts, Tang Jun¡¯s attitude became much better. He was not an evil ghost, and his death was due to a car ident. There was not much resentment in him, and the only emotion that he had was the connection to his family.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind it. After all, it¡¯s just driving. It¡¯s the same no matter who the boss is, but if you allow me to meet my family, I will swear my loyalty to you.¡±

    ¡°Where is your home?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°You drive, and we¡¯ll go there now.¡±

    ...

    Twenty minutester, Tang Jun walked out from an old residential area. Probably because the desire in his heart was not that intense, his body became much more faded, like he was about to disperse.

    After he got on the bus, his body started to recover.

    ¡°So soon? Aren¡¯t you going to stay with them longer?¡± Chen Ge was reading the information on the ck phone. Tang Jun had taken less three minutes.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t go upstairs. I just stood outside the building.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you want to see them in person?¡±

    ¡°I thought about it, but no.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. If you want toe back in the future, just tell me in advance, and you cane back anytime.¡± Chen Ge was always kind to his workers and treated them as his family. ¡°But you have to remember, when the desire that kept you alive disappears, it will also be time for you to disappear.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, understood.¡± Tang Jun gripped the steering wheel and started the bus. The bus arrived at New Century Park at 4 am, when the sun wasing up. When the guard saw Chen Gee back with such arge vehicle, his eyes almost popped out of his face. After asking Chen Ge many times to confirm that he did not steal the vehicle and that it was just a prop, the guard finally allowed Chen Ge into theme park.

    ¡°A public bus is indeed a bit too eye-catching.¡± Chen Ge pulled Tang Jun back into theic and parked the bus in the empty space behind the Haunted House.

    ¡°Let me see... what else have I forgotten?¡± Chen Ge opened the door and looked at the boy lying on the back seats. When they wereing home, the boy¡¯sshes had been flickering, and his lips moved.

    ¡°You¡¯re awake, aren¡¯t you?¡± The boy was clever. He had probably woken up when the sun rose, but he had been pretending to be asleep. When he realized that his trick had been exposed, the boy climbed up from his seat shyly. He did not speak but looked at Chen Ge silently.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid¡ªI¡¯m a good person. I saved you from the bad guy yesterday.¡± Chen Ge held the boy¡¯s hand as they walked down from the bus.

    It was 4:30 am, four hours from the opening of theme park. Chen Ge calcted and thought that there was enough time. He led the boy out of the New Century Park and took a cab to the police station. ¡°The boy¡¯s parents must be worried. This cannot wait.¡±

    Chen Ge arrived at the station around 5 am. He walked into the ce with the boy. When the officer saw someone walk in, they did not pay him much attention, but when they saw who the man was, they became awake immediately.

    ¡°Chen Ge? Why have you returned?¡±

 Chapter 553 - Another Draw!

    <h4>Chapter 553: Another Draw!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Being recognized by the officer on duty, this was something that Chen Ge did not expect. He coughed once and exined himself immediately. ¡°When I was on my way to Eastern Jiujiang, I happened across a child kidnapping case. You know about the kind of person that I am; I have a strong sense of justice. So, after a dangerous bout, I finally managed to rescue the boy.¡±

    ¡°Those with real justice will never say that they have justice.¡± The three officers at the police station had all gathered. One of them had aided Lee Sanbao when they handled the murder at Mu Yang High School and had an impression of Chen Ge. ¡°I cannot make a decision about this. Our superintendent and Inspector Lee said that as long as the case involves you, we have to inform them before we can make a decision.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not even a murder this time; it shouldn¡¯t that serious, right?¡± Chen Ge still had something else to do. His original n had been to drop off the boy and leave immediately.

    ¡°In your eyes, only murder cases are serious, huh? That¡¯s a very dangerous way of thinking.¡± The officer called Inspector Lee, and two officers remained. One led the boy to the other side of the room while the other stayed with Chen Ge on high alert.

    Several minutester, the officer who called Inspector Lee walked out from the office, and he looked at Chen Ge strangely.

    ¡°What did inspector Lee say? Can I go now?¡± Chen Ge had not slept all night, and the theme park was opening at 9 am¡ªhe wanted to rush back to catch a little sleep.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid not.¡± The officer dropped the file on the table. ¡°Yesterday at 9 pm, a pair of young parents came to report their son¡¯s disappearance. The picture of their boy is simr to this boy that you found.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t a good thing? I¡¯ve saved your time; you can just return the boy to his family.¡± Chen Ge was confused. ¡°Is it because the parents want to thank me in person? There¡¯s no need for that.¡±

    ¡°No, we wish to get your cooperation.¡± The officer opened the file. There was information of several children. ¡°These are the children who have gone missing from Western Jiujiang over thest few months. There is a simrity in all these cases¡ªthey all happened on a rainy night. We¡¯ve been following this case, and through our investigation, witnesses said that they saw a middle-ageddy around the crime scene. Last night, when the boy disappeared, someone saw the samedy around the area.¡±

    ¡°Many cases?¡± Chen Ge knew that these cases were rted to the culprit in Eastern Jiujiang, but he wondered why the culprit needed so many children.

    ¡°Yes, these cases are horrible, and around the area where the disappearance happened, there is such a story. ording to the story, whenever it rains, a middle-ageddy carrying a basket will appear. Due to her natural deficit, she is unable to carry a child, so she was chased out of the family by her family. From then on, she hated men and children and would use many different ways to lure children into tunnels and then take them away.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that sound like typical urban legend? They¡¯re rarely real.¡± Chen Ge did not expect the officer to suddenly bring that up.

    ¡°Sometimes, local story and urban legend are based on real life event. We cannot believe them fully, but we cannot brush them off either.¡± The officer looked at Chen Ge. ¡°There are seven cases of child kidnappings, and this boy is the only one who has been found. You¡¯re the only one who has interacted with the suspect, so I need you to stay.¡±

    ¡°Fine, I will try my best to cooperate.¡± Chen Ge knew that he would be unable to leave, so he poured a ss of warm water for himself and sat down. ¡°Then again, it¡¯s one thing for me to cooperate, but you can¡¯t keep asking me to do free work. At the beginning, when I provided the key clue to solve the murder at Ping An Apartment, at least the city awarded me with 50,000. Now, I don¡¯t even get a medal or certificate, much less money, isn¡¯t that a bit wrong?¡±

    Seeing how shameless Chen Ge was, the officer did not even know how to respond. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, all you¡¯ve done will be recorded by the department. In the future, we might award you the title of best citizen or one of the top ten youths in Jiujiang or something like that.¡±

    ¡°Are you for real? Then, does it mean I can get on the television?¡±

    ¡°Just help us with the cases, and eventually, those things wille.¡±

    ¡°No problem, but when the timees, you have to help me deal with the reporters. If they have to interview me, please do it at the entrance to my Haunted House. That is a kind of promotion,¡± Chen Ge said seriously.

    Half an hourter, Inspector Lee arrived, and Chen Ge gave him the story that he had prepared. He said that he had ridden an e-bike alone to Eastern Jiujiang. When he passed a bus stop, he saw a middle-ageddy hugging a child, looking like she was waiting for someone. He was worried about them because of how dangerous it was for a mother and a child to be waiting alone at night.

    He stopped and offered to give them a ride home. During the conversation, he noticed how weird things were. The boy was not asleep but unconscious. He prepared to call the police, but coincidentally, his phone had no battery.

    Then, the middle-aged woman escaped because she knew that she had been exposed. Chen Ge chased her for a while before returning to the boy because he thought that the boy¡¯s safety was more important. The boy had been unconscious when he was on the bus, so Chen Ge was not worried about being exposed by the boy.

    When he was done, the officers were in disbelief. He went to ride his bike, and he came across a child kidnapping case. This man before them, from a certain perspective, could not be viewed as a normal person anymore.

    After giving a description of the middle-aged woman, Inspector Lee agreed to let Chen Ge go. He knew that Chen Ge had to operate the Haunted House in the morning. At 7 am, Chen Ge was sent back to the New Century Park in a police car. When the guard saw Chen Ge walk toward him, he forgot how many times he had seen Chen Ge that day.

    <i>It¡¯s almost the park¡¯s opening time; I don¡¯t think I can sleep anymore.</i>

    Following a cold shower, Chen Ge changed into a set of clean clothes and gave the ce a brief clean. When he was done, Chen Ge took out the ck phone to study the Trial Missions.

    <i>These new Trial Missions are in Eastern Jiujiang; I have to go there if I want to expand the Haunted House.</i>

    <i>Xiao Bu¡¯s advice warned me away from Li Wan City, but she did not say I cannot go to Eastern Jiujiang. This means the best solution is to avoid Li Wan City for now and only go there after I finish the other three-star scenarios and gather all the ¡®people¡¯.</i>

    <i>Even with Zhang Ya and Xu Yin, Xiao Bu still thinks I have no chance. Looks like my ability is stillcking behindpared to the culprit in Eastern Jiujiang.</i>

    Chen Ge thought about ways to make up the difference.

    <i>I have to unlock Yan Danian¡¯sst ability as soon as possible. There¡¯s also Bai Qiulin¡ªhe has consumed Xiong Qing and gained a dyed heart, but the increase in power is not obvious. He needs to consume more ghosts.</i>

    After going through all the members of the Haunted House, Chen Ge realized that, not counting Zhang Ya, he was even less powerful than the ghost stories society. If Zhang Ya and Xu Yin were held back, he would be in mortal danger.

    <i>The number of workers that I can depend on is still too little.</i>

    Chen Ge thought about it and opened the ck phone. He looked at one of the options.

    <i>I can get new Specters from spinning the wheel, but the problem is, if I win another two Specters, then my title will be upgraded.</i>

    <i>With Xu Yin and Zhang Ya by my side, normal Specters don¡¯t pose much threat to me. It befits my current Specters¡¯ favored title. I can approach them andmunicate with them.</i>

    <i>But if this title upgrades, does that mean I will attract more dangerous existences to me? What if Zhang Ya and Xu Yin are unable to handle it? Doesn¡¯t it mean I¡¯ll return to a life of cowering in fear and terror?</i>

 Chapter 554 - Phone Number That Is Kissed by the Dead

    <h4>Chapter 554: Phone Number That Is Kissed by the Dead</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge thought back to when he drew Zhang Ya. At the time, he had still been ignorant about the different between a normal Specter and a Red Specter. Because of his blind courage, he had used his sincerity to slowly calm Zhang Ya down.

    <i>Being hated by Zhang Ya will get me killed; being loved by Zhang Ya will get me killed. I have to seek a middle ground. It¡¯s already scary enough to have this one with me, if I attract something even more dangerous, will it be too much for me?</i>

    After his title leveled up, more out of control things might happen, and this was what Chen Ge refused to see.

    <i>After winning two more Specters, the title will be upgraded, but from the perspective of probability, the chance of that is very low, and I have two more chances...</i>

    Chen Ge was rather interested. He looked at the Wheel of Misfortune on screen and slowly raised his finger. If he was being serious, the Wheel of Misfortune was a very important feature provided by the ck phone. Zhang Ya, Xu Yin, and Yan Danian¡ªthe three Specters that he had won from it¡ªhad been immensely helpful to Chen Ge. Without them, Chen Ge would not have survived until this day.

    <i>There are two ways to improve my abilitypleting Nightmare Missions or winning something useful from the Wheel.</i>

    Although he had obtained the ck phone quite some time ago, the things that he had won from it were either Specters or items rted to Specters. This was rather diforting to him.

    <i>Perhaps when I won Zhang Ya from the wheel, the plot was set on a path of no return.</i>

    From theck of sleep, Chen Ge¡¯s head was heavy.

    <i>Maybe I should try it once. After all, the title will only increase after winning two more Specters.</i>

    Chen Ge lit a cigarette and walked around his Haunted House. He had done everything that he could to get something good from the wheel. He had tried to make the draw during noon or during dawn, and he had tried biking to somewhere one or two kilometers away from the park, but reality proved that those efforts were rather useless.

    <i>Perhaps I should try going the other way, or should I wait until midnight, the time of day when the Yin energy is the strongest, and then start the wheel at the deepest part of the Haunted House?</i>

    After some consideration, Chen Ge abandoned that n.

    <i>I should ask the Pen Spirit.</i>

    He entered the underground scenario and nned tobine the powers of both the Pen Spirit and the Weeping Statue to see whether he would win another Specter. Pushing the door to the female dormitory open, Chen Ge saw the ballpoint pen that was covered with stic tape drawing circles on the paper out of boredom.

    ¡°Long time no see.¡± Probably spooked by Chen Ge, the pen toppled over and rolled away from Chen Ge.

    ¡°Why are you running? I have something important to ask you.¡± Chen Ge gripped the pen and asked whether he would win a Specter from the Wheel. To his surprise, he was halfway through his question when the Pen Spirit should the sign of copsing. He immediately stopped. Then he tried the same question with the statue. The result was the same. As long as it involved the ck phone, the powers of those ghosts would go on a rampage.

    <i>This sure is strange. The phone left behind by my parents is not normal.</i>

    Unable to cheat, Chen Ge stopped hesitating. He entered the toilet to wash his hands and ran into the bus. When he calmed down fully, he clicked the wheel on the phone.

    As the wheel slowed down, Chen Ge¡¯s heart raced. The screams that he had gathered were enough for him to y the wheel five times. If he did not win a Specter, he would continue until he ran out of resources. With a click, the wheel stopped as did the needle.

    ¡°Congrattions for winning the item¡ªInvitation to the Cursed Game (Chance of Winning: 1/100).

    ¡°Invitation to the Cursed Game: Curses and deaths both y their role at this hospital. No one knows where the limit of humanity is.¡±

    <i>An Invitation? </i>Chen Ge read it many times to confirm that he did not win a Specter. <i>Is my luck changing? Everything¡¯sing up Chen Ge. Even though the invitation is nothing good, at least it¡¯s better than upgrading the title.</i>

    Sitting on the bus, Chen Ge felt the bus could bring him good luck. <i>As long as there are no baleful Specters... Now, this is what I call normal.</i>

    Chen Ge sighed in relief and turned the wheel again. The needle slowly stopped, and with Chen Ge watching, a new message popped up on-screen.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specters¡¯ Favored, for winning the rare item¡ªPhone Number That Is Kissed by the Dead (Chance of Winning: 5/1000)!

    ¡°The police discovered that, before they died, every victim called this number.

    ¡°Fourth win of a baleful Specter! Congrattions, user. When you win the fifth Specter, your title will automatically be upgraded!¡±

    When Chen Ge saw the phone addressing him with his title, Specters¡¯ Favored, he had a bad feeling in his heart.

    <i>The phone number that is kissed by the dead? The chance of winning is five in one thousand¡ªthat is lower than Xu Yin and Yan Danian, second only to Zhang Ya, so this is probably another Red Specter!</i>

    Chen Ge looked at his hands in shock. He had won another Specter. To be honest, he was rather afraid of himself already.

    <i>Is the wheel broken? Are all the probabilities given fake?</i>

    Several minutester, Chen Ge calmed down and leaned back in the seat.

    <i>If I win another Specter, the title will upgrade. Should I give it another shot?</i>

    The changes that might happen after the title upgraded were an unknown.

    <i>When I first obtained the ck phone, I started to interact with this shadow world with its guidance. Until now, I dare not say that I¡¯ve fully understood this world. Or rather, the more I know about this world, the more I understand how scary it is.</i>

    With that thought, Chen Ge put the ck phone away.

    <i>I should continue spinning the wheel when Zhang Ya¡¯s injury is healed. Without her being at full health, I feel weirdly unsettled.</i>

    Chen Ge headed to the Prop Room. He found two things inside the wooden box left behind by his parents. A piece of crumpled paper with a phone number written on it. It started with 010 and ended with 000.

    ¡°This note looks like it has been tightly gripped in someone¡¯s grasp before. Was it a struggle before death? Why is this number called a number that is kissed by the dead? Will I meet a Red Specter if I call this number?¡±

    The theme park would be opening soon. Chen Ge nned to try it when the park closed. He folded the paper and put it inside his pocket. He turned to look at the other object. It was a booking form with the seal of Xin Hai Central Hospital. Details like the room number, booking fee, and name were all empty, but in the box for the date, several numbers were written in bright red ink with nted handwriting.

 Chapter 555 - The First Victim

    <h4>Chapter 555: The First Victim</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>This is the invitation to the cursed game at abandoned hospital? It looks quite new, but it is less scary than the documents at the Third Sick Hall.</i>

    One of the newly unlocked four-star scenarios by the ck phone was at Xin Hai Central Hospital. Chen Ge felt like this cursed game¡¯s invitation should be rted to that.

    <i>I¡¯ll keep this for now. I¡¯ll probably have need for it in the future.</i>

    Chen Ge was not that interested in the cursed game. All he wanted was the four-star scenario. If anyone dared to curse him, then he would immediately use the Pen Spirit and the Weeping Statue to find out the person¡¯s location and then charge the ce with his Red Specters. He was an open person and never relied on underhanded tactics. Putting the invitation and phone number away, Chen Ge walked out from the Prop Room.

    When he reached the door, Xiao Gu and Xu Wan had arrived. Chen Ge helped them with their make-up and returned to the Haunted House. He found an isted ce and summoned Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue. ¡°Both of you have shown incredible talent at dealing with sudden problems, and you¡¯ve proved yourselves to me. Today, I need you to help me with the visitors. Of course, I will not have you work for free. Just tell me if you need anything.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my honor to work for the boss, and I like staying with the visitors.¡± There was an eagerness in Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Don¡¯t push it too far. I only need you to help usher the visitors into the scenarios. Today, your roles are not actors but pure service workers.¡± Chen Ge was afraid that the two did not understand him and would scare the visitors before they even entered the scenario.

    ¡°Service workers?¡± Both Duan Yue and Ol¡¯ Zhou appeared rather disappointed.

    ¡°If you think it¡¯s too boring, you can give the visitors a little surprise when they leave the scenarios.¡± Chen Ge had spent quite some time with Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s group. He knew their limits and personalities, and this was why he was willing to get their help. This was an unprecedented event.

    ¡°I know that your body will be injured if you appear in daylight, so this counts as work injury. If you have any wish, you can tell me, and I¡¯ll treat it aspensation.¡± Chen Ge was always kind to his workers.

    ¡°As long as I can work with her, I have no other wishes.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou tried to grab Duan Yue¡¯s hand but was pped away. ¡°Go stand over there, I¡¯m just acting with you.¡±

    ¡°Then, how about we make it real?¡±

    Chen Ge stood there and felt like a third wheel. ¡°Are you feeding me dogfood? Please mind the attitude when you¡¯re working, or I¡¯m afraid the other employees will have something to say.¡±

    He found two outfits that would not show their faces from the changing room for Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue. ¡°If possible, try not to speak, and don¡¯t expose yourselves. If there¡¯s any issue, call me.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue were good at customer service¡ªChen Ge had noticed that quite some time ago. With them around, no matter what happened, they had the ability to handle it themselves.

    After giving a few more orders, Chen Ge returned to the staff breakroom. ¡°If all the ghosts were like Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue, things would be so much easier.¡± He set an rm and fell asleep. Chen Ge was woken up by the rm when it was almost noon. ¡°Time for lunch.¡±

    Stretching his armszily, Chen Ge exited the room. Duan Yue and Ol¡¯ Zhou did not disappoint. Everything was running smoothly. Since Duan Yue had a beautiful voice, she was responsible formunicating with the visitors while Ol¡¯ Zhou ushered the people into the scenarios. To quell the nervous atmosphere, Ol¡¯ Zhou even made a few jokes to liven up the situation.

    ¡°Thank you. You can go rest now.¡± After sending Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue back into theic, Chen Ge ran to the surveince room to check the recording to make sure that they did not cause any problems.

    ¡°It feels like they¡¯re more suitable for this job than me.¡± Chen Ge walked out from the Haunted House to greet Uncle Xu.

    ¡°You¡¯re quite honest today. The visitors have very good feedback. A few foreigners came to visit, and they said that you were able tomunicate nicely with them. Why haven¡¯t you told me you have a good grasp of English?¡± There was a smile on Uncle Xu¡¯s face. Actually, he did not have many requirements¡ªhe was satisfied as long as Chen Ge did not create trouble.

    ¡°One should never stop learning. I¡¯ve even learned painting and violin. If there¡¯s a chance, I¡¯ll show you.¡± Chen Ge looked at the long lines before the entrance and felt happy. He entered the resting hall to see the visitors¡¯ progress.

    Currently, Coffin Vige had been cleared twice¡ªthe visitors had found the way to clear this scenario. The maximum number of visitors for a three-star scenario was fifteen visitors, so they would find all fifteen people before entering. Then they used the fastest time to find the wedding dress and carried it out in turn.

    Once a visitor was scared until they fainted by the lingering spirit inside the dress, the people next to them would pick up the dress and continue the marathon. The abandoned member would be given up, and by the power of cooperation, the wedding dress would be sent out of the scenario. With suitable background music, the scene looked rather inspiring.

    <i>Since the visitors have found a method, the difficulty of the scenario has been greatly lowered, and the number of people who have cleared the scenario will only increase.</i>

    Fortunately, Chen Ge was not worried. When the visitors werebing their mind to clear the other two three-star scenarios, Chen Ge already started to plot for the 3.5-star and four-star scenarios.

    <i>I cannot wait for the day that the visitors enter the four-star scenario. The poprity of my Haunted House will probably witness another rise.</i>

    The Haunted House closed at 6 pm, and thest batch of visitors was sent away at 6:30 pm.

    After cleaning the ce, Chen Ge waited until Xiao Gu and Xu Wan left before returning to the staff breakroom.

    ¡°With the earlier nap, I don¡¯t feel that tired.¡± Chen Ge took out the paper from his pocket. ¡°It¡¯s time to go fetch this new employee. The chance of winning this is smaller than Yan Danian, so it should be a Red Specter.¡±

    Taking out his phone, Chen Ge studied the number many times before calling it. It was 7 pm. All the workers at the park had returned home, so the ce was quiet. The dial tone echoed in his ears. The number was still in use, but no one answered it.

    ¡°Nowadays, not many people usendline anymore. What is the hidden meaning of this number?¡±

    When it rang for the fourteenth time, the call was finally connected. Chen Ge held his breath. He did not say anything but focused on listening. There was a strange sounding from the phone¡ªit sounded like something was burning.

 Chapter 556 - My Name [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 556: My Name [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Combustion from alcohol and gas would have a quiet me. Only when the fuel was of wooden material that it would have this crackling and popping sound.

    ¡°Hello? How can I help you?¡± Ten secondster, Chen Ge realized that there was still no one speaking, so he tossed out this question as a probe. A bottle fell to the ground, and it sounded like its content sshed out and caused the fire to burn even stronger.

    ¡°Hello! Is anyone there?¡± The phone was answered, so this meant that someone had to be near the phone. ¡°Is this a fire? Are you okay? Please tell me your location immediately!¡±

    Chen Ge was getting nervous, and he screamed loudly. The fire was still burning, and then a different voice cut through the roaring me.

    ¡°Can I talk to you for a moment?¡± The man¡¯s voice was nice but rather hoarse.

    ¡°Sure, since I have nothing to do at the moment anyway.¡± Chen Ge had been afraid that the other party would refuse tomunicate. As long as there wasmunication, he could get useful information. ¡°Then what do you want to talk about?¡±

    After a long time, his reply came. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    The person spoke slowly like he was constantly thinking. Chen Ge could hear the tremor in the person¡¯s voice. He was unstable. Chen Ge did not dare to randomly run his mouth lest he provoked the man.

    ¡°Shall we talk about something happy?¡±

    ¡°There are many happy things. Everyone is happy, and I know I should be happy, but for some reason, I am unable to be happy.¡±

    ¡°Just rx, then how about we share some of our best memories?¡±

    ¡°Memories?¡± The man went silent again, but the sound of fire burning became clearer and clearer. ¡°When I was young, my parents kept arguing for the sake of living.¡±

    When he heard that, Chen Ge knew that something was wrong. This was not a happy memory¡ªhe wanted to interrupt the man, but the man on the other end of the phone did not appear like he was going to stop.

    ¡°My mother was very strict with me because she wanted the best for her son. I¡¯ve always been an obedient child. A bit shy and didn¡¯t like to talk. When I was at primary school, I was quite good at my studies, but unfortunately, throughout the six years, I only got three good student award.

    ¡°During secondary school, my English was very bad, and my result was average. During the third year, my mother found me an English tutor for one-on-one tuition. I had to attend sses after school until 9.30 pm. When I reached home, it would be around 10 pm.

    ¡°The tutor was a very good teacher. I got ny-five marks on my English, but I did not get simrly good results for Math and Chinese, the subjects that I was supposed to be good at. However, overall my result was still at the front of the ss. If I remember correctly, the total mark was about 560 marks or so. With that result, I could apply for all the high school other than Si Yi High.

    ¡°Actually, I really don¡¯t understand why we need tobel children. Si Yi High was the best high school, and I was missing the mark by twenty plus marks. If I wanted to enter Si Yi High, I had to fork out tuition, which was 18,000 RMB.

    ¡°The monthly sry of my parents was four thousand RMB. To give me a better head start, they scrounged up this money to send me to Si Yi High.

    ¡°Should I be thankful?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Perhaps it was the sense of guilt, but I worked so hard for the first three months I entered the school. I was afraid of being exposed, afraid of other people finding out that I didn¡¯t get in there with my own results but because of money.

    ¡°Actually, other people might not even have cared about that, but perhaps I¡¯m just someone who is naturally prideful or perhaps I don¡¯t want to be the same as them. For the first exam, my results were higher than average, and I was happy. I worked even harder. But for my middle year exam, my result slid down to lower average.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t find the reason. Perhaps it was my method of studying or perhaps I just wasn¡¯t putting in enough effort. What else could I do but push forward?

    ¡°When the result for thest exam came out, my result dropped even further to the bottom of the ss. A good student became the worst student¡ªthe identity had changed, but the mind needed a time to get used to the situation. When my mind also adapted to this change, then I¡¯d change from a normal student to a bad student.

    ¡°I¡¯m a strange fe, the type that has a strong sense of pride and arrogance. When we were called to pick the stream that we wanted to focus on, I had a crush. It was something that is difficult to exin, but I felt happy whenever I saw her.

    ¡°She was the good student type and also very hardworking. She would show up for ss early in the morning. The key to our ssroom was with the monitor, so I woke up early every morning just so I could arrive at school before the monitor and jumped into the room through the ssroom window to help her open the door.

    ¡°There were many simr things. When she went to the canteen to buy lunch in the afternoon, I would take my English textbook and study it while leaning against the corridor. I wanted to see her, to see her walk back from the canteen to the ssroom.

    ¡°Actually, it¡¯s quite embarrassing because even though I studied the textbook for the whole semester, in the English exam, I only scored in the thirties. The exam results became worse and worse. I was constantly one of the worst ten students in the ss. During the third year, when all the students gave it their all and fought like there was no return, my interest was reading and writing.

    ¡°I read all type of books, not rted to school. Web novels, magazines, sci-fi novels, and thrillers both locally and overseas. After reading so much, a world would be constructed in my mind, a world that was my own. That was also the first time that I opened a writer¡¯s ount for myself online and started to try to write some things.

    ¡°There was still over one hundred days to the high school exam, but even the friends that stayed at the inte caf¨¦ started to retreat to focus on their study. However, all that I focused on was my story and my writing.

    ¡°During one of the school assemblies, the headmaster was standing on stage. I stared at him and thought about the books that I liked, the authors that I admired. I wanted to be like them, to construct a world that many people would appreciate.

    ¡°The exam was over, and there were two ways to understand this.

    ¡°One was exam was over, and the other was my life was over.

    ¡°I scored just enough for vocational school. Compared to those who wanted to give the exam another go, I decided to grasp thisst chance to confess my love. But until today, I did not say it because that day I saw the girl whom I liked got together with the monitor.

    ¡°I went to cut my hair until I was bald. As the only student from Si Yi High to go to a vocational school, I had to have my own style, walk my own path. I nned to cut myself off from my former ssmates, probably because the greater the pride, the more one dislikes pity from others.

    ¡°Even if I was a bad student, I was a bad student with a dream. After I got to the school, writing became my life. I nned to write an epic thatbined all the elements of the great writing that hade before me. I had read many books, so I knew a bit of everything. I put the manuscript that I wrote on the inte.

    ¡°That was when I received my first contract. My work was more than 300,000 words, but no one was reading it. Then, I tried to give them my other stories, but they were all rejected. During thetter half of the third year, some of the students started to focus on moving to actual university or studying to be teachers. I went to somece far away from home to start my internship.

    ¡°The factory where my father worked closed down. The old CEO was sent into jail for ten years due to illegal activities, so only my mother¡¯s sry was keeping the family afloat. She earned less than two thousand a month.

    ¡°For the internship, I chose the ce furthest from home because the sry was the highest, and it was close to the ocean. About thirty-three people from our school chose to have their internship at thispany. Since it was a frontline worker and it was factory work, there was constant interaction with gas and copper sludge. One monthter, only sixteen people remained.

    ¡°Due to professional reasons, I was moved to another department. The work wasn¡¯t easy, but it was still eptable. Slowly, I got used to the lifestyle. The leader thought that even though this child did not like to speak, he was honest and serious, so my internship ended sooner than others, and I became an official worker.

    ¡°I worked eight hours daily with one day of rest every week. After I got used to this, I started to ask myself, am I going to work like this forever? How can I have no dreams for myself?

    ¡°I started to write again. After an eight-hour shift, I would write four thousand words a night, without any readers or any support. Even thosements mocking me wouldn¡¯t total up to four thousand words. If I didn¡¯t write, nothing would change. Writing was tiring, but I liked to write.

    ¡°Perhaps the gods had mercy for the hardworking. There were few readers, but the crush I had from high school suddenly contacted me through inte. Way back when I was at university, I heard from another friend that she had broken up with the monitor; however, I had been too focused on writing to care about it.

    ¡°Then, we started to reconnect. During the annual break, I went to visit her and her university. Vocational school and university were not that different, or at least I did not think it was that different. However, when she continued to study for her masters and doctorate, then I thought the difference was quite huge.

    ¡°I forgot what I said on the day of confession. I couldn¡¯t even remember the date, but the conclusion was that we were notpatible. I couldn¡¯t say that I was disappointed.

    ¡°I threw myself back into work and writing. Finally, the book was contracted. There were still no readers, and I got just over six hundred for my writing every month. Six hundred of that was from constant writing instead of poprity.

    ¡°Then, I searched for my book online and found it on many aggregator websites. I was so pissed. I begged and reported. I tried my best to find the people who stole my writing. The website had a forum for readers, and it was even more lively than the official forum. After I friended the person online, I told him to remove my book immediately, or I would have to resort to legal actions.

    ¡°He ignored me.

    ¡°I found other aggregator sites and realized that the uploader used the same ount, so I tried to reason with him. He still ignored me. Finally, for the first time in my life, someone as prideful as I am begged him.

    ¡°I was the official writer, but I had to beg this aggregator. I told him that I didn¡¯t even demand that he removed the book¡ªI just asked that he did not update the same time as I did. Could he please wait for three days after I uploaded the official version? If he could not do three days, could he give me one day? I was pleading with him.

    ¡°I even started a thread on the forum, telling them that I only earned six hundred per month, and if people really liked the writing, I¡¯d hope for them to support the real author. The replies said that I was manipting their feeling, calling me names. A real author would not have cared about these things, no wonder I was not popr.

    ¡°The person who opened the aggregator did not reply to me, and I did not reply to the readers. I exited the web browser and started writing my four thousand words for the day.

    ¡°Every day, four thousand words, and I had to update daily to gain the reward money of six hundred¡ªthat six hundred was all the reward that I got for my hard work.

    ¡°After a week, when I was working, there was a malfunction at work. I broke the middle finger of my right hand. The bone snapped, and only twoyers of skin were connecting the finger.

    ¡°The ident happened at 2 pm, and I left the hospital at 8 pm. I returned to bedroom. I opened theputer and continued typing with nine fingers. Daily four thousand words, only by updating daily would I be able to earn six hundred this month.

    ¡°Halfway through the chapter, with only three thousand words written, I suddenly copsed. I copsed onto the keyboard and cried like a dog. What was I doing?

    ¡°Then holiday came. I returned home. The girl asked me out for dinner, and after dinner, we went for a movie. The movie was a love story. The male character gave up his life for the female character, but the female character still ended up with the second male character. I seemed to see myself on screen, and I gave up everything.

    ¡°I ced the present that I had specially picked up for the night on the bridge and I squatted by the road until midnight. The people who passed by must have thought that I was very weird. I got home. The next day, I flew to Zhu Hai.

    ¡°Work, writing... I cannot honestly tell you what was keeping me alive back then. I started to write a new book, and another half a year had passed. Like what I said earlier, God has mercy on the hardworking, and I had the best period of my life.

    ¡°I ran into a female reader who was five years younger than me. At the time, she was still studying while I was working, and the distance between us was half of China.

    ¡°When I went to meet her for the first time, a tornado came, and the ne couldn¡¯t fly. Coincidentally, before this tornado left, another tornado wasing. I sincerely couldn¡¯t believe my luck.

    ¡°At the time, she told me, if I couldn¡¯t make it that day, then it meant that we could not be together. And then, a miracle happened. There was a short period between the two tornadoes when the ne was allowed to fly.

    ¡°That was my first real romance. Everything that we did was my first. My first time holding someone¡¯s hand, first time going on a date, first time going to theme park, first time walking past a Haunted House, first time taking the subway together, first time kissing...

    ¡°I did not worry her too much and hid my many weaknesses away from her like the finger that I had lost, my education background, and the book that was not as good as I made it out to be.

    ¡°I had many things that I wanted to tell her, and we matched each other. I was very happy when I was around her.

    ¡°Then I wrote a supernatural web novel, and it became surprisingly popr. Heaven was finally smiling at me. The days were glowing¡ªthe sweetness had arrived after years of bitterness. My dream was about toe true.

    ¡°I could see the bad student standing at the assembly looking at the people on stage, he walked out from the memory to thank me.

    ¡°Thank you for not giving up. Finally, you are standing alongside those authors that you admired.

    ¡°This was the happiest moment of my life, but the happiest moments are always the shortest.

    ¡°Every year, the website had apetition to pick the best neer. With my result, I thought my ce was guaranteed, but I ran into a cheater.

    ¡°With andslide victory I won the award, but I had to spend around 400,000 RMB to win it. Around 100,000 RMB was from donations from fans, but the remaining came from my own wallet. I sold my own house for this.

    ¡°I¡¯ve figured everything out before I made that decision. If my book was reported, I would go find the cheater, kill him, and then light a fire and burn everything up including myself.

    ¡°Thankfully, the book was not banned. However, after winning the award, I suddenly felt that my world had darkened. It was supposed to be a celebratory event, but I couldn¡¯t smile.

    ¡°Everyone was happy, so I tried my best to smile. My dream came true, but I felt like something wascking.

    ¡°When Imunicated with people, I would see their mouths widening, and I would fall into them like they were ck holes. I stayed with people that I loved, but they would reject my concern and feelings.

    ¡°Something must be wrong.¡±

    The sound of fire grew, and something like a dresser was knocked over. The man¡¯s voice went further away from the phone, and thest thing that Chen Ge heard was. ¡°This fire sure is bright...¡±

 Chapter 557 - Nobita [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 557: Nobita [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Hello? Hello! Where are you now! I can help you, I can help you!¡± Chen Ge screamed into the phone, but his only answer was the sound of fire burning. ¡°Calm down, you have to calm down!¡±

    He gripped the phone tightly and kicked the door open, rushing to the highest office building inside the park. He ran with all his might up to the roof. He stood at the highest part of the park and looked down over Jiujiang.

    There were lights from neon signs, from buildings, from street lights, and from cars, but he could not see any fire. However, on the other end of the phone, the me was rising and engulfing everything, causing the sound of crackling to keeping through. The fire was spreading.

    ¡°Hello, I don¡¯t know whether you can hear me or not. I just want to tell you that I can help you. There are people in this world who are willing to help you.¡±

    The line was filled with static. It appeared as if the fire had burned the phone line. There was no reply, and the call ended. Hearing the busy tone on the other end, Chen Ge was feeling rather unsettled.

    Thest deration by the author had probably been his own imagination. His determination and perseverance did not lead to a reward¡ªafter the dream copsed, his mental state probably copsed as well. Holding the rail on the edge of the building, Chen Ge looked toward the horizon.

    Several minutester, with some remnant of hope in his heart, he called that number again. He knew that the chance was not big, but at least he wanted to give it a try. The dial tone began beside his ears again, and Chen Ge had no idea how long it would go on. Chen Ge sighed to himself, and just as he was about to hang up, the call was suddenly connected.

    ¡°Hello.¡± It was apletely different voice that came from the other end.

    <i>Did I dial the wrong number? </i>Chen Ge nced subconsciously at the number; all the digits were correct, but the crackling fire had disappeared, and in its ce was an eerie silence. The same number but a different sound. Chen Ge started to calm down. He thought back to the introduction that the ck phone had given this number. <i>The police discovered that, before they died, every victim called this number. There is more than one victim!</i>

    After realizing that, Chen Ge swiftly adjusted his thoughts, changing his voice and tone. ¡°Hello, is there anything that I can help you with?¡±

    Since he had no idea what the other person¡¯s experience was, that was the only thing that Chen Ge could say in the circumstances.

    ¡°You want to help me? That¡¯s not necessary, thank you.¡± The voice on the other end sounded weak like they were falling asleep.

    ¡°You don¡¯t sound that well.¡± Chen Ge felt weirdly anxious. The person was too calm, and this reminded him of the author from before. ¡°Then, do you mind telling me where you are now? If you want to find someone to talk to, I can get over to you immediately.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s not enough time.¡± The man spoke very slowly. ¡°If you really want to help me, can you tell myndy that the payment for the utility bill is ced on top of my luggage?¡±

    ¡°Landy? Then how can I contact her?¡± Chen Ge listened to the man, and it sounded like he was leaving behind his will. He understood that thendy was the best opening that he had to find the man¡¯s location.

    ¡°She lives at the residential area that is to the left of Fairytale Theme Park. The sixth building and first floor.¡± The man sounded tired and weak like even speech was something that was very exhausting for him.

    ¡°Fairytale Theme Park?¡± The location of the park shed across Chen Ge¡¯s mind. It was located at the southern part of Jiujiang. It was a theme park that catered specifically for children, but it hadter been closed for some mysterious reason. ¡°Then, do you have her contact number? I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m unable to find her ce.¡±

    Chen Ge headed toward the exit of the building without wasting any time. He was ready to go to Southern Jiujiang personally to take a look. A human life was on the line, so he did not hang up and tried to extend the conversation. ¡°Listening to your voice, I feel like you¡¯re very sleepy. Did you not sleep wellst night?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve not had a good night¡¯s sleep in a very long time.¡± The manughed. ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but I can¡¯t seem to operate in the morning; however, at night, my mind starts to wander to strange ces. I toss and turn in bed, unable to fall asleep.¡±

    ¡°I understand your pain; I have trouble sleeping at night at well. I often spend the time wondering all over the city at night.¡± Chen Ge could share in his pain, and technically, he was telling the truth.

    The man seemed to have found a kindred spirit from Chen Ge¡¯s sincere words. ¡°Do you also suffer from insomnia?¡±

    ¡°Yes, my parents disappeared about six months ago, and even now, there have been zero leads. I spend my daily life in pain and anxiety. I can only rely on others to find some semnce offort for my heart.¡± At this point, Chen Ge¡¯s tone suddenly changed. ¡°But I will not give up. When I find them, I will loudly tell them the anger and worry that I have in my heart and then run forward into their arms.¡±

    ¡°I hope that you reunite with them soon.¡± The man¡¯s voice softened, but his condition sounded worse and worse like he could copse at any minute.

    ¡°Can you tell me your story? Just treat me as a stranger who is passing by.¡± Chen Ge realized that it was about time, so he tried to ask this question.

    ¡°My life is quite boring.¡± The man thought about it and replied with this answer.

    ¡°Life is boring and meaningless. The homework for everyone is to apply one¡¯s meaning to it so that life will not be so meaningless.¡± Chen Ge already ran out of the office, and he was running toward the park entrance.

    ¡°Perhaps. My birth was an ident; it was my father who raised me. He worked very hard and had a small sry. He was just like any random guy you see on the street, a very normal person.¡± The man¡¯s voice dwindled, but the speed of his words did not change much.

    ¡°I was a weak child from the moment I was born, and for that, I gave him plenty of trouble. It only got worse after I got into primary school. I was a stupid boy and couldn¡¯t do anything well. I was unable to focus in ss, and no one wanted to be my friend.¡±

    The man took in a deep breath before continuing. ¡°Initially, the teachers thought that I was just a silent boy, but in fact, I just don¡¯t like thepany of people. However, one day, the teacher called my father to the school, and they suggested that he take me to see a doctor.¡±

    ¡°See a doctor?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the analysis result was that I suffer from Nobita-Giant Syndrome. It¡¯s an interesting name, and when I heard it for the first time, I thought it was quite amusing.¡±

    The manughed, but Chen Ge could not hear any joy from it. Chen Ge also heard this illness for the first time. Giant and Nobita were characters from a certainic, were they not? ¡°What are the exact symptoms for this illness?¡±

    ¡°Other countries call this illness ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The Nobita represents attention deficit and is the symptom that I suffer from.

    ¡°At the time, I knew nothing of this illness. When I went back to school, the other students only knew that I was ill, but they did not really understand what kind of illness it was. Actually, when people want to iste you, anything is a good enough reason, and having a mental illness was the perfect excuse for them.¡±

    When the man said these things, he sounded so calm like he was unrted to the person that he was describing.

    ¡°After finishing high school, I stopped my education because I felt guilty toward my father. I found many jobs, but I always got fired due to my illness. I started to be afraid of people, and my sickness exacerbated. In the end, it escted to serious depression, and I was sent to an asylum to seek treatment. At the time, I was just over twenty. I was not only unable to help my poor father, but instead, I was like a leech, sucking him alive. With the many circumstances, I thought about it for a long time and eventually decided to leave.

    ¡°I uploaded everything that I want to tell my father online and set it as a dyed post.¡± The man took in a deep breath. ¡°If I had left behind everything that day, perhaps the tragedyter wouldn¡¯t have happened.¡±

    ¡°Do not have that thought! You¡¯ll only have hope if you¡¯re alive!¡± Chen Ge had already hopped into the taxi and told the driver to get to Southern Jiujiang as fast as possible.

    ¡°I was saved, but during mya, the words that I had set were released online. It was the first time that I received so much care and concern; I was overwhelmed. After I made my recovery, I went online to do some rification. I apologized to everyone for creating the trouble. Many peopleforted me, telling me that as long as I¡¯m fine, they did not mind the trouble, but I also saw many private messages.

    ¡°Why are you still alive?

    ¡°Why are you still here?

    ¡°I was nning to light a joss stick for you, so please die.

    ¡°Suicide via sleeping pills is not a good method. Listen to me, if you¡¯re really serious, you should try rat poison.

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you have died off silently?

    ¡°I was confused. I didn¡¯t know those people, so why did so many of them wish for me to die? Would my death bring them happiness?¡± The man¡¯s voice came and went.

    Even Chen Ge felt disgusted listening to thosements. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t let them have the satisfaction. The more they wish for you to die, the more you have to live a happy life. Live your life with a smile and show them that they¡¯re wrong!¡±

    The man on the other sideughed lightly. ¡°You¡¯re an interesting person. Honestly, I admit that I was conflicted for a period of time, but I saw the light after having a chat with my father. He did not care about my sickness and did not mind that I was slowing him down¡ªhe only wanted me to be alive, saying that I could always depend on him.

    ¡°At the time, I was twenty-two. My father¡¯s words gave me the biggest encouragement. I wasn¡¯t useless; I could make it. I cooperated fully with the treatment, and three monthster, I was discharged from the hospital.

    ¡°Father knew about my condition¡ªhe knew I would be nervous around people¡ªso he went around to find me a job that I did not need to interact with people. He had me pretend to be a giant cartoon character at a children¡¯s theme park.

    ¡°On my first day of work, a theme park worker brought me to the warehouse and told me to pick from the mountain of cartoon costumes.

    ¡°The Doraemon <sup>1</sup> costume caught my attention immediately. It had arge head, and inside it was a small fan. The main reason was because I was diagnosed with Nobita-Giant Syndrome, and I felt like Doraemon could always bring good luck to Nobita.

    ¡°After some simple training, I was sent to work. Every day, my job was to put on the Doraemon costume and y with the children that came to the theme park. I even had candies and little presents hidden inside my pocket to share with the children.

    ¡°I liked that feeling. Seeing the smiles on children¡¯s faces, I would smile involuntarily. Hiding inside the costume, I gained a sense of security. I stopped being afraid of people and even actively went to approach the visitors. I thought that the job was custom made for me. I told you, Doraemon would always bring Nobita good luck.

    ¡°I worked there for a long time. asionally, my father would silentlye to visit me. Actually, I knew it every time, and whenever he was around, I would be extra serious because I didn¡¯t want him to feel like his son is a useless person.¡±

    The man¡¯s voice was shaking. He yawned and yawned like he was very sleepy.

    ¡°When I was twenty-five, my father came to me. He told me he was proud of me. I had not been beaten down by life, and I was already much better than many other people.

    ¡°He believed that I had the courage to continue this life, and then he told me that this meant that he felt good enough to leave me and work elsewhere. His friend had introduced him quite a lucrative job. At the time, I didn¡¯t question anything. Every week, I would talk to him on the phone, but gradually, I realized that there were changes to his voice.

    ¡°One day, I asked for a day off from the theme park. I went to this ce and found his friend. However, the man said that he did not introduce my father to any job and that my father was not there. Returning home, I looked for a long time and finally found him at an old rented apartment.

    ¡°The ce reeked of Chinese medicine. He looked so thin and fragile. It was not until then that I knew he was suffering from leukemia. He had been silently fighting it. Since he had no money for treatment, he had to rely on traditional medicine. He found the excuse of going off to work because he did not want to worry me.

    ¡°My father eventually left. I felt like I was such a useless son. The sole reason that I powered on back then was to have my father enjoy a leisurely life, but I failed to do even that.¡±

    There was no emotion to the man¡¯s voice, but Chen Ge¡¯s heart did not feel so good.

    ¡°I understood my father would have wanted me to carry on, so I tried my best to survive. However, there was something missing. When I was twenty-seven, the theme park had to close down due to various reasons. I tried my best to hold onto everything, but ultimately, I was just a Nobita, not a Doraemon.

    ¡°Actually, the cartoon costume was very ufortable; it was very hot in the summer, and I had to wear anotheryer inside or else the fur would get stuck to the skin. However, once I had to take it off, I found myself missing it.

    ¡°Wearing it, I was Doraemon in the children¡¯s eyes. I had endless candies and presents in my multi-dimensional pocket, but after the costume was shed, I became nothing more than a Nobita.

    ¡°After so many years, I realized that I had not actually changed. Every day, I was fighting with myself, but I never really won. This year, I am thirty, and I don¡¯t want to be so tired anymore. I just want to sleep peacefully.¡±

    The man¡¯s voice became lower and lower until Chen Ge could not hear it anymore.

    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t fall asleep yet!¡± Chen Ge was worried that once the man fell asleep, he would not wake up anymore. The taxi drove on the highway¡ªChen Ge was still a distance away from the man.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t sleep! I¡¯ll be there in a minute!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice grew, but the response from the other side dwindled. It felt like the man really had fallen asleep. Chen Ge did not dare hang up, and he urged the driver to drive faster. Half an hourter, he finally reached the ce that the man had mentioned.

    Chen Ge ran into the building and knocked on thendy¡¯s door. After some time, the door finally opened.

    ¡°Hello! I¡¯m looking for a man, around thirty, is rather shy...¡± Chen Ge gave all the information that he had managed to get from the phone. However, he was only halfway through when the expression of the woman who opened the door dropped.

    ¡°Why are you looking for him?¡±

    ¡°Where is he now? His situation is very dangerous!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± The woman looked at Chen Ge strangely. ¡°The man is already dead. He found a cartoon costume and ran into the closed children¡¯s theme park alone. When the police found him, it was already toote.¡±

    ¡°When was this?¡± Chen Ge had not hung up¡ªthe phone was next to his ear.

    ¡°Several months ago. The man liked to be alone and had no friends. He left very suddenly. He didn¡¯t even pay his utility bill.¡± The woman took a step back and started to close the door.

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll go to theme park to take a look.¡± Chen Ge nodded, and he was reminded of something as he was about to turn. ¡°By the way, that utility bill, you can go and look through his luggage¡ªit should be there.¡±

    ¡°Luggage?¡± The woman¡¯s eyes on Chen Ge became even weirder. ¡°Who are you? What is your rtionship with him?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m his friend.¡± Chen Ge ran back out the corridor and toward the abandoned children¡¯s theme park.

 Chapter 558 - Staircase to Heaven

    <h4>Chapter 558: Staircase to Heaven</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The rusted door was tightly close. Chen Ge removed the sign that announced the park as closed and entered the abandoned children¡¯s theme park. The rainbow door that was peeling, the fountain with no water, and the merry-go-round that could not turn anymore... no one had stepped into this ce for a long time already. Chen Ge moved around and finally stopped at the entrance to the warehouse. Inside the room that smelled of mold and mildew was a Doraemon costume that was old and deserted.

    ¡°Hello? Are you still there?¡± Chen Ge had not hung up yet, but there had been no reply from the other end of the line. He walked into the warehouse and picked up the character costume. He held the costume¡¯s head in one arm. ¡°I¡¯ll look after the costume for you for now. Take a good rest¡ªyou deserve it. I will wake you up when the sun climbs over the horizon.¡±

    Chen Ge found arge bag in the warehouse and ced the costume inside it. When he was folding the costume, he discovered that there was a photograph ced inside the costume¡¯s pocket. It seemed to have been taken at the hospital. A very young father was captured talking with the doctor, and there was a young boy as thin as a stick hiding behind the young father.

    After putting away the photograph, when Chen Ge turned back to check the phone, he realized that the call had already ended.

    ¡°Forgot to ask for his name.¡± Chen Gebed through his mind, and he realized that neither the article online nor thendy had referred to the man by name. He appeared to exist only within the character costume. People only knew him as the Doraemon at the children¡¯s theme park who loved children a lot.

    Holding the phone, Chen Ge looked at the phone number. He had called the number twice, and he had been told two different life stories from two different victims.

    <i>What is the meaning of this phone number? Why would the victims call this number before they died? How do I find this baleful Specter that I¡¯ve won from the Wheel of Misfortune?</i>

    Chen Ge thought about it, but he found no answer. He decided to continue calling the number. He held therge bag with the character costume in one hand and used his other hand to call the mysterious number.

    <i>From the perspective of probability, the baleful Specter that I¡¯ve won this time should be more powerful than Ol¡¯ Zhou and Uncle Yan.</i>

    The dial tone rang for several seconds before the call was answered. With his previous two experiences in mind, Chen Ge directly asked, ¡°Hello, how can I help you?¡±

    The other side of the phone was very busy, and Chen Ge could hear the sound of trains passing by the tracks. After the sound of the trains disappeared, the phone became quiet again, and in the background, it sounded like children were reciting something.

    ¡°Hello?¡± Chen Ge held the bag as he exited the children¡¯s theme park. He called a taxi and told the driver to just leave the park for now. He would give him the exact addresster.

    The sound of howling wind came through the phone. He did not urge the other person¡ªhe waited patiently. After who knew how long, there was suddenly the sound of serious coughing.

    ¡°Are... are you okay? Are you sick?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice was soft and gentle, giving the listener some support and strength. ¡°Do you need any help from me?¡±

    ¡°Thank you, but I¡¯m fine.¡± The man¡¯s voice that replied sounded like he had a lump of coal in his throat. The voice was very harsh, and he would cough every time that he spoke.

    ¡°You don¡¯t sound so great. I advise you go back home and don¡¯t stay outside anymore, or you can tell me your current location and I¡¯ll bring you to the hospital.¡±

    For the previous two calls, Chen Ge had arrived at the scene after the phone call was ended. This time, he prepared to find the person on the other side of the line before the call ended.

    ¡°Thank you for your kindness, but there¡¯s no need for me to go to the hospital; there is no cure for my sickness.¡± The man regained his breath after coughing for a long time. He moved slowly forward, and the wind picked up. ¡°It¡¯s already toote.¡±

    ¡°Incurable illness?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve stayed at the hospital for a long time, but the illness is still the same. In fact, I feel like it¡¯s not a sickness but a part of my body.¡±

    Chen Ge was confused by the words that the man said. ¡°Brother, do you mind telling me what kind of illness this is?¡±

    ¡°Late stage lung cancer.¡±

    The man sounded like he was saying something ordinary, but Chen Ge¡¯s heart fell once he heard that. ¡°Then why are you outside alone? Where are your family members? I¡¯ll drive you home¡ªit¡¯s very windy out there.¡±

    ¡°It is indeed quite windy here.¡± The man kept coughing. He sounded very weak and fragile like he could copse at any moment. ¡°I escaped without my family¡¯s knowledge.¡±

    A patient withte stage lung cancer running out without his family¡¯s knowledge, Chen Ge was reminded of the two characters from his previous phone calls, and a very bad feeling arose in his heart. ¡°What you¡¯re doing is very dangerous. Can you please tell me where you are now? I will not interfere with whatever decision you might make¡ªI just want to apany you and go on a walk together. How does that sound?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, I can walk on my own. Actually, after I found out I have this lung cancer, I¡¯ve been wanting to go to a certain location.¡±

    ¡°What ce is this?¡±

    ¡°The ce is built on a very high location. To get there, one has to climb many steps.¡±

    ¡°You want to go to Jiujiang World Trade Center? Why do you want to go there?¡± Chen Ge rarely visited the city, but even he knew that the World Trade Center was the tallest building in Jiujiang, and standing at the roof, one could look over the entire Jiujiang.

    Realizing that, Chen Ge immediately gave the driver the signal to tell him to drive to Jiujiang World Trade Center.

    The man did not answer Chen Ge¡¯s question. He just kept on coughing. Even through the phone, Chen Ge felt ufortable and pained for the man.

    ¡°Brother, why don¡¯t you just stay where you are? I wille help you.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡± After another series of coughs, the man became silent. Then, he probably thought Chen Ge was a good person, so he added, ¡°You¡¯re very simr to my former attending physician, be it the way you speak or the way you do things. Or are you actually my attending doctor?¡±

    ¡°Attending doctor?¡± Chen Ge was serious considering whether to pretend to be this character so that he could have an easier time to get information from the man. He was familiar with how problematic this number was because all the victims had called this number before they died. If Chen Ge gave it further thought, thest person that all the victims would interact with could be a doctor, so this number might belong to a doctor.

    ¡°I hope you won¡¯t get offended; I¡¯m just making a casual guess.¡± The man did not have much of a sense of humor. Hisugh was awkward, but even so, Chen Ge could hear how much it pained him to evenugh.

    ¡°Brother, can you tell me your story? If you keep it to yourself for too long, it¡¯ll turn bad and fester within you. You¡¯ll feel better if you share it with someone.¡± Southern Jiujiang was not that far from the World Trade Center, so Chen Ge had confidence that he would be able to make it this time.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have that much of a storied background. I was just a normal person, but probably due to my smoking habit, I found out that I had lung cancerst year.¡± The man¡¯s voice was even. Other than the coughing, there was no change in his emotions.

    ¡°I went for three sessions at the cancer hospital and then went home to prepare to enjoy that period of time that I had happily. I wanted to enjoy it while itsts. I¡¯m not a coward, so I¡¯ve tried my best to fight it, but it¡¯s a very hard battle. I gave it my all and used my happiest memories to try to defeat it, but it has been trying to use fear and pain to counter.

    ¡°This war that took ce on my body was long and hard. I swore to never give up and never surrender, and it tried many different tactics to make me kneel before it. My breathing became difficult, and there was constant pain and aching all over my body. Other than that, there were also the fevers.

    ¡°My body weight kept dropping, and the ache eventually got so intense that I could barely move my limps. Every cough felt like my whole body was shaking, but I resisted the urge to take a painkiller.

    ¡°I¡¯m really not a coward.¡±

    This was the second time the man had stressed that.

    Chen Ge did not ask why. He merely nodded and replied, ¡°I understand.¡±

    The man seemed to sigh in relief. ¡°About one monthter, there was a swelling around my neck. The lymph node was bulging. You could feel it with your fingers. At the time, I thought that I was unable to breathe; it was abor just to drink water.

    ¡°After seeing the doctor, they said the constant bloody coughs caused the throat to expand, and that led to the swelling of lymph nodes. The consequence of that is that the intestine was affected.

    ¡°Before I could beat the previous enemy, a new adversary arrived. However, I still would not admit defeat.¡±

    The man was a stubborn man, just like how he kept insisting to Chen Ge, who was a stranger, that he was not a coward.

    The wind grew to such a scale where the sound of children¡¯s recitation could not be heard anymore. The man was still moving.

    ¡°Brother, can you please tell me where you are now? How about Ie get you?¡± Chen Ge was honestly quite worried about the man. He hoped that if he rushed over at that moment, he would be able to change something, as insignificant as that change might be.

    ¡°I¡¯m climbing a long flight of stairs.¡± The man wanted to say that with augh, but whenever he opened his lips, he could not stop the cough from happening.

    ¡°You¡¯re on the stairs?¡± Chen Ge heard the howling wind that wasing true, and he felt like something was wrong. Stairs that were on the outside of the building? Could he have gone up to the roof? Was he at the top of the World Trade Building?

    Chen Ge had been to Jiujiang World Trade Building before; the ce did not have an exterior staircase. It was then that he realized that he might not be heading to the right ce.

    ¡°I¡¯m stepping on the stairs, going toward my destination with one step after another. I should be able to reach the ce soon.¡±

    When the man spoke, the sensation of pain was obvious, and every cough was a torment for the man.

    Chen Ge told the rather impatient driver to stop and park the taxi by the sidewalk. He held his phone and started to study the man¡¯s words, start from the beginning.

    <i>Stairs, the destination is at somewhere high...</i>

    In the man¡¯s voice, Chen Ge could hear the pain, both conspicuous and inconspicuous. The man kept stressing that he was not a coward, and he did not avoid the horrendous fight with his illness. Why would someone like that escape from home without his family¡¯s knowledge?

    <i>He is already so physically weak, so why does he insist on going somewhere high?</i>

    Chen Ge listened closely. The man¡¯s body was failing him, but his steps were even and slow; it did not sound like he was climbing any steps.

    <i>A staircase that is built on the ground... is there a ce like that?</i>

    When Chen Ge was thinking, something shed across his mind. When the call was first connected, he had caught the sound of a train!

    The train tracks!

    There were wooden boards at constant intervals on the train tracks, and in a way, that could be described as a staircase that wasid t on the ground. If seen from this perspective, the man was not really heading to the World Trade Center.

    He was seeking death!

    The end of this staircase was death, the ce where all his pain and misery would end.

    It was because he had given up that he kept insisting to Chen Ge, a veritable stranger, that he was not a coward. Realizing that, Chen Ge started to search online.

    Earlier, he had also heard the sound of children reciting poetry. There were two traditional Chinese schools in Jiujiang, and one of them was situated right next to a train track.

    Chen Ge told the driver to take him there. After doing all that, he tried his best to console the man, to try to buy as much time as he could.

 Chapter 559 - Do You Need a Reason to Save Someone?

    <h4>Chapter 559: Do You Need a Reason to Save Someone?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Before illness, man will appear very small¡ªthat is something that I havee to understand recently.¡±

    The man kept coughing. It seemed his body could not carry on any longer. ¡°Before this, I was an easily-angered individual, but the illness has slowly worn my edges away. After my battle with it, I¡¯ve realized how fragile humans are.¡±

    ¡°Please stop walking. Why don¡¯t you stop and rest? I¡¯ll arrive at Jiujiang World Trade Center soon. If you have anything to share, why don¡¯t we do that in person?¡± Chen Ge lied about his location. He signaled at the driver to tell him to drive faster. ording to the inte search, the school that was next to the train track was close to Southern Jiujiang, not far from where he was.

    ¡°I stopped moving a long time ago. It¡¯s time to continue moving forward.¡± The man¡¯s voice was shaking. The pain from his cough was hard to describe. ¡°I know that you¡¯re only thinking about me, but I want to go and see other scenarios, and that is why I am heading to this very tall ce.¡±

    Chen Ge did not know how tofort the man. After all, he was not a professional therapist.

    ¡°If you die, you¡¯ll lose everything. Calm down first. Think about the unfinished business that you have in your memory, think about the people that care about you¡ªthey¡¯re still waiting for you. Every second that you¡¯ve spent with them is an important, treasured memory for them.¡± Chen Ge spoke fast. He was feeling the pressure and kept waving his hand at the driver.

    The driver was a clever person. He knew the severity of the situation from the words that came from Chen Ge¡¯s mouth, so he drove faster. They passed the entrance to the children¡¯s theme park and headed toward Southern Jiujiang¡¯s countryside.

    Eastern Jiujiang was thergest district, and Southern Jiujiang was the smallest, so it had a very good public transport system. The man¡¯s voice continued. He seemed to treat Chen Ge as hisst listener and told Chen Ge many things about himself.

    The taxi raced on the road. The buildings on the side became smaller, and the number of pedestrians decreased. Sitting inside the car, Chen Ge talked to the man on the phone while he kept his eyes on the road andpared the map to look for the traditional Chinese school.

    The coughing of the man on the phone became more drastic, sounding very much like he was going to cough his lungs out. This was not an exaggeration. Just from the sound alone, Chen Ge could tell how much pain the man was in.

    ¡°Hang in there! I¡¯ll be there in a minute!¡± Chen Ge was agitated. The sound that came from the phone was so real that he believed that there was still a chance to salvage the situation.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯m used to it.¡± The man said that after a long silence. His voice was mixed with a type of release, unwillingness, and freedom. He tried to exin himself clearly even though it would injure his swollen neck and throat. ¡°I¡¯m already very happy that you¡¯re willing to talk to me for so long. Go back home. I¡¯m not where I told you I am. You don¡¯t need toe to see me. I can walk the rest of the distance on my own.¡±

    The wind grew, and Chen Ge held his breath. He was afraid of hearing the sound of the train. When the sound arrived, most likely, the man would have reached his destination.

    Several minutester, the driver reached the ce. There was a nicely-preserved building at the end of the street¡ªit was the old home for a schr at Jiujiang, and the school was next to this building. The driver did not interrupt Chen Ge¡¯s conversation with the man. After he parked the car, he pointed outside the window and then at the meter.

    Chen Ge was in a hurry to find the man. He grabbed some random notes from his pocket and tossed them to the driver. Following which, he pushed the door open, grabbed his backpack, and jumped out.

    On the other end, the man¡¯s consciousness was gging. He could barely finish a whole sentence, and his sense of logic was fraying.

    ¡°You have not finished your story. Earlier you were telling me about how you met your wife. What happened then?¡± Chen Ge did not dare let the man stop talking and tried to make the man continue the conversation. Not far from the street were the train tracks. The tracks were shielded on both sides by rails. However, part of the rails had been taken down. Most likely, the local citizens had taken them down for the sake of convenience.

    <i>Where is the man?</i>

    This was the ce thatbined the sound of train and the sound of children recitation. The phone call was still ongoing, so Chen Ge did not dare make too much noise. He ran down the rails, and the wind cut through his ears. In the dark, the train tracks were like a staircase that led to another world. They had no end, reaching into the dark.

    ¡°This staircase will not lead you to heaven...¡± He had no idea when the next train would arrive. The only thing that Chen Ge could do was find the man and then get him to safety. Chen Ge had no idea whether he was doing the right or wrong thing, but he wanted to try his best to make the man reconsider.

    With one hand on the phone and the other holding the bag, Chen Ge ran down the side of the tracks alone. ¡°Calm down, you have to calm down!¡±

    Chen Ge had been unable to rescue the previous two victims, but he was not going to fail this time. The coughing began anew. The man¡¯s physical condition seemed to have reached its limit. He stopped moving.

    ¡°I¡¯m about to reach that ce already,¡± the man¡¯s voice said. ¡°If there¡¯s any regret, I should have spent more time with them.¡±

    When the man spoke, Chen Ge¡¯s pupils narrowed. Using Yin Yang Vision, he saw a human shadow quite a distance away. The man was sitting in the middle of the train tracks, and before him extended the tracks that cut right into the darkness.

    <i>Is that him?</i>

    Chen Ge ran toward the man, and gradually, there was lighting through the darkness. The wind picked up, and the man said, ¡°I can already see the destination that I¡¯m heading toward. It¡¯s bright, a light that is slowly approaching...¡±

    ¡°Quick! Get away from there!¡± Chen Ge knew what that light was¡ªthe train wasing! He dropped the bag and charged toward the shadow. Through the phone, the sound of the train grew as Chen Ge got closer and closer to the shadow. He ignored everything else¡ªthere was only one thought in his mind then, which was to pull the shadow away.

    Chen Ge saw the approaching train. He bit on his lips until they bled, but he forced himself to continue moving forward. If there was a third person, it would have looked like Chen Ge was actively running toward the iing train.

    ¡°Get out of the way!¡± In the blink of an eyes, Chen Ge had reached the ck shadow. Before the train came, he reached out toward the shadow. His palm was touched by a chill. Before he could understand what that meant, Chen Ge grabbed the thing, and they both rolled away from the tracks.

    The train flew past them, just a few seconds after they had been on the tracks. His whole body was soaked by cold sweat. Even when facing a Red Specter, Chen Ge had never been this afraid. The wheels of the train trundled over the tracks. The sound was heavy. Chen Ge only sighed in relief after the train left.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± He quickly looked toward the ck shadow that he had grabbed earlier. When he lifted his head, he realized that the ck shadow was standing on the other side of the tracks, keeping his distance from Chen Ge.

    ¡°Why would you save me?¡± The voice made by the shadow was simr to the one on the phone.

    ¡°Do you need a reason to save someone?¡± Chen Ge retorted. He ended the call and walked toward the shadow. As he approached, the facial features of the shadow became clearer. Blood soaked out from his skin to slowly dye his shirt red.

 Chapter 560 - Suicide Prevention Hotline Operator

    <h4>Chapter 560: Suicide Prevention Hotline Operator</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The atmosphere froze, and Chen Ge stopped where he was. The train tracks separated the man and the shadow into different sides. Facing normal lingering spirits or ghosts, Chen Ge was already not afraid, but there was still pressure when facing a Red Specter. To save the man, he had abandoned the bag with the Doraemon costume and his backpack. This meant that he was defenseless.

    Chen Ge was unsettled as his hand tried to grab something. The night was like a cover smothering the moonlight and stars. The changes to the ck shadow were continuing. The weakened body slowly straightened itself. The lines on the edge of the eyes were smoothed out, and blood leaked out from the forehead. It painted a strange pattern on the face, which looked like a birthmark or a red tattoo.

    Chen Ge stood across from the man. He looked at the man and did not dare wander too close.

    <i>A birthmark?</i>

    This was the first time that Chen Ge had seen a ghost like this. The blood would form a pattern on the face. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the thing that looked like birthmark seemed to be formed from innumerable human faces. They dominated half of the man¡¯s face. In other words, one half of the man¡¯s face was his own, and the other half kept shifting.

    <i>This presence is even more powerful than Xu Yin¡¯s. No wonder it¡¯s a Red Specter that¡¯s only weaker than Zhang Ya.</i>

    Chen Ge swallowed and looked behind him. The backpack was dropped at quite a distance away. It would be toote for him to run for it.

    Standing there, Chen Ge told himself to calm down. As if he was unable to see the changes that were happening before him, he used a natural tone to ask, ¡°Are you the one who has been on the phone with me tonight?¡±

    The man looked very smart. In fact, he could be described as pretty. His eyes were not big, but there was a wealth of knowledge inside it. They were like tidepools that could pull you in if you looked at them for too long. It was truly the first time that Chen Ge hade across such a Red Specter. The feeling that he got from the Specter was very weird. There was no cruelty and viciousness that he sensed from a normal Red Specter¡ªit was a feeling that he could not describe, like the silence and chill of a moon on a cold night.

    ¡°I¡¯m here to help you.¡± Chen Ge did not know what to say. He had no idea how powerful the Red Specter was, so he did not dare act recklessly. The two looked at each other for a long time, and the strange man spoke for the first time.

    ¡°These people¡¯s life and death have nothing to do with you. Why would you try so hard to save their lives?¡±

    ¡°Why are you still hung up on that question? I¡¯m not a saint, but if I happen across someone that needs my help, then naturally, I have to help them to the best of my ability,¡± Chen Ge said sincerely. ¡°Even if I know they will seek death after my intervention, at least I¡¯ve tried to help them gain one chance to reconsider.¡±

    It was unclear which of Chen Ge¡¯s words had touched the man. The blood on his face stopped flowing, and his expression softened. He looked down the train track that led into the darkness and sighed. ¡°If I was half as clever as you are, perhaps he would not have died.¡±

    ¡°He? Who would not have died?¡± Chen Ge was confused. ¡°What do you mean? I ran into these victims after calling a number. Have you called that number before, or is that your number?¡±

    The reward that he had gotten from the ck phone was the Phone Number That Is Kissed by the Dead. Every victim called this number before they died. Chen Ge was worried because he had called that number many times tonight.

    The man heard Chen Ge, and he pulled his gaze back. He was on the thin side, and his skin was pale. He looked gentle and weak, but half of his face was covered with the scary-looking blood tattoo, creating a strange contradiction. However, strangely enough, this contradiction felt fitting for the man. The man did not answer Chen Ge¡¯s question. He stood on the other side of the track and looked down a different direction.

    ¡°Did you notice a simrity about these people?¡±

    ¡°Simrity?¡± Chen Ge thought about it. ¡°Every one of them met something tragic when they were still alive. They could see no escape, so in the end, they chose to leave the world their own way.¡±

    ¡°Then do you know why they would call that number before they bade farewell to this world?¡± The man¡¯s voice was emotionless. It was unclear whether the man was naturally devoid of emotion or had lost all hope. Chen Ge hade up with a lot of different theories since he obtained this number, but he had vetoed them all. The purpose of this number was merely tomunicate with the victims, to hear their story.

    It was not evil and did not mean the victims any harm. Shaking his head, Chen Ge had a guess in his heart, but he did not voice it.

    The man seemed to expect that. He stood beside the track and went down memoryne. His face twitched with pain and self-recrimination, but the most powerful emotion was confusion. ¡°When I was still a student, I saw a ssmatemit suicide. At the time, I was standing at the window, and he was standing at the roof of the opposite building.

    ¡°I waved at him and smiled, but he did not reply¡ªhe looked like he was possessed. I felt that something bad was about to happen, so I called his name loudly. Yet, in the end, I failed to save him.

    ¡°That was my first encounter with death. It happened right before me, just less than ten meters away.

    ¡°People say that those who study psychiatry either want to treat themselves or they¡¯re saints who want to treat other. I believe that I¡¯m the former.¡±

    Hearing that, Chen Ge blurted out, ¡°So, you¡¯re a psychiatrist?¡±

    He actually did not want to interrupt the man, but he had seen so many doctorstely, like Doctor Gao and Doctor Chen. Both of them were top doctors of their field, but they had failed to cure themselves, instead dropping deeper and deeper into the abyss. This exined Chen Ge¡¯s caution around this particr profession.

    ¡°I am in the counselling field, but I¡¯m not an actual doctor. Have you heard of an upation called suicide prevention hotline operator?¡±

    ¡°Suicide prevention hotline operator? Can you tell me the actual job scope?¡±

    The man was a Red Specter, but he couldmunicate freely with Chen Ge. This type of Red Specter was often exceptionally brilliant but physically weak, like Men Nan.

    Chen Ge had more experience dealing with such Red Specter. He needed tomunicate with them using reason and empathy.

    Chen Ge called Zhang Ya¡¯s name silently. In front of an unknown Red Specter, he did not dare act too confidently. If the situation changed, then he would adopt a different strategy.

 Chapter 561 - Fourth

    <h4>Chapter 561: Fourth</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Zhang Ya...</i>

    Silently calling her name, Chen Ge was slightly unsettled because he got no response. He turned to look behind him. The night was so dark that he could not see his own shadow.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± The man noticed Chen Ge¡¯s strange action, and hemented in a low voice, ¡°You don¡¯t look so good.¡±

    ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve heard about a suicide prevention hotline operator. What do you do daily?¡± Chen Ge did not lose his footing. He immediately adjusted his emotions and led the topic away.

    ¡°There are more than a million people who die from suicide annually. This number far exceeds homicide, but this topic is seldom brought up due to taboo and shame. Actually, we should tackle it head on. When someone shows any suicidal tendencies, we should help and cure them, not iste and me them simply because we cannot understand them.

    ¡°No one is dumb enough to make light of their own life. When one is really pushed to that state, only they can understand the pain that they¡¯re experiencing.¡± The man seemed to be reminded of something and looked into the horizon. ¡°I was a suicide prevention hotline operator. Every day, I reached out toward those who were walking into the abyss. My wish was to tell them that there are people who are willing to help them in the world. I could not pull them back from the abyss, but the least I could do was to share with them the beauty of this world.¡±

    ¡°That number is for a suicide prevention hotline?¡± Chen Ge nodded. ¡°No wonder the tone of the people who talked to me was so weird.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re not weird. If you experienced the same thing as them, then perhaps you might be simr to them.¡± The man turned around to look at Chen Ge. ¡°Actually, those who have the firm desire to die will not call our number. Those who would call it have a love for this world buried deep in their heart. Their difference, their uniqueness, is actually a manifestation of them asking for help.¡±

    ¡°Asking for help?¡±

    ¡°Yes, suicide is not a spur of the moment thing. The reason will be buried in their heart since a long time ago. Then suddenly, one day, due to a certain trigger, in that instant, the person will be overwhelmed by negative emotions. Many suicides are premeditated, but people around them rarely notice it. If they paid a little bit more attention and made some changes, so many lives could be changed.¡±

    The blood on the man¡¯s shirt was slowly fading. Even the tattoo on his face was lightening. This was the first time that Chen Ge had happened across something like that. The Red Specters that he had met before, no matter what happened, the blood on their appearance would barely change. The Red Specter before him seemed to be very different.

    The man did not mind Chen Ge¡¯s eyes on him. He probably just wanted to find someone to talk to. ¡°I¡¯ve heard many reasons for suicide. A factory owner owed too much money after he tried to keep his factory running. At thest moment of his life, he did not have the courage to go home to face his family. When I epted the call, the man who was around fifty kept on crying. His only wish was to see his children, but he couldn¡¯t do that. There were many simr situations. Whenever it was midnight, humanity would be incredibly fragile. Midnight to 3 am is the time when we would be the busiest. That is also when I failed to save someone for the first time.¡±

    With the track between them, Chen Ge and the man had not moved from their positions.

    ¡°Do you still remember the first number that you called?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°The author once called me when he was still alive. I could hear the madness in his voice, but I had underestimated his resolution. I thought that he just wanted to share his story with someone because he sounded so calm, and I could not hear anything strange during our conversation¡ªhe just sounded a little bit down.¡± When the man spoke, the blood tattoo on his face slowly shifted to be the face of another person.

    ¡°I remember it clearly. That was my first failed intervention. Even now, I can recite word for word our conversation that night.¡± The man¡¯s voice was pained. ¡°I read about him the next morning in the newspaper. I was swamped by regret. He had handed me hisst hope, but I had ignored him. I was responsible for creating that tragedy.

    ¡°From then on, I would be extra careful when I talked to people, but the situation did not turn for the better.

    ¡°One month after that, I failed again. It was the man¡¯s thirtieth birthday. He purposely chose that day and wore his work outfit to bid farewell to the world at the ce that was most meaningful to him.¡± The man should be talking about the patient with Nobita-Giant Syndrome.

    ¡°A living man¡¯s life disappeared before my eyes, and I didn¡¯t stop it.¡± The blood tattoo changed again. Chen Ge realized that whenever he talked about someone, the tattoo on his face would change. From his experience dealing with Specters, the lingering spirits of those who hadmitted suicide had probably entered the man¡¯s body. In other words, the man was shouldering the pressure of all the lingering spirits alone.

    ¡°My third failure happened the next day. I was nning to personally visit the previous victim.¡± For the first time, the man¡¯s tone changed. ¡°He was really a very kind person. I once asked him what his wish was. The answer that he gave me was that he was worried that thendy might not be able to rent the ce if he died there, so he purposely sought somece else. He had left the utility fee on his luggage, but he had no friends, so he hoped that I would help him inform thendy and pass the money to her.

    ¡°I had a long chat with him that night until he fell asleep. I should have called the police, but I had no idea where he was.

    ¡°Before this incident ended, I had another caller. He suffered from cancer and was ravaged by illness. Different from other callers, he called me in the morning. He had nned this for a long time.¡± The man turned to look at Chen Ge. ¡°My job is to pull one from the depths of despair, but that day, I did not do something like that. Perhaps it was the pressure, or maybe it was the multiple failures, but that day, I did not talk him away from suicide but chose to respect his choice.¡±

    Whenever the man mentioned the victim, the blood tattoo on his face would change.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t do the job that I was supposed to, but have I done something wrong?¡± The man¡¯s emotions were running wild. ¡°All the calls that we received at the center were recorded, and it was no different for that call. I have no idea what happenedter, but not long after his incident, thest conversation that he had with me on the phone was revealed to the public.¡±

 Chapter 562 - Unique Red Spectre

    <h4>Chapter 562: Unique Red Spectre</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°After that, the first person who found me was my teacher. It was 5 am, and I was resting in the breakroom with my jacket wrapped around me. I heard the door open, but I was too drowsy to care.

    ¡°When I opened my eyes at noon, I saw my teacher sitting at the table inside the room. He was reading Menninger¡¯s Man Against Himself, a book with a focus on suicide psychology.

    ¡°Sun filtered into the room. At the time, I had no idea what happened outside¡ªI just thought that my teacher was acting strangely. He was the most experienced counsellor at our office. He was the one who taught me everything, so even though I was no longer under his tutge, I still referred to him as my teacher.¡±

    From the man¡¯s voice, Chen Ge realized that he respected his teacher a lot.

    ¡°Your teacher told you everything? What were his thoughts?¡± Chen Ge was curious. He even wanted to be friends with the Red Specter, and for that, he needed to understand his personality and his wishes. Only then would the man willingly work for him.

    ¡°He didn¡¯t tell me anything rted to the news¡ªhe only asked me one question.¡± The man looked at the darkened night. ¡°If one day, he was standing at the edge of the building, what would I do to talk him off the ledge?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d never considered that question before. In my eyes, my teacher was a very powerful person in terms of his faith. This scenario would never happen in my mind, but I still shared my real thoughts with him. If that day really did happen, I would use everything that he had taught me on him and try my best to save him. If I failed, then I would choose to respect his decision.

    ¡°I had never thought how saintly my job was; I just knew how important it was. It was no different from the doctors in an emergency room. I give it my all to save the patients, but simrly, I would respect their wishes.¡±

    As the man spoke, his voice lowered.

    ¡°After he heard me say that, he smiled satisfactorily. Just like an old friend, he sat next to me and told me one thing.

    ¡°He said that I was a good student, the student he was most proud of in fact, but I was not a qualified suicide prevention hotline operator.

    ¡°My teacher saw the imbnce in my emotions, so he told me to go for a walk to clear my mind. A suicide prevention hotline operator is a very unique job. Aside from the prank calls, everyone would receive around twenty mildly-dangerous calls and one to five emergency calls every night. With the continuous calls, the operator themselves would be affected. They would cry on the phone with the callers. Whenever that happened, you had to tell yourself to calm down and try to detach yourself from the situation and help them from an outsider¡¯s perspective.

    ¡°A person¡¯s body is like a balloon filled with water. Good and bad emotions fill up the balloon. If one can¡¯t make the adjustments, when the balloon bursts, that is when a person faces a mental breakdown.

    ¡°As a suicide prevention hotline operator, the brain is soaked in tears and pain every night. Most leave the job after a certain period of time, so initially, I didn¡¯t get what my teacher was trying to say.

    ¡°When I tried to ask for rification, my teacher patted my shoulders and left, but he left behind the book that he was reading. Later, after I found out that my phone conversation had been released online and became the first operator that convinced my caller to kill themselves, many people came at me with horrible words. However, at the time, I was very calm. No matter what others said, it had nothing to do with me¡ªI only cared about right or wrong.

    ¡°From a certain perspective, I was a very dumb person. I would cry due to the callers¡¯ stories and would talk to these strangers until dawn. I would cry with them and evenugh with them. I understood their pain. I never saw myself as a savior; I merely treated them as my friends.¡±

    The man¡¯s eyes were clouded when he said those things, but soon, they were reced by red, and blood leaked out from his skin. ¡°Before that ended, something else happened.

    ¡°When you stop a person hellbent on dying, even if you¡¯re sessful one time, they might use a more drastic method next time.

    ¡°To prevent that from happening, we asionally allow them to try it within an eptable range. For example, if there was an ambnce, safety cushion, and a rtively-small building, we would not forcibly pull one away from the edge.

    ¡°I know this might be hard to stomach, but think of it from a different perspective¡ªempathy is a hard to practice effort. Even biological parents have a hard time doing that. Prevention that is too harsh will only need to a negative effect¡ªthat is something that shows that you do not understand the person¡¯s pain.

    ¡°Allowing them to try is a type of respect, a respect that they can feel for real.¡±

    Hearing that, Chen Ge had a bad feeling. ¡°Have you really done that before?¡±

    ¡°During one of our missions, I did something simr. Actually, it is not as scary as you think. We are merely allowing it within a controlled situation. To give you another example, one of my callers wanted to die from a sleeping pills overdose. His emotions were very unstable, and we were unable tomunicate. At the time, I tried to negotiate with the police and found sleeping pills with a very low dosage for him to try. After experiencing death once, he had a big change and started to love life again.

    ¡°I have many sessful results, but these methods appear like it has vited our responsibility. After the recording was exposed, these methods attracted a lot of criticism. I was trying my best to save people, but people pinned me as a murderer.

    ¡°I started to think. My teacher came to talk to me, and many friends consoled me. However, the key was not me but whether it was right or wrong.¡±

    The man did not look much older than Chen Ge, but he sounded far more worldly than Chen Ge. He looked at the dark night and was silent for a long time. The expression on his face turned ugly, but it slowly returned to normal before he smiled a faithless smile.

    ¡°Perhaps I am not a qualified suicide prevention hotline operator, but those that I once helped really did treat me as thest friend that they could trust at the end of their lives.¡± The man¡¯s shirt waspletely dyed red, and the tattoo on his face kept changing. ¡°This is something I understood after my death¡ªthere was so much hope that was ced on me.¡±

 Chapter 563 - A Ghost with Shadow

    <h4>Chapter 563: A Ghost with Shadow</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    A faded light cut through the night, but neither Chen Ge nor the man turned to look at it.

    ¡°They have ced their hope on you?¡± Chen Ge could understand to a certain degree why the man turned into a Red Specter. His own resentment was not that strong, but he had interacted with many patients when he was alive, and the key part was that those dead patients had treated him as the sole person that they could talk to.

    All their negative emotions, all their sad past, all their regrets that could no longer be fulfilled, the patients poured all these things into the operator, and he kept them locked up in his heart. A qualified operator would know how to adjust the emotions in his heart. They would be able to keep their distance from the patients and would know how to siphon out the negative emotions that they got from their work. They would engage the callers when they were on the phone, but once the call ended, they would toss the case out of their mind.

    However, the man on the other side of the track was different. He had been deeply influenced by his callers. Like Chen Ge, he had ced himself in their shoes and tried his best to empathize with them, to connect with them. When he was standing at the edge of the abyss to help his patients, he had slowly been pulled into it with them.

    There was a limit to a person¡¯s ability to ept pressure. Even for professional counselors, they would have some inner problems after working at their post for too long. The man had failed to adjust his conditions after every case and then a new case would arrive. He had reached out to grab those victims, but he did not realize that his own body was slowly being pulled down into the abyss with them.

    The man¡¯s teacher had noted the problem, so he had told the man to go for a rest, but in the end, the result proved that he had failed to follow his teacher¡¯s instructions. He had be one of his patients; a suicide prevention operator chose tomit suicide.

    ¡°Why would you do that? Death will not solve any problem.¡± Chen Ge tried to console the man, but considering the man¡¯s job, he had a surreal feeling.

    ¡°I¡¯ve considered everything that you¡¯ve said before. After all, I¡¯m the expert in this field.¡± The man¡¯s body was covered with blood. He was different from other Red Specters. He turned to look at the light from the distance; he seemed to like brightness and light.

    ¡°There are several major reasons someonemits suicide. One is because the person¡¯s understanding of their environment and world has be twisted. They use a gray view to look at the world and believe life is a painful ordeal. My death is not this kind.

    ¡°Next is when someone feels overwhelmed by guilt due to a certain incident, and they cannot see themselves out of it. Obviously, my death is not this kind either.

    ¡°The third is for the sake of revenge. They want to use their death to make other people feel regret. This doesn¡¯t match my situation either.

    ¡°There are more than ten reasons to the cause of suicide if we¡¯re being really detailed. However, I don¡¯t belong to any one of them. In a way, I¡¯m a unique suicide victim.

    ¡°Actually, I tried to convince myself. I reminded myself that I¡¯ve saved so many people, but when I was trying to save myself, I realized how weaknguage really is.

    ¡°The author, the worker at the park, the cancer patient, each of them represent a different personality, a different attitude toward life. I felt sorry for their loss, and I hated myself for how powerless I was. I really wished they had another chance to live!

    ¡°I tried my best to exin, to persuade myself, but after hearing what they had to say, I understood that they had their own reason to leave. Sometimes, I envy the doctors because they only need to prescribe medicine to save their patients. But it¡¯s different for us. Even though I know death is a type of release, a type of medicine, I can never prescribe them that.

    ¡°When the people on the inte attacked me, I exined my thoughts. It was a public execution, just without the blood.¡± The man¡¯s eyes were calm. ¡°Many people said that I am sick, that I¡¯ve lost my mind. I¡¯m an executioner, and I¡¯ve killed so many people, but in reality, I was just trying to help them.¡±

    The light came closer and closer. The man stood next to the track and had no intention of evading.

    ¡°Those who have not witnessed death will never understand their pain. So, who gave them the right to point their fingers at us? Who allowed them to have the moral high ground?¡±

    As the light got closer, the man spoke faster. Blood leaked out from his forehead to dye his uneven face red. ¡°When I stood up from the pool of blood, I understood. Those lives that were unlivable, lives that were nothing but despair, channeled into my body. I finally understood them, understood why they would make this ridiculous choice.¡±

    The man¡¯s eyes were red. The calmness left his face, and his voice became more and more crazed.

    ¡°I tried everything to cure them. Perhaps I could find a way to make them feel love and make them give love and even ept love, but I could not change the love, or theck thereof, in their surroundings. This is why many people continue to repeat the action after they are stopped for the first time. This is because their living environment has not changed. The bullied be easy targets, and the taboo makes them even more isted. The group of people who really could save them did not include me, a meager hotline operator¡ªit was the people around them.

    ¡°After you get to know most of them, you¡¯ll realize, the real evil is the people around them. They used their power to decolorize the world of these people¡ªthey are the real murderers!

    ¡°Even when they died, those who killed them would never show a trace of sadness, but those who loved them would feel more pain.

    ¡°Is that fair?¡±

    The man looked at the approaching train, and he slowly raised both of his arms.

    ¡°I understood these things after my death. Actually, many victims have regrets, but they have no chance to redo their lives. They could only channel theirst wishes into me, to ask me to seek justice for them.¡±

    ¡°Justice? What do you n to do?¡± At that moment, Chen Ge felt intense murderous intent from the man. After experiencing so many things, the man waspletely corrupted.

    ¡°To punish those who would only demand love but would never give love. I need to clean up the trash so that kind people will not suffer pain anymore.¡±

    The way the man said that made it sound like he was going after not one but many people. Compared to other Red Specters, this man¡¯s cruelty and madness was hidden deep inside his heart.

    ¡°Calm down first. I feel like there is a better way.¡± Chen Ge took a step back and called Zhang Ya¡¯s name in his heart.

    ¡°This is not my decision alone¡ªit¡¯s everyone¡¯s wish.¡± The blood boiled, and the train lit up the stretch of the tracks. When the light shone, Chen Ge could see the many ck shadows that crowded up the space behind the man.

 Chapter 564 - Live Life with Kindness, Happiness, and Honesty

    <h4>Chapter 564: Live Life with Kindness, Happiness, and Honesty [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Can you hear their voices? They are telling me their stories and pain. Even though their bodies have perished, their lingering spirits have remained.¡± The man slowly opened his arms, and the changing side of his face slowly settled down to be his own face.

    He looked at Chen Ge. ¡°I once personally witnessed something like this. The girl was standing at the edge of the roof. The firemen tried their best to talk her back from the edge, but the passersby who were gathered were cheering for her. They saw her death as a type of entertainment. I know it¡¯s not appropriate to say that, but that is the truth. They took out their phones to take pictures and urged her to jump. Then they would record everything¡ªthey might even share it online and couple it with an emotional response.

    ¡°These people are not an exception. It¡¯s because of their existence that so many people that should not have died were forced to the edge of despair.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the man on the opposite side of the track. He understood the man to a certain degree, but it did not mean that he agreed with him fully. ¡°Friend, I understand that there are many terrible things and people in the world¡ªthey are all around us¡ªbut other than them, there are still many more beautiful things in the world. The mix of good and bad forms the foundation of our lives. I think that your teacher has quite a good point¡ªyou are someone who sincerely ced himself in the shoes of your patients and are a good man, but you are not suitable to be a suicide prevention hotline operator.

    ¡°You said it yourself, you hope to change people into someone who can absorb and release love, but you did not realize that you have been subconsciously and slowly influenced by your callers. Your world was slowly corrupted by these terrible things, and all you can see are those ugly and disgusting things.

    ¡°Actually, the world hasn¡¯t changed; it has always been like that. The thing that has changed is you.¡±

    The Red Specter on the other side was a kind-hearted man. This was also the first time that Chen Ge had seen a pure and kind person be a Red Specter after their death. This went against his previous experience with Red Specters. They were normally formed from a collection of negative emotions, desperation and despair.

    The man had be a Red Specter not because of extreme hate or extreme love, and not because of negative emotions or resentment, but because of kindness. A normal person needed to shoulder the painful pasts of many suicide victims¡ªthat was impossible in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, but the man before him had managed to do that. From a certain perspective, this Red Specter might have greater potential than Zhang Ya, but the man did not seem to know how to utilize it.

    The man did not expect Chen Ge to counter his perspective. He looked at Chen Ge straight in his eyes. There was a unique type of emotion turning in his eyes. His calmness was shattered, and he appeared rather agitated. ¡°Do you know why I told you these things, why I chose to share them with you?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Chen Ge had not expected to convince the man with just a few words. He knew that a person¡¯s way of thinking was not going to be so easily changed. He simply thought that the man must be so tired of shouldering all that pain. Be it when he was alive or after death, perhaps he could try to find a different way of living.

    ¡°The phone number that you¡¯ve saved in your phone, that was my operator number. The people that you¡¯ve called and talked to, those are the victims that I failed to rescue.¡± The man¡¯s tone and expression became weirder and weirder. His facial features slowly twisted. If he had given Chen Ge the impression that he was no different from a living person at the beginning, that sense of humanity had nowpletely disappeared.

    ¡°The callers were your test. If you did not help them, mocked their deaths, or ignored their plea for help, then you would have soon joined the legion of shadows behind me.¡± The man had moved from one extreme to another¡ªthis type of thinking was very dangerous.

    ¡°Looks like I¡¯m quite lucky. Does that mean I¡¯ve past the test?¡± Chen Ge knew that it was not so easy to gain a Red Specter. He had spent plenty of energy to convince normal Red Specters like Yan Danian and Xu Yin to join him. To get Zhang Ya, he had even sacrificed his happiness for the rest of his life. To gain the reward, one had to provide the same amount of effort. Everything provided by the ck phone was an equal trade. There was no shortcut or bargain.

    ¡°You were supposed tomunicate with seven callers, but I did not expect you to pinpoint one of the callers¡¯ location just from environmental clues; that is something that I would not have been able to do.¡±

    The man¡¯s expression was still scary and savage, but his eyes had softened by a lot.

    ¡°I also did not expect you to risk your life to save someone who is nothing but a stranger to you. In fact, you rushed to the track and jumped before a train before you could consider whether the person was a human or a ghost. Did you consider this? If you were a few seconds slower, then you would have lost your life too.¡±

    ¡°Whether it¡¯s real or fake, I would have done the same thing because a human life is on the line. I could not hedge my bets, even if I was ny-nine percent certain that this was a trap. For the possibility that a human life could be saved, I am willing to be tricked.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice was even but powerful. It soundedforting to the listener.

    ¡°Then you¡¯re really an idiot.¡± The man paused, andplicated emotions entered his eyes.

    ¡°So be it, perhaps I really am an idiot. I¡¯ve done many simr things before. Many people have called me out on it, but I¡¯ve gotten used to it myself.¡± The atmosphere slowly softened, and Chen Ge asked probingly, ¡°Now that I¡¯ve passed your test, what are you going to tell me next?¡±

    He looked at the Red Specter across the tracks with anticipation. His eyes were glowing as he scanned the crowded ck shadows behind the man. Being stared in that manner, the man frowned slightly. ¡°Indeed, this has never happened before. This number is merely a tool that I used to silence and appease the hatred of the suicide victims. I used it to sift out the creeps that dared to mock the dead and then take their lives away. You have passed the test, but that only means that you¡¯ve earned the right to live.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve used this number to kill?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice turned icy. He really did not expect that this number, which had once saved so many lives and represented hope for so many people, would end up bing a tool to kill. The man treated the same number in apletely different manner prior to and after his death. This made Chen Ge feel a certain way.

    ¡°I know that you¡¯ll think that is weird, but doesn¡¯t that fit the wishes of certain people?¡± A smile appeared on the man¡¯s strange face. ¡°After my death, this number that has saved so many lives was painted by these crazies to be a number that is cursed by the devil. Those who called the number would be cursed and be unlucky. They would get into idents and die. They even wreathed a horror story around me. What I¡¯m doing now is merely turning their stories into reality.¡±

    There was no joy of revenge in the man¡¯s voice¡ªit just sounded cold and detached. Chen Ge understood the man¡¯s thoughts. He had never wanted to hurt anyone, but he was the one who had ended up being hurt the most. Even after death, he could find no peace, if the man¡¯s personality did not change after experiencing all that, then something was really wrong.

    After giving it some thought, Chen Ge slowly spoke. ¡°Actually, we are rather simr. We are the type of idiot who will give up everything to ce ourselves in the shoes of other people, but in the end, we end up losing ourselves.¡±

    When the man heard Chen Ge, his frown rxed. He was about to say something, but he was interrupted by Chen Ge. ¡°But we¡¯re alsopletely different. The road that I chose is different from yours. You chose to silently keep everything in your heart until, eventually, you couldn¡¯t fit anything in anymore and copsed. Actually, you do not need to lead such a tired life. You cannot change everyone, but the person whom you can change is yourself. I¡¯m not trying to get you to change who you are¡ªI just hope you¡¯ll understand your own importance.¡±

    Chen Ge used his own experience to try to persuade the man. ¡°I¡¯ve met many horrible people in my life, and they all came from different walks of life. They came after other people¡¯s lives to either cure the illness in their heart or to fulfil a certain belief. They would stop at nothing and would destroy everything to get what they wanted. Of course, there are those who were born with a broken heart and sealed the love that they could not enjoy in the wall. I¡¯ve seen many simr stories.¡±

    Chen Ge kept his tone even and calm. He had really experienced many things in this short period of time. The man studied Chen Ge and believed that Chen Ge was not lying. ¡°If you¡¯ve seen so much evil in the world, why would you risk your life to save a dead person? Did you realize that this was a trap from the very beginning, specte about my intention, and then purposely do something like that?¡±

    In the man¡¯s eyes, Chen Ge was a very clever person. He had managed to figure out the caller¡¯s location from the background noises on the phone. Now, he started to form suspicions about Chen Ge, believing that this could be a trick.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve met many bad people, but I was not influenced by them. I have my own way of living, and I have my own principles. No matter what they said or did, I knew that I only had to make sure that I did one thing well.¡± Chen Ge stood across from the Red Specter. Their power was not on the same level, but in terms of presence, they were quite simr.

    The man had this simr concern before, and he asked Chen Ge without thinking about it, ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°To be myself.¡± Chen Ge was a normal-looking person, but he had a very bright smile. He was able to bringfort to people around him no matter the time. ¡°Society is very cruel, but I made sure to maintain my own warmth. I do not care about the chaos in the world; I only hope that I can maintain my honesty and kindness and stay true to myself. That is more than enough.¡±

    ¡°That is all?¡± The man opened his lips to say something, but the train came through right then to separate him from Chen Ge. The ground shook, and what the man saidter was swallowed up by the trundle of the train. Chen Ge could not hear him clearly.

    The train ran toward the horizon. The light slowly disappeared, and the surroundings were swallowed up by darkness once more. In the dark night, Chen Ge and Red Specter stood on opposite sides of the track.

    Neither of them spoke. Chen Ge had no idea whether his persuasion had worked or not. He sincerely wanted to help the man¡ªhe really could use the man to save more people in Eastern Jiujiang. He felt like he shared a same target with the man, so they should definitely work together.

    With his hands in his pocket and the night breeze in his hair, Chen Ge stated everything that was in his heart. ¡°Stop holding on to so much pain. There are so many things in this world that you have not experienced. There are so many people standing behind you, and they have ced theirst hope on you. You should try to live the life that they were not given on their behalf. Be the person that they want to be with their hopes and dreams¡ªI think that is the real thing that they want to see.¡±

    Standing in the night, no one could see the crowded shadows behind the man. He stood where he was for a long time before walking over from the other side of the track. With every single step, the blood on his body disappeared. When he stopped before Chen Ge, the red shirt had returned to normal. He looked just like a normal guy. If he had not found out earlier, even Chen Ge could not have guessed that this was a special Red Specter who shouldered the will of so many suicide victims.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t trap yourself inside that small circle. You are not alone. You should let them enjoy happiness and light. After all, that is the thing that they desire the most in their lives.¡± Chen Ge saw the man nod in agreement, and he revealed a kind smile. ¡°The best life is one with spices. Why don¡¯t you follow me for now? I can introduce you to many new friends to regain that warmth and happiness.¡±

    ¡°Follow you?¡± The man¡¯s tone was confused. Normally, people would stay away from ghosts, but this young man did not appear all that normal.

    ¡°I¡¯m already quite surprised that you¡¯re not scared by me. There¡¯s no need to force yourself.¡±

    ¡°Nothing is forced.¡± Chen Ge did not expect the man to consider him first at a time like this. He reminded himself not to be too eager, or he might scare the man away.

    ¡°Your issue is that you always put other people first. I¡¯ve weed many homeless ¡®friends¡¯ before, and I believe that they would be happy to have you join us.¡± In a few days, Chen Ge nned to do something big in Eastern Jiujiang, so he needed as many friends as he could find. Furthermore, the man could transform into a normal person. This was a very powerful ability. Other people would think that he was just a normal Specter, but in reality, he was an extremely scary Red Specter.

    No matter what Chen Ge said, the man did not reply. He was different from other Red Specters¡ªhe had retained all of his memories from when he was alive. Unlike Zhang Ya and Xu Yin, he had his own autonomy.

    ¡°I will go to your ce to take a look, but not now.¡± The man showed a rare smile. ¡°After I finish the will of all the spirits that depend on me, I will follow your instructions and try to start a new life.¡±

    ¡°The wishes of all the suicide victims?¡± Chen Ge thought about the mass of shadows following the man. If hepleted the wish of every single of them, he probably would not meet the man until several yearster.

    Chen Ge did not want to wait for years to use the Red Specter that he had won from the ck phone. He thought about it and said, ¡°Can youplete so many wishes on your own?¡±

    ¡°That is my promise to them, so no matter what, I will do it.¡±

    ¡°You misunderstood me.¡± Chen Ge waved his hands. ¡°I¡¯m actually asking, would you like me to help youplete their wishes? That will make things go faster. I am sure you don¡¯t want the victims¡¯ souls to remain tormented in this world for too long, right?¡±

    ¡°You want to help me?¡± This time, the man was really touched. No one had ever treated him like Chen Ge.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t ask for anything else. I just want you to realize, even if the whole world has abandoned you, there is someone who is always willing to stand by your side.¡± Chen Ge extended his hand toward the man. ¡°By the way, I have not asked you for your name. How should I refer to you?¡±

    The man was silent for a very long time before reaching out to shake Chen Ge¡¯s hand. ¡°My name is Zhang Wenyu.¡±

 Chapter 565 - New Special Visitor

    <h4>Chapter 565: New Special Visitor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Zhang Wenyu?¡± Feeling the cold from the palm, Chen Ge revealed a sincere smile. ¡°I¡¯ve remembered your name. I will help youplete the victims¡¯ wishes, so we will certainly interact more in the future.¡±

    The man thought that Chen Ge was quite a good person. He took back his hand silently and suddenly did not know what to say. In all his life, he had not met anyone who could understand him, but he had found one after death.

    ¡°Do you have any wishes that can bepleted around Jiujiang? Let¡¯s start with those that are closer to us. We need more preparation before we can tackle things that are further away.¡± Chen Ge had said that he would help the man, and he was not joking.

    The man did not answer. He was not sure whether he should do that or not. After all, he was the one who shouldered all the pain of the victims.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t have any hidden intentions and will not ask anything from you aspensation. I¡¯m just helping you out of convenience. You have to understand that you¡¯ll have difficultypleting some of these wishes, but I¡¯m different. I¡¯m a living person, just leave those things that are not that convenient for you to me.¡± Chen Ge was telling the truth, and the man was slowly convinced. He had realized that he would face many problems on his journey due to his unique identity.

    ¡°Okay, how about we do it like this?¡± The man looked at Chen Ge, and the red in his eyespletely disappeared. ¡°If you help meplete the wishes of these victims, in return, I will help you do some favors that are not in vition of my principle.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll help me?¡±

    ¡°Yes, if you help me then I¡¯ll help you, isn¡¯t that fair?¡±

    Chen Ge did not expect the man to be so upright. At the man¡¯s insistence, Chen Ge was ¡®forced¡¯ to agree.

    ¡°The author¡¯s wish is to shoot a horror movie that is beloved by many and has great ticket sales.

    ¡°The Doraemon costume¡¯s actor¡¯s wish is to make sure thendy receives the utility bill that he left on his luggage.

    ¡°The wish of the cancer victim is to find someone to look after his family.

    ¡°After youplete these three wishes, I will tell you the wishes of other victims so that they can leave this world without regrets,¡± the man said and walked away. ¡°If you want to reach me, just call that number.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ve memorized the number.¡±

    Chen Ge watched the man walk away. He walked down the track before disappearing into the darkness.

    <i>That went smoother than I thought. I should make some time toplete these wishes. In that case, if some dangeres to me in Eastern Jiujiang, the man shoulde out to help me.</i>

    Before the futuristic theme park opened for business, Chen Ge nned to deal with everything in Eastern Jiujiang. He did not waste any time and found his backpack, leaving in the opposite direction from the man.

    <i>Of the three wishes, the simplest is the theme park worker¡¯s. The cancer patient¡¯s is not that difficult either; the most challenging is the author¡¯s. He wants to shoot a movie that is both popr and well received by the critics.</i>

    Chen Ge did not get why an author¡¯sst wish was to create a movie.

    <i>A qualified Haunted House worker is also a good actor, so I¡¯ll have no problem with casting, but the problem is, who will my viewers be? How can I guarantee both poprity and quality?</i>

    Not knowing anything about movie making, Chen Ge fell into deep thought.

    <i>Yan Danian¡¯s wish to be a bestsellingic artist has not evenpleted, and now I have to shoot a movie. I¡¯m just a Haunted House owner, do I have to go attend some movie making sses?</i>

    It was really difficult to make a horror movie famous, and for the time being, Chen Ge did not n to try that.

    <i>I have enough actors, but Ick a professional director and budget. In the future, I should focus on talents like that. If the movie is famous, it can also serve as a good promotion for the Haunted House.</i>

    After taking a taxi back to the children¡¯s theme park, Chen Ge knocked on thendy¡¯s door again. ¡°Big sister, I¡¯m still here for my friend. Have you found the money that he left on his luggage?¡±

    The door was opened, and the middle-aged woman looked at Chen Ge with extreme guardedness. ¡°What¡¯s your goal here? The man left us so long ago, and now you¡¯reing to ask me whether I¡¯ve received his utility bill payment?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like this. Before my brother left, he didn¡¯t have much worry...¡±

    ¡°Wait, I¡¯m not going to lie to you. I¡¯ve dumped all of his luggage. You know it¡¯s a taboo.¡± Thendy sounded impatient.

    ¡°You¡¯ve dumped it?¡± Chen Ge was startled, but he soon recovered. ¡°Then how much was the bill that he owed you?¡±

    ¡°280, why? Are you nning to pay me on his behalf?¡± The middle-aged woman looked at Chen Ge coldly. Then she saw Chen Ge take out three hundred from his pocket.

    ¡°He was worried about this before he left, so he purposely reminded me about this. Take this money. I hope you won¡¯t mind. No matter what choice he had made, he did not want to owe anyone.¡±

    After paying thedy, Chen Ge took the cab back to New Century Park. Chen Ge opened the door to the staff breakroom. When he sat down on the chair, he finally rxed, and his expression slowly changed. Chen Ge thought about what had happened that night, and there was one problem that confused him.

    <i>When I ran into the operator, I tried to call Zhang Ya, but there was no reply. Did she already know the man was not threatening, or has her injury worsened?</i>

    Zhang Ya had refused to leave his shadow, so Chen Ge had no idea how she was doing. He wanted to help but could not.

    <i>Is she hungry? Should I capture some ghosts to feed her?</i>

    Chen Ge thought he had to do something.

    <i>Xiao Bu told me that if I return to Li Wan City, I will be in mortal danger, but I can go to other ces at Eastern Jiujiang. I shouldplete the two-star missions given by the ck phone first.</i>

    With a n made, he removed his jacket andy down in bed to sleep. At 8 am, Chen Ge walked out from the Haunted House. He pushed the gates open and looked at the rising sun. ¡°A new day has begun.¡±

    Before he could immerse himself in the beginning of the new day, the ck phone in his pocket vibrated.

    <i>A message at a time like this?</i>

    Taking out his phone, Chen Ge clicked open the unread message.

    ¡°The special ability of the Midnight Ticket Booth has been activated! A special visitor has arrived!¡±

    Chen Ge was gobsmacked looking at the phone. <i>I¡¯m not even open for business yet, where does the special visitore from? Is the phone broken?</i>

    Holding the phone, Chen Ge looked around. Suddenly, he noticed that the guard at the gate was in the middle of an argument with someone.

 Chapter 566 - Father and Daughter

    <h4>Chapter 566: Father and Daughter</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Visitors so early in the morning?¡± Chen Ge walked toward the gate. The guard was a very cordial person. In fact, this was the first time that Chen Ge had seen him in an argument.

    ¡°This is not an issue of tickets. The theme park is not yet open, and the employees aren¡¯t here yet to operate the attraction. Even if I allow you to enter the park, there¡¯s nothing you can do!¡±

    Even from a far, Chen Ge could hear the old guard¡¯s voice. He jogged over and saw that next to the guard house was a little girl and a middle-aged man who looked rather nk in the mind.

    The man toyed with the money in his hands. His expression was off, and his words came intermittently. His voice was strange, and saliva even dripped out from the corner of his mouth. ¡°y, my daughter, wants, y, long time.¡±

    ¡°Brother, the park will open in another half an hour. You only need to wait for a while. If I let you in now and something happens to you, I won¡¯t be able to shoulder the responsibility!¡±

    The guard had his points, but the man shook his head vehemently like he could not understand the guard.

    ¡°Money, enough money, we want y.¡± The man seemed to have difficulty controlling his tongue. It was a difficulty for him to even speak, and whenever he did, the muscles on his face shook. He did not seem to understand why the guard was stopping him. He gripped the money and shoved it to the guard.

    ¡°Howe you don¡¯t understand?¡± The guard held his head. ¡°Such a big problem so early in the morning, there sure have been many weird things happening around Jiujiangtely.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s happening? They... are they visitors?¡± Chen Ge walked out from the park and studied the two. The middle-aged man appeared mentally-challenged, and the girl was reticent. Her facial features were slightly off, but her eyes were clear, hiding a faded trace of fear. The girl seemed to suffer from the same illness as the middle-aged man.

    ¡°These two insist on going into the park. I¡¯ve exined to them that the park opens at 9 am. I just need them to wait a little while longer, but they refused to listen to me and think that I¡¯m discriminating against them. Am I someone who would do that?¡± The guard was only doing his job.

    After hearing that, Chen Ge grasped the situation immediately. He stopped before the man and the girl.

    The man thought that Chen Ge was the owner of the park. He grumbled incoherently before pushing the money to Chen Ge. As if afraid that Chen Ge could not understand him, he kept pointing at the Ferris wheel in the park.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll handle this.¡± Chen Ge smiled at the guard. He epted the money from the man. There were coins, but they totaled up to the price for two tickets. It was clear that it had not been easy for them to collect this amount of money.

    ¡°You have more than enough. The ticket price for children is only half, here.¡± Purposely treating people with disability differently was a great disrespect. The most respectful way was to treat them as he would anyone else. Chen Ge wanted to return the money to the man, but the man did not dare to ept it. He even became agitated. His throat made a loud noise, but no one could tell what he was trying to say.

    ¡°See, we can¡¯t evenmunicate with him. He thinks we¡¯re trying to harm him.¡± The guard sighed helplessly.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll just give them a tour around the park.¡± Chen Ge did not force it. He patted the man¡¯s shoulder lightly to get him to follow him. ¡°Most of the attractions will open at 9 pm, but before that, we can walk around the park first.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Chen, be careful. Since we¡¯ve already epted their money, they¡¯re visitors. Do not let them enter your Haunted House!¡± The guard was really concerned about the man and his girl. Chen Ge might appear trustworthy at times, but those who really knew him understood how unreliable he could be.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Chen Ge waved his hand, and the three entered the park. Inside the empty park, a small part of the employees were performing maintenance on the attractions. Other than the man and the girl, there were no other visitors on the road.

    ¡°Ferris wheel and the merry-go-round only open at 9 am, and before the opening, we have to inspect them first.¡±

    ¡°She, my daughter, wants y...¡± The man gestured. It was obvious that he did not understand Chen Ge¡¯s meaning.

    ¡°Your daughter?¡± Chen Ge lowered his head to look at the little girl. She was very shy and hid behind the man. Walking next to the father and daughter, Chen Ge could see the old shirt that was hidden under their white-washed jackets. They were from a poor family.

    ¡°Where are you from? Did youe to New Century Park just to y? Are there any attractions that you have to go on? I grew up here, so I¡¯m very familiar with this ce.¡± Chen Ge talked slowly, and as he talked, he gestured with his hands. After a long time, the man finally understood his meaning.

    ¡°East... east...¡± The man repeated the same word twice before apparently cursing. ¡°Damn.¡±

    At the time, Chen Ge did not catch onto its significance.

    ¡°Is it Eastern Jiujiang?¡± Chen Ge was slowly leading them to his Haunted House. ¡°Currently, only the Haunted House is open for business¡ªthis is my baby. If you want to enter it, I can apany you.¡±

    The special visitor that the ck phone had detected seemed to be one of these two, but considering their physical condition, Chen Ge did not n to have any ghost scares them. He just wanted to have them walk around the scenarios and see if he could trigger the mission on the special visitor.

    The middle-aged man stood where he was like he was trying to decipher what Chen Ge had said. However, his daughter walked out from behind him like she was very interested in the Haunted House.

    ¡°Since I¡¯m not yet officially open for business, I won¡¯t take any ticket money.¡± Chen Ge touched the little girl¡¯s head, and for some reason, he was reminded of Xiao Bu. Pulling back the curtains, Chen Ge led the pair into the Haunted House. ¡°I have many scenarios here...¡±

    Before he finished his introduction, the girl ran up to the steel door that led to the underground scenarios. She squatted down and kept her eyes glued to the door.

    <i>This girl, can she sense their presence?</i>

    The man waddled to catch up to his daughter. Chen Ge thought about it and decided to test them out further.

    ¡°Do you want to go down there to y?¡± Chen Ge thought that he sounded quite scary, but to his surprise, the girl raised her innocent face and then nodded seriously.

    ¡°This girl sure is unique.¡± Chen Ge used both hands to push the door open, and cold air rushed out.

    ¡°Don¡¯t wander off, and stay behind me.¡± To take care of this pair, Chen Ge even turned on all the lights in the corridor.

    Entering the underground was like entering a different world. The middle-aged man was unsettled, and he gripped the girl¡¯s hand tightly while sticking close to Chen Ge.

    The girl¡¯s reaction, however, was different. Her clear eyes were filled with open curiosity.

 Chapter 567 - Sister

    <h4>Chapter 567: Sister</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge had been watching the father and daughter closely, wanting to confirm who the special visitor was.

    ¡°The left leads to Mu Yang High School, arge haunted school. To the right is the Third Sick Hall, a scenario based on a scary mental hospital. The road in front leads to Coffin Vige. It¡¯s a scary scenario based on an isted vige that is unique to our country. The road behind us leads to the underground morgue. Its inspiration is one of the district¡¯s medical university.¡± Chen Ge personally introduced the scenarios to the pair and stayed with them, afraid that they would run into an ident.

    Since theme park had not opened, he was not afraid of being seen by other visitors. After the man entered the underground scenario, his body kept shivering. This should be his first time visiting a ce like the Haunted House, and he looked suitably nervous. His daughter¡¯s reaction wasparatively stranger. Her eyes widened, and if not for the man holding her hand, she would have wandered away already.

    ¡°Which scenario would you like to visit?¡± Chen Ge gave them the choice¡ªthis was a test as well. The man opened his lips and a ¡®wu, wu¡¯ sound came out. It sounded like he was asking his daughter¡¯s opinion.

    After spending some time with them, Chen Ge noticed that the girl was actually quite cute. But in a way, he could sense the regret. Due to gics, the girl appeared mentally-challenged as well. The girl did not know where to go, so she looked at Chen Ge shyly.

    ¡°How about we visit them one by one? Since the park has not opened, I can be your personal tour guide.¡± Chen Ge walked ahead and led them into Mu Yang High School.

    Eerie winds blew on the dark corridors. The empty test papers fluttered in the air, creating a scary sound like hands caressing one¡¯s heart. The ssroom doors on the sides were left half-open, and old tables and chairs were arranged within. Soon, they arrived at the door to thest ssroom. Without any preparation, many human faces showed up at the door, and in the ssroom, many ¡®people¡¯ were seated.

    The man obviously did not handle that scare well. He staggered back, and due to the unevenness of his body, he fell. Chen Ge, who had been watching them, quickly reached out to help the man. He had underestimated the scariness of his Haunted House, especially for those who had not been inside one before.

    ¡°Be careful.¡± The man¡¯s reaction told Chen Ge that he was probably not the special visitor, so he focused his attention on the girl. When the man was falling, the girl had escaped from his grasp. She stood at the window and looked at the mannequins.

    They looked into each other¡¯s eyes. After a while, she leaned against the window and reached out her hand to touch the mannequin¡¯s face through the window. The mannequin inside the window cooperated. It slowly leaned forward to push its face toward the window.

    Realizing that the mannequin could move on its own, the girl¡¯s eyes widened even more. There was fear in her eyes, but more than that, there was also curiosity.

    Standing to the side, Chen Ge caught this. He thought that the girl was simr to how Fan Yu was when he first came to the Haunted House, but they were notpletely the same.

    <i>She should not be able to see the ghosts and is not as clever as Fan Yu.</i>

    After interacting with Fan Yu, Chen Ge had realized that the boy had a maturity that was way beyond his age. He knew many things, but mostly, he kept it to himself. The girl¡¯s situation was different. She gave off a feeling of purity and innocence. She got close to the mannequin not because it was hiding a homeless soul but because she was curious.

    Since the boss was standing there, the mannequins naturally would not scare the girl. They put away their scary expressions to reveal weing smiles. They appeared so harmless and obedient, different from how they were in front of other visitors.

    They moved deeper into the scenario. When they passed the Pen Spirit¡¯s room, Chen Ge stopped. ¡°This is one of my Haunted House¡¯s famous scare point, the Pen Spirit. Many people with questionse from other cities to ask the Pen Spirit, and the spirit will sometimes answer.¡±

    Chen Ge picked up the pen that was on the table. ¡°Do you want to give it a try? This is the chance to ask the question deep inside your heart. The Pen Spirit might answer it.¡±

    Squatting down, Chen Gemunicated with the Pen Spirit before handing the pen to the girl.

    The child epted the pen, but it was unclear if she understood what Chen Ge had said. She mirrored Chen Ge and squatted down beside the chair, gripping the pen like how she would hold a knife.

    The tip of the pen fell on the paper. The girl¡¯s brows were furrowed, and she looked cute.

    ¡°Follow your heart and ask the question.¡± Chen Ge sounded like a devil seducing a child. The girl thought for a long time before writing out the term ¡®Big Sister¡¯ on the paper. The handwriting was awry.

    ¡°Big sister?¡± The girl did not ask the Pen Spirit any questions, and Chen Ge was sure whether it was not the Pen Spirit who had written it because the spirit, Chen Yalin, was currently floating behind the girl to braid her hair and not in contact with the pen.

    <i>The girl wrote this herself?</i>

    <i>Is this the question she wants to ask the Pen Spirit?</i>

    <i>Or is this the answer she gave herself?</i>

    If this was any other person, Chen Ge would not have cared, but this girl could be a special visitor. So, Chen Ge tried to read her every movement deeper.

    ¡°The child has a big sister? Why didn¡¯t shee along to the park then?¡± Chen Ge turned to ask the man, but when he heard Chen Ge, he appeared to be greatly shocked. He stopped the tour and went forward to grab the girl, pulling her away.

    The girl was spooked, and like a startled pigeon, a shrill voice escaped from her lips. Before Chen Ge could stop him, the man already dragged the girl out of the girl¡¯s dormitory.

    ¡°Don¡¯t rush. If you want to leave, I can escort you out at any time.¡± Chen Ge believed that if they continued the tour, he might affect the pair¡¯s rtionship, so he sent them out directly. The sun fell on them again, and the strange pair finally calmed down.

    ¡°Drink some water, rest here for a while. The park will open officially after thirty minutes.¡± Chen Ge just deposited the pair at the resting hall when he saw the guard rush over with a woman who looked about thirty.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to give you so much trouble.¡± The woman was in a pantsuit. She appeared to be a worker at somepany, and she gave off the feeling of a powerful businesswoman.

    ¡°You are?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m his little sister.¡± The woman pointed at the man rather embarrassedly. ¡°He sneaked Wen Wen out when I was working. I¡¯ll bring them back now.¡±

 Chapter 568 - Water Ghost

    <h4>Chapter 568: Water Ghost</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Since you¡¯re here, then there¡¯s no need to hurry and leave! The tickets have already been paid for, so why don¡¯t you let them stay here to rx? I feel like they¡¯ve been wanting toe to theme park to y.¡±

    ¡°The tickets have been paid for?¡± The woman turned to the man. ¡°Brother, where did you get the money?¡±

    ¡°Sell, rubbish, I collect them,¡± the man stammered, and he looked scared of this woman.

    ¡°Have I treated you badly before? I never brought you here because I¡¯m afraid that you might get into an ident!¡± The woman appeared embarrassed. Perhaps from her youth, her big brother had been the reason that she could not hold her head high.

    ¡°Regardless, I¡¯m about to bete for work. It¡¯ll be easy for you two to get into an ident if you stay here. Come on, let¡¯s quickly go home.¡± The woman sounded stern. The middle-aged man hesitated, but when he saw his daughter¡¯s eyes, he persisted and shook his head.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you let them stay here? I¡¯ll stay with them and watch over them. I promise nothing will happen to them. After they¡¯ve visited everything, I¡¯ll personally take them home.¡± Chen Ge took the responsibility on. The service was wless. Seeing how kind Chen Ge was, the woman started to hesitate as well.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, every attraction at our park has passed the examination. If the attraction is dangerous and too much, even if they want to, I won¡¯t let them get on it.¡± Chen Ge attempted to persuade her for a long time, but the woman still refused. She seemed to have some difficulty that she could not say.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want them to stay... you don¡¯t understand.¡± The woman waved at Chen Ge, and the two walked several meters away. After making sure that the father and daughter would not hear them, the woman finally revealed her worry. ¡°My brother and Wen Wen are a bit not right in the head. My brother is slightly better, but Wen Wen¡¯s condition has not stabilized¡ªshe could act up at any time.¡±

    ¡°What kind of illness is this?¡±

    The woman sighed softly. ¡°It¡¯s a family illness. It¡¯s mental retardation. When she acts up, it¡¯ll be no different from epilepsy. It¡¯s very troublesome.¡±

    ¡°Have you brought them to the doctor? I mean, what did the doctor say? Is there a chance for them to be cured?¡± Chen Ge had a feeling that the girl should face more than just a family illness. To be chosen as a special visitor by the ck phone, there had to be some secret surrounding her. The girl¡¯s father was mentally-retarded and could notmunicate normally, so this woman became Chen Ge¡¯s opening.

    ¡°Their hereditary illness cannot be cured¡ªit can only be improved...¡± The woman turned to look at the man and the girl. ¡°My family has a short life expectancy. Perhaps my ancestors have done something to offend the gods. When they¡¯re alive, they have to suffer the pain from the illness, but even for myself, who is normal, life is not easy either. I broke up with my boyfriend of many years because of them as well. I couldn¡¯t just ignore them, but my boyfriend refused to take them on.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been taking care of them? Where is your brother¡¯s wife?¡±

    ¡°That woman was just there to cheat my family¡¯s money!¡± The mention of this woman made her grit her teeth in anger. ¡°If not for her, we would not have ended up in this state. Initially, I also thought that she would look after my brother, but she was just in it for the money. After giving birth to Wen Wen, she abandoned them and ran.

    ¡°I also don¡¯t know how long I can hold on. I¡¯m already thirty-four this year.¡± Speaking of this sad part, the woman¡¯s tone rose, and she caught herself after a while. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for losing myself.¡±

    She turned to look at the pair withplicated emotions. ¡°Fine, perhaps I should respect their decision. If they want to stay, then they should, but you have to guarantee their safety.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be by their side.¡± Chen Ge had not gone outst night, so he did not need to sleep.

    ¡°By the way, there¡¯s something that you have to be careful about.¡± The woman was suddenly reminded of something, ¡°Do not let Wen Wen go on any attractions with water. The best is to make sure she stays away from water, not even the fountain.¡±

    ¡°Stay away from the water?¡± This was the first time Chen Ge heard a request like that. He didn¡¯t think too much of it at first but after a while, suddenly the mission about the Twin Water Ghosts appeared in his mind. The girl and her father came from Eastern Jiujiang, and her father once said the term ¡®Eastern Dam¡¯.

    Thinking about it, could the father have been referring to Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s dam, the ce where many drownings had happened. Was the girl rted to the Twin Water Ghosts mission? Was the previously-mentioned big sister actually dead?

    The woman saw how silent Chen Ge was, and she assumed wrongly that Chen Ge was wondering why she would say that. ¡°Don¡¯t ask me why. Just make sure she stays away from the water. I need to go to work. I¡¯lle back to fetch them after I¡¯m off work. I¡¯ll depend on you in the meantime.¡±

    ¡°Wait...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to bete!¡±

    ¡°Onest question.¡± The more Chen Ge thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong. He took out the white paper that the girl had written on in the Pen Spirit¡¯s room. The two words were still left on it. ¡°Do you only have three members in your family?¡±

    ¡°Yes, what about it?¡± The woman was impatient, seemingly very worried about beingte.

    ¡°But howe I heard Wen Wen say that she has a big sister?¡±

    When he said that, the woman¡¯s expression froze, and her eyes shuddered. She needed a long time before she calmed down. ¡°Wen Wen is sick¡ªthat is her imagination. If there¡¯s nothing else, I need to go. I¡¯lle back at 7:30 pm.¡±

    The woman¡¯s expression became very bad, and her tone was icy. She stopped talking to Chen Ge and rushed to leave New Century Park.

    ¡°She must know something.¡±

    ¡°Boss, who is that woman?¡± Xu Wan walked over from the gate with breakfast. ¡°It¡¯s rude for you to keep looking at her like that.¡±

    ¡°The two visitors over there have a heredity illness, and she is their family. She¡¯s worried about them, so she hoped that I can look after them for her.¡± Chen Ge took over the breakfast and started eating. ¡°Today, you and Xiao Gu will have to work harder. I might get off work earlier to send them home.¡±

    ¡°Personally sending them home? Howe you¡¯re so good to them?¡± Xu Wan rolled her eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯m always so kind. Also, let¡¯s go and do your make up quick.¡± Chen Ge helped Xu Wan with her make-up. Like the day before, he summoned Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue. He gave them the same outfits as before and had them help at the Haunted House.

    The park opened at 9 am. Chen Ge had delegated all the job at his Haunted House. He apanied the man and the girl as they experienced the park¡¯s many attractions.

    Seeing the smile on the girl¡¯s face, Chen Ge was greatly satisfied. This was the pure, original purpose of a theme park, bringing people happiness.

 Chapter 569 - Bury Seed [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 569: Bury Seed [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge apanied the father and daughter and experienced all the theme park¡¯s attractions that interested them. The girl showed some signs of fatigue at around three or four in the afternoon. She leaned against her father and sat at the resting hall outside of the Haunted House to catch her breath. Her eyes were closed, and she hugged a bottle of water in her arms with a smile still hanging on her face. It appeared like that day had been a lot of fun.

    The father looked at his little girl with love in his eyes. His hand lightly touched the girl¡¯s head, and he suddenly realized that someone had added a little braid to the girl¡¯s hair. He did not know who had done that, but with this small braid, the girl looked more vibrant and lively. The father and daughter leaned against each other. Even though they were both physically impaired, Chen Ge had to admit that the picture that they formed was quite heartwarming.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you two rest here for a while? Don¡¯t wander off on your own. I¡¯ll go talk to my workers at the Haunted House, and then I¡¯lle back to take you home.¡± Chen Ge maintained his sense of rationality. One of the main reasons that he had agreed to apany the father and daughter around theme park was because he could make use of this opportunity to get close to them and make them lower their guard.

    Of course, Chen Ge did not once think about harming them¡ªhe just wanted to get to the bottom of the truth. The girl leaned against her father, and she looked very sleepy, barely able to get her eyes open.

    There was still quite a period of time until that woman had promised toe. Chen Ge decided to personally take them home because it gave him the perfect chance to take a look around their family and understand their family situation. He had a feeling that there had to be a rtionship between this girl and that water ghost.

    Returning to the Haunted House, Duan Yue and Ol¡¯ Zhou hadpletely gotten used to their new identities. Chen Ge told them some things that they needed to be careful about, and then he went searching for Xu Wan. He told her to remember to close the door at 6 pm. After arranging all that, Chen Ge found his backpack and slid the recorder and theic inside it. Xiao Gu was using the Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer as a prop, so this time, Chen Ge did not carry it with him.

    ¡°Come on, I¡¯ll take you home.¡± Chen Ge held the bag in one hand. It was hard to deny the sincerity in his eyes. The man scratched his head like he was in the middle of a deep hesitation. ¡°My, sister, no, let, other, people, home.¡±

    ¡°Your little sister doesn¡¯t like you bring strangers to your home?¡± Chen Ge smiled. ¡°I can understand that. She is worried that other people might bring you harm, attracting burrs to the house, but I¡¯m not a stranger, am I? We had so much fun ying together, right?¡±

    After some more persuasion, the middle-aged man finally agreed. After sending the two out of New Century Park, Chen Ge called a taxi and got into the car with the father and daughter. The little girl fell asleep not long after she got into the car. To not disturb her, Chen Ge and the middle-aged man very cooperatively did not say anything. Based on the address given by the middle-aged man, the taxi arrived at a very old residential area at the edge of Eastern Jiujiang.

    The ce was filled with old apartments that were about six or seven stories high, and the paint on the walls was peeling greatly. Chen Ge could hardly tell what the original color of the walls had been.

    ¡°From the looks of it, this ce has been in existence for at least two or three decades already, right?¡±

    After paying the cab fare, the group exited the car. ¡°Your family stays here? But didn¡¯t you tell me that you lived near Eastern Jiujiang Dam?¡±

    Chen Ge even purposely asked the taxi driver about it when they wereing over, and it seemed that this residential area was quite a distance away from Eastern Jiujiang Dam.

    ¡°My, house.¡± The man then said a few terms that seemed to be connected in some mysterious logic. Chen Ge could not grasp fully what he was trying to expression. Holding the sleeping little girls in his arms, the middle-aged man walked ahead. Since the man did not chase Chen Ge away, Chen Ge naturally followed behind the man.

    The middle-aged man might have been intellectuallycking, but he had enoughmon sense to survive. He walked past the many old buildings to head toward the building that was furthest away. The sun was setting, hanging low in the sky. The surroundings werepletely silent. It was still daytime, but for some reason, Chen Ge felt that the area was rather dark.

    Perhaps it was just his imagination.

    The corridor had a very low ceiling. Chen Ge would bump his head against it if he jumped a little higher. The only sensation that Chen Ge felt once he entered the ce was a sense of pressure.

    With the middle-aged man leading the man, they climbed up to the third floor. The man reached his hand into his cor and searched for a long time before finding the key that was tied around his neck. Like a child, he took out the key and ced it before his eyes. He studied it for a very long time before opening the door.

    ¡°Do you mind ife in?¡± The man did not say anything. He opened the door and then carried the girl into the room. He ced the little girl on the couch and then half-jogged into the bedroom as if he was in search of something. The ce was very clean, different from a dirtiness that Chen Ge had been expecting. Even though the ce was sparsely decorated and there was little furniture, everything was cleanly and neatly arranged.

    <i>There are only two pairs of slippers, one big and one small. There are also only two toothbrushes in the bathroom. Looks like the man¡¯s sister does not live with him. Normally, it is this man who looks after this child.</i>

    Someone with a mental problem looking after a child who also suffered from the same problem had managed to keep their living area so clean and neat¡ªthis came as quite a surprise to Chen Ge. He looked inside the bedroom. The man was kneeling on the ground. He opened the bedside table and took out a wool nket.

    As if afraid that he might mess up the things inside the room, his every action was very careful and deliberate. After finding the nket, he rearranged everything before exiting the bedroom. The middle-aged man seemed to only have the little girl in his eyes. He covered the girl with the nket with as light a touch as he could. He then sat down on the other side of the couch and looked at the girl lovingly,pletely ignoring Chen Ge, who was still standing in the room.

    ¡°No wonder your little sister does not allow you to bring strangers home. If you run into a bad person, even if he cleared out this ce, you probably would not have realized it.¡±

    As he wandered around the room, Chen Ge began to respect the man more and more. The ce was not big; there was only one bedroom and one very small kitchen. It was simple, but it felt very warm and homely. <i>The man suffers from this family¡¯s hereditary illness and was abandoned by his wife, but he is able to survive with such dignity and determination. That is quite impressive.</i>

    Chen Ge walked into the bedroom. When his gaze scanned past the bedside table, he identally caught a framed picture that was sitting on it. He picked up the picture frame to take a closer look, and the picture inside the frame looked rather strange to him.

    On a bright and sunny grass field, the middle-aged man was smiling nkly while the little girl was running after a fluttering butterfly. There should have been someone who stood beside them, but the person had been cut off from the picture. There was a hole in the shape of a person.

    <i>Could this be the child¡¯s mother?</i>

    He wanted to look for more clues, so he opened the bedside table. Chen Ge found a notebook that was hidden under the stack of clothes. He flipped through it and realized that the notebook waspletely empty, but then again, he noticed that many pages of the notebook had been torn out already.

    <i>Whose notebook is this?</i>

    Looking at the notebook, Chen Ge was reminded of a detail. Even though the girl suffered from the same hereditary illness as her father, meaning her intelligence was lower than normal, she knew how to write. Chen Ge had personally seen her write down the term ¡®big sister¡¯ in the Haunted House.

    <i>Who taught her how to write? Was it her father, or was it someone else?</i>

    When the middle-aged man heard the words ¡®big sister¡¯, his reaction had been huge. Those two words seemed to be a taboo that could not be mentioned at the home, so the person who taught the little girl to write those words should not have been a family member.

    Closing the notebook, Chen Ge ced it back where he found it. He closed the drawer and was about to stand up and leave when he noticed that the middle-aged man had been standing at the bedroom door for who knew how long, watching him silently. Probably due to his natural limitation, his expression was unreadable, but there was a trace of uncertainty in his eyes as he looked at Chen Ge.

    ¡°The picture...¡± Chen Ge did not know how to move the topic away, so he grabbed the thing that was closest, which was the picture frame. Before he coulde up with a reason, the man walked into the bedroom. He did not seem to mind what Chen Ge was doing¡ªhe just moved past Chen Ge silently and picked up the pillow that was on the bed. During the whole process, he did not say a word to Chen Ge. After he grabbed the pillow, he walked out directly and ced the pillow under the girl¡¯s head.

    Chen Ge was scared for no reason. He continued to walk around the ce, but he could not find anything valuable.

    ¡°Since you¡¯re already home safely, then I feel much better. If you want toe to New Century Park in the future, or if you need any help, you can call me at any time.¡± Chen Ge found a pen and paper, jotted down his phone number, and ced it on the coffee table.

    The girl was sound asleep on the couch. Throughout the whole day, the ck phone had not sent any message, so the mission that was attached to this special visitor had not been triggered by Chen Ge. However, Chen Ge was not that disappointed. He had already confirmed the girl¡¯s identity and address, so there would be plenty of chances in the future. After bidding the middle-aged man farewell, Chen Ge left their home.

    After closing the door and heading toward the stairs, he heard a sounding from the corridor. ¡°Hey!¡±

    Stopping his footsteps, Chen Ge looked around. He noticed that the door of the room right opposite from the middle-aged man¡¯s home was open a sliver, and the sound seemed to havee from inside it. ¡°Were you calling me?¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want any trouble, it¡¯s best if you stay away from that family.¡± This time, Chen Ge heard it clearly. It was an olddy who was speaking behind the door, and she sounded very vehement.

    ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of trouble¡ªtheir whole family is too pitiable. It¡¯s better if we can help them to the best of our ability.¡± Chen Ge walked toward the olddy¡¯s room.

    ¡°Those who are pitiable must have something that is detestable. Listen to me, don¡¯t walk too close to them, or you might get unnecessary trouble.¡± The olddy¡¯s words interested Chen Ge greatly. It seemed that thedy knew some things.

    ¡°Granny, they suffer from a hereditary illness. That is something that you are born with...¡±

    ¡°I saw how kind hearted you are, so I opened the door to remind you. What you want to do with the information is your own business.¡±

    After saying that, the olddy was about to close the door, but Chen Ge jumped forward to grab the door. ¡°Granny, can you not just tell me half of the truth? You¡¯ll only make me even more curious.¡±

    The olddy probably was touched by Chen Ge¡¯s acts of kindness, so after a few second of hesitation, she opened the door fully. ¡°Come in, and I¡¯ll tell you.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± With such a sudden turn of events, of course, Chen Ge would not let it go. After entering the olddy¡¯s home, Chen Ge realized that something was wrong. The olddy¡¯s home was fully covered with scary-looking Taoist paper charms. There were even various charms hanging on the door. This ce waspletely different from the middle-aged man¡¯s home.

    ¡°Granny, this ce is...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. These talismans are to ward against evil spirits. They are harmless against living humans,¡± the olddy said confidently, but Chen Ge shook his head. The ghosts that he carried had no reaction, not even fear to these things, so the olddy had definitely been tricked by someone.

    ¡°You¡¯ve just interacted with that family, and you might be followed by those scary things. When you leave, I can give you a few of the talismans.¡±

    ¡°Scary things? Are there really ghosts in this world?¡± Chen Ge scratched his chin. ¡°Granny, have you personally seen them before?¡±

    The olddy was silent to think before finally nodding. ¡°It was just inside this building. Whenever the clock strikes midnight, the sound of water droppinges from the corridors. It sounds just like rain, and then you will hear a sound that is simr to someone mopping the ground. But think about it, who woulde out to mop the corridor at midnight?¡±

    ¡°Could there really be a ghost?¡± Chen Ge cooperated fully with the olddy and revealed a shocked expression.

    ¡°There was this one time when it was so noisy that I could not sleep, so I leaned against the peephole on the door and looked out.¡±

    ¡°What did you see?¡±

    The lines on the old woman¡¯s face were creased together like she was reminded of something very scary. The expression on her face was serious. ¡°I¡¯m not lying to you. At the time, I saw a woman who waspletely drenched walked down from upstairs. She stopped at the door of the opposite room. Her skin was white from being soaked in the water for too long, not how a living human should look. There were also things like water grass and other weird objects curling around her body. Her long hair was dragging on the ground, and she was mumbling the name of the girl next door.¡±

    ¡°Someonepletely drenched and calling Wen Wen¡¯s name?¡± A thought shed across Chen Ge¡¯s mind, and the words just tumbled out of his mouth. ¡°The big sister?¡±

    The olddy was surprised that Chen Ge would say that, and her expression softened quite a lot. ¡°Looks like you also know about their family business.¡±

    ¡°I do not know much.¡± Chen Ge took out the paper that the girl had left at his Haunted House from his pocket. ¡°I¡¯m a worker at New Century Park. Our park saw how fragile they were and was afraid of their safety, so they ordered me to personally bring them home. I only knew about this big sister because that girl once wrote this down when she was visiting one of our theme park attractions.¡±

    Looking at the words on the paper, the olddy¡¯s lips were pressed tightly. She waved for Chen Ge to move away from the door. The two walked into the living room, and then the olddy whispered, ¡°In that case, I won¡¯t hide the facts from you anymore. Actually, many people in this old residential area know about this. Their family has been involved in something called Bury Seed, and this is karmaing to get them.¡±

    ¡°Bury Seed?¡± Chen Ge was confused.

    ¡°It is what it means literally. Their family has a hereditary illness, but ording to rumors, it only affects the males, not the females. However, their family wanted to have a healthy boy to continue the family legacy. They started to look for alternative methods, and someone rmended the method of burying seed.

    ¡°The method is quite cruel. First, you have to find a girl and bury her as a seed inside another child¡¯s body. I am not quite sure about the actual procedure, but I know that their family has tried this before. However, it failed. The child that was born was not a boy, and even though a girl was born, she could not escape the fate of the family illness.¡±

    ¡°But how is that rted to the ghost that you saw?¡±

    ¡°The seed that was used by that family was their first child, the big sister. They used their first child as the seed, and the child that was buried with the seed was Wen Wen.¡±

    What the olddy said made Chen Ge take in a cold breath. He could understand why the Trial Mission was called Twin Water Ghost. It was not because they were twins but because it was a twin birth.

 Chapter 570 - Talismans

    <h4>Chapter 570: Talismans</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Granny, what else do you know about bury seed? Have there been sessful cases before? Who told the family about this method?¡± Chen Ge needed to confirm his thoughts, and for that, he needed a greater understanding of the situation.

    ¡°Why are you asking all that? Knowing too much has no benefit to you. When ites to certain things, once you get too close, you¡¯ll be dragged into it.¡± The olddy only wanted what was best for Chen Ge. She walked into the bedroom and took out two yellowed paper talismans. ¡°These are for you. Take them with you. They¡¯ll save you at key moments.¡±

    Chen Ge did not reject the olddy¡¯s kindness and epted the talismans. They were painted with a weird pattern. However, it was not painted with cinnabar but justmon red dye.

    ¡°Granny, are you sure these things are effective?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s ghosts were not only not afraid of the talismans, and they even purposely came out to take a look due to curiosity.

    ¡°I have no idea whether they¡¯re effective or not, but ever since I covered my ce with them, that thing stopped appearing near my ce.¡±

    ¡°She once appeared at your ce before?¡± Chen Ge was suspicious. Some ghosts were highly aggressive, and they would attack anything that stood in their way, regardless of their innocence.

    ¡°You keep trying to jinx me. If she had entered my home, do you think a bag of old bones like myself would have been able to survive?¡± the olddy grumbled with dissatisfaction. She coughed twice at the door, but Chen Ge did not know the purpose of that. ¡°When I first saw the ghost, she was standing at my door with her head lowered. After I covered my home with the talismans, she finally went to the opposite door.¡±

    Chen Ge understood that this was probably not the effect of the talisman¡ªthe ghost originally wanted to find the girl. There was probably another reason for why she stopped at the olddy¡¯s door, but Chen Ge could not ask about that openly. The olddy might have looked kind, but Chen Ge had a feeling that she had something to do with what had happened to the family.

    ¡°Granny, I¡¯m not going to talk circles around you. The girl¡¯s situation is not so good. The ghost that you mentioned might be haunting her. If we ignore this, the child might be in mortal danger.¡± Once Chen Ge said that, the olddy hesitated.

    ¡°No matter what their family has done in the past, the child is innocent¡ªshe shouldn¡¯t be made a sacrifice. Furthermore, we have not reached a point of no return yet.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve not seen it¡ªthat¡¯s why you¡¯d say that. There are really ghosts in this world, and this one appears every midnight. Once you see it, you¡¯ll never say such things. This is what that family deserves. If you intervene, you¡¯ll be targeted by the ghost.¡±

    The olddy wanted to stop Chen Ge, but he was determined.

    ¡°Since I¡¯ve run into this, then I have to do something.¡±

    ¡°Why are you so stubborn?¡± After several seconds, the olddy said, ¡°Fine, if you insist on chasing death, then I won¡¯t stop you. I hope that you¡¯ll have a better luck.¡±

    The olddy¡¯s tone changed. ¡°Originally, I didn¡¯t want to bring this up again. The person who suggested the method of bury seed was my husband. The old coot didn¡¯t mean any harm by it. He just tossed it out as a suggestion. We did not expect the family to really do it. The old man died not long after Wen Wen¡¯s birth. When he left, he was wrought with guilt and regret.¡±

    ¡°The person who buried the seed in Wen Wen was your husband?¡±

    ¡°What? No! My husband had only heard about it. He just meant well.¡± The olddy walked into the room again to grab a few yellowed pages from the drawer. It looked like a prescription. ¡°This is the procedure for bury seed. I can¡¯t understand it. I hear it was obtained by the elders next door. My husband found it and hid it. He wanted to stop them, but by that time, they had already lost their minds.

    ¡°Their family illness only affects the boys, not the girls. To continue the family line, to change their family legacy, they treated their first daughter as the ¡®seed¡¯. I¡¯d seen that child; she was healthy and cute. The actual process of bury seed was only known to my husband and the opposite family¡¯s grandfather and grandmother. However, they died from sickness one after another, so no one really knows what they did to that first child.¡±

    The olddy¡¯s face was covered with lines as she tried to think. ¡°I can only remember a few things. When the first child died, they started running all over Eastern Jiujiang, apparently to find a suitable location. In the end, they chose Eastern Jiujiang Dam. I don¡¯t know what happenedter.¡±

    ¡°Looks like I¡¯ll have to go to the dam to take a look.¡± Chen Ge epted the pages and scanned them. He could not understand the meaning either¡ªthey looked like Chinese characters, but he could not grasp their meaning. ¡°Granny, can I take these pages with me? I want to find an expert to read them to see what they really mean.¡±

    ¡°No, definitely not. I won¡¯t allow these pages to leave this ce. If not for the special order by the old coot at his death bed, I would have burned them all already.¡±

    ¡°Then do you know where they got these papers?¡± Chen Ge asked casually, but he got a big surprise.

    ¡°Eastern Jiujiang, Li Wan City. I heard that the elders next door got it from a building called the Ghost Apartment.¡±

    ¡°Ghost Apartment?¡± Chen Ge had heard this term when he was on thest bus for Route 104. Only by taking that bus did people have the chance to reach this ghost apartment. <i>Could this bury seed be rted to that culprit as well? Was this just a move he made in istion, or is it connected to a bigger conspiracy?</i>

    Chen Ge suspected that the culprit had harmed so many children in Eastern Jiujiang for this bury seed.

    <i>Bury seed only needs one child, but the number of children who have disappeared in Eastern Jiujiang is high...</i>

    The term ¡®Ghost Fetus¡¯ shed across Chen Ge¡¯s mind. Originally, he had thought that this was just a simple two-star mission, but it looked like it might be rted to the four-star mission.

    ¡°Granny, can you give me a few more talismans? I n to go to Eastern Jiujiang Dam tonight to see the ce myself. Perhaps I might find something.¡±

    ¡°Go to Eastern Jiujiang Dam? The day is ending, why are you going there?¡± The olddy thought that Chen Ge was acting strangely. ¡°Many people have drowned there; the ce is not safe. You¡¯d better think carefully.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid, butpared to that, I want to get to the bottom of the truth.¡± Chen Ge took out the talismans given by the olddy earlier. ¡°Granny, please give me a few more. What if I run out at a key moment?¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re so scared, then don¡¯t force yourself.¡± After she said that, she still walked back into the room to look for more talismans. While she was preupied, Chen Ge took out his phone to snap a few pictures of the yellowed pages.

 Chapter 571 - Eastern Jiujiang Dam

    <h4>Chapter 571: Eastern Jiujiang Dam</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The olddy walked out from the room, holding a ck bag. ¡°These are the talismans that I have no use for. If you¡¯re going to find that ghost, then of course, you need as much help as you can get...¡±

    The olddy shoved him the bag. ¡°I¡¯ll give them all to you.¡±

    Looking at the bag of talisman, Chen Ge¡¯s lips twitched. ¡°Granny, how much have you spent to buy so many talismans?¡±

    ¡°The price is not important; the important thing is that they¡¯re effective.¡±

    Chen Ge had a good impression of the olddy, and he did not want to see her getting scammed anymore. Thus, he nned to help her. ¡°Granny, can you introduce me to the man who sold you these talismans?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll bring you to see him when youe back. He is a powerful sensei even though he might not look like it. Actually, those who are really gifted are often hated by the world.¡±

    The more Chen Ge heard the olddy¡¯s story, the more he confirmed that she had been scammed. After getting the person¡¯s address, Chen Ge left with the bag.

    After leaving the residential area, Chen Ge took a look at the picture that he had snapped with his phone. The words on the pages were hard to read. Instead of saying that they were Chinese characters, they looked more like symbols.

    <i>Who might be able to understand this?</i>

    Chen Ge closed the album and called the theme park. It was already afternoon when he sent Wen Wen home, and he was held off by some other incidents. Since he was not at the Haunted House, Xu Wan followed his orders and closed when the sun fell.

    Ol Zhou and Duan Yue performed perfectly. There were no idents, and Chen Ge sighed in relief.

    <i>I have to reward Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue somehow. They say that they have no requests for anything, but I can see that Ol¡¯ Zhou likes Duan Yue. Maybe I can help him pursue her. And about Duan Yue... all girls should have a dream of stardom. I can promise to make her the main character when I want to shoot the movie to fulfill the author¡¯s dream.</i>

    After ending the call, Chen Ge put the olddy¡¯s stuff into his backpack and called a taxi to get to Eastern Jiujiang Dam.

    <i>The mission for the special visitor, Wen Wen, was not triggered. Where was the problem? Is it because I didn¡¯t let Wen Wen get close to any water-rted attractions?</i>

    The girl¡¯s aunt had warned Chen Ge about letting the girl go near water. Chen Ge would not have harmed the girl just for a mission, and that might be why the mission had not been triggered.

    When Chen Ge arrived at the dam, the sun was already falling. Opening the window, he could clearly see that this ce was much colder than the city.

    The driver looked at Chen Ge and demanded, ¡°25 RMB please.¡±

    ¡°25? So expensive? Do you think I haven¡¯t been here before?¡± Chen Ge had been looking around when the driver asked for such an expensive fare.

    ¡°Based on the timer, it doesn¡¯t really cost that much, but no one is willing toe to Eastern Jiujiang Dam these days. There have been a series of idents over the past month, so everyone raises the price whenever a passenger wants toe to Eastern Jiujiang at night. Furthermore, I brought you here alone, and I definitely won¡¯t get any passengers on my way back to the city.¡±

    The driver was young, and he leaned on the wheel impatiently. ¡°Hurry up. Night will fall soon, and the roads will be even harder to navigate. This ce is not that safe at night.¡±

    ¡°You even know that?¡± Chen Ge studied the driver. ¡°Looks like yourpany¡¯s safety lesson to its employees is stillcking. You don¡¯t seem to recognize me.¡±

    The driver looked at Chen Ge with a frown. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want any ident to happen, then you¡¯ll charge me a fair price. You¡¯ve found the wrong person to scam today.¡± Chen Ge leaned back on the chair. ¡°After all, I¡¯m not in a hurry; I can waste my time here with you all day. However, you have to be careful¡ªEastern Jiujiang is really messy at night. Anything can happen.¡±

    The driver was familiar with the city more than normal people¡ªcabbies travelled through the city daily and knew many things notmon to others. Once Chen Ge said that, the driver¡¯s face dropped. He had run into a thug who was more shameless than he was, and to make matters worse, he knew that Chen Ge was right. Why would a man carrying a backpack go to a countryside dam at night?

    The more he studied Chen Ge, the more unsettled he was, but he did not back down. ¡°Everyone is raising their price... but fine, I¡¯ll just take twenty from you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll only give you the amount on the timer. This is for your own good, because when you spend the money earned illegally, you¡¯ll run into ghosts.¡± The two continued to argue for some time. The sky darkened. Chen Ge did not get out of the car. Instead, he pulled out arge amount of paper talismans from his bag and started to study them. He ignored the driver, who tried to reason with him.

    In the driver¡¯s eyes, Chen Ge had transformed from a bad person to a mad person. Which normal person would carry so many talismans in his bag?

    ¡°Fine, consider me unlucky today.¡± The driver relented.

    ¡°You¡¯re still young. Fix your attitude a bit. You might run into me again if you continue to drive the night shift.¡±

    After paying the fare, Chen Ge got out of the car. Chen Ge¡¯sst sentence echoed in the driver¡¯s mind, and a chill crawled up the driver¡¯s spine; he felt like he had just been cursed. He cursed under his breath like he was afraid of being overheard by Chen Ge and then drove away.

    ¡°Still young and rusty, probably not yet worn down by society. Luckily, he ran into someone like me, who has a soft temperament. This is a good thing for him.¡± Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and walked to the dam.

    Eastern Jiujiang dam was a small dam and was close to Eastern Jiujiang, so people had been visiting this ce to go swimming and fishing. However, starting from a certain period, the people had stopped visiting.

    Standing by the dam, Chen Ge took out his phone for the light. He realized that there was a sh of light not far from him. Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision to realize that there were two people fishing by the bank. One was sitting, and the other stood behind him. The one standing probably thought it was boring, so he slithered away.

    <i>I just said that this ce is deserted, but there¡¯re two fishers around.</i>

    Chen Ge wanted to find out more about the dam, so these fishers should be a good opening. He jogged toward the fisher. The fisher was fully focused and did not even turn his head. He stared at the luminous fishing bobber on the water. The night slowly swallowed up the sky, and the small pin of light was conspicuous on the surface of the water.

    Minutester, the luminous bobber submerged, and the immobile man revealed a smile. ¡°Finally, the fish has taken the bait.¡±

 Chapter 572 - Big Fish

    <h4>Chapter 572: Big Fish</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The rim of the cap covered the man¡¯s face. He held the fishing pole and sounded excited. The man suddenly said that when Chen Ge got near, and this caused Chen Ge to be alert. He stopped and used Yin Yang Vision to study the man. After confirming that he was a normal person, he sighed in relief. It seemed that he was being too cautious. Chen Ge did not interrupt the man during the important moment when he was trying to reel in the fish.

    ¡°This is going to be a big one!¡± The man used both hands to pull on the rod. The fishing line pulled taut, and he realized that he was unable to reel back the line. The man jumped up from his seat. He leaned backward and managed to slowly pull in the line.

    ¡°What have you caught?¡± Chen Ge was curious as well. The dam was not big, so there should not have been a big fish there. Then again, there might be exception. Many rivers travelled through Jiujiang, and big fish from other rivers might have be trapped in the dam.

    ¡°Do you need help?¡± Chen Ge walked to the man and spoke softly. The man was fully focused onnding the fish, and he did not reply Chen Ge. He used all of his energy, and his body slowly dragged backward. Chen Ge did not force his way through. He did not know anything about fishing, so he might ruin a good thing.

    ¡°How is such a big fish in Eastern Jiujiang Dam?¡± Chen Ge raised his phone to shine a light on the water surface. Just at the spot where the bobber submerged, he could see a shadow slowly surfacing. ¡°What is that?¡±

    The shadow was about 1.5 meters long, lean, and seemingly moving up and down. The darkness of the night and the water meant that Chen Ge had a hard time recognizing it even with his Yin Yang Vision.

    The man used every ounce of energy in his body. The fishing line was taut, and Chen Ge nudged to his side. Merely spectating for once, he was worried that the line might suddenly snap. The man and the ¡®fish¡¯ fought greatly; this was the first time that Chen Ge had gotten involved in such an exciting fishing activity.

    The stalemate continued for about ten seconds before the man started to run out of energy. He looked muscr, but he did not have the endurance. However, the man refused to give up on such a big catch. He could notnd the fish, so he continued to fight with the catch. After a while, with a whirr, the line seemed to be cut by something, and the man copsed to the ground on his butt. It was quite a serious fall.

    The big catch slithered away, and the man cursed loudly, mming the fishing rod against the ground. The fall earlier had pained him greatly. He was unable to get up for a long time, and in the end, it was Chen Ge who went to help him.

    ¡°Brother, are you alright?¡± Compared to the man, Chen Ge was more interested in the ¡®big fish¡¯ from before. ¡°What were you fishing earlier? Do we have such a big fish here in our dam?¡±

    The man¡¯s expression softened. ¡°That was the King Fish. I¡¯ve been following it for three months already.¡±

    ¡°King Fish?¡±

    This seemed to be the man¡¯s secret, and he was unwilling to share it with Chen Ge. ¡°For a dam that has a long history like this one andrgerkes ind, King Fish are not umon. They can live for a long time, and they¡¯re much biggerpared to their brethren.¡±

    ¡°Our dam also has a King Fish?¡± Chen Ge thought that was quite interesting. Eastern Jiujiang Dam had been constructed a long time ago, but the dam was just slightly bigger than a small dam.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you see it earlier?¡± The man arranged his clothes and removed his cap. The man¡¯s lips were very thin, and he looked like the type who was stingy and hard to get close to.

    ¡°Then how did you know our dam has a King Fish? Have you seen it before?¡± Chen Ge was more curious.

    ¡°I was a member of Jiujiang Fishing Association. For us fishing aficionados, catching a King Fish is a pride that willst a long time, so I¡¯ve been following relevant news.¡± Speaking of his history with the King Fish, the man sounded quite proud. ¡°I noticed the constant idents around Eastern Jiujiang Dam, and around a certain time period, the number of drownings tripled. This is very abnormal in my eyes; the dam itself hasn¡¯t changed, so it could only mean something else has entered this dam. I suspect that it could be a King Fish that has identally ended up here.¡±

    ¡°Based on your exnation, those drowning victims should have signs of being attacked. The police aren¡¯t dumb¡ªdrownings and being attacked by fish are twopletely different causes of death.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve all been tricked by the King Fish. It is different from other fish, and it¡¯s very clever. Furthermore, the reason for its murder might not be to eat the people; it merely thought it was fun, or perhaps it was for revenge.¡± The man seemed to be very familiar with fish. ¡°I¡¯ll give you an example. You should have seen what happened earlier. In other words, the King Fish¡¯s existence is proven. But the police have scoured this dam many times to look for bodies, but never have they found the King Fish. Do you know why?¡±

    ¡°There are caves inside the dam for it to hide in?¡±

    ¡°Not only that, the big fish has gotten so clever that once a ship appears on the surface, it knows that it¡¯s time to hide.¡± The man saw the disbelief on Chen Ge¡¯s face, and he coughed. He rubbed his waist and then continued. ¡°If you want to catch a King Fish, you mustn¡¯t treat it as a normal fish. You have to put his intelligence on the same level as your own or see it as a very cunning human being.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the dam and nodded subconsciously. ¡°If there¡¯s a boat on the surface, it can detect it. Therefore, there are only two ways to catch it. One is to fish it up to thend or drain the entire dam.¡±

    ¡°The government is not going to drain a whole dam for a fish. Even though the dam is not that big, the location is strategic¡ªit¡¯s right between the up and down stream.¡± The man pulled back the fishing line to check the cut.

    ¡°It can cut such a thick line? I even tested its sturdiness earlier... Hmm?¡± He touched the cut. ¡°Howe it looks like this has been bitten?¡±

    ¡°Could there be two King Fish in the dam?¡± Chen Ge walked over to get a look. He just suggested it, but it stunned the man. ¡°Maybe one was baited, and the other went to save it by biting off the fishing line. I¡¯m just rambling¡ªyou¡¯d better follow your own experience.¡±

    ¡°But that is a possibility!¡± The man looked at Chen Ge. ¡°Counting this time, I¡¯ve managed to bait it three times, and every time, I failed because the line snapped.¡±

 Chapter 573 - Fish Bait

    <h4>Chapter 573: Fish Bait</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Once or twice, it might be a coincidence, but every time? The fisher thought that something was amiss.

    ¡°But can you be sure that they are King Fishes? Is the dam enough to support tworge fish?¡± From Chen Ge¡¯s perspective, it was already the dam¡¯s limit to keep onerge fish.

    ¡°The water system in Jiujiang isplicated, and upstream of this dam is connected to manyrge rivers. When they were building this dam, people even discovered an underground stream, so there shouldn¡¯t be ack of food.¡± The man hesitated before adding, ¡°This ce used to be a very famous mass grave. Those without money would send the dead down the river, so this ce not only had many big fishes, but they were also feral, and records of injury were fairly often.¡±

    ¡°They feed on people...¡±

    ¡°That was a very long time ago, and things have improved a lot.¡± The man picked up the fishing rod and silently closed the cover of therge red bucket that was next to it.

    ¡°What¡¯s inside that?¡±

    ¡°Fish bait, my own recipe. It¡¯s the reason that the King Fish take my bait.¡± The man stood beside the bucket and shone the shlight on the water surface. ¡°The King Fish is very clever. After the scare today, it probably won¡¯t show up for several weeks. Such a shame.¡±

    When the man spoke, Chen Ge kept staring at the water bucket. The man did not use store bought bait, and it was radiating a very strange smell. Locking the bucket, the man picked up everything and started to walk toward a small hut next to the dam.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Chen Ge followed behind him. He felt that he could get more valuable clues from this man.

    ¡°You see those shiny dots on the water? The King Fish did not drag the luminous bobber down into the water, so I n to haul them back. The bobbers are quite expensive.¡± Knocking on the door, after some time, an honest-looking man pulled the door open. This was the man who had been standing behind the fisher earlier. He was not tall, only 1.6 meters. His skin was dark probably because he worked under the sun.

    ¡°Going back already? You¡¯re so early today. Don¡¯t you normally fish until 2 or 3 am?¡± The man¡¯s name was written on his name tag, Zhang Dabo, a worker at the dam.

    The fisher took the opportunity to gloat, and he purposely lowered his voice and even gestured. ¡°You¡¯re unlucky. Once you left, the King Fish took the bait. If you don¡¯t believe me, ask this young man. I almost caught the King Fish.¡±

    ¡°The King Fish took the bait?¡± The man was surprised.

    ¡°It did. I was also there.¡± Chen Ge vouched for the fisher.

    ¡°If it took the bait, why did you let it go?¡± Zhang Dabo looked at the fisher. ¡°What was the problem this time?¡±

    ¡°The fishing line was cut. Just now I discussed it with this young man, and we believed there¡¯s more than one big fish in the dam.¡±

    ¡°More than one? I¡¯ll need to report this to my superior.¡± Zhang Dabo was even more surprised. It was his job to look after the dam. If there was trash on the water, he would use his boat to fish it out, so when he first heard about the King Fish in the dam, he had been first worried about his personal safety. Eastern Jiujiang Dam was incredibly isted, and he often would not even see another person¡¯s shadow for quite some time. He looked after this ce alone, and it was normal for him to feel afraid.

    ¡°What¡¯s the point of that? They won¡¯t drain the whole dam unless there¡¯s actual proof that the King Fish has killed someone.¡± The fisher shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not going to waste time talking. Lend me your boat, I want to get back my bobbers.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you wait until daylight? You just angered the King Fish, and if you go into theke now, it will definitelye for you.¡± Zhang Dabo looked at the dark water surface and felt like the King Fish was just waiting for them.

    ¡°Wear the life jacket and prepare the fish spear. If the King Fish dares show up, we¡¯ll resolve this issue once and for all. I¡¯ve fished it three times, but I¡¯ve never once seen what it looks like. Then again, there are few species of fish that can grow so big in Jiujiang.¡±

    ¡°You sure you want to go?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already told you, the longer the life of a fish, the more it will value its life. It has probably sunk to the bottom of the water.¡± The fisher narrowed his eyes at the key that was around Zhang Dabo¡¯s waist. ¡°The King Fish is clever, but it is ultimately a fish. We cannot underestimate it, but there¡¯s no need to overestimate it either, or else what¡¯s the difference between us and the people from the past who prayed to the river god?¡±

    ¡°I know you¡¯re familiar with King Fish, but there¡¯s no need to risk your life on a theory.¡± Zhang Dabo was very afraid.

    ¡°My luminous bobbers are custom-made; they¡¯re not cheap. They¡¯re also painted with bait that was used to attract the King Fish. If I wait until daylight, they will have disappeared already. Furthermore, they are just eight meters away from the bank; it won¡¯t take more than several minutes.¡±

    ¡°If you want to go, go on your own. I¡¯m not going.¡± Zhang Dabo removed the keys and handed them to the fisher. After getting the key, the fisher hesitated.

    His hesitation made Chen Ge suspicious. A bobber, no matter how expensive it was, would not be more expensive than a human life, right? Did the fisherman really not care about the King Fish¡¯s threat? Or was there some secret about that bobber? Was he worried that they would be hauled away by others the next day?

    The sky was darkening, and it would only get more dangerous. The fisher looked at the bobbers and decided to get them in the end. He walked to the back of the hut with the key alone and took out the paddle, fish spear, and rope.

    ¡°This man sure has lost his mind.¡± Zhang Dabo talked to himself. He prepared to stop the man. After all, if anything happened to the fisher on his watch, he would be responsible.

    ¡°Brother, I see that you two have quite a good rtionship...¡±

    Chen Ge reached out to grab Zhang Dabo¡¯s shoulders, but before he could finish, the man countered. ¡°Who has a good rtionship with him? The man is hard to deal with. If the King Fish did not only take his bait, I wouldn¡¯t have cared about him.¡±

    ¡°Then why would the King Fish only take his bait? What is so special about his bait?¡±

    ¡°I know what you want to ask¡ªmany fishers havee to ask me what kind of bait he¡¯s using, but I don¡¯t know! This man is very secretive, and he onlyes to fish at night. Whenever he wants to use the bait, he hides it well. Until now, no one has been able to understand why, but now that you mention it, it¡¯s quite weird. The King Fish won¡¯t take other people¡¯s bait, only his.¡±

    ¡°Then there should be something special about the bait.¡± Chen Ge and Zhang Dabo walked to the fisher.

    When he saw them approach, he immediately grabbed the bucket and the other bunch of stuff. ¡°Why are you two doing here?¡±

    ¡°How about you just let it go? It¡¯s too dangerous for you to go now,¡± Zhang Dabo advised, but the fisher ignored him. He tied the rope to the front of the boat and then ced the bucket with the bait and the fishing spear into the worker¡¯s small boat.

 Chapter 574 - Deep Water

    <h4>Chapter 574: Deep Water</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The fisher was not dumb. To prevent an ident from happening, he tied the rope to the boat. If there was a problem, the people on the bank could pull the boat back. ¡°You two stay at the bank. If I raise arge light, start pulling the rope.¡±

    He turned on the fishing light that he carried with him. With a deep breath, he jumped into the boat. The water was dark, and no one could see what was hiding underneath it.

    The body rocked with the boat. The fisher sat down slowly, ced the fishing spear within arm¡¯s reach, and held the light between his legs. Then, he picked up the paddles.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to do this?¡± Zhang Dabo watched over the rope, worried that this might be a one-way trip for the fisher. If the fisher ended up being fish food, that would truly be a sad ending.

    ¡°Some fish will be more active at night, and the King Fish only takes the bait at night, so it means that it is this type of fish. Dragging this out will only make the situation more dangerous.¡± The fisher forced himself to calm down. He held the paddles with both hands and slowly edged away from the bank.

    ¡°This guy sure is seeking death.¡± Chen Ge rarely had thatments for others. He was not good with water, so if it was him, he definitely would not have picked this time to get the bobber. He was not afraid of ghosts, but looking at the rippling water, he had an indescribable fear.

    This was an instinct. There was a voice in his mind reminding him that there was something hiding in the water and the dam was dangerous, so he had better stay away. The fisher drifted away from them, and unfortunately, the bobber was carried away by the current deeper into theke. Initially, it was only eight meters away from the bank, but now, it was more than ten meters away.

    The fisher sat facing away from them. He put down his concern and focused on paddling. The boat slowly moved to the bobber. The dam was eerily quiet. On the bank, Chen Ge and Zhang Dabo watched the fisher with bated breath. Both of them had seen the King Fish; they knew that there was a monster in the dam.

    Night had fallen, but there were no stars in the sky. The sky was covered up by clouds, and the water in the dam was equally dark. The sky and the water were like an open maw, and the fisher was slowly moving into said maw.

    ¡°Almost there.¡± Sitting on the boat, the fisher kept his eyes on the luminous bobber. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to not look around. ¡°It should be fine; the King Fish was spooked, so it will avoid the boat. Before, when the police came to salvage the bodies, it avoided them.¡±

    The fisher convinced himself internally as his hands moved faster.

    The surroundings were too quiet. The only sound was that of the paddles hitting the water, but that sound made the fisher strangely agitated.

    ¡°The bobber looks like it¡¯s still floating forward. This current is not beneficial to me, but thankfully, the rope is long. I only need to collect it before the rope is pulled taut.¡± The rope was tied to the rope on one end and the pier on the other¡ªit was like a lifeline.

    Probably due to the current, the distance between the man and the bobber did not close. The boat moved further away, and slowly, Zhang Dabo realized that something was wrong. ¡°He¡¯s already more than ten meters away from us, but the longest rope inside my storage is only ten meters long. Did he tie several ropes together?¡±

    Zhang Dabo pulled on the rope that was sinking into the water with confusion. He pulled on it, and there was not much resistance.

    ¡°Not good!¡± he screamed while pulling. He realized that the end of the rope had been cut!

    ¡°Come back now! The rope has been bitten off!¡± Zhang Dabo panicked and yelled at the fisher. Chen Ge did not expect this development. He looked like at the end of the rope. It was uneven, and it did not look like it had been cut by knife but felt more like it was bitten off by something.

    ¡°To be able to bite through the rope in such a short amount of time, this King Fish is not weak.¡± Chen Ge touched the edge of the rope. Probably because it was soaked in water, it gave off a weak fishy stench. He examined the cut closer and realized that there were many bite marks around the rope edges.

    ¡°This doesn¡¯t look like it was bitten off by one fish but by a school of fish.¡± Chen Ge felt that the bite marks were weird, but he could not put his finger on it. Zhang Dabo was still calling for the fisher¡¯s attention, but the man did not seem to hear it.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with him?¡±

    Just as Zhang Dabo was all flustered, the fisher finally reached the luminous bobber.

    ¡°Two meters left!¡±

    The fisher was facing away from them, and he did not turn back. In his mind, the rope connected his boat and the pier, so when the rope was pulled taut, it would stop the boat from moving forward. Since he could continue moving forward, it meant that he was less than ten meters away from the bank.

    ¡°Come back!¡±

    There was some noiseing from behind him, but the fisher ignored it. He kept his eyes on the bobber.

    One meter left.

    He leaned toward the front of the boat and raised the fishing light. The light shone on the water. It was then that he realized that the bobber was still moving forward, and the way that it was floating was different to the natural current. In fact, it felt like something was holding the bobber from below the surface and pulling it forward.

    The fisher looked at the bobber, and he had a strange thought in his mind. Was the bobber being used by the King Fish to bait him? The custom-made bobber was right before his eyes¡ªthe man did not hesitate and raised the fishing light. The light cut through the water, but there was nothing around the bobber.

    ¡°Just a fright for nothing.¡±

    The man held the light in one hand and used his other to reach for the water. Just as he was about to reach the bobber, the water around the boat started to bubble and rock. Then, with the shine from the light, the man discovered a shadow right beneath the bobber charging up at an impossible speed!

    The King Fish!

    The fisher ignored the bobber and went to grab the fish spear, but when he got the spear, the shadow in the water disappeared again. ¡°Where did it go?¡±

    Before he could catch his breath, the small boat shook like something was trying to topple the boat.

    ¡°It¡¯s under the boat!¡± The fisher squatted down to lower his center of gravity. The light that had been left by the front of the boat tipped and slid into the water. ¡°F*ck!¡±

    The man saw the light drop into the water. Without hesitation, he grabbed the luminous bobber from the water and turned back to the bank. ¡°Quick! Pull me back!¡±

    When he turned around, he realized that he had already floated a very long way from the bank. The bobber that he held in his hand was connected to the fishing line and the line was tangled with ck hair that was reeking with a horrible stench.

 Chapter 575 - Too Much

    <h4>Chapter 575: Too Much</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Hair?¡±

    Why would there be hair on the fishing line? The man had been fishing for decades, and this was the first time that he hade across something like this. At the time, his mind was nk. His eyes looked downward, wanting to work out if it was hair or just water grass.

    The fishing light slowly sank. The light caught a shadow moving upward in the water. He did not get a close look, but he could roughly make out its shadow. It had no fins or tail, but it appeared to have limbs.

    ¡°A person?¡± When this thought filled up his mind, the boat was knocked into again, throwing the man into full panic mode. He took out his knife to cut the fishing line loose and started to paddle to the bank like crazy.

    ¡°Pull me back! Quick!¡± He paddled violently, but the boat did not budge. The ck hair started to crawl onto the boat. ¡°What are these things?¡±

    Not only did the boat not move toward the bank, it was slowly pulled toward the center of the bank. The fisher was panicking¡ªhe grabbed the bucket that was filled with his special bait and scattered the bait faraway. In the end, he even tossed the bucket as far as he could.

    No one knew what the bait was, but strangely enough, after the bait was tossed out, the ck hair on the boat slithered away, and the ck shadow rushed toward the spot where the bait had dropped.

    ¡°I¡¯m saved?¡± The man grabbed the paddles and moved toward the bank. When he turned his head back, he saw something that he would never forget. Just breaking the surface, spools of water grass-like objects rushed toward the bait that he had dropped.

    ¡°So... so many of them...¡± His arms were cold, and his body shivered. The man did not dare turn back again. He gripped the paddles tightly and rowed to the bank. ¡°Save me, save me!¡±

    The thing under the water was distracted by the man¡¯s bait and temporarily ignoring him. Using this opening, the man managed to escape. He rushed to the bank and almost tripped as he tried to get off the boat. The fisher was covered in cold sweat. He sat far away from the bank and gasped greedily for air.

    ¡°You saw the King Fish?¡± Zhang Dabo was shocked by the man¡¯s reaction and immediately ran to the fisher¡¯s side. The man waved his hands frantically. His quivering lips were pale, and he could barely finish a coherent sentence.

    ¡°What did you say? Didn¡¯t you say you were going to catch the King Fish with the spear earlier? Why didn¡¯t you do that?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no King Fish. The thing under the boat was no fish!¡± The fisher¡¯s voice came and went, interspersed with his breathing.

    ¡°Not a fish? Then what is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a person! A person!¡± the emotionally unstable fisher screamed. When hemunicated with Zhang Dabo, Chen Ge turned on the shlight on his phone and shone it at the small boat. The custom-made bobber was lying at the corner of the boat. The bobber was muchrger than a normal bobber, and Chen Ge walked toward it curiously.

    He saw something nk and long like hair stuck to the side of the boat. Chen Ge was courageous; something had just happened inside the dam, yet he still dared to stand by the water. Looking out into the water, no one knew what kind of creepy monster hid inside it.

    Chen Ge narrowed his eyes and reached into the cold water to grab the rope. He pulled the boat up the bank and fixed it to the pier. He noticed that the fisher was still in his frantic mode, and Zhang Dabo was not paying him any attention.

    <i>This is my chance.</i>

    As he activated the recorder, Chen Ge jumped into the boat, rocking it.

    He quickly grabbed the bobber, which did not look much different from the ones on the market other than its size. It was much bigger.

    <i>The surface is very slippery, and there¡¯s ayer of oil on it. Wait, there¡¯s a line down the middle. This can be opened.</i>

    Chen Ge squeezed the bobber and twisted it open. A stench drifted out. This, he did not expect. There was a pinkie stuck inside the bobber! The flesh had already decayed, and there was no corpse spot, so it was impossible to tell when the finger had been chopped off.

    <i>The bobber is hiding a human finger, then what is his bait actually made of?</i>

    Why the ¡®King Fish¡¯ would be interested in this man¡¯s bait was apparent to Chen Ge. Using the cloth on the boat, Chen Ge wiped his fingerprints off the bobber and put it back.

    Then he jumped back from the boat and walked toward the fisher with disgust on his face. When he moved, the expression on his face slowly changed. By the time Chen Ge reached the man, his expression had returned to normal.

    The fisher had been given the scare of his life. He held onto Zhang Dabo¡¯s shoulder and started to mumble, ¡°Person! Like seaweed, floating to the surface in clumps!¡±

    The fisher¡¯s reaction was simr to those visitors who visited his Haunted House with malintent. Chen Ge gave this diagnosis after a nce. ¡°Should we send him to the hospital? Perhaps something is wrong with his mind.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Zhang Dabo dragged the man from the ground, but the man pushed him away.

    ¡°I¡¯m not lying to you! That is not King Fish! It¡¯s a person!¡±

    ¡°The King Fish has transformed into a person?¡± Zhang Dabo chuckled weakly. ¡°Calm down, we¡¯ll go to the hospital first.¡±

    ¡°What hospital? I¡¯m not sick!¡± The man pushed Zhang Dabo away. He was suddenly reminded of something and rushed to the bank. With some hesitation, he jumped into the boat.

    ¡°What are you doing now?¡± Zhang Dabo was worried about the man¡¯s safety, so he ran after him. When he arrived, the fisher had already gotten off the boat again. He ced that custom-made bobber in his pocket.

    ¡°You¡¯re still worried about that bobber at a time like this? Is your life more important or that bobber?¡±

    The fisher ignored Zhang Dabo. After getting the bobber, he ran away from the dam. No matter how hard Zhang Dabo called, the man did not look back.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t he want the fishing rod anymore? But surely this rod is even more expensive than that bobber.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps there¡¯s some secret inside that bobber.¡± Chen Ge nudged Zhang Dabo away from the water. ¡°Brother, do you know that man¡¯s name and address?¡±

    ¡°You want to go find him?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m also a fishing aficionado. I wish to exchange some information with him, and I can also return the fishing rod.¡±

    ¡°His name is Yu Qingjia. A strange fe, that one. After the divorce with his wife, he¡¯s been living in Eastern Jiujiang alone. I have no exact address, but I know that it¡¯s not far from the dam.¡±

    After getting the valuable information, Chen Ge grabbed the rod and chased after the man.

    Zhang Dabo looked at Chen Ge, who had disappeared into the darkness, and he scratched his head. ¡°These people are all so weird. He¡¯s not just finding an excuse to steal the fishing rod, is he?¡±

    Chen Ge had good stamina. He held the rod and tailed the man from a fixed distance.

    He suspected that the man was rted to a murder. He needed to find out more, and other than that, he wanted to know what the man had seen in the dam.

 Chapter 576 - I Need an Underwater Ghost [2 in 1]

    Chapter 576: I Need an Underwater Ghost [2 in 1]

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    Since obtaining the ck phone, Chen Ge had also developed many new skills that technically had nothing to do with operating a Haunted House, skills like tailing someone and surveince.

    He held the fishing rod and followed the fisher from a distance. The fisher had been too shocked at the dam and jogged all the way home, not noticing Chen Ge that was following him.

    There were a few houses that were not far from the dam, and they looked rather old and decrepit. The fisher stopped at one of the houses. He looked around and took out a key. He acted extremely suspiciously before slipping through the door.

    He sure runs fast. Chen Ge waited until the man got into the house before walking over. He leaned against the door and looked into the ce through the gap. The house was much bigger than he had expected, and it came with its own courtyard.

    Should I knock on the door to say I¡¯m here to return his fishing rod, or should I just jump over the fence?

    When Chen Ge was still hesitating, there was a sound that came from inside the house. Chen Ge¡¯s pupils narrowed, and he continued to look through the gap. The fisher was kneeling before his own fridge. His hands were ced on the ground, and he kept mumbling something under his breath. It sounded like he was begging for forgiveness from someone.

    Did he suffer some kind of trauma at the dam? Why is he crying before the fridge? Is the victim stored inside the fridge?

    What happened next indirectly confirmed Chen Ge¡¯s spection. The fisher confessed his guilt to the fridge. He bowed and knocked his forehead against the ground. The dust and tears dirtied his face. This continued for another ten minutes before the man calmed down. He used the sleeves to wipe at his face and then got a shovel from inside the house.

    What is he nning to do?

    Chen Ge could see clearly even though he was outside the house. The fisher did not stop to take a break and started to dig arge hole in the courtyard.

    Digging a hole? To hide the body?

    Once more, Chen Ge guessed correctly; the fisher opened the fridge and pulled out severalrge ck bags from it. His arms were shaking, and then he knelt several times at the ck stic bags before tossing them into the hole.

    ¡°I will not fish anymore in my life. From now on, every year, I will burn paper money for all of you. No matter how much you need, I will burn it.¡± The man mumbled strange words. He picked up the shovel and nned to cover up the hole that he had dug.

    Chen Ge knew that he could not wait any longer, or else he wouldter need to use his own hands to open up this hole that the man would have covered.

    ¡°Is someone there?¡± Chen Ge knocked on the door. This sudden announcement spooked the fisher so much that he trembled and fell into the hole that he had dug. Cold sweat appeared on his face instantly.

    ¡°I¡¯m the guy who was standing next to you at the dam earlier. You forgot to take your fishing rod, and the worker there asked me to bring it back to you.¡± Chen Ge stared at the man through the gap in the door. ¡°Brother, are you okay? You look exhausted. Do you need me to call the emergency number for you?¡±

    Once he heard that Chen Ge was about to call the emergency number, the man started to panic. He struggled to climb out from the hole. ¡°There¡¯s no need. You can just leave the fishing rod at the door. I¡¯ll get itter, okay?¡±

    ¡°Brother, from your voice, you don¡¯t sound so well! Are you sure that everything is okay in there?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine! I¡¯m really fine! Just put down the fishing rod and leave!¡± The man was so agitated that his face was covered with sweat. He screamed, and at the same time, he pushed the mound of dirt into the hole madly.

    ¡°I cannot leave¡ªyou don¡¯t sound well. Why don¡¯t you open the door for me to take a look? If you are really fine, then I will go.¡± Chen Ge refused to budge from the door, and the fisher felt like cursing him out already.

    Why am I so unlucky to run into someone like this?

    He hurriedly used the dirt to cover up the ck stic bags and then he opened the door a sliver while he was still catching his breath. ¡°I¡¯m fine. Now give me the fishing rod.¡±

    ¡°But you don¡¯t look so well.¡±

    ¡°Give me the fishing rod! Give it to me!¡± The man was almost forced into a corner. He roared, and probably due to that violent action, when his body shook, the bobber in his pocket fell out. The custom-made luminous bobber toppled to the ground. When Chen Ge worked with it earlier, he did not twist it tight, so the small piece of finger tumbled out.

    The fisher acted much faster than Chen Ge. He used his body to block Chen Ge¡¯s sight.

    ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡°You saw my secret. It is just ham¡ªthat¡¯s my secret ingredient.¡± The fisher fixed the bobber. He suddenly became incredibly calm. His earlier agitation disappearedpletely, and he even turned to smile at Chen Ge. However, this was a forced smile, andbined with that pair of eyes that obviously was plotting something, it made Chen Ge feel slightly ufortable.

    ¡°My fishing rod is actually also custom-made, very expensive. Thank you for bringing it back to me. How about youe in and take a seat?¡± The man was adjusting his breath, and his tone sounded quite weird.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge appeared honest and gullible. He looked like he would not harm anymore. Chen Ge silently pressed a button on the recorder inside his bag and walked into the house. The big hole in the courtyard had not beenpletely filled, and there was dirt everywhere.

    ¡°I n to nt some vegetables here, so I was tilling the ground earlier.¡± The man suddenly became so friendly. ¡°Why don¡¯t youe into the house and have a seat? I caught several river fish earlier in the day. Since you¡¯re here, you should stay to try my cooking.¡±

    Chen Ge walked into the room without showing any guardedness. When he walked through the door, the man who followed behind him silently locked the door and then raised the shovel in his hands. The smile on his face disappearedpletely, and his eyes were filled with hatred and resentment. He focused on the back of Chen Ge¡¯s head. He looked for the perfect opportunity to ambush Chen Ge from behind.

    However, before he found that chance, the man before him suddenly removed his backpack. Then, without warning and without reason, he used the backpack to swing at his face. This was too sudden, and his n waspletely interrupted.

    The backpack hit him right on the bridge of his nose. The man¡¯s sight was blocked. Before he had time to recover, there was an intense paining from his stomach. It felt like he had been kicked roughly. His body knocked into the door, and the shovel fell from his hands. Before he realized what was happening, pain started to radiate from all parts of his body.

    Someone was assaulting him¡ªthe truth shed across his mind. He was confused, and for a moment, he even felt wronged.

    ¡°Stop! Stop kicking me! What the f*ck!¡± He used his hands to shield his head. The shovel had been kicked away, and the man writhed on the ground. However, his attacker did not seem like he was going to stop any time soon. He was beaten up for several minutes. It was not until the man felt tired that the pain on his body disappeared.

    His body was covered in bruises. The fisher copsed in the corner of the living room, and he looked at Chen Ge with fear and caution. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? Why did you assault me?¡±

    ¡°Because you wanted to kill me.¡± Chen Ge picked up the shovel from the ground and sat on the sofa.

    ¡°Which one of your eyes saw that I want to kill you?¡±

    ¡°I can see that intention from your eyes.¡± Chen Ge did not waste time to argue with the man. ¡°I will ask you a few questions, and you¡¯d better answer them honestly.¡±

    ¡°You followed me here just to ask me a few questions?¡±

    ¡°First, what did you see at the dam?¡± Chen Ge asked directly, he did not want to waste time.

    ¡°There is no King Fish in the water,¡± the man answered after a moment¡¯s hesitation. ¡°I saw a person.¡±

    ¡°A person?¡±

    ¡°Yes, with four limbs and hair.¡± The terror was overflowing out of the man¡¯s eyes. ¡°There was more than one. When I dropped the bait into the water, there were many simr things underwater that were rushing to the surface.¡±

    ¡°Many of them.¡± Chen Ge nodded. ¡°Second question, I already know what kind of bait you¡¯re using. Tell me, why would you use that as your bait, and how did you know that they like this kind of bait?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you are talking about.¡± The fisher was still trying to deny it.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine if you do not want to answer that question. The police will ask for more details than I do. Third question, have you been to Li Wan City before, and did you take thest bus on Route 104?¡±

    Bury seed was rted to the ghost fetus, and the water ghost at Eastern Jiujiang Dam was rted to Bury seed, so Chen Ge wanted to see whether the fisher had gone fishing for a water ghost. Was it just a hobby, or did he have another motive?

    ¡°Li Wan City?¡± The man looked confused. It seemed genuine, so he was probably not rted to the culprit at Lin Wan City. After asking a few more questions, Chen Ge directly called the police. ¡°As for the rest of the story, I¡¯ll leave you to inform the police.¡±

    Twenty minutester, the officers from Eastern Jiujiang Police Station who received the call rushed to the scene. ¡°You shoulde back to the station with us.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for that trouble. I suggest that you learn a bit from the Western Jiujiang station, and everything should be as simple as it can be. In the future, we will have a lot more opportunities to see each other.¡± After providing a simple written statement, Chen Ge also found out the fisher¡¯s criminal process from the police.

    The body that was in his courtyard hade from Ming Yang Residence. This man¡¯s personality was a bit twisted. A few weeks ago, he had gotten into an altercation with a homeless person on his way home. He had identally injured the man, and the homeless person swore to take revenge to make his life as miserable as possible.

    After a few more conflicts, the fisher confirmed the homeless man¡¯s address after following him home. Then, he went to the abandoned Ming Yang Residence to kill the man. When he tried to dump the body at night, the fisher noticed a shadow about one meter long surfacing in the water at the dam, and that was when he realized that there was a ¡®King Fish¡¯ in Eastern Jiujiang Dam.

    Chen Ge had already gotten the information he wanted, so he left the fisher¡¯s home and called a taxi to get back to New Century Park.

    The mission rted to the girl on the ck phone still has not been triggered, but at least I can confirm that it is rted to the water ghost. Her sister is most likely one of the ¡®King Fishes¡¯ in the dam.

    This two-star mission was harder than Chen Ge imagined. The water ghost was hiding inside the dam, if he was not careful, he might be dragged down into the depth and this waspletely different from a fight on the ground.

    I wonder if Xu Yin¡¯s power will be affected when he is submerged under water.

    Chen Ge carried the backpack and stopped at the water attraction at the park before activating the recorder. A light smell of blood suffused the night breeze. In his red shirt, Xu Yin materialized next to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Still haven¡¯t found your heart?¡± Chen Ge could always see a sh of sadness on Xu Yin¡¯s face. Until now, he had not figured what Xu Yin was looking for¡ªall he could do was hope that Xu Yin would even find his happiness. He ordered Xu Yin to get into the pool, and after the water flowed over his body, Chen Ge realized that his connection to Xu Yin drastically weakened. Xu Yin¡¯s power was also affected to a certain degree.

    Since something like this happens in a normal pool, if we really jump into the dam, the problem will be much bigger. I have to keep Xu Yin around, so now I desperately need a ghost who can submerge into the water.

    Entering the Haunted House, Chen Ge took out hisic to consider the ghosts that were avable to him. Yan Danian, the boy with the stench, Bai Qiulin... After going through the list of ghosts, Chen Ge suddenly realized that he had a ghost that had very little presence.

    He grabbed his bag and rushed into the Coffin Vige scenario and pushed open the door to an old house. There were two parasol trees growing nted in the courtyard. Next to one of the trees was arge water vat.

    ¡°I already have a ghost living in water in my Haunted House!¡± Chen Ge walked up to the water vat, and he could see something ball-like floating in the water. When Chen Ge got closer, the ball slowly submerged into the water, and a trail of bubbles remained on the surface.

    This was a ghost that Chen Ge had brought out from Coffin Vige. It seemed to be called Vat Ghost, and it had been hiding inside the vat. Normally, it would bring plenty of screams to the visitors as well.

    ¡°The Haunted House has been really kind to you, and today, it is time for you to repay your benefactor.¡± Chen Ge and Xu Yin stood on opposite sides of the vat. They looked at the ghost who was hiding at the bottom of the vat. The ghost was hugging his knees and blowing out bubbles, shaking his head.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to face an extremely terrifying water ghost¡ªyou can¡¯t be so cowardly.¡± Chen Ge had Xu Yin haul the ghost out from the water and summoned other ghosts to give the Vat Ghost intensive training.

    ¡°I don¡¯t ask that you need to be able to kill everyone, but you have to be able to escape quickly at least. After finishing the investigation,e and bring me the news.¡±

 Chapter 577 - Water Bottle [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 577: Water Bottle [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The training for the Vat Ghost mainly focused on evasion, endurance, and speed. Chen Ge did not need the Vat Ghost to have a high attack power¡ªhe only wished that the ghost would be able to return with its life intact after it got the necessary information.

    ¡°I¡¯ll depend on all of you to teach it the right things.¡± Chen Ge closed the door that headed to the underground scenario and returned to the staff breakroom to take a much deserved rest. He looked at his phone and discovered that he had several unread messages. Most of them came from Wen Wen¡¯s aunt, and a few of them came from Xu Wan.

    Most of the messages were asking Chen Ge for his location. When Wen Wen¡¯s aunt came to the New Century Park after her working hour, she had found that the father and daughter had been taken away by Chen Ge already. One could understand that she was a little bit worried.

    ¡°The woman did not call me after the string of messages. This probably means that she was able to confirm the pair of father and daughter¡¯s safety.¡±

    After thinking about it for a while, Chen Ge felt that it was better if he sent the woman a reply. Probably because it was already sote, the woman did not respond.

    ¡°Nothing happened to her, right?¡± Chen Ge shook his head and felt like he had been a bit too sensitivetely. If anyone that talked to him would be caught in some idents, then his world would be a very chaotic ce. He ced his phone on the bedside table and then took out the ck phone to look at the list of daily mission.

    ¡°Repair, promote, and expand. The mission with normal difficulty does not mean much to me. If there is a Nightmare Mission, I might consider it.¡±

    Lying down, Chen Ge picked up Xiaoxiao and the white cat and snuggled in bed with them. He pulled up the cover and decided to have an early sleep that night.

    ¡°Hopefully by tomorrow morning, the Vat Ghost will be able to give me a surprise.¡±

    Chen Ge did not n to drag it on any longer. The following night, he nned to finish the Twin Water Ghost mission. ¡°An underwater scary scenario. Probably even those horror house designers from overseas would not dare attempt something this daring. This should be a first for any haunted house operator.¡±

    Hugging the white cat¡¯s fuzzy head, Chen Ge slowly drifted to sleep. At around 5 am, before the sun even came up from the horizon, Chen Ge woke up. His limbs were stone cold, but the man did not feel any semnce of difort.

    ¡°My body temperature is still dropping, but it is not as obvious as before.¡± He did not sleep for that long, but Chen Ge felt reenergized and refreshed. ¡°Theter it is, the more energized I be. My need for sleep is also slowly dropping. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?¡±

    Chen Ge was not a singr entity anymore. If he copsed, then the ghosts at his Haunted House would lose their home as well. ¡°I cannot abandon these poor souls; they will have nowhere else to go. Then again, there is nothing else I can do for now. I hope the tragedy that happened to the olddy in Coffin Vige will not replicate itself here.¡±

    Putting on his clothes, Chen Ge entered the underground scenario. When he entered the Coffin Vige, what he saw surprised him. The Vat Ghost was using a speed that did not fit his appearance to evade thebined attacks from Xu Yin and Bai Qiulin. He always managed to evade the attacks from the two with an impossible twist of his body before the attacks were able to connect.

    ¡°The man seems to possess an agility that is higher than we expected since he spent a long time living in water. He is like a slippery eel that is very hard to catch.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue stood to the side. They watched the scene while giving theirments. Further away was a group of mannequins in student outfits who were there just to enjoy the show.

    ¡°That is an interestingparison, but it looks like the special training has been very sessful. This Vat Ghost is one with great potential.¡± Chen Ge summoned back Xu Yin and Bai Qiulin. He led the Vat Ghost out of the Haunted House and ced it in theme park¡¯s water attraction.

    Once his body gained contact with the water, the Vat Ghost¡¯s speed increased once more. His speed was very fast, but the expression on his face was like before. It seemed like he was reminiscing about the days when he was just a ghost hiding at the bottom of the vat and his only responsibility was to blow bubbles.

    ¡°When this Trial Mission is over, you don¡¯t need to squeeze yourself inside that small vat anymore. I will find you arge pond.¡± Chen Ge was very satisfied with the transformation of the Vat Ghost. He was worried that the sun might injure the ghost, so after a brief observation, he sent the Vat Ghost into theic. ¡°Now I have another trump card.¡±

    At 8:20 am, Director Luo and Uncle Xu arrived at the theme park earlier than usual. There were two men in suits following them.

    ¡°Xiao Chen, let me make some introductions. This is my former business partner; we used to go to the same university. He is CEO Bai from the Chaohai Organization. The update to our theme park¡¯s facilities will be a joint project with theirpany.¡± Director Luo sounded bright, but Chen Ge noticed that when he introduced the man, his eyes were very calm, and there was not one ripple of happiness. If anything, there was a very well-hidden trace of caution.

    ¡°Old friend, this is the mastermind behind our theme park¡¯s Haunted House, Chen Ge.¡± Director Luo then managed the introduction to CEO Bai.

    ¡°You are that Chen Ge?¡± CEO Bai looked Chen Ge up and down and then nodded kindly. ¡°To be able to keep such arge Haunted House running alone and thene up with so many detailed scary scenarios, that¡¯s amazing. I¡¯m really impressed.¡± He extended his hand toward Chen Ge. ¡°If there is an opportunity, perhaps we can consider a cooperation between us as well.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the man¡¯s face and thought that he looked very familiar. He thought about it for a long time, and then it hit him. He had once seen a picture on the engineer¡¯s phone from the futuristic park. It was the picture of a meeting, and one of the people in the picture was CEO Bai.

    Why would someone who had dealings with the futuristic theme parke to work together with the New Century Park?

    With confusion in his eyes, Chen Ge silently moved his eyes to look at Director Luo. Thetter understood the meaning in his eyes. He lowered his palm and then pointed at himself. He was telling Chen Ge that he knew about these things, and he would be able to handle everything.

    Director Luo was a sessful businessman. Chen Ge decided to leave such matters to the businessmen and did not say anything. He knew that Director Luo had his own n. He probably wanted to earn benefits from the man and, at the same time, stop the man¡¯s wicked n from seeding.

    <i>Hopefully, everything can be pulled off sessfully.</i>

    After sending them away, Chen Ge could sense some desperation from Director Luo. If not for the pressure from the futuristic theme park, he probably would not have taken such a risky step.

    <i>Looks like I have to increase my speed. I should focus onpleting the few missions in Eastern Jiujiang first. If there is any party that dares stand in our way, I¡¯ll just feed them to Zhang Ya or Bai Qiulin.</i>

    After two days of rxation, Chen Ge felt like he had to do something already.

    At 9 am, the theme park opened, and a new day began.

    ...

    Inside the corridor of a particr building in Eastern Jiujiang, Wen Wen¡¯s hands were tightly gripping the room door, and she cried loudly. Herrge eyes were filled with tears, and the scene looked rather sad.

    ¡°I¡¯ve fulfilled my part of the promise to let you go to theme park, and now it is your time to fulfill your part of the promise and go to school like an obedient girl.¡±

    The woman in the office clothing squatted next to Wen Wen. She tried to pry Wen Wen away from the door, but the girl gripped the door and was unwilling to let go.

    Even though Wen Wen¡¯s father suffered from a mental illness and his intelligence was much lower than normal, for a father that cared deeply about his daughter, this was more like the instinct of an animal. He fidgeted in his seat and wanted to stop Wen Wen¡¯s aunt.

    ¡°Brother, I also love Wen Wen, but if you do not want her to turn out like you in the future, you have to let her go to school!¡± The woman¡¯s words were sharp, and they plunged right into the man¡¯s heart.

    The biggest worry for this father was that his daughter would end up like him when she grew up. He stopped moving, no longer debating saving the little girl.

    ¡°I am only doing this for your sake. There wille a day when I am old. Wen Wen, if you have no power to take care of yourself, then what will happen to the two of you when I¡¯m old?¡± Wen Wen¡¯s aunt picked up the little girl, grabbed the school bag that was on the ground, and forcibly dragged her downstairs.

    ¡°When you¡¯re at school, you have to listen to the teacher¡¯s words, and do not get into any arguments or altercations with the other students.¡± The woman led Wen Wen to the bus. The girl seemed to have given up on her resistance. She hugged her bag and kept her head lowered like she was very sad.

    Half an hourter, the woman dropped Wen Wen off at a private rehabilitative school. There were many students like Wen Wen at this school, including children who suffered from hyperactivity or other illnesses.

    ¡°Teacher Wen, I¡¯ll leave the child with you.¡± The woman actually did care about Wen Wen. Before she left, she told Teacher Wen many times that she was worried that the girl would be bullied at school.

    ¡°Will you be the one fetch her after school?¡± The one who spoke was a female teacher. She was rather rotund, and she had a pair of sses on. Her hair was cut short, and she looked around forty. Her voice was gentle and soft.

    ¡°Yes, thank you for your help.¡± The woman walked three steps and turned back to look at Wen Wen. In the end, she got onto the bus; after all, she still needed to get to work. Wen Wen never once raised her head to look at the woman, obviously unhappy.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go in.¡± The woman ced her hand on Wen Wen¡¯s shoulder and slowly nudged her forward. After crossing the front door, they entered a very unique school. The school was not big, and it was mainly separated into two parts, indoors and outdoors. Currently, on the small outdoor field, there was a male teacher who was leading a few children to do some exercises.

    The actions were very simple, but the patterns made by the children werepletely different and weird in their own ways. However, this scene was not at all funny; if anything, it would make one¡¯s heart tighten.

    Wen Wen seemed to hate this strange environment a lot. She pushed the woman¡¯s hand from her shoulder and took out a water bottle from her bag. She did not drink the water. Instead, she opened the lid so that she could look at the surface of the water directly.

    Teacher Wen had seen Wen Wen¡¯s strange action before, so she did not stop her as she led Wen Wen into the building. A row of stic tables whose edges were covered tightly was ced in the middle of the room. There was a female teacher who was telling the students something in the ssroom.

    ¡°Xiao Zhu, do you mind arranging a seat for her? I have something else to attend to, so I¡¯ll leave her with you.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± The female teacher saw Wen Wen. When she saw the little girl, her brows creased slightly, but she soon returned to normal. She arranged for the girl to sit at the back of the ss. Both parties treated each other as invisible. In a way, this was the best arrangement.

    Sitting at the back, the girl leaned on the table. She did not take out her textbook from her bag¡ªshe just sat there and looked at the water inside the bottle. She mumbled to herself, but it looked like she was conversing with the water bottle.

    Her voice was low, and since the ssroom was quite noisy, no one really paid her any attention. It was not until the female teacher started to use the projector to teach the ss about animals that the ss started to quiet down. The teacher called out students to answer her questions. Most of the students piped up, but Wen Wen continued to converse with the water bottle on her own. When the teacher heard her voice, she was quite angry.

    ¡°Liu Wen Wen,e and tell us what this animal is.¡±

    When the girl heard someone call her name, she lifted her head in confusion. When she noticed that everyone was looking at her, she was conspicuously unsettled.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know? Then what about this one?¡± The female teacher changed another picture, and a picture of a frog appeared on the board. Wen Wen still did not say anything. She did not know what to do, and her palms became covered in sweat.

    ¡°I have already told you many times, this is a frog. Howe you still cannot remember it?¡± The female teacher walked down from the podium. The more she looked at the girl, the angrier she became. ¡°You keep hugging this bottle of water, but you never drink from it. If anyone else tries to drink you water, you will even scratch their faces. I really wonder about the doctor¡¯s diagnosis for you.¡±

    The female teacher really did not like Wen Wen. She pointed at the picture on the board. ¡°I will tell you again, this is a frog. Can you remember it this time?¡±

    The girl still did not answer. She stared at the water bottle on the table.

    ¡°You still won¡¯t speak?¡± The female teacher grabbed Wen Wen¡¯s shoulders and pulled her to stand at the aisle that was between two rows of tables. ¡°Come, repeat the action that is on the picture.¡±

    Wen Wen still did not react. In the end, with the multiple signals and warnings from the female teacher, the girl seemed to finally grasp her meaning. She mimicked the frog in the picture and squatted on the ground. Her hands were ced on the ground, and she used her four limbs to hold up her body.

    ¡°Remember this pose, this is a frog. I will ask you again during the next lesson.¡± The female teacher had Wen Wen return to her seat, and she continued with the ss.

    Patting away the dust on her hands, Wen Wen stood up and leaned against her table again. She stared at the water bottle. No one touched the bottle, but the water inside started to ripple on its own as a string of ck hair that was on the bottom of the water floated to the surface.

    The ss in the morning soon ended. After lunch, it was time for the students to have an afternoon nap. Wen Wen was still arranged to have her ce at the corner. She did not protest or make any noise. She hugged her school bag and her water bottle as she very obediently walked to her bed.

    She dropped the bag by her feet and then ced the water bottle beside her pillow. After about half an hour, when the children started to fall asleep, the teacher who was responsible for patrolling the room entered. When she stopped beside Wen Wen, she noticed there was an unclosed water bottle next to her.

    ¡°Why is there a ck hair in the water?¡± The female teacher picked up the bottle and poured the water down the toilet. Then, she reced the water bottle on the counter next to the bed.

    At 2 pm, the children were slowly roused from their sleep. The first thing that Wen Wen did once she opened her eyes was turn to look at the water bottle next to her pillow, but she was unable to find it. The panicked girl started to look around. She eventually found the water bottle on the counter, but the water inside had been poured away.

    Wen Wen hurled the stic bottle on the ground hard enough for it to break. Yet, she still could not find the hair inside the bottle and started to cry loudly.

    At the time, the female teacher by the name of Xiao Zhu was conversing with the male physical education teacher. Their bodies were slowly leaning closer to each other, and they wereughing and chatting.

    They were happily chatting when they heard Wen Wen¡¯s crying. The female teacherined with impatience. ¡°It is her again. I really wonder if this girl was not born with mental retardation but is actually a nut job.¡±

    Opening the door, the woman walked to the girl. She had no idea what had happened to Wen Wen because the girl refused tomunicate. She bent down to pick up the pieces of the bottle, and when she saw that Wen Wen was still crying, Xiao Zhu grabbed the girl and dragged her out of the room, locking her in another room. ¡°Stop disturbing the other children. I will give you time to calm down first. When you¡¯re done crying, I wille back to get you.¡±

 Chapter 578 - Have You Found Me? [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 578: Have You Found Me? [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Wen Wen¡¯s crying sound came from the single room. The female teacher stood outside to listen for a while. She prepared to reenter the room when the girl¡¯s crying receded, but Wen Wen only cried harder and louder.

    <i>There has to be something wrong with this girl¡¯s brain. She was the one who broke the water bottle, so why is she acting so crazy in the middle of the day?</i>

    The female teacher still had other students in her charge, so she decided to leave Wen Wen alone to calm down. She walked away from the door and returned to the ssroom.

    After all the children were ready for the afternoon ss, the female teacher returned to the door of the isted room. Half an hour had already passed, and Wen Wen finally stopped crying.

    <i>Looks like giving them a time-out is not bad. Of course, we cannot pamper them too much simply because they¡¯re retarded.</i>

    The female teacher was d because she had finally found the method to deal with Wen Wen. She pushed the door open.

    In the room that could not be considered as big, there was a dampness in the air, and it felt eerie and dark. There was a pool of water on the ground, and the little girl stood in the corner with her head lowered, her small, slender arms dangling weakly by her side. Her pale skin was conspicuous against her ck hair. The curtain of hair fell on her face and blocked her eyes. She did not make any noise, as if she had transformed into some furniture in the room.

    ¡°Finally stopped crying?¡± The female teacher sensed the change in the little girl. For some strange reason, she shivered. After she entered this small room, her breathing became more difficult like the room was filled with water and if she stayed too long in this room, she might drown and die.

    The sound of a wind chime and the children singing came from outside the room. Those were the usual sounds at their school, but standing inside that single room, listening to these familiar sounds that drifted through the wind feltpletely different. It did not sound like children who were born unlucky and with sickness, but it sounded like the painful wailing of small tormented souls.

    ¡°Come here.¡± The female teacher suddenly felt afraid of stepping further into the room. She extended her hands toward the girl and hoped that the girl would walk out from the room on her own. However, Wen Wen did not seem to hear her. She stood there in her strange posture. Her arms were slightly bent, and her body was leaning forward. Her lips, the only feature that was not blocked by her hair, were pulled upward into a smile.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you hear me? I told you toe here!¡± The female teacher looked at the child, and a strange emotion appeared in her heart¡ªfear. <i>Why would I be afraid of a mere child?</i>

    It was broad daylight, and the sun was shining brightly. The female teacher steeled her heart and walked into the room. She grabbed the curtain and prepared to yank it open. However, just as she was about to pull back the curtain, she felt a chill on her wrist like something had just grabbed her.

    ¡°Ah!¡± With a scream, the female teacher turned to look. Her wrist was gripped by Wen Wen. This little girl seemed to have morphed into a different person. Her eyes had be very weird like a bottomless pond, and there were bodies floating on top of it.

    <i>What is happening?</i>

    The teacher¡¯s hand that held onto the curtain slowly lost its power. She could not move her hand, much less pull the curtain open.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it time for ss?¡± Wen Wen uttered the question clearly. There was no stuttering or shivering like usual; every single word was very clear. This was different from how the girl was normally.

    ¡°O... okay.¡± The female teacher did not dare waste time and immediately raced out of the room with Wen Wen in tow.

    Walking down the corridor, the oppressive feeling finally started to dissipate. The female teacher did not dare turn around to look at Wen Wen. She felt like her wrist had been bitten by something. It was cold and numb, and she had started to lose the feeling in her arm.

    Walking into the ssroom, Wen Wen let go of her hand actively. Without waiting for the teacher to say anything, Wen Wen walked to the back of the ss.

    <i>Today sure is a strange day.</i>

    Even though Wen Wen was not holding her wrist anymore, the female teacher still felt chilliness radiating from the spot where Wen Wen held her.

    She had the students open all the curtains in the ssroom. Then she began the ss. She tried her best not to look in Wen Wen¡¯s direction, and soon, the events that happened that afternoon were slowly removed from her mind.

    ...

    At 3 pm, Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House ran into a small problem. That CEO Bai, who was Director Luo¡¯s guest, suddenly wanted to personally experience Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. Since he was not privy to the man¡¯s background, Chen Ge nned to give CEO Bai the best VIP service. He nned to have CEO Bai enter the Haunted House alone and then arrange a few ghosts to be his other visitors to apany him.

    The actors were ghosts, the other visitors were ghosts, and everywhere that he looked, there would be ghosts. That would definitely leave a valuable memory for CEO Bai, and perhaps he might even use this opportunity to grab some valuable information.

    That was the n, but CEO Bai suddenly changed his mind at thest minute. He bowed out from the experience and ordered the secretary that followed him to experience the Haunted House on his behalf. Chen Ge did not think it was worth it to go after a mere secretary, so he had the idea to go easy on the man. He lowered the difficulty of the three-star mission, and he allowed the secretary to almost clear the Third Sick Hall.

    The man probably felt disappointed because he had overestimated Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. Chen Ge¡¯s n was for them to lower their guard. If they returned in the future, Chen Ge nned to enter the fray personally and even release the lingering spirits of all the mental patients. He would show them the real terror of the ghost stories society.

    CEO Bai and Director Luo¡¯s negotiation went very smoothly, maybe too smoothly. After sending CEO Bai off, there was no smile on Director Luo¡¯s face. Things had been too sessful, and that made Director Luo feel quite unsettled. Chen Ge was not familiar with these things, so he could not intervene even if he wanted to. With full confidence in Director Luo, he did not ask for more details.

    The Haunted House closed at night. After cleaning up the ce, Chen Ge entered the underground scenario alone. He nned to finish the twin water ghost mission that night. Taking out theic, he grabbed all the ghosts. Chen Ge put it inside the backpack with Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer.

    <i>Afterpleting the Water Ghost mission, the variety of employees at the Haunted House will greatly improve, and the first underwater scary scenario will be unlocked. I just wonder what kind of form it will take.</i>

    With a stomach filled with anticipation, Chen Ge left New Century Park. When he nned to call a taxi to get to the dam, his phone suddenly rang. It was a call from Wen Wen¡¯s aunt.

    ¡°Hello, how are you?¡±

    ¡°Did Wen Wen go to your ce? Boss Chen, have you seen Wen Wen?¡± Wen Wen¡¯s aunt¡¯s urgent voice came from the other end of the line.

    ¡°Wen Wen? But why would she be with me? Calm down and tell me what happened.¡± Chen Ge had a very bad feeling.

    ¡°Wen Wen has gone missing! When I went to the rehabilitative school to pick her up at night, I discovered that she was not at the school! The school teachers have no idea where she is, and the surveince footage showed that she was indeed waiting for me at the school gate after school. However, after a while, she disappeared from the footage, and now, no one knows where she is.¡±

    Wen Wen¡¯s aunt sounded desperate.

    ¡°The girl likes your theme park a lot, and she even told me that she felt veryfortable inside your Haunted House. The girl who has always been a bit reserved and pessimistic started to smile after she visited your theme park, so I think that she might have gone to your theme park if she ran away from school.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. You live in Eastern Jiujiang, and the theme park is in Western Jiujiang; the distance between us is very big.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just telling you. If you see that child, please call me back, okay? Thank you!¡±

    ¡°Okay, no problem, but I feel like there is a big chance that Wen Wen is still at her school. Can you tell me the address of her school?¡±

    After Wen Wen¡¯s aunt gave him the location, Chen Ge hung up. He quickly ran to the guard¡¯s booth. He told the elder the situation and told him to keep an eye out for the little girl.

    After sharing the news, Chen Ge headed directly to the girl¡¯s school. From his experience, the girl should not have wondered far from her school¡ªshe did not have any money on her, so she should still be around her schoolpound.

    <i>The girl¡¯s big sister is a water ghost. Could her sudden disappearance be rted to her big sister? Is it because I went to the dam yesterday and it has attracted the attention of the other water ghosts?</i>

    There was still time, so Chen Ge called a cab to get to Wen Wen¡¯s rehabilitative school.

    ...

    ¡°She is really such a troublesome little child. If she is mentally retarded, then she should not be able toe up with all these schemes!¡±

    The female teacher by the name of Xiao Zhu stood in the corridor andined. The male teacher standing next to her was the one responsible for physical education.

    ¡°You should not have said that. If any outsiders hear it, it will greatly ruin the reputation of our school,¡± the male teacher advised her patiently. Even though he also had a trace of impatience and unhappiness on his face, he did not voice his dissatisfaction openly.

    ¡°Ah Cheng, if this child did not decide to act up, we would have been shopping and then going for a movie.¡± The female teacher did not hide her real emotion when she was with the male teacher.

    ¡°Shush, you¡¯d better keep it quiet. Headmistress Wen does not approve of rtionships between teachers. Since we¡¯re still at school, we¡¯d better be more careful about things like that.¡± He walked away. ¡°Let¡¯s find that girl first.¡±

    ¡°Why are we wasting time? It¡¯s for the best if the girl goes missing, I became tired of dealing with her a long time ago,¡± the woman groused.

    The two turned to walk into a different corridor, but the lights in the corridor were not turned on. When the male teacher wanted to reach out for the light switch, his arm was suddenly covered with softness. He turned around to look and noticed that his arm was being hugged by the female teacher. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you paying me any attention?¡±

    The woman put on a coquettish expression. The man looked around and confirmed that no one was there before leaned in to give the woman a peck on her lips. ¡°We should focus on the official business first. If the girl really goes missing, it will greatly affect the reputation of our school. By the way, I heard from the students that the girl was crying for no reason this afternoon. Do you know the actual reason why?¡±

    ¡°If I have to guess, it was her illness acting up. I¡¯ve already told you, the child is not normal. She often hugs a water bottle in ss and talks to the water inside the bottle. Sometimes, she even calls the water bottle her big sister.¡±

    The woman seemed to get excited talking about Wen Wen behind her back.

    ¡°She is unable to interact with other students. I once tried to have a child who was the least retarded sit next to her, but in the end, just because the boy tried to have a look at her water bottle, she scratched the boy¡¯s face until he bled.¡±

    ¡°She is so aggressive? But when she entered the school, the doctor did not say anything like that on her diagnosis report.¡±

    ¡°Who really knows? In any case, I have alreadypletely given up on her. As long as I can earn my paycheck. You also know about our situation here. There is a quota. If around sixty percent of the children have a positive improvement and the remaining forty percent¡¯s condition does not worsen, it is already eptable.¡± The woman hugged the man by the name of Ah Cheng. How she reacted and talked when she was with the man and when she was with her students werepletely different.

    The man did not push her away and allowed Xiao Zhu to hang onto his arm. He even leaned in closer to her. ¡°No matter what, we still need to find that girl. If the police and welfare services arrive and realize that you trapped the girl inside the room for the whole afternoon and allowed her to cry her heart out, the headmistress will definitely punish you.¡±

    His voice was full of affection. The man stuck close to Xiao Zhu, and the two entered the corridor. When the man tried to turn the light on, Xiao Zhu who hugged the man¡¯s arm suddenly saw a small shadow that was reflected on the wall at the end of the corridor.

    ¡°There!¡± she yelped, and the man quickly turned the corridor lights on. The small shadow disappeared as the lights came on.

    ¡°What did you see?¡±

    ¡°I saw a shadow earlier. It looked like it belonged to that girl!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s still in the school?¡± The man held Xiao Zhu¡¯s hand as they ran to the end of the corridor. When they arrived, they discovered that it was not a shadow on the wall but a ssh of water.

    ¡°Who would ssh water here? Was it that girl?¡±

    ¡°Who else would it be other than her?¡±

    ¡°But what is her intention of doing this?¡± Xiao Zhu was confused. ¡°Then again, I did notice that the girl likes to y with water.¡±

    ¡°Wen Wen broke the water bottle and started to cry after she woke up from the afternoon nap. Then, could something have happened during the afternoon nap?¡± Ah Cheng was calmer. ¡°The teacher who was responsible for the patrol this afternoon was Teacher Wang. She is currently looking for clues with the headmistress. Let me call her to ask.¡±

    The man made the call, and Xiao Zhu looked rather miffed. ¡°Why would you have her phone number? When did you ask for her number?¡±

    ¡°Teacher Wang, during the afternoon nap, did you notice anything strange about Wen Wen?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I saw a hair floating in her water bottle, so I poured the dirty water away.¡±

    ¡°Is that all?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then, where did you pour the water? Did you pour it on her bed?¡±

    ¡°What are you trying to insinuate? That this thing is my mistake?¡± Teacher Wang fired back with impatience. ¡°I poured the water down the toilet. If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯m going to hang up.¡±

    ¡°The toilet? Come, let¡¯s go there and see.¡± The man did not want to exin to Xiao Zhu about why he had Teacher Wang¡¯s number, so he quickly changed the topic. He led Xiao Zhu to run to the toilet that was at the end of the long corridor.

    He ced his palm on the handle and then quickly pulled his hand back. ¡°Why is the door handle wet? Has someone just used the toilet?¡± He looked at the door and realized that the edge of the door was also wet. Other than that, it looked to be moldy. The mold released a light stench.

    ¡°Is the girl hiding inside the toilet?¡± With curiosity, the man pushed the door open. The sound of rushing water came from the toilet. The faucet was not shut, and someone had used water to write down the following on the sink¡¯s mirror¡ªHere I am.

    The water slid down the surface of the mirror. Those few words had just been written.

    ¡°Is this Wen Wen¡¯s handwriting?¡± Ah Cheng turned to look at Xiao Zhu. Normally, Xiao Zhu had the most interaction with Wen Wen.

    ¡°Definitely not! The girl does not even recognize alphabet, so how could she have written this?¡± Xiao Zhu looked at the sentence of the mirror and shivered.

    ¡°Then, this means that someone else has sneaked into our school and probably kidnapped Wen Wen.¡± The man crossed his arms before his chest and started to think. Xiao Zhu became more and more unsettled. The lights in the corridor flickered on and off. She looked at the faucet, and a question popped into her mind.

    The drain of the sink was not clogged, but the water level inside the sink kept rising. Seeing the rising water, the feeling of drowning returned like she was ced inside a pond as the water slowly rose to submerge her heart.

    The sound of a girl¡¯s mumbling and singing appeared beside her ears. Her body kept shivering, and from the cover of her eyes, she saw something floating out from the drain of the sink.

    She walked to the sink and ced her hand slowly into it. When she touched the thing and nned to pull it out, she realized that it was the hair of a woman. Xiao Zhu struggled greatly like she had touched something extremely disgusting. She wanted to call the male teacher next to her for help, but when she turned her head, she saw a girl who waspletely bloated from being soaked in water standing inside the mirror.

    She wore a tattered shirt that was sttered with blood, and her hair crawled out from the sink. Her lips moved like she was saying, ¡°Have you found me?¡±

 Chapter 579 - Water and Mirror

    <h4>Chapter 579: Water and Mirror</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Xiao Zhu¡¯s mind wentpletely nk, and the familiar chill crept up her arm. She felt the water flooding through her mouth and nose. Her lungs were filled with water, and she could not breathe. She moved both of her arms and legs. She wanted to ask for help, but there was no response. She could only stand there and watch the woman slowly lift her head upward to reveal her face that was difficult to put in words.

    If this was a normal situation, the woman in the mirror should have been considered a beautiful woman, but unfortunately, the woman¡¯s facial features had beenpletely destroyed from the bloating.

    The creepy thing was that the woman¡¯s face kept changing. The ck hair parted, and after a while, the face slowly became familiar to Xiao Zhu. She realized with terror that the face of the woman in the mirror slowly turned into a reflection of her own face.

    She waved her hands, but she could not control her body. The sound of water filled up her ears. Xiao Zhu felt like she was trapped inside the mirror, and her body was being swapped with the female inside the mirror!

    ¡°Save me! Save me! Save...¡± She gasped for air, but no oxygen travelled into her lungs. Before Xiao Zhu died from asphyxiation, her face was gruesome, and her animalistic instinct kicked in. She titled her head and knocked into the mirror that was before her!

    Crack!

    The sound of shattering ss filled the room. The blood muddled her sight, but that feeling of drowning finally disappeared.

    ¡°Xiao Zhu?¡± Ah Cheng¡¯s cries of concern appeared in her ears. The woman finally regained her consciousness. Her body swayed, and she started to lean backward.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± The man caught Xiao Zhu from behind. The blood poured out from the wound on her forehead, and it dyed the woman¡¯s eyes red.

    ¡°Mirror, there was someone in the mirror!¡± Xiao Zhu grabbed Ah Cheng¡¯s arm, and she screamed while pointing at the mirror. The mirror in the toilet cracked from the impact. Shards of bloodied mirror slid down and fell from the wall. Ah Cheng hugged Xiao Zhu and pulled out the ss shards from the woman¡¯s hair. He had also been given quite a fright from the woman¡¯s sudden action.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m here. I¡¯m here with you.¡± Ah Cheng let the woman lean back in his embrace, and he noticed that there was some problem with the sink. The ck hair in the drain danced around like seaweed, and the water level kept rising until it started to overflow from the sink. The water dripped onto the ground, and the atmosphere in the room became eerier. The water that was flowing quietly looked like the result of a suicide victim slitting their wrist. The thing that overflowed was not water but looked more like blood.

    ¡°We should leave this ce first.¡± Ah Cheng hugged Xiao Zhu and used his strength to haul her out of the toilet.

    ¡°The faucet is not closed...¡± Xiao Zhu¡¯s voice sounded weak and flimsy.

    ¡°We can worry about thatter. We¡¯ll find more people ande back. For now, let me take you to the hospital first.¡± Initially, Ah Cheng was not that afraid, but after the woman¡¯s crazy action, even his heart immediately jumped to his throat.

    He was like a bird in the hunter¡¯s sight. When he turned back to look inside the bathroom, he suddenly noticed that the blood on the mirror pieces was moving. The droplets looked like little worms that lived at the bottom of the river. They slowly moved to form a full sentence.

    <i>I am inside the mirror! She is in your arms!</i>

    When he saw the few words, Ah Cheng almost released his grasp of the woman in his arms. He noticed that this had gone way beyond the stage of a prank. There was really something strange happening at the rehabilitative school.

    The wound on the forehead was still oozing blood. Xiao Zhu was so different from her normal cute self. Without aid to her wound, she looked rather scary. The lights in the corridor started to flicker more intensely. To help with the children¡¯s recovery, the school pasted many pictures of cartoon characters and animals on the corridor.

    Under the flickering lights and the shift in brightness, the animal characters started to look weird, and the many smiling faces looked incredibly scary. More water leaked out from the overflowing sink. The water felt like it was alive. It flowed out of the toilet and trailed after Ah Cheng.

    Ah Cheng did not realize that. A normal person would not have realized that. His whole focus was on the cartoons on the wall. <i>Only now have I realized how creepy these things look at night. We should tell the headmistress about this and request to have all of them removed.</i>

    The words that had appeared on the mirror earlier kept surfacing in Ah Cheng¡¯s mind. He held Xiao Zhu, who had her head lowered. He could feel the softness and suppleness of the woman¡¯s skin, but he could not feel the temperatureing from her body.

    ¡°Xiao Zhu?¡±

    He tried to call out to her. Xiao Zhu lifted her head, and the wound opened wide. The blood from her forehead trailed down her face, and she looked harsh. This was definitely not the best that she had ever looked. ¡°Ah Cheng, I feel so tired, and my head is spinning.¡±

    The tone was draggy, and there was a thick nasally undertone like the woman¡¯s nostrils and throat were filled with water. The girlfriend that he once loved dearly now looked so unfamiliar. It was a very hard feeling to describe.

    ¡°Hold on a little bit longer. I¡¯ll bring you to see the doctor now.¡± Ah Cheng bit on the edge of his tongue. His girlfriend was suffering deeply, and he had thought of abandoning her. What an unmanly thing to do! He picked up his pace, but as he walked down the corridor, he felt as if the corridor had grown longer.

    ¡°How long have I been walking down this hall?¡± The negative feeling in his heart grew. He bit down on his teeth, hugged Xiao Zhu, and charged down the corridor. However, when he took his first step, he stepped on something slippery on the ground and toppled over.

    Both he and Xiao Zhu copsed onto the ground. When he turned to look, he realized with a shock that the corridor waspletely wet, and a trail of water had been following him closely like a living, venomous snake. He looked further down the corridor, and the room that was next to the toilet slowly creaked open.

    A small shadow appeared next to the door. She leaned against the door. The lights in the corridor were on, and the ce was showered with light, but he had a hard time seeing her face clearly. All he could confirm was that the shirt that she was wearing was soaking wet.

    ¡°Wen Wen?¡± The room that the little girl exited was the small room that the woman had trapped Wen Wen in that afternoon. Ah Cheng was figuring out what to do next when his phone rang. He reached to answer the phone as if on instinct.

    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s possible for the child to return to school? The headmistress and myself have asked many nearby shops, and they said that they have not seen Wen Wen. The girl is probably still at the school, but she is hiding somewhere.¡±

    It was Teacher Wang who called. When he heard her voice, Ah Cheng seemed to see a light at the end of the tunnel. ¡°Wen Wen is at school! Pleasee quickly! Xiao Zhu is injured!¡±

    ¡°Injured? Okay, I¡¯ll be there immediately!¡± The call was hurriedly ended. Ah Cheng actually still wanted to say a few more words. He put the phone away, but when he moved his eyes away from the screen, he realized that Xiao Zhu had been looking at him with her body twisted in a strange posture. ¡°Who were you talking on the phone with?¡±

    ¡°That was Teacher Wang. She will bring people toe help us in a bit.¡± Ah Cheng was a very careful person. After he noticed the strangeness about Xiao Zhu, he did not ask any more questions, and the shadow that he suspected to be Wen Wen did note any closer. The way he saw it, the most urgent thing that they needed to do then was leave the school.

    <i>But I searched that room earlier¡ªthe little girl was not in there. Could it be that the girl has been ying hide-and-seek with us?</i>

    Just what was on the girl¡¯s mind? How could a girl with mental retardation trick a whole group of adults like this?

    The more Ah Cheng thought about it, the more afraid he became. A scary movie that he had watched a long time ago appeared in his mind. The female main character was an innocent-looking child, but in reality, she was a strange person who had lived for a long time already. Every time that she was adopted, she would disturb the family¡¯s peace and even cause the family to be drenched in red.

    <i>Could the child suffer from the same illness?</i>

    He did not dare to think about it any longer. Ah Cheng dragged Xiao Zhu down the corridor. However, when he reached the door, he realized that the door that led outside had been locked.

    ¡°Where is the key?¡± Ah Cheng looked all over the pockets on his body, but he could not find it. He tried his best to shake the door until the lights over his head suddenly went out. The shadow that was hiding inside the small room walked out. The hands were extended forward like they were stopping something.

    ¡°Don¡¯te any closer!¡± Seeing the shadow pick up speed in the corridor, Ah Cheng released his grasp on the woman in his arms. He prepared to abandon Xiao Zhu and jump through the window to find his escape. However, the strange thing was, even though he had released his grasp on the girl, Xiao Zhu¡¯s body remained stuck to his body.

    The woman¡¯s face appeared like it was sewn to Ah Cheng¡¯s chest. She lifted her head. ¡°Ah Cheng, don¡¯t you want me anymore?¡±

    Blood spread on her face, and the sound of water dripping appeared beside his ears. Ah Cheng did not know what had happened. There was a feeling that the woman¡¯s face was slowly bing unfamiliar as it morphed into the face of another woman.

    He used all his might to push the woman¡¯s face away. Ah Cheng¡¯s breathing became more hurried, and his heart was racing at maximum speed. ¡°Stay here and wait for me, I¡¯ll go get help. I¡¯ll definitelye back for you!¡±

    The sound of water dripping did not disappear. If anything, it only grew louder. The shadow down the corridor was approaching, and the woman on the ground crawled toward him. Her hair wrapped around his arm, and she used her hands to wrap Ah Cheng¡¯s legs tightly. ¡°You are not going to leave me here alone!¡±

    ...

    ¡°Who locked the door? Have the two of them found Wen Wen?¡± A woman who lookedparatively quieter stopped at the door to the ssroom. ¡°They won¡¯t answer my call, and we still have not found the girl. Don¡¯t tell me they have already escaped from the scene and run home?¡±

    In the woman¡¯s tone, one could hear her dissatisfaction toward the other teachers. She used her key to open the door, only to find that the floor was wet with water.

    ¡°What happened here?¡± The woman stopped for a while at the door and turned on the shlight function on her phone. ¡°On the phone, Xiao Cheng said that Lee Xuezhu was injured. How did she get injured if they were just searching for the girl at school? Is there a third person here?¡±

    She reached out to turn the lights on in the corridor, but the lights would note on. They seemed to be broken.

    She stole into the corridor, and the woman raised the phone. The light cut through the corridor. She saw that the door to the toilet was open, and a girl that was not tall was standing before the mirror. The girl stood on her tiptoes and reached into the sink like she was looking for something in the water.

    After a while, something that was even more surprising urred. The girl pushed her own head into the sink, submerging herself underwater.

    ¡°Wen Wen?¡± The woman felt the girl look familiar, and she silently went closer to the toilet. ¡°What are you up to?¡±

    Since there was water on the ground, as careful as she was, she was going to make noise. When the woman reached the door of the toilet, she saw a bloated monster standing behind the girl in the shattered mirror. She wore a bloodied shirt, and she used her hands to press on the back of the girl¡¯s head.

    ¡°She wants to drown to girl?¡± At this crucial moment, her kindness won over terror. The woman charged into the toilet to try to save the girl. Seeing the girl run into the toilet, the monster in the mirror was surprised.

    At the spot where the woman was standing earlier, ck hair expanded like seaweed. If the woman tried to turn and escape, she would run headfirst into the web that was knitted from ck hair.

 Chapter 580 - Do You Think I Will Let You Escape?

    <h4>Chapter 580: Do You Think I Will Let You Escape?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Different from the expectation of the monster in the mirror, the woman rushed to the sink without hesitation. At that moment, she seemed to have forgotten fear. The skirt fluttered in the wind, and it was stained by the water. The woman reached the girl¡¯s side, and without stopping to consider anything else, she pulled the girl¡¯s head out from the sink. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Water slid down the girl¡¯s face. Her face was white, and her purple lips were pulling into a smile. She had been pressed into the water and almost died from drowning, but the girl did not cry or make any noise. Instead, she revealed a strange smile, which made the woman feel very unsettled.

    She did not notice that the monster in the mirror was slowly bing clear, and the face in the mirror was showing the same strange smile as the one on the girl¡¯s face.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here.¡±

    The woman carried the girl in her arms and retreated out of the bathroom. The faucet was not closed, and the water that came out was darkening like it was not water but blood that was pouring out from the pipe.

    The sound of dripping water echoed from the small toilet. It sounded like something moving on the ground, creating a rustling sound. The woman did not dare turn her head around. She hugged the girl and ran down the corridor.

    The shlight on the phone swung up and down the corridor. She could not see where she was stepping clearly¡ªshe only knew that there was something else on the t surface, and her feet felt something soft when she stepped on it. She used several seconds to run down the corridor, but when she reached the door, she realized that it was locked.

    ¡°Are there other people at the school?¡± The woman put the girl down. She turned to look back down the corridor. The water leaked out from the toilet, and there was something long that looked like seaweed floating in the water.

    ¡°Did you see anyone elseing here?¡± The woman shielded the girl with both hands. She was worried when she saw how pale the girl¡¯s face was. ¡°There should have been two teachers who were here. You should have seen them, right?¡±

    The girl stood next to the woman quietly. Her pupils narrowed, and her purple lips slowly opened. She told the woman, ¡°Mo... mother.¡±

    ¡°Mother? Are you calling me that?¡± The woman¡¯s hands that held the girl subconsciously loosened. She noticed that everything in this space was different from the world that she knew. ¡°You¡¯ve got the wrong person, child, I¡¯m not your mother.¡±

    The girl did not correct herself and continued to call her mother. Then, she raised her hand to grab the woman¡¯s arm.

    ¡°Wait a minute, you...¡± It was not until then that fear started to consume the woman. The woman stood up, and her body leaned toward the exit. However, before she could get close to the door, the girl who stood where she was suddenly eximed with vehemence, ¡°Do not go there!¡±

    Bang!

    Before the girl could finish, the ss near the girl shattered and exploded! The stench of blood drifted into the room, and arge hammer that looked very scary was poking through the windowsill.

    Bang!

    With the woman and the girl watching, the hammerhead was yanked out from the window, and then it was swung again. This time, it shattered the windowpletely.

    ¡°This thing sure is not sturdy.¡± A backpack was tossed into the room from outside, then a young man jumped onto the windowsill. The moon was shining on his back, so they could not see his face. However, they could clearly see the impossiblyrge hammer that he was holding.

    Without saying anything, without even an exchange of the eyes, the woman and the girl next to her took a step back involuntarily. The girl who had her pupils narrowed started to return to normal after she saw the young man. A low growl escaped from the toilet like the monster in the room could sense the thing that could threaten the girl¡¯s safety. She told the girl to run but not go too far away from her.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be scared, I¡¯m here to save you.¡± The young man also heard the growl from the end of the corridor. He jumped down from the windowsill and activated the recorder in his backpack. Then he touched the top of the girl¡¯s head kindly. ¡°Wen Wen, I¡¯m Chen Ge, the Haunted House boss that led you around the theme park yesterday.¡±

    The woman was totally stumped. She had no idea why the worker at a theme park would show up in such a manner at a ce like this. This was too much for her to handle.

    ¡°Take the child out of this ce.¡± Chen Ge nudged the girl toward the woman and then stood in the middle of the corridor.

    ¡°We can go now?¡± The woman still could not believe it. She hugged the girl and nned to hop out from the window, but to her surprise, the girl suddenly grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s leg and refused to let go.

    She looked much better and healthier, but her expression was worried. Her lips quivered, and she repeated the few words in her stutter, ¡°Sis... big sister...¡±

    ¡°I know, I will not harm her. I just think she deserves the chance at a better live.¡± Chen Ge peeled the girl¡¯s hands gently off his body. ¡°Please take her away.¡±

    No matter what, Chen Ge was not going to let Wen Wen¡¯s sister go that day. Based on all the information that he had gotten, he had confirmed that the strongest ghost in the mission, Twin Water Ghost, was Wen Wen¡¯s sister.

    If she was hiding inside the dam and he was unable to summon Zhang Ya, there was no chance that he would be able to enter the dam to deal with the girl because no one had any idea how many water ghosts were trapped inside the dam.

    <i>Before the mission even started, I¡¯ve already killed the boss. This kind of mission experience is not so bad.</i>

    Gripping the hammer, Chen Ge stood between Wen Wen and the toilet. The monster in the toilet saw the girl being taken away, and she started to scream again. The ck hair in the water rushed toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°You both use hair as a weapon, but your hair is too weakpared to the one inside my shadow.¡±

    The hair in the water was stepped on before they even had the chance to get close to Chen Ge.

    Xu Yin seemed to see something hiding inside the room at the end of the corridor. His head was tilted to the side, and he asked the half-open door of the room softly, ¡°Is it painful?¡±

    Without waiting for Chen Ge to say anything, the blood vessels tore open the ck hair on the ground. Xu Yin, who was almost fully red other than his heart,shed out like an arrow. The ck hair crawled out from the water to wrap around Xu Yin¡¯s body, but they were unable to stop him; at most, they slowed him down.

    ¡°Stop struggling, I will not make it too difficult for you on the ount of your little sister.¡±

    Chen Ge flipped through theic and released Bai Qiulin. The man and ghost also charged forward. The monster in the toilet already had a hard time dealing with Xu Yin. When she saw Bai Qiulin¡¯s heart, which was almost dyed red, she gave up the resistance immediately.

    The ck hair was pulled back into the toilet. Chen Ge chased after her, but when he reached the toilet, the faucet was closed on its own, and the water stopped flowing.

    ¡°Do you think I will let you go so easily?¡± Using both Yin Yang Vision and Ghost Ear at the same time, and the echoing sound appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s ears. The ghost was still inside the pipe, but she was slithering down the pipe at an incredible speed.

 Chapter 581 - Blood Red City

    <h4>Chapter 581: Blood Red City</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Here!¡± His eyes focused on the pipe. Chen Ge raised the hammer and aimed it at a certain spot.

    Bang!

    The pipe cracked, and the water sshed onto his shirt. His eyes narrowed, and Chen Ge saw the strand of ck hair that slipped through. ¡°No matter what, you¡¯re not running away tonight!¡±

    He recalled Xu Yin and Bai Qiulin before running out of the school.

    ¡°Where is the main control panel for water and electricity?¡± Chen Ge jumped through the window. He grabbed the hammer and pressed on the woman¡¯s shoulder with his other hand. The woman whom he had saved earlier was standing in the middle of the field while hugging the girl, preparing to leave. She did not expect Chen Ge toe out so soon. She was flustered, and she did not know what to say.

    ¡°I said, where is the main control panel for water and electricity?¡±

    ¡°There is none. We share the same circuit with the surrounding neighborhood, so the main control panel should be with them...¡± the woman answered incrementally, but Chen Ge grasped the gist of it. The school shared the same circuit with the neighboring residential area, so only by shutting off the power source at the residential area would he be able to trap the water ghost inside the pipe between the residential area and the school.

    Of course, Chen Ge was not one hundred percent confident that it would work. The water ghost could have escaped into any of the resident¡¯s house, and that was the thing that worried Chen Ge the most.

    ¡°Help me contact the manager of the residential area now and get him to temporarily turn off the control panel. Just say that the person who tried to kidnap the girl and injure your students and teachers is hiding inside the pipes.¡±

    After giving that order, Chen Ge tossed the hammer inside his backpack. He tried to focus and removed all external noise, following the strange echoes inside the pipes.

    The sound travelled further away from him. The water system in Jiujiang wasplicated. If he was unable to limit the monster soon, then she was definitely going to escape.

    ¡°The culprit has gone inside the pipe? But how did he manage to do that?¡± The woman was stumped. Would anyone believe something like that? She was going to request further exnation from Chen Ge, but he had already charged out of the school.

    The pipe was buried underground, so Chen Ge could only rely on his Ghost Ear to listen to the sound that the water ghost made as she travelled through the pipe. He tailed her closely, and at one point, he even thought about closing his eyes to stop all other external stimuli.

    After two minutes, Chen Ge followed the sound to enter one of the residential areas that was behind the rehabilitative school. Once Chen Ge stepped into this area, he shivered. The temperature was much lowerpared to outside. They were in the same area, but the difference in temperature was drastic.

    <i>Strange, why is there a feeling that is simr to the one I got when I stepped into the underground morgue?</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s body temperature was already lower than normal, and even he could feel the chill, which meant that this ce was really suspicious.

    The area was built somewhere that was not that vibrant in Eastern Jiujiang. Unlike other residential areas, this area did not have a fence to close in the buildings, but instead like a prison, it had a tall wall. The wall did not look pretty, and if anything, it gave off an oppressive feeling.

    There were seven buildings inside the area. They were all around ten floors. They looked like they had been refurbished plenty of times, but probably due to theck of everyday care, they looked like they were old and uncared for. This was somethingmon in Eastern Jiujiang, and nothing really jumped out. However, once he stepped into the ce, Chen Ge had a strange feeling in his heart.

    It felt like someone was watching him from behind one of the windows. That feeling made cold sweat appear on his forehead.

    ¡°Wen Wen¡¯s sister would not have chosen this ce for no reason...¡± Chen Ge did not retreat. Unless this ce was hiding a Red Specter, the other ghosts were not going to stop him.

    The buildings close to the residential area had some lights on, but this ce waspletely dark. The more he walked into the area, the more oppressive the darkness became. Chen Ge focused on the sound in the pipe under his feet, and he followed the monster to reach the building that was at the deepest part of the residential area.

    Even afterpleting so many Trial Missions, Chen Ge still hesitated before he entered this building. The building before him had signs of fire. Even though the walls had been repainted, once he got closer, he could smell that stench of burnt objects. Not only that, when Chen Ge looked closer, he realized that a huge fire had once ravaged this building. However, the building had not been abandoned. After some fixing and painting, it had been reopened to wee new tenants.

    ¡°A building that was burned before?¡± Chen Ge was reminded of the other Trial Mission on the ck phone¡ªthe three-star mission, Ghost Fire. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be that coincidental. There are many buildings that have suffered from fires before.¡±

    He took out the hammer from the backpack. The sound made by the water ghost weakened. She followed the pipe and entered the building before him.

    ¡°Why would shee into this building?¡± Chen Ge muttered. ¡°The control panel shouldn¡¯t have been closed already. She has the chance to escape to other pipes, so why did she decide to trap herself in this ce?¡±

    If this water ghost was really Wen Wen¡¯s big sister, her life had been ended by her biological parent, so her resentment after death must have been incredibly deep. This kind of ghost would be highly vengeful.

    ¡°I¡¯ve ruined her n, so she must hate me a lot. The reason she lured me here could be that there is a stronger presence here, and she wants to borrow that thing¡¯s hand to kill me.¡±

    Chen Ge quickly understood the water ghost¡¯s intention, but he was not afraid. ¡°You want to borrow another person¡¯s hand to kill me. Tonight, I shall capture that pair of hands that you want to borrow as well.¡±

    Entering the corridor, the walls of the corridor were decorated with painful scrawls. There were many messages, like return the life of my child.

    Walking down the corridor, the pipe kept making noise like there was something crawling inside it. Chen Ge summoned Xu Yin and Bai Qiulin to chase after it, and the sound eventually stopped on the thirteenth floor.

    ¡°She wants to lure me here?¡± Chen Ge was sensitive to everything including the number three. He looked at the three rooms on the thirteenth floor, but he could not confirm which room Wen Wen¡¯s sister had escaped into.

    ¡°Try the rooms one by one? But it¡¯ll be so bad to disturb people.¡± Holding the hammer in one hand, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes darted between the doors of the three rooms.

    ...

    The darkened sky was filled with blood vessels, and a pair of vengeful eyes was staring at the corner of the street. In this blood red city, there was a man in a blood red doctor¡¯s coat. He held the head of his lover in one hand, and whenever he took one step, blood would ooze out of his coat. That was the reddest red that had ever been!

    ¡°Good versus evil and sin versus punishment, there is a dichotomy to everything in this world.¡± The man held up the head in his palm. ¡°Then what is the opposite of human?¡±

    Shadows slipped up and down the red street, and the man seemed to have gotten used to everything there. He looked at the burnt building at the end of the street, and his face was maddened.

    ¡°Should I hide there? After consuming more things, I should have the answer.¡± Blood pooled silently underneath his feet, and the man¡¯s expression became more and more twisted. ¡°I¡¯m so hungry...¡±

 Chapter 582 - That Familiar Smell, I Want to Eat Him!

    <h4>Chapter 582: That Familiar Smell, I Want to Eat Him!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°So hungry, I want to eat him, eat everyone. To make them be the thing in my stomach, to make them into my nutrients.¡± The man looked up at the sky, looking at the blood red eyes that were hiding behind the shadow. ¡°You¡¯re also looking at me, aren¡¯t you? Stop hiding, I¡¯ve already seen you. You are just around him, observing my body. You want to eat me. You all want to eat me, so why aren¡¯t you doing that? What are you afraid of? Come,e and eat me! Come!¡±

    His voice grew, and the man¡¯s scream filled the street. He was not afraid of anything, like he did not possess the emotion ¡®fear¡¯. On the red street, the red blood dripped on the red ground.

    In the alley that was growing with decaying flesh and moss, hiding in the underwater pipes that were glowing with red eyes, inside the shadow that could not be touched by the light, many strange objects with scary faces walked out. They could no longer be described by the simple terms ¡®scary¡¯ or ¡®horrifying¡¯. They were not gory either. They had gone beyond murder or massacre¡ªthey were more than that. They were not humans and could not have been humans. They should be the creature native to the world behind the door.

    They were the residents of this nightmare. They consumed negative energy, and they survived on the negative emotions from living humans. They did not have a fixed shaped and different from man, their limbs could be twisted to impossible angles. If one really had to describe it, they were like bodies that were caught in a car ident and were dragged for miles by the tires. They could not be called humans, or rather, they had obtained the human shape because they had consumed too many negative emotions from living humans. They had gained a human consciousness and an appetite for the delicious object that was called human.

    ¡°You have been waiting me. You have prepared this for a long time. You¡¯re going to serve me on the dining table tonight and make me your main dish. I saw the utensils that you have prepared, and I saw the greed in your eyes. I saw how you swallowed your saliva, and I saw how excited your Adam Apple was quivering,¡± the man screamed loudly and madly. He did not evade or run and stood there to allow these things to surround him.

    ¡°Do you think I will be afraid?¡± The man hugged the head of his lover, and for a moment, his expression softened.

    ¡°I like this feeling; I love death, and I admire madness. A life gone wretched from screaming, yelling, and crying. When a person is alive, they are never brave enough to voice their true opinion, but here I can do anything that I want. There is no need to hide anymore. There is no need to hide anymore. I can y with the limbs of living humans. I can peel open my skull to look into my soul. I can gift my former self to myself.

    ¡°Many people think I have gone mad, but what is the difference between their madness and my madness exactly? I was once a doctor, but a doctor that can¡¯t even save himself, so what was the point of being a doctor?¡±

    The head in his palm slowly lowered. The man¡¯s eyes were filled with blood. He looked at the monsters that approached him, and the smile on his face could not be hidden anymore. His lips peeled open, and the flesh on the edges of his lips parted to reveal an extremely scary smile.

    ¡°I am now a connoisseur of food. My greatest hobby is eating, eating everything within my sight and sending every delicious meal into my stomach.¡± Theugh that would make one¡¯s hair stand on end escaped from the man¡¯s throat. He was surrounded by all the monsters, but he did not panic, like he was not the one being surrounded.

    ¡°It is my favorite time again; it is time for feeding. Yes, with my current situation, is it more appropriate to call it eating time or feeding time? Never mind, it is all the same. In the end, they will be a part of my body.¡± The man¡¯s words were dripping with madness, but he had the right to say these things because his power had reached an incredibly scary level. When he rambled to himself, the blood kept leaking out of his blood red coat.

    Many giant, thick chains that were made from many blood vessels slithered out from his back, like he was a monster with multiple tails. The blood froze, and he looked suspiciously simr to the monster that was carved on the toilet of Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House.

    ¡°There is an opposite to everything in the world, but humans are the only exception. I have been trying to figure out what the opposite of man is. Once, I thought the answer was ghosts, but after bing a ghost myself, I realize, the opposite of man is not ghost but God! God that rules everything!¡±

    Therge chains swept the length of the street. Once the monsters were touched by the chains, they exploded on the spot. The chains were like snakes that had their own thoughts, drilling into the bodies of their victims and slipping into their hearts to suck out the nutrients. Screams echoed up and down the street. The monsters¡¯ bodies were deting at an incredible speed.

    The manughed upon hearing the screams. Heughed andughed, and his lips were torn open until they reached his ears. Heughed andughed until he cried.

    But the man did not seem to notice it. He continued tough like all the pain, all the regret, could be released from the echoes of his maddenedughter.

    ¡°Not enough, it¡¯ll never be enough! I¡¯m still not satisfied! I¡¯m so hungry, I need to consume everything. I need to eat everyone that wants to eat me!¡± Theugh continued to echo out from his throat as blood trailed down his lips.

    No one knew what had happened to the man. No one knew what had led him to this state. However, there was one thing that was certain¡ªhe was still alive, and he was keeping himself alive with this highly maddening and highly disruptive method.

    Blood dyed his teeth red, and he dragged the innumerable monsters behind him. The chains pierced through the monsters¡¯ bodies. He dragged the monsters and ran down the street. At the corner of the street, there was a burnt building.

    The building was about ten stories high. Looking through the broken window, there was a door in one of the rooms that was not blood red. Half of it was red, and the other half was a normal brown. In this blood red city, other than ck that represented decay, red that represented violence, and gray that represented despair, there were no other colors.

    ¡°Just behind that door, I can smell a very familiar smell. It¡¯s so tasty! I need to eat him! I shall bite on his skull little by little, suck on his bone marrow, and chew on his bones. Yes, it shall be my best meal!¡±

    The man dragged the monsters behind him and stopped at the burnt building. He looked up, and on the top floor of the building stood a man who was wrapped in red clothes. The man literally looked down at him and was also studying the man in the doctor¡¯s coat.

 Chapter 583 - Two Sides of the Door

    <h4>Chapter 583: Two Sides of the Door</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°A red outfit, is he the owner of this building?¡±

    Inside this blood red city, the buildings were the most dangerous because no one knew what was hiding inside them. Each building was an unknown. The man in the doctor¡¯s coat was very strong, but even as strong as he was, he did not dare to step into these buildings willy-nilly. The most extreme red was still a Red Specter, but the man knew that hiding in a corner of this city was a presence greater than a Red Specter.

    He did not know how to describe it because he had not seen it before, but he could sense its presence. It was an overwhelming presence; every vein in his body felt like exploding, and his hair stood on end. At that moment, he even forgot that he had be a ghost. Before such a presence, human, ghost, Red Specter... there was no difference.

    ¡°Go back from whence you came, this is not a ce for you.¡± The man who stood at the top floor of the building had his lips move. His voice echoed in the doctor¡¯s ears.

    The chains behind him dragged out the monsters from the shadow. The doctor did not heed the man¡¯s warning. He watched the building quietly. He was not afraid of the Red Specter at the top of the building but the other unknown presence that might be inside the building. In the city, each building represented an enclosed world, a singr nightmare. Entering them was easy, but exiting them would be hard.

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t enter the buildings, but I am so hungry, and I smelled that familiar taste. I can feel my soul shivering. I think I know the owner of this smell. Perhaps after consuming him, I can remember why I ended up in this state.¡± The maddened speech slowed down. The doctor opened his red eyes to look at the man.

    Without any warning, more chains slithered out from his back. The chains that seemed to be made from innumerable blood vessels charged at the building. The doctor climbed up the stairs, and his target was clear. He wanted to enter the thirteenth floor and then consume the man that was on the other side of the door.

    This burnt building was the man with the red shirt¡¯s territory. The strange door on the thirteenth floor should be rted to him, so the chance was high that he was the door-pusher. The door-pusher could release twice the amount of power in the world that he had constructed, so when he saw the doctor charge into the building, he did not retreat.

    The world behind the door was constructed via the door-pusher¡¯s memory. Surrendering the nightmare meant betraying one¡¯s past, handing over the memory to a stranger. Unless it was absolutely necessary, no door-pusher would abandon their own world and escape.

    The doctor rushed toward the door on the thirteenth floor, and naturally, the man intended to stand in his way. He stood at the edge of the building and opened his arms. He leaped forward, and his body fell toward the doctor like a bullet.

    As he fell, the edge of his shirt turned extremely sharp and frayed, which looked somewhat like knives but more like feathers. Underneath the red shirt, one could see scary scars. The man¡¯s body had been seriously burned. Just from those scars, one could imagine how painful his death had been. The resentment on the man was strong. His eyes were sharp, filled with destruction.

    He was simr to the doctor at the bottom of the building. They seemed to have slowly limatized to this blood red city after being there for so long. They had lost themselves and be out of control and maddened.

    The man careened from above and aimed at the doctor. The edges of his lips tore open, but the doctor seemed to have expected this already. He saw the approaching man, and he not only did not panic, he even revealed a scary smile to the man.

    ¡°Are you so desperate to be my food? Are you so keen to be a part of my body? Okay, I shall fulfil your wish.¡± The doctor pulled open his coat to reveal the clot of red chains underneath. The scary man had been hiding his real ability.

    Around half of his energy had been used to resist himself¡ªthis was apletely insane person. Blood oozed out of his body, and it formed snakes that seemed like they could never be satisfied. The snakes wrapped around the doctor¡¯s body like they wanted to consume him as well.

    As the man fell from above, the doctor released a maddenedugh. He removed the limitation that had been holding him back. Endless red chains swamped out of his back. There were so many of them that they could not be counted. Looking from afar, it seemed like a giant red man-eating tree had grown up by the side of the building.

    Its roots were moving rapidly like they were trying to consume the entire building. The fight that was anticipated did not happen. The man was soon entangled by the many chains, and then he was dragged to the doctor¡¯s back.

    The two men stood with their backs to each other, and the doctor could clearly hear the man¡¯s cries of desperation and despair. Torn apart by the red chains, the man¡¯s body was slowly digested. Like nutrients, he was absorbed into the doctor¡¯s body. Throughout the process, the man kept resisting, but he was no match for the thick curls of red chains.

    When the man¡¯s voice slowly disappeared, the doctor bit on his finger. With the blood, he drew a sh across his arm.

    ¡°That¡¯s the fourth one. Soon... I can already feel somethinging out from my body! That should be the new me, but before weing this new life, I still wish to find and understand my past.¡± The doctor touched the head in his embrace.

    ¡°Why do tearse whenever I look at her? What is this emotion? How did she die? Who killed me? And who took her body away and left me with just her head? What should I do? Should I seek revenge or help her wee a new life with me?¡±

    The doctor stopped at the thirteenth floor, and his gaze fell on that special door. His lips slowly returned to normal. He pulled back all the chains and stood by the door.

    ¡°This familiar smell, the person I¡¯m looking for is just on the other side.¡± The man waved his arm, and the chains struck the door. He wanted to open the door, but he seemed to have angered the building. A horrible stench leaked out from every corner, and at the same time, the blood on the door was spreading. In a few seconds, this door would turnpletely red.

    ...

    Standing on the thirteenth floor of the building, Chen Ge held the hammer and looked at the three doors.

    ¡°The noise disappeared on this floor, so the water ghost should be hiding in one of these rooms. Should I break down all the doors to take a look?¡±

    Before he decided what to do, the door on the leftmost side suddenly became colored with red veins. The normal-looking door slowly turned red.

 Chapter 584 - Iâ€™ll Be Waiting for You!

    <h4>Chapter 584: I¡¯ll Be Waiting for You!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°A door?¡± Chen Ge, who had merely trailed the water ghost, did not expect to run into a door inside the building. Before the red door and the blood vessels that were expanding, everything felt so familiar to Chen Ge.

    ¡°It¡¯s not yet midnight. Even if this is a door that has been pushed open before, it shouldn¡¯t have appeared now. Is this a trap? Is it something set up by the culprit at Eastern Jiujiang?¡±

    Chen Ge was no longer the innocent toy designer. Ever since he obtained the ck phone, he had be more sensitive to these problems.

    With ack of insurance, Chen Ge did not dare get too close to the door. Wen Wen¡¯s sister was just a monster from a two-star scenario¡ªshe was iparable to the culprit at Eastern Jiujiang. Chen Ge summoned Xu Yin and Bai Qiulin, which gave him a sense of security.

    Just as he hesitated over what to do, the door started to shake. The blood vessels on the door bulged forward like something was trying to crawl out from it. ¡°There¡¯s something behind the door? It wants to force its way out?¡±

    This was the first time that Chen Ge hade across something like this; he also did not know what to do. The bulge on the door grew bigger, and the blood vessels started to move. It curled on the wooden board to form lines of thin chains. If one looked closer, one could see human faces with pained expressions on the chains. Each of the blood vessels represented someone¡¯s extremely despairing memory.

    ¡°Howe these look so familiar?¡± Chen Ge was reminded of his final battle with Doctor Gao at the underground morgue. The blood vessels wielded by the chairperson of the society had been simr to the ones before him at that moment. They were not merely red blood¡ªthey were carved with human faces. If he leaned closer, he could even hear the faces screaming for mercy.

    It was not yet midnight. There was a force in reality that suppressed the blood vessels on the door. It was not easy to break through the door at the time like that. The blood vessels kept snapping, but the monster behind the door appeared like it had gone mad. It would stop at nothing to get out. As the blood vessels disappeared, more came out to take their ce. They entwined together to form a chain that slithered down the other side of the corridor like they were trying to force the door open from the outside.

    ¡°The monster inside the door could have waited until midnight toe out. Did it sense something that made it so desperate?¡± A burnt smell lingered in the air, but there was nothing special about it. ¡°This is different from my previous experience. After I entered the building, I stopped at the door. Is this because the monster can sense my presence, or is it due to my title of Specter¡¯s Favored?¡±

    Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. He felt like this was not the culprit¡¯s doing. The water ghost could not have known that he would appear that night. This waspletely random.

    ¡°A burnt building, blood door, this building fits the introduction of the mission on the ck phone, Ghost Fire, perfectly. Also, from what Doctor Chen said, my parents came here before they disappeared. Could it be that they have left too deep a scar on the monsters behind the door, and now that they sensed the simrity in my blood and legacy, they have gone berserk? But that can¡¯t exin the simrity of the blood vessels on the door and the ones used by the ghost stories society...¡±

    Many questions appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. His grip on the hammer tightened. He was courageous enough to slowly approach the door. When he got close, the monster behind the doorpletely lost it. Multiple chains pierced through the blood door, and they forced an opening in the closed blood door.

    ¡± <strong>Argh! </strong>¡±

    Chen Ge heard a desperate roar, and the thick stench of blood almost caused his sense of smell to go haywire. He forced his eyes open and looked through the opening. His eyes narrowed, and his heart skipped a beat. ¡°Is that him?¡±

    A face was squeezed against the door. Chen Ge could see the face clearly, but that pair of eyes that were different from normal gave Chen Ge a very familiar feeling. Fingers poked through the opening¡ªthe man could also see Chen Ge. The person before him gave him a deep sense of excitement and craving. He released a beast-like growl, like he wanted to tear Chen Ge into pieces and swallow him.

    Ten fingers reached through the door. The opening in the door grew bigger, and the resistance from reality also grew stronger. Once the blood vessels appeared on the door, they would snap and disappear, but the monster inside the door did not care. All he could see now was Chen Ge.

    Forcing his way through, the monster inside the door was under great pressure, but he did not care. All he wanted was to consume Chen Ge.

    His hands pushed through the door. His fingers were tapered and beautiful. If just focusing on this pair of hands, one might think that he was a pianist, but in reality, every single finger was covered in blood. Who knew how much flesh and blood that pair of hands had already torn apart?

    <i>He¡¯s at least a Top Red Specter, like Zhang Ya! </i>Chen Ge quickly determined the opponent¡¯s power level, and he made the best decision to retreat while he still could. However, as he prepared to turn, he felt a piercing chill around his waist. Then his legs turned numb like his body was locked inside a fridge. He slowly lost control of his limbs.

    <i>What is happening? Xu Yin is just next to me, who can attack me from this distance?</i>

    He turned his head around and saw a strand of ck hairnding on his shoulder. Someone was standing behind him, leaning on his back.

    Different from the fiery red inside the door, the corridor felt like it was frozen. It was so cold that Chen Ge¡¯s heart felt like it was encased in ice. The ck hair silently reached out from Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. It evaded Chen Ge and pulled out all the chains that surrounded the blood door.

    Losing the chains, the monster inside the door was unable to fight against the invisible power in real life anymore. The blood vessels on the door disappeared at a drastic speed, but he did not give up. What he desired was just inches away, so he used all of his power to push his fingers outward.

    The ck hair seemed to be waiting for this chance. After clearing away the chains, it started to gather power. When the monster behind the door was unable to keep the sliver of the door open, all the ck hair rushed at the door.

    The door mmed shut instantly, cutting off four fingers from the monster¡¯s hand. When they fell to the ground, they morphed into globules of blood that were so red, they were practically glowing.

    Endless growls issued from behind the door. ck hair spread out from Chen Ge and swept all the blood globules away.

    The door slowly lost its color, and the sound behind the door became unclear. At this time, Chen Ge did something that no one expected. He rushed to the door and punched heavily on it. Then, he yelled loudly, ¡°I will be waiting for you in Eastern Jiujiang, Li Wan City!¡±

    When the monster heard his voice, he seemed to be reminded of something and replied by saying someone¡¯s name. s, the connection between the worlds was so weak that Chen Ge was unable to hear him clearly.

    <i>That gaze is too simr to Doctor Gao¡¯s, but the monster behind the door is so different from my impression of Doctor Gao.</i>

    The temperature in the corridor returned to normal like everything earlier had just been his imagination.

 Chapter 585 - Stop! Do Not Move!

    <h4>Chapter 585: Stop! Do Not Move!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>The world behind the door is weaved based on the memory of the door-pusher. In a way, it could be understood as a nightmare that the door-pusher cannot escape from. In the underground morgue, Doctor Gao suffered all the despair and negative emotions in the world alone, causing the underground morgue to implode upon itself in the end.</i>

    <i>After the morgue copsed, I caught a glimpse of the outside world, a blood red city. If this singr building was the nightmare of a single despairing soul, then that blood red city could be the amalgamation of many nightmares.</i>

    <i>umtion caused transformation. After the sedimentation and festering of endless nightmares, what kind of monsters would be birthed from that sea of negative emotions?</i>

    Chen Ge stood in the corridor, and he had never been so conscious before.

    <i>The main opponents in one-star missions are living humans; two-star missions have half Red Specters like the middle-aged woman who kidnapped children on the hearse or Wen Wen¡¯s big sister; three-star missions are like a threshold because each three-star mission will contain one or more Red Specters, but more than that, every venue for a three-star mission wille with a door! Whether it is the Third Sick Hall, Coffin Vige or the underground morgue, the ¡®existence¡¯ of the door is the hallmark of a three-star mission.</i>

    <i>If that is how things are arranged, then what will a four-star mission be like? More than one door at a single mission location? Or will the world behind the door no longer be closed in but a connection of multiple buildings and thus multiple nightmares?</i>

    Chen Ge personally thought that the chance of the second possibility wasrger.

    <i>The Trial Mission at Li Wan City was marked as 3.5 stars. If the world behind the door is simr to the game world inside Xiao Bu¡¯s game, then in a way, it could be a validation of my spection. After the door goes out of control, the world behind it will no longer be limited within a singr building but will continue to spread. If one is not careful about it, perhaps it will eventually turn into a four-star scenario.</i>

    The mastermind in Eastern Jiujiang used to the hearse to continually feed negative emotions into Li Wan City and used the despairing passengers to spread the despair like seeds. Chen Ge still remembered the conversations that he had with the passengers on the bus. There was a ghost building in Li Wan City. To fulfil a wish, one had to sacrifice or bear something of equal value.

    The mastermind seemed to be using these people¡¯s determination to turn them into the carriers of fear and misfortune to use them to create more despair to lure in more passengers. The core purpose behind his action was probably to turn Li Wan City into a four-star scenario.

    ¡°To use these poor souls as chess pieces, this monster in Eastern Jiujiang is worse than the ghost stories society,¡± Chen Ge muttered calmly.

    <i>Eastern Jiujiang already has a four-star scenario¡ªGhost Fetus¡ªcould the culprit have originated from this scenario?</i>

    The more Chen Ge thought about it, the more convinced he became. After all, the mastermind had only appeared in the form of a shadow so far, but the scariest thing was that it was able to exchange blows with Zhang Ya in just a shadow form.

    <i>A three-star scenario wouldn¡¯t contain this kind of monster. Zhang Ya was already the most threatening presence a three-star scenario could breed. In that case, that monster had to be rted to a four-star scenario. Its physical form should be trapped somewhere, or its physical form is immobile, and this is the only way it can move.</i>

    Standing in the corridor, Chen Ge was lost in thought until the door of the family on the rightmost side suddenly opened, and a fat middle-aged man stood at the door holding his phone.

    ¡°Why are you screaming sote at night?¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    After the brief exchange, their eyes met. Through the open door, Chen Ge saw that the pipe in the house was not screwed shut, and strands of ck hair were climbing up the water into the pipe. The man¡¯s gaze instead fell on Chen Ge¡¯s hand, attracted by the scary hammer that Chen Ge was holding. It was hard to imagine that one coulde across such bloody and primal thing in modern society.

    The blood grooves, the skeleton-like handle, every detail of this hammer seemed to announce its difference from the tool hammer that was used by construction workers.

    ¡°You...¡±

    ¡°Move!¡± Chen Ge ordered the man¡ªnot harming the innocent was part of his creed. He dragged the hammer as he charged into the room and swung it at the pipe!

    Bang!

    A loud crash echoed from inside the room. The pipe burst, and the water spurted several meters, falling on the man¡¯s face. He was stunned speechless. His lips were wide open, and he was unable to close them for a long time.

    ¡°Xu Yin!¡± After dealing with the water ghost once, this time, Chen Ge had learned his lesson. He predicted the water ghost¡¯s movement and bent the pipe that she was going to escape from. He kicked the door of the bathroom open, and Chen Ge summoned both Bai Qiulin and Xu Yin, having them block both ends of the pipe.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see where you¡¯re going to run this time?¡±

    Wet, raven-ck hair oozed out of the pipe and covered the entire bathroom. This was the water ghost¡¯s final struggle. The mirror cracked, and pipes burst¡ªthe sound of intense fighting came out from inside the bathroom.

    ¡°What... what is he doing inside?¡± The man saw the water seep out from underneath the door, and after a long time, he finally recovered and called the police on his phone. ¡°Hello, is this the police? A madman just rushed into my home. You have toe help me!

    ¡°Is he dangerous? Of course, he is! He¡¯s extremely dangerous! He carries a long ass hammer with him!

    ¡°I don¡¯t know him! He just appeared at my door, rushed in, and started ruining my water pipes! I swear, I didn¡¯t say anything. I just shared a look with him!

    ¡°Okay, I understand! I will stop provoking him and will stay as far as I can, but you have to hurry!¡±

    ...

    Half an hourter, Chen Ge finally gained control over the water ghost. The limited space made it difficult for him to fight. Both Bai Qiulin and Chen Ge blocked the water pipe and underground sewer¡ªthe main fighting force was still Xu Yin.

    ¡°She¡¯s so hard to deal with even on the surface. If the fight really happened at the dam, it might have been me who lost.¡±

    After fighting with the water ghost, Chen Ge noticed something. The girl¡¯s attack style would be extremely strange when she was near water, and her fighting power would almost triple.

    ¡°Thankfully, we cornered her on the ground, or else this mission would have been as difficult as a normal three-star mission.¡± Chen Ge ced the twisting ck hair in Xu Yin¡¯s grasp into a shampoo bottle. Behind the curtain of ck hair hid a girl¡¯s faded shadow. She was wearing a blood-stained dress, and she looked just like Wen Wen, probably slightly older than Wen Wen.

    ¡°She is just a child and needs adult supervision.¡± Chen Ge ced both the bottle and the recorder together inside the bag.

    ¡°Before the two-star mission has even started, I¡¯ve already captured the boss. After the water ghost assimtes into the family at the Haunted House, I should go back to visit the dam¡ªperhaps I can recruit her underlings then.¡±

    Satisfied, Chen Ge shoved the hammer into his backpack and opened the door.

    ¡°Stop right there! Do not move!¡± A scream came from outside the door, and it startled Chen Ge. However, his expression soon turned curious because the voice was very familiar. With his hands in the air, Chen Ge slowly walked out from the bathroom.

    When they saw his face, both of the officers were equally shocked.

    ¡°Officer Xiao Qing, I told you at the fishing aficionado¡¯s home that we would meet again soon.¡± Chen Ge smiled embarrassedly. ¡°I didn¡¯t lie, did I?¡±

 Chapter 586 - Salvage

    <h4>Chapter 586: Salvage</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°That was two days ago, wasn¡¯t it, or was it yesterday?¡± Xiao Qing looked at the innocent-looking Chen Ge, who had his hands over his head, and he felt a headacheing. He did not know how to report this to the captain.

    ¡°Was that yesterday? It doesn¡¯t matter, as you saw, I was investigating the culprit of the children kidnapping case.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why you trespassed into a civilian¡¯s home and broke all of the water pipes with your hammer? Mind telling me what the rtionship between the two is?¡± Xiao Qing and the other officer rxed after they saw Chen Ge. They knew that Chen Ge was not crazy. His way of thinking was certainly different from a normal person, but he was definitely on the side of justice.

    ¡°That will be very hard to exin. If Captain Yan is here, he should be able to understand it.¡± Chen Ge namedropped Captain Yan to use as a shield, and he quickly changed his tone to be weak and apologetic. ¡°But destroying someone¡¯s property is definitely bad. I willpensate everything at its original price.¡±

    He shed an apologetic smile at the middle-aged man, and that caused thetter to shiver. The man before him now and the man earlier were like twopletely different people. The people present had no idea what Chen Ge was thinking.

    <i>Trading several hundred RMB for a water ghost? This is such a good deal!</i>

    After negotiating with the man, Chen Ge was led out of the building by the two officers.

    ¡°You said earlier that you were investigating the child kidnapping case. What¡¯s that about?¡± Xiao Qing had made a big break in the previous case, but unfortunately, his captain had refused to allow him to follow the crime team and always set him up with the normal cases. The situation had really been grinding his gears.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. There is a special ed. school near this area that had a missing child. After my investigation, I realized that there were other people at the school other than the students and teachers. I followed the trail, but it went cold at this building.¡± Chen Ge naturally would not tell the police about the water ghost. He came up with a believable story and pushed it onto the officers.

    ¡°Was the child found?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but the child suffers from a hereditary illness that causes her to be mentally different. Combined with the shock, you won¡¯t get any answers even if you question her.¡± Chen Ge carried his backpack and walked between the two officers. ¡°You seem to be very interested in this case.¡±

    ¡°Compared to the case, I¡¯m more interested in you.¡± Xiao Qing asked for Chen Ge¡¯s number. For some reason, he felt like, if he followed Chen Ge, there would be big cases to uncover.

    After returning to the school, Chen Ge arrived to see the two teachers being carried away by the ambnce. They had been found inside the toilet cubicle. Their clothes were dripping wet, and their faces were frozen in fear like they had just lived their worst nightmare. The strangest thing was that the doctor discovered arge amount of water in their throats and lungs. No one knew what had happened to them after they fainted.

    Wen Wen¡¯s aunt was there as well, and the headmistress and the teacher were apologizing to her. A bad guy had sneaked into the school¡ªthe administration had to bear some responsibility.

    ¡°The female teacher and the girl¡¯s aunt can prove that I¡¯m a good person.¡± Chen Ge very naturally stood next to them and ced himself in the ranks of the victim. After asking around, the bespectacled teacher vouched for Chen Ge. She said that there were indeed other people at the school, and it was Chen Ge who broke the window to save her and Wen Wen. However, to everyone¡¯s surprise, when the police wanted to take Wen Wen¡¯s aunt¡¯s statement, the woman was extremely uncooperative. She kept scratching her arm and the back of her hand like the minute pain was necessary to help her cope with fear, to help her calm down.

    ¡°What are you afraid of? The revenge from the culprit? We¡¯re the police, and I can guarantee that we will eventually catch the culprit.¡± Xiao Qing had no idea what was happening. After he consoled the aunt, he walked toward Wen Wen.

    The girl was not crying or making any trouble. She was silent, standing alone in the shadow of the wall. No matter who went to hug her, she would attack that person like an animal.

    ¡°Officers, thank you, but we don¡¯t want to pursue this case anymore.¡± After a long time, Wen Wen¡¯s aunt voluntarily gave up on the investigation. Her face was pale as she kept turning around to look into the school like there was a man-eating demon hiding in the shadows of the corridor.

    ¡°You are going to let the culprit that harmed the child escape just like that?¡± Xiao Qing could not understand the aunt¡¯s logic. ¡°If we don¡¯t capture the criminal, he might harm other children in the future. This is not only about you anymore¡ªplease help us by cooperating with the investigation.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need. There¡¯s really no need! Wen Wen, let¡¯s go.¡± The aunt reached to grab the girl¡¯s hand, but to everyone¡¯s surprise, the girl reacted like a spooked feral cat and waved her hands wildly, scratching her aunt¡¯s hands until they bled.

    She refused to let anyone near her as she curled up in the shadows. Her cute face turned savage as her eyes darted about, and her chest rose unevenly. She was desperately in need of security.

    ¡°Wen Wen? I¡¯m your auntie!¡± The woman wanted to try again but was stopped by the police.

    ¡°Is the child acting up? Do you have her medicine?¡± Xiao Qing felt that the case was not as simple as it seemed.

    ¡°The medicine is at home. I¡¯ll take her home now!¡± Wen Wen¡¯s aunt wanted to grab the girl by force, but naturally, the police would not allow that before getting to the bottom of the truth. Seeing as everyone was about to snap, Chen Ge removed his backpack. He walked around Xiao Qing and Wen Wen¡¯s aunt as he took out a shampoo bottle.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± This strange action attracted the attention of the teacher and the other officer.

    Chen Ge ignored them and squatted down one meter away from the girl. He told the girl, ¡°Your big sister is here. No one hurt her, and I know that she has her reasons for doing those things. She is as kind-hearted as you, and the two of you are the real victims here.¡±

    Holding the bottle, Chen Ge slowly approached the girl. ¡°You share the same body, so you should have some kind of special bond with her. Try to summon her, you should be able to get her to respond.¡±

    The girl raised her hand in semi-disbelief and touched one end of the bottle. Chen Ge did not know whether the girl could sense her sister¡¯s presence or not, but at least she had somewhat calmed down.

    ¡°No matter what happens, I will help you and stand by your side.¡± Chen Ge slowly picked the girl up from the ground. ¡°Everything is okay now...¡±

    Wen Wen slowly returned to normal. Her small hands grabbed the end of the bottle, and she buried her face into Chen Ge¡¯s chest like she was afraid of seeing other people. When Chen Ge picked up Wen Wen, the ck phone in his pocket vibrated.

    Chen Ge took it out and clicked open the message.

    ¡°Different choices lead to different result. The special visitor has left, and you have made your choice. Congrattions for lowering the hostility of the Twin Water Ghost.

    ¡°Two-star trial mission Twin Water Ghost activated!

    ¡°Please arrive at Eastern Jiujiang Dam before midnight tonight!

    ¡°Mission requirement: Alone, you have to salvage the elder sister¡¯s body!¡±

 Chapter 587 - Home

    <h4>Chapter 587: Home</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Salvage her dead body?</i>

    When Chen Ge saw the mission details on the ck phone, his eyelids jumped slightly. This Trial Mission was different from what he thought.

    <i>Isn¡¯t it a bit difficult for the mission to request me to go to the dam alone to salvage the sister¡¯s body?</i>

    To salvage a dead body from a body of water would require a professional team, but Chen Ge only had one night to do it. Without the help of other people, without salvaging tools or a boat, he did not even know what the ¡®person¡¯ that he was supposed to salvage look like.

    <i>Bury seed happened before Wen Wen was born, so how old could Wen Wen¡¯s big sister have been at the time? Why was her bodyter abandoned in the Eastern Jiujiang Dam?</i>

    Many questions floated up in his mind, and only Wen Wen¡¯s aunt would be able to provide the answers.

    Wen Wen¡¯s father suffered from the same hereditary illness, but it was clear that he loved his daughter a lot. Unfortunately, due to his mental impediment, he might not have been able to remember things that happened so long ago. Thus, Wen Wen¡¯s aunt was the only person who had lived through the experience and could bemunicated with normally.

    <i>The woman appears to constantly avoid the event that transpired several years ago. Direct questioning will get me nowhere. I have toe up with another solution.</i>

    The Twin Water Ghost mission had been activated, and based on Chen Ge¡¯s understanding of the ck phone, if he failed the mission, the scenario would be locked away forever, and Chen Ge did not want to miss out on this unique underwater scary scenario.

    Silently putting the phone away, Chen Ge turned around while holding the girl, and he suddenly realized that everyone¡¯s eyes were on him. ¡°Why are you all looking at me?¡±

    Xiao Qing coughed and reminded him out of kindness, ¡°The bone in your backpack is poking out.¡±

    Chen Ge quickly turned around and realized that the handle of Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer was indeed poking through the opening. This hammer that had been given by the ck phone had not been so big at the beginning. As it followed Chen Ge and as the number of ghost and Specter that it came into contact with grew, it had probably absorbed ¡®nutrients¡¯ from them and grown scarier, longer, and heavier.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, this is just a prop from my Haunted House. I often go out alone at night, and I carry this to ward off the bad guys.¡± Chen Ge provided a clumsy excuse.

    ¡°I really don¡¯t understand how a person like you is so liked by children.¡± Xiao Qing did not go and inspect Chen Ge¡¯s backpack. He looked at Chen Ge¡¯s bright and kind expression; the innocence in his eyes, the angel-like Wen Wen in his arms, and rest of the setting formed a great contrast to the hammer peeking out of the man¡¯s bag.

    ¡°Actually, I am quite good with children. Many of them like to be around me.¡± Chen Ge was reminded of Fan Yu, Xiao Bu, and Men Nan¡ªall these children shared a good rtionship with him.

    ¡°If you say so...¡± Xiao Qing and the other officer opened the police car¡¯s door. ¡°The culprit sneaked into the school to kidnap the student, which is quite serious. I will need a few of you toe with us.¡±

    ...

    At 10:10 pm, Chen Ge hugged the girl as they walked out from the police station. Wen Wen grabbed the shampoo bottle. She still only let Chen Ge hug her and stuck close to him. Even Wen Wen¡¯s aunt did not expect this. She followed Chen Ge closely, watching the two withplicated emotions. The three walked in a row, and those not in the know would think that they were a family.

    ¡°When the police were doing the interrogation earlier, I tried my best to help cover for you.¡± After they wandered to a more deserted corner, Chen Ge suddenly stopped. ¡°Actually, it was Wen Wen¡¯s elder sister who injured the teachers at her school. There was no child kidnapper, right?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve met Wen Wen¡¯s sister. Her body is still submerged at the bottom of Eastern Jiujiang Dam. She died a horrible death and ising back to seek...¡±

    ¡°Stop talking!¡± Wen Wen¡¯s aunt suddenly lost control and screamed shrilly, causing the passersby around them to jump.

    ¡°Avoiding is not going to solve the problem. Perhaps she hasn¡¯t harmed you now, but that doesn¡¯t mean that you¡¯re safe.¡± He turned to look at the aunt. ¡°What actually happened to the child? Perhaps I can help you.¡±

    Standing by the bridge, the woman looked at the gently flowing river. After a long time, she said, ¡°Do you know about Bury Seed? It was a cruel method to use a child¡¯s life in exchange for the healthy growth of another. I don¡¯t know about the exact details; I only know that when Wen Wen was about toe into this world, my parents led Wen Wen¡¯s sister away. They left at midnight and only returned at dawn.¡±

    ¡°Wen Wen¡¯s sister didn¡¯te back with them?¡±

    The woman shook her head. ¡°My parents only came back with a small bowl of dirty water. They woke Wen Wen¡¯s mother up and forced her to drink it.¡±

    ¡°A bowl or dirty water?¡±

    ¡°Yes, very murky. There was even blood on the edge of the bowl.¡±

    ¡°Wen Wen¡¯s mother didn¡¯t resist? She allowed them to do that to her?¡± Chen Ge suddenly realized that there were few things about Wen Wen¡¯s mother at her home.

    ¡°Her mother was from the same vige as I was. She was unfortunate enough to get into a car ident and lost a leg. My parents took her in with the condition that she helped give birth to a healthy child for my big brother.¡± The woman paused. ¡°It was my parent¡¯s decision to use Wen Wen¡¯s sister as the seed; they didn¡¯t tell anyone. Wen Wen¡¯s mother didn¡¯t even realize the bowl that she drank from was stained with her own daughter¡¯s blood.¡±

    ¡°So, what happenedter?¡± Chen Ge felt like halting the story already. He did not know how to evaluate this family.

    ¡°Since Wen Wen¡¯s sister didn¡¯te home, my parents made up an excuse and said that the child had been sent to their old home to be taken care of. Several dayster, Wen Wen came into this world. During the previous hospital visits, the doctor had told us that the child was a boy, so until the minute of birth, everyone was so happy.¡±

    A sad smile appeared on the woman¡¯s face. ¡°But soon, karma came. The child came out a girl and had a slight deformation on her head like there was another face growing on the back of her head. After the doctor¡¯s examination, it was confirmed that the child suffered from the same hereditary disease. My parents couldn¡¯t suffer the trauma and left home one rainy night.¡±

    ¡°They didn¡¯t tell Wen Wen¡¯s mother about her first daughter?¡±

    ¡°My father¡¯s mind was not normal, and he had a temper despite his physical abnormality. My mother suffered from the same fate. They had been taking the ridicule and mockery from the society their whole lives, and they couldn¡¯t resist it anymore. Their life was difficult, and they did not want their next generation to go through the same thing.

    ¡°However, the result showed that they had been lied to. The so-called bury seed failed. I don¡¯t where they went after that night. In any case, I never saw them again.¡±

    Initially, the woman looked pained, but as she talked, the lines on her face smoothed out like she had be desensitized to it. ¡°My parents and Wen Wen¡¯s big sister disappeared, her husband is an idiot, and now so is her second daughter. Wen Wen¡¯s mother couldn¡¯t withstand the pressure, so she stole all of the money that the family had and left. It was my twentieth birthday that day.¡±

    Chen Ge wanted to console her, but he did not know what to say.

    ¡°Now, I¡¯m almost thirty already. I don¡¯t need pity or help from others. I just wish for Wen Wen to grow up healthily and safely¡ªthat¡¯s all I wish for.¡± The woman walked to Chen Ge and extended her hands toward Wen Wen. ¡°Give her to me. It¡¯s time for us to go home.¡±

 Chapter 588 - Using the City as a Womb

    <h4>Chapter 588: Using the City as a Womb</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I can give you the child, but you have to be clear about this¡ªif this issue is not fully resolved, this thing will happen again in the future, and it might not be me who is holding the child next time.¡± Chen Ge put Wen Wen down. The child was still holding the shampoo bottle. She liked to stick close to her sister; without her sister, she felt so unsafe.

    ¡°There is no need for you to worry. I will look after Wen Wen.¡± The woman looked at Wen Wen¡ªthe girl had already calmed down. She did not resist her aunt, but she did not leave with her either.

    ¡°Follow your aunt home. I will help fulfill her wish.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the bottle. ¡°Trust me.¡±

    After a long time, Wen Wen finally let go off the bottle and silently went to grab her aunt¡¯s hand. Seeing Wen Wen return to normal, the woman sighed in relief.

    ¡°You should go home now. Leave the rest to me.¡± Chen Ge ced the water bottle inside his backpack as he stared at the dark surface of theke.

    Sensing the incongruity in his tone, the woman pulled Wen Wen behind her. ¡°What do you n to do? We didn¡¯t ask for your help, and don¡¯t you be dumb enough to start any investigation.¡±

    Based on that sentence, Chen Ge felt like Wen Wen¡¯s aunt still had something that she was hiding from him due to certain reasons.

    ¡°You are both victims. The culprits are those who turned a sad event into a tragedy. If we do not stop them, more families will encounter the same pain as you did. Despair is contagious, and we must stop them before it is toote.¡± Chen Ge held the railing of the bridge with both of his hands. He had no idea whether he had said those things to pull some useful information from the woman to help herplete the Trial Mission or really intended to use his negligible amount of energy to help change this imperfect world.

    ¡°Then, be careful. I still need to work tomorrow. I¡¯m not going to stay to act crazy with you.¡± The woman nudged Wen Wen along, and after taking a few steps, she suddenly stopped and stood where she was for a few seconds. Then she turned to tell Chen Ge, ¡°The Bury Seed needs three things¡ªthe seed, the fetus, and the womb. To transfer a child¡¯s life into another child¡¯s body, that is Bury seed. But if you transfer many lives into one singr body and use the whole city as the womb, then what kind of monster will be birthed once the seed germinates and grows?¡±

    Chen Ge was thinking about something else, and the sudden exposition from the woman made Chen Ge think that he had misheard her. ¡°The night that my parents left, I followed them sneakily to Li Wan City and saw something.¡±

    The woman seemed to be talking to herself, and when she was done, she led Wen Wen away. Chen Ge stood by the bridge and watched the woman and the girl disappear into the distance.

    ¡°To use the whole city as the womb?¡± Chen Ge gripped the railing tightly. He realized that things were far more serious than he had thought. ¡°Innumerable children¡¯s lives and despairing living humans as seeds, the city as the womb, then the fetus can only be the ghost fetus.

    <i>Li Wan City¡¯s difficulty is 3.5 stars, and ghost fetus is four stars. Could there be a rtionship between the two?</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s mind was flooded with many questions.

    <i>Wen Wen¡¯s family might just be the first stage of the trial to confirm the effect of Bury Seed and the real test will begin at Li Wan City. Xiao Bu is most likely the ¡®fetus¡¯ that was handpicked by the culprit, but why did it insist on creating the ghost fetus? Could it be that it also wants to gain a new life like the well ghost in Coffin Vige?</i>

    Li Wan City¡¯s door had gone out of control, and Chen Ge had no idea how powerful Xiao Bu was. However, she had to be a very special Red Specter to have been chosen by the culprit hiding at Eastern Jiujiang.

    <i>The upper limit of a three-star scenario is a Top Red Specter, but it is hard to say for a 3.5-star scenario.</i>

    Thinking back to the woman¡¯s parting sentence, Chen Ge dissected it closely, and he noticed some details that he had missed earlier.

    <i>If the culprit ns to turn the whole city into the womb and use living humans as seeds, then they must need some kind of medium to connect with everyone. The first time that I ran into the shadow was at Eastern Jiujiang Fresh Water nt, and that ce happens to be rtively close to Eastern Jiujiang Dam. The Water nt is used to cleanse the water from the dam, and both of these locations are stops for the bus on Route 104. Could the culprit have been using the drinking water as its medium? The man from the fishing society told me that he saw many water ghosts at the dam. That shouldn¡¯t happen under normal circumstances. Could the dam be a part of the culprit¡¯s n?</i>

    Realizing the severity of the situation, Chen Ge hailed a cab and rushed to Eastern Jiujiang Dam. The dark surface of the dam asionally rippled. When Chen Ge arrived, it was almost 11 pm.

    ¡°Is someone there?¡± He knocked lightly on the manager¡¯s door. Ten secondster, the light inside came on.

    ¡°Who is it?¡± With an rmed voice, the man inside got out of bed but did not open the door.

    ¡°Brother Zhang, we met each other earlier. There was someone fishing for the King Fish, yes? It was me who returned the man¡¯s fishing rod.¡±

    ¡°I think I remember you, why did youe back sote at night?¡± Probably thinking that Chen Ge sounded familiar, his alertness went down.

    ¡°I want to borrow a boat.¡± Just as Chen Ge finished, the door opened.

    The manager was wearing arge coat, and he looked shocked. ¡°Borrow a boat?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I have something to confirm and need to salvage something from the water.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were firm and his tone unshakeable.

    ¡°I can¡¯t help it if you¡¯re on your personal mission, but I can¡¯t allow you to risk your life like that. There is a King Fish in the dam, and you want to conduct a salvage around midnight. What if there¡¯s an ident?¡± Zhang Dabo shook his head.

    ¡°Zhang Brother, when I went to return the rod, I found a dead body buried at the fisher¡¯s home. The police will probablye to find you soon.¡±

    ¡°They already came this morning.¡± Zhang Dabo looked at Chen Ge with a bitter smile. ¡°It gave me quite the shock. After all, I¡¯d spent so long in thepany of a murderer.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve been working with the police. You can go online and search for Western Jiujiang¡¯s Haunted House boss. I¡¯ve helped the police solve many big cases. I¡¯m borrowing your boat this time to investigate some things.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone and opened his phone record. In his small contact list, the names with inspector, officer, and captain took up half of it.

    After some more persuading, Zhang Dabo finally agreed. ¡°I can borrow you the boat, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll being with you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°By the way, what is it that you¡¯re trying to salvage?¡± Zhang Dabo was curious.

    ¡°A dead body, a little girl¡¯s body to be precise.¡±

    Zhang Dabo definitely did not anticipate that answer. He rubbed his hands and didn¡¯t know what to say.

    Opening the warehouse¡¯s door, Zhang Dabo pulled out the paddles, fish spear, and rope. ¡°Wait here for a moment.¡±

    He turned into the manager¡¯s room to take out a shlight. ¡°This might look old, but its light can prate far into the darkness. If there¡¯s any danger, wave it several times at the bank, and I... I will call the police for you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Chen Ge threw everything into the boat, then activated the recorder and jumped into the boat as well.

    ¡°Several teams normally work together to salvage a body, are you sure that you can do this alone?¡± Zhang Dabo thought that Chen Ge was messing with him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not working alone either.¡± Finding his bnce on the boat, Chen Ge opened theic and released the vat ghost into the water.

 Chapter 589 - Thick Fog

    <h4>Chapter 589: Thick Fog</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Just remember this piece of nautical advice. No matter what happens on the water, as long as the boat doesn¡¯t capsize, there is still hope.¡± Zhang Dabo was a nice person. He saw that Chen Ge was ready to set out, and he went back into the room to retrieve a life jacket. ¡°This is the only one we have at the dam; it was given to me by my boss. It has not been used before, but you should take it with you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, you should go back inside. It¡¯s not safe staying by the bank.¡± Chen Ge thanked the man, put on the vest, waved goodbye at Zhang Dabo, and rowed the boat away. Rowing a boat on the dam alone at midnight, that was certainly a unique experience.

    The sky and the water were both dark, and there was no light around. It was as if the world was made of darkness, and his body was slowly dposing into it as well. Chen Ge did not head directly to the center of the dam. After moving away from the bank, he started tomunicate with the Vat Ghost.

    The creature that came from Coffin Vige did not retain his living memory, so most of the time, it acted on instinct, and that mademunication difficult. Looked from outside, Chen Ge was acting strangely. He kept waving his hands at the water like he was trying to talk to the water.

    ¡°The girl¡¯s body is about this big. If you spot it, tell me the location, and I¡¯ll hand you the rope. You only need to tie the rope around her body.¡± Chen Ge repeated that several times, but the Vat Ghost could not grasp suchplicated order. He was curled up underwater, blowing bubbles out of his lips, looking at Chen Ge nkly.

    ¡°Never mind, it¡¯s me who¡¯s demanding too much.¡± Chen Ge did not me the Vat Ghost. He opened his phone and searched for the picture of a child. ¡°Go underwater to see if there¡¯s a child like this. Don¡¯t make too much noise, and if there¡¯s any danger that you can¡¯t handle, retreat immediately. Safety first.¡±

    Chen Ge would often tell his workers to do various things, but he had a line inside his heart and would never sacrifice his workers to achieve his goal. Perhaps because of that, the ghosts that stayed at the Haunted House due to various reasons would grow to be aplished and efficient ¡®workers¡¯. After simplifying the order, the Vat Ghost appeared to have understood it. His body slowly submerged, disappearing out of Chen Ge¡¯s sight.

    ¡°It¡¯s still not yet midnight. Hopefully, everything will be done before then.¡± Chen Ge looked at the shampoo bottle in his backpack. Actually, he had a more efficient method, which was to release Wen Wen¡¯s sister and have her go look for her own body. ¡°I¡¯ll should consider that if the Vat Ghost fails.¡±

    He waited for ten minutes on the boat before the Vat Ghost returned. He was frozen in fear like he had experienced something horrifying. With his body submerged underwater, the Vat Ghost waved his hands that were disproportionate to his head, and his lips opened and closed. However, Chen Ge could not understand what he said. All he could see were the bubbles.

    ¡°Slow down, or you¡¯re going to attract other people¡¯s attention.¡± Chen Ge flipped through theic to summon Ol¡¯ Zhou. ¡°Can you understand what he¡¯s saying?¡±

    He thought thatmunication might be easier between ghosts. Ol¡¯ Zhou stared at the Vat Ghost¡¯s lips for a long time before saying, ¡°There are many people underwater, and he¡¯s very afraid.¡±

    ¡°Ask him if he found a little girl¡¯s dead body.¡± Chen Ge sighed in relief. He suddenly realized that Ol¡¯ Zhou had the talent of being a trantor; this was indeed a valuable talent. Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯smunication with the Vat House was voiceless. Chen Ge used the power of Ghost Ear given by the ck phone, and he only barely captured some murmuring.

    ¡°He didn¡¯t spot a girl¡¯s body, but there was a spot at the bottom where dead bodies were piled high, and the girl¡¯s body might be hidden there.¡± Aftermunicating with the Vat Ghost, Ol¡¯ Zhou came to this conclusion. ¡°There are many dead bodies under the water, and the one that you¡¯re looking for should be there as well, but he¡¯ll need time to find it.¡±

    ¡°We have the whole night¡ªthat should be enough. It¡¯s fine to take it slow.¡± Chen Ge had the Vat Ghost lead the way. He was about to move the boat when a ray of light hit his body. Turning around, Chen Ge saw Zhang Dabo waving the shlight by the bank.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I thought that I saw a second person on the boat with you!¡± Zhang Dabo¡¯s palm that held the shlight was slick with sweat. ¡°There¡¯s still time to turn back now!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re probably mistaken.¡± Chen Ge signaled for Ol¡¯ Zhou to return to theic, but he got no reply. When he turned around, he realized that Ol¡¯ Zhou had reacted faster than he did because when the light shot over, he had already disappeared. ¡°Turn your shlight off, or you might attract the King Fish.¡±

    Chen Ge felt like he was the main character from a horror movie who refused to listen to advice and eventually ran into the ghost. Shaking his head, Chen Ge tossed this curious thought out of his mind and continued to row to the middle of the dam.

    Eastern Jiujiang Dam was neither big nor small. When he was at the center, Chen Ge felt like he had be part of the dam, dissolving into the darkness.

    Without light and with the bank far away, Chen Ge was not worried that Ol¡¯ Zhou would be seen, so he released him again. ¡°Tell the Vat Ghost to hold one end of the rope. Tie it around the girl¡¯s body if he spots it, and I will personally pull her out.¡±

    Ol¡¯ Zhoumunicated Chen Ge¡¯s order. He dropped the rope into the water, and the Vat Ghost dived again, holding the end of the rope. The water surface returned to its undisturbed peace. Ol¡¯ Zhou and Chen Ge grabbed the other end of the rope, and they held the same position, waiting patiently like they were fishing. Time trickled by, and the Vat Ghost did not return even when midnight arrived.

    ¡°Did something happen?¡± Even though Chen Ge had great expectations of the Vat Ghost, he was his worker, and Chen Ge treated him as family. The night seemed to thicken, and once midnight passed, a light fog rose from the water, sequestering the water from its surrounding.

    ¡°Why is it suddenly so foggy?¡± The shampoo bottle in his backpack was shaking, and strands of ck hair peeked out from the cap like they were giving Chen Ge warning. Even the recorder started to y static. Chen Ge smelled a faint scent of blood in the air. He did not summon Xu Yin, but thetter materialized at the stern.

    ¡°This is not right. Something seems to have changed this two-star scenario.¡± Normally, it was already too much if there was a half Red Specter at a two-star scenario. They posed no threat to Xu Yin, but somehow, Xu Yin had shown up. The fog thickened. Chen Ge could see the flickering light by the bank, but a few minutester, even that disappeared.

    Chen Ge was now at the middle of the dam, the boat being twirled around by the current. Slowly, he lost his sense of direction like he was cut off from the world.

    ¡°Focus on the water.¡± Chen Ge summoned Bai Qiulin as well and had him and Ol¡¯ Zhou watch the bow and Xu Yin guard the stern while he stayed in the middle.

    The fog was still thickening, and to Chen Ge surprise, there was a voiceing from the fog. It was unclear whether it was from the surface of the water or from underwater, but the person was calling his name, and the voice was very familiar.

 Chapter 590 - Second Way of Death [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 590: Second Way of Death [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The thick fog isted Chen Ge from the bank. The small boat turnedzily while being fixed to one spot, causing the passenger to slowly lose his sense of direction.

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡± That familiar voice called next to his ears again. Chen Ge frowned, and he tried his best to think. However, there was no memory rted to this voice in his mind. It was very familiar and friendly, like this voice had once apanied him for a very long time.

    <i>Could this be my parent¡¯s voice? But that shouldn¡¯t be! How could I not recognize my parent¡¯s voice?</i>

    In the fog, Chen Ge felt his mind fading, and to stop that, he bit on his tongue harshly.

    <i>This doesn¡¯t feel like something that should exist inside a two-star Trial Mission. I¡¯m probably being ambushed by something more dangerous.</i>

    Chen Ge quickly calmed down. He knew clearly within his heart that since he had ruined the Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s culprit¡¯s n so many times, thetter must have hated his guts.

    The shampoo bottle in his backpack shook even harder, and the strands of ck hair crawled out through the small crack to wrap themselves around the bottle, making it look strange and scary.

    ¡°Are you trying to tell me something?¡± From how Chen Ge saw it, Wen Wen¡¯s big sister was also a victim, so she would not help the culprite and harm him. The hairs bound and entwined together to be something in the shape of an arrow, pointing a clear direction for Chen Ge to follow.

    ¡°She¡¯s giving you a sign. The body is right there,¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou exined.

    ¡°The situation has changed. We¡¯re no longer in a hurry to solve this mission.¡± Without getting to the bottom of the truth regarding the voice in the fog, Chen Ge was not going to move around aimlessly.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Zhou, can you hear someone calling my name from inside the fog?¡± Chen Ge sat in the middle of the boat. Listening to the voice from the fog, an indescribable sense of istion was burgeoning in his heart, like someone was whispering him an ultimate truth. He was alone and was always alone and would continue to be alone.

    ¡°No.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou shook his head. His tone and expression were no different from usual, and Chen Ge could not see any visible change to Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s demeanor either, but in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, everything was wrong. He stared at Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s face and took from it a sense of chilliness and ghastliness, like Ol¡¯ Zhou was plotting something nasty, a wicked plot to take his life.

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡± The murmuring of the voices was like his closest family, reminding him to stay away from these ghosts and monsters.

    ¡°It is good advice for normal people to stay away from ghosts, but the situation is unique for my family. Regardless of whether it was my parents or myself, our opinion and treatment of ghosts are different from normal people, especially considering the situation that I¡¯m in. Without the aid of my spectral friends, I would not have been able to survive this long.¡± Chen Ge knew the truth clearly. ¡°I treat these ghosts as my friends, so naturally, I do not believe that they would do anything dangerous to me. Furthermore,pared to human beings, ghosts are often more authentic and trustworthy.¡±

    Looking at the surface of the water, Chen Ge kept his gaze sharp and determined. ¡°I do not know who you are, but you¡¯ve gotten too far ahead of yourself. You want to turn me against my ghost friends, but you¡¯ve failed.¡±

    Even though his mental faculty was notpletely all there, it did not alter Chen Ge¡¯s attitude toward ghosts. This was a viewpoint that had been cultivated in him since he was a wee babe. With the influence from his parents and the ck phone, his understanding of ghosts was different from a normal person.

    ¡°Your voice sounds very familiar and even friendly, but the thing that you want me to do can only bring me harm. The real entity that wants to kill me is you. Stop relying on these tricks,e out and face me. Let me see who you really are.¡± The fog consumed the dam. The small boat twirled, carried by the water current, and the memory in Chen Ge¡¯s brain slowly became as fuzzy as the fog around him.

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡± The voice that called his name was incredibly familiar, but this was the scariest thing. Because he did not know such a person, in his memory, such a voice definitely did not exist. That sense of familiarity had nothing to do with memory; rather, it felt like it was branded into his body.

    He had encountered a simr experience in the past. When he was doing the Nightmare Mission at the tunnel, after taking the forty-fourth step, there was also a simr voice calling him from deep inside the tunnel. It was the same cadence, same tone. Chen Ge gripped his fists tightly, seemingly having remembered something.

    After the voice appeared inside the tunnel, he had seen something extraordinary¡ªhe had been killed when he was very small. He would never forget that strange experience of watching himself die. His thoughts were pulled toward that particr incident, and he started to uncontrobly reminisce about it.

    ¡°I once entered the tunnel when I was very young, and the person who killed me was standing behind me. From the looks of it, I was very familiar with this person.¡± The boat shook, and so did Chen Ge¡¯s body. When Chen Ge extricated himself from the heaviness of that memory, he realized with a start that other than himself, there was no one and nothing else on the boat.

    The backpack, Ol¡¯ Zhou, Xu Yin, and Wen Wen¡¯s sister had all disappeared, and he was the only one left behind on the boat. Fog swallowed up everything, and Chen Ge felt like he had been abandoned by the world. An indescribable feeling of loneliness gushed out from his heart. The temperature continued to drop. A thin sheen of water was coating his exposed skin, and it felt cold to the touch, a big difference from what a normal living human being should feel like.

    ¡°What is happening? Is this the special power of a unique ghost that I¡¯ve not faced before?¡± He sat down on the boat and grabbed the paddle. Even at a time like this, he had not given up, and he was getting ready to fight.

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡± The voice began anew, and this time, Chen Ge could hear clearly that the voice was getting close to him.

    ¡°This is a strange feeling. I once heard this voice inside the tunnel before. When I first got the ck phone and did my first Nightmare Mission, this voice also came from inside the mirror. When Doctor Gao destroyed the underground morgue and connected it to the blood world outside, I also felt this sense of familiarity. In fact, the door at the Haunted House¡¯s toilet also asionally makes me feel like it¡¯s very familiar, like there is something behind the door that has been calling after me.¡±

    His mind was filled with tons of different information. Chen Ge¡¯s head was heavy with the information overload. ¡°Have I forgotten something very important? Is it rted to my parent¡¯s disappearance?¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡± The voice started again, and it was just several meters away from Chen Ge. Taking a deep breath, he ced the paddle into the water and moved the boat. He decided to go take a look for himself. He rowed for three meters before Chen Ge saw a blurry shadow in the fog. The shadow was small, probably a child.

    ¡°The dead body of Wen Wen¡¯s elder sister?¡± He was still thinking about the ck phone¡¯s mission, which had be sort of an instinct for him. The small boat continued to move forward. As the distance between them closed, the fog started to part to the sides, and the shape of the shadow became clearer and clearer. It was not Wen Wen¡¯s sister¡¯s body but a little boy.

    When he saw the boy¡¯s face, Chen Ge¡¯s hands that gripped the paddle tightened subconsciously as a chill ran up his spine. This child was the younger version of himself. The familiar face and the friendly voice... but the different thing was, the boy¡¯s neck was snapped, and his head was basically dangling off his shoulders. His facial features, twisted beyond belief, radiated a sharp pierce of venom and resentment that Chen Ge had not experienced before.

    ¡°Yes, it was my own voice.¡± Chen Ge had thought that the voice was very familiar, but he only realized then that the voice that had been calling him was his very own voice.

    ¡°Why would I be calling after myself? Who exactly is this child? Howe he looks exactly like me when I was young?¡±

    His brain was about to explode, and Chen Ge massaged his temples with more force than one would feelfortable with.

    ¡°Have I forgotten about something?¡±

    Actually, since the door at the Haunted House¡¯s toilet had shown up, Chen Ge had been suspicious about this. Only those in the depths of despair would be able to push open the door, and there was such a door at the Haunted House. Then, the question was, who pushed open that door?

    Was it his parent or himself?

    When Chen Ge was trying to figure out an answer, the child in the fog lifted his head to look at Chen Ge on the boat. It was hard to describe the gaze of the boy. There was envy, resentment, and an undercurrent of aplicated emotion. This was a very lonely child; he was unable tomunicate with anyone else. His body was cold, his face was ugly, and his mind was twisted¡ªthe desire to destroy made up every cell in his body.

    ¡°Chen Ge, save me...¡± The familiar voice came out from the boy¡¯s lips. He stared at Chen Ge with both eyes. Then, his feet slowly floated above the water, and a different person¡¯s shadow appeared behind him. From the size of his physique, it seemed to be an adult. He ced his arms on the young Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders and lifted the child up high before mming him deep into the water.

    When the adult¡¯s shadow left, Chen Ge could hear a whisper of his voice. ¡°This time, he should bepletely dead. There is no way he will return again.¡±

    The water rippled, and the adult¡¯s shadow disappeared. Chen Ge looked at this scene with shock. When he was doing the Nightmare Mission at the tunnel, Chen Ge had simrly seen the young version of himself being murdered by an adult, and now, when he was conducting the water ghost mission, he realized that he was bearing witness to another murder of his young self.

    ¡°What is really going on?¡± He rowed the boat to the spot where the child had been pushed into the water, and he looked down. His eyes narrowed, and what he saw was quite cruel. The child with the twisted limbs and a bobble-like head was slowly sinking into the water.

    The face that reflected the features of Chen Ge¡¯s own looked at him through the water. His expression became more agitated as all the pain turned into resentment like he was unwilling to just sink like that into the deep, dark water. His lips slowly opened, and his twisted arms waved upward. The frail body started to float upward, and that scary yet familiar face was approaching in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡± His mind was a mess, and a strange thought suddenly appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s heart. <i>It has returned.</i>

    Unable to control its body¡ªor rather, that unique voice¡ªcaused Chen Ge¡¯s thoughts to be influenced. The boy underwater extended his arms. No one knew what had happened to him when he was still alive. His arms were slightly longer than normal, like someone had forcibly disconnected his arms from their sockets.

    The pale and noodle-like arms floated up the water, and the face came closer and closer to Chen Ge. The purplish lips opened lightly, and he was calling Chen Ge¡¯s name underwater.

    The water surface was like the surface of a mirror, with the adult Chen Ge on one side and the Chen Ge warped by resentment on the other side.

    Through the water surface, these twopletely different lives seemed like they were about to be woven back together.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I am you...¡±

    He could not read any special emotion from the body, and his body dipped uncontrobly deeper toward the water surface like he was trying to take a closer look of his reflection in the mirror. The limbs reached out through the surface. The pale fingers touched Chen Ge¡¯s face. The touch was very light. Chen Ge could not tell whether the child wanted to pull him into the water or merely wanted to touch his face.

    ¡°Who are you? And why have you been calling my name?¡± Chen Ge could sense a familiarity from the boy, a connection that went beyond blood ties. It was as if they were originally the same person. ¡°Who killed you? Who turned you into something like this?¡±

    Chen Ge kept asking the questions that were in his heart, but the child in the water did not answer. His fingertips were about wrap around Chen Ge¡¯s head, but before it could closepletely, another hand fell on Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder.

    The fingers were long, and the blood trails and cracks were like the exquisite work of a tattoo artist. The first impression that was given by the hand was... it was very beautiful. The fog around the boat suddenly dispersed, and an extremely cold and scary presence appeared behind Chen Ge.

    The blood-soaked ck hair slid down Chen Ge¡¯s body, and it fell into the dark water like a rain of metallic needles. It was an attack without target, sinking into the water like it was trying to turn the entire dam upside down.

    Chen Ge could feel the hand on his shoulder gripping tighter and his body that was tipping into the water being slowly pulled back.

    A shrill scream came from underwater, and the child who looked like the young Chen Ge morphed into a shadow and slipped away. After it disappeared, the spell on Chen Ge was broken. Like someone just pulled up from the water, his whole body was drenched in cold sweat, and he sucked greedily for the fresh air.

    When he opened his eyes next, the fog above the water had alreadypletely dispersed. Chen Ge saw Bai Qiulin and Ol¡¯ Zhou squeezing behind Xu Yin, shivering. The usually reticent Xu Yin also had an unnatural expression on his face.

    ¡°Did Zhang Ya show up just now?¡± He touched his shoulder. The hand that hadnded there earlier was fresh in his memory. The pale skin was crisscrossed with cracks and blood. ¡°Has she still not recovered from her injury?¡±

    The three ghosts on the boat did not dare answer, like the woman inside Chen Ge¡¯s shadow was a taboo that they could not mention. Standing up, Chen Ge looked in the direction that the child had escaped.

    Using Yin Yang Vision, he saw someone standing at the bank, and he was pushing an e-bike. The person was on high alert. When he felt Chen Ge¡¯s eyes on him, he quickly jumped on the bike and rode away.

    ¡°An e-bike?¡± Chen Ge stared at the man¡¯s back, and another person¡¯s image appeared in his mind. ¡°He looks suspiciously like Huang Ling¡¯s husband.¡±

    Xiao Gu had identally taken thest bus on Route 104 and saved Huang Ling, butter, Chen Ge had realized that the woman¡¯s husband actually died years ago and the man sharing her bed now was someone else.

    ¡°Why would Huang Ling¡¯s husband be here? Is he the culprit in Eastern Jiujiang? That doesn¡¯t seem likely.¡± Chen Ge looked at the taillight of the e-bike and was reminded of something else. When he apanied Captain Yan to go to Ming Yang Residence to look for the broken body parts, parts of the body had been stolen away, and he remembered spotting someone drive into the residence on an e-bike.

    ¡°Was he the one who stole the body parts that night?¡± Chen Ge had thought that Huang Ling¡¯s husband was just a smallckey, but from the looks of it, he was mistaken. He put the issue of the salvage aside for now and sent a message to Captain Yan and Lee Zheng, asking for an update regarding Huang Ling and her husband.

    While he waited for the reply, Chen Ge turned to look at the water. He could not help but go through the things that had happened earlier. ¡°When I crossed paths with the shadow at the Fresh Water nt, it also changed into a young version of myself. Is this its special power, or is he really rted to my childhood?¡±

 Chapter 591 - Underwater

    <h4>Chapter 591: Underwater</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge thought about it for a long time but settled on no answer.

    ¡°I still know too little, but I dide away with a reward tonight.¡± He narrowed his eyes at the bank. Huang Ling¡¯s husband was already gone. ¡°Previously, I thought that he was just a small fry, but it turns out he might be the biggest fish in the pond.¡±

    Chen Ge did not like to do things in a roundabout way, so he decided to go straight to Huang Ling¡¯s home after finishing the Twin Water Ghost mission. The fog on the water dispersed, and it was dark all around. Chen Ge nced at his watch; it was almost 1 am.

    ¡°How long have I stayed in the fog?¡±

    When the boat rowed to the center of the dam, it had not yet been midnight, and now, it was almost one hourter.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Zhou, has the Vat Ghost returned?¡± Chen Ge stood at the bow and looked down the rope. The dam was deeper than he thought¡ªeven with the Yin Yang Vision, he could not see the bottom.

    Ol¡¯ Zhou was not there mentally. He had been spooked by Zhang Ya, and his demeanor had stopped being so natural around Chen Ge. Previously, he had always had the impression that his boss was a kind person, one who managed to gather a house of ghosts from his kindness and grace, but seeing Zhang Ya walking out from his shadow at such close distance, Ol¡¯ Zhou changed his mind.

    Was it possible for a normal person to spend every moment with such a scary Red Specter, to have their rtionship so close that they were basically inseparable?

    He even started to wonder if his boss was actually being controlled by a Red Specter, being nothing more than a puppet.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Are you not feeling well?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s concerned tone caused Ol¡¯ Zhou to shudder. He quickly snapped into it and waved his hands in quick session.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. What were you asking earlier?¡±

    ¡°Did the Vat Ghost return when I was out of it earlier?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so; the rope hasn¡¯t moved.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou shook his head. ¡°Actually, I haven¡¯t been paying much attention. I was too focused on you.¡±

    ¡°Focused on me? By the way, did you see a boy who looked just like meing over from afar earlier?¡±

    ¡°A boy?¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s confused look exined many things. The thing that had happened earlier was only visible to Chen Ge and Zhang Ya.

    ¡°Then did not notice anyone appearing at the bank?¡± Chen Ge wanted to get more information on Huang Ling¡¯s husband.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but I think that was where the fog drifted from.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s words confirmed Chen Ge¡¯s suspicion. ¡°There is something wrong with the fog?¡±

    Ol¡¯ Zhou was very clever and quickly grasped what Chen Ge was hinting at.

    ¡°I have no idea what they¡¯re after, but it¡¯s not that simple to kill me. It¡¯s more like they want to show me something and lead me down a sinful path.¡± Anyone who saw their young self being brutally murdered would be left with an emotional scare, but with the training given by the ck phone, Chen Ge had cultivated a strong and resistant heart.

    ¡°But let¡¯s ignore that for now. The Vat Ghost has probably encountered some danger if he still hasn¡¯t returned. Can you help me tomunicate with the female ghost inside the shampoo bottle? See if she is willing to help bring back the Vat Ghost.¡± Chen Ge was worried about the Vat Ghost¡¯s safety. After all, he was sent in alone to deal with so many strange ghosts unwater.

    Ol¡¯ Zhou ryed Chen Ge¡¯s words to Wen Wen¡¯s sister. After a while, the shampoo was twisted open from the inside, and a weave of dirty, smelly hair crawled out from within. She seemed to want to crawl onto Chen Ge¡¯s body but was afraid and hesitant.

    ¡°What is she doing?¡± Chen Ge turned to Ol¡¯ Zhou, but thetter did not get it either. The hair was stuck together, and without closer inspection, it did look like water weed.

    ¡°They¡¯re both hair, but this ispletely different from Zhang Ya¡¯s.¡± Chen Ge squatted down and made a brave decision as he actively reached out toward the hair on the boat.

    ¡°How do you wish for me to help you?¡± The hair curled around Chen Ge¡¯s finger. It was wet and slippery like he was holding a living fish. The hair knew its limit. She only dared to touch Chen Ge¡¯s finger¡ªshe did not even dare to approach his palm. With one end curled around Chen Ge¡¯s finger, the other end reached toward the water.

    ¡°You want to drag me into the water?¡± Chen Ge did not think that the girl would be courageous enough to harm him after Zhang Ya¡¯s appearance and with Xu Yin standing there. ¡°Or are you trying to lead the way?¡±

    Just as they were tussling, the rope at the bow shuddered. Many bubbles followed, and the Vat Ghost¡¯s round head broke the surface.

    ¡°Howe you¡¯ve been down there for so long?¡± Probably feeling the concern in Chen Ge¡¯s voice, the Vat Ghost did not appear that frightened anymore. His lips opened and closed as he waved his hands at Chen Ge. More bubbles floated to the surface.

    ¡°He found the body, but he could not get close to it. It seems that ghosts are unable to get close to it.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou took up the role of the trantor seriously¡ªhe was very professional.

    ¡°Ghosts can¡¯t get close to it?¡± Chen Ge felt the slickness around his finger. ¡°Is that why Wen Wen¡¯s sister needs my help to get her body?¡±

    Staring at the water, this mission turned out to be different from what he had expected. Wen Wen¡¯s sister was a half Red Specter, and even she could not get close to it, let alone less powerful ghosts. Zhang Ya was probably the only exception, but Chen Ge had no power over that one.

    ¡°Xu Yin¡¯s connection to me will weaken once he¡¯s underwater, and he¡¯s still missing his heart¡ªI doubt he¡¯ll be able to go through the barrier as well.¡± Xu Yin had implicit trust in Chen Ge, and because of that, Chen Ge did not send Xu Yin to do things that he had no confidence in.

    ¡°Since ghosts can¡¯t get close to it, then a human has to do it.¡± Chen Ge took out the ck phone to confirm the mission detail. It said clearly that he had to be there alone to salvage the body. ¡°I was wondering why it purposely added a detail like that.¡±

    Chen Ge thought about it for a long time beforeing to a decision. ¡°There is nothing to hesitate about. When I first got the ck phone, I was in a much worse condition, and I wasn¡¯t afraid then, so there is no reason for me to be afraid now.¡±

    Fixing the rope to the boat, Chen Ge had Ol¡¯ Zhou and Bai Qiulin look over the rope, and he took the shlight given by Zhang Dabo, removed his shirt and pants, and jumped into the water. The water temperature was low, but Chen Ge did not feel cold. It was unclear whether that was because he was well-trained or because he had gotten used to the chill.

    His finger had Wen Wen¡¯s sister¡¯s hair wrapped around it, and she had been pulling Chen Ge toward a direction inside the dam. He sucked in a deep breath and had the Vat Ghost and Xu Yin guard beside him. He dived into the water.

    He turned the shlight on, but the light was weak underwater. Even with his Yin Yang Vision, the range of his sight was very limited. Time seemed to have slowed down like Chen Ge had entered a different world. This ce was very quiet, and it gave him a strange feeling, like an unborn child swimming in his mother¡¯s womb.

    His body sinking, Chen Ge gripped the shlight in one hand and the rope in another. Water pressure came in from all sides, and the oxygen in his lungs slowly decreased. There was something that touched Chen Ge in the dark, and it did not feel like fish.

    Unable to speak, he was unable tomunicate with the ghosts around him. In fact, Chen Ge could not even see them; he could only sense somewhat uncertainly that Xu Yin and the Vat Ghost were next to him. Then again, it was them who gave him courage to go underwater to go searching for a body.

    Several secondster, with the ck hair leading the way, Chen Ge saw something that looked like a coffin underwater, and a thick copse of water weed grew around it.

 Chapter 592 - Unlocked Underwater Scenario

    <h4>Chapter 592: Unlocked Underwater Scenario</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The shlight was barely able to pierce the darkness around him. With the tugging of the ck hair, Chen Ge was slowly being pulled to the thing that looked like a coffin.

    <i>Why is there such a thing in the dam? Who was it made by, and who is it for?</i>

    Before jumping into the dam, Chen Ge had no idea the dam would be so deep. He was running out of oxygen, and it showed with the lightness of his head. He moved the shlight to shine around the coffin. The ck ¡®water weed¡¯ danced at the bottom of the dam. After diving another two meters, Chen Ge realized that it was not a nt but human hair. It was weaved together into braids, and Chen Ge¡¯s eyelids kept twitching as he observed them.

    <i>Wen Wen¡¯s sister wants me to swim through the jungle of hair?</i>

    Just as this thought floated up in his mind, his body could not help but shiver. The ck hair climbed onto Chen Ge¡¯s arm. As he parted the ¡®water weed¡¯ away, it revealed a bloated and pale face.

    <i>It¡¯s a woman.</i>

    Her eyes were closed, and she was floating vertically in the water. There was something that was wrapped around her ankle, tying her to the coffin. With a quick nce around, Chen Ge noticed a hole at the bottom of the dam. The coffin was stuck inside the hole and the bodies were floating above the hole. Their hair grew alongside the natural water weed, and they formed arge blurry shadow in the water.

    To enter the hole, one had to pass through the water weed and dead people¡¯s hair. This was the first time that Chen Ge hade across such a creepy scene. Perhaps it was the nervousness that sped up the exhaustion of oxygen because Chen Ge started to feel his lungs constrict.

    Reaching out to push the weed and hair away, Chen Ge swam past the human bodies. The hole was very deep, and the coffin was stuck close to the entrance. Once Chen Ge tried to swim toward the hole, the hair around his arm untangled. Wen Wen¡¯s sister was unable to get close to the coffin.

    Unable to speak, Chen Ge could only gesture with his hands. Thankfully, Xu Yin had worked with him many times in the past, and he soon understood what Chen Ge meant.

    A smear of red appeared in the water like someone had poured blood into it. Xu Yin tried to follow Chen Ge into the hole, but once he approached the hole, a weird gurgle came inside the hole like the monster hiding inside it was slowly awakening. Xu Yin wanted Chen Ge to retreat¡ªhe could sense the bad aura hiding inside the hole.

    <i>Is Wen Wen¡¯s sister¡¯s body deeper into the hole or just inside the coffin?</i>

    The water slipped into his ears and his nostrils. Chen Ge was running out of time, and he needed toe to a decision soon.

    <i>Open the coffin! If her body is not inside it, then we¡¯ll retreat immediately.</i>

    All of the ghost refused to get close to the hole, so something seemed to be wrong with it. No matter what it was, this was not good news for Chen Ge, who did not have the support of any ghosts with him. He was used to interacting with ghosts, and the only thing able to apprehend a ghost was a scarier, crueler ghost.

    Chen Ge was not good at diving. With no other option, he pulled on the water weed and dead human hair as support to yank himself closer to the coffin.

    The shlight given by Zhang Dabo was not made for underwater diving. The light flickered on and off like it could go out at any moment. With the threat of no light and dwindling oxygen, every second that he spent underwater would increase the chance of Chen Ge getting into an ident.

    With his hands on the water weed and dead bodies, Chen Ge finally nudged through the hole. At the same time, he noticed that all of the dead bodies¡¯ legs were shackled by rope, and all the ropes reached into the coffin.

    From the looks of it, it appeared like the dead bodies¡¯ owner was hiding inside the coffin, and it had the say of these dead bodies¡¯ life and death.

    After exhausting two seconds, Chen Ge finally gripped the coffin inside the hole. He adjusted his position and shone the shlight deeper into the hole.

    <i>The man from the fishing society said that he saw many water ghosts at this dam, but there are only four dead bodies around this hole, could the rest be hiding deeper inside the hole?</i>

    The ray of light was unable to prate into the darkness, so he was unable to tell.

    <i>I have to tell the police about the dead bodies. I should leave the exploration of the hole to Captain Yan and his team.</i>

    Chen Ge intended to suggest that Captain Yan drain the dam, but he knew that the chance of that were not high. Eastern Jiujiang Dam was located upstream, and it was connected to many different branches of big rivers. Unless they could stop the running water at its source, there would note a day when Eastern Jiujiang Dam would be dry.

    <i>Now¡¯s no time to plot.</i>

    Due to theck of oxygen, Chen Ge¡¯s mind was wavering. His palm pressed on the coffin, and something sticky touched his palm. It felt very ufortable like he had stuck his hand into a vat of glue.

    <i>What is thered on the surface of the coffin?</i>

    Chen Ge lifted his hand to see¡ªhis palm had turned blood red. It was unclear whether it was a kind of red algae or something elsepletely. Chen Ge watched closer, and he realized that the red thing on his palm was still moving like it was alive.

    <i>Oh, f*ck it.</i>

    Chen Ge swam to the bottom of the coffin, and due to his experience at the Coffin Vige, he was familiar with the construction of a coffin and could lift one open easily. Using the buoyancy of water and his own weight, Chen Ge shook the lid loose, and several secondster, the closed coffin lid eased open a sliver.

    The lid was nailed onto the coffin¡ªthis was an old tradition at Jiujiang city, a practice called Coffin Sealing. This tradition was not often practiced because only those who brought shame upon the family name would get such a treatment.

    Even with all his might, Chen Ge was unable to peel the lid off. When he was desperate, a thick smell of blood smothered his nostril. Xu Yin had entered the hole and grabbed the other end of the lid. He purposely avoided the end of the coffin, like the thing inside made him ufortable or even afraid.

    With Xu Yin¡¯s aid, Chen Ge slowly pulled the coffin open, and he shone the shlight in.

    What he saw was something that he never would have imagined in his life.

    The coffin was filled with a collection of dolls. They did not look like the ones sold on the market, so they were probably hand-made. That was confirmed also by the extremely rough handiwork and theck ofpanybel. However, each of them was marked with a name.

    <i>What¡¯s going on?</i>

    Chen Ge trained his full attention on the content inside the coffin.

    <i>The ck phone¡¯s mission was for me to salvage dead body. Could these dolls be the dead body it¡¯s referring to?</i>

    With the dwindling of time, Chen Ge could not stop to think, so he reached into the coffin. However, as his handnded on one of the dolls, the coffin shook, and the ropes that reached into the coffin were pulled taut. He looked up, and the four dead bodies anchored to the four edges of the coffin had all turned to look at him.

    Four dead faces with the hair growing from their scalp weaving together to form something of a. Chen Ge kept calm. At this point, there was no return. With a grit of his teeth, he yanked the doll out of the coffin. Weirdly enough, a string was pierced through each of the doll¡¯s hearts, connecting them, and by taking one out, Chen Ge pulled the whole collection out with it.

    When he yanked out the dolls, Chen Ge felt his feet going numb like a school of fish just slithered past him. Considering where he was, he instantly felt unsettled. Turning the shlight around, Chen Ge lowered his head to look, and a group of pale-faced children had gathered around his feet.

    <i>When did you show up?</i>

    Scanning them with Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge soon realized that these kids barely counted as baleful Specters¡ªthey were lingering spirits hanging onto this world by a thread, and they had possessed the dolls.

    <i>Does each doll represent a living child? So many children have died from bury seed?</i>

    The incident was more serious that he had thought. Chen Ge pulled the children out from the coffin and prepared to swim to the surface.

    <i>Wait a minute.</i>

    Without much hesitation, Chen Ge dislodged the coffin lid from the coffin. Since Xu Yin did not dare to get close to the end of the coffin, there had to something more to the lid. Thus, he decided to carry it back with him for a closer inspection.

    The dead bodies that were tied to the coffin did not stop Chen Ge. If anything, this felt more like a ritual. The deeper secret would only be revealed by exploring deeper into the hole.

    <i>This should be the handiwork of the mastermind as well. Instead of going into the unknown hole, it¡¯s safer for me to go and confront Huang Ling¡¯s husband in person.</i>

    Chen Ge rarely did things that he had no confidence in.

    Under the protection of Xu Yin and the Vat Ghost, Chen Ge grabbed the coffin lid and the rope that strung through the dolls and swam through the ck hair and water weed.

    Breaking the surface, Chen Ge took a deep breath. He tossed the dolls and coffin lid onto the boat and used thest vestige of his strength to haul himself on it.

    A slight vibration came from a corner of the boat. Chen Ge moved the clothes aside, and he was greeted by the lit screen of the ck phone. A new message hade through.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specters¡¯ Favored, forpleting the two-star Trial Mission¡ªTwin Water Ghost! You have sessfully unlocked the underwater scary scenario!¡±

 Chapter 593 - The Shirt of the Drowned

    <h4>Chapter 593: The Shirt of the Drowned</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Even then, Chen Ge was still trying to get over the aftereffects of holding his breath for too long. His head was light, but even in that condition, he still grabbed onto the coffin lid and the rope that strung the dolls through their hearts tightly. After taking several deep breaths, Chen Ge finally felt well-adjusted enough to nce at the phone.

    ¡°The two-star mission Twin Water Ghost has beenpleted. Completion Rate: one hundred percent. Unlocked this mission¡¯s hidden item¡ªthe Shirt of the Drowned.

    ¡°The Shirt of the Drowned (Malice Points: 17): There are things underwater that crawled into my clothes, and they pulled me deep into the water.¡±

    <i>The mission has apletion rate of one hundred percent. Looks like the hole in the dam is not counted by the ck phone as part of the Twin Water Ghost mission.</i>

    Chen Ge put the ck phone away, and there were many questions left in his mind.

    <i>Was the coffin purposely ced there to block the way into the hole?</i>

    Earlier, Chen Ge had noted that Xu Yin did not dare get close to the end part of the coffin, and he felt the secret to that would be hidden on the coffin lid.

    After putting on his clothes, Chen Geid the lid vertically down on the boat.

    <i>It¡¯s impossible for me to physically carry this back home with me, but no taxi will allow me to put this inside their car. I¡¯ll need toe up with a solution.</i>

    The coffin lid that Chen Ge had salvaged from the dam was much smaller than a normal coffin. It was decayed and was stained with patches of red. It was unclear whether those patches were dead bugs or a type of water nt that had dried up. After removing the thing that covered the surface, Chen Ge made a startling discovery.

    A Specter was carved on the decayed wooden board. The monster was wrapped in chains and had six eyes, looking almost simr to the monster that the ghost stories society had left on the door in the Haunted House.

    <i>The ghost stories societymitted many ritualistic murders and gouged out the victims¡¯ eyes to create something like this on the door in my Haunted House. At the time, they wanted to dominate the door, so the carving of this ghost should possess the power of guarding a door.</i>

    Chen Ge took out his own phone and snapped a picture of the carving.

    <i>The coffin was stuck near the entrance of the hole, and the ghost was carved onto the lid¡ªcould this be a device to guard the hole inside the dam? To prevent the thing inside froming out?</i>

    Only Chen Ge woulde up with the idea of using a coffin to guard a hole.

    <i>The ck phone gave me the mission toe salvage dead bodies, so technically, it should include the possibility that I would carry the whole coffin away with me. Then this means that no matter what kind of scary presence is hiding inside the hole, it should pose no threat to me.</i>

    Since he already had the coffin lid, going back underwater was impossible; Chen Ge was merely finding an excuse for himself.

    <i>The coffin was probably ced here by the mastermind. Then the enemy of my enemy is my friend. If it doesn¡¯t want the thing inside the hole toe out, then I should find a way to release it.</i>

    Chen Ge was unsure what was inside the hole and had no idea where the hole led to. Honestly, at that moment, he was not at all interested. He just wanted to leave that ce as soon as possible. What if something really did slip out and vented its anger from being trapped onto him?

    When Chen Ge prepared to row away, a blob of dark shadow floated onto the surface of the water.

    <i>I¡¯d almost forgotten about her.</i>

    The shadow stuck to the side of the boat. Strands of ck hair crawled up from the water, and they grew like vines on the side of the boat before slithering onto the boat and slipping into one of the dolls.

    Picking up the doll, Chen Ge noticed that it was different from others. She was wearing a little dress with blood spots, and the hair was real human hair. The name that was carved on the back was red in color.

    ¡°Zhao Shuang¡¯er? This doll is Wen Wen¡¯s big sister?¡± The mission had beenpleted, but there were too many dolls on the boat. ¡°Every doll has a name carved on the back, so each of them represents a life.¡±

    When he was underwater, Chen Ge could sense the anxiety and fear from the children. They were all still so young, and most of them had not even experienced life before.

    ¡°Too many things are involved in this case. I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t be able to handle this alone. I should inform Captain Yan about this.¡± Ny percent of the Jiujiang¡¯s disappearances happened in Eastern Jiujiang. If they were all due to the shadow¡¯s n, then the number of deaths would be astronomical.

    Chen Ge decided to hold onto the doll that Wen Wen¡¯s sister possessed. There was another unique thing about this doll¡ªher clothes were always wet. Afraid that she might wet theic, Chen Ge ced her in his pocket. Summoning all the ghosts, Chen Ge rowed the boat back to the bank.

    When Zhang Dabo saw Chen Ge return safely, he sighed in relief. He had really been concerned for the man. Who could me him when Chen Ge came alone to the dam at night toe salvaging for dead bodies, and without any safety gear at that! Just watching it from the bank, he could not help but feel anxious, afraid that the King Fish might show up to assault Chen Ge.

    ¡°Brother, mind giving me a hand?¡± The boat moored, and Chen Ge lifted the coffin lid up.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Zhang Dabo was an honest man. He gripped the other end of the coffin lid and started to pull.

    ¡°This is a coffin lid. I found it at the bottom of the dam.¡±

    ¡°A coffin?¡± Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s answer, Zhang Dabo almost slipped and fell to the ground. ¡°Didn¡¯t you go searching for dead bodies? Why did youe back with a coffin lid?¡±

    ¡°There are four dead bodies in the dam, I couldn¡¯t handle all that alone. We should call the police and leave this to the professionals.¡±

    ¡°Four... four bodies?¡± Zhang Dabo could not imagine that the dam that he was tasked with guarding over would hide so many dead bodies. Chen Ge moved everything onto solid ground and right then his phone rang.

    ¡°Shall we call the police now?¡± Zhang Dabo looked at the coffin lid, and he felt incredibly ufortable.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to rush. Let me answer this call first.¡± It was Lee Zheng who called Chen Ge. When Chen Ge saw Huang Ling¡¯s husband earlier, he had messaged Captain Yan and Lee Zheng, but they did not reply immediately probably because it was already toote.

    epting the call, before Chen Ge could speak, Lee Zheng¡¯s voice came through. ¡°Chen Ge, are you telling me Huang Ling¡¯s husband is the murder suspect? How confident are you?¡±

    ¡°One hundred percent confident, I suggest you detain him as soon as possible. The man is extremely dangerous. The longer you let him roam free, the more dangerous he¡¯ll be,¡± Chen Ge said confidently, ¡°Also, there¡¯s another thing. I found four female dead bodies in Eastern Jiujiang Dam.¡±

    ¡°Eastern Jiujiang?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they¡¯re underwater. When I was investigating the dam earlier, Huang Ling¡¯s husband was also around the area.¡±

    Lee Zheng did not question why Chen Ge would go to the dam searching for dead bodies in the middle of the night; he just answered Chen Ge instantly, ¡°Wait there, our people will be there in a minute.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± After the call ended, Chen Ge looked at the dumbstruck Zhang Dabo. ¡°Brother, the police will being soon. I might need to trouble you againter.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s no trouble. Do say if you have any use for me.¡± After all that had happened, the way Zhang Dabo looked at Chen Ge changed. At 3:10 am, the police from both Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s police station and the main police station arrived at the same time. As if on cue, Chen Ge also received the call from Lee Zheng.

    ¡°Chen Ge, something¡¯s wrong. I personally went to Huang Ling¡¯s home. Huang Ling is mentally unstable,pletely out of it, and her husband is nowhere to be seen.¡±

    ¡°Follow the surveince around Eastern Jiujiang Dam¡ªthat should give you the lead to follow his trail. This man is very important and very dangerous, be careful when you conduct the search.¡±

 Chapter 594 - Expanding Haunted House

    <h4>Chapter 594: Expanding Haunted House</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°For now, you should focus on helping the local team investigate the dead bodies underwater, leave the rest to us.¡±

    Whenever Lee Zheng conversed with Chen Ge, he would have this strange feeling. Whether it was his tone or his way of thinking, thetter felt more like an experienced first-ss police inspector. At times, Lee Zheng even suspected that Chen Ge was a special agent that Captain Yan had requested to aid their group. In fact, Lee Zheng did not think he would be surprised if one day in the future, Chen Ge came pping his shoulders and said with a smile, ¡°Sorry, but I¡¯m actually also a police officer.¡±

    Clever people turn their passion into their career, but in Chen Ge¡¯s case, his pursuit of justice was far beyond a mere passion for murder investigation. It was hard to imagine what kind of attitude he adopted to be able to unearth so many hidden cases all over the city without asking for any reward in return.

    ¡°Alright, I will lend them my full cooperation.¡± The group that was responsible for overseeing the dam was from the Eastern Jiujiang Police Station and Investigation Team Two from the main station. Chen Ge was not familiar with them, and after some basic questioning, the two parties got into a standstill on how to deal with the coffin lid.

    In the end, under the persuasion by the leader of the Team Two, Chen Ge agreed to hand over the coffin lid and the dolls inside the coffin to the police temporarily for the medical doctor and other professionals to examine, and then the police would personally send them back to the Haunted House.

    ¡°Every doll here has a name carved on their back, and each name corresponds to a once-living child. I suggest you run an investigation on each of the names, and you mighte to a surprising discovery.¡± Eastern Jiujiang had been peaceful for so long, but this peace was faked. The current beneath the surface was rapid, and no one had any idea how dirty and how deep the water went.

    At 3:30 am, the management of the dam and the salvage team arrived. They worked together to retrieve the dead bodies and the coffin. During the process, one of the salvage members imed that he heard strange noisesing from inside the hole, and someone else noticed flickering shadows underwater. It was probably the fish.

    The salvage operation went smoothly. After the bodies and coffin were taken away, there was nothing left for Chen Ge to do. After getting permission from the police, Chen Ge called a cab and left.

    He had never seen an underwater scenario being built before, and he was quite curious about this newly unlocked scenario. At 4 am, Chen Ge returned to his Haunted House. He pushed open the gate and rushed underground. Walking down the darkened steps, Chen Ge noticed that a small path had opened up between Mu Yang High School and Coffin Vige. It wasrge enough to allow two people to go through at once, and it went deeper underground. Walking down the path felt strange and oppressive.

    The light was dim and the air damp. asionally, Chen Ge could hear the sound of water dripping. At the end of the tunnel was a darkke of water, and a small boat was floating on the surface of the water. The boat was made from wood, and it was just big enough to fit two passengers.

    ¡°There¡¯s no paddle?¡± Chen Ge tossed the Vat Ghost into the water, and to his surprise, the water was surprisingly deep. Getting on the boat, Chen Ge slowly paddled using his hands to row himself forward.

    ¡°This design is rather insane. The visitors have to use their hands as paddles for the boat to move. If the monsters hiding in the water suddenly surface, just how much terror and despair will the people on the boat be trapped in?¡±

    Due to safety considerations, Chen Ge nned to go to the Props Room to make a small wooden paddle for emergencies. Inching along the way, the boat continued to move forward. The scenario for Twin Water Ghost was only half the size of Mu Yang High School.

    ¡°But this is at the very least a two-star scenario. It can¡¯t be this simple, can it?¡± Chen Ge was seated inside the boat and looking around with his shlight when the Vat Ghost suddenly surfaced. He waved his hands and then pointed at the water.

    ¡°There¡¯s something underwater?¡± Chen Ge thought about it and approved of that possibility. Theke was quiterge, and the boat did note with a paddle. The people on the boat had to use their hands to work the boat, and in that case, it was highly probable for them to be pulled overboard.

    No matter what, safety was the most important. To prevent idents from happening, Chen Ge removed his clothes that were still damp and jumped into the water again. Using his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge discovered to his surprise thepletely different world that was underwater.

    This scenario was built on the slope, and the deeper one swam, the more things one could see. The things near the top of the water weremon everyday items like an old sofa, broken furniture, andmps like actual rooms that had sunk.

    ¡°Are these the rooms that the drowned victims lived in before they died?¡±

    Further down, the bed of theke was littered with cut up dolls. The faces were embedded into the silt, the broken eyes staring at the boat that skimmed across the surface. Moving forward, one woulde into a graveyard of coffins. They were stacked in aplicated manner, turning the geography of the underwaterke into a maze.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think this scenario should be opened to the public yet. Without the necessary equipment, it is too easy for idents to happen.¡±

    Running into scary things underwater was ten times more terrifying than running into them on solid ground, but unfortunately, the risk was too high. Chen Ge was a Haunted House operator, and he defined his own job as one in the service industry. The underwater scenario was a good direction for the Haunted House to take, but it could only be tested after he had the necessary equipment.

    ¡°Then again, I suppose it¡¯s notpletely useless. At least I have a home now for all the underwater ghosts that I encounter in the future.¡±

    Chen Ge worked together with the Vat Ghost to move the boat back to the shore. Then, he carried his clothes and retraced the path back. ¡°You should stay here for now.¡±

    Vat Ghost was naturally faint-hearted. Give him a water vat, and he could stay in the cramped space withoutint for century. His personality was really a great contrast to how he looked.

    ¡°If you see any visitors wander in here, remember to warn them to stay back. If they fall into water, you have to save them, understand?¡±

    After giving the Vat Ghost his orders, Chen Ge was still worried. He ran to the tool room to make a roadblock and ced it at the scenario entrance.

    ¡°Who would have thought that my Haunted House would one day have an underwater scenario?¡± Chen Ge looked at his Haunted House, and his heart was surfeited with pride. With his careful expansion, the Haunted House now had a hospital, a school, a vige, a residential area, and even a manmadeke. ¡°The Haunted House just upgraded to a Maze of Terror. If I continue to unlock scenarios, will my Haunted House eventually be an underground city filled with endless scary stories and terrifying tales?¡±

    When he first obtained the ck phone, Chen Ge had once noted the term Castle of Nightmares on the mission detail, and he felt like that should be the Haunted House¡¯s final goal.

    After dealing with all that, Chen Ge ced the wet clothes in the toilet and gave them a simple scrub. Then he went to the staff breakroom. He was about to crawl into bed when his phone-started to vibrate. It was Lee Zheng.

    ¡°Inspector Lee? How can I help you?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve found Huang Ling¡¯s husband.¡± Lee Zheng¡¯s tone was grave, signifying that they had run into trouble.

    ¡°Where did you find him?¡± Chen Ge sat up and spooked the white cat, which had curled up next to him.

    ¡°We checked for his trail on the surface and finally found him at the entrance to White Dragon Cave Tunnel. When we arrived, he was already unconscious.¡±

    ¡°White Dragon Cave Tunnel?¡± Chen Ge thought that the name was familiar. His eyes slowly widened because White Dragon Cave Tunnel was the abandoned tunnel where he hadpleted histest Nightmare Mission, the ce where he had seen his young self being killed for the first time.

 Chapter 595 - Heâ€™s Already Dead

    <h4>Chapter 595: He¡¯s Already Dead</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Huang Ling¡¯s husband was found fainted at the entrance to White Dragon Cave tunnel, which was something that Chen Ge did not anticipate.

    <i>The shadow is extremely cunning. He probably sensed something beforehand and made an early escape. But why would he go to the tunnel? Is this a hint that there is something he needs inside the tunnel? Huang Ling¡¯s husband is fainted outside the tunnel, does that mean he¡¯s already been abandoned by the shadow? Or is there a spare body to possess inside the tunnel?</i>

    Several questions popped up in his mind. Chen Ge could not get it. He nced at the time and told Lee Zheng, ¡°Inspector Lee, can I go there and ask him a few questions?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re now at the hospital. The doctors are inspecting Jia Ming¡¯s body. He is slipping in and out of consciousness, and his mind is a jumbled mess. I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t be getting any answers even if you try.¡±

    ¡°Then, can I just take a look at him?¡± Chen Ge wanted to personally confirm whether the shadow was still attached to Jia Ming. After getting Lee Zheng¡¯s permission, Chen Ge changed and rushed to the People¡¯s Hospital.

    Chen Ge flitted in and out of the theme park multiple times in one night. Initially, the senior guard still greeted him, butter, even the guard got tired of watching himing and going.

    When Chen Ge arrived at the hospital, it was around 6 am. Police officers stood guarding the door, and when he tried to approach, he was immediately blocked.

    ¡°I¡¯m here for Inspector Lee Zheng from the main police station. I was on the phone with him earlier.¡± Chen Ge gave them Lee Zheng¡¯s name. One of them thought that Chen Ge look familiar, and after studying him for a while, he managed to recognize Chen Ge.

    ¡°Follow me, Inspector Lee did mention you.¡± The officer led Chen Ge to the first room on the left. ¡°Jia Ming is in here. His psychological status is not that stable. Try not to say anything to provoke him.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Chen Ge nced at the room next door. ¡°If Jia Ming stays here, then who is staying here?¡±

    ¡°His wife, Huang Ling. We went to Huang Ling¡¯s home first tonight, and we immediately noticed something wrong with her. It was like she had taken some hallucinatory pills, so we also moved her to the hospital.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge pushed the door lightly open. Lee Zheng and a female officer were seated one meter away from the bed, and they were conversing with the patient in bed. Hearing the door open, everyone in the room turned to look.

    Since Lee Zheng and the female officer knew that Chen Ge wasing, so they reacted calmly, but just as Lee Zheng was about to greet Chen Ge, Jia Ming suddenly screamed in bed. His face was pale, and he jumped to the other end of the bed. His emotions were frazzled, and he pointed at Chen Ge with a shaking finger. ¡°Ghost! Ghost! He¡¯s a ghost!¡±

    The needle for the drip was forcibly yanked out, but Jia Ming did not appear to feel pain. His eyes were glued to Chen Ge with fear pouring out of them. The people in the room did not expect a change like that. Lee Zheng summoned the doctors, and they worked together to pin Jia Ming down on the bed.

    ¡°Should we try to use anesthetic?¡± the doctor asked Lee Zheng. Lee Zheng shook his head; he was curious why Jia Ming would react that way when he saw Chen Ge. After Jia Ming calmed down, Chen Ge sat on the chair. Strangely enough, after he entered the room, Jia Ming refused to move his eyes away from Chen Ge. Whenever Chen Ge made a move, Jia Ming would react like a frightened cat, trying to escape.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he won¡¯t be able to harm you with us here. Furthermore, I can confidently tell you that he is a human being, not a ghost.¡± Lee Zheng had Chen Ge sit down next to him.

    ¡°What is going on?¡± Chen Ge was equally confused. He used Yin Yang Vision to study Jia Ming. The man did not have a trace of Yin energy on him¡ªhe looked just like a normal human being. The ghost was not on his body. Did it leave, or was it hiding in his shadow?

    Chen Ge had not left the park with his backpack, and he maintained a sharp alert around Jia Ming. Ever since Chen Ge entered the room, the atmosphere had changed. Lee Zheng massaged his thudding temples, and his bloodshot eyes looked at the two who were staring at each other. ¡°Please, both of you, calm down.¡±

    Seeing as Jia Ming¡¯s emotions were slowly calming down, he told the doctor to go and nurse the wound on his hand while he stood up to remove all the fragile and sharp objects from the bed.

    ¡°Tell me, why are you calling him a ghost? Have you seen him before?¡± Lee Zheng had interrogated many criminals, and he knew that Jia Ming¡¯s reaction earlier was not an act.

    Jia Ming did not dare to speak, and his eyes kept darting around. Finally, after multiple questions from Lee Zheng, he sighed. ¡°I saw his murder with my own eyes!¡±

    ¡°I was murdered?¡± Not only Lee Zheng, even Chen Ge was shocked. In the morning, he had stayed obediently at the Haunted House, and asionally, he would wander out at night, but he was sure that he had not been killed in any shape or form.

    ¡°But he¡¯s here in his physical body. Are you sure you did not just imagine this? When a person is under high stress situation or possesses a highly unstable mental faculty, hallucinations can happen quite often. After all, most of the time, our brain will only allow us to see what we wish to see.¡± Lee Zheng tried to analyze this from a professional angle.

    ¡°He¡¯s not a living man; you have to trust me! He¡¯s very dangerous! He¡¯s really a ghost, a ghost back to im lives!¡± The mention of Chen Ge caused Jia Ming¡¯s emotions to unravel. ¡°He will kill me. Those who get too close to him will die¡ªI will die, no! Everyone in this room will die!¡±

    Jia Ming yelled loudly, so loud in fact, the patients in the other rooms could hear him clearly. Both Lee Zheng and the doctor in the room frowned.

    ¡°It¡¯s not beneficial for the patient¡¯s health to allow him to keep yelling like this. I still suggest we should administer some anesthetic,¡± the doctor suggested again but was still denied by Lee Zheng.

    This experienced officer was observing Jia Ming¡¯s tone and expression. He even paid attention to the way the man¡¯s pupils moved when he was speaking. He was surprised by his conclusion; Jia Ming did not appear to be lying.

    Hearing Jia Ming¡¯s usation, Chen Ge did not deny it instantly but instead started to stare back at Jia Ming with some interest in his eyes. This reaction made Lee Zheng rather speechless.

    Normally, if the living human next to him was used by the suspect to be dead, Lee Zheng wouldugh and then drag the suspect to see a psychiatrist. However, this happened to Chen Ge, and Lee Zheng started to have doubts. The man next to him had a case file dedicated to him at the main station¡¯s filing room. He had helped the police solved many murder cases, and it was not wrong to say the man walked the same path as death. However, this did not mean that he suspected that Chen Ge was dead¡ªhe merely suspected that this case would dig up even scarier things.

    ¡°You said that I will kill you? Then what is my motive?¡±

    When a person was suddenly scared, their body would react in involuntary ways. In the study of this field, Chen Ge was an expert. When he entered the door, his eyes had fallen directly on Jia Ming. The man reacted in extreme fear¡ªwhether it was his expression or tone, they were extremely authentic, but for Chen Ge, they were also a bit much.

    Jia Ming¡¯s reaction was slightly different from the reaction of the visitors at his Haunted House when they were scared. If not for the fact that he scared people for a living, he would not have been able to tell the difference.

    With a theory in his heart, the way that Chen Ge looked at Jia Ming changed from kindness to suspicion.

    ¡°You said that I will kill you, then you have to at least give me a reason to kill you, right?¡±

 Chapter 596 - Ghost Story

    <h4>Chapter 596: Ghost Story</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Everyone turned to look at Jia Ming. From an observer¡¯s point of view, Chen Ge indeed did not have any motive to harm Jia Ming. The police were not fools. Before they captured Jia Ming, they had already investigated his background, and there was no interaction between him and Chen Ge before they met.

    He curled backward. After hearing Chen Ge, Jia Ming became even more afraid. ¡°I can¡¯t say. If I do, then there is no way I¡¯m leaving this hospital alive! He will kill me here! He will use methods that you can¡¯t ever imagine to wee death. He is the devil, the devil that peels back human skin to feed on their flesh!¡±

    ¡°Stop changing the topic. If you don¡¯t give us an honest answer, I will leave you alone to stay in the same room as him,¡± Lee Zheng warned.

    ¡°Am I that scary?¡± Chen Ge knew that Lee Zheng was purposely saying that to force out the truth, so he cooperated fully. He stood up to examine the windows and door. After making sure that all the openings were locked, he sat back down.

    With his exit barred, Jia Ming hesitated beforeing clean. ¡°I once witnessed his murder, and while I was running away, he saw my face.

    ¡°When was this?¡± Lee Zheng waved to signal for the doctor to leave, and then he took out his recorder pen.

    ¡°It was around three or four years ago.¡± Jia Ming looked at Chen Ge cowardly, and his voice was as soft as a mosquito¡ªone would not be able to hear him unless one paid full attention. ¡°I worked at an insurancepany before this, and I was tasked with handling a car ident for a realtor¡¯s family. The people escaped unharmed, but the car was not so lucky. After the traffic police¡¯s investigation, it was revealed that the person was driving under influence, and the deepest scar on the vehicle was discerned by a professional to be the drunken driver¡¯s own doing, so following thepany rules, I did not approve of his insurance im.

    ¡°Because of that, the man brought people toe to thepany to create trouble. The man came from a powerful background, so the manager did not dare make him an enemy. As such, he sacrificed me as the scapegoat. At the time, I was still a young man, unable to control my emotions. After the man sent his people to beat me up, naturally, I fought back, and in the end, both of us were sent to the police station.

    ¡°My wife went through a lot of hoops to save me. For that, she lost her job, and we lost a lot of money. I was deeply resentful, and all I wanted to do was to take revenge.

    ¡°That night, I sneaked into the man¡¯s house. Initially, I just wanted to familiarize myself with the ce, but I ran into something extremely scary.¡±

    At this point, Jia Ming stopped. He looked at Chen Ge, and his forehead was covered with cold sweat.

    ¡°Why are you stopping now?¡± Lee Zheng and the female officer were both quite agitated.

    ¡°I ran into someone who was trying to kill the realtor.¡± Then he raised his finger, but he was too afraid to point it at Chen Ge. ¡°I just wanted to take a small revenge on the man. I never thought to kill anyone. I had nothing to do with his death.¡±

    The case suddenly becameplicated because it involved another murder. Lee Zheng frowned. ¡°Who is this realtor that you¡¯re talking about? I think I know all the real estate agents in Jiujiang.¡±

    ¡°His name was Jiang Long. He once took over the plot at Ming Yang Residence, thergest abandoned residential area in Eastern Jiujiang.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s him?¡± Chen Ge and Lee Zheng shared a look as they connected the many clues in their mind.

    ¡°Jiang Long died from a car ident. We have the case file at the police station.¡± Lee Zheng was quick to point out the anomaly in Jia Ming¡¯s story.

    ¡°You¡¯re being tricked! You¡¯re still being lied to! He was definitely murdered, and the killer is...¡± Jia Ming bit on the tip of his tongue and then pointed his finger at Chen Ge, ¡°The kill is now sitting next to you!¡±

    ¡°You said I killed Jiang Long? Howe I have no memory of this at all?¡± Chen Ge studied Jia Ming¡¯s every move closely. He realized that the way Jia Ming bit on his tongue was quite simr to his own. When he was caught in a conundrum or had to remain calm while in a dangerous situation, he would do the same thing and used the acute pain to help pull in his focus.

    Jia Ming did not dare answer Chen Ge. It was as if he had depleted all of his courage telling his story.

    ¡°What exactly did you see? Why did you say the murderer is Chen Ge?¡± That was what Lee Zheng was curious about. This was the first time that, after detaining the suspect, the suspect pointed out the witness as the murderer.

    ¡°You have to believe me. His face is forever seared into my mind! I can confidently say that it was him who I saw that night!¡± Jia Ming ignored Lee Zheng and continued in his own manner. ¡°The first time that I went to find Jiang Long was around twelve midnight. That was merely to scout the ce out. However, once I arrived at his ce, I realized that I wouldn¡¯t be able to get close to the man. There were too many guards and cameras.

    ¡°But at around 1 am, something seemed to happen inside the residential area. All the guards ran toward one of the houses, and in the chaos, I sneaked into the crowd and followed them.

    ¡°It was Jiang Long¡¯s neighbor¡¯s home that attracted the crowd. The two dogs raised by the family were brutally murdered, and the curious thing was that there was no sound to the murders.

    ¡°The guards quarantined the neighbor¡¯s home and started the search for the dog killer. It was a noisy asion, but Jiang Long¡¯s home was weirdly silent. All the lights were off, and no one answered when the guards went to knock on the door.

    ¡°Jiang Long was probably not home, so I realized that this was my perfect chance. I could sneak into his house and run away with some valuable items aspensation. I circled around to the backyard, and after some trials, I realized that the wall was too tall for me to climb over, not to mention the cameras that were still operating. Just as I thought of giving up, I gave the backdoor a push, but to my shock, the door was not locked, just closed.

    ¡°After the door opened, before I could react, what I saw gave me the shock of my life.

    ¡°A man was kneeling on the ground, covered in blood. His expression was one of intense pain, and there was something forced down his throat. Even so, he was still coughing up blood. Standing next to him was a man who held a bloody knife between his two fingers, and he was speaking something in an awfully casual manner.¡±

    Jia Ming turned to look at Chen Ge, and his fists tightened as veins popped on the back of his hands. ¡°The bloody man kneeling on the ground was Jiang Long, and the man standing over him was him.¡±

    ¡°I was at Jiang Long¡¯s bungalow? How many years ago was this?¡± Chen Ge had no memory of this at all. The man had to be lying, or the man that he saw was not Chen Ge but someone who looked like Chen Ge.

    ¡°The face matches perfectly. Your face is the stuff of my nightmares, so I cannot be mistaken.¡± Jia Ming was on the verge of tears. ¡°Jiang Long noticed me and reached out to me for help. When he opened his mouth to beg, the blood trailed down his lips. Of course, I didn¡¯t dare stay and turned to escape from the scene.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute, I have a question. Jia Ming definitely died from car ident, and there was no knife wound on his body. The forensic doctor even confirmed that as his actual cause of death.¡± Lee Zheng was still on Chen Ge¡¯s side. Of course, he was because Jia Ming was making no sense.

    ¡°That was the first time. After that, this devil started to haunt me. I kept having the same dream over consecutive nights. After I fell asleep, he would crawl out from underneath my bed and stand at my bedside to whisper into my ear that since Jiang Long had died, it would be my turn next.¡±

 Chapter 597 - Like a Shadow

    <h4>Chapter 597: Like a Shadow</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°You dream about what you think in the day. That¡¯s quite normal.¡± Lee Zheng was familiar with Chen Ge, and from his perspective, it did not feel like Chen Ge would do something like hiding under someone¡¯s bed and then slipping out to whisper a death threat.

    ¡°I know that you don¡¯t believe me, but that was not a dream.¡± Jia Ming lowered his voice, and his tone turned weird. ¡°Have you ever wondered what your reflection is doing when you stand before the mirror and lower your head to wash your face? Has he lowered his face reflecting your motion, or is he still standing in the mirror, looking down on you? Have you ever run into a situation where someone in the public restroom in the next cubicle asks for toilet paper from you, but when you came out, you realize that you were alone in the restroom all that time? Have you ever found that when you called a close friend or family, they kept saying there was disturbance on your side like there were many things standing around you?¡±

    Jia Ming gripped the edge of the bed tighter and tighter. ¡°I¡¯ve experienced all of that.¡±

    ¡°I think I should call the doctor toe back in.¡± Lee Zheng was an atheist, and he had studied criminology and psychotherapy at college. He did not think that Jia Ming was lying, so in that case, his mind had to be wrong. He was probably suffering from paranoia.

    ¡°Before the doctores in, do you mind hearing a few stories?¡± Jia Ming tilted his head toward Chen Ge. ¡°It is about me and him.¡±

    ¡°I had no idea you two were so close.¡± Lee Zheng nodded.

    ¡°After leaving Jiang Long¡¯s home, I was too panicked to recognize the route home. I raced about aimlessly for half an hour before arriving at home. At the time, I was living at a rental, and myndy was an olddy. She lived on the first floor, my family was on the second floor, and the third floor was a storage room.

    ¡°When I returned, it was already veryte. After entering the ce, the olddy¡¯s pet cat kept screeching, not the kind of meowing that asked for a scratch on her back but a shrill and eerie noise.

    ¡°Probably woken up by her pet, the olddy opened her door and looked out. Then she told me one thing.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t make such a loud noise when you two walk around. It¡¯s already sote at night; what are you two doing out sote?¡±

    Jia Ming still remembered the expression on the olddy¡¯s face because he replicated it perfectly for his listeners.

    ¡°I apologized hurriedly to the olddy, but once I got to the second floor, I realized that something was wrong. I turned back to look, but there was only me in the dark corridor, so why did the olddy say ¡®two¡¯?

    ¡°At the time, a chill quickly crawled up my spine. I ran to the door and searched for the key. You know how everything bes more difficult when you¡¯re panicking. I tried to get the door key, but it just refused to be found, and then something strange happened.

    ¡°There was a knocking sounding from the third floor like a ball bouncing continuously against the ground.

    ¡°When I moved in, the olddy had already told me that the third floor was empty, and it was used to store big furniture and stuff. I had asked her why she hadn¡¯t rented the ce, and she had said that her son¡¯s family once lived on the third floor, but the family of three had died in a car ident. Even though she could have rented the third floor, she didn¡¯t want to because she wanted to keep it as a memory.

    ¡°Strange sounds came from the third floor that should have been vacant. I didn¡¯t dare stay too long in the corridor. I finally found the key in my shirt pocket, and at that moment, the sound stopped. I turned to look up the stairs out of curiosity, and at the corner, turning up to the third floor, I saw a pair of gray-colored legs. Due to the angle, that was all I could see.

    ¡°I was spooked and opened the door as fast as I could.

    ¡°After entering the house, I was still panicking. I closed the outside security door, and just as I was about to close the inner door, curiosity killed the cat, and I leaned out slightly to nce at the legs on the stairs.

    ¡°Leaning against the gap on the door, I adjusted my angle and slowly squatted down. I moved my gaze up and saw the pair of legs once more. Just as I was continued to look up further, a boy¡¯s head suddenly appeared in my sight!

    ¡°His posture was very strange. His legs were straight, but the head was almost touching the ground. That was not possible for the normal human body.

    ¡°I mmed the door shut and tried to switch the light on in the living room. I knew where the switch was, and as my hand reached over, before I touched the light, my finger brushed up against something. It felt like human skin. It felt like I was touching another human hand inside my own home.

    ¡°Flipping the switch, the lights came on, and it gave me the sense of security that I needed. I started to call for my wife, but there was no answer.

    ¡°I was so afraid, so I proceeded to turn on all the lights in the room. Eventually, I found a note left behind by my wife next to the living room phone.

    ¡°She said that my father-inw was seriously ill, and the hospital had told her to go to the hospital. She had left the food for me in the fridge, and if I wanted to eat, I would need to heat it up in the oven.

    ¡°I put the note away. My wife wasn¡¯t home. I looked at my own hand. I was sure that I¡¯d touched another person¡¯s fingers earlier. So, that could only mean that there was another person other than myself in the room.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t dare to sleep. I checked every nook and cranny that could be a hiding ce, but I came up with nothing. I tried to call my wife, but there was no answer.

    ¡°I was so afraid. I turned the television on and sted the volume up to the highest. Then I brewed myself several cups of strong coffee. I nned to stay in the living room throughout the night and then move away from that horrible ce the next morning.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t paying any attention to the show on the television. I kept refilling the coffee to fight the drowsiness that wasing. Finally, dawn came. Unable to hold it in anymore, I went to use the bathroom.

    ¡°After peeing, I stood before the sink, wishing to use some cold water to wash my face. Opening the faucet, watching the water flow, I started to panic like someone was observing me. I suspected that the person who had been following me was hiding inside the bathroom. I nced around the room out of the corner of my eye, but the bathroom was too small for anyone to hide in.

    ¡°Straightening up, I looked at the haggard reflection of myself in the mirror. I shook my head and decided to move right there and then, moving somewhere where there were more people.

    ¡°Putting down the towel, I couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Without a chance to think about it, the phone rang. My soul jumped out of my body. I hurried to answer it¡ªmy wife was calling.

    ¡°The sky was already bright, and my wife said that she had called me many times throughout the night. She had been very worried because no one answered.

    ¡°When she said that, I was sweating bullets. It was she who had refused to answer my numerous calls that night, not the other way around.

    ¡°I nced subconsciously at the phone cable and was about to tell her what had happened when she suddenly asked me if there was someone in the room with me. She heard someone talking incessantly, and it sounded curiously like my father-inw. Apparently, he was saying, ¡®Look behind you, look behind you...¡¯

    ¡°I quickly whipped my head around, but there was no one there. Looking into the bathroom, I could only see my reflection, standing with the phone in his hands, looking right at me.

    ¡°I told my wife to stay at the hospital to apany my father-inw. After hanging up, I sat back down, but the more I thought about it, the more unsettled I became.¡±

 Chapter 598 - Someone Behind Me

    <h4>Chapter 598: Someone Behind Me</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Holding the tea cup, I thought about it for a long time until I saw the reflection that was on the surface of the coffee. When I looked down into the cup, the reflection was also looking back at me.

    ¡°Then I suddenly realized, when I was turning back to look at the mirror earlier, my reflection in the mirror didn¡¯t have his neck turned? He was standing facing me, just like...¡±

    For a moment, Jia Ming lost the ability to speak, like something was wrapping its hands around his neck. His eyes were overflowing with terror.

    ¡°A chill rose up behind me, and the living room sofa was facing away from the toilet. I could sense something behind me! It was like someone was standing there!

    ¡°I didn¡¯t dare to turn around. Turning the cup, my eyes slowly moved down. I wanted to see through the reflection what was behind me.

    ¡°As the cup turned, the chill approached me. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and just as I was about to catch a glimpse in the water, the skin that was exposed on the back of my neck felt something, like someone had lowered their hair, letting it fall over my skin.

    ¡°My arms shivered. Without being able to help it, the cup slipped from my fingers, and the coffee sshed everywhere. Screaming, I grabbed the ashtray and fruit te on the table and flung them behind me as I skipped over the furniture, rushing to the door. Holding the doorknob with both hands, I turned back to look. There was nothing else in the room. The only thing different was the disturbance of the television signal. There was no video, only a flickering blue and white background.

    ¡°The surroundings were so quiet that I could hear the staticing from the television. I didn¡¯t dare stay inside the room for too long¡ªI wanted to escape, but I started to have second thoughts, remembering the boy that I saw on the stairs in the impossibly position. I was afraid that he was just on the other side of the door.

    ¡°The corridor wasn¡¯t safe, but neither was the room. I didn¡¯t know what to do. I froze, holding the doorknob.

    ¡°Just as I was hesitating, the image on the television started to flicker faster and faster. I noticed that, amid the changing images, a woman¡¯s face was starting to form!

    ¡°That was all the motivation I needed to yank the door open and run. Without stopping to look around, I dashed right to the street. But the dark streetlight still unable to provide me with any sense of security. I charged ahead like a mindless madman until the energy left me, and I copsed on the ground. Surrounded by the streetlights, I felt slightly better.¡±

    When he told the story, Jia Ming¡¯s forehead and back were drenched in cold sweat, and none of the people in the room had a normal expression. The tone of Jia Ming¡¯s voice,bined with his actual exposition of terror, drew his listeners into the scene.

    The female officer gripped the pen that she was holding tighter. Lee Zheng turned to nce at Chen Ge. ¡°What is your opinion? Before Doctor Gao disappeared, he once told me that you were quite good at psychology. What do you think that the ghost he saw represents?¡±

    ¡°His story is very interesting. I can give it a simple analysis.¡± Chen Ge stood up and moved to sit next to the bed. ¡°Jia Ming started his story by saying that he saw Jiang Long being assaulted by someone at his bungalow. The person used a knife and threatened Jiang Long to do something extremely painful, and he said confidently that the person was me, or at least looked simr to me.

    ¡°Aftering across that, he raced back to his home. When he was in the corridor, the seniorndy told him, ¡®Please don¡¯t make such a loud noise when you two walk around. It¡¯s already sote at night; what are you two doing out sote?¡¯

    ¡°This means that the olddy saw more than Jia Ming in the corridor, and that second person was very close to Jia Ming! So close that the elder thought that person was Jia Ming¡¯s friend.¡±

    Chen Ge smiled at Jia Ming.

    ¡°If he¡¯s telling the truth, then this means that from then on, there was already someone or something following him, and this person is most likely the bad guy that he saw at the bungalow¡ªthe ¡®Chen Ge¡¯ who threatened Jiang Long with a knife. The difficulty of trailing the man without being noticed and how I managed to trick him and failed to hide myself from the detection of an olddy aside, we shall assume that what he¡¯s saying is real so that we can continue the analysis.

    ¡°Then, he ran to the second floor where his home was. When he opened the door, he saw a little boy¡¯s legs and head on the corner of the stairs to the third floor. Plus, the location where the boy appeared was quite interesting.

    ¡°Jia Ming told us the olddy said that her son¡¯s family of three died in a car ident, and the third floor was originally upied by them. She didn¡¯t want to rent it to keep as a keepsake.

    ¡°We¡¯ll make the bold assumption that the boy that Jia Ming saw was the olddy¡¯s grandson, the boy who died in the ident. Then the strange thing was, Jia Ming had stayed there for so long, but he had not seen the boy before. So, what changed that night so that he was able to see the boy?¡±

    Chen Ge was serious with his analysis, but from Lee Zheng and the female officer¡¯s perspective, it was like they were listening to a mental patient giving counselling to another mental patient.

    ¡°The answer is very simple because the boy could see the thing following Jia Ming as well. Pay attention to how the boy appeared. He was standing at the corner with his head lowered to the ground like he was spying. This means that the thing following Jia Ming was much scarier than the boy.¡± Chen Ge had the smile on his face. ¡°A human scaring a ghost, that is the first time I¡¯ve heard something like that.

    ¡°There¡¯s another noteworthy detail after he entered the door. When Jia Ming noticed that his reflection in the mirror was not reflecting the action that he was doing in real life, he felt somethinging from behind him. Just as he prepared to turn the cup to see who it was, his neck was touched by something simr to a curtain of hair.¡±

    Chen Ge paused.

    ¡°This is important because I have short hair. Most guys have short hair. When we lower our head, it is impossible for our hair to be long enough to fall onto the back of his neck. In other words, it should be a woman, or rather a woman ghost who was standing behind him.

    ¡°Then, when he prepared to escape the room, he saw the issue with the television. The images started to flicker, and a woman¡¯s face appeared. From all the observations so far, even if there was a ghost in the room, it should have been a female ghost. Combining with the information that we gathered earlier, the real identity of this female ghost should be none other than thendy¡¯s daughter-inw.

    ¡°In Jia Ming¡¯s story, two ghosts were featured, and they were rted to the story that hisndy once told him. This probably happened because something happened to Jia Ming that night, causing him great psychological stress. This ced mental subversion on his mind, causing him to see things where there were none. This could exin him drawing out the ghosts from the story that he had once heard.¡±

    Chen Ge used some professional terms that he had learned from Doctor Gao before. He had no idea what they meant exactly, but it did help to make him sound professional.

    With his exnation, Lee Zheng and the female officer¡¯s expression softened, and they kept nodding. Compared to the supernatural, they had an easier time believing that something was wrong with Jia Ming mentally.

    After clearing his name, Chen Ge turned to look at Jia Ming. Perhaps his gaze reminded Jia Ming of something scary, or maybe Jia Ming sensed danger from him, but his body suddenly started to spasm before faintingpletely.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t even touch him.¡± Chen Ge raised his hands and stood up. As the doctors and nurses bustled around Jia Ming, Chen Ge slowly stepped away. He did not really tell the police everything. Actually, it was his opinion that Jia Ming was not lying.

    The person that looked like Chen Ge should be the shadow. As for why he looked like Chen Ge, Chen Ge himself had no clue.

    What Jia Ming saidter was probably all real. The shadow followed him back to his home and was spotted by thendy, which alerted the souls of the family living on the third floor.

    The boy was thendy¡¯s grandson, and the female ghost was thendy¡¯s daughter-inw. There should be a male ghost that Jia Ming did not encounter.

    <i>The shadow followed Jia Ming home, and the three souls should be trying to protect him, but the difference in power was too big, so they could only use their own way to remind him, to make him realize the danger he was in.</i>

    Chen Ge knew that Jia Ming was not lying. In any case, he would get himself involved because he could not confirm whether the shadow was still on Jia Ming or not. The shadow was very cunning, and this could be his way of making use of the police.

    <i>To prove whether Jia Ming was lying or not should be very simple.</i>

    After calling Lee Zheng out of the room to get the address for Jia Ming¡¯s rental home, Chen Ge left the hospital. He wanted to ask them in person, he wanted to know what the olddy saw that night, and he wanted to find the souls to ask them how they felt that night.

 Chapter 599 - If I Say [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 599: If I Say [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The theme park opened at 9 am, so Chen Ge did not have much time left. He decided to continue to investigation right there and then.

    ¡°Inspector Lee, don¡¯t let your guard down. This man is very dangerous, and he is definitely not as harmless as he makes himself out to be. It is unwise to treat him like a normal mental patient.¡± Chen Ge had no idea when Jia Ming would wake up. He shared a few words with Lee Zheng and then left the hospital.

    He hailed a taxi to get to Jia Ming¡¯s first rental home. The sun was justing up, and there were few people on the street. asionally, a few cars would pass by, but that was all. Chen Ge had not caught any sleep the previous night. He had first gone to the special education school to chase after the water ghost and then dived into the Eastern Jiujiang Dam to salvage the body before finally going to the hospital to help with the police¡¯s investigation of Jia Ming. In other words, he had put his night to optimal use. There was not one second that had gone to waste.

    His head was feeling light as drowsiness came at him like waves. Chen Ge got a quick forty winks in the cab, and the driver woke him up when they arrived at the destination. s, the quick nap did not prove to be useful; if anything, it only made Chen Ge feel heavier and slower. It was as if his brain was filled with lead.

    He rubbed his face and walked into the small alley. A draft of cold wind buffeted his face. Perhaps it was how the buildings were built, but the sun had a hard time showering its rays into the alley.

    ¡°No wonder Jia Ming did not dare stop even for a moment after he escaped from his building. He only dared do so after he ran out into the main street.¡±

    This was an old residential area, and the surrounding buildings were generally quite low. Most of them were buildings with only two or three stories. They looked worn and old, and some of them even had the term ¡®to be demolished¡¯ painted on the walls in red.

    ¡°The story that Jia Ming told at the hospital should have happened a few years ago. I hope the olddy hasn¡¯t moved and the building is still there.¡±

    He followed the address provided by Lee Zheng and moved in and out of the alleys for a long time before he found the olddy¡¯s home. The neighbors on the left and right had already moved away, and there was arge hole in one of the walls. From the looks of it, this ce had been abandoned for a long time already.

    ¡°This ce sure was not easy to find.¡± Chen Ge entered the corridor and noted the pots of flowers ced in the corners. However, due to theck of sunlight, most of the flowers had wilted, and the stems were old, thin, and yellow.

    ¡°Is anyone home?¡± Chen Ge knocked on the door on the first floor, and he called out softly. There was no answer, but his own echo reverberating in the first-floor corridor. He turned to look up the stairs. For some reason, Chen Ge felt like there was something off about the ce. He tried to pull on the door, and the security door was pulled back just like that.

    ¡°It¡¯s not even locked?¡± Curious, Chen Ge pulled the doorpletely open. A heady wave of mold rushed out from within. The room was filled to the brim with old furniture. The sofa was the type that had been in fashion twenty years ago, the type with cloth upholstery. Even the cuckoo color on the wall and the low dining table looked quite worn already.

    ¡°There is no dust on the doorknob, and the clock in this room is wound to be able to run punctually, so there should be someone who still lives here.¡±

    Without getting the permission, Chen Ge would not be rude enough to trespass into someone¡¯s home. He called again at the threshold of the door, but there was still no reply. However, there was a strange noise that came from the ceiling. It sounded like a deted rubber ball rolling on the ground.

    ¡°That came from the third floor.¡± Chen Ge walked up the stairs. When he passed the second floor, he noticed that the door of the second-floor room was opened, but no strange smell drifted out from it, like the ce was regrly cleaned.

    After stopping for a while at the second floor, Chen Ge continued to move upward. The window at the corner of the stairs was covered up by a ck cloth. There was no light on the wall, so even though the sun was already up outside, it was still as dark as night inside.

    ¡°Is someone there?¡± A strange voice drifted into his ears. Chen Ge was like the hapless main character of those horror movies as he took one step after another toward the source of the strange noise. Stepping on the creaking steps, his body moved gradually into the darkness. He gripped the handrail, feeling the chill that came from the center of his palms.

    There was no light at all on the third floor of the old building. Chen Ge took out his phone and activated the shlight. He shone the light at the ce that the sound came from. When the light fell on the spot, there was something that slithered past in a sh.

    Chen Ge tensed up as he scanned the entirety of the third floor. The doors on the floor had all been removed from their hinges, and the ce was filled with various items. The most conspicuous object of all was a piano covered in ayer of dust. There were many keys that were missing, and it looked like an old man with many missing teeth opening his lips.

    ¡°They should be a quite well-off family. After all, they own a three-story building and could even afford a luxury item like a piano.¡±

    Having walked up to the piano, Chen Ge pressed on a few of the keys. The melody that he expected toe from the piano did not show up.

    Chen Ge looked into the piano, and a bunch of hair was stuck inside it. Perhaps he had imagined it, but for a moment, Chen Ge felt like the hair was moving as it curled deeper inside the piano.

    Reaching into the piano, Chen Ge calmly pulled out a handful of hair. ¡°There is white hair and ck hair. The ends are all neat and clean, so they should have been cut off, not pulled off. Is this the oldndy¡¯s special collection? But why would she collect these?¡±

    Thendy¡¯s daughter-inw was young when she died, so her hair had not gone white.

    ¡°Why would the olddy shove so many reams of hair into the piano?¡± Chen Ge tossed the hair that he was holding back into the piano. As he pulled his arm back, the corner of his eyes caught the vision of a gray face amid the sea of hair. It seemed to be watching Chen Ge from the cover of the hair.

    ¡°What was that?¡± The third floor was reserved for the souls, so it was not unusual for him to encounter something supernatural. Chen Ge did not panic. He ced his phone to the side, aiming the shlight inside the piano. Then he reached into the pile of hair with his two hands and started to search. ¡°Are you still in there?¡±

    No one knew what was hiding under the pile, and no one knew what kind of treasure he coulde up with. However, the feeling of bare skin touching against the hair did not feel so good. He rummaged through it for a long time, but Chen Ge failed to find the person. He pulled back and looked at the clock sitting at the side. The clock looked simr to the one in the olddy¡¯s room on the first floor, but for this one, only the second hand on the clock face was moving.

    It turned again and again, but the time shown on the clock was always stuck at 3:44.

    ¡°Is it 3:44 am or pm? And what exactly happens at this particr time in the day?¡±

    Just as Chen Ge¡¯s attention was distracted by the clock, there was something that slithered out from underneath the piano. The sound of a ball bouncing returned, and when Chen Ge picked up on it, the sound had moved to the second floor.

    ¡°It¡¯s escaped? No, it feels like it¡¯s trying to lead the way for me.¡±

    Chen Ge returned to the second floor. He could not shake the feeling that something or someone was watching his back. The sound disappeared once Chen Ge arrived on the second floor, but strangely enough, the angle that the door was left open was different from before.

    ¡°It ran to hide inside the room?¡± Chen Ge pushed open the door to the room that was featured in Jia Ming¡¯s story. However, different from Jia Ming¡¯s description, all the windows in this room was boarded up. Even though the ce was clean, there was just a creepy feeling about the location.

    Entering the room, Chen Ge rushed toward the bathroom where the Yin energy was the heaviest. Pushing the door open, he scanned the ce roughly and then stopped before the mirror. Chen Ge stood there and stared at his own reflection in the mirror for a long time.

    If a person stared at their reflection for a long time, their brain would create the impression that the reflection in the mirror was bing more and more unlike them. In extreme cases, there might even be a sense of indescribable strangeness and fear.

    Chen Ge stared at the mirror for a full five minutes, but he could not tell what was wrong with the mirror. He believed that after the shadow aplished his purpose, he left immediately and did not leave behind any trace or trap in the mirror. But out of concern for being thorough, before he left, Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision and focused on the mirror onest time. As his eyes narrowed, he caught sight of a pair of gray legs.

    It was a boy whose head had almost fallen to the ground. He was standing at the door to the bathroom, looking at him.

    Whipping his body around, Chen Ge turned but could not see anything. He looked at the mirror again, but this time, even with the use of the Yin Yang Vision, the boy did not show up in the mirror anymore.

    ¡°Where did he go?¡± Chen Ge walked out of the bathroom to the living room, and his expression shifted. The door leading out of the living room was closed. The windows were boarded up, and now, the door was closed. The air in the room became so stale and heavy that it pressed down on Chen Ge.

    ¡°Is this that boy¡¯s doing?¡± He walked to the door and turned the doorknob. He realized that the door was locked, and it would not be able to open without the use of a key. Just as Chen Ge was figuring out what to do with the lock, a sound came from the corner of the living room. Then, the sound of static entered Chen Ge¡¯s ears.

    He turned to look, and in the dark room, the originally closed television was switched on. A collection of twisted blue and white images appeared on screen, and asionally, it would flicker.

    ¡°This scene appeared in Jia Ming¡¯s story before.¡± Chen Ge sounded calm, but his heart was actually racing. Before he finished, the flickering on the television screen turned intense, and the rough shape of a shadow started to appear.

    The shadow appeared like it was slowly approaching Chen Ge. Initially, it was only the size of a fist, but eventually, it grew to the size of a brain. As she drew closer, Chen Ge managed to get a clearer look.

    It was the shape of a woman, and after each flicker on the screen, this shadowy woman would get closer to him, and Chen Ge¡¯s heart would start to involuntarily pick up in speed.

    When the woman became the size of an actual person and the television screen was not big enough to hold her, Chen Ge stopped hesitating. He reached his hands back and mumbled two words on his lips. ¡°Xu Yin!¡±

    His fingers searched behind him, but he found nothing, and Chen Ge¡¯s heart skipped a beat. He suddenly remembered that he had received a call from Lee Zheng that morning to go to the hospital to help with their investigation.

    Due to the time crunch and the fact that his backpack was drenched from his dip at the dam, Chen Ge had not taken his backpack with him. He figured that since he was going to meet the police, no danger was going toe to him.

    His frozen fingers hung behind him, and Chen Ge slowly raised his head to look at the television. Cold sweat glided down his face as his eyes slowly moved up. He finally got the television screen in his sight. Only the blue and white images remained on screen¡ªthe shadow of the woman had already disappeared.

    Chen Ge sighed in relief, but before he could catch another breath, there was a numbnessing from the back of his neck like someone had identally brushed their hair against his skin.

    His eyes twitched, and Chen Ge remembered hearing this part in Jia Ming¡¯s story as well.

    He slowly turned around, and from the corner of his eyes, he saw a pair of starkly white eyes looking at him from behind.

    The body that had shown up in the television was twisted in impossible angles, and her lips cracked open. The woman whose eyes were popping out of their sockets was standing behind him.

    His face twitched slightly, and Chen Ge felt the air around him frozen. He stared at the woman¡¯s harried hair that looked like it was brutally tussled and slowly took a step back.

    He tripped on something, and Chen Ge fell into the sofa. He looked at the approaching ghostly shadow and almost instinctively said, ¡°Will you believe me if I say I¡¯vee here to help you?¡±

 Chapter 600 - Shadowless Man

    <h4>Chapter 600: Shadowless Man</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The dirty hair swayed with the rhythm of the wind. The sound of bones grinding came from the woman¡¯s throat. She moved extremely fast, and while Chen Ge spoke, she was already pressing against him. From the way she reacted, it did not seem like she was in the mood to listen to what Chen Ge had to say.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t felt this for so long.¡± Cold sweat kept pouring like he was dancing on the edge of a cliff. Chen Ge leaned against the back of the sofa while gripping the armrests as tight as he could. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to offend you. I came here just to find the truth of something that happened here some time ago! There was a tenant in this room who was haunted by an evil spirit several years ago. Back then, you showed up to warn him of the danger that he was in, and if he did not find out the reason why, he would not be long for this world!¡±

    If this was any other person, they would be blubbering by then or screaming mindlessly. But Chen Ge was different. He said everything that he wanted to in the shortest amount of time. The ghost did not press closer, and Chen Ge sighed in relief. He adjusted his posture to be morefortable, and as he moved his neck, he noticed a boy standing next to him.

    The boy¡¯s skin was startling ashy, and his spine was snapped, so his head hung around his chest. His eyes moved up and down as he gave Chen Ge a close inspection.

    ¡°Is this your son? He¡¯s such a little cutie...¡± Chen Ge peeled his lips back to reveal a smile. He knew that the souls here did not have much impression of Jia Ming, so after a brief hesitation, he quickly added, ¡°That tenant was once my best friend. He told me the best time of his life was spent at this old building. The seniorndy treated him very well, and he treasured this part of his memory. But recently, it seems like he¡¯s changed into apletely different person. He keeps rambling on about destroying everything that was good in the world to regain control of himself. Initially, I thought he was just kidding, but reality proved that I was wrong. If I didn¡¯t call the police to stop himst night, he would have shown up here with a knife already!¡±

    Stuck between the two ghosts, Chen Ge had no idea what he was talking about, but he knew to push all the me onto Jia Ming. The ghosts there should have seen the shadow before, so Chen Ge believed that if he kept bringing up the incident from several years ago, it should be enough to jog their memory.

    He did not need to spend all of his effort in trying to persuade the spirits¡ªhe only needed a chance from them to exin himself and to note for his life when he was so vulnerable. Then, everything else would be a piece of cake.

    ¡°Even now, I can¡¯t believe that my dear friend has snapped like that. Therefore, I rushed here to warn the seniorndy about the danger she¡¯s in. There¡¯s a monster possessing my friend¡¯s body that¡¯sing after her!¡± The more he talked, the more agitated he became, and gradually, that overcame the terror that Chen Ge felt. ¡°The olddy is a kind person, and kindness should not be repaid with harm or vengeance!¡±

    For the spirits in the old building, Jia Ming was nothing more than a passing tenant, but their connection to the olddy was different; she was their family. After saying all that, the boy next to him turned to look at the female ghost. Her expressions kept shifting, so Chen Ge could not tell what she was thinking.

    His mind moved, and afterbining her previous experience, he came up with three different solutions to resolve the conundrum that he was in. However, just as he was about to put one of them into action, the woman and the boy suddenly retreated to the sides and disappeared.

    The door was pushed open, and a seventy or eighty year old granny appeared at the door, holding the key in her gnarled hand. She mumbled, ¡°Qian Qian? Is that you?¡±

    The olddy¡¯s face, which was filled with wrinkles, looked around the room with anticipation before falling on Chen Ge, who was sprawled on the sofa.

    ¡°Please let me exin!¡± Chen Ge quickly stood up to walk toward the olddy, but his pant leg was pulled back. He turned to look and saw the boy hiding behind the sofa. He was grapping Chen Ge¡¯s leg, and that curious head turned left and right like he was warning Chen Ge from revealing their presence to the olddy.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, but who were you talking to?¡±

    Even though thedy was old, she was not a bit senile. She entered the room and peered behind Chen Ge. By then, the woman and the boy had already disappeared.

    ¡°Was I talking earlier?¡± Seeing the olddy enter the room, Chen Ge said softly, ¡°Granny, please don¡¯t misunderstand. I¡¯m not a burr¡ªI just came here to ask you some questions. I saw the door was unlocked, so I thought I¡¯de in here to find you, but the wind suddenly picked up and mmed the door shut from outside.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re telling me it was the wind that locked the door?¡± The olddy was not easily tricked. She looked at Chen Ge and reached into her pocket. Chen Ge thought that she was going to grab some weapon to defend herself, so he was on high alert, but as it turned out, she was merely going to hand him a clean handkerchief. ¡°Use this to wipe away your sweat. It¡¯s fine even if you¡¯re a burr¡ªthere¡¯s nothing here worth stealing anyway.¡±

    ¡°Granny, you¡¯re such a nice person.¡± Chen Ge rxedpletely and decided toe clean. ¡°I have a friend who once rented this room from you, but he¡¯s in a bad ce right now. He keeps saying that there¡¯s another person living inside him and kept rambling about destroying all the good memories in his life...¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re also here because of Jia Ming?¡± The olddy interrupted him.

    He frowned, and Chen Ge quickly asked, ¡°Someone has been here asking about him before me?¡±

    ¡°A few days ago, a police officer with the surname Yan came to confirm some things with me.¡±

    ¡°Captain Yan? What questions did he ask?¡± Chen Ge was instantly reminded of Captain Yan.

    ¡°Mostly about my impression of Jia Ming. The child came from the countryside. He was honest and hardworking, and the only negative traits were his stubbornness and misfortune.¡± A trace of mncholy entered the olddy¡¯s voice with the mention of Jia Ming.

    ¡°Then did he ask why Jia Ming moved away?¡± Chen Ge realized that he had underestimated the police. Before Jia Ming was detained, Captain Yan had already unearthed the man¡¯s background and history.

    ¡°He did, but honestly, even I don¡¯t know why the child was in such a hurry to move. He didn¡¯t even take his luggage or affects with him. I wanted to mail them to him, but he rejected me.¡±

    ¡°Then can you still remember what happened the night before he moved? It should have been a day when he returned home veryte at night.¡± Chen Ge wanted to corroborate Jia Ming¡¯s story with the olddy¡¯s ount.

    ¡°I was inside my room that night and didn¡¯t...¡± The olddy suddenly paused, and she stared at Chen Ge¡¯s face for a very long time. ¡°Have we met somewhere before?¡±

    ¡°Have we met?¡± This time, Chen Ge was genuinely surprised.

    ¡°Yes, I think I remember now. That night, I heard Jia Ming walking in the house, and I thought that he was in an argument with Xiao Ling, so I nned to mediate the argument for them. But when I got to the second floor, I saw someone standing at his door.¡± The olddy slowly raised her thin and desated arm to point at Chen Ge. ¡°It was you; you were the one who was standing at his door that night!¡±

    The olddy panicked, based on the usual development, Chen Ge would reveal a devilish smirk and then say something like, ¡®Since you¡¯ve seen my face, I can¡¯t let you live to tell another soul.¡¯ But in reality, Chen Ge voluntarily moved away from the olddy, and he started to fall into a deep contemtion.

    The olddy had also seen someone who looked exactly like Chen Ge. This was proof that the shadow was rted to Chen Ge, or at least they looked physically the same.

    ¡°No wonder the boy and the woman kept staring at my face when they saw me¡ªthey should have received quite a shock as well,¡± Chen Ge grumbled softly to himself and then turned to look at the olddy. ¡°Granny, that night, you saw someone who looked just like me. Was he doing anything weird?¡±

    The olddy shook her head. ¡°All he did was just standing there. Oh right, I was carrying a shlight with me that night, but after the light fell on him, I realized that he did not seem to possess a shadow.¡±

 Chapter 601 - He Wants to Push Open the Door in Western Jiujiang

    <h4>Chapter 601: He Wants to Push Open the Door in Western Jiujiang</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°A shadowless man?¡± If it was a living person, he should have had a shadow, unless he was not a living human, or he was someone¡¯s shadow out on a ride. Chen Ge decided to confirm it with the olddy again. ¡°Granny, are you sure you¡¯re not mistaken?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± In the olddy¡¯s memory, that person looked just like Chen Ge. She stared at Chen Ge, and a weird feeling overwhelmed her. ¡°That day, he was just standing outside the door. I asked him what he was doing, but he didn¡¯t reply. He carried on mumbling someone¡¯s name on his lips.¡±

    ¡°Someone¡¯s name? Can you remember what name it was?¡± To rify the suspicion in the olddy¡¯s mind, Chen Ge took out his phone and shone the light on himself to show that he still had his shadow with him. ¡°Granny, Ie with a shadow. Look. The person you saw merely had the same face as I do.¡±

    ¡°My memory eludes me. I¡¯ll call you to tell you if I remember it.¡± The olddy exchanged phone numbers with Chen Ge.

    ¡°Granny, other than this, can you remember anything else about this person? How long did he stand at the door? After he left, were there any changes at this building?¡± Chen Ge was afraid that the shadow might have left a trap in the building. After all, his adversary had the whole of Eastern Jiujiang roped into his plot, so Chen Ge could not be too careful.

    ¡°After Jia Ming ran out, the person outside the door disappeared. After he left, I checked the building and couldn¡¯t find anything missing. Strangely enough, I was left with this feeling that something was amiss, but I couldn¡¯t tell what it was. It was as if something important had been taken away by that man.¡± The olddy sighed. With a curved back, she shuffled around the room. ¡°I looked around the building, but nothing was missing. Yet, that feeling wouldn¡¯t go away, and I wouldn¡¯t say it wasn¡¯t responsible for myck of sleep.¡±

    ¡°You feel like something is missing?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve told you everything I need to. When you leave, remember to close the door for me.¡± The conversation with Chen Ge seemed to remind the olddy of her sad memory, so she shuffled out, unwilling to continue the conversation anymore. Chen Ge was about to leave with the olddy when he felt a tug on his shirt.

    Turning back to look, he saw five crooked fingers holding the edge of his shirt, and then the woman crawled out from underneath the coffee table.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to harm her...¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes scanned the woman and the boy; he was suddenly reminded of something. After he entered this building, he had only encountered the woman and the child, but he did note across the olddy¡¯s son. ¡°A family of three got into a car ident. The wife and the son remained in this building, so there is no reason for the husband not to be here as well.¡±

    He rted that to what the olddy had said earlier. After the shadow left, she had felt like she was missing something important. Could the spirit of her son have been kidnapped by the shadow?

    Chen Ge intended to find out. After a moment¡¯s silence, he asked, ¡°A few years back, you should have encountered an evil spirit that looked like me. Can you tell me everything you know about him?¡±

    The two ghosts stayed away from him. Their eyes studied Chen Ge closely, and they were thinking about something.

    ¡°If I don¡¯t kill him, one day, I¡¯ll be killed by him. If you were once harmed by him, then we should be friends because we have the same enemy.¡± Chen Ge leaned down and actively reached out his hands to hold the woman¡¯s bloody and deformed fingers. ¡°I can help you, and I¡¯m not just staying that for fun.¡±

    When the female ghost sensed Chen Ge¡¯s intention to shake hands with her, she immediately retreated. Secondster, the boy ran into the bedroom and dragged out a broken schoolbag from under the bed. He took out a pen and paper and ced them on the coffee table. The woman¡¯s hair curled around the pen, and crooked words started to form on the paper.

    ¡°He¡¯s alive, notpletely dead. The shadow is just a part of him. My husband told us to leave, and he stayed back to help us escape. He ate my husband¡ªhe¡¯s growing stronger.¡± Chen Ge read the words on the paper.

    ¡°What does it mean by he¡¯s alive? The shadow¡¯s physical form is still alive? He¡¯s a living human? But how could a person consume a ghost?¡± Chen Ge had no idea what the woman meant by dead, but he believed that it had a different definition from the medical understanding of dead. However, even so, the information was already shocking enough for Chen Ge. ¡°The shadow¡¯s real form couldn¡¯t be defined as a ghost, or rather, he¡¯s different from a normal ghost. This enemy sure is a confusing one.¡±

    When he battled with the ghost stories society, even though the members were highly mysterious, at least Chen Ge could confirm that they were all living humans. The society was made up of living humans, and the ghosts were technically only tools. Yet, the feeling that this mastermind in Eastern Jiujiang gave Chen Ge waspletely different. Even now, he could not tell whether the culprit was a ghost or a man. After reading the woman¡¯s message, that confusion had only deepened.

    ¡°Is that all?¡± Chen Ge put down the paper, and the woman controlled the pen to start writing again. ¡°When he ate my husband, he said, with each death, the resentment in his heart would grow stronger, and each consumption would lead him closer to that man. One day, he would return to Western Jiujiang to personally push open that door.¡±

    The written words had little semnce of logic, but it caused Chen Ge¡¯s hair to rise. These sentences revealed plenty of information, especially thest sentence, where the shadow said that he wanted to personally open the door in Western Jiujiang. Chen Ge greatly suspected that the door in question was none other than the one inside the toilet at the Haunted House.

    The business at the Haunted House was on the rise, but once the door in the toilet was opened, things would change overnight. Every effort that he had made after obtaining the ck phone would go to waste.

    ¡°Just who is this person?¡± The door at the Haunted House was Chen Ge¡¯s bottom line. He would fight to the death with whoever dared target that door. There was no room for negotiation.

    The woman had no idea what Chen Ge was thinking. She continued to write on the paper. ¡°There are ten locales in Eastern Jiujiang that form the background for the scariest ghost stories. The man has consumed the ghosts of five of these locales, and he was injured for the first time at White Dragon Cave Tunnel. The shadow will only show up at night, and he hates light and children¡¯s crying.¡±

    After writing all that, the woman looked at Chen Ge and picked up the boy before they both disappeared.

    ¡°The people in Eastern Jiujiang are generally superstitious, and I¡¯ve heard about these ten ghost stories before, but I had no idea only five of them remained. Then again, the first time that the shadow hit a roadblock was at the White Dragon Cave Tunnel, andst night, Jia Ming just so happened to be found fainted at the mouth of the tunnel. Could it have been on purpose that he fainted there to lure me into the tunnel to investigate and use my hand to deal with his enemy?¡± The shadow was an extremely cunning person in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, so he had to consider everything from the worst possible angle.

    ¡°But I can use his weakness of hating light and children¡¯s crying somehow, I¡¯m sure.¡± Chen Ge shoved the paper on the table into his pocket. When he prepared to leave, he remembered that he had forgotten to ask whether the mother and son wished toe with him or not, to move to somewhere morefortable.

    After some thought, Chen Ge took out another piece of paper from the boy¡¯s bag, and he used the pen used by the woman earlier to leave this message. ¡°If you run into any trouble, feel free toe find me at New Century Park¡¯s Haunted House in Western Jiujiang. Please give it some thought. The boy is not young, and I have many professional teachers and children his age at my Haunted House. You should think about his future.¡±

    He ced the paper in the most conspicuous spot and turned to leave the room. His steps were soft, a result of his many Trial Missions. When he reached the first floor, the door to the olddy¡¯s room suddenly opened.

    ¡°Granny? How can I help you?¡±

    The olddy looked at Chen Ge. Her lips moved, but eventually, she shook her head and returned to her room.

    Chen Ge stood at the door, and he could guess that the olddy already knew that her family had not left, but neither party was willing to be open about it.

    ¡°They also wouldn¡¯t wish for you to stay in this lonely world alone.¡±

    Leaving the building, Chen Ge hailed a cab back to theme park and a new day began.

 Chapter 602 - Ghost Realm

    <h4>Chapter 602: Ghost Realm</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge arrived at New Century Park at around 8:40 am. The park was still not yet open, but there were already many waiting visitors at the entrance. Seeing the visitors¡¯ excited faces as they chatted among themselves, Chen Ge revealed arge smile. Knowing that his work was able to bring the visitors joy and help them chase away their unhappiness, it made him feel very aplished.

    Amid the crowd, Chen Ge spotted some familiar faces, and they often pulled the topic back to the Haunted House.

    The return of many visitors proved that Chen Ge¡¯s decision to delineate the scary scenarios into different categories was a correct one. Those who had challenged a less scary scenario would definitely be interested in the scarier ones. With the ¡®encouragement¡¯ from their friends, the chance for them to return would be high.

    The small app designed by Director Luo for the Haunted House was a runaway sess, too. Not only the visitors of the Haunted House, even many supernatural fans and alternative culture researchers on the inte also downloaded it. The app looked like it was on its way to be the biggest socialmunity for Haunted House lovers in the nation.

    The daily download number and active user number was still climbing, and Chen Ge heard Director Luo had been approached by many advertisers for cooperation, but he had rejected all of them. Director Luo had a clear vision. The Haunted House was the park¡¯s main attraction, and the app was its support. Everything was to uphold and support the service of the Haunted House, so he would never bring in a negative user experience for the sake of advertising money.

    ¡°Boss, where did you go this time?¡± Xu Wan and Xiao Gu stood next to the gates, one on the left, the other on the right, like a pair of door guardians.

    ¡°It¡¯s tooplicated to exin. Just pay attention to the news and you¡¯ll see.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s answer was short and to the point.

    ¡°Is it the crime and legal channel?¡± Even though Xiao Gu had not worked at the Haunted House for long, he had gotten used to his boss¡¯ ¡®hobbies¡¯. Now, he shared his room with some roommates, and his roommates were confused by his demeanor because most teenagers their age would spend time ying games or watching videos, but Gu Feiyu would nt himself in front of the television, watching the local crime news. His roommates could not understand Xiao Gu like how a normal person could not understand one¡¯s feeling from having to find one¡¯s own boss appear on the local crime news again and again.

    After putting on the make-up for Xiao Gu and Xu Wan, the theme park officially opened for the day. Uncle Xu and the workers helped maintain the order while Chen Ge finally got the chance to rest. Seeing the visitors move in and out, Chen Ge had a sudden realization that he was living quite afortable life.

    ¡°The Haunted House depends on the unknown and novelty to attract the visitors. Only by continually unlocking new scenarios will I be able to maintain its livelihood.¡±

    Chen Ge took out the phone and looked through the missions. The deadline for the Ghost of the Afterlife wasing to an end, and Chen Ge would not give up on this four-star scenario.

    ¡°I can¡¯t drag this out any further. I need to go to White Dragon Cave Tunnel tonight to have a chat with the woman caught in the car ident. Since she has gotten into an altercation with the shadow before, it shouldn¡¯t be too difficult tomunicate with her.¡± Chen Ge put down the ck phone and turned to nce at his own phone. ¡°Today¡¯s weather forecast is not bad, but there is supposed to be heavy rain tomorrow night. I should make use of that opportunity to take thest bus on the Route 104 out for a spin. Even if I don¡¯t run into the woman in the raincoat, I have nothing to lose if I can find some passengers.¡±

    He found a pen and paper to make some notes. ¡°Tonight, I¡¯ll go to White Dragon Cave Tunnel to finish the three-star mission, and tomorrow, I¡¯ll go find the woman in the raincoat and purchase a batch of strong lights. Then the night after tomorrow, with all the preparation done, I¡¯ll bring all of my employees to Li Wan City to challenge that 3.5-star mission.¡±

    Xiao Bu had once warned Chen Ge that he would die if he stepped into Li Wan City again. He had no idea what he would face in Li Wan City, but there would be nothing wrong if he went fully prepared.

    ¡°Xiao Chen, what are you so busy with?¡± Uncle Xu¡¯s voice came from the Haunted House door. Due to his cowardice, he had never once stepped into Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House before.

    ¡°Uncle Xu, how can I help you?¡±

    ¡°Director Luo is looking for you.¡±

    After sending the visitors into the scenario, Chen Ge put away the paper and raced out of the Haunted House. Not far away, Director Luo was chatting with a group of visitors in a casual outfit. Their conversation was lively, interspersed byughter. The few visitors probably did not expect this middle-aged man who looked so friendly and kind to be the leader of the entire theme park.

    ¡°Director Luo, were you looking for me?¡± Chen Ge waited for their conversation toe to a lull before barging in.

    ¡°I have something important to discuss with you.¡± Director Luo led Chen Ge to a more deserted spot, and the smile on his face slowly disappeared. ¡°Do you still remember that I once apanied a man to visit theme park and the man even asked about your Haunted House?¡±

    ¡°I think I do. I can¡¯t remember his name, but he said that he wanted to invest in our theme park, to help us upgrade our amenities and expand the theme park¡¯s grounds.¡± Chen Ge was reminded of the man, and he had also once seen the man¡¯s face on the phone of an employee from the futuristic theme park.

    ¡°His real name is Bai Qin, a very powerful realtor. He only has one passion in life, and that is money. For money, he is willing to do anything, even things that err on the wrong side of thew.¡± Director Luo spoke slowly. ¡°We were once schoolmates, so I know him well. The man will stop at nothing for nothing. When he was young, he married the daughter of a rich man and even changed his surname, so nowadays, few people know of his real name.¡±

    ¡°Are we going to cooperate with him?¡±

    ¡°New Century Park¡¯s amenities are too behind, and without an upgrade, it¡¯ll be very hard for us to grab the visitors away from the futuristic theme park.¡± Director Luo had his own concern. ¡°There are currently few ces in Jiujiang that can provide quality entertainment, and people are starved for choices, so they can onlye here. After the futuristic theme park opens, it will definitely bring a huge impact to us.¡±

    ¡°They will mostly rely on high-tech attractions and the ovepping of virtual and physical entertainment. It ispletely different from the direction of our theme park. As long as we can survive the first wave, I¡¯m sure the visitors will eventually return.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve underestimated their ambition.¡± Director Luo was the center of the theme park, so he rarely shared his concerns with others lest the morale was shaken. ¡°I¡¯ve done some investigation, and they¡¯re not only nning toe up with thetest non-virtual attractions; they¡¯re even nning to copy the idea behind your Haunted House. For that, they have introduced a new project recently. It¡¯s called Ghost Realm.¡±

    ¡°Ghost Realm?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s abination of both physical and virtual setting with the aid of actors. They¡¯ve poured in plenty of money to build the biggest and most unique Haunted House in the nation.¡± Director Luo nced at Chen Ge. ¡°Bai Qin allowed me to look at some of the insider information. The futuristic theme park ns to turn their own Haunted House into a real-life horror game that the visitors can enter and interact with. They havee up with four main plots and more than ten subplots. Based on the choices that you¡¯ve made, the final result will be different each time.¡±

    ¡°That sounds marvelous, even I am interested in visiting it.¡± Chen Ge purely wanted to exchange information and initiate friendlypetition. Perhaps they would be able to learn from one another, just like his previous visit to Tian Teng Medical Hospital.

 Chapter 603 - End of the Tunnel

    <h4>Chapter 603: End of the Tunnel</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°You sure are rxed.¡± Seeing the glow in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes and the young man¡¯s excitement in trying the new attraction out, Director Luo felt quite speechless. ¡°Your Haunted House is currently our theme park¡¯s main attraction. In other words, your Haunted House sets us apart from other theme parks, but once the visitors find a recement, we will lose ourpetitive edge.¡±

    ¡°Then what should we do now?¡±

    ¡°Do everything they n to do before they do it. That way, when they officially open for business, the visitors will have the impression that they¡¯re merely copying us.¡±

    The older the ginger, the spicier it was. Director Luo¡¯s suggestion was incredibly tempting to Chen Ge, but it stopped there. ¡°Increasing the visitors¡¯ interactivity with the scenario is doable, but tobine every scenario to create a horror game experience is too difficult.¡±

    Chen Ge knew about his own situation. All of the scary scenarios had everything to do with the ck phone, and he was only responsible for unlocking them.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for us to change the existing scenarios. I¡¯m merely giving you a general direction to follow.¡± Director Luo offered his thoughts. ¡°The underground parking lot is limited in terms of space. Have you considered expanding to the surface and connecting both the surface and underground? It¡¯ll be more dimensional, and you cane up with unique settings like stairs and elevators.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s final goal was to create a theme park with the theme of terror and horror, so eventually, he would have to expand beyond the confines of the underground parking lot.

    ¡°I can help you solve the issue of budget and manpower; you only need to focus on interior design.¡± Director Luo had great confidence in Chen Ge. He took out his phone and opened a document. There were several designs in it. ¡°Your Haunted House is on the northwestern side of the park. We n to break down the fencing on the northwestern side and expand in that direction; that is just perfect for you to connect to your Haunted House.¡±

    By designing intertwining corridors inside the Haunted House and ovepping the spaces, even without using arge space, one could create the sensation of a maze; Chen Ge was an expert in this area. ¡°The expansion of theme park will be based around my Haunted House?¡±

    ¡°The other attractions will be updated as well so that our theme park will not appear to be sogging behind, while the expansion of your Haunted House will be to increase our theme park¡¯spetitiveness, to make our advantage stand out even more.¡± Director Luo¡¯s mind was very sharp. ¡°I¡¯ve already found the builders and the Haunted House¡¯s design team, but there¡¯s one thing that you need to be careful with. Even though I¡¯ve personally approved this batch of workers, their rtionship with Bai Qin is not bad. So, when youe up with the design, you¡¯d better be careful.¡±

    Bai Qin was willing to invest when theme park needed it the most, so theoretically, Chen Ge should be thankful of the man¡¯s help, but in reality, both Chen Ge and Director Luo thought that this man had an ulterior motive.

    ¡°I can use the builders, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll have any use for the design team. This is the core of a Haunted House, and I will never allow any outsiders to meddle in it.¡± Chen Ge denied the offer directly.

    ¡°But can you do all of it alone? We¡¯re nning to make use of all thend on the northeastern side. The workload will be massive.¡±

    ¡°I have my own team. They¡¯re my parent¡¯s friends. After my parents disappeared, I kept in contact with them. If I ask, I¡¯m sure they¡¯re willing toe and help.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s parents did not have any trustworthy friends, or none that Chen Ge knew of¡ªhe was merelying up with a valid identity for his team of Ghosts and Ghouls.

    ¡°That would be perfect. If there¡¯s a chance, bring them toe meet me. I will help you talk to them about the sry.¡± Director Luo worried about this character, Bai Qin. The man was a pure businessperson. Since he was able to sell the inside information about the futuristic park, it was only logical to expect him to sell the information about New Century Park as well. For someone who ced profit above everything else, there was nothing in the world that could not be sold for a price.

    ¡°They need to work in the day and can onlye at night. It¡¯s okay, I can negotiate with them myself.¡± Chen Ge had his own n. Construction on the surface was different from construction underground, so he had toe up with a building process somehow, or at least make a show of it.

    ¡°Okay, then I¡¯ll leave the interior building and design to your team. Do you have any requests about the exterior appearance?¡± Director Luo looked through his phone. ¡°Currently, we have three proposals. The first is to make it look like a hospital, second is an abandoned school, and third is a haunted residential area.¡±

    Chen Ge thought all three proposals were quite brilliant, but considering the four-star Trial Mission provided by the ck phone, he first excluded the haunted residential area. There were already plenty of school-rted scenarios in the underground parking lot, so after some consideration, Chen Ge chose the first proposal, which was to make the appearance look like a hospital.

    ¡°Director Luo, when you¡¯re building the set, remember to keep everything sealed, and ensure that you couldn¡¯t see anything from outside. If a Haunted House loses its sense of mystery, then the feeling of anticipation will greatly decrease.¡± Chen Ge scrolled through the design papers that Director Luo provided. ¡°I¡¯ll leave the construction of the exterior to you, and the sooner it is built, the better. When you¡¯re done, I¡¯ll find my parent¡¯s friends to help me with the interior design and construction.¡±

    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t take too long since we¡¯re technically just building an empty case.¡± Director Luo put the phone away. ¡°After the ce expands, manpower will be a problem. If you have any problems, pleasee to me, and I will try my best to help.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± After sending Director Luo away, Chen Ge looked at the northeastern side of theme park. ¡°It is a good idea to expand the Haunted House to the surface. At least this willy the foundation for the horror theme park in the future.¡±

    Returning to the Haunted House, the visitors were still bustling. Chen Ge summoned Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue toe help while he went to the staff breakroom to rest.

    ¡°The futuristic theme park ns to create a horror game that the visitors can interact with, and I shouldn¡¯t begging behind. For now, most of the employees here only know how to scare people¡ªtheir function is too singr. I need more workers like Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue who can y different roles. If there¡¯s a chance, I need to conduct some training for all of my employees.¡± Chen Ge wanted to vary the elements of his Haunted House, to increase its challenge and yability, and he needed his employees¡¯ cooperation for that to happen.

    ¡°Much still remains to be done, but there is a short-cut. I only need to find the type of ghost that fits the type of actor that I want.¡±

    ...

    At 5 pm, Chen Ge exited the staffroom. There had been no idents throughout the day, and he was getting more satisfied with Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue¡¯s performance. At 6:30 pm, Chen Ge sent thest batch of visitors away. He let Xu Wan and Xiao Gu, who had been busy for the day, go home while he stayed back to clean.

    ¡°My biological clock is nowpletely inverse. I¡¯ll feel so spirited at night.¡±

    With the aid from the ghosts, the cleaning was soonpleted. Chen Ge changed and grabbed his backpack to prepare for the Trial Mission that he was attempting that night.

    ¡°The shadow once failed at White Dragon Cave Tunnel, so this three-star mission is probably different from the ones I¡¯ve faced.¡± Chen Ge shoved the recorder,ic, and everything that he could carry inside the backpack. ¡°I can¡¯t be too careless, but I shouldn¡¯t be too afraid since we have the same enemy, so we should be able to talk over this nicely.¡±

    After preparing everything, Chen Ge took out the ck phone and found the page that he needed.

    ¡°Are you going to ept the three-star Trial Mission¡ªEnd of the Tunnel?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Mission epted!

    ¡°End of the Tunnel (3-star Trial Mission): No one knows what is at the end of the tunnel, but all that go in nevere out.

    ¡°Mission Requirement: Reach the deepest part of White Dragon Cave Tunnel before midnight.

    ¡°Mission Hint: Close both of your eyes, and perhaps you might see the real world.¡±

 Chapter 604 - Unwanted Guest

    <h4>Chapter 604: Unwanted Guest</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Enter the deepest part of the tunnel before midnight. So, does this mean I only need to keep walking into the tunnel?¡± The mission requirement was a bit too vague for Chen Ge to understand. If he failed any trial mission, the punishment was that the corresponding scenario would be locked away forever, so Chen Ge did not dare take any risk. ¡°The only thing I can do is walk into the tunnel as deep as I can.¡±

    Chen Ge had already done his research about White Dragon Cave Tunnel before. Everything online had something to do with the woman rted to the car ident. In other words, people only knew that the female ghost would ask for a life. Chen Ge could not find any information on other spirits like the strange breathing sound, the shadow of the spider, or the like on the inte.

    ¡°I should go there before the sunpletely sets.¡± Due to the multiple car idents in White Dragon Cave Tunnel, many experts had been brought in to update theyout, but strangely enough, no matter how many times it was rebuilt, once it was allowed for traffic, idents would still happen and in the end. The only solution was to seal the entire tunnel.

    The inte said that the tunnel had been given three big rebuilds and numerous small rebuilds. Someone even suggested mixing dog blood and ck donkey hoofs into the walls and floor of the tunnel, but that did not prove to be of actual use. The inside of the tunnel wasplicated, and Chen Ge did not dare act too carelessly.

    Carrying his backpack, after locking up the Haunted House, Chen Ge hurried to leave New Century Park and hailed a cab to get to White Dragon Cave Tunnel. With his previous experience, Chen Ge did not tell the driver directly that he was going to White Dragon Cave but told the driver to send him to a fork near the tunnel.

    The original purpose of the White Dragon Cave Tunnel was to connect Jiujiang and Xin Hai City. Jiujiang was surrounded bykes and a mountain range, so to liven up its economy, a route was necessary. Unfortunately, idents kept happening on this route.

    Some of the older Jiujiang locals said that Jiujiang¡¯skes formed a Feng Shui depiction of Nine Dragons ying with the globe, so cutting a road through the mountains of Jiujiang caused the good Feng Shui energy to leak, and it was little wonder that strange idents kept happening at that road. No one bought this story at the beginning, but the string of strange idents started to change minds. The people on top eventually changed their mind and sealed White Dragon Cave Tunnel.

    The night covered Jiujiang. As the taxi drove toward Eastern Jiujiang, fewer cars appeared on the road, and the number of skyscrapers also dwindled. The houses that showed up by the roads also appeared worn and old.

    Cutting through the old part of town, the driver was a friendly person. He kept chatting with Chen Ge along the way. White Dragon Cave Tunnel was on the edge of the countryside, and before even reaching the destination, carspletely stopped appearing on the road.

    On the narrow road, the streetlights were ced very far from each other. Perhaps because this road was rarely used, the government did not care much about its maintenance. Trash littered the road, and many of the streetlights were defective.

    ¡°I hate driving to Eastern Jiujiang. The locals hate outsiders and have a habit of dropping their trash on the road. It¡¯s fine for an experienced driver like myself, but the newbies always get into idents when theye here,¡± the driver grumbled casually.

    ¡°That trash might not be the doing of the locals.¡± Chen Ge hade to the edge of Eastern Jiujiang many times already, and every time, the feeling that he got from this ce was that living humans should stay away.

    The closer the taxi got to White Dragon Cave Tunnel, the more deserted the geography became. The surroundings were mostly trees and scrubs interspersed asionally by the views of buildings and light.

    ¡°You can drop me here.¡± Chen Ge did not want to harm the taxi driver. He decided to walk the rest of the way. After all, it was still early.

    ¡°Are you sure? This ce is in the middle of nowhere, and there¡¯s not even a human shadow around here.¡± The driver said that, but he was already epting the fare from Chen Ge. He handed the paper with the QR code for his WeChat wallet to Chen Ge.

    Chen Ge knew that the man was only being polite. After he paid and prepared to get out from the car, the driver suddenly said, ¡°Why is there a woman there?¡±

    Following the driver¡¯s gaze, Chen Ge noticed a woman squatting before an old residential home on the left side of the road. She had only one shoe on, and one side of her dress was torn open. She squatted in front of the house with her head lowered like she was searching for something.

    The driver rolled down the window and poked his head out. The woman looked frail and weak. Her arms were thin like twigs. The yellow and white striped dress was wrinkly like someone had rustled it roughly.

    ¡°Hey! Why are you here alone?¡± The driver did not ask for Chen Ge¡¯s opinion and called out directly. The woman heard the driver and slowly raised her head. The curtain of ck hair parted to reveal a pale face. She looked normal, but as they said, whiteness could cover up one hundred types of ugliness. There was a unique allure about her.

    The woman did not speak but slowly stood up. Without a word, she strode toward the taxi. The side of her dress was torn, and the dress itself was covered in dust and dried leaves. There were wounds on her calves, but strangely enough, none of the wounds were bleeding.

    ¡°Is there something wrong with the girl¡¯s brain?¡± When a normal person came across something like this, they would not instantly think of ghosts. The driver was one such normal person.

    The car window was tapped consecutively. Without taking too long, the woman reached the side of the taxi. She used her palm and tapped on the window with an expressionless face.

    If this had happened to a normal person, they would have been unsettled, but the driver¡¯s reaction was a bit strange. He smiled at the woman outside the woman and continued as if talking to himself. ¡°It¡¯s alright, don¡¯t be afraid, I¡¯ll drive you home.¡±

    Then, he opened the door, and the woman easily crawled into the passenger seat.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Chen Ge was still seated in the back, and he turned to look to the front.

    The woman lowered her head once she got into the car. She did not say a word, but the driver could not stop talking. It appeared as if he was talking to the air, and it was just weird overall.

    ¡°You¡¯re married?¡±

    ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be any tolerance for domestic violence. If it¡¯s happened once, it¡¯ll happen again. The b*stard shouldn¡¯t be forgiven.¡±

    ¡°I can understand why you¡¯re running away from home. You poor thing.¡±

    ¡°Are you nning to escape to your parent¡¯s home? It¡¯s okay. I understand. No problem.¡±

    Chen Ge could not allow harm toe to an innocent. He took out the ballpoint pen from his backpack and left a message on the back of the paper with the QR code¡ªThe woman is not who she seems.

    Then, he passed the paper back to the driver. ¡°Boss, your code is not working! See if it¡¯s because something is wrong with the paper.¡±

    ¡°Huh? It should work fine.¡± The driver looked at the paper for a long time but simply refused to turn it around. ¡°How about you use any e-wallet?¡±

    Then he took out another piece of paper and handed it to Chen Ge.

    Without reaching to grab the paper, Chen Ge nced at the passenger seat. ¡°You n to drive this girl home? Where is her home exactly? Perhaps we¡¯re going the same direction. In that case, I¡¯ll pay for both of our fares.¡±

    The driver saw the logic in his argument. ¡°She lives in the nearby vige. It¡¯s further in, but that ce is even more deserted. I don¡¯t think you¡¯re heading there, are you?¡±

    ¡°Wow, this is such a coincidence, that is exactly where I¡¯m heading. Just keep on driving then, you can drop me off with the girl.¡± Chen Ge opened his backpack and reached his hand into it.

 Chapter 605 - What Are You Looking For?

    <h4>Chapter 605: What Are You Looking For?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The driver did not agree instantly. He secretly turned around to nce at Chen Ge with suspicion in his eyes. From his perspective, Chen Ge¡¯s insistence to leave with an injured girl belied an ulterior motive. Yet, Chen Ge looked like quite a trustworthy person¡ªhe was sunny, kind, and polite. However, therge backpack that he carried unsettled the driver, and now, he noticed the faded scent of blood drifting out from it.

    <i>Have I ferried a criminal? </i>The driver hesitated before starting the engine. ¡°Okay.¡±

    The taxi continued to move, and the driver still talked to the air while both of the passengers in the car ignored him. Chen Ge kept his eyes on the woman in the passenger seat. He used Yin Yang Vision to scan the girl, but he could not see anything particrly strange about her. The woman seemed to know that Chen Ge was watching her, and in the rear-view mirror, the edge of her lips started to curl upward. The smilebined with her stark white skin made the hair on Chen Ge¡¯s arms crawl.

    <i>Just keep on smiling, we¡¯ll see if you can still retain the smile when we reach the destination, </i>Chen Ge grumbled internally. He had no idea where the girl was going, but since he had the ¡®good luck¡¯ of encountering her, he was going toe along for her final journey.

    The streetlights dimmed, and the trees by the road shook, swayed by the wind. The gnarled branches cast their shadows on the ground, creating the perfect atmosphere for a horror-filled night.

    The driver continued talking to himself. From Chen Ge¡¯s perspective, it seemed like he was in a scintiting conversation with the girl, but in reality, the girl had not spoken a word since she got into the car. In this strange atmosphere, the taxi continued to drive several hundred meters before the driver suddenly stepped on the brake. The car halted, and due to inertia, Chen Ge¡¯s head almost flew into the back of the girl¡¯s seat.

    With one hand inside the backpack and the other holding the door, Chen Ge asked, ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡±

    If there was any danger, he would directly smash the lock and jump out.

    ¡°There¡¯s a child in the road.¡± The driver was shivering with cold sweat as he pointed at the road. On the left bend of the road, there was a boy holding a ck stic bag. He looked just shy of nine years old, and he was wearing a faded white T-shirt. His face was one of anxiety and fear like he had been given a big fright by the iing taxi.

    ¡°Why is there a child out here in the middle of nowhere?¡± The driver opened the car window and was about to poke his head out when Chen Ge at the back suddenly said, ¡°I advise you to not stop your car here.¡±

    ¡°Are you afraid this might be a scam?¡± The driver nodded. ¡°I read about things like this on the news before. An adult purposely had a child y by the road, and when a car passed, the child would be frightened. The adult would then jump out to demand forpensation because the child was frightened for real, so even if there were surveince cameras, it was hard to argue for one¡¯s innocence. This has happened many times on the news already.¡±

    ¡°Those kinds of scams want your money, but I¡¯m afraid, the people that you met will want your life,¡± Chen Ge said under his breath. He was wondering if the driver had the attribute of attracting ghost because he had already gotten into so many idents before they even reached White Dragon Cave Tunnel. Just in case, Chen Ge used Yin Yang Vision to study the driver, and the result was that he was just a normal man.

    ¡°If the problem is not with the driver, then it should be me.¡± Chen Ge remembered that Jia Ming had been controlled by the shadow fainted outside the tunnel, and no one knew what the shadow did that night inside the tunnel. ¡°Could this be a part of the shadow¡¯s trap?¡±

    When Chen Ge was thinking, he heard a tap on the window next to him. He turned to look, and a child¡¯s face materialized next to him. Through the car window, a smile appeared on the child¡¯s pale face. He leaned his body forward like he was looking into the car.

    ¡°Are you looking for something?¡± Chen Ge also smiled in response. With his hand on the hammer¡¯s handle, he slowly nudged it to the opening. This was a curious scene. The ghost outside the car had a vicious intention while the person inside the car was harboring his own motive as well.

    The boy used his small hand to tap repeatedly on the window, leaving small handprints on it. The child¡¯s palm was covered with red dirt, and he quickly smudged the clean car window. The boy¡¯s pale face flitted in and out of the mess of handprints, and it looked quite scary, but the thing that worried the driver the most was the passenger in his backseat. He seemed to be holding something in his bag while smiling at the boy outside the window¡ªthe two appeared to be engaged in some kind of game.

    ¡°Er...¡± The driver wanted to lighten the mood, but after he opened his lips, he did not know what to say.

    ¡°Just keep driving and ignore this weird child.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not so good, right?¡± The driver hesitated. It was not that he was that kind-hearted, but he worried that by starting the car, it would topple the boy, and if he was run over by the wheels, then it would only make things worse. Probably hearing Chen Ge¡¯s words, the boy started to hit harder, and more handprints appeared on the window.

    ¡°Sure, keep knocking. If you dare, break this ss.¡± Chen Ge seemed to get into apetition with the boy. He smiled at the boy with a face filled with provocation.

    ¡°Just what the hell is happening?¡± The driver was speechless. Heined internally, <i>This is not even your car. If he really breaks the ss, are you going to pay me for the repairs?</i>

    He coughed and asked the woman at the passenger seat, ¡°Do you know this child? Could he havee from the nearby vige as well?¡±

    When he ran into a ghost, he asked the opinion of another ghost. Chen Ge seemed to see his own shadow on this driver, but he did not say anything, and the expression on his face did not change. The woman did not say a word, but the driver kept nodding like he was slowly being persuaded.

    He waved at the boy outside the car, and after some hesitation, he opened the door. ¡°Come in. Since you¡¯re both going to the same ce, I¡¯ll give you a lift.¡±

    The backdoor opened, and the boy jumped into the car with the ck stic bag. He sat next to Chen Ge and continued the staring match.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name? Can you remember your parent¡¯s phone number?¡± The driver started the engine and asked the boy some basic questions. He waited for a long while, but there was no response. The driver turned back to look and saw that the boy was caught in an intense stare with Chen Ge. He had no idea what they were doing.

    ¡°F*ck it, I¡¯m not going to care anymore.¡± The driver gave up. He ced his phone on the dashboard, somece that he could reach easily. He tapped into the system of walkie-talkie shared by cab drivers. ¡°Is anyone in Eastern Jiujiang? There¡¯s plenty of work to do here tonight.¡±

    He was actually quite panicky inside and wanted to find a normal person to chat with.

    Soon, an uncle replied on the walkie-talkie, ¡°You still dare to go to Eastern Jiujiang? Most of the drivers that have gone there over the past month came back with an injury, and I heard some of them were found fainted in their driver¡¯s seat.¡±

    The uncle appeared to be the driver¡¯s close friend, and they often joked with each other. ¡°Stop trying to trick me, you know how easily scared I am.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s tricking you? I¡¯m being serious. It¡¯s not safe in Eastern Jiujiang. Just take a look at the news yourself.¡±

    ¡°What news? You know I¡¯m driving.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just giving you a warning. In fact, the police found...¡± Themunication was abruptly cut off before the uncle could finish his sentence.

    ¡°Found what?¡± The driver tapped the walkie-talkie. ¡°Why has it broken at a time like this?¡±

    He had not felt so scared initially, but after hearing what the uncle had to say, the driver was feeling much less grounded. He slowed down the car and took out his phone to do a quick search.

    There had indeed been quite a few cases in Eastern Jiujiangtely. He nced through them, and his eyes were soon attracted to one of the articles. A child ran away from his adopted father¡¯s home, and his body was found on Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s Lin Jiang Road.

    ¡°Wait, I¡¯m currently driving on Lin Jiang Road, aren¡¯t I?¡± The driver clicked open the article, and the picture of the victim made him feel so familiar. ¡°This boy...¡±

    His body froze. The driver slowly inched his head upward and sneaked a nce at the boy sitting at the back through the rear-view mirror.

    Chen Ge was squeezed next to the boy, and he leaned closer toward the ck stic bag that the boy was holding onto so tightly. ¡°What is in the bag of yours? I noticed you were searching for something before you got in the car.¡±

    The boy smiled at Chen Ge and said after a while, ¡°I¡¯ve almost found everything. I¡¯m just missing a hand.¡±

 Chapter 606 - The Third One

    <h4>Chapter 606: The Third One</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After the boy said that, the temperature in the car dropped to below freezing down, and the driver¡¯s face turned ashen.

    ¡°Just missing one hand?¡± The driver thought he had heard wrong. He had a hard time believing that he would hear something like thate out from the lips of a young boy. His pupils shuddered, and he nced toward his phone. The article did not detail the boy¡¯s cause of death¡ªit only mentioned in passing that the boy had been brutally murdered. Due to onement by the boy, the atmosphere in the car changed.

    The driver¡¯s hands that gripped the steering wheel were slick with sweat. The woman next to him was silent, and the boy on the backseat gripped the ck stic bag tightly, his face stered with a smile that did not match his young age.

    Of the few ¡®people¡¯ in the car, only Chen Ge could be considered rtively normal. He seemed like the only one to have everything under control. He nudged closer toward the boy. His voice was soft and warm, but what he said made the driver squeeze out a fresh bout of cold sweat.

    ¡°You¡¯re only missing one hand? Does that mean the other parts that you¡¯ve found are all inside this stic bag?¡± Chen Ge pointed at the bulging bag. ¡°Do you mind letting me take a look inside it? And if you need help, I can help you look for the rest after we get out of the car.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡± Seeing Chen Ge turn his target toward the ck bag, the smile on the boy¡¯s face slowly disappeared.

    ¡°Actually, we¡¯re not so different, you and I. We¡¯re both looking for something.¡± Chen Ge picked up his own backpack, but his bag was much bigger than the child¡¯s.

    ¡°You¡¯re also in search of something?¡± The boy could taste the light trace of blooding from inside Chen Ge¡¯s bag, and he realized that things were getting dangerous. This was different from what he had anticipated before he got into the car. ¡°What are you looking for?¡±

    ¡°Actually, the thing I¡¯m looking for is in this car with me. When the time is right, I¡¯ll shove all of them into my bag.¡±

    Chen Ge yed the role of a strange uncle scaring a child perfectly. It was amon joke for adults to y pranks on innocent kids, but the boy next to him did not show a trace of a smile at all. This was because the boy knew that Chen Ge was being serious.

    ¡°All of them?¡± Different from the boy, the driver overheard Chen Ge and almost mistook the gas pedal for brake, almost driving into a tree. He thought what Chen Ge meant by that was that he was going to murder everyone in the taxi and then cram all of their body parts inside his backpack.

    He was unable to follow the conservation of his passengers at the backseat, so the only passenger who could give the driver some semnce of security was the young woman next to him. From his point of view, the young woman was soft and pitiable, and if an ident happened, he decided to take the girl and run. That way, at least they would be able to be on the lookout for one another.

    <i>The situation is bing worse. All I can do now is help as many people as I can while maintaining my own personal safety! </i>The driver came to that decision in his mind. He sneaked a nce at the young woman next to him. The young woman seemed to notice the problem as well, and sheid her fingers lightly on the driver¡¯s knee.

    Chen Ge had no idea of the role that he had been cast in the driver¡¯s mind. All of his focus was ced on the boy next to him. Since they had met by chance, he figured that they should be friends, and he nned on inviting all of these ¡®people¡¯ toe to his Haunted House as guests.

    The taxi continued to move for another stretch of the road, and it soon came to a T-junction. One of the roads would lead them away from Jiujiang to another district while the other road would take them to White Dragon Cave Tunnel.

    ¡°Which turn shall I take to get to your home?¡± the gentlemanly driver asked the young woman. Thedy slowly raised her head and extended her finger to point at the direction of the White Dragon Cave Tunnel.

    ¡°White Dragon Cave Tunnel?¡± Jiujiang locals knew about the stories that surrounded this particr tunnel. The ce was technically a stretch of cursed public road. Car idents happened there as often as rain, and various ghost stories and urban legends were made with this ce as its setting and origin.

    The driver¡¯s face nched. He forced himself to calm down. He turned to ask the boy who was holding the bag, ¡°Child, can you still remember which direction your home is?¡±

    The boy was not happy to have been ced next to Chen Ge. He nudged his chin in the direction of White Dragon Cave Tunnel expressionlessly.

    ¡°Your home is also that way? Looks like you two are indeed from the same vige.¡± The driver tried to find a logical excuse to exin the whole situation, to try tofort himself. He forced a smile as he turned to Chen Ge. ¡°What about you?¡±

    ¡°That is where I¡¯m going as well, but I advise you to stop and turn back now. Let the two of them out of the car and drive me back to the spot where you picked up this youngdy.¡± Chen Ge wanted to protect the driver. If he got out of the car with the woman and the boy and allowed the driver to go back alone, then on the way back, the man might run into other ident. To ensure the man¡¯s safety, Chen Ge volunteered to apany him.

    However, the driver did not see it that way. He sensed danger from Chen Ge, and he thought that Chen Ge was trying to get him alone so that he could strike. The more the driver thought about it, the more afraid he became. Chen Ge was out alone at night to take a cab, going to the middle of nowhere with him a backpack that had the smell of blood drifting out of it. One could write ten horror stories about what Chen Ge was doing. He believed that he knew what Chen Ge was nning, and there was no way that he was going to stay with Chen Ge alone inside the car.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Since you¡¯re all going the same way, I should just drive all of you there.¡± The driver sent a coordinate triangtion message on theirpany¡¯s chat group, but the connection was so bad that he saw the message loading for a long time before failing. He slowed the car down and typed two more messages, but they too failed to send due to poor coverage.

    His car was filled with people, but strangely enough, the driver did not feel safe at all. He thought about calling the police, but he was afraid that might provoke his passengers, causing them to do something irrational.

    Just as the driver was thinking about what to do, an old man appeared in the middle of the road. He trundled down the slope, moving toward the T-junction where the taxi sat idle. He carried a medicine basket on his back as he shuffled along with his limp. He appeared to be a herb gatherer. Most of Eastern Jiujiang was dominated by mountains andkes, so the economy was not so good. However, also because of that, nature had been left mostly untouched, and many valuable herbs that could not be found elsewhere grew vibrantly.

    Different from the nts cultivated inbs and farms, wild herbs were valued much higher, and the older generation that remained around the nearby viges depended on harvesting them to keep their lives afloat.

    The old man appeared to have tripped on his way back from the mountain. His right leg was limping, and his shirt had many tears made by branches and bushes. There was even a blood stain on the edge of his pants.

    When he walked past the taxi, he nced absent-mindedly into the car, but when he did, his eyes slowly grew big, and he suddenly picked up his pace, shuffling away from the scene. Seeing the reaction on the old man¡¯s face, the driver only got even more panicked.

    He rolled down the car window, wanting to ask the old man for help, but when he turned to look out the window, the limping old man had already disappeared.

    ¡°How did he manage to move so fast with a limp?¡± The driver shivered involuntarily when he felt a cold caress on the back of his hand. He turned to notice the woman had moved her hand to ce on the back of his arm.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    The woman pointed in the direction of White Dragon Cave Tunnel, signaling for him to start moving.

    When the driver made the turn, Chen Ge also spoke up. ¡°Did someone pass the car earlier? Who were you talking to?¡±

    ¡°There was an old gentleman with a limping leg. He carried a bamboo basket on his back, didn¡¯t you see him? He even paused to look inside the taxi when he shuffled past it!¡± The driver could not stop the shrillness from entering his voice.

    Chen Ge shook his head. There were only shaking tree limbs and their shadows outside the car. He did not see any old man.

 Chapter 607 - No Way Back

    <h4>Chapter 607: No Way Back</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Ever since the shadow appeared at White Dragon Cave Tunnel, the strange factor of this area had been kicked up a notch. The young woman, the boy, and the old man that the driver had mentioned¡ªbefore even entering the tunnel, Chen Ge had already met three ¡®people¡¯.

    ¡°This ce sure is crowded.¡± Chen Ge did not ask for more information about the old man but sat quietly in the back. The taxi slowly moved down the road leading toward White Dragon Cave Tunnel. The closer they got to the destination, the more unsettled the driver felt, but he was starved of options. At this point, there was nothing he could do but move forward.

    The trees by the road swayed like souls crawling out from hell. The light dimmed because most of the streetlights leading to White Dragon Cave Tunnel were broken, and the local government did not care enough to fix the road that was covered with dried leaves and mud.

    However, strangely enough, amid the mess of trash, there were trails of clear footprints¡ªsome big and some small, some barefooted and others with shoes. In any case, it was clear that they had been left behind by more than one person.

    ¡°There weren¡¯t so many footprints when I was herest time.¡± Chen Ge observed closely. He realized that all of the footprints pointed toward White Dragon Cave Tunnel. ¡°They¡¯re all heading to the tunnel? What is attracting them inside the tunnel?¡±

    Chen Ge had no idea what had happened to the tunnel, but he knew that after the shadow made his appearance here, the tunnel had be different from before. The car tires crushed the fallen leaves and branches, eliciting an eerie sound. With the headlights beaming, arge ck outline appeared. All the lights would disappear when they hit that spot.

    ¡°White Dragon Cave!¡± The taboo of all the urban legends appeared before his eyes, and the driver¡¯s eyelids could not stop twitching. His legs were shaking, and his body sent him messages that it was time to turn and run.

    ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± The taxi stopped before the tunnel, but the passengers inside the car didn¡¯t show any intention of getting out. ¡°We¡¯re already at White Dragon Cave Tunnel, so I think I¡¯ll stop here.¡±

    The driver felt like retreating; he had already been through enough strange events for one night.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind, but the key is dependent of the two of them.¡± Chen Ge leaned against the cushion and shifted his weight to a morefortable position. It was still well before the mission time given by the ck phone, so he was not in a hurry. Chen Ge was the only one who was more willing to negotiate¡ªthe same could not be said of the two other passengers.

    The young woman slowly raised her eyes, and between the strands of tussled hair, the pair of eyes shone brilliantly red. She slid her fingers down the window, creating a sharp noise. It felt as if there was something inside the tunnel that was causing her to go berserk.

    The condition of the boy was equally strange. He was still holding the ck stic bag, but his originally innocent-looking face was now twisted beyond recognition.

    The closer they were to White Dragon Cave Tunnel, the more obvious the abnormalities they possessed. It was as if the resentment in their bodies was being drawn out, and they could not hold it in anymore. None of the three passengers looked like they were getting out of the car, and this caused the driver to panic. A deep frown was etched on his face, and he appeared as helpless as they came.

    <i>They say good thingse to good people, but howe it¡¯s the opposite for me?</i>the driver grumbled internally. He stopped the car; White Dragon Cave Tunnel was the taboo location for all the taxi drivers in Jiujiang. No matter what, he was not driving into the tunnel.

    Even sitting inside the car, he could feel the cold drafting out from inside the tunnel. Rising his eyes to look, White Dragon Cave Tunnel was like the gaping maw of a beast, and everyone that walked into it would be consumed until even their bones could not be found.

    ¡°Why did you stop? You need to move forward! My house is just in front, keep driving!¡± the boy at the back demanded urgently.

    ¡°Your house is inside the tunnel?¡± When he heard that, the desire for the driver to stay away from the tunnel increased. The boy in the back looked simr to the victim from the news article. Earlier, he had even said that he was searching for his hand. If this was not a prank, then the real identity of this boy was worth pondering.

    The driver realized the danger he was in, and he ignored the boy¡¯smand and turned the car around. He nned to drive all the way to the police station¡ªregardless of whether it was a ghost or human inside his car, he would pass on all of them to the police. That was a good idea, but once he started the engine, something went wrong.

    He could hear the engine starting, but the car simply refused to move. He tried it multiple times, but in the end, he only caused the dashboard to break down. This time, the driver was genuinely panicking. The car had broken down in the middle of nowhere, and the scariest thing was that he had no idea how many people were ghosts inside his car.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic, the dashboard is acting up probably because you tried to start the engine too many times, and you short-circuited the battery somehow. It¡¯s just a small problem.¡± At the most crucial moment, Chen Ge¡¯s words gave the driver the security that he needed. Chen Ge¡¯s voice was powerful and warm, and it helped the driver to slowly calm down.

    ¡°Okay, you stay in the car, I¡¯ll go to take a look.¡± The driver ced his hand on the doorknob and was about to step out when there was a loud thud, like something heavy hadnded on the roof of the car. The driver was frightened, and he instinctively pulled his hand back, but then something even stranger happened.

    Without touching the steering wheel, the car started to move. And the direction it was heading? It was none other than White Dragon Cave Tunnel!

    ¡°I didn¡¯t start the car, so why is it moving on its own? We have to jump out now!¡± The driver wanted to pull open the door, but when his handnded on the handle, the loud thud came again. This time, the sound originated right in front of the driver. He could clearly see, after the sound disappeared, on the windscreen right before the driver¡¯s seat, there was a blood red handprint.

    His eyes widening, the driver¡¯s mind was drawing a nk. He had no idea how the red handprint appeared on the ss like magic. Before he could understand it, the sound appeared this time at the back of the car. Then the whole car shook, and more bloody handprints appeared on the car¡¯s back window.

    ¡°What is happening?¡± This time, even Chen Ge was slightly apprehensive. Different from the driver, using his Yin Yang Vision, he could just about see that the car was currently surrounded by ¡®people¡¯, and each handprint represented a resentment-filled soul.

    ¡°Why are there so many dead spirits gathering at the mouth of the tunnel?¡± Sitting inside the car, Chen Ge flipped open theic and activated the recorder. This caused the smell of blood inside the car to thicken.

    More bloody handprints appeared, and they looked quite scary, filling up the windows. With them jostling and pushing, the car was slowly sent deeper into White Dragon Cave Tunnel.

    The driver¡¯s despairing cry for help was unable to stop the taxi from being engulfed by the darkness.

    This happened too suddenly, and no one expected this transformation. When they recovered, the taxi was already deep inside the tunnel.

    The tires felt like they had rolled over something because the car tipped slightly. More handprints continued to appear, and the spine-tingling rapping echoed in their ears.

 Chapter 608 - Listening to the Darkness

    <h4>Chapter 608: Listening to the Darkness</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The light around them slowly disappeared. It felt as if the taxi was being pushed into the ocean. When thest shred of light vanished, it meant that the passengers inside the taxi were enveloped by darkness.

    ¡°Is... is someone there?¡± When the continuous rapping petered away, the driver slowly raised his head. His hands went searching for his mobile.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move, lie down.¡± The voice was harsh, but the driver did not rebel against and moved to oblige. The one giving the order was Chen Ge. The sound of tapping had disappeared, but the spirits were still surrounding the taxi; they had not left.

    ¡°What do they want?¡± With Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could see things that the driver could not, and from his perspective, they were not in a good spot. Every inch of the taxi¡¯s exterior was covered by bloody handprints, and the people that had left those handprints were surrounding the taxi. Each one of them had a strange facial expression, and their bodies were turned toward the same direction. Their lips moved up and down like fish, sucking in the strange air inside the tunnel.

    About ten minutester, a strange noise came from deep within the tunnel. It was hard to describe. It sounded like thousands of centipedes crawling on the wall, and at the same time, it sounded like a giant breathing, its breaths scraping the uneven tunnel walls.

    After that sound appeared, the spirits around the taxi started to move toward the sound. Footprints echoed around them, but there was no living human in sight. The driver hid inside the car, hugging his head; he was well and truly frightened. It was too dark for him to see anything, but his ears kept picking up these strange audio cues. They rushed into his mind, and the driver felt like his brain was about to explode.

    A light creak came from a part of the car. It sounded like the door was being eased open.

    Without the light, no one knew what was happening. Half an hourter, when the sound hadpletely silenced and the tunnel became quiet again, the driver finally summoned his courage to go looking for his phone. Using the weak light from the screen, he looked around the inside of his car.

    The doors had been left open, and there were no other passengers in the car. The taxi was empty with the driver remaining alone at the driver¡¯s seat.

    ¡°Where are all the people?¡± With people next to him, he would not be so afraid, but realizing that he was all alone, the driver started to panic. He activated the walkie-talkie, but all he could hear was static¡ªthere was no one talking. He tried to call his friends and colleagues on his phone, but strangely enough, no one was answering.

    He was unable to keep his movement silent due to anxiety, and he called out on the verge of tears, ¡°Please, is anyone there? Anyone will do, can someone answer me?¡±

    ¡°Stop yelling, shush.¡± A ray of light appeared at the front of the car. The driver looked to the source, and it was a young man carrying a backpack standing there. The driver was familiar with the man¡¯s outline¡ªhe was the first passenger that he had picked up that night.

    ¡°Don¡¯t waste time and follow my orders. First, try and see if you can start the car or not.¡± Chen Ge held the backpack with one hand and his expression was severe. The driver understood the gravity of the situation and did not pause to ask questions. He tried multiple times, but the engine was still not working.

    ¡°Get out of the car to inspect the engine. Quick, we don¡¯t have much time to waste.¡± With the urging from Chen Ge, the driver crawled out from the car. The hair on his body stood on end once he noted the bloody prints that covered his vehicle. Opening the front lid, the driver leaned in to look. The internalpartment was ruined by the reams of ck hair that curled around everything. He was unable to cut them loose without the aid of tools.

    ¡°Do you have any scissors?¡± the driver asked Chen Ge in a whisper.

    ¡°Will a hammer work?¡±

    ¡°Er, never mind then.¡± The driver closed the lid and followed behind Chen Ge with a saddened frown. ¡°It should be the hair that plugged up the pipes of the motor. I won¡¯t be able to fix it without the necessary tools.¡±

    ¡°In that case, we¡¯ll abandon the car for now. Later, remember to stay close to me, and no matter what happens, do not wander too far away from me.¡± Chen Ge turned on the shlight function attached to his phone and started to walk down the road opposite in the direction that the spirits had gone.

    ¡°Did you see the two other passengers? Howe you¡¯re the only one here?¡± After a brief hesitation, the driver finally asked that question.

    ¡°Even now, do you still think they are normal passengers? Those two have already moved deeper into the tunnel.¡± Chen Ge was not going to waste time exining these things to the driver. If not for the fact that he thought the driver was a kind-hearted person, he did not think that he would waste the time to lead the driver out and would have joined the ¡®crowd¡¯ earlier to head deeper into the tunnel. ¡°This tunnel is seriously dangerous. I¡¯ll bring you out first and leave after ensuring you¡¯re safe.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± The driver was genuinely appreciative of Chen Ge. Under that condition, having thepany of a living human was something worth celebrating.

    ¡°If you want to thank me, make sure that you keep everything that you see tonight to yourself and don¡¯t tell a third person after you leave this ce.¡± Chen Ge kept his voice low, and it added an air of mystery to everything.

    After hearing that, the driver nodded consecutively, promising to follow Chen Ge¡¯s orders. The duo walked down the tunnel for three minutes, but they were no closer to the exit.

    ¡°This is not right.¡± Chen Ge stopped, standing in the middle of the tunnel. ¡°It only took half a minute for the light to disappear after the taxi was hauled into the tunnel. At the time, the car was moving about as fast as we¡¯re moving. In other words, we should only take one minute before we saw the exit, but we¡¯ve been walking for longer than that, and there¡¯s not a shred of light in sight.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right! What¡¯s going on?¡± Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s analysis, the driver shivered out in cold sweat. ¡°Perhaps we¡¯ve gone in the wrong direction? Have we identally moved deeper into the tunnel?¡±

    ¡°The front of the car is facing the deeper part of the tunnel, so our direction cannot be wrong.¡±

    ¡°Then, why aren¡¯t we out of this tunnel yet?¡±

    ¡°How am I supposed to know?¡± This was the first time that Chen Ge had encountered something like this. With one hand on the wall, he stealthily took out the ck phone. ¡°If only I could contact that Red Specter in the tunnel. Last time we met, we had quite a friendly talk, and it shouldn¡¯t be too hard to ask her for a little favor.¡±

    Chen Ge did not know the name of the Red Specter and did not know how to contact her. However, thinking about his previous experience there, Chen Ge had a brave idea surfacing in his mind.

    He clicked open mission for the End of the Tunnel on the ck phone and read the mission hint again. ¡°Close your eyes, and you might see a different world.¡±

    With the driver looking on with shock, Chen Ge shredded the sleeve of his shirt.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Chen Ge ignored the driver. He folded the torn sleeve into a blindfold and tied it around his eyes.

    ¡°Brother, what are you doing? Can you please act a bit more normally?¡± The driver was frozen standing where he was. He could not understand Chen Ge¡¯s action at all.

    ¡°Be quiet and follow me. If you¡¯re really that afraid, feel free to close your eyes.¡± With his hand touching the wall, Chen Ge continued to move forward in this manner.

 Chapter 609 - Endless Repetitious Circular Tunnel

    <h4>Chapter 609: Endless Repetitious Circr Tunnel</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Voluntarily closing one¡¯s eyes in the dark and scary tunnel, in a way, was a different method of viewing the world. However, the driver, who had not been briefed on Chen Ge¡¯s intention, could not for the life of him understand what Chen Ge was doing. Was this a manifestation of the ostrich effect? By closing one¡¯s eyes, it was easier to pretend that the monsters roaming the tunnel did not exist?

    Even though he was filled with many questions, the driver followed behind Chen Ge honestly. After all, the man was his only hope. He could not imagine being abandoned in this long stretch of dark tunnel.

    Chen Ge had no idea what was going through the driver¡¯s mind. With his eyes closed, he waspletely submerged in the darkness, and the surrounding became silent. Perhaps it was his tense nerves, but his body temperature kept slipping. If someone identally brushed up against him, they might have thought that they hade into contact with a dead body.

    With the sense of sight deprived, he could only rely on his sense of hearing and smell as well as the feeling under his skin to help him recognize everything around him. The wall was uneven, and asionally, his hands would touch something that felt like moss. When his fingers first brushed up against something wet yet sticky, the hair on Chen Ge¡¯s arm rose involuntarily.

    ¡°Will I eventually get to the exit this way? It shouldn¡¯t be so simple. The hint given the ck phone probably carries a different meaning.¡± The blinded Chen Ge moved forward with his hands guiding the way. He could not see anything. The darkness, chilliness, and strange sounds as well as the sensitive touch of his fingers overwhelmed his sensory systems like waves.

    With superhuman training and determination, Chen Ge resisted the urge to yank off the blindfold and took one step after another. No sight, no thoughts, no nothing.

    Chen Ge adjusted his breathing, and just like his first Nightmare Mission, there was only one thought in his mind¡ªfinish the task at hand. His mind detached itself from the sense of time, and Chen Ge had no idea how long he had been walking. Different from his previous Nightmare Mission, this time, he did not even pause to count his heartbeat or footsteps. He hadpletely emptied his mind.

    Caressing the wet surface of the wall, he kept on walking until suddenly his hands caught nothing.

    <i>There¡¯s a hole in the wall? </i>White Dragon Cave Tunnel was a straight route, and there were no turns, so something like this should not have happened.

    <i>Should I take off the blindfold to look? </i>Before Chen Ge could make the decision, someone suddenly pulled on his arm, and the person who did that was shaking so violently that Chen Ge could feel that through the skin contact.

    ¡°Calm down, what did you see?¡± The unknown was often the scariest. After losing his sight, Chen Ge¡¯s emotions were more easily influenced by the people around him.

    ¡°It¡¯s just on your left. The thing is right next to your left cheek. He¡¯s very close, please, do not move!¡± the driver replied anxiously, his voice thick with terror.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic, describe the thing¡¯s appearance. Is it a person or a bug?¡± Chen Ge stood where he was, careful not to move a muscle, but he waited for a long time, and there was no reply at all. ¡°Are you there?¡±

    In the empty tunnel, only the echo of Chen Ge¡¯s own voice remained. The driver seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

    ¡°What exactly did he see?¡± If the driver had just disappeared, Chen Ge would not have been so worried, but his timing was just so suspicious. He had left behind such a cryptic message before he disappeared. He had told Chen Ge very explicitly that there was something unique and probably terrifying sitting right next to Chen Ge¡¯s left cheek.

    ¡°The driver¡¯s disappearance should be rted to this thing, but that is not for certain. Something might have already happened to the man after I decided to put on the blindfold, and it has been someone else who has been following me. He¡¯s purposely trying to make me look to the left.¡± Chen Ge had no idea what the truth was. All he could do was try his luck within an eptable range of possibilities that he could still control.

    Raising his arm, Chen Ge touched the left side of his face¡ªthere was nothing there. He sighed in relief before slowly moving his arm toward the wall. His fingers soon touched the cold stone wall, and he did not brush up against anything weird. He extended his fingers and stopped at the edge of the wall and the supposed hole.

    ¡°There¡¯s a strange split in the road that is supposed to be straight. Shall I turn into it to take a look?¡± Resisting the desire to peel off the blindfold, Chen Ge raised both of his hands, and like a blind person, he slowly nudged toward the mouth of the opening on his left.

    ¡°Where will this route lead me to?¡± It was supposed to be a straight tunnel, but for some reason, he had ended up inside a maze. With every few steps, Chen Ge left a deep scratch on the wall, leaving behind a trail of marks.

    He continued walking like that for a few minutes, and then Chen Ge¡¯s fingers felt air for the second time. Another split had appeared on his journey.

    It was because of the hint on the ck phone that Chen Ge had decided to blindfold himself, but the result made him feel greatly unsettled. This straight tunnel seemed to have split into endless turns and corners. Like a person¡¯s fate in life, one would never know what was awaiting at the next turn of the corner.

    ¡°Xu Yin...¡± Chen Ge was worried that he might be greeted with a nasty surprise once he tore off the blindfold and ced himself in danger, so before doing that, he summoned Xu Yin. The smell of blood suffused the air, and Chen Ge took in a deep breath. His nerves slowly calmed down, and Xu Yin¡¯s presence gave him the sense of security that he had beencking.

    Rubbing his eyes, Chen Ge looked around with Yin Yang Vision. He discovered to his surprise that he was standing at the spot that he started his journey; a few meters behind him was the taxi covered in bloody handprints.

    The vehicle was still there, but the driver had already disappeared. With Xu Yin¡¯s apaniment, Chen Ge walked down the tunnel. He did note across any splits, nor could he find the markings that he scratched on the wall.

    The tunnel that he saw with his eyes and the tunnel that he felt with his fingers did not seem to be the same one. This was a strange feeling like one was reality, and the other was a dream, but strangely enough, they were somehow intermingling to form an endlessly repeating circle.

    ¡°No wonder the shadow lost once in a ce like this. I should consider myself lucky that I was able to escapest time.¡± White Dragon Cave Tunnel was a unique location, but Chen Ge had no idea what the reason behind its uniqueness was.

    ¡°So, the question is, which of the tunnels is the real one? And why were those homeless spirits and souls so drawn to this ce? Is it possible that they somehow perceive this ce as the cycle of reincarnation?¡±

    This Trial Mission was a lot moreplicated than Chen Ge thought. He did not dare move recklessly. He flipped open theic and released all of his employees.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue, I need you two to guard the taxi. The rest of you, follow me. Try not to leave too much space between you.¡± Chen Ge had been to this tunnel before, and based on his online research, he knew clearly how long this tunnel should be.

    Chen Ge summoned all of his employees because he wanted to test out his hypothesis.

 Chapter 610 - Creature That Lives in Nightmares

    <h4>Chapter 610: Creature That Lives in Nightmares</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s n was very simple; he was going to use the special connection between the ghosts to repeat the steps that he took earlier. But unlike before, this time, he decided to have Bai Qiulin take his ce. He wanted to see if the same situation would happen when it was a ghost that was blindfolded. Bai Qiulin had his eyes blindfolded by his boss before he understood what was happening.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think about anything. Empty your mind and walk ahead.¡± Chen Ge and Xu Yin stood about three to four meters behind Bai Qiulin, watching his every move. If anything happened, they woulde to his aid instantly.

    Not knowing what his boss was up to, Bai Qiulin still followed his order because, in his mind, his boss was always right. He walked down the tunnel for a long time, but what happened to Chen Ge did not replicate itself on Bai Qiulin. Even when he was told to remove the blindfold, Bai Qiulin¡¯s face was still colored with confusion, unable to understand his boss¡¯ action.

    ¡°Having the ghost blindfolded is pointless, but why is that so? Most of the ghosts are formed from the lingering desire of a living human, and the biggest difference between them and a normal human is that they don¡¯t possess a physical form. Could it be because when I¡¯m moving down the tunnel with my eyes open, it¡¯s a world that is observable to the living humans, but once I close my eyes, I¡¯m moving through a world of the spirits?¡±

    A normal person would not have considered a possibility like that, but Chen Ge was different. In this field, he had a wealth of experience, and his way of thinking was different from most. Many times, he would assume the perspective of the ghost to see things.

    ¡°I cannot confirm that one hundred percent, but it is a big possibility. In any case, this experiment has indirectly proven something¡ªthe strange things will only happen after I have my eyes blindfolded.¡± To have the ghost rece his spot to find the way out was impossible, and Chen Ge was back to square one.

    ¡°Looks like I¡¯ll have to do this myself. But with my employees around me, this time, it should be much safer.¡± Chen Ge led the ghosts back to the taxi and gave Ol¡¯ Zhou and Bai Qiulin some orders before putting on the blindfold. This was his third time venturing into the tunnel.

    Darkness swallowed Chen Ge, but he did not feel that worried with his employees watching over him. He walked down the tunnel for ten minutes before finally stopping. The split in the road did not appear, and the tunnel kept going straight, one way forward, leading nowhere.

    ¡°Why have I failed this time? Where is the problem?¡± The difference between his first run and his third run was the number of participants. The first time, Chen Ge did it with the driver, but this time, Chen Ge did it with all of his employees.

    ¡°Is there a number limitation? That¡¯s unlikely, it¡¯s more possible that my employees have prevented the thing that should appear around me froming.¡±

    When the driver disappeared, he had mentioned a strange thing appearing next to Chen Ge¡¯s left cheek. Thinking back, the changing of the tunnel probably had everything to do with that strange thing.

    ¡°The driver disappeared in the middle of his sentence, and that was probably that thing¡¯s doing as well.¡± Chen Ge looked down the dark tunnel and started to hesitate. With his employees, the thing did not dare turn up, but if he put his employees away, there was no guaranteeing his own safety.

    He lowered his head to look at his phone. Chen Ge wanted to see how long he still had until his mission time, but to his surprise, he noticed that the time on his phone was running backward, like instead of a clock, it had transformed into a timer.

    ¡°What is wrong with this phone? Why is the time running backward? I¡¯ve been in the tunnel at least half an hour already, but the time is still showing the moment when I first stepped into the tunnel.¡±

    Something must have happened. Chen Ge leaned against the wall and frowned in contemtion.

    ¡°No one is powerful enough to mess with time, so what could have happened here?¡± He had not experienced this type of anxiety in a long time. At a time like this, his employees were unable to give him any aid.

    With no method to leave the tunnel, Chen Ge was unable to save himself, much lessplete the Trial Mission.

    He looked into the darkness, and his expression turned severe. ¡°These things didn¡¯t happen when I came alone the first time.¡±

    Thinking back to his previous mission experience and picking out the details, Chen Ge finally made a decision. He put all his ghosts back into hisic, and the originally crowded tunnel instantly cold and silent. In the darkness, only two shadows stood opposite one another.

    ¡°You can go now, leave the rest to me.¡± Patting Xu Yin lightly on his shoulder, Chen Ge switched off the recorder. He put everything away and straightened up. He kept his eyes level, and not a shred of fear could be found on his face.

    ¡°All the missions on the ck phone are fair. Without effort, there shall be no reward, and the risk and reward are always proportional.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been spared adventures like this for a long time already. I¡¯ve almost forgotten this feeling that wasmon when I first obtained the ck phone, the feeling of dancing at the edge of a cliff or on a thin line. One wrong move, and everything will over.¡±

    Chen Ge took in a deep breath and he spoke to the air.

    ¡°And now, I¡¯m all alone again.¡±

    He tossed his backpack into his taxi, and like his previous Nightmare Mission, he was alone. Without any weapon, without his employees, he walked toward the deepest darkness with nothing but himself.

    ¡°I do wish to see how the world will change after I close my eyes.¡± With a firm determination, Chen Ge seemed to say that to provoke, his eyes filling up with condescension. He picked up the torn sleeve, and at thest second before putting on the blindfold, he looked behind him and called out Zhang Ya¡¯s name silently.

    There was no answer¡ªhis shadow was just his shadow. The blindfold came on, and this time, there was no one next to him, just like his very first Nightmare Mission.

    Holding the wall, he slowly nudged forward. He only walked for several meters before a shuffling sound appeared next to his ears like the sound of thousands of centipedes crawling on the wall.

    ¡°Everything will go to waste once I open my eyes, so this time, no matter what happens, I will not open my eyes.¡± Part of the confidence that Chen Ge had came from Zhang Ya in his shadow. He knew that she would not watch him get seriously injured.

    ¡°Come on, show me what is at the end of the tunnel.¡± Chen Ge did not hesitate and walked through the shuffling. He was using himself as bait to wait for the ¡®big fish¡¯ in the tunnel to bite.

    It felt like someone was blowing air into his ears, and his body temperature slipped downward, but none of that was able to stop Chen Ge¡¯s footsteps.

 Chapter 611 - The Woman in the Tunnel and the Shadow of the Spider [3 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 611: The Woman in the Tunnel and the Shadow of the Spider [3 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge had made the mental preparation that no matter what happened, he would never open his eyes. His body was swallowed up by darkness, and the noises around his eyes fell away. It felt as if he was walking slowly and alone deep into the ocean, departing from the familiar world, with the fear of the future unknown, and carrying with him an anticipation for the final destination. Many feelings blossomed in the man¡¯s mind, like an octopus¡¯ tentacles wrapping themselves around his shuddering heart.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already experienced this sense of istion many times before. To prevent this feeling from happening in real life, this time, I have to see this to its end,¡± Chen Ge mumbled to himself, not because he thought someone or something was listening but because he was trying to give himself words of encouragement.

    About ten meterster, Chen Ge¡¯s felt an emptiness underneath his fingers. On his third trail, the split finally appeared again. Without hesitation, he strode into the split.

    The temperature around him dropped. Chen Ge had no idea whether his decision was the correct one or not¡ªhe had never been a particrly clever person. The reason that he had been able to survive thus far was dependent on his supernatural observational skill, decisive personality, and a courage that had been cultivated since he was young.

    Touching the wet and slimy wall, Chen Ge emptied his mind, not allowing it totch onto anything. The only sound echoing in his ears was his own footsteps, yet slowly but surely, the originally rhythmic sound was interrupted. Someone or something was following behind Chen Ge.

    <i>Don¡¯t turn to look, don¡¯t even think about it.</i>

    Not seeing meant nothing, and not thinking meant not existing. Chen Ge repeated that to himself in his mind, and that was how he kept himself from being distracted.

    Many footsteps started to appear in the quiet tunnel. There seemed to be more than Chen Ge walking through the tunnel. The footsteps initially only came from behind Chen Ge, but slowly, other than the side where the wall was, the sound of footsteps came from everywhere.

    Chen Ge¡¯s heart was itchy like it was being scratched by a cat. He was incredibly curious, but he maintained enough self-control to not remove the simplified blindfold on his face. After going through so much, Chen Ge had a very strong adaptive ability. He soon regained control of himself and slowly got used to the echoes of footsteps around him. He cheered for himself internally, hypnotizing himself with the belief that the footsteps around him were not there to harm him. At least from what he was experiencing, it merely appeared that they just so happened to be on the same path that Chen Ge was travelling on.

    <i>Am I on a path that is only traversable by ghosts?</i>

    After several more seconds, Chen Ge discovered another problem. Other than the footsteps, there was a new sound, the sound of car tires crunching over items on the road.

    <i>Vehicles are passing me by?</i>

    Currently, there should only be one automobile in the tunnel, and that was the taxi driven in by the driver.

    <i>Who activated the car? Could it be that the driver has found his way back to his taxi? Or is he actually more than a normal taxi driver?</i>

    The driver that had driven Chen Ge to White Dragon Cave Tunnel was a random one that he had found on the street; the possibility that he was rted to the tunnel was too much of a stretch. The possibility was so small that it could be ignored.

    <i>It shouldn¡¯t be the driver. Does that mean there¡¯s another thing driving the car?</i>

    Chen Ge was about to consider the line of thought when something even more incredible happened. He could hear clearly in both of his ears the humming of engines, plural. There was more than one car passing him by.

    <i>What on Earth is happening?</i>

    With his eyes blindfolded, Chen Ge had no idea what was going on¡ªhe could only picture the exnation with what he heard. The footsteps around him picked up pace, and they appeared to be rushing in a unified direction.

    <i>Something scarier is forcing him to run? Or has the thing that has been drawing them forward finally appeared?</i>

    Chen Ge was unsure whether he should follow them and run. With his eyes blindfolded, it was hard to make a decision. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, he decided to maintain his current speed. He kept himself alert and careful with every move and used his remaining senses to slowly dissect this whole new ¡®world¡¯.

    <i>The slick feeling on the wall has disappeared, and what¡¯s left is a cold hard surface. It feels much smoother and tter to the hands, like it has been sanded down before.</i>

    Chen Ge desperately wanted to remove the blindfold to confirm his suspicion. Ever since he entered the split, the world had changed tremendously. The split led him to apletely different world.

    He continued moving forward, and the tunnel became even more crowded. He could just about make out people talking, and the more he moved forward, the louder the voices became. But the strange thing was, as loud as the person spoke and as sharp as the voices were, he was unable to perceive the meaning that was inherent in the words; he could only process the emotions behind the words¡ªanxiety, anger, and a small inkling of fear.

    <i>What is happening out there?</i>

    Even though he was still inside the tunnel, the situation outside hadpletely changed. The footsteps, the screaming, the honking of cars, the tires grinding, and the humming of motors¡ªit felt as if the tunnel was still in use.

    <i>If the tunnel hadn¡¯t been sealed, it would be this active, I suppose...</i>

    Chen Ge had no idea where he was, but one thing was certain, everything that he was experiencing should have something to do with the actual owner of White Dragon Cave Tunnel, and it was probably leading him there on purpose.

    The cacophony around Chen Ge grew louder, and more voices entered Chen Ge¡¯s mind, making it nearly impossible for him to hear his own voice. The only thing that he could tell was that the footsteps were still moving in one particr direction, and after he paid them more attention, he realized that all the cars were moving that way as well.

    <i>Why are they moving that way?</i>

    The question was stuck in his mind. While Chen Ge was figuring out the answer, a different sound entered his left ear. The noises drowned out the voice for the most part, such that Chen Ge only managed to tell it was the voice of a child. It was crisp and intermittent, and it sounded like the child was injured.

    Chen Ge shuffled another few steps forward along with the ¡®crowd¡¯, and the child¡¯s voice appeared again.

    ¡°No, wait...¡± This time, Chen Ge stopped. He noticed something weird. The child¡¯s voice wasing from behind his left ear. When all the ¡®people¡¯ and cars were moving forward, the owner of the voice stayed where they were; they had not moved.

    Another person might not have noticed a detail as small as this, but Chen Ge was different. To break through this conundrum, he kept his focus sharp, making note of everything around him. He did not dare speak lest he revealed the fact that he was different from the ¡®people¡¯ around him.

    ¡°Save me, save me, save my mummy...¡± Several secondster, the voice returned, and it came from the same spot as before.

    <i>This is strange. I can hear so many sounds, but for some reason, I can hear this soft voice the clearest.</i>

    He could read the despair in the person¡¯s voice, and the feeling was hard to describe; it made Chen Ge feelfortable, like the voice was reaching into his heart to squeeze on it.

    Turning around, without knowing what kind of danger wasing from behind him, Chen Ge instinctively moved toward the source of the voice. He nudged his footsteps little by little, and like a blind person, Chen Ge slowly searched for his way.

    As he got nearer the voice, suddenly, someone tapped him on his shoulder, and then it was followed by an urgent scream. The voice was loud, and it warned him to move faster. If he stayed, he would be in mortal danger.

    <i>These are probably the spirits that entered the tunnel with me. They are running for their lives, so the thing chasing after them is probably the owner of the tunnel!</i>

    The way Chen Ge thought was different from the ¡®people¡¯ inside the tunnel. He was very clear about his identity; he was a bait, waiting for the owner of the tunnel to show themself.

    This was a very risky move, but that was the most direct and simplest way that Chen Ge could think of to tackle the issue at hand. He had always adopted the most straightforward solution to his problem¡ªthat was his style.

    The ¡®people¡¯ in the tunnel seemed to misunderstand his action, and the voices around him sharpened to be clearer. The ¡®people¡¯ urged him to leave, telling him that if he dared stay any longer, he would really die!

    Chen Ge was unfazed by the persuasion of the ¡®people¡¯ around him, and soon, his ears captured a different sound.

    It sounded like liquid dripping.

    Tik tok tik tok.

    It was very close to him.

    Seeing Chen Ge¡¯s desire to stay, the ¡®people¡¯ that tried to persuade him abandoned him, and the tunnel became quiet again. The footsteps, the crunching of the tires, and the honking of the car disappeared like the tunnel was once again abandoned by ¡®society and its people¡¯.

    ¡°Save me, save me, save my mummy...¡± The location near the wall issued the child¡¯s pleading again. Chen Ge went closer to it and slowly squatted down. His eyes were still blindfolded, and he did not dare to speak, afraid that it might cause some unknown and unbeneficial changes.

    After a few seconds, Chen Ge¡¯s hands, which were not covered or gloved, reached out toward the source of the voice. His fingertips touched a liquid that was cold, and Chen Ge was very familiar with this sense.

    <i>This is blood.</i>

    He searched around blindly, and eventually, his five fingers came across a thin and slender arm.

    ¡°I¡¯m trapped by the window. Please go and save my mother first. She¡¯s stuck in the driver¡¯s seat!¡±

    The child¡¯s voice entered Chen Ge¡¯s ears. He did not follow the child¡¯s direction immediately but was instead reminded of something else. The voice had initiallye from his left side; Chen Ge was very sure of that. Now that his body was turned, the voice was stilling from the wall. This meant that what the voice said did not make any logical sense.

    <i>If the thing is really trapped inside a car, how did it manage to talk into my ear that was facing the wall? I¡¯ve been walking alongside the wall after all!</i>

    Interestingly enough, when the driver disappeared, he had once mentioned that there was something incredibly scary near Chen Ge¡¯s left cheek.

    <i>This is such a coincidence. The driver said that the thing was near my left cheek, and that is exactly where the child¡¯s voice originated from. So, if the driver wasn¡¯t lying, the monster that managed to spook him should be the ¡®child¡¯ that I¡¯m hearing now.</i>

    Chen Ge slowly understood what had happened. The reason for the driver¡¯s disappearance was probably because he had chanced upon the monster¡¯s real identity and had ruined the monster¡¯s n.

    ¡°My mother is just in front. Can you please save her? Please?¡± The voice was so desperate that it was hard to reject.

    ¡°Okay, I will help you.¡± Chen Ge had no idea what kind of scary face was issuing this childlike, innocent voice. He chose to follow the thing¡¯s request to save the mother because he believed that this was the upright and moral thing to do. With the child¡¯s guidance, Chen Ge bent down and slowly moved forward.

    The sound of liquid dripping had not stopped. A strange scent filled up the air, and the further Chen Ge moved forward, the greater the sense of danger he felt he was in. He could not see on ount of the blindfold over his eyes, so Chen Ge could only slowly find his way forward.

    His hands soon found the frame of a car. He bent down, and his hands touched a woman¡¯s hair. He did not speak, and by applying force to his arms, Chen Ge grabbed the woman by her shoulders and gently shuffled her out of the car.

    ¡°Take her away! Quick! Now!¡± After Chen Ge rescued the woman, the child¡¯s voice turned shrill. Unlike normal children, the child had not cried even though he was injured, and his voice was filled with a maturity that was not present in other children his age.

    Chen Ge had no idea what the child was plotting. He dragged the woman and walked for several steps before suddenly stopping.

    ¡°Go ahead! Why are you stopping? Go!¡±

    Ignoring the child¡¯s order, Chen Ge carried the woman on his back and returned to the child. Without his sight, Chen Ge¡¯s hands touched around the car window and had a brief understanding of the child¡¯s situation. The lower half of the child¡¯s body was stuck inside the car window, and the broken ss had pierced through his stomach. If Chen Ge forcibly dragged the child out, it would definitely cause the injury to worsen. Chen Ge tried to lift up the car, but obviously, he did not possess the super strength to do that.

    ¡°Just leave me behind, take her and leave!¡± Perhaps it was pain or perhaps it was something else, but the child wailed at the top of his lungs, and finally, Chen Ge could hear the tears in his voice.

    ¡°If I abandon you and your mother manages to survive, she will live in guilt for the rest of her life.¡± Chen Ge could not resist the urge to voice the thought in his mind. When he said that, the surroundings suddenly became a lot quieter, but soon, everything returned to normal.

    ¡°My body is stuck, and I can¡¯t leave. You have to go, or else everyone will die!¡±

    After confirming that his words would not influence this world, Chen Ge became more courageous. ¡°I have an idea that might be able to save you, but it¡¯ll be painful, and I can¡¯t guarantee that you¡¯ll be able to survive.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± As long as there was a possibility, most people would still fight for it.

    ¡°Your hip bone is stuck in the warped car window. I can try to force you out, but that way, your lower body will definitely be crippled, and the wounds on your body might worsen.¡± That was the situation that Chen Ge had perceived from the use of his hands, and it was because he had not witnessed the actual gore that he darede up with such a risky idea. ¡°Like you said, staying here will lead to certain death, but pursuing this chance might lead to a hope of survival.¡±

    ¡°But if I die in the tugging process, wouldn¡¯t you be the murderer that took my life?¡± the child suddenly asked.

    If this was real life, perhaps Chen Ge would hesitate, but in that strange ce, he did not panic at all. ¡°If it can increase the chance of your survivability by even one percent, I don¡¯t mind being misunderstood by the world.¡±

    He leaned down on the ground and braced his feet against the warped car window while hugging the child¡¯s upper body with both of his arms. ¡°It¡¯ll be painful, but if we manage to survive this ordeal, then a new life awaits.¡±

    He started to apply force, and the boy¡¯s body was slowly adjusting to the pull. The sound of bones cracking was eerie to Chen Ge¡¯s ears. Other than that, the boy¡¯s skin was torn open, and blood oozed, but none of that stopped Chen Ge from continuing his rescue.

    He expended all of his strength and finally pulled the boy out from the warped window.

    ¡°Good, we¡¯ve done it! Are you still okay?¡± No one answered Chen Ge, and the tunnel suddenly became a lot more deserted. Chen Ge had no idea what had happened, but he had a feeling something was not right¡ªperhaps the monster at the back had caught up to them.

    Even at a time like that, Chen Ge had not forgotten about the woman on the ground and the child next to him. Even though he clearly knew that neither of them was technically human.

    ¡°Something is probablying, be careful.¡± Chen Ge slung the woman over his back and picked up the broken child from the ground. To his surprise, the child in his arms was much heavier than the woman on his back¡ªthey were not even on the same weight level.

    However, it was not the time to care about things like that, and he jogged forward. Chen Ge could not see the road, and it did not take long for him to trip and fall. He did not say a word or even curse; he quickly got back up, picked up the child and the woman, and continued running.

    He tripped and fell, gaining many bruises as he knocked against the wall and floor. After who knew how many tumbles, when Chen Ge stood up and wanted to pick up the child again, another voice sounded next to him.

    ¡°Are you an idiot?¡± The voice was simr to the child that he had heard, but the voice was no longer in pain. In its ce was a trace of coldness and a strange resentment. Chen Ge did not reply. He wanted to go and pick up the child again, but he caught air.

    ¡°So, such people really exist in the world.¡± The voice continued, but this time, it was came from right above Chen Ge. Standing where he was, when Chen Ge did not know what to do, someone tapped him lightly on his shoulder, and a pair of bone-chilling arms wreathed around his neck and undid the blindfold around his neck.

    Opening his eyes, Chen Ge turned to look and realize that it was the woman in the tunnel standing behind him. But different fromst time, she was much prettier¡ªat least, her skull was not broken, and all her facial features were where they should be.

    ¡°It¡¯s you?¡± Chen Ge revealed a smile and was about to say something more when he fell under the shadow of arge spider. Looking up, the smile on Chen Ge¡¯s face froze. Even though he had met so many ghosts, at that moment, he could not help the fear from curling around his heart.

    Just above Chen Ge was a red spider made from endless spirits and Specters hanging upside down. The red on the spider was much brighter than the red dress on the woman¡¯s body. It felt as if blood was flowing through its body, and it were slowly dripping down.

    ¡°Why have you stopped speaking?¡± The voice came from the head of the spider. Following the voice, Chen Ge noticed that the spider¡¯s head was reced by a boy¡¯s. He only had his upper body remaining, and his lower body was attached to that of a giant spider. With his legs gripping the wall, the boy hung from the ceiling, looking at Chen Ge with cruelty and hatred in his eyes.

    ¡°Wait, so I was carrying you with me earlier?¡± The first sentence out of Chen Ge¡¯s lips stumped the boy. In reality, he also did not expect Chen Ge to choose to carry him and run. Both the ghost and the man felt quite ufortable after the charade was broken.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, that¡¯s quite an interesting experience.¡± Chen Ge tried to find an excuse for his behavior. Without waiting for the boy¡¯s response, he quickly changed the topic. ¡°I actually came here to discuss something with your mother. I didn¡¯t expect something like this to happen. I know your heart is filled with hatred, and I will not try to convince you to let it go. I merely want to say that if you have any dream, I can help you fulfil it, even if it is to take revenge.¡±

    What Chen Ge said waspletely different from what the boy anticipated. He did not think that anyone would be able to say something like this considering the situation that Chen Ge was in. He did not know how to answer, so he chose to be silent.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to answer, but can you tell me why the tunnel has changed to something like this?¡± Chen Ge asked the question on his mind. The White Dragon Cave Tunnel even stopped the shadow, so there had to be a big secret hiding here.

    The boy opened his lips, but perhaps he thought that he should not reveal his past so easily, so he closed them again. However, with the persuasion from the woman and the fact that he had nothing to lose, the boy gave Chen Ge a rough depiction of his past.

    He was the woman¡¯s child, and after his mother divorced his father several years ago, she drove the car, taking her child back to her mother¡¯s home. When they passed White Dragon Cave Tunnel, they got into a car ident, arge-scale collision in fact, and one of them was leaking gas.

    It was unclear now which of the cars stated burning first, but as the trail of fire nudged toward the oil-leaking vehicle, the people in the tunnel started to run. At the time, the boy had been stuck inside the window, and the woman was injured. She had managed to crawl out from the wreckage, but she had been too weak to able to save her child without help.

    She had cried for help from people around her, chasing after the passing cars, yelling for them to stop. If one of them had been willing to help her, they would have been able to save the child. However, under the condition where their lives would be put in danger, no one was willing to lend a hand.

    In the end, the woman who had the means to escape did not leave but chose to return to her baby¡¯s side, to console him, to apany him until the fire reached the leaking vehicle.

    Ever since then, peace had deserted White Dragon Cave Tunnel.

    Many drivers saw a woman in a red dress standing in the tunnel waving for them to stop, and some witnessed a monster piecing indeterminate things onto its body...

 Chapter 612 - Dream Weaver?

    <h4>Chapter 612: Dream Weaver?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The woman waved for the drivers to stop to get people to help save her son. If the drivers would stop to aid her, she would get into the car and follow them until they arrived at her son¡¯s death spot. While those who refused to stop and left just like that, the woman would leave something special in their car. Compared to the boy who had turned into a monster, the woman could be considered rtively kind.

    With his body stuck, and his eyes watching the slow approach of death, the small body had been consumed by fire bit by bit, and the pain had forever been seared in the boy¡¯s heart, making it something that he would never forget. His clear eyes were dominated by hatred and resentment. The mes danced on his skin, filling every inch of his body, slowly turning him into something else.

    Hatred blinded him, causing him to destroy everything in sight, using their body to fill up his own misgiving. If one came across the woman in the tunnel, if one was kind enough, one would at most get into a car ident. The vehicle would be ruined, but most of the time, one would escape with one¡¯s life intact. However, if one ran into the child, the only destination was death.

    Specters were ultimately Specters; resentment had alreadyid a curtain over their eyes, silencing their conscience while bing the reason for their existence. Chen Ge listened to the woman and her child¡¯s story patiently. This was undeniably a tragedy; human nature was gray, alternating between a sinner and a saint. As a bystander, he had no right to judge others, so he could only lend them an ear.

    Without anyone stopping to help and her son stuck in the car, the mother had chosen to return to apany her child, to actively wait for death. From Chen Ge¡¯s perspective, the child had turned into a true monster¡ªhis resentment being far beyond that of his mother was due to guilt and self-me. Perhaps he thought subconsciously that it was him who caused his mother¡¯s death; his mother would not have died if not for him. He wanted to find a channel to vent that emotion, and that turned him deeper toward the abyss.

    With a giant shadow of a spider hanging above him, it would be a lie to say that Chen Ge did not feel a shred of fear. However, after understanding the whole story, at the very least, he was able to understand the woman in the tunnel and her son that took on the shape of a giant spider better.

    ¡°So, you have been suffering a pain like this.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s tone was even. There was no conspicuous pity¡ªat most, there was only a light trace of mncholy.

    ¡°Pain? I wouldn¡¯t say so. Initially, there might be some difort, but eventually, I fell in love with this sensation. Every nerve was grinded sharp by knives. Seeing blood pour out from the many holes and then sharing this joy with more people, I like to admire their expression because I know they are admiring me as well.¡± The boy¡¯s upper body grew on the ginormous spider body, and he had an ¡®innocent¡¯ smile on his face.

    ¡°I can understand that, and in fact, I do admire you.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s expression returned to normal, and thest trace of difort on his face disappeared. In terms of being calm while facing a great deal of pressure, no one could do better than Chen Ge in Jiujiang.

    ¡°You admire me? I¡¯m sorry, but that only made the scalp of my head go numb, so please watch your actions and words. Don¡¯te too close to me, you make me ufortable.¡± The child denied Chen Ge¡¯s kind intention. He wanted to leave immediately. ¡°Go back to where you came from. We don¡¯t wee you here. Mommy will only stay with me, and she won¡¯t be going anywhere.¡±

    The monster spoke in the petnce of a child, but contrasting that with his scary body, it was definitely a strange experience.

    ¡°Since you insist on your mother staying with you, I¡¯m not going to force anything otherwise. But in return, can you help me answer a few simple questions?¡± Without waiting for a confirmation, Chen Ge continued. ¡°Why are there suddenly splits in White Dragon Cave Tunnel? The tunnel that I saw when my eyes open and the tunnel that I felt with my eyes closed arepletely different, why is that? After closing my eyes, I can hear people and car honks, and my hands even found the frame of a car, but howe all these things disappear after I open my eyes?¡±

    ¡°You sure have plenty of questions.¡± The boy was impatient. His thick appendages crawled on the wall, and each move created this grating sound of shuffling.

    ¡°I¡¯m just curious.¡±

    ¡°There is only one tunnel here. Earlier, I drew you into my dream.¡±

    The boy¡¯s answer surprised Chen Ge. ¡°In your dream?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s very hard to exin. No one has asked me this question before, so for now, let¡¯s just use dreams to exin it. It is the term closest to the truth anyway.¡± The boy started at Chen Ge, and he was quite annoyed. If not for the fact that Chen Ge had done everything right in his test, he would havee after Chen Ge already.

    ¡°A dream only exists in one¡¯s mind, and the body is still, but what I experienced earlier ispletely different from a dream. I couldn¡¯t see it, but everything else was real. My fingers could touch it, and my ears can hear them.¡± Chen Ge did not believe the boy could weave dreams and, more than that, drag someone into that weaved dream.

    ¡°Why do you have so many endless questions?¡± The boy¡¯s murderous intent continued to rise seeing how stubborn Chen Ge was, but he was able to suppress it. ¡°I¡¯ve already told you, dream is just an appetion. If you want, you can also see it as a type of power. As long as we¡¯re in this tunnel, I can drag everything into my dream.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s geographically limited? The power is only usable inside this tunnel?¡± Chen Ge noted the boy¡¯s weakness before the boy¡¯s face. He started to lower his head to think ignoring the boy¡¯s face, which had turned ashen.

    The boy was different from a normal Red Specter. Compared to a Specter, he was more like a monster. The big difference between his upper body and lower body attracted Chen Ge¡¯s attention. Thinking back to earlier, the world that he had felt, the boy was stuck inside the car with his upper body exposed outside and his lower body trapped inside. After he transformed into a ghost, his upper body remained, but his lower body disappeared.

    <i>Where¡¯s his lower body? </i>Chen Ge¡¯s mind turned, and then he was suddenly reminded of something else. Of all the three-star scenarios introduced by the ck phone, there was onemon feature¡ªthere would be a door! So, where was the door at White Dragon Cave Tunnel?

    <i>This is a tunnel, and the builder wouldn¡¯t have built a door in the middle of the street for no reason, right?</i>

    <i>Only when one is at the deepest depths of despair can they push open the ¡®door¡¯. The child spent hisst moment trapped inside a car window. His body was crushed by the warped window.</i>

    A sh crossed Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. The ¡®door¡¯ in White Dragon Cave Tunnel was most likely the car door!

    But then that led to another problem. The abandoned car had already been towed away by the police a long time ago, so how was the ¡®door¡¯ inside the tunnel being maintained?

    With a curious gaze, Chen Ge turned to study the boy¡¯s incredibly disproportionate body.

    <i>Could the door be growing on him?</i>

    Chen Ge was shocked by the thought that appeared in his mind. If that was the case, then the Red Specter before him was really something extraordinary.

    <i>A moveable blood door...</i>

    Being stared at by Chen Ge, the boy¡¯s pretty brows scrunched together. For some reason, he felt like in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, he was not a scary monster but instead some kind of rare piece of art.

 Chapter 613 - Door Stuck Inside the Body

    <h4>Chapter 613: Door Stuck Inside the Body</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± The thick appendage moved to point to Chen Ge, stopping before his eyes. The boy seemed to be averse to be gawked at like a spectacle.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, that was impolite of me.¡± Chen Ge pulled his eyes away from the part where the body¡¯s stomach was joined to the spider¡¯s body. Even if the ¡®door¡¯ for White Dragon Cave Tunnel was really on the child¡¯s body, he would not tell Chen Ge anyway, so focusing on that point would be useless. Thus, Chen Ge ended that topic quickly. ¡°If you¡¯re not willing to share about that, we¡¯ll talk about something else.¡±

    Chen Ge suddenly turned serious. ¡°This is myst question, and it is rted to all of our safety, so I hope you wouldn¡¯t hide anything from me with regards to this question.¡±

    ¡°Go ahead.¡± The boy pulled back his scary appendage.

    ¡°At midnight several days ago, did you see a shadow enter White Dragon Cave Tunnel?¡±

    The mention of the shadow caused the boy¡¯s expression to shift instantly. ¡°Are you here because of him?¡±

    ¡°Looks like you do know something.¡± Chen Ge was excited. He had finally someone who could tell him more about the shadow. The temperature in the tunnel suddenly dropped, and a cold wind drifted out from the deeper part of the tunnel. Neither the boy nor his mother spoke. They were silent for a long time until the boy jumped down from the wall. With his strong appendages holding hisrge body up, the boy looked down on Chen Ge.

    The monster was incrediblyrge, and the way he stood ced Chen Ge under great pressure.

    ¡°Go home. The more you know, the deeper you¡¯ll sink into despair.¡± When the boy said that, his voice even quivered slightly.

    ¡°Are you afraid?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not!¡± The boy suddenly lost control of his emotions and raised his front appendage to swipe at Chen Ge¡¯s chest. The human faces on the appendage wailed, but it stopped at thest minute.

    ¡°We have the same enemy, so I can help you in any way that you might need me to.¡± Chen Ge looked at the appendage right before his eyes and slowly lowered his arms. If the boy wanted to hurt him, he would be sent flying already.

    After a long time, the boy slowly moved back from Chen Ge and lowered his body to maintain the same eye level with Chen Ge. ¡°That man is crazy. That was not his first timeing to White Dragon Cave.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s been here before? Was this several years ago?¡± Chen Ge thought back to the strange ¡®memory¡¯ that he had seen in this tunnel, about how his young self was killed.

    ¡°Do you know why my mother and I insist on hiding here, unwilling to take one step out of this ce?¡± Uncertainty crossed the boy¡¯s face.

    ¡°Is it because of the shadow? Does he want to harm you?¡±

    ¡°Who really knows? The shadowes every year, and every time, he is stronger than before. I only barely manage to keep him back every time.¡± The boy did not sense any threat from Chen Ge, but he felt a strange difort from the man¡¯s shadow. ¡°I hate shadows.¡±

    ¡°I met the shadow recently, and in just a week, he has grown much stronger. I have no idea how he did that.¡± Perhaps the information revealed by Chen Ge made them ufortable. After sharing a look with his mother, the boy told Chen Ge, ¡°I can tell you everything I know, but you have to promise me one thing.¡±

    ¡°No problem.¡± Chen Ge gave his promise without even asking what the promise was. His easy-going nature unsettled the boy.

    ¡°I need you to wind this spider thread around your neck.¡± The appendages on the spider body spread and a gap slowly opened at the joint where the boy¡¯s torso was sewn to the spider body. A thick stench of blood floated into the air, and blood dripped down his body. As the gap grew bigger, the expression on the boy¡¯s face turned scarier. He reached his hand into the gap, and it looked like someone was reaching into his own stomach.

    ¡°Tell me your choice.¡± The boy slowly pulled out his hand to retrieve several red spider threads from the gap. They were stuck to each other, and with the boy pulling on them, they gradually wound into a thin red rope.

    There was no fear in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes as he stared at the thread dripping with blood. His answer was still the name. ¡°No problem.¡±

    Stepping forward, Chen Ge moved to the boy¡¯s side without any hesitation.

    His insouciance caused the boy to be suspicious. He studied Chen Ge seriously, and for a moment, he thought this kind-looking man before him could be hiding a devil with self-destructive desire deep inside his heart.

    Being close to the boy, Chen Ge finally had a chance to inspect the gap on the boy¡¯s body.

    Fresh blood, spider threads that looked like blood vessels, the heavy scent of blood¡ªall these features matched those of a ¡®blood door¡¯.

    epting the spider thread with both hands, Chen Ge smiled at the boy. He cried for Zhang Ya¡¯s name internally, wanting Zhang Ya to see whether the thread would be threatening to his health or not, but Zhang Ya gave him no reply.

    The thread slowly neared Chen Ge¡¯s neck; it was toote to turn back now. Just as the thread was going to wind around his thin neck, the woman in the tunnel stepped forward and shoved the thread away. Perhaps Chen Ge had left a good impression on the woman thest time they interacted, so this time, she came forward to help him.

    ¡°Are you really not afraid?¡± Suspicion appeared in the boy¡¯s resentment-filled eyes. Then he turned around. ¡°Follow me. I know many things about the shadow. Perhaps we can work together this one time.¡±

    Chen Ge had no idea why the boy suddenly changed his mind. He followed the boy, and something brushed against his head. He lifted his head to look, and Chen Ge¡¯s eyes twitched. In the center of the tunnel, at the top of the darkened ceiling, hung many ¡°bodies¡±.

    Their necks were all wound with spider threads, and they dangled from the ceiling like hanging victims.

    ¡°If you wind the thread around your neck, your only destination is death. I have no idea why Mommy suddenly decided to intervene, but I respect her choice.¡± The boy¡¯s heart was seared by hatred and anger; the only thing that could give him pause in the world was his mother.

    The boy crawled onto the wall¡ªthis ¡®forest of bodies¡¯ was where he rested normally. ¡°I met the shadow a long time ago. At the time, he was not as powerful as he is now; he was just a kid slightly older than me.

    ¡°I have no idea where he came from or what his origin was; I only know he¡¯s being looking for many different children, and if I¡¯m not mistaken, he needs to feed these children to something called a ghost fetus.

    ¡°He told me that he needed to build a door at Li Wan City. Initially, I had no idea what he meant, butter, I understood that the door he mentioned was this.¡±

    The boy moved his body, and blood sshed. Arge gap opened up between his spider body and his human torso. A conspicuous depression could be seen. ¡°I have a distorted door, and the door is stuck inside my body. It was something I edged open little by little when the fire was burning.¡±

 Chapter 614 - Come with Me

    <h4>Chapter 614: Come with Me</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Only when a person was at their most despaired and most helpless would they be able to open the ¡®door¡¯. When the fire was burning, the boy was trapped inside the warped car window, and what he saw was his injured mother and the people who ran away from them.

    Fire burned his body, and as his flesh and blood melted into the car door, he finally managed to open the door that he was stuck in. His lower body was left inside the car, but his upper body was burnt into the car door.

    Chen Ge couldn¡¯t imagine a pain like that, so no matter what the boy had done, Chen Ge did not think that he was in a position to judge him. No one was born a monster; even if they looked different from a normal human being, their heart was made of flesh and blood.

    Crawling amid the jungle of human bodies, the gap on the boy¡¯s body slowly recovered.

    ¡°The shadow wants to build a door in Li Wan City to release something from behind the door. Before he met me, the madman came up with many experiments to test out human nature and push innocent people to their breaking point. Then he used them to open the door, but even until they died, none of them were able to open the door. His n kept failing until he eventually turned his target to me. He wanted to capture me and detain me in Li Wan City to help himplete his n.¡±

    The boy¡¯s tone dropped. ¡°Naturally, I wouldn¡¯t agree, so I wanted to kill him.¡±

    This was a cruel character. He would kill whoever that dared target him.

    ¡°But from the current situation, it appears that you¡¯ve failed.¡± Chen Ge easily rained on the boy¡¯s parade. He was reminding the boy that things had changed, and the shadow was theirmon enemy.

    ¡°You¡¯re right, he¡¯s extremely hard to kill.¡± After saying that, the boy studied Chen Ge. ¡°He grows ever stronger, but as long as I am inside this tunnel, I¡¯ll be able to protect myself and my mother.¡±

    Blood leaked out from the boy¡¯s torso. ¡°I can drag anything that enter the tunnel into the door, and there I can do many things that I wouldn¡¯t be able to do outside the tunnel.¡±

    The door-pusher¡¯s power would multiply when they were inside the door, so the boy¡¯s ability to pull people into his door was incredibly powerful if used right.

    ¡°So, you pulled me into your door earlier?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that ce is a nightmare that I¡¯ve weaved. Time is frozen on that day, but there is a weakness to this power¡ªit can only be used inside this tunnel. Once I leave the tunnel, the door can¡¯t be opened anymore.¡± The gap on the boy¡¯s torso was like a mouth, and it looked scary. ¡°Sometimes, I even wonder, was it me who opened the door, or did the door assume who I was?¡±

    The boy¡¯s situation was very unique. This was Chen Ge¡¯s first time encountering something like this as well.

    ¡°You¡¯ve fought the shadow before. Did you notice if he has any weakness?¡±

    ¡°If I knew that, do you think I¡¯d still be here talking with you?¡± The appendages shook agitatedly, and the boy looked quite mad. ¡°The madman was stronger every time he came. I tried many methods, but I could not kill him. Then I nned to trap him inside the world behind the door, but eventually, he found out the pattern of the tunnel behind the door and almost escaped on his own...¡±

    The boy caught himself because he realized that he had identally revealed that there was a pattern to the tunnel behind the door.

    ¡°And then?¡± Chen Ge pretended not to have heard him and urged him to continue.

    ¡°He failed, but I won¡¯t be able to use the same trick next time.¡± The boy leaned his body to the side to expose arge gash on the spider body. ¡°I just fought him some time back. He was strangely desperate like a maddened dog.¡±

    ¡°Where did he go after that fight?¡± Chen Ge wanted to know if the shadow returned to possess Jia Ming after leaving the tunnel.

    ¡°How would I know?¡± The boy started to evade the question. With the interrogation from Chen Ge, he had finally revealed three things to him. Whenever the shadow came here, his form would change. The boy suspected that the shadow had the ability to change his appearance and size. There was a child¡¯s shadow hiding inside the shadow¡ªno matter the appearance that he took on, the child¡¯s shadow had never changed. Thest was something that the boy himself could not confirm. He sensed a presence simr to Chen Ge in the shadow, and that was why he had wanted to kill Chen Ge earlier.

    Memorizing these three points, after confirming that he was unable to get more information from the boy, Chen Ge turned to the woman.

    ¡°What are doing?¡± Before he said anything, the boy weaved through the ¡®forest¡¯ to stand between Chen Ge and his mother.

    ¡°After you leave the tunnel, you won¡¯t be able to open the door inside your body, and your power will drop drastically, so I wish to ask her to help me fight the shadow. After all, the more we have, the greater the chance of winning.¡±

    Chen Ge said that so naturally that the boy felt stumped. ¡°Letting you go and telling you so many things is already the limit of my kindness, but you still want to take my mommy with you?¡±

    ¡°If we don¡¯t deal with the shadow, when he returns to the tunnel, both you and your mother will die,¡± Chen Ge said inly. The boy¡¯s mind was filled with resentment and vengeance, so the normal persuasion that Chen Ge used on other ghosts would be pointless. Thus, Chen Ge changed his angle and decided to go around this the most straightforward way¡ªto convince the boy with the facts.

    ¡°I will not force you to make the choice, but I hope that you¡¯ll really take into consideration your mother and your current situation.¡± With pain in his voice, Chen Ge empathized with their pain. ¡°I believe you are unwilling to experience that deep despair again, right?¡±

    ¡°Impossible, she will die if she leaves this tunnel. They will all die.¡± The appendages shed the dead bodies hanging from the ceiling. The pained souls wailed, but their spirits were wound inside the spider web¡ªthey were unable to escape. The boy could be quite scary if he wanted to.

    ¡°Instead of waiting for death, I still think it¡¯s better to grasp your fate with your hands.¡± Chen Ge walked past the boy to address the woman. ¡°Your child wants to protect you, and you also want to protect your child; neither of you can suffer the pain of loss again. I understand that, so no matter the choice either of you make, I will ept it.¡±

    The dangling bodies swayed as they cried out in pain. This continued for several minutes until the woman smiled at Chen Ge and walked toward her boy.

    Like a loving mother, she reached out to hug the boy¡¯s head. The boy¡¯s eyes, which were filled with hatred, suddenly softened, and hisrge appendages were pulled together. The scary lines on the spider body also stopped bleeding.

    The woman whispered something into the boy¡¯s ear before letting go and walking out of the tunnel.

    Chen Ge did not pry because he said that he would ept any decision that they made. Catching up to the woman, the expression on Chen Ge¡¯s face finally softened.

    <i>This three-star scenario should be sessful after bringing away the mother of the strongest monster with me, but thepletion rate will probably be really low. I shoulde back if I have the chance to give the mother and son their deserved reunion. For now, I should focus on dealing with the shadow.</i>

 Chapter 615 - Preparation Work Completed

    <h4>Chapter 615: Preparation Work Completed</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The taxi was parked at the entrance of the tunnel, and Chen Ge¡¯s focus was captured as he studied one page of theic. After a long time, there was amotioning from the driver¡¯s seat, so Chen Ge pulled the door lightly open. ¡°You¡¯re finally awake.¡±

    He tapped the driver¡¯s face and then covered his mouth. He predicted that the first thing the driver would do after waking up was scream, so he took the precaution. The driver¡¯s eyes flew open, and his face was covered in fear.

    ¡°Calm down, and listen to me.¡± After conversing with the spider-boy, Chen Ge had not left immediately. To ensure that the mission waspleted, he had spent time inside the tunnel until the sun rose. After one night of exploration, Chen Ge had discovered many things.

    Many spirits that died from car idents had made their home inside the tunnel; the ce was as dangerous as the underground morgue. However, whenever the shadow came, he wouldmit to a total cleanse, taking away or consuming all the spirits that blocked his way. As time passed, the number of ghosts in White Dragon Cave Tunnel decreased, and in a way, Chen Ge benefited from that.

    They hade across so many ghosts heading toward the tunnel when they arrived because that was the boyying the bait for them toe. The boy had been injured in the battle with the shadow, and the fastest way to recover was to feed.

    After somemunication, Chen Ge knew that the boy was still hiding his special power, and that power appeared to be rted to hisrge spider body. Chen Ge did not interact too much with the boy, and for the time being, he did not n to bring the boy back to his Haunted House. After pushing open the ¡®door¡¯ in the fire, the boy had beenpletely corrupted.

    He hated everything other than his mother. Selfishness, hatred, anger¡ªall the negative human emotions could be found on the boy¡¯s body, so in other words, the boy was much more dangerous than he appeared.

    Pulling back his thought, Chen Ge turned to the panicking driver, and his voice softened. ¡°We seemed to have run into ghosts tonight.¡±

    Slowly releasing his hand, Chen Ge put his backpack on the passenger seat and said calmly, ¡°We¡¯ll talk on the road, but for now, let¡¯s leave this haunted ce first.¡±

    The driver immediately started the car and turned to rush down the road. ¡°What happened earlier? I remember there were three, no, wait, two strange passengers inside the car, and then we were carried into White Dragon Tunnel Cave. There were many people rapping against the car window, and there were bloody handprints everywhere. The car broke down, and the phone couldn¡¯t be used...¡±

    As he spoke, the driver sounded like he was about to cry. Chen Ge quickly tried to calm his emotions. ¡°I think you were possessed. I got into your car in Western Jiujiang, and I wanted to go to Eastern Jiujiang to visit a friend. But on the way, when we passed an old, empty, abandoned building, you suddenly stopped and rolled down the window to talk to the air. Then you even opened the car door. You have no idea how scared I was.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t see anyone?¡± The driver¡¯s face was nched.

    ¡°There was no one there; I only saw you talking to air. Then something creepier happened. After driving for a while, you suddenly stepped on the brake, screaming about almost hitting someone. I quickly turned to look, but there was no one on the road. Then, without asking for my opinion, you opened the backdoor and started rambling again.¡± Chen Geined to the driver like he was the wronged party. ¡°Then, just when I thought things couldn¡¯t get weirder, after finishing your one-sided conversation, you drove the car right into White Dragon Cave Tunnel. I tried but couldn¡¯t stop you.¡±

    ¡°I think I have a memory of that.¡± The driver took in a cold breath. He felt like his limbs were frozen. ¡°Have I really been possessed? Are there actual ghosts in this world?¡±

    ¡°That, I cannot answer, but in any case, you have given me the biggest scare of my life tonight.¡± Chen Ge hugged the backpack that radiated a faint scent of blood and looked quite pitiable.

    ¡°We probably ran into ghosts then.¡± The driver looked at the squeaky clean car window¡ªthere was not one bloody handprint in sight. He had no idea that it was Chen Ge and all of his employees who had cleaned his car for almost an hour. His heart was shaking, and the driver kept feeling something was wrong. However, he kept his lips zipped, and he only sighed in relief after driving out of Eastern Jiujiang.

    As the sky was hazy with light, the driver dropped Chen Ge off at New Century Park.

    ¡°Just drop me here. Here¡¯s 100, keep the change.¡± Chen Ge was about to leave when the driver grabbed his sleeve. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Big brother, are you sure you didn¡¯t see anythingst night?¡± The driver nced around his car. ¡°Please, give me a direct answer. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to drive this car anymore. I keep feeling like there¡¯s something inside here.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, your car now is very clean, and in the future, stop driving to Eastern Jiujiang,¡± Chen Ge said as he grabbed his bag and headed into the park.

    ¡°What exactly happenedst night? Oh right, I can check the vehicle camera... Wait a minute, who removed the machine? If it¡¯s a ghost, then it sure is a high-tech ghost!¡±

    ...

    Returning to the Haunted House, Chen Ge went into the staff breakroom and took out the ck phone. As the sun rose, he received the missionplete message.

    ¡°Congrattion Specters¡¯ Favored forpleting three-star Trial Mission.

    ¡°A new scenario, The End of the Tunnel, has been unlocked.

    ¡°The End of the Tunnel: What is at the end of the tunnel?

    ¡°Mission Completion Rate: 20%

    ¡°Hidden reward not yet unlocked.¡±

    <i>Thepletion rate is low, just slightly higher than the rate at Coffin Vige, </i>Chen Ge, sitting in bed, thought to himself. <i>Since thepletion rate is only twenty percent, it looks like the boy in the tunnel still hid something very important from me. He must have lied to mest night, but it is hard to tell what the lie was.</i>

    The boy had a hatred-filled heart, so it was normal for him not to trust Chen Ge. If not for his mother, the boy would have hanged Chen Ge.

    <i>Looks like he needs some real education.</i>

    Putting the phone away, Chen Ge went underground and found the newly-unlocked scenario next to the Twin Water Ghost pool.

    It was a tunnel that one could not see the end of. Chen Ge had no idea where it led, and just standing at the entrance, Chen Ge could feel the bone-chilling wind that radiated out.

    <i>The boy can only open the door inside his body at White Dragon Cave Tunnel. I wonder if he can do the same if he¡¯s here at this Haunted House replica.</i>

    The boy was unique because he was in possession of a mobile door. Chen Ge valued that because he believed that in the near future, the boy would have a huge role to y.

    After sealing up the entrance, Chen Ge left. He nned to remake all of these recent scenarios tobine them into arge faux-four-star scenario afterpleting the 3.5-star scenario in Li Wan City.

    He already had a concept inside his mind.

    <i>When thisrge scenario is built, my Haunted House should rise to a new height.</i>

    Focused on dealing with the shadow, it had been so long since Chen Ge admired the happy expressions on his visitors¡¯ faces.

    <i>The weather forecast said that there might be a rain tonight. After the sun sets, I should go explore the area around Li Wan City to see if I can run into the woman with the red raincoat.</i>

 Chapter 616 - Heavy Rain! Heavy Rain!

    <h4>Chapter 616: Heavy Rain! Heavy Rain!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    At 8 am, Chen Ge, who had onlyin down for two hours of sleep, walked out from the Haunted House. The sky was cloudy, a portent of lousy weather ahead, but that did not dampen the visitors¡¯ spirit. The theme park was still not yet officially open, but there was already a crowd waiting.

    ¡°No matter how good the attraction is, after many repetitions, the visitors will eventually lose interest. I have to keep unlocking new scenarios ore up with new ystyle to spice up the experience.¡± The Haunted House was Chen Ge¡¯s base. He decided to give it a good upgrade once he dealt with the shadow.

    ¡°Boss, what are you thinking about?¡± Xiao Gu jogged through the gate in a pair of exercise cks. ¡°We probably won¡¯t have that many visitors today on the ount of impending rain.¡±

    ¡°That might not be true. Once it starts to rain, the visitors will be forced to queue for indoor attractions since the outdoor attractions won¡¯t operate normally. Perhaps many visitors who normally wouldn¡¯t give the Haunted House a chance might attempt it.¡± Chen Ge led Xiao Gu to the dressing room. ¡°In other words, don¡¯t think about cking on the job. Get to work.¡±

    ¡°Yes, boss.¡± Xiao Gu was a very qualified worker. He was loyal and worked withoutint. Chen Ge nned to raise his sry for theing month. The Haunted House could not have met its sess with the workers, so naturally, Chen Ge felt like he should share the earnings with them.

    ¡°After the new scenarios are unlocked, two employees is no longer enough. I should try to recruit more employees during this mission.¡±

    The park opened at 9 am, and a new busy day began. This time, Chen Ge did not hide inside the staff breakroom to sleep. He summoned Bai Qiulin, Ol¡¯ Zhou, and Duan Yue and had them change into outfits that would not show their faces. Chen Ge led them through all the scenarios before his guests.

    He exined the purpose of all the rooms in the Haunted House and the official responsibility of a Haunted House worker to the three of them. He even gave them some lessons on running and operating the business.

    ¡°In the future, I¡¯ll need the three of you to help me manage the underground scenarios. I will have Xu Yin and Yan Danian help you.¡±

    The underground scenario was getting bigger and bigger, so Chen Ge definitely could not handle everything alone. To prevent idents, he needed to improve the safety awareness of his ¡¯employees¡¯.

    ¡°In a bit, I need you to pass on the knowledge that I¡¯ve taught you today to the students in the mannequins and the professors and lecturers in the morgue. Especially remind the professors to not purposely go after the students from the medical university.¡±

    Chen Ge had no idea what the source of the professors¡¯ conflict with the Jiujiang Medical University students was. They were normally so reserved and professional, rarely showing up before the visitors, but once the students from the university arrived, they would turn into the scariest visage.

    To Chen Ge¡¯s bafflement, the headmaster from the university seemed to have taken this on as a challenge. He even encouraged his students toe to the Haunted House¡¯s morgue to train their courage when they were free. Chen Ge did not want to intervene too much, but whenever he saw the students who were scared mindless by their ¡®teachers¡¯, he would feel sorry for them.

    ¡°When I go around Li Wan City tonight, I should bring the professors with me. I have a feeling their full potential hasn¡¯t been unlocked yet, and it¡¯s not a long-term solution to have them spend their time just scaring students in the underground morgue.¡±

    After briefing Ol¡¯ Zhou and the rest, Chen Ge had them enter the scenario.

    The visitors that visited the Haunted House that day woulde across this strange scene. There would be this strangely-dressed fellow, and no one knew whether they were a visitor or worker. As they stood on the podium in the ssroom exining lessons on management to the room of mannequins, words would appear on the ckboard, notes about how to find people to talk to inside a group and how to increase efficiency at work. It felt like a scene right out of a multi-level marketing meeting.

    Chen Ge, who hid in the corner, kept watch over Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s group, and reality proved that they were indeed quite excellent and would be the spiritual center of the Haunted House in the future.

    ¡°The three of them, and Yan Danian, are the perfect team. They know each other well, and each has their own assigned role. The only weakness is theirck of power. However, once Bai Qiulin advances to be a Red Specter, that weakness will be obsolete. This team of four can help me manage many scenarios.¡±

    Chen Ge was very satisfied, but he still had a regret in his heart because the most suitable candidate to be the Haunted House¡¯s manager should be Mu Yang High School¡¯s old headmaster.

    ¡°Perhaps I should return to that ce to look around if there¡¯s time.¡± Chen Ge walked out from the underground parking lot. He entered the staff breakroom, removed the cat from its perch, opened the locked drawer, and fished out the notes that he had made earlier. He went through all the supernatural events that he had encountered in Eastern Jiujiang.

    After finishing his revision, Chen Ge used his lighter to burn the papers. The man and the cat saw the ash that floated up into the air, but they were thinking about different things.

    ¡°The sky is dark. There should be a heavy rain tonight.¡±

    ...

    The clouds were still hanging low in the sky at 3 pm. Due to safety concerns, most of the outdoor attractions had been shut down, and more visitors rushed into the Haunted House. At 5 pm, a shower fell from the sky, and it continued to grow. As a kind and considerate gesture, Uncle Xu and the park workers gave out free umbres to the visitors who needed them. Seeing as the rain might turn heavier, the park decided to close its door at 5:30 pm.

    ¡°It¡¯s raining, so why don¡¯t the two of you go home?¡± After sending thest batch of visitors away, Chen Ge let Xu Wan and Xiao Gu off work while he stayed behind to finish the cleaning.

    At 7 pm, the sky became darker. Chen Ge stared at the dim sky outside the Haunted House, and he was silently contemting.

    ¡°This is such a wonderful weather.¡± Changing into a set of clean clothes, Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and ran into the underground parking lot. He ced all the ghosts that he could carry into theic, including the senior doctor Wei Jiuqin.

    ¡°Sir, you don¡¯t need toe out, just stay inside the pages. I¡¯m bringing you with me because you¡¯re a good doctor, and I hope your good karma will be able to bring me luck tonight.¡±

    Chen Ge returned to the staff breakroom and found another bag. He poured some cat food inside it.

    ¡°I¡¯m going out to do something big tonight, youing?¡± Chen Ge knelt down next to the white bag. The confused cat titled its head at the bag of cat food, and it felt this scene was strangely familiar. Before it could resist, Chen Ge shoved it and Xiaoxiao into the travel bag.

    ¡°After all, it¡¯s a cat that has consumed the society¡¯s blood vial. It¡¯s quite spirited.¡± Chen Ge pulled up the zipper half-way and rubbed the cat that poked its head out.

    Chen Ge left the room and exited the Haunted House via the backdoor. He stopped next to the bus. Ever since he obtained the vehicle, it had been parked near the Haunted House¡¯s backdoor.

    Uncle Xu had asked him about it before, and Chen Ge had said that he dragged this from the flea market and was nning to turn it into a new scenario. Summoning the driver, Tang Jun, from theic, Chen Ge passed him the key. ¡°Tonight, we¡¯re going for a spin.¡±

 Chapter 617 - Welcome, Passengers

    <h4>Chapter 617: Wee, Passengers</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The honest Tang Jun opened the door, took the seat at the driver¡¯s spot, and felt that everything was so surreal. ¡°I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d get back to my old career so soon.¡±

    ¡°That is what you¡¯re best at, but I¡¯ll never force you to do anything you don¡¯t like. We¡¯re colleagues, so if you have any requests, do voice them.¡± Chen Ge ced the heavy backpack at thest row. ¡°Tonight¡¯s weather is not bad. The rain is very heavy, which is perfect for an outing.¡±

    ¡°Where are we nning to go tonight?¡± Tang Jun was still a bit cautious around Chen Ge for reasons that he could not understand.

    ¡°Li Wan City, just take the route that you¡¯re familiar with.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re really going there?¡± When he heard the words ¡®Li Wan City¡¯, a bad omen arose within Tang Jun¡¯s heart. ¡°Boss, that ce is really dangerous. I¡¯m not doubting your ability, but I simply think there is no reason for us to provoke them.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not doing this to provoke anyone.¡± Tang Jun was about to sigh in relief when Chen Ge added, ¡°I n to cleanse Li Wan City from top to bottom, to rescue those that need to be rescued and to find out the truth.¡±

    Since Chen Ge had said that, there was nothing more for Tang Jun to say; they were on different wavelengths.

    ¡°There¡¯s still time for you to bow out. We¡¯ll only depart at 11 pm.¡± Route 104 was very long, and it connected Eastern and Western Jiujiang. If they left at 11 pm, if there was no dy, they would arrive at Li Wan City after midnight.

    ¡°I won¡¯t run; you¡¯ve underestimated me.¡± Tang Jun¡¯s legs shook unnaturally, and his hands gripped the steering wheel a bit too tightly. The rain continued to pour, and it wasplete darkness outside of the bus.

    At 11 pm, a broken bus exited New Century Park and slowly disappeared into the rain.

    ¡°Is this how you normally drive?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Have you been blocked by traffic police before?¡±

    ¡°No. The shadow has done something to the vehicle. In a way, you can see this vehicle as a hearse in service of dead people and people in despair.¡± Tang Jun answered Chen Ge¡¯s questions seriously as he piloted the bus, and soon, they arrived at the first bus stop.

    The stop appeared blurry through the heavy rain. There was no one there, but Tang Jun still chose to open the door and waited by the stop for three minutes.

    ¡°Even if there is no visible passenger waiting by the bus stop, it¡¯s better to wait for three minutes and perhaps a special passenger will arrive. That is what the shadow told me.¡±

    The rain flew into the car. Chen Ge, who was seated at the secondst row, observed everything silently. There were many ghost stories rted to the bus in this city, but who would thought that it would one day turn into something like this? However, this was in line with the ghost stories society¡¯s goa.

    <i>When I walk in the darkness, I am the scariest ghost story this city has ever heard.</i>

    Tang Jun continued to move after three minutes. After many stops, Chen Ge finally saw someone waiting at the stop after they left Western Jiujiang.

    ¡°He¡¯s waiting for a bus at 11 pm. This sure is an interesting character.¡± The bus slowed to a halt. The driver did not say a word as he opened the door. The man at the stop shuffled his way up the vehicle.

    He was wearing a cheap suit, radiating a heavy stench of alcohol. His cheeks were red, and he was slurring his words. Both his shirt and pants were wet.

    ¡°Do... do you take card...¡± He took out his wallet and tapped it multiple times at one of the spots on the bus. He was getting agitated because he still had not heard the beep that signified payment had been deducted from his card.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you go there and rest? I¡¯ll pay for your ticket.¡± Chen Ge went to support the drunkard who almost fell. He scanned the man with his Yin Yang Vision. This passenger should not be a ¡®passenger¡¯ that he was waiting for. ¡°Take a good rest and don¡¯t move.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. I¡¯ve been so unlucky recently, but tonight, everything¡¯s going to change! I just got a huge contract, managed to catch thest bus, and even got the help from a kind person like you. Thank you so much!¡± the drunkard said. He slumped into the third row and took up two seats.

    ¡°You are indeed quite lucky.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at Tang Jun, and thetter understood his meaning. He shook his head. He also was not sure whether this was the special passenger that Chen Ge ¡®needed¡¯ or not.

    ¡°Boss, where are you going? I¡¯ll wake you up when we¡¯ve arrived.¡±

    ¡°Just ignore me, I don¡¯t want to hold you up! My home is at thest stop. When the bus stops fully, it¡¯s time for me to alight.¡± Then, the drunkard copsed on the row of seat.

    ¡°The final stop? You¡¯re going to Li Wan City?¡± Chen Ge studied the man closely but still could not see anything wrong with him.

    The bus continued to travel through the rain. After entering Eastern Jiujiang, the surroundings became conspicuously more deserted¡ªnot many cars could be seen on the road. They passed a few more stops, and one hourter, Chen Ge saw a pair of red high heels on one of the tforms.

    There was no one around, just a pair of heels ced at the spot where the rain would not drench them. Chen Ge nced toward the driver¡¯s seat. Tang Jun did not seem like he knew anything¡ªhe kept staring at the steering wheel.

    No one got on the bus, and after three minutes, the doors closed. Just as Chen Ge was checking whether the heels were still there, Tang Jun suddenlyughed. Following his voice, Chen Ge noticed a pair of red high heels being ced on the seat just behind the driver¡¯s seat. The blood red shoes were ced side by side¡ªit felt like a person was sitting behind the driver.

    <i>When did she get on?</i>

    Still there was no one there, just a pair of shoes. Chen Ge walked forward and exchanged a look with Tang Jun through the mirror. In the mirror, he noticed that Tang Jun was trying his best to smile even though he was probably about to cry.

    ¡°Your attitude is very nice, keep that smile on your face.¡± Chen Ge acted like he did not see the red high heels and returned to his seat. He opened the travel bag to try to appease the kidnapped white cat. Crawling out of the bag, the cat did not seem to be used to the atmosphere inside the bus, and it took a quick tour before returning to Chen Ge¡¯s side.

    ¡°You should be happier on an outing.¡± Seeing the cat¡¯s reaction, Chen Ge understood many things. He grabbed the backpack that contained the recorder and ced it next to him. It was totally silent inside the car. Other than Chen Ge, no one spoke. This bus that travelled through the darkness and rain was a like mobile coffin.

    The rain was still turning heavier. Just as the bus reached the next stop, Chen Ge saw someone in a ck raincoat running away from the tform. The man had originally been pacing back and forth, looking like he was in a hurry. However, once the car really pulled up, he left instantly like he had seen something that he should not have.

    ¡°Did the person recognize me?¡± Chen Ge studied the man¡¯s frame and thought that he looked very familiar. He instantly signaled for Tang Jun to chase after the man with the bus.

 Chapter 618 - Smiling Face

    <h4>Chapter 618: Smiling Face</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The ck raincoat covered the man¡¯s body, but Chen Ge noticed that he was wearing manyyers, making him look bigger than he actually was. When he noticed that the bus wasing his way, he immediately turned to run the other way.

    ¡°Why is it following me?¡± There was panic in the person¡¯s eyes. The bus had deserted its route¡ªthat had never happened before. The bus cut through the rain, its speed not too fast and not too slow. It was driving right next to the man like it was waiting for him to get on. Such a strange thing happening caused the man to pick up his pace. He looked left and right like looking for an alley too small for the bus to get through.

    ¡°It¡¯s so dangerous for you to wander alone sote at night when it¡¯s raining.¡± Chen Ge had Tang Jun stop the bus in the man¡¯s path and open the door. The man hesitated before getting on the bus. He removed the rain jacket and revealed a face that Chen Ge was familiar with.

    Chen Ge had met this passenger before. When he visited Li Wan City before, it was this man who had introduced Chen Ge to the hearse. He was a doctor from the burn unit who had married a patient much younger than he was. Due toplicated reasons, his wife hadmitted suicide in the bathroom. Since then, he had been wearing the scarf knitted by his wife and gone searching for methods to see his wife again in the dark corners of the city.

    After the doctor got on, he saw Chen Ge. In such a weird situation, it was greatly relieving to see a familiar face. He walked toward Chen Ge and sat down next to him without hesitation. The vehicle continued to move. Rain pelted the bus window, and the sound made people feel uneasy.

    ¡°You¡¯re still alive?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s greeting was unusual to say the least, but the doctor was not mad. He shushed Chen Ge and then whispered, ¡°Today, this bus is different from normal. Something bad might have happened.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s so different?¡± Chen Ge listened to the feedback, thinking about how to improve.

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell, but it just feels strange.¡± The doctor shrugged his coat off and scanned the other passengers in the vehicle out of the corner of his eyes.

    ¡°No wonder you chose to escape the moment the bus pulled up at the tform.¡± Chen Ge shrugged. He ced the cat back into the travel bag. Whenever there was danger, the cat would be incredibly obedient and liked to stick close to Chen Ge.

    After the doctor got on, the bus turned around and returned to its normal route.

    ¡°We¡¯ll reach Li Wan City in a few more stops. There sure is a lot of passengers wanting to take this bus tonight.¡± Chen Ge closed his eyes to rest. Be it the drunkard or the red high heels, neither of them was his target. His main target was still the woman in the red raincoat.

    Crossing through the rain, outside the bus, it was howling with wind and thunder, but inside the bus, it felt smothering and oppressive like even breathing was difficult. After another five minutes, the bus reached the next stop.

    At the empty stop, there was a pool of blood being washed away by the rain. No one knew what had happened at the stop before the bus arrived. The blood stain slowly faded cleansed by the rain.

    ¡°When the woman in the red raincoat is attacked or provoked, blood will seep out of her raincoat, so does this belong to her?¡± Chen Ge could not confirm it. Perhaps it was a waiting passenger who was murdered.

    Like usual, the bus opened the door and stopped for three minutes even though there was no one waiting at the tform. There was nothing unusual for the first minute, but during the second minute, there was a shadowing down the road.

    He swayed in the heavy rain, sporting a mushroom-shaped hairstyle. His neck was longer than normal, and even though his facial features looked normal, inbination, it felt so awkward.

    Just as the door was about to close, the mushroom head got on the bus. His whole body was drenched, and he had a smile fixed on his face. His lips cracked open to reveal his teeth. Even though the rain slid into his lips, he did not mind as if this was the only facial expression that he could make.

    ¡°A strange smiling man?¡± That was Chen Ge¡¯s impression of this new passenger. He used his Yin Yang Vision silently, and with just a nce, it felt like someone had poked his pupils with a pin. He quickly closed his eyes to shut off the sharp pain. When Chen Ge reopened them, the smiling man was already seated. He took a seat in the second row. It seemed like he was purposely taking the seat opposite from the pair of red high heels.

    <i>Tonight, we sure have plenty of quality passengers!</i>

    Rubbing his eyes, Chen Ge was still working through the pain. He had no idea what the man was hiding, but one thing was for sure, the man was definitely not a normal person like the doctor.

    The bus continued to move. Several minutester, the doctor suddenly reached behind him to pass a phone to Chen Ge. epting the phone, Chen Ge read the written message on it¡ª¡¯Ever since we left Li Wan City, the hearse disappeared. It stopped arriving at the designated time. Tonight, I came to try my luck, but the hearse showed up when it shouldn¡¯t have. It has broken all of the rhythm that has been set up in the past. Tonight, there will be more former passengers like myself who came to check the route, so it¡¯ll be very dangerous. Be careful, and one thing to pay attention to is the smiling monster on the second row. Be cautious. It has killed a whole bus of people before.¡¯

    Reading the doctor¡¯s message, Chen Ge noticed something. When referring to the smiling passenger, the doctor used monster and ¡®it¡¯ to describe it.

    <i>How did the doctor find out it has killed a whole bus of people? If he was one of the passengers, how did he survive? If he wasn¡¯t on the bus then, who told him about this?</i>

    His eyes were pulsing with pain. Chen Ge merely nced at the man with the power gifted to him by the ck phone.

    <i>This man sports such a cute hairstyle, but in reality, he¡¯s a cruel character.</i>

    When Chen Ge was silently observing the smiling man, the bus reached the next stop. Before entering the tform, Chen Ge saw a young man on the tform looking quite unsettled. After the bus parked and the door opened, sitting inside the bus, Chen Ge could hear the young man¡¯s voice. ¡°It¡¯s really here, the midnight bus! The stories are real!¡±

    His voice was shaking, and his face was white. His lips were unnaturally purple, and his body was shaking like he could copse at any moment.

    ¡°Such a scaredy-cat?¡± Chen Ge studied the young man through the window. The man looked just over twenty, probably still in university. This was just a normal student. Chen Ge believed that he was like Xiao Gu, followed by unnatural things, and with his bad luck, he ran into thest bus on Route 104.

    Chen Ge had no interest in the young man. He looked at him like how a fisher would look like a small fish that had gotten into the. He prepared to let him go.

    The bus pulled up to the stop. Out of Chen Ge¡¯s expectations, this young man who looked so scared and cowardly jumped through the door without being forced when the doors were about to close.

 Chapter 619 - Black Schoolbag

    <h4>Chapter 619: ck Schoolbag</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The doors closed, and the engine revved. The young man¡¯s Adam¡¯s apple shivered slightly. He squeezed the umbre between his legs, sought out some coins from his pocket, and tossed them inside the ticket machine. Following the crisp sound of the coins falling against metallic tin, all the few passengers on the bus turned to look at the young man.

    Being stared at by so many strange individuals, he quickly lowered his head as if he thought that if he could not see them, they would not notice him. The bus swayed on the road, and the young man gripped the rail tightly to stop himself from falling. Perhaps due to his nervousness, one could see the green veins popping on the back of his hand.

    ¡°A new arrival?¡± It seemed to be the first time that the doctor had encountered the young man. His brow raised slightly, and his lips pressed into a straight line, but ultimately, he did not say anything.

    Two minutester, the young man silently looked around him. He sighed in relief when he realized that the passengers had stopped paying him any attention. He reached his hand into his pocket to silently take out his phone. It seemed like he was nning to utilize the camera function.

    ¡°It¡¯s a bit much trying to take a picture.¡± Chen Ge was unwilling for his hearse to be exposed, so before the young man could do anything, he stood up to walk toward him. Seeing someone approach, the young man was so scared that the phone almost slipped out of his fingers.

    ¡°There are so many empty seats in the bus. Why are you standing?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s smile was infectious, and his voice was friendly.

    ¡°I...¡± The young man did not exin that it was because he was too cowardly to do so. Ever since getting on the bus, he had realized that even his brain had started to move slower, and for some reason, he could notnd on a believable excuse.

    ¡°Are you still in school?¡± Chen Ge very naturally ced his hand on the young man¡¯s arm. ¡°Sit here, stay away from the wind, or you might catch a cold.¡±

    Before the young man realized what was happening, he was already dragged by Chen Ge to thest row. Calcting the distance between himself and the door, and then turning to look at the locked window, he predicted that it would be faster to break the ss and jump out.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so nervous. Is this your first time taking thest bus on Route 104?¡± Chen Ge was like the big brother next door. ¡°You¡¯ve probably been misled by some of the baseless articles online. In reality, the public transportpany asionally adds ast trip running at midnight on certain days. I have no idea why, but you don¡¯t need to worry. We¡¯re all living humans.¡±

    To increase the persuasiveness, Chen Ge even opened his travel bag to grab the white cat. ¡°Have you seen a ghost who has a pet cat?¡±

    The white cat who had been hauled out to be shown was annoyed. It waved its ws but was too far away to actually touch Chen Ge, so its anger caused its fur to burst.

    Seeing such a lively creature, the horror in the young man¡¯s heart dissipated. He scratched his head and said uncertainly, ¡°But it¡¯s midnight and raining so heavily, why are there so many passengers?¡±

    ¡°Even at night, there are many who need to work to keep their lives afloat, like telephone operators,te night drivers, night-shift guards, and radio personalities with early morning programs. The contributions of these people can¡¯t be overlooked for the advancement of our city.¡±

    Such a positive statement felt strange inside the eerie bus, but Chen Ge ignored the incongruity. ¡°By the way, what do you do for a living? Why are you still outside sote at night?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± The young man hesitated. He turned to look at the other passengers. Since the lights inside the bus were not on, he could only see clumps of shadows. His palms were slick with sweat. After a long time, he silently put the phone away and told Chen Ge, ¡°I am a student at Lin Jiang First High.¡±

    ¡°A high schooler?¡± Chen Ge studied the child¡¯s face. ¡°You look so mature for your age.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve repeated my studies for two years already, and it seems like I¡¯m going to have to repeat again, but that is not that important anymore.¡± The young man¡¯s tone wasced with a bitterness that was far beyond his youth.

    ¡°Brother, you¡¯ve repeated two years already. Is there really anything that is more important than that?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The young nodded firmly, and he took out his phone. ¡°In my ss, three students went missing. I know where they are, but the police refused to believe me.¡±

    Opening the phone, the young man showed Chen Ge a group picture. ¡°They are my best friends.¡±

    There were four people in the picture. The young man held a basketball at the back, a pair of twins with obvious distinction in personality stood on both of his sides. The one on the left was shrouded in a negative aura, carrying a ck backpack in his hands, while the one on the right looked at the girl at the front with overflowing love in his gaze.

    ¡°Why did they suddenly disappear?¡± Chen Ge studied the students in the picture, paying extra attention to the backpack that the boy on the left was carrying. In Xiao Bu¡¯s game, there was a ck schoolbag ced at thest row of the bus, and when Xiao Gu took the hearse, he hade across a high-schooler on the bus. That high-schooler had also been carrying a ck bag.

    ¡°ck school bag, a pair of twins who look simr but havepletely opposite personalities...¡± Chen Ge seemed to be remind of something. ¡°Did the three of them disappeared after taking thest bus on Route 104?¡±

    The young man nodded again. ¡°The twins have a rare surname, Bei. Even though they looked identical, they couldn¡¯t have been more different. The elder brother was Bei Ye. He was easily angered and didn¡¯t have many friends. His favorite activity was pulling heinous pranks that only he would enjoy. The younger brother was Bei Wen. He was a good student, quiet and shy. He kept to himself unless when he was approached.

    ¡°The four of us stayed close to each other, so we normally went home together. Some time ago, for some strange reason, Bei Ye and Bei Wen got into a fight at the bus stop. Apparently, it was because Bei Ye got tired of living in Bei Wen¡¯s shadow.

    ¡°At the time, we didn¡¯t think so much of it. Bei Ye stormed off, but the next day, we realized that Bei Ye hadn¡¯t returned home that night. During ss, Bei Ye came back to us, and strangely enough, the first thing he did was apologize to Bei Wen. Then he told us a secret. He said, after midnight, there would be a bus carrying all dead people heading toward Eastern Jiujiang.

    ¡°Naturally, we didn¡¯t believe him. Bei Ye invited us to wait for this bus with him. Neither Bei Wen nor I wanted to give him the time of the day, but he forced our hands by provoking Bei Wen in front of the girl.¡±

    The young man stopped to take a breath. He looked at his phone, and the more he thought about it, the more scared he became.

    ¡°And then?¡±

    ¡°And then all three of them disappeared. Bei Ye and his father disappeared on the same day, then it was the girl and finally Bei Wen.¡±

    This sequence was simr to the sequence in Chen Ge¡¯s memory. He felt like there were a great chance Bei Wen and Bei Ye were trapped inside the world behind the door in Li Wan City.

    ¡°Get off the bus at the next stop. If I run into your friends, I¡¯ll bring them back.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll bring them back? No way.¡± The young man shook his head. ¡°You have no idea how much courage I needed to summon before I could even get on this bus...¡±

    ¡°Follow my orders if you don¡¯t want to die.¡± The smile on Chen Ge¡¯s face was still gentle, but the young man felt like he had been sshed with a basin of cold water in winter. He could not help but shudder.

    The child was like the main character in a normal scary movie, but he was lucky to have run into Chen Ge.

 Chapter 620 - Omen

    <h4>Chapter 620: Omen</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    To use such a gentle caressing tone to say something as scary as ¡®you will die¡¯... For a moment, the young man thought that there was something wrong with his ears. He sat where he was, frozen, and looked at Chen Ge nkly like his mind was unable to process the information.

    ¡°Tell me everything you know. The greater the detail, the greater the chance I have at saving your friends. Other than that, remember this¡ªno matter where your home is, do not go toward the east once you get off the bus. Understood?¡±

    What kind of person was Chen Ge? To say that he was someone who had climbed out a mountain of dead bodies would be stretching it a bit too far, but thinking back to his past experience, one would need to use more than two hands to count the crazed murderers that had fallen under his hands.

    Traversing through haunted houses every night, having close contact with ghosts, that caused the essence of the Specters to eventually brush off on the man. Chen Ge had not done anything other than change the tone of his voice, but the young man already thought that something was wrong. Perhaps it was his intrinsic need for survival thatpelled him to stay away from this dangerous person. Chen Ge¡¯s body temperature was lower than normal, but it should not have ounted for anything. Yet, the young man suddenly felt ravaged by an eternal chill. With both of his hands pressed against the cushion, he stealthily nudged away from Chen Ge.

    ¡°Bei Wen was thest to disappear. Perhaps because he was scared, he was acting differently from normal.¡±

    ¡°That isn¡¯t useful information. I need clues about them. Did they leave behind anything useful? Like messages or a diary.¡± Chen Ge cornered the young man into the corner of thest row. ¡°Think about it seriously.¡±

    The young man¡¯s face was stressed, and after a long cogitation, he finally remembered something. ¡°Before Bei Wen disappeared, he told me to not tell the police about thest bus on Route 104 no matter what. He also gave me a key and told me that if he didn¡¯te back in three weeks to take this key to thest bus to find him.¡±

    ¡°Do you have the key with you?¡± With Chen Ge¡¯s watching, the young man took out a rusted key from his pocket. It was stained with blood.

    ¡°Let me take a look.¡± Chen Ge grabbed the key to inspect it. He could not believe it. He rummaged through his bag and found his own key in the inner lining of his bag. The two keys looked surprisingly simr.

    ¡°You have the same key?¡± The young man gasped in shock.

    ¡°Be quiet.¡± Chen Ge ced both keys on the chair and frowned. He had obtained that key a long time ago when he finished Men Nan¡¯s second persona¡¯s mission. It had been a reward from the ck phone, Self-perceptive Key. The key would be able to help him search for his real self should he fall under the effect of confusion and illusion.

    Chen Ge had believed that this key would be useful when he explored the Third Sick Hall. One would easily be disturbed by the thick haze of negative energy behind the door when one entered it for the first time, causing a loss of self. Based on Chen Ge¡¯s suspicion, the key was to handle a contingency like that.

    In the end, he did not have to use the key back then because Zhang Ya was too overpowered. She had charged into the door and chased after the president. Other than shock, Chen Ge did not experience too much of any other emotion, so he did not have a use for this key.

    Since Chen Ge thought that he might have a use for this key in the future, he had kept it inside his backpack. But to his surprise, on the way to Eastern Jiujiang that day, he ran into a simr key. In terms of appearance, other than the bite mark, they looked identical.

    ¡°Does the appearance of this key signify something?¡± The key was able to stop someone from getting lost. Before Bei Wen went missing, he had told the young man toe find him with the key. Did this mean that the ce that he was going to was somewhere one could be lost fairly easily?

    ¡°Do you know where Bei Wen got this?¡± Chen Ge very naturally ced both keys inside his pocket.

    ¡°He didn¡¯t tell me.¡± The young man watched as Chen Ge snatch his key away. He answered honestly and did not dare ask for the key back.

    ¡°The key is quite important, but don¡¯t worry, since I¡¯ve taken your key, I will definitely help your friend.¡± Chen Ge leaned against the chair, and he suddenly felt like this was an omen. When the first key appeared, he had entered the Third Sick Hall and run into the toughest opponent since then¡ªthe ghost stories society.

    This time, he was going to Eastern Jiujiang alone, and the appearance of the key probably signified that he was going to run into another powerful enemy.

    <i>The first key has to do with Men Nan. The child has two personas, and they are different personality-wise. The second key is rted to the Bei twins, who look the same but act differently. </i>Chen Ge touched the keys in his pocket and was suddenly reminded of the shadow who looked like this. <i>Does this mean I¡¯ll eventually run into a third key?</i>

    Chen Ge turned to look at the window. No one spoke again, and the bus eventually reached the next stop.

    ¡°Get off here and walk toward the west; it¡¯s not so safe east of here.¡± Chen Ge squeezed back to allow the young man to pass. The young man stood up. It seemed like he had something else to say, but as he looked at Chen Ge¡¯s face, he ultimately swallowed his words and jogged off the bus.

    ¡°Hey, you forgot your umbre!¡± Chen Ge yelled out the window. The young man was so scared that even with the rain pouring, he ran westward without even turning his head around.

    ¡°Have I scared him? But this is a good thing. This way, he¡¯ll be able to focus on his exams and won¡¯t need to repeat a third time.¡± Chen Ge walked back to his seat, and the doctor lightly nudged him. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Now is not the time to care about others,¡± the doctor whispered before winding the scarf tighter around his neck, covering his face fully.

    ¡°Understood.¡± Chen Ge took the young man¡¯s umbre and returned to his spot. When he lifted his eyes, he noticed that the mushroom head at the second row was looking at him. With the cracked lips and frozen smile, he was staring at Chen Ge so intensely that thetter felt like rewarding him with a hammer to the face. Considering the crowd on the bus, Chen Ge dampened that urge.

    ¡°Stop smiling, is it because you¡¯re too ugly once you stop?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s challenge was highly provocative, but the mushroom head did not react in any way other than to continue staring at Chen Ge, smiling all the way.

    The atmosphere on the bus became tense, but at that moment, the front door creaked, and a bloody hand reached into the bus. Blood dripped, and a woman in a red raincoat stood at the front door.

    Her hair was stuck to her face, blocking her eyes. Her lips were sewn shut by something, and she looked positively ghastly.

    ¡°Finally, you¡¯ve arrived.¡±

    Seeing the woman, Chen Ge directly stood up from his seat. All the passengers on the bus had their attention turned to the woman in the red raincoat.

 Chapter 621 - Trap

    <h4>Chapter 621: Trap</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The bus had already changed owner, but the woman in red raincoat was still cautious around it. Her arms gripped the door, and the red of her coat was conspicuous in the dark.

    ¡°We¡¯re both going in the same direction. Why don¡¯t you join us as we head toward Li Wan City tonight?¡± Chen Ge invited the woman on. He had many questions that he wished to ask her. Thest time that he left the hearse, he had handed the ¡®human trafficker¡¯ who stole the children to the woman, but since then, he had not seen the human trafficker.

    Chen Ge suspected that the woman in the red raincoat had already found out the information that she needed from her, the location of her own children. After all, if she did note up with any result, she would not have shown up for thest bus on Route 104.

    Walking to the front door, Chen Ge bent slightly over to address the woman. ¡°If you¡¯vepleted all the preparation, we shall go rescue your child tonight. I will go with you¡ªthat was my promise to you.¡±

    Her lips sewn shut by blood vessels meant that she could not speak, so she made a series of strange gestures toward Chen Ge instead. Her fingertip pointed at the bus, then at Chen Ge¡¯s face, and then at the spot where Chen Ge¡¯s heart would be. Finally, she squeezed her fingers together like she was crushing Chen Ge¡¯s heart in her palm.

    ¡°The hearse? My face? Crushing my heart?¡± It dawned on Chen Ge several momentster. ¡°Do you mean that someone who looks like me is out to gouge out my heart? And he¡¯s currently on the bus?¡±

    The woman did not nod or shake her head. She looked through the curtain of her hair as she reached out to grab Chen Ge¡¯s arm, trying to pull him off the bus. The bus was now Chen Ge¡¯s property, and his backpack and cat were still on the bus, so naturally, he would not give it up so easily.

    Chen Ge took a step back. When the woman sensed that, she stopped applying force and allowed Chen Ge to slip from her grasp. The rain slid down her raincoat. For thest piece ofmunication, she pointed in the direction of Li Wan City and her arms curled together to mimic the action of holding a baby. Before Chen Ge understood what she meant, the woman retreated to the tform. Blood trailed down her raincoat, and the blood pooled around her.

    The bus slowly rolled out from the tform, and the woman stood there as she watched thest bus of Route 104 move away. The closer they were to Li Wan City, the heavier the rain outside fell. Outside the window, there was no light at all; it was as if the bus was travelling through a realm of darkness.

    ¡°What was she trying to say?¡± The woman had refused to get on the bus, which was different from what Chen Ge nned. ¡°But if she doesn¡¯t want to cooperate with me, she didn¡¯t need to have shown up at all. She should have sensed a source of danger in the bus, so she refused to get on.¡±

    Chen Ge sneaked a look at the other passengers¡ªthe doctor and the drunkard should be a normal human being, so Chen Ge focused his attention on the red high heels and the smiling man.

    <i>Should I make the first move? </i>Chen Ge thought to himself when the phone in his pocket vibrated. He nced at the caller¡¯s number before ending the call. Then he fired off a message to the caller. ¡°Inspector Lee, it¡¯s not convenient for me to answer your call. I hope you don¡¯t mind usmunicating via messages.¡±

    When Chen Ge saw that it was Lee Zheng¡¯s number, he thought that something bad had happened.

    ¡°Jia Ming has escaped from the hospital! Be careful! I fear he might go to hurt you!¡± Lee Zheng used three exmation marks in his message.

    ¡°But why would hee for me? I have not done anything to him. Plus, wasn¡¯t he at the hospital with the officers watching him? How did he manage to escape?¡± Jiujiang¡¯s police force was best of the best, and Chen Ge had good faith in thew enforcement.

    ¡°The mad man spun a wild story to confuse us. In the story, he was a victim, and through the retelling of eleven different stories, he described a shadowy monster who was an expert at changing its appearance and voice. He told us that the shadow monster was the real mastermind¡ªhe was merely an unlucky soul who was at the wrong ce at the wrong time!¡±

    ¡°Eleven stories?¡±

    ¡°Eleven stories in total, detailing how he was threatened by the mastermind to do things that are in vition of his moral values. However, none of the stories were factually-wed, and our investigation corroborated his ims.¡±

    ¡°This proves that he wasn¡¯t lying.¡±

    ¡°Yes, he wasn¡¯t lying about those eleven stories, but he was deceitful with one major detail!¡± Lee Zheng sounded agitated. There were many unusual spaces and exmation points in his messages. ¡°The mastermind was never real to begin with; it was a creation in his mind. He was the real killer! For all of those eleven stories, he was the real killer!¡±

    Seeing this message, Chen Ge finally understood that the eleven stories probably represented eleven human lives.

    ¡°This man who looks shy and weak on the surface is hiding apletely twisted persona! When he told us the stories, his voice even broke several times due to emotions. He was so wrought by regret that the doctors and nurses felt sorry for him. We sent out people to inspect the crime scenes in his stories, and as the details surfaced, as the investigation deepened, we felt more unsettled. To speed up the investigation, we arranged more people to join the case. Earlier tonight, Jia Ming¡¯s sickness showed signs of worsening, and the doctors suggested sending him to the ICU. Thinking that he wouldn¡¯t be awake any time soon, we only left one officer behind to look after him.

    ¡°But on the way to send Jia Ming to the ICU, this man who shouldn¡¯t have been able to walk jumped out from the second-floor window and escaped. He had already nned everything, he scouted out the route beforehand. His sickroom was on the third floor, and ICU was on the first floor. The window that he jumped out of led to the back alley. It was a maze inside there with the hidden splits and turns¡ªone officer was not enough to catch up to him.¡±

    Lee Zheng told Chen Ge about Jia Ming¡¯s escape, but Chen Ge was not interested in any of that. ¡°Inspector Lee, I predicted that Jia Ming would attempt to escape, but why would you say he¡¯s out to harm me?¡±

    ¡°We found some wooden chips next to his bed. We opened the bedside table and realized that, at the back, someone had used their fingers to carve out your name. After the names were carved, the person would use their nails to gouge them out again, I don¡¯t think anyone would do that except when they had extreme hatred toward the named individual. In any case, be careful¡ªwe suspect that he¡¯s already on his way to find you.¡±

    <i>I don¡¯t have any history with Jia Ming, so he shouldn¡¯t harbor such deep hatred toward me unless it wasn¡¯t Jia Ming who we saw at the hospital.</i>

    From Lee Zheng¡¯s message, Chen Ge suspected that the shadow was still in Jia Ming¡¯s body. He had probably fainted outside of White Dragon Cave Tunnel that night because of some ident.

    ¡°By the way, where are you now? Don¡¯t go wandering tonight!¡±

    After a while, Lee Zheng sent another message. Initially, Chen Ge did not think that it was weird, but as he formted a reply, he paused.

    <i>Wait a minute, why would Inspector Lee ask about my current location? And he rarely used exmation marks in our previous correspondence. Is it possible that it¡¯s Jia Ming and not Lee Zheng who¡¯smunicating with me?</i>

 Chapter 622 - The Strangest Adversary [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 622: The Strangest Adversary [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge reread the series of messages sent by Lee Zheng. The usage of punctuation and the overall tone were indeed a variation from how the inspector would usuallymunicate via messages. The monster described by Jia Ming in the messages was familiar with changing with its appearance and voice; in other words, it would be able to mimic Lee Zheng¡¯s voice perfectly. However, since Chen Ge could not answer the call because he was on the hearse, Lee Zheng could only use written messages tomunicate with Chen Ge. This was probably a contingency that the other party would not anticipate before making the call.

    <i>Could it really be Jia Ming who is sending messages with me?</i>

    Once the thought appeared, it crawled around Chen Ge¡¯s heart like poisonous briar, causing the man to work up a cold sweat. His finger hung over the top corner of the screen. After a long time, Chen Ge finally replied to Lee Zheng. ¡°No problem, I¡¯ll make sure to stay at New Century Park tonight and won¡¯t go anywhere.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯m just writing this to warn you¡ªthe man hates you to an extreme degree, and there is currently a warrant out for his arrest, so he might just take thisst chance to go find you. It¡¯s better for you to stay put at the theme park. In a bit, I¡¯ll arrange some of my men to set up a perimeter around the theme park to protect you.¡±

    ¡°So sorry for the trouble.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it, it is, after all, due to our negligence that he was able to escape. But remember, do not wander off to anywhere tonight. Once you leave New Century Park, it is going to be very hard for us to ensure your safety.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± After Chen Ge gave an affirmative reply, Lee Zheng stopped sending Chen Ge messages like there was no need formunication after his goal had been achieved.

    ¡°It just feels like something is not right.¡± Chen Ge held the phone in his phone. Without thinking about the feelings of the other passengers, he called Captain Yan directly, wanting to find corroboration to Lee Zheng¡¯s story. It was near midnight, but Captain Yan still epted Chen Ge¡¯s call¡ªthis went to show how much he valued the input of this young man. From Captain Yan, Chen Ge confirmed that Lee Zheng had not been lying; Jia Ming had indeed escaped from the hospital.

    After hanging up, Chen Ge still felt something was off. ¡°Is it possible that the shadow has escaped from Jia Ming¡¯s body but now has possessed Lee Zheng?¡±

    If that was true, then things would be a lot moreplicated.

    ¡°At the hospital, Jia Ming once told the story where he ran into the shadow and Jiang Long at thetter¡¯s bungalow. At the time, Jiang Long was kneeling on the ground, covered in blood, while the shadow stood beside him, holding a knife. This is an interesting scene.

    ¡°Considering Jiang Long¡¯s neighbor¡¯s dogs had just been murdered, can I make the extraption that it was Jiang Long who killed the dogs? A real estate mogul had no real reason to murder other people¡¯s pet dogs, so obviously, if he had done so, it was forced by the shadow. Yes, the shadow was trying to slowly wear down Jiang Long¡¯s constitution. From this point, one can confirm there should be some limitation before the shadow can assume full control over an individual. The weaker the victim¡¯s constitution, the easier it would be for the shadow to take control of them.

    ¡°Lee Zheng is a professional police inspector; it will very difficult for the shadow to take control of a man like that, but that does not mean it is impossible.¡±

    Lee Zheng¡¯s messages reminded Chen Ge that the shadow had already abandoned its original host so he could not trust anyone that night.

    ¡°Xiao Bu once told me, if I dare venture into Li Wan City again, there will be a serious threat to my life. I¡¯ve just entered Eastern Jiujiang, and something already happened to Jia Ming who was supposed to be under police surveince. Can I be sure that this is just a coincidence?¡±

    Chen Ge was about to put his phone away when the screen lit up again. This time, it was Fan Chong who was calling.

    ¡°You sure are one busy man.¡± The doctor nced behind him, signaling for Chen Ge to be quieter. Maintaining a high profile at a location like this would bring him no benefit.

    ¡°There are only a few people in my contact list. Even I want to know what is up with them tonight.¡± Chen Ge took out the earphone. After he plugged it in, he answered the call.

    ¡°Boss Chen! I¡¯ve cleared the game! I know the truth now! I finally know the truth!¡±

    ¡°Calm down and slow down. I can hear you just fine.¡± Chen Ge lowered his voice, realizing he was indeed creating too much of amotion.

    ¡°I used the save file that you left behind to try again and again, I ran into eleven new side quests, and the eleven side quests corresponded to eleven crime scenes and eleven human lives. I¡¯m telling you, I used my life to explore every corner of the game, slowly pushing the progress forward, but finally, I¡¯vepleted all the eleven side quests.¡± Fan Chong sounded incredibly ecstatic on the phone.

    ¡°Eleven side quests?¡± Chen Ge had juste across the number eleven on the messages with Lee Zheng. Facing the police¡¯s interrogation, Jia Ming had told thew enforcement eleven different stories. Most of the scenarios in Xiao Bu¡¯s game were based on real life; in fact, they were probably derived from something that really happened. Chen Ge suspected that the eleven side quests that Fan Chong had cleared were exactly the eleven real murder cases that Jia Ming told the police.

    <i>The town in Xiao Bu¡¯s game was based on Li Wan City, so it is only logical for these eleven murder cases to be rted to Li Wan City.</i>

    After giving it some thought, Chen Ge asked softly, ¡°Afterpleting all the side quests, did you get any kind of hint? Or something akin to a reward?¡±

    ¡°That is why I¡¯m calling you, boss! After clearing all the side quests, theputer screen started to bleed. The grayish style of the game started to change again, and this time, all the buildings turned blood red. Both keyboard and the mouse disconnected, and I lost control of Xiao Bu. She stood inside the game and waved at me. It was real scary. At that moment, I really thought she was about to drag me inside the game with her.¡±

    ¡°Focus on the important details please, what happened next?¡±

    ¡°She started to move on her own and entered one of the red buildings. Right then a new window popped up to reveal a line written in blood¡ªMommy is probably here.¡± Fan Chong took a big gulp of water, still reeling from excitement and fear.

    ¡°Was there any specific thing about the building that stood out?¡± Chen Ge quickly followed up with this question.

    ¡°It looked quite normal, nothing special about it, but there was a poster for a theme park pasted outside the wall of the building. Boss Chen, this is the most important reason I¡¯m calling!¡± Fan Chong sucked in a deep breath. ¡°The theme park on the poster should be New Century Park. Hell, I even saw your Haunted House on the poster.¡±

    ¡°You spotted my Haunted House inside the poster?¡± Chen Ge voiced the question out loud.

    ¡°Yes, I have no idea what this represents, but I believe that this means that the game creator probably knows you, and this should be some kind of super hidden Easter egg.¡± Fan Chong was practically buzzing with emotion.

    ¡°Nowadays, the theme park has already stopped relying on posters for advertisements. Furthermore, the appearance of my Haunted House hasn¡¯t changed for decades, so the poster you saw was probably left behind by my parents.¡± What Chen Ge said only made sense to Chen Ge. He really did not expect to find a clue left behind by his parents inside Xiao Bu¡¯s game.

    He thought back to everything that Fan Chong had said. After clearing all the side quests, Xiao Bu entered a specific building, and the only thing she said was that her mother was probably inside this building. Chen Ge had no idea whether Xiao Bu had found her mother or not, but Chen Ge realized that his own parents had probably entered that building before.

    <i>Is this a clue left behind by them, or is the poster another trapid by the shadow?</i>

    Since the shadow¡¯s power was too unique, it could masquerade as anyone. After a brief pause to figure things out, Chen Ge suddenly posed this question to Fan Chong. ¡°What is the brand of the e-bike that you¡¯re currently using?¡±

    ¡°Huh? It¡¯s from Ai Niao. What¡¯s wrong?¡± Fan Chong was on a high¡ªhe had finally cleared the game after spending days trying to work through the game. He had been desperate to find someone to share the joy with, but he did not expect Chen Ge to suddenly ask a question like that. Without even thinking about it, the answer had already slipped out of his lips.

    ¡°Nah, nothing¡¯s wrong.¡± Chen Ge sighed in relief. Fan Chong was probably the real one, so he answered the question perfectly. ¡°Anything else happen after Xiao Bu entered that red house?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t tell. That is where the game was stuck. I¡¯ve reloaded the game several times, but that is the furthest I can go. I believe this should be the ending. Xiao Bu, who was in search of her mother, stepped into the deepest part of her nightmare and found the room where her mother probably once stayed in this city filled with murderers and ghosts. The game decides to end there because it wants to have an open ending. This way, the yers cane up with the ending that they prefer on their own.¡± Fan Chong had yed this game endlessly for a month. He had already gotten attached to the experience without even realizing it; it was as if he had lived through the experience himself.

    ¡°You¡¯ve already gotten addicted to this game, haven¡¯t you? Just focus on yourputer tonight. If something else happens, call me instantly.¡± Chen Ge had a feeling that more things were connected than he previously realized, and as the dots lined up, he was forced to continue moving forward. ¡°Be careful. Something big might happen in Li Wan City tonight. No matter what happen, do not leave your home tonight.¡±

    Chen Ge turned to look at the strange and weird passengers on the bus; all of these ¡®people¡¯ were heading toward Li Wan City. That was their final destination.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll stay to watch over Xiao Bu tonight, and if there¡¯re any changes, I¡¯ll call you at first notice to bring you thetest update.¡± Fan Chong just finished saying that when there was door knockinging from the speaker. ¡°Boss Chen, is there someone knocking on the door on your side?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. I¡¯m outside, and there¡¯s no door around me. The knocking came from your side.¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t go to open the door, and don¡¯t disconnect the call.¡±

    ¡°The knocking is from my side? But howe it sounds like it came through the phone?¡± The excitement slipped away from Fan Chong¡¯s voice¡ªin its ce was uncertainty and confusion. The knocking in the phone became clearer. Chen Ge held his breath to hear better. Fan Chong was also holding his breath, but in his case, it was because he was scared.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t harm me, I¡¯ve not done anything bad in my life.¡± There was the sound of a chair being moved; it sounded like Fan Chong had moved to hide inside his bed. However, that did nothing to stop the constant door knocking.

    Chen Ge heard clearly from his side. The knocking should have started at the living room door before slowly moving to the bedroom door, like something had entered Fan Chong¡¯s room, and the thing was slowly moving toward him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic. Turn on your camera and face the camera toward the door¡ªI¡¯ll help you take a look.¡± Chen Ge was worried for Fan Chong as well. However, he was not physically in Li Wan City, so even if he wanted to help Fan Chong, he could not.

    ¡°O... okay,¡± Fan Chong stuttered. He worked his phone as the sound of knocking grew. Before he managed to fix the camera, Fan Chong¡¯s scream suddenly echoed through the phone. ¡°Big Brother! Save me! Inside the room! He¡¯s inside the room!¡±

    The scream was followed by a loud struggle. The cupboards and chair sounded like they were toppled over. The knocking on the door became intense until ten secondster when the knocking disappeared as suddenly as it appeared, and it became eerily quiet on the other side of the phone.

    ¡°Fan Chong?¡± Chen Ge called softly into the phone, but there was no answer from the other side.

    Several secondster, there was the sound of slippers brushing against the floor as someone jogged over. Then it was followed by Fan Dade¡¯s surprised yell. ¡°Xiao Chong? Fan Chong!¡±

    Through Fan Dade¡¯s yelling, Chen Ge could confirm that something had befallen Fan Chong. He shouted into the phone, trying to get Fan Dade¡¯s attention.

    ¡°Hello? Boss Chen? Were you on the phone with Xiao Chong earlier?¡±

    ¡°Is Fan Chong injured? Can he still speak? Can you pass him the phone?¡± Chen Ge was worried about that overweight shut-in.

    ¡°But he¡¯s not at home! The living room door and bedroom door are both open. It feels like he has just run out of the house!¡± Fan Dade¡¯s words were like a bomb, shaking Chen Ge¡¯s heart.

    ¡°Not inside the room?¡± Chen Ge was instantly reminded of the shadow. ¡°Why would he go after Fan Chong? And how did he even manage to locate Fan Chong?¡±

    ¡°Was it you who asked him to go out?¡± After hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice on the other end of the phone, Fan Dade felt much calmer. He ced immense trust in this Haunted House operator who was much younger than he was. With his help, many problems could be resolved easily.

    ¡°Someone broke into your home earlier; it was probably a murderer on the loose called Jia Ming. I suggest you call the police immediately and tell them everything you know. Other than that, inspect all the locations that you can use to hide inside your house. Make sure to keep yourself safe before the police arrive,¡± Chen Ge said in a serious tone.

    ¡°A murderer? Why would hee to our home? There is no way Xiao Chong would have provoked someone like that!¡± Fan Dade¡¯s voice rose several pitches out of panic.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be there in a minute. Focus on what you need to do now. Call the police and take care of yourself.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I will call the police now.¡± After Fan Dade hung up, Chen Ge looked at the phone screen, and his fists slowly tightened. His adversary practically kidnapped Fan Chong while he was on the phone with the man. The enemy this time definitely ced some huge pressure on Chen Ge.

    ¡°The approaching sound of knocking signifies that the shadow is on the move, but does this mean he is doing this alone or with the help of some other ghosts?¡± Chen Ge put the phone away. He gripped his hands together with his head lowered to rewind the events in his head. Suddenly, his eyes grew as big as saucer. ¡°Something is weird. Before everything went quiet, thest thing Fan Chong yelled out sounds quite weird now that I think about it. It sounded like someone was mping their hands over his mouth, and he yelled out those words while he was struggling.¡±

    Chen Ge took out some paper and pen from his backpack and wrote down everything Fan Chong yelled.

    ¡°Big Brother! Save me! Inside the room! He¡¯s inside the room!¡±

    Four terms that sounded like they had nothing to do with each other. At first nce, it probably signified Fan Chong was screaming to get help from his big brother, who lived in the same house as him, but thinking of it from another perspective, if the ¡®save me¡¯ was not directed at his big brother but at Chen Ge, then the whole meaning of the sentence changed.

    ¡°Is it possible that Fan Chong opened the door to Fan Dade¡¯s room, but he realized how strange his brother was actingpared to usual, like perhaps he was holding a knife in his hand. In that situation, he gasped out for his brother and then turned to the phone to plead for help from me. The ¡®he¡¯s in the room¡¯ wille to mean the strange big brother has entered the room to detain him.¡±

    The same sentence had apletely different meaning based on whom Fan Chong was addressing.

    ¡°Could the shadow have possessed Fan Dade after escaping from the hospital? Then how does that exin what has happened to Lee Zheng and Jia Ming?¡± Chen Ge felt the hair on his back standing on end¡ªhe was getting increasingly unsettled. ¡°Hopefully, I¡¯m simply overthinking this.¡±

    If Fan Dade had fallen victim to the shadow, then Fan Chong¡¯s home would be a death trap. The shadow would be waiting for Chen Ge to arrive to im his life.

    ¡°Shall I go save him?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes scanned the other passengers in the car. His eyes narrowed as a n started to form in his mind.

 Chapter 623 - Words of a Child

    <h4>Chapter 623: Words of a Child</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The residential area that Fan Chong stayed at could be very dangerous. If Chen Ge went there, he might fall into the trap set up by the shadow, so he turned his focus onto the other passengers. Sending others to fight his enemy, Chen Ge had done something simr when he was ying Xiao Bu¡¯s game.

    <i>These people aren¡¯t idiots, and it is not going to be easy to influence their perception and get them to willingly scout on ahead for me. I¡¯ll need to n this carefully.</i>

    From how Chen Ge saw it, whether it was the smiling man or the red high heels, they could be an asset to him. He did not care about whether they wanted to harm him or not; he only cared about their power level. If they were too weak, Chen Ge feared they might not even be able to fulfill the simple task of scouting ahead. Chen Ge did not share his thoughts with others. If the doctor knew what he was thinking, he would definitely believe that Chen Ge had lost his mind.

    <i>Things are getting more and more interesting.</i>

    So many idents had happened before he even arrived at Li Wan City. Things had gone out of Chen Ge¡¯s control, and no one knew what would happen the next second.

    <i>I can¡¯t possibly go back to New Century Park now. Lee Zheng is packing a gun, and if he is really under the influence of the shadow, then I¡¯ll be in serious danger if I return to the park.</i>

    If the shadow could take control of Lee Zheng, then he could very well possess any other police officer. Hell, even the kind and gentle senior guard at the park could be used against Chen Ge. This was the hardest opponent that Chen Ge had ever faced thus far. Ever since the game started, he could no longer trust anyone around him.

    To take down the shadow, the best solution was to rely on his own two hands. Instead of waiting to fall into its trap, Chen Ge should cut his way into the shadow¡¯sir, find its original body, and kill it.

    Dealing with such a high intelligence and extremely cunning enemy, Chen Ge had alreadye up with aplete n. Focus on his advantage and avoid the disadvantages¡ªunder the premise that his own safety was guaranteed, try to mow down the enemy as soon as possible. No matter how deep the shadow¡¯s plot spun, if Chen Ge did not give the shadow the time to n, his great IQ would be wasted.

    <i>I have no idea where the shadow is hiding currently. He might beying in ambush at New Century Park, or hiding behind the door of Fan Chong¡¯s home, or even be on this bus. I have to maintain a high alert. He will only show his real self when he is one hundred percent confident that he¡¯ll be able to kill me.</i>

    Chen Ge had an urate assessment of the situation; Eastern Jiujiang was the shadow¡¯s territory, and Li Wan City was the shadow¡¯sir that it had managed for years already. It was never a fair battle between him and the shadow since the beginning.

    ¡°The bus is entering the next stop, please remain seated!¡±

    Just as Chen Ge was sorting through his thoughts, the bus reached the next stop. The bus door opened, and the howling wind carried the heavy rain into the bus. The bus windows creaked noisily, ravaged by the rain, and it sounded like they would break at any moment.

    ¡°Daddy, I¡¯m scared...¡± A juvenile voice came from outside the bus.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine, we¡¯ll reach our destination soon, and daddy and mummy will be going with you.¡± A middle-aged man with nched face hauled a young boy about five into the bus. Following behind the father and son was a woman whose hair needed more than a littlebing.

    Different types of strange passengers could be found on the eerie public bus. The boy stood helplessly in the aisle, unsure where to ce his hands. From the expression on his face, it appeared like he was going to cry soon.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine. We¡¯ll reach our destination soon.¡± The man sounded like a broken record. He ced his hand on the boy¡¯s head, forcing him to turn away from meeting the eyes of the other passengers. The wife who trailed behind did not utter a word. Just like that, this strange family of three ascended the bus, and they took the fourth row in the middle of the bus.

    <i>A family outing to Li Wan City? </i>Chen Ge studied the family of three for a while. To his knowledge, Li Wan City was the location where many children would go missing. To help the ghost fetus, the shadow had been on the lookout for children, and with that danger in mind, the family dared to bring their boy to Li Wan City. Strange did not even start to describe the situation.

    <i>More and more passengers are getting on the bus; it is possible for the shadow to be masquerading as one of them.</i>

    The addition of a child on the bus meant that the quiet from before was shattered.

    ¡°Daddy, let¡¯s go home.¡± The little boy kept pleading, and tears could be heard in his voice. ¡°That uncle over there has been staring at me, and he looks very scary.¡±

    The boy used his finger to point at the smiling man. When his father saw that, he quickly grabbed and put the child¡¯s finger away and scolded him sternly. ¡°Don¡¯t use your finger to point at other people. That is very rude.¡±

    ¡°But he kept staring at me.¡± The boy wanted to say more to his father, but the man applied greater force on his grab until the boy¡¯s arm was red from the pressure. Sensing the acute pain that came from his arm, the boy finally lost control of his emotions and beadlike tears slid out from his eyes.

    ¡°Stop making a scene. If you continue to act like this, I¡¯ll send you off the bus, and your mother and I will do this alone.¡± The father¡¯s threat was effective. The boy forced the tears back, kept his head lowered as he sat at the corner of the seat.

    ¡°That¡¯s my boy. You are the man of the family; how can you weep at the smallest thing?¡± The middle-aged man let go of his grasp. A deep red welt could be seen on the spot where the father had grabbed the boy. ¡°Haven¡¯t you been wishing to see your big sister? When we reach our destination, we¡¯ll be able to meet with your big sister.¡±

    ¡°Big sister? Really?¡± The boy raised his eyes to reveal a pair of blinking eyes; they were like the most beautiful pearls in the world, clear and shiny. It was as if the boy¡¯s eyes had captured the glistening stars in the sky.

    ¡°Of course, when have I ever lied to you?¡± The middle-aged man forced a smile, and he tussled the boy¡¯s hair.

    ¡°But...¡± The boy continued hesitantly, and his eyes spoke of the same innocence. ¡°Big sister told me that she was killed by Mommy, and Mommy came to tell me that big sister went missing. And now Daddy is telling me we¡¯re going to find big sister. I have no idea who to believe any...¡± Before the boy could finish, he was roughly cut off because his father yanked his hair harshly, practically lifting his boy off the seat by his head.

    ¡°Ouch! Sorry, Father, I will not speak of this anymore! Forgive me, Father!¡±

    ¡°Shut the f*ck up!¡± Still gripping the boy¡¯s hair, the middle-aged man shoved him back against the seat. The man¡¯s face was as dark as the far side of the moon.

    Children rarely filtered their words before they spoke, so sometimes, they would say something incredibly inappropriate.

    The doctor and Chen Ge, who sat at the back of the bus, overheard what the boy said, but neither of them decided to do anything about it. Silence returned, but it was asionally punctured by the silent sniffling of the boy.

    The rain continued to pour, and the bus moved away from the stop. By now, they were extremely close to Li Wan City. In fact, there were only three or four stops left between them.

    ¡°This should be thest of the passengers, right?¡± Chen Ge stood up, deciding to put his n into action. Activating the recorder, Chen Ge walked to the front of the bus, and with the smiling man and the doctor watching him, he bent over to pick up the pair of red high heels.

 Chapter 624 - The Difficulty of a 3.5-Star Scenario

    <h4>Chapter 624: The Difficulty of a 3.5-Star Scenario</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Where did this pair of high heelse from?¡± Chen Ge picked up the shoes like this was the first time that he had noticed it. Hearing that, the driver, Tang Jun, nced at the rear-view mirror. His cold sweat kept falling¡ªhis new boss was indeed different from a normal person.

    A person with no mental defects would not actively approach a ghost under any circumstances, but his boss waspletely different. He willingly headed toward the mountain even though he knew that was the tiger¡¯s prowling ground. Hell, he would dly enter the tiger¡¯s cave if he could get something out of it¡ªthis was the type of person who had no concern for consequences.

    He thought about persuading his boss, but he did not know where to start, so he kept his mouth shut and focused on driving. No one in the car would dare answer Chen Ge¡¯s question¡ªthey all stared at him like he was dumb.

    ¡°What is the man up to now?¡± The doctor wrapped his face tighter with his scarf, showing only his two eyes. Considering the fact that he might not be able to save himself, he naturally would not step forward to help Chen Ge.

    For the family of three, the wife and son kept their heads lowered, and neither of them spoke. However, the husband smiled wickedly like he was d that something bad was about to happen to Chen Ge.

    The drunkard had been the first passenger to get onto the bus. Then, he had copsed at his seat and fainted, and ever since, he had remained unconscious.

    The smiling face ced his eyes on Chen Ge, and coincidentally, Chen Ge was also staring back at him.

    ¡°You are closest to this seat. Do you have any idea who left this pair of heels behind?¡± Holding the pair of red high heels in his hand, there was a strange feeling that came from his palm¡ªit felt like he was touching bloodied human skin. Chen Ge held the shoes with one hand and slowly walked toward the smiling man.

    ¡°Has this man lost his mind? Riling one up is not enough, so he¡¯s going for two at the same time? Does he not believe there are actual ghosts in this world? Does he think I was lying to himst time we were on this bus?¡± The doctor was worried for Chen Ge. He was certain that he had told Chen Ge earlier that the smiling man had killed a whole vehicle of people, but Chen Ge still proactively went to provoke the man. This action baffled the doctor.

    Holding the pair of heels, Chen Ge stopped next to the smiling face. He waved the shoes before the man¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°You look so pressed.¡± Chen Ge very naturally ced the heels right next to the smiling man¡¯s leg. ¡°The owner of this pair of heels must be very beautiful, because her good taste is exemplified by how gorgeous the heels are, what do you think?¡±

    The smiling man slowly raised his head. With the smile still on his face, he forced out the words from his lips. ¡°Take them away.¡±

    One could read into a person¡¯s personality to a certain degree based on their voice. There was not a trace ofughter in the smiling man¡¯s voice, and he would pause longer than necessary between every word like it had been so long since hest spoke.

    ¡°Do you hate this pair of shoes that much? Why? This is such a pretty pair of red high heels.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s legs were tense. He was ready to retreat should the situation ask for it.

    For other people, it might look like Chen Ge was ying with fire, or to be more precise, ying with death. They had no idea where Chen Ge got the courage to do something like this and could not figure out why Chen Ge was doing all that. The bus had almost reached Li Wan City already, and there was not much time left for Chen Ge. If he could make use of the passengers on the bus, they could be a great asset; however, if he failed to wrangle them to his cause, he would enter the battlefield already suffering from an injury. He did not want to have to be cautious about these passengers when he was dealing with the shadow, so he decided to try out their reaction first.

    To use the red high heels to test out the smiling man, this was something that Chen Ge decided on the spot. The red high heels first showed up on the middle of an empty bus stop. Chen Ge had no idea how they got on the bus¡ªhe only noticed only that they showed up and that they took the seat at the first row.

    Initially, Chen Ge did not think much of this, but the strange action by the smiling man caught his attention. The doctor told him that the smiling man had once massacre a whole bus of people, so he should be a very dangerous character, but after he got on the bus, he actively avoided the pair of red high heels and took the seat at the second row without much hesitation.

    The smiling man gave the pair of heels a wide berth, what was he cautious of?

    Chen Ge would never underestimate his enemy, thinking that the more physically powerful they were, the dumber they would be. In reality, the more powerful the spirits, the sharper they were. They knew how to hide and cover themselves. They waited until their prey put their guard down and then snapped their neck with one swift move.

    The smiling man ignored the pair of red high heels to avoid conflict, but he did not anticipate Chen Ge, a character who would do the things that one least expected.

    Chen Ge did not have that much concern for his personal safety because he followed a higher philosophy, and that was to make what the enemy did not want to materialize in real life a reality.

    Looking at the red high heels beside his leg, the smiling man¡¯s face was dark, but even under such circumstances, he kept the edges of his lips curled up. Perhaps the monster had gone through some trauma when he was young, or maybe he suffered from some kind of illness where this was the only facial expression that he could make.

    The smile did not change, but the white in the smiling man¡¯s eyes started to take on a gray hue, and twisting dark lines started to leak out from his pupils. It honestly looked quite disgusting. The change to his body was beyond that. The neck that was already longer than normal started to grow, and the folds on his neck were torn open to reveal a deeply-gray skin. This monster was different from the Red Specters that Chen Ge had met in the past. He did not possess any quality that made him a ghost; in fact, Chen Ge was sure that this was a quintessential living human being. However, the presence that radiated from the smiling man was way beyond that of a normal individual. And yet, Chen Ge could not find any sign of a ghost on the man.

    ¡°Take them away!¡± The chilling echo of a voice forced out from the man¡¯s mouth. The man¡¯s mushroom head swayed lightly, and the smile on his face grew bigger. The monster¡¯s teeth appeared sanded smooth. They were different from normal human teeth. As a matter of fact, they looked more like the jaws of an animal.

    The sound of static appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s ears. Only when Chen Ge was in mortal danger would Xu Yine up with such reminder. Thest time this happen, it was when Chen Ge was facing the shadow at the fresh water nt.

    <i>This man is that scary? </i>Xu Yin was only one step away from bing aplete Red Specter, and he was the kind who would only fight stronger when he was injured. He never showed any sign of fear, but when facing the smiling man, he was quick to give Chen Ge the warning.

    <i>This man is far more dangerous than I imagined.</i>

    Xu Yin was solidly the second-best fighter that Chen Ge had. If he gave the warning, then things were definitely quite dangerous.

    <i>Such a monster already appeared on the bus before I arrived at Li Wan City. It is really hard to imagine what kind of monsters Li Wan City has collected over the years.</i>

    In the end, Chen Ge did not take the heels away; he left them next to the smiling man and strode toward the driver. This was his vehicle, so he made the rules. He was going to have Tang Jun drive the bus to the residential area where Fan Chong stayed. No matter what kind of trap was waiting for him, he could charge through it with smiling man and the red high heels in tow.

    <i>Am I acting a bit too rashly? Oh, f*ck it, there¡¯s no time to slowly ponder about this anymore!</i>

 Chapter 625 - The Last Passenger

    Chapter 625: The Last Passenger

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    Chen Ge whispered to Tang Jun to have him change the final stop. When they reached Li Wan City, the bus would head toward the residential area where Fan Chong stayed. After they reached an agreement, Chen Ge walked back to his seat at the back of the bus. When he passed the smiling man, a visceral chill rose from his heart.

    Turning to look, the smiling face was staring at Chen Ge with his gray pupils.

    ¡°Looks like he has plenty to tell me. Why wouldn¡¯t he just move the pair of heels away if he dislikes them that much? Howe it feels like he doesn¡¯t even want to touch the shoes? Could there be some curse rted to the shoes?¡±

    As Chen Ge mumbled to himself, he was struck awed by the words that left his lips. From the smiling man¡¯s reaction, perhaps there was indeed a curse that was ced on the shoes.

    ¡°Oh well, in any case, I¡¯ve already touched them. Worsees to worst, I¡¯ll just swing the heels at the shadow when I run into him.¡± Chen Ge did not mind too much about curses. After all, he had already received a cursed love letter way back when he first obtained the ck phone. A curse was not scary¡ªthe scary thing was the ghost that was behind the curse.

    Returning to his seat, Chen Ge stopped provoking the smiling man. He reached his hand into the backpack while he turned to look out the window. From who knew when, it was a te of darkness outside the window. Soon, the bus would reach thest stop before they arrived at Li Wan City.

    The door opened, and there was sound of chain rattling cutting through the rain. A pair of hands that were soaked white in the rain reached into the car to grab the rails. Rain slithered down the man¡¯s fingers, and a weird, sharp chuckle interspersed the rattling of a chain. When all the passengers¡¯ faces were turned to the front door, a face teetered into the aisle.

    The man¡¯s face was exquisite, and one could see how handsome he had once been if one looked past therge gash that ran from the corner of his left eye to the edge of his lips. From afar, it looked like the man had two mouths on his face, one running horizontally and the other vertically.

    The gash appeared to be a recent injury. The wound had notpletely healed, and with the aggravation from the rainwater, the injury had signs of festering and secreting puss. The thin lips slowly opened. He used his tongue to lick at the edge of the wound just above his lips. He grimaced from the pain, but weirdly enough, he tried to make it appear like he was enjoying the sensation of pain.

    ¡°What kind of mad man is it this time?¡± Chen Ge came to this conclusion after giving thetest passenger a nce.

    The man seemed to enjoy the spotlight that was ced on him. He used his fine fingers tob his hair that was messed up by the rain. The fingers were white before they touched the hair, but after fixing the hair, the fingertips were dyed red. There appeared to be an open wound on the man¡¯s scalp, or there was some dried blood that had clotted up in his hair.

    ¡°What is so funny?¡± This new passenger was even crazier than Chen Ge expected. The first thing he did after getting on the bus was provoke the smiling man. He did not seem to notice the danger, and his bulging eyes stared at the man whose smile hung persistently even though it was clear that he was not in a jovial mood.

    ¡°What is the source of this man¡¯s confidence?¡± With his attention to detail, Chen Ge noticed part of the wounds on the man¡¯s face had already festered, and the rest had started to scab. Therefore, based on this observation, he believed that this man was alive, but why would a living person purposely go and provoke the smiling man? Was it due to courage from ignorance, or was he hiding some kind of unique trump card?

    The man was already raging from Chen Ge¡¯s provocation, and now, he was treated with yet another man looking for death. The ck lines in his pupils squirmed like worms, and the gash on his lips that counted as a smile opened wider.

    Everyone knew something bad was going to happen... except for the new passenger. In fact, he upped the ante by pointing at the wound on his face. ¡°Are you trying to copy me?¡±

    After he got into the bus, the passengers realized that the new passenger was covered in blood, and he had a pair of scissors, about thirty centimeters long, in his left arm while he dragged an old bag that was still leaking blood on his right arm.

    ¡°A murderer?¡± Chen Ge studied the man, and the more he did, the more confused he became. The passenger was wearing a white T-shirt. If he had justmitted a murder out of passion, his mistake was understandable, but he looked too calm to have done something like that. So obviously, this was a premeditated murder. But why would someone who could maintain his rationality even after a killing choose to wear a white-colored shirt on which blood would appear most conspicuous?

    Would it not make more sense to wear darker colored clothes for better camouge?

    ¡°Is this the man¡¯s hobby? This man is a crazed serial killer?¡± This should be the logical exnation. The man was too distracted from the high of the murder, so that would exin the illogical things that he had done.

    ¡°But something still doesn¡¯t feel right.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes moved to the man¡¯s arm. A pair of scissors was a strange weapon of choice for a murderer. Would an axe or a kitchen knife not have worked better for his purpose?

    Then, he turned to focus on the bag the man was dragging. The rain had soaked the bag, and blood kept leaking out from within. If the bag was hiding human body parts, blood would not have leaked from the top but pooled at the bottom. Furthermore, human blood from body parts would eventually coagte and would not keep on pouring out like a foundation. So, for Chen Ge, it felt like the bag was not filled with body parts but instead shoved full with leaking blood bags.

    Mostly likely, Chen Ge had spent so much time with crazed murderers that he was able to pick out many details in the shortest amount of time.

    ¡°I¡¯ll ask you again, are you trying to copy me?¡± The provocation in the new passenger¡¯s voice made what Chen Ge did earlier pale inparison. Even he had not been so direct when he was trying to stir the pot¡ªhe had merely ced another ghost next to the smiling man. Be it physically or verbally, he did not pose any affront toward the smiling man.

    The smiling man¡¯s patience was dwindling. The ck lines crawled out from his pupils and slithered down his cheeks.

    ¡°Are you mute? I¡¯m asking you a question!¡± The new passenger continued to press; he did not show any trace of fear at all. He leaked the edge of the scissors and voluntarily walked toward the smiling man. ¡°Let me guess what drives you for taking this bus at midnight...¡±

    When he lowered his head to pretend to think, he spotted the red high heels next to the smiling man. Then it seemed to dawn on him. He reached out to grab the pair of heels. ¡°Are you going to look for your wife?¡±

    When the new passenger said that, the smile on the smiling man¡¯s froze, and that made his expression incredibly strange. He stopped being angry at the new passenger. He nced at the red high heels and wore a stranger smile as he returned to his seat.

    ¡°Looks like I was right.¡± The new passenger¡¯s words were rife with madness. He dangled the heels by the edge of his scissors as he reced them. ¡°I¡¯ll leave you be on ount of the loyalty of your love.¡±

    It felt like he was finding an excuse for himself to run away from the smiling man. After that, he dragged the bag and headed down the aisle, but he only took one step when a strange thing happened.

    After he took the first step, there was the sound of high heels clicking against the ground; it felt like someone was tailing him. Turning back to look, the red high heels were still sitting where they were.

    The stubborn new passenger took two other steps, and whenever he moved, the sound of high heels followed.

    ¡°The heels are sitting on the seat, so where did the sounde from? What is following me?¡±

    Probably due to his nervousness, the new passenger voiced out his thought, and he sounded slightly different from the courageous man who had threatened the smiling man earlier.

    Chen Ge, having observed from the back, saw everything. The smiling man probably did n to end the man¡¯s life, but the man turned to provoke the red high heels, and the high heels decided to deal with the man before the smiling man could make his move.

    ¡°This man is ultimately too inexperienced. I praised the beauty of the shoes and made sure to apud the owner¡¯s taste before proceeding to deal with the smiling man.¡± Chen Ge sighed. But then, something unexpected happened. After the new passenger failed to deal with the sound of the high heels, he made a beeline toward Chen Ge and the doctor, who were seated at the back of the bus.

 Chapter 626 - Next Stop, Li Wan City

    <h4>Chapter 626: Next Stop, Li Wan City</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Why is he walking toward us? </i>Chen Ge was confused by the man¡¯s action. <i>Wait, does he n to offend every single passenger on this bus at least once? I¡¯m not sure that is a good idea, buddy.</i>

    Naturally, the passenger did not hear Chen Ge¡¯s thoughts. Whenever his shoesnded against the ground, there would be two footsteps, one directly behind the other. It was creepy to say the least.

    Chen Ge started to fidget as the man walked toward the end of the bus. After all, this man was carrying the curse of the red high heels with him. He nudged into the seat. It was not that he was afraid, but he simply refused to be dragged into a problem that he did not create. The passenger noticed Chen Ge¡¯s silent move. His eyes alternated between Chen Ge and the doctor, and eventually, that slightly deranged smile fell on Chen Ge.

    ¡°You are afraid.¡± The tone was firm, the eyes unfeeling, and the lips of the new passenger curved upward like he had taken control of everything, like nothing in this vehicle could escape his eyes.

    ¡°I am, slightly,¡± Chen Ge admitted without shame.

    ¡°The more afraid you are, the worse thing will happen to you.¡± The new passenger seemed to have decided his seat. He held the scissors and bag with one hand while his free hand went to grasp Chen Ge¡¯s backpack and travel bag.

    He did not attack Chen Ge but targeted his carry-ons. That was the first time that Chen Ge hade across someone like that. He frowned involuntarily, wondering if the passenger had seen through the group of ghosts hiding in his backpack.

    However, two secondster, Chen Ge tossed that suspicion out of his mind. With a weird smile, the new passenger held the straps of the backpack tight and tried to lift it up. Out of almost every other passenger¡¯s expectation, the backpack did not even budge. The passenger who looked so savage was unable to life up Chen Ge¡¯s backpack with one hand.

    ¡°He he.¡± After a brief chuckle, the new passenger gave it another try. The ropy muscles on his arms tightened, and it felt like he had used the maximum limit of his strength before he could manage to lift Chen Ge¡¯s backpack up and toss it on the ground.

    BANG!

    The backpack was heavily loaded. It created a dull thud when itnded on the ground.

    ¡°What is inside the bag?¡± The new passenger raised his chin and pointed the sharp ends of the scissors at Chen Ge¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯m a prop maker affiliated with a theme park. The backpack is filled with my everyday tools, the tools of my trade so to speak.¡± Chen Ge raised both of his hands in an attempt to appease him. He had seen the police officers doing something simr at crime scene to avoid unnecessary conflict. The smoothness of the action and sincerity of the tone meant that this was not the first time that Chen Ge had done something like this.

    Chen Ge¡¯s ¡®cowardice¡¯ satisfied the new passenger greatly. He scanned the whole bus, and this young man before him appeared the most easily-bullied. He extended his tongue and tried hard to lick at his wound before finally taking the seat next to Chen Ge.

    Slowly putting his hands down, Chen Ge turned his head to look beside him. After hearing what the new passenger had to say, even he had thought that the man was about to attack him, or at the very least, open his backpack to take a look inside. However, as it turned out, the man¡¯s bark was greater than his bite. He did not even find an excuse for himself and sat down directly.

    ¡°Er... Are you heading toward Li Wan City as well?¡± Chen Ge was amused by this new passenger. The first thing he did after getting on the bus was provoke the other passengers. His actions and expression were over the top like he was worried others would not tell he was a crazed murderer.

    ¡°Who would take thisst bus that is prepared for the dead at midnight if they¡¯re not heading toward Li Wan City?¡± The new passenger studied Chen Ge at close distance. It was his impression that of all the passengers on the bus, Chen Ge looked the most normal and was most likely a good person.

    ¡°A bus that is prepared for the dead...¡± One would think that Chen Ge had taken acting lesson before because he assumed the role of a frightened individual at the snap of his finger. He took in a cold breath like he was trying to suppress his fear, but his action belied his ¡®real¡¯ emotion. The fear radiated out from within. Even though his facial expression did not change much, he made sure the edge of his eyes shuddered and his pupils darted anxiously around.

    The new passenger was increasingly satisfied with Chen Ge¡¯s reaction. He loved those who were ¡®weaker¡¯ than he was. ¡°What is your name?¡±

    ¡°My name is Chen Ge. I¡¯m a theme park worker. What about you?¡± Chen Ge curled deeper into his seat like he was afraid that his question might offend the man, so he quickly added, ¡°But it¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to tell, I¡¯m just asking for fun.¡±

    ¡°You can call me Scissors. I¡¯m going to Li Wan City to look for a person, a dead person.¡± Chen Ge did not ask for the details, but the new passenger simply unloaded his story on Chen Ge.

    ¡°I¡¯m also going there to find a person. One of my friends has gone missing, and thest clue that he left me was this bus. I initially refused to believe it until I saw the bus appear with my own eyes. You have no idea how long I hesitated before I could summon the courage to get on the bus...¡± Chen Ge¡¯s description was incredibly detailed, and it sounded suspiciously familiar to the doctor who sat in front. He realized Chen Ge had edited the high-schooler¡¯s story and ced it on his own.

    ¡°Looks like I¡¯m not the only one with such an experience.¡± The smile on Scissors¡¯ face slowly rescinded. A look of contemtion cast over him, and when he was not consciously putting on a show, the expression on his face returned to normal. This was how he looked in his everyday life.

    ¡°We¡¯re all the same.¡± Chen Ge bent down, pretending to tie his shoces. His fingers silently brushed against the blood stain that hadnded on his shoes when the passenger was waving his scissors around. Chen Ge rubbed his fingers together and surreptitiously moved his fingers to his nostril. His senses were heightened, much better than a normal person, but even at such a close distance, he could not detect a scent of blood from the ¡®blood stain¡¯.

    <i>This is not blood. </i>Chen Ge¡¯s suspicion was confirmed. Normally, if one was carrying a bag of ¡®body parts¡¯, unless they were specially treated with coal or stic wrap, there would definitely be a smell.

    <i>This man should be no different from the doctor, a normal person who is heading toward to Li Wan City to find their ¡®final hope¡¯.</i>

    Chen Ge could ce himself in the passenger¡¯s shoes. He knew that it was dangerous on the bus and knew that the destination was filled with murderers and ghosts, so he decided to put on this disguise to hide among the maddened and insane.

    <i>As detailed as the wolf disguise, amb will always be amb. </i>Chen Ge looked at the man¡¯s fine fingers and he shook his head slightly. He grumbled internally,<i>With the way he¡¯s holding the scissors, the first person he¡¯ll hurt in a confrontation is himself. In a heated struggle, there is no way he will still have enough calmness to remember to cut his enemy. The better way is actually to hold the scissors by the point where the des were attached and use the sharp edge as some kind of pick.</i>

    This man who called himself Scissors had exposed way too many weaknesses. A normal person might be scared by his scary appearance and maddened speech but not Chen Ge. He was a Haunted House operator, and from a professional perspective, Scissors¡¯ work had left much to be desired.

    Scissors did not pose much of a threat, so Chen Ge turned his focus back to the other passengers. They were reaching Li Wan City soon; he could not allow these passengers to wander too freely. Before a n was formed, another contingency was introduced¡ªthe phone in Chen Ge¡¯s pocket suddenly vibrated. Chen Ge put on the earphone and answered it. It was Fan Dade¡¯s voice that came through.

    ¡°Boss Chen! I notice a problem! Since the living room door was open, I headed out to take a look. There were only footprints that headed up in the staircase and none that went down. That thing is still probably inside the house! Should I leave this ce while I still can?¡±

    ¡°There are only footprints that head up?¡±

    ¡°Yes, something just doesn¡¯t feel right tonight. Everything appears out of ce! Boss Chen, where are you now? I don¡¯t think I can hold out any longer!¡±

    ¡°Hang in there a little while longer, I¡¯ll be there soon!¡±

 Chapter 627 - City Called Nightmare

    <h4>Chapter 627: City Called Nightmare</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Boss Chen, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to stay in this house any longer. I¡¯ll wait for you downstairs,¡± Fan Dade stammered. The footprints in the staircase made him panicked, and the man¡¯s flight of footsteps could be heard through the phone.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic, he might be hiding under the staircase. Tell me the size and shape of the footprint...¡± Before Chen Ge could finish, the call was cut off. ¡°When one is caught in panic, they will do things that are illogical, but I can¡¯t tell for sure if Fan Dade was someone who would react in this way.¡±

    Putting phone away, Chen Ge picked up the backpack from the ground, with his eyes zeroed in on the road ahead. ¡°The next stop is Li Wan City. I¡¯m here, but where are you?¡±

    Darkness and rain blotted out everything. No one could tell that countless monsters who lived in the shadows were all heading toward a small city at the fringe of the metropolis. Li Wan City was right ahead!

    The driver, Tang Jun, mmed on the gas pedal. The old bus rushed through the rain, continuing its eleration. The rain pelted the windows, and the bus was shaking so badly that it felt like the whole vehicle might copse on the spot. However, none of the passengers on the bus seemed to mind.

    When the blurry shapes appeared, everyone held their breath. Lighting shed across the sky, and that brief moment of brightness lit up the many shadows that were shuffling through the darkness, and in return, the shadows also spotted the bus on Route 104, which was trundling through the rain.

    ¡°We¡¯re almost there.¡± The doctor was the first to stand up from his seat. He could perceive the changes in the atmosphere of the hearse and how it differed from normal. He refused to spend yet another second on the bus.

    ¡°Hey, the three of us should leave together,¡± the doctor whispered to Chen Ge and the man who referred to himself as Scissors. ¡°There is a passenger in front who is very dangerous. Once the three of us are off, we will split up and run in different directions. Whoever he ends up chasing, that will be the luck of the draw.¡±

    These passengers who had managed to survive after taking a ride on the hearse could not be underestimated, so the doctor did not hide his n and shared it with others openly.

    Neither Chen Ge nor Scissors spoke. Scissors was suspicious that this was a plot by the doctor¡ªthe doctor was trying to get him isted so that he would be an easier target. However, Chen Ge had his own n. He nned to drive the bus directly to Fan Chong¡¯s residential area and grab the red high heels and smiling man to force their way through the trapid down by the shadow, rescuing Fan Chong who possessed crucial information.

    It was easy to get onto Chen Ge¡¯s bus, but it was very difficult to leave. From a different perspective, one could say that this bus had gotten a lot more dangerouspared to when it was in the service of the shadow.

    Walking to the exit, the doctor grabbed the rail. He had heard stories about the smiling man before, and his n was to find a safe refuge to hide after getting off the bus. The bus had already driven into Li Wan City, and they neared the small town¡¯s bus stop. The doctor¡¯s heart pounded, and his muscles in his arms and legs were tense. He was prepared to jump out once the door opened.

    That was the n, but reality had other ns in mind. The bus did not stop when it passed the final stop; it did not even decelerate and rushed past.

    ¡°It¡¯s not stopping?¡± A bad omen rose in the doctor¡¯s heart¡ªhe knew something bad was about to happen that night. The bus did not stop at the station that it usually stopped at.

    Other than Chen Ge, all the passengers turned to look at the driver. Tang Jun was under great pressure, and his body was shaking. He also had no idea what was waiting for them ahead¡ªhe was merely following the direction given by his boss.

    ¡°Hey, why aren¡¯t you stopping? Hey!¡± From the family of three, the middle-aged man stood up from his seat, and his expression was drawn. The boy who sat next to him also poked his head up to surreptitiously look around. He did not quite understand the world of the adults; everything was always tooplicated for him to grasp.

    ¡°Stop the bus! Stop the f*cking bus now!¡± The middle-aged man stomped toward the driver¡¯s seat. Seeing this, Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and walked over. He kept his head lowered, and everyone thought that he was also going toward the driver with aint. Seeing Chen Ge step forward, the doctor decided to follow behind the man¡ªhe wanted to find out what was happening.

    ¡°Can you hear me?¡± No matter what the middle-aged man was yelling, the driver¡¯s lips were shut, and if his face was any whiter, it would have appeared like he was wearing powder on his face. ¡°I¡¯m f*cking telling you again! Turn the bus around! Don¡¯t drive ahead any further!¡±

    Tang Jun ignored the middle-aged man and focused fully on driving.

    ¡°Don¡¯t drag us with you even if you want to die! We cannot drive ahead anymore!¡± This probably was not the middle-aged man¡¯s first visit to Li Wan City. He knew more than he showed. He raised his leg and tried to kick Tang Jun¡¯s feet again to step on the brake.

    ¡°Friend, what you¡¯re doing is illegal.¡± A powerful man reached out to grab the middle-aged man. Chen Ge dragged him back and ced him next to the smiling man.

    ¡°Let me go! You have no idea what awaits us! Quickly, let me go!¡± The middle-aged man screamed as he struggled. ¡°Stop the bus! Do not go further ahead! That is not a ce where we are supposed to go!¡±

    ¡°Looks like you know some things, why don¡¯t youe and share them with us?¡±

    ¡°Fog, blood red fog, we won¡¯t be able to leave once we enter it! Quickly stop him!¡± The man¡¯s face was twisted in fear. He hollered as he charged toward the driver¡¯s seat, but he was once again held back by Chen Ge.

    ¡°What kind of fog? You have to exin clearer than that.¡± Chen Ge was hell bent on getting the answer out of the middle-aged man when he noticed that the bus had slowed down. The doctor tapped him lightly on his shoulder, and he raised his head to look in the direction that the doctor was pointing at.

    A strange scene greeted him. Half of the city was shrouded by heavy rain, and all lights were swallowed up by darkness and despair. While the other half waspletely dry. Instead of rain, a thick blood fog roamed the streets, pulsing with various types of negative emotions.

    <i>This is... a world behind the door?</i>

    Chen Ge had plenty of experience when it came to visiting the world behind the door, but this was the first time that he had seen the world behind the door in the real world and a blood fog of this scale.

    <i>This is unbelievable. It replicates the world behind the door perfectly!</i>

    The shock in Chen Ge¡¯s heart could not be put into words. Li Wan City was practically torn in two, one half covered by heavy rain, and the other swallowed by blood fog. It was amazing how clear the distinction was between the two worlds.

    <i>Is this the effect of the door going out of control? The city will be consumed, and nightmares be a part of reality?</i>

    On that rainy night after midnight, Li Wan City revealed its real appearance. During Chen Ge¡¯s previous three-star missions, the world behind the door had often been a building shrouded in blood fog, but before Chen Ge¡¯s eyes was half a city that was swirling with blood fog!

    ¡°Do not continue any further!¡± Even though the middle-aged man¡¯s voice was hoarse from shouting, the bus did not stop.

    Tang Jun nced at Chen Ge through the rear-view mirror. The extremely courageous Chen Ge gave him the signal to keep driving while facing away from the other passengers. After receiving the order, Tang Jun stopped hesitating and stepped on the gas pedal.

    His new boss appeared kind and gentle on the surface, but in reality, he was a mad person who was even crazier than the shadow. Compared to the blood fog, Tang Jun was more afraid of his boss.

    The bus sped up without any warning.

    The sound of high heels clicking echoed in the bus, and the smiling face sprung up from his seat with a frozen smile stered on his face, but both of them were toote.

    Thest bus on Route 104 plunged headfirst into the blood fog and raced down the street that was dyed red!

 Chapter 628 - Reason After Reason

    <h4>Chapter 628: Reason After Reason</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After the bus charged into the blood fog, the sound of heels disappeared, and the expression on the smiling man¡¯s face froze. Things had gotten so out of control that even the ghosts had no idea how this would end.

    The rain slid down from the bus windows. When the fog touched the bus, it would transmute into tiny blood vessels attaching themselves to the exterior of the vehicle. From the outside, it looked like the old bus had been given a new paintjob. Turning back to look, the road from whence they came had already been swallowed up by the blood fog. They would not be able to return even if they wanted to now.

    <i>This ce is still different from the actual world behind the door. In the fog, the buildings haven¡¯t beenpletely dyed red. If I¡¯m not mistaken, the process that is happening here is notpleted yet.</i>

    As the man who had caused this to happen, Chen Ge was the calmest. His fingers dangled outside his pocket, and when the bus charged into the blood fog, the ck phone vibrated several times.

    The situation could change at any minute, so he did not n to take out the phone to look yet. He decided to wait until he reached a safe location first. Based on Chen Ge¡¯s previous direction, Tang Jun headed toward Fan Chong¡¯s home. However, as the blood clotted around the vehicle, the bus started to slow down. Even if Tang Jun mmed on the pedal, the speed did not pick up.

    ¡°What is happening?¡± All the passengers in the car demanded an exnation, and the pressure on Tang Jun grew. He had followed Chen Ge¡¯s order, but now, the collective anger of all the passengers was directed at him. Gripping the steering wheel, Tang Jun was really afraid that Chen Ge might abandon him.

    As a spirit who only knew how to drive a bus, it was really not worth it to make enemy out of the smiling man and the red high heels. The car slowing down was not good news for Tang Jun. He failed toplete the mission that his boss had given him, and now he had to suffer the wrath of the passengers¡ªhe had offended people on both ends.

    He did not know about Chen Ge¡¯s n and had never thought about asking for it. It would be lying to say that he did not feel any regret.

    ¡°Where do you n to take us?¡± the middle-aged man demanded with an outraged face. He struggled loose from Chen Ge¡¯s grasp and went to step on the brake again. This time, Chen Ge did not stop him. The bus was already running slowly, so Chen Ge did not see the point of stopping the middle-aged man.

    ¡°Stop the f*cking bus!¡± The middle-aged man stepped on the brake and started to fight for control of the steering wheel. Out of his instinct as a bus driver, Tang Jun attempted to push the man away. The wheel spun in the tussle, and the hearse veered from the road, careering toward the rails by the roadside.

    ¡°Be careful!¡± Chen Ge screamed and moved forward to push the middle-aged man away, recing him. When he was in the blind spot of all the passengers, he signaled for Tang Jun to open the door and leave immediately. Tang Jun grasped Chen Ge¡¯s signal and decided to trust Chen Ge onest time. After Chen Ge got hold of the steering wheel, he gritted his teeth, shoved the driver¡¯s door open, and jumped out.

    ¡°Hey, where are you going?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s scream was the loudest. He mmed on the brake, and before the car stopped properly, he grabbed his backpack and jumped out, following the driver.

    ¡°Stop right there!¡± he yelled at the top of his lungs as he gave chase.

    ¡°Stop running after him! Quicke back!¡± The doctor knew about the danger lurking in the blood fog. He wanted to stop Chen Ge, but he failed. After turning the corner, even though Chen Ge was screaming for Tang Jun to stop, he yanked open the backpack and pulled Tang Jun back into theic.

    ¡°Stop chasing the man!¡± The doctor¡¯s voice echoed from behind him. Chen Ge jogged backward to the bus.

    ¡°Where¡¯s the driver?¡± The middle-aged man¡¯s expression couldn¡¯t have been uglier.

    ¡°I failed to catch up to him. This was probably premeditated. After all, he¡¯d even figured out his escape route already.¡± Chen Ge had just finished when the middle-aged man barreled forward to grab Chen Ge by his cor. ¡°This is all your fault! If you didn¡¯t stop me earlier, we wouldn¡¯t have ended up in this godforsaken ce!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re ming me? Do you know how fast the bus was travelling earlier. During the physical altercation, if both you and the driver had lost control of the bus and it knocked into the nearby building, do you know how dangerous that would have been?¡± Chen Ge had a point as well.

    ¡°Damn, damn, damn!¡± The middle-aged man mmed his fist against the bus. He gripped his hair so tightly like he was going to pull it out, and his expression was colored with despair. ¡°To escape from these things, I¡¯ve already sacrificed my daughter, and today, I even brought my son with me, so this is just perfect. Wonderful, it¡¯s all f*cking over now!¡±

    ¡°Sacrificed your own daughter?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s brow rose. He had encountered many bad guys before, but one like this middle-aged man... that was truly his first experience dealing with someone like that. The middle-aged man¡¯s emotion was unraveling¡ªhe wanted to vent the anger in his heart, and the kind-looking Chen Ge became his sole target. A string of words that would have caused this author to be banned sprayed out from his lips.

    Forming a great contrast to the middle-aged man was Chen Ge, who was respectful and polite. His eyes jumped over the man to look at the little boy who was frozen solid in fear. There were several bruises on the boy¡¯s arm. He wanted to take a look at what was happening, but he did not have the courage to do so. He peeked up asionally and quickly moved his head down whenever he noticed that someone was looking at him.

    ¡°How could you even do something like this to such a cute little boy?¡±

    ¡°This is for his own good. If we are unable to shake that thing loose, my whole family is going to die!¡± The more he spoke, the angrier he got. He grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s cor again. ¡°This is all your f*cking fault!¡±

    ¡°If you use other people¡¯s despair to rescue yourself from your own despair, you¡¯ll only end up gaining more despair. Only by resolving the problem from its roots will you be able to seek true salvation.¡± Chen Ge seized the man¡¯s hands. ¡°This is the second time you¡¯ve grabbed my cor; I hope there won¡¯t be a third time.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s pointless for us to argue among ourselves now. It¡¯s much more productive for us to try toe up with a solution instead.¡± The doctor came out to act as the mediator, standing between the middle-aged man and Chen Ge. ¡°There has to be someone who gave the driver the order to suddenly change his route and drive the bus into the blood fog. I¡¯ve taken this bus many times in the past, and there has never been an ident. That driver is just a smallckey, so it is someone else who is out to get us.¡±

    The doctor¡¯s analysis was correct, but due to ack of information, the direction of his analysis was wrong. ¡°Thest bus on Route 104 cut through Jiujiang, connecting its eastern and western sides. This is in service of the mastermind in Li Wan City, so it is probably the intention of said party that we¡¯re stuck in this blood fog. There is probably something or someone he needs on this bus.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, that¡¯s what I think as well. Even if the hearse had stopped at the bus stop, the mastermind would have just found another way to force us into the fog.¡± Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and stood next to the doctor.

    ¡°The mastermind in Li Wan City? You sure know a lot of things.¡± Seeing the doctor stand up for Chen Ge, the middle-aged man¡¯s tone softened because he was outnumbered. ¡°Then, tell me, what do you think this so-called mastermind is after?¡±

    ¡°He probably wants to deal with a certain someone who is standing here with us.¡± The doctor¡¯s words caused Chen Ge¡¯s heart to skip a beat, but when he turned around, he noticed that the doctor was actually staring at the smiling man.

    ¡°Every one of us carries our own secret, like the man next to you. He once massacred a whole bus of passengers, ruining the mastermind¡¯s n.¡± Since he was the reason they were dragged into this mess, the doctor thought it was pertinent to expose the smiling man.

    Maintaining the creepy smile on his face, the smiling man¡¯s neck extended, and his eyes that were crawling with ck lines turned to focus on the doctor. ¡°I¡¯ve killed a whole bus of people, including the driver, leaving no survivors, so... how do you know about something like that?¡±

 Chapter 629 - Iâ€™ve Been Here Before

    <h4>Chapter 629: I¡¯ve Been Here Before</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Facing the smiling man¡¯s interrogation, the doctor appeared surprisingly calm like he had considered this question already. He nudged to stand behind Chen Ge and pulled the scarf to cover even more of his face. ¡°It was a friend who told me the news about you.¡±

    ¡°Then how did your friende to know about it?¡± After his secret had been exposed, the smile on the man¡¯s face bloomed like a spring flower. Both his tone and demeanor were different from before; it felt as if the man would only experience true joy when he was murdering.

    ¡°You only killed the people on the bus. At the time, my friend was outside the bus, and he witnessed everything.¡± ( Boxno vel. co m )

    ¡°Is that so? Then, where is this friend now?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s dead now. He never returned after entering the ghost apartment.¡± When he heard that the doctor¡¯s friend was dead, there was a slight shift to the smiling man¡¯s expression. It felt like regret.

    ¡°So, I made the mistake of leaving a witnessst time, but it doesn¡¯t matter. That only reminds me to be more cautious this time.¡± The smiling man stopped hiding his murderous intention. He shuffled out to the aisle, and dark lines surfaced on his skin¡ªthey looked like ck-colored blood vessels.

    ¡°Is this a man or a ghost?¡± The middle-aged man knew that he was no match for the smiling man either way. He abandoned his wife and son without a second thought as he ran to the front door and prepared to slip out.

    ¡°Please try to calm down. Even if you kill us, you will be unable to escape. Just as the doctor said, the real target of the mastermind is you, and we are just coteral damage.¡± Chen Ge stood to shield the doctor. ¡°We¡¯re in the same boat. If we turn on each other, it¡¯ll only benefit the mastermind. Doesn¡¯t it make more sense for us to work together to deal with what¡¯s toe?¡±

    His fingers gripping the bag, Chen Ge¡¯s palm was coated with sweat. Xu Yin had warned him earlier that this smiling man was very dangerous. When the doctor was speaking earlier, the smiling man had shed his disguise. However, when Chen Ge took the podium, he had hesitated but only for a moment.

    ¡°You have a point, but why should I follow your order?¡± The ck lines under the man¡¯s skin had connected to form something that looked like a. It looked like they were about to yank the man¡¯s skin and flesh out. For a normal person, this would have been an insurmountable pain, but the smiling man did not show any sense of being in pain; rather, he was smiling even brighter.

    He seemed to have gotten used to the sensation of pain. His hands reached toward the corners of his lips, and as he pulled on his skin, the literal yanking back of his skin helped him shed the disguise. His spine grew taller, and the already unnaturally long neck grew longer.

    ¡°Perhaps you believe that it is very easy to murder all of us, but don¡¯t forget, there is a pair of red high heels on the bus, and the owner of said heels might be following behind one of the passengers. I believe you have the capability to murder all of us, but what kind of advantage will that bring you?¡± The mention of red high heels gave the smiling man pause, and his hands that pulled on his cheeks lowered.

    ¡°We are not enemies. You once killed a whole bus of people, and that made you the enemy of the mastermind, but what does that have to do with the rest of us? The mastermind has dragged us into this to deal with you, so from a certain perspective, we should be ally because we have the shared enemy!¡± Chen Ge pointed at the blood fog outside the window. ¡°The road we took toe here has already disappeared. We know nothing of this world, and no one can tell what will happen next. Under these circumstances, are you still confident that you¡¯ll be able to escape this ce alone?¡±

    The blood in the fog stuck to the bus windows, and the old bus was alreadypletely red.

    ¡°There is not much time left to think. If you are willing, we¡¯ll both benefit, but if you aren¡¯t, then we¡¯ll have to fight it out. We might not be able to kill you but before our death, I¡¯m sure we¡¯re able to injure you somehow.¡± Chen Ge felt for the handle of the hammer through the backpack¡¯s fabric. He had no idea whether the smiling man would cooperate or not, and he had to prepare for all contingencies.

    No one spoke, and silence fell. The smiling man seemed to be bncing the scale in his mind. Just as the tension rose, a sudden thud came from the center of the bus.

    ¡°What the f*ck? Where the hell am I?¡± The drunkard rolled down from the seat and copsed to the ground. He nced out the window, and when he saw the thick blood fog covering all the buildings, he woke up instantly.

    The body gag from the drunkard softened the mood inside the bus. The ck lines under the smiling man¡¯s skin slowly disappeared, and his body returned to normal. It was as if everything earlier did not happen, and the smiling man returned to his seat.

    ¡°What is going on?¡± The drunkard pinched his cheeks. ¡°I just took one nap, and where have you people taken me? Where¡¯s the driver?¡±

    ¡°The driver has already deserted the bus. We too have to no idea where we are, but one thing¡¯s for certain, it is very dangerous here.¡± Chen Ge sighed in relief when he saw the smiling man return to his seat. The fact that they did not resort to violence was good news for Chen Ge because, after all, he still nned to borrow the smiling man¡¯s power to deal with the shadow.

    ¡°The driver has deserted the bus? Wait a minute, this is so messy. Let me sort through it for a moment first.¡± The drunkard counted on his fingers. ¡°First, I had a bit too much to drink, then I waited at the bus stop for a bus. I appeared to have fallen asleep on the bus, and there¡¯s nothing wrong with that!¡± The haze of alcohol surrounded the drunkard. He spoke with a heavy nasally voice, and he slurred his words. ¡°By the way, why did the driver desert the bus? Did we get hijacked? Why didn¡¯t you wake me if something like that happened?¡±

    If there was anyone who dared to hijacked Chen Ge¡¯s bus, then they were truly the luckiest b*stard alive.

    ¡°Nothing like that happened, but then our current situation might be ten times more dangerous than a hijacking.¡± Chen Ge did not ignore the drunkard simply because he was just a normal person. ¡°There might be crazed murderer hiding inside the blood fog. If you fall into their hands when you¡¯re alone, you might end up getting dismembered.¡±

    ¡°Murderers? Dismembered? What the f*ck? I¡¯m calling the cops!¡± The drunkard yanked out his phone, but there was no signal after they entered the fog.

    ¡°The fog has blocked all signal. Save your energy. If we aren¡¯t able to escape from this fog, we¡¯ll all die here.¡± Chen Ge consoled the drunkard and turned to face everyone else. ¡°The bus attracts too many eyeballs being stuck in the middle of the road. I think we should find a ce to hide first and observe our surroundings before deciding our next step.¡±

    ¡°I have no issue with that.¡± The doctor was the first to agree, and the other passengers soon followed suit.

    ¡°Okay, then we should leave the bus. Staying here will make us an easy target.¡± Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and the travel bag with the white cat inside and was the first to leave thest bus on Route 104.

    He used Yin Yang Vision to scan the surrounding buildings. His expression shifted. ¡°I¡¯ve seen these buildings in Xiao Bu¡¯s game before!¡±

    At the time, to look for the first save point, Chen Ge had practically run up and down the streets in the game countless times.

    ¡°The game mirrors real life; this should be very advantageous to me.¡± With the map of the city still memorized in his mind, the disturbance of the blood fog on Chen Ge had dropped to the lowest.

 Chapter 630 - Thriller Paradise Begins

    <h4>Chapter 630: Thriller Paradise Begins</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The ¡®door¡¯ in Li Wan City had already gone out of control, and the blood fog had consumed half of the town, blurring the line between nightmare and reality. Currently, Chen Ge had no idea whether he was inside the door or not because with the blood fog covering everything, blood vessels crawled on the surface of all the buildings.

    <i>If we walk down this path, we¡¯ll be at the building where the phone spirit¡¯s body was discovered. Maybe I should go to the roof to check the water tank.</i>

    In real life, the body of the phone spirit, Tong Tong, had already been taken away by the police, so if there was still a body inside the tank, then it could only mean that Chen Ge was in the world behind the door. The world behind the door had been created from the memory of the door-pusher, so as long as Tong Tong¡¯s body existed in Xiao Bu¡¯s memory, there would be a high probability of a body being abandoned inside the water tank.

    Of course, this was merely Chen Ge¡¯s spection, and he had no way of verifying it.

    <i>Fan Chong lives in the same residential area as Xiao Bu¡¯s ssmate. It is quite far from here, and if I go there, we will definitely run into some things.</i>

    Chen Ge looked behind him. Everywhere he saw was the blood fog. The road they took had already disappeared, and this world behind the fog appeared to be one-way only.

    <i>Assuming that this is really the world behind the door, the only way to leave this ce will be through the door. Li Wan City¡¯s door is in the building opposite from Fan Chong¡¯s home, so it looks like no matter what, we¡¯ll have to take a detour to his home tonight.</i>

    Finding the excuse, Chen Ge nned to share the result of his analysis with all the passengers and ask them to follow him to the residential area.

    ¡°I¡¯m giving them a clear direction, helping them to find their way home.¡±

    The blood vessels gathered on the exterior of the bus. It felt like the fog was alive and was slowly consuming everything that came from outside.

    ¡°What are you grumbling about?¡± The passengers left the bus one after another. The doctor sidled up to Chen Ge. ¡°We should stay together. No matter what, we can¡¯t afford to get separated.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at the bus door. The drunkard stayed with the family of three, the smiling man stood to the side, and the ¡®murderer¡¯ who called himself Scissors stayed alone at the back.

    ¡°Before ensuring the safety of the building, it¡¯s best not to wander too close to the buildings. Scary stuff like chopped arms or floating heads mighte out from them.¡± Chen Ge had seen simr things in Xiao Bu¡¯s game, and in a way, he was very experienced.

    ¡°I hope you¡¯re joking.¡± The drunkard waspletely awake¡ªhow could he not be? If he could leave Li Wan City alive, he would not go near alcohol anymore.

    ¡°Of course, I am. I have no idea what will really happen¡ªit might be scarier than what I described.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the building where the phone spirit¡¯s body should be found. ¡°Let¡¯s go take a look. We¡¯ll scan through every floor, and after confirming there is no danger, that shall be where we should hide temporarily.¡±

    ¡°It looks like you know this ce well,¡± the middle-aged man uttered with a drawn face. The distrust in his voice could not have been more obvious. ¡°There are so many buildings around us, so why would you point us toward this building? You have set a trap inside there, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re being unfair.¡± Chen Ge smiled at the middle-aged man. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have to rely on traps to kill you.¡±

    The middle-aged man¡¯s face shifted immediately, and then Chen Ge shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m joking of course; I¡¯ve never even killed a chicken in my life before. The only reason I can maintain my calmness now is because I y horror games for a living.¡±

    Chen Ge turned around to point at the building that he had chosen. ¡°Of course, there is a reason for me to choose that building for us. As they say, knowing your enemy is winning half the battle. We will hide inside the building and observe the bus through the window. Since the mastermind sent us into the blood fog, he will definitely send someone over to check up on us. We have to at least know our adversary¡¯s appearance and ability toe up with a valid n. Furthermore, visibility is low in the fog. If we stay too close to the bus, we might be discovered by the enemy, but if we stay too far, we won¡¯t be able to see anything, so afterbining all the above factors, I believe this building is the most suitable.¡±

    After giving his argument, even the smiling man nodded in agreement. The middle-aged man could not argue with such solid reasoning, but he still felt weirdly unsettled. ¡°Then you will walk ahead, and we¡¯ll follow behind you.¡±

    ¡°No problem, but make sure you don¡¯t get left behind,¡± Chen Ge promised easily. He carried his two bags and scouted ahead. The doctor followed closely behind him.

    ¡°There has to be something wrong with this guy.¡± The middle-aged man grabbed his wife¡¯s arm. His wife was like a puppet, allowing him to take charge over her without resistance.

    ¡°Really? I think he makes really solid points in his argument.¡± Since the family did not move, the drunkard stayed as well. The family of three looked the least threatening to him, so he decided to stay with them.

    ¡°He sounds logical, but it¡¯ll be toote for regrets if he¡¯s hiding something from us. It¡¯s never wrong to be careful.¡± The middle-aged man picked up the boy. They moved to follow Chen Ge but maintained a fair distance between them.

    The smiling man did not choose to follow Chen Ge but walked to the other side of the street alone. From Chen Ge¡¯s side, he could only see a blurry shape through the fog.

    Scissors was at the back of the group. His face was pale, and whenever he moved, there would be two footsteps. The few walked through the fog. When they neared the building, someone pulled on Chen Ge¡¯s shirt.

    He turned back to look and saw the doctor pull down the scarf to whisper, ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s wise for us to enter any building inside the blood fog. We¡¯ll be lucky if it¡¯s empty, but I¡¯m afraid they might be upied.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine. I promise to be careful.¡± Chen Ge noticed that the doctor was suspiciously knowledgeable like he had been to this ce before. The pair entered the building. In the dark corridor, surrounded by the peeling paint on the wall and the blood fog that pervaded every inch of the building, just standing there would make anyone ufortable.

    The weird-smelling wooden doors were pushed open, and Chen Ge went into every room to check.

    ¡°You really n to inspect every single room?¡± The doctor appeared hesitant. ¡°What if we run into something?¡±

    ¡°Finding them proactively is still better than allowing them to ambush us.¡± Chen Ge moved quickly; he did not stop to rest. It was like he did not understand the feeling of fear. They soon reached the top floor.

    On the ground floor, the family of three and the drunkard stayed. They were grouped together, not knowing whether they should climb up the stairs or not.

    ¡°That man seems to have reached the top floor already.¡± The drunkard stood at the stairwell and looked up through the gap.

    ¡°There¡¯s no reason for us to follow him. Staying on the ground floor will grant us a quick escape.¡± The middle-aged man was quite a cowardly person.

    ¡°Daddy...¡± The boy in his arms seemed to notice something as he stared at the dim corridor behind the middle-aged man.

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± The drunkard kept looking upward, but it was too dark to see anything. He narrowed his eyes and had a sneaking suspicion that there was something on the stairs of one of the upper floors that was poking out. He wondered if that was some kind of decoration.

    ¡°Let him scout the way forward¡ªwe¡¯ll just wait until he¡¯s confirmed it¡¯s safe.¡±

    The middle-aged man wanted to say something else when the boy whispered again, ¡°Daddy...¡±

    ¡°Yes? What is it? I can hear you just fine, shush!¡±

    ¡°There is a doorknob in the corridor that¡¯s moving. Look, there.¡± The boy raised his hand to point at a spot deep inside the corridor.

 Chapter 631 - Danger Ahead

    <h4>Chapter 631: Danger Ahead</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The wife who had not spoken a word, the middle-aged man, and the drunkard all turned to look in the direction that the boy was pointing. A strange sound came from the end of the corridor. The doorknob for one of the rooms was lightly jostling like there was someone locked behind the door trying to get out.

    This strange sounding from the eerily quiet residential building made all of their hearts squeeze.

    ¡°The man who¡¯s leading the way went upstairs, and he said there aren¡¯t any tenants here.¡± The more the middle-aged man thought about it, the more scared he became. ¡°I¡¯ve been to Li Wan City before, how shall I say this? Sometimes, you¡¯lle across things that can¡¯t be exined scientifically here.¡±

    ¡°For example?¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t want to know the examples, trust me. All we can do is avoid them to the best of our ability.¡±

    ¡°What if we can¡¯t avoid them?¡± The drunkard leaned against the wall, and his eyes narrowed in on the end of the corridor.

    ¡°If we can¡¯t avoid them, then we¡¯ll have to pretend not to see them and act as normal as we can. Keep telling yourself it is just a part of your imagination.¡± The middle-aged man¡¯s face paled like he was reminded of some horrible memory. Cold sweat poured out from his forehead, and he looked like he was about to puke. ¡°The Li Wan City I visited back then was not like this Li Wan City. Back then, there was no red fog; it seems like things have changed since then.¡±

    ¡°Stop trying to scare me. F*ck, howe it feels like someone is blowing into my ear and there¡¯s a woman speaking!¡± The drunkard turned to look behind him. The ¡®murderer¡¯ who called himself Scissors walked past the corridor. With his every step, there echoed two footsteps. His expression was strange. It was supposed to be a man¡¯s face, but once one looked at him longer, one would feel like they were looking at a woman.

    The person did not follow them into the corridor but continued to walk ahead.

    ¡°Is that a man or a woman?¡± This strange feeling made the drunkard extremely nervous. He patted the middle-aged man¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Just now, someone walked past.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± When the middle-aged man turned back to look, the blood fog had already covered the whole corridor, and he could not see anything. ¡°Ignore him, we have to take care of ourselves first.¡±

    In just the blink of an eye, the doorknob at the end of the corridor stopped moving, and everything became silent again. The fog thickened, and the surroundings turned eerier. asionally, there was the sound of wind howling, and that worried the group even more.

    ¡°Has the person behind the door given up?¡± The drunkard grabbed the rails of the staircase. He was standing at the mouth of the corridor, preparing to run should the situation require it.

    ¡°Perhaps, or maybe the thing has already escaped from the room.¡± The middle-aged bent over to retrieve a phone from inside his pocket. The drunkard noticed that the model used by the middle-aged man was from many years ago. He adjusted the brightness of the screen to its highest. He raised it before him, and it appeared like something else had joined them in the corridor. However, they were too far away to see what it was.

    ¡°This is strange.¡± The middle-aged man used his elbow to nudge the drunkard. ¡°I feel like this corridor is different from before. Come and take a look.¡±

    As the wind caressed the tips of his ears, it felt like a madman was whispering to him. The drunkard epted the man¡¯s phone and looked closer. ¡°It really does seem like there is something that wasn¡¯t there earlier.¡±

    He stepped involuntarily forward with a frown on his face upon surveying the decrepit ceiling, closed doors, and trash that crowded the cramped corridor.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± The drunkard¡¯s attention was suddenly caught by something.

    ¡°What did you see?¡± The middle-aged man rushed over to look at what the drunkard had found. He could not see anything out of ce¡ªthere was no ghost or dead body.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, wait a minute.¡± The drunkard returned the phone and took out his phone to activate the shlight function. The light refracted in the fog, and that meant that they still could not see things clearly.

    ¡°It was this door that made the sound earlier.¡± The drunkard suppressed his fear as he moved forward, with his neck pulled back, his arm holding the wall. After several steps, he finally saw the additional thing that had not been there earlier. ¡°A mop?¡±

    There was a mop that had been added to the corridor, the kind used in everyday life. He wondered who tossed that there.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a mop. Why are you trying to scare me like that?¡± The middle-aged took a deep breath as he ced the boy on the ground. His arms were getting sore.

    The drunkard sighed in relief, and he scratched his head embarrassedly. ¡°I guess I was being too nervous... but was there a mop in this corridor earlier?¡±

    ¡°There probably was. I can¡¯t remember anymore.¡± The middle-aged man stood with the drunkard, and they looked down the corridor with the lightsing from their phones.

    The drunkard, who wanted to move forward, suddenly stopped. He asked the middle-aged man next to him with some uncertainty, ¡°Did the mop move? Wasn¡¯t it back there earlier? I remember it was leaning against the door of the third room from the back. Howe it feels like it has moved one door ahead?¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± The middle-aged man turned to look at the mop.

    Under the two¡¯s scrutiny, the mop suddenly moved, and the ck trails of cloth started to shake to slowly reveal a human face underneath!

    The drunkard and the middle-aged man did not anticipate something like this happening. Their limbs were cold, and before they reacted, the mop started to slither toward them. When it got closer, the people saw clearly that it was not a mop but a person with long hair.

    ¡°Run!¡±

    The drunkard held the phone and turned to run away. The middle-aged man abandoned his wife and child and followed the drunkard. The boy was spooked. He started to cry until his mother carried him into her arms.

    The sound of running footsteps echoed throughout the building. The drunkard was the first to exit the corridor. He hesitated for a moment, between going up the stairs to find Chen Ge and running out of the building directly. He lifted his head to look up the staircase. A curtain of ck hair fell down onto his face, and a pale face was sliding down the rails of the stairwell.

    Apanying a scream, he threw caution into the wind and raced out the building. In the foggy street of the city where reality and nightmares weaved together, every building looked like a man-eating monster.

    His heart still pumping, the drunkard did not dare stay any longer. He yelled at the middle-aged man behind him, ¡°Run, this way!¡±

    Then he ran to hide inside a two-story building next door.

    The gate of the house was not locked, but the nts in the courtyard were all dried and wilted. The most eye-catching was arge dog house in the deepest corner of the yard.

    It was a small construct built from iron poles and moldy wooden boards. Bite marks were left on the many surfaces. Other than inside the building, the only ce that could hide a person was the dog house.

    Footsteps and a woman¡¯sughter came from outside, and it muddled the drunkard¡¯s mind. It made him feel like nowhere was safe.

    He rushed to the dog house and squatted down behind it. <i>It might be dangerous inside the house. Who knows what kind of thing I might run into in there? It¡¯s better for me to hide here for now.</i>

    The drunkard supported himself by holding the wooden boards that formed the dog house¡¯s roof. He considered hiding inside the dog house, but before he poked his head in, a pungent stench assaulted his nose.

 Chapter 632 - Air Fumigants

    <h4>Chapter 632: Air Fumigants</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°What is producing that smell?¡± The drunkard covered his mouth and nose as he shone his shlight into the dog house. Out of his expectations, there was nothing inside. ¡°This looks perfectly clean, but if that¡¯s the case, why is it so smelly? Even ruined meat wouldn¡¯t be this smelly!¡±

    Resisting the urge to vomit, the drunkard picked up the nearby branch to sift through the dirt inside the dog house. ¡°There¡¯s nothing buried underneath either, so where is the stenching from? It smells like the stench has soaked into the wooden boards...¡±

    The echoes of harried footsteps neared. The drunkard took a step back. Unable to stand the smell, he jumped through the open window into the building.

    ¡°Hopefully, the family won¡¯t lead the monster here.¡± The drunkard started to regret calling the middle-aged man to follow him¡ªthat hadpletely exposed his location, had it not?

    Holding his head in his hands, the drunkard squatted beneath the window and pinched his skin. ¡°This is not a dream, but what the hell was the thing that I saw? How can a head move so fast? And how did it move anyway? Using its chin?¡±

    The drunkard believed that tragedy had already struck the family of three, but he had no thoughts of going out to save them either. ¡°Other than me, all of the other passengers on the bus have probably died already. No one would have the courage to face these things, no one...¡±

    He was still feeling light-headed; however, that was not from alcohol but from fear and shock. With cold sweat pouring out of his every pore, the drunkard shivered. ¡°What should I do now? Without a signal on the phone, I have no idea where I am. I guess I¡¯ll just hide here until the fog disperses.¡±

    After what happened earlier, the drunkard did not dare wander aimlessly anymore. He cowered under the window, and several minutester, he suddenly heard the door of the yard creak open.

    ¡°Someone¡¯s here!¡± Holding his breath, the drunkard focused on his hearing. After the gate opened, there was no other sound.

    ¡°Did the thing juste in to take a quick look? Did the monster not discover me?¡± This time, the drunkard had learned from his previous lesson; he did not poke his head up to look through the window, worried that someone might be looking back at him. Instead, he got his phone, adjusted the angle, and used the camera function to look out into the yard. The gate was half-open, but there was no one in the yard.

    ¡°I guess that was lucky.¡± The drunkard stood up, and when he put the phone away, his elbow brushed against the bottle left on the windowsill.

    ¡°An air-freshener?¡± The drunkard reced the bottle and did not think too much of it. Standing up, the drunkard finally had the time to study his hiding ce. Perhaps it was his heightened nerves, but he felt like there was a strange voice whispering into his ears. It sounded like the tingle of a wind chime.

    This was an old tradition, hanging wind chimes above the door. When they jingled, it represented that someone had entered the room. If this was normal, the drunkard would not have cared, but this situation was different. There was a feeling that someone was wandering near the entrance, and it was moving fast.

    Just the thought that there was something else in the house with him caused his heart to constrict. Footsteps shuffled on the ground. The drunkard was facing away from the window, and he suddenly noticed the light behind him dimming like something was standing at the window, blocking the light.

    <i>Who¡¯s standing outside the window? </i>As that thought crossed his mind, the drunkard¡¯s head was about to explode. His body was frozen in fear, and the wind chime jingled more intensely. <i>Something is approaching!</i>

    The drunkard summoned all of his courage to turn back to look, but there was nothing at the window.

    ¡°I¡¯m just scaring myself.¡± He retreated to the window, and when his hand brushed the windowsill, he felt something under his skin. Using the light from the phone, he saw there was a lot of ck dog fur stuck in the cracks on the windowsill.

    PA!

    The window on the second floor was swung open. The drunkard¡¯s hands shuddered, and the dog fur in his palm fell to the floor. He clearly heard that it was the window directly above him that was swung open!

    Perhaps this was a coincidence, or maybe someone was trying to toy with him. He did not dare jump out of the window, but at the same time, he did not think that it was safe inside the house. Just as he was hesitating, more dog fur fluttered down from the ceiling.

    ¡°Why is there so much dog fur?¡± He was reminded of the empty dog house in the yard and that thick stench!

    ¡°What is happening?¡± The drunkard did not dare look up; he had no interest in finding out what was staring at him from above. At that moment, he just wanted to be left alone.

    ¡°I can¡¯t stay here anymore; I need to leave!¡± Just as he made that decision, the gate in the yard was pushed open again, and in the dark, something that looked like a mop went to block the front door.

    Seeing the face underneath the hair, the drunkard¡¯s heart was plunged into ice. He did not even close the window and ran away from this room that was closest to the yard.

    ¡°F*ck, when did it show up?¡± The drunkard ran into the corridor, and the sound of the wind chime came from the end of the corridor. Pairs of old slippers littered the ground, and the ce was quite a mess.

    ¡°The dog fur floated down from above, so there must be something scary on the second floor as well! I mustn¡¯t go up there, and I need to stay away from the stairs!¡± The drunkard took a deep breath to make himself calm down. He slunk into the room furthest from the stairs.

    The floor creaked noisily, and a strange child¡¯s singing came from who knew where. It felt like someone had activated a dead person¡¯s recorder.

    ¡°I saw slippers for both adults and children in the corridor, so there might be more than one thing upying this house...¡± The more he thought about it, the more afraid he became. The drunkard¡¯s back was wet, and his body was cold. ¡°Hopefully, they won¡¯te in here.¡±

    After silently closing the door, the drunkard noticed that there were empty cans left behind the door. They looked simr to the one he found on the windowsill. ¡°Why are there so many air-fresheners in the house?¡± He tossed the cans aside and then came to notice that there were many perfume bottles and packs of deodorant abandoned in the corner of the room.

    ¡°Why are there so many fumigants in this house? What happened here?¡± The drunkard kept getting reminded of that stinky dog house. ¡°The dog house is well kept, but it is disgustingly smelly. The rooms for human beings are such a mess, but they smell fragrant. Something must be wrong here.¡±

    He looked around and discerned that he was in a young man¡¯s room. There were fashion magazines and body-building magazines strewn on the bed, and there were dumbbells and weights underneath the table.

    The room could not have looked more normal, but for some reason, the drunkard felt very uneasy.

    He opened the drawers of the study table. In the bottom drawer, he found a stack of pictures recording scenes of animal abuse. It made the hair on his back rise. However, that was not the scariest. As the drunkard continued to flip through the picture, he noticed, for the first quarter of the pictures, it was a faceless teen who was torturing animals. However, for the remaining three quarters of the pictures, it was the teen who was being tortured in return.

 Chapter 633 - No Where to Run

    <h4>Chapter 633: No Where to Run</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Is this animal abuse or human abuse?¡± The cruelty and savagery that the pictures portrayed made the drunkard ufortable. He shoved the pictures back into the drawer without looking through all of them. As he pulled his hands back, he suddenly felt something wet and sticky on his palm. Using the phone to see, the drunkard¡¯s eyes jumped. His palms were wet with reddish-ck blood.

    ¡°But I haven¡¯t touched anything other than the pictures? Could the blood have seeped out from the pictures?¡± Standing alone in the strange room, with things scurrying in the corridor, the wind chime singing, and a mop-like monster blocking the front door... even if the drunkard had one hundred times his courage, he would not have left the room.

    ¡°The monster that threw the dog fur out of the window was on the second floor, and this room was the furthest from the stairs, so it should be the safest room.¡± He did not dare to leave, worried that the monster would be right outside the door once he opened it. However, he could not help but panic, staying inside the room. ¡°But why would the pictures leak blood? I should have identally brushed against a certain part of the drawer, or maybe there¡¯s a hiddenpartment inside the door.¡±

    Summoning his courage, the drunkard yanked thest drawer off its hinges and ced it on the ground. This time, he clearly saw that there were indeed the pictures inside the drawer.

    ¡°Wait, so did the blood reallye from the pictures?¡± His assumption was overruled, and there was a sudden urge for him to escape from the room. His eyes fell on the pictures, and the drunkard noticed something strange. In all the pictures where the man was abused, the man¡¯s face was hidden, but in all the pictures where the man was abusing the animal, when the animals were on theirst breath, there would be a hand gripping the animals¡¯ neck, turning their heads to the camera like the man was brandishing his victory spoils.

    ¡°Such a maniac.¡± Perhaps he had been staring at the pictures for far too long, but the drunkard suddenly noticed that all the animals in the pictures seemed to be smiling.

    ¡°This is the first time that I¡¯ve seen such an expression on an animal, or I think they should be smiling, right? A smiling dog?¡± The drunkard shivered. He did not dare get any closer to the pictures on the ground. He looked around, and the longer he stayed in the room, the more scared he became. ¡°Howe it feels like this ce is scarier than the one from before?¡±

    He rubbed his hands on the bed, trying to rub the blood stain away, but his fingers touched something else. After some hesitation, he pulled the bedsheet back, and the stench hit him like a wall. On the mattress of the wooden bed, there was a human-shaped blood pool that had already dried.

    From the shape alone, he could tell the victim must have been in great pain before he perished. The blood stter exploded around the stomach. It looked as if the victim had been pounced on by some kind of beast, and the beast had torn open his stomach and neck.

    The drunkard was a salesman; he had not experienced something like this before. His body petrified, and his brain went into shut down. His scalp was numb, and a st of air was rushing out of his lungs. At thest minute, he bit on his own hands to stop himself from screaming.

    ¡°Someone has died in this room! This bed is hisst resting ce!¡± This conclusion came easily. He did not dare stay there any longer. For a man who lived in a peaceful world, this was the first time the drunkard hade so close to an actual murder. His eyes darted about, and he finally came to after a long time. The first thing he did was toss the bedsheet away.

    His eyes moved to his feet, and the animals¡¯ faces seared into his mind. ¡°That dog is smiling; he is reallyughing! I¡¯m not mistaken!¡±

    The drunkard was a bit crazed from all the scares, but this was not his fault. After waking up inside the bus, it felt like his whole world had changed. He had not experienced anything like this before, not even in his nightmares.

    ¡°I need to leave this ce; I cannot stay here anymore!¡± The drunkard leaned against the wall and walked to the window. He gripped the curtain, but he did not have the courage to pull it back, worried what he might see behind it.

    His heart was gripped by hesitation, and his legs were shaking. As Murphy¡¯s Law stated, what one wished would not happen would always happen. A strange sound came from inside the room¡ªit sounded like a rat chomping on something.

    ¡°It sounds like it¡¯sing from underneath the bed...¡± The drunkard was not crazy enough to bend down to look under the bed. When the noise grew too loud, he yanked the curtain back.

    The bedroom window was already half open. Through the window, when the drunkard looked out, a face was looking in. The ck hair that looked like cloth stered on the face and the pale head was trying its best to squeeze through the window!

    PA!

    The drunkard used all of his strength to m the window shut, creating a loud noise. His brain was drawing a nk, and it was his body¡¯s reactive nerves thatpelled him to m the window shut.

    The head slithered up the thin ss of the window. Its lips opened and closed slowly, and thest few remaining teeth ground against the ss as if it was saying, ¡°I¡¯ve finally found you.¡±

    After locking the window, the drunkard felt like he had exhausted all the energy he had. He copsed to the ground and looked up at the head at the window. Before he could recover, he felt something wet staining his pants; the sudden cold sensation made him ufortable.

    With a shuddering gaze, he turned his head down to look. He had fallen on top of the pictures, and blood was spreading on his pants.

    Other than that, the drunkard noticed that all the animals¡¯ head had gone missing from the pictures where the animals were abused. The reddish-ck blood was seeping out of the stumps where their heads should be.

    The drunkard felt the air being sucked out of his lungs, and he crawled swiftly away.

    BANG! BANG!

    The human head knocked against the window, but the drunkard was not going to take a look. He forced himself up and ran back into the house.

    ¡°Help, help, where are all the other people?¡± He crawled back into the corridor, intending to find a different room to hide, but once he got out, he saw a shadow leaning at the corner of the stairs leading to the second floor. It looked like a dog but also like a man!

    ¡°What is that?¡± Too afraid to get close to the stairs, the drunkard turned and hid inside the closest room. He closed the door without even realizing what kind of room it was. He locked the door and gasped hungrily for air while leaning on the door. For a normal person, he was already quite mentally strong considering the experience that he had been through.

    ¡°No, I can¡¯t die here! I need to leave and group up with the rest!¡± The drunkard now realized how important it was to stick together. He moved the table to block the door and started to observe his surroundings.

    A stove, a fridge, and arge kitchen cupboard.

    ¡°Is this the kitchen?¡± The drunkard looked around and realized that this was not good for him. He had entered the kitchen, and the worst thing was that there was no window in this room.

    ¡°It¡¯s over.¡±

    There was the sound of ss shatteringing from outside, and the wind chime in the corridor screamed even louder. The drunkard refused to give up. Compelled by a strong will to survive, he started to rummage through the kitchen to look for anything useful.

 Chapter 634 - One Ghost Story to Every House

    <h4>Chapter 634: One Ghost Story to Every House</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The kitchen could not really be called big, and the most conspicuous object in the room was the cupboard. There were many delicious looking dishes ced inside, but strangely enough, all of them were wrapped inside stic wrap, and most had been left there for so long that the rot had started to set in. ¡°Why would they use the cupboard to store the food when there¡¯s a perfectly fine fridge?¡±

    The situation was too urgent for the drunkard to stop to figure out a question like that. He rushed to the stove and noticed that the exhaust fan that was installed on the wall.

    ¡°This fan...¡± Perhaps it was special design, or maybe it was the family¡¯s peculiar habit, but the exhaust fan installed in the kitchen wasrger than normal, and it was justrge enough for a child to fit through.

    ¡°There¡¯s no window in the kitchen, so to help venttion, arge exhaust fan is installed?¡± The drunkard stepped on the chair and yanked the fan down forcefully. He looked at the hole, and his expression was colored with hesitation. The hole was too small for an adult. If he was stuck inside, he could not imagine what would happen.

    ( Boxno vel. co m ) ¡°What should I do now?¡± Just as the drunkard was hesitating, he saw the cleaver that had been left on the chopping board. Blood and bone chips were stuck to the de. He looked up at the hole and looked down at the cleaver. A strange idea appeared in the drunkard¡¯s mind like everything so far had been cleverly arranged by someone.

    The hole was too small for a normal adult, but if one chop off their scap and sheared off their hipbone, they should be able to fit through the hole easily. Holding the cleaver in his hand, the handle was sticky, and it made the drunkard ufortable. As if trying to rush him, he heard the sound of the doors behind opening in the corridor like someone was opening every single room to check them one by one.

    ¡°If I escape from here, who knows what kind of crazy thing I¡¯ll run into next. Only a real idiot would harm themselves.¡± He held the cleaver in one hand. He bit on his lips, and suddenly, an idea popped into his mind. ¡°I could pretend to have escaped from the exhaust fan, but actually, I¡¯ll be hiding somewhere else. When the owneres to check the room, I¡¯ll use that opportunity to escape.¡±

    The drunkard looked around before walking to the fridge.

    The kitchen was not big, but there was a veryrge doubleyer fridge. The drunkard opened the topyer, and it was stuff full of various deodorants and air-fresheners¡ªsome unopened, some used.

    ¡°What¡¯s with these things?¡± This was the first time that he had seen such things being stored inside the fridge. He bent down to open the bottomyer, and it was filled with several ck stic bags.

    ¡°These couldn¡¯t be dead bodies, could they?¡± s, there was no other option for the drunkard¡ªthe only hiding cerge enough to fit a man was the fridge. He moved the ck stic from the bottomyer to the topyer. During the moving process, a dog¡¯s head fell out from a gash in one of the bags.

    ¡°These are carrying dog meat?¡± To cover his trail, the drunkard picked up the dog¡¯s head, but when he shoved the head into the fridge, he identally nced at the head. The pupils were frozen in fear, and the longer he looked at it, the more he felt the head looked like a human. He could not really exin why, but it just felt he was not staring at a dog¡¯s head but a frozen human head.

    ¡°F*ck this!¡± Unable to stare at the dog¡¯s head anymore, the drunkard mmed the door shut after he finished moving all the ck stic bags.

    BANG!

    He was just finished with his work when the doorknob of the kitchen was being turned. When the person noticed that the door refused to open after giving it multiple tries, the shaking became more violent.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been discovered!¡± The drunkard ced the chair under the exhaust fan, grabbed the cleaver, and crawled into the lower section of the fridge before closing the door. The kitchen door was mmed into multiple times, but it held. The monster outside the door seemed to have given up already. The footsteps moved away, and the room instantly became quiet.

    The drunkard was shivering due to the chill. He did not dare leave his hiding spot, afraid that this was a trap. About half a minuteter, the footsteps reappeared, followed by the key being pushed inside the lock. The locked door was opened, and the table was pushed aside.

    ¡°It¡¯s here!¡± The drunkard had no idea what the owner looked like, but the thought of the pictures that it had taken chilled him to his core. Footsteps echoed in the kitchen. Soon, the chair was moved around like the owner was inspecting it.

    ¡°Hopefully, that¡¯ll be able to fool him...¡± That was the drunkard¡¯s wish, but not a moment after that prayer began in his heart came the sound of the fridge door being pulled open. The door of the top section was opened, and the ck stic bags that he had stuffed hurriedly into it earlier tumbled out like an avnche.

    The drunkard¡¯s face paled instantly; he knew that he had been discovered!

    ¡°I need to leave this ce!¡± Perhaps holding the cleaver gave him courage because the drunkard mmed the door open from inside. The whole floor of dog meat entered his eyes, and the dog¡¯s head that had a human expression was ced right before the drunkard.

    Even though he had already mentally prepared, the drunkard was still given a great scare when he saw this. His eyes darted to the side, and he saw an ageless person standing amid the strewn dog meats.

    A sheath of dog fur was dangled over his body, and the expression on his face gave the drunkard a sense of familiarity.

    ¡°That face is the smiling dog from the pictures!¡± His body felt soaked in cold water. Using every ounce of his energy, he crawled out from the fridge and charged toward the door.

    ¡°The dead dog¡¯s expression is like a human, but the living human has the smiling face of the dead dog in the pictures.¡± Such a conclusion appeared in the drunkard¡¯s mind. If he did not see that in person, he would not have believed such a thing. ¡°The dead dog has taken over the living person¡¯s body, or have they exchanged souls? Could this be some kind of curse, the curse of the smiling dog?¡±

    The drunkard could not exin the thoughts that flowed through his mind. He charged toward the first room that he had jumped into like his life depended on it. Inparison to a scarier thing, the thing that scared him earlier became less scary. As the drunkard raced into the room, at the corner, he turned to look behind him. The strange mannded on his four limbs and chased after him like a mad dog. The folds of skin on his face were scrunched together to reveal a smile that was all too simr to that of the dog in the picture.

    mming the door shut, the drunkard jumped out the window. Without turning back to look, he escaped from this two-story building. Energized by fear, the drunkard did not stop running even after he left thepound. He raced for about ten meters down the road and only stopped when he confirmed that no one was chasing him.

    ¡°What are these monsters? Howe it feels like every single building here is harboring at least one of them?¡± The blood fog rolled through town. The drunkard stood in the middle of the road. He looked left and right and realized that the bus that was supposed to be parked there had disappeared.

    ¡°Did I run in the wrong direction? Was the bus the other way?¡± The drunkard stood by the roadside, not daring to wander too close to the buildings. ¡°Compared to the buildings, it feels safer out on the road. I should try to move down the street and remember anyndmarks on the way. The bus should be around here somewhere.¡±

    The drunkard followed the road, but it did not take long for him to run into someone standing ahead, waving at him. The blood fog lowered the visibility greatly, and he could only just make out the shape of a human.

 Chapter 635 - Hide-and-Seek

    <h4>Chapter 635: Hide-and-Seek</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Who is that? He looks familiar. Could he be one of the passengers from the bus?¡± The drunkard had just been saying seconds ago that the streets should be safer than the building, but before he even finished, he had been proven wrong. He suspected that there was a pair of eyes following him from a ce that he could not see, observing his every move.

    ¡°Is he waving at me? With the fog, I can¡¯t see his face, so he shouldn¡¯t be able to see mine either. In such circumstances, a normal person wouldn¡¯t proactively greet others.¡±

    A person¡¯s potential was often forced. After going through the experience earlier, the drunkard had be noticeably more cautious, and he had more to think about before making any move. The shape of the man in the fog became clearer¡ªthe person seemed to be walking toward him.

    ¡°No, I need to stay away from him.¡± The drunkard noticed the person pick up his speed. He did not dare to answer and turn to run away.

    ¡°If he¡¯s a living human, he should have said something. Just standing there to wave and running toward me without saying a word is too suspicious.¡±

    Even the streets were not safe, so the drunkard was feeling trapped. He did not know where to run to.

    ¡°The most important thing now is to meet up with the other passengers; it¡¯s too dangerous for me to stay alone.¡± The drunkard jogged for a while, but the bus was nowhere to be seen. The more he ran, the more unsettled he felt. ¡°F*ck, I think I¡¯m really lost now. The buildings here all look almost the same, and the bus is my only frame of reference.¡±

    He could still see the vague shadow behind him in the fog. The man who had waved at him was still behind him, maintaining a safe distance between them.

    ¡°And what the hell is this? Why is it following me?¡± The drunkard ran faster and did not stop until he reached the next junction. He still could not find the bus, and as he was hesitating over which route to take, he suddenly noticed the shadow that had appeared on the opposite side of the road. It was waving at him!

    ¡°When did the thing pass me? He should be way behind me!¡± Despair crawled into his heart like a stubborn vine. The drunkard was at a loss; it felt like wherever he went, he would run into this person.

    ¡°What should I do now?¡± Thirty years of life experience was unable to give him any aid. The man on the opposite side of the road was still waving at him. With the vague silhouette, the osciting arms looked like the ticking hands of death¡¯s clock.

    ¡°Even if I run down another path, the monster will still follow me. There¡¯s no other option; I¡¯ll have to fight it!¡± The drunkard gritted his teeth and tightly gripped the cleaver that he had brought out from the kitchen of the dog-man¡¯s house. He had never even killed a chicken for cooking in his life, but at that moment, a cruel thought entered his mind.

    ¡°Calm down, there¡¯s no need to panic!¡±

    Staying too long in the blood fog would influence one. The drunkard had not noticed this himself. The corners of his eyes were red, filled with blood vessels. It looked like he had not slept for days,pletely different from how he looked when he first got on the bus.

    Since this was his first time, the drunkard¡¯s heart raced at an impossible rate. He gripped the cleaver with both hands and used a strange posture as he walked across the road. The vague shape kept waving at him. As he got closer, the drunkard got a better look.

    ¡°He looks so familiar. I should have met him somewhere before, was he a passenger from the bus?¡±

    The drunkard stopped in the middle of the road and yelled at the man, ¡°Hey! What¡¯s your name?¡±

    There was no reply other than the fact that the angle of the waving dwindled, and suddenly, the man walked toward him. In the blood red city, on the empty street, the distance between the two closed. As the man slowly approached, the sense of familiarity in the drunkard¡¯s heart grew.

    ¡°He feels too familiar; I swear I¡¯ve seen him somewhere before.¡± The drunkard nudged forward and finally crossed the thick fog, standing before the man. The man was covered in blood, and his stomach was the most gruesome. The waist where the lower body and upper body should have been connected was reced by a dark line. It felt like the man¡¯s body had been halved but had then been reconnected.

    Seeing the man¡¯s appearance, the drunkard thought about retreating. However, other than fear, he could not shake the sense of familiarity. He was sure that he knew this person from somewhere.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± His brain was nk, and the drunkard could not really exin this question that slipped from his lips. His hand that gripped the cleaver was shaking.

    ¡°The road ahead splits¡ªone for the living, the other for the dead.¡± The strange man slowly raised his head, and underneath his messy head of hair was a face simr to that of the drunkard. The pupils filled with fear, and hatred popped outward. With the broken spine supporting his body, he lunged toward the drunkard. His lips tore open, and a shrill voice different form the drunkard¡¯s escaped from his throat. ¡°I am you! You who have died a horrible death!¡±

    When he saw that the monster looked like him, thest mental defense in the drunkard¡¯s mind copsed. Without any fight left in him, he held the cleaver, turned, and ran. This time, he wasn¡¯t even paying attention to his direction. His every nerve was fraying, and he barely registered the legs that were carrying him forward. He had no idea where his destination was because he did not know where was safe. All he could do was run.

    Pain coursed through his body, and his lungs felt like they were burning up. The world in his eyes faded away as the air was sucked out of his throat.

    ¡°I can¡¯t run anymore...¡±

    This was a world made from despair. The only choice for the living was to enter the building of their choice and opt for their preferred way to die.

    ¡°No one will be able to survive here. Everyone will die...¡± His consciousness falling, the drunkard used hisst breath to run into the closest building. The main color scheme was white. This appeared to be the only private hospital in Li Wan City. It was not big, just a small three-story building.

    ...

    ¡°Daddy...¡±

    ¡°Shut the f*ck up.¡± The middle-aged was catching his breath. He hid inside the safety corridor and kept turning to look behind him. Several minutester, when he could not hear the footsteps anymore, he leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to the ground. ¡°I¡¯ve seen uncooperative passengers being sent into a door inside the ghost apartment; the world behind the door is simr to this ce, suffused with blood fog. This is not a ce meant for the living; this is all that man¡¯s fault! If there¡¯s a chance, I¡¯ll definitely repay this favor!¡±

    The more he thought about it, the more angered he became, and that only got worse after he saw the woman and the boy cowering next to him. Without warning, he kicked the woman roughly on her leg. ¡°Ever since I married you, I¡¯ve never enjoyed a good day in my life! This is all your fault, you f*cking mute!¡±

    The woman groaned iprehensibly. She seemed to be deathly afraid of the man. Covering her legs, she moved backward and still made sure to shield the boy from his father¡¯s vengeance.

    ¡°Daddy...¡±

    ¡°Stop calling me, you little f*cker! You¡¯re sounding more and more like my debt collector!¡± The middle-aged man looked around and his face was drawn. ¡°We were much too focused on running to notice we¡¯ve ended up inside the hospital. This ce is definitely cursed somehow. After that monster leaves, we¡¯ll need to get away from this ce.¡±

    ¡°Daddy...¡± Even though he had just been scolded, the boy kept calling his father. Finally, the middle-aged man noticed something was wrong. If this was normal, the boy would have apologized or gone quiet once his fire started to burn. The boy would never go against him.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Earlier, there was a little big brother who stuck some paper on your back.¡± The boy pointed on the man¡¯s back.

    ¡°On my back?¡± The middle-aged man shivered involuntarily. He reached behind him and pulled off a patient¡¯s record.

    The record showed that the patient had died, but on the back of the paper, someone had written in uneven handwriting ¡®It¡¯s your turn toe and find me.¡¯

 Chapter 636 - Come and Find Me

    <h4>Chapter 636: Come and Find Me</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°When did this get there?¡± The middle-aged man held the medical history, and his eyes were bulging¡ªhe had no memory of this at all.

    ¡°I...¡± The boy was deathly afraid of his father, so he cowered behind his mother.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you speaking now? It¡¯s time for you to speak, but you choose to be silent?¡± The middle-aged man yanked the boy out from behind his mother. He grabbed the boy¡¯s shirt and shook him. ¡°When was this stuck there? Where were we at the time? What did the person who left this look like?¡±

    ¡°On the first floor, when we passed one of the sickrooms, the door was left half ajar. I saw a hand reach out and ce the paper on your back.¡± It was unclear whether the boy was more afraid of his father or more afraid of that hand. ¡°I wanted to tell you at the time, but then a face showed up behind the door. His skin was ashen, and he whispered to me to not reveal the secret because this was supposed to be a fair game of hide-and-seek.¡±

    ¡°When have you ever been so obedient? He told you not to say anything, so you didn¡¯t say anything?¡± The middle-aged man raised his arm and was close to pping his boy¡¯s face. ¡°Trash, all of you! You¡¯re as useless as your mother. One day, I¡¯ll die because of both of you!¡±

    He stared at the paper that he was holding, and the uneven handwriting on it made his hair stand on end.

    ¡°It¡¯s my turn toe and find you? Only an idiot would follow that order!¡± The middle-aged man crumpled the medical history into a ball and tossed it on the ground. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but the picture of the patient poked out from the ball, and it happened to stare right at the middle-aged man.

    ¡°So damn unlucky.¡± He stomped angrily on the ball of the paper. The middle-aged man nced down the corridor. ¡°The monster from the road didn¡¯t chase us into this ce¡ªit should have given up already. We should venture deeper into the building. When we ran in here, I remember seeing a backdoor on the other side of the building.¡±

    After hearing what his boy had to say, there was no way the middle-aged man was going to retake the route that they had taken earlier. He looked at the sickrooms that lined the corridor on both sides, and his palms were sweating.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t we going to find that big brother?¡± asked the boy cautiously as he raised his head.

    ¡°Find him? Do you want to die that much? The most urgent thing we need to do now is leave this godforsaken ce.¡± The middle-aged man grabbed his wife¡¯s shoulders roughly. ¡°Look after him carefully and don¡¯t let him wander off. The people inside the ghost apartment have two different attitudes dealing with adults and children...¡±

    As he spoke, he moved forward, but the edge of his pants were pulled back by the boy. ¡°What is it this time?¡±

    ¡°Daddy, he¡¯s ying hide-and-seek with us.¡±

    ¡°F*ck, of course, I know that.¡± The middle-aged man kicked the boy back. ¡°Do you really n on ying hide-and-seek with a ghost in this ghost-ridden ce?¡±

    ¡°But if we didn¡¯t go and find him, he¡¯lle to find us instead.¡± The boy used a serious tone to exin the game¡¯s rule. However, his innocent voice transmuted into an indescribable sense of terror when it fell into his father¡¯s ears.

    ¡°The ghost... wille and find us?¡± Based on the rules, there was indeed a chance of that happening. The middle-aged man¡¯s face fell immediately. Whether it was looking for the ghost or being looked for by the ghost, both of these things were something hard to ept for him.

    ¡°No, this has to be a trap. Even if we find the ghost, after the role changes, it will stille and find us! We need to leave this ce! We cannot stand here anymore.¡± The middle-aged man picked up the boy, called after his wife, and raced down the safety corridor.

    ...

    Holding the sharp scissors in his hands, the ¡®murderer¡¯ who called himself Scissors stood alone on the first floor of the city hospital.

    ¡°Weak animals move in a herd; only a beast moves alone. Therefore, a murderer is always alone.¡± The backs of Scissors¡¯ hands were pulsing with veins, which showed how nervous he was. ¡°A small city covered in blood fog, this ispletely different from the entry in my big brother¡¯s diary. Did he get the description wrong, or did I get off at the wrong station?¡±

    Scissors touched his face. When his fingers brushed against the wound, he grimaced from the pain. When the man was alone, he actedpletely different from how he had when he was on the bus.

    ¡°To not be the prey, one has to act like the hunter. I cannot make the same mistake my elder brother did.¡± Scissors walked forward several steps. The hospital at night was much scarier than it was in daylight. And if the lights were not turned on, the terror factor would multiply several more times.

    ¡°I can¡¯t panic. The most dangerous ce should be the safest ce. Going against the grain is my only option of survival.¡± That was what he told himself, but he found it difficult to even move his feet. His body was resisting this instinctually. ¡°Do not be afraid, the more scared you are at those things, the higher the probability for them toe and haunt you. Along the way, people¡¯s screams and wails kepting from other directions, but I personally have not run into anything, so this is proof enough that my theory is correct.¡±

    He gripped the scissors in his hand tightly. After giving himself some words of encouragement, he took another step into the long corridor on his left. After taking a step, two types of footsteps echoed in the lobby. One was his, and the other was the sound of high heelsnding on the ground.

    ¡°That is just my imagination. There is nothing behind me, nothing behind him...¡± He repeated this again and again. Scissors was hypnotizing himself¡ªhe felt like he was almost getting used to the presence of this sound already. ¡°I¡¯m too nervous. The sound will naturally disappear once I leave this ce. There¡¯s only five to six hours until daybreak, so I only need to hold on until then.¡±

    Scissors was definitely a heavy-storied person. He suddenly stopped and raised his hand to p himself on his face. ¡°You came to find your elder brother; how can you only think about yourself at a time like this?¡±

    His older brother¡¯s image shed across his mind, and Scissors burnished with determination. ¡°I¡¯ve prepared for five months for today. I still have so many trump cards up my sleeves, so there is no reason for me to panic.¡±

    He forced himself to stop being afraid. He held the scissors in his left hand and the bag that had already stopped leaking in his right hand.

    ¡°My whole appearance looks unapproachable. There was a passenger on the bus earlier who looked simr to me¡ªhe should be someone with a story as well¡ªbut his preparation is not asplete as mine is.¡± Scissors had great, and some might say unfounded, confidence in himself. He ignored the echoing footsteps behind him and walked down the hospital corridor.

    The hospital was not big, and there were not that many sickrooms. Scissors walked for a while before he heard a strange noiseing from the second floor.

    ¡°That seems to havee from the safety corridor. Who could that be?¡± Licking his lips, Scissors thought back to the ssical demeanor of crazed murderers that he had seen on the movies and slithered his way up to the second floor.

    There was a draft in the corridor, and the doors for a few of the sickrooms had been left half-open. Since there was no light, all the rooms were dark, and standing outside, there was no way of telling what was inside.

    ¡°Is someone here?¡±

    Scissors was cautious with every step. When he passed one of the sickrooms, he suddenly noticed something. The footsteps that had been following him had disappeared.

    ¡°Why did the sound stop?¡±

    Now that it was gone, he felt weirdly ufortable. Turning back to look, he realized that someone had stuck a piece of paper on his shoulder.

    ¡°Come and find me?¡±

 Chapter 637 - Weâ€™ve Found You [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 637: We¡¯ve Found You [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Want me to go and find you? Have you lost your mind?¡± The uneven handwriting on the back of the medical history made him feel a certain kind of way. He was currently on the first floor of the hospital, standing in the middle of the corridor.

    Even though the drafts had stopped, the doors that were left half-ajar moved back and forth, creaking noisily. Showers of dust fell from the old ceiling, and there was asionally the sound of paper brushing against the ground filtering into his ears. Standing alone in that situation after midnight, it would be a lie to say that one was not afraid.

    Scissors held the pair of scissors in his hand tightly, and he forced himself to appear as unfazed as he could be. ¡°When did someone ce this on my back?¡±

    Turning back, Scissors studied the few sickrooms that he had just passed. ¡°The person who was behind this prank should be from inside one of the rooms that I¡¯ve just walked past.¡±

    He was very afraid, but fear had not taken control of his rationality or sanity yet. He reminded himself consciously that he was currently ying the role of a cold-blooded, maddened killer and he needed to keep his cool no matter what.

    <i>The weaker I appear, the more I¡¯ll be bullied by the ghosts, so I cannot appear weak, I can¡¯t show any trace of fear.</i>

    He folded the medical history neatly and ced it inside his pocket. Scissors carefully pushed open the half-closed door that was closest to him. Inside the sickroom, the bedsheet had been shredded into pieces, and the mattress was toppled to the side; it was as if the bed was once the home of some feral beast that needed to be detained.

    ¡°Is this a hospital or some kind of mental institution?¡± Scissors did not enter the sickroom and only observed it from beyond the threshold. The bed was not big, and the only space to hide someone was underneath the bed or inside the dresser.

    ¡°The person behind the prank is not here.¡± He could see clearly into the space under the bed, and the doors of the dresser were hanging open. It was empty inside¡ªall contents had been taken away. ¡°He should be in the other sickrooms.¡±

    Internally, his heart had been quivering like a leaf, but it did not trante to his expression. With unnaturally frigid limbs, Scissors retreated out of the room and moved toward the other sickroom.

    ¡°This one is empty, no one is here either...¡± Scissors moved quickly through the rooms until he reached the sickroom that was closest to the hospital entrance.

    ¡°After I entered the hospital, I walked straight into the corridor. I¡¯ve only passed these few sickrooms since then. As all the other sickrooms were empty, then he has to be hiding inside thisst room.¡± The hand that held the scissors was sweating profusely as he slowly pushed the door of the sickroom open. A strong pungent smell wafted out from inside the room, a mixture of blood and disinfectant.

    ¡°Someone has died here before?¡± The scene inside the room gripped and shook his head. The blood-dyed bedsheet had hurriedly been shoved under the bed, and from the window that was installed with anti-theft webbing hung a patient¡¯s garb that had plenty of torn holes on it. A long wig stood inside the dresser, and the scariest thing was, on the snow-white wall, someone or something had written in fresh blood ¡®Guess where I am?¡¯

    Afterparing the handwriting, he noticed that the hand that had written the blood message on the wall and the hand that had jotted down the message on the back of the medical history were different. This discovery unsettled Scissors even more. ¡°There¡¯s more than one ¡®person¡¯ ying hide-and-seek inside this hospital?¡±

    The urge to turn back and run burst forth. He retreated from the sickroom, nning to leave the hospital and temporarily stay away from it. ¡°The most dangerous spot is the safest spot. That is theoretically true, but it is so difficult to put that into practice.¡±

    Returning to the entrance of the hospital, Scissors¡¯ expression changedpletely. Someone had locked the giant iron gate of the hospital without him noticing!

    ¡°What do I do now?¡± Scissors was panicking due to helplessness. He bit on his lips, and that tore open the wound on his face. The pain helped him focus and calm down. ¡°I should go look for any open windows.¡±

    When he was looking through the sickrooms on the first floor earlier, he had confirmed that all of their windows were installed with anti-theft webbing, so he could only ce his hope on the second floor. ¡°I¡¯ve trained so much for this day. The injury shouldn¡¯t be serious from jumping down from the second floor, but I can¡¯t say the same if the jump is made from the third floor. The risk will be too high.¡±

    Holding the bag, Scissors leaped up the stairs to the second floor.

    By then, he hadpletely given up on the idea of ying hide-and-seek. Then again, it had never been his intention to y games with ghosts. Running up the stairs three steps at a time, when he turned around the corner of the stairs, he spotted a pair of gray-colored feet from the periphery of his eyes. The pair of feet was slightly above his head. He instinctively turned to look up, and a pair of ashen legs fell into his sight, but when he looked up even further, the thing had already disappeared.

    ¡°What the f*ck?¡± The ¡®surprise¡¯ came so suddenly that it caused Scissors¡¯ legs to weaken. He did not expect the thing to be so close to him. In fact, there were only several steps separating them. ¡°He was just around here. Perhaps he has been watching me from some hidden corner!¡±

    Stopping at thending in the middle of the staircase, Scissors was unsure whether he should continue to move upward. He had gotten a good look earlier; the thing had indeed been waiting for him upstairs.

    ¡°All the windows in the sickrooms on the first floor are locked behind anti-theft webbing. There is no way I¡¯ll be able to escape from them. So, the only way to leave this cursed ce is through the windows on the second floor.¡±

    Devoid of other choice, Scissors forced himself to walk up the stairs.

    <i>Please do not show up again.</i>

    Reciting a silent prayer to himself, Scissors jogged to the first sickroom on his left. He shoved the door open with hope in his heart, but that hope deted when he looked toward the window. Pieces of torn clothes were stuck inside the iron anti-theft webbing.

    ¡°Even the windows on the second floor are installed with the webbing?¡±

    His lips drying, Scissors¡¯ heart was slowly festering with despair. He walked to the window and reached out to shake the webbing roughly. The metallic webbing cut into his fingers, and the pain that came from it was so real, but the blood fog right outside the window felt so surreal.

    <i>If this is a nightmare, I hope I¡¯ll be able to wake up soon.</i>

    The anti-theft webbing was secure, so there was no way he was going to open it without tools. Scissors let his hands go and prepared to leave. But when he reached the door, footsteps echoed down the safety corridoring from the other end. It sounded like people were running.

    <i>They sound like they areing this way, and there are so many of them!</i>

    Without hesitation, Scissors closed the door and locked it. He moved to stand behind the door, hoping to inspect the situation outside through the window on the door. The footsteps came closer and closer. Scissors could see several shadows shing down the corridor, seemingly heading his way.

    <i>I cannot allow myself to be discovered! It¡¯s over for me if I¡¯m stuck inside this room!</i>

    The shadows were incredibly close to his location. Scissors scanned the room behind him and, in the end, grabbed his bag to hide inside the dresser. The hospital was privately operated, and the amenities were different from the ones provided by big government hospital. The space inside the dresser was separated into two with a wooden board, and after removing the partition, the dresser was just big enough for a person to hide inside.

    The footsteps drew close from afar beforepletely disappearing outside the sickroom.

    <i>They¡¯ve stopped outside the door? Is it because they¡¯ve discovered me?</i>

    Scissors did not think it was wise for him to leave lest he was captured by those things once he showed himself, so he decided to stay hidden inside the dresser.

    <i>Hide-and-seek, hide-and-seek, I have not even found them yet, so why have theme to find me already? Could it be because they have detected my intention to escape?</i>

    Holding the rhythm of his breathing, Scissors changed into a morefortable posture, but as he adjusted his position, his shoes knocked into something. His heart froze, and cold sweat poured down his forehead. Scissors forced himself to maintain his calm as he searched for his phone from his pocket.

    Activating the phone, background on the screen showed the picture of two young men taken in front of the entrance of a children¡¯s home. One of the young men had a goatee, very tall and buff, while the other one looked exactly like Scissors. At the time, he appeared to be quite camera-shy. When the picture was taken, he raised his hands like he was trying to shield his face from the camera.

    ¡°You have been taking care of me for so long¡ªit is time for me to take care of you.¡± Scissors let out a deep sigh and increased the brightness of the phone screen to its maximum. Then, he shone it underneath his feet.

    The thing that his shoes brushed against was a patient¡¯s garb, and poking out from underneath the clothes was a diary. It was because Scissors had read his older brother¡¯s diary that he had decided to take thest bus on Route 104 toe to Li Wan City. Now that he hade across another diary on his journey, he picked it up without much hesitation and started to flip through it.

    ¡°Liu Feiming? That¡¯s the name of the diary¡¯s owner?¡±

    As he flipped through the diary, he noticed a medical history chart slit inside the pages. The patient¡¯s name was indeed Liu Feiming, and ording to his diagnosis, both of his legs were broken due to a fall from a high location.

    <i>Howe it feels like it¡¯s narrating my future? The only solution to escape from this haunted ce is to jump down from the third floor.</i>

    With more than a trace of anxiety, Scissors started to read through the content of the diary.

    ¡°1st June: I¡¯ll definitely go and settle the debt with that limping guy once I leave the hospital! Even though he¡¯s limping, his heart is still as dark as sh*t! At the very least, I¡¯ve worked in his team for so many years already. He nned to get me to shut up with a few hundred RMB after I fell from the third floor, suffered from heavy injury, and went unconscious? No way! This will not be the end of this!

    ¡°2nd June: Due to the injury to the nerves and bones, I¡¯ll need to stay in this hospital for at least one hundred days. I wonder when will I be able to leave this ce. It¡¯s so boring staying here at the hospital. I wonder how my family members are doing. I hope my buddy, Brother Lee, hasn¡¯t told them about my injury. I don¡¯t want to worry about me.

    ¡°3rd June: Howe it feels like the nurses are purposely trying to avoid me? They leave the moment they finished changing the drip. It is like I¡¯m some kind of evil god. Is it because they look down on poor people? They¡¯ll regret this when I strike it rich.

    ¡°4th June: Oh god, I¡¯m so bored. There¡¯s not even a single person to talk to. The doctors and nurses have stoppeding. Weren¡¯t they saying that they¡¯recking empty beds? There is an empty bed right next to me, but they leave the patients out in the corridor instead of cing them next to them, letting them share the same room with me. What kind of discrimination is this? This bunch of people with eyes that grew on the top of their heads.

    ¡°6th June: What is going on with the patient next door? How does he n for other people to fall asleep if he keeps up the noises through the night? The service at this old hospital sure is horrendous. I n to write an anonymous letter to the relevant party to expose them.

    ¡°7th June: At 2 am this morning, the patient next door started to act up again. I really wonder if they have locked up a mental case next door. Why else would there be the sound of people ramming against the wall?

    ¡°8th June: I finally lost it and yelled back at the neighboring patient tonight. I thought they would roar back at me, but they¡¯re a bunch of wusses. There was not a peep from them in return. Actually, I was rather thankful for the distraction. After getting bored out of my mind for so many days, the yelling was quite a rxation.

    ¡°9th June: When I woke up this morning, there was a child lying beside my bed. It gave me quite a fright. After I asked him, I realized that he was the child of the patient next door. His parents sure are brave to allow a boy as young as him to wander about like that. Then again, the boy is quite cute, and he¡¯s not afraid of strangers. I¡¯ve stayed here for so long, and this is the first time someone¡¯s approached me willingly to talk to me.

    ¡°10th June: I became friends with the boy, and he was cleverer than he appeared. To evade the discovery of the nurses, whenever someone was about to enter the room, he would go into hiding, and so far, he had not been discovered.

    ¡°13th June: I¡¯vepletely familiarized myself with the kid. He likes to y hide-and-seek andes to visit me in the middle of the night. Isn¡¯t it surprising for someone like myself to be loved by kids? I promised him that once I can get out of bed, I will y hide-and-seek with him inside the hospital. By the way, the kid¡¯s parents must be good people¡ªat least they don¡¯t seem to look down on me like the nurses and doctors at the hospital. I wonder what kind of illness they¡¯re suffering from to still be hospitalized after so many days.

    ¡°14th June: Tonight, a cancer patient in Room 305 died. Many doctors and nurses came and went. But strangely enough, I noticed they still gave my sickroom a wide berth when they had to pass it to go downstairs. They¡¯d rather take a longer journey in this case of emergency and refused to walk past my sickroom. Is it because I¡¯m on some kind of ck list?

    ¡°15th June: It¡¯s finally the day to remove the cast, and here I thought the doctor had forgotten all about me. It¡¯s a windy day today, so I think I¡¯ll just stay indoors.

    ¡°15th June: Something is not right tonight. Howe I still hear a familiar sounding from next door? The voice sounds simr to the old man who died yesterday. I asked the boy about it, but he didn¡¯t wish to tell me anything. All he wanted was for me to y hide-and-seek with him at night. If I can find him, he¡¯ll tell me the answer. My legs are still recovering, and if I wonder out at night, I will definitely give the nurses on duty a big scare.

    ¡°16th June: Oh God, what is happening to me? Today, I woke up early in the morning and went outside with the crutch. When I wanted to go next door to visit my neighbor, I realized that I was leaving in the first sickroom on the left of the staircase! Beyond my room was the storage room, and there was no sickroom beyond mine! But I could hear the conversation every night and that boy! F*ck! Now I finally understand why the doctors and nurses refused toe close to my room.

    ¡°16th June: The doctor refused to let me leave. After all, I still owe them plenty in medical bills. None of my friends can be trusted! I don¡¯t care, I have to leave this ce tomorrow, but the biggest issue is... how am I supposed to survive tonight? Will that boy appear again?

    ¡°17th June: No way, I need to leave, I need to go. Last night, the boy has returned and asked me to join him in a game of hide-and-seek! He stayed in my room and ran about. Have I lost my mind? Why did I promise to y with him earlier? I cannot stay here anymore. Even if the hospital forbad me from leaving, I will find a way out. If I stay here any longer, they will eventually im my life!

    ¡°17th June: What do I do? What do I do? I think I¡¯ve finally lost it! When I wanted to leave this afternoon, I stood on the top of the stairs, and I suddenly felt there was someone behind me. I turned and saw the boy. He asked where I was going and demanded to know why I hadn¡¯t yed hide-and-seek with him!

    ¡°18th June: None of my colleagues have returned my calls, and the leader has already escaped. The hospital refused to let me go, and the medical bills are piling up. Even if I survive, the debt will crush me to my death! However, I don¡¯t care anymore¡ªescaping this ce should be my highest priority.

    ¡°18th June: When I was running down the stairs, someone pushed me from behind, and it caused my legs to break again. The doctors said that ording to the surveince, I threw myself down the stairs on my own, but I saw it with my own eyes that it was the boy who pushed me! He did not wish for me to leave; I¡¯m telling the truth, but why won¡¯t anyone believe me?¡±

    ...

    ¡°1st July: This should be thest entry in my dairy. Both of legs are broken, my eyes have been poked blind, my throat burns from the acid, and my digits are bent¡ªthere is no way I can run from this ce anymore. I know the boy is staying by my side. There is no sickroom next to mine. They are all inside this room with me. I¡¯ve found them, but that means I¡¯ll never be able to leave anymore.¡±

    Reading through thest page, Scissors¡¯ heart was cold. ¡°There is no sickroom next door? They are all inside this room?¡±

    A chill ran down his spine. Scissors refused to stay a second longer in the room, and he pushed the door open.

    After rushing out the dresser, Scissors looked toward the door next to him, and his brain instantly drew a nk.

    In the ss window of the door, many pale human faces were peering in. ¡°We¡¯ve found you.¡±

 Chapter 638 - Ghost Stories Scarier Than Mine? [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 638: Ghost Stories Scarier Than Mine? [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Hiding inside the fully-quarantined hospital room, reading the horror-filled diary that was left behind by the victim, and having the terror described in the dairy appeared right before his eyes the moment he closed the diary, Scissors could not keep up his pretension anymore. He believed that anyone would have lost their mind in a situation like that.

    The small window on the door was crowded with multiple pale faces, and even through the door, Scissors could clearly see the expression that these human faces were wearing.

    ¡°They¡¯re all looking at me!¡± Scissors had trouble breathing, it was as if a pair of cold hands had reached into his chest and squeezed on his windpipe. Energy left his body, and he realized that it was very difficult to make the smallest movement.

    ¡°Found you.¡± That creepy voice echoed in his ears once more. Scissors¡¯ legs were quivering. His entire focus was distracted by the faces outside the door, to the extent that it took him a long time to realize that the voice that he heard earlier did not seem toe from outside the door. Fear seared his every nerve like a sh of lighting. Scissors¡¯ eyes bulged out of their sockets, and he almost instinctively turned to look behind him.

    Squatting inside the dresser that he had been hiding in earlier was a man in a patient¡¯s garb. The man was not tall, and he had casts on both of his legs. His left eye had been poked through by a pencil, his nose was broken, and his ten fingers were hidden inside his sleeves. Scissors¡¯ footprints and the blood that dripped from his scissors could be found on his patient¡¯s garb. Obviously, the man had been ¡®hiding¡¯ inside the dresser.

    ¡°Found you.¡± The tone was robotic and detached, sounding more like a puppet than a person. The expression on his face was very unnatural; he was happy with some measure of excitement like a child who had been given a new toy to y with.

    The ghost had been staying inside the dresser. Thinking back to the time that he had been spent inside the dresser, Scissors¡¯ body was covered in goosebumps. The ¡®patient¡¯ who wrote the diary appeared before his eyes, but the man should have died long ago.

    Scissors stood between the owner of the diary and the sickroom¡¯s door. He was stuck between a rock and a hard ce.

    ¡°Calm down, do not panic. You¡¯ve watched more than ten horror films and yed more than ten horror games beforeing here. You¡¯ve done all the preparation you could, so there has to be a solution to this problem.¡± His brain turned quickly, but he could not find any inspiration from either horror movies or games. This was because there was not a scene in those films where the main character was forced to choose between a ghost and a group of ghosts.

    The cold sweat on his forehead kept falling, and his heart could not stop racing. ¡°There¡¯s a ghost behind me, and a bunch of ghosts in front of me. Normally, it should be safer by staying inside the room, but if I don¡¯t escape from this room, it¡¯ll be a slow death, slowly losing my autonomy until I¡¯m unable to seek death even if that is your wish. At least, that was the destiny of the diary¡¯s owner. His eyes were poked blind, his legs were irreparably broken, and in the end, he could only stay behind to y with the rest of the ghosts here forever.¡±

    Considering the possibility that the fate described in the diary could befall him, Scissors shivered involuntarily. ¡°Since I still have my mobility, I need to try my best to escape.¡±

    His rising chest slowly returned to normal. He held his breath and turned to look at the window on the door. ¡°There¡¯s no choice! I¡¯ll have to fight them! I¡¯ll cut my way to the third floor and jump out of this ce from the window!¡±

    ( B oxnovel.c om ) Scissors felt like he had chosen the best solution considering the despairing options that he was given. He gripped the scissors, and with the ¡®patients¡¯ watching, he suddenly roared and charged toward the door. Just as he made his move, something else happened coincidentally; footsteps came from the other side of the corridor. The footsteps seemed toe from the safety corridor on the second floor, and it sounded disorderly like there was more than one person running down the corridor.

    His sudden scream spooked the other party that was rushing his way. When he reached the door of the sickroom, Scissors happened to hear the voice of a middle-aged maning down the corridor from about six to seven meters away. ¡°F*ck! The ghost is here! Go back! Go back!¡±

    The human faces on the window dispersed immediately. Scissors abandoned his caution. He charged out of the room, waving his scissors wildly as he made a beeline toward the third floor. On his arms, legs, and shoulders, he felt like there were several hands reaching out to grab him at the same time!

    ¡°Let me go!¡± He aimed the scissors in his hand at the bag that he was holding. He poked through it, and something inside the bag was pierced. Arge amount of reddish-ck liquid burst out from within. Like a maddened patient, he waved the blood inside the bag around, sshing all over his body and the space around him.

    As he showered the liquid around him, heughed madly. He might not have lost his mind for real, but in terms of presence, Scissors had managed to hold the ¡®patients¡¯ who wanted to y hide-and-seek back.

    After pouring out the blood, Scissors did not spot for a second and charged toward the third floor. However, when he reached the third floor, something even more despairing was waiting for him. The windows on the third floor were not fitted with anti-theft webbing but were all sealed by wooden boards.

    It would take plenty of time to remove the wooden boards, time that the monsters in the hospital would not have given Scissors. ¡°Once I stop, the monsters will definitelye to harm me. They wille up with all sorts of method to have me stay and y the game with them. If I resist, I will end up in the same situation as the patient whose eyes were blinded and whose legs were broken.¡±

    Scissors forced himself to calm down. He looked behind him at the floor that was sttered with blood. The hospital looked a lot creepier than when he arrived, but most of the new decoration had been done by his own hands.

    ¡°I wonder if the blood of a ck dog has its uses or not? Some time ago, I saw someone on the forum asking for help after being haunted by a ghost. He stood inside the toilet, summoning a spirit through a mirror, and some expert in thements said that a ck dog¡¯s blood has the effect of hampering evil spirits...¡±

    Pa!

    The sounding from downstairs caused Scissors¡¯ heart to freeze. He turned to the stairs and saw footprints appearing on the pool of ck dog¡¯s blood that had not congealed. There were only footprints and no people attached to them, so it was clear who these footprints belonged to.

    ¡°Thankfully, I still have other trump cards.¡± Scissors tried to console himself. He dragged his bag and ran down the corridor, deeper into the hospital. ¡°The windows in all the sickrooms have been sealed up, but I wonder if that is the case for the storeroom and toilet. They might have forgotten about ces like that.¡±

    Harboring onest shred of hope in his heart, Scissors crawled into the toilet that was at the end of the corridor. Once he walked into the toilet though, he was greeted with a strange scene. Five of the cubicle doors were closed, but four of them showed that they were upied!

    <i>Stop toying with me! </i>Scissors screamed inside his heart. He raised his head to look at the window inside the toilet, and a new me of hope ignited in his heart. The window in the toilet was not fully sealed. Someone else had probably tried to escape from this ce before, and they had already peeled down two of the wooden boards. ¡°After removing another wooden board, the space should berge enough for me to squeeze through!¡±

    Running toward the window, he nned to use therge scissors in his hand to yank the wooden board out, but the ghosts inside the hospital appeared like they were purposely toying with him. Suddenly, the echoes of running footsteps came from the corridor¡ªthey were quickly approaching.

    ¡°I need to move fast!¡± Every single second mattered. Scissors put every ounce of his strength into his deconstruction. He paid his full focus on the window, so he did not expect the toilet¡¯s door to be knocked down in just a few seconds. The loud bang caused his heart and his entire body to shake. Weak in his fingers, therge scissors that were sitting between the wooden board and the window slipped through his grasp and slid through the window!

    ¡°What the f*ck!¡± His only weapon had fallen outside of the hospital. The stunned Scissors stood where he was for almost a full second. Then, he grabbed his bag and slithered into the only cubicle that was not locked. He felt the immense urge to pound his chest, but considering that the sound it made might attract the attention of the ghosts, he resisted it.

    ¡°It¡¯s over now! The scissors have left this ce, but I¡¯m still inside! If I¡¯d known this would happen, I never would have given myself this nickname!¡±

    Gritting his teeth, the muscles of his body was tense. Scissors covered his mouth and nose, afraid to breathe too loudly.

    He chanted inside his mind madly, <i>Please don¡¯t discover me, please don¡¯t discover me!</i>

    However, when he looked down, the despair in his heart only grew. Earlier, when he was showering the corridor with a ck dog¡¯s blood, it hadnded on his body as well. Therefore, he left a bloody footprint with every step. His trail had beenpletely exposed. As long as the ghosts were not blind, they would definitely find him.

    ¡°This ispletely different from my expectation! What did I do wrong?¡± His face was nched. Scissors hadpletely given up; he was now just waiting for death to arrive. ¡°Unfortunately, I failed to locate my elder brother...¡±

    He hid inside the toilet cubicle for several minutes, but even so, no one came to get him.

    ¡°They failed to discover me? But that¡¯s impossible. The footprints that I inadvertently left pointed to the fact that I¡¯m hiding inside this cubicle. Even an idiot would know that I¡¯m hiding here.¡± Scissors nudged his body slightly forward. He wanted to open the door, but once his fingersnded on the cubicle door, he immediately bounced back. ¡°No wait, they are probably just outside the door! Once I open the door, several faces will squeeze inside the cubicle. They¡¯re just waiting for me to surrender and open the door.

    ¡°Yes, that has to be it. I cannot leave; I¡¯ll just wait here. If that can earn me another second, then so be it!¡± Scissors maintained his posture to the best of his ability, not even daring to move his head. ¡°As long as I cannot see them, they are not real.¡±

    ck dog¡¯s blood stained his body, but Scissors, holding the old bag with both of his hands, did not feel dirty or disgusted. ¡°The toilet is amon set inside any horror film. It is a very dangerous ce, but let me think, have there been any characters that managed to escape from a toilet before?¡±

    He scanned through the films in his mind for a long time, but the longer he thought, the more afraid he became. The toilet in horror films was definitely a death location. He failed toe up with the way to escape, but instead, he was reminded of the few scary scenes inside the toilet from several famous horror films.

    ¡°All the doors of the cubicles next to mine are locked, which means that there are definitely people inside them! Damn, that is exactly the plot for one of the ghost stories I¡¯ve seen. In the bathroom at night, a hand reaches into my cubicle, asking me whether I need blue toilet paper or red toilet paper.¡±

    ( B oxnovel.c om ) Cold sweat slid down his face. He was living the scene inside the horror movie, and the plot that he imagined could happen at any moment!

    ¡°What should I do if a hand reaches inside my cubicle asking me which type of toilet paper I want? Tell him I¡¯m actually a girl wearing a boy¡¯s clothes so I¡¯m sitting because I need to? I don¡¯t need any toilet paper? But will the ghost fall for a stupid reason like that?¡±

    Bang!

    The toilet¡¯s door was knocked open again, and the sound was much louder than the one before. It sounded like something scarier had entered the room. Scissors immediately stopped his wandering mind. He held his mouth shut, and he was shaking in nervousness.

    Bang!

    The door of the first cubicle was knocked down by brute force, and Scissors¡¯ heart tightened with that thud. <i>It¡¯s inspecting the cubicles one by one. Please don¡¯te here, please don¡¯te here!</i>

    Naturally, things did not go the way that he had hoped. All the doors of the previous cubicles were consecutively taken down. In the end, the footstep stopped right outside his own cubicle. <i>God, it is really over this time.</i>

    ...

    A scream floated up from downstairs, and the doctor stopped moving. He told Chen Ge, who was in front of him, ¡°This ce is not right. Why don¡¯t we go back down? It¡¯ll be safer if we stick together.¡±

    ¡°Being together with them is how tragedy will happen. Don¡¯t forget that the smiling man is still downstairs. Perhaps it was him who reached out to harm the other passengers.¡± Chen Ge came to the highest floor, and under the doctor¡¯s quivering gaze, he removed the hammer from his backpack and broke down the door that led to the roof.

    ¡°You... look like you are very familiar with this ce. Have you been here before?¡± the doctor asked carefully.

    ¡°I have an employee that lives in Li Wan City, so I¡¯ve actually been here before. Even though the blood fog has covered up the city, the general structure of the buildings hasn¡¯t changed.¡± Chen Ge climbed onto the roof.

    ¡°Your employee?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m a prop maker at a theme park. This hammer here is one of my creations. It looks scary, but it¡¯s more style than substance.¡± Chen Ge walked directly toward the water tank. He opened all of them and failed to discover the phone spirit¡¯s body. ¡°We should still be residing in the real world.¡±

    The ¡®door¡¯ had gone out of control, and the blood fog from behind the door floated out to slowly consume this small town. Probably after some time, Li Wan City would bepletely taken over and transformed by this blood fog, bing a link between the real world and the world behind the door.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± The doctor walked forward to join him.

    ¡°I wanted to check if there¡¯s any obvious sign of danger around us, but the fog is too thick for me to see anything.¡± Chen Ge came up with a random excuse. ¡°Let¡¯s go back down.¡±

    Returning to the ground floor, the bus was still where it had been, but none of the passengers could be seen.

    ¡°There should be something inside the building, but we were lucky enough to have not run into it.¡± The doctor¡¯s heart was shaking. He stood next to Chen Ge, and after a moment¡¯s hesitation, he opened his lips to say, ¡°Actually, I¡¯vee to this ce before. The blood fog...¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll continue this conversationter. I think I heard screaminging from that way.¡± With his heightened senses, Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and travel bag before running down the street.

    ¡°Hey, be careful!¡± The doctor¡¯s advice fell on deaf ears. Unable to do anything else, the doctor chose to continue trailing behind Chen Ge. Running down the street, Chen Ge came across a vague shape waving at him from a junction, but the shape was facing away from him.

    ¡°Finally found a local.¡± He jogged faster, but the waving silhouette slowly disappeared into the fog. Chen Ge was unwilling to let the ¡®person¡¯ go so easily. He chased after it for a distance before finally stopping when he passed a hospital.

    ¡°Why is this man lying here?¡± Chen Ge came across the drunkard shaking spastically outside the hospital with white foam on his lips. It looked like he was about to leave the world soon.

    ¡°It appears like he was given a great shock.¡± The doctor shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m a physician, and this is not my field of expertise. I¡¯ll try my best, but it¡¯ll depend on his luck whether he¡¯ll wake up or not.¡±

    ¡°Hold this.¡± Chen Ge passed the backpack to the doctor. ¡°I have more experience with this.¡±

    He unbuttoned the drunkard¡¯s cor and loosened his belt. He leaned the drunkard¡¯s head back so that he was lying t on the ground. Then he massaged the man¡¯s temples in a steady rhythm, and that was followed by a steady press on his chest. There was no w to his resuscitation technique; it was as standardized as if it was copied directly from the textbook.

    3 minutester, the drunkard slowly recovered. He did not scream when Chen Ge¡¯s face came into his eyes, but after realizing where he was, he started to get nervous. He pointed in a direction and said, ¡°Don¡¯t go into that house. There¡¯s a smiling human-faced dog in there¡ªit¡¯s a bloody curse.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, let me send you back to the bus.¡±

    Chen Ge wanted to support the drunkard, but the man reached out to grip Chen Ge instead. ¡°We cannot go back! There¡¯s a mop ghost in that building and a hanging ghost in the staircase! We cannot go back!¡±

    ¡°There are so many ghosts here?¡±

    ¡°Yes! I¡¯m not lying to you! Now I suspect there is at least one ghost story hiding inside each building. In other words, there is at least a ghost inside each of the buildings here!¡± The drunkard¡¯s body was shivering.

    ¡°A ghost inside each building? Doesn¡¯t that mean each of the buildings can be turned into an isted horror set?¡± sh crossed Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. He scanned the buildings around him, and the expression was different from when he first arrived.

    ¡°I guess you can see it that way.¡± The drunkard had no idea what Chen Ge was thinking. ¡°Oh, and this hospital next to us. Do not enter it. I heard several screamsing out of it earlier!¡±

 Chapter 639 - Bad Guys Everywhere [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 639: Bad Guys Everywhere [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Screamsing out from the hospital? But the iron gate is locked, and the surrounding windows are all installed with anti-theft webbing. People from the outside would not have been able to gain entry.¡± The doctor was afraid that Chen Ge mightmit to some crazy decision, so he stepped forth to say, ¡°Yin energy is often gathered in locations like hospitals. After all, it is the location where death is an everyday thing. I suggest we stay away from it.¡±

    ¡°You have a point.¡± Seeing the hospital, Chen Ge was reminded of the four-star hospital-themed scenario in Eastern Jiujiang, and from his previous experience, hospitals were indeed not lively ces. ¡°Then, we¡¯lle backter. We¡¯ll go to other ces first. Actually, I¡¯m quite interested in that smiling dog.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean that we should go there! Did you hear what I said earlier? Do you think I was joking? You have no idea what I¡¯ve been through!¡± The drunkard struggled and, in the process, pushed Chen Ge away. ¡°Please listen to me. Do not go there. When youe across that human-faced dog, it¡¯ll be toote for regrets!¡±

    ¡°Is the human-faced dog a dog or a human? Can you give me a more detailed description about his appearance?¡±

    It was obvious that Chen Ge was not grasping the message that the drunkard was trying to impart, and this caused the drunkard to stomp the ground angrily. ¡°Let¡¯s just return to the bus. It¡¯s not safe here. Every building here is hiding a ghost. I¡¯m not lying to you!¡±

    ¡°I know you¡¯re not lying.¡± Chen Ge was about to say something else when there was a crisp sound interrupting his words. It sounded like someone had dropped something onto the ground next to them.

    ¡°The people inside the hospital have discovered us!¡± The drunkard jumped up from the ground immediately, and his chest rose violently¡ªhis reaction was perfectly that of a frightened house cat. ¡°We need to leave this ce immediately!¡±

    ¡°Calm down, the closer we are to danger, the more we need to stave off the panic.¡± Chen Ge walked toward the origin of the sound. The doctor followed closely behind him. The drunkard did not have the courage to stay there alone, so he could only follow with an unwilling expression on his face. Walking through the fog, Chen Ge ended up at the other side of the hospital, and he saw a pair of bloodied scissors lying on the ground.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this that crazed man¡¯s weapon? Why¡¯s it here?¡± Chen Ge looked up the building with Yin Yang Vision. The wooden boards for one of the windows on the third floor were shaking. ¡°Is he hiding inside the hospital? But why would he toss out the scissors? Isn¡¯t this his weapon? Even if it¡¯s to ask for help, wouldn¡¯t it make more sense to toss out something else?¡±

    Chen Ge was confused by Scissors¡¯ action. He kept the scissors for himself and returned to the front door of the hospital.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go before it is toote. I don¡¯t want to get stuck here.¡± The drunkard squeezed next to the door. ¡°Earlier, I forgot to tell you about another ghost that I saw. Even the streets here aren¡¯t safe. When you cross a junction, there will be a ghost waving at you. He¡¯ll keep on following you, as he adopts your facial feature. When he appears, you¡¯ll see how you look like when you¡¯re dead.¡±

    The drunkard tried his best to persuade Chen Ge to change his mind, but it did not affect thetter at all as he tried to wiggle the iron gate of the hospital alone.

    ¡°What is he doing?¡± The drunkard touched the doctor¡¯s arm.

    ¡°Perhaps he¡¯s if to see whether the iron gate is sturdy enough to hold the ghost inside the hospital in,¡± the doctor guessed with a bitter smile. He also had trouble understanding what Chen Ge was doing.

    ¡°Wait, do you guys still think I¡¯m rambling in a drunken haze? Do you think what I saw earlier was part of my drunken imagination?¡± The drunkard grabbed the doctor¡¯s shoulders with both hands. ¡°I¡¯m not lying to you, I swear! Please trust me! I¡¯m trying to save you here! Every building here is home to at least one ghost!¡±

    His emotion was running wild. He turned toward Chen Ge and tried to forcibly lead the man away. ¡°Stay away from that door! You¡¯ll get pulled in if you get too close!¡±

    The drunkard had just finished when he saw the sunny looking young man take out a scary-lookingrge hammer from his backpack. The four eyes met, and the drunkard¡¯s eyelids twitched.

    ¡°You can tell me the rest after we get into this ce.¡± Chen Ge raised the hammer high and mmed it down on the lock.

    Bang!

    Due to the oppressive presence of the blood fog, the sound did not echo far into the distance. Knocking at the same spot three times, Chen Ge finally got the lock to break. ¡°Stick close to me. If you wander too far, I might not be able to guarantee your safety.¡±

    When the doctor heard Chen Ge say that, he started to follow without much hesitation.

    ¡°Hey! What¡¯s going on? Why are you carrying a hammer with you when you¡¯re just going to ride on a bus?¡± The drunkard held the doctor back by his shoulders. ¡°Have you two been to this ce in the past?¡±

    ¡°He used to make props for a theme park, so isn¡¯t it perfectly normal for him to carry a hammer on him?¡± The doctor rattled off the same excuse that Chen Ge had given him earlier to the drunkard.

    ¡°A prop maker?¡± When the drunkard was trying to tie up the rtionship between a hammer and a theme park, Chen Ge and the doctor had already entered the hospital. ¡°Hey, wait for me!¡±

    Standing on the first floor, Chen Ge activated the recorder, held both bags in one hand, and carried Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s hammer in the other. The sharp edge of the hammer elicited a creepy sound as it ground against the hospital floor. Chen Ge narrowed his eyes to take a better look as he stared down the corridor on the left.

    ¡°Did you discover anything?¡± The doctor seemed to know it was very dangerous there and stuck close to Chen Ge.

    ¡°A few visitors have recently been to this hospital.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the footprints on the ground. ¡°Due to the heavy rain from earlier, most of the passengers on our bus were drenched. So, these footprints must have been left behind by them. Then, you take a closer look at the size and shape of these footprints. Fourrge ones and one small one. So, they should belong to the family of three and the madman who called himself Scissors.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s observation was precise and urate. ¡°All the footprints pointed to the left side, so they must have entered the left corridor.¡±

    ¡°Jesus Christ! You sure have amazing eyesight! How can you see these things so clearly even though it¡¯s practically pitch ck in here?¡± The drunkard had a renewed admiration toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°Follow me.¡± Chen Ge entered the left corridor. He ced the white cat on his shoulder and took out his mobile to activate the shlight function. ¡°There are sickrooms lining both sides of the corridor. The doors are left ajar, so I suspect that something mighte out from them at any moment. Be cautious of everything.¡±

    ¡°Big brother, please don¡¯t scare me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not trying to scare you; I¡¯m just telling you the truth.¡± Chen Ge stooped lower. ¡°Come and take a look at these footprints. At the start of the corridor, they were evenly spaced, but after crossing the third and fourth sickroom, the footsteps started to ovep and randomize. This means that something unexpected happened to them when they were passing the third and fourth sickroom. They probably stopped here for a while.¡±

    ¡°In other words, you¡¯re trying to say that there might be something inside the third or fourth sickroom?¡± The doctor grasped Chen Ge¡¯s intention instantly.

    ¡°There¡¯s a great possibility of that, but that does not preclude other possibilities. Just be more careful when you¡¯re crossing these two sickrooms.¡± Chen Ge looked at the two doors that had been left half-ajar. Through the dark gap, it felt like some scary monsters would poke their head out at any time.

    ¡°Try to keep up and make sure you don¡¯t get left behind.¡± Chen Ge dragged the hammer and walked down the corridor. This ce was eerily quiet. When they passed the first and second room, Chen Ge did not notice anything out of ce. However, when he got near the third sickroom, the white cat on his shoulder meowed and curled behind his neck.

    At almost the exact moment when the white cat gave him the warning, Chen Ge raised the hammer in his hand and mmed into the half-open door of the third sickroom without any hesitation. The door swung heavily from the force and mmed into the wall.

    Bang!

    It exposed the shadow who was originally hiding behind the door. He was wearing a patient¡¯s garb. He had ashen skin, and underneath his pair of messy bangs was a pair of stunned eyes. He froze where he was, holding someone¡¯s medical history in his hands. The uneven handwriting on it read ¡®Come and find me.¡¯

    ¡°Why are you hiding here? Are trying to y a game with me?¡± Chen Ge revealed an interested smile. He needed toe up with more games to increase the yability of his Haunted House to attract more visitors.

    The patient behind the door seemed to have noticed something. He wanted to drop the medical history in his hand, but Chen Ge was not going to give him the chance. He burst into the room, and to prevent the doctor and the drunkard from seeing what he was up to, he even closed the door after he charged past it.

    The doctor and the drunkard were frozen solid on the corridor and had no idea what happened. Their attention had been too enraptured by the loud bang when the hammer mmed against the door.

    ¡°Where did he go?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I think he was dragged into that sickroom?¡±

    ¡°Are you sure? Howe it appears like he charged into it willingly?¡±

    Static noises came out from the sickroom, and ten secondster, Chen Ge walked out from the room with a satisfied smile, holding aic in his hands.

    ¡°This hospital is quite dangerous, so you have to be careful.¡± Chen Ge put theic away and continued to walk deeper into the corridor alone, grumbling about something that neither the doctor nor the drunkard understood. ¡°So, a game of hide-and-seek? This is quite interesting. Fine, I ept your challenge! I¡¯ll definitely find all of you!¡±

    The group stopped moving when they came to the second floor. The area before the first room right after they turned out of the staircase was sttered with fresh flood. Even a crime scene would not have looked this bloody.

    The doctor frowned. He was a professional, and he was feeling ufortable by the sight. The drunkard, on the other hand, had his hand over his mouth because he had started to dry heave.

    ¡°The ghosts in this hospital only like to y games, and they normally wouldn¡¯t injure people, so why is there so much blood in the corridor?¡± Chen Ge bent down to study the blood pattern. He looked exactly like an experienced forensic doctor. ¡°The blood stter has no uniformity to it at all, and there is too much. No matter which part of the body was injured, there is no way for one to create a crime scene like this.¡±

    Chen Ge brushed the blood with his pinkie, and he put it under his nostrils after rubbing it on his fingers. ¡°This does not smell like human blood.¡±

    When he said that, the doctor and the drunkard behind him reeled from fear. How familiar did one have to be with human blood to be able to make an identification on the spot like that?

    Dragging the hammer, Chen Ge very naturally walked through the pool of blood. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, this was probably set up by someone. I would often do something like this inside the Haunted House.¡±

    Seeing his back, the drunkard and the doctor started to have hesitation of following him.

    ¡°There footprints mixed into the blood pool, and they look simr to one of the footprints at the entrance of the hospital. This means that one of the passengers from the bus has been here before.¡± Chen Ge looked at the bloody footprints on the staircase, and his expression was curious. ¡°It feels like he left these behind on purpose, waiting for us to follow the trail to find him. Will there be a trap waiting for us considering how obvious this trail is, or could it be that someone has taken his shoes toy down this trap for us?¡±

    Chen Ge was very calm. After giving it some thought, he decided to follow the footsteps up to the third floor. After the footprints got to the third floor, they ran directly into the toilet. The footprints went only one way¡ªthere was entry and no exit. In other words, an idiot would be able to tell that the owner of the footprints should still be hiding inside the toilet.

    ¡°This is too obvious; I suspect this is really a trap. The two of you should wait out here.¡± Chen Ge gripped the hammer and entered the third-floor toilet alone. He mmed the doors of the front few cubicles open, but there was nothing inside them.

    ¡°The footprints disappeared into thest cubicle, and the scissors fell from the third-floor toilet.¡± Chen Ge was on high alert. He did not break the door of thest cubicle directly but crawled on the wall of the cubicle next door and peered inside.

    Scissors, who was covered in blood, gripped the old bag tightly. He was copsed inside thest cubicle with his hands tightly squeezed over his mouth and nose, afraid to make even the smallest voice. The man before Chen Ge was so different from the Scissors that he had met on the bus.

    ¡°This man¡¯s courage is small to an unimaginable level, but he dared toe to Li Wan City for the sake of his older brother. With enough training, he will be incredibly useful.¡± A trace of admiration shed through Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. He slowly retreated from the wall and out of the cubicle. He did not expose Scissors but knocked lightly on the door of thest cubicle. ¡°Is someone in there? I¡¯m a passenger from the bus earlier, and I saw a pair of scissors drop down from the window earlier, so I came to see if there¡¯s anyone here.¡±

    When the familiar voice entered the cubicle, to Scissors, who thought it was already over, the voice was like the first ray of a new spring. It pushed back the fog and melted the frozen river.

    Strange noises came from inside the cubicle, and Chen Ge recognized that as Scissors smoothing down his clothes and putting on his ¡®appearance¡¯. He did not disturb the man. ¡°Whether you are a fellow passenger or not, I¡¯m sorry to have interrupted you at this sensitive moment.¡±

    Chen Ge walked backward, purposely letting Scissors hear that he was retreating. Momentster, the door was pushed open, and an insidious voice came from within. ¡°You managed to find me?¡±

    The bloodied Scissors walked out from the cubicle. He carried a maddened smile on his otherwise expressionless face. He kept up the habit of licking the wound on his cheek even though he could barely suppress the grimace of pain that came from it. ¡°We¡¯d better leave this ce. There are many strange things inside this hospital. You should have seen the blood stter on the second floor, right? That was my doing when I cut a bloody path through the crowd of ghosts that surrounded me.¡±

    His eyes were rolling with anger, his expression scary. Chen Ge looked at the Scissors before him, and he had a hard time reconciling this man with the weak and helpless little soul that he had seen inside the cubicle earlier.

    ¡°Stop staring into my eyes, it¡¯s very dangerous.¡± Scissors grabbed the bag with one hand and issued a cruelugh. Perhaps because he had been squatting too long inside the cubicle, his legs were wobbly like noodles, and it gave him a limping gait while he walked.

    ¡°I understand. We¡¯d better leave this ce then.¡± Chen Ge did not move forward to help Scissors. ¡®Murderers¡¯ were often lone wolf, and lone wolves did not need help. ¡°Here. Your scissors. I found them outside the hospital.¡±

    Taking back his weapon, Scissors¡¯ gaze sharpened even more. ¡°Very good. If not for the fact that the cunning ghosts caused me to lose my scissors during thest struggle, they definitely would have regretted running into me.¡±

    ¡°Understood, I believe you.¡± Chen Ge dragged the hammer and walked out the toilet. It grated against the floor and made a spine-chilling noise. ¡°Actually, we are not so different. We both have a past that we do not wish to bring up, and I¡¯m also here to find the two most important individuals in my life.¡±

 Chapter 640 - Secret of the Hospital [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 640: Secret of the Hospital [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s words resonated greatly with Scissors. He had grown up at an orphanage. He was a loner that preferred his ownpany, and the only friend that he had ever had was his older brother. When he was bullied, when he was treated unfairly, when he could not find the meaning to live caught in a web of pain and despair, his elder brother would step forth to lend him a hand, to shield him from the ravages of life.

    For Scissors, his older brother was the most special person in his life, and it was due to the connection that they shared that after his older brother disappeared, Scissors would stop at nothing toe and investigate.

    Looking at Chen Ge, who was wandering away, Scissors was reminded of how Chen Ge had appeared when he was forced into the corner by those things inside the hospital, when he was at the brink of giving up. That warm and kind voice had pulled him up from hell right into heaven. It was such a roller-coaster ride of emotions. Even though Scissors did not voice it out, internally, his heart was gushing with appreciation.

    Due to the appearance that he needed to maintain, he did not openly thank Chen Ge, but he made a promise to himself that should he survive this ordeal, he would stop at nothing to repay the man¡¯s kindness.

    Those who appeared distant on the surface often had a zing heart. Since their warmth was normally encased within a thickyer of ice, only when thatyer of ice cracked would they reveal their real emotions.

    Licking the wound of his face lightly, Scissors turned around to spit out the ck dog¡¯s blood on his lips. He followed behind Chen Ge, and for a moment, he saw his older brother¡¯s shadow ovep over his savior.

    <i>I should calm down; he still might be a real murderer. It¡¯ll be better if I don¡¯t stay too close to him, but I should be there to lend a hand should he get into any trouble.</i>

    Scissors¡¯ impression of Chen Ge had changed drastically. He silently moved to follow behind Chen Ge.

    Realizing that Scissors had be more honest, Chen Ge¡¯s lips curled into a grin. From his perspective, Scissors was quite a hard to find talent. It was fine that he was in reality a coward¡ªthe most important thing was that he had the courage and determination to put everything on the line should the situation call for it.

    Chen Ge turned his head around to ask Scissors, ¡°By the way, I spotted different types of footprints downstairs. Other than yourself, there should be other passengers trapped inside this hospital. Did you see them earlier?¡±

    ¡°I came in here alone.¡± Scissors grumbled internally, <i>What is this about footprints?</i>

    When he entered the hospital, he had not paid attention to that at all, but since Chen Ge had brought it up, to maintain his appearance, he could only follow the thread of conversation. ¡°I¡¯ve noticed the footprints that you mentioned... Yes, if I¡¯m not mistaken, when I was caught in a deathly bout with the monsters on the third floor, I heard echoes of footstepsing from the second-floor security corridor. So, they might have run down that direction earlier.¡±

    Chen Ge nodded as he stared at Scissors, giving him a once-over.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Scissors quivered under Chen Ge¡¯s incisive gaze.

    ¡°The pair of red high heels on the bus disappeared. I remember distinctly that there were two echoes of footsteps whenever you moved, so that thing should be following you.¡± The other reason Chen Ge valued Scissors was due to the pair of red high heels. Even the smiling man had to be cautious around the pair of heels, which was a sign that it was at the very least a Red Specter.

    ¡°When I entered the left corridor, the sound disappeared. She probably sensed the danger and escaped.¡± Scissors lifted the pair of scissors in his hand, staring at the sharp edge of the de. ¡°It¡¯s obvious that she was afraid. She was a coward, too frightened of my presence.¡±

    Chen Ge really wanted to lurch forward to mp his hand over Scissors¡¯ lips. There should be a limit to the act that he was putting on. If his words fell into the ears of the pair of red high heels, he probably would not even know how he died.

    ¡°Alright then, consider I¡¯ve not asked that question. Let¡¯s go find the other passengers first.¡± Chen Ge led Scissors out of the toilet. The drunkard and the doctor were waiting for them in the corridor. When the two of them saw Scissors, who was covered in blood, they were so scared that they did not dare move one step closer to the supposed serial killer. In their eyes, Scissors¡¯ whole persona fitted their traditional idea of a murderer perfectly. He was covered in blood and carried a crazed smile on his face. He partook in the pleasure of pain as if only pain and murder could give him the only sense of joy in his life.

    ¡°Somehow it feels like I¡¯ve fallen into the wolves¡¯ den.¡± The drunkard stood at the edge of the group alone. His face was nched and staring at the blood trail underneath his feet; he felt like vomiting. Of everyone that he hade across so far, he was the only one who appeared rtively like a normal person.

    ¡°You fought the monsters alone for so long¡ªyou must be drained. Leave the clean-up work to me then.¡± Chen Ge very kindly helped find an excuse for Scissors before he started to explore the rooms one by one.

    The hospital was only three stories tall; it was not that big, but since Chen Ge¡¯s exploration was detailed, they took half an hour before they managed to finish a tour of the ce. They found the footprints for the family of three and the pair of shoes for a boy at the second-floor security corridor. The footprints trailed down the security corridor, heading toward the other side of the hospital.

    The family of three happened to cross Chen Ge¡¯s group by. When Chen Ge crashed through the door, they slipped down the stairs on the other side of the hospital and slithered away.

    ¡°These few people sure are something else. We came to save them, but they fled without even leaving a message for us. They only care of themselves, how selfish can they be?¡± The drunkard ced himself in the shoes of Chen Ge. He felt like if he was Chen Ge, he would not have been such a busybody.

    ¡°This is hardly their fault. It is simply human nature to choose to escape when faced with fear.¡±

    ¡°You sure have an open-minded attitude about everything.¡± The drunkard thought that Chen Ge had a positive outlook on life. Following their interaction, he realized that Chen Ge was a good ol¡¯ man with no cunning in his heart. ¡°Since the people that we¡¯re here to save have already left, isn¡¯t it time for us to leave this ce as well?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to hurry. We¡¯ve circled around the hospital at least once already, and there are three locations that we need to pay close attention to.¡± Chen Ge stood where he was to think for a while. ¡°In the first room on the left after turning up the stairs on the second floor, there¡¯s a diary. It recorded how a patient was forced to the brink of insanity by the ghosts inside the hospital before bing a ghost himself. That should not be an isted case.¡±

    Naturally, Chen Ge knew that was not an isted case. The poor spirit whose legs were encased in ster and had his eye poked blind was currently residing inside Yan Danian¡¯sic. With the guidance from Scissors, he had rushed toward the dresser once he stepped into the sickroom, and it did not take long for Chen Ge to locate the spirit that possessed the diary.

    ¡°But what does that have to do with us?¡± The drunkard had a bad feeling about the hospital. It felt like it was more dangerous than the ¡®doghouse¡¯ that he had stayed in earlier.

    ¡°If the patient decides to y the game of hide-and-seek, they will be trapped inside the hospital, bing a part of the game after they die. However, have you ever considered this question¡ªwho was the first person who started this game of hide-and-seek?¡± Chen Ge turned to look at the other passengers. ¡°There has to be a person who came up with the idea of the game, only then would the string of ghost patients follow.¡±

    The few passengers looked at one another; this question naturally had not crossed their mind before. Chen Ge gave uppletely on asking for their opinions. The perspectives that they adopted werepletely different. The way that they viewed this strange world was too different to reconcile.

    ¡°Like I said earlier, there are three locations inside this hospital worth noting. The first location is the room where the diary was found, and the second room will be the filing room. Just now, I¡¯ve looked through the information regarding the problematic sickroom roughly, and I noticed something weird. Basically, any patient that stayed in that room would encounter a less than peaceful ending, and because of that reason, that sickroom¡ªRoom 201¡ªbecame the room that should be avoided among the doctors and nurses.¡±

    Ignoring the response of the other people, Chen Ge continued his analysis. ¡°The files recorded very clearly that the first case in Room 201 happened five years ago, and coincidentally enough, it was within that same year that this private hospital epted a patient that was transferred over from another hospital.¡±

    He took out a case file from his backpack and it was stained dirty. Most of the content could not be read anymore, and the name of the patient¡¯s original hospital was conveniently smudged. Only the term ¡®Hai¡¯ could be roughly discerned.

    ¡°Do you know any hospital that has this character in its name?¡± Chen Ge turned to look at the burn unit doctor.

    The good doctor shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s too difficult to tell with just one character. This could be many things.¡±

    ¡°Thest time we took the bus, there were a few female patients wearing hospital gowns. Do you remember that?¡± Chen Ge stared at the doctor.

    ¡°I do.¡± With the reminder from Chen Ge, it got the doctor¡¯s brain moving. ¡°There appeared to be a Hai character on their patient¡¯s gowns as well.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± When Chen Ge first saw the female patients, he had immediately suspected they were rted to the other four-star Trial Mission in Eastern Jiujiang¡ªthe Cursed Hospital. Now, with the strange happenings at this hospital, it was also probably to do with the patient that was suspected to have transferred over from the cursed hospital. In other words, the game of hide-and-seek was a continuation of some kind of curse at the four-star scenario.

    This discovery might not mean anything to anyone else, but it was a key piece of information for Chen Ge. A three-star scenario and a four-star scenario could not have been more different, and any clue would be immensely important.

    ¡°But even if we know that this situation might be rted to that hospital, it does not provide any help to get us out of Li Wan City.¡± The drunkard was the most realistic. He just wanted to leave this ce with his life intact.

    ¡°I think you¡¯ll change your mind after giving this a read.¡± Chen Ge turned the file to itsst page. It contained the information of the transferred patient. The patient who arrived from the other hospital was a child around six and a half years old. The doctor¡¯s diagnosis was that he suffered from rabies. Whenever he acted up, he needed to be tied to the bed. He would scream in extreme pain and contort his body into impossible angles.

    However, even when he was not ravaged by sickness, the boy¡¯s condition did not appear normal. He would say very weird things like telling people around him that he was being chased by something incredibly scary. He would tell them that he must not be found by the thing, and for that sake, he had to make sure that he hid himself very well.

    Of course, if that was the end of the story, the doctors would not have isted his case file from the rest. After the boy¡¯s death, stranger things started to happen.

    First, it was the disappearance of the boy¡¯s body from the morgue. Even now, it had not been found. Then it was the nurses who worked the night shift iming that they would often see the boy running through the hospital corridors at night. Then strange words would start appearing in printed materials, words likee and find me.

    Initially, these incidents were not paid serious attention to by the hospital until a worker died inside the morgue. No one knew why he would wander to the morgue at midnight. However, the police found a medical history sheet stuck to the back of the body, and written on the back of the piece of paper were the words e and find me¡¯. They were written unevenly like they came from the hands of a child.

    After the death of the worker, a tale spread within the hospital. Anyone who had that paper stuck on their back would need to y the fatal game of hide-and-seek with the child. The file had probably been sealed around that time. The file did not describe the action taken by the hospital, and that was pretty much all the information the file could provide on the child.

    Closing the file, Chen Ge¡¯s gaze swept the rest of the group. ¡°Some of you have had the paper stuck on you before. If we do not undo this curse, you¡¯ll still be in danger even after you leave Li Wan City.¡±

    ¡°Then what do you think we should do now?¡± Scissors started to panic. He distinctly remembered seeing something like that being stuck on his back.

    ¡°I say we go to the third location of interest now¡ªthe morgue. That was where the worker was found dead and where the boy¡¯s body disappeared from. We should be able to find some useful information there.¡± Chen Ge patted the white cat on its head and led the way forward holding the hammer. He had only managed to round up two lingering spirits in the hospital, which was quite a disappointment for the man.

    ¡°But if we are still unable to find the method to undo the curse at the morgue...¡± Scissors¡¯ expression was shifting¡ªhe was having difficulty holding onto his disguise.

    ¡°Since this might be dangerous, I suggest we stick together and see how things unfold first,¡± Chen Ge told Scissors. ¡°I¡¯m currently staying at the Western Jiujiang¡¯s New Century Park. If you have any problem, you cane find me. We should be on the lookout for each other.¡±

    Scissors nodded slightly. He repeated Chen Ge¡¯s address inside his mind,mitting it to memory.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go take a look now.¡± The group went back to the first floor and entered the security corridor, which was on the right wing of the hospital. The morgue was in the basement. When Chen Ge led the group to the entrance, he suddenly stopped. The lock that was supposed to be on the door was lying on the ground. The steel door was left half-open like something had just entered it earlier.

    ¡°The doors to the morgue are normally close,¡± the doctor whispered to Chen Ge. ¡°There should be something inside, be careful.¡±

    ¡°Okay, stick close to me.¡± There was no safe space inside the city shrouded in blood fog. Chen Ge did not wish for any idents to befall his fellow passengers, so he had them follow him closely.

    Pushing open the door, the chill swamped them from all sides. Chen Ge studied and memorized theyout of the morgue inside his mind. He realized that he might need to recreate this location for his Haunted House in the future.

    ¡°Big brother, do we really need to do something like this?¡± This was the drunkard¡¯s first visit to a hospital morgue. He gripped the doctor¡¯s arm tightly.

    ¡°We can¡¯t be fearful if we want to break the curse.¡± Chen Ge once stayed the whole night inside a sprawling underground morgue, so this was nothing for him. Walking deeper into the morgue alone, Chen Ge noticed traces of a recent brawl. Many iron tforms where dead bodies were supposed to be ced had been flipped over, and some white clothes littered the ground.

    ¡°What happened here?¡± Chen Ge noticed a few of the white clothes had stains of blood left on them. Heid the clothes ording to the shapes, and they eventuallybined to form the blood red silhouette of a person.

    ¡°It looks like the shape of a six or seven year old boy.¡± Chen Ge studied the pattern. ¡°It appears like someone pulled up the boy and mmed him against these white clothes, and that caused this blood silhouette to be left behind. But who would do something like that? This boy that I suspect to have escaped from the cursed hospital should be the scariest presence inside this private hospital, the source of the hide-and-seek game. So, who would be powerful enough to assault him like this?¡±

    After more detailed search, Chen Ge found a strange bloody footprint on another white cloth. It appeared to have been left behind by a pair of female heels.

    ¡°The pair of red high heels stopped following Scissors because she turned directly to the morgue? She personally dealt with the boy haunting this hospital?¡± Chen Ge noticed that one of the windows at the back of the morgue was broken, and there were sticky blood vessels that were gyrating around the broken ss. ¡°They left through here?¡±

    Looking at the broken window, Chen Ge realized that he had greatly underestimated the power level of the red high heels. The fact that she was able to deal with the boy so easily meant that she should be quite powerful even among Red Specters.

    ¡°It¡¯s unfortunate that I arrived toote. I only found two lingering spirits. Hopefully the red high heels will spare the boy. I still hope to get some information about the four-star scenario from his lips.¡±

 Chapter 641 - Black Dog [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 641: ck Dog [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Watching the shuddering blood vessels around the window frame and the white clothes nearby that was stained with blood, Chen Ge had the impression that this was a one-sided ughter. To be able to be the scariest presence at the Li Wan City¡¯s hospital, the boy at the very least should be a half Red Specter, but before the red high heels, he was so fragile and weak. The blood on the windowsill and the white clothes should have been left behind by the boy.

    ¡°I was wondering why the hospital was so quiet. So, someone dealt with the biggest threat before we arrived.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s face was filled with regret, and this caused the three who followed him to frown.

    ¡°It¡¯s a good thing that they¡¯re fighting among themselves! Earlier, when we ran into ghosts, you did not even sigh, but after realizing they¡¯re fighting among themselves, you as an outsider appear so dissatisfied.¡± The drunkard could not understand Chen Ge¡¯s thoughts at all. He had no idea that Chen Ge had already seen this ce as his property. At least before Yan Danian¡¯sic pages were filled up, he would not allow any of the ghosts to escape.

    ¡°The ghosts here aren¡¯t evil by nature. Unfortunately, they have fallen under the influence of the evil mastermind. It is out of kindness that I feel like they deserve a better home.¡± Chen Ge looked around some more and confirmed that there were no more spirits in the hospital, so he left with the group.

    ¡°Where should we go now?¡± The drunkard, doctor, and Scissors followed closely behind Chen Ge. They knew that separating was not a good idea, so they decided to just move as a group.

    ¡°The smiling man once butchered a whole bus of people, and that ruined the mastermind¡¯s n, so he should share a bad rtionship with the mastermind in Li Wan City. The red high heels should be as strong, if not more powerful than the smiling man. Since she harmed a local of Li Wan City, it obviously means that she is not the same camp as the mastermind as well. These two are annoying presences around Eastern Jiujiang. Since they¡¯re on the move, they will be able to distract the attention of the mastermind for us,¡± Chen Ge analyzed calmly.

    No matter how dire their situation was, he would be able to spin it into a positive outlook like it was them who currently had the upper hand. ¡°There¡¯s no need to rush. Why don¡¯t we go visit the doghouse that you mentioned earlier? I wish to see for myself this so-called smiling dog.¡±

    ¡°You still want to go? If I knew this, I wouldn¡¯t have told you about it.¡± The drunkard unwillingly led the way for the group. The ¡®doghouse¡¯ was very close to the hospital. When they neared the building, the expression on the few passengers werepletely different. The drunkard was anxious, the doctor was cautious, and Scissors was pretending to be calm. Chen Ge wiggled the hammer in his hand and walked ahead, looking like a boy excited to go on the ride at theme park.

    ¡°Is this the ce?¡± Chen Ge pushed open the gate of the courtyard. Before he even stepped into it, the white cat called out. It was acting very nervous, like there was something that it hated greatly residing inside the building.

    ¡°Are cats afraid of dogs? But that shouldn¡¯t be.¡± Chen Ge patted the white cat¡¯s head, trying to calm it down.

    ¡°Big brother, you¡¯d better be careful. This monster is very feral. I¡¯ve run into it once. It was moving with its limbs on the ground like a hunting hound.¡± The drunkard still had more to say, but when he saw Chen Ge already walking into the courtyard, his lips sealed instantly. ¡°This man is too brave for his own good.¡±

    Chen Ge actually was more cautious than the group realized. They merely could not see his safety precautions. With protection from Xu Yin and the warning from the white cat, Chen Ge was as protected as he could be.

    ¡°There is really a doghouse here, and it is incredibly well made, but...¡± Chen Ge carried his backpack and stood at the corner of the yard. He studied the doghouse that was radiating the horrible stench. ¡°This size is already big enough for a human being. So, there is a chance that this isn¡¯t made for a dog.¡±

    ¡°I also felt that way when I first entered this ce. The whole house is filled with air-fresheners. It was a ce meant for humans, but it was decorated like it was meant for a dog. But the ce that was supposed to be for the dog was built for the size of a human being.¡± The drunkard was rambling. Just the thought of what happened to him earlier caused his body to involuntarily shiver. His mind was buzzing dully like he could copse at any moment.

    For a normal person, having this kind of reaction was totally eptable. Seeing these reactions from the drunkard, Chen Ge nodded slightly. He was not agreeing with the drunkard per se, but he had finally confirmed that the drunkard should be a normal person.

    Chen Ge had been silently observing the passengers from the bus, and so far, the people that he could take off his suspect list, the people that he was sure had no problem were only the drunkard and Scissors.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. If you¡¯re really afraid, just stand together with them.¡± Chen Ge walked through the yard and felt something itchy on his neck. He reached out to scratch it and realized that he came back with ck dog fur in the middle of his palm. It was hard and prickly.

    ¡°Where did thise from?¡± Lifting his head up, Chen Ge narrowed his eyes and saw a man¡¯s face in the window of the second floor. The man was wearing dog¡¯s skin and carried a creepy smile on his face.

    This was the first time that Chen Ge had seen a smile like that as well. It did not appear to be humanlike in any way. The muscture involved in that smile waspletely different from the pull of the muscle when a human would smile. It caused the whole face to poke forward, looking extremely uneven.

    Staring at the human face on the second floor, when it first appeared, Chen Ge¡¯s heart did start to race for a while, but two or three secondster, he returned to normal. Raising his harm, he waved at the smiling face and returned a smile of his own. ¡°Stay right there and don¡¯t move, I¡¯ll be there to get you in a minute.¡±

    It was supposed to be a man standing on the second floor, but Chen Ge could not get even a sense of a living human from him.

    ¡°Li Wan City is so big, and I don¡¯t think I will have the time to look through the buildings one by one.¡± Chen Ge entered the two-story building. Just as the rest of the group moved to follow him, he raised his palm to say, ¡°Why don¡¯t the rest of you stay outside and wait for me?¡±

    ¡°We should stick together. Now is not the time to act like a hero!¡± The drunkard knew how powerful or rather how scary the monster was, and he was worried for Chen Ge.

    ¡°I guess you¡¯re right, but the space inside the house is rather cramped. Try not to stay too close to me¡ªI¡¯m afraid of identally injuring you.¡± The unexpected reminder from the drunkardforted Chen Ge. His impression of the man improved greatly, and he swore to try to keep the man alive until the end.

    ¡°Understood, we will be sure to not create any trouble for you.¡± The drunkard nced at the skull cracker¡¯s hammer that Chen Ge was holding, and he sighed internally¡ªthis man before him was definitely one who treated his life with less importance than he should. The group all entered the room. They walked down the small corridor and were about to head upstairs when the sound of a wind chime entered their ears, and the half-open doors mmed shut on their own.

    ¡°Damn!¡± The drunkard and the doctor looked behind them at the same time. Their exit had already been cut off. The few stopped where they were.

    Scissors¡¯ face was unnaturally white, and he whispered darkly, ¡°This is the mostmon scene in a horror movie. The doors close on their own, and not long after this, the ghosts will appear. In fact, they might already be hiding somewhere close by watching us already.¡±

    ¡°This is why I said we shouldn¡¯t rush into things!¡± The drunkard was panicking. ¡°We should find a room to hide inside first. As long as we stick together, the ghost probably won¡¯t assault the four of us.¡±

    ¡°You have a point.¡± The doctor nodded in agreement. After the few finished their discussion, they all turned to Chen Ge, wishing to get his approval.

    ¡°What are you guys talking about? Why should we go into hiding? If the door is closed, then why don¡¯t we open it?¡± Chen Ge shook his head slightly. He really had trouble catching up to the thoughts of these passengers.

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s reply, the drunkard wanted to say something else, but Chen Ge did not give him the chance. He charged to the door and raised the hammer to m into the door. That created a loud boom that echoed through the entire building. After the door was mmed open, Chen Ge did not stop. He aimed the hits at the hinges until he removed the door from the framepletely.

    ¡°Now he won¡¯t be able to close the door even if he wants to.¡± He kicked the warped door to the side. Dragging the hammer, he walked back to the group. ¡°Don¡¯t just focus on running or hiding¡ªyou have to learn to analyze the situation.¡±

    Chen Ge thought that Scissors had quite the immense potential, so he decided to pass down some knowledge to him. ¡°The man that I saw earlier was on the second floor, but since the door on the first floor closed on its own, it probably means that there is more than one ghost in this house. This supposed ssic scene from a horror movie can give us plenty of information about the ghosts that we¡¯re dealing with. We need to learn to make use of them toe up with analysis that is beneficial to us.¡±

    Hearing the wind chime that was still going as if there was someone pacing up and down the corridor, Chen Ge turned to look at it and said, ¡°Sometimes, the ghost will try to increase the fear in our heart through the usage of everyday items in our lives. For example, that wind chime. But the solution to that problem is actually very simple.¡±

    Chen Ge walked to the door to remove the wind chime and ced it inside his backpack. After the wind chime was removed, that strange sound disappearedpletely.

    ¡°It¡¯s that simple.¡± When Chen Ge said that, both the doctor and the drunkard¡¯s faces were frozen in fear. They both pointed at the space behind Chen Ge.

    ¡°Big brother! Behind you! It came out from inside the wind chime!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a ghost! There¡¯s a ghost!¡±

    Chen Ge turned back to see a face filled with hatred and anger. Interestingly enough, this man¡¯s face was simr to the face that he had seen on the second floor. At the moment, the man¡¯s lower body was trapped inside Chen Ge¡¯s backpack. The upper body tried its best to crawl out, but endless hands reached out from inside Chen Ge¡¯s backpack, holding him into ce before roughly pulling the man back into Chen Ge¡¯s backpack.

    After the man¡¯s pained spirit disappeared, Chen Ge turned back with a smile, telling the rest of the passengers, ¡°That was merely an illusion. This is the second point that I wish to tell you. Ghosts often rely on tricks of the sight to toss us into self-suspicion.¡±

    The other passengers were silent. Honestly, when the male ghost showed up, they had been afraid, but when they saw the ghost struggling and screaming before it disappeared behind Chen Ge, their scalps were numb, and even the blood in their veins curdled.

    ¡°If you¡¯re really that afraid, then just stay on the first floor.¡± Noticing the air fresheners that littered the ground, Chen Ge did not give the others much time to think as he headed up the stairs alone. The man inside the wind chime looked exactly like the man on the second floor. Chen Ge suspected that the male ghost should be the original owner of the body, but due to some strange reason, the soul of the man and the dog had been swapped, and it was now the dog who was possessing the body of the man.

    ¡°This sure is an interesting ghost story.¡± As the chairperson for the ghost stories society, Chen Ge felt a responsibility to collect all the ghost stories he hade across. After reaching the second floor, he summoned Xu Yin to stick by his side. He was ready for a battle, but the scene that unfolded by his eyes surprised him.

    The strange man who was smiling at him from the second floor earlier was now standing in the middle of the second-floor corridor. He was still wearing dog skin and that strange smile on his face. Strangely enough, Chen Ge could not feel any hostility from him¡ªit was just like Chen Ge had met this man before, and more than that, they were old friends.

    ¡°He chose to show himself earlier because he spotted me wandering in from outside?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s alert went up since this was so out of the ordinary. Chen Ge had Xu Yin test the man, but the man did not resist at all. In fact, he looked at Chen Ge with confusion in his eyes like he was asking, ¡®Why are you attacking me, aren¡¯t we supposed to be friends?¡¯

    ¡°This man used to know me? That¡¯s impossible! This is my first time meeting him, or is it the effect of the title, Specter¡¯s Favored?¡± Chen Ge walked closer to the man, and thetter did even try to evade. He was very obedient like a tame pet.

    ¡°This sure is curious.¡± Chen Ge was one who was more conducive to persuasion than force. The fact that the man was so pliable and did not even resist any possible attack from Chen Ge confused the heck out of Chen Ge. He tried to use theic on the man, but it had no effect. The man had the body of a living human, so naturally, he could not be pulled into theic.

    In other words, the man was actually still alive, but he had survived using the soul of a dog. Chen Ge tried tomunicate with him, but unfortunately, nomunication could be formed.

    ¡°What is this man up to?¡± Chen Ge had Xu Yin look after the man while he walked into the room next door to conduct his exploration. He found something in the room where the man was staying in earlier. One of the walls in the room was full of pictures. It recorded the life story of a man, or rather, a dog.

    The start of the pictures recorded a young man torturing various kind of animals. He used all sorts of cruelty, and the pictures were an indelible record of his sin. This continued until one day, he came back with a ck puppy. The puppy was surprisingly tenacious; no matter how hard he tortured it, the puppy would manage to survive.

    The man saw the potential in the puppy to be a permanent vent to release his stress, so he kept it as his own. While torturing the puppy, the young man did not stop his assault on other animals.

    The puppy saw the string of his master¡¯s torture of other animals with his own eyes until he one day grew up. One time, after the man went through another session of cruel torture, he thought that he had finally managed to kill the dog, so he did not chain it back to its doghouse.

    That very night, the dying ck dog crawled up on his limbs and slithered into the young man¡¯s bedroom through the window.

    Chen Ge studied thest few pictures. The ck dog used the little remaining energy it had to kill the man, and in the end, both the man and the dogy in a pool of blood. Then, the ck dog copsed for real. However, when the man sat up from the pool of blood, the expression on his face had already changed to that of a dog.

    Seeing the pictures, Chen Ge finally understood why the man would act this way, but there was still one more question that remained unsolved. Why would the dog act so friendlily around him?

    Going through the pictures again, Chen Ge believed that he had found the answer. When the ck puppy first appeared, other than the young man and the puppy, there was also a shadow that looked suspiciously like his own. He inspected the rest of the pictures, and almost every single picture had the shadow¡¯s presence in them somewhere.

    <i>The reason the ck puppy was able to survive so much torture is because the shadow has been protecting it? The shadow looks just like me so this could exin why the ck dog does not have any hostility against me¡ªit has gotten the wrong person! It mistook me for the shadow!</i>

    Then a brave spection entered Chen Ge¡¯s mind. <i>Could the shadow really be the younger version of myself? He grew up in istion, in apletely different manner?</i>

    Being mistaken by an outsider could be exined as a coincidence, but even the locals in Li Wan City could make this mistake, which made Chen Ge realize the severity of the problem. The shadow one hundred percent had something to do with him!

    <i>Perhaps he really looks like me, but that is merely in terms of looks.</i>

    Looking at the pictures on the wall, Chen Ge could see the simrity. He had once rescued a tortured animal before¡ªthe white cat on his shoulder was the perfect example. From this angle, he was indeed simr to the shadow, but the way their personality differed could also be seen from how they dealt with the extenuating circumstance.

    After saving the white cat, Chen Ge gave it a home at the Haunted House. But after saving the ck puppy, the shadow not only did not save it but allowed it to be continuously tortured until it was pushed to the necessary oue of murdering its own order.

    Hatred, pain, despair, and hostility. From the way the shadow aided the ck puppy, one could discern his personality.

    <i>This thing is too dangerous.</i>

    Chen Ge reced all the pictures and walked out from the room. The man was still squatting on the ground. He titled his head to the side as he studied Chen Ge. It was as if he had finally noticed something was wrong.

    ¡°I should keep this poor soul with me. The shadow can morph into many different shapes and disguises. Perhaps I may be able to use the ck dog¡¯s help to help me ascertain the real identity of the shadow. If possible, I wish to sit down for a serious chat with that shadow.¡±

    Chen Ge stooped down before the man. Using Yin Yang Vision, he stared into the man¡¯s eyes, capturing the soul that was hiding underneath the skin of a man.

    ¡°It¡¯s time toe out now, you need a new home.¡±

    After a lengthy persuasion from Chen Ge, the expression on the man¡¯s face slowly changed. Several minutester, a seriously wounded ck dog struggled to w its way out of the man¡¯s body.

    Using theic, Chen Ge collected the ck dog. The moment that happened, the ck phone in his pocket vibrated. He took out the phone to take a look. There were, in total, five unread messages.

 Chapter 642 - Forced Trigger of Trial Mission

    <h4>Chapter 642: Forced Trigger of Trial Mission</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    When the bus charged into the blood fog, Chen Ge had felt the vibration from the ck phone, but he did not look at it due to the sensitive situation that he had been in. Currently, he was standing alone on the second floor with no one around him. He could finally read through the ck phone without worry. Clicking the screen, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes narrowed as he read the messages on screen.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored, for obtaining a rare ghost¡ªck Hound. It is made up from ny percent dog spirit and ten percent human spirit. It was a Specter formed under unique circumstance due to influence from unnatural forces.

    ¡°Special power: Mania (Can enter a living human¡¯s people to cause said person to lose their mind and turn them into a mindless beast of aggression. This power can only be activated once every seven days, and every usage will contribute to irreversible wound on the ck Hound¡¯s spirit.¡±

    The first two messages were rted to the ck dog. Chen Ge was surprised that this ¡®pet dog¡¯ that did not appear so powerful would be given such high praise by the ck phone.

    ¡°Wait a minute, why would the ck phone directly treat the dog as an employee at the Haunted House? I didn¡¯t really tame it; all I need was toe into contact with it. Is there a mistake with the ck phone? Or when then ck Hound saw me, did he immediately imprint me as his new master?¡±

    Chen Ge had no idea what the rtionship between the ck dog and the shadow was, but based on the dog¡¯s current reaction, he had a guess in his heart. ¡°Looks like this dog might be the shadow¡¯s few real ¡®friends¡¯.¡±

    The meaning of the word friend went both ways. ¡°Should the shadow turn into another person to approach me, I could release the ck dog when I am unsure. Perhaps it might lead to unexpected result.¡±

    Having the ck Hound join his team was good news for Chen Ge, but considering how violent the ck Hound¡¯s power was, he temporarily did not n on setting it loose. Sliding down the screen, Chen Ge clicked open the remaining messages. These messages arrived into his phone when he first entered the blood fog.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored, you have entered the scenario for Li Wan City, a 3.5-star Trial Mission. The mission has been forcibly triggered!

    ¡°The scenario is extremely dangerous; many unknown changes await. Would you like to choose to retreat now?

    ¡°Warning! If you retreat in the middle of the mission, the scenario will be locked forever!¡±

    After reading the three messages, Chen Ge heard the sound of footstepsing from the stairs. The other passengers were moving up the stairs. They were worried about him since Chen Ge had note down after so long.

    ¡°After all, I¡¯m already inside Li Wan City. Even if there is danger, there is no other option but to move forward.¡± Chen Ge chose to not surrender the mission.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specters¡¯ Favored, you¡¯ve epted the 3.5-star Trial Mission¡ªLi Wan City.

    ¡°Li Wan City: The door has gone out of control, and the group of murderers and Specters party in the shadows of the city. Whenever night falls, every ghost stories turn into reality. The hotel that offered souls for sale, the boy ying hide-and-seek in the hospital, the human skull knocking against the wall next door, the God of Death waving at the junction, the spirit always facing away from you in the elevator, the smiling dog underneath the bed, the red eyes in the armoire...

    ¡°Mission Objective: Escape from Li Wan City. The rescue of each innocent victim will add another hidden reward!

    ¡°Mission Hint: I¡¯ve watched you cry; I¡¯ve watched youugh. I¡¯ve watched your joy; I¡¯ve watched your tears. I¡¯ve been watching you; I want to be you. I wish to be your best friend, but why do you keep all the happiness for yourself and only leave the sorrow to me?¡±

    After reading all the messages, Chen Ge memorized them in his heart and then put the phone away.

    ¡°Thank God, you¡¯re alright. Don¡¯t scare us like that!¡± the drunkard yelled a bit too loudly once he saw Chen Ge standing in the middle of the corridor after he got up the stairs.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, I¡¯ve already dealt with the human-faced dog.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the fainted man on the ground. After reading the message on the phone, his attitude toward other passengers softened. After all, saving one innocent victim would award him with an additional prize. Therefore, be it out of morality or his personal benefit, Chen Ge would try his best to protect them.

    ¡°This man was the monster? He doesn¡¯t look that scary.¡± Scissors held the man¡¯s chin. ¡°There are no visible wounds on his body, and we didn¡¯t hear any sound of fighting downstairs. So, how did he end up being fainted here?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d better stay away from him. He is just unconscious; he could wake up at any moment.¡± Chen Ge did not answer Scissors¡¯ question but found a rope inside the house to tie up the man. Then he led the few to leave the building.

    After reading the mission notification on the ck phone, Chen Ge had a better understanding of Li Wan City. There was a brief introduction on the town given by the phone. It mentioned the hotel, hospital, junction, and neighbor¡¯s home. Combining that with Xiao Bu¡¯s game that he had yed earlier, Chen Ge suspected that the hotel and the neighbor¡¯s home mentioned by the ck phone were the locales that he had visited when he was controlling Xiao Bu.

    <i>The door is in Fan Chong¡¯s residential area. Whether the door is still usable or not, it behooves me to pay the ce a visit. It is rather unrealistic for me to visit all these ces, so I think I shall only drop by the ces that I will pass along the way.</i>

    With the decision made, Chen Ge led the few passengers back to the bus. The exterior of the bus waspletely covered by the blood vessels, and the engine could not be activated.

    ¡°I have a friend who lives in Li Wan City, so I¡¯m quite familiar with this ce. Stay close to me. If we¡¯re lucky, we might be able to escape before dawn.¡± Chen Ge was not lying. There was no sunlight or hope in the world shrouded in blood fog. The sun would only greet them when they managed to escape.

    That could be considered Chen Ge¡¯s special power, which was to view the most despairing situation with a positive outlook, to reintroduce hope and brightness into the situation.

    To save time, Chen Ge did not enter every building, and to that end, he felt like it was a waste.

    <i>If there was more time, I would have the other passengers enter the building first while I hide behind. If anyone dares to harm them, I would instantly jump out.</i>

    Using other people as bait when he fished for the reward, Chen Ge had already nned everything. Many dangers hid behind the blood fog, but to their surprise, not many things stood in their way.

    ¡°Can we stop for a moment? I wish to take a look inside this residential area.¡± Chen Ge suddenly stopped. He looked at the apartments next to them and showed an unreadable expression. He was familiar with the buildings there because this was the ce that Xiao Bu and her stepfather had lived when she was inside the game.

    ¡°This doesn¡¯t look safe; the ce is so dark and eerie.¡± The drunkard was the first to veto the idea.

    ¡°Based on our previous experience, therger the building, the scarier the monster hiding inside. Therefore, there has to be a very scary monster using this ce as its nest.¡± The doctor grabbed his scarf and did not want to move either.

    ¡°I do not deny the danger, but as long as you listen to my orders, I can guarantee that you¡¯ll be safe,¡± Chen Ge said and walked away.

    ¡°Hey, you have to be more careful!¡± The drunkard could not help but grumble. ¡°Howe it feels like you¡¯re walking around your house in this ce where you could lose your life at any moment?¡±

    ¡°Such a coward, I really don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re so afraid of.¡± Scissors wiped away the fresh blood from his lips.

    ¡°This ce is filled with ghosts, murderers, and monsters, and you¡¯re asking me what I¡¯m so afraid of?¡± Even so, the drunkard summoned his courage. Although he was afraid, he refused to leave Chen Ge¡¯s side.

    ¡°Be quiet, I have something to tell you.¡± Chen Ge interrupted the drunkard and pointed at the bush close to them. ¡°There is a murderer chopping up his victim inside there. Try to keep your footsteps light when you walk past, do not alert him to our presence.¡±

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s words, the few passengers looked at each other. Chen Ge was speaking normal words, but when the words were strung in the manner that he arranged them, they had no idea what Chen Ge was trying to express.

    ¡°Murderer? Chopping up his victim? Don¡¯t alert him? What is going on here?¡± The passengers¡¯ minds were befuddled.

    ¡°The murderer wille into useter. There¡¯s no time to exin, so just follow my lead.¡± Chen Ge moved ahead and purposely moved far away from the bush. ¡°The murderer inside the bush is still here. I wonder if the raincoat murderer is still inside the elevator or not...¡±

 Chapter 643 - Making Lures [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 643: Making Lures [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Slowing down their footsteps, the group followed Chen Ge¡¯s order as they moved past the bush.

    <i>How did he know that there is someone in there?</i>

    When Scissors passed the bush, he turned to look out of curiosity. There were inconspicuous traces of blood seeping out from the deeper end of the bush. There was no wind, but the bush was lightly swaying. Afraid to stay for long, the few quickly followed behind Chen Ge and entered the apartment.

    ¡°I need you guys to step away for a moment. Someone mighte out from the elevator in a bit. There are so many of us, and we might unnecessarily spook him.¡± Chen Ge was very cautious. He saw the changing number that was above the elevator and signaled for the rest of his group to go into hiding.

    ¡°If the person can be spooked by us, they probably aren¡¯t that powerful. Why don¡¯t we attack in unison to apprehend them?¡± The doctor was calm, and he offered his own opinion.

    ¡°We can¡¯t do that yet. I have need for this person during the next step of my n, and the n requires each link to perform their required deed.¡± Chen Ge pushed the doctor slightly backward. ¡°There are scary things in this residential area. We should try to keep a low profile whenever we can.¡±

    ¡°If you told us to keep a low profile, just how scary are the things hiding here?¡± The drunkard was the first to request a retreat. ¡°Let¡¯s go, I don¡¯t think we should be stopping here anyway.¡±

    When the few were arguing, the elevator was about to reach the first floor. Chen Ge stopped wasting time with the other passengers and shoved them into the security door that led to the stairwell.

    After the few went into hiding, Chen Ge turned to look at the elevator door. ¡°The bad guy inside the elevator is targeting Xiao Bu because Xiao Bu is extremely weak. For these madmen, torturing and bullying the weak is a form of enjoyment. If Ie off too powerful, they might hesitate to attack me. But if he does not follow me upstairs, then the rest of the n cannot be put into motion.¡±

    Chen Ge decided to follow the guide that he had perfected in Xiao Bu¡¯s game. The n was to turn the ghosts and monsters at the apartment against each other. Theoretically, his n was perfect, but there were many extenuating factors when he wanted to put it into motion.

    The number on the disy finally turned into ¡®1¡¯, and the stained old elevator door opened to unload its passenger. A man wearing a ck colored raincoat stood in the middle of the elevator, and he was holding arge ck bag in his hands. The bag looked heavy, and it was hard to tell what was being carried within. The man did not seem to expect there to be someone outside the elevator. He reached out to pull the rim of the hoodie attached to his raincoat down to fully cover his face.

    ¡°Hello, how are you?¡± Chen Ge voluntarily gave his greeting. While he was wondering how to lure this mad murderer to follow him upstairs, the man walked out from the elevator. The elevator door was only so wide. Chen Ge carried tworge bags, and the raincoat man was also carrying one that was not small in size. When they brushed past each other, it was to be expected that their carry-on would bump against each other.

    Blood leaked out from the man¡¯s bag. Both Chen Ge and the raincoat man noticed the blood stain that was spreading.

    Chen Ge¡¯s expression shifted. His brows scrunched together, his calves shook, and he leaned back. All of his actions implied that he was trying to escape. In a flustered manner, Chen Ge jogged into the elevator.

    Fear, panic, and anxiety¡ªvarious emotions were expressed through his bodynguage and micro expression. It was such a waste that Chen Ge was not an actor. He rushed into the elevator and pressed the button on the elevator panel several times. The panicked reaction belied the anxiety burning inside his heart, and the darting gaze amplified the terror that was grasping at his heart.

    No matter the angle, Chen Ge looked like a genuine victim. Naturally, the raincoat man studied all of Chen Ge¡¯s reactions. He turned around, and since the rim of the hoodie covered his eyes and hair, Chen Ge could only see the cruel smirk that appeared on the man¡¯s lips. Chen Ge was very familiar with this expression; this was a smile that would be revealed by a beast when they discovered an unsuspecting prey.

    <i>The fish is hooked. </i>As the elevator door slowly closed, Chen Ge allowed his expression to rx, and he sighed in relief internally. <i>If I¡¯m not mistaken, he would catch up to me.</i>

    As the gap between the elevator doors narrowed, and Chen Ge was trying toe up with the next step of the n, he suddenly saw a pale hand reach into the gap of the elevator doors!

    The doors that were closing reopened, and the raincoat man stood outside the elevator with his head lowered. The atmosphere in the lobby turned oppressive, and the smile on the raincoat man¡¯s face became more manic. He lifted his legs slowly and walked into the elevator.

    This was an unexpected change. When he was ying Xiao Bu¡¯s game, the raincoat man had not gone after Xiao Bu immediately, and that had given Chen Ge the time toe up with a course of action.

    The dim light in the elevator showered down on the two¡¯s faces. The raincoat man stood next to Chen Ge, and an ufortable presence radiated from the man. It was as if he was not a living human but a beast trying to reign in his feral nature.

    The elevator started to move upward. Inside thepletely enclosed space, there was no chance for Chen Ge to evade any iing attack.

    To introduce rity into his line of sight, the raincoat man yanked off the hoodie of his raincoat. That action exposed the wound on his forehead and the birthmark that was near his left eye¡ªthese disfigurements took away from the man¡¯s charm. Sensing the raincoat man¡¯s movement, Chen Ge nudged deeper into the elevator. However, the space inside the elevator was only so big, so realistically, where could he possibly retreat to?

    ¡°Earlier, you saw the stuff inside my bag, didn¡¯t you?¡± The raincoat man turned to address Chen Ge. The birthmark on his face was torn from the movement, and it looked quite scary.

    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t see anything.¡± Chen Ge was telling the truth; he only saw the fresh blood that leaked out from the bag.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± The raincoat man dropped the bag to his side and took out the knife that he had hidden on his back. ¡°It¡¯s fine if you haven¡¯t seen anything. When I shove you inside it, you¡¯ll have plenty of time to work out what is inside the bag!¡±

    He looked at Chen Ge with a wicked smile and enjoyed the despair that swirled in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. He lurched forward with the de, aiming at Chen Ge¡¯s body. He was prepared to hear the pained wailing from Chen Ge¡¯s lips, but when his knife was half a meter away from Chen Ge, he saw the young man before his eyes grip the edge of his backpack and try to swing it heavily at him.

    He had no idea what was inside Chen Ge¡¯s bag, just like Chen Ge had no idea what was inside his bag. With a moment¡¯s thought, he guessed that there was nothing more than everyday objects inside Chen Ge¡¯s bag and that it would be fine for him to suffer a blow from it. After all, it was different for his de. One thrust from the sharp de, and someone¡¯s blood was bound to flow.

    The expression on his was twisted by hatred. Then, the raincoat man saw the young man swing the backpack harshly and powerfully on his arm.

    CRACK!

    The sound of bone shattering echoed clearly in his ears. The raincoat man¡¯s focus waspletely on Chen Ge, and until then, he could not discern where that sound came from. Arge force toppled him to the ground and the de fell from his fingers and ttered to the ground.

    Intense pain shot through his body, and that triggered the bestial nature in the raincoat man. Like a savage animal, he tried to reach toward the knife with his uninjured hand. The sharp de was just right before his eyes, but when his fingers curled around the handle, a shoe stepped firmly on the de.

    The raincoat man looked up, and he saw the young man open the zipper of his backpack with a despairing expression.

    ¡°Even though the guide has proven its usefulness, it appears like I cannot rely on it fully.¡± Chen Ge lowered his head to look at the raincoat man and his face bloomed into a smile. All the fear, terror, and panic on his face disappeared instantly. He mimicked the tone adopted by the raincoat man before. ¡°Earlier, you saw the stuff inside my bag, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°No! Wait!¡±

    The zipper opened, and Chen Ge grabbed the handle of the scary-looking Doctor Skull-Cracker¡¯s Hammer. He proceeded to lift it out from his backpack. ¡°It¡¯s fine if you haven¡¯t seen anything. When I shove you inside it, you¡¯ll have plenty of time to work out what is inside the bag!¡±

    ¡°Wait a second! Help!¡±

    ...

    The elevator returned to the first floor. Chen Ge dragged the fainted raincoat man out of the elevator. ¡°He looks quite thin, so why can¡¯t he fit inside it? Is it because there are too many unbroken bones? Oh well, at least he¡¯s lost his mobility. I am not going to break all of his bones¡ªthat is too much of a waste of time.¡±

    All the other passengers jogged over to regroup when they saw Chen Ge walk out from the elevator. When they saw the raincoat man foaming at the mouth, mumbling incoherently, all of them shivered uncontrobly.

    ¡°You saw it yourself. It was him who insisted on following me into the elevator. I was merely defending myself.¡± Chen Ge dragged the raincoat man and his bag to the pile of trash near the entrance and hid them with the bags of garbage.

    ¡°What shall we do next?¡± The few passengers could not understand Chen Ge¡¯s thoughts at all.

    ¡°Since we¡¯ve already been exposed, it¡¯s time to adopt a different strategy.¡± Chen Ge dragged the hammer as he walked toward the bush that was not far away. ¡°Follow me.¡±

    The chilly wind caressed the back of their necks. Chen Ge did not slow down even as he entered the bush. A spine-tingling noise came out from inside the bush¡ªsomeone was busily at work.

    Slowing down, Chen Ge, who was covered in blood stains, finally caught a look of the murderer inside the bush.

    The man looked a lot scarier than the raincoat man. His body was covered in many ashen gray spots. It appeared like he was suffering from some kind of skin disease, but upon closer look, Chen Ge realized that they bore startling simrity to cadaveric spots.

    ¡°Gray skin?¡± Staring at the gray spots on the murderer¡¯s body, he was reminded of the few monsters and humans that he had met so far at Li Wan City. They all had the same simrity on their bodies¡ªtheir skin was unnaturally gray.

    These people appeared to have stayed too long in Li Wan City and had been corrupted by the world behind the door at Li Wan City, causing this strange transmutation to their physical body.

    ¡°Those gray spots are moving.¡± After using his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge saw that the gray spots appeared to have their own consciousness. They seemed to be treating the human body as their warm bed to proliferate and spread. ¡°These should be the negative emotions that are umted behind the door. These emotions attach themselves to these people, causing their mind to go out of control.¡±

    Negative emotions could slowly drive a normal person crazy, and the scarier thing was that the living humans themselves could be turned into a vessel to contain these emotions. They used their skin to feed these gray spots, and as this continued, the entire human being would be taken over by these gray spots.

    Having entered the world behind the door, Chen Ge understood the horror of that world. If he was unable to resist the negative emotions, he would eventually fall under the effect of these negative emotions, bing their puppets and turning into the resident behind the door.

    ¡°Based on the information given by the door, the shadow once sent endless despairing passengers into the world behind the door. This murderer before my eyes should be one of them.¡±

    These people with thest trace of hope came to the city, not expecting that the thing awaiting them would be a chasm with even deeper despair. The shadow never wanted to rescue them in the first ce¡ªhe only saw these unfortunate people as nutrients to sustain the world behind the door.

    The man inside the bush noticed Chen Ge as well, but probably because he saw the hammer Chen Ge was holding, he did not act rashly. He might be murderous, but he was not an idiot. He could sense an indescribable horroring from Chen Ge.

    ¡°Wow, there is really someone hiding here. How did you know from so far away?¡± Scissors followed behind Chen Ge. Just in terms of appearance, he might not lose to the man in the bush. At least, the first impression that he gave was quite scary. He gripped the scissors in his hands, and he did apply Chen Ge¡¯s advice and held the de at its middle and not at its edge.

    ¡°F*ck! This is too much!¡± The drunkard only poked his head out to take a look before cowering behind the doctor.

    ¡°Can you stop hiding behind me every time?¡± The scarf covered his face, but one could see the doctor¡¯s brows crease together. The sudden appearance of four people startled the murderer. He had not experienced something like this before¡ªhe felt like an animal at the zoo being looked at. He took a deep breath and silently reached for the tools that he was using earlier to cut up the body parts. His eyes were filled with sin. If he had the chance, he would not hesitate to kill the group of people before him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I just want to ask you a few questions and also ask you for help.¡± Chen Ge tossed the white cat aside and pressed the button on the recorder. Even though the man before them was a living human, perhaps he had stayed here for too long. His body was seriously corrupted by negative emotions, such that he appeared more like a monster now.

    ¡°How long have you been here? And how many other humans are like you living in this small town? Have you seen the person who is responsible to look after this city?¡± Chen Ge was about to ask the fourth question when the man took advantage of the quick moment Chen Ge blinked and sprung toward him. He raised the weapon in his arm, aiming at Chen Ge¡¯s neck.

    His speed was conspicuously faster than a normal man. Thankfully, Chen Ge was already prepared for an ambush. He reacted fast and used the hammer to block the iing attack. However, the hammer was very heavy, and it was not that easy to operate, especially during moments that required speed. In the end, Chen Ge only managed to raise the handle to block the attack.

    To Chen Ge¡¯s surprise though, when he was attacked, Scissors next to him did not retreat from fear but raised the weapon in his hand to help Chen Ge block the iing attack.

    ¡°Nicely done, but you¡¯re still too slow.¡± Chen Ge jumped backward to introduce some distance between them. Then he gripped the hammer with both hands and mmed it at the murderer in the bush. In terms of presence, it was andslide victory for Chen Ge. ¡°I just want to ask you a few questions, and you wish to take my life?¡±

    The two raced through the bush. Chen Ge held the hammer and chased the murderer threeps around the apartment before thetter copsed under the strain of exhaustion and was detained by Chen Ge.

    ¡°You¡¯re still too weak to contest me in terms of endurance.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s body was very well trained. Of course, it had plenty to do with the ghosts that he needed to escape from daily. Walking to the trash site, Chen Ge found some rope to apprehend the murderer. ¡°Be careful, it¡¯s about time for us to face real danger soon.¡±

    ¡°Wait, these crazed murderers aren¡¯t the real danger?¡± The drunkard really did not want to stay there anymore. He had a feeling the longer he stayed here, the crazier he would be.

    ¡°You¡¯ll see in a bit.¡± Chen Ge whacked the raincoat man in the trash heap a few more times.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that. There are many living humans in Li Wan City with blood on their hands. The reason I¡¯m doing this is because I¡¯m afraid they might expose us after they wake up. Even though most murderers work alone, it is never wrong to be cautious.¡± Chen Ge then grabbed the murderer from the bush and hauled him into the apartment with him. ¡°You should wait for me downstairs. When I signal for you to run, just run out of the apartment.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like a good n at all.¡± The drunkard wanted to ask for more rification from Chen Ge, but Chen Ge had already started to move up the stairs.

    He led the murderer to the door to Xiao Bu¡¯s house. Seeing the familiar scenario, Chen Ge had this strange feeling of the game world ovepping with reality.

    ¡°I shall enter to take a look first. If there¡¯re no helpful clues, I¡¯ll figure out a way to lure out the Red Specter from Xiao Bu¡¯s neighbor home.¡±

 Chapter 644 - Following the Guide

    <h4>Chapter 644: Following the Guide</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Xiao Bu stayed at a normal apartment; her stepfather did not appear to be that well-off.

    ¡°Shall we knock?¡± Standing in the corridor, Chen Ge held the murderer that he had caught from the bush and wondered aloud. ¡°This is after all Xiao Bu¡¯s ce, so it doesn¡¯t seem right for me to break the door down.¡±

    Chen Ge tried the doorknob, and to his surprise, the door was not locked. As the lock clicked, the door was pushed open. A faded stench drifted out from inside the room. Chen Ge narrowed his eyes, and his pupils constricted, a sign that he was using Yin Yang Vision.

    Coffee table, sofa, television cupboard... All the furniture looked normal¡ªthere was nothing unique about them.

    ¡°Someone has died here; you¡¯d better not go in.¡± His hands tied behind his back, the murderer uttered with his head lowered. He looked like he was talking to himself.

    ¡°How do you know that? Did you kill the person living here?¡± Chen Ge pushed the murderer from behind and entered the room with him.

    ¡°There is the smell of dead here; it is unmistakable.¡± The gray spots on his skin creased together as the man¡¯s nostrils wiggled. He turned to look at the bedroom. ¡°The smell came from that room; the victim should have been dead for a long time already.¡±

    The ruffled hair covered the man¡¯s face, and he kept his voice low. Instead of saying he was guiding Chen Ge, it was more like he was trying to make use of Chen Ge¡¯s curiosity to create a chance for himself to escape.

    ¡°Inside the bedroom?¡± The only possible victim there could have been Xiao Bu¡¯s stepfather, but when Chen Ge was ying Xiao Bu¡¯s game, Xiao Bu¡¯s stepfather died in the living room and not the bedroom.

    <i>The location of the dead body has changed. Has someone else been inside this room? Was it the raincoat man or Xiao Bu herself?</i>

    Chen Ge opened the bedroom door and peered inside. All the books on the shelves were arranged neatly, there was no trash on the ground, and several abstract paintings hung on the wall. There was no dust on the frame, and it appeared like this ce was regrly cleaned.

    The thing that appeared out of ce was the wooden bed. Strangely enough, the bed had been moved away from the walls so that it sat perfectly in the middle of the room. A thick,fortable bedsheet was spread on the mattress, and on top of ity a middle-aged man.

    ¡°Xiao Bu¡¯s stepfather?¡± Chen Ge walked to the bed, and when he saw the man at a closer distance, his fingers gripped the hammer involuntarily. Arge part of the man¡¯s skin had been reced by cloth. He looked like an abandoned rag doll that had been roughly sewn.

    <i>In Xiao Bu¡¯s game, such a choice was given. It was to sew the stepfather¡¯s wounds together, to transform him into a doll.</i>

    Seeing the man before him, Chen Ge finally understood that when faced with the choice, Xiao Bu had chosen not to ignore her stepfather and figured out a way to make sure that he would stay by her side forever.

    <i>Such a cruel method of body preservation.</i>

    The murderer got closer to take a look as well. There was excitement dancing in his eyes as he admired the sewn skin on the middle-aged man¡¯s body. ¡°This man should be the most precious piece of art in this room. The person who created him must be aplete maniac!¡±

    The murderer led to an unhingedugh. He did not stop until there was a knocking sound that came from the wall adjacent to the neighbor¡¯s home.

    ¡°Your assessment is wrong.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the edge where the skin connected to cloth. There was gray color on the edge of the skin. ¡°The killer probably removed all the gray skin from the man¡¯s body. She was trying to figure out a way to rescue this man, or rather, she did not want this man to turn into a monster like you.¡±

    ¡°Monster?¡± The murderer started tough wickedly. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t take long for you to turn into a monster that you¡¯ve mentioned. Despair has already taken root inside your heart, and when the mind of a heavily determined person breaks, they will turn into the craziest spectacle!¡±

    He was like a ready cobra. After he recovered his strength, he was ready to retaliate against Chen Ge.

    ¡°You should spend more time worrying about yourself, because if I really go insane, my first target will be you. I will use this hammer and whack it endlessly on your fleshy body until I feel better.¡± Chen Ge was just saying that to scare him, but the murderer took his words at face value because he really thought that Chen Ge would do something like that.

    ¡°But that will be useless. When you start to lose your mind, no matter what you do, your heart will never return to how it once was, so while you still can, you¡¯d better take control of yourself.¡± The murderer¡¯s eyes darted about the room to search for something useful. He felt like it was too dangerous to stay around Chen Ge¡ªhe might die at any moment.

    ¡°Even if you can¡¯t do it, it doesn¡¯t mean other people can¡¯t. I once met this girl, she should be the most despairing existence behind the door, but she has not lost herself.¡± Her stepfather was made into a doll, but Chen Ge was still defending Xiao Bu. He desperately wished that the child who was threatened by the shadow retained her kindness.

    Dong, dong...

    A strange noise came from the wall. It was not loud, but it had attracted Chen Ge and the murderer¡¯s attention.

    ¡°Looks like someone isining about the noise,¡± the murderer whispered. He caught the shine of a fruit knife left on the coffee table from the corner of his eyes, and he silently moved toward it.

    ¡°If you ask me, I think you¡¯reining that you¡¯ve lived for far too long.¡± Chen Ge smiled at the murderer. He did not tell the man what this knocking sound represented.

    The bed was ced in the middle of the room, away from all the walls. This strange arrangement hinted at many things. The knocking sound grew. Chen Ge calcted the time in his heart and started searching for useful things in the room. After a few minutes, he felt like the headless woman next door was about to go berserk already, so he grabbed the murderer and raced out of Xiao Bu¡¯s home.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± A bad feeling entered the murderer¡¯s heart.

    ¡°The neighbor kept knocking on the wall. They might be asking for help; we should go take a look.¡±

    ¡°Even if the whole family is dead, what has it got to do with you? Stop minding other people¡¯s business. There are no innocent people here. All your kindness will only be repaid with sinful retribution!¡± The murderer¡¯s heart was racing due to a reason that he could not understand.

    ¡°There are no innocent people here?¡± Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of the mission requirement on the ck phone. By saving every innocent life, he would be given an additional mission reward. <i>Looks like it won¡¯t be so easy to get the reward from the ck phone.</i>

    ¡°We cannot stay here. After we leave this ce, you can do anything you wish with you. Kill me if you want.¡±

    ¡°Perfect, after making sure the neighbors are fine, we¡¯ll leave immediately.¡± Chen Ge dragged the murderer to the neighbor¡¯s door. He twisted the doorknob and realized that the door was not locked.

    Dong, dong...

    The strange sound echoed from the deeper part of the house. Chen Ge and the murderer stood at the door. They looked down the dark corridor, and neither dared to make the first move.

    ¡°There appears to be something inside this house...¡± The murderer started to mumble, and that caused Chen Ge to be tense.

    As the knocking sound grew, a heavy stench of blood came out from the bedroom. The blood slithered on the ground, and from their point of view, the whole ce was dyed a crimson red!

    A pair of bloodshot eyes opened in the dark. The skull that leaned against the bedroom wall, slowly turned around to stare at Chen Ge and the murderer who stood at the entrance. At the same time, a headless female voice walked out from behind the living room door. Her clothes werepletely drenched by blood, and the red was blindingly stark in the dark.

    ¡°A Red Specter!¡± When they saw the woman, Chen Ge had already turned around and run. When the murderer recovered from his shock, Chen Ge and his hammer were already five meters away.

    ¡°You...¡± The blood weaved into a, and it dragged the murderer into the room. Several secondster, that scary female skull rolled out of the house. Covered in blood, it started to move toward Chen Ge!

    Afraid to take the elevator, Chen Ge burst through the security door and flew down the stairs. He yelled loudly at the passengers who were waiting for him, dull-eyed. ¡°Run! Turn left once you leave the residential area! Hide inside the hotel!¡±

    <i>The murderer only managed to buy a few seconds for me¡ªthis ispletely different from the game! That Red Specter is also impossibly powerful. With only Xu Yin, I won¡¯t be her match! There¡¯s no other choice now but to lure her to the hotel!</i>

 Chapter 645 - Mad Rush

    <h4>Chapter 645: Mad Rush</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The Red Specter in Xiao Bu¡¯s neighbor¡¯s home was far more powerful than he remembered. Actually, this was partly his fault as well. He had put his guard down after spending too much time with Specters, forgetting the terror that gripped him when he first came across a Red Specter.

    That extreme crimson represented danger and horror. When the female ghost showed up, the survival instinct within Chen Ge¡¯s bones kicked in. Before the murderer even realized what was happening, Chen Ge was already miles away.

    <i>When Xiao Bu first pushed open the door, she should just have been a normal child. How did she manage to survive behind the door for so long?</i>

    Murderers, ghosts, and gray-skinned monsters¡ªin this city, that was no different from a nightmare. Even an adult would have problem surviving, so how did a little girl managed that? That confused Chen Ge.

    Dragging the hammer, Chen Ge ran for his life. He did not dare look back. The knocking sound and sound of washing water that came from behind him was enough motivation to keep him running. He knew that the Red Specter was just behind him.

    The few passengers originally stood in the middle of the residential area. They looked at the small town shrouded in blood fog and squeezed close together, afraid that in the blink of an eye, they would be dragged into the fog by some monsters. After separating from Chen Ge, they were like unmoored cargo, missing stability, and security.

    ¡°Run!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice came out from the apartment, and this was the first time that the passengers had heard Chen Ge use such an urgent voice. In their mind, no matter what happened, this man would be serenely calm like terror was something beyond him. Reality proved that they were wrong. The man was not immune to fear¡ªit was just that, so far, he had not run into something that could terrorize him!

    After hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice, the passengers slowly turned their heads to Chen Ge¡¯s direction. His left arm holding the travel bag and backpack, right hand dragging a ¡®prop hammer¡¯, his shoulder gripped tightly by a nervous white cat, Chen Ge arrived with his expression twisted into a grimace. His legs moved like the wind as he raced toward them. ¡°Run to the left! Go to the hotel! The hotel!¡±

    Initially, the passengers had no idea what hade over Chen Ge. One secondter, their eyes looked past Chen Ge. A headless female carcass walked out from the dark corridor. Countless blood vessels crawled out from the stump where her neck should have been to weave into arge blood red. At the end of the was an incredibly scary-looking human head!

    ¡°What the f*ck!¡±

    ¡°What have you done this time?¡±

    ¡°Run!¡±

    The Red Specter¡¯s presence was far more intimidating than a normal Specter. When the passengers saw her, their reactions were simr to that of Chen Ge. They started to run. They could barely imagine what would happen should they are captured. Their brain was nk, and only onemand remained¡ª <i>Run! Run as fast as you can!</i>

    The female ghost¡¯s speed was much faster than in-game. Chen Ge was on a death rush, but even so, the distance between them still closed.

    <i>Thankfully, I sent the murderer in to scout the ce for me first. If it was me who opened the door, without the few seconds to act as a buffer, I would have been dragged into the room already.</i>

    Unable to summon Zhang Ya, Chen Ge only had Xu Yin who might be able to stop the headless woman.

    <i>Afterpleting the mission here, no matter what, I need to help Xu Yin find his heart!</i>

    Running through the streets, the scene from Xiao Bu¡¯s game was replicated perfectly. In the hazy street, the few people screamed wildly as they ran down the street toward an unknown destination.

    ¡°I can¡¯t run anymore! My legs aren¡¯t moving!¡± The drunkard gripped his heart. ¡°It feels like my heart is giving up!¡±

    ¡°If you stop, that thing will personally yank your heart out of your chest! Do not stop!¡± Chen Ge screamed in warning. Perhaps his encouragement proved useful, as the drunkard gritted his teeth and continued charging forward.

    ¡°Now I know why you told us to wait for you at the entrance! If you¡¯d told us something like this would happen, we would have waited for you at the hotel!¡± Scissors yelped. Even the scariest murderer would be scared when running into a Red Specter, much less a fake one.

    Chen Ge¡¯s attitude was kinder around Scissors. After all, he nned to cultivate this young man into his employee. ¡°It¡¯s fine, there isn¡¯t a big problem! As long as you can run fast enough, the ghost will not able to catch up to you! Just listen to me! We¡¯ll be safe once we arrive at the hotel!¡±

    When one was caught in a supernatural event, the worst thing was to get oneself trapped inside an enclosed building. As long as he could run, then there was hope. This was the conclusion that Chen Ge had arrived at after his many experience dealing with ghosts. Since the ghost was already on their heel, it was toote to say anything now. The only thing to do was run.

    The buildings on both sides of the street elicited strange noises. It felt like things might reach out at any moment from the half-open windows.

    ¡°Stay in the middle of the road! Do not get too close to the buildings!¡± Chen Ge still remembered the scene from Xiao Bu¡¯s game. Danger lurked everywhere in Li Wan City after dark. The monsters and ghosts hiding in the building would often use the cover of the night to assault the mbs¡¯ that crossed the street.

    ¡°Most monsters and ghosts do not leave their own building, but this rule doesn¡¯t apply to Red Specters.¡± Chen Ge turned slightly around to look behind him. He had no idea what he had done to provoke the woman thusly. The woman refused to let him go. ¡°Looks like in Li Wan City, Red Specters at the top of the food chain. This is probably the perfect reflection of the state behind the door as well.¡±

    Chen Ge was a kind person because he ran alone at the back and took on the biggest risk. After running down the streets for several minutes, the doctor and Scissors, who ran ahead, finally saw the hotel that Chen Ge had mentioned. This was a building thatbined both a restaurant and hotel. It was situated in the middle of the city and looked old, probably built decades ago.

    ¡°There it is! Get in there¡± Chen Ge was dangerously close to the ghost. The most direct effect from this was that the white cat that originally dangled from his shoulder had now moved to hide in his chest. Its ws gripped Chen Ge¡¯s clothes tightly, and it kept making this hissing sound.

    As the passengers charged into the hotel, Chen Ge sighed in relief. He raised his hammer and aimed it at the door. With a swing he tossed the hammer away, then he picked up speed and narrowly escaped through the door.

    ¡°Close the door!¡± The door mmed shut, and then came a loud bang. The passengers hurried to help by moving furniture to block the entrance. Several minutester, the door stopped vibrating, and only a constant knocking sound came from outside the door.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine now. We can rest for a while.¡± Chen Ge picked up the hammer and shoved it back into his back. He picked up the already drained white cat. The cat seemed to have its bones leak out from its body, and it leaned against the bag weakly.

    ¡°Brother, are you sure it¡¯s safe now? The woman outside is using her head to knock against the door!¡± The drunkard looked through the gap. ¡°She¡¯s really using her head as some kind of object to knock against the door!¡±

 Chapter 646 - Boss

    <h4>Chapter 646: Boss</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, everything is under control.¡± Chen Ge stood up to nudge his joints about. Compared to the state of the other passengers, one could see how physically well-trained Chen Ge was.

    ¡°This hotel is under the territory of another Specter, so that headless woman temporarily won¡¯t dare barge in.¡± Chen Ge patted the white cat¡¯s belly. The creature was so spooked that it did not push Chen Ge¡¯s hand back, which it normally would.

    ¡°Wait a minute! What did you just say? What do you mean by this ce belongs to another Specter¡¯s territory? Don¡¯t tell me... there¡¯s another thing like that monster staying here!¡± The drunkard had grown a bit too much mentally that night. His brain had be more agile.

    ¡°I guess you can see it that way. But don¡¯t worry, that female Specter is still asleep. For now, she¡¯s not going to wake up.¡± Chen Ge walked toward the restaurant, leaving the few stunned passengers.

    ¡°He admitted it so easily? There¡¯s really another female monster here? What is this?¡± The drunkard turned to look at the doctor and Scissors. ¡°Hey, why aren¡¯t you two saying anything? There¡¯s a female ghost outside, a freaking ghost!¡±

    ¡°Be quiet. So what if it¡¯s a ghost?¡± Scissors swatted the drunkard¡¯s hands back and uttered in a chilly tone, ¡°If they daree for me, watch as I put down a ghost.¡±

    Of the few, the doctor was the most collected. ¡°Did you notice the terms that he used are all temporarily? This means that the ghost outside mighte in, and the ghost inside might wake up any time soon, and should that happen, we will need to deal with two ghosts at the same time.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± The drunkard believed that the doctor was the most trustworthy of the group, and he was trying to grasp the meaning hidden in his words.

    ¡°I mean, you should try to preserve your strength. Our situation might get worse than this.¡± The doctor was also panting heavily. Of the three passengers, Scissors was the most physically powerful. After all, he had prepared aplenty for that day, and that must have included intense physical training.

    ¡°You must be joking... Just what kind of nightmare have I walked into. I just went out for a drink, that¡¯s all...¡± Drunkard climbed up from the ground. Listening to the echoes of the knockinging from the door, cold sweat slid down his face.

    ¡°Is someone there?¡± Chen Ge walked to the counter. The hotel was decorated in the style of nies¡ªit looked simr to the location in Xiao Bu¡¯s game. After waiting for ten seconds, a man¡¯s voice came from one of the rooms deep in the corridor. ¡°Please wait a moment! I¡¯ll be there shortly!¡±

    One minuteter, the passengers saw a rotund man waddle his way out from the corridor. His hands were tying the apron, and the apron looked new because there was no stain on it.

    ¡°How can you be so slow? Theck of efficiency is showing. As one in the service industry, you have to remember that customers alwayse first.¡± Chen Ge scanned the man with impatience.

    ¡°A thousand apologies, I was helping in the kitchen.¡± The middle-aged man was not angry. In fact, he had a smile on his face that, coupled with his overall demeanor, made him look friendly and weing.

    ¡°Helping in the kitchen?¡± Chen Ge noticed the man¡¯s hands were wet¡ªthey had just been washed. However, he did so in too much of a hurry, as there were some dark red stains left under his fingernails.

    ¡°Yes, we only have a single cook here, so sometimes, I go back there to help him.¡± The fat man guffawed. His eyes were beady from the folds of fat. If he did not turn his neck, it was hard to tell who he was looking at.

    ¡°Are you the boss here?¡± This was the first time that the drunkard hade across someone whom he couldmunicate with normally, and his heart was more than a bit excited.

    ¡°I have to help the kitchen, work as the waiter, and keep the books. Even though I¡¯m technically the boss, I feel like less than the hired help here.¡± The man squeezed behind the counter. ¡°Are you going to stay here, or are you just here for the food?¡±

    ¡°How are the prices?¡± The doctor frowned. He knew that something was not right. To be able to operate inside this small town, something was certainly wrong with this ce.

    ¡°You can stay for free on the first night, but if you wish to continue staying, on the second night, we will pick something from you to take as the room fee.¡± As if afraid that there might be misunderstanding, the fat boss added, ¡°Money doesn¡¯t mean that much to us. We prefer to charge by acquiring some unique moments.¡±

    ¡°What if we wish to stay for a third night?¡± Chen Ge interrupted to ask.

    ¡°We¡¯ll take one more thing from you. We will only chase you away on the day you aren¡¯t able to provide us with the thing we need.¡± The boss appeared reasonable. ¡°I can guarantee that this is the safest ce in this small town.¡±

    ¡°I think I get it.¡± The drunkard nodded. ¡°This ce is like the safe zone in games. How about the four of us stay here for the night?¡±

    ¡°These will be your room keys.¡± As if afraid that the drunkard might go back on his word, the fat boss quickly took out four keys from under the counter. Each key was taped with a number.

    ¡°We don¡¯t need four rooms, two of us can share one room.¡± The doctor was more cautious.

    ¡°Of course, please discuss among yourselves how are you going to decide the sleeping arrangement. I¡¯ll go back to the kitchen to have the staff prepare your dinner.¡± The boss waddled back to the kitchen, but strangely enough, the route that he took was different from the one that he used when he walked out from the ¡®kitchen¡¯.

    After the boss left, the doctor chose two rooms that were adjacent to each other. ¡°We¡¯ll take these two rooms, but all four of us will stay in the same room while keeping the other empty. We¡¯ll take turns staying guard through the night, paying close attention to these two rooms. Should anything happen, the guard will wake up everyone.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a brilliant idea!¡± Hope reignited in the drunkard¡¯s eyes. ¡°As long as we survive until morning or until the fog disperses, we will definitely be able to escape from this small town!¡±

    Scissors agreed with the doctor. Of the group, only Chen Ge held a weird expression.

    ¡°This should be the safest arrangement.¡± The doctor turned to Chen Ge. After all, thetter was their spiritual center.

    ¡°If all of us hide inside this room, it means that we have surrendered our proactivity to others, giving them enough time to set up various traps, and we will only stay and wait inside the room.¡± Chen Ge did not even nce at the keys on the counter.

    ¡°Then, what do you think we should do?¡± The others were curious about Chen Ge¡¯s thoughts.

    ¡°It¡¯s very simple. The boss has said earlier that there is no one here other than himself and the cook.¡± A smile appeared on Chen Ge¡¯s face as he reached out his hand. ¡°There are two of them but four of us. Compared to living through the night anxiously, I wish to be more proactive and assume the role of the boss for one night.¡±

    ¡°You want to take over this ce?¡± The drunkard felt like his world was going to explode. ¡°Brother, the man was so kind and polite when dealing with us earlier, and you¡¯re nning to steal the ce from him? Isn¡¯t that a bit inappropriate?¡±

    ¡°A shop that even a Red Specter did not dare to enter willy-nilly, do you really think the boss was being kind to us?¡± Chen Ge had yed Xiao Bu¡¯s game, so he understood the purpose of this ¡®hotel¡¯. The customers were all food, waiting to be sent into the stomach of the Red Specter who was trapped inside the fridge. ¡°You¡¯ll understand why I¡¯m doing this during dinner.¡±

    Chen Ge ced the white cat back on his shoulders and collected all four keys. ¡°Do not expose the n. I hope that you¡¯ll be willing to trust me. I can guarantee you that I¡¯m a good person, but my kindnesses with an edge.¡±

 Chapter 647 - Removing the Disguise [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 647: Removing the Disguise [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Kindness was not blind tolerance, and it was not the kind of self-deception where doing good things would only lead to good rewards. Actual kindness was apanied with strength, a way of living that pervaded one¡¯s life, a spirit materialized through constant everyday action.

    Chen Ge was a kind person, but the way that he showed his kindness was incredibly unique. The group wanted to say something more when they heard what Chen Ge had to say, but after giving his words some thought, they fell silent.

    This was Li Wan City, which was shrouded in blood fog, a ce where murderers and ghosts could be hiding behind every corner. One wrong move, and they could have easily lost their lives. A trait like kindness was extremely rare here, but at the same time, kindness was also the cheapest thing.

    ¡°I¡¯ll follow your lead.¡± The doctor was the first to expression his opinion. He had a great eye for people, and in his mind, he had already treated Chen Ge as his only hope of leaving this ce.

    ¡°I¡¯ll temporarily listen to your orders.¡± Scissors agreed as well. Of the three passengers, only the drunkard appeared slightly unwilling.

    ¡°The majority wins, so it has been decided.¡± Chen Ge gave the four keys to the four individuals. ¡°Later, try not to speak and leave everything to me.¡±

    About two or three minutester, the fat boss waddled back out from the kitchen. ¡°Have you chosen the rooms among yourselves? Please register here, and while you do that, I have a few important precautions that I need to tell you.¡±

    The fat boss took out a yellowed notebook from underneath the counter. The surface of the book was covered in a thickyer of dust, a sign that it had not been used for a long time already. He flipped open the book. It was filled with room numbers, and there was a human name written under each number. The strange thing was that some of the names were cut off, some were circled, and others were crossed out with a red ¡®x¡¯.

    Chen Ge had no actual idea what these symbols meant, but he had a feeling that every single name that was cut off represented a life that had been lost.

    ¡°I hope you¡¯ll remember in your heart what I have to say next.¡± The boss raised both of his hands over his head to make a strange pose. ¡°This lobby is the location where we¡¯ll have dinner. When it¡¯s time to eat, I will personally go to each of your rooms to get you. However, I hope that you will not wander around for the rest of the time. Turn around the corner, and it will lead you to the rooms. Before the first floor is filled up, the second floor is not open for business. I hope you won¡¯t go upstairs to take a look out of curiosity. If there¡¯s any ident that happens to you, the hotel will not take any responsibility.¡±

    ¡°We cannot go upstairs? This ce is not big, but you sure have plenty of rules.¡± Scissors licked his lips, and the wound on his face quivered slightly.

    The fat boss seemed like he had gotten used to dealing with people with scary appearances. There was no change to his expression as he exined patiently to Scissors, ¡°This is for your own good. I might have other guests staying here at my humble shop, and I cannot guarantee that those other guests will note out to harm you.¡±

    ¡°You have a point; we will be extra careful.¡± Chen Ge was the politest out of the group¡ªthere was no sign at all that he was nning to take over the shop.

    ¡°As long as you stay honestly inside your room, nothing will happen. Other than that, I hope that you¡¯ll remember this. When you enter the room, do not open the door for anyone, not even your closest friend.¡± The fat boss¡¯ beady eyes were covered up by folds of fat, so it was hard to discern the change to his expression, especially when it was so slight. ¡°I¡¯m not trying to scare you. Sometimes, those who call themselves your friend might not have your best interests at heart, or they might not even be your friend in the first ce.¡±

    Chen Ge did not take the boss¡¯ words to heart. Obviously, the man was trying to turn them against each other, to nt the seed of discord within them.

    ¡°Alright, that¡¯s all I needed to tell you for now. I¡¯ll get you in a bit for dinner. You should go take a look at your rooms now, the payment for the stay of the first night is free.¡± The fat boss left after that. His gait was light,pletely disproportionate to the size of his body. ¡°There are four more guests¡ªit¡¯s time to prepare more food.¡±

    Chen Ge stared at the boss¡¯ back. He had no idea whether thest sentence the boss said was to prepare more food for the four of them or to turn the four of them into food.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go check out the room first. Rx, for now, there is no need to act so awkward.¡± Chen Ge was the first to walk into the corridor and use the given key to unlock the room. The interior of the hotel room was slightly different from the one in Xiao Bu¡¯s game. It was muchrger than the game.

    <i>The old man, high-schooler, woman, and police officer¡ªI wonder if these guests would show up in real life.</i>

    In the game, the police officer was the first to be killed by the boss, so if the game was a full replication of real life, it was safe to assume that the fat boss was armed with a police gun, and that was one of the reasons Chen Ge did not challenge the boss directly.

    ¡°The rooms here are far cleaner than I expected.¡± The doctor held the key, and he was the first to enter the room. He opened the armoire and stooped down to look under the bed.

    ¡°What are you looking for?¡± The drunkard was confused.

    ¡°I was trying to see if there¡¯s stuff like blood stain or human body parts.

    ¡°Can you please not do that? We worked so hard to find a rtively safe spot to lie down for the night, and now you¡¯re making me worried again.¡± The drunkard followed behind the doctor. ¡°How about we share this room for the night?¡±

    The drunkard was really afraid. He was not only afraid of the potential dangering from the other guests at the hotel, he was also afraid of the other passengers. Scissors was obviously not a normal person¡ªhis every move described him as a murderous madman. The other man with the hammer, even though he looked rather normal in appearance, the things that he did and the words that he said were definitely not those of a normal person. Inparison, the doctor was the most normal of them all.

    After inspecting his own room, Chen Ge grabbed the backpack and started to wander around the doors of the other rooms.

    <i>The old man stays in Room 1, and the teeth that can summon the Red Specter are inside the drawer of Room 1 along with the spare keys for all the rooms here as well.</i>

    When Chen Ge yed Xiao Bu¡¯s game, he had been given plenty of choices when he entered the old man¡¯s room. Xiao Bu had been limited to taking only one item away from the room, but that was the game, and this was reality. Chen Ge nned to grab everything that he could use and shove them inside his backpack to help him takeplete control over this hotel.

    ¡°What is so unique about this ce that it is ced right in the center of Li Wan City?¡±

    When he was ying Xiao Bu¡¯s game, Chen Ge¡¯s only goal had been to survive, but now that he was there in person, he had to dig up all of its secrets. His eyes narrowed as he pushed the key in his hands into the keyhole and started to wiggle it loudly.

    Naturally, his key was unable to open the door for Room 1. The only reason he was doing this was to attract the old man¡¯s attention and start the next step of his n. The only presence that could threaten Chen Ge in the hotel was the Red Specter inside the fridge, and the teeth inside the old man¡¯s drawer was the key item to awaken the Red Specter. Only by taking the teeth away could he continue his n without worry. He waited there for a long time, but there was no responseing from inside Room 1. It appeared like it was an empty room.

    ¡°What are you doing here? Our room is on the other side. Can¡¯t you see the room number that is hung on the door?¡± The drunkard jogged over to remind Chen Ge out of kindness. Chen Ge smiled and put the key back into his pocket. He stayed to stare at the door of Room 1 for a while. He gripped the handle of the hammer in his backpack tightly. He thought about it and finally decided against it. If he failed to find the teeth after breaking down the door, or if the old man had already moved the teeth away beforehand, then things could easily get out of control.

    ¡°The longer this is dragged out, the more troublesome it¡¯ll be for us. After the boss notices the threat that we pose, it¡¯ll be much harder for us to do anything then.¡± Chen Ge was a quick thinker and fast mover. He was looking for an opening. Once the staff at the hotel exposed a weakness, he would make his move.

    ¡°Brother, the only one posing any sort of threat here is you, so I beg you to please calm down!¡± The drunkard knew that Chen Ge was not going to listen to his advice. He ran to find the doctor, hoping that thetter would be able toe help him advise Chen Ge. However, just as he turned around, the door of Room 1 opened to reveal a gap.

    ¡°You got the wrong room.¡± An old man¡¯s voice came from inside the room. Chen Ge narrowed his pupils and looked inside the room with Yin Yang Vision. The lights inside the room were not turned on, and a small and short old man was standing behind the door with his back bent.

    ¡°We are so sorry. We did not mean to do this on purpose.¡± The drunkard quickly apologized on Chen Ge¡¯s behalf. He grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s arm. ¡°Let¡¯s go, you¡¯re creating trouble for other guests.¡±

    The drunkard really wanted to pull Chen Ge away. His actions and expressions were a real reflection of the thoughts in his mind.

    Perhaps because of that, after hearing the drunkard¡¯s words, the old man put his guard down. The hand that held the doorknob rxed, and the gap opened wider to expose his other hand that was hanging by his side. The other hand was covered in wounds, and it was holding a red cloth and several teeth that had been grinded smooth.

    ¡°Found it!¡± Before anyone could give their response, Chen Ge reached out to hold the door to prevent the old man from closing it.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± both the drunkard and the old man said in unison. They were both panicking.

    ¡°I just want to borrow something from you.¡± With that, Chen Ge forced his way into the room and mped his hand over the old man¡¯s mouth to stop him from screaming. ¡°Come and help me! Pick up all the teeth that fell to the ground. Make sure that you do not miss any of them!¡±

    The drunkard was stunned. <i>Am I following a crazy person? He attacked a helpless old man without reason and without warning. And from the way he moved, it seems like he has been nning this for a long time already!</i>

    The old man who was ambushed forgot to resist. A normal murderer or ghost would wait until night fell to conjure up a despairing atmosphere and then slowly close in the trap, pushing their target to the brink of despair. Very rarely would someone act like Chen Ge and start to move as soon as the door opened enough.

    ¡°Big brother! The boss is still cooking dinner for us! Are you already nning to kidnap his guest?¡± The drunkard quickly followed Chen Ge into the room. He was afraid that they might make too loud of amotion and attract the attention of other people.

    ¡°This old man is not a guest.¡± Chen Ge dragged the old man to the table while keeping him quiet.

    ¡°Then who is he?¡± The drunkard had the impression that Chen Ge knew more than he let on, and at that moment, he could not help but wonder if the old man was indeed a dangerous character.

    ¡°He is the father of the boss.¡± Chen Ge opened the drawer, and like he had returned to his own home, he took out the key, teeth, and all the other things from within.

    ¡°His father?¡± The drunkard had started to stammer. ¡°Then, why are you kidnapping his father since we¡¯ve just met the boss for the first time tonight?¡±

    ¡°Why do you have so many questions? Come and help me. Tear open the bedsheet and curl it up. We¡¯ll use that as rope to tie this old man up.¡± Chen Ge cleared out the drawer. He ced all the teeth inside a bag and kept it inside his back. He turned to the old man whose eyes were widening and said, ¡°I will not harm you. In return, I hope you¡¯ll cooperate with us and stop with the pointless struggle.¡±

    Even though the drunkard said that he was unwilling, ultimately, he was Chen Ge¡¯s ally. He followed Chen Ge¡¯s orders and turned the bedsheet into a makeshift rope to tie up the old man.

    ¡°Alright, now that we have the teeth, we only need to be careful of the pistol that the boss might be armed with.¡± Chen Ge sighed in relief and used the pillow cover to gag the old man. Hearing themotion, the doctor and Scissors came over.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me, he told me to do all these.¡± Helplessness was written all over the drunkard¡¯s face.

    ¡°I have no idea how many living humans are required to feed a Red Specter touched by gluttony, but one thing is certain, there is no one in this hotel whose hands are not dyed by blood.¡± Chen Ge did not have the time to exin the situation to the rest. ¡°We¡¯d better leave this ce first. It¡¯s too easy to have our location exposed when we gather like this. I¡¯ll exin the situation to youter.¡±

    The group had just left the room when the fat boss¡¯ voice came from the kitchen.

    ¡°It¡¯s time for dinner!¡± The fat boss and arge man wearing a chef¡¯s hat appeared while putting a meal cart. The meal cart was painted a rare red color. It looked quite festive, with nine pieces of cake and a pot of red tea ced on top of it.

    ¡°A cake?¡± Seeing the cake, Chen Ge was reminded of the scene from Xiao Bu¡¯s game. How were four people supposed to share nine pieces of cake fairly with just a cut of the knife?

    Perhaps it was coincidence that history repeated itself. Chen Ge, the doctor, Scissors, and the drunkard¡ªthere happened to be four of them.

    ¡°I suppose this is not dinner but supper. If you¡¯re hungry, feel free to eat first.¡± The fat boss had no idea what had happened inside Room 1 and looked at the guests with a big smile on his face. Under his scrutiny, Chen Ge, the doctor, and Scissors acted like nothing happen. Only the drunkard revealed some apology on his face.

    ¡°Please take your seat.¡± The fat boss was very friendly. He worked with the chef to ce the cakes on the table. The doctor, the drunkard, and Scissors took their seat one after another. Just as Chen Ge nned to take the seat, his heart raced because the sound of static appeared in his ears.

    ¡°Xu Yin is warning me? Is there some problem with the chair?¡± Chen Ge stood up again and dropped the backpack on the chair instead. None of the guests moved to touch the cake. Even the drunkard knew how dangerous it was to consume strange food at such a dangerous location.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you think I¡¯ve done something with the cakes.¡± The fat boss chuckled good-naturedly. ¡°This is a famed establishment. Please enjoy the food without worry. Everything served on the first night is free, but if you wish to stay longer, then I¡¯ll have to take somepensation from you.¡±

    Then, the fat boss and the chef worked together to push the cart away, leaving Chen Ge¡¯s group in the lobby.

    ¡°The boss doesn¡¯t look like a bad person.¡± The drunkard¡¯s gaze kept wandering to Room 1. ¡°If he knew that we¡¯ve kidnapped his father, he would explode in fury.¡±

    ¡°Look at this table before youe to that conclusion.¡± Chen Ge moved the tes of cake away to reveal the many knife marks on the wooden table. Some of the marks looked deep like they had been made with the full strength of the wielder. ¡°Do you know why there are nine pieces of cake when there are only four of us?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± The drunkard just finished his question when he felt a sudden lightheadedness and almost copsed to the ground.

    ¡°This is bad!¡± The doctor and Scissors noticed something was wrong instantly. They struggled to stand up but noticed that their strength refused toe to them.

    ¡°How did we trigger the trap?¡± Chen Ge thought that he was being very careful already, but there was still ident. ¡°Howe I don¡¯t feel dizzy at all?¡±

    Chen Ge moved the backpack away and used Yin Yang Vision to inspect the seat, and he finally found something. The chair was old, and the seat was uneven. Hidden by the stains was a very small blood red pin. Upon closer inspection, Chen Ge realized that it was a human nail that had been soaked in blood.

    With the cakes ced on the table, everyone¡¯s attention would be pulled to the cakes. The chairs were pulled out from the table, and very rarely would someone pay attention to the seat of the chairs.

    ¡°No wonder this is a 3.5-star scenario. Even with the guide, there¡¯s a chance of failing the mission.¡± Chen Ge held his backpack and looked behind him. The kitchen door was open, and two heads poked out from it. The fat boss and the chef had been observing them. After realizing that three guests had fallen for their trap, the fat boss and the chef walked out from the kitchen with bright smiles. They held bone-ying cleavers in their hands.

    ¡°You¡¯re the only one left.¡± The fat boss¡¯ tone changed. He had taken off the disguise.

    Seeing the cleavers in the fat boss and chef¡¯s grasp, Chen Ge slowly revealed a smile. ¡°They¡¯reing at me with cleavers, so this means that it is highly probable that the boss is not equipped with a gun. I¡¯ll make my move once they get closer, and then they will have no chance to turn this around anymore.¡±

 Chapter 648 - How to Choose [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 648: How to Choose [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The boss was plotting against Chen Ge, but who was to say that Chen Ge was not plotting against the boss as well? Three of the four had fallen for the trap. With the number¡¯s advantage, the boss thought that they could make their move. He had no idea that for the group that he had received that night, ny-nine percent of theirbat ability came from Chen Ge alone.

    Chen Ge did not act rashly when he first entered the hotel because he was cautious of the trump cards the boss might have, like the gun of a police officer and the Red Specter inside the fridge. Now, both parties believed that they had the upper hand, so their faces were all smiles.

    <i>The man might have the gun hidden away, and since there is a limited number of bullets, he might not employ it unless it is an emergency. Therefore, I need to apprehend them as soon as possible. I need to break their hands before they can do anything¡ªthat is the only way I can stop them from using the gun.</i>

    The way Chen Ge dealt with a problem was very straightforward. To prevent an ident from happening, he often resolved an issue by dealing with the source.

    ¡°Stop resisting us. Wee in peace. We just want all of you to y a little game with us.¡± The boss thought that he had the power to make the shots so the expression on his face was very rxed. ¡°I believe that you have already noticed the problem with the chair. The venom on it would slowly make you lose your immunity and mobility. You¡¯ll eventually die under the ravages of extreme pain.¡±

    The boss took out a ss of clear water from his pocket. There were blood vessels moving inside it. ¡°I only have one antidote with me. Of the four of you, only one will survive.¡±

    ¡°Your threat is hollow toward me because I am not infected by the venom.¡± Chen Ge pulled open the zipper of the backpack and reached his hand into it.

    ¡°Very soon, you¡¯ll end up like them. I advise you don¡¯t resist anymore. It is meaningless and pointless. This is to save you from losing an arm or a leg, and that might give you an unfair disadvantage in the uing game.¡± The folds of fat on the boss¡¯ face were jiggling violently from excitement. He seemed to enjoy having living humans turn on each other. That feeling of taking all the beauty in the world, mming it on the ground, and stomping on it gave him an improbable rush.

    ¡°Game? What kind of game do you wish to y?¡± Chen Ge was interested when the term ¡®game¡¯ mentioned. His Haunted House needed more means of entertainment. A normal game did not match the atmosphere inside the Haunted House, but games that were designed by mad people? That would be perfect.

    An eerie Haunted House coupled with murderers¡¯ favorite game, the visitors¡¯ scream was already reverberating in Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

    ¡°There are many games like cutting the cake, fighting for the chairs, and hide-and-seek.¡± The fat boss thought that he had a firm grip over the situation, so he patiently exined the games to Chen Ge.

    Cruel game rules and a gaming experience meant to elicit the maximum screams from its participants. Just hearing the description made Chen Ge feel ufortable. ¡°If I copy the rules fully, the visitors might send themselves to the hospital, but the basic rules of some of these games are not bad.¡±

    ¡°Visitors? What are you talking about?¡± The fat boss and the chef were only several meters away from Chen Ge.

    ¡°Oh, my apologies. I am used to having many of my friends with me, so I cultivated the habit of talking out loud.¡± Chen Ge did not exin too much to the boss about the rtionship between having too many friends and talking out loud. He had drained the fat boss of his value, and Chen Ge was nning to remove his disguise as well.

    ¡°You¡¯re bullying me two against one, and both of you are armed with sharp weapons. Even though I¡¯m on the weaker side, I¡¯m not going to go down so easily.¡± Chen Ge gritted his teeth and snarled dangerously.

    ¡°Actually,pared to using venom, we prefer to deal with fresh kills. The more you struggle, the more exhrating it¡¯ll be for us!¡± The fat boss could not stopughing. His whole body was shaking, turning him into a quivering meat mountain.

    ¡°The more the victims struggle, the more exhrating it¡¯ll be for you?¡± Chen Ge waited from the fat boss to walk toward him before revealing his smile. ¡°Then it¡¯s perfect because you¡¯ll be in for much exhration tonight!¡±

    Tossing the backpack away, Chen Ge gripped the handle that was shaped like a human spine. He raised the hammer high and swung it heavily on the fat boss¡¯ chess.

    Bang!

    Chen Ge confirmed that the fat boss was a living person because the blood that he spat out was still warm. ¡°Well, is that exhrating enough for you?¡±

    Considering that the meat on his body might soften the blood, Chen Ge raised the hammer again and hit with the maximum strength that he could summon. The fat boss¡¯rge body was unable to suffer the blow and crumbled to the ground. Without taking a break, before the chef at the back could respond, Chen Ge rushed forward to break the fat boss¡¯ arms and one of his legs.

    Even though he had the upper hand, Chen Ge would not let his guard down. He was not sure if the fat boss was carrying any gun on him, so he opted for the safest method. Now that he had lost both of his arms, even if he was armed with a pistol, the boss would have much difficulty operating one.

    Cruel, cunning, cautious, and determined¡ªthat was the impression that Chen Ge had left on the chef. He was still considering the type of menu he could make with the few guests when he saw his boss being hit with the hammer until he spat out blood!

    Just how shameless and cunning did one have to be in order to hide such arge iron hammer inside the backpack and carry it by one¡¯s side?

    The chef¡¯s eyes skipped with uncertainty. The cleaver that he held in his hand looked like a child¡¯s toy inparison to the iron hammer. He wasbing his mind toe up with a solution. While he raised his head, he identally caught Chen Ge¡¯s eyes.

    The scary and cruel gaze caused him to shiver. Just as he thought that Chen Ge was about to tell him something, Chen Ge raised the hammer and lunged toward him. The man did not waste any time with words, and he was careful enough to not allow the chef to catch him off-guard.

    Everything moved too fast. Before his brain coulde up with a solution, the pain was already parsing though all of his body. The cleaver in his hand ttered to the ground. The chef looked as his arms weakened and his fingers released. It was an out of body experience.

    ¡°I...¡± The chef wanted to say something, but Chen Ge was not going to give him the chance. He was too careful to allow something like that. Before he gained control of the entire situation, he would not waste time with words and allow his opponents to disturb him with their words as well. With another few whacks from the hammer, even the chef copsed to the ground.

    ¡°Alright, now is the time for you to speak. Tell me, where is the antidote that can help them recover their mobility?¡± Chen Ge first grabbed the antidote away from the fat boss¡¯ grasp. Staring at the blood vessels wiggling inside the ss, he was reminded of the battle that he had a long time ago at Coffin Vige with the ghost stories society. At the time, Wu Fei had been holding a bottle of blood vessels simr to this one.

    ¡°I...¡±

    The chef was about to say something when the fat boss yelled loudly over him, ¡°Don¡¯t be tricked by him!¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t even given you any promises, and other than that, I¡¯m not one to go back on my word.¡± Chen Ge squatted down before the fat boss and started to search his body. The chef held his words in, causing his face to go red, but in the end, he still did not say a worthwhile word.

    ¡°If I were you, I definitely would not give this ss of medicine to them.¡± Even though the boss¡¯ arms were incapacitated, a piece of his sternum was caved in, and blood kept pouring out from his mouth, his attitude was forceful and tough.

    ¡°Why?¡± Chen Ge knew about the fat boss¡¯ trump card. He was probably waiting for the old man to use the teeth to summon the Red Specter.

    ¡°Can you really trust the words of your enemy? Actually, this is a ss of venom as well. I wish to enjoy your most despairing emotions; I would have the four of you kill each other and rewarded the final victory with this antidote that is actually a bottle of venom. Then, I¡¯ll enjoy the gloom of despair falling over his face as he slowly perishes from this world.¡± The fat boss¡¯ mad raving was loud and booming. His eyes kept flitting to the door of Room 1.

    ¡°This is such a coincidence because I too enjoy the look of despair on people¡¯s faces.¡± Chen Ge reached his hand into his pocket to pull out a piece of ck cloth. He opened it before the boss¡¯ eyes, and inside the cloth sat many smooth teeth. ¡°You keep ncing at the room, is it because it is the ce where these things are hidden?¡±

    The fat boss instantly went quiet. He tried to cover up the shock that was travelling through his body, but he was betrayed by his facial expression.

    ¡°Tell me, where is the antidote?¡± Chen Ge swung the hammer around. ¡°My patience is limited.¡±

    Both the boss and the chef were silent. After one minute, the boss opened his lips slowly to say, ¡°I can tell you where the real antidote is, but you have to promise to let both of us go. Take your friends and leave this ce after you obtain the antidotes.¡±

    ¡°No problem. Honestly, I have no interest in either of you at all.¡± Chen Ge was telling the truth. All he was doing was for the sake of the Red Specter inside the hotel.

    ¡°The antidotes are kept at a very secure location; I¡¯ll bring you to them myself.¡± The boss¡¯ face was filled with regret and sadness. He did appear like a man who had surrendered. ¡°Mind giving me a hand?¡±

    Chen Ge had shattered both of his arms and one of his legs, he could only hop now.

    ¡°Don¡¯t y tricks on me. Tell me the ce first, and I¡¯ll consider whether to bring you there or not.¡± Chen Ge searched the chef and discovered that he was carrying another bottle of the antidote. Perhaps these two bottles were prepared for themselves.

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll tell you. They¡¯re in the drawer of the third room after you turn left on the stairs leading to the second floor.¡± The fat boss cooperated fully. The chef next to him had a t expression like he was purposely making that face to prevent Chen Ge from getting any information from him.

    ¡°They¡¯re on the second floor?¡± Chen Ge thought back to Xiao Bu¡¯s game, and he did not think that he had even ventured up to the second floor. To prevent any unsightly ident, Chen Ge incapacitated the chef before helping the boss get to the second floor. The room that the boss described was actually his own room. The room was decorated with many old pictures, but strangely enough, all the pictures were of the boss and a woman.

    ¡°Is that your mother?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I have a bad rtionship with my father, so I only keep pictures I have with my mother.¡± A happy smile appeared on the fat boss¡¯ face. ¡°My mother is very pretty, the prettiest person I know. Perhaps if there¡¯s a chance, I can take you to meet her.¡±

    That sentence would have sounded perfectly normal if said by a friend, but Chen Ge was not close enough to the boss to be invited to meet his mother. Plus, Chen Ge could not tell whether the boss was telling the truth or not¡ªthe woman in the pictures might not even be his mother.

    ¡°The antidotes are in here.¡± The boss had Chen Ge open the drawer. Inside were three sealed ss tubes and there were gray sediments inside them.

    ¡°You sure?¡± Chen Ge put all the sealed tubes inside his backpack and carried the fat boss back to the first-floor lobby. He walked to the dining table and ced the three sealed tubes on the table. ¡°Can you still understand what I¡¯m saying?¡±

    ¡°Yes, my mind is working perfectly fine. I simply cannot control my body.¡± The drunkard had just witnessed Chen Ge take down two enemies on his own, so his attitude became much friendlier.

    ¡°These three tubes were taken out from the boss¡¯ room. He said that they are the antidotes, but I don¡¯t think things are that simple.¡± Chen Ge then took out the two bottles that he had found on the staff and ced them on the table. ¡°We cannot skip over the fact that the boss might be lying, and these two could be the real antidotes. Unfortunately, the boss only has three bottles of them. I am unable to find any extra. If we use one as an experiment, we won¡¯t have enough antidote for everyone.¡±

    Then, Chen Ge ran to pick up the white cat, which was looking at the scene, hiding in a far corner. He held the cat¡¯s little head in his arms. ¡°You¡¯ve consumed simr blood vessels in Coffin Vige. I¡¯ll open these two different ¡®antidotes¡¯ in a bit, and I¡¯ll need your help to identify the correct antidote.¡±

    Chen Ge had no idea whether the white cat understood him or not. He first opened one of the tubes that contained the gray sediments and ced it before the white cat. A faded stench wafted out from inside the tube, and the white cat struggled to escape. Closing the cap, Chen Ge put it away and grabbed the ss with the blood vessel.

    Just as he opened the lid, the white cat seemed to smell something. Its ears perked up, and the dual-colored pupils stared at the ss in Chen Ge¡¯s hand. When Chen Ge fully opened the ss, a wail escaped from the ss, and the blood vessels inside started moving like they were trying to wiggle their way out. The white cat¡¯s eyes became blood red like something inside its blood was being activated. It tried to leap at Chen Ge¡¯s hand.

    Chen Ge quickly screwed the ss shut, and then the cat finally calmed down.

    ¡°These blood vessels are able to attract the white cat¡¯s attention, so they¡¯re definitely abnormal. They might be simr to the stuff the ghost stories society¡¯ member retrieved from behind the door.¡± Chen Ge screwed the lid tight and ced all the containers together. ¡°My cat had an extreme reaction to the bottles with the blood. Personally speaking, I think the ones with the blood are the real antidote, and the boss was lying to us.¡±

    Chen Ge voiced his thoughts, and the three passengers each had a different reaction, which he saw them clearly. ¡°The choice is in your hands. I will not intervene, but I hope you¡¯ll consider it carefully before you make your choice.¡±

    ¡°I believe you.¡± The first to make the choice was Scissors. He used thest remnant of his strength to grab the ss filled with blood.

    ¡°The brighter the color, the more unsecure it is. That has always been the rule in the natural world. I¡¯ve studied pharmacy and medicine before, and there is no way I am able to convince myself to consume blood that appears to be alive.¡± After some hesitation, the doctor finally pulled one of the tubes with the gray sediment to his side.

    Two passengers had made the choice, so the drunkard was the only one remaining. He had full trust in the doctor and Chen Ge, but at that moment, their opinions split, and he did not know how to decide.

    Psychologically speaking, he was more leaning toward the gray tube, but he felt like the boss might be ying some reverse psychology trick, purposely making the antidote look like venom.

    Three minutes passed in his contemtion. The sound of the knocking at the entrance grew. With the threat of the door being crashed through at any moment, the drunkard finally made his choice. He picked up thest remaining ss with the blood.

    Now, who was going to try it first? That was another test human nature. After all, the first tester was putting their life on the line for the experiment.

    ¡°I guess I¡¯ll be the first tester.¡± Scissors struggled to sit up. ¡°Can you help me open the lid?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± When Chen Ge walked to the man¡¯s side, Scissors took the chance to whisper to Chen Ge. ¡°My phone is my left pocket of my pants. All the information about my big brother is inside it. If I¡¯ve made the wrong choice, I hope when youe across him, you¡¯ll be able to lend him a hand. Of course, that is if you happen toe across him. I don¡¯t need you to purposely go looking for him.¡±

    ¡°I promise.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s admiration for Scissors grew. A truly courageous person was not one who said that they were not afraid of anything but one who had the courage to make a decision that they would not regret even though they might be shaking like a leaf inside.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Scissors raised the ss to his lips and tipped it back. The blood in the ss appeared to actively slither into his throat following the echoes of someone¡¯s faraway cries.

 Chapter 649 - Greater Red Spectre [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 649: Greater Red Spectre [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    There were not that many blood vessels in the ss, probably only one-fifth of the amount consumed by the white cat back in Coffin Vige. After swallowing the ¡®medicine¡¯, Scissors was assaulted by pain. He grabbed his head as he copsed to the ground. Various wailing ghost faces seemed to surface in his eyes, and the man¡¯s facial expression kept changing to match the ghost faces that appeared in his eyes.

    To counteract the pain, Scissors wed out flesh wounds on his body, and the scariest thing was that underneath the fresh wounds were many thin, tiny blood vessels that were slithering around like fish.

    The pain persisted for about ten minutes. Scissors¡¯ entire body was soaked in sweat. After thest wave of pain faded away, he stood up from the ground with his teeth gritted. The wound on his face kept leaking blood, and the blood trailed down his face to dye his clothes¡¯ cor. It added a unique presence to Scissors¡¯ appearance.

    ¡°I¡¯m still alive!¡± As he slowly regained control of his body, Scissors climbed up from the ground. This was a sign that the ss with the blood vessels was the real antidote. He gripped both of his fists tightly before slowly releasing them. Finally, he walked to stand before Chen Ge. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything. It was all part of your choice.¡± After saying that, Chen Ge turned to look at the other two passengers. The doctor shook his head and put the ss with the gray sediment down. He had an apologetic look on his face.

    The drunkard was hesitating over whether he should take the ss because he was afraid of the extreme pain. In the end, under the encouragement from Scissors, the drunkard tossed the ss of blood down his throat.

    ¡°Watch over him, I¡¯ll go have a little chat with the boss.¡± Chen Ge picked up the tube with the gray sediment and walked over to stand before the fat boss. He twisted open the lid. ¡°Inside here is the venom, right?¡±

    ¡°This is also the antidote; I¡¯m not lying to you!¡± The boss still refused to admit his deceit. Chen Ge did not want to waste time arguing with the man. He pried the man¡¯s mouth open and was about to pour the tube of gray sediment down his throat.

    ¡°Wait a minute! Three of you were poisoned, and there are only two bottles of antidote. I¡¯ll tell you where the third bottle of antidote is!¡± The fat boss struggled violently while lying on the ground.

    ¡°The third bottle?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s interest was piqued. The blood vessels seemed to have had a positive influence on the white cat, so if there was an extra bottle, he could have brought it back to the Haunted House with him to study it slowly.

    ¡°Yes, this time, I will not lie to you!¡± The boss¡¯ forehead was covered in cold sweat as his beady eyes stared directly at Chen Ge.

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll trust you one more time, where is the third bottle of antidote?¡± Chen Ge yanked the fat boss off the ground and deposited him on the chair. As the pain ravaged him, the fat boss grimaced from the impact. ¡°Actually, I ced thest antidote inside the fridge in the kitchen. It¡¯s inside the top, the freezeryer.¡±

    ¡°The fridge inside the kitchen?¡± If not for the fact that he had yed Xiao Bu¡¯s game before, Chen Ge might have believed the words of the fat boss, but he knew perfectly well that there was no antidote in the kitchen but a Red Specter.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, you can bring me with you.¡± The fat boss¡¯ eyes started to drift, and they kept consciously and subconsciously ncing toward Chen Ge¡¯s pocket, which carried the teeth.

    ¡°You really won¡¯t ever learn your lesson.¡± Chen Ge pried open the fat boss¡¯ mouth and started to pour the venom into the man¡¯s throat. Both of his arms incapacitated, the fat boss who could only operate one of his legs tried his best to struggle. He still had no idea that his plot had been seen through by Chen Ge already.

    ¡°I¡¯m not lying to you! I really keep the antidote inside the fridge. If you don¡¯t believe me, you can go to take a look!¡±

    ¡°Even at this moment, you still want to harm me, your heart haspletely darkened; there is no salvation for someone like you.¡± Chen Ge raised the hammer and ruined the fat boss¡¯ other good leg. Then, he found a cloth and stuck it inside the fat boss¡¯ mouth. The knocking sound from the hotel entrance grew, a signal that Chen Ge did not have much time left.

    ¡°How are you two recovering?¡± Chen Ge looked at Scissors and the drunkard, who appeared like they had just been salvaged from a body of water. Their bodies were drenched in sweat, and they looked much worse for wear.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never felt better. My whole body is buzzing with energy. It¡¯s like time has been turned back to ten years ago.¡± The drunkard climbed up from the ground. He waved his fists, cutting through the wind.

    ¡°If you¡¯re feeling better,e and help me. Go and find some rope from the hotel to tie both of them to the chairs. If there is no rope, just tear up some bedsheets to make some makeshift ones.¡± After Chen Ge gave the two of them their assignment, he turned to look at the doctor. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll go look in the other corners of the hotel. There should be some other antidotes lying around.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± The doctor leaned on the table weakly. ¡°You sure you¡¯re not going to the kitchen to take a look? I¡¯m curious, how did you know the boss was lying to you? Is it through micro expression or psychology?¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re that curious what¡¯s inside the fridge, I can take you there to show you.¡± Chen Ge tied the fat boss and the chef to the chairs. Then he dragged them to deposit them at the entrance of the hotel. Once the headless ghost barged into the building, they would be the first to greet her. Once the female ghost attacked the two of them, Chen Ge would immediately initiate the next step of his n¡ªrelease the glutton ghost inside the fridge and have the two Red Specters fight it out. Then, he would stand to reap the reward in the end.

    ¡°The antidote is definitely not inside the fridge; we¡¯d better make use of the time that we have left to search the other ces inside this hotel.¡± Chen Ge found the white cat and dangled the empty bottle that carried the blood vessels earlier before its nostrils. Then he put the empty bottles away and pointed down the hotel corridor. ¡°Remember this scent. Now, go!¡±

    The pair of multi-colored eyes looked at Chen Ge with confusion, and all the white cat did was sit down and start to rest.

    ¡°Brother, why are you treating your cat like a dog?¡± The drunkard helped to carry the doctor off the table. Seeing how Chen Ge was acting, he had a really hard time reconciling him with the crazed man earlier who was dragging the hammer around.

    ¡°I¡¯m just trying to unlock its full potential.¡± Seeing the white cat crawl under the table after much persuasion from Chen Ge, thetter was feeling a mounting headache. The cat had gotten a lot more easily scaredpared to when he first got it. After clearing all the trash away, the group went up to the second floor.

    There was a sign that said no entry ced in the middle of the corridor, and there were blood stains that had not been cleaned on the ground. Following the blood trail, Chen Ge pushed open the door of one of the rooms. The scene inside was a bit too gory to describe. In any case, it appeared like a great struggle had once happened in there, and every surface was covered in blood.

    ¡°Based on the viscosity of the blood, the time of the death for the victim should be within the past three hours. In other words, before we arrived at this hotel, a murder had just taken ce here.¡± Chen Ge squatted on the ground. He had gotten used to scene like this.

    The drunkard nodded in admiration, and then he lightly nudged the doctor behind him. ¡°Are you sure he¡¯s just a worker at a theme park? Could he be some kind of spy thew enforcement has ced inside the theme park?¡±

    Facing the question from the drunkard, the doctor could only smile bitterly. God only knew why this young man was so familiar with the processing of crime scenes. The group searched through the second floor thoroughly. It turned out that the second floor was no different from a human meat packing factory. If the fat boss and the chef once had human nature, that hadpletely disappeared. Human lives were nothing but toys and food in their eyes.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go back to the first floor to take a look.¡± They rummaged through the entire building, but they still could not find the antidote. The blood vessels inside the bottle appeared to be something incredibly rare even in the world behind the door.

    ¡°So sorry for being such a burden. How about we leave this ce for now?¡± The doctor had trouble moving his body, but his mind was still very clear and conscious. ¡°The female ghost is stalking us at the front door. So, if we sneak out through the backdoor, she probably will not discover us.¡±

    ¡°The ghost has already targeted us. The only way to leave this ce without earning her ire is to get her to shift her hatred to someone else.¡± Chen Ge led the three passengers back to the first floor. He studied the fat boss and the chef who were tied up at the entrance. His cutting gaze caused the boss and the chef to shake like leaves. ¡°This is not enough insurance. I have to figure out a way to ensure that the headless woman will attack them, or else the next step of my n will have some problem taking off.¡±

    Under the despairing scrutiny from the two ¡®victims¡¯, Chen Ge walked into the kitchen to find arge basin normally used to clean vegetables. He filled half of it up with pipe water before taking it out with him.

    ¡°What are you nning to do?¡±

    A bad feeling curled around the chef and the fat boss¡¯ hearts. Chen Ge ignored them and took out the three sses with the gray sediment from his backpack. He opened them and tossed all the liquid inside the basin. After mixing them with a swirl, Chen Ge broke down the table and used the leg of the table as a support beam to hold the basin above the door frame. Once the female ghost pushed open the door, the basin would fall, and the content would ssh on the person underneath. This was a verymon prank, but the target this time was a Red Specter.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure the gray sediment is nothing good. Once she is drenched in this stuff, the female ghost will definitely go on a murderous rampage andsh out against the living creatures who are closest to her.¡± Chen Ge turned back to nce at the chef and the fat boss. The despair in their hearts was already leaking out from their eyes. If they were given a second chance, they definitely would not have weed Chen Ge¡¯s group to stay for the night.

    ¡°If there¡¯s a devil in this world, I¡¯m pretty sure it will look just like this.¡± The drunkard carried the doctor to stay away from the carnage. He sighed surreptitiously in relief upon seeing the trap that Chen Ge was setting up. ¡°Thankfully, we¡¯re currently on the same side...¡±

    After Chen Ge dealt with the mechanism, he waved at Scissors and the rest. ¡°Come with me.¡±

    He picked up the white cat from the ground and herded everyone to the second floor. He turned into the first room on the left and then used Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer to shatter the wooden board around the windowsill. ¡°The rest of you should stay in this room and try to make more ropes from any material in the room. If there¡¯s an ident, escape as fast as you can from this window.¡±

    ¡°What are you nning to do?¡± Scissors sensed the discrepancy in Chen Ge¡¯s tone. He could not really describe it, but it sounded like a mixture of worry and excitement.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. For now, you won¡¯t be able to be of much help to me, so try your best to survive.¡± Chen Ge looked out the window. ¡°The residential area that we came from earlier should be clean for now. When I signal for you to run, jump out from this window and rush to that ce. Go there and wait for me.¡±

    ¡°Okay, you better be careful.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Oh, by the way, take my cat with you.¡± Chen Ge ced the white cat inside the bedroom. He was about to turn to leave the room when he felt a heavy pressure on his shoulder. He turned back to look, and the white cat had already jumped on his shoulder and assumed its perch there. The cat¡¯s eyes looked at Chen Ge with suspicion, as if asking, <i>Are you going to abandon me?</i>

    ¡°If you¡¯re willing, then follow along. Just make sure you don¡¯t go running amok once the Red Specter appears.¡± Chen Ge carried his backpack and returned to the first floor. He opened the door that led to the kitchen. At first nce, it looked like a normal kitchen¡ªthere was nothing particrly eye-catching about it.

    ¡°If this ce is the same as described in Xiao Bu¡¯s game, there should be a hidden room behind the fridge. The glutton ghost¡¯s head is inside the top section of the fridge, and her enormous body is stuck inside the hidden room.¡± Walking to the fridge, Chen Ge noticed that the power of the fridge was not even plugged in. In other words, it was nothing more than a decoration.

    ¡°It should not be long now before the door of the hotel is broken down.¡± Chen Ge reached out to grab the handle of the fridge, and he used Yin Yang Vision to stare at the entrance of the hotel. The headless woman was cautious, but anger and provocation slowly made her lose her rationality. She could sense that the person whom she was looking for was right inside this building. After a wait of a full ten minutes, the patience of the headless woman was finally exhausted. Blood vessels crawled over the entrance door like some kind of nt, and at the same time, Chen Ge could feel the fridge before him vibrating like something inside was about to awaken.

    BANG!

    Once the blood vessels covered the entire door, the hotel entrance was finally broken down. The female ghost cradled her head in her arms and entered the hotel with fury burning in her eyes.

    Once she took the first step, the basin above the door naturally fell down pulled by the force of gravity. Countless blood vessels weaved to form a web to toss the iron basin aside. The female ghost was surprised that someone was so courageous as to y such a juvenile prank on her, but she reacted with lighting fast reflexes.

    The basin was shoved back, but its content mixed with the gray sediment sshed onto the blood vessel, and something surprising happened. The gray sediment seemed to have some kind of restraining power over even a Red Specter¡¯s blood vessels. It melted through the web of blood, and the head in the female ghost¡¯s arms echoed a shrill scream. She tore the ckened blood vessels out and abandoned them.

    Losing the support, the basin above the door fell down right onto the female ghost. Itnded squarely on the stump where the neck should have been, and it even created a clear ¡®bang¡¯ sound.

    ¡°What is that gray sediment? Could it be rted to the ck blood that the ghost stories society carried inside the wooden boxes?¡± After gaining Doctor Gao¡¯s approval, Chen Ge had assumed the role of the new chairperson. Unfortunately, to deal with him, the society had exhausted pretty much everything that they had. Chen Ge had gained a lot of new information but zero practical advantages.

    His adventure to Li Wan City though was different. The shadow had prepared many years for the cultivation of the ghost fetus, so there would definitely be plenty of ¡®unique products¡¯ found behind the door!

    ¡°I was too careless. The hotel was built in the middle of Li Wan City and is home to a powerful Red Specter like the glutton ghost. Therefore, I should have known the things that boss would collect must be extremely valuable.¡± Chen Ge concluded the lesson in his heart. ¡°If I have the chance to enter other buildings, as long as there¡¯s something worth studying, I should take it with me.¡±

    At the entrance, the headless woman stood at the middle of door with a basin over her shoulders. The head in her arms was twisted from anger. The blood red eyes were swamped by endless fury.

    In less than a second, blood vessels about ten times the volume from before spurted out from her neck. They punctured all the objects, both living and dead around her! It did not take long for the blood vessels to cover half of the hotel!

    It was too fast. In just the blink of an eye, the fat boss and the chef had lost any sign of life.

    <i>I cannot allow her to notice that I¡¯m hiding here. If I¡¯m stuck inside the kitchen, it¡¯s definitely over for me!</i>

    Chen Ge yanked the fridge open. The fridge was connected to the wall behind it, and a gaping jaw revealed itself before Chen Ge¡¯s eyes.

    Without the time to study it closely, Chen Ge took two steps back and tossed the teeth in his pocket alongside the bag of cloth into the open mouth. After that, Chen Ge retreated out of the kitchen.

    The fury of the headless woman at the entrance was still burning. Once her eyesnded on Chen Ge, she let out another screen. With her enemy standing before her, she broke the rules of Li Wan City and stepped fully into the hotel.

    Being targeted by a Red Specter was not a good feeling. Chen Ge took a mad rush toward Room 1. He had just left the kitchen when he heard the heavy breathinging from behind him. Turning back to look, the walls of the kitchen pulsed with many blood veins. The wall that was adjacent to the fridge started to crumble and copse. An intensely ugly blood red monster finally showed itself.

 Chapter 650 - Itâ€™s Time for Dinner!

    <h4>Chapter 650: It¡¯s Time for Dinner!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Such a big monster?¡± The first impression that the Red Specter inside the fridge left Chen Ge was her size. Her head looked rtively normal, just slightly bigger than a normal person¡¯s, but her body wasrge enough to fill an entire room.

    Chen Ge had seen many Red Specters before, but this was the first time that he had seen a Red Specter sorge in size.

    ¡°That is also the ugliest thing of all the Red Specters I¡¯ve encountered.¡± Working at the Haunted House, Chen Ge was used to painting some purposely-horrendous make-up, so he had a high threshold for the unsightly and ugly, but even so, when he saw the Red Specter inside the kitchen, he still moved his eyes away after a brief nce.

    Pure terror and ugliness felt insufficient to describe this woman. A deranged expression hung on the basketball-sized head, and a blood haze leaked out from the gigantic body. Even though he was faraway, he could smell the stench that the haze carried. Chen Ge did not dare turn back again. The extremely ugly Red Specter gave him a very powerful sense of danger. The woman should be at the same level as the well ghost in Coffin Vige. In other words, this Red Specter was powerful enough to carry an entire three-star scenario on her own.

    ¡°Li Wan City itself is a 3.5-star scenario. Not considering the influence caused by the uncontroble door, this monster should be the strongest Red Specter in Li Wan City. No wonder the hotel is ced in the middle of the town.¡± His brain was moving fast. Chen Ge¡¯s feet did not slow down, and soon, he reached the door to Room 1.

    He grabbed the doorknob, but before he could do anything else, a skull dangling from endless blood vessels flew at him from afar. The eyes were shining with red fury¡ªthe headless woman swore to kill Chen Ge!

    Calling Xu Yin in his heart, Chen Ge had done all the preparation to retreat, but at that moment, the door to the kitchen slowly creaked open, and the wall around it seemed toe alive. Many thick blood veins surfaced on the walls, and they pulsed dangerously like there was blood running inside them.

    The wooden door creaked noisily. The headless woman stopped her attack toward Chen Ge. The blood vessels dragged the head back into her protective arms.

    ¡°Howe it feels like she¡¯s ying with her head like a kite?¡± Chen Ge made use of this opportunity to escape. The two Red Specters had crossed paths¡ªhis goal was sessful, so he only had onest thing to do. Training his focus, Chen Ge looked into his heart.

    ¡°Zhang Ya? Are you feeling better?¡±

    ¡°Zhang Ya? Can you hear me?¡±

    ¡°Zhang Ya? I¡¯ve found you many delicious treats!¡±

    ¡°Sis! It¡¯s time to wake up! It¡¯s time for dinner!¡±

    Chen Ge, who did not have a shift to his expression when he faced off against the Red Specter, started to shiver in cold sweat. If ny-nine percent of thebat power of the four passengers resided within Chen Ge, then ny-nine percent of Chen Ge¡¯s confidence came from Zhang Ya.

    A Red Specter that could carry a three-star scenario single-handedly was far beyond the strength of Xu Yin. Even with Men Nan¡¯s help, it would only drag the struggle out for another few seconds. As he called Zhang Ya¡¯s name, Chen Ge rummaged through his backpack.

    Chen Ge had many trump cards, he had the weakest of all Red Specters, Men Nan, and the strongest of Lesser Red Specters, Yan Danian. He had many friends, but none of them were powerful enough to help him stop the glutton ghost. When he was making up the n, Chen Ge had considered many factors. He had made sure to not miss out on any details, but the only thing that he had forgotten was the contingency where Zhang Ya was unable to awaken.

    ¡°Once a Red Specter consumes too much, they will fall into a slumber. With Zhang Ya¡¯s current power level, even if she consumed an entire normal Red Specter, she wouldn¡¯t have fallen asleep. Does this mean that the few droplets of blood dripped out from Doctor Gao when we were inside the door contained more hatred than a normal Red Specter?¡± When Chen Ge was chasing after the water spirit, he had identally entered a burnt building. Behind one of the doors there, he had identally run into the missing Doctor Gao.

    Even though it was just one nce, he confirmed that the ¡®monster¡¯ was Doctor Gao. To interrupt the shadow¡¯s n, Chen Ge had even left a message for Doctor Gao to trick him toe to Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s Li Wan City. Now that he thought about it, if the worlds behind the door were interconnected, arge nightmare made up from endless nightmares, then there was a very high chance that Doctor Gao woulde to Li Wan City.

    Jiujiang¡¯s map appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. Doctor Gao had destroyed the door in the underground morgue at Jiujiang Medical University. He had disappeared behind the door at that location, and the second time he appeared, it was at the residential area next to the rehabilitative school. After connecting Jiujiang Medical University, rehabilitative school, and Li Wan City, these three locations happened to form a straight line on the map of Jiujiang.

    ¡°Doctor Gao has been moving in the world behind the door, so the thing he¡¯s looking for should be in Eastern Jiujiang as well.¡± After realizing that, Chen Ge did not feel rxed but got even more nervous.

    The glutton ghost was very powerful that she could support a three-star scenario alone. But when Doctor Gao was still alive, he could already make use of the many rules of the world behind the door to create a three-star scenario. Now, after his death, he would turn into something more powerful than a Red Specter. They were not even on the same level.

    The door in Li Wan City had gone out of control, and because of that, the scenario was deemed a 3.5-star mission by the ck phone.

    At the underground morgue, Doctor Gao used his living body to suffer all the despair within the scenario and consumed an entire door. The door was destroyed with an unimaginable method, but as the door-pusher, Doctor Gao had gotten out of control. Chen Ge had the impression that Doctor Gao himself could be seen as a mobile 3.5-star scenario.

    ¡°Doctor Gao might appear in Li Wan City, and the shadow is serving the ghost fetus which forms a four-star scenario has to be cautious of his trump cards. That is not ounting for the door-pusher at Li Wan City¡ªXiao Bu. Even though I have Zhang Ya and my employees to apany me for this mission, I might not run away with any advantage. Currently, there is no way of telling how this might end up.¡±

    Chen Ge could not influence the perspective of Doctor Gao and Xiao Bu. All he could do was try to get stronger when the chance allowed him to. The two Red Specters did not hold the stalemate for long. As Chen Ge expected, when the glutton ghost saw the two bodies at the door, she went on a rampage.

    The more powerful a Red Specter, the crueler and more savage they would be. The ugly Red Specter that came out from the kitchen had her obscenelyrge body connected to the entire hotel. The blood gaze that carried with it a horrible stench permeated through the walls, ceiling, and ground. The pulsing blood veins started to appear everywhere.

    The scene before his eyes reminded Chen Ge of the world behind the door at the underground morgue. It gave him the feeling that he had been swallowed into the stomach of a monster.

    ¡°This is not looking good...¡± Chen Ge tried to call Zhang Ya again, but she did not give him any response. It appeared like she would only show up once he was in serious life-threatening danger.

    ¡°The fight between two tigresses will lead to many injuries¡ªthis is a perfect chance! But as a living human, it¡¯s too difficult for me to attempt to take advantage of a Red Specter.¡± Chen Ge held his breath as he retreated to the stairs. However, he was unwilling to just leave like that, so he decided to wait for a while.

 Chapter 651 - Clearing the Scene [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 651: Clearing the Scene [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    As an upant of Li Wan City, the headless woman had to know that the hotel was the glutton monster¡¯s territory. However, she probably did not expect the ghost to awaken from its slumber the moment that she stepped into the hotel.

    Assuming that they were not too far away from their prey, a Red Specter only needed one second to kill a normal person in ten different ways, and that was why she had been so willing to step into the hotel. From her perspective, she would have done the deed and retreated from the scene before the glutton woman woke up. She was unable to match the glutton ghost¡¯s strength, but the glutton ghost was definitely going to have a hard time chasing her across town.

    The n was indeed perfect, but unfortunately, her opponent was Chen Ge. The moment that she treated Chen Ge as a normal person was the moment that she had lost the game. In a Red Specter¡¯s eyes, a normal human was nothing more than food that could provide them with resentment, and in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, a normal Red Specter was food that could improve his employees¡¯ power level. It went both ways, and that was the fairness in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes.

    With the exceptional handling of the timing, the headless woman was so focused on Chen Ge that she charged to the spot where the kitchen led out to the corridor, and that was the moment that the glutton monster chose to leak out from the kitchen.

    They were so close that the headless woman lost her chance of evading, so she had no choice but to suffer the first blow from the glutton monster. Then, she tried her best to escape.

    The glutton monster seemed to have seen through the headless woman¡¯s n. The enormous body that was possessed by hatred and hunger barreled forward like the stampede of a giant elephant. The haze dispersed, and the whole building rocked as ifing alive. The blood veins on the walls pulsed with their specific rhythm, and they detached from the walls like threads of chains. They intertwined over the entrance of the hotel, sealing up the headless woman¡¯s retreat.

    Without attempting to shield the resentment in her eyes, blood poured out from the stump on the headless woman¡¯s shoulders. She knew that she did not have the upper hand, so she did not blindly go up against the glutton monster. Instead, she gathered her strength and pooled the blood vessels around her body.

    The decapitated skull was sewn back to her body. This should be what she had looked like at the moment of her death. She was wearing a pajamas, every inch of the clothes dyed red by blood.

    Thesh of blood veins aimed at her. The woman tried to evade, but the blood was moving too fast for her. Unable to escape, she used her own blood to wreath her body to shield herself from the impact.

    Without even moving a finger, the glutton monster only needed to manipte those thick chains of blood veins to give the headless woman a hard time.

    ¡°The difference in power is so big!¡± The best possible result for Chen Ge was an evenly-matched situation, best if the two Red Specters were equally weakened after the battle. However, based on what he was seeing, the glutton monster was going to experience andslide victory. She could easily torture the headless woman and kill her without suffering an injury.

    In Xiao Bu¡¯s game, Chen Ge had controlled Xiao Bu to leave once the two Red Specters started fighting each other. He had no idea what had actually happenedter.

    ¡°Should I try to help the headless woman even the ying field somewhat?¡± Now, three choices were ced before Chen Ge. One was to help the headless woman fight the glutton monster. After the glutton monster was apprehended, he would turn to deal with the headless woman. There were too many extenuating factors to this n. For one, the headless woman could use Chen Ge as a shield and escape when he tackled the glutton monster. After all, there was no sign that she was willing to work together with Chen Ge.

    The second choice was to do nothing. After the glutton monster heavily injured the headless woman, he would have Zhang Ya deal with the glutton monster. That was the safest n, but the biggest issue was that Zhang Ya had given no indication that she was willing to show herself. No matter how hard Chen Ge tried to summon her, she gave him zero response.

    The third choice was to turn and leave. Other than Zhang Ya, Chen Ge did not even have aplete Red Specter. He could rely on the advantage of numbers to take down a Red Specter, but when the enemy was a Greater Red Specter, his only choice was to run.

    ¡°Perhaps I¡¯vee too soon. If I had one week, I might be able to help Xu Yin find his heart, and Bai Qiulin might have sessfully digested Xiong Qing¡¯s heart. By then, I would have two Red Specters on my side, and the options given to me would be much greater.¡± Chen Gemented over the short number of hours in a day even though he had used every moment that he could to the maximum potential. He worked day and night¡ªany other person in his ce would have copsed already.

    Chen Ge stopped to consider for one or two minutes, but the situation inside the hotel had started to change. Therge body of the monster started to split open to reveal many small gaps, and a woman¡¯s voice could be hearding from within.

    ¡°Hungry...¡± It was impossible to tell which of the gaps first issued this voice. Initially, the voice was very weak, but gradually, all the mouths started to make this voice. Endless mouths opened and closed in unison on therge body. It was a scene that was hard to describe. The headless woman felt the pressure, and she started to move even faster. From the beginning, she never thought of fighting¡ªher goal all along had been to try and escape.

    ¡°Hungry, hungry, I¡¯m so hungry!¡± The glutton monster wailed, and the mouths on the body tore open. Arge number of blood vessels weaved together, and it appeared like numerous slimy tongues were reaching out from inside the many mouths.

    ¡°This thing is too powerful.¡± With his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge managed to clearly see the minute differences of the many mouths on the monster¡¯s body. It appeared like they belonged to different people. ¡°She keeps the ¡®mouth¡¯ of the ¡®food¡¯ that is sent into her stomach? The mouths on her body belong to her victims?¡±

    The blood red tongue slithered toward the headless woman. The space for the headless woman to evade was getting smaller. She was forced into the left corner of the lobby, but eventually, one of the tongues managed to curl around her leg.

    ¡°This is not good!¡± Chen Ge stood up. The power level between the two Red Specters was too drastically different. The battle might end in the blink of an eye. It was time for him to make the choice. ¡°Even if I help the headless woman, she might not ept my help. However, if I escape, the glutton monster will only be stronger after consuming the headless woman.¡±

    A normal Red Specter might go into a long slumber after consuming another Red Specter, but Chen Ge felt like this glutton monster might have the ability to shorten that hibernation time down to its minimum. She had been iming that she was hungry. The monster¡¯s body was like a ck hole that could never be filled, so it was not crazy to assume that she might possess a digestive power that was far greater than other Specters.

    ¡°The gluttonous woman is tasked with protecting the hotel, and the hotel is ced at the middle of Li Wan City. Obviously, the shadow has great trust in her¡ªthat is the only reason he has given her such an important location to watch over. She¡¯ll be scarier after consuming the headless woman, and that will not be good for me when I fight the shadow in the future.¡± Chen Ge looked far into the future. He did not limit his sight to the situation that was only before him. ¡°If only Zhang Ya was here, this wouldn¡¯t be thatplicated then.¡±

    Chen Ge turned back to look at his shadow. He had originally only intended to nce at it, but he noticed with a shock that his shadow was shifting at an incredibly slow speed.

    ¡°Zhang Ya has been hiding inside my shadow. What is she up to?¡± Chen Ge did not have the time to stop and think because the headless woman¡¯s scream echoed throughout the lobby. Chen Ge turned back to the battle, and he saw the headless woman voluntarily break off her left leg that was caught by tongue. After it detached from her body, the leg dissolved into a mass of blood vessels, and they were dragged by the tongue back into the glutton monster¡¯s body.

    With the taste of fresh blood, the monster became more crazed. Her whole body was shaking with pure excitement. The lips kept opening and closing as more blood tongues reached out toward the headless woman.

    Forced the corner, the headless woman knew that there was no way that she would be able to escape. The blood vessels on her body started to shrink and travel to the area around her neck. It appeared like she had decided to abandon her body and only escape with her skull.

    BANG!

    At the most crucial moment, the hotel entrance that had been locked by the gluttonous woman was suddenly shoved open. A little boy wearing a patient¡¯s garb ran into the lobby, crying and yelling. He looked just over four years old, and the shirt that he was wearing was tattered and torn. He looked so pitiable.

    Chen Ge was about to make his move, but when he saw the boy, he stopped. Even in this situation, Chen Ge still maintained his superhuman calmness. With one nce, he realized that the boy was wearing a patient¡¯s garb that was different form the ones that he had seen at Li Wan City¡¯s hospital. Therefore, this boy should be the patient that had transferred over to Li Wan City from the cursed hospital, the scariest existence in Li Wan City¡¯s hospital.

    ¡°With those blood stains on his body, he has to be a Half Red Specter, but since the boy has appeared now, it means that the pair of red high heels shouldn¡¯t be too far behind!¡±

    The hotel was the most dangerous but also the safest location in all of Li Wan City. To be able to push a Half Red Specter to such a state, that went to show the power level of the red high heels.

    After the entrance of the hotel was broken down, the boy ran into the lobby without stopping to take a look. From his perspective, the thing behind him was the scariest presence, but to his despair, after he strode into the building, his understanding of terror was given an update.

    The thick,rge blood veins interconnected, and not far away from him, a monster with many mouths was rampaging. Tongues slithered out from the blood veins like they were trying to consume all the living organisms inside the building. The boy¡¯s face nched instantly. He wanted to retreat, but that chance was deprived. A pair of red high heels was ced just outside the hotel entrance.

    Compared to the pulsing blood veins and the disgusting monsters inside the hotel, the pair of red high heels looked so elegant and pretty.

    Chen Ge did not expect the red high heels to show up at a time like this. However, to his greater astonishment, even when the red high heels had noticed the glutton woman, they still stepped into the hotel without much hesitation. He had no idea whether this was because the red high heels had such great confidence in her power or because she desperately needed to get some information from the boy, whichpelled her tomit to such a rash act.

    The hotel door opened, and this gave the headless woman the chance to escape. The blood vessels that had gathered on her body exploded, and her skull dragged her lifeless body out of the door. The headless woman had been holding back her power. She was not as strong as the gluttonous woman, and she was in her territory, so she did not have the geographical advantage. This was the best solution that she coulde up with.

    The needles of blood vessel pierced into the blood veins and tongues like knives. The gluttonous woman and Chen Ge had greatly underestimated the headless woman. Knives seemed to present a great torture to the headless woman when she was alive, and knives were rted to her cause of death. That pain and hatred were strongly seared into her soul. Even if she was dead, she could not forget that sensation. She channeled that feeling into her blood vessels, and that made the blood vessels that burst from her stump take on a different qualitypared to the blood vessels wielded by other Red Specters. Hers were exceptionally sharp.

    This should be her trump card. The blood veins and tongues were sheared away, and the headless woman cut herself a way out.

    For a food aficionado, having their feast interrupted was a very unpleasant experience. The glutton woman had just tasted blood, but someone hade to interrupt when she was about to feed. From her perspective, those who dared disturb her meal had to possess the realization that they would eventually be served on her table. She needed extrafort from food to console her ugly, twisted heart.

    ¡°Hungry! I¡¯m so hungry!¡± The walls peeled back, and Chen Ge discovered with a shock that theyout of the hotel was not so different from Doctor Gao¡¯s underground morgue. The ceiling, walls, and ground were all made from flesh and bones.

    ¡°The walls of the underground morgue were made from dead bodies, and the walls of this hotel should be made from the remnant of the female boss¡¯ meals.¡± From a certain perspective, the glutton monster¡¯s hotel was like a miniaturized underground morgue. It was truly ironic that a restaurant had beenbined with a morgue. If Chen Ge did not witness this in person, if he had just someone else tell this story, he would not have believed it.

    The glutton monster possessed absolute control of this building; the whole hotel was like her second body. The ground was shaking, and the stairs were copsing. All the decoration in the room toppled over, and the front door that the boy had crashed through was shut again. Blood veins crawled over the entrance topletely seal the exit. In other words, if they did not deal with her, none of them were going to leave this ce, figuratively and literally.

    ¡°The only option now is to fight our way out; the situation now is more advantageous toward me!¡± Chen Ge was someone who could find the silver lining at any moment. If there was a single positive attribute about the man that was praiseworthy, he was able to find hope no matter how deep the abyss that he had sunk into. ¡°With the red high heels¡¯ appearance, if she works together with the headless woman, it should be enough to hold back the glutton monster. If I aid them from the side, even without borrowing Zhang Ya¡¯s power, there should be a fair chance for us to take down this female boss!¡±

    Chen Ge hoped that these Specters would live to appreciate his timely rescue. In any case, Chen Ge did not show himself instantly. He stood in preparation, hiding in the dark, waiting to strike when the time was right.

    ¡°It was little wonder that Li Wan City was deemed a 3.5-star scenario. Just the Red Specter inside a single building is this impossibly powerful. I wonder what the strongest monster here looks like.¡±

    Whether the glutton monster was the shadow¡¯s ally or not, Chen Ge decided to kill her. This monster had been consumed by her hunger. She could not bemunicated with at all; in other words, the chance of her bing an employee was zero. ¡°Her life must have been incredibly painful; it¡¯s time for her to find salvation.¡±

    After locking the hotel, the glutton monster attacked the boy, the headless woman, and the red high heels at the same time. The ginormous body nudged forward, causing the entire building to shake. The monster and her disproportionately small head screamed in unison. The mouths on her body tore open at the same time, revealing teeth that were tainted by blood.

    The blood veins inside the hotel continued to pulse. The glutton monster moved forward. She seemed to intend to use her many mouths to chew up the food before her eyes.

    The situation grew dangerous, but from his hiding spot, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°This female boss is notpletely immune. Based on everything so far, she has at least two weaknesses. First, her movement speed is very slow, and she is not agile; second, even though there are endless mouths on her body, all those mouths listen to themand of the mouth on her head. Compared to that impossiblyrge body, the small head appears much too fragile!¡±

    Chen Ge was unsure if the glutton monster kept any trump cards that she had not shown. He silently summoned Xu Yin and Bai Qiulin, nning to find the opportunity to attack the female boss¡¯ weakness.

 Chapter 652 - Red Heart [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 652: Red Heart [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Inside the hotel, the glutton monster had the undisputed advantage¡ªthat was why she was confident enough to attack all the Red Specters inside her hotel at the same time. However, she had greatly underestimated the power of the pair of red high heels and the headless woman. When their lives were threatened, both Red Specters showcased immeasurable strength.

    With the ability to cut with her blood, the headless woman was not exactly defenseless even though it was true that she was on the defensive side. Whenever her blood flew past, the flesh would be cut, and blood sprayed. From the direction she was moving, she was trying her best to meet up with the red high heels.

    The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

    The headless woman voluntarily moved to join the red high heels and the boy. However, it was unclear whether she was trying to share the glutton monster¡¯s aggression with them or wanted to join hands with them to defeat the monster.

    The cage that was formed by the tongue and the blood veins was slowly tightening, and the space afforded to the three Specters was getting smaller and smaller. Initially, the tongues and the blood veins did not directly attack the pair of red high heels, but as time passed, more and more blood veins turned their attention to the heels. They appeared like they were going to swallow this pair of heels that carried curse and bad luck whole.

    The thick blood veinsshed out from all sides like a cluster of evil snakes. At that moment, a woman¡¯sughter suddenly rang out in the lobby. Theughter was clear and crisp. It was also seductive and mellifluous like one could picture the beauty of its owner from the sound alone.

    ¡°Theughter seems toe from the red high heels.¡± There seemed to be a kind of unique magical power within theughter, one that could influence the listener¡¯s emotions. After theughter travelled into Chen Ge¡¯s ears, the blood in his body started to flow rapidly. Blood red rashes appeared on his skin like part of his blood vessels had popped from the sudden increased rush of blood.

    Compared to the low snarl of the glutton monster, theughter from the red high heels appeared to constitute an opposite extreme.

    ¡°Hungry, hungry... hungry!¡± The glutton monster obviously heard theughter as well. Perhaps it was envy or some other reason, but Chen Ge could sense the angering from the monster.

    ¡°Howe it feels like the red high heels are mocking the glutton monster? Is this some kind of provocation?¡± The crispughter echoed in the lobby and it slowly turned from a sweet melody to a maddened shriek. Near the end, a tall-looking woman started to materialize above the red high heels.

    She was on the slender side and was taller than Chen Ge. Every inch of her body was wrapped in bloody bandages, so not one part of her skin was showing. There was a grace about the woman that could not be denied. She must have been a great beauty when she was alive. However, from the way she presented herself now, it appeared like she had done a full body skin transnt procedure before she died.

    The bandaged feet reached into the pair of heels. The feet squeezed into the shoes, and blood leaked out from between the gaps of the bandages. It appeared as if the wound on her body had not recovered.

    ¡°This is sheer madness.¡± Chen Ge did not even dare to imagine how seriously the woman must have been injured underneath the bandages. ¡°If I knew this, I wouldn¡¯t have interacted with her on the bus.¡±

    The blood veins and tongues shot toward the red high heels. The woman stood where she was, showing no intention of moving. When the blood veins neared, the woman raised both of her hands. The bandage that was wound tight to her body showcased her perfect proportions, but none of the ¡®people¡¯ there were in the mood to admire her posture. Blood leaked out from the bandages, and an echo of unhingedughter issued from the woman¡¯s lips. Pain was weaved into the madness and with ease, she tore down the tongues and blood veins. Then, she proceeded to move forward with quick speed.

    ¡°She¡¯s going to attack on her own?¡± Chen Ge could not understand what the red high heels was doing. Even though she appeared powerful in terms of presence, she was still weaker than the glutton monster in terms of strength. ¡°Or is it because she has a very powerful special power?¡±

    Every Red Specter had their own distinct special power, it had everything to do with theirst memory during their moment of death. For example, the headless woman yielded blood that could cut through stuff; Xu Yin, on the other hand, became more powerful as the wounds on him increased; Xiong Qing, who suffered from hemineglect, had half of his body madepletely out of blood vessels, and he could adopt it into any shape that he wanted.

    Based on appearance alone, Chen Ge could not tell what the red high heels¡¯ special power was, but since they were technically in the same boat, the more powerful the red high heels was, the greater the advantage Chen Ge could reap.

    Trapped inside the cage made from blood veins and slithering tongues, the headless woman and the boy could not escape even if they wanted to. Based on their power, they were unable to fight against the glutton monster, so their only option was to follow behind the red high heels. With the headless woman and the boy¡¯s help to deal with the attacks that came from the back, the pressure on the red high heels lessened. She tore down the blood veins and tongues in her march forward.

    ¡°What is she nning to do?¡± The sight before his eyes could only be described as a bloody hell as the red high heels, who looked impossibly smallpared to her adversary, continued to move forward.

    There were so many blood veins that some were bound to cut through the red high heels¡¯ line of defense, but strangely enough, Chen Ge noticed that even though the blood veins hit the red high heels¡¯ body, it did not seem to leave any serious impact.

    It felt as if the bandages were not hiding a solid body but a glob of liquid blood. Under the control of the red high heels, when the blood veins attacked her body, she could move the structure of her body around to lower the damage received to the bare minimum.

    Her attacks rendered ineffective, the glutton monster grew more agitated. The mouths on her body protruded forward like they were trying to reach toward the red high heels to tear her open with her many teeth. The glutton monster was normally hibernating in Li Wan City¡¯s hotel, and due to her size, she moved very slowly. The other Red Specters knew that she was not to be trifled with, so they rarely came to her territory. This also meant that the glutton monster rarely had the chance to feast on Red Specters.

    Excited by the prospect of a rare meal, the glutton monster¡¯s body continued to grow. She turned into a mountain of meat and more blood veins crawled out from her body and they focused their attacks on the red high heels. She suddenly went on a rampage, and she controlled her blood veins to forcibly separate the red high heels from the headless woman and the boy. She used seventy-five percent of her power to focus on the red high heels while the remaining twenty-five percent attacked the headless woman and the body.

    As many of the blood veins as the headless woman cut down, more tongues would take their ce. This was an uneven battle. Even if she cut and shed the blood veins until they burst, it caused no damage to the glutton monster. However, once she was captured by any of the tongues, she would lose the chance to fight back. She would be dragged toward the glutton monster and sent into her giant stomach.

    ¡°The female boss only needs twenty-five percent of her power to block the headless woman¡¯s way, and that does not seem like it¡¯s a hard thing to do either.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s palms were slick with sweat. He was still looking for the perfect opportunity.

    The threat posed by the red high heels was far greater than the headless woman. Even if she was surrounded by the majority of the glutton monster¡¯s forces, the red high heels still managed to slowly close the distance between them.

    Initially, the glutton monster still had some caution around the red high heels, butter, her mind was probably taken over by the desire to feed. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she abandoned her previous caution. With a scream, she charged toward the red high heels. All the mouths on her body were gaping. It was as if she wanted to tear the woman before her into pieces and stuff her right into her mouths.

    A silvery tingle of augh reappeared in the lobby of the hotel. The woman opened her arms. Her perfect body formed a great contrast to the unyielding sight of the female boss. The bandage around the former¡¯s body started to fall, starting from the top of her head.

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯m pretty?¡± This simple question was like the most horrible curse. The red in the glutton monster¡¯s eyes dissipated immediately. Therge body reared backward, but it was already toote.

    The bandage came offpletely. Every drop of blood on the woman¡¯s body carried intense hatred. They sshed onto the glutton monster. The blood acted like a burning me. The blood haze was seared through, and all of the mouths on the glutton monster¡¯s body were wailing in pain.

    ¡°Each drop of blood represents a curse. Just what happened to this woman when she was alive? How could she manage to gather such a deep-rooted sense of hatred?¡± Chen Ge was thankful that he did not provoke the woman. Perhaps with just a drop of her blood, she would be able to curse a person for life.

    ck and red smoke came out from the glutton monster¡¯s body. Herrge body was dwindling at an observable speed. The cursed fire was still burning, and they left behind ugly wounds.

    ¡°Hungry! Hungry!¡± As the body withered away, the glutton monster¡¯s twisted head was screaming madly at the red high heels. It appeared like feasting was the only way for the monster to alleviate the pain. She did not care about the thing that she had just sent into her stomach. Even if it was a curse, she wanted to swallow it whole.

    The blood veins tore away from the walls and formed a cage around the red high heels. The glutton monster leaned her stillrge body toward the red high heels, her mouths still open as she crashed toward the human shape that had previously been wrapped inside the bandage.

    The glutton monster¡¯s physical body was incredibly strong because she was able to resist the curse. Even with the curse burning, she was able to move freely.

    ¡°The red high heels¡¯ curse is slowly making its way through the female boss¡¯ body. It¡¯ll take some time before either party will be able to take the other down.¡± Chen Ge paid close attention to his surroundings. He was worried that the red high heels¡¯ blood might identally sshed onto Xu Yin, so he did not order Xu Yin to join the fray.

    The glutton monster was weakening, and some of the blood veins were decaying. The walls started to crease, and a ck liquid leaked out from them. The pressure on the headless woman decreased. Without any hesitation, she decided to abandon the red high heels and escape while she still could. The boy who wore the patient¡¯s garb next to her had the same idea on his mind.

    The two Spectersbined their strength to tear at the weakest part of the wall formed by the blood veins. Theyers of tongues and blood veins were torn down. The glutton monster wailed from pain. After all, those blood veins and tongues were an extension of her body. Pain and uncontroble hunger mingled together, which introduced a change on the glutton monster¡¯s body.

    Therge body started to shrink. The limbs that were previously covered by flesh and blood started to show. It turned out that the female boss had been crawling on the ground. There were dark chains tied around her four limbs. Perhaps they had been there for so long that the chains had practically grown into her flesh, and they could not be removed unless the limbs were chopped off.

    ¡°Wait, so the monster is actually forcibly detained here?¡± The monster tipped her head back and yelled into the sky. The chains that were connected to the hidden room inside the kitchen were yanked straight. Unable to move freely, various negative emotions coursed into her mind. She had gone on aplete rampage.

    Her skin cracked open, and endless blood vessels poured out from her body. The thick blood veins on the walls also opened their lips. A normal person would have a hard time imagining a scene where everywhere was red, and amid the shade of red, there were endless mouths opening and closing.

    ¡°Hungry! Hungry!¡± Like Chen Ge suspected, the glutton monster possessed a super powerful digestive ability. The blood vessels that she had collected over the years had reached an impossible level. She let go of them all at once, and instantly, a crimson wave swept and swallowed the hotel.

    The blood wave tore away half of the headless woman¡¯s body, and her most important skull was bitten down on by the lips that were appearing on the blood veins. The boy who wore the hospital gown turned practically invisible; he would be dispersed with the slightest blow of the wind.

    Even with Xu Yin and Bai Qiulin blocking before Chen Ge, when the red wave reached him, the air in his lungs was sucked out of his body. It felt like if the wave persisted for another second, he would die from asphyxiation.

    ¡°This is such a scary opponent.¡± Chen Ge bit on the tip of his tongue to use the pain to supercharge his mind. Chen Ge turned to look at the red high heels who was closest to the glutton monster. She suffered the most when the red wave hit.

    The red high heels were toppled on the ground, and the bloody bandage disappeared into nothingness. A blurry shape was lying on the ground, coiled by several blood veins. Even though the blood veins that dared to get near her would decay at lightning speed, the glutton monster did not care about it anymore. Hunger had taken over every faculty in her mind, and she swore to send everything into her stomach.

    ¡°Hungry! I am so hungry!¡± After unleashing all the blood that she had collected over the years, the female boss¡¯ body started to shrink like a deted balloon.

    ¡°Temporarily, she won¡¯t be able to unleash another attack.¡± Chen Ge looked at the glutton monster whose attention was captured by the red high heels, and he realized that now was his chance.

    He flipped through theic he was carrying, ¡°Men Nan!¡±

    A boy who looked about five years old in a red shirt appeared beside Chen Ge. There was endless animosity in his eyes.

    ¡°There are three heavily injured Red Specters¡ªconsuming any of them will allow you to digest them for a very long time! I¡¯m very generous toward you, aren¡¯t I?¡± Chen Ge knew what Men Nan was going to say, so he cut to the chase first.

    ¡°Three Red Specters?¡± When Men Nan first appeared, he noticed the atmosphere was not right, but when he poked his head out from behind Chen Ge, he almost copsed to the ground on his butt from shock and fear. ¡°Greater Red Specters? Have you lost your mind? Why did you go after things like that?¡±

    ¡°After you consume her, you¡¯ll be a Greater Red Specter yourself!¡± The opportunity was fleeting, and any hesitation would lead to a loss. Chen Ge knew that very well. He grabbed Men Nan and started to charge forward.

    ¡°Let me go!¡±

    When Chen Ge stood up, the glutton monster immediately noticed him. She controlled thest few remaining blood veins that she had to stop Men Nan. At that moment, she was in desperate need of rejuvenation. The blood veins dragged the woman inside the bandage slowly toward the jaw that was waiting.

    ¡°Xu Yin!¡± Men Nan blocked the blood veins, and Chen Ge finally showed his trump card. Due to his personality, Men Nan was not a good attacker. So, Chen Ge¡¯s initial n was only to use him to distract the glutton monster¡¯s attention, and the real source of his attack was Xu Yin.

    ¡°Head! Her weakness is her head!¡± Static appeared in his ears. Blood dripped, and the mncholic Xu Yin slithered through the intertwining blood veins like a sword. He leaped high into the air beforending on the female boss¡¯ shoulders. He poked his ten fingers that were sharp like des into the glutton monster¡¯s neck!

    Looking down on his prey, into the female boss¡¯ eyes that were dominated by gluttony and hatred, his arms started to pull!

    ¡°Is it painful?¡± The blood sprayed, and instantly, it started to rain blood as all the blood veins started to copse. Fighting two Red Specters at the same time, and if counting Men Nan and Xu Yin, one would take four Red Specters to deal with the glutton monster.

    ¡°Men Nan, go take a look at the Red Specter whose head was separated from her body. Bai Qiulin, I need you to go capture the boy in patient¡¯s garb who was close to scattering!¡±

    The female boss was dead, so Chen Ge started to take over the scene. Half of the headless woman¡¯s body was shattered, and wounds covered the remaining half and her head. The situation of the red high heels was not much better. The body that was wound inside the bandage was slowly disappearing, and the shoes that once looked so bright started to lose their luster.

    BANG!

    The glutton monster¡¯s enormous body copsed to the ground. The red high heels¡¯ blood curse was still burning. Xu Yin evaded the curse and returned to Chen Ge¡¯s side

    He opened his palms before Chen Ge, and sitting inside it was a red-colored heart that was still pulsing.

 Chapter 653 - Police and Criminal [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 653: Police and Criminal [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Asrge as the female boss was, her heart was disproportionately small. It glistened and refracted the light like a blood red ruby. It was not discolored or tainted in any way. ¡°Who would have thought an ugly monster like that would have such a pure heart?¡±

    Chen Ge reached out to touch the glutton monster¡¯s heart. He wished to study and find out what exactly a Red Specter¡¯s heart was. However, when his fingertipnded on the heart, negative emotions swept at him like a wave. Blood rushed through his body, and an indescribable desire to feast echoed in his brain. He was so hungry that he could have taken a bite out of himself.

    ¡°So hungry!¡± The desperate snarl escaped from Chen Ge¡¯s lips. The man had to take several steps back from the heart before he felt more like himself again.

    ¡°Just how many living humans and ghosts has this thing ingested?¡± Gasping hungrily for air, Chen Ge¡¯s back was soaked in sweat. He held his hands back and swore to not easily handle anything rted to Red Specters anymore.

    ¡°The heart of the glutton monster is the pure desire to feast. It is an endless need that can only be satisfied with maddened consumption.¡± Chen Ge understood why Xu Yin did not take in the glutton monster¡¯s heart directly. This was not something that could be handled by a normal Specter. ¡°Back when we killed Xiong Qing, Xu Yin gave Xiong Qing¡¯s heart to Bai Qiulin. Now I wonder if Bai Qiulin has been affected by Xiong Qing or not.¡±

    Feeling Chen Ge¡¯s gaze on him, Bai Qiulin thought that it was time for him to report to duty, so he dragged the barely-surviving boy over. In a perfect contrast to Xu Yin, for Bai Qiulin, only his heart was dyed red by blood.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Bai looks perfectly normal. Perhaps it¡¯s because Xiong Qing was too weak to leave any effect on him.¡± Chen Ge opened theic to pull the boy into it. He nned to slowly interrogate the boy and get more information about Xin Hai Central Hospital from him after the Trial Mission was over. After dealing with the boy, Chen Ge turned back to look at the heart in Xu Yin¡¯s hand.

    He could see that even just carrying the heart put a great amount of pressure on Xu Yin. He would definitely end up in trouble if he was ordered to consume the heart. Furthermore, Xu Yin had never shown any interest in consuming another person¡¯s heart. Instead, he wanted to find a heart that belonged to him.

    ¡°Then, what should I do with this?¡± The glutton monster¡¯s heart was a very valuable reward. It technically contained everything that was about the glutton monster. With this in Chen Ge¡¯s possession, he might even have the chance of cultivating a Red Specter who could have a better handle of the hunger in the future!

    This thing was too valuable. Even the shadow and Doctor Gao would definitely be interested in it.

    ¡°If Xu Yin is tasked with acting as the keepsake of the heart, he would separate out a part of his power to resist the negative emotions the heart will bring. That will definitely affect his ability during battle.¡± During dangerous situation, Xu Yin was Chen Ge¡¯s main fighting force, so having Xu Yin handle the glutton monster¡¯s heart was a giant waste.

    ¡°But other than him, who would be able to resist that overwhelming wave of negative emotions?¡± Chen Ge had Bai Qiulin give it a try, but he only persisted for several minutes before his expression became contorted. He had gone under the influence of gluttony, and it was clear that he was slowly spiraling out of control.

    ¡°Is there no other way than to give this away? But it will be such a loss.¡± The red high heels probably desired the glutton monster¡¯s heart. Gifting it to her would probably earn Chen Ge a valuable ally, but the man thought that was such a ridiculous waste of resource.

    ¡°Normal Specters are too weak to sustain a consumption of such a powerful heart. They will most likely disperse from eating this heart. Only a Red Specter is able to resist that enormous will to feed.¡± Chen Ge stared at the beeping heart in Xu Yin¡¯s hands. The blood red heart was buried deeply inside the meat mountain and was thus spared the effect of the blood curse.

    ¡°Leaving it with Xu Yin will only create a burden. The only choice I have left is Zhang Ya.¡± Chen Ge called Xu Yin to get close to the candlelight and had Xu Yin ce the glutton monster¡¯s heart on his shadow. Ever since he entered Li Wan City, Chen Ge¡¯s shadow had gradually been changing. It was not until he was trying to madly summon Zhang Ya earlier that he had noticed this change. He had no idea why Zhang Ya was doing this, but he believed that Zhang Ya would not harm him.

    The candlelight cast its me on Chen Ge¡¯s body, but the strange thing was that the shadow that he formed was in the shape of a woman. Chen Ge looked at his own shadow silently. Xu Yin had the obvious desire that he did not wish to get any closer. After getting permission from Chen Ge, he finally ced the glutton monster¡¯s heart on Chen Ge¡¯s shadow.

    Then a strange thing happened. Once the heart that glistened like a ruby left Xu Yin¡¯s grasp, it started to bounce violently, and soon, a woman¡¯s shadow appeared above the heart. Chen Ge felt the woman looked so familiar. Eventually, he matched it to the woman that he saw in the boss¡¯ room, the woman in the pictures, the woman that he called his mother. That should be the real appearance of the ruby ghost.

    ¡°So, she still had this trick up her sleeves.¡± Cold sweat poured out of Chen Ge¡¯s forehead. If he had made his employee consume this heart, that employee might have transformed into a second glutton monster.

    The woman¡¯s wail gradually weakened before dissolving into droplets of blood thatnded on Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. His shadow was like ake whose bottom could never be seen. The droplet of bloodnded on the shadow and caused a ripple before disappearingpletely.

    After the glutton monster¡¯s heartpletely melted, Chen Ge¡¯s shadow became even darker, and the silhouette of a woman became clearer. For some strange reason, Chen Ge¡¯s heart started to race. He looked at his own shadow and had this sensation that a youngdy was waving at him from the other side of the shadow. If he reached out toward the woman, he would be dragged into the shadow and stay there with her forever.

    ¡°Zhang Ya?¡± The name floated up in Chen Ge¡¯s heart. The hair in the shadow bloomed like it was being caressed by the wind¡ªthis, Chen Ge epted as a response.

    ¡°She seems to have grown stronger...¡± Chen Ge had been trying to increase the power level of his employees, but after such a long struggle, he realized that thebined strength of all of his employees still would not match that of Zhang Ya. To make matters worse, the difference between the power level only continued to grow. ¡°Perhaps this is what they call talent.¡±

    At Jiujiang Medical University¡¯s underground morgue, even though Zhang Ya had been injured in the battle as well, she had still managed to get something from Doctor Gao¡¯s wife. It was the same thing when she crossed swords with the shadow. Then, she forcibly stole a few drops of blood from Doctor Gao. Now, she had consumed the glutton monster¡¯s heart. Just how strong Zhang Ya had be, even Chen Ge himself could not tell.

    ¡°I am not someone who likes to rely on others, but based on this situation, it does not appear like I have a choice.¡± His lips turned involuntarily upward. Chen Ge nced at the headless woman and the pair of red high heels. ¡°If you¡¯re naughty, I¡¯ll feed you to her.¡±

    The red high heels were copsed on the ground, and they looked no different from a normal pair of shoes. The woman had probably exhausted so much of her energy that she had trouble even holding her form. After all, during the battle with the glutton monster, she had single-handedly suffered seventy-five percent of the damage, and it was she who managed tond the crucial blow on the glutton monster, which provided Chen Ge with the opportunity that he needed.

    ¡°You¡¯ve helped me once, so I¡¯ll treat you in kind. I¡¯m not going to take advantage of you. When the mission is over, I¡¯ll bring you back to a safe ce and even purposely construct a home for you.¡± Chen Ge had personally witnessed the terror of the red high heels¡¯ curse. He picked up the heels using an abandoned table cloth and ced them on the counter.

    ¡°Then, it¡¯s your turn. You chased me for a whole damn street, and I think you owe me an apology.¡± Chen Ge had Xu Yin, Bai Qiulin, and Men Nan apprehend the headless woman before he dared get close to her. The headless woman seemed to have some prejudice against men, and she refused to even look at Chen Ge¡¯s group.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want tomunicate with males. I have female ghosts in my employment as well.¡± Chen Ge summoned Duan Yue tomunicate with the headless woman. After a longmunication, Duan Yue returned to ry the information. The headless woman¡¯s condition was definitely not good. She had lost half of her body, and her head was heavily injured. She had trouble maintaining her form from dispersing, much less getting into battle.

    ¡°Even though you¡¯ve chased me for a long time, I am a generous person who will put aside most grievances. After we leave this ce, I¡¯ll find you a safe ce to allow you to recover.¡± Chen Ge pulled the headless woman into theic.

    ¡°Hey! I know you have limited space at your Haunted House. Why don¡¯t you just give her the spot that I normally upy?¡± Men Nan said in the tone of an adult. He jogged with his short legs to stand behind Chen Ge. ¡°I¡¯ve not returned home for a long time already. There might be some problems at the Third Sick Hall. Once the door goes out of control, the consequences will be imaginably bad.¡±

    ¡°I promise you, after the sunes up, I¡¯ll immediately take you back to the Third Sick Hall.¡± Chen Ge squatted down and very seriously reached out his hand. ¡°Here, pinkie promise.¡±

    ¡°My God, can you be more childish?¡± Even though he grumbled on his lips, Men Nan still pinkie promised it with Chen Ge. ¡°But why did you suddenly change your mind? I swear you must be up to something since you granted me this so easily.¡±

    ¡°I merely realize how dangerous it will be for a door to go out of control, so I understand it¡¯s for the best if I send you back as soon as possible.¡± Chen Ge stood up and voiced the thought that was inside his heart.

    ¡°Yes, that is what I¡¯ve been telling you since the beginning, but you refused to believe me. If something really happens, it¡¯ll be toote to start undoing the error.¡± After getting the promise from Chen Ge, Men Nan finally sighed in relief. ¡°Seeing how sincere you are, I¡¯ll help you one more time. By the way, where are we? Why are there so many Red Specters inside a small hotel?¡±

    ¡°We are currently inside a door that has gone out of control. This is Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s Li Wan City.¡± Chen Ge said that in a matter-of-fact tone. He waited for a long time but did not hear a reply from Men Nan. He turned back to look. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Men Nan, who was only slightly taller than Chen Ge¡¯s knees, froze where he was. He seemed to have a hard time believing his ears. ¡°We¡¯re inside a door that has gone out of control?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Inside the world behind the door?¡±

    ¡°Bingo.¡±

    After this simple exchange, Men Nan copsed to the ground. He looked at Chen Ge nkly, and no words came out of his lips. It was as if the boy¡¯s mind had suddenly short-circuited.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± Chen Ge quickly get down to look after the boy. He still cared about Men Nan after all.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± Men Nan waved his hands. ¡°I just want to feel the ground underneath my feet. I fear I might not have the chance soon.¡±

    ¡°Stop being so dramatic. There¡¯s no need to be afraid. I¡¯m here, aren¡¯t I?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because you¡¯re here that I¡¯m so afraid! If not for the fact that I wouldn¡¯t reach your neck, I would have jumped up to strangle you at least twice already! Have you lost your f*cking mind? It¡¯s one thing for you to find your way into a door, but you had to choose one that has already gone out of control! I was wondering how you managed to find somewhere so dangerous! Is it so hard to live your life peacefully? What is so wrong with wanting a peaceful existence?¡± Men Nan was finally acting his age. He was on the verge of tears as he threw the tantrum.

    ¡°Understood, I know what you¡¯re saying. Don¡¯t worry, if we manage to survive this, I¡¯ll definitely send you home.¡± Chen Ge was quick to console Men Nan. After a long time, when the boy¡¯s emotion was stabilizing, Chen Ge tried to ask probingly, ¡°Is it so dangerous inside a door that has gone out of control?¡±

    ¡°Of course! Think about it. It is an enclosed building behind a single door, so the number of Red Specters and monsters that you have to deal with is limited, but things are different for a door that has gone out of control. It will pull all the buildings around the area into the nightmare world, and no one is able to tell how many Red Specters and monsters are hiding here.¡± Men Nan waved his hands weakly and pain was clear on his face. ¡°I am not good at fighting, and I¡¯ve been tricked by the ghost stories society at least once. My power is incredibly weak, and that is why I want to quickly fix the window in the Third Sick Hall. If anything outside infiltrates the Third Sick Hall, then my home will be ruined.¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s perfect, isn¡¯t it? If that¡¯s the case, I can prepare a new home...¡± Chen Ge was halfway through his sentence when he noticed that the boy was going to go berserk again, so he quickly stopped himself. ¡°You have a point there. After leaving Li Wan City, I¡¯ll immediately send you back to the Third Sick Hall.¡±

    After pulling Men Nan into theic, Chen Ge summoned all of his employees to give the hotel a quick scrub. The curse of the red high heels was more powerful and terrifying than he had anticipated. The blood veins and the remains of the glutton monster that came into contact with the curse dissolved into ashes and dispersed into the wind, leaving behind the four iron chains.

    ¡°There are still many issues with the glutton monster; I need to get to the bottom of this.¡± Chen Ge entered Room 1 to untie the old man. ¡°Do you see the iron chains on the ground? Are you the one who locked up the woman behind the fridge?¡±

    Experience came with age. When the old man saw the situation at the hotel, he summed up everything in his mind. Therefore, he exined everything to Chen Ge.

    The family of three were not locals of Li Wan City. They operated a rental apartment at another spot in Eastern Jiujiang. The upstairs apartments were rented out while the ground floor was made into a restaurant.

    Then, one day, the old man¡¯s wife suddenly contracted a strange disease. She would not be full no matter how much she ate, and once they stopped her from eating, she would be hurting and panicking like they were torturing her. They had taken her to plenty of doctors, but it was no use. The wife¡¯s illness became more serious, and during extreme hunger pangs, she would even bite at other people.

    They exhausted all their savings to cure her illness. Until one day, the wife and the old man who just came back from another doctor visit rode thest bus on Route 104, and they arrived at Li Wan City.

    The old man was too cowardly to get off the bus, but his wife was led by a blurry shadow into a ghost apartment. When she returned, the wife¡¯s illness had a conspicuous improvement. He was overjoyed, thinking that they had run into their savior, but that was just the beginning of the tragedy.

    The wife would always wander out at night, and the old man eventually found out that his wife had gone out in search of ¡®food¡¯. To prevent discovery by the police, their whole family moved to Li Wan City, and what happened next matched the details in Xiao Bu¡¯s game.

    ¡°When she was alive, it was me who locked her up. If I didn¡¯t do that, she might even bite at her own flesh. After she died, it was a shadow who locked her up...¡± The old man nced at Chen Ge and had trouble continuing. ¡°That shadow has the same silhouette as you. He brought some ¡®food¡¯ toe and feed my wife regrly until she became the thing that you saw.¡±

    ¡°The shadow looks like me?¡± Chen Ge nodded. He had understood everything. The glutton monster was the shadow¡¯s creation. The meaning of her existence was to stay guard over the center of Li Wan City.

    ¡°I¡¯ve basically visited all the locations pinpointed by the ck phone. It is about time to visit Fan Chong¡¯s residential area.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s motive had been achieved. He pulled all his employees into theic and used the rope to retie the old man and ced him in Room 1.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to leave.¡± Chen Ge walked out from Room 1 and nned to go upstairs to find the other passengers when something unexpected happened. The entrance of the hotel was suddenly pushed open, and two men strode into the room.

    ¡°Don¡¯t run your mouth, and do not do anything extra! Understood?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I understood all that! But the problem is you¡¯ve got the wrong person! Trust me! He has already left my body!¡±

    Hearing these familiar voices, Chen Ge basically lifted his head out of habit. When he saw the two at the door, his pupils narrowed instantly.

    ¡°Lee Zheng? Jia Ming? Why are they here?¡±

 Chapter 654 - All the Tenants [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 654: All the Tenants [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    When Chen Ge saw Lee Zheng and Jia Ming, the two at the door saw him as well.

    ¡°Chen Ge?¡± Lee Zheng and Jia Ming said in unison. Neither of them had expected to run into Chen Ge here.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡± Lee Zheng had one hand behind Jia Ming. Even though he was extremely surprised by Chen Ge¡¯s appearance, his hand had not moved an inch.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get too close to him, he might not be Chen Ge,¡± Jia Ming whispered in warning. He looked quite scared. ¡°Have you forgotten what I told you before? The shadow looks exactly like Chen Ge!¡±

    Standing from the perspective of an outsider, there was nothing wrong with what Jia Ming said. A living person appearing at the hotel in the middle of the night in a small town shrouded in blood fog... there had to be some hidden issues about this.

    ¡°You posed me so many questions, but coincidentally, I also have many questions to ask you.¡± Chen Ge also did not dare to put his guard down around Lee Zheng and Jia Ming. Before he arrived at Li Wan City, Lee Zheng had sent him a series of messages, telling him that Jia Ming had escaped from police custody and all the police officers were out and about trying to recapture the criminal.

    However, just two hours after that, Lee Zheng and Jia Ming both showed up in Li Wan City. No matter how he thought about it, there was definitely something strange about this development. Lee Zheng had his hand hidden behind Jia Ming, so the barrel of his gun was probably poking right into Jia Ming¡¯s back to prevent Jia Ming from doing anything irrational. Since the man was packed, Chen Ge did not dare act too rashly. Guns were ineffective against Specters, but it would definitely be effective against him.

    ¡°In any case, we should all calm down first.¡± Maintaining the stalemate in the lobby would only be a waste of time. Chen Ge decided to show his hand first. He took out his phone and showed Lee Zheng his call record. ¡°Inspector Lee, I am Chen Ge. There is no doubt about that. I am here because I received an SOS call.¡±

    Chen Ge pointed at the phone records between Fan Chong and himself. ¡°This man was once my Haunted House¡¯s visitor, and he has been acting strangely recently. He told me many strange things, and out of curiosity, I left him my contact number. But to my surprise, he went missing tonight, and I have no idea whether if he is still alive. I am thest person he contacted, so to investigate his disappearance more thoroughly, I rushed to Li Wan City as fast as I could.¡±

    Lee Zheng asked Chen Ge a few more questions. Seeing as Chen Ge answered all of them correctly, he sighed slightly in relief. ¡°After Jia Ming escaped from the hospital, we searched for him through the city and eventually the team managed to confirm his escape route was heading toward the eastern part of town.

    ¡°Initially, we thought he was trying to run into the mountains to hide, but after expanding the search zone, I discovered something weird through the surveince. When he was walking past one of the junctions, Jia Ming covered up his face. Even though he was still wearing his original clothes, his gait was strangely unnatural. Ipared the surveince again and again beforeing to the conclusion that Jia Ming probably found someone to take his ce at that junction.

    ¡°After ordering the rest of the team to continue with the original search, I turned down the other side of the junction to continue the search. The heavy rain proved too difficult for the search effort. It was very hard to look through the rain, but thankfully, the effort was reward. In the end, I caught up to this b*stard at the end of the road. After a round of chasing, I only managed to detain this guy after we entered Li Wan City.¡±

    After hearing what Lee Zheng had to say, Jia Ming waved his hands hurriedly. ¡°Everything I did was because I was forced to by the shadow. If I did not follow his orders, he would have had more than one hundred ways to make my life a living hell.¡±

    ¡°You were forced? Howe it feels like you¡¯ve purposely been trying to lure me to this ce? What are you nning with this shadow? Admit everything honestly, this is thest chance you have.¡± Lee Zheng had entered Li Wan City because he was trying to capture Jia Ming, it was an eptable reason, but for Chen Ge, it also felt quite forced. He had this feeling that there was something off about Jia Ming and Lee Zheng, but he could not really tell what was really wrong about them.

    ¡°Inspector Lee, this ce is very dangerous. Come in here first, don¡¯t stay at the entrance for too long.¡± Chen Ge activated the recorder and proactively walked toward the hotel entrance. ¡°Did you run into anything scary on the way here?¡±

    ¡°This sted ce sure is strange. It is raining so heavily outside, but there is not one patch of ground in this small town that is wet. I believe it probably has to do with this blood fog.¡± Lee Zheng did not answer Chen Ge¡¯s question. With his hand on Jia Ming, he shoved the man into the hotel.

    Chen Ge was familiar with how scary Li Wan City was, this ce was crawling with ghosts and murderers. Technically speaking, Inspector Lee could deal with murderers with his gun, but how did a normal person like him deal with all those ghosts and monsters?

    From how they acted, Jia Ming and Lee Zheng were merely nervous¡ªthere was no trace of terror in their eyes.

    ¡°Could the shadow be hiding in one of them? Is that why the monsters and ghosts in Li Wan City actively stay away from them?¡± One was the police, the other a criminal, but Chen Ge had no idea whom might be the hiding ce for the shadow. ¡°I cannot jump the gun too soon. Both of them might be who they say they are, and the shadow might be hiding somewhere else.¡±

    Ever obtaining the ck phone, the shadow was the most difficult adversary that Chen Ge had faced. He believed that the shadow had gotten both Jia Ming and Lee Zheng here at the same time to confuse him. Chen Ge was cautious around Jia Ming and Lee Zheng, but the two did not trust Chen Ge entirely either. They already knew that the shadow had the ability to transform and mimic another person. Perhaps from their perspective, it was not that hard to believe that the ¡®Chen Ge¡¯ before their eyes might be a disguise taken on by the shadow.

    ¡°Take any seat you wish. Mind waiting for a moment? I have a few friends who are waiting for me upstairs.¡± Chen Ge headed up the stairs.

    After he turned around, he heard Jia Ming whisper very softly to Lee Zheng, ¡°I¡¯ve told you everything I know about the shadow, and now you¡¯ve met him in person. This proves that I am not lying! Chen Ge is the shadow! We need to leave this ce as soon as possible before it is toote! He will definitely kill us to get us silenced!¡±

    ¡°You worked so hard to lure me here just to let me see something like this?¡± Lee Zheng retorted in a chilling tone. ¡°Since you are able to lure me here, then you would have some method to lure Chen Ge here as well. Plus, it is still undecided whether he is the real shadow or not.¡±

    ¡°It cannot be clearer, and you still want to suspect me?¡± Jia Ming raised his voice. ¡°Think back to the things that this man has done in the past. Do you think those things are doable by a normal person? He is merely making use of you and the entire police force; he is using all of you to cover up his sin.¡±

    ¡°Cover up his sin? Do you even understand the definition of sin?¡± Lee Zheng pressed Jia Ming onto his seat at the dining table. ¡°Be honest and be quiet. Stop disturbing me with your misinformation, and don¡¯t do things that you shouldn¡¯t. I know how to make my own judgment.¡±

    Lee Zheng and Jia Ming conversed softly as Chen Ge walked away. When he reached the top of the stairs, there came a knock from the hotel front door.

    ¡°Is someone there?¡± A young man who carried a ck schoolbag stood at the entrance. He looked rather polite and weak. ¡°I wish to stay here for the night.¡±

    The young man was in the middle of his puberty, and his voice was changing. Other than that, he looked like a normal high-schooler who probably ran away from home. Pushing his spectacles up his nose, he took a long detour away from Lee Zheng and Jia Ming. He carefully moved to the counter. ¡°Is someone here? Is the boss around?¡±

    Chen Ge, who stood on the second floor, saw everything clearly. ¡°The boy looks simr to the boy that I saw on the high-schooler¡¯s phone when I was on the bus. Therefore, he should be either Bei Wen or Bei Ye.¡±

    When he was taking thest bus on Route 104, Chen Ge had run into an unassuming high-schooler. He had gotten onto the bus because he was in search of his missing schoolmates, and he had shown Chen Ge the picture of his mates. In a pure stroke of luck, the high-schooler that he had described seemed to match the high-schooler who helped Gu Feiyu when he took the bus. To prevent an ident from befalling the high-schooler, Chen Ge had chased him off the bus and promised him to get to the bottom of the truth and help his friends if it was possible.

    ¡°When I was ying Xiao Bu¡¯s game, I did run into a high-schooler at the hotel.¡± Chen Ge gripped the railing, and his gaze wandered between the high-schooler and Lee Zheng. ¡°In Xiao Bu¡¯s game, there were four tenants at the hotel, they were the woman, the high-schooler, the police officer, and Xiao Bu. Now that the police and the high-schooler have showed up, isn¡¯t it time for the woman who can change her skin to show up?¡±

    The world behind the door was created from the memory of the door-pusher. The world inside the game recorded Xiao Bu¡¯s personal experience. Now that the door had gone out of control, all the nightmares that she had experienced would be turned into reality.

    ¡°Why would Xiao Bu have other people y this game? Does she merely want to prove that she is innocent? To garner sympathy from others? Or is this a tool to help her escape? The game contains the key that might release her from the nightmare, is that it?¡±

    With Chen Ge¡¯s aid, Fan Chong had cleared the game, and it was around then that the ident had befallen the guy. The shadow had reached out to harm his whole family. Fan Chong was currently missing, and there was a great chance that the shadow had already taken control of his big brother, Fan Dade.

    ¡°The shadow should know about Xiao Bu¡¯s game, so why didn¡¯t he destroy it? Is it possible that there is something he needs inside Xiao Bu¡¯s game?

    ¡°The door in Li Wan City was pushed open by Xiao Bu, and to have full control over this door, one must have full control over Xiao Bu. If I consider it that way, the shadow was probablyying a trap with the game as well. In any case, the most important thing now is to find and save Fan Chong¡ªhe is the one with the information about this issue.¡±

    Chen Ge had assumed control of the hotel. After dealing with the glutton monster, this hotel was nothing more than a shell, so there was no reason for him to stay there anymore.

    He pushed open the door to the guestroom. Scissors and the drunkard were squeezed next to the window. They already had the rope around the doctor. Should anything happen, they would send the doctor out first.

    ¡°How is the situation outside? Just now, it felt like the whole building was shaking. It was like there was an earthquake.¡± When the drunkard saw Chen Ge walk in, he rushed over to the man to ask for information with a worried face.

    ¡°The boss and the chef were killed by the headless woman, and then she died in a stalemate facing off against the ghost inside this hotel.¡±

    ¡°The ghost inside the hotel is also dead now?¡± The drunkard breathed out a long sigh. ¡°Then we should take a rest here. When the sunes up and the blood fog disperses, we should have no problem leaving this horrible ce.¡±

    ¡°The hotel is not as safe as you think. Without the ghost to guard over this location, more people and ghosts will be attracted to this ce.¡± Chen Ge walked to the doctor and lowered his head to inspect his body. ¡°Can you walk now?¡±

    The veins on the doctor¡¯s neck were pulsing. He used every ounce of his energy to shake his head. ¡°I feel much more conscious, but I still cannot lift up my limbs. Other than that...¡± Scissors next to him seemed to understand what the doctor was trying to do. He reached out to lift up the torn corner of the doctor¡¯s pants. There was arge piece of skin around the doctor¡¯s calf that had turned ash gray.

    ¡°Before I arrived at Li Wan City, I heard people say that once you stay too long inside the door, you¡¯ll start to grow these gray patches on your skin. And if you have this skin discoloration, you are unable to leave the town anymore.¡± The doctor looked depressed. ¡°I am stuck here forever.¡±

    ¡°The legs are grown on your body¡ªno one will be able to stop you as long as you have the wish to leave.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s original n had been to drive thest bus on Route 104 directly to Fan Chong¡¯s home and make use of the red high heels and the smiling man to force their way through the shadow¡¯s trap. Obviously, the n needed to change. With the blood fog swallowing up the small town, the door had already been activated before they even arrived. Chen Ge could only change up his n to adapt to the situation. He would make use of the knowledge that he had garnered from Xiao Bu¡¯s game to take down as many ghosts as he could and use the enemy to empower his own people.

    Having visited most of the ces mentioned by the ck phone, Chen Ge felt that it was about time to finish the main objective.

    ¡°We¡¯ve received a few customers downstairs. I suspect they are locals here, so they might be disguised monsters and ghosts. Be careful when you go down. In any case, there is nothing wrong with being more cautious.¡±

    After giving a few more orders, Chen Ge had the drunkard carry the doctor, and they exited the room. When they returned to the first floor, Chen Ge noticed that other than the police, Jia Ming, and the high-schooler, there was a neer.

    She was a woman with voluptuous curves and a sweet, candy-like face. However, she was a conservative dresser with long sleeves and a jacket that covered her whole body. She was even wearing a pair of gloves to ensure that not one inch of her skin was showing.

    ¡°Where¡¯s the boss? I need a single room.¡± The woman was dragging arge box. She ignored the rest of the people in the room. She turned toward the kitchen with a smile. ¡°I¡¯ve brought the thing that you need this time.¡±

    When she walked past Chen Ge¡¯s group, Chen Ge did not catch any trace of perfume on thedy, but instead, he could smell a light scent of decay.

    ¡°The boss is not avable. He has left the hotel, and there¡¯s no one inside the kitchen.¡± Chen Ge reached out to block the woman¡¯s way.

    ¡°Who are you? Are you a close friend of the boss?¡± The woman¡¯s beautifully-constructed nose leaned to Chen Ge like she had sniffed something unusual from Chen Ge¡¯s body. When the woman leaned closer, Chen Ge caught a glimpse of the woman¡¯s cor. There was aplicated wound around the woman¡¯s neck that looked like a tattoo. It gave the impression that the skin underneath her clothes was sewn together.

    ¡°I am not familiar with the boss, but I hope you¡¯ll conduct yourself more prudently. I am now the shot-caller in this ce,¡± Chen Ge replied with a polite smile. In reality though, if there were no outsiders around, he would have summoned his employees to apprehend the woman and start to interrogate her about Li Wan City.

    The woman stood on her tiptoes to peer inside the kitchen. Even though Chen Ge had already had his employees clean up the ce, once one looked closer, one could still see the many suspicious problems.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter to me who the shot-caller is. I just wish to know if this ce is still open for business.¡± The woman dragged the box forward. ¡°There have been fewer and fewer peopleing from outsidetely, and do you know how much trouble I had to go through to gather these things?¡±

    Chen Ge had a rough idea what was inside the box. ¡°Of course, we¡¯re open for business. Leave the box with me, and you can stay here for as long as you like.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. Do you mind if I go into the kitchen to grab something to eat? The blood fog this time is thicker than usual, and I am already feeling quite puckish.¡± The woman came up with many reasons to enter the kitchen.

    ¡°Then, you¡¯d better get seated. Food will be served soon.¡± Chen Ge waved at the drunkard and told him to get Scissors into the kitchen, find some ingredients, and whip up something to eat.

    After the two entered the kitchen, the door of the hotel was pushed open again. A man who carried a strange smile on his face entered the hotel. There was arge blood stain left on his shirt. He appeared to be injured. He did not say a word after entering the hotel but found a quiet corner and posited himself there.

    Not long after that, a dripping sound came from the front door, and the smile on the man¡¯s face froze.

    Several secondster, the door opened, and a woman in a red raincoat also strode into the hotel with her head lowered.

 Chapter 655 - The True Strength of the Shadow [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 655: The True Strength of the Shadow [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The scent of blood permeated the air. It was not raining outside, but the red raincoat that the woman was wearing was dripping wet. Her ck hair stuck to her face, and the water droplet slid down her cor. The woman entered the hotel with her head lowered¡ªshe did not look up at anyone as she wandered to an empty seat and sat down.

    ¡°We should stay away from her.¡± Jia Ming opened his lips to whisper as he stood up and nudged to the other side of the table. He did not discuss this with Lee Zheng beforehand, so when he stood up and moved away from Lee Zheng, other people could see clearly that Lee Zheng was holding a gun in his hand.

    ¡°Sit right here honestly and stop moving!¡± Lee Zheng pressed Jia Ming back to his original seat. He used the corner of his eyes to silently scan the woman in the red raincoat and then lowered his voice to ask Jia Ming, ¡°Do you know this woman?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a madwoman. Everyone who wears red clothing in this ce is a mad person. If you want to live, stay away as far away from them as you can. Do not try to interact with them.¡± Jia Ming¡¯s body was shivering lightly. ¡°This is what the shadow told me. If you want to die, then go ahead, but don¡¯t drag me down with you!¡±

    ¡°The color red represents some kind of special meaning here?¡± Lee Zheng had more questions that he wanted to ask. Ever since he entered the small town, he had noticed many strange things, but since he possessed too little information, it was hard for him to tell whether Jia Ming was lying to him or not.

    ¡°Red represents extreme danger. Just stay away from them. That is the rule that you need to follow inside the door.¡± Jia Ming¡¯s voice became smaller and smaller. ¡°The shadow has left my body, but he used this body to conduct many things, so I still know some of his secrets.¡±

    ¡°Inside the door?¡± Lee Zheng jotted down every single sentence that came out of Jia Ming¡¯s lips. ¡°Are there any other rules that I need to pay attention to in this ce?¡±

    Probably realizing that he was unable to escape, or perhaps deciding to change his n because he had encountered Chen Ge, Jia Ming became more honest and cooperative. ¡°Do not enter any buildings with their doors closed, and do not walk past any buildings with their doors opened. Gray represents rtive safety, and red represents danger. However, if you see the color ck, don¡¯t even waste time trying to run; it¡¯ll be better to use the final moments that you¡¯ll have toe up with yourst words.¡±

    When Jia Ming and Lee Zheng were conversing, the sound of footsteps once again came from the hotel entrance. Everyone turned to look in unison.

    ¡°This ce sure is crowded tonight.¡± A man wearing a ck coat and dragging arge case entered the room. Five bloody red female skulls were tattooed on his arm, and there was a bone whistle dangling on his lips. No one in the hotel answered his greeting, but that did not dampen his mood. He greeted the people inside the hotel one by one, but when he noticed the woman in the red raincoat, his body froze before walking swiftly past her to reach the counter. ¡°Boss, I wish to stay the night.¡±

    His voice lowered conspicuously as if worried that he might disturb the woman in the red raincoat.

    ¡°There¡¯s another customer?¡± Chen Ge walked out from the kitchen pushing the cart. They had ransacked the kitchen, but other than some unknown meat that was already cut and prepared, the only food item that remained was some cake. Naturally, the boss did not prepare the cake for the customers. From the menu inside the kitchen, it was clear that all the items on the menu were those favored by the female boss. In other words, the menu at this restaurant was made just for one customer, the female boss. The cake still needed post editing before it could bepleted. For example, there was ketchup or raspberry sauce in the kitchen, but parts of the cake were red in color.

    ¡°A Red Specter that likes dessert? That is quite an interesting feature.¡± Chen Ge pushed the cart out. He had decided to transform this hotel into a scary scenario rted to food after the mission waspleted. He had been inside the kitchen for several minutes at most, but when he came out, he realized that the number of visitors in the lobby had grown. Of all of them, the appearance of the woman in the red raincoat surprised him the most.

    Speaking of which, after the door in Li Wan City had gone out of control, it had transformed the small town into a unique location where living humans were able to be seated at the same table as a Red Specter.

    ¡°Perhaps such is the reality behind the door. There are ghosts formed from a persistent will and humans who stumbled into the nightmare.¡± Chen Ge served the cake that was not dyed on the dining table. ¡°Please enjoy the meal. I am not going to collect any fees; I just need you all to answer a few questions for meter.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure? You¡¯re not going to open this to take a look? Perhaps you might see something that you might be interested in?¡± The woman was tightly wrapped inside her clothes. She dragged her box and walked toward Chen Ge. After straightening up, she removed her fingers from the box and ced it right under the seam of her clothes. The ¡®this¡¯ that could be opened probably referred to two different things.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need. If it was necessary, I would have done it myself.¡± Chen Ge held the heavy backpack on a single arm. The hammer had just tasted the glutton monster¡¯s tongues and blood veins, so the heavy scent of blood on it had not dispersed.

    ¡°Fine, suit yourself.¡± The woman dragged the box and retreated several steps. The coquettishness on her face had already disappeared, and she shifted her expression as fast as one would flip through the pages of a book.

    ¡°Hey, where is the boss? I need to talk to him. About the thing that he told me to investigatest time, I¡¯ve already gotten some leads.¡± The man who was tattooed with women¡¯s skulls walked to Chen Ge, also dragging his case.

    ¡°He has left the hotel and left this ce to my care temporarily, so now I am the shot-caller. How may I help you?¡± Chen Ge had a smile on his face. In terms of service provided, he was definitely much better than the previous owner.

    ¡°The boss is not in?¡± The tattooed man was very clever, so he instantly caught up to the problem. He smiled in embarrassment at Chen Ge. ¡°Then I suppose I¡¯ll return another day. Sorry for the disturbance. See you again.¡±

    Then, he was turning to leave without even taking his case.

    ¡°Wait a minute, perhaps you did not understand what I mean earlier.¡± Chen Ge had Scissors stop the tattooed man. ¡°I am technically the owner of this ce now. Since the boss gave you some task earlier, you can just report the result to me, and I¡¯ll ry the information to him.¡±

    The tattooed man stood where he was, and his eyes kept darting involuntarily to the kitchen. The more he looked, the more agitated he became. ¡°Are you sure that is a good idea?¡±

    ¡°Why would you think that is not a good idea?¡± Chen Ge leaned slightly to the side to allow the tattooed man to nce into the crumbled wall inside the kitchen.

    ¡°Since you are the boss¡¯ friend, then naturally, you are my friend. Since we are all friends, of course, this cannot be a better idea.¡± The tattooed man instantly changed his stance. The honesty and sincerity on his face formed a great contrast to the five evil-looking female skulls tattooed on his arm. ¡°There are too many outsiders here. Do you mind if we go to somewhere quieter?¡±

    He turned to head up the second floor. It looked like he was very familiar with this hotel; he appeared to be a regr here.

    ¡°Scissors,e with me.¡± Chen Ge had Scissors follow him¡ªhe did not treat the man as an outsider at all.

    ¡°Me?¡± Scissors was startled. He did not expect Chen Ge to bring him along when he was about to be shared some valuable secret. Just how much trust did Chen Ge have in him?

    ¡°Quick, our friend is waiting.¡± Chen Ge and Scissors followed the tattooed man up to the second floor.

    ¡°Just now, I saw the hidden room inside the kitchen has copsed, but that female monster was not inside it.¡± The tattooed man sucked in a cold breath. ¡°She is detained inside this hotel, but currently, she is not where she should be¡ªthe only exnation is that she has disappeared.¡±

    ¡°You are a very clever person,¡± Chen Ge said emotionlessly. ¡°I do not like to interact with people who are too clever unless they prove useful to me.¡±

    ¡°Bro, don¡¯t be like that! I assure you that I¡¯ll be useful to you, and you¡¯ll be surprised at how useful I might be.¡± The tattooed man held the bone whistle in his palm, and he paused for a long time before continuing, ¡°I know the way to leave this ce. It is rted to a door.¡±

    ¡°This is barely considered a secret. All of you came from outside the door, so when you find the door, you¡¯ll naturally be able to exit through it.¡± Chen Ge used a single sentence to choke the tattooed man. ¡°Stop trying to y tricks. I know more than you might believe. I advise you start giving me a reason to keep you around.¡±

    ¡°Other than that, I know the door¡¯s location.¡± The tattooed man¡¯s fingers closed over the bone whistle tightly. ¡°Everyone who was brought in here by the ghost fetus had ck cloth over their head. When they woke up, they were already deposited on the streets. I¡¯ve asked many people, and the location that they woke up at after removing the ck cloth was different every time.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute, you were brought in here by the ghost fetus? The ghost fetus is actually not a sh of dark shadow? Why would you not refer to him as a shadow but a fetus?¡± Chen Ge did not seem to care about how to escape from this ce but showed more interest in the small details.

    ¡°Bro, the things that you focus on are just... something else. You must have seen the shadow since you¡¯re here. After all, when you were asked to make the choice at the ghost apartment...¡± The tattooed man stopped himself halfway, and he looked at Chen Ge and Scissors with disbelief. ¡°Wait a minute! Don¡¯t tell me you entered this ce on your own? You didn¡¯t even pass through that door?¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to die, I advise you just answer my question.¡± Chen Ge took out Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer to show that he was serious.

    ¡°Bro, calm down. I was just shocked. Of course, asionally, there are some unlucky b*stards that wandered into the blood fog due to various reasons, but they rarely survived here longer than an hour.¡± The tattooed guy looked at Chen Ge, who held the hammer, and Scissors, who looked scary. ¡°A situation like yours is extremely rare.¡±

    ¡°Now can you tell me more about the ghost apartment and the ghost fetus?¡± Chen Ge lowered his voice, and his gaze was getting sharp.

    ¡°Patience is a virtue. Since you¡¯re outsiders, I¡¯ll tell you about some of the rules here. Believe me, this is for your own good.¡± The tattooed man looked outside, and after making sure that there was no one paying them any attention, he continued. ¡°There are many unfortunate events happening all over the world every day, and this contributes to an endless parade of unlucky individuals. Some managed to survive the most difficult hurdle in their lives with hope and faith in their hearts, but others sunk deeper into despair.

    ¡°I¡¯ve interacted with at least ten people that came from outside. They all ran into the shadow at the lowest point of their lives. Everything happened the same way. Initially, they would hear their own voiceing out from their shadows. With the guidance from the shadow, they were told to take thest bus on Route 104 toe to Li Wan City. Once they entered the ghost apartment, salvation would be waiting for them.

    ¡°The owner of the ghost apartment is also a shadow, but no one has ever seen his real face before. He has always been a shadow in our eyes, a shadow who might materialize next to you at any moment and transform into your identity. He is like the monster that is formed form the darkest shadow inside our hearts because he is incredibly familiar with our weaknesses and desires.

    ¡°The shadow refers to himself as the ghost baby. ording to the previous hotel boss, the shadow was actually the shadow of a living person, but it was abandoned by that person. I know how preposterous all that sounds, but that is the truth. Li Wan City, the ghost apartment, and the strange things that happened in Eastern Jiujiang, those are all the shadow¡¯s doing. He will stop at nothing just to aplish a singr goal¡ªto turn himself into a human and then transform the human who once abandoned him into a shadow.

    ¡°Resentment will fester and corrupt. Initially, the shadow was just a shadow, but as he consumed more despair and resentment, he has turned into a...¡± The tattooed searched his brain for a long time but failed tond on an appropriate term. ¡°In any case, it is something incredibly scary. He ced most of his body and negative emotions inside an unborn child, and that is the original form of the ghost fetus. He only left a small part of himself at the fetus¡¯ side to protect it while the rest of him continued to move his n forward.¡±

    ¡°How do you know all this?¡±

    The shadow was cautious and watched his every step. Chen Ge knew that it would not have voluntarily shared this information with some outsider unless this was the information that the shadow was willing to reveal toy down a trap or something of that sort.

    ¡°The hotel boss and I were the earliest living humans to enter the door. We¡¯ve lived here for so long and figured out the truth from the shadow¡¯s words and actions.¡± The man removed his coat to show a ck-red rope that was tied around his stomach. The rope seemed to have been tied a long time ago, and it had never been removed. In fact, the rope had grown into the man¡¯s flesh. The stranger thing was, with the rope as some kind of margin, the tattooed man¡¯s upper body was perfectly fine, but underneath the rope, his skin was ashy gray.

    ¡°This rope is made from the blood vessels taken from the boss¡¯ mother. Without it, I would have died already.¡±

    ¡°But that cannot prove that you¡¯re telling me the truth.¡± Chen Ge had his own judgement to everything. He would not believe everything other people told him, and that was one of the reasons he had been able to survive so many Trial Missions.

    ¡°I cannot prove conclusively the validity of my words. I am merely sharing with you everything I know. I hope you can sense my sincerity so that we can work together in the future to escape from this ce.¡± The tattooed man put his clothes back on. He understood Chen Ge¡¯s caution. In fact, if Chen Ge believed him too easily, he would have been concerned. ¡°To continue the topic earlier, I¡¯ve asked around and finallynded on one of the shadow¡¯s secrets.

    ¡°Everyone who is here had a ck cloth ced over their head at the ghost apartment. However, they would only pass through the door to enter this world after some time had passed.¡± The tattooed man¡¯s eyes narrowed like he was about to say something important. ¡°The ghost apartment is at a ce adjacent to Li Wan City. It¡¯s an abandoned housing project known as Ming Yang Residence.

    ¡°Many who were sent in there were not satisfied. They wanted to escape, and they¡¯d move to explore the outer fringes of Li Wan City. However, none of them ever returned. Initially, I also thought that the door might be at the ghost apartment, but after asking many locals, I realized that the door might be in Li Wan City.¡±

    The tattooed man felt like he had discovered a great secret. ¡°After people entered the ghost apartment, their main consciousness would g as the evil within their heart was purposely pulled forward. However, there were some who managed to keep their sanity intact. They did not lose themselves, and they remember that they were not pushed through the door but told to move down a particr direction for a very long time. After several years of investigation, without arousing the shadow¡¯s suspicion, I believe I¡¯ve found the door¡¯s location.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s in a residential area on the outskirts of Li Wan City, right? If I¡¯m not mistaken, it should be one of the rooms in the first block on the first floor.¡± Under the tattooed man¡¯s shocked scrutiny, Chen Ge revealed the location that the former had taken years to uncover. ¡°Never mind, I guess you¡¯ve given me more than enough useful information. At least now I know that the ghost apartment is at Ming Yang Residence and the shadow has ced most of his ¡®body¡¯ into an unborn child.¡±

    Chen Ge asked the tattooed man a few more questions. He realized how unusual this man was. He had a natural closeness to ghosts and spirits, kind of like a weakened but adult version of Fan Yu.

 Chapter 656 - Shut the Door

    <h4>Chapter 656: Shut the Door</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The tattooed man told Chen Ge everything that he knew, but whether he could be trusted or not, that was up to Chen Ge¡¯s own discretion. Chen Ge narrowed his eyes as he scanned the five female skulls on the man¡¯s arm. With Yin Yang Vision, he realized that the heads were wailing, and they probably represented five different spirits.

    ¡°I¡¯m not the one who killed them; I¡¯m merely their vessel.¡± The tattooed man quickly waved his hands. ¡°Due to my unique body, I¡¯ve been able to see ghosts since I was small, but that power weakened as I grew up. However, it is still there. Probably because of that, the shadow came after me and used my body to keep some unique spirits.¡±

    The man pointed at his arm. ¡°These five women were once the ghost fetus¡¯ mother¡ªthey were personally handpicked by the shadow. They were living humans whose body features were different from others, but probably because there were too many negative emotions in the ghost fetus, it died five times in the womb. Its resentment was growing so much that sometimes I could feel it myself. Be it the mothers or the shadow, they seemed to be afraid of the ghost fetus.¡±

    ¡°Even the shadow is afraid of the fetus?¡± Chen Ge could not understand why someone would fear their own creation, but he did not focus on this topic. ¡°I am willing to cooperate with you, but the premise is that you have to listen to my orders.¡±

    ¡°A wise choice. Actually, I still know some other secrets about the shadow. After we escape from this ce, I will tell you more about them.¡± The tattooed man was worried that Chen Ge might kill him after he had outlived his usefulness, so he quickly exined that he still had other values to be discovered.

    ¡°Sure.¡± Chen Ge smiled lightly. He did not really care that much. After all, there was a momentous difference to his and the tattooed man¡¯s goal. The tattooed man wanted to escape, and most of the locals probably had that goal in mind, but Chen Ge¡¯s goal was to find a chance to kill the shadow. Of course, it would be better if he could capture the shadow alive.

    Everyone understood the dangers of a door that had gone out of control, even Doctor Gao stayed away from this ce, but for Chen Ge, once he hadpleted his preparation, even an uncontroble door could be turned into a giant treasure.

    Returning to the first floor, the tattooed man pushed the case to the corner. The bone whistle that he was holding earlier had disappeared¡ªhe had probably ced it inside his pocket. Seeing how obedient the tattooed man was acting, walking behind Chen Ge, the woman was confounded. She had met the tattooed man before and understood how powerful he was. ¡°You two...¡±

    The woman leaned forward and purposely brushed against the tattooed man when he passed her. She seemed to have something to say, but the tattooed man ignored her and walked on ahead. Considering the situation that he was in, he was not going to do anything to arouse Chen Ge¡¯s suspicion.

    ¡°Scissors, go to the entrance to take a look. See if there¡¯s anyone else out on the street and then close the door.¡± Scissors moved to oblige¡ªhe hadplete trust in Chen Ge. There were flickering shadows in the fog, and there was even someone waving at them, but the shadows kept their distance like they did not dare wander too close.

    ¡°There are only some shadows on the streets¡ªI don¡¯t see anyone alive.¡±

    ¡°Then close the door. It¡¯s their loss to note in here.¡± With such argemotion at the hotel, the locals of Li Wan City must have noticed it, so it was perfectly normal for them toe over to check out the situation.

    After the door was closed, Chen Ge scanned everyone in the room. ¡°Everyone, due to different kinds of reason, we¡¯ve gathered here tonight. I suppose you can call it fate. I will not harm anyone and will not do anything disadvantageous to any of you. I merely wish for us to stick together to discuss some problems, like how to escape from this ce.¡±

    Once Chen Ge finished, the tattooed man started to fidget. He tried his best to meet Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. ¡°The more people we take with us, the less likely we¡¯re going to seed. The shadow can transform into anyone of us, and if he finds out about our n, we¡¯ll fail one hundred percent!¡±

    ¡°Yes, the shadow can transform into anyone of us, and that is the second thing I wish to tell everyone. I hope no one here will do anything irrational¡ªI will not harm any innocent party, but that does not mean that I will not harm the shadow.¡± Chen Ge stood at the head of the dining table, holding his backpack.

    ¡°This is so like you...¡± The drunkard grumbled softly. Ever since he listened to Chen Ge¡¯s advice and selected the correct antidote, the drunkard had developed loyalty toward Chen Ge that could not be shaken. Even though the man could be very scary at times, he was really trustworthy to his friends.

    ¡°This man here has stayed for a long time in Li Wan City¡ªhe knows where the door that will lead us out of here is. We¡¯ll all follow him, and I will try my best to guarantee your safety and bring all of you out of this ce.¡± Chen Ge was sincere with his words. If possible, he wanted to rescue as many people as he could. After all, for the ck phone¡¯s mission, the greater the number of innocent lives he had saved, the bigger his reward would be.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but temporarily, I don¡¯t n to leave this ce. I feel like it¡¯s not bad staying here,¡± the bespectacled high-schooler said shyly.

    Chen Ge stared at the high-schooler and noticed that whenever thetter looked through the sses, he would need to squint his eyes like his sight became worse after putting on the sses. ¡°If I¡¯m not mistaken, the pair of sses should belong to your younger brother, Bei Wen, and your name is Bei Ye, right?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about¡ªyou must¡¯ve gotten the wrong person.¡± The high-schooler tried his best to keep his cool, but he was ultimately too young. Chen Ge could easily pick up the ws in his acting.

    ¡°On the busing over here, I met one of your ssmates, and he told me everything.¡± Chen Ge grabbed the high-schooler¡¯s arm lightly. ¡°You identally killed your own father, but to escape from the judgment ofw, you murdered your younger brother who looked just like you in cold blood, and you made it look like youmitted suicide. However, in reality, you¡¯ve survived just fine, assuming the life and identity of your younger brother.¡±

    With each of Chen Ge¡¯s words, the male student¡¯s face whitened by one degree.

    ¡°Initially, only I knew about this, but now everyone here knows about your secret. I wonder, with your personality, will you kill all of us to ensure that your biggest secret is not revealed to the world?¡±

    Before Chen Ge even finished, the tattooed man next to him spoke. ¡°If he refuses to leave, then he will be one of our impediments. Now that we¡¯ve found out about his secret, he¡¯ll definitely find a way to take revenge on us. He will report our movement to the shadow. I suggest we deal with him before he has the chance to betray us.¡±

    Touching the tattoos on his arm, the man turned to peer at the knife left on the cart. ¡°Remove all sources of danger before it has the chance to grow. We only have one chance at this¡ªwe mustn¡¯t be too careless if we wish to escape.¡±

    ¡°Everyone here has their own secret. I understand if you wish to stay, but once you hear about our secret, the power of choice is taken from your hand.¡± The ck phone had requested Chen Ge to rescue innocent victims to improve his reward, but Bei Ye was clearly not a victim, so Chen Ge was not going to go easy on the young student.

    Being stared at by most of the customers inside the hotel, Bei Ye finally relented. ¡°Alright, I will go with all of you.¡±

 Chapter 657 - Seizing Soul

    <h4>Chapter 657: Seizing Soul</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge was very satisfied with Bei Ye¡¯s reaction. He turned to the rest. ¡°Is there anyone else who objects?¡±

    Practically half of the people there were on Chen Ge¡¯s side, so they naturally had no issues with his arrangement. The small minority who objected were too afraid to voice their real opinion. Even if they did not agree with Chen Ge¡¯s action, they were too weak to go against it.

    ¡°Since there¡¯s no objection, we should not waste time and start moving. If we wait longer, more weird stuff might be attracted here.¡± After Chen Ge said that, he took the pair of high heels on the counter and ced them inside his backpack. He then called for the white cat and Scissors before heading to the door.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you notice howfortable he is at this ce? When all of us are assaulted by this feeling of difort, he is like a fish returning to the water. It feels like this chaotic and bloody small town is somewhere that is home-like to him,¡± Jia Ming whispered to Lee Zheng.

    ¡°What are you trying to say?¡± Lee Zheng frowned deeply.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? He is the shadow; this is where he lives; this ce is his home!¡± Jia Ming kept trying to convince Lee Zheng. ¡°I know that he¡¯s not going to lead us to the exit¡ªhis real goal is to kill all of us. You might not believe me now, but time will prove that I¡¯m right. I hope you¡¯ll be more alert so that you won¡¯t cause me my death.¡±

    ¡°Before you point fingers at others, you¡¯d better take a good look at yourself first. The shadow escaped from your body, so of everyone here, you are the most suspicious.¡± Lee Zheng had interacted with many cunning criminals before. He understood one thing¡ªthe more mentally twisted the person was, the more unreasonable their worldview was. A part of their brain was wed, and from a certain perspective, their ability to study and learn was much greater than their emotional control. A real mad person could weave an unbelievable lie that they put their full trust in without showing any remorse or guilt.

    Obviously, Jia Ming and the shadow who hadmitted more than a few murders fell into this category.

    ¡°You¡¯ll regret ever trusting that man, and trust me, that day is going to arrive soon.¡± Jia Ming did not stop with his persuasion. He realized that it was incredibly hard to shake Lee Zheng¡¯s conviction¡ªthis inspector had a resoluteness to his belief, and he was much harder to break through than he had anticipated.

    <i>I¡¯ve cleared most of the dangerous spots mentioned by the ck phone. It is time to go take a look at the door.</i>

    Chen Ge led the passengers out from the hotel, and the tattooed man followed close behind them.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to bring all of them?¡± The tattooed man looked at therge group of ¡®people¡¯ behind them, and he felt unsettled.

    ¡°What are my other options? Are you suggesting I kill all those who refuse to cooperate?¡± Chen Ge fired the question back to the man.

    ¡°You have a point. If we keep them around, we can use them as cannon fodder when there¡¯s danger.¡± Tattooed man convinced himself. He started to question his decision of cooperating with Chen Ge. However, the arrow had already been loosed. His only choice now was to follow Chen Ge to the end of the road.

    ¡°Please move faster, stop wasting time. One second wasted here reduces the hope of us escaping by one more percent.¡± The tattooed man turned to yell at the rest. His eyesnded longer on Lee Zheng. There were many mad people at Li Wan City, one could have one¡¯s pick of criminals, but they had never encountered a police officer. ¡°No matter the history between any of you, no matter why you¡¯re here, I hope you can put that aside until after we leave this ce. Now we are a shared body, and if there¡¯s anyone who wishes to drag the group down, we¡¯ll have no use but to cut them loose.¡±

    When the tattooed man spoke, the five female skulls on his arm seemed to grin wickedly like they were anticipating a shower of blood. Everyone left the hotel. The high-schooler and the student walked at the back¡ªit was clear that they were the most unwilling.

    ¡°Is that everyone?¡± Chen Ge turned back to look, and he noticed that the woman in the red raincoat had disappeared. The rest, including the smiling man, were following behind him. ¡°With numberses strength, I will lead you all out of this ce provided that none of you do anything stupid.¡±

    If not for him being worried about Fan Chong¡¯s safety, Chen Ge would actually have cleared out the entire small town, not leaving even a single room behind. If he did that, he would have been confident that he could convince the residents of the town to join his camp.

    <i>Unfortunately, I¡¯m starved for time. I can only pick the important things to do, but from the looks of it, I still have the upper hand. </i>Chen Ge surreptitiously nced behind him. His shadow hadpletely changed. After consuming the gluttonous woman¡¯s heart, the wound on Zhang Ya¡¯s arm seemed to have recovered. <i>If she can hear my voice, then I have everything under control.</i>

    Chen Ge had the courage to face any difficulty that came his way, but that did not mean that he was overconfident. After the glutton monster was consumed, the bnce of power was tipped. It was natural for the shadow to do something to revert the bnce. Since the shadow temporarily could not harm Chen Ge, then the logical thing to expect the shadow to do was for him to harm Chen Ge¡¯s helpers.

    After the group left the hotel, they definitely created a scene. There were shadows in the blood fog watching them, but since Chen Ge¡¯s group was so ginormous, none of them dared to approach.

    ¡°Hey, look there.¡± When they passed the first junction, the drunkard, who was carrying the doctor, pointed ahead and whispered to Chen Ge. At the other end of the street, there was a human shape that looked very simr to the drunkard, waving at them.

    ¡°This thing again. I wish to let you go, but you¡¯re presenting yourself to me.¡± Chen Ge did not hold back this time and activated the recorder. When the sound of static appeared, Chen Ge pointed at the shadow across the road and said, ¡°Xu Yin.¡±

    The scent of blood caressed his nostrils, and Xu Yin stood guard next to Chen Ge. He did not rush forward as if sensing danger. After several seconds, another blurry silhouette appeared at the opposite side of the road. This new shadow though looked suspiciously like Scissors.

    ¡°A second one? No, wait! There are more!¡± The drunkard was already traumatized from dealing with these monsters who would wave at him. When he saw more human shapes appearing one after another, he could feel his legs going weak. In the blink of an eye, several shadows appeared on the opposite side of the street. Other than Chen Ge, almost everyone in their group was copied.

    ¡°What kind of monsters are these?¡± The drunkard, carrying the doctor, hid behind Chen Ge.

    ¡°These things are called Seizing Souls. They can mimic the shape of our shadows. They are formed from the excess negative emotions that overflowed out of the ghost focus. Remember, do not stare at them for too long, or they might seize the soul out of your body, and if that happens...¡± The tattooed man lowered his head. ¡°If so many of them appear at the same time, it can only mean that our movement has been discovered by the shadow.¡±

    ¡°Seizing Souls? Such horrid things, but...¡± The drunkard turned to Chen Ge with confusion. ¡°Howe none of them copied your shadow?¡±

 Chapter 658 - I Am One of You

    <h4>Chapter 658: I Am One of You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The question from the drunkard stumped the tattooed man. He also had no idea why the Seizing Soul did not take on the shape of Chen Ge¡¯s shadow¡ªthis had never happened before. He sneaked a look at Chen Ge. The question was on his lips, but he was afraid of voicing it. In the end, heughed awkwardly and changed the subject. ¡°Just try not to stare too long at them. Seizing Souls rarely appear in arge number, and whenever they do, it means that something big is about to happen.¡±

    When the two were conversing, Chen Ge did not interrupt them. He narrowed his eyes slowly as he stared at the few shadows across from the street. <i>If I capture all these shadows and ce them inside my Haunted House, will I be able to creature a unique scenario? To have the visitors see themselves inside the scenario and use these shadows¡¯ power to confuse them. If I can make use of them, then the more the participants in the group, the greater the horror effect will be because the real and the fake will be questioned, and no one can tell for sure if it is a ghost or their teammate standing beside them.</i>

    The tattooed man was worried, and he kept urging Chen Ge to move. ¡°It¡¯s best if we leave in a hurry. These things are hard to shake off and harder to kill. Before they do anything, we¡¯d better leave.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the hurry? Their resilience is perfect for a slow training. I will teach them to be individuals that will contribute to the wellness of the society. I will help them find worth in their existence and let them understand the joy of serving them and bing the object of reverence for others.¡±

    Other people did not know why the Seizing Souls did not dare to mimic Chen Ge, but the man knew the reason perfectly well. Zhang Ya was hiding inside his shadow. Instead of saying that these Seizing Souls were afraid of Chen Ge, they were more afraid of offending Zhang Ya.

    ¡°Please just listen to my advice. It is not safe to stay here¡ªthere is no need for us to get entangled with them. They are merelyckeys that the real shadow is using to slow us down. The real threat wille after this. The longer we stay here, the more time we¡¯re giving the shadow to set up its trap. Do you understand that?¡± The regret of the tattooed man cooperating with Chen Ge grew with every minute. This man was smart, brilliant, and hardworking, but at times, he could be cunning, unreasonable, and brutish.

    He would never follow the moral code binding the general public. He had his own way of doing things, but at the same time, he appeared like he had no control over his own actions. He lusted after the exciting and loved interesting things. The gene for violence seemed to be written inside his DNA.

    The tattooed man had seen many movies about crazed murderers, and as a quintessential patient with psychopathic personality disorder, he knew how the movies had exaggerated the characterization. Even the most brutal criminal would not appear so openly maddened in public.

    A real maddened criminal was someone like Chen Ge. When you passed them on the street, you would never realize and could never discern the imbnce inside their heart. They could not control the aggression that they were born with and rarely showed sympathy or remorse with the acts of violence that they had conducted. This was themon simrity shared by most psychopathic criminals. Incidentally, the tattooed man recognized this simrity in Chen Ge, and to make matters worse, the man did not seem to realize how dangerously unhinged he was.

    The tattooed man had never once met Chen Ge¡¯s eyes before, and he did not mean any offense by that¡ªhe merely did not dare to look Chen Ge in the eyes. He was the one of the first to move into Li Wan City, so logically, he had seen the shadow many times before. Perhaps it was his imagination, but he kept getting this simr feeling that he got from the shadow when he dealt with Chen Ge.

    ¡°You¡¯re right; now is not the time. We need to find that door that has gone out of control first.¡± Chen Ge led the group toward Fan Chong¡¯s home.

    Several minutester, after they passed another junction, Lee Zheng¡¯s voice came from the back of the group. ¡°Wait! Someone has gone missing.¡±

    Lee Zheng had the most unique identity of everyone in the group, so everyone froze when they heard his voice.

    ¡°Who has gone missing?¡± The tattooed man turned to look and discovered that the woman who had been dragging therge box earlier had disappeared into the blood fog. ¡°Did she run away?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to search for her; she¡¯s noting back to us,¡± Bei Ye said softly. He pointed at the other side of the junction. ¡°She went over there.¡±

    Following the student¡¯s finger, they saw the woman. The box that she was dragging had disappeared, and only half of her body remained. There were signs of sewing on the woman¡¯s body, and all of her remaining skin appeared normal. It seemed like the woman had the habit of cutting off her skin that had gone gray and recing it with the normal skin of her victims.

    ¡°When did she leave the group? Has she been preparing to escape?¡± To stabilize their morale, the tattooed man had no choice but to return to confirm the woman¡¯s situation.

    ¡°I have no idea; I wasn¡¯t paying her much attention. The woman stayed at the back of the group, and it sounded like there was something earlier that dragged her away.¡± The high-schooler carried his ck schoolbag and carried a spring knife in his palm. Since Chen Ge had exposed his identity, he removed the sses and abandoned the disguise.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been targeted by the thing in the blood fog. We need to stay together, especially those at the back.¡± Chen Ge did not care about the woman and Bei Ye, but he did have his concern for Lee Zheng. After all, the inspector had helped him many times.

    ¡°Could the culprit be the woman wearing the red raincoat?¡± Jia Ming whispered softly. ¡°When we left the hotel, I saw with my own eyes that she was walking behind us. But when we reached the first junction, she had disappeared. I find that highly suspicious.¡±

    Chen Ge knew that the culprit could not be the woman in the red raincoat, but he did not want to expose his rtionship to her, so he did not answer and merely urged the rest to pick up their speed. The blood fog surrounding them thickened like this creepy small town was awakening. The blood red eyes that hid inside the blood fog were following their moves with evil intention.

    They strode down the street for twenty minutes before they reached the residential area where Fan Chong lived. The blood fog there was much thicker than anywhere else in the small town. Standing several meters away, they could barely make out the shape of the buildings.

    ¡°This has gone much smoother than I anticipated¡ªthe exit is right before us!¡± The tattooed man was practically buzzing with excitement.

    ¡°Calm down, the closer we are to the exit, the higher the chance of danger.¡± With them finally arriving at their destination, Chen Ge appeared surprisingly detached. He lifted his head to look at Fan Chong¡¯s home, but the fog was too thick for him to peer through even with the help of Yin Yang Vision.

    <i>Both Fan Chong and Fan Dade have gone missing, and something has probably happened to theputer with Xiao Bu¡¯s game as well. It is to be expected that the shadow hasid a trap here. No matter what we do next, I have to be extra cautious.</i>

    ¡°Quick! Look at this! There is a message left in blood here! Someone knew that we¡¯reing here!¡± The drunkard stopped at the entrance to the residential area. On the gate of thepound, a sentence dripping in blood was written. ¡°I am one of you?¡±

    The blood was still wet, and it slid down the iron gate.

 Chapter 659 - Who Can You Trust?

    <h4>Chapter 659: Who Can You Trust?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The sentence left on the gate was meant to sow chaos. Whether the sentence was telling the truth or not, the sentence would nt the seed of suspicion inside their hearts, slowly breaking up their temporary union from within.

    ¡°This does appear like what the shadow would do, so he probably really did leave this behind.¡± Jia Ming nudged Lee Zheng¡¯s shoulder. ¡°He likes to hide the truth in the lie and the lie in the truth¡ªthe shadow is very good at psychological tricks like that. It¡¯s not dissimr to people who tell you what they¡¯ll y during rock-paper-scissors. The shadow has a penchant for psychological warfare. He has possessed innumerable people, seen the darkness inside many people¡¯s hearts, and lived through endless lives; he is a psychological master that no one can surpass.¡±

    ¡°Then do you think that the shadow is currently among us or not?¡± Lee Zheng gripped his gun tightly. In this unknown environment, only the gun could bring him some semnce of security.

    ¡°Based on my understanding of the shadow, he probably has already assumed the identity of one of us.¡± Jia Ming slowed down his words. ¡°Anyone here could be him, including you and me. And I can tell you in assured tone that the one that he assumed will be the person that you suspect the least.¡±

    ¡°The person that I suspect the least?¡± Lee Zheng looked around the group before his eyesnded on Chen Ge. Of everyone there, he knew Chen Ge the best, and he had confirmed that Chen Ge would never be the shadow.

    ¡°When you think it is him, it will never be him; but when you think it is not him, then he will take you down when you least expect it. He will never give you a chance to resist,¡± Jia Ming said darkly.

    ¡°You¡¯ve said so much, but it all amounted to nothing. Howe it feels like you¡¯re merely purposely trying to confuse me?¡± Lee Zheng furrowed his brows. ¡°You¡¯re just trying to clear the suspicion away from yourself, aren¡¯t you? To prove your innocence, you decided to drag everyone else into the mess.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve told you many times, the shadow has already left my body. Why won¡¯t you believe me? There is not a good person here. The two of us came from the outside world, so we are familiar with each other. Thus, in this situation, we should abandon our preconception and get to know each other again.¡± Jia Ming did not trust anyone other than Lee Zheng. He had been possessed by the shadow before and knew firsthand how scary the shadow could be.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not forget you¡¯re the reason I¡¯m here. So, this could be your n from the beginning, and you¡¯re showing me these things on purpose. You want me to mistake Chen Ge as the shadow and then have me be your witness,¡± Lee Zheng replied coldly.

    ¡°I had no choice when I lured you here. If I did not follow the shadow¡¯s instruction, I would not be alive, talking to you now. The shadow is much scarier than you can imagine and also much crueler. Those who are deemed useless to him are killed without hesitation. Do you know that? From his perspective, anything that cannot be used by him in this world could be his impediment, so killing them is the most suitable choice.¡±

    ¡°I still cannot trust you fully, unless you can help me find the shadow.¡± Lee Zheng lowered his voice. ¡°The shadow lived inside your body for several years, so you are the one who understands the shadow the most. Who do you think he has taken the identity of now?¡±

    ¡°The biggest possibility is Chen Ge. Think about it, how can there be so many coincidences? We happened toe here, and we happened to run into him? He was trying so hard to prove his innocence earlier, and he had me lure you here to be his character witness. Things really cannot be clearer.¡± Jia Ming shrugged. ¡°This Chen Ge is a fake one; he ns to turn the false Chen Ge into the real Chen Ge because, after killing the real Chen Ge, he¡¯ll be the only one left, thus assuming the identity of the real Chen Ge.¡±

    With the repeated persuasion from Jia Ming, Lee Zheng¡¯s gaze started to change.

    ¡°Actually, you should have realized this sooner. Have you ever considered this questions¡ªwhy would the shadow have the appearance of Chen Ge, and what is his purpose of doing all these things?¡± Jia Ming sighed in relief when he saw Lee Zheng¡¯s conviction being shaken. ¡°Of everyone here, we are the two who entered this ce together, so we only have each other to trust. Other than yourself, anyone here can be the shadow.¡±

    ¡°I still cannot trust your words so blindly, but I will find a chance to test this guy.¡± Lee Zheng looked at Chen Ge, and his gaze wasplicated.

    ¡°You can test him all you want, but I hope you¡¯ll remember this. The shadow will transform into the person that we think is the least possible. He flits through the gaps in human hearts. We are no match for him, and the only way to survive is to not be his enemy.¡± Jia Ming knew about the rtionship between Chen Ge and Lee Zheng. He was trying to persuade Lee Zheng when his eyes identally wandered to Lee Zheng¡¯s shadow.

    ¡°The person you least expect...¡± Jia Ming¡¯s eyes suddenly widened. He quickly turned his head around to pretend to look elsewhere to hide the panic in his heart.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? What is it this time?¡± Lee Zheng pushed the barrel of the gun into Jia Ming¡¯s back.

    ¡°It was nothing. I thought I saw something running through that building earlier.¡± When Jia Ming spoke, he did not turn his head around. His heart was quivering with emotions.

    <i>The more impossible you think it is, the more likely the shadow will be that person. I personally lured Lee Zheng here, and from my perspective, he is the only person that I can trust, but seeing this from another perspective, could it be that he has taken the bait on purpose? Use me as a meat shield to disguise himself? Actually, he is the real shadow, and I am the temporary pawn that can be abandoned at any moment. No one will believe the words of a criminal, especially when he is detained by a police officer.</i>

    The more Jia Ming thought about it, the more afraid he became. It felt as if cement had been poured into his neck, and it was unable to move. Now, hecked the courage to even look at Lee Zheng¡ªhe was afraid that he might identally expose his weakness and ruin the shadow¡¯s n.

    ¡°Now is not the time to ramble among ourselves. Let¡¯s go in. Even if the shadow is one of us, it won¡¯t make too much of a difference.¡± Chen Ge disliked this kind of guessing game. If not the presence of familiar individuals, he would have used his most familiar method of elimination to find out the truth. Ignoring the sentence on the gate, Chen Ge was the first to step into the residential area.

    ¡°I know the door is on the first floor, but as for the actual room itself, we¡¯ll need to search further.¡± The tattooed man followed behind Chen Ge. When he entered the area, the skulls on his arm all showed fearful expressions.

    Chen Ge had been to Fan Chong¡¯s home several times, but theyout of the buildings there was different from the one in his memory.

    ¡°This ce seems to have retained its look from several years back.¡± Chen Ge looked at the surface of the buildings, which was corroded by the blood fog. He could make out a few unclear words. ¡°Li Wan Hospital¡¯s family apartments? This residential area once had this name, did it? Li Wan Hospital refers to that private hospital in the town, right?¡±

    ¡°That private hospital was built muchter¡ªthe real Li Wan Hospital was taken down decades ago,¡± the tattooed man exined. ¡°Li Wan City once had a hospital that specialized in the treatment of infectious diseases, but it was closed down for some mysterious reasons. Some of the more importantbs have been moved to join Jiujiang People Hospital and a hospital in Xin Hai.¡±

 Chapter 660 - Itâ€™s Not That Complicated

    <h4>Chapter 660: It¡¯s Not That Complicated</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge knew that Fan Chong¡¯s residential area was old, but he did not realize it had once been the family apartment for hospital staff, and the bigger surprise was that there had once been a hospital specializing in infectious disease treatment located in Li Wan City.

    ¡°I heard that from the locals that stayed here,¡± the tattooed quickly exined, afraid that Chen Ge might get the wrong idea. ¡°Before the door in Li Wan City was opened, this was already a strange ce. If any of you have stayed in Eastern Jiujiang, you should know that the older generation refuse to live near Li Wan City, on the ount of how ¡®dirty¡¯ this ce is. Actually, their ¡®dirty¡¯ has two meanings¡ªone was because a serious infectious disease has swept this small town before, and the other was that there have been many inexplicable events happening here.¡±

    ¡°Can you still find that hospital now?¡± Chen Ge stood before the first building.

    ¡°You¡¯re one with strange interests. Howe it feels like the more dangerous a ce is, the more interested you are?¡± The tattooed man thought about it before shaking his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know its exact location. ording to rumors, the hospital has been ttened to the point that even the foundation has been uprooted. They dug a hole around the building and basically allowed the whole hospital to sink into the ground.¡±

    ¡°They buried the entire building? Is it because not even a brick of the old hospital is allowed to escape?¡± Chen Ge turned around to look at the tattooed man. ¡°But howe I have not heard of such a big story before? Do you know what the disease that ravaged Li Wan City so many years ago was?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m not clear about that. Some said it was leprosy; others said it was a mutated strain of smallpox. There are all kinds of rumors, and there are only two that I can confirm. This disease is not only airborne, but it can be contracted through water as well, and the chance of contraction through water was several times higher than airborne infection. The second fact is that patient zero was a child, but it is unclear whether it was a boy or a girl.¡±

    ¡°It is a waterborne disease, and the first patient was a child, huh?¡± Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s dam and therge hole at its bottom as well as the Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s Fresh Water nt that was strategically built next to the dam. That was the location where Chen Ge first crossed paths with the shadow.

    <i>Is the shadow intending to use the water nt somehow?</i>

    The lead in Chen Ge¡¯s mind was getting clearer and clearer.

    <i>There¡¯s monster hiding inside the underground hole at Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s Dam, and that dam provides the water for the water nt to be cleansed. If the shadow mixes some kind of substance into the nt, then all the citizens in Eastern Jiujiang will be affected without even knowing it themselves.</i>

    Chen Ge did not voice histter posttion, but he had a rough idea of the shadow¡¯s n. The shadow was made up from an impossiblyrge amount of despair and negative emotions. It was impossible for him to give birth as a man, and no mother was resilient enough to carry a fetus like that, so the shadow turned his focus to the method of Bury Seed.

    He nned to nt himself into another child and use the whole of Eastern Jiujiang as his source of nutrients. Chen Ge still had not understood the actual steps of the shadow¡¯s n, but he understood that the scale of the shadow¡¯s n was much bigger than he had previously anticipated.

    <i>Ghost fetus is a four-star mission, but just what does a four-star mission looks like? Will it involve all of Eastern Jiujiang?</i>

    Chen Ge had not conducted a four-star mission before. The only connection that he had was the several missions that he hadpleted to unlock the mission School of the Afterlife.

    Ghost Fetus was a four-star mission, and the Cursed Hospital was a four-star mission. Coincidentally, Chen Ge had just confirmed from the tattooed man that after the hospital in Li Wan City was levelled, part of the staff had joined a hospital situated in Xin Hai, and the name that he mentioned was simr to the name of the hospital that he had seen sewn on the boy¡¯s patient garb.

    The two new four-star scenarios provided by the ck phone seemed to be connected, and this gave Chen Ge a headache. All the clues that he had found out so far crowded his mind, forming a death knot.

    <i>Four-star scenarios are too dangerous. Even with Zhang Ya, it might not be insurance enough. I have to squeeze everyst drop out of this 3.5-star mission! As long as I can capture the shadow, I can force out the truth from his mouth!</i>

    To see through the levels ofplicated connections to get to the core of the truth was an ability that Chen Ge did not possess, so he nned to use his own method to discover the truth.

    <i>Nothing is thatplicated¡ªeverything can be made simpler!</i>

    It had not been that long since Chen Ge obtained the ck phone, but he had grown at an impossible speed. However, the direction of his growth seemed to be against what the ck phone anticipated. Chen Ge was barreling down a path that no one could really tell, but for now, it was smooth sailing for the man.

    <i>The shadow¡¯s earlier promation suggests that he is hiding among us, then I¡¯ll pay close attention to everyone here. If they¡¯re alive, I¡¯ll watch over their moves, but even if they die, I¡¯ll carry their bodies with me. If all else fails, I¡¯ll turn Li Wan City around from its foundation. I refuse to believe I am unable to find him!</i>

    If the shadow was a master at psychologicalbat, then Chen Ge was the other extreme. They possessed simr appearances and hadmonalities in their personalities, but the way that they dealt with a problem was vastly different.

    ¡°There¡¯s not time to waste, follow me!¡± Chen Ge removed the hammer from his backpack and activated the recorder. He was very calm. Li Wan City was merely a 3.5-star scenario, and most of the isted scenarios had been taken down already. With the guide that he had obtained from Xiao Bu¡¯s game, the difficulty of this mission had been lowered to its minimum, and he decided to abandon his previous disguise.

    He called Zhang Ya¡¯s name, and the shadow behind him rippled¡ªit felt like a woman putting on make-up, trying back to smile at him.

    ¡°Today, you appear to be more unusual than before.¡±

    Chen Ge dragged the hammer and entered the building. There was firmness behind his every step, and with his every step came a strange sound from his surroundings like there were many people crowded around him.

    ¡°Be careful!¡± The tattooed man stopped at the entrance. The five skulls on his arm were wailing like they were trying to escape from his body. This had never happened before. ¡°None of these women killed by the ghost fetus are willing toe near this ce¡ªthere has to be something very dangerous hidden here, but the door leading out of this ce is situated inside this building as well...¡±

    ¡°Stop hesitating. Since you have made the choice to believe him, have faith in the man.¡± Scissors licked the wound on the corner of his lips. He had learned from the tattooed man how to put on a better disguise as a deranged murderer.

    ¡°He might not look like it, but he¡¯s quite trustworthy at the most crucial moment.¡± The drunkard carried the doctor and also entered the building.

    Seeing them enter, the tattooed man gritted his teeth, used his arms to cover the five tattoos, and strode into the building.

    ¡°Do you think we should follow them?¡± Jia Ming did not dare look at Lee Zheng. He thought that he had disguised it well, but even he did not realize that he had started to follow Lee Zheng¡¯s opinion, and that was very different from when they first entered Li Wan City.

    ¡°Let¡¯s follow him, I have some questions to ask Chen Ge anyway.¡± Lee Zheng and Jia Ming entered the building. The blood fog thickened. A man with a smiling face stood outside the building for a long time before joining the rest.

 Chapter 661 - All Side Quests Completed

    <h4>Chapter 661: All Side Quests Completed</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge dragged the hammer and walked to the end of the corridor. He studied each of his teammates in his mind and realized that every single one of them could be suspected.

    The drunkard had gotten onto the hearse identally, and he was the most normal of the group. He had hope toward life, fear toward death, and possessed the resilience of a normal human being.

    Chen Ge had interacted twice with the doctor before. When the other passengers disappeared, the doctor who had been taking this bus miraculously survived.

    The suspicion on Jia Ming could not have been clearer, but the person that rmed Chen Ge even more was Lee Zheng. He had not forgotten about the messages that he had received on his phone before arriving at Li Wan City. The sender did not appear to be Lee Zheng. After he met Lee Zheng, he did not voluntarily bring this up because he wanted to observe the man some more.

    For Chen Ge, the chance of the shadow assuming Scissors¡¯ identity was the lowest. He was trying his best to make himself look scarier and more unapproachable, and that was something incredibly difficult to mimic by others.

    The identity of the smiling man was a total mystery. The shadow could have killed the man before he got on the bus and took over his identity. After all, since no one was familiar with the smiling man, no matter what the shadow did in the form of the man, everyone would think that was merely how the man was. He was the easiest to mimic, and because of that, he was the easiest candidate to suspect.

    The sharp edges of the hammer created friction against the ground, creating a spine-tingling noise. Chen Ge walked alone into the darkness, and even the drunkard and Scissors did not dare to get too close. Chen Ge radiated a dangerous presence, and the man who had appeared so normal moments earlier took on a different kind of aura.

    ¡°I wonder what kind of surprises the shadow will have prepared for me...¡± The white cat leaned on Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders. Its ears were perked up, a sign that it was rmed. However, Xu Yin had not given Chen Ge a warning. This could only mean that there was something very scary inside the building, but temporarily, it had not shown itself.

    The building was not big, and Chen Ge soon reached the door to Jiang Long¡¯s family home. The door that had gone out of control was behind it.

    ¡°Soon, I¡¯ll realize what the difference between a normal door and an uncontroble door is.¡± Chen Ge raised the hammer and mmed the door down. Thick blood fog rolled out from the room. Strangely enough, the fog inside the room was much thicker than it was outside the town. A normal person could barely see three meters before them.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go take a look first.¡± Chen Ge held the hammer in one hand and reached his other hand into the backpack to pick out a pair of red high heels. ¡°Forgive me for this offense.¡±

    He tossed the heels into the living room and stood at the door to observe. Confirming there was no trap, he walked into the room. He felt weirdly ufortable when his body came into contact with the fog. Negative emotions rushed into his mind, and those without a hardened conviction would lose control easily. ¡°I think the rest of you should wait outside for now. The fog inside here is very thick, and I¡¯m afraid of coteral damage.¡±

    Picking up the red high heels, Chen Ge noticed that the fog would naturally thin when it approached the heels¡ªit felt like the heels were absorbing the fog.

    ¡°This fog is beneficial for ghosts?¡± Chen Ge asked Bai Qiulin and got an affirmative answer. The blood around Bai Qiulin¡¯s heart had started to spread. However, Chen Ge did not summon all of his workers since he was not sure if there were going to be negative effects from consuming this fog.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing here in the living room¡ªthe underground basement is behind the armoire...¡± Chen Ge was walking over when the white cat suddenly mewled. Chen Ge turned to look and noticed that the cat was hissing in the direction of the bedroom.

    ¡°If it is a Red Specter, the cat will be shaking in fear, but since it dares to put up resistance, it means that the Specter in the bedroom isn¡¯t too strong.¡±

    In any case, Chen Ge did not underestimate his opponent. He tossed the pair of heels into the room first before slowly entering it.

    ¡°Try to sense where is it hiding.¡± The bedroom was small, but after they walked into it, the white cat seemed to be struck by confusion. It would hiss at the bed, and then it would turn to gnash its teeth at the window.

    ¡°Is it doing this on purpose to buy time?¡± Chen Ge felt like this might be a valid possibility. Just as he was about to leave, refusing to waste any more time, the bedroom door mmed shut. The sound of a music box echoed in the room, and the blood fog slowed down. The voice of a girl could be heard mixed into the music.

    ¡°Mother and Father have entered the basement. After Father came out, he locked the door. He carried a ck bag with him. He touched my head and said, ¡®Disobedient children will be taken away by the ghosts.¡¯

    ¡°Iy in bed, thinking back to what mother said.

    ¡°Before going to bed, I need to pull up the cover; before going to bed, I have to close the window; before going to bed, I need to check the armoire; before going to bed, remember to check the space under the bed... if I¡¯m sleeping alone.

    ¡°Father left home carrying the bag, leaving me behind.

    ¡°I look under the cover, look out the window, look inside the armoire, look under the bed, but I cannot find mother.¡±

    The song echoed inside the room like it was detailing what had happened inside this bedroom.

    ¡°The father said that disobedient child will be taken away by ghosts, and the girl followed her mother¡¯s instructions. What is the song trying to express?¡± Chen Ge knew that this home had once belonged to Jiang Long¡¯s family. ¡°At the time, Jiang Long was possessed by the shadow, and it was expected that he¡¯d do many strange things. The underground missing, the missing mother and elder sister, those are probably his doing.¡±

    The music box was still ying, but this time, it was the voice of another woman.

    ¡°Red eyes are watching you. You can¡¯t see me, but I can see you.

    ¡°I move with your gaze. I hide under the bed, inside the armoire, behind the window before crawling under your covers.

    ¡°Iy down behind you and above you, but you still cannot see my red eyes.¡±

    Chen Ge examined the ces that the female voice mentioned as he waved his hammer around. ¡°Looks like it has been confirmed that something happened to the mother. She was ced inside this room, but the daughter cannot see her for some reason. Since I can hear both the voices of the daughter and the mother, it can only mean that they have both left this world. This matches the result of the police investigation; Jiang Long¡¯s wife and daughter have gone missing and haven¡¯t been found to this day.

    ¡°It was Jiang Long who killed his family, or rather, it was the possessed Jiang Long who killed the family. This thing doesn¡¯t possess even a shred of humanity.¡± Chen Ge had no clue whether the wife and the daughter were innocent or not, but he nned to bring them back to the Haunted House to get more information out of them.

    ¡°You¡¯d bettere out on your own. I¡¯ve blocked the door, there is no escape.¡±

    There was no reply. The music box continued to y. Chen Ge decided to stop wasting time. He used the hammer to ruin the bed and the window. However, when he walked to the armoire, the sound of the music box suddenly stopped.

    ¡°This probably isn¡¯t a trap by the shadow¡ªit¡¯s merely a trick to confuse me.¡± Chen Ge held the red high heels and used the heel to pull the handle of the armoire open. An exquisite music box was ced inside the armoire.

    The music box looked old, and a family picture was ced inside. The mother was hugging the little brother, and the sister was happily leaning against the mother. There was someone standing next to them, but that part of the photograph had been cut off.

    Picking up the music box, Chen Ge tossed it inside his backpack. He nned to have his employees to deal with this thing.

    ¡°The red eyes in the armoire mentioned by the ck phone should refer to this music box.¡±

    Chen Ge paused and realized that he had practicallypleted all of the isted scenarios listed by the phone.

    ¡°Once the scenario of Li Wan City is unlocked, it¡¯ll probably cause great chaos. ying hide-and-seek at the hospital, the doghouse, the red eyes in the armoire, human head mop, an apartment filled with murderers and ghosts.

    ¡°Even if they escape from the building, the streets are filled with shadows who wave and take on the visitors¡¯ shape. This kind of scenario is perfect, and the scenario will no longer be limited to a single building and will expand toward a multi-directional development. If I include more mannequins and machines, I can replicate Xiao Bu¡¯s game in real life and have the visitors experience that extreme joy themselves.¡±

    Chen Ge could already see themotion that would happen on the inte once the scenario of Li Wan City was unlocked. There had never been a Haunted House that would do things on such an enormous scale.

 Chapter 662 - Door That Cannot Be Closed [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 662: Door That Cannot Be Closed [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Back at the Haunted House, some of the visitors had already started to figure out the guide to clear three-star scenario. Chen Ge needed toe up with a new scenario to maintain the freshness of the Haunted House, to keep the visitor¡¯s anticipation at an all-time high.

    The 3.5-star Li Wan City was currently his best possible choice. As the bridge between three-star and four-star scenario, this special scenario would be able to provide his visitors with a much-needed buffer period. This was to avoid visitors who had just cleared three-star scenarios charging right into challenging a four-star scenario.

    ¡°Are you okay in there? Do you need help?¡± Scissors¡¯ voice came from the door, and when he spoke, Chen Ge could hear the tattooed man speaking over Scissors. ¡°Be quiet! Try not to scream at a ce like this. You have no idea what things you might attract!¡±

    Hearing the voices that came from outside the bedroom, Chen Ge replied sinctly. ¡°Temporarily, there are no signs of danger inside the house. You cane in here.¡±

    Picking up the pair of red high heels, Chen Ge walked out of the bedroom. Holding Doctor Skull-Cracker¡¯s hammer with one hand, carrying the pair of high heels in another, and with a white cat curled around his shoulders, with how Chen Ge presented himself then, it was incredibly hard for others to treat him as a normal individual.

    ¡°What did you discover?¡± That tattooed man walked over. The reason that he was followed Chen Ge was because Chen Ge was very powerful, so the chance of him escaping when following Chen Ge was the highest. His purpose was pure and simple.

    ¡°The door has been hidden. There should be a secret room in this ce.¡± Chen Ge walked to the cupboard in the living room and pushed it with the maximum of his might. The blood fog was palpable enough to look solid. It rushed out from the secret entrance, and like a wave, it shoved Chen Ge rudely back several steps.

    ¡°This is the source of the blood fog; we¡¯d better be careful.¡± The blood fog left a sticky sensation on their skin, and it felt strangely ufortable walking through it. Their clothes stuck to their bodies, and the blood vessels in the air felt like they were trying to crawl into the people¡¯s ears and nostrils.

    ¡°Are you sure we should be going down?¡± The drunkard¡¯s Adam¡¯s Apple was shaking. ¡°Howe it feels like we¡¯re voluntarily walking into a trap?¡±

    He shook his head and took a step back while carrying the doctor.

    After Chen Ge saw everyone in the groupe closer, he voiced his opinion. ¡°No one knows what is inside this secret tunnel. Half of us should stay out to watch over the surrounding while the other half will follow me to go down here. That is the safest solution.¡±

    ¡°The people who stay outside mustn¡¯t be too weak. They must at least be able to give out a warning when they are attacked, so I suggest Scissors and the police stay behind.¡± Chen Ge had his own consideration. Of everyone there, he trusted Scissors the most. ¡°One is a crazed serial killer and the other is a police officer armed with a gun. With them watching the exit, there shouldn¡¯t be too much of a problem.¡±

    ¡°Can I please stay outside as well?¡± The drunkard raised his arm high. ¡°I am carrying the doctor, so I won¡¯t be able to run fast. If I follow you, one death might lead to two bodies.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure that is the correct way to describe your situation?¡± The tattooed man pursed his lips. Actually, he did not want to go down this path either, but he could note up with a suitable excuse.

    ¡°Alright, the two of you can stay, but the rest of you have to follow me.¡± Chen Ge then turned to look at the smiling man. Actually, this man was probably the strongest aside from Chen Ge, but to leave the safeguard of the only exit to a stranger, Chen Ge was too cautious to do something like that. Out of Chen Ge¡¯s expectations, the smiling man did not say anything. He walked to the door and appeared as honest as they came.

    ¡°What happened to this man? Howe he is so different from the man who was on the bus?¡± Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision to study the man closely. With that, he noticed how awkward and frozen the expression on the man¡¯s face was. There were droplets of blood red sweat sliding down the man¡¯s sideburns. He seemed to have run into a monster that was beyond his expectations in Li Wan City, so he desperately wanted to leave this ce.

    Chen Ge did not ask for details. He and the smiling man had some sort of a mutually beneficial rtionship. They were working together because they happened to have the same goal. However, if there was a split in their thoughts, they would not hesitate to sell the other person out.

    ¡°This is the criminal that I was tasked to apprehend, so I have to watch over him constantly. Therefore, I apologize, but he cannot follow you to go down this ce.¡± Lee Zheng pressed firmly on Jia Ming¡¯s shoulders and his tone was very unshakeable.

    ¡°You can find dangerous criminals everywhere in this ce, but a police officer working for justice cannot be rarer here.¡± The high-schooler revealed a mysterious smile, and the expression on his face made others ufortable.

    ¡°No problem.¡± Chen Ge wanted to separate Jia Ming and Lee Zheng and then use his own method to discern whether Jia Ming was the shadow or not, but since Lee Zheng had showed such firmness in his attitude, Chen Ge did not push. After all, Lee Zheng was only acting within his epted personality. If he handed Jia Ming over without hesitation, then Chen Ge would have been suspicious.

    ¡°Help us stay guard over the entrance. We¡¯ll be back in a minute.¡± The tunnel behind the cupboard was incredibly narrow, and only one person could squeeze through at a time. Naturally, Chen Ge was leading the group. He summoned Xu Yin, held the red high heels, and nudged forward one step after another. After moving about five meters, Chen Ge felt like he was no longer enveloped inside the blood fog but instead had fallen into a bloodke, and every single step was harder to makepared to the one before it.

    <i>What kind of trap will the shadow set? Copsing the entire building to bury us alive? Or detonate the door that has gone out of control and kill all of us in the process?</i>

    Many different scenarios appeared in his mind, but before Chen Ge could figure out an answer, the door that had been pushed open by Xiao Bu at Li Wan City appeared before his eyes.

    The door of the iron cage that was used to detain Xiao Bu¡¯s mother had been distorted out of shape. Thick vines of blood vessels crawled onto the door like they had a mind of their own. Compared to a normal door, there were several details that were unique to this door.

    First, the door that was swimming with blood vessels was filled with cracks like it could crumble at any moment. Secondly, the four edges of the door were conspicuously ruined, and arge piece that was supposed to sit in the middle of the door was hollowed out. If the door waspared to a human being, it felt like a person¡¯s head and four limbs had been removed.

    ¡°Look at the bottom of the door.¡± Chen Ge discovered the biggest difference with this ¡®door¡¯¡ªthere were endless ck-reddish fingers reaching out from underneath the door to pull at the wooden frame, preventing it from closing fully.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen many doors, but this is the first time that I¡¯ve encountered something like this.¡± The fingers had bumps and hollows like they were victims of boils and pox. In any case, they looked really scary.

    ¡°These fingers should belong to the lingering spirits of the hospital patients. When the epidemic swept Li Wan City, the death count that came from this ce was undocumented, but it had shrouded the small town was with a suffocating air of resentment.¡± The tattooed man wiped at the cold sweat around his forehead. He made sure to stay as far away as he could from the fingers. ¡°The shadow probably chose this particr door in Li Wan City because he wanted to make use of this pool of negative emotions.¡±

    Endless blood fog rolled out from behind the gap in the door. The fog was so thick with negative emotions that even Chen Ge who had nerves of steel would suffer from hallucinations when he went too close to the door, much less everyone else.

    ¡°We¡¯ve found the door, but I don¡¯t think this is the exit.¡± Chen Ge looked through the gap of iron cage; it was a total sheet of redness on the other side of the door. ¡°How about we try to smash these fingers into the pieces? Will that release their power over the door?¡±

    ¡°We should ignore those fingers; they are merely a vessel for the pain and negative emotions. They do not affect us in any way.¡± This was the first time that the smiling man had spoken in a normal tone. ¡°The biggest issue here is that this is an iplete door. So, if we wish to escape through this door, we need to fix the missing parts of the door.¡±

    ¡°Li Wan City is too big for a treasure hunt like that.¡± The tattooed man had already given up. ¡°No wonder there is no one left behind to guard over this ce¡ªthere is no need for that at all. The shadow has already nned everything¡ªhe is steps ahead of us.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so quick to give up.¡± Chen Ge studied the seriously-damaged door and suddenly turned to address the tattooed man. ¡°You mentioned earlier that most of the outsiders came through the ghost apartment to enter this ce?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but the ghost apartment is just a smokescreen.¡± The tattooed man was hit by the powerlessness he felt before the shadow. His years of investigation had amounted to nothing.

    ¡°No, the shadow will not do something that pointless. There has to be a purpose for him building that ghost apartment.¡± Chen Ge walked to stand before the door. ¡°The ghost apartment is situated at Ming Yang Residence. I once followed the police to Ming Yang Residence on one of their investigations, and we discovered the cut up remains of a girl at the ce. There were four limbs and a head. Her dismembered body parts were hidden in the four buildings at Ming Yang Residence, and her head was buried right at the center of the residential area.¡±

    ¡°What are you trying to say?¡± The tattooed man still had not caught up to Chen Ge¡¯s intention.

    ¡°The girl who was killed was the person who pushed open this door. Her remains were dismembered and hidden in Ming Yang Residence, which is the location for the ghost apartment. And the most important thing is...¡± Chen Ge pointed at the blood door that had gone out of control. ¡°Doesn¡¯t this door look like a person who has lost their head and four limbs?¡±

    That knocked the sense into the tattooed man, and he was the first to borate. ¡°For the door-pusher, the door is the vessel of their spirit or their body! I think I get it now; you¡¯re saying that the parts that are missing from the door have been hidden by the shadow at Ming Yang Residence! The girl¡¯s remains correspond to the broken door!¡±

    ¡°It was not the shadow who pushed open the door at Li Wan City, but somehow, it was taken over by the shadow. To fulfil his own goal, he purposely made this door go out of control. If that is the case, then where is the original door-pusher? Has she chosen to surrender, or was she brought under the shadow¡¯s control via certain means?¡± Chen Ge was not making a startling discovery, but most people would not have time to slow down and figure out these things under such extreme circumstances.

    ¡°Looks like locating the door is merely the beginning. I¡¯ve underestimated the whole situation.¡± The tattooed man had a bitter expression on his face. ¡°So, are you going to the ghost apartment now? Over the few years, there have been people who tried to go there, but none of them ever returned.¡±

    ¡°We need to find the missing parts of the door if we ever want to leave this ce.¡± Chen Ge waved for them to move; it was time for them to leave. ¡°This tunnel is too narrow. If the shadow has set up any traps here, we¡¯ll have nowhere else to run. After we find the missing parts, I¡¯ll have to open up this tunnel further.¡±

    ¡°The door that has lost control is the source of the blood fog covering Li Wan City. Actually, now that you mention it, I¡¯m surprised we haven¡¯te into more resistance. Unless, of course, the shadow already nned to give up this ce.¡± The tattooed man had a better understanding of the shadow. He moved cautiously, but before he finished, a scream came from outside the tunnel.

    ¡°That¡¯s Jia Ming!¡± Hearing the scream, the people in the tunnel moved faster. When Chen Ge rushed out, he saw pairs of red hands grabbing Scissors and dragging him upstairs. When Chen Ge started to chase after them, Scissors had already disappeared down the corridor.

    The surroundings were eerily quiet like what he had seen earlier was merely a part of his imagination. Lee Zheng, Jia Ming, Scissors, and the drunkard... everyone who had waited outside earlier had disappeared. It had only taken several minutes for the whole thing to ur.

    ¡°You sure know how to jinx things.¡± Chen Ge nced at the tattooed man. Thetter did not expect something like this to happen either.

    ¡°Then what should we do now? Go to the ghost apartment or go find them first?¡±

    ¡°We have to go rescue them.¡± Saving innocent victims would bring Chen Ge additional rewards, and he had confirmed that all the innocent victims had been captured¡ªthose who remained with him were monsters and murderers. Chen Ge gripped the hammer and ran in the direction that Scissors had disappeared earlier. The high-schooler and tattooed man followed closely behind him, but the smiling man stood where he was, unmoving.

    ¡°Are you all so desperate to die?¡± A chilling voice came out of the mouth stered with a smile. The smiling man looked at Chen Ge. ¡°This door is the source of the blood fog, andying any trap here will cause unpredictable influence to the door. This is against the shadow¡¯s purpose. So, he is more likely to use our discovery of the door to make us put our guard down and slowly lure us into the real lethal trap.¡±

    ¡°I have an opinion that is different from yours. The shadow is very good at psychological battles¡ªhe has given us endless hints to undermine our truce to achieve his own goal. For this kind of tactic, the more people we have on our side, the easier it will be for him to sow discord. There is no need for him to harm those people. If anything, I feel like he has started to panic because things have gotten out of his control. That is the only reason he would choose to intervene in such an obvious manner.¡±

    The few had already disappeared down the corridor. Chen Ge, who was dragging the hammer, did not appear to be too much of a hurry. He checked one room after another. Since there was still space in his backpack andic, he was going to take away anything that he thought might be useful.

    ¡°But neither of us has done anything, right? Is it because you have predicted the location of the door¡¯s missing pieces and that unsettled the shadow?¡± In the tattooed man¡¯s heart, the shadow was akin to Li Wan City¡¯s god, and God would not make mistake or even panic.

    ¡°That should only be part of the reason. If I¡¯m not mistaken, it might be because there are some other visitors who arrived at Li Wan City today, and the shadow had to exhaust part of his time to deal with said intruder.¡± Chen Ge had the feeling from the very beginning that the shadow had note at him with its full strength. The shadow appeared to be busy with something else. Chen Ge had felt that feeling when he was dealing with the glutton monster at the hotel, and after he realized there were not as many dangers as he imagined at Fan Chong¡¯s ce, that suspicion only grew.

    ¡°No matter what, this is a good thing for us,¡± Chen Ge concluded. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of the shadowing for us. As long as he makes his move, his secret will be exposed. I¡¯ll be more afraid if he keeps himself hidden. The deeper he hides, the more unsettled I¡¯ll be.¡±

    Mingling with the few real murderers, Chen Ge did not feel out of ce. In fact, he did not notice that he had be the center of the group. Heading upstairs, Chen Ge noticed that there were many gray human-shaped stains left on the walls. Their bodies were contorted in different postures, but all of them spoke of pain.

    ¡°This ce was once the housing apartment for Li Wan City¡¯s hospital staff, and it was built before the advent of the epidemic. However, could this ce have once housed the patients of the hospital as well?¡± Chen Ge did not touch the stains. He suspected that the shadow¡¯s trump card was somehow rted to these patients of the disease.

 Chapter 663 - When a Ghost Story Encounters Another Ghost Story

    <h4>Chapter 663: When a Ghost Story Encounters Another Ghost Story</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Eastern Jiujiang was so big, but the shadow had chosen Li Wan City¡ªthere had to be a reason for that. The human-shaped stains on the way had no pattern that he could discern, and Chen Ge had no idea why these imprints had been left on the wall. It felt like the patients had used this strange method to record the pain that they had been through.

    ¡°Are these lingering spirits?¡± Chen Ge stood next to the stain and used the red high heels to touch one. The heels, which had remained rtively passive, suddenly leaked out a ckish-red blood. It felt like someone who cried tears of blood after being humiliated. Seeing the response from the red high heels, Chen Ge immediately pulled them back. ¡°The stains on the wall are more than they seem. Even the red high heels refuses to get close to them, so these must be more than normal lingering spirits.¡±

    Chen Ge looked through all the room, but he still could not find the rest of his group. ¡°The apartment is only so big, where can they be hiding? Or have they been pulled into the wall and made into these stains?¡±

    The small group reached the top floor where the stains on the wall became more numerous, and their color darkened as well. It felt like they were going to escape from the wall anytime soon.

    ¡°The bodies of all the stains were heavily contorted. Just what kind of pain must they have been in before they perished?¡± Li Wan City¡¯s history had been forgotten. Even on the inte, there was not much information on the small town. In fact, it felt like someone had purposely removed them from the record.

    ¡°If they¡¯re not inside the building, then they have to have been sent out through some hidden channel.¡± The tattooed man was feeling unsettled. ¡°We should leave this ce first. As long as our lives are intact, there are options open to us. If something happens to us as well, then no one will be able to save them.¡±

    ¡°When one of the passengers was dragged away, I noticed that the hands grabbing him were simr to the stains on these walls, contorted and pockmarked.¡±

    ¡°What are you trying to say?¡± The tattooed man could not figure out Chen Ge¡¯s train of thought.

    ¡°You¡¯ve lived here for so long, but haven¡¯t you seen these stains before?¡± Chen Ge tossed the question back.

    ¡°No! To be honest, I¡¯ve only been here once before, but when I came, these stains weren¡¯t inside the building.¡±

    ¡°Meaning they have just appeared here.¡± Chen Ge could not afford to lower his guard. He knew that these human stains that even the red high heels refused to approach were one of the shadow¡¯s trump cards. Before Chen Ge showed his, the shadow had already been forced to reveal one of his.

    ¡°Something must have happened in Li Wan City, or else the shadow wouldn¡¯t have done this.¡± Chen Ge ignored the stains on the wall and opened the door that led to the roof. He walked through it.

    The wind howled and carried the feeling of suffocation away with it. Chen Ge looked at the sky behind the blood fog and slowly moved his gaze around. The blood fog at Li Wan City seemed to have been attracted by something, and it moved like a wave toward the eastern side of Li Wan City. It felt like it was forming a wall to stop something from entering.

    ¡°The fog has conspicuously thinned.¡± This was the second time that Chen Ge had gained a bird¡¯s eye view of Li Wan City. Compared tost time, his sight was better because with the aid of Yin Yang Vision, he could look further.

    ¡°Do you have other helpers?¡± It was the smiling man who spoke. The situation had cleared. Like Chen Ge mentioned earlier, a third party had arrived at Li Wan City, and this party had managed to attract most of the shadow¡¯s attention. Chen Ge¡¯s prediction caused the smiling man to be alert. He was afraid that this new force was rted to Chen Ge, and in that case, it would shatter the already fragile scale of bnce between them.

    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be my helper, and if I¡¯m not mistaken, this new party is also my nemesis. His desire to kill me shouldn¡¯t be lower than the shadow.¡± Chen Ge very honestly voiced out his opinion.

    ¡°You sure have plenty of enemies. Even at a time like this, you¡¯d be pursued by an enemy. I don¡¯t even know whether I should say you¡¯re lucky or unlucky.¡± The smiling man continued to smile. Chen Ge was able to attract the ire of so many scary characters, which showed that this man was not a simple character.

    ¡°That¡¯s merely my spection...¡± Chen Ge wanted to continue when a loud boom came from the eastern side of Li Wan City. Even though they were far away from the point of impact, Chen Ge¡¯s group could feel the building that they were standing on shake slightly.

    ¡°Just what kind of battle is this?¡± The tattooed man reminded Chen Ge. ¡°The shadow is now being distracted by your nemesis; this is the perfect time for us to go look for the door¡¯s missing pieces. When we have them, we can leave at any moment; that should be the objective that we focus on.¡±

    The blood fog rushed toward the eastern side of Li Wan City to enshroud the entire part of the small town. Even with Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could not peer through the fog. He could only tell that there was something attracting him inside the blood fog. Standing at the edge of the building, narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge saw chainsshing inside the fog. The thing that gave Chen Ge the sense of familiarity was inside the chains and fog.

    ¡°He seems to know that I¡¯m here and is moving toward me.¡± Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of something and opened his backpack. With the smiling man and the tattooed man watching, Chen Ge pulled out a patient¡¯s list, a love letter, a bunch of documents, and finally a flyer mentioning the ghost stories story.

    ¡°It is because of this!¡±

    The original flyer had a dark red color scheme, and a half open blood red door was printed on it. However, that door that represented horror and despair was now not only pushed open, there was an arm twisted in chains stretching out from the gap.

    The arm reached out of the door, gripping the door like it was trying to shove the door fully open!

    ¡°Why has this changed? Is it a sign that he¡¯s returning?¡± Chen Ge had just produced the flyer, and his brain was still turning to figure out a solution, when the arm on the flyer reached out from the two-dimension without warning!

    Bang!

    Chen Ge was knocked back by a mysterious force. When he recovered, he saw that the arm was gripping Xu Yin¡¯s arm. Without much hesitation, Xu Yin dissolved his entire arm, surrendering it easily, and used his remaining arm to fold the flyer up.

    The scent of blood caressed Chen Ge¡¯s nostril. Blood vessels crawled out from Xu Yin¡¯s body to manufacture a new arm. Yet, to his surprise, on this new arm, there was a red handprint around Xu Yin¡¯s wrist.

    Xu Yin nced at the handprint on his wrist, showing zero concern for it, before disappearing. A static appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s ears, a sign that the recorder was working fine. It seemed like Xu Yin was using this method to inform Chen Ge that he was fine.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t even stay for one moment longer. Is it because you have no idea how to ept my appreciation?¡± After Xu Yin put the flyer away, another few loud echoes came from the eastern side of town. It was clear that the fog was being pushed back, and the monster was slowly moving toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°A trap has been made in the flyer, and the door at my Haunted House has been marked. Looks like Doctor Gao did many things before he died¡ªthis old fox, just what was in his mind?¡±

    Chen Ge confirmed that it was Doctor Gao who was in the battle with the shadow at the eastern side of Li Wan City. After all, the ghost stories society¡¯s remaining members were Chen Ge and Doctor Gao. Chen Ge would not set the trap himself, so the only person who would do that was Doctor Gao.

    When Chen Ge was contemting, the blood fog was again forced back. The old and new chairpersons of the ghost stories society crossed paths at Li Wan City, and the first unlucky casualty was the shadow who was pressed in the middle.

 Chapter 664 - The Scariest Ghost Story in This City

    <h4>Chapter 664: The Scariest Ghost Story in This City</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°They¡¯reing!¡± Just the mere sight of the thick rolling waves of blood fog and a glimpse of the ck chains inside it caused the tattooed man¡¯s legs to go weak. He looked at Chen Ge who stood at the edge of the building alone, and he wished to ask if the man was born without a sense of fear.

    ¡°I have a n that might greatly improve our chance of escape.¡± Chen Ge was very calm. ¡°Both the shadow and the party who just arrived at the scene want to kill me, but the shadow temporarily does not know that I am actually the neer¡¯s target. He is putting up this resistance to ensure that his own n is not ruined. If he finds out the truth, he will be more than willing to help the neere kill me.

    ¡°So, currently, the situation is good for us, and the longer this drags on, the better it¡¯ll be for us.¡± Chen Ge paused and called for the others to join him. ¡°I have something on me that attracts the neer. So, in a bit, I will lead him and the shadow away, while leading a trail of destruction through Li Wan City. While that is happening, you should make use of the opportunity to go explore Ming Yang Residence and find the missing parts of the door.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± The tattooed man agreed, but after giving it some thought, he noticed the n¡¯s w, so he quickly added, ¡°But what about you? Being chased by these things, if you¡¯re not careful, it¡¯s over!¡±

    He was not worried about Chen Ge per se, he merely thought that if Chen Ge¡¯s n was to distract these two scary monsters, with his current power, he would not be able to buy them much time.

    ¡°This is the best solution for now.¡± Chen Ge took out a flip-phone that had gone obsolete on the market to summon Tong Tong, the phone spirit. ¡°Try and see if you can send me a message while we¡¯re inside this ce.¡±

    Tong Tong gave it a try, and Chen Ge¡¯s phone vibrated. A simple message appeared. ¡°I can, but it will tire me greatly.¡±

    Chen Ge nodded. He then summoned Men Nan and Ol¡¯ Zhou. ¡°I need you to watch over Tong Tong and follow them to go look for the pieces of the broken door.¡±

    Men Nan was a Red Specter, and Ol¡¯ Zhou was experienced and cautious. Combined with Tong Tong¡¯s ability tomunicate over a long distance, this was the best and most trustworthy group that Chen Ge coulde up with.

    Men Nan did notin since he knew the gravity of the situation. He nced at the blood fog and chains far away and wiped away the cold sweat that did not appear on his forehead. ¡°What about you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll lure these things away to provide an opening for you.¡±

    ¡°My friend, the thing that the neer ising for is that piece of paper, right? I saw a Specter take that paper away. You could have ordered him to distract the shadow while you follow us to find the exit.¡±

    Chen Ge was surprised that the smiling man would call him a friend. After all, Chen Ge had done many things including tossing the red high heels at him to antagonize himself against the man before. ¡°I can¡¯t do that. Just follow my instructions.¡±

    ¡°I believe the Specter would willingly take the paper away and did not return it to you because that was the n in his mind as well. This is his choice.¡± For the smiling man, Chen Ge would not be someone who was god awful since he was well-beloved by Specters¡ªthat was the reason his attitude toward Chen Ge had improved.

    ¡°He is like family to me. Would you send your family into danger for the sake of your own survival?¡± Chen Ge had a severe expression on his face. When he said that, the scent of blood around him thickened, and the sound of static appeared. Some blood appeared around Xu Yin¡¯s empty heart, but he soon returned to normal.

    ¡°No matter what, I would not let him suffer the pain alone anymore. He has made his choice, but I have my principles to follow.¡± Actually, Chen Ge had long discovered the problem with Xu Yin. For every battle, Xu Yin held nothing back¡ªit felt like the man was actively seeking death. There was nothing worth preserving in his life, and Xu Yin had no idea why his spirit had lingered in the world.

    He had no idea what he desired. He had nopulsion to destroy and nothing to protect. So, why did he choose to protect Chen Ge? He could not answer that either. Perhaps because he treated Chen Ge as the only person that he could trust, or maybe he was merely finding a reason to justify his death-seeking tendency.

    Death was a serious matter. Chen Ge understood that, which only made him want to help Xu Yin even more.

    It was not a coincidence that Chen Ge was called the Specter¡¯s Favored. He had something about him that could not be found in others. He could understand the truth of the pain that other people were feeling and use his own actual actions to help alleviate that pain, to give them a second chance at life after death.

    ¡°I will join him in luring the monsters away. Li Wan City is only big¡ªI hope you¡¯ll move as fast as you can and find all the missing pieces before the enemies catch up to me.¡± Chen Ge took out the hammer. ¡°Leave now. I will run in the opposite direction from the one you take.¡±

    If not for the fact that they had spent more than enough time together, Men Nan would have thought that this man before him was filled with justice, a good boss who was selfless and upright.

    ¡°Be careful. I¡¯m still waiting for you to send me back so that I can fix the broken window.¡± The boy worked his short legs and left the building with the rest of his group.

    Soon, Chen Ge was left alone on the roof. He leaned against the rails, and fire burned at the bottom of his eyes. ¡°Doctor Gao who refuses to be a human and the shadow who wishes to be reborn as a human, the desires of these two arepletely opposing. Either way, this should be fun. I wonder, in this city that is filled with terror and despair, who will be the scarier ghost story?¡±

    The blood red moon shone its light on the road, and Chen Ge¡¯s shadow spread like a pool of blood. The blood fog was roughly pushed back, and an extremely chilling aura, full of terror and madness, slowly surfaced but soon dispersed.

    Chen Ge looked at the blood fog, and the chains and his real expression slowly appeared. The corner of his lips curled upward. He dragged the hammer and ran downstairs.

    ¡°Doctor Gao is the thing that is closest to the existence above Red Specter of all the monsters that I¡¯ve encountered. Even though the ghost fetus is rted to a four-star scenario, the shadow here is merely a small part of the ghost fetus¡¯ true power. So, even with the local advantage, he is probably no match for Doctor Gao.¡± Chen Ge ran out of the building and circled around Li Wan City as the blood fog around him slowly thinned.

    ¡°I need to be cautious of Doctor Gao. The biggest issue is I have no idea where he stands, and his true purpose eludes me even more. However, everything that he has seems to circle around my Haunted House.¡± Chen Ge raced down the streets, and strange noises came from behind him. Doctor Gao had probably sensed that he was moving and so picked up his own speed as a countermeasure.

    The thinning of the blood fog made the echoes that came from behind him even clearer. The shadows in the nearby red building shuddered and swayed. The ghosts and murderers who were trapped there were astute enough to notice that something was wrong and all came out from their hiding ce.

    ¡°It¡¯s getting more and more exciting. Murderers, Specters, and ghost stories that you¡¯d never imagine. This sure is a party meant for the darkness.¡±

    Slipping down the streets, the smile on Chen Ge¡¯s face grew brighter.

 Chapter 665 - The Shadowâ€™s Trump Card [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 665: The Shadow¡¯s Trump Card [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The fog thinned, and the blood moon hanging in the sky became clearer. The blood moon showered its crimson glow on the small town, casting strange and ugly shadows on the ground.

    Bang!

    A window close to Chen Ge was pushed open roughly from inside, and a strange man with his headpletely wrapped up in gauze poked his head out. He had been eyeing Chen Ge for a long time, and he had been waiting for this moment to attack. He had no actual purpose to assault Chen Ge. He probably thought that the young man was blocking the view or that killing Chen Ge could bring him temporarily joy and relief.

    Such was the logic of a murderous monster. The way that their brain was wired was different from a normal person¡ªthey never cared about others and never had any concern about the consequences of their actions. There was often no nning to their decision, and they were easily provoked and angered since they came with an almost natural sense of aggression.

    Blood seeped through the gauze. Chen Ge had no idea what the man looked like underneath the bandage, but he could not have cared less. When the strange man extended his wiry, muscr arms toward Chen Ge, wishing to drag thetter into the room, Chen Ge took a small step sideways and raised his hammer in return.

    Even in Li Wan City, this type of murder weapon was extremely rare. The shadow pushed those murderers into a corral of sorts to cultivate negative emotions, not to create some kind of coliseum, so the weapons used by these mad people tomit murders were often everyday objects.

    The shoulder of the strange man caved inward, and the gauze on his face slipped down slightly to reveal two eyes that were filled with confusion. He had no idea from where Chen Ge produced such arge iron hammer. Indignation at his opponent cheating but him being able to do nothing about it arose in the man¡¯s heart.

    The man leaned backward and retreated into his hiding ce. Normally, when a person was on the run for their life, they would not be distracted by unimportantckeys, but Chen Ge was obviously an exception.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care whether you are a man or a ghost, but since you wanted to kill, you have to be prepared to be taken away by me. That is only fair.¡± He jumped through the window into the house and continued the chase with the hammer raised. ¡°Since you nned to kill me, you¡¯re definitely not an innocent party. Saving you will not get me more rewards from the ck phone. If anything, it¡¯ll only cause more chaos in society, so I shall make use of this opportunity to deal with you.¡±

    The previously quiet house was in an uproar once Chen Ge jumped into it. The normal wooden door was something that could be solved with a hammer for Chen Ge¡ªeven when he was stopped by a security door, the man brought it down with less than five swings.

    The strange man had not seen this kind of reaction before. Chen Ge was already on his tail before he even got the chance to escape from the house. Jumping through the window on the left and crashing through the window on the right, the whole process took less than half a minute.

    Holding the rough gauze that he yanked off the man¡¯s face, Chen Ge studied it for a while before tossing it into his backpack. ¡°Guess, I¡¯ll keep this as souvenir.¡±

    In Xiao Bu¡¯s game, the streets would be very dangerous after dark, and it was not so different from what Chen Ge was experiencing now. However, the biggest difference was, in game, the main character was the weak and powerless Xiao Bu, but the person who walked down the street in real life was the new chairperson of the ghost stories society.

    ¡°The biggest issue at the moment is that I still have no idea what Doctor Gao¡¯s goal is, so for now, I can only hope that they¡¯ll continue to fight one another, exhausting themselves.¡± There was no observable pattern to the route that Chen Ge took. If someone or some ghosts attracted his ire, he would instantly change his route to chase after the offender, cutting his way through the small town.

    Most of the buildings in Li Wan City were hiding baleful Specters and murderous killers. For a normal person, just the sound of that was scary enough, but for Chen Ge, it felt more like some kind of a lucky draw. Before he charged into the building, he would be overwhelmed by some kind of anticipation. He could not exin why¡ªperhaps it was because he had a great sense of curiosity.

    ¡°I feel like some kind of street cleaner. If only the door in Li Wan City had not gone out of control, then I¡¯d have been able toe back to clean up this ce at constant intervals.¡± The blood moon shone, and the blood fog wavered. Chen Ge raced down the street under the scrutiny of countless evil eyes.

    ¡°The human-shaped shadows are still hanging around the junctions. The man with the tattoos once said that these shadowse from the shadow¡¯s physical body. Therefore, there might be some kind of connection between these souls and the shadow.¡± Chen Ge understood that he had been given such a clear go at the monsters in Li Wan City only because the shadow was too busy dealing with Doctor Gao and could not distract himself to care about Chen Ge. If they found out that they were both pursuing Chen Ge, then the situation would drastically change.

    ¡°If I y this right, I should be able to drag this out further.¡± Chen Ge grabbed Doctor Skull-Cracker¡¯s hammer and aimed it at a window. As long as he caught sight of human shadows in the building, he would cut through the building. With the hammer, wherever Chen Ge decided to travel, there would be a path. In other words, the man was cutting his own way through Li Wan City.

    In a way, the blood fog was representative of the shadow¡¯s presence. Now that the blood fog had thinned and there were strange echoes travelling through it, many trapped Specters and murderers realized that their chance had arrived. Initially, the strange noises only came from behind Chen Ge, but slowly, the whole of Li Wan City was filled with terror and screams.

    The town was thrown into chaos. Li Wan City, which the shadow had managed for a long time, plunged into madness. The craziness that had been forcibly reigned in finally had a chance to explode as the maddened individuals crawled out from their hiding ces.

    Whether it was to escape or to release the darkness in their own heart, these human beings and Specters that represented the darker reaches of the human heart started to move. If the shadow had not been bogged down by Doctor Gao, he could have killed a few Specters to warn the rest and forcibly press them back into submission. However, he was unable to allow himself to be distracted, and the more he allowed this to happen, the more chaotic the situation became. The fear that the shadow instilled in their heart slowly dissipated as they gradually became consumed by negative emotions.

    Wails andughter echoed around the small town. The sound of fighting came from everywhere. The blood fog continued to thin, but the smell of blood only thickened.

    ¡°This is pure madness. It¡¯s quite unsettling.¡± Chen Ge leaped over an unconscious murderer. At the same time, Xu Yin rolled up the lingering spirit that blocked their way into a ball. They split up their responsibility clearly¡ªChen Ge dealt with the living humans while Xu Yin faced off against the lingering spirits and baleful Specters.

    In just a few minutes, many strange items were thrown into Chen Ge¡¯s backpack. For example, there was a detached showerhead that had been yanked out from a bathroom. It was possessed by a man¡¯s lingering spirit; he had a habit of leaning on the showerhead to sneak nces at other people when they were taking shower. His fighting ability was lower than zero, but the man looked scary. Chen Ge had a feeling that he had the potential to be a great employee, so he had decided to bring the man home.

    Other than that, there were many other things, like a shlight that would turn on by itself, the spirit hiding underneath the water ss, the female ghost that preferred to hide under the table, and so on.

    Those easily portable, Chen Ge would collect as they were. Those less easy to handle like the female ghost who hid under the table, Chen Ge smashed the table into pieces and had the ghost possess a piece of the broken wood. He promised the woman that he would build her a new table in the future.

    The reward from this mission was far greater than Chen Ge had anticipated. Opening the ck phone, the page for the employee had a few new messages.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored! You have just obtained a special-type lingering spirit¡ªLee Gui (Lingering spirit). Lascivious activities can lead to bitter consequences. He was electrocuted when he was trying to install a webcam inside the bathroom above the shower. His special power is Bad Karma, and it is able to influence the luck of himself and the people around him. Will you like to hire him as your employee?

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored! You have just obtained a special-type lingering spirit¡ªHe Beibei (Lingering Spirit). Killed in an ident by the water ss that fell down from the sky when she was walking through the residential area, she was very unsatisfied with her death. Until she finds her actual murderer, she can only hide underneath the water ss. When other people drink from the ss, she¡¯ll be able to observe the person from underneath the ss. Special power, photoscope. Will you like to hire her as your employee?

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored! You have just obtained a special-type baleful Specter¡ªWang Mei (Baleful Specter). She suffers from a psychological problem where she prefers ustrophobic spaces overrge, open areas. The smaller the space, the more secure she will feel. The cause of her death is a mystery. The police found her body inside a wooden box under a table, no one knew how she got in there, and they could not find a single fingerprint for a second person at the crime scene. Her special power is contortion. Will you like to hire her as your employee?

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored! You have just obtained a special-type Red Specter¡ª??? (Red Specter)! Heavily injured and on the verge of disappearing. Real name unknown, power unknown, history unknown. Before youplete her quest, you are unable to hire her as your employee.¡±

    Chen Ge nced at the page and realized how big the reward was. There were at least three spirits with special powers and one headless woman who was a Red Specter.

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave the question of hiring them afterpleting this mission.¡± To ensure the quality of a team, mere focus on the number alone would not work¡ªthe more important thing was that each member should be able to hold their own. Putting the ck phone away, Chen Ge nced around him.

    Li Wan City was at the height of its madness¡ªthe shadow probably would not be able to tell where the origin of the problem was. The appearance of Doctor Gao was the factor that changed everything. As clever as the shadow might be, as careful as his nning was, he would not be able to predict that Doctor Gao would turn into a Red Specter and, more than that, show up at a time like this.

    The information decided the direction that one took whening up with a n. The shadow had traded blows with Doctor Gao before. The shadow was a master at psychological maniption, and coincidentally, Doctor Gao was the best psychologist that Jiujiang had ever seen. In the battle between the two, even though it was the shadow who secured a narrow victory, Doctor Gao must have left a deep impression on the shadow, and he was extremely cautious of this ¡®man¡¯.

    Three quarters of the blood fog in Li Wan City was gathered at a specific spot. shes of ckish-red chains cut through the fog, leaving deep gashes on the surrounding buildings.

    ¡°The shadow is guarding a four-star mission behind him, so he must have other trump cards that he hasn¡¯t used yet. I wonder how far Doctor Gao will be able to push the shadow.¡± Chen Ge paid close attention to the shadow and Doctor Gao¡¯s fight. At that moment, a loud boom echoed out from the building where Fan Chong stayed. One could see that the blood vessels covering the surface of the building had started to shrivel up and die.

    ¡°Who did this? Their target seems to be the door that has gone out of control as well.¡± Chen Ge was quite surprised. Other than himself, Doctor Gao, and the shadow, there appeared to be a fourth force. ¡°Is it the woman in the red raincoat, or have some of the murderers ganged up to form a group?¡±

    The door was the source of all the blood fog in Li Wan City, so the shadow would never allow anyone to harm the door. A strange voice rang through the chains and the fog, it felt like it was calling a name.

    ¡°The shadow is finally going to reveal his second trump card?¡± Chen Ge was on high alert. He soon noticed that something was wrong. Even since the voice rang out, human-shaped stains had started to appear on the surface of the buildings of Li Wan City. It felt like they were the real upants of these buildings.

    ¡°These look simr to the stains in Fan Chong¡¯s building. Does the shadow n to awaken all the people who have died a horrible death in Li Wan City?¡± Most of the murderers and Specters had been ferried there from other parts of the country. The human-shaped stains seemed to represent the actual locals of Li Wan City. They had died from an epidemic and been buried deep beneath the city.

    The things all seemed to be moving. Chen Ge turned to look, and he saw a human-shaped stain behind him. It showed the shape of a girl, who looked around seven or eight and on thenky side. Her hair was pulled into two ponytails.

    Initially, it was just a faded shadow, but as time moved on, the shadow started to darken until Chen Ge could see the shape of the girl rather clearly. Her body was contorted into a ball. Perhaps to lighten to the pain, her arms hugged her body tightly, so tight that her bones had started to alter.

    Creak, creak, creak...

    The eerie sound kept urring, and whenever it sounded, the stain on the wall would gain rity like it was trying to peel off the wall. The static came from the recorder, and the white cat in the travel bag kept meowing at Chen Ge. They were both warning Chen Ge to stay away from this little girl.

    ¡°Why won¡¯t Xu Yin allow me to stay near her?¡± The girl¡¯s presence was far weaker than a Red Specter. In fact, she did not feel as strong as a powerful baleful Specter, but such a stain had alerted both Xu Yin and the white cat. The color was still darkening, and perhaps it was an trick of the eye, but Chen Ge felt like he could see the girl¡¯s curled up body shudder. Then the girl lifted her head that was previously deeply buried inside her chest and slowly turned to look at Chen Ge.

    It was a faceless face. However, being stared by that emptiness, Chen Ge felt like he had been dropped in cold water, and the hair on his body all stood on end. After being visited by specters, Chen Ge¡¯s body temperature started to drop, and he had not experienced such a spine-piercingly chilly sensation in a long time already.

    ¡°This thing does not appear to be a Specter...¡± Chen Ge¡¯s own definition of a Specter was that they were a kind of lingering spirit left behind by once living humans.

    There were good and bad spirits, so there were understandably good and bad Specters. However, the human stain before his eyes did not appear to possess any emotion. Instead, it was filled with a pathological desire to destroy. Rather than saying it was a ghost, it was more like a living form of a curse. The purpose of its existence was merely to spread disaster and bad luck, to turn everything into a version of itself.

    When the stain in the wall saw Chen Ge, the girl¡¯s body slowly unfurled, and her distorted limbs started to expand outward as she walked out from the wall.

    The faceless features looked right at Chen Ge. The girl took steps forward, and she started to pick up speed before suddenly leaping forward to fly at Chen Ge!

    At the same time, endless screams echoed around Li Wan City. The shadow seemed to have started an indeterminate attack¡ªall the murderers and Specters in Li Wan City were his targets.

    ¡°I should retreat for now.¡± Chen Ge had no idea what might happen should hee into contact with the stain. He did not even order Xu Yin or Bai Qiulin to deal with it, but he evaded the girl and decided to observe the situation first before making his next move.

 Chapter 666 Stain, Elevator, Cigarette [2 in 1]

    Chapter 666 Stain, Elevator, Cigarette [2 in 1]

    There were screams and wails everywhere; this was a mass cleansing. The shadow showed a sharp cruelty when the situation demanded it. He would rather kill one thousand innocents than allow the one criminal to escape. After Chen Ge ran out of the building, he soon realized the severity of the situation. The streets, walls, and nearby buildings¡­ the human-shaped stains started to appear on every surface.

    They attacked everything within their sight. Be it living humans or dead Specters, as long as they were discovered, the stains'' attack was relentless.

    "Get lost!" The window of one of the buildings to Chen Ge''s left was cracked open. Through the security mesh, Chen Ge saw a man who was only in his pants mming a tablemp against the corner of the room as hard as he could. The room door was pushed open noiselessly, and a dangerous aura spilled into the room following the human stain. It was an old man. His back was hunched over, and his faceless features turned to the man. Then with a speed that did not match his body, he charged toward the man at the window.

    "F*ck! Don''te any closer!" The man gripped the ash tray left on the windowsill and lobbed it at the old man. However, the ss ash tray phased through the old man''s body and, it did nothing to slow him down. The fear in the bare-chested man''s eyes were overflowing. He grabbed everything that he could reach around him and tossed them at the old man, but like the ash tray, they did not hinder his approach at all.

    "I fought for this house from a few other mad men. It was a hard fight." The man had seen many strange things during his years in Li Wan City. He had experienced many things, but he had managed to survive them all. He was a mad man and had been sent to the sanatorium multiple times by his family. He had an unshakable faith in the presence of God, but unlike the other cultish disciples, he saw himself as the divine incarnate. The proof was, no matter how harshly he treated himself, he would never really die. Immortality, that was his im to divinity.

    "F*ck you, old man! You''re making an enemy of your God!" The man was unable to escape through the window because it was locked behind a security mesh. The house that normally brought him endless security normally now became the man''s iron cage. A fight was his only option. The man grabbed the toppled chair next to him and aimed it right at the human stain''s head.

    This hit should have caused massive blunt force trauma, but to the man''s despair, when the chairnded on the old man''s head, it felt like he was hitting a pool of liquid. The chair crashed through the stain. The man quickly released his grip on the chair, but by then, the old man was already standing before him.

    The man ran to the bedside, and he finally noticed Chen Ge, who was watching outside the window. He called to Chen Ge for help, but it was already toote. The human stain climbed onto his body, sticking onto his back before slowly dissolving into the man''s body.

    The man''s body turned gray at an impossible speed. His hands that gripped the mesh on the window slowly weakened. With the loss of strength, another face slowly appeared above his own, like it was superimposed over it. The new face was wrinkled, ashen, and dry.

    The two faces ovepped. The man lost his rationality from extreme pain. He started to crawl toward the corner of the mesh where a small hole was cut out. This should have been the emergency exit that he had carved for himself. One would have a hard time noticing it if one did not pay attention. Now that Chen Ge thought about it, the man probably did not wear a shirt because it might get caught on the mesh when he tried to escape.

    "Save me, save me!" Blood gashes opened on the man''s body like he was whipped. The man''s expression was beyond description. It felt as if something had crawled into the blood veins and was rupturing them from within. Grayish blood leaked out from the man''s body, which was wasting away. The pool of blood forming underneath him waspletely dark and filled with gray specks.

    Several secondster, the gray specks gathered together, and they crawled out from the man''s body.

    That scene, Chen Ge watched extremely curiously. The old man appeared to have been reborn from killing his victim, and other than the desire for destruction, Chen Ge caught a second emotion from the old man¡ªthe rush of revenge. The man''s dead body was stuck in the middle of the mesh, and the scary thing was, after the dead body dropped onto the ground, another small stain appeared on the location of his death.

    The stain was still shapeless, but Chen Ge had a feeling that if it was left to grow, after another few years, another human-shaped stain would upy the spot on the windowsill.

    "Those killed by the stains will be a stain themselves¡ªthis thing works exactly like an infectious disease." The man''s death was extremely painful, and that decreased Chen Ge''s wish to get entangled with any of them. "The shadow''s trump card sure is scary. After the ''mass cleansing'', more human-shaped stains will upy Li Wan City."

    A strange sound came from behind him, and the faceless girl was still following behind Chen Ge. At the same time, the old man inside the house also discovered Chen Ge, and he started chasing after him.

    "Everything has its weakness, but unfortunately, I don''t have the time to go searching for it." Chen Ge wished to run away from the girl and the old man, but he noticed that there were more human-shaped stains down the road.

    "This is not looking good." Chen Ge looked further down the street with his Yin Yang Vision. More and more human stains inside the buildings were waking up. Many murderers were forced out onto the streets, and generally, they were running in two directions. One was the direction where the shadow was fighting Doctor Gao. There were many human stains leading that way, but they were all forced out by the blood fog and chains.

    Chen Ge had no idea where the other direction led to. To not expose himself, he followed quietly behind the crowd, mixing into the group of maddened murderers. For those who managed to survive in Li Wan City, no matter how powerful they were, at least there was one quality that they had inmon¡ªthey all ran extremely fast. When one was chased by Specters, only those who could outrun the Specters would survive.

    Li Wan City was not exactlyrge. Chased by the group of stains, the group of people soon circled around the town. Eventually, they stopped in front of an old-fashioned apartment building. This building appeared even older than the other buildings in town. It had an elevator with copsible door that were only seen in old movies. Rarely were such elevators used in residential apartments¡ªthey were normally used for the transportation ofrge objects.

    "Get out of the way!" There was only so many people that could fit inside the elevator, and everyone wanted to get inside it. When their lives were threatened, this group of murderers revealed their true nature. There was no meaning of group effort between them¡ªthey never considered the possibility of group survival, only wanting what was best for themselves.

    The apartment was nine stories high and appeared to be the tallest building in Li Wan City. Chen Ge nced at the building with Yin Yang Vision, and he soon discovered something strange about this ce. Other buildings were covered with stains, but this building was curiously quiet. There were no stains and no Specters. In fact, it felt like the ce was deserted.

    "Howe I feel like this building houses a terror more terrifying than the human stains?"

    The murderer who was the fastest already charged into the elevator. He pressed for the elevator to close, ignoring those who were trying to get in.

    BANG!

    When the people outside realized the man nned to escape with the elevator alone, they tossed all their weapons into the elevators. As mentioned earlier, the door of the elevator was copsible, meaning that there were gaps between them. Furthermore, it moved slowly. The result was that none of them were going to leave with the elevator.

    "I think I''ll take the stairs." Chen Ge had no interest in these murderers. They did not even possess the potential of bing his employee. Instead of fighting with them, he would rather go and conduct the investigation on his own. He walked to the staircase, and before he even walked in, Chen Ge froze like he was electrocuted when he lifted his head upward. Right next to this building''s only staircase was a poster for New Century Park!

    The poster was yellowed, and arge part was missing, but Chen Ge managed to tell what it was from the first nce because right in the center of the poster was his Haunted House!

    Many years ago, when the theme park first started, Chen Ge''s Haunted House had been the main attraction. At the time, it had been an age when information could not be spread so quickly. The theme park had thus pasted the flyer and ads all over Jiujiang, and the visitors who came to theme park would be given a delicately designed theme park poster. If they enjoyed their experience there, they would help promote the theme park.

    If that was all, Chen Ge might not have been so shocked¡ªhe would only have been surprised¡ªbut he was reminded of something else. On the way there, he had once received the phone call from Fan Chong. On the phone, Fan Chong had said clearly that he had finished Xiao Bu''s game, and thest scene of the game was Xiao Bu entering a building. On the wall of the building was a poster for New Century Park!

    "I''ve found it!" While Chen Ge was wandering around Li Wan City earlier, he had been searching for this ce. It had eluded him until now. "Xiao Bu is probably here, and so is the clue left behind by my parents!"

    At the underground morgue, after Chen Ge fought with Doctor Gao, Doctor Gao had used thest trace of sanity that he had left to show Chen Ge a picture. Inside the picture, Chen Ge''s parents were standing with a girl in red dress¡ªthe girl had been none other than Xiao Bu, so Chen Ge could confirm that Xiao Bu knew something about his parents because there had been some interaction between them in the past!

    The more missions that he unlocked, the more he realized that the mystery behind his parent''s disappearance was deeper than he had initially thought. The scale of that mystery kept growing, and it was far beyond his imagination. Whenever he thought that he was getting close to the truth, a deeper darkness would be exposed.

    He reached out to touch the edge of the poster. Chen Ge looked at the corridor that led to the staircase. He summoned all of his employees and walked up it.

    "It''s sealed?" Chen Ge had no idea whether this was the shadow''s doing or the building itself had been sealed a long time ago. The corridor was blocked off by a wall of bricks, leaving not even a gap.

    BANG!

    Chen Ge tried to hit the wall with the hammer. He realized that the wall was incredibly thick, and it would take him a long time before he could even get a crack on the wall.

    "Looks like the elevator is the only way." Xiao Bu might have been hiding inside the building. This was pertinent to the ultimate secret in Li Wan City and the truth behind his parent''s disappearance. Chen Ge switched up his usual kind demeanor. He grabbed the hammer and raced toward the elevator with Xu Yin in tow. "If any one of you dare to close the door, I''ll snap the rope that carries the elevator!"

    Chen Ge yelled when he was ten meters away. His tone was t and calm; he did not sound particrly pushy, but all of the murderers started to quiet down.

    The building itself did not have any human stains, and the human stains outside started to slow down whenever they neared the building. However, they merely slowed down; they did not stop. This building seemed to be the second sacred location for the shadow. When he discovered that someone had entered this building, he issued that strange voice again like he was summoning people''s names.

    Hearing his voice, the human stains picked up their speed and rushed at the building.

    "If the shadow knows that Xiao Bu is hiding here, why didn''t he juste after her? This is his territory." The few murderers were squeezed inside the elevator. Before Chen Ge arrived, they started to kill each other due to the overweight issue. No one was willing to voluntarily exit the elevator, so they had to toss the dead bodies out.

    After Chen Ge entered the elevator, it finally moved. With a shudder, it started to move downward.

    "Why is it moving down?" The murderer who stood next to the control panel gasped in shock. "I was sure I press for the top floor!"

    "Don''t panic. Perhaps there were people downstairs who wished to get up." It was cramped inside the elevator, but even so, there was a respectable space around Chen Ge.

    This building had two basement levels, both rented cers, mostly rented out to foreigners who could not afford the other rooms. A few years ago, the Jiujiang government had nned to focus its development around Eastern Jiujiang. Everyone had been full of hope for this project. They had built factories and skyscrapers, and that had attracted foreigners like Jia Ming who went there looking for work. Of course, no one would have expected Eastern Jiujiang to end up like this several yearster.

    The elevator moved very slowly, and strangely enough, when this elevator passed first floor basement, it stopped. The elevator opened to an empty space. The man who stood next to the control panel quickly pressed on the button that should lead them upstairs. Momentster, the doors closed, but the elevator still did not move upward, instead continuing to move down. Shortly after, it opened its door at the second-floor basement.

    "What''s going on?" The man pressed the buttons a few more times, but the elevator doors refused to close. He tried for a long time before gasping in shock. "Why is it showing that we''re over the weight limit?"

    The screens on these types of old-fashioned elevators were on the control panel. They were very small, and one would not notice the words there unless one paid close attention.

    "No one has left or entered the elevator. Why would we suddenly go over the weight limit? Did something enter the elevator earlier?" Everyone in the elevator had lived for some time in Li Wan City, so they knew about the various situations that they might encounter there.

    The problem ced before their eyes was whether to stay inside the elevator or leave. If they stayed inside the elevator, they would makepany with ghosts, but if they alighted from the elevator, there might be more ghosts waiting for them outside.

    "Perhaps something is wrong with the elevator. Is anyone willing to go out to see if it''s working?" someone suggested, but that quickly devolved into a non-decision because no one wanted to leave. Compared to the darkened underground, moving upward was a brighter choice, or at least that was whatmon sense dictated.

    Maintaining this stalemate was not going to work, and Chen Ge was not going to kill the rest of the murderers¡ªhe did not see the point either. Thus, he volunteered to leave the elevator. Strangely enough, once he alighted from the elevator, it returned to normal.

    "What''s the meaning of this? Can this elevator detect the weight of ghosts and added their presence to the weight limit?"

    After Chen Ge left, the rest of them quickly closed the door as if afraid that the man might suddenly change his mind.

    This time, the elevator doors closed honestly. At thest moment, Chen Ge caught sight of several human shadows in the elevator who stood facing away from him.

    "I wish all of you luck."

    Chen Ge held the hammer and ran down the corridor. The strange things that he noticed grew. For example, there were well-preserved theme park posters on the wall and some abandoned machines, all of which were somehow rted to his Haunted House.

    He ran to the deepest part of the basement and stopped before one of the doors.

    This door looked simr to the others, but there were many cigarette butts littered around the door, and the brand was exactly the one that Chen Ge''s father had a penchant for.

 Chapter 667 - A Shadowless Child [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 667: A Shadowless Child [2 in 1]</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    The familiar cigarette evoked Chen Ge¡¯s memory. He had never been an overly sentimental person, but at that moment, his footsteps slowed to a stop.

    ¡°Just how many things were you guys hiding from me to abandon me ande to such a dangerous ce on your own?¡± Chen Ge knocked on the door, but there was no reply, then he called out softly, ¡°Is anyone in here?¡±

    As he finished saying that, a gasp of pleasant surprise came from inside the room. ¡°Boss Chen?¡±

    The iron lock behind the door slid out of ce, and the intricate lock system started to move. After a long time, the door that looked so normal on the outside finally opened. Fan Chong dressed in his pajamas stood behind the door. There was sign of tears left on his face. When this overweight fellow over one hundred kilograms saw Chen Ge, he stampeded at thetter, preparing to bury Chen Ge in a bear hug.

    ¡°Please control yourself.¡± Chen Ge took a step back. He could see how excited Fan Chong was.

    ¡°I knew you woulde! Boss Chen, you have no idea how close I was to not being able to see you again!¡± Fan Chong¡¯s voice started to break when he was telling his story. He had many things to tell Chen Ge, but he did not know where to start. He paced back and forth in the room, the folds of fat on his stomach shuddering with his every step.

    ¡°Calm down first, do you have your phone on you? We spoke on the phone several hours ago, so let me check your phone records.¡± Chen Ge was testing Fan Chong. When Fan Chong disappeared, he had dropped his phone inside his room. In fact, it was Fan Dade whotter picked up Fan Chong¡¯s phone and had a brief conversation with Chen Ge.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have it with me. I was in too much of a hurry when I was trying to escape, and I dropped the phone in my room.¡± Fan Chong pointed at his extrarge pajamas that did note with any pockets. Chen Ge nodded and looked into the room; this was a normal rental room. There were beds, tables, and electric fans¡ªthere was nothing that jumped out at Chen Ge.

    ¡°Why would you be hiding at a ce like this? Who brought you here?¡± Chen Ge was under the impression that Fan Chong had been kidnapped by the shadow, but from the looks of it, that did not appear to be the case.

    ¡°Honestly, I have a hard time believing what happened myself.¡± Fan Chong nudged his oversized body to the side and walked to the window.

    ¡°This is the underground basement. What¡¯s the point of building a window in the room? Is this some kind of self-hypnosis?¡± Chen Ge gripped the hammer tightly and stood at the door, afraid that this might be a trap.

    ¡°She brought me here.¡± Fan Chong pulled back the thick curtains. The cement wall outside the window had a painting that had been done with cheap crayons. There was a mountain, a river, a smiling sun, flowers that would never wilt, and a family full of smiles.

    Chen Ge¡¯s gaze followed the movement of the curtain before resting at the corner of the windowsill where a little girl was seated. She was in a red dress, staring at the painting on the cement wall like it was some kind of ageless art.

    ¡°Xiao Bu?¡± This was not the first time that Chen Ge had seen this girl, but every time, the feeling that he got from her waspletely different. Sometimes, she came with a warning, other times detachment, and this time, there was a certain helplessness.

    ¡°It was she who dragged me away when we were on the phone earlier.¡± Fan Chong¡¯s eyes twitched like he was still afraid when he thought back to what happened then. ¡°Tonight, it was not my big brother who came home; it was someone else. I still have a hard time believing it. I failed to notice anything out of the ordinary and shared the same room with him for so long.¡±

    ¡°Your big brother was reced by the shadow?¡± What Fan Chong said matched Chen Ge¡¯s earlier suspicion. ¡°Is this what Xiao Bu told you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, my brother did note home tonight, and I am worried about him.¡± Fan Chong sat on the bed, and the old bedframe creaked under its weight. It felt like the thing could copse at any moment. Compared to his size, the bed seemed so small.

    ¡°These beds seem to have been prepared for children,¡± Fan Chong exined as he sneaked a nce at Xiao Bu. He was worried that he might damage the bed as well.

    ¡°Prepared for children?¡± Chen Ge sensitively caught the key term that Fan Chong used. ¡°On the phone, you told me that after clearing the game, Xiao Bu entered this building. What is so special about this building? It looks not so different from other buildings in Li Wan City whether you look at its interior or exterior.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but I heard this from Xiao Bu as well. Many years ago, an epidemic swept Li Wan City, and this was the only building that was avoided by the infected.¡±

    ¡°Only building avoided by the infected? What do you mean?¡± Chen Ge still did not quite get it.

    ¡°It¡¯s a long story. You¡¯ll understand everything once you finish Xiao Bu¡¯s game. The game uses Li Wan City as the setting and perfectly replicates what happened in Li Wan City at the time.¡± Fan Chong had cleared all the side quests, so he was familiar with all the plot. ¡°Human nature is a veryplicated thing. It can shine like the sun to bring warmth andfort to the weak and helpless, but it can also be a dark abyss, dark and cold, dangerously bottomless.

    ¡°The source of the epidemic was Li Wan Hospital. The doctors were at a loss, and they could not do anything to stop the spread of the disease. Some of the patients knew that they were not long for this world, so some of them came up with the idea of taking revenge. They contaminated several medical devices and food supplies with their own blood, and soon, the disease started to spread.

    ¡°First, it was mostly the other patients, but eventually, it caught onto the doctors before spreading to half of Li Wan City. The epidemic continued to grow, and people were living in constant fear. Many who caught the disease contracted symptoms like they had gone mad. Even though they did notmit direct murder, many innocent people died because of them, so in reality, they were not that different from actual serial killers.

    ¡°At the time, the whole of Li Wan City was thrown into chaos, and the only serene oasis was this very building.

    ¡°Before it was rebuilt, the building was once an orphanage. The developer thought that there would be quick development in Eastern Jiujiang, so they bought thend and built new apartment buildings. At the time, they gave wonderful promises. They would reserve part of the new houses for the orphans and orphanage staff to ensure that the children had a ce to stay. However, after the buildings were built, the supposed orphanage was only limited to the first and second floor basement.

    ¡°During the height of the epidemic, all the staff at the orphanage forbade the children from leaving. Then they went to guard the passage that lead underground. They had made the decision to stop anyone from entering the orphanage, including themselves.

    ¡°One day and one nightter, help came. No one knew for sure what really happened, and there was no information about this online. In the game, it was merely stated that all the orphans were rescued, and none of them were infected.¡±

    At this point of the story, Fan Chong¡¯s voice started to take on a different shade. ¡°Honestly, I have serious respect for the staff of the orphanage. They are quite possibly the only force of good that Li Wan City had.¡±

    Human beings were an interesting thing species. Even in the ugliest and dirtiest environment, some could still bloom into the most beautiful of flowers.

    ¡°No wonder other buildings are filled with human-shaped stains but this building is so clean.¡± Chen Ge had the answer to one of the questions in his heart, but that only led to more questions. ¡°But howe Xiao Bu came to this ce at the end of the game? Is it because it is supposed to represent her kindness?¡±

    All the door-pushers were wreathed in the deepest despair¡ªself-salvation was something that was almost impossible.

    ¡°You should have noticed the posters on the underground corridors, right? One of the side quests in the game involved a young husband and wife who arrived at Li Wan City. They sought out Xiao Bu and constructed a haven for Xiao Bu with this building.¡± Fan Chong tried desperately to remember thest few scenes from Xiao Bu¡¯s game. ¡°They wanted to help Xiao Bu, but in return, Xiao Bu had to promise to do them a favor.¡±

    ¡°What kind of favor?¡± Chen Ge knew that the young couple in question was none other than his parents. The familiar cigarettes and the Haunted House posters everywhere pointed to that undeniable fact. Only his parents would be shameless enough to carry the posters for the Haunted House everywhere they went.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Fan Chong turned to look at Xiao Bu. Seeing no response from Xiao Bu, he continued. ¡°They wished for Xiao Bu to be the shadow for their child.¡±

    ¡°Please exin that in detail.¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes.

    ¡°You¡¯ve seen the fonts used in the game¡ªthey are incredibly hard to read. I believe the message was that the shadow of their child has gone missing, so they wished Xiao Bu could be the new shadow of their child. I know that is very hard to believe, but that is exactly what the game said. In the game, Xiao Bu did not agree to their terms immediately. Therefore, they built this haven in Li wan City. After Xiao Bu made her decision, she shoulde to this ce to wait for them, and then they would help her deal with the shadow.¡± Fan Chong did not really understand the words that left his lips, and he had no idea how impactful these words were on Chen Ge.

    ¡°To make a Red Specter into a shadow, yes, this is truly an idea that only they¡¯de up with.¡± Now that Xiao Bu had entered the haven, it meant that the girl was willing to be Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. However, his parents not only did not follow up on their promise to deal with the shadow but also disappeared. All this made Chen Ge feel awkward around Xiao Bu¡ªhe did not know how to face her. ¡°Oh well. As long as the shadow is killed, no matter by whose hands, the promise should be counted aspleted.¡±

    Entering the room, Chen Ge walked to the window. Xiao Bu looked not older than eight. The red dress that flowed like blood formed a great contrast to her startlingly pale skin. Just getting close to the girl caused Xu Yin to elicit a great warning.

    ¡°She looks very powerful.¡± This was the first time that Chen Ge had dealt with a door that had gone out of control. He had no idea what kind of influence would befall the door-pusher once the door went out of control, but based on what he knew, the door-pusher seemed to get stronger once that happened.

    ¡°The people who made you that promise were my parents; I am the child who has lost the shadow.¡± Hearing this from Chen Ge, the eyshes of the girl who had been spacing out moved. She slowly turned around, and a suffocating presence washed over Chen Ge.

    ¡°This...¡± The red dress floated in the wind. Xiao Bu was missing her arms and legs. There was arge missing gap at the spot where her heart should be.

    <i>This child is a perfect replica of that door! Other than the head, which has been represented by the heart, all the other missing parts represent the door perfectly!</i>

    Staring at the girl silently, Chen Ge finally understood why Xiao Bu would voluntarily enter the haven. No one would volunteer to give up their freedom.

    Ignoring Xu Yin¡¯s warning, Chen Ge took another step forward. His heart winced with slight pain. ¡°I¡¯m not here for any kind of promise. You are too heavily injured, and I trust that I won¡¯t be able to understand even a fraction of your pain, so I will not stand at your perspective to provide you with empty constion. I know the words must sound empty.

    ¡°But a promise is a promise. I will help you deal with the shadow so that you will never be alone again in the future.¡±

    Chen Ge stopped before Xiao Bu and slowly squatted down to look at the expressionless face at eye level. ¡°The view outside this window is painted. After the shadow is done with, I¡¯ll bring you to see the world. We¡¯ll go to ces you want to visit, to see the world that is waiting for you.¡±

    Chen Ge did not bring up the favor. He was not going to make Xiao Bu into his own shadow.

    Perhaps sensing that Chen Ge was not lying, Xiao Bu blinked several times. Blood leaked out from the corner of her eyes, and the droplets of blood gathered to form a sentence.

    ¡°One without shadow is not long for this world. Are you sure you don¡¯t want me to be your shadow?¡±

 Chapter 668 - Doctor Gao! [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 668: Doctor Gao! [2 in 1]</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    Blood leaked out from the windowpane, contaminating the painting on the wall, making it look more sinister than before.

    ¡°Even if I am facing death, I am not going to deprive you of your freedom. Furthermore, I¡¯ve been supposedly living without a shadow for so many years already, but haven¡¯t I been surviving just fine? There is a solution to every problem, and I¡¯m sure that there are other ways to resolve this issue.¡±

    Chen Ge was an optimistic person. Even though he was not particrly handsome, there was something about him that attracted other people¡¯s attention, giving those close to him some semnce of hope.

    The expression on Xiao Bu¡¯s face did not change. The blood on the wall repeated that question again and again like she was trying to make sure that Chen Ge had thought this through. For those who had been repeatedly injured, they would rather suffer more pain than choose to put their faith in other people. This was because they realized that the feeling when one realized that one¡¯s trust had been misced was far greater than the pain of knife cutting through one¡¯s body.

    ¡°Let¡¯s talk about thatter. You have met my parents; did they tell you anything? Like what they nned to do next, the ce that they might have been going to?¡±

    At the very beginning, Chen Ge had invested everything that he had into the Haunted House because he wanted to keep the only thing that his parents had left him around. He wanted to protect it with everything he had. Searching for his parents had be his goal, so now that a lead was sitting before his eyes, he was going to grab onto it tightly.

    Xiao Bu seemed to know that Chen Ge would ask such questions. More blood leaked out from the window, and another bloody sentence appeared on the wall. ¡°They did not tell me directly where they were going, but they did mention Xin Hai Central Hospital during their conversation.¡±

    ¡°The cursed hospital? One of the two four-star missions that was given by the ck phone.¡± Chen Ge leaned against the wall and fell into deep thought. ¡°The shadow is rted to the ghost fetus, and my parent¡¯s disappearance is rted to Xin Hai Central Hospital. Both of these are four-star scenarios... I do not have any real need to tackle them yet. Other than that, the four-star scenario at Western Jiujiang¡ªSchool of the Afterlife¡ªis going to expire soon. After leaving Li Wan City, I should attempt that first.¡±

    For the Trial Mission in the ck phone, the rise of one-star meant a momentous increase to the mission¡¯s difficulty. Honestly, Chen Ge did not have full confidence he was ready to tackle a four-star mission.

    ¡°Never mind, it¡¯s not the time to deal with these things yet. I should focus on the issue at hand first.¡± Chen Ge moved toward Xiao Bu. He was already very close to the girl, but Xiao Bu showed no sign of evasion or even annoyance. This caused Fan Chong, who was watching from the side, to sweat profusely. After all, that was an actual Red Specter.

    ¡°Did my parent leave any information with you about the shadow? Something like his weakness or something simr?¡± Chen Ge wished to get more information from Xiao Bu, but Xiao Bu¡¯s reaction gave him more disappointment. The blood on the wall started to move again before changing to form that fateful sentence. ¡°One without shadow is not long for this world.¡±

    <i>The child should know more than what she is saying. I wonder why she refuses toe clean with me.</i> Chen Ge stood up. Fan Chong had been baffled when he heard Chen Ge call Xiao Bu, but after he gave it some thought, it was true that the Red Specter was indeed just a young girl.

    ¡°What should we do now?¡± Chen Ge turned to look at Fan Chong. Thetter had a helpless smile on his face.

    ¡°Don¡¯t ask me. The question that you posed me earlier is one that I normally direct at you.¡±

    Fan Chong had already told Chen Ge everything about the game; now he needed Chen Ge to make the decision.

    ¡°Those human stains are a big obstacle. Compared to Specters, they are more like evil intention that is purposely cultivated by someone. They are made from pure evil intention, and there is nothing human about them anymore.¡± These things had no value to them at all. Specters might be affected should they came into contact with the stains, so Chen Ge had been unwilling to have his employees take this risk.

    ¡°A Specter can consume and digest them. The stronger the Specter, the more curses they can consume without even being affected. If that is your concern, I can help you open the way.¡± The blood on the wall moved to form this sentence. Xiao Bu came up with the solution to deal with the human stains. ¡°A small number of curses can be suppressed. Only arge number of curses will affect the Specter negatively.¡±

    ¡°You call them curses?¡± For some reason, Chen Ge was reminded of the four-star scenario given by the ck phone¡ªThe Cursed Hospital.

    ¡°The thought that remains after death can transform into many different things¡ªlingering spirits, curses, the supernatural, and so on. These stains are curses, built purely from bad luck and evil intention.¡±

    ¡°What will happen if a Specter consumes too many curses and assimtes with the curse?¡± Chen Ge asked.

    ¡°They will be a new curse. The stronger the Specter, the more sinister the curse that they will transform into.¡± The blood on the wall kept changing. Xiao Bu had not spoken a word, and she maintained this method tomunicate with Chen Ge.

    ¡°Can something like a curse be controlled? Based on what you said, these curses will ruin everything in their sight. They cannot be manipted at all, but somehow, the shadow has managed to do exactly that. How did he do it?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea. Perhaps the shadow has his own method, or perhaps the shadow itself is a curse.¡± The bloody words on the wall left Chen Ge with another shock.

    ¡°The shadow itself might be a curse?¡± The more Chen Ge thought about it, the more likely it became. His parents would not have lost his shadow for no reason. He had probably been cursed when he was young, and then his parent somehow channeled that curse into his shadow. However, he did not share his spection with others¡ªhe kept them to himself.

    ¡°If the shadow itself is a curse, then it should be clear why he chose Li Wan City as hisir. He wants to make use of the deep curse and resentment buried underneath this small town.¡± The curse was the shadow¡¯s trump card, and it was the problem that blocked Chen Ge¡¯s way.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to be overly worried about this. Even the curse is unable to control itself, so the control that the shadow had over it is more likely some kind of trigger. It could not manipte the curse to its heart desire. I told you earlier, the curse is made from pure evil. They will attack everything in sight until everything is turned into a curse. There are many strange and weird things in Li Wan City. They should be able to help us distract part of the aggression. So, we only need to depart from Li Wan City before everything is turned into the curse.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the bloody words on the wall, and the emotions in his eyes softened. Since Xiao Bu was willing tomunicate so openly with him, it meant that their rtionship was getting closer.

    ¡°Alright, we should leave this ce first. We¡¯ll decide what to do once we assess what¡¯s happening outside.¡±

    Inside the room, Fan Chong studied Chen Ge and Xiao Bu, and the fat on his body kept shaking.

    He knew that Chen Ge was an ally, but he could not shake the fear from his heart. The sight that he was seeing was too peculiar. A man holding a murder weapon standing next to a Red Specter without her limbs. The Specter did not speak a word, and the man kept reading the changing bloody words on the wall with kindness and gentleness in his eyes.

    ¡°How did I get into this mess? I just want to go home...¡±

    With Chen Ge leading the way, the group arrived at the elevator. ¡°There are so many rooms here. Are we sure we haven¡¯t missed anything?¡±

    Looking at the closed doors, Chen Ge asked with a smile on his face, ¡°Xiao Bu, you have stayed here for so long. Did you make any friend with the neighbors? We can bring them with us.¡±

    Xiao Bu shook her head¡ªshe still needed time getting used to Chen Ge¡¯s overt kindness. Chen Ge pressed the button to summon the elevator. Once the door opened, Fan Chong¡¯s hands went to close his nose and lips. The interior of the elevator was filled with blood and knife marks, and the group from before hadpletely disappeared.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, you¡¯ll get used to it.¡± Chen Ge had no idea why he would say that to console Fan Chong. The few entered the elevator. They slowly reached the surface, but the strange sounds from the surface had already disappeared. Returning to the first floor, as the elevator doors opened, Chen Ge armed himself with the hammer. The lobby was eerily quiet. There were no screams or cries for help. Strangely enough, there was no blood pool or dead bodies either.

    ¡°Where are all the people?¡± Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision to look around. The blood fog had gotten even thinner than before. asionally, he caught glimpses of shadows wandering the streets, and they were all moving in the same direction.

    ¡°Something is attracting these human stains.¡±

    ¡°All the curses are moving toward the door.¡± Xiao Bu still had not said a word. She raised her arm, and the words coagted literally from the fog in the air. As the door-pusher, she was the real owner of the blood fog, but that had been forcibly taken away by the shadow.

    ¡°How much fog can you take back from the shadow?¡± A n started to form in Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

    ¡°About half. My limbs and head are hidden by the shadow outside of Li Wan City. It is outside of the territory that I can influence. Furthermore, the shadow is in possession of my heart, and he wishes to use that heart to control the door.¡± Every single word was pulsing with Xiao Bu¡¯s pain. The readers, Chen Ge and Fan Chong, felt their hearts wrench from knowing her story.

    ¡°No wonder the shadow built the ghost apartment outside of Li Wan City. Li Wan City is used to collect despair and negative emotions while Ming Yang Residence is used to suppress Xiao Bu, to get Xiao Bu to follow his orders. He sure has ironed out the details.¡± Chen Ge told Xiao Bu to stop controlling the blood fog for now so that they would not attract the shadow¡¯s attention. ¡°A few of my friends have left Li Wan City to go in search of the ghost apartment. I believe that they will return with your limbs and head in no time. After that, you should surprise the shadow with your return, and we¡¯ll work together to vanquish the shadow.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s n was probable, but Xiao Bu did not appear to be that optimistic. ¡°You are unable to kill him.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Chen Ge pressed to find out the reason, but Xiao Bu did not answer. No matter what Chen Ge asked after that, Xiao Bu stopped answering him. The few walked down the streets of Li Wan City. Xiao Bu was very familiar with theyout of Li Wan City; this was the door that she had pushed open, so theoretically speaking, the world behind the door was formted from her memory.

    With Xiao Bu¡¯s aid, Chen Ge and Fan Chong avoided all the dangerous pitfalls and arrived at Fan Chong¡¯s residential area. About eighty percent of the small town¡¯s blood fog was gathered there, and the scary thing was that the curses that had gathered for who knew how long at Li Wan City was present inside the blood fog as well.

    They morphed into ck threads to entangle around a figure who was standing in the middle of the blood fog. The ck threads chained said figure to the ground, refusing to let him to take another step.

    ¡°Xiao Bu, how many curses can a Red Specter support?¡± Chen Ge was afraid that Xiao Bu was not going to answer, so he added, ¡°The man who is fighting the shadow now can be said to be the scariest presence among Red Specters. He once shouldered all the negative emotions behind the door on his own. Could a presence like that resist the umtive curses gathered in Li Wan City?¡±

    Xiao Bu shook her head. ¡°No, but he should be able to resist the curses for an extended period of time.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Chen Ge waved for Fan Chong to follow him. ¡°Then, we¡¯ll let them fight it out for now.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re only going to hide and watch from the sidelines?¡± Fan Chong was confused. ¡°They are stuck in a stalemate. This should be perfect opportunity for us. Be it to escape or tounch an ambush, we should be doing something!¡±

    Chen Ge came with promises of killing the shadow, but once they arrived at the scene, Chen Ge looked around and suggested that they find a ce to hide. That did not feel right.

    ¡°We¡¯ll make our move after they have finished the fight. These two have ess to too many secrets. We mustn¡¯t let our guard down. Furthermore, the longer they drag this out, the better it will be for us. Once we find the missing pieces of the door, we¡¯ll have the upper hand. We¡¯ll strike then.¡± Chen Ge looked at the blood fog that had gathered there. ¡°Neither of them can be called an ally. Therefore, the only victory solution is to defeat both of them.¡±

    ¡°You n to vanquish both of them at the same time?¡± Fan Chong held his heart. He did not dare to ask anymore question; things were fast getting out of his understanding.

    ¡°The shadow is able to contest Doctor Gao¡¯s power by using the blood fog and the curses buried in Li Wan City. If he does not possess any other trump cards, he should be the first to fall.¡± Chen Ge understood that the curse needed some time to work its evil magic, and in that opening, Doctor Gao should be able to take down the shadow.

    ¡°The shadow? Doctor Gao? Sounds like you¡¯re familiar with both of them.¡± Fan Chong did not expect Chen Ge to answer, and he kept his voice to a low whisper. The flyer for the ghost story society was on Xu Yin, but Doctor Gao probably felt the flyer¡¯s approach, and he became more violent. In the blood red ocean, the chains continued tosh out, creating consecutive echoes of metal ngs.

    ¡°How did Doctor Gao be so strong? What did he experience behind the door? Has he consumed many Red Specters?¡± Chen Ge could not get it. When he was at Coffin Vige, the ghost inside the well had also grown tremendously strong after she entered the door, but she was different from Doctor Gao. All she wanted was to be reborn as a human, so she did not focuspletely on getting stronger.

    While he was focusing on resolving that mystery, Chen Ge¡¯s own phone suddenly vibrated. He quickly took it out to see. It was an unread message. ¡°It¡¯s from Tong Tong. Have they seeded?¡±

    However, after reading the message, all Chen Ge could do was frown. There was only a short message. ¡°So many children! Quick,e!¡±

    ¡°Looks like something has happened over there.¡± Chen Ge put the phone away. Without wasting any time, he called after Fan Chong and Xiao Bu. They ran toward the outskirts of Li Wan City.

    Just as Chen Ge made that decision, the blood sea behind them suddenly exploded. A shadow that looked suspiciously like Chen Ge slithered away, rushing toward the ghost apartment at the fringe Li Wan City.

    The blood fog dispersed, and the voice that seemed toe from hell itself echoed in everyone¡¯s ears. ¡°Chen Ge...¡±

    The white doctor¡¯s coat waspletely dyed red, and the red was even brighter than blood.

    Heavy, thick ck chains curled around the white coat. The man¡¯s lower body was dissolving into ckish-red blood. He was heavily injured, but he did not seem to register the pain.

    Slowly looking up, his eyes that had once been filled with brilliance were nowpletely red. Chen Ge and the shadow were both reflected in his pupils.

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡±

    Doctor Gao!

    Picking up speed, Chen Ge rushed down the distance. ¡°It looks like he has lost his mind, but how did he manage to remember in his condition? Is it because I¡¯ve left too deep an impression on him?¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    A dedicated reader, §Á§ï§Ü?/RenArcadia, has made a wiki for the novel. They¡¯ve done a really good job, so if any of you want to check some past info, do check it out: https://myhouseofhorrors.fandom

    Also, if any of you want to coborate with them on the project or just discuss the novel, join our Discord server: https://discord.gg/E9N8KV3

 Chapter 669 - Endless Rush [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 669: Endless Rush [2 in 1]</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    The shadow retreated, heading toward the outskirts of Li Wan City. Doctor Gao suffered all of the curses, and his condition did not look so good either. The blood fog dispersed, and the dress that Xiao Bu was wearing grew brighter. She titled her head to the side to study Chen Ge. She felt like following this man might improve her luck.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Chen Ge carried his tworge bags and started running. Fan Chong was the unluckiest of the group. Due to his size, all this running was literally killing him.

    ¡°Wait for me!¡± Fan Chong grasped his heart. At that moment, he had a sudden rity about how funny destiny sometimes worked. Thest time he ran like his life depended on it was at Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, and this time, he was escaping with the man himself.

    ¡°Please do not stop! No matter what! I¡¯ll go find a car or some kind of transport for you!¡± Chen Ge raced down the streets for a long time, but he could not find any means of transportation that he could use. With no other option, he had to stop and tell Xiao Bu, ¡°When the doctor starts to chase after us, I need you to take Fan Chong somewhere you two can hide safely while I lead the doctor away. But try not to stay too far away from me, I¡¯ll still need your help to deal with the shadowter.¡±

    Chen Ge was already halfway across town when Doctor Gao, whose lower body was dissolving, started to make his move. The chains surged through the fog, making a sharp sound as they ground against the surrounding buildings.

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡± The pair of blood red eyes looked at Chen Ge and the shadow who were escaping. Perhaps the question going through his mind at the time was¡ª<i>Why do these two look so simr?</i>

    The curses that had brewed for so many years in Li Wan City almost all surged into Doctor Gao¡¯s body. ck blood kept pouring out of the good doctor¡¯s body. The blood was mixed with ck and gray substances. If one went close enough, one could even hear the sound of something wailing inside the substance.

    Seeing Doctor Gao¡¯s condition, Chen Ge shivered in fear. ¡°The shadow¡¯s trump card sure is something else. If Doctor Gao did not show up, then it¡¯d be me and my employees who were suffering most of the curse. If that was the case, even if I managed to kill the shadow, I¡¯d probably lose more than half of my employees.¡±

    There was a limit to the number of curses a Specter could digest. If it went over the limit, the Specter would turn into a new curse. Furthermore, after they digested the curse, the negative emotions in their hearts would be amplified and brought to the forefront. When that happened, it would have been impossible for them to keep their employment at the Haunted House. Without the actors, Chen Ge would have to temporarily close down all the underground scenarios at the Haunted House.

    If the Haunted House could not run properly, it would negatively influence New Century Park. During this momentous period when the futuristic park was about to open, this might be the straw that broke the camel¡¯s back.

    On the surface, everything might look like it was turning for the better, but only Chen Ge knew the difficulty that was involved in this process. If he was careless, all the effort that he had put in prior to this would go up in smoke.

    ¡°The shadow chose to retreat and hurry toward the ghost apartment, meaning that Tong Tong¡¯s group has obtained something very important to the shadow. This could be seen as good news for me as well.¡± Chen Ge saw everything that might slow the shadow down as a good thing.

    Behind him, Doctor Gao had started his chase. However, the man¡¯s situation could only be described as weird. Chen Ge had no idea why Doctor Gao had such a relentless insistence on chasing him. ¡°Didn¡¯t we clear this up before he chose tomit suicide? I even promised to help him look after his daughter, Gao Ru Xue.¡±

    When he was alive, Doctor Gao was already at the verge of losing in mind. Now that he was dead and entangled by a small town¡¯s worth of curses, of course, Chen Ge was not going to stay to chat with the man.

    ¡°There¡¯s no time to draft a n¡ªI¡¯ll draw everyone to the ghost apartment. If there¡¯s a fight, the ghost apartment will be destroyed. Somehow, I¡¯ll have to ruin the shadow¡¯s n.¡± With Chen Ge leading the way, Doctor Gao and Xiao Bu both moved toward the ghost apartment. The shadow noticed this and was enraged. He knew that Chen Ge was in Li Wan City, but he had not realized that Doctor Gao¡¯s actual target was Chen Ge.

    Sensing a thick, sharp point of resentment, Chen Ge looked around and saw the shadow moving down the street that was adjacent to his. Pointing behind him, Chen Ge made a signal at the shadow. ¡°You¡¯ve guessed correctly. It was me who led him here.¡±

    The shadow gritted his teeth in anger, but he knew that Chen Ge had the protection of a Red Specter. He would not be able to take down Chen Ge in a short period of time. Therefore, he decided to adopt the tactic of ¡®see no devil¡¯ as he picked up his speed to rush to the ghost apartment.

    ¡°Looks like Tong Tong and the guys have really created a big problem for the shadow.¡± Chen Ge signaled for Xiao Bu and Fan Chong to move along. He rushed as fast as he could, trying to follow the shadow. Soon, a strange sight appeared in Li Wan City.

    As the culprit, the shadow was chased by a living man carrying two bags like he had juste back from a shopping spree. That man was followed by a crazy Red Specter, and at the end of this strange procession was a fat man who looked like he was going to copse at any moment due to ack of air and a little girl who had no arms and legs.

    The shadow was too worried about the ghost apartment to care about Chen Ge. So, to an outside observer, it looked like Chen Ge was chasing after the shadow. The ghost apartment was located at Ming Yang Residence outside of Li Wan City. When Chen Ge came to the edge of Li Wan City, he could sense very clearly that the blood fog there had thickened.

    ¡°The blood fog outside of the small town seems to be different from the one inside the town. There seems to be something extra in this fog.¡± Chen Ge used his heart to sense this strange fog, and he felt like something was calling his name from the western side. He looked in that direction and understood that somewhere around there was New Century Park.

    The shadow did not give Chen Ge too much time to stop to think. He crossed the traffic-less street and rushed into the residential area. The blood fog covered up his tracks, and just like that, the shadow disappeared before Chen Ge¡¯s eyes.

    The shadow had disappeared, but Doctor Gao was still following behind Chen Ge. He had to figure out a way to distract the doctor¡¯s attention. Chen Ge turned back to look¡ªone of Doctor Gao¡¯s eyes had turned ckish-red. Endless ck threads entwined together with blood vessels, and they flowed out of his eyes as ash-colored tears.

    ¡°Doctor Gao is bing stranger and stranger. Xiao Bu once said that a Specter will be assimted into the curse once they consume too many curses, and the stronger the Specter, the scarier the curse it¡¯ll turn into! If Doctor Gao bes consumed by the curse, what kind of curse will this Specter that was the strongest Red Specter be?

    ¡°There¡¯s no time to waste anymore!¡± Chen Ge reached into his backpack, and he yelled Yan Danian¡¯s name. ¡°Can you sense Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s location? Quick!¡±

    Ol¡¯ Zhou had lived inside Yan Danian¡¯sic for many years, and they shared a good rtionship. Actually, Chen Ge was merely giving this a try¡ªhe had no idea whether it would work or not.

    The pressure from a Red Specter was suffocating. Understanding the gravity of the situation, theic in the backpack started to turn on its own. Then a ballpoint pen that was taped together with clear cellophane tape started to draw a picture on the empty page. Ol¡¯ Zhou and Men Nan were hiding inside one of the rooms, and outside the window that was next to them, one could see the bus station that fringed Li Wan City.

    ¡°So, they¡¯re here?¡± Chen Ge tipped his head back to study the four buildings at Ming Yang Residence before rushing toward the one at the most left side. He had once entered this building with Captain Yan before. He remembered seeing the bus station through one of the windows. At this crucial moment, the Pen Spirt had worked together with Yan Danian to provide Chen Ge with this important clue. Summoning Xu Yin, Chen Ge rushed into the building.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Zhou! Men Nan!¡± He screamed as loud as he could, but once the voice left his lips, Chen Ge noticed that something was wrong. The building that he was in waspletely different from the building in real life!

    In real life, Ming Yang Residence was an abandoned project. Some of the windows were not even fixed, and the floor was merely cement and undecorated. However, the building that Chen Ge was in had a clean, tiled floor with painted walls, and there was even lighting installed on the stairs and corridors.

    ¡°The door that Xiao Bu pushed open was in Li Wan City, and she already said that her power cannot reach this ce, so Ming Yang Residence was not made ording to her memory. Then, why is this ce so different from its condition in real life?¡± If not for the fact that Doctor Gao was chasing after him, Chen Ge would never have entered such a strange ce so recklessly.

    The world behind the door was a reflection of the real world, the manifestation of one¡¯s nightmare. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that there were various pictures on the wall. There were children, animals, and various toys.

    ¡°These look like drawings by children. This is so strange. It feels like the feeling I had when I stepped into Jiujiang Children¡¯s Home for the first time.¡±

    There was no answer from Ol¡¯ Zhou or Men Nan. Doctor Gao was right on his tail. Chen Ge did not think that it was wise to head upstairs. He would be trapped up there if Doctor Gao decided to block off the stairs.

    ¡°I should limit my exploration to the first and second floors.¡± With Chen Ge¡¯s current physical condition, as long as he was more careful, he would not be injured if he jumped down from the second floor, but he was not confident that he would be safe if he jumped down from the third floor.

    ¡°Doctor Gao is still quite a distance away. His speed is decreasing. But one good thing is that after the shadow left Li Wan City, it¡¯s clear that Xiao Bu has been getting stronger; the red on his dress is getting brighter and brighter.¡±

    As Chen Ge called Men Nan and Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s names, he charged into the building. Whenever he saw closed doors, without stopping to think, he greeted them with a hammer to the face.

    Once the doors fell away, the scene behind the doors surprised Chen Ge. There were no ghosts and no horrible scenes, only a few children drawing. Their eyes were filled with innocence, not knowing what hatred and pain was. They gripped the crayons in their hands and looked at Chen Ge with confusion.

    These children were like pieces of empty paper. Chen Ge was notplimenting their innocence but felt like something important had been taken away from them. They had lost something that made humans human. Studying them, it felt like they were more like human-shaped puppets.

    A ¡®criminal¡¯ with a scary-looking weapon burst into the room, but they did not react in any way. They held the crayons with a nk expression on their faces, staring dumbly at Chen Ge.

    ¡°The shadow must have done something to them!¡± Chen Ge knew that Ming Yang Residence was the ghost apartment built by the shadow. He had been under the impression that the ce was supposed to house scary ghosts and Specters. Now he realized just how innocent he was. The shadow would not be kind enough to allow Specters to live there, so the real tenants of Ming Yang Residence were these children who had some value to the shadow.

    ¡°Did any of you see anyone walk in earlier?¡± The children had no response at all to Chen Ge¡¯s question. They stared at Chen Ge for a while before returning to their drawing. It felt like their mental faculty had been taken away, leaving behind simple paintings in their mind, and the purpose of their existence was to use the crayons that they were holding to keep on drawing these pictures endlessly. Chen Ge looked through several rooms, and they were all filled with such strange children.

    ¡°In real life, Ming Yang Residence contains many broken dolls. Now that I think about it, each of those dolls probably represents an actual human life.¡±

    With no time to waste, Chen Ge hurried to the second floor. While he opened the door, he did not stop calling for Men Nan¡¯s name.

    ¡°The picture drawn by the Pen Spirit definitely points to this building, so it means that Ol¡¯ Zhou and Men Nan are one hundred percent inside here. In that case, why aren¡¯t they answering me? Even if they¡¯re in danger, they should be able to give me some response, right?¡±

    The message that Tong Tong had sent was a SOS message. Chen Ge knew that something must have happened to their group, but he did not expect things to be soplicated. Chen Ge hammered down the doors on the second floor¡ªthey were still filled with children. ¡°Xiao Bu¡¯s limbs are hidden on the higher floors. Doctor Gao is not far behind me, and if I rush up the stairs, I might be blocked off on both sides by the shadow and Doctor Gao.¡±

    When he was hesitating, a voice suddenly came from the fourth floor. ¡°Chen Ge! Save me! Please save me!¡±

    There was not many who knew Chen Ge¡¯s real name in Li Wan City. Chen Ge turned his head up to look and saw Jia Ming poking his head out from the stairs until his body was almost falling. His expression was one of extreme pain. His eyes were red like they were about to pop out from his skull. ¡°Save me! They are all here!¡±

    When Jia Ming spoke, another voice appeared. Chen Ge was very familiar with this voice¡ªit belonged to Inspector Lee. ¡°Don¡¯te up here! Chen Ge! Leave this ce immediately! Tell everything that you saw here to Captain Yan! Remember! You have to tell Captain Yan!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t drag me with you if you want to die! Chen Ge, we are all here! Bring us with you! Please save us!¡± Jia Ming seemed to be experiencing inexplicable pain. He kept trying to stretch his body forward. Chen Ge noticed that his wrist was handcuffed, and the other cuff was chained around Lee Zheng¡¯s wrist.

    Lee Zheng, Jia Ming, Scissors, and the rest had disappeared at Fan Chong¡¯s ce, but now, they had suddenly shown up here. This aroused Chen Ge¡¯s suspicion. Normally, Chen Ge would continue to observe for a while before making his decision, but the situation now was too unique.

    Doctor Gao was catching up, and he would arrive soon. He did not have much time to think, and his body moved instinctively up the stairs. He could not care less about Jia Ming¡¯s life, but he had to save Inspector Lee. A long time ago, when Chen Ge first fought the ghost stories society at Fang Hwa Residence, this police officer had been a big help to him by helping him buy time at the most crucial moment. Chen Ge had never seen himself as a saint, but he would remember every kindness that been directed his way.

    ¡°Inspector Lee mentioned Captain Yan earlier, but why would I tell everything I saw here to Captain Yan? Is he really more than he appears?¡±

    Running to the fourth floor, Chen Ge saw Lee Zheng and Jia Ming, who were detained. Their legs and arms were tied. A few children were shoving into the middle of the stairs. Once the children saw Chen Ge, they dispersed.

    ¡°What is going on the here?¡± Cutting off the ropes, Chen Ge helped Lee Zheng get up. He was about to ask more questions when more weird noises came from upstairs. Lifting his head to look, he saw that half of Scissors, the drunkard, and the doctor¡¯s bodies had already been pushed into the staircase, and the children were holding their legs down.

    The three of them were on the seventh floor, not too close and not too far.

    ¡°The shadow is forcing me to go upstairs, huh?¡± Chen Ge instantly understood the shadow¡¯s intention.

    ¡°Leave us be! You need to leave! This is a trap!¡± the drunkard shouted, and he sounded quite valorous.

    ¡°There is only one shadow; he couldn¡¯t have controlled so many people at the same time...¡± When Chen Ge was thinking, a loud boom came from outside the building. A chain that was filled with human faces smashed against the wall of the building.

    ¡°Doctor Gao has arrived.¡± Gripping his fist, Chen Ge summoned Xu Yin. He had the Specter hold the flyer and rush to another building to lead Doctor Gao away.

    ¡°You think I don¡¯t have any other Red Specters other than Xu Yin?¡± Chen Ge pulled out the hammer and started running to the top of the stairs as fast as he could. ¡°I refuse to believe that you have more trump cards than I do! After I deal with you, I¡¯ll go reconnect with my old friend, Doctor Gao.¡±

 Chapter 670 - Who Are You? [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 670: Who Are You? [2 in 1]</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    ¡°The two of you should stay here. If anyone falls down from above, remember to catch them.¡± Chen Ge ced the travel bag with the white cat on the ground, and he ran up the stairs, wielding Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer.

    ¡°Be careful!¡± No matter how hard the drunkard screamed, Chen Ge did not stop moving. Rescuing people was a matter of convenience. Ever since Chen Ge stepped into Li Wan City, his real target had been the shadow. An entity who was so mysterious yet had endless details that were connected to himself, only by apprehending the shadow would Chen Ge allow himself to rest easy.

    ¡°I will definitely be able to get a lot of information about my parents from the shadow.¡± Before entering Li Wan City, he had predicted this moment. However, his original n was to have the smiling man and the red high heels help him scout the road ahead. Unfortunately, Doctor Gao¡¯s appearance had thrown his n intoplete disarray.

    ¡°However, generally speaking, how things turned out is still advantageous to me.¡± Outside the building, Doctor Gao was lured away by Xu Yin, and this provided Chen Ge with a rare opportunity.

    ¡°The monster is waiting for you up here, do note up here!¡± This time, it was Scissors who spoke. His condition was not that good. Faded blots of blood appeared on his body like the capiries under his skin were all bursting at the same time.

    ¡°He¡¯s waiting for me; I¡¯m also looking for him!¡± Chen Ge ran even faster. Behind him, the white cat crawled out from the bag. It followed closely behind Chen Ge, its movement very agile. The children on the seventh floor were obviously using Scissors¡¯ group as bait to lure Chen Ge further up. They had been given very strict orders. Once Chen Ge approached, they let go of their detainees and immediately escaped.

    ¡°Give me your hand!¡± Chen Ge dragged Scissors and the drunkard somewhere safe. There was no rope or anything simr wound around their bodies, but from the way they reacted, it looked like they were suffering from a severe reaction to something. Their bodies were ravaged by pain, and they had difficulty even standing up.

    ¡°Can you walk on your own?¡± Chen Ge then dragged the doctor to the side. The doctor¡¯s venom had not been cured.

    ¡°Leave us be. The reason the shadow hasn¡¯t killed us is because he is nning to use us to weigh you down. That thing will stop at nothing to aplish his goal,¡± the doctor uttered weakly.

    ¡°Since you can form aplete sentence, it looks like you¡¯re slowly recovering.¡± Chen Ge was about to ask what had happened to them at Fan Chong¡¯s building, but he felt something cold touch the back of his neck. Turning back to look, the tattooed man¡¯s head rolled out from the eighth floor. His face was bloodied, and his eyes were bulging. The human skull tattoos on his arms had brutally been yanked out from his bare skin. Several emotionless and expression children stood around the man. They held paintbrushes in their hands and were using the tattooed man¡¯s blood to finish their painting.

    ¡°The man¡¯s dead?¡± These children were duller and more emotionless than the ones on the ground floor. The way that they treated a living human as ¡®toy¡¯ sent a shiver down Chen Ge¡¯s spine.

    ¡°The tattooed man is dead. If one¡¯s ending is the worse the higher we go, then does this mean that something bad has already befallen Men Nan and Ol¡¯ Zhou?¡± Chen Ge was worried. This was the first time that he realized how important the employees who usually apanied him were. Without realizing it, he had already epted them as family and close friends.

    The tattooed man¡¯s dead body was shoved down the stairs by the children. It fell before Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. Such a precious life was ended just like that¡ªthis was the nature of the world behind the door. In this nightmarish world weaved from despair and pain, life and hope were the most fragile of things.

    After the tattooed man¡¯s bodynded with a dull thud on the ground, the children dispersed like they hadpleted their mission. The only thing that remained in the stairwell was the painting that was painted with the tattooed man¡¯s blood.

    After the children left, children¡¯s giggling came from the tenth floor. The faces of the children up there had lost their dullness. Their faces were filled with the brightest of smiles, but what they were doing made Chen Ge grit his teeth.

    Several children were detaining the phone spirit, Tong Tong. His body was yanked from so many directions that his body had be disfigured. His precious phone had been taken away, and the children deleted the messages that Tong Tong¡¯s mother had sent him one by one before the boy¡¯s eyes.

    These children who were little more than animals being reared by the shadow could not be called children anymore. They had been taught to bear hatred for everything good in the world, so they viewed love as the most disgusting in the world. Chen Ge had a feeling that the shadow was training these children as his apprentices, turning them into monsters like he was.

    Every employee at the Haunted House had their own story, and Tong Tong¡¯s story had touched Chen Ge the most. The reason that he had taken this boy under his wing was not only because of his power but also the promise that he had made Tong Tong¡¯s mother. Tong Tong did not resist or even cry. He had gotten used to all this. He had experienced something simr both when he was alive and when he was working for ghost stories society¡¯s Han Bao¡¯er. However, the more he acted like this, the more it tore Chen Ge¡¯s heart.

    The children knew that Tong Tong would get Chen Ge¡¯s attention. They carried Tong Tong higher up the stairs, obviously trying to lure Chen Ge to follow them.

    ¡°Chen Ge! Don¡¯t follow them!¡± Lee Zheng dragged Jia Ming up the stairs to stop Chen Ge. ¡°We have people who are heavily injured with us. We need to bring them away from this ce. When I entered Li Wan City, I contacted other officers at the station. Back-up will be here soon.¡±

    ¡°There won¡¯t be any back-up. I need you and Jia Ming to help me carry these people downstairs. Try to move them as far away from this ce as possible.¡± Chen Ge frowned slightly. He flipped through theic to one of the pages, but he did so without arousing Lee Zheng or Jia Ming¡¯s attention. He did this in less than one second.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to leave with us? What are you going to do?¡± Lee Zheng tried his best to stop Chen Ge.

    ¡°I am not good at educating children, so I can only treat these children who are bullying others as adults, and if they¡¯re adults, things will be much simpler.¡± Chen Ge raised the hammer while murmuring someone¡¯s name. In the cramped staircase, a thick scent of blood bloomed. A twisted hand appeared next to Chen Ge before slowly falling on his shoulder.

    ¡°Capture them all, bring them back with us so that we can give them some corrective education.¡±

    The head that dangled on the shoulders slowly raised itself. The body that was ruined from the car idents was slowly recovering as the woman raised her head. The Red Specter from White Dragon Cave Tunnel had been summoned. She seemed to have a natural curiosity toward the world outside the tunnel. When the thin blood fog surrounded her body, it gave her a desire to kill everything before her.

    After Xu Yin led Doctor Gao away, Bai Qiulin was too weak to deal with any dangerous ident. So, to ensure his own safety, Chen Ge used his other trump card¡ªthe woman from the tunnel.

    With a Red Specter forging the way forward, he could charge forth with abandon. No matter where, no matter when, a Red Specter was the scariest presence. When the children in the building saw the Red Specter approach, they started to run and hide on instinct. The few children who grabbed Tong Tong also had to put their smiles away. They charged ahead like their lives depended on it. From how Chen Ge saw it, it felt like the children werepleting a mission, which was to lure Chen Ge to the top floor.

    ¡°The top floor is very dangerous! Don¡¯t go there!¡± Lee Zheng called out urgently from the back. He seemed to have gained some information from Jia Ming. Compelled by the urgency of the moment, he abandoned Scissors and the drunkard and moved to chase after Chen Ge.

    With the Red Specter leading the way, Chen Ge could stop worrying about the danger that might appear along the way. He calmed down to dissect a few important questions.

    ¡°The painting that was drawn by the cooperation of the Pen Spirit and Yan Danian showed Ol¡¯ Zhou and Men Nan hiding inside a small room. They were not captured but temporarily trapped. In other words, the shadow does not really have a full control of the situation. He has been caught up in the fight with Doctor Gao, and he only disappeared from my eyes several moments ago. How did he manage to set up so many scary traps in such a short amount of time?

    ¡°The shadow has fought Zhang Ya before, and he knows that I have a Greater Red Specter with me. Therefore, the only possibility he has is toe up with a trap that can threaten a Greater Red Specter before he can deal with me. But I doubt something as powerful as a trap like that can be constructed on short notice.¡±

    Chen Ge knew all this perfectly. He narrowed his eyes, and suddenly, a small detail shed across his mind.

    ¡°I know!¡± Without lowering his speed, Chen Ge rushed up the stairs without stopping. The higher he went, the deeper the resentment the children carried. They changed from lingering spirits to baleful Specters. Beyond level eleven, some of the children¡¯s shirt were stained with blood, and Chen Ge even saw a young man who was a half Red Specter. Without the aid from the woman in the tunnel, with just him and Bai Qiulin, their journey would have stopped at the eleventh floor.

    However, even with the woman¡¯s aid, their journey was not easy. Complicated paintings started to show up on the wall. They were painted with some kind special, dark liquid. Chen Ge had encountered this kind of liquid at the hotel earlier. It could cause some kind of influence on Red Specters. Now Chen Ge regretted using such a valuable item to provoke the headless woman. ncing at the wall, the paintings on the wall were all painted in this dark liquid, and walking past them gave Chen Ge plenty of difort.

    ¡°All the paintings look rough; they look more like doodling of a bored child. Could these paintings have been made by the ghost fetus?¡±

    The woman who walked ahead suffered most of the pressure, and her condition was not looking so good.

    ¡°These paintings can weaken even a Red Specter. Is it because they have something to do with the presence above a Red Specter?¡± Looking at these paintings, Chen Ge noticed that they were merely recording mundane everyday activities, but for some reason, they made the hair on Chen Ge¡¯s back stand on end. He could not exin why he would be afraid of these things. ¡°Could the pictures on the wall refer to the things that I¡¯ve once experienced? But howe I don¡¯t have any memory of them at all? No, these should be the memory of the ghost fetus¡ªthey have nothing to do with me.¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge! What are you doing? Quickly follow me downstairs!¡± Lee Zheng and Jia Ming followed closely behind him. The paintings did not seem to have much of an effect on normal human beings. They were unable to feel the deep resentment and hatred inherent in the paintings.

    ¡°They still have my employees, how can I, the boss, abandon them and run away on my own?¡±

    Resisting the pressure, the woman in the tunnel and Chen Ge reached the top floor of the building, but Tong Tong had already disappeared. All Chen Ge could see was the door that led to the roof, which had been left half open.

    ¡°The shadow allocated so many resources just to luring me here?¡± The door that led to the roof was covered in ck paintings, but the content of the paintings was different from the ones on the wall. They were no longer about life, but they described many death scenarios that were impossibly cruel.

    The child in the painting experienced various kinds of death, and he had been alone throughout it all. He did not understand the meaning of his presence like the purpose of his life was to await and experience a harsher death.

    The dark paintings when viewed from afar seemed to form the shape of a human and curiously enough, the shape of the human matched Chen Ge¡¯s a bit too well. The color of the ink at the bottom part of the strange paintings were rtively light. As the paintings grew, the darker it became. It felt like the monster would return every time he grew older and used the paintings to fill up its body.

    Initially, the shape of the paintings should be that of a child, but it had grown with time, simr to Chen Ge. However, Chen Ge¡¯s growth was apanied by light and hope while the growth of the thing on the wall was filled with various scary and improbably ways of death.

    ¡°Tong Tong is just behind this door.¡± Chen Ge looked at the door that led to the roof, and he felt his consciousness fading. It was as if the methods of death were slowly drilling themselves into his mind, trying to make them his own memory.

    ¡°I have not experienced these things! These are not my memory!¡± Chen Ge raised the hammer and nned to shatter the door before him, like he was under the impression that once the door was broken down, the painful memories that did not belong to him would disappear.

    His expression was twisted, and just as the hammer was about to fall, he felt a piercing pain around his heart like someone had poked him with a needle. The shot of pain brought Chen Ge out of the haze. In just this short moment, his back was wet with sweat. Reaching into his chest, Chen Ge pulled out the two simr-looking keys from his chest pocket.

    ¡°Self-perceptive Key?¡± The rust on the keys had fallen away for the most part. Chen Ge still had not understood how to correctly use the keys, but it seemed like it was the keys that had helped him moments earlier.

    ¡°If his memory melded into mine, then the consequences would have been unimaginable.¡± Chen Ge put down the hammer and looked at the half-open door. Like a mad person, he spoke to the inanimate object. ¡°Who are you? Why do you hate me that much?¡±

    ¡°We should not stay at this ce any longer, let¡¯s leave now!¡± Lee Zheng looked around him with alert. His hand went to the gun around his waist. He was about to take it out when Chen Ge slowly turned around to stare directly at him.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Holding the hammer, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were bloodshot.

    ¡°Me? I¡¯m Lee Zheng! Chen Ge, what¡¯s up with you?¡± Lee Zheng¡¯s hand was over the holster. He wanted to take out the gun, but he realized that Chen Ge was ready to hammer his hand if he reached for the gun.

    ¡°You are not Lee Zheng.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice was hoarse. ¡°You said earlier that when you entered Li Wan City, you contacted the rest of the station. At the time, you were pursuing Jia Ming alone. When we encountered each other at the hotel, I did not see you carrying a walkie-talkie, and the range of a walkie-talkie is limited, so I believe that you were using your phone tomunicate with the rest of your team.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with using my phone?¡±

    ¡°Before entering Li Wan City, I received messages from you. Your voice and speech pattern were simr as Inspector Lee¡¯s, but due to the unique circumstance that I was in, I couldn¡¯t answer your call, so I had you write me messages.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were filled with blood, but his voice slowly calmed down. ¡°When Doctor Gao was battling the shadow, it was just around the time that you all disappeared. Now that the shadow has stopped fighting Doctor Gao, you have reappeared. This can only mean that the shadow is one of you who went missing.¡±

    Lee Zheng still wanted to say something but was interrupted by Chen Ge.

    ¡°You were afraid of being exposed, so you used your trump card earlier than necessary and had the curses dispense of the people who were waiting outside the tunnel. That way, you¡¯d be able to continue hiding your real identity.¡± Chen Ge took a step forward, and the woman from the tunnel shielded by his side. ¡°In the beginning, I only had a suspicion, but now, I can finally confirm that you are the shadow.¡±

    He opened theic to release a weak and sickly ck puppy. The puppy was overjoyed when he saw Chen Ge, but when it saw Lee Zheng, it moaned in confusion.

    ¡°You are the most unique presence to him. You might be able to trick the rest of us, but you will never be able to trick the ¡®person¡¯ who saw you as his whole world.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at the ck dog that he had brought out from the doghouse.

    Seeing the ck phone, Lee Zheng¡¯s hand that went to the gun slowly rxed. The anxiety and anger on his face slowly dispersed, and in its ce was a deep serenity.

    ¡°This is just ironic. This is the one good thing I¡¯ve done in my life, and it became the clue for you to see through my disguise.¡± Lee Zheng looked at the puppy, and the coldness in his eyes caused the puppy to cower in fear. ¡°I should have killed it. Back then, I figured it would fun to keep it tortured.¡±

    Once he finished, Lee Zheng closed his eyes. His body crumbled to the ground, but his shadow stood upright, maintaining his earlier posture.

 Chapter 671 - The Most Romantic Thing I Can Think Of [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 671: The Most Romantic Thing I Can Think Of [2 in 1]</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    As Chen Ge raced up the stairs, many other things raced through his mind. The shadow and Doctor Gao were equally injured, and what kind of trap could the shadow set up in such a short amount of time?

    The shadow had no idea how much Chen Ge had, and if Chen Ge was given the chance to summon his Red Specters, then the chance of the shadow winning would drop. Even if he led Chen Ge into a trap, with the protection of a Greater Red Specter, it might not be certain death for Chen Ge. Therefore, under such circumstances, the shadow might use another method to kill Chen Ge, like abandoning the aid of the ghosts and using something more direct like Lee Zheng¡¯s gun.

    If Chen Ge was not cautious around Lee Zheng, he would not have summoned any Red Specters to guard himself when Lee Zheng wandered near. The shadow only needed to hide his evil intention to prevent detection from the Red Specter. Then, he only needed to unsheathe pistol and pulled on the trigger lightly, and Chen Ge would be dead. Compared to creating a trap that might not be useful, this was the simplest and most efficient method.

    The shadow knew that the higher Chen Ge was, the more the power of the Red Specter would be suppressed. This ck substance shoulde from an existence more powerful than a Red Specter, and it could greatly influence Red Specters. With such an advantage, the chance of the shadow¡¯s victory would drastically increase.

    Actually, everything followed his expected development, but the final result had somehow surprised him. Before he could take out Lee Zheng¡¯s gun, Chen Ge had already seen through his real identity. Inside the darkened corridor, the blood fog drifted, echoing the cries of nearby children.

    The shadow stood several meters away from Chen Ge. His shape was slowly changing, and his height pulled upward until he morphed into someone who looked like Chen Ge.

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem like you¡¯re not ready to meet me yet.¡± Chen Ge looked at the shadow, and a strange feeling overwhelmed him. It was like he was talking at a mirror in the middle of the night.

    ¡°You¡¯re mistaken. Since the moment you abandoned me, I knew this day wille, but I admit, it is slightly different from how I nned it.¡± The shadow¡¯s voice was slowly changing, and he sounded more and more like Chen Ge. ¡°I thought that the next time we met, I would be the human, and you would be the shadow.¡±

    ¡°Do you so desperately want me to be your shadow?¡± Chen Ge stood where he was. The shadow could hold his own against Zhang Ya, so his power should be simr to that of a Greater Red Specter. Even though he was currently heavily injured by Doctor Gao, it did not mean that Chen Ge could put his guard down.

    ¡°One without a shadow is not long for this world. I hope that you can be my shadow so that I can make you experience all the deaths that I¡¯ve experienced in the past.¡± The voice was changing until it mimicked Chen Ge¡¯s voice perfectly.

    ¡°You hate me so much, but what have I ever done to you?¡± Chen Ge did not think that he suffered from amnesia, and in his memory, he had not done anything too over the top in his childhood.

    ¡°Looks like you have really forgotten everything, but it doesn¡¯t matter, I¡¯ll help you remember everything. Inside the door, outside the door, you and me, you inside the door, and finally me outside the door.¡± With each word, the shadow¡¯s body grew taller. He was standing on the lower step, but he had be taller than Chen Ge. ¡°You have not done anything to me. You live under the sunlight, surrounded by warmth,ughter, and hope; you have enjoyed everything that is good about life. However, the curses, mocking and deep resentment that others directed at you have all been transnted onto me!¡±

    ¡°All of my negative emotions are on you?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s brow raised.

    ¡°Negative emotions is not enough to exin the abyss-like despair that I¡¯ve slowly sunk into. I saw myself slowly falling, but I could not make any noise. My neck was strangled, and my body was cut into pieces. I couldn¡¯t open my lips; I couldn¡¯t breathe; I couldn¡¯t die even if I desperately wanted to!¡± The shadow¡¯s voice was rising. ¡°Initially, I did not want to harm anyone. Even if I was entangled in endless curses, even as I floated in the sea of despair, even if I experienced a pain that you could never imagine, I never thought of hurting another individual.¡±

    The shadow¡¯s body was expanding and contorting. The paintings on the wall seemed toe alive as well. The ck figures inside the painting reyed their deaths again and again.

    ¡°Then, one day, my despairing self saw the door at your house!¡±

    The shadow¡¯s words alerted Chen Ge immediately. He knew that there was a door inside the Haunted House¡¯s toilet, but he had no idea who the door-pusher was. ¡°Were you the one who pushed it open?¡±

    ¡°When the curses dragged me into the depth of hell, the door was already there, but my despair was not strong enough to push open the door. It was only strong enough to let me hear the voiceing from behind the door.¡± The suffocating presence that radiated off the shadow grew. ¡°There was someone calling your name from behind the door. You could not hear it, but I responded on your behalf.¡±

    The shadow¡¯s slippery and sinister voice caused the hair on Chen Ge¡¯s neck to stand on end. ¡°And it was from that moment onward that I realized, why couldn¡¯t I be you? Why should I suffer in the darkness when you are bathing in the sun? I am your shadow, but that does not mean that I have to suffer the pain that should be yours!¡±

    When he said thest word, an arm reached out from the spot where his heart should be and lunged toward Chen Ge. It was very sudden like everything that he had said so far was just a distraction to prepare for this ambush. The shadow had been injured in his battle with Doctor Gao. His shape was fading, but this arm that reached out from his chest was as real as they came. It appeared like the fingerprint underneath each finger had been carved out by blood vessels before.

    The woman from the tunnel moved to block in front of Chen Ge when the shadow made his move, but she had greatly underestimated the shadow¡¯s power. The arm poked through her body directly. It carried her blood and gripped at Chen Ge!

    ¡°It¡¯s time!¡± Theic inside his backpack gave off a soft voice, and a page ofic withered upon itself instantly, but at that moment, the ck arm stopped for a second!

    The woman whose body was punctured wailed. She had died from a car ident, and her body had already been ruined at her time of death. She used both of her hands to grip the arm that poked through her body. The woman ignored the arm and allowed it to dangle inside her body. She hung onto the shadow¡¯s body and started to attack the shadow madly.

    The woman from the tunnel was different from other Red Specters. Under her dress, it was a ruined body. The flesh was falling apart, and the bones were shattered. Furthermore, her special power seemed to be rted to these broken bones. The blood red bone chips stuck into the shadow¡¯s body. The woman¡¯s body started to shift, and it felt like she was trying to use her body to consume the shadow.

    ¡°Just now, my attack slowed down for a moment. What kind of ghost gave you that power?¡± The shadow turned to nce at Chen Ge. ¡°Just how many Specters are you carrying?¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you have a guess?¡± Chen Ge wanted to get to the bottom of the door inside the Haunted House, so he did not retaliate against the shadow. Yan Danian and the woman in the tunnel had bought valuable time for Chen Ge. He moved backward, calling Zhang Ya¡¯s name in his heart.

    ¡°Even facing certain death, you are able to smile. Everything that you are able to do now is because of me.¡± The shadow¡¯s voice turned icier. His body was slowly distorting under the relentless attack from the woman, but he did not seem to mind it even a bit. All he showed was a pointed hatred toward Chen Ge. ¡°This ce has already been ruined, so there is no need to keep it around anymore. The children that have been transported to the ghost fetus should be enough to help him perform a sessful birth.¡±

    The ck paintings on the wall started to change. All the little ck figures that suffered from endless deaths in the paintings started to crawl out, and they melted into the shadow¡¯s body. All the children inside the building released this strangeughter. They could no longer be viewed as innocent children¡ªthey had be nothing more than the shadow¡¯s puppets.

    ¡°The children inside this building are all sacrifices for the ghost fetus? Just how many people you have buried in Eastern Jiujiang?¡± The door behind Chen Ge had the biggest change. The ck human shape that looked just like him was slowly turning lighter as incapacitated ck figures, possessed by hatred and resentment, crawled out of the door one after another. Each of them carried two faces, one was their own face and the other looked ny percent like Chen Ge.

    This was indeed a scary scene, but the shadow seemed to enjoy this process a lot. ¡°The ghost fetus¡¯ resentment is too deep, and there is no way that he can be born via a normal method. So, I have to use these children to share and dispense part of his resentment. Now, you know the truth, yes? So many children, and they were barely enough to exhaust a part of the ghost fetus¡¯ resentment. You can imagine how much pain I have had to suffer because of you!¡±

    Innocent smiles were missing from the children¡¯s faces. Their facial expressions were dull and strange¡ªthere was a hatred toward life that could be seen in them. Even for Chen Ge, this felt totally scary. If no one did anything, any of these children could have led to the formation of a new ghost fetus, and that was probably the most desired oue for the shadow.

    As the small ck figures entered his body, the shadow¡¯s body started to solidify again. The dark curse coursed through the surface of his body, forcing out the bone chips that the woman from the tunnel had pushed into his body earlier. A normal Red Specter was unwilling to go near the curse. When the little ck figures showed up, the woman from the tunnel had contorted her body and quickly escaped from the shadow¡¯s side.

    ¡°The reason I¡¯ve not reached out to you is because I¡¯ve been biding my time until the day when I can make you into my shadow, but you voluntarily appeared to disturb my n.¡±

    Children¡¯s faces appeared on the shadow¡¯s body. All of the children had already lost the thing that made them human, and they all carried strange smiles. ¡°A person without a shadow is notplete, and I will make you my shadow!¡±

    When the shadow was ready to make his first actual attack, a loud crash came from outside the building. Looking out the window, a group of chains was crazily whipping the exterior of the building.

    ¡°It was you who led that damnable madman here, right?¡± The shadow seemed to be a bit powerless before Doctor Gao. ¡°I¡¯ve onlye up with the solution to detain the Red Specter that you have, but I am surprised you managed to find the second Greater Red Specter. However, even with their help, you are unable to change the result, unless you can find a third Greater Red Specter.¡±

    Chen Ge heard a discrepancy in the shadow¡¯s words. He tried to call Zhang Ya, but to his despair, at this most crucial moment, Zhang Ya did not seem to give him any response.

    ¡°I know that Red Specter is living inside your shadow, but don¡¯t you forget, I am your real shadow!¡± The blood fog parted, and the whole building echoed with the shadow¡¯s maddenedugh.

    Using the weak light from the blood moon, Chen Ge saw that the shadow¡¯s feet had connected to his own. As the little ck figures melted into the shadow, the connection between the shadow and Chen Ge grew.

    ¡°When you were small, your parents should have warned you away from Eastern Jiujiang, right?¡± The shadow¡¯s voice was bubbling with venom and excitement. ¡°They were worried that I would return to your body! My n is wless, so how could I lose? The ghost fetus will be born, and I, the lingering spirit, will revert to your shadow! I will slowly consume your mind and body! I will make you experience all the despair, all the deaths, all the pain that should be yours! I am the demon that you are unable to shake off! I am the past that you can never escape! I am you!¡±

    The whole building could hear the shadow¡¯s voice clearly. He had been waiting for this day for a very long time already. ¡°I will give you my memory and turn you into me, and then you¡¯ll be fed to the ghost fetus to be his shadow! Everything is perfect! Even though there were some idents, the result has already been decided from the beginning!¡±

    Chen Ge called Zhang Ya¡¯s name madly, but there appeared to be something blocking theirmunication, and Zhang Ya was unable to hear his voice.

    ¡°It¡¯s pointless! I am your shadow. The only way she can escape from your shadow is if she takes my ce and turns into your new shadow.¡± The shadow was cackling madly. Then again, the goal that he had been nning for years was about toe into fruition, so how could he not be mad with joy?

    The ink-ck hands gripped Chen Ge¡¯s neck, and the shadow looked down into his eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve taken on the shapes of so many people, but today, I am finally able to turn back into myself!¡±

    His face red due to ack of oxygen, Chen Ge was lifted off the ground, and he was unable to make any noise. At thest moment, a man whose heart was dyed red materialized next to Chen Ge. He hugged the shadow¡¯s arm and tried to pull back, but he was barely able to stop the shadow from lifting his arm. A white cat leaped into the air to gnaw at the shadow¡¯s face, but it phased through the shadow¡¯s body andnded heavily on the ground. Without summoning them and unable to make any noise, many shadows escaped from Chen Ge¡¯s backpack. The shadow¡¯s arms were weighed down by multiple limbs, but that did nothing to change the oue.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The sound of the chains whipping the building became clearer like something was luring the chains to head upstairs. Then, the window on the top floor was pushed open, and a red sh charged toward the shadow!

    The tapered fingers pierced into the shadow¡¯s body. The Red Specter gripped the shadow¡¯s arm, and the usual mncholy on his face had disappeared. In its ce was anxiety and deep anger.

    ¡°You have another Red Specter?¡± the shadow hissed resentfully. For some reason, his hatred for Chen Ge grew. He wished to destroy this man and everything that this man had ever cared about!

    The ck curse coursed into the Red Specter¡¯s body. ck veins started to appear on his bleeding shirt. The curse drilled into his body like worms, and they bit at his face and his heart madly.

    ¡°So painful!¡±

    Gritting his teeth, the blood that leaked out was ck, but he showed no trace of backing off.

    ¡°Disgusting! You people disgust me!¡± the shadow yelled loudly, and more curses, filling up the room, surged into the Red Specter¡¯s body. The blood capiries exploded, and the body was failing as the endless curse ravaged the Red Specter¡¯s body.

    ¡°So painful! So painful! So f*cking painful!¡± Xu Yin¡¯s face was distorted from pain. His body was practically disintegrating, but the empty space near his heart was slowly turning red!

    Without any visible reason, under the duress from the shadow¡¯s endless curse, Xu Yin still had not taken a step back.

    BANG!

    The chains reached in through the open window, and theyshed at Xu Yin like sharks sensing the blood!

    Doctor Gao had arrived, and his target was the flyer that Xu Yin was holding. Covered in curses, the chains that were thick with the scent of bloodshed at Xu Yin, but simr to before, Xu Yin showed no sign of evading. If he was hit by the chains, the shadow next to him would be injured as well.

    ¡°Damn you!¡± To avoid the hit by Doctor Gao, the shadow had no choice but to temporarily let go. Chen Ge dropped to the ground, and Bai Qiulin immediately moved to carry his body and grab the backpack. He knocked open the door and ran out to the roof.

    ¡°You can¡¯t escape! I have nned this for too long! There is no escape for you!¡±

    The shadow quickly moved to give chase. The employees from the Haunted House were mmed back, and only Xu Yin was hanging by a thread, but he was unable to stop the shadow alone.

    ¡°Zhang Ya, can you hear my voice?¡± The shadow was under Chen Ge¡¯s feet, and he blocked Chen Ge¡¯s voice.

    ¡°It¡¯s useless. At the fresh water nt, I noticed this! This is your fatal w!¡± The shadow gripped Xu Yin¡¯s head and mmed it heavily on the ground. He dragged the man¡¯s broken body as he stepped toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°Fatal w, you say?¡± Chen Ge paused for a moment like he was considering many things in his mind. He slowly reached his hand into his backpack. ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve been wondering how I should face her. I have no idea what kind of ce she possesses in my heart, but I think I understand it now.¡±

    Chen Ge picked out the treasured love letter from his backpack and then came the lighter. He set the letter on fire. ¡°I don¡¯t need this thing to use as an excuse anymore.¡±

    The fire caught on easily, and Chen Ge¡¯s shadow was boiling. It felt like a ck tsunami wasing!

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± The shadow¡¯s face dropped. His body had started to fade. ¡°You really wish for that Specter to be your shadow?¡±

    Standing up, Chen Ge tossed the ash that remained of the love letter into the wind. ¡°Zhang Ya, stay with me forever. I do not believe that there is anything more romantic in this world than shadowing each other for life!¡±

    BANG!

    A pale arm pierced through Chen Ge¡¯s shadow, and following it was the outpouring of a deep and ck ocean!

    The windows, starting from the top of the building, shatteredyer afteryer!

    Under the shine of the blood moon, a girl leaned against Chen Ge¡¯s back gently.

    ¡°Zhang Ya!¡±

 Chapter 672 - This Is the Ghost Stories Society

    <h4>Chapter 672: This Is the Ghost Stories Society</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    After one died, one¡¯s lingering spirit would only be preserved by attaching oneself to an object, and the object that Zhang Ya possessed was her cursed love letter. Chen Ge burnt the love letter on the roof because he intended topletely abolish Zhang Ya¡¯s painful past; he had found a new vessel for Zhang Ya.

    Like shadow and light, one impossible without the other, from the moment he burned that love letter, he would be Zhang Ya¡¯s object of obsession!

    The ck hair rushed forward like a ck ocean, ravaging and consuming, swallowing everything inside the building.

    The shadow, who clutched Xu Yin¡¯s neck, was stunned. His legs that were joined to Chen Ge were roughly torn away. The pieces of curses wilted in the bloody night like dark snow.

    ¡°You¡¯ll have the Specter be your shadow?¡± A bottled-up anger in the shadow¡¯s heart exploded, and his body kept changing and shifting. ¡°This should not have happened; this is different from what I nned!¡±

    Throughout Ming Yang Residence, the four buildings were bombarded with the ear-splitting cries of children. Many short little figures crawled out from the windows, all moving toward a particr room inside the building that Chen Ge and the shadow were standing on.

    Soon, inside the building situated on the western side, a slender shadow moved out from the room, dragging a snow-white arm with him. That arm belonged to Xiao Bu. It stood by the edge of the building and bit into the arm with its mouth, and something that caused Chen Ge¡¯s hair to rise happened. Endless ck shadows started to tear down the arm. With each bite, a dark bite mark would appear on the arm, and with each bite mark, the shadow grew that much stronger. ¡°You are my shadow; I will make you my shadow!¡±

    Ming Yang Residence was ced outside of Li Wan City, but the blood fog from Li Wan City had been moved there. It rushed toward Ming Yang Residence like a palpable wave.

    ¡°Not enough, this is not enough!¡±

    The shadow turned to look at other buildings, but what he saw once again brought him disappointment.

    On top of the southern building, a strange man with a strange smile fixed on his face carried Xiao Bu¡¯s broken body to the roof. His body was cracked, and the open gashes were like mouths that were open up in smiles.

    Inside the northern building, it seemed to be raining blood. A mad woman wearing a red raincoat, whose lips were sewn shut, was cutting down all the shadows while protecting Xiao Bu¡¯s body part.

    ¡°Boss!¡± Underneath them came Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s voice. The shadow and Chen Ge both turned to look at the same time. Xiao Bu¡¯s limbs and head were the key for the shadow to control Li Wan City. To control the door that had gone out of control, to make Xiao Bu into a puppet that he could easily control, he had poured a lot of effort onto Xiao Bu, but now, everything was being ruined by Chen Ge.

    The shadow only had ess to one of Xiao Bu¡¯s arms. His control of Li Wan City was far weaker than Xiao Bu¡¯s control over it.

    ¡°Why do you want to help this person? He lives under the sun, bathes in hope, surrounded byughter, but I am the one who inherits all of his hatred and curses!¡±

    Unable to move the blood fog from Li Wan City any further, the small shadows surged back into the shadow¡¯s body. He red at Chen Ge, his eyes filled with venom. Chen Ge did not answer the shadow¡¯s interrogation. His fingers caressed the ck hair that flowed through him. ¡°I¡¯ve never bathed in hope and lived under the sun, much less being surrounded byughter. I am merely lucky to have found a group of kind-hearted people.¡±

    The ck hair blocked Chen Ge¡¯s sight. The brightest red walked past Chen Ge. The slender fingers reached out to pick out the ck snow that almost fell on his body. The fingers tightened, and the curse of the shadow turned into ash before it could even wail in mercy. Zhang Ya stood before Chen Ge and titled her head to look at Xu Yin, whose neck was in the shadow¡¯s grasp.

    ¡°You wish to save him?¡± The shadow grabbed Xu Yin¡¯s head with one hand. Before he could say the second sentence, his head was grabbed by a pale arm. Without any hesitation, the ck hair rushed forward like a wave. Zhang Ya gripped the shadow¡¯s head and mmed it into the ground.

    BANG!

    A hole opened up in the ground, and they fell through a whole floor, but that was just the beginning!

    Unable to control the blood fog from Li Wan City, unable to use the power behind the door, and having just fought a heavy battle with Doctor Gao, the shadow was the weakest that he had ever been. He did not expect Zhang Ya to suddenly make her move, and he did not expect that in several days, this Red Specter had be even scarier!

    When Zhang Ya fought the shadow, Chen Ge found Xu Yin whose body was almost torn apart at the edge of the roof.

    ¡°You...¡± As if knowing that he had ced his boss¡¯ life in good hands, the static that came from the recorder gradually weakened. His hand that ced over his chest slowly slid away, revealing the heart that hadpletely dyed red.

    The grimace on the man¡¯s face slowly smoothed out. Xu Yin looked at Chen Ge, and the corner of his lips twitched like he wanted to make an expression that he had not made before. However, he failed even after multiple attempts and reverted to his usual expression.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine now.¡± Chen Ge picked Xu Yin up from the floor. The static disappeared, and the blood red tape stopped moving. The heavily-injured Xu Yin had returned to the recorder.

    ¡°Was he trying to make a smile earlier?¡± Chen Ge stood up and epted the backpack from Bai Qiulin. Theic, recorder, ballpoint pen, and doll were all inside. ¡°Everyone is still with us; I suppose that is already lucky enough.¡±

    The building under his feet was shaking. Other than Zhang Ya¡¯s ck hair and the snow that was formed from the shadow¡¯s curse, there were shackles carved with human faces that snaked through the building. Echoes of screams boomed in his ears. Chen Ge looked over the side of the roof. Doctor Gao, who was on all fours, climbed up the side of the building like a beast. His bloody red eyes stared directly at Chen Ge.

    ¡°I¡¯ve found you, Chen Ge...¡±

    As Doctor Gao approached, a pale hand appeared to stand before Chen Ge. Compared to the shadow, Doctor Gao posed a bigger threat to Zhang Ya. The red fluttered in the moon¡ªZhang Ya at her prime was like a blood red sun while Doctor Gao, who carried all the curses in Li Wan City, looked more like an ¡®abyss¡¯. Endless negative emotions and curses coursed through his body; he alone represented the endless abyss of despair.

    ¡°Mad doctor, why don¡¯t you work with me? I know you wish to get something from that man. I can gift him to you and even tell you all the secrets about him.¡± The shadow¡¯s life was much hardier than they had expected. He was like an unkible monster who would only weaken but never really disappear.

    Doctor Gao did not answer the shadow. His status was very strange. He looked like he was merely operating based on the little memory that remained in his mind. Chen Ge did not know what he wanted to do, but he knew that if he did not do anything, Zhang Ya might be attacked by both Doctor Gao and the shadow.

    A chaotic battle was about to ensue. Chen Ge summoned Xu Yin to have him return the ghost stories society¡¯s flyer. On that familiar flyer, the door that represented ghost stories society had been pushed open, and a pale hand was reaching out from within.

    Having met in person, Chen Ge recognized the arm as Doctor Gao¡¯s. He hadid some kind of trap on all the flyers, but his n was misdirected somehow. Apparently, a link in his n had fallen through.

    Holding the flyer, Chen Ge stood behind Zhang Ya and told Doctor Gao, ¡°You have forgotten too many things. I will help you remember them! You were once the chairperson of the ghost stories society, and I am the member that you handpicked to join; this flyer is the best evidence of that!¡±

    The mention of ghost stories society caused a flicker through Doctor Gao¡¯s bloodshot eyes.

    ¡°Don¡¯t listen to him! Follow your heart!¡± the shadow yelled in panic. He did not dare to imagine being attacked by both Zhang Ya and Doctor Gao.

    ¡°Yes, you have to follow your heart!¡± Chen Ge raised the flyer up high. ¡°Before you passed away, you handed the ghost stories society to me. I am your most trusted friend, and that is why you remember my name! Yes, I am Chen Ge! I am the current chairperson of the ghost stories society, Chen Ge! And behind me, these Specters and Red Specters that stood at my side, they are now everything that the ghost stories society represents!¡±

 Chapter 673 - Ghost Fetus

    <h4>Chapter 673: Ghost Fetus</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    Chen Ge did not lie. Everything that he had said was truthful, and even a micro-expression expert would not be able to find any problem with his statement.

    ¡°Currently, I am the only living member of the ghost stories society; I am the whole society¡¯s only hope. I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re searching for me, but I know that you must have something important to tell me!¡± Taking a step forward, Chen Ge raised the flyer above his head. ¡°Li Wan City has taken one-third of the society¡¯s hidden treasure. Closing the door that has gone out of the control was your dying wish! Today, I am here despite of the dangers and threats to my life because I n to reim what should belong to the ghost stories society!¡±

    The shadow was a master at maniption. When he heard what Chen Ge said, he felt increasingly unsettled. The man did not seem like he was lying, and he had arrived here to help lead the way for the doctor.

    ¡°You two...¡±

    Chen Ge did not give the shadow that chance to speak. He spoke over him as he stared into Doctor Gao¡¯s eyes. ¡°Remember the words that you once told me! Think of the promise that we made! Think about your daughter, she is still waiting for you toe home!¡±

    A human being was a very unique lifeform. Even if he was carrying all the negative emotions behind a door, even if he was consumed by the curses of the whole town, even if he had transformed into a walking abyss, there was still a human emotion lying within Doctor Gao that perhaps the man himself did not realize, and that was his memory of Gao Ru Xue.

    The red eyes slowly moved, and Doctor Gao stared at the shadow who stood at the other side of the roof. The blood red coat fluttered in the wind, and ck blood dripped down the side of the building.

    Chen Ge had no idea what had happened to Doctor Gao behind the door, and he was confused because the wife who always apanied him had disappeared. However, there was one thing that he was clear about. Doctor Gao seemed to have lost his rationality after consuming too many Specters and Red Specters.

    Losing his memory, he could only act on instinct, and there were probably two reasons why he remembered Chen Ge. One, before the doctor perished, he had left many dying wishes with Chen Ge, including closing the door in Li Wan City and taking care of his daughter, Gao Ru Xue.

    Two, it was probably because Doctor Gao had made his n surrounding Chen Ge, and he had evene up with the ns after death. Everything was rted to Chen Ge and his Haunted House. It was why he could remember Chen Ge so clearly.

    The man could have gone insane due to multiple reasons, and it was incredibly difficult to fully cure a maddened man because the first adversary that he needed to face was himself.

    Chen Ge realized that, and it was why he had stepped forward then. He knew that Doctor Gao would not recover with just a few of his words, and he did not expect Doctor Gao to stop attacking him. He merely wanted to shift the attention that Doctor Gao had on him onto the shadow. After taking down this element of uncertainty in the shadow, everything else could be settledter.

    ¡°Doctor Gao, even though you have lost your memory, even though you have transformed into a Red Specter, in my heart, you will always be the chairperson. It was you who showed me what a real ghost story was, and it was you who made me understood the true meaning of a ghost stories society!

    ¡°So, stop hesitating. The door in Li Wan City once belonged to the society, and it will return to the society in the future!¡±

    The chains carved with human faces reached out from the building and slithered up the walls¡ªtheir target was the shadow. The shadow did not expect Chen Ge to really convince a maddened Red Specter, but he soon discovered that something worse was awaiting him. When the chains slithered toward the shadow, the ck hair blocked his way like an imprable wall. Zhang Ya hadunched her attack at the same time.

    ¡°He is not a Red Specter, but he is much more resilient than a Red Specter. We¡¯d better surround him and figure out a way topletely abolish him.¡± A madman and a man who was not much better than a madman, these were the former and current chairperson of the ghost stories society. It had to be said that Doctor Gao did have a good eye in choosing his sessor.

    ¡°I am your shadow. If you want to kill me, it¡¯s easy¡ªdie.¡± The shadow was very weak, but he did not show any trace of resignation, like showing any form of weakness in front of Chen Ge was something shameful.

    ¡°From the moment I burned the love letter, you were no longer my shadow. I don¡¯t know whether I can kill you or not, but I hope you can be quiet and enjoy the ghost story that I¡¯ve specially made for you. Consider it thest parting gift from me.¡±

    Chen Ge retreated. The shadow under his feet connected to Zhang Ya while the shadow stood alone at the other side of the roof.

    ¡°A gift?¡± An uglyugh rumbled out of the shadow. ¡°The first gift that I¡¯ve ever received in my life is a ghost story?¡±

    Thatughter was mixed with the cries of endless children. They cried during each death until they became dull to the sensation of death, until they could find joy in being killed.

    ¡°I will kill you; I cannot wait until the birth of the ghost fetus anymore!¡± After he said that, the shadow¡¯s body solidified. The face slowly turned clearer as the facial features took on a realistic shape like someone surfacing out of the water. The shadow had turned into a second Chen Ge. ¡°I am you, and you are me!¡±

    He plunged his hands into his body, and the curse coursed through his fingers. Patches of scars appeared on his body, and they moved to form unique symbols. Soon, all the symbols gathered around the shadow¡¯s heart to form the shape of a baby.

    However, this baby was different from a normal child. Its heart was beating, and with each pulse, it radiated endless resentment. Looking at it was like looking at the devil picture painted on the door at the Haunted House¡¯s toilet.

    ¡°The ghost fetus!¡± The baby extended its limbs, and the shadow¡¯s body was torn apart. Four thin, spindly limbs reached out from the shadow¡¯s body. Its expression mirrored that of the baby, a kind of hatred toward everything that existed in the world.

    The chains carved with human facesshed at the shadow. Thetter grimaced as more limbs crawled out of his back. They pierced through his body, and the ck liquid that represented the curse spurted out from his body. In an instant, the roof was covered in a ck rain.

    ¡°I remember every single pang of despair that I¡¯ve experienced, and each death only made me stronger. You said that you want to kill me, so I wish you luck because even I don¡¯t know how to kill myself!¡±

    The shadow¡¯s face cracked like a shattered mask. Cracks appeared as blood veins crawled out from the baby inside his chest to suck into the shadow¡¯s body. The baby was growing¡ªit was literally consuming the shadow to elerate its growth.

    ¡°I am the existence closest to death. I enjoy death, and I shall invite all of you to taste death with me.¡±

    The shadow¡¯s face fell off in pieces. The baby by his chest suddenly opened its eyes, and the venomous gaze was aplete replica of that of the shadow¡¯s.

    ¡°Don¡¯t give him the chance, pull the baby away from his body!¡± Chen Ge screamed inmand. As he spoke, Doctor Gao was already charging forward. His expression was demented like an addict in the presence of a drug. He seemed to sense something more powerful than a Red Specter in the shadow.

 Chapter 674 - Scary Doctor Gao

    Chapter 674: Scary Doctor Gao

    <strong>Trantor:</strong>Lonelytree

    <strong>Editor:</strong>Millman97

    Doctor Gao opened both of his arms. Under the blood moon, he appeared even more deranged. Chains crawled out from underneath his coat. They were his means of attack, but at the same time, they were his tool of binding.

    No one knew what had happened to Doctor Gao. He seemed to have bound the chains around himself when he was still conscious. These chains represented despair and negative emotions, and they also represented the human beings and Specters that had died at his hand. The chains bound everyone that he killed, but they also bound the man himself.

    As more chains oozed out of his body, Doctor Gao seemed to have unlockedyers of a seal. An extremely dangerous aura radiated out from the man. The ck blood dripped to the ground, mixed with the curse, and transformed into trails of blood vessels.

    One end was curled around Doctor Gao''s feet, and the other end connected to this world behind the door. The blood-dyed coat fluttered in the wind, and a strange voice echoed from inside Doctor Gao''s body.

    "Such a delicious smile, I wish to shove him inside my body! Eat him! Eat him! Eat him!" It sounded like the voice of a woman. A different face grew on Doctor Gao''s body. Her facial features were not where they supposed to be, but her eyes were filled with gluttony.

    "Shut up!" Hearing the woman''s voice, Doctor Gao poked his hands harshly into his body. Blood burst, and it flowed down the chains.

    "Food that I''ve not tasted before, this is something I''ve not tasted before!"

    "It''s not you, it''s me!"

    "Eat him!"

    Many distinct voices came out from Doctor Gao''s body. Chen Ge now saw that many faces grew on Doctor Gao''s body, and they seemed to have grown into his body.

    "Shut up! I''ll have all of you shut up!" Blood flowed. Starting from the inside, Doctor Gao''s white coat was dyed red once more. His body also started to copse due to his self-mutting attacks.

    Doctor Gao, who had calmed down slightly after meeting Chen Ge, ran into a berserk again. The chains on his body seemed to have the purpose of binding the faces. As the chains fell away, the faces used his body to voice their own desires.

    Even with the wound, the woman ignored the scar and continued tough madly. Actually, Chen Ge had seen this face before. He had once seen her face in the room filled with the pictures of the ghost stories society''s victims. She was one of the people killed by the society.

    Under the influence of negative emotions, she had be a part of something that Doctor Gao had to bear. Different voices came out from underneath Doctor Gao''s blood coat. Chen Ge could not imagine how Doctor Gao would have looked under his coat. He watched from afar as Doctor Gao mutted his own body with his bare hands, but it did not seem to amount to anything.

    Instigated, scolded, and cursed by the different voices, Doctor Gao slowly stopped. The expression on his face gradually shifted to match the faces on his body. His lips tore open widely. One of his eyes was leaking tears, the other was leaking blood, and heughed madly as he charged toward the shadow!

    He attacked indiscriminately. If Zhang Ya''s ck hair blocked his way, he would also tear it down.

    "Confinement, transmutation, and suppression, a Specter with three special properties." The shadow used his own body as nutrients to feed the ghost fetus. The baby would continue to grow until he reached the breaking point where the shadow''s body would crumble. "Li Wan City and the ghost apartment are shielding the ghost fetus'' secret. If I can''t reim this ce, I''ll have to ruin this ce."

    Without hiding or retreating, the shadow bent his legs and shot at Doctor Gao. The shadow''s face was blurring while the baby''s face was bing clearer. Chen Ge, who stood afar, used his Yin Yang Vision and imprinted the child''s face in his mind. Without any preamble, as Doctor Gao came into contact with the shadow, the battle reached its height.

    The word horrifying was not enough to describe the battle. Neither of them seemed to know the meaning of defense. They attacked endlessly. The curse morphed into a spear to pierce into Doctor Gao''s body. The human faces were poked through as wails andughter echoed out from Doctor Gao''s body.

    The chains rattled, resisting the curse. Doctor Gao, who held nothing back, had blood burst out of his body like liquid fireworks. He attacked like he was going to die, and with a determination toward death, he grabbed hold of the shadow.

    The blood around him materialized into a chain and bound the shadow''s body.

    The floor of the roof was a pool of blood. Chains crawled out from the pool, and they lunged at the shadow like hungry pythons. Hundreds of chains surged into the shadow''s body. They punctured him through, immobilizing him on the roof.

    "I wonder, what does a Specter more powerful than a Red Specter tastes like?"

    With a creepy smile on his face, Doctor Gao took a bite out of the shadow!

    His mouth was dripping with curses. Doctor Gao had lost his mind; this Red Specter wished to consume the curse bite by bite.

    "The chains represent confinement, the body carries the power of suppression, and you have the ability to transmute; you are indeed very powerful." The baby''s lips were moving. The chains burned with the curse. The shadow''s body was dissolving, and he slipped away from Doctor Gao''s trap.

    Doctor Gao had not unleashed all of his chains. His true power caused the shadow caution, and he would forever remember the term ''ghost stories society''.

    "His weakness is the baby inside his chest! All the curses are protecting that baby!" Those at the side saw things more clearly. Chen Ge was the one who retained his rationality the most, and he saw through the shadow''s weakness instantly.

    "You again?" When they were battling, the shadow had already moved closer to Chen Ge. His hatred toward Chen Ge was immeasurable. The chains wrapped around the shadow, but the same trick would not work twice.

    He used theyers of curse to protect the baby in his chest, abandoning most of his defense as he moved toward Chen Ge. He wanted to get close to Chen Ge, to kill this human that he hated the most in the world. He did not want to have Chen Ge in his sight again. He hated everything about the man, and the desire to destroy clouded his mind.

    "I''ve never harmed you, and I don''t know what happened to you. If there''s a chance, I hope we can sit down and talk calmly, but unfortunately, both of us know how dangerous the other is." Chen Ge stood where he was. Bai Qiulin and the woman from the tunnel guarded beside him as Chen Ge carefully stood the shadow''s moving pattern.

    This kind of quick advance while at the same time avoiding the lethal attacks was worth studying by Chen Ge. They had the same physiology, but the shadow''s mastery of his physique was much better than Chen Ge.

    Chen Ge had been relying on the hammer and brute force, but after this learning experience, he realized the limitation to pure force. He needed to learn more techniques so that he could escape easier in the future to not create a burden for others.

    With the shadow posing such a big threat, Chen Ge still had the ease to learn the shadow''s technique; it was not because Chen Ge had gained an enlightened view on life but because Zhang Ya was by his side.

    "It is still Zhang Ya who is more reliable. They are all Red Specters, butpared to Doctor Gao and the shadow, Zhang Ya is likely the most normal of them all."

    Her fingers tightened, and ck stripes slowly surfaced on Zhang Ya''s arm. The deathly white skin, the blood red dress, and the strange ck stripes¡­ Zhang Ya, who always wore an expressionless face, turned to the shadow and suddenly smiled.

    This was a particrly meaningful day for her. As a witness to the glorious deration that Chen Ge had made, Zhang Ya wished to turn the shadow into a doll as a keepsake.

    She imagined doing the same during their wedding. She would turn all the guests into dolls, and that way, the happiness of that day would be forever preserved.

 Chapter 675 - Zhang Yas Special Power

    <h4>Chapter 675: Zhang Ya¡¯s Special Power</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    When Zhang Ya had not showed up, the shadow had only felt hatred toward Chen Ge, but after Zhang Ya showed up, the shadow¡¯s hatred of Chen Ge deepened. Initially, he only wanted to turn Chen Ge into his own shadow, but now, he only wanted to murder this man.

    <i>A lingering spirit cannot leave its object of possession, a baleful Specter can move independently of it for a while, and a Red Specter can leave the possessed object for a long time and even find a new object to possess; that currently is the method I use to differentiate between the different types of Specters.</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the approaching shadow.

    <i>But this method is not that useful for Specters above the level of Red Specter. Doctor Gao said that he sensed something beyond a Red Specter in the shadow, so what is the difference between something like that and a Red Specter? The power difference between them should be bigger than the power difference between a Red Specter and normal Specter.</i>

    It was simple to differentiate a Red Specter and normal Specter; the red article of clothing was a clear sign. But what was the difference between a Red Specter and something beyond a Red Specter?

    <i>The shadow can only be considered a Greater Red Specter. After the ghost fetus is born, it will be a real existence above a Red Specter.</i>

    Chen Ge noticed some problems on the shadow.

    <i>The baby in the shadow¡¯s chest is ingesting his body, and he¡¯s using his self to nurture the baby in exchange for power beyond the level that he should have. While that baby looks normal, it gives me a very bad feeling. Looking at it gives me a simr feeling to when I look at the picture of the Specter on the door inside my Haunted House.</i>

    When Doctor Gao was about to be exposed, he had thrown caution into the wind and made a live sacrifice out of several individuals. He had gouged out their eyes and left a painting of a Specter on the door in Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House.

    <i>That Specter might be something more powerful than a Red Specter.</i>

    Thinking back, there were many things worth investigating about the ghost stories society. For example, that box with the ck blood stain. After all, the reason Zhang Ya could grow so quickly probably had a lot to do with the ck blood that she had stolen from the society member. That ck blood was different from the ck blood that dripped out of Doctor Gao¡¯s body, which was colored by curses; it was a pure ckness. Even when it was kept inside the box, one could feel the immense resentment that it was harboring.

    <i>Doctor Gao wouldn¡¯t be nning to lure a monster like that to the door at the Haunted House, right?</i>

    Chen Ge could not guess the goal of the Specter. The only one who knew the truth, the one who set up the trap, had turned mad, and Chen Ge really had no idea whether this was a good thing or not.

    <i>If that is really his n, there¡¯s nothing I can do but increase the number of employees that I have and train them to be stronger.</i>

    <i>As long as Zhang Ya can break through, then most problems can be solved. However, the distance between a Red Specter and the presence above it is huge. Even the shadow took ten years to affect the transformation. It feels like something is stillcking for Zhang Ya to make this evolution.</i>

    Zhang Ya¡¯s power had grown to an impossible level. For once, her power level was simr to the woman in the well at Coffin Vige, but now, she could probably easily take down the well woman.

    <i>Zhang Ya should be hiding some secrets as well. I¡¯ve been treating her kindly, but I realize that I don¡¯t really know her that well.</i>

    A heavy battering sound drew Chen Ge back to the reality. ck blood that carried the curse sshed around, and a seam of ck hair wrapped itself around Chen Ge.

    ¡°Binding, Gluttony, Heart-connectivity, Pain, Sharpness... How do you have so many special properties?¡±

    Under the protection of Zhang Ya¡¯s ck hair, Chen Ge heard the shadow¡¯s voice.

    <i>Did he mention the term ¡®sharpness¡¯?</i>

    Gluttony was the special property of the woman at the hotel. Zhang Ya had consumed her heart, so it was understandable for her to possess that power. Binding was probably Zhang Ya¡¯s own special property, and that was quite a perfect match. After all, she had been using her ck hair to bind her enemies.

    Zhang Ya had consumed the twin children of the devil from the society, and that was probably where she had obtained the special property of heart-connectivity. That exined why Zhang Ya could hear the voices in Chen Ge¡¯s heart¡ªshe had probably connected her heart to Chen Ge way back then.

    But the remaining two special properties confused Chen Ge. Pain sounded like it should be rted to Xu Yin, and Xu Yin had just broken through to be a real Red Specter. Xu Yin himself probably had not understood how to use this special property, so why would Zhang Ya possess it herself?

    Sharpness belonged to the headless woman who was Xiao Bu¡¯s neighbor. She had died under the cuts of many knives, and the intensity of that memory had caused her blood to possess the sharpness quality.

    To ensure that Zhang Ya had not quietly consumed the headless woman, Chen Ge opened theic to peer into it. The headless woman was still there; her body did not fade away, but she did look a lot more obedient.

    <i>The headless woman is a Red Specter I n to have join the Haunted House, and Xu Yin is already an employee who listens to mymand. Does this mean that Zhang Ya can absorb the special properties of other Red Specters through me?</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s mouth widened; he did not think that was even possible.

    <i>The special property that the shadow mentioned should be the special power detailed by the ck phone. Since the shadow can see through the special property of all Red Specters, does this mean that his special property is something like observation?</i>

    This was the first time that Chen Ge heard the term special property, but he believed that the shadow had gotten it wrong this time. Zhang Ya would not possess so many special properties. It was simply that other than the binding power that she already had, she possessed a different power that was deep buried inside her.

    Zhang Ya possessed her own special page in the ck phone. Chen Ge thought that was somethingmon to all Red Specter, but even after Xu Yin became a Red Specter, that did not happen for him.

    Even if Xu Yin had be a Red Specter, he merely upied a line on the list of employees, but his name had turned red.

    <i>Lingering spirits do not have any special powers. A small portion of baleful Specters have special powers, and those are like lucky draws. However, all Red Specters possess a special power. A Red Specter might possess different number of special powers, and the more special powers that they possess, the stronger they¡¯ll be. Based on this logic, what kind of power will an existence above Red Specter possess?</i>

    Chen Ge tried to predict this, and in reality, he was also trying to figure out how to evolve his employees to that stage. The time limitation for the four-star mission¡ªSchool of Afterlife¡ªwas almost up. Li Wan City, a 3.5-star mission, already gave him such a hard time. If he really challenged a four-star scenario, he might die.

    <i>Even though a 3.5-star scenario does not contain an existence above a Red Specter, one can notice their traces. Based on this logic, a four-star scenario should contain the presence of something stronger than a Red Specter.</i>

    Chen Ge took a deep breath. The city that he resided in had plenty of ghost stories, but even in such a unique city, there were only three known four-star scenarios. In other words, the city might be home to three presences stronger than a Red Specter. They were the deepest secret hidden by the city; they represented the darker side of the city.

 Chapter 676 - Scenario Cleared! [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 676: Scenario Cleared! [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    When Chen Ge spent time thinking, the situation of the battle had changed tremendously. Themotion grew louder and louder. The shadow started to show lethargy while being attacked by both Zhang Ya and Doctor Gao.

    The body, which was made from curses, had no shape and no form. Being touched by normal Specters would not harm the shadow. In fact, the contact would cause great injury to the Specters themselves. With that alone, the shadow could have taken down any Red Specter, but unfortunately, he ran into Doctor Gao and Zhang Ya.

    These two Greater Red Specters could take on arge number of curses. It was one thing for them to be immensely powerful¡ªtheir special powers seemed to be a natural weakness for the shadow. Doctor Gao¡¯s confinement and Zhang Ya¡¯s binding proved advantageous when dealing with the shadow. They blocked off his escape, and that cornered him into fighting back against the two.

    The battle between Red Specters was extremely horrifying. Tearing down the other party¡¯s resentment to feed themselves, this was a scene that a normal human being would have trouble imagining. However, it was something that could not have been moremon for Specters.

    The shadow was covered in curses, but the two Greater Red Specters did not care about that. The many things that Doctor Gao was bearing had pushed the man over the brink of insanity. While Zhang Ya looked normal, after the battle, the shadow realized that this woman¡¯s madness was no less than the two chairpersons of the ghost stories society.

    The dark ck body was shattered again and again. ck blood leaked out from the baby¡¯s face. Everyone present could hear a strange voice. It felt like the blood red sky above them was crying, or perhaps it was thisnd that was corrupted by nightmares weeping.

    Tears andughter, they saw a child holding a knife standing in an alley slowly being flooded by the heavy rain. The neck was embraced by a rope. The head was pressed into the bed. Tears mixed together with rain. The child screamed and cried for help. He cried and cried until the corners of his lips turned up into a smile.

    Submerged into the inky way, burned in the fire, sharp knife cuts in fleshless body, and buried inside a ready hole. Unable to breathe, unable to feel the sun on his face, all that he could reach with his hand were the many different ugly scars.

    ¡°Why do you want to kill me? What have I done wrong?¡±

    The shadow¡¯s body was dissipating. The remaining curses transformed into blood capiries and poked into the baby¡¯s heart.

    Shape and form gradually etched onto the baby¡¯s previously featureless face. The soft bones were squeezed into strange shapes while the body filled up with curses and resentment. The baby opened its eyes, staring at Chen Ge, who was shielded by ck hair.

    The heart in its chest beat, and the sky started to rain blood. Chen Ge¡¯s image was burned into the baby¡¯s retina as the baby¡¯s heartbeat heavily. Gasping greedily for air, the baby was looking less and less like a monster made from curses and more like a living human being.

    It had possessed its own baby, but the internal organs were still beating to their own rhythm. Its body felt like it was about to copse from within, but under such circumstances, its lips still moved into the smile. The eyes turned more and more unrecognizable, recing the original cunning and defeat with evil and resentment.

    ¡°These are not the shadow¡¯s eyes!¡± Narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge looked at his own reflection in the baby¡¯s gaze through the gap in the hair. It was a self that he could barely recognize, but he was sure that it was a version of himself!

    ¡°I have died for you so many times¡ªit is about time for you to die on my behalf.¡± The blood capiries erupted, and the shadow¡¯s bodypletely crumbled. The malformed ghost baby crawled out from the chest. As the blood rained down around it, it charged toward Chen Ge, moving ten times faster than before.

    Theyers of ck hair were pulled apart, and even with the shackles binding it, the speed of the ghost baby did not slow down. Its body was gradually worn down, but the image of Chen Ge in its eyes grew clearer and clearer. The curses morphed into ck lines and surged into its eyes, binding tightly around Chen Ge in his eyes. The distance between them was great, but Chen Ge found himself unable to move. He felt like something had immobilized him.

    ¡°How did it do this without any contact? What kind of power is this? A type of curse?¡± The ghost baby drained the shadow dry, and it seemed to be using its own power now. The ck lines around the Chen Ge in the eyes started to burn. ck mes seared Chen Ge in its eyes, and the Chen Ge in reality felt the same pain. It was as if millions of ants were crawling all over Chen Ge, inside and outside his skin. They bit on his skin, inch by inch, leaving behind a burning sensation.

    ¡°All the good that you represent will be nutrients for despair. I will await you at the lowest part of the abyss...¡± The baby¡¯s lips tore apart. It gazed deeply at Chen Ge. ¡°My shadow.¡±

    BANG!

    ck hair blocked Chen Ge¡¯s view as it wound protectively around him. ck hairs crawled into Chen Ge¡¯s body. They consumed the curses little by little¡ªthis was the power of gluttony. The ghost baby was using the power of the ghost fetus. Even for a Red Specter, this kind of curse was hard to stomach, and the ghost baby used it on a living human.

    ¡°He just said that I am his shadow, right?¡± Chen Ge was still unable to control his body, but Zhang Ya was slowly consuming the curse. With a superhuman constitution, Chen Ge did not copse. Through the gap, he opened the eyes to stare at the ghost baby.

    Shackles and ck hair wound around its body, and the ghost baby stopped three meters away from Chen Ge. Zhang Ya¡¯s arm poked through the baby¡¯s eyes while Doctor Gao grabbed hold of the baby¡¯s heart.

    ¡°Just a little bit more, huh?¡± The spine-chilling voice slipped out from the cracked lips. The ghost babyughed in the blood rain. The rising and falling of its chest became more violent as its body started to balloon. ¡°Chen Ge, I will remember this day. As repayment, I will make you remember every single day in the future.¡±

    The ghost baby moved its head away, it turned to look toward somewhere in Eastern Jiujiang. The bones were stretched open, and this one-time use body expanded once more! Strange, ck symbols appeared on the ghost baby¡¯s skin, which seemed to be the most initial curse.

    ¡°Be careful!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s warning still came a bit toote. The ck lines pushed out from inside the body. The ck symbol wasted the body away, and the ghost baby¡¯s body exploded from the inside!

    He felt like his eardrums were about to shatter. For a moment after that, everything was quiet, and his mind was nk. All Chen Ge could feel was his body falling backward before plummeting downward. Lastly, he was held in midair by something.

    When Chen Ge opened his eyes again, he realized that he was hanging outside the ninth floor of the building in a cradle of ck hair.

    ¡°Zhang Ya?¡± The ck hair was still around, but the ones above the 10th floor started to show the symbol of the curse.

    ¡°Was she the one who flung me down?¡± The blood rain had stopped. With the ghost apartment at the center, the echoes of ghostly screams started around them. Themotion that they had created was so huge that it had attracted the attention of all the Specters around Li Wan City.

    ¡°These screams do not seem to fear the shadow. Just how scary is the world behind the door?¡±

    Blood fog covered everything. Even with the Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could not see these monsters¡ªhe could only hear them. The ck hair pulled him upward. When Chen Ge returned to the roof, he was shocked by the scene that he saw.

    When the ghost baby¡¯s body exploded, neither Zhang Ya nor Doctor Gao retreated. The two Greater Red Specters made the same choice then¡ªthey chose to attack the baby in unison!

    Neither of them put up any defense. Half of the ck hair and shackles were ruined, and the worse thing was, the ghost baby¡¯s symbol started to surface on Zhang Ya and Doctor Gao¡¯s bodies. These symbols swam all through their bodies like fish, and it would take a lot of effort to remove them.

    They were in a horrible state. Doctor Gao was missing an arm. The curse and negative emotions could no longer be suppressed, and the faces of the innocent were weeping endlessly.

    Zhang Ya¡¯s body, which was facing the shadow, was imprinted with the curse, and what made her angry the most was that it appeared like her face had been injured as well. Doctor Gao possessed the special power of suppression and transmutation while Zhang Ya had the power of gluttony. Even though they were both seriously injured, neither of them prepared to retreat. They were both holding on, ready for another battle.

    ¡°Why are they so nervous about another battle?¡± Chen Ge looked to the middle of the roof. Doctor Gao¡¯s arm, which had been holding the ghost baby¡¯s heart earlier, was deposited there. It was almost dissolved by the curse, and the greater part of the arm had disintegrated into ck blood, but the ghost baby¡¯s heart was nowhere to be seen.

    ¡°Was it blown up in the explosion?¡±

    After looking around, Chen Ge realized that Doctor Gao¡¯s other remaining arm was holding half of a blood red heart. This heart was only twenty percent the size of a normal heart, and it was covered in the ck pattern.

    ¡°The heart of a Red Specter was blood red in color. Even though this heart is small, it has a constitutional difference to a Red Specter¡¯s heart. The feeling I get from those ck patterns is very dangerous, like a few more nces at them will cause bad things to happen to me.¡±

    Doctor Gao was holding half the heart, and the other half was possessed by Zhang Ya¡ªboth of them wanted what the other was holding. Without any word, Chen Ge silently moved backward. He looked through his backpack and summoned the rest of his employees.

    ¡°Perhaps I can have a logical discussion with Doctor Gao. He is a clear-minded man, so I believe that he will be able to look at the big picture.¡± When the ghost baby¡¯s body exploded, Bai Qiulin and the woman in the tunnel had both hidden inside theic. The curse seemed to only work on living humans and Specters. It did not have much of an effect on inanimate objects.

    Chen Ge actually wanted to ask if the woman from the tunnel feltfortable living inside Ya Danian¡¯sic or not, but considering that Zhang Ya was next to him, Chen Ge astutely mped his mouth shut.

    The two parties maintained the standstill on the roof. The power scale was kept at a sensitive bnce, and a new battle was about to start.

    After about ten seconds, a loud explosion came from the direction of Li Wan City. Everyone turned to see a wave of redness crashing toward Ming Yang Residence. In the thick red fog, Li Wan City¡¯s real owner, Xiao Bu, was rushing toward the ghost apartment with Men Nan and Ol¡¯ Zhou in tow.

    Xiao Bu was not a normal Red Specter. The door in Li Wan City had gotten out of control, and its influence was no longer limited to a single building but had spread to the entire town. As the door-pusher, Xiao Bu¡¯s power was growing. Exactly how powerful she was, Chen Ge had no clue either, but she was certainly no weaker than the gluttony woman at the hotel.

    If it was a normal Red Specter, it would have been fine, but with another Greater Red Specter allying with Chen Ge, the tip of the scale had been upset. As the two chairpersons of the ghost stories society turned to capture Xiao Bu in their sight, they turned to nce at each other, and then they made their move in the same instant.

    ¡°Get moving! I have many things I wish to ask him!¡± As Chen Ge screamed his order, Doctor Gao jumped down from the roof. The shackles pierced into the building, and he dangled downward before disappearing into the blood fog with half of the heart.

    Doctor Gao had made his escape with such rity that it surprised Chen Ge. He had no idea how a madman woulde to such a clear decision so suddenly. Perhaps a trigger inside his heart had been activated, or at this moment, all the ¡®despair¡¯ in Doctor Gao came to this choice in unison.

    ¡°He left just like that. I still have many things about the door at the Haunted House to ask him.¡± Chen Ge did not mind that Doctor Gao had gone insane. He would spend time and effort to help him, but it did appear like Doctor Gao wanted his help.

    After Doctor Gao left, the ck hair on the roof disappeared quickly, and Zhang Ya strode wordlessly to Chen Ge. Her hair blocked half of her face. Just as Chen Ge thought that she was about to say something, Zhang Ya¡¯s eyes swept the woman from the tunnel and then reached into theic to grab the headless woman.

    Ignoring Yan Danian, who was cowering in the corner of theic, Zhang Ya slipped a single strand of her hair around the headless woman¡¯s wrist. Then she leaned against Chen Ge¡¯s back and disappeared into his shadow. Looking at the trail that Zhang Ya had just walked over, there was a long line of ck blood; she seemed to be heavily injured.

    ¡°During the previous fight with the ghost stories society, before she went into her slumber, Zhang Ya handed me a doll that helped me block a fatal blow.

    ¡°This time, she curled her hair around the headless woman¡¯s wrist. Forcing her into submission is probably something to the same effect.

    ¡°Does this mean that Zhang Ya is going into another hibernation? Is it because she is too heavily injured, or does she need time to slowly digest half of the ghost baby¡¯s heart?¡±

    Chen Ge was familiar with Zhang Ya¡¯s personality. When her gaze fell on the woman from the tunnel earlier, she had probably been nning to turn her into a doll. However, in her current condition, Zhang Ya did not have one hundred percent faith that the transformation would be sessful, so she chose the second-best option and weaved her warning into the simrly injured headless woman.

    ¡°Doctor Gao¡¯s situation is worse than Zhang Ya¡¯s, but I still need to be careful. They are both the strongest Red Specters, and now, they possess the heart of the existence stronger than a Red Specter. If Doctor Gao seeds, one night, he might just appear from behind the door at the Haunted House.¡±

    Currently, Doctor Gao was unable to control his negative emotions and curses, but it did not mean that he would not bring them under control after he broke through the limitation and became something stronger than a Red Specter. Once Doctor Gao regained his sanity, he would be a very formidable enemy.

    ¡°The greatest powerbined with the highest intelligence, what should I do? Perhaps I should have Gao Ru Xue move to live with me at the Haunted House. Assign her a room next to the toilet?¡±

    ¡°Boss!¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou arrived to interrupt Chen Ge¡¯s murmuring.

    ¡°Sorry for all the trouble.¡± Chen Ge meant that from the bottom of his heart. He wanted to give Ol¡¯ Zhou a hug, but he phased through the man¡¯s body. Then he understood why. ¡°I¡¯m d that all of you are okay.¡±

    After a brief conversation with Ol¡¯ Zhou and promising Men Nan that he would send him back to Third Sick Hall to fix his window, he ced them inside theic.

    ¡°Xiao Bu, the shadow has been killed already. You are free now, but you mustn¡¯t lower your guard. The shadow¡¯s main body, the ghost fetus, is about to be born, and there is a chance that he will return.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s hint could not have been clearer. Xiao Bu did not give Chen Ge a direct answer. The sound of water dripping came from the staircase. A woman in a red raincoat arrived holding Xiao Bu¡¯s remaining limbs and carrying Tong Tong in her arms. She tried to peel a part of her sewn lips open, wanting to say something to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Have you found your child?¡± Chen Ge understood that the woman in the raincoat had entered the ghost apartment to find her child. He had also seen that the building was filled with children whose memory had been sucked out by the shadow.

    The woman in the red raincoat shook her head. She ced the limbs not far away from Xiao Bu and turned to leave.

    The water from her raincoat slid onto the ground to form this sentence. ¡°I will stay here until the day I find him. Then, I will find you.¡±

    ¡°I know that you wish to thank me, but howe this promise sounds so creepy in words?¡± Chen Ge did not stop the woman. He had plenty of other things to do at the moment.

    <h4>Comment (0)</h4>

    COMMENT FIRSTRate this chapterVote with Power Stone<h4>Chapter 677: New Employees ¨C Do Not Read</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Do Not Read ¨C Major Spoilers ¨C Bugged Chapter, Released Early

    Due to a bug in the system, this chapter, Chapter 677, was released early. We thought that we hade up with a solution, but unfortunately, that did not work. So, until we catch up to where this chapter should have been released, read on at your own risk.

    One of Xiao Bu¡¯s hands was ingested fully by the shadow, while the other remained with the smiling man. While the big battle was happening, the smiling man had already disappeared, probably escaping during themotion.

    ¡°Xiao Bu, now that you have regained most of your body, can you take control of the door?¡± Chen Ge was worried that the door in Li Wan City would continue to expand. Xiao Bu shook her head, and the blood gathered to form her reply.

    ¡°The door has gonepletely out of control; the only thing I can do is to slow down the expansion speed. To have full control over it, I will need to find my entire body.¡±

    ¡°Then, can you open the door to send us out of here?¡± Xiao Bu was, at the very least, the door-pusher, and Chen Ge believed that she would be able to do something like that.

    The blood flowed, and a new sentence appeared on the ground. ¡°Yes, but I can only keep the door open for one minute per day. The door has been under the shadow¡¯s control for too long. I need some time to refamiliarize myself with it.¡±

    ¡°One minute is more than enough.¡± Chen Ge knew that Xiao Bu was unable to leave this ce with him. Just like Men Nan, she needed to stay behind the door to guard it. Understanding that, Chen Ge did not force Xiao Bu to leave with him.

    Probably because she had seen through Chen Ge¡¯s thoughts, the blood on the ground shifted again. ¡°You¡¯ve killed your own shadow, and based on the agreement, I should be your new shadow¡ªI will never forget that. After I gain full control over the ¡®door¡¯, I will find you.¡±

    Xiao Bu¡¯s eyes wandered between Chen Ge and the shadow behind him; it was unclear what she was thinking.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Killing the shadow and then having Xiao Bu be Chen Ge¡¯s shadow was Chen Ge¡¯s parent¡¯s n, but the actual development was far beyond everyone¡¯s expectations. Compared to the more easily controlled Xiao Bu, Zhang Ya was like another extreme. To make her into his shadow, no one could tell what would happen in the future.

    ¡°Right, there is one more thing that I wish to ask you.¡± Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of the question. ¡°The ghost stories society hid one third of its treasures in Li Wan City. Do you know where they might be?¡±

    Xiao Bu shook her head again, and Chen Ge did no press. Be it the shadow or Doctor Gao, they were both wily old foxes, so they certainly would have found a secret ce to hide those things.

    ¡°Doctor Gao¡¯s arrival might have something to do with that. That madman is extremely scary, and I fear he might return. You stay in Li Wan City, and the woman in the red raincoat stays at the ghost apartment. Both of you are my friends, and the friend of my friend is my friend, so if you run into any danger, I hope you two will look out for each other, or you cane to Western Jiujiang¡¯s New Century Park to find me.¡±

    After dealing with Xiao Bu, Chen Ge started to inspect his remaining employees.

    When facing off against the shadow, the employees in the backpack had all volunteered their help. Now, everyone was injured, but thankfully, other than Xu Yin, no one else had been ¡®infected¡¯ by the curse.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Bai, thank you for your help earlier.¡± Bai Qiulin was a gambler who had finally seen the light. He had a heart that burned brighter than the icy exterior that he put on. Facing Chen Ge¡¯s words of appreciation, he appeared rather flustered. Thinking back to his life of more than two decades, this was the first time that he had heard a word of thank from other, and actually, it felt nice to be needed by others.

    ¡°I just happened to be around.¡± Bai Qiulin pushed his hands into his pocket like speaking one more word would im his life.

    ¡°No matter what, if not for you this time, every one of us would have been harmed.¡± Xu Yin had blocked the shadow, and Bai Qiulin had grabbed Chen Ge and the backpack to escape. They had split up their work nicely, and if there was a problem with any section, the one standing there would either have been the shadow or Doctor Gao.

    This type of high-intensity battle was beneficial to Bai Qiulin. The redness around his heart had started to spread, and he could unleash around thirty percent of Xiong Qing¡¯s power. The corner of his shirt and pants started to color with blood stains¡ªBai Qiulin was steadily heading toward bing a Red Specter.

    Compared to Xu Yin, his progress was a lot easier. He possessed Xiong Qing¡¯s heart, so he did not need to find a breakthrough. By consuming more baleful Specters, eventually, he would turn into a Red Specter.

    Actually, after doing some inventory, Chen Ge had gained a lot from this mission. Xu Yin had officially be a Red Specter, and Bai Qiulin had evolved into a Half Red Specter. Zhang Ya had consumed the heart of the glutton woman, and she also had in her possession half the heart of something that appeared to be greater than Red Specter. When she reawakened, she would be even scarier.

    The power of his employees had improved, and Chen Ge had even gained a new batch of employees. A bunch of lingering spirits and baleful specters with special powers and a Red Specter who was ¡®converted¡¯ by Zhang Ya¡ªthe headless woman.

    The key point was that Chen Ge had gained the friendship of Xiao Bu and the woman in the red raincoat. The Haunted House might wee two new Red Specters in the future.

    ¡°If I see my Haunted House as a mission scenario, then its current level should be around three-star and four-star, perhaps closer to four-star than three-star.¡± After checking up on his ¡®ghost¡¯ employees, Chen Ge ran to find the living employees.

    To expand the Haunted House, overreliance on ghosts would not work; he needed a few living employees as well. The mixing of living and dead employees would definitely bring the visitors a wonderful experience.

    Chen Ge found Scissors, the drunkard, the doctor, and the unconscious Lee Zheng on the first floor.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Jia Ming?¡± Chen Ge was cautious about that young man who had been possessed by the shadow for multiple years. He certainly knew a lot of the shadow¡¯s secrets.

    ¡°When you were fighting, he dragged the police officer and started to run madly down the stairs. We saw how strangely he was acting, so we followed him downstairs.¡±

    When the shadow summoned back his full strength to nurture the ghost baby, Scissors and the drunkard had regained their freedom, but there were ck lines that represented the curse remaining on their bodies.

    Chen Ge picked up the handcuff around Lee Zheng¡¯s wrist. Thankfully, he had cuffed himself together with Jia Ming to prevent thetter¡¯s escape. Otherwise, with Jia Ming¡¯s personality, he would not have dragged Lee Zheng to escape unless it was necessary.

    ¡°That man got the key and ran. He sure moves fast.¡± Jia Ming and the student known Bei Ye had escaped. Chen Ge felt like there was a need to detain them because they knew too many things that they should not. He might have thought that way, but of course, Chen Ge would not voice that in front of others. He used his Yin Yang Vision to examine them and realized that their condition did not look that good.

    There were ck lines moving in their eyes¡ªit appeared like they were cursed.

    Scissors and the drunkard¡¯s situation was better. They had consumed the blood vessels prepared for Red Specters at the hotel, and their bodies had undergone some unique changes. Chen Ge could sense that their body temperature had dropped to a lower temperature than normal.

    The doctor¡¯s condition though was less than optimistic. Due to the curse mixed together with the poison that he had drunk earlier, his muscles had started to atrophy. Even though he could still walk, it appeared like he had aged at least a decade overnight.

    ¡°In a way, we have survived a tragedy together. You know many things about me, and I know about the secret in your heart. Currently, you guys are cursed, and I can¡¯t let you wander about just like that. How about this? You can stay with me for now, and I¡¯ll send you back to your home after I help you cure your body of the curse and after you feel better.¡± The responsible Chen Ge suggested an option for everyone.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to take on the responsibility like that. It was our choice to enter Li Wan City. Furthermore, if not for you, we would have died already. You¡¯ve saved us so many times, and we cannot repay you for what you¡¯ve done¡ªhow could we trouble you anymore?¡± The drunkard had woken up from the alcohol a long time ago; his mind could not have been clearer.

    ¡°If you do not remove the curse, your lives will constantly be in danger. We¡¯ve been through too many things together, and I cannot stand by, watching you being tormented by the pain and illness.¡± Chen Ge already collected all of his employees. He patted his backpack.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been saved multiple times by you, and now you¡¯re asking us to upy your home; it really does not sound right,¡± Scissors said. ¡°How about this? If you need any help from us, we will stop at nothing to help you! Do not say no, this is the only thing we can do.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re going to help us remove the shadow¡¯s curse. You¡¯re going to save our lives again!¡± The drunkard and the doctor both turned to Chen Ge.

    ¡°I operate a Haunted House, and as you must have noticed by now, I have the most ¡®professional¡¯ of ¡®actors¡¯ in my team. I don¡¯t need any more help.¡± Chen Ge appeared rather troubled.

    ¡°But we cannot just upy your kindness without doing anything in return! At least give us some job that is within our ability!¡±

    Since they had already said that, it felt wrong for Chen Ge to deny their insistence. He could only ¡®force¡¯ himself to ept. ¡°Okay, but first thing¡¯s first, you are not going to help me for free. I will provide all of you with the standard payment. After all, you need to look after your family, and you¡¯ll need money to survive. This is the only requirement I have; I hope that you won¡¯t reject it.¡±

    Hearing that from Chen Ge, the few felt a warmth suffusing through their hearts. Their appreciation toward Chen Ge was as sincere as it could be.

    ¡°Boss Chen is such a saint!¡±

 Chapter 677 - New Employees

    <h4>Chapter 677: New Employees</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    One of Xiao Bu¡¯s hands was ingested fully by the shadow, while the other remained with the smiling man. While the big battle was happening, the smiling man had already disappeared, probably escaping during themotion.

    ¡°Xiao Bu, now that you have regained most of your body, can you take control of the door?¡± Chen Ge was worried that the door in Li Wan City would continue to expand. Xiao Bu shook her head, and the blood gathered to form her reply.

    ¡°The door has gonepletely out of control; the only thing I can do is to slow down the expansion speed. To have full control over it, I will need to find my entire body.¡±

    ¡°Then, can you open the door to send us out of here?¡± Xiao Bu was, at the very least, the door-pusher, and Chen Ge believed that she would be able to do something like that.

    The blood flowed, and a new sentence appeared on the ground. ¡°Yes, but I can only keep the door open for one minute per day. The door has been under the shadow¡¯s control for too long. I need some time to refamiliarize myself with it.¡±

    ¡°One minute is more than enough.¡± Chen Ge knew that Xiao Bu was unable to leave this ce with him. Just like Men Nan, she needed to stay behind the door to guard it. Understanding that, Chen Ge did not force Xiao Bu to leave with him.

    Probably because she had seen through Chen Ge¡¯s thoughts, the blood on the ground shifted again. ¡°You¡¯ve killed your own shadow, and based on the agreement, I should be your new shadow¡ªI will never forget that. After I gain full control over the ¡®door¡¯, I will find you.¡±

    Xiao Bu¡¯s eyes wandered between Chen Ge and the shadow behind him; it was unclear what she was thinking.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Killing the shadow and then having Xiao Bu be Chen Ge¡¯s shadow was Chen Ge¡¯s parent¡¯s n, but the actual development was far beyond everyone¡¯s expectations. Compared to the more easily controlled Xiao Bu, Zhang Ya was like another extreme. To make her into his shadow, no one could tell what would happen in the future.

    ¡°Right, there is one more thing that I wish to ask you.¡± Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of the question. ¡°The ghost stories society hid one third of its treasures in Li Wan City. Do you know where they might be?¡±

    Xiao Bu shook her head again, and Chen Ge did no press. Be it the shadow or Doctor Gao, they were both wily old foxes, so they certainly would have found a secret ce to hide those things.

    ¡°Doctor Gao¡¯s arrival might have something to do with that. That madman is extremely scary, and I fear he might return. You stay in Li Wan City, and the woman in the red raincoat stays at the ghost apartment. Both of you are my friends, and the friend of my friend is my friend, so if you run into any danger, I hope you two will look out for each other, or you cane to Western Jiujiang¡¯s New Century Park to find me.¡±

    After dealing with Xiao Bu, Chen Ge started to inspect his remaining employees.

    When facing off against the shadow, the employees in the backpack had all volunteered their help. Now, everyone was injured, but thankfully, other than Xu Yin, no one else had been ¡®infected¡¯ by the curse.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Bai, thank you for your help earlier.¡± Bai Qiulin was a gambler who had finally seen the light. He had a heart that burned brighter than the icy exterior that he put on. Facing Chen Ge¡¯s words of appreciation, he appeared rather flustered. Thinking back to his life of more than two decades, this was the first time that he had heard a word of thank from other, and actually, it felt nice to be needed by others.

    ¡°I just happened to be around.¡± Bai Qiulin pushed his hands into his pocket like speaking one more word would im his life.

    ¡°No matter what, if not for you this time, every one of us would have been harmed.¡± Xu Yin had blocked the shadow, and Bai Qiulin had grabbed Chen Ge and the backpack to escape. They had split up their work nicely, and if there was a problem with any section, the one standing there would either have been the shadow or Doctor Gao.

    This type of high-intensity battle was beneficial to Bai Qiulin. The redness around his heart had started to spread, and he could unleash around thirty percent of Xiong Qing¡¯s power. The corner of his shirt and pants started to color with blood stains¡ªBai Qiulin was steadily heading toward bing a Red Specter.

    Compared to Xu Yin, his progress was a lot easier. He possessed Xiong Qing¡¯s heart, so he did not need to find a breakthrough. By consuming more baleful Specters, eventually, he would turn into a Red Specter.

    Actually, after doing some inventory, Chen Ge had gained a lot from this mission. Xu Yin had officially be a Red Specter, and Bai Qiulin had evolved into a Half Red Specter. Zhang Ya had consumed the heart of the glutton woman, and she also had in her possession half the heart of something that appeared to be greater than Red Specter. When she reawakened, she would be even scarier.

    The power of his employees had improved, and Chen Ge had even gained a new batch of employees. A bunch of lingering spirits and baleful specters with special powers and a Red Specter who was ¡®converted¡¯ by Zhang Ya¡ªthe headless woman.

    The key point was that Chen Ge had gained the friendship of Xiao Bu and the woman in the red raincoat. The Haunted House might wee two new Red Specters in the future.

    ¡°If I see my Haunted House as a mission scenario, then its current level should be around three-star and four-star, perhaps closer to four-star than three-star.¡± After checking up on his ¡®ghost¡¯ employees, Chen Ge ran to find the living employees.

    To expand the Haunted House, overreliance on ghosts would not work; he needed a few living employees as well. The mixing of living and dead employees would definitely bring the visitors a wonderful experience.

    Chen Ge found Scissors, the drunkard, the doctor, and the unconscious Lee Zheng on the first floor.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Jia Ming?¡± Chen Ge was cautious about that young man who had been possessed by the shadow for multiple years. He certainly knew a lot of the shadow¡¯s secrets.

    ¡°When you were fighting, he dragged the police officer and started to run madly down the stairs. We saw how strangely he was acting, so we followed him downstairs.¡±

    When the shadow summoned back his full strength to nurture the ghost baby, Scissors and the drunkard had regained their freedom, but there were ck lines that represented the curse remaining on their bodies.

    Chen Ge picked up the handcuff around Lee Zheng¡¯s wrist. Thankfully, he had cuffed himself together with Jia Ming to prevent thetter¡¯s escape. Otherwise, with Jia Ming¡¯s personality, he would not have dragged Lee Zheng to escape unless it was necessary.

    ¡°That man got the key and ran. He sure moves fast.¡± Jia Ming and the student known Bei Ye had escaped. Chen Ge felt like there was a need to detain them because they knew too many things that they should not. He might have thought that way, but of course, Chen Ge would not voice that in front of others. He used his Yin Yang Vision to examine them and realized that their condition did not look that good.

    There were ck lines moving in their eyes¡ªit appeared like they were cursed.

    Scissors and the drunkard¡¯s situation was better. They had consumed the blood vessels prepared for Red Specters at the hotel, and their bodies had undergone some unique changes. Chen Ge could sense that their body temperature had dropped to a lower temperature than normal.

    The doctor¡¯s condition though was less than optimistic. Due to the curse mixed together with the poison that he had drunk earlier, his muscles had started to atrophy. Even though he could still walk, it appeared like he had aged at least a decade overnight.

    ¡°In a way, we have survived a tragedy together. You know many things about me, and I know about the secret in your heart. Currently, you guys are cursed, and I can¡¯t let you wander about just like that. How about this? You can stay with me for now, and I¡¯ll send you back to your home after I help you cure your body of the curse and after you feel better.¡± The responsible Chen Ge suggested an option for everyone.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to take on the responsibility like that. It was our choice to enter Li Wan City. Furthermore, if not for you, we would have died already. You¡¯ve saved us so many times, and we cannot repay you for what you¡¯ve done¡ªhow could we trouble you anymore?¡± The drunkard had woken up from the alcohol a long time ago; his mind could not have been clearer.

    ¡°If you do not remove the curse, your lives will constantly be in danger. We¡¯ve been through too many things together, and I cannot stand by, watching you being tormented by the pain and illness.¡± Chen Ge already collected all of his employees. He patted his backpack.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been saved multiple times by you, and now you¡¯re asking us to upy your home; it really does not sound right,¡± Scissors said. ¡°How about this? If you need any help from us, we will stop at nothing to help you! Do not say no, this is the only thing we can do.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re going to help us remove the shadow¡¯s curse. You¡¯re going to save our lives again!¡± The drunkard and the doctor both turned to Chen Ge.

    ¡°I operate a Haunted House, and as you must have noticed by now, I have the most ¡®professional¡¯ of ¡®actors¡¯ in my team. I don¡¯t need any more help.¡± Chen Ge appeared rather troubled.

    ¡°But we cannot just upy your kindness without doing anything in return! At least give us some job that is within our ability!¡±

    Since they had already said that, it felt wrong for Chen Ge to deny their insistence. He could only ¡®force¡¯ himself to ept. ¡°Okay, but first thing¡¯s first, you are not going to help me for free. I will provide all of you with the standard payment. After all, you need to look after your family, and you¡¯ll need money to survive. This is the only requirement I have; I hope that you won¡¯t reject it.¡±

    Hearing that from Chen Ge, the few felt a warmth suffusing through their hearts. Their appreciation toward Chen Ge was as sincere as it could be.

    ¡°Boss Chen is such a saint!¡±

 Chapter 678 - Little Boy

    <h4>Chapter 678: Little Boy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°My Haunted House in Jiujiang is quite reputable¡ªsearch for it online if you don¡¯t believe me. It is the best ce to work if you¡¯re in the theme park business. When we return, I¡¯ll give you the necessary training, and I hope that you¡¯ll eventually fall in love with this career.¡±

    After the ghost employees, Chen Ge also gained three living employees. Unlike Xiao Gu and Xu Wan, these three knew about what had happened in Li Wan City, so their way of thinking was different from normal, and Chen Ge would not worry about letting them help him handle the underground scenario.

    ¡°This world is not as simple as it looks. The reason I did not want the rest of you to help me earlier is because my Haunted House is a resting ce for some homeless spirits, so...¡±

    ¡°We understand!¡± The few understood Chen Ge¡¯s concern. After witnessing the strange phenomenon at Li Wan City, they could understand Chen Ge¡¯s issue fully.

    ¡°That would be perfect.¡± Chen Ge decided to arrange them to oversee the underground scenarios and deal with emergencies. As the Haunted House continued to expand, the underground scenario would only get bigger, and so would the number of visitors that they would receive. Chen Ge could not handle all that alone.

    ¡°After the sun rises, you should rest for a while and go report your safety to your family,¡± Chen Ge said that and turned to look at Scissors and the doctor. ¡°One of you came to find your elder brother, and the other came to find your wife. Afterward, I¡¯ll lead you on a search around Li Wan City. Hopefully, we can find them.¡±

    Hearing that Chen Ge wanted to help them find their family, Scissors nodded heavily in appreciation, and even the doctor¡¯s expression softened in that moment like a huge boulder had been eased from his heart. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s what I should do.¡± Scissors and the doctor did not have any family left, but it was different for the drunkard. It was a pure ident that he had gotten thest bus on Route 104. From a certain perspective, he was no different from a normal individual.

    ¡°My house is in Xin Hai City. After the curse on me is somewhat under control, I wish to go home.¡± The drunkard scratched his head. ¡°I might not look like it, but Ie from quite a wealthy family. However, after my mother passed away, the rtionship between me and my father has turned a bit icy, so I¡¯ve been living alone in Jiujiang all these years. After what happened tonight, I think I¡¯ve understood something. Life is too strong for regret; I think I want to go home to have a chat with my father.¡±

    ¡°Wait, you¡¯re a rich young master?¡± Scissors and Chen Ge really did not expect such a background from the drunkard.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s quite rude to call people that right before their face?¡± The drunkard held his forehead¡ªhe could already see how interesting his future would be. ¡°We should start this over. My name is Zhang Jingjiu. As you can see, I¡¯m not that good with liquor, but for some reason, my clients like to call me Wine Bibber. I dabbled in real estate and white wine sales.¡±

    ¡°I do have a name given to me by the orphanage, but I do not like it that much, so you should just call me Scissors.¡± Both Scissors and drunkard made simple introductions. When it was the doctor¡¯s turn, he shook his head like he had something that he was not yet ready to share. Chen Ge did not dwell on this for too long. They followed Xiao Bu back to Li Wan City to meet up with Fan Chong.

    ¡°Boss Chen!¡± Fan Chong was overjoyed when he saw Chen Ge, but underneath that happiness was a worry, he had no idea what had happened to his brother, Fan Dade.

    ¡°Your brother will be fine, I¡¯m sure of it.¡± After consoling Fan Chong, Chen Ge led his employees around Li Wan City. With the ostensible reason of helping Scissors and the doctor find their families, Chen Ge searched the entire small town. He did not find anything left behind by the ghost stories society. The Specters that lived in the buildings had all escaped silently after the shadow left.

    After a long search, neither Scissors nor the doctor¡¯s rtives were found, and they appeared rather low-spirited.

    ¡°Since the shadow has been dealt with, we¡¯ll keep returning to this ce. Eventually, we¡¯ll run into them.¡± Chen Ge did not know whether it was right for him to say that or not, but he felt like, to be alive, one had to be have hope, so he figured that it was alright.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to leave. We¡¯ve been being the door for far too long already. It¡¯s time to go out.¡±

    The mission in Li Wan City had provided Chen Ge with a lot of information. Other than unlocking the scenario and increasing his number of employees, he knew some information about the four-star mission, Ghost Fetus.

    The ghost fetus that grew inside the shadow¡¯s chest was probably how the ghost fetus would look at birth, and Chen Ge had memorized its face in his brain.

    The few returned to Fan Chong¡¯s residential area. Chen Ge had Xiao Bu be prepared to open the door. He then ced the fainted Lee Zheng in the adjacent room. He startedparing notes with Scissors and the rest before they dealt with the questioning from the police. In terms of that, Chen Ge was truly a master.

    ...

    Inside an old building on the eastern side of Li Wan City, a family of three was forced into a corner. The panicked-looking man was about forty. He was squeezed next to a woman with no expression, and a boy stood next to them.

    ¡°The shadow is already dead. What are we still doing here? If you¡¯re that interested in them, just kill them, or you wish to continue the game of hide-and-seek?¡± Bei Ye squatted on the ground while holding a knife. A thin young man stood next to him.

    ¡°I will repeat myself¡ªI am different from you.¡± Jia Ming held the boy¡¯s face and studied it closely. ¡°Yes, it is him.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Bei Ye walked over and that scared the boy for quite a bit.

    ¡°When the shadow was possessing my body, he did many crazy things, and because of that, I knew quite a bit about the shadow¡¯s secret. He once tried to ce part of his body inside the mother core and used that to try and determine the maximum threshold of curses and resentment a living human could contain. In my memory, he seeded twice. The one time led to the creation of the ghost fetus, and the other time created a little monster.¡± Jia Ming¡¯s eyes that looked at the boy and the unfeeling woman were creepy.

    ¡°You¡¯re saying that this boy is part of the ghost fetus?¡± Bei Ye had no idea what Jia Ming was up to. The only reason he had agreed with work with Jia Ming was because thetter knew many of the shadow¡¯s secrets.

    ¡°After the sessful trial, the shadow pulled back the curse and resentment, but even so, there must be some remnants inside the boy. He possesses the curse with the same origin as the ghost fetus. Thus, he should be able to sense the fetus¡¯ location. Just because of that, we have reason to bring him with us.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure? This boy looks a bit too normal.¡±

    ¡°This is the best disguise. If not for his mother, I really wouldn¡¯t have recognized him.¡± Jia Ming picked up the man and told his parents, ¡°It is because of this boy that we¡¯re not going to kill you, but I hope you¡¯ll listen to our orders and help us to train this boy, to make him understand how to control the resentment and curse inside him.¡±

    ¡°No problem,¡± the man promised quickly. He lowered his head, and venom coursed through his eyes.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go then. I know the location of the other door in Eastern Jiujiang¡ªwe can leave from there.¡± After saying that, Jia Ming led them into the blood fog.

 Chapter 679 - Mayorâ€™s Will

    <h4>Chapter 679: Mayor¡¯s Will</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Afterparing their testimonies and making sure there were no issues, Chen Ge gathered all the living humans together.

    ¡°Xiao Bu, you can open the door now.¡± Other than her two arms, Xiao Bu had found most of her body. She stood before the door, and various bad memories rose in her mind. The blood fog around Li Wan City pulsed, and it surged into the basement. Entrail-like objects crawled out from the blood red ground and poked themselves into the half-open door. About ten secondster, the old and broken door seemed to recover on its own, and only two empty corners remained.

    ¡°Be ready, we only have one minute. If we fail to escape, then we¡¯ll have to wait another day.¡± The thick fog disappeared once it touched the door, but the two missing corners were sealing up at an observable speed. The blood fog changed into blood vessels, and like needle and thread, they sealed up the opening.

    When the two missing corners were blocked, the whole door turned red, and it was slowly pushed open. It was clear that opening a door that had gone out of control had taken a great deal out of Xiao Bu, so Chen Ge and the rest focused their attention.

    The blood red door was connected to the ground, and the blood vessels on the door seemed toe alive. Strange noises came from the buildings around them, and in that condition, the ¡®door¡¯ waspletely open.

    ¡°Quick!¡± The drunkard was the first out, carrying Lee Zheng on his back. Then came the doctor, Fan Chong, and Scissors. Carrying two bags, Chen Ge was at the back. When he left, he turned to look at Xiao Bu. ¡°If you run into anything you can¡¯t handle, remember toe and find me. I¡¯m at Western Jiujiang¡¯s New Century Park.¡±

    Taking a step out the door was like plunging into the deep ocean; there was a temporary distorted sense of gravity, and the eyes needed a few minutes to adjust to the new sight. When Chen Ge reopened his eyes, the ¡®door¡¯ behind him was already shut, and the group of people was squeezed inside an abandoned basement.

    ¡°Hey! Wake up!¡± Escaping from the nightmare world, the group felt as if they had been given a new lease on life. For normal people, it was indeed an ¡®exciting¡¯ night.

    ¡°You are not to tell anyone about what you saw on the other side of the door, and all of you remember how to answer the police¡¯s questions, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, don¡¯t worry about that.¡±

    They crawled out from Jiang Long¡¯s basement and came to the bathroom. The ss that Chen Ge had shattered thest time that he was there had not been fixed. The residential management had merely hung a wooden que on the wall.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go to the police station in a bit. You guys should return home. If everything is sessful, we will meet up tomorrow afternoon at the entrance to the Haunted House at New Century Park.¡± Chen Ge took Lee Zheng from the drunkard. This police officer had saved his life, and now, he was in trouble¡ªChen Ge was not going to leave him behind.

    ¡°Please wait a moment,¡± Fan Chong said with some embarrassment. ¡°Boss Chen, can I go with you? One, I¡¯m worried about my brother, and two, I really don¡¯t dare go home now. What if there¡¯s a murderer waiting for me at home or something crawls out from underneath the bed again?¡±

    The incident that night had left a deep scar on Fan Chong; he would probably think twice about approaching a video game now.

    ¡°Okay, then you can tag along for now. If you cannot find a job, feel free toe help me at the Haunted House.¡± He had worked together with Fan Chong before. There was nothing too special about this fat geek, but he had a kind heart. After a long night, the heavy rain had stopped, but the dark clouds still hung in the sky, and a light drizzle was trickling down.

    ¡°We can use our phones now. It is currently 5:30 am, and we will gather at twelve noon. Best find the time to rest now,¡± Chen Ge said and walked deeper into Li Wan City with Lee Zheng on his back.

    ¡°Boss Chen, why are you going back to the city? Is there anything we can help with?¡± Scissors was passionate. He seemed to see traces of his elder brother in Chen Ge, and that was a sincerity that was rare nowadays.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to check to see if the bus is still there or not. It¡¯s too hard to find a taxi in Li Wan City. I feel like it¡¯s best for us to just drive the bus away,¡± Chen Ge suggested casually like this was something that happened every day.

    ¡°You want to drive the haunted bus away with you?¡± It made some sense on a certain level, but something just did not feel right about it.

    ¡°Not using it will be a waste. The shadow used it to entrap us, but now that the shadow is dead, we should inherit its things,¡± Chen Ge said in a sincere tone. ¡°There¡¯s not absolute morality to object; it mainly depends on who is using it. As long as one possesses a kind heart, everything will be fine.¡±

    ¡°But... won¡¯t we be stopped by the police if we take the bus on the road?¡± The doctor asked a logical question.

    ¡°That¡¯s why we need to move before the sunes up.¡± When they spoke, Chen Ge already reached the location where the hearse hadst been located, but to his surprise, the hearse was missing.

    <i>Is it because I drove the vehicle into the world behind the door? Is the hearse abandoned behind the door? </i>Chen Ge did not get it. In his mind, the blood door¡¯s influence only acted on humans and ghosts; it should never affect inanimate objects.

    <i>Is this something to do with the hearse itself? Or is my understanding of the world behind the door stillcking? </i>Chen Ge made the decision to try to get the hearse back the next time that the door was open.

    Seeing that the hearse had disappeared, both the drunkard and the doctor sighed in relief. At least they would not need to ride on a haunted vehicle back home.

    They walked down the street for a very long time before they spotted a taxi. After the driver stopped, he finally noticed that they were carrying a fainted police officer, and his soul almost escaped from his body from the scare.

    ¡°Sir, there¡¯s quite a few of us, do you mind if we squeeze in the back?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, of course not. Where are you going?¡±

    ¡°Drive them home first, and drop me off at the city police station.¡±

    ¡°Of course, of course.¡±

    Perhaps it was fear or something else, but the driver drove so fast. After dropping the other passengers home, it was already daylight. Fan Chong, who was seated in the front was asleep, Lee Zheng was still unconscious, and other than the driver, Chen Ge was the only one awake. He looked out the scenery flying past the window and took out the ck phone. He clicked open the message.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored, forpleting the 3.5-star Trial Mission¡ªLi Wan City!

    ¡°Mission Completion Rate ny-four percent! Obtained the hidden reward¡ªThe Mayor¡¯s Will.

    ¡°Li Wan City is a town held in the palm of a devil. Only one who is crueler than cold-blooded murderers and scarier than despairing Specters¡ªthe most cunning, despicable individual¡ªwill obtain this reward!

    ¡°The Mayor¡¯s Will: Congrattions for bing the new owner of the town. After the Haunted House breaks through the stage of Maze of Terror and reaches a new height, you will receive a chance to open a branch with Li Wan City as the background! The actual details will be given after the official unlock is avable!¡±

    Chen Ge was stunned when he saw the message. <i>I¡¯ve already dug up three feet under Li Wan City, but thepletion rate is still not one hundred percent? Anyhow, this reward is quite interesting.</i>

    After another two expansions, the Haunted House would reach a new level, and it was then that Chen Ge could use the Mayor¡¯s Will and open a branch in another city.

    ¡°This is somewhat of a safety, but for now I should focus on the Haunted House at New Century Park. After I¡¯ve found my parents and everything settles down, the other n cane.¡±

    Chen Ge slid down the screen and clicked open the other messages.

 Chapter 680 - Opening a 3.5-Star Scenario

    <h4>Chapter 680: Opening a 3.5-Star Scenario</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored, forpleting the 3.5-star Trial Mission! An all new scenario, Li Wan City, has been unlocked!

    ¡°Li Wan City (3.5-star Scenario): This scenarioprises of Li Wan Residential Area, Li Wan Private Hospital, the junction, Smiling Dog, The Elevator Going to the Second Floor Basement, Midnight Hotel, and so on. Since this scenario is immenselyrge, please choose carefully whether to unlock it to the public.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored! You¡¯ve sessfully rescued four innocent individuals and thus obtained the additional reward¡ªJack the Ripper Apparel.

    ¡°He is the world¡¯s most famous serial killers. Nothing is known about him; he never leaves any evidence of his crime other than the dead bodies. Not even his race or gender have ever been determined.

    ¡°Jack the Ripper Apparel¡ªCoat of Fog: This coat can shield your face, your body shape, and all the crimes that you havemitted.

    ¡°Jack the Ripper Apparel¡ªck Envelope: Jack once stored his victims¡¯ organs in an envelope and mailed it to the local paper¡¯s office.

    ¡°Jack the Ripper Apparel¡ªLucky Scissors: These bloodied scissors have nothing to do with good fortune, but that is simply how they are named.

    ¡°Jack the Ripper Apparel Special Effect¡ªSurgical Transnt: On the night of heavy fog, the apparel¡¯s set effect will be activated. Perfect transnt requires deep experience in surgery, but if you¡¯re sessful, you¡¯ll inherit the transnted talent.¡±

    Seeing that the ck phone showed that he had saved four innocent victims, Chen Ge sighed in relief because that perfectly matched the four that he had saved. After ensuring that they were all innocent, Chen Ge could let them work at the Haunted House without worry.

    <i>Counting the apparel for Doctor Skull-Cracker and the Headless Nurse, this Jack of Ripper outfit is my third apparel set.</i>

    Studying the hammer in his backpack, Chen Ge knew very sure that these sets were not as simple as they seemed. The biggest difference between them and the costumes at the Haunted House was that they were probably the real deal.

    <i>Lucky Scissors... After I¡¯m done inspecting them, I can lend them to Scissors first. He should appreciate this character.</i>

    Putting the ck phone away, Chen Ge had a satisfied smile on his face. Other than the reward provided by the ck phone, he had earned quite a lot from Li Wan City. Yan Danian¡¯sic was full, and the old employees were now going into overtime to train the neers.

    <i>With so many lingering spirits and baleful Specters, it should be enough to fill up an entire scenario.</i>

    Chen Ge started to mesh the crazed games that the hotel boss showed him with his own Haunted House. He was so lost in thought that he did not realize that they had arrived at the station.

    Once Chen Ge got out of the taxi, he attracted the guard¡¯s attention. When he saw Chen Ge carrying the fainted Lee Zheng out from the taxi, he ran over immediately.

    ¡°Inspector Lee?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s fine, he¡¯s only fainted.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s fainted, and you¡¯re calling that fine? Why didn¡¯t you send him directly to the hospital?¡± the guard demanded loudly, and that spooked the citizens who were in the station making their report. Hearing that, the officers on the duty inside the station rushed out as well.

    The question from the guard stumped Chen Ge. He knew what had happened, so he understood that the treatment at the hospital would not be of much help. Therefore, he had brought the officer straight to the station. After all, he had been here a lot and out of habit told the driver to drop him at the police station.

    ¡°This was an order given to me by Inspector Lee before he fainted. Other than Captain Yan, he doesn¡¯t trust anyone, and he requested me to personally deliver him to Captain Yan.¡± Chen Ge carried Lee Zheng and refused to let anyone else touch him.

    ¡°Okay, but you have to take him to the hospital first! In fact, I¡¯ll go with you, and we¡¯ll contact Captain Yan on the way.¡± With the arrangement from the station, Lee Zheng and Chen Ge were rushed to the People¡¯s Hospital. This was another location that Chen Ge was familiar with.

    Lee Zheng was sent into the emergency room for a body check while Chen Ge stayed in the corridor to wait. About half an hourter, Captain Yan arrived. This kind and approachable officer looked quite worse for wear.

    ¡°Captain Yan, Inspector Lee is in there. He¡¯s still unconscious.¡± Chen Ge and Fan Chong stood up together.

    ¡°What happenedst night? Where did you find Lee Zheng?¡± Captain Yan seemed to have been up for the whole night, and he did not look so good.

    ¡°We found Inspector Lee in Li Wan City. He was pursuing the escaped convict Jia Ming alone.¡± Chen Ge knew the theory of identsing from the mouth, so he only gave Captain Yan a brief summary of the events.

    ¡°This is strange, why would Lee Zheng operate on his own? In fact, we even lost contact with him at some point. I cannot believe that an inspector with decades of experience would do something as rash as that.¡± From Captain Yan¡¯s expression, it was clear thatpared to capturing Jia Ming, he was more worried about Lee Zheng.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably because of the suspect¡ªhe doesn¡¯t appear like a normal person.¡± Chen Ge stared at the stainless steel ss next to him. The expression on Captain Yan¡¯s face shifted slightly; he knew more than he was telling, and Chen Ge saw that clearly through the reflection on the ss.

    ¡°In any case, leave this me. You two should go and give your statements.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    In Li Wan City, Chen Ge had heard from Lee Zheng that Captain Yan came from some background, and the brief exchange that they had earlier confirmed that even further. However, Captain Yan had always been on Chen Ge¡¯s side and seemed to admire the young man quite a bit. He had helped Chen Ge multiple times, so thetter did not think too much of it.

    During the written interview, Fan Chong heard about his elder brother from the police officer. The previous night, when it was still raining, Fan Dade had gotten into a car ident on his way home. He had suffered light wounds, but the one who ran into him died on the spot. The whole thing felt like it had been orchestrated by a third party.

    Knowing that his brother was safe, Fan Chong sighed in relief. After the interview, he went to visit his brother. The police officer confirmed that everything was okay with Chen Ge, so he also departed for New Century Park. Thankfully, he managed to reach theme park before it opened for business.

    ¡°Boss, where were youst night?¡± Xiao Gu and Xu Wan had been waiting at the door. ¡°Howe you always show upst when you¡¯re the one who lives here?¡±

    ¡°I woke up early in the morning and went for a stroll at the human resource department and interviewed a few new employees. They should be arriving in the afternoon.¡± Chen Ge pushed open the gate. ¡°Now is not the time to dawdle. Get into the dressing room and prepare for work!¡±

    This period before the futuristic theme park opened was thest rush for Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. It was the calm before the storm.

    Theme park opened at 9 am, and the visitors rushed in. Instantly, a long queue materialized in front of the Haunted House, and arge crowd bustled at the resting hall. They obviously treated Chen Ge¡¯s ce of business as their ¡®base¡¯.

    Most of the employees in his backpack were injured, and they were recovering, so Chen Ge had to do many things alone. However, he was a single man¡ªhe could not split himself apart. With that issue, the difficulty for part of the scenarios had lowered.

    As the number of people clearing the scenario increased, the visitors were whipped into a hype, and they gloated that they were close to ¡®owning¡¯ the Haunted House, to use the online gaming vernacr.

    Witnessing the liveliness form the visitors, Chen Ge felt joy on their behalf.

    <i>The more visitors that clear the three-star scenario, the greater the number of people who can challenge the 3.5-star scenario. Looks like I¡¯ll have to finish building Li Wan City as soon as possible.</i>

 Chapter 681 - Your Character Is a Crazed Murderer [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 681: Your Character Is a Crazed Murderer [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge was busy dealing with the issues inside and outside of the Haunted House. His previous adventure hadsted the whole night, and he did not have the chance to catch a well-deserved rest in the morning. So, when noon arrived, the man was almost at his breaking point already.

    Opening his backpack, Chen Ge released Ol¡¯ Zhou and the rest. He selected a few of the employees who looked presentable and had them enter the underground scenes to get them to help with the basic running of the ce. Other than Xu Yin, most of the employees were not affected by the curse. If anything, most of them had gained nutrients from the blood fog and obtained some benefits. When their injuries recovered, their power would have an obvious improvement.

    ¡°For today, scaring the visitor shoulde second to everything. You should focus on resting, and do not overwork yourselves,¡± Chen Ge told his employees, basically telling them to go easy on the visitors. Even though the employees did not understand why Chen Ge was actively working against his own Haunted House, most of them followed his order.

    At 12:30 pm, Xiao Gu and Xu Wan went for a half-hour break each. Most of the visitors also went to have their lunch, and the queue in front of the Haunted House had a sizeable decrease. As the number of visitors decreased, two men walked through the crowd.

    One of them had his face covered in bandages while the other stood rigidly upright. Thetter wore a suit, and his expression looked quite nervous.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but is Boss Chen here?¡± the man in the suit asked Uncle Xu, who was manning the ticket booth.

    ¡°Are you the visitors or families of the visitors?¡± When Uncle Xu saw the man¡¯s bandaged face, his heart skipped a beat, and his first thought was that Chen Ge had created more trouble.

    ¡°We¡¯re here to work. Boss Chen should have informed you about us, right?¡±

    ¡°Oh, are you the new employees? Okay, please wait here a moment, I¡¯ll go give him a call.¡±

    Several minutester, Chen Ge walked out from the Haunted House. He was given quite a shock when he saw his two guests. These two werepletely different from how he remembered them.

    Half of Scissors¡¯ face was covered in bandages. He wasnky and tall, his skin eerily white. He seemed to have lived a life away from the sun for a long time already. The impression that he gave off was not that of a murderer but a man suffering from a serious illness. Whereas the drunkard, Zhang Jingjiu, was theplete opposite of Scissors. After taking a bath and putting on his suit, he looked sunny and approachable, pretty much like those sessful figures that were featured on magazine covers.

    ¡°Your timing is perfect. Since there aren¡¯t that many visitors around now, I¡¯ll take you on a tour around the ce.¡± Chen Ge weed the two into the Haunted House. ¡°By the way, where is the doctor? Did he note with you?¡±

    ¡°After you left, we exchanged numbers, but for some reason, we¡¯ve been unable to reach the doctor on his phone.¡± The mention of the doctor caused the expression on Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s face to shift slightly. ¡°I wonder if something happened to him, or could it be something elsepletely? I purposely went to the address that he gave me, but after asking the nearby neighbor, I found out that was not even where he lives.¡±

    ¡°Meaning the doctor is currently missing?¡± Chen Ge thought about it before nodding. ¡°It does not matter; I have trust in him. We¡¯ve been through far too much for him to harm us. There has to be a reason for his disappearance.¡±

    Actually, to be fair, Chen Ge did not have faith in the doctor; he had more faith in the judgement of the ck phone. The doctor was not a simple character, but at least he did not intend to harm others.

    Leading the two employees into the Haunted House, Chen Ge gave them a brief introduction to each scenario. Unlike Xiao Gu and Xu Wan, Chen Ge nned to cultivate them to be full-fledged workers at the Haunted House, instead of having them just looking over a single scenario.

    ¡°When we resume working after lunch, I suggest the two of you follow the visitors and experience all of the scenarios in my Haunted House starting from the 1-star scenarios.¡± Chen Ge used the kindest and friendliest tone to deliver the sentence to Scissors and the drunkard, who still had no idea how cruel it was. ¡°Since you are going to work here in the future, there is no way you can be scared of the things here.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we will try to do our best,¡± Scissors and the drunkard promised easily. Perhaps from their perspective, since they had survived some ce like Li Wan City, what else could possibly scare them in this world?

    ¡°Perfect, in that case, you should enjoy yourselves as the visitors this afternoon.¡± Chen Ge did not arrange a mission for Scissors and the drunkard. He merely told them to follow the other visitors¡ªthat was the best way for them to grow.

    The lunch break was soon over, and Scissors and the drunkard began the most memorable day of their lives.

    Hearing the screams and yells that came from the scenarios, Chen Ge scratched his chin. ¡°They¡¯re still too easily scared, still too unqualified to be Haunted House workers. I¡¯m afraid that before they can scare the visitors, they will be scared witless by their colleagues. However, I need to start using Li Wan City¡¯s scenario soon, so I have to train them as fast as I can.¡±

    While Chen Ge was thinking, Uncle Xu¡¯s voice came in from outside, and Chen Ge immediately jogged out to answer the summons. Uncle Xu stood next to Director Luo at the entrance, and they seemed to have something to tell Chen Ge.

    ¡°Director Luo, why have you decided to personallye visit me today?¡± Chen Ge was surprised. ¡°Is it because the futuristic theme park hasunched some kind of new tactic?¡±

    ¡°The futuristic theme park¡¯s people is gearing up for their promotion andunch, but I¡¯m here today to talk to you about something else.¡± Director Luo waved at Chen Ge, and the two wandered to a more secluded area. ¡°Chen Ge, I¡¯ve been looking through the little app that we designed earlier. I noticed that quite a number of visitors have cleared the three-star scenario. In fact, some of the visitors are close to clearing all the scenarios at the Haunted House. If this continues, your Haunted House will bepletely cleared before the futuristic theme park even opens its door. When that happens, the attraction that the Haunted House has on the visitors will drastically decrease, and with the under-the-table work done by the people from the futuristic theme park, the situation does not look that optimistic for us.¡±

    Director Luo had been in the business for many years. Even though he did not have the appearance, he was actually quite a wily old fox. ¡°The biggest attraction at our theme park thus far is that no one has ever achieved a full clear of your Haunted House, so I hope you can increase the difficulty of all the scenarios. I know this will be a big challenge for you, but currently, we are left with no other choice, and if we are not to surrender, this is the only thing that we can do.¡±

    ¡°Director Luo, you¡¯re here for that?¡± Chen Ge was surprised that Director Luo¡¯s way of thinking was simr to his. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I was purposely going easy on the people today.¡±

    ¡°You did that on purpose? But with the number of visitors clearing the scenario increasing, how will that be good for us?¡± Director Luo had great faith in Chen Ge, but he really could not imagine why he would do something like this.

    ¡°Yes, the more people who cleared the three-star scenario, the greater the number of people who could enjoy the scarier, newer scenario. If no one challenges the newly-open scenario, without even hype, it won¡¯t be good for our promotion,¡± Chen Ge exined in a calm voice.

    ¡°A new scenario?¡± Director Luo grasped the main point of what Chen Ge said immediately. ¡°You have finished building a new scenario?¡±

    ¡°Most of the ideas and material were prepared by my parents, so I merely needed to assemble them. Don¡¯t worry, I guarantee that this new scenario will be scarier than all of our existing scenarios.¡± Chen Ge looked at Director Luo. Without the need to say anything else, the two shared a mysterious smile.

    ¡°Okay, then continue doing what you¡¯re doing. If you need anything,e and tell me. I will try my best to cooperate with you.¡± Director Luo felt much better, and he left holding the document in his hands.

    ¡°With such a boss that will pour everything into theme park, how can the visitors fear for ack of joy to be found?¡± Chen Ge returned to the Haunted House. He bustled both above and below ground. While he followed up on Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s status, he made sure that nothing happened to the visitors in the scenarios.

    At 6:30 pm, the Haunted House sent away thest batch of his visitors. Chen Ge had Xu Wan and Xiao Gu leave first beforeing to the steps. Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu were lying weakly on the ground, and their consciousness was gging.

    In reality, they had a clear memory of themselves fainting inside the Haunted House. When they said a silent prayer that they would be given a release from experiencing the Haunted House anymore, they opened their eyes and realized that they were still inside the Haunted House. They nced at the time on their phone, and it told them only ten minutes had passed since they fainted.

    After a few more rounds of torture, they had gotten somewhat desensitized to the scares. Even though their faces were still paper white from the spooks, at least they stopped fainting.

    ¡°So, how do you feel?¡± Chen Ge passed the two bottles of mineral water. He nned to cultivate Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu as employees, so to prevent idents from happening to them, Chen Ge had purposely asked Doctor Wei¡¯s group to follow them, to provide medical attention whenever necessary.

    ¡°I really can¡¯t say. It feels like no matter what kind of trial life throws at me in the future, I can smile in its face and conquer it.¡± Zhang Jingjiu recovered quite nicely. He tried to twist the cap of the bottle open with his shaking hands, and he failed after multiple tries.

    ¡°What about you, Scissors?¡±

    ¡°Howe it feels like I was morefortable in Li Wan City? Perhaps there really is a maniac hiding inside me.¡± Scissors held his face in his hands. Before going there, he really did not expect Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House to be so scary. The wounds that were slowly recovering on his face almost bled from the scares.

    ¡°Very good, now that you¡¯ve experienced things from the perspective of the visitors, I¡¯m going to bring you to experience everything again from the perspective of the employees.¡± Chen Ge stood up and pulled over a trolley from the resting hall.

    ¡°What? Again?¡± Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu squeezed together,rades of fear.

    ¡°If you are unable to move, I can push you around with this. Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s very safe. I¡¯ve been running this ce for almost a decade already, and nothing huge has happened yet.¡±

    With the urging from Chen Ge, Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu reentered the Haunted House. However, their visit this time was different from their previous visits. Chen Ge started to teach them how to scare the visitors.

    ¡°Haunted House actors have next to no script, so one¡¯s acting skills be even more important. You have to really see yourself as the character you¡¯re ying so that the presence can naturally flow out from you.¡±

    From learning how to pick the best cover to applying mouth-to-mouth resuscitation skills; from leaning how to use the small mechanisms that littered the haunted House to understanding the psychology of a maniac, Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu only then realized how much one needed to know to be a qualified Haunted House worker.

    ¡°It is gettingte. You should go back home to take a rest. Come earlier tomorrow, and I will arrange some tasks for you to do, to have you really understand the joy and allure of working at a Haunted House.¡±

    Once Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu left, Chen Ge sent them a bonus each. It was counted as the overtime fee.

    After a day and night without rest, Chen Ge¡¯s body reached its limit. He set the rm and copsed into bed.

    At 4 am the next morning, Chen Ge was woken up by his rm. He picked up the white cat that had crawled to curl beside his pillow from the bed and quickly switched open the ck phone.

    ¡°3.5-star scenario¡ªLi Wan Citypleted!

    ¡°Warning! The interior space of the Haunted House is full. Please expand as soon as possible!¡±

    ¡°There is a need for another expansion so soon? Just how big is Li Wan City¡¯s scenario?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House had just been upgraded to a Maze of Terror. After another two expansions, it would upgrade to the next stage. ¡°I will leave the expansion untilter when it¡¯s more convenient. For now, I should go check out the new scenario.¡±

    The earlier the scenario was open to the public, the better it would be for Chen Ge. He put on his clothes, carried his backpack, and rushed underground. The path that led to Li Wan City was next to Coffin Vige. The two scenarios was adjacent to each other, but this new scenario was bigger than Coffin Vige and the Third Sick Hallbined.

    ¡°There¡¯s ake for the water ghost and the tunnel that leads to who knows where. Next to it is Coffin Vige, and there¡¯s even a hospital and a school down here. This ce ising up to be a perfectly well-functioning underground city.¡±

    Walking down the street, the buildings around Chen Ge grew downward, instead of upward. There were basements, and most of the undergroundyout was interconnected, forming a maze of its own.

    Out of concern for the visitors¡¯ safety, Chen Ge checked all the buildings one by one. Just doing that took more than one hour; the size of this ce was truly something to behold.

    ¡°But a big ce has its advantages. I am free to make this ce into anything I wish.¡± Chen Ge summoned all of his workers and started to modify the scenario. This included taking away objects that were sharp and dangerous. Then, he ced his new ¡®trained¡¯ employees into their set location.

    ¡°There are three main points of interest¡ªthe hotel, hospital, and residential area. Currently, I still have too few ghosts. After the sun rises, I can have Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu fill up the number in here, but other than that, I will need to make another batch of mannequins.¡±

    The scariest thing about the hotel was the hidden room behind the fridge. Unfortunately, the gluttonous woman had been killed already, and a big element of fear had been lost. Chen Ge was trying to figure out a way to salvage that. He nned to recover Li Wan City to an authentic state as much as he could, to create the sense of despair where around every corner lurked a Specter and every turn led to a murderer.

    ¡°The other scenarios have less than ten scary points, and I¡¯ve already ced more than that in Li Wan City. With such a high frequency of scares going around, I wonder if the visitors will be able to survive this.¡± Chen Ge was satisfied with his work at Li Wan City. He worked in there until 8 am. When he entered the scenario, hisic had been bulging with content, but when he left, it was practically nk.

    ¡°Yesterday, there were so many people who cleared the three-star scenarios. While their guard is down, there will definitely be many willing volunteers if I release the news that a new 3.5-star scenario is open to the public today. If I¡¯m lucky, I might get some trolls among them; it would be best if there are people sent by the futuristic theme park.¡±

    Leaving the underground scenario, Chen Ge took a cold shower and prepared to start his business. Today was the first day that Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu started their work, and they arrived very early.

    ¡°Boss, there¡¯s something that I need to inform you about.¡± Zhang Jingjiu was still wearing his suit, looking very formal. ¡°I still cannot contact the doctor; it feels as if he has disappeared.¡±

    ¡°I know. For now, let¡¯s not worry about him.¡± Chen Ge led the two into the dressing room. ¡°There¡¯s no need to stand on ceremony, just treat this as your own home.¡±

    Using the talent that he had gotten from the ck phone, Chen Ge demonstrated his great skill in make-up to his two new employees. This surprised Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu¡ªtheir new boss was truly an all-rounded genius.

    ¡°One has to know make-up to operate a Haunted House.¡± Chen Ge dressed Zhang Jingjiu in the image of the hotel boss from Li Wan City. Then he found the Jack the Ripper apparel in his Props Room and handed it over to Scissors. ¡°Your character will be that of a crazed murderer. I¡¯ve encountered more than ten different maniacs; I¡¯ll jot down their qualities for youter. Hopefully, that will give you some inspiration and help.¡±

 Chapter 682 - Nameless Town

    <h4>Chapter 682: Nameless Town</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    After Scissors put on the costume, Chen Ge looked at him and did not feel anything, but Zhang Jingjiu subconsciously moved backward.

    ¡°This outfit suits you quite well.¡± The coat blocked his face, and the bloodied scissors flitted in and out of sight with the movement of the sleeves. From afar, it gave people a strange feeling. He was standing a distance away, but it felt like he was constantly moving closer and would jump at the others at any moment.

    ¡°I¡¯ll find you a pair of shoes to change intoter. What you¡¯re wearing doesn¡¯t quite match the rest of your outfit.¡±

    Overall, Chen Ge was satisfied with Scissor¡¯s get-up. Unlike Xiao Gu, Scissors had been training at home, watching videos and dramas on how to y the role of a madman. He also had firsthand experience at Li Wan City. Now, in terms of both presence and mannerisms, it was very simr to a real madman.

    It was hard to describe in detail, but there was a fear that would form when one was in his presence. After a while, Xu Wan and Xiao Gu arrived.

    Inside the dressing room, Chen Ge made the official introduction. ¡°We¡¯re going to be colleagues in the future, so we should help each other. Xu Wan is my most experienced worker, so if you have any questions, you can ask her.¡±

    After putting the make-up on Xiao Gu and Xu Wan, Chen Ge had them enter their scenarios to prepare before going to the main control room to find the walkie-talkie and ear-mics and handing them over to Zhang Jingjiu and Scissors.

    ¡°There¡¯s surveince in the control room, so if there¡¯s an ident, I will give you orders through these devices. Now, you should follow me to enter the scenario.¡± Chen Ge led them into Li Wan City. Walking down the street, Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu had a surreal feeling, but based on their trust in Chen Ge, they did not ask too many questions.

    ¡°Jingjiu, I need you to stay inside the hotel to y the boss for now. You still need more training in scaring customers, so do not actively engage them unless necessary.¡± Chen Ge had confidence in his Haunted House, so he knew that those who had managed to clear three-star scenarios would not be easy scares. They were more experienced than his new employees.

    ¡°Then what should I be doing?¡± Zhang Jingjiu rubbed his hands together. It was his first day of work, and he felt like doing something. He was quite excited.

    ¡°Just listen to my orders, I will arrange tasks for you to do,¡± Chen Ge said that and turned to look at Scissors. ¡°Temporarily, you should stay around the residential area. Just be free, but be mindful of these three things. One, do not make any physical contact with the visitors; two, the safety of the visitors is the most important; three, remember to protect yourself.¡±

    ¡°Protect myself?¡± Scissors had a bad feeling forming in his heart.

    After assigning them their roles, Chen Ge exited the underground scenario. He purposely changed into new clothes. He looked clean and sharp, like the sunny big brother from next door.

    ¡°Uncle Xu, you sure are early today!¡± Chen Ge exited the Haunted House and ran into Uncle Xu outside. He greeted the senior worker cheerfully.

    ¡°Director Luo said that you might some new ideas, so he had mee here to assist you as much as I can.¡± Uncle Xu saw the new get-up on Chen Ge, and for some reason, he felt weirdly unsettled. ¡°Now is the crucial period for the contest between us and the futuristic theme park, so you¡¯d better not do anything that¡¯s too over the line!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± That was all the assurance Chen Ge gave Uncle Xu. Then, he pulled out the wooden board that he had ced at the resting hall. He had used the same board to announce the opening of Coffin Vige, and this time, he was going to use it again. ¡°Naming the scenario Li Wan City might cause some dissent with the locals. Perhaps I should leave it nameless, that is quite a catch as well.¡±

    Chen Ge called the new scenario Small Town and leaned the board against the ticket booth. It was simple and to the point, exactly what Chen Ge was known for.

    ¡°You¡¯re nning to open a new scenario?¡± Uncle Xu saw the two words on the board, and he frowned. Chen Ge had been releasing new scenarios too fast for the support team to catch up.

    ¡°Yes, it won¡¯t be too scary. You can see it as a kind of buffer¡ªthe difficulty is only 3.5-star. The main purpose is toy the foundation for theter four-star scenarios.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone and logged into Director Luo¡¯s app with the admin ount and released a new announcement.

    ¡°New Scenario open to public! When fear soaks into your marrow and nightmare bes reality, you¡¯ll realize that you are unable to find the way to leave this small town.¡±

    In the few minutes after Chen Ge released the announcement, there were already more than three thousand clicks. Some loyal people even shared the announcement on various sites, and thements kepting. With each refresh, the page was covered in newments.

    ¡°Wait! Wasn¡¯t a new scenario released a few days ago? Howe I feel like I just came back from your ce? Don¡¯t you lie to me!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re pumping these out like crazy! There¡¯s no time to waste. Secretary Liu, get me a ticket back to the country immediately!¡±

    ¡°This introduction is rather general! I wonder what kind of theme this new scenario will be based on.¡±

    ¡°I will enjoy the demise of you people from the safety of my home.¡±

    ¡°This is an advertisement: Young boys and girls who like to visit the Haunted House, perhaps Jiujiang Medical University is where your future will shine!¡±

    The theme park opened like usual at 9 am. Once the gates opened, many young people rushed toward the Haunted House.

    ¡°Whenever I feel the passion on these visitor¡¯s faces, I feel so lucky that I am in such a business.¡± Chen Ge helped Uncle Xu sell the tickets at the entrance. Most of the visitors that had rushed forward were first time visitors, and they asked to visit the low-level scenarios. They were excited because this was their first time.

    Chen Ge¡¯s target was the ¡®senior¡¯ visitors who had cleared the three-star scenario. These people were well-trained already. Even if they came earlier, they would not line up so soon. They would instead go to the resting hall to observe the situation.

    Even though Chen Ge had been missing from his livestreamtely and it had been some time since hest uploaded a video, those who had read through the Haunted House¡¯s info knew who he was.

    After all, in the poll set up online for the character that the visitors did not wish to run into inside the Haunted House, the first ce winner was not some kind of Specter but Boss Chen. Of course, that was probably a joke.

    When they saw Chen Ge selling the tickets outside the Haunted House, they huddled closer to look. They realized that the Chen Ge in their imagination was totally different from the Chen Ge in reality. How could this young man who had afortable smile be the character that people were most unwilling to meet inside the Haunted House?

    ¡°Please do not push. There are many scenarios, please line up nicely.¡± Ever since the Haunted House became popr, Director Luo had done many things for Chen Ge. He even set up a series of QR codes for Chen Ge. By scanning them, he could tell what level scenario they could visit. It was very convenient.

    By 10 am, the first batch of visitors had finished their tour. The ¡®senior¡¯ visitors who were still observing showed signs that they were going to move soon. They finally could not hold it in anymore. They walked out from the resting hall and joined the queue.

    ¡°There are quite a few familiar faces today. Is it because the opening of the new scenario?¡± Nothing escaped Chen Ge¡¯s sight. He maintained the smile on his face, hoping that his new project would be well-received by the visitors.

 Chapter 683 - Not a Normal Adversary

    <h4>Chapter 683: Not a Normal Adversary</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    There were more and more visitorsing to ask Chen Ge about the new scenario, and Chen Ge was willing to share some unimportant information with them. He knew what the visitors were hungry for, and the information that he tossed out was like delicious bait, luring them into taking the challenge.

    ¡°Boss Chen, we meet again. Howe I feel like you¡¯ve gotten much younger?¡± The woman who stood before Chen Ge had her hair cropped short, and her tomboyish apparel made her look even more stylish than the guys. However, her voluptuous figure did not diminish her feminine charm either.

    ¡°That might work on middle-aged uncles¡ªdo I look that old to you?¡± The woman could be counted as Chen Ge¡¯s friend. Her name was Ye Xiaoxin, a blogger that specialized in reviewing Haunted Houses. She had more than a million followers. When the people from Tian Teng Medical Hospital came to visit, she had joined their group, and after she exited, she had practically closed in on herself on the spot.

    ¡°I would never waste time on ingratiating words; I really do think you look much younger.¡± Ye Xiaoxin took out her phone. ¡°Give me a ticket to the underground morgue. I n to review that scenario today.¡±

    ¡°The underground morgue?¡± Chen Ge did not hide the disappointment on his face. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to consider challenging my new scenario? It¡¯s fun.¡±

    ¡°No thanks, I¡¯ll wait for the guide to show up online first.¡± Ye Xiaoxin tossed her hair back handsome. Then, as if reminded of something, she added, ¡°By the way, there is a group online purposely gathering and sharing the pictures of the scenarios inside your Haunted House. Are you sure that you don¡¯t want to do something about that? I have a feeling this a concerted attack against you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine. I see it as free advertisement.¡± Chen Ge had Tong Tong¡¯s help, but since there were too many scenarios, Tong Tong could not handle too many things, and of course, this also had something to do with Chen Ge purposely going easy on the visitors.

    The Haunted House was rapidly expanding, and there would be a horrible match with the futuristic theme park in the future. Before the results were out, poprity was crucial to Chen Ge. After all, if he wanted to stop these activities, it would not be too difficult on the ount of his employees being different from others.

    ¡°Just be careful. If people can¡¯t take you down from the front, they might do something from the back.¡± Ye Xiaoxin lowered her voice. ¡°When I was queuing up earlier, I saw this man at the resting hall, be careful of him.¡±

    Ye Xiaoxin searched through her phone and showed Chen Ge a picture. The picture showed a man wearing arge coat. Even though the sun was zing, he did not seem to feel the heat. He was talking on the phone with a smile on his face.

    ¡°He looks so educated and polite, nothing like a bad guy.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be tricked by his appearance. If you visit the Haunted House-rted forums, you¡¯ll realize that the man is on many Haunted House¡¯s cklists.¡± Ye Xiaoxin stood to the side so that she would not block the line. ¡°He¡¯s not a normal visitor¡ªthere¡¯s something wrong with his mind. He¡¯s a creeper, and the strangest thing is that he prefers to expose himself to others inside a Haunted House. He has made a few female actors inside the Haunted House weep from his actions already.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s that horrible of a man?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he was even detained several times for his actions, but he doesn¡¯t seem to change.¡± Ye Xiaoxin sighed. ¡°He understood the rules ced on the Haunted House actors. He knew they could not hit him. He also would not interact physically with them; he would only sh his parts at them to satisfy his perverted desire. The man is clever in a way; he only did his deed in corners hidden away from surveince. The time that he was detained was because he went so much over the time that the other visitors on the same tour couldn¡¯t resist beating him up.¡±

    ¡°Such people need education, a deep and serious education.¡± Employees could not do anything, but other visitors could. In any case, Chen Ge saw many solutions to this problem.

    ¡°That¡¯s all, I suppose. Be careful, I¡¯ll be going in now.¡± Ye Xiaoxin followed the rest into the Haunted House. Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision to nce toward the resting hall. The man was still on the phone, but Chen Ge noticed that when he was talking, the man¡¯s eyes kept darting about like he was searching for something.

    With him as the center, Chen Ge looked around, and he noticed that in the blind spot of the man¡¯s gaze, there was another man on the phone. This man had on arge hat, and his skin was white. He appeared rather soft and feminine.

    ¡°He has a partner?¡± Just as Chen Ge turned to look at that man, the man in the coat hung up and walked out from the hall. Coincidentally enough, so did the other man, apanied by another three individuals.

    The five started to queue. One stood at the front of the line, one at the back and the others at the middle; for all appearances, they did not seem like they knew each other.

    ¡°Are they from the futuristic theme park?¡± However, Chen Ge felt like he had left a deep enough emotional scar on the people from the other theme park that they would not return so soon. Chen Ge paid them special attention. After the three barged into the queue, there was sudden chaos. Three people started to move and gather together. ¡°They came prepared!¡±

    Chaos erupted, and this caused annoyance among the other visitors. One of them yelled directly and angrily, ¡°Why are you cutting the line? Get back!¡±

    He was being very loud and attracted everyone¡¯s attention immediately. The one who spoke was a middle-aged man around 1.5 meters tall. His appearance did not match his temper at all.

    ¡°Mr. Shinozaki, please calm down. We¡¯re here to seek inspiration¡ªthere¡¯s no need to get into an argument with others.¡± A woman in her twenties stood next to the middle-aged man; she appeared to be his assistant. The woman seemed used to the man¡¯s explosion, and she apologized to the neighboring visitors.

    ¡°Shinozaki? A foreigner?¡± Before Chen Ge could say anything, the man called Shinozaki started to get into a fight while speaking fluent Chinese. Handing the ticket-selling job over to Uncle Xu, Chen Ge quickly ran over to break up the fight. ¡°Please stop fighting. Who cut in the line earlier?¡±

    Seeing the operator walk over, both parties stopped arguing.

    ¡°It was him! He was the line-cutter. I¡¯m telling you, if we¡¯re not in awful society, I would have punched him in the face already, suchwlessness.¡± The middle-aged man was quite a firecracker.

    ¡°Understood.¡± Chen Ge turned to the line-cutter. He stood next to the man with therge cap. Obviously, they were partners. ¡°If you wish to visit my Haunted House, I will need all of you to get to the back of the line and follow the rules ordingly.¡±

    Chen Ge left no room for negotiation. The man was obviously not satisfied with this arrangement, but with the persuasion from his friends, he obediently moved to the back of the line.

    ¡°Okay, everything¡¯s fine now.¡± Chen Ge stayed at the back of the line. For some reason, the middle-aged man felt like he had been ignored and felt a certain way about it. He yelled at Chen Ge, ¡°There¡¯s such a long line on such a hot day. Don¡¯t you have a VIPne or something? I¡¯ll pay extra!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I treat all my visitors the same.¡±

    ¡°Great! A principled man! Then I shall leave! Everyone¡¯s working against me!¡± For a reason that eluded Chen Ge, the man was angered and turned to leave.

    ¡°Wait a minute, Mr. Shinozaki! This haunted House is really unique! We¡¯re already here, so we should at least go in for a visit!¡± The young female assistant tried to stop the man, and then she ran to beg Chen Ge. ¡°Boss, can you make an exception for us?¡±

    The woman looked at Chen Ge with her pleading eyes. ¡°Mr. Shinozaki is aic artist. He has beencking inspiration for the past few months, and his temper has worsened because of that. He isn¡¯t normally like this.¡±

    ¡°Aic artist? Is he famous? Howe I haven¡¯t heard of his name before?¡± Chen Ge was instantly reminded of Yan Danian. Perhaps he could use this chance to fulfil Yan Danian¡¯s wishes.

    The assistant¡¯s face flushed. ¡°Mr. Shinozaki bases himself overseas, and he is famed in the industry, but over the past few years, he has started to change his style! In any case, he¡¯s a very powerful man!¡±

    Chen Ge nodded and purposely said in a raised voice, ¡°If you don¡¯t want to line up, there¡¯s only one choice. I just opened a new scenario, and those who wish to visit it can skip the line and join me now.¡±

    ¡°A new scenario?¡± The woman did not dare to make the decision, so she turned to look at the man.

    ¡°I just praised you for your principles earlier, but you changed your mind once you heard my name. Fine, I¡¯ll give you a chance to impress me today.¡± The middle-aged walked over leisurely. ¡°The new scenario it is!¡±

    Seeing the middle-aged man jumping the queue, a man stood out from the back of the line. ¡°I wish to visit this new scenario as well.¡±

    The man was wearing a coat. The temperature was high, and there was no air-conditioning. His head was pouring with sweat like he was burning. Hearing his voice, the other people in his group wanted to stop him, but it was already toote.

    ¡°Okay,e in with me then. Is there anyone else?¡± Chen Ge epted his volunteer quickly and took his money, so they had no chance to regret his decision.

    The others in the group slowly shuffled out. Chen Ge had Uncle Xu give them the tickets while he used his phone to search for Shinozaki¡¯s info online.

    The man was not a foreigner¡ªhe merely had a foreign-sounding name. However, it was true that he was based overseas. His fans called him the Walking Mosaic 1 and the Father of Saint Light 1.

    <i>Footnotes:</i>

    <h4>Ch 683 Footnote 1</h4>

    This is referring to how mosaic is often used to censor sensitive parts in eroticics.

    <h4>Ch 683 Footnote 2</h4>

    Holy Light or Saint Light is moremon in erotic animations. When an animated character undresses or is naked, instead of mosaic, light or smoke is used to block key parts. Therefore, animation fans call it the Saint Light.

 Chapter 684 - Jack the Ripper and Doctor Skull Cracker [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 684: Jack the Ripper and Doctor Skull Cracker [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The artist¡¯s pen name was Shinozaki Daisen, and he was very famous overseas. However, few people knew anything about his real name. Chen Ge looked through the search results for a long time beforending on something relevant. Someone who called him Shinozaki¡¯sndlord was airing the goods.

    He imed that he had seen Shinozaki¡¯s identification card before. Thisic artist who was very famous overseas actually had a very local name. He was apparently born as Lee Baofu.

    ¡°Shinozaki Daisen and Lee Baofu, it is very hard to imagine that they might be the same person.¡± Chen Ge turned to nce at the Haunted House¡¯s entrance. Shinozaki was in a staring contest with the man in the trench coat¡ªthey both sensed something unusual about the other person.

    There were currently seven people inside the Haunted House¡¯s gates. Shinozaki and his female assistant stood on the left side while the man in the trench coat stood alone on the right. The remaining four came together, but they stood in groups of two, pretending like they did not know each other.

    ¡°Li Wan City is very big. Even if seven people enter it, I doubt it will raise the smallest of ripple.¡± If these were visitors that had been through the experience of three-star scenario, Chen Ge might have sent them in just like that, but these few were all neers. It was one thing for the group to have a negative purpose for being there, but Shinozaki and his female assistant werepletely innocent. Chen Ge was a kind-hearted person. He was not going to give them hell simply because they looked down on his Haunted House and imed that his scenarios were not going to be scary.

    After giving it some thought, Chen Ge walked to the gathered group of seven. ¡°The new scenario takes up arge amount of space¡ªit is meant to be challenged by a group of ten. After we get another three people, then we will start the tour.¡±

    ¡°The fewer people we have, the more fun it will be. Seven people is more than enough.¡± The man in the trench coat had been beaten up by visitors before. He was not worried about the actors. Instead, he was worried that other visitors might ruin his n.

    ¡°Yes, if there¡¯s ten of us, it¡¯ll only be too noisy and cramped. What¡¯s the point of that?¡± Shinozaki offered his opinion as well. Due to his temper, there was ack of filter to his words. The things that came to his mind were the words that escaped his lips.

    ¡°I advise you all to practice some patience¡ªthe boss is only looking out for you.¡± There was a young man who spoke from the crowd. The man¡¯s voice was very familiar to Chen Ge. He turned to the direction of the voice and saw Yang Chen frowning as he read the wooden board next to the ticket booth.

    ¡°Are you not going to ss buting to my ce every day now?¡± Probably due to the presence of the underground morgue, whenever Chen Ge saw the students from Jiujiang Medical University, he felt so close to them.

    Yang Chen was slightly afraid of Chen Ge. When he heard Chen Ge¡¯s voice, he shuffled backward subconsciously. ¡°I still haven¡¯t cleared the underground morgue, so there is no way I am going to attempt a new scenario, so don¡¯t you go making any ideas!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Yang, why would you say something like that? Did you forget the promotional coupons that I gave you?¡± Chen Ge raised his phone, and the introduction for the new scenario was on the screen. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to challenge this? Based on my challenge, the people from your school are only missing the underground morgue to have a full clear. After clearing the underground morgue and, of course, this new scenario, the cash prize of 200,000 will be yours. You know that I am a man of my word. I will never go back on my promise. If you clear this scenario, I will hand you the cash prize on the spot.¡±

    The scenarios that were challenged by Jiujiang Medical School would be popr on the inte. In Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, these students were no different from his mascot or lucky charm.

    ¡°Just count me out, but I did bring a few people for you today.¡± Yang Chen turned back and waved. Two guys and a girl walked out from the crowd. The one who walked in front was Wang Dan. Chen Ge had met him before. He was the young man who had apanied Yang Chen when they challenged Mu Yang High School and the underground morgue.

    The boy and girl at the back were happily chatting. The girl wore a loose-fitting t-shirt that showed off her shoulders and a pair of white shorts. It showed off her sexiness and sweetness, enting the assets that she possessed for a young woman of her age.

    The young man was much taller than Wang Dan and had much more defined muscles on his body. He was not overly dressed, but every single article of clothing was branded. He appeared much more impressive than Wang Dan, who seemed to have faded into the background.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you remember my buddy, Wang Dan. The girl behind him is his girlfriend. The male is a student studying Sports and Health at Jiujiang¡¯s Teacher-training Institute. He is also Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend¡¯s high school friend.¡± Yang Chen leaned in closer to whisper to Chen Ge, ¡°Apparently, he was voted their high school¡¯s most handsome student.¡±

    ¡°That is Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend? If you didn¡¯t tell me, I really would not have known.¡± Chen Ge suddenly realized something. ¡°But wait a minute, why are you telling me all this?¡±

    Yang Chen kept winking and making signs at Chen Ge, and it tickled thetter quite a bit. Before he could react, Wang Dan and the other two had already walked over. ¡°Give me three tickets for the new scenario.¡±

    It was clear that Wang Dan was not in a good mood. His voice sounded quite lethargic and defeated.

    ¡°Are you sure? The new scenario is very scary. I advise you to not act too recklessly.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I have already challenged so many three-star scenarios already. This new scenario will be a piece of cake for me.¡±

    ¡°Okay then. If anything, I feel much better to I have an experienced visitor like yourself apanying the rest of the visitors.¡± Chen Ge gave the three a ticket each. Then he led them into the Haunted House. ¡°The pens are on the table. Please sign this disimer form.¡±

    The ten visitors squeezed into the corridor, and it was quite cramped. There were a limited number of pens on the table, so there was some waiting. The man in the trench coat was understandably annoyed. ¡°Is there a need for this? I¡¯ve visited many Haunted Houses before, and I have never encountered one that went to such an extent.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. You¡¯re making a visit to a Haunted House out to be something like a bungee jump. I¡¯m sure this is nothing more than a trick to create psychological pressure,¡± the student who was covered in branded clothes and shining like a sun said casually. He stood next to Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend and continued to tell the stories about the time he went snorkeling and bungee-jumping. Compared to Haunted Houses, obviously snorkeling and bungee-jumping worked better at attracting girl¡¯s attention. Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend hung on his every word and would nod and concur at regr intervals.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t say things like that. This is your first visit to a Haunted House; I advise you to be more cautious with your words.¡± Wang Dan passed the pen that he was holding to the man.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± The male student shrugged and signed his name before cing the form on the table.

    ¡°Zhang Feng?¡± Chen Ge read the name on the form and put it carefully away. ¡°You voluntarily signed your name, and I did not force you to do it. I need to make sure that you understand that you are voluntarily entering this Haunted House and are notpelled to do it.¡±

    When he heard that this was Zhang Feng¡¯s first time visiting a Haunted House, his first challenge being Chen Ge¡¯s 3.5-star scenario, that was something that could not be described as seeking death anymore.

    ¡°Are you kidding?¡±

    ¡°There is still time for you to bow out now.¡± Chen Ge tried to convince the young man.

    ¡°Do you really need to do all this just for a Haunted House visit? You¡¯re doing a bit too much. A written form might be just enough, but now you¡¯re just being annoying.¡± Zhang Feng regarded Chen Ge¡¯s advice with condescension and turned back to chat with Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend.

    Since the young man refused to take his advice, Chen Ge could do nothing about it. He put the other people¡¯s disimer forms away. After making sure that there were no problems, he briefed the visitors about the unique way to enjoy Li Wan City.

    ¡°This new scenario is called the Nameless Small Town; it is made up from multiple ghost stories. It spans a veryrge area, and you are free to do anything you want. After you enter, I will close the path to the small town, and the way to leave will be hidden inside the scenario.

    ¡°You need to find the hidden clues while being pursued by murderers and Specters. There are thirty-two clues hidden in this scenario, and they correspond to thirty-two different endings.¡±

    At this point, Chen Ge raised four fingers.

    ¡°Since you are the first batch of visitor to experience this scenario, I can provide you with the locations for four of the clues.

    ¡°The first clue is hidden inside a water vat in one of the rooms. There is a phone that you can use tomunicate with a ghost.

    ¡°The second clue is hidden inside a residential home. You will not believe what kind of strange creatures are hidden there at such an unassuming location.

    ¡°The third clue is hidden inside an apartment, a music box that will cry on its own.

    ¡°The fourth clue is hidden with the boss of the hotel. You can go find him, and he will give you some information.

    ¡°Of course, these four clues that I have given you are merely a very small part of the scenario. Feel free to go look for the other clues and find the way to escape this ce.¡±

    Chen Ge only gave these four clues because these were the four that were already ready. The thirty-two clues were something that he imagined the scenario could be like, and he was still setting up the rest.

    ¡°Thirty-two clues?¡± Of the four line-cutters, one did not quite believe what Chen Ge said, but he kept his suspicion mostly to himself and did not say any more.

    ¡°Apletely open Haunted House with unrivalled freedom, here you can enjoy the ultimate experience that you will not get anywhere else.¡± Chen Ge held onto all the forms and led the group to the door that led underground. ¡°Onest piece of advice, after you head in, walk toward the light, and do not wander off on your own.¡±

    ¡°Your acting skills do deserve praise, but in any case, we know all of this already.¡± Perhaps it was ack of confidence or some other reason, but the man in the trench coat grumbled softly.

    ¡°Each of your choices will lead to a different result; you will see what I mean after you enter the scenario.¡± Chen Ge opened the Screaming Door, and an extremely cold draft rushed out from the yawning maw. The temperature dropped instantly, and some of the visitors shivered involuntarily.

    ¡°Come on, I¡¯ll bring you to the entrance.¡± Chen Ge walked at the front of the group. He strolled down the creepy path and arrived at the path that led into Li Wan City. Arge iron door that was painted ck appeared before them. On this side of the door, they could still hear the other visitors screaming and running, but on the other side, it waspletely quiet like no living humans had ever stepped on the other side.

    ¡°The time for the tour is forty minutes. If you wish to give up, just stand where you are and scream for help. Our workers wille fetch you as soon as possible.¡± After sending all the visitors into Li Wan City, Chen Ge locked the iron door.

    The sound of chains grinding against the door was cutting and sharp. Chen Ge nced at the ten visitors before him, and the corners of his lips curved upward. ¡°I hope you enjoy this experience.¡±

    He turned to walk out from the underground scenarios and enter the main control room. He changed the background music for Li Wan City to a normal track. There were too many neers, so Chen Ge believed that just the scenario alone would be enough to give them a scare.

    After he was done, Chen Ge returned to the entrance to sell tickets. After some time, Ye Xiaoxin finished her tour, and she walked out from the Haunted House. The girl¡¯s back was covered in sweat, and her forehead was drenched in cold sweat.

    ¡°So, how was your visit?¡± Chen Ge walked over to greet her.

    ¡°No matter how many times I visit this ce, there is a sense of authenticity that cannot be shaken. The fear strikes right at your heart; it feels as if the thing that I¡¯ve experienced here is a reflection of real life.¡± Ye Xiaoxin gave her honest opinion. ¡°I really have no idea how you manage toe up with all these designs¡ªthey are seriously horrifying.¡±

    ¡°If they¡¯re not horrifying, how can I call this a Haunted House?¡± Chen Ge replied with a smile.

    ¡°By the way, there is something else that I wish to inform you.¡± Ye Xiaoxin took out her phone. ¡°Earlier, one of my fans private messaged me, telling me that thergest Haunted House at Xin Hai will being to learn from your Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°The Haunted House at Xin Hai?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I hear they¡¯re going out of business, so they wish toe to learn your secret.¡±

    Ye Xiaoxin showed the Haunted House¡¯s information to Chen Ge. Chen Ge did not mind it that much at the beginning, but after a swift nce, he felt something looked curiously familiar. ¡°Wait, can you show me their group picture again?¡±

    Chen Ge zoomed in on the picture, and he realized with a shock that the picture that Ye Xiaoxin showed him contained someone that he was quite familiar with. The soft features and small eyes, this man was currently inside his Haunted House!

    ¡°I¡¯ve met this man before. He just entered the Haunted House with that creep.¡±

    ¡°What? That¡¯s impossible!¡± Ye Xiaoxin was shocked.

    ¡°The creep is on many Haunted Houses¡¯ cklists, but that should be a fact limited to those who frequent Haunted House forums. I can¡¯t shake the feeling that there is something wrong about this.¡± Chen Ge returned the phone back to Ye Xiaoxin. ¡°Excuse me for a moment.¡±

    Bidding farewell to the reviewer, Chen Ge returned to the main control room to check the surveince at the Haunted House¡¯s entrance. After someparison, Chen Ge¡¯s suspicion was confirmed.

    <i>The four obviously knew each other. They have tricked a creep toe to my Haunted House, what are they up to? Could they be here on the futuristic theme park¡¯s behalf?</i>

    With the change to the situation, Chen Ge thought about it and decided to change the music back to Wedding Dress and ck Friday.

    <i>Since you¡¯re here to learn, then I will definitely not keep my secrets from you. I wouldn¡¯t want to be called stingy now, would I?</i>

    He walked out from the main control room, and Chen Ge entered the dressing room to put make-up on himself. Then he took out a costume from the Ghost¡¯s Changing Room. He contacted Xiao Gu through the worker¡¯s path and put on the Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s costume that Xiao Gu had removed.

    <i>They will never expect two different murderers, will they?</i>

    The shackles dragged on the ground, and Chen Ge put on the human skin mask, held the hammer in one hand, and returned to Li Wan City.

    <i>Since I have friendsing from so far, I can¡¯t let them leave without first having some fun, can I?</i>

    ...

    Once the door to Li Wan City closed, the temperature dropped even lower. Silence, fear, and an indescribable terror washed over them like a wave. No one spoke, and the visitors could even hear each other¡¯s heartbeat.

    ¡°There is not even a sign board or something? He just dropped us here like that?¡± Shinozaki himself did not even realize that his voice had dropped lower.

    ¡°It has always been like this for Boss Chen¡¯s Haunted House. He has his own way that is different from the other Haunted Houses on the market.¡± Wang Dan¡¯s tone was unfriendly. He walked to the front of the group and said, ¡°I¡¯ve cleared three-star scenarios before, but is there anyone here who can im the same? Only by working together do we have a chance of clearing the mission.¡±

    ¡°Have you been brainwashed by the Haunted House? You sound as dumb as that boss earlier,¡± one of the men who followed the feminine guy said. ¡°Who gave him the right to decide the terror level of a scenario inside a Haunted House? If anything, his Haunted House is merely slightly more popr in Jiujiang.¡±

    ¡°The reason he splits the scenarios into different levels is actually to keep on earning money from repeat customers like you. We attempted something like this years ago.¡± The other person stretchedzily, and he took out his phone like he was preparing to send message to someone else.

    ¡°It is my advice that you do not use your phone inside the Haunted House.¡± Wang Dan looked at the man seriously. ¡°Everyone who uses their phone inside this Haunted House ends up in the worst state and will only burden the rest of the teammates.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re an actor hired by the Haunted House, aren¡¯t you? Or is there something wrong with your brain?¡± The man did not care and turned away from Wang Dan.

    Wang Dan wanted to say something else, but he was stopped by his girlfriend. His girlfriend seemed to think that the way he was acting was quite embarrassing.

 Chapter 685 - Splitting Up

    <h4>Chapter 685: Splitting Up</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Seeing how no one was taking him seriously, Wang Dan¡¯s brows were creased deeply. He knew very well that any visitors who had entered Boss Chen¡¯s Haunted House before would not say anything so ¡®na?ve¡¯.

    ¡°Is this the first visit to this Haunted House for all of you?¡± Wang Dan had a bad feeling in his heart.

    ¡°Mr. Shinozaki and I have just returned to the country. He is attempting to change his style, to challenge a new type of serialic, so we¡¯re here at the Haunted House to seek inspiration,¡± the female assistant said softly. She was not that courageous. Even though they had not yet officially entered the scenario, her voice had already started to shake. ¡°We saw how high the rating is for this Haunted House online, so we came over here once we got off the ne. Are there any other things that we should have done before attempting the Haunted Houses in the country?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t listen to his rambling. The only reason this Haunted House is so high on the inte is due to the hype of a bunch of plebs. The only thing the boss is good at is advertisement and promotion,¡± the man who walked in with the feminine man said. ¡°Compared to people like us who poured all of our energy into creating a Haunted House,ing up with our scripts seriously and designing the many mechanisms for the Haunted House, the man by the name of Chen is at most a very good businessman.¡±

    ¡°A businessman?¡± Wang Dan almost had his head blown off from how angry he was. He wanted to mp his hand over the man¡¯s mouth. If Chen Ge happened to hear what he had just said, the difficulty of the scenario would be raised to an impossible level.

    ¡°He is only capable of tricking innocent students like yourself. For us who have been in the business for years, this is nothing new. Hell, his tricks are all outdated if I am being serious.¡±

    The man wanted to say something else, but he was stopped by the feminine man. ¡°Stop saying things like that. It won¡¯t leave a good impression if we¡¯re overheard by the actors at this Haunted House. People might get the idea that we¡¯re purposely here to create trouble.¡±

    Even with his temper, Shinozaki had the experience of age on his side, so he picked up the issue immediately. ¡°Are you all Haunted House operators?¡±

    He soon understood that this was apetition between people from the same field. He did not have a good impression of these few line-cutters.

    ¡°The three of us are the employees from the biggest Haunted House in Xin Hai¡ªNightmare Academy. We¡¯ve been in the business for seven years already. We were the earliest people on the market tomit ourselves into a physical Haunted House business.¡±

    The three made a simple introduction. The man with the brashest attitude was called Wei Jinyuan. He was the youngest script designer at Nightmare Academy. His main job scope was toe up with scary stories as well as mechanisms and plots to go along with them. The smallest of them, the one who had an altercation with Shinozaki earlier, was Li Jiu. He looked fragile and weak. His main responsibility was making the props for Nightmare Academy. He was gifted with a pair of skillful hands and could work various tools.

    The final one, the man with the feminine features, was called Lee Changyin, with the nickname Cold Guy. He was a reticent fe but was the most-praised actor at Nightmare academy. He was one of the core members of the Xin Hai Haunted House. He did not appear that old, but he was the most senior of the three of them.

    ¡°Wait, didn¡¯t the four of youe together?¡± Wang Dan saw the other man squeezed together with the three employees from Nightmare Academy, and he assumed that he too was one of the employees.

    ¡°He is one of Xin Hai¡¯s biggest live-streamers. He is very famous online, at least much more famous than this Haunted House¡¯s boss. Rather, I should say, they are not even on the same level.¡±

    Wei Jinyuan wanted to continue the introduction, but the host frowned. ¡°If you wish to continue wasting time chatting, then go ahead, but I¡¯ll be heading in first.¡±

    The man finished talking, and he grabbed his bag and walked alone into the scenario. The man seemed to be very courageous.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Seeing how the male host had wandered ahead, Wang Dan quickly ran over. ¡°Do not wander off on your own. Also, I am not kidding, do not think about starting a livestream here¡ªyou will harm all of us.¡±

    The host did not even attempt to acknowledge Wang Dan¡¯s presence. His eyes scanned the surroundings, already wondering how many viewers he would get from starting a livestream there. The host was familiar with Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House¡¯s poprity online. If he livestreamed inside the Haunted House in a new scenario, the livestream would explode. Whether it would expose the interior of the Haunted House or affect Chen Ge¡¯s business, that was definitely not part of his concern.

    Aftering to understand the host¡¯s attitude, Wang Dan felt his scalp go numb. Just kind of teammate had he found himself tied to this time?

    It was one thing that everyone was a newbie, but more importantly, none of them wished to listen to his advice for self-preservation. It was fine if they wanted to die on their own, but the way that they were acting was going to harm him as well.

    ¡°If you want to do thing like this, then go ahead. I¡¯m not going to do this anymore,¡± Wang Dan said and grabbed his girlfriend to leave.

    ¡°Wang Da, what are you doing?¡± His girlfriend thought that he was being unreasonable. ¡°Let me go!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine if we want to visit a new scenario, but going in with them is definitely not a good idea. I n to quit.¡± The reason Wang Dan hade to the Haunted House was to vent his displeasure and to embarrass his girlfriend¡¯s high school friend, but now, the situation had changed. He was going to walk into an endless abyss. Once he fell, there was no getting back up.

    ¡°Are all the medical students so cowardly?¡± the male student mocked. ¡°And I thought that you guys would be braver considering that youe into contact with dead bodies so often. It looks like I was mistaken.¡±

    Hearing that, Wang Dan was so angry that his face turned green. However, he did not know where to unload his grievance. Gritting his teeth, his huffed and allowed his anger to take over. He walked back and said, ¡°Fine, then we¡¯ll continue this tour.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t force yourself now. I hear that some might wet their pants during Haunted House visit,¡± the sports student joked, thinking he was being funny.

    ¡°That won¡¯t happen.¡± Wang Dan sighed softly. He knew how things work here. He would be unconscious before his dder had the chance to work.

    ¡°It¡¯s be fine. Don¡¯t mind him,¡± Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend said soothingly, and he finally quieted down. He tried to gather his emotions, but as he scanned his teammates, a cold hole opened up inside his heart. There was none that he could trust.

    ¡°There is only forty minutes to the tour; we should enjoy this.¡± Wei Jinyuan walked next to the male host. ¡°If you¡¯re scared, you cane with us, but it might be boring. I am used to analyzing things from a professional angle. In our eyes, as real Haunted House creators, all the secrets and traps are revealed without a trace. For example, this window here...¡±

    Wei Jinyuan pointed at the ss window a few meters ahead. ¡°The window is left unlocked, and the ss is purposely left shattered. When we walk past it, something scary will pop out from inside. If you don¡¯t believe me, you just wait and see.¡±

    Wei Jinyuan slid quietly to stand next to the window. He pointed at the window beside him and then jumped up and poked his head into the window. If an actor was hiding inside the window, they would be scared by him.

    ¡°Jinyuan, stop joking! If you identally scare their workers, they will just me it on us.¡± Lee Jiu tried to stop him, but Wei Jinyuan did not reply. He was leaning on the window, with his upper body reaching into the room. He was not moving like his body was captured by something or someone.

    ¡°Wei Jinyuan?¡± Lee Jiu jogged over with a frown. He patted Wei Jinyuan on his back. ¡°What are you looking at?¡±

    ¡°Shush, be quiet. I saw an actor running away to hide earlier. I seemed to have spooked her.¡± Wei Jinyuan yelled into the room with a cheery voice, ¡°You cane out now; I¡¯ve already seen you.¡±

    When Shinozaki and the female assistant heard that, they also ran over. However, the room was empty, and there was no one there.

    ¡°But it¡¯s an empty room, right?¡± Goosebumps crawled on the assistant¡¯s arm. ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re not mistaken?¡±

    ¡°It only looks like an empty room. There¡¯s hidden pathway in there¡ªthey are the routes used by the actors. The person that I saw earlier probably is now cowering in the pathway, too afraid toe out.¡± Wei Jinyuan scratched his neck and continued to move forward. ¡°There are only so many methods to scare someone. It¡¯s simple if you want to clear this scenario, just stick to us closely!¡±

    Wei Jinyuan and Lee Jiu walked down the narrow street, and they kept scratching their necks.

    ¡°Mr. Shinozaki, should we follow them?¡± the female assistant suggested. ¡°With more people around, it feels safer.¡±

    Shinozaki nodded absently, and he kept staring at Wei Jinyuan¡¯s neck. ¡°Xiao Xia, look at his neck. Do you see a birthmark there? It looks like a person¡¯s palm print...¡±

    ¡°Birthmark?¡± The assistant did not have that sharp an eye, and she rarely paid attention to these things. ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but this is someone¡¯s privacy, so you shouldn¡¯t go and ask the man about it!¡±

    ¡°Of course, do you think I¡¯m some kind of unruly kid?¡±

    ¡°Which adult would use a pen name like yours though?¡± the woman grumbled softly before running to catch up to Wei Jinyuan. The team was stretched apart. The three from Nightmare Academy and the host walked at the front, Shinozaki and the female assistant were at the middle, while Wang Dan¡¯s group was at the back. The man in the trench coat stood alone by the earlier window, like he was looking for something.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to go,¡± Wang Dan reminded the man out of kindness. The man shrugged him off like he thought that Wang Dan was in his way.

    ¡°I really do not understand what these people are thinking.¡± Wang Dan took in a deep breath. As he watched the other visitors wander away, he suppressed the anxiety in his heart and moved to chase after them.

    After Wang Dan¡¯s group joined the rest, Wei Jinyuan stopped. ¡°The boss gave us four clues to follow before we entered the scenario. Each clue corresponds to a method to escape. There are ten of us. Moving in a group is a waste of time, and it is very inefficient, so I suggest we split into two groups to explore. What do the rest of you think?¡±

 Chapter 686 - Something Doesnt Feel Right

    <h4>Chapter 686: Something Doesn¡¯t Feel Right</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°The road splits before us, and the four clues must be arranged along the different routes. After splitting into two groups, one team will go to the left and the other to the right. We will maintain contact through our phones and keep each other updated constantly.¡± Wei Jinyuan quickly assumed the role of the leader¡ªhe had real experience designing a Haunted House to back his confidence up. ¡°The interior of the Haunted House wouldn¡¯t be wasted on pointless buildings. Every single building here might be hiding the actors or hidden traps. Just stay close behind me, and do not touch anything inside the building.¡±

    ¡°How about you and Cold Guy lead one team while the host and I go down the other path?¡± Lee Jiu nced at Wei Jinyuan. For some reason, he felt that something was off about the man.

    ¡°No problem, it¡¯s decided then.¡± Wei Jinyuan did not even ask for the other visitors¡¯ opinion; it was like his words were thew once they were inside the Haunted House. ¡°You guys are lucky to have run into us.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± The female assistant led Shinozaki and walked over to Wei Jinyuan¡¯s side. ¡°We are visiting a Haunted House back in this country for the first time, so there¡¯re plenty of things we do not understand. Sorry for the trouble.¡±

    Shinozaki did not say anything. However, it did look like there was something on his mind. The female assistant knew how strange his personality was, and since he did get into an argument with Wei Jinyuan earlier, she believed that this was because he felt awkward from being ced into the man¡¯s hands. Either way, she did not ask Shinozaki about it.

    ¡°Okay then, the four of us will go ahead.¡± Wei Jinyuan raised his phone. ¡°Meet you at the exit.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Lee Jian watched as the other group walked down the left street. He turned to the right. ¡°We have our own business to havee to this Haunted House. If you¡¯re willing, then just follow us. However, if you think we¡¯re not trustworthy, feel free to leave.¡±

    Lee Jiu had a bad attitude toward Wang Dan; he did not like the young man.

    ¡°In that case, I¡¯d rather they follow me, and we¡¯ll go our own way.¡± Wang Dan nned to leave with his girlfriend, but his girlfriend thought that it was safer to stick with Lee Jiu. The two had an altercation, and it was Wang Dan who was isted. There was no other option. Even though Wang Dan was not a cowardly man, he still would not dare to wander around a 3.5-star scenario alone.

    ¡°See, isn¡¯t this better? People have to say some strange things to show off. Doesn¡¯t he realize how childish that looks?¡± The other male student did not mention any names, and he made it sound like he was talking to himself, but everyone knew who he was referring to.

    ¡°Childish?¡± Wang Dan lifted his head to look at the man, and his first reaction was to argue. The words were already on his lips, but suddenly, he realized that everyone, including his girlfriend, sided against him, and they also thought that he was being childish.

    If that was the case, arguing would only make him look worse. Wang Dan cleverly shut his mouth. He might have been childish before this, but with the training from Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, he was no longer the reckless young man that he had once been. As ifing to a decision, Wang Dan followed obediently behind Lee Jiu, acting like he had finally surrendered.

    ¡°We should have done this a long time ago. Why make it appear like a visit to the Haunted House is so difficult?¡± The male student stayed at the back of the group with Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend, and the five of them walked down the street on the right.

    After the two groups separated and left, a faded mist rolled out onto the street, and a shadow walked through it.

    ...

    When it was a group of ten, the street had felt crowded, but once half were missing, the area suddenly felt so open.

    ¡°There¡¯s no background introduction, no plot, not even a signboard¡ªit is truly a miracle for this Haunted House to have survived until now.¡± Wei Jinyuan really could not understand how a horrible Haunted House like Chen Ge¡¯s could get so popr.

    ¡°Perhaps the visitors are drawn in by the freshness. After all, there are not many Haunted Houses on the market that provide such arge amount of freedom.¡± Lee Changyin touched the wall of the buildings by the street. ¡°However, there are strange things about this ce too. I¡¯ve taken a rough look, and all the buildings here are a perfect replica of the ones outside. The materials are bricks and cement, and they lend the ce an air of authenticity.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it going to beplicated when he needs to remove these decorations if he doesn¡¯t use stic and wood? Or does he n to keep this scenario for life? Haunted House visitors always prefer the new over the old, and they will be bored of a scenario after ying it once. It is such a waste of money to build with cement.¡±

    Wei Jinyuan shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s noparison. He has the whole New Century Park giving him support and providing him with the budget. We, on the other hand, have to depend on ourselves.¡±

    He seemed to have a different meaning behind his words. He seemed to be testing Lee Changyin as he added, ¡°Didn¡¯t the people from the futuristic parke to meet our boss recently? How did their negotiation go? Do you think we have a chance of opening a branch at the futuristic theme park in the future?¡±

    ¡°They have a different ideology from us; they do not n to open a physical Haunted House. Contacting our boss was merely to get us to provide them with our experience and scripts. After all, they do not have anyone with them that specializes in producing a Haunted House.¡± After Lee Changyin said that, Wei Jinyuan¡¯s mind started to work.

    The number of visitors going to Nightmare Academy was dropping day by day, and there were so many negative reviews on the inte. The pay for the employees came from the share of the tickets, so without any visitors, they had no pay. From how Wei Jinyuan saw it, instead of staying at Nightmare Academy, why not jump over to the futuristic theme park? They needed someone who had the expertise in designing a Haunted House, and he could provide that.

    ¡°Looks like I¡¯ll have to work hard today.¡± Only by proving his value would he be able to gain a better hand when negotiating with them.

    Seeing the rise in his colleague¡¯s passion, Lee Changyin merely twitched his lips. Perhaps because he had been an actor inside a Haunted House for too long, his every single motion was strange and inscrutable. In any case, he was different from a normal person, but it was hard to pinpoint what the was difference.

    The female assistant had been walking next to Lee Changyin. She identally nced at the man¡¯s expression earlier, and she subconsciously slowed down like she was scared.

    Wei Jinyuan noticed this, and he said in an attempt to console her, ¡°Gorgeous, Cold Guy is our Haunted House¡¯s most professional actor. If you have a chance, you shoulde to visit us. He will show you the true meaning of terror.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± The female assistant smiled awkwardly. She slowed down even more and joined Shinozaki at the back.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m bluffing. This one time, Cold Guy visited another Haunted House, and even without any make-up on, he managed to scare the actors from the other Haunted House. Be it a ghost or a cold-blooded killer, he would be able to assume the role, and every expression felt truly authentic.¡±

    Wei Jinyuan appeared so rxed. However, when he turned around, Shinozaki¡¯s eyes twitched, and he asked, ¡°Have you put on make-up before visiting this ce? I don¡¯t care about the history between you all and the boss, and I don¡¯t care about the real reason you¡¯re here. I simply wish to know.¡±

    ¡°Do you think we¡¯re here to create trouble? To put on make-up to scare the actors here?¡± Wei Jinyuan scoffed with derision. ¡°You are giving this ce too much credit...¡±

    ¡°That means you don¡¯t have any make-up on.¡± Shinozaki wiped the sweat from his forehead. ¡°Okay, thank you for answering my question.¡±

    After Wei Jinyuan walked ahead, the female assistant took out the wet napkin from her bag and handed it over to Shinozaki. ¡°Sir, there is air-conditioning inside here, and the temperature is so low¡ªwhy are you sweating so much? Are you not feeling well?¡±

    ¡°Remember this route that we¡¯re taking. If there¡¯s a chance, we need to go meet up with the other team.¡± After wiping away the sweat, Shinozaki gripped the napkin tightly, and he appeared quite shell-shocked. ¡°We need to stay away from these two.¡±

    ¡°But why? They¡¯re professionals, right?¡± The female assistant was confused by Shinozaki¡¯s order.

    ¡°The man who poked his head into the window earlier, there are two purplish-ck stains on the back of his neck. It looks as if someone has gripped him there. You heard his answer earlier¡ªhe isn¡¯t wearing any make-up.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps those are birthmarks?¡± The woman felt like Shinozaki was making a mountain out of a molehill. ¡°Plus, haven¡¯t we been through this before? We shouldn¡¯t intrude on people¡¯s privacy.¡±

    ¡°Those are definitely not birthmarks.¡± Shinozaki nced at Wei Jinyuan. ¡°I remember very clearly that the stain on the back of his neck was only one single palm print earlier, but as we walked down the street, it grew, and another print appeared!¡±

    Shinozaki raised both of his hands and gestured around his neck. ¡°The two hand prints appeared on both sides of the neck. It feels like there is something riding on his neck and hugging him with their arms...¡±

 Chapter 687 - Hard to Understand [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 687: Hard to Understand [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    A light fog started to roll over the abandoned small town, and the buildings by the sides had shadows flitting through them. The temperature dropped some more, and the whispering of women and children could be heard. However, whenever the female assistant tried to focus on the sound, she discovered that there was nothing but silence, and all she could hear was the frantic beating of her own heart.

    ¡°Sir, you¡¯re kidding me, right?¡± It was dim inside the scenario and thebination of the light fog meant that the female assistant had a hard time identifying the hand prints on the back of Wei Jinyuan¡¯s neck. ¡°Perhaps it was the doing of the workers inside the Haunted House? When Wei Jinyuan poked his head into the window earlier, could the actor have thered some kind of unique paint on his neck? We have seen simr paint overseas before. The original color is very light, but once it mixes with human sweat or water, the color will instantly deepen.¡±

    ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t quite understand what is happening just yet, but I have a feeling this Haunted House is different from the ones we have visited overseas. Whenever I visited Haunted Houses in the past, there hasn¡¯t been this feeling of nervousness.¡± Shinozaki held his hand over his heart. ¡°There isn¡¯t anything overly gory like blood or fake limbs at this ce, but walking down the path, there is a strange sense of suffocation. It feels as if right at this moment, there are endless pairs of eyes studying and observing our every move.¡±

    ¡°In any case, I would not believe something as preposterous as an invisible person riding on the man¡¯s neck, but it is undeniable that this is very good material for inspiration. You can draw it into your own work.¡± The female assistant believed that Shinozaki had been under too much pressuretely, and he had been in the artistic business for too long, so it was easier for him to make this kind of horrifying connection.

    The mention of his ownic caused Shinozaki¡¯s eyes to brighten. ¡°On that front, you are absolutely right. Whether it is real or not, this is perfect for my next project. For now, let¡¯s follow the two of them. With them scouting ahead, it will be much safer for us.¡±

    That was Shinozaki¡¯s personality, a mind that was only able to focus on one thing. He could reach an obsession-like focus on the thing on his mind, and this was how he managed to transform himself from a homeless guy, Lee Baofu, to be one of the brightest stars in theic business, Shinozaki Daisen.

    It was very dark underground with very dim lightinging out from the nearby buildings, but once people got near, the lights would go off on their own. Only after the visitors had wandered away would the lightse back on.

    ¡°This is quite interesting. Looks like this Haunted House has made use of a lot of new technology, sensory lights, mist-creators...¡± Wei Jinyuan tried to use his knowledge to break down the Haunted House, and his analysis sounded quite sound and logical.

    When he nned to move forward, his phone suddenly rang. He lowered his head and saw that it was Lee Jiu who was calling him. He picked up the phone because he was interested in finding out how things were going with the other team. ¡°How are things over there? Did you find any useable clues?¡±

    Lee Jiu¡¯s voice came from the other end of the line. ¡°This Haunted House is much more boring than we expected. We¡¯ve looked through a few rooms, but they are all empty. There were no hidden pathways or actors.¡±

    ¡°I asked around beforeing over. This Haunted House has unlocked many new scenarios within a short period of time, so it¡¯s a given that not all of the scenarios will be perfect. Furthermore, I¡¯m not sure if you have noticed this or not, but this scenario is supposed to have a 3.5-star difficulty. That itself sounds like this scenario is iplete. That Chen fe was probably forced to open this iplete scenario to the public due to the pressure from the futuristic theme park.¡± Wei Jinyuan walked down the street, and the number of rooms on both sides grew.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m going to hang up now. I¡¯ll call you in ten minutes; we¡¯re going to focus on searching for the clues now.¡± Lee Jiu said that and hung up immediately.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with him? The callsted barely a minute. In that case, why waste time calling in the first ce?¡± Wei Jinyuan put the phone away and scratched his neck. He kept feeling that there was something itchy on the back of his neck like he had been bitten by a mosquito there.

    The road ahead narrowed even further, and they walked another ten meters before Lee Changyin saw a wooden que hanging on the wall beside them. A sentence was written in blood. ¡°I am one of you.¡±

    ¡°Now he¡¯s starting to y psychological games, huh? Such tedious trick.¡± Wei Jinyuan aimed his phone¡¯s camera at the wooden que and snapped a picture. He saved the photo. ¡°This is the first thing that is rtively scary I¡¯ve encountered since entering this Haunted House. It is so unbelievable that a Haunted House with such unreasonable pacing would get so popr.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t treat this too lightly. The warning on the que might be real.¡± Lee Changyin was still expressionless. ¡°Based on the analysis I¡¯ve read online, people suspect that the Haunted House boss once had his actors mix into the visitors to disturb their judgement. Of course, this is mere spection; no one has any concrete proof.¡±

    ¡°It does not matter either way.¡± Wei Jinyuan moved the que around, and the term ¡®Dong Zi Residence¡¯ was written on the back of the board. ¡°This ce should be the residential area. The boss said that the second clue is hidden inside the residential area, so things should finally get more exciting once we enter this ce.¡±

    Lee Changyin nodded, and the two headed into the small yard immediately.

    ¡°Sir, now is not the time to space out. We need to hurry to catch up to them,¡± the female assistant urged, but Shinozaki stood outside the yard and studied the wooden que on the wall like he was putting the warning on the board into serious consideration.

    ¡°By the way... do you think that there really might be something that has slipped into our ranks?¡± Shinozaki croaked as he looked around. ¡°This Haunted House has such a perfect handling of its created atmosphere that I cannot shake the feeling that something sinister is going on.¡±

    Shinozaki and the female assistantter shuffled into the residential area. Almost as soon as they all entered the area, a few ck shadows shed behind them. There were three squat buildings that sat next to each other inside the residential area. They were numbered one to three, and strange noises kepting out from the buildings. It sounded like children using some small objects to hit against ss.

    ¡°Other than the decrepit appearance, this ce does not look that different from our town¡¯s old city.¡± Wei Jinyuan looked at the peeling paint on the wall, and he stopped before the first building. ¡°Should we move together or separately? I suspect that there are different things hiding inside each of these hovels.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go alone, and you can lead the two of them.¡± Lee Changyin walked into the third building alone, and he soon disappeared out of sight. Only the sound of his footsteps remained.

    ¡°Such an impetuous person. I hope he won¡¯t scare the actors working at this Haunted House.¡± Wei Jinyuan turned his head back and realized that Shinozaki and the female assistant were still standing in the middle of the yard. ¡°What are you two doing there? Stop wasting time!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, we¡¯ll be there in a minute.¡± The female assistant pulled on the corner of Shinozaki¡¯s shirt. ¡°Sir, it¡¯s time to go.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Shinozaki stared at the bush that reached his waist lining the edges of the yard. There was no wind at all, but the bush kept moving like there was someone or something hiding inside it.

    Without getting closer to the bush, Shinozaki, the female assistant, and Wei Jinyuan entered the first building. There were water stains left on the ground, and the walls had cracks running down them. In the darkness, they looked like smiling lips. The stairs led downstairs, and the ce was dim. The only things that they could see were the half-open doors.

    ¡°How far does this go down?¡± Wei Jinyuan took out his phone and activated the shlight function. The light pierced through the darkness, but it failed to bring them any sense of security. If anything, the more they saw, the more unsettling it felt.

    White powder kept falling on their heads, palm prints were left on the rusted banister, and that feeling of asphyxiation grew; it felt like there was a heavy boulder pressing on their hearts. Scratching his neck, Wei Jinyuan pushed open the door to the first room. There was some assorted old furniture littered inside the room, and it could not have looked more normal.

    Even though he had imed that he was not afraid multiple times, as he entered the room, he was observably more cautious. He examined every corner that might be used to hide a trap, but he looked for a long time and found nothing. This was a normal room.

    ¡°The Haunted House boss wishes to use this method to disrupt us?¡± Wei Jinyuan checked a few other rooms on the same floor. There was nothing remotely scary and definitely not a Haunted House actor hiding behind the corner waiting to scare them.

    ¡°Is there something wrong with the boss? He built these empty rooms to use as mere decoration?¡± If it was not built inside a Haunted House, Wei Jinyuan believed that these rooms would actually have been rentable as cheap housing.

    He walked down the stairs and came to the second-floor basement. Theyout was almost the same with only one difference. There was a dark corridor, one that connected all three adjacent buildings underground. Wei Jinyuan walked to the end of the corridor and shouted, ¡°Cold Guy, can you hear me?¡±

    The response was a series of footsteps, but no human could be seen.

    ¡°Has Cold Guy gone down to the third floor basement? That¡¯s impossible! We¡¯re so close to each other, so if he heard me, he would have responded.¡± Wei Jinyuan¡¯s forehead was slick with sweat. All the buildings aboveground might be a red herring¡ªthe real terror was all hidden underground. ¡°All the buildings are connected underground; this ce is like an underground maze.¡±

    He looked down the corridor, and the chilly air overwhelmed him. This was apletely different sensation from when they were outside. He opened the door that was closest to him, and Wei Jinyuan looked into the room with the light of the phone while standing outside. ¡°Theyout of all the rooms on the second-floor basement is the same as the ones above it. What is the purpose behind such a design? I cannot understand what his aim is!¡±

    Wei Jinyuan had been trying to perceive the secret behind Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House¡¯s poprity, how he managed to attract so many visitors. However, until now, he hade up with nothing. He opened door after door, and just as Wei Jinyuan was about to give up, he realized that one of the doors was different from the others. The edges of the room were pasted with tape, and even the peephole was covered with tape.

    ¡°Something¡¯s not right.¡± Wei Jinyuan pulled off the tapes on the door and slowly pushed the door open. The room behind this door was indeed different from the others; all of the furniture was covered with tape.

    ¡°Looks like the clue should be hidden inside this room.¡± Wei Jinyuan pulled off the tape around the shoe rack. He looked into it, and five pairs of shoes sat inside. There was a pair of female open-toes slippers, a pair of olddy cloth shoes, and three male sneakers, each a different size.

    ¡°Are these pairs of shoes part of the puzzle?¡± Wei Jinyuan picked up the shoes and studied them one by one. But after a while, he gave up. ¡°Is something wrong with the boss¡¯ brain? Howe he keeps wasting resources to design these things that arepletely useless! Does he even know how to design a Haunted House?¡±

    The more he looked at them, the more agitated he became. Wei Jinyuan noticed that most of the furniture was covered in tape, and he was not going to go through them alone. ¡°Hey! Come over here and help!¡±

    ¡°Did you discover anything?¡± The female assistant and Shinozaki ran over to him. When they saw the tape-filled room, they were given quite a shock.

    ¡°Help me tear off all of this tape. The clue should be hidden here somewhere.¡± With the orders from Wei Jinyuan, the group started to undo the tape pasted on the drawers, cupboard, under the bed, and on the door. They ransacked the ce but still failed to find anything of value.

    ¡°Is the boss toying with me?¡± Wei Jinyuan became more and more annoyed. The frequency of him reaching behind his neck to scratch also increased. The itchiness grew more and more pronounced. ¡°You two stay here and continue tearing down the tape. Do not leave any stone unturned. I will carry on to the lower floor.¡±

    Wei Jinyuan left Shinozaki and the female assistant behind, and he departed alone. The lowest floor was even dimmer than the floors above. One could not even see clearly without a shlight. This floor was different from the ones above; there were two corridors, leading left and right.

    One of the corridors connected the other two buildings, but no one knew what the other corridor led to. Wei Jinyuan took a deep breath. He gripped his hands tightly, and without even realizing it, his palms were filled with sweat. He looked down the corridor on his left, and he saw a vague shadow of a man standing against the wall.

    ¡°Lee Changyin?¡± Without using the man¡¯s nickname, Wei Jinyuan called Lee Changyin¡¯s full name instead. He raised his shlight to aim at the spot where the shadow was standing. There was no response¡ªit was clear that the shadow did not belong to Lee Changyin.

    ¡°Howe it feels like Cold Guy disappearedpletely once he entered the building? But how is that possible? There were only several meters between us!¡± If it was not Cold Guy, then it had to be one of the workers. Wei Jinyuan raised his phone and ran ahead. ¡°Normally speaking, the actors at a Haunted House will hide near the corner or something hidden so that they can jump out to scare the visitor when they passed. But what is up with this guy? He just stands there on the corridor, isn¡¯t he afraid of being exposed by the visitors?¡±

    No matter how loud themotion Wei Jinyuan made, the shadow refused to budge. After he got closer, he slowly realized the strangeness about the shadow. The shadow¡¯s body was slowly shifting until it matched his own body shape. This was a strange experience; it was like he was looking at his own body from the back. Wei Jinyuan¡¯s Adam¡¯s apple shook, and he was finally within three meters of the ¡®man¡¯.

    After adjusting his breathing, Wei Jinyuan was about to speak when the phone that he held before his chest suddenly vibrated!

    ¡°F*ck!¡± After cursing out loud, Wei Jinyuan lowered his head to press the ept button. Before he had a chance to nce at the name on the caller ID, when he lifted his head again, the shadow before his eyes had already disappeared. ¡°Where did he run off to?¡±

    ¡°Hey, Jinyuan, I¡¯ve found a map for this town. There is an area that is crossed off with red paint on your side...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll talk to youter!¡± Wei Jinyuan ended the call immediately, and he used the shlight to quickly scan around him. ¡°Didn¡¯t he just call me earlier and now he¡¯s calling me? What¡¯s wrong with him?¡±

    ¡°Where did the man disappear to?¡± It took less than one second for him to lower and raise his head, and the shadow had already disappeared. Furthermore, Wei Jinyuan did not hear any sound¡ªit was as if the man had evaporated into thin air.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t hear any footsteps, and the doors on both sides are still open. So, he should have sneaked into one of the rooms.¡± Wei Jinyuan walked to the spot where the shadow was standing earlier. ¡°The closest room to him is one meter away. Just how many times he must have practiced this to be able to slip away in the blink of an eye.¡±

    Wei Jinyuan looked into the room. The structure inside was no different from the other rooms, but there were many blood trails left on the ground.

    For the sake of visual effects, most of the fake blood used by a Haunted House was intensely bright, but the blood in this room had a brownish color. It felt as if a real murder had happened and the blood was left from years ago. It had seeped into the building itself and could not be cleaned no matter what.

    ¡°Did he run into this room?¡± Certain rooms were filled with a liveliness and warmth that would nket one upon entry, but there were some rooms that would cause one intense difort once one stepped into it. Goosebumps rose, and there was no logical exnation for this phenomenon. That was exactly what Wei Jinyuan was feeling. There was no sense of liveliness inside this room; it was no different from a morgue used to store dead bodies.

    ¡°Come out now! I¡¯ve already seen you!¡± Wei Jinyuan screamed into the room, but he could only hear his own echo in reply. He nudged further into the room, and he saw more blood stains. ¡°All the blood has dried into the ground; it is not just thered on the surface. How did he manage to do this?¡±

    Walking through the living room, Wei Jinyuan stopped at the door to the bedroom door.

    ¡°The blood trail leads here, so the secret should be hidden inside the bedroom.¡± Pushing the door open, Wei Jinyuan grabbed his phone tightly. Cold sweat was pouring then.

    Eye-grabbing blood stains were sttered all over the room, and standing in the middle of this sanguine piece of art was a woman in a red dress. She was standing, facing away from Wei Jinyuan, and knocked her head lightly against the wall repeatedly, creating this strange persistent echo.

 Chapter 688 - Lose the Head! [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 688: Lose the Head! [2 in 1]</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    Running alone to the third-floor basement, standing inside an enclosed room that looked like a crime scene, being in thepany of a strange woman covered in blood¡ªanyone would feel fear being ced in that situation. Wei Jinyuan scratched the back of his neck like it was his habit to do so. His back was soaking wet, and his Adam¡¯s apple quivered as cold sweat slithered down his face.

    He had been searching for the actors employed at Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House to find out what the secret behind its poprity was, but now that he had run into the real actor, he felt weirdly unsettled and uneasy. For a reason that he could not exin, the woman was standing several meters away from him, but his heart was shaking like a leaf.

    ¡°Is this the influence of the environment, or is it the make-up?¡± His heart skipped endlessly like a frantic rabbit. He needed a full minute before Wei Jinyuan felt more like himself again. Throughout this process, the woman in the red dress just stood at the corner of the wall, showing no intention of getting closer to him.

    ¡°This is simr to the ck shadow I met in the corridor¡ªthey do not actively go and scare the visitors, and they do not n to hide. Is it because of the actor¡¯s overconfidence, or are they worried about something else? Is it because they are afraid that they might be too scary for the normal visitors, so they use this kind of method to ¡®stun and frighten¡¯ the visitors?¡± Wei Jinyuan¡¯s brain was thrown for a loop as he slowly nudged his feet forward. The hairs on his body were standing on end, and every cell in his body screamed for him to leave. Every single step that he took required arge amount of courage.

    ¡°Hey, are you one of the actors at this Haunted House?¡± His voice was shaking involuntarily. Wei Jinyuan kept cheering for himself internally, reminding himself that there was no reason for him to be afraid. This was merely a female actor hired by Chen Ge. Perhaps after she took off the make-up, she would be a cute little girl.

    The woman in the red dress did not answer. She had her hands crossed before her chest and showed her back to Wei Jinyuan. Her head was leaning weakly against the wall, and she maintained this strange posture.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to answer, huh? Fine, I¡¯lle and see what you¡¯re really up to!¡± Walking into the blood-stained room, the carpet underneath his feet rustled with each step. It was a distance of several meters, but Wei Jinyuan took more than ten seconds to traverse the distance. He stopped next to the woman, and he poked his head forward to look at her.

    Her dress was dripping with blood, and the resentment was heavy. With just one nce, the female ghost sent tremors down his spine. He noticed that her hands were ced before her chest, and they looked like they were holding something...

    ¡°The clue couldn¡¯t be in your grasp, could it?¡± Wei Jinyuan¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°The boss really is such an immoral character to have ced the clue somewhere like this.¡±

    If the clue was in the woman¡¯s grasp, then the visitor would have to get close to her to obtain the clue. If the visitor was too afraid to get any closer, then he would be forever trapped inside the scenario, or he would have to surrender and go and find other clues.

    ¡°Thankfully, it was me who ran into you. I am the bravest of the bunch, and this is not going to scare me.¡± Wei Jinyuan summoned his courage and reached out to grab the few pages of paper that the woman was holding in her arms. When he was about to reach back, the woman¡¯s head that leaned against the wall slowly turned. Her body maintained the same posture. In fact, her neck did not even move. It was merely her head that was turning and turning...

    A pale white face that was drained of blood. The features could be called beautiful but the two dark hollows were the eyes should be were quite scary. The female ghost did not seem to understand what Wei Jinyuan was doing. The resentment in her eyes was boiling, but as her gazended on the strand of ck hair around her wrist, she calmed down once more.

    ¡°You¡¯re even wearing pure ck contact lenses? If I was not working at the Haunted House and thus privy to these make-up skills, I probably would have been scared by you.¡± Wei Jinyuan pulled the pages away from the woman. He shone the shlight on the paper. ¡°The basic rules for Haunted House workers? Do not have any physical contact with visitors? Do not harm the visitors? If youe after any fainted visitors, send them to the underground morgue immediately?¡±

    Wei Jinyuan looked over the pieces of paper again and again. The question mark in his mind grew. ¡°What is this? Where is the clue?¡±

    He raised his head to look at the woman in the red dress. She still kept her strange posture. Her body was half a meter away from the wall, and only her head leaned against it. Her eyes were focused on the papers that he was holding as if she was waiting for Wei Jinyuan to return them to her.

    ¡°Is this everything?¡± Wei Jinyuan held the pieces of paper. ¡°You are one of the actors here, right? Is there a secret that I should understand from these words?¡±

    The woman had no idea what Wei Jinyuan was talking about, but there was one thing that was certain¡ªher patience was slowly being worn down by this man. The red dress started to flow with blood, and the thin scent of blood suffused through the bedroom.

    ¡°Oh, ho! There¡¯s a second transformation as well?¡± Wei Jinyuan studied the blood that dripped down the woman¡¯s dress, and he observed in forced calmness, ¡°There are blood bags hidden inside the dress, aren¡¯t there? But you are being too unprofessional. The requirement for a Haunted House actor is fast, quick, and urate. With how slow you¡¯re moving, the visitors will have time to prepare for this not so sudden transformation.¡±

    Wei Jinyuan actually had no concrete idea how the woman managed to do something like this. His endless rambling was merely to cover up the uncertainty that crawled through his heart.

    ¡°Looks like finding the clue alone is not enough¡ªwe¡¯ll have to solve the puzzle in it.¡± The back of Wei Jinyuan¡¯s neck was bing increasingly itchy, like there was something on his neck that was shivering. He could even feel a small force from behind him trying to pull him away, like some mysterious force was urging him to leave this ce immediately.

    ¡°Is this some kind of mind trick? But what is theory behind it? Before we came, I saw on the inte that many visitors im the boss is a master at psychology. Looks like I have fallen into his trap without even realizing it myself.¡± Wei Jinyuan held the phone in one hand, the light from the phone shining on him and the woman next to him, while his other hand held the few pieces of paper. ¡°Where did I go wrong? This ce is not even that scary, but howe my heart is racing so fast?¡±

    Being cast in the light, her own sheet of worker rules had been taken away, and trails of blood vessels started to form on the woman¡¯s face¡ªshe felt like she was being humiliated. The scent of blood in the air thickened, and the sticky blood slid down her dress, causing a dripping sound as itnded on the ground.

    Wei Jinyuan was still caught in his thoughts. He felt like he had walked himself into a trap. ¡°Since entering the Haunted House, there¡¯s been nothing but empty rooms. There was no set-up and definitely nothing scary. There was not even blood. How did a Haunted House like this manage to make me feel fear? What kind of thing is behind this kind of indescribable feeling of suffocation? I seem to smell the blood in the air, but is this some kind of illusion, or has he managed to y some mind trick on me when I was not paying attention?¡±

    There was no answer to any of the questions; everything was wreathed in mystery. Wei Jinyuan scratched his neck, and his brows creased. ¡°The environment is tooplicated, and it speaks of an unspeakable horror. The clues given are impossible to understand.¡±

    When he was still thinking, a pale hand reached out to grab the papers from him.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Wei Jinyuan turned his head to look. His lips were left hanging open, and the expression froze on his face. The woman who was standing next to the wall had moved further into the room, but her head had disappeared!

    There was a rough cut around the neck, and the gaping wound was dripping with blood. This scene smashed Wei Jinyuan¡¯s brain like a heavy blow from a hammer. He felt as if he had been struck by lightning, and electricity surged through his capiries!

    ¡°Where is the head?¡± He could confirm that the actor standing in the room with him was a living woman. That exquisite face, the fresh expressions, even the condescension-filled gaze that felt like she was looking at garbage was not something that could be replicated by a mannequin. However, the head of the living human disappeared in the blink of an eye!

    ¡°Give me back my stuff.¡± A woman¡¯s voice came from behind his shoulder. Wei Jinyuan¡¯s neck turned stiffly around, and soon, he was greeted with an impossible scene. The woman¡¯s head was linked by blood vessels, and it was floating just above his shoulder. When the four eyes met, Wei Jinyuan felt like his heart had stopped beating, and all the blood inside his body rushed to his brain at the same time.

    ¡°Help!¡± he screamed at the top of his lung. With one hand on the phone and the other on the worker¡¯s rule sheets, he charged out of the bedroom at the fastest speed he had ever aplished in his life!

    ¡°Give me, give me!¡± Resentment circted around her body, and the Specter was out for blood. The blood dripped onto the ground, and the woman in the red dress followed Wei Jinyuan out of the room. The blood mixed with the ck hair. The woman hugged her head and chased after Wei Jinyuan.

    Running down the dim corridor, Wei Jinyuan did not have the luxury to analyze anymore. There was only a simple thought in his mind.

    <i>Run!</i>

    He did not check where he was running; he simply rushed down the corridor that was before him!

    After who knew how long, he stopped to gasp for air. The vibrating phone in his hand snapped him out of it slightly. With his heart almost jumping out of his chest, Wei Jinyuan turned to look at the phone. The caller ID said that it was another call from Lee Jiu. Like a drowning person being given a lifeboat, he grabbed onto it and hit the ept button madly!

    ¡°Jinyuan, I need to talk about the same thing as before. We found another map piece, and after we joined them together, we realized that you and Cold Guy are heading toward an extremely dangerous location...¡±

    Before Lee Jiu finished, he was cut off by Wei Jinyuan. ¡°Jiu! Pleasee save me! Save me!¡±

    ¡°Slow down, what is going on?¡± Wei Jinyuan also wished to slow down, but once he turned around, he saw the woman in the red dress running toward him. The head was cradled in her arms, and the head guided the body as she charged down the corridor to capture her prey!

    ¡°Come over here now! There¡¯s a mad woman here! She has no head! Do you understand that!¡± Wei Jinyuan screamed into the phone, and his face was distorted from pure fear.

    ¡°She has no head? Is she some kind of special effect? rify yourself, you are not making sense. Do not lose your head, calm down.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not me who has lost my head! It¡¯s her! Yes, she has lost her head!¡±

    Wei Jinyuan¡¯s voice travelled down the dark corridor.

    And then the call was ended.

    ...

    ¡°That¡¯s strange.¡± On the other end of the line, Lee Jiu stood where he was, holding the phone. Wei Jinyuan¡¯s ear-splitting scream from before had been heard by Lee Jiu and everyone else through the phone.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with Xiao Jin?¡± Through the terms he used, it sounded like the streamer was close to the employees from Nightmare Academy. However, there was not much concern in his question, more of an open curiosity. ¡°Xiao Jin is not really that easily scared. To be able to scare him until he screamed like this, it shows that there is more than meets the eye at this Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°We should be more careful. I don¡¯t think I heard Jinyuan correctly earlier, but I believe he mentioned a headless female ghost.¡± Lee Jiu felt quite embarrassed that his colleague was being scared to such a state. ¡°Regardless, we should not pay him too much attention. Wei Jinyuan is on the design team, and he does not enter the Haunted House often, so he is actually the most easily-scared among all of us.¡±

    ¡°This condescension is going to be your downfall.¡± Wang Dan also heard Wei Jinyuan¡¯s cry for help earlier. His words were actually more cutting than he meant. ¡°I advise you listen to me and stop using your phone inside the Haunted House. Then we shall take the same route back. There is no way we are clearing this scenario with a bunch of rule-breakers.¡±

    ¡°If you talk so much big talk, why don¡¯t you go off on your own and stop following us so shamelessly?¡± Wang Dan¡¯s advice fell on deaf ears. In fact, the streamer challenged him rudely. After the incident with Wei Jinyuan, he felt weirdly uneasy.

    Wang Dan did not take up the argument. He shrugged and uttered in a voice reserved only for himself, ¡°If I leave, who is going to help collect your bodies?¡±

    ¡°Stop arguing, I have to admit that there is something praiseworthy about this Haunted House if it is able to scare Jinyuan to such a state. Now that we have found two pieces of the map, I believe we will be able to escape soon enough.¡± Lee Jiu was responsible for the prop and item design at Nightmare Academy. He had been in the business for five years already, and with his experience, he could discern the mechanism set up inside the Haunted House with a nce. It was because of his experience that he had been able to find the clues hidden by Chen Ge in Li Wan City easily.

    The scenario could be very difficult, but there had to be a chance for the visitors to win. That was the only way that the visitors would think that the experience was fun. And the clues were the chances provided by Chen Ge to the visitors. With the map, they could avoid the extremely dangerous locations like the woman in the red dress in the third-floor basement.

    The man who had been so confident earlier only needed a few minutes to be transformed into a sniffling baby. That had ced an invisible pressure on the other visitors.

    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s keep moving and see if we cane up with anything else.¡± Lee Jiu put his phone away and studied the two pieces of the map.

    ¡°It feels like this ce is a trial of patience. The actors will wait until we put our guard down and start to get agitated, then they jump out to scare us. That is probably how they got Xiao Jin.¡± The streamer looked at his watch and then exchanged a look with Lee Jiu. Lee Jiu got the message and nodded. Then he said, ¡°After entering the next building, we should temporarily split up. We are moving too slowly at the moment. After we¡¯ve searched the entire building, we should meet up at the entrance.¡±

    Without waiting for the other people¡¯s response, Lee Jiu and the streamer strode into the building in front of them.

    ¡°Wait, I think we should stick together.¡± The student Zhang Feng suggested, but Lee Jiu and the streamer walked away from him like they could not even hear him.

    ¡°We should join them,¡± Wang Dan said lightly. He had a feeling that there was an ulterior motive behind Lee Jiu and the host¡¯s visit to the Haunted House.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Zhang Feng had not been that afraid in the beginning, but after hearing Wei Jinyuan¡¯s voice from the phone call earlier, he was feeling quite panicky. ¡°This building before us looks like a small hospital. They always ce the scariest stuff inside the hospital at the Haunted Houses, don¡¯t they?¡±

    ¡°Are you scared?¡± Wang Dan barely nced at Zhang Feng as he headed into Li Wan Hospital.

    ¡°Who¡¯s scared? Are you looking down on me? Let me tell you, a Haunted House can never be scarier and more exciting than bungee jumping.¡±

    Zhang Feng nced at the wooden board that announced the building to be Li Wan Private Hospital. He suppressed the anxiety in his heart and followed Wang Dan and his girlfriend into the building.

 Chapter 689 - Setting a Trap [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 689: Setting a Trap [2 in 1]</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    Li Wan Private Hospital¡¯s main color palette was white. It was the most eye-catching and the most unique building in the small town. As they pulled open the rusted iron door, they saw a darkened corridor, littered with yellowed patient¡¯s list. If they picked up any single one, they would see that the patients had mostly died from untreatable diseases and infections from the epidemic.

    The ss windows creaked in the wind even though there should not have been a draft blowing underground. The doors of the rooms were all left open like the dead patients had all returned to this ce and woulde out at any moment.

    There were striations that looked like nail marks left on the doors, and an unknown nt climbed all over the walls. The ceiling was peeling at ces, which exposed patterns on the cement that looked suspiciously like human faces.

    This hospital was one of the scariest locales at the small town, and it was using its own unique charm to wee the new batch of visitors. The floor was cracked, and walking on it would create this screeching sound. In theplete silence, any sound could make people jump.

    ¡°Where is that guy, Lee Jiu? He came in here at most ten seconds earlier than we did. How did he manage to disappear in the blink of an eye?¡± Wang Dan looked around with a severe look in his eyes. He stood in the lobby and stared down the two corridors that led down his left and right sides. He wished to discern the direction that they had gone in based on the pattern of the broken tiles on the ground. However, much to his consternation, both corridors had signs of travel, and he could already pick out around eight footprints in the dark.

    ¡°There are some other people in this building other than us.¡± Wang Dan studied the foot prints on the ground, and he hesitated. He knew full well how good at scaring people the actors at this Haunted House were. Running into anyone of them could push an unsuspecting visitor over the brink, and this building might be hiding more than a handful of those scary actors.

    ¡°Which path should we take?¡± Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend asked. She was wearing quite thin clothing as was the fashion. Her body was shaking involuntarily, but it was unclear whether it was due to fear or merely the cold.

    ¡°I remember that both Lee Jue and the male streamer are wearing sneakers. From the footprints on the ground, they should have headed down the left corridor, but...¡± Wang Dan lowered his head to think.

    ¡°But what? Can¡¯t you just finish the sentence instead of letting it hang like that?¡± Zhang Fengined with annoyance. When a person was ced in apletely new environment, they would often feel agitated and unsettled.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t youe and see for yourself?¡± Wang Dan aimed his phone on the ground. The corridor on the left had two pairs of footprints that were arranged parallel to each other.

    ¡°The footprints in front looks like they were left behind by sneakers, but the footprints at the back doesn¡¯t have any pattern to them. Therefore, we can assume that it was one of the visitors who walked ahead, and it was not a second visitor but something else that was following behind him.¡± Wang Dan was not trying to scare anyone¡ªhe was merely telling the truth. ¡°There is about thirty centimeters between these two footprints. Do you really not see the problem here?¡±

    Seeing the confusion on Zhang Feng¡¯s face, Wang Dan decided to make the demonstration himself. He walked to stand behind his girlfriend and moved to about thirty centimeters behind her. ¡°The visitor is walking ahead, and there is something unknown trailing behind him like this. The two walked down the whole corridor in this manner. Look at the footprints left on the ground; the patterns are very uniform. In other words, this means that, even at the end, the one who was walking in front did not realize that there was something following behind him at a constant thirty-centimeter distance.¡±

    ¡°The actors here sure are something else.¡± This was Zhang Feng¡¯s first time visiting a Haunted House. Just hearing Wang Dan¡¯s description, he was feeling quite unsettled.

    ¡°Lee Jiu and the streamer should have gone down the left corridor, and the actors at the Haunted House made to follow them, so the path should be safe now.¡± Wang Dan walked down the left corridor alone.

    After Wang Dan left, the hospital lobby became scarier. The paper on the ground lifted up, and it rustled noisily as it scratched the floor. This was nothing short of torture for the visitors who visited the Haunted House for the first time.

    ¡°Wait for me.¡± Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend and Zhang Feng hurried to catch up to Wang Dan. There was no one touching them, but the doors on the sides of the wall creaked on their own. It gave the impression that there were some monsters hiding inside the dark rooms. With absolute caution, the group of three moved slowly down the corridor. They were almost squeezed together.

    ¡°This looks like a normal sickroom, albeit a little old and abandoned. It looks like no one has stayed here for a long time.¡± The decoration inside the sickrooms was very real, so real that one could easily forget that they were inside a Haunted House.

    ¡°Be careful. The actors here have undergone the best training¡ªthey are able to follow behind you without making any noise, and they have many different methods to scare you. You are never going to see iting.¡±

    The danger coulde from any direction. Wang Dan¡¯s group not only had to be cautious of the doors that were left half-ajar, they were also watching the cracked walls and floor cautiously. They did not forget about the ceiling either.

    With how tense they were, if anyone screamed, their souls probably would have escaped from their bodies. They took a whole minute to walk down the corridor that was only ten meters long. When they reached the corner of the staircase, the group realized that their backs were already wet with sweat.

    ¡°What? That¡¯s all? I thought that there would at least be actors ying the ghostsing out of the rooms to scare us.¡± Zhang Feng sighed in relief. ¡°Actually, it is not that scary. If anything, I think that your analysis at the start was scarier. I suspect that you did it on purpose to make this whole experience feel more horrifying than it should be so that you can scare us.¡±

    The male student was more courageous than a normal person, but the crucial reason he was putting on such a brave front was because he did not want to appear weaker than Wang Dan.

    Actually, he looked down on Wang Dan even though he did not let it show that openly. Wang Dan was a medical student who only knew how to deal with dead bodies; he was boring, had normal looks, was not even that tall, and did note from a good family. Zhang Feng failed to find any hint of a positive point when it came to the young man.

    Just the thought of that dispersed the fear slightly in Zhang Feng¡¯s heart. He stole a nce at Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend. As mentioned earlier, Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend was his high-school ssmate. However, back then, he would not have predicted that how beautiful his friend would be once she learned how to take care of her appearance. After he came across her profile on the inte, Zhang Feng had a hard time believing it was her that he was looking at.

    Wang Dan was slighted by Zhang Feng¡¯s words. He was being kind to provide the analysis, but all he got in return was suspicion. This kind of person really did not deserve his help. He worked hard to suppress the annoyance in his heart. Even though Wang Dan had possessed a temper in the past, visiting Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House had smoothed down his edges a lot.

    He could not tell for sure what had initiated this change. Perhaps because he had seen real demons, inparison, everyone else appeared more kind-hearted and approachable. Or perhaps when he had fainted and been revived repeatedly in the underground morgue, the teachings of the old professors at Jiujiang Medical University had really made an impact on this young man. In any case, Wang Dan was no longer the man he had been in the past; he had witnessed plenty of growth.

    Facing the multiple challenges from Zhang Feng, Wang Dan did not rise to the bait and get into an argument. He understood how meaningless an argument was¡ªthe main reason he hade to the Haunted House this time was to share the ¡®joy¡¯ with Zhang Feng, and to achieve that goal, he could stomach any number ofints and grievances.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you defending yourself? It¡¯s because I¡¯m right, aren¡¯t I?¡± Zhang Feng assumed that he had seen through Wang Dan¡¯s ploy. ¡°Coming to a ce like a Haunted House to prove who has a bigger heart, don¡¯t you think that is a very childish thing to do?¡±

    After nodding, Wang Dan walked silently away.

    The atmosphere in the hospital turned stranger. Lee Jiu and the male host had walked in before him, but they did not hear anything to signify their presence. There was not even the sound of footsteps. It felt like the two had disappeared into thin air.

    All the buildings in the small town led underground, and Li Wan Private Hospital was no exception. Wang Dan looked at the stairs that led underground, and a strange thought appeared in Wang Dan¡¯s mind. The only reason that they had note across any actors so far was most likely because they wanted to wait for the visitors to head underground before showing themselves. This way, the visitors would not escape from the building so easily when they were scared.

    The light dimmed, and the three became more cautious.

    On the stairs between the first and second floor basement, Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend suddenly yelped in shock, ¡°There¡¯s someone down there!¡±

    ¡°Where?¡± Both Wang Dan and Zhang Feng turned to the stairs in unison.

    ¡°It was just around the banister going down to the second floor! I saw it! It was a pair of gray legs!¡± Wang Dan and Zhang Feng looked in the direction that Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend was pointing, but they did not see anything.

    ¡°I swear they were there earlier, but they disappeared soon after!¡± Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend imed nervously as she nudged backward, moving from the middle to the back of the ground.

    ¡°Probably the actors heard our footsteps and were hiding there, but you saw them on ident,¡± Zhang Feng said to console the girl.

    ¡°Okay... But wait!¡± Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend suddenly pointed at Wang Dan¡¯s back. ¡°There is something stuck on your shoulders!¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Wang Dan reached out to touch his back, and he noticed that there was a patient¡¯s record stuck on his back. The front of the record was printed with the ck and white picture of the supposed patient, and on the back of the paper was written in unkempt handwriting ¡°Come and find me.¡±

    ¡°Who stuck this on me?¡± Wang Dan felt like he had been targeted all of a sudden. He knew that it would not have been Zhang Feng or his girlfriend. Neither of them carried a pen on them, and it was quite clear that the words on the paper had been written a long time ago.

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯d do something this boring, like you?¡± Zhang Feng was the first to shrug. Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend thought that it was quite weird. They had been walking together in a group, and they did not see anyone pass.

    ¡°Is there anything on your back?¡± Wang Dan looked at Zhang Feng and his girlfriend in a panic, and he realized that only he had the paper pasted on his back. ¡°Was it because I was the one who walked at the front of the group?¡±

    Looking at the paper that he was holding, the man in the ck and white picture seemed to be smiling at him. Cold sweat poured out of Wang Dan¡¯s forehead; he knew that the real horror of this scenario was going to begin soon.

    ¡°What are you doing, grumbling to yourself?¡± Zhang Feng could not hide the grin on his face, seeing how scared Wang Dan was. ¡°The same trick is not going to work on me twice.¡±

    Like he had uncovered a great secret, he leaned close to Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend and said, ¡°Old friend, your boyfriend sure is an interesting fellow. We have been moving together, and along the way, we did not run into anyone else. Since neither of us stuck the paper on his back, who do you think the culprit could have been?¡±

    Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend was slowly led to his conclusion. ¡°He did this himself? That¡¯s impossible, Wang Dan, he...¡±

    ¡°If it was not him, are you telling me that it was a ghost who did this? He wanted to use this to scare us and then act like he is not afraid. I would be angry if I didn¡¯t see how sad this is.¡±

    ¡°No way, he wouldn¡¯t do something like that... right?¡± With the persuasion from Zhang Feng, Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend started to doubt herself.

    Holding the patient¡¯s record in his hand, Wang Dan¡¯s pupils darted about as he observed his surroundings cautiously. He understood that danger was imminent¡ªthis patient¡¯s record was, in actuality, a death notice!

    ¡°Since we¡¯re already targeted, tossing this away will not change anything.¡± Wang Dan heard the two¡¯s conversation clearly. He took a deep breath, bit on his lips, and turned around. Seeing the trace of suspicion and disappointment in his girlfriend¡¯s eyes, Wang Dan¡¯s tensed expression slowly rxed. With some unwillingness, he rxed his tightened hands and then turned to Zhang Feng and stated rather openly, ¡°Fine, I admit it was me who pasted this on my back.¡±

    ¡°But why would you do something like that? You aren¡¯t someone like this when I first met you.¡± Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend¡¯s voice was rising.

    ¡°I just want to prove that I still have some positive qualities about me.¡± Wang Dan¡¯s pupils were quivering, and goosebumps were crawling on the back of his neck, but he forced himself to maintain hisposure. ¡°There is a legend at this Haunted House. Once you put down something like e and find me¡¯ on a piece of paper, there is a chance that you might run into a real ghost. I just want to prove that I might have more courage than you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s so childish. If you want to hear urban legends, I can share about one hundred of them with you.¡± The condescension that Zhang Feng had toward Wang Dan surfaced, and it grew.

    ¡°I admit that I am envious of you. I am not as handsome as you, I do not dress as well as you, my family is not as rich as yours, and I cannot even beat you at basketball. Compared to you, I could not appear more mediocre, so I desperately wanted to prove that there is something that I am better than you at.¡± Wang Dan¡¯s voice started to shake. In the corridor that they came from, he saw a pair of gray legs walking out from one of the rooms.

    ¡°So, you use this kind of method?¡± Zhang Feng¡¯s sense of conceit was satisfied, and it was made much better since it was in the presence of Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend. ¡°I cannot believe that a medical student like yourself believes urban legend like that. Don¡¯t you know that it¡¯s merely bullsh*t created by people who have nothing else to do?¡±

    ¡°Then, would you dare to give it a try?¡± Wang Dan had been waiting for Zhang Feng to say that. He interrupted quickly, so fast that Zhang Feng could barely react.

    ¡°What?¡± Zhang Feng was still submerged in his joy, so he did not expect Wang Dan to suggest something like this.

    ¡°Since you believe these urban legends are all bullsh*t, then I¡¯m sure you wouldn¡¯t object to giving it a try,¡± Wang Dan said as he moved to ce the patient¡¯s record on Zhang Feng¡¯s back. ¡°Actually, I realize now that there are people who are better than me in the word. I just have to keep running, and even then, I might not be able to catch up to someone as perfect as you.¡±

    Wang Dan¡¯s words confused Zhang Feng. His pride was satisfied, but at the same time, he felt like something was out of ce.

    ¡°Now that I have voiced the words in my heart, I feel much better. Thank you for everything, I swear to live my life more honestly in the future.¡± Wang Dan patted Zhang Feng¡¯s back to make sure that the paper was stuck securely and would not shake loose. ¡°Come on, we should continue exploring, and I will stop with the boring ghost stories.¡±

    Wang Dan pushed Zhang Feng to the front of the group, and he said in an apologetic tone, ¡°Actually, this Haunted House is not as scary as they say. We told other people that because we merely wanted to hide how easily-scared we are.¡±

    Zhang Feng was still quite confused, but once Wang Dan said that, he actually did not feel that afraid anymore. ¡°It¡¯s really not that scary?¡±

    ¡°Indeed, this Haunted House is not that scary at all. When I visited this cest time, it was so boring that I almost fell asleep.¡±

    It appeared like thisd had been taking acting lessons from a certain Haunted House¡¯s boss because there was no w to the sincerity on his face as he pushed Zhang Feng to head down the stairs.

 Chapter 690 - Danger Scale Off the Charts [2 in 1]

    Chapter 690: Danger Scale Off the Charts [2 in 1]

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    ¡°You fell asleep during your previous visit? How is that possible?¡± Zhang Feng was still considering Wang Dan¡¯s words when he was pushed ahead by thetter. However, after hearing that Wang Dan had made up all those strange rumors, it was true that Zhang Feng did not feel as afraid as before. He had a liking for extreme sports and could suffer a great deal more than normal people. On top of that, he never did believe in the existence of the supernatural in the first ce, so how could he be afraid of something that was not real?

    The things inside the Haunted House were not real. Compared to scuba-diving or survival in the wild, a Haunted House had the lowest inherent danger. He knew fairly well that a visit to the Haunted House would not put anyone in mortal danger.

    Since there was no possibility of danger, what was so scary about it?

    After rifying that in his mind, Zhang Feng became more confident, and even his gait was different from before. He was no longer that cautious. ¡°There is nothing to be afraid of. We should move faster and finish this tour as soon as possible. This Haunted House, in fact this entire theme park, is so damn boring. If there is a chance, I will invite you guys toe with me to the newly open fifth generation high-tech theme park in Eastern Jiujiang.¡±

    When Zhang Feng said that, he did not forget to turn back to smile at Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend, like he was trying to toss her some signal. With the patient¡¯s record pasted on his back, Zhang Feng was the first to arrive at the second-floor basement. The light became even dimmer. Without the aid of a shlight, they could barely see the environment around them.

    ¡°Have Lee Jiu and that male host left already? Howe we did not hear anything from them at all?¡± Zhang Feng pushed open the door that was closest to him. It opened to another sickroom. A dirty bedsheet was crumpled on the bed, and there were traces of blood and broken chips of ster left on the ground.

    ¡°This sickroom looks rather different from the others; it feels like someone has recently been here.¡± Zhang Feng wished to start analyzing, following Wang Dan¡¯s lead, but he could not really see the reason, so he could only rely on his instinct.

    ¡°Shall we go in to take a look?¡± Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend was acting rather jumpy. She was still thinking about the pair of gray legs that she saw earlier.

    ¡°Since you believe that someone has been here, it was probably Lee Jiu and the male streamer. They probably discovered something in there. We should go in to check then,¡± Wang Dan said as he urged Zhang Feng into the room.

    A faded scent of disinfectant filled the air, and it was pungent. Zhang Feng ced his hand over his lips, and his brows were creased in a deep frown. Suppressing the disgust, he pulled the bedsheet back. Under the sheet was a human-shaped blood stain and a selfie stick.

    ¡°Why is this thing here?¡± Zhang Feng picked up the selfie stick. ¡°This does not look like a prop inside the Haunted House. Could it have belonged to the male streamer?¡±

    When he spoke, a light thud came from the dresser next to him. It felt like someone had identally knocked into the furniture when they were in a rush.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Even though he kept telling himself that there was no reason for him to be afraid, when there was a real dangerous situation, Zhang Feng could not stop his heart from racing. He walked toward the dresser slowly and pulled open the dresser door with the slowest speed possible. Inside sat an old, tattered patient¡¯s garb and a worn diary.

    ¡°This is too easy! I have found the clue!¡± Zhang Feng was extremely excited. Finally, he had an inkling as to where the fun in touring a Haunted House was. It was the rush of exploration in the depths of fear and despair. When one struck gold when one¡¯s nerves were highly strung, it would bring forth an indescribable and unassable sense of pleasure.

    He flipped through the diary, but Zhang Feng knew that his analytical power was not as good as Wang Dan¡¯s, so he called thetter over to study it together. The diary detailed the patient¡¯s slow discovery of the strange phenomenon happening at the hospital. Every night, there would be a little boy who came to y hide-and-seek with him. The sentences were easy to understand, and they were the writing of an everyday man, not a writer. However, these simple words managed to elicit the fear in the few readers¡¯ hearts.

    ¡°A game of hide-and-seek?¡± Zhang Feng was not really a brainiac, but it did not mean that he was a fool. When he saw the game mentioned in the diary, he was immediately reminded of the patient¡¯s record that was originally stuck on Wang Dan¡¯s back. If the patient¡¯s record was as Wang Dan said, a harmless prank, then how did he know beforehand that a dangerous game of hide-and-seek was underway in this strange hospital?

    The nameless town had opened to the public for the first time, and they were the first batch of visitors. Wang Dan would not have been able to prepare this beforehand. Unless... Wang Dan was in cahoots with the Haunted house¡¯s boss!

    The anxiety that Zhang Feng had suppressed earlier returned in full force because he realized that the patient¡¯s notice was now stuck on his back. Understanding the negative implication that this might bring, Zhang Feng snapped the diary shut. ¡°The details of this Haunted House are quite well-done. We have been in here for quite some time already, so we should prepare to leave. After all, I am feeling quite tired already.¡±

    ¡°But we have barely done anything? And how can a sports and health education student feel tired so soon? Is it because you¡¯re not feeling very well? Do you wish to sit down and rest?¡± Wang Dan asked in extreme concern, and that only made Zhang Feng want to punch the man in his face.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that, yes, right!¡± Zhang Feng picked up the selfie stick left on the bed. ¡°The male host will be worried that he is missing this. We should take this with us and wait for him outside.¡±

    He held the selfie stick with one hand, and his other hand reached behind his back. Zhang Feng wished to remove the paper from his back, but something surprising happened. His hand searched about, but the patient¡¯s record that was supposed to be on his back had disappeared!

    ¡°What the f*ck?¡± Looking back over his shoulder, he saw a pair of bruised arms reach out from inside the dresser. A man wearing a tattered patient¡¯s garb with no legs was in the middle of sticking a number of yellowing patient¡¯s records on Zhang Feng¡¯s waist and legs!

    Every single patient¡¯s record had the same message written on it. ¡°It is my time to be the ghost toe catch you!¡±

    It was unclear when the many sheets of patient¡¯s records were stuck on his body. Zhang Feng¡¯s mind was drawing a nk, and his brain that wascking in training was squeezed to the brim by endless questions!

    Where did this mane from? Why is he wearing the patient¡¯s garb that I saw earlier? What does it mean by ¡®it¡¯s my turn to be the ghost¡¯? When did I promise to y the game with you?

    The expression on his face distorted, and Zhang Feng¡¯s heart leaped to his throat. His brain shut down for three seconds before his body reacted. He screamed in fear and leaped into the air. At the time, his brain was still as nk as it could be. After hended, he tried to knock Wang Dan out of the way and run out the door. However, Wang Dan and his girlfriend had already left the room.

    When Zhang Feng was reading through the diary, Wang Dan had already noticed something was wrong. From the corner of his eyes, he had seen that the patient¡¯s garb inside the dresser had started to move on its own. Different from Zhang Feng, Wang Dan went into high alert immediately. He understood how dangerous a 3.5-star scenario could be.

    By then, he had already made the preparation to run. When Zhang Feng turned around and said something, Wang Dan saw two arms reach out from inside the dresser, but out of respect to Zhang Feng, he did not interrupt the young man when he went through his ¡®analysis¡¯. He knew that it was very disrespectful to disturb the man, so he listened to Zhang Feng¡¯s analysis patiently.

    When Zhang Feng made the discovery, Wang Dan already had his hand around his girlfriend¡¯s wrist. They were out the door and ran for several meters. He felt like he had learned many life lessons in Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House.

    I am not as perfect as you, so the only choice to ever beat you is to run faster than you.

    This was not some Chicken Soup for the Soul cr*p; Wang Dan understood that the slowest running might really end up at the hospital.

    Bang!

    The sickroom door mmed heavily against the wall. When Wang Dan and his girlfriend exited the room, they realized that there was a pair of gray legs standing at the corner to the staircase. To intensify the fear in his heart, in almost an instant, another pair of legs appeared, and in less than 0.1 seconds, the third pair of legs appeared.

    With the way to the stairs blocked, Wang Dan and his girlfriend could only run deeper into the hospital. By then, Zhang Feng had rushed out of the sickroom as well. He was running so fast and so blindly ahead that he almost ran into the wall. Before he even recovered from the near miss, he saw many patients with grayish skin appear near the stairs.

    Due to his good looks and rich family background, Zhang Feng had never had any real trouble in his life, and he would be the center of attention wherever he went. At this moment, in the Haunted House, he was the star of the day as well. The many patients with twisted limbs all looked at him with great interest.

    His back was pasted fully with the patient¡¯s records. Tears were swirling in Zhang Feng¡¯s eyes. He was finally reminded of Wang Dan¡¯s kindness, and he ran toward the man. Hearing the footstepsing from behind him, Wang Dan ran even faster. They rushed down the corridor and came to the stairwell on the right side of the hospital.

    At the end of the day, Zhang Feng was a sports student, and it did not take long for him to catch up to Wang Dan. The horde of patients were still following them, and they were not going be so easily deterred.

    ¡°We cannot run together like this! We¡¯ll all be captured!¡± Wang Dan imed in an urgent voice. At this crucial moment, he stepped onto the te and assumed responsibility. ¡°Quick! At the next corner, when we are no longer in their sight, the two of you go and hide inside the sickrooms on both sides of the wall, and I will try my best to lead them away!¡±

    ¡°Wang Dan...¡± His girlfriend looked at him with worry, and there was something on her lips.

    ¡°There¡¯s no time to waste, quick!¡± Willing to sacrifice, selfless to the end, Wang Dan appeared like a hero with no parallel. Zhang Feng was also surprised at how macho Wang Dan was because he would never volunteer to do something like that.

    After turning the corner, Zhang Feng crawled into one of the sickrooms without wasting a moment. Just as he was about to close the door, he saw through the gap that Wang Dan held his girlfriend and kept running. They rushed toward the exit and did not show any sign of stopping.

    To make matters worse, the patients with contorted bodies and a strange pall over their faces did not even feign interest toward Wang Dan and his girlfriend. Instead, they all crowded in front of his room!

    The many eyes focused on the patient¡¯s records stuck all over his body, and the reality of the situation finally dawned on Zhang Feng. When the pale faces swarmed into the room, a blood-curdling scream echoed through Li Wan Private Hospital.

    ¡°Wang Dan! You f*cker, you set me up!¡±

    ...

    At the third-floor basement of Li Wan Private Hospital, the male streamer held his backpack, whose zipper was already open, with one hand, and his other hand grasped his phone. ¡°This is strange, where is my selfie stick? Without it, the camera angle will be all over the ce, and it will disturb the viewing experience if there is any running.¡±

    ¡°Did you forget to bring it with you?¡± Lee Jiu walked next to the man. They seemed to have another motive for entering the Haunted House.

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡± The man continued rummaging through his backpack.

    ¡°Stop searching, we need to start soon. I heard another scream earlier; I believe those students have been captured by the Haunted House actors already.¡± Lee Jiu kept turning his head to look at the sickrooms lining the walls. ¡°We are going to do a livestream inside his Haunted House to conduct an expos¨¦. If we¡¯re seen by the workers, they are definitely going to stop us.¡±

    ¡°Let them do it then. What can they do? Can they afford to be physical before the camera?¡± The male host¡¯s expression was dark, and it waspletely different from how he was on camera. ¡°Furthermore, I hope that they will turn physical. That way, we will have evidence to use against the boss.¡±

    ¡°The futuristic theme park wants to know the secret behind this ce¡¯s poprity, but I feel like there is a hidden purpose behind that one boss,¡± Lee Jiu whispered conspiratorially.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to start streaming soon. You need to stop with that baseless spection.¡± The male host took out several jade pendants with horrible quality out from his backpack. The pendants all looked the same, but some of them had cracks running down the surface. The host thought about it and decided to pick out a pendant with nine cracks like it was about to fall apart, and wore it around his neck.

    After the preparation was ready, he logged into his streaming ount. ¡°We will carry this out ording to our n. We will conduct the Haunted House expos¨¦, and you will cooperate with me from behind the scenes toe up with some scary effect. With the poprity that this Haunted House enjoys on the inte, I¡¯m sure the stream will attract many viewers.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have the script memorized in my brain¡ªthere won¡¯t be any problems.¡± Lee Jiu gave the host an okay sign and walked into the shadows. He had to maintain a five-meter distance from the host. Opening the app, the host turned the camera to face himself. When the stream was connected, the man basically transformed into a different person.

    The clouds over his face disappeared, and he acted like he was panicked and worried. After the stream stabilized, he uttered in hurried tone, ¡°Hello everyone, this is Yellow Wolf, your Big Brother Wolf. Those that know me realize that Ie from a proud line of powerful diviners. I¡¯ve spent a few years learning the tricks of the trade from my grandfather, so I know quite a bit about Feng Shui, Ba Gua, and so on.

    ¡°We have been to many Haunted Houses in the past, and we have run into some things that cannot be exined with scientific reasoning, but nothing isparable to what has happened today.¡±

    The male host who called himself Yellow Wolf had everything prepared. After he was done with the introduction, he pulled the camera further and continued. ¡°I am currently at Western Jiujiang New Century Park¡¯s Haunted House. Yes, the Haunted House that is known as the scariest experience on the inte, the ce that no one has been able to conquer!¡±

    There was thinly-veiled pride in the man¡¯s voice. ¡°The current scenario that I am in might be unfamiliar to most of you because this is a 3.5-star scenario, the scenario with the highest difficulty at this Haunted House! Many of you might ask, why would I be given the privilege to challenge a 3.5-star scenario directly? That is for me to know and for you to find out.¡±

    With a mysterious smile on his lips, Yellow Wolf adjusted his tone, and his face turned serious again. ¡°If we¡¯re being serious, this Haunted House is indeed different from the rest. When I first stepped into the ce, something happened to my jade pendant, a family heirloom. Friends,e and take a look at this.¡±

    Yellow Wolf fished the nted pendant out from his cor. ¡°When we visited the Nan Ling Cemetery in Xin Haist time, the pendant had seven cracks, but look at this! When I entered the Haunted House, I counted nine cracks running down the pendant! This is a warning given to me by my ancestors! This Haunted House is very dangerous!¡±

    Then, he put the jade pendant away and continued with the show. ¡°But even if the danger scale is off the charts, I will take this risk and provide all of my dear friends with the most authentic Haunted House expos¨¦!¡±

 Chapter 691 - Sitting on Shoulders

    <h4>Chapter 691: Sitting on Shoulders</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The third-floor basement was wet, dark, and dim. The host, Yellow Wolf, held his phone and started his so-called ¡®expos¨¦¡¯.

    ¡°I am not going to introduce this Haunted House any further. Just by searching the name online, you can find countless legends, but it is hard to tell which are real and which are fake.

    ¡°There are many ghost stories that extend from every single scenario here, like dolls that follow you everywhere, student mannequins that show up at any time and any moment, a ballpoint pen that will curse you once you ask it about love, and so on.

    ¡°There are more ghost stories than that, and I believe everyone must be curious, how many of them are real, and how many of them are fake? Today, I have personally arrived at this Haunted House to find the answer for you.¡±

    He took out a piece of white paper and a ballpoint pen from his backpack and slithered into an empty sickroom. ¡°The story about the Pen Spirit is the most famous on the inte. ording to the rumors, it was a man by the name of Fei Youliang who first used his sincerity to persuade the Pen Spirit to appear. He was the first one to have met the real Pen Spirit inside this Haunted House, and he was the first visitor to have been sent to the hospital after a Haunted House visit. At the time, many visitors were there to bear witness, so it must be real.¡±

    ncing at the chat, Yellow Wolf ced the pen and paper on the bed. He put on a serious expression. ¡°Now, I will personally attempt this game. Yes, you heard me correctly. I will attempt to livestream a Pen Spirit game for you right inside this Haunted House that is filled with ghost stories!¡±

    The atmosphere was hyped to the maximum. Yellow Wolf ced the phone by the pillow while he stooped down on the other side of the bed. He picked up the ballpoint pen that he had brought with him.

    ¡°My dear friends, I am going to start now. I hope none of you will blink in the next second because I too have no idea what will happen,¡± he uttered in a convincing tone as he carefully ced the ballpoint pen perpendicr on the white paper. ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, you are my spirit from my previous life, and I am your spirit in this life. Can you tell me who my future wife will be?¡±

    Inside the dark sickroom of the Haunted House, there was nothing but silence. In his environment, Yellow Wolf trained his focus fully on the tip of the pen. One second, two seconds, when it was the third second, Yellow Wolf¡¯s pinkie that was hidden from view by his palm hit the body of the pen, which caused the pen that stood above the paper to move imperceptibly.

    ¡°Look, it¡¯s here!¡± Yellow Wolf¡¯s expression was filled with terror. He nced toward the camera and ced his index finger on his lips to make a shush gesture. Without moving a muscle, he stayed next to the bed for another minute before slowly standing up.

    He picked up the piece of paper and showed it to the camera, pointing at the minute dash on it. ¡°You can see it for yourself. After I started the game, the pen did move on its own! The Pen Spirit has appeared! With regards as to why it didn¡¯t stay, I believe that¡¯s because it is afraid of my jade pendant.¡±

    Training the camera back on himself, Yellow Wolf whispered in a fa?ade of fear. ¡°I know you still might not have believed me, and this smudge isn¡¯t going to exin many things, but I shall use my diviner¡¯s power to determine and see if there is Yin energy gathered at this ce.¡±

    Yellow Wolf walked out of the sickroom. ¡°The corridors here are very dark. Probably because it has been built underground, walking through it gives you chills.¡±

    Turning the camera, Yellow Wolf aimed it behind him. ¡°The dolls and mannequins did not show up, but I discovered something even scarier.¡±

    He pointed at the doors down the corridor. ¡°When I entered the room earlier, many doors of these sickrooms were left half-open, but now, take a look again. Most of the doors have beenpletely opened! It feels like something has escaped from these rooms!¡±

    Messages flooded the chat. Some of the viewers noticed this discrepancy as well and had started their own prediction. Of course, some still harbored suspicion, believing that this was all an act by Yellow Wolf.

    ¡°I know that many of you still do not believe me, so I will use this method taught to me by my grandfather to seek proof for you. Actually, my grandfather warned me against using this except for in emergencies, but for my dear friends, I shall attempt it today.¡± Actually, Yellow Wolf was not afraid at all. He had prepared the script with Lee Jiu already, and he believed that it was Lee Jiu who had opened those doors.

    ¡°This method is called walking through the Yin Door, also known as ¡®feeding the Yin rice¡¯.¡± Yellow Wolf took out a small ck pouch from his pocket. It was strangely wet, and opening it revealed a clump of white rice. ¡°You ce the Yin rice at the junction and then walk down the corridor, passing through the other doors. When you reach the fourth room, ce the rice at the door, walk into the room, and stomp your feet four times.

    ¡°After that, spread a few grains of rice in the room and walk out. If the pattern of the rice outside the door has be different from how youid it down earlier, then enter the room again and repeat the process four times. If the ce is haunted, when you enter the room for the fourth time, you will see a ¡®stranger¡¯ because you won¡¯t be entering your own home¡ªyou will have travelled with ¡®them¡¯ across the Yin door.

    ¡°This is the method that has been used by my ancestors to examine haunted houses. Of course, please do not try this at home. I do not wish harm on any of you.¡±

    After saying all that, Yellow Wolf walked to the stairs and ced a small mountain of rice at the mouth of the staircase. Strangely enough, after he left, the mountain of rice did reduce conspicuously in size.

    ¡°And we shall start now.¡± Yellow Wolf took a deep breath, and a severe countenance came over him like he was doing something extremely dangerous. He ced a few kernels of rice outside the fourth sickroom and then opened the door and stepped into it.

    He aimed the camera around the room so that he could take down everything in view. ¡°I need everyone to remember the cement of the objects in the room because they might change their locationster.¡±

    Messages crowded the chat box. Yellow Wolf fixed the phone on the bed, and it was the perfect angle to look at the door.

    ¡°Be careful, a stranger might enter the roomter.¡± He warned and walked out from the room. After cing the rice, he closed the door.

    When the door was closed, thus shutting him away from the camera¡¯s view, Yellow Wolf took out another phone and made a call. After it rang twice, he ended it. This was a code that he had devised with Lee Jiu. He nced toward Lee Jiu¡¯s hiding ce, but thetter did not give him any response.

    ¡°Where is the man? Still putting on make-up?¡± Yellow Wolf did not dare disappear too long from the livestream. A few secondster, he pushed the door open and rushed to the camera with this urgent look on his face. ¡°I think I heard footsteps! They came from the stairs! Something ising, and it ising to me!¡±

    Then, Yellow Wolf put down more rice and walked out of the sickroom again. He looked down the corridor, and it waspletely quiet like a ck ocean. He called Lee Jiu on his phone again. It rang four times, and there was no answer. ¡°Is he really doing this to me at a time like this?

    Agitated, Yellow Wolf felt the back of his neck starting to itch. ¡°He¡¯s not answering the call, so what is he up to?¡±

    He scratched his neck heavily. ¡°Howe it feels like someone is sitting on my shoulders?¡±

 Chapter 692 - Cooperative Actors [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 692: Cooperative Actors [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Whipping his head around, Yellow Wolf realized that there was no one behind him. ¡°That was strange.¡±

    He tried to turn his neck as far back as he could. Finally, he saw that a part of his skin on the back of his neck had turned purplish like a strange bug had bitten him.

    ¡°What is that?¡± When he raised his phone to aim the shlight at the back of his neck to take a better look, the phone in his palm suddenly vibrated. ¡°F*ck! Who is calling at a time like this?¡±

    Yellow Wolf nced at the caller ID; it was Lee Jiu.

    He walked to the side, away from the door, and after making sure that he was definitely not in the view of the camera anymore, he answered the call. He had just pressed the ept button when Lee Jiu¡¯s strange voice came through Yellow Wolf¡¯s phone. ¡°Yellow Wolf, there is something seriously wrong with this Haunted House. Things aren¡¯t right with the actors either. This ce is seriously wicked!¡±

    ¡°Get over here immediately! I have more than 100,000 viewers on my stream. If you dare drop this on me, I will never forgive you!¡± Yellow Wolf lowered his voice dangerously in warning. This man waspletely different from the persona that he put on when he faced his audience.

    ¡°Stop the stream. Get out of the Haunted House first, listen to me!¡± Lee Jiu¡¯s voice was not much different from his usual voice, but his tone was strange.

    ¡°Do you know how much thepany has invested in this livestream? I have been hyping this livestream sincest week, and all of my fans are anticipating this livestream. I am waiting for this chance to get to the top of the tform, and you¡¯re asking me to leave?¡± Yellow Wolf squeezed the words through the gaps in his teeth. ¡°If you are doing this because of the pay, then fine, you win. As long as you cooperate with the rest of the script, I will pay you double once we leave this ce.¡±

    ¡°This not the issue of money; there is something different about this cepared to other Haunted Houses!¡± Then came a burst of static through the line, and Lee Jiu¡¯s voice was distorted. ¡°This ce is really haunted!¡±

    The call was still connected, and the phone did show that Lee Jiu had not hung up, but the man¡¯s voice could not be heard anymore. The only sounding through the phone was a sharp static sound.

    ¡°A phone signal disruptor?¡± Yellow Wolf ended the call immediately. He ran back to the sickroom and checked the phone that was conducting the livestreaming. Compared to Lee Jiu, he was more worried about the disturbance to his livestream.

    ¡°Where is the man? Where has he gone to? Has the host been captured by the ghosts?¡±

    ¡°If you challenge them often enough, they will naturally answer to you eventually. ording to my prediction, he has bitten off more than he can chew this time. I have been to this Haunted House before. The kind of terror is not something that you can possibly imagine. At the time, there were seven of us who challenged the Haunted House, and only two of us came out on our feet.¡±

    ¡°You have to be joking, right?¡±

    ¡°The understanding of terror will be refreshed once you visit this ce. Have you ever seen a Haunted House that prepares a trolley to transport fainted customers? Have you encountered a Haunted House that has a VIP room for unconscious visitors at the local hospital? Have you visited a Haunted House where every single employee there knows emergency resuscitation? I had not seen it before, and I have personally experienced it myself. Just wait and see, this is going to get much more interesting.¡±

    The messages rushed forward on the screen. Seeing that the livestream had not stopped, Yellow Wolf sighed in relief. He forced a smile and returned to the scene. ¡°I just went out to take a look, and the rice left on the ground has indeed been disturbed. When we walked into this room, someone else walked past the door.¡±

    Lee Jiu had left alone, abandoning him inside this ce, so Yellow Wolf could not follow the script anymore. Yellow Wolf looked at the screen, and asionally, he scratched his neck. He suppressed the annoyance in his heart and uttered in a strangely nervous voice, ¡°Perhaps you might think that I am lying, or perhaps you believe I have been lying to you, but that is really not the case. Ever since I stepped into this Haunted House, I have felt weirdly unsettled, and there is a sensation that someone has been following me...¡±

    He was rambling to buy time as he figured out a way to pull this all around, but to his surprise, the chatroom of his stream suddenly exploded with activity!

    In that instant, the websitegged from the endless stream of messages. This was the first time that he had encountered something like this as well.

    ¡°What is happening?¡± Standing where he was, Yellow Wolf refreshed the page several times before the chatroom became normal again. However, due to the overwhelming number of messages, the video was still stuttering at ces.

    ¡°Look behind you!¡±

    ¡°What the f*ck! That is one hell of a scare!¡±

    ¡°There is a face on the window! Turn back! Host!¡±

    ¡°Outside the door, he is just outside the door!¡±

    ¡°Motherf*cker! They are real! They areing!¡±

    The messages exploded, and the video had be so filled with messages that the host could not be seen anymore. This was the first time in his life that Yellow Wolf had experienced this kind of poprity and viewership. He did not listen to the advice and look behind him, but instead, he went to check his livestream numbers. In just a few minutes, his viewership had shot over 350,000 viewers, and it was still increasing at a startling speed.

    <i>With 700,000 viewers, I will be able to get the top spot on the website. Based on this development, that should not be too difficult.</i>

    Yellow Wolf still did not turn his head around. After he promised the double payment, Lee Jiu finally returned to help him. Everything was still within his control, and of course, he did not forget about the necessary facial expressions.

    Looking at the messages, Yellow Wolf appeared, for all intents and purpose, to be frozen in fear. Only the corners of his lips were twitching wildly. ¡°Ghosts have really appeared? Don¡¯t try to trick me! My grandfather forbade our people from opening the Yin gate. This could lead to very serious repercussions!¡±

    The viewership was climbing like a rocket. Because most Haunted Houses kept their interior a secret, it was rare for there for a livestream inside a Haunted House. Furthermore, Yellow Wolf had chosen the most popr Haunted House online to carry out his livestream, and there was a reason behind his stream¡¯s rising poprity.

    His alreadyrge fanbase and the heavy maniption of hispany,bined with the poprity that Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House enjoyed on the inte, all contributed to an effect that was beyond everyone¡¯s expectations. The users on the tform all swarmed into his livestream room, and the messages started to roll over the chatroom.

    ¡°Ghosts are real! Big Brother Wolf has encountered actual ghosts!¡±

    That topic rose to the top of the website immediately, and that only worked to attract more viewers to join his room.

    Yellow Wolf was overjoyed internally, but he had to put on a mask of fear. ¡°Do not panic. Especially at a time like this, we shan¡¯t panic. Do not worry. My ancestors are all diviners, and because of that, I have experience when dealing with problems like this!¡±

    The more he said things like that, the more the viewers reacted. Many asked for him to turn around, and many others told him to run. After all, there really was a ghost behind him!

    Yellow Wolf was in deep appreciation of Lee Jiu¡¯s make-up skill. For such an effect, paying double price was absolutely worth it. His body swayed unevenly from left to right, adding to the impression that he was shuddering in fear. The more the messages told him to leave, the more he stayed put.

    He ced his arms before his chest to assume a strange pose. Without turning around, Yellow Wolf yelled at the camera, ¡°Since this has already happened, running away is toote. Calm down! We must calm down!¡±

    He pped both of his palms together, and Yellow Wolf eximed loudly, ¡°No matter who is standing behind us, there is no reason to fear! Find the serenity in your heart; know that heaven is always watching over you!¡±

    Once he uttered that statement, Yellow Wolf¡¯s gaze turned instantly. The expression of fear that he had assumed earlier was slowly disappearing.

    ¡°Do not be afraid. The more fearful you are, the more they are likely to bully you!¡± Yellow Wolf picked up the phone and imed in a courageous voice, ¡°Do not worry, I am never alone. With all of you with me, we will survive this together. Do not forget to tip your host for his bravery, and in a minute, we will charge out to vanquish this evil!¡±

    Seeing the money that viewers were sending his way, joy spread through Yellow Wolf¡¯s heart, and even his cheeks looked redder. He turned around to face the door and bellowed, ¡°As my grandfather once said, you have to firm calm your heart! Clear your mind and practice the Ba Gua in your heart. The soldiers will rise behind you!¡±

    He pointed both of his fingers at the window. Even at a time like that, Yellow Wolf did not forget to adjust the camera so that both himself and the window and door of the sickroom appeared on screen. The sickroom door that was closing caused a creaking sound, and a pale face was peering in from the window.

    This was a paleness that was not achievable by make-up; it was a lifeless type of white. The person appeared like he was there, but it felt like he could drift away at any moment.

    The unknown face, eyes that were missing two ck pupils, the cracked, dry lips, and the ck hair that swayed downward covering both of the ears...

    When Yellow Wolf saw that face, his body staggered involuntarily backward, and then apliment for Lee Jiu arose in his heart. <i>He¡¯s a true professional. This is too good!</i>

    With his arms shaking, the livestream was a mess. Of course, there were still sceptics iming that this was just a ploy by the Haunted House workers. Some of the viewers even suggested calling the police to send thew enforcement to the Haunted House to rescue Yellow Wolf.

    The presence of sceptics was predictable, but Yellow Wolf could not ignore the people who wished to call the police. He was in the middle of acting with Lee Jiu. How was he going to continue if the police got involved? In less than half an hour, the viewership shot up dozens of thousands, which was unprecedented for Yellow Wolf and even the other hosts on his tform.

    ¡°There is no need to trouble the police. At the very least, I am a descendent of a long line of powerful diviners. Today, I will show you the true power that I have inherited from my ancestors. If it is effective, I hope that the users will rescinded the negative reviews that they have left on my paper talisman Taobao shop.¡± He reached into his backpack and crushed some cinnabar. Then he leaped upward and ced his finger on the forehead of the face that was beyond the thin pane of ss. ¡°Hear my cry, the Emperor of the Sky! Be gone, demon! You are no match for my power!¡±

    His voice echoed in the sickroom. Yellow Wolf used the cinnabar to draw a symbol that no one could have understood on the ss. Then he staggered backward while gasping for air like he had done something incredibly taxing. ¡°Everything should be fine now.¡±

    Yellow Wolf lifted his head to nce at the window, and the human face outside the window was still there. The perfectly white eyes were filled with confusion like they were looking at an idiot.

    <i>What the hell is going on? </i>Yellow Wolf gritted his teeth in anger. Based on their agreed script, Lee Jiu should have retreated by now, but ¡®Lee Jiu¡¯ was not cooperating at all. <i>Is he going to demand more money? Give him an inch, and he¡¯s going to take a yard!</i>

    His heart was boiling with fury, but after all, Yellow Wolf was an experienced live-streamer from Xin Hai. He could adapt to the situation with ease, so he said, ¡°Hear my cry, Goddess of Mercy! Be cleansed of your sin, evil spirit. Return from whence you came!¡±

    After mumbling his mantra, Yellow Wolf leaped around the room, and while his hand was hidden from the camera, he extended three fingers to the face on the window. He waved his three fingers about, stressing that he was willing to give Lee Jiu three times the pay!

    <i>That¡¯s triple the pay; you should be satisfied now!</i>

    The face on the window did not look like he knew how to deal with this situation either. Seeing the three fingers that Yellow Wolf kept waving at him, he seemed to have understood something and slowly disappeared.

    After Lee Jiu disappeared from view, Yellow Wolf derided him for his greed, shamelessness, and unprofessionalism internally, but none of that resentment showed on his face. He stopped all the gesturing and panned the camera to aim at the door again.

    ¡°You see! That thing has disappeared already!¡±

    The chatroom rejoiced, and Yellow Wolf enjoyed a moment of peace. ¡°Earlier, it was a minor ghost who followed me out of the Yin door. As you can see, that was not an effect achievable by make-up. If I am not mistaken, the thing was floating in midair.¡±

    There was some questioning from the viewers because they did not actually see the ¡®ghost¡¯ disappear, but Yellow Wolf chose to ignore all that. ¡°It is fine now. Based on my grandfather¡¯s teaching, the first few spirits that escape from the Yin door are never too courageous. After they leave, they shan¡¯t return again.¡±

    Wiping away the cold sweat that was not on his forehead, Yellow Wolf continued. ¡°It was definitely dangerous earlier, but thankfully, I know what I am doing. Okay, we shall leave this ce now and continue our expos¨¦...¡±

    The more he said, the more unsettled Yellow Wolf felt. The screen started to shudder again, and the chatroom was rife with activity. A bad feeling rose in his heart. Yellow Wolf lifted his head to look and discovered that the ghost face had returned!

    <i>You mother*cker! Are you done with this or not? </i>Yellow Wolf gritted his teeth. ¡®Lee Jiu¡¯ could stray from the script, but he could not.

    He retreated several steps, and Yellow Wolf acted like he was mortified. He turned to the camera and said, ¡°This is bad! Looks like it was not only minor ghosts that escaped from the Yin door this time! The Yin energy at this Haunted House is too powerful!¡±

    He red angrily on the face on the window. ¡°This time, it will not be easy for me to escape, but worry not because my grandfather has given me many powerful relics!¡±

    He reached into his back to pull out a talisman with a red background and ck character. Yellow Wolf¡¯s presence was different from before. He channeled all the hatred that he had toward Lee Jiu and said, ¡°This talisman is the most expensive item at my Taobao shop, and there is only a limited number of them in the world! They are all relics left behind by my grandfather! There is no time to waste; it is my fault to have invited this ghost into our world, so I will banish it banish to the hell realm no matter what!¡±

    Holding the talisman, Yellow Wolf spun around. ¡°Hear my cry, Ruler of Hell! im this wandering soul for it is yours. Linger in the mortal realm no more!¡±

    As he ended the mantra, Yellow Wolf extended four fingers at the face on the window. Due to the previous experience, this time, the face understood Yellow Wolf¡¯s meaning instantly after he saw the four fingers. He nodded silently and disappeared. The two parties cooperated seamlessly. After the face disappeared, Yellow Wolfpleted his theatrics and pasted the talisman on the window with a flourish!

    ¡°There is no need to worry this time! With the talisman given to me by my grandfather, it will definitely not return again!¡± Yellow Wolf sighed deeply. This livestream was much more difficult than he had expected, filled with endless tests and trials. He nced at the window with some measure of fear. He was afraid that ¡®Lee Jiu¡¯ would continue to return, so he hurried to prepare to leave.

    ¡°Alright, we shall move on now.¡± Yellow Wolf picked up the phone, opened the door, and walked out.

    In the underground corridor, the cold wind blew, and children¡¯sughter tingled down the corridor.

    Once Yellow Wolf exited the sickroom, he felt a chill run down his spine. He turned to the phone, and he noticed that the chatroom was going haywire all over again. This time, not only his livestream, the whole tform wasgging from the overload.

    The viewership at that instant broke the tform¡¯s all-time record.

    ¡°What is it this time?¡± Yellow Wolf turned around, and when his eyesnded, a chilling air crawled up his feet to his scalp.

    Standing several steps behind him were four ghosts dressed in patient¡¯s garbs standing in a row!

    Their bodies were twisted in such a way that they did not appear human at all, and the expressions on their faces only worked to entuate that point!

    All of them looked at Yellow Wolf quietly. Then the patient in the middle pointed at himself and then pointed at the three ghosts beside him before raising his arm at Yellow Wolf and extending four fingers toward him.

 Chapter 693 - Iâ€™ve Been a Livestream Host Myself [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 693: I¡¯ve Been a Livestream Host Myself [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Four?</i>

    When the strange man in the patient¡¯s garb showed him four fingers, Yellow Wolf felt like the blood in his body rushed to his heart, attempting to overload it. Pain radiated from his chest, and his head was going light. If he was not in the middle of a livestream, he would have tossed the phone away, turned the other way, and run for his life.

    <i>Calm down! You are inside a haunted house! These are all human actors! Everything will be fine; everything will be fine! </i>Yellow Wolf tried his best to convince himself, but his body had started to spiral out of control. His legs could not stop shaking.

    The man who was normally so good with words was rendered speechless. The cold air caressed his petrified body, and he sensed that the four characters gathered before him were incredibly unique.

    Even for people who were born with deformities, they would not have grown up to these strange states. Their limbs were contorted into weird binds. Their bones were not structured like a normal human¡¯s. Some of them had their eyes gouged out, and only two dark holes remained in their skull. Another had pupil-less eyes that would asionally roll around in their sockets. The four patients were arranged in a straight line. The dim lights showered down on them, and Yellow Wolf only then realized that all four of them did not possess a shadow!

    ¡°Don¡¯te any closer!¡± A scream escaped from his lips. At that moment, Yellow Wolf had lost the cool that he had shown inside the room. He finally understood that he had not been interacting with Lee Jiu but the actors inside the Haunted House. After that point registered in his mind, another question surfaced the next second.

    <i>Where has Lee Jiu disappeared to then?</i>

    He remembered that when he was on the phone with Lee Jiu earlier, the man had sounded different from usual, like he was in serious trouble.

    <i>Lee Jiu has worked at a Haunted House for so many years. He is an experienced prop designer within the industry. To be able to make him say things like that, it can only mean that this ce is really haunted!</i>

    Cold sweat kept sliding down his face. Before Yellow Wolf had gone there, he had done a lot of research regarding the ghost stories that surrounded Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, and at that moment, all the ghost stories surged into his mind, enveloping him in endless fear.

    <i>I should have left when I had the chance!</i>

    s, regret was already toote. The four characters started to move. Their distorted bodies teetered unevenly as their expressions slowly changed until they hissed dangerously and charged at Yellow Wolf with a roar!

    <i>These are not human beings! This Haunted House is really haunted!</i>

    Yellow Wolf¡¯s lips fell open, but words failed to escape from them. Fear flowed out of his eyes, and he felt like he was about to faint from ack of oxygen.

    ¡°Big Wolf, why have you run out on your own? From the beginning, you have been talking to yourself. This is different from the script that we have rehearsed!¡±

    The sickroom door that about several meters away from Yellow Wolf was pushed open at that moment, and following Yellow Wolf¡¯s requirement, Lee Jiu walked out after painting his face scarily.

    Hearing Lee Jiu¡¯s voice, Yellow Wolf¡¯s frozen heart seemed to have weed a warm ray of light, and his brain recharged and reassumed control of his body. He turned back around and saw Lee Jiu. He sucked in a deep breath and was about to scream for help when the phone in his hand vibrated noisily.

    He lowered his head out of habit to look, and Yellow Wolf saw the name that showed on the caller ID¡ªLee Jiu.

    <i>Lee Jiu is calling me? Then who is this Lee Jiu standing before me?</i>

    He touched the ept button with shaking hands. Yellow Wolf used the dregs of strength that he had left and raised the phone to his ear.

    ¡°Big Wolf? I can¡¯t contact Jinyuan and Cold Guy anymore! I am currently hiding near the entrance. You have toe to me immediately! There is something seriously wrong with this Haunted House!¡± Lee Jiu¡¯s voice came out from the phone¡ªit was filled with nervousness and anxiety. ¡°I am not kidding with you! You have to leave! Now!¡±

    ¡°I know you are not kidding with me...¡± Yellow Wolf looked at his phone dumbly and then lifted his eyes to inspect the Lee Jiu who was walking toward him. ¡°But the problem is... now there are two of you!¡±

    An indescribable fear crawled into his body through his pours, and this was way beyond Yellow Wolf¡¯s threshold. He screamed andunched himself at Lee Jiu, who was in front of him, like his life depended on it. There were four monsters behind him, and there was only one in front of him. At that moment, Yellow Wolf¡¯s biological instinctpelled him to make this choice.

    ¡°Have you lost your mind? I am Lee...¡± Before he finished, the mentally-copsed Yellow Wolf had already reached his side. He gripped his backpack and swung it heavily at Lee Jiu. Lee Jiu had been busy putting on his make-up earlier, so he had no idea what had happened. In that state of innocence and ignorance, he was smacked in the face by Yellow Wolf¡¯s backpack.

    ¡°I am Lee Jiu! F*ck! You¡¯re going to ruin my make-up!¡± Lee Jiu reached out to grab Yellow Wolf, but thetter resisted like crazy. After all, in his mind, he was being attacked by a ghost, so of course, Yellow Wolf was going to struggle like crazy to escape. In the struggle, Yellow Wolf abandoned his backpack and the phone, which was still livestreaming. He barreled down the corridor, screaming all the way.

    ¡°Yellow Wolf!¡± Lee Jiu held his injured nose. His voice became more nasally from the attack. He was quite worried about Yellow Wolf, so he quickly chased after the man. The two visitors, one running in front, the other chasing at the back, disappeared from the third-floor basement.

    The four employees in the patient¡¯s garbs gradually slowed down. They shared a look with each other, and they felt like they were being excluded from some kind of fun.

    The white eyes turned slightly around, and the ¡®patient¡¯ in the middle had his ck hair lifted up from his scalp. The anger in his heart could not be suppressed anymore. When he first appeared, the visitor had shown him three fingers. After he finally gathered three employees, the visitors had shown him four fingers instead.

    Now that he had gathered four employees, after fulfilling the man¡¯s unreasonable request, the man had left without even a word of thanks for him. This was such a waste of the employee¡¯s time!

    This was too much! Such disrespect! He should not be forgiven!

    Dangerous and scary wounds surfaced on the pale faces. The four angry employees shed their disguise out of fury, and they showed their true faces. The corners of their lips cracked out, and they groaned darkly. Then, the whole building seemed toe alive, and behind the half-open sickrooms, a few more dark-gray arms reached out into the dark.

    ....

    The chains scraped against the floor, creating a bone-chilling noise. A shadow that was pulled long by the light stood alone in front of the Li Wan Private Hospital¡¯s entrance.

    ¡°They have split up?¡± Wearing Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s apparel, Chen Ge held the hammer in one hand and stopped before the hospital door. He lowered his head to look at the message sent to him by Tong Tong.

    ¡°Someone is conducting a livestream at the third-floor basement of the hospital!¡±

    ¡°I have allowed taking pictures, I have allowed recording videos, and now you people have started livestreaming inside my Haunted House, have you? Have I been too kind with the degree of freedom that I¡¯ve given them? Have they forgotten who the boss of this ce is?¡± Chen Ge was a good-natured person, and it was rare for him to get angered unless they stepped over his bottom line.

    The spikes on the hammer dragged against the ground, and Chen Ge in the skin mask moved to the third-floor basement of the hospital.

    ¡°Where have they gone?¡± The corridor was dark, and there was no one around. However, the temperature was curiously low. Taking out his phone, Chen Ge was about to contact Tong Tong when he noticed a ck-colored backpack and a phone abandoned outside Sickroom No. 4.

    ¡°A ck backpack? I remember a visitor carrying this with him. He should have entered with that creep.¡± Chen Ge did not go to pick the items up immediately. ¡°If the backpack and the phone have been left here but the people has gone missing, it can only mean that they abandoned them out of fear. I wrote in the worker¡¯s rulebook that they do not need to hold back once they encounter people who are using their phones to take picture and record videos inside the Haunted House. Could the owner of this backpack be the hidden host? Is it possible that the phone left there is still in the middle of livestreaming?¡±

    After clearing so many Trial Missions, Chen Ge¡¯s power of observation was much better than most. Standing away from the phone camera¡¯s view, he removed Doctor Skull-Cracker¡¯s apparel and then walked to stand beside the ck backpack.

    ¡°Who is so careless to have left their stuff unattended here? Thankfully, we have surveince cameras to ensure one hundred percent safety of our visitors.¡± After saying that, Chen Ge turned to the phone lying at the side. ¡°Whose phone is this?¡±

    He picked up the phone, and the chatroom wasgging. Following Yellow Wolf¡¯s disappearance, the poprity of his stream did not decrease. If anything, it only continued to rise, and he was only a few steps away from reaching the top.

    ¡°A livestream?¡± Chen Ge had done livestreaming before. When he conducted his mission at the Third Sick Hall, he had even been taught a few tricks on livestreaming. ¡°Good afternoon, everyone. I am Chen Ge, the boss of the Haunted House at Western Jiujiang¡¯s New Century Park. Can anyone tell me what happened here earlier?¡±

    Whenever he introduced his Haunted House in public, Chen Ge desperately wished to include the whole address of his Haunted House so that there would be no mistake. The website wasgging, and after a few refreshes, Chen Ge got a brief idea of the whole process.

    The host who was responsible for this livestream was Yellow Wolf, nicknamed Big Brother Wolf. He had imed that he was a descendant of a long line of powerful diviners, and he seemed to have encountered an actual ghost during the livestream. Then, he was so scared that he abandoned his phone and absconded on his own.

    When Chen Ge saw that many messages iming that his Haunted House was really haunted, he felt weirdly exposed, but when he noticed the viewership of the livestream, a glint appeared in his eyes like he hade upon a valuable treasure.

    ¡°Actually, all of you have been tricked by Yellow Wolf. How can there be real ghosts in this world? I believe that he was behind everything that you saw earlier.¡± Once Chen Ge said that, he garnered the dissatisfaction from Yellow Wolf¡¯s loyal fans.

    Chen Ge was not angered. He picked up Yellow Wolf¡¯s backpack and soon discovered some problems. ¡°Earlier, someone said that there was a family heirloom, a jade pendant worn by Yellow Wolf, and it would crack on its own when he ran into evil spirits. The pendant had nine cracks once he arrived at my Haunted House, but take a look at these...¡±

    Chen Ge pulled out a bunch of simr-looking jade pendants from the backpack, and there were plenty that were already cracked. ¡°These are jades with horrible quality. This whole bunch here is not even worth much.¡±

    Chen Ge conducted the indictment in front of so many viewers, but that was just how open and clear Chen Ge was.

    He ced the jade pendants back inside the backpack and opened another pocket. It was filled to the brim with paper talismans with a red background and ck characters. Some of them even had the price tag still attached to them. ¡°These are the talismans that his ancestors have left for him, are they? And supposedly, there are only a few of them in the world. Look here, the purchase price is five cents each. How much is he selling one for on his Taobao shop?¡±

    With the truth ced before everyone¡¯s eyes, there was no need for argument. Chen Ge reced Yellow Wolf¡¯s stuff and turned to address the camera. ¡°Running into a real ghost inside a Haunted House? That is all a show directed by Yellow Wolf himself. If you would like to see a real ghost and supernatural livestream, I would rmend that you follow me instead.¡±

    Chen Ge did not feel that shameless for using this opportunity for advertisement. ¡°My ount name is Western Jiujiang Haunted House, and the profile picture is the gates of my Haunted House. I livestreamed for some time in the past, but it kinda fell to the wayside after things got a bit too busy. If there¡¯s a chance in the future, I will bring everyone a real supernatural livestream to search for the real ghost stories that are hidden in the shadows of this city!¡±

    Chen Ge took out his phone and logged into the streaming ount that he had not been using for a long time already, and he advertised himself shamelessly in Yellow Wolf¡¯s stream. After he did all that, the follower number for his ount experienced a drastic increase, and in fact, some of the viewers in Yellow Wolf¡¯s room managed to recognize him.

    ¡°After this round, the viewership should shoot over 250,000.¡± The otherpany had invested a lot in Yellow Wolf to help him gain traffic, and the tform itself had been promoting Yellow Wolf since the start of the week, so of course, Chen Ge was not going to let that go to waste.

    After he was done promoting his own personal ount, it was time to advertise his own Haunted House. Perhaps because the tform that Chen Ge used was different from Yellow Wolf¡¯s, this kind of open advertisement attracted the tform¡¯s ire, and it did not take long for the official party to temporarily ban Yellow Wolf¡¯s livestream room.

    Looking at the darkened screen, Chen Ge felt quite saddened and empty. ¡°As I should have known, opportunities are given to those who are readied and prepared. I should have spoken faster in case this happened.¡±

    Deactivating Yellow Wolf¡¯s phone, Chen Ge looked at his ount¡¯s follower number, which was still rising, and he revealed a smile. ¡°This brother has gifted me a very big present. I should personally thank him myself.¡±

    Putting his backpack and phone away, Chen Ge put on Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s apparel, the human skin mask, and lifted the hefty hammer.

    To thank Yellow Wolf, Chen Ge decided to track the man down himself, to show his appreciation in person.

 Chapter 694 - Iâ€™ve Found My Admirer! [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 694: I¡¯ve Found My Admirer! [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    In the end, Chen Ge discovered Lee Jiu and Yellow Wolf in Li Wan Private Hospital¡¯s morgue. When he arrived, the two were already unconscious, but thankfully, their vital signs were still stable, and they did not need immediate medical attention. The child¡¯s handprint behind Yellow Wolf¡¯s neck had already disappeared. Tong Tong was the one behind it¡ªhe had been influencing the phone call between them.

    ¡°Go and get me the trolley from the underground morgue.¡± Chen Ge dragged the hammer and turned to order the patient who guarded beside Lee Jiu. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I am not going to me you. Feel free to scare such visitors who insist on using their phones inside the Haunted House even after multiple warnings. Furthermore, I believe that they are here to create problems, so if anything, you have done a very good job.

    ¡°We are staffed with the best doctors, and I n to invest in a whole set of modern medical equipment when there¡¯s enough money so that the visitors can really enjoy themselves without any worry when they are at the Haunted House.¡±

    Seeing how open-minded Chen Ge was, the patient who shifted his weight nervously quickly nodded and prepared to leave.

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Chen Ge turned back to look. ¡°Why are you leaving in such a hurry? Was it you alone who scared these two until they fainted?¡±

    The patient nced at the autopsy tables that were covered with white cloth, and after some hesitation, he nodded.

    ¡°Li Wan Private Hospital needs a leader, and you¡¯re not bad. I will focus on cultivating you in the future.¡± Chen Ge was not just joking¡ªhe never joked with his words. ¡°It will be a harsh journey to evolve into a Red Specter, but bing a Half Red Specter is still easy enough.¡±

    The patient was dumbfounded. He was honestly enjoying himself when he scared the visitors earlier. The group of ghosts had chased the two for almost ten minutes. It was not until the two men fainted that they realized that perhaps they had crossed the line...

    The image of that scary man shed through their minds, and many patients dispersed in a hurry. Only this most honest man had stayed behind. Actually, he felt rather guilty about the whole thing. He had tried his best to satisfy the visitor¡¯s request, but in the end, he had realized that he was being toyed with. That had caused the ghosts of the entire hospital to go on a rampage. Now that the visitors had fainted, he felt like he was the main culprit, so he had stayed behind to ept the punishment.

    He was ready to be punished, but to his surprise, Chen Ge not only did not me him, he even promised to help him evolve into a Half Red Specter. This kind of change in emotion aroused a strange and indescribable feeling in his heart that was consumed by resentment.

    ¡°Alright, stop standing there dumbly. Please go and get the trolley from the underground morgue and transfer them out of the scenario.¡±

    The patient drifted away in a haze of joy. Meanwhile, Chen Ge squatted down next to Lee Jiu and Yellow Wolf and started his inspection. ¡°Lee Jiu has make-up on his face. Why would a visitor like hime to my Haunted House and pretend to be a ghost? Is he trying to scare my workers?

    ¡°Yellow Wolf came to my Haunted House and started a livestream. He nned to expose the design of my Haunted House before tens of thousands of people. Lee Jiu came to my Haunted House to masquerade himself as an employee to wreak havoc. These two have a clear separation of responsibility¡ªthis was definitely nned.¡± Chen Ge found a small make-up bag in Lee Jiu¡¯s pocket, and inside it was an ess card for the futuristic theme park. Currently, futuristic theme park was still not open to the public, and the internal attractions were kept under wraps. To gain ess, one needed an ess card.

    ¡°As I suspected, they are rted to the futuristic theme park.¡± Chen Ge reced everything that he had found. He did not confiscate anything. ¡°The futuristic theme park is opening soon, so there is no more time to waste. I need to release the four-star mission to the public before they open for business!¡±

    Standing up, Chen Ge dragged the hammer and left Li Wan Private Hospital.

    ...

    At the second-floor basement of Li Wan Residence, Shinozaki and his female assistant were focused on undoing the tape in the room. This was the mission given to them by Wei Jinyuan. However, to their consternation, several minutes ago, Wei Jinyuan¡¯s bone-chilling yell for mercy hade from a deeper part of the building.

    Neither of them had been that courageous to begin with, and Wei Jinyuan¡¯s scream only caused their already unsteady hearts to race even faster.

    ¡°Do you think we should go downstairs to take a look?¡± Xiao Xia asked out of politeness even though her desire not to do so was inly written on her face.

    ¡°Let him be, we should leave this to the professional. After all, Wei Jinyuan did say that he works at a Haunted House, so I believe that he has the capability to handle everything on his own.¡± Shinozaki coughed awkwardly. When he saw the handprints on the back of Wei Jinyuan¡¯s neck earlier, he had known that something like this was bound to happen.

    ¡°Then, what should we do now?¡± Xiao Xia asked a very key question. Even though Wei Jinyuan did not appear like he had a fully functioning brain, at least they had felt a sense of security when they were with him. Now that Wei Jinyuan had been ¡®attacked¡¯, the two were left to deal with the monsters and ghosts on their own.

    ¡°We can¡¯t panic.¡± Shinozaki thought about it and came up with a good idea. ¡°We should wait here. Wei Jinyuan has a partner inside the adjacent building. He wille over here after hearing the man¡¯s scream. We will just follow him.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Xiao Xia nced at the door that was left ajar. Beyond that was the darkened corridor. ¡°Should I go close the door?¡±

    ¡°Hmm. We will pretend like there is no one in this room, and we¡¯ll observe the situation outside through the peephole.

    ¡°But we have already taken down the tape on the door, haven¡¯t we?¡±

    ¡°Now is not the time to mind such details.¡±

    The two closed the door, stayed guard beside it. Shinozaki leaned against the door and looked out through the peephole. All he saw was darkness¡ªthere was nothing that he could glean. Xia Xiao leaned against the wall. Cold sweat kept flowing down her face. For some reason, she was feeling incredibly panicky like there was a third individual in the room with them.

    ¡°Sir, why do you think all the furniture was covered with tape?¡±

    ¡°I have no clue,¡± Shinozaki answered absent-mindedly. He adjusted his posture, trying to figure out the best position to get the best view through the peephole.

    ¡°Is the tape to prevent the objects from cracking open? Is it possible that the furniture knew how to move on its own? All the gaps were taped shut. Do you think it¡¯s because the drawers can suddenly open on their own? The house owner taped up all the gaps to prevent that from happening?¡± Xiao Xia still had not realized how scary the situation that she was describing was.

    ¡°Open on their own? Why would the drawers open on their own?¡± Shinozaki turned around to look at Xiao Xia.

    ¡°Perhaps there were things hidden inside the furniture, or maybe there are entities that human can¡¯t see that will go through the furniture.¡±

    ¡°Entities that are invisible?¡± Shinozaki¡¯s face paled slightly, but he tried his best to maintain his calmness. ¡°In any case, that is a wonderful idea to put in myic. Not bad, we¡¯ve been here for only several minutes, but we havee across two wonderful ideas already.¡±

    ¡°Sir, I think we should leave. This ce gives me the creeps.¡± Xiao Xia looked around nervously, and she realized that the DVD yer in the living room, which had previously been off, had been switched on.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that a good thing? The creepier, the better! I want those people who say I only know how to draw one kind ofic to see that a real artist is able to master any genre!¡± Shinozaki had a bad temper, and there was some truth behind that criticism because he only had those fewics in the same genre to show. The more that he thought about it, the more angered he became.

    ¡°When we entered this ce, was the DVD yer on?¡± Xiao Xia did not pay attention to what Shinozaki said. She studied the yer curiously, and while she was watching the machine, the signal light of the television in the living room came on as well.

    ¡°Quick, look!¡± Xiao Xia gasped in shock. ¡°Sir! We seem to have triggered something!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic.¡± Shinozaki signaled for Xiao Xia to calm down. The two of them walked slowly to the television.

    ¡°Someone was probably remote-controlling it. I encountered this at a Japanese Haunted House. This is not good. That scary Haunted House boss ising to get us soon!¡± Shinozaki inspected the television. Perhaps he had touched some button because the television screen suddenly lit up.

    The cold light fell on the two¡¯s faces, and they turned to the television screen in unison. The video quality of the old television was not that good, but the two managed to immediately identify that the video on the television was showing the living room that they were in.

    Everything was the same; it felt like someone had ced a camera on top of the television to record everything that happened in the living room.

    ¡°A surveince video? But why would someone install a video inside their own home?¡± Shinozaki and Xiao Xia stared at the screen, too afraid to even move a muscle. Ten seconds had passed, and the two realized that the television screen was still showing the same image. The video appeared still because nothing had changed.

    ¡°Since the surveince is taken of their own home, it seems that something strange must have happened here, and the homeowner wanted to find out the truth.¡± Shinozaki pulled open the drawer at the bottom of the television cab. There was a collection of discs withoutbels inside. They seemed to have been recorded by the home owner himself. ¡°The clue to escape might be hidden among these discs.¡±

    Shinozaki focused on searching for clues inside the drawer while Xiao Xia kept her eyes on the television screen. She had this feeling that something was moving in the supposedly still image.

    ¡°Is that a bug?¡± Xiao Xia walked a few steps forward and leaned her face as close to the screen as possible. She studied the door of the bathroom in the video. The door had been left half open, and right next to the doorframe, a few strands of ck hair could be seen.

    ¡°That looks like hair.¡± When the television was first switched on, there had been nothing near the bathroom, so the few strands of hair were a new addition. Xiao Xia¡¯s mind was filled with confusion. She was about to get Shinozaki to take a look when the strands of hair in the video started to wiggle on their own.

    ¡°The hairs are moving?¡± The quality of the video was so bad that she had to lean close to take an affirmative look. However, just as she leaned toward the screen, a woman¡¯s face poked out from inside the bathroom!

    ¡°Ah!¡± Xiao Xia screamed, and she was scared until she bounced back and copsed on the sofa. ¡°Ghost! Sir! In the television! She¡¯s inside the television!¡±

    The room was not that big, and it was so quiet. Once Xiao Xia¡¯s scream shattered the quietness, even Shinozaki was given quite a scare. He put the discs that he was holding down and lifted his head to look at the screen. Inside the television, a woman¡¯s face could be seen reaching out from inside the bathroom.

    It was quite a pretty face, and the thing that caused Shinozaki fear was that no matter how far he had moved away from the screen, it felt like the face was still staring right at him!

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, don¡¯t be so easily scared. This is merely amon trick in Haunted Houses.¡± However, Shinozaki¡¯s rambling belied the fear he was feeling. He wanted to switch the television off, but he failed to find the power button.

    ¡°Sir, I think we should go now, and we will return once we have more people with us.¡± Xiao Xia¡¯s face was pale from the scare. Just that once, and it was enough to take the fight out of her. She felt like the energy had left her body, and she could barely get her legs to move. ¡°This is too scary. Sir, you can stay to finish the tour on your own if you prefer, but I will surrender now.¡±

    As she tried to stand up, Xiao Xia held the armrest for support, but as she turned around, she saw it. Just about three meters away from her, a woman¡¯s face was reaching out from inside the bathroom, a perfect replica of the image that she had seen in the video!

    ¡°I think I¡¯m suffering from hallucinations from all these scares.¡± Xiao Xia turned to look at the television. The video was still frozen at the image where the female human was poking out from the toilet. ¡°Yes, this is what it showed on the television.¡±

    She turned her head around, and a woman materialized before her. She had a pretty face and a body that was covered in cuts. A copious amount of blood bled from the open wounds.

    Her face was contorted in fear. As Xiao Xia lost her consciousness and tipped backward, she used herst vestige of strength to scream, ¡°Ghost! There¡¯s a ghost!¡¯

    Shinozaki was still researching why the woman¡¯s eyes in the videos were able to follow his every movement. He believed that the boss had replicated the technique used by Da Vinci when he painted Mona Lisa. But before he settled on a reason, he heard the scream from Xiao Xia. When he turned around, he was also petrified by fear.

    They had checked the room several times already¡ªit was definitely empty. However, now, a woman covered with blood and open wounds had appeared before them!

    This was not a mere scare but a direct shock to the heart!

    The warning from Xiao Xia meant that Shinozaki was somewhat prepared. Even though he was shaking like a leaf, he did not lose control over his body just yet. The woman blocked the door out of the living room, and Shinozaki grabbed Xiao Xia and raced into the bedroom.

    BANG!

    The door mmed shut. Shinozaki¡¯s heart was racing madly, and he started to consider the possibility of calling the police.

    ¡°What do I do? What do I do now?¡± Shinozaki was so scared that he had forgotten that he was inside a Haunted House. Thankfully, the realization came to him momentster. ¡°Right, I am inside a Haunted House!¡±

    He leaned against the door and started to yell out the door loudly. ¡°We surrender! We don¡¯t want to continue this tour anymore! Please leave! Please go and leave us alone!¡±

    There was no response from outside the door; there was no sound of footsteps either. Shinozaki supported Xiao Xia, and neither one of them dared to open the door.

    ¡°How about... we just stay in here until the bosses to get us?¡±

    After experiencing that, Shinozaki was not going to put up a front anymore. This Haunted House had aprehensive understanding of the human psyche. Other Haunted Houses would rx their visitors first and arrange the scares at ces where the visitors least expected it. But this Haunted House was different. They would scare the visitors head-on until their souls left their bodies. After their guard waspletely destroyed, the next scare woulde at them from a different angle, continuously scaring them with endless horror.

    ¡°In the future, I will definitely invite those otheric artists who look down on me toe here.¡± There was no noiseing from outside the door, and Shinozaki did not know what to do next. ¡°The woman has blocked the door to prevent us from leaving. There has to be a reason it is designed like this. Could it be that there is a clue to leave this ce hidden inside this bedroom?¡±

    Leaving the guard post at the door to Xiao Xia, Shinozaki started to explore the room. He noticed something strange immediately. The table inside the bedroom had a few unique pens ced on it.

    ¡°Graphite pen, ballpoint pen, and marker pen?¡± Shinozaki recognized them easily. ¡°The graphite pen is used for the outline of a character, the ballpoint pen is for the details like patterns on the shirt and eyshes, while the marker pen is for the bigger shading. These are all necessary pens for drawingics! Could it be that the owner of this house is aic artist?¡±

    A visit at the Haunted House might have led him to get to know a new colleague, that was something that Shinozaki did not expect. He walked to the table and flipped through the manuscript on the table.

    Initially, he was just flipping through it out of curiosity, but he was soon drawn into it.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen this kind of art style before. One nce at it, and it¡¯ll send chill down your spine. It has to be a genius who drew thisic! Is he going to spearhead a new movement in theic industry?¡±

 Chapter 695 - Congratulations, My Friend

    <h4>Chapter 695: Congrattions, My Friend</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Both of Shinozaki¡¯s eyes were glowing like he had stumbled upon a treasure. ¡°This work has broken beyond the limitations of the current industry, and it possesses its own unique style. Isn¡¯t this what I¡¯ve been striving for?¡±

    He studied the manuscripts on the table, but just flipping through them caused his body to shake. These were simple characters, but they seemed toe alive with the artist¡¯s hand. He seemed to be able to draw out theplications of the human heart with his pen. There was no gory scene and no disgusting monsters; he merely drew the image of human beings in his eyes, and it caused Shinozaki¡¯s spin to tingle with apprehension.

    ¡°This is aplete inversion of the current style; it feels like the artist has taken the perspective of a ghost to analyze the situation of man.¡± Shinozaki had been in the business for more than a decade, and he was a recognized voice of seniority. In recent years, he had been trying to change his style. He had visited many other famed artists, but none of them had made as big an impact on him as the art before him.

    ¡°I need to find the artist! I have to meet theic artist that is staying inside this Haunted House!¡±

    Shinozaki was true professional. He realized the value of the manuscript with just a nce. He wished to learn, and it would be wrong to say that the thought of iming this manuscript as his own did not cross his mind. However, he quickly banished the evil thought. Aic artist who purposely resided inside a Haunted House to do his work should be respected; this was a true artist.

    Fear and excitement filled his heart, and even Shinozaki did not know what kind of situation he was in. He looked through the whole manuscript and provided his professional opinion, and he certainly had a very high opinion of it.

    ¡°Unfortunately, there are only a few manuscripts here. I wish to know what happens next.¡± Shinozaki was already a fan. He mumbled to himself. When he finished, the lowest drawer of the table slid open a tad. The color of this drawer was different from the table that it was attached to. In fact, upon closer examination, Shinozaki realized that it had a different shape from the other drawers. It felt like it was forcibly stuffed there.

    ¡°What a strange drawer.¡± It felt like something was guiding his hand as Shinozaki reached out to pull the drawer open. Inside was a whole stack of manuscripts and a homemadeic.

    ¡°There¡¯re so much! How long has he worked inside this ce?¡± Shinozaki sat down on the floor, and the more he read, the more baffled he became. ¡°Each of the panel is of the highest quality. Just how self-critical does one have to be to achieve a standard like this? But howe I¡¯ve not heard of such a master in the industry before? When did the artist join the industry?¡±

    He sped through the manuscripts. He desperately wished to take all the manuscripts with him so that he could study them slowly at home.

    ¡°Sir, it¡¯s quiet outside now. Shall we go out to take a look?¡± Xiao Xia, who was recovering, noticed how out of it Shinozaki was when she woke up.

    ¡°Let¡¯s wait, there¡¯s no need to rush. When the time¡¯s up, the boss wille get us. What¡¯s that idiom again? Yes, lie in wait!¡±

    Shinozaki scanned through the pages quickly. He wanted to find out how many stories were written in the manuscripts. ¡°When we leave this ce, I need to contact the boss! If I cannot meet the artist in person, I will pay as much as he demands to obtain all of these manuscripts!¡±

    Without knowing it, Shinozaki had reached the end of the drawer, and he picked up thest page. The paper was yellowed, a sign that it was something old. However, the drawing on it was fresh, like the page had just been drawn!

    ¡°How did he manage to do this?¡± Shinozaki looked at the page dumbly. He was the character being painted on that page!

    A realistic character coupled with a strange style and the perspective chosen by the artist was curious. It felt like he was hiding inside the drawer while drawing the page. Shinozaki nced subconsciously at the drawer that he had pulled open, and there was a pale face inside looking at him with eyes shining with anticipation.

    ¡°So, this is how...¡± His eyes rolled upward, and Shinozaki copsed to the ground.

    Not knowing what had really happened, Xiao Xia left the post by the door and rushed to Shinozaki. ¡°Sir, wake up! What happened to you?¡±

    When there were two, at least they had each other¡¯s support. Now that she had been left alone, that stubborn horror grew exponentially in her heart. On the verge of copse, Xiao Xia did not know what to do. She took out her phone to call the emergency number. However, when she unlocked the screen, her phone was grabbed by another hand.

    She turned and saw that the room door was half open, and there were three people standing behind her!

    The man on the left had a nched face, the man on the right had his chest dyed red, and one of his hands had the wrist chopped off. Xiao Xia had seen the woman in the middle before¡ªshe was the ghost that had escaped from the bathroom earlier!

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, we are...¡± The middle-aged man with the pale face started to speak, and Xiao Xia copsed to the ground next to Shinozaki. For visitors who were visiting Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House for the first time, a 3.5-star scenario was too difficult.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t n to scare her.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou looked at Duan Yue and Bai Qiulin awkwardly. The other two were feeling quite helpless as well.

    ¡°Actually, this is not our fault. This is Danian¡¯s fault for showing himself, and that caused the man to faint.¡± Bai Qiulin helped ced Xiao Xia and Shinozaki in afortable position, and the ease that he showed proved that he was used to doing this.

    ¡°I agree with you. The main responsibility falls on Danian.¡± Duan Yue nodded.

    Hearing the three¡¯s conversation, Yan Danian crawled out from the drawer. He wanted to defend himself, but he did not know what to say. In the end, he crawled down in the corner and mumbled, ¡°It was so hard to find an artist that approves of my work, and I just had to scare him until he fainted.¡±

    Seeing how self-deprecating Yan Danian was acting, Bai Qiulin, Ol¡¯ Zhou, and Duan Yue shared augh. The three of them walked to Yan Danian¡¯s side and helped the saddenedic artist up off the ground.

    ¡°Danian, congrattions. You have finally found the professional approval that you seek.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou pulled Ya Danian into a light hug, and he sighed with sincerity.

    ¡°I knew that my years of helping you check your manuscript wouldn¡¯t go to waste. I know you will reach sess eventually.¡± Duan Yue nudged Yan Danian¡¯s shoulders.

    ¡°But the most important thing is, do not forget about us when you¡¯re rich and famous!¡± Bai Qiulin, who normally was so reticent and aloof, had a face full of smiles at that moment.

    The four of them had shared the same room, and they had walked thest leg of their life essentially together. They did not curse the world or be corrupted by hatred after death; instead, they chose to help and support each other.

    Yan Danian was not much of a speaker. He did not know how to express his feelings, and he could only nod in constant session.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for words, we understand.¡±

    ¡°Danian, you¡¯d better get back to your drawing. Leave these two to us.¡±

    ¡°We need to get them to the underground morgue soon. If we¡¯rete, we might cause them trouble.¡±

    After Ya Danian returned to theic, and the three shared a look.

    ¡°Danian doesn¡¯t need the protection of us three anymore.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, I wonder if the three of us will disappear once Danian¡¯s wish is fulfilled. After all, we¡¯d have no reason to stay anymore.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou discussed the issue with Bai Qiulin.

    ¡°Why worry about that now? Come and help me!¡± Duan Yue dragged Shinozaki out of the room. ¡°I overheard the girl say that this man is a famous hentai artist. He seems to be a well-respected figure in that genre. Do either of you know what hentai is?¡±

 Chapter 696 - Do You Think I Will Believe You?

    <h4>Chapter 696: Do You Think I Will Believe You?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°No idea, it¡¯s my first time hearing that term as well.¡± Bai Qiulin turned to Ol¡¯ Zhou. ¡°Ol¡¯ Zhou, you are the most knowledgeable among us, do you know what hentai is?¡±

    Ol¡¯ Zhou shook his head and held his chin while he contemted. ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s a newic genre. When there¡¯s a chance, we can ask the boss about it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea. When Boss Chen finds out that Danian¡¯s work has been approved by a master, he will be overjoyed.¡± Duan Yue dragged Shinozaki out of the room. Ol¡¯ Zhou and Bai Qiulin carried Xiao Xia, and the group soon departed from the residential area. A few minutes after they left, the sound of footsteps echoed down the corridor.

    ¡°Jinyuan? Wei Jinyuan?¡± A sharp voice came from the door. The door was pushed open, and Lee Changyin peered into the living room. ¡°The tape on the door has been torn off, so they must have been here.¡±

    Lee Changyin had been exploring the adjacent building. After he reached the third-floor basement, he had realized that all the buildings were connected, forming a giant underground maze.

    What they had seen earlier was merely the tip of the iceberg; the real horror was buried underground. A normal Haunted House tour would grant entry to five people at most, and the exploration would be limited to twenty minutes. A tour like Chen Ge¡¯s, which allowed ten people and had a time limit of forty minutes, was extremely rare.

    Lee Changyin did not understand it until he saw the underground scenario. This ce was so big that it would have been fine if twenty visitors entered at the same time.

    When Wei Jinyuan screamed for mercy, Lee Changyin had ventured deep underground. When he heard the scream, he had hurried toward the sound, but unfortunately, he had been one step toote. Walking down the corridors that looked like perfect replicas of one another, he feared that he might get lost. In the end, he had decided to retrace his steps, to investigate the reason behind Wei Jinyuan¡¯s ¡®ident¡¯.

    ¡°This room is empty as well. I¡¯ve been here for twenty minutes already, and I have not encountered anything. Is this ce evenpleted yet?¡±

    The scenario was big, so naturally, it required arge number of actors to fill up the space. Lee Changyin had thought that he was unlucky because he had not run into any actors.

    ¡°I can¡¯t even find someone to ask.¡± Lee Changyin walked down the corridor with a drawn face. ¡°I can¡¯t keep wandering like this. Looks like I¡¯ll have to go search for the actors myself.¡±

    Since he was born, the man had rarely felt fear. When he was young, his parents had taken him to visit a doctor, and after an examination, the doctor had discovered that his brain was different from normal.

    The side of the frontal lobe was very active, but the limbic cortex and prefrontal lobe were underdeveloped. Even though he had the appearance of a normal person, his way of thinking and worldview were different from most.

    He tried his best to mimic a normal person, but whenever his attention slipped, his true self would emerge. He had attempted many different jobs in the past, but he was always fired due to a myriad of reasons. That was until he joined Xin Hai Nightmare Academy.

    Hiding inside the dark and eerie Haunted House, he could finally shed the disguise and assume his real identity.

    Scratching his neck, Lee Changyin walked out from the residential area. He scanned his surroundings expressionlessly. ¡°The boss gave us four clues, but I have lost contact with the other visitors, so how can I find the clues? What exactly happened to them when I was off exploring on my own?

    ¡°Wei Jinyuan isn¡¯t a coward, and he¡¯s spent his days working at a Haunted House. It is extremely abnormal to have him scared like that. Could the rumors about this Haunted House be real?¡±

    Lee Changyin frowned, and in his focus, he did not notice the bush by the residential area swaying.

    Nor did he notice the man wearing a trench coat holding a pair of scissors trailing him.

    ...

    The signboard hanging above the hotel entrance lit up and showed the name of the hotel. Cold drafts picked up constantly on the quiet street. The lights flickered, stretching Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s shadow longer than it should be.

    ¡°How does one act like a hotel owner?¡±

    He wore the costume that Chen Ge had pulled out from the Specter¡¯s changing room. He sat by the wooden table, held his chin, and tried to think.

    ¡°Since I¡¯ve decided to work here, I should try my best to impress. Scissors is naturally talented, or I should say, he has been training for a long time for this job. To achieve his level of professionalism, I have a lot more to learn.¡±

    Zhang Jingjiu nced left and right. After ensuring that there were no visitors around, he sneakily took out his phone and went online to search for guides to be a qualified actor. He was absorbed in his study when footsteps came from the street. A man and a woman were running down the junction with panicked expressions.

    ¡°There¡¯s a light! Follow the boss¡¯ orders! We need to go to the light!¡± The man was somewhat calm. He dragged his female partner as they rushed to the hotel entrance. They were running like they were participants in a one-hundred-meter sprint. They copsed to the ground once they reached the entrance.

    ¡°Stop, I can¡¯t run anymore.¡± The girl waved her hands about. The man had reached his limit as well. He coughed and sucked in the air hungrily as his heart skipped.

    ¡°I have some visitors!¡± Zhang Jingjiu arranged his outfit. This was his first time greeting visitors inside the Haunted House, so he was a bit nervous. Putting away his phone, he walked to the door and greeted them. ¡°Do you... need help?¡±

    Zhang Jingjiu was not supposed to say that, but he felt so sorry for the two visitors, and he could not help himself from wanting to extend a hand.

    Hearing the strange voiceing from behind them, the man jumped up from the ground and staggered back several steps before he stopped. Seeing the man¡¯s reaction like a mouse running into a cat, Zhang Jingjiu shook his head with a smile. Just how much despair had the man been through to make him react in such a manner due to a simple greeting.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get any closer! He¡¯s an employee here!¡± The young man acted like he was in a war. The woman next to him quickly stood up as well and sidled next to the man.

    ¡°I am an employee here, but I am different from others.¡± Zhang Jingjiu did not know how to exin himself. ¡°Why don¡¯t youe in to rest first? There are water bottles inside the hotel.¡±

    ¡°Do you think I will believe an obvious trap like that?¡± The man retreated some more until his back was almost pressed against the wall of the ¡®dog house¡¯ across the street.

    ¡°Can you not understand simple English? I am a new employee. The boss didn¡¯t assign me any tasks to scare the visitors. The sub-scenario that I¡¯m responsible for is a pitstop for the visitors to rest in.¡± Zhang Jingjiu waved his hand at them. ¡°Boss is worried that you visitors might not stand the pressure in such a tense setting, so he purposely came up with a ce for you to rest.¡±

    Zhang Jingjiu was not lying; he just did not know the true purpose of the hotel that he had been tasked with supervising.

    In reality, Li Wan Hotel was a very special ce. In the real Li Wan City, the hotel was both the most dangerous ce and the safest ce.

    It was the same inside Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. When the owner was Zhang Jingjiu, it would be the safest ce in the small town, but when the role was taken over by Chen Ge, the hotel would take on a different atmosphere.

 Chapter 697 - Wind Chime

    <h4>Chapter 697: Wind Chime</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Zhang Jingjiu was the most kind-hearted and innocent actor at the Haunted House. Actually, it did cross his mind to scare the visitors like his colleagues. He thought back to his memory of the real hotel boss and the crazy little games that he hade up with.

    However, this was his first day at work, and he was still not mentally prepared. When he saw the sorry state that the visitors were in, he could not bring himself to harm them anymore.

    ¡°Come in, this will be your shelter.¡± Zhang Jingjiu thought that since he was unable to scare the visitors, he had to at least let them feel his sincerity. That was the most basic requirement for someone in the service business.

    The woman hesitated, but the man was already preparing to leave.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go over there!¡± With each of Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s words, the male student took one step backward.

    ¡°I really don¡¯t have an ulterior motive. I just thought that you might need a ce to rest.¡± Zhang Jingjiu sincerely wanted to do them a favor. Why was it so difficult?

    ¡°Wang Dan, shall we trust him?¡± the girl whispered into the man¡¯s ear.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t learned from the lesson before? All the employees are either wolves in sheep¡¯s clothing or demons wearing human skin! How can you be na?ve enough to think to trust any of them?¡± The male student dragged his tired body to run into the ¡®dog house¡¯ opposite from the hotel.

    When the girl noticed her partner retreating, she made to follow.

    Seeing the two visitors voluntarily enter the ¡®dog house¡¯, the smile on Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s face was hard to describe. He did not know whether tough or cry. ¡°I¡¯m a wolf in sheep skin or demon wearing human skin, huh? Looks like I have seriously lowered the overall professionalism of the workers here.¡±

    ...

    ¡°Wang Dan, I really cannot run anymore, let¡¯s rest for a moment.¡± Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend leaned against the wall to rest. As breaths came more evenly, she realized for the first time how tiring a Haunted House visit could be.

    ¡°Now is still not the time to rest; this house gives me the creeps.¡± Wang Dan¡¯s instincts were now incredibly sharp after many visits to Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. He scanned the yard before his eyesnded on the wooden doghouse.

    ¡°We didn¡¯te across any pet-rted objects at the other ces, so there must be some scares hidden here.¡± Wang Dan felt like there was a ball of fire burning in his chest, but he did not dare slow down. There was nowhere in the scenario that was safe. Stopping would only mean being captured.

    He slowed his breathing, leaned against the wall, and looked outside.

    The hotel opposite was still bright with lights, but the worker did not wander away from his earlier spot; he was probably still waiting for them to return. The streets were dark, and he swore that he could see shadows flitting through it. For a moment, he believed that he saw someone waving at them from across the street.

    The hotel was not safe, the streets were not safe, and now they had reached the limit of their physique; they could not run anymore.

    ¡°How about we just surrender?¡± Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend suggested. Tears were rolling in her eyes, and her make-up was already ruined.

    ¡°I¡¯ve visited this ce many times, but not once have I managed to walk out on my own two feet. The time for the tour is almost up, so it¡¯ll be too much of a waste if we give up now.¡± Considering how tired his girlfriend was, Wang Dan decided to temporarily hide inside that building. ¡°We hid inside many empty buildings earlier, and nothing happened. Hopefully, it is merely my imagination that this ce is different from others.¡±

    Closing the gate of the yard, Wang Dan and his girlfriend entered the ¡®dog house¡¯. The door creaked open, and the wind chime that hung above the door tingled, as if informing the owner that he had a guest.

    ¡°It¡¯s quite artistic to hang a wind chime above the entrance.¡± Wang Dan looked inside the room. The ce had Japanese-style d¨¦cor. A corridor in the middle split the space in two. Half-opened doors led to rooms on either side. The floor wasid with tiles, and several slippers were ced at the entrance.

    ¡°Wang Dan, do you smell that? It smells like air-freshener.¡± Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend pulled on his shirt as she shuffled carefully forward. ¡°Other Haunted Houses purposely create horrible smells to entuate the horror, but this ce invested in so many air fresheners, as if afraid that the stench might disgust the visitors.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± Wang Dan suddenly stopped. He whipped his head around to look at his girlfriend. ¡°What did you just say?¡±

    ¡°This house smells heavily of air fresheners...¡±

    ¡°I told you there is a problem with this ce! We need to retreat; we¡¯re going somewhere else to hide.¡± Wang Dan had just stepped into the room. They had not even moved onto the corridor, and he was already prepared to leave.

    ¡°What¡¯s the problem with air fresheners?¡± Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend still had not grasped the connection.

    ¡°This smell is absent at other houses, it¡¯s only limited to this ce, and the smell is very intense. It can only mean that the person intended to use the scent to cover up the original smell in this ce!¡± Cold sweat was sliding down Wang Dan¡¯s forehead. ¡°Last month, during an open lecture by forensic officer Liu, for one of the cases, after the suspect dismembered the body, he hid the body parts in different rooms of his house, and he would smuggle a small part out every day. Afraid that the smell might betray his secret, he purchased arge number of air fresheners to cover up the decay. When thew enforcement discovered the body parts, Doctor Liu discovered the traces of air freshener left on the body parts, and that was how they traced the case back to the killer.¡±

    Wang Dan did not imagine the knowledge that he had learned in ss would ever be applied during a Haunted House visit. If he was studying for another course, it would have been fine, but he was studying forensic science.

    ¡°You mean the smell of the air fresheners is to cover up the smell of a dead body?¡± Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend started to panic as well. Then again, who would be calm when they came across a murder case while in the middle of a Haunted House visit?

    ¡°It is not necessarily to cover up the smell of decay; it could easily be another smell.¡± Wang Dan was no longer the reckless and explosive teen. The experience inside Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House had made him a stand-up young man.

    Pulling the door open, the wind chime jingled sharply once more. Initially, Wang Dan did not think much of it, but just as the silvery tingle faded away, a very weak male voice said, ¡°Save me, bring me with you.¡±

    Standing at the door, Wang Dan turned back to look. There was no one in the dark corridor.

    ¡°Did you hear the voice of a man calling for help?¡± Wang Dan turned to ask his girlfriend, and she shook her head.

    ¡°Is it because I¡¯m too nervous that I¡¯ve started to hear things?¡± He pulled the door closed.

    When the door touched the wind chime, the man¡¯s voice reappeared. ¡°Please do not leave me here! Save me!¡±

    This time, Wang Dan was certain of the voice that he heard. He lifted his head and tried to see where the sound came from.

    ¡°The wind chime?¡± The man¡¯s voice seemed toe from inside the wind chime. Wang Dan opened the door again, and he reached out to grab the wind chime. He shook it lightly, and on the inside wall of the wind chime, a man¡¯s face started to surface.

 Chapter 698 - Im Not Going to Be Led Astray

    <h4>Chapter 698: I¡¯m Not Going to Be Led Astray</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Weak, frightened, cowardly, and the pitiable, the man who hid inside the wind chime was like a small animal who had been tortured by his owner. Wang Dan could not exin the emotions that surged through him. When he saw the face in the wind chime, his first reaction was not fear but pity for the man.

    ¡°Things shouldn¡¯t be that simple.¡± Wang Dan held the wind chime in his hands, and after a moment¡¯s contemtion, his eyes slowly widened. ¡°Is it trying to take advantage of our sense of pity? Damn, I almost fell for it!¡±

    He reached his finger into the wind chime and poked the man¡¯s face. His fingertip phased through the face. ¡°I knew it, this is just a projection.¡±

    ¡°Save me! Do not abandon me! Please bring me with you! I beg you! I beg you!¡± The man¡¯s pleas entered Wang Dan¡¯s ears. Wang Dan shook the wind chime and studied it closely. ¡°I cannot tell at all where the voice came from. This wind chime is surprisingly high tech.¡±

    ¡°Stop shaking! Stop shaking! You¡¯re going to alert the big dog!¡±

    ¡°Big dog?¡± The sound of footsteps came from the stairs that led to the basement. A different stench permeated the air. Even the profuse number of air fresheners was unable to cover up this smell.

    ¡°Run! Bring me with you! The dog ising!¡± The man¡¯s face paled drastically, and he was so scared that his face was unrecognizable. Wang Dan had not been that scared in the beginning, but influenced by the man in the wind chime, his heart started to shake.

    ¡°Of all the buildings here, this is the only building with a doghouse, so this ce should be rted to a dog. Could there really be an angry dog kept here?¡± Animals were different from human actors. They could not be easily controlled when they went on a rampage. Wang Dan believed that even Chen Ge would not have reared arge dog inside the Haunted House. ¡°The dog probably means something else.¡±

    Before Wang Dan understood the meaning, the stench hit his nose. The shadow of a man appeared at the end of the corridor. He was medium-sized, and his face was shrouded in shadows. The smell seemed to originate from him.

    ¡°Run! Run for your life!¡± the man screamed.

    ¡°That¡¯s the dog?¡± Lights streamed into the room from the open window. Wang Dan got a close look of the man¡¯s face. He looked simr to the man in the wind chime. ¡°Even the appearance is simr; this has to be a trap. One to build up the atmosphere and the other waiting for the opportunity to strike. They cooperate from both ends, pushing the visitors into a desperate situation!¡±

    Wang Dan tried to analyze the scenario. He felt like he had understood themon ploy used by Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House.

    ¡°What are you talking about? I just want to leave! I need to leave this ce!¡±

    ¡°This man before us is probably not alive; it¡¯s more like to be some kind of mannequin. In other words, the real horror is not that ¡®dog¡¯; its presence is merely to create some kind of pressure. If I really follow the order of the man inside the wind chime, I¡¯m afraid we will only slowly walk into the boss¡¯ trap!¡±

    Wang Dan¡¯s exnation baffled the man inside the wind chime. He had ced his hope in the visitor, but the man seemed to havepletely altered the meaning of his words.

    ¡°I...¡±

    ¡°I am not the person that I once was. I shan¡¯t be so easily tricked. This time, I shall walk out on my own two feet!¡± Without wasting time to hesitate, Wang Dan yanked the wind chime down from the wall and turned to run.

    When he moved, the mannequin in the corridor fell to the ground with his limbs. Like a hungry dog, it charged at Wang Dan!

    If he did not leave the room earlier but chose to explore deeper into it, it would have been over already. Wang Dan and his girlfriend rushed ahead while the half-dog half-man mannequin chased after them. It weaved through the darkness and lurched out from the house. The monster did not seem to be limited by the scenario; it could move through the entire small town freely!

    ¡°It¡¯sing after us!¡± The fearful male voice entered Wang Dan¡¯s ear.

    ¡°It can move out from its sub-scenario?¡± Wang Dan was surprised. He and his girlfriend were exhausted; they could barely run any longer. Seeing as the distance behind them had closed, Wang Dan and his girlfriend found a random building and crawled into it.

    BANG!

    The door was mmed into heavily. The half-dog half-man monster seemed hellbent on capturing them.

    ¡°Wang Dan, what should we do now?¡± Wang Dan looked at the monster going berserk outside the door, and he was afraid, but he did not let it show on his face. He forced himself to appear calm as he said, ¡°It is as I thought¡ªthe wind chime and the mannequin are working together! The only reason it is chasing after us is because of the wind chime¡¯smand!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯mmanding it?¡±

    Wang Dan did not give the wind chime the chance to exin itself. He raised the wind chime and tossed it in the direction opposite from the way he was running!

    ¡°Wait! Wait a minute!¡± In the air, the wind chime screamed for mercy, but no one cared about him anymore. The monster¡¯s eyes were trailing the wind chime, and it did not show any interest in Wang Dan at all.

    It ran in the direction opposite from Wang Dan. It bit the wind chime in its jaw. To prevent the wind chime from escaping again, the monster did not rece the wind chime but hung it around his neck.

    Seeing that the monster had stopped chasing them, Wang Dan was quite excited. For the first time, he had managed to use his intelligence and bravery to obtain a victory in Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House.

    ¡°Boss Chen¡¯s Haunted House is beatable. With courage and attention to detail, there is a chance to clear it.¡± Wang Dan suddenly gained a lot of self-confidence. He nced at the time, thinking that perhaps this visit might be his personal breakthrough.

    ¡°The monster finally left.¡± Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend had her hand on her chest. ¡°How about we surrender now? If we stay any longer, who knows what else will happen?¡±

    ¡°No way, there¡¯s only ten or so minutes left. We need to survive until the end!¡± Wang Dan and his girlfriend conversed in the living room, but the door to the bedroom creaked open on its own. The sound of a music box drifted out, and a girl¡¯s mumbling could be heardcing through the music.

    ¡°Mother and Father have entered the basement. After Father came out, he locked the door. He carried a ck bag with him. He touched my head and said, ¡®Disobedient children will be taken away by the ghosts.¡¯

    ¡°Iy in bed, thinking back to what mother said.

    ¡°Before going to bed, I need to pull up the cover; before going to bed, I have to close the window; before going to bed, I need to check the armoire; before going to bed, remember to check the space under the bed... if I¡¯m sleeping alone.

    ¡°Father left home carrying the bag, leaving me behind.

    ¡°I looked under the cover, out the window, inside the armoire, under the bed, but I cannot find mother.¡±

    The strange melody coupled with the girl¡¯s innocent voice created an eerie feeling. This new sound appeared so suddenly that both Wang Dan and his girlfriend closed their mouths instantly as they turned to look at the bedroom in unison.

    The music box was still ying, and a new female voice appeared.

    ¡°Red eyes are watching you. You can¡¯t see me, but I can see you.

    ¡°I move with your gaze. I hide under the bed, inside the armoire, behind the window, before crawling under your covers.

    ¡°Iy down behind you and above you, but you still cannot see my red eyes.¡±

 Chapter 699 - Me and My Last Determination

    <h4>Chapter 699: Me and My Last Determination</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Both the girl and the woman¡¯s voice sounded quite normal, but afterbining them with the strange environment and curious lyrics, everything took on a different meaning.

    ¡°The first part was sung by the girl. She was looking for her mother, and thetter part was probably sung by the mother. They were in the same room, but the daughter cannot see her mother, and the mother cannot reach out to touch her daughter; this can only mean that one of them must have died and transformed into a ghost.¡± Wang Dan¡¯s analysis was sharp and to the point. His girlfriend was already shaking.

    ¡°This room is not safe either; we should leave.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Wang Dan did not choose to leave like before but shook his head determinedly. ¡°Before the voice of the woman and the girl came, did you hear the sound of a music box?¡±

    ¡°Music box?¡± Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend was confused. ¡°I think I did, but what does that have to do with us leaving?¡±

    ¡°Of the clues provided by Boss Chen, one of them is about a music box that can y on its own. There is a clue hidden in this room!¡± Wang Dan¡¯s eyes were shining with determination like a saintly duty had fallen on his shoulders. ¡°Boss Chen gave us four clues, and even though ten of us came in to visit, none of the clues have been found. In fact, all of us have lost contact with one another.

    ¡°Of course, arge part of it is because they asked for it themselves, but think about it, we are a group entity. If we choose to give up due to the weakness of our teammates, then in the end, it will be us who are looked down upon!¡±

    Wang Dan released his girlfriend¡¯s grasp on his arm, and he took one step toward the bedroom.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go over there! So what if we¡¯re looked down? It¡¯s not like that hasn¡¯t happened before. We should stop while we still can.¡± Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend tried to persuade him.

    ¡°The clue is just beyond this door. Will you choose to be a coward for life or be a hero for a few minutes?¡± Wang Dan nced at his phone. ¡°We have less than ten minutes left. I need to do something that I haven¡¯t done before.¡±

    Gritting his teeth, he pushed open the bedroom door and quickly scanned his surroundings. The windows were closed, and there seemed to be a group of shadows hidden behind the thick curtain. The drawer of the make-up table was left half-open, and the chair was toppled on the ground. The mattress on the single bed was dangling off the edge, blocking one¡¯s view of the space under the bed. The bedsheets were rumpled on the mattress, but the shape looked like someone was hiding underneath them.

    All the furniture mentioned in the song was present in the bedroom. It lent an air of authenticity to the lyrics.

    ¡°The sound seems toe from the armoire.¡± The environment inside the bedroom was strange. Wang Dan¡¯s pupils darted about as he slowly moved to the armoire. Holding the edge of the furniture, he was about to yank the door open when a light knock came from behind him.

    ¡°Who is it?¡± His heart almost jumped out of his throat. He turned around and saw that it was only his girlfriend who had moved to the bedroom door. She had identally knocked into the door.

    ¡°Wang Dan, let¡¯s go. Something¡¯s not right about this ce,¡± Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend urged nervously. She actually was not that attached to Wang Dan; she simply did not have the guts to leave on her own.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll be done soon.¡± Wang Dan took a deep breath to steady his heart, and he pulled the armoire open. A light scent of mildew wafted out. Wang Dan soon discovered the music box sitting on the secondyer of the armoire. It looked like an antique, hand-crafted, and should cost quite a bit.

    ¡°This looks quite pretty.¡± Wang Dan picked up the music box. ¡°This is one of the clues provided by Boss Chen, but where is the hint to escape?¡±

    The singing of the woman and the girl continued. Wang Dan slowly got used to them, to the extent that he did not realize that the singing was gradually getting closer to him.

    ¡°Am I supposed to break it open?¡± When the song finished ying, the figurines on the box stopped dancing. The box closed on its own to reveal a piece of paper stuck to the back of the lid.

    ¡°Found it!¡± Wang Dan picked up the note excitedly.

    ¡°Of the dungeon behind the armoire, the fridge in the corner of the kitchen, and the morgue at the end of the hospital, one of them leads to the exit. One leads to a new life; the other two lead to death. Why not leave everything to fate? (Please rece this note when you¡¯ve done reading it, or else no one can tell what kind of punishment will befall you).¡±

    Wang Dan was thrilled to have found the clue, but after he read the note, he frowned again. ¡°This is all about luck. If the choice is correct, then everything¡¯s fine, but if the choice is wrong, then it¡¯s really over.¡±

    Wang Dan was familiar with Boss Chen; the correct choice might not really lead to the exit, but the wrong choice would definitelynd them in despair.

    ¡°Giving up now means wasting all our effort so far. I¡¯ll go for it no matter what!¡± Wang Dan cheered for himself. He reced the paper note in the music box. However, when his finger touched the lid, the music box that had stopped ying started to turn again.

    The lid was forced open, and two figurines twirled on their stage. But strangely enough, there was a new paper note stuck between the two figurines.

    ¡°There¡¯s a second clue?¡± Wang Dan reached out to take the paper, but as his arm reached into the armoire, a chill surged through his fingertips.

    ¡°What is...¡± His hand was grabbed by another pale hand. He nced into the armoire and saw a little girl curled up in the depths of the armoire.

    ¡°Disobedient children will be taken away by the ghosts!¡± The girl¡¯s singing suddenly sped up, and she crawled out from the armoire.

    ¡°Where did shee from?¡± Wang Dan flung his hand back and tried to retreat when his body bumped into something. He turned back and made contact with a pair of searing red eyes.

    ¡°I move with your gaze. I hide under the bed, inside the armoire, behind the window, before crawling under your covers. Iy down behind you and above you, and now you have finally seen my red eyes!¡±

    The woman¡¯s face that was almostpletely decayed leaned close to Wang Dan. Wang Dan was so startled that he almost fainted. He bit on his tongue and forced himself to stay awake.

    ¡°Get away!¡± Wang Dan did not dare keep his eyes open. He waved his arms around behind and charged toward where he believed the exit would be. When the woman first showed up, Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend had already started retreating. The couple ran out of the haunted room one after the other.

    Perhaps Wang Dan¡¯s swinging punches provoked the ghosts because the pair of mother and daughter flew out of the room to chase after them. Without stopping to take a breath, Wang Dan and his girlfriend sprinted down the street for the third time!

    ¡°Where are we going now?¡± Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend screamed into the street.

    Wang Dan¡¯s tongue was pulsing with pain, and he rambled through his words. ¡°I saw the clue! There are three possible spots for the exit! Follow me!¡±

    Both mentally and physically, he was at his limits, but he was so close to the exit that Wang Dan could taste it. His brain worked on overtime. ¡°An armoire is toomon and too hard to find! We haven¡¯t even seen a fridge or a kitchen before! So, we can only go to thest option¡ªthe morgue at the end of the hospital!¡±

    Retracing their steps, Wang Dan led his girlfriend back to Li Wan Private Hospital.

    ¡°A one in three chance! I don¡¯t believe I¡¯ll be that unlucky! I will clear the scenario this time!¡±

 Chapter 700 - Next Stop Is Not Heaven

    <h4>Chapter 700: Next Stop Is Not Heaven</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Returning to where it all started, Wang Dan decided to use hisst determination to prove everything. ¡°This time, I will seed!¡±

    He dragged his girlfriend back the way that they hade. Using every ounce of energy that they had left, they ran like their lives depended on it. Zhang Jingjiu sat at the entrance of the hotel, reading an article on his phone on how to be a good actor when he heard the rushing of footsteps. Slowly lifting his head up, he saw Wang Dan and his girlfriend run past him, looking much more haggard than before.

    ¡°Looks like they are really enjoying themselves. Screaming and sprinting are the best ways to vent your internal pressure, and perhaps that is the purpose behind a Haunted House¡¯s existence.¡± Zhang Jingjiu came to his own conclusion. He understood that his job was not as simple as it appeared¡ªit had a secondyer of meaning.

    Wang Dan and his girlfriend raced back to Li Wan Private Hospital. They charged into the building like this was thest chance that they had. The sickrooms were left half-open, and the patients holding the records discovered these two familiar individuals. They were surprised by Wang Dan¡¯s courage, but with that surprise, more and more patients walked out from the sickrooms.

    As they scared the visitors, the ghosts were able to harvest the negative emotions that they needed, but more importantly, it was just fun to scare people.

    ¡°Do not turn back! Hesitate, and you will perish!¡± Racing down the stairs, Wang Dan and his girlfriend dashed to the third-floor basement.

    ¡°This should be where the clue meant when it said the end of the hospital.¡± Wang Dan held his girlfriend as they lurched through the corridors. When they passed a room whose door was painted red, they sensed the footsteps trailing behind them disappear all of a sudden. A hoard of patients had been originally on their tail, but why would they suddenly give up?

    ¡°What happened?¡± Wang Dan was too familiar with the actors. Once a visitor had earned their ire, they would not stop until that visitor had fainted. This was his second time entering the hospital. They would not allow him to leave so easily this time.

    ¡°The workers wouldn¡¯t be so charitable. The only reason they stopped chasing after us can only mean that there is something even scarier ahead of us!¡± Wang Dan knew that perfectly well, but there was only one way forward. The few rooms in the depths of the hospital seemed to be a taboo. It was so quiet that even the background music inside the Haunted House had disappeared.

    ¡°Wang Dan...¡±

    ¡°Hush.¡± Wang Dan was unable to find the door to the morgue; he could feel that something was wrong. When he turned around, he realized that the door to the red room that he had passed earlier had opened on its own.

    ¡°Is someone in there?¡± Wang Dan¡¯s brain was running low on oxygen because he had been running non-stop. He was so lightheaded that he was seeing double.

    All the doors so far were white, and only this door was painted red, as if warning the actors and visitors from getting too close. The air around them thinned. Wang Dan desperately wished to find the morgue; he knew that he did not have much time left.

    He pushed the many doors open, but he could not find the morgue. A light scent of blood trailed through the air. Wang Dan heard a second sound appearing behind him, the sound of a pair of heels!

    The heels stepped on the ground, but every step felt like a stomp on his heart. His body was shivering, and his clothes were wet with sweat. Wang Dan¡¯s girlfriend fared even worse. Her legs werepletely useless, and she leaned on Wang Dan, depending on him to drag her forward.

    ¡°Just what is hiding inside that room? Even when we were chased by the group of patients earlier, I wasn¡¯t this afraid! My body is shivering involuntarily, and every cell in my body is urging me to run.¡± The sound of heels came closer. The suffocating pressure closed in, causing Wang Dan and his girlfriend to break under pressure. The two of them finally chose a room to hide inside temporarily.

    ¡°This way!¡± Wang Dan dragged his girlfriend into the sickroom. They held their hands over their mouths, afraid that they might make an idental peep to attract the thing¡¯s attention. The heels clicked on the ground before stopping right outside their door.

    She was just outside!

    Wang Dan and his girlfriend¡¯s eyes were filled with terror. They were trapped!

    Their hearts pounded. Wang Dan gripped the doorknob tightly and pressed his whole weight against the door. No matter what, he was not going to open the door!

    The doorknob was turned by the person outside, but since Wang Dan held the doorknob so tightly and blocked the door with his body, the person was unable to push the door open. After a while, the person outside seemed to have lost their patience. The clicks of high heels echoed down the corridor. The person seemed to have wandered away.

    ¡°We¡¯re saved.¡± Wang Dan was so covered in sweat that it appeared like he had just taken a bath. ¡°We can leave...¡±

    Before he finished, the sound of heels clicking began again. It went through each sickroom before stopping outside Wang Dan¡¯s sickroom for the second time. Wang Dan and his girlfriend¡¯s hearts were held in suspension. No one knew what would happen next; all they could was wait.

    Ten seconds, thirty seconds, one minute...

    Two minutes passed, and there was no still sound from outside. After the heels stopped outside their door, there was not a peep again.

    ¡°Has the person already left, or is she waiting outside still?¡± Wang Dan leaned on the ground and peaked through the gap.

    A heavy scent of blood hit his nostrils. He saw a pair of bloody red high heels standing outside the door!

    The front of the heels were facing the door, and droplets of blood were sliding down the side of the heels. Wang Dan saw a drop of blood trickle down the shoe beforending on the ground.

    ¡°That is not a dye! It¡¯s real blood!¡± Wang Dan had studied forensic science. His eyes widened with disbelief. ¡°These high heels are dyed red using real blood!¡±

    His pupils focused on the high heels, and another drop of blood was sliding. Just as the droplet was about to touch the ground, Wang Dan felt a chill on the back of his neck like the drop of blood did notnd on the ground but on the back of his neck.

    ¡°It¡¯s leaking?¡± He turned his head up subconsciously and saw the upper half of a woman¡¯s body reaching into the room through the window in the door. She had been watching them!

    The bandage unfurled to reveal a mess of flesh and blood. Curses and resentment held up the body, and the woman in red reached out to grab Wang Dan. Thetter¡¯s mind was nk, and his eyes were filled with the woman¡¯s face. Wang Dan¡¯s hand that held the door slowly weakened as his body careened backward.

    All the good memories of his life shed through his mind, and in that instant, Wang Dan swore that he saw a kingdom of paradise.

    ...

    Zhang Jingjiu saw Wang Dan and his girlfriend running away. After sighing, he went back to studying acting. He said some awkward lines at the table that was empty. He was so focused that he did not notice a slender figure hiding at the left side of the entrance.

    ¡°There¡¯s a rumor saying that the reason this ce is so popr is because all the actors are real ghosts. Today, I think I shall test out that rumor.¡± Lee Changyin lowered his head, and a dangerous glow escaped from his eyes.

 Chapter 701 - Ghosts Look Like That?

    <h4>Chapter 701: Ghosts Look Like That?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Lee Changyin was the ¡®most popr actor¡¯ at Nightmare Academy. There was an air of madness around him that did not need to be faked. He only needed to be himself to get the madness required of the character toe to life. Standing in the shadow of the hotel entrance, he put on the pregnant woman¡¯s outfit that he had found in one of the buildings and took out the make-up tools from the waist bag that he wore on him at all times. With just a few strokes, he lookedpletely different from before.

    With his naturally soft features and the help of make-up, even though he still had short hair, Lee Changyin looked quite like a woman already.

    <i>There¡¯s no wig, I¡¯ll have to make do with a cap.</i>

    He ran into the nearby building, found a bedsheet, rolled it up into a ball, and shoved it under his shirt, not caring about how dirty the bedsheet was.

    When all his preparations wereplete, Lee Changyin returned to the hotel entrance. He studied Zhang Jingjiu inside the hotel from the corner of his eyes. After he prepared his emotions, he uttered in a voice hoarse with tears, ¡°Can you help me? I¡¯ve lost something.¡±

    His voice waspletely different from before, sounding very much like a girl. Zhang Jingjiu was still studying acting, but when he heard the cry for help, he quickly put the phone down.

    <i>Is it a visitor? </i>He thought that it was finally time for him to shine. He stood up and walked toward the entrance.

    Seeing that Zhang Jingjiu was hooked, Lee Changyin immediately retreated to an alley between the hotel and another building. He stood deep inside the alley so that the people outside could only see his shadow.

    ¡°Is there anything that I can help you with?¡± Zhang Jingjiu saw the person hiding in the alley, and he thought it was because the person was like Wang Dan who treated everything that they saw in the Haunted House as a ghost.

    ¡°I have lost something very important. Can you please help me look for it?¡± It was still a very pitiable female voice that said that, but Lee Changyin¡¯s expression was quite venomous at that moment. After he shed his disguise, that was how he looked for real.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Even though Zhang Jingjiu was suspicious, he gave it some thought and realized that there was nothing to worry because this was their own territory. He entered the alley and noticed the bump on Lee Changyin¡¯s stomach when he got closer.

    <i>A pregnant woman?</i>

    A page of the worker¡¯s manual shed across Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s mind. Due to safety considerations, pregnant women were not allowed entry into the Haunted House.

    <i>If it¡¯s not a visitor, then it has to be an old worker here...</i>

    Zhang Jingjiu slowed down. He knew very clearly what kind of ¡®things¡¯ took up the roles of actors in Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House.

    Noticing the man slow down, Lee Changyin¡¯s eyes narrowed, and he became more cautious. They both suspected that the other was a ghost, and both started to act strangely because of it.

    ¡°My stomach is very pained. Can you please help me? I lost the thing around here.¡± Lee Changyin continued to speak in his fake voice.

    ¡°What have you lost?¡± Zhang Jingjiu was almost certain that he was dealing with an old employee, so it did not cross his mind that a visitor might have put on a disguise to scare him. Even though he was afraid, considering that he would need to work at the Haunted House for a long time, he naturally had to form good rtionship with his seniors, so he suppressed his fear and did not run and leave.

    Hearing Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s answer, Lee Changyin¡¯s expression darkened further. When a normal person encountered a pregnant woman that said her stomach was painful and she was searching for something inside a Haunted House, should their first reaction not have been to call the ambnce or contact the owner?

    But the man took him seriously like he was sincerely going to help him find the thing that he had lost.

    ¡°I¡¯ve lost something very important. He has apanied me for nine months. I was about to see him soon, but I identally lost him,¡± Lee Changyin ¡®cried¡¯ even harder.

    Just hearing the description was enough to make the hair on Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s arms stand. He grumbled internally, <i>So, the important thing that she has lost is none other than her child!</i>

    Zhang Jingjiu reached his hand into his pocket and silently pressed the walkie-talkie¡¯s button, but no one gave him a response telling him what to do, so he could only rely on himself.

    <i>If she¡¯s not a madwoman who has sneaked into the Haunted House, then she will be an old employee who ran into some trouble. Even though I¡¯m new here, at least I¡¯ve been through a lot with Boss Chen, so I will not be looked down on by the old employees.</i>

    Thinking back to his experience in Li Wan City, Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s jaw set with determination.

    <i>No matter how scary it might be, can it be scarier than Li Wan City?</i>

    With that in mind, Zhang Jingjiu walked to the ¡®pregnant woman¡¯ and volunteered his help. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll help you look for it.¡±

    The way that he walked over to help without hesitation caused Lee Changyin some panic; things were not going as expected. <i>Is this man really a ghost?</i>

    As Zhang Jingjiu got closer to him, Lee Changyin immediately adjusted his emotions. He tried to regain the upper hand so that he could siphon useful information out from Zhang Jingjiu.

    ¡°Did you lose it around here?¡± Zhang Jingjiu asked. The light was dim. Since he believed that the other person was a ghost, he did not switch on the light, but he did ce his hand inside his pocket, holding the walkie-talkie, so that he could call Boss Chen for help should the need arise.

    ¡°Yes, I dream of him every night. He said that he¡¯s very cold. He wishes to climb onto the bed, to share the warmth of the cover...¡±

    ¡°Fine, fine, you can stop now.¡± Zhang Jingjiu shrugged helplessly. ¡°I¡¯ll help you look for him. After all, I have nothing better to do at the moment.¡±

    Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s answer stunned Lee Changyin¡¯s once again. The man did not get scared by his scary story but promised to help him solve his problem. <i>This man is truly abnormal!</i>

    Lee Changyin felt like he had stumbled across the final secret of Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. The ce could get so popr probably because none of his actors were actual people!

    As Zhang Jingjiu got closer, Lee Changyin¡¯s whole body tensed; he wished to get further confirmation. He lifted his made-up face. Their eyes met, and Zhang Jingjiu shivered, but he also confirmed his previous thought; the thing before him was definitely the Haunted House¡¯s old worker.

    ¡°Big Sister, don¡¯t worry, no matter what you¡¯ve lost, I will help you find it. If we cannot find him today, we¡¯ll continue the search tomorrow. After all, we have plenty of time.¡± Zhang Jingjiu forced himself to calm down.

    Hearing that, Lee Changyin¡¯s pupils shuddered. <i>What does he mean by that? We have plenty of time? After you hear a pregnant woman tell such a scary story, the response is that we have plenty of time? Is it because I¡¯ve been discovered, or does he wish to harm me? That shouldn¡¯t be¡ªthis is just a Haunted House visit.</i>

    The distance between the two closed. The light was dim. They seemed to be purposely getting close to each other, both parties wanting to prove something.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯vee to help you.¡± Zhang Jingjiu walked to Lee Changyin¡¯s side. He studied Lee Changyin¡¯s face like he was trying to memorize the man¡¯s features so that he couldin about ¡®her¡¯ to Boss Chen after work.

    Lee Changyin also studied Zhang Jingjiu closely. This was his first supernatural encounter in his life, and he wanted to remember what a ghost looked like.

 Chapter 702 - Stuck Between Two Men

    <h4>Chapter 702: Stuck Between Two Men</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Standing in the dark alley, Zhang Jingjiu and Lee Changyin studied each other. Neither of them spoke; they had not interacted directly with a ghost before, and the atmosphere turned strange and awkward.

    Zhang Jingjiu coughed once. He had worked in sales before, so his personality was more outward than Lee Changyin. He knew they could not just stand there all day, so he decided to move the conversation forward.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic, can you tell me what the thing looks like? Like the size or length, or does he possess any special characteristics?¡±

    ¡°Describe him to you? Size, length, and special characteristics?¡± Lee Changyin was stumped by Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s question. <i>Is that even a question that a living human would ask?</i>

    He had merelye up with a story earlier; he did not expect the man to treat it so seriously. But since the tale had already been spun, after a moment¡¯s hesitation, Lee Changyin stated, ¡°His face is blurred, and he¡¯s covered in blood. He keeps crying,ining about how cold it is.¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s going to be a bit troublesome if he has a blurred face.¡± Zhang Jingjiu held his chin and started to contemte it seriously. ¡°If he said he¡¯s very cold, then he might be ced inside the freezer, but if that¡¯s the case, then his blood should be frozen, so that possibility is not that high. Let me think where else could cause him this chilling sensation. Oh yes! The hospital¡¯s morgue! Your child probably sneaked into the hospital. I think you can go there and check. Pay attention the sound of crying¡ªthe room with the loudest cries should be where your child is hiding in.¡±

    ¡°Are you serious?¡± Lee Changyin had immense confidence in his make-up technique and acting. He was the best actor at Nightmare Academy, but he started to doubt himself before Zhang Jingjiu. The man cooperated with his story to the best of his ability, but that roused the suspicion in Lee Changyin¡¯s heart that he had seen through everything and was trying to lead him to the morgue.

    Zhang Jingjiu had no idea what Lee Changyin was thinking. He nodded. ¡°If he¡¯s not at the hospital, there¡¯s no need to worry. After all, this ce is only so big. Eventually, I¡¯m sure you will be reunited with him.¡±

    Lee Changyin failed to understand that he had been consoled by a ghost¡ªhow would one describe the feeling? It was a little bit scary and quite exciting.

    ¡°Thank you, I think I will go there now.¡± Lee Changyin¡¯s voice was shaking. He hid himself in the shadows with his head lowered to hide his Adam¡¯s apple.

    ¡°No problem. After all, we¡¯re already family.¡± Zhang Jingjiu thought that the ghost was quite polite and knew how to show her appreciation. It seemed that the other employees at the Haunted House were not as unapproachable as he had first thought.

    ¡°We¡¯re family? What do you mean?¡± Lee Changyin¡¯s heart raced. Was the ghost going to kill him and seal his soul inside the Haunted House to indenture him there forever as well?

    ¡°Currently, we¡¯re still unfamiliar with each other since this is our first meeting, but after we work together for a long time, we¡¯ll naturally get to know each other better.¡± Zhang Jingjiu squeezed an awkward smile on his face.

    ¡°Work together for a long time?¡± Lee Changyin¡¯s heart creaked, and his fists tightened! The true purpose had been revealed! So, all along, the ghost had been targeting him! This man with the strange smile had seen through his disguise, and he wanted him to stay at the Haunted House forever!

    Sweat wetted the make-up on his forehead. Lee Changyin knew that a normal Haunted House worker would not have run to him and spoken about a future of them working together should they encounter a pregnant stranger in the Haunted House.

    The more Lee Changyin thought about it, the more unsettled he felt. He finally understood why he had been feeling so unsettled since he stepped into this ce. This ce was really haunted!

    ¡°We¡¯ll chat in the future then.¡± Lee Changyin hurried to leave.

    ¡°The hospital on the left side!¡± Zhang Jingjiu saw Lee Changyin leave in such a hurry, and he scratched his nose. ¡°Did I say something wrong to offend her? It feels like I¡¯ve been wronged for some reason.¡±

    Before Lee Changyin wandered too far away, the walkie-talkie in Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s pocket rang. He quickly took it out.

    ¡°Jingjiu, why did you summon me earlier?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice came out from the machine.

    ¡°An old worker came to find me and asked me some questions, but don¡¯t worry, we had quite a pleasurable interaction.¡±

    ¡°An old employee came to find you?¡± Chen Ge was confused. ¡°A normal worker wouldn¡¯t leave their building. Without an anchor, they will continue to weaken. Both of the Red Specters are seriously injured, and they have promised me that they will not actively go and seek out the visitors. Jingjiu, what did the person that you encountered look like?¡±

    ¡°It was a pregnant woman...¡±

    ¡°Okay, I understand it now. That was not one of us; some other party has infiltrated our ce.¡±

    ¡°What should we do now?¡± Zhang Jingjiu was panicked. He really did not think that the pregnant woman was not a Haunted House worker.

    ¡°You¡¯ve seen the ghosts and monsters at Eastern Jiujiang. When there¡¯s light in the world, there will be darkness. If there are people like me who uphold justice, there will be people who have wickedness in their hearts. But don¡¯t worry, no matter who it is, if they dare to cause trouble inside my Haunted House, they should be prepared to enjoy an experience of their lifetime.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Zhang Jingjiu described the pregnant woman¡¯s appearance in more detail to Chen Ge before hanging up.

    ...

    Putting the walkie-talkie away, Chen Ge stood at the junction. When he first heard Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s report, he had thought that the shadow had sent some of his underlings. But the more he heard the report, the more he felt that something was wrong. The pregnant woman was probably being yed by a living human.

    There were professional Haunted House actors mixed in the visiting group. They followed the live-streamer Yellow Wolf, and for the sake of effect, some of them might pretend to be ghosts.

    ¡°Hopefully, I¡¯m worried for nothing.¡± Haunted House was Chen Ge¡¯s base, so he could not afford to be too careless. For the sake of insurance, Chen Ge contacted Tong Tong and had him awaken all the ghosts within the scenario so that they could locate the suspicious visitor as soon as possible.

    Laughter and cries echoed through the small town. Shadows climbed out from the walls and corners; the hidden spirits were awakened, and they started to wander the streets. In just a few seconds, Chen Ge received the message from Tong Tong and Scissors.

    Tong Tong had found the man, but Scissors did one better. He told Chen Ge that he had been following the man. The man acted very suspiciously, unlike a normal visitor.

    ¡°Hold on, we¡¯ll move together when I arrive.¡± Chen Ge nced at the time on his phone. It was about time for the tour to end.

    ...

    Tossing the pregnancy outfit and bedsheet into a random room, Lee Changyin hustled toward the exit in his mind without even taking off the make-up. He did not dare make too much noise lest he attracted more supernatural beings. He called his colleagues, but no one answered as if he had been isted in a different world.

    As the visiting hour came to an end, the small town turned scarier and darker. The streets that should have been empty filled with shadows. The fog around the town thickened, and one could smell the scent of blood in it.

    ¡°It feels like there¡¯s a pair of eyes on me.¡± Lee Changyin scratched his neck. He was flustered andfortable. He would turn back to look whenever there was a draft. ¡°There¡¯s someone behind me!¡±

    After running around a corner, Lee Changyin suddenly picked up his speed. He switched on the shlight on his phone and shone it behind him. In the fog, there was a strange man in a trench coat holding arge pair of scissors chasing after him.

    ¡°I knew it!¡± Lee Changyin was still rtively calm then. He knew that the light from the phone would expose his location, so he immediately switched it off. ¡°I¡¯ve been to this building before. After you go in the front door, you can jump out from the back window. I¡¯ll use this chance to lose the monster.¡±

    That was a good idea, but when he started to run forward, he stopped moving.

    At the corner of the street, a man wreathed in chains, wearing a doctor¡¯s outfit and dragging a scary-looking hammer, was slowly walking toward him.

 Chapter 703 - Scared Until My Illness Has Recovered

    <h4>Chapter 703: Scared Until My Illness Has Recovered</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Taking pictures, livestreaming inside the Haunted House, Chen Ge had forgiven all that; those were within an eptable range. After all, they were in a way promoting his Haunted House.

    However, to put on a disguise to scare his own people, that was pushing it a bit too far.

    To Chen Ge, this was a malicious activity and should be punished ordingly. The Haunted House was everything that Chen Ge had, and as the number of visitors increased so did the people who came to cause trouble. If he showed weakness once, it would only invite more trouble in the future.

    Li Wan City was a 3.5-star scenario, situated between three-star and four-star scenarios. Chen Ge had just unlocked the scenario, and he had not explored it seriously yet, so the difficulty did not appear not that high. Actually, Li Wan City¡¯s scenario still had many hidden treasures waiting for Chen Ge to explore, like the fog that seemed to appear out of thin air and the hidden missions attached to the scenario.

    He needed plenty of time to fully understand this scenario, and that was exactly what Chen Ge was currentlycking.

    <i>When there¡¯s enough free time, I¡¯ll work onpleting the scenario, but for now, I should deal with the imminent problem first.</i>

    Chen Ge wore Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s apparel and stood at the junction¡ªthat was a path that one had to take to leave the scenario.

    The bloodied doctor¡¯s outfit materialized out of the fog. Apanying the scratching sound of the chains dragging on the floor, Chen Ge walked out from the fog. Under the mask made from human skin, a pair of cold eyes were staring at Lee Changyin quietly. It was not a gaze that should belong to living human¡ªit was filled with an indescribable chilliness.

    For the many years that he had worked at Nightmare Academy, Lee Changyin had met many professional actors, and he could confirm that the gaze that he was seeing could not be perfected from acting. That pair of eyes must have seen plenty of supernatural phenomena and nightmares.

    The make-up on his face was ruined. Stuck between a rock and a hard ce, Lee Changyin knew that he was cornered. Running was pointless, and it would only provoke the man, so the best solution was to give up the struggle. That way, he might survive with hisst shred of pride intact.

    ¡°You are the Haunted House¡¯s workers, right?¡± Lee Changyin forced a smile on his face. ¡°I¡¯ve given up, can you please lead me outside?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re one of the visitors?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice came out from the mask. He sounded hoarse like he was chewing something hard in his mouth.

    ¡°Yes, I signed the disimer before I entered. My name is...¡±

    Before Lee Changyin finished, Chen Ge cut him off. ¡°There is no pregnant woman among the visitors today. Our surveince captured everything clearly. We wouldn¡¯t allow a pregnant woman to enter the Haunted House, so you definitely aren¡¯t one of the visitors,¡± Chen Ge said firmly like he had dictated thest word on this fact.

    ¡°Pregnant woman? Who¡¯s pregnant? I am a visitor. I have surrendered, so please lead me out now.¡± Lee Changyin started to panic. The man did not seem like he was going to let him go so easily; he kept insisting that he was a pregnant woman, and that was the pretext that he needed to force him to stay.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you a pregnant woman? I can see that clearly with my own two eyes. You are wearing a pregnancy outfit and have a high voice and a pretty face. None of the visitors that we weed into the scenario looked like you.¡± Chen Ge walked slowly toward Lee Changyin, dragging the hammer. ¡°Speak, what is your real identity?¡±

    ¡°I am Lee Changyin! I signed the disimer, and yes, I did pretend to be a pregnant woman earlier!¡± Lee Changyin sensed that things had gotten out of hand. He quickly voiced the truth, afraid that the man might assault him if he exined himself toote.

    Chen Ge paused and then continued with a sigh. ¡°Looks like you¡¯re unwilling to tell the truth. In that case, some persuasion is in order.¡±

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s words, Lee Changyin¡¯s mind was fraying. ¡°But I am telling you the truth! I am a visitor! Let me out!¡±

    ¡°I am not an unreasonable person, if you tell me the truth, I won¡¯t trouble you too much, but if you insist on lying to me, then I will have to deal with you like how I deal with other petty thieves.¡± Chen Ge suddenly picked up speed. He raised the hammer and charged at Lee Changyin. ¡°Speak! Who are you!¡±

    The hammer that was covered in spikes erged in Lee Changyin¡¯s eyes. He was not going to stand there and answer Chen Ge¡¯s question. However, a question did surface in his mind¡ªwhy was the iron hammer covered with so much spikes and blood grooves?

    The hammernded on the window just next to Lee Changyin. The cement shattered. Lee Changyin slithered away. Compared to the ¡®doctor¡¯ that blocked his way, he now realized how cute the strange man in the trench coat behind him was.

    Lee Changyin¡¯s brain was wired differently from a normal person¡¯s. Even at that moment, he could maintain a clear mind. He turned back, and before Scissors could catch him, he crashed through the door next to him. He intended to escape through the back window.

    Chen Ge naturally would not let him escape. He had already ordered the shadows to block the window and had Scissors guard the backdoor. He summoned all the free workers and stepped into the building together.

    ...

    ¡°Where are they? Why isn¡¯t the phone working?¡± A creep who liked to expose himself walked out from the corner of the room. He held his phone and grumbled angrily. ¡°What kind of horrible Haunted House is this? There isn¡¯t even one worker. I can¡¯t believe I held such anticipation before I arrived here.¡±

    Pushing open the door, he stepped out into the street. The town was shrouded in fog.

    ¡°When did it fog up?¡± The man nced at the time. ¡°The tour is going to end in about one or two minutes; I am not going to waste the entrance fee of fifty RMB.¡±

    With his head lowered, the man started to search for his target. He sneaked up to the flickering shadows in the fog, but he only paid attention to those who had a feminine shape.

    ¡°Lights are installed inside this building, so there should be someone inside.¡± The man soon locked onto his target. When he passed one of the rooms, he caught a person in a pregnancy outfit sitting on the sofa.

    ¡°A pregnant ghost? That¡¯s certainly a novelty.¡± The man chuckled sciously. He leaped in through the window and started to undo the buttons on his coat. Peeling the coat back, he waited for the actor to scream, but several seconds passed, and the room was still so quiet.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± He lowered his head to look and saw Lee Changyin in a pregnancy outfit slowly sliding down the sofa. He was foaming at the mouth, and his body kept spasming; he looked like he was about to say goodbye to the world.

    ¡°Lee Changyin?¡± The man¡¯s face paled, but before he realized what happened, twisted shadows with missing limbs started to appear from the corner of the room. ¡°What are these? What the f*ck! Stop! Don¡¯te any closer!¡±

    When everything became quiet again, Chen Ge stopped the recording on his phone and walked out from the bedroom.

    ¡°The Haunted House workers charged forward to help when the creep was about to attack a visitor.¡± After saving the ¡®evidence¡¯, Chen Ge walked out from the room. He exited the scenario to find a few trolleys.

    ¡°With the new scenario, it feels like these few trolleys aren¡¯t going to be enough.¡± Chen Ge had Tong Tong inform the other workers to send all the visiting customers to the scenario entrance.

 Chapter 704 - Iâ€™m Here

    <h4>Chapter 704: I¡¯m Here</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The noisymotion flooded into his ears, and his skin felt the warmth of the sun, which he seemed to have not experienced for a long time. Someone held his hand tightly, and that feeling was constantly falling until it finally disappeared. The overly heavy eyelids slowly fluttered to reveal a gap.

    ¡°Doc! Is he still okay? It¡¯s normal for us to faint when we visit the Haunted House, but none of us have been unconscious for so long before! Is it possible that he will never wake up again?¡± The familiar voice entered his brain; it sounded like someone calling him at the edge of heaven. His consciousness slowly settled back in, and his memory reached back from the fringe of his mind.

    <i>I¡¯m on a Haunted House visit. Yes, I can remember it now.</i>

    Wang Dan tried to open both of his eyes. Even though he tried his best, the only thing that he could do was pull his eyes open slightly.

    <i>Yang Chen? The student council president? The seniors from the fourth year? Why are there so many people... </i>Wang Dan wanted to speak, but his pale lips were unable to move.

    ¡°Erm... There shouldn¡¯t be any trouble. Don¡¯t worry, based on our experience, he should wake up soon.¡± The doctor coughed drily. ¡°Don¡¯t crowd around him, step back! Make sure there is a constant air flow.¡±

    The doctors and theme park workers politely asked the people to stand back. Wang Dan looked in the direction of their voices. He was currently lying on the steps of the Haunted House, and around him were the visitors who had gathered there for a show. They were talking among themselves; some took pictures on their phones, some were recording, and there were a selected few that went online to share this via live feed.

    <i>I think it¡¯s better for me to stay unconscious. </i>Wang Dan tried his best to turn his head to the side; he did not want to gain online fame from fainting at a Haunted House. His eyes moved slightly, and out the corner of his eyes, Wang Dan realized that he was actually not alone.

    The ten visitors were arranged neatly on the Haunted House¡¯s steps, and their faces looked so familiar. They had entered the ce together, and now, they wereid down side by side. Perhaps that was the gathering power of a group. Seeing his teammates, Wang Dan did not feel that bad for himself anymore, and he slowly closed his eyes. <i>At least, I was a hero for a few minutes...</i>

    The heat wave was strong, but the sun was not enough to block the visitors¡¯ passion. The 3.5-star scenario had opened to the public for the first time, and all ten visitors had fainted; this could only be described as magnificent.

    ¡°The f*ck! Thankfully, I did not act on my urge and rush into it. That has to be the most correct decision in my life!¡±

    ¡°This new scenario is too scary! I heard Boss Chen say this is only the preliminary stage for the four-star scenario, and its difficulty is only between three-star and four-star scenarios!¡±

    ¡°If the devil has a name, its surname must be Chen!¡±

    ¡°Boss Chen, hello there! With you at the helm, New Century Park can be said to enjoy a second renaissance. Do you mind sharing how you managed to do that?¡±

    Pushing the trolleys, Chen Ge was surrounded by a group of visitors. He did not expect taking down all ten visitors to cause a scene as big as this.

    ¡°First of all, I am d that the Haunted House has been able to gain everyone¡¯s approval. This Haunted House is everything my parents have left me, and it is the project of my life. That is all I can say.¡±

    Chen Ge searched for Uncle Xu among the crowd. He had decided to use this chance to spread the name of the 3.5-star scenario and, at the same time, help promote the iing four-star scenario. However, to his surprise, the effect was far better than he anticipated. The visitors were so excited that he was trapped by them.

    ¡°Boss Chen! We know that building a Haunted House is not easy. Finding the inspiration, writing the story, designing the props... you must have faced plenty of trouble, right? What kind of belief enables you to carry on through all of that?¡±

    Seeing the glow in the visitors¡¯ eyes, Chen Ge found it too hard to brush them off. ¡°I¡¯ve poured too much effort into this Haunted House, from building the scenarios to weing the visitors. That kind of anticipation and joy is not something that other people can appreciate. Therefore, the difficulties that you¡¯ve mentioned do not really amount to anything. There is a sense of responsibility bestowed upon me, and I tell myself, I need to make the best Haunted House I can, so no matter where I go, I keep it in my heart. Because of that, it has be a natural part of my life.¡±

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s answer, some of the visitors could not help nodding. Only someone who poured his everything into this project could havee up with so many wonderful scenarios.

    ¡°Here please! Boss Chen! I¡¯m a visitor from Xin Hai! Just half an hour ago, Xin Hai¡¯s most famous Nightmare Academy said that they came here to conduct a learning andmunication visit with you. What is your opinion about that?¡±

    ¡°Nightmare Academy?¡± Boss Chen signaled for the people to part, and he pointed at the few people lying on the steps. ¡°They dide, but they were definitely not here for friendlymunication. With regards to that, I feel it¡¯s a great pity as well. In the future, I will make sure to personally visit Nightmare Academy to hash this out with them.¡±

    ¡°Boss Chen! I saw from a certain tform that Yellow Wolf was livestreaming inside the Haunted House, and I saw you in his stream! Can you tell us in detail what really happened? Our whole family of nine and our cat is deathly curious about that!¡±

    ¡°You can follow my streaming ount for the details. I will talk about it in the future.¡±

    ¡°Boss Chen, there is an online rumor that your Haunted House is really haunted. Is that real or not?¡±

    ¡°Of course, that¡¯s false. There are no ghosts in the world. Everything is just a rumor. If you don¡¯t believe me, you can point the person who told you the rumor to me, and I will face them in person.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s smile was always so warm; he treated everyone with the same kindness. ¡°Alright then, I need to go back to work. Even though I own this Haunted House, I am one of its workers, and it is still working hours.¡±

    With that excuse, Chen Ge finally slipped away from the visitors. He sighed in relief after he entered the Haunted House. ¡°Scaring ten visitors until they faint, that should be enough to grab people¡¯s attention and gain some poprity. Hopefully, Director Luo will be able to suppress the negative influence from this event so that it won¡¯t be misused by others.¡±

    Chen Ge provided a very sharp de to promote the Haunted House and theme park. If used well, it could greatly cut down the futuristic theme park¡¯s opening hype. However, if it was not used correctly, one might cut oneself.

    Whenever a new scenario opened, there would be amotion, and that was the effect that Chen Ge was looking for. Because of that, he had brought two Red Specters back from Li Wan City. Jogging back to the scenario, Chen Ge first found the headless woman to console her before going to Li Wan Private Hospital to find the red high heels.

    Actually, the red high heels¡¯ luck was not so good. First, she lost all of her power during the fight with the gluttonous woman, then she was injured during the shadow, Zhang Ya, and Doctor Gao¡¯s battle. Adding injury on top of injury, now she only had a shell left.

    ¡°Looks like you¡¯re in a good mood.¡± Chen Ge sat at the door to the morgue and studied the red high heels in his palm. ¡°You did wonderfully this time. If you wish to, you cane back anytime you like in the future. My Haunted House is always open to you.¡±

    The red high heels¡¯ special power was curse, and that was simr to the shadow. After bringing her back to the Haunted House, he, alongside the apaniment of all his other employees, formed a contract with her. After she helped all the workers cleanse their curses, Chen Ge would allow her to leave.

    The red high heels did not really have a choice but to trust Chen Ge. And every day, she had been trying out ways to convert the shadow¡¯s curse. Most of the curses inside Zhang Jingjiu and Scissors had been cleansed already, but the true difficultyy with the curse in Xu Yin¡¯s body. He was suffering terribly. If not for his opportune evolution into a Red Specter, he would have disappeared already, tortured by the curse.

    Pushing open the morgue¡¯s door, Chen Ge walked to the sickbed that was at the deepest part of the room. On top of the bedy a cassette tape that was covered in dark gray spots that looked like bruises.

    ¡°Rest well, everything will be fine. I am here.¡± Chen Ge ced the high heels next to the tape and sat down on the bed for ten minutes before leaving.

 Chapter 705 - Yan Danian: Lesser Red Spectreâ€™s Strongest Power

    <h4>Chapter 705: Yan Danian: Lesser Red Spectre¡¯s Strongest Power</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Perhaps the fainting of ten visitors caused too big a scare. Throughout the whole morning, there was no one else who dared challenge the nameless town again. Everyone stuck obediently to low-level scenarios.

    The visitors around the Haunted House gradually calmed down. Chen Ge felt that perhaps one day, the visitors would get used to seeing a few fainted people around the Haunted House entrance.

    At 2 pm, a few people who proimed that they were from Nightmare Academy sought out Chen Ge. They hauled their colleagues back in their cars. One of them was a pair of twins who personally came to apologize to Chen Ge. Chen Ge very graciously epted their apology and promised that he would visit them if there was a chance in the future.

    After the people from Nightmare Academy left, the students from Jiujiang Medical University came. Most of them were Wang Dan¡¯s friends. Once they heard that their friend had fainted again, they all went to look after ss was over.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a big problem¡ªhe¡¯ll soon wake up.¡± Chen Ge came to this conclusion after inspecting Wang Dan¡¯s body. Actually, Wang Dan had already woken up a long time ago. As a senior visitor, his ability to suffer these mental scares was far better than the other visitors. Knowing that Chen Ge was kindly giving him the chance to save his face, Wang Dan soon ¡®woke¡¯ up.

    ¡°Wang Dan, you¡¯ve finally woken up!¡±

    ¡°Did you really dare to challenge a 3.5 scenario? You have my admiration!¡±

    The students from the university surrounded Wang Dan, and they did not think that fainting at Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House was something shameful. In fact, they felt as if they were missing out if they did not faint at Chen Ge¡¯s ce, like something was missing from their university life.

    ¡°Not all is lost.¡± Wang Dan forced a smile on his pale face. Hey in the middle of the crowd and looked surprisingly like a valiant soldier. ¡°I¡¯ve found the key to this 3.5 scenario!¡±

    Wang Dan struggled to turn to Chen Ge. He raised his hand. ¡°Boss Chen, next time, I will seed!¡±

    ¡°The scenario is built for you all to experience and clear, so naturally, I will always wee your return.¡± Chen Ge liked spending time with the students¡ªit made him feel younger. Wang Dan and his girlfriend were taken away by the other students. After they disappeared from Chen Ge¡¯s view, they surrounded Wang Dan again.

    ¡°Wang Dan, what does a 3.5 scenario look like from the inside? How scary is it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I need to exin how scary it is if all ten visitors fainted from their tour.¡± Wang Dan was still quite weak, and his legs felt like noodles. ¡°The new scenario is a small town, but the scale is huge. I believe it can fit twenty people for one visitation. The ce is filled with traps, and the scariest thing is, as time moves forward, the small town itself changes.¡±

    ¡°The town changes on its own?¡± Yang Chen took out his notebook and started to write. ¡°The difficulty will continue to increase?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Fog rolls out on the streets, the telephone signal will be jammed, and more actors will appear to fill up the streets.¡±

    ¡°In other words, to clear this new scenario, we need to move fast and find as many clues as we can before the difficulty rises.¡± Yang Chen jotted down everything that Wang Dan said in the notebook; this was precious information that Wang Dan had risked his ¡®life¡¯ for.

    ¡°Yes, other than that, I gained some very important information during this visit.¡± Wang Dan thought about it. ¡°Regarding the exit, I found three clues. They are respectively the fridge at the corner of the kitchen, the morgue at the end of the hospital, and the armoire in the room. So, if we try this again, we only need to focus on the fridge, armoire, and morgue.¡±

    ¡°Okay, is there anything else that we need to pay attention to?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s one more. I¡¯m not so sure about it, but I believe it¡¯s true.¡± Wang Dan hesitated. ¡°Considering the size of the scenario and the possibility of idents, Boss Chen set up a safe zone inside the scenario. It is at the center of the town, a hotel.¡±

    ¡°A safe zone?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the hotel owner is a middle-aged man. Now that I think about it, he didn¡¯t have the presence of the other workers, so he shouldn¡¯t have been lying to me.¡± Wang Dan provided another crucial tip.

    ¡°This info is too important; it can be a life saver.¡± Yang Chen noted this down and circled it in red like all the other important information.

    Chen Ge watched the students walk away before turning to the remaining visitors. ¡°This man in the trench coat has broken thew. I should wait for the police toe get him.¡±

    There were too many visitors around for him to call the police. Chen Ge waited until 5 pm when the theme park was about to close and called Lee Sanbao and told him everything. During that period, a few other visitors gradually woke up. Zhang Feng¡¯s situation was rather bad, but he recovered quite a bit after Chen Ge sent him to the underground morgue. Feeling ashamed of himself, he slithered away without saying a word.

    Shinozaki and his assistant acted strangely though. After they woke up, they sat next to the Haunted House like they were waiting for Chen Ge. At 6:40 pm, after sending thest batch of visitors away, when Chen Ge prepared to close the door, Shinozaki and his assistant ran over.

    ¡°Boss Chen!¡± Shinozaki limped over. His hair was ruffled, and his expression was anxious, looking not even a bit like a master.

    ¡°How can I help you?¡± Chen Ge had quite a good impression of Shinozaki.

    ¡°I found thisic page inside your Haunted House.¡± Shinozaki took out a manuscript page from his pocket. When he fainted, he held the page tightly in his hand. ¡°Can I please meet the author? I admire him greatly, and I have something important to discuss with him.¡±

    ¡°You wish to meet him?¡± Chen Ge knew full well that it was Yan Danian who drew that manuscript.

    ¡°Yes! I wish to coborate with him to share his work with the world. Such a genius shouldn¡¯t be hiding inside a Haunted House!¡± Shinozaki was excited. It had been so many years since he hade across a piece of work that could affect him so deeply. Every page was artful, and they contained a unique kind of emotion. They painted a real world through the lens of the weird and supernatural.

    ¡°Follow me, the artist has a strange temperament, and I can¡¯t guarantee whether he will meet you or not.¡± Chen Ge asked Tong Tong to contact Yan Danian and led Shinozaki and his assistant back underground.

    After getting Yan Danian¡¯s permission, he decided to arrange this meeting. ¡°The author is inside this bedroom. He doesn¡¯t like strangers, so why don¡¯t you converse through the curtains?¡±

    Shinozaki was a knownic artist and knew everything within the industry. Even his assistant was a famed professional. They had their own studio and a mature operating system.

    Chen Ge stayed to observe initially, but after he confirmed Shinozaki¡¯s sincerity in working with Yan Danian and his genuine wish to help Yan Danian share his work with the world, he stood up and left.

    This was the moment that Yan Danian was able to grasp his lifelong dream, so Chen Ge naturally would not stay to disturb it. Guarding outside the room, about half an hourter, Chen Ge¡¯s ck phone suddenly vibrated. He opened it with some curiosity and saw that there was an update to the employee tab.

    For Yan Danian, the special power that was a question now turned into a gray term. It was still not useable, but Chen Ge could read its details.

    ¡°Wishes Do Come True: The Lesser Red Specter¡¯s Strongest Power! The wish in your heart wille into fruition. Usable once every week. Each usage will cause the pages in theic to decrease by one permanently!

    ¡°My life is aic; every page is my memory. Promises that I cannot hold will be torn down, tossed into the sky, morphing into wind...¡±

 Chapter 706 - The Promises Boss Chen Made

    <h4>Chapter 706: The Promises Boss Chen Made</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°The wish in your heart wille into fruition? Wait, but there¡¯s no time limit, and it didn¡¯t even exin how long it will take for the wish toe true. Each use will exhaust one page of theic, will it? This strongest power of the Lesser Red Specter is not as powerful as I anticipated.¡± Chen Ge read through the introduction on Yan Danian¡¯s special power seriously. ¡°If I have a wish in my heart, I will use my hands to fulfil it. By exhausting another¡¯s life toplete my own dream, even if it doese true, the dream will turn rather meaningless.¡±

    Reading the words on the ck phone, Chen Ge could sense the trace of mncholy behind it. Danian painted a strange and curious world with his pens, but at that same time, that world could be seen as the purest and cleanest. It was called supernatural by others simply because it would not have been a part of reality.

    Chen Ge put the phone away, and not long after that, Shinozaki and his assistant came out from the room with arge bag. They looked so excited.

    ¡°How did the discussion go?¡± Chen Ge asked.

    ¡°Someone like Master Yan is a true artist. It is truly my honor and good fortune to have been given a chance to cooperate with him.¡± Shinozaki was a prideful man, and it was not easy for him to admit something like that.

    ¡°Yan Danian has spent his whole drawing and working. He is a straight-minded person and doesn¡¯t even know how to be cunning. I hope you are sincere in cooperating with him and will not resort to underhanded tricks.¡± Chen Ge stood in the middle of the dark corridor. He had the bloodied doctor¡¯s outfit on. The chains dragged on the ground, trailing into the darkness.

    ¡°Understood, you don¡¯t need to worry about that.¡± Cold sweat poured out of Shinozaki¡¯s forehead involuntarily. His experience at the Haunted House earlier returned; that memory would probably haunt him for life.

    ¡°I¡¯m d to hear that. I hope for the two of you to have a good coboration then. Other than that, if it¡¯s possible, I hope that you can mention Western Jiujiang Haunted House on the publishedic. After all, Yan Danian is still my employee,¡± Chen Ge suggested casually.

    ¡°That¡¯s no problem, we should help each other.¡± Shinozaki was familiar with the world of business, but he could not exin his innate fear of this young man. After sending Shinozaki and his assistant away, Chen Ge went to have a chat with Yan Danian.

    Yan Danian had handed his work over to the Shinozaki¡¯s studio, and they would publish twoics soon¡ªGhost Tenants and Underworld Academy.

    Ghost Tenants was inspired by Yan Danian¡¯s own life while Underworld Academy was a brand-new work using Mu Yang High School as the background. Both of them would appear onic websites over the world in serial format. The author would have Yan Danian¡¯s name, and the royalties would be shared 50-50 between Yan Danian and Shinozaki¡¯s studio. Based on Shinozaki¡¯s prediction, Yan Danian could hope to enjoy afortable life in the future.

    ¡°Money is the source of many sins; Danian is too innocent to handle so much money. To maintain his passion for art, I mustn¡¯t allow him to be corrupted by money. I think I should look after his royalties for now.¡±

    As Yan Danian¡¯s name grew, this Lesser Red Specter might be one of the central pirs of the Haunted House. After dealing with Yan Danian, Chen Ge¡¯s mood turned better. He walked out from the Haunted House. Xu Wan and Xiao Gu left after cleaning the ce, but Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu stayed.

    ¡°Both of you have done quite well today, but there is room for improvement.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone and nced at the memo. ¡°Scissors, you have a natural talent for this, but you still haven¡¯t explored it to its full potential. When we cornered that visitor earlier, why did he choose to run toward you? It¡¯s because he saw weakness in you that he could take advantage of.

    ¡°Jingjiu, you don¡¯t need to rush. There are many things that a Haunted House worker needs to learn. You¡¯ve gotten used to the darkness, and that is already a big improvement. Take it slow and give it time. I¡¯ll go to the hotel and act as the owner once. Perhaps my interaction with the visitors will give you some inspiration.¡±

    Aftermunicating with the new workers, Chen Ge rmended some material for them to read before allowing them to go off work.

    ¡°Li Wan City¡¯s mission is already over, but there are still loose ends.¡± Chen Ge waited until sundown before he grabbed his backpack and hailed a taxi to get to White Dragon Cave Tunnel. When he reached the tunnel, the sky waspletely dark.

    ¡°The shadow¡¯s heart was shared by Zhang Ya and Doctor Gao, and it haspletely disappeared, but the ghost fetus is still alive. This four-star mission will definitely be much more difficult than Li Wan City. After it is birthed, it wille to find me trouble, so the best solution is to locate it before its birth.¡±

    The ghost fetus was probably a Greater Red Specter and a Specter more terrifying than Zhang Ya.

    ¡°If I can¡¯t stop it before its birth, then my hope is on Zhang Ya making a breakthrough.¡±

    Both sides were racing against time, and the current calm was exactly the state before the storm. Closing his eyes, Chen Ge touched the wall and headed deeper into the jungle. He recited a name in his heart. When he got to the forty-fourth recitation, the air around him thickened, and a chilling presence surged around his heart.

    ¡°You managed to return alive?¡±

    Hearing that familiar voice, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes slowly opened. ¡°You should be more familiar with the changes in Eastern Jiujiang than I am. The shadow has already been consumed.¡±

    Therge spider shadow loomed over Chen Ge. At the top of the tunnel,rge appendages crawled out from the darkness, and a hissing spider dangled above Chen Ge¡¯s head.

    ¡°The shadow has been consumed? By whom?¡± The spider¡¯s upper body was that of a boy. This was the woman in the tunnel¡¯s son, and he was the real owner of the three-star mission, The Tunnel.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t really matter. The important thing is that we seem to have created a bigger problem.¡± Chen Ge told him about the ghost fetus; he wanted to drag this Red Specter before him into the mess. Chen Ge¡¯s words confirmed some of the boy¡¯s suspicions. The more he heard, the darker his face became. Killing Chen Ge now would amount to nothing.

    ¡°I¡¯ve brought her back safely, and I hope we can cooperate again in the future.¡± After saying all he needed to, Chen Ge released the boy¡¯s mother from theic and retraced his step.

    Walking out the tunnel, Chen Ge went down the street for half an hour before he caught a cab. He carried his bag and rode the taxi to a certain abandoned mental asylum in Western Jiujiang. Chen Ge leaped over the wall with ease to enter the Third Sick Hall. He pried open the door and entered the corridor filled with pillows and mattresses.

    ¡°Men Nan?¡± Opening theic, Chen Ge summoned Men Nan. The red shadow appeared beside Chen Ge. When Men Nan saw the familiar halls, he felt hot tears prickling his eyes.

    ¡°Wee home.¡± Chen Ge stretchedzily. He felt weirdlyfortable at this strange ce, probably because he had been there way too many times.

    ¡°This is my home, not yours!¡± Men Nanined weakly. As a Red Specter, he felt like he should act with the dignity of one, but whenever he saw Chen Ge, he felt the urge to go on a rampage.

 Chapter 707 - How Is the Horror Movie Coming Along?

    <h4>Chapter 707: How Is the Horror Movie Coming Along?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Of course, of course, you¡¯re the Red Specter after all.¡± Chen Ge shrugged as he walked into the hall.

    ¡°Hey! What are you nning to do? I¡¯m going to return already!¡± Men Nan was nervous. He had a feeling that Chen Ge had an ulterior motive for taking him home. In his mind, that was exactly the kind of person Chen Ge was.

    Chen Ge stood in surprise and said matter-of-factly, ¡°Since I¡¯m here, aren¡¯t you going to invite me to go behind the door to take a look?¡±

    ¡°You...¡± Men Nan also did not know what to tell Chen Ge, since he was the first living human who asked to go behind the door. ¡°At twelve midnight, the door can only be opened for a minute, so you can only stay inside my door for a minute. If you stay longer, you¡¯ll have to wait until tomorrow to leave.¡±

    ¡°Only one minute?¡± Chen Ge did not want to trouble Men Nan too much. ¡°Fine, after all, there¡¯ll be plenty of chances in the future. You¡¯d better go and fix your windows then. I won¡¯t disturb you anymore.¡±

    ¡°Then I can go now?¡± Men Nan regarded him with caution like he was unwilling to believe that Chen Ge would be so kind.

    ¡°Go ahead, you¡¯ve helped me many times. If youe across any problems that you cannot solve in the future, you cane and find me any time.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t happen. As long as I don¡¯t get entangled with you, I won¡¯t run into any problem,¡± Men Nan grumbled softly.

    ¡°That might not be true. The shadow that we killed earlier is the puppet of a Greater Red Specter. If we don¡¯t kill its true form, that Greater Red Specter will eventuallye to visit.¡±

    ¡°Greater Red Specter?¡± Men Nan¡¯s face turned paler and he widened his eyes. He thought the shadow was already the scariest monster, but he still possessed a main body.

    ¡°That monster¡¯s true form is called ghost fetus, created from curses and resentment. It is highly vengeful, so you need to be careful.¡± With that, Chen Ge turned to leave. Walking out from the Third Sick Hall, Chen Ge flipped through theic, thinking about the things that he still had not done.

    ¡°I am a man of my word. I still haven¡¯t started on the promise that I¡¯ve given the suicide hotline operator, Zhang Wenyu. Whenever I help himplete the death wish of the suicide victim, he will help me in return.¡± Chen Ge had limited manpower. Finding the ghost fetus, which could be anywhere in Jiujiang, was very difficult, but Zhang Wenyu was different. He carried the lingering spirits of all the suicide victims that he had interacted with him. He needed to help all of them before he could receive salvation. But correspondingly, those lingering spirits attached to him would provide him with their power.

    Zhang Wenyu was a unique Red Specter, and even Chen Ge had no idea how powerful he was. Chen Ge merely thought that the man¡¯s power could not have been better for a manhunt.

    ¡°I have already helped the man with the Nobita-Giant Syndromeplete his wish. Based on our agreement, I can ask for his help once.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone and called the number that he had memorized. After three rings, the call was picked up, but there was no voice to greet him.

    ¡°I will help youplete the victims¡¯ wishes as fast as I can, but I have recently run into a very troublesome problem, and I hope that you can lend me a hand.¡± Chen Ge cut to the chase and voiced his purpose.

    ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± Zhang Wenyu¡¯s throaty voice came through the phone.

    ¡°I need to find an unborn child. I¡¯ve seen its face, and I¡¯ll send you a sketch in a minute.¡± Chen Ge had Yan Danian draw the face of the baby in the shadow¡¯s chest, which should be the ghost fetus¡¯ appearance.

    ¡°Even if I know what it looks like, it is still not yet born. How am I supposed to know where it is?¡±

    ¡°You are a Red Specter; you should have your own method.¡±

    Both parties were silent before finally Zhang Wenyu said, ¡°Okay, I will try my best.¡±

    ¡°The baby¡¯s main form is the ghost fetus. It appears to be a Greater Red Specter, and it is very dangerous, so you have to be careful during your search.¡± After dealing with that, Chen Ge moved to another topic. ¡°Previously, you gave me three lingering spirits¡¯ wishes. I¡¯ve alreadypleted two¡ªthe patient with Giant-Nobita Syndrome and the cancer patient who died on the rail¡ªbut the third one is a bit difficult.¡±

    ¡°The third wish?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the patient who wanted to see his work made into a movie.¡± Chen Ge owned a Haunted House, so he did not know heads or tails about movie-making. It was going to be hard toplete this wish. ¡°Can you show me other lingering spirits? I will help them first.¡±

    ¡°That is not an issue, but the writer¡¯s spirit is very powerful, and I have a hard time controlling him. If we cannot resolve his wish as soon as possible, I might even be consumed by him.¡± Zhang Wenyu sounded helpless. ¡°You¡¯ll have to help him fulfil his wish. That is one of the reasons I reached out to you.¡±

    ¡°Okay then, I¡¯ll try toe up with a way.¡± After hanging up, Chen Ge wandered down the road aimlessly.

    ¡°It should be fine, leaving the search for the ghost fetus to the Zhang Wenyu, but the shooting of the movie is indeed a bit troublesome.¡± Chen Ge took out his own phone, and he was struck by a sudden inspiration. ¡°A horror movie is still a movie. Even though I don¡¯t have rted talent, it doesn¡¯t mean that the whole of Jiujiang won¡¯t.¡±

    He keyed in the following in the search bar¡ªhaunted film set, supernatural phenomenon during filming¡ªand he really dide up with something.

    ¡°Known scriptwriter died from ident in the middle of the night. Is it a clever marketing scheme or something more sinister? This is the seventh ident during the shoot of Left Oculus. Is there really a supernatural element behind it?¡±

    Clicking on it, Chen Ge realized that the article had already been removed. He changed a few key words before finding the information that he needed.

    Left Oculus was the name of a horror film, but many idents happened during its shoot. First was the idental death of the scriptwriter who wanted to edit the script, then came the sudden madness of the female lead and the disappearance of the male lead. After changing the line-up, the filming finally finished, but on the night before the premier, the film set caught on fire, burning up all the clothes and props.

    Many people said that this was just a marketing ploy until the director disappeared, and then the news went silent. In the end, the movie did not get its premier. Until now, no one had ever seen it. There were snippets online, but most of them were faked by online users.

    ¡°Even the script was burnt in the fire. This sure is interesting.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s interest was piqued. He got a cab to return to the Haunted House and immediately ran into the staff breakroom. He made his notes as he searched everything that he could on Left Oculus. He busied himself until 2 am, and he finally found several pieces of useful information.

    ¡°The maddened female lead is still alive, currently residing in Jiujiang Mental Asylum.

    ¡°The crew once used Western Jiujiang¡¯s Yong Ling Mountain as their set background.

    ¡°The original script used by the crew was not penned by the scriptwriter but was discovered by the director in an abandoned school in Western Jiujiang.

    ¡°ording to legend, the director did not disappear, but he is trapped inside the movie.¡±

 Chapter 708 - Face-to-Face Interrogation

    <h4>Chapter 708: Face-to-Face Interrogation</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Director is trapped inside the movie, huh? This has to be a ghost story.¡± Chen Ge felt like this fell within his job scope, so he could not just let it be. He raised his head to nce at the clock on the wall; it was already 2:30 am. ¡°Even with a cab, going to Yong Ling Mountain will take half an hour. It¡¯s toote now, so I shall wait until tomorrow to pay it a visit.

    ¡°There is never enough time. The time limit for School of the Afterlife is almost up, but I don¡¯t have an avable Red Specter with me at the moment. That can¡¯t be allowed to continue. I should visit the crew and, if possible, help the writer finish his wish as soon as possible. Hopefully, that¡¯ll persuade the hotline operator to join my Haunted House.¡±

    After everything was prepared, Chen Ge switched his phone off and, for the first time in a long time, slept early that day. At 8:30 am the next morning, Chen Ge was woken up by someone knocking on the window. He peeled open his eyes blurrily and heard Xiao Gu¡¯s voiceing from outside the window.

    ¡°Boss probably went outst night again. Let¡¯s wait at the door.¡±

    ¡°Does boss go outte at night often?¡± It was Zhang Jingjiu who asked. He was quite curious about Chen Ge.

    ¡°I¡¯ll put it this way, the social app that we often use has a real-life pedometer, and whenever I arrive in the morning, boss will have logged around ten thousand steps already.¡± Xiao Gu¡¯s tone was calm. ¡°But today it¡¯s rather weird. Sincest night until now, boss only logged in three thousand plus steps. I wonder if anything happened to him.¡±

    ¡°If boss heard you say that, he would skin you alive.¡± Xu Wan¡¯s voice followed. All the workers seemed to have arrived already.

    ¡°I would never physically injure my employees. I¡¯m hurt that you even consider that possibility.¡± Chen Ge crawled up in bed, pulled the thick curtains back, and opened the window. ¡°At most I would only dock their pay.¡±

    ¡°Boss!¡± The four stood next to the window¡ªthey seemed to have been waiting for a long time already.

    ¡°Wait a minute, I¡¯ll open the door for you.¡± Chen Ge nced at his phone; it was already 8:40 am. He had fallen to sleep so quickly that he forgot to set his rm. Opening the Haunted House¡¯s gate, Chen Ge herded the four employees into the dressing room and helped them with their make-up one by one.

    ¡°Since you¡¯re all here, I wish to have a simple morning meeting while we do our make-up.¡± Chen Ge expertly ced the make-up on his employees faces. One would suspect that he was not straight given the ease with which he wielded the many make-up brushes. ¡°Xu Wan and Xiao Gu, you are both senior workers and are looking after the two scenarios aboveground. Our Haunted House is split into different star difficulties, and many visitors won¡¯t attempt the more difficult scenarios, so in a way, you have the most important responsibility because you represent the face of the Haunted House and will influence the visitors¡¯ first impression of us.¡±

    ¡°Boss, don¡¯t worry, leave everything to me and Sister Xu Wan.¡± Xiao Gu patted his chest and promised. His sunny disposition meant that he could befriend everyone easily.

    ¡°Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu, you two are responsibility for the underground scenario. I need you to focus on your given task. If there are any idents with the visitors, inform me immediately.¡± Chen Ge exchanged a look with Zhang Jingjiu and Scissors. ¡°The underground scenarios are very big, so you two need to improve on your acting.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu had entered Li Wan City with Chen Ge, so they knew what he left unsaid.

    ¡°One final thing, I will officially hand over the spare key for the Haunted House to Xu Wan. If there¡¯s a situation where I¡¯m not around, just keep the ce running with the responsibility that I¡¯ve given you.¡± Chen Ge handed the spare key to Xu Wan and looked at the girl in the mirror. ¡°If there¡¯s any issue with the scenario aboveground,e and ask Xu Wan. If Xu Wan cannot handle it, find theme park director, Director Luo. Do not go to anyone else, and do not trust anyone.¡±

    Before Xu Wan answered, Chen Ge stood up. ¡°I¡¯ll handle the underground scenarios. Now, Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu,e with me, I still have many things to teach you.¡±

    After Chen Ge and the two walked away, Xiao Gu noticed that Xu Wan was still spacing out looking at the mirror. ¡°Sis, it¡¯s time to go. The visitors will be arriving soon.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, okay.¡± Xu Wan held the key in her hand tightly like she was afraid that she might identally lose this very important object.

    Chen Ge led Zhang Jingjiu and Scissors underground and stopped before one of the rooms at the underground morgue. He knocked on the door, and an old man wearing a white coat came out. He had a head full of white hair, but he had a straight back, like a pine growing on the cliff face.

    ¡°This old gentleman is Wei Jiuqin, he is our Haunted House¡¯s best doctor. If I¡¯m not around in the Haunted House and youe across a problem that you can¡¯t resolve,e and find him, he will help you.¡± Doctor Wei was the oldest and had the most experience. There was no way to criticize his personality, and he was one of the few people in the Haunted House who could handle a crisis perfectly.

    ¡°Why are you suddenly bringing this up?¡± Doctor Wei felt like something was off.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing, just in case.¡±

    ¡°You have to tell me if you have anything worrying you! I am living quitefortably here, especially given the chance to see my old friends and lecture them as I used to.¡± Doctor Wei was not one for jokes, but he lightened the mood for Chen Ge¡¯s sake.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Chen Ge returned to the surface. After the visitors filed into the scenarios, he led Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu for a spin underground and introduced them to most of the ghosts.

    Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s lips were hanging open throughout their ¡®tour¡¯. There were students, teachers, doctors, patients, and other types of ¡®people¡¯ at this ce; it was truly an underground town.

    ¡°What you see is merely a part of the underground scenario. This whole ce is very huge. My parents used a decade to build this ce.¡± Chen Ge shared more secrets with Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu before sending them back to Li Wan City.

    ¡°Only those who I¡¯ve experienced life and death with am I going to allow to be my employees. They are going to be hard to recruit.¡± Chen Ge tried his best to cultivate Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu. When they were able to run the ce on their own, he would have more time to go and do more things.

    Exiting the scenario, Chen Ge was summoned by Uncle Xu when he walked to the Haunted House entrance. ¡°Chen Ge, Director Luo is looking for you.¡±

    ¡°Looking for me?¡±

    ¡°Yes, be careful, there are outsiders in hispany,¡± Uncle Xu reminded him in a whisper before turning to his duty. Chen Ge ran to the office building, and as he pushed the door open, theughter hit him immediately. Director Luo was in the middle of a joyous conversation with a middle-aged man. One would think that they were old friends from the way they seemed to enjoy each other¡¯spany.

    ¡°Xiao Chen,e and take a seat.¡± Director Luo was friendly toward Chen Ge. He stood up and walked toward him. When he was facing away from the middle-aged man, he gestured with his hands, but he kept his voice upbeat. ¡°This is CEO Bai. I¡¯ve introduced you to him before. He has something that he wishes to ask you.¡±

    ¡°CEO Bai?¡± Chen Ge understood immediately that this was not a friendly visit.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to stand on ceremony¡ªwe¡¯ve met each other a few times already after all. This time, I¡¯m here on someone else¡¯s behalf, so I shall not talk in circles,¡± CEO Bai said with a smile. ¡°Earlier, people from a Haunted House from Xin Hai came to visit, and all of their employees were scared until they needed medical attention. Their boss is my friend, so he had mee over to ask a question.

    ¡°How did you manage to do that, Boss Chen?

    ¡°Those are all professional Haunted House actors who have been in the business for at least five years. They are essentially the best that the market has to offer.¡±

    ¡°CEO Bai, are you here because of that?¡± Chen Ge thought about it before turning to CEO Bai. ¡°Perhaps they are not as good as they say. I personally don¡¯t think my Haunted House is that scary. The threshold for horror differs between people. How about you enter my Haunted House and see for yourself, CEO Bai?¡±

 Chapter 709 - No Longer Alone [3 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 709: No Longer Alone [3 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    As permissible as CEO Bai tried to make himself out to be, when he heard the invitation extended by Chen Ge, even his face turned green. Chen Ge was never one for subtly and verbal confusion; he preferred to cut straight to the point.

    <i>If you think there is a problem with my Haunted House, at the very least, you will have to experience it once yourself first before you gain the right to give any criticism.</i>

    Naturally, CEO Bai would not agree to Chen Ge¡¯s proposition. <i>Are you kidding? Even professional Haunted House actors fainted after they went in for a visit. If I ept the invitation, won¡¯t that be an act of inviting death?</i>

    ¡°I have something else important to attend toter in the afternoon, but if there is a chance in the future, I will definitely take you up on that offer.¡± CEO Bai chuckled awkwardly. After rejecting Chen Ge, his presence was no longer as aggressive as before.

    ¡°That is really too bad. If you areing in the future, you will need to inform me first. I will assign you a VIP service.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House VIP service was truly a unique experience. A single visitor entering the 3.5-star scenario, the exploration of Li Wan City with thepany of nine other visitors who were yed by the Haunted House workers.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about that for now.¡± CEO Bai felt like if he stayed on this topic any longer, the situation would only turn against him. He fished his phone out from his pocket and dialed a number. ¡°Xiao Shuang, why don¡¯t you bring Changyin up here? It¡¯s going to be fine. Both Director Luo and Chen Ge are reasonable people; they will not do anything to you.¡±

    A few minutester, the sound of footsteps came from outside the door. A pair of twins supported Lee Changyin as they entered Director Luo¡¯s office. Chen Ge had seen this group of people before; they were all employees from Nightmare Academy.

    ¡°This man looks rather familiar. If I am not mistaken, he has visited my Haunted House before.¡± Chen Ge recognized Lee Changyin with just one nce. Lee Changyin did not dare to look straight at Chen Ge. With the apaniment of the twins, he sat in the corner of the room.

    ¡°Changyin, tell Chen Ge what you saw inside the Haunted House.¡± CEO Bai seemed to have regained control of the situation. Everyone in the room turned to look at Lee Changyin. His face was colored with panic. Once he was reminded of what happened that day, his body shook uncontrobly. Lifting his head, Lee Changyin sneaked a look at Chen Ge, and the fear at the bottom of his eyes was clear as day.

    ¡°It was him!¡± After eximing these three words that came out of nowhere, Lee Changyin¡¯s lips turned purple as he gasped hungrily for air. ¡°Ghosts! There are ghosts inside the Haunted House! The ce is haunted!¡±

    ¡°What is the meaning of this? Isn¡¯t it perfectly normal for a Haunted House to be haunted?¡± Chen Ge leaned against the sofa, and he sighed rather helplessly.

    ¡°But the ce has actual ghosts! His Haunted House is actually haunted! The ghosts are all real! A living human would not have been able to create that kind of feeling!¡± Lee Changyin¡¯s mind slowly cleared, and his words gained a new kind of sharpness.

    ¡°Nightmare Academy might not be able to create that sensation, but it doesn¡¯t mean that other people cannot.¡± Chen Ge was getting impatient. His tone did not get dyed with any disrespect, but his eyes that regarded Lee Changyin were how one would regard a piece of trash. ¡°You should spend more time improving yourself instead of trying to bring other people down. Even if my Haunted House closes, the visitors will not go to your Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°No! I can confirm that those things are not human beings! That is not an effect that is achievable by a living human!¡± Lee Changyin¡¯s eyes were red.

    ¡°I can understand what you¡¯re feeling. As a professional Haunted House actor, you wished to go to another Haunted House to create trouble, but in the end, you were the one who fainted. You¡¯ve basically lost all of your pride, so that is why you havee up with this preposterous idea to try to salvage the little dignity that you have left.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s analysis sounded logical and believable.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been a Haunted House employee for five years, so I know more about Haunted Houses than you do. I understand very well where the ceiling of this industry lies...¡±

    Lee Changyin wanted to say something else, but Chen Ge jumped in and cut him off. ¡°Is five years really that long? My parents have started in the mobile Haunted House business a decade ago. I grew up holding the props of monsters and ghosts. When you are still naked, learning how to spell, I already knew how to set up a mannequin.¡±

    Chen Ge stood up. ¡°I see no reason for the purpose of this meeting. The ceiling that you speak of is merely the ceiling in your worldview. In other words, that is your ceiling, not mine.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to leave like that. Chen Ge, why don¡¯t you give me some face?¡± CEO Bai stood up directly. He felt like he had given Chen Ge plenty of face already. ¡°Changyin is still young, and he doesn¡¯t know how to correctly phrase his words. How about this? Why don¡¯t you summon all the actors who were responsible for scaring him, and that should answer all the questions at once.¡±

    Chen Ge turned back to look at Director Luo. After exchanging a look, he stopped moving. ¡°Changyin, you im that my Haunted House has actual ghosts, then can you tell me in detail where you ran into this ghost and what kind of ghost it was?¡±

    He walked toward Lee Changyin, narrowing his eyes. With every one of his steps, Lee Changyin would nudge one step backward until he was cornered behind the sofa.

    ¡°Are you that afraid of me? Is it because you think I am a ghost as well?¡± Afterpleting so many Trial Missions given by the ck phone, Chen Ge had cultivated a unique kind of presence around him.

    ¡°I cannot remember the other actors because my memory is a bit hazy, but there is a middle-aged man at the hotel that I remember very clearly! He is not a living person!¡± Lee Changyin hissed through his teeth. ¡°Do you dare bring him here to face me in person?¡±

    ¡°At the hotel? A middle-aged man?¡± Chen Ge frowned. From the man¡¯s description, he seemed to be talking about Zhang Jingjiu. But the problem was... why would the man be so certain that Zhang Jingjiu was a ghost? As a neer, Zhang Jingjiu was sometimes scared by Chen Ge, so how did he manage to create the impression that he was a ghost?

    <i>What kind of conspiracy is this? </i>Chen Ge could not understand it.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have the guts, right? Because there is no such person at your Haunted House! Am I right?¡± Lee Changyin yelled with fiery eyes. The man¡¯s brain had developed in a way that was different from normal people, and his way of thinking often leaned toward the extreme. ¡°Don¡¯t think you can grab a random person to rece him; I have his picture here with me!¡±

    With shaking hands, Lee Changyin took out his phone from his pocket. He clicked to the photo album where he pulled out a picture of Zhang Jingjiu. This picture had been taken by Lee Changyin when he was in the pregnant woman costume before he interacted with Zhang Jingjiu.

    ¡°Cat got your tongue? Why are you hesitating? This picture is very clear. I need you to bring this person here immediately!¡± Lee Changyin believed that he hade fully prepared. He was thankful that he had taken that picture beforehand. Unfortunately, he only had the picture of Zhang Jingjiu. After that, he ran in such a hurry that it did not even cross his mind to take pictures for evidence.

    ¡°You said yourself, you¡¯ve worked at a Haunted House for five years already. You should know that it is against the rules to take pictures inside a Haunted House. I will keep this picture, and in a few days, I shall pay Nightmare Academy a person visit to ask for an exnation.¡± Seeing the picture, Chen Ge felt relief instead.

    ¡°Don¡¯t try to change the subject!¡± Lee Changyin raised his voice, insisting on his view. He had to be correct.

    ¡°Wait here then.¡± Chen Ge turned and left Director Luo¡¯s office. He went back to the Haunted House to get Zhang Jingjiu, who was still brushing up on his acting knowledge.

    ¡°Bring the bottle of make-up remover, we are going to meet an old friend.¡± Chen Ge gave Zhang Jingjiu a summary on the way there, and thetter grasped everything almost instantly. Knocking on the door, Chen Ge brought Zhang Jingjiu into Director Luo¡¯s office, and when they stepped into it, the temperature in the room seemed to have dropped.

    ¡°This is the actor in the picture, Zhang Jingjiu.¡± Everyone turned to Zhang Jingjiu, who had Chen Ge¡¯s make-up on. Even if they were standing inside a bright office, meeting his eyes was still a very scary experience.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry for having scared you that day. I did not expect you to be so cowardly. I apologize deeply for it.¡± Zhang Jingjiu walked toward Lee Changyin, but once thetter saw him approach, he screamed like a girl and jumped away.

    ¡°No! Stay away! This is it! He is a ghost! He really is a ghost!¡±

    ¡°Ignore him.¡± Chen Ge passed the bottle of make-up remover to Zhang Jingjiu. ¡°Remove your make-up now. Later, I will reapply it for you.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± And so, Zhang Jingjiu did what he was told. After removing the jacket, he immediately turned into a different person. There was nothing scary about him; he looked just like the office worker one would meet on a dailymute.

    ¡°Don¡¯t the actors at Nightmare Academy use make-up?¡± Zhang Jingjiu ced the bottle of make-up remover before the three workers from Nightmare Academy.

    With the truth ced before their eyes, the pair of twins quickly stood up to apologize. ¡°We are so sorry. Your Haunted House¡¯s make-up is truly amazing. We have acted too recklessly, we¡¯re so sorry.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to apologize. I am sure there are plenty of things that we can learn from each other. I promise to pay Nightmare Academy a visit sooner orter.¡±

    The workers from Nightmare Academy could sense the anger radiating from Chen Ge. After they gave their profuse apology, they slipped away as fast as they could. CEO Bai appeared rather awkward and embarrassed sitting there, but he tried to maintain hisposure.

    ¡°Xiao Chen, that¡¯s everything for now, so you can go back.¡± Director Luo¡¯s face was filled with a satisfied smile. He seemed to have many things that he wished to ¡®discuss¡¯ with CEO Bai.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge knew that Director Luo was about to ughter CEO Bai, but neither of them talked about it. On the way back, Chen Ge noticed that Zhang Jingjiu had his head lowered like there was something on his mind.

    ¡°Jingjiu, if you have anything on your mind, just say it. We¡¯ve been through life and death together, so you can tell me anything.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice was warm. He was able to give other people energy even if he did not intend to do so.

    ¡°Have I created a problem for you again? I feel so useless somehow. I am not good at scaring visitors and have lowered the overall standard of our Haunted House. This time, I¡¯ve even created this huge issue for you.¡± Zhang Jingjiu sounded bitter. ¡°Ever since I was young, I¡¯ve always been a problem for my family. Due to the issue with my mother, I directed all my dissatisfaction to my father, believing it to be his fault. But now, I see that it was merely a convenient way for me to shy away from the me. In retrospect, I was being a very horrible person and son.¡±

    ¡°For these past few days, I¡¯ve been watching you inside the Haunted House. You have been studying very hard, but I feel like there is something holding you back. You give me the impression that you¡¯ve trapped yourself inside a small cage.¡±

    Standing at the office building, Chen Ge looked out the window. His eyes scanned the entire theme park.

    ¡°Everyone has their moment of weakness and loss, but everyone has their own unique charm as well. Now, what you need to do is unlock the shackle in your heart and release your real self. When the timees, you should return to Xin Hai to meet your father. Certain things are better not left unsaid. You¡¯ll feel much betterter.¡±

    Chen Ge patted Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Try to look up. The only employees that I can rely on are the few of you. In the future, I n to have you open a branch for me in a different city, and then you¡¯ll be required to take control of many things.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°There is no need to thank me; I have a small number of employees, and I treat everyone as my family.¡± Chen Ge led Zhang Jingjiu back to the Haunted House. He had Zhang Jingjiu return to his role as the hotel owner while he went back to the staff breakroom to find more information about Left Oculus. He nned to make his move that night.

    ¡°The time limit for School of Afterlife will end after tomorrow. Whether Zhang Ya awakens then or not, I will have to go take a look at this mission, or else all the previous missions will have been wasted.¡± Chen Ge stared at his own shadow and dozed off. Then he picked up the calendar on the table. ¡°Today is the 1st of June. The holiday season ising, and the futuristic theme park is opening soon. I really don¡¯t have much time left.¡±

    Zhang Ya was hibernating, and Xu Yin was seriously injured; it would be very dangerous for him to challenge the four-star mission School of the Afterlife. Chen Ge understood all that, but he did not have a choice. If he gave up on the School of Afterlife, he had much to lose.

    ¡°I shall go take a look. Hopefully, I will return alive.¡± His eyes went to the picture on the corner of his table, and Chen Ge shook his head lightly. It was a family photo. His parents stood in the middle¡ªhis mother appeared to be hugging something, his father pointed at the Haunted House behind him with a bright smile on his face, and Chen Ge stood alone to the side.

    Narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge could see that his mother was hugging Director Luo¡¯s daughter, the spirit who was no different from a guardian angel.

    ¡°For some reason, it feels like I¡¯m not their biological son.¡± Chen Ge reced the picture on the table, and he identally caught the sentence written on the back of the picture. ¡®1st June, happy birthday, you little bugger.¡¯

    ¡°The pair of parents who managed to make themselves disappear, now who is the real bugger?¡± Chen Ge sighed and rearranged his emotions to throw himself back into work.

    During lunch, Chen Ge gave the four workers a break while he stayed behind to take up their responsibility. Half an hourter, four of them returned. They whispered among themselves like they were discussing something.

    ¡°All of you arete by a whole four minutes. There will be no next time, or I will dock your pay,¡± Chen Ge warned them with a severe tone. Hearing that, they quickly ran back to their assigned posts.

    ¡°Looks like I will need to be more stringent with them normally.¡± Chen Ge returned to the staff breakroom to arrange his information. Then, he came up with a list of all the employees that he could bring with him. The crew of the Left Oculus was a trial; the real test was the School of Afterlife.

    After giving it some thought, Chen Ge came up with a more reasonable n of action. When he exited the staff breakroom, the sun was already setting. The theme park closed at 6 pm. After sending away thest batch of visitors, Chen Ge closed the gates.

    ¡°Thank you for your hard work today, you can go home now.¡± Chen Ge had something else to do, so he urged for his workers to leave.

    ¡°Boss, are you nning on going out again tonight?¡± Xiao Gu seemed to have read Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to understand even if I exin it to you. In any case, it is about work.¡± Chen Ge hurried for them to leave. Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu did not think much about it. Xu Wan appeared like she wanted to say something, but she did not voice it.

    The setting sun burnished the Ferris Wheel. The sound ofughter faded away, and Chen Ge stood at the entrance alone. He studied the theme park around him for a while before turning back to the Haunted House. ¡°It¡¯s time to move after the sky has fully darkened.¡±

    Returning to the staff breakroom, Chen Gey in his bed. His eyes kept wandering to the picture on the table; this was the first birthday that he would spend without his parents.

    ¡°Shall I go buy myself a cake? Nah, the money spent on the cake is enough for me to buy half a mannequin.¡± Chen Ge patted his own face and stretchedzily before reaching under his bed. ¡°Where is my backpack? Did the cat drag it away?¡±

    Chen Ge looked below his bed; there was no backpack. Even Xiaoxiao and the white cat were missing.

    ¡°This cat has grown much smarter now! It sensed that I am about to bring it out with me, so it hid the backpack from me.¡± Other than Chen Ge, only white cat and Xiaoxiao would enter the staff breakroom, so Chen Ge¡¯s suspicionnded on the cat immediately. Holding a pack of cat food, Chen Ge opened the door and ran all over the Haunted House¡¯s aboveground scenarios, but he failed to find the white cat.

    ¡°Has it run underground? It dares to go there alone when it¡¯s so easily scared?¡± Pushing open the iron gate that led underground, Chen Ge stepped into the tunnel that seemed to lead into the darkness. He only took a few steps when he sensed that something was wrong. The ce was a bit too quiet.

    ¡°Xiaoxiao? Ol¡¯ Zhou?¡± He called a few workers¡¯ names, but there was no response. Chen Ge walked down the dim street alone. Dim, dark, depressing, and narrow, it was like the route that Chen Ge had chosen for his life. There was no light around him, and he strode into the darkness on his own.

    He walked past the broken windows that provided glimpses of the different scary scenarios. Behind him was a world of darkness, and before him was an abyss of darkness.

    Walking past the empty ssrooms, Chen Ge finally stopped at first junction inside the Mu Yang High School scenario. He stood there alone, studying the split in the road. Just as he was deciding which turn to take, his phone suddenly vibrated.

    Taking it out, he opened the message to take a look. It was a message from Tong Tong. ¡°Boss, Happy Birthday!¡±

    Before Chen Ge knew what was happening, the split that he was standing at was lit up by a host of spiritual fire. With a resounding boom, the bathroom door next to him was shoved open, and a group of student mannequins squeezed out holding a ckboard!

    The ckboard of the sealed ssroom had been taken off its hinges, and a picture had been drawn on it. It was a picture of a bunch of small figures dancing about. They had different expressions and postures, and standing in the middle of them was a man dragging an iron hammer.

    Perhaps they had limited drawing skills¡ªthey were unable to fully represent the man in the middle. Instead, they wrote down many nouns around him, terms like sunny, righteous, kind, gentle, and all of them had arrows that pointed to the man in the middle. After they saw Chen Ge, they turned around at the same time, wishing to show him the other side of the ckboard.

    They were unable to coordinate perfectly, so some of the mannequins had their arms and necks turned 180 degrees. They maintained this strange posture and showed him the other side of the ckboard which said¡ª¡±Happy birthday!¡±

    The two words were colored in with chalk. The students of Mu Yang High School smiled at him with their strange smiles. Some of them wanted to get close to Chen Ge, but others thought that the work was better appreciated from a distance, so they stayed put. Due to the difference in opinion, the group of mannequins soon copsed on top of each other, but their intention and hard work was clearly understood.

    A dry cough came from the left corridor. The ghost fire switched off in the othernes, and only the ones in the left corridor remained. Harrowing singing came from deep inside the scenario. It was intermingled with scaryughter and the sound of static. The doctors from the underground morgue were slowly pushing out a trolley.

    ¡°Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you...¡±

    The trolley was filled with birthday cards, all made from different materials. Some were made from patient¡¯s records, others were promotional flyers, and some were directly yanked out from clothes and bedsheets. Even though the materials were all different, most of the handwriting was the same. The Pen Spirit probably had helped most of them write their well wishes.

    In the middle of the trolley sat an object about four tiers tall, constructed from models and y. It looked like a cake.

    The edges of the cakes were decorated with very unique icing. Only the extremely talented Yan Danian had the ability to make cake icing look like flowing blood.

    ¡°Chen Ge, happy birthday.¡± The few doctors ced the trolley before Chen Ge. Yan Danian, Ol¡¯ Zhou, and the rest walked out from behind the trolley. Bai Qiulin had a recorder in his palm, and the bloodied tape inside was ying a soft, cheerful tune.

    ¡°You...¡± Chen Ge looked at all the ¡®people¡¯ before him.

    ¡°Shush, don¡¯t speak. Light the candles and make your wish.¡± Wei Jiuqin waved behind him, and a white cat that was muchrger than a normal cat walked out from the ssroom, biting a backpack in its mouth. It returned the backpack to Chen Ge. Opening the backpack, he saw Xiaoxiao hugging a pack of candles that were wrapped in paper.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re here.¡± Chen Ge picked Xiaoxiao out and ced her on his shoulder. Holding the few handmade candles in his hands, he said, ¡°Who told you it is my birthday today?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the guys that you had us meet this morning. They said that it was a female employee who told them about it.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Chen Ge nodded. He turned to the ¡®candles¡¯ in his palm. ¡°Must I light them?¡±

    ¡°Of course, there is a ceremony to life. You light up the number of candles that correspond to your age, or your wish won¡¯te true,¡± Elder Wei said strictly. Chen Ge nodded. He took out the lighter from his backpack, lit up the candles one by one, and ced them on the model cake. The warm light chased away the cold. Ghosts were most afraid of light and fire, but none of them shied away.

    ¡°Boss, it¡¯s time to make your wish!¡±

    ¡°Make a wish! Make a wish!¡±

    ¡°What kind of wish do you think the boss will make?¡±

    ¡°Shush, if he tells us, the wish won¡¯te true anymore.¡±

    He scanned the faces of his workers, and Chen Ge rubbed his eyes. He voiced his wish silently and then proceeded to blow out all the candles. The underground scenarios returned to darkness, but the silence was shattered. All the employees were gathered together; some were singing, and some wereughing, like a real family.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Standing in the dark, even though Chen Ge was the only living human in the Haunted House, he did not feel alone at all. Kindness and grace would never be vanquished by a scary exterior.

    He saw in these ¡®people¡¯ sincerity that was not valued much by human beings these days, pride that made them stand tall, and kindness that was etched into their souls.

    ¡°It is my good fortune to have been able to encounter all of you.¡±

    The party continued into the night. It was not until midnight that Chen Ge realized that he had something important to do. He grabbed the backpack and shoved the white cat inside it before it realized what was happening. ¡°Come, the night is only starting now. For the next phase, we¡¯re taking this outside!¡±

    ...

    Walking out from the underground, Chen Ge carried the heavy backpack and returned to the staff breakroom.

    When he opened the door, he was briefly stunned.

    There was an actual cake left on his table, and next to it sat a greeting card and a key.

    Chen Ge walked to pick up the card. It was written with Xu Wan¡¯s graceful handwriting. ¡°Boss, I don¡¯t think I need this spare key because I trust that you will always be around. I shall hand this key back to you, and finally, I want to wish you a happy birthday! Remember to live every day with joy!¡±

 Chapter 710 - Birthday Cake

    <h4>Chapter 710: Birthday Cake</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Putting down the greeting card, Chen Ge picked up the key from the table and studied it quietly. After his parents disappeared, the visitors that came to the Haunted House gradually dwindled, causing the Haunted House to face the threat of closing down. At that extremely dangerous time, Xu Wan had chosen to stay behind. She was the only employee who was recruited by Chen Ge¡¯s parents and chose to remain until the end.

    ¡°Is it possible that the girl has sensed something?¡± Chen Ge put the key away and opened the cake box. Compared to the box that it came in, the cake inside could only be described as an unmitigated disaster. The middle part was sinking, and there were ck spots from leaving it in the oven for too long. The whole thing looked so wobbly that it might crumble with a touch.

    But one could see how attentive the baker was. She used cream to evenly ther the cake¡¯s surface to try to cover up the ws. During this process, the cake probably crumbled once, so the cream acted as both the decoration and the glue holding the whole thing together. It seeped deep into the cake. Just looking at this cake, the image of Xu Wan baking it appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

    ¡°No wonder she is my employee. Even baking a cake can be made into such a horrifying experience.¡± Picking up the knife inside the box, Chen Ge cut out a small piece and took a bite. ¡°Hmm, the texture is horrendous, too hard on the outside, and the inside appears to be undercooked. It sticks to the teeth, and it¡¯s so oily. As I suspected, this would benefit from a longer time in the oven with a lower temperature so that the outside wouldn¡¯t be charred, and the inside would be cooked. Wait a minute, she used bread flour? Doesn¡¯t she know baking a cake requires cake flour?¡±

    Even though Chen Ge kept criticizing it, he still finished almost half the cake in record time. Seeing how much Chen Ge was enjoying himself, the white cat was curious, but as it poked its head toward the cake, it was shoved back into the backpack. ¡°Cream is not good for you. When it¡¯s your birthday, I¡¯ll make you a cat food cake instead.¡±

    Ignoring the cat¡¯s protest, Chen Ge wiped his lips, lugged the backpack, and left the staff breakroom. The birthday party took up some time, but that did not cut into Chen Ge¡¯s n for the night too much. He had already searched for everything that he could on Left Oculus, and he nned to go take a look that night.

    Leaving New Century Park, Chen Ge waited at the roadside for a long time, but no taxi passed. The taxi drivers in Jiujiang seemed to havee to a consensus¡ªdo not approach New Century Park after midnight, and do not pick up any passengers from that ce.

    ¡°Unfortunately, my bus is now stuck behind the door in Li Wan City.¡±

    After walking two more streets, Chen Ge finally encountered a taxi. After he got into the car, he gave the address. ¡°Sir, I want to go to Yong Ling Mountain¡¯s bungalow.¡±

    ¡°Yong Ling Mountain?¡± The driver was briefly confused. ¡°There¡¯s a bungalow there?¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you open the GPS to take a look?¡± Chen Ge was not sure either¡ªthat was simply what the inte said.

    ¡°What is the full name of the location?¡± The driver keyed in the term Yong Ling Mountain, but the GPS did not show any ce that resembled Yong Ling Mountain Bungalow.

    ¡°The full name...¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. He focused on the few names that appeared on the GPS¡ªYong Ling Mountain Petrol Station, Yong Ling Mountain Flower Market, Yong Ling Mountain Holiday Vi. ¡°Then we¡¯ll go to Yong Ling Mountain Holiday Vi.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Your destination is decided so casually?¡± The driver nced at Chen Ge through the rearview mirror. He felt like Chen Ge look quite familiar, and the ghost stories that had been making its way through his colleagues entered his mind. The engine started, and they drove for half an hour before the light of the city faded away. There was arge shadow at the end of the road, and that would be Western Jiujiang¡¯s Yong Ling Mountain.

    ording to the GPS, the taxi should be arriving at the destination soon. The driver gripped the steering wheel tightly. A few times, he opened his mouth to chat with Chen Ge, but every time, he gave up at thest minute. He did not really know why¡ªperhaps the man in the back appeared much too unapproachable.

    After the taxi climbed the mountain, the lights around them disappearedpletely. People would rarely go to that ce at night, so the ce was deserted. After driving for another five minutes, the GPS app on the driver¡¯s phone said, ¡°We¡¯ve arrived at the destination.¡±

    The car parked by the road, and there was only darkness around them. One could see the blurry shadows of branches swaying in the dark and the rustle of the leaves as the wind blew. The driver¡¯s hands that held the steering wheel were drenched in sweat, and his face was pale. This ¡®journey¡¯ had not been enjoyable for him at all.

    ¡°We¡¯re here. The GPS says that this ce is Yong Ling Mountain Holiday Vi.¡± The driver turned his head awkwardly around to look at Chen Ge. His eyelids kept twitching; he was afraid that this suspicious character in the backseat would suddenly pull out a weapon to take over his car.

    ¡°This is the holiday vi? There¡¯s not even a building around; it is aplete wastnd.¡± With his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could see through the darkness. He realized that they were surrounded by woods. ¡°Are you sure that you are not lying to me? You drove me to middle of nowhere in the middle of the night?¡±

    ¡°Why are you doubting me? Boss, I was just following the GPS!¡± The driver turned all the lights on, but the light still could not banish the fear in his heart.

    ¡°Okay then.¡± Chen Ge paid his fare, grabbed his backpack, and got out of the taxi. He activated the shlight on his phone. He walked down the road and saw a small path that was overgrown with bushes cutting through the forest. ¡°I need to go in deeper, do I? Is Yong Ling Mountain Holiday Vi inside there? Howe it feels like the ce has been abandoned for a long time already?¡±

    Chen Ge turned back, wishing to ask the driver about it. But when he turned, he saw the driver already turning the car around and speeding down the mountain with his foot firmly on the gas pedal.

    ¡°Is this ce that scary?¡±

    Unable to rely on others, Chen Ge had to trust in himself. He raised his phone and walked down the path. He trekked for a few minutes before his sight opened up. Chen Ge was greeted by a line of low walls and a few buildings with strange architecture.

    ¡°The holiday vi? Who woulde here for their holiday? This ce looks more like my Haunted House than anything.¡± Holiday was for rxation, not a heart attack. The more Chen Ge walked toward the ce, the more confused he became.

    ¡°The location is recorded on the GPS, but it feels like this ce has been forgotten by the locals for a long time. I wonder if it¡¯s still open for business.¡± The road was filled with holes and cracks. The trees on the sides were wild and nted; they desperately needed a good trim.

    The walls were overgrown with vines, and they covered up the words on the wall. Chen Ge explored for a long time before he found the entrance to the vi about ten meters away. On the rusted iron gate hung a sign that said no entry, and next to it was a dark-brown, wooden mailbox.

    ¡°Do people still use mailboxes these days?¡± The wooden sign and mailbox were both handmade. Their craftmanship was rough and did not match the overall style of the ce at all.

    ¡°The words on the signs can be read easily, and the iron wires that hold it to the gate aren¡¯t rusted. So, these should be new.¡± Chen Ge tried to push the iron gate. The hinge creaked noisily, and as he pushed harder, the iron gates fell away under his force.

 Chapter 711 - Another Special Mission!

    <h4>Chapter 711: Another Special Mission!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°It¡¯s not even locked?¡± Chen Ge pushed the iron gates open further. Before him was a two-story building with a strange architectural design; it was hard to imagine that such a ce existed in the middle of the forest. ¡°A new mailbox is hung on the gate, and behind the gate are some red buckets filled with drinking water. There is alsoundry left to dry at the back, so someone must be staying here.¡±

    Afraid of scaring the local ¡®citizen¡¯, Chen Ge waved his phone in the dark, knocked on the door, and called, ¡°Is anyone home?¡±

    The only response was silence. He waited ten seconds, and when Chen Ge was about to give up, the door of a nearby building was pushed open. No one spoke, and after a silentmunication, a rusty voice croaked from behind the door, ¡°Who are you looking for?¡±

    Based on the voice alone, it was impossible to tell the person¡¯s age. Chen Ge studied the building from afar and did not just go toward it recklessly. When a normal citizen saw a stranger in the vicinity of their home in the middle of the night, their first reaction would be to switch on the light and not to open the door. However, the voice¡¯s owner acted abnormally. After ten seconds of hesitation, he pushed the door open a little further.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but is this Yong Ling Mountain Holiday Vi?¡± Chen Ge was very polite. No matter the time, no matter what he ran into, he believed that politeness could open many doors.

    ¡°How can I help you?¡± The person did not answer Chen Ge directly, but from his tone, he had already confirmed the answer.

    ¡°It¡¯s like this. My friend said that he¡¯s staying at Yong Ling Mountain Holiday Vi and told me toe find him tonight. However, my GPS cannot find a location with that name, so I came to ask for direction.¡± Chen Ge was not lying. He was indeed looking for a friend, but once the person behind the door heard Chen Ge¡¯s answer, there was an audible gasp. ¡°Your friend is staying at Yong Ling Mountain Holiday Vi?¡±

    The man¡¯s voice was strange. He sounded like his throat was parched, and he mumbled over his enunciation.

    ¡°Yes, do you know where Yong Ling Mountain Holiday Vi is?¡± Chen Ge took a few steps forward, interested in the man behind the door.

    ¡°Of course I do because you are at Yong Ling Mountain Holiday Vi.¡± When the man heard Chen Ge¡¯s approaching footsteps, he closed the door again. ¡°Yong Ling Mountain Holiday Vi is constructed from the vis at Yong Ling Mountain. Back then, something happened here, and most of the citizens chose to migrate. Later, due to certain reasons, the management was forced to abandon the holiday vi as well, and I am the only one who remained to look after this ce.¡±

    The man paused before continuing through the door. ¡°I am the only resident here. You should have been lied to by your friend; he couldn¡¯t be staying here.¡±

    ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be.¡± Chen Ge continued casually. ¡°Some time ago, there was a film crew that came here for a shooting, and he was one of the film crew. He invited me here tonight because he said that he chanced upon an important discovery.¡±

    ¡°Stop, it¡¯s dark already, please watch your words.¡± The man cut Chen Ge off quickly; he did not want Chen Ge to speak further.

    This strange reaction was what Chen Ge was waiting for. Instead of stopping, he continued to mumble to himself, ¡°I¡¯m afraid it was because of his film crew that this ce was turned into a holiday vi. I heard that many strange things happened when they were shooting the movie. The movie, I believe, is called... Left Oculus?¡±

    ¡°Stop it!¡± The man shoved the door open, and he was looking quite agitated. Now that the door had opened fully, Chen Ge got a better look at the speaker. The man before him was around forty with a short body and a severe hump. His face was white, and the most conspicuous feature was that his eyes were both closed¡ªhe appeared to be a blind man. Chen Ge waved his hand lightly before the man¡¯s face, and thetter did not react in any way. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, I don¡¯t mean any offense. I was merely repeating what my friend told me.¡±

    ¡°Your friend said that he¡¯s part of the crew? What does he look like?¡± The man seemed to have calmed down.

    ¡°What does he look like?¡± Chen Ge was confused. A blind man asking for a person¡¯s appearance, that did not sound quite right. After a moment¡¯s consideration, Chen Ge provided Lee Changyin¡¯s appearance.

    The man frowned before waiting for Chen Ge to enter the building. ¡°Don¡¯t just stand out there,e in.¡±

    The building was dark. The light switch on the walls had been removed, and only an exposed base remained. The man seemed to have gotten used to the darkness. He strode into the living room and sat on the sofa; he did not bump into anything along the way. Running into a strange-looking blind man in the middle of nowhere, another person would not have dared to follow, but Chen Ge was an exception.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what your friend told you, but there is one thing that I can be sure of¡ªyou have been lied to.¡± The man reached out his hand to search for a stic cup on the table. He picked it up and took a sip.

    ¡°Why do you think I will trust you and not my friend?¡± Chen Ge noticed that the man¡¯s hand was shaking slightly when he picked up the cup.

    ¡°The crew for Left Oculus will not return; this ce is the source of their nightmare. After escaping with their lives barely intact, why would they return?¡± The man¡¯s voice had returned to normal and calmed down.

    ¡°Brother, it sounds like you know some inside details.¡± Chen Ge sat across from the man. There was little light in the room; moonlight streamed in from the window, casting a white pall on the coffee table.

    ¡°I am just a guard. I have no exact clue what happened with the crew, but I know that House 744 at Yong Ling Mountain was mowed downpletely because it was used for their movie set.¡± The man had his eyes closed, but his face was turned toward Chen Ge. ¡°After this ce was turned into a holiday vi, the boss built a private showing theater on the site where House 744 once stood...¡±

    When the man mentioned a theater, the ck phone in Chen Ge¡¯s pocket suddenly vibrated. Chen Ge was curious, why would a message arrive on the ck phone at a moment like that?

    He took out his phone and clicked open the new message.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored, for triggering two-star special mission¡ªThe Story of the Left Oculus!

    ¡°This mission is made up of three parts. Please arrive at the dead¡¯s showing theater in the next half an hour and enjoy the full-length movie!

    ¡°After this task ispleted, the next task will be given!¡±

    Looking at the words on the screen, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°There¡¯s a mistake, right? Shouldn¡¯t it be the private showing theater?¡±

    ¡°Hey, are you listening to me?¡± The man called after Chen Ge.

    ¡°Sorry, I was merely stunned, please continue.¡± Chen Ge nced at the time and put the phone away.

    ¡°What happenedter is quite scary. Be it morning or night, the theater feels weirdly eerie whenever you enter it. Many visitors also said that when they were watching their movies, they would see figures that were not rted to the movie in the films.¡±

 Chapter 712 - Private Showing Theater

    <h4>Chapter 712: Private Showing Theater</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Chen Ge was going to the private theater in a bit, so he wished to get to know as many things as he could about it.

    ¡°Many tenants chose to use the theater at night, and they all encountered this extra scene in the movies. It was that of a girl. She was around twenty with long ck hair and a blurry face.

    ¡°Initially, the tenants didn¡¯t mind it that much, thinking that it was the shadow of the worker or something wrong with the tape. That continued until a family of four came to stay here. Once their youngest daughter stepped into the theater, she started bawling. Left with no other choice, the wife carried the daughter away, leaving behind the husband and the son.

    ¡°They were watching an animation movie that day, but halfway through the movie, the boy suddenly turned to his father and asked, ¡®Why is there a big sister standing at the corner of the stairs?¡¯

    ¡°The man did not think much of it, but after a while, the boy asked again, ¡®Why does the big sister keep looking at us?¡¯

    ¡°The endless questions from the child managed to annoy the man, but since they were in public, he suppressed his fury and warned his son to stay quiet.

    ¡°The son felt wronged, but he did keep quiet after that. However, that did notst long. About twenty minutester, the boy suddenly cried for no reason. This threw the man for a loop; he tried his best to console his son, but the boy cowered with his face buried in his chest, and he refused to stop crying.

    ¡°The boy¡¯s father started to notice that something was wrong. He realized that his son seemed to be afraid of lifting up his head like there was something very scary on screen.

    ¡°He made a mental note of this, and after the movie was over, he carried his son back to his wife and then returned to theater to get to the bottom of the matter...¡±

    The story drew Chen Ge in, but suddenly, the man stopped. ¡°What did the father find?¡¯

    ¡°The boy¡¯s father disappeared. The surveince showed him enter theater alone, but he never walked out.¡±

    ¡°How could a person disappear just like that? You¡¯re not pulling my leg, are you?¡± Chen Ge stood up. ¡°Where is this theater? I wish to take a look for myself.¡±

    Hearing that, the man¡¯s lips quivered. His intention was to scare Chen Ge off, but the man seemed to be more interested after hearing the ghost story.

    ¡°No, absolutely not!¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re unwilling to lead the way, then I¡¯ll go on my own. After all, this ce is only so big.¡± Chen Ge grabbed his backpack. He studied the man before him. Whether the vi was abandoned or not, he did not think that the management would have a blind man act as the guard.

    ¡°I really don¡¯t understand. Why do you insist on going there? Didn¡¯t you say earlier that you¡¯re here for a friend?¡± The man was anxious as he tried to stop Chen Ge.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m here to find a friend. Before he disappeared, thest message he sent me said¡ªI am at Yong Ling Mountain Holiday Vi.¡± Chen Ge said that with such sincerity and affirmation that one could not tell that he was lying.

    ¡°Your friend went missing around here?¡± The man went silent. His hands gripped together, and he came to a decision after some hesitation. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll show you over there, but if your friend is not there, we¡¯ll leave immediately.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Chen Ge went to help the man, but as his touchnded on the man¡¯s skin, the man shoved his off harshly. He was like a scared pigeon. Chen Ge did not expect such a huge reaction. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I just wanted to help you up.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, I can walk on my own.¡± The man stood up in the dark. Even though his eyes were close, it somehow felt like he could see his surroundings perfectly. He navigated the room expertly, grabbed the blindman¡¯s cane next to the door, and left. Chen Ge followed behind him. The two walked past the many strange buildings.

    ¡°The people who designed these probably haven¡¯t considered how to make use of thend optimally, right?¡±

    ¡°What do you know? This is art.¡±

    ¡°I really don¡¯t understand that. Mind sharing your exnation with me?¡±

    The man was not in the mood to chat. He hurried away. He was familiar with the terrain and moved faster than Chen Ge anticipated. A few minutester, the two stopped before a two-story building that was sealed.

    ¡°This is the private showing theater. The entrance is locked, and I don¡¯t have the key, but there is a small window on the second floor. You can look in from the outside.¡±

    ¡°Okay, thank you, I¡¯ll have a look around then.¡± Chen Ge walked to the door. He turned and saw the man was still standing there. ¡°Do you have something else to do? Do you need me to walk you back?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s alright.¡± The man had this feeling that something bad was about to happen. He stood where he was for a long time before turning. However, before he took the first step, a loud crash came from behind him.

    BANG!

    The quiet night was shattered. The sudden boom almost cracked the man¡¯s eardrums. He jumped from the shock, and the cane slipped from his grasp.

    ¡°What is going on? What happened?¡± His hands searched blindly in the dark. He was panicking. Right then, a pair of warm hands held him in ce, giving him support.

    ¡°There are other people here!¡± Chen Ge helped the man up, and his voice was slow andforting.

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible! No way!¡± The man staggered backward. He was flustered, and his body was shaking. The cane was kicked away, and his lips were turning purple.

    ¡°How would you know that since you can¡¯t see anything?¡± The dark clouds blotted out the moon. Chen Ge held the man in one hand, and he carried a scary-looking hammer in another. He stood next to the man and stared at the eyes that were squeezed shut. If another person stumbled across them, they would create a scary scene.

    ¡°If there is another person here, then it¡¯s worse! It¡¯s midnight, which means that it has probably returned!¡± The man wanted to hurry immediately. From his tone and expression, Chen Ge believed that he was not lying.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic, calm down.¡± Chen Ge looked at the phone. The trial mission only gave him half an hour to prepare. If he allowed the man to walk back on his own, it might lead to another ident. ¡°The two of us had better stay together, just in case.¡±

    Chen Ge picked up the cane and handed it back to the man. Supporting him, the two entered the private showing theater. One would not have imagined it from the decrepit exterior, but the interior was surprisingly clean like it was still cleaned daily.

    Chen Ge studied the equipment on the projection table. There was barely a speck of dust. To be able to maintain such a degree of cleanliness, it was not the work of a blind person.

    Staring at the man¡¯s eyes that had not opened since they met, Chen Ge tightened the grip on the hammer.

    ¡°Now that we are inside theater, do you know how to operate this equipment?¡±

 Chapter 713 - Deskmate

    <h4>Chapter 713: Deskmate</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Why would you be asking that?¡± The man held the cane and wished to maintain some distance from Chen Ge, but he was too weak and unable to struggle away.

    ¡°My friend disappeared at the theater, so I wish to retrace his steps and see if there are any clues.¡± Chen Ge employed a casual tone as he stood in the darkness and scanned the whole theater. The rows of seat had uneven heights, looking more like shadows that were standing or squatting.

    ¡°Have you lost your mind? Youe here at 2 am and want me to y a movie for you?¡± Even without those scary rumors, the man did not believe that any normal person would act like Chen Ge, which was toe to an abandoned theater at night to watch a movie.

    ¡°I have not lost my mind and know full well what I¡¯m doing.¡± Chen Ge shone the shlight on his phone on the various equipment. ¡°If it¡¯s that inconvenient to you, why don¡¯t you teach me how to do it, and I¡¯ll do it myself?¡±

    Chen Ge was a hard learner; he would not waste the opportunity to learn new knowledge, and that was why he possessed so many ¡®skills¡¯.

    ¡°You seriously need to consider what you¡¯re doing. The things that I told you earlier aren¡¯t just a tale¡ªthey¡¯re real.¡± His eyelids trembled¡ªthe man was conscious of his situation. He ced the cane to the side and started to search blindly on the table. The man moved very slowly, and no one knew what he was doing. Chen Ge stood to the side to watch him, and the more he studied the man, the more he felt like there was something off about him.

    His hands were too agile. His eyes were closed, but he knew where all the equipment and buttons were. There were only two exnations to this situation.

    One was that before he went blind, or even after he went blind, he went to the theater often to repeat those operations, and over time, the actions became muscle memory, and he was able to operate the machines smoothly even with his eyes closed.

    The second possibility was that he was never blind to begin with.

    After the man connected all the circuits, he sought out the power source for the power box. He tried it several times, but it failed to activate. ¡°The lever for the main power switch is on the second floor. Do you mind activating it for me?¡±

    ¡°The second floor?¡± Chen Ge lifted his hammer and walked out from theater. He walked up the stairs to the second floor. However, he did not enter it but stood at the top of the stairs and looked at theater entrance.

    About five secondster, a man¡¯s face poked out from inside theater. He listened for the sound, and after realizing there was no strange activity, he immediately ran into the darkness. Two footsteps echoed in the dark, and before the man managed to get away, someone pressed on his shoulders.

    ¡°How can you leave me here alone?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice entered the man¡¯s ears, and thetter jumped from fright like he had been struck by lightning. ¡°I was unable to find the location for the main power switch. Let¡¯s go together.¡±

    Chen Ge helped the man get up to the second floor and flipped the switch on.

    Following a boom, all the lights in theater flickered for a moment.

    ¡°I just want to see a movie here and find my missing friend. That¡¯s all. If you insist on standing in my way, I will have no choice but to believe that you are somehow rted to my friend¡¯s disappearance.¡±

    After the power was switched on, the projector started to move on its own. The man opened the reel slot. After everything was loaded in ce, he lifted his head to say, ¡°You can choose which movie to watch yourself, but I have to give you onest warning¡ªdo not pick a horror movie, or there will be serious issue.¡±

    Watching a movie at the theater was the first part of the Left Oculus mission. It was already 2 am. If he did not finish this part of the mission soon, he might not be able toplete the seeding missions that night. With that in mind, Chen Ge scanned the list of titles, and he aimed to pick the one with the shortest screen time.

    <i>The ck phone only requires me to sit through a movie here, and it did not specify what type of movie.</i>

    Chen Ge was not going to purposely increase the difficulty of the mission. He looked for a warm, artistic film or animation, but as he clicked on the movie list, he realized that none of them could be yed, saying that the moviescked the source and needed to be downloaded again. After a long time of browsing, Chen Ge realized that only horror movies could be yed.

    Connecting that to what the man said earlier, Chen Ge became suspicious. <i>Is someone behind this, or has something else ruined the source for the other films?</i>

    Looking through the list, he discovered yet another strange point. Chen Ge ran a Haunted House, and to seek inspiration, he often watched scary movies, but he did not recognize any of the movies on the list.

    <i>These horror movies are different from the ones on the market. Both the producers and the directors of these flicks have the same name.</i>

    Chen Ge clicked on one of the titles and memorized the director¡¯s name.

    <i>Chang Gu? Is that a fake name or a real name?</i>

    ¡°Have you picked your movie?¡± The man¡¯s hands kept shaking. The surroundings had not changed, but he looked more unsettled, like the more he stayed here, the more likely something would follow him home.

    ¡°Alright, I shall pick this one with the shortest screen time.¡± Most horror films were around one and a half hours long, but Chen Ge spotted one that was only twenty-five minutes long. The name of the movie was ¡®Deskmate¡¯.

    There was five minutes until the end of the mission. The movie started to y, and the lights in theater dimmed as a blurry picture appeared on-screen.

    ¡°I can¡¯t see anything anyway, so I think I¡¯ll leave. This is my phone number. After you¡¯re done, give me a call, and I¡¯lle back to clean up the ce.¡± The man rattled off a number. After Chen Ge keyed in the number, he gave it a call. The sound of vibration came from the man¡¯s pocket, so he was not lying.

    With his experience of dealing with scared visitors, Chen Ge could discern that the man¡¯s fear was not faked. After knowing that, he was even more unwilling for the man to leave. He must have known some insider details, but he was unwilling to share them with Chen Ge.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to hurry to leave. The two of us should stick together, so if there¡¯s an ident, we can watch out for each other.¡± Chen Ge held the man and pulled him to the seat firmly. Considering the issue of security, Chen Ge chose the seat closest to the exit.

    ¡°Thank you, but...¡±

    ¡°Shush, the movie is starting.¡±

    Watching a horror movie at the theater was a different experience from watching it at home. That feeling of being enveloped by darkness and being there in person could not be replicated at home.

    A heart beat next to the ears, and then came a heavy breathing. Arge eye slowly opened on screen, and from the ck pupil, the silhouette of a woman could be seen. The camera slowly panned up to focus on a study table. The rm clock said that it was 4:30 pm. Outside the window, the clouds were dark and oppressive.

    A storm wasing.

    The movie was shot from the first-person view, and the audience was seeing what the main character saw.

    ¡°Qiu Mei!¡±

    Someone kept calling this name from downstairs. The camera moved again. The main character crawled out of bed and walked to the window. She opened the window and seemed to lean her head out. The camera showed what was below.

    A girl in a red jacket was waving at the main character.

 Chapter 714 - Point of Overlapping of the Worlds

    <h4>Chapter 714: Point of Ovepping of the Worlds</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Qiu Mei,e out and y!¡± The girl downstairs waved happily. The smile on her face was bright and excited like something great had just happened to her. The main character did not reply. The screen fixated on the same image for a whole second, expressing a hollowness and even chilliness, before the main character moved to close the window.

    The somber feeling did not dissipate after the windows were closed. Instead, it crawled around the main character. It was hard to tell how the director managed to capture this feeling. Just this feeling of ustrophobia and being trapped alone already made this short movie yards better than the offerings on the market.

    The small room was like a cage, and after the windows were closed, it felt as if a cold sea poured into the room to submerge the main character. The camera tittered aimlessly around the room before the girl¡¯s voice came from behind again.

    ¡°Qiu Mei! Qiu Mei!¡± The camera slowly turned around. The girl¡¯s face was squeezed right up to the ss. She was pushing so hard that her facial features were squished beyond recognition¡ªit felt as if she was trying to use her face to squeeze through the ss.

    ¡°Qiu Mei,e out and y!¡± The redness of the jacket was eye-catching, and it formed a strange contrast andpliment to the gray sky in the background. The main character lived on the fourth floor. When she looked out earlier, the girl had clearly been standing on the ground.

    However, with this strange urrence, the main character did not seem shocked. It felt as if she had gotten used to this already. The camera very calmly moved to another direction. Since this was shot in first person view, the camera represented the main character¡¯s scope of sight. Scanning past the cluttered table and the dirty clothes that piled on the floor, itnded on the bedroom door.

    ¡°Qiu Mei,e out and y!¡± The girl¡¯s face stuck close to the ss on the window. The red jacket smothered the ss until the light that filtered through it turned red as well. Her breathing became ragged, and the main character suddenly picked up the scissors on the table and raised them high.

    Since this was shot from the first-person angle, it gave the impression to the audience that the main character was going to use the scissors to stab herself. Everything happened so fast that the transition was very hard to grasp.

    Pa!

    The bedroom door was mmed open, and a middle-aged man rushed in. He grabbed the main character¡¯s wrist and snatched the scissors away.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± The camera titled to the side and spun. The main character was pushed down the side of the table.

    ¡°Life is already not easy for your mother and me. Can you please stop torturing us?¡±

    The audience was unable to see the expression on the main character¡¯s face, but they could discern the main character¡¯s current status from the middle-aged man¡¯s demeanor and expression. Human beings were special, and this kind of connection seemed to be inherited in every member of the species.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Footsteps hurried to arrive, and a middle-ageddy jogged into the room. She looked haggard, and once her eyesnded on the main character, they reddened almost instantly. Without saying anything else, thedy squeezed past her husband to squeeze the main character in a hug.

    ¡°You saw her again?¡± The woman was facing the camera, but the audience knew that she was talking to the main character. From this angle, the audience could clearly see the micro-expression on the mother¡¯s face. There was pain, anxiety, agitation... but more than that, there was heartache.

    Without getting a response from the main character, the mother already knew the answer, and she hugged the main character harder.

    ¡°Why are you the one that¡¯s punished? What can we do to cure this illness?¡± The camera moved away from the mother and returned to the sky outside the window. The dark clouds hung low in the sky like they were about to fall to smother the world. The eye slowly closed, and the theater returned to darkness.

    The man appeared very nervous. His legs were squeezed together, and he asked Chen Ge softly, ¡°Why isn¡¯t there any sound now? Is the machine broken?¡±

    Before waiting for Chen Ge to answer, strange music circled the room. The eye flickered before it opened again. The camera moved, and the main character was lying in her bedroom. Next to her stood her parents and a man, one the audience had not seen before.

    This man had his back stooped, and he stood facing away from the main character. Since the movie was shot from the main character¡¯s perspective, like the main character, the audience was not granted a view of the man¡¯s face.

    ¡°Doctor, what kind of illness is Wenyu suffering from? Howe she keeps saying that she can see these strange things?¡± The main character¡¯s mother had worried lines crawling all over her face.

    ¡°Yes, doctor, what¡¯s wrong with my daughter?¡±

    ¡°I am not a doctor, merely someone who has done quite a bit of research on this. Do not worry for now; I¡¯ve had a basic grasp of the situation.¡± The man who was referred to as the doctor had a voice that was familiar to Chen Ge. This was a very strange feeling because Chen Ge did not think any of his acquaintances had acted in a movie before.

    The doctor signaled for the parents to sit down. ¡°Her situation is very unique, and I will share my preliminary thoughts with you.¡±

    The doctor took out a ck note from his bag. ¡°You should know that human beings live in the third dimension, right?¡±

    The parents shook their heads. They had no idea where the doctor was going with this.

    The doctor flipped through the note and found the page that he had torn out from another book. ¡°To put it simply, the third dimension is this world that we humans upy; there is the concept of length, width and height. The fourth dimension adds the concept of time onto the basis of the third dimension. Actually, the condition that forbids us from entering the fourth dimension is ¡®time¡¯. Due to the presence of time, human beings in the third dimension are doomed to make a singr choice at a certain point in time, and this choice will be apletely isted choice. In other words, every human experience is an isted three-dimensional world, and if you ce all the three-dimensional worlds on the axis of time, then you¡¯ll have created a four-dimensional world.¡±

    Not only were the main character¡¯s parents confused by the doctor¡¯s words, even Chen Ge in the audience was led in circles. However, the blind man next to him suddenly became silent and settled down.

    ¡°What does that have to do with my daughter¡¯s illness?¡± The mother was not really paying much attention to the doctor¡¯s theory. She just wanted to cure her daughter.

    ¡°I will tell you again, your daughter is not sick. There are many idents happening in the world daily from as small as subatomic collision to as big as space expansion. There are many things that we temporarily cannot exin...¡±

    ¡°Doctor, why don¡¯t you just tell us straight, can our daughter¡¯s situation be improved or not? What kind of medicine is avable? Our family¡¯s condition might not be that good not, but for our daughter, we are willing to do anything.¡± The girl¡¯s father cut him off directly. Their acting was so real that it did not feel like a movie but some kind of documentary.

    ¡°Your daughter is not sick; her eyes are merely an ident.¡± The doctor was still facing away from the character. ¡°The three-dimensional worlds that are arranged on the axis of time might asionally ovep, and your daughter, Chang Wenyu, is the point where the two worlds ovep. Thus, she is unable to see things that you can¡¯t!¡±

    The movie was still ying. Chen Ge was there for a mission, but he was drawn in by the plot of the movie.

    <i>Why would the doctor and her parents call the main character Chang Wenyu? But the ghost outside the window calls her Qiu Mei? Also, this doctor¡¯s exnation is quite interesting. I think I should memorize it. Even though I don¡¯t quite understand it, it might prove useful in the future.</i>

 Chapter 715 - My Left Eye Can See

    Chapter 715: My Left Eye Can See

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    In the movie, the main character¡¯s parents did not put much weight behind the doctor¡¯s words, and the disappointment in their eyes could not be hidden.

    ¡°Trust me, your daughter is really not ill. What happened to her eye was merely an ident. If possible, I wish to bring her to Xin Hai City with me, where I can give her a more thorough examination.¡± The man did not appear like a con artist. He sounded very sincere, but unfortunately, the parents did not believe what he was peddling.

    ¡°If there¡¯s a chance, I¡¯ll bring her, but Wenyu still needs to go to school.¡± The mother rejected him in a roundabout way. The doctor sighed. He gave the mother his card and stood up to leave. Throughout the whole process, the doctor kept his back to the main character and thus kept his face hidden.

    After the door closed and the doctor left, the mother softlyined, ¡°I was wondering why he was willing to examine Wenyu for free. He¡¯s a conman. After we arrive in Xin Hai, he will probably start charging us money on various pretenses.¡±

    ¡°I also doubt that the doctor is reliable. Perhaps he¡¯s not even a doctor. But there has to be a reason behind this sickness. This has never happened to Wenyu before, so how did she fall ill so suddenly?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, the girl has been fine for the past few months, but since that night, no, since that afternoon when she came back from school, she has been acting strangely.¡±

    The frown was deep on the parents¡¯ faces, and heartacheced their voices. The camera emotionlessly recorded everything, and it gave the feeling that the main character was observing everything without even a twitch of emotion. The eye slowly closed, and the strange music resumed.

    Different from watching a horror movie at home, the sound system at a theater was surround sound. It could give the impression of footstepsing from a distance or something moving around the audience. The producer poured great effort into this short flick, and that was observable from the sound effects alone.

    The background music was mixed with a heartbeat and heavy breathing, like someone was struggling in a nightmare. Everything was dark, and one struggled for life, but one could not grab anything for support.

    As the audience was drawn into the main character¡¯s predicament and held their breath, a crisp ringing sound cut through the background music. The eyelids twitched. The main character seemed to have been woken up, and she peeled open her blurry eyes.

    A new scene appeared on screen. The camera was no longer inside the bedroom but a simple-looking tuition center. The ring sunlight showered down on the main character through the window, and the camera captured the girl¡¯s shadow, which was elongated on the ground. She was leaning on the table at thest row in the ss, and her head was heavy with sleep.

    The movie has gone through one third already, and I¡¯ve only just seen the main character¡¯s shadow. The director sure is a genius.

    Chen Ge had seen many shadows in his life, and in his professional opinion, the shadow in the movie could not have been more normal.

    The sunlight dulled the nerves in her mind, and the sound of a fan spinning buzzed in her ears. There was also the sound of pages being turned as well as the sound of distorted musicing out from a nearby student¡¯s cheap earphones.

    A long shot showed everything in the ssroom. The cooperation between the director, cameraman, and the actors was wless.

    BANG!

    Just as the audience was lulled by the sense of peacefulness, the peace was suddenly shattered. The door was shoved open, and a girl with an exaggerated hairstyle burst into the room.

    ¡°He Qiumei! Be quiet, don¡¯t disturb the other students!¡± A man wearing sses with his hair cropped short walked in behind the girl. He held his phone in one hand and a textbook in another. The man appeared to be the tuition teacher, and he seemed to be familiar with the student who had just walked in.

    ¡°Fine, fine.¡± The girl with red hair chewed on the gum in her mouth, and she mumbled her response.

    The male teacher knew the girl¡¯s personality, so he scratched his head with some exasperation, wiped the sweat from his face, and pped his hand softly. ¡°ss, may I have your attention please? This is the new student who will be joining our ss today, He Qiumei. Due to her family condition, she deferred for a year, and she¡¯s here to catch up on her study progress. I hope that all of you will help her.¡±

    The teacher gave a simple introduction and had her sit at the back of the ss. Coincidentally, she chose to sit next to the main character and thus became her deskmate. The camera zoomed in on He Qiumei. The girl had faded red hair. She leaned against the wall and tossed the bag casually on the table.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± The girl noticed that the main character had been staring at her. Her personality was like a fire; it was not that she was not a good person, but she had the tendency to identally scorch others. Being yelled at by the girl, the camera that represented the main character¡¯s eyes turned away, but momentster, the camera turned back to He Qiumei. Obviously, the main character was interested in her new deskmate.

    The bell rang, and once the teacher left the ssroom, the main character was about to stand up when Qiumei suddenly jumped up. Angrily, she mmed the book on the table, spat the chewing gum in her mouth out, and turned to the main character. With her furious eyes and explosive temper, just as all the audience thought that she was a gangster and was about to bully the main character, the girl by the name of Qiumei opened her lips to say, ¡°Do you understand what Ol¡¯ Cao said earlier? Howe I don¡¯t get it at all?¡±

    The main character shook her head, and this was the first time that the audience had heard her voice. ¡°I... fell asleep...¡±

    ¡°How can a person who looks so studious be a bad student? That won¡¯t work!¡± Qiumei scanned around the room, and to her disappointment, there was not one student in the ss that looked barely reliable. ¡°The exam ising, and if I fail again, I¡¯ll be held back another year, then when will I graduate?¡±

    ¡°You... wish to graduate that much?¡±

    ¡°No one wishes to grow old, but I don¡¯t want to be treated as a child anymore. You won¡¯t understand it anyway, but I have to graduate this year.¡± Qiumei shoved all the books into her bag and picked up her notebook to study. This studiousness waspletely against her get-up and personality, but it did not feel out-of-ce being portrayed by the actor.

    The students filed out of the ssroom, and Qiumei became more and more annoyed. Finally, she mmed the notebook on the table again, as if with each m, the knowledge would be shattered and thus more easily digested.

    ¡°Gah, guess I¡¯ll start getting serious from tomorrow.¡± After Qiumei packed up her stuff, she walked out of the ssroom alone. The camera followed Qiumei¡¯s back before it also moved to follow Qiumei out of the ssroom.

    ¡°Mr. Cao, considering that we have been neighbors for so many years, can you please help me?¡±

    An olddy¡¯s voice came from the corner of the stairs. The camera looked down, and it saw an olddy with graying hair holding onto Mr. Cao¡¯s arm. She attempted to hand a basket covered with ck cloth over to Mr. Cao.

    ¡°My physical condition is worsening by the day, and I have no idea when Qiumei¡¯s father will be released. If something happens to me, what will she do? If this is allowed to continue, I¡¯m afraid that she might end up like her father.¡±

    ¡°Auntie He, please keep your stuff. I will try my best to teach Qiumei, but studying is not a one-directional effort. I won¡¯t give you any guarantees, but I promise to help you look after as best as I can.¡± Mr. Cao did not ept the olddy¡¯s basket.

    ¡°Thank you, Mr. Cao.¡± The olddy left after thanking Mr. Cao profusely. Thetter frowned as he headed up the stairs. The main character wanted to act as normally as she could, but just as she straightened herself, she bumped into something behind her.

    The camera panned around, and Qiumei¡¯s face filled up the screen!

    This cut reminded the viewer of the scene that urred at the start of the movie.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it fun to eavesdrop on others?¡± Qiumei said coldly. ¡°That was my grandmother, a stubborn old coot.¡±

    ¡°It... feels like she treats you well.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just an appearance. You have no idea how hard it is tomunicate with her. Let me tell you, I can take care of myself just fine. Originally, the n was to stop schooling and find a job to feed both of us, but she denied me outright, insisting on me graduating first. I was forced to agree because you saw how stubborn she can get, and here I am.¡± Qiumei took out a small mirror to examine her face. She was quite a beautiful girl if a little resentful of the world.

    The moment that Qiumei took out the mirror, the camera moved backward instantly. It gave the feeling that the main character was afraid of looking at herself in the mirror.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Qiumei noted the girl¡¯s strange reaction. ¡°You¡¯re a weird one, but let me tell you, do not tell anyone about my grandmother¡¯s visit to the school.¡±

    ¡°Okay...¡± After a pause, the main character added, ¡°You wish to graduate soon so that you can find a job to support your grandmother?¡±

    Putting the mirror away, Qiumei leaned close to the screen and pushed the main character lightly. ¡°Who are you to care about my business? The only thing that you need to care about is your mouth.¡±

    Qiumei grabbed her bag and walked downstairs. When the two girls brushed past one another, the main character whispered softly, ¡°You won¡¯t be able to care for her. She is going to die soon.¡±

    ¡°What are you grumbling about?¡± Qiumei could not hear her clearly nor was she trying to.

    The camera stayed on Qiumei as she walked away. Once more, the main character uttered more clearly, ¡°You won¡¯t be able to look after her; my left eye has seen everything.¡±

 Chapter 716 - Come and Play! [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 716: Come and y! [2 in 1]</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    The camera moved away from Qiumei and fell on the olddy holding the basket. Thest ray of the sun fell on the olddy, and as she walked away, the camera locked onto her shadow that seemed to be cut in half.

    Seeing this cut, Chen Ge was already shaking in his seat. He had no idea how the director managed to shoot a scene like this. Deskmate, ording to the details on the list, had been shot a long time ago. Back then, the special effect was not as impressive as those today, but the scene in the movie appeared as real as could be.

    <i>Or is it possible that this is not a special effect?</i>

    One¡¯s shadow was deeply connected to one¡¯s life, or at least, that was what Chen Ge believed.

    <i>The main character¡¯s left eye could see the changes to a living human¡¯s shadow, right? When the movie started, did the main character¡¯s parents possess shadows or not?</i>

    The earlier images of the movies crossed Chen Ge¡¯s mind. The main character¡¯s parents and even the doctor, none of them had a shadow, but that could have been due to the bad weather outside the window.

    When the movie started, the sky was dark and gray with thick rain clouds blocking out the sun, so it was perfectly normal that one¡¯s shadow could not be seen. After Qiumei and the olddy left, the main character returned to her own home. She took out her key and opened the door.

    ¡°Wenyu, is that you? Why did youe home sote today?¡± Wenyu¡¯s mother rushed out from the kitchen. The expression on her face when she saw Wenyu was a mixture of sadness and a strange emotion that Chen Ge could not describe. In any case, it was certainly different from how a normal parent would greet their child¡ªChen Ge had only noticed that after he was so far into the movie.

    The main character did not respond. Once she stepped into her home, it felt like she had walked into the sea. Her movement became sluggish, and even her breathing turned uneven. Pushing open the door to her bedroom, she slithered into it.

    ¡°This girl...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve asked for some professionals¡¯ opinions, and I believe our daughter might be sick.¡± The main character¡¯s father put down the copy of newspaper. He pointed at his own head and continued in a low whisper. ¡°I¡¯ve already contacted the doctor. Thising weekend, I will bring him here to take a look at our daughter.¡±

    ¡°How much will it cost?¡±

    ¡°Now, curing our daughter is more important. You would not want our daughter to continue like this, right?¡±

    Her parents¡¯ voice came from outside the door, but the main character did not care about what they were saying. The camera that represented the main character¡¯s point of view moved from her parents to the ceiling. Then the screen turned ck; the main character had closed her eyes again.

    ¡°This movie seems to be a recording of some stuff, but if all this is real, the timeline does not seem correct.¡± Chen Ge nudged the blind man¡¯s shoulder. ¡°What do you think?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t see anything. If you¡¯re done, we should go as soon as we can. I don¡¯t want to stay here a minute longer. Brother, from the way you talk, you do not sound like a bad guy. Can you please let me go and stop torturing me?¡± The blind man¡¯s back was drenched. He kept his eyes closed, but just from his voice, one could tell how scared he was.

    ¡°Half of the movie is already over. I am sure it will end soon. Please be a little bit more patient.¡± Chen Ge turned back to the screen when it turned bright again. Simrly, this was shot from the main character¡¯s perspective. It mainly recorded the things that happened between her and Qiumei.

    The main character was a girl of few words; she rarely opened her lips, and if she could get away with not speaking, that was what she would do. Qiumei¡¯s personality was theplete opposite of the main character. She was like an open book and would rarely take offense at what other people said.

    She was a reckless person and often did things without considering the consequences. However, it was often said that opposites attract. As the time they spent together increased, the rtionship between the main character and Qiumei grew tighter and tighter. Even though they were pr opposites in terms of personality, they became good friends.

    Even more surprisingly, both of their studies kept improving, and this was something that even Mr. Cao did not expect. Initially, he was merely doing his old neighbor a favor, but to his surprise, the two female students with the worst marks in his ss had such a drastic ¡®change¡¯ after they became deskmates.

    The color of the screen felt even more vibrant, and the style of the entire movie seemed to have changed with it. It was supposed to be a horror film, but Chen Ge felt like he was watching aing of age movie.

    <i>This director can handle many different styles¡ªthis is not bad.</i>

    Chen Ge made a mental note of the movie¡¯s progress; eighty percent of it had already passed. Other than the ghost that he saw at the beginning of the movie, for the rest of the movie, there was not even a plot point that was remotely scary, much less an actual ghost.

    <i>A horror movie without a ghost?</i>

    The scary movies on the market would have the presence of an ¡®unknown¡¯, and this unknown was often used to create a sense of mysterious and horror in the audience¡¯s hearts. However, this movie seemed to be the exception. It was shot fully from the main character¡¯s perspective, and she did not witness anything that was truly scary.

    Chen Ge felt that the director was building up for something horrifying. He knew that the movie was not going to be that simple. As the movie drew to its close, he felt like the truly scary thing was approaching.

    The rtionship between Qiumei and the main character grew closer and closer, but there was something that was worth noting. During the period when Qiumei and the main character became friends, Qiumei¡¯s bubblyughter appeared several times in the movie, but the main character had notughed, not even once.

    There was only a short time left until the arrival of the final exam. With Qiumei¡¯s current results, graduating sessfully would not be a problem. She had found a good friend at school, she was about toplete her promise to her grandmother, and this was probably the happiest moment of Qiumei¡¯s life.

    However, even though Qiumei was very happy, as the audience, Chen Ge was able to see the anxiety hidden behind the happiness through the main character¡¯s perspective. Qiumei¡¯s grandmother¡¯s shadow grew shorter and shorter, the worry on the main character¡¯s parents¡¯ shoulders grew heavier and heavier, and the rate of change between the cuts grew more rapid and more constant like the main character had gained the habit of blinking constantly.

    There was a huge whirlpool hidden underneath the peaceful life, and it was set to drag everyone who was near down into the deep abyss. After the final exam was over, at the ss party, Qiumei and the main character stayed out veryte before they left. The night was exceptionally quiet. Qiumei hummed a pop tune on her lips. Her biggest wish for the past few months had just beenpleted, and she could not have been in a better mood.

    ¡°Deskmate, why aren¡¯t you talking? We can finally rx; we do not need to go and see Ol¡¯ Cao¡¯s face day after day now.¡± Qiumei hugged the main character¡¯s and pulled her close. The camera studied Qiumei from this close distance. The girl had dyed her hair back to its natural color, which was ck, and she looked gorgeous. After a while, the main character moved her eyes away. She had her head lowered, and the camera focused on the darkness, which appeared like a road that had no ending.

    ¡°You don¡¯t look that happy.¡± Qiumei¡¯s face squeezed into the frame again. The main character looked at Qiumei quietly, without saying a word, and then she walked ahead on her own.

    ¡°Is it because of your family? I don¡¯t think I have ever heard you mention them before.¡± Qiumei ran to chase after her. ¡°Actually, my family can be quite annoying as well. My father is now behind bars, and it¡¯s my grandmother who raised me, so I have chosen to adopt my grandmother¡¯s surname.¡±

    The main character did not slow or stop. Qiumei followed closely behind her until they reached a junction. Qiumei¡¯s home was on the left, and the main character¡¯s house on the right¡ªit was where they usually parted.

    ¡°Wenyu? What is going on with you today?¡± The main character did not stop to answer. She continued to walk down the road, and at a certain point, she turned to utter tly to Qiumei, ¡°Actually, that is not my name.¡±

    ¡°That is not your name?¡± Qiumei wanted to ask for more details, but the main character had already walked ahead. Due to the unique circumstances that she grew up in, Qiumei had a different personalitypared to other girls her age. She did not ignore the main character but made to follow her. She chased after the main character and called after her.

    The lights from the roadside became less and less. Finally, the two girls stopped in front of an old apartment building. This building was located in the most secluded part of the city. The whole building was dark like there was no one who was staying there.

    ¡°Wenyu? Your home... is here?¡± There was still no answer. The main character suddenly jogged up the stairs. She fished out the key from her pocket, and after some hesitation, Qiumei turned to follow her. There was no light installed in the corridor. Qiumei tripped on some debris on the corridor and almost slipped a few times.

    The door of the room opened, and the main character walked through. The light of the living room was not open, and the heavy curtains were pulled shut; the whole ce was submerged in darkness. Yet, even in such conditions, in the camera, the door to the kitchen was pulled open, and the main character¡¯s mother walked out from it.

    ¡°Wenyu, is that you? Why have youe home sote today?¡± A familiar voice, a familiar environment. The familiar-looking figure standing in the dark was none other than the main character¡¯s mother.

    The scenario that could not have looked more normal in the day, when it was replicated at night, brought the audience a horrifying feeling that could not be described in words.

    ¡°I will not return here anymore.¡± The main character¡¯s voice started to change. This time, she did not run to hide inside her bedroom but stood in the living room.

    ¡°Wenyu! Who are you talking to?¡± Qiumei stood at the entrance, looking into the dark living room. Her face was nched. It seemed like she was looking at a different scenepared to the main character. ¡°This ce is so old, the furniture is ruined, and the tiles on the floor are cracked. Wenyu, what are you doing here? Let¡¯s go home already?¡±

    ¡°Go home?¡± The main character reached out to ce her hand on Qiumei¡¯s hand before yanking her into the room. ¡°But... we are already home!¡±

    The light on the screen slowly dimmed until it became a te of darkness. The director did not show what happened inside the room, probably because he did not know what happened either.

    A scream echoed through the darkness. The eye flipped open, and the main character was still lying on the bed in her bedroom. The camera looked out the window. Outside the window, the clouds were dark and oppressive.

    This scene was a replica of the movie¡¯s starting scene. It was the same sky outside the window. It gave the impression that all that had happened earlier was merely a nightmare. The main character nced at the clock on the table. She took out her phone to read the messages, and then she dragged her tired body into the bathroom.

    She kept her head lowered, so the camera could only see the ground. After she brushed her teeth and cleaned her face, the phone started to vibrate. The camera shifted around, and the main character took out the phone from her pocket.

    ¡°Wenyu, do you want to go to the movies tonight? It will be a celebration for you having gotten rid of that madwoman.¡±

    ¡°Qiumei is not mad. She has never once bullied me.¡±

    ¡°It is because you are too kind-hearted that Ol¡¯ Cao had her sit next to you. Do you know that both of her parents are in prison? Who knows what she could have done to cause her disappearance? In any case, you shouldn¡¯t associate yourself with her anymore.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I understand.¡± The main character¡¯s hand that gripped the phone increased in strength. ¡°By the way, deskmate, after watching the movieter tonight, do you want toe over my ce to y? I want to show you something very interesting.¡±

    ¡°Okay, no problem!¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll see youter.¡± After hanging up, the main character slowly raised her face. The camera moved to the mirror, and this was the first time that the audience had been given a chance to see the main character¡¯s face since the start of the movie.

    A thin body, tattered clothes, and long ck hair¡ªthe main character had a face that appeared to be sewn together from pieces of different women. All the women had different facial features, but their left eye looked identical.

    The left eye gave the audience the feeling of being a long needle, and it nailed the innumerable faces together.

 Chapter 717 - Employeeâ€™s Privilege [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 717: Employee¡¯s Privilege [2 in 1]</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    The camera stopped on the mirror before the main character¡¯s face¡ªit felt the main character was carefully examining herself in the mirror as well. The ending score began, and the camera the signified that the main character¡¯s point of view stopped in front of the mirror.

    The woman in the mirror slowly reached out her hand and caressed the face in the mirror as her body gradually leaned toward the mirror. The entire screen was dominated by the woman in the mirror, and thus, the audience was given a better view. As the main character¡¯s hair parted, the woman in the mirror exposed her left eye.

    When her left eye slowly increased in size, the camera suddenly pulled back!

    The camera seemed to have abandoned the main character¡¯s perspective. The camera continued to retreat. It captured the main character¡¯s back as well as the woman inside the mirror.

    As the camera retreated, the main character who stood in front the mirror turned her body around and looked toward the camera. Her face was as pale as white paper and strangely different from her reflection in the mirror.

    At that moment, the scariest thing happened.

    After the main character turned around, the woman in the mirror maintained the same posture. She did not move!

    She and the main character both looked toward the camera and exposed an expression that could not have been stranger.

    The music was suddenly cut off, and the screen went ck. Perhaps because this private showing theater had not been used for so long, even after the movie was over, the lights in theater did note on automatically, and the surroundings were still shrouded in darkness.

    The darkness caused a certain degree of anxiety. Chen Ge remained in his seat and did not move around; he kept his eyes glued to the movie screen. He had a rough idea about the movie that he had just watched. The director used a shback with the middle of the plot showing the main character¡¯s memory.

    The ¡®Left Oculus¡¯ grew in a girl by the name of Wenyu, but the thing that was controlling the body of the girl was no longer Wenyu herself. The director merely chose to highlight on a singr part. At the start of the movie, the female ghost kept referring to the main character as Qiumei, which meant that since then, the soul inside the main character¡¯s body had already turned into Qiumei.

    The parents and doctor that appearedter were all ghosts, or perhaps they only existed in this world that was mainly visible through the left eye. That could exin why Wenyu treated her parents with such aloofness. In reality, they were not her family, but they were the lingering spirit of Wenyu¡¯s family.

    The middle of the movie could be viewed as Qiumei¡¯s memory; it described how Qiumei got transformed into Wenyu. After the memory ended, the movie moved back to reality. Qiumei made a date with her good friend. After the movie that night, she would invite her ¡®friend¡¯ to visit her ¡®home¡¯, and the cycle would begin again.

    The nightmare was not broken, and the next girl who had the unfortunate destiny of inheriting the left eye should be Qiumei¡¯s friend.

    The scariest and most horrifying ghost of the movie was none other than the main character; this was also the first movie that Chen Ge had seen that was taken from the perspective of the ghost.

    Other than that, there was a part inside the movie that piqued Chen Ge¡¯s interest. Right as the movie was about to end, the method of shooting had a sudden changed. It changed from a first-person view to a third-person view. At the time, there had been no other person in the room. Could it have been that thest camera was taken from the perspective of the audience?

    Both the main character and the ghost inside the mirror turned to look at the audience beyond the screen. Chen Ge remembered very clearly that their left eyes were open.

    <i>It feels like they might just crawl out of the screen at any second.</i>

    Even for Chen Ge, his heart was beating a bit fast after finishing the movie. It would be an exaggeration to say that he was afraid¡ªhe merely felt somewhat creeped out. Opening the backpack, Chen Ge allowed the white cat to escape. Scratching the cat¡¯s head, he slowly calmed down.

    <i>The horror in the movie was manufactured by the director; this ispletely different from the ghost stories in real life. If there is a chance, I would like to sit down andmunicate with the director.</i>

    The screen had been dark for almost three minutes already, but the ck phone did not ring with the message that the mission had beenpleted. Honestly, Chen Ge had no idea where things had gone wrong.

    <i>Is it because the movie is too short, so the ck phone does not approve of it?</i>

    He stood up and stared at the darkened screen. Then a different possibility surfaced in his mind.

    <i>Or is it because the movie isn¡¯t over yet?</i>

    The movie was only twenty minutes long, but if the ghost had escaped from the movie then the movie had not really ended. A light scent of mildew permeated the private showing theater. Looking around, the rows of seats had the appearance of squat tombstones. The more he studied them, the scarier they became.

    <i>The girl with the ¡®left oculus¡¯ could be hiding anywhere in this theater.</i>

    Chen Ge was there toplete the mission given by the ck phone, and should the movie never end, then his mission would never bepleted.

    <i>Do I really need to wait here until dawn?</i>

    Chen Ge was a very calm and collected person. He was familiar with his strength, and he understood his weakness. Zhang Ya was still hibernating, and it was unknown when she would be able to awaken. Xu Yin was left at the Haunted House, being treated by the red high heels. Currently, the strongest employee that Chen Ge had with him was Bai Qiulin.

    With Xu Yin¡¯s aid, Ol¡¯ Bai had consumed Xiong Qing¡¯s heart and evolved into a Half Red Specter. However, he was essentially a Specter who had been forced to be a Half Red Specter. In a real battle, he definitely would not be able to defeat a real Half Red Specter that was covered in resentment.

    <i>Left Oculus looks quite powerful. If she suddenly decides to pop up, the white cat and I might not be able to handle it.</i>

    Chen Ge had always been careful. If it was not truly necessary, he would not have taken any risk in his life.

    The blind man lifted his head to ask Chen Ge, ¡°Brother, it has been quiet for so long already, I believe the movie is over now, right? Can I go now?¡±

    ¡°Since you¡¯ve called me brother, then I will not spin yards around you and tell you the truth. The female ghost in the movie that we just saw has escaped into the real world.¡±

    ¡°The ghost has escaped from the movie?¡± The blind man¡¯s reaction was more than a bit agitated.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic. I have good news and bad news to share with you.¡± Chen Ge reached his hand into the backpack and flipped open theic.

    ¡°How can you still be in the mood for jokes?¡± The blind man was curled in his seat¡ªit was clear that he was really afraid. ¡°Tell me the bad news first then.¡±

    ¡°The bad news is that the female ghost appears to be very dangerous, and she seems to be looking for a scapegoat. We are just unlucky enough to have run into her.¡± Chen Ge provided his analysis calmly.

    ¡°This bad luck is forced upon me, okay? Brother, let¡¯s not stay here anymore. Let¡¯s hurry up and leave, please?¡± If he had not known that he would not win in a fight, the blind man would have used his cane to fight it out with Chen Ge.

    ¡°It is a bit toote to run now. The eye has already seen us both, so she is not going to let us go so easily.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± The blind man copsed back into his seat weakly. ¡°Then what is your so-called good news?¡±

    ¡°The good news is I have called many of my friends to join us, and we have a clear advantage of numbers.¡± The sound of pages being turned entered the blind man¡¯s ears, and Chen Ge called out the names one by one.

    A faded smell of decay filled up theater. In fact, it was strong enough to have overpowered the previous mildew scent.

    ¡°Did you smell something? Something ising!¡± The blind man gasped in shock.

    ¡°Sit where you are and do not panic. Try not to bump into anyone else.¡± Chen Ge already flipped theic to itsst page.

    ¡°Those are your friends? When did they arrive? Are they in the room now? Howe I didn¡¯t hear the door open at all?¡± No one was there to answer the blind man¡¯s questions. If he opened his eyes then, he probably would have fainted on the spot. The originally quiet and empty private showing theater was now bustling with activity.

    The boy with the stink was pushed by the hanging man to the corner of the room, and he rubbed his belly with a sad expression on his face. The students from the sealed ssroom at Mu Yang High School raced all over the ce joyfully. Ol¡¯ Zhou ¡®tricked¡¯ Duan Yue to share a seat with him at the back of theater with a serious expression. They sat apart from the rest.

    Elder Wei and the doctors were standing behind the blind man. They softly discussed among themselves the possibility of conducting an operation to help the man see again, and asionally, professional terms tumbled out of their lips.

    The water ghost sat on the front row. She was the sacrifice for bury seed, and this was the first time in her ¡®life¡¯ to have entered a movie theater, so she had an unbridled curiosity about everything. If she could have crawled into the screen, she would have already done so.

    Yan Danian was thest who came out from theic. With unwillingness, he took up the seat at the corner. The Pen Spirit hugged Xiaoxiao, and they sat down next to him. Chen Yalin appeared to have some questions for him aboutics.

    ¡°Today is my birthday, so I¡¯ll treat everyone to a movie. I suppose this can be viewed as one of the employee privileges. This theater is rather small, but I hope you don¡¯t mind. When we have enough money, I¡¯ll rent an entire IMAX cinema hall for everyone to enjoy.¡± Chen Ge stood up and walked toward the broadcasting room. Bai Qiulin and Elder Wei moved to follow closely behind him.

    The blind man sat obediently in his seat. He knew that there were many things around him, but there was an indescribably strange feeling in his heart. Opening his lips, he extended his hands to feel the seat where Chen Ge should be. After realizing that there was no one there, he obediently closed his lips. He did not dare to move or even ask any questions.

    ¡°Are there any movies that you would like to watch?¡± Chen Ge opened the movie list. He was there toplete a mission, but it was different for the employees at the Haunted House, especially the students from Mu Yang High School, who were only allowed to leave their item of possession for a short period of time, so they definitely would not let this chance go to waste.

    Going to the movie was a verymon experience for a normal person, but for these students, if not for Chen Ge, they would not have experienced this again. There were only several ghost movies in the list, but there was a surprisingly heated argument among the workers. In the end, the majority voted to watch the movie called ¡®Name¡¯. It seemed to be a movie rted to someone¡¯s name. Chen Ge nced at the cover. The director was still Chang Gu, and the main character¡¯s face looked about eighty percent simr to Wenyu.

    ¡°Alright, get back to your seat now. Do not wander about after the movie has started. Also, pay attention to your surroundings. Someone extra might appear because this theater is apparently haunted.¡±

    Looking at theater filled with ghosts, Chen Ge felt like it was rather preposterous saying something like that.

    <i>A group of ghosts watching a horror movie at a movie theater, I wonder if this is like watching a documentary for them.</i>

    The employees heeded Chen Ge¡¯s advice. They quickly shuffled back to their seats, and they were kind enough to leave two empty seats in the middle.

    ¡°Why are you guys leaving two empty seats here?¡±

    Chen Ge pressed the y button, and the background music came out from every corner of theater. The music circted in their ears, and it created the feeling that they were there in person. Even though this movie theater was rather old, the equipment was the top of the line. After all, it had once been used to serve the visitors at a high-end holiday vi.

    The music apanied the appearance of the images on screen. Those workers who had not experienced much in the way of the world and those who had perished way before their prime were feeling excited already. Some shrieks and howls echoed through the audience¡ªthe sounds that they made were even scarier than the sound effects of the movie itself.

    <i>What if they¡¯re scared by the movie? Normally, they¡¯re the ones scaring others.</i>

    Chen Ge could not worry about that much anyway¡ªhe just wanted toplete the mission given by the ck phone as soon as possible.

    Moving to the seat that the employees had reserved for him, Chen Ge had Bai Qiulin sit next to him while the blind man took up the seat on the other side of him. He had gained entry due to the blind man¡¯s help, but the least he could do was guarantee the man¡¯s safety.

    ¡°Brother... have you returned?¡± With Chen Ge¡¯s support, the blind man was led to the middle of the theater. His legs were shaking, and it felt like he was walking on cotton candy instead of firm ground.

    ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s okay now. You are very safe. There is no need to worry.¡± Chen Ge hugged the white cat. ¡°You can stay and watch this movie without worry. After this movie is over, I will personally escort you back.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure it is safe now? My heart is racing, and I suddenly feel so cold like I have been shoved inside a fridge.¡± The blind man hugged the cane, and his eyelids kept twitching. It was as if he was losing control of his ocr muscle, and they could flip open at any moment.

    ¡°You¡¯re just imagining things.¡± Chen Ge gave the blind man a few words in constion. With his hand scratching the white cat¡¯s chin, his back leaning against the cushion, he enjoyed the movie with maximumfort.

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible! I¡¯m not imagining stuff! Are you sure your friends are all here? Howe I feel this ce is scarier and creepier than before?¡± A cold breath escaped from the blind man¡¯s lips. ¡°Brother, are you even listening to me? Don¡¯t you feel even a bit unsettled at all?¡±

    ¡°I could not have felt morefortable. In fact, if possible, I wish to order some snacks like coke and popcorn.¡± That idea really did cross Chen Ge¡¯s mind earlier. Since they were there to party, food and drinks were required, but taking the mental sticity of the takeout courier into consideration, Chen Ge abolished that thought from his mind. ¡°It is your mind ying tricks on you. Just rx and it¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    The movie officially started, but the atmosphere waspletely different from before. The lighting and sound effects did not change¡ªthe only thing that changed was the audience.

    Chen Ge was deeply drawn into the movie; hebined all the information that he had managed to find on Left Oculus online, and the movies that he had seen that night and somewhat of a clue showed itself.

    The movie, Left Oculus, had been destroyed already, but the private showing theater preserved all the other works by the director, Chang Gu, and the works were all somehow rted to Left Oculus.

    <i>Why would this director keep focusing on this theme of Left Oculus?</i>

    A part of the plot from Deskmate crossed Chen Ge¡¯s mind. Wenyu¡¯s father once called her by her full name, and the girl¡¯s name was Chang Wenyu¡ªshe shared the same surname with Chang Gu.

    <i>Could the girl with the left eye be Chang Gu¡¯s sister?</i>

    In Deskmate, at Wenyu¡¯s home, one would asionally see the parents or the doctor, but there was definitely not a character who could be Chang Gu.

    If Chang Gu really was Chang Wenyu¡¯s family member, then it could have indirectly exined that, during shooting, Chang Gu was still alive, but due to some reason, she did not show up on screen.

    Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of thest scene of Deskmate.

    <i>With the change in perspective, is it possible that Qiumei and the ghost in the mirror weren¡¯t looking at the audience but Chang Gu behind the camera?</i>

 Chapter 718 - Non-Existent Man

    <h4>Chapter 718: Non-Existent Man</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The difference between Name and Deskmate was obvious from the first shot; this movie was shot from the normal third person view. The difference between the two movies was so drastic that they did not appear like they came from the same director.

    The start of Deskmate focused on a dim sky, a home that resembled a cage, and a monster that might show up anytime. The start of Name was very warm. A cup of coffee was ced on the table, and next to it was a notebook and a bunch of study material.

    The camera slowly panned forward, and it finallynded on the notebook, which was a diary. On the cover was a name written with red pen¡ªQiumei.

    <i>This time, the main character is Qiumei?</i>

    Chen Ge knew that the few horror movies were interconnected somehow. His previous spection was that each movie recorded the story of the left oculus¡¯ victims, but the reality seemed to be different from what he had imagined.

    ¡°Wenyu! Wenyu!¡± There was incessant knocking on the door. A middle-aged woman was calling Wenyu¡¯s name, and the woman¡¯s voice was conspicuously different from the voice of Wenyu¡¯s mother in Deskmate.

    ¡°It is not Wenyu¡¯s mother who is outside the door, so why is she calling Wenyu¡¯s name?¡±

    The camera turned. The girl, who was ying on her phone in bed, jumped up from bed. She ran to the table, shoved the diary into the drawer, and locked it up. After dealing with all that, she went to open the door.

    ¡°What are you doing hiding yourself in the room? You respond so slowly whenever I call you.¡± The camera moved to thedy outside the door. She was veryrge, probably bigger than two of Wenyubined. She had a thickyer of make-up, and the smell of smoke seemed to follow her. ¡°I heard from the boss that you have quit the job?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sister Fang, I have something else to attend to.¡± The young woman raised her head to the camera. The actor was very pretty, and she looked somewhat simr to Wenyu in Deskmate. She was like an untainted flower, but after staring at her for a long period of time, there was something that did not feel right.

    ¡°Is this thing you mentioned returning to school? Going to night school?¡± Sister Fang squeezed into the room without asking for permission. ¡°Do you know how hard it is to find work these days? You were given such a good chance, why didn¡¯t you appreciate it?¡±

    ¡°Sister Fang, thank you for your help. One day, I¡¯ll treat you to a meal.¡± Wenyu disliked people entering her room.

    ¡°Why wait?¡± Sister Fang ced her hand lightly but firmly on Wenyu¡¯s wrist. ¡°Last time, I introduced my nephew to you, right? What do you think? The child really fancies you a lot. I guess you can call it love at first sight¡­ Don¡¯t push me! Hey! Open the door!¡± The door mmed shut, and Sister Fang grumbled for a while outside the door before giving up and leaving.

    ¡°So noisy.¡± Wenyu subconsciously touched her left eye, and she returned to the table. She put down her phone. Then moved all the materials and books on the table into a bag. When she was arranging the stuff, the camera captured her phone, and the screen showed what that she had been looking at earlier.

    ¡°What are the reliable night schools at Jiujiang? How about Jiujiang Private University at Western Jiujiang?¡±

    There were a few answers underneath her question.

    My Old Home Is Here: ¡°Thanks for the invite. I¡¯m from the Philippines, justnded at the airport. I¡¯m a graduate from the International Navigation and Aviation University. I do not suggest attending Jiujiang school any night. There are too many problems, and it won¡¯t be of much use. You might as well spend a little bit more and attend a more official private university in Xin Hai.¡±

    Cheng De Tertiary Education: ¡°If OP wants to know more about tertiary education, please clic.k on my profile. Cheng De Education is the most professional university in Jiujiang. We are able to help you enter the elite circle. We provide traditional system management education and help our students explore their maximum potential¡­¡±

    Non-Existent Man: ¡°There are so many night schools in Jiujiang, and you are interested in the one that is most unreliable. I will give you some free advice¡ªregister at any night school that you want, but avoid Jiujiang Private University.¡±

    Under these threements, there was a follow-up conversation between Wenyu and the Non-Existent Man.

    Original Poster (OP): ¡°Why can¡¯t I go to Jiujiang Private University? Is this ce a scam?¡±

    Non-Existent Man: ¡°This ce is not a scam; you¡¯ll get your graduation certificate as long as you manage to survive until graduation. Where did you manage to find information on this school? Based on my knowledge, this school should be closing down soon.¡±

    OP: ¡°I have a student pass from this school, and my name is written on it, so I should be a former student at this school.¡±

    Non-Existent Man: ¡°Impossible.¡±

    OP: ¡°It¡¯s real. I¡¯m not lying to you. I cannot remember what I saw at the school, but ever since I left the school, my left eye has managed to see things that I will never forget.¡±

    Non-Existent Man: ¡°I don¡¯t have the time to listen to your stories, gtg.¡±

    OP: ¡°I¡¯m not making up stories!¡±

    OP: ¡°Hello? Are you still there?¡±

    OP: ¡°Fine, looks like you¡¯ve really gone already. I am telling you the truth. Ever since I left the school, my life haspletely changed. The school initiated the change to my life, and now I wish to return to that school to find out the truth.¡±

    Non-Existent Man: ¡°Is the truth that important?¡±

    OP: ¡°Oh, you¡¯re still here.¡±

    Non-Existent Man: ¡°If you are not lying, then there is more reason for you to not go to that school.¡±

    OP: ¡°Why?¡±

    Non-Existent Man: ¡°Do you know the school has an alternative name?¡±

    OP: ¡°What name?¡±

    Non-Existent Man: ¡°It is also called School of the Afterlife.¡±

    Seeing this, Chen Ge jumped up from his seat. His pupils narrowed as he focused on the screen.

    <i>School of the Afterlife!</i>

    The term on the phone reflected in his eyes. Chen Ge did not expect to encounter a clue about the School of the Afterlife during the Left Oculus mission. He understood what this term represented. School of the Afterlife was a four-star scenario¡ªit represented a Greater Red Specter at least!

    <i>Chang Wenyu brought the left eye out of the School of the Afterlife? Why would she possess the student pass at this school?</i>

    The left eye lived in Chang Wenyu¡¯s body, but the soul that took control of the body had changed again and again. The real Chang Wenyu had already disappeared¡ªperhaps her soul had already dissipated.

    <i>Based on the introduction in the movie, School of the Afterlife was a private university. When Wenyu first obtained the left eye, she was obviously still underage, so how did she end up at a university? If her presence there was a total ident, then how did she manage to escape?</i>

    Initially, Chen Ge had been watching the movie because the ck phone told him to do so, but after the mention of the School of the Afterlife, his attitude changed.

    <i>This shouldn¡¯t be just a coincidence¡ªjust the change to the left eye caused the formation of a two-star scenario, so how scary will the entire School of the Afterlife be?</i>

    Chen Ge thought back to the introduction for the School of the Afterlife on the ck phone. There were nine pre-missions, including the one for Zhang Ya.

    <i>The time limit for this mission is almost up. Perhaps this movie will provide me with some information that I need.</i>

    Chen Ge continued watching the movie. On the screen, the phone left on the table suddenly vibrated. There was an iing call, and the caller ID was very strange indeed¡ªNon-Existent Man.

 Chapter 719 - Someone in the Room

    <h4>Chapter 719: Someone in the Room</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The phone in the movie vibrated. Qiumei stopped arranging her stuff and picked up the phone. Without seeing the caller ID, she answered the call directly. ¡°Hello, who is this?¡±

    ¡°We just chatted on the inte. I saw that you¡¯d left your phone number on your personal page, so I thought I¡¯d give you a call.¡± A man¡¯s voice came from the other end. The person did not sound that old because his voice was still settling into puberty.

    ¡°We just chatted on the inte?¡± Qiumei pulled back the phone to look at the screen. ¡°You are the Non-Existent Man!¡±

    ¡°That is my online ID.¡±

    ¡°Why would you use a name like that?¡±

    ¡°That is not important. The important thing is that I have managed to reach you.¡± The boy purposely lowered his voice, as if it could make him sound more mature and mysterious.

    ¡°The number I left on my page is real, so is it really that surprising that you can make this call? Have you called other girls on their number before and ended up being catfished?¡± Wenyu did not treat the boy seriously.

    ¡°I am talking to you via a dead person¡¯s phone. The fact that you are able to answer the call means that part of what you said is real.¡±

    ¡°You sure have a strange way of rifying people¡¯s ims.¡± Wenyu¡¯s attitude turned chillier. Strangely enough, she was not surprised by what the boy said. ¡°Speak, why are you calling me?¡±

    ¡°I simply wish to save your life¡ªI¡¯m afraid that you might go on a suicide mission.¡± The boy did not sound old, but he seemed to have lived through a lot.

    ¡°Suicide mission?¡±

    ¡°Why would you want to return now that you have managed to escape? I know you won¡¯t remember many things, but have you ever considered that the memory is the cost you paid for your escape?¡± The boy tried to persuade her. ¡°For the sake of escape, even your memory has been surrendered. However, to regain the lost memory, you¡¯ll voluntarily return. Have you heard of anything stupider in this world?¡±

    ¡°I am not going back to search for my memory; I am going there to search for a person.¡± Wenyu unlocked the door and studied the notebook inside. ¡°Wenyu is the name of this body, but that is not my name.¡±

    Her finger slid across the cover of the notebook, and it glided over the name Qiumei.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care why are you returning, but I don¡¯t suggest returning to this ce. Remember! Do not go back there!¡± There was the sound of something heavy being draggeding from the other end of the phone, and with that, the call was hurriedly ended.

    ¡°I know that the ce is very dangerous, but certain things cannot be avoided.¡± The main character ced the arranged information by the headboard, and then she crawled into bed, hugging the phone. She tried to contact the Non-Existent Man, but there was no reply.

    ¡°Of all the information that I can find on this university online, they say that it is a private school and built by a private donor. But based on the pictures online, the scale is way beyond that of a normal school. Its size is even bigger than a normal university.¡±

    Wenyu nned to visit this school. She took out paper and pen and recorded all the information she could find on the phone.

    ¡°Some of the pictures have watermarks on them, so they might be fake, but howe some of the other pictures just look so strange?¡±

    Perhaps it was the angle of the camera or an issue with the buildings, but in some of the pictures, regardless of whether it was day or night outside, the room had this dim, eeriness to it. The girl turned the bedroom light off but left the bedsidemp on. Shey in bed and started to do her homework. Seeing the girl on screen, Chen Ge was reminded of himself. Before the start of any mission, he would often gather and analyze information like Wenyu.

    ¡°This ghost story reminds me of myself too much.¡± The time ticked away, and Wenyu gradually fell asleep, lying in bed. The pen slipped from her hand, and itnded on the ground. It rolled away until it stopped right at the bathroom door.

    She had to work in the day and study at night. Wenyu was very tired, and she slept very soundly. The camera pulled back, and it focused on the sleeping Wenyu. It was hard to tell what the director was going for. He used a ten-second cut to focus on a sleeping Wenyu.

    Chen Ge¡¯s employees were not treated to a night at the movies often. They stared at the screen with open curiosity. Their attention was rapt, and they tried their best to follow the director¡¯s rhythm, attempting to understand his perspective.

    ¡°I admit that the girl is rather pretty, but hasn¡¯t this scene dragged on for a bit too long already?¡± Bai Qiulin finally voiced his thoughts. ¡°When her eye was open, there was an air of resentment around her, but weirdly enough, after she closed her eye, the air disappearedpletely.¡±

    ¡°This director is good at his job. From his previous short film, I know that he would not waste a single cut. There has to be a purpose to this.¡± Chen Ge waited patiently, and after some time, he noticed something. ¡°The bottom left corner of the screen. Yes! There, the spot where the pen fell and stopped earlier.¡±

    The door to the bathroom was left open, and the pen stopped right next to it. The only light source in the room came from the bedsidemp. Due to the camera angle, one realized that the bathroom was notpletely dark, and a streak of weak light fell on the bathroom mirror.

    The movie seemed to have stopped with the main character soundly sleeping, but as one studied it further, the feeling of something being not right grew. The reason was because the scene had not fully stilled. In the corner of the screen, inside the bathroom, something was moving!

    The image on screen looked warm¡ªthe soft yellow light, fluffy mattress, and a sleeping beauty. However, once their gazes wandered to the corner of the screen and saw what was happening inside the bathroom, the sudden contrast would cause the audience¡¯s hair to rise.

    Inside the dim bathroom, a woman in a red outfit was standing before the mirror. She twisted her neck, but she kept her eyes glued to the camera!

    The face was hidden in the dark, and when the audience chanced upon it, it would feel like the face was staring at them through the screen.

    ¡°I knew something is not right!¡±

    No matter what kind of style the movie adopted, at the end of the day, it was a horror movie. The pen on the ground moved on its own. The woman in the bathroom had already disappeared from the mirror, and one was given a glimpse of a woman in a red outfit moving in the room.

    The majority of the scene had not changed; the only thing that changed was the reflection of the mirror in the bathroom.

    The rental room was only so big. There was no living room, and the bedroom was attached to the bathroom. The scene maintained its warmth with the asional strange sound.

    The pen rolled on the ground, and the lizards on the wall crawled away. The light from the bedsidemp cast a shadow, but the shadow did not belong to the room owner, who was sleeping.

    The papers on the table were flipped through, and the lock on the drawer jangled like someone was trying to open it.

    Momentster, everything returned to silence, but then the scariest scene appeared.

    The pillow on the bed indented downward like someone hadin down next to the main character.

 Chapter 720 - His Name

    <h4>Chapter 720: His Name</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Under the dim light, there shadows were showing on the wall, but there was supposedly only one person in the room. The two sides next to Wenyu¡¯s body creased downward as her hair spread like a halo¡ªit felt like something was pressing down on her.

    ¡°Qiumei, Qiumei... Qiumei!¡± Wenyu suddenly jumped up from her sleep. She inhaled greedily and looked around with a lost expression on her face. The dim light from the bedsidemp shone around the room, giving it an intimate atmosphere. Most of the furniture was where it was supposed to be¡ªthere was no sign of anyone else having been in the room.

    ¡°Worse thing than having a nightmare is waking up in the middle of the night and realizing that the night is still long.¡± Wenyu picked up the documents on the bed and looked around. ¡°Where¡¯s the pen?¡±

    She climbed out from bed to grab the pen, which had fallen away. Then she ced the pen and the papers that she had gathered into the folder inside her bag.

    ¡°Time to go back to bed. When the sun rises, I¡¯ll go to the school to take a look.¡±

    Climbing back into bed, Wenyu switched off the bedside table. Just as the room submerged into darkness, the camera caught a woman in a red outfit standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom.

    When lights went off, she walked out of the bathroom again. She was still inside the room, but since the room was nowpletely shrouded in darkness, no one could see her.

    <i>The way that this movie portrays ghosts is quite interesting. Perhaps my Haunted House can take inspiration from it, to give the visitors a new sensation through a clever use of contrast.</i>

    The desire of Chen Ge to meet the movie director grew. If he cooperated with the director, Chen Ge had a feeling that he could raise the horror level at his Haunted House to new heights.

    The screen was dark¡ªone could barely see anything. However, this also gave the audience plenty of room for imagination because everyone knew, in the darkness, other than the sleeping main character, there was a ghost in a red outfit. The whole scene was captured in one shot; there was no editing, and that lent the movie a sense of authenticity.

    Several secondster, the scene ended, and the sun rose. Everything in the room was the same. The main character did not sense anything out of ce, as if the memory from the previous night was truly just a nightmare.

    ¡°I broke out in cold sweat, worried about the girl.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou patted his chest lightly.

    ¡°Can you even break out in sweat?¡± Duan Yue rolled her eyes at him.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, why don¡¯t you touch my palm to find out?¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou extended his hand to Duan Yue, but thetter saw through the old trick, and she pped his hand away.

    The employees were greatly enraptured by the movie, but Chen Ge alone was thinking about something else. He had watched Deskmate earlier, and afterparing both Deskmate and Name, he noticed many problems.

    ¡°Both main characters are called Wenyu, so they should be about the left eye. However, the difference is, in Deskmate, the main character is still underage, but in Name, the main character is already working. These two movies depict different periods in life for the same character.

    <i>Based on the introduction on the left eye in Deskmate, Wenyu¡¯s body should have yed host to the souls of several girls already, but that would mean that the many details in Name would not match up.</i>

    <i>At the start of the movie, the name on the main character¡¯s diary was Qiumei, but when the female ghost appeared and pressed herself against the main character, it was also Qiumei¡¯s name that was called.</i>

    <i>Now the soul trapped inside Wenyu¡¯s body seems to be Qiumei¡¯s as well.</i>

    At the end of Deskmate, Qiumei had answered the call from her new Deskmate, and she had invited her over to ce, so theoretically speaking, a new cycle would have started already. However, after watching Name, Chen Ge realized that things were not that simple.

    <i>Qiumei doesn¡¯t seem like she found a scapegoat and continued the cycle. Over so many years, she has been suffering everything brought upon her by the left eye alone.</i>

    The few movies shot around the left eye seemed to star Wenyu, but in reality, the main character was Qiumei, who was controlling Wenyu¡¯s body. The body was Wenyu¡¯s, but the soul was Qiumei¡¯s.

    Chen Ge found that out from watching the beginning of Name. Even though he was not technically a genius, he was a person who paid attention to details. He had a pair of eyes that could look through the surface to find the truth.

    The movie continued. The room in the morning was bright and clean. Who would have thought this ce had yed host to a ghost? The main character handed in her resignation. With the new day, she did not head to work but carried her bag loaded with information and took the bus to Western Jiujiang, following the address that she had found online.

    ¡°Is this Jiujiang Private University?¡± From searching for the whole morning, Wenyu finally arrived at a hospital. ¡°I¡¯m looking for a school, but howe the address on the inte led me to a hospital?¡±

    The buildings around looked quite old. Even though Wenyu was a local of Jiujiang, she had no idea such a hospital existed in Jiujiang.

    ¡°Is anyone in?¡± Wenyu tried to open the door and discovered that the door was locked from the inside. She leaned on the ss and peered into the hospital. The tiles were gleaming, and the chairs were dustless. The walls were white and new. Other than the strange silence, this ce looked no different from a normal hospital.

    ¡°This hospital doesn¡¯t even have a name. I couldn¡¯t check it online even if I want to.¡±

    Wenyu walked to the other end of the hospital, and at the backdoor, a man wearing a mask and white coat was walking out.

    ¡°Doctor, can you help me?¡± Wenyu ran over, but after the doctor heard her voice, he did not stop but instead walked faster.

    ¡°Doctor?¡± Wenyu was confused by this reaction, and she ran forward to block his way. The man grunted with impatience. He was about to turn the other way when something seemed to dawn on him. His body froze, and he looked intensely at Wenyu.

    The man was 1.8 meters tall and very handsome with an even build. However, there was a dark cloud between his brows, and his gaze was chilling. He had a presence around him that would deter others from getting too close to him.

    Wenyu felt difited from his state. After a long time, she asked, ¡°Hi, I¡¯m here to register at Jiujiang Private University. I¡¯ve brought the relevant documents and information, but I cannot find the school. However, the address given online has led me here.¡±

    ¡°Jiujiang Private University?¡± The doctor¡¯s eyes had not moved away from Wenyu¡¯s face. ¡°That school has been shut down already, so you¡¯d better go find a different school.¡±

    The doctor then prepared to leave. Wenyu scratched her head and then called out with some hesitation. ¡°Wait a minute, have we seen each other somewhere before?¡±

    The doctor continued to walk away like he could not hear her.

    ¡°Your face is very familiar. I am sure I have seen you before!¡± Wenyu chased after him. ¡°What is your name?¡±

    Being chased relentlessly by Wenyu, the doctor finally stopped moving, and the camera gave him a close-up. With his brows creased together, the doctor stared at Wenyu, and he uttered in a whisper, ¡°My name is Chang Gu.¡±

 Chapter 721 - Lies

    <h4>Chapter 721: Lies</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Hearing that answer, Chen Ge trained his focus to study the man further. <i>The director¡¯s name is also Chang Gu. Looks like these movies are recordings of events that he¡¯s experienced.</i>

    Studying the man¡¯s face in the movie, Chen Ge scratched his chin. <i>In the movie, he portrayed himself as aloof and handsome, which gives me a new understanding of the man.</i>

    After studying the man¡¯s face for so long, Chen Ge felt like he looked strangely familiar. He suddenly turned to look at the blind man sitting next to him. Their size and frame could not have been more different, but the gloom around the eyes was startlingly simr, and there were some simrities in the facial features as well.

    <i>Are they the same person?</i>

    On the screen, Chang Gu was tall, handsome, and collected, but the blind man next to Chen Ge was old, ugly, and malnourished like he suffered from a serious illness.

    <i>ording to the inte legend, Chang Gu might have perished in a fire or been trapped inside his movies...</i>

    Chen Ge thought back to the information that he had found online, and his eyes fell on the blind man¡¯s eyes, which were screwed shut.

    <i>Is it possible that it was the man himself who started these rumors? He wanted to disappear from the public eye?</i>

    Hugging the white cat, Chen Ge considered everything calmly. Whether the blind man was Chang Gu or not, it did not matter. After all, he had booked the entire private showing theater. In the movie, Chang Gu was tall and handsome, apletely different person from the blind man next to him. If not for Chen Ge¡¯s attention to detail, he would not have made the connection.

    The movie was still going. Wenyu followed Chang Gu. Perhaps it was a woman¡¯s instinct or something else, but she had a feeling that Chang Gu was someone very important to her. However, Chang Gu obviously intended to stay away from Wenyu. From the man¡¯s various reactions, it was not because he hated her.

    The expression that he had when looking at Wenyu was very strange. Most of time, it was the detachment of a stranger, but asionally, there would be a rare show of gentleness. The two stood at the hospital backdoor and spoke. They barely shared a few words when footsteps came, and a slightly fat middle-aged man ran out.

    Seeing the man, Chang Gu shrugged off his coat, tossed it aside, and then rushed down the nearby alley. No matter how much Wenyu called after him, he did not turn around.

    ¡°Did you see a tall, thin man run this way?¡± After the middle-aged man came out from the backdoor, his eyes zeroed in on the white coat on the ground.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°That man is a thief, a repeat offender at that! He always sneaks into our hospital!¡± the middle-aged man hissed through his teeth.

    ¡°Thief? He... he¡¯s not a doctor?¡± Wenyu studied the coat the man was holding, and she was shocked.

    ¡°Don¡¯t trust a word out of his lips. The man is amon thief, a liar, and somewhat crazy. To be safe, you¡¯d better stay away from him.¡± The middle-aged gave the warning and nned to leave.

    ¡°Wait a moment.¡± Wenyu held the doctor back. ¡°I¡¯m here to register for the university. Have you heard of Jiujiang Private University? The online address I got pointed me to this ce.¡±

    ¡°There was a university here in the past, but it has been abandoned already. The flyer you saw is from probably from a few years back.¡± The middle-aged was quite a friendly person. He stopped to answer Wenyu¡¯s questions.

    ¡°Abandoned? Then, do you know why it was abandoned?¡± Wenyu finally found a reliable person, so she continued with her questioning.

    ¡°I¡¯m not so sure, but you can find out more by going to Yong Ling Mountain. Back then, Jiujiang Private University was split into two campuses, the normal campus and the night school campus.¡± The doctor did not hide any information and shared everything that he knew. ¡°The normal campus for the graduate students and our hospital was a repurposed of part of the original campus. It was no different from a normal university.

    ¡°Opening the night school was a desperate move. Jiujiang was only so big, and thus, there was a limited number of avable students. Students from outside the region would rarely go over the state line to enroll at a private university that was not so popr. With the low number of students, arge piece ofnd remained unused, so the admin decided to turn it into a night school.

    ¡°The night school campus was just adjacent to the normal campus, but it was closer to Yong Ling Mountain. Jiujiang Private University¡¯s night school mainly recruited adults who wished to further their studies and young adults who wished toe back to school after dropping out.¡±

    After the doctor gave the exnation, he walked into the shadow that the sunlight could not pierce. ¡°I can¡¯t remember the further details, but you should be able to read them in the hospital¡¯s filing room. We don¡¯t have many people around now, so I can bring you there to read.¡±

    ¡°You want to bring me to the filing room?¡± Wenyu looked at the empty hospital. The interior was very clean and very quiet like there was not even one person around. ¡°Okay...¡±

    Before she finished, Wenyu reached out to cover her left eye. At that moment, it felt like a needle prick her eye, which had not happened for a long time.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m not feeling so well. I¡¯lle back next time, but I thank you so much for your help.¡± Wenyu held her left eye and thanked the doctor.

    ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± The middle-aged man smiled and turned back to the hospital.

    ¡°There are still many good people in the world.¡± Wenyu nced at the narrow alley. Something did not feel right. It was noon, but there was no one around; it was as if the people that stayed there knew to give this ce a wide berth.

    ¡°The night school is just ahead, but since the doctor didn¡¯t give me the exact location, I¡¯ll have to keep moving forward.¡± With some suspicion, Wenyu walked down the alley. After she took a few steps, someone called her name from the corner.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to go any further¡ªyou won¡¯t be able to find that school.¡± Chang Gu was leaning on the wall. The middle-aged doctor had just told Wenyu that Chang Gu was a liar and madman. So, when she saw Chang Gu appear, she had trepidation of getting too close to him.

    After all, this man did not appear to be more trustworthy than the middle-aged doctor, and what Chang Gu had done so far was indeed suspicious.

    Seeing Wenyu¡¯s change of attitude, Chang Gu narrowed his eyes as he walked toward her. ¡°The thing that came out of the hospital earlier, what did it tell you?¡±

    ¡°That thing?¡± As Chang Gu approached her, Wenyu took a step back. ¡°He said you are a thief.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to believe a ghost or a living human?¡± Chang Gu stood before Wenyu, and he looked kind of simr to Wenyu.

    ¡°Ghost?¡±

    ¡°Yes, a ghost that can move in daylight.¡± Chang Gu forced Wenyu into a corner. ¡°Did it tell you, I¡¯m a thief, a liar, and a madman?¡±

    Wenyu thought that Chang Gu was being very creepy, but she still nodded.

    ¡°Did it invite you into the hospital?¡± Wenyu thought about it. The doctor had indeed offered to bring her into the filing room.

    ¡°Thankfully, you didn¡¯t follow. If you had, you probably wouldn¡¯t have been able to escape with life.¡± Chang Gu passed a medical record to Wenyu. On it was the middle-aged doctor¡¯s ck and white picture.

 Chapter 722 - Exchanged Eyes

    <h4>Chapter 722: Exchanged Eyes</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chang Gu told Wenyu a very scary story. The doctor earlier technically had not lied to Wenyu, but he had omitted two very important details.

    First, the hospital had shut down a few weeks prior, and no one knew the exact reason. Confusingly, even after the hospital was closed down, the neighboring citizens could still see the hospital working like usually with people walking about day and night.

    Second, the doctor itself was questionable. He was different from the conventional ghosts; he could move in daylight and did not seem to fear sunlight. Chang Gu did not go into detail on what kind of existence the doctor was¡ªhe merely told Wenyu that the thing or people that would cause her left eye pain mostly came from Jiujiang Private University.

    The delineation between the normal and night school campus described by the doctor was true, but the way to enter the abandoned campus was not through the trek deep into Yong Ling Mountain.

    Chang Gu seemed to be a man on the run. When he reached this part of the story, he turned to leave. He left Wenyu a phone number and told her that, if she wanted to find Jiujiang Private University, she could call that number at night.

    That was where the scene ended. The imagegged slightly, and when it resumed, the sky in the screen already darkened.

    <i>Did someone cut out part of the plot, or did the people in the movie not want me to see what happened in the middle?</i>

    In the darkness, Wenyu held her phone and backpack, looking down the alley. She had stopped at the hospital from earlier in the morning. She made a call and whispered two words before ending it hurriedly. ¡°I¡¯m here.¡±

    Ten minutester, a window on the left side of the hospital was pushed open from inside, and a tall, thin doctor in a white coat waved at Wenyu. After Wenyu sneaked into the hospital, the doctor had her change into a nurse outfit and then led her out of the room. The scene that followed was very strange, and it had Chang Gu¡¯s directing style all over it.

    Inside the hospital, people milled about. Some were waiting for doctors, others waiting at the pharmacy. There were patients with ster on their legs shuffling slowly about, and everything looked like a normal hospital. The only difference was that none of the lights were switched on. All the patients and doctors moved in the dark. The darkness did not appear to affect them that much. They did not seem to be a part of the living world; the shadows moving in the dark appeared more like a projection of a different world.

    ¡°Come here.¡± The doctor led Wenyu into the surgery room and then locked the door.

    ¡°Now, can you tell me the real method to get into the school?¡± Wenyu removed the mask and took a deep breath. The male doctor removed his mask as well, and he was none other than Chang Gu. He grabbed Wenyu¡¯s arm and led her to the surgical table.

    The surgical table looked different from a normal surgical table; one could not help but wonder what kind of surgery waspleted on it.

    ¡°The only way to solve the problem is from its roof, and that is...¡± Chang Gu picked up the sharp surgical knife from the pan. ¡°To cut out Wenyu¡¯s left eye and find it a new host.¡±

    Chang Gu¡¯s voice was creepy, and it cause Wenyu to stagger back until she knocked into the table behind her. ¡°You want to gouge out my eye?¡±

    ¡°It was Wenyu¡¯s eye. You are not Wenyu; you are a victim trapped inside her body. I will return your freedom, but I need your full cooperation.¡±

    ¡°The doctor was right; you are a madman!¡± Wenyu grabbed her bag and made a beeline for the door. ¡°Let go, I¡¯m leaving now!¡±

    ¡°Even though you have seen the shadows outside, you still refuse to believe me, huh? Those shadows carrying on with their lives like normal, I believe that you can see them clearer than I can, so you should have been...¡±

    ¡°You are not me. How can you know what I¡¯ve been seeing?¡±

    Wenyu made for the door but was blocked by Chang Gu. ¡°I am not you, but I am familiar with your body¡¯s real owner! I am Wenyu¡¯s big brother!¡±

    Hearing that promation, Wenyu stopped moving. She studied Chang Gu for a very long time before saying, ¡°But I haven¡¯t heard Wenyu mention her having a big brother at all.¡±

    Her answer was indirectly confirming that she was not Wenyu.

    ¡°You can see dead people from your left eye, and I believe you saw all the dead people in that house already. Before Wenyu copsed under madness, I made my escape.¡± Chang Gu was fidgeting with emotion. Just as he was about to exin the whole truth, the movie was cut off.

    Having a horror movie cut off inside a darkened movie theater at 3 am was supposed to be something scary, but none of the audience felt afraid.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Did the line get cut off? Boss!¡±

    ¡°This is a movie theater, not the inte caf¨¦ near Mu Yang High School, calm down.¡±

    ¡°So, what happens next?¡±

    The employees were in a deep discussion. There was only one person that acted funnily, and that was the blind man next to Chen Ge. Shrieks echoed around theater, and a cold wind picked up, but the blind man maintained his pose, with his head lowered, appearing like he had fallen asleep.

    They waited for a full three minutes before the movie resumed. However, the scene had swapped yet again, and the quality became clearer. It gave the impression that the movie had been switched to a different one.

    ¡°There is no one in the broadcast room, but the movie we¡¯re watching is changing on its own. The one hiding in this theater probably felt threatened and is purposely trying to hide something.¡± The more they wished to hide, the deeper Chen Ge wanted to dig. From his perspective, only by knowing everything could he find the source of the problem and help them solve it.

    The movie turned to focus on a vi. Wenyu wasid out t on the dining table. Her head was bandaged, and it wrapped tightly around her left eye. A man with a slight hump sat next to the dining table. Her face was wrapped in bandages as well, and simrly, it covered up his left eye.

    The man studied Wenyu quietly. Several secondster, the bandage around Wenyu¡¯s left eye started to soak with blood. The blood bloomed on the white bandage like a blood flower opening on her eye.

    ¡°This is the second week after the swap. Why is it still not working? We are biological siblings and share the blood type¡ªwhy is there such a drastic body rejection?¡± The man became agitated, and whenever blood leaked out from Wenyu¡¯s eye socket, the bandage around his face would be wetted by blood as well like his eye corresponded to some kind of signal given by Wenyu.

    There were plenty of nerves around the eye, and it caused the man immense pain.

    The man¡¯s body was shaking, and his hands gripped the edge of the table tightly. ¡°The pain is even more intense than yesterday. The wounds show no sign of recovering at all! What is the problem?¡±

    He opened the shelf in the living room, which was filled with various medical implements. While the man bustled about, Wenyu remained immobile on the table like she had lost her soul

 Chapter 723 - Are You Coming Out or Not?

    <h4>Chapter 723: Are You Coming Out or Not?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The man ransacked through the cupboards. He could only see from one eye. The pain shot through his brain, and his actions became more rugged and rough. His arm was cut on something, forming a long, disgusting-looking wound.

    Blood slid down his arm before dropping on the bright, clean tiles. The image of a woman in red appeared in the pool of blood. The blood started to change like someone was writing a blood letter.

    ¡°You are not going to find the way to the school with your method. You¡¯ve failed. You lied to me. You are not able to give me freedom, and now your life is counting down because of it.¡±

    Pain bent the man over. The stuff in the cupboard ttered to the floor. He closed his eyes, and the world fell into darkness. His body knocked into the furniture, and his arms iled helplessly around. He looked like he was drowning. Medicine and various medical implements littered the ground. The bookshelf was tipped over, and several professional books rted to the eye fell next to the man¡¯s feet.

    ¡°The liquid in the eye is leaking, the wound at the edge is festering, the nerves are dying, and sensitivity to light is decreasing. It affects even my original eye. It feels like something is squeezing against it, and it¡¯s getting harder and harder to open the eye!¡± The man¡¯s eyes were screwed shut. He was the only one in the room, but he yelled at the top of his lungs like he was talking to someone else. ¡°But don¡¯t you worry, as long as I¡¯m alive, there is a chance for improvement!¡±

    Eyes were windows to the soul. When one¡¯s eyes could not open, the world inside would be dark. The man was like a beast, venting the pain that ravaged his body until he copsed from fatigue and fainted next to the dining table.

    The lights in the room flickered and dimmed. The room seemed to be changing. The blood stains on the ground turned dark brown, looking like drying scabs. In the extreme silence, a woman in a red jacket materialized in the room.

    She lookedpletely different to Wenyu but shared some simrities to Qiumei from Deskmate. The woman shuffled silently to stand between the man and Wenyu. She picked up a diary that had fallen from the bookshelf. The cover was stained by blood, and flipping over the cover, the first page had a name written in red¡ªQiumei.

    The front half of the diary was written using ck pen, but theter parts were all in red. The woman flipped it to thest few pages.

    30th November: The woman in red kept disturbing the surgery, as if by changing the eye, she will disappear forever. Looks like Chang Gu hasn¡¯t lied to me¡ªI can finally escape this ghost¡¯s torture.

    1st December: The woman in red appeared again. A few years ago, it was she who dragged me into Wenyu¡¯s body to have me be the next Wenyu. She is not my friend, even though she lives around me.

    2nd December: The surgery is too risky, and that is not counting the supernatural disturbance. Like a mad woman, she kept trying to stop the surgery. It appears that Chang Gu¡¯s method really can end all the pain.

    3rd December: As long as the ghost is still there, the surgery cannot be conducted normally, so we can only trap her. I¡¯ve not spoken to her for years already, so this time, I guess I¡¯ll y a little game with her.

    4th December: The surgery was sessful. The evil red ghost that has been following me has disappeared, but I never expected it would be by this kind of method. After the surgery, I became the new red ghost.

    5th December: The first time I trusted anyone other than granny, I lost my freedom and became a scapegoat; the second time I trusted another person, I lost even the husk where I could hide. What can I do now? Trust him the third time? Or...

    The diary ended there. The woman in red put the book back. She leaned to the side and studied Chang Gu. His ck hair lifted as if there was a breeze. The woman¡¯s right eye waspletely red, but the left eye was just a ck hollow. Even if she became a real Red Specter, she would not have recovered her left eye.

    The lights in the room dimmed further, and the sound of marbles bouncing came from the ceiling. The sound of water came from the bathroom, and the pen rolled on the ground. The fruit knife on the coffee table moved on its own. A pale hand reached out from underneath the red shirt, and the woman held the handle of the de with two fingers.

    She stood before the fainted man and dangled the de above his head, aiming right at the man¡¯s right eye, which was not protected by the bandage. Just as the woman was about to release her fingers, she suddenly stopped as if sensing something else in the room.

    Her neck turned, and her hair parted away. The hollowness where her eye should be looked straight at the camera, like she was looking at the audience beyond the screen. A strange movie started in theater¡ªthere was a sound of approaching footsteps underlying the music.

    Strange noises filled up the house on screen. It came from the deep end of the cupboard, under the bed, and behind the door. It was so incessant and constant that it created the impression that the same thing was happening in real life!

    One¡¯s ears could no longer discern whether the sound came from the screen or from behind oneself.

    The lights flickered suddenly, and the woman neared the screen. She was not moving slowly. She looked as if she was standing still, but one minuteter, as Chen Ge focused his eyes again, the distance between her and the screen closed further!

    The strangeness inside the screen and outside the screen slowly ovepped, and it created a strange feeling among the audience. It felt like they were being drawn into the movie, bing a part of it, or the scene in the movie was slowly bing a part of real life and the ghost inside it was reallying out.

    The music grew louder, and it felt like someone was blowing air into their ears.

    The woman arrived at the edge of the screen, and the lights in the theater were the dimmest that they had ever been. The vacant eye socket stuck to the screen, and the emptiness stared straight at the audience beyond the screen.

    The fruit knife that dripped with blood aimed outward, and a scent of blood dispersed through the enclosed theater. First, it was the ovepping of sound, then came the scent of blood. When the audience was confused by all those developments, the Red Specter stuck herself onto the screen.

    Viscous blood slid down the screen and leaked out onto the stage beyond the screen. When the audience recovered, the scary face was already poking out of the screen!

    The background music reached its climax, like an arrow being pulled taut. The scent of blood thickened, and the scariest scene in that theater finally arrived.

    The ghost from the movie crawled out from the screen! The ghost story turned into reality!

    His breathing turned heavier, and Chen Ge pressed on the armrest. The eye that was filled with blood vessels turned red almost instantly!

    ¡°The Red Specter from the movie ising out!¡± He jumped, and at the same moment the Specter appeared, he screamed, ¡°Get her! Don¡¯t let her run back into the movie!¡±

 Chapter 724 - A Person as Gentle as You

    <h4>Chapter 724: A Person as Gentle as You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The appearance of a Red Specter at a two-star mission was something that Chen Ge did not anticipate. Regardless, he was given no choice¡ªall the employees that he could rely on were with him. Bai Qiulin and the water ghost were both Half Red Specters, and with the aid from the other employees, holding back the Red Specter from the movie should present no problem.

    Chen Ge merely needed to hold the Red Specter off for a while. His body leaned toward the blind man next to him, and he already had a n in his heart.

    The employees were highly excited to encounter something like this¡ªthis kind of excitement was not something that a normal 3D movie could replicate. The scent of blood spread within the enclosed private screening theater, and the low murmuring soon turned into wails and shrieks.

    Blood slid down the screen, and the woman in red walked out. The sound of blood dripping did not stop. She turned the head, which was losing one eye, and the remaining eye zeroed in on the young woman sitting on the front row who was slowly lifting up her head. Water and blood stains surfaced on her clothes, and her wet hair stuck to her pale skin. Through the hair, one could catch a glimpse of the eyes that were bloated from being soaked in water for too long!

    The seat was drenched, and the pool of water on the ground was expanding. One of them was on stage, the other off stage.

    For one, this was her first time at the movies, and her simple mind was trying to process what kind of artistic style this was; the other was confused because this was her first time encountering an audience member like this. She looked back with a lost expression, as if suspecting that she was actually still inside the movie.

    The woman in red¡¯s eyes finally moved away from the water ghost, but when she saw the rest of the audience in theater, her confusion only grew. Behind the water ghost was a row of doctors. Their white coats fluttered underneath the seats, and other than aloofness, there was no other discernible expression on their faces.

    Next to the doctors was a man wearing an old pair of jeans. One of his hands was stuck inside his pocket while the other shielded Chen Ge. Yet, confusingly enough, there was another handid leisurely on the man¡¯s shoulder.

    Most of the wailing came from the students in the room. They made a hugemotion, but that was merely for show. As loud as they were being, they also scurried away from the screen.

    Thest row of the audience stood up, and they looked even stranger. In the left-hand corner, there appeared to be a couple. The man¡¯s face was white, and the female looked like she could copse at any moment. On the other end, a two-meter-tall fatty was squeezed in the corner, and he was trying his best to hold his stench in. Next to the fatty was anky man, and there was a rope around his neck. This time, the audience members were so different that the woman in red was briefly stunned after exiting the screen.

    Of ¡®everyone¡¯ there, Chen Ge was the most collected. Ever since the woman appeared, he had been following her with his Yin Yang Vision. His focus paid off. He soon discovered that once the woman exited the screen, the red on her outfit lightened quite a bit. This was most obvious at the spot around the heart¡ªthe blood there was almost dry and non-existent.

    <i>This Red Specter seems like she can only unleash her full power inside the movie. Once she is out of it, her power drastically decreases.</i>

    With that understanding, Chen Ge became more confident. After all, this was merely a two-star Trial Mission.

    The water ghost and Bai Qiulin faced the woman directly while the other ghosts helped to protect the movie screen. As the battle was about to erupt, Chen Ge lifted the hammer with one hand and turned to the blind man who was seated next to him.

    ¡°Chang Gu, the old movies rting to the Eye Oculus are still here. Looks like you and Qiumei have failed to find the real Wenyu.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s every wordnded on Chang Gu¡¯s heart like sharp nails. His eyelids twitched, and he stooped even further.

    ¡°We can talk this out like friends. Honestly, I am also looking for that phantom school, and I have a lead.¡± Chen Ge was an open person. With the situation still undecided, he shared information pertinent to the School of Afterlife and showed that he was willing to cooperate.

    ¡°Chang Gu, after watching the movies you¡¯ve directed, I know you are a clever and very talented person, but just take a look at yourself now.

    ¡°Have you already given up? Are you willing to hide for the rest of your life in this abandoned holiday vi? Until you die, you won¡¯t find Wenyu? Have you given up on your promise to Qiumei?

    ¡°You poured your life into works, and the movies are an extension of your life. I am affected by your movies, and I feel sorry for what happened to you. I understand your pain, and I can see why you are wasting your life away now.

    ¡°I understand you, and because of that, I wish to coborate with you. Now is still not the time to give up!¡±

    Through watching the movies, Chen Ge gained a brief understanding of the whole process. He aimed for the gap in Chang Gu¡¯s heart and tried to weave through the man¡¯s cold exterior.

    ¡°Wenyu¡¯s soul has still not been found. Perhaps she is still trapped inside the abandoned school. I¡¯m sure her physical body is worsening by the day. What is a person without her soul? I don¡¯t know what happened to both of youter, but there is one thing that I am certain about, it is never toote. Everything can still be saved!¡±

    Chang Gu¡¯s emotions were fraying. Chen Ge saw this opportunity and added, ¡°Do you know why I am looking for that school?¡±

    He bent over to look Chang Gu in the eye. ¡°I am the boss for the Haunted House at Western Jiujiang New Century Park. About six months ago, my parents disappeared, and many signs point to the fact that they have been to that school!¡±

    Chang Gu¡¯s eyelids twitched even harder. His chest rose unevenly, and he finally returned with a question. ¡°Have your parents really been to that school?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and to find them, I¡¯ve been to Mu Yang High School, Western Jiujiang Private Academy, Jiujiang Medical University, and so on. I have already gathered some clues.¡± Chen Ge shared his experience. If Chang Gu¡¯s experience was a tale, then Chen Ge¡¯s experience was the stuff of legends.

    Without a single lie, Chen Ge shared everything like an honest child with Chang Gu. After hearing Chen Ge¡¯s story, Chang Gu had the impression that all the things that had happened to him were not even worth mentioning, and there was no reason for him to have given up.

    ¡°We can cooperate, and that is a win-win solution. Think about it.¡±

    Standing up, Chen Ge dragged the hammer and walked out from the seat to the stage. Before the woman, he tossed the hammer aside, raised his arms, and uttered with gentleness in his eyes, ¡°All the souls that have hosted the Left Eye have lost themselves and turned into monsters, but you are the only exception. For all these years, you have suffered silently.

    ¡°You are a victim, but you are also a hero.

    ¡°When bad luck befalls a person, those with darkness in their heart will curse this world. What they need is not pity but partners.

    ¡°However, for those with kindness, they will choose to suffer everything silently, to help cover up the wounds of this imperfect world and repay its bad fortune with kindness and warmth.¡±

    Chen Ge walked up to the stage and stopped not far away from the woman.

    ¡°Whether you admit it or not, you are one such gentle person, Qiumei.¡±

 Chapter 725 - Rare Worker

    <h4>Chapter 725: Rare Worker</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Be it in life or death, this was the first time that Qiumei had received such apliment. Her parents had imprisoned when she was young, and it had been her grandmother who took care of her. Due to theck of attention and love from immediate parents since she was young, Qiumei¡¯s personality had always been different from others. She was straight-forward, and some might even call her tomboyish.

    As she grew older, Qiumei matured into her personality. When she decided to bid her past self goodbye and tried to work hard for once in her life, she ran into Wenyu. Before the flower had the chance to bloom, it was cut off. But due to her harsh childhood, Qiumei was not defeated by the sudden ident. She retained her personality, and that was why Chen Ge admired her.

    After watching Chang Gu¡¯s movies, Chen Ge still had no exact idea why Wenyu would enroll at the School of Afterlife and had even less of an idea why the Left Oculus would appear. He had no idea what the rtionship between Wenyu and her older brother was, but he knew very well that in this whole incident, Qiumei was the most innocent party.

    A strange audience appeared in theater, and stranger than this group of audience was this living man who came onstage. Qiumei¡¯s functioning right eye slowly opened. The bloodshot eye spoke of confusion. She wasforted by the man¡¯s words, but something just did not sit well with her.

    As she turned her neck around, Qiumei stared at Chang Gu, who sat in the middle of the seat. As if sensing something, Chang Gu lifted his head, which he had kept lowered until then. Like he hade to a decision, he sighed lightly. His eyelids fluttered, and Chang Gu finally opened his eyes.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Chang Gu¡¯s left eye was as big as a normal person¡¯s eye, but there was a ring of redness around the eyeball. His right eye, which should have been normal, looked scarier. The pupil appeared to have dissolved, and the only thing that remained was an eye that was run through with cracks.

    ¡°My left eye is Wenyu¡¯s left eye, but the operation was not sessful. This eye can merely see simple changes in color, and asionally, I can catch glimpses of things other people wouldn¡¯t.¡±

    When Chang Gu spoke, he stared right at Qiumei in front of the screen. After the botched operation, only a part of the left eye¡¯s power remained. ¡°My right eye is alreadypletely blind, and I can¡¯t even give you the exact reason why. Perhaps it¡¯s the curse of the Left Oculus.¡± Chang Gu coughed violently before closing his eyes again, but after only opening his eye for a few seconds, his left eye was already crying tears of blood.

    ¡°Looks like my prediction is all correct.¡± Chen Ge was still standing on stage. There were only several steps between him and Qiumei.

    ¡°Whether you¡¯re right or not doesn¡¯t matter anymore.¡± It took a long time before Chang Gu stopped coughing. ¡°I can cooperate with you, but how do you expect me to believe what you said?¡±

    Chen Ge was afraid that Chang Gu refusedmunication. As long as there was a chance, he had the means to befriend the guy. Taking out his phone, Chen Ge looked at the local news at Jiujiang. ¡°I have no need to lie to you. These news articles are all proof of my statement. If you still don¡¯t believe me, you can go online yourself to search for information on my Haunted House.¡±

    Chen Ge showcased sincerity, but Chang Gu did not buy his story so easily. A person who relied on local crime news to prove his worth was not going to be someone simple. Working with the man might be simr to befriending a tiger¡ªhe could be eaten the next moment.

    ¡°If you are willing to cooperate, you cane back with me to the Haunted House today. Every single sentence that I¡¯ve said is real.¡± The countdown for the School of Afterlife was almost up, and Chen Ge was antsy about missing it. ¡°This will only benefit two of us. I will give you a whole morning to think about it. I wille back tomorrow night.

    ¡°Wenyu¡¯s condition is probably not that positive, I am worried about my parents as well. Technically, we share the same goal. However, I never force others into things that they are not willing to do. If you agree, then I wille back tonight to share everything I know with you.¡±

    Standing on the stage, there was an indescribable loneliness in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. ¡°We are the same type of person. No one will help us in this world other than ourselves.¡±

    Seeing the loneliness in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, Chang Gu held his bleeding eye. Looking at the roomful of ghosts, he felt a certain kinship to Chen Ge. ¡°Let me think about it...¡±

    ¡°No problem, it is my sincere wish to help you because I know that helping you is helping myself.¡± Chen Ge was a big-picture thinker, and that was reflected in his way of thinking. ¡°Wenyu and the school are the thing that you care about the most. I know my visit is rather sudden, and I can understand your suspicion and caution toward me. To dissolve the gap between us, I am willing to allow this Red Specter to follow me home. Ghosts are best at reading people¡¯s hearts; you can have her observe me closely and see whether I am lying to you or not.¡±

    ¡°You are willing to let a ghost follow you home?¡± This was the first time that Chang Gu had encountered a request like that in his life.

    ¡°If you are worried about Qiumei¡¯s safety, I can ask my friends to stay behind to act as hostages.¡± Chen Ge thought that he was not being unreasonable. For all parties involved, it was the fairest action.

    ¡°Letting your friends stay behind as hostage?¡± Chang Gu shivered. If they really stayed, it was hard to say who the hostage would be. ¡°There¡¯s no need for that, I believe in you.¡±

    Chang Gu wanted to say something else, but Chen Ge had already turned to Qiumei.

    ¡°The first time you trusted others, you lost your freedom; the second time you trusted other, you lost your life; today, you are given a third choice.¡± Chen Ge was just a normal person, but standing before Qiumei, he showed no trace of fear. His voice was powerful and warm.

    ¡°Come, I¡¯ll help you see a different side of the world.¡± Chen Ge opened theic. When the girl was hesitating, before she even understood the scope of the situation, she was already pulled into the book. Qiumei did not resist. As Chen Ge closed theic, the ck phone vibrated.

    Taking it out, Chen Ge nced at the new message.

    ¡°Congrattions Specter¡¯s Favored for discovering a rare Red Specter¡ªQiumei!

    ¡°Qiumei (Red Specter): She turned into a Red Specter due to a unique reason and doesn¡¯t possess much resentment. She possesses a Red Specter¡¯s power only in the movies. After leaving the movies, her power drastically decreases, and she cannot activate her special power.

    ¡°Qiumei¡¯s Special Power: ??? (Will be unlocked after bing an official Haunted House employee)¡±

    After reading the message, Chen Ge was surprised. Qiumei was indeed a very special Red Specter.

    <i>Isn¡¯t this kind of unique worker the exact thing that I¡¯m looking for? </i>Chen Ge put his phone away and waved at Chang Gu, appearing very happy.

    Chang Gu, who sat in the middle of theater, held the bleeding left eye in his hand, and at that moment, he felt like he had lost something.

 Chapter 726 - I Will Go Talk with Them

    <h4>Chapter 726: I Will Go Talk with Them</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chang Gu agreed to cooperate with Chen Ge, and they had formed a basic consensus. After promising to meet up again the following night, Chen Ge pushed open the door of the private showing theater. The sky outside was brightening. The moment Chen Ge stepped out of theater, the ck phone vibrated again.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored, you have finished watching aplete movie inside the dead¡¯s theater. Congrattions forpleting the first part of the two-star special Trial Mission¡ªLeft Oculus!

    ¡°For the second part of the mission, locate Wenyu¡¯s elder brother, Chang Gu, and gain his affection!

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored forpleting the second part of the mission.

    ¡°For the third part of the mission, travel to Jiujiang Mental Asylum to see the color of Wenyu¡¯s dream for yourself!

    ¡°Warning! This mission contains many uncertain factors. Afterpleting it, you will greatly improve Wenyu, Qiumei, and Chang Gu¡¯s affection toward you! It will unlock the two-star scenario The Dead¡¯s Theater and equipment rted to movie-making!¡±

    Seeing the message on the ck phone, Chen Ge¡¯s desire toplete this two-star mission only grew. Other than giving him a new two-star mission, he was going to get plenty of valuable equipment. Previously, he had promised the suicide line operator to help him finish shooting a movie. Currently, he had the director and the actors, and after the mission waspleted, he would have the equipment needed as well.

    ¡°Even though this Trial Mission is quiteplicated, the reward is correspondingly lucrative. I wonder, what does the uncertain factor the ck phone warned about mean?¡± Chen Ge had already discerned the rules to the mission given by the ck phone¡ªthe reward was often proportional to the level of danger.

    ¡°Discern the color of Wenyu¡¯s dream? One¡¯s dream has a color?¡± The mission description was rather vague. Chen Ge could not even tell whether the Wenyu in question was the Wenyu in real life or Wenyu¡¯s soul.

    ¡°Oh well, I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll all pan out in the end. There¡¯s no point thinking about it. Tomorrow night, I¡¯ll get Chang Gu toe with me to go visit Wenyu.¡± Chen Ge would never go back on his word. Be it Qiumei or Wenyu, Chen Ge valued them both.

    With further insistence from Chang Gu, Chen Ge grabbed all of his employees and left Yong Ling Mountain Holiday Vi. He walked for a long stretch before he located a taxi that would pick him up.

    Taking not even one second of sleep, Chen Ge did not feel tired. The appearance of Left Oculus brought a change to the four-star School of the Afterlife mission, and a brave idea appeared in his mind. Based on current situation, Zhang Ya would not have woken up before the time limit for the School of Afterlife ended. Without her, the mission¡¯s difficulty would rise to an impossible level.

    Chen Ge had been hesitating whether he should take this risk or not. The futuristic theme park was about to open. Without a new and exciting scenario, the poprity that New Century Park had gathered might be overtaken by the new theme park. He had worked so hard for the sake of this day, and now it was thest leg.

    ¡°If I can find valuable information rted to the School of Afterlife during the mission for Left Oculus, then I will go scout around the phantom school before the time limit ends.¡± Giving up without even paying the ce a visit was something that Chen Ge could not do.

    Leaning against the seat, Chen Ge stared at his shadow and sunk into deep thought. He returned to New Century Park at 8 am. He had only entered the gate when he saw two figures walking around the entrance to his Haunted House.

    ¡°Uncle Xu? Jingjiu? You two sure are early today.¡± Chen Ge ced his backpack on the wooden bench, and the bench creaked noisily from the pressure.

    ¡°You wandered out alonest night?¡± Uncle Xu looked at the bench, which might copse at any moment.

    ¡°I merely went for a morning jog.¡± Chen Ge gave a casual excuse.

    ¡°Jogging with such a loaded bag?¡± Uncle Xu sighed helplessly. ¡°You are not young anymore. Stop wasting your life on those nightly activities. Better go and find yourself a wife to get your life back together.¡±

    ¡°Uncle Xu, did youe so early in the morning to introduce me to a prospective partner?¡± Chen Ge nced at his shadow and wiped the beads of sweat that travelled down his face.

    ¡°I¡¯m not that free.¡± Uncle Xu sighed. ¡°Just now, I epted the call from Director Luo. Last night, the people from Xin Hai¡¯s Nightmare Academy opened several threads on thergest online forum about your Haunted House. They question the safety of your Haunted House, and the threads are fast gathering poprity. Director Luo believes that it is the people at the futuristic theme park who is behind this.¡±

    ¡°Nightmare Academy? Them again? I haven¡¯t even gone to them to demand an exnation, and they¡¯reing after us already?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice wasced with danger.

    ¡°What are you nning to do? Calm down! Don¡¯t act recklessly!¡± Uncle Xu quickly stopped Chen Ge.

    ¡°Director Luo had mee early to remind you, to tell you to keep a low profile. Do not let them have any advantage on you. After we survive the opening of the futuristic theme park, everything will be fine.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve always been open with our activities. What kind of advantage can they possibly have on us?¡±

    ¡°You are not wrong, but we cannot guarantee that they will not go below the belt ande up with false usations.¡± Uncle Xu wanted Chen Ge to be more careful.

    ¡°You said it yourself, Uncle Xu, they will stoop to the lowest level to make trouble for us. In that case, I think we should adopt a different solution to deal with this problem.¡± Chen Ge picked up the heavy backpack and looked inside it.

    ¡°What are you nning to do?¡± Uncle Xu had a bad feeling.

    ¡°Since they will find ws with us even if there are none, then if I can take them all down, there won¡¯t be anyone who will find faults with us, right?¡± Chen Ge answered matter-of-factly.

    ¡°Take, take them down?¡± Uncle Xu took one step forward, like he could not hear Chen Ge clearly and wanted a rification.

    ¡°It¡¯s going to be easy. I¡¯ll go to Xin Hai today.¡± Chen Ge patted Uncle Xu¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, now that there is an intercity train, the travel back and forth will only take two hours. I¡¯ll be back before the night falls.¡±

    ¡°Do you really think I¡¯m worried about that?¡± Uncle Xu pushed Chen Ge¡¯s arm aside. ¡°This is just a business problem. Please don¡¯t elevate it into a...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, leave it to me, I won¡¯t leave any evidence.¡±

    ¡°What evidence? Please don¡¯t go creating trouble!¡±

    After pacifying Uncle Xu, Chen Ge turned to Zhang Jingjiu. ¡°Jingjiu, why are you so early today?¡±

    ¡°Boss, I wish to ask you for a day off.¡± Zhang Jingjiu took out his phone. There was a short message on it. ¡°My father has been hospitalized, so I wish to visit him.¡±

    ¡°No problem.¡± Chen Ge agreed easily. ¡°If I remember correctly, you said your father lives in Xin Hai City.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then, this is perfect. I will go with you to Xin Hai. We¡¯ll see this as a field trip.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes moved away from the two and gazed down the horizon. ¡°After we survive the opening of the futuristic theme park and have nothing else to worry about, we can consider opening a branch in Xin Hai. The people there will be overjoyed to know that they can finally experience the true meaning of horror.¡±

 Chapter 727 - He Has Arrived

    <h4>Chapter 727: He Has Arrived</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Chen Ge, are you sure you want to go to Xin Hai?¡± Uncle Xu was still worried.

    ¡°Director Luo once told me that we need to look at the big picture. This trip to Xin Hai has two purposes¡ªgive Nightmare Academy a warning and get a better understanding of the market,¡± Chen Ge said seriously. ¡°It¡¯ll be fine, don¡¯t worry.¡±

    Opening the gate, Chen Ge and Zhang Jingjiu entered the Haunted House.

    ¡°Wait for me here. I need to go to the underground scenario to grab something.¡± Chen Ge ced most of the employees back into their ces and only held onto a few that he still could not control fully like the red high heels, the headless woman, and Qiumei. He was not doing that to take revenge on Nightmare Academy¡ªhe was merely worried that these Red Specters might cause trouble at his Haunted House once he left.

    For the sake of bnce, Chen Ge brought along Yan Danian¡¯s group and Xu Yin.

    ¡°The hammer is definitely not going through the security check, so I¡¯ll leave it here.¡± After removing the hammer, the backpack felt so light that Chen Ge needed some time to get used to it. Returning to the surface, Chen Ge and Zhang Jingjiu waited for the other workers to arrive, and Chen Ge helped them with their make-up before leaving.

    At 11 am, Chen Ge and Zhang Jingjiu took the train heading to Xin Hai City. The two cities were adjacent to each other, but the temperature had a drastic change. Xin Hai¡¯s average temperature was higher than that of Jiujiang for reasons that eluded Chen Ge.

    ¡°Jingjiu, you have to go visit your father.¡± Chen Ge shoved a red packet to Zhang Jingjiu. ¡°Use this to buy some things for him. I won¡¯t apany you any further. Call me if you need anything.¡±

    Before Zhang Jingjiu could reject him, Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and ran out of the train station. Chen Ge hailed a taxi and gave the driver the address for Nightmare Academy that he had found online.

    Unlike Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, Nightmare Academy was situated on Xin Hai¡¯s busiest merchant street. As the oldest and most famous Haunted House in Xin Hai, they rented an entire building.

    Coincidentally enough, when the contractor was designing the merchant street, there was a small oversight. One of the smaller buildings was surrounded by other skyscrapers, creating this situation where it would never receive any sunlight no matter the time of day. Many people refused to rent this building, which always ¡®faced away from the sun¡¯. In the end, it had been selected by the founder of Nightmare Academy. He had used a very low price to rent the side of the building that could not receive any sunlight and transformed it into the biggest Haunted House in Xin Hai.

    The side of the building that asionally received some sunlight had many restaurants and shops, whereas the other side had windows that were always closed. One Yin and one Yang, this eventually became andmark for Xin Hai City and had great poprity online.

    But that was several years ago. The poprity of physical Haunted Houses was dropping, and fewer and fewer people came to visit Nightmare Academy. They tried toe up with new updates, but it did nothing to stop the poprity from slipping.

    After paying the fare, Chen Ge stood at the entrance of the merchant street. There were many vehicles, and the buildings rose into the sky. Even though it was a working day, the ce was packed.

    ¡°Do these people not need to work?¡± Carrying his tattered backpack, Chen Ge, who could not have looked more normal, stood out conspicuously on thergest merchant street in the big city. However, Chen Ge did not mind that. Compared to appearance, he paid more attention to a being¡¯s soul.

    Following the map on his phone, Chen Ge soon found Nightmare Academy. Situated at a secluded corner of the merchant street, the size of the crowd there diminished tremendously.

    Before he got near, Chen Ge saw a worker standing at the entrance, yelling loudly on the speaker.

    ¡°A 4D Haunted House experience! Experience the greatest horror in your life! A world-standard Haunted House¡ªNightmare Academy¡ªstarting a new semester with screams!

    ¡°The experience at Nightmare Academybines the element of Haunted Houses, escape rooms, exploration, and real life interaction! It is a new indoor theme park! Only by sharpening your intelligence, courage, and physical ability will you be able to survive!

    ¡°Be it in terms of design, props, scenarios, and make-up, we are much better than all other Haunted Houses on the market!¡±

    The worker yelled at the top of his lungs, but there were few visitors who were interested. Even if an asional person stopped, it was due to curiosity, and they would leave secondster.

    ¡°Sir, would you like toe and challenge our Haunted House?¡± The worker had noticed Chen Ge a long time ago. He saw Chen Ge standing there for a long time, but seeing the old-fashioned way that Chen Ge was dressed, he did not rush forward to wee him. He did not think that Chen Ge would be a potential customer.

    ¡°Is your Haunted House really scary?¡± Chen Ge was curious. Even though their morality left much to be desired, Nightmare Academy had to have something going for them, or else they would not have ended up as the biggest Haunted House in Xin Hai City.

    ¡°You won¡¯t believe me even if I say it is scary¡ªthe best way is for you to find out yourself.¡± The worker tried his sales pitch, but probably afraid that Chen Ge might just leave, he quickly added, ¡°I will only say that a world-standard Haunted House is not for jokes. Our Haunted House has maintained a thirty-three percent surrender rate and ten percentpletion rate. There is a record of a visitor lining up for three hours but giving up in less than three minutes.¡±

    ¡°Only ten percentpletion rate?¡±

    ¡°Indeed, I¡¯m not lying to you. The horror inside our Nightmare Academy is not simple scares but an exploration of the unknown inside the human heart,¡± the worker said haughtily. ¡°So, what do you think? Would you like toe and experience it? Since it¡¯s a working day, there¡¯s a promotion. Normally, the ticket costs two hundred RMB, but now it will only cost you one hundred and eighty.¡±

    ¡°That expensive?¡± Chen Ge could not help but draw aparison. For his Haunted House, the visitors had to buy the ticket to enter theme park first, but Nightmare Academy was only the visit to a Haunted House. <i>In the future, when I expand to Xin Hai, I should raise the ticket price, following the local custom.</i>

    Chen Ge was still thinking, but the worker was getting impatient. ¡°The value is equivalent to the price. Our Haunted House will definitely provide you with the best experience.¡±

    ¡°Alright then, give me one ticket.¡± Chen Ge entered the Haunted House. The interior design was atmospheric. The ticket selling lobby was decorated as a ce for new students to register, and the elevator that led into the scenario was decorated as a school gate. There were various pictures and posters rted to ghost stories pasted on the wall.

    Before entering the actual scenario, the atmosphere was already there¡ªthis Nightmare Academy was not simple.

    When Chen Ge entered the ce, there were two other visitors inside the room, and they appeared to have been waiting for a long time.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, the minimum number for a single visit is five people. Would you please wait a little while longer?¡± The female employee inside the ticket booth waved at Chen Ge. ¡°Why don¡¯t you register your name first? When we have enough people, we will start the tour immediately.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge took out his ID and walked to the ticket booth.

    The employee inside the booth had her head lowered, but when she saw Chen Ge¡¯s ID, she suddenly looked up.

    ¡°Chen Ge?¡±

 Chapter 728 - Visiting a Haunted House with a Tape Recorder?

    <h4>Chapter 728: Visiting a Haunted House with a Tape Recorder?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Is there a problem?¡± Chen Ge took out two hundred RMB and ced it on the counter. The ticket seller quickly recovered from a shock and said, ¡°Sorry, I just thought your name was very familiar. It sounds the same as one of my friends¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Is it?¡± Chen Ge smiled lightly and did not push for more details. The worker moved conspicuously faster and only took several seconds to finish the registration. The ticket for Nightmare Academy was quite interesting¡ªit was an offer letter, and Chen Ge¡¯s name was written on it.

    ¡°Hold onto your offer letter and document, and please wait in line. When the visitor number reaches five, we can start the tour.¡± After helping Chen Ge with his registration, the worker did not appear too well. With her hands over her stomach, she left the ticket booth in a hurry. Chen Ge carried his bag and lined up behind the other two visitors; he looked very much at ease like he had returned to his own home.

    ¡°Brother, did youe alone?¡± Standing before him was a couple. Their hands wereced together, and they appeared rather nervous.

    ¡°Yes, I was rather bored, so I came in for a stroll.¡±

    ¡°You sure are brave to havee here alone. This ce is very scary. I was just discussing with my girlfriend that if there were not enough people, then we would surrender directly.¡± The man was about 1.7 meters tall and wore a ck outfit with wide-rimmed sses. He looked rather kind and friendly.

    ¡°But doesn¡¯t that mean you¡¯re going to waste your ticket money?¡± Chen Ge did not quite understand it.

    ¡°That is betterpared to running out in tears after being scared!¡± The man thought that Chen Ge¡¯s question was rather strange. ¡°My colleague visited this Haunted House before, and it is very scary. Later, we¡¯d better stick together.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge operated a Haunted House himself, so he would not underestimate his enemy. There had to be a reason for Nightmare Academy¡¯s past sess. The man appeared to be quite a coward; he kept telling his girlfriend how scary this Haunted House was. His girlfriend cooperated fully¡ªjust from his description, her face was already white.

    They waited for another minute before a woman about twenty years old and three students walked in. They did not appear to know each other. The three students kept chatting among themselves and sounded quite excited. One of them said that he had attempted this Haunted House before but had given up halfway because it was too scary.

    The female visitor looked normal, and there was nothing particrly unique about her¡ªshe was the kind who would easily disappear in a crowd. She did not speak much and stood in the corner alone.

    ¡°There are enough visitors now. Everyone, pleasee with me.¡± The worker who needed to use the toilet earlier came out from the staff passage. She carried an old red school bag and several blue storage boxes. ¡°Please do not use your phones when you are inside the Haunted House. We will provide you with the necessary lighting equipment. Do not run or try to instigate a fight inside the Haunted House. Do not touch the actors, and of course, the actors will not touch you.¡±

    The worker rattled off the rules of the Haunted House before reaching her hand into the bag and taking out a small shlight. ¡°Now, please line up and retrieve your shlight from me.¡±

    When the couple in front walked through, the worker handed them the shlight immediately, but when it was Chen Ge¡¯s turn, the worker raised her hand to stop him. ¡°Sir, do you mind leaving your backpack here with us? We will return it to you after the tour ispleted.¡±

    Chen Ge shook his head. There were four Red Specters inside his backpack. He was worried the whole building would suffer if some kind of ident happened.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but those are the rules. I hope you can cooperate with us.¡± The worker stood her ground.

    ¡°You are worried that I might carry illegal items with me? That¡¯s fine, I can open my backpack for you to check.¡± Compared to the worker of Nightmare Academy, Chen Ge appeared to be more reasonable. He opened his backpack before the crowd. ¡°I¡¯ve read through your rules. I am not allowed to bring any mmable objects, sharp des, and video recording devices into your Haunted House. As you can see, there are no such things.¡±

    Everyone looked into Chen Ge¡¯s backpack, and their expressions slowly turned curious.

    ¡°What are all these?¡± Bright red high heels and cute cartoon doll could be understood as the man¡¯s strange hobby, but what about the recorder? To study English? But he was visiting a Haunted House, why would he take such things with him?

    The way that the other visitors looked at Chen Ge became weird, and the mind of the worker was filled with question marks.

    ¡°Indeed, there are no dangerous objects in here, but...¡± The worker picked up the recorder. She suspected there might be a small camera installed inside this thing. The worker pressed the y button. The tape turned, and it elicited a static sound. It really did appear to be a normal recorder.

    ¡°What do you mean? I can¡¯t even bring a recorder when I visit your Haunted House? There were no such rules when I visited other Haunted House!¡± Chen Ge argued firmly.

    ¡°But the point is that no one would have considered carrying such things when visiting a Haunted House.¡± After a moment¡¯s hesitation, the worker ced the recorder back into the bag and looked through the other items. In an inside slit of the bag, the worker found a hand-drawn horroric and a ballpoint pen wrapped in cellophane tape.

    ¡°Are you aic book artist?¡±

    ¡°Do I not look like one?¡± Chen Ge did not deny it or admit it; he just looked at the worker silently.

    The worker did not know how to answer. She put everything back into the backpack and returned it to Chen Ge. ¡°Take your offer letter and shlight. Go in.¡±

    She searched inside the schoolbag for a long time before she found a red shlight and handed it to Chen Ge. This shlight looked simr to the other shlights, but the casing for Chen Ge¡¯s was red in color while the others were all green.

    After walking through the security door, the few visitors filed into the elevator.

    ¡°In ten seconds, your journey of nightmares will be. If you cannot carry on and wish to surrender, you just need to scream at the camera.¡± The worker watched the visitors walk into the elevator and then pointed at the offer letters that every member of the group was holding. With a strange smile on her face, she said, ¡°This time, the visiting number is quite small. To bnce out the difficulty, I shall give you an additional hint¡ªthink about it, what exactly is the definition of a nightmare?¡±

    The worker pressed the elevator button. The doors closed, and the elevator started to move up.

    ¡°Chui Ming, you¡¯ve been here before, do you know what other secret might be hidden in the offer letter?¡± one of the students asked the boy next to him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t read it. Just keep your eyes on your feet after the tour starts.¡± Chui Ming looked just shy of eighteen, and he was very timid.

    ¡°Is it that scary?¡± The other student had a hard time believing it. He tried to open the offer letter, but he was only halfway through when the lights in the elevator went off!

    The darkness arrived suddenly, and the elevator was instantly filled with screams. Then, an eerie green light appeared from the four walls of the elevator.

 Chapter 729 - Photography Club

    <h4>Chapter 729: Photography Club</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    There was no screen in the elevator to show which floor they were on. Under the glow of the green light, the visitors¡¯ panicked faces looked quite scary. They looked like ghosts who had returned on the seventh day of their death.

    ¡°Since there is no worker apanying us, who can exin whether this means that the visit has officially started or not?¡± the man who walked at the front asked. He hade with his girlfriend, so he decided the he would not give up so easily.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Chui has been here once. If you have any questions, you can ask him.¡± The shortest of the three students pulled on Chui Ming¡¯s arm. The former appeared to be unfazed by the scare, but his body was more honest. The elevator continued to move up, and the few visitors all turned to Chui Ming.

    The boy was taller than his peers. His skin was very white, and he blushed from being the center of attention. ¡°We haven¡¯t officially entered the scenario yet. The elevator will open to send us into the scenario. Nightmare Academy has six floors in total, and each floor has its own unique story. It is totally random which floor the elevator will stop at.¡±

    ¡°Which floor did you get thest time you came here?¡± the man in ck asked.

    ¡°I can¡¯t say for sure. The number of the floor is written in the corridor, but that day, I surrendered before even walking into the corridor.¡± Chui Ming looked like an honest child. He would answer all the questions that people asked.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t dare enter the corridor? Is it because there are actors hidden inside the corridor?¡± Once Chen Ge spoke, he exuded an air of professionalism.

    Chui Ming nodded. ¡°There are a lot of actors working here, and they are very good at their job. The corridor is one of the ces where they focus. Unless it is absolutely necessary, we¡¯d better avoid that ce.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at the three students. As time moved forward, the atmosphere in the elevator became suffocating. The three students were squeezed together, and it was the timid Chui Ming who appeared the most collected.

    ¡°Based on my understanding, the entire tour of Nightmare Academy canst for two hours. Later, there will be plenty of parts where we¡¯re required to work together.¡± Chen Ge looked at his teammates. ¡°My name is Chen Ge. How shall I refer to the rest of you?¡±

    ¡°We are ssmates. His name is Chui Ming, this is Lee Bo, and my surname is Gou, so you can call me Xiao Gou.¡± Of the three students, Chui Ming was the tallest and the shyest; Lee Bo was on therger side, and he looked quite cute; Xiao Gou was very thin and was the shortest of them all. He was quite a chatterbox even though he was about as timid as Chui Ming.

    ¡°I am Lee Yuan, and this is my girlfriend, Xue Li.¡± After the couple gave their introduction, everyone turned to the silent woman who stood in the corner. The woman appeared like she had just survived a break-up, and she was still caught in its aftermath. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she was probably there to vent.

    <i>She is emotionally unstable. Hopefully, she won¡¯t copse inside the Haunted House.</i>

    Chen Ge studied the woman with his Yin Yang Vision. When he gave the worker his ID, he had already been recognized by Nightmare Academy¡¯s workers. When the worker was handing out the items, he had purposely been singled out. Chen Ge obviously noticed that, but he was too kind-hearted to take issue with such things.

    Now that there was such a strange person within their ranks, Chen Ge¡¯s first thought was to suspect that she was actually a Nightmare Academy employee.

    He studied her for a long time but could not find any residue of special make-up on her face. Assuming that she was really a worker there, it meant that she was an actor who would not rely on special make-up.

    After jotting down this detail in his mind, Chen Ge stopped paying her any attention.

    Hong!

    The elevator shuddered, and the visitors all went to grab the railings on the walls. Several secondster, the doors slowly opened, and a strange stench drifted into the cramped space. Compared to the natural presence at Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, the smell was chemically enhanced, and it stung the visitors¡¯ nostrils. The elevator doors opened to a world of darkness.

    ¡°Should we go out?¡±

    ¡°Brother Chui, is it this floor that you visitedst time?¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like it. When the door openedst time, it led to arge hall with a new student weing ceremony.¡±

    ¡°What the... why is it so dark in here?¡±

    ¡°Is someone there?¡± Xiao Gou grabbed Chui Ming¡¯s arm as he slowly nudged to the elevator doors. He switched open the shlight and was about to aim the light outward when a head suddenly poked out from one side of the door.

    Screams echoed in the elevator immediately. The three students knocked into each other, and Lee Yuan and Xue Li hugged each other tightly. The silent woman staggered one step backward, and her back knocked into the elevator wall. Of the whole group, only Chen Ge was unaffected as if he already predicted that this would happen.

    After the screams petered out, the owner of the head switched on the lights in the corridor. The green light in the elevator went out, and the old-fashioned ceilingmp in the corridor came on. Themp flickered on and off. The wire was exposed, and the light pulled the shadows of the visitors long.

    ¡°Are you the new students?¡± The worker outside the elevator stood under the light. He was wearing an ill-fitting school uniform. ¡°May I take a look at your offer letters?¡±

    After checking the tickets, the worker made a vague gesture. ¡°We haven¡¯t had new students for a very long time. There are rumors saying that this ce is not safe, that it¡¯s haunted, but those are merely malicious rumors created by ourpetitors. This is just a normal school.¡±

    Lee Yuan and Xue Li were the first to enter the elevator, so when they left the elevator, they were also at the front. Just as the couple were about to step out, a voice suddenly appeared next to their ears. ¡°Don¡¯t leave! Run! Do not go there!¡±

    Xue Li was given the fright of her life, and she rushed out of the elevator while screaming. The other visitors followed suit. When everyone was out of the elevator, someone finally turned back to look. The innermost wall of the elevator had a pale green face that was screaming. Unfortunately, the visitors had already left the elevator. The blood red elevator doors that were decorated with strange electrical wires slowly closed. The sound of the man¡¯s screams echoed in the empty elevator.

    ¡°3D projection?¡± Chen Ge had been staring at that face. It looked very real, but the eyes were rather empty as they stared fixatedly at a certain spot. This should be some sort of set program. If someone was standing there, it would be very scary, but unfortunately, since there was no one there, it was rather awkward.

    ¡°Look, there are always people who are trying to smear our name, but we are actually a very normal school.¡± The senior in the school uniform led the new students deeper into the corridor. ¡°The school organized a weing ceremony for all of you. You should go take some pictures and hand in your physical check report. If there¡¯s no problem, pleasee to the third floor for the weing ceremony.¡±

    After walking a few steps, the senior stopped. He pushed open the door of an adjacent room. ¡°Come and take some pictures.¡±

    The words ¡®photography club¡¯ were written on the wooden door. The space inside was bigger than anticipated. A bunch of photography equipment was left in the corner, and the projector in the middle of the room was showing some kind of movie.

 Chapter 730 - Consecutive Scares

    <h4>Chapter 730: Consecutive Scares</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Come, stand before the background.¡± The senior in the ill-fitting uniform picked up the proid camera from the table and urged the visitors to stand on the left side of the projector. ¡°On the count of three, say cheese.¡±

    The senior pressed on the snap button. His finger did not move away from the sh, so the shes kepting. Inside the dark room, the shes were blinding, and the visitors all raised their hands to shield their eyes.

    ¡°Alright, the pictures are ready. I will go check and see whether the doctor has arrived or not. You should spread these pictures among yourselves. Onest piece of advice, do not touch anything in this room.¡±

    When the senior spoke, the camera kept ¡®vomiting¡¯ pictures. He picked up a random one, shoved it inside his pocket, and left after cing the camera back on the table.

    The temperature of the air-conditioning in the room was low. The wind caressed the visitors¡¯ exposed skin. The boys by the name of Chui Ming and Lee Bo assisted each other, and they edged toward the table. They picked up the pictures from the ground. ¡°We¡¯d better follow their instructions. There are many puzzle-solving missions inside the abandoned school, and the clues are normally hidden inside these small props.¡±

    Chui Ming had his previous experience to attest to. The previous time, he had skipped over the job of collecting and analyzing these props, so in the end, he could only give up. Picking up the pictures, Chui Ming handed them out to the other teammates when he suddenly stopped. ¡°Why is there an extra one?¡±

    Chui Ming stood next to Chen Ge, who was at the back of the group. Chen Ge had not gotten his picture yet, but there were three pictures in Chui Ming¡¯s grasp. Not counting his own and Chen Ge¡¯s, there was an extra one.

    ¡°There must be some problem with that picture! What the f*ck! Take a look at this!¡± Lee Yuan screamed as he pointed at the picture that he was holding, ¡°There is one extra person in the group picture!¡±

    When the visitors heard that, they all looked down to check their own pictures, and they were shocked to find that an extra person had been standing next to Xue Li when they took the picture. She was wearing Nightmare Academy¡¯s uniform, her face was pale, and she stared right at the camera with her head leaning softly on Xue Li¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°What the! But I didn¡¯t notice anything at all!¡± Xue Li kept brushing her shoulder. She was normally an educated woman who would never allow herself to curse.

    Chen Ge stared at the picture. ¡°This hasn¡¯t been tampered with. In other words, the actor, who had already hidden herself in the room earlier, sneaked out when the pictures were taken.¡±

    It was the senior who chose where they should stand when taking the picture. The color of the wall behind them had a slightly different hue from the rest. Upon closer inspection, one could discern a spot where it was slightly bulging.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to stay here anymore. Let¡¯s go.¡± Xue Li hugged Lee Yuan like a bullied marsupial.

    ¡°Don¡¯t wander off alone. It¡¯s safest to listen to the worker¡¯s instructions,¡± Chui Ming warned. ¡°No matter how scary the scenario is, you will not run into anything too creepy, but if you stray from the designated plot, you might run into the other ghosts and monsters hidden in the different scenarios, and then you¡¯ll know the real meaning of despair.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Xue Li leaned on Lee Yuan¡¯s shoulder. She quickly tossed the picture aside. She was too scared to hold onto it. Her pretty eyes scanned the projected image on the screen. Xue Li had not seen this movie before. The main actors were mainly students; they had photography club¡¯s nametags on, and the movie was shot right in that room. ¡°Wait,e and look at this movie. This is rather strange.¡±

    Everyone turned to the movie. The students in the movie were cleaning the room when one of the students found a dusty video tape at the back of the one of the cupboards. The students gathered together. They were confused and decided to see what was on the tape.

    The movie did not have any sound¡ªit felt like they were watching a silent movie. Thankfully, the actors had good acting skill, and they managed to exin the plot through expressions and actions. In the movie, the students ced the tape inside the yer, and a strange scene followed. The visitors in the Haunted House stood inside the room for photography club and watched a movie about photography club¡¯s students watching a movie inside the very same room.

    The location ovepped, and even the angle of the movie was simr, only the viewers had changed. This kind of simrity could easily lead to some sort of psychological illusion. After adjusting the yer, the movie started to y. It seemed to record an official activity carried out by the school.

    The recording was very short, only one minute long. After the movie ended, the students repeated it several times, and they got into an argument. Since the movie was silent, the visitors could not tell what the subject of their argument was. After the argument settled down somewhat, they reyed the movie again.

    When the movie ran to the forty-fourth second, one of the students pressed the pause button. His finger was pointing at the corridor at the corner of the screen and said something with a fear-stricken face.

    The still of the movie zoomed in, and the visitors got a clearer view of what was happening. When the school was organizing some kind of activity, a shadow shed across the corridor.

    The students got into another argument, probably because some of them voiced their disagreement, thinking that it was merely a recording mistake. Their argument went nowhere, and the students gradually filed out of the room, leaving behind the student who was the first to discover the shadow.

    The student repeated the movie several times like he was trying to prove something. Weirdly enough, whenever he repeated the movie, the human shadow in the corridor would get clearer until a human face could eventually be seen.

    It felt as if the person in the corridor was moving closer. When he yed it for the third time, one could see it was a pale-faced woman covered in blood standing in the corridor.

    The visitors¡¯ attention was increasingly drawn to the movie. The focus of the movie shifted constantly between the student in the movie and the projection on the screen. Finally, on the fifth rey, the face in the corridor became the clearest!

    The twisted expression caused the student much difort, and it caused the visitors¡¯ hearts to squeeze with trepidation. The student in the movie started to shake. With shaking hand, he tried to y the movie for the sixth time.

    Once again, the movie stopped at forty-fourth second but this time, the shadow in the corridor disappeared. The student scratched his head and leaned closer to the screen. He studied the corridor at the corner of the screen closely. Right then, the screen hanging from the wall slid off, and a creepy face materialized on the wall behind the screen!

    Bang!

    Before the visitors had the chance to scream, the door to the photography club was pushed open, and the senior screamed at the top of his lungs. ¡°Quick! Run! Didn¡¯t I tell you not to touch anything inside the room?¡±

    Before the visitors understood what was happening, Xue Li felt a tug on the back of her head. She turned back to look, and the face that should have belonged inside the movie had appeared behind her!

    ¡°AH!¡± Her mind was broken. Xue Li dragged Lee Yuan and ran out of the room as fast as she could manage. This caused chaos to spread through the rest of the group. Only Chen Ge remained where he was, holding his backpack, studying the projector and the wall at the back of the photography club.

    ¡°One of them pulled open the door to attract the visitors¡¯ attention while the other sneaked out from the worker¡¯s passageway. The timing is wless. This can only be achieved through multiple rehearsals. Nightmare Academy shouldn¡¯t be underestimated.¡±

 Chapter 731 - Senior Was Taken by a Monster

    <h4>Chapter 731: Senior Was Taken by a Monster</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    When the visitors left the room, the senior immediately closed the door to the photography club and kept mumbling. ¡°How can this be? She has returned!¡±

    Incessant banging came from behind the door. The whole door shook like it could be knocked down at any moment. The senior was quite a good actor. Under his influence, the already panicking visitors became even more flustered.

    ¡°There¡¯s a problem here. Please go on ahead to the physical check-up for the new students. It¡¯s inside the room at the front there. The doctor has already arrived.¡± The senior forced a smile. The door shook violently. In the dark corridor, the visitors would not have been so afraid when there was a guide leading them, but exploring the scenario on their own was quite a tall task.

    ¡°What are you all doing here? Go!¡± The senior¡¯s voice turned urgent. He leaned his back against the door of the photography club. Even so, the door was still shaking very greatly.

    ¡°We should listen to him, let¡¯s go.¡± Chui Ming and Lee Yuan led the group away. Before they got too far, the senior holding back the door suddenly added, ¡°Right, I¡¯ll give you another piece of advice! There is a problem with the elevator, and it is temporarily out of order. Try not to wander off to another floor because in the staircase...¡±

    He was halfway through when a pale arm reached out from the middle of the door and pulled the hapless man into the room.

    ¡°Save me! Save me!¡± The senior¡¯s blood-curdling scream echoed down the hall. His pale face squeezed between the door. His cheeks were filled with blood, and he waved his arms madly around for help. ¡°Save me! Pull me out!¡±

    Blood red paint squirted out from behind his head, and itnded everywhere. Under such circumstances, people were not going to get any closer. The visitors stood there and watched the senior being dragged slowly into the door, and the blood trickled along the floor.

    ¡°Save me!¡± The senior screamed loudly. Right then, Chen Ge, who was at the back of the group, moved forward. His shoes stepped on the red paint. The ¡®blood¡¯ was not as sticky as actual blood; it was red paint diluted with water. Without much hesitation, Chen Ge reached the door and grabbed the senior¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Save...¡± Before the senior could finish, Chen Ge pushed him behind the door and locked it. The corridor became quiet immediately. Even the ghost inside the room was at a loss.

    The visitors looked at Chen Ge with widened eyes. Thetter only said with some embarrassment, ¡°Sorry, I guess my hands slipped.¡±

    After Chen Ge walked for three meters away from the room, the door started to shake again, and the senior¡¯s scream and a female ghost¡¯s wicked cackle came from inside the photograph club¡¯s room.

    ¡°These workers at least know how to adapt to a situation.¡± Chen Ge returned to the back of the group, and he noticed the other visitors were still looking at him. ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there¡ªwe need to hurry to find the doctor. Just now, the student said that it¡¯s not safe to use the staircase, and we are too close to the stairs now. Perhaps there might be things that crawl out from thereter. After all, you saw the movie earlier; the ghost first appeared at the staircase.¡±

    With a calm tone and sharp analysis, after pushing the senior to his death, Chen Ge¡¯s ability to remain so collected left a deep impression on the other visitors.

    ¡°You are right; we are too close to the staircase now.¡± Lee Yuan was slightly afraid. He looked at the stairs behind him and the dark corridor ahead of him. He did not dare move forward¡ªno one knew what kind of monster they would run into. He nudged forward a few steps before stopping. He turned back to ask Chen Ge for help. ¡°Big brother, how about you lead the way for us?¡±

    ¡°Would you like to take up the rear? Actually, that is more dangerous than walking ahead. The end of the group is closest to the stairs, and who knows, you might just find an extra person walking behind you?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s enough! I¡¯ll lead at the front then!¡± Lee Yuan grabbed Lee Xue¡¯s hand, and Lee Xue hugged Lee Yuan¡¯s waist tightly. This couple appeared like they had entered a mine zone and walked very slowly. Seeing this, Chen Ge shook his head slightly.

    These visitors were all normal visitors. If they were visiting his Haunted House, they would not have survived a one-star scenario, so it was normal for them to be afraid of everything.

    Lights were installed on the wall at every interval of ten meters. The lights flickered, but there did not seem to be a rhythm behind it, which added to the creepy atmosphere. Nightmare Academy created a good atmosphere, but it was still leagues behind Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. Removing his backpack, Chen Ge nced at the time and decided not to waste time anymore. ¡°If I wrap this up early, I might be able to catch the afternoon train back.¡±

    Taking out the ballpoint pen wrapped in cellophane tape, Chen Ge ced it inside his shirt pocket. For this kind of small scenario, the Pen Spirit was more than enough.

    ¡°Come, I will lead the way.¡± Turning on the red shlight, Chen Ge walked alone at the front. The visitors at the back needed to start running to keep up with him.

    ¡°There are two cameras installed on either side of the corridor. In the middle of the corridor, there is a camera that can turn a hundred and eighty degrees. These are the only three that I¡¯ve discovered so far. If there are no other cameras, the blind spot should be these few ces,¡± Chen Ge mumbled to himself as he walked down the corridor. The visitors did not understand his action at all. They could not figure why someone would pay attention to security cameras¡¯ locations inside a Haunted House. Perhaps this was how a true expert attempt a Haunted House.

    Chen Ge walked for a long time but did note across any rooms that resembled a clinic or health center. He could only turn around and knocked on the doors one by one.

    ¡°Is anyone in? We¡¯re here for a physical examination.¡± When he knocked on the third door, footsteps came, and once the wooden door was open, a thick stench of disinfectant leaked out. A doctor in a white coat stood at the door. He looked at the visitors and asked with surprise, ¡°Why are there so few of you? Where is the senior that is supposed to be leading you?¡±

    The visitors all turned to look at Chen Ge, but none of them dared to say that it was this person who had pushed the senior into the haunted room.

    ¡°The senior was captured by ghost, and he told us to find you on our own,¡± Chen Ge exined calmly.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± The doctor was confused. ¡°Why don¡¯t you alle in first. For the sake of privacy, please upy one cubicle each. You cane out after filling out the form provided.¡±

    The door opened, and the visitors were given the view of a bed inside the clinic. It was covered up with a nket, but a slender arm dangled from one end of the bed. The cupboard at the back of the room had a saw, a syringe about ten times its normal size, a ck awl, and a scary-looking hammer that was only slightly smaller than Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer.

    ¡°Doctor, what are these things for?¡± Chen Ge walked toward the cupboard but was quickly held back by the doctor. ¡°Those are for the physical examination.¡±

    The doctor chuckled darkly and turned to study the few visitors with dark intentions. ¡°Please enter the cubicles to fill up the form first. After the examination is done, you¡¯ll officially start your student life here.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge studied the hammer inside the cupboard and involuntarily rubbed his hands together. He was the first to enter the cubicle.

 Chapter 732 - What Kind of Character Should I Give Myself?

    <h4>Chapter 732: What Kind of Character Should I Give Myself?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The cubicle was very small, with a form and a pen hanging from a wall. Chen Ge picked up the form to study it. ¡°Please select the one that you are not afraid of.¡±

    The first row offered the choice between darkness and ustrophobia. ¡°Is this some kind of psychological test to see if the participants suffer from any kind of psychological illnesses?¡±

    Chen Ge was not afraid of darkness or being trapped inside a small space. He was about to randomly select an option when a thought shed through his mind. <i>Does Nightmare Academy design a specific route based on the answers given here to scare the visitors at the maximum level?</i>

    After giving it some thought, Chen Ge circled the word darkness. With Yin Yang Vision, darkness did not affect him at all. The second row was two pictures, one of a spider and the other of a snake.

    The third row was a choice between mad murderer and wronged spirit. The fourth row had two pictures of carcass mannequins; one was headless, and the other was covered in blood.

    Chen Ge answered all the questions quickly. He opened the door of the cubicle and walked out holding the form. Chen Ge used less than half a minute. The doctor was just sending in thest visitor, so he had not even had time to turn around.

    ¡°Do you have any other tests that I need to take?¡± Chen Ge ced the form on the table and stared at the hammer and saw inside the cupboard. Probably out of safety concerns, all these things were tied down with ropes and could not be taken down easily.

    ¡°You¡¯re done already?¡± The doctor appeared to be thinking, and Chen Ge¡¯s sudden appearance gave him quite a fright.

    ¡°Is that so surprising?¡± Chen Ge saw something bulging in the doctor¡¯s pocket¡ªit seemed to be in the shape of a remote control. There should be some kind of unique trap inside the cubicles, but since Chen Ge hade out so soon, the doctor had not had chance to trigger it.

    ¡°I advise you to read through the form carefully. Each question has its own unique meaning. Your choices will help me determine your personality, and with that, we can draft the best system to help you,¡± the doctor said in a kind and worried tone. When the two conversed, the other visitors left the cubicles one after another until only the second cubicle to thest remained closed.

    ¡°It has been three minutes already. What is taking her so long?¡± Lee Yuan hugged Xue Li¡¯s arm¡ªthis couple stuck together like glue.

    The doctor was getting impatient as well. He knocked on the door lightly. ¡°Miss, are you done yet?¡±

    There was no answer. The doctor knocked again before the door creaked open. The woman with few words walked out from the cubicle and handed the form to the doctor. The form was rather wet. The doctor looked down involuntarily and realized that the form was wet from tears.

    The woman had answered the first few questions honestly, but starting from the fourth question, some kind of trauma seemed to have overwhelmed the woman, and she had scribbled ¡®Death¡¯ many times on the picture. With Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge saw that all the words were written on the picture with the headless mannequin. He wondered if this was a plot inside the Haunted House or an ident.

    The doctor hesitated before he folded the form and ced it inside his pocket. ¡°Thank you for the forms. Now, please follow the senior who led you here to join the weing ceremony.¡±

    ¡°That senior has already been captured by a ghost. He is still trapped at the photography club,¡± Chen Ge reminded him. He realized that the doctor was being rather absent-minded; he had forgotten the fact that the senior had already been captured.

    ¡°Oh, right. In that case, I¡¯ll lead you there.¡± The doctor walked to the door and held the doorknob. ¡°I¡¯ve scanned all of your expressions, and no one has any problems physically or mentally. Once you walk out of this door, you will have officially be the students of Nightmare Academy. As the school¡¯s counsellor, I will give you onest piece of advice. Do not open any random door at the school, and do not trust everything a stranger tells you.¡±

    The door opened. The doctor switched on his shlight and walked ahead with his head lowered. The visitors followed behind him closely. They took a few steps when the visitors heard the sound of nails scratching the dooring from behind them.

    Turning back to look, there was a girl wearing a school costume standing at the corner leading to the stairs. Her face was as pale as paper, and she had a creepy smile on her face. Her arm waved mechanically at the group of visitors.

    The dim lights at the corner flickered. The girl appeared and disappeared in the darkness. Her lips were open, but no voice came out. It seemed like she was saying something.

    ¡°There¡¯s a ghost behind us!¡± The fatty, Lee Bo, screamed as he squeezed through the group and huddled behind the doctor. When the others saw the girl, they all moved subconsciously faster, and Chen Ge was left at the back of the group again. He turned around to stare at the girl. When other people were scared by the girl¡¯s scary make-up, Chen Ge was studying the girl¡¯s lips.

    ¡°Do not follow the doctor.¡±

    ¡°Stay away from him.¡±

    ¡°Be careful of the adults.¡±

    ¡°Run.¡±

    The girl seemed to be giving the visitors hints, but other than Chen Ge, no one saw it.

    ¡°Why should we be careful of adults?¡± Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of a detail. The senior that showed up earlier had been wearing a uniform that was conspicuously too small for his size. ¡°Is the senior not a student but an adult?¡±

    Stopping, Chen Ge stared at the girl at the corner, calcting the distance between himself and the girl. ¡°If I rush ahead, I can cover this distance in under five seconds. Before the doctor can even react, I will have joined the girl and be a part of the ghosts.¡±

    Compared to the ck phone¡¯s mission, visiting another Haunted House was a holiday, and Chen Ge gradually found the joy. ¡°I¡¯ve already paid for the ticket, so as long as it is within an eptable range, I can attempt this any way that I want. To expand the visitor¡¯s creativity and to help them unwind, that is the purpose of a Haunted House.¡±

    The plot that originally only had one path was forcibly made into an open ending by Chen Ge. He became more excited. ¡°I¡¯ve been too busy dealing with the ck phely. Today, I should try to rx and unwind.¡±

    His pupils narrowed, and Chen Ge stared straightly at the girl at the corner as a warm smile appeared on his face.

    Some powder dropped from the pale face. The girl suddenly shivered when she saw the smile on Chen Ge¡¯s face. She staggered involuntarily backward and then disappeared into the darkness.

    ¡°She¡¯s so shy. A real ghost wouldn¡¯t act that way.¡± Carrying the backpack, his hands inside his pocket, Chen Ge walked down the dim corridor, but he had never found things so bright.

    ¡°The doctor represents the darkness in the adults¡¯ heart, working to hide the secret in the school; the girl at the corner represents the ghosts, not liking to be seen and disappearing once I make any move. Since neither party represents the force of good, how about I turn myself into the third party at this phantom school?¡±

 Chapter 733 - Donâ€™t Play Games in the Classroom

    <h4>Chapter 733: Don¡¯t y Games in the ssroom</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Most plot-heavy Haunted Houses would arrange roles for the visitors to y. That way, they could immerse themselves into the plot more easily, like at Nightmare Academy. In this Haunted House, all the visitors were treated as new students enrolling at the school, and they would adopt the new student identity to slowly unravel the ghost stories at the school.

    Theoretically speaking, Chen Ge¡¯s identity was also a new student, but he did not have the understanding or preparation to be a new student. Other visitors focused on solving the puzzles and clearing the scenario, but he was focusing on how to be a new nightmare.

    Actually, Chen Ge did not wish to go so far to Xin Hai to do something like that, but Nightmare Academy had forced his hand. Walking down the dark and eerie corridor, Chen Ge was very satisfied with the building. Situated on Xin Hai¡¯s busiest merchant street, and due to its special geographical situation, it ensured that the ce would not be hit by sunlight no matter the time of day, which meant that it would have little to no influence on his employees. The interior was very spacious as well. There were six floors in total, and that was more than enough to fit in many Haunted House scenarios.

    ¡°If I¡¯m going to open a branch in Xin Hai, this ce is the most suitable.¡± Of course, Nightmare Academy would not hand the location to Chen Ge freely, so he was merely daydreaming and nning ahead.

    ¡°Hey, you at the back! Try not to get left behind!¡± The visitors had walked quite a distance away when they realized that Chen Ge wasgging behind, and one of them called to urge him along. With the doctor leading the way, the group arrived at arge ssroom.

    ¡°Go in now. The new student weing ceremony will be held inside this ssroom. If you¡¯re lucky, you might even get to meet the headmaster.¡± The doctor left. The visitors stood outside the door, watching him walk away.

    ¡°He¡¯s leaving just like that?¡± Xue Li hugged Lee Yuan and grumbled under her breath. ¡°Isn¡¯t he going to give us some hints?¡±

    The few visitors stood in the corridor, and no one dared to be the first to enter. Without nning it, their eyes gradually moved to fall on Chen Ge.

    Other than Lee Yuan, Chen Ge was the only adult male there.

    ¡°The way I visit a Haunted House is different from what you¡¯d imagine. If you wish to rely me, then you¡¯d better be prepared to run,¡± Chen Ge warned them kindly. He had a natural affection toward those who dared to attempt Haunted Houses. Perhaps it was a kind of an upational habit.

    Pushing the door open, a thick stench of blood hit them. The weing ceremony for the new students was also the start of nightmare!

    Old tables were arranged in the ssroom, and many mannequins were positioned in the seats. There was a working projector ced on the podium, and a dead person¡¯s model hung from the ckboard.

    The closed windows, strange lights, and the eerie background music created a perfect atmosphere of terror.

    ¡°The scenting from this model is ny percent simr to a real body. How did they manage to do this? Did they ssh animal blood on the model?¡± It was two different worlds inside and outside the door. After Chen Ge entered the ssroom, his tone changed. ¡°No wonder this ce managed to be the biggest Haunted House at Xin Hai.¡±

    After Chen Ge got into the ssroom, Xue Li nned to follow, but she only took the first step when she was suddenly pulled back by Lee Yuan.

    ¡°What are you doing? You gave me such a fright!¡± Xue Li ced her palm over her chest and red at Lee Yuan. Lee Yuan winked multiple times, and after pulling Xue Li aside, he whispered into her ear. ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear what he said earlier? The man said that the smelling from this model is ny percent simr to the real one.¡±

    ¡°And? What does that have to do with anything?¡± Xue Li still had not caught onto what her boyfriend was trying to express.

    ¡°My dear, that can only mean that he has interacted with a real dead body before!¡± Lee Yuan was shaking in his boots. Taking on thergest Haunted House at Xin Hai was already a big challenge, and now he realized there were a few strange people in his group. What was he to do?

    ¡°You have a point.¡± Xue Li was a more innocent person and did not jump to the worst possible scenario immediately. ¡°Perhaps he¡¯s a doctor. I hear some surgeonse to Haunted Houses to rx afterpleting difficult surgeries. We¡¯re lucky this time to have grouped up with a professional.¡±

    ¡°I hope you¡¯re right.¡± Lee Yuan and Xue Li found themselvesgging behind since the rest had moved on without them; they were the only ones left in the corridor. Themps down the corridor suddenly turned on. Lee Yuan did not mind it that much. He was still deliberating over whether to follow Chen Ge or not. At that moment, themps nearer to them switched on, and a shadow shed across their eyes.

    A cold draft moved through their hair, and Lee Yuan suddenly sneezed. He lifted his head subconsciously and saw strands of hair dangling from the ceiling. In a corner where the ceiling was poked through, there was the face of a child. With pale skin and half-open lips, the girl seemed to have something to say to Lee Yuan. Through the hole in the ceiling, she tossed a ball of paper toward Lee Yuan.

    ¡°Help! There¡¯s someone there!¡± Lee Yuan screamed, and his legs started to carry him away. He was about to pull Xue Li into the ssroom when themp closest to them came on. Just three meters away from them stood a monster about two meters tall!

    The skull was pierced through by nails, and the clothes were wet with blood. The exposed skin was covered in scary-looking wounds. His fingers were decaying, and he was holding a ck and red rope in his palm.

    ¡°What the f*ck! When did such arge monster appear?¡± Lee Yuan and Xue Li charged into the ssroom without hesitating. Then they mmed the ssroom door shut. ¡°Come and help! There¡¯s a monster outside the door! Help block the door!¡±

    The visitors inside the ssroom were already nervous. They were carefully investigating the room. The sudden loudmotioning from outside spooked them. They were not scared by the props inside the Haunted House but by their own allies.

    Bang!

    Something outside the ssroom rammed heavily into the door. Lee Yuan used all his might to hold the door back, and veins pulsed on his forehead. ¡°Come and help me!¡±

    Chen Ge reacted the fastest. He ran over to push the door shut. ¡°Did you guys trigger some kind of trap?¡±

    ¡°No, I swear, nothing like that happened! We were just standing outside the door! We have no idea when this thing appeared!¡± Lee Yuan¡¯s face was red.

    ¡°I understand it now. The appearance of this monster is to ensure that the visitors will follow the designated plot. If you stay in one ce too long, the monster will appear.¡± Chen Ge helped to close the door, and he grabbed the broom to lock the door in ce.

    ¡°Now that the monster has blocked the door, how are we supposed to leave?¡± Even though the door was temporarily closed, the monster did not leave, and he kept knocking against the door like a crazy.

    ¡°The clues should be inside this room. It could be a talisman to chase the monster away, or it could be a secret path or even a weapon.¡± Chen Ge looked at the door that might break down at any moment. He was so calm that even his teammates felt afraid. ¡°The terror level is rising now. This is more like it.¡±

    ¡°Hey! Come take a look at this!¡± When Chen Ge and Lee Yuan were closing the door, Chui Ming discovered something. He pointed at the projector; the screen next to the ckboard was showing a short video.

    Four male students entered a dark ssroom. Each of them upied a corner of the room, and as they counted down the numbers, they moved along the walls. They walked around and around when suddenly a fifth person appeared on screen.

    Since all five of them were wearing the same uniform, Chui Ming had a hard time telling who the extra person was.

 Chapter 734 - This Is Different from the Script!

    <h4>Chapter 734: This Is Different from the Script!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge nced at the five children on screen, and he instantly recognized this rather famous supernatural game.

    ¡°This is called the four corners game. At midnight, four people are tasked with standing in the four corners of a dark, closed room and then walk along the walls in a clockwise fashion.

    ¡°When the first person reaches the first corner, they have to pat the shoulder of the next person lightly. Since there are four corners in the room and four people ying the game, when the people in the ssroom start to move, there will be a corner that is left empty.

    ¡°When you pass the empty corner, cough once, and then you can continue on down toward the next corner.¡±

    ¡°How do you know this so well?¡± Chui Ming was surprised. He was holding a diary that he had found next to the projector, and the game¡¯s rules were written on the first page.

    ¡°The version that I gave is the standard mode. If you wish to make it more interesting, you can cover your eyes and call out your name, then ask the name of the person standing there when you reach the corner. This way, it¡¯ll be far easier for a fifth person to appear.¡± Chen Ge extended his hand to grab the diary, and Chui Ming subconsciously darted away. ¡°What? Don¡¯t you trust me? This Haunted House is so scary. Only by working together will we be able to survive.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t trust you. I just think it¡¯s not that normal for a visitor to know the rules of such a scary game to its exact details.¡± Chui Ming seemed to have been left with some scars when hest visited Nightmare Academy, so he had a deep caution toward anyone.

    ¡°How is that not normal?¡± Reaching into his pocket, Chen Ge pressed on the ck phone. ¡°This kind of famous supernatural game is not that scary because many people have attempted it before. Actually, I have some rare games in mind, would you like to give it a try? This ce could not be more suitable.¡±

    Chui Ming gulped as he looked around. The ssroom door was jostled by the monster that awaited outside, the model before the ckboard swayed back and forth, and the mannequins at the seats carried scary expressions; was it really suitable to y any kind of game in that kind of environment?

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯m not going to joke with you anymore. If I¡¯m not mistaken, Nightmare Academy¡¯s weing ceremony involves ying this game, and we should be able to move on after ying it.¡± Chen Ge was familiar with the tricks because he was in the same business.

    ¡°The ghost is about toe in, and you still have the time to joke, huh? Let¡¯s get a move on.¡± Lee Yuan and Xue Li walked over. They made sure to stay away from the door.

    ¡°First, there is one thing that I need to correct. The entity that is knocking against the door now is a monster, not a ghost; they arepletely different things.¡± Chen Ge took the diary from Chui Ming. He opened it and ced it on the podium. He stood before the ckboard, and the model with the horrible smell swayed behind him like a pendulum.

    ¡°This diary is unnamed, but from the handwriting, it seems to belong to a student. It is worth noting that the handwriting in this diary is uniform, meaning that there were probably multiple owners,¡± Chen Ge analyzed easily. ¡°My observation is that the handwriting changes afterpleting each game. Does this mean that the people who participated in the game died after writing in this diary?¡±

    Chen Ge spoke very fast. With the training from the ck phone, the man was calmer the scarier the environment was. ¡°Combining the video on screen and the diary, let me reconstruct the situation for you. The four new students didn¡¯t listen to their teacher and entered this school at night to y the four corners game. During the game, an extra person appeared, and then all four of them disappeared. So, we would need to finish what they started and experience this game ourselves.¡±

    Two hours per visit... Chen Ge nned to narrow that down to less than half an hour. He nudged the model away. ¡°Excuse me.¡±

    While the other visitors were still reading through the diary, Chen Ge moved to the corner of the ssroom and discovered a ring attached to the wall. He pulled on it, and the ckboard shifted silently.

    ¡°There¡¯s some kind of mechanism installed here. I get it now.¡± Chen Ge turned to yell at the other visitors. ¡°There should be four rings in this ssroom, one in each corner. Four of us need to stand in the four corners and then pull on them at the same time. After that, we should be able to escape.¡±

    Chen Ge, who had been through a lot, had far greater thinking and reaction speeds than a normal visitor. Plus, he had his wealth of experience to rely on. Basically, with a little clue, he could reconstruct the whole story.

    Before the visitors understood what was happening, Chen Ge already came out with the solution to the problem. The few visitors moved to the corners of the ssroom with some suspicion. After they pulled on the rings together, the ckboard gradually rose to show the hidden path behind it. The monster outside the door heard this and knocked on the door even harder.

    ¡°Quick, let¡¯s go!¡± Lee Yuan and Xue Li stood at the corner closest to the hidden path. Neither of them wanted to stay there any longer, so once the hidden path appeared, they let go of the ring and ran toward the ckboard. However, once they did so, the ckboard started to slide back into ce.

    ¡°Four of us have to pull on the rings at the same time to keep the ckboard lifted.¡± Chen Ge understood it then. The reason that Nightmare Academy designed this was not to scare the visitors but to split them up. After all, visiting a Haunted House alone would be far scarier than visiting it with nine other people.

    ¡°I believe that we will have to split up. Four of us have to stay back to pull on the rings, and the rest will go in.¡± After Chen Ge said that, the others looked at each other, and it was clear that none of them wanted to stay.

    ¡°How about the three of us stay behind?¡± The little fatty, Lee Bo, said, ¡°Ladies first, after all.¡±

    Lee Yuan and Xue Li were a couple, so naturally, they would not split up. Thus, the final candidates to stay back were Chen Ge and the three students. The four stood in the four corners, and the mechanism was activated. Once Lee Yuan and the rest got into the hidden path, something did happen.

    The ckboard came down suddenly, creating a loud crash as it hit the floor.

    <i>Someone has let go of their rings?</i>

    Narrowing his eyes, with his Yin Yang Vision, darkness did not affect Chen Ge that much. He looked around the other corners and saw that all three students had let go of the rings. They stood facing the wall with their heads lowered and their fingers knocking on the wall lightly.

    <i>So, these three students are the Haunted House¡¯s actors.</i>

    The truth dawned on Chen Ge; he had been isted.

    <i>The four visitors that came at the end are probably all their workers.</i>

    He was not angry or afraid. After all, Chen Ge had done much worse to his own visitors.

    After giving it some thought, Chen Ge opened his mouth to say, ¡°What happened? Why did the ckboard fall? Which of you let go? Are you guys still there?¡±

    There was a trace of surprise and fear in his voice, giving the impression that he was trying hard to keep calm.

    ¡°This is Lee Bo, I¡¯m here! Now what should we do? It is so dark in here; I don¡¯t dare move!¡±

    From the corner closest to the ckboard came Lee Bo¡¯s voice. His lips were wide open, and he screamed with a voice that was almost breaking. When he spoke, Lee Bo looked in Chen Ge¡¯s direction, and the joy of revenge was shining in his eyes.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid! Stand where you are, I¡¯ming to get you!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice was full of concern and warmth like he was worried for the boys¡¯ safety. ¡°Please don¡¯t panic, I am trying to figure out a solution! Who is still here? Please speak up, let me know your exact location!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m standing next to the diary. When I was looking through it earlier, there was an extra notice at the bottom of the rules. If you fail to find the exit, we can y this second game to locate the new exit.¡± Chui Ming¡¯s voice came from opposite Lee Bo. The two of them stood in the corners closest to the ckboard.

    ¡°Looks like we need to y this second game to escape. Later, I need you to follow my orders. No matter what happens, remember to stay calm!¡± Repaying their vengeance with kindness, Chen Ge reminded them, ¡°When the real game starts, there might be an extra participant. That should be the Haunted House¡¯s actor, so whatever you do, do not panic.¡±

 Chapter 735 - Why Are You Behind Me?

    <h4>Chapter 735: Why Are You Behind Me?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The four visitors upied the four corners of the ssroom. The surroundings were dark, and there was no light at all. Background music that came from an unknown corner drifted into their ears and would have caused any visitors present to break out in a cold sweat.

    ¡°If you¡¯re all ready, we will start ying this game.¡± Chen Ge had attempted many supernatural games before, but this was his first time ying it with strangers.

    Out of safety concerns, Chen Ge reminded the other participants again, ¡°This Haunted House never ever sees the sun, so it gathers a very heavy Yin energy, and that attracts the presence of many strange things.

    ¡°ying a game like this in a Haunted House is actually a very dangerous activity. When I arrived at this ce, I noticed that Nightmare Academy is located at the Yin corner of the merchant street, and it is also located at the back end of the whole building. This is Yin on top of Yin. To make matters worse, there is a taller skyscraper built next to this building blocking the only source of sunlight to Nightmare Academy. This kind of geographical location is incredibly scary.¡±

    ¡°We are just students. Can you please not make thing sound so scary?¡± Lee Bo pulled down the zipper of his top and exposed the school uniform underneath. It was identical to the uniform that the senior wore.

    ¡°What I¡¯m saying is very simple. ying a supernatural game in a Haunted House might cause us to really run into those things. If you¡¯re afraid, you¡¯d better leave this room as fast as you can, because certain things might not be a trap arranged by the Haunted House but something elsepletely...¡±

    ¡°I know, but can we please start the game already? This ce is too creepy. I don¡¯t want to stay here any longer.¡± Xiao Gou was in the corner opposite from Chen Ge. When he said that, there was a strange smile on his face.

    ¡°Okay, then I¡¯ll start first.¡± Chen Ge walked toward Chui Ming while touching the wall. Based on the rules, he needed to reach Chui Ming¡¯s location. Slowly moving forward, to make it appear more real, he even closed his eyes.

    His fingers touched the corner of the wall. Chen Ge opened his eyes, and a pale face was floating in the dark. Chen Ge reached out to touch the shoulder of the man before him. Chen Ge was moving in a clockwise motion; he was supposed to move to Chui Ming, Chui Ming was supposed to move to Lee Bo, and Lee Bo was supposed to move to Xiao Gou.

    Chui Ming did not speak. He followed the ckboard and moved to Lee Bo¡¯s corner. When he reached Lee Bo, he patted Lee Bo¡¯s left shoulder and then right shoulder. This appeared to be their signal.

    Chen Ge realized that once Chui Ming did that, Lee Bo¡¯s tensed shoulders conspicuously rxed. The game progressed with ease, but when they did the second round, something changed.

    Xiao Gou patted Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder. He upied the corner when Chen Ge had originally been. ording to the rules, Chen Ge should have been moving to Chui Ming¡¯s corner while the rest stood where they were. However, Chen Ge was only halfway through the motion when Xiao Guo suddenly moved to follow behind Chen Ge!

    Not only him, both Chui Ming and Lee Bo also started to move at the same time. The three of worked well together. Their movement was light and did not make any sound. When Chen Ge arrived at Chui Ming¡¯s corner, Chui Ming had already left, so the corner was unupied.

    If Chen Ge was a normal person, they would have been overwhelmed by anxiety because, theoretically speaking, there should have been someone waiting in this corner. Xiao Gou maintained his distance from Chen Ge. In his mind, he could already see how panicked Chen Ge was. This new student weing ceremony was specially designed for Chen Ge¡ªa normal visitor would not have been blessed with such an experience.

    Darkness was human¡¯s primal fear. Without the ability to see and hear, with the change in the rules, no one would be able to maintain their calmness. Xiao Gou looked at the shadow in front of him with anticipation. He repeated the script in his mind as he arranged his expression and prepared to jump forward. However, at that moment, something that he did not expect urred.

    Chen Ge fished out a ballpoint pen from his shirt pocket and stopped where he was for a second.

    ¡°What is he doing it?¡± After a moment, Chen Ge straightened himself and stood in the corner. Then Xiao Gou saw a blurry figure leave Chen Ge¡¯s corner and move toward the next corner.

    ¡°There was someone in that corner?¡± Xiao Gou stopped moving instantly. His first reaction was that the two other actors had made a mistake¡ªthey had strayed from the script. ¡°So, what should I do now?¡±

    Chen Ge stopped at Chui Ming¡¯s original corner. Chui Ming and Lee Bo did not know what had happened. Following the n, they had already moved to the next corner. Chui Ming and Lee Bo were waiting for Chen Ge¡¯s scream. They had disliked Chen Ge for a long time. Now that the man had volunteered to walk into their trap, of course, they would not let him go so easily.

    At least that was their n, but they waited for a long time and did not hear Chen Ge¡¯s scream. Chui Ming turned back to look. He still had not understood where the problem was when someone patted him on his shoulders. His hair stood on end, and Chui Ming instantly leaned against the wall.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Has Chen Ge moved along without staying in the corner?¡± Looking at the shadow behind him, Chui Ming could only discern a rough outline. This person¡¯s size waspletely different from Chen Ge¡¯s. He was too short and too thin.

    Of all of them, only Xiao Gou matched this size.

    ¡°Brother Gou?¡± Chui Ming called after the shadow softly, but there was no answer. Chui Ming had no idea what the problem was. With confusion, he continued to move forward to where Lee Bo was.

    When Lee Bo saw the tittering shadow moving toward him, he was given quite a shock as well. With no other option, he moved toward Xiao Gou¡¯s corner.

    Chen Ge was not scared. His teammates had made some mistake, so Xiao Gou was stunned. After giving it some thought, he decided to move back to his original location and pretended like nothing had happened.

    After all, there were night-cams in the ssroom. If there was a problem, the technicians would have informed them through messages already. Before joining the group, they had been given Bluetooth earphones. If needed, they could put it to use¡ªthis thing was one of the necessary items for a Haunted House worker.

    Xiao Gou moved backward, and Lee Bo moved toward his corner. The two of them moved at almost the same speed. In the dark, to prevent himself from being exposed, Xiao Gou moved very lightly. He was being very careful, walking backward with his hand on the wall. When he was about to reach his corner, his finger suddenly touched another person¡¯s hand!

    His arm shrunk back as if electrified. He did not expect there to be an extra personing from behind him!

    ¡°Who is this?¡±

    ¡°Brother Gou?¡±

    Lee Bo was quite shocked as well. He had just assumed the spot when someone touched his hand.

    ¡°Why are you behind me?¡± Xiao Gou was surprised. This was not the first time that they had cooperated, but this was the first time that something like that had happened.

 Chapter 736 - Her School Uniform Is Different

    <h4>Chapter 736: Her School Uniform Is Different</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°But I¡¯m supposed to be behind you!¡± After hearing Xiao Gou¡¯s voice, Lee Bo calmed down quite a bit. After all, this proved that he was dealing with a human being and not something else.

    ¡°That¡¯s not wrong, but...¡± Xiao Gou looked at the corner before him and lowered his voice to a whisper. ¡°This is not how the script is supposed to go, right?¡±

    ¡°I know, but you have to ask Chui Ming about that. I only walked toward you because he came to me.¡± Lee Bo was confused, having no idea what was happening.

    ¡°Looks like the problem lies with Chui Ming. Chen Ge is just ahead; he hasn¡¯t moved on, and he has no reason to move on his own.¡± Xiao Gou fished the Bluetooth earpiece out from his pocket. He was going to put it in but was afraid of being discovered by Chen Ge. After giving it some thought, he signaled for Lee Bo to calm down as he headed toward the corner where Chen Ge was. With his hands on the wall, Xiao Gou sought his way through the darkness. When he reached Chen Ge¡¯s corner, he became more cautious as he reached out to touch Chen Ge on his shoulder.

    <i>The height hasn¡¯t changed. This person should be Chen Ge, but howe his body temperature is so low? This is so strange.</i>

    ¡°Xiao Gou?¡± Before Xiao Gou coulde to a decision, Chen Ge suddenly called his name.

    ¡°What... what¡¯s wrong?¡± Pulling his hand back, Xiao Gou stumbled through a reply.

    ¡°Something¡¯s not right. When I walked over here earlier, someone was standing in the corner. She was smaller than Chui Ming, but I don¡¯t think it was Lee Bo. I suspect the Haunted House¡¯s workers have snuck into our ranks.¡± Chen Ge sucked in a cold breath. His voice felt like it was squeezed through his teeth, and it sounded very scary.

    ¡°One extra person? The Haunted House workers might have joined us?¡± Xiao Gou stared at Chen Ge¡¯s blurry face, and his mind was nk. <i>Are you telling three Haunted House workers that we might have been infiltrated by the Haunted House¡¯s workers? Is this some kind of joke?</i>

    ¡°I¡¯m not lying to you, be careful,¡± Chen Ge said seriously, and this flustered Xiao Gou. Even he started to wonder if the leader had sent in reinforcements to help them.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Xiao Gou nodded. When Chen Ge moved to the next corner, he silently took out the earpiece from his pocket and put it in.

    ¡°Can you hear me?¡± With his face against the wall, Xiao Gou used his clothes to shield the light from the phone screen, and he whispered to ask his colleagues at the surveince room.

    ¡°Yes.¡± A middle-aged man¡¯s voice came back through the device. ¡°I was about to call you. Why didn¡¯t you follow the script? Do you know how much trouble I went through toe up with this system? It¡¯ll be able to enhance the horror factor of the game to its maximum. Stop ying around and get back to your stations and follow the script this time.¡±

    ¡°Boss, there appears to be some problem here. Have you sent in other people to help us?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± The middle-aged man was confused and was baffled by Xiao Gou¡¯s words. ¡°Stop talking lest you get exposed. If there¡¯s some ident, I¡¯ll be first to inform you.¡±

    Xiao Gou was still worried, so he added, ¡°Boss, I¡¯m not sure where everyone is now. Can you see where everyone is through the camera?¡±

    ¡°How can you not remember something so simple after so many rehearsals?¡± The man was getting impatient. ¡°You are now on the right side of the ckboard, the one nearest to the door. Lee Bo is on the left side of the ckboard, and Chui Ming is in the furthest corner of the ssroom. Chen Ge is moving. Oh, he¡¯s now stopped in the corner closest to the backdoor. Also, how did you all screw this up? You¡¯ve finished a round, and there are still people in all four corners.¡±

    ¡°Boss, don¡¯t worry, now that I know everyone¡¯s location, we¡¯ll follow the script again.¡± Just as Xiao Gou said that, footsteps came from thest row of the ssroom. The person did not attempt to hide the sound of his footsteps at all.

    ¡°Is someone moving?¡± To add to the atmosphere, there was no light in the ssroom. Xiao Gou could only see a shadow moving at the back of the ssroom.

    ¡°No one is moving. All four of you are standing in the corners; no one is moving.¡± The middle-aged man looked at the surveince and told Xiao Gou what he saw. He was doing that out of kindness, but he had no idea the depth of horror his little update had brought to Xiao Gou.

    Footsteps were very audible inside the quiet ssroom¡ªthere was indeed someone moving in the ss!

    ¡°Boss, I¡¯m confirming with you again, are you sure that you haven¡¯t sent another person here?¡±

    ¡°No, how many times do I need to tell you that all four of you are standing in the four corners? No one has moved. Howe you sound so weird today? Are you not feeling well? Is it because your mother has been lecturing you again?¡± The middle-aged was getting impatient.

    In the camera, all four people were upying their individual corners, but there came footsteps in the ssroom!

    It could only mean that there was a fifth person in the ssroom! Who could it be? When did they get in?

    Xiao Gou¡¯s mind was fraying. He could not help but be reminded by what Chen Ge had said at the start of the game. <i>ying this sort of game inside a Haunted House was dangerous, because you might just summon the real thing.</i>

    ¡°We¡¯ve attempted this many times before, and there haven¡¯t been any problems, but this time...¡±

    If one walked along the riverbank often, one¡¯s feet were eventually going to get wet. Xiao Gou was about to update the situation to the man in the security room when the man spoke ahead of him.

    ¡°Eh? What¡¯s going on with Chui Ming?¡± the middle-aged man said with surprise. ¡°Chen Ge is still standing at his corner. He hasn¡¯t moved to Chui Ming yet, so why has he started to move ahead?¡±

    When the middle-aged man said that, it was around the same time that the previous footsteps stopped, and the new shuffling footsteps began.

    <i>The three of us have cooperated many times. Chui Ming wouldn¡¯t have moved ahead unless someone patted him on his shoulders!</i>

    When that thought entered his mind, Xiao Gou¡¯s forehead broke out in cold sweat. It was true that he worked at a Haunted House, but it did not mean that he was fearless.

    ¡°Boss, who is upying the corner Chui Ming had earlier?¡± Xiao Gou rubbed his palms, which were slick with sweat, on his shirt.

    ¡°What is wrong with your head today? I can see clearly from the surveince that the corner is currently unupied.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t see it on the camera?¡± Xiao Gou was really panicking. He was young in real life, which was why he had been given the role of a high schooler. ¡°In other words, a ghost is standing in that corner.¡±

    ¡°What ghost? Are you trying to pull my leg? Aren¡¯t three of you ghosts, or have you lost your mind after ying a visitor for too long?¡± The middle-aged man had no idea what Xiao Gou was talking about. ¡°Quick, go back and follow the script. I¡¯m going to have the recording of Chen Ge being scared, and I¡¯m going to edit it into mini clips and spread them on all major websites. That¡¯ll teach him a lesson!¡±

    ¡°Yes, boss, I¡¯ll try my best.¡± Xiao Gou forced himself to agree. He looked at Chui Ming, who was still moving in the dark. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, he took out his phone to send Chui Ming a message.

    Chui Ming was on his way to find Lee Bo, and suddenly, his phone vibrated. He took out his phone and nced at it while using his clothes to shield the light. It was a message from Xiao Gou, and it read, ¡°The ghost is behind you!¡±

    It was a simple question, but there were endless ways to interpret it. Chui Ming looked behind him, and there was a person standing in the corner that he had just vacated. It looked rather thin andnky, reminding him of Xiao Gou.

    <i>Have Chen Ge and Xiao Gou swapped locations? I¡¯m an actor, and in the Haunted House, actors are ghosts. So, this message means that Xiao Gou is now behind me, doesn¡¯t it?</i>

    Confused, Chui Ming stopped moving. From his perspective, it was Xiao Gou who strayed from the script first, and there was nothing that he could do but continue with the mistake.

    <i>What is he trying to tell me?</i>

    For the sake of safety, Chui Ming reached into his pocket to find his earpiece. Before he could do anything, footsteps came from behind him. He held the phone in his hand and watched the figuree close. Very soon, Xiao Gou¡¯s second message came.

    ¡°Don¡¯t stop! We¡¯ve attracted a real ghost this time!¡± After reading the message, with the weak light from the phone screen, Chui Ming lifted his head. He still could not see the face of the person behind him, but he managed to discern that the person was wearing a different school uniform form from the students of Nightmare Academy, and four words were emzoned around the chest area.

    ¡°Mu Yang High School?¡±

 Chapter 737 - You Think Heâ€™s Crazy, but Heâ€™s Actually the Devil! [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 737: You Think He¡¯s Crazy, but He¡¯s Actually the Devil! [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Why is this person wearing the uniform of another school? </i>Chui Ming was stunned. <i>Mu Yang High School? Haven¡¯t heard of that before. Is it some other visitor who wandered in here? But howe I never heard the leader say anything about this?</i>

    When Chui Ming stood there thinking about it, the footsteps echoed in the dark again, and the blurry shadow slowly approached him. The temperature around him seemed to drop lower. The cold draft from the air-conditioner crawled into his cor and caused the hair on Chui Ming¡¯s back to stand.

    ¡°Brother Gou, is that you?¡± No one answered Chui Ming. He took in a deep breath. A kind of indescribable pressure grew on the young man¡¯s shoulders, and his body felt like turning and running.

    <i>What is going on?</i>

    He was inside the Haunted House, and he was one of the employed workers, but at that moment, he felt like he was one of the visitors.

    His eyes bulged widely. The more he assessed the situation, the more flustered he felt. The person that was following behind him was definitely not Xiao Gou. After all, she was wearing the school uniform of a different school!

    The unknown was the scariest, and that was exactly the situation that Chui Ming found himself in. He knew that someone was following behind him, but he had absolutely no idea who that someone was. He was ying out a familiar scene, but due to the stranger behind him, everything turned that much creepier.

    Darkness swallowed Chui Ming like a wave. His chest rose and fell unevenly, and his breathing came up short. It felt like he was the only one left inside the ssroom. The other visitors and colleagues fell away, and all he could see and sense around him was an endless stretch of darkness.

    After a person had gotten used to a colorful world, when they were ced back intoplete darkness, there would be a temporarily panic like they had been forcibly yanked away from their original world. Chui Ming, who had scared many other visitors in this scenario, was given the bitter taste of his own medicine.

    The phone in his palm vibrated again, a sign that someone had sent Chui Ming another message. Suppressing the fear in his heart, Chui Ming used his body to block the light from the screen, and he sneaked a nce at the message. ¡°Put on the earpiece!¡±

    It was still Xiao Gou who had sent the message, and the message was very short, only four words long.

    <i>If you have something to tell me, why don¡¯t you juste out and say it? This is only making me even more panicked! </i>Chui Ming grumbled internally. As he held his phone in one hand, his other hand reached into his pocket to search for his earpiece. Just as his fingers closed over the device and were about to ce it inside his ear, there came a cold draft blowing on his neck.

    He whipped his body around and the light from the phone screen lit up the space behind him. Chui Ming did not lower his head. At his eye level, Chui Ming did not see any person behind him. What he saw was instead a pair of old female shoes, and the thing that touched his neck earlier was one of the shoces.

    <i>Why is this pair of shoes floating behind me?</i>

    With his eyes following the shoes, Chui Ming¡¯s neck slowly lifted to find the shoes¡¯ owner. He saw a ck shadow almost standing on his shoulders! When he lifted his head to look at the person, said person was also looking back at him!

    His heart appeared to have skipped a beat, and his entire person petrified. He held the wall, and his brain tried to use thest of its rationality to exin the whole situation. However, even as his brain turned and turned, he failed toe up with any valid exnation.

    The abandoned ssroom, darkness so thick that he could not see his fingers, a person standing on his shoulders, any two of those could scare a person witless, and Chui Ming was lucky enough to experience all three of them at once.

    His neck that was titled upward was frozen. Chui Ming opened his mouth to scream for help, but due to extreme fear, the words that came out from his lips sounded jumbled and mangled. No one around him understood what he was trying to express, and they were about to ask him to rify when they saw Chui Ming st forward like a rocket.

    The script, the actor, the Haunted House¡ªeverything was tossed out of Chui Ming¡¯s mind. There was only thought in his brain then. <i>I need to get out as soon as possible!</i>

    There was no destination, no route in mind. As long as it was not inside that ssroom, it would have to do.

    ¡°Chui Ming!¡± Xiao Gou screamed the young man¡¯s name. He wanted to get Chui Ming to calm down, and all he got in return was the sound of the tables and chairs being knocked out of ce. There was no light in the ssroom, so Chui Ming could not see his way, but that did not stop the young man from tearing the ce apart as he tried to make his escape through the ssroom¡¯s front door.

    Xiao Gou knew that it was a ghost who was following Chui Ming. Seeing Chui Ming¡¯s reaction then, he immediately realized how scary that ¡®thing¡¯ was.

    ¡°Where are you going? Chui Ming!¡± Xiao Gou asked in a loud voice, but Chui Ming disappeared in a trail of dust without once looking back.

    ¡°What happened to him? Why did he suddenly start to run outside? Will something bad ur to him?¡± There was a heavy hint of concern in Chen Ge¡¯s voice. He asked three consecutive questions, and the others still in the room could hear how worried he was on Chui Ming¡¯s behalf.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I don¡¯t think that we should continue this game anymore. I need to go and find Chui Ming.¡± Xiao Gou started to get afraid himself. The environment around him was too dark for him to tell for sure whether the ghost had left with Chui Ming or not.

    ¡°No way!¡± This reply came from thest row of the ssroom and Xiao Gou¡¯s earpiece at the same time. Both Chen Ge and the boss of Nightmare Academy had the same reaction. ¡°What are you guys doing? Follow the damn script that I gave you! Don¡¯t you dare mess this up and make me a joke in front of this guy!¡±

    Xiao Gou¡¯s boss breathed angrily into the earpiece. Before Xiao Gou could reply to his own boss, he heard Chen Ge say from thest row of the ssroom, ¡°You are never supposed to stop a supernatural game halfway, or the spirit that you¡¯ve summoned will follow you for the rest of your life! Whether this is a plot by the Haunted House or the real thing, if you do not want to be woken up by ghosts in the middle of the night, we¡¯d better finish this game!¡±

    Hearing Chen Ge and his boss yelling in his ears at the same time was about to push Xiao Gou over the edge of sanity. What kind of people had he run into this time?

    <i>How is there a visitor who is actively requesting that we finish a supernatural game inside a Haunted House? This has never ever happened before.</i>

    Chen Ge was the visitor, and the person in his earpiece was the boss. Since both of them insisted on continuing this game that had strayed very far from the designed script, Xiao Gou could only force himself to continue.

    ¡°Okay, then... we will continue.¡± He gritted his teeth and prayed that the ghost had already left with Chui Ming.

    ¡°Now that we are down a participant and a corner is empty, we will need to change up the game rules.¡± Chen Ge was probably the first person who would go to another person¡¯s Haunted House and edit their rules. He did not think that he was being particrly bullish about it. ¡°The basic rules of the game shall remain unchanged. We will continue to move in a clockwise circle. When you reach an unupied corner, cough audibly, and then we will leave the corner empty and move on to the next corner.¡±

    ¡°Sure, we will do it your way.¡± Xiao Gou was no longer that focused on the game, and he handed the decision-making part all over to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Then I think we should start with me as well.¡± Chen Ge counted down to three and took out theic from his backpack. Then, he touched the wall and moved toward the corner in front of him. He did not try to hide his footsteps, and in the darkness, one could see a figure walking alongside the wall.

    Xiao Gou kept his eyes on Chen Ge. The corner that Chen Ge was heading toward was very close to the ce where Chui Ming encountered the ¡®ident¡¯. His nerves were pulled taut, and his focus was sharp. Soon, Chen Ge reached the next corner. He did not cough and stopped where he was.

    <i>He didn¡¯t cough at all! This can only mean that there is still someone upying that corner! </i>Xiao Gou¡¯s body was shaking lightly, and he was incredibly anxious. Chen Ge stopped at the corner, but the sound of footsteps did not stop. A figure swayed gracefully as it moved from thest row of the ssroom toward Lee Bo.

    Of everyone there, only the little fatty¡ªLee Bo, who still had not caught up to the truth¡ªyed the role he had been assigned honestly. Feeling a light pat on his shoulder, Lee Bo touched the wall as he moved toward Xiao Gou. That was a code between the Haunted House¡¯s workers. When Lee Bo reached Xiao Gou¡¯s corner, he patted thetter on his left shoulder once and then on his right shoulder once.

    ¡°Brother Gou, what happened to Chui Ming?¡± Lee Bo asked in a whisper.

    Xiao Gou did not want to scare Lee Bo, so he did not reveal the whole truth. ¡°Just ignore him. Remember, if there¡¯s anything that doesn¡¯t feel right, leave this ssroom as fast as you can.¡±

    After saying that, Xiao Gou started to move toward the next corner.

    Perhaps he was imagining it, but Xiao Gou felt like the darkness around him had thickened. It felt like there was a ck hole in front of him, and it would suck everything that wandered too close into it. With his hands on the wall, Xiao Gou slowly nudged himself toward the corner that Chen Ge had upied earlier, and there was the shadow in the shape of a person standing before him.

    He walked closer and reached out his hand, but just as his finger was about to fall on the person¡¯s shoulder, Xiao Gou was suddenly reminded of a small detail. Chen Ge was the person who had started this round, so technically speaking, the corner that Chen Ge had originally upied should have been empty!

    Chen Ge had already moved onto the next corner, so who was the person standing in that corner?

    The feeling of fear rushed at him from all corners. Xiao Gou¡¯s hand dangled weakly in midair, and he was suddenly reminded of something even scarier. The game had already finished one whole round, but so far, no one had coughed. In other words, it could only mean that there was more than one ghost inside this ssroom!

    The arm that was raised could not be lowered anymore. Xiao Gou had exhausted all the courage he could summon. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, he came to a decision. He touched the shoulder of the person before him lightly and then immediately jumped back a few meters.

    It was not until the person wandered away that Xiao Gou sighed in relief. He did not stay in the corner for too long. Instead, he stealthily moved to the hidden pathway that was only known to the Haunted House workers and then decided to hide inside it.

    <i>I can¡¯t stay here any longer!</i>

    Xiao Gou took out his phone and wanted to send a message to Lee Bo to inform him of the bad news when his boss¡¯ voice came from the earpiece. ¡°Gou Jun, what the hell are you doing? The visitor is still inside the ssroom. I want you to go and scare him, so what are you doing running out like that?¡±

    ¡°Boss, listen to me, something is really different today!¡± Xiao Gou tried his best to exin to his boss, but the game was still continuing inside the ssroom.

    The footsteps echoed constantly in the ssroom, and very soon, Lee Bo felt someone pat his shoulder. This honest little fatty did not think too much of it and continued to move ahead. When he reached the corner where Xiao Gou was supposed to be, he discovered that the corner was empty.

    ¡°Brother Gou?¡± Lee Bo stood at the corner alone. He paused and looked around for a few seconds. Then he followed the new rules set by Chen Ge and coughed once before moving to the next corner. In the dark ssroom, Lee Bo felt increasingly worried. He slowly but surely reached Chen Ge¡¯s corner. However, when he reached that corner, he realized that the corner was also empty!

    <i>Where is he? Where is the visitor?</i>

    Completely blinded by this development, there was nothing else Lee Bo could have done but continue with the game. Lee Bo coughed again and made his way to the next corner. The ssroom was so quiet that he could only hear his own heartbeat and his own footsteps.

    When he reached the third corner, Lee Bo finally realized that something was not right because this corner was empty as well.

    ¡°Where is everyone?¡± Lee Bo did not dare to move recklessly. He tried to contact Xiao Gou, but the person did not give him any reply. He thought about giving up, but whenever he felt like doing so, the warning that Chen Ge had given earlier would appear in his mind. If he stopped the supernatural game halfway, he would be pursued by the spirits for the rest of his life.

    Just the thought of that caused Lee Bo to shiver. Devoid of options, he could only force himself to continue. <i>Howe it feels like I¡¯m the only one left in the ssroom?</i>

    Near the backdoor, Xiao Gou had just finished exining the situation to his boss and was about to reply to Lee Bo¡¯s message when he saw Lee Bo walking toward him through the window on the backdoor.

    <i>No matter what, this game cannot be continued anymore. When Lee Boes closer, I¡¯ll drag him out with him. And the visitor... I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll have fun with the game on his own. After all, this is exactly what the boss wishes to happen to him.</i>

    With his hand on the doorknob, Xiao Gou observed Lee Bo through the window. He opened the door a fraction and was about to open his lips to call out Lee Bo¡¯s name when a chill rushed right up to the top of his head!

    Xiao Gou could very clearly see that there were three swaying figures following behind Lee Bo!

    They stuck to Lee Bo closely, and their footsteps were eerily simr to Lee Bo¡¯s, but Lee Bo did not seem to notice this at all!

    <i>There are three of them?</i>

    His butt fell against the ground. Xiao Gou¡¯s legs kicked on the ground as he staggered backward, and he screamed at the top of his lungs, ¡°Lee Bo! Run!¡±

    The sudden scream gave Lee Bo quite a fright. When he noticed that the ssroom¡¯s backdoor was open and Xiao Gou pointing crazily behind him, his natural reaction was to turn his neck around.

    Three figures stuck close to him, and three different faces reflected in his eyes.

    ¡°Who summoned us to y this game? Howe we haven¡¯t seen you before?¡±

    The reply was an ear-splitting scream. This was the first time that Chen Ge had heard such a shrill scream escape from a male¡¯s mouth.

    He watched the big body knock into the backdoor and then shoot out like a cannon. Chen Ge did not move to chase after the boy. He pulled back the Pen Spirit and Ol¡¯ Zhou. He turned back to pick up the diary that had fallen on the ground and turned it to the third page.

    On thest page of the first diary entry, the following was recorded. ¡°Four kids yed the four corners game inside an abandoned ssroom. The three older kids purposely ganged up to bully the youngest child, and in their carelessness, they caused the youngest child to perish in an ident.

    ¡°Later, all three of the older children disappeared, and on the seventh day of the youngest child¡¯s death, his family found three dolls made from paddy stalks under his bed. On the back of each of the three dolls was a different name¡ª Chui Ming <sup>1</sup> , Gou Hun <sup>2</sup> , and Li Po <sup>3</sup> .

    <i>This first entry is describing the first scary scenario, which is the four corners game inside the abandoned ssroom. In that case, the second diary entry should correspond to the second scenario.</i>

    Sitting inside the creepy Haunted House set, Chen Ge flipped to the second entry with curiosity. There was a pretty girl by the name of Die. She had fallen in love with a boy, and to prevent her confession from being rejected, she decided to ask the Pen Spirit for an opinion.

    <i>The Pen Spirit game? </i>Chen Ge stopped reading then. He had an unreadable expression on his face. <i>Even with the same theme, I hope that they can bring me a different feeling.</i>

    Without going ahead to read the other diary entries, Chen Ge walked out from the ssroom¡¯s backdoor.

    <i>Should I head directly to the Pen Spirit¡¯s scenario, or should I go borrow some tools from the doctor first?</i>

    He looked down the dark corridor and shook his head.

    <i>Oh well, I¡¯ll guess I¡¯ll carry on. No matter what, I¡¯m going to clear this Haunted House today.</i>

 Chapter 738 - Come, Repeat After Me [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 738: Come, Repeat After Me [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The diary that was ced on the podium to scare the visitors became the guidebook for Chen Ge to explore the Haunted House. He ced the diary inside his backpack and rushed toward the second set described in the diary.

    As the most famous Haunted House in Xin Hai, the size of Nightmare Academy wasrger than Chen Ge had anticipated. The theme of a haunted school was maintained from beginning to end, and it covered almost all the school-themed ghost stories. ¡°There are six floors in total. It¡¯s going to be fun today.¡±

    Therge location, no matter from which angle, was a good thing for Chen Ge. He could explore to his heart¡¯s content, and if there was a chance in the future, he could assimte the whole building into his own Haunted House.

    The Pen Spirit scenario was not far from the ssroom where the new student weing ceremony was held. Looking at the paint on the wall, which was peeling, Chen Ge walked down the corridor until he came to an old, battered door. There was a sign above the door that read ¡®Storage Room¡¯.

    ¡°In the diary, the girl by the name of Die is said to y the Pen Spirit game inside the storage room.¡±

    Pushing open the door, before Chen Ge even stepped in, he could hear the sound of a girl crying. The crying came and went quickly¡ªit was too fast for Chen Ge to discern where it came from.

    ¡°Is anyone in here?¡± There was a big difference between Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House and Nightmare Academy. Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House allowed its visitors to explore it freely. There was no guide or help along the way while most of the Haunted Houses on the market had a set route that one had to follow during visitation.

    Now that he had wandered onto the set for the Pen Spirit without warning, he was very worried that the actors were not ready yet, and it might influence his overall experience. After he spoke out loud, the sound of crying weakened, and Chen Ge stopped to observe his surroundings.

    The walls in the storage room were purposely made to look older than they were. The racks in the room were filled with ayer of dust, and the corner was piled high with various items. The lights inside the room were dim, and asionally, one could hear the sound of mice scurrying about.

    ¡°The diary only said that Die yed the Pen Spirit game here, but it did not mention a single detail about the storage room itself. So, assuming there was some kind of ident when Die was ying the Pen Spirit game, I could run into one of the two ghosts here; one is Die, and the other will be the Pen Spirit.¡±

    When Chen Ge walked past the first row of shelves, the squeak of a mouse came from a spot around his left leg, and he felt something running past his left ankle. When something like this happened to a normal person, they would jump or yelp in shock, but Chen Ge was unaffected. Instead, like a little boy who was curious about everything, he squatted down to take a better look.

    ¡°There is a rope ced between these two rows of racks. Once the visitor¡¯s legs step on it, the fake mouse trap attached to the knot will slither out.¡± Chen Ge scratched his chin. ¡°Indeed, some might be scared by things like this. This is quite interesting. A Haunted House might not need to rely on ghosts and monsterspletely. Anything can be made into something that can bring fear and terror. This is able to fulfill the various needs of the visitors, and it matches my goal of designing a multi-faceted Haunted House.¡±

    Chen Ge memorized these little tricks. He nned to research them in more detail when he returned and use them as the basis toe up with something exciting and fun. Standing up, Chen Ge continued to move forward, proceeding to the space between the first row and the second row.

    The corridor was very narrow. Chen Ge saw that there was a ss jar on the second row that was almost falling. He extended his hand to push the jar slightly deeper to prevent an ident. When he was pushing it, he saw a pale face hiding behind the ss jar.

    ¡°Is he on the other side of the rack? No, it should be squeezed between the racks.¡± Chen Ge stared at the face for a while before grabbing the ss jar and cing it on the ground. He reached over. His finger poked the face¡¯s cheeks, and he squeezed for a while. ¡°Synthetic rubber? A mask?¡±

    Chen Ge moved all the stuff on that row away and finally saw what it was. It was a human mask that was stuck to a basketball. ¡°It¡¯s a fake skull? If there was a real person hiding here, it would be that much scarier, but I can see the problem; the ce is too small for a living person to squeeze inside.¡±

    Skipping the second row, Chen Ge headed to the third row. This time, he was greeted by a falling ss jar again, but this time, instead of one, there were five of them.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t they afraid of shattering the ss and identally harming the visitors? Or are they using reinforced ss, which does not break that easily?¡±

    When Chen Ge walked past the jars, he noticed that each of them was filled with something different. The liquid inside was dark, and the objects reminded him of human organs. ¡°Do the five jars correspond to five human organs?¡±

    Chen Ge picked up the jars one by one to study before recing them. When he reached the fourth one, a slender arm suddenly shot out from behind the rack and wrapped itself around his wrist!

    This happened so suddenly and without warning that Chen Ge was stunned for zero point something seconds before he snapped into being. He tightened his fingers and twisted his wrist around to grab the arm instead. He pulled on the arm and refused to let it go as he leaned over to look behind the rack. A girl in Nightmare Academy¡¯s school uniform was stuck to the rack. She was gritting her teeth in pain.

    ¡°Let¡ªlet go!¡± That was most likely not what the girl was supposed to say.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. I was too scared. I didn¡¯t mean to hurt you.¡± Chen Ge slowly let the girl go. When he looked behind the rack again, the girl had already disappeared. ¡°Where did she go?¡±

    The sound of crying returned. Chen Ge walked around the shelf and came to the deepest part of the storage room. Amid a mess of unused items, a slender girl was heaving with tears, copsed on the table.

    ¡°I apologize for what happened earlier. I identally pulled too hard because I was too afraid.¡± Chen Ge squatted down next to the table. He was afraid that the girl was crying because he had injured her.

    ¡°I don¡¯t feel good. My heart has been cut into pieces by a sharp knife.¡±

    ¡°I only touched your wrist a bit harder than usual. You¡¯re not going to use that against me, are you?¡± Chen Ge grumbled under his breath.

    The girl looked at the reddening fingerprints around her wrist. Even though this visitor¡¯s reaction was slightly different from what she had expected, at the end of the day, she was a professional Haunted House actor, and she got back into her role easily. ¡°I was deeply in love with a person, but after consulting the Pen Spirit, I found out that he did not care for me at all. I used the method taught to me by the Pen Spirit to make him change his mind, but I identally caused his death. I regret it deeply, so I came back here to consult the Pen Spirit again and see if there is a way to turn things around.¡±

    ¡°How are you going to turn things around when the person is already dead?¡±

    ¡°The Pen Spirit will definitely know a way!¡± The girl suddenly eximed loudly, and her eyes were red with tears.

    ¡°Sure, sure, but let¡¯s be real. Among all the Specters, the Pen Spirit is definitely not the most powerful, so I suggest you don¡¯t hold too much hope.¡±

    ¡°In any case, we have to give it a try.¡± The girl lifted her head, and the make-up on her face was thick and gaudy. It looked rather strange inside this abandoned storage room. ¡°Can you lend me a hand? You need at least two people toplete the Pen Spirit game. Normally, people don¡¯te to this storage room. I need another person¡¯s help to begin the game.¡±

    ¡°No problem.¡± After a moment¡¯s hesitation, Chen Ge opened his lips to ask, ¡°You said you need two people to start the Pen Spirit game, then who was the second person that you yed with the first time you consulted the Pen Spirit?¡±

    The girl chose to ignore the question, and her voice turned shriller. ¡°Sit across from me, and the two of us will hold the body of the pen like this. Then you can leave the rest to me.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge saw himself as a gentleman, so he did not press and followed the girl¡¯s instructions. He moved to the other side of the table and picked up the pen. It was a silvery white fountain pen. It was about twice the size of a normal ballpoint pen, and there were some decorative swirls on the casing.

    ¡°This is quite a nice-looking pen.¡± His thumb pressed on the top of the pen, and he left enough spaces between his other four fingers. The Pen Spirit game was a game for two, so Chen Ge left enough space for the girl to ce her fingers. ¡°Is it like this?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s action was so standardized that he did not need the guidance from the girl at all. At this point, a strange feeling surfaced in the girl¡¯s heart. This person before her seemed to y the Pen Spirit game often, but would a normal person y the Pen Spirit game at home alone every day?

    The girl nodded and took the seat across from Chen Ge. ¡°After the game starts, you do not need to say or do anything, just sit there quietly.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    ¡°Once the game starts, the game mustn¡¯t be stopped halfway. If you summon the Pen Spirit but don¡¯t send her away, the consequences will be horrible,¡± the girl warned seriously.

    ¡°I understand all that, you can start now.¡± Chen Ge looked around. ying the Pen Spirit game inside the abandoned storage room was an interesting experience. The Nightmare Academy had a very good handle over the atmosphere,bining the lighting effect and the background music. His heart was already pumping even though he was just sitting there.

    After the girl sat down and reached out to grab the pen, her brows instinctively creased slightly. <i>This is strange, howe this person¡¯s hand is colder than mine?</i>

    ¡°Can we start now?¡±

    ¡°Oh, okay.¡± The girl took a deep breath. She held the pen with one hand and stuck the other underneath the table. She started to recite, ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, can you please tell me how I can see my love again?¡±

    After that, her eyes were glued to the pen on the table, and her bloodshot eyes looked rather scary in the dark. They waited for a long time, but the pen that they were holding did not move, standing upright above the paper.

    ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, please tell me the answer! I have already followed all of your instructions! I did everything that you told me to do, but why did he still die? I love his person not this lifeless body!¡±

    The girl¡¯s mastery of her emotions gradually unraveled, and her pupils started to burn red. There was only a small table between the girl and Chen Ge. Due to their close distance, the feeling of abandonment and madness could be felt very clearly.

    ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, I do not wish for him to die! Please answer me! Pen Spirit, answer me!¡± The girl started to scream like she had gone insane. Her screams echoed around the storage room. ¡°Tell me what I need to do¡ªI can give you everything I have in exchange! I know you¡¯re here! Pen Spirit, I know you are still here!¡±

    When the girl screamed thest sentence, the pen in her hand twitched slightly.

    ¡°Pen Spirit, is that you? Please tell me, how can I make him hear my voice again?¡± The girl screamed like she was asking for someone to save her life. Both of her eyes turned red like they were about to drip blood.

    Under her relentless shouting, the pen dangling over the paper finally moved. Chen Ge could feel the body of the pen moving on its own, and this surprised him. He and the girl were both holding the pen, and he knew for sure that neither party was nudging the pen. The pen was indeed moving on its own.

    <i>The Pen Spirit has arrived? No, this fountain pen is unreasonably heavy, so there must be some kind of mechanism installed inside. The table is covered with this tattered tablecloth, and it hides everything underneath from view. However, from the sense of touch, the table is made from metal. Is it possible that she is using some kind ma?</i>

    The girl¡¯s voice grew louder, probably because she saw the shock on Chen Ge¡¯s face. Under her continuous questioning, the pen wrote on the piece of white paper. ¡°To gain something, you have to lose something. What have you prepared for me this time?¡±

    Seeing the sentence on the paper, the girl became strangely excited. ¡°What is it that you want? I will give it to you!¡±

    ¡°The same as before.¡±

    The pen that they held suddenly stopped moving. The girl seemed to enter some kind of trance as she silently stared at the sentence on the piece of paper. ¡°Same as before?¡±

    The girl¡¯s tone was rather seriously. It sounded like she was talking to herself, and it made her look like she was possessed. To an outsider, she appeared to be conversing with something that only existed in her mind.

    She repeated this question again and again. Then she slowly lifted her head to look at Chen Ge. At that point, the pen that they were both holding started to move again. ¡°Right, just like before. You sacrificed five organs of your best friend, and in exchange, I gave you the undying loyalty of your lover. Now, if you want your lover to return, give me another life in exchange!¡±

    The make-up on her face was already ruined. The girl¡¯s expression turned wicked. The hand that she had kept hidden under the table shot forward, and she was holding a sharp dagger in her palm!

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± Chen Ge sat where he was and did not even shift in his posture. He studied the few sentences written on the paper, and his creased brows slowly smoothed out. He turned to the girl and said, ¡°Don¡¯t act so recklessly. The Pen Spirit is lying to you. Even if you kill me, she is not going to help you fulfill your wish.¡±

    The girl maintained her pose, but her face was slightly twitching. <i>Do you not see the dagger? Why are you telling me this now?</i>

    ¡°The Pen Spirit¡¯s main power is telling the future; the so-called fulfilling your wish is just a trap. I mean, think about your previous transaction.

    ¡°You gave her a human life, but she was ying word games with you. She made use of the chance to kill your lover and lied to you, saying that it was because she was helping you gain your lover¡¯s undying loyalty.

    ¡°I believe I understand your story now. You might have encountered a fake Pen Spirit. Of course, there might be a different possibility where there is no Pen Spirit in the beginning at all and the so-called Pen Spirit is yourself.

    ¡°You were jealous of the fact that your best friend and your crush got together, and you borrowed the Pen Spirit¡¯s name to kill both of them in cold blood!¡±

    Chen Ge analyzed the situation calmly, and it baffled the girl. <i>Why is this visitor expanding the story on his own?</i>

    ¡°Girl, put down the dagger in your hand; that is not how you y the Pen Spirit game. The thing that you summoned was not the Pen Spirit but the demon living inside your heart.¡± Chen Ge held the girl¡¯s wrist carefully but firmly. He took the dagger away from her and ced it next to him before taking out a ballpoint pen covered in cellophane tape from his shirt pocket.

    ¡°The real Pen Spirit will not harm the innocent. The only thing that will ask you to do that is the human heart.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice seemed to possess a type of magical power. He held the girl¡¯s hand and curled it around the ballpoint pen together. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. I will introduce you to the real Pen Spirit.¡±

    Both of them moved back to opposite sides of the table. Chen Ge and the girl held the broken pen together.

    ¡°Empty your mind and voice the question that resides in the depths of your heart.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were gentle, his voice soft. ¡°Come, repeat after me. Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, you are my spirit from my previous life, and I am your spirit in this life. Can you please tell me who the person that loves me the most is?¡±

 Chapter 739 - Why Did You Poke the Bear?

    <h4>Chapter 739: Why Did You Poke the Bear?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Led by Chen Ge, the girl recited the incantation. They held the pen together, and the girl grumbled internally, <i>Why am I doing this?</i>

    However, there was something about the man before her that made it difficult for her to go against his wishes.

    The tattered ballpoint pen was held above the paper. After the two finished the incantation, they stopped and looked at the paper quietly. It was very quiet inside the storage room, and no one spoke; they could only hear the sound of their hearts beating.

    <i>What is the man doing? He doesn¡¯t really think that he can summon the Pen Spirit, right?</i>

    The girl¡¯s eyes darted about as she nced at Chen Ge. For some reason, the dagger that she had pulled out from underneath the table was sitting next to the man. ¡°Er...¡±

    The girl wanted to tell the man that the game was up, but Chen Ge stopped her by shushing her. ¡°Quiet, she has arrived.¡±

    After Chen Ge said that, the pen between them started to move slightly, and it proceeded to draw a circle on the white paper. The girl could feel the power from the pen. She did not apply any force, but the paper started to move on its own.

    <i>He has to be behind this! </i>The girl looked at Chen Ge, trying to see some clues from his expression. To her disappointment, Chen Ge was focused fully on the pen that they were holding, and she could not see anything unusual from his face.

    The pen at Nightmare Academy could move on its own because the pen and table were both custom-made. They could be controlled. In a way, they were a magic trick. As long as they knew theory behind it, anyone could do it. Subconsciously, the girl believed that Chen Ge was doing the same thing. She wanted to expose Chen Ge, but even after studying him for a long time, she could not find any ws.

    The pen on the paper continued to move, the strokes bing firmer and stronger. Finally, it wrote a name on the white paper¡ªQu Changlin.

    ¡°Qu Changlin? So, that is the name of your lover.¡± Chen Ge lifted his head to look at the girl. ¡°It is not easy to find love in this world. Treat him well, and try not to disappoint an honest man.¡±

    When she saw the name on the paper, the girl¡¯s face slowly changed. First, it was shock; then, it turned into terror!

    She knew Qu Changlin. The man was a worker at Nightmare Academy as well, and he often looked after her! He had even confessed his feelings to her once, but he had been rejected by her then. This should have been a secret between her and Qu Changlin, so how did this man know about it?

    Waves roared within her heart, and the girl¡¯s arms were shaking. Her fingers touched Chen Ge¡¯s, and that unreasonable frigidness caused her panic to amplify. The man before her was smiling so warmly, but howe she felt like the temperature in the room had been steadily dropping?

    Her body shook uncontrobly, and the girl tried her best to console herself. <i>Boss said that this visitor is very unique. He is adept at psychological games and is purposely here to create trouble for Nightmare Academy. He probably investigated all the workers here before arriving, and through my micro expressions, he managed to tell that Qu Changlin has a thing for me.</i>

    The girl knew that the chance of that was not high, but that was all she could do to convince herself. That was the only way she could maintain her sanity. She bit on her lips. The girl was not going to surrender so easily. She decided to use her own method to expose the man.

    <i>This man can guess the name of the person who likes me, so what? He will never guess the name of the person whom I wish to spend the rest of my life with!</i>

    The girl had a secret buried in her heart¡ªthe name of her real crush. She had not told anyone about it before.

    After a short pause, the girl asked lightly, ¡°Can I ask the Pen Spirit another question?¡±

    ¡°The Pen Spirit can only predict once per day. If you force it, the result might not be that urate.¡±

    ¡°Just this onest time, okay?¡± Before Chen Ge could say anything, the girl gripped the pen and asked her question. ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, can you tell me the name of my future partner?¡±

    This question sounded very familiar to Chen Ge. He could feel the pen shuddering, and the tape on it appeared like it could tear at any moment. The whole pen felt like it was about to burst.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t intend to lead you to this question. You wished to ask it yourself.¡± After saying that, Chen Ge quickly let his hands go. The pen was originally held by two people. The girl had not been applying any force, so she had assumed that it was Chen Ge who had been moving the pen around.

    But now that Chen Ge had pulled his hands away, the pen was still standing above the paper. The girl¡¯s eyes slowly widened, and then something scarier happened!

    The pen started to move. The girl could tell for sure that she was not doing anything! It was not her who moved it!

    <i>What is going on? Is something wrong with the ma under the table? But this is a stic ballpoint pen¡ªit isn¡¯t made from metal!</i>

    The pen continued to move, and it initially wrote one sentence for the girl on the piece of paper¡ªYOU WILL DIE!

    It was a simple sentence, but it looked scary. The girl wanted to pull her hands away, but she realized that her hands seemed to be glued to the pen, and her arms were pulled along whether she liked it or not. The pen moved faster and faster until the whole paper was filled with YOU WILL DIE!

    ¡°Wait, help! What is happening?¡± The fear in her heart materialized, and the remnant of rationality was submerged¡ªthe girl was swallowed by endless darkness. She searched frantically for Chen Ge in the dark. However, once she lifted her head, she saw something that she would never forget in her life.

    Just above her shoulder was someone standing!

    She was wearing a dirtied school uniform, and at that moment, she was scrawling madly with the ballpoint pen like she was venting a horrifying emotion.

    ...

    A piercing scream came out of the storage room, and it was followed by something heavynding on the ground. Chen Ge reced the ss jars and walked out from the second rack. He looked at the girl lying on the ground. By then, her red-colored contacts had fallen out of her eyes. He shook his head lightly. ¡°Why did you need to go and anger her?¡±

    Picking up the pen that was almost breaking, Chen Ge then nced at the fountain pen on the table. The Pen Spirit did not seem interested in the fountain pen at all.

    ¡°Chill out, she didn¡¯t mean it.¡± Chen Ge consoled the Pen Spirit and walked out of the storage room.

    ¡°That¡¯s one more scenariopleted. Where shall I go next?¡± Chen Ge took out the diary and turned to the third entry. This time, the incident happened inside the bathroom¡ªthere was an angry spirit living inside the fourth cubicle, and it would appear at midnight.

    ¡°It¡¯s rted to the toilet, huh? Abandoned toilets can be quite scary. After all, the Yin energy there is the heaviest.¡± Chen Ge studied the map. He was not far away from the bathroom, just around the corner.

    ¡°Since I¡¯m already here, might as well. Hopefully, I will be pleasantly surprised this time,¡± Chen Ge said and walked toward his next destination.

    ...

    Inside the bathroom at the end of the third floor, a ck shadow was hiding inside the fourth cubicle. He was scrolling through his phone with a bored expression on his face when he received a call.

    ¡°Boss, are you looking for me?¡±

    ¡°Qu Changlin, in a moment, a special visitor will enter your scenario. You have to find a way to help me scare the hell out of him!¡±

 Chapter 740 - Walk In, Crawl Out

    <h4>Chapter 740: Walk In, Crawl Out</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Boss, I promise toplete the mission!¡± Qu Changlin patted his chest and promised. He did not mind even if his boss was not there personally to see it, and he gave his promise first.

    ¡°I like your attitude, Changlin. That¡¯s why you are one of our Haunted House¡¯s best employees. That is why I¡¯ve assigned you an important location like the bathroom. I hope you won¡¯t disappointment me.¡±

    ¡°As long as he enters this scenario, I guarantee you that he will walk in but crawl out.¡±

    ¡°The man is attention-detailed and very dangerous. I will disconnect mymunication with youter to prevent your location from being exposed, but I will follow your movement through the cameras.¡±

    ¡°Boss, I will not disappoint you.¡± After Qu Changlin gave another promise, he was reminded of something. He lowered his voice to ask, ¡°Boss, the closest scenario to mine is the Pen Spirit. Did something happen to Xiao Die?¡±

    ¡°Xiao Die is fine. Don¡¯t worry about other people, focus on your job! He ising. I will wait for the good news in the surveince room.¡± The middle-aged man hung up soon. At the same time, the door of the bathroom creaked open.

    ...

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t the bathroom in the Haunted House get separated ording to gender? This is too unprofessional.¡± Chen Ge pushed open the door to Nightmare Academy¡¯s bathroom. A pungent smell immediately assaulted him. ¡°Such a thick stench of disinfectant. What happened here that required so much disinfectant?¡±

    Taking out the diary from his backpack, Chen Ge tried to find the answer from it, but to his disappointment, there was nothing useful from the entry about the bathroom. It only mentioned vaguely that something was hiding inside the fourth cubicle.

    ¡°ording to the diary, the worker should be hiding inside the fourth cubicle. When the visitor walks past it, the worker suddenly jumps out, but won¡¯t that lower the scare factor?¡±

    When Chen Ge first read the diary, he easily came up with a solution. If the worker was hiding inside the fourth cubicle, he would stand inside the third cubicle and observe the situation inside the fourth cubicle before making a decision. But once he walked into the bathroom at the end of the corridor, Chen Ge changed his mind. The smell of disinfectant there was really too heavy.

    There had to be a reason that the bathroom had been arranged like that. Could it be to hide something? To use the smell of the disinfectant to hide the smell of something else...

    ¡°What kind of thing is both scary and smelly?¡± Chen Ge tried toe up with an answer as he walked into the bathroom. There were many cracks on the floor, and many creepy sentences were written unevenly on the wall. asionally, lizards crawled along the walls and ceiling, causing a rustling sound.

    There was no window, and an old tablemp that gave off a red light was ced in the corner. Underneath themp was a small ck box.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    Normally, such things would not be found inside a toilet. Chen Ge walked past the first cubicle and stopped next to themp. He reached out to open the little ck box, and inside it was a note that read¡ªDo you like our prank?

    Underneath the note was a group picture. A bunch of children were looking at the camera nervously, and only the kid at the most edge was grinning like crazy. On the back of the picture, Chen Ge found another sentence¡ªIt was just a prank, bro.

    ¡°A prank, is it?¡± The diary gave little clues. Chen Ge did not know what theme of this scenario was. He picked up the strange box and ced it inside his backpack¡ªhe had a feeling that he would have a use for itter.

    Chen Ge¡¯s action was being silently observed by a pair of eyes in the dark. The person could not understand the reasoning behind it. Inside the bathroom that was stinking and set up like a crime scene, why would anyone stuff a random object inside one¡¯s bag?

    Holding the backpack with one arm, Chen Ge examined the tablemp again. He switched it on and off several times and left after ensuring that there was nothing wrong with it.

    ¡°The bathroomprises of the sink and six cubicles. There are no other items in here, and there is nothing obviously wrong with themp. So, the person should still be hiding inside the cubicle.¡± Chen Ge had experienced something simr at Mu Yang High School before. He did not feel fear, but his heart was surfeited by this feeling of d¨¦j¨¤ vu.

    He opened the door of the first cubicle. It was thick with the smell of disinfectant. Chen Ge pinched his nose and examined the cubicle patiently.

    He foundints written on the walls of the cubicle.

    ¡°He made my clothes wet again today. I hate Xiao Lin!¡±

    ¡°Xiao Lin pulled the chair back when I tried to sit down, and it caused me to fall to the ground.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Lin nted a frog inside my drawer! I¡¯m going to puke!¡±

    They were as mentioned earlier, pranks, but all of them mentioned Xiao Lin. The boy seemed to be the ss prankster, and many ssmates had fallen victim.

    ¡°There doesn¡¯t seem to be anything truly scary.¡± Chen Ge scanned the words. The messages inside the cubicle appeared so innocentpared to the messages left at the Third Sick Hall.

    He opened the door of the second cubicle. There were still manyints, but unlike the ones inside the first cubicle, the children appeared to be more angered, and a small portion of them bordered on dangerous.

    Then, Chen Ge opened the door of the third cubicle. Some of the messages hade up with a prank to revenge on Xiao Lin. They came up with this horror story about the fourth cubicle inside the toilet and ¡®identally¡¯ revealed it to Xiao Lin. Then everyone came up with various ideas to set up the bathroom, trying to get Xiao Lin back once and for all.

    Through the snippets of messages on the wall, Chen Ge had a grasp of the whole situation. The messages alone would not be too scary, butbined with the third entry of the diary, it did sound quite spooky.

    ¡°Did Xiao Lin manage to leave the fourth cubicle in the end?¡± Chen Ge stopped before the fourth cubicle. This cubicle had been specially mentioned in the diary, so the scariest thing should be inside there. Perhaps when he opened the door, the students¡¯ prank would happen, or perhaps when the door opened, Xiao Lin would return.

    However, none of that happened. When Chen Ge opened the door of the fourth cubicle, and to his surprise, there was a mirror ced inside the cubicle.

    ¡°These kids are quite creative.¡± Chen Ge looked at the mirror stuck behind the toilet. The more he studied it, the more he realized that something was wrong. His reflection was not shown in the mirror. ¡°Interesting, they have pasted a picture on the surface of the mirror?¡±

    Chen Ge reached out to touch the mirror. When his fingertip was about to touch the surface, he suddenly heard a soft voiceing from above him, and then the back of his neck felt itchy. He lowered his head to study the mirror¡ªthere was nothing on the surface. The itch on the back of his neck grew more pronounced like a bug had fallen and was crawling there.

 Chapter 741 - Familiar Feeling

    <h4>Chapter 741: Familiar Feeling</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The strange feeling from the back of his neck grew stronger. Chen Ge¡¯s eyes moved away from the mirror and slowly turned around to look behind him. Hair skidded across the tip of his nose. Chen Ge was greeted by a scarred face and a pair of eyes filled with venom.

    An upside-down man was standing behind Chen Ge, staring at Chen Ge with his inverted facial features!

    ...

    Inside the ¡®haunted¡¯ toilet, a man was attracted by the strange mirror before him, then he felt something strange on the back of his neck. He turned around and saw this inverted face staring at him. No matter who it was, they would definitely be spooked by this experience.

    Qu Changlin, who was hiding inside the toilet, had his ears perked up, ready to feast on the visitor¡¯s scream, but he waited for a long time, but all he heard was an eerie silence.

    A gap broke open next to the edge of the mirror. Using themp in the corner of the toilet, Qu Changlin could roughly make out a figure in the dark. He was tall with one hand stuck inside his pocket and the other holding an old backpack.

    Time seemed to have frozen. After who knew how long, Qu Changlin saw the man slowly raised his hand. Just as he thought that the man was about to mp his hand over his lips to stop himself from screaming, the man¡¯s palm reached toward the face hanging behind him.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a mannequin? This is strange. How could a mannequin possess such a despairing gaze?¡± the man mumbled to himself. He seemed to be deeply attracted by something. He put down his backpack and used both of his hands to carefully examine the skull that was hanging upside down.

    The finger caressed the mannequin¡¯s cheeks almost lovingly before travelling to its eyes andshes. Seeing this, Qu Changlin, who was hiding behind the mirror, felt a chill run through his body. Various scary thoughts filled his mind, and the hand that was holding the remote was already drenched with sweat.

    ...

    Chen Ge examined the mannequin¡¯s eyshes. When he firstid eyes on the mannequin, he had already been mightily impressed. It waspletely different from the mannequins avable on the market, and it was even different from the mannequins at his own Haunted House. This mannequin was mixed with the creator¡¯s emotions, and each detail was perfect.

    With the skill of Mortician¡¯s Make-up and Dollmaker¡¯s Talent, the mannequins created by Chen Ge¡¯s hands had the most realistic appearance, but even so, the mannequins could only be seen as the perfect vessel. Without the control of his employees, they would appear rather lifeless.

    As for this mannequin that fell from the ceiling, even though due to material restrictions, the realism was notparable to Chen Ge¡¯s mannequins, the eyes were so lively!

    ¡°He uses verymon materials, so how did manage to create such a lively pair of eyes? Just how many pairs of eyes has the creator observed to be able toe up with something like this?¡± Chen Ge held the mannequin¡¯s head carefully. He did not think that it was that scary. If anything, there was an admiration rolling in his eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll need to create a lot of mannequins, and that is such a big workload for one person. In the future, as the number of scenarios increases, the number of mannequins needed will shoot up as well. I will need to find an assistant. This person¡¯s talent is not bad. With some training, I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be a valuable addition to the Haunted House.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s brain turned very fast. Even when he was standing alone in the toilet, holding a mannequin¡¯s head, he was still thinking about his own Haunted House. ¡°To have talent like this stay inside the toilet to scare others is such a waste.¡±

    Chen Ge let go of the mannequin, and thetter swungzily before the cubicle. Chen Ge walked to the fifth cubicle.

    ¡°Is someone inside?¡± He did not know what kind of impression he would have given the worker hiding in the dark. In any case, Chen Ge did not care; he merely wanted to find the mannequin¡¯s creator.

    ¡°Where are you? Are you ying hide and seek with me?¡± Chen Ge sounded weirdly excited, like a child discovering a new toy.

    In this strange environment, hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice, the hiding Qu Changlin felt his heart quivering. He even suspected that the shock had been too much, and the visitor had gone insane. The sound of knocking came from the fifth cubicle. Hearing that, Qu Changlin¡¯s heart started to race.

    For some weird reason, in that moment, it felt like the role of the hunter and the hunted had swapped. The person hiding in the secret room was the victim, and the man wandering outside stubbornly was the real culprit.

    ¡°If you¡¯re not going to open the door, then I¡¯ming in, okay?¡± Even though it was phrased like a question, Qu Changlin did not hear any hesitation from the speaker.

    BANG!

    The door of the fifth cubicle was pushed open, and Chen Ge looked in with some disappointment. ¡°Then everything should be inside thest cubicle.¡±

    He walked to the door of thest cubicle, but Chen Ge did not stride in directly. He leaned against the door to listen for any sounding from inside the cubicle. Timing was crucial to activate traps inside the Haunted House, so there had to be at least one employee handling one scenario because not everything could be controlled remotely.

    Chen Ge looked around. ¡°This ce is only so big. Where could he be hiding? Thest cubicle should contain some scares as well, but if I was the employee, I wouldn¡¯t pick to hide there.¡±

    Adopting the worker¡¯s perspective to view this problem, Chen Ge suddenly lifted his head to look at the crack in the ceiling where the mannequin dangled from.

    <i>Is the worker hiding in the ceiling?</i>

    A brave idea popped up in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. He walked to stand beside the mannequin and looked at the hole above him.

    <i>Someone has to be controlling the mannequin. I wonder, where will the lines connected to the mannequin lead me?</i>

    The monsters and ghosts that other people avoided were openings for Chen Ge. He stood beside the mannequin and thought for a while. Qu Changlin, who was behind the mirror, had his heart gripped by a vise. He had no idea what the man was going to do next.

    Chen Ge walked back to the cubicle and summoned Ol¡¯ Zhou after taking out theic from his backpack. He pointed at the hole in the ceiling, and Ol¡¯ Zhou nodded.

    Chen Ge kept knocking on the door of thest cubicle, and while the employee¡¯s attention was thus distracted, Ol¡¯ Zhou sneaked into the hole in the ceiling.

    For Qu Changlin, this was incredibly strange. The sound of knocking kepting, but he could not see anyone.

    <i>What is he doing?</i>

    Qu Changlin held the remote with both hands. Sweat slid down his face, and the constant knocking annoyed him. The torturested for a minute before it got the better of Qu Changlin.

    <i>Either youe in here or you get out. Who are you trying to scare by wasting your time here?</i>

    He pushed the door open a gap, wishing to confirm Chen Ge¡¯s location. But at that moment, he felt something brush against the back of his neck like a centipede crawling over it.

    He scratched behind it, and his fingertip touched something that felt like a ball of watergrass. Subconsciously, Qu Changlin turned to look behind him.

    A pale face with an upside-down smile was hanging behind him. ¡°Found you.¡±

 Chapter 742 - When You Try to Mix with Others, It Only Makes You Look More Alone

    <h4>Chapter 742: When You Try to Mix with Others, It Only Makes You Look More Alone</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Qu Changlin had worked at Nightmare Academy for three years, and he had never expected such a day to evere. The face was only a few centimeters away from him, and he could see every detail on it clearly, including the corner of the lips that was curved upward, the stubbles that needed a quick shave, and the eyes that were radiating iciness no matter where they looked.

    ¡°My boss wants to meet you.¡± The man¡¯s lips opened and closed. It looked like he was speaking, but Qu Changlin did not think that he could hear anything. Perhaps the nerves responsible for auditory stimuli had stopped working, or perhaps his whole brain had gone into shut down.

    This was no longer that important. It did not even cross Qu Changlin¡¯s mind to understand why there was someone hanging behind him. His heart returned to normal after two seconds. Blood rushed to his brain instantly, and as he regained control of his body, Qu Changlin reacted the way most normal people would.

    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± His voice shook. Qu Changlin rammed into the door before him, and the thin mirror was pushed open. He wished to run out, but the door of the fourth cubicle was locked by someone.

    Trapped inside the cramped space, Qu Changlin leaned against the door of the cubicle. His eyes were glued to the secret room where he had been hiding earlier. There was nothing inside the narrow space. Qu Changlin had his hands on his chest, certain that he had seen someone there earlier. His head had been dangling downward, and he had been hanging behind him!

    ¡°Where did he go?¡± The scene from earlier had be an emotional scar in Qu Changlin¡¯s heart. If he did not get to the bottom of this, he believed that he would never have the courage to stay inside any dark, small spaces again.

    The air-conditioning in the Haunted House blew. The temperature was very low, but sweat kept pouring down Qu Changlin¡¯s forehead.

    <i>The cubicle door is closed, so the visitor should still be here.</i>

    Misery lovedpany. Just as Qu Changlin was contemting this serious question, there suddenly came a knock from the cubicle door behind him.

    The banging on the door was like a note from hell. It held a unique rhythm, and the constant knocking felt like itnded on Qu Changlin¡¯s heart. He wanted to move, but his legs refused to listen to his orders. They turned into noodles and failed to support his body anymore. The man slid down the wall.

    An extra person somehow appeared in the secret room. He wished to run out, but the cubicle door would not open. Qu Changlin realized that he was trapped in a corner. He stomped on the ground as he struggled to stand up.

    <i>If it is the visitor who is knocking on the cubicle door, then who was the person that I encountered inside the secret room?</i>

    Qu Changlin leaned heavily against the cubicle door. He reached into his pocket, attempting to find his phone and report the situation to his boss. However, just as he started to dial the number, before he even had the chance to say anything, he heard apletely unfamiliar voice. ¡°It¡¯s useless even if you try to hide. He will follow you home, hiding inside your shadow, leaning in from your window, lying in wait underneath your bed.¡±

    The voice came from outside the cubicle, from the person who had been knocking constantly on the door. The man did not purposely use a scary voice to scare Qu Changlin. Rather, the man¡¯s voice was level, like he was merely describing the truth.

    Qu Changlin mped his hands over his lips. The call was already connected, but he did not dare to speak. He could see a cold gaze looking at him, but he did not dare turn back, did not dare move a muscle; it was as if his whole body was frozen.

    <i>What should I do now?</i>

    ...

    Chen Ge was leaning over the wall of the fifth cubicle. He looked down at Qu Changlin, who was curled into a ball on the ground, and his eyes were burning with admiration.

    <i>He can stay inside this toilet with a horrible stench for so long even without wearing a mask. Professional etiquette aside, his professional skill is at least eighty marks.</i>

    With one hand on the wall, Chen Ge¡¯s other hand was holding the mannequin that dangled from the ceiling, and he shook it constantly. The knocking sound that Qu Changlin had heard was actually the sound of the mannequin¡¯s head banging against the door.

    The sound of a head banging against the door was naturally different from when one used one¡¯s hands. Without the man knowing about it, Chen Ge was conducting a simple test on Qu Changlin.

    <i>Good ability, very professional. The only thing left is his personality and morality.</i>

    When Chen Ge was contemting that question, Ol¡¯ Zhou silently materialized behind him. He was holding a thick notebook about human anatomy.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± As Chen Ge flipped through the notebook, he found that it was filled with pages of hand-drawn mannequin blueprints. They ranged from various styles and models.

    ¡°ording to the clues, there is a spare red tablemp in the haunted house. I found this notebook underneath thatmp. It doesn¡¯t seem like he wants people to see this.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou had spent quite a bit of time with Chen Ge, so he knew his boss very well and would sometimes prove to be quite astute and caring.

    Hearing Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s words, the image of Qu Changlin in a ghost outfit hiding inside the toilet where visitors would rarely enter appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. Out of boredom, he used the light from the tablemp and studied the profession of mannequin making.

    The front part of the notebook was mostly hand drawn designs by Qu Changlin himself, but thetter part felt more like his diary.

    ¡°1st September, the number of visitorsing to the Haunted House continues to drop. I can hear people walk past the door, but no onees in. Sad.

    ¡°3rd September, I¡¯ve updated the mannequin in the toilet. I only need to spend an extra fifty RMB on each mannequin, and they will bring a realistic feeling to the visitors! I¡¯m sure everyone will be impressed!

    ¡°4th September, the cold drizzle washed out my face. Boss didn¡¯t agree with my update idea. Oh well, the Haunted House is not doing so well¡ªthis is not his fault.

    ¡°15th September, a visitor finally wandered into the toilet today! Let me think, how shall I scare him? Ha ha ha ha!

    ¡°30th September, Xiao Die said that she wishes to focus on her career at the moment and has no time for a rtionship. I will need to work harder so that I can support her in the future.

    ¡°15th October, why do they always say that I¡¯m a boring person? I¡¯ve done so many things that I didn¡¯t like so that I won¡¯t stand out anymore, but howe they still see me as a strange guy?

    ¡°30th October, so Xiao Die already has a crush.

    ¡°1st November, a new month has begun. I swear to be a more interesting person that can get well with others. Yes, you can do it!¡±

    There were many other simr short entries. Each one of them sounded optimistic, but Chen Ge could sense the mncholy behind it. He put down the notebook, and his eyes wandered to the words on the walls of the fifth cubicle.

    Unlike the Third Sick Hall, the scenario was decorated by their corresponding workers. Qu Changlin was responsible for the toilet, so the words on the walls should have been handwritten by the man.

    The ghost story in the toilet was about a boy by the name of Xiao Lin. He was hated by everyone due to his prankster nature. In the end, everyone decided to gang up against him.

    It was a simple story, but it reflected Qu Changlin¡¯s life. The Xiao Lin in the story should be talking about him.

    ¡°Not all fish stay in the same ocean, so why push for things against nature?¡± Chen Ge thought about it and decided to stop messing with Qu Changlin. He called Ol¡¯ Zhou to return to theic, and he pulled open the door of the fourth cubicle.

 Chapter 743 - When You Bloom

    <h4>Chapter 743: When You Bloom</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After forcing the cubicle door open, Chen Ge immediately squatted down when he saw Qu Changlin copsed on the ground. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Seeing the man enter, Qu Changlin¡¯s first reaction was not to ask for help but to try and retreat as fast as he could. He held both of his hands over his face, like if he could not see anything, the monster outside the door would not exist.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Are you hurt? Do you need me to call the emergency number?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s voice wasced with concern. In Qu Changlin¡¯s memory, ghosts would not ask questions like that. The fingers that shielded his face opened a slight gap, and Qu Changlin peered at Chen Ge through it.

    It was amon, honest face with concern in the eyes. How could someone like that be a bad guy? Qu Changlin gradually put down his hands. He was about to ask Chen Ge for help when he was suddenly reminded of something. After he was scared by the hanging man inside the secret room, there came a constant knocking from the door of the fourth cubicle, which meant that there should be a second ghost prowling the scenario!

    Suppressing the anxiety in his heart, Qu Changlin tried his best to calm down, but when he spoke, his voice was still shaking. ¡°Did you hear some kind of weird knocking earlier? It had a constant rhythm and soundedpletely different from a normal knocking sound!¡±

    ¡°A knocking sound?¡± Chen Ge scrunched up his brows before rxing them. ¡°I think I know. You probably heard this.¡±

    Taking one step back, Chen Ge grabbed the mannequin that was dangling in midair. He nudged it slightly, and the mannequin¡¯s head bounced into the door again and again. ¡°When I came in, I saw this mannequin swinging back and forth. Its head was bouncing against the door, which is probably what you heard.¡±

    After hearing Chen Ge¡¯s exnation, Qu Changlin fell into deep contemtion. The knocking definitely dide from the mannequin, but now, there was another question in his mind. He found Chen Ge¡¯s voice suspiciously familiar. When the ghost threated him earlier, it was this voice that had spoken to him!

    ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here first, this ce smells.¡± Chen Ge reached out to grab Qu Changlin¡¯s arm, trying to help him get up.

    ¡°Don¡¯te near me!¡± He swung Chen Ge¡¯s hand away and sat between the cubicle and the secret room.

    ¡°Why? What are you so afraid of, or are you still acting? Then, what shall I do to cooperate?¡± To ease the pressure on Qu Changlin, Chen Ge moved out of the way and allowed the former a free route toward the exit.

    ¡°Acting?¡± Qu Changliny on the ground for almost a full minute before he calmed down. After confirming that Chen Ge did not mean him harm, he slowly let his guard down. ¡°Are you one of the visitors?¡±

    ¡°What do you think? Could I be one of the workers here and you¡¯re the visitor?¡± Chen Ge attempted a joke, but the way he looked at Qu Changlin was like how one would appreciate a piece of moving art. Qu Changlin tried to stand up by pushing both hands against the ground, but he failed. He was about to try it again, but he suddenly realized how preposterous that would have appeared to the visitor.

    To preserve his own pride as the Haunted House¡¯s worker, Qu Changlin coughed drily and said in an unnatural tone, ¡°That¡¯s right, you¡¯re lucky enough to have found the hidden plot inside this scenario! I am the key character at this scenario. Unfortunately, I¡¯m currently injured by a spirit, and I need you to help move me to the headmaster¡¯s office.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the key character here? But ording to the entry I read in the diary and the words written on the walls, shouldn¡¯t the main character that this scenario is based on be called Xiao Lin?¡± Chen Ge was not purposely trying to make Qu Changlin look bad; he was merely curious about everything.

    ¡°Ha ha, actually, I am that Xiao Lin,¡± Qu Changlin admitted shyly.

    ¡°But the Xiao Lin in the story is only a child, whereas you look almost thirty already. At least the hair on your head points toward that.¡±

    ¡°You¡­¡± Qu Changlin had just experienced the scare of his life, and he was still recovering. That,bined with his natural reticence, meant that he did not know how to respond to Chen Ge.

    ¡°In any case, you need to rest. The headmaster¡¯s office, is it? Okay, I¡¯ll take you there.¡± Chen Ge gripped Qu Changlin¡¯s arm. ¡°Can you stand up?¡±

    Qu Changlin held the wall as he stood up. His legs were weak, and he tittered like a toddler learning how to walk for the first time.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you a bit too in character?¡± Chen Ge then proceeded to do something that surprised even Qu Changlin. He picked Qu Changlin up on his back. ¡°Lead the way then.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡± Qu Changlin did not know how to feel. Just minutes earlier, he had received a message from his boss telling him to scare this visitor, but several minutester, he was being rescued by the same visitor. The phone in his pocket vibrated several times. Qu Changlin silently took it out. His call to the boss had already disconnected. The phone was filled with messages from his boss.

    ¡°What are you doing? I told you to go scare him, not to reform him!¡±

    ¡°Where is the modified mannequin that you often boast about? Didn¡¯t you tell me you¡¯ve ced multiple traps inside the toilet and could scare even the boldest of individuals?¡±

    ¡°Why are you climbing on his back now?¡±

    Reading the messages on his phone, the bitterness in Qu Changlin¡¯s heart grew. He did not like to speak and was not good at maintaining interpersonal rtionship. He really did not know how to answer his own boss now. His boss continued to message him, but Qu Changlin stopped looking at them. Helplessness and worry overwhelmed him. He felt like a failure, and his head sunk even lower.

    ¡°This Haunted House is quite scary. When I entered the toilet earlier, I was given quite a fright by the mannequin that dropped down from the ceiling. Especially the mannequin¡¯s pair of eyes, they look so real. The creator must be a genius.¡± Chen Ge made it sound like this observation was made casually.

    ¡°You think that mannequin is scary?¡± Qu Changlin¡¯s lowered head slowly lifted.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been to many Haunted Houses, and this was the first time that I¡¯ve been scared by a mannequin. The creator must be a genius, and he must have spent a great load of time studying this. The design of the toilet is quite amazing as well. The visitor knows that there will be a scare inside the fourth cubicle, so when they open the door, their attention is attracted to the mirror. So, when the mannequin suddenly drops down from the ceiling then, it creates such a scary effect. This is an ingenious design.¡± Chen Ge was sincere with his praise.

    Hearing thepliment, color returned to Qu Changlin¡¯s eyes. ¡°Actually, there are seven traps in total hidden inside the toilet. This time, there was an ident, and only one was triggered.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impressive. Even with just one trap triggered, this is already one of the scariest experiences that I¡¯ve had inside a Haunted House, but the story behind it annoys me somewhat.¡± Like he was talking to a friend, Chen Ge¡¯s tone was friendly and natural.

    ¡°The story? I think it¡¯s fine¡­¡±

    ¡°I got the gist after reading the diary entries and the words on the walls. Xiao Lin is a child that no one pays much attention to. No one wants to be his friend, so he tries to get other people¡¯s attention by ying pranks, but in the end, everyone in the ss ganged up on him.¡±

    ¡°Is there a problem with that story?¡±

    ¡°No, the story is fine, but I personally feel like Xiao Lin¡¯s tragedy could have been easily avoided.¡± On the surface, Chen Ge was discussing Xiao Lin¡¯s story with Qu Changlin, but he was actually sharing some of his personal thoughts. ¡°When a person tries to mix in with the rest, he will only make his life that much more tiring. To give up on one¡¯s hobbies and habits just to pander to others is truly a sad life.¡±

    Qu Changlin nodded slightly but did not respond.

    Chen Ge did not mind it and continued talking. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ve wandered too far from the topic. Actually, it¡¯s because I see my past self in Xiao Lin. Like him, I used to be alone and afraid; my goal in life was to make friends with everyone. Eventually, I confessed my feeling to a girl whom I had a crush on, but she rejected me.¡±

    Qu Changlin listened to Chen Ge¡¯s experience and found resonance without even realizing it. ¡°It must have felt awful to be rejected.¡±

    ¡°Naturally, the pain stuck with me for a long time. During that period, I tried my best to stand tall again, but only those who have experienced this will be able to understand how difficult that really is!¡±

    Chen Ge practically took the words out of Qu Changlin¡¯s mind, and thetter found himself nodding along.

    ¡°Rtionships are something that is very hard to exin. One day, I overheard a conversation between my friends. The girl that I had a crush on actually hated how I always try to pander to others. At that moment, I understood, I needed to rediscover my true self.¡±

    A mncholy not reflected by his age coursed through Chen Ge¡¯s voice.

    ¡°I moved to a newpany and started a new life. I stopped trying to live my life for other people¡¯s sake. I gave my new life and new job my best, trying to be my best self. Now, I am sessful both career-wise and rtionship-wise. I am even my own boss, and I don¡¯t need to care about pandering to others anymore.¡±

    Just hearing Chen Ge say that, Qu Changlin felt rather jealous, and he breathed out sincerely, ¡°You are an amazing person.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not me that¡¯s amazing. If one is willing to change, anyone can be that amazing, including the Xiao Lin in the story.¡± Chen Ge stressed on the word change. ¡°Everyone is their own main character. What we need to do is to spend time and effort on things that can make us truer to our real self.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s words left such an impression on Qu Changlin that his eyes were glistening. ¡°Brother, actually, I have a simr experience to yours. I did have a crush on a girl, but now, I¡¯m a bit lost¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to be lost, just remember this.¡± Without raising his head, Chen Ge moved past the door of the storage room where Xiao Die <sup>1</sup> should be. ¡°Be your best self. When you bloom, the butterfly wille.¡±

 Chapter 744 - Stairs

    <h4>Chapter 744: Stairs</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s words hit the softest part of Qu Changlin¡¯s heart, and a seed started to germinate there. The encouragement from this stranger formed a stark contrast to the messages from his boss, and the bitterness that had been hidden inside his heart for years finally exploded.

    <i>It¡¯s about time for a change.</i>

    This thought expanded in his mind at an uncontroble speed. He clenched his fists tightly, but after a while, he slowly calmed down. Life was not a fairy tale; the premise of living one¡¯s dream was to first stay alive.

    Qu Changlin was isted by the workers at Nightmare Academy, which was why he had been arranged to monitor the toilet with its repulsive stench. He was bad at interpersonal rtionships andcked confidence in himself.

    Being reminded of those facts, he sighed softly. ¡°I wish to change, but change needs courage and ability, and I have neither of those...¡±

    ¡°You underestimate yourself too much. Even though we don¡¯t know each other, I can already see several positive points about you. Perhaps you simply haven¡¯t met someone who knows how to appreciate your talent. The scenario you¡¯re responsible for is so scary, and the mannequin inside it is horrifying, but you can stand the horrible stench and monitor everything in the dark. From how I see it, you have the talent to be one of the best Haunted House workers.¡± Chen Ge slowed down his steps. ¡°I hear there is a Haunted House in Western Jiujiang that is currently thriving, and it has a very good review online. If you really want to initiate a change, you can try your luck over there. After all, if you want to change, might as well start at the best location. Regardless of the result, at least you¡¯ve given it your all.¡±

    Qu Changlin remembered Chen Ge¡¯s words and slowly nodded. Actually, his suspicion had not been vanquished, but he tried to ignore it. After all, this was his first time running into such a helpful visitor inside a Haunted House, and it was natural for him to be weirded out.

    With the guidance from Qu Changlin, Chen Ge carried him to the headmaster¡¯s office. ¡°We¡¯ve arrived. Now what?¡±

    ¡°Just put me here.¡± Qu Changlin shielded his phone with his hand. Reading the messages sent by his boss, he felt rather guilty toward Chen Ge. The man had lent him an ear and even helped to organize his life, but he was supposed to scare him with malicious intent. That did sound rather immoral.

    ¡°You need to be careful on your own. Right, how about you give me your phone number? If you run into any trouble, feel free to call me.¡± Chen Ge was being very friendly, and that only made Qu Changlin feel much worse.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Just outside the headmaster¡¯s office, while the camera was watching, the two exchanged numbers.

    ¡°I¡¯ve explored the toilet, so I think I shall move onto another scenario, see youter.¡± Chen Ge smiled and took out the diary from his backpack to see where he should head next.

    Seeing Chen Ge walk away, Qu Changlin did not know what to say. He sensed a unique power from the man, one that could give people around him hope and warmth.

    The phone in his palm kept vibrating. Qu Changlin lowered his head to look¡ªit was his boss calling him. Thetter probably saw Chen Ge leave on the surveince footage, and he quickly called to demand an exnation. After he epted the call, before Qu Changlin could say anything, he heard the yelling from his boss.

    ¡°What the hell are you doing? How many times did I stress for you to scare him and not show weakness? What have you done? Look at yourself!¡± Qu Changlin held the phone, leaned against the door, and did not say anything.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you speaking? Remember the promise you gave me? Didn¡¯t you swear that you would let him walk in but crawl out? What happened in the end?¡± The boss was angry. After all, his best employees went to visit another Haunted House, and all three of them came back unconscious. Now, thepetition hade to visit his own haunted house, and four of his employees had already been scared! No one would be able to suffer something like that quietly.

    ¡°I said that I would let him walk in, but I didn¡¯t promise that it would be him who crawled out. Now, he walked in, but I crawled out; I didn¡¯t go back on my promise, did I?¡± Qu Changlin put his phone to the side. He was in no mood to listen to his boss¡¯ scolding, but he thought that hanging up would be too rude.

    ¡°Say that again? Qu Changlin! If you dare, say that again!¡± On the other end, the boss was so angry that his voice was shaking. Hearing no answer from Qu Changlin, he did not even end the call but took out the walkie-talkie to give orders to the remaining actors at his Haunted House. ¡°I don¡¯t care what kind of method you use, I need you to scare that visitor by the name of Chen Ge! I will not allow him to ruin the name of Nightmare Academy!¡±

    ¡°Boss, he has cleared all the previous scenarios already. I think it will be very difficult to scare him.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care what you think! For now, I need all of you to gather!¡±

    After the call ended, Qu Changlin could not hear his boss¡¯ voice anymore. He leaned against the door, and it was hard to tell what he was thinking.

    ...

    <i>The ssroom, storeroom, toilet... Let¡¯s see, where should I go next?</i>

    Chen Ge flipped through the diary and started to read the fourth entry.

    This entry was rted to the stairs, and it recorded a ssic ghost story known as the thirteenth step.

    Every stairs at Nightmare Academy had twelve steps, but at certain moment, a thirteenth step would appear, and those who stepped on it would see some strange things.

    <i>When I first entered the Haunted House, the worker reminded the visitors to pay attention to the stairs. This can only mean that some of them have been trapped. This is perfect. I should go take a look. Perhaps I can run into another valuable employee like Qu Changlin.</i>

    The toilet was adjacent to the stairs. Chen Ge walked back the corridor and reached the mouth of the stairs.

    There was no light inside the staircase. The weak light filtered in from the corridor, and the deeper one went, the darker it was. The cornernding between the two floors was particrly dark.

    <i>The stairs are made from cement, how are they going to make an extra step appear out of thin air?</i>

    With the desire to master this ¡®technique¡¯, Chen Ge ced the diary inside his backpack and walked into the staircase without turning back. The background music changed, and cold air came from all corners. As Chen Ge headed up, he counted the steps in his mind.

    <i>One, two... eleven, twelve. Everything¡¯s normal, there¡¯s no problem.</i>

    Chen Ge was quite disappointed. He walked up two floors at one go, but he could not find anything wrong with the steps.

    <i>Perhaps I¡¯ve done something wrong.</i>

    He ignored the other ¡®people¡¯ and took out the diary and started to read while standing on the stairs.

    <i>Without any hints, how am I supposed to trigger this scenario?</i>

    When Chen Ge was figuring out that answer, footsteps suddenly came from downstairs. He looked through the gap in the middle but saw no oneing up.

    <i>Is it the background music?</i>

    Chen Ge could not see any visible speakers. Suddenly, he heard a child¡¯s voice. It was very soft, and it repeated the same word again and again. ¡°Daddy.¡±

    <i>Where is this voiceing from?</i>

    Chen Ge had more sensitive hearing than normal people, but even he could not tell where the voice came from. The person seemed to be broadcasting the audio from different speakers in unison.

    ¡°Stop pretending and hiding. I¡¯ve already seen you!¡±

    Chen Ge ced a ballpoint pen in his shirt pocket, carried his backpack with one hand, and headed downstairs.

 Chapter 745 - Weight of a Fatherâ€™s Love

    <h4>Chapter 745: Weight of a Father¡¯s Love</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The light in the staircase seemed to dim, and cold wind blew from above his head; the operator of Nightmare Academy seemed to have switched the air-conditioning to its lowest setting. When Chen Ge returned to the previous floor, he realized with a shock that the safety door that led from the staircase to the corridor had been locked, and a new seal had been taped across it.

    ¡°It¡¯s locked? They n to trap me inside the stairwell?¡± Chen Ge stood at the door and looked out through the ss panel on the door. Shadows flitted across the dim corridor. They were of various sizes and appeared to be armed with various tools. When his attention was distracted by the shadows out in the corridor, the footsteps echoing down the stairwell returned.

    ¡°Someone is following behind me, huh?¡± Chen Ge was not worried. He listened carefully and realized that it was a child¡¯s voice underlying the sound of footsteps. The boy seemed to have been separated from his father and was crying for help.

    ¡°This voice sounds weird; it doesn¡¯t sound like that of a child but is much shriller than a normal adult¡¯s voice. It¡¯s like an adult with a prepubescent voice.¡±

    Closing his eyes, Chen Ge tried to pinpoint the boy¡¯s location. ¡°The sound of the boy is mixed with a very weak sound of static, so it should being from a speaker. Even though the sound that came from downstairs is equally scary, it sounds much clearer, so the child should be located at the lower part of the building.¡±

    As he went down the stairs, the light became dimmer and the walls dirtier. There were more conspicuous stains on the walls, and they made one feel ufortable. Other than that, Chen Ge discovered something interesting. At everynding between each floor, there was a ck joss stick urn where three joss sticks sat. There had to be a purpose behind them, but for the time being, Chen Ge had no idea what they were for.

    ¡°The joss sticks are too damp to be lit, and some of them are even snapped...¡± Chen Ge squatted down next to the urn and picked it up in his palm to study. To his surprise, there was a picture ced under the urn. He picked up the picture. It was that of a man in his thirties, wearing a mask and keeping his head lowered like he was very afraid of being seen.

    Chen Ge noticed that the man¡¯s left hand was holding someone¡¯s arm, but that part of the picture had been torn off.

    ¡°Daddy...¡± The voice suddenly came from behind Chen Ge.

    ¡°Are you calling me?¡± Chen Ge turned back to look, but there was nothing there. Narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge walked in the direction that the voice hade from, and he spotted a mini speaker hidden inside the stained wall.

    ¡°No wonder there are so many dirty stains on the walls¡ªit makes it more convenient to hide these mechanisms.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s finger swiped the front end of the speaker. ¡°Something like this must be very expensive. If there¡¯s a chance, perhaps I should install some in my own Haunted House. One of the reasons Nightmare Academy has grown so big is because it has mixed technology and ghost story, and that seems like the way to go.¡±

    Chen Ge was not a prideful man. His willingness to learn was how he had managed to survive thus far.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t checked my ount for so long. I suppose there should be quite a healthy sum inside it. After unlocking the four-star mission, I should approach Director Luo to ask for a loan to purchase a set of thetest equipment for the Haunted House. Having my people control thetest equipment, hiding a scarier horror behind the darkness, that should be able to give the visitors quite an experience.¡±

    Holding the picture in his hand, Chen Ge carried his bag and headed further down the stairs. The sound of footsteps and the boy¡¯s crying came nearer and nearer. Nightmare Academy wished to create this impression that the ghost was catching up to Chen Ge. Using the various mini speakers installed in the stairwell and the maniption backstage, that was exactly what they managed to do.

    For a normal person, after they entered the stairwell and realized that the strange sounds were moving closer and closer, their confidence would slowly crumble, but unfortunately, that day, Nightmare Academy met their match.

    After noticing the sounds getting closer, Chen Ge not only did not panic; he headed directly toward the source of the sound like he could not wait to meet the ghost in person, and that proved such a headache for the person manipting the system in the background. Hemunicated nonstop with the actors to stop Chen Ge from entering the next scenario before the preparation was done.

    ¡°Using the sounds to discern the source is pointless. Each floor has been installed with those speakers, and the sounds could havee from any of the speakers.¡± Chen Ge stood inside the stairwell patiently. He focused. He attempted to pinpoint the third source of the sound amid the disturbance of the footsteps and the crying to triangte the worker¡¯s location.

    Seeing this, the person thought that Chen Ge had given up. He quickly barked orders at his workers, telling them to get to work.

    Chen Ge did not know about the things happening backstage. He utilized his superhuman senses and picked up two sets of footstepsing from the lower floor, one heavier than the other.

    ¡°One of themes from the speaker, and the other probably means that the actor is on the move.¡±

    Without any warning, Chen Ge charged forward. The moment that he grabbed the doorknob of the safety door, there was another pale hand that grabbed the same doorknob from the other side. Two hands fell on the doorknob at once, and they lifted up their heads at the same time to look at each other through the ss.

    In the corridor, there stood a girl wearing Nightmare Academy¡¯s uniform. She wore very thick make-up, and her cheeks were pale. A purplish strangle mark was visible across her neck. The scariest thing was her eyes. A finger was stuck through her pupil, and both sides of her lips were painted with red dye.

    Inside the stairwell, Chen Ge tightened his grip on the doorknob, and his eyes were glowing coldly. The image of a woman was reflected in his eyes, and a unique presence radiated off him. It was hard to describe, but in any case, he did not look like a living person.

    The girl did not expect that someone would suddenly grab the door and appear behind it. Her face twitched, but she maintained her professionalism. To prevent the finger that stuck in her eye from sliding down, the girl titled her chin upward and looked at Chen Ge in this strange posture.

    ¡°Are you the spirit inside the stairwell? The evil spirit that I will meet once the thirteenth step appears?¡± Through the door, Chen Ge studied the girl carefully. Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s words, the girl was confused. It felt like Chen Ge was more in character than she was, but soon, a difficult conundrum was ced before her.

    As a Specter born out of resentment and despair, how was she supposed to respond to Chen Ge?

    If she said yes, then it would appear like she was more easily persuaded than required. Why should a Specter answer his question simply because he asked it?

    But if she said no, then how was she going to exin the way that she was dressed?

    The girl turned her neck to nce at the camera at the side. The script had not provided her the necessary lines should this situation arise.

    ¡°If you won¡¯t answer, I¡¯ll take it as a silent admission. However, I have a smallint¡ªwhere is the thirteenth step that you promised me?¡± Chen Ge pulled on the safety door, and it swung open just like that. However, at that moment, something strange happened.

    The girl seemed to have received a new order from the backstage through her earpiece. She looked behind Chen Ge, and her expression was fearful like she saw something very scary behind Chen Ge. ¡°He has returned!¡±

    After saying that, the girl turned and ran away; she did not even stop to pick up the prop finger that had fallen to the ground.

    ¡°He has returned?¡± Chen Ge turned back to look. He assumed that it was Ol¡¯ Zhou or the Pen Spirit who had appeared.

    He nced at the girl that soon disappeared, and he was confused. ¡°Is this some kind of a story within a story, or has a real Specter appeared? Then again, this ce is built at the spot where Yin energy gathers, so the possibility of that is not zero.¡±

    Chen Ge was still thinking when the sound of footsteps and the boy¡¯s crying came from the staircase again. After hearing them for so long, it started to annoy him.

    ¡°Are you done? Fine, you want to find your father? After I find you, I¡¯ll let you experience once and for all the weight of a father¡¯s love!¡±

 Chapter 746 - Brother and Sister

    <h4>Chapter 746: Brother and Sister</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    For Chen Ge, whether he ran into a fake ghost or a real ghost, he was not afraid. If anything, he wished that his visitation would not be smooth sailing. If there was a talented living employee, he would slowly persuade them to join him; if there was a real ghost, things would be even easier. He would capture them and take them with him to be educated.

    Looking down the empty corridor, Chen Ge was about to head downstairs when one of the doors down the corridor was pushed open. It was unclear whether it was pure coincidence or another set up.

    ¡°Found the exit! F*ck! It¡¯s been behind us all along!¡± A man¡¯s voice trailed down the corridor. It sounded rather familiar to Chen Ge. Soon after that, a couple raced out of the room. They were the visitors that had entered the Haunted House with Chen Ge.

    The man¡¯s name was Lee Yuan, and his girlfriend was Xue Li. There was another quiet woman with them; she was reserved and passive. Chen Ge did not know her name.

    ¡°Huh? Why are you here alone?¡± Lee Yuan spotted Chen Ge. He noticed the unnaturalness on Chen Ge¡¯s face, standing alone in the stairwell. He waved and yelled, ¡°Brother, there¡¯s a ghost inside the stairwell! You need toe out! Don¡¯t stay there for too long!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, the ghost has just left, and I doubt she¡¯ll return any time soon.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t never tell with something like that. By the way, where are the three students that should have escaped with you?¡± Lee Yuan and Xue Li stuck close together. From their unkempt appearance, it felt like they had been through a lot.

    ¡°The four of us got separated after being chased by a ghost.¡± Chen Ge came up with a random excuse.

    ¡°We heard the screams even though we were far away. I¡¯m so sorry for abandoning you guys in the ssroom earlier.¡± Lee Yuan was quite embarrassed. From his perspective, he was partially responsible for what had happened to the three students. ¡°In any case, we should move together from now on. We have already explored the art studio and music ssroom. We¡¯re nning to go to the abandoned storeroom next. What about you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already been to the abandoned storeroom; the actor there is not feeling well, so I n to head to the bottom of the staircase next.¡± Chen Ge took out the picture that he had found hidden under the ck urn. ¡°I n toplete this mission of the thirteenth step.¡±

    ¡°Thirteenth step?¡± Lee Yuan nced at the picture. ¡°Brother, listen to me. I suggest you stay away from the stairwell. I¡¯ve joined a WhatsApp group for those who have visited Nightmare Academy, and ording to them, the stairwell might really be haunted.¡±

    ¡°Haunted stairwell?¡±

    ¡°ording to the rumors, before the building waspleted, there was a boy that came here to y, but he identally trapped himself somewhere and was never found. A small group of visitors swore that they saw a child inside the stairwell. They said that the urn in the stairwell wasn¡¯t ced there to scare the visitors but to hold the boy back so that he wouldn¡¯t wander off from the stairwell.¡±

    ¡°Do you have more details on this boy? Like his life experience, deficiency in his personality, or his family background?¡± Chen Ge listed off a series of questions that Lee Yuan had not considered before.

    ¡°Er... what¡¯s the point of knowing all that?¡±

    ¡°What is the number for that WhatsApp group? Can I join?¡± Chen Ge sounded very excited. ¡°I wish to share stories with them as well.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Lee Yuan added Chen Ge to the group. ¡°Those three students are so young, and they are separated from the rest of us; they must be very afraid now. Should we go look for them?¡±

    ¡°You can go and find them. I shall follow my own n.¡± Chen Ge took the picture back and turned to leave.

    ¡°Are you really not afraid of ghosts?¡± The voice was coarse like grinding sand. The one who spoke was the woman who had been really quiet so far.

    ¡°Are you talking to me?¡± Chen Ge stopped moving. He was rather surprised because he noticed that the woman had been staring fixatedly at him, or rather, at the middle-aged man in the picture that he was holding.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯m afraid, but I¡¯m not going to show that.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re afraid, then I advise you stay away from the stairwell. Nightmare Academy used to have both day and night tours, but the night tours were cancelled because people kept reporting the appearance of a boy inside the stairwell.¡± The woman¡¯s gaze moved away from the picture to Chen Ge¡¯s face. ¡°This is not a joke. I know it sounds hard to believe, but he really exists. Didn¡¯t you realize that even during daytime, the workers here rarely enter the stairwell or use the stairs to move between floors?¡±

    ¡°From the way you¡¯re speaking, it sounds like you know some insider details.¡± Chen Ge waved the picture that he was holding. ¡°You¡¯ve been staring at the man in this picture. Do you know him?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s my father. It was he who brought my little brother here to y ten years ago.¡± The woman revealed some startling information. Not only Chen Ge, both Lee Yuan and Xue Li were stunned.

    ¡°In other words, the boy who went missing was your little brother...¡± Lee Yuan held Xue Li¡¯s hand and took a step backward. He felt his scalp going numb. The teammate who had been following them was the big sister of the little boy in the ghost story. This kind of mixing of ghost story and real life was a feeling that was hard to describe.

    It was like the event from a fairytale suddenly happening to them. Lee Yuan and Xue Li subconsciously edged toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°So, why are you at this Haunted House? Just to visit? Aren¡¯t you afraid of being reminded of the tragedy from the past?¡± Chen Ge did not expect the woman to possess this identity. She did not answer Chen Ge¡¯s question verbally. Instead, she smiled.

    ¡°This Haunted House is already scary enough, and now you¡¯re only making it scarier. Can we not stay here anymore? Let¡¯s move onto the next scenario.¡± Lee Yuan came forth to smooth over the tension. He patted Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Let¡¯s move together, we shouldn¡¯t get separated anymore.¡±

    After discovering the woman¡¯s identity, neither Lee Yuan nor Xue Li wished to continue the tour with her. Just the thought made their skin crawl.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine with me, but I¡¯m going to the stairwell next. Are you sure you want toe with me?¡± Chen Ge put the picture away. He did not care about the woman¡¯s warning and headed into the stairwell again.

    ¡°Why are you so stubborn?¡± Xue Li and Lee Yuan did not know what to say. Chen Ge was purposely heading into danger, and the man refused to listen to any persuasion. In the end, neither of them dared to follow Chen Ge into the stairwell, and they split up again.

    Darkness slowly swallowed Chen Ge, and this time, he headed down the stairs to the lowest floor.

    If someone had been around then, they would have witnessed a strange scene. A young man walking down the stairs with his head lowered, counting the steps on his lips like he was conversing with someone.

    A glint of excitement burned in his eyes. asionally, he nced at the camera, as if he was trying to memorize all the cameras¡¯ location.

 Chapter 747 - Games

    <h4>Chapter 747: Games</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After hearing the woman¡¯s story, Chen Ge¡¯s interest in the boy in the stairwell only grew.

    ¡°He dares to wander out in daylight, so he can¡¯t be a normal lingering spirit. At the very least, he is at the level of a baleful Specter. But why would he stay here so long? Is it because he has unfinished business here? Could it be that the object of his possession is buried deep in the building¡¯s foundation?¡±

    Chen Ge felt ufortable knowing that a boy¡¯s soul was unable to find peace. He decided to help the boy fulfil hisst wish. Chen Ge rushed down the stairs. He did not know how to encounter the boy, so he found a blind spot from the camera and summoned Ol¡¯ Zhou.

    ¡°Just now, a woman told me a little boy is wandering in this stairwell, can you sense his location?¡± Chen Ge asked Ol¡¯ Zhou. He was hoping for a positive answer.

    ¡°I can¡¯t feel anything. Perhaps he¡¯s in hiding.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou looked around. ¡°But this ce is rather strange.¡±

    ¡°Strange? What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°A normal lingering spirit wouldn¡¯t be able to appear in daylight. Even for baleful Specter, the period of appearance is only very short. If they wander too far away from their object of possession, it would cause irreparable damage, or at least, that should be the case. However, our Haunted House is an exemption. I do not know exactly why. Even in broad daylight, we can appear anywhere we wish inside the Haunted House. There is no limitation of time, and in fact, the ce feels veryfortable to us.¡±

    After describing Western Jiujiang¡¯s Haunted House, Ol¡¯ Zhou turned to study the stairwell that they were in. ¡°Even though this ce is not asfortable as the Haunted House, I can stay here for a very long time. This building appears to have shielded itself fully from the sunlight, and the Yin energy gathered here is very thick.¡±

    ¡°You can stay in Nightmare Academy for a very long time?¡± For a moment, Chen Ge thought of having Ol¡¯ Zhou stay behind to act as his spy.

    ¡°Not only me, even normal spirits like the students from Mu Yang High School should be able to do it. This kind of location is too rare,¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou said meaningfully.

    ¡°Nightmare Academy has been in operation for many years already. This is probably due to its unique geographical location and mode of operation.¡± Chen Ge leaned against the wall.

    ¡°The negative emotions vented by the visitors pooled around this ce, andbined with the natural Yin energy inside the building, if this is allowed to continue, this ce will only attract more and more ghosts and monsters.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s brows were heavily creased, and he looked severe. ¡°Just like how our Haunted House asionally has special visitors, if the people here cannot deal with them, something very dangerous might happen, and it might lead to unimaginable results.¡±

    ¡°You have a point.¡± Chen Ge thought silently. ¡°So, what do you think we should do?¡±

    ¡°We should take over such a dangerous location. After all, we have already gotten used to the danger.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou sighed and offered his advice.

    After a moment¡¯s silence, Chen Ge finally said, ¡°With great poweres great responsibility. Even though I don¡¯t live in Xin Hai, I can¡¯t just let bad things happen to Xin Hai. After we deal with everything at our ce, we should contact Director Luo, and with his help, hopefully, we can take over this building and snip the danger at the bud.¡±

    ¡°It is lucky that they ran into someone like you, boss.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s brows rxed, and he sighed.

    Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Zhou were a dream team and formed a great contrast to the boss of Nightmare Academy and his employees. This was probably due to Chen Ge¡¯s natural personal charm.

    With Ol¡¯ Zhou in tow, Chen Ge ran to the first floor. The end of the stairwell was not the exit but arge door painted on the wall. ¡°The door is drawn on the wall. ording to the game rules, if the visitors found out therge door was merely a painting, they would definitely panic.¡±

    After spending so much time inside the building, Chen Ge had familiarized himself with Nightmare Academy¡¯syout. Both left and right sides of the building had a ¡®not so safe¡¯ safety corridor leading to dead ends. The real path was the elevator in the middle, the elevator used by the visitors when they started the tour.

    There were pros and cons to this arrangement. On one hand, it could elicit the darkest fear in the visitor¡¯s heart, but on the other hand, should they encounter a special visitor, the employees themselves had no ce to run.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Zhou, after we find the boy, you stay near the elevator. Keep the elevator on your floor.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    With Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s help, Chen Ge felt much more rxed. However, the man in the surveince room was in for a surprise because he was about to witness something inexplicable.

    After Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Zhou arrived at the first floor, they soon realized that the building not only went up, it also had a staircase that led down into the basement. Staring at the basement first floor that was specially painted using red paint, Chen Ge paused. The atmosphere there waspletely different to the scenarios above. The staircase was filled with dust and littered with dusty newspapers. Some of the copies even had dark brown stains on them.

    Picking up a random one, Chen Ge scanned through it. ¡°Carelessness of the father, the vition of building rules by the contractor, who is responsible for the boy¡¯s disappearance?¡±

    It was unclear whether the copies were the Haunted House¡¯s doing or real articles. In any case, they were all articles about the missing boy, and they made the readers feel rather ufortable.

    ¡°The expert¡¯s final analysis was that the boy should be hiding inside the iplete underground basement.¡±

    Chen Ge tossed the copy aside and bent down to nce at the basement corridor. There was no light, and the Haunted House seemed to have left this ce untouched.

    ¡°If this is not a scenario, there should be a no-entry sign near the entrance, but there isn¡¯t one, so this means that even though it might not be rted to theme of phantom school, it is a part of Nightmare Academy. Technically, it should be a hidden scenario.¡±

    To prevent being discovered by the camera, Ol¡¯ Zhou maintained a distance from Chen Ge. Thetter walked down the stairs alone. His shoes stepped on the newspaper, and they rustled noisily. When he was halfway down the stairs, Chen Ge suddenly stopped. He turned back to look before turning back forward. His eyesnded on thest step. ¡°This staircase has thirteen steps?¡±

    Chen Ge was sure that he was not wrong; the staircase that led underground indeed had thirteen steps. ¡°Is it a mistake by the builder, or did Nightmare Academy do this on purpose? Why would there be an extra step?¡±

    Carrying the backpack, he moved downward. His left feetnded on the thirteenth step. Looking around, Chen Ge did not see anything special. However, when he tried to move forward, standing only on his left leg with his right leg moving in midair, the ground before him suddenly ¡®opened up¡¯!

    A man about the height of a seven-year-old child jumped out, screaming. Red paint covered his face, and he attempted to grab Chen Ge. Chen Ge¡¯s full attention was on the thirteenth step, so he did not expect there would be a hiddenpartment on the ground just beyond thest step.

    The man surprised him, but Chen Ge¡¯s reaction when he was surprised was different from all the other visitors. Before confirming the man¡¯s identity, Chen Ge¡¯s swung his backpack at his attacker and yelled out a name subconsciously. ¡°Xu Yin!¡±

 Chapter 748 - I Only Remember, That Day, Everything Turned Red

    <h4>Chapter 748: I Only Remember, That Day, Everything Turned Red</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After those two simple words appeared from Chen Ge¡¯s lips, it seemed like Pandora¡¯s Box had opened. The cold draft that seemed ever constant in the basement stopped, the speakers suddenly malfunctioned, and there was only one sound remaining in the world.

    Drip drop, drip drop...

    Blood dripped from a tall spot beforending on the ground, forming blood rosettes. A thick fog of blood materialized next to Chen Ge!

    The small figure hiding inside thepartment earlier lunged at Chen Ge, screaming. Before he got near, he was smacked backward by an old backpack. Hended on his limbs. He held his woozy head in his hands. Due to the attack, he did not hear what Chen Ge had said earlier. He gritted his teeth and was about to lunge forward again, but when he lifted his head, he saw a second person appear next to Chen Ge!

    Fresh blood slid down the shirt, and the pair of mncholic eyes were like two blood whirlpools, swirling with curses and desperation. The man felt like his soul was about to be sucked into them.

    The figurey on the ground, and a chill spread through his body, down to his bones. His face that was smeared with red paint was frozen. It was as if time had stopped.

    <i>Who is that? There is no such character among the employee roster! </i>His Adam¡¯s apple shook, and fear was pouring out of his eyes.

    Seeing the figure¡¯s shaking body, Chen Ge soon discovered that he had stepped out of line. The thing hiding in thepartment was not a ghost, just a simple human worker. Actually, before Chen Ge made his move, he did consider the possibility that his assaulter was a human, but there was no Haunted House on the market that would hire a child to be an actor, so his first thought was that his attacker was a ghost.

    The time that he had spent interacting with ghosts was far longer than with human beings. Combined with Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s previous analysis, the chance of ghost appearing at Nightmare Academy was higher than normal, so that had led to his quick conclusion.

    However, after the figure showed himself, Chen Ge realized that the actor was actually a man with dwarfism.

    <i>I was wondering why his voice is so weird, so different from a child¡¯s; he should be an adult pretending to sound like a child.</i>

    Nightmare Academy had spent a lot of effort trying to create a scary atmosphere. Chen Ge remembered that there was a pair of twins working there. Their Haunted House did not have real ghosts, so they relied on other methods to create horror.

    <i>This man is an actor at Nightmare Academy. Unfortunately, he has witnessed Xu Yin¡¯s appearance. If I don¡¯te up with a solution, he will spread this news to the others. Nightmare Academy already suspects my Haunted House of being haunted, so if they hear about this, who knows what kind of rumors they will start?</i>

    Of course, he was not going to kill the man because of this. Chen Ge¡¯s mind quickly turned, and he came up with a solution in few seconds. The expression on his face did not change. He bent down to give the actor a helping hand as if he had not noticed Xu Yin next to him.

    ¡°You scared me. I thought you were a real ghost. Sorry for hitting you earlier.¡± Chen Ge tried to help the actor get up, but the man¡¯s eyes were not on him at all; he was fully focused on Xu Yin. Noticing the strange reaction of the actor, Chen Ge acted like he just discovered the anomaly. He slowly turned his head around. When he saw Xu Yin, his legs wobbled, and hended on the step.

    ¡°What the f*ck! When did he appear behind me?¡± Chen Ge looked like he had been given quite a scare as well, but he soon recovered. ¡°The actors at your Haunted House are quite good! I¡¯ve visited many Haunted Houses. Yours is the first to be able to scare me like this.¡±

    Taking a deep breath, Chen Ge asked in a curious but shaky voice, like he was meeting Xu Yin for the first time, ¡°Bro, how did you manage to walk without making a sound?¡±

    Chen Ge stood up and walked toward Xu Yin. He only took a first step when he heard the shrill screaming from behind him. ¡°Don¡¯t go over there! He...¡±

    The man¡¯s face was scrunched up in fear. The scream probably pulled on his vocal cords because his voice was unnaturally high.

    ¡°Stop acting, I am an owner of Haunted House myself. Even though you all are very professional, you¡¯re not going to scare me with just that.¡± Chen Ge walked stubbornly to Xu Yin and raised his arm.

    ¡°He is not one of our actors!¡± Following the man¡¯s blood-curdling scream, Chen Ge¡¯s handnded on Xu Yin, and then his fingers phased through Xu Yin¡¯s body. ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Chen Ge acted like he was surprised by this development. He was stunned by disbelief. About two secondster, he adopted the same expression as the man. ¡°There are really ghosts in this world?¡±

    When he was ¡®frozen in fear¡¯, the man finally lost it. He crawled up from the ground and raced down the corridor. Shocked into mobility by the scream, Chen Ge snapped into motion. He jumped down the stairs, grabbed his backpack, and started running!

    ¡°How long has there been a real ghost in your Haunted House?¡±

    ¡°How would I know? If I knew that, do you think I will still work here? Basement one! Basement one! This is basement one! Please send help!¡± The man grabbed the phone and yelled for help. He and Chen Ge raced down the corridor, and the situation was chaotic.

    Seeing the man and Chen Ge run away, Xu Yin stood on the step with a confused look on his face. Ol¡¯ Zhou, who had been hiding, joined him soon after. ¡°Our boss sure is a quick thinker. He¡¯s pushing the me, no, I mean, he is nning something big!¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou did not dare to get too close to Xu Yin. He stood several steps above the young man and said, ¡°Our boss now needs your cooperation.¡±

    Xu Yin turned back to look at Ol¡¯ Zhou. He seemed to slowly understand what Chen Ge was doing.

    ¡°Do your best to scare them. There is still time to salvage the situation.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou looked weirdly excited. ¡°It is about time we do it our way.¡±

    Hearing that, Xu Yin nodded. Droplets of blood slid down his shirt. He took one step forward, and the speakers throughout the building started to blur with static.

    ...

    The smell of blood curled around Chen Ge and the small actor¡¯s body like tightsso. The red ghost trailed behind them and could not be shaken loose no matter what. The two flew down the underground corridor and went back to the surface using another set of stairs.

    ¡°Boss! Are you there? Anyone? Say something!¡± The man was so anxious that he was about to smash the phone. He waited for a long time before the boss who had been calling other people finally replied.

    ¡°Xiao Zhao, you were perfect! I saw everything on the monitor! You managed to scare that man until he fell!¡± Nightmare Academy¡¯s boss praised the actor, but in that situation, the actor had no mood forpliments. His throat was sore from all the screaming.

    ¡°Boss,e to first floor quick! Call people toe here! I¡¯m being chased. I can¡¯t hold on much longer!¡± The actor¡¯s small legs moved quickly; his whole body was about to copse.

    ¡°Is the visitor chasing you? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll get people to go help you now!¡± The boss still cared about his worker.

    ¡°It¡¯s not the visitor!¡± the man yelled between breaths.

    ¡°Then who is it?¡±

    ¡°A ghost wearing a red shirt!¡±

    ¡°We have an actor wearing a red shirt?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not an actor!¡±

    ¡°Then who is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a f*cking ghost! A real ghost!¡±

 Chapter 749 - The Rumour Is Real

    <h4>Chapter 749: The Rumour Is Real</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The small figure howled, and that finally brought his boss out from his joy. ¡°A real ghost? A red ghost?¡±

    As a Haunted House operator, he knew quite a bit about the rumors regarding red ghosts. Only people who had deep resentment and were heavily tortured before death had the chance to turn into a red ghost. Regardless of whether it was real or not, that was how most ghost stories and movies portrayed it.

    ¡°A red ghost appeared in my Haunted House, and he¡¯s not one of my hired workers, huh?¡± That was how things currently stood, but the boss still had a hard time understanding it; certain things needed to be personally experienced to fully grasp it. ¡°Xiao Zhao, do not panic, I¡¯ll get people to go and help you right away! I don¡¯t care what that thing is; as long as he is in my territory, he needs to listen to my orders...¡±

    The call was ended by the small figure directly; he did not have the time to listen to his boss boast. Inside the dark corridor, the man ran as fast as he could. This was the first time that he had felt fear inside the Haunted House.

    The previously familiar environment felt unknown. A thinyer of blood seemed to cover all the props and mechanisms that he came across along the way. All the speakers malfunctioned, and the static continued endlessly. If one listened closer, there were some whispers and painful wails mixed in.

    The backstage seemed to be broadcasting a recording taken at a crime scene. The feeling of despair and pain spread through the Haunted House, torturing everyone¡¯s ears, frightening their souls, pushing them to the edge of their sanity.

    ¡°What is happening? What¡¯s going on? Howe it feels like the whole building ising alive? It feels like the building is going to swallow us whole!¡± The man screamed for help. He felt so helpless.

    ¡°How am I supposed to know? I came here from so far to visit you. I thought that I coulde here to rx, but you found me a real ghost!¡± Chen Ge realized that the man was running too slow. Even though Xu Yin was purposely moving slowly, if they continued at this speed, they would be caught up to. Therefore, he picked up the man directly. ¡°Stop wiggling! Where is the exit to this Haunted House?¡±

    ¡°The elevator! The elevator is the only exit! For some of the floors, you need the worker¡¯s ID to ess it. That is the exit!¡±

    Chen Ge held the man by his clothes, and like a living suitcase, his body was dangling in midair, but that did not stop him from screaming.

    ¡°Okay!¡± Chen Ge memorized this detail and rushed to the elevator at the middle of the first floor. He pressed the button rapidly, but the elevator stopped at the first floor basement and refused toe up!

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Has the elevator broken down?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible! The boss is conscious of the possibility of an ident inside the Haunted House, so the elevator is maintained every day!¡±

    ¡°Then, can you tell me why the elevator isn¡¯ting ?¡± Chen Ge hissed anxiously like he was almost breaking down. ¡°Is there another worker in the basement? Are they hogging the elevator?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m the only one arranged in the basement. The scenario is normally closed, but since today we¡¯re being visited by...¡± At this point the man suddenly stopped, and the horror in his eyes grew. ¡°Wait a minute, the elevator noting up means that someone has been holding the elevator at the basement. Does this mean there is more than one ghost?¡±

    The man was frightened by his own thought. Without the use of make-up, his whole face was already white.

    ¡°If the ghost has taken over the elevator, then this route is not safe anymore. After all, since they can control the elevator, they could use the elevator themselves!¡± The elevator waspletely enclosed. The man did not dare imagine being trapped inside it with a ghost.

    ¡°What do you think we should do?¡±

    ¡°Run! Find other people! When we¡¯re in a crowd, it should be fine!¡± The man was really panicking. He had seen how Xu Yin appeared; that impactful image was seared in his mind forever. In the future, whenever he dreamed about it, he would bounce up in bed. Without a better option and with the ghost approaching them, Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and the man and rushed to the nearest scenario.

    He kicked open the door, and the sound of a piano drifted out. The music was sad like something bad had happened to the pianist.

    ¡°Should we find a ce to hide?¡± Being carried by Chen Ge, the man finally had the chance to calm down and think.

    ¡°You sure? In most scary movies, the characters die because they corner themselves while attempting to hide.¡± Chen Ge had far better experience when dealing with ghosts.

    As they conversed, the sound of blood dripping appeared in their ears. The dripping sound was like a note asking for their lives. It was toote to leave. Following the man¡¯s direction, Chen Ge hid them behind the piano.

    The smell of blood slowly thickened. Through the gap on the bottom of the piano, Chen Ge and the man saw a pair of bloody red shoes.

    The feeling of despair grew like vines. As if sensing someone¡¯s entry, the piano yed louder and more violently. The mncholic aria entered Xu Yin¡¯s ear, and the mncholy in his eyes deepened. He turned to nce at the door and saw the room name¡ªMusic ssroom.

    Various musical instruments were ced inside the ssroom, and the most eye-catching was the piano ced in the middle of the room. Above the piano was a rope, like someone hadmitted suicide by hanging using the edge of piano as support.

    As the melody from the piano changed, the rope above the piano started to move on its own like the spirit had returned.

    The blood flowed, and Xu Yin stopped in front of the piano. He reached out to pull on the swinging rope and sat down before the piano. After a moment, his hands fell on the piano keys as the memory from the past rushed into his mind.

    The bloodied fingers moved on the keys, and a different melody rang around the ssroom. It felt like a rushing river, like moonlight, a dream that was always out of reach.

    Hiding behind the piano, Chen Ge looked at Xu Yin. Suddenly, he realized that he did not know Xu Yin as much as he should. This unique Red Specter seemed to be hiding many things in his heart.

    ¡°If there¡¯s a chance in the future, I should buy a piano for Xu Yin. Perhaps he can use music to ¡®narrate¡¯ the words in his heart.¡±

    When the actor was scared sh*tless, Chen Ge took out his phone to look at piano prices. He put it away after looking through few pages.

    ¡°A new piano wouldn¡¯t be that familiar. Actually, this piano from Nightmare Academy is not bad.¡±

    ¡°Please, shush.¡± The man held onto Chen Ge for dear life. He saw Chen Ge as his partner, albeit one that he was not familiar with.

    The music suddenly stopped, and blood seeped out from underneath the white and ck keys. However, upon closer inspection, this weirdly bright ¡®blood¡¯ was not as viscous as real blood.

    Soon, the piano went out of control, and it started to y a strange tune. Xu Yin, who was seated at the piano, was surprised, and then he heard a forlorn weeping sounding from inside the piano.

 Chapter 750 - So Painfulâ€¦

    <h4>Chapter 750: So Painful...</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The ¡®blood¡¯ that leaked out from the piano keys pooled toward Xu Yin¡¯s fingers. His brows were locked, and his pair of sad eyes stared at the inner part of the piano. Following the weeping, a pair of pale hands suddenly reached out from inside the piano to grab at Xu Yin!

    The fingers closed, and the pair of hands reached toward the chair, but they failed to grab anything.

    <i>They evaded?</i>

    The master of the hands did not panic. The ¡®surprise¡¯ so far was merely a test; the real terror would happenter. Reams of ck hair curled around the piano strings, and a thin shadow crawled out from inside the piano. Long hair covered her face, and Xu Yin could see her bright red lips and scary expression through the gaps in her hair.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you stay? Why don¡¯t you stay?¡± The woman lunged at Xu Yin like crazy. When the hair that blocked her sight part, her eyes that wore a red-colored contact finally got a good look at this unique visitor. What appeared before her eyes was a red shirt drenched in blood, wounds that had not recovered, and ck threads that weaved through the flesh and blood!

    This scenario waspletely different from what she had expected; it was the first time that she had encountered something like that in her five years of working there!

    Suffocation made her lightheaded, and the nerves in the woman¡¯s body were pulled taut. When she was almost touching the special visitor, she realized that time was slowing down, and her body became lighter as if her soul had been sucked out. She could see her body slowly approaching the visitor like in an out-of-body experience.

    Chen Ge avoided Xu Yin ¡®narrowly¡¯ and ran out as fast as he could!

    ¡°Hey, Sister Ling is still in there!¡± The small man waved his arms wildly.

    ¡°Then, why don¡¯t you go back to save her?¡±

    ¡°Er... Sister Ling¡¯s sacrifice has brought us valuable time; we shouldn¡¯t waste her kindness.¡±

    When the man said that, Chen Ge turned back to look. Honestly, he was quite worried, too. <i>I hope Xu Yin won¡¯t act too rashly and traumatize the poor woman.</i>

    Inside the music ssroom, the ck and white keys were dyed red. The piano had gone out of control, and it yed a maddening aria. Actually, when Chen Ge entered the ssroom, he had immediately noticed that there was someone hiding inside the piano. The piano in the ssroom was so much bigger than a normal one. It seemed to have been modified by Nightmare Academy to include a small space inside where a person could hide.

    Chen Ge madly ran, and the small actor screamed, attracting lots of attention. The actors inside the Haunted House were used to screams and cries, but as they paid it more attention, they realized that something was wrong. Howe it sounded so familiar? It sounded like the cries of their colleagues!

    Chen Ge led Xu Yin through the music ssroom, the clinic, and sports equipment room. He used less than three minutes to race through these scenarios.

    By the time the workers received the notice from their bosses and left their scenarios to gather, Chen Ge had already led the small actor to the second floor.

    ¡°Why is the elevator stuck at the basement? Your Haunted House is built on top of a ghost¡¯s liar, is it?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s casual observation caused the man to burst out in cold sweat. There had been a rumor about that before. He had not believed it then, but with reality ced before his eyes, he could not retort. Just the thought of the elevator that they used daily had been taken by countless spirits and ghosts; he could not stop his body from shaking. Who would dare take the elevator in the future?

    ¡°Where should we go next? Where are your people? I can¡¯t run anymore!¡± Chen Ge was really tired. To make it look more authentic, he had been running like crazy, and everyone who saw it would think that he was an unlucky fe.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, the elevator is the only exit. How about we go to the other scenario first, please don¡¯t stop! You have many other scenarios you haven¡¯t visited, right?¡±

    ¡°Have you encountered a visitor that goes on the tour while carrying an actor? Stop wasting time! Tell me where your boss is! I¡¯m sure he can deal with this!¡± Chen Ge was not going to harm the workers too much. Previously, when the actors from Nightmare Academy and futuristic theme park went to his own Haunted House to make trouble, the Nightmare Academy¡¯s boss must have known about it. After all, without permission from the boss, the employees would not have left the haunted house on a working day.

    Chen Ge¡¯s tour at Nightmare Academy had been heavily scrutinized by the boss as well. He wanted to scare Chen Ge as revenge, but he could not have anticipated that he would be roped into his own plot.

    <i>We¡¯re both Haunted House owners, so there should be plenty of conversation topics for us.</i>

    With that in mind, Chen Ge sped up, and with the direction given by the small actor, he arrived at the fourth floor.

    ¡°The boss is inside the headmaster¡¯s office. There is a hidden door behind the bookshelf, and behind it is the main control panel and surveince office.¡± Since it was an emergency, the small actor had to share that information.

    ¡°Understood.¡± Kicking open the safety door, Chen Ge saw a group of people gathered outside one of the doors. There were males and females in different outfits, but they were all Nightmare Academy¡¯s workers. ¡°Is everyone gathered here?¡±

    The workers at Nightmare Academy realized that something was wrong, so they had exited their scenarios and gathered before their boss¡¯ office. Before they realized what was happening, they saw Chen Ge appear while carrying the small actor.

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s urgent footsteps, a few of them turned to Chen Ge. They did not have a good impression of Chen Ge, so when they saw Chen Ge was carrying a Haunted House worker, their expression turned uglier. ¡°What are you doing? Let him down! Or else...¡±

    Before the person who spoke finished, Chen Ge rushed to their side. He put down the small actor and banged against the headmaster¡¯s office door madly. ¡°Look at what you¡¯ve done! Let me out!¡±

    Chen Ge yelled crazily. The people wanted to stop him when they suddenly heard the change to the background music. An unknown static started to appear. This sound came from all the speakers, and even if they blocked their ears, they could still hear it.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± The main control room was inside the headmaster¡¯s office. The office door was locked, and the boss of Nightmare Academy was not showing himself. ¡°Is the boss trying new thing?¡±

    ¡°No! Look down the stairs! What is that?¡±

    The red blood vessels crawled down the corridor and rushed at them like a blood wave, trying to pull them down into hell.

    An indescribable chill spread down the corridor. All the lights flickered, and then a red shadow appeared at the end of the corridor. He had his head lowered, touching the ugly wounds on his arms, his mouth mumbling, ¡°So painful...¡±

 Chapter 751 - I Want to Call the Police! [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 751: I Want to Call the Police! [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Do not panic! Please calm down! There is no need to worry. Perhaps this is nothing more than a prank.¡±

    ¡°Yes, wasn¡¯t there an article earlier about visitors purposely going to Haunted House to toy with the workers? Furthermore, there are so many of us. There is no need to be afraid.¡±

    If there was apetition of blowing hot air, the workers at Nightmare Academy would definitelye out victorious. However, once Xu Yin approached, they all moved back in unison like it had been rehearsed many times.

    ¡°Open the door!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s expression was filled with anxiety, but the door to the headmaster¡¯s office refused to budge.

    The other workers wanted to stop Chen Ge but were all forced back by the small actor. ¡°Quick, go and get the boss! This is not a joke!¡±

    Chen Ge was a visitor. No matter how hard he tried, he was not going to persuade the workers, but the same wordsing out from the dwarf worker¡¯s lips were far more convincing.

    ¡°Brother Zhao, what happened to you? Did something happen at your scenario?¡± the leading man asked. He still had not understood the severity of the situation, and the first thing that he did was push the me onto Xiao Zhao, insinuating that everything was his fault.

    ¡°Do you still remember Pan Tian, the guy who was responsible for looking over the underground scenario with me? He asked for sick leave and didn¡¯te back to work, so in the end, he was fired.¡± The man was very afraid now. His experience that day had awakened all the fearful memories in his mind, and they all connected.

    ¡°I think I remember him. The boss said that he went back home to get married.¡± The leading man seemed to remember something.

    ¡°He did go back home but not to get married but to seek doctor.¡± The fear in Xiao Zhao¡¯s eyes deepened. ¡°Pan Tian has gone mad! No one knows why, but one day at work, he suddenly snapped! He kept saying that he saw something underground!¡±

    ¡°Howe I didn¡¯t hear the boss say anything about this?¡± All the workers gathered. They had no idea that something so scary had urred at their working ce.

    ¡°If the boss told you all this, would you still havee to work? Anyway, have you never considered why there were three scenarios underground but now only one is open? Why did he wish to seal up the other two scenarios? Haven¡¯t you wondered about that?¡± Xiao Zhao was very tiny, and he needed to look up when he spoke, which caused his face to turn red.

    Chen Ge, who had been busy knocking on the door, perked up his ears to listen. <i>So, there is really such a history here!</i>

    With the danger encroaching, Xiao Zhao screamed, ¡°No one knows what Pan Tian saw, but if I am going to guess, he probably saw him!¡±

    Xiao Zhao pointed at Xu Yin. ¡°Just earlier, this man covered in blood suddenly appeared! He materialized out of thin air before my eyes! I am not lying to you! Run! The thing hidden underground ising up to get us!¡±

    Red Specters were much scarier than a normal ghost; the presence was not on the same level. Baleful Specters could make people anxious, but Red Specters could draw out the deepest fear in their heart. Xiao Zhao was already traumatized, but now that he had shared the fear in his heart, he did feel better somewhat.

    The headmaster¡¯s door was still closed shut; the boss refused to show himself. Xiao Zhao, as the only worker who knew the ¡®truth¡¯, kept making things worse, and finally, the fear within the other workers exploded.

    A blood wave crashed at them. This scene out of a nightmare happened in real life, and the feeling could not be described. The corridor seemed to morph into a python about to swallow them. The lights went off again and again, and every time that it came back on, the red shadow would be that much closer. The static in the speakers grew louder, and it eventually overwhelmed the original background music. Instead, a new sound appeared. It sounded like whispers and cries for help; no one could tell what it was. All they knew was that even if they closed their ears, they could still hear the sound.

    Whenever Xu Yin took one step forward, the workers took one step back. It was unclear who made the first move, but just as they reached the mouth of the staircase, someone rushed down the stairs. However, once they saw the situation downstairs, they understood the seriousness of the situation. There was a worker lying unconscious at the door of the music ssroom; an actor with white foam on his lips was curled up at the corner; people littered the corridor like a war had just happened there; the ce was filled with signs of struggling.

    Just one hour earlier, those people had been having lunch with them, and now, they were all lying unconscious on the ground; there was no scene more impactful than that.

    ¡°The real ghost has arrived!¡± The demands from the boss, the code of conduct, the sry, the examination¡ªeverything was tossed out of their brains. Those employees only had one thing on their mind¡ªget out of there. Because they knew that if they ran one step slower, it would be them who were lying on the ground with foam pouring out of their mouths.

    They did not dare stay even a minute longer. They rushed to the elevator, but no matter how many times they pressed on the button, the elevator refused toe up. It parked itself on the basement floor.

    The speakers ced in the corners broadcasted the screams of a stranger. The yelling pulled at the listeners¡¯ hearts, and chills ran all over their bodies.

    ¡°Damn it! Who is hogging the elevator?¡±

    ¡°But why would it stop at the basement? Shouldn¡¯t the ghost have left the underground? Wait, does this mean that there is another ghost down there?¡±

    ¡°Now the key question is, since the elevator is the only exit, how are we supposed to get out of here?¡±

    The remaining workers pushed at the elevator door, and the feeling of despair spread like a disease.

    ¡°You only have one exit here? What if there¡¯s an ident? Is this how Nightmare Academy treats its visitors? You view the visitors¡¯ safety so lightly?¡±

    When Chen Ge said that, it did not cross his mind that his own Haunted House did not even provide a single exit for the visitors, but there was one big difference between the two Haunted Houses. Once something happened at Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, the employees would show up at the first moment to help the visitors by removing the threat.

    Being questioned by Chen Ge, the workers from Nightmare Academy stammered over the answer.

    ¡°Now is not the time to discuss something like that!¡±

    ¡°Yes, I just remembered something; there are other passageways in our Haunted House!¡± The leader was struck by an inspiration. ¡°Follow me, we¡¯ll go up to the second floor!¡±

    After the Red Specter appeared, everything in the building started to go wrong. The interior was encased in a thinyer of blood, and creepy noises kepting out from the speakers. It felt like the spirits within the building had returned!

    In the emergency, the group did not stop to think about it and followed the man as he rushed up to one of the scenarios on the second floor.

    ¡°This is it!¡± The leader pulled back the thick curtains, and a weak ray of sunlight cut into the room. Without any hesitation, he kicked away the props on the ground. He grabbed one of the sturdier props and smashed the wooden boards that sealed the window. ¡°We can¡¯t leave by the door, but we can use the window!¡±

    The workers at Nightmare Academy worked surprisingly well during the crisis. Without much order, the few employees started to move and began the deconstruction!

    Pa!

    The wooden boards started to loosen, and by then, Xu Yin¡¯s footsteps wereing from the corridor. The sound of feet walking on blood caused everyone to break out in cold sweat. It came closer and closer.

    ¡°Quick, work faster!¡± The thick stench of blood rushed in from the door. The sound of footsteps came closer and closer before finally disappearing. Just as everyone was confused, Xu Yin¡¯s pale head peered into the room. He was blocking the doorway!

    ¡°He¡¯s here! He¡¯sing to get us!¡± The workers gave it their all as they took down the wooden boards, and the window before them became their only hope.

    ...

    Xin Hai Central Street was Xin Hai¡¯s city most famous shopping avenue. No matter the time of day, the street was always bustling.

    ¡°Big cities are indeed different from small towns.¡±

    Ol¡¯ Wu carried the new suitcase that his son had brought him and lugged it rather tiredly on his back while walking down the road. Some of the kinder passersby told him that he could have dragged the suitcase on the ground, and that would save him some energy. To them, he exined that he was training his body, but in reality, it was because he could not bear to dirty the wheels of his son¡¯s present.

    ¡°This is such a beautiful suitcase; I won¡¯t allow it to get dirty.¡± He had been poor for his whole life and supported his own son to college using his meagre ie from rearing crops. Now that his son had settled down, he had invited his old father to visit him in Xin Hai.

    This was Ol¡¯ Wu¡¯s first time going on a long journey, and like a child, he was curious about everything. He looked at the skyscrapers that reached into the sky and could not help gasping continually at how different a big city was.

    He looked around the city for a long time, and when he was about to move forward, Ol¡¯ Wu suddenly heard an insistent banging sound that came from the second floor of one of the nearby buildings. ¡°Is it undergoing renovation?¡±

    Before Ol¡¯ Wu had the chance to turn to look, he heard a loud banging from above!

    The originally sealed window was shattered with brute force. The wood chips floated down the sky. The crowd¡¯s attention was pulled toward it, and as they raised their heads, something even more shocking happened!

    A woman covered in red paint, with half a finger still stuck in her eye, jumped out from the broken window!

    ¡°Someone ismitting suicide!¡± Ol¡¯ Wu was so scared that the precious suitcase slipped from his fingers. He quickly pulled out his phone and tried to call the emergency services, but the woman turned in midair andnded rather safely. Then, she climbed up from the ground and ran into the crowd, screaming.

    Before the crowd could recover, another man covered in blood with half of his face ruined by scars also jumped out of the window!

    ¡°A suicide pact?¡± Ol¡¯ Wu just pressed one. He was hesitating between calling the ambnce or the police. However, before he could make a decision, a childlike figure appeared at the window!

    ¡°Be careful!¡± Ol¡¯ Wu dropped his phone and rushed forward as the small figure jumped out from the second-floor window. Without thinking about it, Ol¡¯ Wu reached out to catch the falling child.

    Searing pain came from his arms. He held on and opened his lips to ask, ¡°Child, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Thank you so much!¡± An adult male voice came from the small body. Ol¡¯ Wu was so surprised that his arms weakened, and the person that he was carrying crumpled to the ground. The person did not make as much as a whimper when hended. He held his bruised head and ran as far away from the building as he could.

    ¡°What is happening? Should I call the police? What should I do?¡± Ol¡¯ Wu stood where he was. Just at that moment, another figure dropped down from the second floor. The person was wearing a doctor¡¯s coat, and the tag around his neck pinpointed him as the health teacher. However, the man had six arms, and from the back, he looked like a mutated spider.

    One after another, people in various strange outfits dropped down from the second floor of the building. Like a piece of living art, they had sessfully attracted the attention of everyone on that boulevard.

 Chapter 752 - Theme Park Care Unit! [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 752: Number 514, Theme Park Care Unit! [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge was thest to jump down from the second floor. When he stood at the windowsill, he was shocked by the size of the crowd that had gathered on the street. ¡°I seem to have gone overboard this time.¡±

    To not allow himself to stand out too much, after a moment¡¯s hesitation, Chen Ge also leaped out from the window.

    ¡°Another one is jumping!¡±

    ¡°Go and catch him!¡±

    The screams echoed down Xin Hai Central Street, and more and more people started to rush toward the building. About ten minutester, after the police arrived, the scene finally started to calm down.

    ¡°Do not stay here and block the road, please refrain from blocking the traffic. Let the ambnce through!¡± The police officers tried their best to move the spectators back. They did not spend too much time to find the few people who jumped out from the building.

    ¡°The things hidden underground havee alive! Officers! I know this is very hard to understand, but that is the truth!¡± Xiao Zhao kept jumping up and down, trying to get the police¡¯s attention. ¡°There are still other visitors trapped inside! Quick! You have to go save them!¡±

    The few Haunted House workers were agitated, still calming down from the trauma. After being briefly interviewed by the police, the officers looked at them strangely. Initially, the police had thought that there was some kind of serial killing. Then, they had thought that perhaps the Haunted House had been set on fire, and the people inside had been forced to jump out from the window to escape. However, after hearing the exnation from the Haunted House workers, the officers felt like they had been made a joke.

    ¡°The things hidden underground? Do you know what the consequence of making a fake police report is?¡± the leading police officer warned with a grim expression. After getting a grasp of the situation, he suspected that this was a promotional feature by Nightmare Academy to obtain some traffic online. It was all a fake show.

    ¡°We¡¯re not lying to you! It is real! The thing came out of nowhere! He was wearing a red shirt!¡± The few conscious Haunted House workers talked over each other to try to describe the situation to the officer. The eyes frozen in fear, the words that came a bit too quickly, the exaggerated manner in which they spoke¡ªthe Haunted House workers appeared like they were still in character and were unable to shake their identity loose.

    ¡°Fine, fine, where is your boss? I wish to talk to him, get him out here.¡± The leader felt like he was unable to get through to these people. Communication was impossible.

    ¡°The boss?¡± The workers looked at each other. They all suddenly realized that their boss was still inside the Haunted House!

    ¡°Oh no! The boss is still inside!¡±

    ...

    Waving the golf club in his hands, the boss of Nightmare Academy, Shang Guan Qing Hong, frowned slightly. ¡°This is a bit too light. Oh well, I can¡¯t find a better weapon in such a short amount of time anyway. This will have to do.¡±

    He turned to look at theputer screen and inspected the few clips that he had cut out from the surveince video. Chen Ge was the main character in all of these videos, and the clips that he had taken all showed Chen Ge running away in fear while inside his Haunted House.

    ¡°With such a weak boss, how is it possible that Jiujiang Haunted House could ever reach the height of my Nightmare Academy? Their boss is so easily scared. Look, he¡¯s crying like a baby at my haunted house.¡± Even though many idents had happened that day, the boss was still very happy. He felt like he had saved the reputation of his Haunted House and heavily damaged the pride and arrogance of hispetitor.

    ¡°So what if the real ghost hiding underground has appeared? As long as it appears inside my Haunted House, it can be counted as a part of my Haunted House.¡± All¡¯s fair in love and war. Shang Guan Qing Hong did not think that he had done anything wrong. ¡°I have the clips of Chen Ge being scared until he mentally copsed. Now all I need is to leave this ce safely.¡±

    After all the clips that he needed were safely transferred to his phone, Shang Guan Qing Hong put his phone away. He put on a safety helmet, knee guards, and gripped the golf club with one hand.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to leave. Even though the thinging from underground is creepy and scary, I have so many workers. As long as we cooperate together, nothing is going to harm us, not even a Specter from the beyond.¡± Taking in a deep breath, Shang Guan Qing Hong pulled open the door of the headmaster¡¯s office. ¡°Everyone, do not panic! Listen to my instructions, and we will leave this ce safely!¡±

    The door opened, but there were no workers waiting for him outside like he had imagined. There was not a single person in the dark corridor, only the cold wind from the air-conditioning.

    ¡°Where is everyone?¡± Standing alone inside the very dark corridor, Shang Guan Qing Hong could not help his heart from racing. He took out the walkie-talkie and yelled loudly into it. ¡°Where are you? Xiao Zhao? Ol¡¯ Lee? Xiao Jiu?¡±

    He switched through many channels, but there was no answer. The only response was the echo of his own voice reverberating down the corridor.

    ¡°What is going on?¡± There was no one on the walkie-talkie, and no one answered his phone calls. It was as if he was the only person left in this world. ¡°Where has this bunch of ckers run off to?¡±

    Shang Guan Qing Hong held the golf club tightly. After a brief panic, he immediately calmed down. ¡°When the ident happened, the first thing I did was contact them. The workers on this level should have gathered outside the door. Now that they have disappeared, there are only two exnations.

    ¡°First, the thing from underground is currently chasing after them. They have attracted the thing¡¯s attention to give me the chance to escape.

    ¡°Secondly, they have all been taken down already. If that¡¯s the case, it¡¯s pointless for me to be worried or afraid. I will eventually run into the thing. Blindly panicking will only make me lose my focus.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong was not easily fooled. After all, he was the boss of the biggest Haunted House at Xin Hai. However, probably due to the smooth sailing of his career, there was a clear deficiency in his personality.

    ¡°My goal has already been reached, so I only need to guarantee my own safety.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong decided to leave immediately. The safety of his workers? That was something to be worried about only after his own safety had been ensured. He edged carefully to the elevator. It took him a full two minutes to cover that short distance. The scenario that looked so familiar suddenly took on a strange and unique sense of horror. Wiping away the cold sweat on his forehead, Shang Guan Qing Hong pressed for the elevator toe. However, the elevator seemed to have malfunctioned, and it kept getting stuck at the basement.

    ¡°What is going on?¡± He pressed the button several times before the number shown on the panel started to change. The elevator was slowly ascending.

    ¡°Why is it so slow?¡± Standing at the elevator door, doing nothing, fear curled itself around Shang Guan Qing Hong. He looked down the dark, empty corridor and felt like something would appear in the dark. Fear was like a toxin, slowly spreading through his body. When the elevator reached the second floor, Shang Guan Qing Hong heard footstepsing from the stairs. The background music also changed then. He could hear the voice of a strange man rather clearly. ¡°The thing ising.¡±

    The footstepsing from the staircase became more pronounced. Shang Guan Qing Hong stared at the number on the panel, and both of his hands held the golf club tightly. ¡°Quick!¡±

    When the footsteps appeared on the fourth floor, the elevator also reached the same floor. The elevator doors that were covered in different paints opened to the sides. Shang Guan Qing Hong hurried into it, but he only took the first step when his whole body froze. There was someone else inside the elevator!

    The man was cowering in the corner of the elevator booth. His face was pale. When he saw the Haunted House boss carrying a golf club, he was given quite a fright.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Both of them spoke at the same time, like they had rehearsed it earlier. They studied each other for about three seconds, and the boss was the first to break the silence. ¡°Are you one of the visitors?¡±

    He was paying Chen Ge his full attention that day, so he had not paid much attention to the other visitors. The middle-aged man with a white face nodded cautiously. He looked at Shang Guan Qing Hong guardedly. ¡°And who are you?¡±

    ¡°I am the boss of this Haunted House. There is currently a small ident. Don¡¯t ask too many questions. The important thing is that I will now get you out.¡± Before the visitor, the boss acted very professional.

    After hearing Shang Guan Qing Hong introduce himself as the boss, the other person inside the elevator sighed conspicuously in relief. ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°When you¡¯re famous, there is bound to be some detractors. The ident today is because apetitor came here to create trouble. Normally, something like this wouldn¡¯t happen at my Haunted House.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong forced a smile and very easily shifted all the me onto Chen Ge, which was not that far from the truth. ¡°Friend, what is your name?¡±

    ¡°My surname is Zhou. Everyone calls me Ol¡¯ Zhou.¡± The footsteps from the corridor came rapidly; they were already turning the corner of the fourth floor. Shang Guan Qing Hong quickly pressed for the elevator doors to close. The elevator doors that were painted with fake blood slowly closed, and those strange footsteps were drawing closer and closer!

    Currently, trapped inside the elevator, the Haunted House boss could not do anything. His heart was filled with anxiety.

    ¡°Close, close, close!¡± Perhaps God heard Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s prayers. When the elevator doors closed shut, the footsteps were still several meters away.

    ¡°We¡¯re safe now.¡± He heaved a sigh of relief. However, something that he did not expect then happened before his eyes.

    An arm reached out from inside the elevator to block the closing doors!

    Shang Guan Qing Hong swore that he was not mistaken; the pale arm indeed reached out from inside the elevator!

    The hand touched the elevator door, causing them to open again. Shang Guan Qing Hong red at Ol¡¯ Zhou, who had moved to the door, and he was so angry that his head was about to explode.

    His lips were devoid of color, but before he could get any words out, the thick stench of blood rushed into the elevator like a wave!

    When he raised his head, Shang Guan Qing Hong saw Ol¡¯ Zhou move to the back, and a strange man was standing at the elevator door. The shirt was as red as blood, and ck curses crawled all over his body, cutting in and out of his flesh and skin.

    ¡°Don¡¯te any closer!¡± The Haunted House boss squeezed himself into the corner and watched as the bloody figure strode into the elevator. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Ol¡¯ Zhou press for the doors to close.

    The elevator doors slowly closed, and this time, no one was there to stop them from closing.

    ...

    ¡°Your boss is still inside the Haunted House?¡± The leading officer saw the worry on the workers¡¯ faces, but he could not understand what had caused them to react thusly.

    ¡°Officer please, you have to save our boss! He¡¯s still on the fourth floor! There are other visitors still inside the Haunted House!¡± The officers felt like the Haunted House workers did not sound like they were joking, so they nodded. They gathered at the front entrance of the Haunted House.

    ¡°This elevator is the only exit in our Haunted House, but the elevator is currently being controlled by some unnatural beings! It stopped at the basement and refused to move...¡± Xiao Zhao was jumping all over when he spoke. He led the way and pointed at the panel showing the number. However, when he saw the number of the panel, his whole person froze. The number showing was two, which meant that the elevator was currently on the second floor.

    ¡°The elevator moved? This must mean that the thing from the basement has taken the elevator up to the second floor!¡± Xiao Zhao screamed. The number on the panel was still changing and it soon turned to one. Several secondster, the elevator doors opened slowly before the police officers and the Haunted House workers.

    The boss of Nightmare Academy was lying unconscious on the ground, still gripping the golf club. His body was spasming, and the man had already lost his consciousness.

    ¡°Boss!¡± The workers rushed forward. ¡°Please, someone call the ambnce!¡±

    If this was a self-made show, it had gone over the line. The boss himself was unconscious. The leading officer soon realized that things were far more serious than he had imagined. He quickly ordered a few men to take the elevator into the building.

    They scoured the whole building but could not find the ¡®unnatural being¡¯ mentioned by the Haunted House workers. Instead, they ran into many fainted Haunted House workers and a couple that looked at them strangely. When they saw the police approach, the couple thought that they were actors of the Haunted House. They tried their best to trigger the event.

    About thirty minutester, the area near the entrance was cleared out. The fainted Haunted House workers and boss were sent away in ambnces. The remaining visitors and actors stayed back to give their statements to the police. In the end, everyone was taken to the nearest police station.

    Sitting inside the police car, Chen Ge very expertly helped himself put on the seatbelt. He did not expect that his first visit to Xin Hai would end up with him sitting inside Xin Hai City¡¯s police car. ¡°Officer, you have to trust me, I am really innocent. I came from Jiujiang and travelled so far just to visit the Haunted House. Actually, I am also one of the victims...¡±

    ...

    ¡°Get out the way! Emergency! Get out of the way!¡± Medical carts rolled down the corridor, rushing the unconscious patients into the emergency room.

    ¡°There¡¯s no more space! Send the other patients to the other sick hall! Xiao Zhang, go and call Doctor Liu and Doctor Xu who are on off duty toe back to work! Arge group of workers at the haunted house on Xin Hai¡¯s Central Street have fallen unconscious! Current spection is that they all suffer from food poisoning! They might have ingested food that caused hallucinations!¡±

    ¡°There is nothing wrong on the physical scan! They probably suffered from some kind of trauma, and the fainting is because the body¡¯s self-defense mechanism kicking in.¡±

    ¡°When will they wake up?¡± The leading officer was suffering from a headache. Xin Hai had always had a good security, and the area under his jurisdiction had never seen something like this before.

    ¡°No clue! Shortest will be one or two hours, but it might be days; we cannot tell for sure.¡± The doctor could not give an exact answer. ¡°If you are in a hurry, I suggest you transfer them to Jiujiang Central Hospital. I hear the doctors there specialize in fainting spells. They even have a special care unit that ept patients with this kind of illness!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a hospital that specializes in treating fainting patients?¡± The leading officer hesitated. This had gone beyond something that he could make quick decision about.

    ¡°Other patients should be fine, but the condition of the patient by the name of Shang Guan Qing Hong is very serious. He is in a deepa and does not respond to any external stimuli. It is my professional suggestion that he be transferred to Jiujiang immediately. He should receive treatment from the leading experts.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I will report that to my superior instantly.¡± The leading officer nodded. ¡°The hospital in Jiujiang is called Jiujiang Central Hospital, yes?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Jiujiang Central Hospital, Number 514, theme park care unit!¡± the doctor said seriously. ¡°I do not know why they named their unit that way, but I am certain that they are the best of the best in treatinga and fainting patients.¡±

 Chapter 753 - Who? Say Again

    <h4>Chapter 753: Who? Say Again</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I¡¯ve memorized the name of the care unit. I will ry that to my superior now.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d better move fast; the patient¡¯s condition is very unstable. If he stays ina for too long, it¡¯ll cause damage to his brain.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± The leader left an officer behind to manage to scene while he led the other people back to the police station.

    ...

    Pushing open the ss door of the police station, a wave ofmotion rushed at the captain. He frowned, looking at his ce of work. The ce was bustling with people, and they had exaggerated expressions as they unloaded their grievances onto the officers on duty.

    ¡°This has be such awless ce! Is this how the rules work?¡± the captain yelled at the young officers who were on duty. His voice was stern.

    ¡°Captain Cai! You¡¯re finally back. It¡¯s not that we¡¯re not following the rules, but the situation is very unique.¡± The young officer handed thepiled written record to Captain Cai.

    ¡°Red Specter? Ghost stories? Spirits underground? Knows how to y the piano? What is all this?¡± Captain Cai mmed the document heavily on the table. ¡°Have you all gone insane? Have you lost your basicmon sense?¡±

    ¡°No, captain. We¡¯ve tried to understand it, and we even used the lie detector; it doesn¡¯t look like they¡¯re lying.¡±

    ¡°Horsecr*p! Toss that broken machine out then!¡± Captain Cai was angered. He took over the investigation personally, but after a long period questioning, he realized that he had spoken too soon. This group of actors that had escaped from the Haunted House were so into character that it appeared like they were no longer able to differentiate between ghost stories and the real world.

    ¡°Has that Haunted House hired a bunch of asylum patients?¡± Since he could not get anything from the Haunted House workers, Captain Cai decided to shift his focus to the visitors. The workers could have lied to protect the Haunted House, but the visitors would not. To prevent the workers from being influenced by the actors, Captain Cai purposely moved the three visitors to a separate room. ¡°Follow me, please.¡±

    After closing the door, Captain Cai, who maintained a severe expression, finally rxed. ¡°Calm down, you only need to answer honestly. There is no need to be concerned.¡±

    This was Lee Yuan and Xue Li¡¯s first time at the police station, so they were nervous. Inparison, Chen Ge looked asfortable as if he was at his own home. He even got up to use the water dispenser to fetch himself a ss of water.

    ¡°When the ident happened, there were only the three of you inside the Haunted House, right?¡± Captain Cai¡¯s eyes moved away from Chen Ge to fall on the couple.

    ¡°There were also three students and a young woman who didn¡¯t like to speak,¡± Lee Yuan answered.

    ¡°We¡¯ve verified the identities of these four¡ªthey are all temporary actors hired by the Haunted House.¡± Captain Cai had his men send in the written record, and he flipped through the details casually. ¡°Give it some more thought. During your tour, did youe across other visitors or people that didn¡¯t appear normal?¡±

    ¡°People that didn¡¯t appear that normal?¡± Through the window of the room, Lee Yuan looked outside. ¡°None of them look normal.¡±

    He really did not understand what was happening. He merely went for a Haunted House visit but ended up at the police station. ¡°Sir, me and my girlfriend just went to visit a haunted house, hoping that it would be a memorable date. We had no idea the ce was hiding such a big secret. If we knew that, we would have demanded to be let out. Why would we stay there for so long?¡±

    ¡°Understood. In other words, the two of you didn¡¯te across the red monster mentioned by the actors during your tour.¡± Captain Cai very quickly caught onto the key. The visitors had no reason to lie, so they should be telling the truth. ¡°The monster and spirits at the bottom of the building are probably a show designed by themselves. I suspect that this is theirtest promotional method.¡±

    ¡°I guess so.¡± Lee Yuan and Xue Li were still shivering. They had only just realized that the three students and young woman were all actors. To have actors y visitors to get their trust before betraying them, that was a cruel tactic.

    Captain Cai asked a few more questions, and they answered honestly. In the end, Captain Cai could not get anything new, so he moved his attention back to Chen Ge.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge.¡±

    ¡°I hear you¡¯re from Jiujiang, and you came here today to visit this Haunted House?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I operate a Haunted House myself, and I came to visit the biggest Haunted House in Xin Hai to study.¡± Chen Ge did not hide this information because he knew that the police could find it out easily.

    ¡°In other words, you are in the same business as the actors outside?¡± Captain Cai narrowed his eyes. Years of experience told him this young man was more than he seemed.

    ¡°My business is iparable to theirs. I have a small budget business. They are much better than I am.¡± Chen Ge pouted sadly.

    ¡°ording to witness ounts, you jumped down from the second-floor window alongside the actors, so did you see the red monster that they mentioned?¡±

    ¡°Honestly, I was made confused by them. At the time, everyone was screaming, and the speakers were broadcasting this strange noise. Everyone was running, so I was following them.¡±

    No matter what Captain Cai asked, Chen Ge¡¯s answers were perfect.

    ¡°Okay, the three of you, please follow this officer. After weplete some paperwork, you can leave.¡± After they left, Captain Cai stared at the chair that Chen Ge had vacated. ¡°This young man¡¯s mind is very sharp, and his answers were perfect; it was if before I asked the question, he already had the answer. He doesn¡¯t appear that old but has a calmness beyond his age. During our conversation, there was not a ripple of emotion in his eyes. That is too scary. No, I need to look further into this. Perfection is a form of imperfection.¡±

    Captain Cai used theputer to log into thew enforcement server. In the modern age, looking for criminal data was very simple. After he keyed in Chen Ge¡¯s information, he was stunned when he saw the page that popped up.

    The man was not only not a criminal, he had even been given a medal for his numerous contributions to the city of Jiujiang. He had received medal and award from the inspector of Jiujiang Station personally. He had also been a helpful aid in many police cases¡ªjust the information of hismendation was enough to fill up a whole page!

    With his lips twitching, Captain Cai suspected that Chen Ge was an undercover police officer sent over by Jiujiangw enforcement. This kind of background was rare even in Xin Hai.

    ¡°There is short interval of time between each entry. Does this guy spend most of his time doing nothing but wandering about the various crime scenes?¡±

    Captain Cai found that very hard to ept. After reading through everything, he took out his phone and called a number. It rang a few times before being answered. An impatient voice came from the other end. ¡°Ol¡¯ Cai, speak quickly. I don¡¯t have time to waste.¡±

    ¡°Lee Zheng, after you got transferred to Jiujiang¡¯s heavy crime unit, even your tone has changed!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re working on a homicide case, so I don¡¯t have time to chat. I¡¯m hanging up. After this case is over, I¡¯ll treat you to a meal.¡±

    ¡°Wait, this won¡¯t take up too much of your time.¡± Captain Cai looked at theputer screen. ¡°I¡¯m calling you because I want to ask you about someone.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge.¡±

    ¡°Who? Say again.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s the boss of a haunted house in Jiujiang. His name is Chen Ge. I saw the page that you had on him inside the shared server.¡±

    ¡°He has gone to Xin Hai?¡± Lee Zheng sounded worried.

    ¡°Yes, we got an emergency call this afternoon. People were jumping out from a Haunted House, and we found him there.¡±

    ¡°Was he the one who made the call?¡±

    ¡°No, he was one of the jumpers.¡±

 Chapter 754 - Pleasant Surprise

    <h4>Chapter 754: Pleasant Surprise</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Chen Ge jumped out of the building? That shouldn¡¯t be! Is he alright?¡± Lee Zheng sounded confused.

    ¡°That kid is very well-trained. Quite a number of people jumped out of the second-floor window, and he is the only one that walked away unscathed.¡± Captain Cai was confused as well. He had checked the surveince footage from the building opposite. Of all the jumpers, Chen Ge was the one with the most experience. The slowing down, thending pose... everything was right out from the textbook like he had done it many times before.

    ¡°That does sound suspicious, but I don¡¯t think you should worry that much. As long as it was not him who made the call, it probably isn¡¯t anything big.¡± Lee Zheng shared his experience.

    ¡°We have a few injured individuals and some still unconscious, that is nothing serious?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why he is in Xin Hai. If you have the misfortune of receiving his emergency call in the future, you will understand what I mean. Ol¡¯ Cai, enjoy the temporary peace now. I still have something else to do, I gotta run.¡± Lee Zheng then prepared to hang up.

    ¡°Wait a minute! What do you mean by that? If you don¡¯t exin yourself, there is no way I am going to let you hang up.¡± Captain Cai could be quite stubborn.

    ¡°Fine, fine. You win. What else do you want to know? Ask quickly.¡± Lee Zheng was really busy. He had just gotten discharged from the hospital, and the work had been piling up. He had more than a few cases that he needed follow up on.

    ¡°I¡¯ve looked through his information, and the time between each entry of his police work involvement is very short. In fact, there¡¯s a period where he provided two vital pieces of information for two different cases within one week.¡± Captain Cai sounded serious. ¡°Can a normal person run into two serious crime cases within one week? Can so many killings happen so consistently around a normal person? Unless he¡¯s the killer, the possibility of this is very, very low.¡±

    ¡°Your suspicion is very valid, but did I say that he is a normal person?¡± Lee Zheng knew the man had misunderstood something.

    ¡°So, he really is one of your people...¡±

    ¡°I wish that was the case. The kid has a natural talent forw enforcement, but unfortunately, he wastes that talent on running a Haunted House.¡± Lee Zheng sighed regretfully. ¡°When we first received the call from him, we ran a thorough background check on him. He might look easy-going and very not serious normally, but he carries a pain that he doesn¡¯t share with others.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What¡¯s his story?¡±

    ¡°About one year ago, both of his parents practically disappeared off the face of the earth. There were no bodies or any news about them. Even now, the case is still open. Based on the report from a local senior, the child was devastated. He lived a purposeless life for a very long time and finally found his footing several months ago. It was probably then that he started to take it upon himself to find his parents. The surveince near his home showed him leaving homete at night; he was probablypiling his own clues. He went to those dangerous ces to look for his family.¡±

    After hearing what Lee Zheng had to say, Captain Cai did not respond instantly. His memory of Chen Ge appeared in his mind, and that pair of calm eyes struck him the most. ¡°His actions are very dangerous. Haven¡¯t you tried to advise him against doing so?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve done that more times than I can count, but it¡¯s pointless. Actually, I can understand why. ce yourself in his shoes, his family is still missing, and all the memories in the past have be a haunting memory. A person like that will definitely hate criminals with a passion.¡± Lee Zheng had a lot of respect for Chen Ge; he admired him a lot. He had survived aplicated and troubled past to grow into a man with a great, unshakeable sense of justice. Captain Cai started to see it that way as well.

    ¡°Okay, I get it now. I won¡¯t disturb you anymore.¡± Captain Cai hung up. He looked at the long page of Chen Ge¡¯s heroics and spaced out. Who knew what he was thinking? After a long time, he took out his phone to call his superior to ask them for permission to send the boss of Nightmare Academy to Jiujiang for treatment. After getting the permission, Captain Cai departed for the hospital immediately.

    Chen Ge left Xin Hai Police Station at around 5 pm. Compared to Jiujiang Police Station, the procedure undertaken at Xin Hai Station was much moreplicated, but that was probably because the officers in Jiujiang knew Chen Ge and skipped most of the steps.

    ¡°I thought that I could leave around noon but ended up spending a whole day here.¡±

    After leaving the station, Chen Ge got a cab and headed back to Nightmare Academy. After all, he needed to meet up with Xu Yin and Ol¡¯ Zhou. Xin Hai Central Street was filled with busy people as usual; the incident that afternoon did not slow down the traffic there. With his head lowered, Chen Ge mixed in with the crowd and nced at the Haunted House. The door was closed, and there was police tape at the door.

    ¡°I can¡¯t use the front door. I¡¯ll need to cut through the shops.¡± Chen Ge entered the shopping lot through the building¡¯s other entrance. He activated the recorder to try to contact Xu Yin. He walked around the building for several minutes, and suddenly, the recorder gave out a static sound. Chen Ge realized that Xu Yin had sensed him.

    He turned into the toilet and found an unupied cubicle and started to call Xu Yin¡¯s name in his heart. The lights in the toilet flickered, and the doors creaked. Suddenly, the light went out.

    The faucet dripped noisily, and a faded scent of blood permeated the air. Then a row of bloody letter appeared on the cubicle door. ¡®The toilet of the underground parking lot.¡¯

    ¡°Xu Yin wants me to go there?¡±

    Chen Ge did not think too much of it and headed to the basement parking lot. He searched for a long time but could not find a toilet; all he found was an abandoned storeroom that had a no-entry sign on it.

    ¡°This should be the ce, right?¡± Opening the door, Chen Ge entered it. This ce was had indeed formerly been a toilet, but it had been abandoned a long time ago and was used to store various trash.

    He called Xu Yin again, and this time, the red Xu Yin and the honestly smiling Ol¡¯ Zhou appeared at the same time.

    ¡°Boss, we found something inside this Haunted House.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou led the way. They opened the door of thest cubicle. The wall was broken down, and behind it was a dim, dark passageway. After moving all the wooden boards that blocked the way away, Chen Ge and his two employees walked into it.

    ¡°This ce is connected to the haunted house¡¯s basement; it leads to a sealed scenario.¡±

    With Ol¡¯ Zhou leading the way, Chen Ge came to a scenario that waspletely sealed up using wooden boards. After removing the boards, Chen Ge looked into it. The whole scenario was empty. Most of the props had been removed, leaving behind a desk in the middle of the room. It was a normal desk, nothing special about it. Chen Ge looked inside the drawer and found a diary sitting inside.

    ¡°Is this what you found?¡± Chen Ge took the diary out and flipped through it. He thought that the content looked very familiar. He took out the diary that he had obtained during Nightmare Academy¡¯s new student weing ceremony. Afterparison, the two diaries were about ny percent simr.

    The only difference was that the diary inside the drawer had all of its words sewn on the pages using red threads. It looked rather scary.

    ¡°Boss, this diary is written using blood vessels from behind the door. So, it came from one of the doors.¡±

 Chapter 755 - This Hospital Has Fast Wi-Fi [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 755: This Hospital Has Fast Wi-Fi [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°This diary came from behind the door?¡± Chen Ge knew that Ol¡¯ Zhou would not say something like that to trick him. He ced both of the diaries that he had found at Nightmare Academy on the table.

    ¡°Boss, I suspect that the sess behind Nightmare Academy is because the boss took a lot of inspiration from this diary when he was designing the haunted house. The content of the diary records the scenarios behind the door very clearly, and the boss practically recreated the whole scenario behind the door in real life,¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou gave his own opinion.

    ¡°Could it be that the boss of the Nightmare Academy has entered the world behind the door?¡± Those who managed to survive a trip to the world behind the door were definitely not normal.

    ¡°We¡¯ve interacted with the boss of Nightmare Academy already. He is just a normal person with a heart weaker than normal, so I sincerely doubt that he has been to the world behind the door. He probably found this diary by ident.¡± After Ol¡¯ Zhou gave his analysis, he turned the diary to thest page. ¡°The handwriting in this diary is all different; it is written by different individuals, and some of the pages have been torn apart. However, that is not that important. The important thing is that Xu Yin and I found this inside the diary...¡±

    Ol¡¯ Zhou pointed at the bottom of the diary¡¯sst page, where several words were written¡ªI, Die, One Three, School of the Afterlife, Run.

    The phrases did not seem connected, and it was hard to tell what the writer was trying to convey. Ol¡¯ Zhou and Xu Yin saw the term School of the Afterlife, and they knew that their boss had been trying to find information on this school.

    When he saw the terms School of Afterlife, even the glow in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes changed. ¡°School of the Afterlife? Could it be that this diary was taken out of the door at this phantom school?¡±

    ¡°That is highly probable, but I think that we should ask the Haunted House¡¯s boss in person to find out the truth.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou scratched his head. ¡°The man is probably still at the hospital. Since he was thest person left inside the Haunted House, Xu Yin and I decided to y with him for a while.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry. The police did brief me a bit about the boss¡¯ situation. They told me that he is not in mortal danger, so we should get moving to the hospital to find him.¡±

    School of the Afterlife was the first four-star Trial Mission given by the ck phone. The time limit to unlock the mission was almost up, but Chen Ge was not confident that he couldplete it. Xu Yin was injured, and Zhang Ya was hibernating. It was very dangerous tomit to a four-star trial mission in his current state. However, Chen Ge was unwilling to give up on this mission. The futuristic theme park was about to open for business, so if he stopped working on his Haunted House, the customers that he had gathered over the few months prior would most likely abandon him.

    This was why he had been researching the School of the Afterlife so much. Be it to attempt the trial mission or to abandon it, he would require plenty of information before he came to a decision.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been here the whole afternoon¡ªdid you find anything else?¡± There was another purpose that Chen Ge had asked Ol¡¯ Zhou and Xu Yin to stay back. He wanted them to examine this location.

    Ol¡¯ Zhou shook his head. ¡°Even though this building is situated at a strong Yin location and shields itself from the sunlight no matter the time of the year¡ªwhich means that the Yin energy is heavily pooled here¡ªsince it is situated on Xin Hai Central Street where peoplee and go much too often, there are no ghosts or monsters that linger here.¡±

    ¡°It has been built in the middle of a busy city, but it is also a ce where lingering spirits can stay for a long time. The location of this Haunted House is perfect.¡± The more Chen Ge stayed there, the more he fell in love with it. ¡°When I return, I seriously need to talk to Director Luo about this.¡±

    Chen Ge shoved both of diaries into his backpack. He summoned back Xu Yin and Ol¡¯ Zhou and silently sneaked out of Nightmare Academy.

    ¡°I need to find a way to wake up the boss of Nightmare Academy as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Doctor Wei is busy manning the fort at the Haunted House, or else this could easily be solved.¡±

    When he was at the police station, Chen Ge had overheard the name of the hospital where the Haunted House workers had been admitted. After he left the underground parking lot, he hailed a cab to rush to that hospital.

    This hospital in Xin Hai was huge. There were a lot of patients. Chen Ge walked around for a long time before he found an officer standing on duty outside one of the sickrooms.

    <i>The actors from Nightmare Academy are inside this sickroom? </i>Chen Ge pretended to walk past the sickroom, but when he passed the ss window in the door, his pupils narrowed as he used Yin Yang Vision. <i>Almost everyone is in there, but howe the boss is nowhere to be seen? Is he still in the emergency room? That¡¯s impossible. Ol¡¯ Zhou and Xu Yin are both so kind, so they wouldn¡¯t have harmed him so seriously.</i>

    Chen Ge knew his employees well, and he ced his trust in them. Before arousing the officer¡¯s suspicion, Chen Ge went to ost the officer. He asked with a face filled with worry and anxiety, ¡°Sir, is my big brother alright?¡±

    Hearing that breath that was catching in Chen Ge¡¯s throat and seeing the worry on Chen Ge¡¯s face, even though the officer was confused, he did not turn Chen Ge away. ¡°Who is your big brother?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s the boss of Nightmare Academy! I heard that something bad happened to him. How¡¯s he doing?¡±

    ¡°You are Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s younger brother?¡± The officer tried to calm Chen Ge down. ¡°Your brother¡¯s condition is not looking so good¡ªhe is in deepa. Following his doctor¡¯s suggestion, we transferred him to Jiujiang City to seek better treatment.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve sent him to Jiujiang?¡± The shock on Chen Ge¡¯s face could not be hidden, but he reacted very quickly. He swiftly added, ¡°You refused to let him seek treatment at the biggest hospital in Xin Hai but transferred him to a hospital at a small town. Based on my knowledge, the medical standard there is much lower than Xin Hai! Are you treating my brother¡¯s life as some kind of joke?¡±

    ¡°Please calm down. Yes, the overall medical standard of Jiujiang is not as good as Xin Hai, but in treatment of trauma anda, they are the experts.¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t lying to me, are you?¡±

    ¡°You can look it up online if you want. The hospital¡¯s name is Jiujiang Central Hospital. They have a care unit that specializes in fainting cases.¡± After obtaining the information that he wanted, Chen Ge excused himself from the officer, and he was ready to leave.

    ¡°Wait a moment!¡± Seeing Chen Ge¡¯s back, the officer suddenly felt that this young man look familiar; he seemed to have met him that afternoon.

    Without turning around, Chen Ge rushed into the crowd and escaped into the stairwell when the officer was not looking.

    <i>This officer has such a good memory. I was almost recognized by him.</i>

    To prevent another encounter with the officer, Chen Ge headed to the second floor. He wished to take a detour around the first floor before leaving, but he only took a few steps, and something caused him to stop. There was someone sitting on the bench outside of a private sickroom, and the man was looking at him with a strange look on his face.

    ¡°Boss, didn¡¯t you go to visit a Haunted House? Why are you at the hospital?¡± The man who was sitting outside the private sickroom as none other than Zhang Jingjiu. That morning, he had asked Chen Ge for a day off because his father was ill and he wished to return to Xin Hai to visit him. Since Chen Ge wanted to visit Nightmare Academy, the two had taken the same train to Xin Hai.

    Chen Ge did not dawdle on this question for long. He could not possibly tell him that the hospital was actually his third stop because he had taken a detour to the police station before going there.

    ¡°How¡¯s your father doing?¡± Chen Ge sat down next to Zhang Jingjiu and nced through the window into the sickroom.

    ¡°He¡¯s fine, I...¡± Zhang Jingjiu sighed. ¡°Sometimes, I feel so useless. I should have returned earlier to see him. Earlier, we had a very long talk. Even though decades of conflicts could not be resolved just like that, at least both of us have taken that first step.¡±

    Staring through the window, Zhang Jingjiu looked at the old man in bed who was asleep. ¡°When I was young, I saw him as an unreasonable b*stard with a horrible temper. He had meetings to attend every day and dislikeding home. Now that he¡¯s fallen, seeing him lying in bed, I suddenly realized that, even for someone as strong as him, they will eventually grow old.¡±

    Silently turning his head away, Zhang Jingjiu took a deep breath before continuing in his usual tone. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I haven¡¯t seen him for so long so...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, I understand.¡± Chen Ge patted Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s shoulder lightly, but he did not say anything. He just quietly stayed by his side. After Zhang Jingjiu reached adulthood, he had lived in Jiujiang alone. Other than the father inside the sickroom, he did not have any other family, so Chen Ge was the only other person that he could unload on at that moment.

    When it was almost 6 pm, Zhang Jingjiu called a nurse over and handed her a letter. He asked for her help to hand it to his father, and then he left with Chen Ge.

    ¡°Boss, when we wereing down earlier, why did the police officer keep looking at you?¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you care more about the fact that there is police presence at the hospital?¡±

    ¡°Oh, ya! Why are there police officers in the hospital? Was there a big case?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡±

    The two took thest train back to Jiujiang. Once they left the train station, Chen Ge and Zhang Jingjiu took a cab to go back to Western Jiujiang¡¯s New Century Park. Chen Ge had been away for the whole day, so he was worried that something might have happened at the haunted house.

    Zhang Jingjiu went along to offer help. After all, he had missed work for the whole day, and when he went to visit his father, Chen Ge had even given him arge sum of money, telling him to buy something for his father. To be honest, Zhang Jingjiu was very touched.

    When they arrived at the park and entered the haunted house, Chen Ge realized that his worry was unnecessary. The operation in the day did not have any problems. Xiao Gu and Xu Wan had left work after cleaning the bathroom. Scissors had followed Uncle Xu around the theme park to help whenever he could, and Uncle Xu had used the opportunity to introduce him to the other workers. This was Uncle Xu¡¯s kindness toward Scissors. Scissors did not like to speak and preferred to be alone. Unlike Xiao Gu, if no one guided him, he would probably not interact with the other workers at the theme park for the rest of his life.

    ¡°Uncle Xu, was everything fine this morning?¡± Chen Ge did not expect to see so many workers at the theme park even though it was already sote. They were hurrying with the decoration to prepare for the imminent holiday.

    ¡°Without you around, the ce could not have been calmer. It is much better than before.¡± Uncle Xu looked like he was in a good mood.

    ¡°Big fish can only survive in tumultuous weather. We can¡¯t be satisfied with a calm environment.¡± Chen Ge had Zhang Jingjiu go and help the workers. He entered the Haunted House and returned the Specters in his backpack back to their posts.

    It had been a very interesting outing. It proved that he could go on in the morning to do his own thing without worrying about the haunted house. ¡°My workers have already familiarized themselves with the rules, so I can leave this ce to them.¡±

    After walking around all the scenarios and ensuring that everything was fine, Chen Ge summoned the doctors into hisic and left New Century Park again to head to Jiujiang Central Hospital.

    ...

    Slowly opening his eyes, the hospital¡¯s white glownded on his face. Nightmare Academy¡¯s boss, Shang Guan Qing Hong, pursed his dry lips, and several secondster, his consciousness slowly returned.

    His head felt very heavy, and the world was spinning slightly. He tried to raise his hand and finally managed it after a few attempts.

    ¡°Where am I?¡± He turned his neck with some effort. Shang Guan Qing Hong realized that he was lying on a hospital bed, and two doctors were standing next to him.

    ¡°This is Jiujiang¡¯s Central Hospital¡¯s special care unit. You have been unconscious for a whole afternoon. We attempted many methods to resuscitate you,¡± the lead doctor told Shang Guan Qing Hong to stay quick. ¡°Take a good rest, we¡¯ve contacted the police from Xin Hai City. They will probably arrive tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°The police? Why did you contact the police?¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong held his own head. He felt like he had just experienced a particrly realistic nightmare.

    ¡°We do not know the exact details. We are doctors, and our responsibility is merely to help people. Stay here and rest. Based on our previous experience, long-termas like yours usually include some aftereffects, and you¡¯ll need some time to get used to it.¡± The doctors exined a little bit more before leaving. Yet, Shang Guan Qing Hong had no idea why he was at Jiujiang Hospital.

    ¡°Boss, did you also go to visit his haunted House?¡± A familiar voice came from the adjacent bed. Shang Guan Qing Hong turned to his side and saw a man with a feminine face looking at him with a bitter smile.

    ¡°Lee Changyin? Why are you here as well?¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong had not expected to find one of his own workers at the hospital.

    ¡°This room is specially designed to treat the visitors from New Century Park. Not only me, everyone here is a victim of that haunted house.¡± Lee Changyin pointed at the other beds, and only then did Shang Guan Qing Hong realize how big the room was. It was abination of three sickrooms.

    Shang Guan Qing Hong felt rather embarrassed that his weakness had been exposed to the others, but he soon realized that there was no mocking in these people¡¯s eyes. Instead, there was plenty of pity and understanding.

    <i>What is this sense of camaraderie?</i>

    With a dry cough, Shang Guan Qing Hong struggled to sit up. ¡°All of you fainted in Western Jiujiang¡¯s Haunted House?¡±

    The other patients all nodded.

    ¡°Changyin, you got here earlier than me. Can you give me an introduction?¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong winked at Lee Changyin.

    ¡°The patient in bed one, the one nearest to the window, is Fei Youliang. He was this unit¡¯s first patient. By now, he has almost fully recovered, but do not mention anything rted to rtionships around him, or he will act up instantly.

    ¡°The uncle in the second bed is an engineer from the futuristic theme park, and he suffers from night terrors...¡±

    ¡°In the third bed...¡±

    Lee Changyin introduced them one by one, and his voice wasced with pity. It almost caused Shang Guan Qing Hong to shed tears. This whole room was filled with victims, and their experiences kept getting worse and worse.

    ¡°Alright, that¡¯s enough.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong looked at all the patients in the room, and his fists slowly tightened. After a long time, he finally said, ¡°We have undergone the same experience. We are all the victims of that haunted house, so we cannot allow this to go unpunished!¡±

    Shang Guan Qing Hong was a boss. He had experienced many big events, and he would not surrender so easily.

    ¡°What do you n to do?¡± the engineer from the futuristic theme park asked. He felt like Shang Guan Qing Hong was different from other patients.

    ¡°I think that we should cooperate together. We are all victims. We can write down our separate experiences and then find some ws or weakness in them.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s eyes slowly narrowed and sharpened. His words attracted the interest of all the patients.

    ¡°Brother, what is your name?¡± Fei Youliang was the one who had basically recovered. Normally, he looked and acted no different from a normal person.

    ¡°Shang Guan Qing Hong.¡±

    ¡°Even from your name, I know you¡¯re meant for great things.¡± Fei Youliang wanted to say something else, but his eyes suddenly caught sight of the window outside the room. His body shivered involuntarily, and he could barely believe his own eyes.

 Chapter 756 - Two of Us Left

    <h4>Chapter 756: Two of Us Left</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Many unsightly memories shed through his mind. Fei Youliang rubbed his eyes before moving his head away. ¡°That should be my imagination. My condition has worsened again. He wouldn¡¯t show up here.¡±

    ¡°Beforeing here, I had no idea that the haunted house has victimized so many people. I feel so sorry for all of us.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong then connected the dots. He knew that ghosts had appeared at his Haunted House, but he had no idea that it was rted to Chen Ge. The confusion in his eyes disappeared. Shang Guan Qing Hong heard the resentment buried in Feng Youliang¡¯s words. When he suggested that they should gang up to ruin Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, he had seen lights shining in his fellow patients¡¯ eyes.

    <i>The enemy of my enemy is my friend. </i>Shang Guan Qing Hong knew how to make use of resource to achieve his own goal.

    ¡°Changyin, you should form a group and get everyone to join. After I¡¯ve recovered, we will start discussing how to deal with that haunted house.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t get your hopes up.¡± The engineer from the futuristic theme park was someone who had been through many things, and he was not used to getting orders from others. ¡°If we couldunch a counterattack, we would have done that already, so do you think things are that simple?¡±

    He scoffed at Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s suggestion. In the industry, the futuristic theme park was thergest force, and they had done plenty of things openly and in the dark against Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, but they had all failed. Now, a patient who had also fainted promised to seed where they failed. The engineer thought that it was unrealistic.

    ¡°If you¡¯ve lost the urge to resist, you are destined to live in the haunted house¡¯s shadow, and you will never recover from your illness.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong was calm. Holding his dizzy head, he wished to sit up because that would make him appear more in control.

    ¡°What do you mean by that? Didn¡¯t you faint in the Haunted House as well? Have you heard of pot calling the kettle ck?¡± The engineer picked up the teacup from the table. When he looked around, he caught sight of Fei Youliang¡¯s body shaking.

    ¡°I am different from you.¡± Even though Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s face was pale, there was a victorious smile on his face. ¡°I did not faint in his Haunted House. I fainted in my own Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°Your Haunted House?¡± The engineer was confused. This was nothing to boast about, so why the pride on the man¡¯s face?

    ¡°Yes, I own a Haunted House myself, but my haunted house is definitely scarier than Jiujiang¡¯s Haunted House.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong maintained his mysterious smile. ¡°I have a secret weapon, one that is not avable at any other Haunted Houses on the market!¡±

    ¡°What secret weapon?¡± The patients turned to him with curiosity.

    ¡°If I tell you, will it be a secret?¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong was very confident because he had personally experienced that fear before.

    Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s acting made Lee Changyin next to him feel something. He whispered to ask, ¡°Boss, the thing downstairs has returned?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the thing from before that scared Xiao Tan insane.¡±

    ¡°Boss, are you sure about that? This is not a joke. If that thing really appears in the Haunted House, not only the visitors, even our workers won¡¯t be able to stay inside the Haunted House!¡±

    ¡°Desperate times call for desperate measures.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hongy in bed. His face was white, and his limbs weak, but he had the confidence of a general who knew that the war ahead was his to be won.

    ¡°What are you two talking about?¡± The engineer looked at Shang Guan Qing Hong. ¡°You fainted at your own Haunted House, so you have no right to speak at all. I suggest you go and take a spin around New Century Park¡¯s Haunted House before youe to talk to us about cooperation.¡±

    ¡°I know you won¡¯t believe me.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong nudged his tight neck. ¡°Changyin, get me my phone. Open the third video file for him to see.¡±

    Lee Changyin took out the phone and found the video. It was the video that Shang Guan Qing Hong had cut from his haunted house¡¯s surveince cameras. Chen Ge was inside the underground corridor, and suddenly, he saw something scary. His body lost bnce, and he jumped from fright.

    ¡°See this? The man that you¡¯re afraid of was defeated by me in my Haunted House. In terms of fear level, my haunted house and his are not even on the same level.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong omitted the part where his ce was really haunted.

    ¡°This is really the boss from New Century Park!¡± The engineer watched it multiple times to ensure it was not a tempered video. Finally, he believed Shang Guan Qing Hong. He was about to discuss the revenge against Chen Ge when he raised his head and saw that familiar face outside the door!

    ¡°Wait a minute...¡± The engineer¡¯s arm was shaking. Before he could put the phone down, he saw the room door being pushed open. Silence fell over the room, and the patients did not dare to even breathe too loudly.

    ¡°I¡¯m not lying to you, am I?¡± Since his body had not recovered, Shang Guan Qing Hong titled his head to look at the engineer. ¡°Join the group first. I will slowly teach this b*stard who does not know his limit a lesson.¡±

    ¡°Cough Cough.¡± Lee Changyin held his lips and started to cough violently. As he did so, he blinked continuously at his boss.

    ¡°Are you okay? I¡¯m sorry to have put you through this, Changyin, but don¡¯t you worry, it won¡¯t be long before the day you see that man being admitted into this very room! Then, we will have gotten our revenge!¡± Since they werepetitors, Shang Guan Qing Hong had been meaning to deal with Chen Ge for a long time. ¡°A Haunted House in a small town dares to trick people with words and fake videos online. It is time for the man to face the music.¡±

    Shang Guan Qing Hong realized that no one was reacting to his words. He frowned. ¡°Changyin, why do you keep coughing? Should I call the doctor for you?¡±

    ¡°No, no, I think it¡¯s time for my meds.¡± Lee Changyin turned to the shelves to look for his things, but the shelves were mainly used to store clothes.

    ¡°What about the rest of you? Why aren¡¯t you sleeping?¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong turned to Fei Youliang. ¡°Little brother, you were the first one toe here. So, we will start with you. We will go around sharing our experiences and see if we can find any weakness or leverage in your stories.¡±

    Fei Youliang, who had initially admired Shang Guan Qing Hong, suddenly acted like he could not hear the man. He leaned next to the window and took out his phone while looking at the moon outside. ¡°Mom, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll being home this new year. Work is very busy. Huh? It¡¯s only June. It¡¯s nothing, I¡¯m just calling to wish you an early new year.¡±

    ¡°What is going on?¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong felt that something was wrong, and he turned to the engineer. Thetter instantly avoided his gaze like he did not know this person at all. He held the phone in his palms and looked at the video with deep interest. ¡°This hospital¡¯s Wi-Fi sure is fast; there¡¯s nogging at all. These videos published by Western Jiujiang¡¯s Haunted House are very interesting.¡±

    ¡°Videos? Aren¡¯t you holding my phone?¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong soon realized the problem. He turned his neck around as far as he could, and when he did, he almost fainted again. The sickroom door was open, and Chen Ge was standing next to his bed holding his backpack!

    ¡°You¡¯ve awakened already. This is such a waste. I went far and wide to find a professional doctor for you.¡± A warm smile hung on his face. It was as if Chen Ge did not hear what the man had said earlier.

    ¡°When... when did you arrive?¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong became quite a fright. He probably would not dare to sleep on his side ever again.

    ¡°I just arrived. I have some questions for you, and I hope you will answer them honestly.¡± Chen Ge first took out the fake diary from Nightmare Academy and showed it to Shang Guan Qing Hong. ¡°Where did you get this diary?¡±

    ¡°I wrote it myself, why?¡± The man was still trying to argue.

    ¡°Then what about this?¡± Chen Ge then took out the diary that he had found in Nightmare academy¡¯s basement.

    When he saw the blood-like handwriting inside the diary, Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s face turned paler.

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to tell me?¡± Chen Ge did not force the man. Instead, he turned to the other patients. ¡°I wish to talk to this man alone...¡±

    ¡°Christ, I left my sses in the bathroom. I need to go get them.¡±

    ¡°The doctor told us to go for more walks. It¡¯s good for our health, so I think I¡¯ll go for a stroll.¡±

    ¡°Wait, we¡¯ll go with you.¡±

    The patients had been waiting for the cue to leave. With a speed that surprised Chen Ge, they cleared out of the room.

    ¡°Great, now there are only two of us.¡± Chen Ge pulled over a chair and sat down next to Shang Guan Qing Hong.

 Chapter 757 - Night Before [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 757: Night Before [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°There are no outsiders now, so there¡¯s no reason to worry. Tell me everything you know.¡± Chen Ge ced both diaries before Shang Guan Qing Hong.

    ¡°Where did you find this?¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong had not recovered from the shock. From what he saw at Nightmare Academy, even though Chen Ge might not have been scarred permanently from his experience, he should have fainted at least. However, the Chen Ge before him was not only very well, he radiated a very dangerous presence around him.

    ¡°Your Haunted House is truly haunted, and the origin of all the tragedies began with this diary.¡± Chen Ge pulled open the zipper of his bag. If Shang Guan Qing Hong wished to y dumb any longer, he would summon the few doctors to give the man a thorough examination.

    After a moment¡¯s silence, Shang Guan Qing Hong suddenlyughed. He moved his neck around with difficulty to look at Chen Ge. ¡°Even if I tell you now, it is useless because the thing inside this diary has already left. Now, it¡¯s nothing more than an empty shell.¡±

    ¡°Empty shell?¡± That only piqued Chen Ge¡¯s interest even more. ¡°Looks like you know many things.¡±

    ¡°I will not lie to you. I bought this diary from a mother. Her child unfortunately fell into aa after a car ident. She took care of her child for five whole years, and one midnight, her child suddenly awoke. However, the world around the child seemed to fall into a very deep terror, and he seemed to be living inside a long, long nightmare.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s words deeply aroused Chen Ge¡¯s interest.

    ¡°Aa patient waking up? Where is the child now?¡± Chen Ge did not think that Shang Guan Qing Hong was lying. He wished to find the child himself.

    ¡°He¡¯s dead now, happened not long after he woke up.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s voice was strange. It sounded like he had to hesitate before he decided to say the words. ¡°During the period when the boy was awake, he kept rambling about strange things, and he was afraid of everyone around him, including his mother. After about two days, the boy finally put his guard down around his mother. He told his mother that he had hidden a diary inside the room and wished that his mother would take good care of it. The mother naturally promised to fulfill her son¡¯s wish, but that night, the boy passed away, and the cause of death for the boy was sudden cardiac arrest.¡±

    ¡°The boy passed away after telling his mother the secret?¡± Chen Ge felt that there was something bigger hidden in this story.

    ¡°The mother refused to ept the truth. The boy that she had looked over for five long years finally awakened but left her forever on the midnight of the second day of his resuscitation. She was severely traumatized, and her mental health deteriorated. Even after a long period of treatment, she still had trouble walking out from the trauma.

    ¡°Finally, at the suggestion of her doctor, she sold everything that was rted to the boy. This was an effort to act like the boy had never been in her life.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong knew a surprising amount of the details; he had clearly done his research on the diary. ¡°I met the mother and her attending physician at a secondhand market, and it was around then that I made the purchase of this old diary.¡±

    ¡°How is the boy¡¯s mother now? What is her current address? Is she still in treatment?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s brain was already spinning. He could ¡®sniff out¡¯ the unnaturalness surrounding this whole story.

    ¡°Unfortunately, the treatment was not that sessful. Selling the items did not mean that she could forget about the past. Due to extreme sadness, the mother eventually copsed under the mental pressure and left this world one quiet night.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong tried his best to sit upright. ¡°That is all that I know.¡±

    ¡°Then, what about this empty shell that you mentioned?¡±

    ¡°When the diary was first taken back to the Haunted House, every night at midnight, there would be the sound of childrenughing and crying. This is one of the main reasons that our night tours were so popr and scary at the beginning. Butter, the diary suddenly turned back to normal, so I suspect that it is just an empty shell.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong acted very normal. Chen Ge was not sure whether Shang Guan Qing Hong was lying to him or not, but one thing he was certain. There was indeed no longer any spirit lingering inside the diary, which had been confirmed by Ol¡¯ Zhou and Xu Yin.

    ¡°Everything that I told you is the truth.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s voice softened. ¡°I know that Jiujiang is your territory. Since you have the power to transfer me from Xin Hai to your territory, I have no choice but to admit defeat.¡±

    Shang Guan Qing Hong had just woken up from hisa, and he still had not caught up to speed. When he first opened his eyes, he found himself inside a strange sickroom in a hospital of an unfamiliar town, and his nemesis was just outside the door.

    A normal person would have filled in the nks, much less someone who was as paranoid as Shang Guan Qing Hong. Thus, naturally, he hade to some misunderstandings.

    ¡°Stay here and recuperate. It was the police who made your transfer; it had nothing to do with me.¡± Chen Ge felt like there was nothing else to be gained from staying there. He shoved both of the diaries inside his backpack and stood up to leave.

    ¡°The police?¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong was left alone inside the room. He was still trying to digest what Chen Ge had said.

    ...

    Once he stepped through the gate of New Century Park, Chen Ge noticed the difference to the decoration around the park. There were many new things. ¡°The holidays areing.¡±

    All the workers had left the park, so Chen Ge sat inside the haunted house¡¯s staff breakroom alone. He locked the door from the inside, closed the window, and pulled down the curtain. Then he ced the ck phone on his desk.

    Scrolling down the screen, Chen Ge turned to the page with the mission details. He looked at the words written in blood on the screen.

    ¡°The four-star Trial Mission School of the Afterlife will expire in twenty-seven hours. Warning! After the mission expires, said scenario will be locked forever!¡±

    ¡°After twenty-seven hours, I will not be able to obtain this four-star mission anymore, and School of Afterlife will never be unlocked.¡± Chen Ge raised his head to look at the clock on the wall. ¡°In twenty-seven hours, in other words, tomorrow night, the mission will disappear.¡±

    His finger dangled over the screen, but Chen Ge did not have the confidence to press ept. After experiencing the 3.5-star Li Wan City, Chen Ge could only imagine how dangerous and scary four-star scenario would be. That kind of terror would be far beyond his current imagination.

    ¡°Zhang Ya is hibernating. No matter how much I call her name, there is not even a single response. Even though Xu Yin is now a Red Specter, the curse on his body hasn¡¯t been cleansed, and that seriously dampens his strength. The remaining employees are not good in a fight, so they won¡¯t be of much help in dangerous situations.¡± Chen Ge scanned through all the employees in his mind, and he felt a heaviness in his heart.

    When he went to challenge the 3.5-star scenario, the cooperation of all the Haunted house workers barely managed to help him survive the scenario, and now, he was going to challenge a four-star mission while the best of his employees were damaged and unavable. So, how was he going to clear this mission?

    Whenever the timer on the ck phone dropped down, the conflict in Chen Ge¡¯s heart deepened. His finger floated above the phone. He tried it several times, but in the end, he did not press the ept button. ¡°For the sake of security, perhaps I should ask the Pen Spirit first.¡±

    Chen Ge took out the ballpoint pen covered with cellophane tape and used the Pen Spirit¡¯s fortune telling power. ¡°Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, will I walk out of the School of Afterlife alive?¡±

    Chen Ge was merely referring to the Pen Spirit for a sense of internal constion. He did not even dare ask whether he would be able to clear the scenario sessfully. Several minutester, the ballpoint pen that Chen Ge was holding started to move on its own, and it wrote its response on the piece of white paper.

    ¡°If you want to bring me to the School of Afterlife, I would choose to kill myself. Compared to going to that ce, suicide is a much happier ending.¡±

    ¡°Did you understand the meaning of the word happiness? Plus, is the ce really that scary?¡± He frowned while he read the words on the white paper. Chen Ge was surprised by the Pen Spirit¡¯s determination of destroying herself rather than being dragged into this mess with the School of Afterlife.

    ¡°My prediction only gives me a vague understanding of the situation, and the feeling I got from that prediction led me to this conclusion.¡± After leaving behind that second passage, the Pen Spirit did not respond to Chen Ge anymore. If Chen Ge did not know that a normal Specter could not leave their object of possession for long, he would probably have believed that the Pen Spirit had escaped.

    ¡°The Pen Spirit has a fifty percent chance of getting her prediction wrong. This is probably the instance where she got it wrong.¡± Chen Ge picked up the ck phone and rushed hurriedly down into the underground parking lot. He went to find the crying statue.

    ¡°I have a question to ask you.¡± Standing inside the dim bedroom, before Chen Ge even asked his question, with just the mention of the term School of Afterlife, the eyes of the statue started to cry endless tears of blood like it had seen something incredibly scary.

    ¡°The standard of level is too different.¡± Chen Ge had two employees with prediction powers in his Haunted house, but they were both normal Specters, so they were not that powerful. ¡°If the Pen Spirit can evolve into a Red Specter, she will be another central core of power at my Haunted House.¡±

    Looking at the broken old ballpoint pen, Chen Ge shared his idea with the Pen Spirit, but he did not get a reply.

    ¡°Is giving up my only choice?¡± The mission was due to expire the following night. Seeing such an important four-star mission disappear just like that, Chen Ge¡¯s heart was practically bleeding. Actually, there had been instances before when Chen Ge would ask Pen Spirit for her opinion when he had no idea how dangerous a Trial Mission would be. She would most often say things like there was a ten percent chance he would survive or it would be very dangerous, but this was the first time that Chen Ge had seen the Pen Spirit write something like she would rathermit suicide than go on the mission.

    ¡°I mustn¡¯t act to recklessly.¡± He repeated that to himself and eventually moved his finger away from the phone screen. He slid the page down further, and Chen Ge chanced upon an ongoing mission¡ªthe story of the Left Oculus.

    ¡°I¡¯ve onlypleted the first part of the mission rted to Chang Gu¡ªthe Private Viewing Theater of the Dead. The remaining two parts still have not beenpleted.¡±

    Before going to Xin Hai, to help Zhang Wenyu fulfil the wishes of the suicide victims, Chen Ge had gone in search of a film crew. He had run into Chang Gu in a total ident and obtained a valuable piece of information from him¡ªChang Gu¡¯s young sister had once been a student at School of the Afterlife, but she had managed to escape.

    Unfortunately, it was where Chang Gu¡¯s sister¡¯s soul currently was. Her left eye was now transnted into Chang Gu¡¯s skull, but due toplications during the surgery, Chang Gu¡¯s normal eye had been affected, and he was practically blind.

    ¡°Chang Wenyu went inside the School of Afterlife before, and she had a student pass from that school. I should be able to find more information from her.¡± Chen Ge found a new opening, and he decided to deal with this mission first. ¡°There are only twenty or so hours left¡ªI must not waste time anymore.¡±

    Chen Ge packed his backpack. He did not rest for long before leaving the haunted house again. After climbing into the taxi, Chen Ge took out his phone to call Chang Gu¡¯s number, but strangely enough, even though he called multiple times, there was no answer.

    ¡°Did something happen to the man?¡±

 Chapter 758 - They

    <h4>Chapter 758: They</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Staring at the number on his phone, Chen Ge fell into deep contemtion. <i>Qiumei, the Red Specter who can phase freely between the real world and the movie world, is still inside theic. Chang Gu wouldn¡¯t have abandoned her and run away, would he?</i>

    Even though Chen Ge had not spent a long time with Chang Gu, he could sense from the man that he was not the type who was cowardly. A man who was willing to transnt a ghost eye into himself for the sake of saving his little sister, how could someone like that drop his friend and escape on his own?

    <i>Did he run into a problem that he can¡¯t resolve, or has my appearance alerted him?</i>

    He took the cab to Yong Lin Mount Holiday Vi. With his previous experience, Chen Ge very expertly jumped over the walls into thepound. ¡°The clothes that were drying outsidest time I was here are still there. The surroundings haven¡¯t changed. Did Chang Gu escape the night right after I left?¡±

    Chen Ge activated the recorder to summon Xu Yin. With Xu Yin¡¯s apaniment, he entered the Dead¡¯s Private Viewing Theater for the second time. The door was left open, and there was a dusty smell in the air. The ce appeared ransacked like someone had been there to turn the ce upside down before Chen Ge arrived.

    ¡°There are no footprints on the ground, the stage is free from any dirt, the recordings have been messed with, and all the movies backstage have been deleted...¡± Chen Ge¡¯s observation was thorough; he did not miss any details and inspected every inch of theatre.

    ¡°Someone has been here since I left yesterday!¡± The other person was looking for something inside theatre but probably left with nothing. Chen Ge strode into the broadcasting room. ¡°This ce has been ransacked as well. This proves that the search hasn¡¯t stopped; they probably haven¡¯t found what they need.¡±

    He opened the projector. It needed a password to log in, and only Chang Gu knew this password. ¡°If they have captured Chang Gu. Then they wouldn¡¯t need to ransack the ce and mess everything up.¡±

    Chen Ge had no idea who hade after him. However, he felt like they had been watching Chang Gu for a long time but had not made their move for some reason. His appearance that night had probably ruined their n, so they had decided to push their n forward right after he left.

    ¡°Chang Gu¡¯s biggest secret is the left eye that he got from Wenyu, and the left eye was taken out of the School of the Afterlife by Chang Wenyu. Is the sudden visit of these people rted to the School of the Afterlife?¡± To solve this puzzle, the simplest way was to find Chang Gu and ask him in person. Chen Ge opened theic and released Qiumei. This unique Red Specter looked around in confusion just like when she had first been conscripted by Chen Ge.

    ¡°Chang Gu has gone missing. Can you locate him?¡± Chen Ge asked directly. There were only twenty hours or so until the expiration of the mission for School of the Afterlife, so every second was precious.

    Hearing that Chang Gu had gone missing, Qiumei¡¯s expression instantly changed. Strands of blood appeared on her face, and her empty eyes locked onto Chen Ge.

    ¡°Calm down, I¡¯m trying to help you!¡± Before Qiumei could get any closer, Xu Yin blocked Chen Ge. Viscous blood dripped to the ground, and the whole theatre was covered in this thinyer of blood. Fear and anger mixed together. Qiumei¡¯s lips fell over, and a shrill scream escaped from them.

    ¡°Please, don¡¯t panic. If my guess is not wrong, your object of possession should be the left eye or the movie recording of the Left Oculus. No matter which it is, they should be with Chang Gu. Try to sense them, and through that, we should be able to locate Chang Gu.¡± Chen Ge repeated that many times before Qiumei finally understood him. She closed her eyes, and her body started to fade as the blood vessels withered. This processsted for a whole minute. When Qiumei opened her eyes again, she dashed out of theatre.

    ¡°Quick, follow her!¡± Unable tomunicate, Chen Ge could only use this method to find Chang Gu. Qiumei soon left Yong Ling Mount Holiday Vi. She deserted the road and rushed deeper into the mountain. Thissted a whole hour before Qiumei stopped moving. Before her was a small house that appeared to be used by forest ranger.

    ¡°Is Chang Gu hiding here?¡± Chen Ge knocked on the door lightly and whispered, ¡°Chang Gu? This is Chen Ge, the person who apanied you to the moviesst night. I came back with Qiumei.¡±

    To prove that he was not lying, Chen Ge allowed Qiumei to enter first. Momentster, the door opened, and the thin, harried Chang Gu in a shredded shirt appeared at the door. ¡°Quick,e in.¡±

    He was armed with a wooden knife, and there were many wounds on his arms and legs. Those appeared be cuts from briars and branches when he was running through the forest.

    ¡°Why are you hiding here? Did someonee to the vi after I left?¡± Chen Ge examined the interior of the house. It was furnished with various everyday items and filtered way. This appeared to be a hideout that Chang Gu had prepared beforehand.

    He nodded slightly. Chang Gu stood at the door, brandishing the knife. He looked very tired, but he did not show any trace of fear.

    ¡°Who were those people? What did they want with you?¡± Chen Ge was more curious about that. In the whole of Jiujiang, no one should be interested in the ¡®door¡¯ other than him.

    ¡°They are victims, too.¡± Chang Gu sighed. ¡°The case with my little sister is not an isted incident, but she is the only one who has recovered. The other children are still unconscious while others have already perished.¡±

    ¡°The ones in theatre are the students¡¯ parents? What is going on?¡±

    ¡°The School of the Afterlife admitted more than one student, but the only student who managed to survive the ordeal, ording to my knowledge, is Wenyu. So, the parents of the other students wished to get more information about her from me.¡± Chang Gu dragged his tired body back to the chair. ¡°They came from a good ce, but their methods are wrong. If they follow the route that I¡¯m on, they will only fall down deeper into the abyss.¡±

    He took a sip of the water on the table. ¡°The incidents in my movies are all real. About ten years ago, I noticed the peculiarities surrounding my little sister; there seemed to be a different soul living inside her. That was when I started the investigation, and I realized that she often talked to herself like she was conversing with someone that only she could see. Then...¡±

    Chang Gu¡¯s fists tightened. ¡°The soul in her body, to prevent this secret from being leaked, turned to the rest of the family and...¡±

    At this point, Chang Gu could not push himself forward anymore. Veins popped on his forehead, and he needed some time to calm down. ¡°I was lucky to escape, but I didn¡¯t dare return to that home. One day, I ran into Qiumei in a total ident. After I approached her, I realized that the evil spirit inside Wenyu had found a recement, and the scariest thing was that the recements themselves would continue to find other recements. That eye is like a recurring nightmare.¡±

    With a shaking voice, Chang Gu paused for a long time before continuing. ¡°Qiumei was the only exception. Even though she was killed by the recement and she possessed a deep hatred toward these things, she retained her basic humanity. She was not corrupted by the left eye and resisted the devil¡¯s temptation. The recurring nightmare stopped with her, and she lived inside my little sister¡¯s body for years.

    ¡°Her kindness nted a seed inside my mind¡ªtry to transfer the left eye from her body to mine and use that eye to find my sister¡¯s soul.

    ¡°But the operation failed. Both of my eyes now have problems. Other than the asional strange visions, I cannot see anything.

    ¡°That is my story.¡±

 Chapter 759 - Last Four Hours [3 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 759: Last Four Hours [3 in 1]</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    Chang Gu¡¯s whole life was a tragedy, but this was because of the appearance of the School of the Afterlife. This school not only took his little sister away from him but also indirectly caused the death of his parents. However, inparison, the School of the Afterlife was merely a mission to Chen Ge. For Chang Gu though, this school was akin to a cage that had entrapped his whole life.

    He was more desperate than Chen Ge to know the secrets of the School of the Afterlife, and that was one of the reasons that Chen Ge had chosen to cooperate with him. After hearing Chang Gu¡¯s story, there was still a question in Chen Ge¡¯s heart. ¡°But what does that have to do with the other parents? Why would they target you?¡±

    ¡°Initially, I had no idea that Wenyu¡¯s incident was an isted story. Through my investigation in the dark, I paid visits to many families who went through the same experience as me. I asked about their stories and tried to find clues from them. This was to help them and to provide salvation for myself. Unfortunately, I greatly underestimated theplexity of human thought. Human beings can easily abandon their hearts due to hatred and can do anything for the sake of love. They started to refuse to cooperate with my investigation and turned on me. They interrogated me, hoping to find out everything that I know. In fact, some of them tried to gouge out my left eye.¡± Chang Ge did not go into the details, but it was definitely not a happy memory, or else he would not have gone into hiding even though he had the protection of a Red Specter.

    ¡°If I have some residual strength after locating my little sister, then of course, I will not hesitate to help them, but in reality, I am now almost blind in both eyes. With this fragile body, I can barely manage to look after myself; I simply do not have the capability to spare any more energy to help them.¡± Chang Gu¡¯s voice slowly rose. He dared to vent like this because he was hiding in this old house deep inside the mountain.

    ¡°What you did wasn¡¯t wrong.¡± Chen Ge leaned against the door. He still wanted to say something else, but he was cut off by Chang Gu.

    ¡°Actually, there is something that I have been hesitating about. I wish toe to a decision before both of my eyes arepletely ruined.¡± Chang Gu turned to face Chen Ge and opened both of his eyes. His right eye waspletely white while his left eye looked on the surface to be no different from a normal eye. However, once one looked closer, one would realize that the spot where the pupil was connected to the rest of the eye was covered in clusters of blood vessels. ¡°The hesitation has stayed with me for a very long time, but your appearance has given me the determination I needed. I cannot allow this to drag on anymore.¡±

    ¡°This is somehow rted to me? Did I trigger something?¡± Chen Ge had no idea what he did wrong. ¡°But I need you to calm down first. We are now partners. No matter what this is, we can sit down and discuss it first.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t be able to help me with this.¡±

    ¡°How can you know that if you refuse to tell me anything about it? Even if I cannot help you, I have a bunch of friends and buddies. You met them that night.¡±

    The mention of the incident that night caused Chang Gu¡¯s expression to turn green. He was silent for a very long time before he opened his lips once more. ¡°Since the eye transnt surgery, the eyesight of my right eye has continued to deteriorate. I cannot see anything out of my left eye, and all it gives me is day after day of torment. I have been suffering it quietly, but one day, the pain became so intense that I was woken from my sleep. In the blurriness of the night, I seemed to catch a glimpse of a door. To allow myself a better look at it, I subconsciously closed my left eye and only looked out from my right eye, but to my surprise, when I closed my left eye, the blurry doorpletely disappeared!¡±

    Chang Gu¡¯s emotions were raging. He turned to exim at Chen Ge. ¡°Do you know what that means?¡±

    ¡°That door was only visible out of your left eye?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! I saw a door using my sister¡¯s eye!¡± When Chang Gu said those things, green veins popped up on his face. The eye protruded, and it looked like it could fall out of the man¡¯s face at any moment. It honestly looked quite scary.

    ¡°What does the door that you saw look like? Was itpletely blood red with pulsing blood vessels on it?¡± When Chang Gu mentioned the term ¡®door¡¯, he had Chen Ge¡¯splete focus. ¡®Door¡¯ carried a very special meaning for Chen Ge.

    ¡°Blood red?¡± Chang Gu shook his head. ¡°The door that I saw was a very normal door, but when I woke up fully, the door had already disappeared.¡±

    ¡°A very normal door? Did youe across that door again?¡± Chen Ge had no idea why the door that Chang Gu saw would be different from other blood doors.

    ¡°I did, but every time, it was when I was half-asleep. I tried to get close to it, but once I was conscious enough to do that, the door would immediately disappear.¡±

    ¡°Based on what you¡¯ve said, seeing the door does not seem to have any use.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I thought initially, butter, I discovered something very weird. The distance between me and the door was slowly drawing close! It felt like it was trying to draw me into it!¡± Chang Gu¡¯s voice took on a creepy undertone. ¡°A few months ago, the door was already next to my bedside. Once I woke up from my dream, my left eye would see the door standing next to my bed! I only needed to lift my hand to push on it and possibly enter it!¡±

    Chang Gu gasped greedily for air. This should be the secret hidden at the deepest part of his heart. ¡°I have no idea where the door leads to and know even less about the possible existence living behind the door. I have been afraid, but I don¡¯t want to run anymore. Since this door is only visible through the left eye, it is very likely that it leads to the School of the Afterlife!¡±

    Chang Gu¡¯s supposition surprised and shocked Chen Ge, but he quickly calmed down. He had entered the world behind the ¡®door¡¯ before, and he had done so more than once. He had seen many doors, and every single one of them was painted blood red.

    ¡°Your analysis is very logical, but I feel like that door might not lead to School of the Afterlife. We need to investigate this further.¡± Chen Ge had not attempted a four-star mission before. He had no idea what the difference between a three-star scenario and a four-star scenario was. So, he could not say sure that the door for a four-star scenario would definitely be blood red in color.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have much time left.¡± Chang Gu left his finger to point at his left eye. He moved his eyes around. The muscles connected the eye socket and the eye had all atrophied, and only a single dark red thread was holding the two together.

    ¡°Okay, if you insist on trying that, then I won¡¯t stand in your way. I only hope that you will fulfil a small favor that I have.¡± Chen Ge himself did not have much time left. There were only twenty hours or so left until the expiry of the four-star scenario.

    ¡°What favor?¡±

    ¡°When you push open the door tonight, I wish to stay by your side to prevent any idents from urring. Think about it before you reject me. This is thest thing that I can do for you.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s attitude was sincere, and his eyes were shining with authenticity.

    ¡°Tonight?¡± Chang Gu was stunned, but he soon agreed. ¡°No problem, tonight it is!¡±

    When Chang Gu gave him the promise, the ck phone in Chen Ge¡¯s pocket suddenly vibrated. He turned around to take out the phone and click on the new message.

    ¡°Congrattion Specter¡¯s Favored for obtaining Chang Gu¡¯s trust. The third part of the Left Oculus mission has been unlocked¡ª???

    ¡°Warning! This mission is filled with uncertainty, and it might lead to serious consequences. Please consider it fully before making your choice!¡±

    Reading the content of the new message, Chen Ge¡¯s heart raced. He read the message again and again. <i>This mission detail is so strange. The description of the mission is just question marks, and the warning states that the mission itself will be filled with many uncertainties. The biggest confusion is that it warns me to make a careful choice, but it didn¡¯t give me any options to pick!</i>

    Putting the ck phone away, an indescribable worry spread through Chen Ge¡¯s heart, and for once, he was feeling apprehensive.

    ¡°Are you alright? You don¡¯t look so good.¡± Chang Gu poured a ss of water for Chen Ge.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, you should get to bed. I will guard beside you.¡± Chen Ge summoned Xu Yin back into the recorder. He pulled over a chair and sat blocking the entrance.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Chang Gu crawled into bed and pulled on the thin cover. Time moved slowly. Even though two hours had passed, Chang Gu was still wide awake. ¡°Perhaps I¡¯m being too nervous. I don¡¯t feel sleepy at all.¡±

    Then again, almost anyone would have trouble falling asleep being directly stared at by someone else in the room.

    ¡°How about I go back into town to buy some sleeping pills for you?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t bother. The trip going up and down the mountain will take more than three hours. Furthermore, the pharmacies will be closed at this hour.¡± The thought that he was going to open the door that night caused the drowsiness to abandon Chang Gu immediately.

    ¡°Probably it¡¯s because there is a stranger in the room with you. I will go stand guard outside, so you try your best to rx.¡± Chen Ge stood up, opened the door, and walked out. The insects flitted about in the dark, and Chang Gu tossed and turned, but he was no closer to falling asleep. He kept ncing at the clock, and soon, 2 am arrived. ¡°The body is very tired, but I simply cannot fall asleep. This is so strange.¡±

    This continued until the sun rose, and Chang Gu was still awake. He exited the wooden hut with an embarrassed smile, and he realized that Chen Ge had been guarding outside the door throughout the night. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. I have no idea why I cannot fall asleep tonight.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Chen Ge was not doing so well mentally either. Because he was worried that he might miss the moment that Chang Gu would push open the ¡®door¡¯, his nerves had been taut. ¡°Looks like we will have to wait for theing night. Chang Gu, try not to fall asleep in the day, and I wille back againter at night.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chang Gu felt quite guilty for having Chen Ge wait outside his door the whole night.

    They decided the time that they should meetter that night, and then Chen Ge left with Qiumei in tow. It was not that he needed Qiumei as a hostage¡ªit was simply that Chen Ge did not know the way back. He trekked through the mountain for forty minutes before he finally left Yong Ling Mountain. He pulled Qiumei back into theic and caught a cab to get back to New Century Park.

    Chen Ge arrived at theme park at around 8:30 am. All of his employees had already arrived, and they could not wait to start a new day of work.

    ¡°Come, I¡¯ll help all of you with your make-up.¡± Chen Ge did not have even a second to rest. After helping his workers with their make-up, Chen Ge went to inspect all of the scenarios one by one. He busied himself until the theme park opened for business. Finally, he thought he could get some rest. However, once he stepped into the staff breakroom, before he could even touch his bed, he was pulled away by Uncle Xu.

    The theme park was readying up for a busy holiday. Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house was the major promotional point, so Director Luo had many things to discuss with him. From the simplest promotional slogan to the channels that they should use to promote the haunted house, and finally, the n regarding Xin Hai¡¯s Haunted House¡ªthe discussion between the twosted the whole morning.

    Director Luo hoped that Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house would open a new scenario to the public in conjunction with the promotion and advertisement. That was exactly what Chen Ge was hoping, but due to the uniqueness of the School of the Afterlife¡¯s mission, Chen Ge did not give the promise easily but instead told Director Luo that he would need some more time to think about it.

    They finally came up with two concrete ns by around lunch time. One was the projected n, and the other was a backup n.

    After a tense night up in the mountain and then a whole morning of discussing the promotional n and future direction of the haunted house with Direction Luo, Chen Ge was understandably very tired. He decided to skip lunch because the desire to sleep was far greater than hunger. He rushed back to the staff breakroom, hoping to take a quick nap, but before he even arrived at the Haunted House, he was interrupted by yet another incident.

    ¡°Boss Chen!¡± A rather familiar voice appeared behind Chen Ge. He turned back to look, and surprise was inly written on his face.

    ¡°Qu Changlin?¡± This genius mannequin designer who worked at Nightmare Academy had appeared at New Century Park, apparently to meet Chen Ge. ¡°After our previous encounter, I asked for your information from my colleagues, and then I went online to look up your story...¡±

    Qi Changlin¡¯s facial expression was hard to read. This caused Chen Ge to be quite worried; he realized that the man was not as easily fooled as he had previously thought.

    ¡°So, what did your colleagues say?¡±

    ¡°In only a few months, you managed to turn a Haunted House facing bankrupt into the Haunted House with the highest daily visitor count and the highest number of positive reviews online. You have singlehandedly created a miracle; undeniably, you are the best Haunted House operator that I have ever met. To have my designplimented by you is truly an honor. I am d and thankful.¡±

    ¡°Everything I said was the truth. Your overall ability is far beyond that of a normal haunted house worker, and you have a genius-like talent when ites to designing mannequins; you deserve a better stage to show off your talent.¡± Since the man hade to find him, naturally, Chen Ge was not going to let him go so easily.

    ¡°Compared to the information that I found online, you are kinder and more understanding in person. The things that you told me that day, I will forever remember in my heart. You gave me the ability to regain the trust in myself, to push myself further, to wish for a better version of my life.¡± Qu Changlin did not see Chen Ge as his enemy. No matter which perspective he viewed him from, Chen Ge had been helping him, and everything that he had said was out of a kind consideration toward him.

    ¡°You came all this way to tell me thank you?¡± The sunlight fell on Chen Ge¡¯s face, and his smile was radiating warmth and energy.

    Qu Changlin hesitated for a very long time before uttering the words in his heart. ¡°Boss Chen, I wish to interview to work at Haunted House. I wish to learn more things from you.¡±

    ¡°A man will be faced with many decisions in his life, and today, you have made a correct decision that will be instrumental in changing your life.¡± Chen Ge led Qu Changlin into the haunted house and handed him the employee¡¯s manual.

    ¡°Do I need to memorize everything?¡±

    ¡°You only need to understand the rules. After all, you have years of working experience, and you have the necessary talent; what youck is a stage for you to shine.¡± Chen Ge led Qu Changlin to the entrance to the scenario for Night of the Living Dead. This scenario was on the first floor of the haunted house. It had been abandoned. Since there were more than enough scenarios underground, Chen Ge had allowed it to go unattended.

    ¡°Your task is to redesign this entire scenario. You will be managing everything. I wish to see the limit of your talent.¡± Chen Ge and Qu Changlin stood at the entrance to the Night of the Living Dead. This scenario was farrger than the toilet that Qu Changlin had been responsible for. The environment was also far nicer than a toilet.

    ¡°What? I can¡¯t do it! I just arrived here. I don¡¯t even know anything, and you wish to hand such arge scenario over to me? Boss Chen, I have no experience dealing with such arge scenario, and this scenario is on the first floor! This is the first scenario that the visitors will encounter when they enter the haunted house. If I fail you, it will leave a negative impression on your visitors, and it might even ruin the reputation you¡¯ve built for your haunted house!¡± Qu Changlin was really panicking.

    Before he arrived, he had run through many possibilities in his mind, but this one was definitely something that he had not imagined would ever happen.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t trust that you are capable. It¡¯s enough that I believe in you.¡± Chen Ge patted Qu Changlin¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Be bold and don¡¯t hold back¡ªthis is my test for you.¡±

    Actually, Chen Ge had a very clear n in his mind. There were too many secrets in his Haunted House, and certain things were too early to reveal to Qu Changlin, so he decided to allow the man to redesign this abandoned scenario.

    ¡°Your expertise is mannequin design. I have the phone number of a mannequin workshop. If you need anything, you can contact him directly. Just tell him that it was me who sent you.¡±

    The scenarios opened by the ck phone were usually empty, and he would need plenty of mannequins to hold them up in the future. He was incapable ofing up with so many mannequins alone. So, he needed a worker to share the burden with, and Qu Changlin was just the person that he was looking for. ¡°By the way, how much money do you think you will need to redesign a scenario of this size?¡±

    ¡°How much money?¡± Redesigning naturally would cost money. Qu Changlin was very cautious. He walked around the scenario for almost half an hour before returning to Chen Ge. He opened his lips and uttered cautiously, ¡°This scenario originally had a zombie theme. The current props and mannequins are already severely damaged. I wish to update all of them and redo them with a whole new design...¡±

    At this point, he sneakily lifted his head to steal a nce at Chen Ge. Seeing that Chen Ge had not tutted in impatience or annoyance, he dared himself to continue. ¡°I have made a quick calction in my mind, and even the smallest budget will require three thousand RMB.¡±

    When he gave this number, Qu Changlin was worried that Chen Ge would reject him instantly, so he sneaked another nce at the man. After all, when he was working at Nightmare Academy, he had only asked for one hundred to upgrade the mannequin, and the boss had rejected him outright.

    ¡°I am going to give you a budget of thirteen thousand, but you can alwayse to me to ask for more,¡± Chen Ge said casually. ¡°I only have one request. I need you to do your best and revive this scenario.¡±

    ¡°Thirteen thousand?¡± Qu Changlin was stunned in disbelief.

    Actually, Chen Ge also wanted to see what the limit of a ¡®normal person¡¯ was and what the difference the scenario designed by a normal personpared to that unlocked by the ck phone was.

    Qu Changlin started to busy himself inside the scenario. He threw himself fully into work. He waspletely different from the Qu Changlin whom Chen Ge had met at Nightmare Academy.

    ¡°He has the talent and is probably the most professional worker in my haunted house other than Xu Yin. However, I cannot ce my trust in him fully yet. To be a full member of the haunted house, he has to pass a few more trials.¡± Chen Ge did not wander off that afternoon. He listened to Qu Changlin¡¯s design direction and project framework inside the scenario for Night of the Living Dead. He also filled the man in on things that were not listed in the rulebook, hoping that Qu Changlin would mix into his new working environment as soon as possible.

    At 6 pm, the haunted house closed for the day. After sending out thest batch of visitors, Chen Ge did not introduce Qu Changlin to his other existing workers but told him to leave work earlier.

    After he left, Chen Ge called for a simple meeting. He told his workers some stuff and then told them to go home.

    He was the only living person left inside the haunted house. He used the broom to clean the toilet. He took a spin around all the scenarios before sitting on the steps outside the haunted house entrance. The sky was darkening, and the theme park was quiet. Chen Ge took out the ck phone and fell into a silent thought while staring at the countdown for the mission for School of the Afterlife.

    ¡°There are only four and a half hours left.¡± Chen Ge was unwilling to give up just like that, but to force himself to attempt the mission, he might not even return alive. He teetered between the two choices until it was about 8 pm, when he received a call from Chang Gu.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I am currently at Jiujiang Psychological Illness Treatment Center. I need you to get over here now!¡±

 Chapter 760 - Night Falls [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 760: Night Falls [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chang Gu sounded incredibly urgent but did not give a reason for that. Before Chen Ge could ask for more information, the call had already ended.

    ¡°Why would Chang Gu be at a psychological illness recovery institute? Also, isn¡¯t he almostpletely blind? How did he get there in the first ce? Was he kidnapped?¡± Putting the phone away, Chen Ge grabbed the backpack that he had packed earlier and slowly stood up.

    ¡°For now, I think I should put the mission regarding the School of the Afterlife aside. I will make a decision on what to do after meeting up with Chang Gu in person.¡± He left the theme park and hailed a cab to get to Jiujiang Psychological Illness Treatment Center.

    There were three currently operating mental asylums in Jiujiang, and incidentally, Chen Ge had been to all three of them already. After entering the lobby, Chen Ge found a deserted corner and summoned Qiumei out from theic.

    ¡°Hey! What are you doing over there?¡± Before Chen Ge couldmunicate with Qiumei, he was spotted by one of the doctors. ¡°The visiting time is already over. If you wish to visit someone, pleasee earlier tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯m not here to visit a patient...¡± Chen Ge slowly turned around while his brain turned quickly trying toe up with an excuse. To Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, he managed to recognize the doctor. When he was there in Lee Zheng¡¯s name to investigate Jiang Xiaohu, he had encountered this doctor. Even though he had forgotten the doctor¡¯s name, Chen Ge could still remember the doctor¡¯s face.

    ¡°Did Inspector Lee tell you toe here again?¡± The doctor was also surprised to see that it was Chen Ge.

    After nodding, Chen Ge added in a soft whisper, ¡°I wish to ask about someone from you.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°His name is Chang Gu.¡±

    ¡°There are no patients here with that name.¡±

    ¡°Then, could he be one of the visitors that came today? He has weak eyesight, and one of his eyes is missing a pupil.¡±

    ¡°If such an easily recognizable person showed up today, the nurses on duty would have talked about it. Wait a minute, I¡¯ll go ask them for you.¡±

    In the breakroom, when the doctor listed Chang Gu¡¯s physical characteristics, it struck a bell with one member of staff immediately. ¡°I think they arrived around dusk. They were visiting a patient in a deepa.¡±

    ¡°They?¡±

    ¡°Yes, other than that blind man, there were two men and a woman with him. I have no idea what their rtionship is, but they acted strangely around each other. It felt like they did not know each other at all.¡± Since the doctor was there and Chen Ge looked like he was part of thew enforcement, the employee answered truthfully.

    ¡°Where are they now?¡±

    ¡°They left after visiting the patient, but now that you mention it, there was something weird.¡± The employee thought about it before exining further. ¡°The two men and woman returned about half an hour after they left. They asked me if I¡¯d seen the blind man. They seemed to have been separated, and I even helped them look around the grounds for him.¡±

    Chen Ge had a basic grasp of the situation. Chang Gu had been found by the ¡®parents¡¯ and dragged there for some reason. After visiting this mysterious patient, Chang Gu had made use of the chaos and slipped away.

    ¡°Brother, who is the patient that they visited today? Do you mind showing me this patient as well?¡±

    ¡°This...¡± The employee turned to the doctor with difficulty. After the doctor nodded at him, the employee stood up and said, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll take you there.¡±

    The group walked out of the building and headed toward the quarantine zone at the back of the institute. Chen Ge had visited this kind of quarantine zone before¡ªthey were normally used to treat and amodate highly dangerous and hostile patients.

    ¡°The patient that they visited is Chang Wenyu; she is in aa. She has been with us for many years now. She does not have much family left, but every month, someonees to deal with her hospital bills.¡± The employee had a deep impression of Chang Wenyu.

    ¡°Why would you ce aa patient in a quarantine zone? I don¡¯t think she¡¯ll be able to harm anyone else, will she?¡± Chen Ge asked out of curiosity.

    ¡°Even though she is in aa and shows no sign of resuscitation so far, those who went too close to this female patient had some strange things happening to them.¡± The employee still wanted to say some more, but the doctor next to him suddenly coughed, interrupting the employee.

    ¡°I have heard of this patient, Chang Wenyu, before. After her physician examined her body, they realized that her mental nerves and nervous system are working perfectly. She does not have the symptoms of aa patient. Instead, it is more fitting to say that she is in a deep sleep,¡± the doctor exined to Chen Ge.

    ¡°What do you mean by deep sleep?¡±

    ¡°To put it simply, you can understand it as the patient is in a dream that she cannot wake up from.¡± The doctor appeared to be reluctant to continue this topic with Chen Ge, so he walked faster. ¡°We¡¯re here. This is it.¡±

    Jiujiang Psychological Illness Treatment Center¡¯s quarantine zone was different from the Third Sick Hall¡¯s quarantine zone. It was more humane in appearance. There was no sign of wires and walls. There was merely a no entry sign that hung on the door to pose as a warning.

    After entering the quarantine zone, Chen Ge felt a conspicuous drop in the surrounding temperature. The temperature inside the building was much lower than outside, and it was much quieter. There were no other sounds; it was as if they were the only living people in the area. As he was led down the corridor, the curiosity in Chen Ge¡¯s heart grew.

    Normally, the more dangerous the patient, the deeper their room would be assigned. Chang Wenyu was merely aa patient, but her room was in the deepest part of the building!

    ¡°Can I enter the room to take a look?¡± The room door was not locked. Before the doctor even gave him the permission, Chen Ge pushed the door open and entered it.

    The room was surprisingly big. There were three beds in the room, but only the bed in the middle was upied. Walking to the bedside, a face that could only be described as uniquely beautiful entered Chen Ge¡¯s eyes.

    The patient¡¯s information hanging at the end of the bed showed that the woman was supposed to be almost thirty, but the woman lying in bed could easily pass as an eighteen-year-old girl. Time seemed to have left her untouched. Maturity and sweetness mixed into a deep, scented cocktail or a milk tea with ice.

    The only w was that the woman¡¯s left eye was missing, and only a hollow eye socket remained. It ruined the overall beauty of the face. However, in another way, it also made her stand out from the rest.

    ¡°So, she is Chang Wenyu.¡± The patient lying in bed waspletely different from the Chang Wenyu in Chen Ge¡¯s imagination. He definitely did not imagine a mature woman trapped inside a young woman¡¯s body.

    His gaze moved downward, and Chen Ge noticed that part of the cover was pulled aside. It just so happened to show the detaining straps that were underneath.

    ¡°What are these?¡± Before the doctor could stop him, Chen Ge pulled the cover back. Under the thin cover specially used by the patients, Chang Wenyu¡¯s hands and legs were all strapped to the bed.

    ¡°Why would you do this to aa patient? Don¡¯t tell me you expect her to wake up at any moment?¡± The confusion in Chen Ge¡¯s mind continued to grow. He stared right at the doctor, demanding an exnation.

    Knowing that he was not going to slip out of this one, the doctor sighed and finally admitted the truth. ¡°Actually, it is nothing serious. Some of the staff once saw her appear in the corridor when they were on night duty, and they thought that they had run into a ghost.¡±

    ¡°Your staff once saw her walking in the corridor on her own?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and it happened more than once. Yet, curiously enough, that never showed up once on the surveince footage. And it only happened after midnight. The strangest thing is that whenever we tried to ce surveince on her, she would not move. Only when people were not purposely paying attention to her would this happen.¡± The doctor pushed the employee that was next to him slightly forward. ¡°He saw her once before.¡±

    There was quite a number of male nurses at the hospital, and most of them worked the night shift.

    ¡°Yes, I saw her once. It was near the door of the bathroom. I was washing my hands when I noticed a second reflection in the mirror. She walked past just behind me.

    ¡°At the time, I was scared sh*tless. I screamed for help. After I calmed down and rushed out to chase after her, she was already missing. I ran back to this room, and I found her still sleeping soundly in bed.¡±

    The employee shivered involuntarily, remembering that night in his mind.

    ¡°Could it have been a different person? Are you sure the person you saw was her?¡± Chen Ge started to dissect the employee¡¯s memory from different perspective. ¡°Perhaps it was other mental patients disguising themselves as her, or maybe something else showed up that night.¡±

    ¡°Cough! Cough!¡± The doctor kept coughing. He felt like if he did not stop Chen Ge from speaking, their institute would not have any nurses willing to work the night shift in the future. ¡°From our perspective, the most possible reason to exin this situation is sleep-walking, but the unique point about this patient is that she is aa patient. No one knows what she sees when she is in a deep sleep, or rather, we cannot tell what she is experiencing at the moment, so we cannot apply traditional method to cure her. Our only solution is to detain her like this.¡±

    ¡°Then after you detained her, did any staff on night shift encounter her again?¡± Chen Ge had a feeling that things were not that simple. However, no matter how hard he pressed, the nurse and doctor maintained the same story. After they strapped Chang Wenyu into the bed, she stopped appearing after midnight.

    The staff should have corrected their internal version already, and they decided to push everything onto the symptom of sleepwalking. After all, Chang Wenyu was in deepa; she could not feel anything and could not resist. In the end, it was naturally the hospital that decided what to do with her.

    Knowing that he would not get anything more from the staff, Chen Ge prepared to leave. The most urgent mission for him was to find Chang Gu. Just as he was about to ce the cover back on the woman, he suddenly caught sight of a hand poking out from underneath the bed.

    Five fingers poked out from underneath the bed, and the hand appeared to be trying to catch Chen Ge¡¯s attention. There was dirt stuck under the fingernails, and there were scratches caused by tree branches on the back of the hands. When Chen Ge saw this hand, he was instantly reminded of Chang Gu.

    The most dangerous ce was most often the safest ce. The ¡®parents¡¯ who kidnapped Chang Gu would never imagine that he had not actually left the hospital.

    When a normal person saw a strange hand poking out from underneath a bed, even if they did not yelp in shock, there would at least be a slight shift in their expression, but Chen Ge maintained the same calmness throughout.

    He used his own leg to shield Chang Gu¡¯s hand from view. He took one step forward and used the heel of his shoe to kick Chang Gu¡¯s hand back under the bed. ¡°Gentlemen, I am here today to investigate a homicide, and the situation that you described is very simr to the condition at the crime scene.¡±

    When he heard the term ¡®homicide¡¯, the male nurse¡¯s face turned pale. He often worked the night shift, and that had probably imnted many scary memories and images in his mind.

    ¡°This doctor should know my rtionship with Jiujiang¡¯sw enforcement. I am not going to talk in circles. Tonight, I wish to stay guard outside this room for a whole night. There is something very important that I need to check.¡± If it was someone else who said something like that, they would be sent packing by the doctor, but Chen Ge was a different case. The doctor often heard about Chen Ge from Lee Zheng because he was good friends with thetter.

    ¡°It is too dangerous for you to stay in the quarantine zone alone.¡± The doctor shook his head.

    ¡°The doctor is right. Even us nurses on night shift rarelye here at night.¡± The nurse thought that Chen Ge was mad. What kind of person would go to a mental asylum to spend the night there? Something had to be wrong with him.

    ¡°How about this?¡± The doctor gave it some thought, and he turned to whisper to the male nurse next to him. ¡°Xiao Zhu, tonight, you will stay back to stay guard in the quarantine zone. Also, give Huang Wei a call. Get him toe report for work as well.¡±

    ¡°Ah? I need to stay back to apany him?¡± The male nurse could not believe his ears.

    ¡°Make sure you keep a close eye on him. If anything arises where you cannot make the decision, call me immediately. I will be in my office.¡± Doctors at mental asylums actually had a very hard job. Many people might think, would such a doctor have many patients? But once one took a stroll around an established mental asylum, one would realize that the rooms there were always full, and some patients with light cases had to sleep in the corridor. Normally, a single doctor had to deal with multiple cases, so working overtime was considered normal.

    After the doctor left, Chen Ge felt much more relieved.

    Perhaps because Doctor Gao had left too deep an impression on him, when he was dealing with these doctors, psychologists, or psychiatrists, he would be that bit ufortable.

    ¡°Do you mind waiting outside? I have some words to speak to this woman.¡±

    ¡°She is in deepa. No matter what you say, she is not going to hear you,¡± the male nurse, Xiao Zhu, reminded Chen Ge.

    ¡°I know.¡± Chen Ge entered the room and stood next to the bed. Studying the unconscious Chang Wenyu, he said softly, ¡°Hopefully, you will be able to fall asleep tonight. I will stay guard next to you. If that door appears again tonight, I will try my best to help you.¡±

    In Xiao Zhu¡¯s eyes, Chen Ge was definitely not a normal person. At the thought of spending a night with such a person, his scalp went numb.

    Chen Ge felt a tug on the edge of his pants. He knew that this was Chang Gu¡¯s response. He did not leave the room but went to lie on to the other bed.

    ¡°The left eye was brought out of that school, so it should be able to see the things inside the school.¡± The reason that Chen Ge was helping Chang Gu was very simple. He merely wished to take a look at the School of the Afterlife, to gauge how difficult it was. If the danger level was far beyond the level that he could handle, then he would not hesitate to abandon the mission.

    Chen Ge lowered his head to look at the time on his phone. It was 10 pm; there were still a full two hours until the expiry of the mission for the School of the Afterlife.

    His eyes staring at the bed where Wenyu was, Chen Ge trained his focus. Several minutes passed like that, and drowsiness swept at him like waves. He had spent more than thirty-six hours awake. Holding the phone, the sight before Chen Ge¡¯s eyes slowly blurred.

    ...

    It suddenly became very quiet inside the room. Xiao Zhu, who stood at the door, saw Chen Ge lying motionless in one of the beds, but he could not imagine what the man was doing.

    ¡°Such a strange fe.¡± He sat on the bench by the corridor. Leaning against the wall, sleep also caught up to him.

 Chapter 761 - Night School

    <h4>Chapter 761: Night School</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    A strange sound came from somewhere of the room. It sounded like a small bug crawling past one¡¯s ear.

    Chen Ge blinked. Drifting in and out of sleep, he saw a white glowing from the screen of the ck phone. He had received a new message. He did not click it open because he could only see the beginning of the message.

    ¡°Warning! An unexpected change has been triggered in the Left Oculus mission! Four-star scenario School of the Afterlife...¡±

    His brain was heavy like something heavy was pressing on him. Chen Ge wished to move his body to touch his phone, but when he lifted his head, he saw a ¡®door¡¯ standing between the two sick beds. Five fingers were dangling on the doorknob. As the fingers closed with force, the door that looked so normal started to open. A figure crawled out from underneath the bed; he merely did a forward leaning motion, and his whole body was pulled inside the ¡®door¡¯.

    ¡°Chang Gu?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s body could not move like some invisible force was pressing him into ce. He could hear unfamiliar voicesing from inside the door; someone was calling his name again and again. At the same time, he could hear different voices from his shadow calling his name. It sounded like they were trying to wake him.

    ¡°Am I dreaming?¡± Waking up in the middle of the night to realize that a door was situated next to the bed and that it was slowly moving closer, anyone would have panicked in that situation. Chen Ge wanted to scream for help, but he soon realized that he was powerless to do anything¡ªhe could not even bite his own tongue.

    Hey there and watched the door approach. Several hands reached out from inside the door to grab his head and neck. At thest minute, a scream elicited from Chen Ge¡¯s shadow, and his body regained some strength.

    Chen Ge, who was too weak to do anything, pressed his fingers over the ck phone. Then, he was dragged into the world behind the door that he could see clearly even with the Yin Yang Vision.

    The door slowly closed. Thest thing that Chen Ge saw was the backpack, which he had ced next to himself in bed, and Chang Wenyu, who was standing next to his bedside. She reached her hand into Chen Ge¡¯s backpack and pulled out the diary that Chen Ge had taken from Nightmare Academy¡¯s basement.

    The pale fingers turned to thest page, and the pair of hollow eyes stared at the empty pages nkly. There was no expression on her face; she was like a mannequin who had lost her soul. Thest shred of light disappeared as the door fully closed.

    ...

    ¡°Xiao Lin? Lin Sisi! Stop sleeping! The teacher ising!¡± Someone patted his shoulders. Chen Ge slowly opened his eyes. He was currently lying on top of a table. Without saying anything, the first thing that Chen Ge did was bite his tongue. The iron taste of blood circted in his mouth and the pain shocked his brain awake.

    <i>Am I really not dreaming?</i>

    Maintaining his current posture, Chen Ge moved his head slowly. He narrowed his eyes and looked around. He was inside a rather old-looking ssroom. It was slightly smaller than a normal ssroom. The paint on the tables and chairs was peeling, and various words were carving into the furniture.

    The fan above his head turned, and it creaked noisily like it could fall at any moment. The deep blue curtains were thick, and when they were pulled shut, one could not see the scenery beyond the window at all.

    More than ten students were seated in the room, but it was worth noting that the students came from various age groups. Some of them looked so young like they had just begun primary school, but some looked like they were already over thirty.

    ¡°Xiao Lin? Have you still not woken up?¡± The voice came from the seat next to Chen Ge. It was a normal-looking boy who spoke. His voice was thin like he was in a perpetually panicked state. After some time, Chen Ge finally turned to his deskmate. His dark pupils were darting inside his eyes, and his gaze was scary.

    ¡°What did you call me earlier?¡±

    ¡°Xiao Lin, what¡¯s wrong with you? Didn¡¯t you say, since Lin Sisi sounds too much like a girl¡¯s name, I should call you Xiao Lin?¡±

    <i>Xiao Lin... </i>Chen Ge had recently encountered this name somewhere else¡ªinside the toilet at Nightmare Academy, the poor ss prankster who was ganged up on by the rest of his friends was also called Xiao Lin.

    Every scenario at Nightmare Academy was a replication of a scenario in the diary. Chen Ge had not gotten a chance to go through the diary taken from the basement thoroughly. Perhaps the name Xiao Lin was already present, and Qu Changlin merely made use of it.

    <i>Could it be the same person? </i>Many possibilities appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. <i>Shang Guan Qing Hong bought the diary from a mother. Her son is the real owner of the diary. Now that I think about, the fact that her son woke up from a deepa and died mysteriously after mentioning the diary is rather simr to Chang Wenyu¡¯s situation. They were both probably students at the School of the Afterlife, but while Chang Wenyu brought out a left eye, he brought out a diary.</i>

    The School of the Afterlife was definitely not a good ce. After the male student brought out the diary, he had soon died. Chang Wenyu¡¯s story was even sadder; her body had been taken over by the left eye, and her soul had gone missing.

    <i>The deskmate is calling me Xiao Lin. Have I taken over the role of the diary¡¯s main character?</i>

    There were too few clues to go around. Chen Ge could only run over the various possibilities in his mind to provide himself with some direction. Leaning on the table, Chen Ge did not act strangely and did not ask further questions to arouse suspicion.

    Now, everything around him was an unknown. It was best not to attract unnecessary attention.

    <i>This... does not appear to be a dream.</i>

    Chen Ge clearly remembered staying overnight inside Chang Wenyu¡¯s room. He wanted to help Chang Gu explore the door that only the left eye could see, but some kind of ident had probably happened. The door that the left eye could see did appear, but after the man under the bed pushed the door open, everything went out of control.

    He could not fully regain his consciousness, and his ears had picked up two voices simultaneously. One hade from inside the door and the other from his shadow. One had wanted to pull him into the door, and the other had wanted to wake him.

    <i>Now I understand why the ck phone gave a warning about the Left Oculus¡¯ mission. There are way too many unforeseeable changes.</i>

    As the thought of the ck phone crossed his mind, Chen Ge quickly looked through his pockets, but to his surprise, the ck phone that he had been holding in his palm had disappeared!

    He only found an old flip phone in his pocket, and this phone had a password lock. Before he knew the password, the phone was useless. A bucket of cold water was sshed over him. Chen Gey down on the table. Throughout the whole process, he did not show any anomalies, but his heart was already raging with emotions.

    <i>The things inside my backpack and the diary are all outside the door, and the ck phone is now missing. What should I do next?</i>

    There were too many uncertainties. Chen Ge could not even tell whether he was inside Chang Wenyu¡¯s dream or the four-star scenario, School of the Afterlife.

 Chapter 762 - Xiao Lin

    <h4>Chapter 762: Xiao Lin</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Was it Chang Gu who pushed open the door from under the bed? Why didn¡¯t the door bleed like the rest?</i>

    There were too many questions in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. He had not attempted a four-star Trial Mission before and thus had not seen a door to a four-star scenario before. He had too little information, and all he could do was keep a low profile and try not to garner other people¡¯s attention.

    <i>All my workers are inside the backpack¡ªXu Yin, Yan Danian, and all the preparation I¡¯ve done.</i>

    Without any back-up, it would be impossible to say that Chen Ge was not worried, but he had been through too much to be defeated just like that.

    <i>Currently, things haven¡¯t reached the worst state. At least I know what this identity I¡¯ve assumed is¡ªLin Sisi.</i>

    Chen Ge parsed through the information in his mind and then settled on a bone-chilling reality.

    In the diary, Xiao Lin died from his ssmates¡¯ prank. Since he liked to prank others so much, in the end, the other students all worked together to y a ¡®prank¡¯ on him.

    <i>Now my deskmate calls me Xiao Lin, but could the name itself be a code? Like all the targets that everyone gangs up on are called Xiao Lin?</i>

    That was a scary thought, but it did not show on Chen Ge¡¯s face. Without being exposed, the rest would not directly threaten his safety. The slow process of being led to the inevitable might be the safest moment for Xiao Lin.

    <i>Once a prey is cornered, to defend oneself against the predator, one has to be more vicious than the predator.</i>

    Even though Chen Ge had no back-up, he still tried his best to appear in control.

    <i>Calm down. The ck phone would not give a mission that you¡¯ll only fail. Even though I¡¯m inside a four-star scenario, there must still be hope.</i>

    Chen Ge turned around subconsciously to look at his shadow; hisst hope was hiding in there. Under the reflection of the pale light, there was no change to Chen Ge¡¯s shadow.

    <i>My shadow and appearance haven¡¯t changed¡ªeven my outfit remains the same¡ªbut the deskmate referred to me as Xiao Lin. That is a strange thing. How did he recognize me?</i>

    Memorizing this question in his heart, Chen Ge slowly arranged his thoughts.

    <i>The most urgent task now is to identify this ce and see what dangers are lurking and try my best to fit into the surroundings.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s idea was maddeningly brave. Any other person would have tried to escape first, but he was different. He wished to mix into the world and find himself a way out through it.

    <i>Asking random questions might cause suspicion, and I cannot confirm that they will not lie to me. So, to understand everything, I need to do my own investigation.</i>

    Chen Ge ceremoniously ced the old flip phone back into his pocket.

    <i>Some important information is probably hidden inside this phone, but finding out the password is rather difficult at the moment. I should take a look through Lin Sisi¡¯s daily objects and various books. I might stumble across some clues.</i>

    To get to know this scenario, one had to know oneself first. Rationality and calmness were Chen Ge¡¯s only weapons. He leaned on the table for a while. Then he straightened himself and stretchedzily as if tired from maintaining the same posture for too long.

    He sat on thest row, nearest to the window. This was a Feng Shui location because, be it teachers or other ssmates, no one paid him any attention during ss. Chen Ge nudged his hand toward the curtain. He used his pinkie finger to lift up a corner and turned his head slightly to look out the window.

    His pupils narrowed. Beyond the window was an abandoned school shrouded in darkness. Chen Ge called it an abandoned school because there was no light inside the school.

    <i>This ce is so big! It is even bigger than Mu Yang High School, Western Jiujiang Private Academy, and Jiujiang Medical Universitybined!</i>

    Even with Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could not see to the edge of the schoolpound.

    <i>I am most likely at the School of the Afterlife, but why aren¡¯t there any blood vessels? Shouldn¡¯t the world behind the door be a despairing world covered in red?</i>

    The incident at Li Wan City had left a deep impression on Chen Ge. However, even though the door was almost out of control and practically consumed half of the small town, the scenario was merely a 3.5-star scenario. What kind of secret was hidden at the School of the Afterlife for the ck phone to have judged it a four-star scenario?

    Staring at the schoolpound in the dark, Chen Ge¡¯s palms started to get wet with cold sweat. He had no idea why, but he felt like, when he was looking into the darkness, the school in the dark was looking back at him.

    <i>I need to get to the bottom of this!</i>

    Chen Ge took out the notes and books from the drawer and tried to find some clues from them. There was a ck bag inside the drawer, and it was stuffed with many books rted to market research and marketing.

    ¡°How to manage a sales teams¡±, ¡°Confidence, the source of your sess¡±, ¡°Creativity and the market¡±... Those titles had been popr a few years back, and most of the content had been made obsolete by time.

    <i>Why would the school teach such things?</i>

    Chen Ge took out the notes and flipped through them. Slowly, the picture started to manifest in his mind. This school¡¯s full name was Jiujiang University, and it was split into two campuses, eastern and western.

    The western campus recruited normal students; it was a normal university. The eastern campus, where Chen Ge was, was a night school; it was opened specifically for adults who wished to further their studies.

    The programs were mainly on subjects and courses that might help the students find a better job opportunity, like marketing, transportation, real estate, management, and so on.

    Xiao Lin studied marketing, and from his notes, one would realize that he was really a hardworking student.

    Chen Ge found a study schedule at the back of one of the notebooks. This schedule provided Chen Ge with some useful information.

    <i>Wake up at 7 am, breakfast, work at the factory from 8 am to 5:30 pm. The break can be used for revision and studying. School from 6 pm to 9 pm, co-curricr activity from 9:30 pm to 10:10 pm, deal with minor tasks from 10:30 pm to 11 pm, go back to the bedroom at 11 pm.</i>

    If the schedule had ended there, it would not have surprised Chen Ge, but the main problem was that the schedule was only beginning¡ªthere were still other tasks after that.

    <i>Prepare the tools from 11 pm to 11:20 pm; inspect locations like the elevators, corridors, toilets, libraries from 11:20 pm to 12 am; finish homework from 12 am to 2 am, go to bed at 2 am.</i>

    The first part of the schedule was normal, but thetter part was very strange.

    <i>Why would he go to these locations in the middle of the night? Did it have to be after midnight? Doing homework at twelve to 2 am is also very strange.</i>

    Chen Ge knew that in other people¡¯s eyes, he was currently Xiao Lin. So, in other words, to mix into this ss, he had to y the role of Xiao Lin well.

    <i>This is going to be difficult; the man does not appear to be normal.</i>

 Chapter 763 - Not One Too Many, Not One Too Less

    <h4>Chapter 763: Not One Too Many, Not One Too Less</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Other than the books and schedule, Chen Ge found a ring of keys and sharpened scissors inside the bag.

    <i>The teeth of the keys arepletely different. They should correspond to different doors.</i>

    Chen Ge had no idea why Xiao Lin was in possession of those keys, but he had a feeling that they should be rted to Xiao Lin¡¯s ¡®homework¡¯.

    <i>The bedroom was mentioned in the schedule, so I should fine more clues there. I need to head over there to look. I have a feeling as time moves on, more bad things will happen.</i>

    Without his employees and with the ck phone missing, Chen Ge¡¯s every nerve was shaking. He needed to try his best to survive. He pulled the curtain back. No matter what he was thinking, on the surface, Chen Ge always appeared calm and collected.

    After he stretched, hey back down on the table and studied the rest of his ssmates out of the corner of his eyes. With his trained focus, he memorized the faces of all those students in his mind.

    <i>This is the first time I¡¯ve seen these people. There is no sense of familiarity from them¡ªthey look just like a normal person.</i>

    But how could someone that existed behind the door be a normal person? Chen Ge memorized their faces to prevent himself being backstabbed in the future.

    <i>The person from under the bed came in before me. If he was Chang Gu, why isn¡¯t he here? Has he moved to another ssroom? Or was he not the door-pusher at all?</i>

    Initially, Chen Ge had really thought that it was Chang Gu who pushed the door open in Chang Wenyu¡¯s room because that door could only be seen by the left eye, and the left eye was in Chang Gu. However, Chang Gu had been missing for some time, taken by the ¡®parents¡¯, so an ident might have happened then.

    <i>I should be more careful. There are no real friends in the world behind the door; there is no trust.</i>

    Chen Ge wasing up with the next step of his n. He knew that he could not afford even a chance of making a mistake. Once he made the wrong choice, death itself might be a luxury.

    Footsteps came from the front door. Then, the door was pushed open, and a man with hair parted down the middle walked up to the podium. He was wearing a ck suit and holding a white file under his armpit. He looked like he had juste from a funeral.

    The man¡¯s face was strangely pale. With a nervous look, he ced the file on the table. The first thing he did was to count the number of students under his breath. When he was almost done, his expression rxed greatly. He nced at the number on the file. ¡°Not one too many, not one too less.¡±

    His gaze scanned the room, and a smile appeared on his face. ¡°Alright, ss is over. Try not to run around at night. Recently, things have been a bit chaotic around the school.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Bai, has the thief still not been caught? Do you need our help?¡± a muscr boy who sat at the front row said. He was wearing a basketball jersey, most likely the jock type.

    ¡°That has nothing to do with any of you. Just don¡¯t wander off after ss.¡± Mr. Bai left in a hurry, and he identally left the white file inside the room.

    ¡°Xiao Lin, let¡¯s go. We¡¯ll return to the bedroom.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s deskmate packed up, put his bag on, and prepared to leave. It looked like he was a good friend of Xiao Lin¡¯s.

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Chen Ge packed his bag slowly, and he kept his eyes on the white file on the podium. Using his Yin Yang Vision, he saw that the cover of the file was a form, and it had the student numbers of various sses. Each teacher was responsible for a ss, and the overall number inside one ssroom seemed to include the teacher as well.

    ¡°ss D, seventeen people?¡± The code of the ssroom was written on the door. Chen Ge was in ss D, and from his earlier calction, there were indeed seventeen people in this ss. ¡°Right, there is not one too many or one too less, but that hasn¡¯t included the teacher.¡±

    Chen Ge had no idea what had happened at this school and could not guess what Mr. Bai was worried about, but he knew that the ssroom that he was in was very dangerous.

    <i>I can¡¯t stay with them. I need to leave first.</i>

    After realizing that there was one extra person in the ssroom, Chen Ge did not stay. He took his bag and left. The lights in the corridor were sound-controlled, so whenever someone stepped into it, they would light up.

    <i>This ce doesn¡¯t look that different from a normal school, but why is it that I¡¯m so anxious?</i>

    Without a map or Xiao Lin¡¯s memory, Chen Ge had no idea where the bedroom was. He purposely slowed down. When his deskmate caught up to him, he followed next to him and headed down the corridor.

    ¡°Xiao Lin, I¡¯m a bit hungry. How about we take a detour to the canteen first?¡± Xiao Lin¡¯s deskmate scratched his head, looking rather cute. Earlier in the ssroom, Chen Ge had seen his name on his textbook. This shy young man¡¯s name was Wang Xiaoming. He came from a simr family background to Xiao Lin¡ªthey were not particrly wealthy.

    ¡°I left something at the bedroom. Let¡¯s go back first.¡± Before getting to know Xiao Lin¡¯s identity, Chen Ge was not going to wander around the school. Every second was crucial to him, so he needed to find some ways to defend himself before the scenario showed its ¡®ws¡¯.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Wang Xiaoming and Chen Ge walked down the corridor, and there were many pictures of doctors on the walls. Normally, only those who had contributed a lot to the school or the school¡¯s famous alums would have their pictures hanging on the wall, but all the pictures there were not-so-famous doctors. Chen Ge could not identify even one of them.

    <i>Why are there so many pictures of doctors here?</i>

    Chen Ge did not voice his question. He felt weirdly pressured when walking down the corridor, like he was being watched by many eyes. The two soon left the education block; the student dormitory was not far from the education block.

    Looking around, Chen Ge realized that there were a few more tall buildings on the western side of the school. Human shadows could be seen moving about; it was much busier there.

    Without stopping, Chen Ge and Wang Xiaoming entered the student dormitory.

    There were several ads with red lines on them pasted on the bulletin board near the entrance. Before Chen Ge had a chance to examine them, Wang Xiaoming rushed past the entrance. He did not seem to be willing to stay at the entrance for long.

    They ran all the way up to the fourth floor. Wang Xiaoming moved very quickly. Chen Ge had to run fast to not get abandoned.

    ¡°Every time Ie here, I feel strangely worried.¡± Wang Xiaoming sighed in relief when they reached their bedroom door. He smiled at Chen Ge as he took out the keys to open the door. Chen Ge was about to follow him when Wang Xiaoming suddenly blocked his way. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Getting something. Didn¡¯t I tell you?¡±

    ¡°But you live over there. Did you leave something here at my ce? Have you been into my bedroom?¡± Wang Xiaoming looked at Chen Ge with suspicion while stealthily kicking a ck trash bag near the door deeper into the room with his left leg.

 Chapter 764 - Knocking [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 764: Knocking [2 in 1]</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    ¡°You are overthinking things.¡± Chen Ge saw the ck trash bag out of the corner of his eyes, but he did not ce much attention on it at all. Regardless of whether it was a dead body part or everyday trash inside the trash bag, what did that have to do with him?

    Chen Ge had not lost his mind. The first thing that he needed to figure out was his own identity; he needed to find out what kind of person this Lin Sisi was. From his perspective, there had supposedly not been any changes to his physique and appearance, but he had no idea why Wang Xiaoming and the people around him had been treating him as Lin Sisi.

    <i>Perhaps this Lin Sisi is not even a person¡¯s name but a code name, a type of identity.</i>

    ¡°If you wish to go to the canteenter, you cane and get me. I¡¯ll go with you. But now I shall go and rest.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s expression did not change much. It was as if he did not see the trash bag at all.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Wang Xiaoming was about to slither inside the darkened bedroom when he was suddenly reminded of something, and he turned around to yell at Chen Ge, ¡°Xiao Lin, you slept in ss again today. Did you hear the few crucial things that Mr. Bai specifically told us about?¡±

    ¡°What things?¡±

    ¡°Do not leave your bedroom at night, and we should stay quietly inside our room. Other than that, the time for lights out has been moved earlier from the previous 11 pm to 10:30 pm. There will be people patrolling the corridors after the lights go off, so it is wise for us to pay more attention to these details.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡± Chen Ge had thought that Wang Xiaoming wanted to tell him something very important. He had been inside the door for quite some time already, but the things, incidents, and people that he had encountered could not have been normal, or at least they could not have been more normal on the surface. This school appeared no different from a normal night school, and there was nothing worth investigating about it.

    Wang Xiaoming bit on his lips. He seemed to have more to say, but due to uncertainties, he eventually revealed nothing. The door closed, and Chen Ge was left alone in the dormitory corridor. The surroundings were extremely quiet¡ªthere was no sound at all.

    ¡°It still hasn¡¯t reached the time for lights out, so why is the corridor so quiet? Could it be that all the bedrooms here are actually unupied?¡± Chen Ge took out the keys from his bag and then turned to look at the door of the bedroom opposite from Wang Xiaoming¡¯s. There was a number on the door, 413.

    ¡°Is this Lin Sisi¡¯s room?¡± Staring at that number, Chen Ge suddenly felt it looked so familiar. ¡°The four probably represents the fourth floor, but what about the number 13? The 13th room?¡±

    Chen Ge had once seen this number thirteen inside the diary in the basement of Nightmare Academy, and he remembered it very clearly. On thest page of the diary, the following phrases was written¡ªI, Die, One Three, School of the Afterlife, Run.

    ¡°Does the thirteen mentioned in the diary refer to this bedroom? I sincerely doubt it is that simple.¡± Inside the eerily quiet corridor, the only sound was the keys turning the lock. Chen Ge tried multiple keys before he found the correct one. After he got the door open and strode into the bedroom, Chen Ge¡¯s brows creased heavily when he saw what was inside the bedroom.

    The bedroom was not big by any means, but there were six beds in total. They were all bunk beds. The beds were ced on the top bunk, and underneath were a table, shelves, and storage for various objects.

    If that was everything, Chen Ge would not have thought anything was a problem, but what attracted Chen Ge¡¯s attention were the walls of the bedroom. There were many human shadows on the bedroom¡¯s ceiling and walls. They had the same height as a normal person, and it was hard to tell whether they had been pasted there or drawn there.

    ¡°One, two, three...¡± Chen Ge made a rough count, and there were five shadows inside the bedroom. These things were so eye-catching that it was hard to pretend that they did not exist. For his own safety, Chen Ge first climbed up the bunk bed¡¯sdders to study the human shadows at a closer distance.

    His fingers touched the shadow closest to him. Chen Ge used his fingers to lightly peel at the wall. ¡°This is painted by some kind of paint, but who would do this kind of thing inside their bedroom?¡±

    Those shadows that had the same size of a normal person were so scary in broad daylight, but once the lights were off, how scary would it be to open one¡¯s eyes and realize that there were human shadows everywhere?

    After scanning all the shadows with his eyes, Chen Ge jumped down from bed. After losing the aid from his employees, Chen Ge had be more careful than ever before. ¡°There are six beds in total, but there is only one water bottle in the room, and there is only one pair of slippers on the ground. Xiao Lin is probably the only person who lives in this bedroom.¡±

    Chen Ge looked through the tables and shelves of the other bunk beds. Even though they were filled with junk, they were not everyday items. Instead, they were strange objects like a painting palette, paint cans, the broken arm of a statue, a ruined electrical wire, and so on. This bedroom was like a storage where Xiao Lin was the only living upant, and the rest was not upied.

    ¡°There are few students who stay at the night school¡¯s dormitory. Xiao Lin does note from a rich family, and it is impossible to think that he would spend more money to live at school, so the only exnation is that staying here cost less than renting a house outside the campus.¡±

    Normally, the price of a dormitory apartment would be far higher than the rental of nearby houses. However, since Xiao Lin could afford to stay there, there was only one exnation¡ªthere had to be something wrong with the room.

    Chen Ge had no idea what had happened in Xiao Lin¡¯s bedroom in the past, but there was a strange sense of urgency inside his heart. Chen Ge walked to the bed number four, which was furthest from the door. This bed had a new mattress and cover. Even though the other beds also had mattresses and covers, most of them were covered in dust, and they had long outlived their usefulness.

    ¡°Since no one is staying here, why would they prepare the mattress and covers? Would anyone even someone sleep in such a dirty bed?¡± Chen Ge climbed up thedder and sat down on the fourth bed. He looked around the bedroom from this perspective, and it feltpletely different; it no longer felt so cramped.

    ¡°I must be right. This is Xiao Lin¡¯s bed.¡± There were words of encouragement and a schedule pasted next to the pillow. If this was not inside a strange school, Chen Ge would have had no doubt that Xiao Lin was a hardworking ace student.

    ¡°The cover has been recently cleaned; there is still a lingering smell of the detergent. The nket is carefully folded. When I was at school, I rarely saw such organization in a male dorm. Xiao Lin should be an extremely self-disciplined student who cannot stand messiness.¡± Chen Ge started to draft up an image of Xiao Lin in his mind.

    Other than the nket and pillow, a book and a pencil were in the bed. Chen Ge thought that this was because Xiao Lin was reading in bed, but once he read through a few pages, he realized that things were not that simple.

    Most of the books rted to the subject and schools were clean and untouched; there were no mark on them at all. It was like they were brand new. But Xiao Lin¡¯s own notebooks were dog-eared and folded at many pages, which was a sign that they were heavily used. Chen Ge took out the three notebooks that were hidden among the textbooks. They were filled with paper scraps. Some were directly cut out from newspapers, some came from the notices pasted on the bulletin board downstairs, and there were also small notes with different handwriting.

    ¡°These are...¡± Chen Ge just had a casual nce through them, but he was quickly drawn into them.

    ¡°The man entered the student dormitory when it was a holiday, but he did not expect that there would still be students who had not left. He hid inside the closet and was discovered by a student when he tried to escape in the middle of the night.

    ¡°The student¡¯s body was found inside the closet at dawn the next morning. The murderer has still not been found. All the students and staff must be on full alert.¡±

    The newspaper cuttings were all about some mysterious cases. There was no detailed address to any of them, and the names had all been removed. The articles merely spoke of killing cases that people should be conscious about.

    ¡°The people¡¯s names look like they have been purposely removed. Where did Xiao Lin find these newspaper articles? The paper itself is yellowing, so they should be from some time back.¡± The notebook recorded more than one case, and the crime scenes were all over the ce. They included the library, a bedroom,boratories, and inside the elevator booth.

    ¡°Could these cases have all been real?¡± Chen Ge looked through the notebook. The further he read, the more nervous he became. ¡°This notebook is extremely important.¡±

    As he read through the notebooks, Chen Ge¡¯s curiosity in Xiao Lin only continued to grow. Who was this person? Why would he keep tabs on those strange, curious cases?

    Chen Ge ced all of Xiao Lin¡¯s notebooks that he had found on the bed. The one that he had been carrying inside the bed and the three found on the bed, so now Chen Ge had four notebooks in total. ¡°The notebook inside the bed should be used for some kind of distraction. It does not contain any real important information. These three notebooks found here should be Xiao Lin¡¯s biggest secret.¡±

    Chen Ge read through them carefully and tried to memorize everything that he saw. Chen Ge paid his full focus and did not allow himself to be disturbed, but at that moment, knocking came from the door.

    The silence was broken, and out of habit, Chen Ge quickly held his breath.

    The door knocking continued a few times before it stoppedpletely.

    ¡°Is it Wang Xiaoming outside the door? Does he wish to ask me to go with him to the canteen for dinner?¡± Chen Ge did not want to presume too much about this Wang Xiaoming, but he did not wish to have much more interaction with him either. After about one whole minute, that annoying knocking sound returned again. It was as sudden as the one before it.

    However, this time, the knocking appeared to be more forceful. Chen Ge did not make a sound; he did not move to open the door either. The knocking continued for several seconds, and then... the sound of a key being pushed into the lock, the spring of the lock moving, and the door unlocking came!

    CREAK...

    The door was pushed open. The pale-faced teacher, Mr. Bai, appeared at the door, holding the key and a shlight.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t youe answer the door?¡± Mr. Bai red at Chen Ge. His forehead was breaking in cold sweat, and his Adam¡¯s Apple was shuddering. He appeared to be deeply fearful.

    ¡°I fell asleep.¡± As Chen Ge pulled himself straighter, he very naturally yanked the nket to cover himself and to shield the three notebooks from view.

    Mr. Bai did not enter the room¡ªhe merely stood at the door and looked around the room. ¡°Do not wander off at night. Stay inside your room after the lights are switched off. Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Chen Ge nodded.

    Mr. Bai closed the door and left straight after.

    ¡°What a strange man. He was being so urgent when he was trying to open the door. It was as if he was trying to see whether I am still alive or not.¡± With the nket over him, Chen Ge was about to continue reading the notebooks when the lights in the bedroom were switched off.

    ¡°It¡¯s already time for lights out? It is already 10:30 pm?¡± Lying in the darkness, Chen Ge suddenly came to a realization. ¡°Ever since I entered the world behind the door, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve encountered any object that can tell time. There hasn¡¯t been a clock, watch, or phone in sight.

    ¡°Time should be a very important clue¡ªit might prove useful to my investigation.¡± Ever since the lights went off, Chen Ge had been dividing his focus into two. One part was to count his heartbeat silently, and the other was to use his Yin Yang Vision to read the notebooks in the dark.

    ¡°After I¡¯ve studied everything in the notebooks, I should go look for other clues. If nothing is found, I should go to another location.¡± Mr. Bai had the bedroom key, and he could enter the bedroom freely, which gave Chen Ge a very weak sense of security.

    The curtain inside the bedroom was very thick, and only a very thin sheath of light was able to pass into the room through the gap.

    There were five human shadows in the room, and as time passed, the atmosphere inside the room became more pressured.

    Bang, bang, bang....

    In the dark, Chen Ge suddenly heard someone knock on the bedroom door, but it was very soft.

    <i>Why do I have so many visitors?</i>

    This new knocking waspletely different from Mr. Bai¡¯s, so it should be a different person beyond the door.

    <i>Could it be Wang Xiaoming? No, he looks so easily scared, and he is too afraid to stay in the dormitory corridor alone. This shouldn¡¯t be him.</i>

    Chen Ge stayed in bed with the nket over him. He was reminded of what Mr. Bai and Wang Xiaoming had said that night, ¡®Do not leave your bedroom after dark.¡¯

    Chen Ge was still hesitating over whether he should go take a look when the knocking stopped. The person only knocked three or four times.

    <i>The knocking stopped, but I don¡¯t hear any footsteps, so the person is probably still outside the door.</i>

    Chen Ge was quite experienced when it came to sleuthing and deduction. He did not make any sound¡ªhe did not even move his body¡ªhe wanted to create the impression that the bedroom waspletely empty.

    After ten minutes, there was still an enveloping silence outside in the corridor.

    <i>Has the person left?</i>

    Chen Ge sighed slightly in relief. He moved his hand inside Xiao Lin¡¯s bag and found the sharpened scissors.

    <i>Whether it is useful or not, having this at least provides some security.</i>

    Chen Ge was not a passive person, no matter how deep his despair, he was not going to give up so easily.

    However, before he even pulled the scissors out of the bag, the knocking began again. It was not very hard, and it had a constant rhythm to it like it was made by a machine.

    <i>Has the monster outside the door caught onto my presence?</i>

    Chen Ge tightened his grip around the scissors as he kept his eyes glued to the door. This time, the knocking did not stop but instead became more erratic.

    <i>The thing outside sounds like he¡¯s being chased by something. Don¡¯t tell me... he¡¯sing in here to hide?</i>

    Chen Ge himself was in deep water, so obviously, he was not going to go open the door. The frequency of the knocking became more intense, but the force was weakening. It felt like the thing¡¯s life force was draining.

    <i>Could this be a prank? It¡¯s merely trying to lure me to open the door?</i>

    As the knocking changed from urgent knocking to a weak, dwindling knocking, his eyes narrowed.

    <i>The knocking appeared out of thin air. There was no other sound in the corridor. Something is not right. Perhaps I¡¯ve missed an alternative possibility.</i>

    Chen Ge flipped through the notebook next to him. One of the pages recorded the case of a murderer hiding inside the dormitory¡¯s bedroom closet. When the murderer attempted to escape around midnight, he was spotted by the student, and then the student¡¯s body was eventually found inside the closet.

    <i>Regardless of whether it was the murderer or the student, they were both inside the bedroom that night. So, if that incident happened inside this room, the knocking that I¡¯m hearing right now isn¡¯ting from outside but a cry for helping from inside the room! The ghost is probably inside the room with me!</i>

    A chill ran up Chen Ge¡¯s spine, and the position of the human shadows on the walls appeared to have shifted slightly. To make matters worse, Chen Ge suddenly felt something moving under the cover!

 Chapter 765 - Chen Geâ€™s School Life

    <h4>Chapter 765: Chen Ge¡¯s School Life</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The weak light outside filtered through the curtain tond on the walls. The ck human shadows seemed to havee alive. If one moved one¡¯s eyes from them, they would disappear from their spot and run to another spot. Chen Ge maintained his posture and ensured that he did not move. His whole body was tensed as his fist tightened over the scissors.

    <i>Something moved earlier under the cover.</i>

    This bedroom was less safe than he thought. Chen Ge¡¯s heart was gripped by anxiety. He did not pull the cover back to take a look. After all, if there was really a ghost under the cover, pulling the cover back or not would not change that reality. The ghost would not leave because it had been seen; if anything, that might only pressure it to turn aggressive.

    The knocking sound weakened. Something that felt like a bug crawled past his feet, and that unsteady feeling grew. Goosebumps rose all over Chen Ge¡¯s body. He could feel something moving up his leg. Cold sweat slid down his face, and the atmosphere inside the bedroom became more intense. About ten secondster, the knocking on the door suddenly disappeared!

    Chen Ge turned his head back to look. The door was still closed, but the five shadows on the walls had all disappeared. His eyes moved to other ces inside the room, and Chen Ge noticed that the other five beds were bulging like there was someone lying under the cover of each bed!

    <i>They¡¯ve returned?</i>

    The strange feeling moved from his feet to his upper calf. Chen Ge was certain that something had indeed crawled under his cover!

    Even though the image of a decapitated head appeared in his mind, Chen Ge managed to maintain a superhuman calmness. This was because being afraid was not going to solve the problem. If the knocking sound really came from inside the door, then their goal was to make him leave the room.

    His legs were growing numb. Chen Ge knew that if he hesitated much longer, he would slowly lose control of his body, and he would even lose the right to resist. He stopped hesitating and did a mad action. He bent his body slightly, arcing both of his legs, and he pushed his hands against the mattress and stood up!

    He did not stop to take a look at the stuff under the cover. He grabbed the scissors and his bag as he jumped off the bed. He rushed to the bedroom door and opened it. The whole series of action was smooth and fast like it had urred many times in his mind already. After getting the door open, Chen Ge did not stay inside the room and ran directly out into the corridor.

    Jumping out of bed, opening the door, running down the corridor, Chen Ge made a bigmotion, and the sound travelled quite a distance.

    ¡°I¡¯ve opened the door, but will the thing follow me?¡± It was not Chen Ge¡¯s aim to find trouble with these things. He merely wished to know more about Lin Sisi¡¯s identity and where he was. Holding the scissors with his left hand and the bag with his right, Chen Ge stood in the corridor for several minutes. Everywhere was quiet; there was nothing strange inside the door.

    ¡°It didn¡¯t chase after me?¡± Chen Ge sighed in relief and rubbed his hands together. ¡°Assuming the articles in the notebook happened inside room 413, then the knocking was done by the student who died horribly inside the bedroom. It wanted to get out, and I helped him by opening the door, so he did note after me. That means that he can still be reasoned with. He is in my debt, and he has maintained a certain semnce of rationality, which should be enough to form the basis ofmunication. I am sure that we can get to know each other further.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s mind was sharp. He started to move and slowly returned to room 413, where he had just escaped from.

    ¡°Yes, there is validity behind my thoughts. I¡¯ve just arrived at a new ce, and I need some guidance. It will be for the best if I can form a good rtionship with them.¡± There were good and bad people, and the same could be said for ghosts. However, ultimately, Chen Ge was making a bet.

    Chen Ge used one minute to finish walking a distance of several meters. To prove his sincerity, he even put the scissors away. ¡°No matter how sharp these things are, they¡¯re useless against spirits and ghosts. Might as well put them away to show my willingness to cooperate.¡±

    Three meters, two meters...

    Chen Ge kept his body stuck to the wall opposite from room 413, and he was in a highly-strung state. He was afraid that once he got close enough, a head or several shadows might rush out from inside the bedroom to pull him back into it. Taking a deep breath, Chen Ge finally reached the door of Room 413. He was about to peer into the room when the door behind him suddenly opened!

    The door creaked open, and Chen Ge almost swung his bag in defense.

    ¡°Xiao Lin, why are you still wandering about after dark? If Mr. Bai sees you, he will definitely punish you!¡± Wang Xiaoming lowered his voice to an urgent whisper. It looked like he was worried about Chen Ge.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to be out here either!¡± Chen Ge nced into Room 413. The situation inside had returned to normal. The trash littered the ground and the covers of the beds were now t, but one of the human shadows on the walls was missing. His eyes widening, Chen Ge counted again, and he confirmed that the shadow closest to the door had already disappeared!

    <i>Only four are left? Has it run out of the bedroom?</i>

    The corridor was dim, and the schoolpound was also dark. Even with his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge would have a hard time locating the missing shadow.

    <i>It seems like it was desperate to escape. I have the same wish. This brother shares the same goal with me, so perhaps we can work together, one working in the shadows, the other in the open.</i>

    A n was forming in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, but this n was too hard to put into action. He needed to be extremely careful; one wrong step, and he might die.

    ¡°If only this was a recurring nightmare where I would revive after every death, I would have a wealth of choices to tackle this mission. Unfortunately, I¡¯m afraid I only have one chance¡ªdying here will end everything.¡±

    ¡°What are you grumbling about?¡± Wang Xiaoming sensed a strangeness from Xiao Lin. It felt scary like he was not the person that he usually was. ¡°Just now it was you who was running down the corridor, right? People are preparing to rest. If you wake them up, you are going to be in big trouble.¡±

    ¡°There are other people staying here?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    Chen Ge nodded and quickly moved away from this topic. He carried the bag with one hand and gripped Wang Xiaoming¡¯s shoulder with his other hand. ¡°Brother, my room feels a bit strange. I feel like there¡¯s something moving under the cover whenever I try to fall asleep. Perhaps it¡¯s a rat or something,e help me find it.¡±

    It was Chen Ge¡¯s impromptu n to invite Wang Xiaoming into Room 413. He wanted to see if Wang Xiaoming knew about the room¡¯s history or not. Of course, this was only part of the reason. If he was really trapped by a ghost inside the room, with Wang Xiaoming around, at least there was a partner.

    ¡°The school rules forbid students from bunking; everyone has their own designated bed.¡± Wang Xiaoming sounded more unwilling to share a bed with a man than being actually afraid.

    ¡°What are you so scared of? They¡¯re not going to expel you for bunking, right?¡± Chen Ge ignored him and practically dragged Wang Xiaoming into Room 413.

 Chapter 766 - I Need Tools [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 766: I Need Tools [2 in 1]</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    This was Chen Ge¡¯s second time entering Room 413, but this time, with Wang Xiaoming¡¯s apaniment, Chen Ge did not feel that panicked.

    ¡°Xiao Lin, don¡¯t you ever clean your room? You are supposed to be the only one living here, but somehow, it feels like there are several people living here.¡± This appeared to be Wang Xiaoming¡¯s first visit to Room 413, and this attracted Chen Ge¡¯s curiosity. After all, the two friends stayed literally just across from the corridor. Even though they might not have a sleepover, normally, when they came across each other in the corridor, they should be able to look into each other¡¯s bedroom, unless Xiao Lin had been purposely trying to keep that a secret.

    ¡°My eyesight is not so good. Can you help me see what those things on the walls are?¡± Chen Ge had not fully ced his trust in Wang Xiaoming yet. He did not dare to leave the man unattended near the door. What if the young man suddenly decided to turn back and lock Chen Ge in the room? That would be horrendous.

    ¡°Okay.¡± It did not look like Wang Xiaoming knew anything about the horrors inside Room 413. In his eyes, this was probably a student bedroom that could not have been more normal. Using thedder of the bunk bed, Wang Xiaoming climbed up bed number one. He used his hands to touch the walls. ¡°I don¡¯t see any posters inside your room, so why are there so many nails here?¡±

    ¡°Nails?¡± When Wang Xiaoming climbed up the bed, Chen Ge quickly hurried to bed number four. He was nning to grab all the information and notebooks. He was not going to return to this bedroom ever again.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. And what is with the dark spots on the wall? It looks like a human crawling on the wall. Aren¡¯t you afraid staring at them at night?¡± Just looking at them, Wang Xiaoming was already feeling ufortable. Chen Ge did not give a direct response; he was still going over Wang Xiaoming¡¯s words in his mind.

    The spot of the wall that Wang Xiaoming was touching originally had a human shadow, but it had just escaped from the room earlier. It had disappeared.

    ¡°Let me see.¡± Chen Ge grabbed the bag and climbed up the bed. He reached out to touch the wall, and under the coat of white paint, the wall was punctured with many nails. All the nails were on the human shadow that was once on the wall. Then, could it be that it was those nails that had pinned the human shadow onto the wall? Was it because of those nails that the shadows were unable to escape?

    Chen Ge was thinking when he felt a sharp paining from his stomach. ¡°There¡¯s a bug?¡±

    Chen Ge lifted up his shirt. He noticed a small cut on his stomach, but since the cut was so small, it was not severe enough to cause bleeding.

    ¡°Did some kind of bug crawl into my shirt earlier?¡± He took out his jacket to inspect his clothes closer. He did note across any bugs, but he found an incredibly sharp nail inside his shirt pocket!

    ¡°Xiao Lin, why are you carrying something like that with you? Aren¡¯t you afraid of identally scratching yourself?¡± Wang Xiaoming asked out of curiosity, but one could not say that he was surprised. From his reaction, Chen Ge suspected that even in his ss, Xiao Lin was considered a unique specimen. No matter what he did, his ssmates would normalize it on the ount of him being Xiao Lin.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Chen Ge might have said that, but internally, his heart was raging. The nail that was used to pin the ghost shadow on the wall suddenly appeared inside his pocket, and it was used to prick his skin. That was definitely not a simple coincidence.

    <i>Is the shadow looking for a scape goat?</i>

    Chen Ge was thankful that he did return to the bedroom, or else he probably would not have known what went wrong. Only when he died and was pinned on the wall would he have realized the mistake that he had made.

    <i>I was kind enough to help him open the door, but he repaid my kindness with vengeance and wish to use me as a scapegoat!</i>

    Chen Gepared the nail in his pocket and the ones hidden underneath the paint coat, confirming that they were one and the same.

    <i>It is understandable that he wants to find a scapegoat but at least gives me a warning. To do something like this behind my back is such a rude thing to do.</i>

    After slowly calming down, he took out the scissors, wishing to use them to yank out the rest of the nails from the wall, but the nails were in too deep. Chen Ge needed a more heavy-duty tool.

    <i>There is danger at every corner. If I am not careful, I will not even know how I died.</i>

    In just these few minutes, Chen Ge felt like he was pinned again, but this time, the pain came from his calf. He shook his pant legs, and a short nail fell out.

    <i>For now, they appear very far between each other, and they honestly are not that painful, but as time moves forward, will these nails appear closer to each other and then be more and more painful?</i>

    Chen Ge did not mind being pricked once in a while, but the thing was, he did not know when the nail would show up or where they would show up. If they happened to show up inside his shoes when he was running away from a threat, then it would over. Other than that, Chen Ge was worried about another situation. If he just ignored this, one of the future nails might appear inside his body, and that would be more than just a bleeding matter.

    <i>No wonder I¡¯ve been feeling so pressured since I¡¯ve arrived at this ce, this ce is so dangerous.</i>

    Before even knowing his identity or even the overall image of the location he was in, Chen Ge had already triggered some kind of slow death. However, even in those circumstances, he managed to maintain his cool.

    <i>I woke up inside the ssroom, and after Mr. Bai showed up, he kept on repeating for us to stay inside our bedrooms and not wander out of the bedrooms at night. Is this some kind of psychological trick? The findings at the desk and the content of the notebooks also all pointed toward the bedroom. To better understand my identity, the best option was to visit the bedroom¡ªit was a ce that I had to go see no matter what.</i>

    Chen Ge had no choice but now that he was thinking about it, two details popped up at him.

    The first was when Chen Ge said that he needed to go back to the bedroom, Wang Xiaoming had suggested they take a detour to the canteen first. Whether he meant something by it or it was just a pure coincidence, if Chen Ge had agreed to follow Wang Xiaoming to the canteen, he would have been able to temporarily prevent this from happening.

    This exined that at least in this incident, Wang Xiaoming had no intention of harming him. Of course, that did not go far in proving that Wang Xiaoming was an ally. After all, there might be a deeper trap waiting for him at the canteen, and Wang Xiaoming was merely luring Chen Ge there to be killed.

    The second thing was that before the lights went out, Mr. Bai personally checked up on him to confirm if Chen Ge was inside his bedroom. The expression that Mr. Bai had back then was one of pure terror. He did not move an inch inside Room 413, which proved that he knew about the danger residing and lurking inside Room 413.

    He had told Chen Ge to sleep there while knowing there were dangers at Room 413. There had to be something wrong with that man. After summarizing everything that had happened so far, Chen Ge came to such a conclusion in his heart. Wang Xiaoming might not be a good person, but Mr. Bai definitely had an ulterior motive and was a bad guy!

    Chen Ge memorized that the people he had met, the words that they had said and the expressions on their faces¡ªit was not because he had such a good memory, but this was his way of surviving.

    <i>Room 413 is very dangerous, but I was not killed instantly after entering it. I was merely made a scapegoat, and the enemy used a very slow method to kill me. Looks like the mission is not really a dead end.</i>

    Turning his attention back to the room, Chen Ge studied the other human shadows, beneath which should be arge group of nails hidden.

    <i>The ghost has made me his scapegoat, so that is why I have been constantly pricked by these nails. If I remove all the nails inside the bedroom and use them to poke another person, what will happen?</i>

    Chen Ge had already been poked twice by those nails that had appeared out of nowhere. If this was a normal person, they would have tossed away the cursed nails or buried them deep in the ground already. However, Chen Ge did not do that. Instead, he kept the nails and intended to find a few characters that he was annoyed by and try to use them as experiments.

    <i>These nails can pin ghost shadows into ce, so they should be able to damage lingering spirits or baleful Specters to a certain degree. They¡¯re valuable items, but will I cause some kind of panic going around poking people with nails in the middle of the night?</i>

    In any case, Chen Ge thought that this idea was workable.

    <i>I should try to keep some nails on me. The focus will then be to find the ghost who is attacking me and try my best to persuade them to attack another person with me. If they refuse, I will just use the nails to pin them back onto the wall.</i>

    Studying the nails on the wall, Chen Ge tried to use the scissors to pry them out, but it was to no avail.

    <i>I will need a hammer or pliers for this. There should be a maintenance room at the school. I believe I will be able to get some tools there.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s mind moved very fast. He was not one to dawdle on one issue for a very long time.

    <i>I should carry more useable tools with me. That way, I will have more choices when dealing withplicated situations.</i>

    ¡°Xiao Lin? Xiao Lin!¡± Wang Xiaoming extended his hand and waved it before Chen Ge¡¯s face. ¡°What are you thinking about? You even started tough for some reason.¡±

    ¡°Xiaoming, do you know where our school¡¯s maintenance room is?¡± Chen Ge asked in a casual tone.

    ¡°Why do you want to know that?¡± Wang Xiaoming had no idea what was going through Chen Ge¡¯s mind. The two of them were not on the same wavelength at all.

    ¡°There is a problem with my bedroom door. It creaks noisily at night, so I wish to get some tools to fix it.¡± Chen Ge jumped off the bed and stood at the door.

    ¡°It should be around the staff dormitory, but students rarely go there. I think you should wait until tomorrow morning and tell the dormitory management about this. Although our dormitory management...¡± Wang Xiaoming shivered involuntarily and did not continue the conversation.

    ¡°There is no need to trouble the dormitory management. After all, this is just a small problem. I will be able to deal with it myself.¡± Chen Ge found out that the maintenance room was near the staff dormitory, but the problem was that Chen Ge had no clue where the staff dormitory was situated.

    ¡°If you wander around like this after the lights have been switched off and are discovered by the staff, you will be severely punished! Xiao Lin, you have to seriously consider what you¡¯re nning to do. It¡¯s one thing if you want to sneak to some other location, but the maintenance room is right inside the building where the staff dormitory is!¡±

    ¡°I know there is a certain risk to this, but I cannot sleep at night if I do not do anything with this door. It keeps making this creaking noise, and it is too noisy for me to even try to fall asleep.¡± Chen Ge looked at Wang Xiaoming with sincerity. ¡°Brother, how about this? I will sleep over at your ce for one night. After all, you are the only upant of your bedroom, and the other beds are empty.¡±

    ¡°You want to sleep over at my ce?¡± Wang Xiaoming¡¯s face twitched conspicuously. After giving it some thought, he said, ¡°I think you should go take a look around the maintenance room. Even if you run into the staff, I am sure they will understand if you just exin andmunicate the problem that you are facing.¡±

    ¡°Okay then, how about you lead me to the area around the staff dormitory?¡± Chen Ge grabbed hold of Wang Xiaoming¡¯s arm, and he was not going to let go no matter what.

    After some back and forth inside the bedroom, Wang Xiaoming finally relented. ¡°Fine, but I will be leaving after we arrive. I will not step into the staff dormitory no matter what.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wee. There¡¯s no choice because you are my only friend.¡± Wang Xiaoming returned to his bedroom to change his shoes. Chen Ge closed the door to Room 413. When he was waiting for Wang Xiaoming, he took out his notebook to study closer the information of the student who had perished inside the bedroom.

    ¡°A student studying the art of oil painting? He is normally very cowardly and does not like to speak, but he is a kind person and prefers to stay alone inside the oil painting room ande up with many strange paintings.¡± Xiao Lin¡¯s notebooks contained some snippets of information, and Chen Ge had topile them together to form the bigger picture.

    ¡°The most urgent goal right now is to find the tools. If there is not enough time, I will try to poke Mr. Bai with the nails; if there is enough time, I should try to take a spin around the oil painting room.¡±

    After Wang Xiaoming changed his shoes, the two walked down the corridor together.

    ¡°Xiao Lin, try not to make any noise. If you attract the dormitory management¡¯s attention, it will be over for the both of us.¡± Wang Xiaoming was clearly very afraid of the management, and this caused Chen Ge to start to wander about the manager¡¯s real identity. Just what kind of person would be able to instill such a fear in Wang Xiaoming?

    If not for the danger and urgency of the situation, Chen Ge would have made a detour to go and see them.

    The two eventually arrived at the first floor. The door of the dormitory block was not locked.

    ¡°Quick!¡± Wang Xiaoming waved at Chen Ge, and the two rushed toward the entrance. However, just as they were about to reach the entrance, the curtain inside the dormitory manager¡¯s room was pulled open, and a gray face leaned against the window. Next to this face was the notice that forbad students from leaving thepound after the lights were switched off. The ss window was slowly pushed open, and a cold draft poured out from inside the room.

    ¡°Run! The dormitory manager ising!¡± Chen Ge had no idea whether the dormitory manager had seen them or not. He grabbed Wang Xiaoming and raced out of the student dormitory. The two of them ran for a long time in the dark schoolpound. They only dared to slow down after a peacefulness returned to their surroundings. They found a corner to hide and catch their breath.

    ¡°Oh my god, Xiao Lin! This is all your fault! We¡¯ve been discovered by the manager!¡±

    ¡°Why are you panicking? He didn¡¯t even see our faces.¡± Chen Ge thought back to that pale face, and a small chill spread through his body. That face definitely did not belong to a living human. Be it Wang Xiaoming, Mr. Bai, or the other students in the ss, they looked on the surface to be no different from a normal person. In fact, they even possessed warm flesh. But that dormitory manager waspletely different. The face that he had seen earlier in the window had no life or expression to it.

    <i>The dormitory manager is different from others. This can be considered a valuable piece of information. If there¡¯s a chance, I should try to poke him with these nails or try to get him to take my ce as the scapegoat.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s n was continually changing based on the information that he obtained, but the general direction had remained the same. The schoolpound at night was very scary. Chen Ge had no idea why, but he felt like the buildings that were so crowded in the morning had the same crowdedness to them even though he could not see any people inside them at night.

    After walking for a few minutes in the dark, Wang Xiaoming, who had been very silent, suddenly stopped moving.

    ¡°We¡¯re there? This is the staff dormitory?¡± Chen Ge saw the outline of a squat building in the dark.

    ¡°Not yet, I merely realized that, since we¡¯ve been discovered, there is no reason to stay in the hiding and mind those details anymore.¡± Wang Xiaoming seemed to have thought things through.

    ¡°Why? Have you decided to go to the maintenance room with me?¡± Chen Ge felt that something was wrong with Wang Xiaoming.

    Shaking his head, Wang Xiaoming turned around to look at Chen Ge. He was breathing heavily through his nostrils, he was chewing something hard in his mouth, and his lips were dyed red.

    After a long time, he managed to say, ¡°This is the canteen.¡±

    ¡°The canteen?¡± They were supposed to go to the maintenance room, but Wang Xiaoming had suddenly had a change of heart and led Chen Ge to the entrance to the canteen without informing him.

 Chapter 767 - Partners in Crime

    <h4>Chapter 767: Partners in Crime</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    Wang Xiaoming was acting very strangely. Both of his eyes were bloodshot like a gambler who had nothing else to lose. This waspletely different from how he had been when they had been at the male dormitory.

    ¡°We should head to the maintenance room first. After getting the tools I need, I¡¯lle back to the canteen with you.¡± Chen Ge knew that the change in Wang Xiaoming had urred after they had been spotted by the dormitory manager. It felt like since his n had been exposed, he was not going to keep up the fa?ade.

    Carrying his bag, Chen Ge gripped the nails in one hand while patting Wang Xiaoming¡¯s shoulder with another. ¡°You are my only friend, trust me.¡±

    Wang Xiaoming¡¯s body temperature came through his palm. Chen Ge¡¯s deskmate was a strange fe, but he was really not much different from a normal person. Compared to a ghost, he was more like a problem child with a mental issue. Facing this kind of child, one should not deny their request; instead, one should give them more love and care.

    ¡°But... I am really hungry now.¡± A crunching and chewing noise came from Wang Xiaoming¡¯s mouth. His lips were dyed red from the blood that leaked out. <i>Is he munching on his own teeth?</i>

    Chen Ge had met someone simr in Li Wan City¡ªthe female boss who was trapped behind the hotel¡¯s fridge. The woman had suffered from an eating disorder. She was in a constant state of hunger and would consume everything within her mouth including her teeth and tongue. Only through constant chewing and consuming could the psychological hunger be appeased.

    ¡°Brother, if you really are that hungry, why don¡¯t we split up now? You can go to the canteen, and I¡¯ll head on over to the maintenance room.¡± Through the few minutes¡¯ worth of experience inside the bedroom, Chen Ge understood how dangerous this scenario was. There was danger at every step, and he would be dead if he let his guard down.

    Under those circumstances, he would definitely not follow Wang Xiaoming to a strange ce. Chen Ge stated his intention¡ªthey were going to separate peacefully.

    <i>As long as you don¡¯te after me, then I won¡¯t harm you.</i>

    Based on Chen Ge¡¯s own prediction, Wang Xiaoming would leave on his own and would not attack Chen Ge so soon.

    The two stood in the darkness. The cold wind that came from who knew where crawled into their cors. With a strange expression, Wang Xiaoming lowered his head to think, and he slowly awakened to his old self.

    He made a choice that confused Chen Ge. ¡°Oh well, I guess I will stay with you. After we get the tools, we¡¯lle back to the canteen.¡±

    Wang Xiaoming rubbed his taut muscles on his face like what had happened earlier was just an illusion.

    ¡°You¡¯re such a good friend.¡± Chen Ge hugged Wang Xiaoming¡¯s shoulders. One of them silently raised his hand to wipe away the blood on the lips while the other quietly put away the nail in his hand.

    ¡°This way.¡± The two nursed each of their plots. Wang Xiaoming led the way, and Chen Ge followed behind him. His brain never stopped moving. Every person at that school was very strange. It seemed like their goal was not to simply kill Chen Ge; they each had their own agendas.

    <i>What are they trying to do?</i>

    Chen Ge felt like an invisible was expanding around him, and each of the knots represented a character at the school. Leaving the squat building, Wang Xiaoming led Chen Ge in another direction.

    ¡°The staff dormitory is near the field at the back of the school. It is a very deserted ce, and people rarely go there.¡± Wang Xiaoming had returned to normal, and he seemed to have abandoned the hold of terror that the dormitory had on him. ¡°Actually, if you think about it, the school really doesn¡¯t treat us well. The normal students have their own private sport auditorium, and the best resources are given to them. Those of us from the night school are like the children of the stepmother.¡±

    ¡°Our goal here is to learn. The rest is merely the process.¡± Chen Ge was able to say that because he had gone through the trials given by the ck phone. Even when he was walking close to death¡¯s door, he was able to provide others with some good energy.

    Walking past a small copse, they came across a row of very old-looking fence. The top part was curled with steelting. There was a small field just beyond the fence; it was about a quarter of the size of a normal field. There was no goal post or sport equipment; it waspletely deserted. If not for thenes that were drawn on the ground, Chen Ge would not have expected this to be a sport field.

    ¡°Do you see that small building over there? That is the staff dormitory, but it is quite strange. Even though this ce is called the staff dormitory, I rarely see any teachers there.¡± Wang Xiaoming used his finger to point at the building on the other side. ¡°We¡¯ll be discovered instantly if we use the front door. We should take a detour around the trees.¡±

    Wang Xiaoming was very familiar with the surroundings, and this roused Chen Ge¡¯s suspicion. Would a normal student know theyout of the staff dormitory so well?

    With this in mind, his curiosity toward his deskmate grew.

    <i>On my own, the possibility of me escaping here is null. I need someone who has the same goal as me to act as my partner.</i>

    Everyone at this school had a story, and Chen Ge was curious how they ended up there.

    Normally, the world behind the door was weaved from the door-pusher¡¯s despairing memory¡ªeverything surrounded the door-pusher, and all the clues pointed toward the door-pusher. The situation there seemed to be different; everyone had their own back story, and each one had their own goal.

    ¡°School of the Afterlife, students, graduation...¡± A few phrases appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, and he tried to link them together. <i>Oh well, I have too little information. This school is split into two campuses. After I find the ghost that used me as a scapegoat, perhaps I can get over to the other campus. I might be able to find more clues there.</i>

    He had woken up right behind the door, and he did not even know who he was, but even so, Chen Ge had managed to carve a road for himself. He bent over as he trekked through the copse, and a thickyer of leaves was gathered under his feet. Stepping on them felt like he was stepping on human flesh. The feeling was very strange, but he could tell what the problem was.

    ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± The two took arge detour to reach the staff dormitory. This ce waspletely different from the student dormitory. Chen Ge discovered this after he got closer. The building before him was split into two rows. The front row had lights on like there were people living there, but the back row waspletely dark¡ªit appeared to have been abandoned a long time ago.

    ¡°The front row is for the staff, and the back row consists of the apartments meant for international students. The school had a good idea, but ording to my knowledge, our school hasn¡¯t epted any international students.¡± Wang Xiaoming and Chen Ge sneaked into the building at the front. The corridor was tiled, and the walls had wallpaper. The design was more luxurious than the student dormitory.

    ¡°I think the maintenance room is at the deepest part of the corridor. Be careful when you go over. Do not let any teachers spot you.¡± Wang Xiaoming stopped at the corridor. ¡°I¡¯ll be your lookout.¡±

    ¡°I think we should go together.¡± Since they were already at that point, there was no chance of returning. Chen Ge dragged Wang Xiaoming down the corridor.

    ¡°Wait! Wait a moment!¡± Wang Xiaoming wanted to resist, but he did not dare be too loud about it, afraid that it might attract a teacher¡¯s attention. In the end, he had no choice but to allow Chen Ge to drag him down the corridor.

 Chapter 768 - The Real Nightmare Mission

    <h4>Chapter 768: The Real Nightmare Mission</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Xiao Lin?¡± After walking into the corridor, Wang Xiaoming¡¯s face suddenly paled. His bulging eyes looked around as if he could not believe that he had physically entered the staff dormitory.

    ¡°It is too dangerous for you to stay at the entrance alone. I¡¯m the one who wanted toe here to find the key, so how could I put you in such danger?¡± Chen Ge made it sound like it was all for Wang Xiaoming¡¯s own good. No matter how hard thetter tried to shake him off, Chen Ge refused to let go.

    ¡°I...¡±

    ¡°Shush, the door in front appears to have been left ajar.¡± Chen Ge walked while sticking to the wall. When he reached the middle of the corridor, he noticed that one of the doors was slightly open. The lights inside the room were on, and pale white light filtered out. Afraid of attracting the attention of the people inside the room, Wang Xiaoming stopped resisting and allowed Chen Ge to drag him to the side of the door.

    ¡°What do you n to do?¡± When Wang Xiaoming saw Chen Ge lean against the wall next to the door to peer inside it. He felt like his scalp was about to explode. This man before him had no idea what the meaning of fear was, and he insisted on bringing him to experiment with stuff at the edge of danger.

    ¡°Shh, the light in the room is on, and I believe I see a shadow projected onto the wall. There is someone inside the room.¡± Chen Ge waved at Wang Xiaoming. The two silently slid past the door. Being dragged by Chen Ge, Wang Xiaoming stopped resisting. He had surrendered to his fate. The maintenance room was at the end of the corridor¡ªit took them a very long time just to locate it.

    ¡°The door is locked.¡± Chen Ge wiggled the doorknob but failed to get the door open.

    ¡°You have to be gentler! You are going to wake the entire building!¡± Wang Xiaoming cowered with fear, his face anxious.

    ¡°The door is locked. Do you know who has the key?¡± They could not stay there long, so Chen Ge tried to move things forward.

    ¡°It should be with the maintenance worker, but he will have gotten off work by now!¡± Wang Xiaoming tugged on Chen Ge¡¯s sleeve. ¡°How about we leave this ce now and go to the canteen. I promise to treat you to a good meal. I guarantee that you will definitely ask for more.¡±

    ¡°Do you mind piping down? I need some quiet to think about this.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes scanned the corridor and the many doors. ¡°When a person hears a strange sound, the brain will need about two seconds to react, and they will need several seconds toe down the corridor from the rooms. In other words, if I break down the door, I will have to crack the door, find the tools, and escape the scene in under half a minute. No, that¡¯s impossible. There¡¯s not enough time.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Lin? What did you say? Break down the door?¡±

    ¡°This building only has one exit and a staircase. The staircase is situated next to the exit. Even if I sessfully find the tools I need, there is nowhere to hide.¡± Chen Ge very rationally abandoned the idea of breaking down the door. ¡°The maintenance room is on the first floor. I already know the location of this ce. Compared to breaking down the door, slipping in through the window might be a better solution.¡±

    Without anything to arm himself with, Chen Ge was greatly unsettled. Other than that, he had a different n in mind. The nails in Room 413 pinned the human shadows onto the wall. Chen Ge nned to make a deal with these human shadows. He would remove all the nails from the walls to help them escape, but in return, he would ask a favor from them.

    If everything went well, this would be a win-win situation, but the n was easier said than done. He would need to be careful at every step, and on top of that, he needed to ensure that the shadows would not betray him. Chen Ge actually did not wish to do so, but unfortunately, he did not have much of a choice. This world behind the door did not give him much chance at survival, so he would have to work hard to create the chance for himself.

    Suddenly, an intense shot of pain came from his stomach¡ªit felt like he had been stung by a bee. Chen Ge pulled up his shirt, and a short nail fell to the ground.

    ¡°This time the wound is deeper, but howe there is still no blood?¡± Normally, when one was hurt by a nail, the wound would definitely be bleeding when pressure was applied, but no matter how aggressively Chen Ge dealt with the wound, there was no blood. The sound that the nail made when falling to the ground was not loud, but since the corridor was so quiet, both Chen Ge and Wang Xiaoming heard it very clearly.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Wang Xiaoming was understandably spooked.

    ¡°Nothing.¡± Chen Ge picked up the nail, and when he was lowering his head, he saw a bright lighting from the building¡¯s entrance. Someone had just entered the staff dormitory with a shlight!

    ¡°We¡¯ve been discovered!¡± Wang Xiaoming mped his mouth with his hands as he leaned his body against the wall. ¡°It was the sound of the nail. That alerted him to our presence!¡±

    ¡°This corridor is about twenty to thirty meters long. Do you think the person can hear the sound of a nail dropping from so far away?¡± Chen Ge maintained his rationality; he was very calm. ¡°It is a coincidence that this person is showing up. Trust me!¡±

    ¡°Then what do you suggest we do now? They areing here!¡±

    ¡°Stick close to the wall. They are relying on a shlight. It means that their eyes won¡¯t have the time to get used to the darkness. As long as we hide in the shadows and the shlight doesn¡¯t hit us, we won¡¯t be discovered.¡± Chen Ge was making a bet. Normally, people used the shlight to light the immediate path before them, they would not shine it into the distance.

    ¡°What if the shlight catches us?¡± Cold puffs of air came out of Wang Xiaoming¡¯s lips, and his eyes were filled with terror.

    ¡°I will repeat myself. They are holding a shlight, and their eyes are not used to the darkness. If the shlight happens to catch us, the first thing we need to do is to charge at this person, grab the shlight, and run out through the exit.¡±

    ¡°What kind of lousy n is that?¡±

    ¡°Shush, take your spot in the corner. Be prepared to make a run if the situation calls for it.¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes and used the bag to cover the lower half of his face. In the darkened corridor, the light teetered left and right. It slowly approached. Both Chen Ge and Wang Xiaoming held their breath. After a few difficult seconds, the light stopped before one of the rooms. The room door was pushed open, and the light soon disappeared.

    ¡°The person has entered the room!¡± Wang Xiaoming¡¯s voice was shuddering from the overwhelming relief.

    ¡°Stop wasting time, we need to go!¡± Chen Ge had a feeling that things were not that simple.

    <i>The person was not led here by the sound of the nail falling. Could it really be a coincidence? No, I must have missed something very important, but what is it?</i>

    Running ahead, Chen Ge thought back to what had happened to him after he entered the door.

    <i>The first time I ran into mortal danger was inside Room 413. With the degree of fear Wang Xiaoming showed toward the teacher and the dormitory manager, something terrible will happen if you run across them after dark.</i>

    Chen Ge concluded that from the two incidents that he had encountered, and his brows slowly creased.

    <i>It appears that the moment I stay in a specific ce for too long, something bad will happen.</i>

    He had no way of affirming his spection. He knew that things were not looking up. The difficulty and danger level of this school was far beyond the danger level of the normal nightmare missions given by the ck phone.

    <i>I am being too passive. What can I do to turn things around? The ck phone will not give me a mission that I cannot pass. Where or what is this crucial item or incident that will help me survive?</i>

    While Chen Ge used all the energy in his brain to think, the door not that far away from him suddenly opened again!

    <i>That was the room where the light disappeared inside earlier! Has the person been waiting for us?</i>

    They had nowhere else to run. Chen Ge and Wang Xiaoming were currently trapped in the middle of the corridor.

 Chapter 769 - Big Dog

    <h4>Chapter 769: Big Dog</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°This way!¡± There was a room door that was left ajar. Wang Xiaoming started to panic from the scare. When he saw the reappearance of the light, he dragged Chen Ge into the room in the middle of the corridor. As they did so, the light cut down the corridor.

    ¡°That was so close! We were almost caught!¡± Wang Xiaoming gasped greedily for air as he hid behind the door.

    ¡°Even though it is temporarily safe, it might have put us into deeper trouble. After all, the lights in this room were left on. If there is someone inside, we might need to deal with two or more people instead of just the one outside.¡± Chen Ge did not get into an argument with Wang Xiaoming simply because he made a decision without consulting him. This was because he knew that arguing was not going to solve any problem¡ªit would only waste the valuable time that should be spent on escaping.

    ¡°We will only wait here for a while. Once the person outside leaves, we will immediately escape.¡±

    ¡°First, you cannot confirm whether the teacher outside the door has seen us or not. If they have discovered us, then they will be waiting for us toe out. Secondly, I believe that there is someone with us inside the room. It is truly unknown if we will be able to survive until the teacher outside leaves.¡± Chen Ge would never leave his life in the hands of fate. He carried the bag and headed into the kitchen.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Looking for a window.¡±

    The room was curiously spacious. There were three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and one kitchen. It did not look like a normal apartment. After Chen Ge rushed into the kitchen, he made a beeline to the door, but to his disappointment, an anti-burry was installed on the window. Without stopping to nurse his disappointment, Chen Ge rushed to the kitchen counter. He pulled out all the drawers but could not find any sharp instruments like a knife. ¡°This feels less like an apartment and more like a prison cell.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Lin, someone¡¯sing!¡± Wang Xiaoming leaned on the ground. He kept his voice to a whisper. His face was scrunched together from intense fear.

    ¡°Lock the door to stop them from getting in.¡± Chen Ge could not tell for sure whether the person outside had seen them or not. After all, he and Wang Xiaoming had been moving in the dark.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Wang Xiaoming was so scared that he lost his ability to think. He merely did what he was told. ¡°It¡¯s now locked.¡±

    Even though he knew that the door was locked, Wang Xiaoming was still so nervous. He had his hands over the doorknob, and his forehead was drenched in cold sweat. Chen Ge did not expect Wang Xiaoming to be so afraid of the teachers. He grabbed Wang Xiaoming¡¯s hand lightly. ¡°Don¡¯t panic. The more you are afraid of it, the more likely the thing will happen.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Lin, this is not the issue of panicking! Have you forgotten that, after dark, the teachers...¡± Wang Xiaoming¡¯s words were cut short because footsteps suddenly came from outside the door. Chen Ge and Wang Xiaoming¡¯s faces paled immediately. The two of them shared a look and raised their index fingers to their lips simultaneously.

    <i>Come here. </i>Chen Ge used his finger to point at the empty space on the opposite side of the door. He gestured to exin his n. He wanted Wang Xiaoming to hide at the other side so that they could ambush the person who opened the door. Chen Ge¡¯s n was good, but unfortunately, it was hard to put into motion. Wang Xiaoming was not as brave as he was. He did not listen to Chen Ge¡¯s order and escaped into the bathroom that was furthest from the door.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Chen Ge refused to stay in the living room alone, so he turned and followed Wang Xiaoming. ¡°What are you doing hiding inside the bathroom? If you only know how to escape, you¡¯re eventually going to get cornered! If you do not learn to resist, you will never be able to fight for the right to choose!¡±

    ¡°I know, but I am unable to control myself.¡± Wang Xiaoming pouted with tears in his eyes, and he silently closed the bathroom door. The two held their breath and waited. Ten seconds passed, but there was no sounding from outside.

    ¡°Has the person left?¡±

    ¡°How would I know? He might be hiding just beyond the door, waiting for us toe out.¡± Chen Ge rolled his eyes. ¡°Go out and take a look.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Wang Xiaoming gathered his courage and pushed open the bathroom door. It was dark outside, and he went to open the light in the living room. ¡°It¡¯s clear.¡±

    Realizing that there was no problem, Wang Xiaoming urged Chen Ge toe out, but once he turned back and saw Chen Ge¡¯s expression, he was confused. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°The lights in the living room were on before, but now the lights are off.¡± Chen Ge lowered his voice. ¡°Do not move! The people inside the room have already discovered us!¡±

    Once Chen Ge said that, a little girl¡¯sughter echoed across the room. A head with tussled ck hair floated above the back of the sofa. A girl with a creepy smile turned to look at Chen Ge and Wang Xiaoming.

    ¡°We do not mean any harm. We merely happened to slip into this ce.¡± Realizing that it was not a teacher inside the room, Wang Xiaoming sighed in relief and came up with a horrible lie.

    The girl tilted her head to the side as she studied Wang Xiaoming and Chen Ge. Her gaze was strange. There was a mentally unstable emotion behind it. It was hard to describe, but it felt as if she was not looking at living humans.

    ¡°Are you the daughter of one of the teachers at our school?¡± Chen Ge did not dare get close to this girl who looked positively harmless.

    ¡°Yes.¡± The girl nodded. Her eyes were glued to Chen Ge. Compared to Wang Xiaoming, she seemed to be more attracted to Chen Ge. ¡°My dad is a substitute teacher at the night school. His name is Bai.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re Mr. Bai¡¯s daughter? Then we came to the right ce. Please don¡¯t be afraid, we are Mr. Bai¡¯s students. He told us toe here because he had something to discuss with us, but since he¡¯s not here, we¡¯re not going to disturb you anymore.¡± Chen Ge signaled for Wang Xiaoming to stay away from this girl.

    ¡°My dad told you toe here?¡± When the girl heard that, her eyes glistened brightly. ¡°Looks like he still remembers his promise to me.¡±

    ¡°Promise?¡± Wang Xiaoming had a bad feeling in his heart. ¡°It¡¯s gettingte. I think we shoulde back tomorrow.¡±

    Wang Xiaoming was finding an excuse to leave, but the girl ignored him. She kept her eyes on Chen Ge and ran out from behind the sofa.

    ¡°Little Brother, what¡¯s your name?¡± She grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s arm and spoke with a sweet voice and cute smile, but her eyes made Chen Ge very ufortable.

    ¡°Lin Sisi.¡±

    ¡°That is such a cute name.¡± Whenever the girl smiled, her canine teeth would show, and it made her look very cute.

    ¡°My name is not as cute as you, little girl. I still have something to do tonight. How about Ie back to y with you tomorrow?¡± With the girl holding his hand, the hair on the back of Chen Ge¡¯s neck was standing.

    ¡°Tomorrow?¡± The girl pouted. Suddenly, she stood on tiptoes to whisper into Chen Ge¡¯s ear. ¡°You are following a person who died a long time ago, little brother. I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t live until tomorrow.¡±

    The girl used an innocent voice to reveal a scary secret. ¡°Don¡¯t leave me. Why don¡¯t you stay with me tonight?¡±

    On one side, there was the deskmate who appeared to have died a long time ago, while on the other, there was the teacher¡¯s daughter who was definitely not what she appeared. This was the first choice that Chen Ge had to make after he entered the door.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    When Chen Ge was hesitating, a loud noise came from inside the bedroom. It sounded like someone was using his head to knock against the door.

    ¡°What is that sound?¡± Chen Ge turned to look at the bedroom.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. My dad gifted me arge dog for myst birthday. It is very naughty, so I cored it.¡± The girl¡¯s smile grew bigger like she was reminded of a very happy incident.

 Chapter 770 - Mr. Bai

    <h4>Chapter 770: Mr. Bai</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Your dad gave you a dog, and he allows you to keep it inside the staff dormitory?¡± Wang Xiaoming¡¯s disbelief was in on his face. ¡°The school forbids the rearing of pets, and the teachers wouldn¡¯t go against the rules, setting a bad example.¡±

    ¡°My dad gifted me thisrge dog because he was afraid that I would be too lonely. I never let it leave this room¡ªthat way, no one will discover it.¡± The girl¡¯s tone was cute and innocent, but listening to her, chills ran through Chen Ge¡¯s body.

    ¡°In other words, after you got the dog, it has never left this house?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s brows lifted.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? The dog was originally very feral. Me and my dad used a long time and effort to train it, to make it obedient.¡± The corners of the girl¡¯s lips curled upward into a bright smile.

    ¡°It¡¯s just that animals will get sick after being left inside a house for a long time. asionally, you have to take it out for a stroll.¡± Chen Ge turned to the bedroom where the strange sound hade from earlier. The bedroom door was closed, so he could not see anything. Even the strange sound had disappeared.

    ¡°Xiao Lin, don¡¯t listen to her. Our school has strict rules against keeping a pet. Be it the staff or students, if they are discovered to have broken the rules, they receive a severe punishment. A pet like a dog is different from a snake or lizard¡ªit will make noise. Once the neighbors hear that, they will report this to the authority. The secret can¡¯t have been kept.¡± Wang Xiaoming did not believe the girl¡¯s words at all. ¡°After all, you are not the only person who stays here.¡±

    ¡°Me and my dad considered that before, so we gave the dog a special training.¡± The girl had a cute smile. She was so cute that one would have to urge to hug her and pinch her cheeks. ¡°When the dog first arrived, it was very unruly. Whenever someone passed by the door, it would scratch on the door or knock into the furniture. Later, me and my dad came up with a solution. We purposely left home and pretended to be passersby walking down the corridor. Whenever the dog made a sound, we would return to take something away from it. After repeating this about ten times, the dog slowly learned its lesson. Now even if there really is someone who passes by, it will be very obedient.¡±

    ¡°You sure are experienced at training dogs.¡±

    The girl was very happy to have been given some praise. ¡°There is not much experience to be said. Once you deal with more than enough dogs, you¡¯ll eventuallye across the solution.¡±

    ¡°Have you reared many dogs in the past?¡± Chen Ge asked in shock.

    ¡°Yes, initially, I kept them in secret. After I was discovered by my dad, he was very angry.¡± The girl sounded wounded. ¡°Without asking for my permission, he took care of the dog. I was so mad. I refused to speak to him for a very long time until heter gifted me arge dog.¡±

    ¡°Howe I feel like none of the dogs you kept survived for long? A dog has quite a long life span. From the looks of it, you are at most twelve years old, and if you took care of them, one dog should have been enough to apany you until now.¡± Chen Ge squatted down before the girl. His pupils narrowed as he looked into the girl¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°It¡¯s mainly because they are so disobedient. If they were obedient, they wouldn¡¯t have been punished.¡± The girl looked at Chen Ge, and her voice slowly dropped. ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but they are all very afraid of me. If only they were all as friendly as you are around me, little brother.¡±

    <i>Friendly?</i>

    A little girl was not only not afraid when two strange men showed up in her room, she was very happy. It was obvious that there was something wrong.

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Chen Ge pretended like he did not hear the girl¡¯sst sentence. He carried a warm smile on his face and hugged the girl lightly. ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve met a girl as cute as you. What is your name?¡±

    Chen Ge sat on the sofa and ced the girl on hisp.

    ¡°My name is Bai Ling.¡± Chen Ge was stunned when he heard that name. San Chi Bai Ling 1, traditionally, represented suicide by hanging.

    ¡°Good name, it¡¯s ssical, pure, and rolls out the tongue.¡± Chen Ge paused before asking, ¡°Bai Ling, your surname is Bai, so is your father Mr. Bai who teaches the night school?¡±

    With a wink, the girl slowly nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re Mr. Bai¡¯s daughter?¡± Before Chen Ge said anything, Wang Xiaoming was the first to yelp. It appeared as if he had suddenly been reminded of something scary. His face was white, and he kept making nonverbal hints to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Even though we are students from another campus, we¡¯ve heard of Mr. Bai. He¡¯s a hardworking, responsible teacher.¡± Chen Ge maintained the friendly smile. ¡°Bai Ling, we still have something else to do, so we won¡¯t stay to disturb you anymore.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re leaving already?¡± The girl¡¯s expression changed instantly. The innocence on her face disappeared. Green veins surfaced on her neck, and herrge eyes stared fiendishly at Chen Ge.

    ¡°It¡¯s over now.¡± Wang Xiaoming silently moved to stand behind the girl. He gestured at Chen Ge by cing his palm over his lips. He wanted to detain the girl and then run as fast as they could. Since their faces had been seen, what was the point of running? Chen Ge used his hands to caress Bai Ling¡¯s head lovingly. Since there were no escape, he was going to try to get more benefits and information before leaving.

    Never give up, never surrender¡ªthat was Chen Ge¡¯s motto.

    ¡°Bai Ling, we¡¯re not leaving. We just want to go look for something inside the maintenance room at the end of the corridor. Since you stay here, do you know how to open that door?¡± Chen Ge said calmly like he did not notice the scary transformation of the girl¡¯s face when she was angry. He continued to lovingly touch the girl¡¯s head.

    ¡°I think my dad has a spare key. It¡¯s inside the bedroom drawer. I¡¯ll go take a look.¡± The veins around the girl¡¯s neck slowly disappeared, and she reverted to her previous state, but her hold on Chen Ge¡¯s arm grew stronger. The girl led Chen Ge to the bedroom door. She hesitated when she wanted to push the door open. It was as if she was worried that Chen Ge might see the thing inside the room. ¡°Wait here, I¡¯ll be out in a minute. Don¡¯t go anywhere!¡±

    She pushed the door open a gap and quickly slipped through it and closed the door.

    ¡°Xiao Lin, this is our chance! Quick!¡± Wang Xiaoming ran over to grab Chen Ge¡¯s wrist. ¡°She is Mr. Bai¡¯s daughter. Mr. Bai will eventually return! If we¡¯re caught by him, then it¡¯s really over!¡±

    ¡°The girl has already seen our faces. She will tell on us to her father. The point is we¡¯ve also tricked her, so she will definitely add more offences when there are none.¡± Chen Ge stood where he was. He realized that the people at this school liked to grab his arm¡ªit felt like they were all fighting to im him.

    ¡°Now is not the time to care about those details!¡± Seeing Chen Ge still standing at the door, Wang Xiaoming panicked until his forehead was drenched. ¡°Xiao Lin, you heard what she said earlier. Mr. Bai has brought Bai Ling manyrge dogs!¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°In the past, there have been cases of students mysteriously disappearing after they were sent to detention. It was Mr. Bai who sent them to detention!¡±

 Chapter 771 - Extra Students

    <h4>Chapter 771: Extra Students</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Wang Xiaoming¡¯s meaning was very clear. Therge dog that the girl mentioned was not a dog at all but the missing students. This whole family was crazy.

    ¡°I know what you¡¯re trying to say, but did you notice something weird?¡± Chen Ge dropped his voice to a whisper. ¡°Why does she look at me differently from when she looks at you? That pair of eyes filled with pure evil was focused on me. Does she know me?¡±

    ¡°Now is not the time to think about that, Xiao Lin. We need to leave now!¡± Wang Xiaoming grabbed Chen Ge and prepared to make a run for it, but at that moment, footsteps came from inside the bedroom, and soon, the door was opened. The girl wore pink pajamas, and she held a long ring of keys in her hand. ¡°Found it.¡±

    ¡°Okay, we will go to the maintenance room now.¡±

    Of course, they were going to leave, but before that, Chen Ge wished to obtain more useful things. He reached out to take the girl¡¯s keys, but thetter took onerge step back. ¡°Even though I have the spare key, my dad warned me from getting close to the room at the deepest part of the corridor and forbade me from giving the key to strangers.¡±

    After Chen Ge revealed his purpose, the girls also started to show her fangs. From the beginning, she had never intended to help them, but other than herself, no one knew what her real goal was.

    ¡°Both me and this student know Mr. Bai, so how can we be strangers? If you don¡¯t feel like going with us, why don¡¯t you give me the keys? After I open the door, I¡¯lle back to return the keys to you,¡± Chen Ge said calmly. His expression was serene; it was difficult to read his thoughts from his facial expression.

    ¡°No, my dad said that the keys cannot be given to strangers. Only family can use them.¡± The girl¡¯s voice softened. She made it sound like she was being bullied. Chen Ge frowned slightly¡ªhe felt like the girl was hinting at the fact that she wished for him to be her family.

    After a quick contemtion, Chen Ge squatted down again. He pinched the girl¡¯s cheek. ¡°We are friends now, the best of friends. No matter what, we can rely on each other like family. If you¡¯re bored because you¡¯re alone, the two of us wille to keep youpany.¡± Chen Ge was a careful thinker. He knew that some ghosts¡¯ obsessions were like a curse. Once he gave them his real name, they would stick to him forever, so he dragged Wang Xiaoming down with him without much hesitation.

    ¡°The two of you?¡± The girl¡¯s eyes were glued onto Chen Ge. From the beginning, she had neverid her eyes on Wang Xiaoming. This was one of the things that had struck Chen Ge as strange. The girl stood at the bedroom door. She was still hesitating when the sound of a heavy object knocking against a wooden board came from inside Bai Ling¡¯s bedroom!

    The bedroom door was not closed tight. The ¡®dog¡¯ inside the room seemed to have confirmed that the visitors this time were not acted by Bai Ling and Mr. Bai from Chen Ge¡¯s conversation with the girl.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s a promise.¡± The girl¡¯s smile was like a blooming flower. ¡°Wait a minute, the big dog is acting up again. We mustn¡¯t let it attract the other people¡¯s attention.¡±

    The girl¡¯s gaze lingered on Chen Ge for a long time before she turned to head back into the bedroom. The sound of banging slowly dwindled. Then, several minutester, the girl walked out from the bedroom. Her expression was normal, but she had changed into a new set of pajamas.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go with you. You open the door and look for your things while I wait for you outside.¡± There was an indescribable excitement in the girl¡¯s voice. She jogged through the living room and waited at the entrance. Chen Ge and Wang Xiaoming moved to follow her.

    ¡°Xiao Lin.¡± Wang Xiaoming pointed at the girl and then waved his hand as if reminding Chen Ge not to get too close to the girl. Chen Ge nodded silently. He was prepared to grab the tools and run.

    The girl held the doorknob and started to turn it. She had just opened the door a sliver when the door was suddenly pulled outward!

    ¡°There¡¯s someone outside the door!¡± Chen Ge jumped from the shock. Thankfully, with the training from the ck phone, his reaction speed was far faster than a normal person¡¯s. Just as the doorknob was about to slip from the girl¡¯s hand, he ran forward and mmed into the door, knocking it shut!

    BANG!

    The sound of door closing echoed down the corridor. In this silence, the sudden boom was very scary.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, I am Uncle Zhang from next door. There have been soundsing from your ce, so I came over to take a look. If you need any help, please open the door.¡± A man¡¯s voice came from outside.

    Chen Ge lowered his voice and leaned against the girl¡¯s ear to whisper, ¡°Do not open the door no matter what. Would he eavesdrop outside the door for so long if he wished to help? Furthermore, he was trying to pull the door open earlier, which proves that he wished to barge in. This man is lying to you.¡±

    The girl, Bai Ling, did not expect someone to be hiding outside her room, but there was no fear in her eyes, only a trace of alertness and dissatisfaction.

    ¡°Go and hide inside my father¡¯s bedroom. Remember to lock the door.¡± The big dog was in her bedroom, and her father¡¯s bedroom was the innermost room. She jogged back to open the lock. Bai Ling urged Chen Ge to hurry back. The girl did not seem to care about Wang Xiaoming at all¡ªshe merely wished to hide Chen Ge.

    ¡°Quick, get in here.¡± Chen Ge was not going to leave his partner behind, so he pulled Wang Xiaoming into the room as well. The bedroom door closed again. Wang Xiaoming leaned against the door and could hear his heart pounding in his chest.

    ¡°There is someone else hiding outside the door. Thankfully, we didn¡¯t run out and escape earlier, or else we would have been caught!¡±

    ¡°The person outside the door is probably the teacher who saw in the corridor. He was using a shlight and almost discovered us,¡± Chen Ge replied absent-mindedly because his focus was on the room that he was in. This was Mr. Bai¡¯s bedroom! He might find what he needed there!

    ¡°Just now, it was Bai Ling who used her key to open the lock, so in other words, without going through her, we would not normally be able to ess this room!¡± Chen Ge did not panic even though things were not looking optimistic. If anything, he thought that he was being lucky. He looked through the drawers and shelves and soon discovered something.

    ¡°Student¡¯s Registration File? Why would something like this be found inside a teacher¡¯s drawer?¡± Chen Ge flipped through it at top speed. This was a normal file¡ªthe only special thing was that when he had still been in Mr. Bai¡¯s ss, he had counted only seventeen other people, including Mr. Bai, but in this file, there were the pictures of twenty-one students.

    When Chen Ge woke up inside the ssroom, he had memorized the faces of all his ssmates. It was something that he had done out of caution, but that woulde in handy now.

    Comparing the file and the memory in his mind, Chen Ge soon realized that something was wrong.

 Chapter 772 - Maintenance Room

    <h4>Chapter 772: Maintenance Room</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>At the time, the register that Mr. Bai was holding stated very clearly that there were supposed to be seventeen people in total,bining both students and teacher in the ss. However, when I made the calction myself, I realized that there were already seventeen students in the ss! In other words, there was an extra student! The correct student number should be sixteen! It¡¯s unclear whether Mr. Bai made a careless mistake or purposely ignored this due to certain reason!</i>

    The student¡¯s registration file came with pictures. Comparing them with the memory in his mind, Chen Ge soon filtered out five cases from the file, these were the five Chen Ge did not encounter in the ss.

    <i>Five people are missing from my ss?</i>

    Chen Ge instantly rted that to another detail. There were exactly five human shadows on the walls in his Bedroom 413.

    <i>Is that a coincidence, or were the five who have gone missing all transformed into the shadows on the wall?</i>

    Looking through the file again, he soon discovered another problem.

    <i>Howe there is no record on Xiao Lin?</i>

    He had looked through it twice, but Chen Ge could not find the case file on Lin Sisi.

    <i>The extra person in the ssroom is Lin Sisi? Am I the one unounted for?</i>

    Chen Ge thought about the content inside Xiao Lin¡¯s diary that he had found at Nightmare Academy. Because Xiao Lin liked to prank people, the rest of the ssmates had ganged up to y a joke on him.

    ¡°I think I get it now.¡± Chen Ge did not utter the rest of his thoughts. He felt like Lin Sisi probably represented not an actual person but an identity. No one there was really his friend, but at the same time, he shared an unknown rtionship with the rest of them.

    <i>Without any aid, without any clues, and everyone I encounter is my enemy. That is already hard enough, but on top of that, I have to face the ¡®rules¡¯ of this school filled with despair. Is this the difficulty of a four-star mission?</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s hand that gripped the file tightened involuntarily, and he subconsciously turned to look at his shadow, but there was no change to it.

    The truth was often the cruelest and heaviest. Chen Ge took a slow breath.

    <i>It¡¯ll be fine. At least, this is not a dead end. I still have a chance at survival.</i>

    Everyone at that school was concocting their own ns. Each of them had their own goal to achieve, and this was a chance for Chen Ge!

    Memorizing the faces of these five students, Chen Ge shoved the whole file into his bag. He continued searching inside the bedroom. Meanwhile, Wang Xiaoming leaned against the door, eavesdropping on the situation outside with a worried expression on his face.

    ¡°Xiao Ling, open the door. I¡¯m worried about you. I¡¯m afraid that some bad guy has entered your room.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a little pet that my dad got me. It escaped from its cage, and I was running around trying to catch it.¡±

    ¡°Your father gifted you a small pet?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Uncle Zhang, please don¡¯t tell that to anyone else. I promise it will not affect anyone.¡±

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Bai definitely has crossed the line this time. The school rules state very clearly that we are not allowed to keep pets. Oh well, I¡¯ll pretend to ignore it this time, but you¡¯d better deal with that thing as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°Okay, Uncle Zhang, promise you won¡¯t tell anyone about this.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, why would I tell other people about this?¡±

    The sound from the living room disappeared. Then Bai Ling ran over to open the bedroom door. ¡°He¡¯s gone.¡±

    ¡°Could he still be hiding behind the door?¡± Chen Ge shifted the bag behind him. He was worried that the girl might notice that his bag had be fuller. In that short period of time, Chen Ge had searched the entire bedroom. Other than the student¡¯s registration file, he had found a teacher¡¯s ID, a canteen card, and a library card. He carried all of them with him, not knowing whether they would prove useful or not.

    ¡°I believe he has gone. Mr. Zhang is a good person; he suffers from paranoia, that¡¯s all.¡± Bai Ling led Chen Ge and Wang Xiaoming back to the living room. She had Chen Ge look through the peephole. After confirming that there was no one outside, she opened the door. ¡°Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll wait for you outside the maintenance room.¡±

    The lights in the corridor were off. It was dim, and the darkness appeared to hide many dangers. Chen Ge made a shushing gesture. He turned off all the lights in Bai Ling¡¯s room. After his eyes got used to the darkness, he walked out from the room.

    ¡°Be careful.¡± Chen Ge knew how to make use of his advantage. With his Yin Yang Vision, in the dark, his sight and senses were much better than those of others. The three moved to the end of the corridor. Bai Ling took out the ring of keys from her pajamas pocket and tried them one by one.

    In the silence, any sound would be amplified. Wang Xiaoming leaned against the door, looking around nervously. Chen Ge kept his eyes on Bai Ling, afraid that she might set a trap against them. On the fourth trial, the key finally stuck into the keyhole, and the lock gave.

    <i>A yellow-colored copper key.</i>

    Narrowing his eyes, he felt that the key looked very familiar. He reached into his bag to look for the ring of keys that he had found inside Xiao Lin¡¯s bag. When he first obtained the ring of keys, Chen Ge had been wondering why Xiao Lin would have so many keys.

    <i>This is one of the keys on Xiao Lin¡¯s key ring!</i>

    Chen Ge had no idea where Xiao Lin had gotten this key, but this was good news for now. When he encountered a locked door in the future, he could try to open it with the keys in Xiao Lin¡¯s bag. Perhaps one might work.

    <i>Assuming Xiao Lin is an identity, does the presence of this key point to the fact that Xiao Lin has once been to this maintenance room?</i>

    ¡°Why are you spacing out? Get your things now, or else some other people mighte.¡± Wang Xiaoming pointed at Bai Ling quietly as if reminding Chen Ge that Mr. Bai mighte home soon.

    Chen Ge stopped wasting time. He entered the maintenance room, but what he saw was something that he did not anticipate. The room was indeed filled with tools but not those used for fixing machines. They were tools rted to human anatomy, like the gum separator used by dentists, a scalpel, syringes, medical threads, an artery mp, and so on.

    <i>Am I in the wrong room?</i>

    In the middle of a room was a table with a white cloth. There was something protruding from underneath the cloth. The four corners of the room had four mirrors covered in white cloth. The racks were clean, and many tools that Chen Ge could not recognize could be found.

    ¡°Is this the maintenance room?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Wang Xiaoming and Bai Ling answered in unison. When they stepped into this room, their faces turned paler.

    ¡°This maintenance room... is probably not used to fix electrical appliances or furniture.¡± Chen Ge stopped wasting time. He moved down the racks. Certain things could not be changed, so he could only do his best given the circumstances. ¡°It¡¯s fine. The tool used to pull out teeth can be used to pull out the nails.¡±

    The maintenance room was small. There was no dirt or blood as if someone cleaned it daily.

    After cing all the tools that he could use into the bag, Chen Ge walked to stand before the first mirror.

 Chapter 773 - Red Mirror

    <h4>Chapter 773: Red Mirror</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The mirrors sat in the four corners of the room, and each of them was hidden behind a white cloth. One could only see the bottommost part.

    ¡°Why would they ce mirrors inside the maintenance room? They are ced almost ceremoniously around the room...¡± Whether the maintenance room was used to fix living humans or furniture, it should have no use for mirrors either way. ¡°After they have corrected whatever they¡¯re fixing, do they ce it before the mirrors to be admired first?¡±

    Before Bai Ling or Wang Xiaoming could say anything, Chen Ge reached out to pull away the white cloth that covered the mirrors.

    ¡°Do not touch that!¡± Bai Ling¡¯s warning came a littlete. The white cloth fell to the ground, and the three were given an unobstructed view of the thing behind the cloth.

    ¡°Is this paint?¡± Chen Ge stood before the mirror and used his hand to touch its surface. The smooth surface had a coat of something that appeared like red paint. It ruined the purpose of the mirror, and it could no longer reflect anything.

    Chen Ge used his nails to scratch at the surface. The red coat seemed to have grown out of the mirror itself. It had melted into the mirror and could not be removed so easily.

    ¡°Mirror...¡± Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of something. This was the first time that he hade across a mirror after waking up inside the ssroom. Mirrors weremon in the real world, but they seemed to be a kind of taboo at this school.

    <i>There was no mirror in Room 413, Xiao Lin did not carry any mirror on him inside his bag, there was no mirror inside the dormitory manager¡¯s room, and even Bai Ling and Mr. Bai¡¯s room did not have a mirror!</i>

    Chen Ge quickly moved to proceed to remove all white cloths from the mirrors. Chen Ge realized that all four mirrors had distinctive shapes and appearances¡ªthey seemed to have been moved there from different ces.

    <i>The maintenance room¡¯s key should be with the maintenance worker and the teachers. Normally, people rarelye here. The school has ced these four mirrors here because they do not wish for people toe across them on a regr basis.</i>

    The coat of red paint was left on the surface of the four mirrors. Even when he stood before the mirror, he could not see his own reflection.

    <i>The mirrors are practically useless. Is it because they are afraid of seeing themselves in the mirror?</i>

    Chen Ge did not understand why, but he made a mental note of this. When he came across another mirror in his journey, he would pay it more attention. Perhaps a chance of escaping this ce could be found from it.

    ¡°Xiao Lin, have you got everything? It¡¯s time to go.¡± Wang Xiaoming kept urging Chen Ge. As time moved forward, the young man became more and more agitated.

    ¡°Wait a moment.¡± Chen Ge studied the mirrors in the four corners closely. The first mirror did not have a frame but instead was surrounded by clear cellophane tape. It appeared like it had been yanked out from a closet. The second mirror was small. Someone had probably taken it from a make-up table, something that did not appear like it should belong at a school. The third mirror had the term boratory¡¯ written on it, so it probably came from there. Thest mirror had a wooden frame, and a series of number was etched into the frame¡ª413. Underneath the numbers, at the edge where the frame connected to the wall, there was a person¡¯s name¡ªLin Sisi.

    ¡°Why would thisst mirror have Xiao Lin¡¯s name on it? Could it be that this mirror was taken from Xiao Lin¡¯s room?¡¯ Chen Ge had a feeling that things were not that simple. Xiao Lin¡¯s file could not be found on the student register, so why would the name Lin Sisi be on the mirror?

    Squatting down before thest mirror, Chen Ge looked at the mirror¡¯s surface, which was tempered. It was unclear whether it was his own shadow that fell on the mirror, a trick of the light, or an issue with the angle, but Chen Ge felt like he saw someone inside the mirror.

    <i>Lin Sisi¡¯s name is on the mirror, so if there is really someone inside the mirror, could that person be the real or the previous Lin Sisi?</i>

    He used his hand to touch the surface. The chill and eeriness were like he was touching a ¡®blood door¡¯ that was slowly opening.

    The mirror before him seemed to transform into a python with a gaping maw. Chen Ge resisted the difort to grab at the edge of the mirror. When his fingersnded on the back of the mirror, he found that the back of the mirror was uneven, like something was carved there.

    <i>It felt like I was almost swallowed.</i>

    Slowly turning the mirror around, when Chen Ge saw the back side of the mirror, he took a deep, cold breath. The back of the mirror was covered with the name Lin Sisi, painted in bright red paint!

    The names covered the back of the mirror. The creepy part was that the names came from different handwriting.

    ¡°Wang Xiaoming, help me turn the mirrors around. Check and see if they are all covered with human names on their backs.¡± Chen Ge carried the fourth mirror with both of his hands while signaling for Wang Xiaoming to move the other mirrors. However, he waited for a long time, but Wang Xiaoming stood frozen at where he was.

    Chen Ge turned back to look and realized that both Wang Xiaoming and Bai Ling were staring at the mirrors inside the maintenance room like they were possessed. Their bodies were leaning forward, and they stood on their toes. Green veins surfaced on their pale faces, and hatred as well as endless resentment swirled in their eyes.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with the two of you?¡± The mirrors were painted with this unknown red substance, and they could no longer reflect anything, but it felt like Wang Xiaoming and Bai Ling were still able to see the mirrors¡¯ reflections.

    <i>Do they see a different mirror than what I see, or can they feel a type of presence from within the mirrors? Bai Ling¡¯s father warned her from getting too close to the maintenance room. Could it be due to these few mirrors?</i>

    Bai Ling and Wang Xiaoming were Chen Ge¡¯s temporarily allies, but he was afraid that the two might suddenly turn on him, so he quickly picked up the white cloths and ced them back on the mirrors.

    After the mirrors were hidden from view, Wang Xiaoming and Bai Ling gradually calmed down. The veins on their faces disappeared, and the resentment in their eyes slowly dissipated. They did not seem to remember the strange phenomenon that overtook them, like everything was just Chen Ge¡¯s imagination.

    <i>It appears like the mirror can reflect their true self.</i>

    There were very few mirrors around the school, and these remaining four mirrors had their surfaces ruined by this red paint. Chen Ge was curious. If Wang Xiaoming and the rest were given a direct look at an unaltered mirror, what would happen to them?

    ¡°We¡¯ve already gotten what we came for, let¡¯s go.¡± Chen Ge moved rather unwillingly away from the maintenance room. If not for the humongous size of the mirror, he would have carried one with him. What Chen Ge needed to do next was find a way to hurry back to Room 413, remove the nails on the walls, and persuade the remaining shadows.

    ¡°Xiao Lin.¡± It was unknown when Wang Xiaoming managed to slither behind Chen Ge. He pulled on Chen Ge¡¯s arm lightly. ¡°Based on our previous promise, you¡¯d better remember to stop at the canteen to apany me to buy some food.¡±

    ¡°Is the canteen still open sote at night?¡± Chen Ge said with a smile as his eyes moved between Bai Ling and Wang Xiaoming.

    ¡°Of course, you¡¯ll see once you follow me there. There is a stall that sells very delicious food.¡± Saliva dripped out of Wang Xiaoming¡¯s lips, and it made him look very scary.

    ¡°You cannot leave! Didn¡¯t you promise to stay? I said I would only bring my family here! You have to follow me back!¡± Bai Ling hugged Chen Ge with both of her arms. She refused to surrender Chen Ge to Wang Xiaoming.

    ¡°She¡¯s right, so what should I do?¡± Chen Ge purposely acted like he was troubled. Looking at the two who held im over him quite literally, he said, ¡°How about the two of you decide between yourselves where I should go?¡±

 Chapter 774 - Good Teammate, Gone Like That

    <h4>Chapter 774: Good Teammate, Gone Like That</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°He gave me his promise first!¡± Wang Xiaoming red at Bai Ling and raised his voice.

    ¡°But you are now in the staff dormitory. Without my help, you would have gotten into the maintenance room,¡± Bai Ling retorted with a sweet smile on her face. Her hands were still curled around Chen Ge¡¯s arm. ¡°Come over to my ce. I still have many things I want to tell you.¡±

    Chen Ge was squeezed between the two. He knew better than anyone else what was happening. The big dog being reared at Bai Ling¡¯s home was the missing student. If he followed Bai Ling home, he would end up as the girl¡¯s ything. It would not be too safe to follow Wang Xiaoming either. The man had been saying that there was delicious food at the canteen, but he did not mention what kind of food it was. If he really did follow Wang Xiaoming to the canteen, Chen Ge had a feeling that he would end up as the food himself.

    Everyone in that school had their own evil agenda, but they would never show it directly. Both of those choices would lead to certain death¡ªthe difference was how he would die. Looking at the two fighting over him, Chen Ge did not push them away.

    With one hand over Wang Xiaoming¡¯s shoulder and the other caressing Bai Ling¡¯s head, Chen Ge acted touched. ¡°You both are my good friends. One is reliable and trustworthy, and the other is kind and cute; I really can¡¯t find it within myself to reject either one of you!¡±

    He hesitated for a while before squatting down to pick up Bai Ling. ¡°I will follow my friend to the canteen to find something to eat first. Later, I¡¯lle back, okay?¡±

    ¡°No! You cannot go with him!¡± The girl¡¯s sweet expression immediately froze. Small lumps started to swell on her body, and she seemed to have grown slightly taller.

    ¡°Okay then.¡± Chen Ge turned to Wang Xiaoming with a helpless expression. ¡°Brother, how about you go to the canteen ahead of me? I will stay to apany this girl for a while. She is probably too afraid to stay home alone.¡±

    ¡°Have you lost your mind? When Mr. Bai returns and sees you in his room, he will send you to detention!¡± Wang Xiaoming was stronger than Bai Ling. He pulled Chen Ge over to his side. ¡°Follow me! We will go to the canteen!¡±

    Chen Ge was dragged by Wang Xiaoming to the door, but Bai Ling refused to let go. ¡°But you promised me!¡±

    The transformation of the little girl became more pronounced. Her eyes sunk, and tears flowed out of her eyes. The tears cut open her face like a sharp knife. The monster that was hiding inside the girl was showing itself.

    ¡°You¡¯re making this very difficult for me.¡± Chen Ge flung both of their hands away. ¡°You two can discuss this among yourselves. I will wait outside the door for you. Come and find me when you reach a decision.¡±

    After dropping that announcement, Chen Ge opened the door and left. Once he closed the door, the sound of a heavy thud came from inside the room. It sounded like someone¡¯s head was mmed into the wall.

    ¡°It¡¯s so surprising that I¡¯m so popr here. There are so many students at this school, so why are they so hung up over me?¡± Chen Ge memorized what his two friends had said. Once he exited the maintenance room, he did not pause for even a second. He grabbed his bag and raced directly out of the staff dormitory. The moment that Chen Ge stepped out of the staff dormitory, a voice came from the darkened corridor behind him. It seemed to be calling Xiao Lin¡¯s name.

    However, the biggest difference between Chen Ge and the other protagonists of horror movies was that he would never curious about things that might kill him. It was unimportant who the person that called after him was; the important thing was that he had obtained what he needed, and it was time to begin the next step of his n.

    ¡°I need to move faster. If Bai Ling survives, she won¡¯t know my exact location, but if it¡¯s Wang Xiaoming who survives, everything will be much moreplicated. This deskmate knows my room location and will definitely return to the dormitory to find me.¡± Chen Ge did not turn around once as he jogged all the way back to the male dormitory. ¡°There is not even one person to be seen in this school after dark. No matter how strict the rules are, shouldn¡¯t there be some guards patrolling thepound?¡±

    It was apletely different atmosphere at the night school before and after the lights went out. The lights were probably some kind of boundary line there. ¡°Staying here for too long will lead to some bad things, and staying in the dark for too long will attract the unwanted attention of monsters. There sure are many rules that can cause death here.¡±

    Having many death-causing rules was not that scary; the thing that made it scariest was the fact that no one had told Chen Ge what the rules were. Even though he had been exploring the ce for so long, Chen Ge was notpletely confident that he had correctly deduced all the rules.

    Chen Ge did not stop to catch his breath as he jogged back to the male student dormitory. He did not enter the building directly but hid behind one of the big trees next to the entrance. He used his Yin Yang Vision to scout out the area first.

    The entrance was not closed shut, but the dormitory manager that Wang Xiaoming was afraid of appeared to have gone to sleep already.

    ¡°Something¡¯s not right. When Wang Xiaoming and I left this ce earlier, I made sure to close the entrance door, but now, it¡¯s open. It can only mean that someone has been in or out of this ce during the period that we were out. The school forbids students from wandering about after dark, so the person who arrived here was either a member of staff or the dormitory manager.¡± Chen Ge ran to the other side of the road to switch to a different vantage point. He saw something new.

    There was a pair of brown leather shoes sitting in the corner of the first-floor corridor. Someone appeared to be hiding there!

    ¡°If I¡¯m not mistaken, Mr. Bai wears a pair of shoes just like that. Is he the one who¡¯s hiding there?¡± The more Chen Ge thought about it, the more he felt that it was likely. He had been in the staff dormitory, but he had not run into Mr. Bai.

    ¡°I sure was lucky. He has been waiting for me at the student dormitory, and that gave me the perfect opening to sneak inside his room.¡±

    This kind of dangerous action caused Chen Ge¡¯s heart to race. ¡°It¡¯s a good thing that Mr. Bai is hiding here. Wang Xiaoming knows that I will return to the bedroom, so if he survives the encounter at the maintenance room, he will rush back here. If he¡¯s careless, he will run headfirst into Mr. Bai, and that will solve one of the loose ends.¡±

    Chen Ge would run into more danger if he wished to continue his exploration of the school, but he had handled this situation nicely. While he attracted danger, he kept shifted the focus on him to something else. This made it so that even though he was in constant danger, he was not in mortal danger.

    ¡°For now, I can¡¯t return to the student dormitory. I need to change up my n somehow.¡± Chen Ge decided to go to the art room first. From Xiao Lin¡¯s notebook, he had found out that the first student who died in Room 413 was an art student.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine if you want to use me as a scapegoat, but you have to rify some things first. If the discussion fails, I will personally hammer back the nails that you¡¯ve put on me one by one.¡± Still hiding in the shadow, Chen Ge silently retreated. He did not have a map and had to avoid the different danger, so he walked very slowly.

    ¡°I¡¯m at such a disadvantage because I don¡¯t know anything about the different scenarios at this school. I need a real partner that I can trust.¡±

    After taking a long detour, Chen Ge came to theboratory building. There were few buildings on the night school¡¯s campus, and he believed the art room might be inside this building. In any case, that was the likeliest possibility.

 Chapter 775 - Who Is Following Me?

    <h4>Chapter 775: Who Is Following Me?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The night school¡¯sboratory building was not tall by any means; it only had four floors in total. Instead of saying that it was a location for the students to conduct experiments, it was more like a tacked-on location to fulfil the appearance of being an educational establishment. This building was not far from the student dormitory. So, if Chen Ge made too much noise there, it would be heard clearly by those residing in the male student dormitory.

    Chen Ge silently sought his way to the building entrance. He looked through the ss door into the building for a while. There was a dark corridor and numerous rooms with closed doors. Looking in from the outside, there was nothing that particrly stood out about the ce.

    ¡°Everything looks normal.¡± Chen Ge had a standard in his heart used to gauge the scary factor of a scenario. The lowest standard was for those scenarios where the scenario itself was not scary but the characters or events that transpired at the scenario were very scary. The highest standard was reserved for scenarios where both the setting and the characters possessed incredible danger, and a careless mistake could lead to your death.

    Obviously, this school belonged to the highest standard. Therefore, Chen Ge reminded himself not to be fooled by a seemingly peaceful appearance. ¡°The stiller the water on the surface, the deeper it runs.¡±

    Resting a moment before entering the building, Chen Ge adjusted his breathing. When he was ready, Chen Ge moved forward to give the entrance door a light shove. The ss door of theboratory was not locked. With a light push from Chen Ge, the door slid open practically soundlessly.

    A chilling draft came from inside the building. Staring down the dark corridor, the hair on Chen Ge¡¯s arms stood on end. ¡°Something does not feel right here.¡±

    Chen Ge had conducted many Trial Missions, and a normal scenario would not have caused him such a feeling.

    Squinting his eyes, Chen Ge studied his surrounding carefully. ¡°Things look like how they should be in real life. There is nothing that stands out, so howe I have this disconcerting feeling in my heart?¡±

    The corridor wasid with clean and slippery tiles, and the walls were painted white. The ce was spotless. There was no graffiti to be seen, and this ce was very well kept, but somehow, it made Chen Ge feel incredibly ufortable.

    ¡°What is the problem?¡± An instinctual sense of fear curled around Chen Ge¡¯s heart. He entered the building with as much care as he could manage. The moment that his hand let go of the doorknob, the ss doors slid back into ce.

    ¡°Not good!¡± Without any hesitation, Chen Ge instantly turned around to grab the doorknob. He pulled with all his might, and the doors swung open easily. He was not trapped inside the building.

    ¡°This is different from what I thought.¡± When the doors slid shut behind him, Chen Ge had thought that his escape route had been cut off and that he had been quarantined inside the building, but that was not the truth. ¡°They allow me to escape if I want to, or does this mean that they know I will not be able to survive even if they allow me the freedom of getting out the front door?¡±

    Chen Ge let go of the door and watched as the ss doors closed. So far, everything that Chen Ge had encountered inside this building could not have been more normal. Any other person would have doubted their conviction and lowered their guard, but Chen Ge was not that kind of person. ¡°I need to find what is causing me the anxiety as soon as possible. I don¡¯t care whether it is a person, a ghost, or something else.¡±

    Carrying the bag, Chen Ge entered the corridor with his back pressed against the wall. The interior of the building was very small, but it contained manybs. They were for different subjects, and every ssroom had a different name on it.

    ¡°All thebs and activity rooms for the night school should be in this building. That means that I will probably find the art room here.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s footsteps echoed down the corridor as he walked down the path alone at night. This pressure was hard to describe, but every single second was like tortuously long. Chen Ge tried to open the ssroom doors as he walked down the corridor. He had lost count of the doors that he had tried, but the majority of them were locked. Only a small handful were left unlocked, but even so, the doors could not be opened. They were too heavy to move as if someone had ced a heavy object behind them to block entry.

    Chen Ge reached the end of the corridor. He had searched the entire first floor, but he had failed to locate the art room. To his surprise, the building, which only had four floors, came with an elevator. ¡°Are there no stairs? Only an elevator?¡±

    Everything else in the building was fine until the appearance of this elevator. Chen Ge did not dare to utilize it so recklessly. He stood about four meters away to study it first.

    ¡°This appears to be an elevator normally used to transport heavy objects. Does theb need to have bigger objects transported up and down between the floors often? In that case, why didn¡¯t they fix the stairs but install an elevator?¡±

    As he got closer to the elevator, Chen Ge got an increasingly stronger whiff of a horrible stench. The smell came from inside the elevator. ¡°Just what kind of things is this elevator normally used to transport?¡±

    Chen Ge stood at the door for a long time. Actually, Chen Ge was reluctant to take the elevator because the booth was a confined space. Once the doors closed, he would lose the ability to escape. There was no way to run. ¡°The art room is not on the first floor, and to get to the other floors, I have to use the elevator.¡±

    There were two choices. One was to take the elevator and continue exploring the building, to search for the shadow that had escaped from Room 413. The other was to leave the night school directly and head to the western campus where the normal students should be gathered.

    Chen Ge did not dare to wander about the night school anymore. Mr. Bai was waiting to ambush him at the dormitory; if he ran into either Bai Ling or Wang Xiaoming, he would be exposed, and then he would end up in a very dangerous situation.

    ¡°The frequency for the appearance of the nails is bing shorter and shorter. I have to deal with this curse as soon as possible.¡± Chen Ge hid one of the nails in his palm and pressed the button to summon the elevator. The number on the panel above the door originally showed three, but after Chen Ge pressed the button, the number on the panel soon turned to two.

    ¡°This building does not possess a staircase. So, the only way to leave is to use the elevator. Before I called the elevator, it was parked at the third floor and not idling on the first floor. This means that at this moment, there is someone else inside this building, and he is on the third floor!¡± Chen Ge gripped the nail tightly. As the number on the panel slowly changed, he silently retreated to the middle of the corridor. He was worried that once the doors opened, something would rush out at him from inside the elevator.

    The school was filled with danger at every step, and Chen Ge felt like he could never be too careful. The number on the panel soon turned to one. The elevator doors opened, and the strange stench in the air seemed to have thickened. Chen Ge, who stood several meters away, peered into the elevator booth with his Yin Yang Vision. The inside of the elevator was empty; there was nothing there.

    ¡°That thing hasn¡¯te down, so it is still on the third floor!¡± Chen Ge returned to the elevator. He started to search inside his bag. He wished to use the dental floss and artery mp to make a simple tool. The n was, when he took the elevator to the second floor, he would ce those items between the two doors so that the elevator could not close fully. The elevator would not move to another floor, and he would not have to worry about the thing from the third flooring to get him.

    As a Haunted House boss, Chen Ge had personally designed many props in the past, and he finished the tool in mere seconds. ¡°This should work.¡±

    Chen Ge entered the elevator and pressed the button to go to the second floor. The button lit up.

    The elevator booth was much more spacious than a normal elevator. Chen Ge felt very ufortable standing in there. ¡°What is this elevator normally used for? What does it usually transport? Why is there such a horrible stink?¡±

    After selecting the desired floor, the gray doors slowly closed, and the intensity of the stench inside the elevator almost doubled.

    ¡°The stench continues to thicken.¡± Chen Ge subconsciously moved his hands to cover his nose. He looked at the screen above the control panel with a frown. He wished to leave the elevator as soon as possible, but once the doorspletely closed, the button that represented the third floor on the panel suddenly lit up.

    ¡°Someone is going to the third floor?¡± After this temporary shock, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes gradually widened!

    The light on the button would only light up because someone had pressed on the corresponding floor number from inside the elevator!

    ¡°There is something else inside this elevator!¡± The heavy stench rushed into his nostrils. Chen Ge did not turn around. He faced the elevator doors and kept himself frozen solid inside the elevator.

 Chapter 776 - Guardroom

    <h4>Chapter 776: Guardroom</h4>

    <b>Trantor:</b> Lonelytree <b>Editor:</b> Millman97

    ¡°There is another existence other than me inside the elevator. It was the one who pressed for the number three on the control panel.¡± Thick stench rolled out from behind him. It was like an invisible hand, holding Chen Ge firmly in its palm. Chen Ge¡¯s breathing became difficult. The sound of a cart sliding suddenly echoed in the elevator that should have been empty except for Chen Ge.

    The rough wheels ground against the metallic surface. It sounded like someone was pushing a small cart back and forth inside the elevator.

    ¡°I looked inside the elevator with my Yin Yang Vision, and there were no people or ghosts, much less a cart. Have I encountered something that even the Yin Yang Vision could not discern?¡±

    The Yin Yang Vision came from the ck phone, and it had been strengthened multiple times. One time, Zhang Ya had blown a breath of Yin energy into his eyes. This talent of his was very powerful, and there was next to no chance of it suddenly failing.

    ¡°What is standing behind me?¡± The simplest way to get to the bottom of the puzzle was to turn around. However, Chen Ge knew that curiosity killed the cat. He bit down on his lip and refused to budge. The stench continued to thicken. It was hard to tell where this smell originated from. It permeated around Chen Ge and kept trying to seep into his body. The elevator booth was rather spacious, but as the elevator moved upward, Chen Ge felt his surroundings closing in. Even his breathing became lighter and lighter.

    ¡°It feels like the space around me is crowded even though the elevator is supposedly empty.¡± Chen Ge kept his head lowered and nced at the control panel out of the corner of his eyes. He did not dare move his gaze aimlessly, afraid that he would see things that he should not.

    ¡°This is so slow...¡± Inside the enclosed space, there was no ce to hide or run; all Chen Ge could do was wait. Under Chen Ge¡¯s gaze, the number above the control panel started to change, and the red one now turned into a two. It was only a few seconds, but it felt like years to Chen Ge. ¡°The elevator doors are going to open soon!¡±

    Every muscle in his body was pulled taut. Chen Ge was very worried that the elevator would refuse to open on the second floor and directly take him to the third floor. The elevator that was moving upward shivered slightly. Then a ringing sound came from the screen, and the elevator stopped. The silvery-gray doors slowly opened. At the same time, the stench rushed toward Chen Ge, forming a palpable wall that attempted to push Chen Ge deeper into the elevator.

    Without waiting for the doors to open fully, Chen Ge waved his arms around and darted out of the elevator!

    He slowed down after running several meters. He stood on the right side of the corridor and turned back to look. The doors were slowly closing. There was nothing inside the empty elevator booth. The stench also slowly dissipated as the doors closed.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t there anything?¡± Moving his eyes about, Chen Ge caught a glimpse of something on the floor of the elevator booth. There was a stain there, and it had the shape of a human face. The doors closed fully, and the number on the panel above the doors turned from two to three.

    ¡°All of them appear to have moved onto the third floor.¡± Chen Ge was still holding the item that he had crafted earlier. It was already soaked in sweat. ¡°Thankfully, I did not drop this thing at the door. If the elevator was unable to move up, then the thing inside would havee after me instead.¡±

    cing the item inside the bag, Chen Ge looked at the elevator with residual fear in his heart. ¡°Perhaps it will be safer to jump out from the window when I need to leaveter. After all, a second floor is not too high up anyway.¡±

    Before knowing what kind of existence he was dealing with, Chen Ge swore not to take the elevator again.

    ¡°Chen Ge, snap out of it. Follow the n.¡±

    Narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge held the wall to begin his search for the art room.

    Now that he was on the second floor, the anxiety in his heart only grew stronger. This whole building was different from any of the locales that he had visited in the past. He could sense that there was something wrong with the building, but he could not pinpoint what was wrong with it.

    His footsteps were the only sound as he moved down the darkened corridor. After walking for several meters, Chen Ge discovered a very strange room.

    ¡°A guardroom? Why is there a guardroom here? Do they need someone to stay overnight to watch over this ce? Is it because something valuable is stored here?¡±

    Two questions surfaced in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. Why was there a guardroom in the building, and why was the room situated on the second floor, not the first floor? Did the watchmen on duty only have to look after the second floor?

    ¡°Could there be someone currently inside this room?¡± Chen Ge sidled over to the door. He nced in through the window on the door. The room was sparsely furnished. There was only a bed, a wooden table, a chair, and a closet that could fit two adults. cing his hands lightly on the doorknob, Chen Ge realized that the door was not locked. He pushed the door open and entered it.

    ¡°This room should contain information or at least theyout of this building. If I can confirm that the art room is not in this building, then I¡¯ll jump out the window and leave immediately.¡± Chen Ge left the door open and walked to the closet. The closet was unusuallyrge. Chen Ge was worried that someone was hiding inside, so the first thing that he checked was the closet. Holding a nail, Chen Ge slowly pulled the closet door open.

    Several sets of blue work outfits sat inside. Probably because he identally nudged against them when he pulled open the door, the clothes were swinging slightly on their rails.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with the outfits, but howe all the ces where the name of the school should be have been torn out?¡± Chen Ge inspected all the work clothes and realized that anything that could rify the school¡¯s identity like the name or school symbol had been removed.

    ¡°The school staff probably wear such clothes.¡± Chen Ge grabbed a random set and shoved it inside his bag. ¡°When I go to the western campus, perhaps I can disguise myself as one of the workers.¡±

    Pulling up the bag¡¯s zipper, Chen Ge left the closet open as he turned to search the rest of the room. He opened the wooden drawer, which contained some inventory and transport records. All the product¡¯s names and prices were represented by symbols, so Chen Ge could not understand it.

    ¡°Should I take the ount book with me?¡± Chen Ge thought about it and decided against it. The ount book was quite useless to him, and it might ce him in danger.

    There was nothing else in the room. Chen Ge closed the drawers and prepared to leave, but when he turned around, he realized that the cover of the bed was wrinkled, like someone had recently sat on it. ¡°Was the cover already wrinkled when I came into the room?¡±

    The longer Chen Ge stared at the bed, the more confused he became. ¡°Normally, a bed should be ced next to the wall, so why is this bed ced in the middle of the room? It¡¯s not adjacent to any wall...¡±

    Standing next to the bed, Chen Ge could hear some soft whispering. He looked at the covers. Holding the nail, he slowly bent down. Reaching out to grab a corner of the cover, Chen Ge looked underneath the bed while half squatting.

    The wooden bed was ced in the middle of the room, and there was nothing underneath it. Sighing in relief, Chen Ge was about to get up when he felt something touch his shoulder. He turned back to look and realized with a shock there was a pair of legs dangling around the head of the bed.

    ¡°Who is it?¡± Chen Ge jumped up immediately, but he found no one seated on the bed. Apparently, he could only see the legs if he was looking from the beneath the bed.

    ¡°I cannot stay here any longer.¡± Chen Ge grabbed his bag and prepared to leave. When he closed the door of the guardroom, he saw some red clothes fluttering inside the closet.

 Chapter 777 - Look Down

    <h4>Chapter 777: Look Down</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Why would there be a red outfit floating inside a blue closet that is supposed to be filled with blue outfits? Unless, of course, it was not clothes but a person wearing red clothes.</i>

    When he entered the guardroom, Chen Ge had thought that the closet was very unusual. The first thing that he had done was inspect the closet, but his Yin Yang Vision did not spot anything unusual.

    <i>Why can¡¯t my eyes see them?</i>

    Chen Ge was reminded of the left eye that Chang Wenyu had brought out of the school.

    <i>Perhaps only that eye can see the truth of this ce, but unfortunately, that eye is currently with Chang Gu, and I have no idea where he is now.</i>

    After the door was pushed open, Chang Gu had probably be stranded somewhere in this school, but the school in the man¡¯s eyes was probably very different from what Chen Ge was currently seeing.

    <i>If I can find Chang Gu, it¡¯ll be much easier if we work together. I¡¯ll have more choices to work with as well.</i>

    Chang Gu was the most suitable partner in the school for Chen Ge. Both of them came from outside the door, shared the same goal, and pursued the same oue. However, the key issue was that Chen Ge was not sure if Chang Gu had the ability to survive in this world. This school was the lowestyer of hell for a normal person.

    <i>He has the left eye and can see things that I can¡¯t. If he is careful, he should have a chance of survival.</i>

    To find Chang Gu in such arge schoolpound was very difficult; Chen Ge would not waste his time to purposely do that. This was because he knew perfectly well that after he found Chang Gu, while he might gain Chang Gu¡¯s help, Chen Ge would also have to take on the responsibility of looking after Chang Gu.

    When they were together, their choices would increase, but at the same time, the risk of getting exposed would also double. After leaving the guardroom, Chen Ge picked up his speed. He realized that he was being a tad too optimistic. Not only was the third floor of thisb building dangerous, the whole building was rife with danger¡ªit was merely that the intensity of despair on the third floor was higher.

    <i>I still have underestimated this ce¡¯s danger level. Now my eyes are probably only seeing what the scenario wishes for me to see. There should be a blood red world behind the door, and this scenario should be no exception!</i>

    The danger at this school was like an iceberg because the danger that Chen Ge had seen so far was merely the tip. As for how many things were still hidden in the ice under the surface of the water, Chen Ge had no idea.

    Rushing down the corridor, Chen Ge walked past manybs that he had not heard of before. He did not stop to examine them. As long as the room¡¯s name had nothing to do with art, he would leave immediately and continue to move forward. He carried on until the other end of the corridor. Just as he was about to reach the end, Chen Ge suddenly saw a room name that caught his attention¡ªPaint Storage Room.

    <i>They need a whole room just to store the paint?</i>

    Paint could be used in painting, but it could also be used to cover the surfaces of mirrors. When Chen Ge saw those few words, he did not rush into the room immediately.

    <i>The notebook said that the first victim that died in Room 413 was an art student, so he probably came here when he was still alive.</i>

    As Chen Ge grabbed the doorknob, his arm slowly applied force. However, before he even opened the door, a sharp pain came from his chest!

    Gritting his teeth, Chen Ge forced the yelp down his throat. He pulled up his shirt to take a look and realized that a very deep hole had been made by a nail on his chest.

    <i>It has started to aim for my heart! I cannot allow this curse to go on any further. If the nail decides to show up when I am running away, it will cause a life-threatening influence.</i>

    When he peeled up his shirt, the nail dropped to the ground. There was no blood on it.

    <i>It¡¯s getting more and more painful.</i>

    Chen Ge bent over to pick up the nail. When his head was upside down and he prepared to reach out to grab the nail, his eyes nced at the corridor behind him. Not far away from him, someone was following him with their head lowered.

    Chen Ge jumped up instantly, and he threw the nail right at where the person was standing. However, when he straightened himself and turned back to look, the corridor behind him was empty¡ªthere was nothing there.

    ¡°What was that?¡± His body could feel something rush at him, but he could not see anything. There was no staircase leading off the corridor; there was only a dead-end. Chen Ge did not hesitate. He pulled open the door and ran into the paint storage room.

    He locked the door. Chen Ge leaned against it to block it from opening. After a long time, there was no sound from outside the door, and only then did Chen Ge¡¯s heart slowly return to normal.

    <i>Why is it that only when I bend over to pick stuff up will I see someone who also has his head lowered following me? Can he only look downward because he died from jumping off the building? Or is this a sign that the world that he¡¯s looking at is upside down from the one that I¡¯m seeing?</i>

    Chen Ge wished to lower his head to try to take another look, but he was afraid that once he did that, he would find himself inside a room filled with people, and then he would be in even greater danger.

    <i>Not seeing anything will probably make me feel better.</i>

    Chen Ge grabbed his bag with one hand and held the nails in another as he slowly walked around the room. All the racks and shelves in the room were covered with white cloth. There were several easels that sat in the corner of the room. One of them had a white sheet of paper fixed on it, and the paper had faded pencil scratches like someone was making the outline of a painting.

    <i>This kind of paper is specifically used for oil painting, and the easel for oil painting is much heavier than a normal easel. This should be an iplete painting.</i>

    The sketch was very rough, and the content was rather strange. The theme of the painting was two inverted sickrooms. There was a bed ced in each of the inverted rooms, and in each of themid a patient. Inside the two inverted sickrooms, there were two identical patients lying above two beds that were inverted, looking at each other. ¡°What is this painting trying to express?¡±

    Chen Ge could not figure it out. He moved the easel away to continue his exploration. He came upon several balls of paper inside the trashcan on the ground. He picked them up and spread them out. Every paper was painting the same scene.

    Seeing the sickrooms inside the paintings, the confusion in Chen Ge¡¯s heart grew. ¡°Why would they paint a sickroom? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve encountered a sickroom at this school, much less a patient.¡±

    Then, Chen Ge was reminded of a detail. When he first woke up and was returning to the dormitory with Wang Xiaoming, the two of them had walked down the corridor of the education block, and Chen Ge remembered seeing a lot of doctors¡¯ portraits lining the wall. Normally, a school would have pictures of their famous alums or great contributors to education showcased on the wall to inspire the students. Yet, this school had doctors¡¯ portraits, and none of the doctors were remotely famous.

    <i>The education block is filled with doctors¡¯ portraits, and now, these pictures mysteriously appear at the paint storage room...</i>

    Chen Ge slowly lifted his head, and a possibility crossed his mind.

    <i>I entered the door in a mental asylum. Could these things be a kind of hint?</i>

    Chen Ge wan unsure of his thought, but he did not dare go verify it. After all, with one mistake, he would die.

    <i>Doctors¡¯ portraits and paintings of sickrooms appear at the school, but why would the paintings of the sickrooms be inverted? The same patient lying in different beds looking at themselves...</i>

    Chen Ge examined the paintings closer. He used his fingers to touch them and realized with a shock that the upper part of the painting had a rough touch to it, and the lower part was much smoother. It felt like someone had painted over the lower part, giving it a much smoother coat. This meant that these paintings could be hiding some kind of hint.

 Chapter 778 - Third Floor

    <h4>Chapter 778: Third Floor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Painting paper was cheaper and easier to handle than painting canvas, which meant that new art studentsmonly used it. However, oil painting was a unique painting style in that students normally had to be rtively skilled before they were taught oil painting. By then, they would have outgrown painting paper. Thus, when Chen Ge saw the painting papers on the easel, he was confused, especially regarding the identity of the painter.

    Chen Ge had studied toy design and manufacture in university. His minor was in sses that were rted to art and art appreciation. He could tell from stylistic choices and skills employed in the simple sketches that the painter was not a newbie.

    ¡°He seems to be attempting to express something through multiple trials.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s finger glided across the surface. The upper half was rough and the lower half smooth, giving himpletely different sensations. ¡°Why did he insist on oil painting? Is it because only oil painting can express what he wishes to express?¡±

    Two inverted sickrooms and two patients with the same face. There was no problem with the theme, but when he used his finger to touch the painting itself, he noticed the problem.

    ¡°Since this is a painting, do I have to use paint on it to rify the difference?¡±

    With the intention to test it out, Chen Ge peeled back the white cloth from the racks and prepared to choose his paint. The rack was veryrge and the paints there were different from the ones sold at the shops. They were all stored inside ss jars that came without anybels or signs.

    ¡°Why... are there only red paint?¡± Looking at the rows of ss jars, Chen Ge was stumped. Various shades of red sat on the rack. Other than red, there were no other colors. As he twisted one of the jars open, a faded scent of blood drifted out. Chen Ge was certain that this was not a smell that shoulde out from a paint can.

    ¡°I¡¯ll use this one.¡± Chen Ge picked up the brush on the easel, dripped it into the jar, and ced several strokes on the painting. With the first stroke, Chen Ge noticed the problem. There seemed to be an invisible line in the middle of the paper. The paint in the jar only managed to leave behind a faded line on the upper part of the painting, but it left a deep red gash that looked like an open wound on the lower half of the painting.

    After several brushes, the painting took on a new look. The upper half looked like a sickroom that was installed with a light redmp while thetter part seemed to have been soaked in blood. The patients in the painting were supposed to have the same expression, but the feeling that they gave off waspletely different. One looked normal, if a little bit lost, but the other was covered in blood, and their expression was frozen in hatred and sin.

    ¡°Does this painting reflect the world behind the door, or is it trying to express something else?¡±

    Several secondster, Chen Ge witnessed something even stranger. On the unique piece of paper, the color of the upper half slowly faded while the bottom part was darkening. It felt as if the paint from the upper half was moving to the lower part.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this how the door works? Despair from real life will keep on seeping into the world behind the door. One cleanses itself, and the other sinks deeper into its despair.¡± The more he studied it, the more Chen Ge believed that this painting had everything to do with the world behind the door. He attempted to pull the painting out, but he was only halfway through when he heard knockinging from outside the door.

    ¡°Has ite?¡± His sweat follicles immediately stood on end. Chen Ge abandoned the painting. He picked up one of the sketches on the ground and raced to stand next to the window. Before entering the building, Chen Ge had noticed from outside that none of the windows were installed with anti-thefts. Pulling back the thick gray curtains, Chen Ge pushed open the windows. He was about to jump out when he saw someone standing right at the bottom of the building.

    The man had his head lowered. He was wearing a pair of leather shoes, on the thin side, and he did not look like he was in a good situation. ¡°Mr. Bai?¡±

    Mr. Bai, who was supposed to be waiting at male dormitory, had suddenly arrived there. He seemed to be searching for something. Chen Ge pulled his body back into the room. He quickly yanked the curtains shut with his heart still pounding. ¡°I was almost discovered!¡±

    ncing through the gap in the curtains, Chen Ge saw Mr. Bai wandering around the building. He seemed to be hesitating over whether to enter the building or not. ¡°If I jump from here, I¡¯ll fall right into his arms, what do I do now?¡±

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The knocking became more intense. Chen Ge was trapped between a rock and a hard ce. His brain was quickly spinning, but the thing outside the door did not give him much time. The sound of the key going into the lock was like a knife piercing Chen Ge¡¯s chest. He did not have time to hesitate; the door would be unlocked the next second.

    ¡°There¡¯s no time to waste. I need to leave now.¡±

    Carrying his bag, Chen Ge stepped onto the edge of the windowsill. Since he could not jump down, he was going to seek his escape elsewhere. He adjusted the timing and moved to the windowsill of the room next door. ¡°Hanging out here makes me an easy target. If Mr. Bai lifts his head, he will see me.¡±

    Holding onto the rim of the air-conditioning machine for dear life, Chen Ge did not have the chance to take a second breath before the door of the paint storage room was opened. The person inside noticed he open window immediately and rushed toward it!

    The sound of footsteps approached. The person only needed to look outside the window, and they would stop Chen Ge!

    ¡°Third floor it is!¡± Gritting his teeth, Chen Ge gripped the edge of the third-floor windowsill with both hands. Without any safety gear, he climbed onto the third-floor windowsill. Just as he did so, a pale arm reached out from the paint storage room¡¯s window. Chen Ge perched on the windowsill and did not dare breathe too loudly.

    Maintaining this posture required a great deal of energy. Once his grasp slipped, he would fall. Chen Ge tried to push the window. When he realized that it was not locked, he decided to jump through it. With no time to inspect the room, he first squatted down next to the window and observed Mr. Bai from the dark.

    ¡°Why is he still there?¡± The third floor was the most dangerous floor. The elevator was waiting at the third floor, and when he took the elevator earlier, the things inside the elevator had also headed to the third floor.

    Staying in the corner, Chen Ge kept motionless. He decided to wait inside this room until Mr. Bai left before working out what to do next.

    The night breeze wafted into the room, and the red curtain floated across his neck. Chen Ge was about to close the window when he remembered that the color of the curtain on the second floor was gray.

    He paused for a second. Chen Ge retreated a few steps. After he moved away from the curtain, he opened the door and rushed out.

    The corridor was dark with not one ray of light. All the doors leading to thebs on that floor were open. Some were creaking noisily. Lightly closing the door behind him, Chen Ge ran into the opposite room. He nned to jump out the window there. The room was on the opposite side of the building, so he would be out of Mr. Bai¡¯s line of sight.

 Chapter 779 - Fourth Floor

    <h4>Chapter 779: Fourth Floor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The third floor was the most dangerous floor; almost everything in the elevator was trying to get to this floor. The seemingly empty corridor might be bustling with people if viewed from another angle.

    ¡°The curtains of this building are grayish ck in color. The red thing that floated around my neck earlier was definitely not gray in color, so it was not the curtain. It was probably the monster from the second floor that had caught up to me.¡±

    A Red Specter was on apletely different levelpared to a normal Specter. Therefore, when Chen Ge encountered a Red Specter, he did not hesitate to turn and run.

    Without the aid of his workers, Chen Ge was practically defenseless before a Red Specter. He knew very well that he did not pose a threat to a Red Specter with the few nails that he was holding. ¡°I didn¡¯t find anything off on the first floor, and there¡¯s a Red Specter on the second floor¡ªI wonder what awaits me on the third floor.¡±

    Theboratory was only one of the many buildings at the school, but this four-story building was already proving too much for Chen Ge to handle.

    ¡°On the surface, the school maintains a normal appearance. It hasn¡¯t been that long since the lights got switched off, so the school hasn¡¯t arrived at its scariest point yet.¡± Chen Ge was getting more confident that he was in the School of the Afterlife. The scary factor at this school was far beyond any of the other schools that he had been to in the past. ¡°No matter what, I have to shake that Red Specter loose.¡±

    Chen Ge headed to the room on the opposite side of the corridor. He had just taken the first step when he felt something touch his shoulder. ¡°Did I knock into someone?¡±

    Squinting, Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision, but in his eyes, there was nothing in the corridor. ¡°It was not my imagination; I definitely brushed against something earlier.¡±

    He took another step forward. This time, not only his shoulder, his arms and legs knocked into something. ¡°This corridor isn¡¯t really filled with ¡®people¡¯, is it?¡±

    Actually, that question was no longer that important to Chen Ge. He forced himself to ¡®squeeze¡¯ through the corridor. Just as he was about to reach the door of the opposite room, the door before him suddenly was closed by someone inside!

    Without any warning, the door that had been left ajar was mmed shut. A chill surged through his body. Chen Ge reacted very quickly; he turned to run toward the next room. However, before he even took his first step, the next door was closed as well.

    ¡°The things inside the rooms don¡¯t want me to get close to them?¡±

    At the same time, like they had received a signal, all the doors that were left open in the corridor were closed from within. A light stench drifted down the corridor and crawled up Chen Ge¡¯s nostrils. He had encountered a simr smell when he was inside the elevator. ¡°It¡¯s this smell again.¡±

    Chen Ge leaned against the wall. The stench formed a palpable wall around him. It felt like ¡®dead bodies¡¯ were surrounding him.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Suddenly, knocking came from behind him. Chen Ge turned to look, and the knocking wasing from the room that he had just escaped from.

    ¡°It¡¯s the Red Specter knocking! I can¡¯t stay here any longer.¡± The doorknob turned like the person inside was trying to open it. The Red Specter might appear at any moment. ¡°Why is this thing chasing after me? Is it because I took its clothes?¡±

    Chen Ge reached into his bag to take out the work outfit that he had ¡®borrowed¡¯ from the second floor guardroom.

    Strangely enough, when he did so, the stench around him seemed to lighten. ¡°Why would that happen?¡±

    Chen Ge put one of his arms into the sleeve, and the stench dissipated even further. ¡°I cannot see the monsters inside this building, but they carry a smell like the smell of decay around them. With the stench fading away, it can only mean that their interest in me has lowered. They have moved away from me.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s original n had been to return the outfit to the Red Specter inside the guardroom, but that had changed.

    Putting down the bag, Chen Ge put on the whole outfit. He tried to push open the door before him, but it felt like something was being used to block behind the door. Even though the doorknob could be turned, the door could not be opened. He tried several rooms before finally giving up. He grabbed his bag and rushed toward the elevator.

    ¡°The monsters on the third floor that give off the stench are not hostile toward me. The Red Specter from the second floor is still in the third-floor room. So, at this moment, the elevator should be safe.¡± Chen Ge ran faster. He knew that his prediction might be wrong, but he had no other choice. Without his employee, without the ck phone, he could not even contact the police toe and help him¡ªhe could only rely on himself.

    In this despairing environment, one had to make the choice in the shortest avable time, but the smallest mistake might cause death to be a type of luxury. Negative emotions corrupted his mind, and a curse would bring more pain to this physical body, but even under such stressful conditions, Chen Ge still forced himself to move toward his destination and goal.

    ¡°No wonder the Pen Spirit would rathermit suicide thane to this ce.¡±

    When he arrived at the elevator door, the number on the panel was three, and a smile appeared on Chen Ge¡¯s face. Pressing the button for the elevator, the doors opened, and Chen Ge slipped into it. He started to press the button for the doors to close madly. The Red Specter did not exit the room. It seemed to be under some kind of limitation¡ªit was not allowed to break anything inside this school. The gray doors slowly closed, and the elevator moved.

    ¡°When I reach the first floor, I¡¯ll need to remain cautious of Mr. Bai. This scenario is impossibly difficult. Even for those supposedly hell-difficulty games on the market, you wouldn¡¯t be chased by both monsters and ghosts at the same time.¡± Chen Ge was thinking about how to avoid Mr. Bai when he noticed that something was wrong. ¡°Why is this elevator moving upward?¡±

    Turning to look at the screen, in three seconds, the number on the monitor turned from three to four. ¡°The fourth floor? But I pressed for the first floor! Someone on the fourth floor was calling for the elevator when I was using it?¡±

    Without much time to think the situation through, the doors opened. Wearing the guard outfit, Chen Ge gripped the nails and hid in the corner. He was about to jump out should anyonee in. The doors opened fully. Beyond it was a dark corridor and nothing else.

    ¡°There¡¯s no one?¡± A faded stench drifted in from the open door. Then a stench harsher than the one on third floor floated into the elevator booth. All the numbers on the elevator control panel lit up on their own. The stench in the booth reached an unbearable level, but the elevator doors refused to close. Several secondster, the control panel screamed its warning, and the term ¡®overload¡¯ appeared on screen.

    ¡°I¡¯m in the elevator alone, but the weight¡¯s over the limit?¡± The beeping warning was particrly screechy inside the quiet building. Chen Ge could not imagine what was happening inside the elevator. After some hesitation, Chen Ge kept his head lowered and came out of the elevator with hasty steps. Once he left, the doors sessfully closed, and the stench disappeared.

    Standing inside the fourth floor¡¯s corridor alone, Chen Ge¡¯s emotion wasplicated.

 Chapter 780 - Uniqueness of a Four-Star Scenario

    <h4>Chapter 780: Uniqueness of a Four-Star Scenario</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Mr. Bai is on the first floor, the Red Specter is on the second floor, and a bunch of invisible monsters are on the third floor. What will be on the fourth floor?¡± Chen Ge stood in the corridor alone, not daring to breathe too loudly. His pupils narrowed to a point, and the muscles all over his body were tense. ¡°Since I¡¯m already here, might as well take a look around.¡±

    Moving his feet, Chen Ge¡¯s body was slowly swallowed by the darkness. In the dim corridor, the only light source came from the elevator¡¯s panel. The red number was like a smiling face carved out by a knife. It could not heal, and the painful smile had to be maintained forever.

    Creak...

    After walking for a while, Chen Ge discovered another room rted to art¡ªthe model storage room. The door of this room had been left ajar. It felt like someone was hiding behind the door, spying on the corridor. Chen Ge slowly pushed the wooden door open. The room that he was greeted by was rather strange.

    There were no tools, only columns of white cloths that ¡®stood about¡¯. It felt like people covered by white cloths were standing in the room.

    ¡°What are these?¡± Chen Ge approached one of them and pulled away the white cloth that was closest to him. He wished to know what was underneath the white cloth, but at the same time, he was afraid that the thing underneath might be dangerous. Therefore, he moved with extreme speed and caution. He was going to make the first move before the other party could react.

    The white cloth fell away to reveal a skinned human model statuette.

    ¡°This doesn¡¯t look like it¡¯s made from cement or manmade rubber.¡± Chen Ge frowned lightly. The white cloth was hiding a human model that had no skin. The muscles appeared tense, and the blood vessels coursed through the muscles. It looked so real, replicating every single horrifying detail. ¡°Did the art students at this school use these models during their sses?¡±

    He looked at the model, and the model stared back at him. The pair of eyes that were sunk inside blood vessels and bone red lifelessly at Chen Ge. ¡°The paint storage room has rows of red paint jars that give off a faint scent of blood, and the model storage room has a bunch of skinned human models. I cannot imagine what I will find inside the art room.¡±

    After recing the white cloth, Chen Ge learned from his previous lesson; he did not stay in the room for long and left immediately. Just as he turned around, his eyes caught the inner part of the model storage room. A white cloth was lying on the ground, but the thing that it should have been covering was nowhere to be seen.

    After leaving the model storage room, Chen Ge found the canvas storage room at the other side of the corridor. It was filled with half-processed or fully processed ¡®canvases¡¯.

    Touching them with his hands, Chen Ge found that the processed ¡®canvases¡¯ had a smooth surface, but he was unable to tell what kind of materials had been used to treat them. However, what caused Chen Ge rm was that the ¡®canvases¡¯ had the same touch as human skin. It felt like he was touching other human beings. He did not stay there for long. Wiping his hands on the working outfit, Chen Ge left the room.

    ¡°Just what kind of experiments are conducted here?¡± Chen Ge continued to move forward and finally found the art room at the end of the corridor. ¡°As I expected.¡±

    With the discovery of the art room, part of Chen Ge¡¯s goal of entering theboratory had been aplished. He walked hastily forward to push on the door. The wooden door fell open with his push. There were thirteen easels in the rooms, and various paintings hung on the wall.

    At first nce, it looked like a normal art room, but once one looked closer, one would notice the endless horrors hidden inside this room. The paintings on the walls were all curious and strange. There were human faces, twisted souls, human portraits, and convulsing bodies; the content was all different, but all the humans or ¡®ghosts¡¯ in the paintings were inverted.

    The backgrounds of the paintings were upright, but the people were inverted. It was as if they lived in a different world, and the paintings were merely capturing their shadows. The paintings that ran down the wall gave Chen Ge an immense impact. As he walked into the room, his gaze was pulled naturally toward them, and it felt like he was walking into a nightmare.

    He walked to the center of the room. Thirteen iplete paintings sat on the thirteen easels. Among them, three of the paintings greatly attracted Chen Ge¡¯s attention. The first painting was of two inverted doors. One was bloody red, and the other looked normal. These two doors were wide open, and inside the doors stood two painters holding a paintbrush. He lowered his head to look at his inverted self, and it appeared like he was thinking about something in his mind.

    The name of the painting was ¡®Me Inside the Door¡¯. A row of description was scrawled underneath it in blood¡ª¡¯Overflowing despair will open the door, then if I remove the despair, will the world behind the door return to normal?¡¯

    The painting was the only painting in the room that was named. The painter obviously knew about the door¡¯s existence. The second painting that caught Chen Ge¡¯s attention was quite scary; it was a painting of that very room.

    On the upper part of the painting, there were thirteen painters seated before their easels painting. However, the lower part of the painting waspletely blood red. The thirteen painters died in different ways; their bodies copsed on their seats. The most suffocating discovery was the painters were painting their own death in the upper part of the painting.

    ¡°These painters seem to know their ending beforehand, but they still insist on continuing their painting. Is it because they knew the ending was inevitable?¡±

    The third painting that drew Chen Ge¡¯s attention was the leastpleted. The upper part of the painting showed a child standing before a mirror. The world beside him was totally normal, but the surface of the mirror was dripping with redness. The boy in the mirror was covered in blood and was tapping heavily against the surface.

    The lower part of the painting was still of that boy. The world around him was red, and the only exception was the mirror before him. It was clean and shining. The boy who was covered in blood mmed on the mirror heavily like he wished to strangle the uninjured version of himself on the other side of the mirror.

    ¡°I saw blood red mirrors in the maintenance room. Do the mirrors in this school have the same purpose as a door? No wait, I seem to have forgotten an important detail!¡± Chen Ge knew that a four-star scenario would bepletely different from all the other scenarios that he had attempted in the past. Therefore, his experience from before could no longer be applied.

    ¡°Doors and mirrors, the blood doors and bloody mirrors behind the doors...¡± Various clues connected in his mind, and they led him to a brazen conjecture.

    ¡°Perhaps I should bring this painting with me.¡± There was another reason that Chen Ge valued this painting so much. The spot where the painter would leave their name read... Lin Sisi.

    This painting might be created by the real Lin Sisi, and solving the mystery around Lin Sisi might help Chen Ge understand the world behind the door. In fact, that might be the main objective that Chen Ge had given himself.

    Chen Ge¡¯s hand reached toward the painting. Before his finger even touched it, a giant change happened to the art room. Droplets of liquid fell on the top of his head. Chen Ge used his hand to touch it and realized that it was not water but blood.

    The air became humid, and the heavy stench made its silent return. Blood started to leak out from the walls, and deepening footprints surfaced on the ground.

    The normal world appeared to be ovepping with the other blood world. All the paintings inside the art room became distorted. A ck shadow suddenly leaped out from one of the paintings and headed right for the door.

    The shadow felt strangely familiar to Chen Ge. He immediately stopped what he was doing, grabbed the nails, and rushed toward the exit.

 Chapter 781 - Finally Found You

    <h4>Chapter 781: Finally Found You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The giant change inside the art room forced out the shadow which was hiding there. Chen Ge had extremely good vision with the aid from Yin Yang Vision. With one nce, he managed to match the escaping shadow with the one that came from Room 413.

    ¡°I¡¯ve finally found you!¡± Nails kept stabbing into Chen Ge¡¯s body. The pain that it brought was not that serious; what he hated was the feeling that his life was slowly fading. The shadow made the first move, but Chen Ge was closer to the door, and thus, he reached it faster than the shadow.

    Chen Ge knew that the enemy was not in its corporeal form, so he might be able to stop it. Therefore, he decided to close the door that had started to bleed. The change continued in the art room. Just as everything was about to get swallowed up by blood, Chen Ge chose a method that was no different from suicide.

    ¡°You wish to make me your scapegoat, so I¡¯ll pull you down into hell with me. We¡¯ll hold hands as we head toward death. Maybe we¡¯ll end up as good friends in our next life.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s maddened solution indeed gave the shadow a shock. The shadow paused where he was for a moment before extending both hands to grab the doorknob.

    ¡°Want to run?¡± Chen Ge blocked at the door. The nails that were hidden in his palm pierced toward the shadow. He used his fingers to shield the nails from view. He only allowed the pointy end of the nails to poke through the gap between his fingers when he was about to make contact with the shadow.

    The shadow initially thought that Chen Ge would not be able to harm him, so he did not put up any guard. That was until he was pierced by the nails at his neck. Chen Ge¡¯s heart was hardened after going through so many Trial Missions. Rationality and madness should be two opposite qualities, but they melted together perfectly in this man. Chen Ge knew that he likely only had one chance to strike, so he chose the most fatal spot to attack.

    The nails pierced into the shadow¡¯s throat, knocking his head to the side. If he was still alive, this blow would have taken his life. ¡°I was acting out of kindness when I helped you, but you want to make me your scapegoat. We certainly have some scores to settle.¡±

    The pain and curse that he was experiencing was thanks to the human shadows inside Room 413. Therefore, Chen Ge did not hold back at all. Seeing that the nails could damage the shadow, Chen Ge did not give the shadow any chance to retaliate. He pulled out another sharp nail from his pocket and aimed it at the shadow¡¯s eye.

    The shadow¡¯s head was titled on his shoulder. After being ambushed once, he no longer dared underestimate Chen Ge. He retreated several steps to maintain a steady distance between them. More blood leaked out from the corners of the room. This art room was slowly changing, like the blood world was ovepping with the real world, and the former was leaking into thetter. It would be very dangerous to stay inside the room, but Chen Ge blocked the exit and refused to budge. ¡°Since you want me dead, I¡¯m not going to let you leave.¡±

    Chen Ge said that with a smile on his face. He knew the shadow now had the urge to strangle him. However, there was a process to finding a scapegoat. In other words, if the shadow wanted Chen Ge to be his scapegoat, he had to make sure that Chen Ge died the same way as he did. This was simr to why those who drowned wanted to pull their victims into the depths and why those who died from hanging would influence others to do the same.

    Of course, this was merely Chen Ge¡¯s own opinion. If the understanding of scapegoats inside the door and outside the door was different, there was nothing he could do. After all, he was already in this state, there was no turning back, he could only press forward. The art room was slowly swallowed up by blood. Chen Ge and the shadow froze, at an impasse, before the door; no one was able to move.

    This situation was very rare. Normally speaking, after the ghost found a scapegoat, they would hurry to reincarnate or possess the victim¡¯s body. Specters that were below Red Specters could not leave their item of possession for long. The scapegoat would be trapped around the ce of death for a long time and could not go after the ghost that had harmed him in the first ce. Therefore, this kind of situation where the scapegoat found the original ghost and the original ghost was halted by the ¡®scapegoat¡¯ was very rare.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you n to say something for yourself?¡± When he saw the human shadow, Chen Ge¡¯s heart dropped back to his stomach. The curse on him could im his life at any moment. He had to undo the curse, but he could not confirm where the shadow was. Going to the art room had merely been a guess, but who could have known that the shadow was really hiding there?

    The shadow didn¡¯t seem to possess the ability to speak. He kept waving his arms, gesturing something. Chen Ge could see the shadow¡¯s agitation. In fact, he could sense a trace of fear from the shadow. If they stayed inside the art room any longer, something incredibly bad was about to happen.

    Chen Ge did not wish to die. He had done all that just to convey his attitude. Now that the shadow was scared into submission, Chen Ge¡¯s tone softened. ¡°Remove the curse from me, and we won¡¯t owe each other anything. In fact, I might be able to help you find your next scapegoat. Live together or die together¡ªthe choice is yours.¡±

    He believed the shadow would not reject him. After all, this was non beneficial to either of them, but several secondster, the shadow¡¯s reaction caused Chen Ge to frown. The shadow shook his head, waved his hands, and then used his finger to write out several words in the air. Chen Ge finally understood what he was trying to say.

    Chen Ge had no idea whether the shadow was lying to him or not. In any case, before he achieved his goal, he was going to move away from the door. ¡°Can¡¯t be removed? Then can you dy the time of death, like give me a few more weeks or a few more months?¡±

    After Chen Ge said that, the shadow thought about it before shaking his head.

    ¡°This cannot, that cannot! Do you think I am easily bullied, or do you think I¡¯m not willing to die together with you? I advise you to think about this clearly. This school is so big. After you tricked me in Room 413, you didn¡¯t leave immediately. This means that you do not know how to leave this ce either. Even if I really be your scapegoat, in the future, I will figure out a way to find you and how these nails pin onto my body. I will slowly pin them back onto you.¡±

    After a pause, Chen Ge added, ¡°I am not threatening you¡ªI¡¯m just telling you the truth. Now only by working together will we be able to achieve a win-win solution.¡±

    Perhaps Chen Ge¡¯s words convince the shadow, or maybe the art room being swallowed by blood was getting too dangerous, but the shadow finally changed its mind. He signaled for Chen Ge to show him his hand.

    ¡°I¡¯m warning you, do not y any tricks. Even if I die, I will not let you go,¡± Chen Ge said coldly.

    The shadow¡¯s head was titled on his shoulder, and a nail poked through his neck. He looked worse for wear. He had no idea whether he had found a scapegoat or some kind of demon that he could not shake loose.

    Helpless, the shadow grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s hand. His finger touched Chen Ge¡¯s palm lightly, and the lines that were darkening stopped increasing in color as if they felt some kind of influence.

 Chapter 782 - That Is Our Bond

    <h4>Chapter 782: That Is Our Bond</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The palm print stopped turning ck, and the anxiety curling around Chen Ge¡¯s heart slowly disappeared. He felt like his breathing had be smoother. The human shadow was not lying to him. On the brink of death, he had made the correct choice.

    After the Chen Ge¡¯s palm print stopped darkening, the shadow¡¯s body started to waver even though he had almost coagted into a physical form earlier.

    ¡°I still don¡¯t know if I can trust you.¡± Even though Chen Ge had already gotten the advantage, he did not n to let the shadow go. There was only one chance, so he had to make use of it carefully. When the weakened shadow heard what Chen Ge said, he was practically jumping from agitation. He tried to go and grab the doorknob again, and as a result, there was another nail poking out from his neck.

    It was too cruel.

    The shadow¡¯s face was blurry, so no one could tell his actual facial expression. After being scammed twice, he did not dare stay close to Chen Ge. As the one who lifted his curse, he could barely believe that he would be cornered to this point by his scapegoat. Blood was about to consume the art room. Everything would be swallowed by blood. The shadow waved his hands madly. If they stayed there any longer, there would be nothing of them left behind!

    ¡°You are a cunning, despicable, cruel, and scary ghost, and I am just a normal person. The gap between our power is too big. How do you expect me to trust you? I do not know the process of scapegoating, so I have no idea what the lightening of the palm print represents. Even if you have done something to my body, I cannot tell.¡± Chen Ge could feel the change happening inside the art room. The strange paintings were slowly dyed red, and the inverted paintings were turning to normal. Blood covered everything. The two in the room were slowly pulled into the depth of the ocean by a mysterious force that they would find difficult to escape from.

    The shadow was unable to speak. He bounced up and down, waving his hands, his gestures bing bigger and bigger.

    ¡°You wish to say that you haven¡¯t lied to me?¡± Chen Ge knew that they could not stay there for long. He leaned against the door and stood at the spot closest to the door, ready to rush out at any moment. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll trust you this once, but I hope I can see your sincerity.¡±

    The shadow grasped Chen Ge¡¯s meaning. He had a hard time believing that he would be scammed by his own scapegoat.

    ¡°You originally stayed inside Room 413, so you should know a lot about Lin Sisi. I need you to tell me about that¡ªdo not hide anything from me.¡± Chen Ge spoked quickly.

    When the shadow heard that, he nodded swiftly. Then he tried to walk forward, but Chen Ge pulled out another nail from his pocket.

    ¡°There¡¯s another thing. You stay in the same bedroom as Lin Sisi, so you should know about the password to his phone.¡± That was one of the key items obtained by Chen Ge, but hecked the password, so he could not utilize it.

    The shadow¡¯s action paused. Just as he was about to express his thought, Chen Ge added, ¡°Don¡¯t think about lying to me. I have his phone right here!¡±

    Retrieving the phone from his phone, Chen Ge turned on the screen. ¡°Tell me!¡±

    When he saw the phone, the shadow¡¯s reaction was slightly out of ce. He stepped subconsciously backward and then started to gesture several numbers at Chen Ge.

    ¡°51413?¡± Chen Ge felt that the number was quite familiar. Whenever the shadow gestured a number, he immediately typed it in. After keying in all five numbers, the phone was finally unlocked. ¡°This is an important discovery!¡±

    Memorizing the password, Chen Ge pushed open the door and left the art room. He was a man of his word; after he left, he did not close the door to stop the shadow from leaving. Only after the shadow slipped out did Chen Ge close the door.

    The blood inside the door poured and sshed everywhere and swallowed everything, but everything outside the door was normal,pletely unaffected. Chen Ge believed that this strange phenomenon had everything to do with those strange paintings.

    ¡°I wonder who the painters are. There are thirteen easels in total, so there should be thirteen painters, but their themes and painting styles are so simr. Could it be that they have the same teacher?¡±

    With one problem solved, several new problems rushed into his mind. Chen Ge stood where he was and was frowning in thought when he felt a chilling from behind him.

    Turning back to look, the shadow was expanding, his expression was changing, and his body twisting. His fingers turned into animal ws. The anger that he had experienced when he was inside the art room was finally exploding.

    ¡°If you kill me, who is going to be your scapegoat?¡± Chen Ge opened his arms, and he looked calmer than before. ¡°If I¡¯m not mistaken, everyone at this school is looking for a scapegoat, and there are very few suitable candidates.¡±

    Taking a confident step forward, Chen Ge lifted his eyes to look at the scary face. ¡°After you got me to be your scapegoat, you immediately went into hiding. This proves that you¡¯re also afraid, afraid that after your sess, you¡¯ll be targeted by ¡®other people¡¯, am I correct?¡±

    The dark ws wrapped around Chen Ge¡¯s neck. The shadow¡¯s heart was filled with resentment¡ªhe seemed to be angry at what Chen Ge had done to him earlier.

    ¡°I am your scapegoat, and you are the one who made it so. That is the strongest connection binding us together, and no one will be able to contest that.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s expression gave people a warm feeling. He reached out to touch the shadow¡¯s hand but phased through the shadow. ¡°We are not only not enemies but are allies with the strongest bond. Think about it. You cannot kill me, because if you did, you¡¯ll lose your scapegoat. I am just a normal person, so I won¡¯t survive in this school, and I might be ambushed by some unknown ghost at any moment. The only person whom I can trust and rely on is you because I know you won¡¯t kill me.¡±

    The w stopped right next to Chen Ge¡¯s neck. The shadow gave it some thought and felt like Chen Ge¡¯s words had some logic to them. However, he felt strange that there would exist such a peaceful rtionship between him and his scapegoat.

    ¡°This school is filled with danger, and everyone has their own agenda. Cooperation and trust are impossible, but we have worked through that, so we are the most suitable allies!¡± Chen Ge walked toward the shadow. ¡°Even if the scapegoating ispleted, you cannot leave this school. Why don¡¯t we work together to find the exit?¡±

    Looking at Chen Ge, the shadow was beyond shocked. He had never encountered a situation like this before.

    ¡°I am in the open, and you¡¯re in the dark. If we work together, we¡¯ll definitely surprise many people.¡± Chen Ge waspleting an impossible thing. At least in this school, such an arrangement had not been attempted before. The shadow¡¯s body was returning to normal. He hesitated a long time before gesturing something with his fingers.

    ¡°You want to know why I¡¯m not afraid of you?¡± Chen Ge shook his head. ¡°I am not not afraid of you¡ªI am so very scared¡ªbut I can put on a brave front. Let¡¯s stop wasting time. What else do you know about this Lin Sisi?¡±

 Chapter 783 - The Wall

    <h4>Chapter 783: The Wall</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The ck shadow and Lin Sisi shared the same bedroom; he even knew Lin Sisi¡¯s phone password. This proved that they shared a more than casual rtionship.

    ¡°I wish to know everything about Lin Sisi. This is rted to whether we can escape from this school or not.¡± Chen Ge opened his lips to ask, but the shadow did not reply, as if the name Lin Sisi was this school¡¯s taboo and discussing it would bring about some bad luck.

    Slowly shaking his head, the shadow pointed at Chen Ge. He painted at the top of his head and then at the bottom of his feet. It was hard to tell what he was trying to express.

    ¡°Are you trying to say that what we¡¯re discussing might be overheard by something else?¡± Chen Ge tried to read the shadow¡¯s gesture. The shadow shook its head and then used his fingers to make out several words¡ª¡¯We¡¯ve killed Lin Sisi. All of us are Lin Sisi.¡¯

    ¡°All of us are Lin Sisi?¡± Chen Ge seemed to have understood something. He was about to ask another question when a faded stench drifted through the air. ¡°Something¡¯sing!¡±

    The shadow reacted faster than Chen Ge. It opened the door opposite and slipped through it. After it got into the room, the shadow did not close the door. Chen Ge grasped his intention immediately and followed him into the room.

    <i>He even remembered to leave the door open for me. Looks like he¡¯s willing to cooperate now.</i>

    Chen Ge had not lied even once in his words¡ªat least, that was how he saw it. While the ghost needed a scapegoat, he had to be careful that his scapegoat was not stolen by another ghost. Likewise, the scapegoat needed to survive and thus could only pick the most trustworthy one among all the ghosts.

    How things would be resolved was a problem for the future. What Chen Ge needed now was to consider how to survive this night. He would make use of everything within his disposal and try his best to see another day.

    ¡°Just what is giving off this smell?¡± Chen Ge stayed away from the door and hid behind the shadow. By then, the shadow had returned to normal. He looked very thin and at least one head smaller than Chen Ge. By having Chen Ge hide behind him, it made a strange scene indeed.

    ¡°The change to the art room has most likely affected the workers inside theb. I saw a guardroom on the second floor, and the Red Specter from there might want to take our lives due to the destruction we¡¯ve wrought to the art room.¡± Chen Ge analyzed the situation calmly. The shadow agreed with Chen Ge¡¯s reasoning, but he was curious. How did Chen Ge know that there was a Red Specter inside the guardroom?

    ¡°This ce is no longer safe. We need to leave this building and find another ce to hide and discuss the next step of our n.¡± Chen Ge had achieved his goal of entering theb. He did not wish to stay inside this dangerous locale one moment longer. Walking to the window, Chen Ge pulled back the curtain. ¡°It¡¯s a bit dangerous to climb down here.¡±

    However, going back to the elevator was no different from asking for death. The window was the only option. After ensuring that Mr. Bai was not outside, Chen Ge jumped through the window and carefully grabbed onto the ledge. The cold draft lifted his hair. Chen Ge¡¯s back was soaked with sweat. ¡°I sure hope this is nothing but a nightmare. In that case, I¡¯ll be sure to wake up if I just jump down from here.¡±

    Aiming at the machine of the air-conditioner on the third floor, Chen Ge slowly adjusted his posture. ¡°If I miss, everything¡¯s over. Everything depends on this jump.¡±

    Chen Ge took a deep breath, but just as he was about to let go, the ck shadow appeared at the window. He stood next to the edge and nced at Chen Ge hanging outside the window. If he pried open Chen Ge¡¯s fingers at that moment, he could easily kill Chen Ge.

    ¡°Follow me! We¡¯re going to leave this ce together!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice was filled with trust and concern. This made the shadow feel ufortable. In the end, he did not harm Chen Ge.

    ¡°Quick!¡± Hanging in midair was very physically exhausting. After aiming for hisnding spot, Chen Ge let go.

    BANG!

    Both of his feetnded firmly on top of the air-conditioner¡¯s exposed machine. Chen Ge leaned forward to stick to the wall. ¡°That created too much noise. The monsters inside the building and Mr. Bai will definitely have heard that. I cannot hesitate any longer!¡±

    Turning to look up at the fourth-floor window, the shadow was still standing by the window. He appeared to have his own n.

    ¡°You wish to hide some more? This school is a cage. No matter how long you hide, you will still be trapped! Cooperating with me is your only chance! We¡¯ll escape this ce together!¡± Stopping for less than a second, Chen Ge jumped down to the second-floor air-conditioner. He lifted his head again. The shadow was still standing on the fourth floor.

    Chen Ge had already obtained more than enough information from the shadow. Actually, the shadow was not that useful to Chen Ge. However, Chen Ge still hoped that the shadow would be able to leave with him. He needed a helper, and more than that, he needed a local from the School of the Afterlife to be his guide.

    Wishing to turn his situation around, he had to gather enough strength, and this shadow was where Chen Ge ced his hope. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about this school¡¯s rules, but I know that after consuming more than enough normal Specters, even a normal Specter can evolve into a Red Specter.¡±

    Standing outside the second floor, Chen Ge stopped hesitating and screamed. ¡°If I¡¯m captured and be another ghost¡¯s scapegoat, you¡¯ll spend the rest of your life being pinned back on the wall!¡±

    At the mention of his potential fate, the shadow started to hesitate. He stood on the edge and dipped downward. Chen Ge saw a shadow flit down the wall before falling into his own shadow.

    ¡°Are... you okay?¡± There was no response from his shadow. Chen Ge¡¯s heart was conflicted, but he soon regained hisposure. He jumped down to ground and then ran toward the brush.

    ¡°There are monsters and ghosts inside every single building here¡ªentering them means taking on a lot of risk.¡± Chen Ge stayed in the brush motionlessly. About ten secondster, Mr. Bai came out from the other side of theb and stopped not far away from Chen Ge.

    He lifted his head and spotted the window on the fourth floor that was hanging open. His expression was twisted and scary, and he kept saying, ¡°Bad student.¡±

    Mr. Bai seemed to be afraid of thisb building as well. He did not dare enter it but merely walked around the perimeter and then left in a hurry. Chen Ge, who was in hiding, saw everything. When he could not hear Mr. Bai¡¯s footsteps anymore, he stood up. His eyes scanned theb building and his body shivered.

    At the window that he had escaped from earlier, there was a person in red attire staring at him!

    ¡°The Red Specter from the guardroom has been trailing me, but it seems like he is unable to leave theb.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s heart was quivering under the Red Specter¡¯s stare, and he silently retreated.

    ¡°Where should I go next?¡± Chen Ge desperately needed to find somewhere safe to rest. He looked through Lin Sisi¡¯s phone andpiled the known clues toe up with the next step of his n.

    He felt a pat on his shoulder. The thin shadow materialized behind Chen Ge. He pointed at the eastern side of the campus and gestured the following¡ªthe wall.

 Chapter 784 - â€˜Lifeâ€™ Coach

    <h4>Chapter 784: ¡®Life¡¯ Coach</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°The wall? Why would we go to somewhere like that?¡± Earlier, the shadow had been granted many easy chances to kill Chen Ge, but he had not elected to do so. There was already a basic trust between the two.

    The shadow did not answer Chen Ge. He seemed to be hesitating over whether to lead Chen Ge there or not. The ce that he had in mind was most likely a location that he was nning to use to hide.

    ¡°Feel free to deny me the answer if the question is too difficult. We are partners now and friends. There is no need to have so many concerns,¡± Chen Ge said with an easy smile and natural tone.

    The shadow stood before Chen Ge alone. He was not tall and was on the thinner side. He looked quite fragile. Ever since he joined this school, this was the first time that someone had said such things to the shadow. He stood facing Chen Ge and did not hide himself for the first time.

    Introverted, shy, self-effacing¡ªthe shadow was different from his peers. There was no liveliness in him at all. It was as if many bad things had already stripped away his happiness before he even joined the school.

    Chen Ge¡¯s words remined the shadow of certain things. Most of his memories were gray, and whenever he was pulled down memoryne, the debris from the past would seep into his nostrils and ears. They were no longer painful¡ªthey merely dampened his spirits.

    ¡°Why are you spacing out? Let¡¯s get going. Staying in one ce for long will cause bad things to happen.¡± Chen Ge patted the shadow¡¯s shoulder, but his fingers phased through the shadow¡¯s body and fell on his chest. Chen Ge did not seem to mind it and seemed to have gotten used to this already. Taking a big stride forward, Chen Ge opened his back just like that to the shadow and did not put up any guard at all.

    Staring at Chen Ge¡¯s back, the shadow still had a hard time believing that he was cooperating with his scapegoat.

    ¡°Where is this wall that you mentioned?¡± Chen Ge headed in the direction that the shadow had pointed in for about ten minutes. He was no closer to seeing the edge of the school¡ªthis school was incredibly huge.

    The shadow kept urging Chen Ge to pick up his speed. The ghost and human flitted through the brush for a whole five minutes before Chen Ge realized that he had returned to the same spot that they had departed from.

    ¡°Are we going in circles? Howe the trees around us seem to have changed? There are now more trees...¡± It was untrue to say that Chen Ge was walking in circles because he had reached the eastern campus, and he could see the tall buildings at the western campus.

    He and the shadow had been moving toward the western campus for a very long, but those buildings were still blurry like they were hiding behind ayer of fog. ¡°Are you sure we¡¯re going the right way?¡±

    The shadow also realized that something was wrong. He stood behind one of the trees. His thin body wavered from the window like a leaf that would be blown apart at any moment.

    ¡°Brother, are you alright?¡± The shadow seemed to have sensed something. He pulled back his arms, signaling for Chen Ge to retreat and stop walking ahead.

    ¡°There¡¯s a ghost around us? Is it very powerful? How powerful is itpared to you?¡± Chen Ge asked a series of questions, but the shadow answered none of them. He moved his body backward, and at the same time, he ensured that Chen Ge was within two meters of himself.

    ¡°Looks like there is really something inside the brush.¡± Chen Ge brushed the sweat from his forehead. Even the brush by the roadside was not safe anymore. He had a new understanding of this school. ¡°Hopefully, it¡¯s not a Red Specter or half Red Specter.¡±

    Just as Chen Ge and the shadow were slowly retreating, a different voice seemed to drift out from the deeper part of the trees. ¡°Save me...¡±

    It sounded like the voice of a girl, and from the sound of it, she was less than ten years old.

    ¡°Someone is calling for help, does the voice sound familiar to you? Can you recognize her?¡± Chen Ge sidled up to the shadow. At that moment, it was wise to stay together. The shadow shook his head softly and then pointed at Chen Ge¡¯s ears as if trying to remind Chen Ge to close his ears and not to listen to the girl¡¯s pleading.

    ¡°Save me, save me... will you save me...¡± Even though he held his hands over his ears, the girl¡¯s voice echoed in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. The voice was getting clearer and clearer like the girl was getting closer.

    ¡°She sounds like she¡¯s in so such pain. Shall we go help her?¡± Chen Ge took out the nail from his pocket and hid it inside his palm.

    The shadow was not privy to Chen Ge¡¯s intention. Why would he talk out a nail if he said he was going to help the girl?

    He shook his head naively and gestured¡ª¡¯Danger, run.¡¯

    As Chen Ge retreated, he asked, ¡°Is she wearing bloody clothes or just normal clothes?¡±

    The shadow had no idea what Chen Ge was up to, but he answered honestly¡ª¡¯Normal clothes.¡¯

    ¡°If it¡¯s not a Red Specter, I think we have a need to go help her.¡± Chen Ge stopped moving. He counted the nails in his pocket. ¡°A girl asking for help in the middle of the nowhere. She must be in deep trouble. How can we just ignore a plea like that?¡±

    ¡°Save me, don¡¯t go, please, save me...¡± The girl¡¯s voice sounded poor and weak, but at the same time, it was getting clearer. Chen Ge and the shadow were moving fast, but the girl was still able to catch up to them, which presented many problems.

    ¡°Did you hear that? This girl sounds so pitiful. If we can, we should help her.¡± Carrying his bag, Chen Ge hid a nail each in both hands. The shadow saw that Chen Ge was about to go help the girl and panicked. He gestured wildly, repeating the same word¡ª¡¯Danger!¡¯

    ¡°I know that it might be dangerous, but with great riskes great reward.¡± Chen Ge not only did not run away, he headed toward the source of the voice. He walked deeper into the brush and yelled, ¡°Where are you? If you¡¯re injured, just stay there, and don¡¯t move! I¡¯ll be there to help you in a moment!¡±

    Seeing as Chen Ge had answered the girl¡¯s plea for help, the shadow¡¯s body dissipated. He seemed to be gripped by both panic and fear. He wished to leave but had something that concerned him. In the end, he escaped back into Chen Ge¡¯s shadow.

    ¡°Certain things cannot be avoided. Even if there¡¯s only a miniscule chance that this girl is really injured, we need to go take a look. She only has us to rely on now. Many tragedies can be avoided with Good Samaritans,¡± Chen Ge imed loudly, enough for nearby characters to hear him.

    Chen Ge stood where he was, and several secondster, a pale arm poked through the bush.

    ¡°Save me, please don¡¯t go, save me...¡±

    ¡°What happened to you? How can I help?¡± Chen Ge asked.

    ¡°Yuan Ming has gone insane¡ªhe has really lost it. I wished to break up with him, and he threatened me with his death. Then, he asked me to meet him here, saying that he wished to have a little talk with me. We had an argument, and now he wants to kill me! He¡¯sing soon! Save me, save me, okay?¡± The girl¡¯s voice was very weak from the copious loss of blood. Even her breathing sounded heavy.

    ¡°There¡¯s another one?¡± Chen Ge stood where he was. ¡°I¡¯ll call the police for you. Then I¡¯ll take you back to school to find the staff.¡±

    ¡°Okay, thank you, I cannot crawl anymore. Can youe over to pull me up?¡± the girl asked through her tears.

    ¡°Sure.¡± Chen Ge hid the nails in his palms and slowly walked close to the pale arm. He was about to extend his hands when the arm grabbed at Chen Ge¡¯s palm!

    It was a broken arm! The arm was not connected to anything!

    ¡°Help me! Help me! Dig the rest of me out from the ground!¡±

 Chapter 785 - Weâ€™re Not Taking Advantage of Her

    <h4>Chapter 785: We¡¯re Not Taking Advantage of Her</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The girl¡¯s voice suddenly turned shrill, and the broken arm shot forward like a python that was striking its prey. It flew to grab Chen Ge.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Chen Ge tightened his fists, and the nails poked through the gaps. He targeted the hand that shot at him and hit it heavily.

    ¡°I¡¯m so cold! I¡¯m just underneath your feet! Save me! Save... AH!¡± The girl¡¯s harrowing howl was interrupted by a scream.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Chen Ge looked at the broken arm that fell next to him. The hand was very beautiful with tapered fingers, fair fingers, but the back of the hand had been pierced through by a nail, pinning it to the ground.

    ¡°Where are you buried? I saw a severed hand earlier, is it yours?¡± Chen Ge unclenched his palms, which were covered in sweat. Actually, he had been given quite a fright. Thankfully, he had been well prepared to face this situation. The begging ceased, and only a shrill female cursing voice remained.

    ¡°Is it that painful? I¡¯ve been pricked a few times myself, and it doesn¡¯t feel so bad.¡± Chen Ge looked around carefully as he slowly retreated. If there was a broken hand inside the brush, there was no guarantee that there was nothing else.

    The girl¡¯s voice became clearer, and Chen Ge¡¯s ears twitched. With the talent of Ghost Ear, his hearing was better than most. He could hear the mumbling of ghost, and that effect came in handy at this moment.

    <i>It¡¯s on my left. </i>Chen Ge reached into pocket and grab another nail. He ensured that the weapon was close by. The arm that was pinned to the ground was still iling about. The girl was incensed, and she stopped disguising her voice. Chen Ge moved to the left, and suddenly, he felt something give underneath his feet. It was very soft.

    <i>Not good! </i>As the thought crossed his mind, Chen Ge¡¯s body already reacted. He quickly jumped back, but a mysterious power pulled on his calf, preventing him from leaving.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you want to save me? Why are you leaving? I¡¯m buried here, the plot ofnd that you¡¯ve just stepped on!¡± Pain and hatred turned the girl¡¯s voice ugly. Chen Ge ignored the girl and turned his head down to look. His calf was being grabbed by another broken arm. And worse than that, he realized that there was something wrong with this whole plot ofnd. It felt like a muddy bog, and his body would sink if he stayed there for too long. When he saw that hand, Chen Ge reacted swiftly. He held the nail and pushed it deep into the girl¡¯s hand. The curse in Room 413 seemed to be very powerful, and a single nail proved to be so damaging.

    <i>No wonder it¡¯s the room for Lin Sisi. There are probably some other treasures hidden inside that bedroom.</i>

    The scary curse turned into something useful in Chen Ge¡¯s arms. Even the shadow in hiding was shocked by his response.

    ¡°I feel sorry for what has happened to you, and I do wish to help you, but what do you n to do to me in return?¡± Chen Ge pushed the nail deeper into the other broken arm before swiftly retreating.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you¡¯d save me? My body is just buried here! Dig me up and help me escape!¡± The girl¡¯s voice echoed in his ears. Chen Ge turned back to look, and three meters away from him, there was a hole in a tree. Inside the dark enclosure sat a scary female human skull. The hair was tattered, and the eyes that had no pupils were yanked open as they stared at Chen Ge. ¡°Liar! You didn¡¯t intend to help me at all! You¡¯re all liars!¡±

    ¡°I really did wish to help you¡ªthat¡¯s undeniable¡ªbut you refuse tomunicate nicely with me. Why did you try to grab me?¡± When Chen Ge saw the girl, his hands reached subconsciously into his pocket. The girl had died a horrible death, and he might not have enough nails to deal with her.

    Chen Ge had a love-hate rtionship with these nails that he pulled out from his body. With the addition of each new nail, it meant that he was that much closer to death, but at the same time, it was because of these nails that he couldpete against the girl and the shadow.

    ¡°Stop lying to me! That was what the man said! But in the end, this is what they did to me! Go to hell! Go to hell all of you!¡± The skull was sitting snugly inside the tree house. With the screaming from the girl, the surroundings started to change again. The air seemed to freeze, and the leaves rustled noisily. Soon, strands of hair floated down from between the branches, and things that looked like blood vessels surfaced on the ground. It looked quite scary.

    ¡°She seems to have joined with this plot ofnd after being buried here for so long.¡± The situation had changed to go out Chen Ge¡¯s control. He started to retreat.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you¡¯d save me? Why are you leaving? Is it because I look so ugly? Didn¡¯t you promise that you¡¯d love me no matter what happened to me? Now that I¡¯ve be something like this, why are you turning away? Come back and apany me! I¡¯m so cold here alone. Come stay with me, I¡¯ve missed you so much!¡± the girl screamed madly. She seemed to have treated Chen Ge as Yuan Ming, and the face inside the tree hole had morphed into something inhumane.

    ¡°She has to be in so much pain now, but I cannotmunicate with her at all, and I can¡¯t do anything to help her. Oh well, perhaps I can figure out a method to make her forget this horrible memory.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at his shadow. ¡°If her spirit lingers, her pain will never end. We can¡¯t just allow this to carry on. The head inside the tree hole should be her real form. Can you help me detain her?¡±

    The shadow did not imagine that, in just a few seconds, the situation would deteriorate to such a stage. He looked at the two arms that were pinned on the ground, and he could not imagine how Chen Ge was going to save this girl.

    ¡°Brother, don¡¯t just reply me with silence! As long as you can detain the head, we have a chance!¡± Hearing Chen Ge, the shadow shook his head in panic. He was afraid. Even though the girl was not a Red Specter, it did not mean that she was easily bullied.

    ¡°You need to have faith in yourself! No matter what happens, you have to trust yourself! This is strength from the bottom of your heart!¡± The shadow had a soft personality. He had been through too many things when he was still alive. Chen Ge yelled loudly, trying to resolve the lock in the shadow¡¯s heart. ¡°I am your scapegoat, so I won¡¯t harm you! This girl is the first hurdle that we¡¯ve encountered as a team. We have to ovee it so that our path in the future will be smooth!¡±

    Chen Ge spoke very fast, and he did end up convincing the shadow. The thin shadow appeared behind Chen Ge. His body swayed with the wind and looked like he would disperse at any moment.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid! Don¡¯t hesitate! Think about your past! You do not wish for the tragedy to ur again! You cannot allow yourself to continue being like this!¡±

    The shadow gradually grew. With the encouragement from Chen Ge, the shadow grew to twice his size. The hands turned into ws, and the resentment around him thickened.

    ¡°Yes! Anger, pain, and despair are your power. Go ahead! This hurdle before us is not the enemy¡ªit is just a soft fruit. Make her a part of you, carry her spirit with you. That way, you won¡¯t only have saved her, you¡¯ll end up saving yourself!¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s voice was low and hoarse, like the murmuring of the devil.

 Chapter 786 - Much to Learn

    <h4>Chapter 786: Much to Learn</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s voice seemed to possess some kind of magical power, and words became a weapon even sharper than a knife. In the dark forest, the air stilled to the point that it formed a suffocating barrier, strands of ck hair dangled down from the treetop, and the blood vessels on the ground weaved together. Based on some unique rules, when the skull in the tree hole spotted the shadow, a sh of confusion crossed her eyes that were pupil-less.

    ¡°Don¡¯t hesitate! Any hesitation is a waste of time that we can use to escape! Do you wish to cancel out our hope with your own hands?¡± Holding the nails with both hands, Chen Ge stood behind the shadow. ¡°No matter what happens, I¡¯ll face it with you!¡±

    The shadow, which was originally smaller than Chen Ge, was now three meters tall. The resentment and hatred gathered in his heart was evoked by Chen Ge. His hands morphed into ws, and a beast-like roar escaped from his throat.

    This shadow that had been pinned to Room 413 possessed huge potential. In fact, his potential was far greater than Chen Ge imagined, which caused him to be more curious about the shadow¡¯s past. ¡°Everyone has hope, but to turn that hope into reality, it depends not on charity but everything you¡¯ve got. Only by giving it your all might there be a chance!¡±

    Chen Ge pointed at the skull inside the tree hole. ¡°And that is our hope.¡±

    The shadow body was continually expanding, and when Chen Ge said that, the shadow¡¯s face cracked, causing many thin ck lines to surface on his body. Then, the shadow charged forward.

    The girl¡¯s scream filled the brush again. The decayed muscles that littered the ground carried an indescribable stench with them, and they tried to stop the shadow. At the same time, the ck hair from the branches seemed to gain a life of their own as they curled toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°Coming at the two of us at once?¡± From his many experiences of being chased by ghosts, Chen Ge¡¯s body was very agile. This was a valuable skill that he had obtained.

    ¡°The girl can influence the neighboring grounds. If we don¡¯t deal with her, it¡¯ll be very hard to leave this ce.¡± Chen Ge had no idea what was behind him walking in circles, and he could not fix it. Therefore, he could only try to solve the problem from its basis. The battle between ghosts was extremely violent, and most of the time, it would only stop once one party was torn to pieces. After the shadow expanded, he was stronger than before, but hecked fighting experience and was not as mad and as crazed as Xu Yin, so he soon was tripped by the girl.

    ¡°This guy has great potential, but he¡¯s too weak now!¡± Chen Ge knew that once the shadow was defeated, he would not survive on his own. Veins pulsed on his arms as he grabbed the bag and lobbed it as forceful as he could at the tree hole. Before the bag reached its target, it was stopped by the of hair that dropped from the treetop. However, that was enough to buy time for Chen Ge. He grabbed the nail and ran toward the tree hole from another direction

    ¡°I can¡¯t stop! The ground here is soaked with her blood. I¡¯ll die if I slow down!¡± Ignoring the fear before his eyes, Chen Ge pushed forward with a powerful will. Compared to the shadow, he appeared more crazed. ¡°Soon, the pain will be over. Soon, you will not be in the torment of pain and loneliness anymore!¡±

    Chen Ge did not think about retreating, and he moved very fast. The girl sensed the threat from Chen Ge and pulled out part of her energy to stop him. The grass wilted at an incredible speed to expose a human skin-like ground.

    ¡°Since you¡¯re unwilling to save me, then get buried here alongside my body.¡± Gashes opened on the ground, which looked like interconnecting wounds. The temperature dropped as something crawled out from the gaps.

    Chen Ge felt both pain and numbnessing from his calves. He slowly lost feeling in his feet. The thing that had crawled out from the gaps earlier seemed to be various insects. He did not stop to take a look. He was temporarily ignoring anything that might slow him down. At that moment, the only thing in his eyes was the skull inside the tree hole.

    ¡°I know you¡¯re in great pain, but why unload your anger on innocent people? You aren¡¯t going after those that harmed you but trying to threaten us innocent passersby, isn¡¯t that a bit too much?¡± Chen Ge yelled loudly. He was not afraid of exposing his location. The most urgent matter was to undo the walking loop and killing this female ghost that he couldmunicate with. Even though he was losing control of his legs, he pushed himself forward.

    The girl exhausted a lot of energy to deal with Chen Ge. The shadow made use of this opportunity to escape from her grasp and instantly reached the space next to the tree hole. He reached his sharp ws inside the hole. Following Chen Ge¡¯s order, the shadow tried to grab the skull out of the hole, but once he tried to issue force, the girl¡¯s skull issued a horrifying scream. As the skull was yanked out, Chen Ge and the shadow realized that underneath the skull hid innumerable blood vessels that looked like nt fibers.

    ¡°What kind of monster is this?¡± This was the first time that Chen Ge had encountered a creature like this, but he reacted faster than the shadow. ¡°Chop off the vessels connecting to her head! Quick!¡±

    The girl¡¯s eyes were white. The blood vessels under her neck were connected to the trees. The ground was slowly sinking like it was nning to swallow the shadow.

    ¡°Quick! Cut it off!¡± Chen Ge yelled at the top of his lungs. It was not looking so good for the shadow. He did not cut off the girl¡¯s blood vessels, and his body was slowly being entwined by them. ¡°Why are you hesitating?¡±

    With the ground sinking, Chen Ge was unable to turn and run away. Instead, he used thest ounce of his energy to pounce at the girl¡¯s skull. He did something crazy. His body rammed into the made of the blood vessels and pierced the nails into the girl¡¯s eyes at a close distance!

    ¡°Quick! Now!¡± The eyes were poked through. The girl was on aplete rampage. The bloody was closing in on Chen Ge and the shadow. ¡°We don¡¯t have much time!¡±

    At thest moment, the shadow made his first step toward transformation. His body turned illusory, but the two ws materialized physically. The shadow gathered all of his strength as he pierced his hands through the girl¡¯s skull. Blood sttered everywhere, and a piercing scream cut through the night sky.

    ...

    The fog around them slowly lightened. The shadow exploded at thest moment, and his spectral naturepelled him to do many things that he had not done before. The night breeze blew. The shadow¡¯s body was returning to normal. He lifted his thin, weak arms. In the middle of his palms was a red heart yanked out from the deepest part of the tree hole.

    ¡°You¡¯ve done a great job. We¡¯ve passed the first hurdle.¡± Chen Ge looked at the shadow with a smile. He was currently lying in the mud. There were many scratches on his body. The worms that had crawled from the ground earlier were not real worms but coagtions of the girl¡¯s resentment.

    ¡°Before you consume this heart, I have onest question to ask you.¡± Chen Ge forced himself to stand up. ¡°I wonder if you¡¯ve experienced this before. How long will you hibernate after you consume something like this?¡±

    After a Specter consumed another Specter¡¯s essence, they would go into hibernation. The period of hibernation was rted to the consumer¡¯s and the consumed¡¯s power level.

    The shadow had no idea what Chen Ge was talking about. He was too eager to eat the heart he was holding.

    ¡°Looks like you really don¡¯t know anything. Don¡¯t worry, I can teach you slowly,¡± Chen Ge said with a smile and signaled for the shadow to leave the brush.

 Chapter 787 - Instinct and Beyond Instinct

    <h4>Chapter 787: Instinct and Beyond Instinct</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The shadow was very weak. He would avoid a Half Red Specter, much less a Red Specter. To put it inly, he was at the bottom of the pyramid at this school. He had forever been pinned to the wall, unable to move, unable to speak, just a stain on the wall.

    Indeed,pared to the other monsters at the school, the shadow was just like a small stain. No one would give him any thought, and no one would have faith in him, least of them all himself.

    ¡°We¡¯ve made too loud amotion¡ªwe need to leave this ce immediately.¡± Chen Ge went forth to remind the shadow since thetter was still standing there. The shadow was like an orphan who had seen his parents for the first time. There was a bestial element to his nature, but he did not know how to get used to it.

    ¡°There wille a day for every mammal to be weaned from its mother¡¯s teat. If you don¡¯t eat others, you¡¯ll end up being eaten by others.¡± Chen Ge patted the shadow¡¯s shoulder. His hand once again phased through the shadow and fell on his chest. ¡°No one is willing to grow up, but you have to understand that you cannot stay a child.¡±

    These words were meaningful to the shadow. Thetter¡¯s body shook. His hands held the heart that looked like a red ruby before swallowing it whole!

    ¡°Hey!¡± At that moment, the shadow seemed to lose his rationality. His spectral naturepelled him to consume the heart.

    ¡°This is bad. That girl should be slightly more powerful than the shadow. He will go into hibernation since he has just consumed the heart of a ghost who is more powerful than he is.¡± Chen Ge knew about the shadow¡¯s potential, but even with that unique potential, he was not going to be more powerful than Zhang Ya. After Zhang Ya consumed a Red Specter, even she had to go into hibernation. There was no exception.

    ¡°Why are you acting so recklessly?¡± Chen Ge had just found himself a helper, and now said helper was going into hibernation. This gave hm quite a headache. His original n had been to split the red heart into several parts so that the shadow would still grow but not go into hibernation.

    Just by swallowing the heart, the shadow¡¯s size doubled. He held his head in both of his hands. He pulled on his lips and face madly like he was trying to tear his face apart. Chen Ge could see that the shadow was in great pain, but he did not know how to help him.

    ¡°Calm down. If you really cannot consume the other party, ept her¡ªept her power and carry out her dying wish, help herplete her dying hope!¡± Chen Ge yelled loudly. The shadow finally reacted. He walked to the tree hole, squatted down, and reached both of his hands into the hole like he was looking for something.

    ¡°Something is not right. Even for Zhang Ya, when she consumed a Specter from the same level, she entered hibernation in a very short time. This guy has held on for so long. Is it because of his own uniqueness, or are the ghosts at this school different from the ghosts outside?¡±

    The shadow dug for a long time before retrieving a rusted knife from inside the tree hole.

    ¡°Is this the weapon that killed the girl? Has her spirit been lingering on this murder weapon?¡±

    Normally, a Specter¡¯s item of possession was rted to the item important to their life. The girl¡¯s item of possession was most likely the weapon that had killed her, which also meant that the driving force to her lingering after her death was revenge.

    The shadow¡¯s body doubled in size. He held the knife and stood before Chen Ge. The twisted arms waved up and down like he was trying to say something. Several secondster, the shadow crawled into Chen Ge¡¯s shadow, and the knife fell before him.

    ¡°Does he wish for me to go look for the killer?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s lips pulled upward. He picked up the knife. He was in the same camp as the shadow, so he would help whenever he could. ¡°To go to such an extent for being a scapegoat, I don¡¯t think anyone would have done this.¡±

    The knife was covered in rust and dirt, but it felt quite heavy in Chen Ge¡¯s grasp. ¡°Could it be that the nature of the knife has changed since the girl has possessed it for so long?¡±

    After cing the knife in the folds of his clothes, Chen Ge inspected the surrounding again. The signs of battle were obvious in the brush. There was no way to hide them, so Chen Ge decided to make use of it to misdirect people who might be on their trail.

    ¡°After wasting so much time here, it¡¯s about time we leave.¡± There was danger hiding in every corner of this school. All Chen Ge could do then was trust in the shadow and find the location that the shadow had mentioned¡ªthe wall.

    Turning back to look at his shadow, Chen Ge could feel the increasing chilling air that radiated from it. ¡°He¡¯ll be stronger after consuming another Specter, but this school appears to have a rule of its own. All the ghosts that I¡¯ve encountered limited their nature, quite unusual.¡±

    Chen Ge thought back to his experience in Li Wan City. The 3.5-star scenario had a lot of Specters, but there were few instances where the Specters went after each other because each Specter had their own territory, and their area of movement was limited.

    This waspletely different from this school. Most of the Specters could move freely and go to any corner of the school.

    ¡°Someone at this school has aplished something that the ghost fetus at the pinnacle of Red Specter was unable to do.¡± Chen Ge sucked in a cold breath. He was even more certain that there was something greater than a Red Specter at the school. ¡°How am I supposed to face something even scarier than Zhang Ya?¡±

    Chen Ge quickly suppressed the burgeoning sense of despair. ¡°The ck phone wouldn¡¯t have given me an impossible mission. There has to be a way out.¡±

    A three-star scenario was different from a four-star scenario, just like how a Red Specter was different from a Greater Red Specter. However, Chen Ge was unfamiliar with the exact differences. In any case, the encounters that he had experienced tipped him off to certain things.

    Red Specters were tied to the instinct and nature that they carried from when they were alive, but Greater Red Specters seemed to have broken through that limitation. For example, the twelve painters in the art room and the bloody oil paintings that were hard to understand. They seemed to be collectively expressing something, and that something was already beyond Chen Ge¡¯sprehension.

    ¡°Different from knowing the ghost fetus¡¯ identity, there should be something that I can do to deal with the owner of this school.¡± The ghost fetus harbored deep resentment toward Chen Ge, and it could not wait to torture Chen Ge. Conversely, the owner of this school did not seem to have much personal history with Chen Ge.

    ¡°I should take it slow; my most immediate concern is to survive.¡± Chen Ge picked up his speed. As he ran, he took out Lin Sisi¡¯s phone. He keyed in the password and finally unlocked the phone.

    ¡°After the Red Specter at theb saw me leave the building, it stopped chasing me. From that, it shows that even Red Specters are unable to vite the rules of this school. What I need to do now is figure out the rules here and make use of the rules to increase the chance of my own survival.¡±

    Lowering his head to nce at the phone, he only took a glimpse at it, and Chen Ge was unable to pull his gaze away again. Lin Sisi¡¯s phone background was that of an oil painting. It featured a human face that was featureless.

 Chapter 788 - Phone Number and the Clue of the Killer

    <h4>Chapter 788: Phone Number and the Clue of the Killer</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Is this Lin Sisi¡¯s self-portrait? But why didn¡¯t he paint in his own features?¡± Chen Ge stared at the faceless head in the phone, and the longer he stared at it, the more confused he became. Gradually, it felt like he was staring at his own face. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t the phone¡¯s background keep changing? Whenever there¡¯s a new Lin Sisi, would the human face change again?¡±

    This phone was a treasure for Chen Ge; he had too many things that he needed to understand. Moving his fingers, Chen Ge first clicked open the photo album. ¡°The camera functions normally, but the videos or photos inside this phone are quite strange.¡±

    Chen Ge looked for a long time before he found the problem. There was no human presence inside the videos and photos¡ªthey were all about the scenery.

    ¡°Have the pictures with people in them been deleted? Or could the people at this school not be captured by the phone at all?¡± Chen Ge very bravely conducted an experiment on himself. He raised the phone and took a selfie. The phone was so old that it did not have a front camera, and the picture taken was very blurry. Chen Ge nced at it. Initially, he did not notice anything, butter on, his eyes started to narrow.

    There was not only Chen Ge in the picture taken¡ªthere was also the shadow behind him. The strangest thing was inside the picture. Chen Ge¡¯s shadow was thin and defenseless. He was hugging his knees, curling his body together.

    ¡°This phone can capture the shadow from Room 413? This phone can capture ghosts with its lens?¡± Chen Ge suddenly understood why there had not been any people inside the phone¡¯s saved photos. ¡°All the pictures that had people in them have been deleted, but I have no idea whether it was Lin Sisi or someone else who did so.¡±

    The phone had been tweaked before, but it did not dampen Chen Ge¡¯s mood. He found another thing worth noticing about the phone. The shadow in the picture retained his most original phone. In other words, Lin Sisi¡¯s phone most likely possessed the ability to see through the ghost¡¯s disguise and recover their most original form.

    ¡°With this phone, I can avoid many dangers and have a nce of the ghost¡¯s real image beforehand. Plus, I can use this toe up with many special ns.¡± Chen Ge felt like his luck had turned much better after he encountered the shadow. He took a few more pictures of himself. After confirming his hypothesis, he deleted all the pictures and returned the phone to its original state. Lin Sisi¡¯s phone was very old. Other than the camera function, it only had a few other basic features. Chen Ge then looked at the phone book. There was only one contact inside¡ªhome.

    Opening the recent calls, it showed that there were only records for calls made in thest twenty-four hours. It was worth noting that in the past twenty-four hours, someone had used this phone to call two unknown numbers several times. Thest call was made right before Chen Ge awakened in this school.

    ¡°Such consistent calls means that Lin Sisi should have noticed something already. He kept calling these two numbers because their owners might have been able to aid him.¡± Chen Ge was now Lin Sisi in everyone¡¯s eyes. He thought about it before calling the first number.

    It rang for a long time, but there was no answer.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t anyone answering?¡± Chen Ge anxious. The other person did not end the call and did not pick up the call, allowing it to ring.

    ¡°Did the person not take their phone with them, or are they also considering whether to answer the call or not?¡± After it continued to ring for a while, Chen Ge ended the call, and he tried the second number.

    The busy tone pulled on Chen Ge¡¯s nerves. Several secondster, something surprising happened. Following a light click, the second call was connected. The other person answered the call, but no one spoke. Chen Ge patiently waited for the person on the other end of the line. He listened to the background noises, hoping to triangte the other person¡¯s location, but unfortunately, the other line was exceptionally quiet like a morgue at midnight.

    ¡°Hello?¡± The phone had limited power. Chen Ge did not dare waste more time, so he spoke first. ¡°I know you¡¯re listening. First, I don¡¯t mean any harm. If now is not a suitable time, it¡¯s fine. I just have some questions, and you only need to make some sound when my predictions are wrong.¡±

    His own echo came from the other end. The other person still did not intend to speak.

    ¡°Do you know Lin Sisi?¡±

    Almost as soon as Chen Ge said the name Lin Sisi, the call was cut off. Chen Ge did not even have time to react to it.

    ¡°They hung up on me? But this proves that there¡¯s something wrong with them if they hung up with such certainty after hearing the name Lin Sisi.¡± Chen Ge called again, and this time, it only rang once before the call was ended.

    ¡°How about we try texting then?¡± Chen Ge soon abandoned this thought. Speaking was bidirectional. While exposing himself, he would obtain information about the other, but messaging was one-directional. The more he spoke, the more he would reveal about his own secrets.

    For the sake of security, Chen Ge temporarily abandoned the n of messaging. He moved his fingers as he called the number for home. When he keyed in all the numbers, a boy¡¯s voice announced on the phone, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but the number you¡¯re calling is not avable.¡±

    The number was supposed to be home, but the number led to an empty number. Chen Ge tried it a few more times, and the result was all the same.

    ¡°Looks like this number is really cut off¡ªhis home is already gone.¡± Chen Ge memorized the three phone numbers and left the brush in the direction given by the shadow. The eerie streetlights glowed weakly on him, pulling his shadow long. But upon closer inspection, he discovered that his shadow was wiggling like it was slowly growing.

    ¡°The shadow only needed a short amount of time to digest the girl, at least ten times faster than my experience outside the door! Is this his talent, or is thismon to all the ghosts inside this door?¡± The shadow had digested the other Specter so fast that it gave Chen Ge a confidence boost to his n. However, he did not get ahead of himself. ¡°Even with such a quick digestion speed, the rules at this school are so well maintained, which goes to show how powerful the owner here is.¡±

    Chen Ge was unsure of the other rules at this school, but consuming other Specters had to be something that vited the rules. ¡°When I just woke up, Mr. Bai was taking a rollcall inside the ssroom. At the time, my deskmate seemed to remind me that there have been students going missing from the school.

    ¡°The missing students might have been consumed by others, and most ghosts go into hibernation after consuming others, so how did the killers escape detection?¡±

    Widening his eyes, Chen Ge suddenly was struck by a possibility. ¡°Could it be that the killer that the school is looking for is hiding among the missing students? He might be the first student to have gone missing.¡±

    Hypothesizing based on this clue, a sh of brilliance appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. ¡°There is a Greater Red Specter at this school. The locals here mostly follow the school rules, and only those who came from outside like me will go against the rules fearlessly... Does this mean that the killer that the school is looking for might be Chang Gu, who arrived here earlier than me?¡±

 Chapter 789 - Window

    <h4>Chapter 789: Window</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Assuming that the person who pushed open the door inside the sickroom was Chang Gu, then where did he go after entering the door?</i>

    Chen Ge knew practically nothing about this world behind the door. The experience that he had obtained from previous three-star scenarios waspletely useless here, but Chang Gu was different. The man had spent years studying this specific door, and he even possessed the left eye that Chang Wenyu had taken from the School of the Afterlife.

    The eye could see things that normal people could not, and possessing it was no different from possessing a cheat.

    <i>Chang Wenyu is Chang Gu¡¯s little sister. Her physical body became a vessel for scapegoats. That means that her soul should still be somewhere in this school. She won¡¯t allow anything bad to happen to her own big brother.</i>

    If this current mission¡¯s difficulty could be categorized into different stages, then Chang Gu was ying the extremely difficult version while Chen Ge was ying the hellish difficulty version.

    Chen Ge started the game with nothing. When he opened his eyes, he was already in the middle of a dangerous conundrum. He had to survive without any aid, and there was not one single person whom he could trust around him. Under these circumstances, Chen Ge somehow managed to carve a way out for himself.

    <i>If I can meet up with Chang Gu, his aid will mean my aid, and we will be able to look after each other.</i>

    Even though Chang Gu had bad eyesight, he was a very clever man. He was good at hiding and was much more capable than he made himself out to be.

    <i>After the shadow wakes up, I¡¯ll go look for the list of the victims. I¡¯ll observe Chang Gu from the dark before deciding what to do.</i>

    Never one to put all of his eggs in one basket, after finding Chang Gu, Chen Ge nned to work with him, with one in the open and the other in the dark.

    <i>If this killer really is Chang Gu, then I can make use of this opportunity to put everything onto him and clear my name. I¡¯lle out to help him at the most crucial moment. The school probably won¡¯t expect there to be two killers.</i>

    Chen Ge actually had another n in his heart.

    <i>To confuse the school, having only two killers isn¡¯t enough¡ªI need help from more ghosts. When there are more than a handful of killers, the school rules will bepletely broken, and then I will have a chance to submerge myself in the muddy waters.</i>

    In any case, those were merely Chen Ge¡¯s temporary thoughts. It was hard to put this n into action. There were Greater Red Specters at the school, and Chen Ge could barely imagine just how scary those monsters were.

    <i>When the other ghosts are summoned, I should try to make myself scarce. Perhaps there¡¯s a way that I can provoke them remotely.</i>

    His n was slowly moving intopletion in his head. Chen Ge reached the end of the road without really realizing it. Before him was a long wall. The paint on the wall was peeling, and it was covered with vines. The night breeze blew, and the leaves rustled lightly. They looked like many small hands waving at Chen Ge.

    <i>This wall is only three meters tall, and there is no visible support anywhere. I¡¯ll have a hard time jumping over it. Why would the shadow tell me toe here?</i>

    The wall was adjacent to a brush, so Chen Ge did not need to worry about being exposed. However, his experience told him that staying in one spot for too long would only lead to bad things. Chen Ge reached his hands toward the wall. The leaves of the vines brushed against the back of his arms. The sensation was weird, like children biting him with their small teeth.

    ¡°This wall looks normal. There doesn¡¯t seem to be anything wrong with it.¡± Chen Ge did not dare stay there for long. He kept turning back to look at his own shadow. The shadow¡¯s body was changing at every minute. He was in the middle of a metamorphosis and showed no sign of reawakening any time soon. ¡°It¡¯s ironic that a scapegoat has started to get worried about the ghost that ced the curse on me.¡±

    The shadow had only told Chen Ge toe to the wall, but he did not tell him what to do when he reached the wall. ¡°There is no sign of blood or a chilling presence. This ce feels no different from the surrounding wall of a normal night school.¡±

    The wall looked too normal, so normal that it felt incongruous with the rest of the school. Chen Ge took another few steps forward before suddenly stopping. He pushed away the nts that covered the wall and stuck his ear to the wall.

    ¡°There is sounding from the other side of the wall! It sounds like students talking!¡± Due to the distance, Chen Ge could not clearly hear the content. ¡°Even from the distance, I can still catch some clues. This mean that there is arge number of speakers.¡±

    Chen Ge tried to triangte the location. The other side of the wall was Jiujiang Private University for undergraduates.

    ¡°Why is there a need for a wall to separate the eastern and western campuses? The eastern campus is scary enough. Don¡¯t tell me that the western campus is even scarier!¡± Chen Ge leaned against the wall to listen. He could not sense anything that was wrong. ¡°Did the shadow want me to head toward the western campus?¡±

    The shadow had no reason to harm Chen Ge, and Chen Ge also trusted the shadow implicitly, but it was too difficult for him to cross the wall. Thus, Chen Ge moved down the wall. He walked for several minutes before he spotted a squat two-story building.

    The house was not big and was built into the wall. The door was left half open like someone had been inside the building moments earlier. Once he got near, Chen Ge smelled a horrible stench in the air. This stench was different from the stench that Chen Ge had smelled at theb. It was not a simple smell of decay, but it was a mixture of several horrible stenches.

    ¡°If I climb up to this building¡¯s roof, I¡¯ll be high enough to just jump over the wall.¡± Chen Ge stood outside the building and resisted the urge to vomit. He took out Lin Sisi¡¯s phone. ¡°This phone can capture ghosts and monsters; I might as well try to use it now.¡±

    Switching on the phone, Chen Ge discovered with some shock that the face on the background was slowly bing more and more like his. ¡°This portrait is changing?¡±

    Shaking his head, Chen Ge clicked open the camera. He lifted the phone and aimed it at the small building and its surrounding. Everything looked normal.

    ¡°The stench here is different from the one at theb. It shouldn¡¯t be those upside-down monsters. Shall I go in to take a look?¡± Chen Ge levelled several nces at the small building. The building had an exposed wall, and there was no window on the first floor. The only ce to support his body was the window on the second floor. ¡°This building only has one window?¡±

    If Chen Ge was to use the building to leap over the wall, he had to first enter the building and then climb out through the second-floor window and up to the roof.

    ¡°There are things here that are not visible with my Yin Yang Vision, but Lin Sisi¡¯s phone should be able to capture their presence. If not for the fact that the phone identally captured things that it shouldn¡¯t have, the pictures inside it wouldn¡¯t have been tampered with.¡± Chen Ge finally made a decision. He walked up to the building and pushed open the door.

    The door creaked noisily. Chen Ge entered the room and saw the floor that was littered with trash.

    There was everyday trash and wrappings for various medicine, as well as balls of ck stic bags that appeared to be leaking blood.

    ¡°Is this building used as some kind of disposal center?¡± Chen Ge held the phone and did not let his guard down. With every step, he stopped to take a picture of his surroundings.

 Chapter 790 - Trash Collection Centre

    <h4>Chapter 790: Trash Collection Centre</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Trash at a public institute like a school was normally centrally gathered before being moved out of the school in trash trucks. Therefore, this building was likely used as some kind of center for the collection of trash at Jiujiang Private University. The trash from the entire school was pooled there before being moved out of thepound. ¡°This building is ced between the two campuses. Does this mean that the two campuses share the same trash collection center?¡±

    Chen Ge used the phone to look around and discovered several strange locations. There were eight cubicles inside the small building, and each cubicle had a wooden que hanging over it on which different terms were written.

    The first cubicle was categorized for paper-based trash. White paper, brown paper, and paper cups and tes littered the door.

    The second cubicle was for stic trash. Abandoned stic mineral water bottles were left on the ground. The third cubicle had the term metal on the que, and the fourth was for aluminum. So far everything appeared normal. However, from the fifth cubicle onward, things started to get strange.

    The wooden que on the fifth cubicle had the following written on it.

    Human.

    ¡°Human is a kind of trash here?¡± The door of the fifth cubicle was not locked, so Chen Ge pushed it open to take a look.

    Creak...

    Various deformed ¡®humans¡¯ hung like dried meat inside the small cubicle. Their feet were tied, and that was how they were dangled from the ceiling with their heads facing downward, their heads swaying lightly in the wind. Chen Ge drew in a cold breath. There were at least thirty ¡®humans¡¯ inside the narrow space. ¡°These should be mannequins, right?¡±

    Raising the phone, Chen Ge took a few pictures of the hanging men. The pictures showed nothing more than what he could see with his bare eyes.

    Wiping away the sweat from his palm, Chen Ge raised his hand to touch those hanging ¡®humans¡¯. The sensation that came from his fingertips did not feel like that of rubber. It was not the sensation from touching a dead person¡¯s skin either. It felt more like he was touching a living person. The skin was warm, the pores were breathing, and the blood under the skin was still flowing.

    ¡°They¡¯re simr to living humans, but it feels like they¡¯ve all lost their souls.¡± Taking one step back, Chen Ge studied the hanging men. Their eyes were closed like they were fast asleep. ¡°Perhaps I should stay away from them.¡±

    Chen Ge was about to leave when he noticed that one of the ¡®humans¡¯ had the same physical appearance as the shadow from Room 413. It was 1.6 meters tall, on the thin side, and had practically no muscle on it. It looked more like a skeleton with human skin sewn over it.

    ¡°This looks very simr to the shadow. Is this why the shadow told me toe here?¡± Chen Ge was not one hundred percent sure that the ¡®human¡¯ inside the cubicle belonged to the shadow. There was not much walking space inside the cubicle, and there were too many obstacles in the way for him to get a good look. ¡°Temporarily, I should ignore this. I should try and see if I can leap over the wall first. If I can, then my explorable space will have increased.¡±

    Walking out of the fifth cubicle, Chen Ge turned to look at the other cubicles.

    The sixth cubicle was for experimental trash. The door was locked, and Chen Ge could not open it. The seventh cubicle was for non-recyble trash. Once he got near, Chen Ge was assaulted by a suffocating stench. ¡°This is horrible.¡±

    The door of the seventh cubicle was also locked. Chen Ge quickly walked past the door and was heading to thest cubicle, but when he passed the door, a male voice suddenly came from inside the door.

    ¡°Is someone out there?¡±

    Chen Ge froze immediately. He turned his head slowly around to stare at the door of the seventh cubicle. He definitely did not expect a human voice toe from a room meant for non-recyble trash.

    ¡°I hear footsteps. You¡¯re now just outside this door, aren¡¯t you?

    ¡°I am the manager of the trash ssification center; can you please open the door for me? When I came in here to move the trash, something mmed the door shut, and I found myself identally trapped in here. I¡¯m locked inside the center¡¯s storage room.¡± The man¡¯s voice sounded normal, but there were many suspicious points in his exnation.

    The cubicle door could only be opened from the outside, and an iron lock hung on the door. No matter how one knocked into the door, the lock would not have locked itself.

    ¡°I know that you¡¯re out there. Can you please help me? The spare keys should be on the second floor.¡± The man continued to yell out the door, but Chen Ge did not reply. After half a minute, the man appeared to have given up. ¡°Is there really no one there? I thought I could trick them in here and then snack on them little by little. The smell in this room is getting more fragrant by the day. What do you think?¡±

    ¡°He should be still out there. I¡¯ll bet ten fingers.¡±

    ¡°He probably overheard our conversation. He won¡¯te in to save us. Give up already, you bunch of ugly, dirty, disgusting things.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m wondering if we should go out the backdoor and drag the person in here to join us. They probably don¡¯t realize that we can leave this ce freely, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a secret that we¡¯ve kept to ourselves. Don¡¯t expose everything for some temporary joy.¡±

    ¡°But he already heard our secret. How about we kill him? What do you think?¡±

    ¡°Killing him will still get us exposed, you idiots! Last time, I shoved so many brains inside your skulls, so howe you¡¯re all still so stupid?¡±

    Listening to the heated argumenting from inside the cubicle, Chen Ge¡¯s face was turning white. Inside the cubicle meant for non-recyble trash, only a man¡¯s voice could be heard, but he seemed to be ying different characters. It sounded like he suffered from schizophrenia, but unlike other patients, every single persona of this person was extremely mad, crazy, and sick¡ªnone of them could think or act like a normal person.

    ¡°The people here have beenpletely influenced by the negative emotions. Even inside the world behind the door, I haven¡¯t met someone so crazy.¡± Chen Ge immediately left. He nced at the eighth cubicle.

    This cubicle was situated at the deepest part of the building. The wooden que on the door was nk. The space around the door was very clean. It did not look like it was meant for trash at all.

    ¡°Such a scary school. Even a trash collection center can give me such creeps.¡± Walking past the ck stic bags that were still seeping blood, Chen Ge grabbed the phone to go to the second floor. Some tools could be found there, and overall, it was cleaner than the first floor.

    Chen Ge did not stop to admire the view and headed for the only window of the building. The window faced the night school, and various stains dirtied the ss. Standing inside the building, one could barely see outside.

    ¡°The monster inside cubicle seven coulde out at any moment. Whether he was lying or not, I cannot stay here any longer. Though, I should keep note of this ce¡ªperhaps I¡¯ll think of a use for it in the future.¡±

    As Chen Ge reached toward the window, before he could open it, a screeching sound arrived at his ears. It sounded like someone was using their nails to scratch at the ss.

 Chapter 791 - Eastern Campus and Western Campus

    <h4>Chapter 791: Eastern Campus and Western Campus</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge stared at the window before him closely. The ss was heavily stained, and it was unclear when it hadst been given a good wipe. ¡°The sound appears to havee from outside the window. Is something hanging on the wall?¡±

    An image of a strange creature with very long nails appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. It was stuck to the wall from outside, and once Chen Ge opened the window, it would leap into the room. He had encountered way too many strange things at this school, so no matter what kind of monster appeared, he would no longer be surprised.

    ¡°The stains on the window are ckish red in color, and they all run in lines. They appear to be formed from being continually scratched by bloody hands.¡± The scratching sound of nails against ss continued to reverberate through the room. Chen Ge resisted the difort and ced his hand on the ss.

    A sticky and wet sensation came from his fingertips, and that gave Chen Ge quite a shock. The stain was on the inside of the window, which meant that the creature that was scratching the window was also inside the room!

    The brain took zero point something seconds to catch up to the situation. Chen Ge immediately shoved the window open without any hesitation. Fresh air flew into the room. Chen Ge leaped out of the window. Just as he turned around to adjust his posture, he saw a pool of ckish red damp that was growing on the ceiling. Chen Ge mmed the window shut with the back of his hand. He stepped on the palm-wide edge, and the sound of scratching became clearer and clearer.

    He took out Lin Sisi¡¯s phone, opened the camera app, and aimed it inside the room. The image that showed up caused a chill to run down his spine. There was someone crawling on the ceiling!

    He was wearing a uniform from the trash collection center. Several arms grew from his chest. There were male and female arms with varying lengths and sizes. The only simrity between the arms was that all of the nails had been grounded away, and the exposed skin was dripping ckish red blood. The expanding pool of damp that Chen Ge had seen earlier was actually left behind by the waving of these arms.

    ¡°That thing was dangling above me?¡± The window kept shaking. The monster had already run to the side of the window. He was hanging upside down from the ceiling, and the arms waved maddeningly. They scratched the window as they attempted to pull Chen Ge back into the room. The stained window started to crack. Chen Ge was not going to stay, and he jumped away from the edge to the wall.

    ¡°No wonder the psycho in cubicle seven didn¡¯te out to get me¡ªthere is a worker posted at the center.¡± The worker who dangled from the ceiling was a very scary type, the kind that would wake one up from the dream. ¡°It¡¯s probably responsible for categorizing the trash. Are the arms on its chest and stomach also recycled items?¡±

    The thought that he had been in close vicinity with such a monster for a long time caused Chen Ge¡¯s back to ooze with cold sweat. ¡°You really cannot let your guard down for even a second at this school. Every single room is like a living nightmare.¡±

    Sitting on the wall, Chen Ge took out the phone and snapped a picture of the small building¡¯s only window. The window frame shook for a while before stopping. Just like the Red Specter who could not leave theb, this worker appeared like it could not leave the trash collection center as well.

    ¡°The Red Specter at theb was responsible for the maintenance of the rules at theb, and this monster with handsing from his stomach should be responsible for looking after the trash collection center.¡± The school was like a microcosm of a society with ghosts and Red Specters as the citizens. This gave Chen Ge a preposterous feeling. ¡°The owner of the school appears to be trying hard to simte the world outside the door, but why are they doing that?¡±

    This scenario waspletely different from any of the scenarios that Chen Ge had visited in the past. He had not encountered such obedient Red Specters before. Even at his own Haunted House, when dealing with Red Specters, Chen Ge usually reasoned with them because he was afraid that other methods might cause them to go on a rampage.

    ¡°To be able to make so many Red Specters act so obediently is a sign of a big trouble. Although, this could be a good thing. At least I don¡¯t need to worry about being constantly chased by them.¡± Sitting on the tall wall, on Chen Ge¡¯s left side was the dark night school with a foreboding presence, but his right side had blurry lights and the asionalughter of students.

    One side was creepy and depressed, whereas the other was lively. This contrast reminded Chen Ge of the paintings that he had seen in the art room earlier. The two campuses formed a stark contrast, simr to those inverted paintings.

    However, this did not mean that the western campus for graduate students had to be safer than the eastern campus meant for working and adult students. After all, a normal university would not be so lively after midnight. If the eastern campus was like a cemetery that was enveloped in a nightmare, then western campus was like a machine that did not know rest.

    One pooled negative emotions to express humanity¡¯s darkest nature to its full potential while the other hid a machine-like coldness amid raucousness. It felt like human nature had been fully silenced.

    ¡°The hidden terror at both campuses ispletely different; this is something that I could not have imagined before.¡± The cold wind caressed his cheeks. Chen Ge had never been so awakened in his life.

    He lowered his head to nce at the western campus. There was a squat two-story building that was built along the wall. Simr to the trash collection center at the eastern campus, it was attached to the wall.

    ¡°After I leap over, should I want to return to this side, I¡¯ll have to enter that building, which I¡¯m assuming is the trash collection center for the western campus. I¡¯ll have to climb up to the window again and jump over.¡±

    Chen Ge had no idea why the school woulde up with such a design. He stood on the wall and looked into the distance. The two campuses were separated by the tall wall. There was no gate or door, and the only connecting locale was the trash collection centers.

    ¡°Could it be that the trash collection centers are the entrances? The ¡®students¡¯ of the eastern campus are ¡®trash¡¯ for the western campus?¡±

    Sitting on the wall, Chen Ge was thinking and had not made his move when he suddenly saw a man in leather shoes walking out from the brush.

    ¡°Mr. Bai? How did he know that I¡¯m here? Did the manager at the center give him the news? That¡¯s likely. He was probably attracted here by the sound of battle with the girl in the forest.¡± Chen Ge sat on the wall. If he returned to the eastern campus now, the chance of him being captured was very high.

    After giving it some thought, Chen Ge descended to the western campus. When he was on the wall, he had memorized theyout of the buildings on the western campus. The scale of the western campus was several times the size of the eastern campus, and theyout was quiteplicated.

    Bending over, Chen Ge went into hiding inside the brush. Chen Ge silently approached the western campus¡¯ trash collection center.

    The western campus¡¯ center was obviously cleaner than the one on the eastern side. The term ¡®Trash Collection Center¡¯ was written clearly on the door. There was no litter on the road, and there was no strange smell. Several trash trucks were even parked next to the door.

    Chen Ge pushed on the door lightly. The wooden door fell away under his touch. The decoration of the interior was almost identical to its eastern counterpart.

    ¡°Even in real life, it¡¯s almost impossible to find such a clean trash collection center.¡±

 Chapter 792 - Art Club

    <h4>Chapter 792: Art Club</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    If eastern campus was a nightmare that one could not wake up from, then the western campus was like a beautiful fairy tale. However, the one thing that concerned Chen Ge was that both campuses came from the same person¡¯s mind.

    Chen Ge did not pause for long at the trash collection center. He was worried that he might wake up the manager there again.

    ¡°Mr. Bai won¡¯t follow me to the western campus, right?¡± Looking at the wall that was almost three meters tall, Chen Ge¡¯s lips curled into a smile. He was about to begin apletely new experience. ¡°I wonder if the rules in the eastern campus are applicable here as well. For the sake of security, I¡¯d better not stay at a fixed location for too long.¡±

    Rushing to leave, Chen Ge followed the edge of the brush and moved toward the western campus. Without walking for that long, Chen Ge noticed that something was off. Different from the eastern campus, the brush on the western side had been carefully trimmed and cared for. There was no wild grass at all, and in the distance, he could see very clearly that someone was walking through the brush.

    ¡°Since I cannot hide here, I will figure out another method.¡± Chen Ge took out Lin Sisi¡¯s phone and used it to scan around him first. After ensuring that there was no ¡®one¡¯ following him, he took out the working outfit that he had found in theboratory and put it on. Chen Ge brushed away the dust, smoothed down the edges, took a deep breath, and straightened his back.

    ¡°The people from the eastern campus all refer to me as Lin Sisi. Every single one of them wants me to be their scapegoat. I wonder what the differences between the upants of the western and eastern campuses are.¡±

    As a student, he had limited ess to the campus. Not only could the teachers intercept him easily, other students would not be afraid when they saw him. Therefore, the first thing that Chen Ge did when he crossed over to the western campus was disguise as a member of staff.

    ¡°I should find some easily bullied students to try this out. If I can sessfully trick them, it means that this method does work.¡± Chen Ge still had no idea why the people from the eastern campus referred to him as Lin Sisi. Perhaps every living human who entered the campus would be called that.

    ¡°The manager of the school probably won¡¯t expect me toe over to the western campus. After all, the two campuses are separated by a very tall wall, and the only way through is through the trash collection centers.¡± At the eastern campus, Chen Ge felt weirdly constrained like there had been a pair of eyes constantly on him. However, this feeling disappearedpletely when he crossed over to the other campus. Clearing his throat, Chen Ge did a few breathing exercises, and his expression turned serious.

    Those who did not know him would probably mistake him for an expressionless teacher when they saw him.

    After cing the nails in his pocket, where he could reach easily, Chen Ge held the bag with one hand and walked out of the brush, strolling openly through the campus.

    ¡°It appears to be quite lively over there.¡± The western and eastern campuses were indeed different. Chen Ge only took several steps before he saw two students walking toward him from afar. They had the appearance of normal students in real life. They looked ordinary; nothing stood out about them. They had that look of innocence and hope toward future that characterized teens. After several years in the work force, that hope would be gradually winded away. The light in their eyes would disappear, and in its ce woulde tiredness and helplessness. However, these students were different¡ªthey felt like life was in their own grasp. They believed that if they held their hands tight, the beautiful future would not slip through their fingers.

    ¡°They appear much more normal than the creatures on the eastern campus. Looking at them makes me feel younger.¡± After experiencing so many things, Chen Ge¡¯s mental age had already far surpassed his actual age. Slowing down, Chen Ge kept his head lowered like he was contemting something. The two students walked toward him with talk andugher.

    ¡°I was chosen by the swimming club! The senior approved of my application herself. In the future, I can openly admire her. Perhaps she might even be my coach and teach me personally.¡±

    ¡°In your dreams! The female seniors from the swimming club only interact with new male members when it¡¯s recruitment time. After you join the club, you¡¯ll be assigned a muscr male senior.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that be even more exciting?¡±

    ¡°Go to hell!¡¯

    ¡°I¡¯m just joking. What kind of club did you join?¡±

    ¡°I used to like painting, but it¡¯s strange¡ªhowe our school doesn¡¯t have an art club?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. You simply haven¡¯t found it, most likely.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s true. I¡¯ve asked the seniors, and they also have no idea about it. Then I found the counsellor, and he just gave me a random excuse.¡±

    ¡°Then why won¡¯t you just switch for another club? How about you join the swimming club as well? One on one teaching sessions with a female senior. It¡¯s going to be great!¡±

    ¡°I still wish to join the art club... Ah! Sorry! Sorry!¡± The male student was too caught up in his conversation, and he identally bumped into Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder. Rubbing his shoulder, Chen Ge stared at the two students with a stone-cold re. He did not speak but stood to block the middle of the road.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I really didn¡¯t mean it,¡± the male student apologized profusely.

    ¡°I hear that you wish to join the art club?¡± Chen Ge nced casually at the man.

    ¡°Teacher, do you know where our school¡¯s art club is?¡± The way that the student referred to him as a teacher gave Chen Ge quite a relief. The panic lessened.

    ¡°Why do you insist on joining the art club?¡± Chen Ge kept his tone calm, making it difficult to tell what he was thinking.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I insist on joining the art club. I simply like to paint, and other than that...¡± The male student scratched his head and started to stammer.

    ¡°Since it¡¯s not necessary for you to join the art club, never mind.¡± Chen Ge made to leave. He gave off the impression of an entric young teacher.

    ¡°Teacher, wait!¡± The male student pouted. ¡°You might not believe me when I tell you this, but recently, I¡¯ve been having the same dream every night.¡±

    ¡°What do you dream about?¡± Chen Ge slowed down.

    ¡°I cannot remember. Whenever I wake up, I would forget all about my dreams. But since it urred so many times, there is a lingering impression in my mind. I can only remember painting something in my dream.¡± The student also thought that he was being quite preposterous, and his face was red from the shame, as if afraid that Chen Ge might treat him as a nutjob.

    ¡°That¡¯s why you want to join the art club?¡± Chen Ge looked the student up and down. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Zhou Tu.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ve memorized it.¡± Chen Ge still wanted to ask a few more questions, but another few students wereing over from the other side. Afraid of being exposed, Chen Ge stopped the questioning. ¡°Go back and think about it. If you really want to join the art club,e and find me at the club recruitment ce.¡±

    Chen Ge had already spotted the small pavilion where the club recruitment was happening. It was filled with people and very bright. In fact, it gave him the fleeting impression that he had returned to real life.

    Leaving with slow steps, Chen Ge wore the staff outfit to disguise himself as a member of staff. He was honestly quite good at it and had a more intimidating presence than normal teachers.

    Just ten meters away, Chen Ge encountered three more students. These students were chatting; the topic ranged from the school entrance exam to games. There was light in their eyes and smiles that came from their hearts. This caused Chen Ge to start to wonder if he was perhaps in some kind of illusion.

 Chapter 793 - You Can Call Me Mr. Bai

    <h4>Chapter 793: You Can Call Me Mr. Bai</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Are they really ghosts? Can ghosts even be so innocent and pure? Do ghosts also y video games and make jokes?¡± Chen Ge started to have second doubts. He was unsure whether these students were actual ghosts or not. If they were ghosts, it was possible that they had no idea that they were already dead.

    Arriving at the pavilion where the club recruitment drive was, every single club had people lining up to register. There were slogans pasted everywhere, and in the middle of the pavilion, the members of the street dancing club were performing.

    ¡°Nothing feels out of ce. Am I really inside a door?¡± Walking through the pavilion, the sounds gradually weakened as Chen Ge reached the edge of the pavilion. He found a quiet ce to sit down. He nned to observe the situation for now.

    ¡°Based on the clues given by Zhou Yu earlier, these children should all have forgotten something. Are they really happy here?¡± Chen Ge had no answer. He was not one of the students and could not make the choice on their behalf. His eyes scanned each of the student before his gaze finally stopped next to him.

    About three meters away from him sat a thin student. The child sat on the step alone with no friends around him. He looked at the crowd bustling through the pavilion with envy in his eyes.

    Chen Ge¡¯s interest in the child was piqued. He walked toward him. ¡°Hey, why aren¡¯t you going to join one of the clubs?¡±

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice, the male student was shocked. When he saw Chen Ge walk toward him, subconsciously, he turned to leave.

    ¡°You¡¯re a man¡ªwhat are you so afraid of?¡± Chen Ge walked to the student¡¯s side. ¡°Just go and apply for the club that you want to join. There¡¯s no need to hesitate.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± The male student lowered his head and leaned forward like he was hiding something.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me, you wish to join the art club? But the school does not have an art club?¡± Chen Ge guessed.

    Being shown kindness by Chen Ge, the student answered, ¡°I wish to learn how to dance, but...¡±

    He stood up, and then Chen Ge realized that the child was limping. His leg left was heavily disformed.

    ¡°But the club refuses to take me.¡± The male student was depressed. ¡°Actually, not only the dance club, many clubs rejected me in a roundabout way. There are two extra credits to grab if you join a club, and that¡¯s what¡¯s bothering me.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, leave it to me.¡± Chen Ge patted the child¡¯s shoulder. He was not good at consoling people, but he was good at solving problems.

    ¡°You?¡± The child raised his head to look at Chen Ge. A trace of distrust was visible in his eyes.

    ¡°I am a teacher here. Since I¡¯ve encountered your situation, I cannot just sit idly by.¡± Chen Ge took out various IDs for Mr. Bai out from his bag. When he was at the staff dormitory in the eastern campus, he had swiped the IDs. Using his thumb to block the picture on the ID, Chen Ge showed the ID to the boy.

    ¡°Never mind. If you force them to take me, they will not feel good about it either.¡± The male student pursed his lips. ¡°I don¡¯t want to create problem for others. I¡¯ll be fine on my own.¡±

    ¡°You are one of our students and thus one member of the family. There¡¯s no need to be act all embarrassed.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Bai, thank you, but it¡¯s okay.¡±

    ¡°Stay here. I¡¯ll be back in a minute.¡± Chen Ge entered the pavilion again. He asked some of the clubs for their opinion, but there were very few clubs that were willing to ept the child. Returning to the student¡¯s side, thetter seemed to have guessed the result already.

    ¡°Teacher, there¡¯s no need to mind. It¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°A student like you is not an isted case. Since everyone is unwilling to ept you, then this is more than one student¡¯s problem but a problem for the school.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s expression suddenly turned serious. ¡°We are born with our body; we cannot do anything to change the nature gift that we¡¯re blessed with. However, we can change the impression of the people around us, which is the strength and responsibility of education.¡±

    The student nodded. When he heard that, his suspicion toward Chen Gepletely disappeared.

    ¡°Wait here, I refuse to believe that there is nothing to be done.¡± Chen Ge passed through the pavilion again to arrive at the small office next to the pavilion. There were many students there since they were there to update their clubs¡¯ information. Mixing among the crowd, Chen Ge silently sought his way into the office. He was worried about running into other teachers, so he limited his movement to the first floor.

    The office used to keep the information of the clubs was open. A female teacher was writing something with her head down inside. Next to her were several studentspiling the clubs¡¯ information.

    After taking a nce at the door, Chen Ge directly strode into the room. He acted very naturally like he worked there for real. The female teacher probably thought that it was one of the students walking in, so she did not even raise her head. The other students did turn Chen Ge¡¯s way, but they did not say anything.

    Walking to an empty table, Chen Ge¡¯s mental constitution held firm. Very calmly, he opened the drawer and found a copy of a new club formation and application. Then he sat down at the table.

    Using the pen, he wrote some simple things and added the school¡¯s seal to the form. Then, he shoved the entire document into his bag and left the office.

    Passing through the pavilion, Chen Ge found the male student again. ¡°There¡¯s a club that is willing to ept you, and I am the teacher responsible for that club. Would you like to join it or not?¡±

    ¡°Your own club?¡± The male student nodded. ¡°Sure.¡±

    Since no other club was willing to take him and this Mr. Bai treated him so well, there was no reason for the student to reject the offer. ¡°Mr. Bai, what kind of club is this?¡±

    ¡°Sign here first.¡± Chen Ge took out one of the club registration forms and handed it to the student.

    ¡°Okay.¡± The student signed his name on the form.

    ¡°Wang Yicheng? Not a bad name.¡± Chen Ge put the form away and took out the club formation form that he had just written. ¡°Our club is called the supernatural phenomenon observation club. Normally, there¡¯s nothing to do. Most of the time, we¡¯ll spend time studying the strange happenings at the school and study some supernatural, mysterious events that science cannot exin.¡±

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s introduction, the student was stunned. ¡°Mr. Bai, are you serious?¡±

    ¡°See the seal on this form? Why would I lie to a student?¡± Chen Ge zipped up the bag. ¡°You¡¯ve signed the member form, but I won¡¯t trouble you if you wish to leave the club. The two credits, however, will be taken away from your score.¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t. I was just shocked.¡± The student had no idea whether he should be happy or sad. He had a feeling that his school life was about to change.

    ¡°That¡¯s much better. First, tell me everything that has happened to you. Do not leave out even the smallest detail.¡± Chen Ge took out pen and paper to record.

    ¡°Here? We start now?¡±

    ¡°Quick. Do not feel any pressure. This is the tradition of our club. Any new members have to share the supernatural events that have transpired to them.¡± Chen Ge was not lying. He merely did not tell Wang Yicheng that he was the first and only member of the supernatural phenomenon observation club.

 Chapter 794 - Mr. Baiâ€™s Club

    <h4>Chapter 794: Mr. Bai¡¯s Club</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Seeing the look in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, Wang Yicheng¡¯s neck shrunk backward, and he grumbled internally, <i>This teacher is a kind person, but his personality is a bit weird. He probably doesn¡¯t have many friends in real life either.</i>

    ¡°Teacher, I¡¯m just a very normal student. I have not encountered anything special in my life, much less any supernatural events,¡± Wang Yicheng said in embarrassment. ¡°I am a bit clumsy, and you can see the issue with my leg. I think I will just join the calligraphy club. After all, they agreed to let me join even though the senior¡¯s tone is not that good.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll ask you the questions, and you only need to answer them honestly,¡± Chen Ge said seriously. Once he put on such a demeanor, Wang Yicheng immediately surrendered. He sat on the steps and gave it some thought. After a while, he said, ¡°I have not encountered any supernatural phenomenon myself, but when I joined the university, I did hear a curious ghost story from a senior.¡±

    ¡°A ghost story?¡± When Chen Ge heard these words, his eyes twinkled.

    ¡°The senior was from the student council. When we were assigned our dormitory, he was our guide. He seemed to have something against me. The story that he told was probably made up to scare me.¡±

    ¡°What story is it? Tell me.¡±

    ¡°The room that I was assigned is Room 413. Normally, a dormitory room houses six people, but strangely enough, my dormitory room only has five people. There is a bed that is purposely left empty.¡± Wang Yicheng started to tell the ghost story that he had heard. ¡°Initially, I thought that the student who had bed number four was away due to some emergency, so he was not around for the new student orientation. However, that senior told me that no one actually upies that bed number four.

    ¡°When I asked him why, he told me, a long time ago, a student with a physical deformity owned that bed. No one was willing to be his friend, so he used pranks to get people¡¯s attention. In the end, it only made others hate him even more. All the others ganged up to pull a prank on him.¡±

    As Wang Yicheng was about to continue, he was interrupted by Chen Ge. ¡°Do you know what kind of prank the other students pulled on him?¡± Chen Ge wanted to confirm the spection in his mind, so he asked this question.

    Scratching his head, Wang Yicheng continued with a frown. ¡°ording to the senior, the students tricked the kid to go to the toilet at midnight. They were going to scare him by acting like ghosts. But somehow, an ident happened, and the child perished.¡±

    ¡°And then what happened?¡±

    ¡°Since then, bed four in Room 413 has always been left empty. The senior said that the child would asionally return at midnight. If we wake up to use the toilet at midnight and run into an extra person in the room, do not interact with him.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all? ¡± Chen Ge was not satisfied. ¡°Try to think about other things that have happened to you. Like, have you been having a recurring dream, or do some extra memories appear in your mind?¡±

    Wang Yicheng looked at Chen Ge with a bitter expression. He knew that Chen Ge was not kidding, so he replied, ¡°Teacher, I am a very heavy sleeper, and I never dream. It¡¯s embarrassing to say this about myself, but I¡¯m a forgiving person. I don¡¯t mind the bullying that others do to me.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t do. There are good people and bad people in this world. Your kindness will only be seen as weakness in the bad people¡¯s eyes. They will only bully you even more.¡± Chen Ge looked at Wang Yicheng, and his pupils narrowed. Suddenly, Chen Ge realized that this was the student whom he had been looking for.

    Wang Yicheng had a good impression of Chen Ge, trusted thetter, and most importantly, would listen to Chen Ge¡¯s orders. There were obvious holes in the western campus¡¯ students¡¯ memory. Chen Ge wished to find out more, and he intended to ask some personal questions.

    ¡°Wang Yicheng, what does your parent do for a living?¡± Family was the most important part of a child¡¯s life. Chen Ge did not think that the students would forget something as important as that.

    ¡°They own a restaurant. Why?¡± Wang Yicheng thought that Chen Ge had switched the topic very quickly.

    ¡°Then, do you miss them?¡± After asking that question, Chen Ge was immediately grasped by worry.

    ¡°Not really. They only dropped me here yesterday, but I guess I¡¯ll start to miss them after some time,¡± Wang Yicheng answered seriously.

    ¡°Yesterday?¡± Chen Ge asked a few more questions. The young man¡¯s answers were wless and truthful. However, once Chen Ge gave it some thought, he noticed that a great chunk of Wang Yicheng¡¯s life was missing. For example, when Chen Ge asked him about the summer holiday after the big exam, the young man would stammer like that part of his memory had been vanquished.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. There¡¯s time to think about it. Maybe it¡¯lle back to youter.¡± Chen Ge had already gained a lot from Wang Yicheng. The western campus also had Room 413, and it was also tied to a ghost story. There were many simrities between the two campuses. Chen Ge wondered how deep the simrity went.

    ¡°Compared to the eastern campus, the western campus is too friendly. I have to make use of this opportunity.¡± Chen Ge felt like he should not limit his questioning to Wang Yicheng. He needed more people topile a fuller picture.

    Patting away the dust from his pants, Chen Ge stood up from the steps. ¡°Xiao Wang, I¡¯m going to take a spin around the pavilion and try to get a few new members for our club.¡±

    Chen Ge returned to the pavilion. The nature of the club meant that he could not have a big promotion. He could only approach some kind-looking students and ask about their interest. After being rejected five to six times, Chen Ge finally recruited the second member.

    This student was called Zhang Ju¡ªhis face looked like it had been burned by fire. His left cheek and neck were scarred, and it looked quite scary.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, will I cause problem if I join your club? After all, I don¡¯t think anyone is willing to be in the same club as me.¡± Zhang Ju had a scary exterior but a kind-hearted interior.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine. The kids in the club are all good people.¡± Chen Ge patted the young man¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I hope I won¡¯t hear anything like that from you again.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s sudden seriousness flustered Zhang Ju. This was the first time that someone had willinglye to be his friend.

    ¡°Ok.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it. Come, I¡¯ll bring you to go meet the other club members.¡± Chen Ge was about to leave when he heard a familiar voice.

    ¡°Good evening, teacher, may I have some of your time?¡±

    Chen Ge turned and saw a familiar face. Behind him, the student who greeted him was Zhou Tu. He had met Chen Ge before and had asked him about the art club.

    ¡°Xiao Zhou? How can I help you?¡± Chen Ge asked casually. Zhang Ju, who stood next to him, silently lowered his head, hiding his face from Zhou Tu¡¯s sight.

    ¡°Teacher, I¡¯ve made my decision; I wish to join the art club. Can you tell me where it is?¡± Zhou Tu clenched his fists. He seemed to have something that he wished but had not said.

 Chapter 795 - Good Kid, Bad Kid

    <h4>Chapter 795: Good Kid, Bad Kid</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I know where the art club is, but I cannot tell you the location now. How about this?¡± Chen Ge continued speaking after a short pause. ¡°You join my club for now to fill up the members. If your performance is satisfactory, then I guarantee that I¡¯ll personally take you to the art club.¡±

    ¡°Join your club first?¡± Zhou Tu looked at Zhang Ju next to Chen Ge. Honestly, the child really did look quite scary.

    <i>Is this some kind of test? </i>he grumbled internally. He had asked a lot of them, and they either had not even heard of the art club or tried their best to change the topic. Only Chen Ge had given him a clear answer that the art club really did exist.

    After giving it some thought, even though Zhou Tu thought that Chen Ge was a bit unconventional, he trusted that a teacher would not lie to a student, so in the end, he nodded. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll join. But Mr. Bai, what club is this?¡±

    ¡°Fill in the form first.¡± After Zhou Tu filled in the form, Chen Ge said, ¡°Our club is called supernatural phenomenon observation club. Its main objective is to study the supernatural events happening around the school.¡±

    Zhou Tu was baffled when he heard the introduction. He could barely believe that his school would even have a club like that. However, since it was managed by Mr. Bai, it had to have been officially approved by the school.

    ¡°There are too many people here. We¡¯ll find a quieter ce to talk.¡± Chen Ge led his two new members to leave the pavilion. Suddenly, an argument erupted in the middle of the pavilion. Many students stopped to see what it was. Even Chen Ge stopped moving.

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°Looks like someone wanted to join the street dance club but was rejected. Then they got into an argument.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a club. What¡¯s there to argue about?¡±

    ¡°Someone threw a punch! There¡¯s a fight!¡¯

    ¡°Mr. Bai, should we go stop the fight?¡±

    ¡°This is so horrible that new students would act like this.¡± Even though that was what he said, Chen Ge did not personally go to stop the fight. He was masquerading as Mr. Bai, and thus, he could not pull too much attention at this kind of public event.

    After a while, both parties of the fight were pulled away. The female teacher that Chen Ge had seen in the office earlier came out. The teacher appeared like she had many things to do and was very busy. Therefore, without asking for an exnation, she lectured all the students that were involved in the fight. After the students dispersed, the teacher with the explosive temper also left. She returned to the office, continuing her work.

    ¡°The teachers at this school seem to have lost some of their memory as well. That is different from the teachers on the eastern campus.¡± Chen Ge did not want to find trouble, but trouble liked to seek him out. The student who had gotten into a fight with the members of the dance club shuffled Chen Ge¡¯s way while holding his arm. It was unclear whether he was not looking ahead or some other reason, but he tripped when he was going up the stairs and happened to fell next to Chen Ge.

    ¡°F*ck! Even the stairs are bullying me today! Why is everyone bullying me?¡± he yelled. His eyes were red as he tried to force himself to get up.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Chen Ge studied this student. The young man had a refreshing look, not that old. His earlobes were punctured, and there was arge stain on his arm like a tattoo that had not been properly erased. The child had a rather special appearance. He was not dressed in any branded goods, but he was quite fashionable. He did not look like a student.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± The male nced at Chen Ge. The teacher before him was the first who had shown him any care.

    ¡°You were the one who threw the first punch during the fight with the members of the dance club, right?¡±

    ¡°What if that¡¯s true? Are you going to punish me?¡± The gaze that the student gave Chen Ge became unfriendly almost instantly.

    ¡°I merely wish to say that there are so many members from the dance club, and there is only one you. Why would you pick a fight with them? Couldn¡¯t you have talked it out? Such recklessness will only bring you harm.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice was mature and calm just like a big brother.

    Seeing that Chen Ge had no intention of scolding him but seemed to be concerned about him, the male student¡¯s voice softened, and he stopped being so aggressive. ¡°Mainly, it¡¯s because they bullied me. Because of my appearance, the student responsible for the recruitment was purposely going against me. To join the club, I reached the limit of my patience, but in the end, they told me that the registration had already reached the limit and told me to join another club.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s really the case, then you¡¯re not entirely in the wrong.¡± Chen Ge signaled for the student to move to the side. ¡°But why is it that you insist on joining the club? Do you like street dancing that much?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not really true either.¡± The student finally told the truth after holding it in for so long. ¡°I¡¯ve gone to ask a few clubs already, and I¡¯ve been rejected. Probably because I stand out too much.¡±

    The studentughed self-deprecatingly. He probably thought that was too embarrassing to admit, so he left right after.

    ¡°Wait a minute, I have a club here. Do you want to consider joining it?¡± Chen Ge took out the registration form. ¡°I see a great potential in you. If those clubs don¡¯t want you, it¡¯s their loss.¡±

    Seeing the form that Chen Ge was holding, the student hesitated. He shook his head. ¡°Pride is earned¡ªsomething given is called charity. I do not need charity from anyone.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s quite a backbone you have there. I find myself admiring you more and more.¡± Chen Ge gave the student the form directly. ¡°Your appearance is different from other students¡¯, which means that you must have a history that is different from them. Can you tell me your history?¡±

    Chen Ge acted sincerely and spoke with a soft tone. This helped the student to walk out from his ¡®unapproachable exterior¡¯.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing to tell really. I haven¡¯t really met my parents before¡ªit was my grandmother who raised me. She opened a small food cart selling dumplings inside an alley, and the two of us barely survived with that ie. When I was young, I got mixed up with the ruffians running the alley. Smoking, drinking, stealing¡ªI have done all that you can think of. It¡¯s fun.

    ¡°After mixing with them for a few years, one day, it started to rain heavily. I returned earlier to my grandmother¡¯s stall, and I saw the local police trying to take my grandmother¡¯s stall away. At the time, I lost it and got into a fight with them.¡±

    The student bit on his lips, and his expression was quiteplicated. ¡°Injuring them caused me to get sent to the youth penitentiary. When I came out, my grandmother hugged me and cried for a long time.

    ¡°Actually, there is nothing to be said. Later, I got back to school, and I managed to score high enough to get into this university.¡±

    The student¡¯s life was rather harsh. Chen Ge studied the man¡¯s face closely, and he saw shyness of youth. However, behind it hid plenty of anxiety and tiredness, like he had been in constant fear and worry of something.

    ¡°You are a good kid. You just have a tendency to act to rashly. But I like that recklessness. Come and join my club, credits are not that big an issue.¡± Chen Ge gave the invitation again. The student did not reject him this time. He signed his name on the form¡ªZhu Long.

    ¡°I have another new member. Looks like our club is quite popr.¡± Chen Ge put the form away. ¡°Come, let¡¯s go find a more secluded ce, and we will start our first club activity.¡±

 Chapter 796 - I Can Take You There

    <h4>Chapter 796: I Can Take You There</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s supernatural phenomenon observation club already had four members, the limping Wang Yicheng; Zhang Ju with a burned face; Zhou Tu, who was looking for the art club; and Zhu Long, who had a penchant for getting into fights. Each member had their unique personality. If Chen Ge had really been a teacher at the school, his club would have been very interesting. Unfortunately, that was not the truth. Chen Ge wanted to get information from these kids, but he did not really want to make use of thempletely.

    As long as it was within his power, Chen Ge would help these students find the memories that they had lost and fight to get them out of this ce with him. Passing the pavilion, the members of the supernatural phenomenon observation club gathered for the first time.

    The members looked at each other, and a not so positive thought appeared in their minds. This club was like an orphanage where unwanted kids were abandoned.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, don¡¯t tell me that this is everyone from our club.¡± Zhou Tu wanted to join the art club, but somehow, he found himself in this club instead. He felt scammed. The atmosphere was quite awkward. Wang Yicheng and Zhang Ju, who had physical disfigurements, moved their eyes away and did not dare speak. Zhu Long, though, appeared unfazed; if anything, his curiosity toward this club only grew.

    ¡°You are correct, but I suggest you watch your tone. In some time, you¡¯ll realize how lucky you are to have joined this club.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice wasced with pride. ¡°Every member of this club has been personally picked by me. Everyone here is distinct from others. My club does not needmon people¡ªonly extraordinary students are allowed to join.¡±

    Zhou Tu could not help rolling his eyes when he heard that. If not for the fact that he had already signed the form, he would have left.

    ¡°I know that you have a hard time believing me now and doubt the purpose of our club.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes scanned the pupils. ¡°I am not one who likes to use words to persuade others. When we begin the club activity, I will use the reality to recover the actual truth for you.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s expression was so serious that he did not appear like he was joking. The few students quieted down.

    ¡°Before I let you see the real world, I have a question to ask you. What kind of world do you think you¡¯re living in?¡± Chen Ge wished to know more about these students¡¯ past to try and find clues from their existing memories.

    Wang Yicheng was the first to share. He retold the story of his past. Then, it was Zhu Long¡¯s and Zhang Ju¡¯s turns.

    Zhang Ju had been a very normal child before he attended high school. He was a hardworking student, and he had managed to score enough for a good university. His life n wasid, but the course strayed on the day of his high school graduation.

    That night, he and his friends had gone to karaoke. When fire spread throughout the building, Zhang Ju and his friends had been trapped in the private room. When he had finally been rescued, his cheek and scalp had been severely singed, which had left behind a scary looking scar.

    Zhang Ju had stayed at home for two months to receive psychological treatment. When his therapist thought that he was ready, he had chosen to face his new self ande to the university. The story was very inspiring, but Chen Ge heard some problems in it.

    ¡°Can you remember the days when you were receiving treatment at the hospital?¡± Theoretically speaking, this story should scar Zhang Ju deeply, but when he told the story, there was no visible change to his expression. It was like he was telling another person¡¯s story.

    Regarding the days when he received treatment at the hospital, Zhang Ju stammered a lot. Chen Ge knew that he was not trying to hide the facts on purpose¡ªthe child simply could not remember the details.

    <i>Tragedy struck Zhang Ju during thest holiday of his high school years. When Wang Yicheng was telling his story earlier, that part of his memory was very vague as well. So was the case with Zhu Long.</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the students gathered before him, and a theory appeared in his mind. These few students did not really forget what had happened during thatst holiday, but their actual date of death fell within that period.

    Lingering spirits carried their memories with them, whether they were good or bad. Therefore, they would remember everything that happened before that holiday clearly but could not seem to recall the details of that holiday.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, are you feeling well?¡± Zhou Tu was a very astute person; he was a great observer of people. He noticed that Chen Ge¡¯s expression was not so perky after he heard the few students¡¯ stories, and so he asked, ¡°How about we just postpone the activity today? You should go and rest.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve learned about their pasts. What about yours?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s expression swiftly returned to normal.

    ¡°I have led a very normal left. Normally, I spent time studying, drawing, eating, and sleeping. I haven¡¯t even been in a rtionship before, so there is nothing interesting.¡± Zhou Tu shrugged. He felt like he was the most normal member of this club.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you tell me that you have been having this recurring dream recently?¡±

    ¡°Do I have to tell everyone that?¡± Zhou Yu did not believe that Chen Ge would expose that fact before so many people.

    ¡°I will not force you. If you wish to talk about it, go ahead. It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not really a secret...¡± Zhou Tu wished to rely on Chen Ge to get to art club. From his perspective, this strange club was just a means to an end. ¡°I came to this school rather early. Since registering at the dormitory, I have had the same dream every night. In the dream, I sit inside a room filled with oil paintings. The atmosphere is strange. There are twelve other people sitting around me, and everyone is painting.¡±

    ¡°Oil painting room? Thirteen paintings in total?¡± Chen Ge was instantly reminded of what he had seen at the night school¡¯sb building. He realized that he hade across a valuable treasure. Zhou Tu could dream about the inside of the art room. So, this meant that he had probably been there before and was perhaps the painter behind one of the paintings. However, due to a certain reason, he had forgotten all about that.

    ¡°Yes, with each passing night, the dream bes clearer, like I have been there myself, but I have no memory of this at all.¡± Zhou Tu slowly lowered his head. ¡°This is a very horrible feeling. When I woke up every morning, I wanted to recover this dream, so I grabbed a brush and tried to paint the vestiges from my dream. However, I could not find the paint that I need, so I¡¯ve been looking for the art club.¡±

    After hearing Zhou Tu¡¯s story, Chen Ge was silent for a while before saying, ¡°If I said that I¡¯ve seen the ce in your dream before, would you believe me?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve seen it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s right in this school!¡± Chen Ge said affirmatively. ¡°If you want to, I can take you there, but you have to promise me one thing.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Zhou Tu¡¯s voice changed. Only he knew how important this dream was.

    ¡°From now on, you have to listen to my every order, and that is the condition for me taking you there.¡±

 Chapter 797 - Nightmare Weaved by Everyone

    <h4>Chapter 797: Nightmare Weaved by Everyone</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°No problem.¡± Zhou Tu gave his promise almost without hesitation. From his perspective, students should listen to their teachers. After getting the promise from Zhou Tu, Chen Ge nodded lightly. He did not request for the club to follow many formalities; he merely needed every one of the members to follow his orders.

    ¡°You will all feel d for having made this choice in a while.¡± Chen Ge looked at the busy western campus. ¡°It is not my intention to change all this, but everyone has the right to know. After all, this nightmare is weaved from everyone¡¯s collective memory.¡±

    The students had no idea what he was talking about. They just felt like this Mr. Bai was different from other teachers.

    ¡°Alright, now that we have gotten to know each other, we will begin today¡¯s club activity now.¡± Chen Ge signaled for the members to get closer. ¡°Have you heard of any ghost stories regarding our school?¡±

    ¡°Teacher, what do you mean?¡± Zhou Tu had a bad feeling in his stomach. This teacher appeared like he was going to take them to go and do something dangerous.

    ¡°Since our club is supernatural phenomenon observation club, our club activity will be to study these phenomena. What¡¯s wrong with that?¡± Chen Ge said with such severity that the students had to believe him.

    ¡°That is not wrong technically, but won¡¯t people think that we¡¯re ahem... if we go searching for supernatural phenomenon like that?¡± Zhu Long coughed drily. He nked on a favorable description. ¡°Furthermore, it¡¯s gettingte. If we¡¯re discovered by other teachers, won¡¯t we get into trouble?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Chen Ge took out Mr. Bai¡¯s identification document. His finger was still expertly blocking the picture. ¡°The school won¡¯t fault us. I¡¯ll be there to exin everything.¡±

    Hearing the promise from Chen Ge, Zhou Tu and Zhu Long visibly rxed, but Wang Yicheng still looked like there was something bothering him.

    ¡°Xiao Wang, what¡¯s on your mind? There¡¯s no need to hide anything now that you¡¯re part of the club.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Bai, I was thinking, what if we really run into something that we shouldn¡¯t, then what can we do? We are just a few normal students.¡± It was unclear whether Wang Yicheng was really scared by the ghost story told by his senior or there was something in his memory that had not properly been cleaned. In any case, when Chen Ge said that he was going to take them to study supernatural phenomena, this student¡¯s reaction had been rather weird.

    ¡°Certain things have to be seen to be believed. Also, there¡¯s no need to worry about your safety. Even though our club is small, every member is an elite. Furthermore, I¡¯ll be there with you. Everything is under control,¡± Chen Ge said confidently and calmly. He gave off a very trustworthy feeling. ¡°So, let¡¯s hear it. What kind of ghost stories about this school have you guys heard of?¡±

    The pavilion was not as busy as before. Most of the students hadpleted their club registration. The surrounding temperature appeared to have dropped as well.

    ¡°I heard of a ghost story before. Even though I believe it should have been made up, I¡¯ve met the person in the story.¡± Zhang Ju was the first to speak. ¡°Yesterday, when I arrived at the university, because of my unique circumstances, the teacher asked me to go to the office for some questions, asking if I need any help. At the time, there was a senior inside the office. He was crying nonstop, mumbling a girl¡¯s name on his lips.

    ¡°I overheard the conversation between him and the teacher. I found that the name that he kept repeating was the name of one of his admirers. That day was his birthday. The girl had asked to meet him in the small garden to confess her feelings to him, but he had rejected her.

    ¡°At the time, he didn¡¯t think much of it. He had followed his dormitory mates back to drink and y, forgetting all about it. However, the next day, the school announced that the girl had gone missing. In the end, they found the girl¡¯s body inside the garden¡ªshe had died a horrible death.

    ¡°The scariest thing was that her time of death was before meeting the senior. Even now, no one can tell what really happened. The senior was also preparing to leave school due to overwhelming psychological pressure.¡±

    Zhang Ju touched the part of his face that was burned. ¡°That¡¯s all. I am not clear about the actual details. If you wish to go to the garden, I can lead the way.¡±

    ¡°If the girl was dead before she met up with the senior, then it is possible that senior was lying? Is he the actual the killer and the girl did not like him at all?¡± Chen Ge thought back to the girl whom he had met in the woods of the eastern campus. The girl had been too caught in resentment to bemunicated with.

    ¡°I personally think that the killer is someone else, and the girl merely wanted to see the person whom she had a crush on at thest moment of her life, but unfortunately, he was not interested in her.¡± Zhu Long touched the scar on his arm. That was a scar left behind by tattooing.

    ¡°That is a person¡¯s name, right? I¡¯m surprise that you¡¯re such a romantic.¡± Zhou Tu nced at Zhu Long¡¯s arm and then turned to Chen Ge. ¡°Mr. Bai, how about we go to that garden today and end this activity as soon as possible? We have to return to the dormitory soon. Look, there aren¡¯t many people around anymore.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to hurry. What about the rest of you? What kind stories have you heard?¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t heard of any ghost stories before, but I read a very interesting story on the inte a while back.¡± Zhu Long touched the scar on his arm habitually. ¡°The content was an innocent boy running into a girl that he likes. He gathered his courage to confess his feelings, but the girl didn¡¯t answer him immediately. She didn¡¯t agree, but she didn¡¯t reject him outright either. She merely said that if they can get into the same university then they will be together forever.¡±

    ¡°The male student was not a good student, but for this promise, he worked extra hard. Unfortunately, his fundamental knowledge was too weak. To have such a drastic improvement in mere months and get into this school is very difficult.¡±

    At this point, Zhu Long¡¯s expression turned very weird. He probably did not notice this change himself. ¡°But out of everyone¡¯s expectations, the boy finally managed to get into the same university as the girl.¡±

    ¡°As long as one is willing, nothing is impossible. Finally, they got their happy ending.¡± Zhang Ju sighed.

    Hearing Zhang Ju¡¯s words, Zhu Long¡¯s expression became even stranger, and he shook his head. ¡°The girl got into the best medical university in the nation. The boy¡¯s score was only 150 marks less than the required mark to apply for that school.¡±

    When Chen Ge heard the term medical school, he seemed to understand something, but the other members were still confused.

    ¡°Then how did he end up meeting the girl?¡±

    ¡°During one of the autopsy sses.¡±

    Zhu Long¡¯s fingers were practically digging into his muscles, but he did not seem to mind it. ¡°The boy was pulled out of the chiller and ced on the girl¡¯s autopsy table. They finally ended up at the same university. Well, do you think the girl kept her word and stayed with the boy forever?¡±

    His expression became even stranger. Zhu Long did not seem to realize the strange changes that were urring to him.

 Chapter 798 - Upside Down Hourglass

    <h4>Chapter 798: Upside Down Hourss</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Zhu Long did not notice anything abnormal with himself at all. He did not say the name of the boy and girl, but he felt as though he had gone through a simr experience.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Wang Yicheng was timid. He saw that Zhu Long seemed possessed and just pushed him away.

    The cluelessness in Zhu Long¡¯s eyes instantly disappeared, and he looked at the people around him before suddenly smiling. ¡°Did I scare you guys? Did you know that the first time I heard this story, I was scared, too? There¡¯s actually another half to this story, and I have this impression of it in my brain, but I can¡¯t remember it no matter what.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s another half?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but I forgot.¡± Zhu Longughed. ¡°Why do you all look at him like this? This is just a story I saw somewhere. It¡¯s not a spooky story that happened in our school.¡±

    Zhu Long saw that everyone was still staring at him, and the smile from his face disappeared. ¡°Don¡¯t you guys believe me? Our school isn¡¯t a medical university...¡±

    ¡°Our school is a mixed university. There are three medical degrees. Because the teaching resources are weak, there are few students. We usually can¡¯t see them at all, but they have three individualboratories in their practical building.¡± Everyone was a freshman, but Zhang Ju knew the school very well and knew a lot of information that others did not know.

    ¡°Our school has a dissection room?¡± Zhu Long was dumbfounded. ¡°I was just casually speaking. Don¡¯t take it seriously.¡±

    ¡°The purpose of our supernatural phenomenon observation club is to seek the truth. Whether it¡¯s real or fake, we will know once we go check it out.¡± Chen Ge was also interested in Zhu Long¡¯s story. Zhu Long had been a hoodlum before and sent to juvenile detention center due to getting into trouble with cityw enforcement. His past was very simr to that bad child. Coupled with his strange manners, it was hard for Chen Ge not to be suspicious of him.

    <i>Zhu Long doesn¡¯t remember the summer break after finishing high school. Something might have happened in that summer break. </i>Chen Ge had found lots of clues from these children. Now, he just needed to verify them at the school.

    ¡°I¡¯m very relieved that everyone is eager to participate. We¡¯ll go to the ce you spoke of tonight,¡± Chen Ge said to Zhang Ju. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the forest you spoke off. You saw the retiring student with your own eyes. What happened on him might be real.¡±

    ¡°Okay, follow me.¡± Zhang Ju looked down. This seemed to be his walking habit in order to cover the scar on his face.

    He was very familiar with this school. He did not seem like a new student at all. It was obvious that the familiarity was etched deep into his bones. It was as though he already belonged to the school.

    There were few people in the small square now, and not many noticed them.

    Even if someone saw them, they would not be suspicious. At most, they would be curious. After all, everyone in Chen Ge¡¯s club seemed rather unique.

    The forest was quite far from the square. Chen Ge used this opportunity to familiarize himself with thendscape of the school.

    The western part of the school was veryrge. They had been walking for more than ten minutes, and they still could not see the border.

    ¡°That¡¯s an artificialke. The school forbids people getting close to it at night because someone drowned there in the past. We need to go around it.¡± Zhang Ju pointed at the pitch ck in the distance. If he had not said it, Chen Ge would not even have known that it was ake.

    The water was calm, and there was no light. Instead of ake, it was more like a ck hole that devoured everything.

    After walking another few minutes, Zhang Ju stopped. ¡°The girl¡¯s body was found in this forest.¡±

    The schoolyard at night was very scary. Luckily, there were lights on both sides of the road that made them feel a little more assured.

    ¡°There used to be no lights, but after the incident, the school installed the lights.¡± Zhang Ju was the first to enter the forest, and Chen Ge followed close behind.

    He was very close to Zhang Ju and could clearly feel that Zhang Ju seemed much more rxed after entering the forest.

    Perhaps it was because the trees could block the light, and no one could see his scarred face.

    The group were scared when they first entered the forest, worrying that they might encounter that girl. However, after a while, they just felt bored. ¡°There¡¯s nothing special here.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Bai, that story must be fake. The forest looks normal. There aren¡¯t any traces of a murder here.¡± Zhou Tu wanted to leave. He saw Chen Ge standing next to a tree hole, so he walked over in confusion ¡°Mr. Bai, what are you looking at?¡±

    Chen Ge ignored Zhou Tu and said without turning back, ¡°Zhang Ju. Was the girl¡¯s head found in a tree hole?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Zhang Ju was a little surprised, but after thinking about it, given that Chen Ge was a teacher, it was normal that he knew this.

    ¡°A human head was once hidden in this tree hole?¡± Wang Yicheng stumbled back a step. He was the most timid in the group.

    ¡°Don¡¯t run around. There¡¯s still hair of the deceased on the branch behind you.¡± Zhang Ju held Wang Yicheng, preventing him from falling over.

    ¡°Don¡¯t scare him. Even if a murder happened here, it¡¯s not as strange as the spooky story makes out.¡± Zhou Tu did not believe this and just wanted to leave.

    ¡°Little Zhou, the reality is much more terrifying than you imagine.¡± Chen Ge decided not to tell them yet. He had seen a tree hole that was exactly the same on the eastern side of the school. A head had been hidden inside.

    <i>The western and eastern regions of the school are simr in some ways, but there¡¯s one thing that I don¡¯t understand. Why is the girl staying on the eastern side while the boy she liked is on the western side? What standard does the school separate the students on?</i>

    The difference between the female ghost in the tree hole and Zhang Ju was that one kept his sense of reason and looked like an ordinary person, but the other was twisted by hatred.

    <i>The mental states of the students of the eastern and western districts arepletely different. The western students are livelier and have a lot of positive emotions. Meanwhile, the eastern students are gued by negative emotions and appear half-human half-ghost.</i>

    After thinking for a while, Chen Ge thought of the oil painting.

    If the despair and negative emotions in the door were removed, would it be possible for the door to return to normal?

    The situations in the two halves of the school were very simr to the scene in the oil painting. The western region sent all the negative emotions through a waste disposal station to the eastern region.

    The two school districts were like an hourss. The trash disposal station was the small gap in the center of the hourss.

    <i>I think I understand what the headmaster wants to do.</i>

    Chen Ge reached into the tree hole. The inside was cleansed. There was nothing left.

 Chapter 799 - Spot the Difference

    <h4>Chapter 799: Spot the Difference</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>The tree hole of the eastern region hides the head of a female ghost that is covered in blood and grime. The tree hole in the western region is clean, without even a leaf.</i>

    The situations in the west and east school districts wereplete opposites. An image gradually appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s head.

    If onepared the world behind the door to a bottomless sea of blood, then this ghost school was an hourss floating in the sea of blood.

    The headmaster of the school made the ss shell to segregate the school from the blood world and then used some means to send the remnant despair in the western region to the eastern region, making the western school region more and more simr to the outside world.

    The only connection between the eastern and western school regions was the trash disposal center. The eastern school region was the real testing grounds, while the western region was like a filter that sent out the negative emotions and despair.

    Chen Ge had been inside the trash disposal center, and he had seen that trash.

    <i>Despair and hatred are sent away. This exins why the door that Chang Gu opened wasn¡¯t dyed red.</i>

    Normal doors were colored blood red, but this door was different.

    <i>The memories those children forgot might be rted to despair and hatred. How did the headmaster of the school do all this? Is this the power above Red Specters?</i>

    Now more than ever, Chen Ge was more curious about the headmaster of the school.

    <i>If the headmaster just wants to clear out a ce without despair behind the door, then why are the students fighting to leave here?</i>

    Chen Ge had long passed the age of using purely good and evil to judge a person. After receiving the ck phone and encountering all those people and ghosts, those who could be top level Red Specters all had strong desires

    Doctor Gao wanted to revive his wife. The shadow of Li Wan town wanted to be a human and turn Chen Ge into his shadow. Zhang Ya wanted revenge.

    This meant that the headmaster of the ghost school had to have his own desire. His desire might be rted to this school.

    <i>I feel there must be something more terrifying hidden in this school. I¡¯m only performing a superficial investigation right now. I still haven¡¯t seen the true side of the school.</i>

    The new students knew very little. Chen Ge was thinking that once he had enough power, he could try abducting a teacher to help him.

    Looking back at his shadow, he noticed that it had stopped squirming. The ghost hidden in his shadow seemed to have awoken.

    ¡°If I can take out the monster at the trash disposal, I pretty much have control of the entrance and can go between the two regions as I please.¡±

    Chen Ge had a n, but it was very hard to put it into action.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, can we go now? This ce looks scary, but there are no ghosts. It¡¯s all just rumors.¡± Zhou Tu was getting impatient. He had joined the association to gain information about the arts society, not to feed the mosquitos.

    ¡°There¡¯s no problem here indeed, but I hope you can all remember the geology of this crime scene.¡± Chen Ge got up and started walking out of the forest.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°You will know in the future.¡± Chen Ge waved his hand. ¡°Now, we will go to the next scene, the dissection room in the practical building. Zhang Ju, lead the way.¡±

    Hearing that Chen Ge was going another ce, the students were dazed.

    ¡°Teach, it¡¯s sote already. Are we still going? Why not wait till tomorrow?¡± Wang Yicheng yelped.

    ¡°You guys probably won¡¯t be able to see me tomorrow. Even if I canst till tomorrow, you guys won¡¯t be in the same state as now.¡± When the ghost in his shadow woke up, Chen Ge was much more confident.

    ¡°But... if we go to the practical building at night and get caught...¡± Zhou Tu did not want to keep doing this with Chen Ge. He felt like he had been abducted on a pirate ship. He thought about leaving, but he was still a child. Which new student dared to argue with a teacher on the second day?

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m here.¡± Chen Ge showed a meaningful smile.

    The group left the forest and walked along theke for a while before seeing the practical building.

    To be honest, Chen Ge had some mental trauma with the practicalb, but he still went in first.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t scared when I was alone. Now that I have so manypanions, there¡¯s even less reason to retreat.¡±

    The practicalb of the eastern region was muchrger than that of the western region. There were two buildings, A and B, and each building had six levels.

    It was veryte now, but many rooms were still lit up, and figures sometimes shed by the windows.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, we won¡¯t be stopped if we go in now, right?¡±

    ¡°You just need to lead the way.¡±

    Zhang Ju walked at the forefront while Chen Ge walked in the middle with his head down. He had thought of five excuses for different situations.

    The door to building A was not locked, nor was there anyone guarding. Chen Ge and the students got inside easily.

    ¡°ss doors, white paint, and the same flooring. Theyout is very simr to the western region¡¯sb building.¡±

    There was no guardroom on the first floor. Chen Ge and the others walked further down the corridor, and he finally found the difference.

    The western region only had one cargo lift while the eastern region also had stairs.

    ¡°There are threebs of the medical department, one on floor two and the rest on floor six. I don¡¯t know if the dissection room is on floor two or floor six. Let¡¯s go to floor two first.¡± Zhang Ju walked toward the stairs. He touched the scar on his face. Ever since leaving the forest, he had kept subconsciously touching the scar on his face.

    ¡°Wait, let¡¯s go to floor six first and then floor two. Chen Ge knew the guardroom was on floor two. He grabbed Zhang Ju¡¯s arm and said, ¡°It¡¯s too troublesome to go up the stairs. Let¡¯s take the lift.¡±

    Chen Ge stopped at the door to the lift,pletely ignoring the words ¡®For Cargo Only¡¯.

    The silver doors slowly opened. Chen Ge looked at the familiar scene and walked in decisively.

    ¡°Hurry up, don¡¯t waste time.¡±

    Taking the lift could avoid the guardroom. When all the students entered the lift, Chen Ge pressed the button toward floor six.

    The doors slowly closed as Chen Ge stared closely at the control board. The button did not light up with his press.

    His heart slowly rested, but just at that moment, a bad smell floated past.

    Turning around, all the students were standing next to him.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong teacher?¡±

    ¡°Do you guys smell a bad odor?¡± Chen Ge looked at the empty corner and thought of something bad.

    ¡°Bad smell?¡± Zhu Long nced at everyone. ¡°Someone farted in the lift?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± Chen Ge took back his nce. He knew that it was an odor that only rotting corpses emitted.

 Chapter 800 - I Am Related to Her Death

    <h4>Chapter 800: I Am Rted to Her Death</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The cargo lift slowly rose before finally stopping at the sixth floor. The silvery gray doors opened before Chen Ge. The air conditioning draft blew into the elevator¡ªthe temperature inside theb was much lower than outside. A bright fluorescent light shone on the tiles. The corridor before them was very clean, devoid of any trash.

    <i>The eastern campus¡¯b building is like this as well, but there was definitely no lights there. </i>Chen Ge nced at the ss on the door, and his reflection stared back at him.

    ¡°Howe it feels like I¡¯ve been here before even though I¡¯m sure that has not happened.¡± Zhang Ju slowly raised his head. He also saw his face on the ss. The fire scorched his face, and the nce of it made people feel ufortable. He scratched his head like he was trying hard to remember something.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine if you cannot remember it now. I have d¨¦j¨¤ vu feelings like that sometimes, too. I¡¯m sure that I¡¯ve not been to this new location before, but it feels strangely familiar like I¡¯ve visited the ce in my dreams.¡± Chen Ge ced his hand on Zhang Ju¡¯s shoulder. The warmth and power from his palm dispersed the anxiety in Zhang Ju¡¯s heart.

    ¡°Thank you, sir, but I¡¯m fine. However, it really feels like I¡¯ve been here before,¡± Zhang Ju replied. ¡°It¡¯s not in my dreams but in real life. There are some shreds of a memory in my mind. They are like a ball that has been charred, and I would need to pry with all my might to look into the contents.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s quite an interesting analogy.¡± Chen Ge noticed that Zhang Ju was different from the other students. He had retained more memories than the others. ¡°Come, let¡¯s get to the autopsy room.¡±

    Chen Ge had Zhang Ju lead the way, and the group found the autopsy room at the deepest part of the corridor.

    ¡°The lights are not on; there¡¯s no one in.¡± Zhu Long peered into the room by leaning on the window. With the light shining in from the corridor, he could only see a single, cold operating table. However, just from the sight of that, his body appeared to shiver from an involuntary reaction.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, do we really need to go in there?¡± Zhou Tu was feeling uneasy. ¡°If we don¡¯t return now, the bathroom is going to run out of hot water.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± It was not Chen Ge who spoke but Zhu Long who leaned on the door. ¡°Since we¡¯re here, why don¡¯t we go in to take a look?¡±

    ¡°The door is locked, are you suggesting we go find the manager? And tell him what? Please let us into the autopsy room because we¡¯re investigating supernatural events at the school?¡± Zhou Tu regretted joining this club; none of the members appeared to be normal. He bit on his tongue hard. Actually, ever since he arrived at the school, anxiety had been following him. He kept having this recurring dream, and that was enough torture for the young man.

    He pretended to be calm before others, putting on a brave front, but actually, he was already at the brink of a breakdown. ¡°Strange school but an even stranger club.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to trouble the manager; I have the key,¡± Chen Ge said as he pulled out a ring of keys from his pocket. ¡°I have much greater ess than you might previously have thought.¡±

    The members did not expect Chen Ge to have so many keys. They were very surprised, so surprised that none noticed that the numbers pasted on the keys were different from the ones at western campus, and some of them were even stained with blood.

    Chen Ge stood facing away from the students and used his body to block the door. The keys rattled noisily in one hand while his other hand searched for the scalpel and iron thread that he had found in the toolroom. From the beginning, he had never nned to use the keys to open the door. Due to his upation, he had encountered many locks and been to many schools, so he had some confidence in his lockpicking skills. After one minute, Chen Ge¡¯s forehead was sweating.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, have you forgotten which key opens this door?¡± Zhang Ju and Zhu Long crowded over. Chen Ge had not expected the lock to be so tough to pick. He swiftly and quietly put the scalpel and iron thread away. Before the members got too near, he pushed arge key into the keyhole.

    ¡°Someone has blocked this keyhole. I¡¯ll force it open now, and tomorrow, I¡¯ll get someone toe fix it.¡± Chen Ge signaled for the members to get back. He looked around for signs of cameras. They were still quite close to the stairs.

    ¡°Find someone to fix itter?¡± The members were still quite confused when they saw Chen Gended a powerful kick on the door.

    Bang!

    The lock that had been tampered with could not withstand such a heavy blow, and it swung open from the kick.

    ¡°Zhou Tu, you wait outside with Xiao Wang. If anyonees, just tell them you¡¯re a student here and you just came because you heard the loud noise,¡± Chen Ge said and then led Zhang Ju and Zhu Long into the autopsy room.

    ¡°Sir, are you sparing us the responsibility in case we¡¯re caught?¡± Wang Yicheng was quite touched. The man before him did not look that special, but his little and insignificant gestures would often touch others.

    ¡°It¡¯s more like that he wants us to be his lookouts. Is that something a teacher should do?¡± Zhou Tu held Wang Yicheng while looking at the broken door.

    The autopsy room there was only half the size of Jiujiang Medical University¡¯s one, but it had all the necessary equipment. In fact, it looked just like a smaller copy of the autopsy room at the university.

    <i>The underground morgue is at Jiujiang Medical University, and that university is one of the pre quests for the School of the Afterlife.</i>

    Chen Ge was considering the connection between the two quests. He was only thinking about it for a minute, but when he turned back, he noticed that his two members were acting strangely. Zhu Long stood next to the operating table, and he was caressing it like he was touching the skin of his lover. His gaze seemed distant as he nced at the cold metallic table. Zhang Ju, though, stood next to the window. He pulled back the curtain and stared dumbly at the mirror frame hidden behind the curtain.

    ¡°Why would there be a mirror frame here?¡± In the maintenance room in the eastern campus¡¯ staff dormitory, Chen Ge had encountered several mirrors dyed red with blood. He had noticed that mirrors seemed to have a special meaning at this school. ¡°Why isn¡¯t there a mirror in the frame?¡±

    ¡°Mirrors are not allowed inside the autopsy room, so the mirror has probably been taken away.¡± The statement slipped out of Zhang Ju¡¯s lips.

    ¡°Then how did you know there is a mirror frame hidden here?¡±

    ¡°I... have no idea.¡± Zhang Ju scratched his head, and his voice became louder. ¡°I really don¡¯t know. How did I know? I just... opened the curtain, and there it was.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I believe you.¡± Chen Ge grabbed hold of Zhang Ju lightly. ¡°It¡¯s going to be fine.¡±

    Half of Zhang Ju¡¯s face was covered with scars. When he was agitated, his expression was very scary, but Chen Ge did not let him go. He felt a different emotion from this panicking young man¡ªguilt. Zhang Ju¡¯s frightening expression belied a heart that was shivering in fear.

    Chen Ge had no idea what had happened to the young man, but he knew that the lock to the young man¡¯s memory was slowly crumbling due to this mirror frame that he had found.

    ¡°Based on the color and style of the frame, the owner of the mirror was probably a girl.¡± Many clues were slowly being stitched together in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. He was reminded of the story that Zhang Ju had told; the young man appeared to have been the witness of a horrifying murder.

 Chapter 801 - Let Me Go!

    <h4>Chapter 801: Let Me Go!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    There was a detail that stuck out in the story told by Zhang Ju. A girl had confessed to her senior on his birthday but ended up being rejected. After that, the senior had joined his roommates to celebrate his birthday at the karaoke. When Chen Ge first met Zhang Ju, thetter had once said that his face had been scarred at a fire that started at a karaoke center. Initially, Chen Ge did not tie the two together, but now, Zhang Ju was acting too abnormally, so this thought surfaced in his mind.

    All the club members¡¯ memories during the summer holiday were blurry; in other words, someone had tampered with that period of their memories, and thus, what they recalled could not be trusted fully. Zhang Ju was very familiar with the school and knew the details between the senior and the girl very well. Other than that, his face had been injured in a fire at the karaoke center, which matched the story of the senior a bit too perfectly.

    After connecting all the dots, several possibilities urred to Chen Ge. First, Zhang Ju was that senior; he killed the girl in cold blood and was a crazed murderer who was good at deceit. Second, Zhang Ju was the senior; the girl had met her demise while she was waiting for him, and he happened to witness the murder. However, due to fear, trauma, or some other reason, he did not stop the killer and was wrought by guilt because of it. Third, Zhang Ju was just an outsider or the senior¡¯s friend; he identally witnessed the senior kill the girl, but due to some reason, he did not expose the senior.

    These filled up Chen Ge¡¯s mind in several seconds. <i>Despair, hatred, and ¡®people¡¯ who give off negative emotions are sent to the eastern campus, so Zhang Ju shouldn¡¯t be the killer.</i>

    The killer not only murdered the girl but also used a very cruel method to do so. People like that would not be troubled by guilt.

    ¡°Sir, can I take this frame with me?¡±

    ¡°Does this frame mean something special to you?¡± Chen Ge asked probingly as he narrowed his eyes. ¡°After all, this belongs to the autopsy room. If you take it with you, I will have to say something to the staff responsible for looking after this ce.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell why¡ªthis is the first time I¡¯ve seen this mirror¡ªbut after entering the room, I headed to the curtain directly like I knew that this frame would be hiding behind it.¡± Zhang Ju¡¯s face was eerie looking, but his expression was rather cute. From Chen Ge¡¯s perspective, a young man like that could not be the killer.

    ¡°Okay, you have to promise me that you won¡¯t break or lose this frame.¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Zhang Ju nodded sincerely. Before Chen Ge, he was only a child who had just finished high school.

    Holding the frame tightly with both hands, there was a certain emotion in Zhang Ju¡¯s eyes. This urred so unconsciously that the young man himself probably did not notice it.

    Bang!

    When Chen Ge was talking with Zhang Ju, a loud crash suddenly came from the front of the room. Chen Ge turned to see that Zhu Long had just turned the entire metallic operating table over. He was not a medical student, so he did not know that the operating table could be adjusted with a dial by the side. Instead, the young man used brute force to turn the table around.

    ¡°What are doing? You¡¯ll need to pay if you break school property.¡± Chen Ge walked toward Zhu Long. Thetter was bent over the side of the table and had poked his head under the table.

    ¡°Zhu Long?¡± This devious-looking student did not reply, but his shoulders were shivering.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Chen Ge grabbed Zhu Long¡¯s shoulders, and then thetter slowly turned around. His facial muscles were twitching, and two streaks of tears trailed down his face. His eyes were filled with panic and fear like he had just seen a ghost.

    Chen Ge pressed on his shoulders firmly and nced at the operating table. Zhu Long¡¯s name had been carved by someone on the back of the table.

    ¡°Why would my name appear on the back of this table?¡± Zhu Long¡¯s voice was shaking, and his body shook harder.

    ¡°I also wish to know why.¡± Chen Ge bent down to use his fingers to touch the carved name. ¡°Just how much must the person have hated you to carve your name into the table so deeply?¡±

    ¡°I do not know anyone at this school! Why would they carve my name here?¡± Zhu Long kicked the table harshly, and the echo was booming. Chen Ge ignored him and took out Lin Sisi¡¯s phone to take a picture. His fingers touched the names that were carved repeatedly under the table before stopping at the bottom left corner. There was a sentence carved there. ¡®I¡¯vee to find you. You promised that once we became students at this school, you would be with me forever!¡¯

    <i>Zhu Long¡¯s story was real? </i>Seeing the sentence, Chen Ge shook his head. <i>Zhu Long doesn¡¯t look like someone who is calctive and cunning. A lot of hoops have to be jumped through to have one¡¯s body donated to medical school. Most importantly, the university normally doesn¡¯t take in bodies of suicide victims.</i>

    ¡°Stop panicking. Take a breath and find the seating chart and duty roster for this autopsy room. One would need plenty of time to carve so much underneath a table. So, the culprit should be the one who normally upies this table.¡± Chen Ge quickly calmed down. He and Zhang Ju started to look around while Zhu Long stood where he was as if frozen.

    After a long time, he wiped away the tears from his face and used a very slow tone to say, ¡°There¡¯s no need to look; I am familiar with this handwriting. It... should have been carved by my hands.¡±

    ¡°You carved that?¡± Zhang Ju had initially been immersed in his own story, but once he heard Zhu Long say that, he snapped pout of it, and fear started to cloud his heart. ¡°Zhu Long, what do you mean by that? Now¡¯s no time to joke!¡±

    ¡°I cannot remember when I did this, but I know that these words were carved by my own two hands!¡± Zhu Long bashed his head heavily like he was literally trying to knock some sense into himself.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t remember it. Do you still remember what I said earlier? No one who has been selected by me to join this club is normal. I will help you remember everything.¡± Chen Ge took out the scalpel that he had used to gouge the door lock earlier from his bag. ¡°Do not be influenced by these carvings. Why don¡¯t you try and carve your name now? Perhaps it¡¯s not what you think.¡±

    Zhu Long epted the scalpel. With shaking hands, he carved his name on the back of the table. The sound of metal scratching against metal was amplified in the quiet night. Zhu Long stopped after he finished carving the word ¡®Zhu¡¯. The Zhu was one hundred percent identical to the other ¡®Zhu¡¯s that covered the back of the table.

    The carvings on the back of the operating table were done by him!

    Ding!

    The scalpel fell to the ground. Zhu Long suddenly grabbed his head as he rammed it against the table. Green veins burst on his face.

    ¡°Grab hold of him!¡±

    Chen Ge and Zhang Ju grabbed Zhu Long by his four limbs. Thetter struggled greatly. The documents inside the first operating table dropped to the ground.

    ¡°Sir, what came over him?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re creating too much noise. We need to leave this ce!¡± Chen Ge grabbed Zhu Long. As he prepared to leave, he noticed an old-fashioned mobile phone with a pink shell amid the documents.

    Chen Ge used one hand to grab the phone and throw it inside his bag, but in that moment, Zhu Long managed to struggle loose.

    He threw his head against the table and yelled, ¡°Let me go! Let me go!¡±

 Chapter 802 - Death Memory

    <h4>Chapter 802: Death Memory</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°What is going on in here?¡± Zhou Tu and Wang Yicheng, who had been guarding the door, burst into the autopsy room when they heard themotion. Once they got in, they saw Zhu Long, who seemed to be possessed.

    ¡°Come and help!¡± With Zhang Ju¡¯s help, Chen Ge pressed Zhu Long to the ground. The young man was young, but he was quite powerful. He seemed to be in a lot of pain, and he resisted with all his might. They were being too loud, and the building manager would arrive soon enough.

    ¡°We will leave via the cargo lift and bring him to the medic room.¡± Chen Ge had the limping Wang Yicheng lead the way while he, Zhou Tu, and Zhang Ju suppressed Zhu Long as they headed toward the lift.

    ¡°Sir, what happened to Zhu Long for him to be like this? Is there something wrong with him mentally?¡± Zhou Tu¡¯s reluctance to part way intensified. He felt uneasy being in theirpany.

    ¡°Move faster, don¡¯t let anyone see us.¡± When Zhang Ju said that, his expression was strange. He had no idea why he would say something like that; it was as if something had triggered in his subconscious, something that he was fearful of. After leaving the autopsy room, Chen Ge mped his hand over Zhu Long¡¯s mouth, and the group forced the young man into the cargo lift. At the same time, he heard rushing footsteps in the corridor. Someone was running up the stairs. He hit the button for the lift. Thankfully, no one was using the lift then, and the lift was still waiting on their floor.

    ¡°Quick! Get in!¡± The doors slowly closed as the footsteps approached. When the number on the panel changed, the footsteps stopped. The other party appeared to have stopped at the top of the stairs.

    ¡°Sir, weren¡¯t you guys checking for supernatural phenomenon? Why did Zhu Long suddenly go crazy? Did he get possessed?¡± Zhou Tu and Zhang Ju pressed Zhu Long against the lift¡¯s inner wall. The two¡¯s youngish faces still registered traces of fear.

    ¡°I also don¡¯t know what happened. The child has yet to tell us his full story.¡± The lift slowly descended. Chen Ge took out the pink phone from his bag. The phone had originally been ced inside the operating table. When Zhu Long knocked the table over, the phone had fallen alongside the documents.

    <i>It¡¯s a girl¡¯s phone.</i>

    Chen Ge switched the phone on. The phone vibrated and opened normally.

    <i>The phone is fully charged. Either someone wille and charge this phone daily, or this is a sign that this ce is forever frozen at a particr moment in time inside someone¡¯s memory.</i>

    There was no password, and the screensaver was that of a sweet-looking girl. She was of small stature and had that ability to arouse other people¡¯s need to protect her.

    ¡°Contact list, messages, history...¡± Chen Ge scanned through the content, but his attention was gradually captured by it. In contrast to the girl¡¯s sweet appearance, she seemed to possess a horrendous personality. She retained a sweet appearance, but the girl¡¯s phone was filled with many pictures of autopsied animals.

    <i>This is madness.</i>

    Cameras were not allowed inside the autopsy room, so obviously, the girl had vited the school rules. Looking through the photo album was a strange experience. The cute pretty selfies contrasted greatly with the macabre pictures of animal carcasses.

    <i>Appearances can be deceiving...</i>

    Chen Ge turned to nce at Zhu Long. Honestly, it did cross Chen Ge¡¯s mind that Zhu Long might have harmed the girl, but after looking through the phone, Chen Ge realized that might not be the case.

    <i>When Zhu Long saw those carvings, he kept screaming, ¡°Let me go.¡± There was no guilt or remorse in his voice. Instead, there was plenty of fear, so his fear of this girl should be authentic.</i>

    Zhu Long was 1.83 meters tall, even though he as on thenky side, the young man packed a punch. Why would a person like that be afraid of a sweet-looking little girl?

    Ding!

    The lift arrived at the first floor, and Chen Ge noticed that scent against. It seemed toe from the corner of the elevator.

    ¡°Come, let¡¯s leave this building for now.¡± Chen Ge waited for the other students to leave before stepping out of the elevator. He sniffed at the corner of his shirt, and a scant scent of decay reached his nose.

    <i>The smell inside the elevator has stuck onto me? Perhaps this work outfit has been worn by a ghost before, and the smell has seeped into the outfit.</i>

    Chen Ge took onest nce into the lift, and his eyes caught the words on the doors¡ª¡¯ess only allowed for cargo, not for normal use.¡¯

    <i>There¡¯s a cargo lift in the eastern campus¡¯b building as well. What kind of cargo are they being used to transport? Why would this strange smell be left behind?</i>

    Chen Ge had an answer in his heart, but he could not yet confirm it. Walking out of the building and as the wind outside caressed their faces, Zhu Long finally calmed down somewhat. He stopped bashing his head, but like a scared kitten, he refused to meet their eyes and wished to curl into a ball.

    ¡°Zhu Long, don¡¯t be afraid. I¡¯m here now, so no one can hurt you.¡± Chen Ge tried to console Zhu Long, but thetter¡¯s emotions were very unstable. The way he looked at Chen Ge aroused a sense of pity. ¡°There¡¯s no need to panic.¡±

    After a long time, Zhu Long somewhat returned to normal. His clothes were soaked by cold sweat. Standing alone in the shadows, he sucked in the fresh air greedily.

    ¡°Tell me, why did you start to scream earlier? Are you hiding something from us?¡± Chen Ge knew that theb was not safe, so he led the students nearer to the isted wall.

    ¡°I also don¡¯t know why. My brain could not remember anything, but my body retained that instinct. I had to leave that room; I had to run away. It¡¯s a hard to describe feeling. It¡¯s like...¡± Zhu Long lifted his head to show his pale face. ¡°It¡¯s like I once died in that room.¡±

    ¡°You still cannot remember anything?¡± Chen Ge took out the pink phone. ¡°I can help you jog your memory. If you remember anything, tell me instantly!¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Zhu Long looked at Chen Ge nervously.

    ¡°Do you know this girl?¡± Chen Ge opened the phone¡¯s photo album and gave Zhu Long a nce of the picture inside. Zhu Long initially did not have any reaction, but after a while, he suddenly started to dry heave.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? A cute girl like this is making you want to vomit?¡± Zhou Tu patted Zhu Long¡¯s back lightly.

    ¡°When you¡¯re done, answer my question. Do you know her?¡± Chen Ge asked in a stern voice. He was a bit different from before. Zhu Long¡¯s face was as white as paper. It did not seem like he had any energy left to speak, so he just shook his head.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know her? Then howe her phone is filled with the chat history between you and her? Even inside the contact list, there is only your name and phone number.¡± Chen Ge knew that this was the world behind the door, and most things were probably weaved from the victim¡¯s dying memory like this mobile phone. The mobile¡¯s real owner probably did not exist at this school, and the phone was probably created from Zhu Long¡¯s memory. That would exin why the phone only contained content rted to Zhu Long.

    ¡°You knew her and probably even killed her?¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes, and his lips curled into an angle.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t kill her! It¡¯s her...¡± Veins burst on Zhu Long¡¯s face. He pressed down hard on his head and forced out those words between his clenched teeth. ¡°She¡¯s the killer! She¡¯s the killer!¡±

 Chapter 803 - Hope in Despair

    <h4>Chapter 803: Hope in Despair</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Zhu Long was acting up again. His expression was severe, and his eyes were bloodshot, but strangely enough, other than blood streaks in Zhu Long¡¯s eyes, there were also tears. He looked like was in plenty of pain. The group worked together to drag Zhu Long to a more secluded ce, but through this process, they still attracted some attention. Thankfully no one gave chase after them.

    <i>Zhu Long flipped over the operating table in the autopsy room, and this might cause the admin staff toe chase after us. Worse than that, Zhu Long carved another Zhu character on the back of the table, which might trigger the culprit in this school!</i>

    Chen Ge was very careful. Whether they were exposed or not, he would always n for the worst.

    <i>On the surface, the western campus looks normal, but that is because there is ¡®something¡¯ here to maintain the rules and regtions and to transport the negative emotions to the eastern campus. When the staff see the additional ¡®zhu¡¯ on the back of the table, they will realize that there is a problem with one of the students.</i>

    They quickened their steps. Chen Ge was not betting on his adversary being an idiot; all he could do was leave the crime scene as soon as possible.

    ¡°Sir, let¡¯s hurry and get him to the medic room. He looks like he¡¯s seriously ill. Perhaps even before joining our club, this kid hid his real physical condition from the school. He might have a mental illness history!¡± Zhou Tu did not wish to stay with those strange people one moment longer. He nned to take Zhu Long to the medic room and then leave to find a guidance counsellor and ask to see if he could leave this club. If that did not work, he would sacrifice the credits. Compared to the additional credits, his life was more important.

    ¡°You think he has a mental illness?¡± In the midst of running away, Chen Ge did not have time to act like a kind teacher anymore. Slightly turning his head, Chen Ge looked around. There was a smile on his face, but when Zhou Tu saw his smile, he felt the grip of a deepening chill. This Mr. Bai seemed to have two personalities; sometimes, he was very warm, but other times, he was hard to get close to.

    ¡°No, no, that is just my spection. After all, you have to admit it is very abnormal for a normal person to scream something about a killer and being killed.¡± Zhou Tu nudged closer to Wang Yicheng.

    ¡°Zhou Tu, no matter from which perspective, you have no ground to judge him. From how I see it, you¡¯re the one with the sickest illness of all the members.¡± Chen Ge paused after a while and added with a smile, ¡°Of course, that¡¯s excluding myself.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Zhou Tu was both afraid and angry at Chen Ge, and his tone was not as friendly as before.

    ¡°I know you won¡¯t believe me now.¡± Chen Ge held Zhu Long and continued without raising his head. ¡°But when I take you to the art club and you see the scene from your dreams, you might even be more affected than he is now.¡±

    ¡°Wh... what? Why?¡± Zhou Tu had a feeling that Chen Ge was not joking with him.

    ¡°Because Zhu Long is just one of the segments to his painting, but you¡¯re the one with the paint brush.¡± Chen Ge had been working for several years already, and coupled with the trials given by the ck phone, his experience was totally different from that of the children. Zhou Tu did not dare look Chen Ge in the eye. His right hand twitched slightly. His muscles were already starting to ¡®remember¡¯ some things. This kind of reaction would only ur in someone who had spent a long time painting.

    Zhu Long hugged his head and yelled and heaved. His eyes were bulging out of their sockets, and tears streaming down his face.

    ¡°We¡¯re still too in the open. Let¡¯s get closer to the wall,¡± Chen Ge ordered Zhou Tu and Zhang Ju. The three of them worked together to control Zhu Long.

    ¡°Sir, are we sure we shouldn¡¯t be taking him to the medic room?¡± Zhang Ju was worried as well. He looked at the calmness in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. He felt like Chen Ge was not thinking about saving Zhu Long; he was actually trying to find a quiet ce to kill and bury the poor boy.

    ¡°The medic room is for those with sicknesses; he is not sick. He is merely taking back what belongs to him.¡± Chen Ge needed help from those who could give it to him without hesitation. ¡°Any kind of recoveryes with a price. When he regains his memory, he will thank us.¡±

    ¡°I am worried that, before he finds his memory, he will first lose his life. After all, memories can be reforged, but there is only one life.¡± Zhang Ju very naturally said that memories could be reforged; it did not even cross his mind that it was a strange thing to say.

    ¡°There is only one life?¡± Chen Ge leaned closer to Zhang Ju and stared at his face. ¡°Think back to that big fire and the things that happened at the hospital. Are you sure the only thing that the fire took away from you was your fair skin?¡±

    Wang Yicheng was the first to join the club. Even though he also thought that Chen Ge was acting quite scarily, he insisted on the kindness of this ¡®Mr. Bai¡¯.

    ¡°We should listen to our teachers. I¡¯lle and help.¡±

    ¡°Try to keep up, and don¡¯t get left behind.¡±

    The group moved a few dozen meters, and Zhu Long already felt more like himself. He gasped for air, but his gaze was sharper than before. ¡°I¡¯m fine now. I¡¯m so sorry for the trouble I¡¯ve caused.¡±

    Zhang Ju and Zhou Tu let go, leaving Chen Ge the only one who was holding Zhu Long. His chest was rising frantically from his great gasps for air. Several deep gouges were left on his face, and his hands were covered with bloody scars.

    ¡°Have you remembered anything?¡± Chen Ge raised the pink phone. Whenever Zhu Long saw the girl¡¯s face on the screensaver, his condition would worsen like he was losing his breath. ¡°ording to the chat history, you two love each other¡ªat least, you believe that. Why would you act so frightened before your lover? What kind of girl is she? What did she do to you?¡±

    With each of Chen Ge¡¯s questions, Zhu Long¡¯s face whitened further. If not for the support that Chen Ge gave him physically, he would have fallen already.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I swear! I haven¡¯t sent any of these messages; I have no memory of doing that at all!¡±

    ¡°Then, what memory do you have?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s hand that was holding Zhu Long slowly tightened, and he looked around alertly.

    ¡°I can only remember her name is Gao Jie. The name suddenly popped up in my mind.¡±

    ¡°Looks like all that knocking wasn¡¯t for naught. Congrattions, you¡¯re one step closer to the truth.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s handnded on Zhu Long¡¯s shoulders lightly as he tried to loosen the man¡¯s taut nerves. ¡°Are you feeling better?¡±

    ¡°Yes, thank you, sir. I can walk on my own now.¡± Zhu Long used his shirtsleeve to wipe his face.

    ¡°I mean, do you want to take a look at this phone yourself to regain more memories that you¡¯ve lost?¡± Chen Ge wished to know how Zhu Long had ended up at the school. Only by knowing that would he have a chance to find the way out.

    The school¡¯s secret was hidden among the students¡¯ missing memories. Even though those memories were filled with despair, there was no better idea because hope was hidden among them as well. Zhu Long did not reject Chen Ge. After remembering the girl¡¯s name, he seemed to have gained some immunity against the content of the phone.

    He looked at the phone with his both eyes. Zhu Long¡¯s gaze wandered alternatively between the sweet loving messages and the pictures of grotesque gore. After a while, he started to dry heave again.

    ¡°When she was chatting with me, what kind emotion was she experiencing? Did she treat me as one of her projects from the very beginning? Was she admiring her work when she was sending these messages with me?¡±

 Chapter 804 - Kind Gaze

    <h4>Chapter 804: Kind Gaze</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Terror of unknown origin came and swallowed Zhu Long. His body felt hollowed out as he slowly sank into a dark abyss. He felt deserted ad trapped.

    ¡°Calm down!¡± Chen Ge shook Zhu Long¡¯s shoulders with great strength, and finally, thetter¡¯s dispersing gaze began to focus. ¡°You¡¯re getting better. This time, you didn¡¯t faint or scream. So now, what else did you remember?¡±

    ¡°Nothing.¡± Zhu Long was slowly getting used to this. His tone of speech was already different from before. The youthfulness and naivete of youth was disappearing, and in its ce was something else. The young man was slowly changing, and he himself did not even realize it.

    ¡°Looks like there¡¯s not enough stimulus.¡± Certain things could not be pushed. Considering Zhu Long¡¯s physical condition, Chen Ge did not pressure him further. ¡°You should keep this pink phone; your memory is locked inside. Most of the content inside it is real, but you have merely forgotten all about it.¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t even recognize the owner of this phone...¡±

    ¡°Then why would a girl¡¯s name appear in your mind after you took a look at the content?¡± Zhu Long had no answer. For a normal person, this was very scary. Zhu Long gripped his head tightly. This feeling of something being on the tip of his tongue was driving him insane.

    ¡°Sir, since we now know the owner¡¯s name is Gao Jie, why don¡¯t you use your power to get the staff to help us find this girl? Seeing her in person will perhaps exin everything!¡±

    ¡°Are you sure that this girl by the name of Gao Jie also studies here?¡± Chen Ge looked at Zhu Long. There was pity in his eyes. The world behind the door was weaved from the victims¡¯ despairing memories, but the person who caused their pain was not trapped behind the door. That was the ironic thing about this whole event. The victims were trapped behind the door, but the culprits kept on living in real life.

    ¡°If she is not a student here, then why would her phone appear in the autopsy room?¡± Zhu Long could not understand why Chen Ge did not understand such simple logic.

    ¡°Even if we manage to find her, what she tells us might not be the truth. You¡¯ll need to depend on yourself to regain the memory that you¡¯ve lost.¡± Chen Ge shoved the pink phone into Zhu Long¡¯s hand. ¡°Keep this and use it to search for your lost memory. If you remember anything, tell me immediately.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Bai, now that Zhu Long is fine, where are we supposed to go?¡± Zhu Long held the mirror frame that he had taken from the autopsy room and looked at Chen Ge with a glow in his eyes.

    ¡°It¡¯s about time we end the activity today, right? It¡¯s veryte. If we linger outside any longer, we¡¯ll be locked out of the dormitory!¡± Zhou Tu sighed in relief when he saw that Zhu Long was more himself again.

    ¡°If you return to the dormitory now, you might forget everything that happened tonight. Of course, that is if you manage to survive to see the sun rise for another day.¡± Chen Ge was definitely not speaking like a teacher should. Zhou Tu even started to be fearful of Chen Ge.

    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    ¡°Just like how you cannot remember what happened during the summer holiday after your high school graduation, the few of us and the things that we have done tonight will disappear from your memory.¡± Chen Ge looked around calmly. ¡°Do you wish to forever relive this one day or ce your trust in me? Together, we¡¯ll help find our own true selves.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d rather the former.¡± Zhou Tu did not want to take any risk. A recurring dream might be scary, but that was not as scary as spending more time with this strange, dangerous man.

    ¡°There is no hurry in answering. This world is slowly changing. Why don¡¯t you make a decision after Zhu Long regains more of his memory?¡± Chen Ge moved his gaze away from Zhou Tu to Zhang Ju. ¡°You¡¯re a new student here, but you know surprising number of things.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps I¡¯ve also lost some memories.¡± Zhang Ju attempted a smile, but as the muscles pulled on the scorched side of his face, it transformed into a rather ghastly expression. ¡°This is such a coincidence. This school is so big, but the few of us who stand out happened to gather together.¡±

    ¡°It is indeed quite a coincidence.¡± Chen Ge did not sense any dangerous presence from Zhang Ju. ¡°Later, you and Zhou Tu can follow me to the eastern campus. The memories that you¡¯ve lost should be able to be found there.¡±

    ¡°The eastern campus? I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s such a good idea. When I first arrived at the school, the counsellor told us that entry to the eastern campus is strictly forbidden, and he also advised us against interacting with the students there.¡± Zhang Ju touched the wound on his face. ¡°He also said that once there were students who attempted to trespass into the eastern campus, and they are there to this day as punishment.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I got the same warning from a senior on my first day here. That ce is only filled with trash from the western campus. Stay there for too long and the stench will stick to you, and you can¡¯t ever return,¡± Wang Yicheng said cowardly. Of all the members, he was tiniest and looked the weakest. ¡°The western campus is an enclosed campus while the eastern campus has interactions with the rest of society, and because of that, the situation there is more than a bit chaotic. Fights and brawls are an everyday urrence, and there have been reports of serious cases happening there.¡±

    ¡°Looks like you have some misunderstanding about the eastern campus, but worry not, seeing is believing. Later, I¡¯ll take you there to see the truth with your own eyes.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s lips curled upward. Those students seemed to have the wrong idea about the eastern campus; the misadventures there were more serious than mere fights and brawls. It was a hellish location where ghosts and specters roamed. A careless move could make one lose one¡¯s life.

    ¡°I also think that the counsellor was merely trying to scare us. Perhaps the students there are just slightly harder to educate.¡± Zhu Long¡¯s face was the color of baster. He was holding Goa Jie¡¯s pink phone. His eyes were wet, but they were still bloodshot.

    ¡°Bro, even in this state, are you standing at Mr. Bai¡¯s side?¡± The way Zhou Tu looked at Zhu Long like how one would look at a mental patient.

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand that feeling. You cannot remember it even though you¡¯re sure it has happened before. Mr. Bai has helped edge the door open a little, so of course, I am in his debt.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand? Well, in that case, I¡¯m not going to stick around to try to understand either.¡± Zhou Tu walked to Chen Ge. ¡°Mr. Bai, I...¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you been meaning to go to the art club?¡± Chen Ge asked with a smile. ¡°I can take you there.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± There was an obvious change in Zhou Tu¡¯s tone. ¡°Thank you, sir!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t thank me too soon. Do you know where the art club is situated?¡± Chen Ge leaned closer to Zhou Tu.

    ¡°Where?¡± Zhou Tu had a very bad feeling forming.

    ¡°Theb building in the eastern campus. The scenery from your dream can all be found in the eastern campus. Now, would you go there with me to take a look?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s question was like that of a demon. It caused Zhou Tu¡¯s hair to stand upright.

    ¡°I can tell you assuredly that your dream is real. Your unique condition is probably due to the fact that your forgotten memories are, in essence, different from those of the other kids. They are rted to the foundation of this school, so that is why this is happening to you.¡± Chen Ge leaned closer. ¡°Well? Would you like to go? The truth is on the other side of this wall!¡±

 Chapter 805 - Last Story

    <h4>Chapter 805: Last Story</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°It¡¯s in the eastern campus?¡± Zhou Tu was obviously hesitant. He had received warnings from both the school and the seniors to stay away from the eastern campus, but they did not give a specific reason. However, from their tone, he could tell that the eastern campus was a very dangerous ce.

    ¡°You guys have a deep misunderstanding about the eastern campus. It is actually not that different from here, but there are two different administrative styles to the management. The people there live in actual terror, but you guys live in a fake happiness.¡± Chen Ge looked into Zhou Tu¡¯s eyes. ¡°Compared to you lot, they are actually closer to hope because at least they know who they are and know how to achieve salvation.¡±

    Chen Ge did not lie to Zhou Tu; be it the students from eastern or western campus, they were both trapped in the school. The students of the western campus had their memories altered and kept repeated the life created by the culprit; the students of the eastern campus at least knew how to look for a scapegoat to try and find a way to escape.

    ¡°The students from the eastern campus are closer to hope? But I heard only trash that are not wanted by the western campus are sent to the eastern campus.¡± Zhou Tu was slowly persuaded, but he still felt quite unsettled by the whole idea.

    ¡°No matter the standard use, any school that treats their students as trash has to be a trashy school itself, wouldn¡¯t you agree?¡± Chen Ge reached out to point at the tall wall separating the two campuses. ¡°Do you know the purpose of this wall?¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because the school is afraid of the worlds going out of control. They utilized various methods to reconstruct societal order, but humanity is the mostplicated thing in the world. No matter how they try to alter the memory, once something happens, the scar that has been left behind will forever be seared on the heart. Not remembering anything doesn¡¯t mean that it has not happened, so the school¡¯s n is destined to fail from the beginning.¡± Chen Ge kept saying things that the members failed to understand. They had no idea why Chen Ge would say these things, but they found themselves agreeing with him.

    Those young men were naturally curious. Chen Ge kept telling them the truth about this school, and he finally managed to arouse their interest.

    ¡°So, are we going over there now? Honestly, I still have a hard time believing that the art room in my dream really exists within the eastern campus,¡± Zhou Tu whispered cynically.

    ¡°Now is not the time.¡± Chen Ge turned to nce at this shadow. The shadow from Room 413 was still alive, but its body had changed. If one looked closer, one would realize how Chen Ge¡¯s shadow was different from others. It was dark as ink like it was capable of swallowing the light. It seemed to have grown stronger. The potential of the shadow was a trump card for Chen Ge. After it had woken up, he would lead the students to the eastern campus and go after abandoned Specters. That way, he could not only improve his own power, he could muddy the waters at the school to provide some distraction for the other ¡®killer¡¯.

    <i>Now is the time to gather strength. Before the culprit notices a small bug like myself, I need to gather as much strength as I can.</i>

    Chen Ge turned to look at Wang Yicheng. He knew a thing or two about the other members¡¯ stories, but he knew the least about this limping boy who had been the first member to join his club. ¡°The next location we¡¯re going is Wang Yicheng¡¯s dormitory bedroom.¡±

    ¡°My bedroom?¡± After hearing that, Wang Yicheng gave a strange reaction. He quickly shook his hands. ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good idea. There¡¯s nothing worth seeing in my bedroom.¡±

    ¡°When you said that, your tone was higher than normal, and you also spoke faster. Other than that, your eyes were fluttering. You are really bad at lying.¡± Chen Ge touched Wang Yicheng¡¯s shoulder lightly. ¡°Why won¡¯t you let us go there? What are you worried about us seeing?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Wang Yicheng thought about it for a long time but could note up with an excuse. Finally, he turned his head away. ¡°It¡¯s nothing. In that case, let¡¯s go now.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    Wang Yicheng lived in Room 413 of the western campus while Lin Sisi stayed at Room 413 of the eastern campus. The numbering of the room was simr, but in Room 413 of the western campus, other than the fourth bed, the other beds were upied. Conversely, on the eastern campus, it was the total opposite; only the fourth bed was upied, and the others were empty.

    ¡°We should keep our club¡¯s secret from other people. Try to keep a low profile. There are staff like myself at the school, but there are also other staff who might not share my views.¡± Chen Ge was on high alert. They had created too big amotion at theb building, so the school might have started an investigation already.

    <i>There¡¯s not much time left for me. After checking Room 413, we should find a ce to hide for a while.</i>

    There were four floors in total in the western campus¡¯ male dormitory. The number of students was several times higher than the number on the eastern campus. It was not yet time for lights out, and the time they arrived was the most chaotic, lively time at the dormitory. The sound of washing, stic basins falling, and chatting could be heard when they stood outside the building.

    <i>This building looks simr to the one on the eastern campus.</i>

    Chen Ge acted very normal as he entered the first building with the four students. The door to the manager¡¯s room was closed, but the window was open. A middle-aged woman in her fifties was humming a ditty inside; she seemed to be in a good mood. There was a notice stuck next to the window. It spoke of various warnings like the using of high voltage electrical appliances and using a stove fire in the dormitory.

    <i>If I remember correctly, the notice on the board in the eastern campus¡¯ dormitory read, ¡®Due to the recent vicious crimes happening around campus, students are forbidden from leaving the dormitory after lights out.¡¯</i>

    A wall separated two different walls, just like how it was inside and outside the door. Walking down the corridor, the group finally reached the door to Room 413.

    ¡°This dormitory is no different from other dormitories. I don¡¯t understand why we¡¯re here.¡± Wang Yicheng opened the door. Even when he walked into the room, his roommates treated him like an invisible person. They kept doing their thing, and no one even acknowledged his presence.

    After Wang Yicheng took several steps into the room, the boy who had the bed closest to the door suddenly pulled off the cover to re at him. ¡°How many times I¡¯ve told you this? Close the door after you enter. I know you¡¯ve injured your leg, but have you injured your ears as well?¡±

    The boy used a very harsh tone; it sounded like he hated Wang Yicheng for some reason.

    ¡°The reason he didn¡¯t close the door is because someone else ising in. If you want an apology, we can apologize on his behalf, but I wonder, what kind of apology do you require?¡± Chen Ge grabbed the doorknob and entered the room. He looked at the upants. When thed saw Chen Ge, his courage dissipated. With a growl, he pulled the cover back.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, this is bed number four. Because it is unupied, we use it to store our luggage.¡± Wang Yicheng pointed at the fourth bed. Several suitcases and bags of trash were left on it. In this bedroom, only Wang Yicheng¡¯s stuff was left beside his bed, the other people threw their stuff onto bed four.

    Chen Ge was very familiar with bed four because he had slept on it on the eastern campus.

    Walking up to the bed, he noticed that even though no one used this bed, there were bed sheets and covers. They had been made dirty by the luggage and trash that was left there.

 Chapter 806 - Zhang Yaâ€™s Side Story: Letâ€™s Get Married

    <h4>Chapter 806: Zhang Ya¡¯s Side Story: Let¡¯s Get Married</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Dark clouds hung so low over the city that it felt like one could reach them by raising one¡¯s hands to the sky. Lee Man stood next to the window, watching the raindrops slide down the window, leaving their transient trails. The clock on the wall ticked as if in rhythm with the rain outside. Time was passing slowly inside the quiet room.

    ¡°5:30 pm, it¡¯s about to call it a day.¡± Lee Man stretchedzily. She moved the nt on the windowsill back into the room and walked to her table. She took the que that dered the building to be the government¡¯s marriage registry office into the drawer. As if that was not clear enough, therge words on the wall read¡ªAdministrative Office for the Marriage License Registry.

    ¡°With the rain pouring, I doubt there¡¯s anyoneing.¡± Lee Man hummed a ditty to herself as she started to clean. She was the only one left at the office; her colleague who took the table next to hers had already got off work fifteen minutes earlier.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but is this where you get marriage licenses registered?¡± The office door was pushed open, and a maic male voice came from the entrance. From the voice, Lee Man believed that it belonged to a handsome figure.

    Lee Man lifted her head and saw a man wearing a ck raincoat standing at the door. He looked rather normal, but there was an indescribable presence about him.

    ¡°Yes... Are... you here to get your marriage license?¡± Lee Man studied the man carefully. This was the first time that she had encountered someone who came to the office to register their marriage while wearing a raincoat and carrying arge, heavy backpack.

    ¡°Yes, I made my appointment online.¡±

    ¡°Let me check. What¡¯s your name, sir?¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge.¡±

    Lee Man keyed the name into theputer, and out came the man¡¯s appointment request. ¡°I was just leaving work, so I hope you don¡¯t mind if we go over this quickly. Have you brought all the necessary documents? The ID cards for both parties, and the paper proof that neither parties are blood-rted across three generations.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got it all here.¡± The man opened the backpack and started to rummage through it. Lee Man thought that she heard a cat. Out of curiosity, she nced into the man¡¯s bag. The backpack was stuffed with a recorder, aic, a doll, a ballpoint pen, and a furry, white cat.

    ¡°Here.¡± The man ced all the required documents on the table. ¡°Everything should be here. I¡¯ve met the girl¡¯s family, and thankfully, they approve of me.¡±

    ¡°Looks like you came well prepared.¡± Lee Man registered the man¡¯s information, and when she prepared to work on the woman¡¯s information, she realized that the woman¡¯s IC card could not be used. Theputer was unable to read the card¡¯s chip. She nced at the name on the female¡¯s IC card, and she noticed something strange. The man before her hade to apply for a marriage license. He had prepared everything and even brought a cat with him, but weirdly enough, his fianc¨¦ was nowhere to be seen.

    ¡°Sir, I¡¯m sorry.¡± Lee Man stopped working. ¡°You¡¯re here to get married, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then, where is your girlfriend? How do you n to get married alone?¡± Lee Man shed an embarrassed smile. ¡°Both parties have to be personally present to apply the license.¡±

    The wall continued ticking, and the rain outside increased in intensity. The man bit on his lips and lifted his head to look at Lee Man. ¡°She is here. She is just standing behind me.¡±

    The tter of the raindrops appeared to intensify, and the air in the room seemed to freeze.

    ¡°Sir, please stop joking. Both parties have to be present to apply for a marriage license. If you insist on this, I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t help you.¡± Lee Man held her hand over her chest. For some reason, she started to have trouble breathing.

    ¡°She is really here. We are inseparable. Wherever I am, there she¡¯ll be.¡± The man¡¯s eyes were shining with rity, and he imed that with insistence. Seeing the seriousness on the man¡¯s face, Lee Man held the ID cards in her hands, and a possibility shed in her mind.

    Looking through the other documents, Lee Man found out that there was a death certificate for the man¡¯s fianc¨¦. The time of death was several years ago.

    ¡°Sir...¡± Lee Man wanted to say something else, but seeing the sincerity and immovability on the man¡¯s face, she started to hesitate. She nced at the man¡¯s backpack, and the objects inside peeked out at her.

    <i>Are those the things left behind by the girl? Do they represent the good memories and good times that they shared together? Perhaps the cat was the girl¡¯s pet when she was alive.</i>

    In that instant, Lee Man understood why the man would bring so many seemingly unrted things to the office to register a marriage. The man¡¯s im that his fianc¨¦e was always with him took on a different meaning.

    With tears pricking her eyes, Lee Man held the girl¡¯s ID card. She did not know what to say, whether to offer words of constion or reveal the horrible truth to him. Her lips slowly opened, but Lee Man could not make herself say those works. She looked at the man before her who was as innocent as a child, and her heart was twisted by a myriad of emotions.

    She forced the smile to stay on her face. ¡°Sir, you must have loved her dearly, right? How did you meet?¡±

    ¡°She was the one who started to pursue me. She sent me the first love letter that I have ever received in my life.¡± The man¡¯s gaze took on a faraway look like he was going on a trip down memoryne. ¡°Our first date was at an abandoned school.¡±

    ¡°Abandoned school? Your first date was at such a unique location?¡±

    ¡°It was Western Jiujiang¡¯s Private Academy; the ce means a lot to her. I stood inside the dance hall where she used to practice daily. We stood back to back, and she told me her life story.¡±

    Lee Man listened quietly, and a romantic picture appeared in her mind. On a quiet, fateful night, a couple shared their memories inside an abandoned school. The school had once been crowded, but they were the only two left. Standing back to back, counting on each other for support, this could be the plot for a sad movie!

    ¡°The second date was at a mental asylum; she wore a fiery red dress. She took my breathing away, and her beauty shone like the sun.¡±

    ¡°Mental asylum?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because of my parents, so that day, I...¡±

    ¡°Okay, I understand. I¡¯m sorry.¡± Before the man could finish, Lee Man apologized. She did not have the habit of tearing into people¡¯s sad pasts. Perhaps his parents were a second scar in the man¡¯s heart.

    ¡°Our third date was in a skyscraper. I cornered the man who once hurt her inside an elevator and gave him a lesson he would never forget.¡±

    ¡°You sure love your girlfriend to have done so many things for her. I bet if she knew what you¡¯ve done for her, she would be very happy.¡±

    ¡°Actually, she was just next to me at the time.¡± The man¡¯s expression softened as he thought about the elevator covered with ck hair in the Ghost Stories Society¡¯sir.

    ¡°It must have been very romantic and warm.¡± Lee Man¡¯s impression of the man before her continued to improve.

    ¡°Our fourth date was in the underground morgue of a medical university. She hid the fact that she was injured from me. We sat quietly together, and she stole a cheeky hug from me.¡± The man¡¯s voice was mellifluous. It was coarse with the maturity of age. As he talked about his past, Lee Man was so caught in the image that, in her mind, she pictured that she overlooked the strangeness of having an underground morgue as a date location.

    ¡°Our fifth date was on the roof of a building in a small town. That day was very simr to today; it was raining heavily, and I leaned against her.¡±

    Compared to the previous locales, the location this time was so normal that it took Lee Man by surprise. ¡°Did you confess to her that day?¡±

    The man nodded lightly. ¡°I was standing on the highest spot in the town and shouted out the words in my heart to the world. I do not think there is any promise more romantic than promising to be stuck together like a man and his shadow.¡±

    ¡°Wow.¡± Lee Man had heard many people¡¯s stories before, but none were as shocking and interesting as Chen Ge¡¯s. Perhaps because she had seen the death certificate, that knowledge colored her view of the story. ¡°And then?¡±

    ¡°Then...¡± Chen Ge sucked in a light breath. ¡°She went into a deep slumber, and it took her a long time to wake up. I stayed by her side, waiting for her return.¡±

    The proof of death stuck into Lee Man¡¯s heart at that moment like a steel needle, and her tears dropped without realizing it. Lowering her head, Lee Man pretended to look for some stuff. While theputer was hiding her face, she swiftly wiped her tears away. She already knew how the story was going to end. No one spoke in the office, and after a long time, it was the man who broke the silence. His hand fell on the seat next to him that was obviously empty. However, from the look on his face, it felt as if he was staring lovingly at his fianc¨¦ who was sitting right there. ¡°Our sixth date...¡±

    It was no longer important what the man said next. Lee Man already knew how the story would end. After the man¡¯s fianc¨¦ passed away, he trapped himself inside a cage known as love. He deluded himself into believing the woman that he loved was still alive. Due to love, he refused to believe the fact that she was already gone. Her hands were pressed together until her fingers were white. Lee Man wanted to tell Chen Ge the truth, but she could not bring herself to burst his bubble.

    She buried herself behind theputer and keyed in all the information on the rted forms. She wished to help the man fulfil his dream, but when she pressed the enter button, the system told her there was an error. The girl had died several years prior, and there was no information on her in the people¡¯s registry.

    Reality poured a tub of cold water on Lee Man. She nced at the man¡¯s face that was still caught in his memory. She bit on her lips. ¡°Sir, our server does not have theplete data; the system is currently updating. Unfortunately, I am not able to help you at the moment. Why don¡¯t youe back in a week?¡±

    Lee Man had a desperate wish to help the man; she was willing to go to the extent of going outside thew.

    ¡°Okay, thank you so much regardless.¡± The man stood up slowly. He packed up all of his stuff and prepared to leave. When he was at the door, he suddenly removed the raincoat and put it over his head as if there was another person standing next to him. ¡°Zhang Ya, don¡¯t stray too far away from me. The rain is getting heavier. Be careful.¡±

    Lee Man saw everything clearly inside the office. Other than the man himself, there was no one else underneath the raincoat.

    Watching the man walk away, Lee Man wiped the corner of her eyes. ¡°Perhaps this is true love; everything starts and ends with you.¡±

 Chapter 807 - The Possible â€˜Doorâ€™

    <h4>Chapter 807: The Possible ¡®Door¡¯</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°There are so many things on the bed. If the upant of bed foures backter, where is he going to sleep?¡± Chen Ge sounded like he was talking to himself. ¡°Do you expect him to sleep in someone else¡¯s bed?¡±

    Ever since he walked in, the students in Room 413 had kept subconsciously and consciously catching nces at him. After all, he was wearing the staff uniform; it was little wonder that he was catching some eyeballs.

    ¡°Are you one of the teachers?¡± the tall, thin student who sat on the bed across from bed four asked. He wore sses with very thick lenses, and they gave his face a distorted look. ¡°Bed four is unupied. We¡¯re merely rationally using the space by cing our stuff there.¡±

    ¡°The bed is made with the covers and sheets, and you¡¯re telling me it¡¯s unupied?¡± Chen Ge looked at the student with a smile. ¡°Most likely, it¡¯s just that you cannot see him. Be careful when you sleep at night. Do not sleep on your side as you might turn around to find another person sleeping behind you.¡±

    Chen Ge stood by bed four and moved all the luggage from the bed to the ground. ¡°This is sad. You¡¯re taking advantage of a ghost.¡±

    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t just touch our stuff like that!¡± The man under the cover poked his head out again.

    ¡°I¡¯m trying to save you; this bed has an owner, and he has been roaming about this school.¡± Chen Ge had seen many things in Room 413 of the eastern campus, so he had high expectations for the same room on the western campus.

    ¡°You also know about the rumor of the fourth bed in Room 413?¡± The bespectacled man asked with a stern face. ¡°But that is merely an excuse we use to scare Wang Yicheng. You don¡¯t seriously believe it, do you?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll know the answer to that soon enough.¡±

    After clearing away the bed, Chen Ge removed the bedsheet and pillow pillowcase to ensure that nothing was hiding there.

    ¡°You said bed four might be upied, so why are you rummaging through his things like that?¡± The thin student pushed on his sses. He did not seem to like Chen Ge, perhaps because Chen Ge took Wang Yicheng¡¯s side and that against their ¡®principle¡¯.

    ¡°It¡¯s doesn¡¯t affect me. After all, I don¡¯t live here. If he¡¯s angered, you will be his first target.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s way of speaking was different from how the students imagined how a teacher would speak. Of course, he was a fake teacher, so he did not care about the impression he was making. Pulling away the bedsheet and cover, Chen Ge turned his attention away from the students and focused on the bed frame. There were five fingerprints left on the edge of the bed that was closer to the wall.

    ¡°This wouldn¡¯t be one of your pranks, right?¡± Chen Ge used his fingers to dig at the print. He then sniffed at his finger; it was definitely dried blood. Why would there be blood on bed four?

    ¡°Sir, what is that?¡± Since the fingerprint was well hidden, this was the first time that Wang Yicheng had seen it.

    ¡°Dried red paint. I¡¯ve studied painting before, and I¡¯m familiar with this scent.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at the other students inside the room. ¡°This should be someone¡¯s idea of a prank.¡±

    He did not continue on this topic but took out Lin Sisi¡¯s phone to look under the bed. Simr to the room on the eastern campus, there was something written under the bed. It was a small handwriting, probably carved with a small knife.

    ¡°Why won¡¯t anyone talk to me?¡±

    ¡°Why do they ignore me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not lying to them! There really is a ghost! I truly saw a ghost inside the toilet!¡±

    ¡°This ce is very dangerous! Why won¡¯t anyone believe me?¡±

    Chen Ge read those words and thought that they feel very familiar. He read further and saw an even more familiar name.

    ¡°I, Lin Sisi, swear on my life that the toilet is really haunted! It¡¯s real¡ªthey¡¯ve been spying on me!¡±

    ¡°I know everyone hates me and wants to pull pranks on me. I don¡¯t mind that. I understand. But the toilet is really haunted! I¡¯m not lying this time!¡±

    Each of the words was carved deeply, and some ces were even stained with blood. The person had probably cut their finger identally when carving the words.

    <i>Were these left behind by Lin Sisi? But this is different from the description left in the ghost school¡¯s diary!</i>

    Chen Ge promptly noticed the problem. The diary said that Lin Sisi was a very naughty prankster, and in the end, the other students could not stand him anymore and all ganged up to trick him to the toilet. They pranked him together but identally scared him to death. However, the words under the bed told a different story. Lin Sisi was not pranked to death by his ssmates; he really saw something inside the toilet. Chen Ge¡¯s eyes narrowed. He did not know what to believe.

    The owner of bed four was Lin Sisi; that was undeniable. Be it the eastern campus or western campus, that was the case.

    <i>If this bedroom is a replica of everything in someone¡¯s memory, then the words underneath the bed should be real. If Lin Sisi was scared to his death, how did hee back to carve these words?</i>

    At this point, Chen Ge was suddenly struck by a thought. He looked at everyone else in the room. In this room, only bed four was unupied, just like back then. Lin Sis was scared to death and so bed four became unupied, but it also meant there were five other students remaining in Room 413. Lin Sisi knew that the toilet was really haunted, so after he died, he came back to warn the rest, but no one heeded his warning.

    <i>No wonder he carved these words. Of course, the living wouldn¡¯t see it because he is now a ghost.</i>

    Chen Ge had no idea whether or not the five in the bedroom were the same five that shared the bedroom with Lin Sisi, but if they were not, then their luck could not have been worse.

    On the eastern campus, every living person that joined the school would be called Lin Sisi. This name represented bad luck and a curse, and they would be targeted by all the Specters. However, from another perspective, the Specters needed a scapegoat to ¡®graduate¡¯. So, from their angle, Lin Sis, this name represented hope.

    <i>This is getting more and more interesting. The curse for a living human is the only hope in the Specters¡¯ eyes. Just what did Lin Sisi do at this school to earn a dual identity like that?</i>

    Chen Ge could confirm that Lin Sis was heavily rted to this school. Even if he was not the owner, he had to be rted to the owner somehow.

    <i>If only I could find Lin Sisi, or the previous ¡®Lin Sisi¡¯.</i>

    As Chen Ge continued to look, the handwriting on the bed increased in intensity like the carver was being pushed further and further into despair.

    ¡°I really see the ghost. Can you people trust me just once?¡±

    ¡°Hear my voice, I am here. I am right here!¡±

    ¡°Fine, I don¡¯t expect any of you to give me any trust anymore. I only pray that none of you go to the toilet on the top floor of the education block! Remember! Do not go there no matter what!¡¯

    ¡°It¡¯s over now. They still escaped...¡±

    The message under the bed stopped there. Chen Ge could feel the person¡¯s despair from the carved words.

    <i>The toilet at the top of the education block? That is where Lin Sisi¡¯s story ends?</i>

    Chen Ge stood where he was quietly as his brain spun. The School of the Afterlife was thergest, mostplicated, and most difficult mission that he had attempted. The clues and questions that he had found were all tangled together, forming a thick fog that blocked his way. To clear them once and for all was an impossible task; Chen Ge could only detangle it little by little.

    <i>A door would not just appear for no reason¡ªthere has to be a door-pusher. Assuming that person is Lin Sisi, the door that he pushed open is most likely in the toilet on the top floor of the education block!</i>

 Chapter 808 - Black Leather Shoes

    <h4>Chapter 808: ck Leather Shoes</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes glowed from finding a crucial clue. <i>The School of the Afterlife is a four-star mission, one I haven¡¯t encountered before, so all the previous experience I¡¯ve gained is useless here. To learn more, I will have to go and investigate myself.</i>

    Chen Ge wondered just how intense one¡¯s hatred must be to be able to create such arge living nightmare; this was beyond the scale for even thebined power of both Doctor Gao and Zhang Ya.

    <i>Perhaps there is a door in the toilet, and when the students were pranking Lin Sisi, they identally opened the door.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s own Haunted House had a door. Until now, he had not dared to get any closer, so he predicted Lin Sisi might have been caught in the same situation. But while he had managed to avoid the door, Lin Sisi had opened the door.

    <i>No matter what the truth is, I have to go take a look at the toilet on the top floor of the education block!</i>

    The words did not specify whether the toilet was in the education block situated on the eastern campus or western campus. For the sake of being thorough, Chen Ge decided to check both ces.

    ¡°Let¡¯s leave for now. I need you all to follow me to theb building.¡± Chen Ge had gathered enough information from underneath the bed. Staying in Room 413 served no more purpose. In fact, it might only arouse the other students¡¯ and staff¡¯s suspicion.

    ¡°Theb building? But haven¡¯t we just...¡± Wang Yicheng wanted to say something but was interrupted by Zhang Ju, who pulled on Wang Yicheng¡¯s shirt sleeves lightly. ¡°Just listen to the teacher. We¡¯ll go wherever he wants.¡±

    Going to theb was a smokescreen dropped by Chen Ge. The students in Room 413 had a negative attitude toward them, so once they left the room, Chen Ge would not put it past them to go and report Chen Ge¡¯s group to the staff.

    ¡°It¡¯s about time for lights out. We¡¯ll hurry back after getting the stuff we need.¡± Chen Ge rearranged the bed and led the few club members out of Room 413. Along the way, they avoided arousing any other people¡¯s attention. After they left the male dormitory, Chen Ge saw many people hurrying toward theb building like something serious had urred.

    ¡°Zhu Long merely knocked the operating table over; that can be handled by the staff on duty. So, why are there so many people involved?¡± Chen Ge was very curious about the activity at theb building, but he quickly stifled his curiosity. If he went there, it would be like walking into a trap, so the best choice was to avoid them for now.

    ¡°Sir, are we really going to theb building? We just came from over there.¡±

    ¡°No, we¡¯re going to education block one. We need to move quickly; we need to finish the investigation before we tip off the school.¡± Chen Ge kept changing their movement. This way, it would ensure that if someone was on their tail, they would be puzzled and confused. The group ran in the direction opposite of theb. As time passed, the campus was getting more and more deserted.

    ¡°Have any of you heard of a toilet-rted ghost story?¡± Chen Ge asked while they moved. ¡°Have any of you been to the toilet on the top floor of the education block?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± The few students shook their heads.

    ¡°This school looks normal on the surface, but dangerous threats are hidden everywhere. When we get there, be sure to listen to my orders.¡± Chen Ge took them on a detour around the campus to reach the education block. The education block was very imposing. There were three buildings in total, and they were all four stories tall.

    <i>The school apparently likes the number four a lot.</i>

    At this time, the education block was devoid of students. The ssrooms were shrouded in darkness, and only the corridors had the lights on.

    ¡°This is my first timeing here sote in the day. I didn¡¯t notice it in the morning, but this ce is quite scary at night.¡± Wang Yicheng walked the slowest. Once they got close to the education block, his expression turned unnatural, like his body had a natural reluctance toe here. This change in the young man attracted Chen Ge¡¯s attention. This limping boy had possibly experienced something here in the past.

    ¡°Follow me closely. We are heading directly to the top floor. No matter what you see in the ssrooms, do not go toward them.¡± Chen Ge scanned the surroundings before entering the ce. Each building had two staircases leading up and down, and the toilet was adjacent to the left staircase.

    ¡°Are we really going there?¡± Zhou Tu had trouble getting into Chen Ge¡¯s headspace. Thetter¡¯s actions felt like there was a detailed n behind it, but once Zhou Tu gave them a closer look, he realized that they were all without rhyme and reason. However, the man put on such a confident front that Zhou Tu wanted to crack Chen Ge¡¯s head open to see the master n that was brewing inside for himself.

    ¡°Try to keep up,¡± Zhang Ju reminded Zhou Tu kindly as he supported Wang Yicheng.

    ¡°Come on, this is a club activity.¡± Zhu Long¡¯s eyes were bloodshot. Even though he was 1.8 meters tall, it did not feel out of ce for him to carry a pink phone.

    ¡°I must have lost my mind to follow along this madness. Coming to the toilet to search for supernatural activity at night.¡± Zhou Tu walked into the corridor unwillingly. The group did not stop as they headed to the top floor. The education block was quiet at night; it was a direct contrast to when it was daytime.

    ¡°Me and Zhang Ju will go in first. Zhu Long will be our direct back-up. Zhou Tu and Wang Yicheng, the two of you guard outside.¡± Chen Ge grabbed the handle of the toilet door. He was about to push when someone grabbed his elbow.

    ¡°Sir, can we not go in?¡± Wang Yicheng was standing next to Chen Ge. His face was as white as sheet. Cold sweat slid down his face as his pupils darted about. ¡°I just remembered something bad, and it happened right here!¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± This was the first time that Chen Ge had seen such an expression on Wang Yicheng¡¯s face.

    ¡°I could only remember snippets of it. It was something that I was forced to participate in. In the end, only I didn¡¯t enter the toilet, so I was the only survivor. The rest who entered the toilet... all of them have died!¡± Wang Yicheng started to ramble on the verge of tears.

    ¡°Those who entered this toilet all died?¡± Chen Ge pressed on Wang Yicheng¡¯s hand lightly. ¡°You¡¯re just a new student here. How would you know something like that?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know! I didn¡¯t mean to do it! They were the one who forced me! Sir, we must leave now! Please do not open that door no matter what!¡± Wang Yicheng was in a pitiable state.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to give up now that we¡¯ve reached this ce.¡± Chen Ge let go of Wang Yicheng¡¯s hand and pushed the toilet door open.

    ¡°No! Do not open that door!¡± With Wang Yicheng screaming, Chen Ge opened the toilet door and peered into the room. stic Halloween ghost masks littered the ground, and skulls and red handprints were left on the walls using paint. Entering the room would give one a feeling of being watched from all angles.

    ¡°So, this is how they pranked Lin Sisi.¡± Chen Ge picked up one of the masks. After making sure that it was not dangerous, he ced it inside his bag.

    He slowly walked further into the room. When he passed the first cubicle, he took out Lin Sisi¡¯s phone to snap several pictures. Everything was normal inside the toilet; there was nothing there that did not belong.

    ¡°Everything looks normal, but I keep have this feeling that something¡¯s not right.¡± Chen Ge looked at the closed cubicle door. He reached out to push on it and realized that it would not budge.

    ¡°Is someone in there?¡± Chen Ge bent down to look through the bottom gap and saw a pair of ck leather shoes sitting inside the cubicle.

 Chapter 809 - Roommates

    <h4>Chapter 809: Roommates</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°There¡¯s someone inside the cubicle!¡± When he saw the ck leather shoes, Chen Ge was instantly reminded of Mr. Bai from the eastern campus. Thetter was wearing a pair of leather shoes just like that. ¡°Stay back.¡±

    Chen Ge took two steps back. He took out Lin Sisi¡¯s phone, lowered it to the gap, and snapped a quick picture.

    Lowering his head to look at the phone, the thing that Chen Ge worried about did not happen. There was only a pair of shoes inside the cubicle; there was no one wearing the shoes.

    <i>Lin Sisi¡¯s phone can capture the image of ghosts and other unique entities. Since there is nothing on the picture, this can only mean that the shoes are the only thing inside the cubicle. But if the cubicle is unupied, why is the door locked from inside?</i>

    The cubicle door could only be locked from the inside, and the way the ck leather shoes were ced indicated that someone was standing inside and not that someone had shoved them inside through the gap.

    ¡°Teacher, perhaps you were mistaken. Who woulde to the toilet alone at an hour like this? Just the thought of it is scaring me.¡± The memory of Zhu Long was loosening. He was reminded of something, but it was still blurry; he could not make it out clearly. However, the influence on the young man was undeniable. Some barely discernible changes were happening to him like he started to maintain his distance from the other club members and would involuntarily stick close to Chen Ge like he believed that he was closer in nature to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Guard the way here. Inform me if anyone¡¯sing.¡± Chen Ge shook the door with brute force, trying to force it open. Many skull faces were painted inside the cramped cubicle. Standing inside would make one feel like one was being stared at by many people.

    ¡°Why would there be a pair of leather shoes here?¡± Chen Ge did not notice any strangeness inside the first cubicle. He came to the second cubicle. With his previous experience, he took out the phone and snapped a picture through the gap. The picture showed that there was also a pair of shoes ced inside the second cubicle. However, this time, it was not a pair of ck leather shoes but a pair of old blue running shoes.

    ¡°The cement is the same. Is there a purpose to this?¡± Chen Ge looked through the first six cubicles. There was a pair of shoes ced inside every cubicle. They were all male shoes¡ªsneakers, hiking boots, and ts of varying sizes. They appeared to belong to different people.

    ¡°The ck leather shoes in the first cubicle reminded me of Mr. Bai; they should be for an adult. The other five pairs are mostly for students. Does this mean that each pair of shoes represents one specific individual? Lin Sisi was pranked by his whole ss. Could these six shoes represent the people who had the biggest grudge against him?¡±

    The difference between a Specter and living person was that they were built by negative emotions and hatred; understanding and kindness were not part of their make-up. No matter what Lin Sisi was like in real life, the moment he turned into a Specter, his heart would be consumed by hatred. That was the nature of Specters and spirit; it was the basis to support his survival. To trap those who had pranked him inside the cubicle to be hispany, based on Chen Ge¡¯s understanding of Specters, that was something one would have done.

    ¡°Sir! Someone ising to the education block!¡± Zhou Tu held Wang Yicheng and screamed at Chen Ge from the entrance. ¡°They seem to being from thebs!¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re chasing after us?¡± Chen Ge moved quickly to thest cubicle. He subconsciously took out the phone to take a picture, but he realized with a shock that the door of the seventh cubicle had been taken off its hinges.

    <i>Where is the door?</i>

    Based on Chen Ge¡¯s prediction, the door most rted to Lin Sisi would most likely appear in the toilet, but he could not find it after searching the whole toilet.

    <i>Calm down, don¡¯t panic.</i>

    Chen Ge bit on his tongue lightly. He knew that the people would need some time to get up the stairs.

    <i>Each door corresponds to a door-pusher, so in other words, the door is the only...</i>

    His fingers touched the hinges, and Chen Ge realized how the hinges had been broken.

    <i>The door was forced open from inside!</i>

    He lowered his head to look at the interior of the cubicle. There were no shoes inside the seventh cubicle, only two bloody footprints. The footprints were ced one before the other like someone was walking out from the door.

    <i>If each shoe represents one person, does this mean that the person inside thest cubicle has escaped?</i>

    Chen Ge whipped his head around. Perhaps it was his imagination, but the skulls on the walls seemed to havee alive; their expressions had shifted.

    <i>The despair and negative emotions on the western campus have all been moved to the eastern campus, so the real blood door should be in the toilet at the top floor of the eastern campus¡¯ education block!</i>

    Before solving this problem, another had appeared. The veins on Chen Ge¡¯s forehead were close to bursting. He bit on his tongue to make himself more alert.

    <i>Take this step by step. At least I know that I¡¯m getting closer to the truth.</i>

    ¡°Sir! They¡¯reing up the stairs! We¡¯d better find a ce to hide!¡± Zhou Tu was rushing through his words. He was weirdly panicking. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like it was students or teachers who entered the block. They are walking with such strange gait!¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re walking strangely?¡± Chen Ge instantly realized that something was off. He waved for Zhang Ju and Zhu Long to get out of the toilet. ¡°Which set of stairs are they taking?¡±

    ¡°The one closer to the toilet!¡¯

    ¡°Okay! We¡¯ll run down the other stairs! Remember, do not let yourself be discovered by them!¡± Chen Ge did not n to go against the enemy for now. They ran down the corridor, but when Chen Ge passed Wang Yicheng, he suddenly stopped.

    His gaze narrowed as they fell on Wang Yicheng¡¯s shoes.

    <i>Blue running shoes?</i>

    Wang Yicheng was wearing the same kind of shoes as the ones found inside the second cubicle!

    <i>The shoes in the cubicles are all male shoes...</i>

    Chen Ge thought back to the discovery, and he suddenly realized that the shoes in the toilet matched the shoes worn by the students inside Room 413 perfectly.

    <i>Room 413 has six students, but the toilet has seven cubicles. The six students should correspond to the six cubicles, and thest cubicle with the ck leather shoes should represent the teacher; that is seven people in total. </i>Chen Ge frowned. <i>Why would Lin Sisi hate his own roommates so much? Didn¡¯t he purposely return to his bedroom to warn his roommates against going to this toilet?</i>

    Chen Ge rubbed his temples. There were too many questions to answer.

    <i>The eastern campus is unregted while western campus is like a memory capsule where time is frozen within these several days of the new students¡¯ weing ceremony. To get to the truth, I¡¯ll have topare the two campuses more closely!</i>

    <i>The western campus is too perfect, so perfect that it feels unreal, like a child¡¯s dream. Inparison, the eastern campus is more realistic.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes moved away from Wang Yicheng¡¯s shoes. He had already decided to take everyone to the eastern campus.

    <i>Now I have no other choice. I can only continue to search for the memory in the dream and find the truth in the reality.</i>

 Chapter 810 - They Forced Me to!

    <h4>Chapter 810: They Forced Me to!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The people that came from theb had already entered the corridor. They seemed to have a specific goal in mind because they headed directly to the top floor without stopping at all.

    ¡°Quick!¡± Chen Ge carried Wang Yicheng on his back as the group rushed down the corridor to the other end. They hid inside the staircase, holding their breath.

    ¡°Sir, why are we stopping?¡±

    ¡°Keep an eye on the third floor; I¡¯ll keep watching the fourth floor¡¯s corridor. After they¡¯ve all got up to the fourth floor, we¡¯ll start going down.¡± Chen Ge was employing a very risky n. He stood at the end of the corridor and looked down the long stretch using his Yin Yang Vision.

    ¡°But...¡±

    ¡°Just do as I say.¡± Chen Ge stayed at the mouth of the fourth-floor staircase alone, looking down the left side of the corridor. After about ten seconds, he could clearly hear footsteps echoing down the other end. Then, a few people in white outfits appeared on the fourth floor.

    <i>Why are they dressed so strangely? The whole outfit including the shoes are white.</i>

    Three people showed up in the corridor in total. Other than the white outfits, there was something else strange about them; their faces were all covered in scars. Not just one or two scars, but like Zhang Ju, arge portion of their faces were scorched.

    <i>Are they the school¡¯s admin staff? </i>Chen Ge watched them enter the toilet and led the other students to run downstairs, perfectly avoiding their pursuers.

    ¡°Sir, where are we going next?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll find a chance to go the eastern campus?¡± Chen Ge said in a hurry. The people in the white clothes gave him plenty of pressure.

    ¡°No, but why are we acting so nervously? You¡¯re making it look like we¡¯re doing something illicit.¡± Zhou Tu looked at Chen Ge and the other members who were acting nervously, and he was rather speechless. ¡°We¡¯re students here, and Mr. Bai is a member of staff. Even if we are discovered, I¡¯m sure we can exin our way out of it. At most, we¡¯ll justpensate them for the broken operating table in the autopsy room. I doubt it¡¯ll cost that much.¡±

    ¡°Do you really think that¡¯s all the punishment we¡¯ll received once we¡¯re captured?¡± Chen Ge stared into Zhou Tu¡¯s eyes. Thetter moved his head away, afraid to meet Chen Ge¡¯s gaze.

    ¡°You¡¯ll understand everything once we reach the eastern campus.¡± Chen Ge led the students away from the education block. Using the isted path, they slowly found their way to the sports equipment room close to the education block.

    ¡°Sir, aren¡¯t we going to the eastern campus? Why are we here?¡±

    ¡°To find some tools. Wang Yicheng, Zhou Tu, the two of you will be on the lookout. The rest of you,e in here with me. Look for things like ropes, and bring all of them with you.¡± Chen Ge pried open the room¡¯s door and located some skipping ropes.

    ¡°Sir, those people seem to be heading our way!¡± Zhou Tu¡¯s voice came from outside the door. He saw several white shadows rush out from the education block heading their way.

    ¡°Huh? How do they know we¡¯re here? It¡¯s not surprising for them to go to the toilet at the top floor of the education block, but how did they know for sure we¡¯re in the sports equipment room?¡±

    A bad feeling rose within Chen Ge. He pulled on the bag¡¯s zipper, but it couldn¡¯t close because it was too full, so he had to carry some of the things in his arms.

    ¡°The sport equipment room is very big; it¡¯ll take them some time to search through it. We¡¯ll retreat now.¡± Chen Ge carried the bag with one hand and waved at Wang Yicheng. ¡°Come, I¡¯ll carry you on my back.¡±

    Chen Ge was offering that out of kindness, but he was rejected by Wang Yicheng. Thetter shook his head, his eyes bulging with fear like a child trapped in a nightmare. ¡°Sir, I¡¯m very afraid. I hear someone calling my name. Those people are here for me. I can hear their voices!¡±

    ¡°You can hear someone calling your name? When did that start?¡± Chen Ge did not give Wang Yicheng the chance to resist. They were pushed for time, so he forcibly pulled Wang Yicheng onto his back. ¡°We¡¯ll talk while we move.¡±

    ¡°Sir, those people are here for me! If you bring me with you, you¡¯ll only get dragged into it!¡± Wang Yicheng¡¯s face was twitching as his body shook.

    ¡°Stop this nonsense; you¡¯re my student. Just answer my question.¡± Chen Ge quickened his steps, but he was curious about what Wang Yicheng had said.

    ¡°When you guys brought me to the education block¡¯s top floor, a bad feeling overwhelmed me. I felt like crying for some reason. The corridor felt too familiar, like something bad had happened there before.¡± Wang Yicheng¡¯s eyes were puffy and red like a hooked fish. He had trouble breathing.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you a new student? How could that corridor be familiar to you?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea. Sometimes, when we go to a new ce, it feels like we¡¯ve been there before. That is what I¡¯m feeling now.¡± Wang Yicheng¡¯s answer came intermittently. His face was frighteningly white.

    ¡°What about the voices? Did they appear suddenly? What are they telling you?¡± Chen Ge asked softly.

    ¡°When I saw the corridor, I started to feel ufortable. When I reached the door, an image shed through my mind.¡± Wang Yicheng took in in a deep breath and continued after a long pause. ¡°It feels as if I¡¯ve been to that toilet a long time ago. I was tasked with leading someone important into the toilet. His thin body was standing inside the toilet, and the toilet was filled with various monsters! It was because of that short memory that I tried to stop you entering the toilet!¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± Chen Ge very astutely noticed a detail in Wang Yicheng¡¯s words. ¡°You were tasked with leading a very important people into the toilet?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that person, if I remember correctly, should be my best friend. I know that because there are not many who are willing to be my friend; he was the only exception.¡± Wang Yicheng bashed on his head heavily. His memory was starting to loosen as well. ¡°When we reached the toilet door, his voice appeared in my head. He was calling my name. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s him! But I cannot recall who he is!¡±

    ¡°Is his name Lin Sisi?¡± When Chen Ge said the name Lin Sisi, Wang Yicheng¡¯s body started to shake uncontrobly. His arms that grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s neck started to increase in strength, crushing Chen Ge¡¯s windpipe.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to do it; they forced me to! I¡¯m so sorry! We¡¯re still best friends!¡± Wang Yicheng screamed with his eyes closed. His wail was harrowing like he had just woken up and seen a ghost standing above him.

    ¡°Calm down!¡± Wang Yicheng¡¯s sudden breakdown surprised everyone. This would only put more targets on their back. Chen Ge decidedly dropped the young man from his shoulders and gave him a powerful chop to the back of this neck.

    ¡°Mr. Bai?¡± The other students were shocked.

    ¡°Shut up! I¡¯m trying to save him!¡± Chen Ge attempted a few times before finally knocking Wang Yicheng out. ¡°Prolonged hallucinations will cause serious damage to his brain. The best temporary solution that I could think of is to make him stop thinking for now.¡±

 Chapter 811 - The Other Side of the Wall

    <h4>Chapter 811: The Other Side of the Wall</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Looking at the unconscious Wang Yicheng, Chen Ge ¡®s emotions did not recover for a long time; he had just obtained a very important piece of information from what Wang Yicheng had said. The person who lured Lin Sisi into the toilet was none other than Wang Yicheng!

    <i>Who would have thought the most crucial person has been at my side all along?</i>

    Chen Ge was thankful that he had not lost his kind nature after entering the door. When he first approached Wang Yicheng, he did not think too much of it. He merely wanted to help after seeing how helpless the young man was. Honestly, he had done what he had set out to do; Wang Yicheng now had a few more new friends, and these new friends would not look down on or bully him.

    Through what Wang Yicheng said, Chen Ge had a brief grasp of what had happened. Wang Yicheng and Lin Sisi both shared Room 413. For various reasons, they were both ostracized. However, they took the segregation differently due to the difference in personality. Wang Yicheng chose to suffer the ostracization silently, whereas Lin Sis came up with ideas to get people¡¯s attention. Technically, the two could not be considered friends but bullying victims who found each other.

    The students hated Lin Sisi a lot and decided to disguise as ghosts to scare him in the toilet on the top floor of the education block to take revenge on him. To lure Lin Sisi there, they enlisted the help of Wang Yicheng, who could be said to share a good rtionship with Lin Sisi. Chen Ge had no idea how those people managed to persuade Wang Yicheng, but he knew that, in the end, Wang Yicheng promised to do their bidding. Wang Yicheng was not entirely guilty, but he was the hand that pushed Lin Sisi over the abyss.

    ¡°Quick! Before Wang Yicheng wakes up, we need to get away from those people behind us.¡±

    Chen Ge was very careful. He went to several ces and only sighed in relief when he did not see white-clothed people following them.

    The atmosphere on the western campus was slowly bing abnormal. There were more and more people in white milling about. Chen Ge was not going to stay any longer, so he led his club members to the trash collection center.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, are those people in white schoolteachers as well? Howe I¡¯ve not seen them before? Why are they chasing us?¡± Zhu Long had many questions.

    ¡°They are not teachers but admin staff who are tasked with maintaining order on the western campus. Regarding why they¡¯re chasing us...¡± Chen Ge ced the fainted Wang Yicheng on the ground. ¡°It is because of him and the rest of you.¡±

    ¡°Us?¡±

    ¡°Yes, this school is not as simple as you might think. If youpare it to a human brain, the western campus is where they deal with various positive emotions while the eastern campus is responsible for the negative emotions and trash.¡± Chen Ge used a normal analogy to exin the situation. ¡°The western campus only has good memories, and all the trash has to be transported to the eastern campus. But how can people only have good memories in their lives?¡±

    ¡°So, we have forgotten many of our memories?¡± Zhang Ju was very clever. Before Chen Ge finished, he already grasped the point.

    ¡°Yes, your forgotten memories are filled with despair, and those things are treated at trash by the western campus. Once those memories loosen or awaken, you will be sent to the eastern campus,¡± Chen Ge told them with a serious tone. ¡°Now that you know the truth, do you still wish to continue searching for your memory?¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± Zhu Long promised without hesitation. ¡°This inability to remember what I¡¯ve done is very jarring. If this continues, I¡¯ll go insane. Even if the memory is bad, I wish to remember everything.¡±

    ¡°I also wish to know what kind of memory I¡¯ve lost. Without it, it feels like I am iplete, like... I¡¯m some kind of monster.¡± Zhang Ju¡¯s hand brushed against the scar on his face. His eyes were filled withplicated emotions. It was hard to tell what he was thinking.

    ¡°You¡¯ve all lost your minds! Crazy!¡± Zhou Tu kept mumbling. He was like a trapped rabbit, bouncing where he was.

    ¡°Since you didn¡¯t say no, I¡¯ll take that as a yes.¡± Chen Ge picked up Wang Yicheng from the ground. ¡°Actually, there is one more advantage in us going to the eastern campus now. The people who are on our tail wish to send us to the eastern campus, but they will never expect us to go to the eastern campus on our own.¡±

    ¡°Is there a difference?¡±

    ¡°If we go over there willingly, we can still retain our ¡®human¡¯ selves. If we¡¯re sent there, I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ll forget even more things.¡± Chen Ge gave the members a few words of constion. ¡°The eastern campus is not as scary as you imagine. As long as we¡¯re careful, we¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Carrying Wang Yicheng, Chen Ge opened the door of the western campus¡¯ trash collection center. The ce was very clean, unlike the one on the eastern campus¡¯ side.

    ¡°Do not touch anything in here and stay away from those doors.¡± Chen Ge did not know whether the western trash collection center was manned or not. Before going in, he gave the students some ropes. ¡°There is a little window on the second floor. Later, I¡¯lle out from the window to get up the wall. Watch how I do it and just follow my lead.¡±

    ¡°What about Wang Yicheng?¡¯

    ¡°Tie him up with the rope. Once I get on the wall, you guys work together to move him through the window, and I¡¯ll help pull him onto the wall.¡± Wang Yicheng was short and thin; he was not that heavy. This was good news for Chen Ge.

    ¡°Be careful of your safety. Once you get on the second floor, do not linger, and follow my direction!¡± After he gave them the ropes, Chen Ge personally tied Wang Yicheng and tied the other end of the rope to himself before carrying him to the second floor. After ensuring that there was no one on the second floor, Chen Ge did not dawdle and headed for the window.

    Opening the small window, Chen Ge very expertly stepped on the windowsill and jumped over to the top of the wall. ¡°What are you guys waiting for? Quickly pass Wang Yicheng over to me.¡±

    The rope was tied to his body on one end, and the other end was attached to Wang Yicheng.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, do you teach sports?¡± Zhang Ju was the first to snap out of it. He raised Wang Yicheng out of the window.

    ¡°This is the second floor! Before careful.¡± Zhu Long and Zhou Tu moved forward to help. The three worked together to move Wang Yicheng out.

    After a long time, Chen Ge finally got Wang Yicheng onto the wall. He was one of the key characters that night, so Chen Ge could not leave him behind. Sitting on the wall again, Chen Ge¡¯s feelings werepletely different from before.

    He untied the rope on his body and leaned on the wall, starting to move slowly to make some space for the other students.

    ¡°Quick! Move faster!¡±

    Chen Ge held Wang Yicheng and found some gaps amid the bricks and tied the rope through them. Next time, if they wanted to cross between the two campuses, they would not need to go through the trash collection center; they could use this rope that he had left behind.

    The group used about ten minutes to cross over to the eastern campus. For those students from the western campus, the eastern campus was apletely unfamiliar ce.

 Chapter 812 - Zhang Juâ€™s Memory

    <h4>Chapter 812: Zhang Ju¡¯s Memory</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Being chased by teachers and running over walls to escape, that is definitely not how I imagined I would spend my second day at university!¡± Zhou Tu patted the dirt off his body and undid the rope around his waist.

    ¡°Later, more things that you can¡¯t imagine will appear.¡± Chen Ge tugged on the rope that he had left on the wall harshly a few times before hiding it. From how he positioned it, even if someone walked past, they would not notice it right away.

    ¡°This rope shall be our escape.¡± When Chen Ge left the eastern campus, he had been alone, but when he returned, he was responsible for a whole club.

    ¡°Sir, did you notice something strange?¡± Zhang Ju stood upright, and the eye that was hidden behind his scar slowly widened.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s just me being sensitive, but it feels like the air here is much slicker and wetter, and there is a strange smell in the air like a perfume of blood.¡± Zhang Ju said those strange words in the calmest voice. His lips slowly opened to lick at the scar on his upper lip. There was confusion and loss in his eyes. ¡°Compared to the western campus, this ce feels much more familiar. ¡±

    ¡°You have to be joking, or are you telling me you¡¯re familiar with the scent of blood?¡± Zhou Tu had originally thought that Zhang Ju was just disfigured, that his mind was normal, but after hearing what he had just said, Zhou Tu gained a new understanding of Zhang Ju.

    ¡°I¡¯m not joking; it¡¯s real.¡± Zhang Ju turned to Chen Ge, who stood where he was with a smile.

    ¡°You are not wrong; this is the soil where sweet dreams are grown. In the world behind the door, only dead bodies and blood can be used as fertilizer to grow the most beautiful flowers.¡±

    Chen Ge picked up Wang Yicheng and signaled for Zhang Ju to follow behind him. ¡°I¡¯ll take you to this one ce first. Be careful, do not make too much noise.¡±

    As they walked through the unkempt brush, the night became their best disguise. Along the way, they did not get into any idents. Chen Ge took Zhang Ju to where he encountered the ghost in the tree hole.

    ¡°Does this ce look familiar to you?¡± Chen Ge pointed at the tree hole where the female skull had originally been hidden and the trees around it.

    ¡°It feels like we¡¯ve been here before... Right, isn¡¯t this the crime scene where the girl was killed? We¡¯ve been to this ce on the western campus! Howe there is an identical location on the eastern campus?¡± Zhou Tu¡¯s eyes widened. Even the tree hole¡¯s location and the opening¡¯s angle werepletely identical.

    ¡°The crime scene on the western campus is only an empty shell; the dead body and the dead¡¯s spirit were hidden on the eastern campus. This ce is the real crime scene.¡± When Chen Ge exined it, Zhang Ju appeared to be attracted by something. He stood beside the tree hole alone, his shoulders slightly shaking.

    ¡°Zhang Ju?¡± He did not appear to have heard Chen Ge. The young man slowly squatted down beside the tree hole and reached his shaking hands into the hole.

    ¡°Hey, are you mad? The girl¡¯s skull was found inside the tree hole! Why are you reaching into it?¡± Zhou Tu wanted to go forth to frag Zhang Ju back but was stopped by Chen Ge.

    ¡°Do not disturb him. His memory is buried inside that tree hole; he has to dig out the thing that he has lost himself.¡±

    ¡°Dig it out? You people are crazy!¡± Zhou Tu was not as powerful as Chen Ge, and he could not struggle loose. He could only stand there and watch.

    With both of his knees on the ground, Zhang Ju knelt next to the tree hole as his gaze stared directly into the dark enclosure. His arms gradually moved into the hole. His body kept shaking, and sweat slid down his face like tears.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t it here? Why? Why it¡¯s not here? Impossible!¡± Zhang Ju could not find anything. He grumbled intermittently like he was so nervous that his breaths were breaking. ¡°I saw it with my own eyes! I saw him bury the thing inside the tree hole! Why isn¡¯t it here?¡±

    His fingers pulled on the tree roots and dirt until his fingernails started to drip with blood, but Zhang Ju did not seem to feel the pain. With a deranged fervor, he continued his digging.

    ¡°Zhang Ju, are you looking for this?¡± Chen Ge pulled out a rusty de from his bag. This de was the female Specter¡¯s item of possession. Chen Ge had discovered it buried inside the tree hole after she was consumed by the shadow. Initially, Chen Ge had taken it as an item of defense; he did not think that it would have such a use. The surroundings suddenly silenced as everyone moved their gaze to the de.

    ¡°This de was found inside the tee hole. The dead¡¯s maddened spirit was lingering on this de.¡± Chen Ge ced the de before Zhang Ju. ¡°Take it, and see if it can help you remember your past.¡±

    Zhang Ju was at this breaking point. His arms shook harder, and his pupils were darting everywhere.

    ¡°It is very familiar, isn¡¯t it? Have you seen this de somewhere before? Who was holding this de, and what was the man doing with it?¡¯ Chen Ge was like a needle piercing into Zhang Ju¡¯s mind. His trembling fingers reached toward the de. When his fingertips touched the handle, his face suddenly changed, his pupils narrowed, and his mouth opened wide with a voiceless scream. Before the scream could escape, Chen Ge rushed forward to mp his hand over Zhang Ju¡¯s mouth. ¡°It¡¯s alright. All that is in the past. It¡¯s already over.¡±

    Even though he wasforting Zhang Ju, Chen Ge kept his eyes on the de in Zhang Ju¡¯s hand. Once the young man attempted to attack with the de, he would knock him over. Zhang Ju was far more powerful than Chen Ge had anticipated. As the memory returned, his strength kept growing. This child did not seem to be a normal spirit. Just as Chen Ge was about to lose control of Zhang Ju, thetter started to calm down.

    Chen Ge let go of the young man, and Zhang Ju copsed to the ground. His lips were kissing the ground, and the scar on the face appeared to be more intense.

    ¡°I... I think I just remembered something.¡± Zhang Ju stared at his cracked nails. ¡°That day, it was senior¡¯s birthday. A girl wanted to confess to him, but senior already had a girlfriend, so he asked me to go and reject her. I came to the promised spot, but I didn¡¯t see the girl, so I kept waiting. Then I heard something moving in the forest, so I ran over quietly, and I saw someone use this knife...

    ¡°The girl was still struggling, but I didn¡¯t dare show myself; I was stunned. I¡¯d never seen so much blood in my life.¡±

    His nails dug into the ground, and the scars on Zhang Ju¡¯s face were squeezed together.

    ¡°If I¡¯d stood up then, perhaps the girl wouldn¡¯t have died.¡±

    me and guilt tormented Zhang Ju. He gripped the knife tightly.

    ¡°When I returned to call the police, the group of people had already escaped; I have no idea whether they were captured or not. However, I remember thinking that one of them looked very familiar.

    ¡°The following night, we drank a lot and then went to the karaoke. That was when the fire happened. I was sent to the hospital and then...¡± Zhang Ju whacked his own head multiple times. ¡°What happened next? Why can¡¯t I remember anything?¡±

    ¡°After you were taken to the hospital from the fire, that is where your memory stopped.¡± Chen Ge now knew about Zhang Ju¡¯s past.

 Chapter 813 - Portrait of the Doctors

    <h4>Chapter 813: Portrait of the Doctors</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I could see the embers burning and the fire getting closer. Along with the rolling mes, I could hear the screams and wailing. I couldn¡¯t open my eyes due to the fire. I wanted to run outside, but once the door was opened, fire burst into the room.¡±

    Zhang Juy on the ground, and veins covered his forehead. The scars on his face were slightly shaking.

    ¡°It was hard to tell where the pain wasing from. I tried my best to run outside. The air was getting thin, I couldn¡¯t see anything, and in the end, I fainted in the corridor.

    ¡°Fuzzily, I remember someone carrying me out. At that time, I still had some lingering consciousness left.¡±

    Fingers dirtied with blood and dirt reached through the air. Zhang Ju used his elbows to support his body.

    ¡°I should have been sent to the hospital directly. I think I can remember hearing the conversation between my parents the doctors. I wanted to open my eyes, but when I did, it was apletely dark world that I saw like everything within my sight was charred.¡±

    Zhang Ju¡¯s voice was slowly returning to normal even though he was still copsed on the ground.

    ¡°I can remember my parents¡¯ faces, and I can remember the doctors and nurses that look after me, but I cannot for the life of me remember when I woke up from the fainting, and I cannot remember how I came to this school.¡±

    ¡°Is there a chance that actually you haven¡¯t woken up from youra and that you¡¯re dreaming up this world?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s question surprised Zhang Ju.

    ¡°I still haven¡¯t woken up? This is a dream that I¡¯ve dreamed up?¡± Zhang Ju repeated what Chen Ge had said. ¡°Then everything here is part of my dream? Even you are just part of my imagination?¡±

    ¡°Imagination your head. That¡¯s preposterous. Can you please act normal?¡± Zhou Tu took the de away from Zhang Ju. ¡°I don¡¯t know about the others, but I am definitely not a part of your imagination. I¡¯ll hold onto the de for you in case you decided to test that theory out on us.¡±

    Zhou Tu felt like he was the only normal member of this club, and thus, it was safest for him to have the de for safekeeping.

    ¡°Zhang Ju is not wrong, but there is a detail that he is mistaken about. This world is not his own dream but a collection of many people¡¯s negative emotions and despair. It is a nightmare formed from all that.¡± Chen Ge scanned every member¡¯s face. ¡°All of you are trapped inside this world, and this world was created by all of you as well.¡±

    When Chen Ge said that, the brush was intensely quiet. Everyone looked at him with various expression.

    ¡°I know you might not be able to ept that for now, but it¡¯s okay, we still have time.¡± Chen Ge carried Wang Yicheng and looked at the wall faraway. ¡°Wang Yicheng¡¯s recovery of his memory has attracted the administrators, and now that your memory, Zhang Ju, has started to loosen as well, the admins mighte and get us soon. We need to leave as soon as possible.¡± Chen Ge turned around and headed out the brush.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Zhang Ju grabbed the dirt that was reddened by blood and slowly lifted his head. His eyes were zoomed in on Chen Ge. ¡°Who are you? Why are you telling us all this?¡±

    ¡°Who I am is not that important; the important thing is that I can help you escape from this ce. Your friends and family have waited long enough for you in real life.¡± Chen Ge smiled. ¡°Actually, I am not unlike you. I am also missing a part of my childhood memory, so when I encountered you, I seemed to have encountered my past self.¡±

    Chen Ge sighed with emotion. He led the club members away from theb and the staff dormitory, following the path to the education block. ¡°The toilet is on the top floor of the education block; I believe the answer we¡¯re looking for is there.¡±

    The education block on the western campus was only quiet and eerie, but the education block on the eastern campus was filled with danger. By getting close to it, a chill would climb up one¡¯s spine.

    ¡°Be as quiet as you can. If anything happens here, the consequences will be very serious,¡± Chen Ge whispered.

    ¡°What kind of consequences?¡± Zhou Tu¡¯s forehead was sweating. He gripped the de that had been dug out of the tree hole and bent his back. His eyes looked around, and he was very nervous.

    ¡°The eastern campus is used to store the trash from the western campus. Normally, how do we treat trash?¡± Chen Ge maintained the smile, but the words that he said caused the members to suck in a cold breath. ¡°After we¡¯re captured, we will be stripped of everything that we consider valuable and then abandoned. Here, death is a luxury.¡±

    There was no taking back a loosened arrow. Chen Ge was the first to head into the education block. Perhaps it was his imagination, but night on the eastern campus felt darker than on the western campus. Stepping on the old staircase, holding the banister that was charred, one could hear the sound of tables and chairs moving from inside the supposedly empty ssrooms.

    ¡°This ce is so scare. I can¡¯t imagine it was just a wall away from us.¡± Zhu Long lowered his voice. He walked at the back of the group.

    ¡°Shush, don¡¯t talk.¡± Zhou Tu, holding the knife, stuck close to Zhang Ju, afraid that this student with a scarred face might suddenly act up. The more he worried about it, the more he felt it might happen, so Zhou Tu had been keeping an eye on Zhang Ju. Thetter suddenly stopped moving.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m just curious. Why are there so many pictures of doctors on the corridors of the education building?¡± Zhang Ju lifted his head to look at the pictures on the wall. ¡°We are not a medical school, and these doctors don¡¯t appear to be renowned doctors. Many of them don¡¯t even have an introduction but pictures of them working in white coats. By the way, have any of you noticed that all of these pictures were taken when they were at work?¡±

    Zhang Ju¡¯s words attracted Chen Ge¡¯s attention. Previously, he had thought that these pictures were very strange but could not figure out why. Zhang Ju¡¯s words reminded him of a possibility.

    ¡°The world behind the door is weaved from the door-pusher¡¯s memory. This school is very unique; it seems to be made up from the memories of all of its students. So, the pictures of the doctors might have been people that the students encountered in real life.¡± Chen Ge patted Zhang Ju¡¯s shoulder lightly. ¡°Pay attention to these pictures. See if there¡¯s anyone you recognize.¡±

    ¡°To be able to be celebrated like this has to be someone at the top of the field. How would I know someone like that?¡±

    ¡°Here, doctors perhaps have a special meaning. Just follow my instructions.¡± Chen Ge led the members up the stairs. When they passed the third floor, he suddenly stopped. ¡°Stop, there¡¯s someone ahead.¡±

    The ssroom nearest o the third floor¡¯s staircase was not locked. The door made from poor quality wood creaked noisily in the wind.

    Chen Ge¡¯s group stood frozen on the spot. After a while, a shadow exited the ssroom.

    ¡°That figure looks so familiar. Could it be Chang Gu?¡±

 Chapter 814 - Do You Dare?

    <h4>Chapter 814: Do You Dare?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The shadow¡¯s frame was simr to Chang Gu¡¯s, but it moved very fast, not like someone who was blind. Chen Ge did not dare just announce himself. He wished to observe the figure longer, but the person rushed straight down to the other end of the corridor like it was looking for something.

    ¡°Is that Chang Gu? Has he recovered his sight?¡±

    The education block was not lit. Even with his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge was taking careful steps.

    ¡°Sir, is that a friend? Should we go meet up with him?¡±

    ¡°Now is not the time for reunions. We¡¯ll go to the top floor first.¡± Chen Ge kept his gaze on the shadow. The person did not leave but went into another ssroom. There was another party in the education block that night. Chen Ge did not know whether this change was a good thing or not. The group soon reached the fourth floor. The toilet was at the other end of the corridor.

    ¡°No matter what you hear, do not answer. No matter what you see, do not leave the group. Understand?¡± Chen Ge whispered the warning to the members and then carried Wang Yicheng down the corridor. He bent his body low and used the corner of his eyes to scan the ssrooms on both sides. There was only darkness inside the windows; he could not see anything.

    The members followed behind Chen Ge. They tried not to look beside them, but the more they told themselves not to do that, the more their eyes started to wander.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    The ssrooms there needed a good tidying up. When Zhou Tu passed one of the windows, there was something that looked like many strands of hair dangling from the window frame. It felt like there was a girl leaning against the window.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a real person, right?¡± Zhou Tu stood on his tiptoes as he hurried forward. He titled his head downward and looked from underneath the window.

    ¡°The hair... is moving?¡±

    Before Zhou Tu could get a closer look, his body knocked into something. That came as such a surprise to him that he dropped the knife that he was holding to the ground. The rusted de ttered noisily on the ground. Inside the dark building, the sound was intensely sharp and loud.

    Everyone stopped moving, and Chen Ge turned to Zhou Tu. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I identally bumped into Zhang Ju.¡± Zhou Tu held his nose and pointed at Zhang Ju, who stood frozen. He noticed that Zhang Ju¡¯s expression was rather strange. ¡°Why did you suddenly stop when we¡¯re moving?¡±

    Zhang Ju did not reply. He lifted his head to look at the picture on the wall. His lips were slightly open, and his pupils were narrowed to a point.

    ¡°Zhang Ju?¡±

    No matter how the others nudged him, Zhang Ju had no reply. His gaze was glued to the picture on the wall, and there was a trace of sadness in his eyes. When he saw the de that had killed the girl in the brush, his mind hadpletely broken down, but now he waspletely different from then. There was no maddened scream and self-muttion to nullify the psychological pain; he merely stood before the picture quietly.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen... this doctor before.¡± He spoke so softly that only people directly beside him could hear.

    ¡°That fire burned twenty percent of my skin. I saw my blood and flesh burn. I sniffed the stench that came from my own body until my eyeballs melted off from the me. My eyelids were glued together, and my world plunged into darkness.

    ¡°I was sent to the hospital. The pain was so intense that I couldn¡¯t feel the pain anymore.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t open my eyes, and my nostrils were burnt. One of my ears was partially burnt, and the other was significantly burnt. I became a monster. I could not see myself, but I knew I¡¯d be a monster. I could no longer return to a normal life. Have you ever wondered what it feels like to use partially sealed ears to hear your family?

    ¡°Someone was saving me. I could feel the pain returning. I was getting closer to being saved, but how would I wake up?

    ¡°Something cold cut open my eyes, and they were cleaning it little by little. My left eye was taken out, and I could barely see a grayish world out of my right eye.

    ¡°I could not sense light; I could only see shadows out of my right eye. Tell me, how would I survive like that?¡±

    Zhang Ju pressed his hand on the picture on the wall. His face was leaking blood. A small trail of blood leaked out from his skin like a thread used in a suturing surgery.

    ¡°I know this doctor. He apanied me for a week. Death hade to im my life, and he made a bet with him.¡± His voice was getting coarse like it was burnt in a fire. His appearance was changing as well. The blood and scar spread on his face. His ears started to shrivel like a flower, and the skin on his left eye was slowly melting.

    ¡°I never said a word to him, but I remember him very clearly. At thest moment of my life, he was one of three people present.¡±

    The guilt for the dead unlocked Zhang Ju¡¯s memory. The doctor who had once saved him restored his originally blurry memory, and now the pieces were surfacing in his mind. Blood vessels dripped out of his skin like the sutured wounds were reopening. The blood vessels coagted into blood globules and dropped on Zhang Ju¡¯s shirt. His shirt was slowly turning red. ¡°If you were in my situation, would you choose to live or to die?¡±

    <i>A Half Red Specter? After they recover their memory, the Specters will return to their original form? The girl at the tree hole was unable to retain a normal human form because her memory wasn¡¯t fully wiped?</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were twitching, but his reaction was already calmerpared to the other members.

    Zhou Tu was so shocked that he neglected to pick up the de. He grabbed Zhu Long¡¯s elbow, and the two involuntarily retreated three meters away. No one responded. Zhang Ju¡¯s eyes slowly moved away from the doctor¡¯s picture to Chen Ge. ¡°I have remembered who I am. Now, can you tell me who you are?¡±

    The two stood inside the darkened corridor, looking at each other.

    ¡°You¡¯ve asked me that question before, and I¡¯ve given you the answer.¡± Chen Ge stood where he was and did not take a step back. ¡°We are the same. I also wish to find the memory the memory that I¡¯ve lost. Helping you is helping myself.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lying!¡± Zhang Ju reached out toward Chen Ge, but as his fingers were about to touch Chen Ge, he stopped.

    ¡°Why did you stop?¡± Chen Ge took one step forward. He leaned close to Zhang Ju¡¯s scary, despairing face. ¡°Are you afraid that after you kill me, another me will stand up from my dead body? Are you afraid of me, who is wearing red?¡±

    Gripping Zhang Ju¡¯s shoulders, Chen Ge¡¯s expression waspletely maddened. His hands moved on Zhang Ju¡¯s shoulders before moving slowly to caress Zhang Ju¡¯s face and touching the young man¡¯s forehead.

    ¡°You want to kill me? Do you dare?¡±

    Not only Zhang Ju, Zhou Tu and Zhu Long who were hiding behind were spooked.

    The corridor was silent. After a long time, Chen Ge let go of Zhang Ju. He looked at the other members inside the corridor. ¡°I just want to find my lost memory. If you help me, you¡¯re helping yourselves. The opposite is also true.¡±

 Chapter 815 - Moveable Door

    <h4>Chapter 815: Moveable Door</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Zhang Ju had long noticed that Chen Ge was not a normal person. The man¡¯s eyes could retain calmness no matter the situation, like there was nothing in the world that could shock him. To be honest, he was afraid of people like that, but it was because of that fear that he had chosen to follow and listen to Chen Ge¡¯s orders. Standing before the picture, Zhang Ju opened his remaining right eye and stared quietly at Chen Ge¡¯s face.

    It was a normal facial feature, a face that would be lost in the crowd, but someone like that subconsciously radiated a presence that frightened even himself. It was hard to describe; it was like a hatred-filled Specter was mixed with a crazed madman. He could see madness, sickness, and cruelty from that face but could not find a trace of fear. Zhang Ju knew how he looked, that he looked like a scary monster, but Chen Ge¡¯s earlier reaction made him realize that there were scarier ¡®monsters¡¯ than him in the world.

    ¡°Yes, we should be the same type of person.¡± He believed Chen Ge because only those who had experienced hell would make that kind of expression. The man, like him, had also forgotten his past.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Mr. Bai. It¡¯s because of this sudden return of bad memory that I lost control of myself.¡± Zhang Ju¡¯s voice was harsh and grating, but his attitude became much better.

    ¡°It¡¯s no matter. Of course, I do not mind. A teacher has to be understanding of his student,¡± Chen Ge said with a smile. He gave off warmth and kindness. It was hard to imagine that he was the same person who had confronted Zhang Ju earlier. ¡°What have you remembered? There¡¯s no need to be shy. Let me everything.¡±

    ¡°Actually, it¡¯s nothing, just some painful memory.¡± Zhang Ju¡¯s wounds were still opening. His shirt was slowly being dyed red. ¡°I remembered the time when I witnessed the murder. I was scared and cowardly. I remembered the pain of having my skin seared by fire. It was like having needles pierce into your skin until you couldn¡¯t feel pain anymore. I still remember the pain and helplessness I felt when I was lying in the ICU. Despair grew in my heart. I didn¡¯t want to know, but I didn¡¯t know how to survive.¡±

    ¡°At thest moment of your life, did any special happen to you or around you?¡± Zhang Ju appeared in this world inside the door, but at the time, he should have lost the ability to push open any door. Chen Ge was curious how he ended up at the school. Only by knowing how he entered would they have a chance of exiting. For a three-star scenario, the door was the only exit, but that did not seem to be case for four-star scenarios.

    ¡°At thest moment of my life...¡± Zhang Ju reached out to touch his face. ¡°It seems I fell into aa, but I could sense the goings-on around me. I cannot tell the difference between the nightmare and reality, but I remember one thing very clearly. Whenever midnight came, there would be a door inside the sickroom.¡±

    ¡°A door?¡±

    ¡°I stayed for seven days at the hospital. The door appeared every night, and each night, it showed up closer. Until it stopped right beside my bed.¡± Zhang Ju lifted his bloodied face. ¡°It was a moving door. The more afraid I was, the more despair I felt, the closer it woulde to me. I couldn¡¯t ask for help. At the night of the eighth day, the door was pushed open from inside. Hands reached out from behind the door to pull me into it.¡±

    What Zhang Ju described was simr to what had happened to Chang Gu. They had both encountered a door that could move. Every night at midnight, this door would get close to the sleeping victim before ending up beside them. The door would be opened from inside to pull the victims in.

    ¡°And this school is behind the door?¡± Chen Ge was curious about what had happened next. He wanted to know how Zhang Ju had lost his memory. Just how did this student whose face had been ruined in a fire be a Half Red Specter?

    Zhang Ju shook his head. ¡°I felt trapped in a dream, a dream that felt so real. In the dream, everyone referred to me as Lin Sisi even though I told them again and again that my name is Zhang Ju. I said they¡¯d got the wrong person, but they thought it was just a joke.

    ¡°No one would believe me, and I could only survive in the dream as Lin Sisi to experience everything as Lin Sisi. Eventually, even I started to wonder if I was really Lin Sisi.

    ¡°Being bullied, ostracized, ignored, it was hard to stomach, but I thought about it from another perspective. In real life, I had already be a monster. The life in the dream was not that bad.¡±

    Zhang Ju¡¯s voice was t enough to feel like he was telling another person¡¯s story. ¡°I had no friends, and everyone hated me. I started to get dull to both the spiritual and physical torture, but then one day, a girl walked into my dream.

    ¡°It was a cloudy day. Someone nted a frog in my deskmate¡¯s school bag. She suspected that I was the culprit, but I wouldn¡¯t do something so stupid.

    ¡°No one listened to my exnation. The ss chased me out, and everyone in the corridor gawked at me with their strange eyes. I ran away from them to go hide on the rooftop of the education block.

    ¡°I met her there.

    ¡°Even though I knew it was a dream, I felt that she was very special.¡± Zhang Ju¡¯s voice started to change. ¡°Her name was Wen Changyu, the only person who didn¡¯t ignore me. I told her my sorrow, and she showed me sympathy.

    ¡°Then I told her about my past, and she confirmed that I am not Lin Sisi. Only when I was with her could I remember myself and not get assimted into the dream. We would meet every dusk on the rooftop, and gradually, I felt like I couldn¡¯t stay away from her anymore.

    ¡°She said that she was very interested in my stories, and I liked spending time with her

    ¡°Just as color started to return to my life, she suddenly posed a question to me¡ªwould I like to see the world outside of the school? At the time, I had no idea what she meant. I just wanted to stay with her, so I nodded.

    ¡°That day, after midnight, she led me to the library. The library¡¯s door was always locked, so we jumped in through the window. We found a mirror behind one of the bookshelves on the third floor.

    ¡°The mirror was very big, and the girl said that the mirror could still be used several times and told me to keep it a secret.

    ¡°I trusted her implicitly. At the same time, I realized something. This was the first time that I had seen a mirror inside my dream!

    ¡°I asked the girl what I should do. The girl told me that I only needed to peer into the mirror.

    ¡°I stood before the mirror, and she moved to stand behind me. In the quiet night, I stared at myself in the mirror.

    ¡°The more I stared, the more I felt the reflection in the mirror changing. Slowly, my reflection started to bleed, and scars appeared on the person¡¯s face. His ears started to wilt, his left eye closed, and his face started to get scarred and burned!

    ¡°I did not dare look further, but just as I wanted to leave, the monster in the mirror reached out to grab me!

    ¡°Blood leaked out of the mirror until the surface waspletely red!

    ¡°I screamed loudly for help and turned around to look at Chang Wenyu, but she was unmoved. Even now, I can remember what she told mest. ¡®Why are you afraid? That is the real you inside the mirror.¡¯

    ¡°Her slender fingers pressed on my left eye softly and slowly plucked it out!

    ¡°The world immediate

 Chapter 816 - Just a Speculation

    <h4>Chapter 816: Just a Spection</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°After Chang Wenyu took my left eye, I became simr to the monster from inside the mirror. She shattered my hallucination. I was not Lin Sisi but Zhang Ju; the scary-looking monster from inside the mirror was myself.¡±

    With his wound bleeding, Zhang Ju¡¯s shirt was half dyed red, but the scarier thing was that the blood vessels that had started to weave on his shirt still continued to increase in number. Chen Ge had initially thought Zhang Ju was just a Half Red Specter, but he soon discovered that he had greatly underestimated the young man. As his memory was awakened, the blood on Zhang Ju began to intensify as it proceeded to color his whole body red.

    ¡°I was pulled into the mirror, and Chang Wenyu who stood outside the mirror held my left hand. Her lips opened and closed, and I believe she was saying, ¡®Onest one left.¡¯

    ¡°My left eye started to change in her grasp. The memory of my life shed in the pupil. When she took my left eye, she also took all of my hope.¡±

    Drip drop...

    Zhang Ju¡¯s blood dripped on the corridor. Footsteps echoed down the block, but no matter where they looked, there was no oneing.

    ¡°What kind of world is it inside the mirror?¡± Chen Ge asked softly.

    ¡°Red. There is just red; everything is red.¡± Zhang Ju¡¯s description reminded Chen Ge of the scenario behind the door of the three-star trial mission.

    ¡°Then, how did you return from that ce?¡±

    ¡°The other me from inside the mirror, he was covered in blood. He wanted to consume me. Before I could give it some thought, my legs carried me away. I ran for a long time before I realized that inside the mirror was another school. It waspletely deserted, or at least, it looked that way on the surface.¡±

    ¡°And then?¡±

    ¡°I never even survived the first night. The other me from inside the mirror caught me.¡± A trace of confusion appeared in Zhang Ju¡¯s eyes. ¡°In my memory, he killed me, but when I reopened my eyes, I had returned to this school and lost a major part of my memory, bing part of the school.¡±

    ¡°In other words, your memory was tampered with after you died?¡±

    ¡°I guess you could say that. I have no idea what happened in between. I believe you¡¯ll need to go to the red world if you really want to find out the answer.¡± Zhang Ju did not seem to be lying. Even though he looked scary, his expression was sincere.

    ¡°I think I get it,¡± Chen Ge said softly. ¡°Normally, the door is the only way to enter the blood world, but there is a Specter far more powerful than we can imagine in this scenario. He could be a Greater Red Specter. This Specter uses mirrors as a medium to iste another world from inside the blood red world. This other world is this school that we¡¯re in. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?¡±

    Every club member shook their head.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you a simpler example. After pushing open the door, we entered the blood red world. But inside this blood red world, we found a mirror, and when we touched the mirror, we entered the world inside the mirror.

    ¡°If wepare it to dreaming, it should be easier to understand. Normally, once we sleep, our consciousness enters a dream world, but if we start to dream while inside a dream, what happens? We enter a dream inside a dream.

    ¡°Blood red world is constructed from despair and negative emotions, and the world inside the mirror is more like a ¡®dream¡¯ created by the door-pusher.¡±

    Chen Ge used an borate example to exin the situation to the students. As he did so, a crucial problem that he had was answered. When he woke up, he had lost contact with all of his workers, and the ck phone was missing, which ced him in a very dangerous situation. It had been confusing him. How did the owner make that happened?

    The ck phone aside, Zhang Ya was hiding in his shadow, but at that moment, his shadow had be very normal; Zhang Ya was not with him. From this point, it could be understood that it was not his real self that had entered this school. Just like Zhang Ju had said, when he looked inside the mirror, there was another him. One was kind and gentle, the other cruel and ruthless; thebination of both was the real him.

    <i>I should have run into the same problem as Zhang Ju. Part of my persona is trapped inside the mirror, and the other part outside the mirror.</i>

    This was all Chen Ge¡¯s spection, and he was not confident that he was one hundred percent right. It was like he was walking in fog, and the only source of light was himself.

    ¡°Chang Wenyu once used the mirror in the library, so after visiting the toilet, the next stop is the library.¡± Chen Ge voiced his thought.

    ¡°Why do you wish to go there when everyone gives the ce a wide berth?¡± Zhang Ju could not understand Chen Ge. His memory had just woken up. Various thoughts swirled in his mind, and his gaze was rather blurry.

    ¡°Compared to this ce, I prefer the blood red world because that ce is more realistic.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s word proved that he was no ordinary person. Zhang Ju thought about it and agreed. ¡°That¡¯s perfect. I wish to know what has happened to me as well. Theoretically speaking, I should be dead, right?¡±

    After getting that response from Zhang Ju, Chen Ge sighed in relief because Zhang Ju would be a weed aid.

    ¡°Come, let¡¯s head to the toilet first.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s group had stayed in the corridor for a long time. Thankfully, nothing strange had happened.

    ¡°Zhu Long, can you see the change happening to Zhang Ju? His face... is so scary now.¡± Zhou Tu did not dare get too close to Chen Ge and Zhang Ju; he felt like they were both madmen.

    ¡°At this time, I can only trust Mr. Bai. Zhang Ju¡¯s change also proved that he hasn¡¯t been lying to us, right? We are on the path to regain the memory that we¡¯ve lost.¡± Zhu Long did not look so well. He gritted his teeth, and his hand that held the phone was white.

    ¡°If you say so.¡± Zhou Tu turned to nce behind him. He was too afraid to leave on his own. ¡°I must have been mad to agree to join a club like this.¡±

    He summoned the courage to pick up the de on the ground, but as he did so and his view was inverted, he saw that there was an upside-down human head looking at him from down the corridor.

    No wait!

    To be more precise, the upside-down person was looking at Zhang Ju and Wang Yicheng, who was on Chen Ge¡¯s back!

    Zhou Tu¡¯s knees went wobbly from the shock. If not for Zhu Long, he would have copsed.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s someone behind us! There¡¯re a lot of people who are following behind us!¡± Zhou Tu¡¯s voice was shaking.

    ¡°Where?¡± Zhu Long turned to look. They were the only ones on the empty corridor. ¡°Are you hallucinating?¡±

 Chapter 817 - Faceless Boy

    <h4>Chapter 817: Faceless Boy</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Zhu Long held Zhou Tu, and the two looked behind them. There was only darkness. There was a faint echo of footsteps, but there were no living people to be seen.

    ¡°No one¡¯s there.¡±

    ¡°I saw them when I bent down to pick up the de earlier. They were all following behind us while moving upside down. It¡¯s like they¡¯re living in a world that¡¯s inverted to ours.¡± Zhou Tu was shocked. ¡°Those people kept staring at Zhang Ju and Wang Yicheng. Should we go and tell this to Mr. Bai?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea.¡± Zhu Long looked behind them with confusion. Zhou Tu did not look like he was lying. Just as the two were discussing that, Chen Ge and Zhang Ju reached the middle of the corridor. The closer they got to the toilet, the more nervous they became.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, Zhou Tu saw people trailing behind us. They were all moving upside down. I don¡¯t know what to say. In any case, you¡¯d better ask Zhou Tu for the details.¡± Zhu Long dragged Zhou Tu to Chen Ge.

    ¡°When I bent down to pick up the de earlier, I saw that there was a crowd of people behind us. Their heads were all looking down, and they floated in midair. No, it¡¯s more like they¡¯re walking on the ceiling. Those people should be attracted by Wang Yicheng and Zhang Ju. Those monsters kept their gazes on Zhang Ju and Wang Yicheng.¡± Zhou Tu did not want to get too close to Zhang Ju; this was a natural reaction.

    ¡°Upside-down people?¡± Chen Ge had encountered them at theb before. ¡°We¡¯ll go take a look at the toilet first to see if the door is really there. If we find nothing, we¡¯ll leave immediately.¡±

    This school was too strange. Even with the protection from a Red Specter, Chen Ge did not feel safe. Moving faster, just as Chen Ge was several steps away from the toilet, a grip suddenly tightened around his neck. A pair of cold, thin arms locked around his neck. The person was slowly tightening his grip, and Chen Ge¡¯s breathing became more difficult.

    ¡°Wang Yicheng? You¡¯ve woken up?¡± Chen Ge turned back to look. Wang Yicheng¡¯s head was lolled on his shoulder. His eyes were bloodshot. He seemed to be fighting something in his mind.

    ¡°Do not go in. They¡¯re inside.¡±

    Wang Yicheng¡¯s voice was different from how he usually sounded. It was thick with guilt. He sounded like a wounded stray dog, guarding his friend¡¯s body while fists and kicks rained down on him.

    ¡°They? Who are they?¡±

    ¡°The other students and seniors. Everyone who hates you is inside. Do not go in. I¡¯ve already informed the teacher.¡± Wang Yicheng wanted to force a smile, but he could not do it.

    ¡°Have you knocked the sense out of him? What¡¯s he mumbling about?¡± Zhu Long held the pink phone and silently moved to Chen Ge¡¯s side. This education block was too creepy, and he only felt rtively safer when he was next to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Wang Yicheng, have you remembered something?¡± Wang Yicheng¡¯s memory had loosened at the door of the western campus¡¯ toilet. At the time, Chen Ge had been afraid of being exposed, so he had knocked the boy out. Now, even though he had recovered, there still appeared to be some psychological issue remaining.

    ¡°They had me trick you intoe here; I didn¡¯t agree, so they hit me. I was forced to climb the stairs with my limping leg. I heard everything. But they still didn¡¯t prepare to let you go. Remember, no matter who tells you to go to the toilet on the top floor of the education block, do not go there! Please do not go there!¡± Wang Yicheng¡¯s voice was weak like he was dying.

    ¡°Other than you, have they asked anyone else to trick Lin Sisi intoing here?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I have already informed the teacher about this. Why isn¡¯t he here yet?¡± Wang Yicheng sounded anxious. His only hope was that teacher, but that teacher did not seem to have shown up. Perhaps that teacher hated Lin Sisi as well.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯m just taking a look.¡±

    ¡°No! Don¡¯t go in there!¡± Wang Yicheng treated Chen Ge as Lin Sisi. Those were his real thoughts. Guilt ravaged him, and he really wished to atone for his mistake. To have Chen Ge give up when they were literally at the door was impossible. Plus, with the aid of Zhang Ju, this Half Red Specter who was still strengthening, he was not that worried.

    Wang Yicheng¡¯s arms tightened further until veins popped on them. This child used all of his strength to stop Chen Ge from entering the toilet, probably because he did not want to witness a repeat of the tragedy.

    The toilet was at the very end of the corridor. There was a thick stench of disinfectant in the air. There were brown stains on the wall tiles and water stains on the ground. Other than that, there were plenty of footprints. They were all different, so they should belong to different people. The toilet door was locked. Chen Ge took out the tools to unlock it. When he pushed open the wooden door, Chen Ge took a step back and carefully peered into the room.

    This toilet lookedpletely different from the one on the western campus. It was very dirty like it had been forgotten by the school. No one had entered this ce, and it had obviously never been cleaned.

    ¡°Has this toilet been locked ever since the Lin Sisi incident?¡± Chen Ge turned back to ask Wang Yicheng. The child had lost the ability to speak. He was shaking like he was ill. Comparted to the western campus, this toilet felt more real to Chen Ge. He carried Wang Yicheng into it. Once they stepped into the toilet, Wang Yicheng closed his eyes. He did not dare look nor remember.

    ¡°This room gives me a different feelingpared to the other room.¡± Zhang Ju looked around. Blood vessels climbed on the walls. They were like cracks that covered the whole room. The skull faces on the wall were already blurry like forgotten memories. The dried blood vessels covered all the painting on the walls like they did not wish for them to be seen. Walking to the first cubicle, Chen Ge took out Lin Sisi¡¯s phone and snapped a picture through the gap. There were several shadows that appeared on screen.

    ¡°Who¡¯s inside?¡± Chen Ge forced the door open, and what he saw was out of his expectation. There was a mannequin ced inside the first cubicle. He was wearing a pair of ck leather shoes. He was about thirty to forty and looked simr to the Mr. Bai whom Chen Ge had encountered.

    <i>There was a pair of shoes ced in the western campus¡¯ toilet, and the first cubicle here contains a real mannequin. What¡¯s the reason behind this difference?</i>

    The mannequin inside the cubicle had his head lowered and his hands behind his head. He stood upright, his posture making him appear like he had made some mistake.

    Chen Ge could not see any problem with his Yin Yang Vision. Lastly, he took out Lin Sisi¡¯s phone to aim at the first cubicle.

    The mannequin that looked like Mr. Bai stood inside the cubicle, but the phone captured the image of a faceless boy. His hands were behind his back in the same posture as the mannequin.

    <i>Could this faceless boy be Lin Sisi? Did Mr. Bai once punish him in such a manner, so he¡¯s using the same method to punish Mr. Bai?</i>

 Chapter 818 - Would You Be My Friend?

    <h4>Chapter 818: Would You Be My Friend?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge yanked open the second cubicle; there was a thin, male mannequin inside. One of his legs was distorted as he curled up inside the cubicle with dirt and trash thrown haphazardly around him.

    ¡°This mannequin bears a resemnce to Wang Yicheng.¡± The mannequin in the cubicle wore the same pair of blue running shoes as Wang Yicheng on Chen Ge¡¯s back, so the mannequin should refer to Wang Yicheng. Chen Ge raised the phone at the second cubicle, and the picture on screen was heart wrenching. The faceless child was forced by a group of people into the cubicle, and they tossed various trash on him. The boy inside the picture did not resist and allowed them to bully him.

    The mannequin in the third cubicle wore a pair of sses, and his body was covered in red paint. He stood dumbly facing the wall. This mannequin looked simr to the thin, tall boy whom Chen Ge had encountered in Room 413. With his previous experience, Chen Ge aimed the phone at the cubicle directly.

    A faceless boy appeared on-screen. He stood inside the cubicle alone, and around him were people who kept pouring paint into the cubicle. His clean clothes were made dirty, and the paint slid down the creases of his shirt and shorts. The boy kept his head lowered, making no sound.

    ¡°These bullies have gained a mob mentality.¡± Chen Ge pushed open the door of the fourth cubicle. The mannequin inside was shirtless. The wet shirt was abandoned next to the toilet. Chen Ge took out the phone and aimed it inside the cubicle. On the screen, the faceless boy slowly removed the shirt dirtied with paint while someone dumped a bottle of water on him.

    Fifth cubicle, sixth cubicle...

    Each cubicle presented a story that was harrowing. When people were carried away by madness, they had no idea how crazy they were acting, and they would stop at nothing to unload their negative emotions on others.

    When he opened the first cubicle, Chen Ge had merely wanted to uncover the truth. He had nothing to do with events that transpired there. He was merely a passing visitor, a victim who wanted to leave. But after he witnessed the events inside the six cubicles, his heart was already changing. His face was drawn. If people who knew him had seen him then, they would have been surprised because he rarely had an expression like that. Facial expressions represented the internal emotion. If it showed on the face, one¡¯s internal thoughts could be told, and the weakness would be exposed. Thus, when Chen Ge conducted the ck phone¡¯s mission, he always remained calm.

    <i>Are these students or demons?</i>

    Raising his head, Chen Ge looked at the seventh cubicle. This was the only cubicle without a mannequin and also the only cubicle without a door. The door had been taken off the hinges with brute force. The connecting spot still had broken wooden chips. It was hanging by a single hinge. The door was missing, and the inside of the cubicle was crawling with the blood vessel-like things. To be precise, the blood vessels inside the toilet crawled out from inside this cubicle. The seventh cubicle could be said to be the source of everything.

    ¡°Was Lin Sis trapped inside this cubicle?¡±

    The ck red blood vessels were like wilted veins. They crawled all over the cubicle¡¯s walls like they were covering something. Chen Ge took out Lin Sisi¡¯s phone, adjusted the brightness to the maximum, and aimed it at the cubicle.

    The faceless boy was hugging his own shirt and pants. Dirty water and paint slid down his body. The colors were like a monster that was plunging its ws into the boy¡¯s body.

    The cubicle door appeared to be blocked from the outside. The boy had his head lowered, hugging his clothes. He rammed against the door. He had no face, so Chen Ge could not see his expression and could not hear his voice. He had no idea whether the boy was crying or screaming for help. Chen Ge could only see that the boy was ramming his body against the door until the door sted open. He stood at the entrance of the cubicle barefooted, holding the dirty clothes. His arms dangled by his side, cut open by the wooden chips from when he rammed them against the door. Blood leaked out the open wounds, but paint seeped back into the wounds.

    Pressured, uneasy, struggling to breathe, he twisted his head. The faceless boy scanned the empty toilet. The bullies had already left, but their venomous words lingered in the toilet. The boy stood at the cubicle entrance for a long time. He slowly took up his hands and put the wet clothes back on one by one.

    Other than his arms, he was not injured, but his body kept shaking from pain. The middle of his pants was slit open, and there was arge hole on the back of his shirt. The boy put on all the clothes, and a poor monster was reflected in the water that puddled on the ground. He wiped his face and tried to walk toward the toilet door. The light from the corridor filtered into the toilet. The entrance was bright, bright enough to cast a clear shine on the boy¡¯s current appearance, bright to the point that he had nowhere to hide.

    He pulled his feet back. He wore the dirty clothes and walked back into the seventh cubicle. Leaning against the wall, the boy¡¯s body slowly slid down the wall. He was curled up in the corner. The faceless face looked at the toilet entrance; he appeared to be waiting for the lights to go out.

    The image did not end there. The boy looked for a long time before lifting his head. The faceless face looked at Chen Ge like he knew someone was watching him.

    ¡°Would you like to be my friend?¡± This question drifted into Chen Ge¡¯s ears. He heard it clearly, but when he turned to the source, there was nothing there.

    ¡°Did ite from the phone? That¡¯s impossible.¡± The video stopped at thest frame. The faceless boy was curled up in the corner of the cubicle with his face turned to Chen Ge like he was waiting for Chen Ge¡¯s answer.

    ¡°I am willing to be your friend. Even though what you said sounded like a curse.¡± Chen Ge did not mind a curse; his whole life started with a cursed love letter. Without that letter, during his first mission, he would have died at Wang Qi¡¯s hand.

    Chen Ge gave his promise, but the boy in the phone retained his posture. Looking away from the phone, there was nothing inside the seventh cubicle, but the phone could capture the faceless boy so clearly.

    ¡°Can you hear me?¡± Chen Ge tried tomunicate with the boy, but there was no reply. He waited for a long time before the image on the phone-started to change again.

    The door of the seventh cubicle was pulled open, and a blood red hand reached in. The hand touched the faceless boy lightly. He seemed tomunicate with the boy, and the faceless boy nodded lightly. Then the faceless boy was led away by the hand toward the other side of the door and disappeared.

    ¡°The bloody hand came from inside the door? What did he tell the boy?¡± Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of the question that he had heard.

    ¡°Did the owner of the hand tell the boy what I heard? Would you like to be my friend?

    ¡°The faceless boy agreed and then disappeared?¡±

    Chen Ge tried to analyze the situation. The faceless boy was Lin Sisi. He did not push open a door; that bloody hand had reached out from inside the door. In other words, there was a door inside the toilet cubicle. The hand¡¯s owner had invited Lin Sisi, and thetter had epted. In that case, the bloody hand was the real door-pusher.

 Chapter 819 - We Might Not Be Enemies

    <h4>Chapter 819: We Might Not Be Enemies</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After so many twists and turns, Chen Ge had finally found the ghost school¡¯s real owner. Even though it was just a glimpse of the person¡¯s hand, that was already quite a big clue.

    ¡°Just now I heard someone ask, ¡®Would you like to be my friend?¡¯

    ¡°Did ite from inside the phone? But I heard it by the side of my ear so clearly.

    ¡°It probably wasn¡¯t meant for Lin Sisi but for me.¡±

    Chen Ge turned back to look. The blood vessels on the wall had started to peel like fallen leaves in autumn. They had lost their life.

    ¡°Did you make the promise with him?¡± Wang Yicheng suddenly spoke on Chen Ge¡¯s back. He buried his head in Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders. His voice was very soft, so one could not hear it if one did not listen carefully.

    ¡°I suppose so. He looked so lonely.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s neck was pulled tight by Wang Yicheng. Their bodies were stuck together, and he could feel Wang Yicheng¡¯s body temperature dropping.

    ¡°His friends are all dead, all dead!¡± The sound of dripping came from behind Chen Ge. He felt wetness on his shoulders. Turning back to see, he realized that his left shoulder was already soaked with blood. It was a wide spread of red, and it looked eye-catching.

    ¡°You...¡± Chen Ge shook Wang Yicheng on his back. The boy waved his arms weakly about as he grabbed at the air. Blood tears leaked from his shut eyes. ¡°Have you remembered something?¡±

    By retuning to this ce, Wang Yicheng¡¯s memory had awakened. He kept his eyes closed, but just from hearing that sentence from Chen Ge, he knew what had happened.

    ¡°There¡¯s no escape. Since you have promised that person, he wille to find you. No matter where you go, he will find you!¡± Wang Yicheng¡¯s voice had a big change. He had sunk into madness,pletely different from the weak and cowardly boy from before.

    ¡°Even if he doesn¡¯te to find me, I will go to find him. I like to make friends, from all meanings of the word.¡± Chen Ge had many friends, but they were not by his side at the moment, so he wished to get to know some new friends.

    The blood from Wang Yicheng¡¯s eyes slid down his cheeks. His shirt was dyed red. Blood bloomed like flowers on his skin. This boy who looked so weak had the potential to be a Red Specter.

    ¡°I¡¯m getting more interested in the owner of this school. Just how did he manage to pull all of you one by one into the door.¡± Chen Ge did not think that the few club members that he had randomly picked would be so special. Of course, he was lucky, but from another perspective, it exined the scary factor of the School of the Afterlife. A Half Red Specter was able to handle a normal two-star scenario, but in the School of the Afterlife, Chen Ge had already encountered several Red Specters and potential Red Specters.

    ¡°Is the constant joking a way to hide the panic in your heart?¡±

    Hearing Wang Yicheng say that, Chen Ge confirmed further that the young man had recovered his memory. The previous Wang Yicheng was cowardly and feeble; he would never say anything remotely confrontational and would only follow orders.

    ¡°I¡¯m not joking. To have the despair to open the door, he must have possessed hope before. Granted, the hope must have been crushed by now. I sincerely wish to help him, and bing his friend will be the first step.¡± Chen Ge carried Wang Yicheng to head to the door. ¡°Have you realized that most of the students here have a sad childhood or a physical deformity or that their personality has been made twisted by outside influence? Everyone has their own sad past.¡±

    ¡°What is it that you wish to say?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m curious what the owner has experienced. As the door-pusher, what has happened in his past to enable him to push open so many doors?¡±

    ¡°Agreeing to be his friend means that you¡¯ll be stuck here forever. This school didn¡¯t used to be so big. The addition of despair and pain only made it into what it is now.¡± After Wang Yicheng said that, his eyes stopped tearing blood, but his body continued shaking.

    ¡°Looks like you know many things.¡± Chen Ge felt like this school was simr to his Haunted House. However, School of Afterlife went after students with despair or was attracting students who radiated the presence of despair while Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House weed everyone. ¡°This school¡¯s been in existence for many years, has it?¡±

    ¡°All I can remember is that once I opened my eyes, I was here. I do not have the experience like Zhang Ju. I died at this school and was reborn here. I¡¯ve already forgotten many things. I only know that this school has been growing in size.¡±

    ¡°Then why are you here? Is this Lin Sisi¡¯s punishment for you?¡± Chen Ge asked another question he was curious about.

    Wang Yicheng answered after a long pause. ¡°I was the only person that Lin Sisi forgave. The only reason I came here is, after Lin Sisi, I became his recement. The students¡¯ anxiety and fear transformed into bullying, and I became their target. One night, on the brink of a breakdown, the door found me.¡±

    ¡°Then you entered it? Based on what Zhang Ju said, when the door showed up for the first time, it started a distance away and slowly got closer to you...¡± Chen Ge had not finished and he was interrupted by Wang Yicheng.

    ¡°He was passive, and I was the active party. I wanted to find a ce where I could hide. Plus...¡± Wang Yicheng hesitated for a long time before he revealed the other secret. ¡°The hand that reached out then was covered in paint. That was Lin Sisi¡¯s hand. He was inviting me, and I wanted to say sorry to him in person. That day, I actually reported it to the teacher, but he didn¡¯te.¡±

    ¡°What else do you know about Lin Sisi and this door?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all. Since entering the door, I haven¡¯t seen Lin Sisi. Until today, I haven¡¯t seen him.¡± Wang Yicheng let go off his hands. ¡°You can put me down now.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re not lying?¡± Chen Ge put down Wang Yicheng. ¡°At the door of the western campus¡¯ toilet, once your memory returned, the school¡¯s administrators showed up immediately. If I didn¡¯t knock you out, I¡¯m afraid we would have been captured. You are treated differently from Zhang Ju and Zhu Long.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s probably because Lin Sisi is my friend, and I am Lin Sisi¡¯s friend.¡±

    The group walked past the seven cubicles. This ce recorded what had happened to Lin Sisi, but the phone had probably only captured part of it.

    ¡°I really can¡¯t imagine what has the door-pusher experienced.¡± As they were about the leave the toilet, Chen Ge turned to look at the seventh cubicle. ¡°The only thing confirmed is that the door is in the seventh cubicle. To get to know the school¡¯s owner, we need to investigate everything that has happened inside this toilet in this school.¡±

    With the current cubicles, Chen Ge nned to head to three ces next¡ªthe school¡¯s data filing room, the school library, and the art room in theb building that he had promised Zhou Tu.

 Chapter 820 - Theyâ€™ve Arrived

    <h4>Chapter 820: They¡¯ve Arrived</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Information about the school¡¯s owner could be found in the data filing room, the mirror leading to the blood world might be found in the school¡¯s library, and the art room was where Chen Ge had promised to take Zhou Tu.

    ¡°Where should we go first?¡± Chen Ge turned to Zhou Tu. ¡°I know the location of the art club and the scene from your dream. I can take you there now, but are you prepared to recover your memory?¡±

    Zhou Tu had notmunicated much with Chen Ge. Thetter¡¯s sudden question stunned Zhou Tu. Before he recovered his memory, he wished to know what he had forgotten. But after seeing what had happened to Zhang Ju and Wang Yicheng, he started to hesitate.

    ¡°Are you ready to face your past? With the memory still lost, you are just an unimportant student here; you can forget about all your troubles and live this repeated peaceful day again and again. Once the memory loosens, you will be targeted by the school administrators, and there is no way back,¡± Chen Ge reminded Zhou Tu. He was testing the young man as well. Of all the club members, Zhou Tu was the most opinionated.

    ¡°I thought about it and believe it¡¯s better to have my memory recovered. Without a past, no matter howfortable life is, it¡¯s just a self-made lie.¡± Zhou Tu¡¯s eyes moved to Zhang Ju and Wang Yicheng. ¡°I wonder if my real self will scare me to death.¡±

    ¡°I think you¡¯d better give it more consideration,¡± Zhang Ju said with a scorched voice. He turned his burned face around. ¡°An ufortable feelinges from you. The real you must be a very scary monster.¡±

    Zhou Tu did not know how to reply. His eyes wandered, and the hesitation returned.

    ¡°We¡¯ll go to the filing room first, so you will have more time to consider.¡± Chen Ge patted Zhou Tu¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t be pressured. No matter your decision, I¡¯ll respect it.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Zhou Tu lowered his head to think. Zhang Ju nudged Chen Ge slightly. ¡°His real self should be really scary. If he can recover his memory, no matter what you wish to do next, it will make things much simpler.¡±

    ¡°Everyone has their own choice to make. I will not intervene.¡±

    ¡°But aren¡¯t you helping us recover our pasts to gather energy so that we can help youplete your goal?¡± Zhang Ju was confused. He remembered what Chen Ge had said earlier. They were merely helping each other, or to put it more inly, using each other.

    ¡°I once read the following from a book. Rose never asks why, and she never asks for a thank you. She blooms because she wishes to bloom. Even though I can¡¯t be that selfless, at least I¡¯ve experienced the pain that you¡¯ve experienced, and seeing you all reminds me of myself.¡± Chen Ge turned to the other members seriously. ¡°There is one more thing I wish to emphasize. Our rtionship is not using each other; we¡¯re in a mutually beneficial rtionship, and mutual respect is the foundation.¡±

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice, at that moment, all the Specters seemed to forget that this man before them was just a normal human being. But perhaps that was because he still had not recovered his memory.

    Zhang Ju and Zhu Long nodded as they fell in line behind Chen Ge. Wang Yicheng opened his bloody eyes and gave Chen Ge an approving nod. Zhou Tu, who walked at the back, was lost in his thoughts, but determination started to fill his eyes. Returning to the corridor, before Chen Ge started to move, he felt that something was not right. There was a thick stench in the air, and he had smelled it in theb before. A bad feeling rose in his heart. The more Chen Ge moved forward, the more pressured he felt. It was like he was wading into ake, and a chill assaulted him from all sides.

    ¡°Have those upside-down monsters returned?¡±

    Chen Ge did not lower his head to look. Things had already happened. Lowering his head would only confuse his mind. What he needed to do was leave the building as fast as possible. Standing next to Zhang Ju, Chen Ge narrowed his eyes and asked in a low voice, ¡°Do you see those monsters in the corridor?¡±

    ¡°Monsters?¡± Zhang Ju stared down the corridor. The blood on his body slid down his jacket. ¡°There appears to be something there, but they don¡¯t seem like they can hurt us.¡±

    As he finished, Zhang Ju saw his hair float upward like there was an invisible baby on the ceiling pulling on his hair. Small wounds started to appear on the bodies of Zhang Ju and Wang Yicheng. The monsters had been drawn there by the two of them.

    ¡°I can¡¯t see them, so how did they manage to hurt me?¡± The wounds on Zhang Ju¡¯s face kept bleeding. Blood vessels danced all over his body. Even though his memory had awakened, he had not mastered how to use his power.

    ¡°If you look upside down, you can see them, but I don¡¯t suggest you do so.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°Because seeing them will only make your despair deepen.¡±

    Chen Ge signaled for the group to move down the stairs. It was hard to tell whether the monsters were attacking Zhang Ju and Wang Yicheng out of natural instinct or because something was ordering them to do so. If it was thetter, things would be much more troublesome. The stench around them thickened, and more wounds appeared on Zhang Ju and Wang Yicheng¡¯s bodies. It was worth noting that with every new wound, there would be a small ck thread that dug into their bodies. The thing looked like a curse.

    The group raced to the corner of the third floor, and Wang Yicheng started to weaken. His footsteps started to slow. ¡°I can feel many things biting my body. The memory is bing blurry again.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Bai, things are not looking good. There may be more of them downstairs,¡± Zhou Tu said softly. When they reached the third floor, the stench hit them like a wall, and the strange thing was that the stench seemed to originate from beside their bodies. Bending down, like when he was picking up the de, Zhou Tu looked toward the spot where the stench came from.

    In the empty space between him and Wang Yicheng, there was an inverted human face. The monster had no skin, so his flesh and muscles were stuck to his clothes. Blood pumped underneath his clothes, and the blood stuck to the fabric, dying the entire shirt red!

    ¡°Wang... Wang Yicheng, the thing is just in front of you!¡± Zhou Tu screamed. His memory had not awakened. Seeing a scene like that scared him so much that he almost fell down the stairs.

    ¡°Told you not to look, didn¡¯t I?¡± Chen Ge carried Wang Yicheng and stepped at the spot where the stench was the thickest and then flew down the stairs.

    Zhou Tu held his chest. The spot that Chen Ge had stepped on was where the monster¡¯s head was. ¡°Okay, I get it now.¡±

    When they reached the second floor, the noxious fumes filled the corridor. Zhu Long, whose memory had loosened, also became the monsters¡¯ target.

    Zhang Ju could hold on but not Zhu Long and Wang Yicheng. They were moving because Zhou Tu and Chen Ge were dragging them.

 Chapter 821 - Data Filing Room

    <h4>Chapter 821: Data Filing Room</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Things were getting worse. Zhou Tu started to get targeted as well, and the first wound appeared on his finger.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, what should we do now?¡±

    Chen Ge had no better idea. All he could do was grit his teeth and push through. Even if everyone was shredded by the monsters and lost their mobility, he had to drag everyone out. The stench rushed into their nostrils, attempting to knock them out. When Chen Ge carried Wang Yicheng to the corner of the first floor¡¯s staircase, a jolt of pain came from his chest. Chen Ge shuddered and almost tripped. He lowered his head to look and found a nail stuck in his chest.

    ¡°The curse from Room 413?¡± He noticed something instantly and turned to look at his shadow. The normal shadow was currently twisting, like the person hiding inside was in incredible pain.

    ¡°Even he¡¯s under attack?¡± All the members were at their limits. They were seriously wounded. ¡°The exit is just before us. Don¡¯t give up!¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s determination was strong; he had gotten used to pain. Pulling out the nail, Chen Ge tried his best to run forward. Even if it was just one more step, it would mean that he was one step closer to hope.

    Zhou Tu copsed on the stairs while carrying Zhu Long. His right hand was covered in wounds, and it looked like it was about to break. ¡°My painting hand...¡±

    It was difficult for Chen Ge to carry one person, much less four. ¡°Hang in there! We¡¯re almost on the first floor!¡±

    Their legs appeared to be shackled with lead. Every step was very heavy. The stench on the first floor was heavier than on the second floor. More monsters were waiting for them there. Other than Chen Ge, everyone was in despair. But suddenly, the stench in the air dissipated like someone had led part of the monsters away.

    ¡°This is our chance!¡¯ Chen Ge dragged Zhou Tu, carried Wang Yicheng, and made a mad dash. When he reached the first floor, he saw a ck shadow standing at the other end of the corridor. The person looked very simr to Chang Gu. His left eye was shining with a red glow, and blood was dripping from his body under his clothes. He appeared to be holding something.

    ¡°Chang Gu?¡± Chen Ge blurted out the man¡¯s name, but the other person did not reply. He turned to leave, and the stench in the corridor became lighter.

    ¡°Was he the one who led the monsters away?¡±

    In Chen Ge¡¯s memory, Chang Gu was cowardly and weak, very different from the shadow that he had seen.

    ¡°He only entered the door several seconds earlier than I did. What happened to him?¡±

    The shadow led more than half of the monsters away. Chen Ge quickly led the members away from the education block.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, what are those monsters? Why can we only see them with our heads inverted? And why did they only attack Wang Yicheng and Zhang Ju but not you?¡± Zhou Tu copsed to the ground. He felt like the stench had seeped into his body.

    ¡°The monsters are probably what the school uses to punish students. There¡¯s a possibility that they were the students who once broke the school¡¯s rules.¡± Chen Ge also did not expect the monsters to not fear Red Specters. They had lost their rationality. They were crazed and mad.

    ¡°The school owner wanted to create a paradise behind the door. The memory of your past goes against that wish, so naturally, you are prime targets.¡± Chen Ge inspected Wang Yicheng and Zhang Ju¡¯s bodies. The ck threads had already crawled into their wounds. The wounds were faintly giving off that familiar stench. ¡°You have to be careful. I¡¯m afraid that the monsters are trying to assimte you.¡±

    Standing outside the education block, Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision to look around, but he did not see the ck shadow that had saved them. ¡°If he was really Chang Gu, why didn¡¯t hee find me? Or is it not yet time to meet? Or has he been targeted as well¡±

    Chen Ge and Chang Gu did not have muchmunication. He needed to guess Chang Gu¡¯s emotions, and then he could make the most correct decision.

    ¡°It¡¯s good that there¡¯s someone who can help me tip the bnce.¡± Chen Ge supported Wang Yicheng. ¡°Come, let¡¯s go to the office. The data filing room should be there.¡±

    ...

    The western campus¡¯ office block was close to the wall. Standing on the roof of the building, one could see the entire view of the two campuses.

    ¡°The monsters I¡¯ve encountered in this school can be separated into a few brief categories: the normal Specters and lingering spirits, the normal Red Specters, the administrators of western campus whose bodies were scorched and wore all white, and the monsters who were walking upside down. Other than them, the most dangerous creatures are the teachers and dormitory administrators at this school. We¡¯re going to the office block, and there¡¯s a good chance we¡¯ll meet them, so we have to be careful.¡±

    With great risk came great reward. This was not the first time that Chen Ge had done something like that, but this was notmon for the other club members.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, but aren¡¯t you one of the teachers as well?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think I¡¯m dangerous?¡± Chen Ge replied without turning his head around and was the first to step into the office block. He had been to the western campus¡¯ office building before, but to his surprise, the interior designs of the office blocks of each campus were so different.

    The office block on the western campus was clean and organized, but once he stepped into the eastern campus¡¯ office building, he felt pressured. The floor needed cleaning; muddy footprints were everywhere. The previously-white walls were scratched and had turned a faded yellow. Stains of mildew were everywhere.

    ¡°The teachers on the eastern campus work in this kind of environment?¡± Zhou Tu could not believe it.

    ¡°In this school, the teacher¡¯s job is not to educate but to manage. They spend most of their time with the students. The office building is just a symbolic ce.¡± Chen Ge pushed one of the doors. The door was not locked and opened easily. The amenities inside the building were old, and they looked dated.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been to this ce before. I know where the filing room is,¡± Zhang Ju said coldly. Ever since he found his memory, he had be reticent.

    ¡°When have youe here?¡± Zhou Tu was afraid of the current Zhang Ju, and when he spoke, he naturally lowered his voice.

    ¡°Before I was lied to by Chang Wenyu, I once sneaked here to find out more about this school.¡± Zhang Ju walked ahead. ¡°Stick close to me. This ce makes me ufortable. Something dangerous might be hiding here.¡±

    Perhaps the monster inside the building had sensed Zhang Ju or some other reason, but they did not run into any danger and sessfully reached the third floor.

    ¡°This is the data filing room. We should leave immediately once we find what we need. We shouldn¡¯t stay too long; I feel like there¡¯s something else in this building.¡± Zhang Ju opened the door. Several aged wooden shelves and four rows of wooden bookshelves sat inside.

 Chapter 822 - Big Fire!

    <strong>Chapter 822: Big Fire!</strong>

    The smell of mildew permeated the data filing room. Chen Ge was the first to enter the room with his hand over his mouth. The wooden shelves looked antique. ced next to the rusted shelves, they looked quite out of ce. ¡°These metallic and wooden shelves seem to havee from different schools.¡±

    Chen Ge took a random document from the wooden shelf. The document was so poorly preserved that once Chen Ge touched it, it started to crumble.

    ¡°Bug infestation, water damage, the school doesn¡¯t seem to value these documents at all.¡± Chen Ge carefully opened the document file. The content inside confused him. ¡°A donation appreciation list? Why does this look so familiar?¡¯

    Chen Ge looked through it again, and an image suddenly shed across his mind. He looked at the file that was filled with holes. ¡°I saw this exact list in the headmaster¡¯s office in Mu Yang High School!¡±

    He studied the list closer and rummaged through his memory. Afterparing the donor¡¯s names, he was more certain of his discovery.

    ¡°It¡¯s the exact same! It¡¯s the same as one I saw in Mu Yang High School!¡±

    Back when he returned to Mu Yang High School to find the headmaster, he had scanned the two-star scenario but could not find the old headmaster.

    ¡°The world behind the door is created from the memory of the door-pusher, but this school is rather unique. It seems to have been created from the amalgamation of the memory of everyone who is trapped behind the door.¡± Chen Ge touched his chin. ¡°Other than the old headmaster, the other students of Mu Yang High School are all currently in my Haunted House. The fact that this list has shown up here, does it mean that the old headmaster is in this school?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes widened. He looked at the bookshelves, and the longer he looked, the more familiar it felt.

    ¡°Could these things have been moved from Mu Yang High School? Has a part of that two-star scenario been moved here?

    ¡°Looks like it is destined for me to meet the old headmaster.¡±

    He reced the document, and his expression was hard to read. ¡°Before unlocking the School of the Afterlife, there are nine missions toplete. Could there be a special rtion between these nine missions and the School of the Afterlife?¡±

    ¡°Mr. Bai, what have you found?¡±

    ¡°I did find something, but the implication¡¯s still unclear.¡± Chen Ge pulled out another ruined document. It was covered in mildew. ¡°An investigation report of the school perimeter?¡±

    Instead of calling this ce a data filing room, it was more like a storage room for a variety of documents. Any documents and information could be found there, including ounting books, graduation forms, the canteen tender list, and so on.

    ¡°Mr. Bai!¡± Zhu Long found a few scrunched up newspapers in the corner. He showed one of them to Chen Ge. ¡°Look at the article in the middle with the zoomed in picture.¡±

    ¡°A fire of unknown origin ravaged the education block. Many students were trapped inside the toilet. The brave firemen rushed into the fire to save them.¡± This article was ced in the middle of the paper.

    ¡°Based on the arrangement and content, it doesn¡¯t sound like the writer is that old.¡± Chen Ge epted the copy that was stained. A major part of the paper was unreadable. ¡°This looks like the school¡¯s school bulletin.¡±

    Mu Yang High School was a private charity school; they should not have had the excess budget to have a school newspaper. Chen Ge flipped through the copy and noticed a familiar name¡ªWestern Jiujiang Private Academy. The location¡¯s name appeared many times, and many articles were about the Western Jiujiang Private Academy.

    ¡°Wait, isn¡¯t Zhang Ya from Western Jiujiang Private Academy?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s first date had been with the Red Specter at that abandoned school. It was also at that school that he had walked into Zhang Ya¡¯s heart.

    ¡°There was a fire at Western Jiujiang Private Academy¡¯s education block?¡± Thinking back, he did remember seeing many burned bannisters in the school. ¡°This is strange. Not only Western Jiujiang Private Academy, including Mu Yang High School, the schools that I¡¯ve been to have been ravaged by fire before.¡±

    He looked through the paper that Zhu Long had given him again. At the time, the firemen had saved six people from the top floor¡¯s toilet. The paper hailed the firemen as heroes, but he saw an article in the corner that reminded the students about some fire safety knowledge. It mentioned briefly that a student had lost their life in the fire.

    ¡°The fire might have spread from the toilet, but why would it start there? It was already after the time for the students¡¯ night study when the fire started. In other words, it was already past normal school time. So, what were those students doing in the top floor toilet?¡±

    Concluding the various articles, Chen Ge quickly zeroed in on the problem. ¡°The fire burned the fourth floor, and the only students were found in the fourth-floor toilet. The firemen saved six students, but there was one who died in the fire. This means that there were seven students in total!¡±

    It was hard to tell what had caused the fire. This was not recorded in any of the files. The child who had died in the fire seemed to have be a taboo topic as well.

    ¡°Something like this happened at Western Jiujiang Private Academy before? Howe I didn¡¯t feel anything ¡®special¡¯ when I visited it?¡± Chen Ge was confused. ¡°If the toilet¡¯s door was pushed open by the child who died in the fire, then he should be door pusher at Western Jiujiang Private Academy, but the reason the school could qualify as a three-star scenario was because of Zhang Ya!¡±

    Now that Western Jiujiang Private Academy had be part of the Haunted House, Chen Ge could confirm that Zhang Ya was the scariest presence at that school.

    ¡°There should be a door in all three-star scenarios, but even though Western Jiujiang private Academy is a three-star scenario, there¡¯s no door.¡± Chen Ge turned to his shadow and called the name silently in his heart. He repeated it, but there was no reply. ¡°The ck phone categorizes Western Jiujiang Private Academy as a three-star scenario because of Zhang Ya, and based on my knowledge, Zhang Ya hasn¡¯t pushed open any doors. Plus, when I went to Western Jiujiang Private Academy, I didn¡¯t encounter a door...¡±

    Chen Ge slowly lowered his hands that held the paper, and a red dress appeared in his mind.

    ¡°Zhang Ya, the door that has disappeared, the door-pusher...¡± Those three terms formed a line in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, and he a possibility suddenly came to him.

    His eyes widened as Chen Ge sucked in a cold breath. ¡°Is it possible that the door pusher from Western Jiujiang Private Academy has been consumed by Zhang Ya?¡±

    That would exin why Zhang Ya was so different and so ridiculously strong.

    ¡°What happens to the door after the door-pusher has been consumed?¡± Chen Ge thought about various possibilities. ¡°Due to her spirit, Zhang Ya didn¡¯t be the door pusher. After the door lost the pusher, it should have gone out of control like the door at Li Wan City, but that didn¡¯t happen. The door only shows up at the bedside of these despairing kids... Wait a minute! Could it be searching for a new door-pusher?¡±

 Chapter 823 - Search for Children with Despair

    <h4>Chapter 823: Search for Children with Despair</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge was shocked by his own thought. An ownerless door going on an endless search for a despairing child, and after several years, it transformed itself into a four-star scenario. That sounded impossible, so Chen Ge warned himself from getting ahead of himself.

    ¡°There are thirteen easels in the art room, so there should be thirteen painters. They know about the school¡¯s secret. They might be the thirteen door-pusher candidates that the door has found for itself.¡±

    A person¡¯s energy would have a hard time supporting an entire four-star scenario, unless that person had surpassed the limitation of a Red Specter, or it was the cooperation between many Red Specters. No one knew how this would end. After all, Chen Ge had not encountered so many Red Specters in one ce before.

    ¡°Thirteen, this sure is an unlucky number.¡± Chen Ge nced at Zhou Tu. He had been looking for the art club and had dreamed about the scene inside the room with the oil paintings. He should be one of the thirteen painters.

    ¡°The door should have its requirements. Zhang Ju obviously doesn¡¯t fulfil those requirements, but Zhou Tu does.¡± Chen Ge had not expected much from the art room initially, but now after giving it some analysis, he changed his mind. ¡°Zhou Tu¡¯s memory will be key.¡±

    Of the club members, Zhou Tu was the most unique, and Chen Ge was going to face two possible developments. After Zhou Tu¡¯s memory awakened, he might tell Chen Ge everything, or he might be Chen Ge¡¯s enemy.

    ¡°This is a big fish. Perhaps I should pay him more attention.¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes at Zhou Tu until thetter shivered from his gaze.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, I¡¯m going to go there to take a look.¡± Zhou Tu found an excuse and scurried deeper into the room.

    ¡°Why are you running away? I¡¯m the one who should be scared.¡± Chen Ge continued searching the room. He believed that the filing room had more surprises for him. Very soon, Chen Ge found more articles about fires inside the room. mes seemed to have a special significance in the school. They represented destruction but also rebirth.

    ¡°There was a fire at Mu Yang High School. There were burn marks on the stairs, and the school used to house a crematorium. Now I¡¯ve discovered that there was also a fire at Western Jiujiang Private Academy. Are these mere coincidences, or is there a deeper meaning behind it?¡±

    Other than the articles about the fire, Chen Ge also found a few rather well-preserved student files. Two of them were quite unique. One of them had Lin Sisi¡¯s name, and there were manyments given about him by the teachers and other students.

    Other ssmates refused to be his friend, and the teachers ignored him for the most part. The child had lost his mother, and his father was a murderer. He had been adopted when he was young, but for some reason, he always ran away from home and created a lot of trouble. From his perspective, the only person who sincerely wanted to help him was an intern at the children¡¯s home. The young man who had just graduated from university sponsored Lin Sisi through primary school even though he had not settled down himself. He even attended Lin Sisi¡¯s parent-teacher conferences.

    Based on the teacher¡¯s observation, only in the intern¡¯s presence would Lin Sisi¡¯s ¡®hyperactivity¡¯ improve. The document did not have any actual information or even a picture of Lin Sisi, but there was a handwritten signature¡ªGu Youjia. The document was moldy and been eaten by bugs. Only the spot with the guardian¡¯s signature was clean and untouched.

    ¡°Gu Youjia, Jiujiang Children¡¯s Home. If I can leave this ce alive, I should go pay the ce a visit.¡± Chen Ge seemed to be talking to himself, but at the same time, his words appeared to be meant for other ears as well. Then he turned to the other selected document. This document¡¯s date was earlier than every other file. There was no name, and there was no content; there was only one line written on it.

    ¡°Just one more minute, one more hour. It will get better. They won¡¯t bully me forever. One day, I will grow up.¡± The handwriting was uneven and tilted. They did not appear to be written by an adult, more like the handwriting of an injured child.

    ¡°Patience and refusal to fight back will only make the bullying worse. It is the same no matter what. Those who gain joy from inflicting pain on others will not practice empathy and self-reflection.¡± Chen Ge used Lin Sisi¡¯s phone to take a picture before putting the files back.

    ¡°The earliest file should have been left behind by the real door pusher. After he pushed open the door, perhaps his personality underwent a drastic change, and he shot down to the other end of the spectrum. If he was the person whom Zhang Ya had consumed, after he perished, the door that he opened might have continued to operate based on his lingering spirit. ¡°If I wish to increase my survivability behind the door, I should try to follow his ideology.¡±

    Bullying never happened to Chen Ge. The closest he hade to being bullied probably happened when he was still in primary school. The teacher had told the students to bring their old toys to school so that they could donate them to the local children¡¯s home.

    After everyone had made their donation, Chen Ge had been the only one left who had stood there wordlessly holding his bag. The naughtier kids in ss had started to grab at his bag, and in that process, they had identally yanked down the zipper. A bloody intestine and a whole bag of decapitated fingers had burst forth like a foundation. The realistic fingers had rolled on the ground like hot dogs. The stic bloody intestine had bounced several times on the table. It had definitely given the teacher and his ssmates a day to remember.

    When the vice headmaster came to the ss, he had asked the teacher about Chen Ge¡¯s family background. That afternoon, Chen Ge¡¯s parents had been called to the school and then been led to the police station for some questions. In a way, Chen Ge should have been the only kid who got bullied in ss but ended up with his parents interrogated by the police. Looking on the bright side, from then on, no one dared bully Chen Ge.

    ¡°One shan¡¯t ever bow down to bullying.¡± Chen Ge had another meaning in that statement. At this school, some of the victims had restarted the cycle. The School of the Afterlife kept expanding. The door that was notpletely dyed red would approach all despairing children and incorporate them into the world behind the door. It would repeat their nightmare behind the door and use their souls as bricks to create a giant tomb that could capture real life.

    They looked through the data filing room for a long time until the familiar stench returned. Chen Ge quickly led the members away from the room.

    ¡°Sir, our luck is not bad. The stench only came to find us after we¡¯d looked through so many things,¡± Zhu Long whispered.

    ¡°It¡¯s not luck. Someone distracted the monsters for us.¡± Chen Ge was not sure whether Chang Gu was helping him or not. However, he knew that something was happening in the school, and those things were probably rted to the Chang siblings.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go. We¡¯re heading to theb building next.¡± Chen Ge turned to Zhou Tu. ¡°Have youe to a decision?¡±

 Chapter 824 - Red Specter Club

    <h4>Chapter 824: Red Specter Club</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Memory is a hard thing to describe. It is like snow that will not melt, light that is disappearing. The memories that you wish to catch, you cannot; the memories that you wish to forget, you cannot.

    Zhou Tu had been troubled by that dream for a long time. He knew that he was different from others, but there was real no evidence. In the end, he had gotten lost in deep self-doubt. That was, until the day he met Chen Ge.

    The man was the first to give Zhou Tu confirmation. His dream was all real. What he had experienced was not fake but a part of the memory seared in his brain that could not be deleted. Zhou Tu found the answer that he was looking for, but at the same time, he sunk into a dangerous whirlpool. He did not know whether following Chen Ge would lead to more tragedy or salvation.

    Chen Ge stood before Zhou Tu and asked once more, ¡°Have you made up your mind?¡±

    ¡°I...¡±

    ¡°If you have not, you can take a look at him.¡± Zhang Ju and Wang Yicheng suddenly walked over. They held Zhou Tu from either side. ¡°Zhu Long,e over here.¡±

    Zhu Long, who walked at the back, was in an unstable state. His gaze was strange like it was burning. It appeared that he was about to lose it.

    ¡°What have you two done to him?¡± Chen Ge looked at Zhu Long¡¯s left hand. The hand that held the pink phone was bursting with veins.

    ¡°We found a half-destroyed article in the data filing room. A courier who worked at the university went missing in the school. After several days of investigation, a body that was no longer recognizable as a human¡¯s was found inside the autopsy room¡¯s storage.¡± Zhang Ju handed the severely damaged article to Chen Ge. ¡°The body was him¡ªZhu Long.¡±

    The fake memory had been shattered. When Zhu Long saw that article, he had remembered many things. He had studied very hard; his only dream was to get into the university of his dreams, but reality was always so cruel. The girl that he liked was a hardworking student. She got into the best medical university while his studies were a mess, and he could not even scrounge up enough money for a retest. His family was poor. His only family member fell seriously ill, and their health was fast deteriorating.

    Bad fortune would not let him go, but it did not defeat this young man. He learned how to take care of the ill and supported the whole family on his shoulders. When he went searching for work, peopleined about how he looked sleepy, so he went to cut away his messy long hair. People thought his tattoo might scare the customers, so he used a small knife to shear away the thinyer of skin. He was not defeated; he finally found a stable job¡ªa courier.

    He was hardworking and friendly with determination in his eyes and a smile on his face. He tried his best to survive and depended on hard work to receive respect and stability. After surviving a hard summer break, he had gotten used to the job. He workedte every day, and the only source of his joy was in delivering to Jiujiang Medical University. There would be anticipation in his heart whenever he entered the schoolpound. He knew that the girl was at this school. Even if he caught a glimpse of her from faraway, he would be satisfied, and that joy couldst him for a day. The school was not that big, but it was not that small either; it was hard to tell when he would be able to cross paths with her.

    He imagined the event when they would meet in his mind many times, but when the girl really showed up, he realized that none of his preparation was enough. He was so nervous that he could not speak, like a child who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

    After that day, they exchanged contact information. The girl was surprisingly active. She liked to be in control, and Zhu Long mistook that as affection. His obedience traded for a mental torment. The girl liked to torture Zhu Long; her favorite habit was reminding Zhu Long that he was not worth anything. The confidence that he had built was shattered just like that. Zhu Long became a puppet in the girl¡¯s hand, but the scariest thing was that Zhu Long did not realize that.

    The boy who did not have a cunning bone in his body was no match for the girl who was an expert in criminology and autopsies. He was like a defeathered chickenid bare on the girl¡¯s dining table, a feast to be had. Eventually, the torture evolved from a mental phase to a physical phase. As death approached, Zhu Long finally understood everything, but it was toote. Blood leaked out from his wounds. Zhu Long gripped the pink phone and stared at the article that Chen Ge was holding. His memory had finally returned.

    ¡°Do you know which part of the human flesh is pink?¡± Blood vessels sewed up his skin like a needle and thread. Zhu Long took deliberate steps toward Chen Ge. ¡°Just as a flesh wound is about to heal, that is when it¡¯s the pinkest. She had a preference for pink.¡±

    Zhu Long¡¯s body started to distort. Sewing marks appeared on his body. It was hard to imagine what he had gone through before his death.

    ¡°Yet another Half Red Specter.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were curiously calm. When Zhu Long was two steps away from him, he raised both of his arms to hug Zhu Long. ¡°I wish you to understand one thing. No matter the time or the reason, any action that harms others shouldn¡¯t be allowed, even if it is in the name of love.¡±

    Looking at the boy before him, Chen Ge¡¯s heart wrenched with pain. He patted Zhu Long¡¯s shoulders. ¡°I have no idea what¡¯s on your mind now, but I can give you a promise. If we manage to leave this school, I will help you go and meet that girl again.¡±

    The blood threads that sewed through Zhu Long¡¯s body stopped. Zhu Long stared right at Chen Ge before slowly lowering his head. ¡°You have a promise.¡±

    Holding the pink phone, Zhu Long silently retreated to behind Chen Ge.

    Zhu Long and Zhang Ju¡¯s shirts were still turning red. Even though they were not yet Red Specters, they could be considered powerful Half Red Specters. With Wang Yicheng as well, Chen Ge would not be afraid if he ran into a normal Red Specter.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to head to theb.¡± Chen Ge did not ask for Zhou Tu¡¯s opinion this time. He had gotten the answer from the child¡¯s gaze. After seeing what had happened to Zhu Long, his fingers dug into his flesh. He should also have an unfulfilled wish, but he had forgotten what it was. Walking through the brush, Chen Ge led the members to theb building. This was his second visit there that night.

    ¡°The Red Specter should still be in the guardroom. If we run into him, it¡¯s the perfect chance to return the uniform to him.¡± Chen Ge had more confidence this time. He led his students and stopped outside the building.

    ¡°This building is their of those upside-down monsters. The art club, which is our destination, is on the fourth floor. After we visit the ce, whether Zhou Tu¡¯s memory is awakened or not, we have to leave immediately.¡± Chen Ge walked to the one of the windows of the first-floor room. ¡°Now,e with me.¡±

    The students looked at each other, and then they saw Chen Ge climb easily up to the second floor.

    ¡°I told you he¡¯s a physical education teacher.¡± Zhang Ju, Zhu Long, and Wang Yicheng had awakened their memory. Scaling walls was nothing for Specters, but Zhou Tu showed difficulty on his face.

 Chapter 825 - I See Myself

    <h4>Chapter 825: I See Myself</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Quick, it¡¯s very dangerous inside the building. This is the safest route.¡± Chen Ge had the most experience. He avoided all possible rooms that might pose a danger and swiftly climbed up to the third floor. Stepping on the outside box of the air conditioner, Chen Ge half-squatted on the outside of the building, waiting for the rest to catch up. ¡°The secret will be revealed soon. The key for the lock is on its way. When Zhou Tu enters the art room, everything will be answered.¡±

    Zhou Tu used to be an obedient child. He lived within the rules set out by his teachers and parents, and he never stepped one foot out of the boundary. He was well protected from danger and thus was spared the ¡®bad scenes¡¯ that were privy only to the bad kids. When they reached the third floor, Zhou Tu¡¯s arms were already shaking. He did not dare look down, and his face was pale. ¡°Sir, are we there yet?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s on the fourth floor.¡± His hands holding the edge of the windowsill, Chen Ge climbed to the outside of the art room and nced in through the gap in the curtain. The art room had returned to normal, but the colors on the oil paintings appeared to have be more vibrant like the paintings had just been done, and the paint was still wet. The windowsill was too small for even one person to fit. Chen Ge was worried that Zhou Tu might lose control once he caught sight of the oil paintings, so after ensuring the safety, he signaled for Zhou Tu to climb into the room next to the art room.

    ¡°Go in first. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be behind you.¡± The fourth floor was very high. The night wind buffeted against their bodies. Zhou Tu forced a nod and climbed, following the direction given by Chen Ge. After Zhou Tu got into the room, Chen Ge waved for the others to follow.

    ¡°One, two, three, four?¡± Other than Zhou Tu, four shadows had slipped into the fourth floor.

    ¡°There¡¯s an extra one?¡± Chen Ge was thest to enter the room. He looked around with a frown. The room was not big, and the only people there were his club members. ¡°When you guys came in, did you sense anything weird?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing obviously out of ce, but once I saw the building, there was this difort, and now that we¡¯re in the building, that feeling only grew,¡± Zhang Ju said, and the scars on his face started to crawl like snakes. He seemed to be very anxious. Zhang Ju¡¯s shirt was almost red. He was one step away from being a Red Specter. To make him feel ufortable just being in the building¡¯s vicinity meant that there were probably more than one Red Specter inside the building. This ce was more dangerous than Chen Ge had thought. Combined with the extra shadow that he had seen, he reminded himself to be more careful.

    ¡°After we go to the art room, whether Zhou Tu awakens his memory or not, we have to leave this ce,¡± Chen Ge told them. After everyone agreed, they left the room. The corridor of the fourth floor had not changed much since the previous time Chen Ge visited it. It was eerie and dark like it had not been used in years.

    ¡°Zhou Tu, the art club that you¡¯re looking for is on the fourth floor, and the scene from your dream is just next door.¡± Chen Ge smelled the stench in the air once he exited the room. He knew very well that the upside-down monsters were patrolling the area. So far, they had not attracted their attention, but the longer they stayed, the bigger their chance of being exposed. This time, Chang Gu might not show up to save them again, so he had to move fast.

    ¡°Stop looking around and head over there. Haven¡¯t you been yearning to join the art club? Open that door, and the memory from your dream will be awakened!¡± Chen Ge had already wasted a lot of time there. The longer he stayed, the more unsafe he felt. Chang Gu¡¯s appearance had given him hope of clearing the scenario another way.

    ¡°It¡¯s right here?¡± Zhou Tu walked out of the room and stopped before the door. He grabbed the door handle but did not have the courage to push it open.

    ¡°Why are you hesitating? The answer that you¡¯re looking for is behind the door! No matter the result, as long as you wish to recover your memory, don¡¯t hesitate! Open it!¡± Chen Ge had lost his patience. The extra shadow seemed to have disappeared. The stench around them thickened, and the anxiety that he felt grew. Zhou Tu was thest member to have his memory recovered. He had witnessed what had happened to the rest, he knew the imminent pain, so he was under a great amount of pressure. To live in a fake but safe world or to regain his painful but true memory¡ªanyone would struggle to choose. Zhou Tu was caught in a difficult conundrum. He gritted his teeth, and his chest rose. His knuckles turned white before finally pushing the door open!

    BANG!

    Because he shoved so hard, the door knocked into the wall, creating a loud crack. The member of the club huddled to the door and gazed into the room.

    ¡°This looks like a normal art room.¡±

    ¡°They might look gory, but there is no scent of blood. Those red colors should be paint.¡±

    ¡°Were these paintings done by students? Why would they paint something like this?¡±

    The other members mumbled among themselves. They were curious about the art room. Only Chen Ge and Zhou Tu were quiet. Chen Ge had been there once, so he could keep calm. However, Zhou Tu looked like he had lost the ability to speak due to shock.

    ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there. We¡¯ll get spotted.¡± Chen Ge waved for everyone to get into the room. He walked inst.

    ¡°Mr. Bai...¡± Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice, Zhou Tu seemed to snap out of his trance. He pointed at the art room with a face filled with disbelief. ¡°This... is right from my dream.¡±

    ¡°I know. Now you understand how surprised I was when I heard your description, and that¡¯s why I promised to bring you here.¡± Chen Ge had a warm smile on his face like he was a big brother who could forgive anything. ¡°Go in and take a look. Search for your past. Think about why you¡¯re here. No matter the choice you make, I hope you remember this¡ªwe are not enemies.¡±

    Zhou Tu might be a Red Specter, so Chen Ge had to be prepared to ensure that he would not be surprised by a sudden betrayal. Entering the art room, everything was red. The walls were red; the tiles were red; the paintings were red; even the stain on the wall was red. This was a red world. It was like a living hell, but at the same time, colored with an indescribable sense of artistry.

    Zhou Tu looked at the thirteen easels in the room dumbly. His eyes moved over the easels one by one before falling on the fourth easel.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been to this room before, I¡¯ve taken these steps.¡± Slowly walking to the fourth easel, when Zhou Tu looked at the painting that sat on the easel, he froze.

    ¡°Zhou Tu?¡± No matter how hard they nudged him, he did not reply. There was a rush of reding from the bottom of his eyes. His soul seemed to have been sucked into the painting.

    ¡°I can see it. The me inside the painting crying out to me.¡±

 Chapter 826 - Finally Here, the Fourteenth

    <h4>Chapter 826: Finally Here, the Fourteenth</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°The you inside the painting?¡± Chen Ge leaned over to look. He had seen all thirteen paintings in the room, and he believed that he had some impression of the fourth painting. ¡°You painted this?¡±

    Zhou Tu did not answer. His soul appeared to have been sucked into the painting as he stared at it. The fourth painting was about this art room.

    The upper half of the painting showed thirteen painters sitting at their chairs while the lower half of the painting was blood red. All thirteen painters died on their chairs in different ways. It was strange because the painters in the upper part of the painting were painting their own deaths. Those painters knew about their endings, but they did not choose to escape from it but recorded everything as it was.

    When Chen Ge first came to the art room, he had stopped beside this painting for a long time. He was surprised that it was Zhou Tu who had painted this. As he looked closer, he noticed that the painter who sat in the fourth chair bore some simrities to Zhou Tu.

    <i>All the other paintings are expressing an inverted world; only this painting is themed with the painters themselves.</i>

    Chen Ge did not disturb Zhou Tu. His eyes wandered between the painting and Zhou Tu.

    <i>What has Zhou Tu experienced? Why would his painting be so different?</i>

    There were thirteen painters, and Zhou Tu was the fourth. He was not the oldest nor the youngest, but he had the most unique perspective. Unlike the others when their memory awakened, Zhou Tu merely stood next to the easel. There was no change to his body, but the atmosphere in the art room was slowly changing. It was hard to describe, like the people in the paintings had all opened their eyes, looking at the people outside the paintings.

    ¡°Howe it suddenly feel so cold?¡± Wang Yicheng shrunk his neck and hid behind Zhang Ju. He looked around with a trace of fear in his eyes.

    ¡°Zhou Tu?¡± Zhang Ju had a bad feeling as well. He patted Zhou Tu on his shoulder lightly. Hisshes blinked. Zhou Tu¡¯s body seemed to have frozen. His eyes scanned the room, and there was no blood on his face.

    ¡°Am I dead?¡± The hoarse voice echoed from the throat. At the same time, the fourth painter in the painting suddenly moved. The painter dropped the paintbrush that he was holding, and his hands gripped his neck. His legs kicked out underneath him like an invisible noose had been wrung around his neck. His eyes bulged out from their sockets. He struggled with all his might, but his body slowly slid down the chair. Blood rushed to his brain, and his expression was one of despair. He was slowly bing the Zhou Tu inside the painting.

    The scariest thing was, in the lower half of the painting, the Zhou Tu who was in the blood world started to have a smile blossom on his face.

    ¡°Zhou Tu, your neck!¡± Wang Yicheng pointed at Zhou Tu¡¯s neck and shouted. The Zhou Tu who stood outside the painting started to transform into the Zhou Tu inside the painting. A purple line appeared around his neck. As time progressed, the purple color intensified. His neck turned at an abnormal angle as the sound of dripping echoed in their ears. Following the sound, Chen Ge realized that the Zhou Tu who was trapped inside the blood red world of the painting hade alive. His bloodied body was crawling inside the painting. His face was stuck close to the surface, his lips tore open, and blood slid down his face. The bulging eyes looked straight at the Zhou Tu who was outside the painting. He seemed ready to crawl out from the painting to pull Zhou Tu into it!

    ¡°Mr. Bai, do we need to move Zhou Tu away?¡± The sound of dripping increased; it wasing from all sides of the art room!

    Turning to look, the club members realized that every character in the different paintings hade to life. They were crawling on the surface of the painting like they were in the progress ofing out!

    <i>Last time, when I was here with the shadow, this didn¡¯t happen. Is this because they¡¯ve sensed Zhou Tu?</i>

    Reality showed the uniqueness of Zhou Tu again. Chen Ge signaled for the other members to stick close to Zhou Tu. Once things worsened, they would forcibly drag Zhou Tu away. The blood on the painting turned redder, bursting with a blood mist. The scent of blood started to fill the air.

    ¡°Things are not looking good!¡± Zhang Ju and Zhu Long stood around Zhou Tu. They realized that the blood mist in the room had started to gather toward Zhou Tu like a giant man-eating flower that was opening its petals. ¡°These things want to enter Zhou Tu¡¯s body!¡±

    The blood fog avoided everyone else and stuck to Zhou Tu.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, we can¡¯t wait any longer! We need to hurry and leave!¡± To prevent Zhou Tu from being consumed by the blood mist, out of concern, Zhu Long reached out to grip Zhou Tu¡¯s arm. He wished to pull Zhou Tu out from the fog, but once he pulled, the blood fog coagted into a physical rope and circled itself around Zhou Tu¡¯s neck, hanging the young man in the middle of the room.

    ¡°Zhou Tu!¡± The ropessoed around Zhou Tu¡¯s neck. Zhou Tu swung in the room like a pendulum. He looked just like himself in the painting.

    He had already seen his own death and had recorded the picture of his death perfectly.

    ¡°I have painted my own death. I can see myself getting hanged to death. I can see the breath leaving my body...¡±

    The atmosphere in the room darkened, and more blood stains leaked out from the paintings. As Zhou Tu swung in the middle of the room, the characters inside the paintings appeared to be caught in a maddening party.

    ¡°Hanging is different from any other death. Unlike using knife piercing through the heart, after a short period of numbness, the body will feel like it¡¯s being burned as pain spreads through the body. This is a very gentle way to die. As strength seeps away and oxygen decreases, the despair increases. You will be able to experience every second of your death.¡±

    A male voice echoed in the room. It seemed to have originated from one of the paintings, but it also felt like it came from the edges of the walls and floor. Chen Ge could not ascertain where it came from, but he knew that the person who spoke then was simr to the one who had intervened at the education block¡¯s top floor toilet.

    ¡°There is no need to fear death. I know you will return. No matter how many times you try to run, you¡¯ll always be one of us.¡± The voice seemed to be speaking to Zhou Tu. It was impossible to tell where it came from. If one listened closely, one might even suspect that the voice hade from Zhou Tu¡¯s own mouth.

    ¡°Do not resist. You havepleted your mission. Take your seat quietly and wait for thest painter to arrive.¡±

    The blood mist surrounded Zhou Tu, and the young man became scary. His body was shrinking at an impossible speed. Just as everyone had their attention on Zhou Tu, a fourteenth easel appeared in the room.

    The mist rolled around the fourteenth easel, and a faded red color was left on the paper that was as smooth as human skin. From a far, it looked like the fluttering of a red dress.

 Chapter 827 - The Remover

    Chapter 827: The Remover

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    Not just Zhou Tu, the other thirteen easels in the middle of the room had also started to change. The blood expanded on the paintings, and the originally inverted paintings started to morph. The side that was normal was overwhelmed by blood, and screams escaped from inside the paintings.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, what is happening?¡±

    All the paintings in the room could be split into upper and lower halves. The upper half reflected real life while the lower half was covered in red. When the blood red color started to spread, the characters originally belonging to the lower part of the paintings started to crawl to the other side, following the blood. They used various methods, utilizing the tools in the paintings to kill the normal versions of themselves.

    The inverted world was being destroyed. The strange thing was that more blood vessels leaked out from the characters who were killed inside the paintings, and they all rushed toward the thirteenth easel. The picture on the painting started to sharpen. Everyone¡¯s blood started tobine together to create a red dress.

    BANG!

    The pale-looking Zhou Tu was mmed against the ground by the blood vessels. His body was damaged like a sponge that had been overstretched. The blood mist that enveloped him thickened, and they slowly flowed toward the fourteenth easel. The girl¡¯s dress fluttered in the sea of blood. Screaming faces were printed on the dress, and her feet stepped on screaming souls; it was like a flower blooming in the depths of despair. Compared to everything around her, she appeared so unique and different. Standing inside the cage made of negative emotions and curses, the dress was the world¡¯s brightest red.

    ¡°This painting...¡±

    As the blood gathered, the fourteenth painting became clearer. On the mirror shards that littered the ground, she stood barefooted in the abandoned school. The blood red dress stuck to her skin. Her snow-white neck was arced back like a bloody swan. The painting only had the girl¡¯s back. Even with everything from the previous thirteen paintings, they only managed to carve out her back. Standing before the paintings, Chen Ge could not help himself from moving to the fourteenth painting. He was certain in his heart that the girl inside the painting was none other than Zhang Ya!

    ¡°Everyone is here. Those I¡¯ve saved, those that have saved me. Those I¡¯ve killed and those that have killed me. Everyone is finally here.¡± The man¡¯s voice echoed again. When the first sentence was uttered, it was a male voice, but as it continued, the voice started to be more unisex.

    ¡°Who are you? How do you know what she looks like?¡± Chen Ge stood next to the fourteenth painting. ¡°Where is she?¡±

    Zhang Ya was hibernating in his shadow. Chen Ge was worried that the enemy might make use of this opportunity to harm her. After all, the school might belong to a Greater Red Specter. There was no reply. The voice slowly disappeared amid the dripping sound. All the paintings in the art room were filled with blood. Rationality and artistry were destroyed by brute force, and only a bloody stain remained.

    Why is Zhang Ya the fourteenth painting? Has all of this been nned?

    Inside the four-star scenario, Chen Ge felt so miniscule. Even with so many club members by his side, he felt unsafe; he had merely been able to keep his anxiety in check.

    Before things ended for real, Chen Ge would not expose his real thoughts. But this time, it was different. When he saw Zhang Ya appear in the painting, his heart had jumped into his throat.

    Zhang Ya is rted to the School of the Afterlife! This time, Zhang Ya is not my trump card but one of the chess pieces!

    Fourteen paintings represented fourteen people. One of them had Lin Sisi¡¯s signature, and one of them recorded Zhou Tu¡¯s death. Chen Ge had already met the owner of the school and possibly brushed shoulders with him in the school.

    They werepetitors and also partners. To achieve the final goal, there was no bottom line that they would not cross.

    The goals in School of the Afterlife are escaping and finding a scapegoat. The person who will end up bearing all the negative emotions behind the door will probably be chosen from one of the fourteen painters.

    Chen Ge had no idea what was going to happen next. Everyone in the school was looking for a scapegoat, so he suspected that was the owner¡¯s n as well. After all, the door¡¯s pusher had already been consumed by Zhang Ya. So, theoretically speaking, the owner of this school was himself a scapegoat.

    This four-star scenario is huge, and it¡¯s nowhere near ending. To support a door like this, one would be under enormous negative emotions.

    The art room was located at the very end of the corridor. The change here had started to affect the rest of the building. Blood red paint leaked into the walls, and blood vessels crept along them like a type of extremely resilient nt that sucked on dead bodies as nutrients. The people in the paintings were bleeding. They beat on the surface of the paintings repeatedly with scary expressions, but they were unable to escape from the paintings.

    ¡°Quick... you have to leave!¡± Zhou Tu, who was now as thin as stick, woke up from his unconsciousness. His raised his twig-like arm and grabbed Zhang Ju beside him. ¡°He¡¯sing. The painter ising.¡±

    ¡°The painter?¡± Zhang Ju was sure that this was the first time that he had heard the term in that setting, but for some reason, when he heard the term, his body naturally started to shake.

    Just the mention of a word caused a Half Red Specter to shiver, which was unimaginable for Chen Ge.

    ¡°We need to leave this ce first.¡¯ Chen Ge signaled for Zhang Ju and Zhu Long to carry Zhou Tu. He was the first to rush to the door and pull it open. A stench and chill rushed into the room, causing Chen Ge to take several steps back. He looked a closer look and saw a man in a red uniform leaning against the door outside. His body was tilted, and he leaned against the door like he was eavesdropping.

    ¡°A Red Specter...¡± When Chen Ge first came to theb building, he had run into this Specter, but he had been luckyst time to have escaped.

    ¡°Are you one of the staff here as well? This ce is not safe. If you wish to talk this out with us, we can go to another ce first.¡± Chen Ge tried tomunicate with the man, but before he even finished, a scent of blood drifted from behind him.

    ¡°Be careful!¡± Zhang Ju and Zhu Long stood either side of Chen Ge, and they were each stepping on top of a ghostly face.

    Lowering his head to look, Chen Ge noticed that the Red Specter outside the door seemed to have the hobby of collecting human faces. On the floor where he was standing, many human faces were squeezed around him.

    Ding Dong Ding Dong...

    The sound of metal nking came out from the Specter¡¯s waist. His red uniform was blown open by the wind to reveal the various autopsy tools that were hidden underneath.

 Chapter 828 - Number One

    <h4>Chapter 828: Number One</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The bloody faces looked like balloons whose air had leaked out. The wrinkly faces stuck to the ground. If not for Zhang Ju and Zhu Long, those things would have crawled onto Chen Ge already.

    ¡°Looks like our friend is not in the mood to talk.¡± Blood was spreading within the art room. Chen Ge stood behind Zhu Long and Zhang Ju, studying the Red Specter before them with his Yin Yang Vision. Blood sttered everywhere as the red uniform waved around. Various torture tools hung from the skin. With each step, broken faces fell from inside his uniform. There were levels to Red Specters, and unfortunately for Chen Ge, they had run into the extremely dangerous type.

    However, there was something that drew Chen Ge¡¯s attention. When facing against this Red Specter, Zhu Long and Zhang Ju showed no fear. They were different from Xu Yin, who was maddened to the core. Zhu Long and Zhang Ju were extremely rational, and their expressions were calm. It was as if there was a voice in their heads telling them that there was no need to be afraid.

    When the Red Specter saw Zhu Long and Zhang Ju, he did notunch an attack directly. He slowly lifted his head, and his face was covered behind a curtain of wet hair. Chen Ge could make out a face covered in ck veins through the gap. It was pale and crazed. He seemed to be smiling.

    Drip drop.

    A middle-aged man¡¯s face slid down the man¡¯s sleeve and dropped between him and Chen Ge.

    ¡°Save me, this demon likes to peel people¡¯s faces off. Save...¡±

    Pa!

    Before the man could finish, a blood red bootnded heavily on the face. His words were forcibly interrupted, and his face shattered into pieces. The room was very quiet. Because it was so quiet, the sound of blood dripping became very clear. The blood on the boot deepened. Originally, the color had faded, but now, it felt like the boot had been red from the very beginning.

    ¡°Move out of the way. We are not his target.¡± The weak Zhou Tu lifted his head to nce at the Red Specter; there was no uncertainty in his eyes. ¡°This monster stayed here for this day. He wishes to be the first to see inside the art room because he is the custodian and also a participant.¡±

    ¡°Participant?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s the creator of the sixth painting, the monster that connected the two inverted worlds!¡±

    While Zhou Tu said that, he kept his eyes on the Red Specter. His memory had awakened. Even though he was still weak, there was an extra presence about him. The Red Specter at the door did not get mad from being called a monster. If anything, he seemed to like that. The sound of footsteps echoed inside the art room. The Red Specter walked past Chen Ge, leaving a trail of blood behind as he headed to the middle of the room. He finally stopped beside the sixth painting and looked at the painting that had already morphed into something unrecognizable.

    Chen Ge could remember part of the sixth painting. There was someone carrying a big mirror, but he tripped, and the mirror was shattered. The ground was littered with ss shards, and each shard reflected a blood red human face.

    ¡°Ignore him, we¡¯ll leave now.¡± Zhou Tu was being supported by Wang Yicheng as they headed toward the door. Chen Ge also did not want to mess with the monster at that moment, so he followed the other members out of the building. ¡°Are we still going through the window?¡±

    Wang Yicheng pulled open the door of the ssroom next door. The mannequin that was covered under the white cloth started to change. Blood stains silently appeared under the cloth.

    ¡°Most of the painting ingredients and props inside this building were made by that monster.¡± Zhou Tu still looked weak. He did not look better even after they had left the art room. ¡°Including the red paint and those foul-smelling painting canvases.¡±

    Zhou Tu did not need to go into details, and everyone already knew what had gone into making of these materials.

    ¡°So many people died at this abandoned school?¡± Chen Ge was confused. ¡°I saw several storage rooms on the fourth floor, and they are filled with painting materials.¡±

    ¡°I know many things but not everything.¡± Zhou Tu treated Chen Ge strangely. Compared to before, it was not better or worse, but there was a trace of caution in his tone. Suddenly, a loud crash came from the art room. The group turned to look. The red monster¡¯s back was split open, and his back expanded. His spine expanded outward, and tools meant for cruelty dangled from each bone. He stood facing away from the door. He appeared to be using those tools to edit the painting.

    ¡°Stay away from him.¡± Zhou Tu had Wang Yicheng open the window. The ss window was opened, and Zhou Tu and Wang Yicheng left first. Chen Ge followed close behind, but he paused when he stood beside the window. There was someone standing in the shadow at the north western corner of the building. He was wearing a pair of ck leather shoes, and his face was pale while his gaze was dim. He was hugging a little girl¡¯s pajamas and a dog cor.

    <i>Mr. Bai?</i>

    With his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge caught sight of Mr. Bai easily. He also saw the blood stains on the pajamas.

    <i>Has something happened to his daughter?</i>

    Mr. Bai, who hid in the shadow, spotted Chen Ge as well. He had been lying in wait for a long time. He had not made his move probably because he did not expect Chen Ge to be in thepany of so many people.

    <i>This is the real Mr. Bai. I stole his identification and his identity. I don¡¯t think that will make a good impression on the members if I¡¯m found out.</i>

    Chen Ge felt like Zhang Ju and the rest should have already guessed by now that he was not a member of staff there, but no one had torn down this lie. At least on the surface, everyone tried to maintain this disguise.

    <i>I¡¯ll have to find a reason to get rid of him first. Destroying evidence should be something familiar to many around me.</i>

    There was another Specter hiding in Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. He was the one who had set the curse on Chen Ge, but now he had be one of Chen Ge¡¯s chess pieces. With the decision made, the way Chen Ge looked at Mr. Bai softened. He moved faster and only took one minute to get to the bottom of the building.

    <i>Where is he?</i>

    When hended, Chen Ge looked toward the corner again, but Mr. Bai was already gone.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Zhou Tu¡¯s voice dwindled like he was going to disappear at any moment. ¡°I don¡¯t have much time left. I have something to tell all of you. This is not only rted to whether I can find myself but also rted to all of your survival.¡±

    ¡°Do tell, we¡¯re listening.¡± Zhang Ju and Zhu Long stood adjacent to Chen Ge. They were huddled together.

    ¡°The thirteen paintings in the art room represent thirteen people. Each of them are like the Red Specter we just encountered, incredibly scary.¡± Zhou Tu gasped for air. After Wang Yicheng carried him into the brush and away from theb, he continued. ¡°The order has nothing to do with their strength. It¡¯spletely randomized, but there is an exception.¡±

    ¡°An exception?¡±

    ¡°Number One is an exception. I have no memory of Number One; I only know that he likes painting and is a painter.¡±

 Chapter 829 - You Have Her Presence

    <h4>Chapter 829: You Have Her Presence</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Number One is unique. He is different from everyone else; he was the first student at this school.¡± Zhou Tu¡¯s eyes scanned the other members. ¡°In other words, he is a big reason the school is what it is now.¡±

    ¡°When you mentioned the painter, I felt a natural sense of fear. Just the word caused fear to grip my heart.¡± Zhang Ju¡¯s body was almost dyed red. His face was like melted wax, looking very scary.

    ¡°That is a normal response because before you became a monster, you would have met him. You are one of his creations.¡± Zhou Tu revealed another secret. ¡°Everything that you¡¯ve experienced after you entered the door was personally arranged by the painter, but there was a little ident in your case.¡±

    ¡°How do you know about these things? Didn¡¯t you say earlier that you do not know anything about the painter?¡±

    ¡°Because I am like you. To be more precise, other than the painter himself, everyone is his creation!¡± Zhou Tu¡¯s words belied his deep-seated fear. ¡°You, me, Lin Sisi, Wang Yicheng, and everyone at this school, we are all the painter¡¯s creations. Ever since we entered the door, we started our lives inside the painter¡¯s script.¡±

    ¡°If it is as you say, then what is the exnation behind the ident that happened to Zhang Ju?¡± Chen Ge did not fully believe in Zhou Tu yet. This was not because he suspected that Zhou Tu was lying to him, but there were certain things that Zhou Tu would not know about either like Zhang Ya¡¯s existence. The door pusher in Western Jiujiang Private Academy was Zhang Ya, so no matter the case with other people, of the fourteen paintings, at least one would not be the painter¡¯s creation.

    ¡°The painter was too careless. He didn¡¯t expect someone to betray him.¡± Zhou Tu sucked in a deep breath and turned his neck around with difficulty to look at Zhang Ju. ¡°You should have heard of the name Chang Wenyu.¡±

    ¡°Of course, she betrayed her promise and stole my left eye and made me her scapegoat.¡± Zhang Ju had a bad impression of Chang Wenyu.

    ¡°Who she betrayed wasn¡¯t you but the painter.¡± Zhou Tu¡¯s voice hastened like he was using hisst breath to defend Chang Wenyu. ¡°Chang Wenyu was the second person to enter this school and the only person who has sessfully escaped this ce!¡±

    ¡°What are you trying to say?¡¯

    ¡°She used actual action to tell us one thing. Other than following the painter¡¯s script, there are other choices for us to pick. We need to obey not the painter but the real owner of this school.¡± Veins popped around Zhou Tu¡¯s neck. His physical condition was getting worse.

    Since the beginning, Chen Ge had been curious about the school¡¯s owner. After all, they might be a Greater Red Specter. ¡°Can you tell me who the real owner of this school is?¡±

    Zhou Tu looked at Chen Ge deeply and uttered, ¡°We are.¡±

    ¡°We?¡±

    ¡°Yes, all the despair of the bullied is forged into the school¡¯s foundations. After a lost and young soul enters the door, they arebined into a monster that keeps growing.¡± Zhou Tu pointed at himself and the people around him. ¡°We are inside this monster¡¯s body; we are part of this monster. This ce has our memory, but it is also our home and our body.¡±

    Chen Ge understood what Zhou Tu was trying to express. The owner of the School of the Afterlife was not one person but a kind of spirit. After the door-pusher died, there was no new door-pusher who came to support the negative emotions behind the door. The door kept searching for despair and led these despairing souls behind the door. Chen Ge suddenly understood why the ck phone would name this ce the School of the Afterlife.

    The school was a normal scenario, but under the influence of despair and negative emotion, the scenario itself gained some kind of consciousness, and thus, a door that could move on its own was born. Other doors were pushed open by people in despair and were frozen inside a part of the blood world, but this door would voluntarily show up next to victims in despair. It offered an escape to those people and provided a home for wandering souls, but at the same time, it deprived them of their lives.

    ¡°No, something¡¯s wrong,¡± Chen Ge suddenly said. ¡°If there is no way to leave this school, how did Chang Wenyu manage to do so? The children who enter the school should be given some kind of choice, and each choice made corresponds to a type of ending!¡±

    ¡°Even though I have no idea why you would suddenly bring that up, you¡¯re right.¡± Zhou Tu followed Chen Ge¡¯s lead. ¡°The school has its own consciousness, and everyone who enters the school will be given a choice. Different choices lead to different oues. Some choose to go back to real life after experiencing despair; some embrace the despair and be part of the school; some choose to give up, forget everything, and close their eyes. There are many choices. At least, that¡¯s what Chang Wenyu told me.¡±

    ¡°If what you¡¯re saying is true, then the school is not a bad ce, at least not for these despairing children.¡±

    ¡°The school itself is not wrong; the one who¡¯s wrong is the painter. He has changed the rules and cut off the way out, forcing everyone to stay here.¡± Zhou Tu¡¯s voice was getting louder, but his body was getting weaker.

    ¡°Why would he do that?¡± Zhang Ju could not understand.

    ¡°I have no idea what he¡¯s nning. I only know that there was someone who tried to challenge the painter. Chang Wenyu was sessful while the others and I failed.¡± The weak Zhou Tu leaned on Zhang Ju. ¡°Whenever there¡¯s a problem in the art room, the painter will show up. He will be here soon. If you do not wish to have your memory erased and turn back into a mindless puppet, you have to figure out a way to leave.¡±

    ¡°Do we still have time?¡± Zhang Ju was pessimistic. ¡°We are facing the painter. The few of us do not even stand a chance against him.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine.¡± Zhou Tu¡¯s pale face showed a smile. His twig-like finger pointed at Chen Ge. ¡°Chang Wenyu has returned. I can sense her presence on you.¡±

    ¡°On me?¡± Chen Ge was shocked. ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s Chang Wenyu? Not another person?¡±

    ¡°I am sure.¡± Zhou Tu did not catch the other meaning that Chen Ge was trying to hint at. He nodded affirmatively.

    ¡°But I haven¡¯t met Chang Wenyu. How could I have her presence?¡± Chen Ge shook his hands.

    ¡°Perhaps you have something of hers on you or are rted to her. Maybe you two are lovers.¡±

    ¡°Stop right there.¡± Chen Ge gritted his teeth. ¡°It sounds like you¡¯re trying to set me up.¡±

    Zhou Tu did not think it was that big of a deal to sense Chang Wenyu on Chen Ge. He kept persuading Chen Ge. ¡°We¡¯ve all forgotten part of our memory. Perhaps among that missing memory is the secret. There¡¯s no need to worry. My hunches have always been urate.¡±

 Chapter 830 - Chen Geâ€™s Choice

    <h4>Chapter 830: Chen Ge¡¯s Choice</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I¡¯m not worried about your hunch but something else.¡± Chen Ge could not exin the exact situation to the students; he could only think about it on his own.

    <i>Why would Chang Wenyu¡¯s presence linger around me? Is it because I¡¯ve spent an extended period of time with her brother or because Chang Gu has left something of Chang Wenyu¡¯s with me?</i>

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to panic. You¡¯ll eventually recover your memory; I have faith in you.¡± Zhou Tu did not quite understand Chen Ge¡¯s circumstances. ¡°Don¡¯t waste your energy in inconsequential ces. What I¡¯m going to tell you next is very important.

    ¡°Every student that enters the school will be given a choice. Each choice leads to different results. The standard of judgement is not with the painter but is based on the school¡¯s own consciousness. The monster that has collected everyone¡¯s despairing school is the real owner of this school; the painter is at most his spokesperson.

    ¡°What we need to do is get the school¡¯s approval and follow through one of the choices to the very end before embracing the corresponding oue with open arms.¡± Zhou Tu thought about it. ¡°The painter¡¯s choice is probably to escape from reality and create a home for all the lost souls behind the door; Chang Wenyu¡¯s choice should be to find a way to escape from the school to return to the real world. We should follow the path left behind by Chang Wenyu, but the prerequisite is that we have to get the school¡¯s approval.¡±

    ¡°How you do suggest we go about doing that?¡±

    ¡°Do not think of this school as a detached scenario. Think of it as a person, a person who was bullied and filled with despair.¡± When Zhou Tu said that, he lowered his voice to the minimum. He had a strange expression. With each word, his face darkened like saying that in the school would get him cursed. ¡°To get the school¡¯s approval, you have to elicit its resonance. The painter, for example, creates a home to console the loneliness inside the school¡¯s consciousness and allow it a ce to stay, or like Chang Wenyu, we can choose to escape.¡±

    ¡°I understand what you mean, but from how I see it, be it to escape or to build a fake home, neither will solve the problem.¡± Chen Ge had his own idea. ¡°My decision might not be correct, but if I am bullied, I will use the most direct method to fight back.¡±

    ¡°What do you n to do? Chang Wenyu and the painter have already provided us with two shortcuts. We only need to follow one of them.¡± Zhou Tu frowned slightly. He saw the fire burning in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, and that kind of fire was very rare in this eerie school.

    ¡°No one is willing to be bullied. As long as there¡¯s a chance to fight back, they will grab it.¡± Chen Ge stood at the edge of the brush and looked at therge schoolpound. ¡°The basic rule of this world is still survival of the fittest. The weak like to follow the strong or stick close to the strong, and the easiest way for the strong to showcase their strength is to control the weak and express their dominance over the weak. This is so juvenile and yet so realistic. Since we are now inside this school, we should follow its rules.¡±

    ¡°The rules?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the bullied victims¡¯ souls that make the consciousness of the school, so to get their approval, there is another way to go.¡± Chen Ge took a big step out of the brush. ¡°That is to reinstate one¡¯s spot in the cycle and bully back those who dare bully us.¡±

    Chen Ge had a real leap in his thoughts. The members were surprised by his statement. ¡°Are you sure you want to do that? Not only might that fail to get the school¡¯s approval, it might cause them to be reminded of their weak past selves and turn hostile toward us.¡±

    ¡°Human beings are strange creatures. Only when pain is inflicted on them would they understand how painful certain things can be. My choice might not be the best choice, but it is my favorite choice.¡± He waited for a long time, but there was no reply, so Chen Ge turned around to look at his members. ¡°Why are you all looking at me like that?¡±

    ¡°What you said is different from how you usually act,¡± Zhang Ju said. ¡°I mean, that does not sound like what a teacher should say.¡±

    ¡°Then it only shows that you do not know me well enough.¡± Chen Ge ced his hand on Zhang Ju¡¯s shoulder with a smile. ¡°Most people have a demon and an angle in their heart. Whenever they wish to do something, there will be a heated discussion between the two parties, and that will cause hesitation, but it is different for me.¡±

    ¡°You wish to say there is only a demon left in your heart?¡± Zhang Ju¡¯s ugly pupils stared at Chen Ge. He tried to find the answer from Chen Ge¡¯s expression.

    ¡°It¡¯s the exact opposite. The demon in my heart has been locked behind the door; the only remaining one is the angel that is always with me. She will always support me. No matter what kind of decision I¡¯ve made, she will stand behind me.¡±

    ¡°In that case... your angel must have her hands covered in blood, wearing a bloody red dress.¡± Zhou Tu chuckled. He seemed to have misunderstood something.

    ¡°I¡¯m toozy to exin the details. You only need to know that I have my own way of doing things. And I have no regrets.¡± Chen Ge stood in the middle of the group. ¡°It¡¯s time to depart. We¡¯re heading to the second floor of the library next. There should be another answer to be found hidden in the mirror left behind by Chang Wenyu.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Your instincts are very sharp. We can¡¯t stay here too long.¡± Zhou Tu leaned on Zhang Ju¡¯s back. ¡°The world on the other side of the mirror is the real world behind the door. This ce is manufactured by the painter, a home that he created for the homeless children. Of course, you can also see it as a cage.¡±

    Zhou Tu¡¯s body was weakening; he was fading.

    ¡°We¡¯ll continue this conversation after we find the mirror. Let¡¯s go.¡± Chen Ge felt like Zhou Tu¡¯s soul should have been destroyed already. The one leaning against Zhang Ju was just a lingering spirit. When he uttered everything that was captured in his memory, that would be the time he disappeared. There would no longer be Zhou Tu in this world; he would disappear without a trace. Zhou Tu was trapped in the war between Chang Wenyu and the painter, and his body and soul were one of their battlefields. From the ending, it seemed like the painter had won. He had destroyed Zhou Tu, but Chang Wenyu had not lost. After all, she had managed to reveal so many secrets about the painter through Zhou Tu.

    <i>There is not one character at this school who is simple, but that is a good thing because the muddier the water, the greater the chance of me being sessful.</i>

    Chen Ge led the members to the library, and they moved through the brush carefully. They noticed that the doors of the buildings on both sides were all open, like ¡®people¡¯ had been going through them.

 Chapter 831 - Encounter

    <h4>Chapter 831: Encounter</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The School of the Afterlife had changed; those hiding in the dark had surfaced as if sensing that their chance had arrived.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, do you mind if I ask you a question? The woman who left her presence on you, has she told you anything?¡± Zhou Tu¡¯s face was the color of chalk. He needed to rest with every sentence.

    ¡°I do not even know Chang Wenyu; I have no idea how she left her presence on me.¡± Chen Ge did not wish to continue this conversation and rushed toward the library.

    ¡°So, you wish to keep it a secret?¡± Zhang Ju carried Zhou Tu, whose body was disappearing. He probably would not hold on until they reached the library.

    ¡°I can¡¯t control how you think...¡± Chen Ge ignored him and continued on his way. After taking several steps, he suddenly frowned. He really did not know Chang Wenyu. He was not trying to hide anything from the others, but Zhou Tu made it sound like Chen Ge had a secret to hide. Zhou Tu had been revealing information to Chen Ge. This was his first question, and the question was rted to Chang Wenyu. This might have appeared normal to others, and Chen Ge did not mind it that much initially, but the more he thought about it, the stranger he felt.

    <i>Coincidence on top of coincidence, forming an ident. Looking at the whole process, it might appear like there¡¯s no problem, but something feels off, </i>Chen Ge thought to himself. <i>There are still many secrets surrounding Zhou Tu, but based on his condition, it doesn¡¯t look like he has the time to touch on those things.</i>

    The painter was entity who had harmed Zhou Tu, so if he hated the painter that much, he would try his best to tell them everything about the painter and not waste time asking questions. Perhaps this was really just a coincidence, but Chen Ge could not shake his mind off it. The library was close to theb. Chen Ge¡¯s group arrived there without any incidents. They followed the trail and reached the entrance.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been to this ce before; the door is always locked. We¡¯ll need to jump through the window or use the side door if we wish to gain entry. Damn it, I am reminded of that bad memory again.¡± Zhang Ju had a bad impression of Chang Wenyu. After all, it was Chang Wenyu who had betrayed him and shattered his only hope. With Zhang Ju leading the way, the group easily cracked open the side door and entered the library. The library on the eastern campus looked dated. The building felt more like a decoration. Students and staff rarely visited this ce.

    ¡°It feels like a lot of time has passed, but nothing has changed here. It feels just like yesterday when she gouged my left eye out.¡± Zhang Ju walked in front. By now, his jacket was alreadypletely red. ¡°I¡¯ve walked down this path with her before. Technically speaking, she was my first love, and this is where we had our dates.¡±

    With a bitter smile on his face, Zhang Ju¡¯s fingers caressed the bookshelves that they passed. ¡°Why would one pick a library at midnight to have their dates? I should have known it then. She never did like me; she was merely using me.¡±

    ¡°That might not be a hundred percent true. The date¡¯s location doesn¡¯t necessarily mean anything.¡± Chen Ge walked beside Zhang Ju at the front. ¡°I¡¯ve been in your shoes before. I¡¯ve dated at an abandoned school, a mental asylum, and an underground morgue. Until now, she still loves me deeply.¡±

    ¡°Is your date also Chang Wenyu?¡± There was a question in Zhou Tu¡¯s eyes. His eyes moved between Chen Ge and Zhang Ju. ¡°Other than her, I can¡¯t imagine anyone else going to ces like that to have their dates.¡±

    Everything was going fine, but with this observation from Zhou Tu, Zhang Ju stopped moving. He looked Chen Ge up and down and then shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s impossible. That woman doesn¡¯t have the power and capability to love. She¡¯s a monster.¡±

    Annoyed, Zhang Ju walked ahead on his own. The library at midnight was very quiet, and the only sound was their heartbeats and footsteps. The whole building was sealed. The doors and windows were barred, but there was no strange smell, which was different from the other ces that they had visited.

    ¡°By walking past this shelf, climbing to the top, and stepping on the fence next to it, we can reach the second floor without using the stairs.¡± Zhang Ju remembered what had happened that night so clearly. Not one detail escaped his mind¡ªeverything was forever seared in his brain.

    Zhu Long felt like Zhang Ju was in a bad mood, and he asked in a polite tone, ¡°Why can¡¯t we use the stairs?¡±

    ¡°I asked her the same question. She said that a steel door was installed on the staircase, and the door is blocked with trash; there is no way we can get up the stairs that way.¡± Zhang Ju was the first to climb up the racks. ¡°I never doubted her words, so I didn¡¯t go up the stairwell. Shall we go and check it this time?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s find the mirror first.¡± Chen Ge did not want to attract unnecessary attention. The group followed Zhang Ju¡¯s instructions and reached the second floor of the library. They only took several steps when they heard footstepsing from the end of the second-floor corridor.

    ¡°That¡¯s familiar. I also heard footsteps when I camest time. Back then, Chang Wenyu told me a ghost story about the spirit in the library, and it gave me quite a scare. Now that I think about it, the footsteps should belong to the librarian.¡± Zhang Ju signaled for the others to stay behind him. ¡°Stick close and don¡¯t fall off. Follow my orders and try to avoid conflict with the other party.¡±

    ¡°What should we do? The sound is getting close!¡±

    ¡°See the door to the second reading room?¡± Zhang Ju pointed at a door not far away. ¡°From now on, close your eyes and walk that way. No matter what you touch or hear, do not open your eyes until we¡¯re through the door.¡±

    ¡°Will that work? How¡¯s that different from lying to ourselves?¡±

    ¡°Just listen to him. The librarian is a member of the art club members. He will paint everyone who sees him into his painting.¡± Zhou Tu was the first to close his eyes, and the rest followed suit. Thest to close his eyes was Chen Ge. He listened to the approaching footsteps, signaled to his shadow, and then closed his eyes.

    The footsteps came closer and closer. Chen Ge¡¯s group searched their way along the wall with their hands. It felt like they would run into someone anytime soon. The footsteps got closer. The person did not seem to notice Zhang Ju and Zhou Tu, keeping up his speed, but when he passed Chen Ge, the sound of footsteps suddenly disappeared.

    <i>Has it stopped next to me? </i>Chen Ge did not open his eyes. He kept his hands on the wall and moved forward. Several secondster, the footsteps continued toward the end of the corridor. Opening the door of the second reading room, Chen Ge sucked in a deep breath.

    ¡°I experienced all we¡¯ve experienced earlier that night; this is such a d¨¦j¨¤ vu feeling.¡± Zhang Ju closed the door after everyone got into the reading room. ¡°If there¡¯s nothing wrong, the mirror should be hidden behind thest row of bookshelf.¡±

    The truth was about to be revealed, but before Chen Ge could approach, a familiar figure walked out from thest row of shelves.

    ¡°I knew you¡¯d find your way here eventually.¡± The figure was holding arge, tattered backpack. His head was lowered, and he was stooped like a hunchback.

 Chapter 832 - Cooperation

    <h4>Chapter 832: Cooperation</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The sudden appearance of the man turned the situation tense. Chen Ge¡¯s group stood where they were, and no one dared take another step.

    ¡°You are more willing to trust the ghosts behind the door than the living human from outside the door?¡± The figure slowly lifted his head to reveal a pair of curious eyes. His right eye was no different from that of a normal person, but his left eye was red like an eye ball soaked in a can of red paint.

    ¡°Chang Gu.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s lips moved to utter the name of the person whom he had never expected to show up there.

    ¡°I know you have many questions now, but I do not have the time to exin them to you. You only need to understand that I am on your side.¡± Chang Gu raised the backpack that he was holding. ¡°I believe this is yours.¡±

    Chang Gu was holding the backpack that Chen Ge had taken with him from the haunted house. The zipper had been opened, but everything was inside where it should be.

    ¡°Why would you have my backpack?¡± Chen Ge took one step forward.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go over there!¡± Zhang Ju stopped Chen Ge. ¡°He is not part of my memory; things have changed.¡±

    Chang Gu heard Zhang Ju¡¯s voice as well, and his lips curled into a smile. ¡°You sure are popr. You can make friends no matter where you go.¡±

    Stepping aside to let them pass, Chang Gu nced outside the reading room, and he spoke faster. ¡°It was my sister who gave me your backpack. She told me you woulde here eventually.¡±

    ¡°Chang Wenyu?¡±

    ¡°Yes, she will help you escape the school, but the premise is that you have to promise to work with her.¡± Chang Gu put down the backpack. ¡°That is why you have shown up here, is it not?¡±

    ¡°It was Chang Wenyu who dragged me inside the door? Did the two of you work together to con me?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s habit was to see thing was the worst perspective. He thought back to how he had been dragged into the door at the hospital. The arm that reached out from behind the door had been slender and soft. Indeed, it had looked like the hand of a girl.

    ¡°I¡¯ve only just found out many things as well, so technically, I didn¡¯t con you. At least, I didn¡¯t mean to.¡± Chang Gu looked much better than before, at least one decade younger.

    ¡°Tell me, how does she expect me to work together with her?¡± Chen Ge felt like there was no one that he could trust in the school; everyone was out for themselves.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to use such an unwilling tone. She is trying to save you. This school is far moreplicated than you thought. Without her, you will never wake up.¡± Chang Gu walked toward Chen Ge. ¡°We are friends who share the same goal, friends who know each other.¡±

    Zhang Ju and Zhu Long guarded Chen Ge while studying Chang Gu.

    ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± Chen Ge did not like twists and turns, especially when they were in such a dangerous ce.

    ¡°The painter is about to be the new door-pusher, and when that happens, all the souls behind the door will be trapped here forever, living in this paradise created by the painter.¡± Chang Gu did not stop moving; he was very close to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that a good thing? Giving homeless souls a home to help them forget their pain and despair, to create a blood red paradise.¡± Chen Ge had noticed the many changes to Chang Gu; he could not sense any life in the man.

    ¡°I know a test when I hear one. Actually, you know deep down that there is no paradise in this world. This is all the painter¡¯s daydream. My sister wishes to stop him, but she is not powerful enough to do it alone, so she needs your help.¡± Chang Gu nced at the two Half Red Specters beside Chen Ge. His blood red left eye was like a heart, and it kept throbbing in its socket. ¡°There are thirteen Specters who are qualified to be the door-pusher in this school. The painter is the strongest, and my sister is second. Of the remaining eleven, some have sworn obedience to the painter, and others have had their memories removed and turned into puppets.¡±

    ¡°There is too big a power gap. Even with my help, we probably can¡¯t stop the painter.¡± Chen Ge was not lying to Chang Gu; he was telling the truth. His biggest strength, Zhang Ya, was still hibernating.

    ¡°We do not need you to go against the painter directly; you only need to go and awaken all the Specters that the painter has sealed.¡±

    ¡°How do I do that?¡± Chen Ge sighed in relief when he heard that he did not need to face the painter directly.

    ¡°You have already been doing that.¡± Chang Gu pointed at the club members. ¡°These three are all on the list.¡±

    ¡°Of the four Specters around me, three of them have the qualifications to be the door-pusher?¡± Chen Ge did not think he would be so lucky. Then again, those few had been ostracized in the western campus where only good memories should remain; that was something abnormal.

    Chen Ge was about to ask who did not have the power to be the door-pusher when Chang Gu spoke again. ¡°My sister will try her best to distract the painter, and during that time, you have to try your best to find as many Specters sealed up by the painter as you can and wake them.¡±

    ¡°Okay, no problem.¡± It was not like Chen Ge had a choice but to give his promise for now. Neither the painter nor Chang Wenyu was someone he wanted to anger. Furthermore, awakening the Specters and gathering power was what he had been doing.

    ¡°I knew you¡¯d say yes.¡± Chang Gu looked at Chen Ge with satisfaction. ¡°Lastly, my sister has a few words she wanted me to tell you.¡±

    ¡°Chang Wenyu has something to tell me?¡± Chen Ge had not met Chang Wenyu before; he had no idea why the girl would value him thusly.

    ¡°Yes, she hopes you can also gain the school¡¯s approval and obtain the qualification to be the door-pusher.¡± Chang Gu¡¯s left eye throbbed as he studied Chen Ge¡¯s reaction.

    ¡°I do not wish to get trapped behind a door forever.¡± Chen Ge rejected it outright.

    ¡°You only need to get the qualification.¡± Chang Gu¡¯s expression softened. ¡°Gaining the school¡¯s approval will aid your escape.¡±

    ¡°How am I supposed to do that?¡± Chen Ge had heard the answer from Zhou Tu already, but he wished to get more confirmation.

    ¡°This door is different from others. The scenario behind the door is split by the painter in two¡ªone normal, the other bloody. I believe you¡¯ve noticed it already, just like the western and eastern campuses. Western campus transports all the despair and negative memories to the eastern campus to maintain the cleanliness on the western campus, and then the painter transports the negative emotions gathered in eastern campus to the other blood red scenario. The normal, cleansed part of the world behind the door has been maintained by the painter while the school¡¯s consciousness is hidden inside the blood red scenario.

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to exin; it¡¯s easier if you see for yourself, but I hope you¡¯re ready. The gore of this door is much greater than the other scenarios you¡¯ve experienced.¡±

    Chang Gu thought about it and made sure that he had not forgotten anything before taking a step back.

    ¡°The entrance is the mirror beside the rack. Try to get the approval as soon as you can. This abandoned school is about to get a lot more anarchic.¡±

 Chapter 833 - Entry

    <h4>Chapter 833: Entry</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Footsteps came from outside the reading room; the librarian was heading their way. Even though Chen Ge still had many questions, there was no time.

    ¡°Chang Gu, I hope you¡¯re not lying to me. I can do my best to help your sister, but you need to guarantee that my friends and I can leave this school safely.¡± Chen Ge stood together with his club members. He was a man of his word. He had promised to lead Zhang Ju and the rest out, and he nned to keep his promise.

    ¡°I can give you my promise, but what use is it? Here, anything can happen; even the painter can give you that guarantee.¡± Chang Gu¡¯s blood red eye was twitching slightly. No one knew what he was really thinking.

    ¡°You¡¯ve changed a lot since entering the door. Looks like I¡¯ll have to reassess our rtionship,¡± Chen Ge said calmly. He was always like that, hard to read. It was unclear whether he was bluffing or not.

    ¡°We¡¯re still friends. We both came from outside the door. We know about each other. I will not harm you.¡± Chang Gu lifted the backpack. ¡°See, I even brought your things for you.¡±

    ¡°We are friends, but I¡¯ve gained some new friends here. We¡¯re all friends, so I hope you won¡¯t put me in a difficult position.¡± There was one thing that Chen Ge did not tell Chang Gu. He had promised to be someone else¡¯s friend in the toilet on the top floor of the education block. Chen Ge had epted the invitation, thinking that there was no harm in having more friend, but now that he thought about it, that person was most likely the painter. Many people wanted to make use of Chen Ge, but if they knew him better, they would regret that decision.

    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll do it your way.¡± Chen Ge led the members to Chang Gu. ¡°Now, can you give me back my stuff?¡±

    ¡°No problem, but you have to wait until you¡¯re inside the mirror before you open the backpack.¡± Chang Gu did not hand the backpack to Chen Ge but followed him to thest row of the shelves. They worked together to push the shelf aside, and that revealed the mirror hidden under a ck cloth.

    ¡°There isn¡¯t much use left to this mirror, so you¡¯d better move fast. Get the school¡¯s approval before the painter realizes what you¡¯re doing.¡± Chang Gu pulled the cloth back and handed the backpack to Chen Ge. ¡°Stand before the mirror and ce your hand on it. Look into the mirror with your heart, and you¡¯ll see what¡¯s on the other side.¡±

    epting the backpack, Chen Ge did not ce his hand on the mirror directly but took a step back.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Chang Gu frowned.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, this is my first time here. I have no experience, so I wish to see other people do it first.¡± Chen Ge resisted the urge to open the backpack and tossed a look to Zhang Ju. ¡°This should have been a part of your memory.¡±

    Zhang Ju nodded and handed Zhou Tu over to Zhu Long before standing in front of the mirror. ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t mind living in the painter¡¯s paradise, but if that means I have to trade in my freedom, then I think not.¡±

    The scarred armnded on the surface of the mirror, and Zhang Ju lifted his head to look at his own reflection in the mirror. Chen Ge had noticed this a long time ago. In the world behind the door, there were few mirrors. It was as if mirrors possessed a special meaning in this blood red world. He stood at the back of the group and patiently observed. If not for the others, he would even have thought about using a pen and paper to record the whole process.

    Blood slid down the arm and fell on the mirror. Blood vessels crawled on the surface. It was hard to tell whether they were moving inside or outside the mirror. More blood vessels appeared. In the blink of an eye, the scene inside the mirror shifted. It was still the library, but the library in the mirror turned blood red. Blood flowed, and every book looked like it was written in blood.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to one day return. This time, I hope I¡¯ve made the right choice,¡± Zhang Ju mumbled to himself outside the mirror, but his reflection had not moved. He was like a puppet without a soul, with his head lowered and eyes closed.

    ¡°Be careful. Don¡¯t wander about when you¡¯re inside. Wait for us. We¡¯ll move together. That should make things easier.¡± Chen Ge tried to say something else, but Zhang Ju was not looking so stable. He did not seem to hear Chen Ge. The head that was scorched slowly turned. Zhang Ju¡¯s remaining right eye was red as blood. He stared at Chang Gu as the wounds opened all over his body. Blood vessels crawled on his body. ¡°Your left eye is very beautiful. I... wish to eat it.¡±

    Zhang Ju appeared to be under some kind of influence. His expression turned ugly, and the strange thing was, the expression of his reflection started to change, transforming to match the one outside the mirror. When the two became one, the hand that was pressed on the mirror was pulled forward, and the young man was dragged into the mirror.

    ¡°He was dragged by himself into the mirror?¡± Before Chen Ge realized it, there was only a pool of blood left behind the mirror. Zhang Ju had disappeared like he had never been there in the first ce.

    ¡°The mirror reflects your appearance, but it can¡¯t reflect your soul. On one side of the mirror, it¡¯s your shell, and the other side is your desire. When you look inside the mirror, you¡¯ll see your ugliest and sometimes your most dangerous self.¡± After Zhang Ju left, Chang Gu¡¯s tone lightened. ¡°Mirrors inside the School of the Afterlife are different from those in real life. The painter moved everything beautiful inside the mirror, and all the ugly, desperate, and scary things have been left outside the mirror. So, when you stand before the mirror, you¡¯ll see a different version of yourself.¡±

    While Chang Gu spoke, Zhou Tu passed through the mirror. He was so fast that none of the members, not even Chang Gu or Chen Ge, noticed it.

    ¡°Mr. Bai, I know you have many things that you haven¡¯t told us.¡± Zhu Long felt like he had many things to say, but considering that there were outsiders there, he did not voice those thoughts. ¡°I rarely ce my trust in others, so I hope you won¡¯t disappoint us.¡±

    His palm on the mirror, Zhu Long looked at his reflection. The tall body was reconstructed, and the reflection in the mirror could not be called a person, more like a rag doll sewn together by a demented child.

    The blood traces before the mirror thickened. After all the members had departed, Chen Ge stood before the mirror with two bags.

 Chapter 834 - Iâ€™ve Arrived

    Chapter 834: I¡¯ve Arrived

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    ¡°After gaining the school¡¯s approval, you will also gain the qualification to be the door pusher, but I know that you just want to leave and won¡¯t do something so irrational.¡± Now that only Chang Gu and Chen Ge were left in the reading room, Chang Gu stopped talking in riddles and warned Chen Ge directly.

    His eyes staring at the mirror silently, Chen Ge said without turning around, ¡°Chang Gu, what kind of person do you think I am?¡±

    After what happened in Li Wan City, Chen Ge knew that he had lost a part of his memory, so like Zhang Ju and the rest, he would sometimes get trapped in a sense of loss.

    ¡°The mirror behind the door reflects your real self, and you will see a different version of yourself.¡± Chang Gu was not interested in Chen Ge¡¯s life story; he was merelypleting the mission given to him by Chang Wenyu.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Chen Ge ced his palm on the mirror, and the chill travelled to his brain. He could not help but be reminded of his first nightmare mission when he had just acquired the ck phone. The mission had required him to stand before a mirror at midnight and look at his own reflection.

    A mirror was the start of everything, and now I¡¯ve found myself standing before one again. I wonder, what will I see this time?

    Closing his eyes, just like when he did his first nightmare mission, Chen Ge started to count his heartbeat. Several secondster, Chen Ge¡¯s palm was pulled, and his eyes flew open. His reflection stood dumbly next to the bookshelf. Loneliness and despair were clear on his pale face, and his body was shaking. His eyes were not focused, and they were empty. The reflection was like a mannequin in his haunted house.

    This is the other me?

    Someone gripped his fingers, and Chen Ge could feel the powering from the other side of the mirror. He saw the shadow of his reflection changing. ck hair flowed down Chen Ge¡¯s reflection like a river. His shadow slowly stood up and guarded him from behind.

    Zhang Ya?

    The shadow¡¯s face slowly rified. When he ced all of his focus on the shadow, the ck hair in the mirror suddenlyshed toward his arm and pulled him into the mirror. Chen Ge disappeared, and the reading room returned to silence.

    ¡°Something doesn¡¯t seem right.¡± Chang Gu did not leave immediately. His expression was one of surprise. ¡°When he stood before the mirror, why did his reflection appear so unrealistic?¡±

    Rushing to stand before the mirror, Chang Gu looked at his own reflection. The Chang Gu in the mirror was not a person but an ugly monster.

    ¡°The other side of the mirror is the blood red world. This mirror can show the ugliness inside everyone¡¯s heart, but when that man stood before the mirror, the mirror showed the man himself! Doesn¡¯t he possess any sins inside his heart, or is his evil hidden so deep within his heart that it can¡¯t be reflected by the mirror at all?¡±

    Chang Gu could not figure out the answer. He looked at his ugly reflection with confusion. His fingers reached toward the mirror and stopped before it.

    ¡°Everyone has a monster in their heart, an ugly, ruthless creature that cannot bear living under the sun...¡±

    ...

    The thick stench of blood rushed into his nostrils, and a sticky feeling stuck to his skin. His eyelids fluttered as Chen Ge sucked in a deep breath. It felt as if he had just broken through the surface of water. Peeling open his eyes, the world that Chen Ge saw was one of red.

    ¡°This is the world behind the door. It feels suffocating, filled with anxiety and despair.¡± Chen Ge stood where he was and carefully surveyed his surroundings. He was standing before a cracked mirror, and around him were bloody bookshelves, tables, and chairs.

    ¡°This is the second reading room. Now I¡¯ve really entered the world behind the door.¡± Chen Ge hurried to hide by a corner. His footsteps were light and did not make any noise. ¡°Zhang Ju and Zhu Long came here earlier than I did. Where are they?¡±

    To prevent everyone from getting lost, before entering the mirror, Chen Ge had even told them specifically to wait after going through the mirror.

    ¡°Have some idents happened?¡±

    Squatting down, Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision to look around. He did not see any signs of a fight or any footprints.

    ¡°Have Zhang Ju and the rest left, or was something guarding the other side of the mirror and they had to escape once they arrived?¡± Chen Ge was very careful. Before exploring a new environment, he had to ensure that he was safe.

    Putting down Lin Sisi¡¯s backpack, Chen Ge pulled open the zipper of his own backpack. He could not wait to reunite with his own workers.

    ¡°Recorder, doll,ic... everything is here...¡± Chen Ge rummaged through the backpack, and his face slowly darkened. There was one thing in there that should not have been there and another that should have been there that was missing.

    ¡°The ck phone is not here!¡± He looked through the backpack but still could not find the ck phone. However, he found something new inside theyer where he normally kept important stuff. It was a bloody student ID. It had his name and his picture, but strangely enough, the picture was one of him when he was a child. Staring at the picture, Chen Ge was reminded of the shadow in Li Wan City and the ghost fetus behind it. ¡°Was it Chang Wenyu who gave me this id? How does she know what I looked like when I was small?¡±

    Putting the ID away, Chen Ge took out the recorder and pressed the start button. The sound of static wasced with screams and an undercurrent of a man¡¯s whispering. His lips curled upward. This scary sound was one hundred times more melodious than the most beautiful tune in the world.

    ¡°Xu Yin.¡± Blood dripped, and the pale arms reached out from underneath the blood red shirt. Chen Ge did not turn around and ced the recorder back into the backpack.

    ¡°Even though I didn¡¯t wish for Chang Wenyu to be the new door-pusher, she did help me escape that conundrum. I¡¯ll have to repay her favor somehow. However, with what kind of method is still undecided.¡± Chen Ge had never wanted to help Chang Wenyu be the new door pusher from the beginning. No matter who controlled this four-star scenario, it would not be good for him. He wished the ce would maintain its chaotic nature until Zhang Ya became a Greater Red Specter, and then he would select a suitable door pusher from his employees.

    ¡°That is the perfect solution. This way, the painter won¡¯t need to fight with Chang Wenyu. Everyone can still be friends.¡±

    With his employees at his side, Chen Ge felt much better. He looked at the bloody surroundings and felt quite at home.

    ¡°Chang Wenyu is distracting the painter. The two scariest existences here are busy with each other, and no one has time to pay attention to me.¡± Chen Ge revealed a sincere smile. ¡°Chang Gu said that this ce is about to turn upside down and told me to be careful. To see it from another perspective, since this ce is going to get chaotic anyway, why don¡¯t I give it a push and get the chaos toe earlier?¡±

    Looking at the information on the ID onest time, Chen Ge memorized his ss and student number. He shoved the ID inside his pocket and ced it next to Mr. Bai¡¯s documentation. He held one bag in each hand. Listening to the static from the recorder, he strode confidently out of the reading room.

 Chapter 835 - Sorry, I Didnâ€™t Mean to

    <h4>Chapter 835: Sorry, I Didn¡¯t Mean to</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Footsteps echoed inside the quiet library. The broken door was pushed open, and a man walked out. ¡°There is no one in the library at all. Do the students behind the door not like to read?¡±

    Carrying two bags, Chen Ge stood in the corridor outside the library. The reunion that he had anticipated did not happen; there was no one at the library. Thus, he could not get some information even if he wanted to. ¡°Where have they all disappeared to?¡±

    Walking down the corridor, Chen Ge sauntered about aimlessly. The campus behind the door appeared to be apletely enclosed building, and it was isted from the rest of the world. All the windows were barred with wooden nks, and Chen Ge walked for a long time, but he still could not find the way out.

    ¡°Hey! Which ss are you from?¡± A stern voice came from behind Chen Ge. He turned to look and realized that one of the doors that he had passed earlier had been opened, and a rotund, middle-aged man stood at the door.

    ¡°Not a Red Specter...¡± Chen Ge nced at the sign of the door where the man stood, which read ¡°Discipline Head¡¯s Office¡±.

    ¡°It¡¯s time for ss. Do not loiter in the corridors.¡± The man noticed that Chen Ge did not show him any respect at all, so he instantly firmed up his attitude. ¡°Which ss are you from? Let me take a look at your student ID?¡±

    ¡°Student ID?¡± Chen Ge reached his hand into his pocket but kept his eyes on the man before him. There was a dangerous glow well hidden in his gaze. When he first saw the man, Chen Ge had used his Yin Yang Vision to scan the man. He had no idea about the man¡¯s identity, but he knew that he was not a Red Specter.

    ¡°A new student from the first year?¡± The man took the student ID to take a look, and his tone turned sterner. ¡°Truancy when you¡¯ve just started school? A student like you needs to be harshly educated!¡±

    He walked out from the office and reached out to grab Chen Ge¡¯s arm.

    ¡°What do you want to do?¡± Chen Ge subconsciously avoided him. This was the world behind the door; he would not allow anyone to grab him just like that.

    ¡°Take you back to your ss, and I¡¯ll warn the teacher that allowed you to traipse around like this during ss!¡± The man was mad. His eyes were bulging, like if Chen Ge did not follow his words, there would serious consequences.

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll follow you back to the ss.¡± Chen Ge still remembered the mission handed to him by Chang Gu; he could make use of this chance to find those students. Chen Ge stopped moving as if waiting for the man to lead the way. Seeing how flippant Chen Ge was acting, the man¡¯s alreadycking hair was standing on end from anger.

    ¡°Students these days are getting worse and worse.¡± The man shoved the ID back to Chen Ge and led Chen Ge down the corridor. The school was much bigger than Chen Ge thought. They walked for a long time and went down a floor before stopping beside one of the ssrooms.

    BANG BANG BANG!

    The man knocked, and momentster, a thin man wearing ck-rimmed sses walked out. ¡°Mr. Lei? How can I help you?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you notice one student is missing from your own ss?¡± The man grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder. ¡°He is from your ss, so take charge of him! If I discover him wandering about again, be prepared to get punished alongside him! Even the teachers are bing unreliable...¡±

    The man left Chen Ge at the door. He seemed to have something else to attend to and left in a huff.

    ¡°Mr. Lei?¡± The thin teacher was confused. He pushed his sses up and studied Chen Ge through his thick lens. ¡°Are you a new student?¡±

    ¡°Mr. Lei brought me here. This is my student ID.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the man who had walked away. His expression and his tone gave an impression that he was familiar with Mr. Lei.

    ¡°Oh,e in then. There are a few empty seats in my ss.¡± The thin teacher nodded and was about to bring Chen Ge into ss when he suddenly stopped. ¡°I do not like naughty students. I hope you can gel with everyone and join our big family as fast as you can.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°One more thing, my name is Lui. You can call me Mr. Lui.¡±

    Pushing open the door, Mr. Lui brought Chen Ge to the podium. The ss was very quiet, and it was conducive for studying, but there were many who were really studying. When they saw someone new walk into the room, many students lifted their heads.

    ¡°This will only take a minute. We have a new student who will be joining us today. Now, I¡¯ll have him introduce himself.¡± Mr. Lui signaled for Chen Ge to walk over. Walking up the podium, Chen Ge looked down at the students in ss. On the surface, the ss looked fine, but he knew that the only beauty behind the door had already been taken away by the painter. The only things left in this world were various negative emotions suppressed in people¡¯s hearts.

    ¡°My name is Chen Ge.¡± After a very short self-introduction, Chen Ge carried his bags and stepped down from the podium.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you have anything else to say?¡± Mr. Lui coughed drily. ¡°Your seat will be on the thirdst row. The seating in this ss is arranged ording to results. After midterms, if you have a good score, I¡¯ll rearrange your seat.¡±

    Mr. Lui¡¯s words seemed to possess a different meaning. Chen Ge did not think that it would be that bad sitting at the back of the ss. When he attended university, he had always taken thest row. Carrying his bags, Chen Ge walked to the back of the ss with the whole ss looking at him. Gazes fell upon him; some were gleeful, some were filled with malice, and some were dull. Chen Ge stopped next to his seat.

    The student in the seat behind him ced his dirty shoes on Chen Ge¡¯s chair. As the student¡¯s body moved, his chair creaked noisily like it was about to crumble any time soon.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to. I didn¡¯t think we would have a new student joining us.¡± The boy slowly took his shoes away, leaving two dark-ret shoe prints on Chen Ge¡¯s chair.

    ¡°Alright, quickly get to your seat. We¡¯re going to continue the ss.¡± Mr. Lui¡¯s thick sses seemed to have obscured his vision. It was as if he did not notice the bullying happening before his eyes, and he continued speaking. ¡°Chen Ge, don¡¯t just stand there. Take your seat.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s expression did not change. He took out a clean piece of paper from Lin Sisi¡¯s bag and ced it on the table. Just as everyone thought that he was about to swallow everything and wipe the shoe print off, he reached out to grab the back of the chair, raised it up, and threw it right at the boy who sat behind him!

    BANG!

    The old chair burst into pieces right above the boy¡¯s head. The ss was quiet; even Mr. Lui was stunned into silence.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean it either.¡± Picking up the clean piece of paper from the table, Chen Ge wiped the blood from his hands and then grabbed the chair of the boy from the seat behind him and moved it to his desk.

    ¡°You, you, youe out here!¡± Mr. Lui¡¯s hands were shaking. It was unclear whether that was from shock or from fear.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge activated the recorder, ced Lin Sisi¡¯s bag on the table, and scanned the whole ss again.

 Chapter 836 - I Feel Like He Was About to Bully Me

    <h4>Chapter 836: I Feel Like He Was About to Bully Me</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The previously-white paper was dropped on the table. On it lingered the blood that Chen Ge had wiped off his hands. It had only taken a few minutes from Chen Ge walking into the ssroom to the student copsing on the ground. No one expected something like this to happen; everything had urred too quickly. Holding his bags with one hand, Chen Ge did not even nce at the student who had fallen on the back row and walked directly toward Mr. Lui.

    ¡°You go and stand outside the ssroom!¡± This was the first time that Mr. Lui had encountered a student like this. He was too brave and too mad. He hadpletely ignored the presence of the teacher and openly used brute force against others in ss.

    ¡°Sir, you can punish me however you wish, but you have to understand that it was he who started it. He said that he had no idea where he should put his feet, so I was merely teaching him a lesson.¡±

    Chen Ge had just entered the ssroom and had not even found his seat, yet he had already been chased out of the ssroom. Holding his bags, Chen Ge opened the ssroom door.

    When he walked out of the room, he saw the boy on the back row climb up from the ground. Blood leaked out from the top of his head, and it slid down his nose to the corner of his lips. Venom was swirling in the boy¡¯s eyes. His expression was twisted, but as Mr. Lui turned his face toward him, the venom in his eyes disappearedpletely, and in its ce were a few forced tears and a face of innocence.

    <i>Hell, he sure knows how to act. These are a bunch of wise guys. They have two different faces before their victims and the authority figures. On one hand, they are sunny, hardworking, and friendly while on the other side, they vent all their negative emotions and hatred on their victims.</i>

    Walking out of the ssroom, the gazes of the students in ss shed across his mind.

    <i>I¡¯ve memorized the faces of the people who wished for me to make a fool of myself before everyone¡ªthese people will most likely fail to get the school¡¯s approval.</i>

    The School of the Afterlife¡¯s consciousness was built from the spirit of endless despairing children. The people who had the qualifications to be the door pushers were most likely victims of bullying at the school. Chen Ge wished toplete the mission given to him by Chang Wenyu and strengthen his forces. To do that, he had to find the other remaining door pusher candidates sealed up by the painter.

    <i>By helping the victims and using my own method to educate the bullies, perhaps I will gain the school¡¯s approval.</i>

    There were many benefits to gaining the school¡¯s approval. Chen Ge knew that he had not experienced these painful things before, so he switched to use another method to try to gain the approval.

    <i>The school behind the door is veryrge, and there are many students here. It is not going to be easy to find the few who are qualified to be the door pusher among all these people.</i>

    Standing in the corridor, Chen Ge nced into the ssroom through the window. His gaze scanned the students one by one.

    <i>The third row from the back. The student who would sit next to me has dirt on his clothes, and his textbooks look ruffled like they have been messed with by others. This child should be one of the victims.</i>

    The seating in ss was arranged ording to their results. The child was sitting on the third row from the back, so it meant that his results were not that good but also not that bad.

    Mr. Lui was continuing his lecture in ss. Suddenly, he realized none of his students¡¯ attention was on him, but they were looking outside the window. He turned around with confusion and met Chen Ge¡¯s gaze from outside the window.

    ¡°This is ridiculous!¡± The more Mr. Lui thought about it, the more angered he became. He strode out of the ssroom. ¡°What are you looking at? I had youe here to think about what you¡¯ve done! Stand there quietly and stop looking around!¡±

    ¡°Sir, I have been thinking, but there is a question that I simply could not solve.¡± Chen Ge looked Mr. Lui in the eye. ¡°Just what kind of mistake could a teacher have made to be sent to a world filled with negative emotions and despair? Is it because he ignored the bullying that is happening before his eyes, or did the teacher himself use certain ways to join in with the bullying?¡±

    ¡°That is not the question that you should be thinking about!¡±

    ¡°Earlier inside the ssroom, you also saw what happened. It was he who first ced his shoes on my chair. I wished to rationally reason with him, but my hands slipped. The chair fell from my hands, and it identally injured that student. I admit that I have done something wrong, but does that mean that he has done nothing wrong?¡± Chen Ge spoke very fast. ¡°Actually, this whole thing could have been totally avoided, as long as you said something when you notice the problem. The boy appears to be very obedient when he is facing you, so he should listen to your words quite easily.¡±

    Mr. Lui wished to argue, but he was interrupted by Chen Ge.

    ¡°But you did not do that. Perhaps you thought it too troublesome, or perhaps you did not think much of it. What the boy did, you perhaps thought, was some kind of joke between students. You already have too many things to think about in your life, so why look for unnecessary trouble for yourself? Perhaps there is even a possibility that there is a grotesque joy that was born in your heart when you saw that I was being bullied.¡±

    ¡°Preposterous! What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°Human nature is a flower blooming inside an abyss. Everyone yearns for sunlight, but who knows what is hidden underneath your roots?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were whirlpools of darkness, and Mr. Lui found himself unable to look Chen Ge into those dark eyes. The two had more to say, but at that moment, the bell for the end of ss came from further down the corridor. It sounded different from a normal bell. It was mixed with many different sounds, and it sounded strange to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Young man, you have to check your attitude! Give me a three thousand words essay on why you should not have done what you did before the end of school, or else I will go and get Mr. Lei. Think about your problem.¡± Mr. Lui returned to the ssroom and announced that ss was over. He did not pick up the teaching material from the podium and left in a hurry.

    ¡°This teacher sure is a bit irresponsible.¡± Chen Ge carried his bags and returned to the ssroom. When the students who took the first row saw him walk in, they very naturally put their textbooks and water bottles away and ran out. They seemed to understand what was supposed to happen next. The ssroom appeared to be emptier than before. Chen Ge did not mind it and walked to the side of his seat. He looked at his deskmate and showed a friendly smile. ¡°Hi, my name is Chen Ge. I¡¯m your new deskmate.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s deskmate heard Chen Ge¡¯s voice, but he did not dare answer. He kept his eyes on the textbook, and his legs started to shake.

    ¡°Da Bing, someone is talking to you. Can¡¯t you hear?¡± From thest row, a student who had his uniform tied around his waist stood up to shout. Four students were gathered around him, and the five surrounded Chen Ge and his deskmate in the middle. Hearing this boy¡¯s voice, Chen Ge¡¯s deskmate lowered his head even more. His eyes were staring so deep at the textbook, and his hand grabbed the strap of his schoolbag.

    ¡°Are you deaf? I¡¯m talking to you!¡± The student grabbed the textbook from Chen Ge¡¯s deskmate¡¯s hands. The book was torn, and the sound was sharp. Chen Ge¡¯s deskmate still did not say a word. He stood up with his head lowered and prepared to head out of the ssroom, but his shirt was dragged back by one of the students.

    ¡°Why are you running? Can¡¯t you see that the neer wants to be your friend?¡± The boy called Da Bing stood where he was. He did not dare resist; he did not even dare speak.

    ¡°Such a wooden brain. No wonder your parents are divorced and none of them want you.¡± The leading boy grabbed the deskmate by his neck. ¡°But that¡¯s fine. You will stick with us from now on, and I assure you that we will have a lot of fun together.¡±

    When he finished, the students around him all started tough. It was augh filled with evil and deep sarcasm.

    Da Bing wilted under the collectedughter. His head fell even lower, and he allowed the boy to grab him by the neck. ¡°No, wait, I seem to have forgotten something. Da Bing, just now, your deskmate was asking you something. Now, tell him whether you wish to y with him or with the rest of us.¡±

    These students were waiting for Da Bang to make a fool of himself. Their gazes were like sharp des falling on Da Bing¡¯s body. His neck being captured, his shirt pulled, his textbook taken away and torn, Da Bing stood by the table, and there was no glow of life in his eyes. His lips slowly opened, and just as he was about to say something, Chen Ge suddenly spoke. ¡°Deskmate, there¡¯s no need for you to make a choice. Actually, after you agree to be my friend, I will be everyone else¡¯s friend, and then we will be friends with the whole ss.¡±

    Chen Ge actively stretched out his hand toward Da Bing. There was no one who had spoken like that with Da Bing before, and his subconscious caused him to raise his arm in return.

    ¡°You f*cker!¡± The leader pushed Da Bing back by his neck. Before he could say anything else, there came a loud boom from beside him. Turning to look, they saw Chen Ge kick down the table and pick up the chair that was unharmed. Without any other words or a warning, the heavy chair fell on the head of the leader.

    BANG!

    One of the wooden legs fell off. Chen Ge was about to summon Xu Yin to clear the scene when a scream came from the entrance.

    ¡°Chen Ge!¡±

    Mr. Lui had finally realized that he had forgotten his teaching material, so he hade back to retrieve it. When he walked into the ssroom, he was shocked by what he saw. Just half a minute ago, he had warned this man. He had walked out to take a spin, and yet another student had fallen victim to his attack.

    ¡°What, what, what are you doing?¡±

    Seeing the teacher¡¯s return, the students who were originally gathered together quickly shifted their expressions and rushed to get the student up from the ground. Chen Ge did not hold back earlier because he knew that if the boy could still stand up, then he would have one more problem to face.

    ¡°Sir, he knocked Long Yuan out!¡±

    ¡°I know, I don¡¯t need you to describe what I can see! Get him to the nurse¡¯s office immediately!¡± Mr. Lui rushed into the ssroom and kept his death re at Chen Ge. ¡°Why did you get into another fight with a ssmate? This time, I saw it very clearly; it was you who started the fight! You¡¯d better give me an exnation that I can ept!¡±

    ¡°How shall I put this?¡± Chen Ge put down the chair that was crumbling in his hands. He titled his head to point at the fainted student. ¡°I was merely defending myself. I saw from his gaze that he intended to bully me. If you do not believe me, you can ask him about it when he wakes upter.¡±

    ¡°You are a walking tragedy! My perfect ss is about to get ruined by you! No, this can¡¯t wait anymore. I have to go and get Mr. Lei now!¡± Mr. Lui was truly angered this time. ¡°The few of you get him to the nurse¡¯s office now! Chen Ge, you go and stand outside in the corridor!¡¯

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s reply was a simple word. It was calm and easy.

    After Mr. Lui left, the student from thest row stood up. He red at Chen Ge with gritted teeth. ¡°You¡¯re lucky Mr. Lui came to your aid this time. We will finish this business after school.¡±

    Hearing the threat from the boy, Chen Ge stood where he was in shock. ¡°That¡¯s what I wanted to say. If not for Mr. Lui, you would have ended your life as a ghost.¡±

    Waving his hand, Chen Ge picked up his bags with a warm smile. ¡°I will see you after school, and that¡¯s a promise.¡±

 Chapter 837 - No One Is Born a Hero

    <h4>Chapter 837: No One Is Born a Hero</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Being punished twice on his first day of school, Chen Ge¡¯s name soon spread throughout the school. He carried his bags and stood at the entrance to the ss. The passing students looked at him, and he studied them in return.

    <i>The mission given to me by Chang Wenyu is not easy. Every student looks like they have an abnormal side to them.</i>

    The ss bell rang. Mr. Lui had not returned, but Chen Ge walked into the ssroom on his own. He moved the chair of the second student that he knocked out to his seat and sat downfortably. The new teacher started the ss, and of course, Chen Ge was not paying attention. He took out a pen and paper from his bag and started to consider how to search for the children with the qualifications to be the door pushers. He was deep in his thought when a small paper note came from beside him. There were two simple words on it¡ªThank you.

    Seeing this, Chen Ge was surprised. He had thought there was only despair and negative emotions in the blood red world behind the door; the people should not have been able to show appreciation.

    ¡°Why are you thanking me? They targeted you because of me, so naturally, I have step forward. That¡¯s what I¡¯m supposed to do.¡± Chen Ge said to his deskmate, Da Bing, but Da Bing did not dare reply. He sat in his rigid posture like Chen Ge was talking to himself. He had no interaction with Chen Ge.

    ¡°Are you afraid?¡± Chen Ge knew about the worry in Da Bing¡¯s heart.

    After some time, Da Bing passed him another note. ¡°Sorry.¡±

    This time, Chen Ge learned his lesson. He used the pen to write something back on the back of the note. ¡°It¡¯s fine. They crossed the line. I can¡¯t allow that to happen.¡±

    Passing the note back, after Da Bing read it, he continued to write. ¡°Me too, but I don¡¯t dare resist. I have no friends, no one to stand up for me. The teacher only sees our results, and I¡¯m dumb.¡±

    Helplessness was heavy in Da Bing¡¯s reply.

    ¡°You have a friend now. My name is Chen Ge. What¡¯s yours?¡±

    ¡°Lee Bing, but since I have a big and round face, they all call me Da <sup>1</sup> Bing.¡±

    ¡°Got it, at least that¡¯s easy to remember.¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge, I¡¯m sorry. I should have said something, but I was really scared. Do you think I¡¯m too weak?¡±

    ¡°No one is born a hero. Furthermore, a person¡¯s personality can always be changed. This is an adaptability to the society and living environment. I know you¡¯ve been trying your best.¡± Chen Ge passed the note to Da Bing, and then he took out more paper. ¡°Can you tell me more about your past?¡±

    Chen Ge suspected that Lee Bing was one of the people whom he was looking for, so he started to probe.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Things about you, and the other people in this ss, when did they start bullying you?¡±

    Looking at the content on the paper, Lee Bing hesitated for a long time before picking up his pen. He wrote a long passage and slid it back to Chen Ge.

    ¡°My actual situation is different from the rest. My parents love me a lot, so their words don¡¯t hurt me. From how I see it, they are a bunch of demons who like to pour salt on other people¡¯s wounds. They get their joy from other people¡¯s misery, but it¡¯ll pass soon enough. After all, there are teachers here, and they don¡¯t dare do anything too serious to me. Chen Ge, I advise you to stop getting into altercations with them. They have their little gang. The guy that you knocked out earlier, I think, knows gangsters outside of the school.¡±

    The content on the paper made Chen Ge feel ufortable. The bullied had lost their will to fight, and they only cared about escaping. Perhaps, in their hearts, they believed that they would one day grow old and leave this ce, so a little patience was all they needed. They did not know that the experience would be carved into their bones and be a shadow that they could not wave away. Whenever they thought about it, their heart might deny it, but they would still feel ufortable. Seeing the silence from Chen Ge, Lee Bing passed a second note. ¡°Just be patient, and it¡¯ll be over. If you resist, you might end up just like Yan Fei.¡±

    ¡°Who is Yan Fei?¡±

    ¡°He was the student who sat where you are now.¡±

    ¡°Where is he now?¡±

    ¡°After that incident, Yan Fei dropped out.¡±

    ¡°He left the school?¡±

    ¡°No, he¡¯s still in the nurse¡¯s office, but it was his parents who helped him do the dropping out process.¡± Lee Bing hurriedly passed another note to Chen Ge. ¡°He has already found his escape. Please don¡¯t disturb him.¡±

    Chen Ge put his notes away, his eyes wandering between Lee Bing and his own seat. When he first entered the ssroom, his own chair had been stepped on, and it was already crumbling. There were many carvings on the table, and the drawer was sticky like it had been used to house trash. These were things that had happened to Yan Fei. Compared to Yan Fei, Lee Bing had gotten the better deal. Those b*stards¡¯ target was Yan Fei; Lee Bing was just the recement after Yan Fei fell. Evil deeds would be amplified behind the door, and the ugliness in the human heart would be fully exposed. Just from looking at Yan Fei¡¯s old seat, he could understand what had once befallen the poor man.

    ¡°Is he at the nurse¡¯s office because he was injured by those people?¡± A fire was burning in Chen Ge¡¯s heart. He had no idea why he was getting so angry. The school probably did not do anything, or perhaps it was the bullies whocked education.

    ¡°No.¡± Lee Bing shook his head. He tore out another piece of paper, wrote on it, and quickly passed it to Chen Ge. ¡°They have been bullying Yan Fei, targeting him, tossing his textbooks away, breaking his chairs, and doodling on his school bags and clothes.¡±

    ¡°Why would they bully Yan Fei?¡± Chen Ge had a feeling that Yan Fei was the person whom he was looking for, and he wanted to know more about Yan Fei¡¯s past.

    ¡°I have no idea. Yan Feies from a normal family just like you and me. The only difference is, he has quite a bit of pride; he doesn¡¯t like to have others joke at his expense and likes to be alone. Perhaps those guys found it fun to trample on his pride. That must satisfy some kind of sick satisfaction in their heart.

    ¡°Yan Fei used to be a good student. He was above average, but due to what happened, his result became worse and worse.

    ¡°His parents were anxious, and the teachers ignored him more and more.

    ¡°One day, when someone was trying to grab his textbook, he got into a fight with them. Yan Fei had been holding in it, but he was only one person, and he was soon pressed down on the floor. Because it was in the ssroom, the teacher hurried over to pull the bullies away.

    ¡°When the teacher asked what had happened, many people were silent. Those who finally spoke were part of the bullies. They said that they were just joking. It was because of Yan Fei¡¯s prideful nature that he couldn¡¯t handle the joke and threw the first punch.¡±

 Chapter 838 - Flower of Sin

    <h4>Chapter 838: Flower of Sin</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°You¡¯re not wrong. The teacher had everyone write an essay to reflect on what they¡¯d done. This was nothing new for the bullies, but that was the first time that Yan Fei had done something like that. He was my deskmate, and I saw that he was crying. When we were back the next day, Yan Fei¡¯s clothes were rumpled. I heard he was osted by the gangsters on the way to school. The bullying only escted after that. His results became worse and worse. He moved from the second row to the thirdst row, sitting just in front of his bullies. He had no friends, and no one was willing to help him because they were afraid of being targeted.

    ¡°One afternoon, I saw that Yan Fei had bought a pencil sharpener, and that afternoon, he was sharpening some pencils. When thest ss of the day was about to end, the student behind him stepped on the back of his chair. They had started to bully Yan Fei again, but this time, Yan Fei reacted calmly. When the bell rang and the teacher left, the group of people surrounded him. They pretended it was an ident as they sshed their water on Yan Fei¡¯s school bag and textbook. Theyughed among themselves as they prepared to leave. Then I saw Yan Fei take out the sharpened pencil from his pencil case and barrel toward the person who bullied him.

    ¡°The boy¡¯s face was heavily scratched; they needed several people to help pull the crazed Yan Fei back and pin him to the ground. This incident quickly reached the headmaster¡¯s ears. The parents of the bullies came to school to apply pressure. The bullies brought masks with them, showing where they were attacked. They cried to the adults. If they didn¡¯t avoid it swift enough, they would be blind.

    ¡°This was serious. Yan Fei¡¯s parents were called into school. The honest father apologized to everyone. He bowed down to the bullies¡¯ parents and begged the school not to expel Yan Fei. With everyone watching, the father pped Yan Fei. It was a loud p. When that p fell on Yan Fei¡¯s face, it shattered thest shred of his pride. From that day onward, Yan Fei stopped resisting; he became silent like a soulless doll. When the bullying escted to a point, Yan Fei would choose to escape and run alone to the toilet. No one knew what he did there, but when the bell for ss rang, he would return. No one understood the severity of the situation. Then again, no one really cared about Yan Fei before. This passed for some time until Yan Fei was one day bullied after ss again. He escaped to the toilet but didn¡¯te out.

    ¡°The teacher and students went to find him. When they did, Yan Fei had fainted inside thest cubicle of the toilet with a face like baster. Next to him was the de that he had taken out from the pencil sharpener. They picked Yan Fei up. A student identally saw the arm under Yan Fei¡¯s long sleeve. He was so shocked that he let out a scream. At that moment, everyone understood why Yan Fei was always wearing long pants and sleeves no matter how hot the weather was.¡±

    Regarding Yan Fei¡¯s past, Lee Bing had exined everything. Chen Ge had a hard time calming down. This child was just a normal person. Perhaps he might have brushed shoulders with Chen Ge when he was walking down the street. Yet, a child like this had been forced to self-muttion.

    ¡°Self-muttion is a way to vent pressure. The physical pain helps lower the psychological pain, but this is not a correct method to deal with pressure.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s fists tightened. He stood up from his seat. ¡°Lee Bing, do you know where the nurse¡¯s office is?¡±

    ¡°What do you wish to do?¡±

    ¡°I wish to meet Yan Fei. Can you lead the way?¡± Hearing Yan Fei¡¯s story, Chen Ge¡¯s desire to meet him increased. He had a feeling that Yan Fei was one of the students that he was looking for. Compared to other students, Yan Fei did note from a sad background. He was just like any other person, but he was flushed by the torrents of life to its edge.

    ¡°No.¡± Lee Bing shook his head. Actually, he had been avoiding Chen Ge, and the conversation was carried out through passing of notes. Even if he had to speak, he kept his head lowered, and his reply was a whisper. He pitied Chen Ge and hated those bullies, but more than that, he was afraid of being seen interacting with Chen Ge. He did not want to be ostracized.

    Seeing Lee Bing¡¯s reply, Chen Ge calmly nodded. He did not me Lee Bing but understood his situation. The world behind the door would amplify the desires and various thoughts inside one¡¯s heart. Negative emotions would not be tied down by morality. They did not need to hide, and people could express their negative emotions without holding back. The bullies enjoyed controlling others, toying with the little pride that the bullied had left. The bystanders looked about from afar with a detached gaze or perhaps sometimes joined in the fun. In the end, only the bullied were left. They would be inured to the pain and even get used to their given identity. Chen Ge scanned the ss; everyone was doing their own thing. The fight at thest row was just a show for them. They enjoyed it as bystanders, and no one dared step forward.

    ¡°The urrence of school bullying is not the responsibility of the school but also the other students in ss. During an avnche, there is not a single snowke that is innocent. Everyone just wishes that the tragedy will not befall them, and that gives the bullies the chance to act freely. When bullying happens and someone dares to stand up and say something or give the bullied somefort, things might end up differently,¡± Chen Ge said out loud. He had no idea how that would change the school¡¯s consciousness, but he felt like the school could sense what he was doing.

    ¡°During an avnche, there is not one snowke that is innocent. Habitual silence is a sad thing as well.¡±

    When Chen Ge spoke, Lee Bing¡¯s shoulders shook several times. He seemed to be hesitating as well, but in the end, he did not stand up.

    <i>The first door pusher pushed open the door due to school bullying, and the door has been looking for the souls of despaired children since then, creating this sad and scary school.</i>

    <i>The painter and Chang Wenyu are both very strong, but they haven¡¯t be the new door pusher, which means that even if they have gained the school¡¯s approval, they have not ticked all the boxes required by the school.</i>

    A question rose in Chen Ge¡¯s heart.

    <i>If I was a despairing child, what would I hope to see after pushing open the door?</i>

    <i>Red surroundings and the b*stards¡¯ escted bullying¡ªthat¡¯s obviously not something I¡¯d like to see. No one wished to have their wounds repeatedly pulled open.</i>

    <i>Could this bullying be some sort of test? To get the school¡¯s approval, I need to stop all the bullying and stop it from ever happening again?</i>

    The deepest despair often buried all hope. After giving it some thought, Chen Ge wrote a note back to Lee Bing. Lee Bing did not take it. Chen Ge did not care. He ced the note on Lee Bing¡¯s table and walked out from ss to find the nurse¡¯s office.

    After Chen Ge walked away, Lee Bing silently opened the note. It read, ¡°I will change this schoolpletely.¡±

 Chapter 839 - School Doctor

    <h4>Chapter 839: School Doctor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge had his own idea. Using force to stop force was the simplest answer, but to gain the school¡¯s approval and to get epted all the despairing children, using brute force alone was not enough.

    <i>It might not work, but there¡¯s no harm in trying.</i>

    After leaving the ssroom, Chen Ge stood at the corridor holding two bags. Two students were hurrying to ss, and he was the only one taking his sweet time to take in the scenery.

    ¡°Hi, can you tell me where the nurse¡¯s office is?¡±

    The students were very unfriendly. Chen Ge asked several students before finally someone was willing to show him the way.

    ¡°You¡¯re the new student from the fourth ss, right? When I was passing the teacher¡¯s lounge earlier, I hear the teachers and discipline teacher talking about you. They sounded like they were going to punish you.¡± The girl who led the way looked like a high school student. She had a ponytail and dressed casually.

    ¡°They wish to punish me?¡±

    ¡°Sounds like it¡¯s because you have been ignoring the school rules and got into fights in ss.¡± When the girl said that, she stole a curious look at Chen Ge. ¡°Is that true?¡±

    ¡°If I say it¡¯s true, will you be afraid?¡± Chen Ge maintained the smile on his face. The teachers had their own way of dealing with things; he understood that but did not approve.

    ¡°I won¡¯t, I think you did a great job. Those people always mix with the gangsters outside school. It¡¯s about time someone came to teach them a lesson!¡± The girl appeared to have been bullied before. She chatted for a long time before silently walking closer to Chen Ge. ¡°I hope nothing will happen to you.¡±

    ¡°This is the first time we¡¯ve met, right?¡± Chen Ge felt the girl was acting strangely, like she was attempting to get in his good books. ¡°Do you have something else to tell me?¡±

    A sh of panic crossed her eyes, but she soon returned to normal. ¡°Actually, I don¡¯t have many friends. In my ss, they allugh at me and like to prank me, so I wish to be your friend. If they bully me again, at least I will have someone else to talk to.¡±

    The girl was not good at lying. When she said theter words, her eyes subconsciously wandered to other ces; deep inside her eyes were a thick pool of venom. That resentment was unrted to Chen Ge. She probably wanted to find someone to help her take revenge on those who had once bullied her.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m used to being alone.¡± Chen Ge knew that the girl did not really want him as a friend. She merely wanted to find someone to protect her.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine then.¡± The disappointment was clear in the girl¡¯s eyes, but she still kept her promise and took Chen Ge to the nurse¡¯s office.

    ¡°This is it. I¡¯m going back to ss.¡± The girl retraced her steps. After taking few steps, she suddenly turned around to look at Chen Ge. ¡°Forgot to mention, my name is Yin Hong, I¡¯ll talk to youter.¡±

    The girl forced a smile and ran away in a jog.

    <i>Even though it¡¯s a fake smile, she can make it look so sweet. This girl would be quite suitable to work on the haunted house¡¯s front desk.</i>

    As he opened the door to the nurse¡¯s office, the curtains flickered. Blood red fog surrounded his body, and it was a red blur inside the room; he could not see anything.

    ¡°Is anyone in?¡±

    The nurse¡¯s office was quiterge and was made up of four connecting rooms. The outermost room was the consultation room; it was the smallest, with two sets of tables and chairs and two shelves for the amenities.

    <i>The nurse¡¯s office feels like a private clinic. Just how many studentse here every day?</i>

    The blood red wall had thin vessels that crawled on it like worms. Arge white coat hung in the corner, but no doctor was to be seen. Chen Ge walked to the table. A document was ced on the table, and it recorded some students¡¯ sicknesses and the corresponding treatments given by the doctor.

    Looking through it, Chen Ge found Yan Fei¡¯s name on the thirdst page. Out of Chen Ge¡¯s expectation, the doctor merely gave Yan Fei some medicine to stop the bleeding and did not provide any psychological counselling. Just based on this note alone, one would not notice the issue¡¯s severity. Those who did not know the truth might think that Yan Fei had just identally scratched himself.

    <i>Nothing should be assessed from just the surface. ording to the note, every student that came here had nothing serious, but they might have been dropped in despair already.</i>

    This document was not thick, but each page had the patient¡¯s picture.

    <i>To be bullied until they needed a trip to the nurse¡¯s office, this was some serious bullying. Perhaps I can find other children from this note.</i>

    The School of the Afterlife was unique; itbined various memories, and the number of lingering spirits and Specters were enormous. It was hard to find the few children who had the qualification to be door-pushers, but this document provided a shortcut for Chen Ge.

    <i>Since Yan Fei¡¯s name is here, the other students with the qualification might have their names here as well.</i>

    Walking past the consultation room, Chen Ge entered the second room. There were several beds. Other than the slightly bigger space, it was no different from the previous room.

    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m looking for someone.¡± Chen Ge stood at the door, and his pupils throbbed as a bad feeling rose in his heart. There was no answer, like the sickroom was unupied. ¡°This is strange.¡±

    Reaching his hands into the pocket, Chen Ge took out a nail and hid it in his palm. He could hear the staticing from the tape, and then he mustered the courage to step into the room. He carefully walked to the third room. There were simrly beds in the room, but unlike the second room, the beds were sequestered from each other by white curtains. Probably to protect each patient¡¯s privacy, one could not tell who was upying the bed from outside.

    <i>This ce is quite dangerous.</i>

    After passing many Trial Missions, Chen Ge¡¯s sense of danger was sharpened. He moved with his back to the wall as he nudged his foot forward. Pulling open the curtain that was closest to him, a thick stench drifted out. A ck, sticky pool was left in the middle of the white sheets. It looked like blood.

    <i>The stench is heavy. This bed was probably recently upied.</i>

    After a brief observation, Chen Ge noticed that the pillow was puffy like it was hiding something. He was about to take the pillow when he felt a chill from behind his neck like something was reminding him to look back. Turning around, Chen Ge saw a doctor in a white coat standing not far away from him. The man was plump, and his coat was bursting at the seams. He was well enveloped by his uniform that contained a coat, mask, and hat. Only his thin neck was exposed.

    <i>The body is sorge, but the neck is so thin. Is it possible that the doctor is wearing severalyers of clothes?</i>

    Chen Ge stared at the doctor¡¯s cor, and he caught glimpse of redness there.

    <i>The uniform is pure white, but the clothes inside are dark red. Just what kind of doctor is this?</i>

 Chapter 840 - Thin as a Stick

    <h4>Chapter 840: Thin as a Stick</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    A nurse¡¯s office was essential for a school, but this was the first time that Chen Ge had encountered one that was sorge. The man who was weirdly dressed should be the doctor here. He covered himself up as much as he could, but Chen Ge could still see the dark red underneath all theyers.

    ¡°Red Specter...¡± No matter the asion, a Red Specter was a dangerous existence. They were cunning and cruel. Even with his employee¡¯s protection, Chen Ge could still be hurt.

    ¡°Hello, I¡¯m here to see a student.¡± Chen Ge was very polite.

    ¡°Are you sick?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here to look for someone. His name is Yan Fei; he¡¯s my ssmate.¡±

    ¡°Are you sick?¡± The doctor appeared like he only knew that sentence. He kept repeating it, and with each repetition, he took one step closer to Chen Ge.

    A thick stench of disinfectant rushed at Chen Ge. The doctor appeared to have doused himself in the stuff to cover up his original body odor. Although he was unable tomunicate, Chen Ge did not dare do anything rash. He gripped the nail in his palm and prepared for the worst.

    The doctor walked closer and closer when he suddenly stopped before Chen Ge. The pair of dark red eyes scanned Chen Ge up and down. The doctor stared at Chen Ge for a long time. Just as Chen Ge thought that the man was about to make his move, the doctor suddenly said, ¡°You are seriously ill. I see a broken body. Your soul is like a low-quality toy that has been tampered with. It is filled with cracks and will crumble with a single touch.¡±

    ¡°Are... you serious?¡± Chen Ge realized that the doctor did not sound like he was kidding.

    ¡°I can see the flower deep inside everyone¡¯s heart. Some of them are blooming; others are wilting. You only have a grave in your heart and a seed that has been chewed on and will never germinate.¡± Doctor¡¯s eyes seemed to see through everything. Unfortunately, his mask covered most of his face, so Chen Ge could not read his expression.

    ¡°Based on that, doesn¡¯t it mean that I won¡¯t be alive for long?¡± Chen Ge was unsettled by the doctor¡¯s words. This Red Specter was very weird, but then again, all the Red Specters that he had encountered in the School of the Afterlife were strange. Compared to them, the others that he had met like Men Nan, the woman in the well, and the mother in the tunnel could not have been more normal.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have the medicine to save you, and I am unable to save you.¡± The doctor suddenly turned to the other bed halfway through his sentence. Based on his reaction, the only course of action for Chen Ge appeared to be waiting for death. Even so, the doctor did not want to have anything to do with that process.

    ¡°No, wait! Doctor, I think I can still be saved. At least exin the situation to me!¡± Chen Ge followed behind the doctor, who took a pen and paper as he paused at each bed. The beds were isted behind the white curtains, so one could not see through, but the doctor kept writing on the paper. He did not chase Chen Ge away; he merely acted like he was not there.

    <i>Howe I feel like he¡¯s ignoring me? </i>The doctor treated Chen Ge like air, and Chen Ge did not know whether that was a good or a bad thing. <i>It¡¯s rare that I run into a more reasonable Red Specter, but he treats me so coldly. He must have seen something on me that warrant this kind of reaction.</i>

    ¡°Doctor, how about you take a look at me again? What does the seed in my heart look like? You said it has been chewed, what does the print look like? What kind of creature has bitten it?¡± Chen Ge grumbled in the doctor¡¯s ears. Probably because he had interrupted the doctor¡¯s work, thetter sped up to enter the fourth room and closed the door behind him.

    ¡°Are you the only doctor here?¡± Standing outside the door, Chen Ge still had many questions.

    <i>Quite a temper he has. When there¡¯s a chance I should take him to the underground morgue so that Dr. Wei can have a chance to chat with him.</i>

    The doctor probably saw that there was no malice in Chen Ge, so he did not harm him. Of course, it was like that the doctor had seen something special in Chen Ge so purposely avoided him. No matter what, Chen Ge could now explore the sickroom freely. As long as he did not cross the line, the doctor probably would not stop him.

    ¡°Which bed did I look at earlier?¡±

    Chen Ge pulled the white curtains back, the front few beds were unupied. As he was about to pull open the fourth curtain, the curtain moved on its own.

    ¡°Yan Fei?¡± His fingers reached toward the white cloth. Before Chen Ge touched the curtain, a pale hand shot out from inside. There was a needle left in the arm. It was thin, pale, and bloodless like the person was suffering from serious malnourishment.

    ¡°Hi.¡± Chen Ge touched the hand lightly. Just as his palm touched the other hand, he could feel the other person shake. The owner did not seem like they were used to physical contact with others. Using his other hand to pull open the curtain, Chen Ge looked at the bed. A girl as thin as a stick was lying in the clean bed. She looked like a wounded swan. Her one hand was held by Chen Ge while her other hugged her knees as she curled up on one side of the bed. The girl realized that it was not the doctor who held her hand, and she looked scared. She tried to pull back her hand but swiftly gave up as if worried that it might make things worse. The child was not Yan Fei, but Chen Ge did not leave immediately because the other children who could be the door pusher might be there.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    The girl looked weak, like a beautiful butterfly fluttering in one¡¯s palm. As the palm closed, she would be crushed.

    ¡°Yin Bai.¡± The girl spoke so softly that Chen Ge had to lean in to hear her.

    ¡°Yin Bai? I met a girl called Yin Hong outside. Is that your elder sister?¡± Chen Ge realized that the girl was rather afraid of sunlight. He pulled the curtain back so that only a sliver was left open. Hearing the name Yin Hong, the girl¡¯s body shook even harder. Her lips were mped shut as if worried that she might say something that she should not.

    ¡°How are... you doing?¡±

    ¡°No one bullied me. They were just ying with me. I am fine,¡± the girl suddenly said in an urgent tone. She kept repeating this like a mantra, but she was on the verge of tears.

    ¡°There is no one else here; there¡¯s no need to be afraid.¡± Chen Ge did not know what the girl had experienced, but her state was very unstable. ¡°Take a good rest. If you need any help, just holler.¡±

    Chen Ge let go of her. He looked at the girl, wishing to get more information. The girl did not have any visible wounds, but she was impossibly thin.

    Taking out the document from his backpack, after ensuring that the doctor had not returned, Chen Ge looked through it. He found the information on Yin Bai on the page before Yan Fei. The girl suffered from bulimia. The source of the illness was unknown. The suspicion was that she had been forced to consume something disgusting, and that had left a mental scar on her.

 Chapter 841 - The Old Headmasterâ€™s Past

    <h4>Chapter 841: The Old Headmaster¡¯s Past</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge pitied Yin Bai, but if she refused to talk, there was nothing Chen Ge could do. ¡°I¡¯m a new student who just transferred here. I don¡¯t know the school that well. I hope you won¡¯t be offended if I¡¯ve said something unkind.¡±

    The girl was in an unstable state. Forcing questions on her might cause her mental state to copse. Chen Ge remembered her bed number; he nned to return as he pulled the curtain back. The thick white curtain closed, segregating the bed from the outside world. Chen Ge walked to the next bed, but before he took a step, he felt a sudden tug on the corner of his shirt. Turning back to look, a pale hand had reached out from under the white curtain to pull on his shirt.

    ¡°Run away, do not attend school here, you¡¯ll go mad.¡± Yin Bai¡¯s voice was low, and Chen Ge had to focus to listen.

    ¡°I feel like the atmosphere here is not bad. Everyone wants to be my friend.¡± Chen Ge did not think that the girl would harm him. He was just afraid that she would refuse tomunicate. As long as she was willing, everything could be discussed.

    ¡°Go back to your old school, please.¡± There was pleading in her voice. She did not give a specific reason, but Chen Ge could hear from her tone that she was really concerned about him and did not want him to be hurt. In the world behind the door, there was such a kind girl; Chen Ge thought that this was rather surreal.

    ¡°I can¡¯t return.¡± Chen Ge paused, and his brain came up with the exnation in zero point something seconds. ¡°I was bullied at my old school. I have no idea what I did wrong, but those people bullied me every day like it was something fun for them. My parents found the discipline teacher to talk about this, but after they did that, the bullying only got worse. In the end, no one in ss was willing to be my friend. I couldn¡¯t stay there any longer, so I transferred here.¡±

    ¡°You were bullied at your old school, so you transferred here?¡± The white curtain was pulled back a gap to reveal Yin Bai¡¯s palm-sized face. The terror in her eyes had dissipated somewhat, and in its ce was shock and worry. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to tell you this, but if you do not wish to get hurt again, I advise you to move to another school.¡±

    Perhaps this was sympathy between fellow bully victims. Chen Ge felt closer to Yin Bai.

    ¡°Why? This is my first day here. Half an hour ago, I just introduced myself to my new ssmates. It feels wrong to leave now.¡± Chen Ge was fishing for the truth. He needed more information to provide real help to change this school.

    ¡°This school is like a dark whirlpool; you have to leave before you¡¯re sucked in. Once you¡¯re trapped, you can¡¯t escape. You¡¯ll be pulled into the depths of hell. Either you¡¯re crushed, or you¡¯ll join the monsters¡¯ ranks.¡± The girl sat in bed. She refused to gain contact with outside world. It appeared to be her limit to reach her hand outside the curtain.

    ¡°Is it that scary here?¡± The world was a stark contrast to the school created by the painter. At that moment, Chen Ge believed that he had gained some understanding of Chang Wenyu and the painter. One epted beauty and hope and tore away humanity; the other chose to escape to a ce where they would no longer be hurt. Their methods to gain the school¡¯s approval were interesting. It could not be said that they were wrong, but they never really tackled the root of the problem.

    ¡°You will be assimted. If you don¡¯t want to be bullied, in the end, the only way is to turn into a monster.¡± Yin Bai probably had not conversed with others for a long time. Seeing the kindness in Chen Ge and how he was a new student, she chose to talk to him.

    ¡°There are only two choices? Then you...¡± Chen Ge put down his bags and sat next to the bed. The bed was like the girl¡¯s closed inner world. Chen Ge slowly entered it with a bit of kindness. ¡°Can you tell me your story?¡±

    The girl did not answer, but she did not chase Chen Ge away or act agitated. She probably hoped deep inside that someone would be by her side, but for various reasons, she had lost the courage tomunicate with others. Her world was enveloped by evil intent. Once she took a step, she would fall into the trap filled with venomous snakes and knives.

    Looking at the girl closely, Chen Ge noticed that she was quite cute and had a sickly beauty about her. She would arouse other¡¯s intention to destroy. The slender arms, white neck, bloodless skin and face. The child hugged her knees, and ck hair covered her eyes like she was spacing out. The bed was soft, and Chen Ge noticed that there was a deep impression on the girl¡¯s pillow like there was something hidden inside it.

    Moving his eyes about, Chen Ge found a picture frame by her pillow. It was a family photo. A slightlyrge old man was pushing a wheelchair. A young woman in the chair was holding a bouquet of flowers weakly. There were needle marks on the backs of her hands. There were two cute girls next to the wheelchair. They wore pretty dresses and leaned on their mother from each side. The two girls were Yin Hong and Yin Bai, but the real person that captured Chen Ge¡¯s attention in the picture was the old man who was pushing the wheelchair.

    The man had salt and pepper hair, and he looked just like someone from Chen Ge¡¯s memory.

    <i>His face and the way heughs look ny percent simr to the old headmaster from Mu Yang High School! </i>Chen Ge had seen the old headmaster¡¯s picture in his office when he had it taken with the rest of the students. A rotund, smiling old man sat in the middle. <i>But the age doesn¡¯t match! Why would the old headmaster be with these two girls?</i>

    With a dry cough, Chen Ge softly asked, ¡°Yin Bai, is the old man in the picture your grandfather?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Yin Bai nodded. ¡°He¡¯s my only family. He asionallyes to see me.¡±

    ¡°Hees to see you? Your only family?¡± Yin Bai¡¯s answer contained a whole lot of information, and various thoughts filled up Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

    If the old man was really Mu Yang High School¡¯s old headmaster, and Yin Bai said he asionally came to visit her, it meant that the old headmaster knew about the route to enter and leave the School of the Afterlife!

    Furthermore, Yin Bai and Yin Hong were both in the picture, but Yin Bai said that the old man was her only family. This meant that from Yin Bai¡¯s perspective, Yin Hong was not family. Something bad must have happened between the girls.

    ¡°Yin Bai, can you tell me more about your grandfather?¡± Chen Ge nudged toward her.

    Yin Bai who sat in bed lifted her head and said after a long pause, ¡°My grandfather is infertile. He has no biological children, but he has many children.¡±

 Chapter 842 - I Will Be That Light

    <h4>Chapter 842: I Will Be That Light</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°My mother was one of the children adopted by him.¡± Yin Bai¡¯s eyes were very pretty and clear. ¡°My mother was an abandoned baby, and she was weak from a young age. Her condition only got better when she was adopted by my grandfather. She was brought up by him and stayed by his side until she was twenty and met my father. They had a simple wedding, and soon, I arrived.

    ¡°After she gave birth to me, my mother¡¯s physical condition deteriorated, and my father¡¯s attitude toward her also slowly changed. Then father¡¯spany closed, and he was left with plenty of debt. He was chased by moneylenders and had to leave me and my mother so that he could avoid them. He always told us that the lenders would not trouble a woman and a newborn and only dared to sneak home every few days at midnight. This continued for a few months until father stoppedmunicating with us and never returned home.

    ¡°Caring for a child while being threatened through the closed door, the home being sshed with paint, mother finally copsed. The doctor called grandfather, and it was only then that he knew how bad the situation was. It was notmon at the hospital for the older generation to take care of the younger generation. Mother got worse. Herst wish was to see father onest time. It was not for love, but she wanted to give him a p and ask him a question. Her wish became her dying wish. The day that she died, it appeared like grandfather grew older before my eyes. Then I started living with grandfather, going to school, studying.¡±

    As she lowered her head, Yin Bai said, ¡°It was not my intention to cause trouble for him. I didn¡¯t mean it.¡±

    From Yin Bai¡¯s story, the old headmaster of Mu Yang High School was a kind person. Evil and desire were not seen in him at all; this strengthened Chen Ge¡¯s need to meet the man.

    ¡°Your grandfather is a good person. Do you know where he is now? I wish to meet him.¡± If he knew how to leave the School of the Afterlife, then Chen Ge would have nothing to lose.

    Yin Bai shook her head. ¡°He lives outside the school, but he always shows up when I¡¯m at the edge of my rope, and whenever I see him, I¡¯ll feel much better.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Chen Ge did not press. Chaos wasing to the school; the old headmaster woulde to protect his granddaughter, so all he needed to do was wait. ¡°You¡¯d better get a good rest. I won¡¯t disturb you anymore.¡±

    Closing the curtain, Chen Ge was thinking about the old headmaster. Thetter had avoided him several times already, but that should stop soon. Leaving Yin Bai¡¯s bed, Chen Ge suddenly realized something. When the girl was talking about her past, there was no mention of Yin Hong at all. It was as if this person did not exist in her life.

    <i>Yin Hong is in the family portrait, so why did the child purposely leave her out? What happened to this pair of sisters?</i>

    Chen Ge felt like what had happened to Yin Bai probably had something to do with Yin Hong.

    <i>Once the old headmaster is found, everything will be solved. I¡¯ll forget about it for now.</i>

    Remembering Yin Bai¡¯s bed, Chen Ge even thought about taking Yin Bai with him so that he could guard her personally. But considering that the doctor might not approve of that, he gave up that thought. He continued to do his round. When Chen Ge passed thest bed, a heavy stench of medicine came from inside. Pulling open the white curtain, Chen Ge looked at the bed; there was a normal looking boy lying in it. All his limbs were bandaged, and his eyes were hollow as he stared at the ceiling. Even when the curtain was pulled back, he did not react. The child seemed to be isted from the outside world; he was a veritable zombie.

    ¡°Yan Fei?¡± Chen Ge was unsettled, seeing the boy in this state. The child was like a normal person; he was a caricature of the public. ¡°I know that you¡¯re not feeling well, and I¡¯m not here to tell you to get over it. I¡¯m just here to tell you that I¡¯ve helped you get revenge. I taught the bullies a lesson. After school, I will teach them a much deeper lesson.¡±

    He used different method to converse with different people. To get close to Yan Fei, this was the tactic employed by Chen Ge. When he said that, Yan Fei still showed no reaction. It was as if the boy was no longer interested in anything. Chen Ge tried to say something else, but no matter what, Yan Fei did not respond. His body did not even budge. Unable tomunicate, the mission given by Chang Wenyu was harder than he had thought.

    Standing next to the bed, Chen Ge was about to reach his hand through the bed to check what the real problem with Yan Fei¡¯s body was when the door not faraway was opened. The doctor hade out. With limited time, Chen Ge pulled his hand back and looked at Yan Fei with some regret.

    ¡°Darkness is there. Even if you ignore it, it will not disappear. If you do not wish to be consumed by darkness, turn yourself into light, and shine on all the darkness. I know that you can hear me, and I know that you once resisted. Now I am taking your former seat. I will help youplete the things that you are unable to do. An eye for an eye¡ªafter I¡¯ve punished those that need it, I will return.¡±

    Yan Fei¡¯s situation was more serious than Chen Ge had expected. He hadpletely isted himself. He refused to speak tomunicate. Perhaps only with a knife on his neck would he realize that he was still alive.

    ¡°You are not wrong, and I¡¯ll prove it to you.¡± Chen Ge wanted to change this school, and for that, he needed to change the students¡¯ perspective first. When encountering school bullying, silence was not going to solve anything. Only by stepping forward could one protect oneself and others. If all the students could do that, school bullying would be stopped before it had a chance to grow.

    Chen Ge did not think that all the students would be like him. He merely wished to set an example. A man who dared stand up to violence at school. Walking out from the nurse¡¯s office, Chen Ge returned to ss. The teacher nced at him but said nothing. When the school bell rang to signify that school was over, the teacher was the first to leave like he had something important to do.

    After the teacher left, the few students from thest row rushed out. They pointed at Chen Ge like they were nning something.

    Out of kindness, Lee Bing took a big risk to pass a note to Chen Ge. ¡°Do not go home alone today. Tell your parents toe fetch you.¡±

    ¡°If my parents reallye here, they will level this ce, but unfortunately, I haven¡¯t seen them for a long time.¡± Chen Ge sat at his table and slowly put the textbooks away.

    ¡°I¡¯m not kidding you. There are too many of them! You have broken the game rule, so they will all gang up on you!¡± Lee Bing was nervous; he could have seen Chen Ge¡¯s bad ending.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I might have more people with me.¡± Chen Ge put thest textbook into his bag and strode out from the ssroom.

 Chapter 843 - Changing Smile

    <h4>Chapter 843: Changing Smile</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge was there to create trouble, so the more chaotic the School of the Afterlife, the happier he would be.

    <i>I have my student ID in the left pocket and teacher¡¯s ID in my right. With all the preparation done, I¡¯m ready to rearrange the structure at this school.</i>

    Pressing the start button on the recorder, Chen Ge held his two bags and reached the end of the corridor. As if worried about him, Lee Bing followed Chen Ge after he left. He hesitated, like he wanted to tell Chen Ge something but was afraid of being seen by the bullies. Chen Ge strode down the corridor. He did not know his way about and was just wandering about. The number of students in the corridor decreased; the remaining ones appeared to know him. They averted their eyes from him and pointed behind him like they were nning something.

    <i>Why haven¡¯t they made their move? I¡¯ve already reached some real secluded parts of the school.</i>

    Chen Ge tried his best to cooperate with the bullies. The darker the corridor, the better it was. To lure the bullies to attack him, he was controlling his expression to make himself appear to be confident on the outside but actually shaking like a leaf inside. At that moment, the bullies were perhaps enjoying the thrill of the hunt, ying the game of cat and mouse.

    <i>The few buildings at the school seem to be connected. The office and the teacher¡¯s dormitory are the eastern part of the school, and in contrast, the western part is the part with the least amount of management. It is filled with emptybs and storerooms. It¡¯s rarely visited by teachers and students.</i>

    Chen Ge looked more agitated, and he wandered around the school like a headless chicken. Finally, he ¡®identally¡¯ entered the most ¡®secluded¡¯ storage area in the School of the Afterlife. When he walked into the corridor of the western side of the school, Lee Bing left. In the end, he did not have the courage to tell Chen Ge. There was no one else in the corridor. The thin blood fog surrounded Chen Ge.

    <i>It¡¯s time for them to make their move, right? I¡¯ve already voluntarily walked to such an isted ce.</i>

    Listening to the static from the recorder, Chen Ge looked out the window. Blood fog enveloped the whole world. Through the fog, one could catch a blurry glimpse of a blood red sun. The thing appeared to be entirely made up of negative emotion.

    <i>I¡¯ve not seen this thing in other ces behind the door before.</i>

    The sun blinked in and out of the fog. This scene loosened Chen Ge¡¯s memory, and it reminded him of something that had happened a long time ago. When he was doing the tunnel nightmare mission, Chen Ge had once entered a hallucination and seen the self that was killed many years ago inside the tunnel. He had been unable to shake loose, and it was Zhang Ya who had reached out to save him. When he saw the death illusion, Zhang Ya¡¯s appearance had been like a blood red sun.

    <i>It¡¯s too simr. It¡¯s just like how I saw Zhang Ya when I was lost. Could the sun here be represented by a Specter as well?</i>

    Sudden footsteps interrupted Chen Ge¡¯s thought. He turned back to look and realized that the doors that were on the two sides of the corridor were all opened, and the fog around him thickened. The footsteps came closer, and the air became more suffocating. There was the sound of metal hitting the ground.

    ¡°It¡¯s understandable that the new student did not know the rules, but openly breaking the rules and not respecting us, that needs some serious education.¡± One of the room doors was pushed open, and a muscr man walked out. Three students followed behind him. They were all students from Chen Ge¡¯s ss, and they sat on the back row.

    ¡°Just four of you?¡± Chen Ge was not satisfied. He had made such arge ruckus, but only four had taken the bait.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re all students here, so we won¡¯t punish you too much.¡± The leading andrgest student blocked the corridor with a smile. He scanned Chen Ge up and down like he was studying him.

    ¡°You dare touch me at the school?¡± Chen Ge warned the man darkly, but the students did not seem to mind.

    ¡°You¡¯d better turn back to look you. There are no cameras here. Normally, no onees here. Even if they do, they will not tell on us.¡± The few students had probably done this more than once already, and they were fearless.

    ¡°Turn back?¡± Chen Ge turned behind him, and the storeroom door that was not far away was pushed open. A stench drifted out from it.

    <i>This smell is very familiar. I smelled it in the painter¡¯s reconstructed school before. It¡¯s released by those inverted monsters.</i>

    The stench thickened, and the students from Chen Ge¡¯s ss moved backward to block the only exit on the other side. If Chen Ge wished to escape, he could only run deeper into the corridor.

    ¡°You can only me yourself for having run into our territory. Even the teachers don¡¯t daree here often.¡± A middle-aged man walked out from the storeroom. He was wearing a bloody shirt, and his face appeared to have been seared by a fire brand as a scary-looking scar was left there. ¡°Brother Ba, this is the kid. He hit my friend on his first day of school.¡±

    ¡°How did he hit him?¡± The middle-aged man dragged out a new wooden chair from the storeroom. He did not even pay any attention to Chen Ge.

    ¡°He used a chair to hit my friend¡¯s head.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s quite ruthless.¡± The middle-aged man held his chin. ¡°Let me think about this. Even though he doesn¡¯t follow the rules, after all, he¡¯s new here. How about this? Come over here and take this chair. Then, hit him back like how he hit your friend. Each of you will get to hit him once. If he dares resist, I will call my people. Go ahead.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll do it? That¡¯s not that good, right?¡±

    ¡°Stop wasting time.¡± While the middle-aged man wasmunicating with the students, Chen Ge was observing him. The man was not a student there; he was probably a wandering spirit who had been dragged into the school when the school was expanding, and listening to his words, there appeared to be more people like him.

    <i>Consuming the students at the school might earn the school¡¯s ire, but these outsiders should not be under the school¡¯s protection. If my workers consume them, the school might even appreciate my effort to clean this ce out.</i>

    The way Chen Ge looked at the middle-aged man changed. He prepared to teach a lesson to all the bullies until they surrendered, but now the n had changed.

    ¡°What is all this noise? If they don¡¯t dare to, we¡¯ll do it. How troublesome is that?¡± More people walked out from inside the storeroom. They were dressed differently from the students. Each of them had a scar on their bodies and had retained the look during their death. The fight would soon be over. Brother Ba dragged the chair to walk toward Chen Ge. He looked at Chen Ge¡¯s legs, which were shivering, and the scar on his face contorted. ¡°Now you know how to be afraid?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m just curious. Why would all of you listen to those students¡¯ orders? Is it because one of them has something on you, and you are forced to cooperate with them?¡± Chen Ge had a few guesses in mind.

 Chapter 844 - The Counterattack

    <h4>Chapter 844: The Counterattack</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    It was clear that the middle-aged man did not intend to answer Chen Ge. From his perspective, Chen Ge was just a new student who did not know his ce. ¡°You sure have plenty to say!¡±

    Raising the chair to aim at Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder, the middle-aged man did not want to leave any obvious wound on Chen Ge. They were experienced in beating people up without leaving conspicuous wounds.

    Bang!

    The chairnded on the wall. Chen Ge had avoided it.

    ¡°You dare to resist?¡± The scar on the man¡¯s face started to twist, and his partners walked toward him.

    ¡°Before I came here, I told the teachers. They will be here soon.¡±

    No one believed Chen Ge. His body was shaking, and his eyes were darting about. All those details told them that he was afraid and lying.

    ¡°Can you even hear yourself? Who would believe that?¡± The middle-aged man grabbed another chair and threw it at Chen Ge. Chen Ge wiggled backward, saw the opening, and ran deeper into the storeroom. The deeper he went, the more deserted it was. No one expected Chen Ge to run that way, so they were stunned briefly. When they realized what had happened, Chen Ge was already several meters away.

    ¡°Looks like the boy is so scared that he can¡¯t even tell the direction.¡± The middle-aged man shared a look with others that came out from the storeroom; there were blood vessels in their eyes.

    ¡°Go after him! Don¡¯t let him get away!¡± The students from Chen Ge¡¯s ss did not quite get it. They still wished to teach Chen Ge a lesson. The spirits from outside the school did not make their move immediately. They seemed to wish for Chen Ge to run further.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he¡¯s not going to escape.¡± An old man at the edge of the crowd licked his lips and swallowed the saliva. He pointed his finger at the rest. ¡°I want a piece. The rest of you can share.¡±

    ¡°Old fart, half a piece is enough to choke you.¡± The middle-aged man tossed the wooden chair before the students. ¡°You people guard this exit. The deeper part of the corridor is very dangerous. We also don¡¯t know how many outsiders are hiding there.¡±

    Seeing Chen Ge almost disappearing from their eyes, the spirits from outside the school finally started to give chase. They purposely maintained a distance from Chen Ge, wishing for him to run deeper. This would make their next move more convenient, and that was exactly what Chen Ge was hoping for. Both parties formed a strange union, one was running, the other chasing. They fled through two corridors, and it was Chen Ge who finally stopped. He acted like he was winded and turned to hide inside an old toilet at the end of the corridor.

    <i>The door to the School of the Afterlife was pushed open in a toilet, and now I¡¯ve been forced to hide inside the toilet again. Is this a coincidence, or has everything been ¡®nned¡¯?</i>

    The door pusher was injured inside thest cubicle, so Chen Ge also hid inside thest cubicle. The corridor was permeated with blood fog. There was no one in the abandoned school; only his own heartbeat and breathing were hispany.

    Creak...

    The door was pushed open, and footsteps echoed in his ears. The other parties¡¯ shoes sounded like they were stepping on blood¡ªthere was a squishy sound to it.

    <i>Did that child experience this before?</i>

    History repeated itself, but this time, the victim was Chen Ge.

    ¡°Are you here?¡± A scratchy male voice came from the toilet entrance. The spirits were toying with Chen Ge.

    Creak...

    The door of the first cubicle was slowly pushed open, and the footsteps neared. Chen Ge took a deep breath as the images that he had seen on the top floor of the education block in the toilet appeared in his mind. He was experiencing the same thing that was experienced by the child before he died. Fear, anxiety, increased heartbeat. He held his mouth with his hands to make sure that he made no noise. His back against the wall, his strength was gradually slipping as he curled at the corner of the dirty toilet. The slender body kept shivering. His brain was filled with the fear of what they would do to him after he was captured. Many negative emotions tortured his brain and soul. How would one expect a young child to stand up to all that?

    Being in their shoes, Chen Ge felt like he had gained a better understanding of those children. The way an adult looked at the world was different from a child. The fear in a child¡¯s eyes was different from that of an adult. Rubbing his chilled palms together, Chen Ge stopped his wandering mind.

    ¡°Are you in here?¡± The door of the second cubicle was pushed open. They sounded very strange, like a soul that would not leave, a shadow that was stubborn.

    ¡°I saw you. I know you¡¯re hiding here.¡± The door of the third cubicle creaked open, and the blood fog thickened. The toilet became more suffocating. The light stench of blood instigated everyone. Their eyes were filled with blood, and many feral faces squeezed into the toilet.

    ¡°We areing to get you.¡±

    Blood leaked out from their wounds. The middle-aged man held the rope that he had found in the storeroom. His finger scratched the door of the cubicle. He knocked on it lightly with a graceful touch¡ªhe was enjoying this.

    ¡°He¡¯s not inside the fourth cubicle. Looks like he¡¯s in thest one.¡± The nail scratched on the wooden door, creating a spine-tingling sound. The footsteps stopped before thest cubicle.

    ¡°Are you in here?¡± The door wiggled, and the anxious heart jumped. The bullies were ready; the ending had been decided. ¡°It¡¯s locked? I know you¡¯re in there. Come out! Come out!¡±

    The door was shivering under the heavy, regr knocks. Just how helpless the child would have been... he would have had to face those people alone and suffer the consequence.

    ¡°Come out,e out wherever you are!¡±

    The sound outside grew louder. The sound of footsteps, screaming, and knocking were mixed into a cacophony that could push one over the edge.

    Bang!

    The old lock could not suffer so much banging, and the cubicle door was finally pushed open. The middle-aged man who stood at the front held the rope and squeezed in before the door fully opened.

    ¡°Pull him out! Pull him out!¡± the people behind shouted, but there was no reply from the middle-aged man like he had disappeared.

    Creak...

    The door whose lock was broken slowly open. The sound of dripping echoed in everyone¡¯s ears. Fresh blood leaked out from under the door. The heavy stench of blood rushed at them. There were many people squeezed inside the small cubicle.

    ¡°You all wish to bully, but I intend to kill; our goals were different from the beginning.¡± Chen Ge closed theic and leaned against the wall. His palm was toying with a stain that looked like a wilted heart.

    ¡°After consuming all of you, Bai Qiulin should be able to evolve into a Red Specter...¡±

 Chapter 845 - Blood Sky

    <h4>Chapter 845: Blood Sky</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The victims ran away in a hurry before hiding inside thest cubicle of the toilet. The bullies closed in on them step by step, inching toward their prey with smiles on their faces, pulling the rope around the victims¡¯ neck tighter and tighter. This image appeared in the mind of the old man who guarded outside the toilet, but as he anxiously turned to look inside the toilet, he realized that everything was different from his expectation.

    A bloody man with just one hand held the leader by his neck as he mmed the leader against the wall. Various blood vessels curled around the leader¡¯s legs. He tried to struggle to escape, his hands leaving scratches on the white wall, but no matter how hard he struggled, he was unable to break free. The horrible stench permeated the toilet. An impossiblyrge fat man squeezed out from the cubicle. He was more passionate than the other workers, the stench that drifted out from the bullies excited him greatly. More and more shadows walked out from inside the cubicle, and that stunned the old man. He was frozen where he was. Before he realized what had happened, five pale fingers gripped his neck. His breathing was stunted. He wished to see who his aggressor was, but this simplest wish failed to turn into reality.

    ¡°Is it painful?¡± Before dispersing, this was the only question that the old man heard. In less than thirty seconds, silence returned to the toilet. Chen Ge walked out from the cubicle and scanned his employees. Bai Qiulin had consumed Xiong Qing¡¯s heart, and after such a feast, he was one step away from bing a Red Specter. By now, he had mastered some of Xiong Qing¡¯s unique skill. The Red Specter created by the ghost stories society had only had half his body; the other half had been constructedpletely from negative emotions and blood vessels. During the fight earlier, Chen Ge had noticed that Bai Qiulin also used blood vessel to weave his broken arm. Bai Qiulin was slowly growing stronger, but he was not the one who had the biggest change. That would be the boy with the stench whom he had brought from Western Jiujiang Private Academy.

    This boy who had stayed with his father¡¯s cadaver for a long time had gotten used to the odorous stench. He had no name, everyone hated him, and the stench was his nickname. To Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, in the School of the Afterlife, this Specter that was not even a Half Red Specter found a way to make himself stronger. He sucked away the stench from the wandering spirit, to make himselfrger and scarier.

    ¡°What is the stench around these spirits? Howe I smelled the same stench in the painter¡¯s reconstructed school?¡±

    Chen Ge did not think much of the stench initially, but the boy¡¯s reaction caused Chen Ge to pay it more attention.

    ¡°If there¡¯s a chance, perhaps I should take him to the trash collection center between the schools. The recyble mighte in handy.¡±

    After his workers had cleaned up the toilet and washed away the evidence, Chen Ge pulled all the workers back into theic and walked out from the toilet.

    ¡°Initially, I thought that my Haunted House was close to bing a four-star scenario, but reality proves that I was wrong.¡± Chen Ge walked to the window by the corridor. It felt as if the red sun was looking at him. ¡°The School of the Afterlife is filled with many lingering spirits and contains thirteen scary Specters who have the qualification to be door pushers. There¡¯s an unknown number of Red Specters, but the safest spection puts the number at thirteen at the very least. That,bined with the consciousness of the school itself, made this four-star scenario to be very scary.

    ¡°Thankfully, the school is not hostile against me and hasn¡¯t tried toe after me. But even if I am able to leave the school alive, what about the ghost fetus¡¯ scenario? That whole entire four-star scenario is specifically made to kill me!¡±

    A four-star scenario waspletely different from a three-star scenario. Chen Ge felt like even if he did not try to go and ept that mission, the mission would find him.

    ¡°What will be will be. All I can do now is grow stronger in this school and then wait for the ghost fetus¡¯ arrival.¡±

    Walking amid Red Specters and ghosts to increase his strength in the face of death, only Chen Ge dared do something like that, but he had no choice. He had been pushing himself forward. When he turned around, he realized that there was already no way back. Standing at the entrance, Chen Ge did not deactivate the recorder but carried his two bags and headed deeper into the storeroom.

    ¡°Since I¡¯m already here, I can¡¯t waste my time. Furthermore, the school is a ce to learn, but the atmosphere has been ruined by these people. That¡¯s atrocious.¡±

    Chen Ge did not understand why the school would allow these spirits to exist. Perhaps it did not think that it was worth the effort to deal with them. ¡°If it¡¯s too inconvenient for you, I¡¯ll help you do it.¡±

    He had no idea what the benefit was from gaining the school¡¯s approval, but that was one of the steps of his n. Walking into the storerooms, Chen Ge sent out all his employees, but the spirits seemed to have sensed that something had gone wrong, and they had all disappeared.

    ¡°Something¡¯s not right.¡±

    The blood in the air thickened, and the blood fog outside the window rolled anxiously. The sun that was shining on the school seemed to be expanding like it was descending upon the ce.

    ¡°It should be because of me. Looks like the painter and Chang Wenyu are officially at it. I can¡¯t stay here any longer. I need to gather all the students who have the potential to be the door-pushers around me. That is the only way I might survive.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s real trump card was Zhang Ya. Perhaps Chang Wenyu saw that and pulled Chen Ge into the School of the Afterlife, but she had no idea how strong Zhang Ya really was. Summoning his employees back, Chen Ge retraced his steps. He needed to get Yin Bai and Yan Fei to side with him before the chaos arrived.

    ¡°The old headmaster of Mu Yang High School is worried about Yin Bai¡¯s safety and will probably take her to somewhere safe before the anarchy starts. That will be my chance.¡± With that in mind, Chen Ge ran faster. He walked out the corridor, and the students from his ss were still blocking the way.

    ¡°You are still alive?¡± The few students looked at Chen Ge strangely.

    ¡°Almost forgot about you.¡± Chen Ge flipped through theic and had Ol¡¯ Bai capture the students. Chen Ge nned to do unto them as they had nned to do unto him earlier.

    ¡°Slow down, I need to keep some evidence.¡± Chen Ge took out Lin Sisi¡¯s phone. ¡°This phone was used to capture the bullied¡¯s painful memories, but from now on, it¡¯s going to record something else.¡±

    A group of people bullying one person, be it verbal abuse or physical abuse, that was bullying, but in contrast, a person chasing after a group of people, that was not bullying. At least from Chen Ge¡¯s perspective, he was helping the school clean up the streets.

 Chapter 846 - Third Path

    <h4>Chapter 846: Third Path</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge saved the video of how he punished the bullies on Lin Sisi¡¯s phone; he was not afraid of leaving behind evidence. He wished for everyone to know that there was someone at this school who dared to stand up to school bullying. For that, the video had to be convincing. Chen Ge chose a good angle for the shoot. He did not include his own employees in the video, only himself and the bullies. Those who did not know the truth might think Chen Ge dealt with the numerous bullies alone just from viewing the video. After the video waspleted, all the bullies crumpled to the ground. The way they looked at Chen Ge was filled with terror.

    ¡°This time, you have all been taught a lesson, right?¡± Chen Ge stopped interacting with the bullies. He put down the bags andy down on the ground to cover his body with the dust. Then he tore parts of his shirt and pants out before finally daubing his body with blood. ¡°One has to look heroic.¡±

    The employees had already gotten used to his way of thinking. They pitied the bullies for having encountered their boss. Summoning the employees back, Chen Ge moved with one hand on the wall. He needed to return to the nurse¡¯s office. Before he got that far, as he was turning a corner, Chen Ge bumped into someone who was rushing his way.

    <i>The bullies¡¯ helper? </i>No matter who the person was, after Chen Ge was bumped into, he staggered backward to introduce some distance between them.

    ¡°Chen Ge!¡± It was a round face that entered Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. The person had an unassuming look with a little baby fat. His eyes were wide with worry.

    ¡°Lee Bing?¡± The boy was Chen Ge¡¯s deskmate. When Chen Ge was bullied earlier, he had maintained his silence to prevent himself from being target. Even if hemunicated with Chen Ge, it was through paper notes. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Seeing how ruffled Chen Ge was, with the torn clothes, the dusty outfit, and the blood on his body, he panicked. ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry!¡±

    ¡°Why are you apologizing? I have no time to talk. If you¡¯re not one of the bullies, then move away.¡± The blood sun that was covering the school was changing, Chen Ge was in a hurry to get to the nurse¡¯s office.

    ¡°I¡¯m here to help you! I¡¯ve already told the teachers!¡± Lee Bing said with determination. The change in his attitude was out of Chen Ge¡¯s expectations. ¡°That is the only way I can help you. Please stop angering them, they are familiar with ruffians outside of school. There are many of them, and the students with good results are also on their side. If you continue to do this, you¡¯ll only hurt yourself.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m thankful that you¡¯re willing to stand forth to help me, but in certain matters, I will notpromise.¡± Chen Ge leaned against the wall weakly. ¡°I am a rational person. What¡¯s wrong is wrong, and what¡¯s right is right. If it¡¯s wrong and I have to say that it¡¯s right because of social pressure, I can¡¯t do something like that.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m asking you to do! I¡¯m just trying to teach you how to survive at this school!¡± Lee Bing advised. Chen Ge understood that his intentions were kind.

    ¡°I know you mean well, but there has to be someone who dares to stand up to the bullies.¡± Chen Ge wiped the blood off his cor, and his tone was harsh. ¡°Facing against the group of bullies and helping the bullied, everyone knows that is hard to do. Why should we sacrifice ourselves for others? But have you considered this? Just because everyone thinks like that, that is why those bullies dare to push so far into their madness!¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s voice was rising. ¡°I have faith that human nature is kind, and most people mean well. If the majority of people are kind, then why should we be bullied by those who are in the minority?¡±

    Lee Bing¡¯s lips fell open; he did not know what to say.

    ¡°Let me tell you the answer¡ªkindness is easily mistaken as weakness. No one dares speak, no one dares stand up, so those b*stards trample over everyone.¡± Chen Ge grabbed Lee Bing¡¯s hand and pressed it against his heart. The spot was wet with the blood of the gangsters. ¡°Kind people like us make up the majority. People just doesn¡¯t dare speak up. Thus, we need a person to lead by example.¡±

    Lee Bing finally understood Chen Ge¡¯s intention. ¡°So, you purposely provoked the bullies in ss?¡±

    ¡°No matter the time or ce, bullying is wrong. They do not realize their mistake, and I will use my own method to remind them.¡± Chen Ge reached out to grab Lee Bing¡¯s shoulders. ¡°I cannot fall. I have to prove to everyone that the bullies are not impervious; there is no need for us to be afraid of them! Everyone can stand up on their own, criticize them bravely, and look down on their mistakes! If everyone had a consciousness like that, before the bullying even has a chance to ur, it would be stopped!¡±

    To be honest, Lee Bing had stopped listening a while back. He merely felt that Chen Ge was right, and the emotions caused his blood to boil.

    ¡°There are only four bullies in total. This time, you came forth to help me. If the other students were like you, just imagine how many would be on our side? Wouldn¡¯t our number be greater than the bullies?¡±

    Lee Bing nodded. Although he probably still would not daree out to help Chen Ge before the bullies, at least his perspective had started to change.

    ¡°Come with me. We¡¯re going somewhere.¡± Chen Ge wanted to take Lee Bing to the nurse¡¯s office. A n was forming in his mind.

    ¡°Where are we going? The teachers will be here soon, and those who tried to bully you...¡±

    Before Lee Bing finished, Chen Ge passed him Lin Sisi¡¯s phone. ¡°This time, I won. If, one day, I fall down, I hope you will learn not to bow down to them.¡±

    After finishing the video and looking at the dust and blood on Chen Ge¡¯s clothes, Lee Bing¡¯s conviction was shaken. His despair was shattered, and hope bloomed in his heart. The two raced toward the nurse¡¯s office. There were no students in the corridors, but there were staff asionally bustling about.

    ¡°Come in with me.¡± Chen Ge led Lee Bing into the nurse¡¯s room. They headed right for Yan Fei¡¯s bed. ¡°In this bed lies Yan Fei.¡±

    Lee Bing felt guilty toward Yan Fei. He hesitated a long time before he pulled the white curtain aside. Seeing Yan Fei in bed, Lee Bing apologized several times. What caught Chen Ge¡¯s attention was that Yan Fei, who would not respond to him, moved his fingers after seeing Lee Bing, and his eyes slowly wandered to fall on Lee Bing.

    <i>They were once good friends.</i>

    Chen Ge did not waste time on titudes. He took out Lin Sisi¡¯s phone, opened the video, and showed it to Lee Bing.

    ¡°They will not be able to bully you again.¡± Chen Ge repeated what he had told Lee Bing. He hoped that Yan Fei would understand what he had done because this was the path that he had chosen, a path different from the painter and Chang Wenyu.

 Chapter 847 - Yin Bai, Yin Hong [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 847: Yin Bai, Yin Hong [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    To Yan Fei, Chen Ge was just an unknown stranger whom he did not know, but it was a different case with Lee Bing; they had once been deskmates and friends. Yan Fei might not believe certain words that Chen Ge said, but it would take on a greater credibility when they came out of Lee Bing¡¯s lips. Chen Ge knew that it would be immensely difficult to break down Yan Fei¡¯s mental defenses, so he had focused his attack on Yan Fei¡¯s close friend first. Lee Bing told Yan Fei many things, and Yan Fei¡¯s eyes gradually took on a new shade. His heart and conviction had begun to shake, but Chen Ge had still not gained his full confidence.

    <i>This School of the Afterlife has already begun its change. I will transform this school right from its foundation.</i>

    Chen Ge took Yan Fei¡¯s hand and pulled up his sleeves. The child resisted on instinct; he did not wish for his secret to be openly witnessed by others. The sleeves were hiding a bandage, and the bandage was hiding a slew of wounds.

    ¡°The wounds on your body will heal with medicine and rest, but the wounds that are torn on your heart will stay forever. I know you are using physical pain to try to numb the psychological pain, but that is no solution to any problem.

    ¡°Why are you using your own pain to punish yourself? Even if you die from the process, those who bullied you will not shed a single tear on your behalf. They will stand by your grave and continue to mock you while looking at your ck and white photo.¡±

    Folding back the shirt sleeves, Chen Ge held Yan Fei¡¯s palm. Human warmth that he had not felt for a long time travelled from Chen Ge to Yan Fei.

    ¡°I know you still might not believe me, but I will use actions to prove myself.¡± Chen Ge stood at the side of the bed. ¡°A giant change ising to this school. It is far too dangerous for you to stay here alone, so why don¡¯t youe with me and Lee Bing? We will protect you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Yan Fei. This time, I won¡¯t run away. I will stand by your side.¡± Lee Bing cooperated fully. He persuaded Yan Fei alongside Chen Ge, and Yan Fei¡¯s attitude began to shift.

    ¡°You, me, and Lee Bing, we have many friends. None of us are willing to suffer the pain silently anymore. I will find them and have them join us!¡± Chen Ge had rescued some students in the world inside the mirror and in this blood red world. Even though they had separated from Chen Ge, Chen Ge still treated them as partners and friends.

    ¡°There are other people on our side?¡± Lee Bing and Yan Fei turned to Chen Ge simultaneously.

    ¡°Yes, we are not alone.¡± Chen Ge slowly picked up Yan Fei. ¡°Kind people are like light, and those who have kindness in their heart attract each other. Just wait and see, I will not disappoint you.¡±

    It was about time for the school to adapt and change. Even though it had provided a home for these homeless children, the home was cold and unfeeling; it was not a suitable environment for them. ¡°It is time for the owner of the home to change.¡±

    Chen Ge had Lee Bing look after Yan Fei for the time being. He had not decided to leave the nurse¡¯s office just yet. He walked to Yin Bai¡¯s bedside. This child knew the old headmaster from Mu Yang High School, so Chen Ge would not leave her there. Peeling back the white curtain, Yin Bai sat at the edge of the bed with widened eyes. She had been eavesdropping on Chen Ge and the boy¡¯s conversation.

    ¡°I... have not been listening to you guys...¡± She was like a child who was caught with her hand in the cookie jar when her parents were not home. Her expression was cute with guilt. This formed a great contrast to the pain and despair that was predominant in the world behind the door.

    ¡°Yin Bai, there is something that I have to tell you.¡± Chen Ge used his coup de grace. He took out theic from his backpack. ¡°I know your grandfather; he is one of the people that I respect in the world.¡±

    ¡°You know my grandpa?¡± This time, it was Yin Bai¡¯s turn to be shocked. Her small lips opened and closed, and her eyes were swirling with surprise.

    ¡°Yes, I do not wish to lie to you anymore. The old man once operated a private children¡¯s home and provided a sanctuary to many orphans. Then with the aid of the local government, he turned that organization into a school, and the school is named Mu Yang High School. I have personally been to that school before.¡± These words that came out of Chen Ge¡¯s lips continued to shock the girl.

    ¡°Grandpa indeed operated a children¡¯s home before, but he was not involved in a school. Are you sure you¡¯ve got the right person?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s words had sessfully attracted Yin Bai¡¯s curiosity.

    ¡°I am not mistaken. Since you know your grandfather has operated a children¡¯s home before so you should recognize them.¡± Chen Ge knew his persuasion would be sessful. He walked out from the sickroom. He flipped through theic and summoned out several students from Mu Yang High School. In a few breaths¡¯ time, when Chen Ge returned to the room, there were several students trailing behind him. Their faces were carved with smiles and curiosity. Even though they only had their lingering spirits left, they looked like they were very blissful and happy. For these homeless orphans, achieving societal sess was not part of their wish. They were a family, and their wish was simple¡ªit was to stay together as a family. That was bliss enough.

    ¡°Yin Bai, I have been looking for you for a long time now.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s tone was regretful. He stepped to the side. Only then did the students from Mu Yang High School finally see Yin Bai in bed, who was as thin as a stick. Her bones were practically protruding through her skin. The students were stumped; it was as if they could not believe their own eyes.

    ¡°You guys...¡± Tears instantly fell from Yin Bai¡¯s eyes, and her voice was shaking. ¡°Long time no see.¡±

    Chen Ge did not interrupt the reunion. He carried the backpack, walked out, and guarded the door. He found a corner that was rather isted and took out a ballpoint pen that was covered in tape from his backpack. He dangled it above a piece of white paper and asked, ¡°Pen Spirit, can you tell me the story between that girl and your headmaster? You guys should be old friends, right?¡±

    The pen stopped above the paper for a long time before it started to move. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    That was out of Chen Ge¡¯s expectations; the Pen Spirit, who had a rather unapproachable personality and hard to please attitude, this time, put herself down to thank Chen Ge.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t act like that. I might think that you¡¯re possessed by another spirit.¡±

    The Pen Spirit did not mind the mocking from Chen Ge, and she continued to write on the paper. ¡°A charity home and a private school are two wildly different concepts. Even though the old headmaster always had this idea in mind, it was incredibly hard to put into action. That was until the incident that happened to Lee Xueyin, then his intention to create a school for the orphans that he housed was made firm.¡±

    ¡°Her name is Lee Xueyin? Isn¡¯t her name Yin Bai?¡±

    ¡°I am not mistaken; she is Lee Xueyin. She is the child of the first child adopted by the old headmaster.¡±

    ¡°Wait, that is a bit confusing. Can you please be more specific?¡± Chen Ge held the pen and stared with extreme focus at the white paper.

    ¡°Lee Xueyin¡¯s mother was the first child taken in by the old headmaster. Because of her physical deformity, she was unable to do any work, and the old headmaster took care of her until the day she got married. Seeing the girl that he treated as his own walk down the aisle was incredibly touching for the old headmaster. He believed that his daughter had finally found happiness in life and could live a normal life, but who would have thought those horrible incidents would happenter? Lee Xueyin¡¯s mother¡¯s condition deteriorated. Her cold-blooded father made the decision to abandon the mother and daughter who were bing more of a burden. In the end, it was the old headmaster who sent Lee Xueyin¡¯s mother away on her final journey at the hospital.¡±

    Chen Ge nodded. ¡°I know about all that. You only need to tell me what happened to Yin Baiter.¡±

    ¡°Lee Xueyin¡¯s mother¡¯s passing brought about a huge impact to the old headmaster. He was swallowed by guilt. He felt like it was his fault for failing to pick a good man for his daughter, and it was his own hands that pushed his daughter into the fire pit. The old headmaster adopted Lee Xueyin. He turned the heavy guilt that pressed down on him into love, and he put all his affection and attention into caring for Lee Xueyin.

    ¡°Xueyin was a precocious child. She got excellent results at school. To ensure that she would have a bright future, the old headmaster sent her to the best school in the state, but something that no one could have expected happened.

    ¡°Halfway through the first semester, the news that Xueyin had left the world came. It was only when it was all toote that the old headmaster knew that Xueyin had been subjected to horrible bullying at her school. The people from her ss envied Xueyin because she always scored the best in ss. Their envy slowly turned into hatred. In their mind, she was merely an adopted child; she had no father and no mother. During the parent-teacher conference, it was the staff from the children¡¯s home who came to attend on her parent¡¯s behalf.

    ¡°The old headmaster cherished Xueyin dearly, so he had no idea that this kind of thing would even happen. The man who had been living for half a century copsed just like that. He pointed at those students who had on masks of innocence, yelling at them that they were murderers!

    ¡°This incident caused asting impact on the old headmaster. He adopted all these children because he wanted to give them happiness, not watch them walk step by step into a dark abyss.

    ¡°Death is irreversible. To ensure that the same thing would not happen to the rest of his children, to make sure that this kind of tragedy did not reur, he stopped at nothing to turn the children¡¯s home into Mu Yang High School.¡±

    The pen in his grasp was still moving. Chen Ge really did not expect there to be such a detailed backstory to Mu Yang High School.

    ¡°When Mu Yang High School waspleted, the old headmaster¡¯s hair was already all white. He was still so kind and generous, but it was as if a part of his soul was gone. He was not as talkative as before, and the smile on his face became smaller and smaller.

    ¡°If my memory serves me right, it was around that time that he often started to go out at night by himself.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± When Chen Ge saw thest sentence that the Pen Spirit wrote, he felt that something was off. ¡°The old headmaster often went out at night on his own?¡±

    ¡°If I¡¯m not mistaken, he took thest bus to Western Jiujiang. The old headmaster was very busy in the day, and his only free time opened up at night.¡±

    ¡°Do you know why he would travel so far to Western Jiujiang?¡±

    ¡°I feel like it was because he had to go and meet up with someone, but one time, I saw the ticket for our Haunted House on his office table.¡± Even though the Pen Spirit did not admit it directly, she treated herself as part of the Haunted House, and that was quite evident from her choice of words.

    ¡°The old headmaster came to Western Jiujiang¡¯s New Century Park¡¯s Haunted House at midnight?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes widened. He was reminded of something else at that moment. When he entered Mu Yang High School the second time, he had seen a donation record inside the old headmaster¡¯s office, and it had contained both the names of Doctor Gao and his own parents!

    ¡°The old headmaster knew my parents!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes narrowed. He felt like it could have been his parents who acted as the old headmaster¡¯s guide, and that was the reason the old headmaster was able to reach Yin Bai in the School of the Afterlife!

    ¡°I get it now; I understand everything now.¡± Chen Ge took a deep breath. ¡°The old headmaster knew how dangerous the School of the Afterlife was, and he was still worried about the students at Mu Yang High School, so he did note to the decision to enter the school to rescue Yin Bai. Then, when I came to the school, he knew about my parents¡¯ personality, and he had confidence in me. On the surface, it looked like I had taken the students away from him, but in actuality, he wished for me to find a permanent home for them.¡±

    After getting that all cleared up, Chen Ge did not get angry from being lied to. If anything, his admiration of the old headmaster only increased. Even after death, he still cared so greatly about these kids. After obtaining the ck phone, Chen Ge had seen the other world. He had seen the deepest darkness and actual hope, like the old headmaster of Mu Yang High School and Doctor Wei, who donated his body to Jiujiang Medical University for the advancement of medical science.

    ¡°With nothing to lose, the old headmaster has entered the School of the Afterlife to try to figure out a way to save Yin Bai. He should be in this school at the moment.¡± After knowing that the old headmaster was familiar with his parents, Chen Ge¡¯s desperation to find the old headmaster increased. If he could meet him in person, many mysteries about himself would be resolved.

    ¡°The old headmaster passed the care of the students from Mu Yang High School to me. Looks like he is determined to even die. But why? We¡¯re all family. I wish he would havee to discuss things with me first.¡±

    Chen Ge had understood the whole story. He was about to put the pen away when he saw suddenly reminded of something. ¡°Pen Spirit, does Lee Xueyin have any siblings? Other than Yin Bai, there is a girl called Yin Hong at this school. She looks almost identical to Yin Bai, but her personality ispletely different. She appears to be more cunning and careful with her words.¡±

    ¡°Lee Xueyin does not have any siblings; her only family is the old headmaster,¡± the Pen Spirit answered honestly on the white paper.

    What the Pen Spirit wrote was simr to the story told by Yin Bai. Chen Ge nodded. ¡°Looks like something else happened to Lee Xueyin after she entered the School of the Afterlife. Yin Bai, Yin Hong, Lee Xueyin... Looks like I will have to bring her around with me.¡±

    Chen Ge no longer cared about howplicated this scenario was. With the aid of his own employees, he was confident that he would be able to ovee any trouble. Putting the ballpoint pen away, Chen Ge walked back into the sickroom. Once he did, Lee Bing rushed over to join him. ¡°Chen Ge, are these all people like us? We already have so many friends?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they are all our friends. You should try tomunicate with him. In the future, there will be plenty that you need to learn from them.¡± Chen Ge patted Lee Bing on his shoulder lightly. The child appeared very harmless; he could be considered a unique presence among all the specters and lingering spirits. Many of ssmates did not like him, but Chen Ge thought that he was quite a lovable fellow.

    ¡°Okay!¡± Lee Bing did not understand the hidden meaning in Chen Ge¡¯s words. He only felt thankful. He did not expect there were so many people like him at the school. Walking past Lee Bing, Chen Ge came to Yin Bai¡¯s bedside. ¡°Now do you believe me?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Yin Bai recognized her former friends. She had forgotten many things. Her memory was stopped at the time when she was still at school. For her, this was like many friendsing to visit her at the hospital. She had forgotten about her own death and did not know that her friends were also all dead.

    ¡°Please leave for now. I have something that I wish to talk to Yin Bai about in private.¡± Chen Ge looked at the students from Mu Yang High School. They were merely lingering spirits who refused to leave the school after they died. They were not even Specters. In a real fight, they could perish so easily. Chen Ge was trying to protect them. Following the students out of the room, as the door closed, he summoned all the students back into theic. When he met the old headmaster, he hoped that these students could put in a good word or two for him.

    The sickroom became quiet again. When Chen Ge returned, he noticed that Yin Bai was getting off the bed. She was winded and looked frail, but she tried to get to Chen Ge as if she had treated Chen Ge as part of her family as well.

 Chapter 848 - Doctorâ€™s Secret

    Chapter 848: Doctor¡¯s Secret

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re fine?¡± Chen Ge hurried to support Yin Bai. The child took an involuntarily step back, but Chen Ge still managed to grab her arm. She did not struggle and stayed by Chen Ge¡¯s side like a quiet kitten.

    ¡°Before your grandfather arrives, I will take good care of you.¡± Chen Ge ruffled the girl¡¯s ck hair. ¡°I will show you the world outside. You were unable to experience bliss before death, but at least you¡¯ll need to experience the warmth of the world after death.¡±

    The girl did not quite understand what Chen Ge meant. She merely nodded obediently and shyly asked, ¡°What... is your name? Are you one of grandpa¡¯s children?¡±

    ¡°You can consider me a person whom your grandfather came to for help. I will protect you from further harm.¡± Chen Ge picked up his bags. As he prepared to leave, he turned to look at the furthest room. There were four rooms in total in the School of the Afterlife¡¯s nurse¡¯s office; Yin Bai and Yan Fei were in the third room. There was another room further inside.

    ¡°Yin Bai and Yan Fei should be considered serious cases, but they still do not have the qualification to use the innermost room?¡± Chen Ge was curious, so he squatted before Yin Bai. ¡°Do you know what kind of students stay in thest sickroom?¡±

    ¡°Only students or staff with serious injuries or those who have gone mad will be sent in there.¡± Yin Bai¡¯s eyes were darting about when she said that, like she was afraid of the fourth room. When she spoke, her body naturally leaned away from the room. ¡°Many people have entered that room before, but I rarely see people walk out of it. Perhaps there¡¯s another exit.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s only one exit to this ce.¡± Chen Ge guarded Yin Bai behind him. He activated the recorder and slunk over to the entrance of the fourth room. The member of staff responsible for the nurse¡¯s office was a Red Specter; Chen Ge had met him before. The white coat that he was wearing was just a disguise. He gripped the doorknob and turned it slowly. Chen Ge realized that the door was not locked, so he pushed it open slightly. Blood leaked out from the gap. When the door was fully open, Chen Ge narrowed his eyes and used his body to block the rest of the students. The fourth room was not for patients. There were no beds or medical equipment, only many cracked mirrors. Blood-drenched white coats hung on each of the mirrors. They were of different sizes, but they should belong to one person. Chen Ge covered his mouth and carefully entered the fourth room. A sticky warm feeling crawled on every inch of his skin. Walking into the room was like wading into an ocean of blood. The bloody stench overwhelmed and suffocated him.

    ¡°Why would there be a room like this in the nurse¡¯s office? I saw these mirrors in the school reconstructed by the painter.¡± Chen Ge stopped before the mirror closest to him. He pulled off the white coat. The surface of the mirror was blood red and filled the cracks. ¡°This is simr to the mirror I saw in the eastern campus¡¯ staff dormitory¡¯s maintenance room.¡±

    His finger caressed the surface, and it almost cut Chen Ge. ¡°Even though I¡¯m standing before the mirror, I can¡¯t see my reflection only a te of redness...¡±

    He was about to move to the next mirror when a voice suddenly echoed in his ears.

    ¡°Save me... Please don¡¯t go... Save me...¡± Stopping in his tracks, Chen Ge turned around and realized that the voice wasing from the mirror.

    Narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge looked at the cracked mirror. ¡°Is someone trapped inside the mirror?¡±

    ¡°Save me... It¡¯s dark in here. I can¡¯t see anything. Don¡¯t close the window. Help me... please?¡± The voice became clear like there was someone standing on the other side of the mirror.

    ¡°How can I help you?¡± Chen Ge took one step back. He knew very well that feelings like pity and empathy werecking in this world cultivated by despair. Being kind to others would often bring tragedy.

    ¡°There is a piece that¡¯s misced on the top left corner of the mirror. If you find it and rece it as I say, you¡¯ll be able to see me.¡±

    ¡°Is it that simple?¡± Chen Ge nudged forward. Just as he was about to reach the mirror, he suddenly stopped. ¡°I can help you, but what will I get in return?¡±

    ¡°What do you want? As long as I have it, I will give it to you!¡±

    ¡°How about this? I¡¯ll ask you a few questions first. If your answers are satisfactory, I¡¯ll help you.¡± Chen Ge pointed at those white coats. ¡°How much do you know about the doctor here? The man looks quite scary.¡±

    ¡°I am the real doctor. The monster trapped me inside this mirror!¡± Blood squeezed out from the cracks. The man reacted harshly, and his emotions were fraying. ¡°He is not an employee of our school; he¡¯s an outsider!¡±

    ¡°An outsider?¡±

    ¡°Save me, quick! He¡¯sing back! I need to tell the headmaster everything that happened here!¡± More blood appeared on the surface, and each crack were shuddering.

    ¡°You said he¡¯s an outsider. What evidence do you have?¡±

    ¡°Hees from a hospital with the name ¡®Xin¡¯. I do not know whether he¡¯s a doctor or patient, but I know he¡¯s mad! He¡¯s experimenting with something here; all the teachers have been tricked by him!¡± The information revealed by the mirror attracted Chen Ge¡¯s attention. He happened to know one hospital with the name ¡®Xin¡¯. It was the four-star mission mentioned by the ck phone¡ªthe Cursed Hospital.

    This is getting more interesting.

    Chen Ge remembered many details. When he was doing the Trial Mission in Li Wan City. Clues rted to the Cursed Hospital had appeared as well. The female patients wearing the patient¡¯s garb had ridden the bus to Li Wan City. The private hospital in Li Wan City had been hiding the patients who had escaped from the Cursed Hospital. Chen Ge remembered the details very clearly. The source of the problem was a little boy, and the boy¡¯s garb had the name ¡®Xin¡¯ on it. In the end, the boy had been taken by the red high heels.

    The hospital has appeared everywhere. What is its purpose?

    When Chen Ge was considering this, the man in the mirror kept pleading.

    ¡°I will temporarily trust you,¡± Chen Ge said. ¡°The doctor is an outsider in disguise, but why would he ce so many mirrors here? What is the meaning of a mirror in the School of the Afterlife?¡±

    ¡°Each mirror represents a living person. Save me, let me out! There¡¯s no time! He¡¯ll be back soon! After you let me out, I will tell you everything!¡± The voice became more desperate, but it did not affect Chen Ge at all. If the doctor returned, then he would take him down. Actually, when he saw the doctor, Chen Ge had already formted some ns for him. If not for the doctor¡¯s quick escape, things might have been different now.

    ¡°I can save you. I hope you aren¡¯t lying to me.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes zeroed in on the mirror¡ªhis gaze was frighteningly calm. Walking to the mirror, Chen Ge looked at the top left corner. ¡°Which cracked piece?¡±

    ¡°Just at the top left side,e closer so you can see better.¡± The voice in the mirror urged Chen Ge.

    ¡°There are many pieces. Which one are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°The small one,e closer.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge took another big step forward until his body was almost stuck to the surface. ¡°Is this it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s it. Right there!¡± The voice suddenly grew. A scarred hand reached out from inside the mirror to grab at Chen Ge. ¡°You are the missing piece. Get in here! Rece me...¡±

    The monster was halfway through when he noticed that something was wrong. He tried to yank Chen Ge into the mirror, but Chen Ge refused to budge. The scary thing was that he was unable to pull his arm back!

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m going to save you using another method.¡± Chen Ge stepped back. ¡°Xu Yin, pull him out.¡±

    The monster in the mirror only then realized that his hand was grabbing another¡¯s person¡¯s arm. The person was wearing a red shirt, standing close to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Wait! If I can¡¯t find a scapegoat, I will...¡± He did not get the chance to finish; Xu Yin pulled him directly out from the mirror. The cracks on the mirror were like knives. When the monster was pulled out, the cracks severed his body. He wascerated, and blood dyed the mirror redder.

    Xu Yin held onto the monster¡¯s five remaining fingers, but Chen Ge did notice that the monster inside the mirror was wearing a white coat, so at least one thing was not a lie¡ªhe was indeed the real doctor.

    ¡°I did not wish to harm you, but you harmed yourself. It was not my intention to do things like this, but thankfully...¡±

    Chen Ge looked around.

    ¡°...there are plenty of other mirrors here.¡±

 Chapter 849 - Non-Smilers

    <h4>Chapter 849: Non-Smilers</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The fourth room of the nurse¡¯s office was more like a prison where various types of people were imprisoned. Those imprisoned there were all adults; there were no students. ¡°Looks like the fake doctor knows the rules of the school well. He does not go after the students, probably to avoid angering the school¡¯s consciousness.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the mirrors, and each of them was trapping a monster. They were fully assimted by the negative emotions, and they were not possible candidates for friends. He walked through the room, where pools of blood were left on the ground, before finally stopping before thest mirror at the corner of the room.

    ¡°This mirror looks different.¡±

    The other mirrors were covered with doctor¡¯s coats, but this mirror was covered with a patient¡¯s garb. It was tattered and bloody, and there was a ¡®Xin¡¯ sewn around the chest area.

    ¡°This outfit doesn¡¯te from the School of the Afterlife; it should have been taken by the Red Specter from the cursed hospital!¡±

    Even though Chen Ge had not been to that hospital, he had met its residents more than once already.

    ¡°Looks like the doctor is a patient from that hospital in disguise, but the question is, how did the monster from that four-star mission arrive here?¡±

    Chen Ge could not figure it out. He noticed that the monsters at the cursed hospital, be it Red Specters or Lingering Spirits, seemed to be trying their best to escape.

    ¡°Only a Greater Red Specter could cause a normal Red Specter to run. The doctor looks like he¡¯s much more powerful than a normal Red Specter, so what has really happened at that hospital? Did even a Red Specter have to escape to another four-star scenario to survive?¡±

    There were many questions, but Chen Ge did not mind it. As long as he could find and detain the doctor, most of the questions could be answered.

    ¡°Boss, don¡¯t get too close to that mirror. It gives me a bad feeling.¡± It was Bai Qiulin who spoke. His eyes were filled with blood, and a dangerous aura wreathed him.

    ¡°Can you see the person trapped inside the mirror?¡± Chen Ge was very careful. Knowing there was danger, he retreated. This was the world behind the door; he could not afford to be too careful. Bai Qiulin, who had his hand in his pocket, stood to the left of the mirror, and Xu Yin, who had his head lowered, stood at the right; the two of them guarded Chen Ge.

    ¡°I cannot see it, but I can sense his malice. This person is very powerful.¡± Bai Qiulin nced at Xu Yin, but thetter did not reply. After a signal from Chen Ge, without saying a word, the bloody palm pressed on the surface of the mirror.

    BANG!

    The mirror that was already cracked became more splintered like it could not hold the pressure.

    ¡°If you refuse toe out, we¡¯ll ruin the mirror, and you¡¯ll be trapped in there forever. For us, we¡¯re losing a not-so-important mirror, but you¡¯ll lose yourst hope. You should know which choice to make. Other than that, don¡¯t think about resisting. There are five Red Specters in this room. I¡¯m not threatening you; I¡¯m trying to help you.¡±

    After spending so much time with Chen Ge, Bai Qiulin had learned how to deal with other people from Chen Ge. Chen Ge¡¯s sole reflection appeared in the blood mirror. Gradually, the reflection started to shift until the face turned into that of a stranger. This looked very curious. The reflection still had Chen Ge¡¯s body, but the face was different.

    ¡°You¡¯re also outsiders, right?¡± The man in the mirror had a low voice, and a pool of evil hid in his eyes. But strangely enough, he had a ready smile for the world as if that was the only expression he knew. ¡°Since you have shown up here, it means that the madman has already been killed¡ªhe would never allow a living person to enter this room.¡±

    The man in the mirror seemed to recognize Chen Ge because his eyes kept falling onto Chen Ge.

    ¡°If you wish to capture me as your scapegoat, I advise you to change your mind. Thest Specter who nned to do that is still in my shadow, too afraid to face me.¡± Chen Ge took a step back to maintain a safe distance from the mirror.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why you¡¯d think that. Actually, I mean none of you any harm. You¡¯ve killed the madman, and that has helped me with my revenge. I should be thanking you¡ªwhy would I harm you?¡± The man¡¯s smile widened further, turning his face uglier.

    ¡°You look like a clever person, so I won¡¯t talk circles around you. Tell me everything about the doctor and this room, or I¡¯ll destroy the mirror.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will tell you everything. Only after you understand my value will I be able to live.¡± No matter what he said, the man would have a smile on his face. He only knew how to smile, and this made Chen Ge ufortable as it reminded him of someone. When he took the bus to Li Wan City, there had been a passenger who only ever smiled. During thest mission in Li Wan City, the passenger had even helped Chen Ge, but that was for the man¡¯s self-preservation as well. After the mission in Li Wan City ended, the strange man had disappeared. At the time, Chen Ge did not think much of it. So, he was surprised that he had encountered someone simr at the School of the Afterlife. They were always smiling like it was a disease that they could not control.

    ¡°Let¡¯s talk about the Red Specter masquerading as the doctor first. How did he get to this school?¡± Chen Ge was not sure whether the man would lie to him or not, so he decided to ask some unimportant questions first.

    ¡°He was a patient that escaped from a certain hospital. I can¡¯t tell which specific hospital it was because once you mention the name, you will be cursed.¡± The man¡¯s first answer provided an important name for Chen Ge. Be it the ck phone or other people, none named the hospital directly, like the name was a curse.

    ¡°The cursed hospital?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes narrowed. After he said that, the brows of the man in the mirror lifted, and the blood in his eyes amplified like his emotions were getting out of control.

    ¡°Yes, some do call it that.¡±

    ¡°Why would the fake doctor escape from there?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m not from there. I was a teacher at this school...¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lying.¡± Before the man finished, Chen Ge cut him off. He looked around before grabbing a chair to walk toward the mirror. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    Seeing the threat that was imminent, the man¡¯s eyes darkened, but his smile brightened. ¡°Fine, actually, I¡¯m like you. I came from outside. You can call me... or people like me, the non-smilers.¡±

    The man would pause with each word like he was saying something important.

 Chapter 850 - Begging, Persistence, and the Sky [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 850: Begging, Persistence, and the Sky [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The cracked pieces of the mirror fell from the surface, creating a silvery, tingling sound as they hit the ground. Behind the red mirror, the face of the smiling man was twisted. His smile was growing bigger the closer he was to death. It was as if the closer he was to death, the more he was unable to control his urge tough and smile.

    ¡°We are called non-smilers because father once said that we do not deserve the ability to smile.¡± The man in the mirror seemed to have remembered something, and his lips curled open. Even through the mirror, one could hear this spine-chillingugh like the words mentioned by his father were the most humorous joke in the world.

    ¡°Father?¡±

    ¡°He was a doctor at the hospital. He was not a good father, but he was the best doctor I have met in the world.¡± There was a trace of pain in the man¡¯s crazed eyes. Other than that, there was also a trace of terror and passion. ¡°Other doctors only care about treatment, but while he saves people, he has been busy killing them. He believes that both angels and demons are hidden inside the human heart, and for that, he has personally constructed a heaven and a hell.¡±

    ¡°Is the cursed hospital the hell?¡±

    ¡°No, that is the heaven, but it is a heaven that everyone wishes to escape from!¡± The man in the mirror had exposed his true personality. He looked at Chen Ge andughed happily. He seemed to enjoy having this conversation with Chen Ge.

    ¡°Since it is a heaven, why would people want to escape?¡± Chen Ge had a simple conclusion regarding the man inside the mirror¡ªa mad man.

    ¡°That was my father¡¯s heaven, not our heaven.¡± The man pressed his face against the mirror. The cracked surface printed on his face like it was cutting his face into pieces, and it looked startlingly scary.

    ¡°If the heaven is already so scary, what does the hell built by your father look like?¡±

    ¡°No one has seen the hell. Do you think the people who have entered the hell could stand here and talk to you?¡± The man¡¯s eyes were as wide as saucers. His mouth was opened to the maximum of a human¡¯s muscture limit. If his smile grew any bigger, it would have torn his face in half. ¡°Hey, why are you so interested in that hospital? You already know some information about the hospital. When I said I was a teacher at this school, you realized immediately that I was lying. Is that because you have encountered other non-smilers before? You have seen my family? Or is it because you have also received an invitation from that school?¡±

    The middle-aged man in the mirror was the epitome of evil, but he was also very clever. From a few details, he deduced a lot of information. Chen Ge normally would not waste time facing this kind of clever person. He silently gave a sign to Xu Yin so that he could find a chance to kill the man. Whether this man was enemy or friend, after he was killed, he would be turned into feed for the Haunted House. This was the lesson that Chen Ge had learned from his many interactions with Doctor Gao.

    ¡°Never mind. It doesn¡¯t matter whether it¡¯s because you have seen my family or you have received the invitation from that hospital. Once you are connected to that hospital, you are unable to escape. He will continue to appear beside you in various forms. Until one day, when you peel open your eyes, you will suddenly realize you are lying on top of a cold b of operating table and starting a cursed game that is uniquely yours.¡± The man¡¯s tone did not sound like he was threatening Chen Ge; he was merely stating an inevitable truth.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need you to worry about me.¡± Chen Ge stared at the mirror. ¡°You just mentioned that you have other family?¡±

    ¡°What? Can¡¯t you see it? Like you, I was once a living person. However, the things that apanied you are friendship and family, but the things that apanied us are pain and hatred. We spent our days in the eerie, despairing hospital, watching the spread of death and disease until they one day decided to crawl all over us.¡±

    Pa!

    The man pped his palm heavily on the surface on the mirror. His body was pressed hard against the many splintery gaps. ¡°Father does not appreciate it when we cry, so we can only smile andugh. When we are not feeling well, we need to smile; when we are sick, we need tough; the greater the pain in our heart, the harder we need tough! But no matter how hard we smile, he still does not like us. He said we have a horrible-looking smile, and he said that our smiles are not sincere!¡±

    The man¡¯sughter came from inside the mirror. His face was leaning close to the surface, knocking against it repeatedly. ¡°But look, look at me! I amughing so happily. Can¡¯t you see that I amughing so happily?¡±

    Blood slid down the wounds. The man¡¯s face was cut by the sharp edges. He touched the blood on the corner of his lips. ¡°We are smiling at every single moment, but we are called the non-smilers. Isn¡¯t that the most hrious thing you have heard?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps I have a highughing point, or maybe we are in a different mental space, but I can¡¯t see how is that funny. If you tell me more information about the hospital and the school, I can consider helping you.¡± Chen Ge had interacted with many mad people before. He was not a doctor and was unable to cure these people. The only thing he could do was filter through these people¡¯s words, maintain his own determination, and prevent himself from being assimted by the madness.

    Actually, it was pretty hard to persuade Chen Ge away from his conviction. He had seen apletely different world before. In a deep conversation, it would be hard to tell who was being convinced. Chen Ge could trade ideas with certain people, but this man was definitely not one of them.

    ¡°Looks like my guess was correct. You have seen my family before! Who could it be? My poorest big brother? The youngest, dumbest little brother? Or my big sister who still has herplete body? Or could it be my other sister? No, wait, that¡¯s impossible. If she has seen you, she would have fallen in love with you and would stop at nothing to kill you.¡±

    ¡°Can you please shut up for a moment?¡± Chen Ge realized that when the man shed his disguise and exposed his true self, the true self was a very chatty person. ¡°From now on, I will do the questioning, and you only need to answer.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I will tell you everything that I know. You have met my family before. I believe it won¡¯t be some kind of happy memory. I...¡± The man leaned closer to the surface until his body was almost forcing its way through. Blood flowed on the surfaced on the mirror, but the man did not appear to be in any pain. Madness and illness were not adequate terms to describe this man anymore.

    However, once the man did this, Chen Ge noticed something else. This man who called himself a non-smiler was dressed fully in red. He was a bona fide Red Specter!

    Chen Ge thought back to the non-smiler from Li Wan City. He realized that this whole family of mad people appeared to be Red Specters.

    ¡°What is your rtionship with the patient that¡¯s escaped from the cursed hospital? Why did he end up trapping you inside the mirror?¡± Chen Ge got straight to the point, but internally, he was thinking about something else. <i>This Red Specter appears to be in his weakest moment. After killing and consuming him, perhaps there will be a new Half Red Specter amid my rank of employees.</i>

    ¡°We were in a cooperative rtionship. With my power alone, I was unable to escape from the hospital, so I needed a helper.¡±

    ¡°How did you end up being trapped by him behind the mirror?¡±

    ¡°After escaping from the hospital, our goal was achieved. Both of us wanted to kill the other, so that was normal.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s normal?¡± Chen Ge still had a hard time cing himself in the shoes of a mad person. ¡°And then what? You were apprehended by him and got sent inside a mirror?¡±

    ¡°Neither of us could really harm the other. The n we had was to hide behind another door after we escaped from the hospital, but to our surprise, there was a very scary presence behind this door. It is on the same level as the hospital.¡± The man in the mirror pointed at the top of his head. ¡°Have you seen the eye outside the window?¡±

    ¡°The eye outside the window?¡± Chen Ge frowned. ¡°You mean the blood red sun that has been shining on the entire School of the Afterlife?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it is the real owner here. The few fights between me and my partner attracted its attention, so we wished to find a back-up n for ourselves.¡± The man seemed to have read Chen Ge¡¯s mind already. ¡°We wished to find a path that we could use to enter and leave the school. We put aside our differences and went into another cooperation. We noticed one peculiarity about this ce¡ªyou could not find a normal mirror in the entirety of this school.¡±

    ¡°You noticed that as well?¡±

    ¡°The owner of the school appears to have difficulty facing its reflection. It hates itself, and it has given up on itself. It refuses to see itself.¡± The man¡¯s words caused Chen Ge¡¯s eyes to growrge. He had realized something important.

    ¡°Go on.¡±

    ¡°So, we started to look for mirrors. Then we came to a startling discovery. In this school, every single mirror is made from a memory. The mirrors are hiding someone who hates themselves. Looking at our previous selves is not dissimr to thinking about the past. We have looked through many mirrors, but an ident happened during our search. This mirror that I am in is different from other mirrors. I found myself trapped in here after entering it.¡± The smile on the man¡¯s face sent chills down Chen Ge¡¯s spine. ¡°After my partner noticed the strangeness, he did not follow me in here. That was truly sad. I should have acted more authentically back then to trick him.¡±

    ¡°Even in that situation, you wished to entrap your friend? You are truly a sick person that has no cure.¡± Chen Ge studied the mirror with a new eye. He also slowly discovered the difference between this mirror and the other mirrors. The blood on the surface was all inside the mirror, and there was ayer of dust that could not be rubbed away on the surface. The edge of the mirror had signs of being charred.

    <i>This has been burned before. Whose memory could this mirror be carrying? The painter¡¯s or the first ¡®door-pusher¡¯ that entered the School of the Afterlife?</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s original n was to kill the man inside the mirror, but now, he started to have second thoughts. If he wanted to kill the man, he would need to destroy the mirror or enter the mirror directly. Destroying the mirror meant destroying a valuable clue, and he might be trapped inside the mirror if he entered it. Chen Ge realized that the non-smiler in the mirror had altered the situation in a significant way without even realizing it. If he was not telling the truth and had created all these details to lie to himself, then this man was madder than Chen Ge thought.

    <i>It would be less worrying if such a clever and mad person was made into nutrients, </i>Chen Ge thought, but the expression on his face did not change. ¡°Other than the mirrors, what else did you find out?¡±

    For the time being, Chen Ge did not n to enter the mirror. He wanted to obtain as much information as he could.

    ¡°This school is far more dangerous than we predicted. Do not be fooled by the appearance. Other than that, I have seen many interesting things inside the mirror, but I am unable to tell you now because I am still inside the mirror. If I said those things, I might be eaten by the things inside the mirror.¡± The man could not have been franker. He possessed a lot of information, but he would only tell Chen Ge after he was rescued from inside the mirror.

    ¡°I know what to do now. Ol¡¯ Bai, carry this mirror with you. We will leave the nurse¡¯s office first.¡± Chen Ge wanted to wait for Zhang Ya to wake up before he continued dealing with the non-smilers. The best solution was to ignore him for now. ¡°Find some abandoned clothes or something to wrap around the mirror; I do not wish to see the man¡¯s face.¡±

    Chen Ge was the first to walk out from the room. When Yin Bai and Lee Bing saw them, they were relieved and quickly hurried over. But once they saw Bai Qiulin and Xu Yin, who were following behind Chen Ge, they stopped where they were.

    <i>I need to find the patient that disguised himself as the doctor. Only by capturing him can I confirm the statements given by the non-smiler.</i>

    Chen Ge was concerned about the hospital. The non-smiler was right. He did not receive any mission rted to the hospital from the ck phone, but the things rted to the hospital had already started to show up intermittently around him. He did not know how this would continue to progress, and that unsettled him somewhat.

    <i>I should focus on what is in front of me for now. When that day arrives that I have nowhere to turn, if worstes to worst, I will lead the ghost fetus to the cursed hospital, and we will all perish together.</i>

    That was a good idea, but Chen Ge knew that the chance of that seeding would be infinitesimally small.

    <i>For now, the only good news is that I still have time. Clearing this School of the Afterlife¡¯s mission will be the key.</i>

    Chen Ge nced at Yin Bai and Yan Fei. The two children were weak and needed other people¡¯s support to help them walk. The fact that they were the people who were qualified to be the ¡®door-pushers¡¯ was probably very hard to believe.

    ¡°Zhu Long, Wang Yicheng, and the rest regained their power slowly after their memories were awakened. Does this mean I need to help Yan Fei and Yin Bai remember their past? But hasn¡¯t Yin Bai already remembered many things on her own? She has even met her old friends from Mu Yang High School... No wait! There is no mention of Yin Hong at all in her memory! The key to her missing memory lies with Yin Hong. Only by finding that girl will Yin Bai¡¯s memory beplete!¡±

    To Chen Ge, Yin Bai was different from the other candidates due to theyer of rtionship between the old headmaster of Mu Yang High School. He treated Yin Bai as someone that he could depend on.

    ¡°I seem to remember Yin Hong¡¯s ss was not that far from the nurse¡¯s office.¡± Chen Ge returned to the spot where he had run into Yin Hong. ¡°The old headmaster hase to the school many times, so he should know about the presence of Yin Hong. Does that mean, in his heart, he treats Yin Hong as one of his family as well?¡±

    Quickening his steps, Chen Ge was about to push open the door to Yin Hong¡¯s ssroom when an announcement was suddenly broadcast in the corridor. ¡°Emergency, emergency! All the students, please stay in your ssrooms and do not wander about aimlessly! Emergency emergency...¡±

    The broadcast was repeating the same thing. The tone was very serious like something harrowing had happened at the School of the Afterlife.

    ¡°The more dangerous the situation, the simpler and more sinct the emergency broadcast. Have the painter and Chang Wenyu started to move?¡± Chen Ge quickly walked to the window. He realized that the blood fog had thickened greatly, and there was something banging itself against the school madly in the fog.

 Chapter 851 - Yin Hongâ€™s Personality

    <h4>Chapter 851: Yin Hong¡¯s Personality</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°What is that?¡± There were red human shadows showing in the blood fog. Because they were of the same color as the fog, Chen Ge could not see them clearly. ¡°Oh well. Even if the sky falls, there¡¯s someone taller to hold it.¡±

    Chen Ge turned his gaze away and opened the door. The students were studying on their own. Since they heard the door open, they all turned to look at the door.

    ¡°Carry on. We¡¯re here for one person.¡± Chen Ge walked to the podium. His eyes scanned the ss but could not find Yin Hong. ¡°Where is she?¡±

    He walked to an empty seat at the third row. ¡°Is this Yin Hong¡¯s seat?¡±

    The nearby students did not appear like they were familiar with the girl, and no one spoke.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you guys ssmates?¡± Chen Ge looked through the girl¡¯s textbook. It had Yin Hong¡¯s name in it. ¡°That¡¯s right. This is her seat, but where is she?¡±

    Chen Ge turned to Yin Hong¡¯s deskmate with a scary expression.

    ¡°Just now, an old man came to fetch her. He said he was Yin Hong¡¯s grandfather.¡±

    ¡°Do you know where they¡¯ve gone?¡±

    ¡°He said that he has something to tell her, but they have been gone for quite some time already. I believe she will be back soon.¡± Yin Hong¡¯s deskmate was a bit scared of Chen Ge, or rather, he was more scared of Xu Yin and Bai Qiulin, who carried the mirror behind Chen Ge. Those two did not appear normal.

    ¡°The old headmaster has led Yin Hong away. He sure moves fast, but today, I¡¯m not going to let him escape from me.¡± Chen Ge shoved Yin Hong¡¯s stuff into his backpack and then passed it to Xu Yin. He stood before Yin Hong¡¯s deskmate. ¡°Which way did they go?¡±

    ¡°The western corridor...¡±

    ¡°Okay, I won¡¯t disturb your ss anymore. It¡¯s very dangerous outside. You might survive this ordeal if you stay obediently in the ssroom.¡± Chen Ge led his people out of the room. They stopped at the corner of the corridor. ¡°Yin Bai, your grandfather is now in the school.¡±

    Chen Ge did not know how to break the news about Yin Hong to Yin Bai. The girl looked kind, but she seemed to have purposely forgotten every memory that was rted to Yin Hong. Perhaps those memories were too painful, and this was the body¡¯s defense mechanism.

    ¡°Grandpa is here? Why hasn¡¯t hee to see me?¡±

    ¡°He would have gone to you first since he loves you that much. This only proves that something has happened to him.¡± Chen Ge had Xu Yin search through Yin Hong¡¯s bag to look for clues. At the same time, he took out theic and told Yin Bai, ¡°Your grandfather is the kindest person I¡¯ve met. We can¡¯t let him suffer this danger alone. Everyone wishes for a reunion. Only with him present will the family beplete.¡±

    In few sentences, Chen Ge had convinced Yin Bai.

    ¡°I understand your grandfather¡¯s personality. Even if he¡¯s in danger, he¡¯ll try not to get us involved. He¡¯ll take it on alone, so our only option is to go find him.¡± Chen Ge grabbed Yin Bai¡¯s cold hand. ¡°Yin Bai, you are the only one who can help your grandfather.¡±

    When Chen Ge said that, Yin Bai understood the severity of the situation. She bit on her thin lips and whispered, ¡°I made a promise with grandpa before. If, one day, I was very afraid and helpless and felt like I could not hold on anymore, I should go to the old campus on the western side of school...¡±

    ¡°Wait.¡± Chen Ge shushed Yin Bai and had Bai Qiulin carry the mirror away. He led Yin Bai and Xu Yin away from the mirror. ¡°Continue, what about the old campus?¡±

    ¡°He told me to look for a burned building. There is a red door hidden inside the ruin. I was to find it and then push it open.¡± Yin Bai was the kind that would not lie to others.

    <i>It can¡¯t be that simple. If one could leave by pushing open that door, the old headmaster would have escaped with Yin Bai a long time ago instead of waiting for so long.</i>

    Chen Ge looked into Yin Bai¡¯s eyes. Thetter¡¯s eyes were clear and clean, and they had nothing to hide. ¡°Is that all?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll head there now. Perhaps we might run into your grandfather on the way.¡± Chen Ge got everyone to rush to the western side of campus. As they moved, he epted the backpack from Xu Yin. This was a normal school bag used by a girl, but Chen Ge found many doodling in Yin Hong¡¯s textbooks and study materials. There were patches here and there. They looked ugly and unsightly, unlike a girl¡¯s books.

    ¡°Why does she like doodling so much? Is it to cover up something?¡± Chen Ge looked through the books and finally found some spots that had not been fully doodled over. He held the page up to the light and managed to see some faint writing.

    ¡°Why hasn¡¯t she died? Why isn¡¯t she dead?¡±

    ¡°All the doodles are covering the curses toward someone?¡± Chen Ge put the textbook back. He picked out several balls of paper at the bottom of the bag. These had been discovered inside Yin Hong¡¯s drawer. At the time, Chen Ge did not want to miss anything, so he had shoved them into the bag as well. Opening the crumpled paper, the front side had some math form, but the back was covered in tiny lines of words.

    ¡°I am unable to control myself any longer. I can always see her, but she has forgotten about me. That shouldn¡¯t be.

    ¡°Blood fell on my eyes. It was not a happy experience. I have helped her so many times. Why couldn¡¯t she help me once?

    ¡°How hard is it to die? Just like what I did to them. She has forgotten the promise she made me. It is because of me that she is alive.

    ¡°Those who loved her have never appeared, and those who said they will take care of her disappeared at the most crucial moment. I am the only who stayed. She should be the most thankful toward me.

    ¡°Again and again, why can¡¯t she see what I have sacrificed for her?

    ¡°I have done so much, and I ask for nothing but for her to die. I just need her to die, but don¡¯t worry, I will live on her behalf.

    ¡°Why does she refuse to die? In this world, no one will love her other than me. What else is she hoping for?

    ¡°I think I understand it now. That fake person with a mouth full of lies is here.

    ¡°A liar who has never fulfilled any of his promises. Is that the reason she refuses to die? I understand what to do now.

    ¡°Just like those who have bullied her. Hahaha!¡±

    The handwriting on the paper was hard to read. When Chen Ge reached the end, he sucked in a cold breath. ¡°I¡¯m afraid we have to move faster; the old headmaster is in real trouble.¡±

    The old headmaster was a truly kind person. With Chen Ge¡¯s understanding of him, even if Yin Hong wanted to kill him, he would not fight back.

    That was because Yin Hong possessed Yin Bai¡¯s appearance, and the old headmaster had always felt guilty toward her.

    ¡°Quick! The western side!¡± Chen Ge really did not wish for tragedy to befall the old headmaster. ¡°Unprincipled kindness is cruelty toward ourselves. I hope he is safe.¡±

 Chapter 852 - Outline of the Blood Red City

    <h4>Chapter 852: Outline of the Blood Red City</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    To find the old headmaster, Chen Ge had visited Mu Yang High School several times. This would be the first time that he hade so close to the old headmaster, so whoever stood in his way would be his enemy.

    From Chen Ge¡¯s perspective, bumping into each other would only happen in dramas; he had already decided to do everything in his power to find the old headmaster. It was not only because the old headmaster knew how to leave the School of the Afterlife; it was also because he knew plenty about his parents, and that would help in Chen Ge¡¯s understanding of the Haunted House, the ck phone, and even himself.

    <i>Abandoning everyone and risking his life at a four-star scenario, does he even ce the students in his ss in his heart?</i>

    Chen Ge wished to know the answer, so he needed to meet the old headmaster in person.

    The situation at the school turned creepier. pping sounds echoed on the windows, red fog stuck to the ss, and he could see cracks starting to form.

    <i>Most of three-star scenarios are an enclosed scenario like Third Sick Hall. Due to the uniqueness of Li Wan City, the ck phone determined it as a 3.5-star scenario...</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the window, and a question bubbled up.

    <i>I saw a broken window in the Third Sick Hall before, and Men Nan has been trying to fix it. ording to him, if the broken window is not fixed and is seen by other dirty things, it might attract things that are very dangerous. The Third Sick Hall is closed upon itself. Due to his weakness, Men Nan never thought of leaving the scenario, so he did not dare imagine what the outside of Third Sick Hall looks like.</i>

    Looking at the rolling red fog outside the window, Chen Ge was reminded of the Coffin Vige.

    <i>The world behind the door in that vige was also red, but the ghost in the well was far more powerful than Men Nan. She was as powerful as Zhang Ya before consuming the shadow¡¯s heart, so she had the power to protect that little vige. But she has been trying to research the methods to reincarnate, to shake off the identity of a ghost. She should have seen something very scary behind the door, and that¡¯s the reason behind her desperation. To be able to make a Red Specter so scared, that has to be the real terror behind the door.</i>

    His duel with Doctor Gao in the underground morgue shed across his mind. Doctor Gao had chosen to suffer all the sin behind the door on his own. He had buried the door and personally ruined the door that he had opened. After the door copsed, the ceiling made from blood vessels and organs had crumbled, and the glow of the blood red moon had filtered down from above. Chen Ge remembered clearly what he had seen. From the opening in the underground morgue, he had looked out and seen a red city.

    <i>It was an endless, red city, that is what is beyond these scary scenarios? Or rather, no matter how many stars the scenarios have, are they all part of this red city?</i>

    Chen Ge felt like he was getting closer to the truth, but at the same time, he grew more worried. Doctor Gao was the scariest enemy that he had ever faced; he was cautious, powerful, and had many helpers. Chen Ge even suspected that the suicide was part of his n. However, an existence like that had be a madman entangled in chains after leaving his original scenario for a few days.

    Moreover, Doctor Gao loved his wife; that was the single conviction keeping him alive. Chen Ge knew that even if Doctor Gao¡¯s soul got destroyed, he would not allow anyone to hurt his wife, not even her dead body. But in reality, when they met again, Doctor Gao only had his wife¡¯s skull left. Chen Ge could not imagine what had happened to Doctor Gao behind the door and what kind of terror he had encountered. He had decided to cooperate with Doctor Gao in Li Wan City because he wanted to know everything he could about the world behind the door. This was because he suspected that his parents had entered that red city.

    <i>I¡¯ve been to many three-star scenarios. They are all closed off, so four-star scenarios...</i>

    Chen Ge was thinking when he heard something next to him.

    Pa!

    The window next to him suddenly shattered. Numerous ss shard sprayed at him, but thankfully, Xu Yin helped to block them all.

    ¡°The ss cracked?¡± The school window was broken. This scenario was connected to the outside world. There were outlines of buildings in the fog, and bizarrely, the distance between the school and those buildings was decreasing like they were moving.

    ¡°This way!¡± Screams and footsteps came from the end of the corridor. Chen Ge hurried and had everyone hide inside one of the ssrooms. Blood fog slithered in through the broken window like a red python seeking its pray.

    Momentster, seven men in staff uniforms and the teachers hurried over. The leader was Mr. Lei, whom Chen Ge had met earlier. They were carrying tools and fixed the windows in several seconds. But to Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, although seven people came to fix the window, six left.

    One had disappeared.

    <i>Does each window represents a soul or lingering spirit? </i>thought Chen Ge. <i>The door pusher opened the door at their most desperate moment, so their despair can be counted as a kind of lingering spirit. It is because they are unable to resolve it that they sink ever deeper. This despair isted their heart from the world, and it is the despair that prevented their scenario from interacting with the red city, which is how a fully enclosed scenario is born.</i>

    <i>For three-star scenarios, a broken window is something dangerous. They have never interacted with the red city before, but it is different for four-star scenario. Based on Mr. Lei¡¯s reaction, they appear to encounter this often. They have already gotten used to the red city outside the school.</i>

    The more Chen Ge thought about it, the more sense it made. The original door pusher at the school had already been consumed. The door had weakened greatly, but it had not been destroyed. After surviving the hardest period, the door had be something else.

    <i>The strange phenomenon happening now probably has something to do with the painter or Chang Wenyu. I cannot predict what those two mad people will do.</i>

    After Mr. Lei¡¯s group left, Chen Ge led his people out of the ssroom and rushed toward the western side of the school. The rm had stopped, and there was no one in the corridor, only a death-like stillness.

 Chapter 853 - Iâ€™ve Been Searching so Long for You

    <h4>Chapter 853: I¡¯ve Been Searching so Long for You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The library was at the center of the School of the Afterlife. After Chen Ge left the mirror in the library, he was given a glimpse of the real School of the Afterlife. But as he walked toward the edge of the school, more strange things started to appear around him. The school was huge, but the students and staff mostly gathered at the center of the school; the ssrooms and rooms at outer edges of the school were mostly empty.

    If they were just empty rooms, it would have been fine, but upon a closer inspection, Chen Ge realized that there were various stains left in those ssrooms. Some of the ssrooms appeared to have been soaked in water. The wooden tables and chairs were sodden, and they gave off a strange smell. Some of the ssrooms were barred with wooden boards. Looking through the gaps, he saw that all the drawers were pinned down with nails as if someone was afraid that the things inside the drawers might escape.

    That was not the strangest part. When Chen Ge walked down a corridor that was far away from the center of the school, he saw an abandoned hall. The decoration of the hall was simr to the hall that he had seen when he went to challenge Xin Hai¡¯s Haunted House. The Haunted House in Xin Hai was replicated ording to the diary, so the real owner of the diary had spent their life at this hall before.

    Chen Ge had read the diary himself, but he realized that the description inside the diary and the real School of the Afterlife did not match up. A banner that weed new students hung on the wall, and several mannequins stood on the cement stage. They had cheery expressions, and stuck on their backs were pieces of paper with various negative emotions like anger and envy written on them.

    <i>These mannequins are smiling so happily when facing the students, but the words on their backs are negative emotions. Is this some kind of hint?</i>

    When Chen Ge passed the hall, he clearly saw the mannequins on stage moved their heads toward him, and the expressions on their faces changed. There was something special about this hall¡ªa scary presence should preside there.

    ¡°What are you looking at? Look some more and I¡¯ll consume all of you.¡±

    Through the window, Chen Ge yelled threats at the mannequins like a big bully. The mannequins reacted cleverly. They swiftly turned their heads back as if everything that Chen Ge had seen earlier was just an illusion.

    ¡°If I was not in a hurry to find the old headmaster, do you think I would let you go so easily?¡± Chen Ge stared at the mannequin that had nced at him earlier. ¡°It¡¯s pointless to hide. I¡¯ve remembered you.¡±

    There were many strange rooms at the School of the Afterlife. It was like a box of chocte with different vors for Chen Ge; he had no idea what he would encounter next.

    <i>I¡¯ve only checked the western side of the school. If the other parts of the school are also like this, then this scenario is enormous.</i>

    The thought that he had a chance to move such a scenario to his Haunted House caused Chen Ge¡¯s eyes to turn red. To be able to possess such arge,plicated, and scary scenario should be the life-long dream of every Haunted House owner.

    <i>Just the School of the Afterlife alone covers all the scary scenarios rted to schools. There are numerous ssrooms and rooms for me to transform. I can even replicate all the stories I heard at the Ghost Stories Society here!</i>

    <i>Unfortunately, the scenario unlocked by the ck phone is only a shell. I will need to find the employees and stories to fill it up myself.</i>

    The thought of the ck phone made Chen Ge calm down again. It was as if he was being sshed by a pail of cold water while standing next to a firece in winter. The backpack had been found, and everything but the ck phone had been there. Based on current information, the most likely scenario was that it had been taken away by Chang Wenyu.

    <i>I was too careless. I shan¡¯t let this happen again.</i>

    Chen Ge was good at analyzing the situation. He would take note of everything that he had experienced so that he could correct issues little by little. Finally, he would burn the records. It was this caution that allowed him to survive until now.

    <i>After leaving this ce, I should make a few customized phones that looks simr to the ck phone and hide a Specter inside each of them.</i>

    A while of runningter, the white painted walls started to have the doodling of children. The amount of litter on the ground increased, and trash appeared around the corner. The stench of blood in the air lightened, and in its ce was the smell of burning. ¡°We¡¯re almost there. Be careful of the surroundings.¡±

    Chen Ge opened theic to release the smelly boy from Western Jiujiang Private Academy. He was a special Specter. He had no shape or form and was made up of a bad smell. That meant that he was not easily injured and could protect his teammates from arge area. Walking forward, the paint on the wall started to peel to reveal the ck and red bricks behind it. Signs of a fire started to appear.

    ¡°This should be the ce.¡± Chen Ge got Yin Bai to stand beside him. ¡°Your grandfather is in a dangerous situation now. Someone is trying to harm him, and only we can save him.¡±

    Yin Bai¡¯s only family was the old headmaster. Hearing the stern warning from Chen Ge, she was rightfully frightened.

    ¡°Are you sure he hasn¡¯t told you any other information?¡±

    ¡°Yes, there¡¯s nothing else.¡±

    ¡°Then, we¡¯ll have to look through the ce ourselves.¡± Chen Ge tried to see things from the old headmaster¡¯s perspective. Both Yin Hong and Yin Bai were part of Lee Xueyin. He would not just escape with Yin Hong and abandon Yin Bai. Chen Ge had no idea what was at the end of the School of the Afterlife. The closer he was to the edge, the greater the anxiety in his heart. After walking down two corridors, the scene before him changedpletely. Signs of a fire were all over the walls, and rubble littered the ground.

    ¡°This ce looks familiar.¡± Chen Ge walked to one of the ssrooms. He pushed lightly on the charred wooden door, and it copsed easily. He looked at the tables and chairs in the rooms. His fingers touched them gingerly. ¡°I¡¯ve seen these arrangements in Mu Yang High School before. This ssroom...¡±

    A pinprick of pain came from his fingertip. Chen Ge then noticed that there were lines of words carved into the surface of the table, and he had seen the exact writing when he first explored Mu Yang High School.

    <i>Why would Mu Yang High School¡¯s ssroom appear in the old section of the School of the Afterlife? Is this just a coincidence, or is the entire School of the Afterlife made up of various abandoned schools?</i>

    Chen Ge wanted to confirm the thought, so he hurried to thest ssroom of the corridor. Walking down the corridor, when Chen Ge pushed open the door of thest ssroom, he was baffled.

    Each of the chairs in the ssrooms had a burned school uniform on it, and in the middle of the room sat a cute, obedient girl. She looked eighty percent identical to Yin Bai.

    Just across the girl stood a rotund old man. He was facing away from Chen Ge, but even from the back, Chen Ge felt he looked very familiar.

 Chapter 854 - Are You Going to Leave Us Behind?

    Chapter 854: Are You Going to Leave Us Behind?

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    ¡°Simr to the person from my memory, do you know how hard I¡¯ve been looking for you?¡± Chen Ge remembered it very clearly. It was a night of heavy rain, and the clock on the phone showed it was 2 am. He was rampaging down the corridors of the abandoned school. When he passed thest ssroom, that was the first time that he had encountered the old headmaster. The kind, rotund old man stood at the podium. His eyes met Chen Ge¡¯s, and their paths crossed for less than a second. Now, their paths were crossing again at the School of the Afterlife. The old headmaster probably did not expect that brief encounter to be something that would change his life forever.

    His scalp turned numb, and a chill crawled down his spine. The figure who stood before Yin Hong¡¯s desk slowly turned around. When he saw Chen Ge, his expression was very unnatural.

    ¡°You are...¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge.¡± Chen Ge tookrge strides toward the old man. ¡°We have met in Mu Yang High School before. If you cannot remember it, I can show you the video because I was in the middle of a livestream back then.¡±

    ¡°I believe I have an impression of you, but now I have something else to do. After I¡¯m done, we can catch up and talk.¡± The old headmaster seemed to know Chen Ge¡¯s secrets. He knew that he was different from his students¡¯ lingering spirits. Once his life entangled with Chen Ge, there would be endless problems, so he made up his decision instantly as he grabbed Yin Hong¡¯s arm and prepared to leave.

    ¡°What is more important than the children at Mu Yang High School?¡± Chen Ge took out theic from his backpack. ¡°Headmaster, everyone misses you. When you are away, the students lose their smiles. You are the backbone of Mu Yang High School. Without you, the home is notplete.¡±

    Be it from his expression or voice, the content or tone, Chen Ge was the epitome of sincerity. Seeing that his students were all on Chen Ge¡¯s side, there was a change to the old headmaster¡¯s gaze. His lips opened, but nothing came out instantly. Even though he had been alive for a long time, the old headmaster had not learned how to say no.

    ¡°Headmaster, I know that you have your difficulties, and I understand you have your own considerations, but think about this. You believe that you have given a safe home for the students and entered such a dangerous ce alone. But do you think the students can rest easy not knowing how their beloved headmaster is doing? If they know their current lives are in exchange for everything you have, do you think they can continue to enjoy that life? You know your students best. If you do not wish for them to wallow in guilt, please tell us everything so that we can discuss it together.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s every word crawled into the old headmaster¡¯s heart. He did not care about his own safety, but he cared deeply about those students. Those students were the old headmaster¡¯s weakness, so of course, they were also his best helper.

    Without giving the old headmaster more time to consider, Chen Ge took out a ballpoint pen. He handed the pen to the old man and then got a piece of paper from Yin Hong¡¯s bag. ¡°I¡¯m not lying to you. I hope you can listen to their opinion.¡±

    The old headmaster held the taped pen in his grasp. The pen shuddered, and when the tip of the pen touched the paper, it started to move on its own. ¡°No matter what other people think, I am willing to help you.¡±

    Chen Ge sighed under his breath when he saw the words on the paper. When the Pen Spirit found out Chen Ge was going to the School of the Afterlife, she had sworn tomit suicide if she was brought along, but now she had changed her statement after meeting the old headmaster. The old headmaster shook his head. He held the pen gingerly like he was afraid of damaging it. He looked at it like he was looking at his granddaughter.

    ¡°Not only her, there¡¯s everybody else.¡± Chen Ge flipped through theic and summoned all the students from Mu Yang High School. ¡°They are all orphans, and you have given them a home. After they died, their lingering spirits remained in Mu yang High School because, for them, no matter how big the world is, Mu Yang High School will always be home.¡±

    Seeing the familiar figures, the old headmaster was silent.

    About ten secondster, he turned to Chen Ge. ¡°I am going to do something very dangerous. You shouldn¡¯t havee, and you shouldn¡¯t have brought them with you.¡±

    ¡°You have seen my parents and know about them. Since you are willing to leave the students to me, it means that you understand my personality.¡± Chen Ge stood before the old headmaster. ¡°The Haunted House is my home, and the people who stay there are naturally my family. How can I let my family suffer every day with guilt?¡±

    Be it the lingering spirits from Mu Yang High School or Bai Qiulin who was carrying the mirror, when they heard Chen Ge, they were moved. Their sense of belonging to the Haunted House grew. This was not something that Chen Ge repeated daily, but it was a feeling that had slowly been impressed upon them day after day by the way Chen Ge acted around them.

    ¡°The thing that I¡¯m going to do is very dangerous; it¡¯ll put you in danger, and it¡¯ll harm them.¡± The headmaster¡¯s hair was white. He stood inside the burned ssroom and looked at the familiar figures. He had not thought that he would see the children again in his life.

    ¡°I have spent so much time trying to get into this school. One of the reasons behind it is to help you.¡± Chen Ge summoned the spirits back into theic. They were just lingering spirits, thus very weak. If there was an ident, their souls would disperse, and theirst trace on earth would be wiped out. Seeing the disappearance of his students, the headmaster had aplicated expression before he sighed in relief. ¡°You are just like your father, meddling in other people¡¯s business, prone to causing trouble, and don¡¯t like to consider the consequences. However, you have a bottom line that you will not cross and a heart of kindness that glows in the dark.¡±

    This was the first time that Chen Ge had heard ament about his father. It waspletely different from his impression of his father. Afraid of stopping the old headmaster, he did not say anything to retort him.

    ¡°Looks like you¡¯re familiar with them,¡± Chen Gemented.

    ¡°Yes, it was your father who told me that Xueyin is trapped inside the School of the Afterlife. Without asking for anything in return, he helped me find a way to get in here. He helped me so much, and now you have personally entered the school to look for me... I owe your family too much.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s father was built up in the headmaster¡¯s words, but Chen Ge felt a bit unsettled hearing that. It was an ident that he had taken over the Haunted House, and he did not even consider that his life would be entwined with the old headmaster before this. Before, he had thought that everything was too coincidental, but now that the old headmaster mentioned it, Chen Ge suddenly realized that the headmaster appeared to have been scammed.

    ¡°Perhaps I am acting too selfishly, just thinking about myself and not anyone else.¡± The old headmaster was reflecting, and Chen Ge did not know what to say.

 Chapter 855 - Thinking into the Future?

    Chapter 855: Thinking into the Future?

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    ¡°Sir, don¡¯t say that. That is all in the past, and we need to live in the present.¡± Chen Ge coughed. He really did not expect to run into the old headmaster in the School of the Afterlife. It was an ident that he had entered the school. Thankfully, he retained his habit of bringing all his employees with him no matter where he went. With numbers came power. It was hard to tell when a worker¡¯s special power would be useful. Even if they had no special power, they would be goodpany. Due to various coincidences, this situation was formed. It felt coincidental but inevitable. It caused his head to go numb.

    ¡°One is prone to look back into the past when one is old. Seeing you reminded me of your parents. They have helped me a lot, ¡± the old headmaster said with guilt. ¡°Actually, when you first entered Mu Yang High School, I noticed you. It was then that I came up with the n to enter this school toe and save Xueyin.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind all that.¡± Chen Ge was worried that Yin Hong might harm the old headmaster, so he took several steps forward.

    ¡°Let me talk. I¡¯ve been holding these things in for so long, and I wish to share them.¡± The old headmaster shook his head. ¡°The School of the Afterlife is very dangerous, and I know the chance of saving Xueyin is not high. If I was not able to return, the students back in the ss would get into trouble without anyone looking after them. I didn¡¯t feel good leaving them behind, so I left them with you.

    ¡°Your parents have helped me, but I¡¯ve made use of you, and now to find me, you have voluntarilye to somewhere so dangerous. I don¡¯t know what to say.¡±

    ¡°Sir, even though this ce is dangerous, there¡¯s no need to despair.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes skipped over the headmaster to look at Yin Hong, who was hiding behind the old man. ¡°I came here fully prepared.¡±

    He flipped through theic, and the yellowed pages ruffled in the night. Fresh blood leaked out from it. Thisic that looked normal had a page that was fully red.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    The sound of knocking echoed around them. A pale hand reached out from inside the book. There was a curl of ck hair wound around her wrist. The smell of blood thickened. Fingers, arm, shoulder, finally a headless woman crawled out from theic. That was not all. She reached into the pages to search for a long time before pulling out a woman¡¯s head. The blood red dress swung in the wind. The ghost held her head and stood next to Chen Ge quietly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. They¡¯re all allies.¡± Chen Ge pulled open the backpack, put theic away, and took out a blood red high heels from the deepest part of the bag. He ced the heels on the nearby table, and a clicking sound echoed in the room. Red footprints appeared on the ground before stopping right next to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Xu Yin.¡± Chen Ge called after Xu Yin lightly. The stench of blood rushed at them. Xu Yin, who stopped hiding himself, titled his head to look at the old headmaster. The whole ssroom felt like it was submerged in a red sea!

    Not including Bai Qiulin, Chen Ge was surrounded by three Red Specters!

    ¡°Are these enough?¡±

    The old headmaster had no idea that Chen Ge would bring so many Red Specters into the school with him. His eyes were round. ¡°That¡¯s enough. As long as we¡¯re careful, we...¡±

    ¡°I know it¡¯s not enough.¡± Before the headmaster finished, Chen Ge continued. ¡°So before I entered this world, I discussed cooperating with three other Red Specters in this school. We have the same goal, so they have agreed to cooperate with me.¡±

    ¡°In other words, there will be six... six Red Specters who will help us?¡± The old headmaster was familiar with how scary Red Specters were. They were the representation of despair and cruelty. If he ran into one alone, other than being consumed, he could see no other ending.

    ¡°The six Specters are chess pieces that I might use to distract the enemy.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at his shadow, and his gaze softened. ¡± My real trump card is a Greater Red Specter!¡±

    Hearing those few words from Chen Ge¡¯s lips, the old headmaster started to doubt his hearing, but he did not dare ask him to repeat those words. This young man before him was too scary. If he did not see the three Red Specters with his own eyes, he would have thought that Chen Ge was kidding. He was just a Half Red Specter; they were not on the same level.

    ¡°Now, what are our odds of sess?¡± Chen Ge stood before the old man. His expression was serious, not kidding at all.

    ¡°If what you¡¯re saying is true, we have a ny-percent chance of leaving the school safely.¡±

    ¡°Only ny percent? And that¡¯s just escaping from the school?¡± Chen Ge frowned slightly. Counting the hibernating Zhang Ya, they only had a ny-percent chance of escaping. It seemed like they would still need to follow the school¡¯s consciousness if they wanted to prevail.

    ¡°I will share my n with you.¡± The old headmaster treated Chen Ge as one of his own. ¡°Your father didn¡¯t tell me why this school would appear¡ªhe only told me that the door of this school had been looking for children who were bullied and helpless. Because of that, Xueyin was pulled behind the door. He had studied this door closely before and noticed something special. The school inside this door was actually made up from different schools, and it was a mixture of all the bullied kids¡¯ memories.¡±

    ¡°But what does that have to do with your n?¡± Chen Ge was confused.

    ¡°Of course, the link is huge. One of these ces in their memory is Mu Yang High School.¡± The old headmaster sighed. ¡°It was my irresponsibility. There was a sad thing that happened at Mu Yang High School. A student was expelled because of it. Later, his adopted father sent him back to the countryside. The child was an honest one. Even though his results were not good, he is very talented at painting.¡±

    ¡°Painting?¡±

    ¡°Yes, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Nothing, go on.¡± Chen Ge waved his hands.

    ¡°It is a coincidence that Mu Yang High School in the School of the Afterlife is like an opening, a wound that the owner of the memory was unable to heal.¡±

    ¡°Where is this opening?¡±

    ¡°The abandoned well behind the field. The well is directly connected to the world outside the School of the Afterlife.¡± What the old headmaster said was surprising to Chen Ge. ¡°After leaving the school, we will enter a city covered in red fog. We need to continue to head west. No matter what we see, do not turn back. No matter who calls your name, do not respond. Keep walking until you enter an abandoned mental asylum. There is a broken window in the third block of the mental asylum. After crawling through that window, we¡¯ll be safe.¡±

    ¡°Third block of an abandoned mental asylum?¡± That sounded familiar to Chen Ge. The headmaster was describing Men Nan¡¯s Third Sick Hall!

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what your father told me. When I first came to visit Xueyin, it was with your father¡¯spany. We sneaked into the school through that window. Unfortunately, your parents disappeared after that, and the door was taken over by some menacing ghosts. I went back with the determination to die but realized that there was already no one there.¡± The old headmaster sighed. ¡°Perhaps even God wishes for me to go and apany Xueyin.¡±

    There is no such coincidence in the world. Chen Ge¡¯s brain was spinning. After entering the blood city, Doctor Gao lost his mind in a week, so the old headmaster could not have passed through the blood city alone from the Third Sick Hall to School of the Afterlife unscathed!

    Someone or something had to be protecting him from behind!

    With his eyes red, an answer floated up in Chen Ge¡¯s heart. He gritted his teeth to stop himself from voicing it out loud.

    It was Chen Ge¡¯s father who had passed on all the information about the school to the old headmaster, and it was Chen Ge¡¯s father who had broken the window in the Third Sick Hall!

    Why would he waste so much energy to send the old headmaster to the School of the Afterlife?

    Chen Ge clenched his fists, and his eyes identally scanned the red sun outside the window. The consciousness made from despair was boiling. These children sought no escape; they were crying in pain, but no one could hear their voice, no one would understand them, and no one was willing to apany them.

    His eyes narrowed as a possibility suddenly came to Chen Ge.

    Did he want to have the headmaster from Mu Yang High Schoole and take over as the headmaster for School of the Afterlife?

    His heart was thumping. Chen Ge held the edge of the table and took a deep breath before he could calm down.

 Chapter 856 - I Have Another Solution

    <h4>Chapter 856: I Have Another Solution</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>The owner of the door at Third Sick Hall is Men Nan. There are not many with the surname Men <sup>1</sup> . Perhaps the child¡¯s name is a hint left for me.</i>

    Door represented the unknown, but it also represented the exit.

    <i>Now that I think about it, there have been plenty of clues. What kind of trouble have my parents gotten themselves into? Why is it that I must use this method to approach the truth?</i>

    Certain questions needed more probing. After the conversation with the old headmaster, Chen Ge knew that his parents were hiding many things; they were not as simple as they appeared. Problems that even Doctor Gao could not solve, Chen Ge¡¯s parents could resolve easily, but even so, they did not dare to tell Chen Ge the truth. They only kept releasing hints and clues for him. This reaction caused unease in Chen Ge.

    <i>I have no idea what I need to be careful of, but now I can be certain my family has encountered something incredibly troublesome.</i>

    Chen Ge stood next to the table. His brain was spinning; every word mentioned by the old headmaster was important to him.

    ¡°Chen Ge, are you alright?¡± Seeing how frozen Chen Ge was, he wanted to go over to the young man but was afraid of the Red Specters surrounding him.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Chen Ge waved his hands. ¡°The path you mentioned is too dangerous. I am not confident about leaving this ce. The red city is filled with all sorts of monster.¡±

    The happenstance of Doctor Gao had greatly impacted Chen Ge. A perfectly fine person became insane in a week¡ªthat was too much of an ordeal.

    ¡°I cannot risk my workers¡¯ lives.¡± Chen Ge sat at the table. Perhaps due to the overthinking, his face was pale.

    ¡°But that is the only exit!¡± The headmaster did not expect Chen Ge to reject his idea.

    ¡°I actually know there¡¯s another exit.¡± Chen Ge slowly raised his head to look at the old headmaster. ¡°Every scenario has a door. We can leave from the School of the Afterlife¡¯s door.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. The school will not allow any students to leave. It has provided the children a home, and the children have be a part to the scenario; there is not one without the other.¡± The headmaster pointed out the window. ¡°Do you see the red eye out there? All the students¡¯ negative emotions are gathered there. Once it realizes someone is trying to escape, they will be stopped by the school. It will not allow any students to leave, much less open the door for Xueyin to exit.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know this door well enough. Based on my knowledge, a girl managed to leave this school from that door a long time ago. Her name is Chang Wenyu.¡± Chen Ge was knowledgeable about the school¡¯s limitations.

    ¡°Are you sure? How did she manage that?¡± The headmaster was shocked. This was the first time that he had heard something like that.

    ¡°Currently, this school is controlled by the consciousness of the collective student body. The despairing students will not let us leave, but if one of us reces the school¡¯s consciousness to be the new owner of the school, we will be able to control the whole school and open the door.¡± When Chen Ge spoke, his eyes were kept on the old headmaster, marking every single change to his expression.

    ¡°We?¡± The headmaster looked at Chen Ge like he was mad. ¡°That¡¯s impossible. Over the past few years, the school¡¯s consciousness has kept growing; it has be a monster. Even a Red Specter is no match for it...¡±

    The old headmaster added to stress as if worried that he had not gotten his point across, ¡°Even if there are six Red Specters!¡±

    He wanted Chen Ge to abandon that dangerous thought in his mind. From his perspective, trying to rece the school¡¯s consciousness was a dead end.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you curious why I¡¯d rather challenge the school than venture into the blood red city?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s father¡¯s shadow appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, but the image that he had of his father waspletely different from the man whom the old headmaster had described. He had trouble seeing things from his father¡¯s perspective. Honestly, he had no idea what his family was thinking¡ªhe merely believed that they would not harm him.

    ¡°Why?¡± The old headmaster was confused. He hade from that way. In his mind, that was a perfectly safe path.

    ¡°You have greatly underestimated the danger level of the city.¡± Chen Ge told the headmaster about Doctor Gao, not hiding anything. ¡°I have many witnesses with me, like Xu Yin,; Bai Qiulin; and your student, the Pen Spirit. The past has stuck to us like a nightmare. Even now, when I close my eyes, I can still see myself back there.¡±

    To prove that he was not exaggerating, Chen Ge summoned the Pen Spirit. She had been there when Doctor Gao showed up in Li Wan City. She had experienced everything that Chen Ge had. The Pen Spirit had a unique talent when it came to describing something. She drew on the paper, and the content was enough to scar the old headmaster for life.

    ¡°The city is so dangerous?¡± The old headmaster was shocked.

    ¡°Yes, I was surprised when I heard you managed to get here through the city. But perhaps it¡¯s because you have done a lot of good things in your life, and a power has been guiding you in the dark.¡± Chen Ge put it in a subtle way.

    ¡°I was just lucky.¡±

    ¡°Luck is part of one¡¯s power. I n to treat the abandoned well behind the field as our back-up. If my n fails, we will leave that way. With insurance like this, this should be the safest way.¡± Chen Ge was not prepared to enter the red city; the ce was filled with too many unknowns. He did not take much time to convince the old headmaster, and thetter soon promised to follow Chen Ge.

    ¡°Sir, now that we¡¯re a team, we have to clear up all the inconsistencies within us to prevent future misunderstanding.¡± Chen Ge pulled over Yin Bai, who was hiding among the ¡®people¡¯. ¡°You are looking for Lee Xueyin, but why are there two ¡®Lee Xueyin¡¯s in this school? Which of them is real? Which one is fake?¡±

    Yin Bai did not expect herself to be named. She was happy when she saw the old headmaster, but when her eyesnded on Yin Hong behind the headmaster, her heart became congested like the thing most precious to her had been stolen. When Yin Hong saw Yin Bai, her expression became nervous. She gripped the old man¡¯s shirt from behind and did not dare breathe a world.

    To prevent an ident, Chen Ge summoned all the Red Specters. This was to stun Yin Hong into submission. He did not wish to get into an altercation with the old headmaster for something small, so he used hisndslide advantage to bulldoze the possible conflict from forming.

 Chapter 857 - Another Clue?

    <h4>Chapter 857: Another Clue?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Yin Hong hid behind the old headmaster, unwilling toe out. She looked very nervous, but Chen Ge did not see too much fear on her face. In other words, even when facing three Red Specters, Yin Hong was confident that she could run away. Chen Ge had no idea where her confidence came from, so he could only approach this carefully.

    ¡°Sir?¡± Seeing the silence from the old headmaster, it appeared like he had something to hide.

    ¡°Both of these children are Lee Xueyin; they are one and the same.¡± The way the headmaster regarded the two girls was filled with love and guilt. ¡°I know one of them is Yin Bai and the other Yin Hong, but no matter what they¡¯re called, they are my family.¡±

    He reached out to touch Yin Hong¡¯s head as he guarded the girl behind him. Being touched by the old headmaster, a trace of disgust crossed Yin Hong¡¯s eyes, but perhaps she knew that the situation put her in too much of a disadvantage, and she knew that she needed the old headmaster¡¯s support, so she did not resist and put forth an obedient persona.

    ¡°Actually, if we¡¯re splitting hairs, Yin Hong is more like Xueyin. Facing the drunk father and a mother who was too weak to leave the wheelchair, she only had herself to rely on.¡± The old headmaster put the me on himself. ¡°This is all my fault. It was me who had the blind trust in Xueyin¡¯s father, and it was me who pushed them into the fire pit.¡±

    What the old headmaster said sounded new to Yin Bai; she looked at the old headmaster nkly. Her beautiful and clear eyes were filled with confusion, and her lips kept mumbling the word, ¡°Grandpa.¡±

    Yin Hong¡¯s reaction waspletely different from Yin Bai¡¯s. She was trying her best to suppress the anger in her heart. There was no visible change to her expression, but a sh of red had already appeared in her eyes. The past memory hurt her, and her body was slowly changing.

    ¡°Sir, I¡¯m afraid things are not as simple as you think.¡± Chen Ge did not want to hide anything from the old headmaster. He opened Yin Hong¡¯s bag and took out the crumpled papers that he had found in Yin Hong¡¯s drawer. Seeing those crumpled papers, the calm on Yin Hong¡¯s face was shattered. She looked like a murderer whose victim had just been found. The papers were filled with Yin Hong¡¯s dissatisfaction with the world and the desire to kill the old headmaster. Holding the papers in his hand, Chen Ge looked at the old headmaster, who would give everything to shelter Yin Hong, and Yin Hong, who was holding onto the old headmaster with tears in her eyes. He started to hesitate.

    Shaking his head slightly, Chen Ge ced the papers back into the bag. ¡°Sir, can you tell me in detail what really happened to Xueyin?¡±

    After putting the papers filled with maddened ims away, Chen Ge noticed both Yin Hong and the old headmaster sigh in relief. It was then that Chen Ge realized that perhaps the old headmaster already knew everything.

    ¡°Yin Bai is the purest side within Xueyin¡¯s heart. She is pure, kind, and innocent, but the only reason she is able to survive like that is because all the anxiety, fear, and hatred has been taken away by Yin Hong.¡± There was regret and pain in the headmaster¡¯s voice. ¡°Xueyin¡¯s mother is the first child I adopted. Due to her physical limitation, she was unable to be pregnant, so she adopted Xueyin. At the time, it was me who apanied them during the adoption. Xueyin was still so young. Seeing how happy the family of three was, I was d. Butter, I found out that things were not what they seemed.¡±

    Chen Ge heard an undercurrent of hatred from the old headmaster¡¯s story. It surprised him that such a kind person would feel hatred toward someone.

    ¡°You can¡¯t judge a book by its cover. Xueyin¡¯s father was a liar. He approached Xueyin¡¯s mother not because he liked her but because he was after the few estates under my name. He knew that I have no biological children, so he purposely came into our lives. Even adopting Xueyin was just a performance that he did for us.¡±

    If that was everything, the old headmaster might not have been that mad, but what he said next was the real reason behind his anger. ¡°After he found out that I nned to donate all my estates and have already put that in my will with thewyer¡¯s help, he turned into a different person. Every day, he came up with a new reason to find trouble and even beat Xueyin¡¯s mother. One time, he tried to turn his anger on Xueyin. Thankfully, she was discovered and rescued by her mother.¡±

    The old man¡¯s voice was shaking. He was a kind person, but that did not mean that he would not get angry. From another perspective, with the old headmaster¡¯s personality, he probably would not consume another ghost, but he was still a Half Red Specter. That could only mean that he had a very deep reason to stay behind, and there was something that he needed toplete.

    ¡°I found out all this from Xueyin¡¯s diary after she passed away. Do you know how much my heart hurt when I was reading that diary?¡± The headmaster gently guarded Yin Hong behind him. ¡°Yin Bai would have been unable to survive in that kind of ce, so that is why Yin Hong appeared.¡±

    After hearing the exnation from the headmaster, Chen Ge was d that he did not show the papers immediately. He studied Yin Hong and was suddenly reminded of something. Yin Bai had said that her father suddenly left home one day and then did not return. Chen Ge did not think much of it then, but now that he was looking at Yin Hong, he had a feeling that he knew what had happened to the man. He would not return; he would never return.

    Yin Hong harbored resentment toward the old headmaster; she even wanted to harm him. But she did not expect what happened next. When facing three Red Specters, the headmaster guarded her and became her savior. This changed her perspective of the old headmaster. Then she saw how regretful the headmaster was. An unsettling feeling rose in her heart, and her cold, hard heart started to crack slightly.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that she would have such a past. I can understand it, but...¡± Chen Ge did not finish what he began. He put the headless woman and red high heels away. Those two could not be considered workers yet. The headless woman was there unwillingly, and the red high heels was there because of a contract. Even though the heels were ced inside the backpack, more bloody footprints appeared on the table.

    Chen Ge was making a stance by putting the two Red Specters away. Chen Ge decided to hand this over to the old headmaster himself. Even though Yin Hong was a vessel of negative emotions, she was Yin Bai¡¯s essential other half. With his hands on Yin Bai¡¯s shoulders, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes moved between Yin Bai and Yin Hong. He was about to ask the old headmaster some questions when something suddenly hit him.

    <i>Howe this feels so familiar? Yin Hong and Yin Bai are just like me and my shadow in Li Wan City!</i>

    To be precise, Chen Ge was reminded of himself and the ghost fetus. One was a happy-go-lucky Haunted House owner, while the other carried an entire four-star scenario on his back.

    <i>Wait a minute... </i>Chen Ge rubbed his temples. <i>It was my parents who told the old headmaster that Lee Xueyin was in the School of the Afterlife. This means that they know about Xueyin¡¯s condition. Could this be another clue left by them?</i>

 Chapter 858 - Why Did I Appear?

    Chapter 858: Why Did I Appear?

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    Chen Ge stood in the ssroom unmovable like a statue. The old headmaster¡¯s appearance left a deep impression on him. A hidden clue had been discovered, and his world was slowly being turned around, which introduced change to his way of thinking.

    Mu Yang High School and the Third Sick Hall are among the earliest scenarios I experienced. It has already been so long, and I didn¡¯t expect I¡¯ll run into things connected to them at a four-star scenario.

    No one went to disturb Chen Ge¡ªthey stood like guards around him. Mu Yang High School was the first two-star scenario that Chen Ge had experienced, and the Third Sick Hall was the first three-star scenario. Now, the School of the Afterlife was his first four-star scenario. These three scenarios were linked in curious ways, and this surprised Chen Ge. He suspected that none of the missions given by the ck phone were random, and each of them served a specific purpose.

    All the missions given by the phone have the word trial before them. Could such a difficult mission just be a Trial Mission?

    One-star scenarios deal with people, two-star scenarios deal with Specters, three-star scenarios deal with Red Specters, and four-star scenarios deal with Greater Red Specters. Logically speaking, the difference in star level means a difference in difficulty, but actually they are also interconnected. This feels like someone is behind this... They want me to experience certain things through these scenarios to achieve a certain goal.

    Chen Ge¡¯s brows were creased deeply. It was rare for him to have this kind of expression.

    Why would someone do something like that? What is there for me to know, or what exactly have I lost?

    Lowering his head to look at Yin Hong and Yin Bai, the two girls looked away in fear.

    Could it be that I have lost a version of myself, too?

    Chen Ge did not know what kind of expression he should show. His brain was a mess, and for some reason, he was reminded of his Haunted House and the door inside it. When he found out about the blood door in his Haunted House for the first time, he had been really scared. The most unsettling thing was, when the door was opened at midnight, he could hear someone calling his name from inside. He had a fresh memory of that voice. It was very familiar, but he could not pinpoint it. It sounded like himself.

    My voice calling my own name?

    Thinking back to this strange experience, Chen Ge felt a chill run up his spine.

    Perhaps I have lost my real self.

    Chen Ge had many secrets that he could not share with others. He had to shoulder them himself. He would not be afraid; he would hold everything in.

    When Doctor Gao entered the door in my Haunted House, he was almost scared to death, and he hurriedly escaped. With ghost story society¡¯s power at the time, only a four-star scenario would warrant a reaction like that.

    The door was in the Haunted House¡¯s toilet, so in other words, the world behind the door was a reflection of Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House.

    I wonder what the Haunted House behind the door looks like.

    Chen Ge was curious, but with his current power, if he went in, he would probably note out.

    Since the person behind the door is calling my name, won¡¯t I walk into their trap if I enter the door voluntarily? Before I understand everything, I have to control myself.

    Chen Ge decided to add another door to the toilet cubicle after he returned to the Haunted House. Perhaps he might add a cement wall as well, pinning it down with wooden nks now felt too weak.

    The door only opens at midnight. If I can deal with this problem, my Haunted House can open at night. That will increase the operating hours and increase ie.

    Shaking his head, Chen Ge stopped himself from thinking too far ahead. He put down his bag and squatted down between Yin Hong and Yin Bai.

    Regardless of whether or not they were a hint left behind by his family, he had some questions for them.

    ¡°I will not harm you; I merely see my past self in you. So, I need to understand one thing. When did this happen to you? Or should I say, when did Yin Hong show up?¡± Chen Ge was getting closer to the truth step by step. It was like he was walking through the fog. Any source of light was something that he needed to hold onto.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Yin Bai was helpless. Her hands were gripped together. Of everyone there, she was closest to the old headmaster, but the headmaster was shielding another girl, and the girl looked so much like her. Chen Ge did not force Yin Bai, instead turning to Yin Hong.

    Scrutinized by him, Yin Hong was first afraid and nervous, reacting the same way Yin Bai did. But when she realized that this would not work and could not earn her sympathy from Chen Ge, her real self surfaced. The red eyes stared at her own bag on the ground. Yin Hong kept her head lowered so others could not see her expression. ¡°If I tell you the answer, will you return my bag?¡±

    Yin Hong¡¯s schoolbag looked normal; it was very feminine and youthlike. Who would have thought it would be filled with papers reciting curses and murders?

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge gave his promise.

    ¡°It was nighttime when I first opened my eyes, around 2 am. I heard movement from inside the bedroom, and when I turned to look, I saw my adopted father inside my room.¡± Yin Hong¡¯s voice was eerily calm like she was telling another person¡¯s story. ¡°I was spooked, and a scream escaped. My adopted father opened the door and ran.¡±

    After some pause, she said, ¡°I surfaced on that day. I only appeared after Yin Bai fell asleep. I know everything that she¡¯s experienced, but she never remembers me.

    ¡°I do not me her because I understand her best in this world. I know the kind of hell she lives in, the fears that she must face. I don¡¯t know why I appeared. Perhaps Yin Bai was too scared, too cowardly, but couldn¡¯t seek help, so she created me.¡± Yin Hong nced at Yin Bai. ¡°Of course, it could be that I am a ghost who happened toe across her.¡±

    A cruel smile lit up her lips. Yin Hong reached out wanting to touch Yin Bai¡¯s face, but thetter shied away. ¡°In the morning, I was the innocent, cute angel, but I can¡¯t even describe what I am at night. I tried to find meaning to my existence, and I eventually found it.¡±

    Yin Hong pulled back her long sleeves. There were signs of burn on them. ¡°The old dog liked toe into my bedroom at night. I prepared a ss of hot water by my bedside. That was the first time I resisted, but because I was too weak, the result wasn¡¯t perfect. Still, it did give him quite a scare.¡±

    Yin Hong¡¯s term of reference to her adopted father kept changing. The girl had started to slowly shed her disguise.

 Chapter 859 - What Have I Seen?

    Chapter 859: What Have I Seen?

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    ¡°From a normal person¡¯s perspective, I might be crazy or at least that was what the old dog kept saying. He even said that he would kill me.¡± Yin Hong scoffed with condescension. She did not continue like, if she did, it might pull up yet another secret.

    ¡°I think I get it. The reason for your appearance is because Yin Bai suffered constant fear, but she had no one to rely on, so a persona that ispletely different from her own surfaced within her.¡± Chen Ge tried looking for simrities between Yin Hong and Yin Bai and himself, but he tried for a long time and still failed to find anything. From a young age, he had been cared for, and he did not have to worry about anything. Other than his parents¡¯ unique parenting style, his childhood had not been that different from that of any other child.

    My childhood was very normal. There is no instance of torture. Chen Ge turned to Yin Hong. ¡°So, now the two of you have split? Is it possible that you two can rbine?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I haven¡¯t tried it myself. But that should be impossible. She has been avoiding me, so she probably doesn¡¯t wish to be stuck with me.¡± Yin Hong¡¯s eyesnded on the old headmaster with a trace of envy in them. ¡°It was me who helped her at her lowest point, but look how scared she is of me. In fact, she is still so close to an outsider.¡±

    Yin Hong was very dissatisfied with the old headmaster. Her heart was swirling with negative emotions. The way she saw it, the reason Yin Bai experienced those things was partly due to the old headmaster. She hated everything and wanted to destroy everything, but she was unlimitedly kind toward Yin Bai. However, the kindness had a condition to it. Perhaps one day, when Yin Hong lost herself in the spiral, she would do something irreparable to Yin Bai, topletely take over her body.

    ¡°You suddenly woke up one night, without any warning...¡± Chen Ge was considering another scenario. ¡°Could it be because you were traumatized and the trauma was beyond what you could handle?¡±

    Chen Ge felt like this exnation suited his situation better. They said that a child could see things that normal people could not. Even though the memory back then was already blurry, he suspected that he had seen something beyond his psychological threshold, and an ident had urred, causing him to split from the ghost fetus.

    Before the previous question was answered, another new problem surfaced. What kind of thing can be so scary that a mental breakdown happened from one nce?

    ¡°Are you done with your questioning. Can you give my bag back now?¡± Yin Hong¡¯s tone and expression shifted greatly from before; if he did not see it in person, Chen Ge would have had a hard time imagining how these two people who had the same face could have such wildly different personalities.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge passed schoolbag back to Yin Hong. ¡°We¡¯ve stayed here for too long. The school is no longer safe; we need to move.¡±

    After getting all the information that he needed, Chen Ge led the old headmaster and the girls out of the ssroom. Turning back to look at Mu Yang High School behind him, a strange feeling arose in his heart. Everything looked like it was a coincidence, but there might be a hand controlling everything behind it.

    This is not a good feeling, but there is something about me that cannot be controlled.

    Chen Ge moved his gaze to his shadow. An unexpected change had happened to him, and that was Zhang Ya. In Li Wan City, Chen Ge had found out from Xiao Bu that his parents had wanted Xiao Bu to be his shadow. They had even made a contract with Xiao Bu, but even they could not have expected that Chen Ge would have Zhang Ya move into his shadow at the rooftop of a highest building at Li Wan City.

    The future is constantly changing; no one can control everything. What I¡¯ve lost will return eventually. The School of the Afterlife, Mu Yang High School, and the Third Sick Hall are rted, but no matter how many secrets or unknown things are hidden here, there is one thing that shall never change.

    It was Zhang Ya who consumed the original door-pusher for the School of the Afterlife, so she is the most qualified to be the new door-pusher.

    When Chen Ge was thinking, he would radiate this special quality without even realizing it. The employees had gotten used to it, but this was the first time for the old headmaster and Yin Hong, and they reacted to it differently. There was surprise in the old headmaster¡¯s eyes, but at the same time, it felt like he saw something familiar. Yin Hong had aplicated expression¡ªit felt like she had given up some dangerous thoughts.

    ¡°Sir, we shall go and check out the well behind the field first, to ensure that the path is safe.¡± Chen Ge would be worried if he did not see it for himself.

    ¡°Okay.¡± The old headmaster held Yin Hong¡¯s hand and walked ahead. They reached the end of the corridor, and the road ahead was blocked by wooden nks. There was no way forward.

    ¡°In a bit, some monsters might be let in here. You¡¯d better be prepared and move fast, or else the school might realize it and send over staff and teachers.¡± The old headmaster half-squatted on the ground and very easily removed the few nks closest to the wall. As the nks loosened, arge amount of blood fog leaked in from the gap.

    ¡°Quick!¡±

    To save time, Chen Ge did not take everyone through. He only brought Xu Yin. Pulling back the nks, the old headmaster, Chen Ge, and Xu Yin crawled through the gap. After they left, the headmaster swiftly reced the nks.

    ¡°I need to nail them back so that it will not be discovered by the school.¡± The headmaster held the nks and looked for the nails that just fell. ¡°The nails aren¡¯t normal nails. They can harm the things outside the school, and theye with curses...¡±

    ¡°Are the nails like these?¡± Chen Ge sought out some nails from his pocket. When he first entered the school, he had been cursed. His body had been poked with nails at irregr intervals, so he had many such nails.

    ¡°Yes.¡± The way that the headmaster looked at Chen Ge was strange. ¡°Where did you get so many of them?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a long story.¡± Chen Ge did not want to waste time on this subject. He opened his backpack. ¡°Do you need a hammer?¡±

    After dealing with the nks, Chen Ge took his time looking around. Blood fog drifted around them, and there was a stench in the air. The visibility was very poor.

    ¡°I wonder if it¡¯s on purpose that the school¡¯s consciousness arranged for Mu Yang High School to be on the most outeryer.¡± The old headmaster led Chen Ge through the blood fog. ¡°Actually, we are still inside the school. If we walk further, you¡¯lle across a red wall, and the wall sequesters the school from the outside world.¡±

    ¡°Does that mean that we will be able to leave this school by jumping over the wall? Then why are we wasting time looking for a well?¡± Chen Ge did not get it.

    ¡°When you get close to the wall, you¡¯ll be discovered by the school. Endless souls of despairing children will rush at you and tear you into pieces.¡± The headmaster shivered. ¡°If you wish to leave the school quietly, the well is the only path.¡±

 Chapter 860 - Red in Human Heart

    <h4>Chapter 860: Red in Human Heart</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Through the veil of the blood fog, Chen Ge could only make out the shape of a field, but the scene before his eyes slowly ovepped with his memory of Mu Yang High School.

    ¡°The well is over there.¡± The old headmaster cared for Chen Ge. He was worried that an ident might happen to Chen Ge, so he guarded Chen Ge behind him and walked ahead. Walking through the field, with the headmaster leading the way, Chen Ge finally found the well. Once he got near, he could hear the many crying soundsing from inside the well. There were male, female, and children¡¯s¡ªit sounded scary.

    ¡°Is the exit at the bottom?¡± With the thick fog, even with Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could not tell what was at the bottom.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Is this how you entered the School of the Afterlife?¡± Chen Ge stood at the edge of the well. Xu Yin reached out to stop him; the well made him uneasy.

    ¡°Yes, the blood fog at the bottom is very thick. It is basically palpable. That is probably how the well escaped the school¡¯s detection.¡± The headmaster signaled for Chen Ge not to stay by the well for too long to prevent attracting the school¡¯s attention. ¡°There is only one way forward when you reach the bottom of the well. Follow that path, and after a three- to fifteen-minute walk, you can leave the School of the Afterlife and enter the blood red city. There, we will need to find a way to go back to the surface.¡±

    The whole process sounded easy, but there were too many uncertainties. Chen Ge held the rim of the well and turned back to look at the headmaster. ¡°After entering the well, you need to walk for three to fifteen minutes? Why the time difference? If the journey is the same, even if you slow down a lot, the time should not be so different!¡±

    ¡°I have no answer to that. Every time the path is the same, but sometimes, it takes longer to travel through it, and sometimes it¡¯s shorter. Do you want to go down to take a look?¡± The old headmaster did not get it himself. If this was someone else giving the suggestion, not only would Chen Ge not go down, he would suspect that it was a trap. He would toss the person down first. But the old headmaster was different; he trusted this old man implicitly.

    <i>With this back-up n, I will have nothing to lose. I can go on to do things that I might be afraid of, but the condition is that this is not a dead end.</i>

    Chen Ge thought for a long time and asked for Xu Yin¡¯s opinion. After getting Xu Yin¡¯s approval, he decided to go down the well with the old headmaster.

    ¡°I used this path alone, and there was no one to help me. This time, there¡¯s so many of us, and with the apaniment of a Red Specter, there won¡¯t be any problems.¡± To help Chen Ge calm down, the old headmaster was the first to walk into the well. Just as he was going to jump, Chen Ge stopped him.

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Chen Ge took out some rope from Lin Sisi¡¯s bag. This was the leftover from when he jumped over the wall between the western and eastern campus. ¡°Tie this to your waist so that we won¡¯t get separated.¡±

    ¡°Why do you have everything?¡± The old headmaster was no longer that surprised.

    ¡°How deep is this well? Will two ropes be enough?¡±

    ¡°Should be.¡± The headmaster held the rim of the well with both hands. His old jacket slowly bloomed with ck-red flowers, and his eyes were slowly consumed by redness.

    Seeing the change in the old headmaster, Chen Ge only noticed how different this Half Red Specter was to the other Specters that he had encountered. The old headmaster gave him a strange feeling that was hard to describe. Standing next to the headmaster, he would not treat him like a ghost but a living person.

    <i>Even a Red Specter hasn¡¯t given me this kind of feeling before. Is it because the old headmaster has done so much charitable work in his life that even though he turned into a ghost, he doesn¡¯t have the ghost¡¯s cruel nature?</i>

    Seeing the old headmaster slowly disappearing into the well, Chen Ge rushed over. He had Xu Yin walk at the back, and he took the middle spot. Once he entered the old well, the smell of blood hit him like a wall. The blood fog inside the well was much thicker than outside. It was unclear why, but the well appeared to be a natural spot for negative emotions to gather, and thus, a thickyer of blood fog was found there. Entering it was like falling into a pool of blood. His clothes stuck to his body, and Chen Ge felt prickling paining from his skin like someone was biting him. However, when he looked with his Yin Yang Vision, he could not see anything.

    <i>Xu Yin did not give a warning, so it should be safe. Everything is still within control.</i>

    Their surroundings werepletely enveloped by blood fog. Nothing could be seen clearly. If not for Xu Yin, Chen Ge would not have gone down there no matter what.

    ¡°We haven¡¯t reached the bottom?¡± The well was deeper than he thought. No wonder the school could not detect this loophole. The lower they went, the greater the pressure. Chen Ge was worried that something might happen to the old headmaster. He was afraid that when he reached the bottom, it would not be the old headmaster at the other end of the rope. The rope stopped being pulled taut, and the old headmaster¡¯s figure rified. They had not reached the bottom of the well, but the headmaster had stopped.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t we moving anymore?¡± Chen Ge was confused, he noticed something wrong about the old man.

    ¡°We can¡¯t go on...¡± The headmaster¡¯s voice was shaking. Chen Ge moved his body to get close to the headmaster. He followed the man¡¯s gaze, and cold sweat slid down his face. It was no longer a red fog under the headmaster¡¯s feet but a red pool of water, and human faces could be seen poking out from the water!

    As the blood fog gathered, the water level inside the well was rising at a visible rate. The monsters hidden in the water had their mouths gaping like they could not wait to sink their teeth into Chen Ge.

    ¡°When I camest time, there aren¡¯t these monsters...¡± The old headmaster was desperate.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± The reason Chen Ge said that was because Xu Yin showed no reaction. ¡°I saw them in the school in the mirror created by the painter. They have no skin, and they¡¯re covered in blood and guts, surrounded by a horrible stench.¡±

    These monsters were hardly any different from those that Chen Ge had seen. The only difference was that they were not walking upside down.

    <i>How did these monsters appear? Did theye from the blood city outside the school, or is this well their ce of birth? If the monsterse from the city, why would I encounter them in the painter¡¯s school? And are they all upside down, or has the painter been rearing them? Is it because of him that strange things have been happening to the school?</i>

    Chen Ge felt like he was getting closer to the center of the secret. He yanked on the rope lightly. ¡°Sir, let¡¯s go back for now.¡±

    ¡°I feel like I¡¯ve seen them somewhere before.¡± The old headmaster stared at the monster inside the well. ¡°They¡¯re harvesting the blood fog. They survive on human¡¯s negative emotions. I¡¯ve heard about them before! But... this is strange. Why would they show up here, and why are there so many negative emotions gathered here?¡±

    ¡°They survive on human¡¯s negative emotions? Appear inside the well?¡± Something urred to Chen Ge. He was reminded of the hint given by the ck phone regarding Mu Yang High School.

    <i>Everyone has a deep well inside their heart where shameful and unknowable secrets stay buried.</i>

 Chapter 861 - Fan Yu!

    Chapter 861: Fan Yu!

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    The old well behind the field is the school¡¯s loophole, and the headmaster said that this is a wound that can¡¯t heal. If the entire school ispared to a person¡¯s heart, this well is the ce where the deepest secret is buried.

    Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of a detail.

    ¡°Sir, you said that the School of the Afterlife is made up of the memories of countless students, and the reason Mu Yang High School showed up here is because there was a student at that school who was bullied, yes?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The old headmaster did not seem willing to answer that question.

    ¡°Can you tell me more about the student?¡± Chen Ge knew that the old headmaster did not wish to bring up that past, but every clue rted to that kid from Mu Yang High School would be very crucial!

    The only loophole in the School of the Afterlife was in Mu Yang High School¡¯s ruin campus. There was another detail worth noting¡ªall the buildings in the School of the Afterlife were arranged randomly, but Mu Yang High School was ced at the fringe, the closest to the blood red city.

    ¡°I don¡¯t really know the details. I only know that the child¡¯s name was Fan Yu. His adopted father was our school¡¯s teacher. He used to teach in the city, but for some reason, he was ckballed by the industry, and it was us who epted him.¡± The headmaster¡¯s words rocked Chen Ge¡¯s memory.

    ¡°Fan Yu? The kid was once a student at Mu Yang High School?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Mu Yang High School might have been small, but we offered primary and secondary school sses.¡± The old headmaster smiled sadly. ¡°That was something we were forced to do. The countryside has no primary schools, and the children I adopted and the children of the nearby families had nowhere to attend school, so I set up a primary school ss.¡±

    ¡°That is not important.¡± Chen Ge moved his body upward little by little. ¡°How long has Fan Yu spent at Mu Yang High School? Why did he leave?¡±

    ¡°It was because of his adopted father that Fan Yu enrolled at our school¡ªhe was our teacher. At the time, Fan Yu was still too young to attend primary school, but under his father¡¯s insistence, we arranged for him to follow Primary One ss.¡±

    The old headmaster remembered what happened then. This was where the headmaster was different from other Specters¡ªmost Specters could only remember their hatred.

    ¡°After a few months, Fan Yu could not keep up with the rest of his ss. The child was very clever and talented, but his talent showed only in painting.¡± The headmaster had a clear memory of this. ¡°The child was a master painter; he could be seen as a genius. At the beginning, the adopted father had nothing against his hobby, but one day, the child drew the face of a person in ss, and that caused his father to explode. ording to the other students, the father tore up his painting on the spot and gave the child a few harsh ps. Naturally, it caused a hugemotion, and it was me and a female teacher who pulled him back.¡±

    ¡°If he was just drawing in ss and not paying attention, his father wouldn¡¯t have been so furious.¡± Chen Ge was sharp. ¡°Perhaps it was the painting that had angered his father. Sir, do you remember what he drew?¡±

    ¡°The painting was torn up, but I heard from his deskmate that when Fan Yu was drawing the painting, he borrowed his red crayon. He said that his own red crayon had run out.¡± The old headmaster tried his best to think, but he could not remember what Fan Yu had drawn.

    ¡°Red crayon?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°To be able to finish all of his red crayon and have to borrow one from his deskmate, that proves that the painting used a lot of red!¡±

    His expression turned serious. Chen Ge slowly turned to look at the headmaster and pointed at the blood fog around them. ¡°Just now, you said that Fan Yu is a talented painter. Then think about it, what kind of painting was he doing that required so much red?¡±

    Initially, the old headmaster did not think much of it, but being reminded by Chen Ge, it hit him. ¡°A murder scene?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very likely!¡± Chen Ge slowed down. ¡°That would exin why his adopted father was so angry. I suspect that the killer was Fan Yu¡¯s adopted father.¡±

    The situation was moreplicated than Chen Ge thought. Chen Ge had thought that Fan Yu¡¯s adopted father had only killed Fan Yu¡¯s mother, but it looked like things were not that simple¡ªhis father might have been aplete psycho. In the morning, he was a respected teacher, but at night, he was a crazed murderer who could not control himself.

    ¡°That is weirdly sensible. Only someone like that would draw all those eyes in one of Mu Yang High School¡¯s toilet cubicles to use it to spy on his students. I underestimated the man¡¯s evilness.¡±

    After giving it some thought, Chen Ge realized that Fan Yu¡¯s experience was far more painful than he had thought.

    ¡°Fan Yu¡¯s aunt¡¯s sister disappeared without reason, but they wandered Mu Yang High School after their death. Could their death be rted to Fan Yu¡¯s adopted father?¡±

    Chen Ge revealed Fan Yu¡¯s father¡¯s real persona to the headmaster. The headmaster¡¯s eyes were flushed with red. ¡°I thought that Fan Yu was merely bullied at school; I had no idea that it was so serious.¡±

    ¡°One cannot judge a book by its cover. The man kept it very well hidden, or else he would have been discovered already.¡± Chen Ge had new perspective on this. ¡°Sir, before Fan Yu left the school, did he do anything strange?¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t paying attention. Because Fan Yu was in his adopted father¡¯s ss, I didn¡¯t think his father would do anything to him, so I didn¡¯t ask. Oh, but there was something strange. Fan Yu always came to school with wounds on him. His adopted father told me that Fan Yu liked to get into fights due to his personality.¡± The headmaster was deep in guilt. ¡°Now that I think about it, they were probably the work of his father.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡±

    ¡°Fan Yu was isted in ss. For some reason, no one wanted to be his friend. His adopted father forbade him from drawing, and whenever he did, the father would beat and scold him. The child turned into a different person in a few short months.¡± The headmaster could not bear to continue. ¡°This was my fault. At the time, the school was targeted by the authorities, and I had to go to ces to solve that. I was rarely at school and missed out on many things.¡±

    ¡°Even if you asked him, Fan Yu probably wouldn¡¯t tell you anything because, no matter what, he still needed to go home. It was not that he didn¡¯t wish to tell you, but he couldn¡¯t. When other students were bullied at school, at least they can tell their parents. For him, after being bullied at school, he would have to go home to face his adopted father.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s heart went out to Fan Yu, and it confirmed his desire to take care of the child. Then another question popped up in his mind.

    ¡°If it was because of Fan Yu that Mu Yang High School appeared in the School of the Afterlife, then Fan Yu must have entered the School of the Afterlife before. But the reality is that Fan Yu is now being taken care at Jiujiang Children¡¯s Home. He hasn¡¯t left the ce.¡±

    Chen Ge narrowed his eyes, and many things that he had experienced now shed through his mind. He had a good rtionship with Fan Yu and had seen his art. The current Fan Yu had no talent in painting at all. All of his paintings had crude lines, no different from other kindergarteners.

    This skill cannot be called a genius at all, or is Fan Yu¡¯s situation simr to that of Lee Xueyin? His despairing side has entered the School of the Afterlife, and only an empty self is left in real life?

    His brain was struck by lightning, and Chen Ge bit on his tongue. He realized that someone had noticed the uniqueness about Fan Yu before he did!

    After the end of the Coffin Vige¡¯s Trial Mission, the ghost in the well who had been in existence for one hundred years gifted a bangle to Fan Yu!

    The Greater Red Specter had refused to entertain anyone, but she had been kind toward Fan Yu. It was as if she had purposely approached him to leave a good impression.

    ¡°When she possessed the girl¡¯s body and was sent to the Children¡¯s Home. There were so many children there, but she targeted Fan Yu! She stayed by Fan Yu¡¯s side. The old ginger is the spiciest. I should have noticed this a long time ago!¡±

    Climbing out from the old well, Chen Ge could no longer see the water at the bottom. Thinking about Fan Yu, he was reminded of the mirrored campuses created by the painter. One was eerie and despairing; the other side was peaceful and nice.

 Chapter 862 - Chen Geâ€™s Plan

    Chapter 862: Chen Ge¡¯s n

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    shes of the past appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, and the many coincidences now appeared to be linked together. They might not have been as coincidental as Chen Ge had previously thought.

    Chang Wenyu and the painter, who should I help?

    When he first obtained the ck phone, Chen Ge had made a choice, and that choice had changed his life, giving him the right to find the truth.

    Even though School of the Afterlife is a four-star scenario, there is no door-pusher. There must be plenty who have their eyes on this piece of meat.

    At first, Chen Ge had treated the doors as some kind of burden, but under Doctor Gao¡¯s ¡®influence¡¯ and ¡®teaching¡¯, he had slowlye to understand the doors¡¯ importance. If used well, the doors could do many things. Viewed from this angle, Doctor Gao was both Chen Ge¡¯s enemy and guide. Doctor Gao wanted to absorb Chen Ge into the ghost story society and make Chen Ge his assistant; that was a fair n, but there were too many idents during the process. Even though, in the end, Chen Ge did join the society, by then, he was the only member left.

    If Fan Yu is really the painter, this will be very interesting.

    Chen Ge did not hate the painter. He did not have a good impression of him¡ªhe merely thought that the painter was different than any of the other Red Specters that he had met. There were so many powerful Specters and ghosts behind the door, but the painter was the only Specter who wished to use his own power to change the world behind the door. This idea was crazy. Some Specters wanted revenge, others wanted rebirth, but the painter was different. He did not wish to return to the real world, instead wishing to create a different ¡®reality¡¯ behind the door. If he seeded, the line between the world behind the door and the real world would be even blurrier. Chen Ge had no idea what that meant, only thinking that would be very dangerous.

    There are too many people who have their eyes on the School of the Afterlife. The blood red city that is expanding, the cursed hospital that is seen everywhere, and not to mention Chang Wenyu. If he wishes to seed in this condition, he will need the help of a powerful Greater Red Specter.

    Chen Ge¡¯s heart skipped a beat when this thought crossed his mind.

    If Zhang Ya bes a Greater Red Specter, does that mean I can help himplete his wish?

    Shaking his head, Chen Ge soon vetoed this idea. The more chaotic the school was, the better it was for him.

    I am friends with Xiao Fan outside the door, but I have had no interaction with the painter inside the door. Even if I help him, he might not appreciate the help. If anything, he might harm me after the fact.

    Chen Ge knew that the Fan Yu outside the door was an innocent child, but he was very cautious toward the painter inside the door. After hepleted the Trial Mission at Mu Yang High School, the police hade to the scene and dug up Fan Yu¡¯s parents¡¯ bodies from inside the well. Then Fan Yu¡¯s aunt had been swift to admit that she had killed Fan Yu¡¯s adopted father. She had imed that it was an ident. She had wanted to stop tragedy from happening but failed. There was a giant loophole in her im. She was just a fragile woman, so how did she ¡®identally¡¯ kill a murderer who was extremely experienced?

    The police at the time had thought that it was a strange im as well, but other than Fan Yu¡¯s aunt, there were no other survivors who were rted to this case, so in the end, they had to ept her im, ending the case that had happened years prior. Now that he thought about it, however, there was another surviving victim of this case, and that was Fan Yu.

    The deepest secret on his heart is hidden in this well. Perhaps it was then that he entered the door.

    Chen Ge would never forget Fan Yu because he was his haunted house¡¯s first special visitor.

    The old headmaster knew about the fact that Fan Yu entered the school and knew that Mu Yang High School¡¯s appearance in the School of the Afterlife is due to Fan Yu¡¯s memory. He would not have found out all that alone, so the biggest possibility is that someone told him about this.

    At the ce, the only people who would help the old headmaster are my parents. First Yin Hong and then Fan Yu. Are they trying to tell me something through the old headmaster?

    Chen Ge could not guess his parent¡¯s thoughts.

    Are they trying to tell me something through my interaction with Yin Hong and Fan Yu? After this mission is over, the ghost fetus mighte to find me. I don¡¯t have much time left. Is it because they are worried about me and wish for me to know about the fetus¡¯ weakness through the painter? After all, the ghost fetus is my shadow, and in a way, he is my darker self.

    After knowing certain things, Chen Ge slowly calmed down. He pulled the headmaster out from the well. ¡°We will go back to the school.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± The only escape had be a dead end, but the headmaster felt lucky in a way. ¡°Thankfully, you found me, or else I really wouldn¡¯t know how to leave.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for that.¡± Chen Ge led the old headmaster and retraced their steps. When they removed the wooden nk, there was a small ident. The blood sun that covered the school kept dropping, and it dispersed the blood fog around Chen Ge and almost discovered them. Returning safely to the school, Chen Ge took out the tools to pin the boards back up. That way, it would be hard to tell that someone had tampered with the school.

    ¡°Where should we go next? Are you trying to get the school¡¯s approval?¡± The old headmaster took Yin Hong¡¯s hand and followed behind Chen Ge. Yin Bai looked at the headmaster innocently, as if wondering what kind of mistake she had made.

    ¡°Other than myself, you also need to get the school¡¯s approval.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s reply stunned the old headmaster.

    ¡°Me? Why?¡±

    ¡°You are the key to everything,¡± Chen Ge said seriously. ¡°Even though the school has consumed many souls, it was because it wished to provide a home for these despairing children. Currently, this home is very chaotic as itcks a qualified manager.¡±

    The headmaster nodded subconsciously. ¡°Yes, the world behind a door that has lost control is very scary.¡±

    Chen Ge did not pick up on what the headmaster said but continued on his own. ¡°From how I see it, no one is more suitable to manage this school than you.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± The old headmaster, who wasmenting the state of the school, was baffled, and he quickly shook his hands. ¡°Stop kidding...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t hurry to deny it. We can talk about this after gaining the school¡¯s approval.¡± Chen Ge looked confident.

    ¡°Fine, what is your n?¡± The old headmaster could only follow Chen Ge; he had no other choice.

    ¡°Simple, Yin Hong has lived here for so long, so she should know who people normally shy from. Later, we¡¯ll bulldoze over all of them.¡± Chen Ge looked at the headmaster with a smile. ¡°I will be the bad cop, and you¡¯ll be the good cop. I¡¯ll use force to correct force, and you only need to be yourself.¡±

 Chapter 863 - My Way of Salvation

    Chapter 863: My Way of Salvation

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    ¡°I only need to be myself?¡± The old headmaster felt that Chen Ge¡¯s n was not that reliable. Rather than a n, it was more like a direct taunt. He had been an honest man his whole life, a man of charity, so it was natural that he felt awkward about this n.

    ¡°Yes, do what you wish to do and say what you wish to say¡ªthere shan¡¯t be any hesitation.¡± Chen Ge opened his backpack to look for tools. ¡°We cannot give up on any child, so I will be the bad guy this time. We will make them know their mistake ¡®physically¡¯ and then rescue them psychologically.¡±

    Chen Ge was all prepared. He had been meaning to do since the beginning.

    ¡°Yin Hong, can you help me with one thing?¡± Chen Ge squatted down before Yin Hong. ¡°You have been living here for so long, so you should know where the scary ces and people at the school are, right?¡±

    ¡°Why would you ask me?¡± Yin Hong¡¯s cute brows frowned.

    ¡°Because you are a scary student yourself. At least, that is how your ssmates see you. They seem to be afraid of you.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Yin Hong red heavily at Chen Ge. She was powerless before him. ¡°There are indeed many ghosts and mad people at this school. If you wish to seek death, I will take you to them.¡±

    ¡°We have limited time, so we¡¯ll start with the bad students. Since the staff won¡¯t take care of them, we will.¡±

    Chen Ge was firm, but Yin Hong regarded him with condescension.

    ¡°Even if you punish those students, there will be new students to rece them... unless you n to stay at this ce and repeat that forever. But have you considered that if you really do that, will you be any different from the bullies themselves?¡± Yin Hong appeared like she knew some hidden secrets about this school. ¡°Other than the small number of students whose memory was sealed, most of the bullies here were once victims. In the world behind the door, their consciousness has been altered by the school. They are not bullying but venting. Because of that, the school¡¯s staff ignore most of their actions. This is permitted by the school¡¯s consciousness, so how dare they intervene?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s permitted by the school¡¯s consciousness? Isn¡¯t the school¡¯s consciousness a collection consciousnesses? Does it know how to speak?¡± Chen Ge kind of understood why the staff would ignore the bullying¡ªthey did not want to get involved.

    ¡°Even though it is not stated explicitly by the school¡¯s consciousness, it is the public consensus.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that is not the case. The School of the Afterlife has been in existence for years already, and it hasn¡¯t selected a new door-pusher. That is probably because you guys have misinterpreted its real purpose.¡±

    Chen Ge had been through many dark experiences himself, but he had never surrendered himself to them. Even when he was hiding in the darkest spot of the night, he would be anticipating the arrival of dawn.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t the school¡¯s consciousness that altered those children but the children themselves. Hatred and resentment were evoked by negative emotions, and they became their most hated self.¡± Chen Ge sighed lightly. ¡°Before this, I had some hesitation, but after hearing what you¡¯ve said, my desire to help them has increased. Bullying those weaker will never lead to salvation; it¡¯ll only make them sink deeper.¡±

    ¡°I agree with that.¡± The headmaster suddenly spoke. His eyes that fell on Chen Ge were shining with approval.

    ¡°We have limited time, let¡¯s go.¡± The mission given to Chen Ge by Chang Wenyu was to find all the specters who had the qualifications to be ¡®door-pushers¡¯. Chen Ge nned to do go one step further¡ªhe nned to pull all those ¡®people¡¯ to his side. Chang Wenyu and the painter were fighting for the control of the school¡¯s consciousness, but Chen Ge ced his target on the students themselves.

    The school¡¯s consciousness is made up of the collective consciousness of the numerous students. In other words, any of the students could affect the final result. This one thing, the painter has done right, but his method of providing another false reality is no different from giving up on most of the students with heavy resentment.

    After walking for several minutes toward the center of the school, Yin Hong stopped outside one of the ssrooms. She pointed at the door. ¡°The teachers normally don¡¯te here. Whether you wish to enter or not, it¡¯s on you.¡±

    The wall outside the ssroom looked normal, but there was a white piece of paper pasted on the ss window. It had uneven handwriting on it¡ª¡¯Preparing for the test, please do not disturb.¡¯

    ¡°It feels normal.¡± Right after Chen Ge said that, there was a loud boom inside the room. It sounded like someone had been shoved, and a table had been toppled. ¡°Are they fighting?¡±

    The paper blocked most of the window. Chen Ge tried to look through the gap before turning back to tell the old headmaster. ¡°Sir, youe inter.¡±

    ¡°How long should I wait?¡± The headmaster had no idea what Chen Ge was up to, but he was worried.

    ¡°Gauge the situation yourself. As long as their soul is still intact.¡± Before the headmaster understood Chen Ge, thetter summoned Xu Yin and the headless woman.

    ¡°Yin Hong, give me some help.¡± Without waiting for the agreement from Yin Hong, Chen Ge kicked the door down.

    Bang!

    The ss on the door was shattered, and the paper fell with the splinters.

    ¡°Is someone in?¡± Chen Ge stepped on the papers as he walked into the room. There were seven male students in the room who were ying cards, and another three were punching a student wearing a Taekwondo outfit in the corner. Once he entered the room, everyone stopped what they were doing to look at him.

    ¡°Yin Hong, did they bully you?¡± Chen Ge picked up Yin Hong¡¯s small hand and pulled the girl who nned to witness the show outside into the room. The girl¡¯s gleeful smirk froze on her face. ¡°Don¡¯t be scared. With your big brother here, no one will bully you again.¡±

    Chen Ge pinched Yin Hong¡¯s cheek. Due to anger, not only her face, even her eyes were red.

    ¡°F*ck, what is wrong with you?¡± The students who were ying cards stood up. One of them was about 1.9 meters tall, and he looked muscr. All this while, it had been them bullying others¡ªthey did not expect someone to voluntarily walk into their den. Blood stains that gave out a great stench appeared on the tallest student¡¯s shirt.

    ¡°A Half Red Specter? No wonder the teachers refuse toe here.¡± It was as if Chen Ge could not see the anger on Yin Hong¡¯s face. He very naturally guarded her and said deeply, ¡°Yin Hong, with your big brother here, I will protect you.¡±

    Then, the headless woman and Xu Yin entered the room, and the scene turned incredibly gory. Chen Ge closed the door behind him and helped the beaten boy up. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    The boy was wearing practice-use cushions over his arms, but his face was covered with wounds. The people did not aim at the cushions but at his body. The boy was bullied until he did not dare speak. Finally, he looked at Yin Hong with envy and said softly, ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±

    Yin Hong shivered from the boy¡¯s look. She wished to fling Chen Ge¡¯s hand away, but she was reminded of what Chen Ge had said. Even though she knew that was just acting, it felt strangelyforting.

 Chapter 864 - Han Song

    Chapter 864: Han Song

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    How could Yin Hong¡¯s current feeling toward Chen Ge be described? She wanted to hit him, but she did not dislike him.

    While Yin Hong was caught in this conundrum, Chen Ge had already taken her hand and started to talk with the boy who was bullied. Perhaps it was the cute Yin Hong who had lowered the student¡¯s alertness, or perhaps he realized that Chen Ge was scarier than the bullies in the ssroom, but no matter the reason, his attitude toward Chen Ge was very kind.

    ¡°Why did they bully you?¡± Chen Ge reached out to support the student in Taekwondo outfit. ¡°Don¡¯t hesitate to tell us anything.¡±

    ¡°We wanted to start a Taekwondo club, but the school would not allow it, so we started one ourselves.¡±

    ¡°Wait, so the club is having the other kids beat you up?¡± Chen Ge felt like the child was not telling the truth.

    ¡°I am the training partner¡ªthat¡¯s how all the neers started. There were a few others before me, they were unable to hold on, so it was my turn...¡± As the student exined, his tear fell. His body was fragile, like his soul was about to disperse.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so hard on him.¡± Yin Hong walked out from behind Chen Ge. ¡°That big fellow is a Red Specter.¡±

    She pulled on Chen Ge¡¯s shirt to signal him to walk toward the door to prevent him from falling into an idental death.

    ¡°A Red Specter?¡± Chen Ge had thought that the student was just a Half Red Specter; he trusted Yin Yang Vision too much.

    ¡°Yes, and he¡¯s a very scary Red Specter.¡± A cute canine tooth showed when Yin Hong¡¯s lips curled into a smile. ¡°His name is Han Song, and he suffers from giantism. He has been gawked at since he was young, and everyone is afraid of him. Afterward, when people notice that he¡¯s not that clever and is an honest person, many boring people started to y pranks on him. Those people call themselves his friends, but in reality, they were merely ordering him around and treating him as a tool... or perhaps more like an animal. The saddest thing was all this happened at school, so his family had no idea. He was so happy to have found some friends, and his parents even invited his bullies to his home as guests.¡±

    ¡°Then how did he enter the door? If it was just physical bullying, with his physical condition, he could have easily pushed back against those who bullied him.¡± Ol¡¯ Bai was worried about Chen Ge, so he followed them in. When he saw the Half Red Specter, he thought that he could take him down.

    ¡°This is the harshest form of bullying, emotional abuse. No one bullied him physically. They isted him, verbally attacked him, and ostracized him, making him feel like a monster.¡± Chen Ge was familiar with all that. ¡°There are worthless creatures who like to put others down to satisfy themselves. They are filled with malice. The more the kid wants to make others think that he is not a monster, the more they will make him feel that way.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that was the type of bullying Han Song ran into. One time, they pushed him to the edge, and they got into an argument. As a result, Han Song was punished; it was Han Song who was injured, but the parents came at him madly. They wanted Han Song expelled because they felt like it was too dangerous for their students to be around someone who was so violent and dumb.¡± There was a cold smirk on Yin Hong¡¯s lips. Her eyes were red like she was nning to destroy all life forms.

    ¡°And then what happened?¡±

    ¡°The school did not punish anyone, but the emotional abuse on Han Song worsened. Their actions toward Han Song slowly crossed the line. Their school once had a Taekwondo club. None of the other clubs were willing to ept Han Song¡ªthe Taekwondo club was the only exception. But afraid of him acting out, they only gave him the role of a training partner, or more precisely, a human punching bag. Han Song valued this chance a lot. But people refused to let him be and joined the club as well. You can imagine what happened next.¡± Yin Hong pointed at the male student next to Chen Ge. ¡°That was what he experienced; outside the door, he was bullied, but here, he became a bully.¡±

    ¡°Why do you know so much about Han Song?¡± Chen Ge was curious.

    ¡°We came from the same school.¡± Yin Hong did not continue. She seemed to have been reminded of something unhappy.

    ¡°Okay, I know what to do now.¡± Chen Ge looked at the students in the room and took out the red high heels. ¡°Han Song probably thought that, by bullying others and instilling fear in them, no one would dare bully him again.¡±

    ¡°What do you n to do?¡± Yin Hong always had trouble understanding Chen Ge.

    ¡°I wish to tell him that is a bad idea.¡± Before Chen Ge finished, a roar echoed through the ground. Han Song, who had been pressed onto the ground earlier, slowly stood up with his hands on the wall. His coat was drenched in blood, and his body was expanding. A horrible stench filled the room, and worm-like wounds could be seen on his exposed skin.

    ¡°How did those wound from?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea. I only know about what happened to him at school. Perhaps he ran into something else outside of school.¡± This was the first time that Yin Hong had seen Han Song being pushed into such a corner.

    ¡°The reason he is behind the door probably has to do with his family.¡± Chen Ge looked at the maddened Han Song, and he was surprised. Facing the attacks from the headless woman and Xu Yin, he did not get injured too much. ¡°The guy has a single attack style but can sure take a beating.¡±

    Chen Ge could not waste too much time there. He said something to the heels he was holding, but the heels did not react. He had no other option but to toss the heels right at Han Song. ¡°Big Sister, please help. If I can¡¯t leave this ce, you can¡¯t either. I give you a verbal promise now. If I can leave this school alive, I will give you freedom, and we will not owe each other anything.¡±

    Yin Hong looked at Chen Ge like he was dumb, but she did not expect what would happen next. The sound of heels clicking echoed in the room, and red footprints appeared on tables and chair before finally appearing on Han Song¡¯s body. Soon, the footprints turned into small ck lines and crawled into Han Song¡¯s body. This was the curse that the heels was most familiar with. After consuming the ghost fetus¡¯ curse, the heels¡¯ power seemed to have grown. The three Red Specters cooperated to pin Han Song down, but even until the stage of almost being dispersed, he refused to surrender.

    The color on his coat faded, and his actions slowed down. The red in Han Song¡¯s eyes slowly disappeared¡ªhe seemed to have seen his old self.

    Nothing had changed...

    The wounds on his body increased. Seeing as Han Song was about to be consumed by the three Red Specters, the door opened, and a fat old man rushed in.

    ¡°Stop!¡±

    The headmaster¡¯s heart wrenched just from hearing the sounds from outside the door. After he came in, he was given a shock. Wherever he looked, there was red.

    Chen Ge signaled for them to stop and turned to the old headmaster. ¡°They bullied others first. When I came in, they were hitting that child. I did nothing wrong.¡±

    ¡°Really? But I only see you bullying others!¡± The old headmaster looked at the student on the floor. The student in Taekwondo gear did not seem like he wanted to get into trouble, so he stammered through gibberish.

    Han Song was copsed on the ground. The scene before his eyes felt familiar.

 Chapter 865 - Teaching Methods

    Chapter 865: Teaching Methods

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    ¡°Sir, these people were bullying other students, so I had to intervene.¡± Chen Ge picked up the student by his cor. ¡°When I walked in, he was being punched by the few students. I was just helping him.¡±

    ¡°But I only saw you beating them up!¡± The old headmaster looked very angry, and disappointment was clear on his face. He walked to the student¡¯s side. ¡°The people lying on the floor were beating you earlier?¡±

    ¡°We were just practicing with him. Shen Qing, you have to answer that!¡± The bullies finally found a savior, and they pleaded loudly. The student in the Taekwondo outfit¡¯s lips fell open, but he did not say anything.

    After a long time, it appeared like he hade to a decision. He pointed at the other students. ¡°They said every new member has to go through this process. When the first student was beaten up by them, I didn¡¯t say anything, and under their urging, I even delivered a few punches. When the second student was bullied, I still remained silent, but now it¡¯s my turn.¡±

    Shen Qing was not scared into silence; he chose to tell the truth.

    ¡°I have made a mistake in the past, but I will not repeat that mistake.¡±

    Everyone in the ssroom stared at Shen Qing. He was very afraid. His shoulders and legs were shaking, and his voice was unnatural.

    ¡°Sir, you heard it yourself. They deserved it. I was not bullying them; I was merely helping the bullied students.¡± Chen Ge waved his hands and signaled for Xu Yin and the headless woman to continue. Han Song, who was copsed in the middle of the ssroom, had wounds all over his body, and he looked like he was perishing. But strangely enough, the boy kept his eyes on Shen Qing. There wereplicated emotions in his eyes. Things did not go as Han Song expected. When he was med, no one stood forth to help him. Even if he had protected others, they would not appreciate it but would stay away from him due to various reasons.

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s because I really am a monster...¡±

    To give Han Song a memorable lesson, Chen Ge did not tell his employees to hold back. Being attacked by three Red Specters, it was surprising that Han Song could hold on for so long. His physical body wavered, and the blood on his shirt faded. The memory in his mind blurred, and his lingering spirit surfaced. His red eyes were filled with negative emotions, and there was no hope.

    ¡°I have turned into the type of person I hate the most, but it does not bring me happiness even though no one dares bully me anymore.¡±

    The erged body slowly returned to normal, but the stench on his body did not disappear. If anything, it only thickened like the despair curled around his heart was slowly deepening.

    ¡°If only I was not a monster, people would not hate me, and dad would not have abandoned me.¡±

    Something pressed down on his mind, and curses crawled over his body like snakes. The longer this carried on, the worse his situation got. Han Song wished to run, but all the exits had been blocked. He could feel his body slowly disappearing, his flesh being cut down little by little.

    ¡°I¡¯m so tired...¡± He felt an indescribable drowsinesse from everywhere. Just as he was about to close his eyes, an old man appeared before him. The old man was not tall, and his face looked kind, but his expression was serious.

    ¡°Chen Ge, perhaps you think that it doesn¡¯t matter if you kill him, but I wish for you to remember this¡ªthis child was once a victim. You hate school bullying, but using force to press down against force is not going to work because one day you¡¯ll meet someone stronger than you.¡± The old headmaster had probably guessed Chen Ge¡¯s n before entering the door, but when he walked to Han Song¡¯s side, he was still shocked. Fights between Red Specters were much crueler than he had thought. He noticed that Chen Ge¡¯s Red Specters truly wanted to kill and consume the boy¡¯s heart!

    ¡°I will not allow you to do that.¡± The old headmaster refused to budge. Actually, he had the wrong idea about Chen Ge. Of the three Red Specters, other than Xu Yin who would follow Chen Ge¡¯s orders, the other two were not under his control, and they would not listen to his orders.

    ¡°Sir, are you sure you want to help them?¡±

    ¡°Human nature is kindness. Even in the darkest abyss, one can find a blooming flower.¡± The headmaster looked at Chen Ge for a long time. ¡°Do you mind if I talk to him in private?¡±

    ¡°But he¡¯s a Red Specter.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    The old headmaster was a stubborn person. To prevent an ident from happening, Chen Ge had the red high heels stay back.

    ¡°Please leave. Right, have thatdy pull the curse away. It¡¯s too dangerous.¡± The old headmaster saw through Chen Ge¡¯s n. He tossed Chen Ge a look to tell him not to worry. After everyone left, he personally closed the door. Chen Ge was worried about the headmaster. He leaned against the door to look through the gap. If any danger came to the headmaster, he would rush in immediately. Through the gap, Chen Ge saw the headmaster pick up Han Song and whisper something to him. Initially, he was the one speaking, but eventually, Han Song started to reply. They chatted for ten minutes before Han Song suddenly went berserk. Yet, the old headmaster did not run. He stood squarely before Han Song and raised his voice.

    Chen Ge heard the following terms outside the door¡ªmonster, parents, and so on.

    Han Song, who had gone mad, did not hurt the headmaster, and he followed the old man out of the ssroom.

    ¡°The child has agreed to join us. He has already received enough punishment for his mistake. I hope you¡¯ll give him one more chance.¡± The headmaster looked at Chen Ge with sincerity. ¡°Actually, he hates bullies more than we do, but he fell into a maze and found the wrong way out.¡±

    Han Song, who stood behind the headmaster, was still afraid of Chen Ge. He stooped and lowered his head, trying to make himself look as small as he could.

    ¡°Sir, he¡¯s not one of us. The most appropriate way is to have him join us in another manner.¡± Chen Ge pointed at Bai Qiulin¡¯s stomach. He ignored Han Song. Since he was to portray the bad cop, he went all the way.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I¡¯m begging you.¡± Since the headmaster said that, Chen Ge did not insist. He agreed with Han Song joining them and pulled the headmaster to the side.

    ¡°Sir, I¡¯m curious, how did you persuade him? Can you talk me through the whole process?¡± Chen Ge wished to lean from the headmaster. He would be able to use this skill of persuasion in the future.

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you. He chose to trust me, so I have to keep his secret.¡± The headmaster always treated others with sincerity. He had been tricked many times because of it, but that did not change his nature. After experiencing many things, he had finally found people who could understand him, and they had been apanying and protecting him. ¡°But I still need to thank you. If you didn¡¯t beat some sense into him, my persuasion would have been pointless, but try to hold back a little next time.¡±

    The headmaster was scared, too. If he had walked in a little bitter, Han Song would have departed already.

    ¡°I have my n ready. All the students at this school are special, so I have to use special methods to educate them. I suppose you can call this modifying one¡¯s way of teaching to suit the special requirements of each ss or case.¡± Chen Ge stole a nce at Han Song. ¡°Find their goodness, but do not ignore their weakness. Then I will use my method to help them breakthrough their mold and find a new path in life!¡±

 Chapter 866 - Where Have They Gone?

    <h4>Chapter 866: Where Have They Gone?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The actual method of educating based on cases was not to praise the good and ignore the bad but to face the problem head on ande up with a suitable solution. Even though Chen Ge did not have any children, from a certain perspective, he was the leader of an entire Haunted House. Using different methods ofmunication with different employees to elicit their greatest passion was an ability possessed by a sessful boss. After the Taekwondo member and Han Song joined the club, Chen Ge¡¯s group grewrger.

    ¡°Sir, actually, I didn¡¯t n to kill Han Song. I merely wanted him to feel the pain of the victim to evoke the memory of his past self.¡± Chen Ge did not want there to be a misunderstanding between him and the headmaster. ¡°Our ultimate goal is to earn the school¡¯s approval; killing the students will obviously go against it.

    ¡°Other than the school¡¯s consciousness itself, the strongest Specter here should be someone called the painter. He is a ghost with a clear goal. He used his power to turn the school into a heaven without any fighting, but he ran into trouble with another Greater Red Specter. I have no idea what happened next, but those who offended or stood in the painter¡¯s way would have their memory wiped out.¡±

    ¡°The painter didn¡¯t kill them?¡± The headmaster cut straight to the point.

    ¡°Yes, even if those ghosts kept creating problems, the painter didn¡¯t kill them,¡± Chen Ge whispered. ¡°Consuming Red Specters could greatly improve his own and his allies¡¯ power; it is impossible for the painter to not understand something as simple as that. So, it is not that he doesn¡¯t want to kill, but he cannot. Don¡¯t forget, before the new door-pusher appears, the real owner of this ce is the school¡¯s consciousness. The painter is very powerful, but he still needs to act within the school¡¯s limits.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me that earlier?¡±

    ¡°If I told you the truth, would you still have reacted the same way? When you came to save Han Song, you really wanted to help him without consideration for the consequences. This cannot be faked. I could see that; I believe that Han Song could see that as well.¡± A smile hung on Chen Ge¡¯s lips. ¡°Sir, you are the kindest person I¡¯ve ever met; I do not mean to lie to you, but I wish to do more, and some things in this world cannot be achieved with kindness alone.¡±

    The smile on his face faded. ¡°Negative emotions and despair permeate the world behind the door, but these emotionse from outside the door. I have no idea how they appear here, but I know that if everyone was like you behind the door, the world behind the door would be a paradise.¡±

    Turning to look out the window, Chen Ge looked at the thick blood fog. ¡°Perhaps that way, we might be able to see the stars in the sky.¡±

    This was the first time that the headmaster had seen Chen Ge show an expression like that. ¡°Is there something on your mind?¡±

    ¡°I would never tell this to others¡ªyou¡¯re the first one to hear it. Perhaps it¡¯s because you know my parents and I¡¯m certain you will not harm me.¡± Chen Ge and the headmaster walked at the front of the group. ¡°In such a big school, standing amid ghosts and Specters, I am the only living person. Sometimes I am afraid, but I know that I cannot show that. I am just a normal person, but I am also the owner of a Haunted House, the backbone of all my employees and the students we¡¯ve found. If I lose my stability, everyone will panic, so I do not dare be afraid, do not even dare attempt to entertain the possibility of fear.¡±

    When Chen Ge said that, the old headmaster took a good look at Chen Ge. If he was still alive, his grandson would probably be as old as Chen Ge. Chen Ge presented himself so powerfully that even the headmaster had forgotten the simplest issue; he was the only living person in a veritable hell. In this dark abyss, he was like a flickering candlelight, and the smallest wind could take him out. This should be difficult for him as well.

    These thoughts appeared in the headmaster¡¯s mind. ¡°If you wish to talk to someone in the future, feel free toe to me. I¡¯ve lived for so long, even though there¡¯s nothing to my name, I am qualified enough to be a good listener.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Chen Ge said. ¡°Actually, I wish to know more about my parents. They haven¡¯t told me anything. Sir, can you describe them for me?¡±

    ¡°I only know that they are a passionate couple. They did not ask for anypensation but had helped me a lot. Based on what I heard, they helped many others in Western Jiujiang. They would donate most of their ie from their Haunted House, and they have done far more than I do.¡± The headmaster held Chen Ge¡¯s parents in high regard.

    ¡°Did they ever mention me? I wish to know how they looked at me.¡± Chen Ge slowed down. He wanted to know what had happened between himself and his shadow.

    The headmaster did not answer instantly. After a long pause, he said, ¡°I¡¯ve been to your home before¡ªit was at midnight. Your parents were heading out. I have no idea where they were going, but I saw that they stood at your bedroom door for a very long time.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been to my house?¡± To maintain the Haunted House, Chen Ge had already sold the old home. He did not wish to return to be reminded of the past.

    ¡°Chen Ge, no matter what, I hope you understand that your parents really did love you. Perhaps they have done stuff that you do not understand now, but I hope you won¡¯t be angry at them.¡± The old headmaster seemed to know some things, but he was unable to tell Chen Ge.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen them for so long already.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice cut at the headmaster¡¯s heart.

    Stopping, Chen Ge suddenly asked, ¡°Can you tell me where they have gone?¡±

    The headmaster¡¯s lips opened to say something, but at thest moment, he closed them again.

    ¡°You can¡¯t tell me?¡± Chen Ge stopped and looked at the headmaster like a helpless child in the wind.

    The old headmaster hesitated before finally shaking his head. ¡°They wille back to find you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. I also believe that they will return.¡± Chen Ge sucked in a breath and reverted to his usual self. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s keep moving. After getting approval from enough Specters, the school will approve of us. Then, we willy our cards on the table. I don¡¯t want to drag this on anymore.¡±

    Sunny, tough, kind¡ªthere was a hard determination in his bones. Sometimes, he was so calm that people would be afraid, but other times, he was like a child.

    The old headmaster looked at Chen Ge. His impression of Chen Ge changed again. If, before this, they were in a cooperative rtionship, now, he treated Chen Ge as his junior.

    The headmaster himself did not notice this change. Perhaps it was due to guilt or something else.

    ¡°Sir, what I told you today, I hope you won¡¯t tell anyone else.¡±

 Chapter 867 - Thirteen Forbidden Zones

    <h4>Chapter 867: Thirteen Forbidden Zones</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will not tell anyone,¡± the headmaster replied softly. Chen Ge nodded lightly. He walked at the front of the pack, so no one could see his expression. Bai Qiulin, who followed closely behind Chen Ge and the headmaster, did not dare intervene. This was the first time that he had seen this demeanor from his boss. He did not know whether Chen Ge was doing this on purpose to gain the old headmaster¡¯s trust or really did trust the old headmaster.

    ¡°Boss...¡± In his mind, Chen Ge was a person who was not afraid of anything. In fact, he would often forget that Chen Ge was a living person. It felt nice staying next to Chen Ge, and it would sometimes create the impression that he had already long left the world. Perhaps because Chen Ge had never treated them as ghosts, they liked the Haunted House and chose it as their new home.

    <i>We have been so caught up in ourselves and our past that we have forgotten about the boss. He has been considerate toward us, but we have never once ced ourselves in his shoes.</i>

    Bai Qiulin carried the mirror. A terrible life gave him the chance to experience the many facets of life, so he had an appreciation for his current position. Bai Qiulin silently titled his head to nce at Xu Yin. He wanted to get Xu Yin¡¯s opinion, but he realized with a shock that Xu Yin was looking at Chen Ge, who walked ahead. The depression and pain in his eyes lessened greatly, and blood flowed. Xu Yin¡¯s lips moved like he wanted to console Chen Ge, but once his mouth opened, he realized that he had forgotten how to do that.

    ¡°Yin Hong, is there any ce scarier than that ssroom in our school? Bring me there now.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s tone did not change much, but there was an unsettling undercurrent to it. The man seemed to be angry, and he nned to vent that anger on other Specters.

    ¡°There are thirteen forbidden zones in our school. The crying well behind the field, the ssroom whose door is always closed, and the nurse¡¯s office that one will enter but never leave¡ªwe have been to these three ces already.¡± Yin Hong counted on her fingers. ¡°There are a few other ces that are dangerous. Normally, the teachers warned us against going there. Are you sure you want to go there?¡±

    ¡°There are as many as thirteen such ces? The students at this school sure are living in a dangerous ce.¡± Chen Ge smiled. It was simple for a normal person to maintain a smile, but to maintain a smile behind the door while being surrounded by Specters and ghosts, this smile took on a different meaning. ¡°Let¡¯s not stand around¡ªwe¡¯ll walk and talk.¡±

    Chen Ge gripped Yin Hong¡¯s wrist like he was not holding a Red Specter but a problematic girl who had just gotten into an argument with her parents. He was in a hurry to get to these ces, so he did not mind the details. ¡°What are the remaining forbidden zones?¡±

    ¡°The fourth zone is the specimen room with hidden window. This room is on the western side of school as well. The room has many specimens. Due to the uniqueness of the collection, the room does not have a window, but when students pass by the room, they asionally see a window and a smiling face behind it.¡± Yin Hong stared at the hand that held her wrist. She wanted to beat the man, but she knew that he was not being malicious toward her, so she did not mind it. This was the first time that she had felt this kind of conflicted emotion.

    ¡°They probably put the specimen of a smiling face behind the window.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s tone was no different from normal. ¡°If he shares our values, once we get home, I can even build a wall for him.¡±

    ¡°The fifth zone is the inverted education block¡¯s stairs. The education block is at the center of the school, and on the fourth floor, if you look up when you go down the stairs, you¡¯ll see someone going down the stairs above you as well. No one knows why.

    ¡°The sixth zone is the security booth where the door can¡¯t close. After the door is closed, it will open on its own. It¡¯s very strange; even the Red Specters can¡¯t understand it.

    ¡°The seventh zone is the chairs in the female dormitory. This is one of the few dangerous locations.¡± Yin Hong paid this ce special attention. ¡°The fourth floor of the female dormitory is abandoned. There is a red chair ced in the middle of the corridor. There was a girl¡¯s name written on it. ording to rumors, there was serious bullying in this dormitory, and during dance practice, a few girls forced another girl to jump down the building.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Chen Ge felt this sounded familiar. ¡°Do you know the name of the girl who jumped?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t. I only know that there is a bedroom on the fourth floor to which entry is forbidden. I hear it is stuffed with red chairs and shoes. And the cruelest and scariest Red Specter at this school resides there. Until now, no one has seen her because everyone who did has disappeared. Their hearts were made into candy and their souls into stuffed dolls. Their lingering souls were trapped inside the chairs, and they would never escape.¡± Just the mention of this Red Specter caused Yin Hong to be afraid as if afraid that she might really appear.

    ¡°Is... she that scary?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s forehead was soaked in sweat. He silently let go of Yin Hong. ¡°Continue.¡±

    ¡°The eighth zone is the deepest room in the male dormitory. The room is locked, and a deep stenches out from it. ording to rumors, a father¡¯s body and a smelly heart are locked inside.

    ¡°The ninth zone is also in the male dormitory. I can¡¯t remember the room, but there are hanging carcasses inside the room. They are all hanged while standing. Apparently, that is the punishment for deceit.

    ¡°The tenth zone is in the library. When you get close to one of the bookshelves, both Red Specters and ghosts would disappear.

    ¡°The eleventh zone is a mirror; bad things will happen when you look at this mirror.

    ¡°The twelfth zone is actually just a name and a file. No one knows what the name represents¡ªwe only know it¡¯s a male name. All the ghosts that say that name will disappear, so until now, no one has been able to tell what the name represents.

    ¡°Thest zone is the headmaster¡¯s office. No one knows where this is, and no one has seen the headmaster. All the staff operate on the school¡¯s consciousness, but ording to rumors, we used to have a headmaster.¡±

    Yin Hong told Chen Ge the thirteen most dangerous ces in the School of the Afterlife. Some were really dangerous, and some Chen Ge did not know how toment. Because of Zhang Ya, he did not do any missions rted to Western Jiujiang Private Academy, but he now suspected that the three-star scenario without a door might be the former self of the School of the Afterlife.

 Chapter 868 - Red Spectre Stench!

    <h4>Chapter 868: Red Spectre Stench!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Yin Hong revealed a lot of information to Chen Ge and confirmed some of his spection. These thirteen forbidden zones should be the School of the Afterlife¡¯sst secrets.

    <i>The few ovepping scenarios between School of the Afterlife and Western Jiujiang Private Academy confirmed my previous spection. The few forbidden zones did not have the presence of Specters because they left with Zhang Ya.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s brain was spinning.

    <i>Just now Yin Hong said that a room in the male dormitory was rife with a horrible stench; that room should be the ce where my worker once stayed. The room is locked with a father¡¯s body and a smelly heart. This description is quite interesting. Could it be that the ¡®stench¡¯ currently with me is still notplete? He has locked his heart together with his father¡¯s body?</i>

    Only a Red Specter would have their own ¡®heart¡¯. Yin Hong¡¯s words had aroused Chen Ge¡¯s attention. In Chen Ge¡¯s mind, even though Western Jiujiang Private Academy was deemed a three-star scenario, it was categorized that way because of Zhang Ya.

    <i>Looks like I underestimated that scenario.</i>

    Chen Ge was reminded of his fight with the gangsters outside the school. The gangsters had a stench stuck to them, and other Specters stayed away from them, but the boy with the horrible smell seemed to enjoy them.

    <i>No wonder he is sofortable at this school. Previously, in Coffin Vige and Li Wan City, other Specters evolved through the consumption of ghosts, but he was the only exception.</i>

    Chen Ge anticipated the surprise that the boy could bring him. The male dormitory was a forbidden zone for others, but for him, it was like a visit to his employee¡¯s house.

    <i>The School of the Afterlife keeps changing. If the boy¡¯s heart is really locked in the deepest part of the dormitory, I shall help him get it back. But the premise is that he is willing to take his own heart back.</i>

    The boy had locked his heart up with his father¡¯s body. Chen Ge had no idea why he did that. If the boy wished to forget about the past and live as a happy fatty, then Chen Ge would not force him. Chen Ge ran to the center of the school with Yin Hong leading the ce. The closer they got to the center, the more students they saw.

    Most students followed the warning in the announcement and stayed quietly in the ssrooms, but there were some that were wandering about as well, and they were mostly troublemakers. That might not bepletely true, but that was what Chen Ge believed. Whenever he ran into these students, he would go talk to them. Sometimes one had to admit Chen Ge was a good persuader. After a series of ¡®heart-to-heart¡¯ exchanges, many students would have tears of regret, and most of them chose to join Chen Ge¡¯s group.

    There was a small group who said that they supported Chen Ge verbally but since they had something else to do, that it was not convenient for them to follow Chen Ge. They left in a hurry.

    Travelling from the western part of the school to the center, the group behind Chen Ge grew, and he sessfully gained the school¡¯s attention. The blood sun burst through the fog and pressed down on the school. As the distance closed, this was the first time Chen Ge saw the sun for what it was. It was actually a giant red eye, the bloodshot pupil had blood vessels running through it, and the eye was reflecting many despairing faces.

    <i>Each human face should represent a despairing lingering spirit, but there are so many of them.</i>

    Chen Ge felt like Jiujiang city should not have so many spirits¡ªthis monster had perhaps lured in spirits from other ce like the cursed hospital. It was situated in the middle of the two cities but was categorized by the ck phone as part of Jiujiang.

    <i>The four-star scenarios have shown signs that they influence the areas around them, so just how scary will five-star scenarios be?</i>

    Outside the window, the eye above the school was huge. The human faces in it were howling and screeching, like they were afraid of something.

    <i>The school¡¯s consciousness keeps staring at the blood city. What kind of monster is hiding there? What is it afraid of?</i>

    The blood city slowly approached. It appeared like it wished to swallow the School of the Afterlife like a red wave.

    <i>This is strange. I feel like the city is alive...</i>

    ¡°Here we are.¡± When Chen Ge was thinking, Yin Hong had led them to the vicinity of the student dormitory. She pulled on Chen Ge¡¯s sleeve and said, ¡°All the buildings in the school are joined together to form arge block. The left side is the education block, and the right is the dormitories. If you look closer, you should notice the difference from the color on the walls.¡±

    ¡°Since we¡¯re here, let¡¯s go take a look.¡± Other than Chang Wenyu and the painter, Chen Ge was not afraid of anyone. He hadpleted the mission given by Chang Wenyu and more. There were so many people gathered around him, and it was only time he gained the school¡¯s approval. ¡°We will go take a look at the male dormitory first, the room that you mentioned gave off a horrible smell.¡±

    ¡°You sure have a strange request. Initially I thought you were acting, like you were pretending not to be afraid, but I now realize how wrong I was. You are enjoying this too much.¡± Yin Hong had a strange expression like a sick person meeting a madman.

    ¡°The adult world isplicated¡ªyou won¡¯t understand it if I try to exin. Please lead the way.¡±

    Chen Ge summoned the boy with the smell. Thisrge boy who had an air of stench around him narrowed his eyes. He hugged his belly and looked for all the world to be a harmless person.

    Ever since he showed up at Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, he had been very tame. Chen Ge knew that the term tame did not suit a Specter, but that was how he felt. He worked withoutint, and even when he was bullied, he would smile. He rushed ahead whenever there was trouble even though his kindness might sometimes turn into trouble.

    Afraid of being the source of visitors¡¯ints, he often hid at the corners, and whenever the visitors appeared, he would go and hide, afraid that his smell might chase them away. Who would have thought such a kind employee might be a hidden Red Specter who had locked up his real heart with his father¡¯s body?

    ¡°The boy has no corporeal form; this kind of Specter can be a Red Specter, huh? Oh well, we¡¯ll know when we get there.¡± Chen Ge and Yin Hong turned into the male dormitory. Probably because it was still time for ss, there were no students around, and a thinyer of blood fog permeated the area. It felt like a window had been broken, and it had not been fixed. They walked down the corridor and walked down the stairs to the fourth floor before stopping before a door that was sealed by wooden beams.

    ¡°The school sealed up this ce, and no one has entered since. No one knows what is behind this. If you open this door recklessly, you might release something incredibly horrifying.¡± Even Yin Hong gave Chen Ge a warning, which proved that this ce was very dangerous to the students.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine, trust me.¡± Chen Ge nced at the ¡®boy¡¯ who was still spacing out and signaled for his employees to take down the wooden nks.

 Chapter 869 - Who Will Be Next?

    <h4>Chapter 869: Who Will Be Next?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    As the wooden boards fell off one by one, the boy who stood next to Chen Ge slowly transformed. Therge head slowly turned, and the small eyes that were squeezed behind the folds of fat stared straight down the corridor. The corridor sealed by the wooden boards was different from the other corridors in the School of the Afterlife. There was no blood fog, and the walls and cement floor looked no different from a normal corridor in real life.

    Yin Hong saw the shift in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes and whispered to exin, ¡°All the students here know that this ce is forbidden, so they do note here. Therefore, it¡¯s only natural for this corridor to have retained its previous state.¡±

    ¡°The world behind the door is all red, so how could there be somewhere that is simr to real life? The only exnation is the school meant to keep it this way.¡± Removing thest board, the fog dispersed. Chen Ge and the others rushed in, but only the boy with the smell stood where he was.

    ¡°Have you been reminded of something?¡± Chen Ge wanted to tap the boy¡¯s shoulder, but his hand phased through his body. The honest fatty was just a ball of smelly air, unlike other Specters. The boy did not answer. His round body slowly moved down the corridor. He walked very slowly like he was afraid.

    <i>Why would he be afraid? Does he not wish to see his real self, or is he unwilling to face the memory in his heart?</i>

    Chen Ge did not know how to console the boy. He did not urge him. If the boy showed any clear sign of resistance, he would take him out of there immediately. There was no light in the corridor, and all the windows were sealed. This ce waspletely isted from the rest of the school. The school did not seem like it liked other people going there¡ªthis was his private ce.

    ¡°I¡¯ve only heard of this ce from the teachers. I didn¡¯t expect things here to appear so normal.¡± Yin Hong was curious and walked at the front. After a small jog, she stopped. ¡°This room is the dormitory that I mentioned earlier. The students who stayed here all said that they would see something standing next to their bed at midnight. His feet stepped on the ground, but there was a noose around his neck. His face was green as he stared at one of the beds. If you met his gaze, you would disappear.¡±

    ¡°Is the door locked?¡± Chen Ge reached out to push at the door.

    ¡°Hey! Did you not hear me? Can you give me some reaction? I¡¯m telling you something scary!¡± Yin Hong was not satisfied with Chen Ge¡¯s attitude. ¡°I know you are brave, but these few forbidden zones are the ces where the teachers forbade the students froming. For all neers, the first day of ss is for getting to know where they can go and where they can¡¯t go.¡±

    ¡°The door isn¡¯t locked. Xu Yin,e with me.¡± Chen Gepletely ignored Yin Hong. While the girl was speaking, he had pushed the door open a sliver.

    ¡°You really want to die, don¡¯t you! Listen to me, there are things more painful than death in this world, so don¡¯t think that...¡± Yin Hong was the coagtion of negative emotions in Yin Bai. She had to face all the negative emotions and cruel memories. Therefore, she had slowly turned into a monster, but due to what had happened earlier, she had stopped hiding herself before Chen Ge. She probably felt close to Chen Ge, believing they were the same type of person.

    Chen Ge noticed the change in Yin Hong, too, but he did not pay it any attention. Yin Hong was the negative memory of Lee Xueyin. He thought that he would be closer to Yin Bai unless the ghost fetus was the carrier of the good memories and he was the one who shouldered all the pain. But that was clearly impossible. He did not think much of it and attributed Yin Hong¡¯s change to his sparkling personality.

    With Xu Yin¡¯s agreement, Chen Ge pushed the bedroom door open. A faded smell of mildew drifted out. Having gotten used to the smell of blood, this smell of mildew felt strangely familiar.

    ¡°This ce is so messy.¡± Dirty clothes and trash littered the room. The luggage and nkets were strewn everywhere like a tornado had just hit the ce.

    ¡°Did you discover anything?¡± The headmaster had been following behind Chen Ge like he was worried Chen Ge might do something crazy. ¡°Shall we leave? This is the school¡¯s forbidden zone; we¡¯d better not stay here for too long.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Chen Ge stood in the middle of the room and lifted his head to look at the roof. There were nails pinned to the ceiling painted white. From each nail, a tattered cloth was dangling. The cloths of many colors dangled downward. The ceiling was like a white sea, and the red cloths were like corals living on the sea floor. Reaching out to pull at one of them, Chen Ge tugged at it lightly. ¡°This cloth is unable to support a person¡¯s weight. They can¡¯t be used to hang a person.¡±

    ¡°I feel more like they are used to fix mosquitos. Howe your mind goes straight to hanging?¡± The old headmaster stood at the door. ¡°This room is not big; there probably aren¡¯t any secrets here. The school¡¯s consciousness has preserved this ce probably because this ce is meaningful to it.¡±

    ¡°Boss, look at this.¡± Bai Qiulin held the mirror with one hand, and his other pointed at the edge of the iron bedframe. The bed had a rope tied to it, and at the other end of the rope was a doll with ck hair and a name.

    ¡°This looks like the doll that Zhang Ya once gifted me. Has Zhang Ya been here to help the hanging student before?¡± Looking at the items in the room, Chen Ge could not find the answer. Chen Ge opened theic and summoned the hanging student. Normally, in the haunted house, the hanging man would hide in the mannequin that Chen Ge had specially made for him. He was a normal Specter, not even as unique as the stench.

    The pages turned, and a thin boy appeared in the room. There was an obvious rope mark around his neck, and his neck was dislocated from his shoulders, giving him a strange look.

    ¡°You remember this room, yes?¡± Chen Ge asked softly. The confusion in the student¡¯s eyes slowly disappeared¡ªhe was like a spooked kitten. He rushed toward one of the beds and tossed all the trash away. He found a ck envelope under the mattress, and on it, a sentence was written.

    ¡®Who will be next?¡¯

    The envelope was puffy like it was stuffed with something. The boy held the envelope tightly with both hands. Fear rose in his heart; he was still very afraid.

    ¡°Can I talk a look at that letter?¡± Chen Ge wondered what the hanging man had experienced, why their dormitory room was filled with dolls crafted by Zhang Ya.

    The boy shook his head with determination. He put the ck envelope away and rushed back into theic.

    ¡°The envelope looks like a curse, but there is nothing that scares me.¡± Since his worker refused to share, Chen Ge would not force it. He inspected the room again and then reced everything before leading everyone deeper into the male dormitory.

 Chapter 870 - I Wish for You to Be Happy

    Chapter 870: I Wish for You to Be Happy

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    The further they went into the dormitory, the thicker the stench in the air. It was like trash had been piled inside for years without anyone to deal with it. Xu Yin and Yin Hong walked at the front while Chen Ge and the boy with the stench walked in the middle. The boy tried his best to hold in the smell like he was worried that it might push Chen Ge away from him. This boy had always been like this; he had a body that would naturally give off a bad stench, but his heart was unimaginably pure.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t feel well, we can stop here,¡± Chen Ge said softly. He kept interacting with the boy. He rarely forced his workers to do things that they did not want to do. The cheeks with folds of fat swung left and right. The boy rejected Chen Ge, but the further they went down the corridor, the more nervous the expression on his face became.

    ¡°Don¡¯t force yourself. Compared to the truth, I¡¯d rather you live a happy life. You didn¡¯t feel much happiness when you were alive, and I don¡¯t want you to get tortured after death. That would just be too sad.¡±

    Several minutester, they reached the end of the corridor. Many students held their noses¡ªthis ce was too smelly. The stench was hard to describe. It was no longer the decaying smell of trash. It seemed like it would permeate through people¡¯s skin to make people feel disgusted from within. None of the ¡®people¡¯ could stand this; only the boy with the stench did not feel ufortable. His wavering body even coagted like the stench there was originally part of his body. He had once abandoned it, but now the smell was gathering around him. The smell around the boy was heaviest, and the students stayed away from him. This was like when he was still at school; no one was willing to be his friend, and everyone stayed away from him. He was made aughingstock, a walking joke.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s handnded lightly on the boy¡¯s shoulder. As the body materialized, Chen Ge¡¯s hand did not phase through the boy¡¯s body anymore. This was the first time that he had felt the boy¡¯s body temperature¡ªit was bone-chillingly cold,pletely different from his appearance. No matter where the others chose to hide, Chen Ge would stand beside the boy. The reason was simple¡ªhe was his worker. Chen Ge actually had many workers, but he did not ignore their personal feelings even though there were so many of them. Every worker was important to Chen Ge because he knew, no matter what happened, those specters treated the Haunted House as their home, and it was the only ce they belonged.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. No matter what happens, I will face it with you. You have many friends now. We will be by your side, so you don¡¯t need to face these things alone anymore.¡± Chen Ge wanted to touch the boy¡¯s head, but he realized that the boy was too tall, and he could not reach it. Just as he was about to pull away, therge and tall boy took great difficulty to bend over, and the small eyes hidden in his face blinked several times.

    Chen Ge smiled. He just wanted to console him. He patted the boy on his shoulders, stood beside him, and did not move away.

    ¡°There is a reason this ce is forbidden. If we unleash the thing inside it, all of us will be in trouble.¡± A student that had joined themter whispered some advice. Many people were talking, and even the old headmaster came over to tell Chen Ge to be careful. Everyone saw Chen Ge as the center of the team, and they would listen to hismand. But to everyone¡¯s surprise, Chen Ge finally led the boy with the stench to the door and handed the choice over to him. ¡°Whether we open the door or leave, it¡¯s your choice.¡±

    Many students were specting about the two¡¯s rtionship. Only Bai Qiulin and Xu Yin were different; they felt touched.

    Standing at the end of the corridor, the boy with the ugly appearance stood where he was like he was petrified. He raised his arm to grab the doorknob, but hecked the courage to turn it. Turning back to look, he was standing at the darkest part of the corridor. This brought some memories. Many times in the past, he had wished to escape this room, but whenever he saw the long corridor leading away from it and the gauntlet of faces that would be staring at him, he would lose his courage. This small room was a ce that belonged to him fully; it was the ce that had made him feel the safest until his respected father died in the room.

    The stench in the air thickened a lot. The boy hesitated for a long time before tightening his grip to push the door open. A stinging stench rushed out from the room, and many people subconsciously stepped away. Only Chen Ge, Xu Yin, and the boy were left at the door. Trash littered the room, much of which had decayed until its shape could not be recognized. Once the door opened, the trash spilled out into the corridor. There was not even a spot for them to stand inside the room.

    The boy walked into the room. He stepped on the trash with his eyes glued to the armoire in the corner of the room. Chen Ge knew what was inside it. He blocked the people behind him so that they would not disturb the boy.

    The room was familiar to the boy. He stopped next to his bed. He waved his arms to clear away the trash that sat on the bedsheet and look at the mattress that hid underneath it. The broken mattress was covered with dark red stains. With a shaking body, the thing that he had been avoiding suddenly appeared before him.

    The red on the mattress reflected in his eyes, causing the red in his eyes to deepen. Strange noises elicited from his throat. It was as if he had not spoken for a long time and had forgotten how to phrase a sentence. In the end, he gripped the mattress with both hands as he tried to tear it open. Pieces of mattress with stains fluttered around the room like dark snow. The boy stood next to the bed as memories shed within his mind. The voice in his throat grew louder, and it sounded like both anger and helpless pleading.

    Seeing the helpless boy in the room, Chen Ge slowly closed the door. The boy probably did not want others to see him like that.

    In the dirty and cramped room, only the boy and Chen Ge were left. Standing quietly beside the door, Chen Ge allowed the boy to vent his emotions. He felt like he should be there to apany him. The stench in the room could make a person go mad. The boy calmed down after a long time, but there was change to his little eyes. They were filled with ck and red blood vessels.

    Pudgy hands gripped the armoire, and he slowly opened the door.

    To Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, the stench in the room did not increase, and an adult body wrapped in cling wrap did not fall out.

 Chapter 871 - Follow

    <strong>Chapter 871: Follow</strong>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    The boy with the smell stood before the armoire and stared at it dumbly. Chen Ge was curious. He slowly approached the armoire, but when he saw the thing inside it, shock appeared on his face. There was a short, fat, ugly boy curled up in the corner. The boy was covered in stic wrap, and there was a clear wound around his heart and a faded mark around the neck.

    Is this the boy from back then?

    The boy¡¯s fists were clenched tight, and they did not release after death. His left hand was holding a picture, and the right hand was holding a piece of someone¡¯s shirt. The shirt was an adult¡¯s shirt. The appearance of the boy meant that the diary that could be found in Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House was false.

    The truth is not what I expected. What really happened here?

    The boy stood quietly before the armoire. He looked at the boy inside the armoire, and a bitter smile appeared on his round face. He pulled back the stic wrap on the child¡¯s arm and took the picture in the child¡¯s palm. It was the picture of a father and his son. In the picture, everyone smiled brightly. Who would have thought that things would end up like this?

    A roar erupted from his throat. The boy¡¯s hands hardened, and he tore the picture that he had held until death into small pieces. As the picture was torn, wounds started to surface on the body of the boy in the armoire that were caused by domestic violence.

    Blood leaked under the stic wrap. The adult in the picture was crying, but the boy was pping andughing. When the picture waspletely torn, the boy in the armoire had turned fully red, and theyers of stic wrap over him started to crack.

    ¡°Wu...¡± The boy with the smell sounded like he was calling someone¡¯s name. It sounded like a goodbye and a summon. He scattered the torn picture on the ground. With red in his eyes, he turned to look at Chen Ge before whispering something. Chen Ge could not hear him clearly.

    As he was about to ask the boy to repeat himself, the boy with the smell stepped into the armoire. The smell lightened, blood fog flowed into the room, and blood vessels grew and spread through the room with the armoire as the center. This room had originally looked like real life, but in just few minutes, blood vessels crawled all over the wall. This was how a ce should look like behind the door.

    ¡°All the smell has gathered inside the armoire?¡± The boy squeezed hisrge body inside the armoire¡ªapanying him was the roomful of stench. When the stench disappeared fully, a strange sound came from the armoire. Chen Ge turned toward it, and a small fatty in red looked back at him.

    ¡°Are you the boy with the smell?¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes to study the boy. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    Chen Ge did not know what had happened to him. The boy had probably put down his past and found his heart. Everything began anew, and Chen Ge felt like he could not refer to the boy as the one with the smell anymore¡ªhe should have his own name. The fatty in the armoire did not speak. He was ugly but not inapproachable.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you remember me? I am our Haunted House¡¯s boss¡ªChen Ge!¡±

    The boy still did not speak. He just continued to stare at Chen Ge like he was trying to imprint his face in his mind. Themunication failed. Chen Ge reached out to pull the boy out of the armoire, but the boy showed no reaction.

    ¡°Alright, one should pick their own road. I will not force you to do anything. I am d to have known you. If you run into any problems that you can¡¯t solve in the future,e and find me in Western Jiujiang¡¯s Haunted House.¡± Chen Ge had enough power to give a Red Specter such a promise. He said that and turned to walk out the room. But as he did so, there came another sound from the armoire. Chen Ge turned back to look. The fatty boy jumped out from the armoire. The stic wrap clung to him as he followed closely behind Chen Ge, like he was afraid of staying in the room alone.

    ¡°No matter what you choose, I will understand. If you are willing to return, the door to the Haunted House is always open. But you will have to retake the employee exam. Those who fail cannot interact with the visitors.¡± Chen Ge had actually given up a moment earlier, but to his surprise, the boy who found his heart was still willing to follow him. They walked out of the room. The people outside were still curious about the sudden disappearance of the smell until they saw the red fatty behind Chen Ge.

    ¡°Another Red Specter?¡± Everyone including the headmaster was shocked.

    ¡°Do you know this boy?¡± Yin Hong nudged Bai Qiulin lightly and showed a cute, innocent face.

    ¡°He does look familiar...¡± Bai Qiulin had no idea what was going on, but if it was rted to his boss, he did not think that anything could be shocking anymore. The stench turned into a red fatty, and he was so much more powerful than before, but he refused tomunicate with anyone. It was unclear whether he had lost his ability to speak or was too afraid to speak.

    ¡°Come, we¡¯ve explored the male dormitory, so we should go to the female dormitory.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes moved away from the boy, thinking about something else. There had once been a door pusher in Western Jiujiang Private Academy, which exined why the school would appear behind the door, and the male dormitory that he was in should be the reflection of the Private Academy when the door pusher died. The School of the Afterlife expanded madly but chose to retain the few important locales. This should be the result of the lingering consciousness of the door pusher.

    Western Jiujiang Private Academy has a serious management problem. No wonder it was abandoned in the end. Other than the stench, the hanging man, and Zhang Ya, there was a door pusher who was cornered. Many students were bullied here, so for them, this school was already hell.

    As Chen Ge looked at the corridor that was slowly dyed red, a thought appeared in his mind.

    To gain the school¡¯s approval, I must change the school itself because this entire school is a nightmare for all the despairing children.

    Chen Ge shook his head. He decided to take it slow.

    The scenario rted to the stench has been preserved, so the scenario rted to Zhang Ya might be preserved behind the door as well. As the boy entered his corresponding scenario behind the door, his power grew tremendously. If I return to Zhang Ya¡¯s scenario, will that help her?

    Chen Ge knew very well that Zhang Ya was caught in a crucial moment, and he needed to try his best to help her.

 Chapter 872 - I Was the First to Step Forward

    Chapter 872: I Was the First to Step Forward

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    Blood fog rushed into the male dormitory. The forbidden zone that was isted by the school¡¯s consciousness was heavily damaged. The forgotten memory was regained, blood vessels climbed all over the old walls, and this ce turned into just like everywhere else in the school.

    ¡°The other side is the female dormitory; the ce was made forbidden by the school, and no one has been in there.¡± Yin Hong stood one meter away from Chen Ge. ¡°I¡¯d advise you not to go there. The legend about the female dormitory and the headmaster¡¯s story are the two big forbidden taboos in the school. Even the school has chosen to forget about them.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I have confidence.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice was scarily calm.

    ¡°You are just an outsider; do you think that you know the school better than me? You were lucky in the male dormitory, but your luck won¡¯tst forever. Your actions in the male dormitory have caused some changes. The school¡¯s consciousness is slowly being influenced. If you enter the forbidden zone in the female dormitory, it might trigger the school¡¯s consciousness and turn the entire school against you,¡± Yin Hong advised quietly.

    She was originally the kind who preferred things to be as chaotic as possible, but she waspletely different in front of Chen Ge. This man did not need any ¡®probing¡¯ to head toward the most dangerous and scariest ¡®endless abyss¡¯. If she did not stop him, she would be dragged down into it as well.

    ¡°You think you understand the school¡¯s consciousness, but after so many years, there has not been a new door pusher. This proves that you have misunderstood the school,¡± Chen Ge said.

    ¡°We don¡¯t understand the school?¡± Yin Hong pouted. ¡°The school¡¯s consciousness is made up of the students¡¯ collective consciousness. We are a part of the school, and the school is us; how can we not understand ourselves?¡±

    ¡°Sometimes the person that understand you the most is not yourself.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes moved between Yin Hong and Yin Bai.

    ¡°Chen Ge, we have created such a bigmotion, which will attract the school¡¯s attention. If you continue like this, it will be hard for us to escape unnoticed.¡± The old headmaster was worried. He felt like the lower profile they kept, the better, but obviously, Chen Ge thought differently.

    ¡°Soon, the school will be very busy. Furthermore, everything that we¡¯ve done is to help it. It will understand soon enough.¡± Chen Ge said something that surprised everyone and headed down the other direction without turning back.

    Compared to the male dormitory, he anticipated the female dormitory more. The reason was simple, because it might contain something that Zhang Ya lost. At the corner of the corridor, before Chen Ge stepped into the female dormitory, footsteps came from the other side of the corridor, and from upstairs, many people seemed to be hurrying their way. The influence caused by the opening of the male dormitory was far bigger than Chen Ge had expected.

    The blood fog expanded, and shadows appeared in the fog.

    ¡°Xu Yin.¡± Chen Ge took a step back to stand next to Xu Yin and the headless woman. ¡°So many people want to stop me? Is the female dormitory that important?¡±

    The bigger the school¡¯s reaction, the greater the possibility there was something wrong with the female dormitory. Zhang Ya¡¯s secret might be hidden there. This extraordinary Greater Red Specter seemed to have a special connection with the School of the Afterlife. Standing at the crossroads between two corridors, Chen Ge lifted his head to look. From the left side, the staff were rushing over, and from the right were the senior students who were dressed in deep-colored uniform. From the front, normal students wereing from the normal ssrooms.

    ¡°Are you the one who took down the wooden boards to the male dormitory?¡± one of the teachers demanded harshly.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Chen Ge did not deny it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know the ce is forbidden? Students are not allowed to enter it; not even the teachers are allowed entry.¡±

    ¡°I do.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s disregard for the rulespletely angered the teacher.

    ¡°You know the rules, yet you...¡±

    ¡°I only went there to im the thing that my friend lost. You said I have broken the rules, but who made the rule that no one can enter the forbidden zone, and who decided that the ce is forbidden?¡± From the beginning, Chen Ge did not think that he had done anything wrong. He nned to turn this whole school from its basis. Inparison, the painter and Chang Wenyu were making small skirmishes, but for now, no one could tell what Chen Ge was nning. Even if someone did, they would not have believed it.

    ¡°You are specting about the school¡¯s consciousness?¡± The second person who spoke Chen Ge recognized; it was Mr. Lei.

    ¡°If it is wrong, why can¡¯t I be suspicious about it? The school¡¯s consciousness is the collective consciousness of all the students here, but sometimes, the majority is not right. Since none of you dare question it, I will do it.¡± Chen Ge was like a traveler who lit a candle in the dark. He was about to pave a new road for others to follow.

    ¡°Do you know what you¡¯re talking about?¡± Mr. Lei and the other teachers slowly approached Chen Ge, and the atmosphere turned heavy.

    ¡°I know what I am talking about, and I know what I¡¯m doing. I just wish to create a path of change for the rest of you before I end up broken.¡± Chen Ge looked at the students who hurried over. ¡°Are you really happy here? At this school made from despairing students, do you feel any warmth from the strength of numbers? You are merely pushing yourselves deeper into the abyss! I see some of you have turned from victims into bullies. You have done what you hated the most; you are slowly turning into the person that once disgusted you the most. The scariest thing is, if you dare step forth to say no, that is seen as a resistance against the whole school, and that brave person will be bulldozed until he disappears.¡±

    ¡°You make this sound too serious.¡± Mr. Lei frowned. He felt like Chen Ge was different from the other students and would be hard to educate.

    ¡°As the teachers here, you don¡¯t realize the gravity of the situation. That proves how serious the situation is.¡± Being protected by two Red Specters, Chen Ge was not afraid to speak. He ignored Mr. Lei and turned to the students. ¡°No matter what you remember of your lives, every one of you has a gray past; only those with despair can enter this world behind the door. I do not know the meaning of the door¡¯s presence, but the door-pusher opened the door because he is looking for salvation behind the door.¡±

    Chen Ge did not raise his voice, but he made sure everyone could listen to his words. ¡°This school was not meant to turn into something like it. It is a home for you, a ce to help you walk out form despair. But take a look for yourselves. Does this ce look like a sanctuary that calms one¡¯s soul?¡±

    The students did not expect Chen Ge to say something like that. Many of them had missing memories; they were like walking zombies at the school.

    ¡°You can take your time to digest what I said. I know that changing everyone¡¯s mind will be difficult, but I will not give up.¡± Chen Ge did not know what fear was. From the beginning, he never did n to obtain the school¡¯s approval but rather change the school¡¯s consciousness.

 Chapter 873 - Entering the Female Dormitory

    Chapter 873: Entering the Female Dormitory

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes swept over every student¡¯s face before he raised his student ID above his head. ¡°I am also a member of this school, but I have limited power alone. I can¡¯t change all of you, but I will try my best to gain the approval from even one more person.¡±

    What he said had never been heard from the staff of the school before. At this school, students were slowly getting numb¡ªthey had no idea what they wanted. The school¡¯s consciousness was made up from every one of them, but for the consciousness, each one of them was so insignificant. Unable to change, powerless to struggle, they could only assimte to survive under the school¡¯s consciousness. Chen Ge said a lot, but it was impossible to change everyone¡¯s mind with a few words. Still, it was not all for naught. Some of the students were thinking; some of their expressions changed like they were reminded of something painful.

    ¡°People often warn us against bingcent. Warmthes from hiding in one¡¯s shell. No one cares what the shell is because, no matter what, with the protection of the shell, the person inside will not be harmed, but is that true?¡± Chen Ge pointed at the blood fog that travelled down the corridor. ¡°While you¡¯ve been hiding inside the shell in silence, the poison outside has already leaked into the shell and permeated into your body. When you realized it, it was already toote. It is toote for salvation, and hope has be despair. You can only watch your body being consumed little by little, and the shell that you are unwilling to walk out of will be your tomb.¡±

    Taking a step forward, Chen Ge walked toward the female dormitory. The long team behind himprised the people that supported him. Even Mr. Lei did not dare take them too lightly. If they fought head on, their chance of victory was small. After all, the real owner of this school was the despairing students.

    There are still many secrets hidden at this school, but I don¡¯t have time to explore them anymore. Before the fight between Chang Wenyu and the painter reaches the end, I have to gather more power.

    Chen Ge did not care about the forbidden zones; he knew that the ce was hiding Zhang Ya¡¯s past. Perhaps when the door at Western Jiujiang Private Academy was pushed open, Zhang Ya had already been there, and she had stayed in the female dormitory.

    Turning souls into candy, spirits into dolls, and trapping Specters inside chair, that does sound like Zhang Ya, but I believe she had her reasons.

    Chen Ge led Xu Yin and the headless woman and stopped before the students who blocked his way.

    ¡°I do not ask that you support me, but if you think I do make sense, if you don¡¯t feel happiness at this school and have been bullied, please do not stop me.¡±

    These people heard what Chen Ge said for the first time in their lives. After all, in this school, it was rare for someone to hold onto hope. Yet, this man wanted the despairing souls to feel happiness and find salvation? That was preposterous in their mind. These seniors in dark-colored uniforms had given up such thoughts a long time ago. The longer they stayed at the school, the more they understood that there was no hope there. This was a nightmare filled with despair that they could not escape from.

    It was unclear who first took a step to the side, but more people followed, moving to open a path. It was unclear whether they believed him or were afraid of the Red Specters behind Chen Ge¡ªperhaps it was both. When the seniors retreated, something that sounded like thunder came from outside the school. The surrounding fog gathered around Chen Ge and stuck to his body. It seemed to wish to consume him but realized that Chen Ge was not a Specter, so it could not enter his body.

    ¡°Something has changed with the school¡¯s consciousness. Is it because I have gained more of the students¡¯ approval?¡± Chen Ge knew full well that the school¡¯s consciousness was made up from the students, and changing the students¡¯ mind was changing the school¡¯s mind.

    The students did not stop Chen Ge, and that was outside Mr. Lei¡¯s expectation. Seeing that Chen Ge was about to leave, he yelled, ¡°The female dormitory is a forbidden zone. Since you said that you are doing this for the students, trespassing into the forbidden zone is your way of doing that, is it? Trespassing will lead to salvation?¡±

    Chen Ge ignored him, and that caused Mr. Lei to get angrier. ¡°The scariest monsters and the strongest curses are hiding in the forbidden zones. Not only will trespassing into them harm you, it will harm everyone! They trust you that much, but you¡¯re leading them to their death!¡±

    The staff were the school¡¯s consciousness¡¯ executioner. They would stop Chen Ge, which was within Chen Ge¡¯s expectations.

    Chen Ge stopped and turned to look at Mr. Lei. ¡°Then, do you dare to make a bet with me? If I can walk out of this forbidden zone safely, do note and block me anymore and say things like I will harm the others.¡±

    ¡°What if you lose?¡± Mr. Lei had a fiery temper, but he had toned down a lot before Chen Ge.

    ¡°If I lose, it means that I will have died inside the forbidden zone; the bet would be null and void.¡± Chen Ge made sense. Before Mr. Lei answered, he walked away.

    Walking past the seniors, Chen Ge entered the female dormitory and walked to the fourth floor. The road ahead was blocked by a bunch of trash, and a wooden board stood next to it, barring people from entry. Looking through the gap, Che Ge saw a faded red chair ced in the middle of the corridor. The chair was ced there like there was someone sitting there.

    ¡°Come, let¡¯s go take a look.¡± The scene that he saw was simr to the scenario in Western Jiujiang Private Academy.

    ¡°Looks like I¡¯vee to the right ce.¡± Everyone had their secrets, including Zhang Ya. There were many secrets around her, and the more Chen Ge interacted with her, the more curious he became. ¡°Arrestingly beautiful and impossibly strong with a mysterious past, such a girl has found me...¡±

    Chen Ge had Xu Yin and Bai Qiulin clear away the trash, and they entered the fourth floor of the female dormitory.

    They only took a few steps when Chen Ge felt a tug on his shoulder. He turned back to see Xu Yin looking at him.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± After finding his heart, Xu Yin had be more expressive, and he moved to stand before Chen Ge. Without saying a word, Chen Ge could understand what he meant. This ce made him feel danger, so he volunteered to lead the way.

 Chapter 874 - What Did the Girl See?

    Chapter 874: What Did the Girl See?

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    Thick blood fog rolled into the corridor following Chen Ge. The red chair in the distance flickered in and out of existence, and they could hear pleading and cries in their ears.

    ¡°How many people have died in this corridor? Just walking down it feel so creepy,¡± the headmaster said softly. Once he opened his mouth, cold air rushed into his throat.

    ¡°I have no idea.¡± Chen Ge shook his head. He was slowly getting close to Zhang Ya¡¯s secret. ¡°Just how did an innocent girl turn into a Greater Red Specter? The answer to that should be found here.¡±

    The pleading in their ears grew. Blood dripped, and small blood vessels surfaced on the walls. This corridor felt like the intestine of a beast.

    ¡°Chen Ge, something feels off.¡± The old headmaster guarded Yin Hong and Yin Bai. He wanted to say something more, but Yin Hong got to it first.

    ¡°This ce makes me feel ufortable. There¡¯s a jolt in my heart. We¡¯d better stop here.¡±

    A Red Specter¡¯s heart was different from that of a normal person. Their heart was their deepest resentment. If there was shaking to their heart, it meant that their existence was threatened, and they were inside a very dangerous situation.

    ¡°Boss, I also feel a numbnessing over me.¡± Bai Qiulin¡¯s hand that ced in his pocket was shaking. Thest time that he had experienced this was when he was with the shadow in Li Wan City.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic.¡± Of everyone there, only Chen Ge managed to keep his calm. His eyes stared at the chair down the hall. Every time he blinked, the distance between him and the chair seemed to close. This felt so familiar, just like the first time he went to Western Jiujiang Private Academy.

    ¡°Be careful of that chair!¡± Yin Hong warned again. The chair was not that scary, but it seemed to represent something that could elicit the fear in people¡¯s heart.

    ¡°The pleading sounds like ites from the chair. Is the rumor at this school real?¡± The seniors and staff waited at the entrance to the female dormitory, and they saw this. Blood fog drifted, and the red chair was slowly approaching. No one had been inside there before, and all their hearts were jumping. The scariest legend at the school was before them. No one knew what would happen next¡ªeveryone held their breath.

    ¡°Save me... Save me...¡± A girl¡¯s voice became clearer. As the chair grew close, the people saw the faded image of a girl sitting on the chair with venom in her eyes.

    ¡°She seems to be looking for a scapegoat.¡± Even Red Specters did not scare the girl on the chair. Her expression kept twisting as she came at the group.

    ¡°What is it? We can see it but can¡¯t sense it. She doesn¡¯t look like a Specter or a lingering spirit. This is strange.¡± Not only did Chen Ge feel that, all the Red Specters around him felt it. The girl on the chair seemed to melt into the corridor. As the girl got closer, the corridor felt as if it was shortening like a mouth that was trying to consume everyone.

    ¡°Be careful!¡± Cries for help mixed in the thick blood. Everyone had a bad feeling.

    ¡°Mr. Lei, are we going to just stand here?¡± a female teacher asked. ¡°What if something happens to them? Many students follow him.¡±

    ¡°Then you go in and get them toe out. I won¡¯t stop you.¡± Mr. Lei red at her. ¡°Before I joined this school, the forbidden zones were here. These are where the most dangerous secrets at this school are hidden. Do you know why they are secrets?¡±

    The female teacher did not look that rxed. She shook her head.

    ¡°They are secrets because once you know what they are, you have to pay something back in return, something like death or bing part of the secret yourself.¡± Mr. Lei was a clever person, or else he would not have survived for so long at the school. ¡°Go and call for help. Get some bricks and be prepared to seal up this ce.¡±

    ¡°Sir, something is banging against the school from outside. There are openings everywhere. We don¡¯t have enough manpower to order around anymore.¡±

    ¡°There is no other option. Just follow my order.¡±

    ¡°There is no need to disperse the students here?¡±

    ¡°No, I want them to see for themselves the death of that Chen Ge inside the forbidden zone. That way, no one will go against the school anymore, and no one will believe him.¡± Mr. Lei retreated to the crowd. ¡°There are too many difficult students at this school. It is time for a wake-up call.¡±

    ¡°But is this really the correct thing to do?¡± The female teacher wanted to change his mind.

    ¡°It¡¯s toote to anything else. When they saw the chair, the ending was decided. Be it Specters or Red Specters, once they are targeted by the monsters locked in the chair, unless they can escape from this school, the only ending is death.¡± Mr. Lei obviously knew something, but he did not borate. However, there was a pain in his eyes like he had once lost someone important to this. ¡°This female dormitory is a man-eating monster. No one who has entered it has left.¡±

    Through the crowd, Mr. Lei looked down the corridor. The red chair was rapidly moving toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°Resistance will lead to more change, and there are monsters inside the rooms along the corridor. Once he makes his move, everyone will be eaten until there is nothing left.¡± Mr. Lei¡¯s eyes had seen the result. He yelled to the students behind him, ¡°Get back! This ce will soon...¡±

    He had not finished when Mr. Lei saw the strange expression on the female teacher beside him. He turned and saw the chair finally appear before Chen Ge. But then, the girl on the chair suddenly screamed and ran down the corridor faster than the speed she came.

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± Mr. Lei¡¯s hand froze in midair. He walked to the female dormitory entrance and moved the trash away to see. The scream of the girl alerted all the monsters in the corridor, but unlike what Mr. Lei expected, the scene where Chen Ge¡¯s group was torn into pieces did not happen. Instead, the doors along the corridor mmed shut, and he even heard some being locked.

    ¡°What did the girl on the chair see?¡± Mr. Lei did not get it, nor did the others following Chen Ge. However, Chen Ge himself knew what had happened after several seconds.

    ¡°The girl on the chair probably sensed Zhang Ya¡¯s presence. That is the only exnation.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at his shadow. ¡°Only the lingering scent on me can scare her away like that. Will Zhang Ya awaken soon?¡±

 Chapter 875 - Zhang Yaâ€™s Present

    Chapter 875: Zhang Ya¡¯s Present

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    Chen Ge firmly believed that there was something important to Zhang Ya hidden in this school. The boy with the stench was a good example. After he found his heart in the male dormitory, he had drastically changed. If Chen Ge could find the thing Zhang Ya had lost, perhaps she would wake up, and then he would have the support to do the things he really wanted to.

    ¡°Chen Ge, why did the girl leave just like that?¡± The old headmaster was confused. The atmosphere in the corridor was strange, but the suffocating presence had lessened a lot.

    ¡°Because she was afraid,¡± Chen Ge said. He was calm like everything was within his control. Seeing that, the students around him felt that they had made the right choice.

    ¡°I will lead the way.¡± Yin Hong was more curious about Chen Ge. Just now, she had been very close to Chen Ge, so she had clearly seen the girl on the chair suddenly retreat after seeing Chen Ge. In other words, the girl was not afraid of Xu Yin who guarded Chen Ge but Chen Ge himself.

    ¡°Just stand beside me. From the monsters¡¯ reaction, they don¡¯t seem to be afraid of Red Specters.¡± Chen Ge volunteered to stay in front. Yin Hong was trying to analyze the meaning behind Chen Ge¡¯s words.

    They are not afraid of Red Specters, so this man had me stand beside him. Does that mean that he is more powerful than a Red Specter?

    Yin Hong looked Chen Ge, who appeared calm, and a beautiful misunderstanding was formed.

    In my eyes, he is just a normal person. Could I be wrong? Is he not weak, but I simply can¡¯t see through him?

    Chen Ge had been to this ce before. He knew where Zhang Ya¡¯s room was, so he did not need Yin Hong to lead the way. The chair in the corridor had disappeared and gone into hiding. Chen Ge ignored it and walked to the deepest part of the fourth floor.

    ¡°Is your secret hidden behind this door?¡± Standing at the door, Chen Ge mumbled to himself before pushing the door open.

    The wooden door cracked into splinters when it was pushed. When Chen Ge pushed it fully open, the old door shattered like it had been under a great deal of pressure, and the light push from Chen Ge was the straw that broke its back. Wooden splinters and blood vessels rained down, and endless malice rushed out from inside the room!

    This was the first time that Chen Ge had seen the evil in someone¡¯s heart so clearly. Negative emotions materialized, and in the world behind the door, they coagted to form ck tentacles. Instantly, the walls around the room were dyed ck.

    ¡°Stand behind me!¡± When the malice rushed out, Chen Ge was standing in their way, but the ck tendrils purposely avoided him like they had no interest in him.

    ¡°What have you released?¡± The ck malice spread down the corridor. When Mr. Lei saw this, he had the students retreat. ¡°Do not touch those things! Move back! Get everyone here! Quick! Seal up this ce!¡±

    It was chaos on the fourth floor, but Chen Ge stood at the doorway, unaffected.

    ¡°Zhang Ya once suffered this malice before?¡± Chen Ge seemed to have opened Pandora¡¯s box. Commotion came from outside the school like the consciousness had gone insane.

    ¡°You seem to have gotten into real trouble.¡± Yin Hong was shocked by the wave of malice. The girl who was not afraid of anything realized how obedient she had been before meeting Chen Ge.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°This is still fine? Can¡¯t you hear what¡¯s outside? The school¡¯s consciousness...¡±

    ¡°Shush. I told you it¡¯s fine. Everything is under control.¡± Chen Ge put down the backpack and removed all the items that he had on him.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I want to go in to take a look. This malice has purposely avoided me, but I fear it might harm my friends inside the bag.¡± Chen Ge knew that everything in the room was afraid of Zhang Ya in his shadow. He did not know if Zhang Ya could protect the others in his backpack. For safety¡¯s sake, he decided to enter their alone.

    ¡°Xu Yin, don¡¯t stay too far away from me. If there¡¯s a problem, yank me out and run.¡± After that, Chen Ge looked inside the room. The malice had dispersed a lot, and using his Yin Yang Vision, he could see clearly inside it. Broken chairs were piled inside the room, and each chair was imprinted with a face and a name. Before Chen Ge appeared, they had pleaded for mercy, but after Chen Ge entered the room, all the voices disappeared. The human faces on the chairs turned to look behind Chen Ge, and their faces showed fear.

    ¡°What have you done to them?¡± The room was not big. Other than the chairs, there were pairs of female shoes. There were different styles, but it was missing a pair of red ballet shoes. ¡°She is missing a pair of shoes, so she has been searching for them?¡±

    If Chen Ge looked at this objectively andbined it with the legend, then Zhang Ya was the scariest Specter that he had ever met!

    His body was shaking. Chen Ge had known that Zhang Ya was scary, but in reality, Zhang Ya was scarier than he had thought.

    The ¡®person¡¯ who apanied him always had such a past. Anyone else would have panicked, but Chen Ge only took a deep breath and then appeared to say instinctually, ¡°In the future, I will face these malicious things on your behalf.¡±

    Chen Ge did not move the wooden chairs. He called Zhang Ya¡¯s name patiently. He wanted to use this familiar room to rouse her, but there was no response.

    ¡°Looks like I have to move in deeper.¡± The thick malice was unable to get close to Chen Ge, but the students nearest to him started to have ck spots show on their bodies. It seemed their minds were affected.

    ¡°Leave this ce. Only the Red Specters and Half Red Specters should stay.¡± When Chen Ge first got the ck phone, he did not expect that he would someday say something like that. He looked at the chairs. Chen Ge saw that all the girls¡¯ beds had a doll ced on them. The dolls were sewn with ck hair, and some of them wore bloody clothes, like they had been Half Red Specters before they were turned into dolls.

    Scanning over these dolls, Chen Ge turned to thest bed in the room. It was also the only clean bed. The sheet did not even have a crease, and there was a bag of delicate sweets ced next to the pillow. Each candy was a terrified soul. The different wrappers seemed to signify different vors.

    ¡°She likes to handmade dolls and prefers sweets. This girl... is quite cute if you think about it.¡± Chen Ge walked to the inner part of the room. He ced the bag of sweets in his hands and was about to turn when he saw a blood red present box sitting on the bed.

    The box was crumpled, incongruous with the well-kept bed.

 Chapter 876 - Itâ€™s Not Good to Talk Behind Peopleâ€™s Backs

    <strong>Chapter 876: It¡¯s Not Good to Talk Behind People¡¯s Backs</strong>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    Chen Ge had seen many present boxes in his life, but this was the first time that he had seen one that appeared like it had been soaked in blood.

    ¡°Did Zhang Ya want to give this to someone, or did someone want to give this to her?¡± A dirty box was ced on the clean bed. It was clear that the owner cared about this present. Standing in the scariest forbidden zone at the school, with screaming monsters everywhere, Chen Ge did not feel afraid but had a special feeling. ¡°Before this, when Zhang Ya gave me a bloody love letter, a candy made from a soul, and dolls sewn from hair, I felt that they were hard to ept, but seeing this box on Zhang Ya¡¯s bed, I feel weirdly envious.¡±

    Malice surrounded him, and Chen Ge stood inside the room alone. The people outside were highly tense as they kept their gazes on Chen Ge. They would rush in to save him if there was something wrong, but who would have thought that Chen Ge was thinking about something else? From their perspective, Chen Ge¡¯s usually calm face suddenly turned serious with a frown like something unexpected had happened.

    Should I open it? But it¡¯s not good to go through people¡¯s stuff like that. But Zhang Ya is not a stranger, and she is still hibernating, so it should be fine if I help her take a look at it.

    Chen Ge felt conflicted. His hands just touched the box, and the bow at the top of the box undid itself.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t touch anything...¡± Chen Ge turned to the shadow behind him and then slowly opened the box lid.

    Nothing changed inside the room. The sound of a heart beating came from the box. Chen Ge leaned closer to look and saw the red ballet dress that sat inside the box.

    ¡°This is the present?¡± There was a card on top of the dress. Chen Ge picked up the dress, and a simple wish was written on it.

    ¡°Merry Christmas, my dear daughter. Me and your mother miss you a lot, so we prepared a new dress for you.¡±

    The present seemed toe from Zhang Ya¡¯s parents. In this room filled with malice and despair, this small box was the most precious thing to Zhang Ya. Seeing the dress inside the box, Chen Ge felt like he was looking at Zhang Ya¡¯s beating heart. Under the cold exterior, there was warmth.

    This is the most important thing to Zhang Ya, but howe I feel so sad looking at it?

    Chen Ge put the card down. His fingers caressed the dress. The dress was soaked in blood, and the stains were uneven¡ªsome deep, some light. There was sign of wearing at the edges of the box.

    The box was ced on the clean bed neatly, so she wasn¡¯t the one who did this. In real life, when Zhang Ya saw the box for the first time, it was probably already like this, soaked in blood and ruined.

    Chen Ge did not know what had happened to Zhang Ya¡¯s parents, but since this box was Zhang Ya¡¯s deepest secret, it exined many things. There appeared to be something else inside the box, under the dress, but Chen Ge did not go through it.

    He reced the box and turned to his shadow. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m not good wish words, so I don¡¯t know what to say. I can¡¯t promise you anything, but I can tell you, as long as I am around, you won¡¯t be alone; I will be by your side.¡±

    Carrying the box carefully in his arms, Chen Ge wanted to hand it over to Zhang Ya personally, but he noticed that the bottom of the box was stuck to the bedsheet. Upon closer inspection, he found that the bottom of the box was tied with long hair. The hair appeared to be alive as it fixed the box to the bed. Other than Chen Ge, anything that came close to the box would be pierced by the hair.

    I was too careless; I didn¡¯t even see this. Thankfully, she has no malice toward me.

    Chen Ge was not going to force things. He ced the box back and allowed Zhang Ya to make the decision herself after she woke up. Strangely enough, when he ced the box back on the bed, a sound came from the cupboard next to him like someone was trying to get his attention.

    ¡°Is there something inside the cupboard?¡± This was the scariest forbidden zone, so Chen Ge did not dare lower his guard. He slowly pulled the door open. As the door opened, a doll fell out from inside. This was an ugly doll. Instead of saying it was made from cloth, it was more like it was patched up with hair.

    ¡°What is this?¡±

    The doll¡¯s eyes were glinting. It could not control its body and could only move one finger.

    ¡°What are you trying to tell me?¡± Chen Ge felt like the doll wanted to express something. He did not get too close but dragged the doll by its leg to the door to meet up with Xu Yin before squatting down next to it. After leaving Zhang Ya¡¯s room, the doll seemed toe to life. The eyes became more brilliant, and it used its remaining finger to point about.

    ¡°Boss, you took this from inside the room?¡± Bai Qiulin and Xu Yin guarded beside Chen Ge. They looked at the doll on the ground strangely. It was the first time that they had seen something like this.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s someone who has bullied Zhang Ya before.¡± Once Chen Ge said that, the finger of the doll moved wildly like it had been wronged. Seeing this reaction, Chen Ge was curious. He pointed at the ground next to the doll. ¡°Use the blood on the ground to write. I can read.¡±

    The doll hesitated. It did not seem to wish for too many people to know what he wanted to say. Under the doll¡¯s insistence, Chen Ge and Xu Yin moved to block the other people¡¯s view. ¡°Now, you can write.¡±

    The doll¡¯s finger moved quickly. Chen Ge tried to understand its handwriting.

    ¡°Take me away from here. I know her secret.¡±

    ¡°You wish to talk terms with me?¡± Chen Ge scoffed. This doll wanted to use Zhang Ya¡¯s secret to negotiate with him. He was about to remove one of the doll¡¯s arms to make ite to its senses when the doll started to write again.

    ¡°I can sense her presence on you, but I¡¯ve been watching since you enter the door¡ªshe appears to be sleeping. If she knew that I¡¯m still conscious, she would kill me!

    ¡°Everyone that gets too close to her dies; you are no exception! I know you are afraid! Take me away! I know her very well, and I know how to get rid of her!

    ¡°You might not sense it now, but she is using you. After you¡¯ve lost your value, she will not hesitate to kill you! Those dolls are your future!

    ¡°Do not be tricked by her appearance; she is the scariest Specter, a nightmare you can¡¯t shake,pletely mad!

    ¡°Trust me! I was this school¡¯s first headmaster; the woman killed the real door-pusher! She is the school¡¯s consciousness¡¯ real enemy!¡±

    The doll¡¯s eyes were glinting. After he wrote everything, he nced at Chen Ge. The shocked expression that he expected from Chen Ge did not appear, but the atmosphere was rather strange.

 Chapter 877 - Zhang Yaâ€™s Secret

    Chapter 877: Zhang Ya¡¯s Secret

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    ¡°I¡¯m not lying to you! Everything I wrote is true!¡± The doll¡¯s finger was almost broken, but there was no reaction from the people around it. This made him feel mad and awkward.

    Naturally, Chen Ge knew that the doll was not lying, but the problem was that he was not being used by Zhang Ya. If he really analyzed it, it was Zhang Ya who had saved him many times. Without this Specter who stuck to him like a nightmare, he would have died under a chop from an axe during his first Trial Mission. The dolly on the ground, his feet being pulled by Chen Ge. It was hard to believe that this was the most mysterious headmaster in the School of the Afterlife.

    ¡°Ever since she left, no one has entered this forbidden zone. I know she will return. If she realizes that I still have my consciousness, I will die, so you are my only hope!¡± The doll could not speak. His finger wrote madly as his eyes stared at Chen Ge. There wereplicated emotions in them. No one in the corridor spoke. Chen Ge did not know what to say as this was his first time encountering such a situation.

    ¡°You will die. The Specters trapped in here are your ending. Do not fall for her lies!¡±

    After a long time, Chen Ge asked, ¡°What has she done to you?¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you see? I¡¯ve been changed into this form; do you need me to fill you in on the details?¡± The doll was shamed, and his eyes were red.

    ¡°The person that you mentioned is different from the person that I know, Zhang Ya...¡±

    ¡°No, do not say that name! Do not mention it!¡± Chen Ge was only halfway through when the doll started to madly write.

    ¡°Alright, from how I see it, the girl...¡±

    ¡°Girl? Wake up please! Look at these pleading people behind the door. Do you think she deserves to be called a girl?¡± The doll snapped. He had turned into a specter due to a lingering obsession after his death, and now it appeared like Zhang Ya was that obsession.

    ¡°I can¡¯t do this. I can¡¯t say that. You are quite interesting.¡± Chen Ge looked into the doll¡¯s red eyes, and his tone changed. ¡°You must have done something to make her unhappy to deserve an ending like this.¡±

    The doll¡¯s finger suddenly stopped like he was considering Chen Ge¡¯s question.

    ¡°I will only help you if you tell me the truth.¡± Chen Ge had a warm smile on his face. ¡°After all, I have to take a big risk to help you.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± The doll was convinced by Chen Ge. There was sounding from his throat and stomach. Small blood vessels tore open the patch, and they formed a bloody sentence on his tattered outfit. ¡°The school appeared due to the fact that a child pushed open the door. The child was once the student here, and due to a misunderstanding, after he pushed open the door, I identally entered it as well.¡±

    ¡°Only when one is at the deepest point of despair can one push open the door. It has to be more than a misunderstanding that the door-pusher yanked you into the door.¡± Chen Ge saw through the lie immediately. ¡°If you¡¯re going to lie to me, there is no need to continue this conversation.¡±

    ¡°I am not lying to you! The door pusher studied at Western Jiujiang Private Academy, and I was the headmaster there. The student was bullied and died in the crematorium due to many reasons. I admit that I had problems managing the school, but I was really unrted to his death!¡±

    ¡°You are the headmaster of Western Jiujiang Private Academy?¡± Not many people knew about the ce, so the fact that the doll could say that meant that he really did know something.

    ¡°Yes, I was led behind the door by the door pusher. I know that the child was pitiable, so no matter what he¡¯s done to me, I do not resent him. If anything, I feel guilty. At the time, we were the only two behind the door. Perhaps my apaniment touched him because I gradually gained his understanding and forgiveness.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t ce yourself on such a moral high ground.¡± Chen Ge had a feeling that he was lying, but there were some truths in it.

    ¡°As the door grew stronger, more people and Specters entered, and she was one of them.¡± The doll finally reached the ce where Chen Ge was interested in. ¡°The door pusher and I never harmed her, and she initially appeared to be quite harmless. Butter we found out that was just a disguise. After she entered the school, the outsiders and Specters from the school started to mysteriously disappear. The door pusher and I suspected that they had been consumed.

    ¡°The school behind the door became different after that. After some investigation, we realized that the killer was that woman.¡±

    Chen Ge did not fully trust what the doll said. He was not one to believe others so easily. ¡°The door pusher found out that Zhang Ya was the killer, but in the end, the door pusher was killed by Zhang Ya. Don¡¯t you find that ironic?

    ¡°The woman has consumed many Specters, including Red Specters. The door pusher was not a match for her...¡±

    ¡°You are lying.¡± Chen Ge held the doll¡¯s legs and looked into its eyes. ¡°After pushing open the door, the door pusher¡¯s power will at least double. As long as he did not leave this scenario, he wouldn¡¯t lose to Zhang Ya.¡±

    Chen Ge had experience with this and knew the difference in power between Red Specters. When he first met Zhang Ya, she had already consumed a door pusher, a feat that was nigh on impossible.

    ¡°But it was she who killed the door pusher. Perhaps I have missed some details since it has been so long...¡±

    ¡°If you can¡¯t remember clearly, don¡¯t start spinning tales. You have to pay for your lies.¡± Chen Ge gripped the legs and pulled, but he could not hurt the man. ¡°Xu Yin, help me break one of his legs.¡±

    Xu Yin reached out his pale hand. Before the doll could write anything, he grabbed the doll¡¯s body and yanked one leg off. It was just a doll, but blood leaked out from the wounds. The doll¡¯s eyes bulged with redness. Xu Yin tossed the broken leg aside and retreated silently.

    Actually, Chen Ge did not expect Xu Yin to be so ruthless. He only wanted to break the leg, not tear itpletely away from the body. Of course, he would not say that to anyone. With the smile on his face, he neared the doll. ¡°Now, can you think clearer? If not, I can help you.¡±

    The doll struggled on the ground, but other than his eyes and fingers, he could not move the rest of his body. So, he crumbled. ¡°I am telling you the truth! It was the door pusher who consumed the Specters and outsiders that came to the school; there was an ident when he was hunting the woman. They entered a blood red city. In the end, the door pusher died in that city, but the woman returned.¡±

    ¡°In other words, the reason Zhang Ya could kill the door pusher is because of that red city, meaning her secret is hidden inside the city?¡± Chen Ge looked at the doll who had learned his lesson.

    ¡°Yes, she found something in the city. She knows a path that leads to the center of the city.¡±

 Chapter 878 - Only Weakness

    <h4>Chapter 878: Only Weakness</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Path that leads to the center of the city? Zhang Ya has been there before?¡± Chen Ge looked at the bloody words on the doll and narrowed his eyes. In his mind, the city was very dangerous, even more dangerous than the forbidden zones, so he did not expect Zhang Ya to have already been there.

    ¡°Yes, she knew the path from the beginning. When the door pusher pursued her, she ran out of the school.¡± The doll did not sound like he was lying, but Chen Ge did not feel like fully trusting him yet.

    ¡°The door pusher hasplete control over the door that he pushed; he knew about every corner of this ce because the whole scenario is built upon the basis of his memory.¡± Chen Ge pulled on the doll¡¯s other leg. ¡°Are you lying to me?¡±

    ¡°No!¡± The color of the blood on the doll deepened. He was really afraid of Chen Ge. ¡°Every Half Red Specter or ghosts that have the potential to be a Red Specter have a special power. Do you know what that woman¡¯s special power is?¡±

    ¡°Stop changing the topic.¡± Chen Ge did not know what Zhang Ya¡¯s special power was because she had too many special powers.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know the details of her power, but from the door-pusher, I found out that she can obtain other Specters¡¯ powers through some means.¡± The doll¡¯s statement confirmed some of Chen Ge¡¯s previous suspicions. ¡°This is the scariest and most special power I¡¯ve seen, so even now, no one knows what she can do because she possesses too many powers.¡±

    Reading the words on the doll¡¯s body, Chen Ge did not react instantly. Zhang Ya was the only Specter that possessed her own special page in the ck phone. Initially, Chen Ge had thought that every Red Specter would have that, but after Xu Yin evolved into a Red Specter, Chen Ge had realized that things were not that simple. Xu Yin, who was already quite strong among Red Specters, only had his name turn red in the ck phone, and the introduction added the identity of Red Specter to his name.

    <i>Zhang Ya is unique even among Red Specters¡ªthat is confirmed by the ck phone.</i>

    Chen Ge thought back to Zhang Ya¡¯s fight with the shadow in Li Wan City. The shadow had listed several of Zhang Ya¡¯s powers at once, and coincidentally, he had seen other Specters use those powers before.

    <i>There should be a real limitation to her power, and that should be her only weakness.</i>

    Chen Ge grumbled to himself before picking up the doll. ¡°I don¡¯t need you to exin how scary Zhang Ya is¡ªrescuing you is making her my enemy. Why would I anger a powerful Greater Red Specter for someone who I don¡¯t really know?¡±

    The words on the doll had not changed for a long time. Chen Ge¡¯s tone changed as he leaned closer to the doll so that his words could only be heard by the two of them. ¡°Unless you tell me her weakness so that I have a chance of winning against her.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s voice was like a demon¡¯s whisper. He was probably the first living person to trick a Specter. ¡°You have no other choice. Either tell me everything, or I¡¯ll hand you over to Zhang Ya myself.¡±

    The doll¡¯s red eyes stared at Chen Ge like he was considering whether to trust him.

    ¡°I have limited time. If you can¡¯t agree with me, there¡¯s no need for me to take the risk for you.¡±

    ¡°Her weakness is her heart; I overheard something from the door pusher. Every Red Specter has their own heart. It is made from their obsession. It is the key for them to be a Red Specter and their weakest spot.¡± The doll did not realize that the way Chen Ge looked at him had slowly changed. ¡°To kill that woman is not easy unless you ruin her heart. The door pusher thought that her obsession was the people who once hurt her at the school, but that was not the case. When he changed his mind, the woman noticed it and hid her heart.¡±

    ¡°Hid her heart? The heart can be hidden?¡± Chen Ge remembered what the doll said clearly. If he encountered the other world under the ck phone¡¯s guidance, what the doll had said now could help him understand it further.

    ¡°The Red Specter¡¯s heart is formed from some obsession. If she ced that obsession on some ce or someone, if nothing happens to that person, no matter how seriously injured she is, she will not disappear.¡± The blood vessels on the doll wavered. After he left the room, the limitation on him was slowly weakening.

    ¡°Do you have any clues about that after the door pusher has done so much investigation?¡± Chen Ge asked casually.

    ¡°There are two possibilities. First, she hid her heart deep inside the red city, but the chances of that are not great because the city is very dangerous, too dangerous for her to predict. The second possibility is that she has ced her heart somewhere outside the door. The ce could be a person or an object...¡±

    The words stopped there. He reserved a secret for himself. If he told Chen Ge everything, there was no guarantee to his safety. Actually, when the doll mentioned an object, something crossed Chen Ge¡¯s mind¡ªZhang Ya¡¯s love letter. Zhang Ya had ced her heart in the love letter. In Li Wan City, Chen Ge had torn the letter and had Zhang Ya move into his shadow. Being each other¡¯spanion forever was not just a phrase of speech; Zhang Ya¡¯s new sanctuary was Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. Thus, based on what the doll had said, Chen Ge was Zhang Ya¡¯s weakness.

    ¡°Take me with you, and I¡¯ll tell you everything.¡± The doll¡¯s eyes were bloodshot. ¡°You have her presence on you, so she will not let you go. She will stick to you forever. Only I can help you.¡±

    ¡°Let me think about it.¡± Chen Ge smiled and looked at the doll¡¯s face. He was thinking about how to make a Specter disappearpletely, without leaving a trace in the world.

    ¡°She mighte back at any moment. Please, make it quick.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I will give you an answer as soon as I can. Before that, I¡¯d better bring you with me.¡± Now Chen Ge had another thing important to him, the doll. He had given it much consideration and decided to hand the doll to Zhang Ya. The girl should have a better way to deal with him. After all, she had literally made him this way. Before Zhang Ya awakened, he could keep the doll safe.

    He picked up the backpack, had Xu Yin carry the doll, and walked out of the female dormitory.

 Chapter 879 - Headmasterâ€™s Office

    Chapter 879: Headmaster¡¯s Office

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    After dealing with the doll, no one would know Zhang Ya¡¯s weakness, and a weakness no one knew about was not a weakness. Walking out from the female dormitory, Chen Ge noticed a lot of changes to the School of the Afterlife. The red fog mixed together with the ck malice. If there was hell on earth, this was probably it.

    The visibility has lowered again. Whenever I breathe, there is this horrible stench like I am choking on blood.

    Chen Ge had stayed too long behind the door; his body could not support him any much longer. More blood vessels stuck to his skin. If this continued, he worried that he would be assimted by the door and stuck behind it forever.

    I need to hurry. At most, I can stay for one night.

    Chen Ge waved his arms about trying to shake away the resentment and negative emotions that formed the vessels, but it was not much use. The scary thing was that part of them had crawled under his skin. From afar, they looked like small wounds on his arms. Walking in the red fog and ck malice, the number of students that followed behind Chen Ge grew.

    ¡°Where is Mr. Lei? Didn¡¯t he say I would not walk of there alive?¡±

    ¡°The outside of the school was seriously damaged, so Mr. Lei had to leave.¡± One of the female teachers were shocked to see Chen Ge alive. ¡°Walking out of the forbidden zone alive is nothing to be proud of. In contrast, you have made such a huge scene; you¡¯ll only get targeted more by the school¡¯s consciousness.¡±

    ¡°Everything you say revolves around the school¡¯s consciousness, but how can you know it is always right?¡± Chen Ge rubbed the blood on his arms. He realized that he could not rub it off, so he left it be.

    ¡°I know I can¡¯t argue with you. The school¡¯s consciousness might not be right. But the consciousness is the collection of most of the students. Here, they are the real owner.¡± The teacher sound helpless. As a member of staff, even though the students referred to her as a teacher, in reality, she was greatly limited. She was more like a low-level administrator hired by the school¡¯s consciousness.

    ¡°The world behind the door belongs to the door pusher. Whoever pushed open the door, the door will listen to them,¡± Chen Ge said. ¡°Unless someone killed the door pusher, in that case, it will listen to them.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re mad.¡± The teacher moved closer to the other teachers. She did not want to stay too close to Chen Ge.

    ¡°After I leave, you¡¯d better seal up this ce. Even though it does not have what I¡¯m looking for, it is still very dangerous. It won¡¯t be good if a student identally wanders in.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t need you to teach us what to do.¡±

    Chen Ge led the others to the center of the school. He had gained more student followers, but the number was not enough. He needed to gain more approval to have them trust in him.

    I need to gain more students¡¯ support before Chang Wenyu and the painter know what I¡¯m doing.

    Because they both believed he was harmless, the two had been ignoring him. If they found out Chen Ge¡¯s real aim was for the old headmaster to take over the school, they would definitelye for him.

    ¡°Chen Ge, where are we going now?¡± Yin Hong¡¯s impression of Chen Ge had greatly changed. She now hesitated when she called his full name.

    ¡°The students are mostly gathered at the center of the school. We will go there. Other than that, isn¡¯t there a forbidden zone rted to the headmaster? I heard the headmaster¡¯s office is at the center. We will go there as well.¡± Chen Ge had everything nned. He had limited time. He could not explore all thirteen forbidden zones, so he only focused on the key ones.

    ¡°The headmaster¡¯s office and the fourth floor of the female dormitory are the most dangerous forbidden zones. You just came out from the female dormitory, so don¡¯t you want to rest first?¡±

    ¡°We have no time.¡± Chen Ge and Xu Yin walked at the front. He leaned closer to the doll on Xu Yin¡¯s shoulders to whisper, ¡°It¡¯s time for you to prove yourself.¡±

    The doll¡¯s red eyes rolled about. He instinctually wanted to lean away from Chen Ge. Actually, he was forced to have Chen Ge bring him out of the female dormitory. After leaving that ce, he had a chance to escape.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you were this school¡¯s first headmaster? Tell me the headmaster¡¯s office¡¯s location. I need something that can prove your identity.¡± If there was enough time, Chen Ge would visit all the forbidden zones and recreate the thirteen zones at his own Haunted House.

    ¡°Too much time has gone, and many things have happened. This school has changed too much. It might be difficult for you to get to the headmaster¡¯s office now.¡± The blood crawled out from the wound near its chest to form those words.

    ¡°You are not willing to show the way?¡± Chen Ge grabbed the doll¡¯s only leg. ¡°Or are you not even the headmaster at all and were lying to me?¡±

    ¡°I will take you there!¡± The doll¡¯s eyes bulged. ¡°There are two offices. One is the headmaster¡¯s office from Western Jiujiang Private Academy. It¡¯s on the top floor. There¡¯s nothing there, just an empty shell. The other headmaster¡¯s office was the door pusher¡¯s living space. He liked to hide there to spy on the lives of the other specters and monsters.¡±

    ¡°The door pusher once lived there?¡±

    ¡°Yes, this room is hidden, and very few people know about it...¡±

    ¡°Take me there.¡± Chen Ge could barely hold in the anticipation. Under his many urges, the doll led him to the center of the school.

    ¡°This is it.¡± The doll used his remaining moveable finger to point at the sign before them. ¡°There are many hidden rooms in this school, and every room has its secrets. If you promise to get me out of here, I can tell you the location of all the hidden rooms.¡±

    Chen Ge stopped before the board. The wall was filled with various reports and self-criticism. It came with many students¡¯ pictures. This was not a hall of fame but a hall of shame. All the ugliness of the school was portrayed there.

    ¡°You¡¯ll see the room after you pull away all the reports.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge signaled for the students behind him to move, but no one dared step forward. He even saw the picture of one of the students before him. The child looked at his own picture and stood frozen. ¡°What are you afraid of?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll be punished if you make a mistake; that is the school¡¯s rule. If we tear down these reports, we¡¯ll be going against the school¡¯s consciousness,¡± Han Song said softly.

    ¡°No wonder no one has ever found this room.¡± Chen Ge heard that and looked out the window. The red eye appeared to be pressing down on them. However, the eye appeared to be under great pressure; it was filled with pulsing blood vessels.

    ¡°Criticism is to improve, not humiliate.¡± Chen Ge pulled down the first report. ¡°Make a move on! Stop hesitating!¡±

    With him and his employees leading the way, more students slowly joined. Theyers of the reports had umted over many years. They kept pulling for a long time before the bloodied wall showed. The wall under the reports and pictures was like a bruised skill. There were cracks everywhere, and they were leaking blood.

    ¡°The entrance is on the left side. The wall was originally only one meter wide. It absorbed resentment and then continued to grow.¡±

    Chen Ge kept searching on the wall before locating the door that appeared to have melted into the wall.

    ¡°This is the door pusher¡¯s room?¡±

    Shoving the door open, Chen Ge looked inside. The whole room was filled with mirrors of varying kinds.

 Chapter 880 - Sudden Change!

    Chapter 880: Sudden Change!

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    At the School of the Afterlife, mirrors had a special meaning; each mirror represented a person and hid a memory. The scene before him shocked Chen Ge. He had been at the school for so long and had not seen much mirrors. It turned out that all of them had been hidden there. ¡°Mirrors represent memories, and memories hide one¡¯s secrets. The door pusher has been spying on everyone¡¯s past.¡±

    The door had the same color as the wall; they practically were one and the same. With the reports covering the outer wall, after the death of the door pusher, no one would expect such a room to exist behind the wall of shame.

    ¡°This door pusher had a unique hobby. The despair behind the door twisted him, or he gave up on himself and opened his arms to embrace the abyss.¡± Chen Ge was curious about every door pusher, and the School of the Afterlife¡¯s door pusher was the only dead door pusher, so he was worth studying.

    ¡°Keep close to me.¡± Chen Ge dragged Xu Yin into the hidden room.

    ¡°I¡¯m not lying to you. This is the headmaster¡¯s office that you wished toe to. The door pusher is the school¡¯s owner, and this room is the most hidden room in the school.¡± The doll argued for his innocence, but Chen Ge¡¯s attention was distracted by the things inside the room. He did not notice the doll¡¯s change. The room was not big. It had no windows, and the only point of connection to the outside world was the door.

    ¡°This is the most suffocating room I¡¯ve ever been in.¡± Bai Qiulin carried the mirror, but he did not follow Chen Ge. He only took a nce and shook his head. ¡°Trapping oneself inside a room filled with mirrors, looking at one¡¯s reflection always, even a Specter would rarely decide to do something like that.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate these mirrors.¡± Chen Ge picked up the broken mirrors on the ground carefully. He held the piece before his eyes, but the reflection was not his own. The mirror was empty; it looked strange and rather pitiful. ¡°The School of the Afterlife is different from other scenarios, and one of the reasons is the existence of these mirrors. Regardless, the secret behind them should be found in this room.¡±

    There was barely anywhere to stand in the room; the mirrors and their pieces ovepped over each other, reflecting one another. It was like the school¡¯s consciousness above their head, everyone¡¯s memory and consciousness ovepping together.

    ¡°I¡¯ve led you to the headmaster¡¯s office, so that should prove to you my sincerity.¡± The doll pulled on Chen Ge¡¯s clothes to have Chen Ge look at him.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± That was Chen Ge¡¯s only reply. He was attracted by one of the mirrors in the corner of the room. Most of the mirrors in the room were broken, with irregr edges and blood or stain on their surfaces, but the mirror at the edge was perfectly preserved. It gave off a faded red light, and blood streamed down its surface like something was trying toe out.

    ¡°Whose mirror could this be? From the appearance, it looks like a girl¡¯s mirror. Could it be Chang Wenyu¡¯s?¡± Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of a problem. If there was a mirror that corresponded to every student in the school, was it possible that Zhang Ya¡¯s mirror was there as well?

    Shaking his head, Chen Ge pushed this thought out of his mind. Zhang Ya had already killed the door pusher, so why would she leave her mirror behind? With that in mind, Chen Ge¡¯s curiosity grew. ¡°Xu Yin, go and get that mirror.¡±

    Chen Ge caught the doll, afraid that this was part of his conspiracy. So, to be careful, he would not have the doll have any contact with anything in the room. Listening to Chen Ge¡¯s order, Xu Yin walked to the corner, but once he stepped on the mirrors on the ground, all the mirrors started to bleed. Cracks formed, and the mirrors were like mouths that opened up to consume Xu Yin.

    ¡°Come back!¡± Chen Ge yelled. Once Xu Yin stopped, the mirrors in the room slowly returned to normal. Chen Ge felt a tug on his shirt, he turned back to see a new line had appeared on the doll.

    ¡°Once you touch the mirrors, the school¡¯s consciousness will target you. What happened earlier was a warning.¡±

    ¡°I can only look at them but not touch them?¡±

    ¡°Not really. The warning should only work on Red Specters. If it¡¯s just a normal lingering spirit, the reaction won¡¯t be so intense.¡±

    ¡°What if it¡¯s a living person?¡± Chen Ge returned the doll to Xu Yin. ¡°The door pusher and the school¡¯s consciousness would not have expected a living person to enter this room. When I picked up a broken mirror earlier, it did not react at all.¡±

    ¡°I have no clue...¡±

    Chen Ge stopped asking for the doll¡¯s opinion. With a careful step, he moved into the room. Like he expected, nothing changed.

    ¡°Xu Yin, guard right there, and don¡¯t move.¡±

    Moving slowly forward, Chen Ge was stepping on the pile of broken mirrors. ¡°Sorry for the offense.¡± Every mirror held a memory, so Chen Ge apologized in advance to make himself feel better. Lowering his head to look, this ce was like a mirror cemetery.

    ¡°Only the mirror in the corner has blood flowing on its surface. Whose mirror could it be?¡± Chen Ge already possessed the painter¡¯s mirror, but that information came from a non-smiler, so it could not be trusted fully. Chen Ge could trip easily from the pieces underneath his feet. Being injured was a small thing; Chen Ge did not wish to break the mirrors. He slowly moved his body, and it took him a minute to reach the corner. He squatted down to study the mirror before him. This mirror was different from the others. When he saw the mirror, more blood appeared on the surface like this was not a mirror but a beating heart.

    ¡°There is something inside the mirror.¡± Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision and realized that the mirror covered in blood was reflecting the room that he was in. Inside the enclosed ce littered with broken mirrors, a man in a red shirt was squatting in the corner looking at a girl¡¯s mirror with extreme focus.

    ¡°Wait a minute! This scene is simr to what...¡± Chen Ge prepared to retreat when the man in the corner suddenly turned around. The man looked eighty percent like Chen Ge, and the scary thing was that his facial features were still changing, bing more and more like Chen Ge¡¯s.

    ¡°A scapegoat?¡± Chen Ge was still moving back when the man in the mirror screamed. He pulled madly at his face, until he dug pieces of flesh out like the face represented extreme tragedy.

    As the man in the mirror went mad, a loud voice came from outside the corridor. Then Chen Ge heard the old headmaster. ¡°Chen Ge! Something is wrong with the school¡¯s consciousness! The eye is bleeding!¡±

 Chapter 881 - Split Open Eye

    Chapter 881: Split Open Eye

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    ¡°There¡¯s a problem with the school¡¯s consciousness?¡± Chen Ge was standing on a pile of broken mirrors. If he moved too much, he would break them into pieces.

    ¡°Stay alert! Do not get close to the window!¡± the old headmaster screamed. Without thinking about it, he had the students run to safety. This was something imnted in his body, and his body moved faster than his mind.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on outside?¡± There was chaos in the corridor. Before Chen Ge could get an answer, there came a loud crash from the corridor. All the windows in the school shattered!

    The thick fog rolled into the corridor. Chen Ge looked out the door. The sound of screaming and ss shattering echoed nonstop. The only thing that calmed him down was that no matter what happened, Xu Yin was dragging the doll with one hand, guarding the door like nothing could shake him.

    ¡°When the man in the red shirt inside the mirror screamed, something happened to the school¡¯s consciousness. Could they be rted?¡± Chen Ge pulled back his gaze to turn and look at the blood red mirror before him. Cracks appeared on the mirror, and blood leaked out form it like a heart that was pierced by knives. The small man in the mirror kept tearing at his face like he desperately needed to tear Chen Ge¡¯s face away.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Chen Ge was very brave. He knew that Red Specters and ghosts had a hard time getting close to this ce. Gritting his teeth, he extended his hand to the mirror in the corner. When his fingertips touched the edge of the mirror, Chen Ge heard a yelling from inside the mirror. The torn, bloodied face turned to scream at Chen Ge. He was like a patient with a seriousness inclination for cleanliness, and someone had just touched his face with a muddy hand.

    The man inside the mirror was screaming, and the consciousness above the school was rampaging. The sound of shattering continued, and the fog rushed into the rooms like a wave. But the room that Chen Ge was in was not affected. Xu Yin stood at the door, holding the doll with one hand, and his other hand held the door. Trails of blood curled around his body. The pale hand gripped the door tightly, barring any fog from entering the room. The red shirt was fluttering, and he was under immense pressure, but the expression on Xu Yin¡¯s face did not change.

    ¡°Are you the one who summoned the school¡¯s consciousness? You can affect it?¡± Chen Ge gripped the edges of the mirror with both hands. He shook it heavily as he tried to pick it up. The mirror was much heavier than he had anticipated. Even with all the force in his body, he was unable to lift the mirror up. To make matters worse, as he attempted to do that, the other pieces of mirrors in the room started to change. They were like wounds on a person¡¯s body as they leaked blood. Chen Ge felt like he was being observed by numerous bleeding eyes. They came from different people, and they were staring at him with different emotions.

    Bang!

    A loud boom came from the corridor; it was very close to them. It sounded like someone hade and was fighting the old headmaster.

    ¡°Is it one of the staff or another Red Specter at the school?¡± Chen Ge was anxious. The man inside the mirror could directly influence the school¡¯s consciousness and seemed to know the secret about his face. The man must have realized something, and that was why he would stop at nothing to tear down the face that was changing.

    This mirror is probably the mirror of the door pusher from Western Jiujiang Private Academy! His memory is left inside this mirror! Chen Ge remembered that the first thing that had caught his attention when he entered the room was the mirror and the young man in red shirt inside the mirror.

    If it was really Zhang Ya who killed the door pusher, this mirror cannot remain; it might harm Zhang Ya.

    Considering the fact that the doll was just next to him, Chen Ge did not say this out loud. His desire to take the mirror out of the room deepened. Chen Ge was more alert than before. Only by iming this mirror could he prevent others from influencing the school¡¯s consciousness.

    ¡°The door pusher is already dead; now, the School of the Afterlife belongs to everyone, so you have no reason to exist.¡± Chen Ge was unable to remove the mirror, so heunched a kick at it instead, but nothing happened to the mirror.

    Instead, the young man in the mirror slowly calmed down. The man hid inside the mirror to study Chen Ge, and he slowly realized that perhaps he had mistaken Chen Ge for someone else. The face looked like another person, but there was a crucial difference between them!

    Chen Ge also noticed the change to the young man. After experiencing so much, his senses were sharp. Without hesitation, he ordered, ¡°Xu Yin! Take out this mirror!¡±

    The mirrors on the floor cracked. Xu Yin darted to Chen Ge¡¯s side, and his pale hands reached for the mirror¡¯s edge. The man inside the mirror screamed. More blood gushed out from the cracks on the surface, and the blood pierced into Xu Yin¡¯s palm like they were sharp needles. Small wounds appeared on the pale arms. Xu Yin¡¯s red pupils were pulsing, and the familiar pain caused him to open his lips. Blood vessels rushed out from his wounds. Xu Yin let go of the doll and gripped the mirror with both of his hands.

    Crack!

    The blood red mirror that was buried inside a pile of broken mirrors was snapped in half; this was something that no one expected. The half that Xu Yin held exploded into splinters. The lower half lost its luster of blood and shrank amid the cemetery of mirrors.

    ¡°Do you think you can escape?¡± Chen Ge gritted his teeth. He had already noticed something from the young man¡¯s strange reaction. Assuming that the man was the door pusher¡¯s remaining memory, this would exin why the school had not epted a new door pusher because the real door pusher had not fully ¡®died¡¯.

    The second and most important point was, if the young man was the real door pusher, based on what the doll had said, he had entered the red city before. When he changed into Chen Ge¡¯s face, his reaction could only be described as madness, like he had opened a present and found a bomb inside it. This man had probably seen someone with a face simr to Chen Ge¡¯s!

    ¡°Just how deep was the trauma that even the school¡¯s consciousness was turned mad? Could he have run into the ghost fetus in the red city and mistaken me for him?¡± Earlier, in Li Wan City, the dog kept by the shadow had also made that mistake.

    ¡°Chen Ge, have you gotten what you need? We can¡¯t stay here any longer!¡± the old headmaster reminded Chen Ge. Thetter rushed out the room with Xu Yin and the doll. ¡°I n to inspect every broken mirror in this room, so for now, I can¡¯t leave...¡±

    The rest of the sentence was stuck in his throat because when Chen Ge saw the school¡¯s consciousness outside the window, his words were stuck. Therge eyeball reflected the entire school in its eyes, and the strange thing was... the eye was still expanding like it could burst at any moment.

 Chapter 882 - Meaning of the Mirror, Inverted World

    Chapter 882: Meaning of the Mirror, Inverted World

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    The red eyeball that loomed over the school was like the mirror that Chen Ge had just seen. The surface was running with blood, and there was a ck gap in the middle of the pupil.

    ¡°This has never happened to the school¡¯s consciousness before...¡± Yin Hong held Yin Bai¡¯s hand as they stood at the door. Her mad expression had already disappeared; what was left was anxiety and shock. The windows at the school were seriously damaged, and it would be hard to repair all of them. Without the windows guarding them, the students at the school realized how close the red city was.

    ¡°Sir, gather all the students immediately. Do not let them near the window. It¡¯s too dangerous outside.¡± The closer the red city was, the easier Chen Ge could make out the buildings in the city with his Yin Yang Vision. ¡°Very scary existences are hiding inside the blood fog, things that even Red Specters are afraid of.¡±

    Doctor Gao had been made mad by the red city¡ªChen Ge was trying to protect the children. The mirror in the hidden room snapped in half, and the eyeball in the sky had the same change. Chen Ge refused to believe there was no connection between the two.

    ¡°Quick, look! There is someone in the fog!¡± someone in the corridor shouted, and everyone looked out the window. There were glimpses of shadows on the field outside of the school; they all ran from inside the school!

    ¡°What are they doing?¡± Before Chen Ge could get the answer, the school¡¯s consciousness had already reacted. Many screaming shadows crawled out from the eyeball and tore the people who ran out of the school into pieces. The first batch was soon taken care of, but more people ran out from the building, and most of them were students. It was unclear whether they had been tricked or this was nned, but everyone rushed toward the front gate. When the school¡¯s consciousness tore into the adults, it did not hesitate, but when facing the students, it did. Even though it had power stronger than a Red Specter, it was made up from numerous consciousnesses and was different to an actual Red Specter.

    In this moment of hesitance, there was a small number of students who got to the front gate. It looked like a normalrge gate, but there appeared to be a curse on it. Once the student touched it, they would explode in a shower of blood, and their blood would turn into the school¡¯s nutrients.

    ¡°Entering the school is easy, but it¡¯ll be hard to leave the school. The desperate consciousness will stop anyone who tries to do so. It will not allow others to have salvation while it is trapped in hell.¡± Yin Hong looked at those students with pity. ¡°They won¡¯t be able to escape. No one can leave this school.¡±

    ¡°That is not true. I know someone who has escaped from this school.¡± Chen Ge kept his eyes on the front gate, searching for something. Not long after that, when most students turned into blood flowers and returned to the school¡¯s consciousness, there was a barely discernible figure that neared the gate. The man appeared to have practiced this many times. He held something in his hand and whacked it heavily on the gate. The gate budged, and a man¡¯s voice came out from therge eyeball in the sky. Many shadows rushed at the strange man near the gate. The school uniform was torn apart by blood vessels, and the white coat underneath was revealed. It was the school¡¯s ¡®doctor¡¯ who was banging against the front door. His real identity was an escaped patient from the cursed hospital.

    ¡°Why is this guy there? Hasn¡¯t hee here to escape from the cursed hospital? Why is he purposely taunting the school¡¯s consciousness?¡± Chen Ge had a feeling that things were not that simple. The school¡¯s consciousness was held back by something and could not unleash its real power, but it should be powerful enough to stop a Red Specter. The ¡®doctor¡¯ attracted the school¡¯s attention. He suffered all the pressure. The white coat became tattered, and the blood red patient¡¯s outfit underneath was slowly revealed.

    ¡°Something¡¯s wrong.¡± In Chen Ge¡¯s mind, most Red Specters were cunning and selfish. This patient would cooperate with a non-smiler to escape from the hospital, so he was not a gullible person. Why would he show up at a time like this?

    ¡°Someone is targeting the school¡¯s consciousness. This is a n targeting the Greater Red Specter!¡± Chen Ge had an answer that floated up in his mind. When the school doctor took all the attacks, from the back of the crowd, a small man with a hunchback walked toward the gate. He kept his head lowered. When his body touched the gate, he raised his face. It was a normal, weathered face. His right eye was murky, and his left eye was just a dark hollow!

    ¡°Chang Gu?¡±

    Without any hesitation, when he raised his head, he pressed something in his palm on the lock of the gate.

    BANG!

    A boom resounded through the school like something was smashed. It was hard to tell where the source came from. It appeared toe from therge eyeball and the left eye of every student at the school. The ck gate was pushed open a fraction, and then blood fog sted through the gate from outside like a wave, swallowing up everything in its way!

    At the same time, all the students at the school felt a pain that came from the darkest part of their heart like a piece of their soul had been forcibly yanked out. Many strange yet familiar memories rushed into their minds. The students around Chen Ge copsed to the ground, wailing in pain.

    Lightning shed across the sky. The eyeball made up from the student¡¯s consciousness split apart from the middle. Therge eyeball was like a melting iceberg, and various rolling blood vessels weaved out arge ¡®mirror¡¯ in the sky.

    There was another ¡®school¡¯ inside the mirror. Many students raised their heads to look at this inverted blood red world!

    ¡°That is the campus constructed by the painter!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes widened. Everything looked so familiar. He looked at the sky above his head, and he was shocked beyond words. As the eyeball cracked, the blood vessels crumbled, and therge mirror that loomed over the school slowly copsed.

    The seemingly normal students in the mirror were slowly changing into blood vessels that carried memories, and at the center of the school on the side of the mirror, a boy and a girl stood at the roof of theb building. They were closest to the blood red world. A broken canvas was left next to the boy, and one could not see the expression on his face.

    The girl sat at the edge of the building as she looked at the blood red sky above them with admiration.

    ¡°Painter, you lost.¡±

 Chapter 883 - What Is the Color of Destiny?

    <h4>Chapter 883: What Is the Color of Destiny?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The blood eye that dangled above the school split open from the middle and turned into a giant mirror that loomed over the entire school. The surface of the mirror was red. On this side of the mirror was the blood red world behind the door while on the other side was the campus constructed by the painter.

    ¡°The painter used the students¡¯ memories to create two campuses, so when the school consciousness is injured, the campuses that he built are naturally influenced.¡±

    Chen Ge lifted his head to look at the mirror in the sky. The girl who sat on the rooftop of theb building on the other side was doing the same.

    ¡°Chang Wenyu?¡± The name crossed Chen Ge¡¯s mind. The girl waspletely different from what Chen Ge had imagined. In Chang Gu¡¯s movies, Chang Wenyu possessed many personalities, but generally, she was a cute, quiet girl. This should be how Chang Gu imagined his sister to be, but the big brother did not really know his sister well, and because of that, Chen Ge¡¯s impression of her had been misguided as well.

    The real Chang Wenyu was an inapproachable person. Her left eye was dug out, and a hollow hole remained. There appeared to be fire zing in her right eye, where extreme maddened was hidden. This kind of ¡®person¡¯ would do anything; there was nothing that would limit them in the world. Even they would have difficulty controlling themselves. Inparison, the painter was another extreme. He did not say a word. He was as quiet as death. Even though the canvasy broken, even though the campuses that he had spent so many years constructing were crumbling, even when the school¡¯s consciousness was seriously injured, his expression did not change.

    The painter and Chang Wenyu were two extremes. When a huge problem urred, when the school was exposed before the red city, of these two ¡®people¡¯, one was lowering his head to look at his canvas like he was remembering the paintings that he had made with it, while the other sat at the edge of the building, looking up at the sky, as if admiring the chaos on the other side.

    ¡°Two madmen.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes moved from the girl to the boy. Now he could confirm that there was a connection between the painter and Fan Yu. They had the same face but different bodies. Probably due to low confidence, Fan Yu kept his head lowered and had a slight stoop while the painter looked more normal.

    ¡°I¡¯ve met Fan Yu outside the door and spent some time with him. I really did not expect this to happen.¡± Chen Ge found that he was unable to move his eyes away from the painter. He could not understand why there was a ¡®Fan Yu¡¯ behind the door when the Fan Yu outside the door was still alive. The two had different personalities andpletely different abilities.

    ¡°It is really that child.¡± The old headmaster recognized Fan Yu as well. Other than surprise, there was guilt on his face.

    ¡°Sir, are you sure the incident where Fan Yu was bullied at school had nothing to do with you?¡± Chen Ge pulled the headmaster to his side.

    ¡°I am the headmaster at Mu Yang High School. Anything that happened at the school had everything to do with me, so of course I am responsible if he was bullied at school.¡± He did not understand Chen Ge.

    ¡°I mean, did you do anything directly or indirectly to harm him. Like you were too busy to care about him when he came to you for help...¡±

    ¡°If he came to me, then this tragedy wouldn¡¯t have happened.¡± The old headmaster looked at Fan Yu. ¡°He is a good kid.¡±

    ¡°Since you have nothing to do with his bullying, then our n is not affected.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were firm. ¡°I will try my best to make you the headmaster here, to help you control the school¡¯s consciousness. You can see the situation for yourself. None of the people here can bring salvation and release to the students here¡ªonly you can.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t do that. Every child has their own mind, and it¡¯s not easy to seek salvation.¡±

    ¡°At least you can lead them on the right path and prevent them from more suffering,¡± Chen Ge said seriously. ¡°There is no one more suitable, sir. You can treat this ce as a second Mu Yang High School.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I will try.¡± A bitter smile hung on the old headmaster¡¯s face. He was just a Half Red Specter, and hispetition consisted solely of Greater Red Specters.

    ¡°There are thirteen paintings in the art room. They represent thirteen people with the qualification to be the door pushers. We can ignore most of them. We only need to pay attention to the painter and Chang Wenyu.¡± The n had started when Chen Ge entered the School of the Afterlife, and now it had reached the climax.

    ¡°What should we do next?¡± the old headmaster asked nervously.

    ¡°We will find a safe ce to hide for him. Since Chang Wenyu darede for the school¡¯s consciousness, there¡¯s a great chance she has made some kind of deal with a monster in the red city. When the school descends into chaos, we have to maintain our power.¡±

    Chen Ge had the students that followed him stay together. They walked down the corridor to search for a safe ce. The blood fog rushed at the school. The mirror covered the school and was trying hard to prevent the monsters from entering the school. However, the mirror was made up from the students¡¯ consciousness. When their spirit was broken, the copse was only a matter of time. The mirror was something from the two campuses. As more people regained their lost memories, more negative emotions rushed in. Bloody handprints appeared on the wall between western and eastern campuses, and many strange things were happening.

    ¡°This is their real appearance. There is endless pain and despair behind every beautiful memory. Destiny is that fair and cruel.¡± Cheng Wenyu swung her legs back and forth, enjoying all this.

    ¡°Destiny?¡± The painter slowly lifted his head. ¡°Do you know what color destiny is?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, probably red, I like red.¡± Chang Wenyu turned to look at the painter. From the way they spoke, those who did not know would assume that they were friends.

    ¡°Destiny is white in color. It will take on the color that you decide to paint on it.¡± The painter¡¯s voice was calm.

    ¡°Therefore, you borrowed the power from the school¡¯s consciousness to change their memory? To retain the only good thing about their lives? How do you know that is what they want? Who gave you the right to change the things most valuable to others?¡± The painter appeared to have tweaked Chang Wenyu¡¯s memory before. This should be one of the reasons behind their conflict. ¡°Do not assume you are the person most approved by the school and can make yourself out to be the school¡¯s god!¡±

    Facing Chang Wenyu¡¯s interrogation, the painter did not deny it. He merely picked up the broken canvas. ¡°There is no god behind the door. Even if there is, it is just a devil who decided to perform an asional kindness.¡±

    When he said thest word, a horrible stench drifted out from the canvas.

 Chapter 884 - Red

    Chapter 884: Red

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    The rooftop of theb building was closest to the sky; it was somewhere you could touch the other world with your hand. The normal school had started to change. More students turned into blood vessels and ugly monsters. They wailed at the once quiet school. They, who had gotten used to the beauty, did not expect the pain that they had once been through.

    Every second the blood mirror loomed over the school, there would be more crumbling blood vessels. The memory that it contained would disappear, and the trace of its owner would be wiped away. Irreversible copse was urring on the two campuses. As the owner of these campuses, the painter was standing on the rooftop of theb building. He picked up the canvas, and instantly, ck-reddish blood appeared on it.

    ¡°You wish to kill me?¡± Chang Wenyu dangled her legs at the edge of the building. ¡°You have gained the approval of half of the students at the school, but you have no control over the other half. If you kill me, the school¡¯s consciousness will be swallowed by that city.¡±

    ¡°I have never killed anyone, but many have died because of me. I used this canvas to record theirst moments and asionally took it out to admire it.¡± The painter gripped the edge of the canvas, and his pale fingers were covered in undried blood. He did not seem to care what Chang Wenyu said. He was talking to himself, saying what was on his mind.

    ¡°You have not killed anymore?¡± Chang Wenyu opened her arms and crossed her hands. ¡°You will always find excuses for your actions¡ªthat is what I hate most about you.¡±

    The stench of blood thickened on the rooftop and Chang Wenyu stood up. Fire burned in her eyes. ¡°Do you know why I returned after sessfully escaping from this ce?¡±

    The painter shook his head lightly.

    ¡°I saw the family of the students outside the door. They were guarding beside the unconscious students, waiting for them toe home.¡± Chang Wenyu stood at the edge of the building. The reflection of the blood world was above her, and the crumbling campuses were below her. ¡°But I know that¡¯s impossible. The door has bound them. It looks like salvation, but in reality, it has only pushed them into deeper despair.¡±

    The ck hair was lifted by the bloody wind. Chang Wenyu¡¯s right eye was pulsing with a red light, and her hollow left eye socket had ck blood leaking out from it. ¡°So, I returned. I can¡¯t save all the students here, but I can ruin the door and bury all of you with it. I do not wish for what happened to us to happen to anyone else.¡±

    Blood bloomed on her dress, and the expression on Chang Wenyu¡¯s face turned maddened. ¡°I will stop at nothing to destroy this ce.¡±

    ¡°But can you do it? After losing the school¡¯s approval, you will weaken. What you have learned at the school will be returned to it.¡± The painter¡¯s voice was even like he was asking whether she had eaten her breakfast or not.

    ¡°I do not need the school¡¯s approval, as long as someone approves of me at the school.¡± The atmosphere tensed. Chang Wenyu was prepared to fight the painter.

    ¡°It¡¯s a good thing to have your own persistence, but why would you attract the ghosts from the city?¡± The painter looked past Chang Wenyu at the red city beyond the school. ¡°Fighting for the school¡¯s approval to be the new door pusher is something between us. Why would you drag them into it, or are you still afraid of me?¡±

    ¡°I know that you will not make the same mistake again, so I only have this chance. Before you be the new door pusher, I have to destroy this ce.¡±

    ¡°Destroying the school¡¯s door, attracting the ghosts from the red city, contacting every Red Specter who has once resisted me and has the qualification to be the door pusher, is that the entirety of your n?¡± The painter¡¯s finger nudged the canvas. ¡°Actually, I¡¯m curious, how did you open the school¡¯s front gate? All the Specters are limited by the school¡¯s consciousness. No one should be able to get close to the gate; that is one thing that I do not understand.¡±

    ¡°Specters will be targeted, but the living will not.¡± Chang Wenyu wiped away the blood that flowed out of her left eye. ¡°I¡¯ve been looking for the door pusher¡¯s left eye¡ªit has been hiding outside the door. I¡¯ve waited so long for this day. After all, it was he who pushed open the door. Only his eye can trick the school¡¯s consciousness. So, I had a living person possess the door pusher¡¯s left eye and push open the door.¡±

    Blood flowers were blossoming on Chang Wenyu¡¯s dress. This Greater Red Specter was showing her true form. But probably because she was inside the campus created by the painter, her power was limited.

    ¡°It¡¯s taken several years to build this heaven on top of a cemetery, but you have used several years to figure out a way to destroy everything.¡± The painter sighed. ¡°Looks like I shan¡¯t have any hope in any of you. To focus on what I need to do, the only way is for all of you to shut up.¡±

    ¡°Stop lying to yourself. No one will be able to create heaven. You are merely decorating hell.¡± Chang Wenyu stood at the spot closest to the sky. Her dress had changed almost fully red. ¡°Painter, when I first met you, I knew that the school¡¯s consciousness would approve of you because, in this school, only you believe that it is not a cage of despair behind the door. But I did not anticipate the day when you would have control over almost everything.¡±

    This time the painter did not reply. His pale fingers were moving on the canvas.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Only Chang Wenyu¡¯s heart had not turned red.

    ¡°I am painting.¡± The painter raised the broken canvas. ¡°I like to paint how they look like before they die.¡±

    On the broken canvas, there was a woman in a red dress. One of her eyes was ruby red while the other had been dug away, leaving behind a ck hole.

    ¡°How do you think she wants to die?¡±

    The painter used his bloody hand to pierce at the woman¡¯s heart in the painting. Chang Wenyu copsed backward at the same time,ughing madly.

    ¡°Then, why do you think I came here to waste time with you?¡±

    In theughter, Chang Wenyu morphed into a blood flower. Her body copsed into numerous blood vessels. The spot of her heart remained in the air, and the rest of her body was dyed red.

    ¡°You know my power, so you¡¯ve hidden your heart away?¡± The painter looked at the painted Chang Wenyu. ¡°She lost her body but has wasted one of my paintings...¡±

    The painter ignored the bloody dress in the air and turned to the front gate. In the blood fog, a new threat was approaching from the red city.

 Chapter 885 - My Canvas Broke

    Chapter 885: My Canvas Broke

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    A heart raced, and the sound of beating came from the chest. It was cold, painful, and hard to breathe. The mouth opened, and the smell of blood was solidly stuck in the throat. ¡°This is the memory I¡¯ve lost? This is the taste of memory?¡±

    Voices like this echoed around the school. Broken monsters came out from all corners of the school. Their eyes were filled with venom as they cried and roared. The mirror that loomed over the school had more cracks. As more students regained their memory, the mirror got more out of control.

    The mirror was made from the students¡¯ memories and consciousness. A human¡¯s negative emotion and forgotten memories became the ghosts¡¯ power behind the door, and it was them who made up the school¡¯s consciousness, something that was beyond a Red Specter. The school¡¯s consciousness had been protecting the school, but that day, due to Chang Wenyu¡¯s betrayal and many other reasons, it suffered unprecedented damage.

    ¡°Everything has returned to the beginning.¡± The painter held the broken canvas with one hand, and his other hand slowly rose to reach toward the crumbling blood red mirror above him. ¡°My canvas... broke.¡±

    It did not feel good to have one¡¯s memory stolen. How innocent the students on the eastern campus had been was how ferocious they were now. Slowly, some of the blood vessels left the mirror, the buildings in the campuses became blurry, and the dream that the painter weaved was slowly dispersing. The blood curtain dropped, and the inverted campuses were slowly ovepping.

    The point of ovep was theb building where the painter was. He was standing in the middle point of the mirror world and real life; that was his current situation. The red world was filled with students who rejected him and the threat from the red city while the campuses from the mirror had students who slowly had their memories returned and were trying to find the culprit. Both worlds were pressing against the painter, but his expression did not change too much.

    ¡°If the canvas broke, I¡¯ll just get a new one. The world will neverck paint and canvases, just painters.¡±

    When the blood mirror was about to crumble, the canvas that the painter was holding dissolved into dust. This appeared to be a signal, and blood leaked out from the buildings around the campuses. A monster with blinded eyes walked out from the eastern campus¡¯ library, and a bloated carcass floated out of the manmadeke at western campus. One of the doors in the eastern campus¡¯ male dormitory was pushed open. A small boy pulled off the nails pinned on the back of his arm. There was a student ID left next to him, and it had the name ¡®Lin Sisi¡¯. Thest building was the trash collection center between the two campuses. One of the closed doors was opened by a monster crawling on the ground with four limbs. A horrible stench rushed out, and endless negative emotions crashed forward. The four buildings were like four supporting points. The mirror was still crumbling, but the four temporarily stopped the two worlds from rbining.

    ¡°It¡¯s pointless. The basis of the campuses is the school¡¯s consciousness. Once the mirror is attacked by the ghosts outside of the school, it will still copse.¡± Yin Hong looked at the mirror in the sky, and her eyes were scarily red. ¡°The school¡¯s consciousness can resist a Greater Red Specter, and that is why the School of the Afterlife hasn¡¯t been consumed by the red city. Now the two who have the biggest approval from the school have fallen out. The reality and dream are being cut into two; this ce is over.¡±

    BANG!

    The school¡¯s front gate was sted open. ck vines appeared in the fog. They looked like nts or the limbs of zombies. Anyone who touched them would be dragged into the fog and disappeared.

    ¡°Chen Ge, shall we leave through the well? The school is now being targeted by the red city; they probably won¡¯t expect there to be another exit in the school.¡± It was not that the old headmaster was cowardly. However, this was a situation that a Half Red Specter like him could not change. The old headmaster was kind, but after experiencing so much, he was not blindly kind anymore.

    ¡°If we leave, this school will really be over.¡± Chen Ge gritted his teeth and looked at the painter and Chang Wenyu¡¯s red dress on the rooftop. ¡°Everyone is saying their own thing. Who do you think opened the door?¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge?¡± The old headmaster noticed the strangeness in Chen Ge¡¯s tone. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯m alright. I am much better than I¡¯ve ever been.¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes, and his pupils shrunk. ¡°It¡¯s still the same. The scenario behind the door belongs to the door pusher, and the person who killed the door pusher will be the new owner here.¡±

    The old headmaster did not know what Chen Ge meant. He knew that Chen Ge was one child that would always make people worry, so he did not think much of it, but he softly suggested, ¡°Shall we head toward the well for now?¡±

    ¡°Sure, with backup, things should be easier,¡± Chen Ge said, his eyes fixated on theb building. ¡°Many clues in my mind have been linked together. It is not an ident that I entered the School of the Afterlife. I still have something to discuss with the person who¡¯s used me.¡±

    ¡°Then... shall we move toward Mu Yang High School now?¡± The old headmaster was afraid that Chen Ge might do something rash. He hoped that Chen Ge would be honest, but he soon realized how wrong he was.

    ¡°It¡¯s no problem to go there, but before that, I have to capture that person.¡± Chen Ge pointed at Chang Gu who was running at the field. The school¡¯s consciousness was copsing. The painter was held back by Chang Wenyu, and Chang Gu, who had opened the gate, was rushing toward the education block with the ¡®doctor¡¯s¡¯ help. The doctor had a wicked n of his own as well. He had formed some kind of contract with Chang Wenyu, but he was worried about Chang Wenyu turning on him, so Chang Gu was his hostage.

    ¡°It¡¯s not good to meet them now, is it?¡±

    ¡°I will leave after I¡¯m done. I will try to avoid a direct conflict.¡± Chen Ge had a reason he needed to capture Chang Gu. He could not tell anyone else about the real reason because the ck phone was his biggest secret, and that secret was probably with Chang Wenyu now. Opening theic, Chen Ge summoned all the Red Specters. ¡°Find a chance to strike. Anyone who blocks your way is our enemy!¡±

    At the same time, Chang Gu and the doctor escaped back to the education block. As they nned, once they ran back to this ce, harrowing cries came from the gate. The cries were louder than the wails of the students, and they drifted into everyone¡¯s ears. A figure appeared in the fog. She stood at the front gate, but she did not enter it. The fog that rolled into the school thickened, and more monsters were mixed in it.

    That was not all. Not long after, the sound of munching could be heard mixed in the crying, and arge shadow appeared next to the first figure.

    The fog blocked everything. The people in the buildings only saw a rough outline, but just from that, it was enough to strike fear and helplessness in their hearts.

 Chapter 886 - Third

    <h4>Chapter 886: Third</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°That is the thing from the red city?¡± Using ¡®thing¡¯ to refer to ¡®someone¡¯ whom he had just met was very impolite, but after meeting Doctor Gao who had entered the red city, he no longer viewed the monsters from the city as ¡®people¡¯ that he couldmunicate with. Crying and munching echoed in many people¡¯s ears. Before seeing them in person, many students were already afraid.

    ¡°Chen Ge, this is not good¡ªthe school¡¯s consciousness is split. These students won¡¯t hold on for too long.¡± Yin Hong knew the school very well. ¡°The door attracted the spirits and souls of despairing children. Some of them are wandering souls while others have their physical bodies in real life¡ªonly their spirit is trapped behind the door. Those students are very weak, and they are the basis and foundation of the school.¡±

    Chen Ge understood what Yin Hong meant. The foundation of the school was actually very weak. It was simply not noticeable normally, but now that there was this chaos, the school¡¯s consciousness had revealed its own weakness revealed. That would attract more monsters.

    ¡°After all, the school¡¯s consciousness is a Greater Red Specter. There are many things we do not understand about that. We can¡¯t underestimate the red city, but that doesn¡¯t mean we should underestimate the school¡¯s consciousness.¡±

    A Top Red Specter was already very scary, much less a Greater Red Specter. He felt like even though the school¡¯s consciousness had copsed due to the internal fighting between the painter and Chang Wenyu, there was still something that it had held back.

    ¡°The door¡¯s managed to grow to such a size without a door pusher, so it won¡¯t have ced all its hope on the children.¡± Bai Qiulin was always in support of Chen Ge. It was not that he did not want to help the students, but from his perspective, other than his fellow employees, any other people there could turn out to be an enemy, so there was no reason to risk their lives for those people.

    ¡°But...¡±

    ¡°We have to find Chang Gu first. We¡¯ll discuss the restter.¡± Chen Ge had Xu Yin guard beside him as everyone headed toward the education block where Chang Gu and the doctor were. ¡°To hold the painter back, Chang Wenyu has paid a heavy price. Even though her heart is still there, she will need some time to recover to her prime form. This is my chance.¡±

    Red fog rolled into the school. The ck nts that looked like dried arms crawled into the buildings through the broken windows. The school looked like a heart with shriveled capiries. The students ran for their lives down the corridors. The students who hid in the ssrooms were not doing so well either. The ck things knocked against the windows, and more cracks appeared on the ss.

    ¡°If you do not wish to die,e with me!¡± Chen Ge saved as many students as he could. Lingering spirits and Specters wailed around the school. The sanctuary that had once provided a haven for ghosts now turned into a cage covered in briar. With three Red Specters opening the path, Chen Ge¡¯s group reached the first floor of education block in record time. The blood fog rushed in from the broken gate, and the thickness was even heavier there.

    ¡°Found them!¡± At the turn in the corridor to the nurse¡¯s office, Yin Hong stopped the doctor and Chang Gu. With blood in his left eye, Chang Gu was covered in blood and had only onest breath left.

    ¡°A living person has opened the door. Even if he does not die, he will be in serious trouble.¡± Chen Ge stared at Chang Gu in the doctor¡¯s arms. ¡°Leave us Chang Wenyu¡¯s brother and go.¡±

    Chen Ge did not dawdle and specified his reason for being there.

    ¡°Are you guys the other trump card she¡¯s prepared?¡± The doctor was fully red. He had resisted the attack from the school, and he was not in a good condition.

    ¡°If you are not willing to go, you can stay as well.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s stance was clear; he would stop at nothing to have Chang Gu.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind me. I hope Chang Wenyu can fulfil her promise.¡± Doctor dropped Chang Gu on the floor, but his eyes wandered to Bai Qiulin, who was standing behind Chen Ge. ¡°The mirror that your friend is carrying looks very familiar.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to take a look at it?¡±

    ¡°Nah, I just want to remind you, there is a mirror just like that in thest room of the nurse¡¯s office. There is a demon trapped inside that mirror. He is filled with lies and is very scary. He is a madman that escaped from a certain hospital.¡± The doctor slowly retreated. ¡°If you do not want anyone around you to be harmed, it is best to not believe anything he says.¡±

    The doctor was referring to the non-smiler inside the mirror. After he said his piece, he disappeared down the corridor.

    ¡°Such a dangerous character.¡± Seeing the doctor depart, Yin Hong sighed in relief. She did not wish to fight the doctor. As one of the earliest students at the school, she was familiar with how scary the doctor was.

    ¡°The man made you feel unsafe?¡± Chen Ge realized the problem with the doctor too. When he got close, Xu Yin and the headless woman had both stopped him.

    ¡°Who can guarantee they won¡¯t be sick forever? Plus, he is the school¡¯s only doctor.¡± Yin Hong seemed to be hinting at something. ¡°Who is this man? He is still alive after opening the school gate.¡±

    ¡°He is one of my friends.¡± Chen Ge squatted down before Chang Gu. ¡°I have done everything you siblings asked me to. Now, can you tell me where Chang Wenyu is?¡±

    The dying Chang Gu saw Chen Ge. He opened his lips, but nothing came out. ck blood leaked out from his lips. His body temperature was scarily low. Using all the energy he had left, he only managed to raise his hand to point at the painter behind the mirror.

    ¡°She hid her heart in the campuses constructed by the painter?¡± When Chang Gu heard Chen Ge, he shook his head and kept pointing at the painter.

    ¡°Only the painter knows? Or...¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes twitched. ¡°She hid her heart on the painter?¡±

    Chang Gu still shook his head, and his finger was on the painter until he lost consciousness.

    ¡°Boss, what should we do now?¡± Bai Qiulin looked at Chang Gu on the ground and hesitated. He worried that Chen Ge might do something dangerous.

    ¡°We will go back to Mu Yang High School to ensure that the well is working fine, and then we¡¯ll wait.¡± Chen Ge gripped his fists. ¡°Now is not the most dangerous hour; there is no hurry to leave.¡±

    As Chen Ge¡¯s group retreated to Mu Yang High School, the crying and munching from the gate disappeared. A third figure appeared in the fog. From afar, there was nothing special about him, but thisst figure stood between the other two.

    ¡°There is really an ownerless door.¡± The man¡¯s coarse voice appeared from the gate. When he spoke, even the wind stopped blowing, and everyone at the school could hear him clearly. After watching it for some time, the man took a step into the School of the Afterlife.

    Once he took that first step, it was as if some kind of seal had been broken. The gate mmed against the wall. The man moved into the school. Many harried screams appeared, and the blood mirror that corresponded with the front gate copsed at an incredible speed.

 Chapter 887 - You Can Call Me Painter

    <h4>Chapter 887: You Can Call Me Painter</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The students in the school ran like crazy, but where could they run?

    Hiding was merely dying the final ending. The monsters from the red city did not need the school¡¯s consciousness, so everything was nutrients for them to consume. The school gate mmed against the walls, which copsed under the weight of the briars. The man¡¯s left foot stepped into the school, and the blood fog pooled behind him like a wave.

    ¡°This is much simpler than anticipated.¡± Fog covered his entire body so that only a blurry figure could be seen. His head slowly moved before turning to look at the blood mirror above his head.

    ¡°Every Specter behind the door is creating hell; only you would create a heaven.¡± There was a trace of mockery in the man¡¯s voice. ¡°But if you¡¯d seen true heaven, you wouldn¡¯t be abandoned behind the door.¡±

    He raised his feet and continued forward. There was no one in the school who dared stop him, be it the Specters collected by the school or the Red Specters born at the school. More cracks appeared on the mirror in the sky, and the buildings in the mirror kept crumbling. Lin Sisi¡¯s group could not hold on any longer.

    ¡°Looks like there is no need to keep holding on.¡± The painter stood on the roof of theb building. He looked at the crumbling campuses and lifted his hand. One of his fingertips touched the sky. It was a mirror, a mirror made from endless memories and consciousnesses. ¡°This is not heaven. This is merely a painting, a painting that I haven¡¯t named.¡±

    The fingertip phased through the mirror, and blood vessels rushed toward the painter. When his finger extended through the mirror, it was stained with blood.

    ¡°Since this painting is ruined, I¡¯ll just draw a new one. I need a new canvas and new paint.¡± His body passed through the mirror, and his shirt was dyed fully red. The painter on the campuses was as quiet as the ocean, calm and silent, but the painter who passed through the mirror gave off another feeling. It was hard to describe. His every move pushed people away. After the painter left the mirror world, the mirror in the sky started to peel inrge kes like it was raining blood.

    ¡°Have you given up?¡± The person in the blood fog did not rush forward. He lifted his head to the sky like he was trying to sniff something out. The painter on the rooftop had disappeared, but every mirror that fell from the sky was reflecting his image. When the first mirrornded on the ground, it shattered into small vessels that eventually coagted into the shape of the painter. He stood alone in the field before the school. The blood fog curled around his body, and ck briars grew around him, but he did not evade like the other Specters.

    ¡°The school¡¯s consciousness has split, and you have personally ruined yourst hope. Chang Wenyu is seriously injured. How do you expect to stop a whole city alone?¡± The man in the fog stopped moving. ¡°You could have learned from Chang Wenyu and run from this ce. I know there has to be other exits inside the school.¡±

    ¡°Exit?¡± The painter¡¯s shirt was dyed red. The blood vessels weaved around his body, covering his heart. ¡°You are standing at the exit, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    The broken mirror fell on the painter¡¯s body, cutting out wounds. The distance between the sky and the ground seemed so short that there was only a person between them.

    ¡°I am the Specter that is feared by everyone at this school, so when everyone is afraid, I will stand at the forefront.¡± He opened his arms, and many arms weaved from blood shot out from behind him. They pushed back the fog and lifted the mirror above him!

    ¡°Come at once, I will use your blood to finish my new painting.¡± Without saying anything else, the painter who held up the sky rushed at the gate. Countless consciousnesses were screaming alongside the painting. The mirrored world was howling, and endless negative emotions drained into the painter¡¯s body like a waterfall!

    ¡°I do not like how I look now, but who in this world will ever love themselves?¡± Cruel faces appeared on the painter¡¯s body. They tore at him, injecting their pain and hatred into his body!

    ¡°Who¡¯s never absorbed nutrients at a grave? Who¡¯s never grown from flesh? I have seen plenty of hells, and because of that, I have to find heaven!¡± ck trails appeared on the red shirt. The faces munched on the Red Specter¡¯s body. Each wound was nurturing a deep despair, and faces grew out from every wound!

    ¡°What kind of power is this? Howe it¡¯s different from what Chang Wenyu said?¡± The man¡¯s voice changed. Things went out of his expectations. ¡°You painted the dead people on your own body? You can obtain their power? No, you are suffering their pain and despair! They are consuming your body!¡±

    There was no answer to his question; the painter had already charged into the blood fog.

    ¡°I only want that ownerless door. Why do you have to stop me?¡± The man in the fog waved his arms, and the two figures beside him stepped forward.

    Wherever the painter passed, the fog would roll back, and thus, the two monsters from the red city showed their true form.

    One of them was wearing a goat mask. She had a perfect body, and her skin was painted in red lines. She looked so weak, and tears flowed out of her mask. The woman did not seem to have her own face, and the mask had be part of her.

    The other monster wasrge. It was like thebination of a human and a boar. He was walking on four legs and looked roughly human. He had a boar mask on. The scariest thing was that the man¡¯s body was split open by a mouth about one meter long, and the mouth was filled with sharp teeth.

    ¡°Kindness and Evil, hold him back. I will go look for that door.¡± The man was confident in the two monsters, but before he started to move, the woman in the goat mask suddenly stopped crying, and the tears turned into blood tears.

    ¡°Kindness?¡± The man turned back to look and saw the woman being exposed before the painter. Her goat mask was slowly being removed, and her head fell down, her body with it.

    ¡°Kindness!¡± The blood fog rushed in from all sides to protect Evil. The man ensured that he would not be seen by the painter beforeing to get Kindness, but it was already toote.

    ¡°I do not like Kindness because my kindness has never been treated kindly before.¡± The painter peeled off a piece of skin near his heart. It had the goat head woman painted on it!

    ¡°Now there are two left.¡±

 Chapter 888 - Black

    <h4>Chapter 888: ck</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The man in the fog did not expect that the underling he valued the most would be killed with one nce. He thought back to what Chang Wenyu had said. The painter had a very scary power¡ªby giving up a certain sacrifice, he could draw the people or ghosts that he saw into his painting and take everything away from them. There was huge limitation to this power, but Chang Wenyu did not tell him what the limitation was. She did, however, tell him that the painter could only use this power three times in a short amount of time. In other words, he could only paint three people.

    ¡°Kindness¡¯ soul didn¡¯t disappear. She only had something taken away from her.¡± The man checked the condition of the woman with the goat¡¯s mask. He knew very well that after a Red Specter¡¯s soul was destroyed, there would be nothing left, but Kindness¡¯ body had remained.

    ¡°If Chang Wenyu wasn¡¯t lying, then there is nothing to be afraid of since the painter can only use this power thrice.¡± The man put down Kindness¡¯ body. ¡°To stop the painter, Chang Wenyu has wasted one time of the painter¡¯s power, so now he only has one chance left.¡±

    The fog blocked the visibility. The leading man hid in the fog and did not show his face. ¡°This is a scary power, but it is useless since we have the advantage in numbers. When hepletes the third painting, it is the time for him to die.¡±

    The fog that surrounded Evil slowly dispersed. The leading man practically gifted Evil to the painter. For him, using Evil¡¯s life to trade for a painting was valuable. ¡°When I open the ownerless door and be something greater than a Red Specter, I will find the thing that you have lost and help you recover.¡±

    The man said these things to Evil. After hearing that, the boar-man creature charged at the painter like crazy. Blood fog tremored. ck liquid came out of Evil¡¯s mouth. Unlike Kindness, there was nothing that was likeable about this monster.

    ¡°The painter¡¯s special power is very strong, but the man himself isn¡¯t that strong. Evil is his natural enemy. If only Kindness was here. With Kindness¡¯ help, they would hold even a Red Specter back for a while.¡±

    The man appeared like he could control the fog behind the door. Just this power made him quite mysterious.

    ¡°Unfortunately, he probably saw this problem, so he chose to waste one painting to deliver a heavy blow to Kindness.¡±

    Blood fog gathered around him. The man was like the eye of the storm. He gathered all the fog before entering the school. ck nts grew underneath him, and the man and Evil headed toward the education block from two different directions. The man purposely avoided the painter, but to his surprise, the painter whose body was changing moved to stand between him and Evil.

    ¡°You think you can take on the two of us at once?¡± The man in the fog was very strong. Until now, he had not shown his face. His identity and power were a mystery. If he had not been worried about the painter¡¯s power, this battle might have ended already. The painter used his actions to prove everything. The arms behind him bulged with ck capiries under the influence of negative emotions; the painter¡¯s presence was getting stronger. He wanted to collect the entire school¡¯s consciousness, to turn the negative emotions of all the students into his weapon. There was a magical power in people¡¯s emotions. Specters were born because of this, and doors were formed because of this.

    ¡°A Red Specter can only support a limited amount of negative emotions. Without getting the door¡¯s approval, you won¡¯t be able to support the entire school¡¯s negative emotions. You will lose your mind and explode.¡± The man in the fog waved his hand again, and more shadows appeared outside the school. ¡°There are plenty of monsters in the city. They are mad and twisted. They have their eyes on this school. So what if you can stop me and Evil? As long as you are held back, the school¡¯s consciousness will be consumed by them, and the more consciousness that disappears, the weaker you will be.¡±

    The man in the fog did not want to fight, but the painter did not give him the chance.

    BANG!

    Arge mirror fragment above them broke, and an arm behind the painter grabbed the broken mirror and stabbed at Evil. When the mirror peeled off, it instantly turned into screaming consciousness. It became the de in the painter¡¯s hand and cut open a blood glow in the air. The mirror cut through Evil and tore open the boar mask and Evil¡¯srge mouth. However, just as the mirror was about to cut through the body, a sound came out from Evil¡¯s mouth. Many small teeth bit on the mirror. ck liquid dropped on the mirror. The mirror formed by the students¡¯ memories shattered, and the lingering spirits of the students were swallowed by the giant mouth.

    ¡°Greed is one of the forms of Evil. It can consume many things, and the more it consumes, the stronger it bes.¡± The giant mouth was rapidly recovering. It consumed the mirror and then bit at the painter¡¯s arm.

    ¡°He wants to consume me as well?¡± The mirror in the sky was already in pieces. The buildings turned blurry. Only four ces were not affected. The painter¡¯s hands reached toward one of these ces¡ªthe trash collection center.

    ¡°True Evil is not ugliness orck in human nature but an innocence without purpose. Pure evil is the darkness on my canvas. It has no thought. It is cold and dark simply because it is ck.¡±

    The arm grabbed the trash collection center in the mirror. The monster with four limbs on the ground destroyed the door of thest room and then ran away in a hurry. The mirror broke. One of the support points had been destroyed. The sin collected by the campuses rushed into the painter¡¯s body. Using his body as medium, he transferred the sin and curse into Evil¡¯s mouth. The sinning souls were cursing. They did not expect their final destination to be an ugly mouth. The screaming, pleading, cursing, and begging did not change the painter¡¯s mind.

    ¡°I am the painter; I need white, and I need ck. Toplete the final painting, either color will suffice.¡±

    Evil¡¯s body became bloated, and the painter¡¯s expression was getting uglier. The calm on his face slowly disappeared. He had personally trapped the sin in thest room of the trash collection center. It was trash that could not be reused, the darkest part of the human heart.

    ¡°If you want to eat, then I will prepare a feast for you!¡±

 Chapter 889 - Let Me Paint for You

    <strong>Chapter 889: Let Me Paint for You</strong>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    Even behind the door, there were not many Specters as mad as the painter. He was different from the other monsters; he could not be judged by conventional standard of good and evil. No one could tell what he was thinking, and no one could predict what he could do next, but one thing was for sure¡ªthis Red Specter was very scary. He would stop at nothing to reach his goal. He did not care about what other people thought, and he was not bound by morality. He did everything ording to his own rules. This kind of person was very scary, and the man in the fog knew that.

    Wind with the smell of blood swept across the sky, and screams echoed around the school. Be it the painter or Evil, no one had surrendered. Evil bit the painter¡¯s arm, his stomach bulging. Blood vessels appeared on Evil¡¯s face, and his body started to be uneven. The painter was not looking very well either. He turned his body into a medium as he poured the sin that had gathered on the campuses into Evil¡¯s mouth. He wished to fill Evil up to its death and clear away the school¡¯s sin at the same time.

    That was a good idea, but the problem was that he had to be the medium. The sin would have to enter the painter¡¯s body before being poured into Evil¡¯s lips. This was a battle of determination. The first who crumbled would have a worse ending. ck capiries appeared on the face, and they crawled around like little venomous snake. They pulsed like they could burst at any moment. Even under such circumstances, the painter turned to the man in the fog. Due to theyer of fog, the man knew that the painter could not take a good look at him, but he still wavered slightly. He was fearful of the painter¡¯s power.

    ¡°Are the dirty things in the city all like you?¡± The painter¡¯s expression was scary. Savage was not enough to describe it anymore. ¡°You only know how to hide inside the fog. Do you not even have the courage to face me?¡±

    ¡°You have be more chatty. It means that you have weakened.¡± The man in the fog did not care about what the painter said. He controlled the fog to wrap around him. ¡°I only need the door...¡±

    ¡°You will never find that door. Even if it was before you now, you wouldn¡¯t be able to see it.¡± The painter appeared to say that to maintain his own rationality. His face hadpletely twisted, and he was scarier than any monster that he had painted. Endless sin and negative emotion rushed into his body. The pain that every student had experienced appeared in his mind.

    There were many things that could pierce one¡¯s heart. It could be a single sentence or a single event. Either way, they jabbed one¡¯s heart like needles. One could be smiling, but as long as the heart was still beating, the wound would be torn open, bleeding ck blood. It was not hard to remove the needles, but even so, an ugly wound would remain. The deeper the pain, the deeper the wound. The painter could not undo the wound in everyone¡¯s heart; he could only first remove the needles and then wipe away the memories that were rted to them.

    If they did not think about it, the pain would note. That was how the painter helped the students on the campuses; he left them with good memories and transferred the needles that represented pain to the trash collection center. The harsher the pain, the deeper they were buried. These needles would not disappear even after their owner had forgotten about them. After all, they were part of one¡¯s memory. One¡¯s life was onlyplete with pain and sadness. The painter hadcked a way to deal with such ¡®trash¡¯ until the appearance of Evil.

    ¡°I have been doing something wrong. It is not that there is no sin in heaven; with the sun, there is bound to be shadow. Perhaps I can build a heaven in darkness,¡± the painter mumbled of himself, like only by thinking that would he not lose himself. He was at the edge of a breakdown. When Doctor Gao suffered all the sin behind a three-star scenario, he also almost broke down even if he was a Top Red Specter. Currently, the painter was dealing with the sin from a four-star scenario. It had not been easy for him to have held on until now. This was a battle of conviction. The painter was at the edge of madness, and things were not going well for Evil.

    He could consume negative emotions, but he needed time to process them. He had never experienced something like this before. Before the painter, no one would spend several years to collect the sins from a four-star scenario. Evil had a huge appetite, but even he could not swallow the sins of an entire school.

    The monster from the red city had underestimated the School of the Afterlife. Even though there was no presence of something beyond a Red Specter there, this was a scenario that was deemed four-star by the ck phone!

    Sin poured into Evil like a ck waterfall. Time lost all meaning behind the door. After who knew how long, Evil¡¯s body started to change. His boar mask was stuffed, and his body grew for several times its original size.

    ¡°The mouth is the not the ending. If you want to have freedom, fight for it. Expand and make it burst, then you will have everything you want.¡± The painter knew what he had trapped at the trash collection center¡ªit was the darkest side of the school. The pressure that Evil was under was much bigger than the painter, and he had no time to take a breath. Before he could digest the sin in his stomach, more evil spirits crawled into his throat. The pupils in the boar mask darted with anxiety, a horrible noise came out from his throat, like someone who loved fish had a fish bone stuck in his throat. The man in the fog had a bad feeling. He needed to do something to help Evil buy some time.

    ¡°You are an anomaly behind the door.¡± The man finally made his move. The blood fog turned into a storm, and the man stood in the middle. ¡°Let me tell you how idiotic it is to build a heaven behind the door.¡±

    Once the man made his move, the painter reacted. The other arm behind him reached toward Lin Sisi¡¯s dormitory building. On the side of the mirror, Lin Sisi appeared like he knew this day woulde. He turned to look at his bedroom before swiftly leaving. The arm cracked through the window, and the second support point was broken. The mirror pieces made from dreams and memories shattered and fell, each of them showing the painter¡¯s reflection. His body was cut by the sharp pieces. The arms that reached out from the wounds were stained ck, and they wavedzily, ¡°Every mirror here is my eyes. If I see you, I will take everything away from you.¡±

    The painter was not afraid of anyone. His madness was far beyond everyone¡¯s expectations.

    The arms grabbed Evil and pierced into his body. The painter did not care about the man in the fog but focused on pushing all the sin into Evil¡¯s body. The ck waterfall roared, and after Evil¡¯s body expanded to its maximum capacity, it exploded!

    Many evil spirits crawled out from the body, and the whole school was covered in negative emotions. Pressured, the painter who was covered in ck blood abandoned Evil¡¯s carcass, standing in the middle of the school.

    ¡°I have ruined Kindness and abandoned Evil¡ªnow you are the only one left. Come, let me paint for you!¡±

 Chapter 890 - I Can See You

    <h4>Chapter 890: I Can See You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The broken mirrors fell like heavy rain, and above them, the sky was missing. The blood fog pooled around them, and underneath them was ck briar. Behind them was the School of the Afterlife, and before them was the red city. All the scenarios that were only visible in nightmares turned into reality behind the door. The end of the world was not enough to describe the tragedy at the school; perhaps this was what hell looked like. Evil¡¯s body grew until it burst, and many evil spirits ran out from its stomach before circling around the school. They cursed the remaining Specters and everything that they saw.

    The heaven that was constructed by the painter hadpletely crumbled. The sins that were buried in the trash collection center regained their freedom, and the thing buried in the deepest part of each people¡¯s heart gained release. Their cursing and joy told others with their actions how far could the sins in people¡¯s hearts went. They were once things that the painter tried to deny, but now they were personally let out by the painter. They took revenge on any Specters and people that they met, be it the students or outsiders.

    The monsters that came from the city were dangerous, but the most dangerous party had been neutralized by the painter. He had used his special power to destroy Kindness and the negative emotions that had been collected over the years to incapacitate Evil. Only one enemy remained.

    The arms were connected to the blood mirror. The painter possessed the approval of half of the students and it was the reason why he was able to hold on until now. As long as the painter did not step out from the school, he would possess incredibly powerful abilities. This was possible for Chang Wenyu as well. Because the painter knew that, he had been trying to kill her.

    Dangers were everywhere behind the door, and the smallest mistake could cause one¡¯s soul to disappear. The man in the fog had underestimated the painter, and that was why he had lost his advantage. Kindness and Evil had lost, but the man in the fog did not surrender; this was a chance that he could not miss. He had been able to reach the school in such a short amount of time, which meant that he was living in the area that was close to the school. There were monsters that were several times scarier than he was. If he was unable to take down the school, once it attracted the attention of the other monster in the city, the door might be taken away by some other ¡®people¡¯.

    The storm formed by the blood fog was slowly approaching. The wounded painter looked at the center of the storm silently. His eyes were slowly changing. Blood vessels pulled on his pupils, and his dark pupils were slowly dissolving, leaving behind only ck eyes.

    ¡°Do you think I won¡¯t be able to see you if you¡¯re hiding?¡± Every mirror that fell from the sky had the painter¡¯s reflection on it, and his ck eyes were staring in a certain direction. The storm was approaching, but the painter did not go into hiding. He had no idea what the enemy¡¯s power was, and he did not know how the enemy would attack. In such circumstances, the best defense was to keep attacking, to pressure the enemy so that they would not have the time to use their power. The painter did not defend; he was trying to look for a chance, but the man in the fog did not give him any opportunity. The mirrors that fell from the sky were unable to reach him. If he could not see the target, he could not paint them, which should be one of the painter¡¯s weaknesses.

    ¡°Your poweres from the school¡¯s consciousness. When you fought Evil, you were borrowing power from the mirror in the sky. Your poweres from that ce¡ªlooks like the thing that I¡¯m looking for is also there.¡±

    The man in the fog was extremely cunning. He had not shown himself while gathering more and more information in the darkness. He would only make his move when he had full confidence. The storm touched the mirror in the sky. The man did not fight the painter head on¡ªinstead, he hid behind the storm to look for the door.

    ¡°You are very clever yet also very stupid; your greed is far beyond your ability.¡± The painter moved the arms on his back, and the broken arm that had been bitten by Evil earlier reached toward the mirror. This time, his arm reached toward the manmadeke on the western campus. The dead body floating on the surface was facing down, but when the painter¡¯s arm phased through the mirror and reached into the water, the body turned around to show its face. The face shocked everyone because it waspletely identical to Fan Yu!

    ¡°Everyone¡¯s mirror is floating in the sea of mind. Thatke is the sea of memories at the school. It is filled with all the students¡¯ memories, including the thing that I have forgotten.¡± The painter had a simr face to Fan Yu, but due to their different presence, no one would put them together. The arm that had been bitten by Evil earlier grabbed at the body in theke. The painter paused before slowly tightening his fingers. The body dissolved into blood in the painter¡¯s palm, and the blood dripped into theke. The memory was unlocked, and the normalke turned into something else. First, there were ripples, and then it turned murky. Red bubbles appeared on the surface, and theke was slowly turning red.

    ¡°Since this is my painting, I shall destroy it myself.¡± The painter¡¯s arm yanked back, and the mirror burst. The bloodyke water leaked out. Many voices rang in the school. The memories seemed toe alive, and the distance between the sky and the ground was their whole life. In this short amount of time, the past turned into heavy rain, passing through the storm, covering the entire school. The painter had stolen everyone¡¯s memories, and now he was personally returning the memories to them.

    The students at the school remembered many things that they had lost. Those boring moments from they were alive turned into memories that could not be cut off after death. After all, it was those normal moments that formed the different version of oneself.

    The blood on the surface of the mirror started to peel off again. The students¡¯ conviction was shaken. The mirror shook, and there were three rtively stable ces left on the campuses. One was theb building where the painter was, the other was the library where the blind person was, and thest ce was the broken education block on the eastern campus. Lin Sisi and the four-legged monster had both run to the library. There was no one at the education block on the eastern campus, but that ce was not affected. That was not normal.

    ¡°The door is hidden in the education block?¡± The man in the fog headed toward it immediately. This time, the painter did not stop him.

    The rain of memories dropped in the blood storm. No one noticed this but the painter¡ªevery drop of rain was reflecting pain. His dark eyes looked right at the middle of the storm, and the wounded lips slowly opened to say, ¡°I can see you.¡±

 Chapter 891 - Several Red Spectres

    <strong>Chapter 891: Several Red Spectres</strong>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    The sea of memories washed about. Every raindrop was the painter¡¯s eye. Combined with the painter¡¯s special power, he had absolute advantage in the School of the Afterlife. No wonder even Chang Wenyu did not dare tackle the painter head on. The man in the fog hurried quickly toward the education block in the mirror. The painter stood where he was. He stared at the eye of the storm, and the ck arms that reached out from his wounds extended, forming a piece of perfect skin on his chest.

    The battle earlier had been so intense, but the painter had used all of the arms to shield this part of his body; he had hidden that secret from many people. This was the only part of his body that was not injured. This went to show the intensity of the battle between Red Specters. The man hiding in the storm easily came to the mirror. With no one stopping him, things went a bit too smoothly. He felt a trace of anxiety in his heart. He turned back to look and saw the painter removing thest piece of ¡®canvas¡¯ from his body.

    Has he seen me?

    The seed of anxiety grew in his heart, and it soon grew to crawl over his entire body. The moment the ¡®canvas¡¯ was torn out, the man¡¯s body swiftly turned into a shadow. He was like a nightmare. There was no definite shape, and he looked different to different people. The painter¡¯s bloody hand dangled over the ¡®canvas¡¯. His ck eyes stared ahead, and he did not start to paint for a long time. ¡°You are not a ghost?¡±

    The heavy rain continued to fall. The painter¡¯s eyes seemed to see something, and he said something weird from his lips.

    When he said that, the man in the center of the storm became more desperate. He stopped maintaining the form of a living person andpletely melted into the storm. He raised the blood fog and used the most brutal method to rush at the surface of the mirror. When the painter saw that, he knew that the man had guessed the location of the door.

    ¡°You are wearing a mask and using another person¡¯s body¡ªwhat exactly¡¯s hiding under your skin?¡± The painter¡¯s eyes turnedpletely dark. The white of his eyes disappeared fully, and he looked scary. Things had gotten out of control. No one knew what the painter saw that he was so shocked.

    Endless blood fog drifted out from the red city¡ªthat was the source of the fog. The man¡¯s power had everything to do with the fog. Of course, that could be how he hid his real identity, so he was only using this power. The fog on the ground rumbled, and the memories in the sky rained. A storm ravaged the school. Everyone was dragged into it, and there was no ce to hide. As the mirror in the sky kept copsing, the school itself was affected. The stain on the walls lightened, the windows were shattered, the doors were brutally shoved opened, endless students found their lost memories, and they were consumed by the storm of confusion and bitterness.

    With their memory awakened, to save themselves, more and more students chose to join Chen Ge, and a few of them were Red Specters. In the blood storm, the school was shaking. Other than Top Red Specters, no one could guarantee that they would be safe. It was dangerous to be in the school alone¡ªonly by gathering together andbining their strength would they have a higher chance of survival. Other than Chen Ge¡¯s group, there were a few ces where many students were gathered.

    One was theb building. It was the tallest building in the school, dominated by the seniors. They had deep colored uniforms and could be seen at the native residents of the school. Some of them might have been living there when the door pusher opened the door. In terms of power, they might not be the first, but in terms of familiarity with the school, they were the best.

    The other ce with many students was the center of the school. That was the ce where most students were. With the help of the teachers, they were barely hanging on.

    The third part was the northern part of the school. Chen Ge had not explored that ce before. It mainly consisted of ssrooms and some strange buildings of unknown uses. It was worth noting that there were several Red Specters gathered there, and some of them were Chen Ge¡¯s old friends like Zhu Long, Zhou Tu, Wang Yicheng, and Zhang Ju. The four of them had been led there by Chen Ge from the campuses. After they split up at the library, they had not seen each other. Chen Ge had no idea why they would gather at the northern side of the school. Currently, all four of them were injured, and that was probably because they were trying to protect the students who were following them.

    At this juncture, any student would be able to give them power. Everyone used their body to resist the storm, but as Red Specters, they were under the most pressure. The blood fog carried with it monsters that attacked the students, and the students moved to gather at those few ced.

    Chen Ge¡¯s group saw this when they were leaving Mu Yang High School. The storm was insane, and each Red Specter was like a lighthouse. The red made people cautious, but at the same time, it gave people hope.

    They are all on the northern side?

    The conflict was endless. Chen Ge used Yin Yang Vision and saw Zhu Long and Zhang Ju, who were in battle. Zhou Tu and Wang Yicheng were dying. Only the other two Red Specters were fighting the onught, so the situation was not positive.

    ¡°Sir, I¡¯m afraid we can¡¯t leave just yet.¡± Chen Ge looked at the northern side of the school. Zhang Ju and the rest were the members of Chen Ge¡¯s supernatural observation club. Even though Chen Ge had created this club randomly, the members did not know that. ¡°I have to meet up with the few Red Specters on the north side. They are my friends.¡±

    The old headmaster saw the children being consumed by the blood fog, and he felt so bad. Even if Chen Ge did not say it, he wanted to help more people, but he was powerless. Now that Chen Ge had volunteered to go and save people, the old headmaster agreed without hesitation. ¡°Okay, I will go with you.¡±

    ¡°The School of the Afterlife is a four-star scenario. Things have gotten to this stage, but the door still hasn¡¯t shown up. It means that this is the not the worst situation. We need to move now. With the addition of those Red Specters, we¡¯ll be stronger.¡± Chen Ge did not trust anyone, but he had personally led Zhang Ju and the rest from the campuses and knew about their history.

    ¡°You two need to calm down! If we go there now, many people will die. I can feel something in the city awakening. If we do not leave before it awakens, it will be toote!¡± Yin Hong did not care about others; she only cared about herself and the people who loved her. Next to her, Xu Yin nodded. His body was wounded as his eyes stared at the red city.

    ¡°We should have enough time.¡± No one knew how things would develop, but Chen Ge did not hesitate. ¡°The earlier we move, the better.¡±

    The group turned around. When they passed the female dormitory, Chen Ge entered it to grab Zhang Ya¡¯s present box and the bag of candy. He had to prepare for the worst. If he was forced to leave the school, he would take care of Zhang Ya¡¯s items; he would not leave them behind at the school.

 Chapter 892 - Black Blood

    <h4>Chapter 892: ck Blood</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    At the School of the Afterlife, everyone had their own aims and would make different choices for their own target and benefit. When tragedy struck, Chang Wenyu disappeared, the painter fought the monsters from the red city, the Top Red Specters did not have time to care about others, and that gave Chen Ge the perfect chance. However, danger came along with this chance.

    Yin Hong and Xu Yin felt something awakening in the red city. If they did not leave in a short amount of time, when more monsters came from the red city and the school was sealed, the well might be discovered.

    ¡°Quick!¡± To reach the northern side of the school, they had to pass through the center of the school. That was where all the staff and teachers of the school were gathered, and that included Mr. Lei, whom Chen Ge had met before.

    ¡°Everyone, do not panic! Stay in your room!¡± Mr. Lei and the other teachers tried their best to maintain the order. Actually, they were happy when they saw Chen Ge. In this kind of chaotic situation, they would wee powerful people to join them. ¡°You have arrived! I¡¯ll leave the few ssrooms on the western side to you. If all of us work together, we will be able to survive...¡±

    Before the teacher could finish, he saw Chen Ge and the other Red Specters walk past him, heading toward the northern side of the school.

    ¡°Hey, where are you going? Do not waste your energy blindly! Relying on the school¡¯s original defense is the best solution!¡± Mr. Lei¡¯s voice was harsh. Even though he looked down on Chen Ge, he was saying this for Chen Ge¡¯s own good.

    ¡°I have to go and save the others!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes scanned the students in the ssroom. ¡°My friends are on the northern side of the school. I cannot watch and allow them to be consumed by the fog!¡±

    ¡°Have you lost your mind? There are who knows how many monsters in the school now. Even if there are Red Specters among you, you will be surrounded. They are not afraid of Red Specters!¡± The teacher next to Mr. Lei tried his best to stop them. They did not want Chen Ge to leave. From their perspective, that was too risky and unnecessary.

    ¡°I know it is dangerous.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes swept the ssroom and the students inside looked back at him. They were curious what kind of person would choose to go and save others in this situation. ¡°But that is the difference between you and me.¡±

    Then, Chen Ge did not stay any longer. ¡°If you want to, you can follow behind me. If you don¡¯t want to, I won¡¯t force you. Wait here, and we will meet up at the center of the school.¡±

    After leaving behind the group of weaker students, Chen Ge¡¯s group moved faster. Seeing them walk away, the few teachers showedplicated emotions.

    ¡°What are you guys standing there for? Is now the time for you to be spacing out?¡± Mr. Lei roared at the teachers and then continued to repair the windows. With the rush of the blood fog, no one was safe. Everyone was a boat that might tip over any time soon, and saving oneself was nothing to be ashamed of. Cutting through the school was much more difficult than Chen Ge had anticipated. The blood fog caused low visibility, and due to various reasons, the corridors inside the school seemed to have changed.

    Seen from the field, Mu Yang High School appeared close to the northern side of school, but one actually had to travel a long distance to get there. All the Red Specter were wounded, but it was still within an eptable range. Through this experience, the employees of the haunted house grew stronger, especially Bai Qiulin and the boy with the stench. After Bai Qiulin consumed Xiong Qing¡¯s heart, even though he had turned into a Red Specter, he was slightly weaker than Xu Yin who had found his heart. However, through this endless ughter, things changed. From Li Wan City to the School of the Afterlife, Chen Ge had given him plenty of chances to train, and Ol¡¯ Bai was no longer the same old gambler.

    The other employee who gave Chen Ge a surprise was the boy with the bad smell. After he found his Red Specter¡¯s body, he showed his extremely dangerous side. His power was rted to the stench. Without a reminder from Chen Ge, he stayed at the back of the group and blocked down all the monsters that tried to ambush them from behind, and it looked like this posed no trouble for him. The boy seemed to have retained his memory at the haunted house. He was friendly with Chen Ge and the other employees but showed annoyance at the residents of the school, like he had experienced something very harrowing there.

    With the Red Specters leading the way, Chen Ge¡¯s group moved extremely fast. After some turns, they arrived at the northern side of school. There, they saw another monster from the fog. It was about five meters tall and crawled all over the corridor. Its body was covered with tongues, and the disgusting thing was that each mouth was filled with human teeth. They looked scary.

    ¡°What are these?¡± No one had seen them before. The monster was like something that came out from a child¡¯s nightmare. Its body was heavily twisted. It had the appearance of a human, but it could not be called a human.

    ¡°If it dares stand in our way, kill it.¡± Chen Ge had nothing to worry about¡ªhe did not care as long as it was not a Top Red Specter. Xu Yin, the headless woman, and Yin Hong walked at the front. They worked together to kill the monster. It ended with a horrible death. The Red Specters had not seen this monster before, so they were cautious. They tore it into pieces and then used blood vessels to pierce through every inch of its flesh. After the monster died, its body turned into dry blood capiries. It was worth noting that even so, its heart was still beating. The heart was much smaller than a normal human heart, and it had strange patterns on it.

    Xu Yin removed the heart and passed it to Chen Ge like it was very useful to Specters. Seeing the hunger in the Red Specter¡¯s eyes, Chen Ge thought about it and handed it back to Xu Yin. ¡°This is yours. If we encounter another one, you should discuss among yourselves how to share it.¡±

    Xu Yin grabbed the strange heart, and excitement crossed his eyes. His pale fingers peeled open the heart, and inside was a drop of ck blood that had not congealed. After sucking the blood, Xu Yin¡¯s wounds started to heal, and his body turned more real and scary.

    When he saw that ck blood, Chen Ge thought it look familiar. He believed that he had seen it once in the base of the Ghost Stories Society. It had been kept inside a wooden box, and the box had been taken away by Zhang Ya. After consuming the ck blood, Zhang Ya had fallen into hibernation for a while.

    ¡°The Ghost Stories Society once hunted this kind of monster? They have entered the red city before?¡±

    As the only member of the society, Chen Ge had many things that he did not understand. These secrets should be in Doctor Gao¡¯s mind, but the man had gone insane, and there was no telling if he would ever snap out of it.

    ¡°If there¡¯s a chance, I should return to the society¡¯s oldir. Perhaps I might find some good things that I missed before.¡±

 Chapter 893 - Big Thing Is About to Happen

    <strong>Chapter 893: Big Thing Is About to Happen</strong>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    After the decision had been made, Chen Ge stopped thinking about it. He led the Red Specters toward the northern side of the school. The red city was dangerous, but danger always came with opportunity. There were many things that were helpful to Red Specters in the city, like the monster from earlier, but that kind of monster was not thatmon.

    Outside the education block, the painter and the man in the fog were still fighting. Chen Ge made use of this opportunity to cut through the school to reach the northern side. Zhang Ju and the rest were fighting the monsters, so it was easy to find them.

    ¡°Zhang Ju! Zhu Long!¡± Blood vessels crawled down the corridor, and the pungent smell assaulted their nostrils. Following the dripping sound of blood, Chen Ge came to the door of the one of the ssrooms with the apaniment of several Red Specters.

    ¡°Mr. Bai?¡± When they saw Chen Ge, Zhang Ju and Zhu Long felts tears in their eyes. A friend in need was a friend indeed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be scared, I¡¯m here to save you!¡± Chen Ge did not say anything else but the simplest truth. ¡°It is not safe here. Bring all the children, and we¡¯ll leave!¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Zhang Ju, Zhu Long, and Zhou Tu were Red Specters, and Wang Yicheng was a Half Red Specter. However, Wang Yicheng and Zhou Tu had lost their fighting ability, and it was Zhu Long and Zhang Ju who were holding up the fight. Both parties met up, and the number of Red Specters around Chen Ge increased again to a startling number.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you wait for me after arriving at the library? Why did you end up on the northern side of school?¡± Chen Ge had been curious about that. He did not think that Zhang Ju and the rest would abandon him.

    ¡°We were ambushed. Once we left the campuses, we were attacked. It appeared to be the painter¡¯s people, and they were Red Specters, too,¡± Zhang Ju exined softly. ¡°I couldn¡¯t handle it alone. Thankfully, Zhu Long soon came from the mirror. The person who ambushed me weren¡¯t expecting two Red Specters. After a momentary daze, they started to escape. Then, we chased after them until we reached this ce.¡±

    ¡°Then? Where did they go?¡± There were other Red Specters hidden at the school; this attracted Chen Ge¡¯s attention. If it had not been Zhu Long and Zhang Ju but himself who came out from the mirror first, he would have been in big trouble. The other party was prepared, and he might have killed Chen Ge before he had the chance to summon Xu Yin. Just thinking about that caused Chen Geo shiver.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. That person now is...¡± Zhang Ju and Zhu Long pointed at their stomachs. ¡°... in here.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not worried about that. There was a Red Specter on the route Chang Wenyu arranged for me, so this means that someone has leaked the secret.¡± Chen Ge stopped thinking about this troublesome problem. ¡°The painter is a difficult person to deal with. Luckily, he is noting after us now.¡±

    Chen Ge looked out the window. He had another name added to the list of people he did not want to face other than Doctor Gao.

    ¡°This kind of person is suitable to be friends with, but it¡¯s not easy to be their friend.¡± Doctor Gao wanted to revive a dead person, and the painter wanted to build a paradise behind the door¡ªthey both had some strange ideals. After saving the trapped students, when Chen Ge led Zhang Ju and Zhu Long to the center of the school, Mr. Lei finally shut up.

    ¡°I will not force you to make any choices, and I will try my best to help you. However, I have limited power, and I can¡¯t do so much. I can only save those who are dear to me.¡± Chen Ge had rescued the people on the northern side¡ªthat gave him the approval of many students, and more people wanted to follow him. Compared to the Red Specters around Chen Ge, the staff were on the weaker side. When Chen Ge prepared to leave to the western side of the school, many students were willing to follow him. Before Chen Ge promised anything, the teachers became worried. They knew very well that the school¡¯s consciousness was made up from every student, so the more students they had, the safer they would feel.

    ¡°Calm down, look at who is holding back the scariest monster. The fact that you haven¡¯t been consumed by the red city is due to the painter. He is the one you should be thanking, not this fe called Chen Ge.¡± Mr. Lei was feeling annoyed. ¡°Only Top Red Specters can be relied on. No matter how good the others did, it is just a futile struggle.¡±

    Mr. Lei was telling the truth, and it was something Chen Ge could not deny. He asked the teachers to look after the students, but at the moment, Chen Ge stopped moving.

    ¡°How did you know I don¡¯t have any Top Red Specters with me?¡± When he said that, the surroundings became quiet.

    ¡°You have a Top Red Specter with you?¡± Mr. Lei scanned the ghosts around Chen Ge. He did not believe this.

    ¡°Why do you think they are gathered around me?¡± Chen Ge showed a winning smile.

    ¡°Are you talking about Chang Wenyu?¡± Mr. Lei was reminding of something, and he frowned.

    ¡°Not her. Technically speaking, this Top Red Specter that I have is the real owner of this school. I came here to recover her stuff.¡± Chen Ge was not lying, and his expression was calm.

    Under Chen Ge¡¯s cold gaze, Mr. Lei suddenly shuddered. He saw the present box that Chen Ge was holding, and he remembered that the box was taken from one of the rooms in the female dormitory. A scary thought crossed his mind. Mr. Lei sucked in a cold breath, and the way he looked at Chen Ge changed. ¡°It¡¯s her?¡±

    Chen Ge did not waste time answering¡ªhe just smiled. He hugged the box and ran to the western side.

    Many students wanted to follow Chen Ge, and this time, Mr. Lei did not stop them.

    ¡°Sir, what should we do?¡± There were fewer and fewer students in the ssrooms; the surrounding teachers were anxious. ¡°We have promised the painter, no matter what happens, we wouldn¡¯t have the students¡¯ conviction shaken.¡±

    ¡°If that woman has really returned, where would she hide?¡± Mr. Lei did not appear to hear the other teachers as he kept his eyes on Chen Ge¡¯s back.

    ¡°Mr. Lei?¡±

    ¡°Shush! Something big is about to happen!¡±

    More students left the center of the school. The painter outside the building felt this, and his ck eyes turned away from the man in the fog for the first time to look at the school. Chen Ge, who was running down the corridor, felt a chill run down his spine, and then he could not stop sweating. He turned to look out the window and happened to meet the painter¡¯s gaze.

    The painter¡¯s dark eyes did not seem to have any life, but Chen Ge¡¯s eyes reflected a blood red world. The painter was reflected in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, and he saw himself clearly.

 Chapter 894 - Broken Door

    <h4>Chapter 894: Broken Door</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    As he stopped to help his friends, more and more students chose to follow behind Chen Ge. Most of them were doing it to save themselves, but from the moment they made that choice, something changed.

    ¡°So, this is the school¡¯s approval?¡± The gaze from the painter made Chen Ge feel like he had fallen into ice, but a sense of warmth exuded from the students around him. It was a strange feeling, like he was wrapped in warm blood. It did not feel bad. ¡°There is no telling what will happen when a living human like myself gains the school¡¯s approval, but there is no better choice at the moment.¡±

    Chen Ge turned his head around and forced himself to look away from the painter, and the chill slowly disappeared.

    ¡°He didn¡¯t notice anything, did he?¡±

    After running several meters away, Chen Ge looked out the window again. To his consternation, the painter¡¯s ck eyes were still looking his way, but not at him but at this shadow. The mirror in the sky was ravaged by the blood storm, but the painter did not move his brush. He could only paint a ghost, and the man in the storm was not a ghost. He had not told anyone about that before, not even Chang Wenyu. The mirror was getting more and more unstable. The reason the painter could face three people alone was due to the support from the school¡¯s consciousness. He kept breaking the mirror that represented the school¡¯s consciousness to gain the power approaching a Greater Red Specter.

    ¡°This is getting a bit too troublesome.¡± The painter wrapped the blood vessels around the ¡®canvas¡¯ that he had torn from his body. He dragged his wounded body toward the eye of the storm. The man in the storm did not know about what he was nning. When he saw the painter approach him, his attack on the mirror grew more aggressive.

    This monster was scarier than anyone had anticipated, but to prevent himself from being seen by the painter, he had been holding back, hiding in the storm. Greedy yet cautious, he always ced his own safety first. That was probably the only way to survive in the blood city. The blood storm continued to blow, and it cut at the painter¡¯s body like knives, yet the painter did not care about it. His dark eyes stared into the storm.

    Those who were in his gaze would be shaken, and that included the man in the storm. A nce had ruined Kindness¡ªthe painter¡¯s special power shook the man. Seeing the painter approach, he stopped hiding his real power. An arm crawling with ck blood vessels reached out from the storm. The skin of this arm was not that different from a living person, but the ck capiries on it caused people to be cautious. His body was running with ck blood, and he looked like a mix of a human and ghost. The arm gave a familiar feeling to everyone there, like they had seen it many years ago in nightmare but now they could not remember the details.

    Initially, the man only showed an arm. As the arm reached outward, it also showed his shoulder and the patient¡¯s garb that he was wearing. Instead of saying that he was wearing it, it was more like the patient¡¯s outfit grew on his skin so that he was unable to take it off. Upon closer inspection, the patient¡¯s outfit worn by the man was simr to the one worn by the ¡®doctor¡¯ at the school. They should havee from the same ce, but one had run into the red city, and the other had run to the School of the Afterlife.

    Chen Ge witnessed the changes outside the building with his own eyes. When the patient¡¯s outfit showed itself, he had an ominous feeling. The man had probablye from the cursed hospital, a patient that had escaped. Just an escaped patient was that scary, so how scary could the hospital itself be?

    Actually, Chen Ge understood it well. Even though they were both four-star scenarios, the cursed hospital and the School of the Afterlife were not on the same level. Just like how the Third Sick Hall and Underground Morgue were both three-star scenarios, but the underground morgue was much more dangerous than the Third Sick Hall. The door pusher for one was Doctor Gao, and the other was Men Nan. Put Men Nan and Doctor Gao in a match, and the result was clear. That was the case with the School of the Afterlife and the Cursed Hospital; one had a dead door pusher while the other had far reaching influence into every corner of Jiujiang. If Chen Ge arranged the known four-star scenarios on the ck phone based on their difficulty, the simplest should be the School of the Afterlife, then the Ghost Fetus, and finally the Cursed Hospital.

    <i>I¡¯ve already interacted with the Cursed Hospital. ording to the non-smiler, the hospital will eventuallye to get me. The ghost fetus knows that I¡¯ve killed the shadow, so it will alsoe find me...</i>

    Chen Ge could not share this problem with others. A normal person might not even get a Red Specter¡¯s attention, but Chen Ge was being targeted by two four-star scenarios at the same time.

    <i>What have I done to deserve this?</i>

    While Chen Ge reflected on that, the situation outside the building changed again. The man in the fog reached into the mirror. The ck blood appeared to be some kind of toxin that worked on memories and emotions. The blood mirror cracked a lot. The man abandoned his arm, and the mirror almost fully copsed. The memories fell like rain, and the cries of every students echoed everywhere. It sounded like the school was crying. The mirror shattered, and everything in the mirror crumbled, including the library and the education block.

    The buildings copsed, and the rooms disappeared, with only thest toilet on the fourth floor remaining. The dried blood vessels protected this room heavily. With the infiltration of the ck blood, theyer of blood vessels peeled off. The cubicles in the toilet turned illusory, and the doors started to disappear until it reached thest cubicle. Chen Ge had been there before, and he remembered thest cubicle not having a door. When thest blood vessel dropped away, the cubicles that had doors all disappeared, and a door surfaced on thest cubicle that originally did not have a door.

    The door appeared like it had always been there. This non-existent door on the western and eastern campus was the only thing that was real on the two campuses. When the illusion fell away, the real door appeared.

    Thest cubicle in the fourth-floor toilet, that was where the door pusher entered the School of the Afterlife. Without the protection of the mirror, everyone saw the door. It was covered in cracks like it had been broken before and was slowly pieced back together.

 Chapter 895 - This Is My Chance

    <h4>Chapter 895: This Is My Chance</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The door to the School of the Afterlife had finally appeared. It was the only real existence in the mirrored paradise, the core of the mirrored world. When the illusion shattered and the heaven constructed by the painter had broken, the only thing that remained of therge western and eastern campuses was this door. It looked unassuming, different from the doors of other scenarios. There were no blood stains on it, like it was just a normal door.

    ¡°Quick! Look! There¡¯s something behind the door!¡± someone in the crowd shouted, and everyone turned to look behind the door. A bloody reflection was shown on the cracked door¡ªthere was a woman hiding behind it. She was not that tall and wore a normal dress. The only thing different was that her heart was dyed red. The girl had a bleeding heart.

    ¡°Chang Wenyu? She has been hiding at the door?¡± The most dangerous ce was often the safest ce. No one would have guessed that Chang Wenyu was hiding by the door, so everyone including the painter was shocked. Of course, the man in the fog was shocked as well. He had done so much to find the door, and just as he was about to gain it, there was already someone standing beside it. He had a bad feeling in his heart, like everything he had done was for someone else.

    Chang Wenyu, as if she had known that things would reach this stage, did not panic. When the hand of the man in the fog was about to reach the door, she stood to block it.

    ¡°Chang Wenyu!¡± the man in the fog shouted, but the arm that was made from ck blood was unable to get close to the door. Chang Wenyu held her bleeding heart, and she had a smirk on her pale face. Strange patterns appeared on her dress, and as the pattern disappeared, more students copsed to the ground like their energy was drained.

    ¡°This door hasn¡¯t really made any considerations for the people in the school before. It continues to trick lost souls intoing here to strengthen itself so that it will no longer be so lonely. How is that different from a devil?

    ¡°It is actually worse than a devil because at least the devil makes use of human greed and desire, but the door uses the weakness and despair in people¡¯s hearts.¡±

    Chang Wenyu was prepared. As someone who could tussle with the painter, she was not a simple character.

    ¡°Using hope as bait and having people believe that this was sanctuary that could provide an escape from reality... Once you arrive here, you realize that this is a much deeperyer of hell. There is no salvation, no hope, and no escape.¡± Chang Wenyu looked at the broken door. ¡°Why should such a door remain?¡±

    She appeared to be asking the painter and conversing with the door at the same time.

    ¡°I¡¯ve known about the door¡¯s exact location for a while, but this door hasn¡¯t appeared before me before. If it was not cornered, I would not see this door.¡± The smile on Chang Wenyu¡¯s face slowly disappeared. She stood before the door, and the pattern on her face slowly leaked into the broken door. The shattered door quivered slightly like it was pleading for mercy.

    ¡°Painter, you might not know this, but actually, since I left the school, I have lost the school¡¯s approval. Yet, have you ever wondered why, after losing the school¡¯s approval, so many people at this school are willing to help me?¡± Chang Wenyu interrogated the painter, with the man in the fog stuck in the middle. He was cornered from both sides, and he was the most desperate person. The painter did not answer Chang Wenyu, instead continuing to attack the man in the fog.

    ¡°You know the answer, but you have been running away from it. Not every student here wants to stay; they should have their own choice. A life where you cannot make your choice, no matter where it is, is just another gilded cage.¡±

    Chang Wenyu stood before the door.

    She wanted to the destroy the door, the man in the fog wanted to im the door, and the painter wanted to kill. All three of them had different goals. The poorest thing was the man in the fog¡ªhe was stuck. He wanted to give up, but he was unwilling because the door was literally right before him.

    Some treated the school as a sanctuary, while others saw it as a cage. Some were trying to change the school, to turn the bad into good, while others wanted to ruin all the negative emotions so that they would not harm anyone else. Chen Ge saw the battle above the school clearly. He could not decide who was right or wrong¡ªeveryone had their own opinions. The seemingly united school¡¯s consciousness was actually very fragile.

    ¡°Chen Ge, now is the best chance. We should leave while we can.¡± Yin Hong did not care about the result of the fight. She just wanted to leave. For most of the students, the school did not represent any good memories.

    ¡°Now is indeed a good chance.¡± The chance that Chen Ge meant waspletely different from what Yin Hong meant. He was truly courageous. He looked at the sky. ¡°Let them fight. The Top Red Specters that we can only look at from below will eventuallye down, and that is when we strike.¡±

    ¡°You want to go after them?¡± Yin Hong was shocked by what Chen Ge said. Be it the man in the fog, the painter, or Chang Wenyu, none of them were normal Red Specters. They had reached the top of the range for Red Specters, and with the school¡¯s help, they had the power of a Greater Red Specter.

    ¡°Do not be scared by their appearance. Take a closer look. Even though the painter and Chang Wenyu have their conflict, they are joining forces to deal with the man in the fog. The man has an advantage when he deals with the painter alone, but when he is attacked by both, it is only a matter of time until he fails.

    ¡°The man will either escape from the school or be consumed by the painter and Chang Wenyu. The key thing is that there is another unresolvable conflict between Chang Wenyu and the painter. After the man in the fog leaves, they will fight again.¡±

    Chen Ge saw this clearly.

    ¡°Chang Wenyu wants to destroy the school¡¯s door, and the painter wants to use the door to reconstruct a heaven here. Neither of them will give up this chance.¡±

    ¡°A cornered beast is very dangerous. I don¡¯t think that we should get ourselves involved. It¡¯s lucky that we will be able to escape.¡± Not only Yin Hong, but Han Song and the other students did not want to make the painter or Chang Wenyu their enemy. The employees at the Haunted House said nothing, though; they had full confidence in Chen Ge.

    ¡°The scariest thing about the painter is his special power. The reason Chang Wenyu hasn¡¯t shown up is because she¡¯s waiting for the painter¡¯s special power to run out. The fight of both parties will cause them to use everything. After they have fought, we will only face an empty shell.¡±

 Chapter 896 - The Last Painting

    <h4>Chapter 896: The Last Painting</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge¡¯s tone was calm, like he was describing something that was unimportant. ¡°You have stayed at the school for too long, so it¡¯s natural for you to be afraid of the painter and Chang Wenyu, but for myself and other outsiders, they are just normal Top Red Specters.¡±

    Hearing the constion from Chen Ge, Yin Hong and the other students felt worse.

    ¡°There are no normal Top Red Specters,¡± Yin Hong grumbled softly. She looked at Chen Ge and was suddenly reminded of what Mr. Lei had said earlier, her gaze wandering to Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. She felt like something was hiding in Chen Ge¡¯s shadow, but the presence was so weak that she could not identify it.

    ¡°Never mind, I¡¯ll choose to trust you this one time,¡± Yin Hong said as she ran to Yin Bai, pulling her hand firmly.

    ¡°You...¡±

    ¡°No matter what happenster, do not let go of my hand. You have to understand that the only person who treats you with sincerity is me,¡± Yin Hong said like this was their parting words, and that gave Yin Bai quite a shock. The sound of fighting kepting from outside the school. Chen Ge looked calm on the surface, but internally, he was not that calm. He had called Zhang Ya¡¯s name multiple times in his heart, but there was no response. Without Zhang Ya, with the power of the Red Specters around him, he only had the power to resist.

    ¡°Mu Yang High School¡¯s old well had the painter¡¯s secret, so the painter definitely knows about it. That path is no longer safe. Even so, after leaving the school from the well, finding the Third Sick Hall through the red city won¡¯t be easy either.¡± Chen Ge had many students gathered around him, but he really had no confidence that he could lead everyone to safety. If they go through the red city, most students would die and be permanently buried in the city.

    ¡°The best solution is to wait until we can take control of the situation.¡± The School of the Afterlife was a four-star scenario, and it was isted from the red city. With the appearance of the door, the fewer the secrets and the more things that appeared, the better Chen Ge felt.

    ¡°Chen Ge, forgive me for asking, but do you really think we can be the new owner here? We can do better than the painter?¡± The old headmaster was anxious. He was the oldest and the voice of reason. ¡°The painter¡¯s power is close to that of a Greater Red Specter, and he has such a scary special power. Even so, he couldn¡¯t get full control of the school and gain the door¡¯s approval. Why do you think we can do it?¡±

    This question had been in the old headmaster¡¯s heart for a long time¡ªhe just had not said it out loud. Chen Ge wanted him to be the new headmaster, but he was just a Half Red Specter. Every single Red Specter there could kill him easily, much less the painter.

    ¡°The students entered the door due to despair; they wish for salvation behind the door, not more lies. The painter has good intentions, but he is too extreme. There is no heaven behind the door. Once the fake heaven is exposed, the result will only be worse.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at the old headmaster, ¡°We do not want lies; we need to provide actual help for these homeless children and turn this ce into a home that they can rely on.

    ¡°We are not going to fix heaven. We are going to build a sanctuary that they can use to take a break. And no one will stop them from leaving. No one¡¯s life is perfect all the time. Half of the time, it is filled with pain and conflict, but that is aplete life. We are not trying to change their life; we are merely providing them a break whenever they need it.¡±

    This was the first time that the Red Specters behind the door had heard someone say something like that. They felt like Chen Ge had a point, but once they gave it a closer look, they realized that something did not feel so right.

    ¡°Okay.¡± The old headmaster stopped speaking, but there was still concern in his eyes.

    While Chen Ge¡¯s group were discussing, the situation outside the school changed again. The man hiding in the storm was attacked from the back. He had a pact with Chang Wenyu, but at thest moment, Chang Wenyu betrayed him. Everyone was out for themselves. They were merely using each other. Trust and friendship were rarer than diamonds behind the door.

    ¡°Chang Wenyu!¡± The door was just before him, but he could not reach it. The man in the storm yelled crazily. He wished to tear Chang Wenyu into pieces.

    ¡°We are all one step away from bing something more than a Red Specter. The person who pushes this door open and bes the real owner of the school¡¯s consciousness will be a Greater Red Specter.¡± Chang Wenyu understood that well. ¡°Did you think I would help you be that? If you gain this moveable door, you will use it to trick more students into entering it and use their pain and despair to strengthen yourself.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that how the door should be used? The world has abandoned you behind the door. They bullied and tortured you. Now you finally have the method to take revenge, to make them feel the same thing¡ªdon¡¯t you want that?¡± The man in the storm kept screaming. He had sacrificed a lot, but he had gotten nothing in return, and he might lose his life.

    ¡°Even now I have no understanding why the door appeared. This kind of thing is better destroyed.¡± The rune behind Chang Wenyu slipped into the door. The door slowly turned red, and blood leaked out from the gap. ¡°Look, no matter how well the door hides it, it is still flowing with human blood. It is a monster that depends on despair and pain to survive.¡±

    The cracks on the door grew bigger, and every student in the school heard the pleading, but the sound was different, like it came from their own hearts. The pleading door influenced all the students, including the painter. Since the mirror broke, the power the he could borrow had lessened. Hisrge body was slowly dwindling, and the arms behind him were shriveling as he dragged them weakly behind him.

    Perhaps because Chang Wenyu had left the school and did not rely too much on the door, she was not affected that much. If anything, her presence only grew stronger.

    ¡°This door epted you when you were at your most despairing moment, but now you want to destroy it. Without it, where will the other despairing people hide? Do they have the face the cruel world alone?¡± Even though the painter had greatly weakened, there was a glow in his dark eyes, like everything that had happened was still within his expectations.

    The blood vessels that covered his skin revealed a corner, and the painter turned to look at Chang Wenyu.

 Chapter 897 - Rune on the Door

    <h4>Chapter 897: Rune on the Door</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chang Wenyu was the most unique presence at the school. She did not follow the rules, did not want to be bound, and purposely tried to undermine it. But a personality like that was loved by many at the school. Perhaps their ¡®lives¡¯ were too boring¡ªher appearance was like a light for those despairing students. The light was not bright, but it stood out in the darkness. Her personality waspletely different from that of the painter. It was not done on purpose, and the two of them steadily went down opposite paths from each other.

    Interestingly enough, the students at the school did not fully support either one of them. The students were quite evenly distributed in support of them. Theoretically speaking, only by vanquishing the other could they im the entirety of the school¡¯s consciousness and be the new door pusher. That was when their battle started, and it had continued.

    The man in the fog suffered attacks from the painter while he attacked Chang Wenyu. The runes on Chang Wenyu¡¯s back were destroying the school¡¯s door and blocking the attack of the man. Of the three, the one who had the prerogative was the painter. He could use one of his powers to deprive a Specter of their everything. This power was useless on the man in the storm, but it was useful on Chang Wenyu. The painter hesitated. After he dealt with Chang Wenyu, he would face the man in the storm alone, but that was not the key. The one closest to the door now was Chang Wenyu, and the second was the patient. When Chang Wenyu could not hold on anymore, the patient would immediately go after the defenseless door. If he became the new door pusher, it was over for the painter.

    The vessels wrapped around the ¡®canvas¡¯ again¡ªthe painter did not use his power on Chang Wenyu. After so many years of battle, he knew her well. Since she dared appear, it meant that she had something else up her sleeves. It was too dangerous to go after her. The painter waited for Chang Wenyu to finish the fight with the man in the storm, and Chen Ge waited for the ¡®three¡¯ of them to end their fight.

    <i>What are the runes on Chang Wenyu¡¯s back? Why can they make the cracks on the door bigger? When I was interacting with the ghost stories society, I didn¡¯t notice anything that can damage the door unless the door pusher chose to suffer all the sin behind the door.</i>

    Chen Ge was curious about the runes on Chang Wenyu¡¯s back, but he couldn¡¯t see it from his angle. Chang Wenyu was leaning against the door, and her body blocked most of the runes.

    <i>Those runes appear to be drawn in blood. They don¡¯t look like letters but like patterns that were formed after paintings were torn open.</i>

    Time ticked, and the runes on Chang Wenyu¡¯s back slowly lessened. The new runes appeared toe out from her own body. They carried her flesh and blood, and when they printed on the door, they were stuck with her blood. More runes covered the door, and Chen Ge slowly realized that the runes were not formed randomly. They were arranged ording to a certain arrangement before forming a bloody painting. It was a Specter with three heads, covered in shackles, and the eyeballs were shining with blood. Bizarrely, he eyeballs looked like they were real, like they had been gouged out from human eyes.

    <i>I have seen that somewhere before...</i> Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision, and a thought crossed his mind. <i>Before I entered the underground morgue, the ghost story society came to my haunted house! Doctor Gao left such a painting on my door!</i>

    Like he was struck by lightning, Chen Ge couldn¡¯t believe his own eyes.

    <i>It is the same one!</i>

    At the time, Doctor Gao had used the phone spirit to lure him away and then sneaked into the haunted house, but then his ceremony did not seem to have beenpleted. Before he entered the door, he had been stopped by the guardian spirit of New Century Park.

    <i>What is the meaning of this painting? Why does Chang Wenyu believe it can destroy the door? What does the monster represent? It looks like a ghost but is not a ghost, and even ghosts are afraid of it.</i>

    The door of the school was moaning. The picture of the three-headed demon became clearer. Every piece of the painting had Chang Wenyu¡¯s flesh. It looked gruesome.

    <i>Before, Doctor Gao wasn¡¯t a Red Specter, and he used a normal person¡¯s method to conduct the ceremony. This allowed him to enter the door at my haunted house. Now, Chang Wenyu, as a red Specter, is using her own blood toplete this painting. The effect is definitely different. Looks like she is determined to destroy this door.</i>

    Using her flesh to do the painting drained Chang Wenyu a lot. The blood at her heart was fading, and bruises appeared on her limbs. The man in the storm had blood that could poison the ghosts. Chang Wenyu could not resist it anymore, and the poison infiltrated her body. Indescribable pain ravaged her body, but her mouth was slowly blooming. She was familiar with this feeling¡ªthe greater the pain, the brighter her smile!

    The painting on the door was almostplete, and Chang Wenyu¡¯s body was at its limit. The blood at her chest almost disappeared. Without the red dress, Chang Wenyu looked like a normal girl, but there was an indescribable emotion in her remaining eye. The man in the storm could retreat at any moment, and the one in the most dangerous situation was Chang Wenyu. Yet, the girl had madness burning in her eye that made everyone else cautious.

    If the painter was a sea of death, Chang Wenyu was a ming ocean. When she was in deep despair, there was no telling what she would do. In the whole school, the person who knew Chang Wenyu the most was the painter. At this point, the blood on the painter started to attack Chang Wenyu. Once the door was destroyed, the School of the Afterlife would disappear. All of the students would lose their sanctuary and be exposed to the red city. The painter and the monster in the storm joined forces, and that was far beyond what Chang Wenyu could suffer.

    The painting on the door was bing more rified. It was almostplete, but Chang Wenyu was at her limit. There was no trace of blood in her body, and her body was filled with wounds, but she stood before the door with a smile. Her head swung around. The remaining eye seemed to be looking for something. In such a dangerous moment, Chang Wenyu¡¯s strange action drew the painter and the man¡¯s attention. They followed her gaze, and then three gazes fell on the western side of the school, on one person.

    Chen Ge!

    Being scrutinized by three Top Red Specters, Chen Ge was dripping with sweat. <i>Why are they looking at me?</i>

    While Chen Ge was confused, Lin Sisi¡¯s phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated. He opened it to look, and it was a message from a stranger. ¡®Have you remembered what you¡¯ve lost?¡¯

 Chapter 898 - No One Can Leave

    <h4>Chapter 898: No One Can Leave</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>What have I lost?</i>

    When Chen Ge saw this message, he was instantly reminded of the ck phone. He had no idea who had sent this message, but it had to do with one of the Top Red Specter, or else the timing was too perfect.

    <i>So, a threat?</i>

    The message was not named, and the sender was unknown, but based on Chen Ge¡¯s prediction, the ck phone was most likely with Chang Wenyu. It was Chang Gu who had handed him the backpack, and the phone had been the only thing missing.

    <i>She wants me to help her? But why would the message be sent to Lin Sisi¡¯s phone? Lin Sisi is the painter¡¯s partner; he has been helping the painter by protecting the dormitories.</i>

    Chen Ge did not get it.

    <i>Perhaps Chang Wenyu has approached Lin Sisi before.</i>

    The imminent problem was not to see who had sent the message but to get out from histest conundrum. Being scrutinized by three Top Red Specters, Chen Ge had a d¨¦j¨¤ vu feeling. It seemed to have happened at Li Wan City before, so he did not panic that much, and that shocked the surrounding students.

    <i>Calm down, I have to calm down! The ck phone is important to me, but that is a secret known only to me. Neither Chang Wenyu nor the painter know that. If I act strangely, it will expose the importance of the phone. Thus, the best solution is to act normal.</i>

    That was what Chen Ge thought and what he did. When he saw the message on Lin Sisi¡¯s phone, his expression did not change. Very casually, he ced the phone back in his pocket and turned around to look at the students.

    ¡°The well is in the western field. The boards at the end of the corridor can be removed, so we¡¯d better move!¡±

    The reason he had stayed was to grab some benefits, but since the three Red Specters were onto him, the most rational solution was to leave. When Chen Ge saw the message on Lin Sisi¡¯s phone, he did not stay but chose to leave.

    When Chang Wenyu saw this, her smile lessened, but the madness in her eyes grew. Her body was consumed by strange runes, and the three headed demon appeared to be branded on the door. The door kept groaning, and every student at the school could feel the paining from their heart.

    ¡°The movable door has broken the rules. Only the people in despair can push open the door, but the door has no right to trick despairing people. Whether or not to enter the door is the choice only given to the door pusher. That is thest and most saddening choice they have made in their lives!¡±

    Chang Wenyu¡¯s eyes were red. She smiled as she looked down at all the students at the school.

    ¡°No one can take away this right.¡±

    After she said that, she gave up defense and allowed the attacks to fall on her. The whole school was echoing with her crazyugh. The three headed demon fully surfaced. Its eyes rolled about, and it started to consume the already shattered door.

    The door was about to copse. The man in the storm cursed and extended his other arm out of the storm. His attack looked like self-muttion. Every power used his own flesh as the base; the longer the battle dragged on, the worse state he would be in. The painter looked at the crazed Chang Wenyu and took out the skin hidden in the blood again. His bloody finger was about tond on the canvas when he caught sight of Chen Ge from the corner of his eyes. He had been cautious about something. After some hesitation, he put the canvas away and adjusted the remaining school¡¯s consciousness to stop Chang Wenyu.

    Chang Wenyu used everything to summon the three headed demon to destroy the door. The painter and the man in the fog tried everything to stop Chang Wenyu, and the worse thing was, more strange noises wereing from the red city. More monsters were waking up. The battle of the three Top Red Specters had reached its climax. Even Chen Ge, who was far from the battle, faced some trouble.

    On the western field, a thin boy and a blindfolded man stood next to the well. There was a four-legged humanoid monster crawling on the mouth of the well. Other than them, endless ck briar wasing toward the western side. The monsters in the red city appeared to have received some order and were all gathering this way.

    The painter and the patient in the storm did not n on letting Chen Ge go. The reason was simple. At thest moment, Chang Wenyu hadid her eyes on Chen Ge. They seemed to believe that Chen Ge possessed something of hers, or Chen Ge was one of her trump cards. Initially, Chen Ge had been hiding in the dark. No one had paid him any attention, but due to Chang Wenyu, the spotlight hadnded on him. But luckily, the focus of the Top Red Specters was still on Chang Wenyu, and Chen Ge could handle this situation.

    ¡°Don¡¯t block our way. I don¡¯t wish to have conflict with you.¡± Even though Chen Ge said that, he wished for a fight. He had more Red Specters, and if he could consume one Red Specter from the enemy, it was a gain.

    ¡°This well is connected to the painter¡¯s heart¡ªit is not the exit on the other side,¡± the thin boy told Chen Ge. He was kind toward Chen Ge, which was strange. ¡°Please go back. I do not want to fight you.¡±

    ¡°You seem to know me well?¡± Chen Ge looked at the boy and signaled for everyone to be prepared.

    ¡°I am Lin Sisi. You have been using my identity on the eastern campus.¡± The boy coughed. ¡°The same thing happened to us. Actually, I wish to live like you, but unfortunately, there is no return.¡±

    ¡°It is never toote to make a choice unless there are no more choices.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the students behind him. ¡°I can stay, but do you wish to these innocent children to get involved? Please, let me take them to a safe ce first.¡±

    He would rather stay in danger and not have dangere to any students¡ªhis impression of Chen Ge improved a lot.

    ¡°We cannot let even one of the students go. They are part of the school¡¯s consciousness. The loss of each student will weaken the school¡¯s consciousness. Now, the painter requires power, so all of you had better stay here.¡± The blindfolded guy had a chilling tone. ¡°Chang Wenyu wants to ruin the door. She has lost the qualification to be the door pusher. After chasing away the monster that came from the city, the painter will undeniably be the new door pusher of this school, and then he will obtain the power of a Greater Red Specter.¡±

 Chapter 899 - What Is Hiding in Your Shadow? [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 899: What Is Hiding in Your Shadow? [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°The painter will undeniably be the new door pusher at the School of the Afterlife? You guys sure have plenty of confidence in him.¡±

    Due to the different position that they took, they naturally had different ways of dealing with things. In the eyes of Lin Sisi and the rest, the painter was their only hope¡ªhe was the one closest to bing a Greater Red Specter¡ªbut Chen Ge did not share their view. Be it the painter or Chang Wenyu, their thoughts were too extreme. No one knew the actual meaning behind the door¡¯s existence, and even the door pusher himself would be unable to exin it. In those circumstances, there was no need to force a change to the world behind the door. There had to be a reason for it to exist. Chen Ge¡¯s thoughts were much more innocent than the rest.

    ¡°Please get out of the way. The students are innocent. You all have no right to make them sacrifice themselves.¡± Chen Ge stood in front of all the students from the school. ¡°It was the door from the School of the Afterlife that lured them into the door; it was not them who opened the door willingly. So, it was the door from the school that needed their help, not the other way around.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s very words resonated deeply with the hearts of the students. ¡°None of us wish to fight the painter or Chang Wenyu; we just want to be alive.¡±

    When the students following behind Chen Ge saw Lin Sisi and the man with the blindfold, they started to feel uneasy. It was an everyday affair to feel threatened by the school¡¯s consciousness, and the painter and his people were in a way the representative of the school¡¯s consciousness. Going against them meant that they would be abandoned by the school¡¯s consciousness, and in the world behind the door where danger was lurking everywhere, losing the protection of the school¡¯s consciousness was no different from finding death. Before this, they had no choice, so even when the school¡¯s consciousness went against their own ideals, they had no choice but to silence their heart and follow.

    However, that day, Chen Ge was there.

    There were several Red Specters around him, and he had saved many of the students who were trapped in danger. He dared go against the painter¡¯s people, and he was not afraid of the teachers who represented the managers. Everything that he did was out of consideration for the students themselves. How could they not follow a person like that?

    Why would they find a reason to reject such a person?

    The same knife cut bread and flesh¡ªthe one thing that might help them could also injure them. The painter¡¯s people blocked the exit, and their actions lit a fuse under the resentment that had been curdling in the students¡¯ hearts.

    One had to understand that not all the students at the school were Specters. Arge portion of them were lingering spirits who had been kidnapped by the ¡®door¡¯. Their souls were hooked inside the door, but their physical bodies were still lying in the hospital in aa. Before Chen Ge entered the School of the Afterlife to find Chang Gu, he had seen many parents of the students trying to find and corner Chang Gu. Those were the parents of the students whose lingering spirits had been trapped behind the door.

    Releasing a small portion of the lingering spirits would not affect the School of the Afterlife, but to let go off all of the students, the foundation of the School of the Afterlife would copse upon itself. The painter and the school¡¯s consciousness would not allow that to happen, so they had no choice but to block Chen Ge¡¯s path.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I really do not wish to fight you¡ªyou will not win.¡± Lin Sisi slowly lowered his head, and the following seemed to subconsciously escape from his lips. ¡°You do not understand how scary the painter can be...¡±

    ¡°Lin!¡± Before Lin Sisi could finish, the blindfolded man interrupted him harshly. He turned around and pulled off the ck cloth that covered his eyes. ¡°Do not forget who it was that pulled you out from the deep water of despair and who it was that used the painting to help you retain the only beautiful memory you had.¡±

    After hearing what the blindfolded man said, Lin Sisi¡¯s eyes slowly turned cold. It was as if the boy had put his emotions away. It appeared that the boy was not a killer by nature, but for the sake of the painter, he would do what he normally would not.

    ¡°Chen Ge, neither I nor Lin hate you. Even the painter ces great value upon you, and as a matter of fact, he wishes for you to join us. We should not be fighting each other. Take all the students back to the ssrooms, and the painter will forgive all the mistakes that you have previously made.¡±

    ¡°Forgive me?¡± Chen Ge took several steps back. Just as Lin Sisi and the blindfolded man thought that he was about topromise, Chen Ge opened his mouth to say, ¡°I do not think that I have done anything wrong, so I do not need his forgiveness. In fact, it is you people who need to reflect on what you have done.¡±

    There were plenty of students following Chen Ge, and more and more students were being dragged away by the monsters in the blood fog, never to return. The patient in the center of the storm was worried that Chen Ge would be convinced by the painter¡¯s people, so he ordered arge number of monsters to attack the students that were following Chen Ge. With every second that dragged on, more and more students would disappear.

    ¡°You will regret this.¡± The blindfolded man threw away the ck cloth that he was holding. The eyes that he had kept closed were now slowly opening. The left eye was a sea of blood, and the right eye saw the people and monsters, but there was no scenery or background. It was as if, other than blood, humans, and Specters, there was nothing else that was able to be registered in his sight. ¡°I have now seen the moment of your death.¡±

    The painter and the man in the fog formed a consensus on the way to deal with Chen Ge. The monsters in the fog and the blindfolded man attacked Chen Ge¡¯s group at the same time. The difference was, the blindfolded man and Lin Sisi only went after the Red Specters, but the monsters in the blood fog attacked indiscriminately. This naturally ced Chen Ge¡¯s group in a desperate situation.

    ¡°Stop it! Please stop it!¡± The old headmaster cried at the top of the lung. He saw with his own eyes the students being dragged into the blood fog and their spirits dispersing just like that. It was just too cruel. Being killed behind the door meant that they would be left with nothing, and it was no different from being wiped out from the world. No trace of them would be left anymore, and that was such a cruel punishment for the students who had basically done nothing wrong. For most of them, they were not at the School of the Afterlife of their own volition, so what had they done to deserve such an unsightly ending?

    The battle between the painter, Chang Wenyu, and the man who controlled the fog reached its climax. This was a matter of life and death; their underlings did not dare dawdle. They tried their best to aplish their boss¡¯ orders. Even if it was going to add just a fraction of the chance to victory, it would be worth it. Therefore, for the battle on Chen Ge¡¯s side, there were no tests or trials; the battle started with the bloodiest massacre.

    The power of the blindfolded man and Lin Sisi was far beyond Chen Ge¡¯s expectations. There was no surprise that they could be the painter¡¯s left- and right-hand men. Both could make use of the school¡¯s consciousness, and each of them possessed extremely scary special powers. The blindfolded man could the see the image of the person before they died, so he could recreate that process of death and turn himself into pure fear and pain.

    Lin Sisi¡¯s power was even more unique. His body could morph into a ball of gray smog. No one could see through the smog. The monsters that were dragged away by the fog, be it Red Specters or normal Specters, when they reappeared, would lose theirbat ability, and their bodies would be covered in wounds.

    Chen Ge had a feeling that the people being dragged into the gray fog were still able to walk out of it alive because Lin Sisi never wanted to kill in the first ce. Lin Sisi and the blinded man had unique special powers andpletely undid the numerical advantage that Chen Ge¡¯s group had. Thus, the situation was getting worse.

    Destroy the leader and the gang will copse. That was logic that everyone would understand. There was a fatal w in Chen Ge¡¯s group, and that was Chen Ge himself. He was just a living person. Even with the close protection of the many Red Specters, it was hard for him to survive in the chaos behind the door. The blindfolded man and Lin Sisi both attempted to approach Chen Ge. As one Half Red Specter after another copsed in their path, it was finally the Red Specters¡¯ turn.

    Most of the Red Specters who followed Chen Ge were already wounded, and the key problem was that other than Xu Yin, there were no other Red Specters who would risk their own lives to protect Chen Ge. There were two enemies but only one Xu Yin.

    With the approach of the strong enemy and the copse of his friends one after another, as well as the continuous red wave that came from the red city that was not far away, the situation was getting steadily worse.

    The fight of the three Top Red Specter had not reached its conclusion, but they were already at their limit. The final victor would literally consume everything. Han Song and Yin Hong tried their best to save as many students as they could and protect the students who had been following Chen Ge, to prevent them from being ughtered by the monsters in the blood fog. The remaining Red Specters, though, all gathered around Chen Ge to stop the blindfolded man and Lin Sisi.

    ¡°People like you will never give up until you¡¯re pushed to the gallows.¡± Lin Sisi morphed into gray smoke. No one was able to stop him, so they turned their attention to focus on the blindfolded man. He felt the pressure and turned to look at the mouth of the well. The monster that was on the mouth of the well chuckled wildly. With his limbs on the rim of the well, he poked his head into the hole.

    Just as people were wondering what he was doing, the sound of water flowing came from inside the old well. The sound grew louder and louder, until it sounded likerge and powerful waves hitting against the rocky shore. When the monster with four limbs poked his head out from the well again, everyone who saw him had a frown on their face. The monster¡¯s head and body had inverted.

    He charged at Chen Ge with a crazy smile, and after he left, many human heads floated out from the old well. They looked like ck bubbles.

    ¡°What are those?¡±

    A series of strange cackling echoed over each other, and endless inverted monsters with their heads hanging down crawled out from the old well.

    ¡°That well hides the biggest secret of the painter. It is an inverted world inside there. This is how human being look like in the painter¡¯s heart.¡± After Lin Sisi gave that exnation, he charged toward Xu Yin. He could see how much Chen Ge valued this Red Specter. The gray smog surged forth, and Xu Yin was lost inside the smog.

    ¡°Xu Yin!¡± Chen Ge saw Xu Yin disappear inside the gray fog, and it felt like someone had yanked a piece directly out from his heart. The monsters that crawled out from the water well charged at Chen Ge¡¯s team. Most of the Red Specters had been dragged down, and Chen Ge, who was standing in the middle of the battle, appeared to be surprisingly calm.

    The situation had truly gotten out of control. The painter had many trump cards that he had not shown, and he was one enemy whom Chen Ge still could not red.

    Chen Ge turned to look at the present box that he was carrying in his arms. He took out a candy from the candy bag that was next to the box. It was milky white candy, and it gave off a sweet, alluring smell. However, the human face that was pleading for mercy on it was quite disturbing to say the least. Calling the name silently in his heart, Chen Ge ced the candy gently on his own shadow. The candy dropped onto the ground, but nothing happened. However, Chen Ge¡¯s strange action did manage to attract the attention of everyone around him.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Even though he was being attacked by numerous Red Specters, the blindfolded man still had the luxury to observe Chen Ge. This person should be the scariest Specter at the School of the Afterlife behind Chang Wenyu and the painter. Chen Ge did not reply. He took out another candy and ced it again on his shadow.

    This time, something changed with the candy. It slowly dissolved like it was being absorbed by something inside Chen Ge¡¯s shadow.

    ¡°What is hiding in your shadow?¡± The man with the blindfold had a very bad feeling. He unleashed a loud, shrill scream, and many monsters crawled out from the old well, charging madly at Chen Ge.

 Chapter 900 - A Trick?

    <h4>Chapter 900: A Trick?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The Red Specters behind the door were teetering at the edge of life and death, so their senses were sharp and attuned. Even though the three underlings of the painter had been fighting with the other Red Specters from the School of the Afterlife, most of their attention had been ced on Chen Ge alone. Actually, including the painter, everyone was very curious. How did a living person like Chen Ge manage to have so many Red Specters listen to his orders? How did he manage to do that? What kind of power did he possess to aplish such a feat?

    The unknown was always the scariest. The painter and his people did not go after Chen Ge directly because of this reason; they did not know anything about Chen Ge¡¯s trump card. They stood there and saw Chen Ge growing stronger and stronger as more and more Red Specters gathered around the man.

    ¡°The reason that you can control other Red Specters is inside your shadow?¡± The man with the blindfold wished to get some information from the change in Chen Ge¡¯s facial expression, but to his disappointment, other than the added swiftness to his movement, Chen Ge did not show any unusual reactions, and his face was startlingly calm.

    Drops of candiesnded on the shadow, and they slowly melted like fresh snow. Not just the man with the blindfold, but all the surrounding Red Specters started to feel a weak presenceing from Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. This presence was slowly gathering itself like something was awakening from its dream, but this process of awakening was going to be very long.

    ¡°I remember Mr. Bai once said that there is a special someone hiding inside his shadow.¡± Heavily injured, Zhou Tu, who hid at the back,mented on this like he was talking to himself.

    ¡°Yes, I do remember Mr. Bai saying something like that as well.¡± Another student who had been brought over by Chen Ge from the eastern and western campus, Wang Yicheng, concurred. ¡°Before leaving the two campuses, we felt that presence. But after leaving the campuses, the sense of the presence instead became less obvious and weaker.¡±

    It was unknown whether they were doing this on purpose or it was a pure coincidence, but the conversation between the two was overheard by the people around him, and that included the man with the blindfold who managed to hear them very clearly.

    ¡°Yourst trump card is hidden inside your shadow?¡± The man with the blindfold had basically confirmed that Chen Ge only dared enter the School of the Afterlife in the form of a living human because there was something protecting him inside his shadow. In fact, he could push this spection further and say that perhaps Chen Ge was just a puppet. Maybe the thing inside his shadow was the real mastermind behind the curtain. No one at the School of the Afterlife really knew what was inside Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. Both the man with the blindfold and Lin Sisi had a very bad feeling about this. They did not think that Chen Ge¡¯s shadow would be something to deal with.

    Coincidentally, at that moment, several teachers ran over from the end of the corridor of the education block. The leading person was Mr. Lei. When the Red Specters who guarded around Chen Ge saw the arrival of Mr. Lei and the rest of the teachers, they were quite relieved and happy. After all, they had interacted with each other before, and they were not actually enemies. However, what Mr. Lei said nextpletely shattered the hope of those Red Specters around Chen Ge.

    ¡°There is a Top Red Specter hiding in his shadow! She is not weaker than the painter and Chang Wenyu. Furthermore, she is deeply rted to this school! We have to stop him no matter what!¡± Mr. Lei and most of the staff at the school were on the same team as the painter. They were helping the painter manage the heaven that was constructed inside a nightmare.

    ¡°Top Red Specter?¡± The three simple words appeared to have some kind of magical power that could shake everyone¡¯s heart. Even the three Top Red Specters who were fighting non-stop, like it was the end of the world, temporarily stopped moving.

    ¡°Chen Ge, do not disappoint me! You were able to hide until now! I knew I could count on you!¡± Her back and joined with the door already. Chang Wenyu, who was covered in wounds and had her lips split open, wasughing like maniac. Her blood red eyes were dancing with mockery. ¡°Even if you kill me, neither of you are destined to get this door! The Red Specter who once destroyed this door has returned¡ªthe Specter who scares the door itself has returned!¡±

    The situation appeared to have changed in that moment. Chang Wenyu was roaring and yelling like she had lost her mind. The painter¡¯s face was dark as the far side of the moon. The man in the patient¡¯s outfit who was stuck in the middle controlling the blood fog was as confused as he could be.

    ¡°Stop him. We need to stop him no matter what!¡± When the fourth Top Red Specter appeared, the bnce would be definitely shaken. Other than the people who voluntarily followed Chen Ge, all the other monsters and Specters gathered to surround and attack Chen Ge. They ignored the Specters that hung around Chen Ge and ced their target on Chen Ge alone. They wanted to kill Chen Ge before the man had chance to summon the Specter from inside his shadow.

    ¡°Stop them! We need to stop them!¡± Those Red Specters and students who initially followed Chen Ge were slightly shaken when they were cornered, but when he heard from Chang Wenyu that there was another Top Red Specter hidden in Chen Ge¡¯s shadow, their confidence in Chen Ge returned practically instantly. They were both Top Red Specters, so Chang Wenyu did not need to lie. They felt like they had ced their bets on the right party, so they started to give it their all and sacrificed everything to protect Chen Ge to buy him as much time as they could.

    Blood swam about like sea. The expression of Chen Ge, who stood in the center of it, did not change; he just kept dropping the candies from the bag onto the shadow. His shadow was like a deep pool. No one knew what was hiding underneath. They could only see some trace of shadows. The candies disappeared one after another, and the massacre around Chen Ge reached its bloodiest moment.

    Arge amount of blood squirted out from Lin Sisi¡¯s gray fog, and one could even hear the blood curdling scream from Xu Yin. The Red Specters that surrounded the man with the blindfold all carried fatal wounds on them. They were slowly approaching a state close to death. The man with the blindfold utilized his power on them, but no one really cared; everyone risked the chance of being shattered into pieces to help Chen Ge buy as much time as they could. The inverted and disfigured monsters that came out from Mu Yang High School¡¯s old well charged at Chen Ge at the same time. The students from the School of the Afterlife all volunteered to stand guard around Chen Ge, and they used their actions to win the school¡¯s approval.

    ¡°Painter, I bet you did not expect this, right? Myst trump card is not even on me.¡± Chang Wenyu kept mocking the painter. She was trying to buy them, too. The door of the School of Afterlife had almost been consumed by the three-headed monster, and the cracks on the door had grown so big that it was almost impossible to fix it. The painter was not influenced by Chang Wenyu, but one could capture a trace of hesitance in his eyes. He stared at the shadow behind Chen Ge, and thest piece of ¡®canvas¡¯ covered by blood vessels silently appeared in his hand.

    The monsters from the old well and the blood fog cut open a path that headed toward Chen Ge, but any monster that tried to charge at Chen Ge would be stopped by the students. There was a low gasping voice that came from the crowd. The saliva that was radiating this horrible stench slid down the corner of his lips. A pair of evil, venomous eyes were staring at Chen Ge¡¯s back. The four limbs crawled swiftly on the ground. The humanoid monster who ¡®worked¡¯ at the trash collection center was like a praying mantis that was hunting its prey. It borrowed the cover of the surrounding and jumped and weaved its way toward Chen Ge. It aimed for Chen Ge¡¯s neck and then opened its mouth wide.

    BANG

    A woman¡¯s skull blocked andnded on the strange monster¡¯s face. She used her own head to stop the attacking monster, thus protecting Chen Ge from harm. As someone who was practically ¡®forced¡¯ to be there, she had done more than she was supposed to. Her blood dripped down her body, and the headless woman in the red dress half knelt behind Chen Ge. She was covered in wounds, and one of her arms had been pulled off. She was unable to recover on herself, and the other arm was holding her own head. The monsters continued to swarm forward. The headless woman¡¯s other arm was pulled off, and the pale arm dropped on Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. The ck hair that was tied around her wrist slowly melted into Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. At that moment, Chen Ge¡¯s shadow seemed to be quite different. The few Top Red Specters at the scene all felt something. The three of them all turned to look behind Chen Ge at the same time.

    ¡°She... has awakened?¡±

    The smile on Chang Wenyu¡¯s face froze, and the man who controlled the fog had a strong sense of rm rising within him. Of the three of them, the painter was the calmest, and he stopped hesitating and came to a decision. Before anyone could realize what he was going to do, his eyes turned pure ck, and he turned to look at Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. His bloodied finger fell on thest piece of canvas.

    ¡°This is not good!

    ¡°Chen Ge! Shield you shadow from view!¡±

    Cries and orders came from the crowd. Chen Ge also subconsciously moved his body about. He lifted his head to look, and the painter was painting Chen Ge¡¯s shadow!

    ¡°The painter¡¯s special power?¡± The painter was using hisst power on Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. The School of the Afterlife, which was chaotic and crazy, suddenly experience a temporary lull. The match had been made. The painter could draw a ghost and strip away everything that was possessed by the ghost.

    There was a great limitation to this special power, but only the painter himself knew what kind of limitation that was.

    ¡°It¡¯s all over now...¡±

    Chen Ge and the painter became the focus of the entire school. On the painter¡¯s canvas, Chen Ge¡¯s shadow gradually became clearer, and the shape of the shadow was having the same change.

    ¡°Even without seeing the real person, he can paint by looking at the shadow?¡± Chen Ge felt like something on his body had slowly been taken away. An existence that was intertwined with his own destiny was disappearing little by little.

    ¡°Painting is just one of my powers. This pair of eyes can see the outline of the framework of destiny. I can follow the trail of destiny and paint whatever¡¯s rted to you.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s shadow on the canvas kept on changing. Everyone¡¯s attention was drawn by the painter, and Chen Ge¡¯s hands involuntarily moved to his heart. The feeling was hard to describe. He knew very well that he was about to lose something important. He wanted to scream¡ªhe wanted to yell out that name at the top of his voice. The color of the shadow behind Chen Ge gradually faded, but the shadow on the painter¡¯s canvas was getting clearer and clearer. Unable to breathe, after several long, tedious seconds, the shadow on the painter¡¯s canvas finally changed , and it turned into the original shape of the Specter that was hiding inside Chen Ge¡¯s shadow!

    The painter¡¯s breath suddenly weakened, and everyone turned to look at the canvas that the painter was holding!

    On the canvas that was made from human skin was the picture of a weak,nky body. There were many wounds left behind by nails and pins on his body. When the shadow on the canvas stopped changing, the shadow behind Chen Ge looked as if it had been thrown open. A small, shy shadow was standing next to Chen Ge. He hugged the sweet, milky candies in his embrace, and he was still munching happily on them. Only after several seconds did he realize that something was wrong. The candies in his arms dropped and rolled to the ground. The small shadow forgot how to chew. He shared a look with the painter and saw his own reflection on the painter¡¯s canvas. The smoke-like body dispersed, as if being blown by heavy wind, and the small shadow disappeared like it had never existed in the world.

    ¡°The scapegoat?¡± When the painter said this like it was an afterthought, the three Top Red Specters and the numerous Red Specters around Chen Ge were baffled. The Specter that was hiding inside Chen Ge¡¯s shadow, the Specter that so many people were afraid of, was just a scapegoat that was not even a Half Red Specter?

    ¡°We¡¯ve been tricked?¡±

    The smile on Chang Wenyu¡¯s facepletely disappeared, and the faces of all three Top Red Specters darkened. At that moment, no one realized that Chen Ge¡¯s torn shadow did not disappear fully. Instead, it started to spread to its surroundings like a widening sea of ckness.

 Chapter 901 - Those Who Remain

    <h4>Chapter 901: Those Who Remain</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge knew everything that happened around him. His eye slightly twitched, and that was all the response that he had. The ease of the man formed a direct contrast to the madness of the other Specters at the school. Chang Wenyu¡¯s single eye widened like it was going to pop out of the socket. The fourth Top Red Specter did not appear ording to n. She hurried the three headed demon picture behind her and did not put any hope in Chen Ge anymore. She gave it her all to destroy the door.

    The man who controlled the fog was still confused, but once Chang Wenyu restarted her action, he also snapped out of it. He turned away from Chen Ge and focused his energy on Chang Wenyu. Of the three, the painter was thest to recover. He looked at the scapegoat on his canvas, and ck capiries pulsed on the back of his hands. His eyes seemed to have ck fire burning in them. Every time he used his special power, he would have to sacrifice greatly. Every painting was his trump card.

    Such an important power was wasted on a scapegoat due to skillful misdirection. The painter felt an urge to tear Chen Ge apart. This b*stard dared use a mere scapegoat to trick everyone!

    His heart was bleeding. The painter looked at the Red Specters around Chen Ge and forced himself to look away. The most urgent task was to stop Chang Wenyu and not waste his energy on unimportant matters.

    Once again, Chen Ge became unimportant. Other than the three Top Red Specters, the Red Specters that tackled Chen Ge and those who protected him all felt a certain way. A normal person had managed to trick a whole slew of Red Specters into doing his bidding with the aid of a mere scapegoat¡ªthat was unbelievable.

    The blindfolded man¡¯s expression froze, and the other Red Specters from the campuses had the same expression. Even the students who followed Chen Ge were baffled. Mr. Lei, who had run over to deliver the news, was stunned.

    ¡°So, everything is a lie...¡± Mr. Lei stared at Chen Ge. ¡°You¡¯ve used me! Since you entered the forbidden zones like the female dormitory, you have been tricking us!¡±

    Mr. Lei did not know what to say. He really had sensed a very scary presence from Chen Ge before, but since the painter had already made his move and revealed the truth, he was stumped.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I really have lied to you and everyone else. There is no Top Red Specter in my shadow. I did that merely to pull your forces together. No one is willing to be a scapegoat, and one person is too weak. Only by gathering everyone¡¯s strength do we have a chance,¡± Chen Ge said sincerely. ¡°I do not mean any malice. This could only be counted as a white lie.¡±

    ¡°It does not feel good being lied to,¡± the weak Wang Yicheng and Zhou Tu who hid in the crowd said. They walked away from Chen Ge and moved to Lin Sisi¡¯s gray fog.

    ¡°The two of you are leaving?¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. ¡°But the supernatural phenomenon observation club has just been formed.¡±

    ¡°We are actually the painter¡¯s friends. We¡¯re just returning to his side.¡± The wounds on Zhou Tu slowly recovered. ¡°It wasn¡¯t easy to lie to you, but luckily, the result¡¯s not bad.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I noticed the problem with the two of you earlier, but I did not point it out. You acted too exaggeratedly in the drawing room on the eastern campus. Zhu Long and Zhang Ju were intercepted by Red Specters when they crossed the mirror, andbined with the silent hints that you¡¯ve been providing the painter earlier, I knew that the painter had nted his people beside me.¡± Chen Ge sighed. ¡°I just didn¡¯t point it out because I hoped that you would realize who is in the right and who is really thinking on your behalf.¡±

    Chen Ge said that to Zhou Tu and Wang Yicheng, but it was also meant for all the Red Specters beside him. In the gray fog, Xu Yin had gone mad and roared endlessly. The headless woman had both her arms peeled off, but she stood guardedly behind Chen Ge. The boy who had just found his heart and the stench guarded in front of Chen Ge.

    Chen Ge¡¯s ¡®scam¡¯ had been exposed, but there were still many ¡®people¡¯ who were willing to stay by his side, like the old headmaster and Bai Qiulin.

    ¡°You are so unreliable! And have I told you how much I hate crazy people!¡± Yin Hong wanted to beat him, but she did not leave. Nor did therge Han Song from the Taekwondo club. They stood by the old headmaster¡¯s side. To attack Chen Ge, one had to pass through them.

    ¡°Mr. Bai...¡± Zhang Ju and Zhu Long watched Zhou Tu and Wang Yicheng leave. They were all members of the same club, and they were faced with a conundrum.

    ¡°You have already lost your chance.¡± The blindfolded man giggled wickedly. Zhu Long and Zhang Ju were being attacked by the blindfolded man. One careless move, and they would die. They were at the forefront of the fray. Even if they gave up, no one would say anything. They shared a look, and in the end, they chose the opposite of Zhou Tu; they approved of Chen Ge. Even though Chen Ge was just a normal person, even if he did not have a Top Red Specter, the many memories that they had at the school were fresh in their mind. It was Chen Ge who had helped them find their memories and themselves. They hated what the painter had done, so they sided with Chen Ge. Chen Ge¡¯s biggest ¡®secret¡¯ had been exposed, but not many people left him. Still, many students followed behind him and ced their hope on him.

    ¡°The worms in the team have been pulled out and so were the pins. Now, those who remain treat me sincerely. I have no problem leaving the School of the Afterlife in their care.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s face was startlingly white. His heart had been calling a name, and it was not until the hair around the headless woman¡¯s wrist fell on his shadow did he get a response. ¡°It is not over yet.¡±

    Chen Ge mumbled the same thing like a broken record as if the mental pressure was too high, and it snapped his mind. He reached out and dropped the remaining candies behind him.

    ¡°You have lost your shadow. Who are you feeding those candies to?¡± Mr. Lei had been listening to Chen Ge mumble. This time, he would not be tricked. He summoned the other staff and students. They had decided to help the painter. But as Mr. Lei called for the other teachers, he suddenly saw the candies behind Chen Ge disappear.

    ¡°They¡¯re gone?¡± The candies disappeared. They did not melt; they just vanished. Only a Red Specter could digest these candies made from souls so quickly. Mr. Lei rubbed his eyes to ensure that he did not see incorrectly. He quickly stopped those who were going after Chen Ge. Just as Mr. Lei was panicking, Chen Ge lifted his head, and the pale face smiled at him.

    A chill ran up Mr. Lei¡¯s spine, and indescribable terror swamped his mind as he pointed at Chen Ge and screamed, ¡°Something is not right! Don¡¯t go! There¡¯s something hidden on him! He¡¯s still lying!¡±

    ¡°This time, I am really not lying.¡± The blood drained from Chen Ge¡¯s face, and he had difficulty speaking. ¡°I really do not have a Top Red Specter on me, but a Greater Red Specter has never left me.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s broken shadow joined together and formed a ck-red shadow that wasrger than the whole field. The scary thing was, no one in the school seemed to realize that the shadow was still expanding.

 Chapter 902 - God!

    <h4>Chapter 902: God!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge did not purposely lower his voice ,so everyone heard him clearly, but they had different reactions.

    ¡°Greater Red Specter? Always with you?¡±

    When these words appeared by the headless woman¡¯s ear, she finally sighed in relief. Tiredness swallowed her like wave, and the wounded woman copsed behind Chen Ge, her red dress bing tattered. Zhang Ju and Zhu Long, who were fighting the blindfolded man, heard Chen Ge, but the two only shared a look and smiled. They did not think much of it. Yin Hong, who guarded beside the old headmaster, grumbled, ¡°Again? You can¡¯t just keep on lying. A lie has to have some stuff in it to be believable, you know?¡±

    ¡°It is impossible for a Greater Red Specter to appear?¡± The old headmaster had a strange confidence in Chen Ge, perhaps because he had seen Chen Ge¡¯s parents before and knew something.

    ¡°The painter, Chang Wenyu, and the man from the red city were fighting for the door because they wanted to borrow the moveable door to be a Greater Red Specter. None of them have reached that state. Do you think anyone will believe Chen Ge?¡± Yin Hong looked like a mother who was disappointed in her child. ¡°This obvious lie is too hard to believe.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Neither the blindfolded man nor Lin Sisi who had morphed into smoke cared about what Chen Ge said. They followed the painter blindly, and if the painter thought that Chen Ge was no threat, he was no threat.

    ¡°Acting crazy to buy time, is that all you know?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s reflection was shown in the blindfolded man¡¯s right eye, and the ck cloth that covered his eyes disappeared. ¡°Let me see how you will die.¡±

    There was a sacrifice to pay for a Red Specter to use his special power. The greater the power, the bigger the sacrifice. That was the reason the blindfolded man did not use his power on Chen Ge from the outset. If the man had a Top Red Specter, his power might not be useful, and it would be wasted. If the man did not have any Red Specters, it would be too wasteful to use his special power to kill a normal person. In the man¡¯s left eye, Chen Ge slowly changed. His body did not grow old, but wounds appeared on his body.

    ¡°identally death? Unable to reach old age? You have too much interaction with the other side, so this death is normal...¡± Chen Ge in the man¡¯s eyes continued to be wounded. The sea of blood in the blindfolded man¡¯s left eye slowly became even, and the sea level was dropping. When the man used his power and saw the target¡¯s death in his right eye, it would exhaust the collected sea of blood in his left eye. ¡°Wounded body, followed by ghosts, consumed by curses, but why won¡¯t a normal person like you die?¡±

    The blood sea in the left eye was rapidly draining. Even a normal Red Specter could tell by now that the blindfolded man still had not seen Chen Ge¡¯s death. The pressure on Zhang Ju and Zhu Long dropped conspicuously. Something was limiting the blindfolded man¡¯s power. They would not let go of such a good chance. They cooperated and attacked, causing the first injury on the blindfolded man. The blindfolded man did not care; all he cared about was what he was saying. The blood sea in the left eye was receding, and Chen Ge in the right eye was getting clearer. He was wounded, cursed, and tortured; he had a single breath left, but the man was still alive.

    ¡°Impossible!¡± A suction power came from the left eye like it was trying to suck the man¡¯s body into it. Pain came from the right eye, a pain that gripped one¡¯s soul. ¡°Why won¡¯t you die?¡±

    Just as the blood in the man¡¯s left eye was about to dry up, Chen Ge in the right eye finally changed again. The wounded Chen Ge was like a lifeless doll as he slowly lifted his head. The other thing that rose alongside his head was his shadow. The shadow screamed and wailed before dispersing in the sea of blood, and then a new shadow appeared behind Chen Ge.

    The dress was red as blood, the pale arms circled around Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders, her ck hair cascaded down like waterfall, and her arresting face was half exposed. The bloody lips slowly opened as the woman whispered something into Chen Ge¡¯s ears. Her voice became clearer. The blood sea in the man¡¯s left eye had be empty. Even so, the draining power did not stop. Fresh blood was drained from the blindfolded man¡¯s body.

    ¡°What is that?¡±

    Pa!

    The man¡¯s left eye shrank into the socket, and half of his cheek was sucked dry. His left eye was consuming his body like a beast whose hunger could not be quenched. With a scream, the blindfolded man dug out his own left eye, and at the same time, all the people in his right eye disappeared.

    ¡°Why are a male and female in his shadow? How can he survive after suffering so many fatal curses and injuries?¡± The blindfolded man rapidly retreated. He had to go warn the painter, but he was blocked by Zhu Long and Zhang Ju. The tables had turned. Now, it was the blindfolded man¡¯s turn to struggle. When the blindfolded man used his power on Chen Ge, Chen Ge had been on full alert. He had used his Yin Yang Vision to observe himself in the man¡¯s eye.

    ¡°Is that the real me?¡± When Chen Ge left the campuses constructed by the painter, he had seen something simr in the mirror inside the library. He had no idea what it meant, maybe some kind of hint. ¡°Perhaps that is how my reflection in the mirror looks behind the door? Emotionless and like a puppet?¡±

    With no color on his face, Chen Ge¡¯s body temperature was low. He touched his body and could only feel a chill. ¡°Why would I feel so cold when Zhang Ya is awakening this time? Is it because she still hasn¡¯t gained full control of herself?¡±

    The blood fog around his skin became frosted. The voice in his heart guided him, and he used hisst bit of energy to look up. The three Top Red Specters had reached the end of their massacre. Half of the body of the man who controlled the blood fog had disappeared. He had used his own body as a sacrifice to suck out the heavy blood fog from the city. After using his special power for the third time, the painter had be very weak, and he had tried his best to attack the ce where Chang Wenyu was joined to the door.

    At that moment, the three-headed devil behind Chang Wenyu had been fully branded on the door. Her body was joined to the door with this devil¡¯s painting, and it formed a strange coexisting rtionship. The cracked door was about to crumble. Facing the joint attack of the painter and the patient, Chang Wenyu knew that she would not win, but the woman did not panic; the madness in her eyes was still burning.

    Thest bit of red disappeared, and Chang Wenyu¡¯s body shattered like ss. The white dress fluttered down with the wind, and memories rode the draft. She had given up everything to exchange for a chance.

    ¡°This door shouldn¡¯t exist!¡± Chang Wenyu¡¯s voice came from the door. The eyes of the three-headed devil shattered. Only the left eye of the middle head did not explode.

    ¡°I¡¯ve ced the door pusher¡¯s left eye in my own eye socket, so guess where have I put my own left eye.¡± The three headed demon gnashed its teeth, and the demon looked rather simr to the crazed Chang Wenyu. The painter and the patient¡¯s attacks fell on the door. Combined with Chang Wenyu¡¯s destruction from the inside, the door was at its limit. The sound of cracking appeared in every student¡¯s ears. It sounded like their heart was breaking.

    A crack started from the top and cut down to the bottom of the door. Everyone held their breath and looked at the sky. The cracks fell. Just as the door was about to copse, a pale hand reached out from behind the door and pressed on it. ck hair rushed out like the sea, and it swamped the School of the Afterlife like a flower. It was covering up the entire school in its bloom.

    The hair fell away, and her snowy white skin and ck hair formed a great contrast. Crying souls screamed on her dress like caught fish. If one looked closer, they would discover that every screaming soul was a Red Specter!

    ¡°Who is she?¡±

    ¡°How many Red Specters has she killed?¡±

    ¡°Her presence is flickering, but it is already far beyond the strength of a Red Specter!¡±

    Neither the painter nor the patient made a move; they hade to a conclusion. In the crowd, Chen Ge also watched the woman by the door. He could not move his eyes away, and for some reason, Doctor Gao¡¯sst words suddenly appeared in his mind.

    <i>If evil is the opposite of kindness, beauty is the opposite of ugliness, and truth is contrast of falsehood, then what is the opposite of a human?</i>

    <i>There is no answer to this question. Some might say ghost¡ªothers would say god!</i>

 Chapter 903 - Brightest Red

    <h4>Chapter 903: Brightest Red</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The presence that she had waspletely different from other Top Red Specters. It was an extreme evil. When one¡¯s eyes fell on her, they would naturally be sucked into her and then slowly descended and lost. She was dangerous; everyone who saw her knew that. But no one chose to run because they had lost control of their bodies the moment they saw her.

    ¡°Zhang Ya...¡± Sitting on the icy ground of the school, with sticky blood on his fingers, Chen Ge had a weird feeling in his heart, like it was not a Red Specter reflected in his eyes but the amalgamation of certain human emotion. In his eyes, she was so real and unapproachable. Not only Chen Ge, the three other Top Red Specters reacted strangely. They reacted subconsciously, not like they had encountered a kindred spirit but like the fish living in the shallows running into the deep-water beasts.

    ¡°I am reminded of a legend at the school.¡±

    ¡°Here, there is a name that shan¡¯t be named, and everything rted to her is a secret.¡±

    ¡°Some say that she is the door pusher, and some say that she killed the door pusher.¡±

    The painter looked at hisst painting. The lost small shadow on it was looking about.

    ¡°That was my misstep. This painting should have been kept for her.¡± The ck arms fell from the painter¡¯s back. He voluntarily surrendered the school¡¯s consciousness.

    ¡°You are giving up?¡± The man in the fog wanted to cry. Half of his body had morphed into the fog. He had paid a lot but for nothing.

    ¡°The school¡¯s consciousness is scared. If I didn¡¯t remove myself from it, I too would be affected.¡± The painter¡¯s voice was still even. No one could guess his thoughts.

    ¡°Influenced? Even Top Red Specters can feel fear?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, and I don¡¯t wish to know.¡± The wounded painter looked at the door of the school. ¡°The red world behind the door is an endless abyss. We live behind the door. I¡¯ve always thought I am part of the abyss, but now I realize, we¡¯re just observers of the abyss.¡±

    ck blood leaked out from his body. To kill Evil and Kindness, the painter had used his special power, and he had suffered the sin that had gathered behind the door for years. He looked at the woman behind the door as his nails dug into his skin. ¡°Why did you have to return?¡±

    The door that had almost broken was pressed on by the woman. The three-headed demon seemed toe alive. The remaining eye was red, and shackles came out from the demon¡¯s body to curl around the woman¡¯s arm.

    ¡°This is our chance!¡± The patient in the fog exploded his body, and only a head remained. He knew that he only had one chance, so he did no hold back anymore. The fog around the school was boiling, and even the fog outside of the school was summoned by him. At the same time, fleeting cries came from inside the red city. The patient had a harsh expression. He gritted his teeth and forced himself not to listen.

    Of the three Top Red Specters, two cooperated to attack the woman. Yet, the painter stood alone in the middle of the school. His raised his finger that was covered in blood. He wanted to paint, but he could not move his arm. ¡°Why have you returned?¡±

    The ck hair fell to reveal half of the woman¡¯s face. The ck-reddish eyes seemed to reflect the stars in the bloody sea. Chang Wenyu and the patient¡¯s attacks arrived, but she kept her eyes on the painter. She did not say a word nor make a move. She just stared at the painter. It was as if the raised arm was petrified; the painter¡¯s blood dripped onto the ground little by little. Even as his precious blood went to waste, the painter did not react, and he did not paint.

    When thest blood dropped away, the painter¡¯s face was pale. His dark eyes were filled with cracks like shattered crystal balls. The bloody wind dried the painter¡¯s blood. The woman¡¯s red lips curled into a startling smile. Her hand that pressed on the door slowly moved, and the school¡¯s consciousness and Chang Wenyu screamed at the same time. The woman did not seem to hear them and stepped on the door that represented the School of the Afterlife, pressing it on the ground.

    ¡°The door is the channel that connects the blood world and the real world. No one dares insult it like this. You...¡± The head that was hiding in the fog wanted to say something, but he could not make a sound; something was stuffed in his throat. He lowered his head to look. A strand of ck hair flew past his gaze. He turned around and saw endless ck hairing out from his neck. It was as if his own hair was coursing through his body.

    ¡°Ignoring the blood fog? How did she find me? This is not something possible for a Red Specter!¡± The ck hair was like an unshakeable curse. It wrapped around the patient and slowly turned him into a doll. He had no idea when he had fallen from the trap.

    In just a moment, the patient¡¯s head was split open. His eyes were burning red. Before he waspletely covered by the ck hair, he turned his head into fog, and only something like a drop of tear remained. The patient was covered in sin, but the tear was clear and crystalline like his most precious memory. Without a body, the patient melted fully into the fog. It started to rain blood, and each drop of rain was carrying the worst curse.

    ¡°You can¡¯t stop me!¡± The tear was hidden in the rain, and it dropped near the door. The ck-red dress was soaked by the rain. The woman slowly lifted her other hand. The endless ck hair was like a reverse ocean as it covered the whole sky. She moved her eyes away from the painter. Her perfect eyes nced at a corner of the school. Her five slender fingers slowly tightened, and the ck hair pierced through the fog and enveloped the whole school. She never intended to find the tear but instead tear away all the rain!

    The ck hair fluttered, and the red dress was like blood. Stepping on the door, the woman sted everything away.

    ¡°Painter!¡± Lin Sisi let go of Xu Yin and risked his life to go to the painter¡¯s side. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you make a move earlier? You should have one more chance...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s useless.¡± The painter dropped his arms weakly. He looked at the woman with aplicated expression. ¡°I can only paint Specters, but that woman has already be a Demon God.¡±

    ¡°A Demon God?¡± Lin Sisi heard this for the first time.

    Envy and fear crossed the painter¡¯s eyes. ¡°Beyond Red Specters are Demon Gods.¡±

    ck hair covered the sky and swallowed the ground. In the heaven and earth, there was only one figure. She was dressed in red, the only red in the world.

 Chapter 904 - The Painterâ€™s Departure

    <h4>Chapter 904: The Painter¡¯s Departure</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The School of the Afterlife was enveloped in the ck hair, and it could only be described in despair. No one was able to escape, and even the door was shivering in fear. The only good thing was that the ck hair had not gone after the students. Rather, it blocked out the blood rain from the sky. Not one drop of blood was innocent; they were radiating immense curses. The patient who was hiding in the fog was the source of the curses; the purpose of his creation appeared to spread fear and despair.

    The whole school was swallowed by ck hair. Looking at the nightmarish woman, Lin Sisi and the blindfolded man had given up their struggle. A croaking voice came from the purplish lips. The blindfolded man held his left eye, and this time, he was really blind. ¡°I just took one nce at her. So, this is what¡¯s beyond a Red Specter?¡±

    ¡°Her presence is suddenly weak and strong; she seems to have broken through some limitation. I have no idea how much pain one has to go through to turn into something like her. I can¡¯t imagine it or even do it.¡± The painter¡¯s hands hung by his side. ¡°She is wounded, and her condition is unstable. It¡¯s different from the rumors I heard about her from the city; she seems to have problems controlling herself.¡±

    His gaze turned to Chen Ge copsed on the ground, and his expression turned moreplicated. ¡°The man has my presence on him. Ever since he entered the school, I have thought of killing him, but whenever I wanted to make a move, there was a voice stopping me, like I would regret it if I killed him. The heart after death is the insistence before death; my heart hasn¡¯t spoken for a long time, so perhaps he is good friends with the me outside the door.¡±

    ¡°The you outside the door? You mean he has been targeting the school for a long time and found the you outside the door, became close to him, and used that to enter the School of the Afterlife andplete his n? That is too cunning. If we¡¯d killed him earlier, perhaps this woman wouldn¡¯t have appeared.¡± The blindfolded man hated Chen Ge; his left eye had been blinded because of him.

    ¡°It is probably just a beautiful ident. The me outside the door is just a lock. If he approached him with a purpose, he would have been shunned.¡± The painter shook his head, and his hand held his heart. ¡°The deepest despair will run into the most beautiful ident. I can¡¯t kill him, but he won¡¯t live for too long. The woman in his shadow still can¡¯t control herself. A presence beyond Red Specter represents evil and resentment. Once even a trace of her existence passes into him, he will lose himself.¡±

    ¡°You are not trying to save him, are you?¡± The blindfolded man had followed the painter the longest, so he knew the painter well.

    ¡°It is time for us to go.¡± The painter did not answer but headed toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°We still have chance. To open the door, we have made endless preparation. Snap out of it, painter!¡± Lin Sisi grabbed the painter¡¯s arm. ¡°Once you brought me behind the door, you told me that you wanted to personally build a heaven for all despairing people. We can¡¯t give up now.¡±

    Slowly lifting his head, the painter looked at the screaming raindrop, and a faded smile appeared on his face. ¡°I never said that I will give up. I am merely changing my canvas.¡±

    He turned to the red city. ¡°Don¡¯t you think the red city suits us better?¡±

    ¡°You really want to leave?¡± Lin Sisi and the blindfolded man were unwilling, but the painter had made the decision. ¡°Only when the half of the school¡¯s consciousness is helping me can I fight with that woman, but now even the school is afraid, and the other half has approved of Chen Ge. Change Wenyu has sacrificed herself to melt into the door. She will not help us deal with the woman¡ªshe will only find chance to destroy the door. With just us and the monster at the outskirts of the city, how can we win?¡± Lin Sisi and the blindfolded man did not know what to say. In their minds, the painter was all powerful.

    ¡°The patient, Chang Wenyu, and I are all heavily injured, but the woman is an unknown. Indeed, now is the best time to kill her¡ªI can sense that she is heavily injured¡ªbut we don¡¯t need to take that risk,¡± the painter said calmly. ¡°We should leave while she is dealing with the patient, or else when she is free, all of us might be consumed by her. Look at the Red Specters printed on her dress; I can¡¯t imagine a fate worse than falling into her hands.¡±

    He was rational; the painter was not dumb enough to try his luck with Zhang Ya. His ck pupils saw through many things. The most powerful presence at the school was Zhang Ya, but it was the painter who knew the school the best. ¡°If we don¡¯t leave now, we won¡¯t ever leave.¡±

    Without turning back, the painter walked toward Mu Yang High School where Chen Ge was, and Lin Sisi and the blindfolded man followed behind him. When the painter came over, all the Red Specters around Chen Ge went on full alert. Xu Yin red warningly at the painter. Sitting on the ground, Chen Ge felt his body temperature dropping. When he saw the painter, he was shocked. He took out theic and crawled backward.

    The rain had dwindled. As if he could not see the Red Specters around Chen Ge, the painter walked up to Chen Ge. His dark pupils looked at Chen Ge before suddenly pointing at theic that he was holding. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t kill him. If you use that power, not only you, but everyone you have painted will disappear.¡±

    Once the painter finished, a nervous-looking middle-aged man appeared beside Chen Ge. He too was shocked that he had been pulled out from theic. He was afraid after seeing the painter, like an uncle with serious agoraphobia, and he quickly hid behind Chen Ge.

    ¡°Yan Danian?¡± Chen Ge was surprised by his appearance.

    ¡°He has a power that he can only use once in his life. He just wanted to use it on me.¡± Due to Yan Danian¡¯s sudden appearance, the atmosphere was no longer that tense. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen that power before. Once he bes a Red Specter, he will be scarier than I am.¡±

    The painter had been talking to Chen Ge, but it was a one-sided conversation. Still, the painter didn¡¯t mind. He did not mention anything rted to Chen Ge, like two friends chatting. He mumbled a lot on his own and then took a deep look at Chen Ge before turning to the old well.

    Seeing the painter walk away, there were many questions Chen Ge had. He finally shouted, ¡°Painter!¡±

    The Top Red Specter of the school stopped with his back toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°Are you really Fan Yu?¡± That was the biggest question for Chen Ge.

    ¡°I am not Fan Yu. I am the painter.¡± With an even voice, the painter turned to look into Chen Ge¡¯s eyes like he wanted to tell him something. ¡°Everyone¡¯s heart has a deep well. Mine consists of an inverted world. What about yours?¡±

    The rain became smaller and smaller. The painter left with Lin Sisi and the blindfolded man, and following him were the inverted monsters. Chen Ge was still sitting on the ground, digesting the painter¡¯s parting words.

 Chapter 905 - Black Phone

    <strong>Chapter 905: ck Phone</strong>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    The situation between Fan Yu and the painter was rather simr to that of Chen Ge and the shadow. Chen Ge had noticed that, and the painter seemed to have realized that as well. ¡°What is the meaning of thest words he said? Secrets and memories are buried in the well inside the heart¡ªis he reminding me to be careful of things inside my heart?¡±

    Chen Ge had many things that he wanted to ask the painter, but the painter had his reasons for being cautious, so in the end, he had only given Chen Ge that vague reminder. Perhaps it did not even count as a reminder but an ambiguous hint. The painter had left in a hurry, and this kind of rational opponent gave Chen Ge a headache. If possible, Chen Ge would have wished for the painter to stay. If the painter aided him, be it facing the cursed hospital or the ghost fetus, he would have more confidence. However, he knew that was impossible; it was hard to swindle the painter. He was like Doctor Gao, wless in his thinking.

    ¡°Doctor Gao has escaped into the red city, and the painter and Lin Sisi have now done the same. Perhaps we will meet again in the future.¡±

    After the painter left, Zhang Ya used her full power to deal with the patient, and his screams echoed across the sky.

    ¡°Chen Ge, what should we do now?¡± the old headmaster asked softly. All the red Specters and students turned to Chen Ge; they were d that they had not done anything stupid earlier.

    ¡°The old well at Mu Yang High School is indeed a way to escape the school, but that is a road the painter left for himself. Now that the situation has changed, we don¡¯t need to leave anymore. We should return to the education block.¡± Chen Ge was carried by Bai Qiulin toward Mr. Lei. ¡°You are the school¡¯s admin on the surface, so you should know how to fix the school and console the students who are unwilling to leave.¡±

    ¡°Students who are unwilling to leave?¡± Mr. Lei was worried that Chen Ge would start amotion. After all, he had tattled about him to the painter and punished him at school before.

    ¡°The reason Chang Wenyu wants to destroy the door is because she saw that many students have lost their freedom and can¡¯t leave after entering the door. I¡¯ve seen the parents waiting outside the door, too. After everything is settled, I will ask all the students at the school if they want to leave, and if they so choose, they can leave with me.¡± Chen Ge had been through his rebellious period, and he understood those children. There were many kinds of despair, and some tragedy could be avoided. If not for the door¡¯s entrapment, they would not have entered it. ¡°There is no medicine for regret, but if possible, I wish to give them one more chance to make a choice.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± After the painter left, Mr. Lei seemed to turn into a new person, and his attitude was much better. ¡°I will assist you fully.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t assist me¡ªyou need to assist him.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the old headmaster, ¡°In the future, he¡¯ll be the headmaster here, so everyone had better listen to him.¡±

    The battle had not ended, but Chen Ge was already dealing with the aftermath. This was not conceit but his confidence in Zhang Ya.

    ¡°A Half Red Specter?¡± Mr. Lei and the surrounding teachers were confused. The man before him had gone through so much to earn the door¡ªwhy hand it over to a Half Red Specter?

    ¡°If there is possibility to create heaven behind the door, I believe it will be done by him.¡± Chen Ge pushed old headmaster toward Mr. Lei. Yin Hong and Han Song stood beside the old headmaster, and Zhu Long and Zhang Ju also stood nearby. Zhou Tu and Wang Yicheng had slipped through the old well to follow the painter.

    ¡°I¡¯m not questioning your choice, but to be the school¡¯s headmaster, he has to gain the school¡¯s approval. Do you think the school will approve of a Half Red Specter?¡±

    ¡°You will need to change your way of thinking.¡± Chen Ge looked at Zhang Ya. ¡°The patient is struggling, and the tear with the memory will eventually be found. Chang Wenyu joined herself to the door just to destroy it, so she is no threat to us. Now, with the painter gone, the situation has been decided. It is no longer important to gain the school¡¯s approval; it¡¯s more important to gain her approval.¡±

    From voice to tone, Chen Ge had expressed the meaning of the Chinese idiom ¡®fox exploiting the tiger¡¯s power 1¡¯, leaving Mr. Lei speechless. Actually, that was normal. Chen Ge had given him too many ¡®surprises¡¯, so he did not dare go against him anymore. ¡°Summon all the students, and we¡¯ll retreat to the education block. We¡¯ll work together to clean out the monsters inside the school. This is our ce, and we do not wee uninvited guests.¡±

    ¡°But the doors and windows are heavily damage. Even with Red Specters, it¡¯ll be hard to fix them.¡± Mr. Lei had his own concerns.

    ¡°The school is too big, and there is a lot of unused space. We will have to abandon the outskirts and focus on the center as the base before slowly expanding outward.¡± Chen Ge said all that naturally like he had experience. Then he was startled because, for some reason, he was reminded of his own Haunted House. The situation of the School of the Afterlife was rather simr to his Haunted House. ¡°The Haunted House has been damaged before? The ck phone is guiding me to fix it?¡±

    ¡°What Haunted House?¡± Mr. Lei was confused.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I meant to say I wish to turn the school into a home for all the students. Those selected by the door have bad memories, and we have to treat them with more patience and care,¡± Chen Ge said randomly and led the students back to the education block. The school was covered in ck hair. This kind of scenario was one hundred times scarier than a nightmare, but Chen Ge felt safe inside it.

    ¡°The red city has been isted from the ghosts. Temporarily, no monsters can enter it. Now is the best deal to clean them up.¡±

    Perhaps because Chang Wenyu wanted to destroy the door, after the painter left, the school¡¯s consciousness that he surrendered did not go to Chang Wenyu. Some went to Chen Ge, and other parts returned to the students. When facing the outside monsters, they were united, and things were turning up. Most students returned to the education block, and with the Red Specters leading, they cleaned up the remaining monsters.

    Meanwhile, Chen Ge went to the front gate with his employees and found the dress that Chang Wenyu had dropped. The red hadpletely faded to be a normal school uniform.

    ¡°Xu Yin, Ol¡¯ Bai, look around. Don¡¯t let anyone get closer.¡± To destroy the door, Chang Wenyu had joined herself to the three headed demon. She had surrendered many things, including her red uniform that represented resentment and her spirit. Chen Ge picked up the uniform and searched the pockets. Momentster, he rxed. ¡°Found it.¡±

    When his hand came out from the pocket, it was holding a ck phone.

    The screen had a few extra drops of blood that could not be wiped away. Strangely enough, when Chen Ge touched the phone, the dim screen suddenly lit up and started to vibrate. ¡°It appears like only I can see the contents, and it will only receive message when I am holding it.¡±

    Opening it, Chen Ge saw more than ten unread messages, and he rxed fully. ¡°Chang Wenyu doesn¡¯t know the ck phone¡¯s secret. That¡¯s good news.¡±

 Chapter 906 - Letâ€™s Go Home [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 906: Let¡¯s Go Home [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The blood rain from the sky had stopped. Inside the world enveloped in the ck hair, the single drop of crystalline tear appeared so special. From beginning to end, Zhang Ya had not said a single word. Compared to words, she preferred to use action tomunicate. The hair that covered the sky slowly pulled back, and the tear had no ce to run until it was captured in Zhang Ya¡¯s palm.

    Pleading and scream came from the single tear. Other than the voice of the patient, there were voices of other people. Those seemed toe from his family and friends. This one tear contained many things. Hearing the sounds from the tear, Zhang Ya¡¯s pale hands slowly close upon itself. She seemed to wish to squish the tear. When she did that, the crying from the red city became more obvious, like something was hurrying there.

    ¡°Do not kill him! The tear belongs to that man. It is part of his memory, a segment of humanity.¡± Chang Wenyu¡¯s voice came from the three headed demon¡¯s lips, but Zhang Ya did not listen to her at all. When the five fingers opened again, the tear had already disappeared, and the picture of a tear was added to her red and ck dress.

    The ck hair was pulling back. After Zhang Ya dealt with the patient, she turned to look at the door that she was stepping on. She reached out toward the three-headed demon on the door. When she touched the thing, her pale hand felt like it was scorched by fire and looked like a fresh flower that was rapidly wilting.

    Zhang Ya had gotten used to the sensation of pain, so she did not mind that at all. Her spirit was so determined that it would prove scarring to others. Soon, the cracks on the door appeared on Zhang Ya¡¯s arms. All the specters on her dress started to wail. Trails of ck and red blood slid down Zhang Ya¡¯s arms and crawled onto the door of the School of the Afterlife. The door appeared to know that Zhang Ya was helping it, so it cooperated fully. Only Zhang Wenyu¡¯s unwilling roar could be heard echoing through the entire school.

    ¡°The door can move on its own. It has its own will, and it can lure living humans who are lost. It has broken through its limits! If you help it, you will be dragged along by it!¡±

    No matter what Chang Wenyu said, Zhang Ya was not affected. After her own death, she no longer cared about other people¡¯s opinions. With the cooperation between Zhang Ya and the door, the three-headed demon¡¯s picture slowly lost its activity, and the single red eye was plucked out by Zhang Ya!

    The picture did not disappear, and Zhang Ya did not appear to have the power topletely remove the picture. She could only make it go into hibernation.

    The School of the Afterlife¡¯s door stopped cracking, and it started to heal on its own. Zhang Ya put away Chang Wenyu¡¯s single eye and stood before the door for a long time. Her presence was seemed to flicker, strong one moment but weak the next. Controlling a sea of ck hair was quite trying for her as well. The sea that was formed by the ck hair around the school was slowly closing in, and it now just protected the area close to the education block. The ck hair isted the School of the Afterlife from the red city. The students at the school could hear the harrowing screams that came from outside, but they could not see what was beyond the windows of the school.

    The trials and tragedy were over. The door had quieted down at lot. It stopped before Zhang Ya as if waiting for Zhang Ya to push it open. From what the painter had said earlier, Zhang Ya had forced herself out of hibernation this time. She was still heavily wounded and was in a special state. She had the power of something above a Red Specter, but she could notpletely control it.

    If she could push the door of the School of the Afterlife open and be the school¡¯s new owner, with the aid of the school¡¯s consciousness, she would not only stabilize her own condition, she might even improve her state. After all, the door pusher would have their power doubled when they were inside their own scenario. Staring at the door filled with cracks, Zhang Ya¡¯s hand fell on the door, but she did not apply any strength. Her eyes moved away from the door. Zhang Ya looked into the School of the Afterlife like she was looking for someone.

    The door pusher would gain the school¡¯s consciousness¡¯ aid and a lot of power, but one would lose something as well. The door pusher would not be able to leave their own scenario for too long and would suffer the sin behind the door. The pale hand slowly pulled back. The crying now came from the outskirts of the school perimeter. Fresh blood leaked through the gaps in the ck hair that wrapped around the door. Zhang Ya ultimately did not push open the door for the School of the Afterlife. Instead, she wrapped her ck hair around it and walked out of the school.

    ¡°Zhang Ya!¡± On the field, Chen Ge put away his ck phone. He did not have time to look at the messages as he saw Zhang Ya heading out from the School of the Afterlife. The ck hair fell to the side to reveal Zhang Ya¡¯s increasingly beautiful face. She looked at Chen Ge with a faded smile hanging on her face. Then she walked through the wall of ck hair, out of the School of the Afterlife, and into the red city. ¡°She wishes to face the monstersing from the red city alone?¡±

    Through theyer of ck hair, Chen Ge had no idea what was happening outside the school. Even though Zhang Ya was the Red Specter that had stayed with him the longest, the more time they spent together, the more he realized that he did not really understand her. cing Chang Wenyu¡¯s uniform on the ground, Chen Ge did not choose to follow the other students back to the education block but waited at the field. There was no outsider around him. Chen Ge activated the ck phone and looked at the screen. When Zhang Ya plucked Chang Wenyu¡¯s single eye earlier, the ck phone had vibrated, meaning that Chen Ge had gained a new message. Clicking open the new message, the content that appeared shocked Chen Ge somewhat.

    ¡°Congrattions Specter¡¯s Favored! Congrattions for unlocking a new employee¡¯s special page!¡±

    <i>A new employee¡¯s special page has been unlocked?</i> Chen Ge was confused. Of all the employees that he had, only Zhang Ya had her own special page. <i>Is it because Xu Yin or the headless woman have broken through some kind of limit?</i>

    Clicking on the phone, when Chen Ge saw the new special page, he was beyond shocked. Zhang Ya¡¯s special page was red in color, but the background color of this new special page was gray, and it was crawling with endless ck hair. In the middle of the cage formed by the hair was a maddened girl. She ignored all the rules, and her body was covered in wound. In her single eye, there was a desperation that was close to being a sickness.

    <i>Single eye? Chang Wenyu? Why would she have a special page in the ck phone, and why is it gray?</i>

    Clicking on Chang Wenyu¡¯s special page, the phone showed him a single line¡ªlingering soul, still remaining.

    <i>Is it because Chang Wenyu hase into contact with the ck phone in private? This is the revenge of the ck phone? All the Specters that havee into contact with the ck phone either be one of its people, or it refuses to even let the dead spirit have its peace¡ªis that it?</i>

    Chen Ge clicked on the other message on the ck phone ording to the sequence. After entering the School of the Afterlife, the four-star Trial Mission on the ck phone had been activated. Comparing it to the timeline, whenever he was in danger, the ck phone would give the corresponding hint. However, the phone had been confiscated by Chang Wenyu, and he did not have the chance to view them. Looking down further, Chen Ge still did not see the alert that the mission had beenpleted. He was bing more and more agitated and kept turning to look outside the School of the Afterlife.

    In a few short minutes, the ck hair that wrapped around the school was like the receding tide, slowly fading away. As the ck hair faded away so did the screaming outside the School of the Afterlife. Blood fog floated into the school again, and in the fog, there was the blurry figure of a woman. The ck and red dress fluttered in the wind. Demons surrounded her, and screams and wails formed a wall around her.

    ¡°Zhang Ya!¡± The agitation in Chen Ge¡¯s heart almost dissipated instantly. He ran to the woman in the fog, but when he was a few meters away from her, a strand of ck hair moved to stop him. For some reason, Zhang Ya did not want him to get too close. ¡°Are you alright? Let¡¯s go home now.

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice, Zhang Ya¡¯s lips moved slightly like she wanted to say something to Chen Ge, but in the end, she did not say anything. Her presence had weakened a lotpared to before. The ck hair behind her slowly fell away to reveal the door that had been hidden. Zhang Ya turned to look at Xu Yin as if she was asking thetter to push open the door, but Xu Yin shook his head. No one knew what Zhang Ya and the door of the School of the Afterlife had experienced at the gate of the school. Chen Ge only knew that both Zhang Ya and the door were at their weakest. Other than Xu Yin, Zhang Ya was cautious regarding anyone else at the school.

    She let go of the door. The door was at its breaking point. The moment Zhang Ya released it, it disappeared. At the same time, there was a click that came from one of the cubicles at the top of the education block. Everyone turned to look at it. Light red blood vessels started to spread through the entire school, centered around the toilet at the top floor of the education block. The lingering Specters and many half dead monsters slowly disappeared. The blood vessels pierced through their bodies, and the door used them as the foundation to rebuild and reconstruct the School of the Afterlife.

    ¡°The door still does not possess a door pusher, but this can be considered the best ending.¡± Chen Ge pulled his eyes away and turned to look at Zhang Ya when he realized that Zhang Ya was already standing behind him. At that moment, the redness of her dress had faded away, and she looked just like a normal girl. The two locked eyes, and Zhang Ya phased through Chen Ge¡¯s body before disappearing in his shadow.

    ¡°That... was an illusion right.¡± When Zhang Ya phased through him, the chilliness on his body decreased a lot, and the sense of difort was taken away by Zhang Ya. Staring dumbly at his shadow, Chen Ge slowly squatted down. He reached out to touch the face of his shadow. One would think that the man had lost his mind, but no one went to disturb Chen Ge.

    After a long time, he stood up. ¡°Let¡¯s go. We have wasted too much time here. It¡¯s about time we go home.¡±

    Leading all the employees back to the education block, Chen Ge followed his initial n and had the old headmaster stay. The students at the School of the Afterlife did not know the exact details between the door and Zhang Ya. They now believed that Zhang Ya was the new owner of the School of the Afterlife and that the old headmaster was the new admin selected by Zhang Ya.

    ¡°In the future, you will find that you respect this new headmaster with your actual belief and sincerity.¡± Chen Ge had confidence in the old headmaster. After confirming the new admin of the school, he started to deal with the students. The school¡¯s consciousness did not receive much damage. The main reason was because the painter had taken most of the suffering and attacks on his own.

    ¡°All the lingering spirits that wish to leave the School of the Afterlife cane with me. Those who wish to stay can continue to live your life here. From now on, this will be your home.¡±

    The boy with the stench chose to leave with Chen Ge. Zhu Long, Zhang Ju, Yin Hong, and Han Song though chose to stay. For them, the world behind the door was their home. With the aid of those few Red Specters, the work of the old headmaster would be much easier. Most of the seniors chose to stay. They had gotten used to the life at the School of the Afterlife.

    Those who chose to leave were mostly lingering spirits and spiritual essence. Most of their bodies were lying in the hospital, stuck inas. After their many trials at the School of the Afterlife, the lock in their hearts had been opened, and despair was no longer with him. They wished to face the horrible, scary, unavoidable truth and reality that had light in it once more. There were many students who wished to leave. The door of the School of the Afterlife could move on its own. The range of the students that it had epted was very wide, so it was far beyond the city of Jiujiang.

    ¡°After you leave, if you find out that you are unable to get used to everyday life or you have nowhere else to go, you cane and find me at Western Jiujiang New Century Park. My Haunted House will provide you with another home.¡±

    The term Western Jiujiang New Century Park was deeply seared in the minds of all the students. It was not that Chen Ge was hoping for freebor¡ªhe was really worried and put in consideration toward these children.

    The School of the Afterlife would require a long time to recover. Chen Ge could not stay there for that long. He hugged the present box that he had taken from Zhang Ya¡¯s dormitory and dragged the unconscious Chang Gu. He had the boy with the stench carry the mirror that contained the non smiler and the previous headmaster that had been turned into a doll.

    The non-smiler was rted to the cursed hospital, and if Chen Ge wanted to gain information about hospital, he had to take him with him. He took the previous headmaster of the School of the Afterlife because he knew too many secrets about Zhang Ya. Chen Ge nned to find an opportunity to return him to Zhang Ya. After dealing with everything, he summoned all the employees and the lingering spirits who wished to leave to the top floor of the education block. No matter the depth of the despair that those students had been through, those children had chosen to leave, and Chen Ge chose to respect their decision.

    ¡°After staying too long behind the door, you will be assimted into this blood red world. It will drag people deeper into the dark abyss. You are lucky to have run into me. Now, the nightmare is about to end.¡± Chen Ge walked into the toilet at the top of the education block. This was the source of the blood vessels. He stopped before thest cubicle. The door of that cubicle was filled with cracks and pulsing blood vessels, looking quite scary.

    ¡°You are the most unique door I have ever met. Since Zhang Ya has let you be, it means that she has her own ns. I won¡¯t interrupt her, but I hope you know how lucky you are.¡± Chen Ge did not get any reaction from the door. He raised his arm to grab the doorknob. When he pushed, there was a strange and hard to describe connection that was made between him and the door. In that split second, Chen Ge seemed to see three doors standing in his mind. He blinked, and everything returned to normal. Chen Ge did not feel ufortable, and he increased his pushing force. The blood vessels slithered away, and the door of the School of the Afterlife slowly opened.

    Many different voices rang out behind Chen Ge. The lingering spirits morphed into wind and rushed out into the world. Standing quietly at the door and ensuring that he did not miss anything else, Chen Ge reached out toward the old headmaster.

    ¡°Sir, I will leave the School of the Afterlife in your hands. The school¡¯s consciousness is made up of the consciousness of every single student here. After you gain everyone¡¯s approval, you will naturally be the new door pusher. In a way, this door is very fair.¡±

    ¡°I do not dare guarantee anything, but I will try my best.¡±

    ¡°That is more than enough.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at Xu Yin, and thetter understood what the man wanted tomunicate. He left the old headmaster with a drop of his blood. ¡°If you wish to contact me, swallow this drop of blood, and I wille. Other than that, sir, I have one more thing that I need your help with.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°If you gain any information about my parents, you have to tell me no matter what.¡± Chen Ge looked at that red city outside the window. ¡°I have a feeling that I am getting very close to them.¡±

    After saying everything that he had to say, Chen Ge carried the present box, his own backpack, and Chang Gu and walked out from the bleeding door.

    ...

    Pa!

    A crisp sound came from his ear, and Chen Ge slowly opened his eyes. The ground was covered in shattered ss, and all he saw was the white colored bedsheet of the hospital. He slowly sat up in bed and realized that Chang Gu was lying on the ground. Blood came out from every orifice of his body, and he looked like he was already dead. On the clean bed that was not far away, Chang Wenyuy quietly. She waspletely motionless like a body that had lost its will to live.

    This was Chang Wenyu¡¯s sickroom. After a very long night, Chen Ge had finally returned. The ck phone in his pocket kept vibrating, and Chen Ge took it out to see. Clicking on the screen, streams of messages came into view.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored! Congrattions forpleting the four-star trial mission ¡®School of the Afterlife¡¯!

    ¡°Mission Completion Rate is ny percent!

    ¡°The optional mission with the highest difficulty, The Painter¡¯s Heaven, has beenpleted! Unlocked the special building Red Specter¡¯s Painting Room (Inverted World)!

    ¡°Red Specter¡¯s Painting Room (Special Building): Thirteen hells left behind by thirteen Red Specters.

    ¡°Optional Mission ¡®Left Oculus¡¯pleted! Unlocked Chang Wenyu¡¯s special page!

    ¡°Chang Wenyu (Top Red Specter): She is not yetpletely dead! You have to protect your own secret!

    ¡°Optional mission ¡®The School That¡¯s Called Mu Yang¡¯pleted! You have gained the approval of everyone from Mu Yang High School, you are their most respected individual.

    ¡°Optional Mission ¡®Red and White¡¯ has beenpleted! Unlocked the employee¡¯s page for Yin Hong and Yin Bai.

    ¡°Yin Hong (Red Specter): I am the most venomous flower in the world. I like red, and I will suffer all the pain on your behalf!

    ¡°Yin Bai (Lingering Spirit): Life is closely tied to death. No one can split us apart.¡±

 Chapter 907 - Bedtime Story

    <h4>Chapter 907</h4>

    <h4>: Bedtime Story</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Why would Yin Hong and Yin Bai¡¯s names appear in the employees¡¯ tab?¡± Chen Ge looked at the information on the ck phone, and even he was surprised. ¡°Is it because I havepleted all the missions at Mu Yang High School? After all, the two of them are rted to the school and are the granddaughters of the old headmaster.¡±

    Chen Ge did not think too much of it. Having more employees was a good thing. He looked through the phone and opened the other remaining unread messages.

    ¡°Optional Mission ¡®Fiery Heart¡¯pleted. Gained Zhang Ju¡¯s blessing.

    ¡°Optional Mission ¡®Amputated Love¡¯pleted. Gained Zhu Long¡¯s blessing.

    ¡°Warning! Red Specter¡¯s blessings might bring bad luck, but at the same time, gaining their friendship means gaining their aid.

    ¡°Optional Mission ¡®Red Specter Club¡¯pleted. Sessfully formed a club at the School of the Afterlife and gained a badge for the lifeless club.

    ¡°Badge of the Lifeless Club (Unique Object): Before you arrived, there was literally no life at this club.

    ¡°Optional Mission ¡®My Name Is Lin Sisi¡¯pleted. Gained mission reward, Lin Sisi¡¯s phone.

    ¡°Lin Sisi¡¯s phone: This model is not thatmon on the market. It recorded his life. Other than that, his phone can capture Specters on its camera!

    ¡°Optional Mission ¡®Zhang Ya¡¯s choice¡¯pleted. Instead of saying that she has chosen you, it¡¯s more urate that you have rescued her. Gained mission reward, Zhang Ya¡¯s Bedtime Story.

    ¡°Zhang Ya¡¯s Bedtime Story: A Specter will only sleep after consuming arge number of souls and lingering spirits. Believe me, this book is much scarier and more horrifying than any of the literature you have read.

    ¡°Main missionpletion rate above ny percent. Completed more than the necessary number of optional missions. Lucky Specters¡¯ Favored, congrattions for obtaining the hidden reward¡ªGraduation Certificate from the School of the Afterlife!

    ¡°Graduation Certificate from the School of the Afterlife: You are the best student I¡¯ve ever met. Take this, and you can sense the door¡¯s presence. You will eventually use it because I know that you shall one day return.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored, for unlocking the four-star scary scenario, School of the Afterlife! This scenario will be constructed before tomorrow night. All the mission reward items will appear in the Prop Room. At the same time, uniforms from Mu Yang High School, Western Jiujiang Private Academy, Jiujiang Medical University, and the School of the Afterlife will be added to the Specters¡¯ Changing Room!

    ¡°Congrattions Specter¡¯s Favored for unlocking your first four-star scenario. You have gained a random unique building¡ªthe Ghost Story ssroom.

    ¡°The Ghost Story ssroom (Unique Building): Will randomly appear inside any unlocked scenario. Every night, it will produce a ghost story rted to a haunted school. Warning: This ghost story will not cause harm to anyone and will not exhaust the screams collected at the Haunted House. The higher the screams normally gathered at the Haunted House, the scarier the ghost story would be.¡±

    After a long time, Chen Ge finally finished reading all the details on the ck phone. This time, he had identally essed the four-star scenario, but he had gained a lot of rewards, far beyond what he had gained from the three-star scenarios.

    ¡°With this four-star scenario, it is not impossible to fare better than the futuristic theme park, but my Haunted House will probably take a lot of time to digest so many things.¡±

    The expansion of the Haunted House and gaining new rewards and new building gave Chen Ge a boost of confidence.

    <i>For now, I have no idea what the use for the Badge of the Lifeless Club and Zhang Ya¡¯s Bedtime Story is. Lin Sisi¡¯s phone can capture ghost, but I already have Yin Yang Vision, so I can probably gift this to Zhang Jingjiu. That way, when he manages the Haunted House branch in Xin Hai in the future, he can carry this with him. The graduation certificate will be important to me. It can sense the door¡¯s presence, and it¡¯ll make returning to the school more convenient.</i>

    Chen Ge nned to return to the ce to study it closer after the expansion was done. He put the phone away and nned to climb up. He just moved his legs and pain shot through every part of his body. However, on the surface, there were no visible wounds on his body.

    <i>This is too strange.</i>

    It was fine for pain to gather around his arms, but if there was leg pain, he would not be able to run. So, Chen Ge opened the backpack and looked through theic. After getting his employee¡¯s reply, he rxed his body.

    <i>There is basically no change to the sickroom. There are just extra broken mirrors on the ground.</i>

    Chen Ge rubbed his head that felt like exploding.

    <i>This mirror should be the one I took out from the School of the Afterlife, the one where the non-smiler is hidden...</i>

    Aftermunicating with Ol¡¯ Bai inside theic, Chen Ge realized that the mirror that contained the painter¡¯s memory, ording to the non-smiler, shattered once they left the door, but strangely enough, the non smiler did not escape. He was still hiding inside the mirror, and no matter how one called him, he did not answer. The one who had apletely different reaction from the non smiler was the old headmaster. Once he left the School of the Afterlife, he thought about escaping and was torn to pieces by Xu Yin and the red high heels.

    <i>I can¡¯t be too careful.</i>

    Chen Ge picked up the broom behind the door and carefully swept all the broken mirror pieces into the corner of the room. Suddenly, hurried footsteps echoed from the outside corridor, and then the door was pushed open. Two doctors and three nurses all stopped beyond the door. The four wore white coats and looked at Chen Ge, who was sweeping.

    ¡°There¡¯s no ghost?¡±

    ¡°Sleep walking?¡±

    ¡°And I thought the patient who has been in aa for years has woken up...¡±

    ¡°Wait! Who are you!¡±

    Seeing as the doctor was about to call the police, Chen Ge immediately put down the broom and said, ¡°Call Lee Zheng from the city¡¯s investigative team now! Tell them that Chen Ge has captured the murderer!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Just follow what I say! Quick! If it¡¯s convenient, call for an ambnce. The murderer is dying!¡± Chen Ge then dragged out the bleeding Chang Gu. When Chen Ge entered the sickroom, he had interacted with one of the psychiatrists. At the time, he had used Lee Zheng¡¯s name. Now that he had been caught, he had no choice but to use Lee Zheng¡¯s name again.

    <i>This is all for Jiujiang¡¯s safety. Inspector Lee should be able to understand me.</i>

    The doctors saw that Chen Ge did not look like a criminal. After all, which criminal woulde to a mental hospital to clean at midnight and volunteer to call the police? Once the call was made and the doctor ryed what Chen Ge said, the reaction of the operator only confirmed the doctor¡¯s belief further¡ªthe police had heard of Chen Ge before.

    After hanging up, the way the doctors looked at Chen Ge turned weird. ¡°Lee Zheng hasn¡¯t arrived at work yet, but they have contacted other people from their station.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I shall wait here and won¡¯t go anywhere.¡± Chen Ge knew that he would not be allowed to leave anyway.

    ¡°This is the room we use to specially treat female patients. How about you go outside for a drink?¡± one of the female nurses said hesitantly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind me! You need to go and save the culprit first; he does not look well.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± The female nurse hurried to call for help, and Chen Ge sighed in relief. He worked his tired body, walked to the bedside, and pulled back the curtain. The morning breeze caressed his face, and the light hit his body.

    <i>The futuristic theme park will open the day after tomorrow. The life and death of New Century Park depends on these few days, so I can¡¯t waste any more time on Chang Gu.</i>

 Chapter 908 - Long Time No See!

    <h4>Chapter 908: Long Time No See!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After about another twenty minutes, another stampede of footsteps came from the corridor. It sounded like more people were running toward the room.

    Pa!

    The closed door was shoved open, and Lee Zheng and two other officers burst into the room with guarded expressions.

    ¡°Chen Ge!¡± Lee Zheng called out Chen Ge¡¯s name with his hands pressed behind his waist. He had prepared for the worst.

    ¡°Inspector Lee, I¡¯m here!¡± Seeing Lee Zheng¡¯s familiar face, Chen Ge ran over to him immediately. He could not help himself but give Lee Zheng a big hug. ¡°Long time no see!¡±

    There was an unmistakable tiredness in Chen Ge¡¯s voice. Lee Zheng patted Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder lightly. ¡°Didn¡¯t we... see each otherst night? What¡¯s wrong with you? Did you hit your head?¡±

    ¡°Thankfully, that did not happen.¡± Chen Ge let go off Lee Zheng. ¡°The culprit has been taken away by the people here. They should be on the way to Jiujiang Central Hospital now.¡±

    ¡°What is his crime? Is this sickroom the first crime scene? Did you stay to protect the scene?¡± Lee Zheng was familiar with Chen Ge. This familiarity was beyond a normal citizen and police officer. Sometimes, Lee Zheng would mistake Chen Ge for a colleague, a colleague who had great ¡®investigative¡¯ experience.

    ¡°The guy is extremely dangerous and seems to be rted to theas of many children. Once you release the news that he has been captured by the police, many students¡¯ parents will go and find you.¡±

    Chen Ge was not lying. After the door of the School of the Afterlife lured the souls of the students behind the door, the children who lost their souls became like lifeless puppets. Most of them were lying in the hospital while some were cared for at home. People would learn to appreciate things after they had lost them. The sudden loss of consciousness of their children deepened the regret and self-me of those parents. If only they had spent more time with their child, if only they had cared more about their children, then they would not have done those stupid things. There were many students who had been lured into the School of the Afterlife, not only from Jiujiang, to search for Chang Wenyu. Chang Gu had once used the strength of those parents, so once the police exposed Chang Gu¡¯s location, there would be parents who contacted the police.

    But whether the police would believe what they said was another story. Chen Ge was not worried that Chang Gu exposing him¡ªthe man had used his living body to go against the school¡¯s consciousness and stayed for so long inside the blood fog, so it was unknown whether he could wake up or not.

    ¡°Rted to a lot of unconscious students? This is a big case.¡± Once Lee Zheng heard what Chen Ge had to say, the first thing that came to his mind was not suspicion but consideration as to what to do next. He instinctively believed Chen Ge. After all, the man before him had a ¡®glorious¡¯ past.

    ¡°Hmm, you should hurry up the investigation. I¡¯ll return to the Haunted House for now. Tell me if you need anything, and I will cooperate fully!¡± Chen Ge said that, but he had already moved to the door.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a hurry to leave. I still have many questions for you.¡± Lee Zheng grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s arm.

    ...

    The interrogation was much longer than Chen Ge had anticipated. Lee Zheng did not let him go simply because they knew each other. He went through a long list of questions one by one, and when he was done, it had already been almost an hour. The sky outside the window had brightened, and it was about time for the park to start the day of business.

    Lee Zheng knew that it was not easy for Chen Ge. He had to manage the Haunted House. In fact, Chen Ge was in a bad condition; he looked like he could faint at any time. ¡°We¡¯ll stop here for now. Before the suspect rouses, you¡¯d better stay put at the theme park, especially don¡¯t go wondering around at night.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± When Lee Zheng and the other officers went to ask the doctors and other witnesses, Chen Ge used this opportunity to wrap up the broken mirror with the bedsheet and stuff the pieces inside his backpack.

    ¡°The non-smiler probably purposely broke the mirror with the painter¡¯s memory. He is currently inside one of the pieces and ns to leave. This man is much more cunning than the previous headmaster. He knows that he can¡¯t run immediately, so he is slowly buying time.¡±

    At eight something, Lee Zheng had one of his people to go to the hospital to visit Chang Gu while the other stayed at the mental hospital to continue the investigation. He personally drove Chen Ge back to the New Century Park.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to, really.¡±

    ¡°Put on your seatbelt. I¡¯ll drive you back because I have some questions to ask you in private,¡± Lee Zheng said as he ¡®invited¡¯ Chen Ge into his police car and started the engine. Lee Zheng drove very fast, and when he entered the car, his expression turned serious.

    ¡°Inspector Lee, if you have anything to ask, just go ahead. There is no need for hidden words between us.¡± Chen Ge leaned back in the seat. The police car made him feel rxed¡ªthis was a safe ce.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I know that perhaps you wish to investigate some things, but misusing the name of a police officer, be it for official business or personal business, is a crime. You have a strong sense of justice, but do not let it take control of you. Sometime, justice is not sinless.¡± Lee Zheng told Chen Ge that in private because he was worried about Chen Ge.

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    ¡°I have a good eye for people. You¡¯ve lied to me. Although, I don¡¯t know what the lie is. Other than that, those mirror pieces should be important to you, right? If they are rted to this case, after you¡¯ve used them, remember to hand them to us. We have a professional team to look...¡±

    Lee Zheng spoke for a long time, but there was no answer. He nced at the rearview mirror and realized that Chen Ge had fallen asleep, hugging his backpack and the present box. The sleeping Chen Ge looked like a nk piece of paper, a person without any guile, and all his sad past was shown on his face.

    ¡°Looks like he is really tired this time.¡± Lee Zheng shook his head lightly and drove the car to a spot near New Century Park before he shook Chen Ge awake. ¡°What do you think this ce is? Get out from my car!¡±

    Carrying the many bags, Chen Ge weaved through the visitors and jogged all the way. His employees were lined up at the entrance to the Haunted House. They had been waiting for him.

    ¡°Boss!¡±

    They called after him in unison, and that swiftly snapped Chen Ge to attention.

    ¡°There¡¯s no time to waste! We will gather in the dressing room now and prepare to open for business!¡±

    Pushing open the gates, Chen Ge led the employees into the dressing room and started to do their makeup. At 9 am, New Century Park opened its gate, and people rushed into the park. A long queue started to form before the Haunted House. After putting the makeup on the employees, Chen Ge returned the ghost employees to their position. He had Ol¡¯ Bai and Ol¡¯ Zhou watch over the rules, and he entered the staff breakroom to rest. Chen Ge did not set an rm. He slept until noon and was woken up by knocking on his door.

    ¡°Something¡¯s up?¡± Chen Ge did not have time to put on a shirt and yanked open the door.

    ¡°Chen Ge, Director Luo is looking for you! He has something important to talk to you!¡± Uncle Xu stood outside the door with a strange expression.

    ¡°What is it? Give me some hints so I can be prepared.¡± Chen Ge suddenly became nervous because in two days, the futuristic theme park would open, and they would be under unbearable pressure.

    ¡°Take a look at today¡¯s news yourself.¡± Uncle Xu clicked open a page on his phone, and the title of the article was eye-catching.

    ¡°Student in aa for five years after car ident! Miraculous recovery! The first thing he said after waking up was ¡®Western Jiujiang New Century Park¡¯!¡±

 Chapter 909 - World After Death?

    <h4>Chapter 909: World After Death?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Reading the news on Uncle Xu¡¯s phone, Chen Ge¡¯s heart shivered with a jolt. As he scrolled down the screen, he saw many simr articles.

    ¡°After the children woke up, they didn¡¯t say anything else about New Century Park, right?¡± Chen Ge asked quickly.

    ¡°That sure is a weird question to focus on.¡± Uncle Xu put the phone away. ¡°You¡¯d better talk with Director Luo about the details. He has already been contacted by the media about this. This is a chance, but if it is not dealt correctly, it might cause a lot of damage to our reputation.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go to him now.¡± Chen Ge grabbed a shirt and rushed out of his Haunted House.

    <i>The unconscious children¡¯s souls and spirits must have been lured behind the School of the Afterlife, but they left with mest night, so that¡¯s why they¡¯ve awoken now! The timing is good, and that exins why the first thing that they said was New Century Park. When they left, I stressed to them that if they ran into any danger outside, they coulde to find me at Western Jiujiang New Century Park.</i>

    In a way, this was not a medical issue but Chen Ge¡¯s doing. He charged to Director Luo¡¯s office without stopping. After getting his permission, Chen Ge entered the room.

    ¡°Director Luo, were you looking for me?¡± Chen Ge was breathing heavily, and his shirt was not even properly buttoned.

    ¡°Why are you in such a panic? Sit down and have a ss of water.¡±

    ¡°I hear that the media has been here?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry. I¡¯ll give you something to see first.¡± Director Luo turned theptop on the table toward Chen Ge and pressed the y button. The screen was showing the promotional video of the futuristic theme park. Itbined both virtual and reality, and from every angle, it was better than New Century Park. Just watching it gave them more than enough shock, much less experiencing it in person.

    ¡°Xiao Chen, do you think we can produce a video of this caliber?¡± Director Luo turned to Chen Ge. ¡°Tell me your real thoughts.¡±

    ¡°No, our theme park is just the fourth generation, and we mainly depend on the different machines. We can¡¯t match them in terms of technology, and it is hard for us to create this effect.¡± Chen Ge felt like he had underestimated the futuristic theme park; their opponent was very cunning. They had prepared five promotional videos, and Chen Ge had only seen two of them before. Thest promo was rted to a horror movie, a direct taunt toward Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. This should be the futuristic theme park¡¯s confidence. They would not just win¡ªthey would trample New Century Park in their own territory and steal away all their customers.

    ¡°Even if we could produce an effect like that, we do not have the time or money to produce a video like this.¡± Director Luo took out his phone and clicked on the most popr social media and entertainment tform. The advertisement for the futuristic theme park was everywhere. ¡°They have given everything to promote themselves, and the effect is excellent. Many people want to go to their ce to visit, and their online tickets for the opening day have already sold out.¡±

    ¡°This is not good for us.¡± Chen Ge looked at the endless advertisements and felt envious. When he tried to advertise his Haunted House, through the short videos and livestreams, he had bet his life on it, but inparison, his efforts looked so futile. ¡°Director Luo, should we produce more advertisements?¡±

    ¡°That is why I¡¯ve called for you.¡± Director Luo drank from the cup as he walked to the window and looked down at the theme park. ¡°We have limited funds and appear second best to the market. To survive, we have to take a big risk.¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do?¡± Chen Ge did not ask what Director Luo¡¯s n was but asked what he would do. He trusted Director Luo fully and had confidence in his business experience, knowing that Director Luo would see further than he could.

    ¡°I need to ask you one thing first, and you have to answer me honestly.¡± Director Luo opened the phone and searched for the article that Uncle Xu had shown Chen Ge earlier. ¡°Is this real or fake?¡±

    ¡°Director Luo, I don¡¯t quite understand what you mean.¡±

    ¡°The first words out of a person who has been in aa for five years were New Century Park. The site of his car ident was very far from here, and his life had nothing to do with us. Why would he say something like that?¡± Director Luo personally poured a cup of tea for Chen Ge. ¡°Is this rted to you?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a hurry to deny it. This morning, many media outlets contacted me at the same time. You can take a look at their interviews and the messages revealed by the victims¡¯ family and the police.¡± Director Luo clicked open a folder on his phone. It contained plenty of videos and articles. ¡°Take a look at this first.¡±

    The first video was taken at the corridor at some hospital. The image was blurry, and it appeared to have been taken without consent. In the video, a boy in a patient¡¯s garb wasmunicating with his parents. He stumbled over his words, and he gestured with the pencil that he was holding. What he tried to express was that he had seen the world after death during hisa. He could not remember many things, but he knew that it was a scary ce, and he had struggled there. In the end, he had been saved by a man.

    He had heard the term Western Jiujiang¡¯s New Century Park from this man, and other than that, he could not remember anything else. It was clear from the video that as weak as the boy was, his mind was sharp, and his eyes were clear. He did not look like he was lying.

    ¡°Director Luo, this video can¡¯t prove anything.¡±

    ¡°Keep watching.¡± The nurses and doctors were shocked. The world after death was alluring. They went online to search about New Century Park to try to establish a connection to this boy, but by total ident, when the doctor clicked on Chen Ge¡¯s picture, the boy suddenly got very excited. The boy still could not speakplete sentences, but he kept pointing at Chen Ge¡¯s picture. The doctormunicated with him for a long time before realizing that the boy was saying that the man who had brought him out from the ¡®world after death¡¯ was identical to Chen Ge¡¯s picture.

    A hospital that was far from Jiujiang and New Century Park, aa patient from five years ago and Chen Ge, two unrted ces and individuals were somehow linked. The whole incident went directly from science to spirituality. The doctor could not exin this, and another surprising scene happened at the end of the video. Another door was pushed open, and a nurse burst through the crowd. She ran and whispered into the doctor¡¯s ear that another girl who had been ina for three years had woken up, and she too had an impression of the location New Century Park!

    The doctor hurried to the room and showed the girl Chen Ge¡¯s picture, and the girl cried instantly. Those many strange events proved that this was not a coincidence¡ªthis man called Chen Ge appeared to have entered the world after death to rescue those children.

    The video then ended, and Director Luo looked at Chen Ge. ¡°Drink your tea.¡±

    ¡°Director Luo, you wouldn¡¯t happen to believe this drivel, right?¡± Chen Ge had a bitter expression. ¡°if I possessed that magical power, would I still be stuck at a haunted house?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care whether the video is real or not¡ªI only care about the fact that this news might be our lifeline.¡± Director Luo opened the drawer and ced a few documents on the table. ¡°I wish to try a new promotional method that we haven¡¯t attempted before.¡±

 Chapter 910 - Unlocking a Four-star Scenario

    <h4>Chapter 910: Unlocking a Four-star Scenario</h4>

    ¡°You wish to use this news as a promotional point?¡± Chen Ge caught Director Luo¡¯s meaning instantly. ¡°Will that work?¡±

    ¡°Advertisement needs money to promote because the content is normally boring. Human beings are born with curiosity, so now that we have been given such a great chance, the only thing we need to do is evoke their curiosity. Leave the actual work to me. You only need to pay attention to two things. One, no matter who asks you about the news, say that you don¡¯t know anything to keep up the mystery. Two, do not deny or admit to anything.¡± Director Luo poured another cup of tea for Chen Ge. ¡°You should know what I mean.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Chen Ge nodded.

    ¡°There is one other thing I have to ask you.¡± Director Luo flipped through the documents on the table. ¡°The futuristic theme park is opening the day after tomorrow. Will your Haunted House have any new scenarios? It does not need to be perfect, but it has to be difficult. It¡¯d be best if it¡¯s something that can¡¯t be cleared.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s such a coincidence. My parents left an idea that fits your requirement perfectly. I¡¯ve spent thest few weeks recover it, and it should be able to wee new visitors the morning after tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°I know that you won¡¯t disappoint me.¡± Director Luo picked up the first document file. ¡°Give me a brief introduction about the most difficult scenario. We will focus our promotion on that.¡±

    Chen Ge picked up the pen to think about it. ¡°It¡¯s a haunted school scenario. It will contain all the ghost stories that might happen at school, but that is not the most important.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t feel too much pressure. Tell me if there¡¯s any problems. Do you have enough people? Or props?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that. The problem is that the scenario...¡± Chen Ge put down the tea cup to look at Director Luo. ¡°The new scenario is very simr to the ¡®world after death¡¯ seen by these fainted students. I¡¯m afraid that might cause a bad influence.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter. In fact, the closer they are, the better.¡± When Director Luo heard that, his eyes glowed like he had discovered a treasure. ¡°After writing the focus and the intro of the scenario, you should return. Remember what I told you¡ªget a good rest and be prepared for the day after tomorrow when the futuristic theme park opens.¡±

    Chen Ge stood up and hesitantly said, ¡°By the way, there is one thing that I still don¡¯t quite understand.¡±

    ¡°Ask away. I will tell you as long as I know the answer.¡±

    ¡°For the futuristic theme park, be it technically or money-wise, they are far beyond our theme park. Even nationwide, there are not many fifth generation theme parks like theirs. Why would they choose to open in Jiujiang and not the bigger Xin Hai?¡± Chen Ge had experienced a lot. Now he was very careful. The futuristic theme park was ced on the eastern side of Jiujiang, the ce that his parents had warned him against visiting.

    ¡°Even though Xin Hai is much bigger than Jiujiang, that also means it will have a biggerpetition. Other than that, to unify the city group, the government ns to build Heng Jiang Bridge in Eastern Jiujiang. Then, it¡¯ll be easy tomute from Xin Hai to Jiujiang. The futuristic theme park should have realized that and chosen to build in Eastern Jiujiang. They have never considered us a threat. They n to use Jiujiang as their base and, with this ce as the center, continue to spread.

    ¡°Heng Jiang Bridge?¡± Chen Ge looked at the map of Jiujiang on the office wall. Including the nearby states, Jiujiang was surrounded by nine rivers of differing sizes, like nine dragons. Once the bridge was built, it would look like a lock had been added to the dragons¡¯ neck.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be years before the bridge is built, so that has nothing to do with us. The business world is like war¡ªonly those who survive will have the chance to see the sun of tomorrow.¡± Director Luo, who was normally reticent, said a lot around Chen Ge. He shared many things that he wished to teach Chen Ge.

    After writing the intro, Chen Ge returned to his Haunted House. He scanned his phone, and the ad for the futuristic theme park was everywhere. ¡°Their promotional effect is epic. Even I want to take my employees to visit them.¡±

    Putting the phone away, Chen Ge rubbed his temples. After all, the people who wanted to challenge themselves were in the minority. Thepetition between the two theme parks was unfair from the beginning. ¡°We can only n, and God will decide the result. All I can do is my best.¡±

    The School of the Afterlife would be unlocked that night. Chen Ge took out the ck phone to study it many times. He had toe up with a set of special and exciting rules based on the specialty of the school. The theme park closed at six, and Chen Ge ordered all the living employees to gather in the dressing room.

    ¡°Boss, is there anything?¡± Gu Feiyu removed the doctor¡¯s mask. Who would have thought such a sunny and kind boy would be hiding behind the mask?

    ¡°The day after tomorrow, the futuristic theme park will open for business. This year¡¯s holiday will be exceptionally important to us. I do not was to put pressure on your shoulders, but I have to tell you certain things.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes scanned his employees¡ªXu Wan, who had followed him since the beginning; the security guard, Gu Feiyu, whom he had saved from the ghost stories society; Zhang Jingjiu and Scissors, who had escaped with him from Li Wan City; and the newest employee, Qu Changlin.

    ¡°New Century Park has been in business for a decade, and it has been a fine ten years. Every day, visitors have left this ce with happy memories, and this ce has recorded many people¡¯s good times. For them, this is more than a theme park.¡± Chen Ge rarely used such a serious tone with his employees. He often gave off the impression of kindness, like he would never get mad. ¡°But recently, the business has been in decline. The few times I met with Director Luo, it was because the theme park faced danger of closing and thenter to discuss restructuring New Century Park. They have not given up this thought, and if anything, it has gotten stronger. Do you know why?¡±

    ¡°Why would they close the theme park when we have so many visitors?¡± Even though Gu Feiyu had not been there for long, he had a connection to the theme park. This ce had epted him, and everyone treated him well.

    ¡°Because there can only be one theme park in Jiujiang, and we have taken the bestnd in Western Jiujiang. Thisnd was gained by Director Luo more than a decade ago with a small investment.¡±

    ¡°Businessmen value ie. If the conditions are really good, will Director Luo...¡± Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s worry was not unfounded¡ªDirector Luo was under the most pressure at the theme park.

    ¡°He won¡¯t. Yes, he¡¯s a businessman, but he¡¯s also a father.¡± Chen Ge looked at the doll in the corner of the room and picked it up. ¡°I hope everyone will be on their best behavior over the next few days. We have to give it our all this holiday! If we lose to the futuristic theme park from the beginning, it¡¯ll be harder to turn things aroundter.¡±

    Chen Ge repeated his instructions for each individual employee before letting them go. At 7.30 pm, there was no one around the theme park anymore. Chen Ge pulled the gate shut and returned to the staff breakroom, beginning to design the rules and background story. He listed the ghost stories that he had experienced and heard before and used his existing scenarios and employees to replicate them¡ªthe construction of the scenario, the attention to detail, the power of the Specters, the scare points, and so on. He busied himself until 3 am. Chen Ge only stopped working because the ck phone suddenly vibrated.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s favored. The four-star scenario ¡®School of the Afterlife¡¯ has been unlocked!

    ¡°School of the Afterlife (four-star scenario): This scenario consists of twelve sub scenarios! There are three different campuses¡ªwest, east, and deep red!

    ¡°Warning 1: Doors and mirrors are special items in this scenario! You can control part of them through the phone!

    ¡°Warning 2: This scenario can support ten visitors at once. Please be careful of their safety!

    ¡°Warning 3: Random surprises can be found hidden in the deep red campus.

    ¡°Warning 4: After unlocking a four-star scenario, the chance of special visitors will double. The probability of a special visitor appearing will double again should the theme park operate at night.¡±

 Chapter 911 - Highest Difficulty Mission

    <h4>Chapter 911: Highest Difficulty Mission</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>The chance of running into special visitors will multiply at night? The ck phone is encouraging me to open for business at night?</i>

    In the morning, Specters could only hide in the Haunted House. Even ghosts like Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue were afraid of the sun. They could only appear for a few minutes in the morning and could not be hit directly by the sunlight. If it was night, there would not be such limit, and thus, the Haunted House would be several times scarier than daytime. Not only because the environment had changed but also because most of the employees were actual ghosts, and the closer it was to midnight, the more active they were.

    <i>The problem with the door hasn¡¯t been resolved, so the visitors might be identally injured if a Specter sneaks through the door.</i>

    Chen Ge was not ready for a night opening yet. He rejected this idea after giving it some thought. Taking a box of cat food down from the cupboard, Chen Ge tricked the white cat over and held it in his arms. ¡°Come, follow me to go and take a look at the new scenario.¡±

    The white cat was very sensitive to spirits and Specters. Bringing it was like bringing an rm, and it could help detect the uncertain elements of the new scenario. The white cat was too busy munching on the food and rubbing its head on Chen Ge¡¯s chest to realize the danger it was in. When it realized that Chen Ge was taking it downstairs, it was already toote to run.

    ¡°Looks at how fat you are now. If you don¡¯t start moving around, you should change your name from White Tiger to White Pig.¡±

    Carrying the backpack, Chen Ge opened the door that led underground. A chill howled at him. With the unlocking of the School of the Afterlife, the underground scenario seemed to have be eerier. The sound of wind could be heard, and in the darkened surrounding, it was hard to tell where the wind came from. The yellowed test papers fluttered in the air, and asionally, he would catch glimpse of mannequin heads rolling away.

    ¡°Still run about sote at night. In the future, I¡¯ll have to invite the old headmaster back and have him watch over you people every day.¡±

    Chen Ge carried the white cat with one hand and held the ck phone in the other. He followed the instructions on the phone and walked behind the stairs. The entrance to the school was between the entrance to Mu Yang High School and the Underground Morgue. To enter this scenario, one had to pass through three iron doors. Just pushing them open was pressure enough.

    The school looked normal on the surface, but with a closer examination, one would discover several extremely scary details. For example, with the thick curtains that were hung along the sides of the corridor, behind some of them was the cement wall, but some were hiding doors to other rooms. Even with the map on the ck phone, Chen Ge was lost. The school was too big¡ªit filled up the entire underground parking lot and even dug down several levels.

    ¡°Who would have thought such a school existed down here?¡± Chen Ge looked at the path that he just had just taken. ¡°Or rather, it¡¯s more appropriate to call it a small town.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s four-star scenario perfectly replicated the School of the Afterlife from behind the door. The ovepping of reality and nightmare, many scary memories appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, turning into his inspiration.

    ¡°Dormitory walls that are filled with nails, the canteen that only operates at midnight, the little girl that lies to people in the staff dormitory, the skull buried in the tree hole, the elevator that moves on its own, the blinking statue, the ckboard with bloody words, the inverted people that follow you around, the students who return after death, Mr. Bai who is not in the teacher¡¯s record...¡±

    Chen Ge touched his pocket. Mr. Bai¡¯s staff ID and his own student ID were still there, but after leaving the door, those two documents had gained many blood stters that could not be removed. It looked like they had been soaked in blood for a long time before being removed.

    ¡°I have a lot of material but not enough employees. This ce is too big.¡± Chen Ge took out theic to summon Yan Danian and had him release all the ghosts and spirits who had been ¡®educated¡¯.

    When Chen Ge visited Li Wan City and the Coffin Vige, he had helped many ghosts before¡ªnow was the time for them to repay his kindness. After Bai Qiulin became a red Specter, his words carried more weight. Many ghosts decided to put down their hatred after having a talk with Ol¡¯ Bai and decided to embrace a new future. Chen Ge felt d upon hearing that. He promised to help them fulfil their dying wish after this busy holiday was over. He was not just saying that; if the employees treated the Haunted House as their home, it was only natural for him to help themplete their wish.

    Chen Ge registered all the spirits¡¯ names, and only when the names could be searched in the worker¡¯s tab of the ck phone, he arranged their roles in the school. In total, Chen Ge designed more than forty ghost stories in the school and more than one hundred scare points, but most of them required employees to control them, and that meant his manpower was stretched thin. Often, a single employee had to handle multiple scare points.

    ¡°Temporarily, this will have to do. After this, I must design the story background so that the visitors can see themselves in the story more easily. What kind of identity should I give them, youngsters who came to the abandoned school to test their bravery at night? Students who have lost their memory trapped at the school? Just let them try to find the escape?¡± Chen Ge rubbed his head. ¡°I have to use this scenario well. A simple escape is such a waste¡ªI need to make this more exciting.¡±

    Chen Ge walked around the school with the white cat. ¡°Nurse¡¯s office,b room, music club, sports club... Wait a minute, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen the art club.¡±

    He walked for an hour but failed to find the art club. ¡°I also haven¡¯t found the unique buildings, the Red Specter Painting Room and the Ghost Story ssroom that were attached to the school. Is there a trigger condition to these two special buildings?¡±

    Opening the ck phone, Chen Ge studied the school¡¯s control page carefully and realized where the problem was; he had been walking around the two campuses but had not been to the deepest red campus. To enter this hidden campus, one had to go through a hidden tunnel. There were three known paths¡ªthe water well near the western campus¡¯ field, the movable mirror inside the eastern campus¡¯ library, and thest cubicle inside the toilet of the eastern campus.

    ¡°The scares are a hidden surprise, and whoever can find the hidden area will be so lucky.¡± Chen Ge came to thest cubicle of the education block. He pushed open the door, and it revealed a set of stairs that led downward. There was a blinking red light at the bottom, and his ears were filled with crying andughter.

    ¡°Deep red campus?¡± This was the first time that Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House had contained a four-star scenario. He hugged the white cat tighter and walked down the stairs. Bloody handprints and scary words started to appear on the walls, and more and more blood surfaced until the whole corridor was red.

    ¡°This looks perfectly like the world behind the door, very suffocating and scary. Many people probably haven¡¯t even seen a ce like this in their dreams.¡± Chen Ge nodded with satisfaction. He covered the white cat¡¯s eyes and continued to move forward. The deep red campus was underneath the two campuses. This was the lowest level of the haunted house. This ce was empty, with not even a ghost. The cries andughter appeared to be the visitor¡¯s own imagination.

    He walked for ten minutes, and Chen Ge finally founded the que for the art club. After entering it, he felt like he had returned to the oil painting room.

    There were thirteen easels before thirteen chairs, and the thirteen easels had thirteen inverted bloody oil painting.

    ¡°The Red Specters¡¯ Painting Room?¡± When Chen Ge discovered this ce, his ck phone vibrated; a new message hade in.

    ¡°Red Specter¡¯s Painting Room (Inverted World): Once you enter the room, you will see the Red Specters¡¯ past. If you can face the terror, the Red Specters will consume part of your misfortune, but if you can¡¯t, fainting is not a bad option.¡±

    ¡°It can help the visitors improve their luck?¡± When Chen Ge saw the message, he tried to stand before one of the paintings, but nothing happened. ¡°A normal person would have a hard time suffering a Red Specter¡¯s past, but if they can discover the hidden path and charge all the way here, then the visitors wouldn¡¯t be a normal person.¡±

    Chen Ge thought about it, took out his phone, and wrote this on his nner. ¡°For now, the mission with the highest difficulty will be to find all thirteen oil paintings in the School of the Afterlife and ce them all back into the art club¡¯s painting room.¡±

    From the words alone, the mission sounded normal and even boring, but in reality, one would faint at least thirteen times beforepleting it.

 Chapter 912 - Headlines!

    <strong>Chapter 912: Headlines!</strong>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    ¡°Director Luo needs a highly difficult mission, and this mission that I designed will be able to satisfy him.¡± Chen Ge stayed at the School of the Afterlife until dawn. To perfect this four-star scenario, he had not slept a wink. ¡°One has to wear the band designed by Director Luo to enter this scenario so that the doctors can rush to save them at first notice.¡±

    After the underground morgue was unlocked, Chen Ge had grown more courageous. As long as Doctor Wei said it was okay, he dared to do it. Hugging the white cat out of the scenario, Chen Ge left tired, but his brain was active. ¡°Am I sick?¡±

    Since the School of the Afterlife was unlocked, the reward that correspond to that scenario should have unlocked as well. Putting the white cat down, Chen Ge entered the dressing room and found Lin Sisi¡¯s phone and Zhang Ya¡¯s bedtime story in an unassuming wooden box in the corner of the room. He had used Lin Sisi¡¯s phone before, so there was nothing to be said. He opened the phone to look at it, and it contained a lot of information rted to Lin Sisi and the video of him being bullied.

    ¡°This thing belongs to Lin Sisi. I¡¯d better keep it.¡± Chen Ge did not delete anything on the phone but used theic to summon Tong Tong. ¡°Can you possess this phone?¡±

    After trying, Tong Tong nodded.

    ¡°Okay then, I¡¯ll leave Lin Sisi¡¯s phone in your care. Tomorrow, when visitors enter the school, just follow my instructions.¡± Chen Ge handed Lin Sisi¡¯s phone to Tong Tong, who looked like he had just gained a new toy. However, Chen Ge was reminded of something else. Once he entered the School of the Afterlife, Chen Ge had been knocked unconscious, and Chang Wenyu had stolen his phone, causing him to be inactive.

    ¡°I can¡¯t let that happen again.¡± Chen Ge went online to order several custom-made phones that matched the appearance of the ck phone. He did not need them to have many functions, as long as they could call, send messages, and hide Specters. He had just opened the browser and had not even started his search when he saw the day¡¯s headlines. He nced at them out of habit, but when he did, he was stunned.

    Of the ten headlines, two of them were rted to Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House!

    The top five highlights were celebrity gossip, but from the sixth headline, things took a strange turn, like a clear rivulet turning into a swampy ravine.

    ¡°The world after death really exists? The real testimonies from severtose patients who woke up on the same day!¡±

    Then, the seventh highlight that followed it was: ¡°The fainted world is a theme park in the real world!¡±

    Clicking on it, Chen Ge realized that the name New Century Park had entered the top twenty most searched terms of the day, and the number was still climbing.

    ¡°Did Director Luo buy these clicks?¡± Normally, he would read the news, but to have his workce appear on the news, that was quite ufortable for Chen Ge. ¡°Hopefully, Director Luo will be able to handle this.¡±

    Chen Ge refreshed the page and was about to go and find a web store that could custom make a phone when he saw the fiftieth headline and the two familiar words that appeared on the end of it.

    ¡°Chen Ge?¡± The highlight had just two simple words, and it appeared conspicuous among other highlights that had long titles. ¡°Why is my name there?¡±

    Chen Ge was sure that he did not see wrongly. He really did see his name among the daily news headlines.

    ¡°What is going on?¡± Quickly clicking on the link, Chen Ge realized that his ¡®glorious¡¯ history of helping the police had all been dug up¡ªthe livestream where he encountered the murderer in the haunted house; the livestream where he was chased by mad people in the mental asylum; how he had helped the Jiujiang police capture criminals, solve cases, and unearth the truth behind the case that had been silent for five years during the period when his livestream was banned; and even the news of him receiving the good citizen award had been found by the inte.

    Some inte users even created a Chen Ge Wikipedia page, but the more they dug, the more shocked they were. Just what kind of a man was this?

    All the information that they had found already existed online, including the award announcement on Jiujiang Law Enforcement¡¯s website, Chen Ge¡¯s livestreams, and many ¡®tearfulints¡¯ from the numerous Haunted House visitors. There were rumors flying everywhere, and many people thought that Chen Ge was not a simple Haunted House operator, that it was just a cover.

    Some said that he was a Private Investigator, some believed that he was a psychologist, and some guessed that he was a mysticism researcher. There was so much online that Chen Ge felt a headacheing. Theatose patients who woke up pushed him to the center of attention. He could not keep a low profile even if he wanted to. After looking through the article for a while, Chen Ge sighed in relief. The users were just guessing. None of them had any proof, and more importantly, the children had forgotten about the events behind the door; they only had a brief recollection of them.

    When their spirits returned to their bodies, their memories became blurry. The experience behind the door would be like a very long nightmare, and Chen Ge was the person who woke them up. They appreciated Chen Ge a lot, but they had no idea why that was.

    ¡°Even I was in the headlines. Should I make use of this chance to promote the haunted house?¡± Chen Ge had never been someone who hesitated for too long. He logged into his video ount, and even without having released any videos, he saw the wild growth of his followers and fan. With every new refresh, the number would continue to climb. One should strike the iron while it was hot, so Chen Ge used his ount to release a teaser about the new scenario.

    Once he logged on, the forum instantly exploded. The activity was so high that it scared even Chen Ge.

    ¡°Do I have such a big following?¡±

    Chen Ge replied to about ten private messages, but there were simply too many, so he had to log out. Putting the phone away, Chen Ge turned to thest reward¡ªZhang Ya¡¯s bedtime story. The book had a ck cover, and it felt special to the touch like it was weaved from hair. Just touching it caused his body to break out in cold sweat.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take a look at it when I¡¯m free.¡± Chen Ge ced the book in a drawer in the staff breakroom andy in bed to take a small rest.

    At 8 am, the employees had gathered at the door. Chen Ge¡¯s chat the previous night had been quite effective. ¡°Mind your scenarios carefully. Que Changlin,e with me. I have a special mission for you.¡±

    Chen Ge called Que Changlin over. Since theme park had not opened, he sent him over to the workshop boss, Qian Guigen. ¡°I need to custom-make fifty student mannequins, and I need to use them tomorrow. So, you¡¯ll be here helping me.¡±

    ¡°Use them tomorrow? Do we have enough time?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine.¡± Chen Ge took out the design that he hade up with the previous night. ¡°You can start with this, and I¡¯lle to help you in the afternoon.¡±

    Then Chen Ge¡¯s phone rang; it was Director Luo telling him to get back to the theme park. After giving the down payment to Boss Qian, Chen Ge hurried back to New Century Park and realized that Director Luo and Uncle Xu were both standing at the resting hall.

    ¡°Xiao Chen, the promo for the School of the Afterlife has beenpleted based on your request. Come and see if there¡¯s anything that needs editing.¡± Director Luo summoned Chen Ge.

    ¡°It¡¯s perfect, matched the world after death perfectly.¡± Chen Ge was satisfied with the promo. ¡°By the way, Director Luo, have you seen the news headlines today? Did you buy those cements? Howe even I am among them?¡±

    ¡°If I bought the cements, I would have ced New Century Park at number one.¡± Director Luo shook his head. ¡°Yesterday, there were at least ten children who were reported by the news, but the actual number hasn¡¯t been reported. Many media outlets are watching this, and we are right at the center of it all. However, this also means that we must be careful. Be cautious of your words. Say what you need to, but keep the lid on anything that you shouldn¡¯t.¡±

 Chapter 913 - I Like Stubborn Visitors

    <strong>Chapter 913: I Like Stubborn Visitors</strong>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    ¡°Don¡¯t you worry, I am not the type of person who would cause trouble,¡± Chen Ge promised Director Luo again.

    ¡°The media mighte today, and some have been invited by me, but based on how things are going, there will be other reporters, so you¡¯d better keep a low profile.¡± Director Luo¡¯s initial n was to borrow this incident to increase New Century Park¡¯s poprity. After all, all the awakened students had mentioned New Century Park, but he did not expect even the name Chen Ge to make the headlines. ¡°Have Ol¡¯ Xu do anything that you need. You stay at the Haunted House and prepare for the opening of the new scenario tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge gave his promise. He returned to his Haunted House and crawled into the staff breakroom. ¡°It¡¯s not fun that the whole scenario only has the hardest mission. I should design some easier missions to go with it. The scenario for the School of the Afterlife is so big that I can be more creative.¡±

    With the inspiration brought by the ck phone, Chen Ge learned from the way it dispensed mission and designed many hidden and side missions. These missions looked unrted, but if onepleted all the side missions, they would discover the whole truth about the School of the Afterlife.

    New Century Park was a lot busier than normal that day. Chen Ge looked out the window and saw many reporters squatting outside the Haunted house. Director Luo did not stop them. As long as they purchased the ticket, no one would stop them. Director Luo and Chen Ge did not show up, and this ced Uncle Xu in a tough position. The reporters and the visitors who had seen the news hounded him with questions, and he was directly swallowed up by the crowd.

    Chen Ge stayed at the breakroom until noon. He opened the phone after he dealt with some stuff. There were already four headlines rted to New Century Park among the top tentest news stories, and one of them was the Haunted House¡¯s newest promo. Probably due to the fact that the video had obvious advertising purposes, there were many inte users that questioned its authenticity. Many people suspected that this whole thing was just a promotional method, and a few users who thought they had seen the truth jumped out to nder this uncouth advertising method.

    That was fairlymon; being scolded meant that one was famous. Chen Ge did not mind it, but when he clicked open his own headline, he realized that something was wrong. There were many unknown ounts who were directly inming the topic. Some masqueraded as Chen Ge to purposely nder New Century Park, and some of them even casually dropped the discussion about the futuristic theme park.

    ¡°The futuristic theme park is on the move?¡± Chen Ge looked at the ount that had used his name post these strange posts, and he was rather mad. Since he was young, he followed the philosophy of arguing with his mouth and not his fists, so he rarely got into fight. Logging into his own ount, Chen Ge wanted to expose the fake ount, but he realized that the whole discussion forum had been controlled by the other party. Obviously, a whole team was behind this.

    From the previous night to that morning, everyone had been concerned about the rtionship between theatose patients and new Century Park. They were curious about the authenticity of the world after death. This topic climbed up to the boiling point, and as the poprity grew, many strange people popped up. Some were analyzing it rationally while others were clearly there to stir the pot. From morning until noon, the wind changed, and manymon users who did not know the truth were led astray and believed that this was media hype set up by New Century park. There was no world after death, and the awakening of the students came from heartless reporters to grab attention.

    More and more people pointed their fingers at New Century Park, saying how low they had gone to promote themselves. There were quite a number of big online streamers who gave their views. One of them was called Liu Gang. He directly dug out New Century Park¡¯s past, saying that this was a theme park that was facing bankruptcy, and at the same time, there was a new futuristic theme park opening in the same city. Before this strongpetition, New Century Park was about to be crushed, so they came up with this crude and vulgar n and nned to use the world after death as some kind of hook to draw in some visitors.

    This man acted like he was the only one who had seen through the ploy of New Century Park and appealed to his fans to boycott this kind of heartless businessman. Then, as casually as he could, he slipped in the uniqueness of Jiujiang¡¯s futuristic theme park and how it was a rare sixth generation theme park even on an international scale.

    ¡°Just how much money has this Liu Gang taken from the people of futuristic theme park?¡± Chen Ge held the phone, and his heart was feeling uneasy. Futuristic theme park had plenty of money. The weeks before it was open, it would not allow New Century Park toe and disturb them. They would not stop at anything. From the current situation, it was clear that there were advertising experts working for futuristic theme park. Since the poprity could not be suppressed anymore, they rode on this tide and nned to turn it around on New Century Park and use it to promote themselves.

    ¡°We have less than twenty-four hours until the opening of futuristic theme park. This period is too sensitive.¡± Chen Ge was thinking about how to react when he got Director Luo¡¯s call.

    ¡°Chen Ge, the futuristic theme park also pushed forth a new horror themed scenario called Reincarnation. They modified their slogan and started to promote a world after death and started to push it on various tforms.¡±

    ¡°They are so shameless, but that is fine. Our scenario is real, and no matter how hard they try, they will not achieve the same authenticity that I have.¡±

    ¡°Authenticity?¡± Director Luo caught the keyword immediately.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind that, Director Luo. In terms of the content and the scare factor of the Haunted House, we will steamroll over them.¡±

    ¡°I feel much better hearing you say that.¡± Director Luo was about to hang up.

    ¡°Wait a minute, Director Luo. I can guarantee you that the quality of our Haunted House will be better than theirs, but the visitors don¡¯t know that. Can we do a livestream when we open for business tomorrow?¡± Chen Ge gave his suggestion.

    ¡°What is your n?¡±

    ¡°This morning, we will have a livestream at our Haunted House, and then this afternoon, I will go and challenge their Haunted House. Through theparison, the public will see the truth.¡± Chen Ge was quite angered by the lowly tactics of the other theme park.

    ¡°Are you that confident? I heard that their scenario hasbined the scenes from several horror movies and is replicated using thetest technology. Can you handle it?¡± Director Luo was worried about Chen Ge.

    ¡°No problem. I can guarantee you, if theye to our Haunted House to y, they will be carried out and, if I go to their Haunted House, it will also be them who end up being carried out.¡±

    ¡°Well, you don¡¯t need to go that far...¡± Director Luo gave it some thought before saying, ¡°When theye to visit, do not harm them no matter what, but if you want to go to their ce, do anything you want. After all, that¡¯s their business.¡±

    ¡°You have a point.¡± Chen Ge felt like he had learned a lot from Director Luo.

    ¡°And Liu Gang and the others who were directing the flow on the inte. If necessary, you should go and challenge them,¡± Director Luo added. ¡°It¡¯ll be perfect if they can be persuaded toe and visit our Haunted House.¡±

 Chapter 914 - All Practiced Actors

    <h4>Chapter 914: All Practiced Actors</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Director Luo¡¯s words inspired Chen Ge. ¡°I have a streamer¡¯s ount myself with about 400,000 followers. Should I start a livestream or upload a videoter to prove that we¡¯re not lying?¡±

    ¡°Do whatever you want. Just make sure you do not say anything too incendiary. It is best if they cane, but it¡¯s fine if they can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care much about the others, but I have to lure that streamer known as Liu Gang here somehow. That guy has released so many unsavory and untrue statement. I believe he has received quite arge sum of money from the futuristic theme park.¡± Chen Ge was not one to hold onto grudges, but this time, the man really had crossed the line.

    ¡°Kill the cock to scare the monkey¡ªthat is not a bad idea. The streamer himself will be a walking attention generator. If he cane, it will satisfy the curiosity of many inte users, but the problem is... how are you going to make him ept our invitation?¡± Director Luo still had something else to do. After a few more words, he hung up. Chen Ge reminisced on his conversation with Director Luo. After some contemtion, he logged into his video tform ount and decided to go head on against that Liu Gang.

    Opening the livestream function of the tform, the moment he switched on the camera, the online viewing number jumped up from zero to over five hundred almost instantly, and with every new refresh, the number of viewers doubled. Ever since his livestream was unbanned, this was the first time that he had used this function. All his previous livestreams had been to promote his Haunted House, and now that the goal had been achieved, livestreaming and making videos were only Chen Ge¡¯s hobby.

    ¡°Long time no see, guys.¡± Chen Ge bit his lips, feeling like he just said that to someone earlier. After a brief greeting to the public, Chen Ge went straight to the point and named the streamer, Liu Gang. From the start, heid the truth on the table. Liu Gang himself had not been to Jiujiang, so how did he know the situation at New Century Park? He was a man with no responsibility to his words. Those who followed Chen Ge¡¯s ounts were people who liked his videos and visitors of his Haunted House, so there were manyments in support of Chen Ge. But soon, there came another voice in the chatroom. Some unknown ounts ndered Chen Ge by calling him out for being a heartless businessman, a scammer, and for employing the disgusting advertisement method.

    ¡°Thoseing to Haunted House seek excitement. If my Haunted House is not scary, then you can say I have scammed my visitors, but everyone who has visited my ce has left a goodment, so how can you im that I have scammed my visitors?¡± Chen Ge fired back with truths, trying to flood out the falsehood that was released by these uncouth inte users. ¡°Has my Haunted House failed to scare you, or is the price of forty per ticket too expensive? My Haunted House has been in Jiujiang for more than a decade, and I have only increased the price once. The word heart and care for the visitors is inly written on my face, so how am I a heartless businessman?¡±

    Be it from quality or price, Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House was indeed a unique existence on the inte.

    ¡°Boss Chen, that Liu Gang also released a video on his ount! He has stated a lot, but mainly, it¡¯s about how he has seen through your trick and has gone to great lengths to nder your name.¡± Some users liked to watch the world burn and helped release news from both sides.

    ¡°There is something like that?¡± Chen Ge was livestreaming from his phone, so he flipped open theic to call over Ol¡¯ Bai, who was teaching the newbies, and had him summon Zhang Jingjiu. Ten minutester, Zhang Jingjiu, who had not removed his make up, entered the room. Chen Ge used his phone to watch Liu Gang¡¯s video. It was unclear where the man got the information about the Haunted House, and one of the pictures from Night of the Living Dead had been ced by Liu Gang on the front page. There was a sentence underneath it¡ª¡¯This is it? Now I understand why he only dared to raise his ticket price once in the past ten years.¡¯

    The tform was Liu Gang¡¯s territory. He had more than a hundred thousand fans there, and the few who supported Chen Ge were overwhelmed practically instantly. Everywhere, there was mockery and sarcasm, and more and more members of the public were fooled. There were many users who had been to Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, and there were many who supported Chen Ge, but the man had the power to ban people frommenting, so Chen Ge¡¯s supporters were powerless in his territory. Seeing that the man was being proactive, Chen Ge felt reactive. He whispered a few words to Zhang Jingjiu and then spoke to his own livestream.

    ¡°I have seen Liu Gang¡¯s video. The whole thing is a bunch of nonsense. He used a picture from ten years ago to lie to others, and miraculously, a bunch of idiots still fall for it. Truth speaks louder than words. The visitors who havee to my Haunted House before know the quality of my Haunted House.

    ¡°Here, I wish to ask to Liu Gang a question, since you said my Haunted House is trash and not scary, would you dare ept my invitation toe visit?¡±

    Chen Ge knew the man probably still would note, so he lowered the difficulty.

    ¡°Tomorrow, my new scenario will open to the public. I will allow you to bring ten people with you to visit it together! If ten of you are still afraid, that¡¯s fine. I will even allow you to livestream the whole process and allow you to interact with your fans throughout. If you still don¡¯t feel rxed enough, how about we make the bet bigger? After eleven of you have visited my Haunted House, as long as one of you can say honestly that my Haunted House is not scary, I will immediately openly apologize to you on my livestream.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s words stunned all the users in his chatroom. Even if they were afraid, surely they could say that they were not afraid. Furthermore, the more people who visited the Haunted House, the less scary it would be. Allowing eleven people to enter at the same time and giving him the chance to interact with his fans on livestream... it looked like Chen Ge was bound to lose.

    Those kind users persuaded Chen Ge not to do anything so rash, but those who had challenged the Haunted House before all revealed sneaky smiles. For those who jumped directly to a high difficulty scenario without trying out a low quality ones first were simply seeking death.

    ¡°You heard what I said. Liu Gang, don¡¯t make me look down on you, and don¡¯t disappoint the many fans that you have.¡±

    When Chen Ge said those things on his livestream, there was a user called Wine for Moonlight in Liu Gang¡¯sment area who started a thread with many crazyments that ndered Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. He imed that he had visited the Haunted House before, that it was not scary, that it was all a lie, and that he supported Liu Gang to visit the ce fully. Seeing that, Chen Ge was not mad at all because that Wine for Moonlight was Zhang Jingjiu. This post was lighting fire under Liu Gang¡¯s bottom, forcing him to ept the invitation.

    The thread initially did not have much poprity, but soon, another big streamer and blogger appeared in that thread, and that person was the Haunted House reviewer who had reviewed Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House before¡ªYe Xiaoxin.

    When the Third Sick Hall first opened, she had visited and almost fainted, but she was now good friends with Chen Ge. She not only shared this thread but had her followers all go to push it up and leavements for Liu Gang. They all campaigned for Liu Gang to take a break and visit Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, using a professional angle to analyze how unscary Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House was. With the help from big name like Ye Xiaoxin, Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s thread soon became the top thread in Liu Gang¡¯sment area. As long as someone saw his video, they would see the thread.

    ¡°This girl sure is wicked, but I quite like it.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s lips curled up into a smile. He realized that more and more people were leavingments in the thread, and most of them were his allies. They said things like Liu Gang was not a man. If he did not take the challenge, they would unfollow him and so on.

    All thements stated that Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House was not scary. The manager of thement area did not know who to ban, and honestly, they too were quite confused.

    After an hour, Liu Gang finally released a second video. He had a fan in his hand and showed the tickets that he had bought to the camera. ¡°If certain people are too foolish to see the truth, then I will go and help them understand the level that they are at.¡±

    Then he handsomely opened the fan, which had on it¡ª¡¯Such buffoonery!¡¯

    ¡°We¡¯ll see you tomorrow at 9 am. Good night.¡±

    The video was short, and there was cheer on Liu Gang¡¯s side. Everyone praised Brother Gang for his manliness, and that included Ye Xiaoxin and Zhang Jingjiu and the many other allies of Chen Ge. Seeing that Liu Gang had purchased the ticket, Chen Ge alsoughed gaily.

    ¡°Is it too simple for eleven people to find thirteen paintings? Should I add some other missions?¡±

 Chapter 915 - Brother Gang, Real Man! [2 in 1]

    <strong>Chapter 915: Brother Gang, Real Man! [2 in 1]</strong>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    Chen Ge directly challenged Liu Gang through his livestream, and Liu Gang uploaded a video in response to Chen Ge. The big names that belonged to two different tforms crossed swords on the inte, and that naturally attracted the attention of many inte users. Some of the rowdier bunch had already started a bet to see whether Liu Gang would be able to clear Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House sessfully. The winds on the news headlines were blowing every each way. The people behind the futuristic theme park and Director Luo from New Century Park only pushed the waves higher because both parties believed that they already had victory in their hands, and they tried their best to promote this as much as they could.

    The tforms that they were on also reacted swiftly. Liu Gang¡¯s tform specially opened a topic for Liu Gang while the short video tform that Chen Ge was on pushed his livestream to the front page. While Liu Gang and Chen Ge were shooting daggers at each other, there were calm and collected inte users who had seen through the smoke and mirrors. This challenge regarding a Haunted House on the surface looked like a conflict between Chen Ge and Liu Gang, but actually, it was apetition between New Century Park and the futuristic theme park. Jiujiang was not a big state, and it was a quickly developing city. While it had a lot of potential, with its current poption, it was hard for it to cultivate tworge theme parks. Therefore, between New Century Park and the futuristic theme park, one would have to be the sacrifice.

    Based on the current situation, the futuristic theme park had a bigger chance of winning. All of its presale tickets had been sold out, but in terms of pure poprity and word of mouth, New Century Park was more on people¡¯s lipspared to the futuristic theme park. Other than that, Chen Ge, the operator of the haunted house, was an individual who would create topics of interest whenever he went, so it was very hard to say who would end up as the final victor.

    There was chaos online as the fans of both parties went back and forth. Everyone had their own pride to maintain, and neither party was willing to back down. Therefore, everyone sat waiting to see the result the following day. Chen Ge maintained his livestream until the afternoon. When he started his livestream, there had been 400,000 fans, and when he logged off the stream, the number of fan had already jumped up to 650,000 people. This could almost be considered a miracle.

    Turning off the camera on his phone, Chen Ge picked up the tea cup on the table next to him to quench his thirst. ¡°I said too much. Now, my throat is parched. It is much easier tomunicate with ghosts and Specters.¡±

    Pulling open the curtains, Chen Ge stretched his limbs and body. ¡°The new scenario still needs a bunch of mannequins. I wonder how Qu Changlin is doing. How many mannequins has he finished?¡±

    Chen Ge ran out of the Haunted House. Once he saw himself, he heard the cheer from the visitors outside. Many people were staring at his face, which could not be called handsome.

    ¡°Boss Chen, we have seen your livestream! You¡¯re awesome! Tomorrow, you have to scare that b*stard until he wets his pants!¡±

    ¡°That Liu Gang truly is seeking death. That is the only reason I can think of to exin why he is so desperate to see the world after death.¡±

    ¡°Brother Chen! We¡¯re on your side!¡±

    The visitors who lined up outside the Haunted House were mostly old customers of the ce, and they included the strategy team from Jiujiang Medical University. Initially,ing to the Haunted House was just a hobby and a way to rx for them. Yet, in the end, the bunch of juniors had been tripped there again and again, andter, the seniors did not end up with a better result. Those passionate and inspired youngsters followed the order that came from above and came to challenge the Haunted House almost daily. This had be basically an obsession for them. The only thing left was to drag their professors and teachers along with them.

    Strangely, the headmaster of the medical university still had nightmares every few days. He kept dreaming about his former teachering into his dreams to lecture him. However, the headmaster could not remember the details of the lecture after he woke up¡ªall he could remember in his hazy memory was the term Haunted House at the New Century Park. The headmaster was not someone who believed in ghosts, but after having the same nightmare again and again, no matter who it was, their conviction would be shaken. Therefore, even the headmaster himself wished that they would clear the Haunted House as soon as possible. A bunch of medical students who would go into the field to face the real criminals of the world in the future. How could they fail to handle even a simple Haunted House?

    ¡°Tomorrow, the Haunted House will be opening a new scenario for visitation. Be sure toe again tomorrow to join in the fun.¡± Chen Ge smiled as he greeted these familiar faces and then waded through the crowd. Chen Ge arrived at the mannequin workshop at around 4 pm. Qu Changlin did not disappoint him. This actor who had been isted at Xin Hai Haunted House possessed an incredible talent for mannequin production. Mannequins should be all the same, but the ones made by Qu Changlin were extremely scary. It was as if one could see the emotions through the seemingly alive eyes inside the mannequin¡¯s heads.

    ¡°All I wanted to do was make apany that consoles the lonely hearts of the world, but it is just my luck that I ran into the both of you.¡± Qian Guigen looked at the eerie-looking mannequin heads and limbs that filled up his workshop and shook his head with a sigh.

    ¡°Don¡¯t listen to the rambling of the boss. Changlin, you have done a splendid job.¡± There were a lot of things to do, so Chen Ge went to provide help. When he used his Dollmaker¡¯s Talent to work with the mannequins, Qu Changlin, who stood at the side watching, was shocked. The skill was godlike, and he forgot to even catch his breath. He felt like Chen Ge was not making mannequins for a Haunted House but was creating a piece of art of the human body.

    ¡°Mannequins also have souls. Only by providing them with souls will the visitors be able to feel their authenticity.¡± The theme park closed for business at 6 pm, but none of the employees at the Haunted House left. Zhang Jingjiu and Scissors drove the van provided by the theme park and ferried the first batch of mannequins back to the Haunted House. Xu Wan and Gu Feiyu stayed behind to help wherever they could. Every part of the theme park was filled with busy figures. All the personnel were preparing for the battle toe.

    At around 8 pm, after everything had generally settled down, the workers got off work one after another. At the same time, Chen Ge received a phone call from Director Luo. ¡°Everything is ready. Tomorrow morning, the designer of the Reincarnation scenario for the futuristic theme park wille to visit your Haunted House, and then in the afternoon, you will go to their theme park to visit their scenario. The whole process will be livestreamed, but...¡± Director Luo paused for a moment. ¡°The people from the futuristic theme park gave their promise a bit too easily. There must be something malicious about this. You have to be careful when you are there tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Director Luo, you know that I am a very careful person.¡± After hanging up, Chen Ge focused back on his work. The employees from the Haunted House all came to help, and they worked until 11 pm.

    ¡°You guys should go home and have a good sleep. Leave the rest to me.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone and nced at the time.

    ¡°Boss, are you sure you can handle it alone?¡±

    ¡°Boss, I normally sleep at two or three. For me, the night life has just begun. I am not in a hurry to leave.¡±

    ¡°Boss, why don¡¯t you take some rest as well?¡±

    Hearing all that and seeing that none of his employees were quick to abandon him, Chen Ge¡¯s heart was warmed. ¡°Listen to me¡ªgo home now. If you don¡¯t listen to my order, I will dock your pay.¡±

    After every employee left, Chen Ge sent each of them a bonus and then continued with his work. At 2 am, all the mannequins were done, and Chen Ge loaded them onto the van. At the Haunted House, with the aid of the ghost employees, the work was much more efficient. They only took half an hour to ce all the mannequins at the locations that had previously been decided.

    ¡°The fake and the real, the real and the fake. The ghost that you see is only a mannequin, and the thing that you believe is just a mannequin is a real ghost that has been following behind you.¡± Chen Ge made a few more small props to fill up the new scenario. He only returned to the staff breakroom to rest at 4 am. ¡°Every morning, the sun will rise just the same, but the people who see the sun rising will be different.¡±

    Chen Ge hugged Xiaoxiao and the white cat in his embrace. He leaned against the bed post and slowly fell asleep. After who knew how long, Chen Ge, who was half asleep, was woken up by the ringtoneing from his phone. When he saw the time on his phone, he instantly jolted out of his sleepiness.

    Putting the white cat down, Chen Ge rushed to the toilet to take a quick cold shower and changed into a new set of clothes. He looked at himself in the mirror and showed the most quintessential and kind smile, which was required in the service business.

    ¡°All those months of hard work have been for today.¡±

    Wiping away the water vapor from the surface of the mirror, Chen Ge turned to head outside. Putting aside the thick curtain, the sun shone on his face. Chen Ge pulled open the gate of the Haunted House with a smile on his face. The few employees of his Haunted House had already arrived.

    ¡°Today, we will have more visitors than usual. We have to be more careful. Come, I will help you guys with your make-up.¡±

    Before it was even 8 am, all the employees at the New Century Park had started to get busy. Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House¡¯s entrance had two new working stations¡ªone was to check the hand bands, and the other had a use that Director Luo had not informed Chen Ge of. However, there were six medical boxes that could be seen sitting neatly under the station.

    At 8.15 am, all the workers assumed their position, and the theme park broadcasted the music all over the ce. At 8.30 am, the cars from the media outlets started to arrive at the entrance of the park. At 8.40 am, arge number of visitors had filled up the eastern and western gates of the theme park. There were many who were not locals of Jiujiang. They had purposelye from outside to take part in this momentous day. Seeing this, all the workers inside the theme park had their hearts drop in relief. They had all worried that no one would choose New Century Park during this holiday season.

    At 8.45 am, a few workers carried several video cameras into theme park, and it was then that Director Luo made a phone call to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Director Luo, do you need me?¡±

    ¡°Go and look at Liu Gang¡¯s front page. Their tform has made a theme park counter app. It can be used to calcte and monitor the number of visitors taken in by a theme park in real time. This should be the idea of the futuristic theme park; they want to make a joke out of us.¡±

    Director Luo¡¯s voice was even. He was like a rock in the middle of the sea¡ªno matter how strong the wind, how high the waves, he would not be affected. It was because of Director Luo¡¯s steadfast support that New Century Park had been able to survive more than a decade.

    ¡°It is too early to tell who will be theughingstock today.¡± Looking at the visitors who had gathered, Chen Ge had a confidence boost.

    ¡°It is not wise to underestimate the futuristic theme park.¡± Director Luo sent a few pictures to Chen Ge¡¯s phone. The carpark for the futuristic theme park was filled with cars, and the four entrances that they had were also filled with visitors. ¡°Based on the current situation, the futuristic theme park will be able to ept at least 19,000 visitors today. That number has only been achieved by our theme park once in our years of business, and that was during our first year. Other than that, I am worried about another thing.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Managing a theme park is a long and lengthy business. The reason so many people came to our theme park today is because I have made a little hook on our promotional video. Our theme park has been in business in Jiujiang for a decade already. Many people have precious memories here, and I suppose you could say that I have gone with the theme of nostalgia. Look, the visitors who have came to line up so early in the morning, most of them purely want to preserve this memory.¡± Director Luo¡¯s voice had a subtle change to it. ¡°I truly appreciate that they havee to support us at this moment, but after taking them out of the equation, we have actually lost half of the battle at the beginning. Our poprity on the inte is very high, but there are not many who would purposelye to Jiujiang to visit us.¡±

    ¡°It will be fine. Once our reputation has been made and stabilized, in the future, more and more people wille to visit us. In terms of overall services, we are indeed nopetition for the futuristic theme park, but they are too ambitious. They have to be good at everything, so we will use that against them and destroy them little by little.¡±

    Chen Ge knew that was going to be very difficult, but that was the only choice. He also went to download the theme park counter app. New Century Park and futuristic theme park were featured on the front page, and ording to the number of the online presale tickets, the futuristic theme park had twice the number of New Century Park.

    ¡°The situation does not bode well for us at least on the surface, but I will things will change if we all work hard together.¡±

    At 8.50 am, the workers started to wee the visitors who had been waiting outside the gates. At 9 am, both New Century Park and the futuristic theme park opened for business at the same time!

    On the counter app, the number of ticket sales started to rocket. The numbers shot up at about the same time, and there was no clear winner or loser.

    ¡°Return to your scenarios! Prepare for business!¡±

    The first bunch that charged into the New Century Park were the media reporters who were after the newsworthiness, and following them were the old customers of Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. Then, there were many new visitors who were there out of curiosity, andstly, there were the normal visitors.

    The theme park had been open for three minutes, and a long queue had already formed outside Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. The resting hall was also filled with people. The new screens that were installed outside the Haunted House were cycling through the various promotional ads for the different scenarios. Uncle Xu and two other workers were responsible for scanning the tickets. Meanwhile, Chen Ge stood at the entrance of the Haunted House as if waiting for something.

    At around 9.20 am, there was a smallmotion at the entrance of the New Century Park. After a short and temporary argument, a group of people made a beeline toward Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. Some of them were carrying cameras, and others were capturing videos on their phones directly¡ªthey pulled a lot of attention.

    There were two of them who were leading. One of them was carrying a fan and had a big face. Without the filter of the camera lens, his skin appeared dark. The man appeared to see himself as some kind of cultured individual. Seeing the people that bustled about, a frown started to crease on his head. The other group leader had an ID from the futuristic theme park around his neck. He wore thin-rimmed sses. He had light brow and very fair skin like he had not been exposed to the sun for a very long time.

    With the aid of his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could see them from a far. The one with the fan and big face was Liu Gang, and the other had to be the designer employed by the futuristic theme park. His name was written on the ID badge, and he was called Bai Buhui.

    ¡°The people of futuristic theme park came with Liu Gang. Looks like my previous guess was correct after all.¡± Chen Ge was indeed waiting for them. The visitors were obediently queuing up, but a few of them did not follow the rules and cut to the front of the line immediately.

    ¡°Go back there and line up! Didn¡¯t your parents teach you how to respect other people before?¡± It was about the turn for the students from Jiujiang Medical University. When they realized that someone had cut in line, they yelled to stop them immediately.

    ¡°We are not here to visit. Yesterday, the boss of this Haunted House made the taunt so carelessly online, thinking that I would not dare answer his challenge. I cannot wait to see the expression on his face now that I am here.¡± Liu Gang pped open the fan. He had a polite tone to his words, but still, he did not go and line up.

    ¡°You really think the boss is afraid of you? You think he was just bluffing? Have youe to the right ce?¡± The student from the university thought that he had misheard. He was about to ask for more when Chen Ge walked over.

    ¡°Guys, there is no need to argue with them.¡± Chen Ge had a face full of smiles as he pointed at Liu Gang. ¡°They are here to challenge the four-star scenario.¡±

    ¡°Challenge the new scenario?¡± The students from the medical university quickly retreated away from them. ¡°Then, we haven¡¯t said anything. Please go ahead!¡±

    ¡°Such a fake performance.¡± Liu Gang half lifted his head to look at Chen Ge. ¡°You are much more presentable in person. I can¡¯t believe you are the same person who was barking like a crazy on the inte yesterday.¡±

    ¡°Since you are here, you are one of my visitors. I am always kind to my customer.¡± Chen Ge could not wait any longer. ¡°Pleasee with me, I will bring you to the new scenario.¡±

    ¡°Wait a moment.¡± Liu Gang ignored the halt that he had created by standing there. More than ten people squeezed through the door. He had the man who carried the camera aim it at him. ¡°You can start now.¡±

    He took out his phone to open the tform that he was on. After ensuring that there were no issues, he smiled at the camera.

    ¡°Good morning, my dear Gang fans. I am Liu Gang. I am currently at the entrance of that Haunted House, and this person next to me is the boss who sent me a challenge yesterday. Now, I will livestream the whole process of my visit as I challenge histest Haunted House scenario!¡± Liu Gang was good at setting the atmosphere. He pped the fan. ¡°Without further ado, please prepare your popcorn and watch me show you the truth today!¡±

    As he spoke, many fans showered him with donations and money. The whole chat was filled with praise for their Brother Gang, their manly Brother Gang, the manliest person there ever was.

 Chapter 916 - Have a Good Time

    <h4>Chapter 916: Have a Good Time</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The connection was stable. Liu Gang was satisfied with the livestream effect. He closed the fan and nced at Chen Ge. ¡°Don¡¯t panic. We promised to livestream the whole process yesterday.¡±

    ¡°Is the cameraman part of the ten members who will be following you?¡± Chen Ge noticed that the cameraman was very muscr and looked quite fierce.

    ¡°Of course, I am not one to bend the rules. If I am to win, I will win fair and square.¡± Liu Gang and the person from the futuristic theme park walked at the front. Next to them were the cameraman and someone who seemed to be Liu Gang¡¯s assistant. He carried a phone and had been watching Liu Gang¡¯s streaming tform. Other than those four, there were seven other people in Liu Gang¡¯s team. It was hard to tell from their appearance, but they shoulde from different backgrounds. Who knew how Liu Gang had gathered them?

    ¡°Uncle Xu, give the eleven of them tickets to the School of the Afterlife.¡± When Uncle Xu gave the tickets, Chen Ge yelled at the queuing visitors, ¡°The new scenario is very big. The more visitors, the less scary it¡¯ll be. Are there any visitors who have challenged three-star scenario wish to challenge it?¡±

    When the strategy team at the resting hall heard this, their interest was rather piqued. The seniors from the medical university discussed among themselves and finally decided to have two new students join them. Those new students often used Boss Chen¡¯s Haunted House to joke about at school. This would be the perfect chance to teach them a lesson.

    ¡°Can you move it faster? We have booked an afternoon ne ticket. We need to wrap up here and rush back home,¡± the man who appeared to be Liu Gang¡¯s assistant urged.

    ¡°This is the first time the new scenario has been open. Naturally, there will be more visitors to handle. If you really can¡¯t wait, you can go in first.¡± Chen Ge had Uncle Xu handle the second batch of visitors while he led Liu Gang and Bai Buhui into the Haunted House. Pulling back the thick ck curtain, it was as if they had entered a different world. ¡°Please sign these disimers and then scan the code to obtain your triangtion band.¡±

    Chen Ge handed the disimers to each of them and enjoyed their scornful looks. After confirming that everyone had signed, Chen Ge ced the documents in the cupboard and locked it with a big padlock.

    Among the crowd, a short fe started toin impatiently. ¡°Can you please move faster? Why waste time on nonsense like this? I¡¯ve been to so many Haunted Houses, and yours is the draggiest.¡±

    Chen Ge smiled,pletely unaffected. ¡°The scenario that you¡¯re going to visit is called School of the Afterlife. It is filled with ghost stories rted to schools and is hidden with endless ghosts. Even though there has been some conflict between us, as a responsible operator, I have to tell you that this new scenario is very dangerous, and if you¡¯re not careful, you might not be able to return.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Yes. Of course.¡± The shorty groaned.

    Liu Gang livestreamed the whole process, so Chen Ge had to go through the motions clearly and precisely. It would not take long for the viewing users to realize how hardworking and honest Chen Ge was and develop a good impression of this Haunted House owner.

    ¡°Okay, you havee to ept my challenge, so I will not purposely make this difficult for you. The new scenario consists of five main quests and many side quests. As long as you canplete one of the main quests, I will admit defeat.¡± Chen Ge looked like a fair and honest person. ¡°Since you are livestreaming the whole process, I will not purposely scam you. Of the five quests, there are easier quests, and some are harder. They are all inside this wooden box. Draw one yourself.¡±

    Chen Ge took out the box that he had made the previous night from the counter and ced a taped ballpoint pen inside the box. He raised the box and wrote the following on the surface.

    ¡°Quest 1: Find thirteen oil paintings in the School of the Afterlife and ce all of them in the art club¡¯s painting room. Time limit: one hour.

    ¡°Quest 2: Discover the secret of the revived soul, locate the phone of the missing Lin Sisi, and help himplete his wish. Time limit: one hour.

    ¡°Quest 3: The headmaster of the School of the Afterlife has always been a mystery. His office is hidden at the deepest despair of the school. Time limit: one hour.

    ¡°Quest 4: Explore the seven biggest mysteries of the school! Replication of the ssic! The past of the seven Specters!

    ¡°Quest 5: Blood fog floods the corridors¡ªthe inverted mirror is the only exit.¡±

    Just from wording, the first quest seemed the simple. There was no puzzle solving or taking risks¡ªone only needed to search. The other quests were either rted to ghosts or had very vague descriptions.

    ¡°There are paper notes with numbers inside the box. The number will decide which quest you will take.¡± Chen Ge then presented the box to Liu Gang. The few looked at each other; the drawing of the mission would directly affect the difficulty of the scenario.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± Liu Gang reached into the box and pulled out a note. Scribbled on it was the number one.

    ¡°Quest one!¡± Liu Gang sighed in relief as he stole a look at Chen Ge. He noticed that Chen Ge¡¯s brows were slightly creased. ¡°If not due to the time limit, it would have been nice toplete all the quests. This is such a shame.¡±

    ¡°You drew the quest yourself. That was your choice,¡± Chen Ge said expressionlessly with a slight tone of regret. In reality, he did not mind the result. The box was full of white paper. No matter which Liu Gang drew, Chen Ge had told the pen spirit to write down one on it. He was worried that other visitors might join the group, so he did not write one on all the notes but used a method like this.

    ¡°Now, can we start the visit?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a third thing.¡± Chen Ge ced the box back on the counter and led everyone to the Specter¡¯s Changing Room. ¡°Normally, the visitors are required to change to explore the new scenario, but since this is your first time here, I¡¯m not going to enforce it. However, take your student ID. Remember, no matter what, do not lose it. Only by having your ID will you not get lost.¡±

    After everyone got their IDs, footsteps came from the front counter. Another five visitors entered. Two of them were students from Jiujiang Medical University, and the other three stood at the back to ensure that they would not be caught on the cameras. The five signed the contract and drew the quest. They ¡®luckily¡¯ got the fifth quest.

    ¡°Come here.¡± When everyone was ready, Chen Ge led them underground. Yellowed paper fluttered on the ground, and the visitors¡¯ screams echoed in their ears.

    ¡°Follow me.¡± Chen Ge led the sixteen visitors underground and stopped between Mu Yang High School and the underground morgue.

    ¡°This is the School of the Afterlife?¡± Liu Gang silently wiped away the sweat from his forehead.

    ¡°That is the two-star scenario, Mu Yang High School. The scenario that you¡¯re going to visit is here.¡± Chen Ge pushed open the rusted gates, and screams floated out from within. Chilly wind crawled into their clothes, and a feeling of being observed appeared.

    Liu Gang retreated subconsciously. His body told him to run. If not for the livestream, he would have escaped already.

    ¡°The time limit for the first quest is one hour, but if you wish to leave earlier, just call for help. The time starts now. Enjoy.¡± From beginning to end, Chen Ge maintained a smile, so no one could find any fault with him.

    Bang!

    The gates of the School of the Afterlife closed heavily. The chains were tied, and the only exit was sealed. Walking out from the underground, Chen Ge entered the main control room. He switched on ck Friday and Wedding Dress, and the familiar rhythm rang in his ears.

 Chapter 917 - We Are a Team

    <h4>Chapter 917: We Are a Team</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Did you notice that the background music has changed?¡± Bai Buhui looked at the rowdy visitors. This was the first time that he had spoken, and his voice was cold and detached like he did not care about anything or anyone.

    ¡°This means that the game has started, right? We have limited time. Let¡¯s not waste time at the entrance anymore and go find those oil paintings.¡± The anxious shorty walked ahead. There was only curiosity in his eyes but no fear.

    ¡°Buhui, don¡¯t mind him. This buddy of mine is a straight shooter.¡± Liu Gang stood in the middle of the group. The many visitors gave him a sense of security. ¡°You can call him Little Ghost. The tall, thin one next to him is called Big Ghost, and the girl in short dress is Sister Ghost. The trio are outdoor livestream experts on our tform. It¡¯s an everyday thing for them to spend a night at graves and morgues.¡±

    ¡°Outdoor livestream?¡± Bai Buhui nced at the shorty and nodded. ¡°I seem to have scrolled through their livestream when I was bored. Yes, it was very boring. What about the rest?¡±

    ¡°All the friends that I have with me are very special.¡± Liu Gang made a simple introduction to Bai Buhui.

    ¡°The cameraman is nicknamed Muscle. He used to be a cameraman for a survival series. He¡¯s not afraid of tigers or bears, much less a small Haunted House.

    ¡°The one with the phone is my assistant. Even though he¡¯s not that brave, he¡¯s my closest friend¡ªwe¡¯re always together.

    ¡°The bald one is called Liu Guangming. He is the most courageous one among ourpany¡¯s security group, and the man is damn lucky. He has brushed past death several times. The people around him were all injured, but he was fine.

    ¡°The three students are all supernatural aficionados. They might look young, but they have participated in several courage trials videopetitions. They are popr online and know ghost stories about school like the back of their hand. There¡¯s basically nothing that can scare them.¡±

    Liu Gang introduced his team until his brows went flying, but the more Bai Buhui listened, the deeper his frown. In the end, before Liu Gang named the three students, he cut him off. ¡°You only brought the few of them for a livestream challenge?¡±

    ¡°Is that not enough? They are all professionals.¡± Liu Gang was proud. He kept the smile on his face and ensured that he looked confident before the camera.

    ¡°Professionals? These people?¡± Bai Buhui¡¯s lips twitched. He wished to tell them about when people from the futuristic theme park visited Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. Some of them were still lying at the hospital. But considering the whole process was livestreamed and mindful of Liu Gang¡¯s face, Bai Buhui did not say it directly but uttered in a roundabout way, ¡°Just ignore the quest. His haunted house is quite boring. We will just walk around, and the one hour will soon be over.¡±

    Bai Buhui was the representative from the futuristic theme park. The reason they had chosen to ept Chen Ge¡¯s challenge was because Chen Ge had pushed them too far. As long as one of them could function normally at the end of the tour, and even if that person lied, saying that the Haunted House was not scary, they would have won. After all, lying was such people¡¯s second nature; how could Chen Ge control what they said?

    Challenging the scenario with eleven people at the same time, the futuristic theme park thought that there was no chance of losing.

    ¡°Buddy, are you kidding? We¡¯re here to undermine his business. If we do notplete the quest, the inte users will riot.¡± Shorty looked down on Bai Buhui. He felt that the man had a less than manly way of speaking.

    ¡°You have no idea...¡±

    ¡°Little Ghost is right. If we don¡¯tplete the quest, why are we even here?¡± The woman in short dress interrupted Bai Buhui. She had a good figure and dressed lightly. She kept consciously and subconsciously walking to stand before the camera, like she was careless about being seen by Liu Gang¡¯s viewers.

    Little Ghost had an anxious personality, Sister Ghost liked to show off, and Big Ghost did not like to speak, keeping quiet. Bai Buhui had his own n, but no one was listening to him, so he had to turn to Liu Gang for help. ¡°Liu Gang, we have to be steady. No matter what, we have to survive this one hour as safe as we can.¡±

    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll listen to you.¡± Liu Gang¡¯s attention was now on the number of viewers. The number of online viewers was close to a hundred thousand¡ªhis heart was blossoming with flowers. At his level, it was hard to push for an increase in followers, but this challenge had brought him hope. The endless chant of ¡°Brother Gang is a real man¡± refreshed the chatroom. He really felt like he was not afraid of anything, and nothing could scare him.

    ¡°We¡¯re here to challenge, so it¡¯s necessary that we do the quest, but we can¡¯t be too rash lest we¡¯re led away by the boss.¡± The three students from the back of the group walked over. The leader was about 1.8 meters tall and wore ck-rimmed sses. ¡°Let me introduce myself. My name is Lan Dong. I¡¯m a cryptology enthusiastic, and I love to study...¡±

    ¡°No one asked for your input, and I do not wish to know.¡± Bai Buhui was in a bad mood. Looking at his teammates, he felt angry. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have trusted Liu Gang. I should have brought my own team. No, the entire team should be people from our theme park!¡±

    ¡°Fine, then I shan¡¯t waste time and exin the n in simple ways.¡± Lan Dong changed his tone. ¡°We need to find these thirteen oil paintings in one hour. This scenario is gigantic. If we wish toplete the quest, we¡¯d better split up.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Bai Buhui almost cursed. ¡°The bigger our group, the safer it is. We mustn¡¯t split up; we have to stay together!¡±

    ¡°I just gave a suggestion. There¡¯s no need for such a big response.¡± Lan Dong felt insulted and gave Liu Gang a side-eye. ¡°Brother Gang, your friend seems to know everything, doesn¡¯t he?¡±

    Before the exploration began, Liu Gang¡¯s team was already arguing. They did not give off a reliable feeling. The five visitors who walked at the back came over after a long discussion.

    ¡°We heard that this Haunted House is very scary. Can we join you? There are five of us,¡± the senior from Jiujiang Medical University said softly. He was also a student like Lan Dong, and the youths couldmunicate easier among themselves.

    ¡°Of course, there is no problem. But honestly, you¡¯re just scaring yourself. This Haunted House...¡±

    Liu Gang acted like a gentleman before the camera, but before he could finish, Bai Buhui cut him off again. ¡°No, we need to lose them!¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say, the more the better?¡±

    ¡°There might be Haunted House workers mixed among them. It¡¯s not safe to go with them.¡± Bai Buhui was one of the designers from the futuristic theme park. With the information from his colleagues, he knew about the tricks at Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to have such attitude even if you don¡¯t want to bring us.¡± One of the middle-aged men grabbed the hand of the woman next to him. ¡°Yue, let¡¯s go. Do they think we want to follow them?¡±

    The middle-aged man led his girlfriend away. As unwilling as the two medical students were, they did not stay with Liu Gang but left with the middle-aged man. Of the five, now only one remained. The man wore a thick jacket and long pants even in the summer. He had his hands in his pockets. He did not follow anyone and walked away on his own.

    ¡°Buhui, rx. So what if they are the worker here?¡± Liu Gang acted carefree before the camera, but there was dissatisfaction toward Bai Buhui in his tone. After saying that, he turned to the camera. ¡°This buddy of mine is easily scared, and this is an online livestream, so he¡¯s nervous. Please forgive him, everyone.¡±

 Chapter 918 - Starting

    <h4>Chapter 918: Starting</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Stop wasting time, we¡¯ll start the exploration now. There are only a few ways a Haunted House can scare its visitors. As long as you trust that nothing is real, nothing can scare you. When you see the workers, you won¡¯t feel scared but think they¡¯re acting funny.¡±

    Liu Gang ignored Bai Buhui and moved ahead. The team of eleven officially entered the School of the Afterlife. Semi-present crying came from around the corner, and the whispering of children floated on the wind. This used to be a heaven, but now it was only an empty corridor. The half-open wooden doors creaked, and there were small prints left on the wall. They carved down the good memories that the students had once had.

    ¡°This feels so real. Last year, we entered the biggest abandoned school in Xin Hai for a courage contest, and this ce gives off the same feeling.¡± Lan Dong took out his phone to snap some pictures. ¡°The ce doesn¡¯t look like it¡¯s purposely made old; it¡¯s as if the scenario is designed like this. Look at the dust in the windowsill and the burn marks on the wall.¡±

    His fingers peeled on the wall, and the dusty white paint hide ayer of burnt cement. ¡°To create this effect, one has to burn the wall once before painting on a newyer. The boss has considered even details like that?¡±

    There were two students next to Lan Dong. One was called Ah Li, slightly overweight. He looked honest. The other was a girl, very quiet and did not like to speak.

    ¡°Perhaps the boss moved some burnt walls from outside underground and redesigned them.¡± Liu Gang did not wish for his audience to see any good things about this Haunted House, so he tried to lighten the mood to decrease the sense of fear. ¡°By the way, we have been in here for five minutes already, but we haven¡¯t seen even an actor. The workers here are so unprofessional.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps they¡¯re waiting for a chance.¡± The male assistantughed in relief. He was about to walk forward when Big Ghost and Small Ghost, who led the way, suddenly stopped.

    ¡°Did you hear that weird noise?¡± Big Ghost, who had been silent thus far, asked. He looked left and right before turning to look behind them. ¡°It seems toe from behind.¡±

    ¡°What noise? Howe I didn¡¯t hear anything?¡±

    ¡°It sounds like a faucet hasn¡¯t been tightened, and water is dripping.¡± Big Ghost took several steps back and pushed open the door next to Liu Gang. It looked like a normal toilet, and there were five cubicles inside.

    ¡°Be careful. The workers might be hiding inside a cubicle.¡± The spine-tingling background music crawled into their ears, and Big Ghost and Small Ghost entered the toilet while the rest stood at the door.

    ¡°What are you so afraid of? There are so many of us. Watch me pull the actor out for everyone to see.¡± Small Ghost burst into the room. He noticed that the camera was on him, and he acted proudly. He pushed the first cubicle open with much ceremony. There was nothing inside the small space, so he continued to open all the other cubicles before stopping at the fifth cubicle.

    ¡°Wasted so much energy to build an abandoned toilet. There must be a scare point here. The water sound came from the toilet. Something must be wrong with thisst cubicle.¡± Big Ghost and Small Ghost stood at both sides of the door and pushed the door open.

    The door mmed into the wall. There was no one hiding in thest cubicle, but there was a broken diary.

    ¡°Looks like we scared ourselves for no reason.¡±

    The others entered the toilet while Big Ghost and Small Ghost picked up the book from the ground. It had some sentences written on it.

    ¡°Do not enter the dripping toilet alone. The four corners might be hiding scary spirits.

    ¡°Do not walk with your head lowered. Cold hands will press down on your head.

    ¡°Do not stay too long in the room with all the posters. They can¡¯t get out, so they will make you stay.

    ¡°Do not bite your fingers. Your fingernails will be taken away.

    ¡°Do not stare at shattered mirrors, or you might see a different you in it.

    ¡°Do not pick up and read this diary. You have read his past and will be the next him.¡±

    Small Ghost closed the tattered diary and scoffed. ¡°If I trusted these things, I wouldn¡¯t have gone to sleep at a graveyard. Boring...¡±

    He tossed the diary into the dirty toilet, and when the diary touched the water, the door of the first cubicle suddenly mmed shut. With a shiver, Small Ghost red at the other people in the room. ¡°Who shut the door? Are you mad?¡±

    ¡°No one touched it.¡± Bai Buhui stood at the back of the group. After some hesitation, his palm fell on the door of the first cubicle, and the camera turned to him. Pushing it open, there was still nothing inside the first cubicle.

    ¡°The axle doesn¡¯t have any mechanism installed on it. Why would it close then? Was it the wind?¡±

    ¡°Something¡¯s wrong!¡± The male assistant suddenly screamed, and that gave Liu Gang a jolt.

    ¡°Don¡¯t do that. What did you discover?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps I saw wrongly.¡± The male assistant forced a smile. He silently whispered into Liu Gang¡¯s ear, ¡°I have been watching your livestream. Earlier, the camera was on Bai Buhui. When he opened the door, there seemed to be a child on the image, and he was squatting inside the first cubicle.¡±

    ¡°If you weren¡¯t mistaken, the chatroom would have exploded.¡± Liu Gang nced at the chatroom. It was normal, so it was clear that the assistant was mistaken. ¡°I knew I shouldn¡¯t have brought you. Don¡¯t scare yourself. We¡¯re livestreaming. If you continue to do this, we¡¯ll lose face.¡±

    After Liu Gang had the camera on him, he put his calm demeanor back on. ¡°Alright, there is nothing to be seen inside this toilet. Let¡¯s go looking for the oil paintings and try to finish the quest in less than half an hour.¡±

    ¡°Ok.¡± Bai Buhui felt that something was wrong, but he could not pinpoint it. The group walked out of the toilet. Only the male assistant was confused. He lowered his head to look at the livestream on his phone and shook his head. ¡°Perhaps I was really mistaken.¡±

    As he was about to move outside, he felt a chill on his neck like a small hand was pressing down on him.

    ¡°Who is it?¡± Whipping his head around, the male assistant saw a pair of gray legs run past the fifth cubicle.

    ¡°What was that?¡± He did not have the courage to check it alone. He rushed after the rest and did not stay in the toilet alone.

    Drip, drip...

    Red liquid dripped out from the tap, and faded stains that looked like human faces started to appear from four corners of the toilets. The male assistant held the phone tightly. He squeezed next to Liu Gang, wondering whether he should tell him what he had seen earlier. He was very anxious, and the anxiety could not be dispersed even if he was in a crowd.

    He kept turning to look at the toilet. The strange background music crawled into his ears, and the footsteps had a strange echo to them like there was something following them.

 Chapter 919 - Non-Existent Art Club

    <h4>Chapter 919: Non-Existent Art Club</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Let¡¯s move on. Stop looking around.¡± Sister Ghost leaned close to the male assistant, much closer than necessary. ¡°Did Brother Gang inform you of the real purpose of this visit? Why is your heart beating so fast, and why are you sweating so much? Are you not feeling well?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, I¡¯m fine.¡± The male assistant pulled back his gaze. Holding his phone, his face was extraordinarily pale, and he softly grumbled, ¡°The footsteps are uneven, but the numbers are correct, thank goodness...¡±

    ¡°You are a strange man.¡± Sister Ghost wanted to ask him something, but seeing his state, she cancelled that thought.

    ¡°Little Sister, you and Little Ghost had better be more careful. This Haunted House is very uniquely designed.¡± Big Ghost silently moved to Sister Ghost¡¯s side.

    ¡°Did you hear something?¡± Sister Ghost was curious.

    ¡°Someone is calling for help. Ites from beyond the wall. I closed my eyes, trying to pinpoint the source, but it seems toe from all asides like the loudspeakers are ced everywhere.¡± Big Ghost was not good with words.

    ¡°Big Ghost, this is just a Haunted House, stop scaring yourself. Also, you¡¯d better go for a check with the doctor. If you ignore it, I¡¯m afraid the illness will be more serious.¡± Sister Ghost¡¯s voice would only turn normal when she was talking to Big and Small Ghost.

    ¡°Ok.¡±

    The group reached the end of the corridor and came to the first split in the road.

    ¡°There are markers on the wall. The club activity room, the data filing room, gymnasium, library, and swimming pool are on the left; the right has the education block,b building, and staff office.¡± Small Ghost was at the front. He looked at the words on the wall and reached out to touch them. ¡°They are carved with a knife, and there is some paint left in the grooves.¡±

    A faded red color lingered on his fingers. If he smelt it, he would have smelt a light scent of blood.

    ¡°Our goal is to take thirteen oil paintings back to the art club. That is rted to club activities, so I suggest we go to the left. We might be able to find some clues.¡± Lan Dong¡¯s ck-rimmed ss hid his excited eyes. This child seemed to treat this visit as an exploration game.

    ¡°The oil paintings are rted to the art club. That ismon knowledge, so the Haunted House boss will use that to ce various traps on the left corridor.¡± Small Ghost pointed at the right corridor. ¡°Therefore, we should apply reverse psychology and take his path. We will fluster him that way.¡±

    ¡°My little brother has a point. If we sink into the other person¡¯s tempo when we¡¯re inside a Haunted House, we¡¯ll end up being the passive party.¡± Sister Ghost supported Small Ghost no matter what, and then he nudged Big Ghost.

    Big Ghost seemed to be spacing out; he was not paying attention. With a nudge from Sister Ghost, he said as if on autopilot, ¡°The crying is getting closer. They are just around us.¡±

    This sudden deration caused the atmosphere to turn weird.

    ¡°The Haunted House¡¯s workers might being. The best solution is to retrace our step. No matter what we see, do not turn back. We will all wait at the entrance for time to run out,¡± Bai Buhui proposed to them again.

    ¡°Cough.¡± Liu Gang coughed drily. ¡°Why are the two of you helping the Haunted House raise its atmosphere? This livestream is to show the viewers how fake this ce is. If we retreat, how am I going to answer to my viewers?¡±

    ¡°Ignore them,¡± Lan Dong said with a smile. ¡°I¡¯ve seen Big and Small Ghost¡¯s supernatural show before. Going to sleep in a graveyard is not that impressive. Many so-called supernatural effects in the show are their own doing.¡±

    Lan Dong was young and had no filter. He said all that while the livestream was rolling. Even though the camera was not on him, his voice was heard by the viewers.

    ¡°F*ck you!¡± Small Ghost had an explosive temper. He rolled up his sleeves and prepared to argue it out with Lan Dong.

    ¡°The three of us have yed many supernatural games before and have been to many ces to test our bravery, to search for the presence of ghosts. Unfortunately, we have not yet run into anything too scary. All supernatural phenomena can be exined away by science.¡± Lan Dong was a studious person. He looked down on Small Ghost¡¯s belief in ghosts and walked directly to Liu Gang. ¡°Brother Gang, look closely this time. The three of us will exin everything about this Haunted House to you from a scientific perspective.¡±

    ¡°Brother Gang...¡± The male assistant wished for Lan Dong to exin the presence of those gray legs that he saw, but Liu Gang did not give him the chance.

    ¡°I understand that you wish to make the livestream as exciting as possible, but that is not necessary.¡± Liu Gang told the camera confidently, ¡°We¡¯re here to expose the truth. We do not rely on these tricks to attract attention.¡±

    ¡°You have a point. No wonder Brother Gang is a streamer with several million followers. This attitude is worth learning.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go. We¡¯ll take the left path.¡±

    Since Liu Gang had made the decision, even if the others were not satisfied, they had to keep theirments to themselves. The light dimmed, and the people at the front of the group had trouble even seeing the faces of the people at the back.

    ¡°Try to keep up!¡± The corridors were convoluted. Even though there were maps on the wall, the legends were muddled by red paint like they had been ruined by ghostly hands. They entered a few rooms, and they did not find any oil paintings, but they did find a lot of torn homework and diaries. They were filled with spine-tingling words. This school seemed to be filled with taboos. Once you did something bad, misfortune would befall you.

    Bang!

    Lan Dong pushed open the door at the corner. The wooden que that named it as the club activity center dropped to the ground. It appeared like the room had been vacated for a long time. There was a mildew-like scent, and the tables had ayer of dust on it.

    ¡°Club Activity Records?¡± The bald security guard, Liu Guangming, found a yellowed book on the table. It was filled with information from various clubs, but there was no art club. ¡°Why isn¡¯t there a record of the art club?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve been in here for ten minutes. Theoretically, speaking we should have found some clues already.¡± Lan Dong grabbed the book without permission. Before each club, there would be a ck and white picture of the club members. When he reached the end, he frowned.

    Thest page was for a supernatural observation club. For the picture of this club, all the members wore red clothes.

    ¡°Of all the pictures, only this club picture is different. The art club should be rted to this club! If we wish toplete the mission. We¡¯d better actively go and find the club members. They should give us some clues.¡± Lan Dong memorized the information about the Supernatural Observation Club. ¡°The club doesn¡¯t have an activity room, but the responsible teacher is Mr. Bai, and all the information about him will be in the staff dormitory.¡±

    ¡°Brother Dong, more than ten minutes has passed, and we haven¡¯t found even one painting. This makes the quest impossibly hard,¡± Ah Li whispered. ¡°I suggest we split up. One group can look for the paintings while the other focuses on solving the art club¡¯s mystery. That is the most efficient way toplete the quest.¡±

    ¡°Looks like that is the only solution.¡± Lan Dong turned to Liu Gang. ¡°Brother Gang, you¡¯re the leader¡ªmake the choice.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it.¡± Bai Buhui blocked the door. ¡°I¡¯ve seen many horror movies. We¡¯ll be fine if we stay together, but people insist on splitting up due to various reason. I¡¯ve always wondered why those people insist on searching for death!¡±

 Chapter 920 - Three Mini Games

    <h4>Chapter 920: Three Mini Games</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°The information for the supernatural observation club is in Mr. Bai¡¯s room, and the room and the office are down the same path. The design is purposely for us to split up.¡± Bai Buhui was very calm. ¡°When all of us stay together, even if we run into the actors, we won¡¯t be afraid, but once we are separated, we will be taken down one by one.¡±

    ¡°Taken down one by one? This is just a Haunted House. All of us have phones. If there¡¯s anything wrong, we can just call each other.¡± Lan Dong thought that Bai Buhui was being too careful. He looked more like he was betting his life with Death than visiting a Haunted House.

    <i>He¡¯s too into this.</i> Lan Dong silentlybelled Bai Buhui. He did not know about the man¡¯s identity; Liu Gang did not tell them about the futuristic theme park.

    ¡°When a person is shocked, the brain will be temporarily flustered. We will set each other¡¯s numbers as speed dial. That way, when we run into trouble, we¡¯ll be able to contact the others immediately.¡± Ah Li took out his phone to make the example. ¡°We often do this when we are out exploring. There are many other self-protective skills. If you want to learn, I can teach you.¡±

    ¡°Professional.¡± Liu Gang was satisfied with Lan Dong and Ah Li. ¡°We¡¯ll follow Xiao Dong¡¯s suggestion. The three of them plus me, the cameraman, and my assistant will go to the other path, and the rest of you can continue exploring this ce.¡±

    Since Liu Gang had spoken, the others did not voice dissenting opinions, and Bai Buhui had trouble countering him before the viewers.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not waste time. The boss gave us sixty minutes, but we will try to clear his quest in under forty minutes. I have to see the look on that man¡¯s face at the exit.¡± Liu Gang then led Lan Dong¡¯s trio and retraced their path. ¡°We¡¯ve been here for so long, and we haven¡¯t seen anything. Even if the viewers aren¡¯t bored, I am.¡±

    The cameraman followed Liu Gang closely, and they soon disappeared around the corner.

    ¡°That Lan Dong may be young, but he is a cunning little thing. The chance to expose ourselves before millions of people was taken away just like that.¡± Sister Ghost rolled her eyes. She pointed at Big and Small Ghosts, ¡°You two, say something! The reason we¡¯re here is to borrow the poprity of Liu Gang to promote our own livestream, but welp, look at us now.¡±

    Without the camera, they did not need to act like they were walking on eggshells anymore, and they spoke what was on their minds.

    ¡°Then should we continue the exploration?¡± The bald security guard, Liu Guangming, was an honest man. He was the most innocent of the group. He listened to the orders closely and did not think much when he was called toe visit this ce.

    ¡°Of course. If we locate more oil paintings than Lan Dong, the viewers will give us more approval.¡± Sister Ghost smoothed down her clothes. ¡°Sigh, wasted the time I have spent dressing up for the asion.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Bai Buhui stopped Sister Ghost. ¡°We will return the way we came and follow behind Liu Gang. If they run into anything scary, we can jump out to rescue them immediately.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a bit too...¡± Even Sister and Small Ghost thought that was inappropriate.

    ¡°Liu Gang is livestreaming the whole process, and the camera is now on them. You are dressed so sexily today. Don¡¯t tell me you n to show yourself to the ghosts?¡± Bai Buhui¡¯s words cut into Sister Ghost¡¯s heart. ¡°The three of you are after poprity, so the best choice is to follow Liu Gang. It¡¯ll be fine if we¡¯re not discovered.¡±

    Bai Buhui was a clever man and he knew how to toy with people¡¯s desires. ¡°Furthermore, those three kids aren¡¯t reliable. When they are scared to the point they pee their pants, don¡¯t you think our appearance will be very much weed?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. We¡¯ll turn back now and hurry, or else we might lose them.¡± The trio was convinced, and Liu Guangming had to follow. The five exited the club activity center. The outside corridor was empty, and Liu Gang¡¯s group was gone.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let them discover us and pay attention to your surroundings. The boss has been waiting for us to split up. Looking at the time, it¡¯s about time for him to make the move.¡± Bai Buhui and the four retraced their steps, but after turning the corner, they still did not see Liu Gang. However, they could hear footsteps not far away.

    ¡°We¡¯ll maintain this distance.¡±

    In the dim light, footsteps echoed down the corridor. With those footsteps leading the way, Bai Buhui¡¯s group was slowly led down the corridor.

    ...

    ¡°Achoo!¡± The male assistant sneezed. He clenched his phone and kept turning back. ¡°Brother Gang, Muscle, did you hear the footstepsing from behind us? It sounds like someone¡¯s following us.¡±

    ¡°Then let them follow. We¡¯re just at a Haunted House. What¡¯s the worst that can happen?¡± Liu Gang was focused on his livestream to pay attention to his assistant. They returned to the split, and when they nned to head right, the assistant suddenly stopped.

    ¡°What now?¡±

    ¡°When we were here earlier, I remember that the doors on the corridors were all open, and we went inside the toilet. I was thest toe out, and I remember clearly that I didn¡¯t close the door...¡± The assistant¡¯s eyes moved, and his face paled. ¡°Brother Gang, look at the ground.¡±

    The dusted ground had hand and footprints and trails of balls being rolled across it.

    ¡°There are things following us. They are following us!¡±

    ¡°Stop panicking! We are inside a Haunted House. Isn¡¯t it normal for the actors to follow us? This is all fake. There are no real ghosts.¡± Liu Gang used his feet to step on the rolling trail. ¡°This is a clear prop. Do you think a real ghost would use his head to roll on the ground? Is there a ghost as dumb as that?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps something was wrong with the prop. It¡¯s expected for a small Haunted House like this one.¡± Lan Dong smiled. ¡°The size of the footprints and handprints are all different. They shoulde from models. If they are from actual humans, the Haunted House¡¯s ounts will be in the red.¡±

    With thefort given by Lan Dong, the group ended the left corridor. After passing a few empty ssrooms, with the guide from the signs, they found the male dormitory.

    ¡°Why is there a staircase? There¡¯s a basement?¡± The doors of the first sub-level were all closed. They went down to the second-floor basement and found a torn diary inside the first room around the corner.

    ¡°X Year, X Month, X Day, I lost a bet with my friend, so I came to this school to test my courage. The three of us had to y three mini games. Guess the Person Behind the Door, Sitting in the Row, and Flipping Over.

    ¡°My two friends yed the previous two games, and they were fine. Finally, it was my turn. But halfway through thest game, I bent over and looked around the room in an inverted manner. I then realized that the faces of my two friends were weird, just like, just like they are dead.¡±

 Chapter 921 - Inverted

    <h4>Chapter 921: Inverted</h4>

    ¡°Even though I was afraid, I insisted on finishing the game. When I stood upright again, my friend saw that there was some paper stuck to my back. On it was the method to leave the western and eastern campuses.¡±

    The diary did not end there. Attached were the detailed instructions of the three games and the warnings. It was as if the diary was luring the readers into ying the games.

    ¡°Sessfully ying these three games will get us the way to leave the abandoned school. Looks like we are quite lucky to have found one of the main quests.¡± Lan Dong flipped the diary to thest page and carefully read how to y the three games.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t our quest to find the oil paintings?¡± The male assistant was afraid that Lan Dong might do something crazy, so he spoke to warn him, but it was still toote.

    ¡°Even if we find the paintings, we might not be able to leave. What if the boss bes desperate, doesn¡¯t keep his word, and forcibly increase the difficulty?¡± Lan Dong had considered this well.

    ¡°This Haunted House has five main quests, and we drew the easiest quest¡ªanother quest had a description rted to escape. In other words, the diary that we¡¯ve found is an important clue for another quest. If we can find the way out, we will have nothing to be afraid of. Then, we can mock the boss, pointing at the camera imaging how angry and helpless he is behind it.¡±

    Lan Dong¡¯s words were music to Liu Gang¡¯s ears. He agreed immediately. ¡°It¡¯s just three mini games; it¡¯s perfect for the livestream. We¡¯ll be done with them in five minutes. After we get the clue, we¡¯ll continue the search for the art club.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ve yed many simr games before. Nothing will happen.¡± Lan Dong held the dairy. ¡°The rule for the first game, Guess the Person Behind the Door, is very simple. Someone has to standing inside a dark room alone while the others retreat outside. No one can speak, and the people outside will pace before the door twice and knock on the door thrice. The person inside the room will call out the name of the person who knocks, and if the guess is correct, the knocker will rece the person in the room, and it will continue.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a simple game with no difficulty.¡± Liu Gang had thought that it would be some scary game, but it was just a normal kid¡¯s game. ¡°We can discuss the order beforehand, and we¡¯ll just follow that order.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what I think.¡± Lan Dong looked at the dormitory behind him. ¡°This room will do. I¡¯ll be the first. Ah Li and Xiao Chun, you¡¯ll follow. Then it¡¯ll be Brother Gang and finally the cameraman and the assistant.¡±

    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll finish this in a minute.¡± Liu Gang nodded, and the rest did not say anything. The game started, and Lan Dong entered the room and closed the door. The male dormitory was dark, and there were things ced on the bed as if there were people lying there.

    ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡± When Lan Dong said that, footsteps echoed outside the door. They were light. After two paces, the door was knocked on.

    ¡°Xiao Chun, is that you?¡± The door was pushed open, and the quiet girl entered the room. ¡°What kind of stupid game is this? Any of the games we¡¯ve yed before are scarier than this.¡±

    The footsteps began again. The people followed the predetermined order and entered the room one by one. A chill crawled into their cors, and fewer and fewer people stayed outside the door. The male assistant gripped the phone and kept looking around. In the quiet corridor, the knocking sounded harrowing, and the pacing footsteps became more unsettling. The male assistant was flustered. For some reason, he was reminded of old stories that he had been told when he was a child.

    Staying outte at night, pacing up and down the corridor will attract their attention, and when you open the door, they will follow you home.

    ¡°Why are we ying a game like this?¡± He was very afraid, and his palms were sweaty, to the point they drenched the phone. Xiao Chun, Ah Li, and Liu Gang sessfully entered the door. Only the cameraman Muscle and the assistant remained outside the door. Carrying the camera, Muscle followed the rules and walked toward the other end of the corridor, leaving the assistant alone at the door. Isted, the fear in his heart was exacerbated, and his legs were shaking.

    ¡°Just hold on, this is just a game.¡± When the male assistant¡¯s mind was wandering, Muscle was walking back. Footsteps echoed in the assistant¡¯s ears. One in front, the other behind, there were two distinct footsteps. He whipped his head around. He stared down the corridor hard. There seemed to be something approaching from the darkness.

    ¡°It¡¯s your turn.¡± Someone tapped him on his shoulder, and the male assistant jolted awake. He saw Muscle, who was one meter away.

    ¡°What are you doing? I¡¯m going in now.¡± Muscle knocked on the door and looked at the male assistant strangely. ¡°Why do you look so pale?¡±

    The door opened, and the cameraman entered the room. The assistant was the only one left. Something seemed toe from the dark. The male assistant took some deep breaths. After the cameraman entered the dormitory, the footsteps disappeared. ¡°It should be my imagination or the workers of this Haunted House.¡±

    He kept encouraging himself and moved his shaky legs. Following the rules, he headed to the end of the corridor, but once he moved, he heard two footsteps.

    ¡°It came from me?¡± He tried two more steps, and the two footsteps seemed to ovep, but he was sure that they did note from the same person. ¡°Muscle was standing here when he called after me earlier, and the footsteps began here... Wait!¡±

    The male assistant suddenly realized something.

    ¡°When Muscle greeted me, I felt a pat on my shoulder, but he was one meter away from me, and he should be carrying the camera!

    ¡°He¡¯s not the one who touched me!¡±

    A chill rushed down his spine. He was about to scream when the same spot on his shoulder was patted.

    ¡°Who is it?¡± He turned back, holding his phone. His action was so big, and due to the sweat on his palm, the phone slipped out from his hand. ¡°There is no one...¡±

    Bending over, the male assistant went to grab his phone. Through the weak light from the screen, he seemed to see something. Widening his eyes, while his body was leaned over, he saw many ¡®carcasses¡¯ dangling from the ceiling behind him. They seemed to be walking in an inverted world, and they had been following him!

    The ck hair lowered to his face, scratching his nose. The male assistant forgot how to breath. He slowly lifted his head, and many upside-down faces were there to greet him.

    ¡°Ah!¡± He lost the ability to speak. He dropped his phone and ran away from the human faces while screaming his head off. Hearing the scream outside the door, Liu Gang¡¯s group quickly opened the door, but the male assistant had already disappeared, and only the echo of his scream could be heard.

 Chapter 922 - Ball of Paper

    <h4>Chapter 922: Ball of Paper</h4>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    ¡°Where is he?¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    The door was half open. Liu Gang looked out at the empty corridor and sucked in a cold breath. The male assistant was not that brave, but he was no coward.

    What did he see when he was outside alone?

    The same question appeared in everyone¡¯s mind. None of them knew why the assistant had lost hisposure. If this was not something nned beforehand, they were in big trouble.

    ¡°Brother Gang, your friend sure is a bit of a coward.¡± Lan Dong stood next to Liu Gang, his eyes filled with confusion. They had all been standing inside the dormitory. The assistant could have easily knocked on the door for help, so why did he run down the corridor? Was it because his brain was overwhelmed by fear until he lost his basicmon sense, or was the thing that scared him standing by the door?

    The hair on the back of Lan Dong¡¯s neck stood on end. He looked around but did not notice anything scary.

    ¡°His phone is still here.¡± Ah Li was about to pick up the male assistant¡¯s phone when he noticed a bloody note next to it. ¡°Look!¡±

    He picked up the note, and the following was hastily written on it.

    ¡®There is a hidden path behind a mirror on the eastern and western campus that we used to escape the school, but after we left, we realized...¡¯

    ¡°We didn¡¯t finish the game, so why were we given the hint?¡± Ah Li held the note. ¡°Is this purposely here to misdirect us? Mirrors are something that we need to pay attention to, especially after dark. It¡¯s best not to walk around them at night.¡±

    ¡°The sacrifice of Brother Gang¡¯s assistant is not without value. At least it has revealed something important.¡± Lan Dong took the note. ¡°The boss has been watching us and is ready toe after us at any moment. The message on the note should be real. We¡¯re livestreaming this whole process, so the boss wouldn¡¯t do something to the hint. After all, he still needs to be in business. If he does something as malicious as purposely misdirecting his visitors, he will only earn the people¡¯s ire.¡±

    Before the camera, Lan Dong tried his best to analyze the situation. He was trying to distract people¡¯s attention, but he had underestimated the impact from the assistant¡¯s disappearance. Even Liu Gang¡¯s livestream was filled with question marks.

    ¡°Hold onto the note. During theter exploration, whenever we see a mirror, we¡¯ll go and give it a push.¡± Liu Gang tried to make himself calm down. This was the first time that he had heard such a scream from his assistant; it was as if his life was threatened.

    ¡°Since we¡¯ve received the hint, we can skip the other two games. We¡¯ll go look for information rted to Mr. Bai and hurry to meet up with Bai Buhui and find the art club.¡± Lan Dong did not dare act carelessly anymore. After all, in just seconds, a living human had disappeared, and that was quite scary. They did not know how or why he had disappeared, and the unknown added to the anxiety.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± The team of six thus turned to a team of five. With the camera watching, Liu Gang still had to act at ease. Going down the dark corridor, strange noises came from the abandoned male dormitory. They sounded like scurrying rats or something brushing against the peeling walls. The weak light from above shone down on the doors around them. There were names that could be seen asionally on the wall.

    ¡°This appears to be the student dormitory; I doubt Mr. Bai lives here.¡± Lan Dong and Ah Li walked ahead. When they reached the end of the corridor, they realized that there was another staircase leading down. ¡°There appears to be another floor below...¡±

    The light was not strong enough to pierce into the darkness. The five of them stood at the corner of the stairs, and no one dared go first. The rusted banister creaked noisily like someone was climbing up the stairs while holding it. Lan Dong shone his phone downward, and something seemed to reflect the light in the thick darkness.

    ¡°Is it a mirror?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget, eyes can reflect light, too.¡±

    ¡°How about we stay up here?¡± the only girl in Lan Dong¡¯s team said. She pulled on Lan Dong¡¯s shirt. ¡°Do you remember thest exploration we had? Brother Four said that he saw a pair of red eyes in the dark before the ident...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t remind me of that coward. After he left, our livestream release rate increased so much. We were dragged down by him earlier.¡± Lan Dong¡¯s team had previously had four members, but the fourth had chosen to leave due to certain reasons.

    ¡°Certain people have that natural quality to attract those things. Brother Four was only being cautious.¡± The girl halted. She knew that Liu Gang was streaming, so she left Lan Dong some face.

    ¡°Girl, there are no ghosts in this world, only people who act like ghosts.¡± Liu Gang patted the girl¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I do not believe in ghosts because I have seen people more malicious than ghosts like this Haunted House boss.¡±

    The girl pulled back her arm and stopped talking.

    ¡°This ce didn¡¯t even have a sign. How about we just ignore it?¡± Ah Li suggested softly, and Liu Gang grabbed this opportunity.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, the lower basement level doesn¡¯t even have lights. Perhaps it¡¯s the Haunted House¡¯s unfinished area. It¡¯s not that I¡¯m afraid, but the areas are probably not fit for visitation yet.¡± Liu Gang exined that to the viewers, but to his consternation, the winds in his chatroom had changed. Many viewers wanted to see what was in the basement, and many viewers had clear tags that they were Ye Xiaoxin¡¯s fans.

    The disappearance of his assistant had indeed flustered Liu Gang, but he reminded himself endlessly that this was just a Haunted House. Other than scaring people, what else could happen? He was livestreaming this, so the other party would not physically assault him. If that happened, the Haunted House would go out of business. He would not be injured, and being scared would not kill him. With that in mind, Liu Gang felt better. ¡°If you guys want to see it, then I¡¯ll bring you down to see it. How troublesome can that be?¡±

    He switched on the shlight on his phone. Lan Dong and Ah Li walked ahead, he and Xiao Chun were in the middle, and the cameraman followed at the back.

    ¡°Many ghost stories are rted to stairs. The corners of the stairs are ces where Yin energy gathers and the hiding ce for many dirty things.¡± Lan Dong could maintain his calmness as he moved down step by step. When the light swept the corner of the wall, a child¡¯s face appeared.

    ¡°Do¡ªdon¡¯t panic!¡± he yelped, and his shaky hand pushed on his sses. He aimed his camera at the corner of the stairs. There was a child squatting at the corner of the stairs. His head was tilted on his shoulders like his neck was snapped.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s just a mannequin, but the handicraft is impressive.¡± Lan Dong approached the mannequin carefully and realized that there were many dirty balls of paper littered around the child. He picked up a random one and opened it to read.

    ¡°That day, it was my turn to do cleaning duty. When I was going to throw the rubbish out, I saw a child squatting at the corner of the stairs. His neck was twisted at a crazy angle. At the time, just like you, I walked to his side and picked up the paper ball that he dropped.¡±

 Chapter 923

    <h4>Chapter 923: Room 413</h4>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    Standing in the dark corner of the stairs, Lan Dong held the dirty ball of paper, and the more he studied it, the more unsettling he felt.

    ¡°Lan Dong, what does the paper say?¡± Liu Gang asked behind him. Lan Dong kept his head lowered and did not answer.

    ¡°Brother Dong?¡± Ah Li was worried about him, so he jogged over.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, just a ghost story.¡± Lan Dong tossed the ball of paper next to the mannequin¡¯s feet. He used the phone, bent over, and aimed the screen¡¯s light at the face. The mannequin looked about five years old. It wore clothes with red and white stripes. There were brown stains on its shoes, and the cor and wrists had red thread tied around them, as if afraid that something might escape from inside its clothes.

    ¡°Ghost baby?¡± Xiao Chun also walked over. She stared at the child in the corner, and her voice changed.

    ¡°What¡¯s a ghost baby? Have you seen simr mannequin somewhere else?¡± Liu Gang was feeling afraid.

    ¡°The ghost baby is a school ghost story. ording to legend, if you stay in the schoolpound after school, you will meet a child ying ball on the staircase. He will ask you to join him. If you refuse, his head will roll off to chase after you. If you agree, the child will disappear.¡± Xiao Chun¡¯s voice was low.

    ¡°Then what are we waiting for? We should agree!¡± Muscle urged.

    ¡°If you agree, something worse will happen. The boy will follow you home, and after you fall asleep, he will twist off your head.¡± Lan Dong heard this story before. ¡°Regardless of whether you agree or refuse, the endings are horrible. This is a ghost story with no solution.¡±

    ¡°No solution? I personally think it is quite meaningless.¡± Liu Gang stood where he was and did not move.

    ¡°If I ran into such a child in real life, I would definitely avoid him, but we are inside a Haunted House.¡± Lan Dong did not see anything weird about the child, and he reached out to grab its head. ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve been curious, why is the mannequin¡¯s head so strange?¡±

    He yanked upward and pulled the whole mannequin up. The mannequin¡¯s head was joined to his body and could not be separated.

    ¡°Looks like this is just a decoration. There¡¯s no trap.¡± Lan Dong held the mannequin¡¯s head and swung it about. ¡°It¡¯s very sturdy; the head can¡¯t be removed. The hint should be in the paper notes then.¡±

    Lan Dong opened all the paper notes, and he realized that all the handwriting was different. However, scarily, all the notes ended with with the same line.

    ¡®At the time, just like you, I walked to his side and picked up the paper ball that he dropped.¡¯

    ¡°This feels like an endless curse. Those who pick up the paper notes will have a bad ending.¡± When Ah Li said that, he obviously had not considering Lan Dong¡¯s feeling.

    ¡°Compared to a curse, I have more confidence in psychological influences.¡± Lan Dong undid the red thread on the mannequin. With a few shakes, a ring of keys fell out from the clothes.

    ¡°Have we found a hidden clue? What are the keys for?¡±

    ¡°I think I get it now.¡± Lan Dong held the keys and matched them to the paper notes. ¡°Look, the note states that today is my duty day. When I prepared to throw the rubbish, I saw a child squatting in the corner of the stairs. The second note said that when I went to male dormitory Room 413 to borrow hot water to cook some instant noodles, I saw a child squatting in the corner of the stairs. The main clue is on this third note¡ªit says, when I was carrying the homework to Mr. Bai¡¯s office, I saw a child squatting in the corner of the stairs.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Bai? Isn¡¯t that the person we¡¯re looking for?¡± Lan Dong realized that.

    ¡°Many clues we found point to this Mr. Bai. He must be an important character here. Obtaining the key to his office will be crucial to us.¡± Lan Dong frowned and kept the keys.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we should mess with the ghost baby¡¯s things,¡± Xiao Chun reminded him out of kindness.

    After knowing the mannequin was just a normal one, he sighed in relief and returned to normal. ¡°The ring of keys should be a normal prop. Let¡¯s not scare ourselves.¡±

    ¡°I suggest we stop here. I¡¯ve heard the ghost story about ghost baby before. Whenever it appears, there are many dirty things to follow. The ghost baby is just the beginning.¡± Xiao Chun suggested for them to leave, but Liu Gang was forced by his fans. After all, he had said that if he retreated, he would have no face to see his fans anymore.

    ¡°Girls are always more cautious, but don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re all here. As long as we¡¯re not separated, I guarantee you¡¯ll be fine.¡± Liu Gang patted his chest, and everyone praised him for his bravery. Even some of the Haunted House¡¯s old fans created new ounts to cheer Liu Gang on. Perhaps, from Liu Gang¡¯s perspective, it was his own sincerity and charisma that had won over his enemy¡¯s fans, but in reality, he did not capture the real intention of these fans at all. After those fans had been tortured so badly, there was someone noble who was willing to use his own life to tell others about their struggles. How could one not give support and cheer for someone like that?

    The five did not realize the seriousness of the male assistant¡¯s disappearance. After all, normally, when one visited a Haunted House, they would not think so far. After turning the corner, they came to the lowest floor. The lights in the corridor were all broken, and it was dark, but strangely, there was some faded red light that was flickering at the other end of the corridor. The lights were dancing like ghostly mes.

    ¡°Brother Dong, something doesn¡¯t seem right.¡± Ah Li patted Lan Dong¡¯s shoulder lightly. ¡°The ghost baby¡¯s neck was twisted to the side earlier, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, what¡¯s wrong with that?¡±

    ¡°Take a look again.¡± Ah Li shone the light behind them. The mannequin¡¯s head sat straight on its shoulders like the head was about to fall off.

    ¡°That¡¯s probably because I was gripping its head and pulling it up earlier.¡± When Lan Dong spoke, he felt a chilling from his neck like a pair of hands was pulling on his head.

    ¡°Careful! Something ising down the corridor!¡± Muscle suddenly screamed, and everyone turned to look down the corridor. The red light slowly approached. When they were few meters away, it suddenly slithered into one of the rooms.

    ¡°Is it one of the Haunted House¡¯s actors?¡±

    Lan Dong shone the light at the door. The room number was 413.

 Chapter 924 - Fog in a Young Manâ€™s Life

    <h4>Chapter 924: Fog in a Young Man¡¯s Life</h4>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    ¡°413? This number is familiar. I think I saw it on the paper notes around the ghost baby.¡± Lan Dong took out the ring of keys from his pocket. ¡°A student saw the ghost baby in the corner of the stairs when he was going to Room 413, so if one of these keys can open the door, then it can indirectly prove that my analysis so far is correct.¡±

    ¡°The red light that just entered the room hasn¡¯te out. If you go in now, you might run into it.¡± Muscle had been the first to discover the red light, and he advised the man softly.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been here for so long, but we haven¡¯t seen any Haunted House workers. It¡¯s about time for us to meet.¡± Lan Dong pushed on his ck-rimmed sses. His dark eyes were hidden under the thick sses; no one could tell what he was thinking. ¡°There are four of us and one of them. We can block them inside the room and give the viewers a chance to see what a worker here looks like.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid?¡± Muscle wasrge, but in the dark corridor, even he was panicking.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t there such a statement online? The best solution to deal with your fears is to face them. I am helping you face your fears now.¡± Lan Dongughed joyfully. He seemed satisfied with his performance. With the keys, they stopped at the door to Room 413. ¡°Muscle, are you sure the thing ran into this room?¡±

    ¡°It was caught on camera. If you don¡¯t believe me, you can ask the viewers.¡± Many people in Liu Gang¡¯s livestream had seen the red light. They were given quite a fright in broad daylight.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t trust you. Rx, we¡¯re here to visit a Haunted House, to y.¡± Lan Dong tried the keys one by one. ¡°This ce is a bit scary, but it¡¯s far less scary than the ces we¡¯ve been to test our bravery. After all, this is justckluster mimicry of the real thing.¡±

    Creak...

    With a crisp sound, the door unlocked.

    ¡°I was right.¡± Lan Dong held the doorknob. ¡°Where do you think the worker will hide to scare us? Behind the door? Under the bed? Or around the corner?¡±

    Lan Dong sounded like he purposely said those things to the person in the room. His lips were curled up. He turned to look at the rest of the group. ¡°Why aren¡¯t any of you speaking?¡±

    ¡°Brother Dong, I think we¡¯d better not stay in the basement for too long. Xiao Chun has always had urate instincts...¡± Ah Li was the more cautious one.

    ¡°You really don¡¯t understand the joy of exploring a Haunted House at all. Running into a scare that you didn¡¯t expect in an unknown location is such an exciting thing!¡± Obtaining the key item from the ghost baby and solving any puzzle had caused Lan Dong to be a bit bloated with pride. ¡°This is how your clear a Haunted House. Try to enjoy the rush of solving puzzles and release your everyday stress.¡±

    Pushing the door open, Lan Dong scanned his phone around. The room looked normal at first nce, but upon closer inspection, one would realize that there were many extremely harrowing things hidden in the room. There were bloody pajamas hanging by the door, and a de poked out under the pillow. It was a male dormitory, but there were female shoes next to the bed, but none of them matched, which proved that they were not for walking. Textbooks and exercise books littered the ground, and most of them had the same name¡ªLin Sisi. The cupboard had signs of being carved, and the frame of the innermost bed was dyed red by blood. Of the whole dormitory room, only that bed was piled high with trash and rubbish.

    ¡°Stop hiding,e out now!¡± Lan Dong yelled into the room, but he got no response. He looked behind the door, pulled open the door, and opened all the cupboards, but he could not find the red light.

    ¡°Cameraman, are you sure that thing came into this room?¡±

    ¡°I saw it with my own eyes. I¡¯m not mistaken.¡±

    Lan Dong nodded, and his pupils darted away. When he walked into the deepest part of the room, he suddenly bent over to look under the bed. ¡°The underside of the bed is normally where the dirty things hide.¡±

    Lan Dong was not afraid that his clothes might be dirtied. He wanted to find the actor and see for himself how scary they could be to scare the male assistant like that.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t he here?¡± Lan Dong touched his nose. ¡°I know, there is a hidden path in this room, and the actor uses it to move through the different scenes.¡± He looked around and saw that there were human shadows on the walls. Every shadow was pinned to the wall by many nails.

    ¡°Why are there so many nails on the wall? Is this a hint for the hidden path?¡± Lan Dong¡¯s attention was attracted by the nails on the wall. He crawled onto the bed to look at them from a closer distance. The others also started to wander about the room. Ah Li picked up the tattered exercise book and found the name on the book. ¡°Who is Lin Sisi?¡±

    After more searching, Ah Li realized that many things in the room were rted to Lin Sisi. The dirtiest bed had Lin Sisi¡¯s name, and the most broken cupboard had Lin Sisi¡¯s name.

    ¡°School bullying? The design of this haunted house even reflect actual societal problems?¡± Ah Li checked Lin Sisi¡¯s bed and found a phone underneath a water-stained pillow. ¡°What the... A phone is used as a prop? Is the boss not afraid that his visitors might steal the phone?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of a Haunted House using a phone as a prop, probably because the actor escaped in too much of a hurry and left it behind,¡± Liu Gang said to the camera with a smile.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t look that way.¡± Ah Li tried to switch it on, and the screen soon lit up. ¡°It works fine?¡±

    ¡°I told you, it belongs to the Haunted House actor. The workers here are too unprofessional.¡± Liu Gang held the fan, but there was curiosity in his eyes. ¡°The phone probably has the conversation between the worker and the boss. They must bemunicating with each other on how to scare us.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t have that,¡± Ah Li answered honestly. ¡°The phone only has four functions: messages, making calls, camera, and photo album. There is no password, and...¡± Ah Li pressed on the screen and scanned the phone. ¡°There is a message in the phone that says that this phone can capture things that normal people cannot see... Ah!¡±

    He was just giving it a try, but when the phone turned to the bed where Lan Dong was, his suddenly screamed. His hands shivered, and the phone dropped.

    Lan Dong, who was kneeling on the bed, was scared by Ah Li. He whipped his head back to yell, ¡°Why did you do that?¡±

    ¡°Brother Dong!¡± Ah Li¡¯s face was pale, and he stuttered, ¡°When I used the phone to look at you, I saw a doll crawling on your neck. She grabbed you by your neck like she was trying to yank your head off.¡±

    Room 413 sank into silence. Lan Dong¡¯s Adam¡¯s apple shivered, and he subconsciously touched his neck.

 Chapter 925 - Slanted Shadow

    <h4>Chapter 925: nted Shadow</h4>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    The atmosphere in the Room 413 turned curious. Ah Li was Lan Dong¡¯s best friend, so he naturally would not help the Haunted House scare Lan Dong. Therefore, he probably really did see a real ghost earlier.

    However, were there actual ghosts in the world? Liu Gang shook his head to chase this unrealistic thought out of his mind. He did not believe Ah Li¡¯s words and picked the phone up from the ground.

    ¡°A few years ago, I saw a simr app on the app store. It can add scary pictures into normal photographs. Many people used it to prank their friends and families.¡± The camera was still on, and Liu Gang aimed it at Lan Dong. There was nothing on Lan Dong¡¯s neck, but instead, the wall behind him was a bit strange. The human-shaped stain pinned to the wall seemed to be moving.

    ¡°There is nothing around your neck.¡± Liu Gang showed everyone. ¡°It¡¯s all a lie.¡±

    ¡°Brother Gang, I¡¯ve used that app you mentioned, but it has been taken off most app store. Do you know why that is the case?¡± For some reason, Xiao Chun had a bad impression of Liu Gang. Perhaps she disliked this kind of slippery old man who liked to act and postte.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because someone really saw an actual ghost through that app. Those kinds of reason naturally wouldn¡¯t be broadcasted by the app store, but a personal friend of mine experienced it.¡± Xiao Chun nced at the camera. ¡°Brother Gang, I know that you do not believe in ghosts. That is your freedom. But you have to respect them, especially... in a ce like this.¡±

    ¡°Girly, you¡¯re quite young, but you sure have a tongue on you.¡± Liu Gang did not think much of this.

    ¡°Our rtionship is not close enough for you to call me girly.¡± Xiao Chun was a sensitive person. She did not like to speak, but someone like her would sense the smallest change around her. Ever since they entered this Haunted House, she had noticed that everyone¡¯s emotions had been purposely led a certain way; the darker side of their personality had been elicited. The Haunted House was like a maze that made them sink deeper and deeper. ¡°When we were outside the Haunted House, everyone was fine. Howe it changed when we came in here? Is it due to the background music, or is the scenario itself too suffocating?¡±

    Xiao Chun did not know how toment on a Haunted House like this. It was good that those who were suppressed for too long in real life could go to the Haunted House to release themselves and return to their most original self in this scary underground ce. Then, they could pick up their masks and continue working hard at life after they left this ce. The bad part was that the process of transmutation would definitely be filled with screams and terror.

    ¡°Supernatural app?¡± The people in the room were arguing. Lan Dong touched his neck and knelt on the bed. ¡°Based on what Ah Li said, I did feel some chilling pain around my neck like a pair of invisible hands were trying to pull out my head, but when Brother Gang shone the phone at me, the feeling disappeared.¡±

    ¡°There aren¡¯t real ghosts, right?¡± Muscle whispered. He was a professional cameraman. Under normal circumstances, he would notment during shooting unless he could not help it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know whether there are actual ghosts in this world, but I am sure that there is someone acting as a ghost here. Perhaps he isughing behind the camera at this moment.¡± Lan Dong looked at the corner of the room. ¡°He is waiting for us to make a fool of ourselves, but I will not allow that to happen.¡±

    Lan Dong jumped down from the bed. ¡°Let¡¯s go, we¡¯ve obtained the key to most rooms in this Haunted House. We only need to open the rooms one by one, and eventually, we will find the exit.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re stopping the investigation? I¡¯ve looked at the phone, and there seems to be a case of school bullying in this dormitory. The bullied boy is called Lin Sisi, and he should be the owner of the phone.¡±

    ¡°Ah Li, we¡¯re looking for the art club. Don¡¯t get disturbed by unrted things.¡± Lan Dong¡¯s face was stern.

    ¡°But I just looked at the phone. There were a few messages inside that were rted to the art club.¡± Ah Li activated Lin Sisi¡¯s phone and opened the messages.

    ¡°Sender, Mr. Bai¡ªLin Sisi, from today onward, you will stay in Room 413. Befriend your ssmates and do not disappoint your parents.¡±

    ¡°Sender, The Painter¡ªLin Sisi, why do you hide a knife under your pillow? Do you know you have the habit of sleepwalking?¡±

    ¡°Sender, The Painter¡ªLin Sisi, what is your favorite color? Deep red? Or dark red?¡±

    ¡°Sender, The Painter¡ªLin Sisi, I have seen your painting. Wee to the art club.¡±

    Ah Li showed everyone the messages. ¡°This Lin Sisi is a member of the art club. We can find several clues from their messages. The president of the art club should be the Painter, and this club is not a simple hobby club. They are probably a group of madmen. I have a feeling that the quest that we drew is not as simple as it seemed.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re overthinking things.¡± Before hearing what Ah Li had to say, Lan Dong cut him off. ¡°The mission has been drawn, and that is a fact. The most imminent task now is to find the art club within the time limit.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± Ah Li did not follow Lan Dong out the room. He pulled off Lin Sisi¡¯s bedsheet and opened Lin Sisi¡¯s armoire. He finally found a handmade, wooden box in the bottom drawer. ¡°Lin Sisi is a member of the art club, so there might be an oil painting hidden in his room.¡±

    The wooden box that Ah Li found was simr to the wooden box from which they had drawn their quest, so they should have been made by the same person. Opening the lid, a scent of blood drifted into their nostrils. A folded oil painting had been brusquely shoved into the box.

    ¡°Such folds damage a painting a lot. Never mind, the boss probably doesn¡¯t know how to appreciate art. This painting is probably just a prop that ispletely receable.¡± Liu Gang opened the painting to take a look. Even though they had no sense of art, they were stunned by the painting. In the inverted painting, the red and white formed a great contrast and pulled at their hearts. It was unclear what the material of the canvas was, but it was cold to the touch. When the canvas was fully spread out, the folds on it slowly recovered on their own like human skin that would close up and heal after it had been cut.

    ¡°Ah Li, well done.¡± Liu Gang¡¯s group had been in the Haunted House for ten minutes, and they had finally found their first painting.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go. We still need to find twelve oil paintings.¡± Lan Dong left the room without turning around.

    Ah Li carefully ced the painting back into the box. When he closed the lid, the image of Lin Sisi being beaten up appeared in his mind. The thin boy pleaded for help, but no one answered him. With a shiver, Ah Li looked around. ¡°Please don¡¯te for me. I¡¯m just an errand boy.¡±

    His eyes moved around, and when he saw the wall, Ah Li was startled again. ¡°Howe one of the stains has gone missing? I remember Brother Dong sitting there earlier.¡±

    He had a bad feeling, so he took out Lin Sisi¡¯s phone to aim at Lan Dong. Everything about the man looked normal, but his shadow was conspicuously tilted to the side. ¡°Nothing is following him. Looks like I¡¯ve been overthinking things like he said.¡±

 Chapter 926 - The Moment of Collapse (2 in 1)

    <h4>Chapter 926: The Moment of Copse (2 in 1)</h4>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    Ah Li hugged the wooden box and walked at the back of the group. He was honest and loyal. Unlike Xiao Chun, who was more sensitive, he merely felt that something was not quite right. ¡°Howe my brain is surfeited with the name Lin Sisi. Is it because I have taken his painting? That should not be. This is probably just my mind ying tricks on me, a psychological effect of sorts.¡±

    Walking down the darkened corridor, Ah Li could not help his brain from wandering about. His memory appeared to be covered up by something, and in the corner of his mind, he kept seeing a thin, weak boy standing there. The face was not that clear, and he did not have visible wounds on his body. But his clothes were torn, the zipper of his school bag was broken, his hair was wet and stuck to his face, and his face was dirtied with mud. Compared to the dirtied physical body, the numbness of the boy to the bullying that had befallen him was more heart wrenching.

    ¡°You...¡±

    ¡°What? Did you call me?¡± The cameraman, Muscle, was given a jolt by Ah Li. ¡°Did you see something?¡±

    ¡°No, no, it is nothing. I¡¯m so sorry.¡± Ah Li quickly apologized. He looked around him, and there was no boy in sight. However, strangely enough, this ce that supposed to be dark and eerie gave him a sense of familiarity, like he had been to this ce before. ¡°Have I been to this ce when I was small? Have I dreamed about this ce in one of my nightmares?¡±

    He had gone to a supposedly new ce, but there was a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu that arose in his heart. Many people had experienced that feeling before. If it was a normal location out in the open, perhaps it would not have mattered, but they were three floor underground in a Haunted House. This was supposedly an ¡®unfinished area¡¯ that did not even have light fittings. The moment he tried to sort his mind out, Ah Li¡¯s brain was overwhelmed by many different scary clips and images. The poor boy was forced into the corner of the room, being pushed into the cubicle of the toilet. Many twisted, eerie faces smiled andughed at him while they sshed the poor boy with ink and dirty water.

    ¡°Enough!¡± Ah Li yelled at the top of his voice, and it was more than enough to give the other people in his group the scare of their lives.

    ¡°Lan Dong, what is going on with your friend? If he keeps going on like this, he¡¯s going to scare me to the point the camera slips from my grasp.¡± Muscle was very annoyed.

    ¡°Brother, are you okay?¡± Liu Gang frowned as he turned to look at Ah Li. Since the livestream was still going on, he had to maintain his image. He could not just start going around scolding people.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s wrong. It just feels like I have been to this ce before,¡± Ah Li mumbled, but it was clear that there was something on his mind. ¡°Perhaps I have dreamed about this ce before. Earlier, wasn¡¯t there a news article that said that manyatose patients dreamed about this Haunted House? I have a feeling the articles aren¡¯t lying.¡±

    ¡°Cough cough!¡± Liu Gang interrupted Ah Li. He swiftly gave the cameraman a hand signal. Muscle understood what Liu Gang meant and quickly turned the camera away. Putting his hand over the microphone attached to thepel of his cor, Liu Gang whispered urgently at Ah Li, ¡°We are here to destroy the myths surrounding this Haunted House. Do you understand? Even if you are acting, there has to be a limit to it!¡±

    Liu Gang¡¯s attitude turned as quickly as possible. Earlier, in the dormitory, he had been praising Ah Li, but now, his tone had changedpletely.

    ¡°But I am not lying!¡±

    Ah Li wanted to say more, but Liu Gang was not going to give him the chance. He signaled for Lan Dong toe over. ¡°Watch over your friends carefully. If they do not know how to y this game, teach them.¡±

    Recing the microphone, Liu Gang returned to normal. He walked to stand before the camera and very calmly exined to the viewers that what happened earlier was just an interlude. The camera purposely turned away, and the lowering of the voice along with the strange behavior had started a discussion among the viewers. Seeing the viewers in his livestream talking about the news and Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, it only deepened Liu Gang¡¯s ire.

    ¡°Just now, my friend was joking. There¡¯s no reason for you to treat it seriously. We have been taking our time and ying around while visiting this Haunted House, but from this moment on, we are going to be serious.¡±

    Whether Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House was scary or not, Liu Gang did not have to say much. The atmosphere that was shown through the camera had proven everything. Even if Liu Gang had been trying to lighten the mood and disperse the sense of eeriness, it did not work as well as he hoped.

    ¡°A Haunted House that depends on buying poprity on search engines, tricking its visitors, and confusing the viewers also wishes to be popr?¡± Regardless of whether the usation was real or not, Liu Gang first added a few defamatorybels to Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House. This way, he would be ced on the moral high ground, and what he was doing would have a sense of duty and vindication to it, so he would feel less afraid.

    ¡°We are going to stop wasting time. Today, I will expose its true face for everyone to see!¡± Liu Gang was highly passionate, and the moment he finished saying that sentence, the phone in his pocket suddenly rang. This was his personal phone, and not many who knew his personal number. Liu Gang hesitated for a moment before pressing the ept button. Before he could react in any way, the male assistant¡¯s maddened voice came through the phone.

    ¡°Brother Gang! This Haunted House is really haunted! Look above you! All the ghost are crawling above our heads!¡± The male assistant sounded like he was running for his life, and his breath came unevenly.

    ¡°Where have you run off to, and whose phone are you calling from?¡± Liu Gang¡¯s heart cracked a bit. He had just put the microphone back on, which meant that everyone in the livestream could hear the voice of his male assistant.

    ¡°I was rescued by the other visitors! You have to turn back! There is no exit in this Haunted House! It will be toote if you do not turn back now! Do not go any further! Help! There are ghosts everywhere! There are ghosts everywhere!¡± The male assistant¡¯s harrowing and desperate cries for help were practically ps on Liu Gang¡¯s face. The corners of his eyes were twitching, and he immediately ended the call. He was there to destroy the name of Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, but it felt like he was helping Chen Ge promote his Haunted House before the entirety of his online viewers.

    ¡°This assistant of mine has a very over the top reaction to the smallest things. This is such a shameful thing to show...¡± Before Liu Gang finished, the cameraman¡¯s phone started to vibrate. Someone had been sending him voice messages. Muscle did not think much of it and instantly clicked on them. Then the male assistant¡¯s voice appeared again.

    ¡°Liu Gang! Run! Believe me! The ghosts are just beside you! They have always been around you!¡± The corridor was very quiet, so the voice of the male assistant travelled very far. The man was pushed to the brink of his sanity already, so in his desperation, he called Liu Gang by his full name.

    ¡°Switch off your phone. We are going to focus on exploring this Haunted House.¡± Liu Gang¡¯s face was darkening. If not for the camera still running, he would have exploded already.

    ¡°Of course, Brother Gang.¡± Muscle promised verbally to switch off the phone, but in reality, he did not do so. This muscr man wasrge, but he had a careful heart. He knew this male assistant well, so he understood that he was not acting; he was really scared out of his wits. After silently replying with a message to the male assistant, Muscle turned the phone to silent mode and shoved it into his pocket.

    ...

    ¡°Liu Gang! You know I would not purposely harm you! Please answer me!¡± Holding a female model phone in his hand, the male assistant raced down the narrow corridor. His hair was tussled, and there were tear stains on both of his eyes. His throat was raw from all the yelling.

    ¡°Can you please stop yelling? Are you trying to draw all the attention to our group?¡± Walking with the male assistant were a couple of students, a middle-aged man, and a very graceful female visitor. It was the middle-aged man who spoke. The shadows lulled and moved behind them, and they could hear the sound of footsteps approaching!

    ¡°This way!¡± The middle-aged man found a ssroom with the door open. Without thinking much of it, he pulled the woman who was behind him and dragged her into the ssroom to hide. The pair of students also prepared to run into the ssroom, but at that moment, the male assistant had a sudden burst of speed and brushed past the couple, shooting into the ssroom before them. After he entered the ssroom, with a grit of his teeth, he grabbed the doorknob and mmed the door shut!

    ¡°What the f*ck! Open the door! We lent you our phone, and this is how you repay us?¡± The students banged on the ssroom heavily, but the male assistant moved to lock the door instead. The scary footsteps came closer and closer. Cornered, the pair of students had no choice but to escape, and the sound of footsteps was led away by them.

    ¡°Thankfully, I acted in time. If we were all hiding here, we would all be trapped, and none of us would be able to escape.¡± The male assistant¡¯s action was determined by his subconscious. In this four-star scenario, he seemed to have pull away his normal disguise, and his real self had started to surface. Gasping greedily for air, the male assistant gripped the phone that he borrowed from the students tightly. He leaned against the door to give himself a rest. ¡°I did that for the good of everyone. By the way, I still have not gotten the chance to thank you. What are your names?¡±

    ¡°You can call me Ol¡¯ Zhou, and this is my girlfriend, Duan Yue.¡± The middle-aged man very excitedly introduced his girlfriend to the male assistant. He seemed to enjoy doing something like that, but the annoyance was inly written on the face of the female visitor.

    ¡°Brother Zhou, when I was chased by the ghost earlier, it was you who volunteered to help me and allowed me to follow you.¡± The male assistant seemed to have forgotten the heartless thing that he had just done. He knew that it would be dangerous for him to be stranded alone, so he wished to make a bond with Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue.

    ¡°We just did what we were supposed to. One more person means one more pair of hands to help. I also did not realize that this Haunted House would be so scary. Turns out that all the ghosts are walking above us, and you will only be able to see them by bending over and looking upside down.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou sucked in a deep breath.

    ¡°One more person means one more pair of hands to help? But this man just mmed the door shut to block the entry for the two other visitors froming in,¡± Duan Yue added snidely. ¡°This kind of person...¡±

    ¡°If he did not do that, all of us would be trapped in here. I am sure he had a reason to do what he did.¡± What Ol¡¯ Zhou said was like music to the male assistant¡¯s ears. ¡°I can understand you. I have experienced a lot and have seen through a lot. The adult world is not that simple. If given a choice, who would not want to be a pure and innocent child forever?¡±

    ¡°Brother Zhou, I knew you would understand me!¡± After experiencing so much desperation, despair, and tiredness, the male assistant finally got a sense of warmth from Ol¡¯ Zhou.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou patted the male assistant on his shoulders to give him a boost of encouragement. ¡°Earlier, I saw you making the call. I wish to know whether the person on the other side received your message or not. We need to meet up with the rest of the group as soon as possible. It is too dangerous to stay alone inside this Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you worry about that. Brother Gang probably did not answer the phone because he was broadcasting the livestream, but I managed to gain contact with the cameraman. He even gave me a reply.¡± The male assistant opened the inbox, and there was a message that came from Muscle.

    ¡°I also feel like there is something strange about this haunted house. We will talk about this in detailter!¡±

    ¡°In other words, they already believe that you are using this phone tomunicate with them.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s words had a deeper meaning to them. Before the male assistant realized what was happening, Ol¡¯ Zhou moved to block the door.

    ¡°Brother Zhou, what are you doing?¡± The male assistant had a bad feeling about that.

    ¡°I understand you, and I hope you will understand me.¡± Blood leaked out from his shirt, and ghastly wounds appeared before his eyes. Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s face turned as pale as paper. ¡°You need to understand that the adult world is not that simple. If given a choice, who would not want to be a pure and innocent child forever?¡±

    The dried, withered hands reached for the male assistant. At that moment, the male assistant¡¯s eyes were about to fall out from their sockets. His knees buckled underneath him, and he dropped to the ground. At that moment, he bounced into something. Slowly turning his head around, a female carcass that was chopped into pieces was floating behind him.

    Not a single sound was able to escape from his throat. The male assistant was shivering all over until his pupils rolled back in his eye sockets, and he slumped heavily to the ground. Ol¡¯ Zhou picked up the phone that the male assistant was holding. He memorized Liu Gang and the cameraman¡¯s phone number and then used this phone to send another message to the cameraman. ¡°Come and meet up with me now! I think I¡¯ve found the exit!¡±

 Chapter 927 - I Will Lead the Way

    <h4>Chapter 927: I Will Lead the Way</h4>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    Liu Gang¡¯s group continued to move through the basement. When they turned the corner, the cameraman stealthily took out his phone to look. There was a new message on it. ¡°Come and meet up with me now! I think I have found the exit!¡±

    ¡°The assistant has found the exit?¡± The cameraman did not share this with Liu Gang but quietly sent a message back. ¡°Where are you now? Where am I supposed to meet you?¡±

    Muscle did not n to share this message with others because he knew Liu Gang too well. The man had made such a big promise before millions of viewers on the livestream. Due to his pride, Liu Gang would never choose to escape, but Muscle was different. He had only been dragged there by Liu Gang to man the camera, so why should he suffer alongside Liu Gang?

    ¡°This Haunted House is too dark. If anything else happens, I will leave with the male assistant.¡± Muscle had a general n. He held the camera with one hand and had his other hand in his pocket. On the surface, he looked unaffected, but he made sure that the contact with the ¡®male assistant¡¯ was maintained. Momentster, the message came from the ¡®male assistant¡¯.

    ¡°There is a hidden path inside the school. I saw one of the workers push open the mirror in the library. There is a path hidden behind it!¡±

    Seeing the message sent by ¡®the male assistant¡¯, Muscle was quickly reminded of the paper notes that littered the ground after the male assistant disappeared. They had said the same thing; the school had hidden pathways that could lead them out of the two campuses.

    He isn¡¯t lying to me!

    Muscle typed on one hand, ¡°Are you at the library?¡±

    ¡°Yes, where are you now?¡±

    ¡°Brother Gang wants to go to the staff dormitory. He is nowpletely bewitched by that Lan Dong. He refuses to listen to anyone else.¡±

    ¡°This Haunted House is too dangerous. I don¡¯t dare go and find you. Please try to advise him! We will meet up on the ground floor of the library! Remember, the ground floor! There will be scare points around the corridor! Be careful!¡± the male assistant advised and repeated many key words. This convinced Muscle that the messages dide from the male assistant.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Muscle remembered the messages, but he did not share them with Liu Gang. After they left the male dormitory, none of them were in high spirits. In this Haunted House, time seemed to halt, and every second was tormenting. Without an ending, hope was slowly ground away, and despair grew in their hearts like a poisonous nt. The color of the corridor changed, and a fork in the road appeared. The left was the office block, and the right was the staff dormitory.

    ¡°We¡¯ll go to the staff dormitory first. Mr. Bai¡¯s room should have information rted to the art club.¡± Ah Li supported himself by the wall. His eyes fluttered, and a child¡¯s shadow seemed to stand in his pupils.

    ¡°Okay, after that, we¡¯ll go and explore the office.¡± Lan Dong took out the keys. ¡°I¡¯m very curious about what secrets Mr. Bai is hiding.¡±

    ¡°I still think we shouldn¡¯t wander about aimlessly.¡± Ah Li used to be Lan Dong¡¯s follower. He had never gone against Lan Dong, but since entering the Haunted House, Ah Li had slowly begun changing. Lan Dong gave Ah Li a side-eye, ignored him, and entered the staff dormitory. The dormitory was separated into two basement levels. They did not know where Mr. Bai¡¯s room was, so they could only explore it one by one. Gradually, footsteps emerged in the originally quiet corridor. The sound was strange, like it came from above them.

    ¡°Something¡¯sing! We¡¯d better move faster! Do not stay too long on the same floor! Mr. Bai¡¯s room should be on the second floor!¡± Ah Li suddenly yelped. He pressed his temples, and his memory seemed to ovep. For some reason, he could remember where Mr. Bai¡¯s room was. ¡°He lives in the room in the middle of the second level¡¯s corridor!¡±

    Liu Gang was livestreaming, so he could not say anything to Ah Li. He just smiled. ¡°You don¡¯t work here, so how would you know where Mr. Bai stays?¡±

    Lan Dong also frowned. ¡°Did you find some clue that you didn¡¯t share with us?¡±

    ¡°I suddenly remembered it. This ce gave me a sense of familiarity, really! I¡¯ve been here in my dreams before!¡± Ah Li did not care about the livestream anymore. He was very afraid; that d¨¦j¨¤ vu feeling was about to push him over the edge.

    ¡°You...¡±

    ¡°They¡¯reing! There¡¯s no time to waste! We¡¯re heading down now!¡± Ah Li was agitated. He appeared to see things that others could not. Without giving the others a chance to react, he turned to run down the stairs.

    ¡°Xiao Dong, is there something mentally wrong with your brother?¡± Muscle flinched. He could not stand Ah Li, who was acting like a madman.

    ¡°He was normal when we were outside.¡± Lan Dong and Xiao Chun followed behind Ah Li and entered the second basement level. They pushed open the door in the middle of the corridor and found many things rted to Mr. Bai, including the copy of Mr. Bai¡¯s teacher¡¯s ssroom document and many letters that the students had written to him.

    ¡°This really is Mr. Bai¡¯s room! How did Ah Li know that?¡± With the truth ced before their eyes, everyone turned to Ah Li. Even those who had been making fun of Ah Li shut up.

    ¡°Have you hidden some clues by yourself!¡± Lan Dong was angry and pulled on Ah Li¡¯s cor. ¡°Why would you do that?¡±

    ¡°Brother Dong, I really suddenly remembered these details. I remember this Mr. Bai! I feel like I have been here before! The rumor about this world after death might be real!¡± Ah Li wanted to cry, but there were no tears. He was telling the truth.

    ¡°You liar!¡±

    ¡°Stop arguing!¡± Xiao Chun found a document on the living room table. The cover stated it as the seventh report for the supernatural phenomenon observation club. ¡°This was left behind by Mr. Bai. Come and take a look!¡±

    The handwriting was like chicken scrawl, and it was cut halfway through. ¡°As the teacher responsible for the club, I noticed something strange during the club activities. The members of the art club have disappeared one by one. Where have they gone? After some investigation, I realized, in theirst messages, there is a constant repetition of the word, ¡®heaven¡¯...¡±

    ¡°The art students have all gone to heaven? What is the meaning of this? We¡¯re supposed to go to heaven to find the art club? The quest is to bepleted in heaven?¡± Muscle grumbled.

    ¡°Heaven is the world after death. Is this term referring to a ce at school perhaps, or have the members of the art club all been killed?¡± Lan Dong frowned deeper. ¡°We¡¯ve found the seventh report. To recover the whole truth, we need to find reports one to six. In any case, the general direction has been confirmed. We need to find ¡®heaven¡¯ at this school.¡±

    ¡°Heaven...¡± Ah Li appeared to be traumatized. He rushed into the camera and blocked Liu Gang. ¡°Brother Gang, we mustn¡¯t go there. We have to leave now.¡±

    ¡°Leave?¡± Liu Gang resisted the urge to p Ah Li but pushed him aside. ¡°There is no reason to leave. We have found the clue. Now, we¡¯ll go and check the office.¡±

    Just as they prepared to leave, a dog¡¯s barking suddenly came in their ears.

    ¡°Why is there a dog in the Haunted House?¡± Before they recovered, the door to the room suddenly closed. The footsteps walked away. The man who closed the door wore Mr. Bai¡¯s teacher identification. He had an old phone model, and his voice was soft and kind.

    ¡°Twenty minutes have passed; it is time to kick the difficulty up a notch. Tong Tong, help me contact the big sister in the tree hole. It¡¯s time for her to shine.¡±

    At the same time, in the green garden in the middle of the school, a headless female body without a head slowly moved to the tree hole and pulled out her own head. Blood dripped, and a smile appeared on the woman¡¯s beautiful face.

 Chapter 928 - He Started It!

    <h4>Chapter 928: He Started It!</h4>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    The exit was blocked, and the barking became clearer. Liu Gang¡¯s group waspletely flustered.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been tricked! Be careful!¡±

    ¡°Where did the barkinge from?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic! There are five of us! Even if the actores out now, there is nothing to be afraid of!¡±

    ¡°The Haunted House wouldn¡¯t set a puzzle that can¡¯t be solved! There must be some clues hidden around here! Go and search!¡±

    When the group was fumbling around, it was the only female in the group who stepped forth to say, ¡°There are two pairs of slippers in the shoe rack with different sizes, two water cups on the dining table with two sizes, and look at the greeting card on the sofa!¡±

    Xiao Chun held the card that she had just found, and the ink on it was still drying¡ª¡¯Happy birthday to my daughter! You¡¯ve always wanted a pet, so today, daddy will gift you a big dog!¡¯

    ¡°The big dog is Mr. Bai¡¯s present for his daughter! The barking shoulde from one of the rooms! We can¡¯t stay here for too long! We have to figure out a way to leave!¡± Xiao Chun rushed to the door and pulled on it. With a click, the door slid open. Everyone in the room was stunned.

    ¡°The door... isn¡¯t locked?¡± This small prank made the panicking people flushed with embarrassment. Liu Gang coughed drily. ¡°Let¡¯s leave this ce first.¡±

    The barking grew louder, and the weak light in the room started to flicker as arge shadow appeared on the wall.

    Muscle was the first to run out of the room, but he did not get far before he stopped.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Brother Gang, look! In the middle of the corridor!¡± There was a child¡¯s mannequin sitting in the middle of the corridor. They had seen this mannequin on the stairs of the male dormitory earlier!

    ¡°The ghost baby?¡± The scary head sat on the shoulders, and the round eyes stared behind Muscle and Liu Gang. ¡°Why is it following us? Was it him who closed the door?¡±

    The more Muscle thought about it, the more scared he became. Even the camera was shaking. The livestream chatroom had exploded, but Liu Gang had no time to care about it. He realized that the mannequin¡¯s eyes were like human eyes, capable of expressing emotion.

    ¡°Look at the mannequin¡¯s eyes, they seem to be following someone!¡± Liu Gang turned around, following the mannequin¡¯s gaze, and saw Lan Dong, who was thest to exit the room. ¡°The mannequin is after vengeance! Lan Dong took its key and tried to pull its head off!¡±

    ¡°Why are you all looking at me like that?¡± Lan Dong wore thick, ck-rimmed sses. He walked toward Liu Gang and Muscle, but the two stepped swiftly away from him.

    ¡°Xiao Dong, I think the mannequin is here for you.¡± Muscle immediately tossed the responsibility to Lan Dong.

    ¡°For me?¡± When Lan Dong saw the mannequin, the hair on his body stood on end, but he maintained his cool. ¡°You¡¯ve all been manipted by the Haunted House. It¡¯s clear that it was the worker who moved the mannequin here, and it was also the worker who closed the door.¡±

    ¡°Brother Dong, listen to me, I think you should return the keys to the ghost baby. Certain things shouldn¡¯t be taken without permission.¡± Xiao Chun tried her best to persuade her friend, but Lan Dong was stubborn.

    ¡°The appearance of the ghost baby has to be the doing of a worker. The fact that they did this only confirms the importance of the ring of keys!¡± Lan Dong held the keys and looked down on the mannequin. ¡°If he is really a ghost, why doesn¡¯t hee after me and get the keys from me!¡±

    As he finished, Lan Dong felt a pull on his neck like something had curled around his neck and was trying to yank his head off!

    With shaking hands, the keys dropped to the ground. Lan Dong held his neck with both of his hands, and his face was turning purple.

    ¡°Brother Dong?¡± Liu Gang and Muscle were stunned into motionlessness. It was Ah Li who reacted the fastest. He took out Lin Sisi¡¯s phone and aimed it at Lan Dong. ¡°Above your head!¡±

    In the screen, there was a girl stepping on Lan Dong¡¯s shoulders, using both of her hands to pull on Lan Dong¡¯s head!

    ¡°The ghost baby is real!¡± The camaraderie between brothers seemed to shatter in that moment. While holding the phone, Ah Li swiftly retreated, and then he saw the shadow behind Lan Dong starting to twist and transform! In that desperate situation, when everyone was panicking, something worse happened!

    From the end of the corner came the crawling of blood vines, and an indescribable pressure overwhelmed them. Their hearts beat like they were about to jump out of their chests. With approaching footsteps, a blood red figure turned the corner. She was hugging her own head, walking at an even speed.

    ¡°What is that?¡±

    Instinctive human fear kicked in, and the terror that they had collected since entering the Haunted House exploded in that moment.

    ¡°Run!¡± Xiao Chun had superhuman sensitivity. She was the first to run away from the headless woman, and she did not hesitate. Following her was Ah Li. The poor brother Li had not recovered from the terror that he had seen on the screen, and now he was surprised by this visit from a headless woman. He pushed Lin Sisi¡¯s phone into his pocket, carried the wooden box with the oil painting, and ran.

    ¡°Stand your ground! Don¡¯t panic! Muscle, go and stop it! We¡¯re livestreaming. Millions of users are watching this!¡± Liu Gang still thought that he was managing the situation, but no one was listening to him. Before Liu Gang finished, he saw Muscle put down the camera and leap away to safety.

    ¡°Come back here!¡± Liu Gang was so angry that his face was twisted. He turned back to look, and the headless woman had gotten closer. Liu Gang said that he was not afraid, but his body had started to move on its own. Thest thing the camera captured was Liu Gang running away.

    ¡°F*ck! Wait for me!¡± Lan Dong wanted to run too, but he could not move his feet like there was a pair of hands inside his shadow gripping his legs. The headless woman was approaching. With a grit of his teeth, Lan Dong turned to hide inside Mr. Bai¡¯s room.

    BANG!

    He closed the door, but before he could rx, he saw something terrifying¡ªthe ghost baby was standing in the middle of the living room!

    ¡°When did you get in here?¡± He sat down to the ground. Lan Dong¡¯s mind was muddled, and the barking resumed. He turned subconsciously around and saw the bedroom door being pushed open, and a broken and bloody mannequin fell into his arms. Before he could scream, he saw a big ck dog staring at him from inside the bedroom, and the next second, it lunged at him!

    ¡°AH!¡± Lan Dong used thest vestige of his energy to grab the door and pull it open!

    When the door opened, a woman¡¯s face appeared before him. There was a sick beauty to the face, but Lan Dong soon realized something¡ªhe was lying on the ground. He slowly raised his head, and thest thing he remembered was a red dress.

    ¡°He... he... help me...¡±

    The Red Specter at the door did not leave. The head that she was holding scanned the room seriously. She strode into the room and grabbed the ghost baby in the living room. The cold hands reached into the mannequin. She wiggled her fingers. The mannequin split in two, and the exquisitely-made doll that was hiding inside fell out. It was Xiaoxiao, who had been given free reign to wander around the Haunted House.

    After seeing the headless woman, Xiaoxiao did not say anything. She tried to quietly crawl away but was stopped by the headless woman. The headless woman pointed at the marks around Lan Dong¡¯s neck. She then searched inside her dress and took out a few pages that were stuck together. The title was the Haunted House worker handbook. Turning the pages, the headless woman¡¯s finger moved to the eighth use.

    ¡®Physical interaction between workers and visitors is strictly forbidden!¡¯

    Xiaoxiao leaned on top of the ck dog¡¯s head and hid behind its ears. The fluffy ears covered her eyes, and that way, she could not see anything. Looking at the rascally Xiaoxiao, the headless woman turned the handbook again and pointed at the twelfth use.

    ¡®The vition of any rules will lead to the corresponding punishment.¡¯

    Now, Xiaoxiao was panicking. She pointed at Lan Dong, and her hands closed around her own neck as if saying that he started it first.

    Seeing this, the headless woman shook her head helplessly. She nuzzled Xiaoxiao¡¯s head. Then she dragged Lan Dong out of the room and disappeared down the corridor.

 Chapter 929 - When We Arrived, We Only Saw This Camera Lying on the Ground

    <h4>Chapter 929: When We Arrived, We Only Saw This Camera Lying on the Ground</h4>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    ¡°Stop! Wait for me!¡± Liu Gang pressed his hands against his waist. He really could not run anymore. ¡°The ghost didn¡¯te after us! There¡¯s no need to keep running!¡±

    Hearing that, the few racing young people finally stopped.

    ¡°Eh? Where is Brother Dong?¡± Ah Li turned and only then realized that Lan Dong was not with them. The group of five had turned into a group of four.

    ¡°Has Lan Dong been captured by the ghost? When I ran earlier, I believe I heard him scream.¡± Muscle gasped for air.

    ¡°That¡¯s not important. Where is your camera?¡± Liu Gang pointed at Muscle and started to curse. ¡°Motherf*cker! Why are you guys so afraid? There are five of us!¡±

    ¡°Brother Gang, you can¡¯t possibly me me for that. It was not me who ran first.¡± Muscle pointed at Xiao Chun. ¡°The girl was the first to run. If I didn¡¯t follow, I might¡¯ve ended up like Lan Dong.¡±

    ¡°Listen to me.¡± Xiao Chun¡¯s face was pale. ¡°I¡¯ve been sensitive to this kind of thing since I was young. Sometimes, I feel chills thate from nowhere. When I was small, my father took me to see the elder at the vige, and the elder told him that I have the body that would attract haunted things. Whenever I feel chills, it means that those things areing.¡±

    Xiao Chun¡¯s voice was stammering. ¡°Do you know? When that headless woman appeared, my whole body was frozen like I was dropped in ice.¡±

    ¡°You mean to say that headless actor was an actual ghost?¡± Liu Gang¡¯s frown was creased. He did not believe in such superstition.

    ¡°It might not necessarily be a ghost. Perhaps the actor is wearing an outfit of the dead, or something is possessing it. In any case, we need to stay away from that headless woman!¡± Xiao Chun said firmly.

    ¡°Avoiding her is no problem, but the camera is still back there.¡± Liu Gang red at Muscle. ¡°We¡¯re here for the livestream, and now you¡¯ve lost the camera. What will the viewers think? You¡¯re making me out to be such a big coward.¡±

    The more he thought about it, he madder he became. Liu Gang flipped open the fan. ¡°Before we came, each of you gloated about how good you are, but when there¡¯s real trouble, every one of you runs faster than the rest!¡±

    ¡°Brother Gang, calm down. We did panic earlier. How about we turn back now?¡± Ah Li hugged the wooden box. He still had good stamina. ¡°Brother Dong is still behind us. We¡¯ll go back to help him.¡±

    ¡°If you want to go back, go ahead. I¡¯m not going.¡± Muscle shook his head. ¡°We originally had six people, and in less than ten minutes, we lost two. If we continued to move alone, we¡¯ll only be eliminated by the Haunted House. Honestly, if not for Brother Gang, I would have surrendered already.¡±

    ¡°Then what do you think we should do now?¡± Ah Li was worried about Lan Dong¡¯s safety.

    ¡°We should contact Bai Buhui first and gather. It won¡¯t be so scary when they are so many of us.¡± Muscle was being rational. ¡°We¡¯ll ignore Lan Dong for now. If he didn¡¯t suggest for us to split up, we wouldn¡¯t end up in this situation.¡±

    Muscle was quick to push the me, but since the others did not say anything, they approved of what he said silently.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll call Bai Buhui now.¡± Liu Gang took out his phone to call Bai Buhui. ¡°Bai Buhui, where are you guys?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± On the other end, Bai Buhui¡¯s voice sounded normal. They did not seem to have run into anything too scary.

    ¡°Come and meet up with us now. We are...¡± Liu Gang looked around to see where they were. They had been running like crazy, so they had lost their way. ¡°Never mind, we¡¯ll meet up at the junction between the staff dormitory and the office block.¡±

    ¡°The staff dormitory? Aren¡¯t you currently in theb building?¡± Bai Buhui¡¯s voice had a chilly undercurrent. When he heard that, Liu Gang was shocked.

    ¡°Are you dreaming? We just ran out from the staff dormitory!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible! We were worried about you, so we¡¯ve been following you. We have been following your footsteps. Just now, the footsteps entered theb building, and Small Ghost even said that he saw you guys.¡± After that was revealed, both sides had an uncanny feeling.

    ¡°They are Haunted House actors! Get back here now! We¡¯ll go to the staff dormitory together!¡± Liu Gang pulled at his head of hair that was not that thick to begin with.

    ¡°Wait, why should we head to the staff dormitory?¡± Bai Buhui was highly suspicious. ¡°I hear the actors here are very good at mimicking people¡¯s voices...¡±

    ¡°Mimic your head! Get over here now!¡± Liu Gang was going to blow his top.

    ¡°Fine, stay where you are. We¡¯ll be there in ten minutes.¡± Bai Buhui could sense the breakdown from Liu Gang, so he made to move. After hanging up, Liu Gang¡¯s eyes were red. ¡°The four of us cannot be separated anymore. No matter what happens, there is no need to be afraid!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Brother Gang is right.¡± Muscle and Ah Li nodded.

    ¡°We¡¯ll retrace our path. The female ghost should be distracted by Lan Dong at the moment. Our main aim is to take back the camera!¡± When the group were giving each other a pep talk, there came the sound of blood dripping from the corridor. The sound echoed in their mind, and they could hear it clearly even if they put their hands over their ears. Xiao Chun¡¯s face paled instantly. She subconsciously wanted to run, but her slender arm was pulled back by Liu Gang. ¡°Stop running. You are just scaring yourself. When you face her in reality, you¡¯ll realize it¡¯s nothing!¡±

    Liu Gang gripped Xiao Chun in one hand and Ah Li in another. ¡°Let here! We¡¯ll stand right here and see what she can do to us!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t! Let go!¡± Xiao Chun¡¯s scalp was numb, and a chill pierced through her bones. The three stood at the front, but Muscle quietly took a step back. He took out his phone to see the messages from the male assistant.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t any of you here yet? I¡¯ll wait three more minutes.¡±

    ¡°Found the hidden path!¡±

    ¡°The hidden path is on the second floor of the library, behind thest row of mirrors. I¡¯ll go in to take a look first.¡±

    ¡°Phew, that was not easy! Oh, sunlight, I¡¯ve missed you!¡±

    Thest message was a picture of sunlight filtering through a boarded-up window. Seeing that picture, Muscle stopped hesitating. He slowed down but continued to retreat. To maintain his image before his viewers, Liu Gang would never run, so he could only abandon him. Even though it was shameful to abandon Liu Gang, the male assistant had already abandoned him, so the most shameful person should be that assistant. With that in mind, the pressure on Muscle lessened. He walked faster and faster and identally kicked a small pebble. The sound from behind caused Xiao Chun, Ah Li, and Liu Gang to turn their heads. They looked at Muscle, who was several meters away, and tried to process this information.

    ¡°I know where the exit is! Follow me!¡± Ignoring the awkwardness, Muscle picked up his pace. Ah Li swiftly abandoned Liu Gang and chased after Muscle.

    ¡°You guys!¡± Xiao Chun¡¯s body was frozen. The chill caused her to shiver. She was sure that the woman who wasing was haunted or cursed, and it was not just a normal chill¡ªshe was an existence that was harder to describe. Due to their previous experience, she was more afraid than before. The Red Specter slowly approached, with the sound of blood dripping leading the way. When Xiao Chun saw the head in her embrace, her mind copsed. The piercing scream echoed down the corridor. Bai Buhui¡¯s group, who were heading toward staff dormitory, heard it as well.

    ¡°That¡¯s the girl who doesn¡¯t like to speak! This is not good!¡± The five rushed to the staff dormitory and saw two figures standing at the corridor from afar.

    ¡°Liu Gang!¡± Bai Buhui rushed over, but when he got closer, he realized that they were not Liu Gang but the other visitors. One of them was the middle-aged man and the other appeared to be his wife.

    ¡°Have you seen Liu Gang? The man who had the folding fan?¡± Bai Buhui was not worried about Liu Gang¡¯s safety; he was worried that Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House might use Liu Gang to turn the tables on them.

    ¡°I have no clue.¡± The middle-aged man looked confounded. ¡°We came here after hearing the scream, but when we arrived, we only saw this camera lying on the ground.¡±

 Chapter 930 - Actors Everywhere

    <h4>Chapter 930: Actors Everywhere</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The middle-aged man looked honest and kind, and his wife did not look like a deceitful person either. The few stood in the corridor for a while. Bai Buhui did not notice that the middle-aged man and the woman had been standing outside the camera¡¯s shot.

    ¡°Small Ghost, go and take the camera.¡± Bai Buhui felt like there was a problem there, and he needed to get to the bottom of it.

    ¡°Why should I?¡± Small Ghost did not know about Bai Buhui¡¯s identity and was not going to let him order him around.

    ¡°Stop arguing. Peace is to be valued.¡± The bad guard Liu Guangming picked up the camera. ¡°It¡¯s not broken. This thing has been functioning fine. See, the light is still on.¡±

    ¡°It has been filming?¡± Bai Buhui took out his phone to enter Liu Gang¡¯s livestream. The chat was endless, to the point that the page wasgging. He needed to refresh several times before he could read thements. The zeitgeist had changed, and Bai Buhui was anxious. He signaled for the guard to move the camera to the side and then called Liu Gang. ¡°Do you still remember the contract? You promised us that there will be no problems, and because of that, we only agreed for you to livestream the whole visitation!¡±

    There was no answer from the other side except the sound of running and breathing.

    ¡°Liu Gang, answer me!¡± Bai Buhui was agitated. He wanted to use Liu Gang¡¯s livestream to expose the Haunted House¡¯s interior design and lower its yability as much as he could. He knew how much effort went into the design of a good scenario. After it was exposed online, the number of people curious enough to visit would drastically drop. This way, even if Liu Gang was scared, it would indirectly decrease the number of potential visitors. The n was not bad, but he did not expect Liu Gang to drop the camera and run away on his own. He also did not expect the scenario to be so big. They could not finish exploring it in one hour! This kind of livestream, which only captured parts of the scenario, might elicit some curiosity in the viewers, and that was the opposite of his intention.

    After a long time, Liu Gang¡¯s stuttering voice came from the phone. ¡°You¡¯re afraid I¡¯ll lose the bet? I won¡¯t. The mouth is mine. No matter how scary it is, I can say that it isn¡¯t scary.¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s not scary, why the hell did you drop the camera?¡±

    ¡°We can push the me onto the cameraman. He was a coward. What does that have to do with me, Liu Gang?¡±

    ¡°As long as you know how to wrap this up.¡± At this point, Bai Buhui did not know what to say. ¡°We¡¯ve found the camera. Where are you guys? Didn¡¯t you say we are to meet up at the staff dormitory?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a female ghost chasing us. We can¡¯t get to the staff dormitory. Keep the camera, and we¡¯ll meet up at the library.¡± Liu Gang¡¯s voice slowly returned to normal. It sounded like they had lost the ghost.

    ¡°Why are we going to the library?¡± Bai Buhui felt like he had be Liu Gang¡¯s babysitter, wasting effort to look after this useless piece of junk.

    ¡°My assistant found a hidden path in the library. It appears to be a hidden exit.¡±

    ¡°Howe it sounds like you¡¯re not with your assistant? You¡¯re separated again?¡±

    ¡°He ran into an actor and got separated from us. He told us these things through phone messages. Stop wasting time! Get the camera over here. I¡¯ve disappeared too long from the stream. The viewers will havements.¡± Liu Gang was impatient.

    ¡°Did your assistant tell you anything else other than the hidden path?¡± Bai Buhui was naturally suspicious. A separated person stumbled upon a hidden exit? The chance of that was so low that he felt that the male assistant had been reced and the person messaging Liu Gang was not the actual male assistant but an actor!

    Ever since he went to the hospital to visit his colleagues, Bai Buhui knew how dangerous this haunted house was. The owner was crazy and would do anything.

    ¡°Now that you mention it, my male assistant also realized one thing. Of the visitors that followed behind us, only the student couple are normal! The other visitors are probably Haunted House workers!¡± Liu Gang kept his voice low, but since the corridor was so quiet, everyone nearby heard it. They all turned around to look at the two visitors standing some distance away.

    <i>The ghosts are right before us?</i>

    The guard and Sister Ghost silently moved backward. Only Bai Buhui stood where he was. He held the phone with a confused look on his face. ¡°Your assistant told you that as well?¡±

    ¡°Of course. It was the couple who lent my assistant their phone. The three of them are together now being chased by the fake visitors.¡± Liu Gang sounded confident, like he had seen this with his own eyes.

    ¡°Being chased by the fake visitors?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the middle-aged man and his wife, they are both actors!¡± Liu Gang sounded so confident, and they all heard it. They turned to look at the middle-aged man and the woman like they were the enemy. The middle-aged man looked confused; his legs were shaking. Even though he was afraid, he guarded his wife behind him. Hiding behind Ol¡¯ Zhou, Bai Buhui¡¯s group could not see that Duan Yue had been holding a phone and sending messages that she had typed earlier out to a phone number.

    ¡°Okay, I understand.¡± Bai Buhui was about to hang up when Liu Gang¡¯s voice came again.

    ¡°Wait! I got another message!¡± Liu Gang paused before continuing. ¡°Damn! You have to hurry to the library! My assistant and the two students are cornered by the two fake visitors!¡±

    The phone call ended. Bai Buhui¡¯s group had been cautious of the middle-aged man and the woman, but after hearing thest sentence by Liu Gang, they suddenly realized that something was off.

    ¡°If Liu Gang¡¯s assistant and the students are cornered by the fake visitors, who are these two in front of us?¡± Big Ghost pointed out the w directly. ¡°They have been standing there all this time, so how could they be cornering the assistant?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Liu Guangming was stunned. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°Obviously, someone is lying!¡± Bai Buhui narrowed his eyes and scanned the middle-aged man. ¡°What are your names?¡±

    ¡°What do you n to do?¡±

    The middle-aged man was more cautious than Bai Buhui. Considering that they were livestreaming, he refused to give even his name. Seeing how scared the man was, Bai Buhui smiled. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I believe I already know who is lying.¡±

    He pushed on his sses. ¡°This is a very simple plot. The male assistant told Liu Gang that he and the two students were being chased, but in reality, the two visitors are standing before us.¡±

    ¡°So, the liar is the male assistant?¡± Small Ghost scratched his head.

    ¡°The male assistant wouldn¡¯t lie to Liu Gang; he was probably scared out of his mind. The liars are the two students he¡¯s with! They should be the ones who are messaging Liu Gang. They pushed the me onto the husband and wife to wash away their me, but they didn¡¯t expect the couple to be standing before us at this moment!¡±

    Bai Buhui¡¯s mind was sharp. His words caused everyone to nod. ¡°The real actors are the two students!¡±

    Hearing that, even Sister Ghost felt a chill. ¡°That is so cunning! They are still so young; no one would expect that!¡±

    ¡°Actually, I should have noticed that sooner. This Haunted House has a close rtionship with Jiujiang Medical University, and the boss is familiar with the students! The opening of a new scenario but stuffing in two students for no reason, there has to be some problem there!¡± Bai Buhui said confidently.

    ¡°We should call Brother Gang and tell him that!¡± Liu Guangming took out his phone.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to hurry. If they want to act like visitors to scare us, we will y with them. Since the livestream is still going, we¡¯ll help Liu Gang reim the face he¡¯s lost.¡± Bai Buhui then turned to the middle-aged man. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. There was a misunderstanding. How about you join us? There¡¯s strength in numbers.¡±

    The middle-aged man hesitated. ¡°Let me think about it.¡±

    At the same time, the woman who hid behind him was quietly deleting the messages.

 Chapter 931 - Ghost Story Classroom

    <h4>Chapter 931: Ghost Story ssroom</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°You guys don¡¯t know how cunning the boss of this Haunted House is. Only by staying together do we have a chance of clearing the scenario.¡± Bai Buhui had confirmed that the two students were yed by actors, so he let his guard down around the middle-aged man and his wife. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t want your wife to go through such torment, right? We¡¯re here to y in a Haunted House, not to be yed by the Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°Okay, we will follow you for now.¡± The middle-aged still did not quite believe Bai Buhui. ¡°But we¡¯ll warn you first. If anything serious happens, the two of us will not follow you guys anymore.¡±

    The more cautious the middle-aged man was, the more Bai Buhui believed that he was a normal visitor. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    The camera focused on Bai Buhui. The host had changed, but the chatroom was still happily rumbling. There was even a user called Wine for Moonlight that opened a bet to see how long this new host couldst.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Liu, you¡¯ll man the camera; Sister Ghost, you¡¯ll be responsible for contacting Liu Gang and follow their movement; Small Ghost and I will lead the way, and the rest will follow behind.¡± Bai Buhui was obviously more organized than Liu Gang. He issued tasks for everyone within a short period of time based on his understanding of everyone¡¯s personality and ability.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to find Liu Gang now? But we don¡¯t even know where the library is.¡± When Small Ghost heard that he was assigned to lead the way, he was a bit stung.

    ¡°Listen to my arrangements,¡± Bai Buhui replied coldly. ¡°We will start to search around the area where the camera was dropped. I will give everyone three minutes. After that, whether we find anything useful or not, we will have to move after that.¡±

    ¡°What can we achieve in three minutes?¡±

    ¡°Less talking, more working.¡± Considering that there were other visitors, Bai Buhui added some exnation. ¡°My colleagues once visited this Haunted House and gained some valuable experience after paying a huge price. Do not stay at one ce for too long; if you do, the ghosts wille and get you.¡±

    As brash as Bai Buhui¡¯s attitude was, he had the ability to back it up, so no one argued with him, and they followed his orders. Opening the nearby rooms, it did not take long for them to get results. Small Ghost found the birthday greeting card that Mr. Bai had given his daughter and the seventh report of the supernatural phenomenon observation club. Big Ghost found the thirteenth report of the club inside Mr. Bai¡¯s bedroom.

    ¡°The seventh report recorded the location of the art club. It appears to be situated in heaven. But the thirteenth report is even more curious. It says that there is a wishing well at the school. You make your wish in the morning and only by jumping into it at midnight will youre true.¡± Big Ghost reported his findings to Bai Buhui. The more they investigated, the deeper they sank. Theplexity of this scenario was farrger than he had anticipated; the many side quests ovepped, so sixty minutes was not enough time to explore all of them.

    ¡°Heaven? Wishing Well?¡± Bai Buhui memorized these two key words and had Sister Ghost call Liu Gang as the group started the search for the library. Passing through the staff dormitory and office block, Bai Buhui¡¯s group took a long detour before they arrived at the center of the school. After passing an eerie garden, they finally found a tattered map of the school taped to a sign.

    ¡°The library is behind the education block!¡± With his sharp eye, Small Ghost found the library¡¯s location immediately. Bai Buhui nodded lightly, but his gaze moved to the corner of the map. At the edge of the field, there was the symbol for a well.

    ¡°Inside this school filled with ghost stories, the supernatural observation club should be on the same side as the visitors. Their investigation reports should be the most important clues.¡± Bai Buhui considered it quietly. ¡°The seventh report says that the art club is inside heaven, and the thirteenth report mentions the wishing well. Since these two reports were ced in the same room, there has to be a connection between them!¡±

    A brilliant light crossed his eyes, and Bai Buhui pushed on his sses.

    ¡°Could the well be the entrance to heaven? Only by jumping into the well can one enter the art club?

    ¡°Which normal person would consider the well as an exit? The hidden path behind the library should be fake. That is a trapid down by the actor. This path that I discovered should be the real one.¡±

    Bai Buhui sighed in relief.

    ¡°This Liu Gang is impossibly dumb. The clues were right before them, but they couldn¡¯t even see it.¡±

    Memorizing the location of the well, Bai Buhui had Sister Ghost call Liu Gang, but for some reason, no one answered.

    ¡°Looks like he¡¯s really in trouble.¡± Bai Buhui was helpless. He had everyone follow him to enter the education block in the middle of the school. Inside the deadly quiet corridor, the dim lights kept flickering. The visitors walking down the corridor could see the empty ssrooms on both sides. The ssrooms that were once filled with reading andughter had only broken tables and chairs left in them. But the words that were carved into the tables proved how boisterous this ce used to be.

    ¡°What the f*ck!¡± After turning the corner, the Small Ghost in front suddenly cursed.

    ¡°What did you see?¡± Bai Buhui hurried over.

    ¡°There was something standing in that ssroom.¡± Small Ghost pointed at the ssroom at the side. Looking from outside, this ssroom was no different from the others; nothing stood out about it. But when the visitors nned to pass it, they suddenly discovered there was something standing inside the room. He was wearing a strange uniform, with his head lowered, keeping silent.

    ¡°Is he a Haunted House actor?¡± Small Ghost¡¯s expression turned from the initial fear to excitement. ¡°I¡¯ve been here for almost half an hour already, and finally, we¡¯ve found the actor. I thought they¡¯d continue to be cowardly and hide from us.¡±

    ¡°Our current mission is to find Liu Gang. Let¡¯s not waste time here,¡± Bai Buhui and Big Ghost advised him.

    ¡°Until now, they¡¯ve been creating this mysterious atmosphere to terrify others. Now that they¡¯ve shown themselves, what is there to be afraid of?¡± Small Ghost seemed to like pranking others. ¡°Let me go pull off his mask and see what this actor looks like.¡±

    Liu Guangming astutely turned the camera to focus on Small Ghost. He did not use the front door but slunk toward the back of the room. He probably nned to ambush the actor from the back to scare him. The livestream continued. Bai Buhui probably wanted to see the actor being exposed, so he did not stop Small Ghost. Small Ghost silently pushed open the backdoor, but as he prepared to enter, his body seemed to freeze. ¡°Where is the man?¡±

    The ssroom was empty. The male student that he had seen earlier disappeared.

    ¡°He ran into the hidden path?¡± Sister Ghost and Big Ghost were confused. Liu Guangming moved to Small Ghost¡¯s side. He was not a professional, so the camera had been shaking, and the quality was not good.

    ¡°Get out now! There is something wrong with this ssroom!¡± Bai Buhui shouted from behind them. Ol¡¯ Zhou shared a look with Duan Yue. They saw confusion in each other¡¯s eyes. This was not part of the script! Who was that student?

    With the signal from Ol¡¯ Zhou, Duan Yue silently messaged Chen Ge, and soon, she got the reply.

    ¡°They¡¯re allies. There is a very special building in the four-star scenario called the Ghost Story ssroom. It will randomly appear inside the School of the Afterlife and generate a ghost story rted to a haunted school every night. This ghost story will not harm anyone, but the higher the collected screams at the Haunted House, the scarier the generated ghost story will be, so I suggest the two of you avoid it.¡±

 Chapter 932 - Letâ€™s Be Friends

    <h4>Chapter 932: Let¡¯s Be Friends</h4>

    After reading Chen Ge¡¯s reply, Duan Yue deleted all the messages instantly, and then she and Ol¡¯ Zhou retreated more than five meters away together. The curious visitors still gathered at the backdoor. The bravest Small Ghost slowly entered the ssroom. ¡°The student was standing in the middle of the room. All of you saw that, right?¡±

    Sister Ghost nodded.

    ¡°There has to be a hidden path. The ssroom is so dark, and there is such much trash here. there are many ces one can use to hide.¡± Then she looked around. ¡°Didn¡¯t you realize this ssroom is different from the rest? There are many extra things; it¡¯s like a storeroom.¡±

    The ssroom was indeed strange. There were red symbols on the ckboard, and every table was covered in carved words. The drawers were stuffed with bulging schoolbags. Some of the bags had ck and red stains, and some had something that looked suspiciously like hair pushed out from the zipper.

    Next to the tables, the deep blue curtains covered the windows thickly, but there was a human shape protruding out from under the curtain. Strange paintings hung on the walls. It was unclear whom the painted characters were, but the more one studied them, the more one would feel the eyes of the painted person were following them. The old fan above their heads twirledzily. The des of the fan were wrapped in white cloth, and it creaked noisily like it would fall at any moment.

    A lot of paper littered the ground, and upon closer inspection, one would realize it was mixed with death money. Everything mentioned so far was considered normal; the most eye-catching thing about this ssroom was the front few rows. There was an old-fashioned box television next to the podium. It was not connected to anything, but the signal light for it was on. On the other side of the podium, there was a mirror the size of an adult, and the mirror was reflecting this creepy ssroom.

    ¡°I¡¯ve read a simr ghost story before. It says that each old school will have a ssroom that is not open for students. It will be filled with trash. The school will say that the ssroom has been transformed into a storeroom, but in reality, someone has died in the ssroom before,¡± Big Ghost said evenly. He looked around and added, ¡°Or perhaps more than one person has died.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I feel like everything in here has a story behind it.¡±

    When the few were discussing, the television next to the podium suddenly activated on its own. The screen that was filled with static gave off this shrill sound. It sounded like many people chatting over each other. Due to the old device, the sound was heavily distorted.

    ¡°Is the worker controlling it?¡± The screen flickered several times before it returned to normal. ck and white pictures appeared on the screen.

    ¡°Something seems to be written on it.¡±

    ¡°What does it say?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go to take a look. Remember to bring the camera.¡±

    Other than Bai Buhui, the rest carefully moved closer to the television.

    ¡°Have you found the actor? Don¡¯t waste time. Come out now!¡± Bai Buhui stood alone outside. When he spoke, he did not forget to nce at Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue. When he realized that they had retreated far away from him, he was even more assured that they were normal visitors. If they were actors, that would have been the time to strike.

    ¡°Don¡¯t rush us. This ssroom is very unique. It might have things we are looking for.¡± Small Ghost looked at the screen where the following was written¡ª¡¯Tonight something strange happened at this school. The student who is supposed to be dead has returned.¡¯

    The words floated on the screen. There was no additional exnation, but it had a chilling effect on the viewers. As the viewers¡¯ attention was pulled to the screen, the image suddenly flickered, and it changed to show this ssroom, and their figures appeared on screen inside the television.

    ¡°Is there a surveince camera in here?¡± Small Ghost reacted quickly. But even though he followed the angle, he could not see the camera. ¡°How is this achieved?¡±

    Just as they were confused by this, the fans at the back of the ssroom started to turn on, seemingly on their own. The white cloth that dangled from them was strapped tight like there was someone dangling from the white cloth.

    ¡°Look at the television!¡± Sister Ghost screamed, and they all turned to the screen. Inside the ck and white image, there was someone hanging from the spinning fan at the back of the ssroom!

    The fan was too old to support the weight of a dead body. The fan in the screen turned several times before it dropped from its hinges!

    Boom!

    A loud crash came from the back of the ssroom in real life. The fan at the back of the ssroom had crashed to the ground!

    ¡°How is this possible? Someone has to be controlling everything behind the scenes! That has to be it!¡±

    They were panicking, but something scarier happened. The student in a strange uniform stood up inside the television. He looked at Small Ghost and Big Ghost, who were gathered together, and slowly moved toward them. The student was not visible in real life, but they could see the tables and chairs being moved apart like someone was really heading their way!

    The temperature in the ssroom dropped. On the TV, the male student had already walked to stand before Small Ghost and Big Ghost. Small Ghost was so nervous he forgot how to breathe; the arrogance on his face had long disappeared. He gritted his teeth and slowly grabbed the chair behind him and used it to swing at the air before him.

    ¡°Go to hell!¡± The chairnded on the table but not on a person.

    ¡°So, it was fake.¡± Small Ghost dropped the chair and turned back to the television. The male student had disappeared from the screen as well.

    ¡°Howe he also disappeared from the screen? Has he gone into hiding?¡± The few leaned closer to the screen to look for the male student when a male crawled out from underneath the television!

    ¡°Let¡¯s be friends! Let¡¯s be friends! Let¡¯s be friends!¡± An urgent and shrill voice came from the television. The student¡¯s face kept rearranging itself, and a strange phenomenon appeared in the ssroom.

    ¡°Go! Leave!¡± No one cared about clues at that moment. They rushed toward the ssroom exit. They did not even switch the television off.

    ¡°Let¡¯s be friends! Let¡¯s be friends! There¡¯s no way for you to escape!¡±

    The male student disappeared from the screen. The tables and chairs turned like someone was following behind them closely.

    ¡°Run!¡± Sister Ghost¡¯s voice was sharp. She was the first to escape the ssroom and shouted at Bai Buhui.

    Bai Buhui did not know what had happened, but based on Sister Ghost¡¯s reaction, it could not be anything good. Without asking, he turned and ran. Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue, who stood far away, reacted even faster. Before Sister Ghost left the ssroom, they were already several meters down the corridor.

    ¡°Slow down, you two! We need to be together to be safe!¡±

    Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue ignored the people behind them. They ran and led their teammates deeper into the education block.

 Chapter 933 - Hey, Wake Up

    <h4>Chapter 933: Hey, Wake Up</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Wait for me!¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue, who led the group, charged ahead, and Bai Buhui was close behind. To not get abandoned, everyone started to run.

    ¡°Let¡¯s be friends! Why don¡¯t you be my friend!¡± The sharp male voice had not disappeared, and the student in the strange uniform ran out from the ssroom!

    ¡°Wait for me!¡± Liu Guangming was the oldest of the group, and he was carrying the camera. He could not run that fast with such a heavy equipment. Slowly, Liu Guangming was separated from the rest of the group. He was panicking and wished to drop the camera, but considering how much it was worth and how they would demandpensation from him if it was broken, he carried the machine and ran about twenty meters. No one in the team waited for him. They were about to reach a fork. The teammates were about to disappear from his sight, and Liu Guangming finally came to a decision.

    ¡°Money is not as important as my life!¡±

    To minimize the degree of damage, he slowed down and bent over to ce the camera as gently as he could on the ground. But when he lifted his head again, the student in the strange uniform had almost caught up to him. ¡°Let¡¯s be friends!¡±

    The sharp voice echoed in his mind. Liu Guangming had never been so scared in his life. At that moment, he was like a hapless child, too afraid to even open his eyes. His lips were trembling. He wanted to say something, but once he opened his mouth, the only sound he could hear was the sound of teeth chattering.

    ¡°I... I... I¡¯m sorry!¡± Liu Guangming had no idea why he was apologizing, but he shouted loudly as he rushed into the left corridor on his own. ¡°Please don¡¯te for me! There are six good friends on the other side; I am the only one here! Please don¡¯te for me!¡±

    After realizing that the group had split up, the male student paused for a moment at the split before deciding to chase after the bigger group. After the sharp sound slow disappeared, Liu Guangming sighed in relief. ¡°Thankfully, luck is on my side. I can¡¯t stay here anymore; I need to go outside. Brother Gang said that if I can hold on for the full sixty minutes, he will give me a bonus of two thousand. Counting the time, if I find an inconspicuous location to hide, there should be no problem.¡±

    Wiping the cold sweat with his sleeve, Liu Guangming leaned against the wall and prepared to retrace his steps. ¡°It¡¯s too inconvenient to hide with a camera, and what if I ruin Brother Gang¡¯s livestream?¡±

    Therefore, Liu Guangming decided to walk around the camera and left in a jog. He returned to the initial corridor. Both of doors of the strange ssroom were open. There were strange soundsing from inside.

    ¡°This is my first time at a Haunted House. Please forgive my mistake. I am a coward, so please don¡¯te out to scare me anymore. I beg of you!¡±

    He moved his shivering body to the ssroom. As he was about to pass by it, the screen in the ssroom suddenly lit up. Liu Guangming¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and he raised his hands over his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything. I¡¯m just a security guard. This is all Liu Gang¡¯s responsibility. I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry!¡±

    He rambled as he rushed past the ssroom. He did not dare stop. Liu Guangming shouted his apologies and ran out from the education block. He gasped for air. Liu Guangming was covered in sweat, but it was unclear whether it was from the running or the fear.

    ¡°I need to find a ce to hide.¡± Liu Guangming looked at the surrounding building, and each one was eerier than thest. Every corridor felt haunted. ¡°Where shall I hide? This ce is crowded with ghosts.¡±

    He looked around before his eyesnded on the green garden in the middle of the school. Instead of saying it was a garden, it was more like an abandoned patch ofnd. The shrubbery was uncared for and grew wildly. There were some half-dead trees poking through.

    ¡°No one cares even if the trees are dying. This garden appears to be a blind spot!¡± Liu Guangming¡¯s eyes lit up. He looked around. No one was around, so he hurried into the bush. ¡°Such a perfect hiding ce! The actors won¡¯t guess that someone is hiding here.¡±

    Liu Guangming was feeling rather proud of himself. He leaned on the ground and was about to pick some leaves to hide his shining bald head when he found a tree hole in front of him, and there was something sitting inside it.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Liu Guangming crawled toward it. He reached into the hole and took out a wooden box. Lying on the ground, Liu Guangming opened the box. He was shocked to find a bloody oil painting inside!

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this what we¡¯ve been looking for? Just how lucky am I? I practically stumbled into this!¡±

    Liu Guangming was excited, and he was thinking about how to ask for a bigger bonus from Liu Gang when he smelt a faded scent of blood. A chill came from his bald head like water was dripping on the top of his scalp. He reached out to touch it and saw that his palm was dyed red.

    ¡°Blood!¡±

    Pushing his hands against the ground, Liu Guangming bounced up. He turned back to look, and his soul almost left his body. A woman in red was standing behind him, and viscous blood slid down her dress. Liu Guangming wanted to say something, but he found his facial muscles frozen. As a visitor at the Haunted House for the first time, this was indeed too much. The woman did not scare Liu Guangming; she looked at the wooden box that Liu Guangming was holding. Then her pale hands reached into her dress, and she took out a bloody booklet. The slender fingers flipped through the pages, and the woman started to read it seriously.

    Liu Guangming was shaking. He had no idea what the woman was up to. He instinctively moved his eyes to follow the words on the paper that the woman was holding. The words were printed in block ck letters, and it had many pictures as exnation.

    ¡°Plot: In this scenario, you don¡¯t need to act. You only need to y yourself.

    ¡°Responsibility: Your mission is to guard the wooden box in the tree hole.

    ¡°Suggestion: I¡¯ll give you several methods to scare people, but they are just suggestions.

    ¡°First: You can ce your head inside the tree hole, and when the visitors lean closer to look, your body will show up behind them. With your feet floating aboveground, you¡¯ll look at them from a forty-five-degree angle. When the visitors find the head in the tree hole, they will turn and be greeted by a headless body.

    ¡°Second: Assuming that the visitors are holding a shlight and see the head in the tree hole from a distance, you need to widen your eyes when the light hits you! This is key; you will use your head to chase after them and use your body to block their escape route!

    ¡°Third: If there is a chance encounter between you and the visitors, do not panic. You can drop your head suddenly when the visitors let their guard down!

    ¡°Fourth...¡±

    Liu Guangming only saw a few sentences, and he was already covered in cold sweat. What kind of satanic manual was that?

    The woman studied it for a while before she appeared to get it. She put the booklet away and took the wooden box from the frozen Liu Guangming. She walked to the tree hole. With shaking legs, Liu Guangming kept his eyes glued to the woman. He was so scared, but he did not dare move. The woman first ced the wooden box inside the deep part of the tree hole, and then her hands held her chin.

    ¡°What is she doing?¡± This was Liu Guangming¡¯s first visit to the Haunted House. While he was confused, he suddenly saw the woman push hard and then remove her own head!

    Liu Guangming saw it all very clearly! The woman was standing just meters away from him, and her head became detached from her neck!

    His heart stopped for a second. This image was equivalent of someone using a hammer to whack his head. His pupils started to lose focus, and his face was still twitching when he copsed to the ground.

    Hearing that, the Red Specter who was cing her head into the tree hole turned around. She looked at the unconscious Liu Guangming with a confused frown.

    <i>I haven¡¯t started the act yet¡ªhowe you¡¯ve fainted already?</i>

    Hugging her head, the woman stood dumbly next to Liu Guangming. After some time, she used the tip of her toe to kick at Liu Guangming as if saying, <i>Hey, wake up!</i>

 Chapter 934 - I Will Take Over

    <h4>Chapter 934: I Will Take Over</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Footsteps came from down the corridor, and the grass that grew to one¡¯s waist was pushed away. Chen Ge, wearing Mr. Bai¡¯s teacher¡¯s ID, walked over.

    ¡°Well done, you¡¯ve surpassed my expectations.¡± Chen Ge was never stingy with his praise. He was good at encouraging others, which probably had tons to do with his warm nature. ¡°Stay guard over here for a while. After he wakes up, you can use him to practice scaring others, but if he doesn¡¯t wake up, there¡¯s no need to force it.¡±

    Seeing the nod from the Red Specter, Chen Ge left with satisfaction. He hurried over because he had received a message from Duan Yue that the Ghost Story ssroom had appeared. As the special building attached to the four-star scenario, Chen Ge wished to experience it in person. Even though the ck phone promised that it would not harm the visitors physically, he would feel much better seeing it for himself.

    ¡°The Ghost Story ssroom sounds like a good project. s, Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue didn¡¯t give me immediate feedback.¡± After entering the education block, Chen Ge soon arrived at that strange ssroom. ¡°I¡¯ve been here when I was setting scare pointsst night. It did not look like this.¡±

    He entered the ssroom and looked around. Everything was normal; nothing was out of ce.

    ¡°If the ss generates a ghost story every night, what was the ghost story that was generatedst night?¡±

    He sat on the first row inside the ssroom. He waited for a long time, but nothing happened. His patience was wearing thin. He messaged the phone that Ol¡¯ Zhou was using. After knowing that they were being chased by the student that came from inside the ssroom, he walked out.

    Bang!

    The door of the ssroom closed behind him. When Chen Ge turned around, the ssroom had returned to normal. The television, mirror, and all the other trash had disappeared like they were never there in the first ce.

    ¡°What is the meaning of this? Once the owner of the ck phone enters it, the location of the ssroom will change? Or will it only be in effect for a certain period?¡±

    The ssroom had disappeared, but the male student who chased after Ol¡¯ Zhou had not. This gave Chen Ge a sight of the shortcut to reach his ¡®goal¡¯. He picked up his pace, and suddenly, he saw the camera that had been abandoned in the middle of the road. This poor camera had been abandoned several times. Everyone thought it a burden.

    ¡°If the camera has been dropped, how is Liu Gang conducting the livestream?¡± This was like a soldier dropping his weapon during war; Chen Ge did not understand it. ¡°If you do not livestream the whole process, how are people going to know how exciting my Haunted House is?¡±

    Chen Ge walked to the camera and sighed in relief when he saw that the shooting light was on.

    ¡°Since none of you are willing to do the livestream, I will lend you a hand.¡±

    The lips curled upward, and several ns flooded his mind. When Liu Gang did the livestream, he would do his best to nder the Haunted House and used various methods to lower the terror factor, but now, Chen Ge was the one handling the camera. The power was with him; he was the one who would decide what the viewers saw. They did not have a choice. ¡°I can make use of this chance to promote my Haunted House and have everyone experience the charm of this ce.¡±

    Holding the camera with one hand, Chen Ge pulled out his phone with another to log into Liu Gang¡¯s livestream room. The camera panned up, and once that happened, the number of messages instantly shot up.

    ¡°The camera is moving! Brother Gang finally remembered us in the livestream!¡±

    ¡°Something¡¯s not right! Brother Gang has already escaped, as did the second batch of people, so who is manning the camera now?¡±

    ¡°What the f*ck! This is harrowing! I¡¯m out! The camera is moving on its own!¡±

    ¡°Put it down! Who are you?¡±

    Chen Ge did not interact with the people online. He held the camera and nned to record the truest faces of the visitors before millions of users and, at the same time, use it as a small promo for his Haunted House. With Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue providing the location, Chen Ge silently moved toward the group of visitors.

    ...

    ¡°Let¡¯s be friends!¡± The shrill voice came closer and closer. Not only Big Ghost and Small Ghost, even Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue were feeling a bit panicked. The education block was the biggest sub scenario in the School of the Afterlife. The corridors were intertwining, and there was nothing they could use as reference, so getting lost wasmon. With Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue leading the way, they had reached the innermost part of the education block. Corridors spread around them, but none of them seemed to lead to hope.

    ¡°What the hell was that?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡±

    ¡°Why does it have such good stamina?¡±

    The screams did not stop, and the source was still chasing after them like he was running a marathon. The more the visitors thought about it, the more scared they became.

    ¡°We can¡¯t keep running like this! Since he¡¯s looking for a friend, perhaps if we agree to that, he will leave!¡± Sister Ghost could not run anymore. She was so tired that she felt like vomiting bile. Before going there, she did not realize that visiting a Haunted House could be so physically taxing.

    ¡°Let¡¯s try it. I¡¯ve heard simr ghost stories before. Ostracized student died in the ssroom and returned to school for ss¡ªhe would only leave peacefully after finally making a friend.¡±

    Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue ran ahead. They looked rather weathered and haggard. Ol¡¯ Zhou even hacked drily with his hand over his chest like he was about to die from heart failure.

    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll give it a try! When the ghost student asks, we¡¯ll count to three, and we will answer at the same time¡ªwe¡¯ll be your friend!¡± Bai Buhui had much better leadership than Liu Gang. He had be the center of this small group.

    ¡°No problem!¡± Everyone gave their word. Their eyes were determined, and they resisted their fear and stood together.

    The ghost student saw them slow down, but he did not do the same. He came after them with this strange smile on his face. ¡°Let¡¯s be friends!¡±

    ¡°Ready!¡± Bai Buhui¡¯s palms were sweaty. He started to count down. ¡°Three, two, one!¡±

    When it ended, the corridor was startlingly quiet. None of the six spoke. The atmosphere was quite awkward. This silencested for half a second, then as if they had agreed to it, they all started to run down the corridor.

    The group cooperation copsed due to the desire to scam the others. Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue were at their limit already, but they kept on running, not slowing down at all. It was Sister Ghost who failed; she was the first to get caught up by the ghost student. The scary face stuck to her own and then passed through her. The ghost generated by the ghost story ssroom appeared to be a lingering spirit with limited time. Whenever he found a friend, his body would fade by a degree.

    Shrill screams carried down the corridor. The threshold was reached; the double torment of her soul and body knocked Sister Ghost out. The camera slowly moved to the side. Then two doctors with white coats floated over and carried the girl away while grumbling someints. The ghost student¡¯s voice appeared in the corridor again. After he left, a man carrying a camera appeared from the darkness.

 Chapter 935 - How Am I Supposed to Know?

    <h4>Chapter 935: How Am I Supposed to Know?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Sister Ghost!¡± When Small Ghost heard the scream from Sister Ghost, he was worried, but he did not slow down.

    ¡°Hey! The one in front! You haven¡¯t finished your story!¡± Small Ghost ran as fast as he could, but he could not catch up to Ol¡¯ Zhou, so he shouted, ¡°As long as someone bes friends with the ghost student, he will leave, but what will happen to the person who befriended him?¡±

    Even though Small Ghost was too afraid to rescue Sister Ghost, it showed that he cared about her.

    ¡°The ghost student will only appear on the day of the death. After he finds his friend, naturally, he will take his new friend away with him.¡±

    ¡°What the f*ck! Doesn¡¯t that mean that you¡¯ll die if you befriend him?¡± Small Ghost slowed down, thinking about saving Sister Ghost.

    ¡°Think of it this way, perhaps your friend will be the new ghost student. It doesn¡¯t sound that scary when it¡¯s put that way, right?¡±

    ¡°Right your head!¡±

    ¡°Either way, it¡¯s not my problem.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou held his chest but ran so fast and could even converse normally. The original team of seven soon turned into a team of five. The screaming of the ghost student had not stopped, but they could sense that his speed had greatly slowed.

    ¡°We can¡¯t wander about aimlessly like this!¡± At this crucial moment, Bai Buhui gained control. He had been led away by emotions earlier and followed Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue deeper into the education block. ¡°Even if we are trying to escape, we should head toward the library to meet up with Liu Gang!¡±

    ¡°But do you know where the library is?¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou leaned against the wall to catch his breath.

    ¡°I don¡¯t, but we can ask.¡± Bai Buhui took out his phone, activated the shlight, and aimed it at the corridor behind him. ¡°I¡¯ve seen many horror movies and yed many horror games. In fact, I¡¯m a haunted house designer myself. The situation earlier wasn¡¯t created by 3D imaging. There was certainly a real person behind it!¡±

    ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±

    ¡°Since there¡¯s a real person behind us, no matter how scary it might appear to be, there is no need for us to be afraid!¡± Bai Buhui¡¯s hand that held his sses was shaking. His heart was not as calm as he appeared. ¡°We¡¯re just visiting a Haunted House. As long as we trust that everything is fake, there is nothing to fear!¡±

    His repetition was more like a pep talk for himself. By then, the ghost student had arrived from the other end of the corridor. The boy was wearing a strange uniform, and there was a falsehood about him.

    ¡°Let¡¯s be friends!¡±

    ¡°I refuse to believe this!¡± Bai Buhui gritted his teeth. He held the phone and purposely aimed the bright light at the ghost student. In the dim corridor, the shlight appeared particrly blinding. Being shot by the light, the ghost student picked up speed as his body flickered out of view.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Bai Buhui shouted at the ghost student as thetter resisted the bright light to charge at Bai Buhui. The scary face expanded in Bai Buhui¡¯s pupils before the boy phased through his body. After finding two friends, the ghost student¡¯s spirit had weakened a lot. It used itsst energy to pass through Small Ghost and then disappeared.

    ¡°It was a fake? A projection?¡± Bai Buhui¡¯s legs were frozen, and he was covered in cold sweat. He had almost fainted from that scene earlier. Thankfully, he was more determined than others and managed to hold onto his consciousness.

    ¡°Brother Bai, are you okay?¡± Small Ghost did not realize that his term of reference toward Bai Buhui had changed. ¡°What was that? It was so real. How did this Haunted House manage that?¡±

    ¡°Using some simple visual technology, we can achieve simr effects. Our futuristic theme park has scenarios scarier than this.¡± Bai Buhui scoffed with condescension as he tried to move his feet that were petrified from fear.

    ¡°Today¡¯s technology sure is impressive.¡± Small Ghost and Big Ghost wandered over. ¡°But since that thing is fake, let¡¯s go get Sister Ghost. She must be so frightened.¡±

    ¡°Yes, we can¡¯t just leave her behind.¡± Bai Buhui turned to look at Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue. ¡°The two of you had bettere with us. We can¡¯t get separated.¡±

    After realizing the Haunted House¡¯s secret and knowing that all the ghosts were fake, they instantly felt less afraid. They retraced their steps, but they failed to find Sister Ghost. It was as if she had disappeared into thin air.

    ¡°Where is she? Howe we didn¡¯t hear anything? Technically speaking, after Sister Ghost discovered that the ghost was just a projection, she should have told us, unless...¡± Bai Buhui looked around. ¡°There are other actors here. They have linked this whole thing together! The projection was just part of the n!¡±

    The group was discussing the issue when urgent footsteps came from the other end of the corridor. A young couple was running their way.

    ¡°They look so familiar...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the students!¡±

    ¡°These two probably don¡¯t know that they¡¯ve been exposed.¡±

    Bai Buhui, Small Ghost, and Big Ghost shared a look. This was perfect because they were finding a ce to vent their anger.

    ¡°Finally, there are actual humans! This Haunted House is too scary!¡± The couple was haggard, their faces were pale, and it looked like they had been through a lot as well.

    ¡°How did you two manage to find us?¡± There was a sharp rudeness in Bai Buhui¡¯s question. As the designer of the futuristic theme park¡¯s Haunted House, he was hostile toward anyone affiliated with Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House.

    ¡°We heard the scream, so we ran here,¡± the male student answered politely. ¡°Are you guys okay?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re fine, of course. We are fine.¡± Small Ghost and Big Ghost surrounded the duo with darkened faces.

    ¡°That¡¯s good news. By the way, when we wereing here, we saw someone following you guys from behind with a camera. That¡¯s very suspicious. You have to be careful!¡±

    ¡°A camera?¡± Bai Buhui narrowed his eyes. ¡°Your acting is not bad, but you¡¯d better use your brain before you speak. The guard who carried the camera has already disappeared. So, what you said is basically admitting that you are responsible for his disappearance.¡±

    ¡°Us?¡± The male student was confused.

    ¡°Stop acting!¡± Small Ghost was agitated. He pulled on the student¡¯s cor. ¡°Where is Sister Ghost? Where is she? Where have you hidden her?¡±

    ¡°Sister Ghost?¡± The male student heard this unusual name and wondered if he had triggered some kind of hidden scenario.

    ¡°We know everything. Stop resisting.¡± Bai Buhui had lost his patience. ¡°Tell us the location of Sister Ghost and the library!¡±

    ¡°How am I supposed to know that!¡±

    The male student panicked. He flung Small Ghost¡¯s hand away and grabbed his girlfriend as they slowly retreated. He had heard from his peers how scary this Haunted House was; now, he finally understood it. Not only was the scenario scary, even the other visitors were scary. Small Ghost and Big Ghost had unfriendly countenances, and the rest did not look pleasant either. The male student slightly pulled on his girlfriend¡¯s hand before they turned to run down the other end of the corridor!

    ¡°Stop!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t think you can run away!¡±

    After the couple escaped, Bai Buhui, Small Ghost, and Big Ghost chased after them. Ol¡¯ Zhou looked at the rampaging group and sighed lightly. ¡°This is so tiring...¡±

    His hand was pulled. Duan Yue dragged Ol¡¯ Zhou, and they continued another chase. This time, they raced out from the education block and followed the corridor to enter theb building.

 Chapter 936 - Strangers Inside the Elevator

    <h4>Chapter 936: Strangers Inside the Elevator</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Theyout of theb building was not asplicated as the education block; there was only one narrow corridor leading through it with various kinds ofbs along both sides. At the end of the it was an elevator used to transportrge equipment. The student couple had no idea why such a device existed in theb, but they were not given much time to think. The visitors chasing after them appeared to be crazy. They had almost reached the end of the corridor, and they would need to take the elevator to leave.

    ¡°Stop right there!¡± Big Ghost and Small Ghost screamed, and that only shook the couple further. They had not done anything to anger the other party. In fact, they had only shared a few words, but for some reason, the other party wanted to im their lives. The corridor was a straight path. There was nothing in the way to block the view. They would be found out if they ran into one of thebs, so the couple rushed to the end of the corridor and pressed urgently for the elevator button.

    ¡°Open the door please!¡± Due to the panic, the male student missed the warning sign next to the elevator¡ª¡¯Pathway for ¡®stock¡¯ only. Usage by visitors is strictly forbidden!¡¯

    He pressed the button repeatedly, and the gray, metallic door finally opened. ¡°We¡¯ll go and hide on the other floor for now. The other visitors are not in their right minds!¡±

    There were four buttons inside the elevator. They corresponded to the first to fourth basement floors. The first three numbers were normal, but the number that represented the fourth basement floor was painted red. The male student helped his girlfriend into the elevator and pressed a random button. The elevator door slowly closed as the footsteps in the corridor approached.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard from the senior how scary the boss of this ce is. He often has his worker act as visitors. Who knew that we would be so unlucky to run into them during our first visit?¡± the female student said. Her face was pale from the scare.

    ¡°Shush! Do not say anything bad about the boss. I remember the other students reminding me that the boss is a person who holds grudges.¡± The footsteps came closer and closer. The couple hugged together as they stared at the door, and their heads were covered in sweat. ¡°Quick! Close! Why are you closing so slowly?¡±

    Pa!

    The footsteps stopped, and a small man squeezed into the elevator at thest moment. ¡°Still trying to run?¡±

    Small Ghost looked angry. Right after he entered the elevator, the doors closed, and the elevator started to move down. When he was doing the chasing, he did not feel fear, but when he was inside the elevator, Small Ghost realized that something was not right. He was facing two actors alone.

    ¡°Humph, you guys sure can run.¡± Small Ghost¡¯s presence dwindled, but he soon realized that the two students were more frightened than he was. They were tightly squeezed together, their eyes bulging with confusion and terror. <i>They¡¯re still acting? Trying to get my pity?</i>

    No one spoke in the elevator, and silence slowly descended. A light stench could be smelt inside the elevator. It was unclear what kind of stench it was; it was like someone had sprayed perfume onto decaying flesh. The intention was to cover up the smell of decay, but the decay was too strong. After mixing with the perfume, it created this new horrible stench.

    With a ding, the elevator stopped, and they all turned to look at the screen above the elevator door. In his panic, the male student had pressed for the third floor. On the control panel, the button for the third floor was still lit up, but the screen showed that the elevator had stopped at the second floor.

    ¡°Why would the elevator stop at this floor? Someone else wishes to enter the elevator?¡± Other than that possibility, Small Ghost could not think of any other exnation. He was on high alert as he stared at the door that slowly opened. A light stench floated into his nostrils. Outside the door was a darkened corridor, and there was no one there.

    ¡°Is this your doing?¡± Small Ghost red at the couple. Since he did not have the numerical advantage, his tone was not that brash.

    ¡°How could we have anything to do with this?¡± The male student felt afraid and wronged.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be honest with you¡ªBrother Bai has found conclusive proof that you two are actors hired by this Haunted House!¡± Small Ghost put on a furious expression, but he maintained a safe distance from the male student. He was concerned that the male student would turn to violence once he was exposed and do something irrational.

    ¡°We¡¯re actors? We were about to say the same thing about you!¡± The couple were confused.

    ¡°You were with the male assistant when he disappeared, and he used your phone to message Liu Gang, right?¡± Small Ghost slowly calmed down.

    ¡°The male assistant? The man who stole our phone and blocked the two of us outside the door?¡± The mention of the man assistant incensed the male student. ¡°If he¡¯s your partner, you still owe me an apology! We were kind enough to lend him our phone, but he blocked us outside the door and used us as bait to lure the ghost away!¡±

    ¡°He stole your phone? Wait, that means the three of you weren¡¯t together?¡± Small Ghost had no idea who was lying, but he slowly discovered that something was off. When the three were arguing, the elevator door closed on its own, and it started to move down again. Several secondster, the elevator reached the third floor, and the door slowly opened.

    ¡°Stay here, and don¡¯t go anywhere.¡± Small Ghost took out his phone. ¡°First, I am definitely not an actor. You can google me online. I came here with Liu Gang to expose this Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°What are you trying to say?¡± The student couple still had trouble believing Small Ghost.

    ¡°We are not actors, and you¡¯re not actors, so who is the actor?¡± As rash as Small Ghost was, he was not dumb. ¡°Follow me up to the first floor, we¡¯lly everything out in the open. There seems to be a misunderstanding.¡±

    When the couple were conflicted, the fourth button on the control panel suddenly lit up on its own. The door slowly closed, and the bloody red number four was reflected in everyone¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Why did the elevator move on its own?¡±

    ¡°Did you press the button for the fourth floor?¡±

    ¡°No! Haven¡¯t I been talking to you!¡±

    ¡°Could there be someone else in the elevator?¡±

    The old freight elevator was covered in stains. As the elevator descended, blood seeped out from behind some of the stains. The stench thickened, and the three visitors were assaulted by anxiety.

    ¡°No, this is not right! The elevator only took several seconds to move from the second to third floor. We¡¯ve been moving down for so long already, so why hasn¡¯t it stopped?¡±

    Blood leaked out from the stains, and blood vessels crawled all over the walls. The strange stench thickened.

    Ding!

    Just as the three visitors were about to copse, the number on the screen finally turned to four. The door slowly opened. There was a reinforced steel door beyond it, and through the gap, they saw something they would never forget. Beyond the locked steel door, there was a corridor that was painted red, and the paint looked like blood that would not stop dripping.

    ¡°What... what is this ce?¡±

    Terror caught their tongues. Their voices were shaking, and they could not finish aplete sentence. The three visitors were squeezed at the innermost part of the elevator, and no one dared move.

    ¡°What do we do? What do we do?¡± Small Ghost¡¯s teeth were ttering. The stench inside the elevator thickened, and a rhythmic sound came from down the red corridor. It sounded like a boy slowly approaching them while bouncing a basketball.

    ¡°We have to leave! We can¡¯t let that thing enter the elevator!¡± This was a matter of life or death. Small Ghost gritted his teeth and climbed up from the ground to press the button for one on the control panel. He wished for the door to close, but the elevator did not respond. He lifted his head to look at the screen above the door, and a chill rushed up Small Ghost¡¯s mind. The screen said that the elevator was overloaded!

    There were only three people inside the elevator. How could it be overloaded?

    Cold sweat slid down his forehead. Small Ghost looked around the elevator, and he realized that the blood that came out from the stains had formed human faces. Left and right, up and down, there were human faces staring back at them!

    At the same time, the reinforced iron door shook like there were things beyond it that wanted to get into the elevator.

    The faces slowly peeled themselves out from the walls, and shadows started to fill up the spaces inside the elevator.

 Chapter 937 - Your Ghost Story and My Ghost Story

    <h4>Chapter 937: Your Ghost Story and My Ghost Story</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Screams filtered up from underground. Even though the soundproofing was well done inside the Haunted House, Big Ghost and Ol¡¯ Zhou heard it clearly.

    ¡°Small Ghost!¡± Big Ghost pressed the button crazily, but the elevator was stuck on the fourth floor. The elevator only started to move when the screaming stopped.

    ¡°I heard the screams from the two students as well. That doesn¡¯t sound like they¡¯re acting...¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s voice was filled with fear and concern. ¡°Could we have misunderstood them?¡±

    ¡°Shush, they probably purposely led us here.¡± Big Ghost was anxious. Sister Ghost was missing, and now Small Ghost was in trouble. Of the trio, he was the only one left. ¡°When the elevator arrives, if they are not inside the elevator, we¡¯ll go down together! This ce is not thatplicated. If they are leading Small Ghost, they won¡¯t be too far ahead of us!¡±

    ¡°I think we should leave Small Ghost behind. Have either of you noticed this?¡± Bai Buhui pointed at the warning sign next to the elevator. ¡°When the elevator was going down, it stopped at every floor. The two students are very cunning. They are clearly ying with us, hoping that we¡¯ll explore each floor.¡±

    The elevator came up slowly. When Bai Buhui was exining his theory, the door opened, but the three visitors inside had disappeared.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go in there. The elevator is apletely enclosed space. This kind of space is the most dangerous in a Haunted House,¡± Bai Buhui reminded them, but the stubborn Big Ghost still entered the elevator.

    ¡°If you want toe along, then be quick. If not, I¡¯ll go down alone.¡± After hearing that, Bai Buhui stood where he was and shook his head. Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue were conflicted. They knew full well how the four-star scenario would strip people of their disguises and have them explore their truest nature. Therefore, Big Ghost¡¯s personality and attitude aside, at least his concern for Small Ghost was sincere.

    ¡°Sigh, I guess we will apany you. It¡¯ll be safer in numbers.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou hesitated for a long time before making the decision. He and Duan Yue also entered the elevator.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Big Ghost nodded at Ol¡¯ Zhou and shot him an appreciative gaze.

    ¡°The three of you have lost your minds.¡± Bai Buhui pushed on his sses, and his expression was cold. ¡°I¡¯ll wait for you here. Good luck.¡±

    The door closed. Big Ghost looked at the number on the screen, and his expression was stern.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re just visiting a Haunted House. Nothing is going to happen to Small Ghost and Sister Ghost.¡± Out of kindness, Ol¡¯ Zhou tried to console Big Ghost.

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t get it.¡± Big Ghost turned to look at Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue, and his eyes were starting to get a bit maddened. He pointed at his ear. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you a story. If you don¡¯t believe me, just forget about it.

    ¡°I was in a car ident when I was nine. When I was unconscious, there was a voice in my ears. I think it was apologizing to me. I didn¡¯t care about it initially, but after I was rescued, the family of the culprit wanted to get my forgiveness. They came from a less than fortunate background, and the driver died in the car crash. The person supporting the household copsed, and the mother and daughter had trouble even surviving daily life.

    ¡°I forgave them. Then, when the police came to me with the phone recording of the driver, I realized that his voice was the one I heard when I was unconscious!

    ¡°Since then, I¡¯ve been able to asionally hear things that others couldn¡¯t. It¡¯s difficult to make out, but it¡¯s there.

    ¡°It¡¯s because of this ability that I dare take Small Ghost and Sister Ghost to ces like cemeteries and crematoriums to do our challenges because I know those ces are rtively safe.¡±

    The elevator soon arrived at the second floor. Big Ghost looked down the dark corridor, and his expression deepened with concern.

    ¡°That story made me feel some chills, but what does that have to do with this visit?¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou was confused.

    ¡°Ever since I entered this scenario, many different voices have echoed in my ears. I don¡¯t know whether it¡¯s because I¡¯ve lost my mind or because there are too many haunted things hiding here.¡± Big Ghost looked down the long corridor. He took a deep breath and took out his phone to look at the time. ¡°I have a bad feeling.¡±

    ¡°People are kind enough to give you reminders. How can youbel them as haunted things?¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou moved his body to look at Big Ghost¡¯s phone. ¡°What time is it?¡±

    ¡°9:44. Why did you suddenly ask about that?¡± Big Ghost was still looking outside the elevator.

    ¡°Whether you believe me or not, actually, something scary happened to me too.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Big Ghost turned back to look, and he saw Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s expression, which had never been so severe before.

    ¡°One night, I took the elevator alone, and I saw a couple who had their faces lowered inside the elevator.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s face slowly turned ce. ¡°I was so afraid, I stood as close to the door as I could. When the door closed, the guy suddenly asked me this question¡ªwhat time is it?¡±

    ¡°How did you answer him?¡± Big Ghost turned his whole body around to face Ol¡¯ Zhou. He suddenly felt a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu.

    ¡°I told him it was 9:44.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou slowly lowered his face.

    ¡°And... and then?¡±

    The air in the elevator froze. Ol¡¯ Zhou slowly lifted his face, and a nasty gash appeared on his pale face!

    ¡°And that time became my time of death!¡±

    The door slowly closed, and Duan Yue stood at the door to block his exit...

    Ding!

    When the elevator opened again, Big Ghost was already unconscious. Ol¡¯ Zhou dragged him out from the elevator and had Duan Yue message Chen Ge and remind him that Big Ghost could hear ghost whispers. Momentster, Chen Ge called. ¡°Ignore the remaining person. Take Big Ghost to the school¡¯s nurse office as fast as you can. Doctor Wei and the other doctors are there. Let them take over.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have much time. Can Doctor Wei make it?¡±

    ¡°The few patients that Doctor Wei cured have all forgotten their painful past. Do you still have doubts about his ability?¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    ...

    Bai Buhui guarded the door, and soon, he heard the screams of Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue. It was harrowing, hard to imagine what they had been through.

    ¡°Looks like they have been tricked by the actors. This is really a man-eating elevator. I can¡¯t stay here anymore. Now that I am alone, they will surelye to get me.¡± Bai Buhui was calm. ¡°Combining the document from Mr. Bai¡¯s supernatural phenomenon observation club¡¯s reports, the reports about heaven and wishing well were inside the same room, so there has to be a connection between the two. The wishing well is probably the real way out.¡±

    The map that he had seen at the door to the education block appeared in his mind. Bai Buhui took out his phone to call Liu Gang, but it went unanswered.

    ¡°What is this idiot doing?¡± He messaged Liu Gang and told him that the library was a trap and that the real exit was the well.

    After doing all that, Bai Buhui ignored his previous teammates and ran all the way to the western campus, the location where he remembered the well was.

 Chapter 938 - Pushing Open the Door of Hope! [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 938: Pushing Open the Door of Hope! [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Bai Buhui was someone with a sharp and firm determination. The experience from his childhood had turned him into someone who was selfish and aloof. Many who had worked with him in the pastmented that they sensed ack of human sociability from the man. But such a person had mist in his eyes when he saw the edge of the abandoned school¡¯s field.

    In less than ten minutes, Bai Buhui had experienced more than ten ghost stories. The nurse¡¯s office that was filled with whispering and crying, the music room that had music floating out of it even though it was definitely unupied, the staircase that had an extra step, the statue that would cry, the cafeteria that was empty but somehow drifting with the delicious smell of meat, the human face that was hiding underneath the toilet cubicle, and the consistent footsteps that had been following behind him.

    There were simply too many of them to count. He had been to other Haunted Houses where there were plenty of scare points, but at this Haunted House, a single ghost story alone contained multiple scare points. The scariest thing was that once he triggered one of the ghost stories, the ghosts in the story would continue to haunt him. They would not let him go until the end of the world. Bai Buhui had no idea many ¡®things¡¯ were following behind him. His brain had stopped working long ago; he had been operating on pure determination.

    ¡°The wishing well!¡± As the Haunted House designer from the futuristic theme park, he did not want to admit defeat. He would rather find the exit himself than ept the humiliation of being sent out by their businesspetition. ¡°I¡¯m almost there!¡±

    Using thest ounce of energy in his body, Bai Buhui charged down the field. At that moment, his brain was even filling up with images from ssic movies like The Shawshank Redemption.

    <i>Freedom is within my grasp. At this moment, I am my own hero.</i>

    He had never run so fast in his life. Crossing the field, he copsed by the edge of the well. This was a well that was slightly nted. There was a safety rope that was tied to the side of the well, and the end of the rope was attached to a water bucket. Bai Buhui looked down into the well, and he could see a faded red light at the bottom of the well.

    ¡°It should be... yes, this should be the ce.¡± Putting his hands together in prayer, Bai Buhui sincerely wished, ¡°I want to leave this haunted House.¡±

    Then he took out a coin and tossed it into the well. Soon, he heard the coin hit the bottom of the well. The well was not as deep as he thought.

    ¡°This is it! My way to victory!¡± This was his bet for glory. Bai Buhui grabbed the safety rope and slowly descended into the well.

    ...

    ¡°Why hasn¡¯t Bai Buhui answered any of his calls? What is that man up to?¡± Liu Gang¡¯s voice came from underneath the table.

    ¡°Is it possible that they have already escaped from the Haunted House? From the first time I saw him, I knew that he cannot be relied on. He has this strange way of talking and refuses to acknowledge those who are talking to him.¡± The cameraman Muscle¡¯s voice came from another table.

    ¡°I am here purposely to help the futuristic theme. If that b*stard dares to abandon me and run off alone, I¡¯ll have many things to say to him once this is over.¡± Liu Gang was very mad. ¡°But you aren¡¯t much better than him. You have been quietlymunicating with my assistant, but you did not even consider telling me about that! And as a cameraman, you lost the most important equipment, the camera.¡±

    ¡°But I was forced to do that! I didn¡¯t do it on purpose!¡±

    Creak...

    The wooden door was pushed open, and hearing that, both Liu Gang and Muscle shut up at the same time.

    ¡°Brother Gang, you cane out now. That headless woman didn¡¯te after us.¡± Ah Li ran to the door. ¡°We¡¯d better make use of this time to get to the library.¡±

    ¡°Suddenly, everyone¡¯s phone is not working. I really have no idea what they are doing.¡± Liu Gang took out his phone and sent a message to the group chat. ¡°The hidden path the exit is behind the mirror on the second floor of the library. If you see this message, head over there immediately!¡±

    ¡°I have done everything I could. If they still refuse toe, I can¡¯t do anything about that.¡± Liu Gang patted the dust away from his clothes as he crawled out from underneath the table. ¡°We are not going to wait for him. Let¡¯s go there now.¡±

    The three were gathered close together, but once they pushed the door open, Muscle let out a shrill yelp.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°The mannequin is following us again!¡±

    Muscle pointed outside the door. There was a child mannequin standing at the corner. His head was standing on his shoulders, and his pair of dark eyes were staring at Liu Gang¡¯s group.

    ¡°For some reason, I feel like he¡¯s staring at us, and his eyes have been following our movement.¡±

    ¡°Why is this ghost baby following us even though Lan Dong has already gone missing?¡± Muscle took in a cold breath.

    ¡°Just ignore it. We need to head to the library now!¡± Ah Li was not that afraid of the Ghost Baby. After all, as scary as it could be, at least it was something physical that everyone could see.

    In his peripheral vision, there would asionally appear a thin male student, and only he was the one who could catch glimpses of this student. Following the appearance of the ghost baby was the dog barking and fleeting crying. The actors at this Haunted House did not seem to be confined to a single scenario; they could move around freely. This was the thing that worried Liu Gang the most. After all, with the number of visitors dwindling, it meant that more actors would gather and close in around the remaining visitors.

    ¡°Why am I having this sudden headache?¡± Many unfamiliar images appeared in Ah Li¡¯s memory as if he had lived at this ce before. After slowly getting used to this feeling, Liu Gang and Muscle, who were next to him, turned more and more into strangers. However, neither of them pointed this out. They all believed that as long as they could escape from this ce, all the problems would be solved.

    They raced down the corner, and asionally, there were shadows that floated out from the corner that would squeeze their hearts. Scarier still were the strands of hair that would fall from the ceiling, but when they lifted their heads to look, there was nothing there. The three ran for their lives, and they ignored all these details. They had nted their hope on the hidden path that was mentioned by the male assistant.

    ¡°We¡¯re here! That¡¯s the library in front of us!¡± Even though they were quite far away from the door, Muscle managed to read the sign with his exceptional eyesight. That gave them the boost to run down thest stretch with all their strength.

    ¡°Close the door! Close the door!¡± To help them buy some more time, Liu Gang and Muscle mmed the wooden door of the library shut after they got into it and used chairs to block the entrance. ¡°We¡¯ll go to the second floor together! My assistant and the two students should be waiting for us there!¡±

    Liu Gang shouted the name of his assistant, but there was no answer. They ran to find the staircase inside the library, and when they found it, they realized that the stairs were heading down, not up.

    ¡°The second floor that my assistant mentioned was the second underground floor?¡± Looking at the dark staircase, Liu Gang had some hesitance, but at that moment, the sound of banging came from the library door like someone was using their head to knock against the door.

    ¡°Those things have caught up to us! Is it the ghost baby or the headless woman?¡± The group was thrown into a panic. They could clearly see the blood that was leaking through the gap at the bottom of the door. The banging became louder and louder. The door and the chairs that blocked the door were shaking.

    ¡°Quick! We mustn¡¯t stay here any longer!¡± After saying that, Muscle was the first to charge down the stairs. In the eerie underground, there were rows of bookshelves, but there was no so-called mirror.

    ¡°Brother Gang, could it be that we have been tricked? Why would there be a mirror in the library?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the point of saying that now? Go and search for it!¡± Liu Gang was freaking out, too. That mirror was their only hope. The three scrambled around the lower floor, and the banging that came above their heads became louder and louder.

    ¡°Has the boss of this ce lost his mind? To make the scenario, he has created such a big underground library?¡± Muscle grabbed a random book from the bookshelf. There were blood stains left on the corner, and the inside pages were dirtied with blood and stuck together. ¡°This is madness.¡±

    He was about to push the book back when he suddenly saw something in the gap where the book was originally ced. Muscle bent over to take a better look and saw a red pupil sh past the back of the bookshelf.

    ¡°What the f*ck!¡± His body lost its bnce, and he leaned backward. When his head was about knock into the bookshelf behind him, he felt something holding him, giving him support. His soul had not returned to his body. Muscle turned his head instinctively around, and he saw a pale arm reach out from the gap in the bookshelf. There were five bony fingers pressing around his neck. Chills crawled down his body. Muscle could hear the sound that cracked down his spine, like it was about to snap.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Muscle screamed loudly for help and tossed the book away as he crawled away from the mystery hand. He made such a loudmotion and forgot about the one rule when one was inside the library. One should always remain quiet inside the library. He vited the rule, and many gray hands reached out from the bookshelves. Some of them were wearing the uniform of Mu Yang High School.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Liu Gang abandoned his image. He copsed onto the ground and searched for a ce to hide.

    Bang!

    A loud boom echoed through the library. It should be the door of the library being banged open. A few secondster, a face appeared at the stairs. It was the ghost baby, and trailing behind it was arge ck dog.

    ¡°Run!¡± Muscle screamed, but the library was only so big; there was nowhere for them to run. The few hid behind thest row of the bookshelves. The stars seemed to have aligned for them at that moment. They managed to spot a mirror that they had missed that whole time.

    ¡°This is it!¡±

    A miracle! That kind of joy was something that could not be described with words! It was as if they had run into the most beautiful incident when they were in the deepest despair!

    ¡°Quick!¡± Ah Li pushed the mirror to the side to reveal a path that led downward. At the end of the path was a heavily ruined iron door.

    ¡°The hidden path!¡± Excited tears overwhelmed the trio¡¯s eyes. Only they knew what they had been through to reach this point. They raced down the stairs. As they got closer and closer to the door of hope, the sound of crying and barking faded away. Liu Gang, who ran at the front, finally had his grip around the door knob.

    ¡°It¡¯s finally over!¡±

    He pushed the iron door open.

    A stingy smell of blood rushed into his nostrils, and a thick blood fog enveloped his body!

    When Liu Gang opened his eyes, he saw a world that waspleted blood red in color!

    Viscous drops of blood dripped down from the ceiling, and the whole corridor was painted the brightest of red. The air was damp, and every breath appeared to soak their lungs in blood water. Liu Gang stopped moving. The stark contrast in color caused him to doubt his own eyes. Just as he was about to turn around, a giant force ran into him from behind. His knees buckled, and Liu Gang dropped to the ground. He turned to look behind him.

    Muscle and Ah Li raced out from the corridor. They did not expect Liu Gang to suddenly stop. They did not have a chance to slow down, so they rammed right into Liu Gang. The three rolled into a ball, and as they collected their wits, they saw the ghost baby and the ck dog also following down into the hidden path. The scary faces slowly approached, and the pale hands followed closely behind the ghost baby. However, when they were about to reach Liu Gang, something that no one expected happened.

    The scary monsters did not continue to move forward. They stopped inside the hidden path. With fear and uncertainty radiating off them, they pulled back the iron door and mmed it shut. Then came the sound of iron cogs and chains moving. The rusted door seemed to have been locked.

    ¡°This... means that we¡¯re saved, right?¡±

    The three visitors were lying on the ground withplicated expressions. They only dared look at each other, afraid of letting their eyes wander around.

    ¡°This is the exit?¡± Ah Li whispered, but no one was there to give an answer.

    ¡°This may be the exit, even though it might not look like it. Perhaps the Haunted House wishes to give us a surprise before we leave?¡± Muscle sounded raspy. He slowly crawled up from the ground with his heart beating rapidly.

 Chapter 939 - AHHH

    <strong>Chapter 939: AHHH</strong>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    ¡°You might have a point.¡± Liu Gang also picked up himself up from the ground. His body was shaking. Everything around him was too intense for his senses. This was a blood red world; every surface was painted with blood, the walls were climbing with blood vessels, and thick bloody liquid was flowing on the ceiling above them.

    ¡°This is madness, pure madness.¡± Liu Gang stuttered when he spoke. He had thought that there was hope behind the door, but when he saw that the scene before him had nothing to do with hope, the disappointment was enough to break him. The three visitors were busy consoling themselves, but the excuses that they coulde up with sounded so weak whenpared to the bloody reality that they had been thrown into.

    ¡°We...¡± Before Liu Gang finished, footsteps came from the corridor. The sound was crisp, like stilettos on tiles.

    ¡°It¡¯s not easy to move around with heels. Could it be the workering to direct us to the exit?¡±

    ¡°No matter what, let¡¯s hide for now.¡± Ah Li pushed open a random ssroom door, but before he got in, he sucked in a cold breath. The ssroom was filled with students, and everyone was wearing a strange school uniform. The uniform unsettled Ah Li, but at the same time, it felt familiar to him. ¡°The boy that I¡¯ve been seeing appears to be wearing this uniform. His name is Lin Sisi?¡±

    He had been hugging the wooden box, but due to his nervousness, Ah Li had forgotten to ce the box with the oil painting on the ground. The footsteps were approaching. The only ces to hide were the two ssrooms on the side. However, both ssrooms were filled with students.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go in first. The students are just mannequins.¡± As if to prove him wrong, when Liu Gang saw that, all the heads of the students in the ssroom turned, and the pairs of eyes looked at him.

    Pa!

    About one secondter, the students stood up one by one. They appeared to have not gotten used to their new bodies. They left their seats awkwardly before charging at Liu Gang!

    ¡°Out! Out! Run!¡± Their bodies reacted instinctively. Liu Gang¡¯s group pushed each other as they tried to escape from the ssrooms, and at that moment, the strange footsteps stopped before them. A pair of blood red heels were ced in the middle of the corridor. The color camouged them against the corridor.

    ¡°Why is there a pair of heels standing here?¡± Blood dripped from above. Liu Gang lifted his head to look, and a woman covered in bandages had her upper body stuck to the ceiling. She seemed to be made from blood. Screams escaped from Liu Gang¡¯s mouth. The man himself did not know that he could reach such a high octave. His body was dragged by Ah Li and Muscle. The three ran down the corridor. Right then, a familiar scream came from the other end of the corridor.

    ¡°Bai Buhui?¡± Thest shred of rationality pushed this name into Ah Li¡¯s brain. He looked down the corridor, and at a fork in the road, he saw two harried figures. One of them was the unapproachable and detached Bai Buhui, but at that moment, he had lost a shoe, his shirt was torn, and his sses were missing.

    ¡°Buhui!¡± Liu Gang shouted his name from afar. Even though he hadined about Bai Buhui earlier, at that moment, he felt such closeness to the man when he saw him.

    ¡°Don¡¯te over here!¡± Bai Buhui warned. Even though he was missing a shoe, he could run very fast. Momentster, Liu Gang saw the other person who was following Bai Buhui. The man was also a visitor. They had met each other when they entered the Haunted House. He wore manyyers, and he seemed to be sick. His face was very pale, and he kept gasping for air.

    ¡°Don¡¯te over here! Run!¡± Bai Buhui gestured madly. When they met at the split, both parties saw what they had been running away from. Behind Liu Gang was a pair of red heels that could move on their own, a strange woman that stuck to the ceiling, and a group of students who all had the same expression. Bai Buhui and the other visitor were being followed by a strange boy with a normal-sized head but a stomach that was about ten timesrger than an adult¡¯s. The boy was holding the broken leg of a mannequin. His body was sttered with blood and covered in this horrible stench!

    There was nowhere to run!

    One side was terror, and the other side was greater terror!

    ¡°Into the room!¡± Liu Gang screamed.

    ¡°No! We¡¯ll be trapped that way!¡± Bai Buhui stopped. He looked around before hissing through his teeth. ¡°This way!¡±

    Liu Gang was followed by a bunch of things, but there was only one thing behind him. After gauging the pros and cons, Bai Buhui made the correct choice. ¡°We¡¯ll charge our way through!¡±

    The negative emotions in his heart were unleashed. When the strange boy was approaching, Bai Buhui suddenly rammed into the visitor wearing manyyers! He personally pushed the visitor toward the monster!

    ¡°How could you!¡± Just as the visitor was about to fall, his arm was caught by the boy with the stench.

    ¡°This is our opportunity! Run!¡± The boy was holding the mannequin¡¯s leg with one hand and the strange visitor with another, so he did not have any free hands to stop them. Being reminded by Bai Buhui, the group ran past the boy, but at that moment, they suddenly heard a blood-curdling scream!

    Turning back to look, they saw an arm being torn brusquely off its shoulder by the boy. The arm flew through the air andnded before the group of visitors. The blood was still bleeding, and the fingers were flinching!

    ¡°AH!¡± Ah Li and Muscle¡¯s knees buckled; they did not expect this to happen. The screaming continued, and the boy¡¯srge body blocked Liu Gang and Bai Buhui¡¯s sight. What they saw was squirting blood exploding out from what they assumed to be the strange visitor¡¯s body.

    That was a living human. The visitor was with them moments ago. But this was real! Every terror turned into reality at that moment! It was like they had seen the murderer with the knife standing by their bedside after waking up from a nightmare!

    Ah Li and Muscle broke down, and they could not stop screaming.

    Bai Buhui also lost the ability to run. He saw the blood drain from the visitor¡¯s body, and his energy left him. The world around him started to spin. Everything turned ck like night was falling. His eyes closed, and he fell backward. Even at hisst conscious moment, his mouth was repeating the same word.

    ¡°Impossible.¡±

    Of the group, only Liu Gang continued to crawl on the ground. He crawled into the nearby ssroom, but as he was about to close the door, a broken arm struck the door. Then, more and more arms reached out to grab the door.

    ¡°Don¡¯te in here! Go away!¡± Liu Gang looked up, and more and more human faces appeared at the window outside the ssroom. They were all curiously looking in.

 Chapter 940 - Just Slightly Scarier [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 940: Just Slightly Scarier [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    If the threshold of terror that a human being could support was to be split into ten levels, Liu Gang felt like he was in a level one hundred scare. He did not know when he fainted; he just knew that there was a sense of bliss that he did not expect when he fainted. ¡°If possible, I just want to sleep forever and not open my eyes again...¡±

    Bang!

    The room door was pushed open, and numerous ghosts rushed into the room. Then they separated and stood on both sides of the room. Footsteps came from afar, and Chen Ge, still wearing Mr. Bai¡¯s ID card, walked over. He had left the camera outside the red campus, and now he was only holding a phone in his hand.

    ¡°One minute and three seconds, you guys have to try harder to reduce the time you need to cause people to faint to under one minute.¡± Chen Ge walked to stand before Liu Gang. ¡°The red campus is very simr to the world behind the door. It is best used as thest trump card, so it is for the best that the visitors do not stay here for too long.¡±

    Even though they were from different camps, even though they were supposed to bepetitors, Chen Ge still cared about Liu Gang. ¡°The visitation time is sixty minutes. There is still time left. Help me bring them to the nurse¡¯s office, and let Dr. Wei take a look at them.¡±

    Moving his broken arm, Ol¡¯ Bai dragged Liu Gang out of the ssroom. After giving some more advice to his new employees, Chen Ge turned to the red high heels. ¡°The resentment and hatred in the visitors¡¯ hearts are the nutrients that you need. This is the most efficient method to drain the negative emotions from their hearts, and it can be repeated many times. I am not advising you to stay¡ªI am just telling you these things so that even if you do not wish to stay here any longer, you will be able to take good care of yourself.¡±

    Seeing theck of response from the red high heels, Chen Ge turned and left.

    When he reached the nurse¡¯s office, Chen Ge heard theint from Dr. Wei before he even entered the door. He astutely stood outside the door and waited awhile before entering it.

    ¡°Dr. Wei, how are they doing?¡±

    ¡°I have been wondering, are you the owner of a Haunted House or a hospital? The visitors came to y, and you have to send them for a full physical checkup before allowing them to leave?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t help it if they are that unlucky,¡± Chen Ge said.

    ¡°Never mind that. The guy called Big Ghost could hear our voices because there was a shred of lingering spirit that was hiding inside his ear. When the spirit came to our Haunted House to visit, he was almost scared out of his wits. Under the persuasion of our group of doctors, the lingering spirit has finally departed to a better ce.¡±

    ¡°I knew I could count on you to make things right, Dr. Wei. You only need to talk to him to cure him of his illness.¡±

    ¡°Move it and get them out of here as fast as you can!¡±

    With the help from the employees, all twelve visitors were sent to the entrance to the School of Afterlife. Then Chen Ge mobilized a few carts from the underground morgue and carted them out from the underground scenario. Seeing the row of fainted visitors, Chen Ge felt a bit headache as well. If this scene was witnessed by the other visitors, it would probably give them quite a scare. Taking out his phone, Chen Ge called Zhang Jingjiu. ¡°Ol¡¯ Zhang, have you recorded Liu Gang¡¯s livestream?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, boss. From the beginning to the end, I have all of it recorded.¡± Zhang Jingjiu was very professional.

    ¡°Okay, send me the part where Liu Gang dropped the camera to save his own life, and by the way, I also want the part where they had the argument with the students from the medical university andter chased after them angrily. I need that part as well.¡±

    ¡°No problem.¡±

    Ten secondster, Zhang Jingjiu sent all the clipped videos to Chen Ge. After confirming them, Chen Ge put the phone away, hauled the visitors onto the carts, hummed a tune, pushed the carts, and headed out of the Haunted House. The wheels of the body carts rolled across the floor, making this creaking sound. Chen Ge pulled open the thick back curtains of the Haunted House. The sun shone down, and the sunlight gilded the rims of the carts. They were like pairs of hands that caressed the sleeping faces gently and warmly.

    ¡°They¡¯re out! Boss Chen is out!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s out! He¡¯s out! He¡¯s pushing the carts out of the Haunted House!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s carrying the visitors who visited the four-star scenario earlier? My God! Three of them have fainted!¡±

    The visitors who were still lining up exploded. The visitors who had bought their tickets and were ready to enter the Haunted House abandoned their queue and all rushed over to look.

    ¡°Move aside please! Please do not block the path! Give them some air!¡±

    When he heard the sound of wheels, Uncle Xu felt a bad feeling growing in his heart. He rushed over through the crowd as fast as he could, but he was toote. The reporters who were waiting had already gotten to their news before he did.

    ¡°Is the four-star scenario so scary?¡±

    ¡°What happened to three visitors when they were inside your Haunted House?¡±

    ¡°Boss Chen, please stay for an interview!¡±

    Chen Ge ignored them and waved at Uncle Xu. ¡°Uncle, help me find some workers to carry these three to the resting hall.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you just hand me the whole cart?¡±

    ¡°I still have the use for the cart.¡±

    Three visitors were moved by the theme park workers to the resting hall. Themotion around Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House only grew bigger. There wereyers uponyers of visitors trying to see what was up. This scene had certainly satisfied the curiosity of countless visitors. The creaking sound returned as Chen Ge pushed the cart back into the Haunted House. Half a minuteter, he returned with another cart of visitors.

    ¡°There are three more of them?¡±

    ¡°The four-star scenario wouldn¡¯t have wiped them all out, right? More than ten people visited the scenario at the same time!¡±

    Seeing Chen Ge walk out, the corner of Uncle Xu¡¯s eyes were twitching. He whispered, ¡°Now... you still can¡¯t give me the use of the cart, can you?¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡± Chen Ge nodded. ¡°I need to use it two more times.¡±

    Chen Ge answered calmly like he was talking about the weather, but the visitors who heard him had shock travel through them like ripples.

    ¡°All the visitors that entered the four-star scenario have been knocked unconscious! This is madness!¡±

    ¡°When I heard that the boss split the difficulty into levels, I thought that was just for him to scam more money out of us, but now I realize how ignorant I was. Er... Can I exchange this ticket for Mu Yang High School? I think I will just visit a one-star scenario today.¡±

    The visitors were happily discussing among themselves while Chen Ge silently pushed the cart back into the Haunted House. With the creaking and cracking of the wheels, he took two more trips to remove the rest of the visitors from the haunted house. Other than Chen Ge, the other party who was busiest at the scene were the doctors. Initially, many visitors did not understand why a first aid corner was stationed next to the Haunted House, but they all got it now. Handing the cart over to the doctors, Chen Ge held Liu Gang¡¯s camera and stood before the Haunted House. Until that moment, the camera was still operating.

    ¡°Would everyone please quiet down for a moment!¡± Chen Ge aimed the camera right at himself and then connected his phone to therge screen that was ying the promotional video for the Haunted House outside at the resting hall.

    ¡°Yesterday, a famous streamer called Liu Gang did everything he could to nder my Haunted House.¡± Chen Ge pressed the y button on his phone, and the big screen started to show the short video that had been uploaded by Liu Gang yesterday on the inte. Liu Gang, who held the folding fan, showed pictures of Night of the Living Dead on the screen and berated the Haunted House with a face filled with condescension. ¡°A backward scenario like this can be called a Haunted House? Really?¡±

    ¡°He used the pictures of this Haunted House taken from years ago to mislead his audience, and then I reached out to him on the inte to make a bet, challenging him toe visit my Haunted House. If, after his visit, he still manages to say that my Haunted House is not scary, then I will livestream my personal apology to him through the inte. However, if he thinks the visit is scary, then he will need to officially apologize to New Century Park for his defamation and ce the apology statement at the front page of his ount.¡±

    After saying that, Chen Ge stopped the doctors, who were moving past him, and turned the camera to Liu Gang, who was lying on the stretcher. The man¡¯s pale face appeared on the big screen.

    ¡°Action speaks louder than words. In Liu Gang¡¯s current condition, I doubt he will be able to give an official apology. Actually, I did not expect him to be so fragile. Hearing what he had to say about my Haunted House on the inte, I increased the difficulty slightly because I thought he was going to be someone hard to scare.¡± Chen Ge moved the camera angle backward so that Liu Gang on the video from yesterday and Liu Gang who was unconscious on the stretcher could both fit in the same frame.

    Right at that moment, the video on the screen was reaching its end. Liu Gang was excitedly showing the camera the tickets that he had purchased for his viewers, and his voice came out from the speakers at the New Century Park. ¡°If certain people are too foolish to see the truth, I will go and help them understand the level that they are at.¡±

    After saying that on the big screen, Liu Gang handsome flipped open the folding fan, and the front of it had ¡®Such buffoonery!¡¯ written on it.

    ¡°We¡¯ll see you tomorrow at 9 am. Good night.¡±

    The video ended there. Chen Ge took the camera and walked to Liu Gang, who was unconscious with white foam around his mouth. He took out his phone to take a look.

    ¡°It is about 10:10 am. Brother Gang is about to be sent to the hospital. If there is anything you guys from the livestream wish to tell him, I will be the first to help you ry your messages.¡±

    Seeing thements that filled up the screen, Chen Ge¡¯s lips was turning up. He stood under the sun and felt the warmth on his skin. After Liu Gang was carried away by the doctor, Chen Ge did not switch off the camera. He turned the camera to the big screen outside the haunted House.

    ¡°Now that the issue with Liu Gang is over, it is time to talk about another person.¡± He clicked on his phone and clicked open the video that Zhang Jingjiu had sent him. ¡°I was curious why Liu Gang would suddenlye after New Century Park while promoting the futuristic theme park so much in his video. Honestly, I was confused until I saw this person.¡± Chen Ge pointed at Bai Buhui on the screen. ¡°This gentleman here is the designer for the Haunted House at the futuristic theme park. He even carries the employee ID from the futuristic theme park with him. He came alongside Liu Gang, so they should be sent to the same hospital.¡±

    The video continued to y, and it soon reached the part where Bai Buhui¡¯s group was cornering the student couple. Small Ghost was agitated and grabbed the male student by his cor, and the students looked so afraid.

    ¡°I do not care how they nder or mock my Haunted House on the inte, but I will not allow them to injure my visitors at my Haunted House.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the pair of students on the screen. ¡°Thanks to the support from everyone, my Haunted House has survived to this day. The fact that they have purposely gone after other visitors has crossed the line. Tomorrow, I will personally go to the futuristic theme park to demand an exnation. It just so happens to that I heard they have also built a Haunted House. Tomorrow, I will go and visit it alone and livestream the whole process. Those who wish to know what happens, please follow my ount.¡±

    Liu Gang¡¯s livestream¡¯s poprity went through the roof. After all, this was the streamer being face-pped by himself, and it was extremely rare that one would livestream until the stream ended up at the hospital. Chen Ge was going to ride this wave to help build hype for his visit tomorrow. His real target was the futuristic theme park. The Haunted House was the specialty of New Century Park. If this specialty was taken away, New Century Park had no chance of surviving. Therefore, Chen Ge decided to nip it at the bud, not giving the enemy any chance. New Century Park had been in business for more than a decade; not many were in favor of it. To save this theme park, Chen Ge had to give it his all.

    Liu Gang¡¯s livestream ended then. Chen Ge looked around, but everyone had already fainted, so he did not know who to hand the camera to. In the end, he decided to ce it inside the staff breakroom. After Chang Gu woke up, perhaps he could use it in his movie making. All the visitors were scared unconscious; the Haunted House¡¯s four-star scenario turned into an urban legend. Everyone was curious about what the inside of a four-star scenario looked like, but the problem was that everyone who visited it had fainted, so there was no one to ask. The main problem was, for other Haunted Houses on the market, one could send people inside it to know their secrets, but no one dared challenge Chen Ge¡¯s four-star scenario. Even those who had survived three-star scenarios had second thoughts. They were old fans of the Haunted House, and they did not believe Chen Ge when he said that the difficulty had only been hiked up a little bit.

 Chapter 941 - Homeless Kids in the City

    <h4>Chapter 941: Homeless Kids in the City</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The crowd at the Haunted House only dispersed around noon. Seeing that no one dared to challenge four-star scenario, Chen Ge had parts of the ghost employees return to their own scenarios. As more and more scenarios unlocked at the Haunted House, there was a clear problem; Chen Ge did not have enough employees.

    ¡°I need living employees that are reliable and ghost employees that I can reason with.¡± Chen Ge sat in the staff breakroom and toyed with the ck phone. He looked at the spinning wheel that operated based on the visitors¡¯ scream, and his fingers wandered over it. ¡°I¡¯ve spun out four baleful specters. If I get one more, my title will upgrade. I desperately need employees now, but what change will happen after my title is given an upgrade?¡±

    His fingers tapped on the table, and Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. ¡°The Haunted House has collected an exorbitant number of screams already. Should I throw caution to the wind? After all, the title will eventually upgrade. If I use all the screams now and spin as many times as I can, I might get something other than a baleful Specter.¡±

    That would be a good thing, but Chen Ge was worried that he might get all Specters, which would be big trouble!

    ¡°Never mind, I¡¯ll wait for the visit to futuristic theme park to be over before I try anything else. These things can¡¯t be forced.¡±

    Chen Ge abandoned this dangerous idea andy down in bed. He was about to rest when he got a call from Director Luo.

    ¡°Xiao Chen, are you sure you can handle the visitation to the futuristic theme park tomorrow alone? I thought you would take some employees with you.¡± Director Luo was worried about Chen Ge¡¯s safety.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, even though I am alone, I have many people who will lend me their support.¡± Chen Ge was not worried. ¡°Director Luo, how was business today? How was itpared to the futuristic theme park¡¯s?¡±

    ¡°The visitor number and turnover were not as high as theirs, but we¡¯re not that far behind.¡± Director Luo sounded confident. ¡°The next few days will be key! As long as we can sessfully survive this holiday period, we will have enough assets to upgrade our equipment and do something else.¡±

    ¡°That would be wonderful.¡±

    ¡°But you have to be careful. The sess rate of the futuristic theme park is not as high as they expected, and they lost face today; they mighte after you tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m not worried about them. If anything, I¡¯m worried they won¡¯te after me.¡± Chen Ge smiled into the phone.

    ¡°As long as you have confidence. Other than that, I must remind you of something. The theme park is important, but you have to care about your health. Don¡¯t think that you can do anything you want because you are still young.¡± After that, Director Luo hung up.

    ¡°Director Luo has always been kind to me. Is it because of the Haunted House or Luo Ruoyu?¡±

    Chen Ge put down the phone and stopped thinking. He ignored the chaos that was happening on the inte. He hugged the white cat and fell into a slumber inside the staff breakroom. At 6:30 pm, New Century Park ended the day¡¯s work. Everyone had worked their asses off for the day, but they did not feel tired or bogged down. The previous New Century Park was like an old man who was entering his twilight years, but that day, it was given a second breath of life. Everyone who treated that ce as their home finally saw hope.

    The employees at the Haunted House were tired to their bones. Chen Ge gave them an early break. He took the broom and mop as he cleaned around the Haunted House quietly. This was something that he had to do every day. Cleaning this old ce would give him some semnce of stability and order. At around 9 pm, Chen Ge had a simple dinner. He was about to leave New Century Park to head to the mannequin workshop when he saw a student standing at the bus stop across from the road.

    The child had been watching New Century Park. She stood alone in the shadows, and she wore a crumpled school uniform.

    ¡°Is that the uniform from the School of the Afterlife?¡±

    After recognizing the outfit, Chen Ge immediately jogged over, but when he crossed the street, the girl disappeared. ¡°Where did she go?¡±

    Narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge soon discovered an old exercise book left where the girl had been standing earlier.

    Turning it open, there was only one sentence written inside the book. ¡®Now that the home is destroyed, I have nowhere else to go.¡¯

    ¡°This is one of the students who left the School of the Afterlife with me!¡±

    A small part of the students who left the ghost school managed to wake up from theira, but most of them had nowhere else to go. Chen Ge held the exercise book and looked around. He said with sincerity, ¡°If you don¡¯t mind it, why don¡¯t you follow me!¡±

    The pedestrians thought that he was mad and walked away from him. Chen Ge did not think much of them; he held the exercise book and continued to scream. A few secondster, the girl in the crumpled school uniform walked out from the shadows. Her hands were gripped together, and she looked nervous.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I promised that if you guys have nowhere else to go, you cane and find me anytime.¡± Chen Ge extended his hand at the bus stop that was empty. ¡°You can call me Chen Ge or boss, whichever you prefer. We have a big family, and everyone is very nice.¡±

    ¡°Er...¡±

    ¡°Would you like a ss of milk tea? There¡¯s a new store that just opened near here. Come, I¡¯ll treat you.¡±

    Under the streetlights, the city flickered by. Cars rushed up and down the road. Chen Ge approached the pedestrian crossing, talking to himself, asionallyughing like a child.

 Chapter 942 - New Nightmare Mission

    <h4>Chapter 942: New Nightmare Mission</h4>

    Looking at the passing cars, Chen Ge held two cups of milk tea and walked down the secluded path. From the conversation with the girl, he found out that she was a student from the School of the Afterlife, and other than herself, there were many lost students who were wandering around the city because they had nowhere else to go.

    ¡°Do you know their location? We¡¯ll bring them back.¡± The girl did not reject Chen Ge¡¯s suggestion. They first returned to New Century Park to grab Yan Danian¡¯sic and then went searching for the other homeless children. They busied themselves until midnight, and by then, there were about sixty lingering spirits of homeless students in theic. They were mostly from the same ss as the girl. Most of the students had already given up, waiting for the sunlight to disperse them, but Chen Ge had shown up before then.

    ¡°Do you have any friends who might need help?¡± Chen Ge patiently confirmed with every student. After making sure that he had not missed anyone, he returned to New Century Park. He summoned Ol¡¯ Zhou, Duan Yue, and Ol¡¯ Bai and had them introduce the Haunted House to the children, settling them into the School of the Afterlife scenario. This four-star scenario had a seriousck of employee, so the arrival of these students helped Chen Ge solve a big problem.

    ¡°If only you guys hade a day earlier... oh well, this is Liu Gang¡¯s loss for his inability to experience the true terror of this four-star scenario.¡±

    After settling the students in, Chen Ge returned to the staff breakroom. ¡°I¡¯m going to the futuristic theme park tomorrow. I¡¯d better get to sleep early today.¡±

    After switching off the light, Chen Ge hugged the white cat in bed and took out the ck phone to look out of habit. It was already midnight, and the daily quests had been refreshed. As he scrolled through the ck phone, Chen Ge suddenly sat up in bed.

    The three new quests were...

    ¡°Recruitment (Normal Difficulty): As the scenarios expand, you need more employees. Please recruit three new employees before dusk tomorrow.

    ¡°Safety Precautions (Medium Difficulty): Please install at least twenty surveince cameras inside the new scenario, the School of the Afterlife.

    ¡°Neighbor (Nightmare Difficulty): You wouldn¡¯t have expected this since you rarely return home. The day before your parents disappeared, something terrible happened at your home. I know you are curious about what happened. Perhaps you can ask your neighbor about it.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes focused on the nightmare daily mission. He had not seen one in a long time. The normal daily mission exhausted time and effort while providing average rewards, but Nightmare Missions were different. This type of mission was very dangerous, but it was a mission that would reward Chen Ge with a supernatural power. In the previous nightmare missions, Chen Ge had obtained the Mortician Skill, Yin Yang Vision, Living Doll, and Ghost Ear. Every single one of these abilities had helped him greatly. Other than that, Chen Ge realized something about the nightmare missions; all of them were rted to his parents, and they all seemed to contain hints to his parents¡¯ disappearance.

    ¡°If I do not ept it, the daily mission will refresh at midnight tomorrow.¡± Chen Ge looked at the time; it was 00:44.

    ¡°Such perfect timing.¡± After giving it some thought, Chen Ge pointed at the Nightmare Mission.

    ¡°Lucky Specter¡¯s Favored, are you going to ept the Nightmare Difficulty Daily Mission? The mission is extremely dangerous!¡¯

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    After confirming it, the details of the mission appeared on the ck phone.

    ¡°Neighbor (Nightmare Mission): Please search for an apartment with more than fifteen floors in Eastern Jiujiang. Said building should also satisfy these two conditions: possess a basement andck the fourteenth floor.

    ¡°After finding the location, please enter the staircase at 2 am. The moment you step onto the stairs, you must close both eyes. Sessfully climb from the first floor to the top floor, and when the mission ispleted and your eyes are opened, you will see the thing you wish to see.

    ¡°Warning: Nightmare Missions have to bepleted alone. Apaniment of any Specters, spirits, or items rted to the Haunted House are forbidden!

    ¡°Hint: Before you reach the top floor, no matter what you hear, smell, or touch, do not open your eyes! That is the only way for you to survive!¡±

    Chen Ge memorized the details. He repeated it many times, but he did not get it. Why would such a mission be called Neighbor?

    ¡°Does it mean that when I close my eyes and climb from the ground floor to the top floor, I will run into neighbors?¡±

    It sounded easy, but it would be hard to put into action. Under those circumstances, a normal person would habitually open their eyes if there was anymotion around them.

    ¡°The Nightmare Missions that I have epted before did not have a specific location. Only this mission needs me to go to Eastern Jiujiang, but that ce is where my parents strictly forbade me from going before.¡±

    The mission had been epted; it was toote to regret it. Chen Ge took out his phone to look for the building that might match the conditions. He typed in the keywords, and the search result soon arrived.

    ¡°Jiang Yuan Apartments?¡±

    Looking at the name of the residential area, Chen Ge¡¯s brows were screwed together. He was familiar with this ce. When he was small, when his parents first arrived in Jiujiang, they had rented a home there. Only after he started primary school did they moved from Eastern Jiujiang to Western Jiujiang. In other words, until he was six, he lived in Jiang Yuan Apartments in Eastern Jiujiang,

    Honestly, he could not recall the reason for their move. Chen Ge tried to remember it, but all he could recollect was a hazy rain. All the other memories that Chen Ge had of Jiang Yuan Apartments came from newspapers and the television. Many horrible things had happened in that area after they moved away. What kind of incident, he had already forgotten. He could only remember that whenever he tried to bring up Jiang Yuan Apartments, his parents would try their best to change the subject.

    Twenty years had passed since then. The original Jiang Yuan Apartments had been levelled. The new Jiang Yuan Apartments no longer had the old small apartments but two seventeen-floor service apartments. The two buildings faced each other, but strangely enough, only one of them had been upied. The other building had not finished work due to various reasons.

    The current Jiang Yuan Apartments was far more famous than its previous itineration, but it was all due to negative news. ording to the inte, there had been many tenants whomitted suicide there. Ever since the apartments were built, the number of tenants had only decreased. When one passed it at night, only a few lights were on.

    ¡°The building has seventeen floors and a basement. To avoid any taboos, the developer skipped over the fourteenth floor, so the next floor after thirteen is the fifteenth floor.¡± Chen Ge looked at the information that he had found. ¡°This building fits the ck phone¡¯s requirements perfectly. I suspect it purposely directed me to this ce.

    ¡°The ce that I used to stay at has been demolished, and now that I have grown up, I have to return there to find my old neighbor through this kind of method?¡±

    Chen Ge had a feeling the neighbor that he was looking for would not be alive anymore.

 Chapter 943 - You Are My Eyes

    <h4>Chapter 943: You Are My Eyes</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°This mission is rted to my parents¡¯ disappearance, so there is no reason to give it up. ording to the mission details, as long as I don¡¯t open my eyes, everything will be fine.¡± Chen Ge put the ck phone away. ¡°I can only go alone. I can¡¯t bring any Specters, spirits, or anything rted to the Haunted House. Will the ghost fetus discover that I have broken the rules?¡±

    But since that was the ck phone¡¯s request, Chen Ge had to follow it. He put on his jacket and found a secure rope in the drawer. He tied one end to himself and the other end to the white cat.

    ¡°Other people tie a rope to their pet because they are afraid that they might lose the pet; I¡¯m tying the rope to the cat because I¡¯m afraid I will go to the wrong ce and the cat might fail to find me. White Tiger, I¡¯ve been so nice to you. This is finally your time to shine.¡±

    The white cat, which had been snuggling infort on the bed, looked at Chen Ge in rm. Its ears were standing up, and its eyes moved between Chen Ge and the rope.

    ¡°Come, let¡¯s go visit somewhere interesting.¡± Chen Ge was about to grab the white cat, but the cat sank its ws into the bed and refused to let go.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you cats nocturnal animals? What are you doingzying all night in bed?

    ¡°If you don¡¯t take this chance to exercise, you¡¯ll get so overweight that you won¡¯t be able to move!

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry! I promise I won¡¯t abandon you no matter what. See this rope? This will be the bond that keeps us together!¡±

    ...

    ¡°Sir, I¡¯m going to the lightning equipment factory opposite from Jiang Yuan Apartments in Eastern Jiujiang.¡± Chen Ge sat in the back of the taxi while hugging the white cat. With his previous experience, he knew not to give the name of the dangerous location directly just in case the driver refused to drive him there.

    ¡°The ce is quite secluded. Plus, why are you going to a factory at night?¡± The driver studied Chen Ge through the rearview mirror. It was not that he was being too suspicious, but a customer like Chen Ge was too unique. It was 1 am, and he wanted to go to Eastern Jiujiang while carrying a cat.

    ¡°My family owns that factory. Something happened, and I have to go check.¡±

    ¡°Hasn¡¯t the factory closed down?¡± The suspicion increased.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s why I¡¯m going there. Do you think no one needs to care about it since it¡¯s closed down?¡± There was annoyance in Chen Ge¡¯s tone like he was not in a good mood.

    ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind me being a busybody, but it¡¯s not that safe in Eastern Jiujiang. Something just happened at the ce that you wish to go several days ago.¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°The residential area across from the factory, I believe it was a drunken husband who identally fell from the roof. The scary thing is that it was my colleague who drove him home that night. In any case, the ce is just strange.¡± The driver started the car.

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe in all that.¡± Chen Ge chuckled evenly. ¡°My parents always tell me that with money, even ghosts will do your bidding. If you¡¯re afraid of ghosts, it only means you¡¯re not rich enough.¡±

    The driver was speechless. He stopped trying to persuade Chen Ge, and Chen Ge used this downtime to do more investigation. Half an hourter, the taxi dropped Chen Ge off in Eastern Jiujiang. After paying the fare, Chen Ge hugged the white cat and headed straight for Jiang Yuan Apartments. That definitely gave the driver quite a shock.

    ¡°The mission requires me to be here before 2 am.¡± Chen Ge crossed the road and reached the gates to the residential area. Two apartments stood before him. The surroundings were dark, and it looked isted. Since moving away, this was Chen Ge¡¯s first time returning there. The ce had changed so much from his memory. ¡°Such a big residential area can¡¯t afford a guard?¡±

    The gate was half open, and the guardhouse next to it was sealed and locked. Walking in further, the path was littered with various pamphlets. Only two streetlights were on, and one was flickering nonstop. Chen Ge tilted his head up. There was no lighting from one of the apartment building; it looked deserted. The other building had several lights on the ground floor, and there were clothes hanging on the clotheslines outside the building.

    ¡°There¡¯s someone staying here, so there shouldn¡¯t be a problem, but why are all the lights gathered at the ground floor?¡±

    Both of the buildings at Jiang Yuan Apartments fitted the requirement. For safety¡¯s sake, Chen Ge chose the one with people. He hugged the white cat and approached the building. Various notices were stuck to the outside walls. There were some from the owners urging for payment of rent, there were tenantsining about the condition of the apartment, and there were missing person reports and many other paraphernalia.

    ¡°The management is a mess. Has the developer run off with the money?¡± Chen Ge entered the lobby. The stairs were on the left hand side, and on the right was the elevator. He pressed the button for the elevator, and he could not find the fourteenth floor on the control panel. After confirming that, Chen Ge entered the stairwell. He looked at the steps before him. ¡°Each floor has twenty-six steps, and every thirteen steps, there is anding for a turn. The height of each step is about...¡±

    He repeated the movement several times for his legs to get used to the climbing.

    ¡°The mission needs the building to have a basement and no fourteenth floor. I have to consider these two elements.¡± Chen Ge leaned on the banister and looked down. ¡°There is a basement floor, but it should be deserted. All the doors are locked. I wonder what it¡¯s for.¡±

    Then he looked up the stairs. Theyer ovepped uponyers, like a staircase going up to heaven.

    ¡°Only the ground floor and fourth floor have lights. They are not sound activated because they are still on even though it is now deadly quiet.¡± Chen Ge closed his eyes before opening them again. ¡°Even with my eyes closed, I can sense the change in the light.¡±

    Climbing all the way up with one¡¯s eyes closed was difficult; it not only required bravery but also great determination.

    ¡°The Nightmare Missions are getting more and more difficult. Is it because I¡¯m getting closer to the truth?¡±

    Since he could not take any ghosts with him, Chen Ge could only make preparation from other perspective. He looked at the time and took out a ck cloth from his pocket. ¡°The mission requests for me to close my eyes but it didn¡¯t say I can¡¯t blindfold myself. This should lower the difficulty slightly.¡±

    The ck cloth would lower his eyes¡¯ sensitivity to light, but even if he was blindfolded, Chen Ge would not sneakily open his eyes during the process because the scary things might crawl through the blindfold. Scratching the white cat¡¯s head, Chen Ge ced it on his shoulder. ¡°In a bit, you¡¯ll be my eyes. Do not run away from me. If anything particrly scary appears, do not remind me unless the thing is hostile and wants to kill us. Then you can w or bite me, understood?¡±

    With little time left, Chen Ge did not care whether the white cat understood his order or not. He left it on his shoulder and took out his phone. There were still ten seconds to 2 am. He closed his eyes and then tied the ck cloth around his eyes.

    ¡°Time to begin.¡±

    After closing his eyes, the darkness surrounded him. Chen Ge ced his hands on the wall and took his first step.

 Chapter 944 - Touch

    <h4>Chapter 944: Touch</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    After closing his eyes, there was nothing but darkness. The darkness did not represent despair and loneliness; rather, it appeared to be a giant bubble that could envelop all of one¡¯s imagination. The line between memory and reality blurred. As he moved step by step up the stairs, the hard shell of reality was slowly being pulled back. Chen Ge understood why all the Nightmare Missions required him to close his eyes toplete them. He was walking into another world; he was going to see the lingering spirits hiding in the background of the real world.

    Counting the number of steps in his heart, Chen Ge soon reached the second floor. His fingertips could sense the dust on the wall, and his nose could sniff out the faded smell of mold. The sound of his footsteps echoed in his ears. At that moment, the important sense of sight had been removed, and the world became so different.

    <i>White Tiger hasn¡¯t reacted strangely so it means that I am in no danger for now. Both ground floor and fourth floor have light, so the real trouble should begin after the fourth floor.</i>

    Being blindfolded was not that difficult for Chen Ge. He could picture everything in his brain, and his body had gotten used to the height of the steps. All he needed to do was focus and not let himself be influenced by other things.

    <i>I should be on the second floor now.</i>

    Moving his feet, Chen Ge was moving up to the third floor when he suddenly heard the sound of an agitated argumenting from one of the families on the second floor.

    ¡°All you do is drink! Does your family even care about me and the children? Since the pregnancy, I¡¯ve never heard a word of concern from any of you. I¡¯ve paid for every single one of my checkups, and I¡¯ve suffered more than enough under your mother¡¯s attitude!¡±

    ¡°If you feel so badly treated here, leave! If not for the fact that you forgot to lock the front door, Da Bao wouldn¡¯t have gone out and gotten lost!¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s my fault now? You insisted on leaving at midnight. I am still pregnant with Er Bao. Has your heart been eaten by the dogs?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare turn this on me. Let me repeat myself, I was going to work that day!¡±

    The soundproofing of the building was actually not that bad, but the argument was so heated that some physical altercation was involved. About ten secondster, Chen Ge heard the door open. Someone walked out, and from the sound of footsteps, the person was wearing leather shoes, so it should be the husband. The argument was still in full swing. The man cursed as he mmed the door shut. Footsteps echoed down the corridor, and a heavy cloud of alcohol surrounded Chen Ge. Once the man entered the stairwell, he stopped yelling like he was surprised by Chen Ge, who stood in the stairwell. The footsteps halted before they started to head down and disappear.

    <i>How much has the man drunk?</i>

    Silence returned, but the alcohol smell did not dissipate. Chen Ge continued to move up. He counted the steps silently, and when he got to the third floor, he noticed that something was off.

    <i>Howe the smell of alcohol is lingering? Since the man has already left, the smell of alcohol shouldn¡¯t be around anymore... unless he is following behind me!</i>

    An image appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. He was walking ahead blindfolded while a drunkard with a befuddled mind and malicious face was following behind him.

    <i>When a person is under great pressure, they will bully the weaker party to vent their frustration.</i>

    Chen Ge did not turn around. If the man was just a drunkard, it would not be so troublesome, but Chen Ge was afraid that it was something else.

    <i>When I was on the way here, the driver said that someone lost their life here not too long ago. The victim was drunk when he died, so the thing following behind me now is probably not a human.</i>

    His nose could smell the alcohol, but his ears could not hear any sound.

    <i>I¡¯ve gone up to the third floor, and I¡¯ve already run into trouble. I still have more than ten floors to go...</i>

    Fear could be ovee. What could not be ovee was the unknown. Chen Ge was in this conflicting emotion. This Nightmare Mission was more difficult than he had expected. He was only on the third floor; it should be no problem if he gave up the mission now and ran away. However, if he continued up, the risk of giving up the mission would be greater and greater.

    <i>The chance of getting new Nightmare Mission is very low. If I give up now, who knows when I will next get one?</i>

    After stopping for a while on the third floor, Chen Ge started moving to the fourth floor. After getting closer to the light, even with his eyes closed, Chen Ge could feel the change in the brightness. He was sure that he was on the fourth floor.

    <i>I¡¯ve gone through one quarter of the mission, and so far, there have been no problems.</i>

    Holding the wall, Chen Ge carefully moved toward the fifth floor. When he lifted his feet, his shoes knocked into something. The sound as it toppled over was crisp. It sounded like a china bowl. He bent over slowly and searched on the ground. His fingertips touched an apple, cooked rice, and two wooden chopsticks. The chopsticks were stuck inside the rice, and one end of it was sticky.

    <i>Someoneid out this ritualistic food on the stairwell? Has something happened on this floor as well?</i>

    Only the ground floor and fourth floor had lights on, so one¡¯s mind could not help but wonder. After recing the bowl and chopsticks, Chen Ge bowed at the location of the temporary shrine.

    ¡°Please forgive me. If you needpensation, you can follow me home when I leave. Feel free to take anything that you like.¡±

    Then, Chen Ge left the fourth floor and went up to the fifth floor. Thest shred of light disappeared, and Chen Ge felt the lighting from behind him as he slowly moved up. The fifth floor and sixth floor went by. When he reached the seventh floor, the smell of alcohol disappeared.

    <i>He left? If it was the man who died days ago, this sudden departure can only mean that there is something scarier on the seventh floor and above, and he doesn¡¯t dare follow me further. The other possibility is that there is something scary standing before him, and this new thing has scared the man away.</i>

    Knowing that something was before him but being unable to see it ced Chen Ge in a helpless situation.

    <i>Since the white cat gave no warning, it should be fine.</i>

    Chen Ge slightly bent over to lower his center of gravity to prevent himself from tripping. Slowing down, Chen Ge nudged slowly upward. When he raised his arms to the walls again, he was stumped. The sensation that came from his fingertips was not the coldness of the wall, but it had a buoyancy to it like human skin. He stood there for about several seconds before Chen Ge slowly moved his fingers, and through the sense of touch, he confirmed that he was touching a human face!

    His Adam¡¯s apple quivered as his body petrified. If this was any other person, they would be screaming, but Chen Ge did not do that; he tried to maintain his calm. His fingers pinched slightly, and through that, Chen Ge understood two things. One, this was a child¡¯s face; two, the face had no warmth like it had been taken out from the fridge, so it was not a living human.

    <i>The face has a sharp nose. I think I have an impression of this face.</i>

    Chen Ge remembered that when he entered the lobby, there was a missing person notice on the wall. The kid in the notice had such a face.

 Chapter 945 - Whoâ€™s Pulling on Me?

    <h4>Chapter 945: Who¡¯s Pulling on Me?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    With the mortician and dollmaker talents and the experience of making hundreds of mannequins, he had faith in his prediction.

    <i>This face is eighty percent simr to the face of the child in the notices, but the question is, why is his face here on the wall? Has the child been killed and the body is somehow rted to the wall?</i>

    Pulling his arms back, Chen Ge stood where he was. The surroundings were quiet; there was no sound and no special smell.

    <i>The husband and wife argued that they had lost a son. The child¡¯s name was Da Bao, so the missing person notice might be theirs. They¡¯ve lost their child, but I felt the child¡¯s face when going up the stairs. Did the child return to this building after turning into a ghost, or was he killed inside this building? Could the killer be one of the tenants?</i>

    The more Chen Ge considered it, the more likely it became. The husband left at midnight, and the wife who was pregnant with the second child chased after him without locking the door. Under normal circumstances, the child who was left alone at home would not sneak out alone unless he saw something or someone familiar calling him.

    <i>Could the killer be the neighbor?</i>

    The word ¡®neighbor¡¯ was amon term, but it carried a different meaning for Chen Ge now because the Nightmare Mission that he was conducting now was named ¡®Neighbor¡¯. Taking another step forward, Chen Ge still felt it safer to move by the wall, but when his palm was about to touch the wall, he halted. His experience earlier left a trauma in his heart. He was afraid that he might touch something unsightly again. His fingers dropped on the wall, and after touching the cold, hard wall, Chen Ge sighed in relief. If not necessary, he did not want to touch any more ¡®people¡¯.

    <i>I¡¯m only here toplete my mission. There is no need to unravel the mystery that happened here. I only need to keep my eyes closed and head to the top floor. Everything else has nothing to do with me.</i>

    Chen Ge convinced himself as he continued to move forward. When he moved his body, he felt something pull on his shirt.

    <i>Is it the child?</i>

    He froze on the steps. His eyes were blindfolded, so he could not see anything; he could only wait for the other person to let go.

    After five seconds, Chen Ge took another step forward, and he could clearly feel a force pulling from behind him. The person did not n to let him go, and Chen Ge was not going to force his way through this. He took one step back and felt that the force had weakened greatly.

    <i>It appears like something doesn¡¯t want him to leave?</i>

    A scary thought appeared in his mind. Chen Ge slowly squatted down and whispered behind him, ¡°Da Bao?¡±

    The pulling force disappeared for a moment, but it soon returned.

    ¡°Is it really you?¡± Chen Ge tried to speak as slow as he could. ¡°Your parents are looking for you. You¡¯d better go home.¡±

    Perhaps the sentence triggered the boy because the force started to pull heavily like the boy was trying to drag Chen Ge into the wall.

    ¡°Wait, if you don¡¯t like your parents and don¡¯t want to go home, I can stay to apany you!¡± Chen Ge instantly changed tact. ¡°Actually, my childhood was not that memorable either. My parents always argued due to some small issues. Seeing them in that state, I only wanted to curl up in a corner. Other families were so happy and joyful, but my family was always so lonely and cold. Even if the three of us asionally got together, it always ended up in an argument.¡±

    What Chen Ge said seemed to work; he could feel the force weakening.

    ¡°Arguing, throwing things around the room, they would sometimes vent their anger on me. The constant arguing made me live my life very carefully; I didn¡¯t dare cry too loudly.¡± Chen Ge sighed with regret. ¡°Even though I am much older now, I¡¯ll never forget that experience. The wounds haven¡¯t been healed by time, but as time moved on, I have slowly learned to coexist with the pain.¡±

    Chen Ge squatted on the stairs and turned around to face the darkness, mumbling, ¡°Isn¡¯t it sad? I am just a child. I cannot get an adult¡¯s love, but I have to force myself to be a responsible adult.¡±

    The force slowly weakened; the words seemed to find resonance in the child.

    ¡°I¡¯ve experienced that loneliness before, so I became very sensitive and cautious to everything. I know how bad that feels, but if you don¡¯t mind, I can be your friend. I do not wish for you to experience the things that I¡¯ve had to go through.¡±

    The forcepletely disappeared. Chen Ge maintained his posture. The adult¡¯s response was a mirror for a child. A good response could help the child see the good in themselves, but a bad response would be like a concave mirror, leaving a contorted impression on the child¡¯s growing mind.

    Even though Chen Ge was childless, he had interacted with children many times, and he knew how to form a bond with them. Da Bao came from a sad family background. If it was within his power, Chen Ge was willing to help the child. There was no more sound, and there was no pull on his shirt. The child seemed to have left. Chen Ge could not see anything. His hands pressed against the wall, and he did not feel anything weird.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not leaving you behind. I¡¯m just going to the roof. After I¡¯m done, I¡¯ll be back.¡±

    After saying that to the darkness, Chen Ge slowly stood up. He was about to continue climbing the stairs when his hand near the banister felt a chill like someone had stuffed a piece of ice into his palm. His fingers trembled. Chen Ge was sure that someone had grabbed his hand. Goosebumps appeared on his neck, and Chen Ge stopped for two seconds before gripping the small hand tighter. ¡°We can go together. You have to promise me one thing. If there¡¯s danger, you have to run and ignore me, okay?¡±

    With that hand holding him, Chen Ge continued to move up. He sessfully moved from the seventh floor to the eleventh floor without any idents. But when he reached the eleventh floor, the elevator down the corridor rang with a ding as the doors opened. Someone had used the elevator toe to the eleventh floor at midnight. It was unclear whether it was a person or a ghost. To prevent any unnecessary misunderstandings, Chen Ge stopped moving.

    Footsteps appeared in the eleventh-floor corridor. Then came the sound of keys brushing against one another, followed by the key entering the lock. The spring loosened, and the door opened. Just as Chen Ge thought that the person was entering the room, a giant force came from the corridor. Someone was pulling him by his left arm like they were trying to drag Chen Ge into the door that had just opened!

    His body lost its bnce. Chen Ge would have fallen if not for the force that pulled on his right hand trying its darnedest to stop Chen Ge from being dragged away.

 Chapter 946 - So Cold

    <h4>Chapter 946: So Cold</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Even though Chen Ge had no idea what was in the corridor, he knew that he could not allow himself to be dragged into the room. His arms were pulled, and his eyes were blindfolded. Chen Ge could only kick at what believed to be the direction of the corridor. His feet made contact with something, and the pain jolted Chen Ge awake. ¡°White Tiger! Bite it!¡±

    All that Chen Ge could trust now was the white cat, but the strange thing was, the cat thatid on his shoulders did not move at all. He could feel the cat¡¯s weight on his shoulder not shifting.

    His body was dragged on both sides, and this held on for almost half a minute when Chen Ge heard a man say, ¡°Don¡¯t you want to live? I am trying to save you! There is a ghost in the stairwell!¡±

    Following the voice, the pull on Chen Ge¡¯s arm increased. Now Chen Ge was given a choice, to follow the man¡¯s voice into the corridor or continue up the stairs. In less than a second, he made the choice and shouted, ¡°It was human beings who pushed them to their death, so why should I be afraid of ghosts? If you really want to save me, let go!¡±

    At that crucial moment, Chen Ge chose to stay in the stairwell. He was willing to stay with the ghost whose identity he had confirmed over leaving with a random ¡®human¡¯ stranger. The pull on his arm dwindled until the door clicked. The man who wanted to drag Chen Ge into the room appeared to have left.

    <i>Is he that desperate to find a scapegoat? Thest one who had that intention is still trapped inside a painting.</i>

    Chen Ge slowly stood up.

    <i>The sound of the door closing was very, close so it means the man¡¯s room is very close to the stairwell. I¡¯ll be sure to return tomorrow with my employees to pay a visit.</i>

    He waved his arms about. He touched the bannister and wall to confirm his location.

    ¡°Thank you for your help earlier,¡± Chen Ge said to the space next to him. No one was pulling on his hand anymore, so he was not sure whether the boy was still there or not. ¡°Da Bao?¡±

    There was no reply. Chen Ge waited for a while before moving up again.

    <i>The situation is worse than I thought. I thought this ce would have at most three Specters and some lingering spirits, but it looks like I was being overly optimistic.</i>

    Lingering spirits would have a hard time interacting physically with human beings, so both the man who grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s arm and the boy were Specters. He had only gone up to the eleventh floor, and he had already run into two Specters; this would only get worse. When Chen Ge came to the space between eleventh and twelfth floors, he felt something under his feet. It felt wet.

    <i>Puddles? There is no light in the upper part of the building, so why would there be a puddle on the stairs? Could it be a broken pipe?</i>

    Chen Ge could confirm that he was not stepping on blood because blood dried very quickly. The blood used at his own Haunted House was all diluted with thinner.

    <i>This should be water.</i>

    When that thought crossed his mind, he felt chill on his cheeks, like water was dripping on his face. Before he reached out to touch his face, the chill moved to his ankles like a snake had just slithered up his leg.

    <i>What is going on?</i>

    The air turned damp, and moisture stuck to his skin. When Chen Ge was contemting this change, a woman¡¯s voice suddenly came from above.

    ¡°So cold...¡± The voice was light and shaking.

    <i>There¡¯s something before me?</i>

    Chen Ge slowed down, and his brain spun. The air around him filled with vapor. Did the person feel cold because her death was rted to water, or was her body stored inside a freezer? Chen Ge thought about a lot in a few minutes. He continued to move forward. Just as he was about to pass the source of the voice, he felt both of his legs freeze. The chill spread along his spine like something was crawling up his back.

    ¡°So cold, so cold...¡± The shivering voice now echoed behind Chen Ge, like she was following him, just one step behind him. Standing with his eyes closed in the staircase, he could not see anything, but he could sense someone standing behind him. With each step, the person behind him also took one step forward. The chilling feeling did not dissipate and only grew stronger. Chen Ge did not act rashly; he slowly raised his hand to undo the button of his jacket. He undid the buttons one by one and removed his jacket before turning to cover the person behind him. ¡°Put this on, stranger. I can¡¯t help you change what¡¯s already happened, but I hope this jacket can bring you some warmth.¡±

    The jacketnded on something. Perhaps Chen Ge¡¯s action was so sudden that the thing could not react.

    ¡°Other than this stupid cat, I have nothing. I see death very lightly, but that doesn¡¯t influence my love for life.¡± Chen Ge held the wall and slowly squatted down until he sat on the steps. ¡°This night is long and boring; would you like to chat?¡±

    With his eyes blindfolded, Chen Ge could not see anything. Without any employees or tools, he could not do anything. However, he did not feel helpless. He leaned against the wall. In the damp, eerie stairwell, his smile appeared so bright and unusual.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, please sit next to me.¡± Chen Ge tapped the spot next to him lightly. ¡°I know how loneliness feels, and I envy those who can joke with their friends and have endless topics to chat about. Seeing their joy, I will always find a secluded corner to be by myself. That is how I like it. Eventually, people got used to it. To be honest, you¡¯re the first one who I have chatted so closely with for so long.¡±

    His lips moved, and Chen Ge turned to look next to him. ¡°Can you stay for a chat?¡±

    Some shuffling entered his ears, and Chen Ge¡¯s finger brushed against his own jacket. The ¡®stranger¡¯ who had been following him sat down next to him on the step.

    ¡°Thank you for apanying me. I am not a people person, but do you mind telling me your story?¡±

    His tone was sincere with an undercurrent of pleading.

    ¡°My body is pressed together. It¡¯s very cold. I cannot even hug myself...¡±

    ¡°Where are you? Can I go find you? How can I help you?¡± Chen Ge sincerely wished to help. There was at least another murder case hidden in this building.

    ¡°My head is ced behind my back, my arms are folded together, and my legs are on the second floor. He used to hate me. It was not until he raised the cleaver that he smiled. He said that he finally found the upside to an anorexic girl. That was a rarepliment. He said, since I am so small and thin, I will be easy to hide.¡±

 Chapter 947 - Voices from Twenty Years Ago

    <h4>Chapter 947: Voices from Twenty Years Ago</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°That day, he told me many things that he normally wouldn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Is this man you mention still living here?¡± Chen Ge could hear the quiver in the voice.

    ¡°He has already moved away and hasn¡¯t returned for a long time.¡±

    ¡°Then, would you like to meet him?¡± Chen Ge pulled on the jacket. ¡°I believe you have many things you wish to say to him. After all, he¡¯s the one who put you in this situation where you can¡¯t even feel warmth.¡±

    ¡°I...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I will help. Trust me.¡± Chen Ge held the wall and slowly stood up. ¡°If he hasn¡¯t left Jiujiang, within one week, I will bring him back. After you reunite with him, I will bring you to somece warmer.¡±

    The woman did not answer, but Chen Ge was in no hurry. ¡°Now I have one more reason to be alive. Keep the jacket. I will be back.¡±

    Chen Ge was about to move up when the woman said, ¡°Don¡¯t go up anymore. You won¡¯t be able to return.¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t be able to return? Why?¡±

    ¡°Because above the thirteenth floor is the fourteenth floor.¡± A jacket was stuffed into Chen Ge¡¯s hand, and the chilling feeling slowly disappeared.

    <i>What is she trying to tell me?</i> Chen Ge gripped the jacket tightly. <i>Jiang Yuan Apartments doesn¡¯t have the fourteenth floor. It should be the fifteenth floor after thirteenth floor, but she said that fourteenth floor follows the thirteenth floor. So, does the fourteenth floor really exist?</i>

    Chen Ge would not surrender at this point; he knew that he was very close to the truth. Counting the steps, Chen Ge came to the thirteenth floor. This level was quiet, like a normal apartment building with nothing extraordinary. He moved up to the fourteenth floor. When he was halfway up the steps, his nostrils twitched because he smelt the scent of food. It was unknown what dish it was, but his brain was able to tell this was avish dinner, impressed upon his memory.

    <i>This wafted down from the fourteenth floor. Is someone cooking?</i>

    Moving up step by step, perhaps due to physical or mental exhaustion, Chen Ge felt like there were so many steps between the thirteenth and fourteenth floor. The number of steps was simr to other floors, but for some reason, it took him much longer. Under his fingertips, the smooth surface of the wall started to crack. There appeared to be changes in the corridor. Everything gave Chen Ge a familiar yet strange feeling.

    He mechanically lifted his leg, and with the smell of dinner on his nose, he finally reached the fourteenth floor. When he found footing, the doorknob in the corridor turned noisily. An iron door was opened, and then a male voice came from the deeper part of the corridor. ¡°Chen Ge, wee home.¡±

    When he heard that voice, Chen Ge¡¯s voice nked out. He whipped his body around to face the corridor. He had heard that man¡¯s voice for about twenty years. This sentence... he had heard it so many times when he was young. He had memorized his voice inside his heart and carved it onto his bones.

    ¡°Dinner is ready. When you wereing up the stairs, your mom heard you.¡± His nails cut into his palm, and Chen Ge slowly raised his arms to grab at that ck cloth. He just wanted to take a look. He had never been so desperate to see something. The hands on the cloth tightened until the veins burst on the back of his hands.

    ¡°How was your first day at school?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re sorry we couldn¡¯t pick you up.¡±

    ¡°You weren¡¯t bullied, right?¡±

    ¡°Have you made some new friends? You¡¯re so much like me, so you should be so popr in ss!¡±

    ¡°Go and wash your hands. Don¡¯t run around...¡±

    The words drifted out from the corridor until the doorknob turned, and the door closed. The man¡¯s voice disappeared, and other people¡¯s voices appeared in the corridor. There was a male and a female, young and old.

    ¡°What is wrong with that new family who just moved in? They leave after their child goes to sleep every midnight. No wonder the child suffers from nightmares.¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you heard? During the day, the house is filled withughter, but at night, it¡¯s just crying. Won¡¯t the child be afraid to be left at home alone at night?¡±

    ¡°This is strange. I saw all three of them leave in the morning. Why would there be crying at night?¡±

    ¡°Bros! I found something. It¡¯s not the adults that are problematic with the new family; it¡¯s the child! I saw the doctor from some Xin Hai hospital who came to treat the child! You mustn¡¯t let your children y with him!¡±

    ¡°Howe, after the doctor¡¯s visit, the child has been even sicker? Do you know? The child tells his parents about his nightmares, and when his parents are not at home at night, he repeats the nightmare to his own shadow. How scary is that?¡±

    ¡°Something¡¯s not right, if he doesn¡¯t sleep in the day or night, when does he have the time to experience nightmares? Is the child really talking about his dream?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t scare me like that. Never mind, they are moving away in a few days anyway.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re moving?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I hear they¡¯re going to Western Jiujiang, the parents are going to work for a theme park.¡±

    The voices slowly drifted into the background. Chen Ge stood where he was with his hands still on the ck cloth. After a while, Chen Ge took a deep breath.

    <i>I only remember the good things. I¡¯ve blocked out most of the things the neighbor said about me. But there are a few key points I should consider.</i>

    <i>When I was small, I interacted with a doctor from Xin Hai Hospital. It was after his treatment that I started talking with my own shadow. It should be then that my shadow turned strange. The key to everything is that doctor. The doctor came from Xin Hai, and the cursed hospital is between Xin Hai and Jiujiang. Could this be a coincidence?</i>

    Standing on the fourteenth floor, Chen Ge slowly turned around to face away from the corridors with many voices. His hands that grabbed the ck cloth tightened, and then he removed the slightly wet cloth. But his eyes were still closed.

    ¡°I really wish to open my eyes and see you, but I know that is impossible.¡± Chen Ge did not turn back. With his hand on the wall, he continued to move up. ¡°You once gave up everything for me, so now I will use everything I have to find you.¡±

    In the dark corridor, Chen Ge looked different from usual. Fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth...

    Counting the number of steps in his heart, Chen Ge knew that he was now on the seventeenth floor. Theoretically, this was the top floor of this building, but he did not hurry to open his eyes.

    <i>The fourteenth doesn¡¯t exist, but the girl with the cold told me above the thirteenth floor is the fourteenth floor. This building originally had seventeen floors, but if one includes the additional fourteenth floor, there should be eighteen floors like eighteenyers of hell.</i>

    Chen Ge nudged his feet. Soon, his toe found the steps that led upward.

    <i>So, there is an eighteenth floor.</i>

 Chapter 948 - The Man Who Killed Me

    <h4>Chapter 948: The Man Who Killed Me</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    His raised leg lowered. It was a simple action, but that was quite taxing for Chen Ge. He felt lightheaded, like many things were pressed on his body, and there was this force that was trying to pull him back. Chen Ge did not know what was hiding in the dark, and he had no idea whether there were any ghosts around him. But sometimes, not seeing was better because that would not affect his emotions. It took him several minutes to move from the seventeenth floor to the eighteenth floor. When Chen Ge sessfully reached the eighteenth floor, he almost tripped.

    <i>I feel so cold and dizzy.</i>

    Chen Ge was very tired, and it was a mental exhaustion like he had been working at a stressful job for more than ten hours.

    <i>I should be on the top floor already.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s fingers held the wall. He had not opened his eyes. For the sake of security, he bent over and used his hands to seek out the wall and floor, leaving no stone unturned. After experiencing so much, he would not fail at the final hurdle. When Chen Ge was searching around, there came a sudden door opening sound from downstairs, and it rang out quite clearly in the quiet stairwell. The iron door was slowly opened, and two footsteps appeared in the stairwell.

    <i>Is someoneing up?</i> Chen Ge instantly became nervous. <i>The sound of the door probably came from the fourteenth or fifteenth floors. Could it be the neighbors?</i>

    The footsteps sounded urgent as they approached the stairwell. It was as if they were forcing Chen Ge to open his eyes to end the mission.

    <i>The sound has reached the sixteenth floor.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s forehead was breaking out in cold sweat. He leaned against the wall and was panicking slightly.

    <i>Should I open my eyes? Theoretically, I¡¯ve reached the top floor, and I can¡¯t find any stairs to take me further up.</i>

    While he hesitated, the footsteps already reached the seventeenth floor. Chen Ge stood at the corner, facing the stairwell, and his eyes were closed. The footsteps wereing quickly. They appeared at thending between seventeenth and eighteenth floor, so they should have seen Chen Ge already.

    <i>I¡¯ve been discovered, but the footsteps didn¡¯t stop, so I¡¯m probably not that their target.</i>

    A familiarughter appeared in his ears, and soon, those footsteps walked past Chen Ge, and one of the doors on eighteenth floor was opened!

    Wind caressed Chen Ge¡¯s face, and the tiredness that he felt slowly disappeared, like the things that had been hanging on to him had left.

    <i>Is it over?</i>

    He wanted to open his eyes, but the sound of footsteps and childrenughing were still there. Theughter gave him an indescribable feeling. He could not sense any joy from theughter. It was very hollow. He sought his way to the open door blindly. Chen Ge stood at the door, and a child¡¯s voice came from the other side of the door.

    ¡°Uncle, I just had a dream. In the dream, there is a red city floating in a ck sea. Everyone in the city is walking around with des to cut their own bodies and bury their memories.¡±

    ¡°Uncle, human beings exist due to their memories, but if human beings have forgotten them, will the memories get angry?¡±

    ¡°Uncle, are you listening to me?¡±

    The child¡¯s voice was near Chen Ge. Chen Ge even felt that the child was talking to him. He was about to speak when an unfamiliar male voice answered.

    ¡°I am.¡± The man¡¯s voice did not carry any emotion. It was detached and cold like a machine. ¡°The memories will not be angry. When they appear, they are destined to be forgotten. That is their ending.¡±

    ¡°Destined to be forgotten?¡±

    ¡°Yes, just like you.¡± After the man saying that, the childughed again.

    ¡°Why do you like tough so much?¡± There was annoyance in the man¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Because I¡¯m happy. My father told me everything I saw is a nightmare, and those scary things are all in my dreams. They will disappear when I wake up. Shouldn¡¯t I be happy about that?¡± The child¡¯s voice had an innocence to it.

    ¡°A nightmare?¡± The man¡¯s tone turned icier. ¡°One day, if you realize that it¡¯s not a nightmare and is all real, will you stillugh like this?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, perhaps.¡±

    ¡°If you one day realize that you have been abandoned in that red city and have no way of return, will you stillugh?¡±

    ¡°I...¡±

    ¡°You will neverugh again. You will curse the world madly, like the memories that have been abandoned by their owner, enveloped by negative emotion, sinking deeper and deeper into that dark ocean.¡± There was an excitement in the man¡¯s voice. Beneath his detached tone hid a twisted soul.

    ¡°No, I won¡¯t.¡± The child¡¯s innocent voice belied a maturity beyond his years. He took a long time to consider before saying, ¡°If I am really forgotten in my nightmare one day, I will paint a window on that ck sea and open all the doors in the red city so that all the eyes that have gotten used to the darkness will get the chance to see the light.¡±

    When the child ended the sentence, Chen Ge was struck by a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu, like he had personally said that before. His eyelids twitched. Chen Ge took one involuntarily step forward. He instinctively wanted to reach out to grab that voice.

    ¡°With lightes darkness. If you wish for darkness to see the light, the light will turn into darkness.¡± The man appeared to have grabbed hold of the child.

    ¡°Let me go!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the one who should let go. Do note back again!¡±

    ¡°Let go! Help! Help!¡±

    ¡°You will ultimately be forgotten, so don¡¯t worry and die!¡±

    When the man said that, Chen Ge¡¯s body froze. A voice was calling from the bottom of his heart. ¡°Help!¡±

    His eyes flew open, and Chen Ge saw at the edge of the roof, a doctor in white coat was pushing his young self off the edge of the building!

    He rushed to the edge, but when he reached out, everything disappeared. His energy deserted him, and Chen Ge crumbled to the ground. His clothes were soaked in cold sweat.

    ¡°When I did the nightmare mission at the tunnel, I also saw my young self being killed. This is the second time already. The killer has the same appearance from the back, so they should be the same person. He wore a doctor¡¯s garb, so he should be the doctor from Xin Hai. But why would he kill me? What is the meaning of their conversation?¡±

    A headache was killing him. After closing his eyes for so long, Chen Ge was still getting used to the light.

    He was curled up at the wall, and he rubbed his eyes. When his vision returned to normal, he turned and tried to grab the white cat. But his head was only half turned when his body froze. Two dried hands touched his face, and a blood red shirt almost brushed past the tip of Chen Ge¡¯s nose. A Red Specter was holding onto Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder, hanging by his back!

    ¡°It was you who left the half open door at Jiang Yuan Apartments, wasn¡¯t it?¡± A child¡¯s voice appeared from behind Chen Ge.

    ¡°I can¡¯t remember.¡± Only then did Chen Ge see the white cat almost crying on his shoulder. The cat did not dare budge; those who did not know would think it was a science specimen. The white cat had always been there, but it did not warn him. That could only mean that the Red Specter had shown up when he first closed his eyes.

    The white cat was lying on his left shoulder, so the Red Specter was hanging on his right shoulder?

 Chapter 949 - When Youâ€™re Feeling Down, Visit Someone Elseâ€™s Theme Park

    <h4>Chapter 949: When You¡¯re Feeling Down, Visit Someone Else¡¯s Theme Park</h4>

    His scalp was going numb, and his brain was fuzzy. Chen Ge did not dare to turn around; he was afraid of saying something wrong and getting killed immediately. ¡°I am not sure what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°Twenty years ago, there was a door that was about to open in Jiang Yuan Apartments, but no one knew about its location. The only known info is that it is within this area. The area has been rebuilt, but the door still hasn¡¯t closed. Negative emotions kepting out from behind the door and attracting the ghosts and Specters that pass by. The poor ¡®people¡¯ that you met are gathered here because of that door, and it was because of that door that I was lucky enough to be a Red Specter.¡±

    ¡°Now that you put it that way, perhaps that door is really rted to me,¡± Chen Ge answered carefully. ¡°But I have forgotten many things, so I cannot be sure of it. If you can give me more hints, perhaps I can be reminded of something.¡±

    ¡°It was a door that was half open, this is the first time I¡¯ve seen a door like that. It was like when someone was about to push the door open, salvation suddenly came for him.¡± The dried hands tightened their grip, and the Red Specter¡¯s voice appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s ears. ¡°Only when one is in deepest despair can a door be pushed open. That kind of despair shall never be saved.¡±

    Chen Ge memorized the Red Specters¡¯ every word. He might not understand everything now, but with some investigation, he might understand more of its meaning.

    ¡°I really can¡¯t remember anything now. Have you entered the door? What is inside the door?¡± Chen Ge started to ask questions. It was mainly because he had seen too many Red Specters, and the fear in his heart was slowly reced by a feeling like he was chatting with an old friend.

    ¡°You want to know what¡¯s inside the door?¡± The dried hands pressed on Chen Ge¡¯s neck. ¡°Haven¡¯t you just seen it?¡±

    ¡°Me? Seen it?¡± Chen Ge widened his eyes. ¡°Fourteenth floor? The world behind the door is my home?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that was your home, but now it is my home now.¡± The malnourished fingers were like knives slowly piercing into Chen Ge¡¯s neck. ¡°I helped you push the door open, but I failed to be the door pusher. I¡¯ve been thinking about it, and now I get it. Perhaps that¡¯s because the real door pusher is still alive. Only by killing him can I officially take over the door.¡±

    ¡°Calm down. Let me think about this. Perhaps I have no rtion to that door at all! Really! How could a person like me who is so bright and sunny be in such despair to push open a door?¡±

    ¡°But when you showed up, the door opened on its own, and voices that I haven¡¯t heard before came out from behind it.¡± The hands of the Red Specter had a tighter strangle.

    ¡°Fine, I cannot deny the rtionship between me and the door, but it wasn¡¯t me who pushed the door open. If you want to look for the real door-pusher, I can help you.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the edge of the roof. ¡°You saw it yourself. The child who was pushed down the building should be the real door pusher. I am looking for him as well.¡±

    ¡°Your lies will not fool me. The scenario behind the door is weaved from the memory of the door pusher. The voices that you heard on the fourteenth floor and the scene you saw on the roof were memories from the deepest part of your heart. Those are all your memories; that¡¯s why you saw yourself in them.¡±

    The Red Specter¡¯s statement identally reminded Chen Ge. A light shone through his mind. ¡°Memories?¡±

    The things that he should have forgotten were retained in the door. Even though the scenario was despairing, it was his memory.

    ¡°I think I get it now.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°The red city contains many different scenarios, and each scenario is created by the door pusher. The scenarios are created from the door pushers¡¯ despairing memories. The younger version of myself said one thing on the roof earlier¡ªhuman beings exist due to their memories, but if human beings have forgotten them, will the memories get angry? Human, ghost, memory, lingering spirit...¡±

    ¡°Are those your final words?¡±

    ¡°Wait!¡± Hearing the Red Specter¡¯s voice, Chen Ge snapped into focus. ¡°You saw the scenario earlier; the memory wouldn¡¯t lie. The real door pusher has been pushed off the building by the doctor. He is already dead. The real reason you haven¡¯t taken over the door is because his lingering spirit is still around.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s words made sense, but that was not enough to convince the Red Specter.

    ¡°I know, it¡¯s pointless for me to say any more. I will not give you any fake promises, but I hope you can give me several days to go and find the real door pusher.¡±

    The Red Specter behind him did not speak, so Chen Ge quickly added, ¡°If you think several days is too long, how about we make it twenty-four hours? I really need to go home to confirm some things. If you are that worried, you cane with me. You can hide in my shadow to watch over me. My life will be in your hands.¡±

    The pain around his neck lessened. The Red Specter was slowly persuaded even though he still had not said anything. The silence continued for several minutes. Then Chen Ge appeared to give up. He slowly raised his hands. ¡°Fine, looks like you¡¯re not going to let me go. Then, can I ask for onest little favor?¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°Give me a few minutes to call the police. In the stairwell, I promised to help find the girl¡¯s killer. Since I can¡¯t do that, I at least have to leave her with some hope. I can¡¯t allow her to stay in that frozen condition.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone. The Red Specter did not object to it. After some time, the dried hands moved away, ¡°Three days. In three days, at 2 am, I will wait for you on the fourteenth floor.¡±

    The pressure slowly disappeared. The iron door that headed to the roof was mmed shut, and everything returned to normal.

    Chen Ge was standing where he was, but the white cat on his shoulder could not suffer it anymore. Probably because it had held the same posture for so long, the white cat unnaturally jumped onto the ground. Its body appeared to be frozen. It was limping while it walked.

    Seeing the white cat starting to move around, Chen Ge sighed in relief. He slid down the wall.

    ¡°You¡¯re really useless! The Specter was lying on my shoulder. Shouldn¡¯t you at least warn me about something that serious?¡±

    ¡°Meow?¡±

    The white cat was angry when it saw Chen Ge. It circled around him and howled angrily as if saying, ¡°How about you try lying next to a Red Specter for once?¡±

    The man and the cat argued for a while, and Chen Ge recovered somewhat. He put on the jacket and reached out to hug the white cat. Going back down was impossible, and he did not think taking the elevator was a good idea, so Chen Ge decided to wait for dawn to arrive.

    ¡°This was such a scary night. After the sunes up, I¡¯ll have to go to the futuristic theme park for some necessary rxation...¡±

 Chapter 950 - Bonding Opportunities for the Red Specters

    <strong>Chapter 950: Bonding Opportunities for the Red Specters</strong>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    Dawn started to arrive for the day, and the first ray of sunlight appeared on the horizon.

    ¡°It¡¯s finally morning.¡±

    Hugging the cat, Chen Ge re-entered the stairwell. The stairwell was empty, and it felt scary.

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to imagine I was walking up here with my eyes blindfolded yesterday.¡±

    With a few sighs, Chen Ge took the elevator and left Jiang Yuan Apartments. At the same time, he received the notification of the mission¡¯spletion on the ck phone.

    ¡°Congrattions, Specter¡¯s Favored, forpleting the Daily Nightmare Mission. You have gained a new talent¡ªSpirit Sniff!

    ¡°Yin Yang Vision allows you to see the color of dreams, Ghost Ears allow you to hear the voices of memories, and Spirit Sniff allows you to smell the scent of emotions. Mortician¡¯s Make Up allows you to disguise yourself or others as withering ghosts, and Living Dolls allows you to create the shell for homeless spirit. Currently, you arecking onest ability. Be quick and unlock thest mission. Hopefully, you will know the answer before death catches up to you.¡±

    Afterpleting the Nightmare Mission, the ck phone awarded Chen Ge with another power, and from the name, it was rted to his sense of smell. Chen Ge touched his nose and did not sense any difference from before. Perhaps his ability to discern between different smells had gotten stronger.

    ¡°Different emotions will have different scents?¡± Chen Ge sniffed at the white cat but was pushed away by the annoyed creature. He did not mind it; he put away the ck phone and took out his own phone.

    ¡°Hello? Is it the Eastern Jiujiang Police Station? I wish to make a report. There¡¯s been a murder at Jiang Yuan Apartments.¡±

    ¡°Yes, and it should be a female victim. The hiding spot should be inside a fridge. I suggest you investigate rooms that are supposed to be empty but have to pay exorbitant electrical fees.¡±

    ¡°How do I know all this? Even if I tell you the truth and say that it was the victim herself who told me, I don¡¯t think you¡¯d believe me.¡±

    ...

    He hailed a taxi to get back to New Century Park. Chen Ge had not gotten a wink for the night, but he did not feel sleepy at all. He looked at the time and started to prepare for work.

    My Haunted House needs to operate like normal, so I can¡¯t take too many employees with me. I need to leave behind Ol¡¯ Bai and the rest to maintain order.

    Pushing open the door that headed underground, Chen Ge entered it with the backpack.

    Other than Ol¡¯ Bai, I will have to bring all the other Red Specters with me, or else if they go on a rampage, the remaining Specters won¡¯t be able to stop them.

    With the help of Tong Tong, Chen Ge ced the pair of red high heels and the recorder into the backpack, and then he had the boy with the stench and the headless woman enter Yan Danian¡¯sic.

    The headless woman has improved a lot, but she is a bit too by the books. She was probably scarred by her experience with Zhang Ya. This can¡¯t continue. I will have to teach her how to be more rounded around the visitors. Red Specters have personality issues, but I can borrow this perfect chance for them to learn how to rx. We will all go for a stroll. Hopefully, through this kind of activity, it will help build a correct team vision. If that¡¯s the case, I won¡¯t worry leaving them behind at the Haunted House anymore.

    When he flipped through theic, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes shone. He saw a person whom he had almost forgotten¡ªQiu Mei.

    Before entering the School of the Afterlife, Chen Ge once received a mission rted to a Dead Man¡¯s Theatre. It was at that scenario that he had been introduced to Chang Gu, and during the showing of the movies, he was privy to the presence of Qiu Mei. This Half Red Specter could be considered a sacrifice in Chang Wenyu¡¯s n. Tragedy had befallen her, and her left eye had been dug out. Worst of all, she still did not know the truth.

    When Chang Gu wakes up, I¡¯ll have to take Qiu Mei to have a good conversation with him.

    Qiu Mei was just a Half Red Specter, but her ability was very unique. That time, she had been in possession of Chang Gu¡¯s movies, and she had shown off skills that could rival a Red Specter.

    Oh well, I will bring her with me. Her power should be able toe into good use at the futuristic theme park.

    Chen Ge handed the management responsibility over to Doctor Wei and had Ol¡¯ Bai remain to quiet down the restless spirits. After ensuring that there would be no more problems, Chen Ge walked out from the underground scenario. He carried the backpack into the staff breakroom. Chen Gey on the bed to rest for a while. When all the employees arrived, he briefed them on his n.

    **¡±Today, I will be going to the futuristic theme park for an educational exchange, so the rest of you will stay back to help me watch over the Haunted House. If there are no idents, I should be back by noon.¡±

    After putting make-up on all the employees, Chen Ge was about to leave the Haunted House when he was stopped by Director Luo. ¡°Chen Ge! Wait a moment!¡±

    ¡°Director Luo, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I just got the news that the futuristic theme park ns to use some underhanded tricks for your visit. Moreover, their Haunted House does not employ conventional methods. Theybine it with new technology, so you must be careful.¡± Director Luo was still very worried. ¡°How about I ask several people to go with you? I really don¡¯t feel good letting you do this alone.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have done plenty of preparation. Furthermore, the theme park iscking manpower now. There is no need to ruin the arrangement because of me.¡± Chen Ge swung the backpack on his back. ¡°I¡¯ll be going.¡±

    After dealing with everything, Chen Ge called a taxi to head to Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s futuristic theme park. He had just crossed the path that connected Eastern and Western Jiujiang the previous night, so he had a familiar feeling as he travelled down the same path. The futuristic theme park was built at the busiest part of Eastern Jiujiang. It was adjacent to tworge rivers. Across the river was Xin Hai City, and once the bridge crossing the river was built, the location of the futuristic theme park would be the prime location that sat right in the middle of all the cities.

    I¡¯ll give this to them¡ªthey do know how to pick their location.

    The futuristic theme park¡¯s current location might not be as good as New Century Park¡¯s now, but that would quickly change in the future. Narrowing his eyes, the outline of the futuristic theme park appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s sight, it looked like a city from the future that was incredibly artistic. Even from the distance, he could hear the soundsing from theme park. That showed how popr the theme park was.

    The theme park is quite impressive. It will be incredibly hard to resist the pressure that they bring.

    Only when he arrived at the futuristic theme park did Chen Ge realize how powerful their adversary was.

    No wonder they haven¡¯t been treating New Century Park seriously.

    The parking lot was full, and there were people everywhere. There were many tourist buses that herded visiting groups to this ce. The futuristic theme park had their own system. Their customer pool was not limited to Jiujiang and the neighboring cities.

 Chapter 951 - To the Highest Difficulty We Go! [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 951: To the Highest Difficulty We Go! [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Walking to the entrance alone, Chen Ge was not as cocky as Liu Gang. But sometimes, even if one wanted to stay low profile, it was impossible. He used his ID to purchase the ticket at the auto seller machine. All the tickets there were sold by machines, and everyone was queueing up. But when he pressed his ID on a machine that had been working normally, the machine suddenly lit up with a red light. Three workers from the theme park then ran toward him.

    ¡°Is the machine broken?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this? Do we have a criminal among us?¡±

    Chen Ge himself was as confused. When the three arrived, they surrounded Chen Ge. One of them said with a professional fake smile, ¡°Mr. Chen Ge, we have been waiting so long for you. The Reincarnation scenario is already ready. Please follow us.¡±

    ¡°Okay then.¡± Chen Ge saved the ticket money. He looked at the price information and then only realized that the selling price for the ticket at the futuristic theme park was at least 1.5 times the price of a ticket for New Century Park. He was led down the staff pathway to the interior of the theme park. Many strange themed zas appeared before his eyes, and together, they formed this futuristic city.

    ¡°The building for the reincarnation theme attraction is at the deepest part of theme park. Our people have already finished designing it.¡± The three workers led Chen Ge through the crowd and came to the Haunted House at the futuristic theme park, a themed building that was named Reincarnation. When Chen Ge arrived, there was already a bustling crowd outside the building, but most of them were workers from the park. They all looked like they were ready to jump and attack Chen Ge. However, they probably did not expect that Chen Ge woulde alone, so all the workers had this feeling that perhaps they had overestimated their enemy.

    A man in his thirties walked over from the building¡¯s entrance to introduce himself. ¡°Nice to meet you, I am one of the designers of this Reincarnation themed building. You can call me Qing Ming.¡±

    ¡°Just how many designers does this scenario has? I believe one of those currently lying in the hospital is also one of your designers.¡± The first thing that Chen Ge said made the workers at the futuristic theme park feel fairly awkward.

    ¡°Yes, Bai Buhui is one of our designers. Our scenario is themed with the concept of reincarnation. Itbines elements from various urban legends and horror movies to create a unique and isted world on its own, but through the concept of reincarnation, they all cleverly and expertly join together.¡± Qing Ming sounded proud of their aplishment.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t even started my livestream. There¡¯s no need to start your sale pitch just yet.¡± Chen Ge patted Qing Ming on his shoulder. ¡°Brother, I am going to queue up here. You should go and do whatever you are supposed to do. There is no need to mind me.¡±

    ¡°My work for the day is to apany you during your visit. By the way, have your friends not arrived?¡± Qing Ming asked with some hesitation. From the bottom of his heart, he did not believe that Chen Ge woulde alone to take on the challenge.

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry about that, I came alone.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone and clicked into his livestream services. Ever since his livestream was banned by the police, he had not used this service for quite some time. Once he started the livestream, before Chen Ge even said anything, the chatroom was already exploding with activity. The most annoying was the bunch of users who were spamming the chat feed with ¡°Brother Gang is a Real Man¡±. In a few short minutes, the number of online viewers had shot through 50,000, and the number was still rapidly climbing.

    ¡°Good afternoon, everyone! Yesterday, I promised everyone that I woulde to challenge the futuristic theme park¡¯s Haunted House alone, and I am here already.¡± Chen Ge panned the camera to capture the themed building. ¡°Honestly, I am quite scared that I will have to challenge this Haunted House alone. Liu Gang¡¯s group challenged my Haunted House with eleven people in total, but all of them are now inside the hospital. But I am just one person, and I have to face this challenge all on my own.¡±

    When Chen Ge said that, Qing Ming, who stood next to him, felt that something was not quite right. Liu Gang¡¯s group of eleven all fainted during their visit, and Chen Ge came to visit on his own, so even if he fainted during the process, in the end, it would feel like Chen Ge was the more impressive party of the two.

    <i>This is too cunning!</i>

    Qing Ming gritted his teeth in anger, but he could not do anything to Chen Ge but smile and wave at the camera to show the kindness and openness of the futuristic theme park.

    ¡°The person standing right next to me is a worker at the futuristic theme park. He is also one of the designers for their Haunted House. Speaking of which, I am quite concerned about his colleague. At the end of the day, he fainted at New Century Park. I wonder if he has woken up at the hospital yet. I do not wish to have other people say that we are trying to shirk the responsibility...¡±

    Before Chen Ge could finish, Qing Ming quickly jumped in to cut him off. ¡°Mr. Chen, we are all ready, you can start the visit any time.¡±

    Qing Ming was very afraid of that gab of Chen Ge¡¯s. The man was highly sarcastic, and if he was allowed to continue, the futuristic theme park would end up the brunt of the joke.

    ¡°We¡¯re starting so soon?¡± Chen Ge followed Qing Ming as they cut through the crowd and came to the entrance of the building. There was a superrge screen hanging outside the Reincarnation scenario. The videos showing on the two sides of the screen were slightly different.

    Chen Ge was studying the videos when the sound of an argument came from the visitors who were lining up. A few young men were making loud noises andining, ¡°Why is it that he does not need to line up? We have even purchased the special VIP tickets. This is too much! We are going to makeints about this! Just you wait and see!¡±

    ¡°Excuse me, I will go and deal with this.¡± Qing Ming ran over and discussed with the few young men before he came back. ¡°Mr. Chen, I am so sorry. Initially, we wished to follow your intention ofpleting the visitation alone, but the few visitors refused to allow that. Do you mind if you let them enter the scenario and ept the challenge with you? Well, with the addition of more people, it should help lower the difficulty of the challenge and the terrifying factor.¡±

    ¡°Lower the difficulty of the challenge and terrifying factor?¡± Chen Ge stared at the faces of the few young men, and the corner of his lips curled up. The timing of their ruckus was too perfect, almost as if it was nned. This should be part of the futuristic theme park¡¯s n, and those so-called visitors should be park workers in disguise.

    ¡°They need to be trained to be better actors, but never mind, the more the merrier.¡± Chen Ge pointed that out directly to show that he had seen through their n. Qing Ming¡¯s expression froze, but there was nothing he could do but to continue to act dumb. ¡°Then I will go and tell them to be ready.¡±

    Chen Ge ignored Qing Ming. He turned to his own livestream. Many people on the inte saw through the futuristic theme park¡¯s n as well, and they were all trying to remind Chen Ge.

    ¡°It will be fine. This way, there will be a fairparison.¡±

    About ten secondster, three men and three women walked out from the crowd.

    ¡°Alright, the whole group is ready. So, I will now exin briefly the rules of the game for everyone.¡± Qing Ming pointed at the superrge screen outside the building. ¡°Our reincarnation Haunted Housebines the manytest 3D technology to highly recreate the scenes from various ghost stories and horror movies. This a world dominated by ghosts and a recurring nightmare created by man.

    ¡°You will encounter many ssic scenes from various horror movies inside the haunted house, and you will be able to experience the most intense sense of terror.

    ¡°There are ghosts inside the scenario that are portrayed by our workers, but some are projections, and there are others that you will have to be careful about. To recreate the terrifying effect to its maximum originality, we have ced some of the ancient paraphernalia from the original ghost stories inside the scenario. If you feel that something is wrong, please do cry for help; I¡¯m not kidding with you.¡± Qing Ming¡¯s tone was serious, and when he was done, he even purposely turned to look at Chen Ge. ¡°Do not push yourself. Safety first.¡±

    Patting his own backpack, Chen Ge said with an equally severe tone, ¡°You have sessfully made me excited.¡±

    ¡°Our scenario is controlled by the centralputer. The difficulty is split into easy, normal, difficult, and hellish¡ªfour different categories. Clearing the simple scenario will earn you one point, the normal scenario will earn you five points, the difficult scenario twenty points, and if you can clear the hellish scenario with one go, you will be able to get one hundred points. This big screen here will show the point ranking. Currently, the visitor who is ced first at our theme park is a Haunted House aficionado. He has managed to clear two difficult scenarios and several normal scenarios, so in total, he has gained 105 points.¡±

    The higher the point, the higher the ranking. It was as if Qing Ming was purposely luring Chen Ge to pick the hellish difficulty.

    ¡°Is the most difficult category the hellish difficulty?¡± Chen Ge asked Qing Ming.

    ¡°Since we opened this scenario, there hasn¡¯t been anyone who has been able to clear the hellish difficulty. Theoretically, that should be the hardest difficulty, but...¡± Qing Ming paused for dramatic effect before continuing. ¡°There is a method where you can increase the difficulty level, and that is to challenge two hellish scenarios at the same time. Since the scenarios are controlled by the centralputer, if you choose to challenge two scenarios at the same time, you will encounter the ghosts from two different ghost stories.¡±

    ¡°You can do something like that?¡±

    ¡°Theoretically, yes, we can. For example, if youbine the scenarios for Ju-on and The Ring, while you receive a call from the cursed spirit, you might be ambushed from the back by the ghost from Ju-on. In other words, your encounters with ghosts will increase.¡±

    Qing Ming was just showing off his own Haunted House. He did not think Chen Ge would be dumb enough to challenge the hellish scenario.

    ¡°First, all visitors need to sign the disimer and then set up their own ount before finally selecting the difficulty. Then, I will bring you into the scenario.¡± Qing Ming signaled for Chen Ge toe over to the control panel.

    The disimer at the futuristic theme park was ¡®signed¡¯ using fingerprints and facial recognition technology. It was more official than Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, which still relied on pens.

    After signing the disimer, Chen Ge set up his personal ount. Considering that the name would appear on the ranking on the big screen outside the Haunted House, he did not hesitate and set up his new ount with the name ¡®New Century Park¡¯.

    <i>I suppose this can be counted as a chance for promotion.</i>

    Once he had keyed in those few words, the system showed that there were sensitive terms in the ount name. Chen Ge was speechless; the futuristic theme park had even considered something as little as this.

    He gave it several more tries before going with his real name¡ªChen Ge. Then it was time to pick the difficulty. The other visitors and Qing Ming all turned to look at Chen Ge.

    ¡°You guys want me to pick?¡± Chen Ge pointed at the other scenarios. ¡°Are they going to enter the same scenario as me?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the same batch of visitors will enter the same scenario,¡± Qing Ming exined patiently. Hearing that, Chen Ge turned to the other visitors. ¡°Are you guys sure you want to follow me? How about you wait for the next batch?¡±

    ¡°Are you looking down on us?¡±

    ¡°Acting tough, is it? Laughable!¡±

    ¡°This man is so funny.¡±

    Since the other ¡®visitors¡¯ insisted on following him, Chen Ge had no choice. He clicked open the panel for the choice of difficulty and very smoothly moved to the choices for hellish scenarios.

    ¡°What should I do if I want tobine two scenarios?¡± This was the first time that Chen Ge had dealt with such a high-tech control panel.

    ¡°First, you click the tab at the bottom of the page for the hellish difficulty, and then you tick the scenarios that you wish tobine among the avable hellish scenarios. After you are done, you can click confirm.¡± A smile finally appeared on Qing Ming¡¯s face when he saw that Chen Ge was about to take the hellish scenario.

    ¡°Got it.¡± Chen Ge followed the given instruction and then put his phone away. His ten fingers were like those of a pianist, and he ticked almost more than forty hellish scenarios that were avable for him to choose.

    ¡°Wait, wait a moment!¡± Qing Ming wanted to stop him, but he was toote. Chen Ge had already pressed the confirm button. At that moment, the control panelgged slightly. It was probably because the centralputer had to deal with too much data at one time. Even the lights inside the building flickered for a moment.

    ¡°Have you lost your mind?¡± Qing Ming quickly rushed to the side of the control panel.

    ¡°Why would you say that? You did not tell me that I cannotbine forty scenarios at the same time.¡± After saying that, Chen Ge lightly nudged the ¡®visitor¡¯ next to him. ¡°You guys are on my side, right? He didn¡¯t say that, did he?¡±

    Seeing more than forty horror movies, ghost stories, and scary scenarios that were beingbined on the screen, the few visitors¡¯ faces were as gray as ash, but Chen Ge looked perfectly fine. In fact, he took out his phone again to resume the live stream.

    ¡°Honestly, I did not expect your system here to suddenly go down. Don¡¯t tell me your designers here have not considered a situation like this happening? How unprofessional is that?¡±

 Chapter 952 - Giving a Class to the Young Boss

    <strong>Chapter 952: Giving a ss to the Young Boss</strong>

    Trantor: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

    The overloading of the data by the centralputer caused the system tog. This was something that no one had expected.

    ¡°When your people came to challenge my Haunted House, I provided the perfect service and served them to the best of my ability. Now that I¡¯vee here to challenge your Haunted House, before it¡¯s even started, the machine broke, and your designer even shoved me out of the way earlier.¡± Chen Ge pointed at Qing Ming. ¡°I¡¯m not the kind to hold on to grudges, so I shall forgive that slight. I only have one question to ask¡ªwhen will this be ready?¡±

    As Chen Ge dropped these cynical remarks, he walked around with the camera like this was his own home, and that naturally caused the workers at the futuristic theme park to get angry.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it your fault that this has happened?¡± one of the visitors who was supposed to challenge the Haunted House with Chen Ge growled darkly.

    ¡°How is this my fault?¡± Chen Ge fetched one of the workers and pointed the camera at him. ¡°Bro, you can represent the futuristic theme park. Tell the viewers, is this my fault? Don¡¯t feel pressured. Just say what you believe is the truth before millions of viewers.¡±

    ¡°This... this is indeed not your fault. It is because our theme park failed to foresee this possibility. Sorry, Mr. Chen, you¡¯ll have to wait a moment longer.¡± The worker then hurried away as if worried that he would fail to control his expression anymore. Chen Ge wanted to say something else when he noticed that the workers at the theme park all used random excuses to stay away from him, and no one dared to even meet his gaze. The lights at the entrance kept flickering. The control panel could not be used, and it showed that it was loading. Visitors were escorted out from the three exits of the Haunted House, and the workers kept apologizing to them.

    ¡°The system is stillbining the scenarios; you¡¯ll need to wait for a while.¡± Qing Ming¡¯s face was dark. He took seven ck wrist bands from the counter. ¡°We might as well use this time to exin the rules to all of you.¡±

    He gave each visitor one wrist band.

    ¡°This wrist band will show your body temperature and heartbeat. When your heartbeat goes over a certain limit, our people wille and lead you out, so no matter what happens, do not remove the band. The ount that you registered earlier can be used to activate the wrist band, and each activation will employ you in a random upation. Each upation has different abilities, and using them reasonably will helpplete the mission much faster.¡±

    After the exnation, the visitors activated the wrist band.

    ¡°So, my upation is a detective?¡± A man with sses looked at the band. ¡°Whenever I enter a new scenario, the band will send me a message, telling me a clue hidden inside the scenario.¡±

    ¡°I am a doctor. If my teammate¡¯s heartbeat goes over the limit, I can use my power to stop the workers from forcibly taking them away. This ability can only be used once. It will be important to clear the scenario, but it might be dangerous,¡± a woman with long ck hair who stood behind sses said. She looked more like an office worker. When thisdy spoke, the other visitors naturally lowered their eyes like they were afraid of her.

    ¡°I¡¯m also a doctor.¡±

    ¡°This is such a coincidence, me too.¡±

    All three female visitors were doctors. At this point, Chen Ge realized that the supposed randomization as fake like everything else. The doctor¡¯s ability could only be used on their teammates. When one was scared until they fainted, with the presence of a doctor, the workers would note.

    So, they wish to scare me over the limit three times. Chen Ge looked at the band, and his action was noticed by all the other visitors.

    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s your upation?¡± The man with the sses was curious.

    ¡°Me?¡± Chen Ge did not keep it a secret and showed them his band. ¡°My upation is volunteer worker. I have no power. It only says, ¡®likes to help those in need, is spontaneous and casual¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Volunteer worker... is there an upation like that?¡± A very fashionable manughed. ¡°My upation is police officer. When the murdereres near, my wrist band will receive a warning message.¡±

    ¡°Friend, you should be careful. I¡¯ve seen many simr scenes in horror movies where volunteer workers go into an abandoned home to help others but end up being killed by the ghost hidden inside the old house. Normally, the volunteer worker is the first to die,¡± the young man who stood at the back said. He looked like he was still in school, but the man was cunning and did not reveal his upation.

    ¡°Thank you for your concern.¡± Most main characters of horror movies were detectives, police officers, and doctors. Volunteer workers were among the many extras, but Chen Ge did not mind that. He was not one to care about the rules. If he was ostracized by the visitors, he would not hesitate to join the enemy camp. Then, the people of the futuristic theme park would realize who would be scaring whom.

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem to be worried at all.¡± The woman with long hair appeared to dislike Chen Ge. ¡°I¡¯ve followed your bet with Liu Gang on the inte. I know you¡¯ve already prepared to get scared until you faint, so you came alone and challenged the highest difficulty. That way, even if you lose, you won¡¯t lose that much face. That¡¯s your n, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m shocked that you see through my so cleverly-devised n. Yes, I am so scared,¡± Chen Ge replied snidely. He was toozy to deal with these people and walked up Qing Ming. ¡°I am livestreaming, so before millions of viewers, I just want to confirm with you, what do I need to do to clear the scenario?¡±

    ¡°The normal scenario will have a main mission. Since more than forty scenarios have beenbined together, the preset missions will be a mess, so you will only need to find the hidden exit within sixty minutes to clear the scenario.¡± With so many viewers watching, Qing Ming did not dare to make any false ims.

    ¡°So, I only need to find the exit? No matter what kind of strategy I use?¡± Chen Ge lowered his head to arrange his backpack.

    ¡°Of course. Our theme park utilizes thetest technology,bining the real and the fake seamlessly to create a horror world. As long as you do not harm the workers and other visitors, you can do anything you want.¡± Qing Ming wished to do more promotion for his Haunted House on Chen Ge¡¯s livestream, so he did not notice the scary glow that passed by Chen Ge¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Remember what you said.¡±

    Hearing the difference in Chen Ge¡¯s tone, Qing Ming wanted to add something else when the control panel made a sound, and eighty percent of the lights inside the Reincarnation Haunted House went off.

    ¡°The generation of the scenario ispleted!¡± Qing Ming signaled for everyone to gather around him. ¡°Onest check of your wrist band, and I will bring you into the Haunted House!¡±

    He opened a door, and there was a row of seats. ¡°Please take your seat and put on the safety belt.¡±

    There was no light. It was almostplete darkness.

    ¡°You¡¯re livestreaming, so hold onto your phone.¡± After inspecting the safety belt, Qing Ming walked out and closed the door. Darkness resumed, and one could not see anything. Crying slowly appeared from the darkness. As they tried to determine the source of the crying, the row of chairs started to turn.

    Wish to confuse my sense of direction? The chairs turned downward and stopped after ten seconds. The scenario is underground?

    His feet stepped on the ground, and Chen Ge felt much better. Momentster, some light appeared before his eyes.

    Then he observed his surroundings. They appeared to be sitting inside a mini movie theater, facing a big screen.

 Chapter 953 - Very Interesting

    <h4>Chapter 953: Very Interesting</h4>

    ¡°Are you guys okay?¡±

    ¡°Can we remove the safety belt now?¡±

    ¡°Do any of you smell that strange scent in the air?¡±

    When the visitors conversed, the screen in theater started to y a movie. There were seven characters like the seven visitors, and they were seated at the first row of theater. The seven characters in the screen were facing away from the visitors, and the seven inside the screen were also watching a movie. The screen inside the screen started to y a recording.

    ¡°On the day of the Soul¡¯s Return, the seven best friends came to the cinema to watch a movie. They did this in memory of their teacher. This respected teacher¡¯s favorite movie was showing on this day of Soul¡¯s Return.

    ¡°At the start of the movie, no one realized anything, but slowly, they noticed that something was wrong.

    ¡°There were shadows moving across the screen, and asionally, there was this crying sound. A student went to use the toilet in the middle of the movie, but he didn¡¯t return for a long time. When one of the others said that he was going to get the missing student, he realized that there were still seven people sitting in theater. Everyone panicked. They removed their safety belts and got up from their seats, hurrying outside, but they did not realize that what waited them outside would be far more despairing...¡±

    The recording stopped there. The seven visitors inside the screen started to whisper among themselves. They seemed to think that the recording was quite interesting.

    ¡°Have you seen this scene somewhere? Is it from some famous scary movie?¡± the man with the sses whispered.

    ¡°I can¡¯t figure it out.¡± The youngest man shook his head. ¡°Even if there is some simrity in the setting, you can¡¯t solve this ording to the movie. Don¡¯t forgot that thanks to a certain someone, we are facing a melting pot of forty different scenarios.¡±

    ¡°So, what should we do now?¡±

    ¡°We should wait. Perhaps there¡¯ll be another hint.¡±

    The other visitors started to discuss the scenario, but Chen Ge kept quiet. He listened to the discussion as he stared at the big screen. He realized that the scene in the screen was reflecting real life. The visitors were discussing the movie after it was over.

    Since this is thebination of forty scary scenarios, the scare points should be more intensive and collected. Chen Ge thought back to the recording. It seemed to mention that everyone removed their safety belt and rushed outside. That should be the hint for the next step, right? We can¡¯t stay here for too long; we need to leave.

    Removing the safety belt, Chen Ge was the first to stand up. ¡°Guys, it¡¯s time to go.¡±

    ¡°Why are you in such a hurry? The first scenario should be the simplest. We should try to get more information now because it¡¯ll only get harder from here.¡± The fashionable man looked to the other visitors. ¡°We have limited use of our ability, so I suggest we stick together and help one another. How about this? We¡¯ll go around and introduce ourselves so that we can make some ns and arrangements.¡±

    Before the man finished, Chen Ge had already started looking for the exit inside the cinema.

    ¡°Hey! What are you doing? Everyone is introducing themselves. Don¡¯t forget, you are part of this group.¡±

    ¡°I am not interested in a dead man¡¯s name.¡± With his Yin Yang Vision, the darkness of the scenario did not affect him. When he looked around, he noticed that the characters on-screen had stopped talking, and crying came out from the speakers.

    ¡°What do you mean by that? Who are calling...¡±

    ¡°Shut up! Look at the screen!¡± Chen Ge pointed at the screen. The characters inside the screen became agitated. Then, they slowly turned their heads around like they had discovered something very scary. The visitors inside theater followed Chen Ge¡¯s order and turned to the screen. They stared at the characters until their heads were fully turned around.

    The seven characters on-screen had holes on their faces. Their facial features were dug out, and blood was pouring out from them. One of the female visitors mped her hand over her lips. This had happened way too suddenly. Before they could react, the seven monsters inside the screen suddenly stood up and jumped out through the screen!

    ¡°AH!¡±

    Visitors¡¯ screams echoed inside theater. Even Chen Ge¡¯s eyes widened. With the aid of various technology, the scene was very authentic. The seven projections appeared like real ghost.

    ¡°This is interesting.¡± The other visitors were given quite a fright. Even they did not expect this to happen.

    The Haunted House at the futuristic theme park is controlled by the centralputer. While inside, their workers might be given various aids, but they have no idea what will happen next. After all, this is abination of forty scenarios. The designers probably didn¡¯t expect this to happen.

    Chen Ge studied the other visitors. They were not wearing any earbuds, so they could not bemunicating with the people outside.

    They wanted to scam me, but now they¡¯ve been dragged down into hell with me.

    Chen Ge smiled wickedly. He had already decided to make good use of these six ¡®visitors¡¯.

    With a dry cough, Chen Ge turned to the rest. ¡°I told you to leave in a hurry, but you all refused to listen. These seven projections are just the beginning. If you paid attention to the story, you would realize that there are at least two more ghosts in this theater.¡±

    ¡°Two more ghosts?¡±

    ¡°One is the teacher who likes to watch movies. He is probably the extra person that reced the student who left. The other one is the ghost who has been following us since we sat in the chairs. She likes to cry. As long as the crying is around, it proves that she has not left us.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s analysis stunned the visitors. They had experienced the same things, and they had only been in the scenario for less than three minutes¡ªhow did he manage toe up with so many observations?

    ¡°Stop wasting time. Let¡¯s find the exit.¡± As Chen Ge turned around, he saw an additional figure sitting on the chair behind him. He was curled on the seat, as if preparing something. The light in theater was dark, if not for his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge would not have noticed this person.

    At the same time, the crying became more obvious until it sounded like it was ringing in their ears. The few visitors were panicking as they hurried to find the exit.

    As long as they can help me find the exit, that¡¯s fine. That will save me some time so that I can explore the scenario further.

    Chen Ge purposely walked around the hiding spot of the person before heading to down the other direction, making the person feel lucky that they had not been discovered.

    Thebination of forty scenarios means that no one knows what will happen next. I can make use of this in two ways¡ªI can have my own employees to assume the role of a projection to follow the Haunted House workers, or I can take the roles of the actors myself to chase after the visitors.

    Chen Ge scanned the walls of theater. It was covered in posters from many ssic horror movies, like Saw, Doctor Skull-cracker, and Jack the Ripper.

    ¡°I agree that the upation of volunteer worker matches me, but everyone knows that will only serve as a pastime...¡±

 Chapter 954 - Itâ€™s Ruined at the Start

    <h4>Chapter 954: It¡¯s Ruined at the Start</h4>

    The ghosts on the screen inside the mini theater started to flicker, and the crying moved from inside the screen to outside like it was hiding among the visitors. The already dim lights began to flicker, and the seats were shaking. Even the floor itself started to spin, and a little girl¡¯sughter appeared in the speakers. A woman¡¯s crying, a little girl¡¯sughter, and the worker hiding behind the chair¡ªthis theoretically simplest scenario had three ¡®ghosts¡¯.

    ¡°We should leave now.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s gaze moved away from the movie posters. He had already determined what his future upation should be.

    ¡°No.¡± The man who had the police role denied Chen Ge¡¯s suggestion. From the cold sweat on his forehead, it was clear that he was afraid.

    ¡°The ghosts wille soon. Do you want us to wait and meet them?¡± It was not that Chen Ge was being kind. He just felt like bringing these people with him during the livestream would make the event more exciting. Other than that, he could use them to lead the way and his scenariopletion speed.

    ¡°I... I came here yesterday to challenge the Haunted House. I was ying a medium difficulty scenario.¡± The fashionable man ignored the hinting nces from the others and spoke openly. ¡°This theater is just the first level. In the medium difficulty, the theater is used to give the visitors some warnings for during the visitation and introduce the background of the stories. There are two scare points. One is the chair that will shake on its own, and the second is the ¡®teacher¡¯ that is hiding among us.¡±

    ¡°Please continue.¡± The man¡¯s expression showed that he was not lying, and Chen Ge did wish to know what the man was trying to say.

    ¡°But this time, there was not only no introduction and warning, there wasn¡¯t even the most basic safety information when exploring the haunted house and not even a hint. Plus, thest time I was here, I didn¡¯t run into the seven ghosts that suddenly jumped out from the screen, the crying, and theughter, so I suggest we stay here for now and get to know everything we can before we move onto the next scenario. After all, this first scenario should be the simplest.¡±

    To be more urate, the role yed by this ¡®visitor¡¯ should be the ¡®guide¡¯. He knew the locations of all the scare points and traps, but the situation that they were in hadpletely strayed away from his expectations.

    ¡°This is all his fault for challenging forty scenarios at the same time! The danger level has basically increased by forty times.¡± A smaller girl pointed her finger at Chen Ge.

    ¡°I wanted to do this alone. It was you guys who insisted on following me. So, how is this my fault?¡± Chen Ge did not turn around to answer. He had already found the exit. There were two curtains of ck cloth next to theater, and behind the cloth, one could see a doorknob.

    ¡°Now is not the time to discuss that.¡± The youngest man walked to stand between Chen Ge and the other visitors. ¡°We¡¯ll vote for this.¡±

    When the visitors were conversing, the female officedy with long hair silently took out her phone like she wasmunicating with someone. Thebination of forty scenarios had hiked up the difficulty to an unimaginably level, and they too were afraid. The visitors were discussing hotly among themselves, but Chen Ge ignored them and walked to the curtains of ck cloth alone.

    If the actor hiding behind the chair wishes to get me, they will have to go through the visitors. The visitors are clearly not on my side, but they will serve as a good meat shield.

    Chen Ge ignored the dead body projection that was on the screen and pulled back the ck cloth.

    ¡°The exit is this way.¡±

    The moment his handnded on the doorknob, static interrupted the speakers, the girl¡¯sughter turned shrill, and the whole scenario appeared to be changing.

    ¡°There is a secondyer to this ce?¡± Chen Ge pulled on the doorknob. He was about to pull the door open when five pale fingers suddenly reached through the gap to grab his wrist. A chill came from the back of his hand. Before the owner of the hand could react, Chen Ge grabbed the hand back.

    This should belong to a girl. The fingers are too slender for a man...

    Before he could find out more, the five fingers slithered away from his palm like the girl behind the door was given a shock. He pushed the doorpletely open. Outside the theater was a small path that could only fit two people at a time. The sides of the path were sealed up by wooden boards, and human body parts were pinned on them like some grotesque art.

    ¡°This is not good!¡± The police officer knew something. When he saw Chen Ge open the door, he screamed, ¡°Once the door to the next scenario is opened, all the ghosts in this scenario will make their move! We must leave now! The ghosts areing!¡±

    The seats shook harder, and the dead people in the screen moved. As the crying andughter grew louder, a girl hugging a doll poked her head out from the corner, and the four walls around them leaked blood.

    Something snapped, and the worker who had been hiding on the back row slowly stood up. He wore the same outfit as the dead teacher inside the video, but there was no blood on his face. ¡°My good children... you¡¯re finally back!¡±

    Then something in his mind seemed to snap as he charged at the visitors.

    ¡°Run!¡± Chen Ge was the first to get out from the room. He had just stepped out when a bleeding cleaver aimed for his neck like it was going to decapitate him. With his senses sharper than most, Chen Ge bent over to evade it.

    ¡°They are going so far as to kill me outright?¡± With a frown, Chen Ge took another nce. The cleaver was also a projection. ¡°That was quite realistic.¡±

    Being attacked like that, anyone would be scared, and Chen Ge had instinctively ducked to evade the danger.

    Chen Ge¡¯s reaction was calm, but the visitors behind him were not so lucky. The ¡®police officer¡¯ followed behind Chen Ge. When he saw the cleavere at his neck, he almost fainted.

    ¡°Even the police officer didn¡¯t know about the cleaver... Did they not tell him about this?¡±

    With thebination of forty scenarios, even the workers themselves did not know what would happen next.

    ¡°Quick! We must go! The wrist band is telling me there are murderers getting close to us!¡± Before he could calm down, the police officer saw his wrist band glow red. This was the police officer¡¯s ability. Even though he could not sense Specters and monsters, he could sense the approach of murderers and madmen.

    The end of the narrow corridor echoed with the sound of whistling and des hacking on the wall; something was approaching!

    Some of the visitors still had not escaped the theater. Considering what had happened earlier, Chen Ge volunteered to bring up the rear of the group. The police officer led the way and took the other visitors hurriedly away. Chen Ge waited for thest visitor toe out before he grabbed hold of the doorknob and closed the door to theater. He was about to leave when something strange happened. A scream came from inside theater, and it sounded like it was elicited by the ¡®teacher¡¯.

 Chapter 955 - Recurring Midnight

    <h4>Chapter 955: Recurring Midnight</h4>

    ¡°Why would the actor scream?¡± Chen Ge was a Haunted House operator himself, and he had heard multiple screams in his life, so he could be certain that actor was not acting. He had really run into something scary; that scream could not be faked. ¡°This is getting interesting. Even the workers themselves are getting the scare of their lives.¡±

    The door that led out from theater was being knocked on, and the scream grew louder. Chen Ge wanted to open the door to take a look, but he realized that the door was locked. ¡°Combining projection technology and actual actors is a good idea, but there¡¯s bound to be some idents.¡±

    The scream had not stopped, and the whistle from the other end of the corridor was getting close. The lights went out. With his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge saw a man wearing a chef¡¯s outfit at the end of the corridor. He was fat, and the white outfit was stained with blood. The pocket around his stomach was even stuffed with half of a human head.

    A man-eating chef?

    The shoes worn by this actor were custom made and softened his footsteps. Now that the lights in the corridor were off, he was walking toward Chen Ge with hisughably huge cleaver. In a few seconds, when the chef was close to him, the lights woulde on again to scare him.

    That¡¯s not a bad idea, but I can see in the dark.

    The chef swiftly approached Chen Ge, and thetter started to run.

    No wonder the corridor is so clean; it¡¯s to prevent the actors from tripping when they are chasing after the visitors. After all, there is no light.

    Chen Ge nced at the wooden boards on the wall.

    Should I pull one off and ce it on the ground? The chef won¡¯t expect a surprise like that.

    Chen Ge quickly abandoned that thought. What if he injured the actor? Ten secondster, the lights came on again. The chef waved his cleaver madly with a guffaw, but he soon realized that there was no one before him. Chen Ge had already run down the corridor.

    ¡°Ah?¡± Catching his breath, heughed like an idiot for so long before he realized he wasughing to air. When the chef saw that Chen Ge was looking at him from the other end, he had no choice but to continue that maddenedughter to keep up his character.

    ¡°That is the Butcher from Hell! He will make stew out of his captives! I¡¯ve seen him in a movie before!¡± the youngest man shouted as he ran.

    ¡°He¡¯sing to get us!¡± A girl turned back and saw the chef, letting out a shrill scream. Probably due to the awkwardness from before, the chef waved his cleaver and ran faster toward the visitors.

    ¡°This way!¡± As the distance was closing, at thest moment, the police officer found a door.

    ¡°Wait! Don¡¯t go in there!¡± The man with the sses wanted to remind him of something, but it was toote. The police officer pushed the door open. The other visitors did not think too much as they followed him. Chen Ge was thest one to enter. By then, the chef was very close behind. After he got in, he closed the door.

    BANG!

    The wood chips flew over their heads. Arge crack was chopped open by the cleaver at the top of the door. The wooden door shook; someone was crazily banging against the door!

    ¡°This door won¡¯t hold on much longer! We have to find another way to leave this room!¡± the police officer shouted. ¡°When I visited this cest time, the difficulty was not this high. We only needed to find a mannequin that represented a dead person before the clock on the wall struck twelve! By the way, the mannequin was needed in ater scenario, so we should carry it with us!¡±

    ¡°I have a question.¡± Chen Ge raised his arm. ¡°Since you have already visited this ce and knew what will happen in this room, how many pieces of the carcasses do we need to find to be considered sessful?¡±

    ¡°Pieces?¡± The police officer was startled. ¡°Aren¡¯t dead people normally counted in bodies?¡±

    ¡°Look at the fruit te on the table.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the exquisite china bowl on the coffee table. On it sat three stic apples, a cluster of grapes, and five broken fingers. ¡°Fingers should be a piece of the human body, right?¡±

    ¡°This wasn¡¯t herest time!¡± The police officer looked at the other visitors in shock. After a temporary exchange of nces, he rushed into the bedroom. ¡°Thest time I was here, we found the dead body under the bed!¡±

    Before the rest caught up to him, the police officer pulled back the bedsheets. He was shocked when he saw that the space was empty. ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡±

    ¡°How is that impossible? When the difficulty increases from medium to hellish, it¡¯s normal that we need to search for more things.¡± The man with the sses was calm. ¡°My upation is a detective, so when I entered this ce, I got my first clue.¡±

    He looked at his band. ¡°The skull is inside the freezer on top of the fridge.¡±

    Two of the girls immediately moved away from the fridge. Only the woman with the long hair did not mind it. She personally walked to open the fridge door.

    ¡°Now I have good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?¡± The woman¡¯s face was pale.

    ¡°What¡¯s the good news?¡±

    ¡°Other than the head, there are the mannequin¡¯s small arm and the other five fingers inside the fridge.¡±

    ¡°Then what¡¯s the bad news?¡±

    ¡°The mannequin is chopped up even further than I expected.¡± The woman felt her stomach turning. No one had experienced the hellish version of the Reincarnation Haunted House; they would be the first batch. Even though they knew about the general plot, with the centralputer controlling everything, the difficulty of the most basic mission had been increased to an impossible level.

    ¡°We need to move faster; we still have four minutes.¡± Chen Ge looked at the clock on the wall. It was 11: 56. ¡°The knocking is still going. The fat chef is outside the door. Other than that, listen up. The crying hasn¡¯t stopped following us. It is merely covered up by the louder knocking.¡±

    Holding his breath, Chen Ge added, ¡°By the way, the girl¡¯sughter hasn¡¯t disappeared either. So, if we do not hurry, we will be cornered by a cruel chef and two ghosts.¡±

    ¡°This is the hellish difficulty...¡± The police officer was nervous. ¡°At the beginning, we¡¯re ambushed by three ghosts, and we¡¯re only at the second scenario.¡±

    ¡°You are being too optimistic. Don¡¯t forget, there might be a new ghost hiding in this new scenario. As time goes on, more ghosts will be following us. Even though most of them are actors and projections, there is a small chance that they are things that we cannot exin. After all, it is your designer who told me this Haunted House is filled with authentic haunted objects.¡±

    Chen Ge was still livestreaming. He cleverly let slip a few hints to build up for what he would doter. When he released his own employees, he could push all the me to the futuristic theme park.

    Walking to the fridge to take out the head, Chen Ge realized that the mouth was puffy. There was something stuffed inside. He reached his hand into the mouth and soon found a ball of paper.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± The woman with the long hair saw what Chen Ge was doing and felt disgusted.

    Toozy to exin, Chen Ge took out the ball of paper and read the message on it.

    ¡®I realize I have sunk into a recurring nightmare. Every night at midnight, I am murdered in different ways, and just as I am about to die, I wake up from my dream. Most despairing of all, the time at which I wake up from the nightmare is always 11:56 pm.¡¯

 Chapter 956 - Weakness of the Projection [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 956: Weakness of the Projection [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Every time the man wakes up, it¡¯s 11:56 pm. When I was ncing at the time, it was exactly this time that was showing on the wall.¡± Chen Ge turned his head to the wall again. The clock had moved the time to 11:57 pm. ¡°A recurring nightmare does fit the overall theme of the Haunted House quite well, so the perfect way to clear this scenario should be to break through this circle of nightmares.¡±

    Chen Ge moved the fruit te on the coffee table to the side and ced the pieces of the mannequin that they had found so far on the table, ¡°The first change to this scenario will probably happen in three minutes. You guys had better find the remaining parts of the mannequin before the time runs out.¡±

    ¡°We all belong to the same team. Can you please use a more polite tone when addressing your teammates?¡± One of the girls wanted to say something else but was stopped by the man with the sses. The group split into two, and they started to explore the scenario. The scenario was not that big; it only had four rooms in total. With the living room that they first entered as the center, the room on the left-hand side was the bedroom, and the right-hand side led to the kitchen and bathroom. The visitors ransacked the ces and overturned all the drawers and cupboards to look for pieces of the dead body while Chen Ge sat on the sofa in the living room studying the mannequin head.

    ¡°On medium difficulty, the visitors only need to find the mannequin of the dead body to move on from this scenario, but will the condition of clearing this part of the scenario change now that the difficulty has been upgraded to hellish difficulty?¡± He held the paper note that he had pulled out from the mannequin¡¯s mouth. ¡°Every day at midnight, he is killed with various methods. Is he in a nightmare that he cannot wake up from, or are the deaths that befall him every night real?¡±

    ¡°Ah!¡± A scream that came from the bedroom interrupted Chen Ge¡¯s thought. Momentster, a female visitor ran out from the bedroom, and the youngest man followed closely behind him. He was holding a bloody axe in his left hand and the leg of a mannequin that had been chopped into three parts in his right.

    ¡°I found this under the dresser, and other than that, I also discovered this.¡± The man tossed a windbreaker onto the sofa. ¡°There are parts of the mannequin stuffed inside the pockets. I suggest you alle and take a look. I do not think I can manage this alone.¡±

    Chen Ge ced the mannequin on the coffee table and then followed the young man into the bedroom. The dresser¡¯s doors were open. All the clothes inside had traces of blood on it. There was a base of amp that was bloodied lying at the corner of the dresser.

    ¡°The axe was also found inside the dresser. It is just a prop; the de is not sharp.¡± The young man¡¯s expression was calm. It did not appear like he was scared by this discovery.

    ¡°The dead body was ced together with the murder weapon.¡± Chen Ge seemed to understand something as he turned to look at the living room. On the coffee table sat a fruit te, and on the fruit te sat five fingers and the de of fruit knife. The fridge had a human head, and the tray underneath the human head had a dining knife.

    He took out all the clothes from the dresser, emptied all the pockets, and ced all the mannequin pieces that he could find on the table. The other visitors all looked at him. Even though they knew that the pieces were fake, it did not stop them from feeling disgusted and affected. The more they studied it, the more they felt fear toward Chen Ge. The man not only did not show any fear, he even ced the pieces of the mannequin back together. Looking at how focused he was, it was as if he waspleting a jigsaw puzzle.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t he own a Haunted House? Why would he be so familiar with human anatomy?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps he used to attend Jiujiang Medical University. That would exin why the students often go to visit him. They are there to support their senior.¡±

    An increasinglyplete mannequin started to appear on the table. With his two talents of Living Doll and Mortician¡¯s Makeup, Chen Ge had a deep understanding of the human body. After turning out all the pockets, Chen Ge finally found the thing that he had been looking for. He found a second paper note inside one of the coat pocket¡ª¡¯This is an inescapable nightmare! I have to find a way to end it! I can¡¯t sit here idly for it to crush me!¡¯

    ¡°What did you discover?¡± Just as the man with the sses asked that, the clock on the wall suddenly chimed. It was finally midnight. With a cuckoo sound, the small door under the clock opened, and a cuckoo bird sprang out. Strapped to it was a ck-reddish heart.

    ¡°Be careful!¡± the youngest man suddenly screamed. He looked at his wrist band and retreated into the crowd. No one knew what the upation of this young man was, but from his reaction, his upation appeared to be one that could sense danger.

    A creaking sound echoed in the room, the sound of water came out from the bathroom, and the curtains in the living room moved on their own. Other than a woman¡¯s crying and a girl¡¯sughter, there was a third voice. It sounded like someone mumbling in his sleep. It was very incoherent, but it was certainly the sound of a man.

    ¡°Something¡¯sing.¡±

    The dresser in the bedroom creaked noisily. The visitors turned to look at it. The dresser that Chen Ge had emptied earlier somehow had a piece of clothing hanging in it. It was a blood red jacket. Blood trailed down the clothes, and it swayed lightly inside the dark dresser. The police officer and the other visitors were squeezed in the middle of the living room. This event appeared to be something that was outside their expectation again.

    ¡°A Red Specter?¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes and focused his pupils. This was his natural instinct when he saw bloody clothes.

    The hanger of the dresser dropped to the floor, but strangely enough, the blood jacket was still floating in the air. When everyone¡¯s attention was attracted by the Red Specter, the television in the living room flickered, and it switched on by itself. The sudden light caught everyone¡¯s attention, and they turned their heads. The television screen kept flickering, and between the different images, one could make out a blob of something dark. The dim lights above their heads fluttered several times before they went offpletely. Now they could only borrow the glow from the television screen to look at their surroundings.

    ¡°Wakey wakey...¡±

    ¡°Who is speaking!¡±

    A strange man¡¯s voice came out from one of the rooms. All the visitors turned to look at it.

    ¡°Bedroom! Look at the bedroom!¡± The swaying red jacket had already floated out from the dresser. While everyone¡¯s attention was pulled by the television, the jacket had moved from inside the dresser to hang on the door of the bedroom.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. We¡¯ll go and take a look at it together!¡± The police officer sounded so nervous that Chen Ge started to suspect that they were not workers at the futuristic theme park but actual innocent visitors. The police officer and the man in the sses approached the bedroom. Just as they were about to reach the door, the half-open bedroom door was pulled back, and a wounded arm suddenly reached out to drag the red jacket behind the door. Before the police officer and the man with the sses could react, a decapitated head poked out from behind the door. He held a bloodied axe and swung it right at the police officer¡¯s head. The police officer was so scared that he crumbled to the ground. He screamed as he ran away from the attack. The strange man charged out from the bedroom and waved the axe at everyone in the living room. The harrowing screams of a man could be heard echoing around the living room.

    ¡°Go to hell! Go to hell! Go to hell!¡±

    The visitors were busy as they tried to save their lives. Only Chen Ge stood where he was. The waving axe cut through his body. The strange man ran past him and crawled into the bathroom.

    ¡°There are Red Specters among their projections.¡± When Chen Ge saw the man, he knew that it was only a projection. As realistic as the blood on the man was, the blood did not drip to the ground, and the door that the man touched was not stained by blood either.

    ¡°Only when the lights dim will the projection be able to appear; that should be the limitation of this technology.¡±

    ¡°That was too scary!¡± The police officer stood up while holding his chest. ¡°We need to find the rest of the body. We can¡¯t stay here any longer!¡±

    ¡°There is no need to be in such a hurry, I have basically understood what happened inside this room.¡± Chen Ge picked up the head that was sitting on the table. ¡°The clue was hidden in that projection earlier. If you look closer, you¡¯ll realize that the projection had the same face as this human head.¡±

    ¡°What does that exin?¡± The police officer looked at Chen Ge holding the head, and for some reason, he felt like the man had done this exact motion many times before.

    ¡°The first paper note says that the owner of this ce was killed by someone with various methods at midnight; pay attention to the words that he used here¡ªkilled by someone. How could he be sure that his killer is a person and not a ghost?¡± Chen Ge then showed the rest the second piece of paper note. ¡°The new paper note says that when he prepared to resist, a murder weapon was ced beside each piece of dead body. That can only mean one thing...¡±

    ¡°We do not have the time to listen to your story. You only need to tell us what we should do now!¡± The door was chopped by the cleaver again. The chef could being in at any moment.

    ¡°The owner of the room was killed every night, and the killer is himself. That is the recurring nightmare that has trapped him.¡± Chen Ge was quite impressed by the scenario constructed by the futuristic theme park, but probably due to the time constraint, itcked some polish, so the details were not as perfect as he would have hoped.

    ¡°Then how are we supposed to escape? Kill the house owner again?¡± the man with the sses asked Chen Ge when a scream came from outside the door. It seemed to be the scream of the chef.

    ¡°What is this? Open the door! Open the door! Please let me in!¡± The chef suddenly banged incessantly and heavily on the door. The frame shook violently before it was followed by a heavy thump, which founded like the chef copsing to the ground. Then there was silence.

    ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡±

    The visitors inside the room looked at each other. The woman with the long ck hair made a silent and quick signal at the police officer. The police shook his head lightly, and his face was getting pale.

    ¡°Howe the noises stopped?¡± Chen Ge walked to the door and grabbed the doorknob. He looked through the gash that had been made by the chef¡¯s cleaver on the door. The chef was no longer there, and in the eerie corridor stood a little girl who was holding a doll. The girl had appeared in theater earlier. Half of her doll¡¯s face was burnt off, and it looked scary. Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision, but he got nothing. There was nothing out of ce that he could see from this little girl.

    ¡°What did you see?¡± the police officer asked Chen Ge in a whisper. Chen Ge was leaning against the door. His eyes were looking through the hole made by the cleaver. He was worried that the chef might suddenly appear, and the cleaver mightnd on the same spot again.

    ¡°The chef is gone. I believe this is purposely arranged by the Haunted House.¡± When Chen Ge said that, he made sure to pay attention to the reaction of the people around him. The ¡®visitors¡¯ in the room did not seem to anticipate something like this happening.

    His grip tightened, and Chen Ge was about to open the door when the police officer next to him stopped him. ¡°Just now, the chef desperately wanted to enter. That means that he ran into something scary outside the door. If you open the door now, the thing that the chef met earlier might just get into the room.¡±

    ¡°But if you do not open the door, you will never know what he ran into.¡± Chen Ge was on another extreme from the other visitors.

    ¡°We are a team. You might not care about your personal safety, but you can¡¯t drag us down with you.¡± The police officer was so desperate that he grabbed Chen Ge by his arm. He used extreme force to stop Chen Ge from opening the door; he was not acting. Through all these details and other observations, Chen Ge was certain. There really was something hiding in the futuristic theme park¡¯s Haunted House. The police officer knew about it, but he did not share it with his colleagues.

    ¡°Fine, then we will continue with the puzzle solving.¡± Chen Ge lifted his head to look at the wall. When the projection of the Red Specter ran into the bathroom, the time had returned to 11:56 pm. Time had essentially reversed, but the crying and the girl¡¯sughing did not stop, and the lights did note back on.

 Chapter 957 - Reflect on It

    <h4>Chapter 957: Reflect on It</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°With every reincarnation, the situation bes worse. We¡¯d better find the rest of the mannequin as fast as we can. I have no idea what kind of new monster will appear at the next midnight.¡±

    With the experience from before, all the visitors started to be more serious in their search for the body parts. Chen Ge showed incredible promise. He stood from the angle of a Haunted House designer and found a half of the body parts alone. Many body parts were hidden in very secluded corners like underneath cracked tiles, behind the toilet, in the sewage pipes, and so on. His professional technique and acute senses caused the ¡®visitors¡¯ around him to feel a strange chill.

    At 11:59 pm, the group ced the pieces of body parts on the coffee table. The situation was scary to say the least. The visitors stayed far away from it. Only Chen Ge was sitting alone at the coffee table.

    ¡°The five internal organs, spine, four limbs, head, and human skin¡ªthe design of this dead body is very detailed, but the feel of the touch is the drawback. It does not feel like the touch of normal human skin at all.¡±

    The difficulty of a hellish scenario was too high. If not for Chen Ge, they would have spent a lot of time trying to find the dead body parts, and then putting the parts back together would take even more time.

    In less than a minute, Chen Ge basically had rearranged the body parts to their correct position. The clock on the wall chimed again, and the second midnight had arrived. The television gave off this static noise, and the pots and pans in the kitchen fell to the ground. The dresser door slowly opened, and everyone saw a wounded man curled up inside it. His face was frozen in fear, and he held a sharp knife in his hand. Then the group saw him crawl out from the dresser and charge at Chen Ge at an incredible speed. Sitting on the sofa, Chen Ge did not even budge, and he allowed the man to phase through his body.

    ¡°Yet another projection?¡± Even though this was the second time, they had seen a projection of a dead man, so the group was given quite a fright. The time on the clock returned to 11:56 pm. The second reincarnation was not that scary. It was a mere repetition of the scares from the previous reincarnation.

    ¡°There will a projection that appears at midnight. As long as we get used to that, this scenario is not that scary.¡± The man with the ssesughed drily.

    ¡°Are you sses fogged? Can¡¯t you see that the flickering frequency of the television has changed? The time that we are left stranded in the dark has gotten longer and longer.¡± Chen Ge did not raise his head. ¡°The walls around us have started to bloat with blood. The little girl from the previous scenario should have joined us this time. The bedsheets have been reced on the bed. None of you have reentered the bedroom, so this proves that other people entered the room this time. At the next midnight, a real person might appear, and the first two times are just the system trying to make you lower your guard. ¡±

    Chen Ge said a lot and the man with the sses was stumped. In the end, he could only mumble, ¡°The room is so dark. Even if my sses aren¡¯t fogged, no one would notice these details.¡±

    When they conversed, Chen Ge hadpleted the dead body. He turned to look at the police officer. ¡°How did you get out thest time you came to visit?¡±

    ¡°We found the dead body under the bed, and there was a diary inside its pocket. It recorded the things about the owner and the map of the surroundings as well as the key to open the window.¡± The police honestly volunteered the guide.

    ¡°The key to open the window?¡±

    ¡°Yes, there is a big lock on the key, and by jumping through it, we will reach the third scenario.¡± The police carefully entered the bedroom. He pulled back the heavy curtains, and behind it was a ck window that was embedded into the wall. ¡°Previously, I assumed the key would be inside one of the body parts, but now I realize that things are not that simple.¡±

    ¡°We need to find the key to leave.¡± Chen Ge looked at the rearranged dead body on the table, and his expression changed.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Everyone gathered around him, and they saw Chen Ge pick up the phone that had a ck screen. He had been too focused on piecing the body parts back together, so he had ced the phone on the table, and it had livestreamed the whole process. When he was done, he finally realized that his livestream had been banned again. He quickly logged out and restarted the stream, but it showed that the service was blocked because the host had vited the streaming rules. The livestream was blocked, but the number of online viewers was still close to a million. The viewers who had been watchingughed their asses off.

    ¡°I am a new fan. I¡¯ve seen the host¡¯s streams thrice, and of those three times, the stream was blocked in the middle for the two of them. Now I don¡¯t even know whether it is my problem or the host¡¯s problem.¡±

    ¡°Cao<sup>1</sup>!¡±

    ¡°Impressive host, piecing back a dead body online!¡±

    ¡°Hopefully the host will learn from his mistake and reflect on why the tform targets him every time.¡±

    ¡°Brother Gang is a real man!¡±

    Chen Ge did not whether tough or cry when he saw thements in the chatroom. It was not often a stream would get so popr. The donations that he had received from this stream were enough to fill up the School of the Afterlife scenario with security cameras at every corner.

    ¡°I also have no idea why my stream is banned every time. Perhaps because it is too gory,¡± Chen Ge exined as he grabbed the mannequin by its spine and tossed the pieced mannequin to the side. ¡°I just wish for a simple livestreaming experience to provide good content to my fans, but I still get banned.¡±

    Chen Ge reached into his pocket and activated the recorder. Then he walked alone to the living room door. At that moment, the woman¡¯s crying and the girl¡¯sughter were approaching. The other visitors quickly stopped Chen Ge.

    ¡°Do not go out there!¡±

    ¡°We are close to solving the puzzle! We will find the exit soon!¡±

    ¡°Exit?¡± Chen Ge grabbed the doorknob. ¡°Isn¡¯t this a door?¡±

    ¡°It is a door, but...¡±

    ¡°Since it is a door, then it is an exit. Since it is an exit, we will be able to walk through it.¡± Holding his backpack with one hand, Chen Ge opened the door and looked down the corridor.

 Chapter 958 - Bad Feng Shui

    <h4>Chapter 958: Bad Feng Shui</h4>

    The chef could not be seen in the dark corridor. Chen Ge held the wall and stood in the middle of the corridor, his eyes narrowed as he stared down the corridor.

    There is a camera in the upper left corner of theater exit and the corner of the corridor. Just how rich is futuristic theme park that they would install two cameras to watch one corridor?

    Chen Ge wanted to summon Xu Yin, but he had to avoid the cameras and the other visitors. This was not his own Haunted House, so he had to be more careful.

    I need to find the appropriate time. The best solution is to actively attract the attention of the lingering spirits at this ce, and when they appear, I will have Xu Yin or other Red Specters rece them.

    A Haunted House should be haunted, but the ghosts should have nothing to do with Chen Ge. The static from the recorder travelled into his ears, and Chen Ge¡¯s emotions slowly calmed down. The woman¡¯s cries and the girl¡¯sughter elicited no response from him.

    ¡°Come back! What are you doing?¡± The police officer and the other visitors crowded at the door. They saw Chen Ge bend down to pick up a doll. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    His fingers caressing the burnt face, Chen Ge looked at the doll¡¯s dark eyes. ¡°Did any of you notice a little girl holding this doll earlier?¡±

    ¡°I did. She seemed toe out from theater.¡± The police tried to remember. ¡°But why would you suddenly ask about that?¡±

    ¡°When I looked out through the gap on the door, the chef was gone, but the girl was walking toward us holding this doll. Yet, when I opened the door, there was no one in the corridor, except for this doll with a burnt face abandoned on the floor.¡±

    Chen Ge carried the doll in his embrace, and after some thought, he added, ¡°No, it was not abandoned. It was more like someone had purposely ced it there, like they wanted the doll to follow and study our movements.¡±

    Then, Chen Ge turned to the other visitors. ¡°Do you think the Haunted House would hire a little girl as its actor?¡±

    ¡°First, you need to stay away from me.¡± The police officer stared at the doll in Chen Ge¡¯s embrace like it was cursed. ¡°I¡¯m not sure whether the haunted house would employ a little girl or not, but thest time I was here, I didn¡¯t see any girl and didn¡¯t hear herughter. Even the crying that we have been hearing, that only appeared at the end of my previous tour.¡±

    ¡°In other words, the girl is not an actor, and she isn¡¯t a visitor either, so what could she be?¡± Chen Ge purposely led the ¡®visitors¡¯ down a road of no return.

    ¡°Perhaps she¡¯s just a projection?¡± the man with the sses said softly.

    ¡°Have you seen a projection walking around with a doll? And this doll is much heavier than you think.¡± Chen Ge then tossed the doll toward the man. As the doll flew toward them, the other visitors all moved away from it. They seemed very afraid of the doll. Chen Ge noticed this and remembered it. ¡°Why are none of you willing to take it?¡±

    The dollnded on the ground with its limbs twisted at strange angles. The burnt face looked up at the surrounding visitors, the ck eyes staring at everyone.

    None of the visitors dared get close to the doll. After a long time, the youngest man took several steps back. ¡°In horror movies, children and dolls are a ssic pair. When you run into these two in a Haunted House, it is wise to stay away. Also, there is one thing you need to remember; when we entered the Haunted House, didn¡¯t the worker tell us that to create an authentic feeling, they have ced many ancient objects of unknown origins inside the haunted house?¡±

    ¡°Then, how can you be sure that this doll is one of those things?¡± Chen Ge picked up the poor doll again and ced it inside his backpack.

    ¡°Hey, this belongs to the theme park. Are you sure it¡¯s okay to take it like that?¡± one of the female visitors asked.

    ¡°This could be an important clue, so we might need to carry it with us. If you don¡¯t trust me, I can hand it to you to take care of it.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s one sentence silenced everyone else.

    ¡°You sure are brave. Aren¡¯t you afraid that something might be possessing it?¡± the police officer grumbled softly. He would not get near Chen Ge anymore.

    ¡°If you¡¯re guilty of something, everything you see could be possessed, but the truly possessed thing is your pair of eyes.¡± Chen Ge held the backpack with one hand and walked toward theater. He wanted to understand how the girl appeared. Turning the corner, Chen Ge tried to push theater door, but something heavy was blocking behind it that it would not budge. He leaned against the door and used Ghost Ear to listen, but he could not hear anything.

    The first scenario was seven students bringing the ghost teacher back to theater to watch movie on the day of Soul¡¯s Return. It¡¯s a reincarnation of the soul. The second scenario is the owner of the house waking up from his nightmares every night, killing himself again and again. It can be considered a physical reincarnation. Connecting the two scenarios is a corridor filled with guts and internal organs, watched over by a ¡®chef from hell¡¯. Do these three scenarios appear randomly, or is there an internal connection to them?

    The camera was above it, so Chen Ge would not just burst through the door.

    There¡¯s a problem with the girl, but since she¡¯s not a Red Specter, she can¡¯t leave her item of possession. As long as I have the doll, she will eventually return. The key problem is that this Haunted House doesn¡¯t appear to have only one ghost. When I entered this ce, I felt a chill. Initially, I thought that it was some kind of new technology, but now that I think about it, the chilliness could only be caused by lingering spirits and baleful Specters. There are no other possibilities.

    Chen Ge knew the difference between Eastern and Western Jiujiang. His parents did not dare to build a Haunted House in Eastern Jiujiang, but the futuristic theme park had done exactly that. A Haunted House was a heavy Yin location, and it was an attraction for lost souls. The futuristic even purposely ced some old objects in it. This was not increasing the difficulty but ying with fire. Eastern Jiujiang was not a lucky location; Chen Ge knew that too well. The problem of the ghost fetus had not been resolved, and who knows how many doors were hidden in Eastern Jiujiang? Considering the location of the futuristic theme park, it was squeezed in the middle of Li Wan City and Jiang Yuan Apartments; they would form a straight line across Eastern Jiujiang.

    The theme park is situated at a problematic location. Perhaps after the bridge is built, it¡¯ll be much better, but can they hold on until then?

    The theme park was stuck between two doors, and the Haunted House theme attraction was at the deepest part of the park where the Yin energy gathered. It would attract not only the visitors but also the Specters and ghosts.

    The managers sure have business acumen, finding such a strategic location.

    Chen Ge did not know Feng Shui, but he knew that his family had to move away from Eastern Jiujiang.

    Theme parks are popr, and the crowds in the day should be enough to temper the spirits, but what will happen after theme park closes at night? Even if I didn¡¯te here, eventually, something bad would happen.

    Chen Ge felt the heavy responsibility on his shoulders. He found another reason to protect New Century Park, and that was to stop the futuristic theme park from harming more innocent people.

 Chapter 959 - Two Cycles

    <h4>Chapter 959: Two Cycles</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The road back had been blocked, and Chen Ge did not think that it was wise to break down the door with the camera there. He was afraid the futuristic theme park might use this against him.

    <i>The crying andughter are still there, so the ghosts haven¡¯t wandered off, but I can¡¯t see them.</i>

    Returning to the room, Chen Ge studied the dead body on the table.

    <i>For medium difficulty, the key is inside the mannequin, but this is just a passing scenario. For hellish difficulty, we have to solve the puzzle of this room to move on.</i>

    Normally, that would not be a problem, but the key was thebination of many scenarios. Various projections and ¡®supernatural events¡¯ might appear in ces that they should not, and that greatly increased the difficulty of puzzle-solving. The few visitors wasted their time at the door. The clock on the wall chimed again, and the ugly cuckoo bird crawled out from the box. The heart around it had been removed, but the blood of the heart stained the bird red.

    ¡°If the owner¡¯s reincarnation is endless suicide, then we will have to stop him to break this nightmarish cycle. There are two ways to do this; one is to protect him from himself, and the second one is to kill him ourselves.¡±

    Chen Ge picked up the axe next to the sofa. Before the room changed, he aimed the axe right at the mannequin that had just been reconnected not long ago. The mannequin was chopped into pieces again, and fresh blood prints were left on its body.

    <i>It doesn¡¯t work? Should we try to use different murder weapons to kill him? But then that would drop us into the same cycle as he did.</i>

    Killing the mannequin would not break the cycle; Chen Ge realized that.

    <i>The Haunted House has to operate normally, so they wouldn¡¯t encourage something illegal like murder. They need to stay on the right side of thew.</i>

    While Chen Ge was thinking, the curtains of the living room were pulled open to reveal half a human face. The owner in bloody clothes grimaced at them. He stared at a certain spot before rushing out with a de in his hand. Unlike the previous two times, other than behind the curtain, two other projections appeared behind the toilet door and under the bed. In the dark, three bloody faces looked at the visitors from different angles and then charged at them like crazy.

    The projections would not deal actual damage, but even if they knew they were fake, when the projections got near, they would feel afraid. Adrenaline rose, eyes were mped shut, and people screamed. The visitors squeezed in the middle of the living room; only Chen Ge stood to study the fleeing projections. ¡°How curious. Why would all the projections charge into the living room? No matter where they were hiding, in the end, they wouldmit murder, charge into the living room, and disappear. Is it to make sure that all the visitors are gathered inside the living room?¡±

    Chen Ge used his finger to trace the movement of all the projections. To his surprise, he realized that, despite their different hiding spots, if he made a line from their hiding spots to the ce that they disappeared to, the trajectories formed by the different projections crossed at a spot inside the living room!

    ¡°The target of the projections isn¡¯t us but the sofa at the middle of the living room!¡± Chen Ge nudged the sofa away and knocked on the ground underneath it. ¡°It¡¯s hollow?¡±

    His finger slid on the wooden floor and soon found a part that was uneven. He pulled hard to peel that part of the floor up. A light stench filled the air; there was a female carcass stuffed under the ground. The body had many wounds, and she was hugging a ck tape in her arms.

    ¡°A second body?¡± All the visitors gathered with their eyes bulging.

    Even the police officer was stunned. ¡°Why is there a second body?¡±

    ¡°The answer should be inside the tape.¡± Chen Ge entered the tape into the yer under the television, and the flickering screen changed to show the recording.

    ¡°Lee¡¯s paranoia is getting worse. I thought love would be able to curse him, but I realize how wrong I was. When he saw me talking with another man, he assumed I cheated on him. I was worried that he might injure the kids in his illness, so I sent all the kids back to my parent¡¯s home. But he thought I was trying to ruin his rtionship with the kids. He then started to doubt if the kids were even his, and they were sent away to prevent him from realizing that fact.

    ¡°Doctor, now he is starting to suspect you as well. He thinks we are trying to cooperate to kill him. When he¡¯s acting up, it¡¯s so scary! One night, I woke up and saw him kneeling on the bed, staring quietly at me! Imagine how frightened I was!

    ¡°I am really afraid. I no longer dare to stay in the same room as him. He sleeps in the bedroom, and I sleep in the living room. If he sleeps in the living room, I lock myself up in the bedroom. Doctor, your medicine is working; Lee¡¯s current condition is very stable. Although we still haven¡¯t moved back together to sleep in the same room, that is probably we¡¯re both so tired. But now, even if we¡¯re sleeping in different rooms, I feel ufortable at night. I keep feeling there is a thief hiding inside the house. Tomorrow, I¡¯ll go install a surveince camera in the house.¡±

    After the narration by the woman, there was a recording from the surveince camera. It was the quiet of the night, and the woman was sleeping peacefully on the bed. Her bedsheet suddenly moved, and half of a man¡¯s face poked out. The man crawled out from under the bed with a cleaver slowly. Then, the screen flickered, and the image disappeared.

    The screen returned to normal. This time, the woman was sleeping on the sofa. Then, the bedroom door was pulled open. A man held a tablemp and slunk to her side.

    The image flickered again, and this time, the woman was lying inside the bathroom tub. The man was hiding behind the toilet door with a fruit knife.

    It was clear from story-telling that woman was already dead, but the man chose to kill her again and again. He was unwilling to forgive her, and in the end, he cursed himself to end up in his own cycle of nightmares.

    ¡°There are two reincarnations in this room. One is the dead victim being killed again and again; the other is the man finally losing his mind after murdering his wife. He couldn¡¯t tell whether he was the killer or the victim. His paranoia became so serious that he suspected it was he who killed himself.¡±

    Chen Ge found the key to the window inside the female body¡¯s pocket. The design of this scenario was interesting. The key to leave was with the wife all along, but the murderer did not know that. He could not escape the nightmares that he had created for himself.

    ¡°This plot is well thought out. The designer is a genius.¡± Chen Ge nced at the police officer next to him. ¡°I hear this ce has many designers. Do you know who designed this scenario?¡±

    ¡°The scenarios are auto-generated by the centralputer using arge data storage. At least, that¡¯s what I heard.¡± When the police officer saw the key that Chen Ge was holding, he was truly impressed.

    ¡°The centralputer?¡± Chen Ge asked. ¡°How much does thisputer cost?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t really know that. A whole AI system probably costs more than ten million?¡± The police scratched his head, as if he did not understand why Chen Ge would ask something like that.

    ¡°Come, let¡¯s move on.¡± Chen Ge reced the wooden tile. He held the key and entered the bedroom to personally undo the lock on the window.

 Chapter 960 - Altar

    <h4>Chapter 960: Altar</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Theplicated pattern moved on the walls, and the dark window was gently pulled up by Chen Ge. A chilling draft rushed into the room. Chen Ge narrowed his eyes, and the muscles of his back tightened as he continued to push the window up.

    ¡°There is something hidden in this scenario!¡± Chen Ge was very familiar with this feeling. His pupils slowly narrowed as he assessed the new scenario before him. On the other side of the window was a Japanese-style room, with Japanese furniture and d¨¦cor. However, what caught Chen Ge¡¯s attention was not that but the walls. All four walls were covered with handprints. The light hanging from the ceiling flickered. Underneath the boxed light, there scattered the dead bodies of moths, and around them were traces of wax. It was as if someone had stood under themp and used a candle to slowly burn the wings of the moths one by one.

    After the new scenario was revealed, the scenario behind Chen Ge changed. Blood dripped from the ceiling, the door to the corridor rattled, and footsteps came from beyond it. Before the visitors could react, the door that led to the corridor was shut, and the girl¡¯sughter boomed beyond the door like the child was standing beyond it at that moment.

    ¡°She¡¯s back to look for her doll?¡± Even though Chen Ge felt like it was rather inappropriate for an adult to steal from a girl, considering that this might lead her to salvation, it made him feel better.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I¡¯ve been to this new scenario before.¡± The police officer¡¯s initial attitude toward Chen Ge was bad, but without him realizing it, his attitude had changed, perhaps because fear had gotten him without him realizing it.

    ¡°Is there anything to pay attention to?¡±

    ¡°The room is cursed, and the curse is nted on three items. We have to find the three items while being attacked by the ghosts, ce them on the altar, and use the divine figurines on the altar to cleanse them.¡± The police officer tried to remember the details. ¡°But since this is hellish difficulty, we might need to find more than ten cursed items.¡±

    ¡°Finding items won¡¯t be too hard. I¡¯m afraid that whole room is wrapped in a curse, and everything and everyone inside it is cursed.¡± Chen Ge possessed Yin Yang Vision. In his sight, everything in the room was dyed with misfortune, and any visitor that came into contact with them would have their luck affected. This was the difference between Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House and the futuristic theme park. His Haunted House allowed his workers to feed on the visitors¡¯ negative emotions to bnce out their mood, but the Haunted House at the futuristic theme park was in apletely out of control situation. The visitors would be harmed when they visited the ce, and they would continue to spread misfortune after they left the ce.

    <i>Curses are different from actual Specters.</i> Chen Ge was reminded of his experience in Li Wan City. The shadow specialized in curses, and that seemed to be a specialty of the ghosts from Eastern Jiujiang. As he leaped over the window, Chen Ge heard a tingling voice in his ears. The voice appeared suddenly as if announcing the presence of new visitors.

    ¡°When you search for stuff, cover your hand with ayer of your clothes. Do note into direct contact with anything in this room.¡±

    Hearing that, the few visitors were confused. They looked at each other with questioning gazes. To prevent Chen Ge from seeing through their act, they did notmunicate much, but with the signal from the police officer and the young man, they all followed Chen Ge¡¯s instructions.

    ¡°Empty bottles and trash are collected in the corner, and there are cigarette butts from three different brands in the cigarette bowl. The clothes and shoes that littered the room are of different sizes. It appears like this ce once yed host to a small party, and the party goers have all been drunk.¡±

    ¡°Yes, when on myst visit, we found relevant information in the bedroom. A group of people came to a friend¡¯s house at the countryside to y, but it rained so heavily that it caused andslide. They couldn¡¯t return, so they decided to stay at the friend¡¯s house overnight.¡± The police officer confirmed Chen Ge¡¯s suspicion and was shocked by Chen Ge¡¯s sharp observation.

    ¡°The information was found inside the bedroom?¡± Chen Ge entered the bedroom alone. When he pushed open the door, the singing of a girl appeared in his ear. The voice was airy and light, carrying with it a trace of mncholy. Chen Ge could not capture the exact lyrics, but he heard the terms moth and butterfly. The entire Japanese-style scenario had six rooms, and the bedroom Chen Ge was in was the smallest room.

    nkets were ced on the ground, and random objects crowded the already small room. There were male shoes and clothes and many female hairs. But the most eye-catching object had to be the camcorder fixed on top of a suitcase. The device was screwed to the suitcase, probably because the theme park worried that their equipment might be stolen.

    ¡°Who would steal a cursed item?¡± Chen Ge opened the camcorder¡¯s disy and saw the image of four men and three women flicker across the screen. In the day, they spent their time touring the countryside, admiring the scenery, and taking in fresh air, but when they nned to leave at night, the skies suddenly opened up. The elders in the vige said that the only exit from the vige had been blocked by fallen rocks. They had no choice but to stay at the vige and leave the next day.

    ¡°The elders said the road was blocked? They didn¡¯t confirm that themselves and decided to stay based on other people¡¯s words?¡±

    Chen Ge continued to look, and the other visitors gathered around. Of the seven, one was a local, and he ced his six friends in his ancestral house. The rain kept pouring, but that did not affect the group¡¯s good mood. They drank, yed cards, and partied until midnight. At this point, the image turned darker. The seven were gathered in the main living room. The drinks were running out, and a fatty with sses stood up to use the toilet when he saw an altar built in the darkest corner at the end of the corridor. Normally, altars were ced on a table, and this was the first time he had seen an altar that was built inside a corridor.

    In the video, the drunk fatty staggered to the altar. He leaned closer to the altar and appeared to hear some weird noisesing from inside it. Reaching to grab the ck cloth that covered the altar, as he was about to pull it back, someone called his name, and the person who screamed was the person who was recording the video. The fatty was given quite a fright and crumbled to the ground. He crawled up, ignored the altar, and went to the toilet. When he returned, he sidled up to the owner and asked him about the altar.

    The owner said that he did not know much about it. He went to school in the city alone. One day, he got a phone call from the police that said his parents and grandmother had gotten caught in andslide when they wereing home, and the whole family got thrown into the river with the car. Now, he was the only survivor of their family.

    At that moment, another man put down his ss of wine and told the others in a mysterious tone that an altar ced on a table was for ghosts and divinity, but altars built in dark corners were for rearing of ghosts.

 Chapter 961 - Cursed House

    <h4>Chapter 961: Cursed House</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The video was still ying in the camcorder. It was unclear whether it was lighting or something else, but the image quality started to get blurrier like it was covered in fog. The man¡¯s statement in the video aroused the other people¡¯s attention. With them pressing, the man revealed something that had ¡ìhappened to him in the past.

    When he was young, his house had also had an altar. The altar had been ced opposite the living room door, covered with a thick ck cloth. Before the man¡¯s grandfather passed away, he had told his family, no matter what happened, to never uncover the altar, and when he was buried, they were to bury the altar right inside his coffin. Due to the issue of inheritance, the family got into a big fight after the grandfather¡¯s death. The fight soon escted into a physical fight, and during the altercation, someone knocked the altar over. The adults were too focused on the fight to notice the overthrown altar. But the youngest grandson looked inside the altar out of curiosity. Then the grandson did something truly unexpected. He called into the altar, ¡°Grandpa.¡±

    This voice startled the room of adults. They all turned to stare at the young grandson, and the grandson squatted before the altar, his eyes not leaving the altar like his grandfather was really inside. In the countryside, it was well known that children could see ghosts. The adults thought that their fighting had angered the old man, so they quickly reced the altar and then followed the will, selling the old house and burying the altar alongside the old man¡¯s urn.

    Things should have ended there, but the man¡¯s voice changed. On the day of the old man¡¯s burial, the grandson who saw the thing inside the altar mysteriously disappeared. He seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth. No one knew where he had gone, and no one knew what he had truly seen inside the altar. In the video, after hearing the story, none of the partygoers were afraid. In fact, some of them even challenged the owner to open the altar of his own home to take a look.

    Under the influence of alcohol and the rowdiness of his friends, they walked down the corridor. Some of them were holding bottles of wine, some were carrying their phones, and one was taping down the whole experience with a camcorder. It was raining heavily outside the old house, and the group stopped noisily next to the altar. The fatty who had passed by the altar earlier stood at the front. He reached for the ck cloth and pulled it away. Then a pair of fatty hands grabbed the door of the altar. As the fatty was about to pull the doors open, lightning shed outside the window, and the lights in the house suddenly went out.

    At the same time, just as the few visitors were focused on the video on the camcorder, the lights in the real scenario also went out!

    The timing ovepped. Screams came from the recording and the visitors in real life; it was felt a recurring nightmare. In the darkness, there came the sound of the altar doors being opened. Several secondster, the lights in both the recording and real life came back on. The seven friends gathered in the corridor were shocked to see the altar doors had already been opened. The seven looked at each other before turning to focus on the fatty. Thetter was confused. He said that he did not pull, that he had not opened the altar.

    At this point, Chen Ge suddenly shouted at the visitors around him, ¡°Move back a bit!¡±

    He looked down the corridor, and sitting in the dark corner, the isted altar had its doors opened!

    ¡°When did it open?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± The police officer was helpless. ¡°During myst visit, this did not happen.¡±

    The recording was still ying. The camcorder was ced on top of the suitcase, and the suitcase was stuck between the bed and the cupboard, making it hard to remove. Thus, Chen Ge¡¯s group temporarily ignored the altar and continued watching the video.

    Light returned, and the group of friends realized that there was nothing inside the altar. They groaned about the countryside rumors and returned to the living room. They yed for a while before the party spirit left them. They cleaned up a bit, pushed the trash and bottles into the corner, and returned to their rooms to sleep. The camcorder was picked up by one of them. He returned to his room, which was the bedroom Chen Ge¡¯s group was in. The man said good night to the camcorder and then switched it off.

    The visitors thought that the recording ended there, but after a while, a new recording appeared. The man who had looked calm earlier was now curled inside his bed, holding the camcorder with shaking hands. The visitors had no idea what the man was doing. The man quietly poked the camcorder¡¯s lens out of the bedsheets and aimed it at the cupboard facing the bedroom. There was no light inside the bedroom. In the darkness, the cupboard did not look that scary, but the doors were not closed tightly, and there was a gap that was left open.

    The image went still, and at that moment, an eye looked out from inside the cupboard!

    The image shook, and it showed how scared the man in the bed was. He was forcing himself not to make any noise. The man was sure that something was hiding inside the cupboard. He aimed the camcorder at the cupboard, but the eye did not reappear. After a while, the camcorder began to run out of battery. The man held the camcorder in one hand, and his other hand reached for something, but at that moment, the camera shook because the man seemed to touch something.

    Then the man¡¯s hand that held the camcorder slowly turned to aim the camera at himself. His face appeared on screen, and behind him, curled in the bed with him, was another face!

    The man wanted to scream, but strands of dirty hair curled around his neck and stuffed his mouth. The camcorder fell, aimed at the door. Outside the door, the camcorder captured the image of the altar with its doors open perfectly.

    After the video ended, all the visitors were drenched in cold sweat. Knowing that their guide was no longer useful, all the visitors turned to Chen Ge. He had be the uncontested center of the group.

    ¡°The most dangerous thing in this scenario is the altar. Normally, visitors wouldn¡¯t open it, but in hellish difficulty, someone has helped us open it.¡± Chen Ge turned around and realized that the group was quietly waiting for him to continue. ¡°I am just a volunteer worker; don¡¯t you guys have anything to share?¡±

    Of the team of seven, six were theme park workers, and the only actual visitor had be the leader of the group. Chen Ge wanted to draw some information from these ¡®visitors¡¯, so he kept them around and pretended that he did not notice the small gestures they had been making. ¡°The recording did not tell us what is inside the altar, but the change to this scenario has everything to do with that altar. The way to escape should be rted to that altar as well. I remember one of you is the detective and gets a new clue when we enter a new scenario.¡±

    ¡°I am the detective.¡± The man in sses looked at his band. ¡°The clue is hidden inside the altar...¡±

    The visitors left the bedroom and walked down the corridor.

    The man with the sses shone the shlight on his phone into the altar. The group bent to look and realized that inside the walls of the altar, the word ¡®death¡¯ was repeated again and again, gouged out with fingernail marks.

 Chapter 962 - Good Blessing

    <h4>Chapter 962: Good Blessing</h4>

    ¡°Why has death been scratched into the altar so many times? This does not look like a shrine for the divine at all!¡± The detective was leaning at the front. When he saw the handwriting inside the altar, his face nched.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t the recording exin it? An altar ced on the table is for divinity, but altars left in the corner are for something else.¡± A woman gathered her courage and squatted before the altar. She looked carefully inside. It was unknown what kind of material the altar was made of. It looked like wood, but it felt slippery to the touch like one was touching a pool of drying blood. Ever since the altar doors opened, there had been this strange smell that drifted out from it.

    ¡°Forgive me for saying this, but I don¡¯t think even a ghost would be willing to stay here.¡± The police officer stood silently behind Chen Ge. ¡°Other than that, thest time I was here, the bloody words weren¡¯t inside the altar.¡±

    After he said that, he turned to look at the girl squatting before the altar. The girl slowly stood up with confusion in her eyes. She silently shook her head at the police officer and the woman with the ck hair. The ¡®visitors¡¯ appeared to have different jobs in the Haunted House. The girl appeared to be responsible for the maintenance of props.

    Seeing her shake her head, the police officer¡¯s face darkened even further. He told Chen Ge with some hesitance, ¡°How about we stop moving forward? There is no need to challenge the scenarios to rashly. We will apany you to explore the previous scenarios slowly.¡±

    The police officer was dropping clear hints for Chen Ge. We will stop trying to scare you, so please stop moving forward to make things look ugly for us. We will do this peacefully so that we all finish this safely.

    ¡°That won¡¯t work because even if we don¡¯t go looking for them, they wille and find us.¡± Chen Ge noticed the exchanges between the visitors. He saw the girl shake her head at the police officer, and the police officer suggested that they stop their tour after seeing the message given by the girl.

    The ¡®visitors¡¯ were afraid, and the reason behind their fear had to do with this altar. Chen Ge grabbed the altar by both hands, trying to study it from a different perspective, but he realized with a shock that the altar was fixed to the ground like it was joined to the house. The recurring Haunted House was designed by the futuristic theme park, so why should they be afraid? Even though the workers were not that courageous, since they had been selected to join Chen Ge, they had to be people who were quick on their feet and good at their jobs. Something serious must have happened to cause them to feel like retreating.

    Chen Ge pretended to casually ask a question. ¡°Did the designers of Reincarnation not expect the scenarios to have a change like this?¡±

    ¡°I believe so.¡± The police officer blurted out, but after that he realized that was not what he was supposed to say, he quickly added, ¡°When I was herest time, I heard the few designers arguing. It appeared to be about the extra changes that appeared for parts of the scenarios during hellish difficulty that were not part of the intended design.¡±

    ¡°As impressive as the AI system is, it will not influence reality. It has tobine manpower and machinery to influence an effect.¡± Chen Ge stared at the inside of the altar, and his nostrils twitched. He was using histest skill¡ªSpirit Sniff.

    ¡°You are not wrong, but not everything in this world has an answer.¡± The police officer did not know how to exin it to Chen Ge.

    ¡°I think I get it now.¡± Chen Ge took a deep breath. ¡°All the scenarios are controlled by the centralputer. Whenbining the scenarios, there will be changes and alterations, but these changes are within the eptable range, so the designers let them be. If anything, they were probably proud of this unexpected surprise. But they forgot about a crucial element. These idiots ced some ancient objects that they had salvaged from Eastern Jiujiang into the Haunted House! The centralputer controls the traps and projections, changing the plot development and various expansion. The things that possess the old objects are also quietly changing ording to the scenario itself.¡±

    ¡°What... what are you talking about?¡± The police officer was confused.

    ¡°My parents own a Haunted House, and I grew up in a Haunted House, so I know more about this than you do.¡± Chen Ge signaled for the detective to move over with his phone. ¡°The Haunted House is a ce of heavy Yin energy, and if you¡¯re not careful, bad things will happen. This Haunted House purposely stored a lot of objects of misfortune in it, so it is only normal for it to attract spirits and the like.¡±

    ¡°Do you think we will believe something like that?¡± The woman with ck hair still did not agree with Chen Ge. She would not suffer other people critiquing the futuristic theme park; this was simr to Chen Ge¡¯s protection of New Century Park. He could empathize with that, but it did not mean that he wouldpromise. ¡°Lean closer to look at the carving inside the altar.¡±

    With the light shining, the group resisted the urge to run and followed his instruction.

    ¡°The words are carved out one by one using fingernails. Some of the red traces are paint, while others are blood. Look at the words at the innermost part. Do you see some traces of something else lodged within the carvings?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The group saw clearly with the aid of the shlight. ¡°What are those?¡±

    ¡°Would you believe me if I told you that is decayed flesh?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s expression was scary. ¡°There is a stenching from inside the altar. It¡¯s the smell of rotten flesh. It¡¯s hard to imagine why one would purposely do something like this. If this is not the design of the haunted house, then this is proof that something is seriously wrong here.¡±

    Narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge scanned the room. The whole Japanese house was radiating with misfortune; every object was possessed by something. They were not palpably clear, but they were definitely there.

    ¡°Then... should we retreat to the previous scenario?¡± The police officer wanted to go back. He had toured the ce on medium difficulty and knew quite a lot about this Haunted House, but because he knew that much, he felt that much more afraid.

    ¡°You guys look like you love this theme park. Does anyone know when they started building this Haunted House?¡± Chen Ge sensed intense hatred and resentment from the carving inside the altar. This was the sign of a curse.

    ¡°More than a month ago.¡±

    ¡°That is about when my Haunted House started to gain poprity online,¡± Chen Ge said directly. ¡°The futuristic theme park saw the opportunity for money, but they didn¡¯t see the danger behind it. After all, Eastern Jiujiang is different from Western Jiujiang.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s so different?¡± The woman with long hair frowned. She wanted to draw information from Chen Ge. She knew that the futuristic theme park was a foreign entity in Jiujiang, but Chen Ge was actual Jiujiang local.

    ¡°You¡¯ll see in a bit.¡± Chen Ge then took out a doll with half a burnt face from inside his backpack.

    ¡°What are you nning to do? Isn¡¯t that the little girl¡¯s doll?¡± The ¡®visitors¡¯ were confused by Chen Ge.

    ¡°I wish to experiment.¡± After saying that, Chen Ge tossed the doll into the altar and then mmed the altar doors shut. ¡°The altar is the most dangerous spot of the whole scenario. I will guard beside it. The rest of you should split into groups of two and try to find and explore the other rooms. If you find anything or run into anything scary, scream loudly for help. I will rush over to provide support.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to stay here alone by the altar at the end of the corridor?¡± There was a trace of uncertainty in the police officer¡¯s question.

    ¡°Since he has volunteered, let him be.¡± The man with the sses dragged the police officer away, and the ¡®visitors¡¯ started to focus on their search. When they had wandered away, Chen Ge silently opened the altar and took out the doll to study it. Curiously enough, the half of the face that was not burnt showed a clear expression of fear.

    ¡°The doll¡¯s expression can change? This altar seems to possess a certain meaning.¡± Chen Ge then ced the doll back into it. He opened the backpack and stuffed the pair of red high heels into it as well. ¡°You are the professional when ites to curses. I will leave this to you. I know that you are very powerful. cing you inside this altar contains my blessing and hope for you. One day, you will be strong enough to advance to a Demon God as well.¡±

 Chapter 963 - Let Her Follow Us

    <h4>Chapter 963: Let Her Follow Us</h4>

    What Chen Ge did not say openly when he told the red high heels that she could also be a Demon God was that there was already a Demon God by his side, so she had better not get any funny ideas. The doors of the altar were closed again. Several secondster, tiny beads of blood slid down the walls of the altar. Strangely, as the blood slid down the walls, it gathered to form two distinct rivulets of blood.

    They are opposing forces? To be able to resist the red high heels, is the owner of the altar also a Red Specter?

    Chen Ge jumped up immediately. He was thankful that he had brought all the Red Specters from his own Haunted House other than Ol¡¯ Bai.

    The problem at the futuristic theme park is far more serious than I anticipated. There are Red Specters hiding in the Haunted House, and there might be more than one of them.

    As he stared at the altar, Chen Ge¡¯s heart beat very fast. The red high heels¡¯ real power was stronger than Xu Yin and the headless woman, and her expertise was curses. But the Red Specter rted to the altar was able to resist her, which was something that Chen Ge did not expect.

    There should be more than one altar like this inside this Haunted House. Only part of the Specter¡¯s spirit is enshrined at this altar. Just what kind of Red Specter is this?

    Before the blood on the walls of the altar could converge, a shrill scream came from the room furthest from Chen Ge. The other visitors all ran over to the source of the sound, but Chen Ge stood guard next to the altar. The hurried footsteps rushed down the corridor. In the chaos, Chen Ge felt a fluttery feeling above his ear like a butterfly hadnded there. Before he could reach out his hand to scratch the spot, a spirit-like voice suddenly echoed in his ear.

    ¡°When a butterfly has its wings torn away, will it feel pain?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s five senses were sharper than most, but he did not sense anything out of ce. The voice appeared to show up out of midair. Maintaining his posture, Chen Ge was about to summon Xu Yin when the voice reappeared and repeated the same question that it had asked earlier. The ghost did not seem like it intended to harm Chen Ge. After a momentary pause, Chen Ge opened his mouth to say, ¡°The butterfly¡¯s wings are filled with blood capiries that are joined to its body, so having the wings torn apart will definitely be painful.¡±

    ¡°Blood capiries? Are they like the red lines on my mother? Why would such beautiful wings have blood red lines in them?¡± The voice of the child sounded confused and also a little bit afraid.

    ¡°When a butterfly breaks out of its cocoon, it hangs upside down. That is to ensure that the blood flows through its wings through the pull of gravity. That way, the wings will have the energy to open and p, cracking through the cocoon.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice was soft and gentle. He was like a kindergarten teacher exining new knowledge to the toddlers patiently and kindly.

    ¡°So, it is because of those red lines that the butterfly has such a beautiful wing, isn¡¯t it?¡± The voice of the child was very innocent.

    ¡°That is not entirely true. The reason a butterfly can break out of its cocoon has plenty to do with gravity, but you can¡¯t really say that Newton has everything to do with the beauty of a butterfly¡¯s wings, right?¡± Chen Ge used scientific knowledge to attract the child¡¯s attention while he turned his eyes and tried to look from the corner of his eyes.

    ¡°Quick,e over here! Xiao Ling has disappeared!¡± Before Chen Ge could take a good look at the child¡¯s face, the police officer¡¯s scream came from the other side of the corridor. Turning his head, Chen Ge realized that there was nothing next to him. The voice of the child earlier was just like a part of his imagination.

    ¡°That was close.¡± Chen Ge nced at the police officer and slowly stood up. ¡°Didn¡¯t you guys go off in pairs? One has gone missing, but where is the other one?¡±

    ¡°I was looking for information with Xiao Ling inside the room. She screamed when she opened the closet, and when I turned toward her, she had already disappeared,¡± the young man exined. The Xiao Ling that he talked about was the girl who had leaned to look inside the altar earlier. She was quite young as well.

    ¡°The closet was so close to you, and you¡¯re telling me an actual person disappeared before your eyes just like that?¡± Chen Ge knocked on the side of the closet. ¡°This is not a show to trick me, right? I¡¯ve heard Haunted Houses nowadays purposely disguise their workers as visitors to try to scare the real visitors.¡±

    The young man had a bitter expression on his face. He wanted to scold Chen Ge because it was thetter who started this tradition, but considering the situation that they were in, he decided to act dumb. ¡°At the time, I was rummaging through the pile of trash, and then I heard the closet being opened. It was followed quickly by Xiao Ling¡¯s scream. But when I turned around to look, the closet door was closed, and Xiao Ling had already disappeared.¡±

    ¡°Is it possible that she is just hiding inside the closet?¡± Chen Ge pulled the closet door open, and to his surprise, there was another room hidden behind the closet. The room was rectangr in shape, there were no windows, and it waspleted enclosed. The walls were taped fully with talismans, and there was a line of something that looked like salt at the entrance. The girl called Xiao Ling was sitting in the middle of the room. She looked nkly at one of the corners, and her face was devoid of any expression.

    ¡°Xiao Ling!¡± The woman with the long, ck hair rushed into the room and pulled Xiao Ling into a hug. She whispered something into Xiao Ling¡¯s ear, but Xiao Ling did not give her any response. Then she realized the severity of the situation. She shook Xiao Ling¡¯s shoulders with both of her hands. ¡°Why did you run into this room all on your own?¡±

    ¡°There was someone calling for help from inside the closet. I opened the door and tried to get a look but was suddenly dragged inside it.¡± Xiao Ling pointed at her own hair. There was the bloody handprint of a child left there. ¡°I don¡¯t want to y anymore. I want to leave this ce!¡±

    Then, she moved to press a button on the wrist band, but she was quickly stopped by the woman. ¡°Xiao Ling, calm down. We have barely even started our tour. How can you give up so soon?¡±

    The two girls conversed in whispers, but Chen Ge managed to hear everything. When I entered this ce, Qing Ming did not tell me that pressing a button on the wrist band means that you will be able to exit the Haunted House.

    He looked at the two girls sitting among the talismans with a smile, but he did not pursue them with more questions.

    ¡°The room is filled talismans, and there is a line of salt ced by the door. This proves that this room should be the safest ce of the whole scenario. The talismans and salt are things that ghosts are most afraid of. This should be a safe zone. If you are afraid, you can consider staying here.¡±

    ¡°Is that true?¡± The police officer was considering it.

    ¡°Of course, there is another possibility.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes scanned the corners of the room. ¡°Perhaps this room is the scariest ce of the entire scenario. All the talismans are to suppress the evil spirit that is trapped inside this room. Well, would anyone like to take this bet?¡±

    ¡°Er... then, I think we¡¯d better leave this ce.¡±Read more chapter on vi pnovel

    Hearing what Chen Ge had to say, the woman quickly supported Xiao Ling out of the room.

    ¡°Remember to close the closet door just in case something follows us out.¡± Chen Ge and the policeman walked at the front of the group, and they returned to the altar at the end of the corridor. The policeman with the sharp eye very soon noticed the blood beads that refused to melt together on the walls of the altar. His eyes bulged as he grabbed Chen Ge by his arm. ¡°Why is the altar bleeding now?¡±

    ¡°Am I the owner of this Haunted House? How would I possibly know the answer to that question?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s expression was severe. ¡°It was not like this earlier! This is because of all themotion that you guys made. I missed something very important.¡±

    The few visitors gathered around to take a look. They also did not expect the altar to start to leak blood.

    ¡°Shall we open it to take a look?¡± The police officer gritted his teeth as he leaned closer to the altar. He lightly pulled open the doors of the altar. ¡°There appear to be more things inside.¡±

    The visitors used the shlights on their phones to illuminate the altar. They realized that the doll at the entrance of the altar had already been shredded into pieces. It was covered in ck blood stains, and strangely enough, they saw a pair of bright red high heels ced at the center of the altar.

    ¡°When did these shoes appear?¡± The group had no idea how to exin the appearance of the red high heels inside the altar, and they could not exin the reasoning behind the bleeding altar.

    ¡°Did you ce these heels inside the altar? Just now, you were the only one guarding beside the altar.¡±

    The woman with the long ck hair looked at Chen Ge, and Chen Ge responded with a face filled with indignation.

    ¡°Do you think a man like myself would carry a pair of female high heels with me for no reason?¡±

    ¡°Then, who could it be?¡± The police officer did not even dare to reach his hand into the altar; just looking at it was enough to make him shiver in fear.

    ¡°Earlier, Xiao Ling¡¯s scream pulled everyone¡¯s attention. Everyone rushed to check up on her, and it was during that period that this happened.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes scanned every visitor. ¡°We should be more careful. That person or that ghost is just around us, and I believe that they are watching us right at this moment.¡±

    ¡°Then, what should we do now?¡± The police officer¡¯s hand was dangling in midair, still grabbing the altar¡¯s door.

    ¡°Close the altar doors. We have to search this scenario for clues as fast as we can. I do not believe that the thing inside the altar will be able to continue following us.¡± In a serious and severe tone, Chen Ge arranged a mission for each of the visitors toplete.

 Chapter 964 - Spider and Butterfly

    <h4>Chapter 964: Spider and Butterfly</h4>

    Even though the old Japanese house only had a few rooms, it gave people the feeling of being trapped inside a maze. Some of the rooms were connected; others appeared like they were separated, but there was actually a panel that could be pushed open between them. Theyout was confusing, and the five rooms corresponded to the human body¡¯s five major organs. Chen Ge also found the remnants of mantra scrolls in every bedroom.

    Even though the building style was Japanese, the scrolls had Chinese characters. Most of them were written in ancient Chinese calligraphy, and Chen Ge could only recognize the Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Water, Metal).

    ¡°Five bedrooms, five organs, five elements...¡± The sound of a wind chime tingled in his ears. Chen Ge turned back to look. He was curious about where this sound came from. This was the second time that he had heard this.

    ¡°Has anyone realized that this house appears like a person who is lying on the ground?¡± The police officer had started treating Chen Ge nicely. He followed Chen Ge around loyally; where Chen Ge went, there he would be.

    ¡°A person?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the room that we first entered in is the head. The rooms on the left and right are the arms. The rooms below are the legs. The corridor in the middle is the body, and the altar at the end appears like it¡¯s being stepped on.¡± The police officer¡¯sment inspired Chen Ge.

    ¡°If the whole building corresponds to a person, then the wholeyout is using the energy of a living person to hinder the altar.¡±

    ¡°A person stomping on the power of the altar?¡± A shine zed the police officer¡¯s eyes, and he shouted excitedly, ¡°I get it now! A person literally stepping on the god! That¡¯s why there is a pair of red high heels inside the altar!¡±

    The first part of the analysis was okay, but the second half was all over the ce. Chen Ge wanted to correct the man, but the police officer was too excited to share his discovery with the rest of visitors. Just as the other visitors were discussing this among themselves, Chen Ge stood quietly in the corridor.

    ¡°The theme of this ce is a curse, and a curse can be a reincarnation. Spreading from the malice of the first person, to clear this scenario, we will need to understand what has happened here. I found the camcorder inside the first bedroom. It recorded the history of the seven young people staying overnight at this house. The camcorder did not show the ending of the seven people, but the chance of them surviving is negligible. Those were seven human lives.

    ¡°The second bedroom is filled with a bunch of clothes, and they are all covered in dirt like they had just been picked out from a swamp. Compared to the words mentioned by the owner of the house, his parents died in andslide, and his whole family died in the cave in. So, it would be natural for the clothes on their bodies to be covered in soil. Therefore, the clothes in the second bedroom probably belong to the parents, and the reason behind their car ident may have something to do with the altar as well.¡±

    Chen Ge scratched his chin and slowly sifted through the known information in his mind.

    ¡°Based what the owner of the house said, on the day of their parent¡¯s ident, it was raining heavily. The road to this mountain vige is hard to navigate, and the vigers¡¯ reaction showed thatndslides are amon urrence. Since the owners were local, they should have known about that. If that¡¯s the case, why did they venture out that day?¡±

    The answer was quite clear. Chen Ge turned to look at the altar.

    ¡°They probably opened the altar, and even if they didn¡¯t, they would have discovered something dangerous and been forced to leave! But they did not expect, even after escaping from this house, they still couldn¡¯t escape from the shadow of death. That should be the power of the curse.

    ¡°Thenes the third bedroom. I found a toppled over sacrificial table, and on the table was a ck and white picture of an old man. Strangely enough, the man was facing away from the camera, so his face couldn¡¯t be seen. Other than that, I found many children¡¯s toys in the third bedroom, and they are all hidden under the sacrificial table. The items in that room reminded me of the story told by the man in the camcorder. On the day of the grandfather¡¯s burial, the grandson looked into the altar and mysteriously disappeared. If the grandson also died, then we have another two more dead lives.

    ¡°The simrity across these stories is that someone has probably opened the altar.¡±

    The first three bedrooms had items once belonging to the victims, but starting from the fourth bedroom, things changed.

    ¡°I found traces of a fire in the fourth bedroom. The bedroom walls are heavily charred, and the items are seriously burned. Who lit a fire inside the room? Why would they burn up the bedroom?¡±

    Chen Ge temporarily skipped over the question because he did not get it.

    ¡°The fourth bedroom aside, the fifth bedroom is also very weird. This should be a woman¡¯s room. There is a mirror by the wall, many traditional clothes are in the closet, and there are make-up boxes. The owner should be a young woman, but why would a ck and white picture of an old woman be ced in a corner of the room? The feeling of the fifth room is discrepancy. The strange thing is that the old woman¡¯s picture is facing the room like she is smiling while looking at the stuff inside.

    ¡°The picture of the old man in the third bedroom was taken from the back, but the picture of the old woman was taken from the front¡ªwhy? What has happened to this family?¡±

    Just as Chen Ge was murmuring about that, that child¡¯s voice appeared again. ¡°Losing its wings, a butterfly will be in great pain, so why would they tear out the butterfly¡¯s wings?¡±

    This sudden appearance of the voice startled Chen Ge. ¡°They are probably envious of the butterfly¡¯s beauty. Some ugly people like to ruin things that are more beautiful than them. That way, they hope to feel prettier.¡±

    ¡°Ugly people? But grandma is not ugly...¡± the child mumbled.

    ¡°Grandma? She was the one who tore off the butterfly¡¯s wings?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The child sounded sad.

    ¡°You must be alone here, right? Can I be your friend?¡± Chen Ge tried to keep his voice warm.

    ¡°I have my grandpa, and he doesn¡¯t like it when I run about. He is afraid that grandma might find out about me, so he had me hide in my room.¡± There was an innocence in the child¡¯s voice.

    ¡°So, the scariest person in this house is grandma?¡± Chen Ge slowly lifted his finger. He wanted to confirm something. A chill came from his fingertip. There was something standing next to him, and it was not a projection!

    ¡°Can you bring me to go meet your grandpa?¡± Before the child could answer, he was interrupted by the sound of a wind chime. This was the third time that it had chimed.

    ¡°Grandma is here. I should go back.¡± The boy¡¯s voice dwindled. Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision to look and saw a boy of about five running back into the third bedroom. He was going to chase after him when he felt the wooden floors around the corridor shake. A giant spiderrger than a man crawled out from the room filled with talismans. Screams echoed everywhere. The spider crawled speedily on the ceiling and wall. Her arms were like human limbs, and she had a dried human head.

    ¡°A projection?¡± The monster looked so real that Chen Ge was feeling numb. ¡°No wonder they call this hellish difficulty. This is more than scary; it gives people biological difort.¡±

    The spider seemed to have her eyes on Chen Ge and crawled rapidly toward him. Chen Ge saw this and led the spider to meet up with the other teammates.

 Chapter 965 - They Turned Actual Ghost Stories into Scenarios

    <h4>Chapter 965: They Turned Actual Ghost Stories into Scenarios</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there! Run!¡±

    If it was another projection, Chen Ge would have ignored it, but this spider was too spine-tingling. Even Chen Ge did not want to have any contact with it. When the other visitors saw the spider crawl out from the room, the fear collected before this exploded, and their screams filled the whole scenario. Some had their souls sucked out from them, and they copsed on the ground.

    ¡°Get inside the room. Hide inside the room!¡± Regardless of its effect, Chen Ge ran inside the third bedroom. The police officer and the girl called Xiao Ling followed behind him. ¡°Close the door!¡±

    The door could not be locked, so Chen Ge and the police officer used their bodies to block the entrance. The corridor slowly quieted down. Every visitor had run to hide inside the bedrooms.

    <i>That should be a projection. An actual spider would have made crawling sounds and left marks on the wall.</i>

    Chen Ge signaled for the police officer to guard the door while he walked over to the sacrificial table.

    <i>Earlier, the boy ran inside this room.</i>

    Chen Ge was sure that the boy was no projection; he should be a lingering spirit.

    <i>Lingering spirits have to attach themselves to something. Even in a ce with great Yin energy, they cannot leave that item for too long.</i>

    Bending down, Chen Ge looked at the toys under the table.

    <i>Could he have possessed one of the toys?</i>

    He studied the toys one by one. He ced them in his backpack and then took them out. There was nothing out of ce throughout the process. His inspection was unique but effective. If there was a lingering spirit on the toy, it would be afraid.

    <i>If it¡¯s not the toys, where could he be?</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes moved around until they settled on the picture on the table. The picture frame had been left on the ground earlier. When he entered this room previously, he had reced it on the table. The old man in the picture was turned away from Chen Ge. After looking at it for some time, it would feel like the old man might turn around at any moment.

    <i>Pictures aremon objects for Specters and spirits to possess. The key here is the dead old man depicted in the picture...</i>

    As that thought passed through his mind, a child¡¯s head poked out from behind the old man¡¯s body, but he was quickly pulled back by a pair of old, wiry hands. It happened so fast that he almost thought he imagined it.

    Staring at the picture, Chen Ge narrowed his eyes.

    <i>I think I understand why the picture of the old man was taken in this manner...</i>

    There were two lingering spirits inside this ck and white picture¡ªthe old man and the child. The old man showed his back, but he was actually protecting the child; the child was hiding in his embrace!

    <i>The child opened the altar. To prevent him from being taken by the monster, his grandfather has been protecting him.</i>

    Chen Ge took the picture and walked to the corner of the room. He whispered to the picture, ¡°How did you guys end up inside this Haunted House?¡±

    The story inside the camcorder was created by the centralputer, but the grandfather and his grandson were actual ghosts!

    Even though they were weak spirits and any Red Specters could have vanquished them, their appearance here led to many problems.

    ¡°I have my own guesses, but if you tell me the truth, I am willing to protect you in the future.¡± Chen Ge stared at the picture, but he got no response.

    ¡°What are you looking at? Is there a problem with this picture?¡± Xiao Ling walked over. Earlier, she had wanted to surrender, but she had been stopped by another woman. Currently, she was not in a good condition.

    ¡°It does look weird. Who would take a ck and white picture from the ck?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice returned to normal.

    ¡°This picture doesn¡¯t look like it is a prop made by the Haunted House. It¡¯s one of the old objects the owner salvaged in Eastern Jiujiang.¡± The girl leaned against the wall, and her face was pale. ¡°You¡¯d better put it down. I hear these things will bring misfortune.¡±

    Xiao Ling had been holding her arm. She had already given up; she just wanted to leave.

    ¡°I knew it.¡± Chen Ge looked at Xiao Long. ¡°Why have you been covering your arm?¡±

    ¡°You might not believe me, but when I opened the closet earlier, I saw someone hiding inside, and he dragged me into the secret room.¡± Xiao Ling let go, and Chen Ge saw a faded bloody handprint left on her arm.

    ¡°It should be one of the workers here...¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t an actor, really...¡± Xiao Ling rubbed at her arm like she was traumatized. ¡°None of you saw it, so you won¡¯t believe me! But I am sure that¡¯s not an actor here. He was very scary! Damn it! Why can¡¯t this blood stain be removed?¡±

    Even though her arm was turning red from being rubbed, the bloody handprint remained. If anything, the color had deepened.

    ¡°Don¡¯t waste your time. You can¡¯t remove these things with conventional methods.¡± Chen Ge stared at Xiao Ling. ¡°You seem to know this Haunted House well. Have you visited this ce before?¡±

    Xiao Ling held her arm and looked at the police officer at the door but did not say anything.

    ¡°Perhaps your friend works here, and you have heard something from them?¡± Chen Ge even provided her with an excuse. ¡°My livestream is still blocked, and there are no cameras in this room. No one will know if you tell me anything. Think about it. The only person who can help you now is me.¡±

    Xiao Ling was eventually persuaded by Chen Ge. She held her head. ¡°I told them. I told them this would happen.¡±

    ¡°What would happen?¡±

    ¡°I have a friend who handles the props of this Haunted House. She knows some inside information. When the Haunted House was being built, the upper management had a disagreement. Some of them thought it wasn¡¯t necessary while others thought that the theme park cannot leave any chance for thepetition to grow. In any case, the haunted house was built. And then another disagreement happened. Some thought that it should be enough to use all projections, and there was no need to rely on physical props. The other party insisted on retaining some authenticity, and they found various objects in Eastern Jiujiang that are rted to urban legends.¡±

    ¡°These old objects were gathered before the Haunted House waspleted?¡± Chen Ge felt that something was wrong. This group of people sounded like they had purposely built this Haunted House to store these old objects.

    <i>Could there be a problem with one of the managers of the futuristic theme park?</i>

    Chen Ge had interacted with the shadow in Eastern Jiujiang before. The man was cunning and ruthless. Li Wan City was just one of the ghost fetus¡¯ many projects.

    ¡°Instead of saying that the old objects were used to decorate the Haunted House, it was more like several scenarios were made specifically for these old objects,¡± Xiao Ling said. ¡°The designers generate scenarios through the centralputer, and the scenarios include those old objects. Theputer then works to mesh the objects perfectly with the generated scenario.

    ¡°They have turned actual ghost stories into a scenario and ced the cursed objects from those scenarios into the Haunted House. Sometimes, my friend worked overtime. She often heard strange noisesing from the scenarios at night. She notified the managers many times about this, but the response she got? ¡®Doesn¡¯t that mean we will be able to draw more visitors toe visit?¡¯¡±

    ¡°Cough! Cough!¡± At this most crucial part, the police officer suddenly coughed, and Xiao Ling shut up.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. I have just onest question.¡± Chen Ge looked Xiao Ling in the eye. ¡°In this scenario, what are the old objects that have been taken from Eastern Jiujiang?¡±

    ¡°The two ck and white pictures, the wind chime, and the altar.¡±

 Chapter 966 - The Undulating Curse

    <strong>Chapter 966: The Undting Curse</strong>

    The situation at the futuristic theme park was more serious than Chen Ge had anticipated. He initially thought they had just stuffed some old objects into the Haunted House, but through the conversation, he realized that they did more than that; they made use of the haunted house to provide the old objects with a home. They assimted objects with real spirits into the Haunted House, thus giving the Specters possessing the objects a new chance at ¡®life¡¯. The key difference from Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House was that the Specters possessing these objects were not brought under control, and they were free to attack the visitors. These Specters were shapeless, and after the visitors finished their tours, they would not realize what had happened to them in a short period of time, but the symptoms would appear after some time.

    ¡°You guys are so irresponsible toward your visitors.¡± Chen Ge wanted to meet the leader responsible for the Haunted House. That person had to be hiding something.

    ¡°Xiao Ling¡¯s friend is a bit too sensitive, and that¡¯s why she said something like that. As you know, when someone is under great tension, it¡¯s normal for them to see stuff that¡¯s not there.¡± The police officer was afraid that Chen Ge might have misunderstood.

    ¡°My friend is telling the truth, but no one cares. Everyone knows that there are no ghosts in this world, but the problem is, how can you exin the things that she saw?¡± Xiao Ling argued with the police officer. Chen Ge leaned against the wall and listened with interest.

    Before he arrived, he had known that the futuristic theme park would have their workers act as visitors, but he did not expect the workers to be so unprofessional. Perhapsbining forty hellish scenarios was too much and broke their mental defense, or perhaps the process of building the Haunted House was too, so the basic workers knew about its hidden trapping. In conclusion, many factors had likely led to this situation, where the ¡®visitors¡¯ argued among themselves, and the real visitor became the leader.

    ¡°Stop arguing. We¡¯re here to visit. If you do not wish to give up, we¡¯d better work together.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice sounded particrly sensible at that moment. His presence was like a ray of light, bringing people warmth and reliability. Xiao Ling ignored the police officer and turned her face away.

    ¡°We¡¯re all friends here. There¡¯s no need to get into an argument due to a small misunderstanding.¡± Chen Ge consoled Xiao Ling before cutting to the chase. ¡°Does your friend know the story about the objects here? These objects, especially the altar, where did theye from?¡±

    ¡°They were taken from a vige near the dam at Eastern Jiujiang. It had nice scenery, but the ce was a bit secluded, and the locals were hostile against outsides.¡±

    ¡°When they went to take the objects, did the people in the vige say anything?¡± Chen Ge did not mind the other items, but the altar was the key problem. It was the source of the curse.

    ¡°Not many people were left at the vige, and most of them were aging elders. After my friend exined her reason for being there, they chased her out. Then my friend¡¯s manager gave a young man from the vige two hundred RMB to have the man lead us into the vige in the dead of the night.¡± Xiao Ling remembered many things.

    ¡°The vige wasn¡¯t that big, and many houses were empty. The altar was in the oldest home in the vige, facing away from the sun. It was the biggest home in the vige, and it had been abandoned years ago.¡±

    ¡°The young man that was our guide told us that many bad things had happened there.

    ¡°A few decades ago, the owner of the house married the daughter of a rich family. Even though the daughter was ugly, she came from money, and she had a good life. Then the daughter got pregnant. They hired a maid from outside toe take care of her, but strangely enough, after the maid arrived, she was never seen again. The vigers initially did not think much of this. After all, the husband and wife were kind. The real tragedy came about several weekster when a thief sneaked into the home, but that thief went insane after he got out.

    ¡°No one knew what the thief saw inside the house. The excuse given by the man of the house was that he was too fluttered when he saw the thief. In the moment of panic, he grabbed a wooden staff and hit the man¡¯s head, and that knocked him senseless. It was awless era. The man threw some money around, and people stopped asking question.

    ¡°But that was when the rumors started to fly. Some said that the owner got into an affair with the maid when his wife was pregnant. The wife got so angry after she found out that she murdered the maid and buried her in the yard. Some said the maid was actually the owner¡¯s old me. The wife purposely tricked her into going there because she was envious of the woman¡¯s beauty, and she wanted to swap faces with her.

    ¡°No one knew the truth. A few months after the maid¡¯s disappearance, the wife became half insane. She would be found yelling and scolding the mirrors and walls around midnight. Then the owner hired a travelling priest, and it was that man who built the altar inside the old house.

    ¡°Several yearster, the wife passed away. The owner raised four kids alone and was always kind to the other vigers. The vigers soon forgot about this until the day of the burial for the owner, when his youngest grandson opened the altar out of curiosity. It was a sunny day, but suddenly, winds gathered, and the rain clouds hung low. It didn¡¯t take long for the rain to pour. The burial time had been decided, and it couldn¡¯t be changed, so the family conducted the ceremony in the rain.

    ¡°When the coffin was lifted, the four pallbearers found it impossibly heavy, like there were several dead bodies lying inside. The family didn¡¯t know what to do. In the end, they spent more money to hire four more pallbearers and finished the burial.

    ¡°After they went home, they realized that something was wrong. The old man had turned around in his white and ck picture, and the youngest grandson that he cherished had disappeared. The family searched for days, but they couldn¡¯t find him. There was no body. Later, someone said that the grandson drowned at thekeside.

    ¡°The family was certain that something was off about the house, so they sold it at a low price. They thought that could spare them from the ill fortune, but I heard from my friend that they all had a terrible death.

    ¡°The tragedy did not end after the family moved away. The new family that moved in was flushed into the dam along with their car due to andslide. Only their eldest son who was studying in the city survived it. The eldest son inherited the old house. One summer, he invited his friends there for a holiday. That night, like the old man¡¯s burial, it started to pour. No one knew what happened that night, but all seven that went there for a holiday were never seen again.

    ¡°The old house lost its owner, and the vigers knew to stay away from the ce. My friend and her colleagues were the first to visit it in about five years. You know what happened next. With the young man leading the way, they got some old objects out of the house and used it to create this scenario.¡±

    Xiao Ling¡¯s story was long, but it was chronologically clear, and it helped Chen Ge understand many things.

    The maid was the first to die there. After her death, she cursed the old house and was trapped by the priest inside the altar. The scariest Specter here shouldn¡¯t be the grandmother but the maid. It is her Specter that is possessing the altar!

 Chapter 967 - Sacrificial Teammates

    <strong>Chapter 967: Sacrificial Teammates</strong>

    ¡°Nothing happened for so many years when the old man raised the four children, but once the youngest grandson opened the altar, tragedy struck. Everything that happenedter was also rted to the altar. Once the altar was opened, the people present were struck with misfortune, and there was no escaping the curse.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at the police officer. ¡°When you yed on medium difficulty, none of you opened the altar, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The police officer nodded.

    ¡°Looks like opening the altar is specific for hellish difficulty.¡± Chen Ge waved the police officer and Xiao Ling over.

    ¡°This scenario is unique. There are at least four ghosts here. The kind and innocent grandson, the grandfather who wants to protect his grandson, the envious grandmother, and the scariest maid. The grandmother is trapped inside the room with the talismans, the maid is inside the altar, and the grandson and grandfather are inside the picture. All those are cursed items; touching them will curse you.¡± Chen Ge ced the old man¡¯s ck and white picture inside his backpack. ¡°But if you do not use your hand to touch it, it¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t hear anymotion from outside anymore. Shall we go take a look?¡± The police officer was afraid, and after hearing Xiao Ling¡¯s story, he only got more fidgety.

    ¡°You can leave after youe up with a way to clear the scenario.¡± Chen Ge arranged his thoughts. ¡°This scenario¡¯s themed is curses. The first curse came from the maid. The second came from the grandmother. Her personality is twisted, and her heart is filled with envy and hatred for the maid. After her death, this house gained her curse. Then those innocent people who opened the altar must¡¯ve felt wronged, and that imbnce in the heart would soon have been twisted into a curse. In conclusion, everyone who perished here has left behind hatred and curse, creating this unbreakable cycle.¡±

    ¡°What should we do?¡±

    ¡°Either we solve the curse from its base, or we be part of the curse.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t quite understand what you¡¯re saying.¡± The police officer had no idea what Chen Ge was trying to do.

    ¡°The curse continues to reincarnate due to hatred. Since tragedy has found me, I must ensure that this tragedy finds others to apany me. But if someone is cursed and is kind enough not to spread the curse to the next person, instead turning it into a kind thought, won¡¯t we be able to say that they have ended the cycle of the curse?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s words confused the police officer and Xiao Ling.

    ¡°And your point is?¡±

    ¡°As long as each of us can stand on our ground and not get disturbed by the curse, things should turn better.¡± Chen Ge took out the remnants of the scrolls that he found in the bedroom. The five elements were written on them. ¡°There are five bedrooms, counting the hidden room with the talismans and the living room. This scenario has seven rooms in total, corresponding to seven individuals. The police officer said earlier that theyout is like a person stepping on the altar. I¡¯m thinking, if we stay in separate rooms alone, doesn¡¯t that mean every room is filled with the energy of life? The whole scenario wille to life, and the force of the living will be strong enough to inhibit the curse from the altar.¡±

    The police officer and Xiao Ling thought that Chen Ge was being ridiculous, but for some reason, he seemed to have a point.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that scary when the visitors stay together in the Haunted House, so they will always try to separate them. The designers understand that. When the centralputeres up with this highest difficulty scenario, it will have that in mind. We will follow their wish then. Even though it¡¯s dangerous, it might be the solution to this problem.¡± Chen Ge raised the scrolls that he was holding. ¡°The scrolls should be able to protect us, but that is also where the brilliance of this scenario shines. There are only five scrolls, so there is bound to be an argument among the visitors.¡±

    ¡°The scrolls aside, based on what you said, someone is bound to be in the hidden room alone. Isn¡¯t that a bit unfair to that person?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s more than unfair; it¡¯s cruel.¡± Chen Ge smiled. ¡°So, I suggest the person going into the hidden room can have one more scroll.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t make this decision. We¡¯d better get everyone to discuss this.¡± The police officer pushed open the door a sliver. The big spider had disappeared.

    ¡°Everyone,e out now. We don¡¯t have much time!¡± Chen Ge shouted. ¡°The key timing here is the windchime. When the windchime rings, the scenario will change. When the spider appeared, it was the third time that the windchime rang. When the windchime rings next, the ghost from the altar mighte out.¡±

    Chen Ge and the police officer shared the solution with the rest. Everyone felt it was rather preposterous, but there was no better idea. Staying there and doing nothing would only make things worse.

    ¡°We agree with you, but who is willing to stay inside the talisman room?¡± The man with sses was brave when he was with the rest, but when he was left alone, he too would be afraid. ¡°If you are willing to volunteer, we...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be in that room then.¡± Chen Ge took two scrolls. ¡°I¡¯m here to clear the scenario. I don¡¯t want anyone to hold me back.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still thinking about that?¡± The man shook his head. He felt like Chen Ge was dreaming. ¡°We have no problem with you staying in that room, but you cannot take two scrolls. There¡¯s a limited number of scrolls, and you wish to take two? What about the rest of us?¡±

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll take one.¡± Chen Ge ced the scroll on the ground. Throughout this process, not one ¡®visitor¡¯ argued for his safety. The visitors got their assignment. The police officer would stay in the living room, and the woman with the long hair would stay in the bedroom next to the hidden room. After everyone got into position, the windchime rang again.

    ¡°Xu Yin.¡± Chen Ge stood in the middle of the talisman-filled room. He contacted Xu Yin immediately, but he did not summon Xu Yin to stand beside him. He was waiting for a chance.

    ¡°A Red Specter can move about freely. Where will the maid go?¡± Chen Ge smiled as he talked to himself. ¡°Opening the altar triggers the curse. I¡¯ve helped you separate all who have triggered your curse. Can you resist and not do anything?¡±

    When he first entered this hidden room, Chen Ge realized that there were no cameras, so he did not hold back. Actually, when he found out that the Specter inside the altar could fight against the red high heels, he was determined to find her. A normal Specter was different from a Red Specter. Even if he could not bring her back to the Haunted House, consuming her would highly increase Xu Yin and the headless woman¡¯s power.

    The spider projection brushed past Chen Ge through its fixed trajectory. It crawled out the closet, and a scream came from outside. Then, the scenario returned to normal. Just as the visitors recovered from the visit by the big spider, a scent of blood permeated the air.

    ¡°She¡¯s here!¡±

    Chen Ge grabbed the closet door, and he heard a wailing song sang by a womaning from the corridor.

 Chapter 968 - Moving Forward

    <h4>Chapter 968: Moving Forward</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Standing at the door of the hidden room, Chen Ge focused his ears on the song. The woman¡¯s singing voice was strange, and she was singing some old folk song that had long disappeared from Jiujiang. Through the walls papered with talismans, just listening to her voice, when he closed his eyes, he could practically see green tiles and blue roofs, mantles of various colors like he had been transported to the past. Taking a deep breath, his lungs were filled with a scent that was unique to rouge.

    ¡°She has a surprisingly mellifluous voice. This Red Specter is rather unique.¡± Chen Ge snapped out of it. ¡°My Haunted House still doesn¡¯t have a worker who knows how to sing ssical songs. If she is willing, I can help her.¡±

    The woman¡¯s voice was alluring and she was singing in a local dialect. Chen Ge could only understand some of it and thus had no idea what she was singing about.

    ¡°Which room will you choose? The hidden room is the most dangerous. Will youe here?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s hands tightened, and right then, he heard the door wiggle. The door of the bedroom outside of the hidden room was opened!

    As the door opened, the woman with long hair who sat in the room alone screamed.

    ¡°Xu Yin!¡± Chen Ge pulled open the closet door, and he saw a thin woman wearing a bloody stage costume standing at the bedroom door. Her fingers were pressed on the door, and hatred pooled in her red eyes. Her body leaned against the wall, and the skin exposed through the costume was covered in wounds.

    ¡°Careful!¡± Chen Ge yelled at the woman in the room as he grabbed her by her arm and pulled her behind him. While he blocked her from danger, Chen Ge also blocked her view. Before she could recover from the fear, Xu Yin rushed out from the hidden room and charged at the Red Specter in the costume.

    ¡°The red high heels is hindering the altar, and Xu Yin will be chasing after you. Where are you going to go?¡± Chen Ge nced behind him. After Xu Yin and the Red Specter left, he stood up. He was about to leave when someone grabbed his shirt.

    ¡°Don¡¯t... don¡¯t go. The woman in the stage costume isn¡¯t one of the workers!¡± The woman went through a lot before she could say that. Her hair was disheveled. The woman who had a bad opinion of Chen Ge finally had a change of mind. When she was in danger, the man stood before her, putting himself in danger for her. The businesspetition aside, the man was a morally upstanding man.

    ¡°How do you know she is not a worker here?¡±

    ¡°I...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, perhaps she¡¯s just a projection. After all, this ce is abination of forty hellish scenarios. Any strange projection can appear.¡± Chen Ge pretended not to notice the change in the woman¡¯s room and ran out of the bedroom. The other visitors who heard themotion ran over, but the Red Specter had already disappeared.

    ¡°Where have they gone?¡± Chen Ge was not worried about Xu Yin and red high heels; they could fend off even Top Red Specters, much less a normal one.

    <i>Now I can confirm that there is indeed a Red Specter at this house, but the Specter is in a strange state,pletely different from the other Red Specters I¡¯ve met.</i>

    What was the difference? Chen Ge could not tell. The only thing he could do now was find a way to control that Red Specter.

    ¡°The ghost was inside the altar!¡± the police officer yelled to grab everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°The altar¡¯s door has been opened! The pair of red high heels disappeared too!¡±

    With the police officer¡¯s aid, a beautiful misunderstanding was formed. All the visitors thought that the red high heels were the ghost in the cursed scenario. They did not think of the other possibility.

    ¡°Look! The exit!¡± Xiao Ling pointed behind the altar. The ce was originally sealed by wooden boards. But when the Specter appeared, the boards had been moved away. The chilling wind caressed the group, and a dark path appeared behind the altar.

    ¡°The cursed house has no door. The exit should be hidden behind the altar.¡± The young man scratched his chin and yed with his stubble. ¡°We have not solved the puzzle, but the exit appeared on its own. Could this be a trap?¡±

    ¡°When I visited herest time, this was where the exit was, but when I came in earlier, I gave it a try. The board behind the altar couldn¡¯t be moved. It¡¯s probably because we hadn¡¯t satisfied the conditions then.¡±

    As if afraid that the rest would not believe him, he ran to the altar. ¡°Look, there is a pattern on each board, and they correspond to the hint on the scroll. If we arranged them ording to the scrolls, we should¡¯ve been able to open the hidden door. But I tried that earlier. It wouldn¡¯t work!¡±

    ¡°If you knew the way to leave, why didn¡¯t you share it with us?¡± Chen Ge stared at the police officer. He realized that these people still nned to cheat him. ¡°Looks like you still haven¡¯t experienced the deepest despair, never mind.¡±

    When everyone realized that this was not a game but it was cing their lives on the line, they would listen to Chen Ge and help him. If Chen Ge had note to visit and they continued to work with Red Specters, they would have faced the threat of death every day. Now, Chen Ge was there to help them solve this problem, and in return, they would have to sacrifice something.

    ¡°Come, finding the exit is a good thing. We shall move on then.¡± Chen Ge carried his backpack and ran into the bedroom to quickly stuff the other ck and white picture into his pocket. ¡°I¡¯m missing the windchime. Oh well, I¡¯lle and find it next time.¡±

    What Chen Ge wanted was not the objects but the lingering spirits possessing them. He had theic. With enough time, he could bring all the spirits with him and leave the objects behind. After getting the item, Chen Ge entered the dark path.

    ¡°The puzzle of this scenario hasn¡¯t been solved, but the exit has been revealed just like that. Is it really fine for us to enter it?¡± The guy with the sses looked at the police officer. Honestly, none of them felt like trying another scenario.

    ¡°Finding the exit is a good thing. What? Are you scared?¡± Chen Ge walked ahead alone. As ¡®visitors¡¯, the rest could only follow him. When he saw that everyone had entered the new scenario, Chen Ge showed a satisfied smile. These visitors could provide him with hints. Plus, they were freebor and could help him prove some spection. Most of all, these visitors were all witnesses, and their eyes would help wash Chen Ge off any dirty usations.

    ¡°Even though Xu Yin and the red high heels aren¡¯t here, I still have the stench and the headless woman. I can guarantee my own safe.¡±

    Beyond the cursed house was a long corridor. Without any proper lighting, just using shlight on the phones, they could see several wordless tombstones sitting along the corridor. This appeared to be a mass grave. There was a sign with the name ¡®Public Dormitory¡¯ hanging at the end of the corridor. Behind the old doors, the interior was huge.

    ¡°Is this the new scenario?¡± Chen Ge was the first to arrive, but he stood at the door and did not enter. After everyone entered the dormitory, Chen Ge reached into his backpack to get theic. He silently summoned the stench and had the boy reced the boards that led back to the cursed house. After the boy left, Chen Ge closed the entrance to the dormitory. From that moment onward, the visitors had no way of turning back.

 Chapter 969 - Twelve Zodiac Signs

    <h4>Chapter 969: Twelve Zodiac Signs</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    When the doors snapped shut, every visitor jumped. They all turned to look at Chen Ge.

    ¡°Not closing the door makes me feel like something is going toe in after us. To prevent us from being cornered, this feels better.¡± Chen Ge found a random excuse and turned to the police officer. ¡°Have you been here before?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the dormitory is a safe zone. It¡¯s for the visitors to rx. After the next scenario, the tour will end.¡± Hearing the police officer say that, everyone felt rejuvenated. This nightmare-like visitation was finally over.

    ¡°A safe zone? Meaning this scenario is not scary?¡± Chen Ge rarely saw people build a safe zone inside a haunted house.

    ¡°This scenario does not have ghosts. There are twelve rooms in total, and one room is hiding a murderer. We only need to avoid the murderer and find the hidden path to exit.¡± The police officer did not hide anything. He wanted nothing more than to leave this haunted house.

    ¡°Where was the hidden path when you visitedst time?¡±

    ¡°The location is randomized. Each room has a hidden path, but only one room¡¯s hidden path is not locked. This scenario is luck based. The first room we try might get use the unlocked hidden path, but it might also lead us to a murderer.¡± The police officer opened his arms. ¡°I¡¯ve told you everything I know. If there¡¯s another ident, it¡¯s really not my fault.¡±

    ¡°Medium difficulty has a murder and an unlocked path spread among twelve rooms, but for hellish difficulty, we might have all locked hidden paths and twelve murderers, one in each room.¡± Chen Ge stood at the bar counter and turned to the sses. ¡°Detective, did you get a hint?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I got the message when we entered the scenario.¡± The man showed the message on his wrist band to everyone¡ª¡¯Do not open the doors randomly.¡¯

    ¡°Looks like Chen Ge is not wrong. All twelve rooms might be hiding a murderer, and that¡¯s why the message told us not to open the doors randomly.¡± The police officerughed drily. If that was the truth, the information that he had provided waspletely useless.

    ¡°Shush, keep quiet for a minute.¡± Chen Ge suddenly raised his hand. Using Ghost Ear, he could hear footsteps and a woman¡¯s maddenedughter. The sound was weak, and it came from underground.

    ¡°This dormitory is more than it looks. There might be several floors to it. This ground floor is just the surface. The difficult part is at the basement,¡± Chen Ge said in a low whisper, causing the listeners¡¯ hearts to shiver.

    ¡°How do you know that?¡± the woman with long hair asked. She now had a new appreciation for Chen Ge.

    ¡°A real haunted house seeking the experience of terror will not set up a safe zone. An endless wave of terror is the real aim of the designer.¡± Chen Ge would not tell the visitors that even if the designers intended to have a safe zone, when the scenario was filled with Specters, the safe zone was useless.

    ¡°The police officer¡¯s information is that by opening the door, we will find the exit, but the detective¡¯s hint is to not open any doors. That is very contradictory, so who should we listen to?¡± Chen Ge turned to the youngest man. ¡°Everyone has revealed their upation, except you. We¡¯ve been through so much, yet you still don¡¯t trust us?¡±

    The young man shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not a matter of trust. My ability is key, and it can only be used once.¡±

    Chen Ge did not press. Due to the limited time, the visitors split up to examine the dormitory, and they soon found many strange things.

    The dormitory was thergest scenario that they had encountered. It had three floors, two floors above ground and one below ground. Each floor had six rooms, but the path that led to the basement was locked behind a steel door. There were two staircases at the sides of the lobby. They looked normal, but upon closer inspection, one would see signs of them being banged by blunt objects, and there were nails left on the door and uncleaned blood stains left on the ground.

    Other than that, Chen Ge found many torn pages from detective novels. Red paint was used to highlight the time and the way of death for the characters. Complicated symbols hid in the corners of the rooms like the scrawling of a devil. Even though the scenario was not as professional as Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, it would score quite high; the atmosphere was well built.

    ¡°There is no exit, and the path to leave should be like what the police officer said, hidden in one of the rooms.¡± The visitors gathered together. They were discussing whether to try their luck and open one of the doors while Chen Ge stood to the side and said nothing.

    The police officer noticed this and asked Chen Ge, ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±

    ¡°The clock on the wall has been moving.¡± Chen Ge pointed above the bar counter where an inconspicuous clock hung.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that normal?¡± The police officer was confused.

    ¡°Look closer. The clock is moving backward. When we entered, it was 3 am, but now it¡¯s 2:54 am.¡±

    ¡°A clock that is moving backward? What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°I have no clue.¡± Chen Ge shook his head. ¡°Ignore it for now. Earlier, you said that the hidden path is hidden inside the rooms. To leave, we must open the doors. I¡¯ve paid special attention to the twelve guest room doors and realized that each door has been stabbed with nails to create some small holes.¡±

    ¡°Holes? Is it for us to look through?¡± The visitors naturally moved to gather around Chen Ge.

    ¡°Unlikely. There is anotheryer behind the door, it blocks the interior of the room from view.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone. ¡°The locations of the holes on each door are different. Some looked familiar to me, so I tried to link them together, and I made a surprising discovery.¡±

    ¡°What discovery?¡±

    ¡°The holes represent stars, and connecting the dots forms a celestial sign. The first door is Aries, and the second door is Taurus. These twelve doors correspond to the twelve zodiac signs.¡±

    The visitors listened to Chen Ge¡¯s analysis, and they were shocked. They felt like even though they were in the same ce, they were ying different games.

    1

    ¡°Then... what is the hint behind the zodiac?¡± The police officer was afraid of interrupting Chen Ge, so he only asked in a whisper.

    ¡°That¡¯s the troublesome part. The twelve zodiac signs can represent many things. They can be celestial signs, they can be times, or they can be a code.¡± Chen Ge looked at his phone. ¡°The termes from Greek. The original meaning is zoo, and it¡¯s definitely not humans kept at a zoo. Is it warning us that the tenants inside the rooms are not humans? That would match the message received by the detective.¡±

    Shaking his head, Chen Ge frowned. ¡°I¡¯m not good at puzzle-solving. This scenario stumps me.¡±

    Seeing Chen Ge troubled, the other visitors did not dare to speak.

 Chapter 970 - Time for Doctor Skull Cracker [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 970: Time for Doctor Skull Cracker [2 in 1]</h4>

    2

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Is there anything that we can help with?¡± The police officer looked at the frowning Chen Ge and leaned over with the eagerness. The visitors all depended on Chen Ge to lead them out. The mission that had been given to them by theme park had long been forgotten. After all, in this situation, their own lives were more important than the order from their superiors.

    ¡°The twelve zodiacs could be some kind of code. This scenario does not depend on luck but the ability to think analytically and solve puzzles. As long as we can resolve the mystery of the twelve zodiacs, we should be able to tell which room is safe and which room is hiding the murderer.¡±

    After Chen Ge said that, his tone changed. ¡°Unfortunately, the Haunted House¡¯s centralputer possesses an immense amount of data. The puzzles that it cane up with will be impossible for a single person to solve.¡±

    ¡°So, we still need to depend on luck after all?¡±

    ¡°The information that I can confirm at the moment is very little.¡± Chen Ge showed the group the detective novels that he had found. There were pages on them that contained the information about the time of death and the name of the victim circled in red ink.

    ¡°Assuming that the details on the pages are real, it means that at these specific times, a murder will ur, and the crime scene will be inside this dormitory. Originally, there should¡¯ve been nothing to be afraid of regarding murders that have already urred in the past, but as I pointed out earlier, the clock on the wall is moving backward, so there is a high chance that the murders will be reconstructed inside the dormitory.¡± Chen Ge raised one finger. ¡°This is a new cycle of reincarnation. The reversing time is like a de that dangles over our heads. The murders that have already happened are a kind of advance notice, warning about our imminent deaths.¡±

    Opening his arms, Chen Ge ced the pages on the bar counter. ¡°There are seven pages that I have found, and there are seven of us. Each of us possibly corresponds to one time of death. When the time arrives, the executor will appear, and that person will die.¡±

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s analysis, the few visitors started to panic.

    ¡°When we arrived, it was 3 am. It is now 2:52 am. Thetest murder recorded by the pages happens at 2.50 am, and the cause of death is being cut into pieces by a saw.¡± Chen Ge put the pages away. ¡°Now, we have two options. First, we will kill off one of our teammates ourselves, so only six people remain. That way, the executioner of the seventh person will not appear.¡±

    ¡°How could you even possiblye up with an idea like that?¡± The man with the sses was obviously not happy with this suggestion.

    ¡°The other option is for all of you to listen to my orders.¡± Chen Ge did not give the other visitors any time to think as he put away the seven pages. ¡°There is one more minute left to 2.52 am. Time is literally ticking away. Other than the guest rooms, there are no ces in this dormitory that we are able to hide in. Therefore, our only choice is to pick a room to hide in.

    ¡°Now, I need all of you to move to the staircase on the left, and I will open the first door from the staircase on the right. After I open the door, only two things can happen. If there is a murderer inside it, I will run over to meet up with you. If we maintain a safe distance from the murderer, he won¡¯t be able to do anything to us.

    ¡°Assuming that there is no murderer inside the door, you will all run over to me, and we will hide inside the room and wait for the first time of execution to blow over before we decide what to do next.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I agree.¡± The man with the sses and the young man both agreed easily. After all, Chen Ge had volunteered to take on all the risk, and he would be the closest to the danger, so they had no reason to say no. With limited time, both parties started to move. The six visitors stood at the left stairwell, watching Chen Ge as he opened the door by the right stairwell alone.

    2

    ¡°There¡¯s no one?¡± Chen Ge waved at the group, and all the visitors ran over to him. When all of them entered the guest room, a door opening suddenly sounded in the quiet corridor.

    ¡°The murderer has appeared!¡± All six visitors held their breath, and only Chen Ge walked to the door. With his Ghost Ear, he could tell which door was open, and from that, he could confirm the room where the murderer was hiding. As if trying to scare the visitors, a string of heavy footsteps and the sound of a electric saw slowly approached from the end of the corridor. The murderer did not seem to know where the visitors were hiding. He wandered aimlessly around the dormitory before the sound disappeared into one of the guest rooms.

    <i>He did not return to his own room?</i>

    When the door mmed shut, the visitors all sighed in relief, but Chen Ge thought that this was weird.

    <i>Could the police officer be right? This scenario is just a trial of luck? Whenever the murderer opens the door, the thing to check is whether the visitors have found the unlocked hidden path? No, that¡¯s impossible. A hellish scenario should not be that simple.</i>

    Chen Ge studied the room they were in. There were many things lying inside the room. There was a mannequin of a dead body that was missing a limb. The floor underneath the body could be moved, but it was sealed by arge lock. The table next to the path was syed with poker cards, and each of the cards had English words written on them. This looked like a puzzle. Inside the table¡¯s wooden drawer, there was a document, a will.

    Upon opening it, they found that the will only had one sentence¡ª¡¯If I die, it is definitely not from suicide.¡¯

    The room was not that big, but it had been turned into an actual puzzle.

    ¡°Do we need to stay here to find out the truth?¡± The police officer looked at things inside the room and had a feeling that everything had to do with solving the puzzle.

    ¡°Looking for the truth is the job of the police officer; I am just a volunteer worker.¡± Chen Ge looked at the time. This scenario needed to do a lot of puzzle-solving, and that would exhaust plenty of time. However, he did not n to waste any more time. This visitation indeed made him learn many things, and it gave him a glimpse into the true power of the futuristic theme park. They were validpetition because they did such a good job in a territory that they were not supposed to be that familiar with. Only by admitting that and facing thepetition head on would he have the chance to ovee thepetition. That was one good thing about Chen Ge¡ªhe would never underestimate his opponent.

    ¡°The time for rxation is over. It¡¯s time to get working.¡±

    The few visitors did not notice the change in Chen Ge. They still followed naturally behind him.

    ¡°This room has already been confirmed as safe, so we can go and open another door. We will repeat what we did earlier.¡± Chen Ge had all the visitors run to the corridor on the left while he stayed on the right side of the corridor. After everyone assumed their position, he reached into his backpack to flip through theic.

    ¡°Finally, there is no more need to hide.¡± The reason Chen Ge had directed all the visitors to the left right was because the stairwell on the right side was closest to the dormitory door, and the visitors who were cornered at the left side staircase would not be able to see what was happening there. This meant that Chen Ge was able to gesture freely with the Stench Red Specter in the other visitors¡¯ blind spot. ¡°The way out of here has been sealed. It is time for him to feel the real sting of despair.¡±

    The door of the dormitory was pulled open, and Chen Ge nodded at the boy with the Stench with a smile. A stinging stench permeated the air, and everyone could hear the sound of ¡®water¡¯ dripping on the ground. It was the sound of blood dropping against the door, leaving behind a horrifying and shocking trail. The stench did not hold back and unleashed the horrible air that surrounded him. Soon, the rest of the visitors noticed that something was out of ce. They all turned to look at the bar counter.

    Several secondster, a fat monster wearing a bloody clothes crawled out from behind the counter!

    ¡°What... what is that?¡± With the scream from Xiao Ling, every visitor¡¯s heart jumped to their throat.

    ¡°Chen Ge! Behind you! Look behind you!¡±

    Chen Ge, who just walked out from the visitors¡¯ blind spot, lifted his head and saw the monster. His face paled, and he gritted his teeth and started to run.

    ¡°Run!¡± His legs carried him away very quickly, but he was still caught by the monster behind him. Without anywhere else to run, he made the decision to push open one of the rooms and run into it before the eyes of the other visitors. Something even more startling happened then. The scary monster followed Chen Ge and entered the room. Two harrowing screams then came out from the room! One was made by Chen Ge, and the other belonged to a stranger.

    Before the visitors understood what had happened, the scary monster charged out from the room. He looked around, spotted the visitors, and went after them!

    ¡°What is this? What is going on!¡± The visitors split up in panic, and no one noticed that the door that Chen Ge had run into earlier had slowly been closed from the inside.

    ¡°Things went far more sessful than I thought.¡± Chen Ge looked at the actor that yed the ¡®murderer¡¯ who had fainted on the ground, and a childish smile appeared on his face. He had memorized the room that the murderer had retreated into and led the boy with the stench into the it. The actor who wanted to scare Chen Ge had been so excited when he heard the doorknob being jiggled. He had rushed over to stand behind the door with excitement. But before he could assume his position, he had seen the Red Specter following behind Chen Ge.

    The heart chilling scream was made by this poor actor. To trick the other visitors, Chen Ge also screamed once to show solidarity with the poor actor. The two copsed after the scream, but the ¡®murderer¡¯ really was knocked unconscious. While he was supposed to be ¡®unconscious¡¯, Chen Ge was studying the room. After ensuring that there were no surveince cameras, he stood up and went to close the door.

    ¡°The security cameras at the futuristic theme park are so numerous like they are free. I don¡¯t have the freedom to do anything, but now, things will change.¡± Chen Ge removed his jacket and took out theic from the backpack. He then removed the actor¡¯s jacket, hoodie, and so on and put them on himself.

    ¡°Let me show you how to y a real murderer.¡±

    1

    Putting away theic and recorder, Chen Ge covered the fainted actor with his own jacket and then ced his empty backpack next to the actor. He then removed his wrist band and strapped it around the actor¡¯s wrist. After all the preparation was done, Chen Ge picked up the electric saw and kicked the door open.

    His eyes scanned the surveince cameras in the corner. Chen Ge stood under the camera holding the electric saw. ¡°After the visitors realize that their exit has been cut off, they might select to give up, so I need to move fast.¡±

    The saw sliced against the wall. This saw had been specifically modified. It was twice asrge as a normal saw, and thus, it was very heavy. The sound that it made when it was running was very loud, but the chains had been dulled, probably for the visitors¡¯ safety. The jacket covered with blood hid Chen Ge¡¯s body, and the hoodie made from metal and bones shrouded his head. From the outside, others could only see a pair of dull, icy eyes.

    ¡°The visitors have been split up after being chased by the stench. I hinted at them earlier that the first room that I opened is safe. I wonder if some lucky visitor has chosen to hide in there?¡± The metal bounced against the wall. The emotionless eyes scanned the small room. The dead body that was missing an arm was hanging above the hidden path. Poker cards littered the room. The will had been trampled on, but there was no one in the room. Chen Ge switched on the recording function on his phone and started to walk out.

    When he walked to the door, he closed the door loudly before sneaking back to the side of the closet. Holding his breath, he raised the saw above his head. Several secondster, a woman¡¯s voice came from inside the closet.

    ¡°Has he left?¡±

    ¡°I think so. Let me go take a look. This space is too small to fit two people.¡±

    Creak...

    The doors of the closet slowly opened, and the shadow loomed over them. The screeching sound of saw boomed above their heads, and a pair of cold eyes stared at his prey.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Xiao Ling shrank back out of instinct, and her body knocked into the table and chair.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you!¡± the other woman inside the closet screamed out loud. Then she heard the closet being rammed into by a heavy object. Unable to grab a purchase, she fell to the ground. She did not expect the murderer to be waiting for them outside the closet. Her eyes were filled with terror.

 Chapter 971 - Heâ€™s Moving Too Fast

    <h4>Chapter 971: He¡¯s Moving Too Fast</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    But in a few seconds, some calmness returned to her eyes. ¡°We¡¯re allies! We¡¯re all workers here! I am Lee Li, and she is Zhang Ling. You must not have received the notice, right? Both of us followed a visitor to enter this ce! This is my worker...¡±

    The slender hand raised the worker ID shakenly. Then the worker ID was yanked away by brute force. The heavy electric saw smashed into the closet. The woman¡¯s face that was assaulted by the spray of wooden chips was slowly twisted by fear and terror.

    ¡°Die!¡± The voice of death came out from the hood made from bone and metal. There were no human emotions in the eyes; they were the eyes of death!

    Yin Yang Vision!

    Screams echoed through the room. The heavy saw waved above her head. Xiao Ling, who could not suffer anymore, used thest of her strength to run out from the room.

    ¡°Zhang Ling!¡± The despairing voice was piercing. Lee Li, who had been abandoned, slid to the ground. She lost the energy to even stand up on her own.

    ¡°We... we are your colleagues. Other than that Chen Ge, we are all colleagues here. I¡¯m telling you the truth!¡± Lee Li was still screaming. The sound of blood dripping suddenly filled the room. A thick scent of blood closed around Lee Li¡¯s neck like a pair of invisible hands. Blood dripped out from behind Chen Ge. He held the saw with one hand, and his other hand reached behind him to grab a handful of ck hair.

    ¡°You...¡±

    When Chen Ge¡¯s hand pulled back, there was a woman¡¯s skull sitting prettily in his palm!

    The blood dripped, the eyes were round, and they stared resentfully at Lee Li!

    Chen Ge tossed the head right next to Lee Li. She could clearly see that the mouth on the woman¡¯s head was still moving!

    ¡°This is not supposed to happen! This is not supposed to happen!¡±

    Her body convulsed, and Lee Li found that she had lost her voice. Her pupils rolled back in her eyes, and she finally copsed to the ground. Chen Ge ended the recording on his phone. He picked up the head of the headless woman and rubbed the saw against his jacket. Holding the headless woman¡¯s head in one hand and the electric saw in the other, he walked out of the room with heavy steps.

    Everyone in the dormitory heard Lee Li¡¯s horrifying scream. Other than the ¡®visitors¡¯ who were being chased by the stench, the rest was keeping watch over the situation. They desperately wanted to know what had happened inside the room. The scream soon stopped. When Chen Ge walked out from the room, everyone had an answer in their heart. Holding the head in his arm, with blood on the saw, it seemed that the man had really lost his mind!

    ¡°Of the six of you, none of you will escape!¡±

    Chen Ge turned to look down the other side of the corridor. The youngest man was dragging Xiao Ling, who was unable to walk on her own, down the stairs. The man with the sses was with them as well. When Xiao Ling saw Chen Ge walk out of the room with a bloody female head, her mind broke. She thought about hundred possibilities, but there was one that she did not even dare to attempt to think about.

    <i>The Haunted House designer can observe the situation inside the scenario through the cameras. Even if they aren¡¯t watching this, the employees will have immediately asked them for help. Unfortunately, I already had the stench seal up the way back, so if they do not wish to ¡®die¡¯, the only way left is to continue forward.</i>

    <i>Thebination of the scenario is done through the centralputer, but there should be a way for the human designer to intervene somehow. They will open a way for the employees to pass, for them to save themselves. That way, I will be able to follow them as well.</i>

    Chen Ge looked at the camera.

    <i>I am now one of your employees, and my ghosts are the ghosts that possess the old objects that your futuristic theme park has brought from Eastern Jiujiang. Are you ready to face the consequences of your actions?</i>

    Even if they gave the visitors a running start, even if he was dragging the heavy electric saw, Chen Ge was confident that he would be able to catch up to them. His confidence in his physique came from the many Trial Missions that had been given to him by the ck phone.

    2

    Chen Ge picked up his pace. The saw dragged against the wall, and Chen Ge started to sprint. The closing terror squeezed the hearts of those being chased. The man with the sses dropped Xiao Ling¡¯s hand without any hesitation and chose to run away on his own. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, the young man decided to do that same. He dropped Xiao Ling on the ground and went after the man with the sses.

    ¡°This is so unfortunate.¡± Chen Ge slowly approached Xiao Ling. The heavy scent of blood fuzzed up Xiao Ling¡¯s mind. Her vision blurred before her focus ended on the face of the woman¡¯s head in Chen Ge¡¯s embrace.

    ¡°This... this is not real...¡±

    Once Xiao Ling¡¯s eyes closed, Chen Ge turned to chase after the young man and the man with the sses. The door to his side suddenly opened. A monster with a butcher¡¯s mask and his body covered in fake wounds stood at the door waving a cleaver. ¡°Scream at the top of your lungs! Struggle as much as you want! The taste of organs filled with fear is the most delicious!¡±

    Before he finished his line, he saw Chen Ge with the saw and Xiao Ling who had already fainted.

    ¡°Brother Yi? Why are you still here? It¡¯s already 2:40 am. It¡¯s my turn now.¡± The butcher¡¯s eyes finally saw the blood on the saw and the decapitated head. He was frozen for several seconds before he silently closed the door. ¡°You seem busy. Perhaps my watch is a few minutes fast.¡±

    Bang!

    The room door was kicked down, and the saw howled. The stinging scent of blood rushed into the room!

    ¡°What are you doing? Help!¡±

 Chapter 972 - Who Are You?

    <h4>Chapter 972: Who Are You?</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Dragging therge saw, Chen Ge slowly walked out from the room that had gone quiet. Blood slid down the chain, and the pair of lifeless eyes looked at the ground floor. The young man took out a ring of keys from his pocket. He grabbed the man with the sses, and they ran toward the steel door that headed underground.

    <i>Why would have the key? Is it due to his upation? No, the man is cheating. He probably has both the key and the things. No wonder he was able to maintain his calm no matter what.</i>

    From the start, the young man was different from the other ¡®visitors¡¯. He had probably been given a special task by the manager to disturb Chen Ge at crucial moments. The six visitors each had their own job. The futuristic theme park had it well nned, but they did not expect there to be a visitor like Chen Ge. They had made the most basic mistake. Chen Ge went down the stairs, and the stench was returning from the entrance. The police officer and the woman with the long hair had been scared senseless. The two of them ran out of the dormitory and nned to retrace their steps, but their way back was blocked. They screamed for help, but there was no answer. Finally, they fainted next to the wordless tombstone in the corridor.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go chase after the two of them, and you¡¯ll stay here to watch my back. There should be other actors in this scenario. Try to make them faint as well.¡± The door to the basement had been opened. The man with the sses and the youngest man ran into the door. ¡°The way out is indeed hidden underground.¡±

    When he entered the scenario, Chen Ge had guessed that the hidden paths on the surface were probably a distraction. Even if they found the key, they would not have escaped. To exit this scenario, one had to find the key that led underground.

    Since the door was pushed open, the scenario presented the visitors with multiple options. The right option would move the plot forward, and the wrong option would kill them. The twelve zodiacs had anotheryer of meaning. He was a murderer whose name had not been exposed. This scenario¡¯s theme was puzzle-solving and murders. If the visitors thought that the murderers were just the ones hiding inside the rooms, they would be heavily mistaken. The real killer in this scenario was the clock. The murders that had already happened could not be undone, so time was the true hidden killer. If Chen Ge was not in a hurry to leave, he would have experienced this nicely and try to solve all the puzzles in the room, but he did not have time. A normal visitor would at most visit three to four scenarios at the same time, but Chen Ge had meshed forty scenarios together. To clear so many scenarios in the limited time, he would have to ze a path that others had not attempted before.

    ¡°Run for your life. I will stay closely behind you.¡± The saw roared. Chen Ge hugged the human head, dragging the saw while charging full speed ahead. The two floors aboveground were guest rooms, but the basement was a prison, and they were imprisoning several sets of skeletons.

    ¡°He¡¯sing!¡± the man with the sses screamed, and he broke out in cold sweat. He and the youngest man stood at the deepest part of the prison. They were trying to open one of the cells.

    ¡°Quick! He¡¯sing! Soon!¡±

    ¡°I know! Don¡¯t rush me! Don¡¯t f*cking rush me!¡± The youngest man grabbed the keys with both hands, but his arms were shaking. The more he was urged, the more difficult it was for him to find the right key. The scent of blood snuck into their nostrils, and screams crawled into their air. It symbolized the slowly approaching footsteps of death.

    ¡°It¡¯s not this one! Not this one!¡± The man grabbed the keys and stuffed them into the keyhole. His eyes were bloodshot.

    The modified saw ground against the cell bars. The clinging of metal sounded like the howling of fate. Chen Ge slowed down, and his icy gaze stared out from the metal and bone hoodie.

    Crack!

    ¡°It¡¯s open!¡± the man screamed with excitement. He grabbed the man with the sses and ran into thest cell.

    The door mmed against the wall. The door was grabbed by a hand. Chen Ge looked into the cell. Behind a closet was a staircase that led upward. ¡°Not bad, but you¡¯re still too slow that I have to wait for you.¡±

    Chen Ge held the saw and continued his chase. The stairs led to a changing room. The rows of lockers were covered in fresh, bloody handprints.

    ¡°A public bathhouse?¡± Before he continued to move forward, he heard the lockers jiggle as if something inside was trying to get out. The strange noise was getting louder and louder, covering Chen Ge¡¯s footsteps. Just as Chen Ge was about to move forward, a locker next to him suddenly opened, and a human arm fell out. ¡°A prop?¡±

    To not lose the visitors, Chen Ge ignored it. After running out from the changing room, Chen Ge saw a barber who was shaving a person¡¯s head. The man was facing away from the Chen Ge, and from the mirror ced before him, one could see the appearance of the barber and the customer he was surfacing.

    Looking from the mirror, the barber seemed to be yed by a real worker, but Chen Ge soon noticed something wrong. When a normal visitor walked in, it would be fine for the barber to maintain his serenity. However, he was wearing the costume of a serial killer, yet he barber¡¯s tone and expression had not changed. That was strange.

    ¡°Customer, are you here to shave your head? It¡¯ll be your turn soon. Please sit over there and wait for a while.¡±

    In the mirror, the barber was focused on shaving his customer¡¯s head, but in reality, the barber¡¯s hands and shoulders had not moved. He kept his head lowered, and it was unclear what he was doing. Chen Ge was toozy to respond. He just wanted to chase after his prey.

    Holding the saw, Chen Ge walked toward the barber. The exit from the male bathhouse was next to the barber. But hearing his footsteps, the barber who was facing away from Chen Ge spoke again. ¡°My dear customer, please don¡¯t be impatient. I will be done with this customer soon.¡±

    Chen Gepletely ignored the man. Just as he was about to reach the exit, the barber suddenly reached out to grab Chen Ge. His tone turned angered and indignant with a trace of madness. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you to wait? Didn¡¯t I tell you exactly that? I was shaving his head!¡±

    The barber whipped his body around. His palms were covered in blood, and he was holding the male customer¡¯s decapitated head in his hands!

    The barber¡¯s face was covered in wounds made from razors, and his expression was eerie. He reached his hands that held the human head before Chen Ge¡¯s face.

    His fingertips touched the mask made from metal and bone. The head in his palm got knocked out of his grasp. The chilling sense of touch confused the barber. He was too deep in his role to realize what was happening. He continued to use a scary expression to look at Chen Ge in the murderer¡¯s costume.

    ¡°Who are...¡±

    The scent of blood rushed out from behind Chen Ge. He slowly bent down and picked up the rolling customer¡¯s head and then stuffed it inside the barber¡¯s arms.

    ¡°Did you drop this man¡¯s head?¡± The chilling voice came from under the mask as the pair of deadly eyes stared closely at the barber. ¡°Or this woman¡¯s head?¡±

 Chapter 973 - The Extreme Experience

    <h4>Chapter 973: The Extreme Experience</h4>

    ¡°Wo... woman¡¯s head?¡± The barber felt a chill climb up his spine and enter his brain. He turned to look next to him, and there was a bleeding woman¡¯s head lying next to him. Her eyes were open, and the bloody lips were moving like she wasughing!

    ¡°Ah!¡± The barber knocked into the fake costumer. The chair slipped, and he knocked against the table. The installed device appeared to be knocked out of the ce, and the projection on the mirror disappeared. It was unclear whether it was from the pain or shock, but the barber fainted just like that.

    ¡°They need a better training. The futuristic theme park relies too much on technology, so they ignored the training of their workers. These workers were probably working somewhere else but were temporarily moved here for my visit.¡±

    Not everyone had the quality to be a Haunted House worker. There was a big difference between an old worker and a newbie, like their ability to handle sudden emergencies. Chen Ge walked out from the male bathhouse. There were two routes outside. One led to the female bathhouse, and the other led to the bathhouse exit.

    ¡°There are footprints that led to both the exit and the female bathhouse. Have the two learned how to trick people?¡± After some close observation, Chen Ge noticed something through the direction of the footprints. ¡°They first went to the exit, but they seemed to realize that the exit was locked, so they turned back to the female bathhouse. But if the young man is a cheater and has the keys to all the scenario, why can¡¯t he just leave this ce?¡±

    Chen Ge was reminded of what the police officer had said earlier. The dormitory was a safe zone, and clearing another scenario would lead them out of the Haunted House.

    ¡°The police officer was describing the scenario if this was a medium difficulty tour, but I am challenging a tour that is abination of forty hellish difficulty scenarios. In other words, perhaps there is no way out from the beginning!¡± Chen Ge had too little information on his hands. He had no idea how the centralputer operated and had no idea howbining the forty scenarios would affect the centralputer.

    ¡°But if there is no exit, that would be perfect.¡± Chen Ge dragged the electric saw and entered the female bathhouse. There were blood and water stains left on the ground. The footprints of the man with the sses and the young man could be spotted easily. ¡°Where could they have hidden themselves?¡±

    The bathhouse looked dpidated. Each shower was surrounded by wooden panels, forming individual cubicles. Pushing open the first cubicle, Chen Ge saw that the stained walls were covered in vicious curse words. He was not interested in that. He opened all the other cubicles close to him. When he reached the middle of the bathhouse, he heard the sound of running water like someone was showering. Soon after the water sound appeared, a woman¡¯s voice came from the cubicle in the corner.

    ¡°Is someone there?¡± The woman¡¯s voice was mellifluous. Between the softness, there was a trace of fear and pity. Just from her voice, one could imagine a poor little thing who needed help from a big strong man. Dragging the electric saw, Chen Ge pushed the cubicle doors open one by one. He did not see the man in the sses and the other man anywhere.

    ¡°Can you lend me a hand?¡±

    After opening a few more cubicles, Chen Ge only had four cubicles left that were unopened. The woman was inside one of the four cubicles.

    ¡°If the man with the sses came here, he would have informed the other employees about me. The barber and the woman in the cubicle should have escaped and wouldn¡¯t wait here to scare the supposed ¡®visitors¡¯.¡± Chen Ge prepared to leave, but something changed his mind. ¡°One shouldn¡¯t underestimate the ugliness of human nature. There¡¯s a possibility those two b*stards purposely hid information about me from their colleagues and nned to use their colleagues to slow me down.¡±

    For the safe of security, Chen Ge walked to the cubicle. Hearing the approaching footsteps, the woman began again. ¡°Can you lend me some shampoo? I appeared to have forgotten to bring mine.¡±

    The woman¡¯s voice was pitiable, and that made it hard to deny her request.

    ¡°You want to borrow something?¡± Chen Ge was reminded of an urban legend rted to a bathroom. A woman was killed inside a bathhouse, and her body was dismembered inside it. Later, whenever the bathhouse wanted to close for business at night, there would be a woman¡¯s voice. Initially, she would ask to borrow shampoo, a towel, and then the body parts that she had lost.

    ¡°My hair is dirty. I have been washing it for a long time, but it refuses to get clean.¡± A gap was pushed open through the cubicle door. A fair and slender arm reached out from the cubicle. Her fingersnded lightly on the door. They slid down slowly, the supple fingers caressing the rough wooden surface. ¡°My clothes are hanging outside. I can¡¯t reach them myself. Can you please help me?¡±

    ¡°Of course I can help you, but I don¡¯t think your hair will ever be clean again. How about I lend you a new head. That way, you won¡¯t need to worry anymore.¡± When the woman pulled her hand back, Chen Ge tossed the headless woman¡¯s head over the top of the cubicle and then stood waiting, leaning against the cubicle door.

    A scream came out from inside the cubicle. The door behind him shook violently, but Chen Ge was thinking about something else.

    The men¡¯s footprints appeared inside the bathroom and walked through both the male and female bathhouses before they disappeared in this female bathhouse, so the exit must be somewhere around here. They didn¡¯t even notify their other colleagues about me. Perhaps they were in such a hurry to escape that they forgot about it, or they did it on purpose.

    With a cautious mind, sharp senses, a superior physique, and an appreciation for detail, the killer that Chen Ge yed would bring an indescribable sense of pressure to the ¡®visitors¡¯.

    ¡°You won¡¯t be able to escape.¡±

    Themotion inside the cubicle quieted down. Chen Ge opened the door and picked up the headless woman¡¯s head. He took a nce at the female actor whoy in a pool of fake limbs.

    ¡°Even though my livestream has been banned several times, but none of those time have been rted to the fact that I have any remotely sexual content. This is a good haunted house. I hope you guys won¡¯t go down the wrong path.¡±

    Chen Ge went to the cubicle where the man with the sses and the young man had disappeared. The showerhead dropped to the ground, and curses were written on the wooden walls. The ink for some of the words was heavier than others, and they were all rted to human anatomy.

    Knocking on the wooden wall of the cubicle, Chen Ge realized that the wooden boards with the heavier ink could be moved, and the wooden wall of the cubicle was pieced together. With some moving around, a gap could be formed in the middle, just like the wooden wall inside the cursed Japanese house.

    ¡°The clue to solve the puzzle should be inside the scenario.¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes and looked around. An answer rose in his heart. ¡°There is no security camera installed here.¡±

    Bang!

    The saw knocked through the wall. Chen Ge hugged the headless woman¡¯s head and looked down the dark hospital corridor that showed up behind the wall.

    ¡°A new scenario?¡± His gaze scanned the many sickrooms that lined the walls before theynded on the man with the sses and the young man huddled at the other end of the corridor who were nning to make a call.

    ¡°Found you!¡± Even though Chen Ge¡¯s mind was quick, his senses were sharp, and he had absolute attention to the smallest detail, he personally hated taking on more trouble than was necessary. The saw howled, and Chen Ge charged forward at full speed!

    Hearing the sound, the man with the sses and the young man knew that something was wrong. As both of they turned around, they happened to meet Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. The sense of helplessness and despair swamped their bodies. The two continued to run with tears practically streaming out of their eyes. The young man had the ring of keys, and the two were forced to run into the next scenario. With the two leading the way, Chen Ge experienced the surgery room at midnight, the sickroom of Patient Zero, Minghun, Death Library, and a few other scenarios.

    When they came to a scenario that looked like an old mansion, Chen Ge went to chase after the two visitors who were at the verge of a breakdown, but he stopped to slowly assess his surroundings. From the surface, this scenario looked much more normal than the other scenarios, but Chen Ge heard Xu Yin¡¯s voice here.

    ¡°The Red Specter with the stage costume has escaped here?¡±

    There were no decorations at the old mansion. It appeared as if they had moved the entire mansion from the wilderness into the Haunted house.

    After the man with the sses and the young man tripped and crawled their way into the mansion, Chen Ge moved to follow them.

    ¡°The other scenarios were made from wooden boards and other modern materials. Only this scenario uses actual materials.¡± Chen Gemunicated with the headless woman and carefully followed behind the two ¡®visitors¡¯.

 Chapter 974 - What Zhang Ya Wants

    <h4>Chapter 974: What Zhang Ya Wants</h4>

    4

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The mansion was rather old, and the floor was tiled with mottled stones. The walls were stacked with green bricks, and yellow talismans were stuffed between the bricks. The mansion looked normal, nothing special about it, but it gave off an ufortable feeling, probably due to the talismans.

    As Chen Ge pushed open the red door. A thick moldy stench drifted out from within, and yellowed paper money littered the ground. A white calligraphed character ¡®fortune¡¯ was pasted onto the pir inverted, and tons of paper dolls were dangling from the ceiling. As he walked further into the lobby, there was arge bronze mirror ced in the middle of the hall. Ritualistic characters were written on the surface of the mirror, and before the mirror were the decapitated heads of a cow, goat, and pig and a bronze ritual bowl with three snapped joss sticks.

    ¡°Are those animal heads real?¡± Before he got close, Chen Ge could smell the decaying smell from the sacrificial heads. However, the theme park did not seem like they nned to rece them. ¡°I¡¯m surprised the theme park would have such a traditional scenario.¡±

    Avoiding the bronze mirror, Chen Ge looked around. There were twenty-four scrolls of evil Specters hanging on the wall of the hall. In every painting, the Specter was missing a body part. Some was missing eyes, others legs.

    ¡°Why are all the Specters handicapped? Are they afraid that if the painting ispleted, the Specter wille out from the scroll?¡± The scrolls looked quite ancient and not duplicated. Chen Ge walked up to the scrolls, and the more he studied them, the more familiar they felt. ¡°They look familiar to the devil that Doctor Gao carved on the door in my haunted house. When Chang Wenyu wanted to destroy the door of the School of the Afterlife, a simr picture to these Specters was seared on her back. But the difference is, both Chang Wenyu and Doctor Gao were working with the real deal, but the Specters here are all missing something. Their soul is notplete.¡±

    1

    Holding up the headless woman¡¯s head, Chen Ge asked if she could sense something from the scrolls. She looked at them for a long time and even used her blood vessels to touch them but did not find anything strange.

    ¡°The whole mansion is permeating with this ufortable feeling. I cannot recognize many of the ritualistic characters, but I do not think that they are meant to pray for blessings or safety.¡± Chen Ge wanted to study things further, but the sound of things falling came from the side hall. Holding the saw, Chen Ge pushed open the door. There were blood stains on the ground, causing the dyed paper money to stick to the ground. Once he entered the room, Chen Ge felt overwhelmed by difort, like something had enveloped his body, causing him to have difficulty breathing.

    <i>Something¡¯s not right.</i>

    He did not continue to move forward but stood at the door. It did not take long for him to hear the voice of the man with the sses. ¡°Move faster. That man might be here soon.¡±

    ¡°I know, but I don¡¯t think I have the key to this door.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you can open all the doors inside the haunted house?¡± the man with the sses asked urgently, but he did not dare raise his voice.

    ¡°Before we came in here, I memorized all the guides to the scenarios, but I have no memory of this scenario at all! Really, I regret ever stepping in here. I have no recollection of this scenario at all.¡± The young man¡¯s voice was quivering.

    ¡°There is no record of this scenario on theputer?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you keep telling me to open the door, but I don¡¯t even have the corresponding key, so how do I do that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible! Could the information be mistaken?¡±

    ¡°The document was given to me the day before Bai Buhui went to visit Western Jiujiang Haunted House. Do you think there¡¯d be a problem?¡±

    ¡°With Manager Bai¡¯s cautious nature, there shouldn¡¯t be a problem,¡± the man with the sses said. ¡°What do you think went wrong?¡±

    ¡°When our haunted house was first built, part of the scenario was handled by Qing Ming and Director Jiang Jiu. Perhaps they added this scenario without telling the rest,¡± the young man said. ¡°That director Jiang Jiu has always been a mysterious character. He probably knew that our haunted house would one day get really haunted, and we¡¯re his sacrificialmbs.¡±

    1

    ¡°Jiang Jiu? I think I remember him. Initially, our theme park didn¡¯t want to build a haunted house, but it was at his insistence that the upper management agreed.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s him. He sure has harmed a lot of people with his decision.¡± The two discussed the matter softly. Their voices came from outside the side hall.

    <i>They don¡¯t have the key to this scenario? The mansion is not in the haunted house recorded?</i>

    Chen Ge did not chase after them. With his Ghost Ear, other than the voices of the two ¡®visitors¡¯, he could also hear Xu Yin and the sound of someone singing a traditional tune.

    <i>Xu Yin is a reticent person. To be able to make him speak, this must be a powerful opponent.</i>

    Chen Ge did not dare to imagine that he was inside a working theme park. People crowded the theme park, and the number of visitors reached into the millions. In such circumstances, he had run into a Red Specter who could rival Xu Yin.

    <i>The two visitors are trapped inside the courtyard, and Xu Yin and the stage costume Red Specter should be outside the yard wall.</i> Chen Ge sighed. <i>The two visitors are indeed lucky. If they had the key, they might open the door to witness the fight between three Red Specters. Then it would not be as simple as fainting; their world might be turned upside down.</i>

    Through the two visitors¡¯ conversation, Chen Ge knew that this was the scenario that he was looking for. He did not need guides. When the stench caught up to him, with the apaniment of two Red Specters, he pushed open the door to the side hall. At that moment, the man with the ss were squatting next to the wall, and the young man was stepping on his shoulders. He appeared to intend to jump over the wall. The two were caught in this posture when they saw Chen Ge as well as the headless woman and the fat stench that followed behind him.

    The man with the ss shook the young man off. Chen Ge ignored them. He raised the saw and mmed into the locked courtyard door. It felt like he was being chased as well. After the door flung open, Chen Ge ran out. The man with the sses and the young man were copsed on the ground and stared right into the eyes of the two Red Specters.

    Chen Ge ignored the screams that came from behind him. He jogged out from the courtyard. The first thing he did was guard himself with the saw and lean against the wall. After ensuring that he would not be attacked, Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision to study his surroundings. The Red Specter in the stage costume was surrounded by Xu Yin and the red high heels. She was on the losing side, but even facing the attacks, she did not dodge, opting to face them head on.

    <i>She seems to be protecting something.</i>

    After shifting to another angle, Chen Ge noticed that there was another altar behind the Red Specter. The altar looked the same as the one inside the cursed house, but there was a decapitated mud statuette inside this altar. The statuette was covered in crimson blood, and the statuette had Chen Ge¡¯s name carved into it.

    1

    <i>Why is my name on the statuette?</i>

    Before Chen Ge recovered from his shock, his heart started to beat. The shape of the shadow behind him started to change. There was a voice in his mind that told him to get close to the altar and grab that statuette.

 Chapter 975 - Nine Rivers

    <h4>Chapter 975: Nine Rivers</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Is that a curse?¡± Seeing a statuette with his own name being decapitated, anyone would feel bad, and Chen Ge was no exception, but he did not act rashly. When the headless woman and the stench joined him and surrounded the Red Specter with the stage costume, Chen Ge took steps forward.

    ¡°Is the altar your item of possession?¡± Seeing no response from the Red Specter, he took another step forward. ¡°This initially had nothing to do with me, but the statuette inside the altar has my name on it. Someone is trying to hurt me, so I have to get to the bottom of this.¡±

    The Red Specter appeared to understand Chen Ge. She shook her head as if trying to say that the statuette and the altar had nothing to do with Chen Ge.

    ¡°The statuette has the name Chen Ge carved into it, and my name is Chen Ge.¡± Chen Ge put down the saw. ¡°You won¡¯t be able to face four Red Specters on your own, and I do not wish to harm you. Please stand down.¡±

    Pressured by four Red Specters, the woman in the stage costume finally surrendered and moved to the side.

    ¡°Xu Yin, get the statuette for me and bring the head as well.¡± This altar was the biggest secret at this Reincarnation Haunted House. Chen Ge was afraid of a trap, so he did not go and grab it personally. The pale hand reached inside the altar. Xu Yin¡¯s hand closed around the statuette¡¯s body, and at the same time, all the ¡®death¡¯ characters inside the altar started to leak blood. Blood capiries stuck to the statuette like the altar refused to let it go.

    ¡°Go and help.¡±

    With the joint effort of the headless woman and Xu Yin, they finally took the statuette out. The statuette looked normal, like one a child would make with mud by the river. It barely looked like a human.

    ¡°Let me see.¡± Chen Ge reached toward the statuette, but Xu Yin moved away from him. He pointed at the ck blood stain on the statuette and shook his head, as if warning Chen Ge that the stain would harm him greatly.

    ¡°It¡¯s covered in curses? Then hold it well and let me take a look.¡± Chen Ge walked to Xu Yin¡¯s side. When he was closer, he realized that other than Chen Ge, the word ¡®death¡¯ had been carved into the statuette. However, they were so small that they were hard to notice.

    Looking at the statuette caused Chen Ge to shiver. ¡°This doesn¡¯t really look like me. It¡¯s covered in death, so it¡¯s more likely a representation of the ghost fetus.¡±

    Chen Ge did not know why this thing was inside the altar and did not know why this Jiang Jiu person wished to build such a scenario inside the Haunted House, but he knew that Zhang Ya seemed to want the statuette.

    ¡°ce the statuette on my shadow.¡± Xu Yin followed the instruction. After he ced the statuette on Chen Ge¡¯s shadow, the blood stain on it slowly lightened, like the thing that it possessed was slowly being sucked away by Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. ¡°I once saw a wooden box at the ghost stories society. Zhang Ya cared a lot about the ck blood stain inside it as well. The society went through a lot to take that out from behind the door. Could this statuettee from behind the door as well?¡±

    After entering the world behind the door many times, Chen Ge knew that it was difficult to take anything out from that world. That was why such items were so rare in the real world. The blood stain on the statuette slowly disappeared, and the death characters seemed to embed themselves deeper into the statue. The blood appeared to have been protecting the statuette, but now that it had been sucked away by Chen Ge¡¯s shadow, the death characters jammed into the statuette like nails.

    The woman in the stage costume wanted to stop this, but once she got close to Chen Ge¡¯s shadow, she felt something, and without the interference from Xu Yin, she astutely returned to her ce. Thest blood stain disappeared, and the statuette cracked and shattered. Chen Ge¡¯s heart rate returned to normal, and the voice in his heart disappeared.

    <i>The ck blood taken from behind the door seems to help Zhang Ya a lot. I should pay notice to this.</i>

    When the statuette cracked, the death characters inside the altar slowly returned to normal. The person who created the altar appeared to want to use the alter to absorb something and control the mud statuette so that it would not go out of control. That was a good idea. A normal visitor would not go there, but he did not expect Chen Ge to go to visit on their second day of opening.

    <i>If the statuette is really rted to the ghost fetus, this is serious.</i>

    Chen Ge picked up the statuette. After losing the blood stain, it was just a normal broken statue.

    <i>Looks like I need to have a chat with this Jiang Jiu. He must have a reason for doing something like this in Eastern Jiujiang.</i>

    Putting away the statuette, Chen Ge had Xu Yin and the red heels study the altar. After ensuring that it was now free of threats, they surrounded the woman in the stage costume. The woman should know the truth about the altar, so Chen Ge decided to have a chat with her. ¡°Are you being threatened by them, or is this altar yours and they have taken it away from you?¡±

    Hearing Chen Ge, the woman shook her head before nodding. She appeared to be very afraid. She kept ncing at the altar like the altar represented something very scary.

    ¡°I have limited time, so it seems that I¡¯ll have to ask you toe with me for now.¡± With the persuasion from four Red Specters, the woman was sent into theic. ¡°You will love your new home.¡±

    3

    Chen Ge walked around the altar. He did not notice anything, so he gave up. He led the four Red Specters into thest room of the mansion. There was aplete devil painting hanging on the wall, but the body was pieced together. Even though it was notcking any body parts, it looked so disconcerting. Behind the painting was a sacrificial table. On top of it were nine paper dolls. Eight of them were unnamed, but the first one had the name ¡®Jiang Jiu¡¯.

    ¡°It¡¯s this Jiang Jiu again.¡± Chen Ge looked at the paper dolls. ¡°If Jiang Jiu is really helping the ghost fetus, do these nine dolls mean that there are eight more people like Jiang Jiu?¡±

    Staring at the paper dolls, Chen Ge soon discovered something else. If the table was oveid with the map of Jiujiang<sup>1</sup>, the nine paper dolls were ced strategically along the nine rivers that crisscrossed the whole of Jiujiang. The city was surrounded by nine big rivers, and the old generation would say that this was a rare Feng Shui location that gave the city good fortune.

    ¡°Jiang Jiu in reverse is Jiu Jiang. Could this be a fake name?¡±

    Without any useful information, Chen Ge summoned back all the Red Specters. He took the ring of keys from the young man and pressed on. The actors in the Haunted House appeared to have been notified. Chen Ge did not see any actors along the way, but there was an explosion of projections. They were so close to each other, and he saw one every few steps. The visitation hour of one hour was already over, but Chen Ge was still exploring the scenarios. It was not that he did not want to leave, but there were too many things to see.

    This was the first time that the centralputer had done something like this. Most of the scenarios were forced to be created before theirpletion, and there was some danger to that. Chen Ge cleared a few more small scenarios. The difficulty had been tweaked to go over the room, and the frequency of the ghosts lowered. He believed that he was getting close to clearing all the scenarios, so he found a blind spot and removed the murderer¡¯s costume.

    It was fun ying at the actor, but he could not walk out like that. His aim had been aplished, so it was better to keep a low profile.

    ¡°In the end, I am the only visitor left. This is so lonely.¡±

 Chapter 976 - The Only Survivor

    <h4>Chapter 976: The Only Survivor</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The scenarios joined together to form a big maze. Some of the scenarios were huge; others were just a single room. Chen Ge wandered aimlessly around the haunted house with the keys. He realized that most of the scenarios were interconnected, and they had different ways of clearing the scenarios.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t the visitors say the haunted house has been filled with many old objects? Howe I haven¡¯t encountered any? Or are most of the old objects not possessed and Jiang Jiu moved them in here to cover up for the altar and the old mansion? No wait, I missed one thing. There was that windchime in the cursed house. There was something in it.¡±

    Chen Ge did not want to have any regrets, so he took a shortcut back. He first returned to the dormitory to grab his wrist band, clothes, and backpack and then removed the wooden boards to get back into the cursed house. Once he entered it, Chen Ge noticed that something was not right. The lights in the corridors were flickering, and many people were gathered and heading his way.

    ¡°The other workers finally gathered their courage toe in here.¡±

    The tour was not forced to stop, and the centralputer did not shut down. Under those conditions, the manager of the Reincarnation Haunted House had to gather fifteen people before they dared to get into the haunted house to initiate the ¡®rescue¡¯.

    ¡°Be careful! All employees have lost contact! Be careful of anything!¡±

    ¡°Boss, from the surveince, I notice that some of our workers are in serious trouble. Are we sure we¡¯re not calling the police?¡±

    ¡°This the second day our theme park has been open for business! If the police arrive, do you know what that means? Many people are already suspicious about our theme park¡¯s technology, thinking that this kind of immersive experience will harm the brain and senses. If we call the police, won¡¯t we be admitting that they¡¯re right?¡±

    ¡°But...¡±

    ¡°If the problem bes serious enough, I will call the police. I don¡¯t need you to tell me that! Now, just follow my orders! Right! Some of you go and chase away the reporters that have gathered at the entrance!¡±

    ¡°Brother Jiang, we have investigated the actor who yed the saw murderer. His name is Lee Xiaoyi. He¡¯s one of our old workers.¡±

    ¡°Why would an old worker suddenly go on a rampage? Has he gone to the mansion in the middle of the haunted house?¡±

    ¡°No clue...¡±

    Hearing these people¡¯s conversation, Chen Ge knew that he would not have a chance to find the windchime, so he slid away quietly.

    <i>Could the Brother Jiang the employees refer to be Jiang Jiu?</i>

    There was no reason for Chen Ge to stay, so he prepared to leave.

    ...

    Opening the rusted door, the wandering projections dispersed. The crying andughter inside the haunted house slowly dwindled away, and a spotlight shone on Chen Ge. He saw a staircase that led upstairs. Moving up the steps, Chen Ge returned to the surface.

    ¡°Someone¡¯sing! Someone¡¯sing out!¡±

    ¡°After everything that¡¯s happened, someone¡¯s finally managed toe out safely!¡±

    ¡°This haunted house at futuristic theme park is too scary!¡±

    Themotion was about to go through the roof. After his eyes got used to the light, Chen Ge looked around. He was standing at the exit of the haunted house, and he could see the entrance from where he was standing.

    At that moment, many workers were moving ¡®visitors¡¯ that had fainted from inside the haunted house. This was prettymon at New Century Park. The haunted house was surrounded by bustling visitors and several reporters. Everyone took videos and pictures on their phones, saying how scary the haunted house was. Fainted visitors were continuously being ferried out from the entrance, and Chen Ge, who stood alone at the exit, caught the attention even if he did not wish to. The crowd rushed toward him and surrounded him in the middle.

    ¡°The visitors that went in with you have all fainted! You¡¯re the only one who is still conscious. Can you tell us how you feel now?¡± a reporter asked Chen Ge. There were a few other visitors who were taking pictures of Chen Ge.

    ¡°The visitors that went in with me?¡± Chen Ge looked at the people who were being carried out from the haunted house. He shook his head and took out his phone. ¡°There were six people who entered the haunted house with me, but they are not normal visitors. They are theme park¡¯s employees! This is nothing but a self-directed y.¡±

    Pushing the y button, Chen Ge yed the recording before all the visitors and reporters.

    ¡°We¡¯re allies! We¡¯re all workers here! I am Lee Li, and she is Zhang Ling. You haven¡¯t received the notice, right? Both of us followed a visitor to enter this ce!¡±

    ¡°We... we are your colleagues. Other than that Chen Ge, we are all colleagues here. I¡¯m telling you the truth!¡±

    Chen Ge had many simr recordings, but he chose two of the most critical ones.

    ¡°Seven people went in on the tour, but six of them were actually workers at theme park. I am the only real visitor. I really don¡¯t know how to describe what they have done.¡± Chen Ge stood at the exit and looked quite angry. ¡°The thing that confuses me the most is, they knew that they cannot stop me, so they did something to cause their own employees to go unconscious to create this impression of how scary their haunted house is.¡±

    ¡°Move it, move it!¡± After hearing themotion on this side, the designer Qing Ming squeezed through the crowd. When he saw Chen Ge standing at the exit, it was like he had seen a ghost. His face was filled with disbelief. Thebination of forty hellish scenario had jammed theputer, so how did he survive?

    ¡°Chen Ge?¡±

    ¡°Your timing is perfect. Come and exin yourself. Why, of the seven supposed visitors, did you include six employees from the theme park? To scare me, you surely have put in a lot of effort.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone and yed the recording again.

    ¡°Put in a lot of effort?¡± Qing Ming grumbled bitterly. ¡°All we did was learn the dirty trick from you.¡±

    When he saw his own people scared unconscious, he hade up with the solution. If all the visitors had fallen unconscious, it would prove how scary the haunted house was. Since everyone had fainted, he could say anything he wanted, just like how Chen Ge did at his haunted house. But he did not expect all the workers to have fainted but the only real worker to have walked out from the exit. Just as he thought things could not get worse, Chen Ge took out the evidence of the worker IDs that he had snatched from the other ¡®visitors¡¯ to show everyone.

    1

    ¡°There must be a misunderstanding here. Please stop taking pictures.¡± Qing Ming wanted to drag Chen Ge away from this gauntlet of media and to help himself calm down, but this man who was of average build was far more powerful than he thought. He failed to drag him away but instead was dragged back into the spotlight by the man.

    ¡°Qing Ming, you haven¡¯t given us an exnation.¡± Chen Ge grabbed Qing Ming. ¡°Why did you order six other theme park workers to join me on this tour?¡±

    The camera shes and the voices from the visitors blurred Qing Ming¡¯s mind. His forehead was covered in sweat, and he was starting to envy the workers that had fainted.

 Chapter 977 - Hidden Job, The Volunteer

    <h4>Chapter 977: Hidden Job, The Volunteer</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you say something? So many people are waiting.¡± Chen Ge grabbed hold of Qing Ming. No matter what the man said, he hade up with something to counter it. Even if Qing Ming pretended to faint before the crowd, he had ways to resuscitate him.

    ¡°Everyone, please give me some time.¡± Qing Ming was desperate. He had a few excuses, but none of them seemed valid. For Qing Ming, every second standing next to Chen Ge was torture. He looked at Chen Ge pleadingly, hoping that Chen Ge would forgive him, but Chen Ge opened his own livestream on his phone. ¡°The ban has been lifted. This is perfect.¡±

    Chen Ge broadcasted the evidence before the millions of online viewers and ¡®reconstructed¡¯ the whole event. Chen Ge was a visitor and had gone to challenge the futuristic theme park¡¯s Haunted House alone, but in the end, the six fake visitors were rendered unconscious, and he was the only one who survived.

    The whole thing stank of fishiness. But no matter which perspective one took, Chen Ge was the real victim. Taking on the Haunted House alone, going to the other person¡¯s territory, he was powerless if the futuristic theme park wanted to y dirty, and y dirty they did. But reality always took a funny turn. When the employees from the futuristic theme park went to visit Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, New Century Park¡¯s old fans had opened bet to see how many visitors would faint this time.

    But the next day, when Chen Ge went to visit the futuristic theme park¡¯s Haunted House. The online users had been betting how worse for wear Chen Ge would be after the ordeal, but in the end, it was the actors who were scared witless. The old fans finally got the lesson. Whether it was New Century Park¡¯s Haunted House or another theme park¡¯s haunted house, should Chen Ge visit, someone would faint. The man was like a walking taser.

    1Chen Ge was happily chatting with the viewers, but Qing Ming was at his limit. Thankfully, another manager from the futuristic theme park came over, and Qing Ming was rescued. After some persuasion and tact, they finally pulled Chen Ge into the themed scenario. When they noticed that Chen Ge was still on the livestream, they wanted to cry, but there were no tear left.

    ¡°Boss, you have already finished your tour. Our employees went to your haunted house to create trouble. As awful as that was, they have already received the punishment they deserved. After Liu Gang wakes up, we will urge him to publish an apology video.¡± Qing Ming had surrendered. He just wanted Chen Ge to leave.

    ¡°So, it will end up being Liu Gang¡¯s fault for the whole thing, right?¡± Chen Ge looked at Qing Ming with a smile. ¡°I promised to visit your haunted house alone, but you weren¡¯t satisfied with that and found six other actors to work together to bully me. Isn¡¯t that a bit too much? Didn¡¯t that cross the line?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s mainly because youbined forty scenarios at once. We haven¡¯t dealt with something like that before. We had them follow you because we wanted them to protect you.¡± Qing Ming hade up with this excuse after some time. He was quite a clever person, but when faced with Chen Ge, his tongue was caught by the cat. ¡°It¡¯s about noon. How about we take a break for lunch? We both need some time to calm down, and we can continue this conversationter. How does that sound?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not even 11 am yet. Why are you talking about lunch break?¡± Chen Ge held the phone and dragged Qing Ming into the camera. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I am a reasonable person. As long as you give me a satisfactory answer, I won¡¯t keep hounding you.¡±

    Chen Ge removed the wrist band. ¡°I¡¯ll return your stuff first. I remembered you saying that the points will be shown on the big screen outside the Haunted House.¡±

    ¡°I did.¡± Qing Ming epted Chen Ge¡¯s band and keyed in Chen Ge¡¯s ID on theputer. Momentster, a number that stunned him appeared¡ª4,200 points!

    ¡°So, how did I do?¡± Chen Ge was quite curious himself. Clearing one hellish scenario would nab him one hundred points, and he hadbined over forty scenarios.

    ¡°There seems to be a problem with theputer. Let me recover the data...¡± Before Qing Ming could do any funny business, Chen Ge grabbed his hands.

    ¡°At least have some honor.¡± Chen Ge could see things from Qing Ming¡¯s perspective. The current first ce visitor had 105 points. It meant that Chen Ge¡¯s name would stay on the scoreboard for a very long time unless the futuristic theme park cheated.

    ¡°Our visitation time is sixty minutes. You have seriously gone over the time limit, so this doesn¡¯t count.¡± Qing Ming flung Chen Ge¡¯s hand away. ¡°We¡¯re only following the rules.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t count because I went over the time?¡± Chen Ge extended his hand toward Qing Ming. ¡°Then give me back the wrist band.¡±

    ¡°What do you want to do?¡±

    ¡°Keep the forty scenariosbined. I¡¯ll speedrun it in sixty minutes. This is perfect. This will give the viewers a chance to follow me on this journey.¡± Chen Ge put the wrist band on and turned to the camera. ¡°The camera might be shaky because I¡¯ll start running.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to do that. You just came out, so you need to rest...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Visiting your Haunted House is just the rxation that I need.¡± Chen Ge stood at the entrance. ¡°You¡¯re only following the rules, right? I have millions of viewers watching.¡±

    1...

    Thirty-nine minutester, the leader of the futuristic theme park was answering the media¡¯s questions when the crowd suddenly quieted down. The leader was stunned. He followed the crowd¡¯s gaze and almost lost his soul. ¡°Why is it you again?¡±

    ¡°Just ignore me and do your thing.¡±

    Chen Ge walked out from the haunted house¡¯s exit the second time. ¡°During my first challenge, the manager here said that they won¡¯t key in my points because my time was overboard, so I speedran it.¡±

    1¡°Why did he refuse to key in your score?¡±

    ¡°A Haunted House can be speedrun?¡±

    ¡°Please wait!¡±

    Walking through the crowd, Chen Ge removed the wrist band and handed it to Qing Ming. ¡°This time, I¡¯m sure it¡¯s within sixty minutes. If you still have any problems, I can clear it again. After all, I have nothing better to do today.¡±

    ¡°I have no more problems. Since you have finished the tour, please return to your own haunted house. We know you are a busy man.¡± Qing Ming honestly keyed in Chen Ge¡¯s score. ¡°How did you speedrun such a high difficulty scenario? Are you born without fear?¡±

    ¡°The reason I can do that is because you have given me the random upation of volunteer worker. The job looks normal, but it has a hidden buff. When your people try to challenge this, tell them to give it a go.¡±

    ¡°The volunteer? The most useless upation was actually the most powerful?¡±

    Chen Ge was just joking, but Qing Ming memorized it clearly.

    Then yelps of surprise came from outside the Haunted House. Chen Ge¡¯s name appeared on the big screen. He dominated the ranking with 8,400 points. He was over eight thousand points ahead of second ce.

    2¡°Qing Ming, does the leader that is speaking outside have the surname Jiang?¡± Chen Ge sidled up to Qing Ming with the phone.

    Qing Ming truly hated Chen Ge. If Chen Ge was not livestreaming, he would have asked the security to throw Chen Ge out. ¡°Why do you want to know that?¡±

    ¡°I heard that your theme park initially didn¡¯t n to build a haunted house. It was at the insistence of someone by the name of Jiang Jiu that this project was approved. I believe that he is a Haunted House aficionado, so I wish to have a chat with him.¡±

    ¡°Manager Jiang is not someone whom you can meet freely, but his son is helping out at this haunted house. If you¡¯re really that interested, go and find his son, Jiang Ming.¡±

    ¡°Jiang Ming?¡± Earlier, Chen Ge had run into a worker with the surname Jiang inside the Haunted House. The man looked about his age, and he was responsible for the rescue. The other workers called him Brother Jiang.

 Chapter 978 - Red Specterâ€™s Favored

    <h4>Chapter 978: Red Specter¡¯s Favored</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge remembered the name Jiang Ming. He was about to ask something else when Qing Ming took out his phone that was inactive from his pocket and ran out as if he had to leave to take an emergency call.

    ¡°Is that necessary?¡± As a visitor, Chen Ge was abandoned at the theme park. It was as if a message had been given to all the futuristic theme park workers¡ªthey were to stay away whenever they saw Chen Ge, and they were not to talk to him. ¡°I feel like I¡¯ve been ostracized.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s livestream was still ongoing. The viewers who saw this felt tickled, and they kept mocking Chen Ge in the chatroom.

    ¡°Looks like the futuristic theme park has made the decision to ignore me. Does this count as a silent surrender?¡± Chen Ge felt like it was pointless for him to stay. He walked out from the Reincarnation Haunted House. The moment he left, his phone suddenly vibrated. ¡°Everyone at theme park knows that I¡¯m livestreaming. Who would be calling at a time like this?¡±

    Chen Ge normally only used one phone. He nced at the caller ID, and he quickly answered it when he saw that it was Lee Zheng.

    ¡°Inspector Lee, what can I help you with?¡±

    ¡°I heard that it was you who reported that there had been a hidden murder at Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s Jiang Yuan Apartments?¡± Lee Zheng did not waste time on pleasantries and cut straight to the point.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve found the body. Where are you now?¡±

    ¡°No wait, even if you¡¯ve found the body, what does that have to do with me? I¡¯m not the killer.¡± Chen Ge did not know whether the chatroom could hear his voice or not. When he epted the call, he did not close the livestream. After all, a stream that had more than a million viewers could earn him a lot in donations.

    ¡°Come to Jiang Yuan Apartments now. We found your hair at the crime scene.¡±

    ¡°My hair? Impossible!¡± After Chen Ge thought about it, he believed that it was his hair that got stuck on the jacket when he lent it to the female ghost.

    <i>Last night, I kept my eyes closed. I have no idea what the female ghost looked like, and I have no idea what appeared before me...</i>

    ¡°Stop wasting time. If you do not arrive in an hour, the next call that I¡¯ll make will be quite different.¡±

    ¡°Understood. I am in Eastern Jiujiang, so I¡¯ll be heading there now.¡± Chen Ge was still livestreaming. If the viewers saw him being taken away in a police car, he would not know how to exin that. After hanging up, the livestream returned to normal. Chen Ge ignored the chat, gave a few random words to the viewers, and logged off.

    <i>It felt right to have visited the futuristic theme park this time. It not only helps me rx, I managed to find clues rted to the ghost fetus.</i>

    Chen Ge looked at theic inside his backpack. When he entered the Haunted House for the second time, he finally found the windchime in the cursed house. It was possessed by a little girl¡¯s lingering spirit. The spirit seemed to be rted to the woman in the stage costume, so without wasting time, Chen Ge ¡®invited¡¯ the girl to join him in theic.

    3¡°It¡¯s time to leave.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at theme park behind it. The visitors were stilling. It was almost noon, but there were still busesing to unload batches of visitors.

    <i>Without the haunted house, there is no chance New Century Park can evenpete with this big beast.</i>

    Chen Ge put away his phone and took out the ck phone.

    <i>Previously, I always make the lucky draw at my theme park. I should try it once at someone else¡¯s theme park. Perhaps there¡¯ll be a surprise.</i>

    Clicking open the Wheel of Misfortune, Chen Ge saw the familiar rules.

    <i>With the wheel, there¡¯s a chance that I¡¯ll get a Specter, but there¡¯s a higher chance that I¡¯ll get something else.</i>

    Walking to the entrance of the futuristic theme park, Chen Ge squeezed through the crowd. He lifted his head to look at the sun and purposely chose a spot where the sun would hit him squarely.

    <i>Time to try my luck.</i>

    Chen Ge spun the wheel. When the needle stopped, the ck phone vibrated.

    1¡°Congrattions Specter¡¯s Favored for winning a special item¡ªa faceless picture!

    ¡°Faceless Picture: The first time I forget you is when I look at your picture. I cannot remember who is in the picture. I only know that he is important to me. I asked you, and you told me that it¡¯s you. Later, I cannot remember how many times I¡¯ve forgotten you until the day you stopped appearing, and I have forgotten what I should have forgotten.

    ¡°Congrattions Specter¡¯s Favored for drawing your fifth Specter. Your title has been upgraded to Red Specter¡¯s Favored!

    ¡°Red Specter¡¯s Favored: Misfortune, bad luck, pressure, pain, and the embrace of a Red Specter equals to a shadow that you cannot shake for life. You will gain the truth and lose everything at the same time.

    1¡°Warning! Red Specter¡¯s Favored, your title will upgrade again after you¡¯ve drawn another ten Specters!¡±

    1The sun shone on Chen Ge¡¯s body, drawing his shadow long. Chen Ge, who melted into the crowd, stood where he was, holding the ck phone. No one paid him notice, and no one understood his feelings. For Chen Ge, being favored by Red Specters was a good thing, but the description that the ck phone had for this title was again too ambivalent. Chen Ge knew that the title would influence both Specters and Red Specter, but the extent or nature of the influence, whether it was good or bad for him, Chen Ge had no idea.

    ¡°Based on the description alone, it sounds like a reward, but it could also be a hidden punishment. No wait, if this happened to a normal person, it would be the cruelest punishment.¡±

    Chen Ge initially wanted to draw ten more times, but he decided against it after he calmed down. The Specter drawn from the ck phone would be rted to an object. To gain the help of said Specter, he had to personally find the Specter and help themplete their wishes first. Putting the ck phone away, Chen Ge left the futuristic theme park and hailed a cab to get to Jiang Yuan Apartments.

    Twenty minutester, Chen Ge got out of the taxi, and two police officers headed toward him. Chen Ge had no idea who they were, but the officers recognized Chen Ge with one nce. In a way, Chen Ge could be considered a celebrity of sorts in a certain circle.

    ¡°Inspector Lee is on the twelfth floor.¡± Many tenants were standing outside their rooms. The two police officers led Chen Ge as they cut through them. The three reached the twelfth floor.

    ¡°Brother Zheng!¡± Chen Ge was quite happy to see Lee Zheng, even though they had just met each other two days ago. ¡°Has the man who copsed at the mental hospital woken up? The patient called Chang Gu, he only has one eye.¡±

    ¡°We can talk about thatter.¡± Lee Zheng grabbed Chen Ge and led him to the deepest part of the twelfth-floor corridor. ¡°Were you herest night?¡±

    ¡°I was.¡± Chen Ge did not know what Lee Zheng was going to ask him.

    ¡°Did you know about the murder that happened here before you camest night?¡±

    ¡°Is that important?¡±

    ¡°If you knew about the murder beforeing here but chose not to report that to the police, instead opting to do your own vignte investigation, I will drag you back to the police station now and have you reflect on what you have done for a few days.¡± Lee Zheng gripped Chen Ge by his shoulders. ¡°The day beforest, you fainted at the mental hospital, andst night, you came to this countryside apartment area to conduct an investigation on a murder case that no one knew about. I can understand your urge to look for your parents, but this is too dangerous, way too dangerous.¡±

    ¡°I did not know about the murder here before I arrived; I can promise you that.¡± Chen Ge patted Lee Zheng lightly on his shoulder. ¡°Brother Zheng, I would only conduct my investigation when I am ny to one hundred percent confident, so you do not need to worry about my safety.¡±

    ¡°I know that you won¡¯t listen to my advice, and I do not know how to correctly advise you, but it feels like you are being constantly chased by something, and you have been using all the energy that you have to keep on running forward.¡± Lee Zheng had years of experience at his job, and thus, he could read people very well. ¡°Actually, you can trust us. You can choose to rely on us.¡±

 Chapter 979 - My Name Your Name

    <h4>Chapter 979: My Name Your Name</h4>

    ¡°Of course, I understand.¡± Chen Ge was appreciative of thew enforcement at Jiujiang. The police might not represent justice one hundred percent, but Chen Ge knew that at least Captain Yan and Inspector Lee had been trying their best to uphold the principle of justice, and they had lent Chen Ge a lot of help in the past.

    ¡°You say that, but you will repeat the same mistake next time.¡± Lee Zheng shook his head helplessly. He was sincerely trying to persuade Chen Ge. Compared to him, who had the support from his family and his other colleagues, all Chen Ge had was himself.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about that anymore. Brother Zheng, how did you find the body?¡±

    ¡°Based on what you told us, the investigation was not that difficult to do. There was no tenant living on the twelfth floor, but the monthly electric bill is suspiciously high. We naturally targeted this ce. After opening the door, as expected, we found the dead body inside the freezer.¡±

    ¡°Then, has the culprit been captured?¡±

    ¡°The suspect should be the tenant. The victim is the tenant¡¯s girlfriend, who suffered from anorexia. We¡¯ve already got news on the tenant¡¯s whereabouts and have sent people after him. If there¡¯s no ident, we should be able to capture him and bring him to the station by tonight.¡± The police of Jiujiang was efficient in their work. In a way, that had to do with Chen Ge as well.

    ¡°That would be great. At least I will be able to give her some justice.¡±

    ¡°Justice?¡±

    ¡°Can I go in to take a look? This is probably not the first crime scene, so you don¡¯t need to be afraid of me messing up the evidence.¡±

    After he got the permission from Lee Zheng, Chen Ge entered the room. The room was not that big, and the girl¡¯sst moments were spent in this dingy ce. Walking past the living room, Chen Ge entered the kitchen, and he saw the fridge and the freezer that were ced next to each other. He was reminded of the words that the girl had told him that night, and his heart felt sad and ufortable.

    ¡°The person that hurt you will be punished byw soon. He will not be able to escape.¡±

    Once Chen Ge said that, there was a light knocking inside the room. Lee Zheng turned to look behind him subconsciously, but with the help from the Ghost Ear, Chen Ge immediately turned to the freezer. Opening the lid, Chen Ge saw a thin girl curl inside the shadows of the freezer. She hugged her shoulders with both hands. Her head was slightly lifted upward, and her pale face was stained with tear. The sun hit her face, and her body turned fuzzy. But she did not seem to mind it. She appeared to want to spend thest moment of her ¡®life¡¯ bathing in the sunlight.

    ¡°Don¡¯t cry. You deserve a better life.¡± Chen Ge reached into the freezer, wanting to help her wipe away her tears, but he could not touch anything. The sun shone between them like a gap that could not be crossed no matter what.

    ¡°Everything is fine now. I will take you home.¡± Before the girl dissolved in the sun, Chen Ge took out theic and pulled her into it. Looking at the empty freezer, Chen Ge stood there quietly for a while.

    ¡°What are you looking at? The dead body was discovered inside there, but everything has already been moved away.¡± Lee Zheng walked over.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± Chen Ge picked up his backpack and waved at Lee Zheng, ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯ll be leaving now.¡±

    ¡°Do you think I called you here for a chat! Now, tell me in detail what you came here to dost night! After leaving your statement, when I decide that there is nothing else, you can go back and wait for the next summon!¡±

    ...

    When Chen Ge returned to New Century Park, it was alreadyte afternoon. Running between Eastern and Western Jiujiang,bined with ack of sleep, the man was fatigued, and it was taking a toll on his body.

    ¡°No wonder they say home sweet home. It is my haunted house that¡¯s the mostfortable.¡±

    Lying in the staff breakroom, Chen Ge drifted off before he realized it. Without anyone to bother him, when Chen Ge opened his eyes again, the sky outside had already darkened.

    ¡°It is already 8 pm? I will need to set an rm next time.¡± Chen Ge picked up the thin nket that covered him and looked toward the door. The ce was quiet. It sounded like all the employees had gone home. He ced the white cat that had been lying on top of him to the side. Then he noticed a note left on the table. Based on the handwriting, it should be from Xu Wan¡ª¡¯We have already cleaned the ce. Take a good rest and remember to have your dinner on time.¡¯

    Putting down the note, Chen Ge carried the backpack out of the staff breakroom and took a tour around all the scenarios. After making sure there were no problems, he went to the prop room and found the picture that he had drawn from the Wheel of Misfortune that morning on the wooden box in the corner. It was just a normal picture; there was nothing haunted about it. On the back of the picture, a date was written, December 21st. The front of the picture featured a young boy about ten. He wore a white, long-sleeved shirt, and his face was blurred out, but overall, he gave off a feeling of an obedient boy with a sunny disposition.

    ¡°How am I supposed to start looking? There is not even an address!¡± Chen Ge first memorized the date before he studied the picture closer.

    ¡°Wait, a fountain with lights? That looks like the garden in the city!¡± Without any other clues, Chen Ge decided to go to the city to take a look. After getting the ck phone, Chen Ge had not been to the city in a while because the phone always directed him to some deserted area. Chen Ge did not remove the stuff from inside his backpack. Chen Ge ced the picture inside it and carried the backpack as he ran out from the haunted house. Hailing a cab to the city, when Chen Ge arrived at the park in his memory, he realized that his path was blocked. The park was undergoing construction, and only a small path was left open.

    ¡°Sir, why is the park blocked off? Can I still enter it?¡± Chen Ge found a man who was wearing a safety helmet near the park and asked him those questions.

    ¡°Why do you want to enter it? This park is about to be demolished. Can¡¯t you see that all the trees inside have already been moved away?¡± The construction worker seemed like a good person to talk to.

    ¡°It¡¯s being demolished?¡± Chen Ge had found this ce through the picture. If the park was levelled, then this was where Chen Ge¡¯s trail of clues would end.

    ¡°I hear they n to build a mall here, but I do not know more than that.¡± The construction worker waved at Chen Ge. ¡°We are doing some heavy duty work inside. You¡¯d better not go in there now.¡±

    ¡°My friend left me a picture of the park. He¡¯s not been feeling well recently, and he wished for me to take a few pictures of the park for him.¡± Chen Ge walked toward the small path. ¡°I will be out in a minute.¡±

    There were giant holes everywhere inside the park, and the tiles had been all turned up. The valuable aged trees had all been dug away, and all that remained was dirt and grass. Chen Ge held the phone, and based on his childhood memories, he walked through the park. He used to go to this park to y when he was small, but since it was so far away from Western Jiujiang, he did not go there often. He walked around for a while before Chen Ge finally found the ce that was captured in the picture. However, the fountain was no longer pushing out water. The lights that surrounded it had also been removed, and only the rusted frame remained.

    Weeds grew through the gap. The small shop that sold ice cream and cotton candy in the picture was gone. Comparing the picture and real life, the only thing that matched was the long bench next to the fountain.

    ¡°It is indeed the same ce.¡± Chen Ge walked toward the fountain and looked around it before he sat down on the bench. ¡°Now, what am I supposed to do next?¡±

    He looked at the picture in his hand. His attention was fully drawn to it when he heard a woman¡¯s voice in his ear.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but do you know Fang Yu?¡±

    Chen Ge turned his head to look, and he realized that there was quiet looking woman standing behind him. The woman was about the same age as Chen Ge. Her skin was fair and her cheeks, neck, and arms were all filled with tattoos. All the tattoos had the same two characters¡ªFang Yu.

 Chapter 980 - Fish With One Day Memory

    <h4>Chapter 980: Fish With One Day Memory</h4>

    A light drizzle started to fall, and in this small park where it was about to get demolished, Chen Ge encountered this strange woman.

    ¡°Excuse me, do you know Fang Yu?¡± That appeared to be the only sentence she knew. She looked at Chen Ge. Her eyes were like ake in the mountains, clear as pure ice.

    ¡°Fang Yu?¡± Chen Ge took out the picture and showed it to the woman. ¡°Is this him?¡±

    Holding the picture with both hands, the woman looked at the boy in the picture. She looked for a long time before shaking her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°The picture was taken here at the park. The boy is facing the camera, so the person who took the picture should be standing here.¡± Chen Ge stood up to stand next to the fountain. ¡°Does that jog your memory?¡±

    The woman stood where she was with emptiness in her eyes.

    ¡°Okay, perhaps I was wrong.¡± Chen Ge returned to the bench. Some timeter, the woman also joined him on the bench. She smelled like shampoo, and she was dressed cleanly, not like a person who could not take care of herself.

    ¡°Er... can I ask you a question?¡± Chen Ge turned to the woman. The woman had a beautiful side profile, but her cheeks were mostly covered up by tattoos, so under her beauty, there was a trace of horror about her. ¡°Why would youe here sote at night to search for Fang Yu?¡±

    ¡°I remembering here every day, but I cannot tell you why.¡±

    ¡°Then, do you know that this park is getting demolished? You won¡¯t be able toe here anymore.¡± Chen Ge held the picture and focused on the woman. Hearing that, the woman did not answer but stared at the name tattooed on the back of her hand quietly.

    ¡°Why are you looking for Fang Yu? Is he your family?¡± Chen Ge tried tomunicate with her, to get her to open up. Only then could he help her.

    ¡°I cannot remember, but I tattooed his name all over my body. That is probably because I do not wish to forget him.¡± The rain pattered down on them. In the old park, two strangers sat on the rusted bench.

    ¡°Actually... I know Fang Yu.¡± Chen Ge lowered his head, and the woman turned to him in shock.

    ¡°You know Fang Yu?¡± The woman stood up. ¡°Can... can you bring me to go see him?¡±

    ¡°I can, but before that, I have to confirm something with you.¡± Chen Ge showed the picture to the woman again. ¡°Do you really have no memory of this boy at all? Earlier, I noticed that you were studying it for a long time.¡±

    ¡°I have no memory of this person, but...¡± The woman pointed at the faceless boy in the picture. ¡°He seems important to me.¡±

    The woman¡¯s words struck Chen Ge like lightning. He was reminded of the ck phone¡¯s introduction for the picture. The first time I forget you is when I look at your picture. I cannot remember who is in the picture. I only know he is important to me.

    ¡°Keep this picture.¡± Chen Ge shoved the picture into the woman¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Why are you giving me this picture?¡± The woman was baffled.

    ¡°The faceless boy is Fang Yu.¡± Chen Ge observed the woman¡¯s reaction.

    After knowing that the boy was Fang Yu, there was some life that entered the woman¡¯s eyes. She was like a baby who first opened her eyes to the world, and her clear eyes focused on the faceless boy in the picture. ¡°Can you help me find him?¡±

    ¡°I can, but it is gettingte. It¡¯s too dangerous for you to stay outside alone. Why don¡¯t I get you home first?¡±

    Chen Ge was sure that this woman was no ghost; her body was warm. Holding the picture with both hands, the woman hesitated before nodding. ¡°Okay.¡±

    She did not put the picture into her pocket and held it by both hands as they walked out from the park. The woman had a presence about her that caused people to move away from her, and she appeared to be shy around strangers. She kept to the shadows with her head lowered as if she did not want to trouble anyone with her presence.

    Chen Ge had the woman walk on the inside of the pedestrian walkway and he on the outside. He apanied the woman silently past various blocks before stopping outside an old apartment building at the old part of town. All along the way, the woman kept her head lowered and her eyes on the picture, wordless.

    ¡°Xiao Yu!¡± When they got to the building, a ratherrge aunty ran out from the stairwell with an umbre. ¡°It started to rain. I was about to go get you!¡±

    The aunty stopped next to the woman, and she regarded her like a mother would regard her daughter.

    ¡°It was you who walked her home, yes? Thank you so much, kind young man!¡± The aunty smiled at Chen Ge. ¡°Xiao Yu, you should thank the man, too.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Chen Getched onto a detail. ¡°Aunty, what did you call her?¡±

    ¡°Xiao Yu, is there anything wrong?¡± The aunty opened the umbre and grabbed the woman¡¯s arm lightly as she pulled her into the building. But to her surprise, the woman did not want to follow her and flung her grasp away. The woman did not seem to resist the aunty before, and this unusual behavior confused and confounded the aunty. ¡°Xiao Yu, it¡¯s raining. We¡¯d better get inside.¡±

    As the aunty tried her best to advise the woman, the woman suddenly turned. Gripping the picture tightly, she shouted loudly, ¡°I am not Fang Yu! You got the wrong person! I am looking for him too!¡±

    ¡°How are you not Fang Yu? Who told you that?¡± The way the aunty looked at Chen Ge suddenly turned hostile. She could not deal with Fang Yu, so she turned on Chen Ge. ¡°What kind of nonsense did you feed her? What kind of perverse person would find joy in bullying a girl like that?¡±

    ¡°Aunty, I think you¡¯ve misunderstood something. She is really not Fang Yu.¡± Chen Ge concluded that from the ck phone¡¯s introduction. He did not think that the ck phone would give him false information.

    ¡°What are you talking about? Take a look at this!¡± The aunty reached into the woman¡¯s left pocket and took out a faded red wallet. She fished out the woman¡¯s ID from it. ¡°I don¡¯t know what kind of sick n you¡¯re scheming, but I¡¯m telling you, it¡¯s not going to work with me around!¡±

    Chen Ge took a nce at it. The woman¡¯s name on the ID was indeed Fang Yu.

    ¡°She is Fang Yu?¡±

    ¡°If she¡¯s not Fang Yu, who is? You?¡±

    ¡°But isn¡¯t she looking for Fang Yu?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s how you tricked her, isn¡¯t it?¡± The aunty stood protectively before Xiao Yu. ¡°I don¡¯t what you¡¯re nning, but leave now, or I¡¯ll call the police!¡±

    Hearing the argument, a window on the first floor opened. An old man stood at the window. ¡°What¡¯s the ruckus about? What¡¯s happening?¡±

    ¡°Someone wants to bully Xiao Yu!¡±

    ¡°Bully Xiao Yu?¡± Without even closing the window, the old man soon appeared at the entrance in slippers, holding a wooden sword used in Taoist ceremonies. ¡°Is he the one who wants to bully Xiao Yu?¡±

    ¡°Please calm down.¡± Seeing the misunderstanding getting bigger and bigger, Chen Ge quickly tried to exin himself. ¡°I didn¡¯t bully her. I just want to help her.¡±

 Chapter 981 - Will Never Forget

    <h4>Chapter 981: Will Never Forget</h4>

    ¡°You can help Xiao Yu?¡± The aunty and uncle studied Chen Ge closely. ¡°What are you? A psychiatrist?¡±

    ¡°I own a haunted house, but please believe me.¡± Chen Ge looked at the two sincerely.

    ¡°What nonsense are you talking about now? Leave!¡± The old man waved the sword. ¡°Before I pull the sword on you!¡±

    ¡°Please calm down and give me ten minutes, okay? Just ten minutes.¡± Chen Ge used his phone to search for the news article where he had helped thew enforcement in Jiujiang. ¡°Look at this. I am the one in the picture with the police. I really am a good person.¡±

    ¡°A helpful citizen that has helped thew enforcement many times?¡± The aunty and unclepared Chen Ge to the man in the article a few times before they believed him. ¡°What do you want from Xiao Yu?¡±

    ¡°I just want to help her. Can you bring me to meet her parents?¡± After Chen Ge realized that the woman had body temperature, he understood that the ghost that he was looking for was the boy in the picture.

    ¡°Xiao Yu was raised in an orphanage. She doesn¡¯t have parents.¡±

    ¡°Does she have any other rtives? Who takes care of her, and who provided her with a home?¡± Chen Ge felt like it was quite hard for the woman to live independently in her current state, so she should have a caretaker.

    ¡°We have never heard Xiao Yu talk about her family before. She was abandoned here about a decade ago. She was just a little girl then, standing in the middle of the road. A few officers and I sent her to the police station, and then the people from the orphanage came. They were so reluctant to take Xiao Yu back. I couldn¡¯t stand the look on their faces, so I allowed Xiao Yu to temporarily stay with me.¡± The aunty was kind and generous.

    ¡°A decade ago?¡± This time skip was sorge that Chen Ge did not know where to start. Ten years was a long time for anyone, enough to forget about the pain and joy that one had experienced, and even the most precious memory faded with time.

    ¡°Has she always been like this for this past ten years?¡± Chen Ge looked at the woman holding the picture, staring with such focus at the faceless boy in the picture. She seemed to be remembering, but there was no recollection in her eyes.

    ¡°Yes, Xiao Yu suffers from memory loss. To get to the bottom of the truth, I¡¯ve personally been to her orphanage to ask around. They told me that Xiao Yu¡¯s memory has been bad since she was young. She couldn¡¯t even remember the names of the other orphans, and that caused her to make a lot of mistakes in her chores.¡± The aunty sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know whether they told me this on purpose or the illness got worse as she grew older, but after Xiao Yu moved in with me, her illness did worsen.¡±

    ¡°Her memory loss became more prevalent?¡±

    ¡°Yes, she would forget everything until she couldn¡¯t even remember her own name. It was that day...¡± The aunty stopped to look at Xiao Yu with some sadness in her eyes. ¡°It was that day that she started to tattoo her own name on her body. The name seems to mean a lot to her, and she refused to forget it no matter what.¡±

    ¡°Who gave her this name? The people at the orphanage?¡±

    ¡°No, I heard that when Fang Yu was abandoned at the hospital, there was 271 RMB in her pocket and a letter. The letter said that her name is Fang Yu.¡± The aunty remembered these things very well. She was truly concerned about Fang Yu and had done many things for her.

    ¡°That letter...¡±

    Before Chen Ge asked, the aunty knew Chen Ge¡¯s intention. ¡°The letter has been lost for who knows how long already. Now, the only way to help Fang Yu finds her parent is her name, Fang Yu.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why she tattooed Fang Yu all over her body? No, there must be something you¡¯ve missed!¡± Chen Ge stood in the rain. ¡°A person wouldn¡¯t spend so much effort to look for a parent that she hadn¡¯t met. There is someone that she refused to forget at the deepest part of her memory. She believed that the person¡¯s name is Fang Yu, and she didn¡¯t want to forget that person!¡±

    Chen Ge signaled for the uncle and aunty to get close to the woman. ¡°Do you recognize the boy in this picture?¡±

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t even have a face. How are we supposed to tell?¡±

    ¡°You can get many information from the height, build, head shape, and so on. After Fang Yu moved here, has a boy like this appeared around here? Chen Ge asked.

    ¡°Fang Yu rarely interacts with others, but she goes to the nearby park every night. How would she know a boy that way?¡±

    ¡°She goes to the park every night? Are you sure about that?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Fang Yu only goes to the doctor in the morning or stays at home. Even for the tattooing, she only goes there at night.¡±

    ¡°This information is very important.¡± Chen Ge understood something. ¡°Before moving here, Fang Yu knew this boy in the picture, and they went to the park.¡±

    Fang Yu looked about the same age as Chen Ge. The boy in the picture looked about eighteen, so ten years ago, Fang Yu should have been slightly younger than the boy.

    ¡°Fang Yu lived at the orphanage before this, so the boy in the picture probably grew up at the orphanage as well. They were childhood friends.¡± The rain started to get heavier, and water slid down Chen Ge¡¯s face. ¡°Fang Yu, do you know which orphanage Fang Yues from?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home. It used to be a private orphanage and very unprofessional, but it¡¯s gotten much better in recent years.¡±

    ¡°Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home? There¡¯s where Fan Yu stays now!¡± Chen Ge prepared to take the picture, but the woman suddenly refused to let go.

    ¡°Fang Yu, I know that you wish to meet the man in the picture, and I will go get him toe meet you now!¡± Chen Ge pressed on the woman¡¯s hands lightly. ¡°Perhaps he also has been waiting to meet you.¡±

    The woman slowly let go. Chen Ge put away the picture and ran away through the rain.

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± The aunty had Fang Yu enter the building before she ran over with the umbre. ¡°Take this. Who knows when will the rain stop?¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± The backpack had theic and picture, but Chen Ge did not deny the kindness.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to thank me. I saw it clearly just now. You wanted to take away the picture, but Xiao Yu refused to let go. This is the first time that she has cared about something so much.¡± The aunty handed Chen Ge the umbre and took Chen Ge¡¯s hands. ¡°You have to help her, you understand? The first day she forgot her name, she broke the teacup and used the edge of the shard to carve the name Fang Yu on her body. When she woke up the next day, she forgot and repeated the whole process. No matter what, she has to remember that name, to stop her from injuring herself. It was me who took her to the tattoo artist.¡±

    ¡°I understand. I will get to the bottom of this.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the building. The woman was standing on the steps, staring nkly at the names carved on her arms. For other people, ten years would be long, but for her, it was just a mere repetition of the same day over the span of ten years.

 Chapter 982 - The Past [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 982: The Past [2 in 1]</h4>

    Holding the umbre, Chen Ge walked into the raining city. He could not tell whether he was doing this for the mission or really wanted to help the woman. Perhaps it was a mixture of both.

    He took a taxi to Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home. Even though it was already way past the visiting hours, due to various reasons, Chen Ge knew the guard that was posted at the door and the teacher who looked after Fan Yu at the Children¡¯s Home. After waiting for a few minutes outside the door, Chen Ge was led into the children¡¯s home by that same teacher.

    ¡°Are you here to see Fan Yu? The child has gotten so much betterpared to before. I do not know what happened, but he stopped closing himself up inside his own world, and he started to attempt to interact with others. The paintings that he draws are no longer that scary. Other than ck and red crayons, he has started to use other colors as well.¡± The teacher was very happy, and she could not stop praising the improvement that Fan Yu had shown.

    Chen Ge had no idea whether Fan Yu¡¯s change had anything to do with the painter at the School of the Afterlife or not. Perhaps the knot in his heart had been undone, or perhaps the painted had gone to visit Fan Yu after he snuck out from the door. Anything was possible because the painter was an entity that Chen Ge could not understand.

    ¡°Actually, I am here for something else.¡± Chen Ge followed the teacher into the building. He put the umbre away and took out the picture from his backpack. ¡°Do you mind leading me to the headmaster at the children¡¯s home? I have something important to ask him.¡±

    ¡°The headmaster has left already. You can ask me any question that you have in mind. There is nothing at this children¡¯s home that I do not know about.¡±

    ¡°The thing that I wish to know is from ten years ago. At the time, this children¡¯s home was still a private orphanage. At the time, you would¡¯ve been at school, right?¡±

    ¡°Ten years ago?¡± The teacher thought about it before saying, ¡°How about you go and ask the guard? He¡¯s the employee that has been on the payroll the longest. He has been watching the gates since this ce was a private orphanage.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge invited the guard into the room, and he passed the picture to the old man. ¡°Do you have any memory of this boy?¡±

    ¡°He does not even have a face. How am I supposed to tell?¡± The guard took the picture and ced it close to his eyes, his wrinkles folding together. ¡°Besides, who can remember things that are from ten years ago that clearly?¡±

    ¡°Try to think about it. At the time, the orphanage should have had a girl with very bad memory. This boy should be the girl¡¯s best friend.¡±

    Hearing the information provided by Chen Ge, the wrinkles on the elder¡¯s face deepened. He thought for a long time before suddenly tapping Chen Ge on his arm. ¡°There was such a girl! Let me take a gander at that picture again!¡±

    The guard held the picture by both hands and studied it for a long time. ¡°I cannot remember the boy, but I have some recollections of the girl that you mentioned. She was abandoned by her parents when she was very young. Apparently, the reason was because she had a congenital deficiency of the brain. She had a poor memory and problems doing normal chores, and her intelligence was stunted.¡±

    ¡°Congenital deficiency of the brain?¡± That was a new term for Chen Ge.

    ¡°That was what I heard. The girl was quite pretty, and she was obedient, but she kept forgetting things. Many other children were adopted, but she was the only one left at the orphanage.¡± Looks like the elder¡¯s memory was being jogged. ¡°From the age two to around ten, she had spent more than ten years at the orphanage. Perhaps she missed the crucial period to cure her disease. The girl¡¯s illness and symptoms became graver and graver.

    ¡°Initially, she could remember the names of her friends and teachers, and with the teacher¡¯s training, she could not only live on herself but also help around the orphanage. Even though the girl had a bad memory, but she was very hardworking. She neverined when she was bullied, so the orphanage ignored the problems and allowed her to stay to help around.

    ¡°But who knew her conditions would get worse until she could not recognize people¡¯s faces anymore? All she could do was the basics to keep herself alive, and anything else was beyond her capability. She was already too old, and she was no help around the orphanage. In fact, she needed other people to spend time to help her. Slowly, the people¡¯s attitudes toward her changed.

    ¡°The children at the private orphanage were all still young, so she stood out even if she did not want to. After that, I do not know what got into the boss¡¯ mind. He knew that the girl had problems with her memory, but he assigned her to watch the gates with me. The leader said that was so that she had something to do, and she would not waste the ce¡¯s resources, but I have a feeling that the real intention of the leader was to abandon her. He probably even hoped that she would go away on her own and get lost.¡±

    At this point, the elder sighed.

    ¡°Hope that she would go away and get lost? How could you tell that was the leader¡¯s intention at the time?¡± If that was really the case, everything changed. Chen Ge felt like Fang Yu¡¯s change started then.

    ¡°The management kept sending me away to distant locations to deliver documents. I would run all over the city, and she would be left behind alone to watch the gates. There was one time after I returned that I realized the girl wasn¡¯t inside the booth or the house. I ran all over the orphanage and its surroundings to look for her, and I finally found her under a big tree near the mountain behind the orphanage. At the time, I was so angry. I demanded to know why she wandered away from her post. She told me that she saw a kite that flew very high in the sky.

    ¡°I was so scared for her. Thankfully, the kite ended up stuck in the tree and did not fly away.¡± Even after so many years, when the elder thought about it, he still sighed withmentation. The girl had left a deep impression on him.

    ¡°Sir, when the girl was guarding the gates with you, did any boyse to apany her or treat her very nicely?¡±

    ¡°No, she was always alone.¡±

    ¡°This is hard.¡± Chen Ge looked at the picture in his hands and thought back to what he was told to find any clues that he might have missed. ¡°Sir, when you said that Fang Yu got lost the first time, she saw a kite and ran after it. But ording to her personality, she was not someone who would do that, so why did she chase after the kite after she saw it? Did she like kites a lot? Could the kite have been some kind of symbol for her?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re making this to be tooplicated.¡± The elder was about to deny him when his eyes suddenly widened. ¡°Wait a minute! Yes! The kite! There was a boy at the orphanage who was very close to Fang Yu. The boy was such a chatterbox. I believed he suffered from some kind of illness as well. He had a tendency to repeat the same thing. It was fine the first few times, but hearing him repeat the same thing every day would drive anyone nuts.¡±

    ¡°So, it was the boy who found Fang Yu?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Fang Yu has a bad memory, and she would forget what the boy repeated the next day. Every day was like a new day for her.¡± With the prompt from Chen Ge, the guard finally started to remember things from back then. ¡°The two of them should have been friends, but they had different destinies. As Fang Yu got older, her illness worsened, but the boy¡¯s illness became better as he got older. But even after the boy became normal, he liked to stay with Fang Yu. He was three years older than Fang Yu, and whenever anyone dared to bully Fang Yu, he would be the first one to defend her.¡±

    ¡°But what does that have to do with a kite, and where is that boy now?¡± Chen Ge had a feeling that the ghost he was looking for was that boy.

    ¡°I cannot remember which year it was, but that year, the teachers took the children from the orphanage for a spring outing. They were flying kites at the dam in Eastern Jiujiang. The boy and Fang Yu¡¯s kites both got lost in the woods. They both went searching for it, but the boy got lost, and we only found Fang Yu, who¡¯d fainted.¡±

    ¡°The boy got lost?¡± Chen Ge frowned. If the boy had gotten lost, his trail might have gone cold.

    ¡°After Fang Yu woke up, we asked her what happened. She said that she and the boy went into the woods to find the kites. They saw a path that led to a house that was surrounded by flowers, and theughter of many children came from inside it. The kites dropped on the fence of the house. When they reached for the kites, a group of unknown kids came to grab them, wishing to drag them into the house. At thest moment, the boy pushed Fang Yu out of the way before he was dragged through the door, and he closed the door from the inside.¡±

    The elder¡¯s words might not have meant anything to other people, but it was different for Chen Ge. He had been to the little house with flowers next to the Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s Dam before!

    At the time, he had been studying at primary school, and it was the first year anniversary after he moved from Eastern Jiujiang to Western Jiujiang. His parents had forbidden him from going to Eastern Jiujiang, but that day was an exception because it was a school field trip. It was at the Eastern Jiujiang Dam, and it was the same house with the flowers and childrenughter inside the woods.

    Chen Ge managed to survive that ordeal was thanks to the doll that he had made, which he carried with him at the time. Director Luo¡¯s daughter was living inside the doll, and she was now New Century Park¡¯s guardian spirit.

    ¡°It should be the same ce!¡± Chen Ge did not expect Fang Yu and the boy to have been to that ce as well. Their past had somehow crossed his own past.

    The object that I have drawn this time does not appear to be that simple. Chen Ge picked up the backpack, but he did not act rashly. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, I still need one more thing from you.¡±

    ¡°Say it.¡± The teacher had a good impression of Chen Ge. She believed that Chen Ge was a very kind and loving person.

    ¡°Can you find me the information on the boy? I have a date here. I believe it is his birthday.¡± Chen Ge turned the picture around. The date written on the back was December 21st.

    ¡°I will try my best, but please don¡¯t get your hopes up.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for your help.¡± After saying goodbye to the teacher and the old guard, he opened the umbre, swung the backpack over his shoulder, and ran out of the children¡¯s home.

    It is not toote to take revenge for the incident that happened to my primary school self.

    He did not stop for rest. He hailed a cab to Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s Dam.

    Whenever Ie to this kind of isted ce, the weather is horrible. It¡¯s either raining or howling with winds.

    The taxi drove away quickly after dropping Chen Ge off outside the dam. He walked by the roadside for a long time with the umbre. The memory of his childhood was blurry, but thankfully, the surroundings had not changed that much. The dam water rippled quickly, and the rain pelted his body. The surroundings were dark, but thanks to his Yin Yang Vision, even without a light, he could see clearly, and it appeared like Chen Ge had melted into the darkness.

    I remember walking into these woods.

    Chen Ge had no idea what had happened around the dam for the past decade, but this ce had gotten even more deserted than before. The few locals that stayed here had moved away, and the woods had expanded to cover the mountain.

    Activating the recorder and flipping through theic to summon the headless woman and the boy with the stench, Chen Ge finally made his trek into the woods.

    The raindrops fell on the leaves, and it created a rhythmic sound in Chen Ge¡¯s ears. The world inside the woods seemed to be a different worldpared to outside.

    Not too far into the woods, Xu Yin appeared silently beside Chen Ge. Chen Ge did not call his name, but he appeared on his own. This meant that he had sensed something dangerous, and the thing could have killed Chen Ge before he had the chance to appear. There was nothing strange around them, but the few Red Specters acted strangely, like the danger was hidden around them.

    The leaves danced in the wind, and the rain slid down the leaf veins. Chen Ge walked for quite a while in the woods until he lost track of the passage of time. The deeper he went into the woods, the lower the temperature and the quieter it became. Xu Yin led the group. Red blood mixed with the rain. He moved away the rotten branches, and a well-beaten path appeared before them.

    Wilted flowers ran down both sides of the path, and at the end of the road, a gray little house could be seen through the gaps in the trees.

    ¡°When I was small, I came here with my own handmade doll. You didn¡¯t kill me, only heavily injured the doll. I have always been a fair person. Today, I will not kill you, but I will beat you to yourst breath and then take you away in theic.¡±

    In the raining night, the few Red Specters followed behind Chen Ge as they moved quietly forward. ¡°Not everyone can discover this ce. If not for Xu Yin leading the way, I probably wouldn¡¯t have found it so quick.¡±

    As he approached the little house, Chen Ge¡¯s memory started to ovep with real life. What he had forgotten surfaced in his mind, and his memory had never been so clear before.

    ¡°Be careful.¡± He had almost been killed there, so Chen Ge could not be more careful. At the same time, though, he felt as if he was getting closer to the truth. The fence of the house was toppled over, and moss grew over it. There were many empty vases left in the yard. The vases were interesting. They were the same size, and they would fit the skull of an adult perfectly.

    Other than the vases, there were some toys left outside in the yard. There was a broken wooden horse, a rusted seesaw, and a swing missing a rope.

 Chapter 983 - Monster Carrying the Altar

    <h4>Chapter 983: Monster Carrying the Altar</h4>

    ¡°This ce seems to have been abandoned for a long time already.¡±

    It was a good thing that it was abandoned. That meant that no children would be harmed again.

    Walking down the muddy path, Chen Ge pushed open the door of the gray house. A horrible stench rushed out from inside the house. Chen Ge¡¯s nostrils twitched. He stood at the door and did not go in. ¡°I once smelled this in Li Wan City. It¡¯s a very unique smell and hard to describe. It is not as thick as the smell of decay, but it contains a chill to it as if after you suck it into your lungs, your whole body will shiver.¡±

    Using his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge looked into the room. Most of the furniture had been destroyed, and the floor was littered with broken tes and torn children clothes.

    ¡°This house didn¡¯t look like this at the beginning.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the dpidated room, but another image appeared in his mind. It was this same room, but it was surrounded by theughter of children. Light blue and light pink wallpaper was pasted on the walls. The table was not high, and it was filled with toys and delicious food.

    ¡°Has the ghost who once stayed here left?¡±

    Chen Ge was about to walk into the room when his phone suddenly vibrated. The caller ID showed an unknown caller.

    ¡°I have both Inspector Lee and Captain Yan¡¯s numbers, so this should not be the police. Who would call me at this moment?¡±

    He epted the call, and a boy¡¯s voice came through the line. ¡°Chen Ge, when will you bring me home?¡±

    ¡°Fan Yu?¡± Chen Ge was confounded.

    ¡°Mr. Chen, it¡¯s me. We just met not long ago.¡± Another familiar voice appeared. It was the teacher from the Children¡¯s Home. ¡°Fan Yu, let me talk to Mr. Chen for a moment.¡±

    ¡°Did you discover something?¡± Chen Ge had left his number with the Children¡¯s Home, so he was not surprised that they would contact him. But Fan Yu, who did not like to speak, voluntarily called him by his name. Other than surprise, he was quite happy.

    ¡°We found something huge. All the files and medical treatment files before the Children¡¯s Home was taken over by the government were locked inside the warehouse. We searched for information rted to Fang Yu, and we realized that the information about a child in their ss was missing.¡±

    ¡°The information for one of the children is lost?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s like his presence has been wiped out. You might not believe this, but ording to the research we¡¯ve done, there is always one person missing in the total count. In the ss picture, there is a boy¡¯s face that is blurred out, just like the picture that you showed us!¡± The teacher had given Chen Ge a valuable hint. ¡°I just called a few seniors who worked at the orphanage back then, and everyone remember this chatty boy. They all know about him, but no one can remember what he looks like.¡±

    ¡°Everyone has forgotten what he looks like?¡±

    ¡°Not only his looks, even his name and age.¡±

    ¡°Other than that, did you find any other clues?¡±

    ¡°I heard from one of the seniors that the boy used to be very chatty when he was young, and he slowly became normal after he grew up. Everyone thought that he had gotten better, but that was not the case.¡± The teacher had revealed another secret. ¡°His illness had actually gotten more serious. But after he grew old, he was wise enough to understand that people did not like when he ran his mouth off, so he tried so hard to suppress his nature.

    ¡°The senior once saw that the boy would often run to an unupied corner and talk to himself like he was unloading the words that he couldn¡¯t say before others. Other than that, he formed the habit of keeping a diary. She once stole a look at it, and the diary was filled to the brim with words, but none of them made any sense. It was impossible to tell what the boy was trying to express.¡±

    ¡°Is it possible to find that diary?¡±

    ¡°That will be hard. I¡¯ll try to make some more calls. If I find anything, I¡¯ll call you back.¡±

    The teacher hung up. Chen Ge stood at the door and looked at the house that was different from how he remembered. ¡°No one can remember his name and looks. Why is that?¡±

    Almost everyone had forgotten him except Fang Yu, who had the poorest memory. She had been looking for him. After entering the room, the smell thickened. The first floor was for the children to y, so Chen Ge did not find anything there. With Xu Yin by his side, he climbed to the second floor. When he came to the wooden steps, Chen Ge covered his nose. The unique smell came from the second floor.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go up together.¡± The wooden steps had been built many years ago. They creaked noisily when he walked up them, and it felt like the stairs would crumble at any moment. As they moved up the steps, Chen Ge realized that the steps started to have words carved into them. They appeared to be dug out with bloody fingernails.

    ¡°Fang Yu?¡±

    The handwriting on the steps became more intense. When Chen Ge reached the second floor, his eyes widened, and he was stumped. The floor, ceiling, walls¡ªevery crook and corner was filled with the name ¡®Fang Yu¡¯.

    At that moment, not far from Chen Ge was a man who was lying on the ground, using his bloody finger to grate at the ground.

    He was so fully focused that he did not notice Chen Ge. He was kneeling on the ground, carrying an altar on his back.

    The altar looked simr to the one that he had seen at the futuristic theme park, but the mud statuette inside this altar was not decapitated. Furthermore, it did not have Chen Ge¡¯s name, but instead, it was covered in Fang Yu¡¯s name.

 Chapter 984 - Special Power

    <h4>Chapter 984: Special Power</h4>

    ¡°Be careful of the altar he¡¯s carrying.¡± The altar from the futuristic theme park had appeared again. Chen Ge seriously suspected that there were more altars hidden around Eastern Jiujiang. ¡°A Specter beyond the Red Specter is a Demon God. I can understand building an altar for one, but why would they ce a mud statuette inside the altars?¡±

    The mud statuettes should have been made by the same person. The handicraft was rough, like they were made by children, and the shape of a human was barely discernable.

    ¡°Altar, statuette, who is behind all this? They seem to be targeting children. Is there a ghost that specifically feeds off children in this world?¡±

    When Chen Ge was thinking, the man kneeling on the ground finally noticed him. The hand stopped moving, and he slowly turned his face to reveal a featureless face. It was like a piece of white paper that had nothing on it. On a rainy night, in a room carved with names, a faceless monster knelt, guarding an altar. If not for Xu Yin, Chen Ge would have run away when the man lifted his head.

    Since there was no face, Chen Ge could not tell his emotions and could not predict his next move. The monster had no ears, so Chen Ge could not tell whether he could hear him or not. The monster had no mouth, so the most basicmunication was impossible.

    After a temporarily pause, the monster suddenly pushed his hands against the ground and charged at Chen Ge on all fours.

    ¡°Xu Yin!¡± Even before the order from Chen Ge, Xu Yin had already stepped in front of Chen Ge. His upper body leaned forward, and ck capiries appeared on the back of his hand as he held the monster¡¯s head back. de-like fingers cut into the monster¡¯s face. The skin was cut through, but no blood leaked out. ck threads crawled out from the monster¡¯s wound and curled around Xu Yin¡¯s fair hand.

    ¡°A curse?¡± Each thread was marked with a wailing human face. This was simr to what Chen Ge had seen when he encountered the shadow in Li Wan City.

    ¡°Such a venomous curse hid under a pure, featureless face. I should have known that the evilest spirit would often hide under the purest appearance.¡±

    Xu Yin was not familiar with dealing with curses, but Chen Ge had one Specter who was. He took out the pair of red heels from his backpack and ced them on the ground.

    ¡°You seem to feed on curses. Give this one a taste. See if it matches your appetite.¡±

    Keeping the headless woman by his side, Chen Ge did not give the faceless monster any chance. He summoned Xu Yin, the red high heel, and the stench at the same time. Surrounded by three Red Specters, the faceless monster was immediately cornered. Threads of blood vessels covered the space around him like spiderweb, but they were as sharp as a de.

    The web surrounded the monster, and if he tried to move, his body would be shredded into pieces. That did not mean that the monster had surrendered, though. He did not seem to possess self-consciousness and would not feel pain or sadness. Even though the wounds on his body increased, he continued to attack the three Red Specters.

    ¡°This man is not a Red Specter, but he is surprisingly tough. He appears to have been given some kind ofmand to guard the altar.¡± Chen Ge had interacted with so many Specters that he spotted the problem immediately. ¡°Ignore him for now. Take down the altar, but be careful to not break the mud statuette inside it.¡±

    When the target changed from the monster to the altar, the house started to change. The names carved in the building started to bleed, and in just a few second, the whole second floor was dyed red. The smell in the air thickened, and the monster started to struggle. He tried to tear through the web of blood vessels, causing his body to be covered in ghastly wounds.

    Endless ck threads seeped out from the wounds and gathered together to wrap around the altar like a tongue. Chen Ge thought that he would have an easy win with four Red Specters, but as time moved forward, things became moreplicated. The curses all rushed toward the red high heels. As the number of wounds on the monster increased, the curse that came out from his body became scarier.

    The red high heel that was covered in bandages became the monster¡¯s main attack target. If that was all, Chen Ge would not have minded it. The curse of the entire second floor could only stop the red high heels. Xu Yin, the stench, and the headless woman were not targeted by the curse. With three Red Specters on his side, Chen Ge would still win. The difference between a baleful Specter and Red Specter could not be ovee. Even for Yan Danian, who could control many Specters at the same time, he was only a Lesser Red Specter.

    Soon, however, Chen Ge realized that something was wrong.

    The stench and Xu Yin that attacked the faceless man were getting weird, and the headless woman next to him was acting strange as well!

    The stench of blood thickened. Other than the red high heels, the three Red Specters stopped hiding their bloody presence and show off their bloodiest side.

    ¡°Is there danger around us? Have they sensed something dangerous?¡±

    The room was still the same. With Ghost Ear, Yin Yang Vision, and Spirit Ear, Chen Ge was sure that there was nothinging toward them. They were the only ones there.

    ¡°Why would they act this way if there¡¯s no danger?¡± After staying for some time at the haunted house, these Red Specters would hide their natural presence out of habit. They would try to forget about their past pain and despair and used a new method to apany Chen Ge. Of course, this had not been achieved overnight. It was done step by step with Chen Ge, building mutual trust. But now, the trust appeared to have been severed by something, and the most precious thing had been shattered.

    A chill ran down his spine. The way the headless woman looked at Chen Ge became confused. Red and pale colors twirled in her eyes. Something was influencing her, causing her to forget who Chen Ge was. If it was not Chen Ge standing before her but a normal person, what would she have done? What would a normal Red Specter suffering from endless despair do in that moment?

    The answer was quite clear. Chen Ge tried tomunicate with the headless woman, trying to help her keep her sense, but the effect wascking. The headless woman was staying far away from the faceless monster and the altar, so she was not affected that much, but Xu Yin and the stench who were reaching to take out the statuette were different. Their conditions were worse. Ghastly faces appeared on their bloody clothes, and the two Red Specters were on the edge of going on a rampage.

    ¡°This monster has a power that can affect Red Specters?¡± Chen Ge had not experienced this before. Even Yan Danian, who was recognized by the ck phone to be the strongest Specter under the Red Specters, could not influence a Red Specter that much.

    ¡°The consciousness of these three Red Specters has been affected. The faceless monster¡¯s power can influence a Red Specter¡¯s consciousness, huh? No, based on the situation with the headless woman, the way she looked at me turned unfamiliar, like she had forgotten who I am!¡± Chen Ge felt unsettled, and a spection surfaced in his mind. ¡°The monster¡¯s power allows him to dilute certain memories?¡±

 Chapter 985 - The Second Mud Statuette

    <h4>Chapter 985: The Second Mud Statuette</h4>

    The reason Chen Ge could think of that was due to Fang Yu. As Fang Yu grew older, her memory became worse.

    ¡°The monster¡¯s power should be rted to memory. With the aid from the altar and the curse, his power gained some sort of improvement.¡± Chen Ge found the key immediately. ¡°All the curses in the room rushed toward the red high heels. So, it¡¯s clear that he knew his power is weakest on the red high heels, but why would the red high heels be immune to his power? Does this mean his power is a kind of curse itself?¡±

    Regardless of the reason, Chen Ge knew that he could not allow this to drag on any longer. The man gave everything to protect the altar, so if Chen Ge wanted to turn this around, he had to target the altar.

    ¡°Xu Yin! Remove the altar from the man!¡±

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice, the pain in Xu Yin¡¯s eyes intensified. He forced himself to grab at the edge of the altar, but once his handnded on the altar, something unexpected happened. The mud statuette inside the altar suddenly opened its eyes. The death characters inside the altar started to bleed, and the statuette¡¯s chest area where the name Fang Yu was carved started to crack.

    When the statuette opened its eyes, other than the red high heels, all the other Red Specters became more crazed. They seemed to be reliving their despair, reexperiencing that painful memory. Wounds appeared on Xu Yin¡¯s clothes like a de was trying to split him in half. The headless woman held her neck like there was an invisible gash around her neck. The worst was the boy with the stench. His body kept growing, and his eyes were filled with ck blood. The conditions of the three Red Specters became more serious. This was out of Chen Ge¡¯s expectations.

    ¡°Only a Demon God should be able to wipe away the memory of three Red Specters at the same time. This monster¡¯s ability affects memories, and with the aid of the mud statuette inside the altar, he is able to wipe away Red Specters¡¯ memory temporarily.¡±

    Even at this moment, Chen Ge kept hisposure.

    ¡°This effect should be temporary. When he stops using his power or when the mud statuette inside the altar is destroyed, the Red Specters will recover their memories.¡±

    The memory wipe was temporary, but even so, it ced Chen Ge in a dangerous situation. Red Specters who were reliving their hatred and despair might kill Chen Ge directly!

    ¡°The monster¡¯s power is getting stronger, and the condition of Xu Yin and the rest is getting worse.¡±

    Chen Ge had two choices. The first was to wait. The statuette had started to crack. This power was cing a lot of burden on the statuette. When the statuette crumbled, the monster¡¯s power would be neutralized, but this choice was basically handing his life over to others. Chen Ge did not like that, so he chose the second option, which was to find way to remove the mud statuette from the altar himself.

    ¡°I regret not bringing the hammer with me. After a few days¡¯ peace, I¡¯ve be too careless. I must learn from this.¡± The second choice was dangerous, but Chen Ge decided to take this risk. Be it Xu Yin, the Stench, or the headless woman, they were Chen Ge¡¯s family. Seeing them in such pain, Chen Ge felt like he had to do something.

    ¡°I have gone through so much to help them see the light in this world, and you wish for them to forget that?¡±

    Chen Ge did not want the Red Specters to relive the worst periods of their lives. He used his Yin Yang Vision to follow the trace of the ck threads.

    ¡°All the curses are going after the red high heels. There is no curse between the stench and Xu Yin, and the monster is pressed to the ground, so he shouldn¡¯t be able to attack me. The inside of the altar is filled with the word ¡®death¡¯. The statuette is stained with some ck blood. I must stay away from these two things.¡± Chen Ge looked into the altar that was open. ¡°If I knock into the altar from the side, perhaps I can knock it off the monster or knock the statuette out from inside the altar.¡±

    If this continued, even if one Red Specter went on a rampage, Chen Ge might be injured in the process. He had to take this risk before the Red Specters¡¯ memory waspletely removed.

    Taking one step forward, Chen Ge suddenly picked up speed to rush toward the altar. Before he made the next move, the monster pressed onto the ground suddenly raised his wounded face. Seeing that faceless face, Chen Ge was confounded for a moment, but he snapped out of it. He rammed heavily into the altar. The statuette inside the altar teetered. The altar was much heavier than Chen Ge had anticipated. He failed to tip the altar over.

    A thick scent of blood mixed with a horrible stench drifted over. A giant hand slowly rose, and the boy who had grown several times in size set his eyes on Chen Ge. Chen Ge appeared in his blood red eyes, butpelled by pain and anger, the Chen Ge in his eyes slowly changed into an unfamiliar middle-aged man.

    ¡°Father... don¡¯t hit me! Don¡¯t hit me! Don¡¯t hit me!¡± The raised arm mmed toward Chen Ge¡¯s head. A man¡¯s dried skull appeared in the middle of the pain. The Red Specter moved too fast, so Chen Ge did not have the chance to evade. The hand grewrger in his eyes when a figure suddenly stood before him.

    Bang!

    Blood spurted everywhere. Ten fingers as sharp as a de cut off the stench¡¯s hand from his wrist.

    ¡°Is it painful?¡± Thenky Xu Yin lowered his arms. The wounds on his body werepletely open. His face was twisted from pain, and there was only madness and despair in his eyes. He had lost his sanity, but even so, he knew to protect Chen Ge. Without moving an inch, the red heart in his chest kept beating. Many blood vessels bloomed inside the room like a flower in the middle of a nightmare.

    Suppression! Absolute suppression that belonged to Xu Yin!

    There was a crisp sound that came from inside the altar. Perhaps due to Xu Yin¡¯s resistance, there was a clear crack that crossed through the statuette. Chen Ge did not expect Xu Yin to still guard him even after he had lost his memory. Perhaps from a certain moment, he had be the only person that Xu Yin could trust in this world. Not wanting to lose this opportunity, Chen Ge rammed into the altar again.

    The cracked statuette fell into the altar¡¯s door, and that seemed to affect the death characters on the wall. The headless woman who was the furthest away was the first to recover her memory. She remembered Chen Ge¡¯s earlier request. She blinked to appear before the altar and took the statuette out from it.

    The moment the statuette left the altar, all the characters in the room returned to normal. The curse that surrounded the red high heels started to disperse.

    The headless woman held the mud statuette. The faceless monster struggled on the ground, but all his limbs were pulled off by Xu Yin.

    The boy also returned to normal. The broken hand dissolved into blood vessels. Looking at his new arm, there was regret in his eyes. As if to show his apology, the boy picked up the monster from the ground. He was about to kill the man when he saw that there was another face hidden under the monster¡¯s wounded face.

    The face was wreathed inside the curse. His eyes were screwed shut, and his expression was pained.

    ¡°Slow down. Can you guys remove the man from the curse wrapped around him?¡±

 Chapter 986 - Sheâ€™s Forgotten Her Name, But She Hasnâ€™t Forgotten You

    <h4>Chapter 986: She¡¯s Forgotten Her Name, But She Hasn¡¯t Forgotten You</h4>

    The most dangerous thing in the room was the mud statuette. Now that it was in the headless woman¡¯s clutches, there was no victory chance for the man. The faceless monster had almost killed Chen Ge even though he was under the protection of four Red Specters. Yes, the altar and statuette had yed a big factor, but it also proved how powerful the faceless man¡¯s own power was. He could wipe away certain memory, and if used wisely, it coulde in handy for Chen Ge.

    Specters with such power are very rare, and the crucial point is that he¡¯s not a Red Specter. Should he be one, his power will only get scarier.

    From how Chen Ge saw it, if Yan Danian was the most powerful Specter under Red Specters, the faceless man would be the second most powerful.

    The Specters that I draw from the wheel are getting better in quality.

    After consuming the remaining curse, the red high heels and the stench worked together to pull the man out from the faceless monster¡¯s shell. There were cursed threads stuck to his body like he had been stuck inside a cocoon of curses earlier. When all the threads disappeared, the man copsed to the ground. He was thin and did not look too old. In fact, he looked like he had just reached puberty.

    ¡°Can you understand me?¡± Chen Ge squatted next to the man. After the man was cleansed of the curse, his body faded like he could disappear at any moment. ¡°I did note to save you out of pure sympathy; I¡¯m here on someone¡¯s behalf.¡±

    The man kept his eyes closed like he had head this speech before. He used to being made a fool, and he had given up hope.

    ¡°It¡¯s Fang Yu who told me toe find you. She tattooed your name all over her body, and she visits the city park every night, sitting on the bench to wait for you.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice became louder. ¡°Now that the park is getting demolished,st night should be thest time she could go there to wait for you.¡±

    The man¡¯s expression did not change too much, but his eyelids fluttered.

    ¡°Fang Yu¡¯s condition is getting worse. Perhaps before she dies, her biggest wish is to see you onest time. She has many things she wants to tell you. You are her best and only friend.¡±

    Chen Ge did not know which sentence finally cut through the man. Perhaps it was the mention of Fang Yu potentially dying. The eyelids twitched before the man finally opened his eyes. His pupils were incredibly unique; they were like a cat¡¯s. There were two vertical lines in the middle of his pupils. Look at them too long, and he might be sucked into them.

    ¡°Fang Yu, Fang Yu...¡± Repeating that name, the man slowly returned to normal. After so many years, perhaps it was this name that had kept his spirit lingering. After a long time, the man lifted his head to look at Chen Ge, with his lips moving. ¡°She has not forgotten me? Once she remembers me, the person will go find her. That is the curse that person left on me.¡±

    ¡°Her memory is horrible, but even if she has forgotten her own name, she hasn¡¯t forgotten you.¡±

    It was a simple statement without any embellishment. After Chen Ge said that, the man lowered his head slowly and closed his eyes again.

    ¡°For this past ten years, she has been reliving the day that you left, she experiences the same pain every day. Even if you don¡¯t do this for yourself, at least do it for you. Do you really think your choice is best for her?¡± Chen Ge sat next to the man. He kept the man alive because he believed that the man¡¯s power was very unique. However, he also wanted to take him to meet Fang Yu.

    ¡°I am protecting her. A dangerous Specter has his eyes on Fang Yu! You don¡¯t understand how scary he is. You don¡¯t get it...¡±

    ¡°Is that Specter a shapeless shadow?¡± Chen Ge paid attention because the man was giving information about the altar.

    ¡°He is like a person¡¯s shadow, but he can grow, and he has a physical body. The crucial thing is that he¡¯s despairingly strong.¡± The many on the ground, and tirednessced through his voice. ¡°The man is looking for a suitable candidate to possess their body. When I was ying with Fang Yu, Fang Yu often heard someone calling her name. The voice came from the eastern side. Initially, I didn¡¯t mind it until the day we went to y at the Eastern Jiujiang Dam. Fang Yu heard the voice again. She seemed to have lost herself. She kept walking into the jungle, and I followed behind her.

    ¡°Then we saw this house. The door opened, and there were many children inside staring at us with scary smiles. I felt that something was wrong, so I dragged Fang Yu away, but she seemed frozen to the spot, and both of us were pulled into the house. At the time, I didn¡¯t think too much of it. At thest moment, I pushed Fang Yu out and mmed the door shut.¡±

 Chapter 987 - A Bright Choice [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 987: A Bright Choice [2 in 1]</h4>

    The man¡¯s body was fading like his spirit was leaving. He was not long for this world. It was only a matter of time before his spirit dispersed into nothingness.

    ¡°My nightmare started then. The house was surrounded by fresh flowers and filled withughter, but it was really a house of nightmares. We were all the shadow¡¯s ymates, but everyone¡¯sughter was forced. The shadow nted the curse on everyone, but since I let Fang Yu go, he hated me a lot, and for that, he nted many curses on me. I suffered more pain than anyone else but that also made me stronger than the rest. In a way, the shadow didn¡¯t act like a Specter. He was in fact growing like a real person.

    ¡°Eventually, he stopped having any use for imaginary friends. What he needed was a guardian. He ughtered all his previous ¡®family¡¯ because he only needed one survivor.

    ¡°After surviving the most pain and curses, I was thest ¡®survivor¡¯, the shadow seemed to like that a lot. At the time, I didn¡¯t know why, butter, I realized that it was all part of his n. The shadow kepting and going until the day he brought this altar.¡±

    The man nced behind him. ¡°There was a mud statuette inside it, and it had Fang Yu¡¯s name on it. When I saw her name, I had a bad feeling. I needed to leave this ce and tell Fang Yu to leave Jiujiang, but everything was within the shadow¡¯s calctions. He purposely let me get close to Fang Yu so that the curse could be nted on her and her body could be made into his.¡±

    The man¡¯s words surprised Chen Ge. That was something Chen Ge did not expect. ¡°The shadow wanted to turn Fang Yu into his own body?¡±

    ¡°Yes, there appeared to be something else inside his body. The thing possessed his memory and emotions. He seemed like he wanted to use Fang Yu¡¯s body to nurture that thing.¡±

    ¡°A ghost fetus?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I think I heard the shadow mention something like that.¡± This time, it was the man¡¯s turn to get shocked. ¡°How is it possible that you know that?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to know how I know that. Just keep on telling your story.¡± Chen Ge kept his focus sharp and pointed. He refused to miss even the smallest word. This was the chance that he was given to get as much information as he could on the shadow and the ghost fetus.

    ¡°The shadow appeared to be being chased by someone or something, but as he continued to grow, he stopped caring about those things that had been chasing him. Of the entire Jiujiang, there was one ce that he did not dare to go¡ªWestern Jiujiang.¡±

    The more Chen Ge listened to the man¡¯s story, the more he felt like the shadow in the story was the shadow that he had encountered in Li Wan City. But the shadow in the man¡¯s story still had not separated himself from the ghost fetus, and his power was at its prime.

    ¡°The shadow searched all over Jiujiang and found nine altars in total. The one behind me is one of them. The nine altars contain nine mud statuettes that he personally made with his own hands. Each mud statuette rtes to one person. Each represents one of his bodies.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute, I do not think I get what you are saying. What do you mean by each mud statuette represents one of his bodies? Does it mean that I will have killed the shadow if I manage to destroy all the mud statuettes?¡± Chen Ge now had found three altars. There were two altars inside the futuristic theme park, but one of them did not contain a mud statuette, so that was probably a fake. They probably made a replica of the altar from the real altar that the shadow or someone from the management at the futuristic theme park had moved into the Reincarnation Haunted House.

    ¡°I have no idea what will happen after you destroy all of the mud statuettes, but I would advise you not to do that. The shadow is different from any other Specter. You won¡¯t be able to kill him. No one is able to kill him.¡± The man did not hold back any information. After all, he had nothing to lose. He was going to die from the curse that the shadow had nted on his body. He told Chen Ge everything he knew. ¡°I have been carrying this altar for many years. Eventually, I noticed that the shadow left his presence on the altar, like the altar is an extension of the shadow itself. I suspect that the shadow is using the altars to have the mud statuettes inside them get used to his presence so that it will be more convenient for him to attach the ghost fetus to the candidates.¡±

    His voice was getting softer and softer, his breath getting ever weaker. ¡°This altar used to be very scary, but some time ago, I don¡¯t know what happened to the shadow, but the presence around the altar suddenly weakened, and it became a lot more normal.¡± This period that the man mentioned should be around the time when Chen Ge cooperated with Doctor Gao to deal with the shadow in Li Wan City.

    Looks like the shadow¡¯s death has caused a certain influence on the ghost fetus.

    Chen Ge stood up and looked into the altar. The inside walls of the altar had the word ¡®Death¡¯ carved all over then, but different from the altars at the futuristic theme park, there were nine blood soaked paper dolls stuffed inside this altar at the old house.

    ¡°Yet another nine paper dolls?¡± There was nothing on the paper dolls. They had no names, and they all looked about the same. ¡°Nine altars, nine mud statuettes, and nine paper dolls. What is the ghost fetus nning to do with all these?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s brows creased in thought. He tried to put himself in the shoes of the ghost fetus and see things from his perspective. ¡°If I were the ghost fetus, at the most important moment when I¡¯m about to reincarnate into a living person, I will ensure that there is no interruption from the outside world...¡±

    Chen Ge felt like he had touched upon an important clue, but he did not have the time to figure it out because the man on the ground was about to fade away. Chen Ge turned his focus back to the man and tried his best to help him.

    ¡°You do not need to care about me. Just leave me be. The shadow¡¯s curse still lingers on my body. When I exposed this information to you, it was destined that I would fade away and die.¡± The man seemed to have epted his fate. ¡°I thought I would surrender to the curse in the end, would be forced to do something that would harm Fang Yu, but this... this is the best ending that I could have hoped for.¡±

    ¡°You have injured both me and my employees, and now you wish to leave just like that? Do you think that is possible? Do you think I will allow that to happen?¡± Chen Ge had the red high heels look after the man and help him pull out the curse from his body little by little. ¡°There are people who still remember you in this world. You are her anchor that attaches her to this world, so no matter what, you have to go and meet her.¡±

    ¡°As I told you earlier, I cannot!¡± The man¡¯s attitude suddenly changed. Some fight had returned to the man. ¡°The moment she remembers anything about me, the shadow will trigger the curse that he has been nted on both of us, and she will die!¡±

    The man was very adamant about this. His protectiveness over Fang Yu was probably what had kept him going for so long under the shadow¡¯s torture and the curse that was nted on him.

    ¡°I told you earlier, the shadow tricked me. When I saw Fang Yu¡¯s name on the mud statuette, I sneaked out to find Fang Yu. I am a ghost. Being under the sun is like jumping into a pit of fire, but to suppress the curse on my body from harming her, I insisted on meeting her during the day. The orphanage was no longer safe; the entire Jiujiang was not safe. She had to leave.

    ¡°I knew about what had happened to her, and I knew how difficult it will be for her to just get up and leave, so I tried my best to teach her how to survive on her own, how to live independently without relying on anyone else. I taught her to sew everything that she needed to do daily on her clothes. I tried to make her cultivate the habit of putting her wallet, ID, and contact number into her pocket before she slept. Everything I did, I did so that she could survive just fine without me. But I did not expect that was exactly what the shadow expected me to do. Those who were selected by him appeared to have to agree to cooperate with him toplete the final step, and the shadow was using me.¡±

    The man had lost the energy to struggle. There was anger, regret, disappointment, self-reprimand, and despair in his eyes.

    ¡°When the trace of the curse started to appear on Fang Yu, I did not know what to do. The only thing I could do was make her forget me, and that should be the simplest thing that she could do. I cleaned away my information from the orphanage and wiped away my faces from all the pictures. When I met Fang Yu at the park for thest time, I told her a lie.

    ¡°Every time she met me, she would have to ask for my name again. After hearing my answer, she would be very happy because it would have proven that she had not forgotten me. But on thatst day, when she asked for my name, I did not tell her my real name; instead, I said her name. I told her that my name was Fang Yu. This was because I hoped that she would always remember herself and would never lose sight of herself. We stayed at the park until veryte that night. That night, I did not walk her home. I watched her walk past the junction, and I stayed where I was at the park.¡±

    The story the man told filled thest piece of the puzzle, and Fang Yu¡¯s whole life appeared fully in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. Fang Yu and the boy had grown up together at the orphanage. One had a very bad memory, and she would always forget the past; the other had anguage problem and would keep repeating the same thing. The two formed a bond and became best friends. Everything was fine until they went to the Eastern Jiujiang Dam, when the boy sacrificed himself to save Fang Yu.

    Traumatized by that event, Fang Yu¡¯s condition worsened. But it was also during this period that boy fell into the shadow¡¯s plot. He sneaked out from the little house by the dam and wished to take Fang Yu away from Jiujiang. Based on the recollection of the old guard at the Children¡¯s Home, it was during this period that Fang Yu disappeared from the Children¡¯s Home. When he asked Fang Yu, Fang Yu only mentioned the word ¡®kite¡¯.

    Thinking back, on the day the boy disappeared, it was on the day of the spring tour for the orphanage at the Eastern Jiujiang Dam. Everyone was flying kites. The kite itself was an important clue, but the guard did not think too deep into its significance. He could not make the link.

    The boy knew that he was carrying the curse and could not apany Fang Yu anymore, so he kept trying to help Fang Yu learn how to live independently. That should be the happiest moment they had spent together, but it did notst long. After the boy found out about the shadow¡¯s n, the only thing he could do was make Fang Yu forget about him.

    The boy returned to the small house and must have been tortured endlessly by the shadow. The shadow nted so many curses on him and turned him into a faceless monster.

    On the other hand, Fang Yu, whose memory became worse and worse, went to the small city park and waited for the boy to appear every night. Slowly but surely, she forgot who she was waiting for. She forgot the voice and the face of the person she was waiting for until there was only one name that was left in her mind¡ªFang Yu. Because that was the name that he had told her.

    Now, the park was about to get demolished. When she thought that she would never wait for that person to return, Chen Ge found her. Their story was not that beautiful, but it touched Chen Ge.

    He stood up and extended his hand toward the man lying on the ground.

    ¡°If you are worried about your curse harming Fang Yu, I will help you remove the curse. If you are worried that about revenge from the shadow and the ghost fetus, why not work with us to kill them? That way, no one will be able to harm the two of you anymore.¡±

    The man did not think that Chen Ge could really harm the ghost fetus; he was just trying to console a dying spirit.

    ¡°The shadow that you are so afraid of has already been torn apart in Li Wan City. Let me try to remember the exact date.¡±

    Then, Chen Ge gave an urate date, and it was that day that the shadow¡¯s presence on the altar had weakened. In his story, the man did not tell the exact date to Chen Ge, but Chen Ge had named the exact date himself; only then did he realize that Chen Ge was not lying to him.

    His eyes wandered between Chen Ge and the four Red Specters. The man finally reached out to touch Chen Ge¡¯s hand. ¡°What do you want me to do? I will listen to you.¡±

 Chapter 988 - Iâ€™m Sorry, But Do You Know Fang Yu? [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 988: I¡¯m Sorry, But Do You Know Fang Yu? [2 in 1]</h4>

    ¡°First, you need to follow me to meet Fang Yu. I have promised her that I will bring you to meet her.¡± Chen Ge opened theic. ¡°I believe that you want to meet her as well too, right?¡±

    The man nodded. ¡°Yes, but I am afraid.¡±

    ¡°You want to meet her, and she wants to meet you; that is enough. We will work together to ovee any difficulty on the way.¡± Chen Gemunicated with Yan Danian and pulled the man into theic. Taking out the ck phone, Chen Ge had not received a new message. Even though the man agreed temporarily to listen to Chen Ge, he had not be an employee at the Haunted House. That was probably because he did notpletely believe Chen Ge.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go. This trip to the dam has reminded me that one can¡¯t be too careful. This period is a very sensitive period; the ghost fetus is about to be born, so I have to stay on my toes.¡±

    Chen Ge felt like there was a need for him to keep Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer on him at all times. He did not have any actual physical power that could threaten a ghost, but if he had the hammer, at least he had a chance to strike back. As the number of Trial Missions he hadpleted increased, Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer changed. Thin threads of blood vessels appeared on the grip, and the blood grooves in the hammerhead had collected some deep dark substance.

    ¡°It will be inconvenient to bring the hammer around everywhere with me, but now is not the time to be concerned about that.¡±

    Putting away the red high heels and the boy with the stench, Chen Ge and Xu Yin once again returned to the altar. This time, without any other interruptions, they nned to give the altar a close study. The altar was definitely ¡®older¡¯ than Chen Ge. The shadow had probably found it from some sted ce, and it was not made by the shadow himself.

    ¡°Perhaps there was originally some Demon God that upied the altar, but currently, the shadow has taken over their homes.¡±

    Chen Ge was reminded of the painting that he had seen at the futuristic theme park, thepleted evil demon that was constructed from the body parts of twenty-four other demons.

    ¡°If these nine paper dolls correspond to the nine missing evil demon pictures, can I establish that the ghost fetus is trying to use these nine paper dolls to construct his own body? The picture of the demon has appeared at many ces before. Both Doctor Gao and Chang Wenyu knew about it. And now even the ghost fetus has dabbled with the use of this demon. It appears like this demon is a symbol of something important.¡±

    Without any evidence and with too few clues, Chen Ge could only make some spections. He wanted to take the altar home with him, but he was stopped by both Xu Yin and the headless woman. Getting such a reaction from the Red Specters surprised Chen Ge. The altar that was filled with the death characters appeared to be a very cursed object. Without touching the altar, Chen Ge ced the mud statuette with Fang Yu¡¯s name on his own shadow. The ck blood on the mud statuette slowly disappeared as if it was being absorbed by Chen Ge¡¯s shadow.

    ¡°There must be more than these few altars in Jiujiang. I will try my best to find more mud statuettes. Hopefully, that means Zhang Ya will be able to wake up earlier.¡±

    Chen Ge was somewhat stressed inside even though he did not show it on the surface. Normally, after a Red Specter consumed another Red Specter, they would hibernate for a long time, but due to many various reasons, even after Zhang Ya had a feast, she would only need a short time to rest before she returned to normal. Other than that, there were times that she had awakened from her hibernation due to certain incidents like when they were at the School of the Afterlife.

    Even though the shadow had been separated from the ghost fetus, the shadow himself was a Top Red Specter. After he was split and ingested by Zhang Ya and Doctor Gao, Zhang Ya had awakened after a few days of hibernation, this caused serious damage to the Red Specter. Taking a tour around the house, after making sure Chen Ge did not miss any clues, he left the ce. He was unable to get a taxi near the damn. To get back to the city as early as he could, Chen Ge raced down the highway.

    Finally, he ran into a van driver who was kind enough to drive him to the city. Chen Ge returned to the residential area where Fang Yu stayed at around 11:45 pm. The sky was still drizzling, and through the hazy yellowish glow from the streetlights, the scenery took on a sepia tone. Chen Ge had no idea which floor Fang Yu stayed at. He first knocked on the door of the elder, and then with the elder leading the way, he went to the fourth floor. The fat aunty had not gone to sleep; she had been waiting for Chen Ge toe back with news.

    The doors were pushed open. The aunty¡¯s expression became very excited when she saw that it was Chen Ge. ¡°Did you find the person?¡±

    Chen Ge first returned the umbre to the aunty and then looked into the room. ¡°Is Fang Yu here?¡±

    ¡°She lives in the innermost room. I¡¯ll get her.¡±

    ¡°There is no need.¡± Chen Ge took out theic from his backpack. He walked to the bedroom door and knocked lightly on the door. ¡°I have found Fang Yu.¡±

    The door was pulled open in that instant. Fang Yu, who was dressed in pajamas, stood at the door. Her exposed skin was tattooed with the name Fang Yu. The first impression it gave was horror, but as he looked at it longer, he felt something like pain and sadness.

    ¡°Where is he?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s gaze leaped over Fang Yu and looked into the room. Inside the room that was not that big, all the items were neatly organized. There were paper notes stuck to wall, and the notes contained reminders that could not have been more normal for a person. ¡®Put on your clothes after waking up¡¯, ¡®brush your teeth¡¯, ¡®wash your face¡¯, ¡®ce your identification card inside your wallet¡¯, ¡®ce your wallet inside your left pocket¡¯...

    Fang Yu tried her best to live her life, repeating every day that was a new day for her. Taking one step forward into the room, Chen Ge closed the door and locked it. He pulled the curtains shut. Sniffing the scent of flower in the room, he reached out to switch off the light. With Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could see Fang Yu clearly in the dark. Suddenly being ced in the darkness, Fang Yu was quite afraid. Flipping theic pages, a man¡¯s figure appeared in the bedroom.

    The streetlight filtered through the curtain, and it shone a weak light into the room. The gentle light fell on the spot behind Chen Ge, and the silhouette of a man could just about be picked out. Ten years ago, when they parted at the junction, the man had retained the look from that day, and Fang Yu had been repeating the memory of that day. The man that appeared inside the room at that moment ovepped with the person from Fang Yu¡¯s memory.

    When theyst met, Fang Yu had stood at the junction. She had turned back to look like usual, but she had failed to find the man who was supposed to stand there. She had stood alone at the junction before she was swallowed by the bustling city crowd. A decade had passed, but time did not seem to leave any trace on these two individuals. The room was very quiet. No one spoke, and it passed like that for several minutes.

    The man and Fang Yu suddenly looked at one another, and they both uttered the same name.

    ¡°Fang Yu.¡±

    ¡°Fang Yu.¡±

    Chen Ge very astutely walked to the corner and took out the pair of red high heels. Once the curse was triggered, he would have the red high heels suppress the man immediately. The room became quiet again. The two of them made one hell of a couple. One had retained his look from ten years ago but had experienced a torture thatsted for a decade; even though the other was no longer the young woman from ten years ago, her memory was stuck on that day from ten years ago. One had lived the past ten years suffering every single day in different kind of torment, but his appearance had remained the same; the other had whiled away ten years, with the decade leaving a clear toll on her physical body, but in her mind, only one single day had passed.

    ¡°I... was unable to walk you home that day because I had something else to do.¡± The man lowered his head like he did not want others to see that he was unable to control his emotions. ¡°You don¡¯t me me, right?¡¯

    Fang Yu shook her head and she walked toward the man. When she took the first step forward, the man moved one step back. Fang Ya moved faster until she finally stood before the man. The distance of three meters took her ten years toplete. She raised both of her arms to give the man a tight hug like she wanted to grab him tight so that he would not escape from her again. When the hand touched the man¡¯s body, bitterness and chill came from the palms. The woman ultimately only managed to pull the hug around herself.

    Small dark threads crawled out from the man¡¯s body, and his face was locked in an ugly grimace. The many curses that the ghost fetus had nted in him were triggered, and he was trying his best to control himself. The ck threads that were yelling with pain rushed at Fang Yu. Just as they were about to swallow Fang Yu, drops of blood dripped from the ceiling, and they sealed the curses in their path.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry.¡±

    The curse imnted at the deepest part of his soul was triggered. The man¡¯s body became more and more vague. He used hisst shred of energy to whisper a final apology to Fang Yu. Then, his body shattered, and he was sucked back into theic.

    Fang Yu stood nkly in the darkness. Her energy seemed to have left her, and she slowly dropped to the ground. The weak light shone on her face. The clock struck midnight, and Chen Ge walked to switch on the light in the room.

    ¡°Are you already?¡±

    Hearing his voice, Fang Yu turned around. Her pair of red eyes looked at Chen Ge. Her lips moved, and the tears that she could not control started to slid down her face.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but do you know Fang Yu?¡±

    Fang Yu appeared to have lost her memory again. Chen Ge helped move her to the bed and poured her a ss of water. ¡°I am good friends with Fang Yu. He will be busy for a little while, but when he is not so busy anymore, he wille visit you.¡±

    Fang Yu, who was lying quietly in bed, looked at Chen Ge. For some reason, she had an implicit trust in this man, and she felt like he was not lying to her. For reasons that she could not exin, Fang Yu knew that this man beside her bed would not lie to her and would make things better soon.

    ¡°Get a good rest and try not to worry over unimportant things too much. What you need to do now is focus on taking good care of your body. I am sure Fang Yu will return soon.¡±

    The body had just received a huge trauma. After one dropped down from such a high point in terms of emotion and agitation, it was easy to feel tired, so Fang Yu drifted off to sleep quite quickly. Chen Ge switched off the light and slunk out from the bedroom. The fat aunty was guarding outside the room.

    ¡°Is Xiao Yu feeling better? It sounded like she was very excited earlier. Have you really found that person?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I have found him.¡±

    ¡°Can you tell me where he is?¡± The aunty looked like she was about to dole out justice on Fang Yu¡¯s behalf. ¡°A man just went and abandoned Xiao Yu because she lost her memory. We will go and get him now. I have to teach him a lesson, or else I will not rest easy tonight!¡±

    ¡°The man has his own reason for staying away. The pain that he has suffered is no less than Fang Yu¡¯s suffering,¡± Chen Ge said with a sad smile. ¡°Aunty, thank you so much for having taken care of Fang Yu for so long. I wille and visit her more often during thising period. One day, I might even be able to cure Fang Yu¡¯s illness.¡±

    ¡°You mean her weak memory?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Chen Ge ced theic inside the backpack. ¡°I won¡¯t disturb you anymore. See youter.¡±

    ¡°Hey! You need to exin it clearer! And it is still raining! Take the umbre with you!¡±

    ...

    Carrying his backpack, he jogged out from the building. The rain fell on his body as Chen Ge rushed through the streets. The yellowish streetlights stretched his shadow as the man raced through the city that was already asleep. Before he left, he turned back to look at the apartment behind him. ¡°There are bad guys in the world, but there are quite a number of good guys as well. A city in the night hides many cruel and gory madmen, but there is also plenty of quaint and normal beauty.¡±

    Taking a cab back to New Century Park, Chen Ge carried his backpack and went straight underground.

 Chapter 989 - Life and Death Hide and Seek

    <h4>Chapter 989: Life and Death Hide and Seek</h4>

    ¡°Is Doctor Wei around?¡± Chen Ge had the phone spirit Tong Tong summon the doctors from the underground morgue. ¡°I need you guys to examine this person. He is not doing so well.¡±

    Flipping through theic, Chen Ge released the man and the red high heels.

    ¡°Xiao Chen, the knowledge that we have umted is to help cure the living¡¯s illnesses. Even though in the spirit of research, we have started to inquire into ways of curing ghosts, the process of that is going very slowly.¡± Doctor Wei looked at the man that was about to dissipate. ¡°The core that maintains the existence of a spirit is their fixation. Once that disappears, the ghost will cease to exist. This gentleman possesses a very strong fixation to this world, but there is something else that has corrupted that fixation, causing him to waver in his conviction. This is a very rare situation indeed.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s corrupting his fixation is the curse that was left behind by the ghost fetus.¡± Chen Ge knelt down next to the man. ¡°Have some faith in yourself, okay? I will help you remove the curse so that you will be able to guard Fang Yu again, and you will never be separated from her anymore.¡±

    The man¡¯s body was wavering. He chuckled faithlessly. ¡°I am really appreciative of your help, letting me see Fang Yu onest time, but you saw what happened earlier. As long as I am alive, I will harm Fang Yu. Furthermore, even if you manage to remove the curse, the ghost fetus will stille get me. Is it really worth it for you to anger the ghost fetus just for me?¡±

    ¡°I am not going to lie to you. Between myself and the ghost fetus, one of us will eventually have to die. Now, do you understand what I¡¯m saying? Without you, he will want to kill me, and helping you is essentially me helping myself.¡± Chen Ge was not lying. He was exuding sincerity with his every word. ¡°Cooperate well with this Red Specter to deal with your curse. After the curse has been removed, we will work together to deal with the ghost fetus.¡±

    ¡°Actually, you can just toss me away now. I have the ghost fetus¡¯ curse on me. He wille after me the moment he is able to do...¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t worry about things that are beyond you. Focus on removing the curse from your body. When we face off against the ghost fetus, I am afraid no one will even have any time to pay attention to you.¡±

    After saying that, Chen Ge stood up and prepared to leave.

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± The man copsed on the ground. He hesitated for a long time before he decided to tell Chen Ge something. ¡°We do not have much time left. The ghost fetus has spent ten years looking for the perfect candidate. He is going toe soon.¡±

    ¡°The ghost fetus has found the perfect candidate?¡± Chen Ge stopped moving. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°The shadow¡¯s fixation is to be a living person. He wants to have a family, to possess happiness, to enjoy everything a normal person could, but at the same time, he hates everything that is good in the world. Toplete his own desire, he has already parted from the ghost fetus and kept burying the fetus¡¯ seed into many children. But most of the children were unable to suffer the pain that was brought upon them by the ghost fetus. Only those who were born in a family of nightmares, children who had already gotten used to the nightmare, had a trace of opportunity to assimte the ghost fetus.¡±

    ¡°Shadow, children, seeds?¡± Chen Ge was reminded of the events that he had encountered in Eastern Jiujiang before he started the mission in Li Wan City. The memories were now being joined together to form a more logical timeline.

    ¡°The ghost fetus spent ten years in his search before finding nine children who could sustain his pain. The nine children correspond to the nine mud statuettes inside the nine altars.¡± The man¡¯s voice was very weak, as if revealing these things would cause him great damage. The curse inside his heart was eating him up. ¡°This project took ten years toplete. The nine children are from different age groups, they have different personalities and appearances, and the ghost fetus is currently growing in one of them!¡±

    When the man said thatst sentence, ck threads crawled out from his eyes and mouth. If not for the red high heels, who was an expert at dealing with curses, the man would have crumbled and disappeared already. Not long after the man said that, the ck phone in Chen Ge¡¯s pocket started to vibrate. Taking out the phone and clicking on the app, Chen Ge clicked open the new message.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specter¡¯s Favored, for obtained a new special Specter, Zhang Yi!

    ¡°Zhang Yi (Cursed): A strong fixation gifted him with an extremely rare power. He can deprive living humans and ghosts of their memories. He is brimming with potential.¡±

    The ck phone rarely praised the ghosts that Chen Ge had befriended, but for Zhang Yi, the ck phone had stated quite clearly that he had a lot of potential.

    ¡°Looks like I need to spend more time in the future to try to upgrade Zhang Yi and Yan Danian into Red Specters. Both of them have immensely scary powers, but one is being tortured alive by curses, and the other has such low confidence in himself that the only thing he wants to do in life is draw.¡±

    Chen Ge was about to put the phone away when he saw that there was an unread message on the ck phone.

    ¡°The new employee tab for Zhang Yi has already been unlocked. Why is there another unread message?¡±

    Chen Ge clicked on the message. He had just read the first few lines of it, and his expression dropped.

    ¡°When the curse inside the altar was broken, the ghost fetus became aware of your arrival! Four-star Trial Mission ¡®Ghost Fetus¡¯ has been forcibly triggered!

    ¡°With the whole city as the stage, this is a life or death version of hide and seek!

    ¡°The nine altars represent nine children, and the ghost fetus is hiding inside one of them! You need to find him within nine nights, or you will definitely die once he turns into a ghost!¡±

    ¡°Mission hint: Lucky Red Specters¡¯ Favored, you are just one step away from finding out the whole truth!¡±

    Reading the messages on the ck phone, Chen Ge was frozen in ce for a very long time.

 Chapter 990 - Jiang Ming

    <h4>Chapter 990: Jiang Ming</h4>

    It took Chen Ge ten minutes just to digest the new information on the ck phone. He had been silent, holding the phone. He knew that the ghost fetus was dangerous, and he knew that their conflict was inevitable, but he did not expect it to be so soon.

    ¡°Only nine days. If I can¡¯t find him in nine days, I will die.¡±

    The ck phone never lied; all the information it had given had proven to be true.

    ¡°The four-star Trial Mission has been forcibly triggered, but this mission is different from the School of the Afterlife or any of the Trial Mission that I¡¯ve done before. It doesn¡¯t have a fixed location and doesn¡¯t provide urate information. It only gave me a general range¡ªthe entire city is the stage.¡±

    Chen Ge frowned as he read the message on the ck phone repeatedly. It was a four-star Trial Mission, but the introduction was so small, and the mission hint was only one sentence.

    ¡°The time limit is nine nights, and the phone specifically highlighted the nights. Does this mean that the children that are possessed by the ghost fetus will be weakened only at night?¡±

    Chen Ge had yed hide and seek many times in his life, but this would be the first time that he had ced his life on the line.

    ¡°At the moment, I only know the number of altars and children. Finding the ghost fetus that might be anywhere within Jiujiang with this is too difficult.¡± Chen Ge put away the ck phone and took out his own phone. He opened the contact list. ¡°I have limited resources, and now is not the time to take this on alone. I need to mobilize all the forces that I can.¡±

    Chen Ge first turned to Lee Zheng and Captain Yan. After cooperating multiple times, Jiujiang¡¯sw enforcement could be said to be Chen Ge¡¯s reliable back up support.

    ¡°The police are better than me at finding people. Now, I might need to rify the uniqueness of these children and the possible danger that one might encounter during the search.¡±

    The game had already started. After the ck phone triggered the mission, an hourss appeared on the mission page. After it turned nine times, the ghost fetus would go to find Chen Ge.

    ¡°The ck phone said that I will definitely die, which means the ghost fetus is probably also a Demon God. He has stolen nine altars and upied them without the owners¡¯ permission. Perhaps the altars¡¯ owners have all been killed. The owners of the altar should be quite scary, but they were still no match for the ghost fetus. That proved that even among Demon Gods, the ghost fetus is a powerful one.¡±

    Without any clues, Chen Ge could only make his own prediction.

    ¡°These nine days might be the only time I have left in my life.¡±

    Chen Ge did not pull Zhang Yi back into theic but had Doctor Wei and the red high heels cure him. The curing was just the red high heels pulling the ck threads that represent curses out from Zhang Yi¡¯s body. It was unknown how many curses the ghost fetus had nted on Zhang Yi¡¯s body. To help him, this was the only way.

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave him to you.¡± Carrying the backpack, Chen Ge returned to the ground. When he passed the Prop Room, he grabbed the hammer and shoved it into his backpack. ¡°For the next nine days, I¡¯ll have to carry this with me.¡±

    To not influence the work at the Haunted House, Chen Ge custom-made a wooden ¡®Skull-Cracker¡¯s Hammer¡¯ for Xiao Gu, the actor of Doctor Skull-Cracker. After he was done, it was already 3 am. He returned to the staff breakroom, but he could not sleep no matter what.

    ¡°It is hard to imagine that the four-star mission has already started, but I will spend the first night sleeping at home.¡±

    Chen Ge got out some paper to list down all the information that he knew.

    ¡°Now I have found three altars. One of them corresponds to Fang Yu. Based on Fang Yu¡¯s current condition, the ghost fetus is most likely not on her, so I can eliminate her. The second altar corresponds to me. There is a decapitated mud statuette with my name inside the altar, and it is covered in the word death. The ghost fetus hates me so much that anger and envy have caused him to lose his sanity.

    ¡°The futuristic theme park has two altars. If one is for me, who is the other one for?¡±

    Initially, Chen Ge thought that the futuristic theme park only had one real altar and one fake, but he could not guarantee that to be true.

    ¡°The Haunted House at the futuristic theme park was built under the insistence of a Director Jiang. His adopted son, Jiang Ming, is about the same age as me. These are all suspicious points. The pair of father and son definitely know something. Perhaps they have done something to the altar without a mud statuette.¡±

    With that in mind, Chen Ge activated the recorder to summon Xu Yin and then flipped through theic and summoned all the Specters and spirits that he had found at the cursed Japanese house. Eerie wind gathered in the breakroom. The white cat dragged Xiaoxiao by her dress into the bedsheet. The cat and Xiaoxiao poked their eyes out from the darkness to observe the situation.

    The little girl from the windchime and the grandson were the first to appear. They were holding hands like they were afraid of Chen Ge. Then the chair before the table slowly turned, and a sturdy looking old man appeared. He was facing away from Chen Ge, refusing to show Chen Ge his face like in the ck and white picture.

    The scent of blood thickened. Following a sad and resentful song, the woman in the stage costume appeared.

    ¡°Lian...¡± The man turned his head slightly. The woman¡¯s body was flickering. She looked at the old man and started to move toward him.

    ¡°Do you think this is some dating game?¡± Chen Ge held the hammer and red viciously at everyone in the room. ¡°I don¡¯t care about what you do in the future, but now I need you to answer a few questions honestly.¡±

    His Yin Yang Vision swept the old man and the woman. He did not let the two children off the hook either. ¡°The scenario that you stayed in had an altar. Tell me everything you know about it.¡±

    With Chen Ge¡¯s interrogation, he gained some important information from the old man. The woman in the costume had met the ghost fetus before. To protect the grandson and the girl, the woman had promised to help the ghost fetus protect the altar. In a way, she was like Zhang Yi; they were both protecting the altar. But the problem was, the woman promised the ghost fetus that she would only protect the altar with Chen Ge¡¯s statuette in it, and she did not need to care about the other altar.

    The old man said that the altar with Chen Ge¡¯s statuette was the real altar originally in the cursed house. The altar that Chen Geter saw inside the house was ced there by a young man named Jiang Ming. The key problem was that the recement altar also had a mud statuette inside it initially. It had Jiang Ming¡¯s name carved on it, but it disappeared without a traceter. It had probably been taken away by Jiang Ming.

    ¡°I am the first, Fang Yu is the second, and from the current clues, it looks like Jiang Ming is the third.¡±

    If he left at that moment, he would arrive in Eastern Jiujiang at dawn. So, Chen Ge did not make his move immediately but chose to rest.

    ¡°Tomorrow, I¡¯ll have to visit the futuristic theme park again, but I won¡¯t get past the security with the hammer. That¡¯s a problem.¡±

 Chapter 991 - Hidden Clue [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 991: Hidden Clue [2 in 1]</h4>

    Chen Ge believed that with how the people at the futuristic theme park viewed him, even if he went there, he would not be able to get any information from them. The workers there evaded him the moment they saw him. In their eyes, Chen Ge was probably as scary as an actual ghost. Chen Ge had a feeling that they had misunderstood him a little bit, but with the time crunch, he did not have time to exin the situation to them.

    ¡°Since I can¡¯t go through the theme park¡¯s security with the hammer, I should head to the hospital.¡± Chen Ge turned his attention to his previous victims. ¡°When I went in for the visitation, the futuristic theme park arranged for their people to follow me on the visitation. They experienced the terror for themselves, so they should have some connection with me.¡±

    People were the most fragile when they were sick. Chen Ge nned to have a chat with the workers who had fainted inside the Haunted House at the hospital tomorrow, but of course, the premise had to be that they had already woken up.

    ¡°Worrying will not change the situation. I¡¯d better get a good rest while I can.¡±

    He set an rm and then drifted off to sleep. At 8 am the next morning, after brushing his teeth and washing his face, he summoned Ol¡¯ Bai and Doctor Wei. ¡°I will leave the management of the Haunted House to you. I have something else to do in the morning.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Chen, what kind of problem are you facing?¡± Doctor Wei only needed one nce to realize how different Chen Ge was from normal. ¡°Yesterday, I heard from Zhang Yi that the ghost fetus is going toe soon. Is that what you¡¯re worried about?¡±

    ¡°I am slightly worried about that, but the problem is not as serious as he made it out to be.¡± Chen Ge shed a bright smile. ¡°Just take good care of the Haunted House and leave the rest of me.¡±

    ¡°Actually, you can rely on us when you need it. After all, this is ce is our home too.¡±

    ¡°Okay, don¡¯t worry.¡± Chen Ge had Doctor Wei and Ol¡¯ Bai return to their respective scenarios. He opened the gates of the Haunted House and walked out. Since it was the holiday season, the employees had arrived earlier than necessary.

    ¡°Go in and do your make-up. For the next few days, I might not be around the Haunted House during the day, so I will leave everything in your capable hands.¡±

    ¡°Boss, doesn¡¯t you normally go out at night? Why are you suddenly changing it to the day?¡± Gu Feiyu was a man without much cunning, and he asked that question directly.

    ¡°I have something to deal with. It should be able to bepleted within nine days. After that, I will give everyone a chance to have a good break.¡± Chen Ge entered the dressing room and applied the make-up on the few employees seriously. ¡°Thank you so much for all of your dedication.¡±

    Thepetition between the New Century Park and the futuristic theme park had reached its climax. The workers had prepared a long time for this, so Chen Ge would not go and trouble them. He went to greet Uncle Xu. Before the theme park opened for business, Chen Ge carried the heavy backpack and left the theme park. He stopped a passing cab. Once he got into the car, the smile on Chen Ge¡¯s face slowly disappeared.

    ¡°Where are we going?¡±

    ¡°The major crimes unit of the city police station.¡±

    ...

    When Chen Ge arrived at the station, he nced at the guard and then at the backpack he was carrying. After a moment¡¯s thought, he decided not to barge in just like that but pulled out his phone to give Lee Zheng a call.

    ¡°Brother Zheng, it¡¯s me.¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge? How can I help you?¡±

    ¡°I am outside the station now. Can you fetch me? There are certain things that I need to confirm.¡±

    ¡°You are the first person who dared speak in such tone to an inspector from the major crimes unit. Wait a minute, I¡¯ll get you in a bit.¡±

    Ten minutes after hanging up the phone, Lee Zheng appeared at the door.

    ¡°So, tell me, what do you want to confirm?¡±

    ¡°Can we go in and talk?¡±

    ¡°We do not allow normal citizen into this ce.¡± Lee Zheng nced at Chen Ge and then slightly shook his head. ¡°Never mind,e with me.¡±

    The two entered the station, and Lee Zheng led Chen Ge into an empty conference room.

    ¡°Everyone is working. It¡¯s not too good for people to see you inside the building even though everyone knows you.¡± ncing at Chen Ge¡¯s backpack, Lee Zheng had a guess what was inside it. ¡°Rx, do you want something to drink?¡±

    ¡°Brother Zheng, I have two things to ask you.¡± Chen Ge got to the chase immediately.

    ¡°Go ahead.¡±

    ¡°Has Chang Gu woken up?¡± Chen Ge cared a lot about Chang Gu. He was a director, and he specialized in using ghosts as actors in his movies. Other than that, he was the person who knew Chang Wenyu the best in this world. At the School of the Afterlife, Chang Wenyu had sacrificed herself to destroy the door, but she had ended up being ¡®killed¡¯ by thebined effort of several Top Red Specters. Theoretically speaking, her soul should have been torn apart already, but the ck phone still had Chang Wenyu¡¯s page even after her ¡®death¡¯. The ck phone said that Chang Wenyu had not officially died. Chang Gu was Chang Wenyu¡¯s only family, so if Chang Wenyu had to ce her trust on a person in this world, that person would definitely be Chang Gu.

    Chen Ge wished to get in touch with Chang Gu to find out what Chang Wenyu had held back, how she had managed to stay alive. It was never wrong to be too careful. To be able to reach the top among the Red Specters, she should not be underestimated. That was what Chen Ge had gained from his past experience.

    ¡°The physical wounds on his body have been healed, but he has not woken up. The doctor has done an MRI scan on his brain, and they did not find any problems.¡± Lee Zheng felt that Chen Ge was being exceptionally severe that day. ¡°What¡¯s the second thing?¡±

    Chen Ge took in a light breath and then turned to Lee Zheng. ¡°Inspector Lee, do you still remember Li Wan City?¡±

    When Li Wan City was mentioned, Inspector Lee¡¯s expression slowly changed. He moved his chair to sit before Chen Ge. ¡°I only remember parts of it, and I have forgotten a lot.¡±

    ¡°That day, you were chasing after Jia Ming and entered Li Wan City. Then you ran into me inside the small town. In the end, it was me who carried you out, but in that chaos, Jia Ming managed to escape.¡±

    Chen Ge had no idea how much Lee Zheng remembered about that night. That was an unspoken truce between him and Lee Zheng. After leaving Li Wan City, neither of them had asked the other about what happened on that night. Lee Zheng¡¯s eyes moved away from Chen Ge. He looked at the vapor that rose from the hot water inside water ss. No matter what had happened that night, there was a truth that could not be changed. It was Chen Ge who carried the fainted inspector out from Li Wan City. The young man before him had saved his life.

    ¡°Of course, I remember all that. Actually, we have been continuing our search for Jia Ming. All the signs point to the fact that he has not left Jiujiang.¡± Lee Zheng stood up. ¡°Jia Ming¡¯s case is being personally handled by Captain Yan. I will take you to meet him.¡±

    The two left the conference room, walked down the corridor, and reached an office on the third floor. When they knocked on the door, Captain Yan was talking to someone on the phone. The man whom Chen Ge associated with patience and kindness had a bright red face from anger. At certain agitating points, he even mmed his fists repeatedly on the table.

    Two to three minutes after the phone call ended, Captain Yan slowly returned to his jovial self. When he saw Chen Ge, a smile naturally appeared on his face. ¡°Lee Zheng, why did you bring Xiao Chen over today? Is he here to ask for more reward money? We are not the finance department. You¡¯re at the wrong ce. Haha.¡±

    ¡°Captain Yan, Chen Ge is here to ask about the case with Jia Ming.¡± As if worried that Captain Yan might refuse to answer, Lee Zheng added kindly on Chen Ge¡¯s behalf, ¡°After all, he was present during the event. He is one of the victims and also one of our witnesses. I do not think we should hide the details of the case from him.¡±

    ¡°Currently, the case has gotten so big that it involves too many things.¡± Captain Yan had Lee Zheng close the door of the office before he continued. ¡°Thirty-six hours after Jia Ming escaped from Li Wan City, we found Jia Ming outside a residential house very far away from Li Wan City. But the problem was that he was not alone.¡±

    ¡°Jia Ming has reappeared?¡± Chen Ge remembered that Jia Ming should still be trapped inside the door. This time, he was here to persuade the police to help him with something else, but he did not expect to get a surprise discovery like this. ¡°Captain Yan, where is this residential building that Jia Ming reappeared at? I wish to go take a look.¡±

    ¡°It was an old building. A fire once happened there, and it was right next to Pei Zhi Academy.¡±

    ¡°It has been burned before?¡± One would need to go through a door to leave the red world. Chen Ge knew that there was a door in Eastern Jiujiang inside a building that had been razed by a big fire before. Ghost Fire! The scenario whose door pusher had been consumed by Doctor Gao!

    Captain Yan pulled out a document from the lowestyer of his drawer. ¡°There were four people who appeared alongside Jia Ming. There was a young man about twenty, a middle-aged man about forty, a woman who seemed like she suffered from a mental illness, and a child about four to five years old.¡±

    Flipping through the document, Captain Yan had already confirmed all their identities. ¡°The young man¡¯s name is Bei Ye. He killed his own father and younger brother, Bei Wen. His mother shouldered the me on his behalf and is currently locked up in prison.

    ¡°The middle-aged man around forty is a gambler. His name is Zhen Chun. He has no fixed upation. There have been manyints about his attitude, and he has been booked several times for domestic violence, shoplifting, and drunk driving. We have a thick case on him.

    ¡°The woman¡¯s name is Wang Qing. She is not a local. Her family does not have any history of mental illnesses, so her mental problem should not be hereditary but caused by some kind of trauma.

    ¡°Last is the boy. Strangely enough, we cannot get any information on him. We have visited all of Zhen Chun¡¯s previous neighbors. They could only tell us that the family had a daughter, but the daughter went missing a few years ago. They were shocked when we told them that Zhen Chun actually had a boy as well.¡±

    Chen Ge had an impression of all the people that Captain Yan had mentioned. Needless to say, he remembered Jia Ming. There was another evil spirit living in him, and he had once served the ghost fetus. The family of three were once the passengers on the Hearse, and they entered Li Wan City with Chen Ge. Last but not least, Bei Yu was a local of Li Wan City. He was a murderer that once hid himself in the hotel with the cannibalistic owner.

    How did the mix of them end up together?

    Jia Ming was exceptionally cunning, and Bei Ye was a mentally unstable killer. How could the two of them even tolerate hanging out the family of three? In Chen Ge¡¯s mind, of the family of three, the father was a worthless person who bullied the weak but was fearful of the strong; the mother never spoke to anyone and would not give any response to any outer stimulus; the boy was very cute, but that was everything to him. In the eyes of a murderer and a madman, being cute would not save him. If anything, it would only invoke the cruelty and madness hidden inside their hearts.

    Jia Ming and Bei Ye did not kill the family of three?

    To understand the logic of a murderer, one had to look from the perspective of the murderer and see the problem from their angle.

    Li Wan City was not that far away from the scenario of the Ghost Fire. It was not that close nor that far. So, how did this group of injured, old, and defenseless people pass through the world behind the door safely?

    Chen Ge¡¯s brain started to spin, and various spections appeared in his mind.

    Perhaps one of them knew a safe path. It could be Bei Ye or Jia Ming. They slithered away during themotion, and their aim was to find the other door.

    The family of three were normal citizens, but Jia Ming and Bei Ye wasted so much energy to protect them, going so far as to bring them out of the door. They have to be after something. The middle-aged man is a gambler. To obtain the thing that he wants, he could even do something like sacrificing his own daughter. Bringing him around is just a burden.

    As for the circumstances around the mother, she seemed to have been through a huge trauma. She was just a walking human shell. Since both of the adults are so normal, it is quite clear that the reason Bei Ye and Jia Ming protected the family of three to escape from the world behind the door was the child!

 Chapter 992 - I Know What He Looked Like as a Baby

    <h4>Chapter 992: I Know What He Looked Like as a Baby</h4>

    There has to be something special about the child. But what could it be that would cause Jia Ming and Bei Ye to willingly risk their lives to help him?

    Chen Ge slowly narrowed his eyes, and only one possibility came to mind.

    The child is one of the candidates for the ghost fetus. The ghost fetus is possibly in possession of that child.

    Based on all the known information, Chen Ge came to a conclusion that was very close to the truth.

    ¡°Chen Ge, what are you thinking about?¡± Captain Yan prompted Chen Ge seeing how silent he was.

    ¡°It was nothing. I was just thinking how weird it was that the family of three would end up together with two wanted individuals.¡± Chen Ge looked at Captain Yan. ¡°And the strange thing is that it does not feel like the family of three are being taken hostage, but they are being protected by the two.¡±

    ¡°We have considered this. Our top priority is to capture Jia Ming and Bei Ye.¡± Captain Yan took out another document. ¡°They have been moving around different hiding ces over this period of time, but strangely enough, they did not leave Jiujiang, like there was something very important to them in this city. Even with the risk of being captured, they refused to leave this city.¡±

    The more Captain Yan said, the more unusual Chen Ge felt the child was. The boy had to have some kind of connection with the ghost fetus.

    ¡°Captain Yan, we mustn¡¯t give them any more time to escape from the judgement of thew anymore. I have a very bad feeling about this. We have to bring them in as soon as possible.¡± Chen Ge was really running out of time. He currently had so little information that it was practically impossible to find the ghost fetus within eight nights.

    ¡°We have already started to triangte their location, and the range is slowly being drawn closer and closer. We will have them in custody within the next three days.¡± Captain Yan was personally handling Jia Ming¡¯s case. This proved how serious he treated the case. After all, Jia Ming was wanted for very serious crimes. He had murdered his wife, attacked the police, and taunted thew enforcement more than several times.

    ¡°Within three day?¡± Chen Ge nodded lightly. ¡°Captain Yan, can you bring me along on that operation?¡±

    There was an evil spirit hiding in Jia Ming, and the boy could be rted to the ghost fetus; Chen Ge was worried about possible injuries on the police¡¯s side.

    ¡°You¡¯d better stay quietly at your theme park. I heard that your theme park has recently gotten in seriouspetition with the futuristic theme park, so you should focus on that and stop running around aimlessly.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Chen Ge gave him promise verbally but used his Yin Yang Vision to scan the documents that had been left open on the table. He realized with some shock that of the three locations that the police had been watching closely, he was very familiar with two of them. One was Li Wan City, and the other was Jiang Yuan Apartments.

    ¡°If there is nothing else, you can go for now.¡± Captain Yan seemed to notice that Chen Ge was stealing looks at the documents on his table, but he did not stop him. Perhaps he was using this method to help Chen Ge. It did not technically vite thew, and it did not go against his own principles.

    ¡°Actually, there is one other thing.¡± Chen Ge did not hide the information from Captain Yan. ¡°I wish to look for a person at Jiujiang.¡±

    ¡°What kind of person?¡±

    ¡°He should be younger than me...¡±

    ¡°Is that the only clue you have? There are so many people who are younger than you¡ªhow do you expect we help you with that?¡±

    Chen Ge felt helpless, hearing Captain Yan¡¯s reply. The information that he had was limited, and part of what he knew could not even be shared with the police.

    ¡°I know what the person looked like when he was a baby. With a photoparison, you should be able to find that person!¡± Chen Ge revealed yet another piece of information. Back on the rooftop of the building at the edge of Li Wan City, the shadow had been surrounded by Zhang Ya and Doctor Gao. In the end, he had needed to borrow strength from the ghost fetus, and during the final phase of the battle, there had been the skull of a baby that appeared on the chest of the shadow. The baby¡¯s face had been twisted in a horrible grimace, consumed by curses and anger. The baby was supposed to represent the birth of new life, but its eyes were filled with venom and the wish for destruction.

    Chen Ge had a deep impression of that baby¡¯s face. At the time, he had considered that he might run into the situation like this, so he had memorized the baby¡¯s face as best as he could. This was the most direct clue that he possessed regarding the ghost fetus; he knew how the ghost fetus looked like when he was still an infant.

    ¡°Chen Ge, these two clues that you have are too general. Just looking through the database will exhaust a lot of manpower and time, and it might not even give us any real results.¡± Captain Yan tapped the surface of the table lightly. ¡°I can help you, but you have to give me a reasonable reason that will be able to persuade me to do so.¡±

    ¡°Someone wants to kill me, and the killer left behind three clues. He is younger or of the same age as me, I know what he looked like when he was very young, and he leaves behind altars that contain mud statuettes inside them.¡±

    Since he was there to seek help from thew enforcement, Chen Ge would not hide too much information from them. He had seen many horror movies in the past, and he did not approve of the actions of the many main characters where they only thought about finding help from the police when the danger was right before the eyes. The ending would be that the phone could not be connected because the telephone line had been severed or something along those lines.

    But Chen Ge was different. The mission that he had onlysted for nine nights. On the first day, he went to the police for help. He would leave no chance for any idents to ur.

 Chapter 993 - Trap or Opportunity

    <h4>Chapter 993: Trap or Opportunity</h4>

    Chen Ge told Captain Yan and Lee Zheng all the information that he could share with them. Once the two heard that someone nned to take Chen Ge¡¯s life, their expressions changed immediately. They knew that Chen Ge would not joke about something like that. Since he said that someone was out to get him, it could only be true. Furthermore, Chen Ge had to be under a lot of pressure from the threat, or else with Chen Ge¡¯s personality, he would not have gone to the police for help without any concrete evidence.

    They talked for another hour, and Chen Ge told the police everything that he could. Then Captain Yan called over the station¡¯s profile expert. Based on Chen Ge¡¯s description, they drew a picture of the ghost fetus when he was a baby. After leaving everything with the police, Chen Ge left in a hurry to the next location.

    ¡°The child with Jia Ming probably corresponds to one of the altars. He knows the shadow and the ghost fetus better than Zhang Yi. After he is captured, the fog around the ghost fetus will disperse.¡±

    After taking the cab to the hospital, Chen Ge went to the hall for fainted patients. There were many patients who had left after they woke up, but their empty beds would quickly be taken by new patients. As the poprity of Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house continued to grow, there would asionally be times when there were not enough beds, and they would have to add new beds temporarily. Carrying the heavy backpack, with the nurse leading the way, Chen Ge was brought to one of the sickrooms.

    The employees from the futuristic theme park enjoyed good benefits. The upper management at them park had arranged for their six workers to share a private room at the hospital. After knocking, Chen Ge entered the room. The police officer, Xiao Ling, and the woman with the long hair were ying cards. When the three saw Chen Ge, they shivered on instinct and the memory that they had forgotten with difficulty had started to surface.

    However, they were different from the visitors that had fainted at Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house. These workers did not think that their horrible nightmare had anything to do with Chen Ge. One thing that confused them was why everybody had fainted but Chen Ge was able to walk out from the haunted house on his own two feet.

    ¡°I visited a haunted house with them a few days ago, and what we are going to discuss will involve the business secrets of the two theme parks, so...¡± Before Chen Ge finished, the nurse nodded to show that she understood, and she left the room.

    ¡°Chen Ge, sorry for what we did that day. We have made such fools of ourselves.¡± The police officer thought that Chen Ge was quite a reliable person. If not for their employers, they might even have been friends.

    ¡°There is a problem with your haunted house.¡± Chen Ge sat down beside the three with a serious expression. ¡°I hope that you will not tell another person what I am about to tell you.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°I came here just to confirm one thing with you.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes scanned the three in the room. ¡°Did we run into actual ghosts... that day?¡±

    The three workers from the futuristic theme park did not say anything, but their expressions wereplicated. Chen Ge dropped his backpack in the corner of the room and then took out his phone and ced it on the table. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I am not recording any sound bites or videos. You can search my body if you want. I just want to rify what happened that day.¡±

    The police officer and Xiao Ling both turned to the woman with the long ck hair. The three shared a look. In the end, it was Xiao Ling who went up to check the door, and after ensuring it was locked, she began to whisper, ¡°It is not only you who feels that way. We also have been shivering in fear when we think back about what happened.¡±

    ¡°Of the ghosts and monsters that we ran into that day, many of them were not supposed to be in the data base,¡± the police officer said with a bitter smile. ¡°That can only mean that the scenario possesses things that should not be there in the first ce. In any case, I will not go to the haunted house to help around anymore. If they insist on posting me there, I will have no choice but to quit.¡±

    ¡°But why would something like that happen? Is it really because of the dead people¡¯s spirits that possess the old objects? Like the altar inside the cursed Japanese house?¡± Chen Ge was slowly directing the conversation. He wished to get some information, but he could not make it sound too obvious.

    ¡°Other than that, we cannote up with another exnation.¡±

    ¡°I heard from someone that all of the old objects were moved into the haunted house by a director with the surname Jiang. Is it possible that Director Jiang knew that something like this would happen?¡± Chen Ge asked with obvious curiosity. ¡°Who is this Director Jiang? Building such arge haunted house requires a lot of money. Why would the upper management at your theme park agree to something like that?¡±

    ¡°Jiang Jiu is one of the bigwigs at the theme park. He is also one of the shareholders of the theme park. He was in the real estate business, and I heard he had an altercation with your theme park¡¯s Director Luo about ten years ago.¡± Xiao Ling sat back down on the bed. ¡°In any case, he is a very important person, and small employees like us will not know anything about him.¡±

    ¡°He had an altercation with Director Luo?¡± That was something that Chen Ge did not expect. He felt like he was standing inside a spiderweb that was weaved through the years. He was slowly getting close to the truth, but the spider that spun the web had its eyes on him as well.

    ¡°Yes, they were both in real estate in the past, but for some reason, they both wanted the same piece ofnd in Western Jiujiang. In the end, it was taken by director Luo.¡± The woman with the long hair seemed to know many things. The presence that she carried herself with separated her from other normal workers.

    ¡°Is it thend that New Century Park is currently sitting on?¡±

    ¡°Yes, at the time, the piece ofnd looked normal, but now I cannot help but be impressed by the foresight of the bigwigs.¡±

    ¡°Normal?¡± On the surface, Chen Ge knew it looked normal, but it was definitely not normal underground. He memorized this detail and changed the subject.

    ¡°The history of the older generation does not have anything to do with us. I just wish to understand the reason for Jiang Jiu purposely moving those old objects into the haunted house. Don¡¯t you think he¡¯s up to something?¡± Chen Ge asked. ¡°I went to check up on the information regarding this after I left your theme park. I realized that altar was not a shrine to honor the gods; it is to feed the ghosts with curses. Every altar has a mud statuette inside it, and anyone whoes into contact with mud statuette will be cursed. That is such a trivial attitude regarding the safety of the visitors.¡±

    ¡°There must be some kind of misunderstanding there.¡±

    ¡°If the altars are just ced there, something bad will definitely happen,¡± Chen Ge said in a serious tone. ¡°You have personally experienced how scary the haunted house can be when it goes out of control. This is rted to human lives. I must have a good chat with the management of your haunted house. Does any of you know how to contact Jiang Jiu?¡±

    The few were just employees, so Chen Ge did not expect they would help him gain contact with one of the futuristic theme park¡¯s bigwigs, Jiang Jiu. Instead, he was trying to fish for information about Jiang Ming from them, and then he would make his move that night. That was why he did not have the police intervene into the issue at the futuristic theme park. The Specters at the cursed house had seen a mud statuette with Jiang Ming¡¯s name on it before. This meant that Jiang Ming was one of the nine children. The intervention from the police would ruin his n andplicate the situation.

    This Jiang Ming looks about the same age as I am. When the shadow separated from the ghost fetus, he would¡¯ve been about ten. I saw him before at the theme park. He looked normal and had a friendly presence about him. Why would someone like him be selected by the ghost fetus? Could this be a trap set by the ghost fetus?

    The chance of the ghost fetus being inside Jiang Ming was not high, but Chen Ge still nned to meet him in person that night. When the employees from the futuristic theme park heard that Chen Ge wanted to contact Jiang Jiu, they all acted strangely. They did not deny Chen Ge¡¯s request but turned to look at the woman with the long hair.

    ¡°Wait, you can really contact Jiang Jiu?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t contact Jiang Jiu, but his stepson, Jiang Ming, is my ex-boyfriend. We were together for three and a half years, but we broke up for a ridiculous reason.¡± The woman had the air of a powerful woman. Even if she was feeling sad, she would not allow it to show on her face.

    ¡°A ridiculous reason? What kind of ridiculous reason?¡± Chen Ge was intrigued.

    ¡°When I went to his home for the first time, I realized that there was a child about four or five years old staying at his home. The boy¡¯s name is also Jiang Ming. I asked him what his rtionship with the boy is, and all he could do was stammer.¡±

 Chapter 994 - If You Donâ€™t Help Me, There Might Not Be a Chance in the Future!

    <h4>Chapter 994: If You Don¡¯t Help Me, There Might Not Be a Chance in the Future!</h4>

    ¡°There is a child by the name of Jiang Ming who¡¯s Jiang Ming¡¯s child?¡± Chen Ge did not expect to be given such surprising news with his casual question.

    ¡°Yes, I didn¡¯t think much of it at the time. I just thought it was weird until the boy suddenly called Jiang Ming ¡®dad¡¯.¡± The woman with the long hair elicited a bitter smile. ¡°I had not heard Jiang Ming mention having a family before. That day, we had a horrible dinner. Before we parted, I asked him what his rtionship with that child was. For some reason, he got mad at me and told me to stop asking random questions.

    ¡°Was I being too unreasonable? If the boy wasn¡¯t his, if he¡¯d adopted him, I could fully understand that, but he refused to say anything. How was I supposed to take in all that?¡±

    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be his biological son. Why would his own child share his name?¡± Chen Ge was not there to listen to someone else¡¯s love story. Before waiting for the woman to continue, he asked, ¡°What does the child look like? Is there anything physically different about him?¡±

    ¡°The child is quite pitiable. He is deaf in both ears, and I believe he is forbidden to leave the house. His vocabry is very limited.¡± The woman sounded worried. ¡°Jiang Minges from a wealthy family, but I don¡¯t think they n to send the boy to receive any treatment. During dinner, whenever I raised the topic of the boy, Jiang Ming would get angry at me.¡±

    ¡°When you visited his home, did you hear Jiang Ming tell the boy anything? Things like altars, mud statuettes, curses, or anything like that?¡±

    ¡°During dinner, Jiang Ming locked the boy in his bedroom. He appeared to have something against the boymunicating with the outside world.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I understand.¡± Chen Ge nodded. ¡°Onest question, what is Jiang Ming¡¯s address? I wish to visit him in person.¡±

    ¡°How about I give you his phone number?¡±

    ¡°These things are better said in person. Things get muddled in the phone.¡±

    At Chen Ge¡¯s insistence, the woman finally gave him Jiang Ming¡¯s address.

    ...

    When Chen Ge left the hospital, it was already afternoon. He arranged all the information that he had gotten in the sickroom. The many scenarios that he had experienced hid a lot of different information. What had appeared useless now became clues for him to look for the ghost fetus. If the truth was a giant puzzle, what Chen Ge was doing now was piecing the puzzle together.

    He took a cab back to New Century Park. After ensuring that there were no issues at the haunted house, he took the taxi to Eastern Jiujiang again. The countdown had already started, so there was no time to lose. When Chen Ge arrived at Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s White Dragon Tunnel, it was already dark.

    ¡°When I first came here, I found many bad things hidden in the surrounding woods, but this time, it¡¯s much quieter.¡±

    He waited until 8 pm before he dragged the heavy backpack into the tunnel. The abandoned tunnel was deserted. The ground was littered with rotten tree branches and trash. Chen Ge did not open the light. He ced his hand on the cold tunnel wall and slowly walked into it. Light disappeared behind him, and he entered a world dominated by darkness.

    ¡°Is anyone home? The ghost fetus ising alive, and this might be the first ce he attacks. Before that happens, I wish to share all of the information I know with you so that you can be prepared.¡±

    Chen Ge had not been so desperate to run into a ghost in his life. He had gone there to look for the Red Specter from the car ident and her son. Of all the Red Specters that Chen Ge had met, the son was the most unique one. Most door pushers had their door inside a certain building, and that building became a bridge that connected the real world to the blood world. But the door pusher in White Dragon Tunnel was different. When he died, his body had been stuck inside the car window. The fire in the car had melted his body to the car window, and the door that he pushed open was inside his body!

    After entering the world behind the door many times, there was one thing that Chen Ge was certain of. It was easy to enter the world behind the door, but to exit it, one needed the door pusher¡¯s permission. The School of the Afterlife was a four-star scenario. After being led unwillingly into the world behind its door, Chen Ge had been worried about this issue.

    If the ghost fetus ambushed him and dragged him behind his door, Chen Ge would be dead. To avoid that from happening, the best solution that Chen Ge could think of was to stay with the Red Specter from the car ident and her son. That way, even if he was trapped in the world behind the door, he could escape easily through the door inside the son¡¯s body.

    The reason the shadow had gone to the tunnel was probably because he wanted to gain ess to this unique door as well, but the boy had avoided him every time. However, it was also because of the shadow that the Red Specter from the car ident and her son did not dare wander away from the tunnel. Once they left, bad things would happen.

    Leaning against the wall, Chen Ge reached the spot where he had first met the Red Specter from the car ident. Changes slowly appeared in the tunnel. The air turned wet, and even with his Yin Yang Vision, the things around him became blurry like there was a dark fog rolling out from the deepest part of the tunnel. A scratching sound echoed in his ears like the sound of many bugs crawling on the wall. Chen Ge stopped moving.

    He¡¯s here.

    In the dark tunnel, a pair of red eyes slowly opened. Following a shrill wail of mercy, arge ¡®spider¡¯ appeared. Six carved appendages pierced deeply into the wall, and the enormous body was filled with wailing faces and in the middle of all the faces was the head of a small boy. ck and red tattoos crawled on the boy¡¯s face, and his bloodshot eyes looked down on Chen Ge. There was another Red Specter sitting on the spider¡¯s back. She wore a tattered dress, but she looked at Chen Ge rtively kindly.

    The boy seems to have gotten stronger.

    The door of White Dragon Tunnel was inside the boy¡¯s body. A normal Red Specter was not his match. If he ran into someone whom he could not win, he could open the door inside his body and escape. No wonder even the shadow could not do anything to him. But this kind of special power was gained after an unimaginably painful sacrifice.

    ¡°We¡¯ve cooperated before, at Li Wan City. That time, your mom came with me. She¡¯s the best witness.¡± Chen Ge wanted to build a bond first. After realizing that the woman did not have a bad impression of him, he continued. ¡°Last time, we worked together to kill the shadow, but in reality, the shadow had long separated himself from the ghost fetus. Now, no one knows what the ghost fetus is, but one thing¡¯s for sure¡ªhe is very scary and is capable of killing all of us very easily.¡±

 Chapter 995 - Old Friends!

    <h4>Chapter 995: Old Friends!</h4>

    It was not that difficult to persuade the woman and her son. They knew about the horrors of the shadow better than Chen Ge, and they knew about the ghost fetus¡¯ existence. They just did not expect him to arrive so soon. The two Red Specters agreed to help, but they only agreed to let the woman follow Chen Ge. The son refused to leave the tunnel no matter what. This time, the situation was different from Li Wan City. Chen Ge had more than enough Red Specters to help him. One more Red Specter was not going to change the situation. What he needed was that unique door, and the door argued about this for a long time.

    Chen Ge slowly understood what the two Red Specters were worried about. The door that the son pushed opened toward the tunnel behind the door. No matter where he opened that door, it would lead to that same ce. But the problem was, the son had only opened the door in the real world. He had not attempted to open the door inside the world of another Red Specter. He could not guarantee that his door would lead them back to real life.

    This was the first problem. The second problem was that the son had a very curious power¡ªDream Weaving.

    After he consumed a Specter, he could gain a part of the Specter¡¯s memory and use that memory to weave a dream. The intensity of the memory impacted how long the dream wouldst. Most of the dreams dissipated after a moment, but there were a small handful of dreams that could exist for a long time, as long as the boy continued to feed them. The son had spent many years rigging the tunnel with many dream traps. Once one identally stepped into them, even for the shadow, it would be a difficult trap to escape from. These dreams were scary, but they needed the son to continue repairing and feeding them. If he left for an extended period, the dreams would all dissolve on their own.

    When the ghost fetus arrived, nowhere would be safe. Chen Ge argued with the ferocity of truth on his side. After enough persuasion, the son finally agreed. Within the next nine days, he would follow Chen Ge and leave for one night. One night was more than enough for Chen Ge. He was very appreciative of the two Red Specters¡¯ help. After they had made their agreement, he left with the woman from the car crash and hurried toward Li Wan City.

    ¡°Danian, one day, if every page of youric is filled with Red Specters, will you feel too pressured?¡±

    ¡°You are the strongest Specter beneath a Red Specter; you have to have confidence in yourself! You can do it!¡±

    ¡°No matter what other people say, you are the best!¡±

    ¡°I mean, take a look at Ol¡¯ Bai now. Look how amazing he is. He should try to consume other Specters. When you be a Red Specter, you¡¯ll be the strongest Red Specter beneath Demon Gods!¡±

    Chen Ge walked for a long time before he got a taxi driver who was willing to take him. On the way to Li Wan City, he talked to himself while hugging theic. The driver thought that he was talking on the phone, but when Chen Ge got out of the car, he realized that Chen Ge was not wearing any earbuds.

    Chen Ge managed to reach Li Wan City before midnight. He found the door, and when the door was covered in blood at midnight, he carried the backpack and pushed the door open. The blood fog stuck to his skin, and his breathing became difficult. Every breath filled his lungs with the scent of blood. Chen Ge activated the recorder to summon Xu Yin, and then he wandered down the red streets. Compared to his previous time there, the ce had not changed much.

    ¡°When the door was pushed open, Xiao Bu should have realized my presence already.¡± Li Wan City was a 3.5-star scenario, and the blood covered almost half of the city. After the shadow died, most of the locals had slipped away, but many new ghosts had migrated there to rece them. Chen Ge only took few steps when he felt many malicious stares on him. They were very interested in the living human, but due to Xu Yin, they did not do anything. ¡°It must be quite tiring for Xiao Bu to manage such a big ce alone. If I have time in the future, I shoulde and help her.¡±

    Narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge smiled at the buildings around him. ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there and watch. Why don¡¯t youe and join me?¡±

    There was no answer. Chen Ge wanted to release Yan Danian, have him stop drawing, and get him involved in some fighting. ¡°Consider yourself lucky.¡±

    After walking past several deserted streets, the blood fog thickened. Bloody raindrops fell on Chen Ge, and a figure appeared in the rain. She wore a red raincoat, and her lips were sewn together. Her bloodshot eyes followed Chen Ge and Xu Yin. The woman in the red raincoat!

    Chen Ge stopped moving and waved. ¡°Have you found your child?¡±

    The woman slowly walked toward Chen Ge, and when she reached his side, she shook her head lightly.

    ¡°If he¡¯s not behind the world inside the door, is it possible that he¡¯s actually not been killed by the shadow but is hidden somewhere around Jiujiang?¡± Chen Ge looked into the woman¡¯s pair of clear eyes. ¡°The ghost fetus is possessing one of the children, and your child might be one of them. I have done a lot of research and have narrowed down the candidates to nine children...¡±

    Chen Ge was about to speak when the woman suddenly grabbed his arm. The chill seeped into his skin, and the chill crawled up his bones and into his heart. The woman¡¯s lips were sewn shut, so she could not speak, but a pleading cry escaped from her mouth.

    ¡°Calm down, I came to get you to leave with me. For the next eight days, I will track down all nine children, but during this period, you have to listen to me and cannot act on your own.¡± Chen Ge struggled loose from the woman. ¡°Where is Xiao Bu? Bring me to see her. I have something that I need to rify with her.¡±

    The woman in the red raincoat slowly turned around and signaled for Chen Ge to follow. They walked through Li Wan City and came to the building where Zhang Ya and Doctor Gao had battled the shadow. The innocent red little girl was lying against the wall, using her own blood to slowly clean away the curse left behind by the shadow. It would take years or even decades to remove the curse that the shadow had left on Li Wan City, but Xiao Bu did not seem to mind.

    Before Chen Ge got close, Xiao Bu sensed Chen Ge. She pulled back all her blood vessels and walked toward Chen Ge. The girl reacted curiously when she saw Chen Ge. Her eyes only stopped for a second on Chen Ge¡¯s face before she turned to Chen Ge¡¯s shadow like there was something interesting that captured her attention there. She stared at his shadow and started to daydream.

    ¡°Xiao Bu, what are you thinking?¡± Chen Ge wanted to walk forward to tussle her hair, but considering that she was the door pusher in Li Wan City and could be as powerful as a Top Red Specter, he cleverly gave up that idea. ¡°I¡¯vee to see him due to something important. The ghost fetus that separated from the shadow years ago is about to be born. He is currently in Jiujiang, hiding in one of the children. I wish to invite you toe help me find him.¡±

    Her hazy eyes wandered between Chen Ge and the shadow before Xiao Bu nodded.

    After leaving the door at Li Wan City, Chen Ge nced at his phone. ¡°It¡¯s still earlier. I should take a detour to the Third Sick Hall. I haven¡¯t seen Men Nan in such a long time. I kinda miss that little guy.¡±

 Chapter 996 - Door Beside the Bed

    <h4>Chapter 996: Door Beside the Bed</h4>

    The third sick hall was a turning point for Chen Ge. Before this mission, he had been on the defensive. It was at this ce that he started to resist and realized that the ¡®bad guys¡¯ could also feel afraid.

    Returning to where it all began, Chen Ge jumped over the wall and found the door. Since it was already past midnight, Chen Ge could only try another method to open the door. Actually, he had been meaning to try this, but he had not had the chance.

    There were still many puzzles around the ¡®door¡¯. Many door-pushers knew so little about the doors that they pushed open, much less a normal person like Chen Ge. Summoning Xu Yin and the red high hells, Chen Ge used the blood vessels and curse, but it did not affect the door. He then summoned the stench and the headless woman. The number of Red Specters increased, and the hellish winds blew. Many blood vessels crawled on the wall as if they were trying to dye the whole corridor red.

    Each Red Specter used their own power, but they could not make the door budge. Chen Ge held theic and was about to summon the other Red Specters when the door suddenly shuddered. Fresh blood leaked from the gap, and footsteps echoed in the empty room.

    ¡°Finally, there¡¯s a reaction. Could it be Men Nan?¡±

    The footsteps approached. When the blood covered the door, the door was opened. A boy slightly taller than Chen Ge¡¯s knees leaned against the door and peeked out.

    ¡°Men Nan, long time no...¡±

    m!

    The door was closed instantly; Chen Ge did not even have the chance to react. Several secondster, the door opened again. Men Nan¡¯s eyes scanned the lineup of Red Specters, and he raised his little hand to p himself. The door opened, and more than a handful of Red Specters were eyeing him like he was some candy. There was no realer nightmares than this.

    m!

    The door was closed again, and the blood on the door quickly faded away.

    ¡°Men Nan, Brother Nan, I¡¯m here on important business. The ghost fetus separated from the shadow ising back. He is mad and extremely vengeful.¡± Chen Ge knocked on the door. ¡°It¡¯s very dangerous now. I need you to open the door.¡±

    Several secondster, the door creaked open a sliver. Men Nan leaned against the door and peeked out. ¡°You¡¯re not here to kill me?¡±

    ¡°Why would you think that? We¡¯ve been through so much, and we¡¯ve survived many dangerous incidents. I would never harm you.¡± The door slowly opened, and Men Nan¡¯s eyes wandered around the surrounding Red Specters. He was afraid. It felt like he was a primary school student being surrounded by a group of tattooed gangsters.

    ¡°I know about the ghost fetus. I¡¯ve heard about him from the people of the Ghost Stories Society. The thing is very scary, and I¡¯ll be vanquished with one nce.¡± Men Nan raised his hand toward Chen Ge. ¡°I really can¡¯t help. See you around. I have to go fix the window. Who knows what happened in that red city? Recently, the amount of red fog has increased drastically, and I have to fix the window before tragedy strikes.¡±

    ¡°Men Nan, there is no need to be so humble. Yes, you are not as powerful as other Red Specters, but perhaps because you are too weak, you have retained human rationality, and that is the most important thing.¡± Chen Ge squatted before Men Nan. ¡°You canmunicate freely with me, and your intelligence is incredibly high. If something happens to me, you cane to your own decision with your own analysis.¡±

    Men Nan was the weakest among all the Red Specters, but he had something that the other Red Specters did not. He had retained his sanity and was not consumed by negative emotions.

    ¡°Howe your praise doesn¡¯t make me feel any happiness? If anything, I feel offended.¡± Men Nan scratched his neck as his small brows creased together. ¡°Let me think about it.¡±

    ¡°No door pusher will be able to survive this. If we can¡¯t stop the ghost fetus, he will eventuallye to you. Have you forgotten the days when you were trapped by the Ghost Stories Society? The ghost fetus will be crueler than them.¡±

    After a few minutes of conflict, Men Nan promised, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll help you onest time.¡±

    ¡°After we deal with the ghost fetus, I¡¯ll bring you back here immediately.¡± Chen Ge flipped open theic. He valued Men Nan so much because of a n that he needed toplete. The n would work without a hitch even if he had lost his consciousness and was dying.

    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s a promise. If you dare lie to me, I will haunt you forever.¡± Closing the door to Third Sick Hall, Men Nan was sucked into theic.

    ¡°The child has a sharp tongue but a soft heart.¡± Chen Ge summoned the Red Specters back one by one. Finally, only Xu Yin was left. The two stayed on the empty corridor. Chen Ge took out the recorder. ¡°Xu Yin, one night, if you can¡¯t find me anymore, do not do anything rash. You cane and consult Men Nan. He is a very clever ghost. He will help you make the correct choice. Do you understand me?¡±

    With an unresolvable mncholy in his eyes, Xu Yin nodded lightly.

    ¡°Come, let¡¯s head to the next location.¡± Chen Ge left the third sick Hall. He did not go to rest but took a cab to the ce where Jiang Ming lived. ¡°After tonight, I will only have seven nights left. Time flies.¡±

    Jiang Ming lived in a high-end residential area at the center of Jiujiang. ording to the employee from the futuristic theme park, this house belonged to Jiang Ming. Only Jiang Ming and the boy lived there. The cab stopped at the gate of the area. The gate was closed, and the guard was ying on his phone. Walking in from the front door was going to be difficult. After getting out of the car, Chen Ge carried the backpack and came to the other side of the gated residential area. He sat by the road and summoned Men Nan.

    ¡°The fourth floor of the third block in Area A, I need you to scout ahead for me. The target is a child about your size. He is deaf in both ears. His name is Jiang Ming. He should be one of the nine candidates chosen by the ghost fetus.¡±

    Men Nan was the only choice to do something with such a high difficulty. His intelligence was sharp, and he was a Red Specter. He could move freely at night, and he was powerful enough to deal with any normal threats.

    ¡°You want me to go alone? If the ghost fetus is really in him, wouldn¡¯t I be dead?¡± Men Nan shook his head rapidly.

    ¡°The ghost fetus will only wake up in eight nights¡¯ times. I just need you to confirm this for me and observe if there¡¯s anything weird about this boy and his home.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the surveince camera. ¡°There is a blind spot at the left side. If you make any discoveries, I will hurry over to join you.¡±

    ¡°Howe I feel like you¡¯re trying to scam me?¡± Men Nan grumbled as he headed into the residential area. Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision to follow his movement. Ten minutester, Men Nan suddenly reappeared in Chen Ge¡¯s gaze. His hands were cold, and the blood vessels on his shirt were dancing.

    ¡°Have you fought with them? Are there other Specters in the room?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that.¡± The shock in Men Nan¡¯s eyes was still evident as he turned his head up to Chen Ge. ¡°There is a semi-visible door in the room. It is right next to the child¡¯s bed.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a door by the child¡¯s bed?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and something wasing out from the door!¡± Men Nan was confused. ¡°When I tried to get close, the door vibrated like crazy, and then something weirder happened. The boy who was sleeping opened his eyes! Didn¡¯t you say that he was deaf?¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute. Even if he had normal hearing, do you think a living human could hear the door to the other world open?¡± Chen Ge was surprised, too.

 Chapter 997 - I Am Normally a Very Reasonable Person

    <h4>Chapter 997: I Am Normally a Very Reasonable Person</h4>

    ¡°After the boy woke up, the door disappeared. He couldn¡¯t see me, but he seemed to know that there was someone else in the room. He used a very low whisper and called out, ¡®Daddy¡¯.¡± Men Nan sat next to Chen Ge. The boy and the man stared at each other. ¡°He seemed to want to express something else, but that appeared to be the only word he knew.¡±

    ¡°Can you describe the door beside the boy¡¯s bed in more detail? How is that door different from your own door?¡±

    ¡°It was very unreal, like it would disappear at any moment. The blood vessels on the door were very faded, and they were all focused at one location like they were pieced there.¡± This was the first time that Men Nan had seen a door like that. ¡°It¡¯s hard to exin. I suggest you go and see it in person.¡±

    ¡°Upscale apartments like these have password locks in their stairwell, and there are cameras everywhere in the courtyard. If I do anything, I¡¯ll be discovered, and that will only expose our tracks and tip off the enemy.¡± After observing for some time, Chen Ge had noticed that the surveince effort of the upscale residential area was very good. He had no chance of slipping into the child¡¯s home without notice.

    ¡°A change of n.¡± Chen Ge looked at the phone. When he left the Third Sick Hall, it had been 12:50 am; it was now 1:30 am.

    ¡°Are you going to barge in?¡±

    ¡°Not necessary. We¡¯ll return when Jiang Ming leaves for work tomorrow morning.¡± Chen Ge stood up and went to the nearby stall to buy something to eat. ¡°Would you like some?¡±

    ¡°Thanks, but it¡¯s fine. Call me when you return tomorrow. I am quite interested in that boy.¡± Men Nan returned to theic. After Chen Ge had his fill, he took another cab to Jiang Yuan Apartments.

    Originally, Chen Ge nned to leave for Coffin Vige, but if he entered the mountains then, he would reach the vige around dawn. ¡°There¡¯ll still be time to go in the future. I should be qualified to know more things about that vige now.¡±

    At 2 am, Chen Ge arrived at Jiang Yuan Apartments, he carried the loaded backpack and entered the corridor. He had returned to the same ce with the same people, but his emotions were different. Chen Ge did not forget about the things that happened that night during his nightmare mission. This time, he purposely stuck to the scary corners. But probably due to the warning of the Red Specter in the building, nothing came out to scare Chen Ge.

    ¡°I remember, on this floor, that someone tried to drag me into a room.¡± Chen Ge took out the hammer and politely knocked on the respective door at 2:30 am. He waited for a long time, but no one answered the door. Just as he was about to use the hammer to knock down the lock, a child¡¯sughter came from the stairwell.

    ¡°The person who lived there moved the night you came.¡± A boy, around eight years old, sat on the banister. His red shirt was soaked, and it dripped blood. His eyes were bulging and filled with whiteness. If anyone ran into a child like this in their own apartment, they would be scared witness.

    ¡°I am a water ghost. I was drowned. I drifted around for a long time before I found this door, and it was lucky that I managed to be a Red Specter.¡± The boy jumped down from the banister. He had long hair, and his white eyes stared at Chen Ge. ¡°The promise we made that day was that you would bring the real door pusher here at 2 am in three days. This isn¡¯t the third day. Why have you returned earlier than promised?¡±

    ¡°I have found the clues about the real door pusher!¡± Chen Ge put down the hammer and picked up his bag. ¡°It was not me who pushed open the door here but my shadow. At the time, I told him all my negative thoughts. He couldn¡¯t take them anymore, so he pushed open the door, but since he was just a shadow, the door wasn¡¯t pushed openpletely.¡± Chen Ge was just specting left and right. He did not know the truth, but he knew how to push the me onto the shadow.

    ¡°You said your shadow pushed open the door?¡± The water ghost took one step and appeared before Chen Ge in an instant. His face was leaning in to Chen Ge. ¡°Only a person at their deepest despair can push open the door! Are you trying to trick me?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all real. The shadow has now separated himself from the ghost fetus. He wants to be reborn as a human!¡± Chen Ge told him everything he knew about the ghost fetus. The boy did not believe him initially, but the more he listened to Chen Ge, the more he was persuaded. Finally, when he heard Chen Ge mention the names Jia Ming and Bei Ye, his expression changed, and that did not escape Chen Ge¡¯s attention.

    ¡°Do you know Jia Ming and Bei Ye?¡± Chen Ge knew from Captain Yan that Jia Ming and Bei Ye were indeed once spotted at Jiang Yuan Apartments. Chen Ge felt like it was normal for the boy as the owner of this ce to have heard their names before.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know them, but...¡± The boy pointed at the door next to Chen Ge. ¡°They were the former tenants of that room. The night you came, it was Jia Ming who tried to drag you into the room to kill you.¡±

    ¡°That was him? Impossible! I remember that the person who dragged me had zero warmth; it was not a living person.¡±

    ¡°There is a very wicked spirit living in Jia Ming. It was the spirit who made the move that night. I have no idea why it was so determined to kill you.¡± The boy did not have the need to lie, so he should be telling the truth. Chen Ge did not expect this coincidence! Now he regretted not opening his eyes, but the person with the biggest regret should be Jia Ming. If the man knew that Chen Ge did not carry any employees with him that night and Zhang Ya was still in hibernation, he would not have passed up the chance to murder Chen Ge!

    Thinking back, with how close he had escaped from death, Chen Ge shivered in fear.

    ¡°I suspected that there was history between you two. They failed to kill you, and as if afraid of you taking revenge on them, they ran away that night.¡±

    ¡°You should have stopped them. The ghost fetus might be inside the child with Jia Ming. After killing the ghost fetus, you¡¯ll be the real door pusher.¡± Chen Ge sighed.

    ¡°How do I know you¡¯re not lying to me?¡± The boy felt like Chen Ge sounded more confident this time, and his tone had be pushier.

    ¡°The door here has no use for me. I just want to live a normal life.¡± Chen Ge calcted the time and felt like there was still a chance to salvage this. ¡°You are the owner here. You even know about their names and the spirit hiding in Jia Ming, so you should have eavesdropped on other information as well, right? Why did theye here?¡±

    ¡°They came here searching for an altar, and there indeed is an altar here.¡± The boy¡¯s white eyes turned twice. As if reminded of something, he hurried to leave.

    ¡°Where is that altar?¡± Chen Ge reached his hand into his backpack.

    ¡°That is not a question you should ask. Leave. I¡¯ve already told you many things.¡± The boy was about to escape when the sound of static and a heavy stench filled up the corridor.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be such a hurry to leave. I believe you have more things you can tell me.¡± Chen Ge flipped through theic, and blood red shadows appeared behind him. ¡°Now you understand why Jia Ming was so desperate to leave after he failed to kill me, don¡¯t you? But don¡¯t worry. Most of the time, I am a very reasonable person.¡±

 Chapter 998 - Phones Have Their Own Thoughts

    <h4>Chapter 998: Phones Have Their Own Thoughts</h4>

    One, two, three, four... The Red Specters that the boy met in a few minutes were far more than the total of Red Specters he had met in the past decade. He wanted to escape, but it was toote. The corridor was swallowed by red, and a tsunami of resentment was rushing through the area.

    ¡°I have no interest in your door, so we have no conflict of interest. You wish to get the door¡¯s approval and be the new door pusher, and the simplest way to do that is to kill the original door pusher, the ghost fetus. Thus, we have amon enemy.¡± Chen Ge looked at the boy who was surrounded by multiple Red Specters. ¡°No matter how you look at it, we have a basis for cooperation. What do you think?¡±

    ¡°I...¡± The boy¡¯s white eyes darted about. He realized that all his exits were blocked off, and all the Red Specters were looking at him like he was a piece of meat. ¡°I believe you are right. We are not enemies, and we shouldn¡¯t be enemies. If we fight, it¡¯ll only benefit the ghost fetus.¡±

    ¡°So, have you remembered more details that you can share with me?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes. The altar is just underground. I¡¯ll lead you there.¡±

    Surrounded by Red Specters, the boy led everyone to the basement. The basement was very humid, and there was a moldy smell in the air. The corridor was filled with abandoned trash. There were even two rusted bicycles blocking the door.

    ¡°Many rooms in Jiang Yuan Apartments have been rented out before, but when the tenants left, they didn¡¯t take their stuff with them. The owner was toozy to throw them away, so the stuff got moved here.¡±

    The group came to the deepest part of the corridor. There was a wooden altar at the end. The insides of the altar¡¯s walls were covered in the death characters, and it was also covered in spiderwebs and insect carcasses. The only thing missing was the mud statuette.

    ¡°Did Jia Ming¡¯s groupe here before?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± The boy¡¯s tone became softer. ¡°This altar was left behind by an old tenant. He sold his home to settle his debt. The new owner wanted to toss away the altar due to how cursed it looks, but they were afraid of offending the ¡®spirit¡¯ inside the altar, so they left it in the basement.¡±

    ¡°Do you know where the family has moved to?¡± Chen Ge was surprised at how sessful things were going. He had found a clue to another child.

    ¡°On the night they moved, I heard the tenant say that they were going to send the child to a Pei Chi Academy in Western Jiujiang, so I believe that is where they are now.¡±

    ¡°A child? Pei Chi Academy?¡± Chen Ge had once more confirmed this child was one of the people he was looking for. ¡°You still remember what the child looks like, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Okay, for the next eight days, you will follow us to find the ghost fetus.¡± Chen Ge did not give the boy any choice¡ªhe did not know even ask the Red Specter for his opinion¡ªhe merely gave an order.

    ¡°I can¡¯t stay away from here for too long. The door will be active at night. If I ignore it for too long, the building will create a fourteenth floor.¡± The boy hoped that Chen Ge would understand the severity of the situation.

    ¡°No worries, I will give you time toe back to close the door.¡± Chen Ge invited the boy into theic. He stood before the altar and started to consider something else. ¡°The child that this altar corresponds to shouldn¡¯t be the child with Jia Ming, so how did Jia Ming find this ce? Can he sense the location of the altars? Is he staying at Jiujiang to look for the other altars? If that is true, I have to find him as soon as possible!¡±

    Chen Ge really did not expect that the few people that he let go previously would be so important now. Theic had another new Red Specter. Including the woman in the stage costume, the number of Red Specters around Chen Ge had reached a very scary point. However, even with so many Red Specters, Chen Ge did not feel safe. There was a gulf between baleful Specters and Red Specters; it was the same with Red Specters and Demon Gods. To use the Red Specters¡¯ power to kill a Demon God, one needed aplete n that made use of all the Red Specters¡¯ power perfectly.

    ¡°Yet another fulfilling night.¡± Chen Ge left Jiang Yuan Apartments and returned to New Century Park. It was already dawn. Entering the haunted house, Chen Ge did not go to sleep but summoned Men Nan and Tong Tong to do an experiment. After a few minutes, Chen Ge climbed into bed. He slept for only three to four hours before he crawled up to prepare for another day of business. After putting on make-up for his employees and leaving them some simple orders, Chen Ge carried his backpack and left again.

    ¡°It feels like we¡¯ve been seeing less and less of the boss, or is that my imagination?¡±

    ¡°He probably has something important to do. We¡¯ll focus on our work. When hees back at night, we can ask him about it.¡±

    Running out from New Century Park, Chen Ge saw a taxi parked by the side of the road. He walked over, and coincidentally, it was the driver who driven him from Jiang Yuan Apartments the previous night.

    ¡°My shift¡¯s about to end. Why don¡¯t you call another cab?¡± The driver nced at Chen Ge. ¡°Boss, haven¡¯t we met somewhere before?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps, I like to go out at night in taxis.¡± Chen Ge opened the door and got in. ¡°Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s futuristic theme park and step on it. Something huge is happening tonight.¡±

    ...

    At the gate of the futuristic them park, Chen Ge found the worker and stated his reason for being there. He wished to meet Jiang Ming. If thetter was too much, he would buy the ticket to find him at the haunted house and start a few more livestreams. As the face of New Century Park, Chen Ge wasbelled as one of the most dangerous characters by the futuristic theme park. After the workers recognized him, they raced toward the office.

    Ten minutester, Jiang Ming came toward Chen Ge in his employee outfit with furrowed brows.

    ¡°Why are you looking for me?¡± Jiang Ming maintained his distance from Chen Ge. ¡°We should not have met before, right?¡±

    ¡°I have something that I need to confirm with you.¡± Chen Ge signaled for Jiang Ming to follow him to a more secluded area. ¡°There is an old mansion at the center of your haunted house, and there is an altar ced there. Inside that altar was my decapitated mud statuette. I wish to know what the meaning of that is.¡±

    ¡°How would you know that¡¯s your mud statuette? Does it have your name on it? Perhaps it just looks like you.¡±

    ¡°Now that you mention it, it does have my name on it.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone. ¡°Here is the photographic proof.¡±

    Jiang Ming¡¯s reaction was different from what Chen Ge expected. The man genuinely seemed surprised by this and did not know what the altar and mud statuette represented, or he could be a very good actor.

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s the prank of one of the employees. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll conduct an investigation into this and give you a satisfactory answer.¡± Jiang Ming gave a PR answer. ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else...¡±

    ¡°Wait!¡±

    ¡°I will help you deal with this, but you have to have patience.¡± Jiang Ming just wanted Chen Ge to leave. ¡°It is my working hours. I know New Century Park is a lot freer, but we are very busy here.¡±

    ¡°Leave me your contact details before you go, or else I won¡¯t be able to reach you in the future.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone and showed the QR code of his WeChat for Jiang Ming to scan.

    ¡°Haha, you¡¯re an interesting one.¡± Jiang Ming took out his phone and scanned the code. After the friend request was epted, Jiang Ming pushed the phone back into his pocket. He did not notice the smile on Chen Ge¡¯s face, much less the two ghosts that had slipped into his phone.

 Chapter 999 - Everyone Is Missing Something

    <h4>Chapter 999: Everyone Is Missing Something</h4>

    Tong Tong¡¯s item of possession was a phone, and he was the only Specter that one couldmunicate with from a distance. At the time, Han Bao¡¯er from the Ghost Stories Society had used this uniqueness and Gao Ru Xue as bait to lure Chen Ge out from his haunted house. But there was a weakness to Tong Tong. He was very weak, and his power would be seriously weakened in the day. It had big limitations, like his power not working in crowded ces and being powerless when under direct sunlight.

    It was in consideration of these things that Chen Ge had conducted an experiment the previous night and had Men Nan and Tong Tong possess the same phone. Being sheltered by a Red Specter, Tong Tong would not suffer so much in the day. As long as nothing happened to Men Nan, Tong Tong could use his power many times, but he would expend more energy than he would at night. With the protection from a Red Specter, Chen Ge was not that worried about Tong Tong¡¯s safety. When discovered, Men Nan could escape with Tong Tong. There were so many people at the futuristic theme park; they could find any phone to hide in.

    Jiang Ming had not realized the severity of the situation. He probably did not think that Chen Ge was a threat. Seeing Jiang Ming walk away, Chen Ge put away his phone. Tong Tong and Men Nan had left his phone. ¡°Hopefully, they can find something useful.¡±

    For Jiang Jiu to have survived so long, he must be an old fox. To get anything from him would be difficult, so the only method was to find opening through people around him. Collecting information was one of Chen Ge¡¯s ns, but there was another mission he had given Tong Tong and Men Nan. When the day darkened, he would repeat the same thing that the Ghost Stories Society had done to him on Jiang Ming. After dealing with the things there, Chen Ge rushed toward Pei Zhi Academy in Western Academy. Before entering the school, he found a corner and flipped through theic tomunicate with the drowned boy.

    ¡°After I enter the school, notify me if you see the child.¡± He wandered about at the gates for a while. Before he got in, a young woman about twenty came toward him. ¡°Hello, how I can help you?¡±

    Chen Ge looked into the school. There were children ying on the field. He hesitated before saying, ¡°There have been issues at my rtive¡¯s house recently. Their child has been sent to an orphanage. The child is a bit quiet, he doesn¡¯t like tomunicate with others, and his condition is getting worse. I¡¯m afraid his life will be ruined if this continues, so I wish to bring him here to get an education.¡±

    ¡°Our school epts students with mental handicaps and other problems. If the condition is that serious, you should bring him here.¡± The woman was kind. ¡°We are a private institution, so the fee might be a bit expensive. However, we design a special teaching n that will be tailored specifically to each child.¡±

    ¡°The fee will be expensive?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s lips turned down, and his hands twisted together. He thought for a long time before saying, ¡°Can I please go in to take a look at how the sses are conducted normally first?¡±

    ¡°Of course. All our staff here are professional, and you¡¯ll find the atmosphere very conducive for study.¡± The teacher invited Chen Ge into the school. On the field, the teachers were ying games with the children. They were simple games. The main purpose was for the children tomunicate with others. Past the field was the education block. The wall had a motto written on¡ª¡¯every child deserves an education¡¯. The ssrooms were bright and filled with sunlight. They looked clean and neat.

    ¡°Our school focuses on three main criteria: development of intelligence, societal assimtion, and practical living. Based on the condition of each child, we have set up twelve different types of sses,¡± the teacher exined patiently to Chen Ge, and thetter listened patiently.

    Initially, he was there to find the candidate selected by the ghost fetus, but when he was there, he suddenly felt touched. This world was unfair and cruel to these children, but even so, they were trying their best. Their smiles under the sun were beautiful. Chen Ge looked at the children in the ssrooms.

    Will the ghost fetus be among them?

    After they reached thest ssroom, there was a wetness that came from Chen Ge¡¯s hand that grabbed his backpack. He lowered his lead to look and saw a bloody palm.

    The child is here?

    Before anyone noticed, Chen Ge quickly wiped his hand clean. He did not expect the drowned boy¡¯s hint to be so obvious.

    ¡°Can I go in to take a look?¡± Chen Ge scanned the ssroom. Chen Ge pointed at thest row. The other children were sitting around the teacher, but there was a child who stood at the back of the ss with his bag. ¡°Why is that boy standing over there?¡±

    Seeing Chen Ge walk in, the teacher in the ss answered his question. ¡°Wu Sheng hit some other students during ss, so I gave him time out as punishment. We have to give him a correct understanding of right and wrong since they are young, letting them know that there are consequences for doing bad things.¡±

    ¡°His name is Wu Sheng?¡± Chen Ge walked up to the boy, and when he was next to the boy, his hand that held the backpack started to bleed again. It shocked Chen Ge so much that he quickly mped them before his chest. The teacher and other students did not see it, but the boy who stood before him saw it clearly.

    ¡°Well, looks like we¡¯ve found him.¡± Chen Ge wiped the blood from his palm. He squatted before the boy as the female teacher walked over.

    ¡°Since his birth, the child hasn¡¯t said aplete sentence. He dislikes being with others, and it has escted to full refusal tomunicate with others.¡± The teacher signaled for Chen Ge to move away from the boy. ¡°Wu Sheng¡¯s father is a wandering singer. He is not a bad person. Initially, he thought that it was because he gave the child a bad name that he refused to speak, so he changed the boy¡¯s name to Wu Yousheng[1] and then Wu Busheng[2], thinking perhaps two wrongs made a right, but in the end, it was the name Wu Sheng[3] that stuck.¡±

    ¡°Wu Sheng¡¯s situation is simr to my rtive¡¯s child. Can I chat with him?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid not. We have a responsibility toward the children. Your careless words might injure their fragile hearts.¡±

    ¡°Then, can I talk with his family? After all, we¡¯re in the same boat.¡±

    ¡°I can understand that.¡± The Mr. Handed Chen Ge Wu Sheng¡¯s father¡¯s number. They chatted for a while and Chen Ge left. Walking out from the school, Chen Ge called Wu Sheng¡¯s father directly but there was no answer.

    ¡°Of the few confirmed kids, one has lost her memory, one has lost his hearing, one is mute. Other than myself, everyone has lost something important.¡± Chen Ge stood beside the road and studied the passing car. ¡°Now that I think about it, if I am one of the nine children, then I should have lost something important to but the question is what? It is because I have lost my own shadow?¡±

    [1] Wu Yousheng can also mean ¡®Got Voice¡¯.

    [2] Wu Busheng can also mean ¡®No Voice¡¯.

    [3] Wu Sheng can also mean ¡®No Sound¡¯.

 Chapter 1000 - Adoption

    <h4>Chapter 1000: Adoption</h4>

    Every child that was selected by the ghost fetus had a defect to them. Chen Ge should be no exception, but what he had lost might be different from the other children. His memory, shadow, and even parents¡ªChen Ge had lost so much that he could not tell for sure.

    There are seven nights left. I am getting closer to the truth.

    Leaving the Pei Zhi Academy, Chen Ge returned to New Century Park. With everything that he could do for now done, he deserved a good rest. At around 8 pm, Chen Ge¡¯s phone vibrated, and he got a message from ¡®Jiang Ming¡¯.

    ¡°I¡¯m home.¡±

    This was a code decided between Tong Tong, Men Nan, and Chen Ge. When Chen Ge received this message, he would take all the employees and leave the haunted house. Chen Ge arrived at the city center around 9 pm. He did not head directly to Jiang Ming¡¯s residential area but found a nearby restaurant to sit and eat.

    At 10:30 pm, Chen Ge received the second message from ¡®Jiang Ming¡¯. It was only then that he moved slowly toward his destination. He had scouted the ce out the previous night, so he knew where the surveince blind spots were.

    At 11:20 pm, Chen Ge received the third message from ¡®Jiang Ming¡¯. He took immediate action. He leaped over the wall and took only few seconds toplete all his actions.

    Chen Ge carried his backpack toward one of the buildings. At the same time, Jiang Ming rushed out from the stairwell, heading toward the underground parking lot. After Jiang Ming drove away, Chen Ge walked to the apartment entrance. The door that was installed at the stairwell was opened from the inside as Men Nan poked his head out. ¡°The n was sessful; Jiang Ming waspletely fooled by Tong Tong.¡±

    ¡°Is the boy asleep?¡±

    ¡°Yes, follow me.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s n was simple. After the young Jiang Ming fell asleep, Tong Tong would mimic Jiang Jiu and send orders to him via his phone and have him travel all around the city that night.

    ¡°The stairwell and his home both use a password lock. I memorized the password when he opened them earlier.¡± Men Nan led Chen Ge to the fourth door and opened the door.

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Chen Ge took out stic bags to wrap around his shoes and a pairs of gloves before entering the house.

    Even though this was the silk-stocking district in Jiujiang, Jiang Ming¡¯s house was sparsely decorated. A lot of furniture was old and dpidated. It felt incongruent with the rest of the ce. It felt like the old furniture had purposely been put there.

    ¡°This whole day, Jiang Jiu has not contacted Jiang Ming. He acted very normal, just like a normal employee at the theme park.¡±

    ¡°Is there any information about the boy on Jiang Ming¡¯s phone? Like who the mother is and when the boy lost his hearing?¡± Chen Ge whispered.

    ¡°The phone has no incriminating information and no clues. There was not even a picture rted to that boy.¡±

    ¡°Basically, the boy¡¯s existence is a secret. If not for Jiang Ming¡¯s girlfriend¡¯s idental discovery, probably no one would know about a boy who shared his name at his home.¡±

    ¡°You can see it that way.¡±

    The information about the boy was a nk te. Chen Ge conducted his search around the house. To save time, he released Ol¡¯ Zhou and his friends to help. The lights were not turned on, and shadows moved across the room.

    Several minutester, Chen Ge really did find something. He found a crumpled letter inside the study¡¯s trashcan. The content of the letter was as follows. The sender needed a lot of money, and if they were refused, they woulde to take the child and not let him stay with Jiang Ming anymore.

    ¡°The child is a bargaining chip?¡± Chen Ge studied the letter. ¡°The boy lives with the older Jiang Ming, but there is no information on his mother. Could the sender of this letter be the mother? Is the boy Jiang Ming¡¯s biological son?¡± Chen Ge and his employees stood inside the study. Other than the letter, they found nothing else. ¡°Whether the boy is his biological son or not, there must be something to prove the child¡¯s identity inside this house. Jiang Ming can¡¯t have moved all of that to Jiang Jiu¡¯s ce, right? Or, is there a hidden room inside this house?¡±

    With another search, Ol¡¯ Zhou finally found a hidden safe behind the bookshelf. Chen Ge did not need to open the safe. He only needed his employee to slip into the safe to check its contents. Ten secondster, Ol¡¯ Zhou crawled out from the gap.

    ¡°The boy is not rted to Jiang Ming or Jiang Jiu by blood. They are taking care of him on behalf of someone else. There are adoption papers inside the safe. The husband and wife agreed for their child to stay here for the five thousand RMB that Jiang Jiu would pay them monthly. From the signature, it reads that the boy¡¯s real father¡¯s name is Jiang Dawu.

    ¡°There is a mud statuette inside the safe with the name ¡®Jiang Ming¡¯ on it. That confirms that Jiang Ming is one of the selected candidates. Other than that, the child¡¯s real ID is stored inside the safe. His real name is Jiang Ming, but it turns that it¡¯s the young man who works at the theme park that has changed his name.

    ¡°Jiang Jiu¡¯s adopted son¡¯s original name was Jiang Wei. It was after Jiang Ming was arranged to stay here that Jiang Wei changed his name to Jiang Ming.¡±

    ¡°Why would he do that? Does he want to use this to take something away from Jiang Ming? But there is nothing worth taking from the boy, other than the fact that he was selected by the source of misfortune, the ghost fetus.¡± There was no free love in this world. Jiang Jiu must want something from the boy, and that was why he had agreed to adopt the child.

    ¡°Perhaps Jiang Jiu wishes to trick the ghost fetus. He wants to be the ghost fetus¡¯ father,¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou analyzed.

    ¡°The evil spirit possessing Jiang Jiu and Jia Ming were both left behind by the ghost fetus. They probably wouldn¡¯t dare infringe on the ghost fetus¡¯ n.¡± Chen Ge stood in their perspective, a normal person would not choose to have any rtionship with the ghost fetus.

    ¡°That might not be true. What if Jiang Jiu has underestimated the ghost fetus¡¯ power, or the ghost fetus has underestimated the greed of the living.¡±

    ¡°You have a point there.¡± Chen Ge nodded admiringly at Ol¡¯ Zhou. He felt like Ol¡¯ Zhou had a bright future. ¡°Tong Tong¡¯s n to lure Jiang Ming away can only be used once. When dawn arrives and Jiang Ming meets up with Jiang Jiu, they will realize that something is wrong, so we only have one chance tonight.¡±

    Since there were no other clues to find, Chen Ge decided to meet the boy. Pushing the door open, Chen Ge looked into the room. The boy was already asleep, and he did not notice the additional ¡®people¡¯ that had entered the house.

    To prevent Jiang Ming from being scared awake, Chen Ge summoned Ol¡¯ Zhou and the rest back into theic. Only he and Men Nan entered the bedroom. On the surface, the boy looked normal, just like any other child. One could not make the connection to the scary ghost fetus.

    Chen Ge and Men Nan walked to the window, and they waited for midnight. The atmosphere in the room started to change, and a door appeared quietly next to the boy¡¯s bed.

 Chapter 1001 - Soundless World

    <h4>Chapter 1001: Soundless World</h4>

    The boy was sound asleep in bed. He had no idea about the door¡¯s appearance.

    ¡°Compared tost time, the door seems to have gotten closer to the boy,¡± Men Nan whispered. ¡°Take a close look at it. There is something inside the door that wishes toe out.¡±

    ¡°Could it be the ghost fetus?¡± This scenario reminded Chen Ge of the door of the School of the Afterlife, but the simrity was limited. For example, the door that appeared by the boy¡¯s bed felt unreal, like it would shatter once touched. There were faded blood vessels moving on the door, but it did not give off an unpleasant feeling. This was what confused Chen Ge the most. He had encountered many doors before, including the door from the School of the Afterlife. Once they appeared, the surrounding atmosphere would turn eerie and dark, with the scent of blood permeating the air, but this door was an exception. It did not feel threatening. If anything, its presence felt like a warning to the boy.

    ¡°There are too few blood vessels on the door, aren¡¯t there?¡± Chen Ge got closer to the door. He only took few steps when the doorknob started to jiggle. It was not that loud, at least not loud enough to wake the boy. When Chen Ge retreated, the door returned to normal.

    ¡°It stops me from approaching it, huh?¡± Chen Ge put down the backpack and signed something at Men Nan. He moved toward the door alone, and this time, the door did not react. ¡°It¡¯s due to the presence of a Red Specter?¡±

    Standing before the door, Chen Ge did something brave. He reached out toward the door. The door was like a lingering spirit. Chen Ge¡¯s finger phased through it directly. ¡°I can¡¯t even touch it... This is the first time I¡¯ve met a door like this.¡±

    He was not sure whether a door would appear next to all the candidates selected by the ghost fetus after they fell asleep. In any case, he did not hear Fang Yu mention anything about this, so this might be unique to Jiang Ming. If that was the case, Chen Ge should pay more attention because it meant there was a high chance ghost fetus was hiding inside Jiang Ming. His fingers wandered on the surface of the door, but he could not touch it. Just as he was about to give up, a chill came from his fingertips. Chen Ge¡¯s fingers at that time were hanging by the doorknob.

    ¡°Most of the blood vessels are gathered around the doorknob, so this doorknob is the only thing that¡¯s real or closest to the real thing?¡±

    Tong Tong¡¯s trick could only be used once, so Chen Ge did not want to waste this opportunity. However, he did not dare to push the door open alone. Even though it did not have many blood vessels on it, he was not confident that he could survive behind the door alone.

    ¡°Should I take this risk? The ck phone said that I will die if I can¡¯t locate the ghost fetus within nine nights. In other words, this period is when the ghost fetus is the least prepared or weakest.¡±

    The chance was before his eyes, and Chen Ge was unwilling to give it up. He slowly retreated.

    ¡°Men Nan, hand me the bag. You guard outside the door.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going in there like that? Isn¡¯t that a bit too rash? Are you not going to think about it further?¡±

    ¡°The doorknob will vibrate once it senses a Red Specter, and the rattling will wake up the boy. Once the boy wakes up, the door will disappear, so I only have one chance.¡± Chen Ge looked at the boy in bed. ¡°He¡¯s deaf, but he can hear the rattling of the door. The thing that the boy lost is probably behind this door.¡±

    Taking out the recorder, Chen Ge hugged it in his chest and then took out the broken ballpoint pen and ced it inside his pocket. After his previous lesson, he had learned not to put everything inside his backpack.

    After he was ready, Chen Ge took a deep breath. He stared at the doorknob as he charged toward it. The blood door sensed the presence of a threat, and it started to rattle with agitation. Theshes of the boy in bed flickered. Just as he was about to open his eyes, Chen Ge broke through the door. Inside the dark bedroom, the boy sat up in bed. He looked around and repeated the word ¡®daddy¡¯ stutteringly into the darkness.

    ...

    A horrible stench rushed into his nostrils. Chen Ge carried his backpack and looked around. This was a very old rental apartment. There were seven to eight families living on one floor, and they shared one bathroom and kitchen. The corridor was littered with trash, and dirty water stained the ground. Rotten vegetables floated in the brackish water.

    ¡°What is this ce?¡± Chen Ge looked behind him. He was standing before a rusted metal door. There was arge lock on it, and he could not leave that way. ¡°Is this the door that I pushed open?¡±

    Chen Ge took out the ballpoint pen. After realizing that he could stillmunicate with his employees, and he instantly calmed down. ¡°The scenario behind the door is made from the door pusher¡¯s memories, so this should be where the boy has his deepest memory.¡±

    Dirty, dpidated, and old, the ce stank. The ce that Jiang Ming could not forget was aplete contrast to his current home. ¡°Probably because they were staying at a ce like this, Jiang Ming¡¯s parents agreed for their boy to be adopted. But there is money that goes around, and the boy¡¯s father even wrote a letter to threaten for more money. That¡¯s disgusting behavior.¡±

    Jiang Ming¡¯s biological parents no longer treated Jiang Ming as their son but as a tool to earn money. They had no idea what their child was going through.

    ¡°The scenario behind the door is this apartment. What Jiang Ming can never forget should be here somewhere.¡± Chen Ge carried his bag and moved forward. Not too longter, he saw a wooden sign hanging on the door of the family that took the corner room. The sign read¡ª¡¯If you have an emergency, pull on the rope of themp next to this repeatedly.¡¯

    ¡°Is this where the boy stayed? If he¡¯s deaf, he wouldn¡¯t hear the knocking anyway.¡± Chen Ge pulled on the rope. The lights in the room lit up. He pulled it repeatedly, but no one showed up to open the door.

    ¡°The boy is deaf, but his parents shouldn¡¯t be.¡± Chen Ge looked at the lit room and knocked on the door. His finger touched the door lightly. Chen Ge did not use much strength, but it echoed so loudly that it even startled Chen Ge a bit.

    ¡°Why would that happen?¡± Chen Ge quickly stopped. He started to notice the uniqueness about this ce. It was so quiet; there was no sound.

    ¡°Is this what Jiang Ming¡¯s world feels like?¡±

    Those who were born deaf should not have the concept of hearing, but those who lost itter would remember sound. Their mind was not silent; there was just an imprableyer that could not be broken between their memory and the real world. It would be a thinyer. In fact, it was probably as thin as the gap between the real world and the ghost world. Still, it was ayer that was strong enough to stop the soundwaves from travelling through.

    After the echoes from the knocking stopped, the scenario changed slightly. The stench grew more intense, and it wasced with the smell of alcohol.

    Without warning, a man¡¯s face suddenly appeared at the stairwell of the second floor. He was like a blob of boneless mud. His arm was joined to the alcohol bottle as if the bottle grew from his flesh. He slid his bulbous body toward Chen Ge.

 Chapter 1002 - Absurd World Made from Memories

    <h4>Chapter 1002: Absurd World Made from Memories</h4>

    ¡°He is a literal representation of ¡®as drunk as a pile of mud¡¯.¡± Chen Ge stared at the slowly approaching monster. He pressed on the recorder and called Xu Yin¡¯s name. To his surprise, Xu Yin did not show up, but the whole apartment started to bleed, and small cracks appeared on the wall. Aftermunicating with Xu Yin, Chen Ge found that he was stopped by some unknown force. He was trying to break through it, but he needed some time.

    ¡°When I entered the door behind the underground morgue, I ran into the same situation, but this ce is no match at all for Doctor Gao¡¯s underground morgue.¡± cing the recorder back in his bag, Chen Ge took out the hammer and stood in the corridor. ¡°There is no need to run and hide.¡±

    The scary-looking hammer grated on the peeling wall. When the monster got close enough, he aimed right at the monster¡¯s arm. The bottle that grew out of the arm shattered, the ss shards flew everywhere, and some embedded into the monster¡¯s body.

    ¡°Can wemunicate?¡±

    The monster could not feel pain. Even though his arm was broken, he moved faster. After he got close to Chen Ge, he reached out his other arm to grab Chen Ge¡¯s head, trying to m into Chen Ge.

    ¡°Looks like the thing is not sentient.¡±

    Holding the hammer with both hands, Chen Ge swung it vertically on the monster¡¯s chin. The already malformed head was almost blown off the rest of its body. It was attached to the neck by a thinyer of flesh. The smell of alcohol thickened. After the monster was injured, it became uglier and more aggressive. While Chen Ge was contemting how to deal with this monster, he felt a chilling from behind him. He turned his head slowly.

    The rental doors on the side had been opened, and several twisted looking monsters appeared silently behind Chen Ge. They were very close to him!

    ¡°The original tenants behind the door will not make any sound no matter what happens. They can hear me, but I can¡¯t hear them.¡± He thought about it and realized that was exactly what Jiang Ming was experiencing. He was deaf, so no matter what other people said, he could not hear them, but if he made any sound, the people around him would react to him immediately. ¡°So, I am taking Jiang Ming¡¯s perspective in this world?¡±

    This was the first time that Chen Ge had encountered such a strange world behind the door. He felt troubled. The enemies could approach him silently, and they were hard to kill, but if he made the smallest sound, the enemies could hear him.

    ¡°I¡¯ll deal with this one before me first.¡± After the drunkard was injured, his face had be as red as blood, and thick capiries had puffed up on his face. He became more violent. The arm attached to the bottle waved around, and Chen Ge realized that the arm would join itself to whatever it came in contact with.

    ¡°The world behind the door is weaved from Jiang Ming¡¯s memory, so this man should be an important character in his memory. A violent drunkard that exploded when resisted and would grab anything nearby to start attacking.¡± Chen Ge looked at the drunkard and stared into that ugly face. ¡°This is such a horrible human being!¡±

    Raising the hammer, Chen Ge aimed it heavily at the monster¡¯s head. The hammer sank into the monster¡¯s shoulder, and he gave him another kick. Chen Ge gave no chance for the monster to react. He hit him repeatedly. ¡°If he can still stand up after this, I¡¯ll have to consider something else.¡±

    The drunkard copsed on the ground. His face became redder like it was about to explode, and his body was still expanding. ¡°If this drunkard is the boy¡¯s father, then in the young boy¡¯s memory, his father was someone unbeatable and unshakeable.¡±

    Chen Ge turned back to look. The neighbors all looked strange with twisted appearances. Their ears and mouths wereically enormous. Depending on the boy¡¯s memory of them, each of them had a special trait that separated them apart from the rest. One reeked of cheap perfume, while another had short limbs and a round belly. These neighbors were distinct from each other, but their reaction when they saw Chen Ge fight with the drunkard was surprisingly simr. They stood at their doors, peeling their ears to listen and whispering to each other. They would only turn Chen Ge¡¯s way when Chen Ge made some noise. If Chen Ge kept quiet, they appeared toozy to give him any attention.

    ¡°I wonder if these neighbors can be killed.¡± Being stared at by the group of monsters, Chen Ge felt pressure. The scariest part about the scenario was that he could not hear the sound of these monsters approaching. He could turn around to a wall of faces looking at him. ¡°I can¡¯t hear their voices. This world is too quiet for me.¡±

    The drunkard was most likely Jiang Ming¡¯s biological father. He was very hard to kill, but the neighbors might be different. Chen Ge¡¯s n was to first kill the drunkard and then massacre the rest of the neighbors before he could explore the rest of the ce in peace. The n was simple and direct.

    He raised the hammer and entered the room that was closest to him. Inside was a middle-aged man wearing a tank top. His limbs appeared to have atrophied; they were at least half the size of normal limbs. In contrast, his belly was bulging, filled with fat. There was a thin, wiry old woman in the room as well. The old woman wandered around the room as if possessed, cleaning this and that. There were several stic tubes that were stuck into her body, and the tubes were joined to some medicine bottles that were collected in a dirty corner of the room.

    A kipper[1]?

    The memory world of Jiang Ming was different from a real adult world. It was absurd and strange. Chen Ge could not be sure that he had read this situation correctly. The neighbors were monsters born out of his twisted memory, so Chen Ge did not need to hold back. The hammer mmed heavily. The injured middle-aged man crawled into the room. He grabbed the stic tubes that were originally ced in the medicine bottles and started to suck. The old woman who bustled in the room shrank before Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. After a while, the man stood up again. He waved his short limbs as if taunting Chen Ge.

    These things can¡¯t be killed, or at least, the hammer is not strong enough to kill them.

    The drunkard had almost fully recovered, and he was bing more aggressive than before. Chen Ge hammered the man several more times before he leaped over the drunkard and headed to the second floor. After learning from his previous lesson, this time, he moved quietly and did not make any noise.

    I¡¯ll hide for now.

    Chen Ge entered the toilet on the second floor. He sneaked into it and contacted Xu Yin through the recorder. Aftermunicating, Chen Ge found out that this world behind the door was very unstable. It required the power of five Red Specters to tear down the boy¡¯s memory, and then he would be able to escape. However, Chen Ge would not do that unless necessary because the ruination of the memory might cause irreparable damage to the boy.

    [1] Kipper is an acronym for ¡°kids in parents¡¯ pockets eroding retirement savings¡±.

 Chapter 1003 - I Can Hear Your Voice

    <h4>Chapter 1003: I Can Hear Your Voice</h4>

    Chen Ge calmed down after knowing how to escape. The door is slowly approaching the boy. When a Red Specter appears, it will make some noise to remind the boy. No matter how you look at it, the door has no malicious intent toward the boy.

    Scratching his chin, Chen Ge thought, Something inside the door wishes toe out but I didn¡¯t see such a creature when I am inside here, has they gone into hiding?

    The thing inside the door didn¡¯t want to harm Jiang Ming so it wouldn¡¯t be the monsters radiating evil.

    Perhaps this is the ce Jiang Ming lost his hearing. Chen Ge remembered the mission message on the ck phone. The ghost fetus¡¯ mission is a life and death game of hide and seek. Am I suppose to enter the door to find the thing the ghost fetus has hidden? This could be my first direct challenge toward the ghost fetus.

    That seemed possible. He took out the ck phone and wanted to check the mission details again when footsteps came from the second-floor corridor. They were very light footsteps. It sounded like a child walking on their tiptoes. If not for Ghost Ear, Chen Ge would not have heard it.

    Someone is passing by? This thought entered Chen Ge¡¯s mind, and he widened his eyes. Impossible! The monsters formed from memory will not make any sound¡ªI experimented with that earlier!

    Since he was deaf, Jiang Ming could not hear the world, but he could hear the sound in his own heart. The world behind the door was made from his memories. The only person who could make any noise there, other than outsiders like Chen Ge, was Jiang Ming himself!

    After Chen Ge opened the cubicle door, he found that there was no one in the toilet. He carried the hammer and the backpack as he left the toilet. He saw a group of children standing in the corridor. The children wore clothes that were much cleaner than the neighbors¡¯. They were holding some toys as if in the middle of some interesting game.

    Is Jiang Ming among them?

    Chen Ge slowly approached them with the hammer. Before he arrived, the children noticed Chen Ge. The children looked friendly, and their clothes were pretty and clean, but their appearance was something else. They had exceptionallyrge eyes, and their mouths grew wide like they were all trying to mimic the Joker. The leading boy pointed at Chen Ge and then pulled on his ears. The surrounding children started tough. From Chen Ge¡¯s perspective, he could not hear any sound, and he could not hear the children¡¯sughter, but he could see their ugly expressions.

    These kids are making fun of me.

    His eyes narrowed, Chen Ge observed closely. Through the children¡¯s moving lips, he got the gist of what they were saying. They were mocking Chen Ge for his stupidity because he was different from them. They said that his deafness was infectious and that those who yed with him would be deaf.

    Looks like Jiang Ming is not among them. A deaf person would notugh along to these ¡®jokes¡¯.

    Chen Ge raised the hammer, but he did not attack the children.

    It¡¯s meaningless to injure these kids. After I leave this world, I will go back to the real life to teach a lesson and have theme to apologize to Jiang Ming.

    The neighbors were impossible tomunicate with, and Chen Ge believed that it was because Jiang Ming was just a child and did not have that much interaction with adults. However, it would be different with people his age. Jiang Ming clearly remembered the mocking and jabs these kids made at him. They seemed to have yed together often, so Chen Ge believed that he could find clues on Jiang Ming from these kids. He squatted down and tried to gesture with his hands, attempting tomunicate with the kids without making any noise.

    Chen Ge did not wish to make things soplicated, but if he made any noise, the drunkard would chase after him. Chen Ge did not want to deal with him, so he had to do this. Even after gesturing for a long time, the kids did not give Chen Ge any information. It was as if all they could do was humiliate and mock, gaining their reason for existing from that.

    Just as Chen Ge prepared to give up, one of the children suggested a game, and Chen Ge volunteered to join. The leading boy was ¡®kind¡¯ enough to gesture at Chen Ge, saying that they wanted to y hide and seek. They would use rock-paper-scissors to decide who the seeker would be. All the children yed paper, and only Chen Ge yed rock. The children had obviously discussed this beforehand. They wanted to make fun of Chen Ge. They split up and started to hide, leaving Chen Ge alone in the corridor.

    ¡°These rascals, after I catch you, I will...¡± Chen Ge could not stop himself from grumbling, but he quickly caught himself. He looked around, and thankfully, no monster appeared.

    I¡¯ve gotten used to talking. It¡¯s so hard to get used to when I need to suddenly keep quiet.

    Carrying his backpack, Chen Ge was about to move forward when he heard some movement. It sounded like someone had identally knocked into a chair. The sound came from the direction where Chen Ge had heard the footsteps earlier.

    Jiang Ming?

    Chen Ge slowly walked down the corridor. He realized that one of the rooms was not locked. Pushing the door lightly open, there was a lot of Shui Horsetail Embroidery that was unique to Jiujiang in the room. Horsetail embroidery was a culture heritage going obsolete, so Chen Ge did not expect to run into so much of it there. Many colorful fabrics, knitting needles of varying lengths, and colorful threads were left on the table. The whole apartment building had a dim color palette, but this room was sunny and bright.

    The bamboo chair is not by the table. Someone probably knocked into it earlier.

    Chen Ge closed the door and looked around. The room was not big; there should be a senior living there because there was a pair of reading sses among the knitting stuff and a walking stick leaning against the bed. The table was ced in the middle of the room, and there were two bamboo chairs around it, so there should be two people working there. The bedside table had an old man¡¯s ck and white picture. Underneath the frame was a eulogy.

    ¡°The tenant should be an olddy. This is her living space and her working space.¡± Chen Ge took a stroll around the room, but he did not see the tenant. ¡°This room is bright and colorful,pletely different from the other rooms. This ce should be special to Jiang Ming. He feels warmth here.¡±

    The tenant of this ce must have been nice to Jiang Ming, but the problem was Chen Ge could not find this mysterious tenant. Chen Ge did not want to give up like that. When he conducted a second search, he heard some noiseing from the bedroom closet. Silently getting close to it, Chen Ge yanked the door open. A faded scent of mildew drifted into his nose. Chen Ge saw a boy about four or five hiding inside the closet. The boy was curled up in the corner. He was different from the others behind the door. The proportions of his face and body were normal.

    ¡°Jiang Ming?¡± Chen Ge asked softly. Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice, the boy¡¯s face took on an impossible expression. In this soundless world, someone had called his name!

    After a temporarily pause, Jiang Ming recovered, and he nodded heavily!

    The boy was not born deaf. In his memory, there is the impression of sound, so what happened to him?

    Chen Ge knelt down beside the closet and started to study the young boy before him.

 Chapter 1004 - Boy Looking for Snail

    <h4>Chapter 1004: Boy Looking for Snail</h4>

    Clothes and shoes that were one size bigger than he needed, a dirtied face, and clear eyes that were filled with shock. The child hid behind the olddy¡¯s clothes, showing only half of his face.

    ¡°You can hear my voice?¡± Chen Ge put down the backpack and reached out lightly toward the boy. ¡°Do not be afraid. I will not hurt you.¡±

    The boy who hid at the back of the closet behind the clothes looked at Chen Ge cautiously. He stared at Chen Ge¡¯s hand like it was a foreign object and hesitated for a long time before giving him his hand. The chilling small hand slipped into Chen Ge¡¯s palm. The warmth that he had not felt for a long time caused the boy¡¯s eyes to slowly widen.

    ¡°Have you been here for a long time?¡± Chen Ge pointed at his feet. He wanted to ask whether the small boy had been staying behind the door, but the boy seemed to misunderstand him. He waved his hands and started to gesture wildly. After Chen Ge studied him for a long time, he finally understood that the boy was in the middle of ying hide and seek with the rest of the children. He was hiding there because, well, he was hiding from those who were going to capture him.

    Seeing the boy who tried his best tomunicate with Chen Ge, thetter shook his head lightly. The other children did not y to find him at all; they were probably pranking him all along. He had been so serious, hiding inside the closet, but in the end, the one who would open the closet doors to find him would most likely not be the other children but the original tenant of this ce calling him toe out for food.

    ¡°Have you considered making more friends? Have you ever wondered what life¡¯s like beyond the window? Have you ever had the urge to see outside the world?¡± Chen Ge had found the key person behind the door¡ªJiang Ming¡ªbut there was one question that boggled his mind. What was the rtionship between this Jiang Ming and the other Jiang Ming in real life? This Jiang Ming inside the door might represent the hearing that the Jiang Ming outside the door had lost, but the chance of that was not high. Combining all the clues and signs, the door would only show up when Jiang Ming outside the door was soundly asleep, so this Jiang Ming inside the door probably represented the actual consciousness of Jiang Ming.

    In this world constructed from his memories, every movement and character somehow corrtes to the real life. Jiang Ming wishes to y with his friends, and he hides in the room that gives him the most warmth. This should be the most beautiful and treasured memory that he has.

    Chen Ge wanted to say something else, but Jiang Ming¡¯s eyes suddenly changed. They turned from shock to terror in an instant, and tears were practically flowing out of his eyes.

    He¡¯s looking behind me!

    The smell of alcohol crawled into his nostrils. Without saying a second word, Chen Ge lunged forward, grabbed the boy, and rolled to the side. The alcohol bottle mmed into the closet wall. The ss bottle shattered everywhere, but it did not make a sound. The thick blood vessels bulging on his face, the drunkard monster had entered the room. He had probably heard Chen Ge talking.

    This thing sure is stubborn, and the most troublesome thing is that it is impossible to kill.

    Chen Ge held the Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer with one hand and carried the boy in his other arm. The boy was shocked. He was like a kitten who was tortured, and his body was shaking nonstop from fear.

    The fear toward his drunk father is deeply embedded in his heart. It is this fear that keeps on providing power to the drunkard monster, making him stronger and stronger.

    A n started to form in Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

    If I can help the boy ovee his fear and use actual actions to tell him that his drunk father is not unbeatable, things might look up for the boy.

    That was easier said than done. To change a memory that deeply inserted in one¡¯s mind was too hard.

    ¡°Jiang Ming, please do not be afraid. As long as I am here, I will not allow anyone to hurt you.¡± Chen Ge ced the boy on the chair, and he gripped the hammer with both of his hands tightly.

    With the rate at which he is gaining strength, I can kill him with my hammer at least ten more times.

    With all the preparation done, Chen Ge was about to make his move when the door of the room was opened from the outside. An olddy with a head of peppery hair walked into the room while holding a bowl of noodles. The olddy had a hunchback, and she looked at least seventy years old. The expression on her face was one of genuine kindness, but when she saw the drunkard monster, her expression shifted immediately. She put down the bowl of noodles, grabbed the cane that was leaning against the bedside, and mmed it repeatedly on the monster.

    The scary and horrifying drunkard monster started to panic when he saw the olddy. For some reason, he looked like he was afraid of this fragile-looking senior. The drunkard monster did not feel pain when Chen Ge smashed his head in with the hammer, but after being pped several times by the olddy¡¯s cane, he could not stand it anymore and quickly slithered out of the room. The olddy briefly chased after him, brandishing the cane, before she returned to her room.

    She closed the door of her apartment angrily. Then she walked into the bedroom, came to the boy¡¯s side, and caressed the side of Jiang Ming¡¯s face lovingly. The olddy had Jiang Minge to the table to have dinner. She served him the noodles that she had just made. They were piping hot, and they looked mouth-wateringly delicious. Jiang Ming ran over to have his dinner. The olddy then turned her focus to Chen Ge. The surprise in her eyes was no less than that of Jiang Ming.

    ¡°Granny, can you hear me?¡±

    The olddy nodded.

    ¡°You still have your senses with you? We canmunicate? It will work even without an actual conversation!¡± Chen Ge took out the ballpoint pen that was taped together from his pocket and then removed theic from his backpack. He had all the stationary ready. Studying Chen Ge, the old woman said something, but Chen Ge could not hear her voice at all. She pushed away the ballpoint pen that Chen Ge offered her and turned to walk toward the living room. Staring at her back, Chen Ge suddenly realized. This olddy was different from the other characters behind the door.

    Her body was faded like she could disappear at any moment. Most importantly, Chen Ge sensed a chill from her body. Using his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge realized that this olddy did not appear to be the product of Jiang Ming¡¯s memory. She was an actual lingering spirit that was about to disperse at any moment!

    Without an object of possession, a lingering spirit could only exist for a limited time in the world. The rule was the same even if one was behind the door. Even though the olddy¡¯s memory had ovepped with Jiang Ming¡¯s, granting her more time in this world, that was all. It would not allow her to survive forever. One day, she would still disappear. When that happened, the olddy behind the door would be formed from Jiang Ming¡¯s memorypletely. Perhaps she would still protect Jiang Ming behind the door and make delicious noodles for him, but she would not be the same kind olddy anymore. It would only be a mirage that Jiang Ming had made to console himself.

    Chen Ge was getting more and more intrigued by the truth. He walked to the olddy¡¯s side. She was taking out a pen and some paper from the drawer, and she started to write on it. With every character that she wrote, her body would be less real. When the olddy finished writing, she handed the paper over to Chen Ge. It had a short sentence written on it.

    ¡®Be careful of the snail.¡¯

    ¡°The snail?¡± Chen Ge had entered the door many times, and he could be considered to have gained a great understanding of the world behind the door. The scariest thing in this ce was a Red Specter, and something scarier than one of those would be a Demon God, but the olddy warned him of a snail?

    ¡°The snail is even scarier than that drunkard that you can¡¯t kill no matter what?¡± Chen Ge asked in a whisper, and the olddy nodded.

    ¡°I get it now, but how are we supposed to get out of this ce?¡± Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice, the olddy ced her finger on her lips, signaling for Chen Ge to lower his voice, and then pointed at the character snail on the paper.

    Is the way to leave also on the snail? Is this snail the nickname of some Specter, or does it epresent something elsepletely?

    Chen Ge was still thinking when Jiang Ming finished the bowl of noodles. He carried the empty bowl and stood up from the table. It seemed like he was going into the kitchen to wash the dishes. He was stopped by the olddy. The olddy ruffled Jiang Ming¡¯s hair kindly and then used her apron to wipe Jiang Ming¡¯s lips clean. Then she stood before Jiang Ming and pointed at Chen Ge. Jiang Ming understood her immediately. He grabbed Chen Ge by his hand and very happily pulled him out of the room.

    ¡°Where are we going?¡± Chen Ge knew that the olddy did not mean him harm. From what she did earlier, she had probably told Jiang Ming to take Chen Ge to do something important. When Jiang Ming heard Chen Ge¡¯s voice, a very innocent smile appeared on his face. He quietly slid his hand into his pocket like he was eager to share his secret with another person.

    Momentster, Jiang Ming took out the shell of a snail from inside his pocket.

    He cupped the shell of the snail carefully in his palms like it was the most important treasure to him in this world.

 Chapter 1005 - Waking Up from the Nightmare [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1005: Waking Up from the Nightmare [2 in 1]</h4>

    ¡°A snail? The olddy just warned me to be careful of the snail, so why would Jiang Ming have the shell of a snail inside his pocket?¡± Chen Ge was confused by this development, but he was certain that the olddy would not harm Jiang Ming.

    Putting the shell carefully back into his pocket, Jiang Ming led Chen Ge out of the olddy¡¯s room by pulling his hand. The child led Chen Ge all over the rental apartment. They visited the rooftop, the storage room where the tenants kept their barrels of gas, and a toilet cubicle that was filled with trash. Whenever he came across a snail, Jiang Ming would be overjoyed.

    Chen Ge had no idea why Jiang Ming was so adamant about searching for snails, but he saw how serious Jiang Ming was, and he did not have the heart to stop him. He apanied Jiang Ming silently. They ran all over the apartment, but in total, they only found four snails. Jiang Ming ced all of them inside his own pocket, then he grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s hand and ran to the ground floor. As long as they did not make any sound, those strange neighbors would note out. After being given a beating by the olddy, even Jiang Ming¡¯s father had disappeared from their view.

    ¡°Are you going home now?¡± Jiang Ming nodded happily. He led Chen Ge to the rental room with the wooden sign hanging by the door and reached out to pull on the string that was attached to themp. The lights inside the room flickered a few times, and then the door of the room was opened. A slender woman with pale ¡®skin¡¯ appeared behind the door.

    Seeing Jiang Ming arrive home safely, she had a warm and kind smile on her face. But when she saw Chen Ge, a sh of panic crossed her eyes. She was probably afraid that a stranger had suddenly appeared on her doorstep. The woman used signnguage tomunicate with Chen Ge. From that, Chen Ge believed she was a deaf and mute person, too. Chen Ge was not familiar with signnguage, so all he could do was to smile and ensure that he did not look threatening to the woman.

    The house door slowly opened. Jiang Ming excited ran into the woman¡¯s embrace. He took out the snails one by one from his pocket like he was showing them off to the woman. The woman touched the boy¡¯s head with a kind smile on her face. She watched quietly as Jiang Ming ran through his findings happily.

    This should be Jiang Ming¡¯s mother.

    After entering the room, Chen Ge closed the door. Seeing the homely situation before him, Chen Ge felt himself being cordoned off from it. The woman¡¯s face was not different from a normal person¡¯s, but her body was covered with patches. Viewed from a distance, Jiang Ming¡¯s mother was like a rag doll. Of her entire body, only her hands that she needed to work and her face did not have cloth patches on them. The other parts of her body had been patched up by threads and scraps of fabric, and her skin was like a coat that had been patched up many times. Chen Ge could not even begin to fathom what the woman had been through to appear in this manner in Jiang Ming¡¯s memory.

    The woman continued to sign, and she appeared to beplimenting Jiang Ming, but the happy atmosphere soon disappeared. The light by the door lit up again. The doll mother and young Jiang Ming turned to the door. Finally, it was Jiang Ming¡¯s mother who walked to the door and pulled the door open. The stinging smell of alcohol drifted into the room, and the ugly grimace of the drunkard monster appeared at the door.

    The mud-like body mmed against the door. The arm that had the bottle attached to it pointed at Chen Ge while the monster red viciously at the rag doll woman. The woman signed, but the drunkard had lost his patience a long time ago and pushed her angrily away.

    Seeing the drunkard return home, Jiang Ming took out the snails from his pocket and jogged toward the drunkard. He held the snails in both hands and tried to show them to the drunkard, but before he could even extend his arms, the drunkard monster smacked Jiang Ming on his shoulder and knocked his own son off bnce. The snails fell to the ground, and the drunkard monster stomped on them angrily until they disintegrated into dust. These were the snails that Jiang Ming had tried his best to find all over the apartment.

    The drunkard monster stared at the shattered shell on the ground, and his face turned redder. The blood capiries bulged on his face, and he became ever angrier. The anger needed to find a vent to unleash. He flipped over the small table in the living room. The ss cup was about to cut Jiang Ming, but thankfully, the rag doll woman ran to shield Jiang Ming from being injured. The scalding water sshed to the ground, and part of it sshed onto the drunkard monster. His face was burning red. He grabbed the rag doll woman by her hair and pressed her to the ground.

    After the woman was mmed into the ground, her first reaction was to wave her hand at Jiang Ming for him go and hide inside another room. The drunkard monster dragged the woman by her doll legs, and the arm that had the alcohol bottle growing out of it mmed down on her repeatedly. The boy stood frozen in the corner of the living room that now looked like a scene from a battlefield. He had no idea where he had done wrong. The snailsy shattered on the ground, and his rag doll mother had her life beaten out of her. His shoulders were shaking from fear. He had no idea whom he could request help from. He looked at his own mother who was in pain; he wanted to help her, but he was powerless. He did not even know how to speak.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid.¡± Chen Ge patted Jiang Ming¡¯s shoulders that were shivering. ¡°I will help you.¡±

    Chen Ge leaped into the air and kicked at the drunkard monster. After separating the monster from the rag doll woman, he waved the hammer and mmed it right onto the drunkard monster¡¯s shoulder.

    BANG!

    The drunkard monster mmed into the door. Chen Ge did not give the monster the chance to counter and continued to press on with his aggression.

    ¡°Jiang Ming, look at this. He is not invincible. He is just a weak coward. There is no reason for you to be afraid of him!¡±

    The drunkard monster¡¯s body was rapidly recovering. His arm grew to envelope the furniture inside the room, and the expression on his face was getting grimmer and grimmer.

    ¡°I will lure him into the next room. After he follows me, you have to run out of here as soon as possible!¡±

    To give Jiang Ming and the rag doll woman more time to escape, Chen Ge could only attack the drunkard monster again and again. Every time he was knocked down, the drunkard monster would turn uglier and uglier. His body kept on expanding. His back was stuck to the wall, and his body slowly joined with the rest of the room. In Jiang Ming¡¯s memory, the keywords ¡®home¡¯ and ¡®father¡¯ were closely joined together, so Chen Ge was not surprised that something like this would happen. The only thing that worried him was that Jiang Ming and the rag doll woman had not escaped from the room.

    Cracks appeared on the wall, and the ceiling started to peel down in great pieces. The ground was shaking. The light behind the door flickered several times before it suddenly went off. After the light blinked out, a horrible stench came from the ceiling of the room that was now submerged in darkness. The cracks on the ceiling were getting bigger and bigger. The drunkard monster¡¯s body was getting sorge that his body was already touching the ceiling. At this moment, the roof of the room started to copse.

    The horrible stench pulled at his nostril like it was palpable. The thing that was crushing the room under its weight had decided to show itself!

    Carrying a swirling exoskeletal shell, with a sticky body, a giant blood-red snail was crawling on the top of this home. An endless stream of negative emotions channeled into the drunkard monster¡¯s body. One of the smaller antennae of the giant snail peeled back a small opening to show a mouthful of countless teeth. A giant body reached out from inside the shell, and the blood red giant bit at Chen Ge.

    A snail? Why would such a scary thing appear in Jiang Ming¡¯s dream?

    Chen Ge retreated while he fended off the attack from the giant snail. After thetter showed itself, the world behind the door started to change. The walls of the apartment started to bleed, and the whole building shook like it might crumble at any moment.

    ¡°Go upstairs and find that olddy!¡± Chen Ge led Jiang Ming and the rag doll woman up the stairs. The neighbors who were no different from the monster started to be agitated with madness under the influence of the blood red snail. Initially, the feeling that this world gave Chen Ge was one of absurdity, like a picture that was randomly drawn by a very small child. But once the red snail appeared, the world became gorier and more chaotic, or in other words, it became more and more like an actual world behind the door. The trio went to the room where the olddy resided. Chen Ge knocked on the door heavily and repeatedly.

    ¡°Granny, I will take you and Jiang Ming away from this ce! I already know how to escape!¡± The door opened soon after. The olddy stood at the door with the support of her cane. She saw the crazed neighbors and the blood red snail that was crawling this way.

    ¡°Your spirit is still lingering around, and that means there is something tying you to this world. You should not stay here;e away with us.¡± Chen Ge had already made his decision as he took out theic. The olddy hesitated. She opened her lips to say something, but Chen Ge could not hear her voice at all.

    ¡°I will take that as a yes.¡± Chen Ge turned around to guard the olddy, Jiang Ming, and his mother behind him. He stared at the blood red snail that was slowly crawling toward them. ¡°This snail is the real culprit that has literally crushed Jiang Ming¡¯s family under its weight. It is also the representation of all the negative emotions and misfortunes in Jiang Ming¡¯s mind. If I can destroy this thing, Jiang Ming might not be confused or scared by it anymore.¡±

    Pressing the y button on the recorder, Chen Ge called softly, ¡°Xu Yin!¡±

    Blood red trails started to expand with Chen Ge as the center. The blood red snail sensed the presence of a threat. All the crazed neighbors started to run to gather around it.

    ¡°Five Red Specters are enough to destroy this iplete scenario, so the additional Red Specters can be used to help maintain the basic structure of this scenario.¡±

    Flipping through theic, more and more blood trails appeared on the walls, ground, and ceiling around Chen Ge. They carried incredibly high hostility, and they spread to cover the entire scenario in record time. The blood red snail had stopped moving. It sensed a threat that it had not faced ever before, but Chen Ge¡¯s hand that was still flipping through theic did not stop.

    More and more blood vessels appeared. They seemed to pull a curtain over the world behind Jiang Ming¡¯s door. Finally, at a tipping point, the threshold was broken through, and the heavy scent of blood rushed forward like a wave of the blood ocean!

    One red figure after another appeared beside Chen Ge. Their clothes were as red as blood. Without Chen Ge saying anything, the Red Specters were like sharks that sensed blood in the water. They jumped at the blood red snail. Being cornered by several Red Specters, the snail¡¯s hardy shell was broken, and then Chen Ge was given a view of something ghastly.

    At the deepest part of the snail flesh, there was a baby face whose eyes were closed!

    The face was simr to the face that he had seen inside the shadow¡¯s body in Li Wan City. It was how the ghost fetus looked when he was an infant!

    ¡°The ghost fetus?¡± The baby¡¯s eyes slowly opened, and pure evil was dancing in his eyes. A shrillugh echoed throughout the world. The flesh of the giant red snail imploded. The baby¡¯s face dissolved into a puddle of dirty blood, and what remained of the giant snail was a wooden toy.

    ¡°Looks like the ghost fetus is not hiding inside Jiang Ming.¡± Even though he had not found the ghost fetus, at least he had managed to decrease one possibility. Chen Ge walked to the carcass of the blood red snail and picked up the toy off the ground. He had impression of this toy. It was a gift that had been given to him by his father when he was young, but one day, it had suddenly disappeared. ¡°Was it stolen by the shadow?¡±

    After the snail exploded, the world behind Jiang Ming¡¯s door started to vibrate violently. The strange-looking neighbors started to disappear one after another, and the basis of this world was shaken to its core. Chen Ge had the other Red Specters temporarily stabilize this unravelling world while he walked to the olddy and Jiang Ming. ¡°It is time to say goodbye to this pain. I will take you away from here.¡±

    Flipping open theic, Chen Ge wanted to pull the olddy and Jiang Ming into it, but Jiang Ming held onto the hands of the rag doll woman and refused to let go. The woman that only existed in Jiang Ming¡¯s memory pushed Jiang Ming lightly but firmly away. She waved goodbye to Jiang Ming with a smile as her body became lighter and lighter until shepletely disappeared.

    ¡°After we leave this ce, I will take you to meet her in person. She must miss you greatly.¡±

    Closing theic, Chen Ge led Jiang Ming by the hand and walked down to the ground floor apanied by a few Red Specters. The world was crumbling, and they opened the locked steel door. When Chen Ge walked out of the door, Jiang Ming, who was lying in bed in real life, opened his eyes. He sat up in bed and saw Chen Ge, who was walking out from what appeared to be thin air. The door behind him copsedpletely. Chen Ge held the backpack with one hand and looked at Jiang Ming quietly. Jiang Ming, who sat in bed, did not make a sound. He did not cry or scream. He seemed to recognize Chen Ge.

    ¡°Just treat what happened earlier as a bad dream.¡± After the words slipped from his lips, Chen Ge realized that Jiang Ming would not be able to hear him. He took out a pen and paper and wrote down the word ¡®mother¡¯. ¡°Sleep well tonight, and I will take you to find her tomorrow.¡±

    Just in case Jiang Ming was not old enough to recognize Chinese characters, Chen Ge made gesture while he wrote. After some time, it finally sank in for Jiang Ming, and for the first time, he had a genuine smile on his face.

    ¡°Have a good sleep, good night.¡± Touching the boy¡¯s head, Chen Ge flipped through theic and released the olddy. ¡°Granny, can you hear me now?¡±

    The olddy¡¯s eyes had been following Jiang Ming. Her body was almost transparent.

    ¡°There is a question that has been bugging me. Why would there be such a scary snail in the world behind Jiang Ming¡¯s door? Has he been traumatized by a snail before, or was he pranked with a snail by other kids when he was young?¡± Chen Ge had many spections, but none of them sounded applicable in this situation.

    ¡°The snail was just a symbol of something else. It is not a real snail.¡± There was a pain in the olddy¡¯s voice. ¡°Jiang Ming¡¯s mother was born deaf and mute, and she was hated by her own family from a young age. After she reached the legal age, she was married off to Jiang Ming¡¯s father for the dowry. Her family never did care about her in the first ce. Then Jiang Ming was born. Even though he was not born with muteness and deafness, he had problems with his hearing. The doctor suggested for him to get a cochlear imnt, but even the cheapest option costs several dozen thousand RMB, and the more expensive one goes up into the millions.

    ¡°The doctor said that the earlier the operation, the better, but Jiang Ming¡¯s mother did not have that much money lying around. One should not even have hopes toward his father. Once Jiang Ming¡¯s father found out that Jiang Ming was hearing-impaired, his attitude toward the mother and son had a huge transformation. He even thought about abandoning Jiang Ming, but thankfully, Jiang Ming¡¯s mother stepped in every time.

    ¡°You saw what happenedter. Jiang Ming¡¯s mother came to me to learn the art of horsetail embroidery. She wanted to collect money to do the cochlear operation for her son. However, the boy¡¯s father liked to drink and gamble. He woulde back home and steal his wife¡¯s hard-earned money, and eventually, he openly asked the money from her. If she refused, he would beat her up until she surrendered.

    ¡°Jiang Ming grew up in this kind of environment. Perhaps he was too young to understand what a cochlear imnt was, but he knew from his mother and the doctor that the imnt looked like a snail, and he probably made the connection in his mind that the snails would represent a hope to gain hearing in his world. He tried his best to collect all the snails that he could find because he was desperate to hear from the others, but at the same time, it was also an undeniable fact that his family copsed under the weight of that snail.¡±

    After hearing the olddy¡¯s story, Chen Ge finally understood the world in the boy¡¯s eyes. There was the cruel truth hidden behind the absurdity.

    ¡°Granny, do you know where the boy¡¯s parents currently live?¡±

    ¡°What do you n to do?¡±

    ¡°I n to teach the boy¡¯s father how to be a man, and I wish to help the boy¡¯s mother.¡± Chen Ge took out the wallet from his pocket. ¡°If the situation allows it, I also wish to help Jiang Ming gain the ability to hear.¡±

    ¡°You wish to sponsor this boy¡¯s surgery?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with that? I might not dress the part, but I am actually an entrepreneur.¡±

    Chen Ge then opened the backpack and slid the hammer inside it.

 Chapter 1006 - Someoneâ€™s Been to My House

    <h4>Chapter 1006: Someone¡¯s Been to My House</h4>

    ¡°There is no need to prove yourself. A cochlear imnt surgery will cost quite a lot for anyone.¡± The olddy smiled genially. She did not seem to believe Chen Ge. From his appearance, Chen Ge definitely did not look like an entrepreneur. An old backpack, normal clothes, and clothes that came from the night market at that. The most valuable thing that he had on him was probably the Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer that had the blood red groove.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Chen Ge flipped through theic. ¡°Granny, why don¡¯t youe with me for now? If you wish to see Jiang Ming in the future, I will bring you toe see him. Even though the boy still has the hearing impairment, he seems to be able to hear the voices from the other world. I cannot guarantee that he will retain that ability after the surgery, so before that, I¡¯d prefer if youe to apany him more often.¡±

    ¡°Okay, thank you, young man.¡± The olddy entered theic. At the same time, the ck phone in Chen Ge¡¯s pocket vibrated. Chen Ge took out the phone, and there were two unread messages.

    ¡°You havepleted 1/9 of the four-star trial mission, Ghost Fetus. The ghost fetus¡¯ hearing is seriously impaired. Red Specters¡¯ Favored, you do not have much time left!

    ¡°Congrattions Red Specters¡¯ Favored for collecting the blessings of one hundred different Specters and spirits! You gained the special title ¡®Votive Master¡¯!

    ¡°Votive Master (Real salvation is not victory after a massacre but being able to offer peace in the heart and the energy of life within the torrents of despair): When one has this title,pleting a Specter¡¯s or spirit¡¯s wishes will tremendously increase their affection toward you. At that same time, it will shear away part of their resentment.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve gained a new title? Since when did I collect so many blessings? Could it be the students from the School of the Afterlife and Mu Yang High School?¡±

    Titles were permanent, and their effects were constant. Sometimes, Chen Ge suspected that his constant encounters with the supernatural were due to his initial title of Specters¡¯ Favored. Putting the ck phone away, Chen Ge waited until Jiang Ming had fallen asleep, then he slipped out from the room.

    ¡°I still need to find the mud statuette with Jiang Ming¡¯s name. It is probably on Jiang Jiu. The thing is useful to Zhang Ya, so I must get it somehow.¡±

    After leaving Jiang Ming¡¯s home, Chen Ge removed the gloves and stic wrap from his feet. He ran down the stairs, avoided all the camera, and retraced his steps back to the streets. After he hopped over the wall, he turned back to look.

    ¡°I was not seen on the cameras, and I didn¡¯t leave behind any fingerprints or footprints. Even if Jiang Ming identally brings me up, they will not find any proof.¡±

    Taking out his phone, Chen Ge very openly video-called Jiang Ming, who had not returned home. The call was answered. In the video, Jiang Ming was driving, and he looked pissed. ¡°Chen Ge? I don¡¯t think our rtionship is close enough for you to call me sote at night.¡±

    ¡°I am just outside your house. I have something that I need to discuss with you.¡±

    ¡°Why are you at my ce at 1 am? Have you lost your mind?¡± Jiang Ming appeared to be in a bad mood.

    ¡°He who is unjust is doomed to destruction. As I told you this morning, by cing the altar at the haunted house, you¡¯ve attracted too many evil spirits and Specters. The first person they will harm is the one who set up the altar,¡± Chen Ge said. ¡°You have already been targeted. There is something hiding in your shadow, and it has been following you around.¡±

    ¡°Stop trying to scare me.¡±

    ¡°I am trying to save you.¡±

    The call was ended. Jiang Ming had hung up with impatience. Seeing the ck screen, Chen Ge was not agitated. He stood at the gate, waiting for Jiang Ming. There was onest opening in this set up that he made, and that was Tong Tong, who was still in Jiang Ming¡¯s phone.

    ¡°Tong Tong has done a great job. I¡¯ll have to reward him.¡± Chen Ge set up a new social ount on his phone with a smile on his face. Half an hourter, Jiang Ming drove back to his residential area. Seeing him, Chen Ge carried his backpack and walked to the middle of the road to block his path.

    ¡°Are you seeking for death?¡± Jiang Ming honked several times, deeply annoyed. That night, he had driven from the city to Eastern Jiujiang, then to Western Jiujiang, but for nothing, and in the end, he was scolded unreasonably by Jiang Jiu.

    ¡°Remember how you are acting now. After some time, you wille and beg me.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone. ¡°The altar at your haunted house is deeply haunted. It is not housing any good spirits. I will warn you onest time. Remove it now, or you and your family will be drowned in misfortune.¡±

    ¡°Move away!¡± Jiang Ming had had enough.

    ¡°I can¡¯t just stand here and watch you die. I will give you onest chance.¡± Chen Ge opened his newly created ount. The ID was Votive Master. ¡°One night, if something strange happens at your house, contact this person immediately. He wille help you.¡±

    Chen Ge refused to budge until Jiang Ming added this ount as a friend so that thetter had no choice but to take out his phone.

    ¡°Now, are you satisfied?¡±

    Narrowing his gaze, Chen Ge saw Tong Tong crawl back into his own phone and then nodded. ¡°Karma is always watching, take care of yourself.¡±

    Putting away the phone, Chen Ge carried the backpack and jogged away because he was afraid that he might startughing if he stayed there.

    ¡°Jiang Ming can be removed from the list, and the ghost fetus¡¯s power has been greatly reduced. This is a good night.¡± Chen Ge walked on the quiet street for a few minutes. It was as if he was the only person in the whole city. The feeling was rxing. ¡°After tonight, I still have six nights left. That should be enough time.¡±

    After leaving Jiang Ming¡¯s world, Chen Ge was not that worried. He reached into his backpack and took out the wooden toy that he had lost years prior.

    ¡°I still remember this toy, so the shadow probably remembers it as well.¡± An image appeared in his mind of the shadow standing behind him, watching while he was ying with the toy. ¡°Has he wanted to kill me since way back then?¡±

    Chen Ge put the toy away. He had a feeling that he might have a use for itter. He had just zipped up his backpack when his phone rang. He saw the caller ID and noticed that it was from Jiang Ming.

 Chapter 1007 - What Goes Up Must Comes Down [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1007: What Goes Up Must Comes Down [2 in 1]</h4>

    ¡°How can I help you?¡± His goal had been achieved, and Tong Tong had returned, so Chen Ge had nothing to worry about.

    ¡°It¡¯s like this. I¡¯ve considered what you said, and I feel like you might not be wrong.¡±

    ¡°Why did your attitude suddenly change?¡±

    ¡°When I reached home and saw my son, he was reacting very strangely. He gestured for a long time before I understood him.¡± Jiang Ming lowered his voice. ¡°Someone has been to my home.¡±

    ¡°See, I told you. Check under your bed, in the closet, and in the bathroom. Perhaps the person hasn¡¯t left.¡± Chen Ge sounded serious, but his lips were curled upward.

    ¡°I have already taken a quick look around. There¡¯s no one in the house, and nothing is missing.¡± Jiang Ming disliked talking to Chen Ge, but he had no other choice now but to ask for his opinion.

    ¡°It is not a good sign that you have nothing missing because that can only mean that the person came looking to im a life.¡± Chen Ge paused for a while like he was seriously considering this.

    ¡°Life?¡± Jiang Ming seemed to remember something. He sank into silence and did not speak.

    ¡°Sometimes, children can see things that we adults are not able to. That is all I will say on that topic. If you really run into any difficulty that you cannot solve, I suggest you go and contact that Votive Master. Be nice and ask him for help. He might be able to point you in the right direction.¡± Chen Ge hung up the call. He hailed a cab and returned to New Century Park.

    Entering the underground scenario, Chen Ge summoned the group of doctors. ¡°Are any of you familiar with a good and reputable ear doctor? One who knows how to do cochlear imnt surgery?¡±

    ¡°I have a student that is a specialist in this field, but we have not met each other in a very long time.¡± Doctor Wei had taught many excellent students in his years of service in education. He gave Chen Ge another surprise. ¡°But why would you suddenly want to know something like that?¡±

    Chen Ge told them about Jiang Ming¡¯s story¡ªa drunkard father, a mother that was born mute and deaf. The doctors felt sorry for what had happened to Jiang Ming.

    ¡°My student should be working at a hospital somewhere in Xin Hai. He is one of the best in the field. You can call his hospital to book an appointment with him.¡±

    ¡°Elder Wei, with our rtionship, do we still need to book an appointment? Can¡¯t you just go to his dreams and ask him for a favor tonight?¡± Chen Ge knew how to get what he wanted from Doctor Wei, so he quickly added, ¡°The boy is in such a poor condition, and he is being targeted by a Demon God, so I n to use my own money to help sponsor his surgery. However, I am sure you know how expensive this cochlear imnt surgery is. I do note from a rich family. I am already in my twenties, but I have no car and no house. I still need to sleep every night at the haunted house. If anyone ever heard about this, I¡¯d be the joke of the century.¡±

    Chen Ge rubbed his eyes that were brimming red with tears. ¡°These past few months, I have been saving money because I wanted to buy a motorbike for myself, but due to this sudden ident, my already financially-strained life will be more difficult in the foreseeable future...¡±

    ¡°Enough, enough, I will help you. Are you satisfied now?¡± Doctor Wei rubbed his temples. ¡°It is not that easy to just jump into someone¡¯s dreams. You can try to contact him first. Tell him my name. It was me who sponsored him during his first two years at medical school, so he will definitely help, but please do not go and scam the poor boy.¡±

    ¡°I promise!¡± After thanking Doctor Wei, Chen Ge returned to the staff breakroom. As his headnded on the pillow, he drifted off to dreand. He had no time to waste. There were many important things waiting for him toplete the next day. Chen Ge woke up punctually at 7 am the next morning. After taking a cold shower, he put on an outfit that looked presentable. When his employees came to work, Chen Ge put on make-up for them in the dressing room while conducting a simple morning meeting.

    After ensuring every scenario was working fine, Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and left New Century Park again. When he was inside the taxi, Chen Ge used this travelling time to call Lee Zheng to get thetest update on Jia Ming. Lee Zheng had gotten used to getting calls from Chen Ge. It had now be as consistent as him clocking into work. He told Chen Ge that the operation would be conducted that night, but he did not reveal the exact location and time to Chen Ge.

    Chen Ge did not press. Actually, he had faith in thew enforcement of Jiujiang. Ten minutester, Chen Ge arrived at his destination. It was an old, squat looking apartment building. This was the address that had been given to him by the olddy, the ce where Jiang Ming stayed before he was adopted by Jiang Jiu. When he arrived at this ce, Chen Ge noticed something very interesting. This was where Fan Yu and his aunty had lived when he first encountered them. Chen Ge had been there several months earlier.

    ¡°The government has been intending to renovate the old part of the city, but the demolition was stopped halfway through. Looks like I have to pay attention to this ce.¡±

    After entering the alley, there was a faded stench that permeated the air. It was unclear whether it came from the underground sewer or one of the tenants. After walking for some time, Chen Ge came to the center of the old city. Jiang Ming¡¯s family was staying in one of the ts there. He entered the stairwell. It felt as if the world behind the door had ovepped with the real world. Chen Ge felt like he had just visited to this ce the previous night. The sound of an argument came from somewhere down the corridor. Chen Ge looked down that direction. He saw twodies about thirty standing at the entrance of Jiang Ming¡¯s home. They appeared to be workers from the apartmentmunity. They were holding many forms with official-looking stamps on them.

    ¡°Ladies, what¡¯s going on?¡± Chen Ge sidled over. He saw that the two women are wearing their working IDs. The one with curly hair had the surname Mei, and the elder one had the surname Lee.

    ¡°We are from the neighbormittee. We have received multiple reports of domestic violence from this family. The mother of the house is covered in bruises. We are here to take the woman away and bring her to the hospital for a medical check-up.¡± Ms. Lee used her body to block the door and refused to let the owner close the door.

    ¡°Is the mother home? Why doesn¡¯t shee out and go away with you?¡±

    ¡°You have no idea how poor this woman is. She was born mute and deaf, and I believe that multiple beatings from her husband have stunted her mind. It was after we took the fact that the woman is unable to care for herself that we made the decision to forcibly take her away with us.¡± Ms. Mei started to help her partner. These women were truly angels of the society. They blocked the door and refused with brute force to let the man close the door from the inside.

    ¡°Looks like I havee to the right ce.¡± Chen Ge reached out to press against the door and push very hard. The door was flung backward. Chen Ge followed behind the twodies as they entered the room. The smell of alcohol hung in the air, empty bottles littered the room, and there were ss shards that needed to be cleaned up sitting on the ground. The tables and chairs were toppled over. The cushions of the couch were left on the ground. Something awful had just happened here earlier.

    ¡°Jiang Dawu! If you dare to stop me again, we will call the cops!¡± The twodies were furious.

    ¡°Go ahead and call then! Who gave you the right to intervene into my family¡¯s private business?¡± The man who spoke was bare-chested. He was bald and on the bigger side, tall and imposing.

    ¡°Those threats are not going to work on us. The neighborhoodmittee has gathered more than enough evidence. We are here today to save her. We will not leave until we take her away with us.¡±

    ¡°Take her away with you? That depends on whether she wants to leave with you or not!¡± The man picked up the cushions from the ground and ced them on the sofa. He grabbed a half-empty bottle of beer and sat in the middle of the living room. The curtain that led to the kitchen was pulled back. A woman wearing a long-sleeved top, long pants, and an apron stood at the door to the kitchen. She wished to take one step out, but she hesitated. The twodies walked toward her. They wished to pull her out, but the woman kept shaking her hands as if she was very afraid. Ms. Lee kept persuading her as she nudged the woman out of the kitchen. They were making their way through the living room when the man suddenly mmed the beer bottle against the table.

    ¡°What will happen when your son returns if you leave? Do you not want to see him anymore?¡± The man knew that the woman was deaf, so he tossed a clean little school bag at the woman. He red at her and said, ¡°I can send him away, so of course, I can bring him back.¡±

    ¡°Jesus, you are one horrible human being.¡± Chen Ge could not rein in his anger anymore. He walked to the middle of the living room, picked up the small school bag, patted it, and handed it to the woman. ¡°Take her out of here. Let me talk to him.¡±

    ¡°You?¡± The twodies epted the help from Chen Ge, but before they left, they warned him, ¡°The man has violent tendencies. You must be careful.¡±

    ¡°I will.¡± Chen Ge nodded. Seeing that Jiang Ming¡¯s mother was still unwilling to leave, he knew that she was worried about Jiang Ming, so he took out the letter that he had prepared from his pocket and handed it to her. ¡°Take a look at this.¡±

    Chen Ge had written the letter when he was riding on the taxi. The content of the letter was that he nned to sponsor Jiang Ming¡¯s cochlear imnt surgery. After Jiang Ming¡¯s mother read the content of the letter, the tears fell naturally out of her eyes. She wanted to thank Chen Ge, but she was stopped by him. ¡°Leave here first.¡±

    After the threedies left, Chen Ge closed the door.

    ¡°Where the hell did youe from, and what was in the letter that you showed her?¡± The man grabbed the bottle, but he did not move from his spot.

    ¡°It is nothing important. I just persuaded her to divorce you and get away from a horrible man like you as fast as she can.¡± After Chen Ge said that, the man¡¯s expression changed immediately, and the fire of wrath coursed through him.

    ¡°Divorce is impossible! Now get the hell out of my house!¡±

    ¡°There is no need to act so rashly.¡± Chen Ge took out a credit card from his wallet. ¡°There is 150,000 on this card.¡±

    ¡°150,000 and you wish for me to divorce her? If you like her that much, you will understand that 150,000 is far from enough.¡± The man¡¯s eyes had been following the card that Chen Ge was holding ever since he took it out.

    ¡°Looks like you have really never treated them as your family before. They were just objects for you to sell and trade to make money. In any case, you have misunderstood me. This 150,000 is for Jiang Ming¡¯s cochlear imnt surgery. It has nothing to do with you.¡± Chen Ge put away the card. He saw Jiang Dawu¡¯s eyes trailing greedily along it. ¡°You must be thinking about how you can convince me to give you the money that will help save Jiang Ming, mustn¡¯t you?¡±

    Even though his horrible thoughts had been exposed by Chen Ge, the man did not deny it. He tossed back a mouthful of the beer.

    ¡°Do you know? I was giving you onest chance earlier. If you¡¯d shown the slightest bit of love toward Jiang Ming or your wife, this would not have happened.¡± Chen Ge pressed the y button on the recorder and took out a pair of red high heels and ced them on the table. Instantly, the color of blood filled the whole room. With the cooperation between Xu Yin and the red high heels, they shoved a pile of blood vessels that they had collected from the world behind Jiang Ming¡¯s door right into Jiang Dawu¡¯s mind. The blood vessels were filled with Jiang Ming¡¯s feeling of helplessness and despair. They included his fear and many other negative emotions. The cherry on top was the curse from the red high heel.

    ¡°Jiang Dawu, you will experience what your child has been through.¡± The man who sat on the sofa mped his hands over his ears like he had been possessed. It appeared like more than a handful of people were currently whispering into his ears. Seeing Jiang Dawu being tortured by this, Chen Ge showed no pity at all. What Jiang Dawu was experiencing was practically what he had put his own son through, so he merely got what he deserved. A tooth for a tooth as they said. ¡°When you have atoned for your sins, perhaps the curse will end on its own.¡±

    Chen Ge unsummoned Xu Yin and the red high heels. He shook his head lightly. ¡°I do not have many days left in my life, and I am still going around helping people. Now that I think about it, I am such a noble person.¡±

 Chapter 1008 - Votive Master

    <h4>Chapter 1008: Votive Master</h4>

    The man hugged his head and screamed while Chen Ge turned around and pushed open the door. ¡°Pleasee in and help me. I don¡¯t know what came over him!¡±

    The twodies looked into the room and saw therge Jiang Dawu covering his ears, rolling on the ground.

    ¡°He was about to swing the bottle at me, but this suddenly happened. It gave me quite the shock.¡± Chen Ge walked to hide behind the twodies. ¡°You know that I was in there for less than a few minutes. Do you think this is some kind of scam to trick medical fees out of me?¡±

    ¡°With this man¡¯s personality, that¡¯s not impossible, but don¡¯t worry, we can be your witnesses. We will not let him scam someone as kind-hearted as you.¡± Ms. Lee looked down on Jiang Dawu and hated him intensely. The two women stood to the side and observed. This was the first time that they had seen something like this.

    ¡°How about we call the ambnce? We can¡¯t just allow him to do this. Everything should be cleared up when the doctor is here,¡± Chen Ge suggested.

    ¡°You are too kind. We should just ignore him and let him experience the pain for a while.¡± Ms. Mei had a sharp tongue but soft heart. After a while, she still called the emergency number. The ambnce carried Jiang Dawu away. Jiang Ming¡¯s mother sidled up to Chen Ge with the letter. She kept gesturing something like she was trying to say something.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Chen Ge knew that the woman would not hear him even if he spoke, so he asked for help from thedies next to him. ¡°Ms. Lee, actually, I knew about this family¡¯s situation before I came. Can we find a private ce to talk?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± The twodies led Chen Ge and Jiang Ming¡¯s mother back to the neighborhood watch¡¯s headquarter. They found some stationary and ced them on the table.

    ¡°Please calm down. I will help you refresh your memory first.¡± Chen Ge picked up the pencil from the table and started to write. That was the only way the two couldmunicate with each other. ¡°I know you are familiar with the art of horsetail embroidery. You can survive independently with this art. In fact, you used to make money using this skill. Do you still remember who taught you this skill?¡±

    Seeing the words on the paper, Jiang Ming¡¯s mother was shocked. She held the pencil, but she did not know what to write.

    ¡°You should remember the olddy living on the second floor above your t. I am her rtive. Before the olddy passed away, she worried about Jiang Ming the most. She had a soft ce in her heart for that little guy.¡±

    What Chen Ge wrote was the truth. Now that the olddy was inside hisic, she would live in his haunted house in the future, and thus, she was naturally his family. The mention of the olddy caused the mother¡¯s emotions to get more agitated again. This was the second time that she teared up after meeting Chen Ge.

    ¡°The time of misfortune has passed. After this, you will enjoy a happy life with Jiang Ming.¡± Chen Ge turned to the twodies. ¡°The earlier the cochlear imnt surgery is done, the better. I have prepared 150,000 and I will find the doctor as soon as possible. But I will be a bit busy the next few days, and I might need help from the neighborhoodmittee.¡±

    ¡°Just say the word, and we are ready to help. The neighbor and the women¡¯smittee know about her family¡¯s situation. We will help as much as we can.¡±

    ¡°Understood. At the end of the day, we only want the best for them.¡±

    Chen Ge had no idea how much money was on his card. He had not taken ount of his haunted house¡¯s ie from the past few months, but it would not be less than 200,000. After a few days, the mission for the ghost fetus would be over. If everything was sessful, he would earn more money, but if there was a problem, it would not matter how much money sat in his card. Chen Ge was not a stingy person, but he wished to spend money on the right thing.

    ¡°Wait a moment.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone and called the number for a hospital in Xin Hai. After exining the situation, he made an online appointment with the doctor rmended by Doctor Wei. The doctor¡¯s name was Fang Zhiming. After getting Doctor Fang¡¯s number, Chen Ge sat in the neighborhood¡¯smittee¡¯s headquarters and made the call several times, but no one answered. Just as he was about to give up, the call was finally pulled through.

    ¡°Is this Doctor Fang?¡± The other side of the phone was unusually quiet. He could not hear any sound. After a long time, a middle-aged man¡¯s voice finally replied. ¡°I am sorry, but I am temporarily not avable for any appointments.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Wei Jiuqin who told me to find you.¡± Chen Ge dropped Doctor Wei¡¯s name immediately.

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°When you were studying at Jiujiang Medical University...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m asking who you are. My teacher passed many years ago. I was there to give him the send-off. You¡¯d better not joke about something like this.¡± Doctor Fang was angered, but from this, it showed that he still had a great deal of respect for Wei Jiuqin.

    ¡°Actually, Doctor Wei was my rtive. He admired you a lot and often mentioned you to me.¡± Chen Ge said something that only Doctor Wei and Fang Zhiming would know, and only then did thetter start to believe Chen Ge.

    ¡°I think I get what is going on already, but for now, I am unable to help the boy do the operation.¡± Fang Zhiming sounded increasingly tired. ¡°Lately, I have been spacing out at work, and some time ago, there was a medical incident. Currently, I am in no position to conduct surgery. I still need some time to recuperate.¡±

    ¡°What happened to you?¡± Chen Ge could hear the lethargy in Fang Zhiming¡¯s voice like it drained him even to speak.

    ¡°Actually, it was nothing serious. Previously, the hospital was renovating an old sector. I found a letter in the old storeroom. I opened it out of curiosity, and the letter told to go to some abandoned hospital in the middle of the night. If I refused, I would have hell to pay. Never mind, why am I telling you this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Perhaps I can give you a good suggestion. Even if I can¡¯t help you, it is better to share this with others than to have it cooped up inside you.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s interest was piqued.

    ¡°The letter was probably some prank from a patient. I did not think too much of it, butter, I kept having this recurring nightmare. I dreamed about this smiling person.¡± Fang Zhiming sighed. ¡°The man stood under my building every night at the same position, staring at my window.¡±

    ¡°A smiling person?¡± Instantly the term ¡®non-smiler¡¯ appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

    ¡°Initially, I thought it was because of work pressure getting to me. But one night, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw the curtain fluttering. I climbed out of bed, attempting to close the window, and when I was by the window, I saw that there was this man with his giant grin standing under my building, just like the scenario from my dream!¡±

    ¡°Are you being followed by some strange admirer?¡±

    ¡°I have no clue, but that man only appeared once and never showed up after that. But my work and life have both been seriously affected. My mind keeps wander to this issue.¡± Fang Zhiming was in a bad spot. ¡°You are my beloved teacher¡¯s rtive, but in my condition, I really cannot help you. However, I can rmend other good doctors to you. Bring the boy over as soon as you can. The earlier the cochlear imnt surgery is done, the better.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Fang, I will bring the boy over as soon as I can, but other than that, I have run into the situation that you mentioned earlier.¡± Chen Ge lowered his voice. ¡°Certain things cannot be exined so openly. Trust me this time. I will rmend a contact of mine. He is a good friend of Doctor Wei¡¯s. If you feel like you have reached your breaking point, you need to contact him.¡±

    ¡°My teacher¡¯s friend?¡±

    ¡°When youmunicate with him, you have to remember one thing. Do not hide anything from him. Only by telling him everything you know will he be able to help you.¡± Chen Ge sent the man his other social ount. ¡°I do not know that man¡¯s real name, but Doctor Wei called him the Votive Master.¡±

 Chapter 1009 - Wu Jinpeng

    <h4>Chapter 1009: Wu Jinpeng</h4>

    If it was Chen Ge who asked for more details, Fang Zhiming might m up due to certain reasons, but if the person was Doctor Wei¡¯s friend, the situation might be different. Fang Zhiming had true respect for Doctor Wei. When he was truly cornered, he would choose to believe in Doctor Wei¡¯s friend. From what Chen Ge heard, Fang Zhiming had probably gotten tied up with that cursed hospital. The appearance of a non-smiler was an obvious clue. But he had no ability and no time to help, so he could only use this kind of method.

    Chen Ge gave Fang Zhiming his other social ount information, and Fang Zhiming introduced Chen Ge to another doctor and gave him the contact number. Hanging up the phone, Chen Ge looked at Jiang Ming¡¯s mother and tried to exin the situation. Jiang Ming¡¯s mother wrote many things down on the paper. Other than showing her appreciation, she told Chen Ge that she had been saving up. Currently, she had about 30,000. She nned to use all of that to help Jiang Ming with his surgery. Chen Ge would pay the rest for now, but she promised to return the money.

    ¡°You need to take care of Jiang Ming, and you will need that money to survive. Let¡¯s not argue on that for now.¡± Chen Ge knew that Jiang Jiu would not let the boy go so easily, and they would not agree to help Jiang Ming with his surgery because once Jiang Ming recovered his hearing, it might ruin the ghost fetus¡¯ n. Thus, they had to stop it the best they could. Chen Ge did not n to the get into that. If Jiang Jiu refused, he would ask for help from the police and the women¡¯s association.

    ¡°In seven days¡¯ time, we will go to Xin Hai City together. If you can¡¯t contact me, go straight to the haunted house at New Century Park. Someone will hand you the money.¡± Chen Ge had already set up his n. He would first deal with the ghost fetus and then focus all of his energy on the cursed hospital. Of course, the premise was that he had to be able to kill the ghost fetus.

    The traces of the cursed hospital can be seen everywhere. I feel like if I don¡¯t go to them, they wille for me. After all, I have received the invitation to join the cursed game.

    After dealing with the issue on this side, Chen Ge left after leaving behind his contact number.

    ¡°Later tonight, I will go to Fang Yu¡¯s home and see if a door appears after she falls asleep. If everything is sessful, I can eliminate three people from the roster, and six children will be left.¡±

    Six nights, six children¡ªChen Ge was not as worried as before. This probably had to do with his personality. After the initial panic, he became unusually calm. Walking out of the dirty alley, Chen Ge took out his phone and looked through his contact list to find the number of Wu Sheng¡¯s father.

    After the teacher at Pei Zhi Academy gave Chen Ge his number, he had not called it yet. The call rang for a long time, and just as Chen Ge was about to hang up, the call was connected.

    ¡°Hello, who is this?¡± There were many different sounds in the background. Wu Sheng¡¯s father appeared to be on some busy street, and there was a lot of bustle around him.

    ¡°My name is Chen Ge. My rtive¡¯s child is in the same situation as your son. We n to send our child to your son¡¯s school, but the tuition is very expensive, so I wanted to ask for your opinion to get your perspective on this.¡±

    ¡°No problem! I am at work now. We will meet up at the gate of Pei Zhi Academy around 5 pm!¡± The man¡¯s voice was hoarse and stood out.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ...

    At 5 pm, school was over at Pei Zhi Academy. The children walked out from their ssrooms apanied by their teachers. After a while, Chen Ge spotted Wu Sheng. The boy who seemed tock interest in everything kept turning his head around with anxiety on his face like he was looking for someone.

    ¡°Don¡¯t wander about. I¡¯m sure your father will be here soon.¡±

    Before the teacher finished, a man¡¯s voice came from the distance. ¡°Wu Sheng!¡±

    Unlike the other parents who came in cars or motorcycles, the man was riding a rather old-looking bicycle. A bag was slung over his shoulder, and he had a short ponytail. The unkempt beard did not make him appear disheveled but strangely enough gave him a sense of maturity.

    ¡°Son! I¡¯m here! I¡¯m sorry,ing through.¡± Even though he was riding a bicycle whose paint was peeling, the man was very confident and made it feel like he hade in avish car. When the man came over, the anxiety in Wu Sheng¡¯s eyes decreased significantly, and he returned to his usual self.

    ¡°Teacher, has my son improved today?¡±

    ¡°He did well today. Be careful on the road.¡± Her jobpleted, the teacher turned back into the school.

    ¡°That¡¯s not bad! The teacher said you have improved today. We should celebrate. How does two dishes for dinner sound?¡± The man carried Wu Sheng in his arm and then ced the boy on the back of the bicycle. Then he looked around. ¡°Son, wait for daddy a moment. I promised to meet with a friend today.¡±

    He took out his phone and was about to call when Chen Ge walked over. ¡°You are Wu Sheng¡¯s father, right?¡±

    When he got closer, Chen Ge realized that even though the man before him was a bit carefree with his appearance, he had a good presence and was quite handsome.

    ¡°Chen Ge?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s me. I have some questions that I hope to ask you.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re blocking up the traffic. Let¡¯s chat while we move.¡± The man pushed his bicycle and continued to move forward. Chen Ge pushed the bicycle that he had rented from the public service and followed along. If they walked, it would take too long, and they might finish the chat on the journey, but Chen Ge¡¯s real purpose was to get to Wu Sheng¡¯s room and stay until midnight.

    ¡°Brother, how should I address you?¡±

    ¡°My name is Wu Jinpeng[1], but you can call me Brother Peng.¡± The man had a good personality and was kind to others. He was another extreme from Wu Sheng and formed a great contrast. ¡°You mentioned earlier that your family¡¯s child has the same condition as Wu Sheng, right? Where is he now? Am I right in assuming it¡¯s a boy? Perhaps we should introduce him to Wu Sheng. They might have a sharednguage.¡±

    ¡°Brother Peng, my boy¡¯s situation is worse than Wu Sheng¡¯s. Not only does he refuse to speak, he has this tendency to paint pictures that scares adults.¡± Chen Ge pulled down his face.

    ¡°Little brother, listen to me. When Wu Sheng was younger, his condition was worse than now. He did not know how to speak, and he had nightmares every night. He would throw things about like he was possessed.¡±

    ¡°Possessed?¡± Chen Ge showed the appropriate shocked look. ¡°That is the same as the child of my rtive! This is such a coincidence!¡±

    ¡°What the... Really?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and it is very serious, and that¡¯s why I wish to transfer him here. Even though the tuition is a bit expensive, I saw how professional the staff are, and the environment is better than most ces.¡± Chen Ge sighed. ¡°Ie from a normal family, but for the children, it does not matter if life bes a bit more difficult for us adults.¡±

    ¡°Little Brother, it¡¯s not easy on you either, huh?¡± Wu Jinpeng looked at Chen Ge and felt like he had found a kindred spirit. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it too much, I am sure the boys will get better with time.¡±

    ¡°Brother Peng, I really have many things that I wish to ask you. If it¡¯s not too much trouble, do you mind if we go to your ce so that we can talk about this further?¡±

    ¡°Why not? That¡¯s no problem at all!¡± Wu Jinpeng agreed easily. The three rode the bicycles and came to the area near a small apartment in Western Jiujiang.

    [1] Wu Jinpeng can also mean Golden Roc.

 Chapter 1010 - Potential New Employee

    <h4>Chapter 1010: Potential New Employee</h4>

    Wu Jinpeng lived at in old apartment. The house was at least thirty years old. The family of three squeezed inside a small room of twenty cubic meters. The toilet was adjacent to the kitchen, and the rooms were separated by curtains.

    ¡°The ce is a bit cramped. I hope you don¡¯t mind it. I n to move to a bigger ce next month.¡± As Wu Jinpeng opened the door, a big yellow dog rushed over, wagging its tail. It was friendly with Wu Jinpeng and Wu Sheng but snarled warningly when it saw Chen Ge. ¡°Down boy! Sorry about that. Ol¡¯ Huang is a stray. He has been chased away by many people, so he isn¡¯t keen on strangers. Once you get close to him, though, you¡¯ll see how friendly and warm he is.¡±

    Wu Jinpeng grabbed Ol¡¯ Huang by the fur on his head as he invited Chen Ge into the room. The cement floor was not tiled, and a lot of paraphernalia filled the room, but the ce was neatly organized. As small as the ce was, it did not feel dirty or disorganized.

    ¡°Xiao Kun, we have a guest. Please pour us two sses of tea!¡± Wu Jinpeng shouted into the room. Momentster, the curtain was pulled open to reveal a dullish young man walking out with an electric fan.

    ¡°Fan!¡±

    ¡°I know. You prepare the tea, and I¡¯ll fix the fan.¡± Wu Jinpeng tried to take the fan away from the young man, but the young man slid away from him, refusing to let go of the fan.

    ¡°Fan!¡±

    ¡°Bloody hell, I promise to buy you a new fan after I get my sry, okay?¡± Wu Jinpeng was embarrassed as he looked Chen Ge. ¡°This is my younger brother. He got into an ident when he was young and injured his brain. He might look dull, but he is actually very clever. In primary school, he was a very good student. His results were always in the top ten.¡±

    His son did not know how to speak and his brother had a brain injury; life had been difficult for Wu Jinpeng, but he still felt proud of his family.

    Chen Ge admired a man like that. ¡°Brother Peng, I ordered something on the way here. Later, we can chat over dinner. I have many questions for you.¡±

    ¡°You should not have done that! You¡¯re my guest. I should have treated you, not the other way round!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s me who has questions for you. Treating you is the least I can do.¡±

    The delivery soon arrived. Other than food, Chen Ge had ordered some alcohol. The family sat on the nket in the middle of the room. As simple of it was, it was very close and warm. Wu Sheng and Wu Jinpeng¡¯s brother appeared like they had not had such a feast in a long time, and they wolfed everything. Seeing how happy they were, Wu Jinpeng¡¯s eyes softened. He picked up a bottle of beer and took a generous gulp.

    ¡°Brother Peng, is that a family picture on the cupboard?¡± Chen Ge pointed at the picture above the cupboard. It was a picture of three people. A young Wu Jinpeng stood in the middle. On his left was his younger brother, and on his right stood a pregnant woman.

    ¡°Yes, the woman is Wu Sheng¡¯s mother. She left after giving birth to Wu Sheng. She was one hell of a woman, but I was incapable of convincing her to stay.¡± Wu Jinpeng chuckled as he took another sip. ¡°Brother, you have treated us very nicely tonight. Should you have any questions, please feel free to ask. If I know anything, I will try my best to answer.¡±

    ¡°Brother Peng, since you are being so open, I will not hide the truth from you.¡± Chen Ge clinked his bottle against Wu Jinpeng¡¯s and whispered, ¡°Actually, my rtive¡¯s boy is a bit different from normal. He has some unique symptoms. I have been holding this in for a long time, and I don¡¯t quite know how to talk about it.¡±

    ¡°Take your time. There¡¯s no need to rush.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that. I¡¯m just afraid that you might not believe me.¡± Chen Ge sidled closer to the Wu Jinpeng. ¡°One night, I came homete from work, and I saw a door standing next to his bed.¡±

    When he said that, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes stared at Wu Jinpeng. When Wu Jinpeng heard that, his body shivered slightly.

    ¡°At the time, I was shocked. Why would there be a door that suddenly appeared in the room?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s brows were screwed together, acting the part of a scared family member. ¡°I wanted to get closer, but before I could do that, the child woke up. When he did, the door disappeared. Initially, I thought that I was too tired from work, but the next night, the door appeared again!¡±

    ¡°Have you tried to enter that door before?¡± Wu Jinpeng¡¯s follow up question helped Chen Ge confirm that the man knew about the door. Normally, when a person heard a story as strange as that, they would first question its validity, and the question would be rted to the door. They would not ask directly whether he had entered the door or not. The fact that Wu Jinpeng had asked that meant that he not only knew about the door but had quite possibly entered the door before. The two men held the bottles and looked at each other for a while. Chen Ge took a big swig to calm his nerves and shook his head. ¡°I have not.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Wu Jinpeng sighed in relief.

    He took the bottle, but before his lips reached the bottle, he heard Chen Ge ask, ¡°What about you?¡±

    The bottle froze in midair. It took Wu Jinpeng a while to recover. He stood up to close the door and window.

    ¡°Brother,e over here.¡± Wu Jinpeng waved at Chen Ge. They pulled open the curtain and came to the other room. There was a single bed in the room and a bare mattress on the ground. ¡°Normally, Wu Sheng sleeps in this bed. My younger brother, Wu Kun, and I sleep in the living room, and the curtain separates the room. A few days ago, Wu Sheng kept turning in bed at night like he had trouble sleeping. Initially, I did not think much of it, but at midnight one night, Wu Sheng started to roll and turn around, so I looked over and saw a ck shadow behind the curtain!¡±

    Wu Jinpeng gestured wildly, agitated. ¡°It was just like the movies. I quietly approached, and when I pulled open the curtain, I saw Wu Sheng staring at me with his eyes open. I did this for several nights before I got a clear glimpse of the shadow. It was like what you said. It was a door, a door standing in the dark. Whenever I switch on the light or Wu Sheng wakes up, the door disappears. Anyone would be afraid if this happened. The day before yesterday, I nned to open the door, but I can¡¯t push it open no matter what, and that was quite maddening!¡±

    Wu Jinpeng sat on the bed. ¡°I haven¡¯t told anyone about this because I¡¯m afraid they might think I¡¯m crazy.¡±

    ¡°If you can¡¯t push it open alone, how about both of us try it togetherter tonight?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s brows slowly rxed. ¡°Since we¡¯re facing the same situation, we should consider helping each other.¡±

    ¡°That sounds doable, but I¡¯m afraid of putting you in danger.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. We¡¯ll be on the lookout for each other. It¡¯s better than being in danger alone.¡±

    ¡°Brother, you¡¯re too kind. I don¡¯t even know what to say.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re much too wee.¡± The world behind the door was very dangerous. Even though Chen Ge promised to go with Wu Jinpeng, at thest moment, he would block Wu Jinpeng and enter alone.

    ¡°Let¡¯s return to dinner and prepare ourselves for tonight.¡±

    The issue having been dealt with, Chen Ge¡¯s admiration for Wu Jinpeng grew. He even considered offering him a job at his haunted house if Wu Jinpeng was in real financial trouble.

 Chapter 1011 - Wu Shengâ€™s World

    <h4>Chapter 1011: Wu Sheng¡¯s World</h4>

    The door represented different things to Chen Ge and Wu Jinpeng. When night fell, Wu Jinpeng had drunk a lot, and in his drunken state, his ¡®armor¡¯ slowly fell away. Tiredness appeared in his eyes. He hid it well behind a cheerful front normally and never showed it before even his family.

    ¡°Wu Sheng, it¡¯s time for bed. Tomorrow morning, I¡¯ll take you to school.¡± Wu Jinpeng carried Wu Sheng to his bed. ¡°Good night, buddy.¡±

    After taking care of the young one, he needed to deal with the older one. He pulled back the curtain and sat next to his younger brother. ¡°Kun Er, stop ying with the electric fan. If you feel hot, I¡¯ll bring you the fan.¡±

    ¡°Fan!¡± Wu Kun raised the electric fan with both hands. He jogged around the room, refusing to surrender it Wu Jinpeng.

    ¡°Slow down, or you¡¯ll going to wake the neighbors.¡± Wu Jinpeng appeared quite helpless. He sat back by the table. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for the trouble my brother is causing.¡±

    ¡°Brother Peng, I¡¯ve fixed a broken fan at my workce before. How about I help you fix this?¡± When Chen Ge first took over the haunted house, he had been forced to learn many things, including installing the cameras and familiarizing himself with the wiring.

    ¡°I don¡¯t actually want to fix the fan.¡± Wu Jinpeng took another sip of the alcohol. ¡°Look at my brother¡¯s left finger. He once stuck his hand into the fan...¡±

    ¡°Oh, understood.¡±

    ¡°My biggest wish now is for Wu Sheng to grow up like a normal child, and my second wish is to buy an air-conditioner. My younger brother hasn¡¯t experienced that before. If he knew how good an air-conditioner is, he would definitely abandon that broken electric fan.¡± The rental ce was small. Wu Jinpeng leaned against the wall, held the bottle with one hand, and scratched the dog behind his ears with his other hand.

    ¡°Brother Peng, you sound like a person with a story. There¡¯s still some time before midnight. Mind telling me about your past?¡± Chen Ge wanted to offer Wu Jinpeng a job, so he needed to know everything that he could about Wu Jinpeng.

    ¡°What story can I have? My whole life is a trail of interesting incidents.¡± Wu Jinpeng was slightly drunk. ¡°Brother, can you have a guess at the most expensive item in this ce?¡±

    ¡°How am I supposed to guess that?¡± The ce did not even have a television set. Chen Ge looked around and the most expensive thing appeared to be the broken electric fan Wu Jinpeng¡¯s brother was hugging.

    ¡°I¡¯ll show it to you.¡± Wu Jinpeng opened the wooden box in the corner. A guitar sat inside. ¡°This is not the practice kind. It¡¯s very expensive.¡±

    ¡°You know how to y the guitar?¡± Chen Ge had a new appreciation for Wu Jinpeng, and his admiration for this man grew another level.

    ¡°I used to study music and was a street musician for many years. It was then that I met Wu Sheng¡¯s mother.¡± Wu Jinpeng picked up the guitar, but probably afraid of waking the neighbors, he did not y. He merely moved his fingers over the strings, plucking it several times in the air. ¡°Wu Sheng¡¯s mother was my fan. She was eight years younger than me. She was a very nice person, so even when she abandoned us, I did not me her one bit. I mean, take a look around, who can me her?¡±

    With the alcohol on the table, a stray lying next to them, and an old guitar in his embrace, the two men sat inside the small room, discussing the past and life.

    ¡°Do you still y on the street?¡±

    ¡°I gave that up a long time ago. I used to dream about writing my own song. Even if I couldn¡¯t be a singer, I wanted to be in the music industry. But as you know, life has a way of throwing you curve balls. Between the choice of my dream and bread, I chose thetter.¡± Wu Jinpeng closed his eyes, and his fingers caressed the strings gently. ¡°I was such a rebellious child. I only saw the world from my perspective. There was a period when I thought the name my parents gave me was too old-fashioned, so I had my name changed quietly. Oh man, that angered the old man.¡±

    Opening his eyes, Wu Jinpeng took another swig. ¡°Thinking back to the way the old man red at me for those few days, I still get the giggles. Unfortunately, I can¡¯t even see him anymore.¡±

    ¡°What happened to him?¡±

    ¡°During the year Wu Sheng was born, my parents went to Xin Hai to have their medical check up, but they got caught in a car ident.¡± Wu Jinpeng emptied the bottle. ¡°Actually, I wonder if it was a car ident. They probably got some bad news from the report and felt like they should not add to my burden.¡±

    The room became so quiet. Wu Kun was getting tired from all the running. He hugged the electric fan and leaned against the wall.

    ¡°So, are you the one looking after the whole family now?¡± Chen Ge could sense the lethargy radiating from Wu Jinpeng. He needed to take care of his mentally stunted younger brother and had to earn enough for Wu Sheng¡¯s tuition. He was the center of this family.

    ¡°Yes, but you get used to it after a while.¡± Wu Jinpeng put down the guitar. ¡°Someone once told me, life is nothing but a struggle to continue living. I think that was a rather pessimistic look on life. We cannot guarantee what kind of life we will be born into, but the type of attitude we use to view our life, that ispletely on us. I often tell Wu Sheng how beautiful and wonderful this world is because I hope he will grow up with those dreams in his mind. One day, I promise I will take him to witness those beauties and wonders of the world in person.¡±

    ¡°Brother Peng, you are a good father.¡± Chen Ge raised the ss to Wu Jinpeng.

    ¡°I think so too, but the teachers at the school keep telling me not to input such impossible dreams in the boy¡¯s mind, and I have to focus on teaching him practical living skills.¡± Wu Jinpeng¡¯s unusual grouse about the teachers caused Chen Ge tough. He had a good chat with Wu Jinpeng. Actually, when Chen Ge first met Wu Jinpeng, he had felt that the man was unique. The despair and difficulty in life did not knock him down but polished and highlighted in the beauty in his soul. Chen Ge did not expect this; even the ghost fetus could not have foreseen this.

    Chen Ge did not know what standard the ghost fetus used to choose the children, but most of the candidates had a shared quality. They werecking something in life, and they were extremely depressed or isted. Based on Jiang Ming¡¯s situation, one could see that the greater the despair and pain the child was feeling, the scarier the world behind the door, and the better they could rte to the ghost fetus.

    If considered from this perspective, the chance of Wu Sheng being possessed by the ghost fetus was low because he had such a wonderful father. The two chatted for a while. When it was 11 pm, they cleared away the dining utensils, closed the lights, and waited beside the curtain. At midnight, a shadow appeared behind the curtain. Chen Ge signaled at Wu Jinpeng. There were many Red Specters in his backpack. Once he got close, the door would rattle noisily to wake Wu Sheng, and the door would disappear.

    Chen Ge grabbed his backpack, and as he moved forward with Wu Jinpeng, he suddenly lunged forward and mmed the door open. The door lock rattled. When Wu Jinpeng recovered, Chen Ge and the door had both disappeared.

    ¡°What the... Brother, where are you?¡±

    ...

    Opening his eyes, Chen Ge was standing inside a dark alley. A light blood mist hung in the air, and the sound of teeth grinding could be heard in his ears.

    ¡°This is the world behind Wu Sheng¡¯s door? This ce looks like the old city.¡±

 Chapter 1012 - Sewn Lips

    <h4>Chapter 1012: Sewn Lips</h4>

    Chen Ge had been to the old city that the morning, and the ce looked familiar. ¡°Wu Sheng used to leave in the old city? They didn¡¯t move from Western Jiujiang to Eastern Jiujiang?¡±

    Rather than hurrying, Chen Ge turned to look behind him. He saw arge iron door that blocked the alley.

    ¡°This door is simr to the iron door in Jiang Ming¡¯s world.¡± He noticed one detail. ¡°When I visited Jiang Ming¡¯s old apartment, I didn¡¯t encounter such a door at the apartment. It wasn¡¯t part of his memory. Now that I¡¯m in Wu Sheng¡¯s world, this iron door has appeared again.¡±

    He studied it closer. Chen Ge did not notice anything off about the door. ¡°This means that the iron door, which is the entrance and exit, probably has nothing to do with the children but everything to do with the ghost fetus.¡±

    With this in mind, Chen Ge studied the door closer. It did not have any writing or symbols on it, but once he leaned in, he could smell a very light scent of blood and disinfectant.

    ¡°The world behind the door is made up from the children¡¯s memories. This door carries the smell of blood and disinfectant in someone¡¯s memory. Could the owner of this memory have once been locked up in a hospital? But even a normal hospital shouldn¡¯t have a ck iron door like this!¡±

    Chen Ge had visited two of the children¡¯s worlds, and there were many things that he could not confirm. He looked at the door further before moving his eyes away.

    ¡°I¡¯d better find Wu Sheng behind the door first. This world is different from what I anticipated.¡± Chen Ge had chatted with Wu Jinpeng for a long time. The father was like an umbre that shielded Wu Sheng. Theoretically speaking, Wu Sheng¡¯s world should not be too dark, but after Chen Ge entered this ce, he realized how wrong he was. The streets were permanently dark, and many scary voices came from the corner.

    ¡°Looks like the ghost fetus has done something. That crazed man will not let his candidates live in happiness. He envies love and warmth the most.¡± Chen Gemunicated with the Pen Spirit and Xu Yin. They were unable to materialize quickly; this world was rejecting them. To Chen Ge¡¯s consternation,pared to Jiang Ming¡¯s world, Wu Sheng¡¯s world rejected them even more. The resistance that the employees felt was harder.

    ¡°I need to buy some time for them.¡± Chen Ge did not think that the ghost fetus would hide in this world, but he could not be careless. If ghost fetus was really there, he might lose his life due to his carelessness. ¡°The doors next to the children¡¯s beds are all flickering. They are far from real doors. I suspect that only one of them is real, and the other eight are made by the ghost fetus to fool others.¡±

    Taking out the hammer, Chen Ge walked down the street. Wu Sheng¡¯s world was much bigger than Jiang Ming¡¯s world; it included a whole street. Chen Ge took several steps when he frowned. The noises around him grew louder. They crawled into his ears like dancing bugs, and it unsettled him.

    ¡°Sometimes it¡¯s not a good thing to have overly sensitive senses.¡±

    Chen Ge held his breath and used his Yin Yang Vision. The darkness did not affect him too much.

    ¡°I can¡¯t even see a shadow, so where is the sounding from?¡±

    He did not rush down the street. The ce wasplicated and windy; he could easily get lost if he was not careful. In any case, before Xu Yin and the rest could appear, Chen Ge¡¯s goal was to survive. Pushing open the door of one of the nearest buildings, Chen Ge realized that the noises in his ears grew louder, and one of them became clear enough to be identified as crying.

    ¡°The crying ising from this ce?¡±

    Chen Ge looked into the house. The houses in the old city were not big. Normally, they only had one to three rooms, and he soon found the source of the crying. There was a girl washing her hair in the bathroom. She was facing away from Chen Ge, and she looked to be in her teens.

    ¡°Crying while washing her hair?¡±

    The girl collected a basin of water and ced it at the edge of the sink. She plunged her whole head into the water, and her hair was soaked in the water. The sound of water and crying were mixed together, giving off a chilling feeling. This was the first person whom Chen Ge had encountered in Wu Sheng¡¯s world. For the sake of safety, Chen Ge gripped the hammer and slowly approached.

    ¡°This girl is alone in the room. There¡¯s no need to be afraid of an ambush. I should make use of this chance to get to know her.¡±

    Chen Ge moved lightly, but even so, he was discovered when he was halfway toward to the girl. The girl stopped washing her hair. Her hands were stuck in her hair as her whole person froze beside the sink. The hair was pulled back, and a pair of ck eyes peeped through the gap in the curtain of hair. The girl turned around to look at Chen Ge. The head that was soaked in the basin slowly broke the surface of the water. The hair that floated in the basin was crusted with dried blood. Chen Ge only then noticed that the basin was not filled with water but blood that was drying. The blood slid down her hair and onto her clothes. The clean pink pajamas were dyed red by the blood.

    ¡°Even in Jiang Ming¡¯s twisted world, there was no sign of fresh blood. What is going on in Wu Sheng¡¯s world? Why¡¯s it so gory even at the beginning?¡±

    The girl¡¯s face fully appeared. She had beautiful eyes, and her nose was small and cute, one that garnered a sense of protectiveness in others. Below it was her mouth. She had pretty lips, but her lips were sewn together by ck threads. Chen Ge confirmed that the crying came from the girl, but the girl did not look like she was crying.

    ¡°Can you hear my voice?¡± It was hard to imagine what had happened to the girl from her appearance and why she would appear behind the door in this state. Chen Ge tried tomunicate with her, but the girl reacted strangely. The girl¡¯s fair hands plunged into the water and picked up a dirty cat from inside the basin. Then, like she was wringing a towel dry, she gripped the cat¡¯s head with one hand and its body with the other and started to twist with all her might.

    Tons of fresh blood squeezed out from the cat. Once the cat was dry, the girl picked up the dirty cat carcass and used it to dry her blood-soaked hair. When she was done, the girl tossed the mangled cat back into the water basin and turned to look at Chen Ge. She stared Chen Ge¡¯s mouth. Her hands entered her pockets to pull out a long bronze needle and thick ck thread.

    ¡°What is she nning to do?¡± The girl¡¯s eyes had not left Chen Ge¡¯s lips. Holding the needle and thread, she walked toward Chen Ge. She walked faster and faster before she lunged at Chen Ge. The needle aimed at Chen Ge¡¯s mouth like she was going to sew it shut!

    ¡°You started this first!¡± Chen Ge was ready. He swung the hammer at the girl. The girl¡¯s shoulder caved in, but it did not affect her mobility at all. In self-defense, Chen Ge kept mming the hammer against the girl while he tried to evade. After nine consecutive smashes, the girl temporarily lost the ability to move. She crawled on the ground, still holding onto the needle and thread.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t done anything to her¡ªwhy would she suddenly attack me and want to sew up my mouth?¡±

    Chen Ge put down the hammer. He looked at the girl on the ground and the mangled cat in the water basin, and a possibility urred to him.

    ¡°The girl was torturing the cat and was identally spotted by Wu Sheng¡ªthat¡¯s why she wanted to sew up Wu Sheng¡¯s mouth so that he would not be able to reveal her secrets to anyone else.¡±

    Since he had no idea what had happened in real life, he could only make predictions based on his observation of this absurd world.

 Chapter 1013 - Faceless Woman with a Red Hairclip

    <h4>Chapter 1013: Faceless Woman with a Red Hairclip</h4>

    A cute girl using blood to wash her hair¡ªChen Ge did not expect to see something like that inside Wu Sheng¡¯s world.

    ¡°Even though Wu Jinpeng has been trying his best to protect Wu Sheng, it looks like the boy has still seen many things that he shouldn¡¯t. The pressure on them was far greater than described by Wu Jinpeng.¡±

    The girl¡¯s body was slowly recovering. Chen Ge knew that it would be difficult for him to kill her. He took away the girl¡¯s needle and thread. He closed the door and used things to block the door. He did not know whether that was useful or not, but it was worth a try. After leaving the first house, Chen Ge knew that he could not let his guard down inside Wu Sheng¡¯s world. This boy had been through a lot more than Jiang Ming; the world in his eyes was bigger and moreplicated. Chen Ge had a feeling that every building on this street hid a secret. Once he entered them, he would see other secrets, and then he would be chased by others to have his lips sewn together. He did not want to enter them, but if he did not, how was he going to find Wu Sheng?

    ¡°Calm yourself. When Xu Yin can appear, I can explore the ce further. For now, I should keep a low profile.¡± Chen Ge was very careful, and he was not going to take unnecessary risk. This was his experience showing afterpleting so many Trial Missions. Hugging the hammer, Chen Ge hid in the next alley. That way, if there was an ident, he had two exits to escape from. The n was good, but he did not need to wait for too long for a tragedy to happen.

    A woman wearing a red hairpin appeared on the other side of the street. She wandered along the street aimlessly. asionally, she would slip into one of the buildings, as if looking for something. Before the woman got close, Chen Ge got the warning from Xu Yin; this woman was very dangerous. She was not a Red Specter, but she gave off a dangerous presence that threatened Xu Yin, so Chen Ge had to be careful. He moved away from the woman, but the woman seemed to have targeted him because she soon appeared again.

    This repeated several times until Chen Ge had no choice but to hide in one of the buildings. He rushed up to the second floor. Chen Ge leaned against the window and looked down; he was finally given a closer view of the woman. Her long, luscious ck hair hid a faceless face. The woman wandered the streets for a while before leaving. She appeared to have trouble harming anyone inside the ¡®houses¡¯.

    Chen Ge¡¯s attention was pulled by the faceless woman when a noise grew in his ears. It was hard to describe. It sounded like a couple kissing wetly. Footsteps then came from inside the house. It was toote for Chen Ge to leave. The door was opened, and a monster with two heads appeared at the door. The monster was impably dressed in a western suit. It looked normal below the neck, but above the shoulders, it had two heads, one male and one female. The two heads were stuck together like they were unwilling to part.

    Chen Ge nced into the room and saw arge wedding picture ced on the headboard. The man in the picture had the same face as the monster, but the monster¡¯s female head was different from the bride in the picture.

    ¡°An extra-marital affair?¡± The monster¡¯s lips were also sewn tight by ck thread. After they saw Chen Ge, they reacted the same way as the girl washing her hair. They took out a needle and thread from their suit pockets and charged at Chen Ge to sew his lips.

    ¡°Sewing the lips mean to keep a secret¡ªare they afraid that I might expose them?¡±

    The sound of wet kisses grew in his ears, and it aggravated Chen Ge. He did not mind the expression of love, but people should mind themselves when they were in public.

    ¡°Seeing how clingingly sweet you two are, for some reason, I feel the urge to smash the cr*p out of you.¡± Chen Ge did not waste time and charged at them with the hammer.

    At that moment, the door from the opposite side opened. Arge man who was at least a head taller than Chen Ge ran out and grabbed Chen Ge. ¡°Come with me!¡±

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Therge man did not exin. He grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s arm and started to run downstairs. They ran down the street and hid inside another old building. The man looked buff but had strangely low stamina. They did not run for that long, but he was already dying fromck of oxygen. While the man held the wall to catch his breath, Chen Ge studied the man.

    ¡°You are... Wu Jinpeng?¡± When Chen Ge saw the man¡¯s face, he was shocked. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°Do you know me?¡± When the man heard Chen Ge call him by his name, he was also baffled. ¡°Have we met each other before?¡±

    Seeing the man¡¯s reaction, it slowly dawned on Chen Ge. This Wu Jinpeng was not the Wu Jinpeng in real life; it was one from Wu Sheng¡¯s memory. That exined why this Wu Jinpeng was muchrger and taller than the real Wu Jinpeng. In Wu Sheng¡¯s eyes, his father wasrge, protective, kind, and wonderful. Jiang Ming¡¯s father had also made an appearance in his world, but inparison, while they were both first-time fathers, in the eyes of their children, the character of a father could not have been more different.

    ¡°Brother, what is going on in this world? Why does everyone want to sew up my lips?¡± Chen Ge had been in the world behind Wu Sheng¡¯s door for some time already, and Wu Jinpeng was the first normal person that he had met and probably the only normal person that he would meet.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened to them. I went to sleep very earlyst night, and when I woke up, the sky was dark, and the monsters were everywhere!¡± Wu Jinpeng looked afraid.

    ¡°Other than monsters, have you seen anyone else?¡±

    ¡°No, only monsters! If you stay anywhere too long, they wille after you to sew your lips, bite your body, suck your blood, and crush you.¡± Wu Jinpeng¡¯srge body was filled with wounds, and the fear in his eyes could not be hidden.

    ¡°Only monsters? Has even your family turned into monsters?¡± Chen Ge was confused. This was Wu Sheng¡¯s world, but he still had not seen Wu Sheng.

    When Chen Ge said that, Wu Jinpeng was stunned slightly. His mouth was hanging half open. He paused for a moment before nodding. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Brother, don¡¯t lie to me. We only have a chance of escaping this ce if we are being honest with each other.¡± Chen Ge could see that Wu Jinpeng was lying; he definitely knew where Wu Sheng was.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about this anymore. We can¡¯t stay here for too long.¡± Wu Jinpeng looked out the window. ¡°Not good, she¡¯s after me again!¡±

    Chen Ge followed Wu Jinpeng¡¯s gaze, and the faceless woman with the red hairclip had materialized out of nowhere again.

 Chapter 1014 - Daddy Is Playing a Game with Them [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1014: Daddy Is ying a Game with Them [2 in 1]</h4>

    ¡°After you? Why would that woman be after you?¡± Chen Ge also walked to the window. The faceless woman with the red hairclip, Chen Ge noticed, had been purposely following them.

    ¡°How should I know? I don¡¯t even know her!¡± Wu Jinpeng did not look like he was lying. The eyes when he saw the woman only spoke of fear¡ªthere were no other emotions mixed within.

    ¡°Why are you so afraid of this woman?¡± Chen Ge asked another question that he had no answer to. ¡°Is she going to kill you? What will happen to you if she manages to catch up to you?¡±

    After hearing Chen Ge¡¯s question, it was Wu Jinpeng¡¯s turn to use a strange gaze to study Chen Ge. ¡°Isn¡¯t it scary enough to be chased by a faceless woman? Brother, if she¡¯d managed to catch up to me, do you think I¡¯d still be able to stand here to have this conversation with you?¡±

    ¡°I mean, perhaps we do not need to keep avoiding her. If we do not try to understand her, we will never beat her, and being caught is just a matter of time.¡±

    Before Chen Ge could convince Wu Jinpeng, the faceless woman had already reached the downstairs of the building that they were in. Her head that was dangling downward slowly lifted as she looked upward. The face that was devoid of all the feature seemed to be staring at Wu Jinpeng; the womanpletely ignored Chen Ge who was standing next to him. The red hairclip appeared to be dripping blood. The pregnancy dress that did not fit her body dragged on the ground.

    ¡°Why are you standing there spacing out? We need to leave!¡± Wu Jinpeng dragged Chen Ge into the room next door. ¡°After shees up here, we will jump down from the window of the second floor! As long as we can disappear from her line of sight, we will be able to get a brief period of peace.¡±

    This was not the first time that Wu Jinpeng had done something like that. His movement was practiced and familiar. The physique that was much stronger and bigger than his actual body in real life enabled him to do many high difficulty activities. It was a piece of cake for him to jump down from a second story window.

    ¡°Quick,e down now!¡±

    Standing next to the window, Chen Ge hesitated for a small moment. But within that brief second, the door behind him suddenly started to vibrate like something was hammering against the door. He had no better idea. Chen Ge hugged the backpack and leaped out the window. Hended on both of his feet and rolled to neutralize the falling impact. Chen Ge did not have time to check the condition of the items inside the backpack to see whether they had survived the fall because he could hear Wu Jinpeng urging him to move on already. The two guys crawled up from the ground and raced toward the other side of the street as fast as they could.

    ¡°Where are we going now?¡±

    ¡°I really have no clue. No matter where you go, you will be chased by that monster. The only thing we can do is run as far away from her as we can. And then we will repeat this whole process when she reappears.¡± Wu Jinpeng answered without turning his head around. The words slipped out between hungry mouthfuls of air. He had no idea when he would be able to escape from danger. It was as if the whole world was his enemy; everywhere he turned, there was a monster, and he was being constantly chased by a faceless woman that he could not shake loose. Taking a break had be something of a luxury.

    Chen Ge studied Wu Jinpeng, who had not stopped running since they met each other. Slowly but surely, Chen Ge could see this man¡¯s encounter ovepping with what had happened to the Wu Jinpeng in real life. The man should have been through this period of helplessness and hopelessness before. Every day, he woke up in panic, but with the burden of responsibility pressing on his shoulders, he was forced by life to keep on moving forward. Perhaps Wu Jinpeng in real life had all forgotten about this period of this life, but it was remembered clearly and with extreme detail by Wu Sheng.

    The child was a precocious little young man. He knew many things that he should not for his age, but it did not mean that he could understand all of them. During the crucial period where his worldview was being constructed and built, he was given a false perspective by the ghost fetus, and something within him changed. There was a connection between then world behind the children¡¯s doors and the real life; one could find incidents or actual people behind their doors that corresponded to real life. This should be the unifying factor that was unique to all the worlds behind the doors of the nine children.

    If Chen Ge had to guess, the doors of the nine children had all been influenced by the ghost fetus. Following behind Wu Jinpeng, carrying the backpack, Chen Ge¡¯s mind was clocking in overtime. With the evidence that he had collected so far, it was basically a confirmed fact that every child corresponded to a door, and the door would only appear after the child had fallen asleep. But of the nine children, Chen Ge was the only exception because if there was a door that appeared beside his bed after he fell asleep, Xiaoxiao and the white cat would have reacted to it a long time ago.

    However, theck of a door by his bed did not mean that one could exclude Chen Ge from the nine children because he had a real blood door within his vicinity. Compared to the other children¡¯s flickering doors, the door in the toilet of Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house was an actual blood door.

    ¡°Does this mean I will have to go into that door to take a look?¡± Chen Ge thought back to a moment in time when he believed he was confronted with three different doors. ¡°One of them should belong to the ghost fetus, the second probably belongs to the version of myself who is being killed again and again by the doctor, and who does thest door belong to?

    ¡°Hasn¡¯t it already been proven that the door will only appear and be pushed open when one is at the deepest point of their despair? Is it possible that I have pushed open the third door myself? Am I the door pusher for the door inside the toilet of the haunted house?¡±

    Even though he had multiple Red Specters with him, Chen Ge did not have the courage to enter that door. He still remembered what Doctor Gao had told him at the underground morgue.

    ¡°It has to be hiding something extremely scary to be able to scare Doctor Gao.¡± Chen Ge decided to reserve the door at his haunted house for thest night. If the ghost fetus was not hiding inside the other eight candidates, this was the only possibility that remained. He knew that the chance of the ghost fetus hiding behind the door at this haunted house was very low. After all, the ghost fetus¡¯ main territory was Eastern Jiujiang, and all the spirits and ghosts that had interacted with the ghost fetus before had said that he had treated Western Jiujiang as some kind of restricted area. Chen Ge did not believe that the ghost fetus would take the risk to sneak behind the door at his haunted house.

    ¡°There are no clues, and nothing appears to help bring me closer to the truth.¡± Chen Ge sighed under his breath. ¡°Just what were the emotions of the person who first pushed open that door?¡±

    To chase these thoughts that currently had no answer, Chen Ge turned to look behind him. The faceless woman was still chasing after them, but she was not moving fast. In fact, from the way she looked, it did not look like she was determined to kill Wu Jinpeng; she did not seem to even bear a grudge against him. With Wu Jinpeng leading the way, Chen Ge ran through all the nearby streets, and he became more and more confident that this was the old city.

    ¡°Wu Sheng must have spent a part of his childhood in the old city. Something that he refused to remember once happened here, and because of that incident, his whole family moved to Western Jiujiang.¡±

    Wu Sheng¡¯s world behind the doorprised several streets; it was probably one-fifth the size of the actual old city. There were limited locations where they could hide themselves. To avoid the faceless woman, they would have to enter the rooms on both side of the street, but entering the house might push them into encounters with the monsters inside the houses. They kept moving and running. Eventually, some of the monsters came out from their houses and joined the chase.

    ¡°Just what do we have to do to escape this ce?¡± The terror in Wu Jinpeng¡¯s eyes was practicing overflowing. When hisrge body turned and saw the horde of monsters chasing after them, he started to shiver.

    ¡°We have already run all over these few streets on the eastern side. How about we move to the western side? Perhaps we can find a ce to hide there.¡±

    After following Wu Jinpeng for some time, Chen Ge had noticed that no matter what kind of danger they were in, Wu Jinpeng would not head toward the western side. He had been avoiding the streets on the western side on purpose.

    ¡°No way!¡± Wu Jinpeng denied it directly. The swiftness with which he answered the question added to Chen Ge¡¯s suspicion.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay then, I will follow your instruction.¡± Chen Ge had a fairly good guess as to why the man refused to go that way. He could empathize with what the man was trying to do.

    ¡°As long as we can hold on until dawn, there should be no more problems. I am sure by then everyone will return to normal,¡± Wu Jinpeng said to convince and console Chen Ge, or perhaps it was for his own benefit. ¡°After the night passes, the sun will rise.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you are right. Eventually, the sun will rise.¡± Chen Ge patted Wu Jinpeng on his shoulder. ¡°Since we can¡¯t go to the western side, I suggest we try to find an exit on the eastern side.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Wu Jinpeng just gave his promise when a string of urgent dog barking came from the western streets. Hearing that sound, Wu Jinpeng¡¯s face shifted dramatically. Pushing away all the warnings that he had made earlier, he immediately rushed toward the western streets.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Chen Ge quickly moved to follow the man. With his Yin Yang Vision, even over that much distance, he could see several figures standing on the western streets. ¡°Do not go there!¡±

    Chen Ge reacted as fast as he could, but he still failed to stop Wu Jinpeng. Without a care for the world, he charged into an alley on the western streets. There was an old, dpidated looking storage room at the end of the small alley. Wearing a pair of shirt that did not fit him, a pair of beautiful eyes blinked continuously. They seemed to take in everything that they saw curiously. Seeing the child unharmed, Wu Jinpeng sighed greatly in relief. He signaled for Chen Ge, and with the child, they went to hide inside the small house.

    ¡°Daddy, Big Huang has run out,¡± the boy said in a small whisper. It appeared like he was normally quite a reticent child.

    ¡°You stay at home. I promise that I will bring Big Huang back.¡± Wu Jinpeng touched the boy on his head. The terror and fear that characterized the man earlier hadpletely disappeared. His eyes were warm and kind; the only thing out of ce was the quick breathing.

    ¡°Okay.¡± The boy nodded obediently. When the father and son spoke, the whimpering of the dog appeared again, and this time, it sounded very close to them. Other than the sound of the dog barking, the sound of a crowd started to gather. Various unsettling and ufortable noises drilled into Chen Ge¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Where does this straye from? What if it bites someone? Is no one going to look after it!¡±

    ¡°My family still has a small child. What if he is harmed by the stray! Who will be responsible?¡±

    ¡°Get the hell away, you sted dog! I do not have time for you!¡±

    ¡°Beat it! My mom said that all strays carry disease with them! We need to chase it away!¡±

    Initially, Chen Ge thought that only he could hear these voices, but when he turned around, he realized that both Wu Jinpeng and the boy were able to hear them as well because Wu Jinpeng had used his hands to cover both of the boy¡¯s ears. The smile still lingered on his face as he pulled the boy into his light embrace.

    ¡°Daddy, they are beating Big Huang. They said that Big Huang is a stray, but he is not.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you worry about that. I will go and rescue Big Huang now. You just stay here and do not move.¡± Wu Jinpeng then gripped Wu Sheng¡¯s hands to have thetter cover his own ears. ¡°Close your eyes, and I promise, when you open your eyes, Big Huang will be here with you again.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Of course, when have I lied to you before?¡±

    After Wu Sheng shut his ears and closed his eyes, Wu Jinpeng finally stood up.

    ¡°You are not seriously considering going there, are you?¡± With his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge saw clearly that there were around ten figures standing on the street.

    ¡°I have made the promise to my son.¡± Wu Jinpeng pushed open the wooden board that acted as the door. ¡°Brother, can you do me a favor?¡±

    ¡°What kind of favor?¡±

    ¡°I will go and distract their attention, and after I have lured all of them away, I need you sneak in to rescue Big Huang.¡±

    ¡°No problem.¡±

    Wu Jinpeng and Chen Ge jogged out of the small house one after another. Wu Jinpeng, who led the way, did not turn back. However, behind him, Chen Ge turned back to look into the small house. The boy was still following his father¡¯s instructions. He had his hands over his eyes and his eyes mped shut. The sound of cursing and scolding became louder and louder. Big Huang was whimpering for help. It was being surrounded by a mob of people. They nned to beat Big Huang to its death right there on the street.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let it get away!¡±

    ¡°Go after it!¡±

    ¡°This stray sure runs fast for what it is!¡±

    ¡°Where are you going now that we have already broken your leg?¡±

    ¡°Rummaging through the trash every day to look for food, the strays are all carriers of disease! Stop ying around. Quick, go ahead and kill it!¡±

    Many voices crawled into Chen Ge¡¯s ears. They sounded extremely grating. They were not human noises; they were more like knives.

    ¡°Stop!¡± The disfigured shadows moved out of the way, and Wu Jinpeng saw Big Huang, who was covered in threads, cowering on the ground. His eyes turned red immediately. ¡°Big Huang is not a stray! He is my dog! He has never injured anyone, and he would never go through the trash to look for food!¡±

    After they heard Wu Jinpeng, the shadows turned around to look at him. The cold and lifeless eyes fell on Wu Jinpeng, but they did not seem to care what he had to say. The threads continued to sew through Big Huang¡¯s body. ¡°I swear I will look after him! My son always ys with him. He has never been injured by the dog before. Big Huang is the most obedient pet you could have ever wanted. Please return him to me.¡±

    From the intensity to the tone of the voice, everything he said sounded real and authentic. It was as if Wu Jinpeng had said something simr in real life and Wu Sheng had memorized it word for word.

    ¡°Give it back to you? How could a homeless man like yourself guarantee that this b*stard will not injure other people? If you are so free, you¡¯d better take better care of yourself first before youe to mind other people¡¯s business.¡±

    ¡°This has to be a joke. You said this is your dog. Well, if the pet of a homeless man is not a stray, what is it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the man himself probably rummages through the trash to look for food, much less his dog.¡±

    The voices became sharper and ruder. Wu Jinpeng¡¯s body kept shaking, but he tried to reason as rationally as he could. ¡°My boy is not in a good condition. The dog is his onlypanion. For us, the dog is more than a pet¡ªhe is part of our family.¡±

    ¡°This can¡¯t be real. You have a son? What, bringing a child around will garner more pity when you go begging for money?¡±

    ¡°By the way, listen to this. If the dog of a homeless man is a stray, what is the child of a homeless man? Could it be a street child? That¡¯s just too much!¡±

    ¡°My boy is not a street child!¡± Both of Wu Jinpeng¡¯s arms were shaking. His eyes were burning with fire as he picked up the random objects around him and threw them at the group of people. ¡°As long as I am alive, the dog that I own is not a stray, and my child will never end up as a street child!¡±

    The figures turned to focus their hatred on Wu Jinpeng. All the monsters¡¯ lips were sewn shut, but for some reason, even though their mouths were unable to make any noise, the grating voices did not disappear. After they were attacked, the monsters collectively took out therge needles and ck threads from their pockets and rushed at Wu Jinpeng like a wave. ording to the n, Wu Jinpeng would lure the mob away, and that was the time for Chen Ge to sneak out from the other side toe and rescue Big Huang.

    Big Huang¡¯s body was sewn with threads. Blood leaked out from the wounds on various parts of his body. The dog had been beaten to death while he was alive. This Big Huang was slightly different from the dog that Chen Ge had seen at Wu Jinpeng¡¯s house in real life. If this was all real, or at least had really happened in the past, then the Big Huang in real life was probably the second pet that Wu Jinpeng had taken in. Carrying the dog that had already passed away in his arms, Chen Ge lifted his head to look at the small house. The boy inside the house was still holding his hands over his ears, but both of his eyes were wide open. He had witnessed everything. The pair of eyes that seemed to be curious about everything lingered persistently on the dog within Chen Ge¡¯s embrace.

    ¡°This is too traumatic for a child his age to witness.¡± Chen Ge did not know what to do. It would be too cruel for the boy if he returned with the mangled carcass of the dog. Even though this was the world behind the door, he did not wish for the boy to relive that trauma and despair one more time. ¡°A boy who is still too young to reallyprehend the meaning of death had to witness one before his eyes in this kind of manner?¡±

    Chen Ge ced Big Huang¡¯s body inside his backpack and then carried the backpack in both hands into the small house.

    ¡°Where is Big Huang?¡± The boy lifted his head to look up at Chen Ge.

    ¡°He was getting a little bit sleepy, so he went down for a rest.¡±

    Several secondster, rushed footsteps came from the alley. Wu Jinpeng pushed open the wooden door. ¡°I have temporarily lost them. In a minute, I will lure all of them to the eastern streets.¡±

    ¡°I will go with you. I worry that you need to deal with so many of them alone.¡±

    ¡°That would be immensely helpful, thankful.¡± Wu Jinpeng tossed an appreciative gaze at Chen Ge. As he was about to leave, the boy reached forward to grab at the corner of his shirt.

    ¡°Daddy, why are those people chasing after you?¡± The boy looked at Wu Jinpeng with his pair of innocent eyes.

    ¡°Daddy is ying hide and seek with them. Would you like to y with us as well?¡± Wu Jinpeng ruffled the boy¡¯s hair lovingly.

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Then you should hide inside that wooden box and try to not make any noise. You will win if you stay put and don¡¯te out of the box. Do you understand me?¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± The small boy jumped into the box and curled up inside the corner of the box.

    Wu Jinpeng pinched the boy on the tip of his nose. ¡°You cheeky little thing, make sure that you are not spotted by the other people. Wait until Ie back to get you.¡±

 Chapter 1015 - Private Hospital on the Street Corner

    <h4>Chapter 1015: Private Hospital on the Street Corner</h4>

    ¡°You¡¯re going to leave him like that and make him stay here alone?¡± Chen Ge did not think letting Wu Sheng stay inside the small house alone was a good idea.

    ¡°This is my doing. I will lead them away. The child is innocent. I can¡¯t put him through this pain.¡± Wu Jinpeng closed the lid of the wooden box and ran out. Chen Ge watched Wu Jinpeng run out and turned back to look at Wu Sheng. The boy stayed inside the box with his hands over his mouth. He did not say a word, only staring quietly at his father¡¯s receding figure.

    ¡°Has the boy not said a word because his father told him so?¡± Chen Ge felt like he had missed something. ¡°Never mind, as long as I follow Wu Jinpeng, the problems will be solved.¡±

    In Wu Sheng¡¯s eyes, he was a child under his father¡¯s protection. He noticed the problems faced by the family, but he was just a child; he was powerless to change anything. He could only see his father shoulder the whole ginormous pressure. Chen Ge worried that if he stayed there for too long, he might expose Wu Sheng¡¯s location, so he closed the door and hurried after Wu Jinpeng.

    The night sky had no moon. The buildings on both sides of the street gave off a light stench, and the atmosphere was suffocating. Wu Jinpeng rushed ahead; he had no idea what awaited him, but he had no other choice. To prevent his dog from being treated as a stray, to protect his son from the monsters, he could only keep moving forward.

    ¡°Other than the neighbors, the monsters who had their lips sewn should represent the various difficulties that this family has faced.¡± There were more monsters chasing behind Wu Jinpeng. They were dressed differently; there were well-dressed office workers and the homeless in tattered shirts. There were thieves with knives and others who were dressed normally like passersby that you would meet on the road.

    Under the influence of ghost fetus, the condescension, bullying, and derision was maliciously amplified. Chen Ge did not dare to imagine what would have happened to Wu Sheng if Wu Jinpeng did not exist in this world. If such a small child had been forced to face so many scary monsters alone, Chen Ge suspected that Wu Sheng would have submerged fully into this despairing world and be the ghost fetus¡¯ top candidate. ¡°Thankfully, he has such a great father. Wu Jinpeng is the only light in this dark world.¡±

    Racing down the dark, endless street, being chased with monsters with sewn lips, with no exit in sight, Wu Jinpeng still tried his best toe up with a solution.

    ¡°I suppose this is the resilience of human nature.¡± The children selected by the ghost fetus had been lured into despair for them to open the fake doors, but the worlds behind those doors were different from real life. As despairing as the children were, there would be some source of light.

    In Jiang Ming¡¯s world, the light was his mother and the olddy, and in Wu Sheng¡¯s world, there was Wu Jinpeng. In their memories, there was always a temporary sanctuary. Running behind Wu Jinpeng, Chen Ge gained a new understanding of certain things. When he first got the ck phone, he discovered the door in his haunted house. At the time, he had only feared the door; it was normal for humans to be afraid of the unknown. But as his understanding grew, Chen Ge¡¯s perspective of the door changed.

    The doors were pushed open by people in despair. The other side of the door was not salvation but an abyss of deeper despair. The doors were sinful. Chen Ge initially refused to get close to the door, but after being forced by the Ghost Stories Society, when his life was threatened, he had been left with no other choice. After multiple interactions, he had realized that the doors themselves did not represent fear, and they could not be equated to despair.

    He would not follow the Ghost Stories Society¡¯s footsteps of controlling the doors and gaining benefit from them. But subconsciously, his negative impression of the doors had slowly dissipated.

    During the School of the Afterlife, Chen Ge had met the painter behind the door. That madman wanted to create a heaven behind the door, constructing a ce of heaven in and of hell. Ultimately, the painter failed, but what he did once again shook Chen Ge¡¯s impression of the doors and the worlds behind it. However, the thing that really changed Chen Ge¡¯s mind was the incident at Jiang Yuan Apartments. When he saw his young self being pushed off the roof by the man in the doctor¡¯s outfit, when he heard the words that he had once said, his perspective of the door really started to change.

    ¡°Perhaps the worlds behind the doors for the children were not so different from real life. There might be light in the worlds behind the doors...¡± Chen Ge watched Wu Jinpeng and the various monsters who chased after him. ¡°The light in the child¡¯s world is being chased by many monsters. If there¡¯s light behind a real door, they get chased by something darker and scarier. What would the light look like inside an actual door?¡±

    His parents¡¯ image crossed his mind. Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of something that happened a long time ago. He took out the wooden toy that had been stolen by the ghost fetus from his backpack.

    ¡°My father gave me this when I was in bed. He wished me happy birthday. But that morning, he had already presented me with the present and wished me happy birthday. There was no reason for him to repeat it, and he did not exactly give me the present; he merely ced it next to the bed.¡± More details came to Chen Ge. ¡°Was the present originally meant for the shadow?¡±

    Looking at the bloodied toy in his hand, Chen Ge slowed down. ¡°Was this the shadow¡¯s birthday present? The second happy birthday was meant for the shadow? Could it be that he¡¯d already noticed something by then but neither me nor the shadow had noticed it?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there! Run!¡± Wu Jinpeng was running out of air, but seeing that Chen Ge had slowed down, he still returned to pull on his sleeves. ¡°Do not stop! I know where we can shake them off!¡±

    Wu Jinpeng led Chen Ge to an alley on western street; there was a private hospital there. It was not that big, and the decor was old fashioned. But as small as it was, it had everything it needed to serve the public.

    ¡°The hospital has a backdoor. I ran through this ce to shake them offst time. Those things do not daree in here.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean that there is something scarier than them inside this hospital?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll go in first.¡±

    Without saying anything else, Wu Jinpeng led Chen Ge into the hospital. After the monsters saw that, they really stopped in the alley. After entering the hospital, the many different voices in Chen Ge¡¯s ears disappeared, and what was left was the sound of children crying.

 Chapter 1016 - Do You Still Hate Me?

    <h4>Chapter 1016: Do You Still Hate Me?</h4>

    The children¡¯s crying came from all directions, making it impossible to locate the source.

    ¡°Brother Peng, don¡¯t you think this crying is a bit familiar?¡±

    With his Ghost Ear, Chen Ge held his breath and listened closely. After a while, he discovered with some shock that one of the children¡¯s crying was simr to Wu Sheng.

    But isn¡¯t he hiding back in the small house?

    Chen Ge did not get it. He turned to Wu Jinpeng. Therge man¡¯s body was shaking. He was pushed by the monsters to his limit. Be it physically or mentally, he was about to copse. His chest rising and falling violently, Wu Jinpeng leaned against the hospital wall. His eyes were bloodshot, and they were horribly swollen.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± When they were running earlier, Chen Ge did not notice this. He subconsciously thought that Wu Jinpeng was as fit as he was in reality, but that was of course not the case.

    ¡°Come, we¡¯ll go to the backdoor.¡±

    Scared of staying any longer, after entering the hospital, Wu Jinpeng acted rather strangely. It was as if something had happened to him thest time he was there, and he was seriously traumatized by it. If not for theck of choice, he probably would not have returned there.

    The crying grew louder, and the voice that sounded like Wu Sheng¡¯s was slowly overwhelmed by other voices. Chen Ge noted that as he followed behind Wu Jinpeng silently. The hospital was small, but it had all the necessary medical rooms. From the appearance, the ce looked normal. It was amon small city hospital. There was nothing scary about it. Walking down the deserted corridor, Wu Jinpeng led Chen Ge to the corner of the stair. By then, the crying had reached a level that was ufortable to one¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Do you see the window at the corner up the stairs? If you jump through it, you¡¯ll end up on the western street. That way, we can shake the monsters loose.¡±

    However, Wu Jinpeng did not move. His eyes were filled with terror. This made Chen Ge realize that things were not that simple.

    ¡°Brother, pay attention to me. When we go up the stairs, no matter what you hear or see, do not stop. Rush all the way to the window, understood?¡± Wu Jinpeng warned. ¡°If the backpack is weighing you down, I can carry it for you. After we get to the stairs, we have to run as fast as we can to the window!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. I¡¯ve been known as a fast runner since I was small.¡± Wu Jinpeng and Chen Ge stood before the stairs. They were ready. After exchanging a look, they moved together toward the window. Footsteps echoed on the stairs. When he took the first step, Chen Ge still had not felt anything, but as he continued to move forward, the children¡¯s crying was like a waterfall crashing into his eyes. His brain was swamped by the crying, dazing him in the process.

    ¡°Do not stop!¡± Obviously, Wu Jinpeng had experienced this before. At this crucial moment, the man still cared about Chen Ge and shouted to warn him. The crying grew louder, and the ground under his feet wobbled like he was not stepping on concrete steps. Chen Ge lowered his head to look and saw many small hands reaching out from the ground to grab his feet. The empty stairwell was suddenly crawling with faceless babies.

    As experienced as Chen Ge was with the supernatural, he hesitated for a moment. He instinctually avoided the babies and chose the empty spaces to ce his feet. The sound of a door opening came from the second floor. When Chen Ge looked up, a red wave rushed out from the second floor, rushing at Chen Ge and Wu Jinpeng.

    ¡°Jump out the window! Do not stop!¡±

    Chen Ge was the first to reach the window. By the time he pushed the window open, the blood wave had reached them. At that moment, he could jump out, but if he did, Wu Jinpeng would definitely be swept away by the wave.

    ¡°Grab my hand!¡± When Chen Ge said that, the wave was cresting. Soon, it swallowed both Chen Ge and Wu Jinpeng. The blood rushed into this nose and blocked his breathing. Pain erupted all over his body.

    Chen Ge forced his eyes open, and at thest moment, Wu Jinpeng grabbed at Chen Ge¡¯s backpack. The blood surged endlessly from the second floor. Other than the sound of children crying, there was a second voice that appeared. It was the whispering of a woman.

    ¡°Run while you can! Don¡¯t mind me!¡± Wu Jinpeng was swept by the wave until he could barely stand. He knew that this was probably his end.

    ¡°There is still chance. Think of your son!¡±

    When Chen Ge turned around to speak, a woman with a red hairclip appeared at the corner of the second floor. She wore a loose-fitted pregnancy gown, and her faceless face was staring at Wu Jinpeng. The woman¡¯s whispers became clearer. Like a curse or a venomous snake, they crawled into the two men¡¯s heads.

    ¡°Jin Peng, don¡¯t you recognize me anymore?¡±

    ¡°Am I a bad mother?¡±

    ¡°Do you hate me?¡±

    ¡°The boy didn¡¯t even know how to cry when he was born, but is that my fault?¡±

    ¡°If he was a normal child, I would never do that, but you heard the doctor. The boy was too special. We won¡¯t be able to take care of him. If he is given the chance to grow, he will only be a monster that everyone hates.¡±

    ¡°If he was a normal child, I would really stay to take care of him with you.¡±

    ¡°But he is not a normal child. I can¡¯t do this anymore. My life has just started. I do not want such a baggage to ruin my life.¡±

    ¡°Wu Jinpeng, why don¡¯t youe with me? We should run away together.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t think I¡¯m being selfish. We have been through so much. Is what I am asking too much?¡±

    ¡°Even if he grows up, do you think he will really find happiness?¡±

    ¡°Do you want him to end up like your little brother?¡±

    ¡°You know that you will one day grow old, and then who will take care of your brother? Who will take care of this child?¡±

    ¡°Instead of trapping yourself with all these responsibilities, why note with me and live for yourself for once?¡±

    ¡°The man in my eyes is a bird that flies freely in the air, so...e fly with me.¡±

    The woman¡¯s empty face was slowly changing. She waded through the blood and suddenly appeared before Wu Jinpeng. The pale hands broke through the blood as they moved to caress Wu Jinpeng¡¯s face.

    ¡°Bliss, happiness, desire, freedom, I am everything you seek, so why do you refuse to give me your hand?¡±

    The woman leaned lightly next to Wu Jinpeng and had Wu Jinpeng lean his head on her. ¡°I have never asked for anything from you. This is the first time. Promise me that we will leave together.¡±

    Wu Jinpeng turned to the woman, and the featureless face became blurrier and blurrier. His eyes slowly lost their shine, and he stopped struggling as if he was being hypnotized by the woman¡¯s words. The hands that grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s backpack slowly loosened. Wu Jinpeng¡¯s body was slowly swallowed by the blood. Just as Chen Ge thought that Wu Jinpeng was a lost cause, the father who was almost two meters tall in Wu Sheng¡¯s eyes reached out to grab the faceless woman¡¯s shoulders.

    ¡°Quick, go get Wu Sheng and run!¡±

 Chapter 1017 - Let the World Hear Your Voice

    <h4>Chapter 1017: Let the World Hear Your Voice</h4>

    Wu Jinpeng ignored the blood that might choke him. He screamed loudly like this was hisst chance. Realizing that Wu Jinpeng had not been influenced by her words, the faceless woman was incensed. ck blood capiries bulged on the woman¡¯s pale arms as she reached out to strangle Wu Jinpeng.

    ¡°Why? Why do you still wish to protect him? I have given you everything you could ask for! Why do you volunteer to stay with despair!¡±

    A face slowly appeared on the woman. It was not a woman¡¯s face but the face of a baby boy.

    ¡°The ghost fetus?¡±

    ¡°Why can¡¯t I kill you! I am the only one who really wants to help you! Why do you all insist on lying to yourselves! Why do you all believe those things that do not exist!¡±

    The woman snapped Wu Jinpeng¡¯s neck, but she could not kill him. Wu Jinpeng, who was dying, waved anxiously at Chen Ge. He could not make a voice, but he tried to open his lips, attempting to speak. The woman¡¯s face had taken on the form of a baby. Her mouth was wide open, but her eyes were closed, like it was a ginormous effort to open them. Her dress was dyed red by blood. This monster was obviously more powerful than the snail behind Jiang Ming¡¯s door.

    Chen Ge finally understood everything.

    ¡°Wu Sheng was born with a disability. He was abandoned by his mother because of it. That was the hurdle that the boy couldn¡¯t get over. The ghost fetus used this to his advantage to spread his malice, trying to trap the boy within the abyss of despair.

    ¡°However, the ghost fetus miscalcted. Wu Sheng has a very good father. No matter what happens, Wu Sheng will be protected by his father. From Wu Jinpeng, Wu Sheng understood that the world was not as despairing as depicted by the ghost fetus. The ghost fetus couldn¡¯t kill Wu Sheng¡¯s father because he was unable to change Wu Sheng¡¯s impression of Wu Jinpeng.¡±

    Chen Ge did not run. He looked at the crazed woman.

    ¡°It¡¯s rather surprising that a demon god has been pushed to such lengths by a normal human father.¡±

    After understanding everything, Chen Ge understood the knot in Wu Sheng¡¯s heart and the key was he had found the ghost that the ghost fetus chose to possess.

    ¡°There is no need for this world to exist anymore. After killing this woman, I should be able to decrease the ghost fetus¡¯ power further.¡±

    Clicking on the recorder, Chen Ge took several steps back.

    ¡°Compared to the snail, this woman is much scarier. Wu Sheng¡¯s world behind the world was also more stable than Jiang Ming¡¯s. Looks like there are differences between the nine doors.¡±

    Standing in the pool of blood, Chen Ge took out theic. The crying and whispering gradually weakened, reced by shrill screams and heart-breaking wails.

    Red cracks spread through the walls and floor. The woman standing in the blood finally noticed Chen Ge. She put down the mangled Wu Jinpeng, the poor man who had been tortured but still had a breath in him, and walked toward Chen Ge. An adult woman with a baby¡¯s face, it was quite scary, but Chen Ge felt no fear. As more Red Specters appeared, the woman stopped.

    ¡°Brother Peng! Wake up, this ce is going to the dumps. The sun will rise soon!¡±

    Xu Yin, Ol¡¯ Bai, and the Stench had appeared first and jumped at the woman. The woman fought evenly with the three Red Specters. To Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, the woman had an exception control over the blood. She seemed to be able to multitask very well.

    ¡°Get her!¡± More and more Red Specters appeared. After the red high heels joined the fray, the woman finally reached her limits. She kept cursing, but the battle was decided. The blood under her control was spread thin, and the baby¡¯s eyes opened a slit at thest moment. ¡°I will kill you! No matter who you are, I will kill you!¡±

    The woman dissolved into blood mist. The blood disappeared, and what remained was a child¡¯s tooth covered in ck blood.

    ¡°Killing is illegal. To stop you from straying from the good path, I could only try my best to stop you.¡± Chen Ge walked over to the tooth and realized that the tooth had words carved into it¡ª¡¯Is this my tooth?¡¯

    He was about to pick it up when the tooth suddenly disappeared into his shadow. His hand hung in the air, leaving Chen Ge startled. ¡°Zhang Ya?¡±

    The world behind Wu Sheng¡¯s door was about to copse. Chen Ge could not stay for long. Carrying the backpack and Wu Jinpeng, they ran to the small house where Wu Sheng was hiding.

    ¡°Brother, put me down, I was just reminded of many things.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll talk after we leave this ce.¡±

    They rushed to the small house, and Chen Ge and Wu Jinpeng entered the room.

    ¡°Wu Sheng?¡± Wu Jinpeng smoothed down his clothes and opened the wooden box. Wu Sheng was still inside, covering his mouth with his hands. ¡°The game is over. You don¡¯t need to be afraid of your voice attracting the monsters or bad people anymore. From now on, you can say anything you want. I want the world to hear your voice, okay?¡±

    He picked up Wu Sheng from the box. ¡°Today, we¡¯re finally moving.¡±

    With the protection of the Red Specters, the group reached the end of the western streets. Many cracks appeared on the sealed iron door.

    ¡°It¡¯s time for us to leave.¡± Chen Ge looked at Wu Jinpeng. Therge and muscr man put Wu Sheng down and then bent down to pull Wu Sheng into a tight hug. ¡°The thing I am proudest of in my life is having you as my son. Go now. You do not belong here. This ce shouldn¡¯t hold you back.¡±

    The broken iron door was pushed open. Wu Jinpeng nudged Wu Sheng toward Chen Ge. As the world started to copse, so did Wu Jinpeng¡¯s body. Summoning back the Red Specters, Chen Ge held Wu Sheng¡¯s hand and stepped through the ck door.

    Bang!

    His knees knocked against the side of the bed. Chen Ge, who carried the backpack, tripped over, and he copsed onto the single bed. The flickering door disappeared, and a familiar voice came from the darkness.

    ¡°Brother? You, huh? Where did youe from?¡±

    Themp was turned around. Feeling the light on him, Wu Jinpeng was staring at Chen Ge in bed with his mouth open. Wu Sheng, who had been sound asleep, also opened his eyes. Perhaps because he was being pressed down by Chen Ge or he was reminded of something, when he saw Wu Jinpeng, he started to cry. The crying was loud, so loud that the neighbors could hear him clearly.

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t cry. The uncle did not mean to copse on you...¡± Wu Jinpeng was confounded. Wu Sheng had been born with problematic voice chords. He would not cry when he was born. His face was often green, supposedly from all the words that he held in. Wu Jinpeng did not expect the child that could not cry since he was young, the child who was dered abnormal by the doctors, would suddenly cry that day, and he was crying so loudly.

    ¡°Go give your boy a hug. He has seen too many things, and those things have been corroding his heart.¡± Chen Ge hugged his knees and sat at the corner. He did not interrupt Wu Jinpeng and Wu Sheng.

 Chapter 1018 - Fifth Living Employee

    <h4>Chapter 1018: Fifth Living Employee</h4>

    Wu Sheng sat next to Wu Jinpeng and kept crying as if he was making up for the tears that he had been holding in all these years. His small hands gripped Wu Jinpeng¡¯s clothes, and his face was scrunched up in pain. He wanted to say something, but his voice was overwhelmed by his crying.

    ¡°It¡¯s only a nightmare. Everything¡¯s fine now. I am here.¡± Wu Jinpeng hugged Wu Sheng and patted him lightly on his back. The father and son embraced each other, and Chen Ge sighed in relief. He rubbed his knees and slowly walked out. When he pulled back the curtain, the ck phone vibrated. Chen Ge took it out to read thetest message.

    ¡°You havepleted 2/9 of the Ghost Fetus Trial Mission. The ghost fetus can no longer curse you through your voice. Red Specters¡¯ Favored, you do not have much time left!¡±

    ¡°A curse can be inflicted through my voice? Meaning he only needs to hear me speak to curse me? That is such a powerful ability!¡±

    In Chen Ge¡¯s experience, curses needed a medium. To curse a person, one needed their hair, fingernails, or clothes, but the message on the ck phone corrected his misunderstanding. The ghost fetus only needed to hear his voice to curse him. However, this must only be the tip of the iceberg. As a demon god, the ghost fetus must have more power than this. Even with the protection of the Red Specters, Chen Ge felt not so safe.

    ¡°The ghost fetus has too many ways to hurt me. I might get harmed without even knowing it. No wonder the ck phone ims that once the ghost fetus is born, I will definitely die.¡±

    The crying inside the bedroom woke up Wu Kun, who was sleeping in the living room. He hugged the broken fan and looked at Chen Ge with fear. Initially, Chen Ge did not mind it, but the man did not stop staring at him, to the point Chen Ge felt quite unsettled.

    ¡°Why are you looking at me like this? Do you see something on me?¡±

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice, Wu Jinpeng¡¯s brother grabbed the thin nket to cover his head. He was at the verge of tears. Wu Kun was eight years younger than Wu Jinpeng. Being treated like this by a man over thirty, Chen Ge felt quite ufortable.

    ¡°Are you afraid of me?¡± Chen Ge walked toward Wu Kun.

    Before he got near, Wu Kun extended his two shaking hands. ¡°The fan, the fan...¡±

    Wu Kun held the broken fan with both hands, as he knelt on the ground with his shaking body.

    ¡°You want to give me the fan?¡± Chen Ge sat down before Wu Kun. When he was about to take the fan, he saw the wounds on Wu Kun¡¯s arms. ¡°Something does not feel right. Why does he keep mentioning fan? What is he trying to express? Now that I think about it, I did not encounter Wu Kun behind Wu Sheng¡¯s door. As his father¡¯s younger brother, it¡¯s impossible that Wu Sheng has no impression of him.¡±

    Chen Ge returned the fan to Wu Kun. After a long time, Wu Kun finally calmed down.

    ¡°Tell me, what are you so afraid of?¡±

    Before Wu Kun could answer, the curtain was pulled back. Wu Jinpeng switched the bedsidemp off.

    ¡°How is Wu Sheng?¡±

    ¡°He fell asleep after he tired himself out crying.¡± Wu Jinpeng¡¯s eyes were puffy, too. He stood before Chen Ge. ¡°Brother, the biggest wish in my life is that Wu Sheng can grow up like a normal child, and I have already prepared to take care of him forever... thank you.¡±

    ¡°Brother Peng, to be honest, you¡¯re the reason Wu Sheng could make this recovery.¡± Chen Ge nned to employ Wu Jinpeng, so he did not hide too many things. ¡°What I¡¯m going to say next, you can choose to not believe me, but I ask that you do not tell anyone else.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you have my word.¡±

    ¡°Behind that door is a despairing, gory, and eerie world. After Wu Sheng falls asleep every night, he is trapped inside that world. Such a small child has to face all sorts of monsters alone.¡± Chen Ge lowered his voice. ¡°As a self-defense mechanism, he conjured up a version of you in his dream. The dream version of yourself is no different from you in real life; you have been trying your best to protect him. It is because of you that he did not lose himself and his soul to the demon.¡±

    ¡°Wait, you¡¯re suddenly giving me too much information. Let me process it first.¡± After a moment¡¯s silence, Wu Jinpeng suddenly pinched himself. ¡°Then, doesn¡¯t that mean that if I went into the door sooner, Wu Sheng would have been spared from the torture earlier?¡±

    ¡°Not anyone can enter that door. If a normal person enters it, they will most likely unable to return.¡±

    When Chen Ge turned to Wu Jinpeng, he narrowed his pupils as he used Yin Yang Vision. Wu Jinpeng wilted under Chen Ge¡¯s gaze. He felt like he was staring at a dead person¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Are you afraid?¡±

    ¡°A little bit.¡± Wu Jinpeng nodded honestly. This handsome man was obedient like a child before Chen Ge.

    ¡°I lied to you earlier. I told you that there was a child of my rtive that was like Wu Sheng, but that was a lie to get close to you.¡± Chen Ge put down the backpack and sighed. ¡°In reality, there is no rtive in this story. The child that has the same condition as Wu Sheng is me.¡±

    ¡°You?¡± Wu Jinpeng was baffled. ¡°But you look so normal.¡±

    ¡°I grew up normally like other children because I have parents that love me dearly. They¡¯ve entered a door for me.¡± Chen Ge slowly lowered his head. ¡°But they have not returned from that door. I haven¡¯t been unable to find them.¡±

    ¡°Is that why you have been looking for doors? To see if you can find them behind the doors?¡± Wu Jinpeng¡¯s eyes became red again. He could empathize with Chen Ge. ¡°Brother, if you don¡¯t mind, let me help you in your endeavor! I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll need a hand. And you helped me save Wu Sheng. I have to repay you somehow!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s unnecessary. I came here due to my selfish reason. I just wanted to see whether my parents might be behind Wu Sheng¡¯s door.¡±

    ¡°No matter what, it¡¯s the truth that you¡¯ve saved Wu Sheng! Brother, don¡¯t make me beg you!¡± Wu Jinpeng pleaded.

    ¡°Fine, looks like I can¡¯t win this argument.¡± Chen Ge raised his head. ¡°My real upation is the owner of a haunted house. Do you know what that is?¡±

    ¡°I used to visit them when I was a child. Now that I think about it, I¡¯ve visited quite a number of them.¡± Wu Jinpeng appeared quite interested.

    ¡°Brother Peng, where do you work now, and how much you earn a month?¡±

    ¡°If you include the overtime, I get paid about four thousand a month, but with the current economy, I don¡¯t know how long that¡¯llst. I¡¯ve been hearing rumors of an imminent culling.¡±

    ¡°How about this? Come and work for me at my haunted house. I¡¯ll pay you four thousand as a basic sry and a bonus at the end of the month.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house desperately needed living employees, and most of the time, one employee had to take on more than one role. Chen Ge had no choice. His haunted house was too unique, and he would only hire actual people that he had one hundred percent confidence in.

    ¡°That is too much. I was nning to help you, but now you¡¯ve turned around and helped me with my work problem. You¡¯re being too kind to me.¡± Wu Jinpeng shook his head.

    ¡°After all, you have seen the ¡®door¡¯, that makesmunication of certain things much easier. Other than that, you have a wonderful personality. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll mix well with the other employees.¡± Chen Ge admired Wu Jinpeng greatly. This father who had been through who knew how much had a loving heart and a tough soul.

 Chapter 1019 - Bad Neighbour From the Old City

    <h4>Chapter 1019: Bad Neighbour From the Old City</h4>

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about me making friends. I¡¯ve always been friendly with my colleagues, but you can pay me ording to how you¡¯d pay an intern. At least let me prove myself before you hire me officially,¡± Wu Jinpeng said sincerely.

    ¡°I do not hire interns, or rather, the internship period is very short. Normally, I can tell whether a person is suitable for the job or not with one nce.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house only had one new employee ceremony, and that was to go through all the scenarios with the visitors once. If they coulde out with their consciousness somewhat still intact, they could stay and work.

    ¡°Okay, then after I send Wu Sheng to school tomorrow, I¡¯ll quit my current job. Due to this economy, I doubt they will ask me to stay. I¡¯ll head to our haunted house in the afternoon. By the way, where is it?¡±

    ¡°Western Jiujiang¡¯s New Century Park.¡± Chen Ge looked at Wu Jinpeng. This was the fifth living employee that he had hired. Whether he expanded into Xin Hai or anything else, Wu Jinpeng shoulde in handy. The shadows would be handled by the ghosts, and the living would work under the sunlight; a good haunted house had to function on both fronts. Now that Wu Jinpeng was officially a part of the haunted house, he was Chen Ge¡¯s family, and Chen Ge always had time for his family.

    ¡°Brother Peng, I have onest thing to ask you.¡± Chen Ge stood up and walked to Wu Kun. ¡°Has your little brother always been like this? Did your parents try to send him to get some treatment?¡±

    ¡°They did try when he was young, but the effect was not so good. Even though he was unable to live independently or work, he could do some simple housework. My brother is very kind. He often surprises me by helping me with the chores.¡± Wu Jinpeng sat down next to his brother. ¡°Sometimes, when I was working in the day and singing in bars at night, it was my little brother who looked after Wu Sheng. Even though they both have some problems, they¡¯re good friends.¡±

    ¡°Good friends? Then that¡¯s strange.¡± Chen Ge did not want to hide anything. ¡°There was a lot of symbolism behind Wu Sheng¡¯s door, and all the symbols could be rted back to the reality, but I did not see anything that could represent Wu Kun in Wu Sheng¡¯s door. It is as if Wu Kun does not exist in Wu Sheng¡¯s mind.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. They stay together every day.¡±

    ¡°That is the first point that struck me as strange. The second point is the fan that Wu Kun is holding. Why does he insist on the fan?¡± Chen Ge looked at Wu Kun¡¯s mangled fingers. ¡°Your little brother might be mentally challenged, but he showed no sign of being a self-harming person. There are many different kinds of mental illnesses, and he does not appear to have the kind where he would push his hands into a fan voluntarily. So, I suspect someone else was there when the ident happened!¡±

    ¡°You mean someone pushed my brother¡¯s hands into the fan?¡± Wu Jinpeng¡¯s jaw tightened.

    ¡°Why else would he keep on mentioning the fan? He might be warning you.¡± Chen Ge had just finished when Wu Jinpeng woke Wu Kun up. Wu Kun, who knew nothing, hugged the fan and curled up in the corner. He was both angry and afraid.

    ¡°Xiao Kun, your big brother is here. Tell me, did someone bully you? Don¡¯t be afraid. Have you forgotten? I always helped you fight those people who bullied you when we were small. I will go and punch those who dares bully you, so will you tell me who did this?¡±

    Wu Jinpeng spoke very fast on the ount of his anger, and that spooked his younger brother. Wu Kun hugged the fan, grabbed the nket, and crawled all over the floor, screaming.

    ¡°Do you know what time it is? You might not want to sleep, but I do!¡±

    The house had a horrible soundproof wall. The neighbors started toin, so Chen Ge helped Wu Jinpeng detain Wu Kun.

    ¡°Xiao Kun, don¡¯t be afraid. I am here with you.¡± Wu Jinpeng pulled Wu Kun¡¯s head into his embrace, but his eyes was looking at Chen Ge. ¡°Now that you mention it, I was reminded of something. My brother¡¯s condition has been steadily improving for some time, but ever since his hands were injured by the fan, his condition suddenly deteriorated greatly.¡±

    ¡°Did your little brother act strangely at all after that ident?¡±

    Wu Jinpeng thought about it. ¡°Actually, yes. There were several times when I got home and saw my brother staring at his own shadow in the corner. He even used his hand to p at it asionally.¡±

    ¡°Was it the shadow from Li Wan City that harmed Wu Kun? But ording to the shadow¡¯s personality, if Wu Kun stood in his way, he would have just killed Wu Kun. He would not let him live, so why was that?¡± Chen Ge was surprised that he would be able to get more clues from Wu Jinpeng¡¯s brother. ¡°Other than the fan, did Wu Kun mention anything else that was out of ce?¡±

    ¡°Let me think.¡± Wu Jinpeng¡¯s brows were scrunched up in thought. ¡°Yes. At the time, we were still living at our old house. Wu Kun would run away so fast whenever we needed to go out, it was as if he refused to stay too long on our floor. One time I asked him why, he pointed at the door of our neighbor, shouting again and again ghost, ghost!¡±

    ¡°The old house? Where did you live when you stayed in the old city?¡±

    ¡°We were staying at Jiujiang old city¡¯s Blissful East Street, then we moved to Eastern Jiujiang, and finally due to work, we moved again to Western Jiujiang.¡± Wu Jinpeng told Chen Ge all the addresses of his former rental homes.

    ¡°Your family has stayed in the old city before. Jiang Ming has stayed in the old city. Fan Yu has spent his childhood in the old city. Something must be wrong with the old city.¡± Chen Ge marked down Wu Jinpeng¡¯s former address. He nned to visit it the following day.

    ¡°Wait, I am reminded of something else.¡± Wu Jinpeng opened the wooden box that had his guitar and took out a mud statuette with Wu Sheng¡¯s name on it. The statuette was dark like it was made from mud and blood. ¡°When we were staying at the old city, that strange neighbor gifted us an altar. He said that by cing it at home, Wu Sheng would definitely speak within nine years.¡±

    ¡°Where is that altar now?¡±

    ¡°The altar was too big to carry it with us when we moved for the second time, so we left it at the rental house in Eastern Jiujiang. The new tenant thought it was quite taboo to have an unknown altar in the house, so he moved it to the basement.¡± Wu Jinpeng handed the mud statuette to Chen Ge. ¡°But we have been keeping the mud statuette from inside the altar with us.¡±

    Everything now matched. Chen Ge epted the statuette and ced it on his shadow. ¡°Brother Peng, that altar is not for good fortune. It¡¯s a home for a demon. You have been tricked by that neighbor.¡±

    ¡°Could it be that neighbor who stuck Wu Kun¡¯s hands into the fan?¡±

    ¡°For now, we can¡¯t be sure, but I will investigate this further. You should get a good rest, so I shall not disturb you anymore.¡± Chen Ge picked up the statuette from the shadow and returned it to Wu Jinpeng. ¡°See you at work tomorrow.¡±

    Strangely enough, the statuette did not stay on Chen Ge¡¯s shadow for that long, but all the ck blood stains had disappeared.

 Chapter 1020 - A Person Made From Curses [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1020: A Person Made From Curses [2 in 1]</h4>

    The people in the rental house did not notice that Chen Ge¡¯s shadow started to slowly change its shape after consuming the blood stains on the mud statuette. It appeared like a young woman who was turning lightly in her sleep.

    ¡°You guys should get a good rest. I will see you tomorrow.¡± Chen Ge took a look at the clock on the wall. It was already 2 am. After he left Wu Jinpeng¡¯s rental house, Chen Ge did not return to New Century Park but got into a cab to head to the old city. The weak light from the streemps filtered through the taxi window and fell on his body. Chen Ge watched as the quiet city went by and pulled his cor tighter to his body.

    The old city at night was very different from how it looked in the day. The government did not spend money to fix most of the broken streemps, so the roads were dark and dim. The ce was as quiet and as dark as a ghost town. As Jiujiang continued to grow, more and more people moved away from the old city to seek a new fortune at the newer part of the town.

    Passing through the dark streets, Chen Ge took only about ten minutes to find Wu Jinpeng¡¯s previous rental home. The ce was about two streets away from where Fan Yu once lived. But the condition here was much worse and the stench in the air was also much thicker.

    ¡°How did they manage to stay here for so long? Or is it only me who can smell the horrible stench?¡± Chen Ge thought back to the morning when he had gone to find Jiang Ming¡¯s mother at that area of the city. Both thedies from the neighborhoodmittee and Jiang Ming¡¯s mother did notment on the strange smell in the air. As Chen Ge was reminded of it, he realized that it was strange indeed. He wondered if that meant they had gotten used to it or something elsepletely. Walking through the alley, Chen Ge finally reached his destination. Chen Ge held the rusted banister of an old staircase to get up to the second floor of one of the buildings. He looked around him. He was not at the oldest and most dpidated part of the old city.

    ¡°Room 204, Room 204... Found it, this one.¡± Chen Ge stopped his footsteps. Before him was a wooden door that was painted red. A rusted iron chain was tied around the doorknob. ¡°After Wu Jinpeng¡¯s family moved away, has no one rented this room?¡±

    Flipping through theic, Chen Ge summoned out Men Nan. ¡°Brother Nan, I need your help. I need you to go into this room and scout out the ce for me, but be careful of the room next door. Do not go in there no matter what.¡±

    Room 205, which was the innermost room on the second floor, was the room that Wu Kun said was haunted. It was also the tenant of that room who had given Wu Jinpeng the altar and the mud statuette, masquerading them as a blessing and gift. For the sake of security, Chen Ge only told Men Nan to enter Room 204. If he came back with nothing, then he would summon a few more Red Specters, and they would barge into Room 205 together. Droplets of fresh blood slid through the wooden gap. Men Nan reappeared one minuteter after he slipped into the room. ¡°Everything in the room looks normal. There is nothing that appears out of ce, but it feels strangely ufortable staying inside the room even though I cannot give you an exact reason why.¡±

    ¡°Then, I need you to take Xu Yin along with this pair of red high heels into Room 205.¡±

    The three Red Specters entered Room 205. Several secondster, a strange sound came out from inside the room. It sounded like a knife piercing balloons that were filled with water. And then Chen Ge heard bones being dislocated and shirts being torn. ¡°What is going on?¡±

    Blood vessels crawled on the door, and a thick stench of blood started to spread all over the ce. From that, Chen Ge knew for sure that Men Nan¡¯s group had run into something behind the door. He wasted no time to summon Xiao Bu and the red raincoat from theic. On this side, it was hell on earth, but suddenly, the light on the corridor about five to six meters away was switched on, and a man¡¯s annoyed grumbling and footsteps could be heard. Just as the man was about to arrive, the door of Room 205 before Chen Ge was suddenly pushed open from the inside.

    ¡°Chen Ge, quicke in and take a look!¡±

    Darting into the room, Chen Ge held his nostrils out of habit. There was a heavy stink collecting inside the room. He closed the door behind him as light as he could and then used Yin Yang Vision to study the apartment. The ce was not big. It was only about thirty cubic meters in size. There were many faded newspaper cuttings on the wall, and dust had settled on every surface. It appeared like the ce had been deserted for a long time.

    ¡°Did you guys fight something earlier? Did anyone get injured or hurt?¡± Chen Ge was both curious and concerned.

    ¡°It was not a thing that we fought; it was a curse.¡± Men Nan pulled down the newspaper cuttings that were stuck to the wall. Behind the newspaper cuttings, torn out hair and patches of ck blood were clumped together on the walls. They looked like an eerie piece of art.

    ¡°These are the curse?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the hair pieces and the blood came from different people. When we first got in, the ck threads of curse started intertwining and spread all over the room. If you had entered carelessly, you would have been cursed without even knowing it.¡± Men Nan signaled for Chen Ge to retreat. He did not want the man to stay too close to the walls.

    ¡°Is the curse here simr to the curse in Li Wan City?¡±

    ¡°They are two different kinds of curses.¡± Only Men Nan, who was holding the pair of red high heels and reached Chen Ge¡¯s knees, was answering his question seriously. ¡°Based on what this big sister told me, the curse in the room was merely a byproduct of another curse when it was being processed andpleted.¡±

    ¡°In other words, someone once used this room to create a very scary curse when they were living here?¡±

    ¡°You could see it that way, yes. After all, the curse formed from the negative emotions that lingered in this ce are a mere taste of the actual curse. They were only a very small and insignificant part of the actual and original curse.¡± Men Nan nodded. He had this kind of serious and cautious personality.

    ¡°A very small and insignificant part of the curse is already powerful enough to distort the room to such a dangerous state, so how scary is the actual curse itself? How dangerous will it be?¡±

    ¡°It is unimaginable. At least this big sister said she has not encountered such a powerful and scary curse before.¡± Men Nan raised the pair of red high heels toward Chen Ge. ¡°Can you please take her away from me? I am not really afraid of her, but it feels rather awkward for me to carry her around by her shoes.¡±

    Chen Ge ignored Men Nan¡¯s request and continued with his questioning. ¡°Is it possible for any of you to tell what the original curse is about based on what¡¯s currently in the room? Can you tell me who the original curse is meant for?¡±

    ¡°We cannot tell who the target of the curse is, but we managed to wrangle some information from the wall. This curse is made up from nine distinct parts.¡± Men Nan tore down all the newspaper cuttings from the innermost wall of the room. The wall that was covered in torn out hair and blood stains carved out the shape of a small figure. There were many statements written within the shadow of the figure with untidy handwriting.

    ¡®What is a human being?¡¯

    ¡®What constitutes a human being? What are they made up from?¡¯

    ¡®A pair of eyes that can see the world, a pair of ears that can hear the world, a mouth that canmunicate the world, a body that can host the soul...¡¯

    ¡®Human beings also need memories,yers of their past.¡¯

    ¡®What is light?¡¯

    ¡®Warmth, yes, human bodies give off heat and warmth.¡¯

    ¡®They also say human beings should have love, but what is love?¡¯

    ¡®I seem to be missing something very important. Think. What does he have that I don¡¯t?¡¯

    The rows of statements cut up the small figure neatly into nine pieces, and each piece was painted a different color.

    ¡°The painting itself is the curse?¡± Chen Ge was rather confounded by this discovery.

    ¡°Instead of calling it a curse, it is more urate to refer to it as the tenant¡¯s Dream Whisperings. These were the things that he was thinking about the most when he was working on the curse,¡± Men Nan said. ¡°This curse gave us a very strange feeling. It is like underneath the heavy coat of death, there hides a young sapling that is growing amid the darkness.¡±

    ¡°The nine parts should correspond to the nine children. So, it is most likely that it was the ghost fetus who left behind this curse. This means that he has once stayed in the old city.¡±

    Those were all the clues they could find in the room. Chen Ge summoned back the few Red Specters and walked out from the apartment.

    ¡°Something horrible will happen should someone identally walk into this ce.¡± Chen Ge locked the door securely. He nned to return when he had more time on his hands to give this ce a good ¡®cleaning¡¯.

    ¡°Sounds like someone wasing out from this room earlier. Since he is still awake, I might as well use this opportunity to ask him some questions.¡± Chen Ge walked to the other end of the second floor. This room was different from the other room. The door had an additional anti-theft steel door on top of the normal wooden door. This set itself apart from the other tenants.

    ¡°Is anyone home?¡± Chen Ge knocked on the door lightly.

    Momentster, the agitated voice of a middle-aged man echoed out from inside the room. ¡°Stop f*cking knocking on the door!¡±

    The wooden door inside the rental house was pulled open. An unkempt, middle-aged man who was radiating an ufortable smell of sweat stood at the door. ¡°Was it you who created such a loudmotion outside the door earlier? Did you just move here? Why aren¡¯t you in bed when it is already sote at night. If you continue to make such a big ruckus, I am going to call the cops on you!¡±

    ¡°There is no need to trouble the police for such a small thing. I just wish to ask you a few questions.¡± Chen Ge smiled very politely. ¡°Of course, I do not expect you to help me for no reason. If you can answer my questions nicely, I will give you one hundred RMB for each question that you have answered.¡±

    ¡°Are you sleep walking, or is this some kind of prank? You came to my door at two thirty in the early morning to give me a quiz?¡± The middle-aged man looked around cautiously like a possibility just dawned on him. ¡°There is a camera hidden somewhere, isn¡¯t there? Where¡¯s the camera crew?¡±

    ¡°First, who is thendlord of this building?¡±

    ¡°I am thendlord of this ce. What¡¯s the problem? Are you here to rent a room? Then I have to ask you to leave. I will not rent to troublemaker like you.¡± As unsightly as the middle-aged man was, the way he looked at Chen Ge was still filled with derision and condescension.

    ¡°Second, have you rented out Room 205 at the end of this corridor to someone recently?¡± Chen Ge did not want to waste time on nonsense with the man. If not for his generosity, he would have barged into the room, released the Red Specters, and mmed the exit shut already.

    ¡°Room 205 has been rented out since about six years ago. The tenant sends me money every year punctually. The man does not stay here often, but he asks that I keep the room avable for him. Since he is paying me money, I don¡¯t see the harm in following his instructions.¡± The middle-aged man scratched at his hair that was clumped together from acking of washing.

    ¡°You have not rented it to anyone else during this past six years?¡±

    ¡°No, the tenant always gives me the money about six months before the deadline every year, and he often slips me extra, paying me more than the required rental. Why would I chase away such a good tenant?¡±

    ¡°What does that tenant look like? Do you know what kind of career he is in?¡± Chen Ge had a feeling that this tenant was the ghost fetus that he was looking for.

    ¡°Why should I tell you about that private information? Who are you? Are you a police officer? Why do you think I will leak my tenant¡¯s valuable information to you?¡± The middle-aged man crossed his arms.

    ¡°If you tell me the specifics about the man¡¯s appearance and what he does for a living, I will give you another five hundred RMB.¡±

    ¡°He is a student. He first moved here about five years ago. I believe it was because he got into a serious argument with his family, and he had run away from home. At the time, he had just gotten into secondary school, and he did not have much money on him.¡± The middle-aged man exposed the details of the tenant of Room 205. ¡°He did not stand out in terms of appearance. He had long hair and a weak constitution. I could hear him very often, and he had the tendency to mumble in his sleep.¡±

    ¡°Is that all you can give me? That is a bit too general. Kids like that litter the street. How do you expect me to go and find him?¡± Chen Ge did not hold out much hope based on the clues that had been given him by the middle-aged man.

    ¡°You want to go and find him?¡± The middle-aged man gave Chen Ge a once-over and then extended his index finger. ¡°Give me another one thousand RMB, and I will tell you a way that you will be able to find him.¡±

    ¡°No problem, you have a deal.¡±

    ¡°After he ran away from home, his mother came here to look for him. At the time, he was not home, so his mother came to talk to me instead. She left me with a message for the boy. When he came back, I was to inform him that his mother hade, and she wanted him to go to the Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s Huai Ai Hospital to find her. She seemed to be the head nurse for that hospital.¡± The middle-aged man was not as sleepy as when Chen Ge first knocked on his door. Even though it was fast approaching 3 am, at the thought that he was about to get at least two thousand RMB from answering a few easy questions, his eyes were practically glowing.

    ¡°This information is very valuable. Of course, that is if you are not lying to me.¡± Chen Ge pulled open the zipper of his backpack.

    ¡°Why would I lie to you? Now stop wasting my time and give me the money. Don¡¯t think you can cheat me. I have been counting. I have answered more than enough of your questions to earn at least two thousand RMB!¡± The middle-aged man saw Chen Ge open his backpack, so his greedy gaze involuntarily wandered to look inside it. He noticed the bulging backpack had a human spine lying inside it.

    Rubbing his eyes, the middle-aged man nced deeper into the backpack. Other than the real human spine, there was a pair of bloody red high heels inside the backpack!

    A madman? Pervert? Murderer? Serial Killer?

    Cold sweat covered and slid down the middle-aged man¡¯s face. Without even realizing it, he took a cautionary step backward.

    ¡°My phone is running out of power, so I can¡¯t do a bank transfer. Why don¡¯t you open the door. I will hand you the cash instead.¡± Chen Ge leaned closer to the steel door, and his lips were slowly curling upward. ¡°You just need to open a small gap for my hand to squeeze through...¡±

    ¡°There is no need. That is unnecessary. I... I only answered a few questions. Why should I expect to be paid for that?¡± The middle-aged man took another step back. ¡°I have already shared everything that I know. I do not know any more than that. The kid has not been back here for a long time. I believe he will not return any time soon. So, you¡¯d better go look for him somewhere else.¡±

    ¡°Okay. You are probably right about that.¡± Chen Ge nodded. With a sense of responsibility weighing him down, he turned to ask thendlord again, ¡°Do you really not want the money?¡±

    ¡°No, no, I really don¡¯t!¡± The middle-aged man waved his hands repeatedly and then quickly mmed the wooden door shut.

    ¡°Looks like there are still good people in this world.¡± Chen Ge carried his backpack and walked down the stairs. ¡°I have not heard of this Huai Ai Hospital before. It should be a private hospital. I¡¯ll go and visit the ce tomorrow.¡±

    Stretching his backzily, Chen Ge left the old city without turning back. ¡°When the sun rises, I¡¯ll only have five nights left.¡±

    When Chen Ge returned to his own haunted house¡¯s staff breakroom, the sun was already rising. He had just crawled into bed when he received a message from Lee Zheng on the phone that he had just plunged into the socket to charge.

    ¡°This is an emergency! Reply to me if you see this message!¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge, call me immediately when you see this message!¡±

    There were many simr messages. Chen Ge could hear the urgency in the messages, so he quickly called Lee Zheng¡¯s number. The phone rang only once before it was picked up. Lee Zheng¡¯s voice came from the other side of the line. ¡°Chen Ge, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I be?¡± Chen Ge was as confused as he could be.

    ¡°Yesterday, we closed in on the location of Jia Ming¡¯s group, and the capture operation was scheduled to be done at night. The boy¡¯s father, Zhen Chun, was killed by the suspect Bei Ye, while the boy¡¯s mother, Yu Wangqing, is in ICU due to serious injuries. The suspect, Bei Ye, was shot and died on the spot. However, both Jia Ming and the boy were not at the crime scene. We have blocked all the roads, but no one has seen any sign of them.¡±

    ¡°How did Jia Ming manage to escape with a child?¡±

    ¡°From the very beginning, Jia Ming nned to use Bei Ye and the boy¡¯s parents as bait. He purposely exposed himself, and when we were busy with his partners, he used the opening to escape. He used his partners¡¯ life to buy time for himself. The man is so awful. How can a man be so heartless?¡±

    ¡°He is no longer a normal man, but Inspector Lee, why are you telling me all this?¡± Lee Zheng normally would not reveal this inside information to a member of the public. Since he had chosen to share the information with Chen Ge, it could only mean that what happened next would be rted to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Jia Ming¡¯s group did not leave Jiujiang because they were looking for something. For now, we do not know what that is, but we found a lot of information that¡¯s rted to you at their hiding ce. I suspect that their next target might be you!¡±

    ¡°They are trying toe for me? Then that... is really so scary.¡± Chen Ge almost let slip the words... ¡®would be perfect¡¯.

 Chapter 1021 - Road to Hell

    <h4>Chapter 1021: Road to Hell</h4>

    ¡°Bei Ye mentioned your name before he died, and New Century Park was written on some of the notes found at the crime scene. In any case, you must be careful! I¡¯ll send people over when the sun rises!¡± Lee Zheng was worried about Chen Ge¡¯s safety.

    ¡°Please do not do that!¡± Chen Ge quickly stopped him. ¡°Brother Zheng, I mean, we should not scare them off. Since they have targeted me, this is the perfect chance to capture him. Jia Ming is so cunning. He will escape if he senses a trap. Only by making him careless will we be able to catch him.¡±

    ¡°Then, what about your safety?¡±

    ¡°Jia Ming is extremely cunning and cruel. The longer he spends on the outside, the higher the chance of us having more victims. If you think of it that way, what¡¯s a little risk that I might take?¡± Chen Ge denied Lee Zheng¡¯s help. ¡°Furthermore, the clues that you found at the crime scene might have been purposely left behind by Jia Ming. He wants the police to focus their attention on New Century Park so that he can go elsewhere.¡±

    ¡°So, this could be a misdirection?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Plus, New Century Park is popted every day, and the ce isplicated. Mounting an operation is not going to be easy.¡±

    ¡°You have a point, but I will still send a few inclothes to your ce after dawn. Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t affect your business.¡± Lee Zheng sent Chen Ge onest message. ¡°The number I sent you is the number of the leader of this operation. If anything happens, call him.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°Take care of yourself. No matter what happens, keep yourself safe.¡±

    After the call was ended, Chen Gey in bed holding the phone. There was no panic in his eyes. If anything, there was excitement. ¡°I was trying hard to find Jia Ming, but now he¡¯s moved his target onto me. The man could have lived his life safely, but he intends on taking the road that would lead him to hell.¡±

    Hugging the white cat, Chen Ge scratched its soft underbelly. ¡°Both Jia Ming and the boy knew the ghost fetus well. They seem to be looking for the children selected by the ghost fetus. I wonder how many they have found.¡±

    Putting the backpack by his bed, Chen Ge was not worried about his safety. With his team of powerful Red Specters, he was not afraid of any tricks that Jia Ming could havee up with.

    At 8:10 am, Chen Ge opened the gates to the haunted house, and the employees soon arrived.

    ¡°This afternoon we might have a new employee to join us. So, don¡¯t iste him. Let¡¯s try to give him a good impression.¡±

    After helping the employees with their make-up, Chen Ge carried the backpack and sat at the haunted house entrance.

    ¡°Boss, are you still going outter?¡± Gu Feiyu walked toward Chen Ge in the Doctor Skull-cracker outfit. His every step jingled with the sound of chains.

    ¡°I¡¯m staying today because I¡¯m waiting for a friend.¡± Chen Ge turned back to smile. ¡°Also, I need you guys to pay attention today. If there¡¯s anything out of ce, report to me immediately.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    The theme park opened for business at 9 am. The visitors rushed in, and the number was greater than few days ago. A long queue soon formed before the haunted house. Uncle Xu and the other workers helped to maintain the order and sell tickets. Chen Ge stood at the entrance and personally led the visitors into the haunted house, helping them with the disimers. Currently, Chen Ge could be counted as a semi-celebrity. Some of the visitors came because of them. Some asked for a photograph together with him. Chen Ge naturally would not reject these requests. Actually, he wanted to leave a mark in more people¡¯s memories. That way, if something happened to him, it would be hard for other forces to wipe his existence off the face of the earth. After sending several batches of visitors into the haunted house, Chen Ge still had not seen Jia Ming or been notified of any special visitors.

    ¡°The police should have ced great pressure on Jia Ming, which is why he used his partners¡¯ life to buy some time for himself. He knows that the web is closing around him, so it¡¯s only a matter of time until he makes a desperate move.¡± Chen Ge arranged the disimers on the table. ¡°I have no idea what they are searching for, but I am sure it has something to do with the ghost fetus. Those guys used so much time to study me and the haunted house, so that thing might be hidden here somewhere.¡±

    After giving it some thought, Chen Ge carried the backpack and went to the toilet. This toilet was for employees only. The visitors used the toilet that was outside the haunted house.

    ¡°Men Nan.¡± Chen Ge flipped through theic to summon Men Nan. ¡°Today, you will stay guard here.¡±

    ¡°What? You think I¡¯m a toilet attendant?¡± Men Nan argued with Chen Ge.

    ¡°The door that is blocked by the wooden boards leads to the blood world, and someone has been eyeing it recently.¡± Many people knew of the door at Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house, so he did not hide that from Men Nan.

    ¡°You have a door here too?¡± The way Men Nan looked at Chen Ge changed. ¡°Was it... you who pushed it open?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Chen Ge shrugged. ¡°I can¡¯t remember.¡±

    ¡°How can you forget something like that?¡± Men Nan gazed at Chen Ge. ¡°But you do not look like a door pusher. You are too cunning to be one.¡±

    ¡°The person eyeing this door is quite cunning as well. You might not be able to handle them alone.¡± Chen Ge shoved the pair of red high heels into Men Nan¡¯s hand. ¡°If you¡¯re in danger, ask this big sister to help you. She¡¯s very powerful.¡±

    ¡°Hey! Come back here!¡±

    ¡°Good luck.¡± Chen Ge closed the door and returned to the entrance. The whole morning passed, and there was nothing. Chen Ge did not see Jia Ming.

    ¡°Was it right earlier when I said that this was all just misdirection?¡± Chen Ge sat on the chair to think. ¡°Jia Ming has seen me in Li Wan City before. He knows that I have many Specters and Red Specters by my side. As long as he has not lost his mind, he won¡¯te at night. He only has a chance of seeding in the day, but what exactly is the man looking for?¡±

    After lunch, Chen Ge continued to wait at the haunted house. He originally nned to go to Eastern Jiujiang Huai Ai Hospital, but that n was ruined due to Jia Ming. The sun was right above his head. It was the hottest time of the day, but the queue before the haunted house was still very long. Chen Ge patiently moved the visitors into the haunted house. He did not carry much hope of seeing Jia Ming when he suddenly heard a familiar voice.

    ¡°Leader Chen!¡± That was the first time that Chen Ge had been called that. He turned to the voice and saw Wu Jinpeng waving at him amid the crowd. The handsome uncle was a man of experience. He did not refer to Chen Ge as closely as brother in a public ce. He was afraid that might ruin Chen Ge¡¯s image among his other employees, but he did not know how to address him, so he used the term ¡®Leader Chen¡¯.

    ¡°Brother Peng, you¡¯ve arrived earlier than expected. Did everything go well?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it went swimmingly.¡± Wu Jinpeng was tall with a ponytail. He had the presence of an artistic person about him, so he stood out among the crowd.

 Chapter 1022 - Wu Jinpengâ€™s Debut

    <h4>Chapter 1022: Wu Jinpeng¡¯s Debut</h4>

    ¡°That¡¯s wonderful. In a bit, I will have you get used to the working environment here.¡± Chen Ge trusted Wu Jinpeng fully and nned to initiate the new employee weing ceremony soon. ¡°We are understaffed now, so I can¡¯t give you a tour. You¡¯ll have to follow one of the batches to experience the haunted house. There¡¯s no pressure. Just think of it as your own visit and treat yourself as a normal visitor.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Wu Jinpeng nodded. It looked like he valued this new job greatly. He had even taken a shower and changed before he came.

    ¡°Then we¡¯ll start with a half star scenario.¡± Chen Ge arranged for Wu Jinpeng to enter the Ming Hun scenario with two other visitors. Half an hourter, a pale-looking Wu Jinpeng ran out of the haunted house with the two other visitors.

    ¡°How do you feel?¡±

    ¡°I feel like the haunted houses that I¡¯ve visited before were child¡¯s y.¡± Wu Jinpeng was still shaking. He was about to say something more when Chen Ge patted him on the shoulder. ¡°Your timing is perfect. They are about to visit the one-star scenario, Murder by Midnight. You can go along with them.¡±

    ¡°But I just got out...¡±

    ¡°How are you going to see the rainbow without weathering the rain? Such a big challenge in your life didn¡¯t crush you. Don¡¯t tell me a little haunted house visit will break your spirit.¡± Chen Ge led them to the second floor. ¡°Believe in yourself, Brother Peng.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute! I have some questions.¡± Wu Jinpeng pulled on Chen Ge¡¯s clothes. ¡°How many scenarios do we have? Do I need to visit all of them today?¡±

    ¡°We have around ten scenarios. The higher the star rating, the scarier the scenario. Ming Hun was just the appetizer.¡± At this point, Chen Ge thought of something. ¡°Actually, it¡¯s rather impossible to visit all of them in one day.¡±

    ¡°Okay then.¡±

    ¡°Because you might faint in the middle, but you might not. In any case, we have the best doctors here. If we make use of the time carefully, there¡¯s a chance that you can visit all the scenario today.¡± Chen Ge sent Wu Jinpeng and the other visitors into the scenario for Murder at Midnight. ¡°Have fun in there.¡±

    Closing the door, Chen Ge walked away. Soon, he heard a scream from Wu Jinpeng. ¡°Even his scream has a certain tempo to it. I knew he was a singer in a past, but I had no idea he¡¯s so talented.¡±

    Another half an hour passed, and Wu Jinpeng ran out with disheveled hair. He had so much ¡®fun¡¯ that he had lost the scrunchy that had tied up his ponytail. ¡°Here, drink this water. You can clean yourself up in the dressing room. I think there¡¯s a spare rubber band in there. You can use it to tie your hair.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not the issue of rubber band. When I was in there, there was a rag doll that kept following me. She was jumping all over the ce like she wanted to grab my ponytail!¡± Wu Jinpeng was in an intense emotional state, and his hands kept gesticting.

    ¡°Looks like you¡¯re already a favorite among the old employees. Don¡¯t worry, those are controlled by the centralputer. Your colleagues were merely weing you in their own way.¡± Chen Ge had Wu Jinpeng get some rest while he walked toward the other visitors. ¡°Uncle Xu, do you have any visitors that wish to visit a two-star scenario or above?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s great that you¡¯re here. These three visitors bought tickets for Mu Yang High School, Coffin Vige, and Underground Morgue online. They wanted to visit all of them in one go. Can you allow that?¡±

    ¡°You can only visit one scenario at a time.¡± Chen Ge looked at the three visitors. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but that is a safety precaution.¡±

    ¡°But we have already bought the tickets. Do you want us toe out and wait for such a long queue again? We don¡¯t mind paying more. I just don¡¯t want to waste any more time.¡± It was a polite-looking man who spoke. He wore spectacles. He was about 1.85 meters tall with long legs, and every piece of clothing he had on was branded. Indeed, he did not look like he was in need of money.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry about safety precautions. I promise you that even if something happens to us, we will not press any charges against your establishment.¡± Another man stepped forth. He was in sportswear. His body was well built with clear wiry muscles. However, he was not that old and was not that careful with his words.

    ¡°I know that you don¡¯t mind spending money, but those are the rules. You can choose one of the scenarios first, then decide after you finish the visitation. You might change your idea then,¡± Chen Ge suggested.

    ¡°Ah Wen, Xiao Jie, we could consider that. After all, we¡¯ve been waiting for so long already.¡± Thest to speak was the only girl among the trio. She was in her mid-twenties. She looked cute and innocent but had a stabilizing presence about her. She attracted the guys¡¯ attention easily.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you start with Mu Yang High School?¡± Chen Ge led the three of them and two other visitors to enter the haunted house. By then, Wu Jinpeng had almost recovered. ¡°Brother Peng, you should follow the five of them to challenge a two-star scenario.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you give me more time to rest?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re only dying the inevitable.¡± Chen Ge put away the disimers and led the group to the underground entrance. ¡°Before we start, I have to warn you all again. Please stay in the scenario that you¡¯re supposed to visit. Do not wander off into other scenarios.¡±

    Opening the iron door that led underground, a chilly breeze cut at them. Wu Jinpeng, who stood next to Chen Ge, shivered. ¡°You have an underground scenario too?¡±

    ¡°The fun is only beginning.¡± Chen Ge watched them walk down the stairs. He did not close the door but stared at the woman¡¯s back. He was sure that he had just met that woman, but she gave him a familiar feeling.

    ¡°The way the other two guys look at her was filled with love, but she was not interested in them at all. There was a well-hidden resentment hidden inside her eyes. And she kept unintentionally hiding behind the two guys so that she wouldn¡¯t interact directly with me. She has never directed her eyes at me either like she is purposely moving her gaze away from me.¡± Chen Ge eventually closed the door. ¡°Something¡¯s wrong.¡±

    Carrying the backpack, Chen Ge hurried to the surveince room to follow the movement of this batch of visitors.

    ...

    After the door closed, the woman instantly sidled up to Wu Jinpeng. ¡°Uncle, are you a worker here? I saw that you were having such friendly chat with the boss earlier. I¡¯ve heard that the boss asionally sends his employees in with the visitors to scare them.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯lle clean. I am a worker here, but this is my first day. I don¡¯t know anything.¡± Wu Jinpeng surrendered easily. ¡°In fact, I might hide behind youter. I¡¯m sorry. This must have given you a bad impression of the workers here.¡±

    ¡°Hehe, you¡¯re quite an interesting man. I am Shen Mengbing. What¡¯s yours?¡±

    ¡°My name is Wu Jinpeng.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s such a country bumpkin name.¡± The woman had a wonderful smile. She wanted to chat some more with Wu Jinpeng, but the two guys walked over, and they expertly squeezed Wu Jinpeng to the side.

 Chapter 1023 - Itâ€™s Wrong to Peek at Peopleâ€™s Diaries

    <h4>Chapter 1023: It¡¯s Wrong to Peek at People¡¯s Diaries</h4>

    ¡°My name is Zhao Wen. He is Ling Feijie.¡± The bespectacled man gave Wu Jinpeng a once over. He saw that Wu Jinpeng was dressed in night market clothes, and he could practically smell the scent of poverty from him.

    ¡°Nice to meet you. I am the haunted house¡¯s newest employee. The boss told me to join you guys to experience the scenario first before I am given any tasks.¡± Wu Jinpeng grasped the whole situation instantly. The two men liked the woman, but the woman did not like them.

    ¡°Uncle, are you really the worker here? You don¡¯t look like one.¡± The two other visitors came over. They also looked quite young. ¡°We are from Jiujiang Medical University. We hear from our seniors that the workers here are the scariest they have ever met. It¡¯s as if theye out of hell itself.¡±

    Hearing thements from the two students, Wu Jinpeng¡¯s forehead started to sweat. He seemed to have joined an inappropriate group.

    ¡°I still have not met the other employees, so I cannot confirm what you¡¯ve said.¡±

    ¡°Uncle, you look like a nice person. You wouldn¡¯t lie to us, right?¡± The two medical students were familiar with Chen Ge¡¯s ways. They were given information about Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house almost daily, so they were practically old costumers already.

    ¡°Do I look like a liar to you?¡± Wu Jinpeng wanted to exin himself, but the more he tried, the more the others eyed him with suspicion.

    ¡°Stop wasting time, we¡¯ll head in first.¡± Ling Feijie was older than the two students, but he appeared more juvenile than thetter. He was like a flower that had grown in the greenhouse. He looked tough on the outside but weak on the inside. The few walked down the corridor into Mu Yang High School. Wu Jinpeng and the two students walked ahead while the threegged behind. They kept ncing around. It did not seem like they were there to visit but to look for something. The nk test papers fluttered in the air, creating a rustle as they dragged against the ground. When Wu Jinpeng first entered the basement, it did not feel that scary, but the deeper they went, their faster his heartbeat, and his palms started to sweat.

    ¡°Uncle, you¡¯re too tense. Your muscles are pulled so taut that you¡¯re limping.¡± One of the students noticed this and smiled with sympathy. ¡°I know that you¡¯re acting, but do you need to try so hard?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, this is my first day at work.¡± Wu Jinpeng did not wish to act like that, but he was really not that brave. ¡°Should we wait for the others? I don¡¯t think we should split up...¡±

    Wu Jinpeng turned around to look and saw the three standing before a ssroom, stopping where they were. They did not look like they were moving forward. In fact, the man called Zhao Wen took several steps back like he was nning to sneak away from Mu Yang High School.

    ¡°Hey! There¡¯s no need to be afraid. If we stick together, it should be fine.¡± Wu Jinpeng wanted to console them, but the man called Zhao Wen did not care for it. He even red back at Wu Jinpeng.

    ¡°The three of you can continue the tour. Just go ahead without us.¡± Ling Feijie guarded beside Shen Mengbing always, unable to move away from her.

    ¡°Based on what our seniors said, those who split up inside the haunted house meet a horrible end.¡± The two students were experienced. They grabbed Wu Jinpeng and headed toward Shen Mengbing. ¡°Stop kidding around, this is a two-star scenario!¡±

    Being lectured by two people younger than him, Ling Feijie¡¯s temper was lit up instantly. He wanted to argue with them but was stopped by the woman beside him.

    ¡°They have a point, Xiao Jie. You always act too rashly. Sometimes, you have to listen to others.¡± Shen Mengbing grabbed Ling Feijie¡¯s arm lightly. ¡°The condition to clear this scenario is to find enough name tags. Time is not waiting for us. Let¡¯s try to clear this scenario in one try.¡±

    Shen Mengbing¡¯s voice was gentle, and it seemed to possess a magical power that could soften the temper of Ling Feijie.

    ¡°What about the other one? Are we just going to leave him behind?¡± Wu Jinpeng pointed at Zhao Wen. The man stood at the entrance of Mu Yang High School. He held his phone like he was talking to someone.

    ¡°He¡¯s on the phone with his father. We¡¯ll go ahead. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll soon catch up to us.¡± Shen Mengbing came to Wu Jinpeng¡¯s side. ¡°Come on, limping uncle.¡±

    ¡°Er...¡±

    The group thus entered Mu Yang High School. After they walked away, Zhao Wen put away the phone and nced at the camera beside him. He sneaked to the corner that was close to the stairs. Several minutester, the door that led underground opened again, and a batch of visitors were led toward Coffin Vige by Ol¡¯ Zhou. Just as they moved toward Coffin Vige, Zhao Wen came out from his hiding spot and sneaked back up the stairs. There was no one in the corridor. Zhao Wen took out his phone, and there was a map of the haunted house¡¯s ground floor on it. There were even red lines to mark out the surveince corners.

    ¡°I really don¡¯t understand why Mengbing is so interesting in this haunted house.¡± He avoided the surveince carefully and entered the dressing room. There were many scary costumes in the room and many make-up kits on the tables.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t it.¡± Zhao Wen held his phone and carefully closed the dressing room door. He opened the Prop Room next door. He still could not find what he was looking for. ¡°I¡¯m quite lucky. Neither room¡¯s upied. Wasted my time toe up with so many reasons to excuse my behavior just in case I was caught.¡±

    Next to the prop room was the staff breakroom. Zhao Wen turned the doorknob, and the door clicked open. ¡°Are none of the doors here not locked? Aren¡¯t they afraid of thieves?¡±

    Just as the door opened, Zhao Wen was startled. A big white cat was staring at him from inside the room. The cat wasrger than a normal cat. It had snowy white fur, and it was lying in bed, staring at Zhao Wen with its heterochromatic eyes.

    ¡°Phew, that scared me.¡± Zhao Wen entered the room. He looked around and started to rummage through the ce. The cat kept a steady eye on him until Zhao Wen started to feel quite ufortable. ¡°Why do I feel like this cat is smiling at me? Does a cat know how to smile?¡±

    Zhao Wen moved faster. He opened the closet. It was filled with several cheap, unbranded clothes. He looked under the bed. There was a bunch of abandoned props. They seemed to provide structural integrity to the bed.

    ¡°This breakroom is too empty. Won¡¯t the employees herein about that?¡± Zhao Wen looked around before his eyesnded on the study table. ¡°The table¡¯s drawer isn¡¯t locked either. I doubt there¡¯s anything important inside.¡±

    Pulling open the drawer, Zhao Wen saw an almost empty lighter and a thick stack of draft papers. Moving the papers away, he found a diary with a blood red cover underneath them.

    ¡°Meow.¡± When the diary was discovered, the white cat, who had not nudged an inch, suddenly jumped to hide under the bed.

    ¡°What the hell! That scared me.¡± Zhao Wen picked up the diary and ced it on the table. He opened it to the first page.

    ¡°X Year X Month X Day, I dragged her hair and tied her inside the stairwell. I leaned close to her face, listening to her weakening heartbeat. Before herst breath left her, I seemed to hear her utter my name from deep inside her throat¡ªZhang Ya...¡±

    Zhao Wen looked at the red diary, and his pupils were vibrating. He wanted to stop reading, but he seemed to have lost control of his hands as they continued to flip through the pages. The content of the diary was too gory. Each page was filled with cruelty and pain. The owner of this diary was a real monster.

 Chapter 1024 - Too Careless!

    <h4>Chapter 1024: Too Careless!</h4>

    ¡°Is this the haunted house¡¯s owner¡¯s diary? A record of his murders?¡±

    Zhao Wen did consider the possibility that the diary was a prop, but the content was too real. Just reading it caused his heart to race like he was there in person when the crime wasmitted. Even if the content was fake, to be able toe up with the things inside it, the author was seriously unhinged. Taking a deep breath, Zhao Wen was about to put the diary away, but something scarier happened.

    He seemed to have lost control of his body. His hands flipped through the pages, and his eyes refused to move away from the writing on the pages. The diary appeared to have sucked his soul into it. His temperature dropped. In Zhao Wen¡¯s eyes, the handwriting in the diary slowly turned into red symbols, and he could hear the sounds that the murder victims heard. Pairs of arms reached out from the beyond to grab at him.

    His teeth started to chatter, and his ears were pulsing with the sound of his heartbeat. Zhao Wen¡¯s hand finally reached a nk page. Just when he thought everything was over, drops of blood emerged on the diary. They were like blooms of blood flowers that grew directly from hell. The red seeped into the empty pages, and the following entry appeared.

    ¡°X Year X Month X Day, someone read my story, and now I am going to make him part of my diary.¡±

    The arms on him started to pull. Zhao Wen felt as if his body was about to be torn into pieces. He wanted to scream, but he could not make a sound. He could only watch as his body was dragged into the diary. But when he tried to turn around, he was frozen in fear because he saw that his body was still standing away from the table!

    ¡°Meow.¡± A cat meowed inside the room. It seemed to break the spell. Zhao Wen¡¯s eyes were bulging as he looked around the room. He recovered. Both of his hands pressed on the table, and his whole body was shaking. He snapped the diary shut. His arms were still shaking. ¡°What was that?¡±

    His legs weakened. Zhao Wen considered it for a long time before he decided to take the diary with him. ¡°It¡¯s time to move to the next room.¡±

    Pushing on his sses, Zhao Wen leaned on the door to listen. After ensuring that there was no sounding from outside, he pushed open the door and left. He kept his body against the wall and entered the toilet. Looking around, Zhao Wen¡¯s eyes soon focused on that one cubicle door. The door was sealed up by wooden boards, and it had the painting of a grimacing devil on this.

    ¡°Is this the door?¡±

    Zhao Wen slowly approached the cubicle door. He tried to move the wooden boards, but he realized that they were pinned in firmly, and the door would not even budge. ¡°The thing Mengbing wants is behind the door, but the door is sealed. How am I supposed to get behind it?¡±

    He squatted down and tried to look through the small hole. The other side of the door waspletely red.

    ¡°Blood?¡± He looked through the hole again with uncertainty. This time, a rolling eyeball was looking back at him!

    ¡°What the hell!¡± Zhao Wen copsed to the ground. Before he could react, a giant sound came from behind him.

    Bang!

    The door of the toilet was mmed close. Chen Ge walked into the room, dragging the hammer. ¡°Looks like you guys are indeed looking for this door.¡±

    ¡°Who are you? Don¡¯te any closer!¡± Zhao Wen saw the hammer that Chen Ge was holding. His instincts told him that it was not a normal prop.

    ¡°This is a haunted house. Even if you scream until your throat is hoarse, people will only think you¡¯re having a good time.¡± Chen Ge waved, and Men Nan appeared behind him. ¡°Knock him out and then drag him underground. Tell Zhang Yi to experiment on him to try and see if he can erase those bad memories.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Men Nan tied up Zhao Wen harshly as if he was venting his discontent toward Chen Ge on the poor man. Chen Ge stood to the side and watched the proceedings quietly. He was contemting something else. ¡°Why would these people look for the door at my haunted house? Currently, the people who want me dead are the ghost fetus, the cursed hospital, and Jia Ming. Who are these three visitors working for?¡±

    The ghost fetus was a Demon God, and he was not born yet. The cursed hospital was a four-star scenario. It probably would not control its patients to go to Chen Ge¡¯s ce in broad daylight, so the only option left was Jia Ming.

    ¡°Even though Jia Ming is male, the real danger is the spirit possessing him. The thing might have been pressured enough to leave Jia Ming¡¯s body to possess another person.¡± Chen Ge had faced too many troublesome foes. It meant that he would not be trapped in a mental box when he was figuring things out.

    ¡°Chen Ge, this is just a normal human being. There is no trace of anything supernatural on him. The only thing that he is guilty of is being stupid.¡± Men Nan looked at the ¡®diary¡¯ hidden inside Zhao Wen¡¯s pocket and added, ¡°Incredibly stupid.¡±

    ¡°Take him to Zhang Yi.¡± Chen Ge picked up Zhang Ya¡¯s bedtime story. When he first got this reward, he did not think much of it. He really treated it as a bedtime storybook and would flip through it when he was free. But after Zhao Wen identally stumbled across it, Chen Ge realized how scary it was. It was not only dangerous toward normal people. Even Red Specters like Men Nan and the red high heels did not want to get close to it. ¡°None of you warned me about this book. That sure is helpful of you.¡±

    Chen Ge slipped the diary into his backpack¡¯s innerpartment. He had no idea what the book was useful for, but he had a feeling that he would use it in the future. Carrying the backpack, Chen Ge entered the Specter¡¯s Dressing Room and changed. Then he contacted Tong Tong and headed toward Shen Mengbing and Ling Feijie.

    ...

    Inside Mu Yang High School, Wu Jinpeng gradually noticed that something was off with Shen Mengbing and Ling Feijie. They were different from normal visitors, especially that Shen Mengbing. It was as if she could not feel fear. Even though she would asionally scream, she would revert to her usual self in just two seconds. To confuse Wu Jinpeng further, the two would go and open any door that they came across, but after opening the doors, they would not enter them, instead hurrying toward the next one.

    ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve met a visitor like this, could they be...¡± Wu Jinpeng narrowed his eyes. ¡°... real expert visitors?¡±

    He and the two students followed behind, so they did not see the paleness on Shen Mengbing¡¯s face. At that moment, Shen Mengbing¡¯s face was dark, and she gritted her teeth in an ugly grimace. She grumbled under her breath. ¡°I was too careless! I didn¡¯t expect a horde of real ghosts in only a two-star scenario. Doesn¡¯t this mean that three and four-star scenarios will start to have Red Specters?¡±

    Using Red Specters to scare visitors, that was something unimaginable for Shen Mengbing, but she had run into an actual example.

    ¡°And the online reviews of this haunted house said it¡¯s not scary at all? What the f*ck! This has to be a trap!¡±

 Chapter 1025 - Stop Crying or Meet the Hammer [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1025: Stop Crying or Meet the Hammer [2 in 1]</h4>

    The more Shen Mengbing thought about it, the more nervous she became. Everywhere she turned, there was danger staring back at her.

    ¡°This ce is too big. We won¡¯t be able to check everything in one day.¡± Ling Feijie was frightened quite a bit as well. He felt like he had almost reached his limit already, but before Shen Mengbing, he had to put on a brave front.

    ¡°Take it slow, and pay attention to each door.¡± Shen Mengbing adjusted her breathing, and her expression slowly returned to normal.

    ¡°Mengbing, are you sure the thing that you are looking for is here? Why can¡¯t we tell anyone else about this?¡± Ling Feijie stealthily went to grab Shen Mengbing by her hand. ¡°How about wee back here at night? Without anyone else, our work should be much easier.¡±

    Shen Mengbing flung Ling Feijie¡¯s hand away. She kept telling herself internally, There is no need to be afraid. I can leave when an actual Red Specter shows up. Before then, everything is fine.

    ¡°Hey, your friend still hasn¡¯t returned. He¡¯s been gone for quite some time. Could something have happened to him?¡± The two medical students also noticed how strange Shen Mengbing and Ling Feijie were acting, and they subconsciously put some distance between them.

    ¡°There is no need to worry about him. I believe he will be back to join us soon,¡± Shen Mengbing answered without even turning her head. Hearing the reply from Shen Mengbing, the medical students¡¯ suspicion toward her deepened. Her friend had just gotten lost inside arge haunted house. That was something so scary, but how could she manage to take it in such easy strike, like this was part of her n? Something was up, and they wanted no part in it.

    Slowing down his footstep, the one medical student pulled on the clothes of his friend silently. He tilted his head to the side and whispered, ¡°Let¡¯s go into this ssroom to take a look.¡±

    The two sneaked into the ssroom nearest to them when Wu Jinpeng and Shen Mengbing¡¯s group were not looking. Once they entered the ssroom, the medical student closed the door and took out his phone.

    ¡°What are you doing? You are using the phone inside the haunted house? Have you forgotten the warning from our seniors?¡±

    ¡°I have a very bad feeling about this.¡± One of the medical students made a call. ¡°The uncle with the ponytail said that he is an employee here, but he acted so cute and innocent. His whole act is intended to disarm and make you lower your guard.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, it is quite funny how he is acting. He is visiting his own workce, but he got so scared and is now limping.¡±

    ¡°You still have not realized the deep water that we are in? Think of the ce that we are currently in! This is a hell that has caused many of our seniors to lose their minds! You really think this ce would have such a sunny and bright employee?¡± The medical student looked at his friend with deep disappointment, the expression on his face saying, How could you have not figured that out sooner?

    ¡°But didn¡¯t he say this is his first day? Perhaps he is just getting used to the environment.¡±

    ¡°That might be so, but did you realize that after he said that, our full attention was drawn to him?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    ¡°We have been cautious around the uncle, but we havepletely ignored the three other visitors! Did you not realize how much stranger those three are acting? One of them disappeared after we entered the scenario. Where do you think he could have gone?¡±

    ¡°You mean to say they are all actors?¡±

    ¡°That is very likely!¡±

    The two medical students looked at each other, and they could see the fear reflected in each other¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°But the two of us have no history with the haunted house boss. We are just very normal visitors. There is no reason for him to treat like this, is there?¡±

    ¡°The seniors who fainted all had thoughts simr to that.¡± The medical student made a call. ¡°Let me ask He San. He is most familiar with this ce. We will see what he has to say.¡±

    ¡°What are you two doing in here?¡± Before the call was connected, Wu Jinpeng pushed open the door of the ssroom. He had chosen to go and find the two students. Actually, it was because it was too scary for him to stay out there alone.

    ¡°Nothing!¡± The two medical students were flustered, so flustered in fact that they almost dropped the phone. As if destiny was ying trick on them, the call was connected at that moment.

    ¡°Were you two on the phone?¡±

    ¡°No... actually, it¡¯s like this. I wanted my friend to sign the attendance for us. After all, we did skip school to visit this ce.¡± The medical student used his body to block the phone from view and silently ended the call. At the same time, he gave his partner a look. His lips moved slowly as he whispered, ¡°See, I told you!¡±

    ¡°I have no objection to wanting toe to a theme park to rx, but it does not feel right to skip school. You students should pay more attention to your study.¡± Wu Jinpeng walked toward the two medical students. ¡°Also, are you two okay? Why are you sweating so much?¡±

    Before the two students could return, Ling Feijie¡¯s heart-wrenching scream suddenly came from the deepest part of the corridor.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Wu Jinpeng looked out from the ssroom. The corridor was too dark to see Ling Feijie and Shen Mengbing. ¡°Let¡¯s hurry after them. They might need our help.¡±

    ¡°I can bet that nothing will happen to them. We¡¯d better take care of ourselves.¡± The two students stood fixed where they were, and the way they looked Wu Jinpeng was not as friendly as before.

    ¡°But the scream did not sound fake! I¡¯m afraid something really happened to them!¡± Wu Jinpeng stood at the edge of the ssroom door. Seeing that the two students refused to budge, he finally gritted his teeth and burst down the corridor to head deeper into Mu Yang High School. ¡°Even though this is my first day at work, I am an employee here now. I cannot shrink back when the visitors might be in danger.¡±

    Watching Wu Jinpeng run away, the two medical students confirmed their spection even further. At that moment, one of the medical students¡¯ phones started to vibrate. He nced at the caller ID and chose to pick it up. ¡°He San, we do not have much time. The situation is very dire. Now listen to us. We are now currently at New Century Park¡¯s haunted house...¡±

    The medical student dragged the other student to hide under the table and told He San everything they had seen and experienced so far.

    Momentster, He San¡¯s rather hoarse voice came through the line. ¡°Based on my understanding of Boss Chen, since this is the first day for that employee, he must¡¯ve arranged another experienced actor to follow him. I get it now! This must be some kind of test for the new employee, and you two are most likely his test subjects!¡±

    ¡°We are the test subjects?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it is not easy to be a haunted house actor. One must be talented and have a sharp observation skill, but the most important thing of all is that one must possess an exceptional mastery of acting! You two have beenpletely fooled by that uncle!¡± What He San said caused the two medical students to draw in a cold breath.

    ¡°You mean he has been acting ever since he joined us at the start of this scenario? Jesus Christ, just how twisted must one be to put on such a convincing and wicked disguise!¡±

    ¡°Just remember this. The evilest spirit is often hiding underneath the most harmless-looking appearance!¡± He San hung up after he gave his advice, leaving behind two figures that were shaking underneath the ssroom table.

    ...

    Deep within Mu Yang High School¡¯s male dorm, Ling Feijie was hugging a dead body wrapped in tape. His pupils were dted as his bodyy supine on the ground.

    When he first entered the male dorm, everything had been fine. But as he walked deeper into the dorm, he turned his head around and realized that Shen Mengbing had suddenly disappeared without a trace.

    He pushed open the nearest door and a hanging mannequin. He called Shen Mengbing¡¯s name again and again. But instead of getting an answer from the girl, he caught the attention of the hanging mannequin. He was followed by the mannequin as he went deeper into the dorm. If he could still ept this situation, what happened nextpletely shattered Ling Feijie¡¯s mind.

    He was already very afraid. To shake loose of the hanging mannequin who had been following him, he rushed down the corridor faster. He was running halfway down the corridor when he caught sight of the silhouette of a voluptuous woman. His heart leaped in relief and joy, thinking it was Shen Mengbing. He hurried after her. But when he got closer, before he even had the chance to say anything, he saw the woman¡¯s head turned 180 degrees around. That was only the beginning. With a beatific smile on her face, the woman¡¯s body crumbled like pieces of building blocks.

    Ling Feijie was so frightened that he felt his knees weaken. Somehow, he crawled his way into the boy with the stench¡¯s old room. He saw the big closet and believed that it was a good hiding spot, but just as he pulled the door open, a dead body that was wrapped in cellophane tape toppled out and crashed upon him. He came literally face to face with a dead body.

    ¡°Boss, the woman abandoned her male partner and ran away. Ol¡¯ Bai is trying to track her down. I have trapped the abandoned man inside this room.¡±

    ¡°A job well done, Duan Yue. This proves that you can work independently already.¡±

    The dorm room was pushed open, and one mannequin head after another rolled into the room. The pairs of lifeless eyes looked at Ling Feijie with curiosity. The scent of blood and a horrible stench permeated the small dorm room. Then an impossiblyrge person in red squeezed into the room. Behind him trailed a headless woman who was hugging her own head in her arms. Being surrounded by this group of ¡®people¡¯, Ling Feijie¡¯s tears that he had been trying to hold in started to fall. He felt like he was about to suffocate and die.

    But the Specters merely surrounded him. None of them touched him, much less harmed him. Soon, the echo of footsteps approached, and the dorm room door was opened again. The mannequin heads rolled to the side while the stench and the headless woman cleared a path for a young man carrying a backpack to walk into the room.

    ¡°Ling Feijie, is it?¡± Chen Ge knelt down before Ling Feijie. ¡°What is your rtionship with that woman? How did she contact you, and what did she tell you?¡±

    Ling Feijie, who was lying on the ground, looked at Chen Ge. The mental defense in his heart hadpletely shattered. Once he opened his mouth, he started to blubber with tears.

    ¡°I only asked you a few simple questions. Why did you start crying?¡± Chen Ge frowned deeply as he took out Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s hammer from his backpack. ¡°You are in your mid-twenties, but you are still crying like a child. Stop crying right now, or else I will figure out a way to make you unable to keep crying.¡±

    Seeing the hammer that Chen Ge had taken out from his backpack, Ling Feijie cried even harder. He was not just crying anymore; he was weeping openly until his whole body was shaking. To prevent causingsting physical or mental damage to Ling Feijie, Chen Ge had no choice but to order the boy with the stench to knock the man out. ¡°Take him to the underground morgue to find Zhang Yi. The rest of you, follow him to go and find the woman.¡±

    After leaving the male dorm, Chen Ge managed to contact most of the employees through the phone spirit, Tong Tong. He mobilized everyone to go search for that woman, Shen Mengbing. This meant that the visitors who were visiting the underground scenarios became unlucky sacrificial victims. Baleful Specters and lingering spirits wandered the ce freely. Normally, it was the visitors who went looking for ghosts, but this time, the ghosts had grouped up together to go searching for a visitor.

    About ten minutester, Chen Ge received a message from Tong Tong. Ol¡¯ Bai and the students from the School of the Afterlife had blocked Shen Mengbing inside the entrance of a ssroom in School of the Afterlife.

    ¡°With so many scenarios to pick from, she chose to hide in a four-star scenario. She sure has a sharp intuition.¡±

    Dragging the Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s hammer, with two Red Specters trailing behind him, Chen Ge did not hide his presence and appeared before Shen Mengbing in all his glory.

    ¡°What are you nning to do?¡± Shen Mengbing, who appeared weak and soft, cowered at the back row inside the ssroom. She was cornered with nowhere to run. Shadows flickered at the front door, backdoor, and even the windows.

    ¡°Why is it always the thief who calls out theft first? I am sure you know what I n to do.¡± Chen Ge summoned Xu Yin, and the Red Specters in the room increased to a staggering number of five. ¡°Should I call you Shen Mengbing or Jia Ming? Which do you prefer?¡±

    When Shen Mengbing heard the name Jia Ming, her hands that shielded her eyes slowly lowered. The panic and nervousness on her face faded away. She leaned against the hard wall behind her and slowly raised her hands above her head. ¡°How did you discover it was me?¡±

    Further argument would be pointless, so Shen Mengbing made the smartest choice.

    ¡°Why would you care, and why should I tell you?¡± Chen Ge had the four Red Specters surround Shen Mengbing in the middle. This was a rare treatment for anyone. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a choice. Are you going toe out on your own, or do you want me to force you out?¡±

 Chapter 1026 - You Didnâ€™t Expect This Day to Come

    <h4>Chapter 1026: You Didn¡¯t Expect This Day to Come</h4>

    ¡°Or we can sit down and talk. There is no conflict of interest between us. We are both victims of the ghost fetus.¡± Shen Mengbing¡¯s voice was still so soft and melodious, but her tone hadpletely changed from before.

    ¡°Howe that sounds so familiar?¡± Chen Ge thought about it and realized that he had said the very same thing quite often in the past. ¡°Looks like you are not willing toe out without any persuasion. Guys, why don¡¯t you go and help him?¡±

    The few Red Specters walked toward Shen Mengbing, and the pressure on her was unimaginable. Bead-like sweat slid down Shen Mengbing¡¯s beautiful face. There was a deep sense of helplessness in her eyes. This was person who had gained the favor of more than a handful of Red Specters but chose to use their power to open a haunted house¡ªshe simply could not wrap her head around Chen Ge¡¯s thinking.

    ¡°If I had the same number of Red Specters, no, just give me one Red Specter who will side with me, then I would not have been so cornered...¡± Shen Mengbing gripped her hands tightly, but in the end, she chose to surrender. ¡°I can tell you very important information, but in exchange, I hope you can let me go.¡±

    ¡°I do not think you have understood the predicament that you are in. I do not need you to volunteer any information to me. In a minute, I will have my friends drag you forcibly out from this woman¡¯s body. Then I will have them curse your body. Finally, I will have the many spirits who I house here munch on your spirit bit by bit. I will have you watch yourself being consumed bite by bite. But don¡¯t you worry, I will not let your spirit dissipate so easily. I will give you time to recover so that we can repeat this process as much as we like,¡± Chen Ge said with a smile, but a serious glow lit up his eyes, proving how serious he was.

    ¡°Are you a devil in human skin?¡± Shen Mengbing¡¯s face was pale from the neck up. There was no trace of blood at all.

    ¡°My haunted house is filled with ghosts with unusual talents. Some of them are experts in curses; others can manipte people¡¯s memories. You will be a perfectb rat for them to try out their powers.¡± Chen Ge shrugged. ¡°I am sure you did not expect such a day toe when you were torturing others, did you?¡±

    ¡°The ghost fetus ising alive soon, and you are the key yer. The condition of his birth is that you must die. I know many secrets about the ghost fetus, and I can help you!¡± Shen Mengbing changed tact, and her attitude became so much kinder.

    ¡°I will believe anything thates out of your mouth¡ªas long as you first leave that innocent woman¡¯s body.¡±

    ¡°No problem. But after I leave the human body, I will soon disperse into nothingness.¡± Shen Mengbing looked troubled.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, as long as I am around, I will not let you die so easily.¡±

    Hearing Chen Ge say that, Shen Mengbing¡¯s expression seemed to turn paler. She slowly slid to the ground and closed her eyes. A chilly wind blew inside the ssroom, and the woman¡¯s shadow slowly stood up on its own. Using Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could see a clump of sticky blood red threads in the middle of the woman¡¯s shadow. The threads were rife with curses and venom, and they slowly took on the shape of a man. The shadow did not look like Jia Ming; he was much taller than Jia Ming.

    ¡°How to possess a person¡¯s body and slowly take over their mind is something I have learned from the ghost fetus. After all, he started as someone¡¯s shadow.¡± The man was a unique kind of Specter. His body was made up of curses and blood vessels. He could be considered a Half Red Specter. ¡°I am Jiang Long. I was once a victim. The ghost fetus made my whole family crazy and forced me to do his bidding. After I did his dirty work, he turned me into this. I dream day after day of killing him.¡±

    ¡°That is such a coincidence. I have been dreaming of killing him as well.¡± Chen Ge took out hisic. ¡°But stop wasting time. Why did youe to my haunted house? And don¡¯t you think about lying. Being honest will benefit everyone.¡±

    ¡°The ghost fetus wants to be reborn. He has taken a very important from each of the nine children. He is currently still asleep in one of the children. When he wakes up, whether he seeds or not, we will all have to die.¡±

    The man¡¯s voice was shaking. When the term ¡®ghost fetus¡¯ was mentioned, the fear that he felt was visceral. It was a fear that was ingrained in his mind, one that would not be wiped away no matter what.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me things that I already know.¡± Chen Ge dragged the hammer and took one more step forward. ¡°You know more details about the nine children, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Chen Ge had been suspecting that for a long time. Without the aid from external forces, being pursued by the police, Jia Ming¡¯s group managed to find an altar on their own. That was unimaginable unless they had some inside information.

    ¡°Other than the ghost fetus himself, no one knows the exact details about these children, but I know a way that can be used to identify these children.¡± The man did not hide the facts. ¡°I have a child with me from Li Wan City. His name is Zhen Zhen. He is a failed product that was cultivated by the shadow. There is a spirit lingering in him that is very simr to the ghost fetus. In other words, hees from the same origin as the ghost fetus. So, asionally, he has some strange dreams, and the dreams are a reflection of the weave of the intertwining destiny of the nine children.¡±

 Chapter 1027 - Touch the Police, Change Your Life

    <h4>Chapter 1027: Touch the Police, Change Your Life</h4>

    Chen Ge was ying hide and seek with the ghost fetus with the whole city as the yground. The ghost fetus was hiding, and he was seeking; this annoyed him slightly. But Zhen Zhen¡¯s appearance gave Chen Ge hope. However, the premise was that Jiang Long was not lying to him.

    ¡°Where is the boy now?¡¯

    ¡°I¡¯ve hidden him away. The police and another group of people from Jiujiang are looking for him.¡± The blood vessels pulsed on Jiang Long¡¯s body. It looked disgusting.

    ¡°Another group of people?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s interest was piqued. He had no idea that other people, other than himself, were interested in the ghost fetus.

    ¡°We met their people in Li Wan City. The man¡¯s lips were frozen in a smile, and he wore a patient¡¯s outfit under his jacket.¡±

    ¡°The non-smiler!¡±

    ¡°Yes, but I have no idea whether he is doing this independently or the cursed hospital at Xin Hai is behind it.¡± Jiang Long¡¯s voice slowly became calm. He seemed to have epted that he had fallen into Chen Ge¡¯s hands and had given up struggling.

    ¡°You also know about the cursed hospital?¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. ¡°You¡¯re not lying to me, are you? Purposely trying to distract my attention with that hospital?¡±

    ¡°Why would I lie to you? Today, I came here because I am already cornered. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t take such a risk.¡± Jiang Long smiled bitterly. ¡°The police won¡¯t stop chasing me, but the real despair came from the sighting of that non-smiler at my housest night. The madman was just standing there. We both saw each other.¡±

    ¡°But what does that have to do with you entering my haunted house?¡± Chen Ge was a constant visitor at the police station and had been in the interrogation room many times. He could not help but pick up some useful skills over time, so now he was quite familiar with interrogating others.

    ¡°The shadow said that you have a door hidden in your haunted house. He became what he was after he entered that door.¡± The shadow had possessed Jiang Long¡¯s body for a long time, so thetter knew a lot of the former¡¯s secret.

    ¡°Did he tell you what is behind the door?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know that yourself?¡± After hearing Chen Ge¡¯s question, Jiang Long was startled, but he soon returned to normal. ¡°The shadow never mentioned that. I wanted to enter that door myself because I wanted to be as strong as the shadow. The police are drawing closer, and now the non-smiler is after me as well. I need to find a way out for myself.¡±

    Jiang Long¡¯s reasoning was sound. After giving it some thought, Chen Ge stopped the interrogation. ¡°It¡¯s too dangerous to leave the child alone. Tell me where he is. I¡¯ll bring him here.¡±

    The ssroom turned quiet, and Jiang Long said after a long time, ¡°He is in a basement in Western Jiujiang. It¡¯s quite isted. I¡¯ll take you there.¡±

    Flipping theic, Chen Ge ced Jiang Long in with the stench.

    ¡°Well, everyone, it¡¯s time to go back to work. The man has been caught.¡± Chen Ge had the employees return to their post as he dragged the backpack and headed outside. To prevent Jiang Long from doing some funny business, Chen Ge had Men Nan and the red high heels guard the ¡®door¡¯ at the toilet and had Ol¡¯ Zhou and Ol¡¯ Bai patrol the underground scenarios. After ensuring that there would be no more problems, Chen Ge left the theme park and headed toward Jiang Long¡¯sir.

    The ce was very far from the theme park and would rarely be visited by others. When Chen Ge left the theme park, a few inclothes followed him. Chen Ge noticed them, but he did not stop them. After taking a long detour, Chen Ge found Zhen Zhen¡¯s hiding spot in the back alley of a building that was about to be taken down in the old city.

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be easy to find this ce alone.¡± Jiang Long had probably had his eyes on Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house for a long time, but the level of information was not equal. His n was nipped in the bud before he had a chance to put it into action. The owner was long gone. With Jiang Long¡¯s direction, Chen Ge entered the backyard and peeled back the wooden boards that led to the cer. He looked down the cer and saw a boy tied to a wooden pole. Next to him was a fainted adult man.

    ¡°Zhen Zhen?¡±

    Hearing the voice, the boy slowly opened his eyes and then started to mumble help at Chen Ge.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright now. Don¡¯t be afraid.¡± Chen Ge entered the cer and undid the ropes around the boy. The boy had been tied up for a long time. His limbs were purple with bruises from the ropes. He carried the boy out from the cer before turning to the fainted man. The man was Jia Ming. The real culprit was Jiang Long, but it would be Jia Ming who took the fall. He had already lost his self. His soul and spirit had been consumed by Jiang Long, and only an empty shell was left. In essence, Jiang Long had ruined Jia Ming¡¯s life.

    ¡°You sure have done quite a lot of sins.¡± Chen Ge was about to ask Jiang Long some questions when the backyard door was pushed open.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move! Get on the ground!¡±

    ¡°Get on the ground now!¡±

    Two inclothes rushed in, and police sirens followed. Soon, two officers in uniform joined them.

    ¡°We¡¯re allies! My name is Chen Ge. This suspect came here because he wanted to kill me!¡± Chen Ge gave out the key information in the shortest time possible. ¡°If you do not believe me, you can call Lee Zheng from the crime investigation unit!¡±

    ¡°He wanted to kill you?¡± The two inclothes looked at the unconscious Jia Ming and then at the lively Chen Ge. Something was not right with his statement.

    ¡°Put your guns down. He¡¯s one of us!¡± The two officers that cameter were from the crime investigation unit. Even though Chen Ge could not recognize them, they recognized him. With the misunderstanding out of the way, Chen Ge sighed in relief. He had only just realized how terrifying being targeted by two real guns was.

    ¡°It has been confirmed. The unconscious man is a grade A fugitive, Jia Ming.¡± The police held Chen Ge by both hands. ¡°Brother, you have done another great job!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s what I should do. Helping thew enforcement to ensure societal safety is the responsibility of every citizen. Of course, if there¡¯s a reward, it¡¯ll only make it better.¡±

    Chen Ge stood next to Zhen Zhen while the police carried Jia Ming into the police car. The arrest went smoothly, but as the two officers were dragging Jia Ming out the backyard, theic that Chen Ge was holding suddenly started to turn on its own. The blood vessels and curses entangled to form a fast moving shadow, and it moved into Jia Ming¡¯s body. The unconscious Jia Ming opened his eyes. His eyes bloodshot, he screamed, ¡°He wants to kill me! Help me! Help me!¡±

    Then, he crawled into the police car like a madman. This was the first time that the officers had encountered a fugitive that wanted to be captured so badly. Honestly, Chen Ge himself was given quite a shock. He really did not expect a baleful Specter to turn to the police for help. However, Chen Ge quickly snapped out of it. Just as Jiang Long slipped back into Jia Ming¡¯s body, heunched himself at the man, brandishing theic. ¡°Everyone, be careful!¡±

    ¡°Save me! Arrest me and take me to jail! Lock me up, please! Save me from him!¡±

    Chen Ge raised his fist and aimed it right at Jia Ming¡¯s face. He had to shut the man up. Chen Ge knocked Jia Ming into the corner of the alley. In that brief moment, Chen Ge summoned all the Red Specters that he could from theic and stuffed them into Jia Ming¡¯s body.

    ¡°Officers! Save me! Arrest me...¡± Jia Ming¡¯s eyes rolled upward, and he fainted again.

    ¡°Chen Ge, are you alright?¡± The few officers immediately came to help Chen Ge.

    ¡°Just a small bruise, it¡¯s fine.¡± Chen Ge picked up theic that had turned red and slowly got up. ¡°The man faked being unconscious. So cunning.¡±

 Chapter 1028 - Similarities Between the Ghost Fetus and the Black Phone

    <h4>Chapter 1028: Simrities Between the Ghost Fetus and the ck Phone</h4>

    Helping the police detain the criminal twice brushed up Chen Ge¡¯s reputation within the localw enforcement greatly. The arrest of a Grade A fugitive was going to create big news, but due to Jia Ming¡¯s own uniqueness and the fact that the cases that he was involved in were not revealed to the public, Chen Ge¡¯s name only made the rounds among certainw enforcement circles.

    ¡°Officers, the boy¡¯s father has just been killed, and his mother is in ICU. Now is his most vulnerable moment. If possible, I wish to apany him.¡± Chen Ge carried the backpack and hugged the boy¡¯s shoulders as he pulled him to his side.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we will call in the professional to look after him and give him proper counselling.¡±

    ¡°Then, can I visit him sometimes? I know his parents, and we have some catching up to do. May I?¡± Chen Ge looked at the boy with warmth.

    ¡°When you wish to see him, just call Inspector Lee Zheng and ask for a request.¡± The officers did not have the heart to reject Chen Ge.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Chen Ge squatted behind the boy. ¡°My name is Chen Ge. Come find me if you need anything.¡±

    ¡°I remember you... On the bus, you sat behind father...¡± The boy had once entered Li Wan City with Chen Ge on the hearse. He could still remember Chen Ge¡¯s face.

    ¡°That day, I should have brought you all away with me. If I¡¯d done that, you wouldn¡¯t have suffered so much.¡± After giving the boy a light hug, Chen Ge picked up the backpack and left the small alley.

    Seeing him walk away, the two inclothes sighed softly. ¡°Such a kind man.¡±

    Chen Ge did not hear that, of course. After leaving the alley, he did not return to New Century Park but walked into a nearby building. Standing inside the stairwell where the sun could not reach, Chen Ge flipped through theic, and the scent of blood tickled his nose. Soon, the stench and Xu Yin appeared, holding Jiang Long between him.

    ¡°Chen Ge, give me one more chance. I don¡¯t know what came over me earlier. I was just acting on instinct. I couldn¡¯t control myself!¡± Jiang Long was so damaged that his shadow was gotten much lighter. He kept begging for mercy. ¡°I¡¯ll give you important information. Zhen Zhen and I have already found a candidate chosen by the ghost fetus. The boy has a failed sense of smell. His smell was taken by the ghost fetus!¡±

    Chen Ge was expressionless as he looked at Jiang Long. ¡°Bring me to him.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s already dead. It was Bei Ye who killed him.¡± Jiang Long revealed more. ¡°Every candidate chosen by the ghost fetus has a corresponding door, and behind the door hides one of the ghost fetus¡¯ powers. If you can find the item that contains the ghost fetus¡¯ lingering spirit behind the door, you can gain that power.¡±

    ¡°There is such a thing?¡±

    ¡°I got that knowledge from the shadow, but it¡¯s hard to put it into action. Seven days ago, we found that child, and we entered the door when he was sleeping. The item in question was a toy dog.¡± Jiang Long sneaked a look at Chen Ge at this point. ¡°I can take you to see that toy dog and the mud statuette with the boy¡¯s name.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute. At most, you are just a Half Red Specter. How could you manage to kill the Specter left behind by the ghost fetus behind the door on your own?¡± Chen Ge himself had entered the doors of these children. Any of these doors were almost as powerful as a two-star scenario.

    ¡°The more doors you open, the closer the ghost fetuses to waking up, and thus, his presence will get stronger. The door I opened was the first one, so it was also the easiest one.¡± Chen Ge calcted the timeline. Jiang Long was not lying about that. He had entered Jiang Ming and Wu Sheng¡¯s doors. The world behind Wu Sheng¡¯s door was obviously bigger and scarier than Jiang Ming¡¯s door.

    ¡°Take me to that toy dog.¡±

    ¡°Okay, they¡¯re back inside that small yard.¡±

    With Jiang Long leading the way, Chen Ge returned to the small yard. He entered from the backdoor and found a ck leather case under the bed. Opening it, Chen Ge saw a toy dog that had lost most of its fake fur. Chen Ge remembered this toy dog too. When he first moved, he had found this toy on the stairs. At the time, the dog had still been quite new, and it had looked fluffy and cute with its fur. He had no idea who had left it there, but after waiting there for an hour, he had taken the toy home with him.

    ¡°Was this one of the shadow¡¯s toys?¡± Chen Ge reached out to pick up the toy dog. At the same time, the ck phone in his pocket vibrated. Chen Ge pulled the Specters all back into theic and took out the ck phone.

    ¡°Completed 3/9 of the four-star Trial Mission, Ghost Fetus. The ghost fetus¡¯ sense of smell is heavily injured. Red Specters¡¯ Favored, you do not have much time left!¡±

    When he saw the message, Chen Ge sighed in relief. Jiang Long did not lie to him. The toy dog dide out from one of the doors. Unfortunately, it was not Chen Ge who had found the boy but Jiang Long and Bei Ye. With a sigh, Chen Ge ced the mud statuette on his shadow. The bloodied mud statuette had the name Liu Wen on it. When the statuette touched Chen Ge¡¯s shadow, the blood stains disappeared rapidly. This time, Chen Ge stood to the side and observed this quietly. He noticed that his shadow was like a deep pool, and through the surface of the pool, he could catch a blurry glimpse of a woman¡¯s sleeping face.

    ¡°The wounds on Zhang Ya appear to be recovering. Looks like the ck blood on the statuette is of great help to her.¡± With his hand on the shadow, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes narrowed. The woman who appeared to be floating in an endless ocean flickered hershes like she was awakening. When thest drop of blood was sucked away, the mud statuette with Liu Wen¡¯s name shattered.

    ¡°Liu Wen, Wu Sheng, Fang Yu, and the statuette with my name... After Zhang Ya absorbs all the ck blood from these statuettes, perhaps she will wake up.¡±

    Standing in the stairwell, Chen Ge looked at the shattered statuette.

    ¡°To get reborn as a man, the ghost fetus has stolen different powers from nine children, including the sense of smell, hearing, sight, and so on. But... they correspond perfectly with the rewards that the ck phone has been giving me! When I first got the ck phone, the first power I was given was Yin Yang Vision. That is the power of sight. Then I got the talent of Living Doll, a power rted to creation of human body. Then I got Ghost Ear and Spirit Sniff, which correspond to the five senses. They are simr to the various powers that the ghost fetus has taken away from these children!

    ¡°Is the ghost fetus also doing the same mission given by the ck phone, or are they actually two sides of the same coin?¡±

    Chen Ge was overwhelmed by a sudden chill. Perhaps this moment was predestined as soon as he picked up the ck phone.

 Chapter 1029 - Xiao Bu, Iâ€™ve Caught Him for You

    <h4>Chapter 1029: Xiao Bu, I¡¯ve Caught Him for You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge could still remember when he first found the ck phone. In a few months¡¯ time, he and his haunted house had both experienced significant changes, but the phone in his pocket was the same as ever. Chen Ge stared at the screen and asked to no one in particr, ¡°What is the actual truth?¡±

    The phone told him that he was getting closer to the truth, but he had no idea at all what that meant. Even for high-difficulty missions like the ghost fetus and School of the Afterlife, the ck phone had only categorized them as Trial Mission. If these were just trials... Chen Ge stopped himself from going down that path. Now was not the time to worry about that.

    ¡°I have lost some of my earlier memories, but my shadow hasn¡¯t. In a way, he is the most reliable witness. Perhaps this Ghost Fetus trial mission is supposed to be a turning point. If I canmunicate with the ghost fetus and get to know everything from him, I might know what I have been through and what happened to my parents.¡±

    Everything could be answered in that moment, but he first needed to capture the ghost fetus and make him speak.

    ¡°A hide and seek of life and death, a game between me and my shadow. Perhaps this was a game from way back when.¡± Chen Ge ced the toy dog into his backpack, beside the wooden toys. Ten minutester, Chen Ge returned to the haunted house. He was about to enter the underground scenario when he saw a smiling Ol¡¯ Zhou hugging Wu Jinpeng by his shoulders, and beside them were two fainted medical students.

    ¡°What are you guys talking about? You look so happy.¡±

    ¡°Boss, is this our new employee? He¡¯s exceptionally gifted!¡± Ol¡¯ Zhaoughed happily. It seemed like he had befriended Wu Jinpeng when Chen Ge was away.

    ¡°Exceptionally gifted?¡± Chen Ge turned to Wu Jinpeng with curiosity, his mind wondering if the man had stumbled upon some kind of special power during a moment of crisis.

    ¡°Stop making fun of me,¡± Wu Jinpeng said sadly. ¡°I also don¡¯t know why these two children were so scared of me. I just wanted to help them, but I identally ushered them into the trap of the old employees.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so humble. To be able to scare the visitors so well until they fainted on their first day means that you have a talent at this.¡± Chen Ge patted Wu Jinpeng on his shoulder. ¡°Keep up the good work. If you have any question, just ask Ol¡¯ Zhou.¡±

    Seeing how well Wu Jinpeng had managed to mix into his new family, Chen Ge was relieved.

    <i>When they get to know each other better, Wu Jinpeng will not be that surprised when he finds out Ol¡¯ Zhou and the rest¡¯s real identity.</i>

    Opening the door that led underground, Chen Ge hurried to the underground morgue to find Zhang Yi and Doctor Wei. ¡°Did Zhang Yi¡¯s power work? Have the three visitors woken up?¡±

    ¡°I can only temporarily suppress part of their memory. In the future, they might jump up from their sleep, and some fragments of memory mighte back to them.¡± Zhang Yi still looked very weak, like he was going to die soon.

    ¡°That¡¯s more than enough. You have an amazing power.¡± Chen Ge took out the high heels. ¡°You need to recover as fast as you can. Your power wille in useful.¡±

    After moving the three visitors and two medical students out from the haunted house, Chen Ge returned to the staff breakroom. He pulled the curtains shut, locked the door, and summoned Jiang Long and the Stench. He used a whole afternoon to question Jiang Long and got all the information he needed.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I have told you everything I know. Now I just ask for... a swift ending.¡± Jiang Long, who was practically translucent,y on the ground. He was too weak to lift his head.

    ¡°The shadow used you, but after he left you, you could have made many other choices, but you chose to be the second shadow.¡± The setting sun gilded the room. He turned theic to thest few pages. ¡°You reap what you sow, and it is time for you to face the music.¡±

    His finger touching the page, all the objects in the room moved. Numerous blood vessels spread to cover the entire room. Among the bloody flower, a girl materialized beside Chen Ge. She was very young and looked weak, just like a doll that would be yed with by others.

    ¡°Xiao Bu, I¡¯ve helped you capture the man who turned your mother into a doll.¡± When he first yed Xiao Bu¡¯s game, that scene had left a huge impact on Chen Ge. He had controlled Xiao Bu and returned to his own home but found her stepfather being made into a doll. At the time, he had thought that was the game¡¯s style; he did not think much of it. But perhaps it was a subconscious revenge by Xiao Bu. After all, it was her own mother that had been made into a ¡®doll¡¯ in real life.

    Xiao Bu, who had such a nice personality, grabbed Jiang Long by his head. The blood vessels crawled all over his body, and throughout the whole process, the man did not stop screaming. Half an hourter, Xiao Bu picked up Jiang Long, who had been sewn into a doll by the blood vessels. She stood in the middle of room as if at a loss.

    1Standing up, Chen Ge walked to her side and gave her a light hug. As the sun set, Xiao Bu returned to theic. Chen Ge looked at the room that appeared it had been visited by a tornado. ¡°I almost forgot. The child is as strong as a Top Red Specter behind her door. After all, she is the door pusher of a 3.5-star scenario.¡±

    After cleaning up the room, it was time to call it a day. Chen Ge called the other living employees and held a simple weing ceremony for Wu Jinpeng. Seeing how friendly and close the employees were, Wu Jinpeng felt at ease. After everyone left, Chen Ge took out a long document. This was the result of his interrogation of Jiang Long.

    Jiang Long and Zhen Zhen had triangted two candidates chosen by the ghost fetus. One of them had lost the sense of smell and had been killed; the other seemed to have a heart problem. They had confirmed the child¡¯s address but were pursued by the police before they could do anything.

    ¡°I have five nights left. That should be enough time.¡±

    ¡°Tonight, I should go take a look behind Fang Yu¡¯s door and then hurry to the coffin vige. Reincarnation is what the Well Lady is obsessed with. Perhaps she can give me some crucial information.¡± Thedy in the well had been around for a long time, and she had entered the blood fog many times. Chen Ge believed that she had more to tell him, so he wished for a chat.

    Carrying his backpack, Chen Ge went to the underground scenario to fetch Zhang Yi and the red high heels before leaving the haunted house.

    He found the address for the child with the heart problem, but the home was deserted. He waited at the door for a long time, but no one appeared. However, he did see a familiar face at the corner of the street. The lips were cracked, the face forever stered with a smile. The ¡®non-smiler¡¯ in a hat appeared around the child¡¯s home, but he left in a hurry after he noticed Chen Ge. The two did not get into an altercation.

 Chapter 1030 - Gray and White Memory World

    <h4>Chapter 1030: Gray and White Memory World</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°The non-smilers have targeted these children, too. I have to work faster.¡± Chen Ge did not have to fight with the cursed hospital yet. What he wished for the most was for the ghost fetus to fight the cursed hospital so that he could reap the benefit in the middle, but the chances of that happening were very low.

    ncing at the phone for the time, Chen Ge did not wait too long at the child¡¯s home. He took a cab and went to Fang Yu¡¯s favorite park. The road was sealed, and the park was cordoned off by blue construction boards. From more than ten meters away, Chen Ge saw Fang Yu, who stand alone outside the park. ¡°She hase here again.¡±

    After paying the fare, Chen Ge walked toward Fang Yu. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Fang Yu turned nkly around. The gaze that fell on Chen Ge was somewhat surprised, like the owner had some impression of this face. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but do you know...¡±

    ¡°Yes, I do know Fang Yu. I am his best friend. Tonight, I shall take you to meet him.¡± Chen Ge answered so fast that it startled Fang Yu. The girl might not have a good memory, but she was not dumb. She was a little suspicious of Chen Ge.

    ¡°Looks like you have forgotten me again.¡± He exined for a long time, but Fang Yu still did not trust Chen Ge. She gripped her fists and turned to run back to her home. Chen Ge was quite helpless, so he chased after her. He could see things from her perspective. For a person with memory loss, the world was strange and filled with uncertainty. When they reached Fang Yu¡¯s residential area, the auntie who Chen Ge had met before saw him. She saw Chen Ge, who was following Fang Yu, and she walked over with a kind smile.

    ¡°Have youe to see Fang Yu again?¡± The way the aunty looked at Chen Ge was strange, like a mother assessing the boy her daughter had brought home.

    ¡°Auntie, I might disturb you again tonight.¡± Chen Ge carried the backpack and walked toward Fang Yu. ¡°Through some investigation, I found a way that could evoke Fang Yu¡¯s memory, and I want to test it out tonight.¡±

    ¡°What way is that?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you just yet, but I guarantee it will work.¡±

    ¡°Then that¡¯s perfect. Come on, why are we standing here in the cold?¡± The auntie invited Chen Ge and Fang Yu into her home. Once indoors, Fang Yu hid inside her room. ¡°Sigh, this girl. I¡¯m afraid she will one day forget about herself.¡±

    ¡°She won¡¯t.¡± Chen Ge was curious about Fang Yu¡¯s illness. He wanted to know what Fang Yu¡¯s world behind the door looked like. ¡°Auntie, actually, I am a clinical therapist, and I will need your help with today¡¯s session.¡±

    ¡°Just tell me anything you need.¡±

    ¡°Give me Fang Yu¡¯s bedroom key, and the treatment will start at midnight.¡±

    The auntie hesitated before she agreed. At midnight, all the lights were off. Chen Ge sneaked into Fang Yu¡¯s bedroom, and he saw the blood door beside Fang Yu¡¯s bed. Compared to Wu Sheng¡¯s door, Fang Yu¡¯s door was almost covered in red. It looked almost no different from a real blood door. Fang Yu was a light sleeper. After Chen Ge locked the door, he did not stop and headed straight for the blood door. When his hand closed over the doorknob, something unexpected happened.

    The backpack started to leak blood, and he heard pages turning. To not wake up Fang Yu, Chen Ge did not hesitate and pushed the door open.

    ...

    When he opened his eyes, Chen Ge felt a great pain from his brain, as if a pair of hands had reached into his brain to pull a chunk of it out. He grabbed his head and slowly squatted on the ground. He took a few minutes¡¯ rest before he stood up again.

    ¡°Wait... is this the front door of Jiujiang¡¯s Children¡¯s Home?¡± Fang Yu¡¯s world was different from all the worlds that Chen Ge had encountered before. It was monochromatic, only gray and white. There was no ckness or redness; it was like a still of a grayscale picture. Standing on the spot, Chen Ge opened the backpack and was surprised to find Zhang Ya¡¯s bedtime story sitting atop everything else.

    ¡°I remember slipping this into the sidepartment.¡± Chen Ge flipped through the book, and it only got more surprising. The blood characters on the book had disappeared. ¡°How did this happen?¡±

    Chen Ge checked everything else. It was all fine. Only Zhang Ya¡¯s bedtime story was affected. ¡°Is it because she is a Demon God? Has it caused the ghost fetus to be worried?¡±

    Shaking his head, Chen Ge had no ide. He tried tomunicate with Xu Yin and the other ghosts, and it was a long time before he got a reaction. This world behind the door was very stable, so that meant the limitation on Xu Yin and the rest was heavy. It would be hard for them to break through.

    ¡°This is only the third door that I¡¯ve entered, and the situation is already so bad. Just how scary is the door where the real ghost fetus is hiding?¡±

    Walking in the gray and white door, Chen Ge slowly noticed the difference of this world. The other worlds wereden with the lingering spirit and obsession of the door pusher, but this world was different. Everything in sight was faded, like a painting that was being brushed away. Everything was turning strange and blurry. The pedestrians on the street hurried away. They had no faces, and they wore the same outfit.

    ¡°Memory is the core of one¡¯s existence. Without memories, the world will turn into something like this, huh? Pale, blurry, and dulling one¡¯s sense in uncertainty and anxiety.¡±

    There was another strange thing about this world. At the end of the alley, on the door of the convenient store, on the wall, there were ced many mirrors. Chen Ge knew mirrors represented a unique meaning behind the door. He stood before one to study it, and he saw the color on his body slowly fading as well. Chen Ge in the mirror was slowly being assimted into this world.

    ¡°The colors might be my memory. When I be gray and white, perhaps I will forget even myself. Looks like I can¡¯t stay here for too long.¡± Xu Yin and the rest¡¯s help was temporarily unavable to him, but Chen Ge knew Fang Yu¡¯s story. He knew where to find her. ¡°The monsters behind the door are projections of people and incidents in real life. Fang Yu has a horrible memory. All the people here have no faces. She has forgotten herself, so naturally, she won¡¯t remember those horrible things.¡±

    Without memories, there was no joy, and of course, there was no sadness. How could one be despaired when one was not given hope in the first ce?

    In a way, it was lucky. No one stopped Chen Ge because no one was interested in him. To them, Chen Ge was just a passing pedestrian, and they would forget about him after they turned the corner. That worked for Chen Ge. As time passed, perhaps after he made that one step, Chen Ge would forget what he was doing, where he was doing, and who he was.

    He was thankful that he already knew of Fang Yu¡¯s past before he entered this world. Without wasting time, he started to search for the ce where Fang Yu most likely would be¡ªthe small house inside the forest by the dam.

 Chapter 1031 - First Time Conversing With It

    <h4>Chapter 1031: First Time Conversing With It</h4>

    The fading world had its color seeping out. Chen Ge could see his hands turning gray. He noticed that this door was moreplicated than he had expected. ¡°My brain is getting duller by the minute. This can¡¯t go on any longer.¡±

    Fang Yu¡¯s world was much bigger than Wu Sheng¡¯s world. Other than the orphanage, most of the other buildings looked the same, so it was easy to get lost in the city. Chen Ge looked for a long time before he found a way to exit the city. It was a small path hidden among a gray forest. There was no smell of flowers, no chirping of birds¡ªeverywhere he looked, there was gray foliage and white trunks. His limbs were turning white. Chen Ge could sense his movement slowing down. He had no idea why that was happening.

    ¡°No matter what, I need to find Fang Yu soon!¡±

    The forest went deeper than he thought. The road was winding, and it appeared to go on endlessly. Chen Ge trekked forward because he had no other choice. The longer he stayed in Fang Yu¡¯s world, the more he would forget. Therefore, he could not repeat what he had done in Wu Sheng¡¯s world; he could not wait at a stop for Xu Yin and the rest toe before he made his move. Every second was precious, just like Fang Yu¡¯s life. From the moment she opened her eyes in the morning and wrote down her memory, her life entered a countdown. She had to find the people in her memory before midnight because she knew that once shey down, it would be a clean te the next morning.

    After a very long walk, until Chen Ge became numb to the surroundings, the scenery suddenly opened up. There was a wooden house at the end of the road. It was surrounded by fresh flowers and littered with toys. Pushing open the door, Chen Ge¡¯s hands that grabbed the backpack tightened. He saw a little girl sitting in the middle of the house. She wore pure white clothes and had long gray hair. She was carrying a small fishbowl, in which a blood red goldfish was swimming. The fish moved agitatedly, but the fish bowl was only so big.

    ¡°Fang Yu?¡± Hearing him, the girl in the white dress turned to look at Chen Ge. She looked just like Fang Yu, but her eyes were like lifeless as if she was a puppet.

    ¡°I finally found you. It¡¯s time to go home.¡± The girl¡¯s body shivered. Her lips moved, but she made no sound. It appeared like she was repeating the term ¡®home¡¯ soundlessly. Chen Ge looked at the girl before his eyes wandered to the fishbowl. The only thing that had color in this world was that goldfish. Entering the room, Chen Ge pulled up the girl from the floor. The girl did not resist, like a shell that had no self.

    ¡°There are many people missing you back at home. They have not forgotten you.¡± The girl hugged the fishbowl while Chen Ge put his hands around her as they walked out from the wooden house. Once they stepped out, the goldfish became more agitated like it was trying to jump out from its small enclosure.

    ¡°Why are you hugging that fishbowl? Is the goldfish that important to you?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± A simple word, but that was the first voice that Chen Ge had heard in the world behind Fang Yu¡¯s door. Realizing that he couldmunicate with her, Chen Ge smiled. ¡°You must be lonely, staying here alone, right? Do you remember a boy who always stay by your side, a boy who is a chatterbox?¡±

    The girl shook her head, but her eyes stayed glued to the goldfish. It was hard to tell what she was thinking.

    ¡°He helped you at the most dangerous moment. For you, he gave his life.¡± Chen Ge carried the girl, but he was also studying the goldfish. ¡°Do you know what it means by the end of one¡¯s life?¡±

    The girl did not answer.

    ¡°The opposite of life is death. After we die, we cannot hear his voice, see his face, or touch his palms anymore.¡± Chen Ge was not just chatting with the girl. He was testing her out. Fang Yu only had one day of memory, but that did not mean that she had forgotten everything. There was one person that she had not forgotten, and that was Zhang Yi. Chen Ge knew what Zhang Yi represented for Fang Yu. Before entering this world, he predicted that Zhang Yi would be the only light in Fang Yu¡¯s world. But after meeting Fang Yu, Chen Ge realized that things were not that simple. The only color and light in this gray and white world was a goldfish, a blood red goldfish.

    ¡°In this world, has anyone spoken to you, other than myself?¡± Chen Ge carried the backpack and walked next to the girl. They walked side by side, but neither of them was looking at each other. Their eyes were focused elsewhere.

    After a long time, the girl replied, ¡°No.¡±

    There was no expression on her face, and her gray eyes carried no hope. There was no despair, either, only a still silence.

    ¡°Then, am I your only friend?¡± Chen Ge spoke very slowly like he needed to think for a long time before he could construct the sentence in his mind.

    ¡°Friend?¡± The girl stopped moving. Her gray eyes looked at Chen Ge, thetter reflecting in her eyes. For some reason, the world in her eyes appeared to be more barren. ¡°You, no.¡±

    ¡°Fine, perhaps I got the wrong person.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s handnded on the girl¡¯s shoulder lightly. ¡°I used to have a friend like you. He is very lonely and always alone. I forgot how we met, but I knew we were always seen together.¡±

    Pa!

    The clear fishbowl started to crack, but the girl continued to walk slowly ahead like nothing had happened.

    ¡°Why would such good friends end up like strangers?¡± Chen Ge looked at the winding road as he summoned Xu Yin¡¯s name in his heart. The employees were trying hard to break through. They were trying to cooperate to break down this world.

    ¡°I have forgotten many things, all the pain, despair, and experiences that I have enjoyed with my friend. When I came to, the friend had already left.¡±

    ¡°What is the name of your friend?¡± The girl¡¯s voice was soft. She kept her head lowered.

    ¡°I can¡¯t remember anymore, but I believe it is Chen Ge.¡± Chen Ge stopped moving. ¡°He wants to have the same name as mine.¡±

    The girl did not stop, and she moved along without waiting for Chen Ge. The cracks on the fishbowl became more obvious. The goldfish swam about in anxiety, and the clear water became muddled.

    ¡°I also know someone with that name.¡± The girl¡¯s voice was slightly different from before. ¡°He has no friends. No one is willing to be his friend, including me.¡±

    ¡°Is the child that repellent?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s the opposite. He is a very good kid.¡± The girl kept her head lowered. The voice did not seem toe from her lips but somewhere else inside this world.

    ¡°Why would such a good kid have trouble making friends?¡± Chen Ge spoke slower and slower. Half of his body was now gray.

    ¡°Because he carries a deep secret.¡± The girl slowly lifted her head that had gotten blurry. ¡°He is a child that refuses to die. No matter how you kill him, he will always return. Would you befriend someone like that?¡±

 Chapter 1032 - Shadow Playing Alone

    <h4>Chapter 1032: Shadow ying Alone</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°A child that you can¡¯t kill no matter what?¡± Chen Ge lifted his head, and his gaze passed through the gray foliage to look at the pale sky. Even if he was willing to be that kid¡¯s friend, the kid would still have no friends because he was most likely that kid himself.

    ¡°I do not believe there is such a kid in this world. If he really exists, I will be his friend,¡± Chen Ge answered affirmatively. Then he turned to the girl. ¡°By the way, how do you know he is unable to die no matter how he is killed?¡±

    When Chen Ge asked that question, a very long crack appeared on the clear fishbowl, and the water inside started to leak out. It was worth noting that the clear water inside the fishbowl turned a murky gray color once it leaked out from the crack. The water level lowered, and the blood red goldfish struggled harder. Wounds started to appear on its body, dying the water in the bowl red.

    ¡°I have tried to kill him before.¡± The girl¡¯s voice hadpletely changed. ¡°I wanted to be him, but once I woke up from my dream, he once again returned.¡±

    ¡°Then, do you know how he managed to do that?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s heart was racing, but his mind was getting blurry like he was forgetting something very important. However, the most dangerous thing was, he had no idea what he had forgotten.

    ¡°Yes...¡± The girl turned her head to look at Chen Ge.

    By then, her face hadpletely faded away, and a new face wasing to rece it. ¡°How did he manage to do that?¡±

    The icy light fell on them. The two stood at the exit of the woods. The buildings around them were bleeding. On the left side where the girl was standing, the buildings were crawling with ck threads that spoke of bad news, while on the right side where Chen Ge was standing, the buildings were dyed red as they crumbled. Fang Yu¡¯s world was almost simr to a world behind a real door, but it still could not resist the destruction from more than ten Red Specters.

    After he entered the door, Chen Ge had noticed how different this world was, so he ordered his employees to make their move as swiftly as they could. He knew about Fang Yu¡¯s past, so he had no reason to take things slow. Reality had proved that he had made a wise decision.

    ¡°You are the lingering object the ghost fetus left behind this door, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    When Chen Ge first spotted Fang Yu, he had been suspicious of that. If Fang Yu behind the door had really given up all hope, like how this girl was reacting, then the Fang Yu outside the door would not have tattooed Zhang Yi¡¯s name all over her body and waited in the park every night. The real Fang Yu had not given up. To test his suspicion further, Chen Ge had kept asking crucial questions, and his conclusion was that the girl before him was not Fang Yu.

    In Fang Yu¡¯s world, other than herself, the only ¡®person¡¯ that could speak and had a memory would be the ghost fetus. The girl probably knew that her disguise had been exposed a long time ago, but she did not care. ¡°How can you be so sure that I am not the ghost fetus himself?¡±

    ¡°Even though this world is far more stable than the other worlds, it is still too fragile for a Demon God. It is simr to how you wouldn¡¯t ce a shark inside a normal fishbowl.¡±

    Before Chen Ge entered Fang Yu¡¯s world, he believed that he would not find the ghost fetus there. Zhang Yi had given him plenty of hints regarding that. Other than that, if he was the ghost fetus, he would find a normal person who did not have obvious deformity to possess.

    The other eight children were all smoke bombs. Even if their worlds behind the door were destroyed, the ghost fetus had only lost part of his power. Only when the time of his birth arrived would the situation change. The girl¡¯s original face had been wiped away, and a baby¡¯s face slowly surfaced. His eyes were closed. His lips, ears, and nose were bleeding, but he did not seem to mind them, as if he could not feel pain.

    This ¡®ghost fetus¡¯ was different from the ¡®ghost fetus¡¯ in the other worlds. He had his own consciousness. After he was discovered, he did not do much. His shirt did not even turn red. He stood quietly next to Chen Ge at the entrance of the woods, looking at the city that was being ravaged by ck and red.

    Slowly, the red overwhelmed the ck. The ck threads that represented the curse were being oppressed. The gray and white world was being cut with bloody wounds like the whole city was bleeding. With ten Red Specters working at their maximum power, they only managed to control the curse hidden behind the door. But seeing this, Chen Ge did not feel any energy to smile at all. Counting the door that Jia Ming and Bei Ye had entered, this was only the fourth door, but it already needed more than ten Red Specters to take it down.

    When he entered the fifth door, he would need the help of all the Red Specters. If this reasoning was correct, he might not be safe with his entourage of Red Specters when he entered the sixth door. The gray and white city was covered in red. Chen Ge did not use any tricks but used the simplest and most direct method, which was brute force. This was the simplest, most effective, and safest method.

    Bloody shadows appeared. The mirrors that littered the streets were shattered, and the city turned red.

    ¡°Just a little more, give me a little more time, and I will be able to keep you here forever.¡± The girl with baby face looked at Chen Ge. ¡°I can¡¯t kill you, but I can make you forget yourself and have them repeat what they did to you again and again.¡±

    Both sides were buying time. Chen Ge was waiting for his Red Specters to break through the limitation this world had on them. The girl though knew some secrets, and she wished to use another method to ¡®kill¡¯ Chen Ge.

    ¡°What they did to me? Who are they?¡± Chen Ge asked.

    ¡°Why do you insist on looking for them? You already have everything I could ever wish for. Why do you want to give that up?¡± The girl¡¯s body was turning blurry, like the color was leaking out from her. She was assimting into this world. ¡°Stay where you are and let me be you. Is that so hard?¡±

    ¡°Looking for them? Are you talking about my parents?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice took on an urgent edge.

    When he heard the word ¡®parents¡¯, the baby¡¯s expression changed. Chen Ge seemed to hit the sore spot. He stopped conversing with Chen Ge. Suddenly, he reached into the fishbowl to grab at the goldfish inside it. ¡°You are very lucky to have entered this most dangerous door before I have fully awakened. But certain things have already been written on the wall. You will never change it no matter how hard you try.¡±

    ¡°Fang Yu!¡± Chen Ge took out the hammer and swung at the girl. The girl¡¯s finger touched the surface of the water, but the goldfish slipped through her fingers. The ss bowl slipped and shattered against the ground. The baby¡¯s face grimaced. Her body was dissolving and spreading like the water from inside the fishbowl.

    ¡°I will wait for you behind the door, Chen Ge.¡±

    The girl¡¯s body and the water seeped into the gray and white world and disappeared. The only thing that left on the ground was a blood red goldfish and a normal looking ss marble. Chen Ge ced the goldfish on arger piece of the broken ss where some muddied water still pooled inside. Then he reached toward the normal looking marble. When his finger touched the marble, a strange memory appeared in his mind.

    At the third floor of the haunted house at midnight, a single bed was ced inside a warm-looking room. There was a handmade bedsidemp sitting on the table. The faded light shone on the bed. The young boy was already asleep when his shadow crawled out from the bed and started to y with the toys in the room.

    The thin shadow sat among the many toys. He yed with himself for a long time until midnight arrived, and he suddenly heard someone calling a name. The shadow turned to look at the sleeping boy, and then he slipped out from the room.

 Chapter 1033 - Bad Kid

    <h4>Chapter 1033: Bad Kid</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The shadow walked out from the room on the third floor. He spotted a ss marble sliding down the steps. He followed it and came to the ground floor. There was no one around. The shadow carried on alone. He saw the marble enter the toilet and stop before the cubicle. The clock for midnight stopped chiming. The shadow moved to the cubicle. He bent down to pick up the marble but noticed that the door of the cubicle was not closed tightly.

    He leaned on the door and looked inside. Everything he saw was red. Holding the marble with both hands, the shadow entered the door. He walked among the redness. Perhaps because of some memory loss, the buildings were blurry. It looked like the mirage of a red city. The shadow lost his way. He wandered aimlessly with the marble until a hand fell on his shoulder. It was a child¡¯s hand, and the fingers were dirtied with ck blood. The shadow was jolted from the shock. He slowly turned around, but the image in Chen Ge¡¯s mind ended then.

    ¡°The door in the haunted house is connected to the red city? Does the door lead to the center of the red city itself?¡± Chen Ge was confused. At least now he could confirm that the shadow had entered the world behind the door, and the corruption had probably started after he entered that door. Based on this memory, at least before he entered the door, the shadow was normal. Even though he would leave his host and go y alone at night, it was within an eptable range. ¡°The shadow ran into a child with bloody hands behind the door. The child is the key to the change in the shadow.¡±

    To turn a normal shadow into a Demon God, just the thought of it was mind-boggling. ¡°Thankfully, I didn¡¯t enter the door when I found out about its problem, or else I¡¯d probably be dead already.¡±

    Fang Yu¡¯s world was copsing. Chen Ge summoned his employees and picked up thergest fishbowl fragment from the ground.

    ¡°Fang Yu?¡± Chen Ge looked at the red goldfish, and he frowned with consternation. This was his first time dealing with something like this. The world behind the door was a reflection of the door pusher¡¯s memory. If the door pusher had forgotten all her memories and even herself, then what kind of form would she take behind the door? Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice, the goldfish wagged its tail anxiously. Its body was covered with wounds.

    ¡°I¡¯ll bring you with me for now. If you are really Fang Yu, it can prove something else. There are not only human-shaped Specters behind the door, there are other things too that once might have been human beings.¡±

    With the aid from the Red Specters, Chen Ge held the broken fishbowl and pushed open the ck iron door.

    ¡°AH!¡± A scream shattered the peace of the night. As Chen Ge opened his eyes, he saw something flying at him, and he quickly moved to the side to avoid it. The tablemp knocked against the wall. The ss cover cracked into pieces. If that thing hadnded on his head, Chen Ge would have been bleeding profusely.

    ¡°Calm down!¡± Chen Ge switched on the light and then opened the bedroom door. The kind auntie had been leaning against the door, eavesdropping. The sudden opening of the door caused her to trip into the bedroom.

    ¡°Both of you please calm down! The treatment is already over! The effect is great!¡± Chen Ge looked at the two confused faces in the room. He walked to Fang Yu¡¯s bedside. ¡°Did you dream about turning into a blood red goldish in a gray and white city? Did you see me there?¡±

    Fang Yu, who finally calmed down, looked Chen Ge up and down. She nodded rather nkly. ¡°I think you appeared in my nightmare.¡±

    ¡°That was the power of hypnosis,¡± Chen Ge said seriously. ¡°This is the solution that I came up with after giving it much thought.¡±

    ¡°Was it useful?¡±

    ¡°We will find out now.¡± Chen Ge turned to Fang Yu. ¡°Do you still remember the name Zhang Yi?¡±

    Fang Yu¡¯s expression slowly froze. She grabbed his head with her hands and started to scream like she was going through serious mental trauma. Chen Ge did not expect this to happen. With the help from the auntie, they tried to console Fang Yu. After half an hour offorting, Fang Yu copsed on the bed and slept from extreme tiredness.

    ¡°She used to suffer from memory loss, but now she haspletely lost her mind.¡± The aunties did not look too happy about this.

    ¡°She has managed to remember some details from the past, but she needs some time to readjust to what she has remembered. She needs to slowly ept her past.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the clock on the wall. It was already 3:30 am. The time he had spent behind Fang Yu¡¯s door was much longer than he had anticipated. It was toote to hurry to the Coffin Vige that night. ¡°Time moves much faster inside the door than it appears, it is hard to tell whether that is a good or bad thing.¡±

    After leaving the auntie¡¯s ce, Chen Ge quickly took out the ck phone. As he expected, there was an unread message.

    ¡°Completed 4/9 of the four-star Trial Mission, Ghost Fetus. The ghost fetus has lost an important part of his memory. Red Specters¡¯ Favored, you do not have much time left!¡±

    ¡°I wonder how important that piece of lost memory is to the ghost fetus. Is it possible for me to make use of this point to create some trouble for him? Like tricking him into entering a door again?¡±

    After reading the message, Chen Ge returned to the haunted house to rest.

    A new day had begun. Chen Ge put on the makeup for his employees and took his backpack to find the child with the heart problem. But the child was still not home, and more bizarrely, the child¡¯s neighbors had all moved away. The whole apartment block was empty. With no other option, Chen Ge called a cab to head toward Huai Ai Hospital in Eastern Jiujiang. This was the clue that he had gotten from the old city, someone who appeared to be the ghost fetus¡¯ ¡®mother¡¯ seemed to be employed there. It was only 9:30 in the morning, but Chen Ge had visited three locations already, moving from Western Jiujiang to Eastern Jiujiang.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but is the Nurse Yu in?¡± Chen Ge stood at the registration counter. This was a private hospital, so there was not that many patients.

    ¡°Please go and swipe your ID at the machine over there to get your number first.¡±

    ¡°I am not here to see the doctor. There is some problem with Nurse Yu¡¯s child, and I wish to have a chat with her.¡±

    ¡°Sister Yu¡¯s child?¡± The nurse on duty studied Chen Ge with half belief. Then she pulled up the phone and made a call. Then a female nurse about forty bustled over.

    ¡°You are Madam Yu Jie, aren¡¯t you?¡± Chen Ge walked over to meet her. He used Yin Yang Vision and did not notice anything too out of ce on Yu Jie.

    ¡°I am so sorry. What trouble has my son gotten into this time?¡± Nurse Yu did not inquire about the reason Chen Ge was there. The first thing that came out of her mouth was an apology as if this was something often that she had to do.

    ¡°Do you mind if we go somewhere more private to talk? This ce is not that suitable.¡± Chen Ge led Nurse Yu out of the private hospital. He did not beat about the bush and came out with the question directly. ¡°Did your son run away from home several years ago? He was living on the second floor of an apartment building in the old city, right?¡±

    ¡°How do you know that? At the time, he was still in school.¡± Nurse Yu was getting more confused by Chen Ge¡¯s presence by the moment.

    ¡°Let me first introduce myself. My name is Chen Ge. I often help the police with their cases. These are all news articles about me on the inte.¡± Chen Ge took out the news articles that he had searched about himself on the inte and showed them to Nurse Yu.

    ¡°An aid to thew enforcement?¡± Nurse Yu¡¯s expression changed immediately. ¡°Then why are you looking for my son?¡±

    ¡°Please calm down first. What I am going to tell you next is very important.¡± Chen Ge paused for a moment. ¡°Your son might be rted to a murder case. He is not the killer, but I need your cooperation.¡±

    ¡°Impossible! My son would not get involved in a murder case! You must be mistaken!¡± Probably due to the shock and indignation, Nurse Yu shouted out her im directly.

    ¡°You can choose to not believe me, or you can call the police. However, I am telling you now, the only person who can help him is me.¡±

 Chapter 1034 - From the Beginning

    <h4>Chapter 1034: From the Beginning</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge was serious. Normally, when a parent heard that their child might be involved in a murder, they would be firm that it would not be the case, but more than that, the main concern on Nurse Yu¡¯s face was worry and fear. In other words, in Nurse Yu¡¯s mind, it was not outside the realm of possibility that her son had done something like that.

    1The first few children that the ghost fetus had chosen were harmless. In fact, they could be seen as kind and friendly. They resisted the ghost fetus, believing in the light in their heart. But not everyone preferred light in this world. Some did not need the seduction from the ghost fetus, and they would be heading toward the abyss. If the ghost fetus had possessed such a person, it would be difficult to deal with. In the previous worlds, Chen Ge found a source of light to aid him, but in these kinds of darker worlds, he would be targeted by everything, and there would be no help for him.

    1¡°I will give you time to think about it. I¡¯ll wait for you outside the hospital.¡± Chen Ge looked into Nurse Yu¡¯s eyes. ¡°Evading the problem is not solving the problem. This is not an official police visit, so don¡¯t feel too much pressure.¡±

    ¡°I still don¡¯t think my son would be involved in any murder cases. There has to be some misunderstanding.¡± Nurse Yu slowly calmly down.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I also don¡¯t think he is the killer. I just have some questions to ask him.¡± Chen Ge tried to get Nurse Yu to rx. ¡°Please bring me to him as early as you can. We don¡¯t have much time left.¡±

    Nurse Yu did not quite believe Chen Ge, but after seeing so many news articles about Chen Ge, her impression of him started to change.

    ¡°I will ask for the rest of the day off. Wait here for a moment.¡± Nurse Yu ran back into the hospital. Ten minutester, she came out in a casual outfit from the side door. ¡°I¡¯ll bring you to meet him, so you can talk to him in person. If you can see him now, you should understand why I am so confident he is not involved in a murder case.¡±

    The two took a cab to a residential area at Eastern Jiujiang. The environment looked quite nice, if a little isted. There was almost no one around, and the parking lot was quite empty.

    ¡°There are many such residences in Eastern Jiujiang. During the economic boom, they built too many apartments, but most of them aren¡¯t even filled these days.¡± Nurse Yu did not feel like chatting. Her voice was tired and weak, her eyes filled with worry. ¡°I live on the twenty-third floor. Sorry, the elevator is a bit slow.¡±

    Ten minutester, Chen Ge arrived at Nurse Yu¡¯s home. When the door opened, a faded stench drifted out. The stench was not that of food going old, trash molding or flesh decaying. It was a very unique smell like a person had started to rot from inside their soul.

    1¡°Sorry, the ce is a bit messy.¡± Nurse Yu stepped into the room. She took the dirty clothes on the sofa into the bathroom before inviting Chen Ge in.

    ¡°Your ce is quite big.¡±

    ¡°It looks big, but theyout is not that normal.¡± Nurse Yu did not even take her shoes off and started to walk toward the room at the back. ¡°Yu Jian? Are you inside?¡±

    While Nurse Yu went to call her son, Chen Ge studied the house. Even though the house was big, it was pitiably sparse. There were two pairs of slippers on the shoe rack, one female, one male. ¡°Only Nurse Yu and her son live here in such a big house? Where¡¯s the father? Earlier, the nurse called her son Yu Jian. She has the same surname as her son. Could it be that the child has no father?¡±

    Nurse Yu knocked for a long time, but there was no response from the son.

    ¡°Is he not home?¡± Chen Ge walked toward Nurse Yu. He saw a tray ced before the room¡¯s door. On it sat a bread and a ss of fresh milk.

    ¡°He didn¡¯t even touch the breakfast, this child...¡± Nurse Yu picked up the tray and headed back to the living room. ¡°Ever since he dropped out of high school in his second year, he has been like this. I have no idea when he wille out of his shell.¡±

    ¡°Refusal tomunicate, hiding within himself, this is not a good sign. When a person is trapped with their own thoughts and no others, they are more prone to doing some extreme actions.¡± Chen Ge sat next to Nurse Yu. ¡°I am not scaring you, but after taking a look around your house, I feel like things are more serious than I expected.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve done everything I can. I did take him to a psychologist before, and he had taken some medication, but it did not seem to help.¡± Nurse Yu sighed helplessly.

    ¡°Can you tell me in detail how things reached this state?¡± Chen Ge knew that only by understanding the backstory could he know what he was dealing with. ¡°If possible, don¡¯t hide anything. I guarantee in the name of the state¡¯s crime unit that I will not leak the information of your family to a second person.¡±

    ¡°Yu Jian was just like a normal child when he was young. He was healthy, cute, and very bright. He was a very fast learner, but from a moment, I realized the kid...¡± Nurse Yu¡¯s face was twisted in concern. ¡°How shall I put this? He doesn¡¯t seem to understand the concept of repaying people¡¯s kindness. For example, the neighbor¡¯s kid would give him a candy, and he would throw it on the ground. The kids were building a sand castle by the beach, and they invited him to join them, but he went over to trample the sand castle.¡±

    ¡°That is more than not understanding how to repay kindness. It¡¯s a show of malice.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that.¡± Nurse Yu shook her head. Like most parents, they did not like others to talk bad of their child. ¡°Yu Jian is a very gentle kid. He just does not know how to express love. Or rather, the way he expresses it is very different from others. I have asked a psychologist about this before. He said that he could not see the concept of love in Yu Jian¡¯s mind. He has a normal temperature, and his heart is pumping warm blood, but his consciousness of self is icy and cold.¡±

    ¡°He iscking the concept of love?¡± Chen Ge was reminded of the words in the rental home at the old city. Love was something that the ghost fetus needed. He believed that one of the main reasons a human being was a human being because they knew how to love and gain love.

    ¡°The doctor said he suffers from a rare illness called Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). Even though it manifests itself as a psychological problem, in reality, it is a biological sickness. My son is not abnormal. It¡¯s just that his brain is sick.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say that your son is abnormal. Other than that, I have to inform you that you¡¯ll not find a better psychologist in Jiujiang other than myself.¡± Chen Ge did not know much about psychology, but he remembered clearly how Doctor Gao acted. The confidence seemed toe from within.

    ¡°You¡¯re a psychologist too?¡±

    ¡°Many adult psychological deficiencies are rted to their childhood growth. In their understanding of the world, there was a small ident.¡± Chen Ge sat up and looked into Nurse Yu¡¯s eyes. ¡°I still say the same thing. Please do not hold back. Only by telling me everything that Yu Jian has encountered can I really help him.¡±

 Chapter 1035 - The Child Chosen by the Ghost Fetus

    <h4>Chapter 1035: The Child Chosen by the Ghost Fetus</h4>

    Nurse Yu gave this serious consideration as she nced at her son¡¯s room before she came clean on the thing that had happened to Yu Jian. ¡°Yu Jian has not met his father. I raised him alone. The child was a very precocious one; he never made me worried. As a nurse, I have a busy work schedule, so I had to leave him alone for most of the time.

    ¡°One day, he started to refuse tomunicate with me. Out of guilt, I bought him many things topensate and encouraged him to go on y dates. The first ident happened when he was seven. I got a call from a neighbor when I was at work. He said that Yu Jian had gotten into a fight with his kid and almost blinded the kid¡¯s eyes. I was so angry when I heard that. I came back and gave Yu Jian a good smacking, but when I was doing that, he was ring at me with this out of body gaze filled with hatred.

    ¡°He was crying but soundlessly. He did not plead but kept on ring at me with that unsettling gaze as if questioning why I was beating him.

    ¡°But that was only the beginning. The kid seems to hatemunicating with others. When he was in the presence of other kids, he would change into another person with the goal of destroying other people¡¯s happiness. It got slightly better after he got to school, but still, no one was willing to be his friend. His personality became more agitated, isted. He would say fewer than five sentences to me a day. After he got into high school, he barely spoke to me. In fact, whenever I appeared in his sight, his gaze would ze over with annoyance.¡±

    At this point, Nurse Yu choked on her words. She felt like she had failed as a mother.

    ¡°Your son is easily-angered and solitary. He also wanted to blind others during a y date. He seemed to be hating everyone around him, including you.¡± Chen Ge frowned. He felt like Yu Jian was so far the person who acted the most simrly to the ghost fetus that he had encountered. They would be maddened by other people¡¯s happiness and indulge in destroying other people¡¯s joy. This was extremely psychotic, but it was not unheard of. For example, if two kids found a beautiful butterfly at the same time, one of them would gasp in its beauty while the other would reach out to tear off its wings.

    Chen Ge had no idea when the ghost fetus encountered Yu Jian. From the d¨¦cor at the ce in the old city, Yu Jian was probably the child who cooperated the most with the ghost fetus, so thetter had probably been hibernating in Yu Jian whilepleting the curse in the old city.

    ¡°After Yu Jian got into high school, that was the darkest moment of my life. He refused to talk to me at all, but he spent his time doing something alone. When I hit him or scolded him, he never retaliated, only staring at me coldly. It was not how one would view one¡¯s family. Perhaps from a certain moment, he had stopped viewing me like that. It was also then that he started to stay outte and eventually ran away from home. For him, I¡¯ve searched Jiujiang who knows how many times already.

    ¡°Perhaps he hated me from his core. No matter how many times I found him, he would still leave me the next day. During that period, he got into a lot of trouble, some incidents even involving the police. After the school day ended, he stoppeding home at all. I knew this couldn¡¯t continue any longer. I contacted a private academy famous for their strict rules and enrolled him in it even though it cost me a lot.

    ¡°In a new environment, Yu Jian¡¯s situation seemed to improve, and that gave me a renewed hope in life. But that onlysted for a few months before the school called me in. The parents of the kids in his ss had petitioned for Yu Jian to be expelled. At the time, I was flustered. I tried to ask why, but Yu Jian refused to say anything.

    ¡°In the end, I found out from the headmaster that the students all said that Yu Jian was mentally unstable. They exaggerated his supposedly insane actions, and of everyone in his vicinity, only his ss teacher was on his side. I burnt through my savings at the time and used a lot of time and money before I finally persuaded the headmaster to allow Yu Jian to stay.

    ¡°But things just did not work out. During the second year, Yu Jian¡¯s ss teacher was fired due to certain reason, and that very same afternoon, Yu Jian left the academy. He came back home, shut himself in his room, and sheltered himself from the world.

    ¡°When I went to school to help him finish the suspension procedure, I found out what had happened. The ss teacher was the only person who treated Yu Jian well, but someone started a nasty rumor that it was because she was seducing him. Then part of the parents started a rumor, and thus, the teacher was forced to find a new job.¡± Nurse Yu looked at the closed bedroom door. After a long silence, she said, ¡°After hearing the real reason, I was not mad. If anything, all I felt was tired. I stopped struggling and surrendered. I admitted that Yu Jian is different from normal kids and stopped forcing him to fit themon mold.¡±

    ¡°Has he stayed at home since he ran away from school?¡± Chen Ge memorized everything that Nurse Yu had said. It might prove useful behind the door.

    ¡°At least every time Ie home, he¡¯s in his room, so I don¡¯t think he would be connected to any murder case.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I believe I have everything I need.¡± Chen Ge stood up to walk toward the room. ¡°Do you have a key? I wish to meet him.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, but I hope you won¡¯t say anything to agitate him.¡± Nurse Yu took out a ring of keys from her handbag. She kept a spare key for Yu Jian¡¯s bedroom on her. The two came to the door, and Nurse Yu opened it. When the door was pushed open a gap, Chen Ge was hit was a stinging smell. He held his hand over his nose out of instinct, but Nurse Yu beside him did not seem to smell anything strange.

    So far, this is the smelliest room that I¡¯ve been in outside of the door.

    Chen Ge used Yin Yang Vision to look into the room. Outside his expectations, there was no pile of garbage or overthrown clothes, only many piles of used manuscripts. The paper covered the floor, the bed, and the table. They were filled with unfinished sentences, and most of them made no sense. Amid the sea of paper stood a barefooted man. He did not wear anything and was as thin as a rail.

    Seeing someonee in, the man did not respond. He raised his two hands, which were just skin and bone, and continued to write on his script.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry.¡± Nurse Yu seemed to be used to this. She picked up the nket and draped it over the man. It was then that the man finally reacted. His muddy eyes moved to the door. He scanned Chen Ge before turning back to his paper.

    ¡°Do not step on his manuscript,¡± Nurse Yu told Chen Ge.

    Then Chen Ge requested, ¡°Do you mind giving us some privacy? I have some questions to ask him.¡±

 Chapter 1036 - A Demon in His Heart

    <h4>Chapter 1036: A Demon in His Heart</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t let you do that. The child is too mentally fragile, any careless words might traumatize him.¡± Nurse Yu rejected him outright. Even in this state, she still loved Yu Jian deeply and tried her best to protect him. Chen Ge¡¯s original n was to summon the Red Specters to conduct a further inspection on Yu Jian after his mother left. But Nurse Yu refused to leave, and Chen Ge did not want to expose Zhang Yi¡¯s power, so he gave up the n. He picked up a random manuscript. The sentences written on it made no sense, and what it all meant was pure guesswork.

    ¡°He gave her a present because of love. Roses are red; blood is red. Roses pricked her neck; blood leaked from her neck.

    ¡°She embraced the children because of love. The embrace was so tight that she refused to let him go. I was once held in such a tight lock that I couldn¡¯t breathe. My fingers went numb like they were encased in cement.

    ¡°Perhaps I have experienced that. No, I must have.¡±

    The content on each page was different. Chen Ge read a few of them and realized that they were made up from pieces of different stories, cataloguing a child¡¯s growth process. Of course, this was how Chen Ge saw it. To borrow the words from one of the scripts, it was a seed nted on a grave. The roots stuck into the bones and blossomed in flowers. The man used such words to describe himself. He no longer saw himself as human. He was trapped in his own world, a world that was a different version of the world that he inhabited.

    No matter what Chen Ge said, the man had no intention of answering. He just kept on writing. With each pen stroke, he seemed to dwindle before their eyes. The room was very quiet. Chen Ge had given up on conversation. He picked up the manuscripts to read. His eyes glowed with interest like he was the man¡¯s biggest fan. One was writing, and the other was reading¡ªNurse Yu was left out.

    ¡°I think I get it now.¡± Chen Ge tidied up the manuscript that he had read. ¡°It¡¯s a good story, but it¡¯s sad that the protagonist is a living person, and the plot is inspired by real life.¡±

    Laying the thick manuscript on the table, Chen Ge flipped through theic in his backpack and then left the bedroom with Nurse Yu. When he closed the door, he dropped his backpack at the door and returned to the living room with Nurse Yu barehanded.

    ¡°You saw the condition of my son. He has not left this ce for a long time, so he wouldn¡¯t be involved in any murder case. If you insist on making that im, I¡¯ll have to call the police.¡±

    ¡°Before going to primary school, Yu Jian was aplete terror among his peers. He hated seeing other people happy, and he did not know how to respond to other people¡¯s kindness. The biggest change happened during his second year in the academy. After he was suspended, he closed himself up and stopped going out. He did not want to harm others anymore. As his mother, have you ever wondered why?¡± Chen Ge sat before Nurse Yu. His eyes staring at the cloudy tea on the table.

    ¡°He was trying his best to change, to be a good kid, but no one gave him a chance. Everyone was bullying him, and eventually, his mind snapped.¡± Nurse Yu¡¯s exnation was clearly biased in favor of her son.

    ¡°A person with a demon living inside him will not crumble so easily from bullying. Something really special must have happened to him to give him a renewed appreciation of this world.¡± Chen Ge leaned against the couch. ¡°Yu Jian¡¯s ss teacher was the only person who cared about him. Have you tried tomunicate with her since what happened to Yu Jian?¡±

    ¡°The teacher left Jiujiang after that. I have no idea where she¡¯s gone.¡±

    ¡°You had time to find a psychologist but couldn¡¯t spare a moment to talk to that teacher,¡± Chen Ge said usingly, but Nurse Yu reacted strangely like she refused to talk about that teacher.

    ¡°The truth is before your eyes. You can¡¯t evade it forever. The deeper you try to hide it, the scarier the wound will be when it is exposed.¡± Chen Ge stood up. ¡°This is my phone number. I¡¯lle back tonight. I hope by then you will have changed your mind. If Yu Jian continues to be like this, his whole life will be ruined.¡±

    Walking to the bedroom, Chen Ge picked up his backpack. He stood at the door for some time, but he left without saying a word. Leaving the area, Chen Ge found a spot shielded from the sunlight and summoned Men Nan. ¡°So, what did you find?¡±

    ¡°A lot of curses have been left on that guy! The reason he became like this is because he has been through too many curses.¡± Men Nan¡¯s first words gave Chen Ge a surprise.

    ¡°Does that mean the ghost fetus once possessed his body?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Ask Zhang Yi. What are the chances that the ghost fetus is still hiding in Yu Jian?¡± Chen Ge was excited. Yu Jian was just like the ghost fetus, so he was the ghost fetus¡¯ best chance.

    ¡°He said that it¡¯s impossible to tell, but something happened that broke the bond between Yu Jian and the ghost fetus, so Yu Jian locked himself away from the world.¡± Men Nan ryed the information from Zhang Yi. ¡°He was trying to resist the curse the ghost fetus left in him.¡±

    ¡°Yu Jian¡¯s change was due to his encounter with his ss teacher. That teacher will know what happened to him, but unfortunately, I don¡¯t have the time to leave the city to find her.¡±

    After leaving Yu Jian, Chen Ge went to the police station. With Lee Zheng¡¯s help, he met up with Zhen Zhen. The boy had recovered nicely. There was still no concept of death in his mind. He just thought that his mother was asleep and often asked the officers when his mother would wake up. The boy was very cute, and everyone at the station loved him. When they tried to get information from him, they would bring him snacks and candy.

    1Based on Zhen Zhen¡¯s appearance, one would not tie him to the ghost fetus. Jiang Long, Bei Ye, Zhen Chun, and the mentally ill mother were unconscious. Other than the ghost fetus, only Chen Ge knew about Zhen Zhen¡¯s past. But Chen Ge did not n to share that secret with others yet. He also hoped that the child would grow up without any childhood trauma.

    After asking Zhen Zhen some questions, Chen Ge asked the police to help investigate the child with the heart problem and badmouthed the ¡®non-smilers¡¯ before the police so that they would pay attention to this bunch of monsters who kept up a smile at all times.

    The police helped Chen Ge save a lot of time, so he could focus on his investigation into Yu Jian. After visiting the school and interviewing some of the students there, Chen Ge realized that the problem was much serious than painted by his mother. The police had records on Yu Jian. Before he went to the high school, the man had been a total madman with extremely high intelligence, which was a dangerous mix.

    After finishing his preparation, Chen Ge visited Yu Jian again that night.

 Chapter 1037 - The New Teacher

    <h4>Chapter 1037: The New Teacher</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The visit to Yu Jian¡¯s home was no different from how it went in the morning. The room reeked of a smell that was only recognizable to Chen Ge, and cold food was left on the table. To further convince Nurse Yu, Chen Ge brought with him some documents, including Yu Jian¡¯s case files from the police station. ¡°Tomorrow, the police wille, but tonight, I wish to conduct some simple treatment with Yu Jian. You can stand outside the door to observe, but please don¡¯t interrupt.¡±

    Chen Ge had only four nights left. He had to deal with Yu Jian that night.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Nurse Yu nodded with worry in her eyes. ¡°Will the policee to take Yu Jian away tomorrow? He is too fragile. I¡¯m afraid he won¡¯t survive a trip to the station.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the police will not mistreat him.¡± Chen Ge nced toward the bedroom. The food on the tray was still untouched. It meant that Yu Jian had not left his room. ¡°The treatment will start at midnight after he goes to sleep.¡±

    ¡°Why must it start sote?¡± Nurse Yu had met Chen Ge less than twenty-four hours ago. Even though she did not think that Chen Ge would scam her, asking her to ce herplete trust in a stranger was asking for too much.

    ¡°Because the treatment can only be done after he is asleep.¡± To ensure that Yu Jian would sleep soundly, Chen Ge had even prepared a bottle of sleeping pills. They chatted until 11:30 pm. Chen Ge got the key from Nurse Yu and stopped when he was at the door.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going in?¡±

    ¡°Please stay quiet.¡± Chen Ge silently summoned Men Nan and had him check the room first. After getting the green light from Men Nan, he sighed. Yu Jian was asleep. Now, they only needed to wait for midnight. Yu Jian was mostpatible with the ghost fetus personality-wise and was so far the only child who had voluntarily interacted with the ghost fetus. Thus, he should be the best candidate. However, the one thing that troubled Chen Ge was their falling out.

    Fang Yu had lost her memory. The other children lost their sense of smell, hearing, or sight. The deficiencies that they had were observable, but Yu Jian was different. The boy did not seem to becking in anything. What had been taken from him by the ghost fetus should be something very important to a human being. It could be an emotion like humanity or love.

    At midnight, Chen Ge opened the bedroom door and saw Yu Jian leaning against the wall with the covers wrapped around him. His head was lowered, and a blood red door stood next to his bed. The door waspletely dominated by blood vessels. They pulsed violently on the door like they were alive. The door looked much scarier than an actual door.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Nurse Yu let slip a gasp. Even though it was not loud, it still disturbed Yu Jian. Chen Ge did not hesitate; he knew that the door would disappear if Yu Jian woke up so he rushed toward it. Carrying the backpack, he pushed open the door with the aid from the Red Specters. The thickyer of blood enveloped him like he was stepping into a blood pool. Chen Ge was deprived of his breath, and he struggled with both hands as he started to fall.

    His eyes failed to see, and the sound of a book flipping echoed in his ears. It felt like many creatures were crawling all over him. He could not see what they were. They appeared to be congealed blood droplets, and they were congregating behind him.

    ¡°Why did youe to find me?¡± A strange voice rang beside his ear. Chen Ge felt a pair of hands on his shoulders. The falling sensation was slowly disappearing, and he flipped open his eyes.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± he shouted. The surroundings were quiet, and the atmosphere was strange. His eyes slowly focused. He looked around and realized that he was standing inside a school¡¯s equipment room. Behind him was a pure ck iron door, and there were many students giving him a strange look.

    ¡°Another school?¡± Chen Ge frowned. He reached into his backpack and looked at the students alertly. If anyone darede for him, they would be rewarded with a hammer to the head.

    ¡°Chen Ge, what are you doing?¡± There was a fatty with a round face in the corridor carrying a stack of exercise books. He looked at Chen Ge with a sigh. ¡°People are normallyte by a few minutes, but you missed an entire ss. That¡¯s quite an achievement.¡±

    ¡°You know my name?¡± Chen Ge slowly realized that something was wrong. He was familiar with his surroundings. This was where he had gone to school, and the fatty was their monitor for math ss. ¡°Yu Jian might have gone to the same school as me, but how could he have the same ssmates? Or is this not Yu Jian¡¯s memory but my own?¡±

    Of the passing students, the majority of them were unrecognizable. This was tooplicated for Chen Ge to act rashly. He stood where he was and tried to call after the Red Specters. The only soft reply came from Xu Yin. For some reason, this door was much more stable than an actual door. It was resistant to the interruption of other Red Specters. They were unable toe out from their items of possession, not even to make simplemunication.

    ¡°This is a big issue.¡±

    Yu Jian¡¯s world behind the door was too stable. In fact, it was the perfect bed for a sleeping Demon God.

    ¡°I can¡¯t be so lucky, right? There are only nine doors, and I already found the ghost fetus by door number five?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s emotions then were hard to describe. He was both happy and worried. ¡°If I¡¯d known this sooner, I would have gone to convince the tunneldy¡¯s son and the woman from the well in Coffin Vige first.¡±

    The school bell rang, and the students slowly returned to their ssrooms. Only Chen Ge stood where he was.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to ss? I hear we are going to get a new teacher. Are you going to give her trouble on her first day?¡± The round-faced kid was a chatterbox, but he was a kind person at heart. In Chen Ge¡¯s mind, even though he was not a close friend of the kid, they had copied homework off each other before.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be going now.¡± Chen Ge did not dare stand out before he found out what was happening. He carried his backpack and ran to the ssroom. Stepping into the familiar scenario, Chen Ge¡¯s memory was evoked again. ¡°This was my ssroom in the first year of high school.¡±

    Sitting at his seat, Chen Ge looked out the window. The sky was covered with rain clouds, blocking out the sun. The school was not big, and it was surrounded by blocks of old buildings. ¡°Wait, we¡¯re in Li Wan City?¡±

    His eyes kept looking out the window. Chen Ge realized the scale of this scenario, and the key problem was that all the buildings appeared to havee directly from his own memory.

    ¡°Why would something like this happen? Shouldn¡¯t the door reflect the experience of the door pusher? Is this a trap set by the ghost fetus?¡± Chen Ge gripped his hands, and his brain was churning in overdrive,ing up with all kinds of possibilities.

    ¡°Teacher Lee is on maternity leave. This will be your new English teacher. Please give her a warm wee.¡± A middle-aged man¡¯s voice came from the front door of the ssroom. It was followed by footsteps as a young woman wearing a ck pantsuit moved to the podium. Her ck hair reached her shoulders. She wore very light make up, and she was dressed casually. When she smiled, her face lit up with kindness and friendliness like a caressing wind in the summer.

    ¡°Good morning students. I am your new English teacher. My name is Zhang Ya...¡±

    4Chen Ge could not remember what the female teacher said next because his mind was blown to smithereens when he heard Zhang Ya¡¯s name.

    He slowly raised his head to look at the podium. Without realizing it, Chen Ge had jumped up from his seat.

 Chapter 1038 - You Really Treat Me Like a Child

    <h4>Chapter 1038: You Really Treat Me Like a Child</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Hey, student! You, why you are standing up? Sit down!¡± The middle-aged man red at Chen Ge, but theter did not respond. He coughed twice before he caught Chen Ge¡¯s attention, and Chen Ge quickly returned to his seat.

    ¡°Bro, what was that?¡± the round-faced kid whispered to Chen Ge, but he did not reply as he kept his eyes glued to Zhang Ya on the podium.

    <i>Western Jiujiang Private Academy was closed down six years ago. Zhang Ya died one year before that. If the timeline is correct and if that tragedy didn¡¯t happen, she would look like this at twenty-five.</i>

    Being stared at by Chen Ge, the female teacher smiled at him before turning to other students. Taking a deep breath, Chen Ge forced himself to calm down. He hid the backpack under the table and opened it to inspect the item inside. Nothing had changed, but Zhang Ya¡¯s bedtime story had once again ¡®run¡¯ out from thepartment and ced itself atop everything else.

    The middle-aged man left, and Zhang Ya started her first lesson. Chen Ge, who sat by the window, was reading Zhang Ya¡¯s bedtime story. The blood red book was filled with empty pages. All the gory stories had disappeared as if they had never been there in the first ce.

    <i>After entering Fang Yu¡¯s world, the words seemed to have disappeared as well. What is the actual use of this book? Why do the words disappear every time I enter the world behind the door? Where have they gone? When I first pushed the door open, it felt like I was dropped inside a sea of blood. I might have died from asphyxiation if not for a pair of hands that gripped me. I remembered hearing a strange man¡¯s voice, asking me why I came to find him. Could that man be Yu Jian?</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s mind was a muddied mess. He copsed on the table, leaning against the book that even Red Specters were afraid of.

    <i>I need to arrange my thoughts. This world is too unique. The chance of the ghost fetus hiding here is too high.</i>

    Picking up the pen from the table, Chen Ge started to write in the book.

    ¡°The school and the buildings outside the school are all from my memory. So far, of the people that have appeared, two of them are from my memory. I have no recollection of the rest of the student body. This is the first time I¡¯ve seen that middle-aged man that brought Zhang Ya into the ssroom. Therefore, the world was probably built on the framework of my memory, but it was mixed with the memories of another person.¡±

    Chen Ge had encountered different memories creating a simr world before; it was the School of the Afterlife, a normal three-star scenario that turned into a four-star scenario after it kept on absorbing the students¡¯ memories andbining the scenarios. But the world behind Yu Jian¡¯s door was different in the sense that it did not feel oppressive. If Chen Ge was not certain that he had pushed open the door, he might have thought that he was still somewhere outside the door. Everything was too real, just like in reality.

    ¡°I seem to have missed something crucial. Currently, Ick too much information. I need to get more clues from Zhang Ya and the math ss monitor...¡± Chen Ge listed down the known details in the notebook and nned what to do next when he suddenly realized that all the students had quieted down and were looking at him. Hands, on which his head rested, slowly moved down. Chen Ge looked to the side, and a flowery scent tickled his nose.

    ¡°Do pay attention during ss.¡± Zhang Ya stood behind Chen Ge and used her book to knock Chen Ge lightly on his head before she walked away. Watching Zhang Ya walk away, Chen Ge touched the spot where she had hit him earlier. The woman before him ovepped with that woman in his mind, and a mixed feeling was born in his heart.

    The ss soon ended. Chen Ge had done nothing but stared at the teacher. ¡°If Zhang Ya really was my teacher in high school, I would have scored at least another one hundred marks in my test.¡±

    ¡°Stop kidding yourself, bro. The ss is already over, and you didn¡¯t even take out the textbook.¡± The round face boy held his chin. ¡°It¡¯s time to wake up, bro. Stop dreaming. You should pay attention to your studies once in a while.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t get it. It¡¯s not me who¡¯s dreaming.¡± Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and left to chase after the teacher. He knew that it was rude to call her name out in the corridor, so he purposely sidled up to the new teacher before asking, ¡°Zhang Ya?¡±

    Hearing his voice, Zhang Ya was startled before smiling at Chen Ge. ¡°You have to call me Miss Zhang Ya. How can I help you?¡±

    ¡°You really don¡¯t remember me anymore?¡± Chen Ge asked probingly. The world behind the door was made from the door pusher¡¯s memoryies. Therefore, the people in it would remember the door pusher.

    ¡°Of course I remember you.¡± Zhang Ya looked at Chen Ge seriously, and her expression changed. ¡°You were that kid who was not paying attention in ss earlier and was too busy doodling.¡±

    ¡°Doodling?¡± Chen Ge looked at Zhang Ya before him. He had no idea what kind of impression he presented to Zhang Ya at that moment. Perhaps she had really forgotten all about him. ¡°I was actually jotting down notes.¡±

    Taking the storybook out from the backpack, Chen Ge showed it to Zhang Ya. ¡°What do you think about it?¡±

    ¡°Is this a n for the story that you¡¯re working on?¡± Zhang Ya was surprised.

    ¡°When did I say that?¡± No matter what Chen Ge said, Zhang Ya treated him as a teacher would a student. She kept a smile on her face.

    ¡°Quick, head back to ss. I support your novel writing hobby as long as it doesn¡¯t affect your schooling.¡± The Zhang Ya before him had lost the shyness of youth and took on the maturity and gentleness that came with age.

    ¡°You really treat me like a child.¡± Chen Ge took back with storybook.

    ¡°But aren¡¯t you a child?¡± Zhang Ya unintentionally revealed a cute expression.

    ¡°Since you¡¯re the teacher, I¡¯ll listen to you and go back to ss.¡± Chen Ge carried the backpack and ran back to the ssroom. Halfway through, he turned back to look and saw Zhang Ya enter the teacher¡¯s lounge. ¡°So, that is how Zhang Ya looks like when she smiles. Itpletely transforms her, and she is a bit ridiculously beautiful.¡±

    1Looking at his shadow, Chen Ge sighed. ¡°It¡¯s not often that I get to bully Zhang Ya, but she came as a teacher this time, and that is a bit of challenge.¡±

    2Returning to the ssroom, Chen Ge spaced out during ss. He used Yin Yang Vision to observe the small town from his seat. This was definitely Li Wan City, but it was different from the chaotic and maddening Li Wan City that he remembered. The people were kind, and the atmosphere was friendly. He could not sense a trace of negative emotions, much less the ghost fetus.

    <i>Is this ce like School of the Afterlife? Will it change after midnight?</i>

    ¡°You by the window, pleasee and solve this problem on the ckboard.¡± A man¡¯s voice came from the podium.

    Chen Ge respected the teacher. He stood up, nced at the ckboard, and loudly dered, ¡°I don¡¯t know how to do that.¡±

 Chapter 1039 - This Is Probably Happiness

    <h4>Chapter 1039: This Is Probably Happiness</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The math teacher was stumped. He stared at Chen Ge for a while before mming the ruler on the podium. ¡°Sit down and stop looking out the window. Du Ming,e and solve this.¡±

    3The round-faced kid walked to the board while Chen Ge reached into his backpack. ¡°Everything here feels too normal... so normal that something must be wrong.¡±

    It felt like a lifetime before ss was finally over. Chen Ge osted the round-faced kid and led him to a corner.

    ¡°What are you doing? You¡¯re being too obvious if you want to borrow my homework to copy.¡±

    ¡°I want to ask you something. You have to answer me honestly.¡± Chen Ge pointed at himself. ¡°What kind of person am I in your eyes?¡±

    ¡°A lonely, sarcastic, and unpopr student with horrible attitude in ss.¡± The round-faced kid did not hold back and let Chen Ge have it.

    1¡°Have you always had such a low opinion of me?¡± Chen Ge looked at that familiar round face. Even though he knew that the boy was telling the truth, it was hard to be happy to hear that.

    ¡°I suppose so.¡± The round-faced kid did not seem to realize the dangerous situation that he was in.

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll ask another question. Have any strange things happened at our schooltely? Like noisesing out from a supposedly empty ssroom or moving specimens in theb.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s openly curious face softened the kid¡¯s heart. He took out a result booklet from his schoolbag and handed it to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Why are you showing me this?¡± Chen Ge epted the booklet and saw that Du Ming was second in ss.

    ¡°I¡¯m a top ten student across the grade and the second in ss, and youe to me to ask about ghost stories in our school?¡±

    ¡°What do your good results have to do with ghost stories? Will a good student not run into a ghost story?¡±

    ¡°The reason my results are good is because I spend the time others waste on meaningless ordeals studying.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s enough. If you weren¡¯t such a nice guy, I would introduce you to a ghost story right this moment.¡± Chen Ge was rather speechless, but considering the age of the person he was dealing with, he could understand why. ¡°I¡¯m not going to lower myself to your level. Next question, did anything bad happen at our school, like school bullying or idents among the student body?¡±

    ¡°What is in that head of yours really?¡± The kid shook his head and took back his result booklet. ¡°Have you been under too much pressuretely? Then again, your results are fourth from the bottom, and they¡¯re getting worse. It will be hard to answer to your family. My suggestion is for you to focus on your studies and forget about all other nonsense.¡±

    Putting the booklet back into his schoolbag, the kid left.

    ¡°The kid has the same attitude as I remember.¡± Chen Ge had not been that good a friend with Du Ming; they had gotten close because they were both isted from the rest of the ss due to different reasons. They were like victims found in the same boat. There was no camaraderie.

    Soon, the school became quite deserted, and the ce quieted down. Chen Ge did not leave. He decided to stay and explore the school. With this ce as the center, he would then widen his exploration to the rest of the town. ¡°I have to be careful. The sun has almost set.¡±

    The sky darkened, and the atmosphere became more sinister.

    ¡°The night will not be as warm as the day. The town will tear off its disguise and reveal its fangs, biting into every innocent person.¡± Chen Ge turned back into the education block. He carried the backpack and looked into every ssroom. He checked many rooms but spotted nothing out of ce. He walked all the way to the roof, where he heard footsteps. ¡°It¡¯s already after school hours. Who would be at the roof?¡±

    Holding the hammer, Chen Ge entered the corridor. The door to the roof was not locked, and he squeezed it open slightly. The roof of the school was the ce closest to the sky. If he lifted his head, it would feel like the heavy rain clouds were falling on him.

    ¡°Is no one here?¡± The chilly wind bit into his skin, and raindrops fell on his face. The rain came very suddenly. Pulling his gaze back, Chen Ge walked back down the stairs. As he nned to leave the education block, the rain started to pour.

    ¡°This should be normal rain, right?¡±

    The rain behind the door might contain a curse or resentment. Chen Ge extended his palm outward to the rain. The raindrop gathered in his palm, and chills seeped into his skin.

    ¡°This might not be the first rainy day I¡¯ve encountered in the world behind the door. I should pay attention to any ghosts that possess an umbre. There should be plenty of them. After all, haven¡¯t they always been a good hiding ce for spirits in modern culture?¡± Chen Ge was spacing out when a shadow loomed over him. ¡°Who is it?¡±

    2Whipping his body around, Chen Ge saw a startled Zhang Ya.

    ¡°Why are you still here? Did you forget to bring an umbre?¡± Zhang Ya stood behind Chen Ge holding an umbre. The shadow was from the umbre that she held over his head. They were the only people left at the education block. Chen Ge looked at Zhang Ya, and his lips opened. But his heart suddenly raced, and he stumbled a step back.

    Seeing how flustered Chen Ge was, an amused smile appeared on Zhang Ya¡¯s face. ¡°Are you afraid of me?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Okay then. Who knows when the rain will stop? I¡¯ll walk you to the bus stop.¡± Zhang Ya walked to Chen Ge¡¯s side with the umbre. ¡°Come on then.¡±

    Chen Ge, who always took the lead, somehow found himself following Zhang Ya¡¯s instruction, and the thought of his investigation was abandoned. The smell of shampoo drifted into his nose. Chen Ge¡¯s eyes kept wandering to Zhang Ya. This was probably what happiness felt like. The rain continued to pour. The pedestrians hurried to find a cover. The streetlights blurred through the curtain of rain, and the whole world was swallowed by the sound of rain pattering.

    ¡°Zhang Ya...¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Did you say something?¡± Zhang Ya heard Chen Ge say something, but it was blocked out by the heavy rain.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. You should walk on the other side of me. The cars might ssh water on your clothes. We don¡¯t want that.¡± Chen Ge carried his backpack and scurried to the other side. They then noticed each other¡¯s wet shoulders. Neither of them wanted the other to get wet, so both of them got wet from the rain. Walking down the raining street, neither of them spoke until they reached the bus stop nearest to the school.

    1¡°Which bus are you taking?¡±

    ¡°Route 104.¡± Chen Ge gave a random answer and stood quietly next to Zhang Ya. He did not wish to speak. He just wanted to steal nces at her. The world behind the door was created from his memory. Even though it had its absurdities, the majority was a reflection of reality. The reason Zhang Ya appeared in this form had something to do with Chen Ge¡¯s own memory.

    ¡°My bus ising. You¡¯d better head home soon and stop loitering about.¡± Zhang Ya took out her phone. ¡°This is my number. Message me when you¡¯re home so that I know you¡¯re safe.¡±

    After exchanging phone numbers, Zhang Ya got on the bus on Route 4 and waved at Zhang Ya through the bus window.

    The bus disappeared in the rain, but Chen Ge still stood where he was.

 Chapter 1040 - Why Didnâ€™t You Come Home?

    <h4>Chapter 1040: Why Didn¡¯t You Come Home?</h4>

    ¡°The Zhang Ya behind Yu Jian¡¯s door likes to smile, and she is pretty when she smiles, but somehow, I sense a trace of sadness hidden behind it. And does she recognize me or not? Is the appearance of this Zhang Ya a coincidence, or was it influenced by that story book? The turning point in Yu Jian¡¯s life was when his own ss teacher resigned. It was during that period that he turned on the ghost fetus. In other words, one of the most important people in the world behind Yu Jian¡¯s door is his ¡®teacher¡¯, the only person who lent him aid during the most difficult period of his life.

    ¡°Is his intention for me to go through what he went through, using my memories to replicate his past?¡±

    Leaning against the advertisement board, Chen Ge looked into the rain that somehow felt appropriate.

    ¡°Regardless of the reason, perhaps this is a good chance for me to get to know Zhang Ya.¡±

    Patting his face lightly, Chen Ge made himself snap out of it.

    ¡°This might look and sound like a high school romance drama, but in essence, it is still a ghost story, I must not let my guard down.¡± The rain did not seem like it would stop any time soon. Chen Ge ¡®borrowed¡¯ an umbre from a passing stranger and returned to school. The sky was already dark. This world did not seem to have a good concept of time. Everything happened in a moment and changed very fast. Holding the hammer, Chen Ge wandered around the school.

    ¡°Even when night falls, there is still no sign of any ghosts or Specters. Is this still the Li Wan City that I remember?¡±

    There was no murderer or Red Specter; it was just a typical normal small town.

    ¡°Wu Sheng had his voice taken, so everyone behind his door had their lips sewn. Jiang Ming had his hearing taken, so his world was exceptionally quiet. Fang Yu had her memory stolen, so her world was gray and white. The simrity between these children chosen by the ghost fetus is that there is somethingcking in the worlds behind their doors. The thing that they were deprived of was reflected in the pedestrians behind the door, but this world is obviously different. Everyone looks normal. They do not look like they are disformed in any way.¡±

    Chen Ge stood in the corridor holding the umbre when his phone suddenly vibrated.

    ¡°Zhang Ya? Why is she calling me?¡± Chen Ge nced at the caller ID and then answered the call.

    ¡°Where are you now? Why aren¡¯t you home yet?¡± Zhang Ya¡¯s rather angry voice came through the phone.

    ¡°How do you know I¡¯m not home?¡± Chen Ge was shocked, and the question slipped out instinctually.

    ¡°Your father is worried sick about you! He¡¯s looking for you everywhere! Do you know how many people he¡¯s called?¡±

    ¡°My father?¡± Well, that was another character Chen Ge did not expect to show up. His eyes widened immediately. ¡°Where is he? I¡¯ll go find him now!¡±

    His blood was rushing through his body. Chen Ge took the umbre and ran out the school. A fire seemed to light up inside him. It won¡¯t be my real father, will it? Could it be a trapid down by the ghost fetus?

    ¡°He¡¯s hurrying toward the school. A student said that he saw you return to school.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Hanging up, Chen Ge carried his small bowl of hope like a candle in his arm and charged into the heavy rain. He ran out the school gates, past the bus stop, and beyond the convenient store before stopping at a junction. The traffic was heavy, and different roads led to different destinations.

    ¡°Chen Ge!¡± A familiar voice came from the opposite side of the street. Chen Ge turned to the voice, and a man wearing an old jacket was running over the zebra crossing. He was slightly shorter than Chen Ge. The man who was normally so sunny had his wrinkles creased up in worry. The rain drenched his jacket, and the man ran to Chen Ge¡¯s side, still catching his breath. Suddenly, he closed the umbre and smacked Chen Ge on his arm. The sound was loud, but it was not painful; it was more for show.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t youe home after school? If you have something to attend, you should inform me. I wouldn¡¯t have stopped you! Do you know how worried your sister and I were?¡±

    Looking at the familiar face, even though they had not met for more than a year, the man appeared to be much slimmer, and there was more white in his hair. Chen Ge did not speak. The candle in his heart was slowly overwhelmed by the rain. When he firstid his eyes on the man, Chen Ge knew this was not his father. It was just a figment of his memory, a part that would disappear eventually.

    ¡°You are not him.¡± Holding up the umbre, Chen Ge walked to the man and raised the umbre above both of their heads. The voice was familiar, and it was filled with discipline, concern, and disappointment. All these things weaved together toplete the perfect image of a father. They did not take the bus and walked home. The man was initially quite angry, but after some stern words, he stopped talking. The father and son walked silently in the rain.

    When they were almost home, the man suddenly signaled for Chen Ge to wait. He went to the nearby shop to buy two braised pork trotters. When he came out, he saw an old man selling vegetables on a pushcart. He was standing close to the shop to avoid the rain. Probably due to the rain, the wares were not selling so well, and after a whole day in the rain, part of the vegetables looked quite rotten already. The man took out his wallet and walked to the old man. Then he came back with tworge bags of vegetables. He helped the old man clean up his cart before returning to join Chen Ge.

    ¡°Can we finish so much food?¡± Chen Ge slowly lowered his head, mumbling the next sentence from his memory. ¡°It¡¯s fine. We have a fridge that can store them for a long time...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± The man shrugged. ¡°We have a fridge that can store them. We can ration them out.¡±

    The two walked into the hall. Before they reached their home, the door of one of the houses opened. A girl about thirteen poked her head out. When she heard the footsteps from inside the room, she was too excited to wait for them to get to the door, so she hurried toe open it first.

    ¡°Did... did you find... find my big brother?¡± the girl stammered, and her hands were shaking uncontrobly. She hung by the door, and her lips were slightly uneven. The gap between her teeth was wider than normal, but she carried an angelic smile on her face.

    ¡°Ruoyu, quickly go back in, and be careful not to trip.¡± The man carried the bags and two trotters into the room. Chen Ge trailed behind him silently. The room was sparsely furnished, but the feeling was warm.

    ¡°Big... big brother...¡± The girl looked thirteen, but she acted like a five-year-old. When she saw Chen Gee in, shey on her side like a doll.

    ¡°Ruoyu? Luo Ruoyu?¡± That was the name of Director Luo¡¯s daughter. She suffered from Angelman Syndrome. After she passed away, Director Duo had ced her ashes at the theme park. In fact, New Century Park had been built for her.

 Chapter 1041 - My Family

    <h4>Chapter 1041: My Family</h4>

    Luo Ruoyu was New Century Park¡¯s guardian angel and Chen Ge¡¯s ymate when he was small. They had grown up together, and Chen Ge¡¯s parents treated her as their own. This daughter that was not technically there received no less love than Chen Ge. Normally, Luo Ruoyu hid inside the doll that Chen Ge had made when he was small. She had helped Chen Ge to escape the wrath of the red house by the Eastern Jiujiang Dam once. That was when she was seriously injured. Once she left New Century Park, she would lose all her power. Chen Ge did not expect to see her behind the door, much less in this manner.

    ¡°Dinner¡¯s ready.¡± The man ced the trotters on a te, stir-fried some vegetables, and called for dinner. Initially, the atmosphere was rather tense, but it soon rxed. Chen Ge and the man were both smiling. Perhaps that was what family felt like.

    ¡°Chen Ge, why did youe home sote today? Is it because you don¡¯t daree home to face me due to another bad test result?¡± The man kept taking the vegetables and skipped the meat. He looked much older and ragged than his actual age.

    ¡°No.¡± Chen Ge did not know how to exin himself. The closer they were, the harder he found it to exin the situation. He did not want to be treated like a monster by his own father, and it was not so bad to live in this false happiness. Working his muscles, Chen Ge looked around the house. He did not answer the man¡¯s question but asked one of his own. ¡°Where¡¯s mom? Howe I don¡¯t see her?¡±

    After saying that, Chen Ge instantly regretted it because he saw the light go out of his father¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Is that why you didn¡¯te home?¡± The man obviously had misunderstood Chen Ge. ¡°I miss her, too, but we have to move on after her death.¡±

    He did not continue the topic but finished the dinner and stood up to walk into the kitchen.

    Sitting in the living room, Chen Ge assessed his current situation.

    A single parent family, the only person important to me other than my family is a teacher. This is aplete replica of Yu Jian¡¯s story. Now, I can confirm he has imprinted my own memory into his history, so I have the chance to experience what he¡¯s gone through. But what is the purpose behind this? To get me to see his perspective? To force me to turn crazy, to be a recluse like him? The world behind Yu Jian¡¯s door is too normal and peaceful. Everything that I¡¯ve experienced so far is warm and nice. But if it¡¯s someday taken away or torn apart, I¡¯ll be in such pain and despair.

    When Chen Ge was thinking, he felt someone grab his hand. Luo Ruoyu leaned against the dining table, batting her eyes. Her clothes had dirty spots from the soup.

    ¡°Get up from the table.¡±

    ¡°I... I miss mommy too, but... but I will not run anywhere. I... I will wait for her here.¡±

    ¡°Yes, we will wait for her here.¡± Chen Ge hugged Luo Ruoyu¡¯s head. This family was too warm, a memory that was deeply treasured in his heart. After dinner, Chen Ge cleared away the table, carried the backpack, and entered his room. Hey in bed and looked at the night sky outside the window. Even at night, the sky was heavy with rain clouds. There was no moon or stars. All the lights came from the fire in his memory.

    ¡°I have a feeling something bad is going to happen.¡± Even though Chen Ge was sleepy, he was not brave enough to fall asleep behind the door. After the things outside the bedroom had quieted down, Chen Ge wrote a note down and then slipped out the door with the backpack. ¡°I shan¡¯t waste any more time. Yu Jian must be somewhere in this town. Perhaps he is watching me at this moment.¡±

    The moment he made to step out of the house, the night faded away, and the sun rose. Chen Ge was stunned, holding the doorknob. He looked at the windows in the corridor. The sky outside was gray withyers of clouds.

    ¡°Why did it turn into morning when I opened the door? Does this mean it represents a new day whenever I open the door? Is this home where everything begins?¡±

    ¡°Huh. Why did you wake up so early today?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s father was well-dressed and walked out from the house. He was surprised to see Chen Ge.

    ¡°Everyone wakes up early asionally.¡± Chen Ge nned to make a test. He walked out the door and then stood for a while before returning to his home and closed the door. As the door clicked, Chen Ge turned to the window and the sky outside was dark. His father hadn¡¯t left the house for that long but he looked so haggard and there were small dark spots under his skin.

    When I am home and close the door, night will fall immediately, but when I push the door open and step out, a new day will begin.

    Chen Ge pushed the door open again. His father said the same thing, but the tiredness on his face became more obvious, and the ck spots became more numerous.

    No! Even though it doesn¡¯t affect me every time I close and open the door, it will impose some kind of injury on other people in the town. My time is limited. After a few repetitions of this, everything I value might be torn apart. I must find Yu Jian before that happens and get to the bottom of the mystery here!

    The people at the town were people Chen Ge could not forget. They were all made from Chen Ge¡¯s memory. If something happened to them, it might mean that Chen Ge¡¯s memory of them would be wiped out.

    ¡°Why are you standing at the door? Don¡¯t you have school to go to?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s father walked out the door, but he was stopped by Chen Ge. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re that person from my memory, you will trust me implicitly, right?¡± Chen Ge felt like he was talking to himself.

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°In this small town, you must be careful around a person called Yu Jian. He is the source of all the misfortune and pain.¡±

    ¡°Yu Jian?¡±

    ¡°I mighte homete for this period of time and might do things that no one understands, but I hope you will trust me, no matter what happens.¡± Chen Ge grabbed the man by his arms heavily.

    ¡°Looks like something really did happen to you.¡± The man patted Chen Ge on his shoulder. ¡°I trust you, but you have to trust your family too. If you can¡¯t solve this problem, remember the family is always your sanctuary.¡±

    The voice, the touch, the sight, everything felt too real. Chen Ge¡¯s mind wavered for a moment into believing this was all real.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Carrying the backpack, Chen Ge walked out from the house. He decided not to open that home door for a long time. That way, he would get as much time as he could.

    ¡°Li Wan City is not as small as I hope. A carpet search does not sound possible.¡±

    Chen Ge decided to start his search at the school. Yu Jian¡¯s change happened at the school, and it was where the iron door was. This pointed to the fact that the chance of Yu Jian hiding there was high.

 Chapter 1042 - Whatâ€™s in the Bag?

    <h4>Chapter 1042: What¡¯s in the Bag?</h4>

    After he met Yu Jian, all the puzzles behind this door would be solved. But more importantly, Yu Jian once actively interacted with the ghost fetus before; they had shared the same body for a long time, and he understood the ghost fetus better than anyone else.

    The moment he stepped into the school, Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision. He memorized the faces of all the students, not letting one slip from his eyes. The bell rang for ss, and Chen Ge filed into ss rather unwillingly.

    ¡°I heard you didn¡¯t return home yesterday. What happened? Ran away from home?¡± Du Ming passed him a note. Chen Ge looked at it and crumpled it up. Even now, he had not understood the habit of passing note with dudes. The kid waved his fist at Chen Ge, but thetter ignored him and lowered his head to focus on the timetable taped on the desk. ¡°English ss is the third ss, so I will have to stay in ss for the first two periods, huh? That is such a waste of time.¡±

    Chen Ge formted a n for himself. He tossed it over to iron out the details and loopholes. After he made sure he was ready, he nced at the clock on the wall. ¡°Howe only ten minutes has passed?¡±

    The world behind the door was made from his memories. Chen Ge suspected that this happened because he often spaced out in ss and kept wishing for the school to end, so it created this impression of a long school day. That feeling that turned into reality behind the door.

    ¡°Does this mean that time will move faster once school is over?¡±

    Carrying his backpack, Chen Ge wondered if the teacher would be angry if he just walked out like that. ¡°There¡¯s no reason to get in trouble with the school. Next time, I should just find an excuse to take leave from school.¡±

    It was math ss, but Chen Ge¡¯s table was filled with English homework. He was prepared for the third period already.

    ¡°Hey.¡± Du Ming passed him another note. ¡°What kind of club do you n to join? Both of us are loners, so why not we join the same club? With a club activity, I¡¯m sure we won¡¯t bepletely isted.¡±

    ¡°Club?¡±

    ¡°Yesterday, after school, I saw some seniors giving out flyers. Some of the clubs even came to individual sses to get more members.¡± Chen Ge attended a private high school, so the system was rather different from public schools.

    ¡°You can go to the sses if you¡¯re promoting a club?¡± The fatty did not realize he had triggered an idea in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. ¡°I can use that as a cover to openly check every ss then.¡±

    ¡°How about chess club? There¡¯s no physical exercise, and you can sit there and space out¡ªisn¡¯t it perfect?¡± Du Ming was not on the same wavelength as Chen Ge, but somehow, they managed to keep the conversation going. Finally, the period was over. Chen Ge grabbed the backpack and rushed out from the ssroom. ¡°I mustn¡¯t waste the time during break. For someone who doesn¡¯t have many friends, Yu Jian wouldn¡¯t go anywhere and most likely stayed in ss.¡±

    He ran through the first and second floor, but when he prepared to get up to the third floor, the bell rang. Chen Ge did not care for it and continued to look for Yu Jian. There were no students in the corridors. Chen Ge was like a teacher, carrying his bag, using his Yin Yang Vision, ¡®floating¡¯ through each ssroom.

    ¡°Stop right there! Which ss are you from?¡± When Chen Ge reached the fourth floor, he was stopped by a middle-aged man. The man appeared to be the discipline teacher. He was the one who had introduced Zhang Ya to the ss.

    ¡°I am going to the toilet.¡±

    ¡°Why are you carrying your bag to the toilet? You¡¯re thinking about skipping ss again, aren¡¯t you?¡± The middle-aged man had a stern face. ¡°Wait, what is inside your bag? Why is there a sharp corner? Open it now and let me check!¡±

    Chen Ge did not mind being caught beingte, but he did not know how to exin the things in his backpack. The high heels were one thing. Even though they were bloodied, they looked expensive and sexy. Chen Ge could say that they were a gift; that should be a reasonable excuse. But how could he exin the hammer? A hobby? A way to defend himself? No matter how he looked at it, the exnation wascking.

    ¡°Well? Quickly open it!¡± The middle-aged man felt he had caught Chen Ge. He reached out to grab the bag. Chen Ge stared at the man¡¯s balding head, wondering if he should end this interaction with a whack of the hammer. After dealing with so many murderers, Chen Ge had mastered the tricks of hiding a body to a certain degree. ¡°With this one whack, this high school romance drama will officially turn into a mystery thriller.¡±

    Even though this was a world behind the door, Chen Ge had his own principles. He did not make his move but turned and ran. In a bizarre turn of events, Chen Ge, who was often chased by Red Specters behind the door, was now being chased by a balding middle-aged man.

    ¡°I can¡¯t resort to violence. Perhaps that is what the ghost fetus or Yu Jian want me to do. They wish to push me step by step toward the deep abyss.¡± The more he thought about it, the more he believed that. Chen Ge ran very fast, but the middle-aged man was fitter than he looked. He was running up to a dead end when a familiar voice came from the corner.

    ¡°Chen Ge? Mr. Si?¡± Zhang Ya stood at the door to the teacher¡¯s lounge, her eyes were filled with surprise. ¡°What are you guys doing?¡±

    ¡°Miss Zhang! Quick! Help me stop him! This is too much!¡± The middle-aged man gasped heavily for air. He held his back for support. It did not feel like much when he was doing the chasing, but when he stopped, it was as if his lungs were burning.

    ¡°He wants to check my bag.¡± Chen Ge hid behind Zhang Ya. ¡°I just wanted to go to the toilet, but he insisted on stopping me.¡±

    The middle-aged man heard Chen Ge. ¡°You¡¯re at school to learn! There must be something unrted to school in your bag! If you¡¯re innocent, let me check it!¡±

    Neither backed down, and it ced Zhang Ya in an awkward situation. ¡°Please calm down, both of you. Mr. Si, you¡¯d better slow down and catch your breath. Chen Ge might be naughty, but he¡¯s not a bad kid.¡±

    Then she turned to Chen Ge. ¡°You¡¯d better go back to ss now, and pay attention in ss.¡±

    Zhang Ya was obviously giving Chen Ge a way out. This angered Mr. Si. ¡°You¡¯re not going anywhere! What¡¯s inside your bag? Howe you ran so fast once I said I wanted to check it?¡±

    One could not say that Mr. Si was wrong. He was just a stern teacher and felt responsible to the students.

    The atmosphere was tense. Zhang Ya did not know what to say. She whispered to Chen Ge, ¡°Why don¡¯t you tell me honestly if there¡¯s anything illegal inside the bag?¡±

    ¡°Teacher Zhang! Stop wasting time! Based on my years of teaching experience, there must be cigarettes inside the bag. Search it. I swear you will find some!¡± Mr. Si was so angry that the little hair he had left was standing upright.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have any cigarettes on me! I¡¯m not even a smoker!¡± Chen Ge whined.

    ¡°Why do you refuse to let me see it then?¡± Mr. Si walked toward him, and Zhang Ya turned toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°Fine, if you want to know to see it so badly, I¡¯ll let you see it!¡± Chen Ge pulled the zipper open and pulled out the red high heels and hugged it in his chest. ¡°After my mom passed away. This is the only thing she left me. I just want to carry them with me because they remind me of her!¡±

    Keeping his head lowered, Chen Ge hugged the heels tighter, and he continued in a shaking voice. ¡°I know how strange this looks. I am afraid that the other kids will make fun of me, but I just want a piece of her by my side. Have I done anything wrong?¡±

    Tears squeezed out from his eyes. Chen Ge shoved the heels back into his backpack and turned to run away. Zhang Ya and Mr. Si were frozen to the spot. They hadplicated expressions, and neither chased after Chen Ge.

 Chapter 1043 - Who Can I Share This With?

    <h4>Chapter 1043: Who Can I Share This With?</h4>

    Back in the ssroom, Chen Ge returned to his seat.

    ¡°Bro, are your eyes red?¡± Du Ming noticed that Chen Ge was feeling rather down. ¡°Were you dumped?¡±

    ¡°I understand why you are so unpopr even though your results are so good.¡± Chen Ge ignored Du Ming. He turned his head away and started to think about another problem. Even behind the door, Zhang Ya was still protecting him. In the situation earlier, a new teacher did not side with the head of discipline but protected her own student. That was quite touching.

    ¡°In Yu Jian¡¯s world, other than his family, only that teacher was helping him. Now that I am going through his experiences, the only person that I can rely on the most is Zhang Ya.¡± Chen Ge tried to keep his head up. He was reliving Yu Jian¡¯s life, but the people around him were not Yu Jian¡¯s family but his family from his own memory. ¡°A lucky person spends his whole life healed by his childhood. An unlucky person spend his whole life healing his childhood.

    ¡°Even though we¡¯re going through the same thing, a different upbringing and environment can change a person¡¯s future. He wants me to experience his despair, but I wish to show him that everything is possible with hope. Before the reality copses and the sea of blood overwhelms everything, I will try my best to help him. The ghost fetus never intended to help him. I must instill that message into his mind.¡±

    The second period was finally over. Chen Ge leaned on the desk, looking out at Li Wan City. His brain had split the town into four sections based on the four corners¡ªnorth, south, east and west. If he could not find Yu Jian at the school, then he would search the city one corner after another. The bell rang again. Chen Ge finally straightened up. He opened the English textbook.

    ¡°Even after so many years, I still can¡¯t understand a single sentence from this.¡±

    With Zhang Ya¡¯s voice filling his ears, Chen Ge held his chin in one hand, and for the first time, he did not think about escaping from school. The students could see quite clearly that Zhang Ya¡¯s gaze kept wandering subconsciously over to Chen Ge¡¯s seat. There was apology and worry in her eyes. Finally, the bell rang; it was lunch break. Chen Ge¡¯s home was quite far away from school. When he was young, he did not have the habit of going home early for lunch, and he did not intend to change that. When the bell rang to announce the break, Chen Ge walked out from the ssroom. He carried the backpack and walked down the corridor alone to head to the rooftop.

    The sky in Yu Jian¡¯s world was always covered in clouds, and there was never any sun. Chen Ge stood on the rooftop. He used Yin Yang Vision and studied all the students below him. ¡°Where is he hiding? This is his world but he is nowhere to be seen.¡±

    Chen Ge distinctly remembered the voice of a man when he first entered the door. That person should be Yu Jian. ¡°Trapped in the abyss of despair, he should be desperate for a savior as well.¡±

    When he was thinking, Chen Ge heard the door behind him open. Zhang Ya appeared at the door. She was surprised to see him. Then she walked over with a light yellow lunch box. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going home?¡±

    ¡°Not so soon. What about you? Why are you here at noon?¡±

    ¡°The canteen is too noisy. I prefer to eat in silence. Besides, the scenery here is beautiful, and no one wille disturb me.¡± Zhang Ya walked to his side, and her eyes trailed to his backpack. ¡°Are you still thinking about what happened this morning? I apologize for that. We weren¡¯t being considerate. Sorry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. If anything, I need to thank you. If not for your help, I would be in that old baldie¡¯s ws already.¡±

    ¡°Old baldie?¡± Zhang Ya did not expect such a colorful description of Mr. Si from Chen Ge. She almost burst outughing, so she turned her head to the side. Chen Ge was not paying attention to Zhang Ya but focused on the students below, and his brows creased. The school was almost empty, but Yu Jian was not to be seen.

    ¡°You seem to have many things on your mind. If you don¡¯t mind, would you like to share some of them with me? You might feel better after sharing them with another person.¡± Zhang Ya¡¯s voice was mellifluous, like a chime in the wind.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind me. You¡¯d better finish your food before it gets cold.¡± Chen Ge turned back to look at Zhang Ya. She was kind and gentle. If that tragedy did not happen, she would have been living a happy life.

    ¡°Do you want some? The canteen auntie has given me too much. I can¡¯t finish it alone.¡± Zhang Ya probably wanted to get to know Chen Ge better so that she could help him better.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, don¡¯t mind me!¡± Chen Ge was acting like a child. He ran to the other side and looked down the roof. Amon person would not understand Chen Ge. They would not know what he was doing. In other people¡¯s eyes, Chen Ge was filled with anxiety, and there was a maturity about him that did not fit his age. All the students had left. The school was empty, but Chen Ge still had not spotted Yu Jian.

    ¡°Where could he be hiding? Do I really need to turn Li Wan City upside down? Do I have enough time? The people around me are getting visibly tired as time passes. I¡¯m sure bad things will happen soon.¡± Chen Ge was worried, but that did not help at all.

    He carried his backpack and turned around. He noticed Zhang Ya sitting on the chair by the wall and staring at him.

    ¡°Sorry for making you worried.¡± Chen Ge would never hurt those who only wanted the best for him. He walked toward Zhang Ya and sat down beside her. The items left on the roof were mostly defective. That was why they had been moved there.

    ¡°If you have any trouble, you really can share it with me. Perhaps I can help you.¡± Zhang Ya was being too kind. Such people existed in the real world, and they were often the first to get hurt. Being near Zhang Ya, even behind the door, Chen Ge felt weirdly safe. He put down the backpack that he had been carrying and sidled toward Zhang Ya.

    ¡°I¡¯m looking for a person. His name is Yu Jian.¡±

    ¡°Why are you looking for him?¡±

    ¡°Because he is the source of all the misfortune here, and I have some things to tell him.¡±

    ¡°The source of misfortune?¡± Zhang Ya did not get what Chen Ge was saying. ¡°Has he done something to you or your family?¡±

    ¡°No, I just want to help him.¡± Chen Ge did not know how to exin it. He had met many such asions in real life. He was the one who entered the world of the supernatural. He could not share what he saw with others; he had to carry the burden alone. Even now, even though he knew Zhang Ya was not real, he still could not bring himself to say anything.

    ¡°Actually, I am quite tired myself.¡± Chen Ge leaned on Zhang Ya¡¯s shoulder and closed his eyes, feeling the wind on his face.

    Zhang Ya initially wanted to move away, but seeing that strangely familiar face, she did not have the heart to do so.

 Chapter 1044 - The Two at the Stop

    <h4>Chapter 1044: The Two at the Stop</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    He closed his eyes for a rest. This was the first time that Chen Ge had felt so safe behind a door. After a moment, he felt what he was doing was quite inappropriate. He sat upright and whispered, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    This was something he had not experienced before, and then he realized the burning sensation that he was feeling was ¡®shyness¡¯. Without waiting for Zhang Ya to reply, he grabbed his backpack and slipped away. Closing the door to the roof, Chen Ge jogged out of school. Perhaps because of the running, his heart was beating very fast. ¡°Looks like the ghost fetus is giving me more pressure than I thought. I shouldn¡¯t underestimate this door.¡±

    Exiting the school, Chen Ge followed his n and started to search from the eastern side of Li Wan City. He could not employ the help from his workers, so he needed to rely on his super senses to feel out the cold and eerie locales. Chen Ge did not find anything the whole afternoon. He did not have any keys to go into people¡¯s home. He did consider breaking and entering, but once he caught sight of a passing police car, the thought was safely out of his mind. The ghost fetus and Yu Jian wanted him to experience despair and sink into the dark. If he used violence, it might bring the darkness closer.

    ¡°This world is too big. Li Wan City, which was transformed by the shadow, is a 3.5-star scenario, so apleted Li Wan City should be a four-star scenario...¡± Chen Ge was startled with this thought. ¡°Well, it is true that Li Wan City is part of my memory, but it could be part of the ghost fetus¡¯ memory too. After all, the shadow¡¯s oldir was Li Wan City.¡±

    Chen Ge did not have a deep impression of Li Wan City. He did not know the exact location of each building. ¡°Yu Jian¡¯s life does not cross with Li Wan City. I¡¯ve only been to Li Wan City a few times myself... Is it possible that this world alsobines the ghost fetus¡¯ memory?¡±

    He was frightened by this thought. If that was true, the chance of the ghost fetus hiding there had multiplied. ¡°I still cannot contact my employees, not even for simplemunication. Now it¡¯s a race against time, seeing whether my employees will break through the limitation first or the tragedy of this world will arrive first.¡±

    The sky started to rain, so Chen Ge returned to school. He tried tomunicate with other students, but they seemed to hate him and purposely stay away from him.

    ¡°Was I this hated during high school?¡± Chen Ge tried to think back to that time of his life. He felt like this was something Yu Jian had added.

    ¡°ying truant,ingte to school, bad results,ck of a smile for anyone, I¡¯d advise you to ept your fate.¡± Du Ming twisted open his thermos. He blew on it and then took a sip. ¡°Actually, it¡¯s not that bad. Loneliness is a one-man party, they say.¡±

    1Chen Ge ignored Du Ming. He was concentrating on how to solve this problem. If Yu Jian had locked himself inside a room somewhere, without his employees¡¯ help, Chen Ge would not find the guy.

    ¡°Looks like I still need to focus on the important figures in this world. Perhaps I can find some clues from Zhang Ya, my dad, and Luo Ruoyu.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at Du Ming. Technically speaking, this deskmate was an important figure, too. At least he had asting impression of Du Ming for him to appear.

    ¡°Du Ming, I have something to discuss with you,¡± Chen Ge whispered.

    ¡°Which subject¡¯s homework do you want to borrow?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that. Can I please go to your home after school?¡± Chen Ge wanted to look for clues. Perhaps he could find some at Du Ming¡¯s home.

    ¡°Definitely not. If my mom knows I hang out with you, she will break my leg.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re exaggerating. Auntie has always been nice around me, and she¡¯s kind to everyone.¡± Chen Ge tried to fight for it. ¡°Just think of it as a favor. We can sneak in. I mean, you do remember the birthday present I gave you, right?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you even mention that. The prank box that you gave me had a clown jump out from it. My mom opened it and sent it to the temple to be exorcised.¡± Du Ming shook his head. ¡°She even said that if I bring anything from you home in the future, she will toss it out immediately.¡±

    1¡°For real?¡± Chen Ge widened his eyes. This was not part of his memory. He was not sure whether he had forgotten about these episodes or Du Ming was lying to him. The rain was getting heavier, and the sky was darkening. Time moved so slowly that Chen Ge started to while away time by doing his homework. He waited and waited, and finally, it was time for school to end.

    ¡°Late afternoon every day, it starts to rain until the next morning. From the weather pattern, it seems like this world is repeating the same day again and again.¡± Chen Ge looked out the window and watched the raindrops slide down the ss. ¡°Perhaps when Yu Jian left school that onest time, this was the weather.¡±

    The school was almost empty. Chen Ge walked to the exit and realized that he had forgotten to bring his umbre again.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you have an umbre?¡± Du Ming walked from afar with his school bag.

    ¡°I came out in a blur this morning, so I must have left it at home. You also don¡¯t have an umbre?¡± Chen Ge studied the pouring rain. He could not help but feel that it signified something.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Then Du Ming took out a folded raincoat from his bag. ¡°But I have a raincoat. See you tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Did you juste to me to show off your raincoat? After I leave this world, I¡¯ll be sure to pay you a visit.¡± Chen Ge wagged his fist. Du Ming suddenly coughed. He sucked in his stomach, puffed up his chest, and lifted his head.

    ¡°Is that fear I sense? You knew what I meant by ¡®after I leave this world¡¯? Damn you! You really have something to do with Yu Jian!¡± Chen Ge was about to chase after Du Ming when he heard footstepsing from behind him. He turned to see Zhang Ya standing beside him. ¡°Zhang... Miss Zhang?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s unwise to get into fights with your friend.¡± Zhang Ya opened the umbre. ¡°You didn¡¯t bring an umbre again? Come on, I¡¯ll walk you to the bus stop.¡±

    She stood next to Chen Ge and walked into the rain together. They left Du Ming in a bright yellow raincoat standing in the rain.

    ¡°What¡¯s this feeling?¡± Du Ming looked at his raincoat. ¡°I¡¯ve obviously won, but howe I feel so defeated?¡±

    Chen Ge did not have time for Du Ming. He leaned closer to Zhang Ya. ¡°How about I carry the umbre?¡±

    ¡°No way, I¡¯m the teacher. I should be the one looking after you. If I let you take the umbre, it¡¯ll feel so strange.¡± Zhang Ya rejected his offer with a smile. They walked to the bus stop like the previous day. Since they had missed the peak hour, they were the only two at the stop. Neither of them spoke; one looked at the falling rain, and the other studied the passing cars.

    This time, the bus on Route 104 arrived first, but Chen Ge did not move.

    ¡°Your bus is here. Remember to bring an umbre tomorrow,¡± Zhang Ya reminded him, but Chen Ge stood where he was. ¡°The bus is leaving. Chen Ge?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave after you get on your bus.¡± Chen Ge looked at their reflections in the puddles. ¡°This way, at least we¡¯ll be together a little bit longer.¡±

 Chapter 1045 - Something Iâ€™ve Been Meaning to Do [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1045: Something I¡¯ve Been Meaning to Do [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The deep gray city was shrouded in heavy rain, the traffic on the road dwindled, and eventually, only the falling rain could be heard. Everyone on the street appeared to be rushing somewhere, and the small bus stop by the roadside was like an abandoned corner that had been forgotten by the world. Chen Ge held his backpack as he continued to study their reflections in the water puddle. Zhang Ya held the umbre, and surprise crossed his eyes. She was obviously startled by the statement that Chen Ge had made.

    As the bus on Route 104 slowly trundled off down the street, it was reced at the stop by the bus from Route 4. ¡°Miss Zhang, your bus is here. I will see you tomorrow.¡±

    Chen Ge waved his hands, and his face had a very happy smile on it. He watched as Zhang Ya walked toward the bus on Route 4 as he leaned against the bus stop sign, the smile on his face slowly disappearing as Zhang Ya walked away from him.

    ¡°I cannot go home. The minute I push open the door of my home, night will fall, and when Ie out, it will be the beginning of a new day. When the city submerges into darkness, the dirtiness and evil hidden in the corners should be eager to reveal itself. Hopefully, I will gain something of value tonight.¡±

    Lifting his head, Chen Ge believed that he was the only one left at the bus stop. The bus whistled to announce its departure from the bus stop. The engine growled, and the bus soon departed from the stop. In the rain, Chen Ge stopped a woman holding a red umbre.

    ¡°Zhang Ya?¡± The bus had already left the station, but Zhang Ya stood where she was She did not get on the bus. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you get on the bus? Wasn¡¯t that your bus?¡±

    Chen Ge looked at Zhang Ya curiously. The woman held the umbre and slowly walked back toward the bus stop.

    ¡°I¡¯ve spent every day ever since I was here preparing my study material for the next day, and then I leave on thest bus of the day.¡± Zhang Ya pointed at the sign that Chen Ge was leaning against. ¡°The bus just now was supposed to be thest bus. You did not get on it, and you did not take an umbre. I am afraid that you will not return home again, just likest time.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± Chen Ge, who was always quick with words, found himself stammering at that moment. He did not know how to answer or how toe up with a reasonable excusable.

    ¡°It seems to me that you are afraid of going home.¡± Zhang Ya walked to stand before Chen Ge. ¡°Can you tell me why?¡±

    ¡°It is nothing important...¡±

    ¡°Did you get into an argument with your family, or have you run into actual trouble in your life?¡±

    Concern was deep in Zhang Ya¡¯s voice. Her kindness and warmth were something innate, and that made it exceptionally difficult for one to purposely deceive her.

    ¡°I know that under that trouble-maker exterior, there is a kid with a good heart, but in that same heart, there appears to be many other things. I have noticed that you have never really smiled sincerely since I first met you.¡±

    Chen Ge did not respond. The rain continued to pour. Even though they were standing under the bus stop, the rain was so heavy that the ssh was enough to make both of their clothes wet. Neither of them left. After a while, Zhang Ya opened the umbre and looked at Chen Ge rather helplessly.

    ¡°If you are unwilling to share, I cannot force you to do so.¡± She waved at Chen Ge. ¡°Come on.¡±

    ¡°Where are we going?¡± Chen Ge was startled. This time, he was truly surprised.

    ¡°We will go to my home so that we can get you a fresh change of clothes. You will get a cold wearing that set of wet clothes for so long.¡±

    ¡°Is that really a good idea?¡±

    ¡°It will be a worse idea for me to abandon you at this bus stop. The rain will not slow down anytime soon, and it is gettingte. It is too dangerous for you to stay here alone.¡± Zhang Ya wiggled the umbre, and the water droplets flung around. She was like the kind sister next door. Even when she pouted in helplessness, it did not detract from her natural beauty. ¡°But you should really try tomunicate with your family members. Through my experience, I¡¯ve found that many problems can be solved through a goodmunication, especially when it is within a family. Anyway, that is enough lecturing for now. Stop hesitating,e with me.¡±

    1Chen Ge could not open the door of his own home, so to buy more time, he was half persuaded and half willing to follow behind Zhang Ya. The two walked down the street for quite some time before they spotted a taxi on the road. When they arrived at Zhang Ya¡¯s home, the sky was alreadypletely dark.

    ¡°Is this where you live?¡± Chen Ge did not have any memories of Zhang Ya¡¯s house or room. In his mind, Zhang Ya had always stayed at the dormitory. When he pushed open the door, he found a small room of about sixty cubic meters. Even though the ce was not big, it had everything that a person would need to survive and flourish.

    ¡°I used to live in the city, but after my parents got into an ident, staying in the old house kept reminding me of them. I would walk around the room and think that I saw them standing there. After a while, it took such a toll on me. Therefore, I had no choice but to sell that house, and I used the capital from that sale to purchase this small house in this city.¡±

    Zhang Ya seemed to have emerged from the sadness already, judging from the calm tone that she employed to tell the story. Of course, she could have been just putting on the front for Chen Ge. That morning, after she found out why Chen Ge had been carrying the pair of high heels with him at all time, she had felt her heart giving slightly. Because she had been through the same experience, she was able to empathize with him.

    Putting away the umbre, Zhang Ya moved to switch on the light in the living room. ¡°I did all the decoration and the purchasing of the furniture myself, so what do you think? It is not so bad for a non-professional, right?¡±

    When Zhang Ya was speaking, Chen Ge looked around the room. His eyes travelled to the trash can, and he was surprised to notice a few empty cans of beer inside and peels of carrot skin that had gotten brown with spots.

    ¡°Teacher, you¡¯re a drinker?¡± That was a habit of Zhang Ya¡¯s that Chen Ge did not expect.

    ¡°You make it sound like I have a serious problem. I only drink once in a while.¡± Zhang Ya changed her shoes and went to tie up the stic bag that held the trash inside the can. ¡°I will go get you a set of dry clothes. Please wait here a moment.¡±

    Secondster, Chen Ge changed into the clothes that Zhang Ya offered her. It was a round-neck T-shirt that Zhang Ya herself wore.

    ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind wearing that, but that is probably the only thing in my closet that will fit you. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll be willing to try on my dresses, right?¡± She joked.

    ¡°No, this is fine.¡± Chen Ge looked down and noticed that he was wearing the same t shirt as Zhang Ya, but the color was different.

    ¡°Give me your wet clothes. I will dry them off for you. In the meantime, you should go over to the couch and start working on your homework. It will be time for the mock exams soon. You should pay more attention to that. Perhaps some pressure would be able to help you.¡± Zhang Ya took Chen Ge¡¯s and her own wet clothes and entered the bathroom. Chen Ge looked left and right. He ced the backpack that was half wet next to the couch and opened it to give its content an inspection.

    ¡°Thankfully, neither theic nor Zhang Ya¡¯s storybook got wet.¡± Chen Ge also felt like taking out his homework to make a good impression on Zhang Ya, but the problem was... he did not even bring his homework with him. Several minutester, Zhang Ya came out from the bathroom. She took a nce at the clock on the wall. ¡°You must be hungry. Let me see what¡¯s inside the fridge. I¡¯m afraid it won¡¯t be anything fancy, but I am sure I can whip up something for us to eat.¡±

    ¡°Teacher, how about I help?¡± Chen Ge looked at Zhang Ya, who moved around in the kitchen, and he could not help the smile that appeared on his face.

    ¡°You know how to cook?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you¡¯ve had a long day at work. Let me cook for you. Consider it my appreciation for everything that you have done for me today.¡± Chen Ge nudged Zhang Ya lightly but firmly to the side. He peered into the fridge and saw manymon food ingredients. There were several tomatoes, a few carrots that looked so disfigured because the person who went at them with the peeler was so inexperienced, two cucumbers, a whole block of tofu, half a piece of chicken breast that had seen better days, a slice of lean meat, and half a bag of left over pickled mustard nt stem. ¡°Huh, and I thought a Demon God¡¯s menu would be much different from us normal people.¡±

    ¡°Do you need my help?¡± Zhang Ya was suspicious of Chen Ge¡¯s cooking ability. After all, there were not that many high schoolers who knew how to cook.

    ¡°Just take a seat on the coach and try to rx. A kitchen is where a man can work his magic.¡± Chen Ge first pulled out two small bowls. In one bowl, he cracked an egg and seasoned it with salt and other condiments. He then took out the chicken breast and cut it into slices before tossing them into the bowl with the egg mixture to marinate. In the other small bowl, he poured some water and soaked the pickled mustard nt stem inside it.

    Then, he opened the stove and drizzled some oil over the pan. He cut the block of tofu into smaller, edible pieces and then fried them until their surfaces were golden brown. He picked up the tofu and set it to the side. Using the residual oil that was left in the pan, he saut¨¦ed some garlic, spring onion, and ginger and poured in some sauce that he made earlier along with the tofu back into the pan to simmer.

    Closing the lid over the pan, Chen Ge moved onto the next dish to prepare. He grabbed the knife and diced the tomatoes that Zhang Ya had started to cut earlier. Then he poured a generous amount of white sugar over them. He took out the cucumber, peeled the skin off, and took out the seeds. Simr to how he had prepared the tomatoes, he diced it and then seasoned it with salt and other seasoning. He ced the vegetables on the same te. On the left was the sugared diced tomato and on the right was tossed cucumber. One was sweet and the other salty, two vors on one te.

    After he was done with that, Chen Ge took the lean meat and cut it into strips. He stir-fried the strips in the pan and then took out the pickled mustard nt stem that had been soaked in the water. He cut the it into smaller pieces and tossed it into the pan to fry together. Then he added seasoning.

    By then, the braised tofu was ready. He took a bowl from the kitchte and served it. After some cleaning up here and there, Chen Ge found a pot, filled it with water, and ced it on top of the stove. After the water boiled, he found a pack of leftover noodles in the fridge and dropped them inside the boiling pot. When the noodles were ready, the kitchen was already filled with the delicious smell of stir-fried mustard nt stem with meat strips. Chen Ge grabbed ader to strain the noodles and then mixed it together with the stir-fried mustard nt stem with meat strips.

    The rice cooker dinged.

    Chen Ge looked at it and called out rather naturally, ¡°Teacher, do you mind grabbing two bowls of rice for me?

    ¡°For dinner, I have prepared golden tofu, noodles with pickled mustard nt stem, and some popcorn chicken that I will make in a minute. From the appearance, the chicken breast is going to spoil soon. I think we should finish it tonight.¡±

    Zhang Ya¡¯s eyes were as wide as they could be. Her kitchen had never smelled so delicious before.

    The chicken breast had been marinating for quite some time already. Thest step was very simple, which was to coat the cut chicken meat with starch powder and drop it into a boiling pot of cooking oil. The chicken bits came out glistening with oil, and the smell was heavenly, but Chen Ge still looked not quite satisfied.

    ¡°If only I have some breadcrumbs, the double-coating would make this much crispier.¡±

    1All the dishes were served. They filled up the small dining table. Even then, Zhang Ya still could not believe that these dishes had been made from the leftovers that she had sitting inside her fridge.

    ¡°For the main meal, we have the noodles, tofu, and the chicken. If you think the chicken is too oily, there¡¯s the mixed cucumber to help bnce out the oiliness. But if you do not prefer salty food, I have also prepared mixed tomato with white sugar. It is a sd with refreshing tartness from the tomato and a kick of sweetness from the sugar.¡± Chen Ge saw Zhang Ya¡¯s eyes glowing, and her smile only grew bigger. He cleaned up the kitchen, but honestly, there was not much cleaning to be done because the man had been picking up his trash while he cooked. Finally, he joined Zhang Ya at the dining table. He saw that Zhang Ya had not moved her chopsticks. Obviously, she had been waiting for him to join her.

    ¡°Let¡¯s start.¡± Zhang Ya took a bite of the tofu. It was crispy on the outside and tender of the inside. The frying was so well done that it secured the juices inside the tofu so that it would burst with liquid once one bit into it.

    ¡°So, what do you think?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s wonderfully delicious!¡±

    Chen Ge sat across the dining table from Zhang Ya and watched her eat. The corners of his lips could not help but turn upward on their own. ¡°If only I could cook for you every day.¡±

    1 The storm was brewing outside. It was thundering. But inside the room, the two were enjoying a rare moment of peace, sharing a simple dinner together. Chen Ge wondered when and if they would have this chance again in the future. The dinner was quickly swept up. Zhang Ya volunteered to clean the table and ushered Chen Ge to take a seat at the couch. Thetter tried to stop himself from staring at Zhang Ya, but for some reason, his eyes kept wandering over to her. As if feeling his eyes on her, when Zhang Ya put away the utensils, she lowered her head, and she happened to look into Chen Ge¡¯s eyes.

    Chen Ge held her gaze for less than a second before he quickly lowered his eyes and pulled out Yan Danian¡¯sic and pretended to pore over it.

    ¡°Are those your own drawings? They are very impressive!¡± Zhang Ya, who was done with the dishes, moved to the couch. The living room was not that big. With just the couch and the coffee table, there was not much space left.

    ¡°They were drawn by my friend.¡± Chen Ge closed theic, but it was clear the Zhang Ya did not believe him.

    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re not lying to me? Actually, I admire those with artistic talent, especially when that is not the only talent they have.¡±

    ¡°Alright, you got me. Actually, I drew them myself.¡± Shamelessly, Chen Ge admitted it. After all, Yan Danian was unable to show up to reveal his lie at that moment.

    ¡°Jesus, I do not even know to deal with you anymore.¡± Zhang Ya chuckled. She poured two cups of tea and ced them on the table. ¡°Howe I feel like you know pretty much everything other than studying and paying attention in ss?¡±

    ¡°You are just about right there.¡± Chen Ge thought about it. Indeed, it was true that he was multi-talented and was skilled at many different things.

    ¡°Well, someone sure is confident in himself.¡± Zhang Ya shook her head. ¡°But it is not bad to have one¡¯s own hobby and to focus on it. To train and channel one¡¯s energy into the interest, it¡¯s an empowering feeling...¡±

    Chen Ge could pick up the traces of disappointment. He was suddenly reminded of something. In real life, Zhang Ya was studying to be a ballet dancer, and she even won first ce at a bigpetition for it. But in this world, she had somehow turned into an English teacher, a career choice that had pretty much nothing to do with dancing.

    He sidled closer to Zhang Ya, picked up the cup of hot tea, and handed it to her. ¡°Actually, I can see that you have been trying to put on a strong and powerful front for the world to see. But from the first moment I saw you, I knew that you have many things hidden in your heart. You just could not find the avenue to share them, or perhaps you are too afraid to say them out loud.¡±

    The tea in the cup was wafting with vapor, and the two sat together. A home-cooked meal pulled them closer together. It should be Zhang Ya as the teacher who counsel Chen Ge, but from some indeterminate moment, it was Chen Ge who tried to open Zhang Ya¡¯s heart. ¡°Other people only saw you for your good personality, kindness, and gentleness, but I care whether you have been wronged or not. Has life been unfair to you?¡±

    He had silently scooted close to Zhang Ya. Chen Ge picked up Zhang Ya¡¯s bedtime story. ¡°I never had that concern about other people before, but after getting to know you, I have a feeling that I am close to someone who is covered in scars but tries her best to show the world that she is fine with a stered smile on her face.¡±

    After a long time, Zhang Ya lifted her head. She looked at Chen Ge, and as per her habit, she tried to respond with her practiced smile. But she failed.

    ¡°Actually, I thought you felt familiar when I first saw you. Perhaps because wee from the same background.¡± Zhang Ya took a sip from the tea. ¡°You might not believe this, but I used to learn ballet. That was the love of my life. I loved it more than anything. When I was dancing, I could feel myself being one with the wind. I could fly, open my wings, and drift off from the earthly worries of this world.¡±

    ¡°But what happened?¡±

    ¡°When I was at school, no one was willing to be my friend. My ssmates all started this rumor that I was soliciting myself, and the rumors only got worse and worse. But none of those rumors stopped me from chasing after my dream.¡± Zhang Ya put down the teacup. ¡°One afternoon, something happened. I was practicing in the dance room, and a drunkard suddenly barged in, shouting. I was so scared. The only thing in my mind was to run away from him. I believe I screamed for help, but no one appeared to have heard me. Still in my dancing outfit, I ran downstairs and finally saw a teacher walking my way. I quickly hid behind him, and he helped me stop the drunkard from getting any closer.

    ¡°I thought that was the end of that horrible incident, but who knew it was just the start of a nightmare? The next day, when I came to school, everyone was whispering and pointing at me behind my back. Before the first period was even over, I was called to the office.

    ¡°To my surprise, the drunkard was also there. The man and the teacher who saved me ganged up together and said that I was trying to seduce the drunkard in the dance hall. I don¡¯t even know why they would do something like that. Perhaps the drunkard was afraid that I might press charges, so he struck at me first. As for the teacher, who knows why he chose to side with an outsider and not his own student? Perhaps he was bought out with money. In any case, no one was willing to stand on my side. Everyone at school took that as the truth.¡±

    Zhang Ya found it difficult to continue. ¡°After that, I could not bring myself to enter the dance hall anymore, much less practice alone. In fact, I had a hard time being alone after that for a long time.¡±

    Chen Ge patted Zhang Ya¡¯s shivering shoulder and allowed her to lean on him.

    ¡°But everything is okay now. As I promised you, we¡¯ll be close to each other like a person and his shadow. You will never be alone again.¡±

 Chapter 1046 - Tragedy Is Like a Pair of Invisible Hands [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1046: Tragedy Is Like a Pair of Invisible Hands [2 in 1]</h4>

    Two lonely, gentle souls wereforting and curing each other. They sat in camaraderie on that stormy night. The rainshed against the window, like a crazed drummer, but inside the house, it was like apletely different world. The storm was venting anger and dissatisfaction, but inside the room, it radiated Zen and peace. The clock ticked rhythmically, and the teacups on the table were giving off steam. ¡°It should be me who is supposed tofort you, but once you got me to start bringing up these things. I could not help myself. I believe that I have already gotten past the ugly history, but I know I am just lying to myself.¡±

    At the end of the day, Zhang Ya was an adult, so she soon adjusted her emotions. Chen Ge also pulled his hands back. He knew how to gauge the situation and knew how to maintain afortable distance from each other so that it would not be too awkward between them. The distance was not too far, but it was not suffocatingly close.

    ¡°This rain is probably going to keep on going all night.¡± Zhang Ya stood up to look out the window, and then she pulled back the curtains. She went back to sit on the other side of the couch. ¡°Well, you now know about my past, but from today, I will stop running away from it. Promise me that you will try to do the same. Take the first step and try to move on.¡±

    As she said that, she took out her phone. ¡°You need to give your father a call. I am sure he is worried sick about you. Other than that, I wish to have a brief talk with him. I do not wish for what happened to me to repeat itself with you. If you face any trouble in your life, trust that I will do everything within my power to help you ovee it.¡±

    Being the target of nasty rumors, being ostracized, being the butt of the joke, Zhang Ya had gone through all of that. She could identify and empathize with the victims, so she cared very much about her students. Despite, or rather, because of all the wounds on her body, it helped Zhang Ya evolve into a kind and gentle soul. She did not be a dancer like her dream, but she became a teacher. Perhaps at the back of her mind, if the teacher did not lie that day but came forth with the truth of the incident, everything might have gone down a different path. She could not change the past, so she chose a different path. At least in her ss, she would not allow a simr tragedy to repeat itself.

    Everything appeared to be going well, but Chen Ge could not stop the anxiety that was burgeoning in his heart. To have a person experience despair, one had to first give him a good taste of happiness before taking everything away from him.

    ¡°Do you still not trust me?¡±

    With the encouragement from Zhang Ya, Chen Ge called his father¡¯s number, and the call was connected after it only rang twice. ¡°I am now at my teacher¡¯s ce...¡±

    It was a simple, warm conversation between family members. There was nothing wrong with it. The father and son shared a friendly rtionship. They respected and understood each other. There was no situation where the parent was ced on a higher hierarchy and the child had to listen to the orders of the parent no matter what simply because the parent was the parent.

    After Chen Ge finished his part of the conversation, he handed the phone over to Zhang Ya. Zhang Ya and Chen Ge¡¯s father spent quite some time discussing Chen Ge¡¯s future and his education. At around 11 pm, Chen Ge carried Zhang Ya¡¯s sheets andy down on the couch. He buried himself under the covers. ¡°This is so soft.¡±

    ¡°Be careful. Keep yourself tucked in, or you¡¯ll catch a cold.¡± Zhang Ya stood at the bedroom door. Her ce was not big¡ªit only had one living room and one bedroom.

    ¡°You are the one that should be careful. Remember to lock the bedroom door.¡± Chen Ge waved at her.

    ¡°Haha. It¡¯s not your ce to remind me of that, but thank you anyway. Good night.¡±

    ¡°Good night, may you have a sweet dream tonight.¡±

    After the bedroom door was closed, Chen Gey on the couch alone, and he found his brain was drawing a nk. ¡°I have not had such a happy and easy dinner in such a long time already. Furthermore, this is the most rxing rest I have had in an even longer time. I have a hard time believing I am currently in a world behind the door.¡±

    His mind waspletely rxed, he might just drift off without him realizing it, and that would be extremely dangerous. ¡°I cannot let my guard down because the ghost fetus and Yu Jian should be waiting for the moment to strike.¡±

    He turned the light off and waited until midnight. He walked into the bathroom to change back into his own clothes. Even though they had notpletely dried, it would do given the circumstances.

    ¡°It¡¯s about time to leave. There are no clues about Yu Jian at Zhang Ya¡¯s home. Staying any longer will just be a waste of time.¡± Rationality told Chen Ge that he should leave now and use the rest of the night to search Li Wan City, but when this thought entered his mind, his body tried its best to reject it. It was as if there was another voice in his head that was telling him to stay in this warm cocoon offort.

    ¡°The reason I am here is to search for clues in Zhang Ya¡¯s home. I will not get another chance like this. In other words, this will be myst time here. In many ways, this will be thest time I ever do something like this.¡±

    When he reached the door, Chen Ge stopped. He turned his head back to nce at the door to Zhang Ya¡¯s bedroom. ¡°At eighteen, Zhang Ya became a Red Specter, and at twenty-five, Zhang Ya became a responsible teacher. Thebination of both should be the real Zhang Ya.¡±

    Honestly, when Chen Ge first received Zhang Ya¡¯s love letter, there was only fear in his heart, and death shrouded him like a heavy cloud. The first time Zhang Ya showed herself was during the livestream for Chen Ge¡¯s search for the murderer during the Murder at Midnight Trial Mission. He encountered the murderer inside the small cabin in the woods, and it was Zhang Ya¡¯s timely reminder that saved his life.

    Then, he picked up his courage to visit Western Jiujiang Private Academy. After he found out about Zhang Ya¡¯s story at the dance studio, even though he was still afraid of Zhang Ya, in that fear, there existed a trace of empathy. Due to this feeling, he voluntarily helped Zhang Ya search for the killer responsible for her death. He could still remember the details from their first meeting like it was yesterday.

    Truthfully, that was not that long ago. But the things that they had experienced since then could not be summed up easily in one or two sentences. ¡°Before this, I was only given the chance to meet Zhang Ya, who had be a Red Specter. This time, behind the door, I¡¯ve been given the chance to get to know a different side of her.¡±

    Chen Ge walked to the bedroom door and ced his palm lightly against the door. He had no idea whether Zhang Ya was already asleep or not. He hesitated for a long time before he whispered, ¡°I¡¯m so lucky to have met you in this life.¡±

    Carrying his backpack, Chen Ge picked up the ck umbre under the table and left the red umbre behind. He quietly opened the front door. Chen Ge did not fall to the desire to spend the night at Zhang Ya¡¯s. He hurried out into the rain. Following his initial n, Chen Ge decided to continue his search at the eastern side of Li Wan City. The city in the rain waspletely different from how it presented itself normally. There were no streetlights and no cars on the road. ¡°It feels like I am the only one left in this world after the sun has fallen.¡±

    Chen Ge was a person of the dark. He inspected the buildings one by one, but his search led him to nothing. He did not spot anyone outside or inside the buildings. ¡°The ce is getting more and more oppressive, and I feel more and more ufortable, but the problem is that I cannot pinpoint where in lies the problem because there is no obvious change to the things and people around me.¡±

    The heavy rain finally petered off at dawn. Chen Ge arrived at the school early in the morning. He leaped over the fence and entered the school grounds. He opened the ssroom window, jumped through it, and went to his seat. The students gradually filed into the ss. The first ss of the day was English. Before the teacher arrived, Chen Ge asked Du Ming for his homework and copied it under the record time of ten minutes.

    ¡°Thank you. In the future, I shall repay you by offering you a free ticket to my haunted house.¡± Chen Ge returned Du Ming¡¯s homework. It was then that he noticed something was off. The boy who was normally such a chatterbox did not say anything this time. He seemed to be in a bad mood. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    Du Ming still did not answer. He kept his head lowered like he was afraid to look at Chen Ge.

    ...

    After the morning sses, Chen Ge stretchedzily. He was about to have a chat with Du Ming, but the little fatty grabbed the schoolbag and left like he could not wait to get away from the ss, or probably from Chen Ge.

    ¡°Something is not right. I have to get to the bottom of this.¡± Chen Ge hurried after his deskmate. As he walked out the door, he bumped right into two other male students.

    ¡°I am so sorry.¡± Chen Ge did not want to get into any unnecessary altercations, so he quickly apologized.

    ¡°Oi, look where you¡¯re going next time. This is such bad luck.¡± One of the students patted his clothes like any contact with Chen Ge would leave traces of bad luck on him. He seemed to have unfettered hatred for Chen Ge and mumbled under his breath. His voice was low, but with his super hearing, Chen Ge could hear him clearly. Basically, he was using ad hominin against Chen Ge, calling him a b*stard for being raised by a single parent, how he was so unlucky that even his own mother had chosen to abandon him.

    ¡°My friend, it is not good to talk about another person like that. In the future, I wille and exin to you why it is not good to talk that way about another person,¡± Chen Ge said with a smile on his face. He memorized the faces and voices of those two boys and then left in a hurry. It was not that Chen Ge was open-minded enough to not care about theirments¡ªhe simply thought that there was no reason to take things too seriously with people who were about to die.

    The two male students thought that Chen Ge was afraid of them, so they grumbled behind him with derision. Chen Ge noticed something sinister from their behavior. Tragedy was about to arrive. The things in this world had started to target him personally. ¡°Have the ghost fetus and Yu Jian finally lost their patience?¡±

    Due to the interruption from the two students, Chen Ge failed to catch up to Du Ming. He took a detour around the education block before arriving at the rooftop with his backpack.

    Opening the door, Zhang Ya was sitting alone where they had sat yesterday. There was a lunch box ced next to her. It was like she was waiting for someone.

    ¡°Miss Zhang?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised that you came.¡± Zhang Ya waved for him toe over. ¡°When did you leave this morning?¡±

    ¡°I left once the rain stopped. That was the first time I spent the night at another person¡¯s house. It was quite embarrassing.¡± Chen Ge sat down beside Zhang Ya, and for some reason, his heart started to race.

    ¡°Have you had your lunch?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not good for your development for you to keep skipping lunch like this.¡± Zhang Ya opened the lunch boxes that were stacked together. ¡°Coincidentally, I prepared another box today.¡±

    ...

    After the lunch break, Chen Ge returned to the ssroom, and Zhang Ya returned to the teacher¡¯s lounge. The second period after the lunch break was still Zhang Ya¡¯s ss. Chen Ge was quite happy, but during that ss, the ssroom door was suddenly pulled open. Mr. Si waved at Zhang Ya from outside the door. It appeared that he had something important to tell her. Before she left, Zhang Ya had a smile on her face, but when she returned, her brows were creased deeply together. However, she soon reverted to her usually bubbly self. She knew better than to allow her personal emotions to affect her students.

    After the ss was over, Zhang Ya hurried out.

    ¡°Has something happened?¡± Chen Ge carried his backpack and chased after her. Once he got to the corridor, the whispering of two students travelled into his ears.

    ¡°I heard that the new teacher was just given a stern lecture by the discipline head. It was apparently because she got a bit too close with one of the students here.¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s probably just a teacher being concerned about her student, right? There is nothing wrong with that.¡±

    ¡°Who knows what is happening behind closed doors? I heard that the new teacher already has a trail of bad history following her. She always gets into simr trouble, and that¡¯s why she was sent to a small town like ours to teach English.¡±

    ¡°Are you being serious? This is some serious allegation.¡±

    ¡°Someone told me that, but I am sure it¡¯s all true. I mean, just look at her.¡±

    ¡°You have a point there. Such a beautiful womaning to a small town, I doubt it is for the meagre sry of an English teacher.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. These days, you can¡¯t trust anyone, not even figures of authority who are supposed to protect you.¡±

    Chen Ge had no idea where the rumors started, but he knew it would be pointless to tell the students to shut up because that would not stop the rumors from spreading like a pandemic.

    ¡°The ghost fetus and Yu Jian are probably waiting for me to make my move.¡±

    After everyone had left, Chen Ge stood near the teacher¡¯s lounge. The rain outside the window had started to fall again. Zhang Ya was once more thest to leave the teacher¡¯s lounge. She spotted Chen Ge, who had been waiting for her, and Chen Ge noticed her at the same time. Chen Ge had no idea whether his presence would continue to bring trouble to Zhang Ya or not. After he ensured that there was no one else in the building, he chose to walk toward her.

    ¡°Why are you still at school? Shouldn¡¯t you be at home already?¡± Zhang Ya asked with the usual smile on her face. She was adept at hiding her real emotions. Looking at her smiling face, one would not think that something was bothering her.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t suffer being wronged just because of me. You can tell me anything. I will do anything for you.¡± Chen Ge took out the ck umbre that he had removed from Zhang Ya¡¯s home. He did not return the umbre to Zhang Ya. ¡°You are the only person around me that I can share my feelings with so openly.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Zhang Ya walked closer to Chen Ge, and she repeated what Chen Ge said in a softer and gentler tone, ¡°You are the only person around me that I can share my feelings with so openly.¡±

    She opened the red umbre with a ghost of a smile lingering on her face. ¡°Actually, I need you to do many things for me. For example, I need you to pay more attention to your studies. Do not get into any fights with your family. Try to befriend the other students in your ss.¡±

    ¡°I will try my best to do all those things. I will fulfill all the requests that you have for me, but in return, I need you to promise me one thing.¡± Chen Ge looked at Zhang Ya seriously.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°If you one day feel like the pressure is too much for you to bear, before you leave, I hope that we will be able to see each other onest time.¡±

    ¡°Why do you think I¡¯ll leave anytime soon?¡± Zhang Ya shook her head. ¡°You are overthinking things.¡±

    ¡°That does not matter. Just promise me that you will do that.¡± Chen Ge pleaded like a child.

    ¡°Alright, I promise you. If the dayes that I feel like leaving this ce, you will the first to know,¡± Zhang Ya replied rather helplessly.

    ¡°Okay then.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s face lit up like a child.

    ¡°You are such a kid sometimes.¡± This time, Zhang Ya¡¯s smile did not feel so forced. It was a genuine smile. ¡°Since you brought your umbre today, you should go home now. Remember to send me a message when you reach hone. If you find it difficultmunicating with your family, you can give me a call any time. I will help youmunicate with them.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me.¡± Chen Ge lived up to his promise. He did not wander about the city that day. After Zhang Ya left, he left the school by leaping over the wall just in case the guards saw them and started yet another rumor. Chen Ge purposely tried to increase the distance between them, and he returned home early that day.

    ¡°Big... big brother...¡± When Luo Ruoyu saw Chen Ge, she happily came to the door to wee him home, but Chen Ge did not step into it.

    ¡°Ruoyu, are you home alone?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. Daddy... daddy, still... work.¡± Luo Ruoyu looked at Chen Ge confusedly as if wondering why he was not stepping into the house. Her blinking eyes kept staring at Chen Ge.

    ¡°Then I will wait for him here.¡± Without closing the door, Chen Ge sat down. Luo Ruoyu followed him and leaned against him. With nothing better to do, Chen Ge decided to tell her some stories to pass the time. As the only member left in the Ghost Stories Society, Chen Ge had a library of stories to tell. However, in the stories that he told Luo Ruoyu, he purposely left out the darker parts and only told her the brighter parts of human nature.

    After who knew how long, Chen Ge¡¯s father finally returned. He looked even more tired than the day before, and the arms that carried the bags of vegetables had obvious ck threads all over them.

 Chapter 1047 - You Have Her, I Have Sin [3 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1047: You Have Her, I Have Sin [3 in 1]</h4>

    ¡°What are you doing standing outside? Why don¡¯t youe in?¡± After seeing Chen Ge, the fatigue on his father¡¯s face depleted slightly as the man forced himself to show his son a smile. ¡°Also, how did you end up at your teacher¡¯s housest night? Do you know how much trouble you might cause her?¡±

    The familiar nagging came, but the man did notin to Chen Ge about how difficult and tiring his job was, and he did not use that as an excuse to demand that Chen Ge do something for him. ¡°Come on in then. It is great that you are home tonight. I will go and prepare dinner for you guys now. Come on.¡±

    ¡°I cannot go into our house.¡± Chen Ge stood at where he was. The previous night, he had inspected parts of the eastern side and western side of Li Wan City. With two more days, he would havepletely searched the entirety of Li Wan City.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± The man obviously did not expect Chen Ge to refuse to go into the house even when they were already literally standing right before the doorstep already. He stopped moving and turned toward his son. ¡°This is our home. It is the ce that will give youfort and rest when you are feeling down or tired. Why do you refuse toe home? Is there anything that you are afraid of? If there is, please tell me.¡±

    Indeed, in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, his home was a ce of warmth andfort, but that was not the case in Yu Jian¡¯s mind. Once he stepped into the home, the night would fall, and the sun would only rise after he left the home. Chen Ge honestly had no idea why Yu Jian would have this kind of impression of his family and home. Even though he did not have a father, he had a mother that loved him aplenty.

    Seeing Chen Ge standing on the spot and refusing to budge, the man sighed and relented. He was in no position to force his son to do things that he did not want to. ¡°At leaste back in to have some bites after I am done preparing dinner.¡±

    He let out a light sigh and walked into the kitchen. Soon, there came the sound of tes falling and shattering from inside the house. It sounded like Chen Ge¡¯s father had tripped and fallen. Chen Ge¡¯s body instinctually rushed into the room, and he ran to his father¡¯s side. Thetter was leaning against the wall with his hands over his stomach and shattered pieces of china around him. ¡°The medicine, the medicine is in the outer pocket of the jacket.¡±

    Chen Ge followed the instructions and jogged to find his father¡¯s jacket. In the pocket, Chen Ge found a small medicine bottle. Thebel had been torn off, so he could not tell what kind of medicine it was.

    ¡°I will prepare the dinner. You should go and get some rest.¡± Chen Ge picked the man up from the ground. Luo Ruoyu leaned against the kitchen door to look into the room. Her eyes were filled concern. After dinner was ready, Chen Ge sent Luo Ruoyu back to her own room. After he tucked her in, he returned to the kitchen to pour two sses of warm water and headed into his father¡¯s bedroom. Closing the door behind him, Chen Ge ced the water sses on the bedside table and moved a chair to take a seat next to his father in bed.

    He gripped his father¡¯s hand and looked at the tired and weak man who was wrapped up underneath the nket. In his mind, his father was a mysterious, funny, knowledgeable, and interesting person who had the ability to solve any problem that came his way. His wide back had always stood before little Chen Ge, helping him block the wind and the sun. He had never imagined that he would one day be in this position, sitting by the bedside of his ailing father. The pain from his stomach caused Chen Ge¡¯s father to curl up in a fetal position. He arched his back and turned away from Chen Ge as if he was unwilling to let his son see him in this state.

    ¡°It has been almost twenty years already, we never had the chance to have a talk like this before. Life has been pushing me forward, and honestly, I have gotten used to the high pace. Before the day you guys left, I didn¡¯t realize that the independence that I knew was merely an independence in terms of a survival skill.¡± Chen Ge had many things to say, things that he would have trouble sharing with others that were not those who were closest to him.

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± The man¡¯s face was pale. He leaned against the pillow and hesitated for a long time. It appeared like he had something to tell Chen Ge, but in the end, he decided against it. ¡°Who did you learn to cook with? Was it someone at school? That person is a good teacher. The dinner that you prepared was delicious.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it was from the good cooking genes that I have inherited.¡± Chen Ge passed the warm water to his father. ¡°What was the medicine that you took earlier?¡±

    ¡°It is just some medicine for the stomach. It is no big deal.¡±

    ¡°If you are ill, you¡¯d better focus on curing it. You know that you can let go of the responsibility you have toward the family temporarily. I will help you take care of Ruoyu.¡±

    The man before him was a figment of Chen Ge¡¯s imagination. In a way, Chen Ge was calmly having a conversation with his own ¡®father¡¯ in a very unique way. The two had a very long chat and unraveled the misunderstanding that could have existed between them. Chen Ge was most worried about the man¡¯s physical body. He hoped that he would have an early rest, but the man stubbornly requested for Chen Ge to stay by his side and kept on impressing on him the responsibility of bing the head of the family. The man was like a broken record, and the thing that he repeated the most was ¡®take care of yourself and your little sister.¡¯

    When the sun was rising, the storm stopped. Chen Ge once again walked to the door. However, before he could step out, there came another sound from his father¡¯s bedroom. He quickly ran over to check on his father. He saw the man sitting by the bed all dressed up with one hand on his stomach and the other rummaging through the drawer as if looking for something.

    ¡°You should skip work today if you are not feeling well.¡± Chen Ge helped him find the medicine. Looking at the ck threads on the back of his father¡¯s arms, Chen Ge was sure that that was not some kind of normal illness but a curse. The ghost fetus and Yu Jian were cursing Chen Ge¡¯s memory. They were behind Chen Ge¡¯s father¡¯s weakening by the day. Chen Ge had seen through their n. They wereing after the people that cared about Chen Ge. They wanted Chen Ge to experience the same despair as they did, watching the people that he loved leave him one by one.

    Flipping through theic, Chen Ge tried the call the many names, and a thin blood vessel appeared on theic. ¡°I still need more time.¡±

    After ensuring that his father would take a day off work, Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and headed to school. When he passed through the school gates, he did not feel anything was particrly out of ce. It felt like any other day.

    When he came to the ss, many students were already there. Some had their books open before them to prepare for the uing sses. Some were memorizing vocabry. Others were hurrying to borrow homework from their friends to copy. Chen Ge walked to his seat. He nced to his side. Du Ming had his head lowered while he was busy correcting something. His table that was next to Chen Ge was neatly stacked with the homework from many different subjects.

    Even though Du Ming had not spoken a word to Chen Ge, the message that he was trying to send was obvious¡ªIf you need to borrow anything, just take it.

    Compared to Du Ming, who was still a child, Chen Ge was practically a demon fox with thousands of years in training already. He knew that Du Ming had been paying attention to him. What has happened to this kid? Why did he suddenly decide to stop talking to me? Could he be the source of all the rumors that have been flying all over the school?

    In his own memory, even though Du Ming could be categorized as a selfish person, he would never go around and spread rumors. The boy had no interest in the rumor mill. After all, he would rather spend the time studying. The boy might run his mouth asionally, but his results always ced him in the top ten students in the school. He spent very little time on entertainment and was a model of self discipline. Chen Ge did not reach over to grab any of Du Ming¡¯s homework. Instead, he took out the English textbook and started to work on the homework himself.

    ¡°I should start with the multiple choice questions. If only the Pen Spirit was here with me right now.¡± The third period that afternoon would be the English ss. When Zhang Ya entered the ssroom, many students started whispering to each other. The rumors and ad hominen did not disrupt Zhang Ya¡¯s teaching condition. She led the ss like normal. During the fourth period, Chen Ge was surprisingly paying attention in ss when he suddenly received a call.

    The call came from his father¡¯s colleague. The man said that his father had suddenly fainted at work and was being sent to the hospital. He told Chen Ge to hurry and get there as well. As the eldest son of the family, he felt that responsibility. After exining the situation to the teacher briefly, he left the school in a hurry and rushed toward the hospital in Li Wan City. Pushing open the door to the sickroom, Chen Ge¡¯s father was still unconscious. ¡°Doctor, what is wrong with my father? Why did he suddenly faint?¡±

    ¡°We are conducting the examination now. Please calm down. We need you to go and wait outside, or you might disrupt the patient¡¯s recovery.¡± Chen Ge was chased out of the room by the doctor. He sat on the bench outside the hospital room, patiently waiting. Ten minutester, he heard more footsteps from the corridor.

    ¡°Chen Ge, what did the doctor say?¡± Zhang Ya had hurried to the hospital. She knew about Chen Ge¡¯s family condition and was Chen Ge¡¯s ss teacher. She felt that it was her responsibility to be there for him at this difficult time in his life.

    Seeing Zhang Ya in person, Chen Ge felt slightly moreforted. ¡°They are still conducting the examination, but I suspect with the town hospital¡¯s medical standard, even if they can discern the illness that he is suffering from, they are incapable of curing him.¡±

    Looking through the sickroom window, Chen Ge saw the ck threads that had increased on the back of his father¡¯s hands. The ck spots that represented the curse had spread all over his father¡¯s body.

    ¡°If you need any help from me, just tell me.¡± Zhang Ya handed the lunch box over to Chen Ge. ¡°I do not have any sses this afternoon. You should go back to school. I will wait here for you. If anything happens, I will call you at the first moment.¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think I will leave this ce. I have a bad feeling about this.¡± Both Zhang Ya and Chen Ge skipped school that afternoon. It was when the sun had almost set that Chen Ge¡¯s father regained his consciousness, but his condition was very bad.

    ¡°Leave the family chores to me. You should focus on treating your sickness.¡± Chen Ge called the red high heels¡¯ name in his heart, but he got no response. However, the page on theic where the red high heels was hiding had a thin blood line that surfaced on it. The employees were close to breaking through their shackles. Chen Ge held his father¡¯s hand. Not many people would be able to share what he was feeling at that moment.

    When all the Red Specters could break through the barrier, this world would shatter. He would return to the real world, but at the same time, he would lose everything that he had experienced in this made-up dream world.

    Chen Ge returned home when the sky was already dark. He just got into the staircase when he heard the sound of Luo Ruoyu running to open the door. No matter how tired, how low one was feeling, when one got home to a warm light, and someone to open the door, that was a kind of simple happiness that many people would forget to appreciate.

    ¡°Big... big brother...¡±

    ¡°Daddy will stay outside for a few days, and he temporarily will not be home. I will cook dinner for you, okay?¡±

    Luo Ruoyu had no idea what being hospitalized meant; she was just happy to see Chen Ge. Entering the house, Chen Ge prepared the dinner and served it on the dining table, but Luo Ruoyu did not move to take a bite.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Do you have no appetite?¡±

    ¡°Where... where is daddy?¡± Luo Ruoyu hugged the bowl. She wanted to wait for their father toe home before they started dinner.

    ¡°He has to stay at the hospital because he is sick. He will be back in a few days.¡± Chen Ge sat on the other side of the table. The room that was normally so cramped felt so empty and hollow that night. Chen Ge was sitting at the spot where his father usually sat. Perhaps when he was not home, this was how his father and Luo Ruoyu spent their nights together.

    ¡°But daddy...¡± Luo Ruoyu hugged the bowl and continued to stare at Chen Ge. She kept repeating the same words, and tears were threatening to flow out of her eyes. Chen Ge knew that a conventional exnation was not going to work. Chen Ge called his father on his cellphone and then ced the phone next to Luo Ruoyu¡¯s ears.

    After hearing her father¡¯s voice, a smile immediately lit up the girl¡¯s face. Chen Ge ced the phone on the table, and Luo Ruoyu finally started to have her dinner. Hearing the asional hacking that came from the phone, Chen Ge found himself unable to move his chopsticks. He looked at Luo Ruoyu silently and the rather hollow home that they were sitting in.

    The owner of this house is my father. If he leaves one day, I will take over everything and look after it for him. Now that I think about it, this old house is not that different from the haunted house.

    At that moment, Chen Ge finally understand the meaning of Luo Ruoyu¡¯s presence in the world behind this door. Luo Ruoyu was the first Specter that had appeared to apany Chen Ge in his mind. This little sister represented the family other than his own biological father, and she also represented the employees that could not be wiped away from Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

    I swear I will not crumble so easily in protection of this family.

    After putting Luo Ruoyu to bed that night, Chen Ge stayed inside the house. Once he pushed open the door, the next day would arrive. To dy the time as much as he could, he did not go anywhere. The blood vessels in theic continued to increase in number, and the rain outside the window continued to be heavier and heavier.

    Once dawn arrived, Chen Ge carried his backpack and went to school. He noticed quite visibly that people had started to toss strange looks at him. He did not mind these things. Attacks based on rumors and empty words would not affect his emotional level and mental stability.

    When he arrived at the ssroom, Chen Ge found Du Ming in a worse statepared to the previous day. There were ck rings under his eyes, his lips were chapped, and he did everything he could to avoid meeting Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. Chen Ge still did not borrow Du Ming¡¯s homework to copy. He knew that Du Ming was hiding something in his heart.

    During the lunch break, Chen Ge tried to talk to Du Ming, but thetter was acting very strangely. It appeared like he needed to make some kind of deep determination before he could even talk to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Did something happen to you?¡± Chen Ge did not think Du Ming would go around spreading those nasty rumors, but he had a feeling that Du Ming knew something about it. During the lunch break, Chen Ge first went to the hospital to buy some food for his father, and then he bought two packets of lunch and took them home for Luo Ruoyu. He could not step into the house, so he handed the lunch to Luo Ruoyu at the door. The brother and sister sat in the stairwell. As they had their lunch, Chen Ge told Luo Ruoyu stories.

    After the many interactions, Chen Ge confirmed that Luo Ruoyu¡¯s presence was a representation of the workers at his haunted house. Initially, she was only willing to stay inside the house and would never step out of it. But with Chen Ge¡¯s aid and persuasion, she had started to open herself up to the outside world and enjoyed the air outside the house. After ensuring that Luo Ruoyu had finished her lunch, Chen Ge returned to school. He sent some messages to Zhang Ya. They always had something to talk about, and they would never run out of topics.

    When he reached home that night, Chen Ge decided to teach Luo Ruoyu how to do some housework and teach her some simple life skills. Things that were like second nature for a normal person proved to be extremely difficult for Luo Ruoyu. She had trouble controlling her body, and she had a very hard time understanding simplenguage. One had to repeat things many times for her to get it. Chen Ge tried to educate her for a very long time, but the results were less than favorable. Even so, Chen Ge stillvished her with praise.

    The night turned into day, and day into night. The days passed in a blur. Chen Ge had never once closed his eyes. His mental state had reached an extreme. On the ninth morning after Chen Ge entered this world behind the door, theic in his backpack finally a few pages that werepletely dyed red, and he finally could gain contact with his employees.

    ¡°The final showdown should happen anytime now.¡±

    Carrying the backpack, he pushed open the door of his family home. The gray clouds pressed low in the sky like they were trying to suffocate the people in the world. Not only the people at the school, even the neighbors had started to give Chen Ge and Luo Ruoyu strange looks. The rumors had spread that far. When he went to school, the first ss of the day was English. Chen Ge was ready for it.

    For the past few days, Du Ming did not utter a single word to him. The usual chatterbox had be so unusually quiet. He stoppedmunicating not to only Chen Ge but also everyone else around him. His face nched day after day like he was suffering from some illness. His results were affected. The small quiz that they had yesterday sent his cement back ten spots.

    ¡°Do you need any help?¡± After these nine days, Chen Ge had practically turned the whole of Li Wan City upside down. Even though he still had not found Yu Jian, through different clues and ideas, he had a general idea where Yu Jian was hiding. Thepetition started the moment he stepped through the door. Leaning on the table, Du Ming¡¯s long sleeves identally scooted up his arms to reveal the bruises underneath them. He looked even more tired than Chen Ge.

    ¡°Your family beat you? Simply because you scored worse in the test yesterday?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice was small, but Du Ming heard him clearly. Thetter¡¯s hands clenched together before they slowly loosened. The boy ignored Chen Ge and buried his face into the textbook. The ss started, but halfway through the first ss, Chen Ge and the rest of the ss heard the sound of an argumenting from the corridor. The sound came from the teacher¡¯s lounge. Instead of calling it an argument, it was more like the one-sided venting of a woman.

    When he heard that voice, Du Ming¡¯s face paled even further. The boy looked like he was in physical pain. There was some self-recrimination, some embarrassment, but more than that, there was an emotion that was hard to pinpoint.

    They waited until the ss was over. Chen Ge immediately grabbed his backpack and prepared to leave, but as he got up from his seat, Du Ming suddenly reached out to grab at his elbow. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± After saying that, Du Ming let go of his elbow. By then, Chen Ge had a brief idea of what had happened. He took a deep breath and ran out of the ssroom. The door to the teacher¡¯s lounge was locked. Chen Ge pushed away the group of students who had gathered around the window, and he looked in through the window.

    Four parents were surrounding a female teacher and scolding her rapidly and relentlessly. Their spit flew everywhere, and their faces were twisted in disgust and anger. Mr. Si tried his best to mediate and promise to the best he could by the parents. The argument in the teacher¡¯s lounge went through the roof. The students outside the office treated this like some kind of concert. They were having the time of their lives. Some even cheered the parents on. Only Chen Ge stared at the female teacher quietly.

    The questioning that came from nowhere, the sin that was pinned on her for no reason, and the rumors that became more and more ridiculous by the hours. Chen Ge felt the urge to st into the room with Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer and smash everything into pieces, but he did not do that. He asked himself, what would he do if this happened to him in real life? What would a boy at his age do when he experienced such a thing in his life? What could he do at this very moment? In reality, he could not do anything. He could only stand outside and watch because anything too obvious would only make a bad situation worse.

    ¡°Was Yu Jian feeling this helpless before? Being possessed by the ghost fetus, he was much stronger than me. He could have easily killed everyone in the room, but he did not do that. The ghost fetus would have continued to urge him to do so, to turn him into a demon who hated everything, but he went against the ghost fetus¡¯ wishes. This should be when the separation between Yu Jian and the ghost fetus reached its limit.¡±

    More and more students gathered outside the teacher¡¯s lounge, and finally, the teacher inside relented. The office door was pushed open. The person who led the heckling bunch of hens was a middle-aged woman. She looked very stern, and her face was still covered in anger. When she first stepped out of the teacher¡¯s lounge, her eyes seemed to zero in on Chen Ge, and her anger reached to the top of her head immediately. She was about to unload on Chen Ge when the female teacher whom they had been giving a dressing down earlier stepped forward to stand between the woman and Chen Ge.

    ¡°Whatever you have against me as a teacher has nothing to do with the innocent student.¡± The female teacher did not say anything else, but her countenance was firm. She was unwilling to move even one step,pletely different from how gentle she was normally. The woman called her something very nasty that would have gotten this book banned if it was written down before being pulled away by the other parents. They left the schoolpound with Mr. Si bowing and apologizing profusely to them.

    ¡°Go back to your sses now. There is nothing to see already.¡± The female teacher urged the students to leave. Then she nced at Chen Ge and whispered in the gentlest tone she could manage, ¡°You should also return to ss.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll talk to you in the afternoon.¡± That was all Chen Ge said. After the crowd dispersed, he walked away from the female teacher. He returned to the ssroom and saw that Du Ming was leaning on the table, pretending to be asleep.

    ¡°Du Ming, why did your mothere to school today?¡±

    Du Ming did not say anything in response. All Chen Ge heard was heavy breathing.

    ¡°She seemed to have misced all the wrongdoing and fault on Miss Zhang, but I am the one who was behind all those things.¡± Chen Ge tightened the grip around the pen that he was holding, and his voice was getting louder and louder. ¡°It was me who affected your studies, it was me who borrowed your homework, and it was me who interrupted you during your studying to chat every single day. The whole ssroom would be able to be my witness, but they were all pointing their fingers at Miss Zhang. Why? Why did they do that when I am the one who made all the mistakes?¡±

    ¡°Stop! That¡¯s enough!¡± Du Ming finally shouted back at him. He was highly agitated. He seemed to be in a tenser situation than Chen Ge.

    Seeing Du Ming in that state, Chen Ge did not wish to push him any further. He left the boy with onest statement. ¡°The two of us are the recluses of the ss. Neither of us has a friend. The only person that we can share our story with is each other. In a way, you are actually my only friend.¡±

    Hearing Chen Ge say that, Du Ming¡¯s breathing became very agitated like he was suffering from asthma. He appeared to be in great pain.

 Chapter 1048 - The Distance Between Life and Death [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1048: The Distance Between Life and Death [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Chen Ge twisted open a bottle of water for Du Ming. ¡°How about some water?¡±

    Du Ming copsed onto the table, buried his face into his textbook, and held his stomach with both hands. ¡°I did not mean to do it. I did not expect it to turn into something like this.¡±

    ¡°What exactly did you do?¡± Chen Ge did not get mad. If anything, the gaze that he had for Du Ming was filled with more pity than anything else. Du Ming did not respond. He merely shook his head lightly. His mental condition was stretched to its limit, in a way, rather simr to Chen Ge¡¯s condition.

    ...

    After the fourth ss, when there was no one around, Chen Ge sneaked his way up to the rooftop of the education block. Zhang Ya was standing by the edge of the roof. He walked to stand beside her silently, the two of them watching Li Wan City expand below them. The education block was one of the taller buildings in the city, and this very moment could not help but remind Chen Ge of the incident that happened in the Li Wan City behind Xiao Bu¡¯s door. At that time, Zhang Ya had epted his request and be part of his shadow.

    The wind carried the chilling raindrops thatnded on their faces. Zhang Ya¡¯s hair was blown aside by the wind behind her. Suddenly, she said, ¡°I might be leaving after some time.¡±

    ¡°Is it because of me?¡± Chen Ge had predicted this oue. He had spent the whole morning rehearsing this scenario in his mind, but when Zhang Yaid it out in the open for him, the statements that he had practiced were lodged in his throat.

    ¡°It has nothing to do with you.¡± Zhang Ya shook her head rather resignedly. ¡°The reason is because of me. I always assume that I have walked away from the past, and I can begin a new life with a smile, but I was only lying to myself. Working hard, keeping myself busy, everything that I have done is merely a reason for me to escape. Actually, it has been so many years now, but I still feel like I am trapped inside that dim dance hall.¡±

    Standing next to Zhang Ya, Chen Ge gripped the rail tightly. He could empathize with her because he was the only person in this world who knew about Zhang Ya¡¯s actual past. Be it in the real world or this made-up world behind the door, Zhang Ya had chosen to share her secret only with him.

    ¡°If anyone is in the wrong, it is those who began and spread the rumors. Give me some time. I will get to the bottom of everything and show everyone the truth.¡± Chen Ge had been wanting to do that. Even if this was just behind the door, even if everything that had happened was just derived from his own memory, he still had the urge to help Zhang Ya, to give this nightmare a brand new beginning.

    ¡°The truth does not matter. What really matters is you. I am afraid that what once happened to me will recur again with you.¡± Zhang Ya cared about Chen Ge. When the whole town was swirling with the rumors about them, Chen Ge still sided with her and trusted her implicitly. She had not experienced that before. Even with the age gap between them, there was one thing that was undeniable¡ªshe did sense something that was different about the young man beside her.

    ¡°I can leave, and I can try to run from everything, but you can¡¯t.¡± Zhang Ya stood before Chen Ge and leaned in close. ¡°Your father is still recovering at the hospital, and you have a little sister to take care of. In the future, these responsibilities will fall on your shoulder. You mustn¡¯t let my issue affect your life.¡±

    ¡°I already have a general idea of who started the rumors. We can...¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge.¡± Zhang Ya raised her arm, and the slender finger pointed at the heavy and dark sky. ¡°This separation does not mean that we will never see each other again.¡±

    Zhang Ya seemed to have already made her decision. If she forced herself to stay, she would continue to be spoken about behind her back. Actually, Chen Ge knew that it was not easy for Zhang Ya to make this decision. She must have taken a long time to consider it again and again. His hands that gripped the rail had turned white, and blood vessels shot out beneath Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. He took a deep breath to steady himself. ¡°Sometimes, I feel that this world is a very awful ce. It will always reach out toward the kindest person to torture them.¡±

    ¡°The world itself is not good or evil, but do not lose faith in the good people in the world. Once there are more good than evil people in the world, the world itself will change into a better ce.¡± Zhang Ya reached out to help Chen Ge adjust his hair that was blown disheveled by the wind. Her cold finger stopped at Chen Ge¡¯s cheeks. ¡°So, in the future, you have to try to be someone good. It is time for you to go back. You still need to prepare lunch for your family. Do not waste too much time on me.¡±

    Taking back her hand, Zhang Ya turned around to look at the schoolpound that had be her second home for these past few days. It was hard to tell what was going through her mind.

    Standing behind Zhang Ya, Chen Ge looked at her back. He raised both of his hands before putting them down again. He left the rooftop and the school to head to the hospital. After buying food for his father, he bought another lunch box by the roadside and returned home to meet Luo Ruoyu. When he reached his own residential area, Chen Ge stopped at the door. Normally, when his footsteps echoed down the corridor, Luo Ruoyu would run over to open the door for him, but that day, the little girl did not show up.

    ¡°Nothing will have happened, right?¡± Chen Ge called Luo Ruoyu¡¯s name out loud. He believed that he could hear the sound of suppressed cryinging from inside the house. ¡°Ruoyu?¡±

    Pushing the door open, Chen Ge was hit in the face by a horrible smell of leaked gas. Ignoring the rules, he dashed into the room. The kitchen was filled with puddles of water, and shattered pieces of the ss thermos littered the ground. He ran into the kitchen and saw Luo Ruoyu curl up at the corner with her hands covering her ears. Before her was a broken thermos. Her shirt was wet, and her neck, arms, and fingers had been scalded. Tears hung on her face.

    ¡°Who told you to use the stove!¡± Chen Ge kicked the broken thermos away. He had never been this mad in his life before. Hearing the roar from Chen Ge, Luo Ruoyu cried even harder. Her red and scalded hands shielded her face, and the tears kept on falling. Switching off the stove, Chen Ge did not give it another thought as he carried Luo Ruoyu and ran outside as fast as he could.

    Once he stepped out from the door, it was already the beginning of a new day, but Chen Ge was not in the mindset to care about that. He carried Luo Ruoyu, called a cab, and rushed to the hospital. Thankfully, only a small part of her body was burnt. The majority of it was centered around her arms. The doctor applied some ointment on Luo Ruoyu, but the girl was still like a doll whose soul had not returned. She appeared to have been severely traumatized by this incident.

    ¡°The condition is not as serious as it looks, but as her family member, you have to be careful. It is too dangerous for a mentally-challenged child to stay at home alone.¡±

    After the doctor left, only Chen Ge and Luo Ruoyu were left in the sickroom. When the ointment was still thered on her skin, it would sting, but after a while, it would give off a chilling feeling. Luo Ruoyu ced both of her arms beside her body. She did not dare look at Chen Ge. She kept her head lowered and wept as softly as she could.

    After standing for a while inside the sickroom, Chen Ge ced his backpack down and sat beside her on the bed. He pulled her in for a hug. ¡°I am sorry. I should not have shouted at you.¡±

    The girl in his embrace was shaking. A dam seemed to break inside her. She leaned against Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder and started to wail.

    ¡°I know you just wanted to help. You did not want to be a burden to others. I know you have tried your best. I can see that now.¡± Chen Ge tightened his embrace around Luo Ruoyu. ¡°After all, we are each other¡¯s most important family.¡±

    In this world behind the door, Luo Ruoyu represented his family and also represented the once homeless haunted house workers as well as the lingering spirits that were trapped inside the deepest abyss of despair before they were offered a home by Chen Ge. So, no matter what happened, Chen Ge would also stand at the forefront, oveing the training of the night, and was never stingy with his encouragement. Chen Ge did not ask for anything in return; he did all that merely because he had treated them as part of his family.

    After she cried for a while, Luo Ruoyu became tired and fell asleep. Even so, her hand was still clutching the edge of Chen Ge¡¯s shirt. After tucking Luo Ruoyu into bed, Chen Ge left the room silently. The blood vessels in his eyes were getting more and more pronounced, and theic in his backpack had started to change.

    ¡°The tragedy is slowly approaching. Since this is a dream weaved from my own memory, I shall shatter it myself.¡±

    Since he had returned home in the afternoon, it was already a new day. When Chen Ge arrived at school, they were already halfway through the first period. He went to his seat and noticed that Du Ming, who was neverte, did not go to ss that day. When the first period was almost over, the teacher even went over to Chen Ge to ask if he knew why Du Ming had skipped ss that day.

    Du Ming, who was a well-recognized studious person, skipping ss was something that Chen Ge did not expect. The second period only began for ten minutes when a shrill woman¡¯s voice came from the corridor. ¡°What else do you wish to do if note to school? What else can you do? Go back to ss immediately!¡±

    The woman sounded like she was lecturing someone, but the voice of the person being lectured was not heard. This was a one-sided altercation. The voice slowly approached the ssroom, then the door was pulled open. A woman appeared at the door. She was as angry as she could be. The expression on her face was scary. ¡°Well, are youing over here or not?¡±

    She dragged the thing behind her rather harshly, and Du Ming was shoved into the ssroom. The little fatty looked worse for wear. He kept his head lowered and did not dare to look at anyone.

    ¡°Well, get to your seat!¡± After saying that, the woman turned to the teacher who was conducting the ss and bowed slightly. She added in a much softer tone, ¡°The kid overslept, but he was afraid of being punished, so he did not daree to school.¡±

    ¡°It alright, Du Ming. Please just take your seat.¡± The teacher seemed to be slightly afraid of the woman himself.

    ¡°So sorry for bringing so much trouble for you, sir.¡± The woman¡¯s face changed as quickly as the actors from Chinese Opera. She stered on a very fake smile and then left in a hurry. After she was gone, the students in the ss started to churn the rumor mill again.

    ¡°That was Du Ming¡¯s mother? She is so strict. No wonder Du Ming¡¯s results are so good.¡±

    ¡°I thought his mother would be as fat as he is.¡±

    ¡°You know what, she looks rather familiar. I remember it now! Wasn¡¯t she the parent who led a group of other parents and made a scene in the teacher¡¯s lounge that other day?¡±

    ¡°I think you are right. She is so ferocious. Even Miss Si did not dare speak too loud in her presence.¡±

    ¡°Actually, if you think about it, being under such a mother must be quite scary. The fact that Du Ming is so reticent and has such a nasty attitude probably has a lot to do with his family.¡±

    The words of the rumors travelled into Du Ming¡¯s ears. He lowered his head even further. He did not dare look at anyone. He was afraid that once he lifted his head, he would realize that everyone was staring at him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind what these people say. These people will only dare talk behind your back. If you stand before them and look them in the eyes, none of them will say a negative word about you.¡±

    Different from the whispering of the other students, Chen Ge voiced his opinion loudly, so loud that even the teacher could hear him clearly. Perhaps it was the effect of the statement or perhaps they were shocked by the fact that Chen Ge woulde to Du Ming¡¯s defense¡ªin any case, the ssroom quieted down again.

    The ss resumed. Chen Ge did not ask Du Ming why he waste that day. Aftering to his rescue that one time, the interaction between them stopped. Chen Ge stopped paying Du Ming any attention. If anything, it was thetter who kept sneaking nces at Chen Ge, like he had something to tell him but failed to gather the courage to say anything. The bell rang. The third period was English ss. Like usual, Du Ming took out the English textbook, but Chen Ge was just leaning against the wall, spacing out.

    Chen Ge was usually so excited when it was English period. This anomalous behavior from Chen Ge gave Du Ming a very bad feeling. The bell rang again. Five minutes passed, but the teacher still did not show up. Chen Ge seemed to have known this would happen. He turned his head to look out the window.

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡± After who knew how many days, Du Ming finally spoke to Chen Ge again. ¡°Has anything happened to Miss Zhang? Normally, she arrives at ss five minutes before the period officially begins.¡±

    ¡°Zhang Ya has already been fired by the school.¡± Chen Ge pulled his gaze back from the window and whipped his head around to stare at Du Ming. ¡°She will not being to teach us anymore.¡±

    ¡°Has been fired?¡± Du Ming jumped up from his seat. Everyone in the ss was focusing on their studying. It was very quiet, so everyone heard Du Ming clearly.

    ¡°It was all my fault, but she was the one who was forced to keep apologizing. But in the end, her apology was not epted.¡± Chen Ge red at Du Ming, challenging him to hold his gaze. ¡°I tried toin to her, asking her why this world would always pick on those who are kind. She told me the world itself is not purely good or evil. When there are more good people in the world, the world itself will be a kinder ce, and it will learn to treat people kinder.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me this sooner? Did you know this would happen already?¡± Du Ming¡¯s eyes were bulging, and his face was red.

    ¡°I found out yesterday.¡± Chen Ge paused for a moment. ¡°But what was the point of telling you?¡¯

    ¡°She is leaving, and you are just going to sit here just like that? Didn¡¯t you like her? Shouldn¡¯t you have stepped forth and done something for her?¡± Du Ming was getting agitated. He grabbed Chen Ge by his cor. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you stop her? You...¡±

    Bang!

    Before Du Ming could finish, Chen Ge delivered a heavy left hook on his face. Before the boy could react, Chen Geunched yet another powerful kick at his stomach, causing the boy to crumble to the ground. ¡°Who is the ss monitor? I need you to watch over the ss and ensure that everyone pays attention to their homework.¡±

    Chen Ge grabbed his backpack with one hand and dragged Du Ming by his cor out of the ssroom with the other.

    ¡°Do you know who that teacher is? Do you know what she represents to me? Do you know what she has experienced in the past?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s punches fell on Du Ming like rain. ¡°You do not know anything.¡±

    Pushing open the iron door on the rooftop, Chen Ge flung Du Ming onto the ground. ¡°She trapped herself willingly inside that blood red world filled with despair. She has not seen the light for so long already that perhaps she has even forgotten who she is anymore. And because of that, I wish desperately to leave a good memory for her. Even though I know very well this is just a dream, I tried my best to make this dream as beautiful as it possibly could be.¡±

    Chen Ge grabbed Du Ming by his shoulders and mmed him against the wall. ¡°But you guys did not even deign to give me a chance to weave a dream for her.¡±

    ¡°I have no idea what you are talking about. All I know is that you keep on saying you care about her, but you have not done anything for her! You do not love her at all! You are just lying to her, using her as a scapegoat so that she will volunteer to take on all the pain on your behalf!¡± Du Ming growled in a horrible grimace. He waved his arms and tried to hit Chen Ge.

    ¡°Is that what love is in your eyes?¡± Chen Ge did not retaliate. ¡°Do you understand that love is conditioned. For a student at seventeen, no matter how enamored he is, no matter how much he wants to get close to her, you have to understand one thing, your adoration might be her burden. Love is a weight. It could be a pair of wings that allow a person to soar, and it could be a stone that pulls one down into the abyss of despair. If I were you, I would maintain a suitable distance until the day I could shoulder the responsibility for both myself and for her before I dared search for her again.¡±

    Du Ming¡¯s emotions were getting frayed. He had gottenpletely out of control. It was as if the secret deep inside his heart was being peeled out into the open for everyone to see. ¡°You are not me. You will never understand it.¡±

    He struggled to get loose, but this time, Chen Ge knocked at him heavily and dropped him to the ground.

    When Du Ming slipped to the ground, his phone fell out. The screen broke, and through the shattered screen, one could see that background picture of the scene was a picture of Zhang Ya. The picture appeared like it was taken when Zhang Ya did not notice it. In the picture, Zhang Ya had a faded smile on her face, and it appeared that she was conversing with someone.

    ¡°You also like her?¡± Chen Ge looked at the broken phone screen and took out the hammer from his backpack.

    ¡°Do not use the term ¡®also¡¯. You do not deserve it. When she was being pointed at and scolded by everyone, where were you? When she was tortured by the rumors, what did you do for her?¡± Du Ming wiped away the blood from his face and climbed up from the ground. ¡°You have done nothing for her. If anything, because you are a student and she is a teacher, due to this distance that cannot be broached, you do not even have the courage to step forward to stay something to defend her!¡±

    Du Ming shouted from the bottom of his soul, but it sounded like he was not scolding Chen Ge but the person that he once was.

    ¡°Perhaps from your perspective, the distance between a student and a teacher is far enough for you to feel despair, but have you considered this? There is a distance in this world that is the difference between living and dead.¡± When Chen Ge saw Du Ming¡¯s phone, he understood everything. ¡°You like your teacher, but you can use everything in your power to try to close the distance. Take three years or five years to work on yourself until you are capable of taking that step to go and find her. But the distance between life and death, that might not be crossed even in a lifetime.¡±

    Picking up the phone from the ground, Chen Ge looked at Zhang Ya in the picture. ¡°Love will never stop from the moment it res up until death. It will only end when one party chooses to leave.¡±

 Chapter 1049 - Love Taken by the Ghost Fetus [3 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1049: Love Taken by the Ghost Fetus [3 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°So, this is love...¡±

    Chen Ge did not hold back. Du Ming was beaten into a pulp, and he had trouble standing up. He touched the wounds on his face and appeared like he had finally calmed down. The words that Chen Ge said were finally getting through his skull, and he was slowly digesting them.

    ¡°Your mother keeps a very close and watchful eye over you, but she did not seem to have tell you what love is, or rather, she has not taught you how to correctly love someone. Love is an ability, love is a responsibility, but love does not equal bliss. It is not only an adoration and admiration you have toward the person you have a crush on, but it includes your attitude toward your family, your friends, and the world atrge. Those who understand what love is have kindness running through their veins and a warm glow suffusing their hearts. Even when they are walking in the dark or through a fog, they will not get lost.¡±

    1Du Ming came from a very strict family. The way his mother treated him was simr to a military-like education. Of course, if this was allowed to continue, in the future, Du Ming would have no choice but to be a good contributing member of society, but it was destined that there would be a part of him that was missing. The wind howled on the rooftop. Chen Ge gave Du Ming enough time to think about what he had said, then he picked up the phone and squatted next to Du Ming. ¡°Was it you who started the rumors around the school about Miss Zhang?¡±

    Chen Ge clicked open the phone¡¯s photo album. Most of the pictures had been deleted. There were only two pictures left that were saved in the album. One was the picture of Zhang Ya that was taken when she was not paying attention, and the other was the picture of Zhang Ya and Chen Ge walking out from the school sharing the same umbre. The second picture was taken from the back. From that perspective, it appeared like it had been taken without the subject¡¯s knowledge as well.

    ¡°It was not me.¡± Du Ming took a long time before he uttered that. He raised his bruised face. ¡°My mother went through my phone without me knowing one day. She discovered the pictures and asked me who the woman in the picture was, so I told her that she was the new teacher.¡±

    ¡°But what does that have to do with the rumors?¡±

    ¡°After she saw the picture of you sharing an umbre with her seemingly going home together, she had a very bad impression of this intern teacher, so she spread the news among the parent¡¯s group.¡± Du Ming¡¯s eyes were filled self-recrimination and guilt. He hated how helpless and worthless he was at that moment.

    ¡°A parent¡¯s group? When did this happen? Did my father know about it?¡±

    ¡°It was on the day you left the school with Miss Zhang. Your father should have known about it. At the time, the people in the group managed to recognize you from your back, and many of them went after your father to demand an exnation. Your father tried his best toe to your defense, but I believe no one was paying him any attention. They merely continued to pile on him until he was kicked out of the group. I thought he would have told you that already.¡±

    ¡°My dad has known about this all along?¡± Chen Ge adjusted the timeline in his mind. That was the day he spent the night at Zhang Ya¡¯s home and did not go back home. His father did not me him or get angry at him but used his actual action to prove his trust in his son.

    ¡°The parents all thought this kind of teacher would not be able to be a good model for the students. They all thought she has a reputation problem, so they came to school to find a solution. Some of the parents told their children about this and warned them to stay away from predatory adults like Miss Zhang.¡± Du Ming had known everything all along, but he did not say anything. No wonder he could not gather the courage to speak or even meet Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. He merely ced his homework on the table, as if he was using this kind of method to express his apology.

    ¡°Zhang Ya¡¯s written test and interview score was the highest among all the intern teachers, so naturally, the school would not fire her for just a few pictures. The stalemate between the school and the parents continued for a few days.¡±

    At this point, Du Ming¡¯s voice took on a deeper shade of guilt. ¡°Because of this, I started to feel dissatisfied with my parents. I have never resisted them before, but on this issue, I refused to budge, but my resistance did not gain the understanding of my family. If anything, my mother thought the time that she had spent years teaching was being spoilt and negatively influenced by the new teacher.¡±

    ¡°In other words, your mother had pinned the failure to her own education onto Zhang Ya?¡± Chen Ge realized before this he hadpletely forgotten about a crucial person in this story, and that was Du Ming¡¯s mother. The woman was the person who cared about Du Ming the most in the world, but at the same time, she was also the one who harmed him the deepest. Before this, it eluded Chen Ge why Du Ming was so unpopr with his good results, and sometimes, he would be appear to be so selfish and cold. People woulde to talk to him, and the boy would freeze them out. Now Chen Ge could see why.

    ¡°The real explosion of the conflict happened a few days ago when I came home with a less than satisfactory test result. My mother thought that it had to be because of Zhang Ya, and if she left me in the hands of this new teacher, it would have ruined my future.¡± Du Ming¡¯s expression was a mixture of bitterness and pain. He was like a bird trapped inside a gilded cage. The people outside the cage admired his ¡®singing¡¯, and they all praised his trainer for it, but they had never considered the internal feeling of the bird before.

    ¡°That night, my mother shared the story with the rest of the parents in the group. Many of the parents stepped forward to show her their support. Since this was rted to their children¡¯s education, they couldn¡¯t be too careful about it, so they decided to gang up together and go to the school to ask for a discussion.¡± Du Ming¡¯s voice was getting weaker, like his strength was draining as the cooped up story left his body.

    ¡°You know about what happenedter. The ¡®discussion¡¯ turned into an argument. My mother never takes no for an answer. The parents never really understood their children. My mother believed that I should understand the things that she had done for me was for my own good. She truly believed that by making a scene at the teacher¡¯s lounge, she would somehow help me and the other students. But once I heard her shrill voice echoing through the hall, I just wanted to find a small space to curl up and hide. I know that she loves me, but now I am afraid of letting people even know that she is my own mother.¡±

    Du Ming¡¯s mother¡¯s education had some problems. Chen Ge felt like he should find a chance to have a meeting with her. ¡°I believe that you should sit down and have a good conversation with your mother. Never admitting her mistake and a strict requirement as well as holding her child under a high moral standard is not a good form of education.¡±

    Du Ming could bemunicated with normally. Chen Ge gave him a helping hand as he dragged the boy up from the ground. Both of their eyes were bloodshot. ¡°Now, I need you to listen to me. There is one more chance that we have that we will be able to make Miss Zhang Ya stay, but I do not know whether you have the courage to do that or not.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡±

    ¡°Yes, all you need to do is to take your phone into the teacher¡¯s lounge and tell everyone the truth behind the pictures. There is nothing inappropriate between me and Zhang Ya. That day, we shared an umbre because I forgot to bring my own, and she loaned me hers. You know about all that. You can be the witness. You can be the one who stops all the rumors.¡± Chen Ge shoved the phone back into Du Ming¡¯s hands. ¡°But the question is whether you have the courage to do that or not.¡±

    Holding the phone whose screen had broken, Du Ming stood there for a long time and did not speak.

    ¡°Tell me when youe to a decision.¡± Chen Ge did not force Du Ming. He looked at Du Ming quietly, but in his mind, it was Yu Jian¡¯s shadow that was ovepping the boy¡¯s body.

    ¡°I...¡± Du Ming¡¯s fingers tightened, and his eyes were red. After a long time, he slowly opened his lips. ¡°I cannot do that.¡±

    ¡°How did you interrogate me earlier? Your pain is no lesser than mine, so why don¡¯t you have the courage to face it? Actually, you wish to sink in this abyss, don¡¯t you?¡± Chen Ge wanted to help Zhang Ya, but at the same time, he was helping Du Ming. If Zhang Ya really left just like that, Du Ming would live with the guilt forever, and that would be a knot in his heart that would never be unraveled.

    ¡°If I go there and exin everything, my mother will be so mad. After all, she did all those things because of me. It was how she showed her love toward me.¡± Du Ming put away his phone. Grayness started to appear at the bottom of his eyes, and the color drained from his face. He appeared suddenly lifeless. It was not easy for him toe to this decision. ¡°Miss Zhang still has you, but my mother¡¯s only rock in the world is me. My father left when I was still very young. She is being so strict on me because she has ced all her hopes and dreams in me.¡±

    ¡°Is it for your own good that she has turned into a selfish monster? Taking away your happiness, taking away your ability and capability to love others, does your mother often remind you how difficult it is for her, how hard she has to work, how much she has invested and sacrificed for you?¡± Chen Ge could understand, but he could not approve of it. ¡°Your mother is not raising you as a son; she is raising you into a version that she hopes you will be. I do not deny that she loves you deeply, but that love should not be built on the basis of voiding a person of his personality. Love is mutual. Yes, it is rare that a bnce can always be achieved, but most of the time, it should be equal and fair.¡±

    Du Ming heard Chen Ge¡¯s words and gritted his teeth. Chen Ge did not disturb Du Ming and allowed his words to settle while he studied the little fatty who stood before him. Physically, Du Ming was not disformed in any way, but psychologically, he was missing something important, something that a human being should be born with. That thing was ¡®love¡¯.

    ¡°I will go with you and exin everything to the school.¡± Chen Ge grabbed Du Ming by his shoulder. ¡°I do not mind being expelled. I can give up everything because this is my mistake. I should be the one being punished, not Zhang Ya.¡±

    With Chen Ge¡¯s continual persuasion, Du Ming finally gave a nod. Seeing Du Ming change his mind, Chen Ge sighed in relief. He apanied Du Ming, and they left the rooftop together. They knocked on the door to the teacher¡¯s lounge. Chen Ge and Du Ming, who were covered in bruises, walked to Mr. Si¡¯s table.

    ¡°What happened to you two? Did you get into a fight?¡± When Mr. Si saw Du Ming, he was given the shock of his life. After all, Chen Ge had given the boy quite a beating. He had knocked the boy literally off his feet before he could knock some literal sense into him.

    ¡°Mr. Si, actually, Miss Zhang is nothing like the rumors say. She did not do anything that vites the rule of her career and being a teacher.¡± Du Ming took out his phone. ¡°The picture that was first shared among the parent¡¯s group is this picture. The real incident that happened that day was Chen Ge forgot to bring his umbre, and Miss Zhang was afraid that he would get wet in the rain, so she told him to get under the umbre with her. That was the whole truth. I was just standing beside them at the time, and I heard everything.¡±

    ¡°But when your mother came yesterday, that was not what she said. Didn¡¯t you tell her about this?¡±

    ¡°I did, but she refused to believe me.¡± Du Ming ced his phone on Teacher Si¡¯s table.

    ¡°So, it is all a misunderstanding. Look at how this thing has blown up. I need you to call your mother and tell her toe to school now. We will need to exin this all in the open.¡± Mr. Si wanted to resolve this problem. Zhang Ya was the best teacher that he had ever had the privilege to interview. To fire a valuable talent like that because of a mere misunderstanding, it did not feel right to him. Du Ming called his mother, and his mother promised to arrive soon. Mr. Si also gave Zhang Ya a call, but the call was not connected.

    ¡°Will something has happened to Miss Zhang?¡± Chen Ge wanted to go to Zhang Ya¡¯s home to check, but Mr. Si did not allow him to leave. ording to the discipline head, he was one of the main characters, so he had to be there as a witness for Zhang Ya.

    They waited for about half an hour when they heard rushing footstepsing from the corridor. Without knocking on the door, the door to the teacher¡¯s lounge was pushed open, and a middle-aged woman strode in. Her face was already carved with impatience and annoyance, but when she saw the condition Du Ming was in, her expression changed immediately, and she quickly jogged to Du Ming¡¯s side.

    ¡°What happened? Who did this? Was it him?¡± The woman red at Chen Ge. ¡°How many times I have told you not to hang out with people like him? He is a bad student, so why do you insist on spending time with him? Since I am already here, Mr. Si, I demand that you change my son¡¯s seat. I want him to be away from this bad influence, as far away as possible.¡±

    ¡°Madam, you have been called here because we need to discuss the thing that you told us earlier. The parents have misunderstood Miss Zhang.¡± Mr. Si took out Du Ming¡¯s phone. ¡°Miss Zhang did not do anything inappropriate with any of the students. They shared an umbre because Chen Ge forgot to bring his umbre that day.¡±

    ¡°Who told you that?¡± The middle-aged woman¡¯s face darkened almost instantly.

    ¡°It was Du Ming who told me that. Even if you do not believe Miss Zhang, don¡¯t tell me you do not trust the words of your own son?¡± Mr. Si assumed that it would be easy to convince Du Ming¡¯s mother, but he did not expect the woman to be so determined and desperate for Zhang Ya to leave.

    ¡°Impossible! Someone must have forced him to tell this horrible lie!¡± The middle-aged woman whipped her head around to re at Chen Ge. ¡°How did my boy get all these wounds? It must be you, right? It was you who forced him to tell these horrible lies! Admit it!¡±

    Du Ming¡¯s mother was like an angered lioness, and her voice kept on raising. The sound of the argument attracted the attention of all the other teachers in the room. Du Ming lowered in head, but his mother was impervious to the scene that she was causing. If anything, she only raised her voice louder and louder.

    ¡°Madam, you must calm down. I was the one who interviewed Miss Zhang. She is really a good teacher. She would never do the things that you have insinuated she has done.¡±

    ¡°How can you even guarantee something like that?¡± The middle-aged woman mmed her bag on the table. ¡°From her looks, I know that she is a good for a nothing girl. I sent my child here because I trusted your school, and this is how you treat me?¡±

    ¡°Madam, you are being a little bit unreasonable.¡± Mr. Si was cornered. He had said everything he could, but he could not change the middle-aged woman¡¯s mind. He thus turned to Du Ming. ¡°Du Ming, tell me the truth. Did Chen Ge force you to say those things?¡±

    With his head lowered, Du Ming gripped his shirt with his hands, and his face was nched.

    ¡°Du Ming, tell us how Chen Ge forced you to say those false statements! Don¡¯t you be afraid of a ruffian like him. I will protect you!¡± The middle-aged woman was practically ordering Du Ming to do so.

    A palpable silence fell over the office. Du Ming did not say a thing. His mother¡¯s expression was getting more and more desperate and agitated. Just as she was about to explode, Du Ming finally opened his mouth. ¡°No one forced me to say anything.¡±

    Both Mr. Si and Chen Ge sighed in relief, but Du Ming¡¯s mother refused to ept this. She gripped Du Ming by his shoulders. ¡°Son, don¡¯t be afraid. Be a good boy and tell the truth. You are being threatened by this nasty piece of work to say all these things, aren¡¯t you? They are all lies, aren¡¯t they?¡±

    ¡°What I said was the truth. Miss Zhang did not do anything inappropriate with Chen Ge. You merely saw the pictures of Miss Zhang in my phone and tried to chase Miss Zhang away because you are afraid that she might affect my school results!¡± Du Ming had held this in for a long time, and this time, the words burst out from him like a fountain.

    ¡°Du Ming?¡± The middle-aged woman¡¯s face clouded over. Her teeth ttered noisily, and her breath wasing uneasily through her nostrils. She did not expect Du Ming to say something like that. The fury and sense of betrayal fired up her mind. ¡°All I ever did was for you own good! Why can¡¯t you ever see that?¡±

    Du Ming did not dare reply. At that moment, the bell rang. Many students ran out from the ssroom and gathered at the corridor.

    ¡°I have to carry out the roles of both a father and a mother at the same time. Do you think it is easy for me to raise you all by myself? Do you the amount of pressure that I am under?¡± The middle-aged woman practically hissed through her teeth. ¡°I have ced all my hopes and dreams in you, and this is how you repay me?¡±

    Du Ming¡¯s mother¡¯s voice was getting louder and louder. The students gathered in the corridor could hear her clearly. More of the students started to gather. They leaned against the window to enjoy the show.

    ¡°I am talking to you! What is in that mind of yours! For that filthy woman, you do not even want to listen to my words anymore, huh? What has she done to charm you like this?¡± The middle-aged woman grabbed Du Ming by his shoulders. ¡°After your father left us, I am the person who has been the kindest toward you. Everything I did was for your own good. As long as you are well, I will be happy. Why can¡¯t you understand that?

    ¡°In this whole world, I am the single person who loves and cares for you unconditionally! Du Ming! You disappoint me so much!¡±

    The words were like knives cutting into Du Ming¡¯s heart. The blood leaked out from the wound, and they were all in the name of love. He gasped hungrily for air. His hands held his clothes tightly until his fingers snapped, and his knuckles turned white. The sound of the argument was getting so loud that the students who were not gathered in the corridor could hear it clearly.

    The students¡¯ faces appeared on the window, one head piling over another like a wall of strange, inhuman faces. Many eyes wandered all over the room, scanning the figures who were gathered inside the teacher¡¯s lounge. Du Ming felt like he was being stripped and left naked on a stage with the spotlight gathered on him. He tried to cover up his privates and desperately sought somewhere to hide.

    ¡°Du Ming¡¯s mother hase to school again?¡±

    ¡°I could hear her during ss.¡±

    ¡°Du Ming¡¯s mother sure has a temper.¡±

    ¡°Quick, this is a good show! They have gotten into another argument.¡±

    ¡°Du Minges from a single-parent family? His father abandoned them?¡±

    ¡°No wonder he is always acting the way he does. He stutters when he is called to speak in ss...¡±

    The words travelled into Du Ming¡¯s ears, torturing his mind. The veryst shred of pride that he tried to protect was trampled on. His chest rose and fell unevenly. He covered his hands over his ears. He just wanted to run away from this ce. His pupils darted about anxiously. His mother¡¯s interrogation and scolding fell on him like a waterfall. The strange looks and remarks of the students from the corridor rushed into and overwhelmed his mind.

    ¡°Stop, stop talking. Please stop talking. I¡¯m begging you...¡± His mouth opened and closed like a goldfish. His body was shivering. His legs buckled and staggered backward. They carried him to the edge of the window. His fingers that had gotten numb fell on the edge of the windowsill. Du Ming was like a drowning victim who finally found a pocket of air. His hands shoved the window angrily open. His leg leaped over the window, and it was as if the weight was lifting away from his body. The wind blew into his fall. As his world turned upside down, a pair of hands grabbed him firmly.

    ¡°Have you lost your mind?¡± What Du Ming saw was Chen Ge¡¯s blurry face. It all felt like a dream. ¡°Death is not going to solve any problem!¡±

    Using all the strength in his body, Chen Ge managed to yank Du Ming back to safety. Since Du Ming¡¯s mother entered the picture, Chen Ge had noticed the boy¡¯s emotions beginning to fray. That was why he had kept his guard next to him, afraid that some ident might happen. His precaution was right.

    Everyone in the room was shocked. No one expected Du Ming to do something like this, and that included his mother. All the teachers in the room turned to look at Du Ming. There was not a peep from the students outside the teacher¡¯s lounge. The world seemed to have frozen in that moment.

    ¡°Why did you do that?¡± Du Ming¡¯s mother was the one who broke the silence after a long time. There was an obvious change to her voice. It was as if there was another person speaking from inside her.

    ¡°Why would you choose to die rather than to listen to my words? It has been proven again and again that I am the person who cares the most about you in this world. I am the one who truly understands you and loves you.¡±

    ck stains started to surface on the middle-aged woman¡¯s face. This world behind the door that mimicked the real world the most started to change. ck threads surged out from the corners, and a horrible stench started to rush in from all sides.

    The heavy clouds pressed even lower from the sky. The rain unloaded on the world, washing away theyer of disguise that had covered the small town. The ck rain, red rain, gray buildings, and curses weaved together to form this nightmare.

    ¡°We are kindred spirits. In this world, only I will be able to understand you; only I can help you. I am the only one who cares about you sincerely. So, why did you choose to die rather than listen to me? All I ever wanted was for you to be a better person, to be someone like me.¡± The middle-aged woman raised her head. The ck curse dispersed to reveal a baby face.

    The ghost fetus!

    When this face appeared, Du Ming¡¯s body started to change. The rolls of fat were like a cage made from a curse, and it was entrapping a boy who was as thin as a stick figure.

    Du Ming¡¯s phone fell to the ground. The woman on the screensaver was no longer an image of Zhang Ya but an unfamiliar woman who was wearing a pair of spectacles.

 Chapter 1050 - Red Spectre Zhang Ya [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1050: Red Spectre Zhang Ya [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    All the illusions faded away. This small town was nothing but a nightmare used to trap Yu Jian. In this nightmare, Yu Jian was wrapped up in a thick shell, and the ghost fetus became his own mother, the person that was supposed to be closest to him. Perhaps the ghost fetus wanted to use this method to get Yu Jian to understand him, to have the boy see the effort that he had made for him. After all, they shared the same perspective and background; they were both ¡®monsters¡¯ that emanated evilness from the bottom of their hearts.

    The ghost fetus believed that Yu Jian was the same kind of person as him; Yu Jian believed that the ghost fetus could help him aplish many things. They were like the shark and the remora, feeding off each other andmitting multiple crimes.

    But one day, Yu Jian found the teacher that would change his life. He started to go against the ghost fetus and vite his order.

    When Chen Ge saw Yu Jian trapped inside Du Ming¡¯s body, all the questions that he had so far were cleared up and answered. He was thankful that he did not resort to violence the moment he entered this world. If he had gone against his principles and ruined this small town, he might be one of the bargaining chips the ghost fetus would use to convince Yu Jian. The ghost fetus would definitely have told Yu Jian that everyone had a demon living inside their heart, that it was something normal. Everyone would go for destruction and despair¡ªthat was human nature. There was no need to follow what the female teacher said.

    The ghost fetus would manage to convince Yu Jian, and if the ghost fetus seeded, Chen Ge would not only need to face the ghost fetus but also Yu Jian, who was empowered and taken over by the ghost fetus.

    ¡°The worst situation has not appeared. My effort so far has not been wasted.¡± Chen Ge used actual actions to give Yu Jian a lesson that he would never forget. If meeting that teacher was the only stroke of light in Yu Jian life, a light that granted him a glimpse into the real world beyond the despairing mist, then Chen Ge offered him a pair of hands, wanting to pull him out of the devouring mist. The ghost fetus ultimately failed to gain Yu Jian¡¯s approval. Everything he did, if anything, only caused Yu Jian to resist him even further and harder. The ck threads that were pulsing with curses crawled all over his body. The ghost fetus could not understand it. The eyes that looked at Yu Jian started to take on the vor of evil and resentment.

    ¡°I¡¯ve treated you so well and given so much to help you, and this is how you treat me?¡± The baby¡¯s face was twisted. The hatred in his heart was at its maximum. He could not understand why this would be the result after he had done so much for Yu Jian. He kept saying these things like a broken record. It felt as if he had repeated these exact words to another person before. He repeated them again and again. The pressure that pulsed around him became scarier and scarier. Soon, he became more terrifying than a normal Red Specter.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t the real ghost fetus, right? Has he been hiding behind this door all along?¡± Chen Ge could not really tell. One thing that he could not rely on was his luck. After all, during the spinning of the Wheel of Misfortune, he always got the unluckiest prizes. He would always form these unbreakable bonds with unknown Specters and Red Specters.

    Yu Jian had lost consciousness, wrapped inyers of curses. Chen Ge was unable to shatter the shell of curses, but leaving him there alone would not be a good idea. After giving it some thought, Chen Ge took out theic from his backpack. Whether the ghost fetus before him was real or not, he decided to deal with the ghost fetus here and now. This time, he had spent too much time submerged in the world behind the door. His mental state was strained to the maximum. Both of his eyes were bloodshot, and the man himself was about to copse.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to call an end to this.¡± Flipping through theic, Chen Ge called the names of his employees. The pages of the blood-stainedic fluttered like a bloody sea. The heavy scent of blood powerfully overwhelmed the horrible stench that previously upied the room. The Red Specters were fighting the curse inside the teacher¡¯s lounge. Two terrifying forces collided. This sight would have snapped the mind of a normal person.

    ¡°Du Ming¡¯s mother is much stronger than the woman from Wu Sheng¡¯s world. They are not even on the same level.¡± There was no ce to hide in the enclosed space. As more and more blood red figures appeared, this curious world took on a sheen of redness. Blood flowed. A pair of pale hands pierced through the cage weaved by the curse and attempted to pull Yu Jian out.

    ¡°Xu Yin and Ol¡¯ Bai, I need you two to stay beside me. Temporarily, don¡¯t go anywhere.¡± He had been calling them for almost ten days before the defense of the world behind the door was broken. As the employees appeared, it also pointed at the final copse of this false world behind the door. The scenario that was weaved from Chen Ge, the ghost fetus, and Yu Jian¡¯s memories was about to copse, and it was Chen Ge himself who was going to shatter it with his own power.

    ¡°The two of you should go and give it a test.¡± Chen Ge summoned the Stage Costume Red Specter and the water ghost that he had met in Jiang Yuan Apartments. They had been locked inside theic for a long time. This was their first time in the open, but the first thing that they saw was the ghost fetus who was getting stronger. The increasingly scary presence added a lot of pressure to the two Red Specters.

    ¡°The snail behind Jiang Ming¡¯s world had a tough shell, and it needed the cooperation of ten Red Specters to break through it. The faceless woman behind Wu Sheng¡¯s world knew how to control blood, and she could perform multiple task very well. The ghost fetus behind Fang Yu¡¯s door was very calm and collected; she was an expert at setting traps and controlling curses. Every variation of the ghost fetus behind each door possesses different talents. The ghost fetus before us now has an indeterminate power. I should use the Stage Costume Red Specter and the water ghost Red Specter to feel him out first.¡±

    Chen Ge was very cautious. He had held on for so long behind the door. He would not allow himself to make a careless mistake at thest moment.

    ¡°Xiao Bu, watch for the opening and aim for the kill whenever you can!¡± Of all the Red Specters that Chen Ge had, the strongest one currently was Xiao Bu. After bing the real door pusher of the door in Li Wan City, this little girl had not really shown her true strength. After all the Red Specters showed up, Chen Ge could not try tomunicate with them during the brief moments when they were not fighting. The battle between Red Specters was extremely gory and cruel. They were entities wrapped withinyers of resentment. Unless there was a serious imbnce in power level, once they started fighting, no one would be able to pull them apart until one of the parties was killed and consumed.

    A Red Specter with rationality and reasoning like Men Nan was an exception.

    The water ghost Red Specter and Stage Costume Red Specters appeared before Du Ming¡¯s mother. They had to attack. If they don¡¯t, they would be attacked by Du Ming¡¯s mother. They had no other choice. The Stage Costume Red Specter did not mind it that much. She possessed a great resentment toward the ghost fetus. After all, it was thetter who had forcibly upied her altar.

    The water ghost, though, even thought of abandoning Chen Ge to join the ghost fetus. This was different from what he had imagined.

    ¡°Chen Ge, our promise did not include a fight with another Red Specter, right?¡± He wanted to stay out of it. After all, Du Ming¡¯s mother who was actually the ghost fetus gave him a very dangerous feeling.

    ¡°No, it is hundred percent within our promise. Did you not ask me to find the door pusher of the door at Jiang Yuan Apartments for you? The ghost fetus is the door pusher. After you kill him, you will be the real door pusher.¡± Chen Ge did not lie, or at least, he believed he had not said a single statement that was false before.

    ¡°Our promise was that we would kill the door pusher together!¡± The water ghost Red Specter was only powerful in water. He was unable to gather his full strength on drynd. Soon, his body was cut and wounded by the curse. ¡°Help me! Help me!¡±

    1¡°That given by others is called charity. That fought for and earned by oneself is called dignity.¡± Chen Ge kept his eyes on the water ghost Red Specter. The ck thread of the curse slipped through the water ghost¡¯s body through the open wounds, and it made its way to his heart. The water ghost slowly lost his rationality. All the negative emotions in his mind were amplified. If this continued, he would turn into a collection of negative emotions that could not bemunicated with. Other than hatred, murder, and resentment, he could not feel any other emotions.

    ¡°The ghost fetus behind this door can use the curse to corrupt others, huh? To pollute the other Red Specters¡¯ hearts?¡±

    The heart of the Red Specter was the basis for their existence. It was an object crystallized from theirst wish and resentment. Chen Ge did not expect the curse of this ghost fetus to be so powerful.

    ¡°We need to end this battle as soon as possible! Work together! Be careful of being injured by his curse!¡±

    After getting to know the ghost fetus¡¯ power, Chen Ge stopped holding back. The ghost fetus¡¯ curse was too scary. With this kind of power, if the ghost fetus managed to survive the initial onught, after the curse took effect, Chen Ge would lose its advantage in numbers. Red Specters who had their hearts corrupted would destroy everything before them, including their former colleagues and even their boss.

    ¡°So far, I have found out so many powers that the ghost fetus boasts. The more I discover, the scarier he bes in my mind.¡±

    None of the red Specters held back. They attacked at full force. The ghost fetus¡¯ body was mangled and weakened. He barely looked human, but he still hung on for dear life. He did not disappear. The ck threads that were hidden in various spots behind the door crawled into his body to help him recover.

    ¡°The world behind Yu Jian¡¯s door is helping him?¡± Chen Ge knew that he did not have much time left. He grabbed the shoulders of the boy who was lying on the ground. ¡°Yu Jian, can you hear me? Your resistance and determination has paid off. I am here to bring you home! Wake up! The mother in your heart is a version that has been maligned by the ghost fetus. She is not your real mother!

    ¡°Have you really lost all hope in this world? Do you not wish to see your own teacher onest time? There are many people like her in this world. The ghost fetus hid them away from you. He only showed you the darkest side of the world. But you must understand that with darknesses light. Without the light to shine, where does the shadowe from!¡±

    1As if hearing the term teacher, Yu Jian¡¯s eyelids flickered slightly. His brows slowly moved into a V. He seemed to be struggling in a nightmare.

    ¡°Yu Jian, if you really believe that you have encountered love, it is time to stop letting yourself sink behind the door. Do not let her down and use every inch of power that you have to change yourself into someone that would make her proud.¡± Chen Ge picked Yu Jian up from the ground and gave him a powerful p. ¡°Snap out of it! Perhaps she is just waiting for you on the other side of the door!¡±

    The flesh that caved in slowly recovered. Yu Jian¡¯s eyelids moved slightly, and then he slowly opened his eyes. Chen Ge picked up the phone from the ground and showed the picture of the screensaver to Yu Jian. ¡°Live! I beg you to give life another chance! It is not that hard. In the future, you might have a chance to see her again!¡±

    The fuzzy eyes started to focus. The past incidents crossed Yu Jian¡¯s mind. The boy¡¯s hands reached out to grab the broken phone, and his expression stopped being so nk. Chen Ge removed his jacket and ced it around Yu Jian. The boy was a prideful man, but he waspletely naked behind the door. This was probably a symbol of his once state of mind.

    ¡°The ghost fetus infested himself inside you and kept luring you to the edge of the darkness. He blotted out all the light and only allowed you the glimpse of darkness and despair. Thankfully, you ran into that teacher.¡±

    ¡°Miss Zhang...¡± Light started to gather at the bottom of Yu Jian¡¯s eyes. The connection between the ghost fetus and the world behind the door was weakening. He found it more and more difficult to summon energy from Yu Jian¡¯s world.

    ¡°Yu Jian!¡± The ghost fetus¡¯ body was disformed and covered in wounds. He was wailing like a wounded animal. ¡°It was me who apanied you when you were all alone! It was me who stood by your side when your father abandoned you and your mother med you! When the adults were fighting and shouting in the name of ¡®love¡¯, it was also me who was shielding you from all the pain!¡±

    A shrill voice wasing out from the ghost fetus¡¯ lips. He had shed the disguise of Du Ming¡¯s mother but started to remind Yu Jian of the things that they had gone through together. From what Chen Ge gathered, Yu Jian appeared to be a b*stard son. His mother fell in love with a man who already had a wife. The argument between his parents and the whisperings of the neighbors twisted Yu Jian¡¯s understanding of ¡®love¡¯ from the moment he was born. Combined with the influence of the ghost fetus, Yu Jian gradually lost the power of love.

    ¡°He was not protecting you. He merely wanted to turn you into his tool, to turn you into a machine who would not know what love is.¡± Chen Ge guarded Yu Jian behind him. ¡°If you still retain the memory of the period after I entered your door, you should think about it. What is love? What should you do when you really love a person?¡±

    The ghost fetus was unable to get any more help from the world behind the door. At that moment, he looked aggressive, mad, and crazed. Compared to the physical wounds on his body, he was more angered by Yu Jian¡¯s attitude toward him.

    Seeing the ghost fetus in this state, Yu Jian¡¯s lips were pressed in a thin line. His hands that were raised earlier were finally lowered again.

    ¡°Yu Jian! Yu Jian!¡± The ghost fetus¡¯ body was torn into pieces by the Red Specters. All the ck threads were washed away by the wave of blood. Du Ming¡¯s mother, who was disguised by the ghost fetus, disappeared, and what remained on the terrifying distortion of a mother¡¯s love was a watercolor painting of a child.

    A family of three stood before a haunted house with happy smiles on their faces. In the sky was a sun that was painted red. Around the house were green trees with brown trunks. The family wore colorful clothes, and the whole picture was filled with various bright colors. Chen Ge remembered painting this when he was young. In fact, he noticed his name was signed in his still untrained handwriting in one corner of the painting. It was a homework assignment that had been given by the teacher. It was to draw a painting with theme of family.

    ¡°The ghost fetus is also in possession of this drawing?¡± The painting looked normal, but after Chen Ge studied it closer, he noticed that something was off. There was a small part on the painting that he did not remember putting in. The family of three stood before the haunted house happily. Under the zing ze of the sun, behind the caricature that represented Chen Ge, there was a dark shadow that was added by someone other than Chen Ge.

    ¡°The shadow?¡± Chen Ge ced the painting inside his backpack. He carried Yu Jian, and with the apaniment of the Red Specters, they walked out from the teacher¡¯s lounge.

    ¡°It is time for us to leave this ce.¡± The small town no longer looked like the idyllic ce that it appeared to be. The dream had turned into a nightmare. Chen Ge looked nkly out the window as if looking for someone. The streets were filled with cracks, and the rain continued to pour. This world was about to copse. Chen Ge still did not see the person that he was looking for. He walked to the ck door that was in the school¡¯s equipment room.

    Just as he was about to push the door open with the rest of his employees, his phone suddenly rang. Chen Ge did not hesitate and answered it immediately. He ced the phone next to his ear and held his breath. Momentster, Zhang Ya¡¯s voice came through the phone. ¡°I promised you that I would definitely tell you before I leave, Chen Ge...¡±

    ¡°Where are you now?¡± Chen Ge grabbed the phone and ran to the nearest window. ¡°I will meet you now!¡±

    Without taking the umbre, Chen Ge grabbed the backpack and rushed into the pouring rain while holding the phone. He ran down the cracked street, flying through the crumbling world. Finally, he saw that lonely shadow standing at the crossroad. Zhang Ya stood by the road, holding a red umbre. She still had not hung up the phone that she was holding. Gasping for air, Chen Ge¡¯s body was soaked by the rain.

    ¡°I did not want to call you, lest I interrupted your study, but once I have decided to leave, I seemed unable to control myself.¡± Zhang Ya pushed the red umbre over Chen Ge¡¯s head and stood beside him. ¡°Will you ever forgive my selfishness?¡±

    The gray town started to crumble and fall. The ck cracks were tearing through the world. Chen Ge did not answer Zhang Ya. This was the first time that he had been able to be so close to her. ¡°If the incident at the dance studio did not happen, if we were not teacher and student, if you were just Zhang Ya and I was just Chen Ge, how good would that be?¡±

    Zhang Ya did not say anything once she heard Chen Ge. She took another step forward. She stood on her tiptoes and leaned lightly against Chen Ge. Raising both of her hands, Zhang Ya whispered in Chen Ge¡¯s ears, ¡°Hug me.¡±

    Under the red umbre, before Chen Ge could raise his hands, Zhang Ya¡¯s body had started to turn illusory. The red umbre tumbled to the ground. Chen Ge hugged nothing but air. He stood alone silently as the rain poured down around him.

    The world behind the door copsed. The Red Specters herded Yu Jian and Chen Ge to the iron door, and they worked together to push it open. Just as they left the world, droplets of red rain fell on Chen Ge¡¯s backpack. They seeped through the material and finally dyed Zhang Ya¡¯s book red.

    ...

    COMMENT

    After stepping out from the iron door, gravity pulled him sideways, and he stumbled into Yu Jian¡¯s bedroom. His eyes were red. Without missing a beat, he pulled open his backpack and took out Zhang Ya¡¯s bedtime story. He flipped through the many pages until he found thest page.

    ¡°X Year X Month X Day, I had a dream today. In the dream, I was a teacher, and he became my student.

    ¡°I dreamed that we shared the same umbre going home. I dreamed that we stood at the bus stop waiting for the bus together. I dreamed that we were living and cooking together.

    ¡°I dreamed that I hugged him, and he returned a tight embrace.¡±

 Chapter 1051 - Seven Children [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1051: Seven Children [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The whole book was filled with entries of cruel and gory stories, but thest page consisted of a warm, sweet dream. His fingers caressed the handwriting on the page. Fatigue overwhelmed him like waves. Chen Ge hugged the book, closed his bloodshot eyes, and copsed to the ground. He was under enormous strain and pressure after spending ten sleepless days and nights in the world behind the door. It was little wonder that he was at his limit already.

    After leaving Yu Jian¡¯s world, he finally snapped, and hisstyer of defense was broken. The backpack dropped beside him, and Chen Ge fell asleep just like that. Next to him, on the single bed, Yu Jian slowly awakened from his slumber. Hugging the thin nket, Yu Jian took a nce at Chen Ge before slowly burying his head into his chest. Yu Jian¡¯s mother, who stood at the door, took in everything. She had no idea what had happened in the room and what to make of it. Chen Ge had promised that he would help cure her son, but from her perspective, before Chen Ge got involved, only Yu Jian was the one that needed treatment; however, after their interaction, it appeared that both Chen Ge and Yu Jian needed some kind of intervention.

    ¡°Jesus, what am I supposed to do now?¡± Yu Jian¡¯s mother walked into the room, attempting to drag Chen Ge out. She gave the young man a tug and tried to drag him out, but she realized that she was too weak to move Chen Ge by even an inch, so in the end, she surrendered. With a deep frown, she walked out from the bedroom without noticing the many blood red shadows that appeared behind her. If she had done something to harm Chen Ge earlier, perhaps the whole building would have been awash with blood as a result.

    At eight o clock in the morning, Chen Ge was woken up by the rm that he had set on his phone. His eyes flickered blurrily open, but his eyes were still slightly bloodshot. Holding his head that was still pulsing, Chen Ge looked out the window. The sun filtered through the curtains into the bedroom. A well-dressed Yu Jian was sitting at the study table.

    ¡°You are finally awake?¡± Hearing the movement from Chen Ge, Yu Jian turned around. He was impably groomed like he was ready to leave and go somewhere.

    ¡°I am still suffering from a bit of a headache.¡± Chen Ge picked up the backpack and ced everything inside it. ¡°You should still remember the dream fromst night, right?¡±

    Yu Jian shook his head. ¡°I can¡¯t say that I remember every detail clearly, but I have not forgotten the words that you told me.¡±

    He grabbed the several pieces of paper from the table, collected them in a stack, and handed them over to Chen Ge. ¡°This is the list of crimes that I havemitted. I will go and see Miss Zhang onest time before going to the police to surrender.¡±

    The content on the white paper was shocking. It was filled with horrible thoughts and despicable curses. Three of them jumped out as being the most serious. The first incident happened when he was still very young. Under the influence of the ghost fetus, he had almost poked his neighbor¡¯s child blind. The second incident was when he ran away from home during secondary school. It was during this period that he had surrendered himselfpletely to the ghost fetus and allowed the ghost fetus to make use of his blood to helpplete the setup of the nine children. During this period, the ghost fetus had harmed many different innocent people, including Wu Jinpeng¡¯s younger brother. It was him who shoved his hand into the fan.

    At the time, the ghost fetus wanted to take away the sense of sound from Wu Sheng, but Wu Kun, whose mental acumen was much lower than a normal person¡¯s, was not afraid of the ghost fetus. He tried his best to stop him, but the man was unfortunately no match for the ghost fetus, and thus, he had to suffer because of it.

    The third incident was rted to Yu Jian¡¯s own biological father. If not for his fateful encounter with that teacher, Yu Jian would probably have been pushed down the road of no return by the ghost fetus.

    ¡°I knew he was merely using me. From the very beginning, I knew that he would not have chosen me,¡± Yu Jian said as Chen Ge pored over the pages of confession. ¡°I am the same kind of person as him. He hated people like us from the bottom of his heart. The source of his hatred came from the innate disgust at himself.¡±

    Yu Jian was the living person who had spent the longest time with the ghost fetus. In a way, he could be considered the person who knew the ghost fetus the best.

    ¡°Since you knew that you were just being used by the ghost fetus, why did you still choose to help him?¡± This was something that Chen Ge did not understand.

    ¡°Like I said, we were kindred spirits. In that fleeting moment, it felt like he was my only friend, the only person who understood me in this world.¡± Yu Jian¡¯s body was weak and feeble. He took back the pieces of papers and pulled back the curtain of the bedroom. The room was flooded by sunlight, something that had not happened for a long time. Yu Jian looked out the scenery from the window. ¡°Actually, this world is quite beautiful.¡±

    Stuffing the paper inside his school bag, Yu Jian turned away from the sun, opened the bedroom door, and walked out from the small room that had been his hiding hole for so many years. In the corridor, when Yu Jian¡¯s mother saw her son walk out from his bedroom so well-dressed, her face was filled with disbelief.

    ¡°Son...¡±

    ¡°I wish to go for a walk.¡±

    ¡°Of... of course. Sure!¡±

    The door was pushed open, and Yu Jian left with his schoolbag. At the same moment, Yu Jian¡¯s mother rushed into the bedroom, and she looked at Chen Ge with awe and shock on her face. ¡°How did you manage to do it? Yu Jian appears to have gotten much better! He volunteered to go out on his own to go for a walk. I feel like it is going to rain red today!¡±

    1¡°Yu Jian was never sick to begin with. He merely did not know how to love this world and how to love the people around him.¡± Chen Ge stared at Yu Jian¡¯s mother. ¡°If you do not wish for Yu Jian to revert to his former state, then sit down and have a talk with me. And this time, I beg you to stop with the lies and deceit.¡±

    After a deep conversation, what the ghost fetus had revealed behind the door was confirmed. Yu Jian was indeed a child born out of wedlock. His biological father wanted nothing to do with his mistress and his illegitimate son while Yu Jian¡¯s mother used him constantly as bargaining chip to get something from his father. From a very young age, Yu Jian never knew what love was, and that gave the ghost fetus the opening to enter his life. The hatred and ugliness of the world was specifically amplified, and his mind and psyche became more and more twisted.

    Yu Jian¡¯s mother felt guilty toward Yu Jian, so she did the best she could to take care of him, but at the same time, she wanted to cultivate Yu Jian into someone who was better than his father, so she was also very strict with him. Banned from any kind of entertainment and social life, Yu Jian¡¯s mother demanded only two things from him. One was to have good grades, and two was to have a valuable skill so that he could take care of himself in the future.

    After the deep conversation, Chen Ge discovered a much deeperyer of problems. Yu Jian¡¯s mother actually noticed the problems with Yu Jian at a very early age, but even after Yu Jian had done more than a handful dangerous actions toward others, which should have raised a red g for the mother, Yu Jian¡¯s mother chose to blind herself to the severity of the problem. Her love and guilt toward her son blinded her eyes. All she ever did was provide excuses for her son, and that caused her to miss the chance to really educate her son again and again.

    ¡°It is not entirely his fault that Yu Jian ended up in this state.¡± Chen Ge picked up his backpack. ¡°If there is a chance in the future, I suggest you go and meet the teacher that was fired due to Yu Jian. She was the real hero who had entered Yu Jian¡¯s life to save him.¡±

    After getting down to the bottom of everything, Chen Ge prepared to leave.

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Yu Jian¡¯s mother stopped Chen Ge. ¡°Even though I have no idea what kind of method you have used, you have indeed helped Yu Jian solve the problem in his heart. How much do you need for this session? How should I contact you if Yu Jian locks himself up in his bedroom again in the future?¡±

    ¡°I do not do this for the money.¡± Chen Ge stood inside the bedroom and looked around. In the end, he picked up a mud statuette from Yu Jian¡¯s study table. ¡°In terms of payment, I shall that this statuette aspensation.¡± He took the mud statuette with Yu Jian¡¯s name carved on it, stuffed it into his backpack, and left Yu Jian¡¯s home. He took the elevator to the ground. Chen Ge walked into the safety corridor, and he knelt down to look at his own shadow. ¡°When will you be able to wake up? I have many questions that I wish to ask you.¡±

    Taking out the mud statuette with Yu Jian¡¯s name from his backpack, Chen Ge ced it on his own shadow. The ck red blood leaked out from the mud statuette and seeped into his shadow. An oppressive presence was slowly waking up. ¡°After I find the rest of the mud statuettes, it¡¯ll be about time for you to wake up, right?¡±

    1Chen Ge had not forgotten about what had happened behind Yu Jian¡¯s door. He felt like he had gained a new understanding of the girl who was living in his shadow. Picking up his backpack, Chen Ge hurried back to New Century Park before it was open for business. Without saying a word to exin himself, he hurried to the dressing room to help his employees with their make-up and prepared to start the business. The haunted house opened its gate to the visitors ten minuteste, and Chen Ge felt quite apologetic about it. He personally walked to the queue of visitors and presented them with some bottles of water and knickknacks from New Century Park for making them wait.

    Chen Ge had high poprity on the inte. When many visitors saw him, they took out their phones and started to snap pictures. It even caused a smallmotion.

    ¡°One day, if the haunted house really cannot operate anymore, perhaps I can consider changing my career path to be an online personality.¡±

    The haunted house ran smoothly. The visitors entered the haunted house orderly, and Chen Ge sighed in relief. He greeted Uncle Xu and then carried his backpack and left New Century Park alone.

    ¡°I feel like I am the one who is the least invested in the business even though I am the boss.¡± Chen Ge did not have much time left before the birth of the ghost fetus. Chen Ge called Lee Zheng, and after asking for the location of Zhen Zhen, he called a cab and headed to his destination. Inside the cab, Chen Ge took out the ck phone, and as he expected, there were unread messages on it.

    ¡°This message probably arrived the moment I stepped out from inside Yu Jian¡¯s door.¡± Chen Ge clicked on the screen and opened the unread message.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specter¡¯s Favored, you havepleted 5/9 of the Trial Mission, Ghost Fetus. The ghost fetus has lost living human emotions. He can no longer curse you through the people that you love the most! You do not have much time left!¡±

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specter¡¯s Favored, you havepleted 6/9 of the Trial Mission, Ghost Fetus. The ghost fetus has lost his heart! His most precious thing has been taken away, and that has depleted his power greatly! Warning, Red Specter¡¯s Favored, you do not have much time left!¡±

    1Seeing the two messages on the ck phone, Chen Ge was stumped.

    ¡°How is this possible? Last night, I only entered Yu Jian¡¯s door and helped Yu Jian regain the love that he lost. I onlypleted one mission! How did the ghost fetus lose its heart?¡± His brows dipped into a crease as Chen Ge wrecked his mind, and suddenly, a brilliant sh crossed his eyes as a possibility came to him. ¡°It was the non-smiler from the hospital that stole the ghost fetus¡¯ heart!¡±

    Chen Ge still had an impression of the child whose heart had been stolen by the ghost fetus. At the time, Chen Ge had run into the non-smiler at his home, but he did not get into an altercation with the non-smiler during that time.

    ¡°The non-smiler belongs to the party of the cursed hospital. They have also targeted the ghost fetus. After all, the child with the heart deficiency was one of the children selected by the ghost fetus!¡±

    Last night, Chen Ge had entered Yu Jian¡¯s world behind the door to take away the love that had been snatched by the ghost fetus. But on the same night, the non-smiler had reached out toward the child with the heart problem, and they had walked away with the ghost fetus¡¯ heart. ¡°Is the cursed hospital also going after the ghost fetus? What is their connection to the ghost fetus?¡±

    Chen Ge was reminded of something else. Whenever he entered the door of the children selected by the ghost fetus, there would be a ck, iron door that appeared behind him. The door appeared to be the door of a quarantine room. It was sttered with faded blood stain and lingered with the smell of disinfectant. The world behind the door was weaved from the children¡¯s own memories, but the ck door was quite possibly part of the ghost fetus¡¯ own memory.

    ¡°Could the ck iron door be a part of the cursed hospital? Was the ghost fetus once trapped at the cursed hospital?¡±

    In his mind, Chen Ge used to separate the ghost fetus and the cursed hospital, but now, he realized that there might be a connection between these two that he had not chanced upon yet.

    ¡°Evil is something like a disease, so the question is, who is the patient zero?¡±

    Chen Ge did not have a good impression of that cursed hospital. His greatest wish was for the ghost fetus and the cursed hospital to butt heads and kill each other, but the problem was that the cursed hospital was probably after the same thing as Chen Ge. They wanted Chen Ge to cross swords with the ghost fetus while they stayed out of it to reap the benefits.

    ¡°Other than the ghost fetus, I have to be cautious of that hospital.¡± Chen Ge was very calm. ¡°I needed almost ten Red Specters to take down Du Ming¡¯s mother, who was actually disguised by the ghost fetus. The cursed hospital managed to get away with the ghost fetus¡¯ heart, which means that they are no less powerful than I am! They might even have a Top Red Specter among them!¡±

    His heart rose with agitation. Chen Ge kept on urging the taxi driver, and ten minutester, he arrived at the police station.

    ¡°Inspector Lee, where is Zhen Zhen? Can I please meet him? After all, it was me who saved him.¡±

    ¡°He is at the duty room. The child is a very quiet and obedient kid. He has gained quite a following at the station.¡± Lee Zheng was originally busy with something else, but when he saw Chen Ge, he put down all his work immediately. ¡°I will take you to meet him now.¡±

    ¡°There is no need to hurry. There is one other thing that I wish to ask you.¡± Chen Ge walked up to Lee Zheng. ¡°About the child with the heart disease that I asked you guys to investigate earlier...¡±

    ¡°He diedst night at the hospital.¡± Lee Zheng pulled out a document from his drawer. ¡°The boy¡¯s name was Se Xin. With his heart problem, the doctor said that it was already a miracle that he had lived so long.¡±

    ¡°He died? Last night?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s jaw tightened. He was pretty sure that this was the non-smiler¡¯s doing. A human life was lost just like that. He was just a child. He did not even have the chance to see and experience what the world had to offer just yet.

    ¡°I should have gone to him earlier.¡± Chen Ge felt some responsibility and guilt. The children chosen by the ghost fetus came from a pitiable background, so Chen Ge had been trying his best to help them as well. After Chen Ge entered the door, he would help the children find the power that had been taken away by the ghost fetus and then hand the power back to the children so that they would beplete again. But the others, be it Jia Ming or the non-smilers, did not care about the children¡¯s lives. They would stop at nothing to destroy the ghost fetus¡¯ lingering spirit. They had no bottom line.

    ¡°What about Se Xin¡¯s parents?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re taking it as well as they could. But strangely enough, something has happened to the main surgeon who conducted the surgery. He had been unconscious since the surgeryst night. He still had not woken up.¡±

    Chen Ge asked for and memorized the physician¡¯s name, and then with Lee Zheng leading the way, they headed to the police station¡¯s duty room. Before they arrived, Chen Ge could hear the sound ofughtering from inside the duty room. Pushing open the door, they saw a female officer ying with Zhen Zhen. When Zhen Zhen saw Chen Ge walk in, he jumped down from the bed and hid behind the female officer. He seemed to be afraid of Chen Ge, which was something that no one expected.

    Putting down his backpack, Chen Ge walked toward Zhen Zhen. ¡°You do not recognize me anymore?¡±

    Zhen Zhen nodded and then quickly shook his head. He seemed to see another person on Chen Ge¡¯s body. The second person made him feel familiar yet anxious. After a while, Zhen Zhen slowly returned to normal. He took Chen Ge by his hand and handed him a candy that was left on the table.

    ¡°Zhen Zhen, I¡¯m here today to ask you some questions.¡± Chen Ge epted the candy given to him by Zhen Zhen. ¡°When you are being held by Jia Ming, other than Liu Wen and Se Xin, did you manage to sense the presence of the other children?¡±

 Chapter 1052 - Cats [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1052: Cats [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge had to exin for a very long time before he got his message across to Zhen Zhen, but the boy did not appear to be in the mood to talk about that topic. This was clearly demonstrated when he went into hiding behind the female officer again.

    ¡°Chen Ge, he is still a boy, and he is going through a lot of counselling to help mend his internal trauma. I must ask you to not make him remember those unhappy incidents so soon.¡± This was the first time that Chen Ge had met the female officer, but she managed to call him by his name as if they had known each other for a very long time already.

    ¡°To stop the tragedy from its source, Zhen Zhen is the only one who can provide me with the answer. I also have no other choice.¡± Chen Ge knelt before the boy. ¡°Zhen Zhen, if you sense the location of the other children, you have to tell me. I am only trying my best to go and protect them.¡±

    The cursed hospital was also looking for the ghost fetus¡¯ candidates. If they got to them before Chen Ge did, the child would most likely end up dead.

    After about ten minutes, Zhen Zhen finally spoke. He still hid behind the female officer, but the small face started to lose its smile. He said shyly and softly, ¡°That strange uncle told me these strange stories before I went to sleep at night, and after hearing him, I had dreams that have nothing to do with me. It is like I am using another person¡¯s eyes to live their lives.¡±

    As a young boy, Zhen Zhen tried his best to express what he was trying to say, and Chen Ge got the message clearly.

    The child shared a bond of sorts with the ghost fetus, and he possessed the presence of the ghost fetus within him. With the aid from Jia Ming, he was able to take a glimpse into the dreams of the other children chosen by the ghost fetus. Jia Ming and Bei Ye had made use of this power to find Liu Wen earlier.

    ¡°Other than Liu Wen and Se Xin, I have had one more dream. It wasplete darkness inside that dream. I was unable to see anything.¡± Zhen Zhen tried his best to remember and recollect his memory.

    ¡°Complete darkness in the dream, and you could not see anything?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it was a very horrible feeling. I was surrounded by darkness, and my whole body itched. I wanted to scratch at it until the skin fell off.¡±

    Just from Zhen Zhen¡¯s description, Chen Ge was feeling slightly ufortable.

    ¡°Even if the eyes can¡¯t see, the nose and ears should be working fine. Did you smell anything strange or hear any strange voices when you were in this dream?¡± Chen Ge was slowly prompting Zhen Zhen.

    After giving it some thought, the boy finally said, ¡°I believe I smelled a very horrible stench, and I heard the meowing of some cats. Yes! There were many cats in the room with me.¡±

    ¡°Many cats? A blind person who took in stray cats?¡± This was the first image that popped into Chen Ge¡¯s mind. ¡°Is there anything else other than that? There was no one talking? Only the cats?¡±

    ¡°I think that was the sound of a man. He seemed to call me his little brother. He said something else, but he seemed to be standing very far away, so I could not hear him clearly.¡± Zhen Zhen had told Chen Ge everything he could remember.

    ¡°I think I get it.¡± Chen Ge walked out from the duty room. He took out his phone and recorded all the useful information. ¡°In Zhen Zhen¡¯s dream, the men made an appearance. They should be siblings. The younger brother is blind, and he is surrounded by cats. From the smell, they live in a less than satisfactory environment, and the big brother stays away from his brother even when he is trying to talk to him...¡±

    Lee Zheng stood next to Chen Ge and watched the man talk to himself as he jotted down the notes and arranged the information in his mind. Without even realizing it, a bitter smile appeared on the inspector¡¯s face. ¡°It is such a shame that you are not a part of the force.¡±

    ¡°Brother Zheng, can you do me another favor?¡± After arranging his notes, Chen Ge turned to Lee Zheng. ¡°If we do not locate that blind person as soon as possible, I am afraid he might in mortal danger.¡±

    The minute earlier, they had been chatting with a young boy, and now, they were suddenly talking about a murder. The topic changed so quickly that even an experienced police officer like Lee Zheng needed some time to get used to it. ¡°Mortal danger? How did youe to that conclusion based on the dream of a child? Don¡¯t get me wrong. It¡¯s not that I am suspecting you, but I think that is rather hard to believe.¡±

    ¡°You can say it¡¯s my instinct.¡± Chen Ge had difficulty going into details. ¡°My instinct has always been urate.¡±

    ¡°There is no denying that, but we are currently very short-staffed. I am afraid we are unable to provide you with much help.¡± Even though that was what Lee Zheng said, after they returned to his office, he still entered the database that was only essible to the police. ¡°Let me check if there are any pet shops or stray cat centers that are run by two brothers. Based on what you said, the younger brother should be blind, and some kind of tragedy has befallen the family before this...¡±

    Even with the many clues that they had, sifting through all the information that was avable still required plenty of time, and it might not even amount to anything. At around 2 pm, Lee Zheng finally called with good news. He had found a person that matched the description given by Chen Ge.

    ¡°The name is Ying Chen. He is twenty-three years old. He is the operator of Jiujiang¡¯s Heart Kitty Rescue Center¡¯s website. He is a serious cat lover and has volunteered many times in Jiujiang¡¯s voluntary activities. He was a perfect student during his schooling years and did not have any run-ins with the police.¡± Lee Zheng pointed at theputer screen. ¡°This is all the information that¡¯s readily avable on the website, so I am not viting any rules by sharing it with you.¡±

    Chen Ge hopped onto the inte and searched for this website. The Heart Kitty Rescue Center¡¯s website¡¯s main page was filled with cat pictures andments from different cat lovers. The most popr feature on this website was a stray cat rescue n, urging the public not to abandon their pet so easily. As Lee Zheng said, there was a brief introduction on Ying Chen on the website. Other than that, there was a picture of the man as well. The man looked talented and had very fair skin. At least for Chen Ge, he gave a good first impression.

    ¡°The man is quite impressive. His parents died when he was very young. He and his younger brother then moved to stay with their rtive, but it turns out the rtive only took them in because they wanted toy im to the house that Ying Chen¡¯s parents left behind.

    ¡°The rtive treated the brothers badly. Ying Chen did notin about it. He threw himself into his studies. When he was old enough and capable enough to look after them both, he chased the rtive out. This sounds like a young man with a sunny and hardworking disposition.¡±

    Lee Zheng collected the report of his investigation.

    ¡°The other users all leave shining reviews for the man. They feel like he¡¯s a man who has the light shining from within him. In fact, many single female users have shown public interest in him, but because he had to take care of his younger brother, he kindly rejects all of their advances because he does not want to burden them with his younger brother.¡±

    ¡°Based on what you said, he sounds like a perfect young man and citizen of society.¡± Chen Ge looked through the website. He did not know anything was wrong, and then he clicked into Ying Chen¡¯s own main page. Inside that main page, there were videos, pictures, and blog posts written by Ying Chen himself. Most of them recorded the lives of him and his younger brother and their lives together with the stray cats. All his videos and blogs had very high views. He even had his own ount on a certain popr video-sharing tform. He had a respectable number of followers, not too many but just enough to be called popr and influential.

    ¡°The big brother is such a kind and loving person. Even though the younger brother might have some eye problem, I am sure he will be taken care of.¡± Chen Ge clicked on one of the videos and watched it silently.

    ¡°Yes, with a brother like that, it is quite fortunate that his younger brother has him considering the other things that have happened to them.¡±

    ¡°Brother Zheng, I do not think that you have understood me.¡± Chen Ge turned back to look at Lee Zheng. ¡°Do you still remember how Zhen Zhen described that dream? It was surrounded inplete darkness, and it reeked of horrible smell. He could not see anything, and his body was incredibly itchy. If the big brother really took such good care of his younger brother, this kind of situation would not have happened.¡±

    ¡°But that was merely just a dream made up by Zhen Zhen.¡± For Lee Zheng, police detective work required actual evidence to back it up, and a dream could not be considered proper evidence.

    ¡°Dreams are the manifestation of a person¡¯s subconscious. The majority of people will choose the response of flight when they run into a scary situation in their dreams, but a small portion of people will choose to fight. Their different choices can reflect a person¡¯s mental and psychological health and condition.¡± Chen Ge did not lift his eyes off the video and provided his theory.

    ¡°Does the operator of a haunted house nowadays need to know so many things?¡± Lee Zheng had noticed that Chen Ge was still going through the list of videos. ¡°Are you trying to find evidence to back up what you are suggesting through the videos? The fact that Ying Chen is not the man that he has made himself out to be?¡±

    ¡°On the surface, the videos appear to be perfectly normal, but...¡± Chen Ge took out his phone and searched for the official website for the local Jiujiang weather report. It contained the weather data over the entire year for Jiujiang. Hepared the weather data, and his expression slowly became more and more severe. ¡°Brother Zheng, I think I have found the evidence you need.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Lee Zheng was an experienced detective. He had seen parts of the videos himself, but he did not spot any big problems with them.

    ¡°When I clicked on Ying Chen¡¯s main page, I realized that most of his videos were centered around rescuing stray cats. The cats in the videos looked so devastated, and they were so fearful around human beings. But after Ying Chen¡¯s rescue and treatment, the cats turned out to be healthier and prettier, and they were less scared around strangers.¡±

    ¡°That proves that his methods are effective, and that is exactly what their website is promoting¡ªrescuing the stray cats and giving them a new chance at life.¡±

    ¡°But did you realize one thing? Most of the stray cats rescued by Ying Chen were already adult cats, and their body frames have already matured.¡±

    ¡°What are you trying to say?¡± Years of detective experience gave Lee Zheng a very bad feeling in his heart.

    ¡°I suspect that part of his videos are doctored and shot in reverse.¡± Chen Ge stood before theputer and spoke in a low voice. ¡°He will first take pictures and videos of healthy cats, and when he has enough material to post on his website, he will start to torture them. The poor cats that were featured at the start of the videos are exactly how they ended up in the end. Now, isn¡¯t that a scary thought?¡±

    ¡°The fact that you could evene up with a spection like that is even scarier.¡± Lee Zheng realized that Chen Ge was able to picture everything from the perspective of the criminal. He was thankful that Chen Ge had not strayed from the good path, or else he would be a very difficult criminal to deal with.

    2¡°After I had this suspicion, I tried to figure out a way to prove it. But most of his videos were taken in this same room. There were no signs of any calendars or clocks inside the room. And the curtain were drawn. The change of the lighting was too small to notice any difference. The man is a very cautious and careful thinker. He has thought of all the possibilities that might cause him to slip up,¡± Chen Ge said as he clicked open the video that he hadst seen. ¡°But in this video, he missed something. If you listen very closely, at the start of the video, you can hear the sound of rain and thunder in the background. At this part, the cat looked horrible. It could barely stand on one leg, its wounds were heavily infected, and it could not even open its eyes from the scab on its face.

    ¡°The video was uploaded on the twenty-sixth ofst month. He said in the video that he found this cat at the start of the month, and when he first saw the cat, he was shocked by the horrible condition that it was in. At the start of the video, he evenmbasted the people who had cruelly abandoned such a cute animal. But I just logged into our Jiujiang¡¯s local weather data website to check. For the whole ofst month, we only had one day with heavy rain, and it was on the twenty-fourth.

    ¡°In other word, if he was telling the truth, he shot the video about the cat in its horrible condition on the twenty-fourth, but on the twenty-sixth, when he uploaded the video, the cat in the video had supposedly recovered to its optimum condition. In fact, at the end of the video, it showed the cat making a full recovery, without a sign of physical wounds on its body. Do you think that¡¯s possible?¡±

    Ying Chen was a cautious and deliberate thinker, but he was still far less dedicated than Chen Ge.

    ¡°But why would he go through so much trouble toe up with such a big operation? He not only tormented the cats¡ªhe even uploaded these videos to share them with the rest of the cat lovers?¡±

    ¡°I believe that it¡¯s simr to the psychology of a serial killer returning to their crime scenes to witness their handiwork. It is a kind of rush that they get from seeing their work being admired by others.¡± Chen Ge continued to look at the video. Honestly, if not for the coincidental weather pattern, it would have been impossible to find anything wrong with Ying Chen¡¯s videos. ¡°Brother Zheng, I believe that this person is a maniac with an extremely dark disposition. He is good at disguising himself and is a very clever person. If we let him be, he will eventually push himself further tomit a bigger crime.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, but now I am more worried about his younger brother.¡± Lee Zheng¡¯s expression turned serious. ¡°Living with such a brother, he might be in serious danger. That¡¯s why you said that he might be in mortal danger in the first ce, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, in any case, we should locate them as soon as possible.¡± Chen Ge read the introduction that the website had on Ying Chen. The man had a younger brother who was blind, and his name was Ying Tong.

    ...

    Chen Ge found Ying Chen¡¯s contact number on the website. He told Lee Zheng that they would go to investigate Ying Chen together tomorrow morning. But after leaving the police station, Chen Ge thought about it again. Lee Zheng was already so busy. He felt like he should not burden him with any more work. He got into the cab and called the number that he had found on the website.

    The call rang about three times before it was picked up. The man¡¯s voice came from the other side of the line. ¡°Hello, this is Ying Chen. How can I help you?¡±

    The number left on the website was for business purposes, so Ying Chen had a fair and kind attitude.

    ¡°Mister Ying, I am a haunted house owner at New Century Park. I wish to ce an advertisement banner on your website. I wonder, would you be interested in that?¡± Chen Ge started to lie the moment he opened his mouth. ¡°We can negotiate the price further. I am sure you will be satisfied in the end.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I always see a connection between cats and theme parks. Furthermore, the users of our websites are mostly young people, and I am sure that¡¯s also a theme park¡¯s target audience.¡±

    The two formed a consensus on the spot. To make Ying Chen lower his guard, Chen Ge did not ask to meet him at the man¡¯s home but had Ying Chen choose a restaurant that was close to his home so that they could meet up and discuss the business in person. Half an hourter, Chen Ge arrived at the restaurant, and he gave Ying Chen another call.

    ¡°Boss Chen! I have already booked the private room!¡± A young man walked out from the restaurant. He was casually dressed, and he gave off a very clean and sunny feeling.

    ¡°Ying Chen?¡± Chen Ge was carrying his backpack. ¡°You know me?¡±

    ¡°When I heard the name New Century Park and the haunted house, I knew it was you. I just did not expect that you woulde in person.¡± Ying Chen was a well-rounded businessman. He heaped on the praise, saying that he was Chen Ge¡¯s fan, and then segued into admiring Chen Ge for his business acumen. He was so good at this business talk that he did not appear to be a young man of only twenty-two. Chen Ge did not intend to post an advertisement on his website from the beginning, so to show his ¡®sincerity¡¯, he offered a price that was three times the market price.

    The two had a jovial discussion. Wine flowed like water. Just as the waiter came to serve thest dish, Chen Ge identally knocked into the man and caused the water to ssh on his shoulder. Ying Chen quickly came over to dab the shoulder with the paper towel, but Chen Ge¡¯s face darkened immediately. ¡°I have another meeting to get to. What should I do now?¡±

    The waiter kept apologizing. Chen Ge sighed in seeming helplessness. He turned to Ying Chen. ¡°Brother, do you mind if you go to your ce to borrow a shirt from you? I have already scheduled a meeting with a client this afternoon. I do not think it will be polite to show up in a stained shirt.¡±

    Ying Chen hesitated for a while before agreeing. ¡°Of course, there¡¯s no problem.¡±

    The two paid for their dinner and entered the residential area nearby. This ce was very close to the old city, and it was quite isted. The residential area was practically deserted.

 Chapter 1053 - Everlasting Night [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1053: Evesting Night [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The residential area that Ying Chen lived in was called Ming Yuan. It was once a famously middle-ss area in the old city. It was primarily upied by the rich and sessful. However, following the economic boom and the fast development of Jiujiang, the poption moved away from the old city, and the ce became more and more deserted. The once high-end apartments looked dpidated and old. Gone were the security and the efforts to greenify and beautify the area. In fact, walking down the streets of the area, one would be assaulted by this strange smell.

    ¡°It was my parents who initially bought the house here. They were businessmen. If the ident did not happen, I might have ended up as the typical rich second generation you read about in web novels,¡± Ying Chen joked, but Chen Ge noticed the well-hidden hint of bitterness under his jibe. There was more than an ounce of truth behind his joke. With Ying Chen leading the way, they came to the deepest part of the residential area.

    ¡°My house is on the seventh floor. Why don¡¯t you wait down here while I go up there and grab a change of clothes for you?¡± It was quite obvious that Ying Chen did not wish for Chen Ge toe to his home, and he came up with many excuses.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I do not want you to go upstairs and then have toe down for me again. I wouldn¡¯t dare impose on you so much.¡± Chen Ge walked into the building without waiting for Ying Chen to reply. His nose twitched, and the faded stench seemed to get a little more intense. Looking around, Chen Ge noticed that the building came with an elevator, but it was an old-style elevator that had been used many years ago.

    ¡°Ming Yuan is the only residential area in the old city that came with an indoor elevator at the time. The ce has seen its ups and downs. Currently, it is going through the down. Most who are capable of doing so have already moved away.¡± Ying Chen pointed at the elevator. ¡°Do not take that elevator no matter what. It is prone to idents, and it asionally makes this awful grinding sound. It¡¯s particrly scary at night.¡±

    With Ying Chen¡¯s surprising insistence, he and Chen Ge used the stairs and climbed all the way up to the seventh floor. The whole building gave Chen Ge a very bad vibe. It was old with horrible sanitary conditions. There was no sense of living, and it would be depressing to live in a ce like this.

    ¡°My home is a bit of a mess. I hope you don¡¯t mind.¡± Ying Chen¡¯s home was closest to the stairs. He took out the key and fiddled with it for a while before opening the door. The stench in the air became more intense. Chen Ge looked into the room. Ying Chen¡¯s ce was huge, but the d¨¦cor was tattered, and many items had been horribly scratched.

    ¡°I am a cat lover, and I have a few pet cats at home. This is all their doing,¡± Ying Chen said with a helpless sigh. ¡°Make yourselffortable. I will go and find a change of clothes for you.¡±

    After entering the house, Chen Ge subconsciously used his finger to brush against his nose. The sofa, floor, and dining table were covered in cat fur, but strangely, there was not a single cat to be seen in the house. There was not even meowinging from one of them.

    ¡°The stench does note from the cats. The smell is very simr to the horrible smell at the old city. I smelled the same thing when I entered Yu Jian¡¯s room, but after I came out of Yu Jian¡¯s door, the horrible smell disappeared.¡± Chen Ge had encountered this strange smell in many ces before. He could not tell what exactly gave off the smell, but one thing was for sure, he knew that the smell had something to do with the ¡®door¡¯.

    When Ying Chen was busy finding him some clothes, Chen Ge made use of the time to do his investigation. There was little furniture in the house. There were five rooms in total, and other than the living room, the doors to the four remaining rooms were tightly locked. Soon, Ying Chen walked out from the bedroom, holding a set of his own clothes. ¡°What do you think about this? It is quite formal, but it matches what you are wearing at the moment.¡±

    ¡°You are such a life savior. You have helped me tremendously this time.¡± Chen Ge appeared to be over the moon. ¡°Do you mind if I borrow your bathroom?¡±

    ¡°The first door next to the entrance.¡± Ying Chen was quite happy to be of help to Chen Ge. In his mind, the business was about ny percent alreadypleted. After entering the bathroom, Chen Ge closed the door and took out theic from his backpack to summon Men Nan.

    ¡°I need you and Tong Tong to hide here for now. Find a chance for Tong Tong to possess his phone. Then I will return here before midnight, and I need you to help me unlock the door when that happens,¡± Chen Ge whispered.

    ¡°So, you want me to be the insider?¡±

    ¡°Of all the Red Specters, you are the smartest, and only you are capable of something like this.¡± Chen Ge heaped on the praise before the boy gave his promise. After giving his face a wash, Chen Ge walked out from the bathroom. ¡°Ying Chen, thank you so much for your help this time. I will go back to prepare the contract, and we will sign it tomorrow. Is that okay with you?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Ying Chen was surprisingly greedy with money, but it was unclear whether this was another front or he was serious about his love of money.

    ¡°It is a joy to work with people who are such good people. Since I am already here, do you mind I ask you a few more questions?¡± Chen Ge peppered Ying Chen with many different questions. Many of them were business rted, and they revolved around the website. At the very end, Chen Ge sneaked in, as if as an afterthought, a mention of Ying Chen¡¯s younger brother. ¡°I hear you are still looking after your younger brother. How are the man¡¯s eyes recovering? I know several good optometrists. If you need it, I can make the introduction for you.¡±

    ¡°My younger brother was not born blind. He got an eye illness when he was about three or four, and his situation has only deteriorated since then. One of the major reasons I am eager to earn money is to collect the funds to help cure his blindness.¡±

    ¡°The rtionship between you brothers sure is touching.¡± Chen Ge ced the backpack down. ¡°The earlier the eyes are healed, the better. Do you mind if I meet your little brother?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s request was rather sudden, but Ying Chen did not think too much of it. After some brief hesitation, he walked to the door that was next to the bathroom. ¡°Ying Tong? What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Sleeping.¡± A very soft voice drifted out from inside the room.

    ¡°Then you should go back to sleep. Sorry for disturbing you.¡± Ying Chen shrugged and turned to Chen Ge with apology on his face. ¡°The child is sleeping. I am so sorry, but I do not wish to disturb him unless it¡¯s truly necessary.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, I totally get it.¡± Even though that was what Chen Ge said, the seed of suspicion was already buried inside his heart. When Ying Chen asked Ying Tong what he was doing, the answer ¡®sleeping¡¯ hade almost instantaneously like it was already rehearsed. If Ying Tong was really sleeping, there would have been a pause for him to wake up from his sleep before the reply came. Furthermore, Chen Ge could not hear any drowsiness from the reply that came from Ying Tong. Ying Tong appeared to be very afraid of his elder brother; there was some kind of secret hidden between this pair of brothers.

    ¡°In that case, I am not going to interrupt you guys anymore. I wille back with the contract tomorrow morning at around 9 am.¡±

    ¡°Brother Chen, thank you and take care.¡±

    After the front door was closed, Ying Chen and Chen Ge¡¯s expressions chilled almost instantly. Chen Ge stood at the door and did not leave. Instead, he leaned his ear on the door to eavesdrop. Soon, the bedroom door was opened, and then a child¡¯s crying came from within. ¡°This man is truly the worst.¡±

    Without any concrete evidence, Chen Ge did not act recklessly. Tong Tong and Men Nan were both inside the room. If something really bad was to happen, they would definitely stop it. Standing in the corridor alone, Chen Ge nced at the stairs and the elevator next to him. In the end, he decided to leave using the stairs.

    ¡°If Ying Tong is really one of the candidates chosen by the ghost fetus, the world behind his door will be nightmare difficulty. Jing Ming lost his sense of hearing, and I could not hear the sound of the ghosts behind his door. Fang Yu has a poor memory, and my memory was constantly being wiped out and interrupted when I was behind her door. With all these as the basis forparison, my power of sight will be limited when I am inside the world behind Ying Tong¡¯s door. The biggest danger will be the ghosts surrounding me, but I will be unable to see them.¡±

    Sight was very important for a normal person. For someone who was used to seeing the world to suddenly be thrown inside a blind maze, it would be very disorientating.

    ¡°Zhang Ya is still hibernating. This door poses a very high danger level for me. To be safe, I¡¯d better bring the Tunnel Woman¡¯s son with me.¡±

    If not for theck of time, Chen Ge might have considered bringing the Well Lady from Coffin Vige with him.

    After leaving Ming Yuan, Chen Ge waited until sundown before he went to White Dragon Tunnel. He found the boy at the deepest part of the tunnel. They had already made their promise beforehand, and the boy did not go back on his word. However, when Chen Ge wanted to pull the Tunnel Woman¡¯s son into theic, something unexpected happened.

    Probably because there was a door inside his body, Yan Danian¡¯sic was unable to amodate the boy. This was the first time that Chen Ge had encountered a situation like this. The two negotiated for a long time. Initially, the Tunnel Woman¡¯s son proposed to hide inside Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. He stood for a long time next to Chen Ge¡¯s shadow, but in the end, he voluntarily gave up that idea.

    1They had tried many different methods. Eventually, the Tunnel Woman¡¯s son opened his appendages that were about two meters long and enveloped Chen Ge from behind. It did not feelfortable being trapped like that by a Red Specter. Chen Ge felt chills run all over his body, and his body temperature continued to drop.

    This whole processsted for about a minute before the Tunnel Woman¡¯s son disappeared. In his ce was a giant scary spider tattoo with a human face that covered Chen Ge¡¯s entire back and arm. This tattoo would only appear in the shadows, and it looked enough to scare one¡¯s soul out of one¡¯s body.

    1It felt like Chen Ge¡¯s body had sunk into icy water. He hated this kind of feeling, but the key mission now was to search for the ghost fetus, so he tried to not mind it that much. At about 11 pm, Chen Ge returned to Ming Yuan in the old city. But even at 11:30 pm, he did not receive any messages from Tong Tong.

    ¡°There won¡¯t be any problems, will there? With the protection from a Red Specter like Men Nan and only dealing with a normal human being, nothing will happen to them, right? Or have they encountered the non-smilers from the cursed hospital?¡±

    Chen Ge and Lee Zheng¡¯s investigation had led them to Ying Tong. Chen Ge still believed that the chance of the non-smiler showing up was very low, but for caution¡¯s sake, Chen Ge moved stealthily. Chen Ge entered the stairwell, and when he reached the fourth floor, his phone-started to vibrate. ¡®Ying Chen¡¯ had just sent him a message¡ª¡¯He is packing his tools and nning to leave the house!¡¯

    It should be Men Nan and Tong Tong controlling Ying Chen¡¯s phone. With the experience fromst time, their cooperation this time was wless. Ying Chen should not notice anything out of ce at all.

    ¡°Is the man going out to work sote at night? Why is he carrying so many tools with him?¡±

    After he got the message, Chen Ge quickly went down on the corridor to hide to prevent himself from running straight into Ying Chen. He paid his attention to the stairwell. Soon, he saw Ying Chen hurry down the stairs, carrying arge ck stic bag with a cap pressed very low down his face.

    ¡°It is probably not a human body inside that bag. Based on the size, it felt more like a cat.¡±

    Ying Chen¡¯s unusual actions once again increased Chen Ge¡¯s suspicion of the man. The ghost fetus¡¯ door would appear punctually at midnight. Now was not the time to do other investigative work. After Ying Chen left the building, he hurried toward Ying Chen¡¯s house. Chen Ge summoned Ol¡¯ Zhou and had him open the door from the inside. He sneaked into the house sessfully. The lights in the room were not on, and the ce appeared cold and deserted. Chen Ge stood by the window and looked down. Ying Chen carried the ck bag and walked out of the residential area. He walked toward an abandoned building spot that was nearby.

    ¡°Is he going to bury the body and evidence?¡±

    Ying Chen would not be gone for long, and Chen Ge did not waste any time. He and Ol¡¯ Zhou gave the ce a quick rundown. The kitchen and the bathroom appeared normal, but the lowerpartment of the fridge was filled with a lot of minced meat. The other rooms appeared normal on the surface. Ying Chen¡¯s own bedroom was clean and neat. There was not even a single cat hair in it. This room was unique from the rest of the ce. Next to Ying Chen¡¯s bedroom was the studio. Chen Ge had seen this room from the videos before. Most of the videos were shot inside this room.

    1Next to the studio was a room that was locked. Chen Ge had Ol¡¯ Zhou entered it. Thetter came back with the report that there were several stray cats that were tied with ropes inside the room, and about two of them were dying already. Thest room should be Ying Tong¡¯s bedroom. Simr to before, Chen Ge had Ol¡¯ Zhou slip through the door to conduct recon first.

    After knowing that Ying Tong was already asleep, Chen Ge had Ol¡¯ Zhou open the door from inside. The moment the bedroom door was opened, the horrible smell hit them like a wave. The stench in this room was even more intense than the smell inside Yu Jian¡¯s bedroom. Covering his nose with his hand, Chen Ge looked inside the room.

    Ying Tong¡¯s bedroom was very small. The windows were boarded up, and themps were not even fixed with bulbs. There were many finger paintings on the walls, and many bloodied cotton balls littered the ground. There was a music box, a radio, and many strange-looking dolls that lined the table. Even from the standpoint of an adult like Chen Ge, the dolls looked creepy and scary. They were definitely not meant for children. They would be more fitting inside a haunted house.

    COMMENT

    Ying Tong did not realize there was another person in the room with him. He was fast asleep. He appeared to have had a tiring day. Chen Ge used Yin Yang Vision and noticed that there were bruises all over Ying Tong¡¯s body, but the injuries were nothing serious. ¡°The boy does not seem to have any sense of security at all. Even when he sleeps, he curls his body up toward the wall as if seekingfort from it.¡±

    It was a very ufortable posture to sleep in, but Ying Tong appeared to have gotten used to it. He curled his body up in a fetal position, and there was a picture frame that was cradled in his arms. Inside the frame was a picture of Ying Chen. ¡°The two share such a good rtionship? Even in his sleep, Ying Tong is hugging the picture of his own elder brother?¡±

    Chen Ge was suspicious and had many questions inside his mind. From his perspective, all Ying Tong had toward his elder brother was fear; there was no love between a normal family. He looked closer and discovered that the size of the picture did not fit the frame that well. The picture appeared to have been shoved inter. Regarding the location and the identity of the original picture, probably only Ying Chen himself would now.

    The bedroom was closed and secluded from the rest of the world. On the surface, other than the creepy dolls, it did not feel so different from anywhere else.

    Ying Chen would be returning soon, but Chen Ge did not leave. He stood inside Ying Tong¡¯s bedroom, waiting for the door to appear. At midnight, a door that was covered fully in red appeared silently next to Ying Tong¡¯s bed. The lock jiggled softly, and ck patterns crawled on the door. Even without anyone touching it, the door appeared like it was about to open on its own.

    The sound of footsteps came from the living room. The front door was opened. It meant that Ying Chen had returned from whatever he was doing. Carrying the backpack, Chen Ge did not hesitate as he pushed open the blood door and stepped through it.

    ...

    It felt like his body was sinking into quicksand, and it was slowly swallowing him up. Chen Ge struggled to the best of his ability. The oxygen was being squeezed out of his lungs, and the feeling of being asphyxiated was getting stronger and stronger. Just as he thought he was about to die, his eyes flickered open.

    COMMENT

    Every time he entered the ghost fetus¡¯ door, it felt like he had taken a stroll right before the edge of life and death. Before Chen Ge had the time or chance to collect himself, his surroundings started to change again.

    ¡°What... is this?¡±

    There was an inky darkness around him, a darkness that light was unable to pierce. This world behind the door felt as if it was covered behind a thick curtain. Chen Ge felt like he was in a world of evesting night.

    Chen Ge stood where he was and did not move an inch. The more he visited the ghost fetus¡¯ door, the stranger the world became. He could not allow himself to be too careless.

 Chapter 1054 - Me in the Darkness [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1054: Me in the Darkness [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    A veil of darkness, one could not even see anything. There did not seem to be any light in the world behind this door. Chen Ge made sure to stay where he was as he slowly squatted down. He gripped his backpack tightly for support and pulled his attention to his ears to listen closely. There was the sound of breathing, the sound of a heartbeat, and the sound of the ticking of the clock.

    ¡°I seem to be inside someone¡¯s room.¡± Ying Tong was a blind man, so his world was enveloped in darkness. He was unable to see anything, but the other people in his world were able to see him, and that was why this world was so dangerous. Pulling open the zipper of his backpack, Chen Ge rummaged about before his fingers curled around the tattered ballpoint pen. He pulled out the pen and ced it inside his shirt pocket. After that, he took out theic and held it close to his side.

    In this world that waspletely covered in darkness, he might lose his backpack if he identally tripped or some other ident happened. It seemed unwise to ce everything he had inside the backpack. That felt like something too dangerous to do.

    1¡°I will leave the Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer, the pair of red high heels, and Zhang Ya¡¯s bedtime stories inside the backpack. If the person discovers that there is nothing inside the bag, they will definitely get suspicious.¡±

    Unable to see anything, unable to tell his own location, unable to identify his enemies, he was not even able to tell what he looked like. This was definitely the strangest and creepiest door that Chen Ge had ever entered. He called his employees¡¯ names at the bottom of his heart, but he waited for a long time and got no reply.

    ¡°The limitation on the Red Specters in the world behind this door is even more intense than the one inside Yu Jian¡¯s world. Will I be able to hold on until the awakening of my employees?¡±

    Having lived his life in the light, after Chen Ge lost the ability to see, he was extremely anxious. That was something to be expected. Adjusting his breath, Chen Ge slowly stood up again. He had been behind this door for about ten minutes already, and for those ten minutes, he had stayed put.

    ¡°My body has kept its original shape, and from my touch, there is no change to my clothes and appearance.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s nostrils twitched, and in the air, he caught the sniff of the faded scent of disinfectant and blood. Underneath all that, there was a subtle smell that was unique to cats. He followed the trail of the disinfectant smell and reached out behind him. The feeling of sturdiness and chill came from the tip of his fingers.

    ¡°The ck iron door is right behind me. What I need to do now is confirm my current location, look for a safe ce to hide, and wait for my employees to break through.¡±

    However, that was easier said than done. Finding a safe location to hide was extremely difficult in his condition. After all, he was unable to see anything.

    ¡°The ck door usually appears at the location most important in the door pusher¡¯s memory and ces like that are usually the most dangerous. It is the location that is most often visited by the ghost fetus and other negative emotions.¡±

    After being behind the door for about fifteen minutes, Chen Ge finally took his first step. Carrying his backpack, Chen Ge ced one of his hands on the wall and waved his other hand before him. After the initial threshold of nervousness, he slowly calmed down.

    ¡°Even Yin Yang Vision is unable to pierce through this darkness, but Ghost Ear and Spirit Sniff do not appear to be affected. I can still rely on my super hearing and sense of smell to decide where I am.¡±

    Unable to see the enemy¡¯s location and tell the appearance and identity of the enemy was what worried Chen Ge the most.

    Bang!

    He had just taken the second step when Chen Ge knocked into something. The dull sense of pain came from his knees. He mped his mouth shut and resisted the urge to scream. Instead, he squatted down again. This was the first time that he had made such a loud noise since he entered the door. It might have attracted the attention of certain Specters. For the sake of security, Chen Ge felt that it would be better if he stopped moving for a little while. He stopped to listen. There were no strange noises, and the smell in the air did not change. Chen Ge appeared to be alone inside the room.

    ¡°I need to be as light as I can with my movement and actions.¡± Chen Ge reached out to feel the thing that he had just knocked into. It was a rather squat bedside table. ¡°This table is about the same height as the one that I saw in Ying Tong¡¯s bedroom. Does this mean I am currently inside his bedroom?¡±

    Pulling open the drawer, Chen Ge found a photo frame with his hands. ¡°When Ying Tong was asleep, he was hugging a photo frame.¡±

    What he discovered next confirmed Chen Ge¡¯s spection even further. He first found the radio inside the room, then his fingers went up and down the dolls with uneven body proportions, and finally, he got to a music box. Those were the exact items that he had seen in Ying Tong¡¯s bedroom before. His fingers moved on the surface of the table. Chen Ge found something that he had not encountered before next to the music box.

    ¡°There are keys? This appears to be a phone designed for the blind.¡± The phone had exceptionallyrge keys, and the numbers on each key were protruding upward so that the user could tell the numbers easily by their touch. ¡°Should I bring this phone along with me?¡±

    The phone probably belonged to Ying Tong. Carrying it with him might mean that he could gain contact with Ying Tong in the future, or he might gain more information from it, but at the same time, it would be a huge risk to carry it on his body as well. This was because Chen Ge could not predict when the phone would ring. What if he was in hiding from some enemy and the phone rang? Then it would expose his hiding spot.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I should take it. The clues are not that important now. The most important thing is to survive until the end.¡± Chen Ge thought about it and abandoned the idea of taking the phone with him. The risk was just too high. Chen Ge ced the phone and the photo frame back where he had found them and continued his search inside the bedroom. The closet, dresser, bed...

    Theyout of the furniture was identical to theyout of Ying Tong¡¯s bedroom in real life, but unfortunately, Ying Tong was not lying in bed. ¡°Where could a blind man have gone?¡±

    Chen Ge tried to use his previous experience toe up with an analysis. ¡°The world behind Ying Tong¡¯s door should be a reflection of his own home. In other words, something extremely painful and traumatic has happened to the man inside this old building. Ying Tong¡¯s elder brother is a psycho that is very good at disguising himself, so this painful memory has a very high chance of havinge from his own brother. The brothers were adopted by their rtive. Based on what Ying Chen said, they were treated very badly during that period, so the rtive will not have be a force of good in this world.¡±

    1Chen Ge was building the thoughts in his mind when the phone that was ced on the table suddenly rang. The shrill ringing drilled into his mind, and it shattered the silence inside the small room instantly.

    ¡°Damn it!¡± At that moment, Chen Ge thought of using the Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s hammer to give the phone a good whack. He desperately wanted to leave, but he felt it was too dangerous to move about without any preparation. The phone rang eight times before it quieted down again. It was then that Chen Ge sighed in relief. ¡°I am unable to see anything. I cannot even set this phone to vibrate.¡±

    There were no more clues to be found inside Ying Tong¡¯s bedroom. Chen Ge took out the hammer and slowly opened the bedroom door. The chilling wind touched his cheeks, and it caused Chen Ge to shiver. Beyond the bedroom, there was still a pool of darkness.

    ¡°Hopefully, this world behind the door will not be thatrge, or else I might just get lost here, and I might not even be able to find my way back.¡±

    He had only journeyed across a room that was several cubic meters wide, but that took Chen Ge almost half an hour. He felt like a man walking on tight rope, his heart was greatly unsettled.

    ¡°I should currently be standing inside Ying Tong¡¯s family¡¯s living room. Ying Tong is not in his own bedroom. As his elder brother, Ying Chen probably won¡¯t allow his younger brother to wander off alone, so he is probably by his side at this moment.¡±

    For Chen Ge, the best oue was both Ying Tong and Ying Chen not being home. That way, he would have plenty of time to conduct his search and find a safe space to hide. Theyout of Ying Chen¡¯s house appeared in his mind. Chen Ge moved carefully along the wall. He walked very slowly, and his body was gradually getting used to the world without light.

    Darkness represented the unknown, and the unknown often signified danger, amplifying the sense of fear in one¡¯s head. Chen Ge¡¯s grip on the hammer was taut as he slowly nudged his body forward. His fingers found themselves wrapped around a doorknob. Chen Ge gave it a firm twist, and the door swung open easily.

    ¡°The room next to Ying Tong¡¯s bedroom should be the room where Ying Chen kept the cats. When I had Ol¡¯ Zhou check it in real life, he saw two dying strays inside it.¡±

    1The stench in the air intensified. A horrible smell drifted into his nose. Chen Ge was about to step into the room when he felt something brush against his leg.

    Chen Ge¡¯s body froze. <i>Is it a cat or a person?</i>

    There were other ¡®things¡¯ inside this room. There was a very high chance that they were cats, but that did not preclude the chance of them being ¡®humans¡¯. He trained the focus of his hearing. He could not hear any strange noises. He appeared to be standing before an empty room. Chen Ge took another gingerly step forward. His left foot stepped on something. Chen Ge knelt down to see, and his fingertips felt matted ¡®fur¡¯ on the ground.

    ¡°It¡¯s very soft, and it¡¯s all stuck together by some kind of adhesive. It is rather moist. It feels like meat, like a ball of meat covered in fur.¡±

    Chen Ge gave it a good old squeeze, and it caused his whole body to be covered in goosebumps. It might have been better if he could see what he was holding, but he was unable to see anything. All he could see was darkness. ¡°Is the whole room filled with this?¡±

    Chen Ge opened his palm and allowed the thing to fall. He wanted to enter the room to investigate further, but psychologically, he was feeling rather reluctant. After losing their sight, a person would be more fragile. The feeling of anxiety would be rooted more deeply in one¡¯s heart, and it would crawl all over one¡¯s mind like a poisonous briar.

    ¡°Ying Tong and Ying Chen are probably not home at this moment. This is the perfect opportunity. I must not let it go so easily.¡±

    After a moment of hesitation, Chen Ge entered the room. The feeling that came from his feet was very ufortable. It felt like he was stepping on a patch of muddy sand. The smell of blood and stench mingled in the air. Chen Ge worried that he might be enveloped in this smell should he stay there for too long, so after finding no new clues, he prepared to leave. Chen Ge walked to the door, but he did not walk out directly.

    ¡°If the room is indeed filled with blood and fur, the soles of my shoes must be coated in blood. They will leave a trail of bloody footprints wherever I go, and that is literally telling others how to find me.¡± Chen Ge found a pair of shoe covers from inside his backpack. This was something that he had grabbed when he was in Jiang Ming¡¯s home a few days ago.

    To not leave behind any fingerprints at Jiang Ming¡¯s ce, Chen Ge had prepared these gloves and shoe covers for the asion. He stood at the door and put the covers over his shoes. He walked along the wall, and Chen Ge found the third doorknob. This should be the room that Ying Chen used to prepare all his videos. Chen Ge was not that interested in the room, but once he pushed the door open, he was hit in the face by the smell of air freshener and perfume.

    ¡°This ce is different from how I remember it.¡± Finding his way around, Chen Ge¡¯s finger closed around a mirror and a vanity table. On the table¡¯s surface, there were cosmetic items like lipstick and something that appeared to be a music box. ¡°This feels like a woman¡¯s room. Has there been a female tenant at Ying Chen¡¯s house? Does Ying Chen have a girlfriend? Howe I didn¡¯t hear Lee Zheng mention that before?¡±

    The world behind the door started to differ from the real world, and the unknown started to expand. After he left the woman¡¯s room, Chen Ge found the fourth doorknob, and he pushed the door open. Theyout of the room was simr to Ying Chen¡¯s bedroom. The man seemed to be an extremely neat person. Everything was ced in an orderly manner. ¡°I have looked through the few rooms already, and I have found nothing useful. The main problem is that I cannot see anything. Just feeling it with my fingers, that means that I am bound to have missed some important details.¡±

    This was the first time that Chen Ge had encountered such a strange door. His past experience was unable to provide him with much help. ¡°Oh well, I should probably leave. If I run into the man that is possessed by the ghost fetus now, I will probably meet my end here.¡±

    Once Chen Ge was reminded of the room filled with fur and sticky substance, he felt icky. He was just about to leave when his feet kicked into something. ¡°Who is it?¡¯

    Initially, Chen Ge suspected that it was a cat. However, because the thing brushed against the back of his calf, somewhere a cat would not randomly brush against him, he changed his mind and realized that he had probably bumped into a person who was lying on the ground!

    The room was exceptionally quiet. Chen Ge stood frozen for a while, and then without any warning, he raised the hammer and swung it behind him. The hammer did not connect to anything. There was only air behind him. ¡°Is no one there?¡±

    Chen Ge did not wish to stay in this room any longer. He nned to retrace his step, but he had just taken his first step when he stepped on something else, and he almost tripped and fell to the ground. ¡°Was there something on the ground earlier?¡±

    His heartbeat hastened. Chen Ge reached out to touch the thing that he had stepped on earlier. When his fingertips touched the thing, Chen Ge¡¯s hand flew back instantly. Chill, with some suppleness and moisture on the surface. It brought back memories of examining and studying the human carcass when Chen Ge first visited the underground morgue. Resisting the urge to recoil, Chen Ge reached out again to grab at the thing and slowly moved around the subject.

    ¡°This here is an arm.¡± The fear was slowly growing. Chen Ge found the five fingers and the person¡¯s shoulder, but he failed to find the person¡¯s head. The headless body was strapped underneath the bed, and it was basically taped to the board of the bed. One of its arms was bent inward, and the other arm seemed to have been knocked out from underneath the bed when Chen Ge was rummaging through the room earlier. It fell out, and Chen Ge identally stepped on it.

    ¡°There is a human body hidden inside Ying Chen¡¯s bedroom? Why does this exist in the door behind Ying Tong¡¯s door? Did he personally witness Ying Chenmit a murder?¡±

    Chen Ge crawled out from under the bed. A very horrible sight was starting to appear in his mind. The blind younger brother was living next door, unable to see anything. One day, he heard a strange sound and hurried out of the bedroom to ask. At that moment, his elder brother was covered in blood and holding a cleaver. The body was dragged behind him, but Ying Chen answered him with a smile, telling him that everything was fine. Just the image of something like that caused Chen Ge to feel ufortable. ¡°I should leave as soon as possible. If Ying Chen returns, I will not even have a chance to escape.¡±

    Exiting the room, Chen Ge searched for the entrance in the living room. Before he could find the location of the entrance, thendline in the living room suddenly rang.

    ¡°Who would call at this moment?¡± The ringing unsettled Chen Ge. He was afraid that the ringing might attract something bad. ¡°Should I answer it or not?¡±

    Different choices would lead to different results. One wrong step, and he might lose his life. The phone rang for about twelve seconds, and it continued to ring. Chen Ge took a deep breath before he picked up the phone. He held his breath and did not say a word.

    ¡°Oh? You¡¯re already home.¡± Ying Chen¡¯s voice came through the line. ¡°You did not drop the football that you took away with you, right? I¡¯ve told you so many times that the things on the left side of the cupboard are mine, and the ones on the right are your toys. Why can¡¯t you remember a simple fact like that?¡±

 Chapter 1055 - Duel with the Unknown [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1055: Duel with the Unknown [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    <i>Football that I have carried? The cupboard?</i>

    The information revealed by Ying Chen in his words caused Chen Ge¡¯s brows to crease. He had just been to Ying Chen¡¯s bedroom earlier, and he knew that there was a headless carcass strapped to the underside of his bed.

    <i>The football that this man is talking about is not the head of that body, is it?</i>

    1A human head was wildly different from a football, even a blind person would not mistake them, but the premise here was that his own elder brother was not a normal person. The man was a full-on psycho. Ying Chen was a crazy man and one that had a streak of exhibitionism in him. He uploaded the videos of the tortured cats in reverse chronological order onto the website to ask for aid from cat lovers. Most of his audience members were people who loved cats. Perhaps every night, he would sit inside the room filled with fur and blood, stare at the phone screen, and read through the well wishes that he had received from these innocent people who did not know better.

    This kind of unique experience would probably be able to provide the man with some kind of rush and satisfaction, so there was a very high possibility that he would hide a human head inside a normal ball and watch his own younger brother y with it. As that thought crossed his mind, Chen Ge suddenly realized that the twisted dolls and disproportionate bodies on Ying Tong¡¯s table might carry a deeper meaning than he had previously believed.

    Chen Ge had been staying quiet all this while. The man was silent for a few seconds before Ying Chen on the other side of the line realized that something was wrong.

    ¡°You... are not Ying Tong!¡± Chen Ge had no idea how the man was able toe the conclusion that he was not Ying Tong within three seconds of non-conservation. In any case, this sharp observation and analytical skill caused Chen Ge to be even more unsettled. In Ying Tong¡¯s memory, his elder brother, Ying Chen, must be a very clever and scary person, and that would be manifested in the same way behind the door. ¡°What are you doing in my home?¡±

    Ying Chen¡¯s voice did not undergo any change, but through the background echo, Chen Ge managed to pick the increased pace of the man¡¯s walking. The man was trying to use a level tone to trick Chen Ge, to hide the fact that he was hurrying home. Chen Ge did not hesitate for even a moment; he hung up the phone immediately. He was no longer able to get any useful information from the man. In fact, now that his cover was blown, anything that the man might say could be some kind of vicious trap.

    ¡°I need to leave this ce as soon as possible.¡±

    Both parties were quick thinkers and fast movers. Chen Ge¡¯s mind still had a blurry memory of the location of the front door. He did not stop anywhere. He grabbed his backpack and moved to the door. The door that felt strangely cold to his touch was not locked. Chen Ge pushed open the door and walked out. The temperature around him decreased even further; the air outside the house seemed to be even chillier.

    ¡°I can¡¯t see anything, and I still cannot form a link with any of my employees. How am I supposed to deal that madman in such a condition?¡± Ying Tong¡¯s door was the third door from thest. Since Chen Ge had directly skipped over the door that represented the ghost fetus¡¯ heart, the difficulty of the world behind the door had reached an incredibly crazy level. In a way, this went to show the horror of a four-star Trial Mission. This ghost fetus mission was not that simple. The horrors wereyered upon each other, and it deepened with eachyer. This long night was just beginning.

    ¡°Ying Tong lives in a building that was built many years ago. He grew up here, so his main memory will be around the Ming Yuan area.¡± Chen Ge knew theyout of the nearby buildings, but to y hide and seek with a madman when he was unable to see anything, even Chen Ge felt the enormous pressure. Walking out of the front door, Chen Ge had not moved too far away from Ying Chen¡¯s house when he felt something brush against his ankle. It appeared like one of the cats had followed him and escaped from the house as well.

    ¡°Just how many cats are inside Ying Chen¡¯s house?¡± Chen Ge leaned against the wall and slowly walked down the corridor. ¡°The stairwell bookends the corridor on both sides, and there is an elevator in the middle, provided this world behind the door is a true reflection of the situation in real life.¡±

    Chen Ge was not that familiar with Ying Tong. He did not know what the man¡¯s biggest fear was, and thus, he could not prepare to handle it. The only thing he could do was take one step at a time. Caution and taking it slow would be his saving grace.

    ¡°The old-fashioned elevator will make too much noise, and that will inadvertently expose my location. I am unable to see anything now. If I press the wrong button, I might end up on the wrong floor, and the elevator doors could open to Ying Chen waiting for me outside.¡±

    With that in mind, Chen Ge rejected the idea of taking the elevator. Then he was faced with a second choice. Should he take the stairs on the left or the right?

    Ying Chen¡¯s home was closer to the stairs on the left. In fact, the house was right next to the staircase. Chen Ge felt that if Ying Chen wanted to get home in the shortest time possible, there was a very high chance that he would take the stairs on the left.

    ¡°In that case, I will take the stairs on the right.¡±

    In this world behind the door, every seemingly unimportant choice could be a matter of life and death.

    If Chen Ge made the wrong choice and encountered Ying Chen in the stairwell, the madman might decide to trail behind him noiselessly while he came up with an idea to torture and kill him. After all, Chen Ge had found out about his secret, and the safest way was to kill Chen Ge to guarantee his silence.

    Keeping his hands on the wall, Chen Ge slowly overcame his fear of the darkness, and he started to jog. There was no trash littering the corridor, so Chen Ge did not trip over anything. When Chen Ge was about to reach the right stairwell, a cat¡¯s meow suddenly came from the direction before him. It was a very soft meow, and Chen Ge was certain that it came from the mouth of the right hand stairs.

    ¡°There¡¯s a cat there?¡± If this was in real life, Chen Ge would not have been so nervous to have run into a cat, but this was the world behind the door. A cat was a contradictory creature. It had been a symbol of many things through the history of mankind. In different people¡¯s eyes, cats represented different meanings, so Chen Ge had a hard time telling what the cat¡¯s intention was by meowing to him.

    Ying Chen had adopted many stray cats, but the reason for that was for him to satisfy his twisted and pathological desire. If the cats had the power to resist, the first thing they would have done would be to kill Ying Chen. s, in both real life and the world behind the door, Ying Chen was perfectly fine. In other words, it meant that even behind the door, he had the power to easily dispose of the ¡®cats¡¯.

    While Chen Ge was contemting, there was another cat¡¯s meowing from the right staircase, and this time, it was slightly louder than before. Something seemed to bounce against his ankle. Before Chen Ge could react to it, the third meow urred, and this time, the cat was calling from right beside him. The cat¡¯s meowing became more and more insistent, and the sound became shriller and shriller. It sounded like the cries of a small baby.

    ¡°Are they warning me?¡±

    Ying Chen was a cat torturer. The cats had no reason to help him, so if that was the case, the chance of Ying Chen being on the right staircase was incredibly high!

    To trust the cats or to trust his own instincts, Chen Ge was faced with another choice. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, Chen Ge gritted his teeth and turned around. He ran as fast as he could to the left staircase. The cat¡¯s call from behind him became sharper and shriller. They sounded at once like both crying andughter. It was quite spine-tingling.

    Knocking and bouncing against the wall, after losing his sight, Chen Ge had trouble even running without bumping into anything. He tried his best to get to the staircase on the left, and he hid himself on thending between the two floors. Kneeling on the ground, Chen Ge grabbed onto the railing and lowered his center of gravity as low as possible. This way, even if someone tried to push him from behind, he would not roll down the stairs that easily. Chen Ge did not dare move aimlessly. He stayed motionlessly because he wanted to confirm something very important.

    ¡°If the door is pushed open, then it will prove that Ying Chen hase home. He came from the staircase on the right, and that will indirectly prove that the cats were helping me! The louder the cats were, the closer Ying Chen was to me!¡±

    Chen Ge was very courageous. Then again, it was not like he had much choice. To gain the little initiative that he could, he hid on thending inside the left stairwell. Ying Chen¡¯s house was just right next to his hiding ce. If he was not careful, he would be discovered easily. As the time moved forward, Chen Ge¡¯s palms started to get slick with sweat. He had not been so nervous for such a long time. After about a minute, Ying Chen¡¯s house door clicked without warning. It appeared that someone had opened the front door and walked in. Hearing that click, Chen Ge¡¯s hands that gripped around the railing slowly rxed.

    ¡°That should be Ying Chening home.¡±

    He slipped quietly down the stairs. Even though Chen Ge had made the right choice and had managed to confirm his hypothesis, his brows were still deeply screwed together. From that brief encounter, he hade to a few conclusions.

    The first one and also the most important one was that he could use the cat¡¯s calls to determine Ying Chen¡¯s location.

    The second one was that Ying Chen moved as silently as a shade. Chen Ge had been using his Ghost Ear power when he was hiding in the staircase, but he did not hear the echo of footsteps at all. He had only heard the door being opened. It was as if Ying Chen had teleported to the front door of his house.

    The third conclusion was that Ying Chen should use the stairs on the left if he wanted to return to his house the fastest way possible, but he had opted for the opposite direction. He had chosen the staircase on the right. If this was not a coincidence, it meant that this Ying Chen was a very cunning person, and he was predicting and counteracting to the choice that Chen Ge might have made.

    ¡°Without the power of sight, how am I supposed to find Ying Tong?¡±

    He understood that he should not stay at that ce for long. After Ying Chen returned to his house and took a look around, he would soon realize that someone had just been in his room and found the dead body. He would give chase soon enough. Using the railing as a guide, Chen Ge moved down the stairs step by step. He nned to temporarily leave this building. In fact, if possible, he wanted to leave this residential area for the moment.

    Chen Ge memorized the route that he had taken. A normal person would be in full panic mode at this moment, but Chen Ge was still trying his best to find the way out. After walking down three floors, Chen Ge heard the door from Ying Chen¡¯s house being opened again. That signified that Ying Chen hade out from the house.

    ¡°This is not good.¡± Chen Ge had to make sure that he made as little noise as possible and had to be careful so that he would not trip on the stairs. Both of these limitations impeded him from moving fast. If Ying Chen chased after him, he would be captured quite easily. ¡°The man does not move with any sound. After he returned home, he probably went to grab a knife and some other tools.¡±

    Not long after that, the sound of the old elevator echoed through the building. Someone had taken the elevator and moved down the floors.

    ¡°Ying Chen probably believes that he missed me because I chose the staircase on the left. He must believe that I have already left the building. That¡¯s why he took the elevator. That¡¯s the fastest way to catch up to me if I am on the way out of the building.¡± Chen Ge was blind in the world behind the door, but Ying Chen did not appear to know that. He was predicting Chen Ge¡¯s movement and actions based on the hypothesis that Chen Ge was a person with normal sight. ¡°I must not let the man know that I am blind, or else he will toy with me like he did with Ying Tong. Who knows what this crazy man might do in that scenario? He is one sick b*stard.¡±

    Chen Ge had encountered many crazy murderers in his life, and Ying Chen was not the most cunning nor the most dangerous of them all, but he was the one with the greatest desire to show off his work. Chen Ge¡¯s key issue was, in the world behind the door, this was a world made from Ying Tong¡¯s memories. His elder brother, Ying Chen, should represent some kind of inner fear that he could never escape or shake loose. The noise from the old elevator soon halted. It seemed to have stopped on the ground floor. ¡°I am unable to confirm his exact location. This ces me in such a disadvantaged position.¡±

    Chen Ge slowly approached the corner of the staircase. When he was about to continue downward, he suddenly heard the echoes of footstepsing from the corridor. ¡°There are people running in the corridor, and there¡¯s more than one, huh?¡±

    Ying Chen¡¯s movement waspletely silent, so these people should not be Ying Chen. Chen Ge froze like a statue. Honestly, in that moment, he could feel the helplessness that was probably part of daily life for a blind person. They were living in the same world as everyone else, but because they were deprived of their sight. Sometimes, they could not even put up the simplest of resistance. The footsteps approached at a rapid speed, and they soon gathered before Chen Ge.

    Chen Ge grabbed Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s hammer, which was hidden inside his backpack. He pressed his back against the wall and took the most defensive stance he could in that moment. The footsteps stopped not far away from Chen Ge.

    A momentter, a boy¡¯s voice entered Chen Ge¡¯s ears. ¡°What are you doing on the stairs?¡±

    The child¡¯s voice appeared to be normal. One would assume that it came from a very young boy. The tone wasced with open curiosity and confusion.

    Chen Ge thought for a long time, but he did not know how to respond. His instincts told him that this was a chance. He could ask one of the children to lead him to their home to provide him with a temporary sanctuary. He could lock the door behind him and wait for Ying Chen to pass. However, his rationality told him that he should not ce his trust so easily in the ¡®people¡¯ behind the door. These children might sound entirely innocent and harmless, but they might have the scariest appearance. Perhaps they were monsters who had the voices of children. Like many dark fairy tales, if he followed them believing their innocence, he would eventually end up in their stomachs.

    ¡°This is such a strange man. We¡¯d better stay away from him,¡± one of the other boys said. ¡°Let¡¯s go and find Ying Tong. I like to y hide and seek with him the most. We will never need to worry about him cheating in the game.¡±

    1¡°That is true, but he is so dumb. I was just hiding behind himst time we yed, but he did not notice me at all.¡±

    ¡°Every time he is supposed toe catch us, in the end, it will be a game of us trying to go and find him. I really don¡¯t understand why you guys insist on ying with him.¡±

    The children joked andughed. Chen Ge heard the mention of Ying Tong¡¯s name. With his head lowered, he memorized the words that the children had said.

    <i>Yet another game of hide and seek. There is often such a game in the world behind the door. This really coincides with the description of the ck phone in regards to the ghost fetus¡¯ Trial Mission. This is a hide and seek of life and death.</i>

    The few children were also looking for Ying Tong, so they probably did not know his exact location. Thus, Chen Ge did not ask them for any information. The children probably lost interest in Chen Ge after they got no response from him. They slowly wandered away. The footsteps disappeared down the corridor. Touching the wall, Chen Ge slowly stood up. His instinct from many instances behind the door told him that this building was very dangerous, and he needed to leave this ce as soon as possible. He took his first step downward. But when he first raised his left right, someone suddenly shoved him heavily from behind!

    He lost his hold on the backpack, and Chen Ge careened down the steps with the backpack cushioning part of his fall. Jolts of pain came from all parts of his body. Chen Ge shielded his head and gritted his teeth as the pain slowly passed. Ignoring everything else, he quickly climbed up from the ground and held onto his backpack for dear life.

    ¡°No wonder he kept his eyes closed all the time. He is a blind man.¡± A young boy¡¯s voice came from the top of the stairs. Chen Ge could recognize this boy. The person who had pushed him was one of the children from earlier.

    1The footsteps slowly moved away from Chen Ge. After pushing Chen Ge down the stairs, the boy walked off.

    ¡°That shove was much stronger than what a normal boy should be able to muster. Has Ying Tong experienced something simr?¡±

    Working his wrist, Chen Ge did not chase after the boy, but he was thinking over what the boy just said earlier.

    ¡°No wonder he keeps his eyes closed? In the eyes of these people behind the door, I have been keeping my eyes closed, huh? If that is the case, what am I supposed to do to open them?¡±

 Chapter 1056 - Shrill Catâ€™s Call [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1056: Shrill Cat¡¯s Call [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Even though the boy had maliciously pushed Chen Ge down the stairs, he had also revealed an important piece of information to Chen Ge. For the ¡®people¡¯ in this world behind the door, Chen Ge had the appearance of a strange man who kept his eyes closed.

    ¡°So, there is a possibility that I am not blind. I simply have not peeled my eyes open.¡±

    With his back against the wall, Chen Ge reached out his hands to touch his eyes, and he confirmed that both of his eyes were open, mumbling, ¡°How can this be? What is the reason behind this discrepancy of what I feel and what I am told?¡±

    There was nothing blocking Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. He used his fingers to dig into the corner of his eyes, he worked slowly and meticulously, but he still could not see anything but darkness. He could not even see the blood that had leaked out from the corners of his eyelids.

    ¡°There is only darkness. Perhaps it is not that I am blind but ck is the only color that exists in this world.¡±

    The corridor had returned to silence. The group of children had already gone away.

    ¡°Perhaps from another person¡¯s perspective, Ying Tong has always appeared to have his eyes closed, which created the impression that all blind people in the world behind his world have their eyes shut.

    ¡°Or is there a possibility that even though Ying Tong has always kept his eyes closed, he has notpletely lost his sight. He knew what his elder brother was doing, and to protect his own life, there was nothing he could do but pretend not to see anything. There is color in his world, but he is prevented from opening his eyes to enjoy it. If Ying Chen really has killed someone in real life, if he knew his younger brother Ying Tong is not really blind, he would create some kind of ¡®ident¡¯ to get rid of Ying Tong!

    ¡°Nothing is beyond the realm of possibility for a madman. The logical delineation of good versus evil cannot be applied here. The concept of morality does not work like normal when applied to a person with mental problems. For Ying Chen, his blood rtive might not represent anything more than a tool for his own person entertainment.¡±

    Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of something. In real life, he had peered into the fridge at Ying Chen¡¯s home. He had noticed that the bottompartment of the fridge was stuffed to the brim with minced meat. The meat had all been deboned, and the meat had been given a good chop, so from the appearance, it was hard to tell what kind of meat it was.

    ¡°If that meat is animal meat, then it¡¯s fine. It¡¯s just that I have a feeling that it might not be animal meat.¡± Chen Ge had encountered many crazed murderers before, and in his mind, there were many different levels of crazy murderers. To be able to debone, mince, and disguise the flesh of their victim and store them inside the fridge of their own kitchen, that was definitely not something a normal crazy murderer could do.

    ¡°When he was drinking with me, Ying Chen acted just like a normal person. In fact, he was more sociable than many normal people. If my prediction turns out to be true, then this is one hell of a disgusting and scary monster. Ying Chen has been living with a mask before all the living person, and he only sheds his disguise when he is around his younger brother. The kid was exposed to so many horrible scenarios since he was small, so even without the influence from the ghost fetus, Ying Tong might have be an actual door pusher.¡±

    The degree of eeriness and absurdity of the world behind the door was proportional to the level of despair the door pusher had the misfortune of experiencing in real life. Even though Chen Ge had not discovered anything particrly unique about this world through his sense of touch and smell, perhaps once he opened his eyes, he would be able to see how scary this world actually was.

    ¡°There¡¯s no point spending so much time of spection. I need to go and find a ce to hide for now. Among the group of children, only one of the kids pushed me, so that means that there¡¯s a chance tomunicate and interact with the rest of the children. If I am really cornered, perhaps I should go and persuade one of them.¡± Chen Ge was not feeling all that confident in his n. He had been paying close attention to his surrounding so that he would be able to react on time should any ident happen.

    Earlier, he had been unable to stop himself from being pushed down the stairs for two reasons. One, it indeed did not cross his mind that the boy had not left with the rest of his friends because the sound of the footsteps had been mixed together. Two, the shove from the boy was surprisingly strong; it was not on the level of strength a normal boy would have. After losing his sight, confirming the identity of the other person through the voice alone was something extremely risky, so unless he was truly out of other ideas, Chen Ge would not trust anyone too easily in this world behind the door.

    ¡°If this ce corresponds to real life, Ying Chen¡¯s house is on the seventh floor. I can listen closely to the movement of the elevator to determine the total number of floors in this building, and perhaps I can even take the elevator if necessary.¡±

    Once the old elevator moved, it would creak noisily and loudly. It was definitely a source of danger, but it also represented a third path. When Ying Chen realized that Chen Ge had been going up and down the stairs, the elevator would be his only hope of escaping.

    Of course, that was something that Chen Ge did not hope to happen; he still did not want to ost Ying Chen at this moment.

    ¡°For now, assuming this ce is just like real life, Ying Chen¡¯s home is on the seventh floor. I am on thending between the third and fourth floor, and Ying Chen should currently be on the ground floor. He might be waiting at the stairs of the first floor, or perhaps he has already left and run out from this building.¡±

    Unable to see anything, Chen Ge could only rely on his instincts to choose his path forward.

    ¡°Ying Chen probably does not know that I am blind. Earlier, he came up from the stairs on the right side. If he noticed something was wrong, he might rush down the stairs on the left to check. After all, if he believed the person who sneaked into his house left from the left staircase, then there is a chance that he might leave behind some clues inside the stairwell.¡±

    With that in mind, Chen Ge made the swift decision to leave the left staircase, enter the corridor, and walk toward the staircase on the right.

    ¡°Hopefully, this is me overthinking it, but it never hurts to be extra careful.¡±

    The best scenario for Chen Ge was Ying Chen hearing themotion on the left staircase from the ground floor and hurrying up the stairs to corner the intruder while Chen Ge moved to the stairs on the right and perfectly avoided encountering Ying Chen and sessfully escaping this building. Chen Ge was desperate to leave this building because there would be more options for him after leaving this ce and more hiding spots.

    That was the n, but reality always proved that one could never n for everything. Once Chen Ge stepped into the third-floor corridor, he heard a door creak open. The sound was very close to him. It was just about two to three meters away from him. With his hands on the door, Chen Ge froze and stopped moving. Even though he was inside a building, a draft suddenly picked up, and it carried a heady smell of something horrible.

    It was dangerous for Chen Ge to stand exposed in the corridor. After a moment of hesitation, he started to move his legs and take one step forward. He felt like he had stepped on something. It made a crunchy sound like he had stepped on some dead bugs. It was a very unsettling feeling. Chen Ge did not dare stay too long. When he was about to take a second step, he felt someone press on his shoulders.

    ¡°Are you a new tenant who just moved here?¡± A middle-aged man¡¯s voice travelled to Chen Ge¡¯s ears. It should be this person who had suddenly opened his door.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s brain was spinning as fast as he could. The stench in the air was a mix of stale food, dried sweat on unwashedundry, and horrible body odor. The middle-aged man required a good deal of cleaning and washing. It felt like he had not cleaned his room for a very long time.

    ¡°Why is your body burning up if you are a new tenant? I thought you were one of the delivery people here to deliver stuff.¡± The middle-aged man gave thisment that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

    <i>Body burning up?</i> Chen Ge felt that his body temperature was already incredibly low. It was a problem that he had been facing ever since his encounter with the Specters. The old woman at Coffin Vige had even said that his body temperature would continue to drop if he did not find a solution, so it was strange to hear someone say that his body was burning up. In any case, Chen Ge did not respond to thement. From the perspective of a living person, his body temperature was not only not high, it was on the low side. But from the perspective of the dead, he would indeed be different from other ¡®people¡¯. He was an anomaly.

    Chen Ge was considering how to answer this middle-aged man when suddenly a cat¡¯s meow echoed in his ears. Sucking in a cold breath, Chen Ge focused his ears to determine the source of the meowing. It was from the left staircase!

    Before he could say anything, the second meow appeared, and it sounded more urgent and desperate than before. ¡°Ying Chen ising this way!¡±

    It was already toote to run to the stairs on the right, there was only one option that was presented to Chen Ge. He lowered his voice and said to the middle-aged man, ¡°Brother, I have something very important that I need to discuss with you.¡±

    Grabbing his backpack tightly, Chen Ge¡¯s hands searched along the wall until he found the frame of the door, ¡°We will go inside and talk. Just give me three minutes. That is all I need!¡±

    Then, without waiting for the middle-aged man to respond, Chen Ge stepped over the threshold and entered his house.

    ¡°Hey, who said that you cane in here?¡±

    ¡°Quickly, close to the door!¡± Chen Ge was unable to see anything. All he could hear was the horrible screeching from the cats. However, it appeared that he was the only person who could hear them.

    ¡°What are you trying to do? Who are you?¡± The middle-aged man moved very slowly and sluggishly. The cats called like they were being ughtered. It was spine-tingling to hear them. Chen Ge followed the sound and gripped the middle-aged man by his elbow and dragged him into the room. ¡°Close the door!¡±

    The door clicked shut. Chen Ge signaled for the middle-aged man to stay quiet. Even then, the cats did not stop meowing. If anything, the calls had be shriller and sharper. Ying Chen appeared to have heard the door close, and he was heading their way!

    ¡°You...¡±

    ¡°If you do not want to die, don¡¯t say anything!¡± Chen Ge squeezed themand out through gritted teeth, and that finally managed to shut the middle-aged man up. Chen Ge stood frozen at the door, but the middle-aged man had wandered away from him. He seemed to have walked into the living room. The sound of footsteps exposed the presence of someone inside the house, but it was not the time for Chen Ge to worry about that.

    The sharp and painful screams of the cats drilled into his ears. It was impossible to determine their location. It was as if Ying Chen was standing right before Chen Ge. Thetter did not dare breathe too loudly. All he could do now was wait because Ying Chen was probably standing just outside the door. Between him and Ying Chen, there was only a door in the way. Chen Ge mped his hands over his lips, thinking, <i>Ying Chen knows that someone entered his house, but he does not know that the intruder was me. If I see this from his perspective, there is a good chance that he might mistake the intruder as the owner of this house. With Ying Chen¡¯s personality, he might just decide to kill this middle-aged man.</i>

    <i>Assuming the middle-aged man only shares a normal neighborly rtionship with Ying Chen, if Ying Chen wants to kill the middle-aged man, that will ce me and the middle-aged man in the same boat. So, what I need to do now is wait for Ying Chen to leave and then test the middle-aged man by slowly revealing the truth to him and seeing how he reacts.</i>

    The cats kept on meowing for a full minute before they stopped, which meant that Ying Chen had probably left. Wiping away the cold sweat from his forehead and the blood stain from the corner of his eyes, Chen Ge turned around and called into the room, ¡°Brother, are you still there?¡±

    Ying Chen probably went home to grab some equipment before returning to kill the middle-aged man. This was an apartment, so a brutal killing would attract too much attention. Chen Ge believed that Ying Chen would start with some kind of drug, and after the middle-aged man fell unconscious, Ying Chen would make his move. The horrible stench assaulted his nostrils, but at that moment, Chen Ge did not care that much about it. In his mind, as long as the ce did not stink of death, it was already better than most ces.

    ¡°Brother, I know it was rude of me to suddenly barge into your home, but I hope that you will listen to my side of the story.¡± Chen Ge took a deep breath. He knew that once he said those things, the situation might turn even moreplicated because he would be introducing even more extenuating factors into the situation. ¡°There are two siblings living on the seventh floor. The younger brother is blind, and the elder brother likes to adopt stray cats. Do you have any impression of them?¡±

    There was no sound that came from the room. It was as if the middle-aged man had disappeared into thin air.

    ¡°When I passed by his house this afternoon, I noticed the door to their house was not closed. After I entered it, I discovered a dead body hidden under the elder brother¡¯s bed. He is a murderer!¡±

    After Chen Ge dropped that bomb, there was finally a reaction from inside the room. The middle-aged man¡¯s voice came from a corner of the living room. ¡°Impossible, I know that man. His name is Ying Chen. He is a na?ve and innocent person. He can always be found doing things that are not worthwhile if you ask my honest opinion, like volunteering to take care of the building¡¯s surrounding garden and taking in those stray cats.¡±

    ¡°Na?ve and innocent? Is that how you see Ying Chen?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you cannot find a kinder, more na?ve person in this world. Based on what he told me, he just wants to do more good things in the world to gather some good karma in the hopes that his good deeds will touch the heavens above to help recover his younger brother¡¯s sight. Tell me, if that is not naivete, what is?¡±

    The middle-aged man did not believe Chen Ge at all. From his point of view, the term murderer could not be linked to Ying Chen.

    ¡°Never judge a book by its cover. What you are shown is a front that he has put a lot of effort into. It is all part of his disguise.¡± Chen Ge did not expect that when he had ced the truth so openly before the man, the man would still think that he was joking.

    ¡°I do not understand why you are saying things like, but if you are not lying, let me gather some of the neighbors, and we will all go together to his house to look.¡±

    ¡°That is a definite no.¡± Chen Ge did not wish to expose his existence. Once Ying Chen had him in his crosshairs, he would be exceptionally vulnerable considering the fact that he was unable to see anything at the moment.

    ¡°Actually, what are you doing here?¡± The middle-aged man grabbed Chen Ge by his hair. ¡°And why are you keeping your eyes closed? Is there a medical problem with your eyes?¡±

    ¡°I am not lying to you. Ying Chen has killed someone, and there is probably more than one victim. He is a madman.¡±

    ¡°If there is someone that is mad, it is you. You are blind, so how did you see the dead body in his room?¡± The middle-aged man started to believe that Chen Ge was lying to him. After all, Ying Chen was a neighbor whom he had known quite some time, and Chen Ge was a stranger whom he had just met that day.

    ¡°I touched it with my hands. The dead body was strapped under his bed. It was a headless body!¡±

    ¡°You touched a dead body with your hands? That sounds quite unbelievable.¡± The middle-aged man pulled harder. He was not weing to Chen Ge. He dragged Chen Ge by his hair to the front door. ¡°Compared to a suspected murderer, I feel in more danger around someone like you who sneaks into other people¡¯s homes without their permission.¡±

    His hair was yanked out from his scalp. Chen Ge felt pain jolt through his body. In response, Chen Ge grabbed the middle-aged man¡¯s arm. He wanted to fling the man¡¯s arm away, but when his finger touched the middle-aged man¡¯s skin, his expression changed. The middle-aged man¡¯s body was devoid of any body warmth, and more importantly, there were bumps on the man¡¯s skin along with something that felt like muscr lividity.

    <i>Livor mortis?</i> This medical term appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, and he instantly let go. <i>This uncle is dead?</i>

    ¡°Get out of my house now. If I see you around loitering around the area, there will be consequences. Do you understand me?¡± Chen Ge was hauled out of the room by the middle-aged man. Standing in the corridor, a chill crawled all over his heart.

    ¡°In Ying Tong¡¯s memory, the middle-aged man appeared in the form of a dead person. That means that he is probably already dead in real life. What is the reason behind his death? Was it because he had discovered Ying Chen¡¯s secret? Or had Ying Tong once told him something, but he did not believe him, and that caused Ying Chen to ce a target on his back?¡±

    Many things behind the door were connected. Chen Ge stood for a while at the door when suddenly he heard the old elevator moving. At the same time, the cats started to meow again.

    ¡°Ying Chen ising this way in the elevator.¡±

 Chapter 1057 - Aichmophobia [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1057: Aichmophobia [2 in 1]</h4>

    Chen Ge wished to go to warn the middle-aged man, but it was already toote. The cats¡¯ meowing grew louder and louder. He hurriedly went to hide in the nearby stairwell. The elevator stopped on this floor. There were no footsteps or the even sound of breathing. Momentster, there came the sound of knocking on the door. The knocking appeared to happen out of thin air. There was no precursor to it at all. It was like the person teleported to the middle-aged man¡¯s house and tapped on his door.

    ¡°The middle-aged man might reveal my presence to him.¡±

    The knocking was incredibly loud, but it did not seem that no one came to open the door. Chen Ge was currently standing on the steps. Even without his power of sight, he was exceptionally calm. In those circumstances, he had chosen not to run but to stay and observe. Ying Chen did not know the situation that he was in, so the situation was temporarily still beneficial to him. The knocking continued for quite some time before the door finally opened. The middle-aged man¡¯s voice came from down the corridor.

    ¡°Ying Chen? Why have youe to knock on my door? Is it because it¡¯s time to pay the building maintenance fee again?¡± There was a trace of barely hidden annoyance in the middle-aged man¡¯s tone. It was clear that he did not take Chen Ge¡¯s warning to heart.

    ¡°My younger brother, Ying Tong, has sneaked out from home. He still has note home yet, so I¡¯m very worried. When I came up the stairs earlier, I heard there was someone moving on the floor, so I thought abouting here to ask. Have you seen my younger brother?¡± Ying Chen¡¯s voice sounded incredibly young. He appeared to be much younger in this world behind the doorpared to the real Ying Chen in real life.

    The world behind the door was built based on the door pusher¡¯s memory. In other words, a deduction could be made that this younger version of Ying Chen had left the deepest impression on Ying Tong. Therefore, Ying Chen had done something to Ying Tong when they were both very young, and that incident had been a traumatic experience for Ying Tong. It seared a part of his mind, and he would always remember his elder brother¡¯s voice from when that incident happened.

    ¡°You have to be more careful since he is a blind kid. It is your fault that you did not close the door and watch over him carefully, and now that he is missing, why have youe to bother me?¡± The middle-aged man¡¯s attitude could not have been worse. From the way he treated Chen Ge, one could see that he was not a friendly guy.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. Here are some date cakes that my rtive from my hometown sent me. I hope you will ept them. If you happen to see my younger brother, would you pleasee and tell me? He has extremely poor eyesight, and I am so afraid that some ident might happen to him.¡±

    ¡°Date cakes? Why are they so red? Have they been stuffed with food dye?¡±

    ¡°No, they are made from pure natural ingredient, and the taste is exquisite. Please do give them a try. If you think they taste good, I still have some back at my home.¡± Ying Chen was very passionate. So far, he had acted as the middle-aged man had described him to be, a perfectly kind and innocent young man.

    ¡°The taste is indeed not bad, although it is quite different from the ones I bought from the street. Okay, if I ever see your little brother, I will be sure to notify you.¡± The middle-aged man spoke with his mouth full. It sounded like he was munching on something. Then, the door closed.

    ¡°The middle-aged man did not mention anything about me, but the problem is, Ying Chen did not enter his home, so he should be standing right outside his door right at this moment.¡± The sound of the elevator opening came from the corridor. Chen Ge nned to leave, but at that moment, he heard the meowing of the cats. The sound came from the middle of the corridor. ¡°Ying Chen did not get on the elevator!¡±

    He leaned against the wall, and Chen Ge hurried down the stairs. He did not dare make too loud a noise, but because he was blind, he was unable to move as fast as he wished. If he identally tripped or made any noise, he would certainly be captured by Ying Chen. For now, he was unable to predict where Ying Chen was. The cats kept on meowing, so that could only mean that the madman wasing toward the staircase.

    ¡°Hey!¡± The front door was opened again, and the middle-aged man¡¯s voice came out from the corridor. ¡°Why are there so many letters inside this bag of date cakes?¡±

    ¡°Those were addressed to me from my rtive. I am so sorry. I forgot to take them out from the bag.¡± Ying Chen¡¯s voice came from directly above Chen Ge. He had already entered the stairwell, but he was on the fourth floor, while Chen Ge had just slithered to the third floor. Chen Ge was covered in a sheen of cold sweat. He held his breath and froze where he was. ¡°I will take the letters with me. Remember, if you see my little brother, please doe and tell me.¡±

    The cats had stopped meowing. When Ying Chen¡¯s voice began again, he had already left the staircase and walked to the middle-aged man¡¯s door.

    ¡°Okay.¡± After saying that, the middle-aged man added not long after that, ¡°Why do you keep trying to peer into my house? Are you suspecting that I am hiding your little brother?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that. I merely thought that...¡± The voices from the corridor suddenly stopped, but they were quickly followed by the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground.

    ¡°Ying Chen has made his move on the middle-aged man?¡± Chen Ge gritted his teeth. The man was swift and cruel with his actions. He did not hesitate for even a second. This kind of enemy was very scary and dangerous. ¡°I have to leave this building as soon as I can. I¡¯d better stay away from him before I recover my power of sight.¡± Chen Ge did not know what kind of power Ying Chen possessed, and he had no idea what kind of world this ce was. His understanding and conception of the world was notplete just based on his senses of hearing, smell, and touch. He did not dare stay in the same ce for too long. Chen Ge picked up his pace and hurried down the stairs.

    ¡°The middle-aged man is definitely a dead man. If Ying Chen mistakes him as the intruder, it¡¯ll be perfect. But with Ying Chen¡¯s intellect, he will have more suspicion. I must be prepared for the worst. It is not yet time to lower my guard.¡±

    With his hands on the wall, Chen Ge walked down the stairs while counting in his mind the number of floors that he had already descended. ¡°Assuming it¡¯s like real life, Ying Chen¡¯s family lives on the seventh floor, so I should have reached the ground floor now.¡±

    There was anding between the stairs connecting the two floors. It had been consistent so far as Chen Ge went down the building. But once Chen Ge moved to the assumed ground floor, he did not step on a levelnd, but instead, there were more stairs!

    ¡°Is there a basement in the building where Ying Chen¡¯s family live?¡± Chen Ge rummaged through his mind, and he came to a horrifying conclusion. He remembered very clearly that the building that Ying Chen showed him definitely did not have a basement. ¡°This world behind the door is not the same as the one in real life! Damn it!¡±

    Chen Ge was unable to see anything. But Chen Ge had not been discovered by Ying Chen. Other than the help of the cats, there was another reason behind this, and that was because he had been to this building before, and there was a basicyout of its location formed in his mind. Byparing the map with the one in his mind, Chen Ge would not bepletely lost. But now that he realized the map in his mind was not one hundred percent identical to this building behind the door, the fear that he had toward the unknown was instantly amplified.

    ¡°Should I continue to move down the stairs or knock on the doors of the tenants to ask for help? Another issue is that this building does not have a basement in its real life counterpart, but this staircase continues to move down, so one cannot help but wonder, where does this lead?¡±

    He should have been on the ground floor, but the staircase kept on going. Chen Ge did not know wherein the problemy. Why would there be an extra basement in this building behind the door?

    ¡°Could there be a reflection of the upper seven floors and lower seven floors? Just like how the world behind the door is the reflection of the world outside the door? The top seven floors are filled with normal tenants, but the lower seven floors are inhabited by Specters and ghosts?¡±

    Standing in the stairwell, Chen Ge moved several steps down into the basement. He did not feel any difort or feel as if anything around him had changed. The surroundings appeared to have remained the same as well.

    ¡°This should not be a reflection of the seven floors aboveground, so is there a possibility that this is an endless loop, Penrose stairs so to speak? The ground floor of the building leads to the top floor of the building, and the top floor of the building is connected to the ground floor. For a blind person, repeating the action of going up and down the stairs will evoke an especially strong sense of despair in one¡¯s mind. It will seem like there is no end, and one was just making a futile struggle.¡±

    Normally, a person would not have this kind of experience, but it was different for Chen Ge. After all, not that long ago, he had done a nightmare mission at Jiang Yuan Apartments that required him to blindfold himself to get up the building. That had given him a taste of how a blind man would ascend the stairs of a building. Darkness, loneliness, and a fear of the unknown festered at the bottom of a person¡¯s heart. They wouldbine to form a demon that represented fear, and the demon would slowly swallow one whole.

    ¡°I cannot keep going. This world behind the door is different from itsyout in real life. This means that I need to be extra careful.¡± Chen Ge retreated to the ce that he believed was the ¡®ground floor¡¯. With his hands on the wall, he moved down the corridor. He searched the whole floor and, he came to a very despairing conclusion.

    ¡°There is no exit. I cannot leave this ce.¡±

    Despair started to grow inside his heart. Chen Ge realized that he had seriously underestimated the difficulty of this world behind the door.

    ¡°Am I experiencing what Ying Tong once experienced? There is an exit to this building, but for him, the building is akin to his prison. Or rather, it¡¯s as if the building is essentially his whole world. He is unable to escape from this ce.¡±

    Biting the tip of his tongue, Chen Ge used pain to force himself to calm down.

    ¡°Looks like, if there is any hope to break this endless cycle, it will be with Ying Tong. He is the door pusher of this door, so he should know how to ¡®open one¡¯s eyes¡¯. Therefore, I need to find Ying Tong before Ying Chen manages to catch up to me!¡±

    Without any clue and deprived of any aid, inside a sealed building, a blind person needed to find another blind person while the former was being chased by a crazed murderer. Chen Ge had not experienced a mission of this kind of difficulty before.

    ¡°From now on, I will have to memorize each step that I have taken, every location, and every direction that I am facing.¡±

    The world behind the door differed from the real world. Chen Ge could not use that as a basis ofparison anymore, so Chen Ge needed toe up with a new map in his mind. This was something that was incredibly difficult, but Chen Ge had to try to increase the chance of his survival.

    Since he could not see, so he had to memorize all the routes that he had taken before. Only by familiarizing himself with theyout of the building would he be able to run without the fear of tripping over something unknown. He might even be able to set down trap to deal with Ying Chen.

    Constantly going into hiding was not Chen Ge¡¯s style. He wished to use everything within his surroundings to resolve the danger once and for all. Even though he had lost his sight, if Ying Chen merely treated him as a normal blind man and was ying with Chen Ge like how a cat would toy with a weak mouse, then Ying Chen would be in big trouble. The one person that he should definitely not underestimate was Chen Ge.

    ¡°The middle-aged man that I met earlier had something akin to livor mortis settling on his body already, and his body temperature was practically non-existent, so the chance of him being a living person is zero. If I look at it from this perspective, is there a chance that the entire tenants of this building are filled with dead people?

    ¡°Some of their deaths might be rted to Ying Chen while others might have been caused by the ghost fetus. In their eyes, Ying Chen is a very good and kind person. Now what I need to do is try my best to correct their misunderstanding of Ying Chen and have them see the real Ying Chen. That way, hopefully, I will be able to get them to lend me their aid and give me their trust.¡±

    The cats had not started to call, so Ying Chen should be quite far away from him. Chen Ge walked to the corner of the ¡®ground floor¡¯ and knocked lightly on the door that was closest to the staircase. In this dark and quiet world, the sound of knocking echoed hollowly. Even Chen Ge himself felt unsettled. It felt like someone was watching him from the door.

    ¡°Is the apartment empty?¡±

    Chen Ge moved down to the next door. He knocked for a long time, but no one came to open the door. In fact, he did not hear any movement from inside any of the apartments. He knocked on five consecutive doors, but none of them opened, and this caused Chen Ge to be quite desperate.

    ¡°After Ying Chen deals with the body, he will continue his search throughout the building to look for Ying Tong. If he hears the knocking, he will definitelye to check, so this is the best window of opportunity that I have.¡±

    Chen Ge moved faster. He kept on knocking until he reached the seventh door when the iron door at the other end of the corridor was suddenly pulled open.

    ¡°Are you looking for someone? Why are you knocking on so many doors?¡± A woman¡¯s voice came from behind Chen Ge, and it gave him quite a jolt.

    After he adjusted himself, Chen Ge turned around. ¡°Yes, I am looking for a child. His name is Ying Tong.¡±

    ¡°Ying Tong?¡±

    ¡°He is the boy that lives on the seventh floor. He has lost his sight...¡±

    ¡°I know who he is. But why are you looking for him here? This is not even the seventh floor.¡± The woman was conversing with Chen Ge when a child¡¯s painful cry suddenly came from inside her house. The wail was rather simr to how Ying Tong sounded in Chen Ge¡¯s memory. But he could not be confident that the child in the woman¡¯s house was Ying Tong. After all, he had only heard Ying Tong say one sentence when he was outside the door.

    The sound of footsteps clicked across the floor. The woman was returning to her own home while Chen Ge trailed behind her. The woman appeared to be in a hurry. After she entered her house, she did not close the door. Chen Ge almost tripped on the threshold of the door as he followed behind her.

    It is that strange smell again! The horrible stench!

    The woman¡¯s room smelled the same as the middle-aged man¡¯s room. It reeked of a stench that was a mix of many different things that had gone wrong. The smell was very pungent. The sound of a child crying and wailing kepting from inside the house. Chen Ge was worried that the loudmotion might attract Ying Chen¡¯s attention, so he reached over to the door and clicked it shut.

    ¡°What is wrong now? Weren¡¯t you being fine earlier? Did you see something that scared you?¡± The woman sounded urgent and anxious. Then came the sound of drawers and cupboards being thrown open. It sounded like the woman was desperately looking for something. Even though Chen Ge previously thought the child¡¯s voice sounded simr to Ying Tong¡¯s, he had changed his mind because of something the woman said¡ª¡¯Did you see something that scared you?¡¯

    Ying Tong was a blind boy, but the child in the woman¡¯s room was not blind.

    ¡°Stay in there and do not move! I will go and find the medicine for you!¡± The footsteps echoed around the small room as they came toward the front door. Chen Ge stood back to let the woman pass, but he identally bumped into the woman because he could not see where he was standing and where she was moving.

    ¡°I am so sorry. I did not mean to do that.¡±

    In the dark, Chen Ge wanted to hold the woman to stop himself from falling, and in his panic, he identally grabbed the woman by her elbow. The woman had exceptionally thin arms, and her elbow was twisted at an unnatural angle. Chen Ge was quickly flung away by the woman. She seemed to be rather incensed as the tone changed to her voice.

    ¡°I am sorry, but I cannot deal with you now. I need to go upstairs to borrow some medicine.¡±

    The front door was open, and the woman walked out. Then the door was mmed shut again.

    ¡°Medicine?¡±

    The child¡¯s crying slowly died down, and a veil of silence fell over the room.

    ¡°The woman¡¯s body is unnatural twisted. In fact, it is quite simr to those twisted dolls in Ying Tong¡¯s bedroom. Other than that, she has a very low body temperature...¡±

    Ten minutester, the front door was thrown open again, and the woman returned to the room.

    Chen Ge heard a liquid being poured and someone swallowing. After the child had stopped crying, he moved deeper into the door. ¡°Do you mind telling me what kind of disease your child suffers from? Don¡¯t be afraid, I am actually a doctor.¡±

    ¡°A normal doctor cannot cure his illness anyway.¡± The woman walked out from the inner room and strode to stand before Chen Ge. ¡°Have you heard of aichmophobia?¡±

    ¡°Is it a kind of fear toward a specific object?¡±

    ¡°Yes, once the kid sees anything sharp or pointed, he will act up. Anxious, desperate, despairing, and noisy, he keeps on imagining that people will use those sharp objects to poke into his eyes.¡±

 Chapter 1058 - Miss Dress, Mr. Wood, and Miss Red [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1058: Miss Dress, Mr. Wood, and Miss Red [2 in 1]</h4>

    ¡°Why would something like this happen? Most psychological problems can be traced back to a source. He would not suffer from this kind of illness for no reason. One is not born like this. Something must have happened to trigger this.¡±

    Many people had phobias in their lives, but they could often get it under control so that it would not affect their everyday life. However, the child inside the room had reached the stage of being unable to cope with this trauma without the use of drugs to shake off the fear. This was a very dangerous situation.

    ¡°You are not wrong, but I have no idea how the child got this illness. I suppose you can consider me his nanny.¡± The woman spoke in a very slow and drawn out voice. After the boy inside the room had his medicine, his situation seemed to turn for the better, and the woman gave an audible sigh of relief.

    ¡°He is ailing from a psychological problem, and to cure this problem, we have to go to its source.¡± Chen Ge took several steps toward where the woman was standing. Since he was unable to see anything, he could only use the wall as his guide.

    ¡°I wish I can find the source of the problem as well, and I want the best for him, but no matter how hard I try to ask, the child does not seem to have an answer. If anything, it feels like he is not aware of the source of the problem himself.¡± The woman sounded helpless and weak. ¡°So, in the end, I had no choice but to give up.¡±

    ¡°Do you mind if I have a few words with him? I am a doctor that specializes in psychology and psychiatry.¡± Chen Ge was in a way thankful that he had met Doctor Gao before. The doctor, despite everything, had taught him many things, especially those rted to the human psyche. Chen Ge sounded like Doctor Gao before he had be all unhinged. A psychologist first must have the ability for the patients to put their guard down around him before he was given ess to the patient¡¯s world. In terms of his appearance and presence, Chen Ge fitted this condition perfectly.

    ¡°You are a psychologist? I do not remember anyone from our building who works in this field. Are you a new tenant who just moved here?¡±

    ¡°I suppose you can say that. I can swear on my life that I only want what is the best for the child.¡± Chen Ge pointed toward his eyes with a bitter smile. ¡°I have trouble seeing with my eyes. I am unable to do anything harmful. If you think I have done anything that is unsatisfactory, you can chase me out any time you want.¡±

    The blindness turned Chen Ge into one of the more vulnerable party, but that did not mean that he would not use that to his advantage to earn some pity points.

    ¡°The child is rather fragile. It is fine as long as you watch the words that you use.¡± The woman reached out voluntarily to grab Chen Ge by his elbow. ¡°Be careful. The sofa is in front of us. At this point, we have to turn left...¡±

    Chen Ge noticed something. In this world, the adult tenants of this building did not appear to be as evil as the adults in the other worlds. Of course, they were not saints. If anything, they felt like normal living human beings to Chen Ge.

    I really hate to associate them with dead bodies.

    With the woman leading the way, Chen Ge entered deeper into the house. The smell in the air intensified, and to make things worse, there was a smell of rotting meat mixed into the air. This was something that was not present in the middle-aged man¡¯s house. ¡°By the way, do you mind telling me what your rtionship with the boy is?¡±

    ¡°Our rtionship?¡± The woman was silent for a while before she gave an answer that Chen Ge did not expect at all. ¡°I suppose you can consider the two of us as friends. He has nowhere else to go, so I am temporarily looking after him.¡±

    The woman¡¯s answer was too ambiguous. After she said that, she left the room, leaving Chen Ge together with the boy inside the room. Tracing his steps by the cupboard and closet, Chen Ge walked until his leg bumped into the edge of the bed. He sat down slowly. ¡°Can you hear my voice? I am so sorry that I am unable to see you. If you are by my side, can you please say something or pat me lightly on the palm of my hand.¡±

    Chen Ge opened his palm, and he waited for quite some time before he felt a chilly jolting from the center of his palm. The chill was different from the lifelessness of a dead body. The touch felt soft. If anything, it did not feel like he was touched by a person. Rather, it felt like his palm was brushed by a gust of wind.

    ¡°Ying Tong?¡± Chen Ge subconsciously called out the name, but he did not get any response.

    Momentster, about one meter away from Chen Ge, a boy¡¯s voice said, ¡°My name is Ah Mu.¡±

    The boy¡¯s voice was about sixty percent simr to Ying Tong¡¯s voice in real life, but it was exceptionally young. Chen Ge had seen the information on both Ying Chen and Ying Tong at the police station. In real life, Ying Tong should be ten years old already, but the boy before him sounded more like a boy about four or five.

    ¡°Ah Mu, can you please tell me how you got to know the big sister outside the door?¡± Chen Ge first wanted to get to know the identity of the adults. If the woman was trustworthy, he would try everything within his power to get her to be his ally. Staying alone in this building was much too dangerous.

    ¡°You mean Miss Dress?¡± the boy asked in a surprisingly frightened voice.

    ¡°Miss Dress?¡± The boy had a strange way of addressing the woman. It felt like the name a child would give his toy. ¡°Do you call her that normally?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Miss Dress and Mr. Wood have always been taking care of me. They are very nice people. They y games with me and often include me in different activities.¡± The boy sounded innocent and bright, but what he said caused Chen Ge to break out in goosebumps.

    From his perspective, all the tenants in this building, other than Ying Tong and Ying Chen, were dead bodies. It was clear that the names Miss Dress and Mr. Wood were names given to them by the boy himself. There was a spection that appeared in his mind, but it was too cruel of an assumption, so Chen Ge did not dare voice it lest it triggered the boy.

    ¡°Are Miss Dress and Mr. Wood husband and wife?¡± Chen Ge asked a random question to break the tension.

    ¡°No, Miss Dress has a very bad temper, and she pops off very easily. That¡¯s why Mr. Wood does not like her very much,¡± the boy said in a scared voice. ¡°Mr. Wood and I are both a bit afraid of Miss Dress.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t think that I didn¡¯t hear that!¡± The woman¡¯s voice came from the living room. ¡°Who taught you to say those horrible things?¡±

    Well, in that moment, the woman did sound like she had a temper.

    ¡°But even though Miss Red has a bad temper, she has a gentle side to her as well. Whenever I am sick, she will always appear to take care of me. She sits down to chat with me and tell me stories.¡± The boy painted a very beautiful picture. When he said these things, he should have had a big smile on his face. Even though Chen Ge could not see it, he could hear the smile in the boy¡¯s voice.

    ¡°She will always appear whenever you are sick, huh? Is she here because your father and mother ask her to?¡± Chen Ge tried to probe around with the boy¡¯s memory.

    ¡°Yes, my father and mother went to somewhere very far away. When they left, they asked Miss Dress, Mr. Wood, and Miss Red to help look after me.¡±

    ¡°There are three of them?¡± The boy made it sound like they were three living caretakers, but Chen Ge was thinking about three dead zombies.

    ¡°Ah Mu, do you mind describing what the three of them look like?¡± Chen Ge did not reach into the boy¡¯s painful memory. He did not bring up aichmophobia or ask how did the boy get an illness like that, but he followed along with the fairy tale that was made up by the boy like a loyal listener who had submerged himself fully into the boy¡¯s story.

    ¡°Miss Dress always dresses herself in a long dress, and the dress is embroidered with many flowers. Each flower feels different to the touch. Mr. Wood does not like to speak. His skin feels hard to the touch like the bark of a tree. Miss Red is a very clean person, but her hair is always wet. She has a special preference for the color red, and everything she owns is red in color.¡±

    The boy did not have an introverted personality. He seemed to like chatting with other people. Like someone who was showing off his toys, he rattled off the names and the properties of the three ¡®people¡¯.

    Chen Ge did not pay much attention to the introduction to Miss Dress and Mr. Wood, but when the boy talked about thest person, Miss Red, his interest was piqued. Miss Dress and Mr. Wood¡¯s properties could be felt from the sense of touch, but Miss Red was different. There was the word ¡®Red¡¯ in her name, but theoretically speaking, a blind kid should not be able to tell the difference in color.

    The boy before him referred to himself as Ah Mu, and Miss Dress had mentioned earlier that the boy had perfect sight, so he should not be Ying Tong. However, after hearing the boy¡¯s voice, Chen Ge felt like the boy sounded very simr to Ying Tong. Such a coincidence could not exist in the world. He believed that the boy must be connected to Ying Tong somehow, but he just had not figured out what that connection was.

    Chen Ge asked the boy more questions about his parents. From what the boy said, Chen Ge could determine that the boy missed his parents very much. In the boy¡¯s memory, his parents always cared about him. Theyvished him with unconditional love. The boy¡¯s parents were like a pair of a gentle hands that cupped the boy within them to shield him from the rest of the world.

    At this point, Chen Ge noticed something out of ce. Based on what the boy had told him, he had had a wonderful childhood. There was nothing traumatic about it, so where did the source of his phobiae from? It made no sense at all. Why would a child living in such a warm and healthy environment end up with aichmophobia?

    Based on what Miss Dress said, once the boy saw something with a sharp edge, he would imagine people using that to poke his eyes blind. What kind of experience had he been through to have an impression like that? What was the moment that caused this change in his life?

    After getting a brief impression of the boy¡¯s life, Chen Ge asked the next question cautiously, ¡°Ah Mu, do you know Ying Chen and Ying Tong who live on the seventh floor?¡±

    ¡°I do not know them. I have been staying put in my room. I have never left this room.¡±

    ¡°You do not know them?¡± To seek a second opinion, Chen Ge turned to the living room to shout the question at Miss Dress, ¡°Has Ah Mu never walked out of this room before?¡±

    ¡°Naturally, with his aichmophobia, he acts up whenever he hears the word sharp or pointed, much less seeing a sharp object in person. In the state that he is in, how could I allow him to leave the room? I¡¯d worry too much about him.¡± Miss Dress¡¯ voice drifted in from the living room. Then Chen Ge heard the sound of water being poured. After a while, the footsteps came to the room. ¡°Do you want something to drink?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Chen Ge was not brave enough to ept a drink from a stranger, especially when he was in the world behind the door and unable to tell what the drink actually was. ¡°Ah Mu does not know Ying Tong and Ying Chen, but as a tenant here, you should know the two siblings, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course, they are a pair of poor brothers too. Their parents died when they were young, and they raised by their rtive.¡± Miss Dress seemed to know Ying Chen and Ying Tong very well.

    ¡°Then, what is your impression of the brothers? Can you tell me more about them?¡± Chen Ge finally found a ¡®person¡¯ who was willing tomunicate with him, so he used this opportunity to ask as many questions as he could.

    ¡°The big brother is the most perfect man you will ever meet in your life. He is kind, generous, and the best around animals. He is very serious with his work and is a very good student. I like him very much.

    ¡°About the younger brother, I cannot say the same thing. If anything, I feel like the younger brother has dragged down his elder brother. Without him, Ying Chen would have a much better life. His younger brother is blind in both eyes, and he cannot even look after himself. He also likes to say these strange things. If you ask me, I believe there is something wrong with his mind.¡±

    What Miss Dress said unsettled Chen Ge very deeply. In Miss Dress¡¯ eyes, Ying Chen was as perfect as an individual could possibly be, but it was theplete opposite for Ying Tong.

    ¡°Sometimes, what you see might not be the real deal.¡± Chen Ge felt like even if he told the woman directly that Ying Chen was a murderer, she would not believe him.

    ¡°I am so sorry. I forgot that you are blind as well. I hope that you understand I do not have anything against the blind. It is just that the younger brother is a very strange boy. He cannot survive on his own without his elder brother, and he likes to create problems. He always tries to run away from him, but at the same time, he cannot leave his elder brother because how is a blind boy supposed to look after himself?¡± Miss Dress was very direct with her words.

    ¡°You hate Ying Tong that much? But don¡¯t you think Ying Tong is rather simr to Ah Mu?¡± Chen Ge might be blind, but he could sense something through the things that he had heard. However, Miss Dress did not appear to be able to make the connection between Ah Mu and Ying Tong.

    ¡°You have to be kidding. Ah Mu just celebrated his sixth birthday, and that Ying Tong is about ten already. Their heights arepletely different.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t talking about their appearance. Why did you mention their height instead?¡± To prove his suspicion, Chen Ge pressed further.

    ¡°Now that you mention it, their appearance couldn¡¯t be more different. Ying Chen has a very horrid face. It ispletely different from Ah Mu¡¯s.¡± What Miss Dress said next send a chill down Chen Ge¡¯s spine. ¡°Ying Tong rarely leaves his room. I remember this one time when he tried to sneak away from home, but he tripped among the field of pebbles. Arge part of his face was scratched, and a nail almost pierced into the space near to his eyes. If his elder brother did not find him in time, I can¡¯t begin to imagine what would have happened next.¡±

    ¡°His face was ruined?¡± Chen Ge had a sneaking suspicion that this ¡®ident¡¯ was created by Ying Chen. Ying Tong probably knew about this as well, so he had been trying to escape again and again. But in reality, every time Ying Tong tried to escape, he would be captured back by Ying Chen. Chen Ge should be reliving Ying Tong¡¯s life. As a blind person, it was practically impossible to escape from Ying Chen.

    ¡°Fine, even though their height and appearance are different, did you notice that they sound quite simr?¡± Chen Ge still had not given up. It was hard for him to find a reasonable ¡®person¡¯ to converse with behind the door, and he did not want to give up so easily.

    ¡°Fine, I will concede to you on that point. They do sound quite simr, but that cannot really prove anything. Before puberty, most boys sound the same anyway.¡±

    ¡°Howe you just cannot get it?¡± Chen Ge wiped away the sweat from his forehead. ¡°Fine, we will not talk about that anymore. Then, can you tell me more about the exact situation with Ah Mu¡¯s parents? Why would theye to you to look after Ah Mu?¡±

    ¡°Are you really that dull, or are you acting dumb?¡± Miss Dress¡¯ tone had a hint of dissatisfaction weaved into it. She grabbed Chen Ge by his elbow and dragged him out of the room.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± The woman closed the door and ensured that Ah Mu would not be able to hear them. ¡°Hasn¡¯t Ah Mu already told you that his parents have gone to a faraway ce? Why would you ask a question like that? Now, I really suspect you are not really a psychologist at all.¡±

    ¡°Are Ah Mu¡¯s parents dead?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Ah Mu is an orphan. In fact, he was an orphan found by Ying Chen outside the residential area. He was helpless and alone. In the end, after an internal discussion among the tenants, we decided to look after them together.¡±

    ¡°Wait, you said ¡®them¡¯?¡± Chen Ge caught the keyword within the sentence that the woman said.

    ¡°Yes, they are triplets. Ah Mu, Ah Tong, and Ah Ying. It was Ying Chen who found these three kids. He saw how pitiable the children were, but he was unable to take care of all of them on his own, so he pleaded with us to help him look after them. When he was done with the procedure, he would send the three kids to the nearby orphanage.¡± What Miss Dress said caused Chen Ge sucked in a cold breath.

    ¡°It was Ying Chen who asked you all to look after these three kids?¡±

    ¡°What do you think? In today¡¯s society, there are very few people who are as kind and as selfless as Ying Chen anymore. He has done so much and gone to so many ces for these three children. He has given them so much of his time and energy.¡± Miss Dress had a very good impression of Ying Chen. It felt like if she was asked to praise Ying Chen, she could go on for the whole night.

    ¡°Then, do all the three children all suffer from some kind of illness?¡± Even though he was given only the barest of information, Chen Ge cut through the dredge and asked the most vital question.

    ¡°How did you know that? Then again, if they were perfectly fine, they would have been adopted already,¡± Miss Dress whispered softly. ¡°Ah Mu has aichmophobia. Ah Tong has ustrophobia, and he will act out if he is left alone inside a room. Ah Ying has the rarest illness. It is called lygophobia. He will act up when he hears loud noises like screams and shouts.¡±

    ¡°Have you ever considered why the three kids got illnesses like these and why it was Ying Chen who first discovered them?¡±

    ¡°I have not wondered about that question before, but it is probably rted to their biological parents.¡±

    ¡°But in Ah Mu¡¯s memory, his parents are nothing but a pair of angels. They are the warmest part of his memory.¡± At this point, Chen Ge¡¯s expression was very dark. Through these little clues, he had a very dangerous spection forming in his mind.

    Miss Dress, Mr. Wood, and Miss Red should be Ying Chen¡¯s real life victims. Ying Tong, who was his prisoner, knew about the truth, but he did not dare tell anyone else. In fact, he ended up befriending these three ¡®people¡¯.

    From how Chen Ge saw it, even though there was a problem with Ying Tong¡¯s eyes, he was notpletely blind.

    Living within the ugly world that Ying Chen had created, he suffered from many different mental traumas. But he knew that only by pretending to be fully blind would he be able to survive, so he locked up the fragile, fearful, and remaining beautiful memories that he had in his life and split them into different personalities. They were the innocent Ah Mu, Ah Ying, and Ah Tong.

    Ying Tong himself would continue to be an honest blind person and kept searching for his way out.

 Chapter 1059 - Two Helpers [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1059: Two Helpers [2 in 1]</h4>

    Chen Ge¡¯s initial n was to find Ying Tong, but from the clues that he had found so far, the n might need to change. He probably needed to locate all four children: Ah Ying, Ah Mu, Ah Tong, and Ying Tong.

    ¡°Ying Chen should know about the existence of the three brothers. In fact, one could say that the existence of the three brothers is deeply linked to him. He alone created this tragedy. The three children each suffer from a different type of mental illness, and it is most likely Ying Chen who caused this to happen. They correspond to respectively the fear of sharp objects, imprisonment in a small room, and being scared.

    ¡°He asked ¡®dead bodies¡¯ to look after the three kids, and if we rte this to real life, it means that he has hidden the dead bodies in his home. Ying Tong spent too much time with dead bodies, and the pressure on his mind probably caused this split personality and the birth of the three distinct personas. That exins why the three children are unable to leave their homes, but Ying Tong alone has been trying to escape non-stop.

    ¡°The other thing worth noting is that Ah Mu is not blind, but Ah Mu¡¯s current age is only six. If my previous analysis is not wrong, Ah Mu should be one of Ying Tong¡¯s suppressed personalities. Then it indirectly proves that Ying Tong was not blind before he was six, or at least, he had not lost his sightpletely then.¡±

    The more he analyzed the situation, the more Chen Ge felt unsettled by it. He took a deep breath and turned toward the direction of the living room to ask, ¡°Miss Dress, are you still there? Do you mind telling me when Ying Tong first ran away from home?¡±

    ¡°That was so long ago. It was maybe five years ago, I believe. At the time, Ying Chen¡¯s rtive had just moved away. Ying Chen and Ying Tong were the only ones who stayed in their house.¡± Miss Dress yet again revealed a very important piece of information.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think there is a problem that Ying Tong chose to run away the moment their rtive moved away? If Ying Tong was treated nicely, why would he attempt to run away from home for no reason? His elder brother, Ying Chen, must have done something horrible, something that has deeply traumatized his younger brother, Ying Tong.¡±

    Chen Ge was unable to see Miss Dress¡¯ expression, so he could not tell whether the woman agreed with his reasoning or not.

    ¡°Other than that, here is one more thing for you to think about. When Ying Tong ran away from home, he was about the same age as Ah Mu. As you told me, Ah Mu suffers from aichmophobia. After Ying Tong ran away from home, he was probably captured by Ying Chen and then was threatened by thetter by having the nails poke at the spots near Ying Tong¡¯s eyes. Isn¡¯t a nail a sharp object? And hasn¡¯t Ah Mu been dreaming about people wanting to use sharp objects to blind his eyes?¡±

    ¡°What is your point exactly?¡± Miss Dress asked.

    ¡°Ah Mu is Ying Tong from back then,¡± Chen Ge replied. ¡°The reason he suffers from aichmophobia is because of the trauma Ying Tong received when Ying Chen did those things to him. That¡¯s the reason he is so afraid when he sees any sharp objects. That is the source of his phobias!¡±

    The world behind the door was often absurd and weird; one could not view them with a logical eyes. However, afterbining them with the memory and experience of the door pusher in real life, one would realize that theyer of absurdity often hid a deeply wounded heart. To persuade Miss Dress, Chen Ge volunteered all his analysis.

    ¡°If you do not believe me, you can bring me to see Ah Tong and Ah Ying. Thebination of these three children¡¯s experiences will be the injuries and traumas that Ying Tong has once experienced.¡±

    ¡°I still do not quite understand it,¡± Miss Dress said. ¡°Ah Mu is a living individual. He is aplete and separate existence. How could a person represent a part of a memory from Ying Tong¡¯s childhood?¡±

    As an original tenant of the world behind the door, Miss Dress herself was made from memory. The purpose of her existence was to look after Ying Tong, to apany Ying Tong, and to be his friend.

    ¡°You will get the answer to this question after you find Ying Tong. Even though his face is ruined and he is blind, he should have no problemmunicating with others.¡± Chen Ge paused. ¡°Neither of you have been given a chance to seriously listen to what the boy has to say. The strange mumblings that you heard might be the boy¡¯s cries for help. The tragedies keep on repeating, but unfortunately, all of you have been tricked by Ying Chen. The kindness and passion are a disguise that is put on by the b*stard. His real persona is something that will disgust all of you.¡±

    All the tenants inside the building believed that Ying Chen was the seconding of Jesus, and they thought that Ying Tong was just a burden that he had to carry. In reality, though, this was an illusion that Ying Chen had been trying to perpetuate. It was because they believed in this lie that most of the tenants in the building had been turned to dead bodies.

    ¡°I do not expect you to believe me fully without further evidence, but I ask that you give me a chance to prove myself.¡± Chen Ge pleaded with the most sincerity he could muster. He was out of ideas. Ying Tong¡¯s door was the most difficult door that he had ever experienced. He had to grab any chance that came his way; that was the only way he could find the path to survival amid the many traps that would lead to his death.

    The room became silent. After a long time, Miss Dress opened her lips to speak. ¡°But how do you intend to prove what you said? You want me to help you find Ying Tong?¡±

    ¡°Or at least do not tell Ying Chen of my presence before Ying Tong is found. Other than that, you have to take good care of yourself.¡± The tenants inside the building all treated Ying Chen as a good neighbor, but in Ying Chen¡¯s eyes, they were merely puppets on the stage. Once he tired of them, he would not hesitate to remove them from the stage.

    ¡°Okay, before Ying Tong is found, I promise to help you keep your secret. But after Ying Tong is found and what you just said is proven false, I will not hesitate to hand you over to Ying Chen.¡±

    ¡°That is a fair deal. I will ept it.¡± After getting the confirmed answer from the woman, Chen Ge sighed in relief. He leaned against the wall for support. ¡°Ever since Ah Mu came to live with you, has he not left the room even once?¡±

    ¡°Yes, ever since Ying Chen dropped Ah Mu off with me, thetter has not moved one step away from his room.¡±

    ¡°Is this one of the orders given to you by Ying Chen as well?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he is worried that Ah Mu might be injured.¡± Miss Dress had no idea what Chen Ge was nning, but she told him all she knew.

    ¡°Ah Mu suffers from aichmophobia. It is understandable that he has been asked to stay inside the room, but what about Ah Tong and Ah Ying? As you told me earlier, Ah Tong suffers from serious ustrophobia. How could one trap a child like that inside a small room and not allow him to leave? Imprisoning a child with ustrophobia inside a room will cause his condition to deteriorate¡ªis that really the best solution to help the boy?¡± Chen Ge cut straight to the point. The woman thought about it and suddenly realized that Chen Ge was not wrong there.

    ¡°It was not really for Ah Mu¡¯s real good that Ying Chen did not want him to leave the room. Only by hiding him away would he not be found by Ying Tong.¡± Chen Ge used his hands to search around for a long time before he found a chair. He took a seat. ¡°Ah Mu should be a part of Ying Tong. I suspect once Ying Tong finds Ah Mu, his body will somehow change.¡±

    Ying Tong did not dare open his eyes because he had to disguise himself as a blind man, or else he would die. He would be poked blind, and thus, the existence of Ah Mu was born. If the Ying Tong behind the door was reunited with Ah Mu, perhaps Ying Tong might recover part of his sight. As an outsider, Chen Ge should be living through the most traumatic events that had happened to Ying Tong. If Ying Tong¡¯s condition turned for the better, he would have plenty to gain from it as well.

    ¡°When the boy pushed me down the stairs, I noticed a problem. They did not call me a blind man. They were just curious about why I¡¯ve been keeping my eyes closed. At that moment, it crossed my mind that I may not be blind. Who would have known I was so close to the truth? There is a very high chance that Ying Tong is notpletely blind. He simply does not have the courage to open his eyes. I must try my best to help Ying Tong walk out from his fugue of despair and make him try to open his eyes.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s voice was determined and confident. He had never been so desperate to help someone. Only by walking in one¡¯s shoes would one be able to experience what said person had lived through, and that was why Chen Ge was able to empathize with Ying Tong so deeply. He had to walk out of this door alive to save Ying Tong in real life and deliver the necessary punishment and judgement to Ying Chen. It was what they deserved.

    Chen Ge¡¯s voice was filled with gentleness but also a font of strength. It carried with it a determination that would not waver in the face of adversity. That helped improve the woman¡¯s impression of him greatly. It was why she said, ¡°I will first bring you to meet Mr. Wood, but he is not as easily persuadable as I am. He is one hell of a stubborn person, just like his name suggests.¡±

    ¡°Thank you so much.¡±

    ¡°There is no need to thank me. I am merely curious about what you have said.¡± When she was still alive, Miss Dress had probably been a young woman with a sparkling personality. She opened the front door and held Chen Ge gently by his elbow. ¡°Mr. Wood lives on Tuesday. We will have to go up a floor.¡±

    ¡°Lives on Tuesday?¡± Chen Ge stopped moving. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    ¡°I suppose you can see it as the second floor. The ground floor is Monday, and the second floor is Tuesday. The seven floors correspond to the seven days of the week.¡± Miss Dress did not borate further on this strange naming system. Chen Ge wanted to ask her more about it, but he was already being dragged away by Miss Dress into the stairwell.

    The floors are named ording to the days of the week, and the day itself might represent the day the tenant died.

    Chen Ge could feel the chilling wind blow from any corners. He felt very unsafe and exposed. ¡°Miss Dress, can you promise me one thing?¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°If there is an ident, I will give you the direction to run in. I will need you to take me and run in that direction without asking any question and without making any noise.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Perhaps Ying Chen was still dealing with the middle-aged man¡¯s body¡ªChen Ge and Miss Dress did not run into him. The two sessfully reached the third room from the left side stairs on the second floor. Knocking lightly on the door, Miss Dress called Ah Tong¡¯s name softly, and then the door was soon opened.

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you here not too long ago to take the medicine? Why are you here again?¡± The person who spoke sounded like a middle-aged man. His tone was even, as if he could not bring himself to be interested in anything.

    ¡°I have something that I need to ask you.¡± Miss Dress helped Chen Ge step into the room.

    ¡°Who is this? A blind person?¡±

    ¡°He just told me a story. I think it¡¯s quite interesting. I thought you¡¯d like to hear it as well.¡± Miss Dress had Chen Ge sit on the couch while Chen Ge was more concerned about whether they had closed the front door or not.

    ¡°Can I also hear the story?¡± Another voice came out from the room. The voice was about eighty percent simr to Ying Tong. Based purely on the voices, Ah Mu sounded like a kid about four years old, and the owner of this voice should be around seven or eight. The voice had lost its naivete, and it sounded softer in nature.

    ¡°Are you Ah Tong?¡± Chen Ge turned toward the source of the voice. Of course, all he could see was a screen of darkness, nothing else.

    ¡°Yes, do you know me?¡±

    ¡°Not only do I know you, I also know your mother and father,¡± Chen Ge said with a smile in his voice. ¡°I need to discuss something with Miss Dress and Mr. Wood. Do you mind going back to your room for now?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± The boy was very obedient. Chen Ge paid close attention to the sound of the footsteps. After the boy walked away, Chen Ge whispered to Miss Dress, ¡°Do you mind closing the door to his room? I do not think it is wise for him to hear what we are going to discuss.¡±

    ¡°I am sorry, but I cannot do that. The child suffers from ustrophobia. To help with his condition, I have removed all the doors in the house. The only door that remains is the front door.¡± Mr. Wood did not have a good attitude toward Chen Ge. He felt like he was a scam artist.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine then. There is nothing we can do about it.¡±

    Chen Ge repeated what he had told Miss Dress earlier to Mr. Wood.

    After hearing everything Chen Ge had to say, Mr. Wood did not reply immediately. He was deep in thought for a long time. In the end, it was Ah Tong who ran out from his room. The boy had also heard what Chen Ge had to say. He pitied Ying Tong in the story, and he instinctually begged Mr. Wood to help Ying Tong.

    ¡°I still cannot trust you fully. What you hear can be false, and nothing is more trustworthy than what you see.¡± Even though Mr. Wood was a nice person, he could be ridiculously stubborn. Miss Dress¡¯ earlier warning was not unfounded.

    ¡°What you can see with your eyes might be a front that someone purposely constructed to show you. His actual personality has already decayed and corrupted under his shining exterior.¡± To convince Mr. Wood, Chen Ge revealed another secret. ¡°There is a middle-aged man living on the fourth floor. Ying Chen should have just killed him. The reason I can wander around the building so freely at the moment is because I know he is currently busy dealing with the dead body on the fourth floor.¡±

    ¡°I still think that is impossible unless you let me see the carcass with my eyes.¡±

    ¡°There is a headless body hidden under Ying Chen¡¯s bed in his bedroom. If you do not believe me, you can go and see it for yourself, but I would advise you not to do so. Once you see the body, the next person that Ying Chen will target is you.¡±

    Chen Ge must try his best to fight to gain Mr. Wood¡¯s trust. If the man did not listen to him, there was a great chance that he would expose Chen Ge¡¯s location to Ying Chen, and the situation would go seriously out of control. Chen Ge did not look like he was lying, and with Ah Tong putting in some good words for him, Mr. Wood eventually decided topromise and temporarily ced his trust in Chen Ge, agreeing to help him find Ying Tong.

    ¡°No matter what, do not tell Ying Chen of my existence, and do not bring up the fact that we are trying to help Ying Tong. You guys have to try to act normal and give Ying Chen the illusion that the whole world is still isting Ying Tong. Only then will we be able to survive.¡±

    After leaving the facts, Chen Ge prepared to leave. He was in the hurry to find Miss Red.

    ¡°Ah Tong and Ah Mu are just like normal kids when they are not acting up. If anything, I feel like they are cuter and more obedient than normal children their age.¡± Chen Ge sighed under his breath, and then with Miss Dress holding him, he walked into the left staircase. ¡°Which floor is Miss Red staying on?¡±

    ¡°Saturday.¡±

    ¡°The sixth floor?¡± Chen Ge frowned for the umpteenth time behind this door already. ¡°Ying Chen might be still on the fourth floor dealing with the body. To get to the sixth floor, we will need to pass the fourth door. It will all be over if we are discovered by him. And sixth floor is very close to the seventh floor.¡±

    His heart was beating wildly. Chen Ge felt like he was walking on a tightrope dangled between two cliffs. He moved up the steps, and Chen Ge and Miss Dress soon arrived on the third floor. When they were about to move toward the fourth floor, a wisp of a cat¡¯s meow suddenly rang out.

    ¡°Stop moving!¡± Chen Ge grabbed at Miss Dress. ¡°Ying Chen is on the fourth floor.¡±

    ¡°How do you know that?¡± Miss Dress whispered to ask, but Chen Ge did not answer. He held his breath and tried to focus on the direction of the cats. But strangely enough the calls of the cats did not grow louder or weaker. It felt like Ying Chen was standing at the same spot and had not moved.

    ¡°What is he up to?¡± Chen Ge leaned against the wall. ¡°Is he hiding in a room, armed with the murder weapon, and waiting to jump those who walk past?¡±

    Chen Ge signaled for Miss Dress to keep quiet. He climbed up to the fourth floor carefully. The cat¡¯s calls still had not changed.

    ¡°Could the b*stard have perceived the fact that I have the ability to predict his location, and he is currently conducting some kind of experiment?¡±

    The more he thought about it, the more unsettled he felt. Chen Ge pointed to the fourth floor. ¡°Miss Dress, do you mind helping me see if Ying Chen is standing in the fourth-floor corridor?¡±

    ¡°No, the corridor is empty.¡±

    ¡°Okay, then we will hurry to the sixth floor.¡± Chen Ge pointed above them. He did not dare stay there for too long. For now, the n was to reach Miss Red on the sixth floor and talk to her.

 Chapter 1060 - Blind Man with Light [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1060: Blind Man with Light [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Ying Chen should not be in the fourth-floor corridor and expose himself to the public. He¡¯ll be hiding in one of the rooms and probably waiting for people to go by. He is a predator waiting for his prey. The man does not operate like a normal person, and his way of thinking is cruel and unusual. I must be more careful. I need to be as cautious as possible.¡±

    Chen Ge did not know if Ying Chen had managed to get any information about him from the middle-aged man, but it was not the time to care about small things like that. Since Ying Chen had not made his move, Chen Ge wanted to meet up with Miss Red as soon as possible and get as many allies as he could.

    With Miss Dress leading the way, Chen Ge came to thending between the fourth floor and fifth floor. A light stench lingered in the air, and Chen Ge felt his shoes stepping on puddles of what seemed to be water.

    ¡°Why did we suddenly stop?¡± Chen Ge asked softly. He was on the way of moving up when he realized that Miss Dress, who had been holding him by his arm, had suddenly stopped. Unable to see anything, when he sensed this anomalous behavior from Miss Dress, his heart started to race immediately.

    Momentster, he heard a girl¡¯s singing. It sounded like it came from a broken music box. It sang intermittently, and the tone was one that was impossibly weird to describe.

    ¡°Is someoneing? Then we must rush to the fifth floor now. We must not stay here any longer!¡± Chen Ge had a very bad feeling. He could sense that the singing came from the fifth floor, and he was afraid that the sound would attract Ying Chen¡¯s attention.

    ¡°There was someone who just went past the fifth floor, but the person made no sound at all when they were moving,¡± Miss Dress said in a baffled tone. ¡°Or did I see it wrong?¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute! A music box? A girl¡¯s singing? A person who moves without making a sound? It was not Ying Tong that you saw, right?¡± Chen Ge knew that in real life, Ying Chen had a broken music box sitting on the table in his bedroom.

    ¡°Should we chase after that person to find out?¡± the woman asked.

    ¡°No, that is too risky, and this whole thing feels so fishy.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s grip on the strap of his backpack tightened. ¡°If I were Ying Tong, I would not purposely make the sounde out from the music box if I was attempting to escape. Isn¡¯t that a surefire way to expose my own location? Why would I do something like that?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps he identally bumped against it and caused the music box to start ying?¡±

    ¡°I have been to Ying Chen¡¯s house before. At the time, the music box was ced inside Ying Tong¡¯s bedroom. Assuming Ying Tong has not returned home, then it is definitely not Ying Tong who is in possession of the music box now!¡± Chen Ge was sweating cold sweat already. ¡°There is someone else in the building who is helping Ying Chen! It is this person who is holding the music box and walking around to distract our attention! The b*stard has probably already guessed that someone else is searching and trying to help Ying Tong!¡±

    Ying Chen was very clever, but Chen Ge was a very astute person as well. Both parties were able to find out the problem from the smallest details.

    ¡°Do you know anyone who has a very good rtionship with Ying Chen in this building? The kind of person that Ying Chen would be able to trust unconditionally?¡±

    ¡°There are many tenants who have a good rtionship with Ying Chen, but if you have to pinpoint those who love Ying Chen unconditionally, it should be the children. Ying Chen is very weed among the group of children, and they are very willing to y with him.¡±

    ¡°Ying Chen is good friends with all of the children in the building?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Ying Chen has a good personality, and he likes to y with the children. asionally, he even buys sweets and toys for them.¡±

    ¡°Did the person who went past earlier look like a child to you?¡±

    ¡°Now that you mention it, perhaps it was. The person was very small, and they moved without making a sound. They were so quick and silent that I thought I was mistaken.¡± The woman gave a long sigh. She too was slowly discovering that the building that night was rather different from a normal day. ¡°Are we still going to the sixth floor?¡±

    ¡°Of course, but we have to be extra careful when we go past the fifth floor. Pay attention to the corridor and see if there are people there.¡± Chen Ge bent down to touch the puddle on the ground. ¡°The puddles are drying up. They do not appear to be something purposely left behind by Ying Chen for us to step into so that we would leave behind a trail of footprints.¡±

    ¡°Now you are just being too cautious. The water is probably there because Auntie Wu just cleaned the building.¡±

    ¡°How can you be sure that it was Auntie Wu who just cleaned this ce?¡± Chen Ge heard another new name from the woman¡¯s lips¡ªAuntie Wu.

    ¡°She is our building¡¯s cleaner. She is a very responsible worker. She cleans the entire building every morning and night,¡± Miss Dress exined and tossed out this question casually. ¡°You don¡¯t suspect that it was Auntie Wu who is helping Ying Chen, right?¡±

    Chen Ge did not reply because he was thinking about something else. Even though the building that Ying Chen and Ying Tong were living in was extremely poor and dpidated, many years ago, this had been the richest apartment in the old city. This was viewable from the fact that this building was one of the earliest apartments to be fitted with an elevator.

    Having a special cleaner to take care of the building¡¯s sanitary work was nothing big, but the issue was that this Auntie Wu had appeared in the world behind Ying Tong¡¯s door. Perhaps this cleaner had already been killed Ying Chen in real life, just like Miss Dress and Mr. Wood. But on the other hand, there was a different possibility. This Auntie Wu might have done something traumatic toward Ying Tong and thus carved her existence into his mind. Many different spections appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. Auntie Wu might have helped Ying Tong mount his escape before, or it could be Auntie Wu who leaked Ying Tong¡¯s escape to Ying Chen every time.

    ¡°How is the rtionship between this Auntie Wu and Ying Chen?¡±

    ¡°Like a cat and dog. Auntie Wu always gets into arguments with Ying Chen. She does not like cats, and she feels that by bringing back all these dirty and unkept strays from the wild, Ying Chen is purposely adding to her workload.

    ¡°Oh right, one time when I was chatting with her in private, Auntie Wu mentioned that she smelt a sour smell from Ying Chen¡¯s body. It smelt like cat¡¯s meat that had been left out to decay for too long.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s brain was moving quickly to piece the puzzle together. He connected all the known information together. ¡°This ce has just been cleaned, and that proves that Auntie Wu was here earlier. Right after that, it was followed by that small shadow who was holding the music box. The music box originated from Ying Chen¡¯s house. I believe it was Ying Chen who tasked that small person with using the music box to test Auntie Wu, and that is because Ying Chen suspects that it was Auntie Wu who had sneaked into his home!¡±

    ¡°Even though I do not quite understand what you are saying, from the way you said it, it does sound reasonable.¡± Miss Dress realized that Chen Ge had a way with words, and he was able to convince people to see his perspective quite easily.

    ¡°Ying Chen should not have known about my existence, so it is totally normal for him to suspect Auntie Wu.¡± The world behind the door was made from Ying Tong¡¯s memory. The rules of the way this world operated were thus based on Ying Tong¡¯s memory. If Ying Tong wanted to escape, the only tools he had ess to were the people and things from his memory. However, Chen Ge had entered his world behind the door, and he became the only extenuating factor. While the two were exchanging information, they had reached the fifth floor. The floor was quite wet; Auntie Wu had probably just cleaned this area.

    ¡°There is no one in the fifth-floor corridor. Should we go up to the sixth floor now?¡±

    ¡°There is no need to hurry. Can you tell me if there are any footprints on the ground? Try to be as careful as you can.¡± Chen Ge leaned against the wall. By now, he had basically gotten used to the darkness, and he was slowly able to ovee the difort that came from his physical disability.

    ¡°Footprints?¡± The woman released the hold on Chen Ge¡¯s elbow. She sounded like she had walked deeper down the corridor. ¡°There really are footprints here!¡±

    ¡°Shush, do not make such a loud noise. How many types of footprints are there on the ground?¡±

    ¡°This first set of footprints should belong to Auntie Wu. She likes to wear cotton slippers. The other set of footprints has been left behind by a pair of sneakers, so they probably belong to one of the children in the building.¡±

    ¡°Looks like our guess was not that far from the truth. Now try and see what direction the tips of the footprints are pointing in, and that will help us determine the direction that they wereing from and the direction that they had headed to.¡± Chen Ge was unable to see, so he could only rely on the help from Miss Dress.

    ¡°Auntie Wu left behind more footprints. She seems to have lingered for quite some time at the door to the cleaning closet. She was likely there to grab her cleaning equipment. The other sneaker footprints have been going straight. It feels like the owner of the footprints has been trailing behind Auntie Wu,¡± the woman said. ¡°Currently, there is no one at all on the fifth floor. Is it possible that they have all gone up to the sixth floor?¡±

    ¡°Auntie Wu lingered around the cleaning closet? Normally, isn¡¯t the storeroom prepared for the cleaning services located on the ground floor? Wouldn¡¯t it be extremely inconvenient for Auntie Wu if her supply room is ced on the fifth floor?¡± Chen Ge thought back to his visit to Ying Chen¡¯s house in real life. He could not remember encountering a cleaning closet on the fifth floor.

    ¡°When the architect designed this building, they nned to have a cleaning supply room on every floor, but it is more of a ce for the cleaners to store their equipment. It works in an emergency as well. Other than the daily cleaning supplies, it is also where the fire extinguisher and ropes are stored.¡±

    ¡°That sounds reasonable, but why would Auntie Wu linger around this particr cleaning closet on this floor?¡± Chen Ge grabbed Miss Dress by her elbow. ¡°Is the closet locked?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Go and open the door. I suspect Auntie Wu might have hidden something inside the closet.¡±

    The woman led Chen Ge and walked to the side of the cleaning closet. She gave the door a light tug. ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°It cannot be opened. It feels like something is stuck against the door on the other side.¡±

    ¡°It is not locked, but it cannot be opened, huh?¡± Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of something. He leaned toward the door and softly whispered, ¡°Ying Tong? Are you inside there? I know your elder brother is a crazy murderer who likes to torture cats. I am here to help you escape this building!¡±

    ¡°What are you mumbling about at the air?¡± Just as Miss Dress said that, a click suddenly came from inside the cleaning closet. It sounded like someone had removed the item that had blocked the inside of the closet door. ¡°Who¡¯s in there?¡±

    Opening the door, Miss Dress sucked in a cold breath.

    ¡°What did you see? Say something! Don¡¯t just stand there,¡± Chen Ge urged in the smallest voice he could manage.

    ¡°Ying... Ying Tong is inside the closet! Why is he hiding here?¡± The woman was shocked and that caused the volume of her voice to rise.

    ¡°Ying Tong?¡± Even though Chen Ge had already mentally prepared himself and knew that Ying Tong would be hiding somewhere in this building, he did not expect to encounter him so early in his journey. ¡°Looks like I am quite lucky this time.¡±

    ¡°Who... are you guys? Was it Auntie Wu who told you I am hiding inside the closet?¡± Ying Tong¡¯s voice sounded rather dull, like that of a robot. It was devoid of any human emotions.

    ¡°I am here to help you escape. I know the type of person your elder brother really is. I guarantee that he will receive his due punishment.¡± Chen Ge took one step forward. His hand touched Ying Tong¡¯s shoulder. He used his fingers to lightly caress Ying Tong¡¯s face, and the tip of his fingers ran over the uneven surfaces that were from the many different wounds.

    ¡°I look like a monster, don¡¯t I?¡± Ying Tong¡¯s voice came from before Chen Ge.

    ¡°I¡¯m blind. I cannot see your appearance, but I know that you have a strong and kind heart. More than that, you also have a very clever and calm mind.¡±

    If a normal child was ced in Ying Tong¡¯s position, they would have gone insane already, but that did not happen to Ying Tong. He had been trying to find an opening to escape, and even after so many failures, he had not given up. Even though the siblings¡¯ personalities could not have been more different, they were both incredibly clever, and in a way, both of them would grow up to be incredibly awe-inspiring individuals but for different reasons.

    Chen Ge memorized Ying Tong¡¯s appearance. To gain Ying Tong¡¯s trust, he held Ying Tong¡¯s hands and ced them over his face. ¡°My name is Chen Ge, and from now on, you are not alone. No matter the result, I will always be by your side.¡±

    No one had told Ying Tong these words before. That Auntie Wu should be helping Ying Tong in the dark, but she too did not dare give Ying Tong any promises. When Chen Ge was feeling Ying Tong¡¯s face, he brushed against something Ying Tong was holding. The boy was carrying a big bag with him. Inside it was something in the shape of a ball and a stick-like object that appeared to be a shlight.

    ¡°What is inside that bag of yours?¡±

    ¡°Auntie Wu did not believe me initially, so I had to take something to show her for her to believe me.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°A football that my elder brother made.¡±

    A rustling sound came from the small room. Ying Tong opened the bag, and Miss Dress peered to look into the bag out of curiosity.

    ¡°Ah! A human head!¡± Fear overwhelmed her heart. Miss Dress was stunned in that moment, and she forgot that she needed to keep her voice down.

    ¡°Shush, we need to be quiet! We cannot stay here any longer! We need to get to the sixth floor so that Ying Tong can meet up with Ah Ying!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s hypothesis would be proven when Ying Tong met Ah Ying. Now he could not wait for them to reunite. Miss Dress held Chen Ge and Ying Tong with each hand. The trio reentered the stairwell, but when they reached thending between the fifth and sixth floor, the old elevator in the building suddenly started to move and make its horrible sound.

    ¡°The elevator is moving! Someone is using the elevator toe up the floors! Is it because Ying Chen heard our voices?¡± Miss Dress¡¯ earlier gasp when she found out about the human head was rather loud, so Chen Ge was quite worried about that. He stopped moving, and his expression turned dark. The elevator stopped at the fifth floor, and immediately following it was the weak meowing of cats.

    ¡°It is Ying Chen!¡± The cat¡¯s call did not increase in volume immediately, which meant that Ying Chen had stayed close to the elevator, but it was certain that the man was now on the fifth floor.

    ¡°We need to move.¡± Since the group had gotten so big, their movement would be much louder. However, Chen Ge was devoid of a better idea other than to stay as far away from Ying Chen as possible.

    ¡°We will go to Miss Red¡¯s ce first and hope that she will open her ce up for us to hide in!¡±

    The sound of the cat had not changed. Miss Dress led Chen Ge and Ying Tong up to the sixth floor, and they stopped before Miss Red¡¯s door.

    ¡°Do not knock. It will make too loud of a noise. Give her a call or a text message, and tell her to open the door.¡±

    ¡°But I didn¡¯t bring my phone with me.¡±

    When the two spoke, the sound of a girl singing came from the other side of the staircase. The person holding the broken music box wasing up the stairs!

    The cats would warn Chen Ge of Ying Chen, but they would not warn him of other people. Ying Chen had found help from the tenants inside the building. This was a very bad development for Chen Ge, who was unable to see anything.

    ¡°What should we do now?¡±

    They were running out of time and options. Knocking would have a fifty percent chance of attracting Ying Chen¡¯s attention. If Miss Red took her time to open the door, they would be captured, and Ying Chen¡¯s helper was closing in from the other side.

    ¡°We will retreat to the left stairwell for now.¡± The n had to be changed. As Chen Ge¡¯s group was moving toward the left staircase, suddenly the cats started to growl and howl. The distance between Ying Chen and them was closing.

    ¡°The man has heard our movement!¡± Chen Ge gritted his teeth. He realized that Ying Chen was very hard to deal with. Earlier, he had been tricked before, so this time, he had found another person to go up the stairs with him. Each taking one side of the stairs, they would be able to corner the people in the corridor!

    The cat¡¯s meowing drilled into his ears, and the meowing was bing more shrill and twisted. The three of them stood at the mouth of the staircase, and Ying Chen was probably heading up the stairs.

    ¡°It was me who made the noise, so he¡¯ll be looking for me. The two of you should go and hide on the seventh floor. I will stay to dy Ying Chen as long as I can.¡± Miss Dress volunteered to walk down the fifth-floor corridor. Chen Ge grabbed Ying Tong by his hand and led him up toward the stairwell, but they were moving silently up to the seventh floor.

 Chapter 1061 - The Story of Light [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1061: The Story of Light [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The shrill calls of cats drilled into his ears. Chen Ge¡¯s hands that held Ying Tong were already covered in cold sweat. He still could not see anything, but he knew that Ying Chen had already entered the corridor, and the distance between them was drawing ever closer.

    ¡°Ying Chen? Don¡¯t you normally use the elevator? Why would you be using the stairs today? Are you doing some kind of exercise?¡± Miss Dress¡¯ voice came from the sixth-floor corridor. Perhaps the shock from seeing the human head had not passed¡ªher voice was still trembling slightly.

    ¡°I believed that I heard someone talking in the corridor earlier, so I came up to look. By the way, why are you here?¡± Ying Chen¡¯s voice came from the corner of the stairwell. Currently, there was a less than five meters between Chen Ge as well as Ying Tong and Ying Chen. If he took another few steps forward, he would be able to see Chen Ge, who was leaning closely against the wall.

    ¡°I have run out of Ah Mu¡¯s medicine, so I came up here to ask Miss Red if she has any extra.¡± Miss Dress had slowly calmed down by then. The excuse that she gave was very convincing.

    ¡°Oh, you are here to get more medicine?¡± Ying Chen¡¯s voice had a lilt of relief. In fact, there was now an undercurrent of mirth in it. ¡°It must have been difficult to look after Ah Mu, but soon, the responsibility will be taken off your hands. I have already contacted the rted organization, and they will all be sent away in a few days.¡±

    ¡°You are going to send Ah Mu away?¡± Miss Dress¡¯ voice betrayed her nervousness. After knowing the real Ying Chen that was hiding the mask of kindness, she could not face him like she usually did.

    ¡°Yes, I can¡¯t just expect you all to help me look after those children for nothing, right?¡± Ying Chen¡¯s voice echoed down the corridor. It sounded like he had walked right up to Miss Red. ¡°After all, the reason the children ended up that way...¡±

    Ying Chen¡¯s voice became lower and lower. Even Miss Dress had a hard time hearing him. ¡°Sorry, what did you say?¡±

    ¡°I said, after all, the reason the children ended up that way...¡± Ying Chen sounded like he had sidled up close to Miss Dress. ¡°... is all because of me!¡±

    Bang!

    Miss Dress¡¯ body mmed heavily into the wall. The sound of muffled screams came from the corridor. Ying Chen probably covered her mouth with her hands.

    ¡°Shh, be quiet. Don¡¯t panic. I will not cut your neck here. We do not want to ruin your beautiful face, do we?¡± Ying Chen¡¯s voice echoed in the corridor. Like usual, the tone of his voice was like a draft of spring breeze. It broughtfort and trust. It sounded like he was ying with a bunch of kids. ¡°When I was downstairs, I believe I heard you mention a human head. You do not need to answer. I only need you to nod or shake your head. That¡¯s all. I am sure you can do that for me, right?

    ¡°You did not say that?

    ¡°If you continue to act like this, I do not think I will like you anymore. You know what? I have always admired your honesty, just like you have always adored my passion and selflessness.

    ¡°I will ask you again. Did you mention a ¡®human head¡¯ earlier or not?

    ¡°Ah ha. So you did. Since you have mentioned that word, it can only mean that my little brother is nearby. Is he hiding upstairs, hiding behind one of the doors, or hiding inside the cleaning closet?

    ¡°Am I pressing too hard? Your bulging eyes appear to have subconsciously nced upward?

    ¡°Do not worry. I will not go and hunt him for now. Do you know how many times I have imagined squeezing your neck like this? The burly arms strangling such a soft and graceful neck. The fingers pressing on your pulse, as they slowly constrict to crush your windpipe. The joy is watching the change in your expression. How could leave during such a glorious moment? You are like a graceful cat. No, you will be the most beautiful cat that I have ever gotten the pleasure to adopt.¡±

    The voices slowly died down in the corridor. By then, Chen Ge and Ying Tong had arrived at the seventh floor.

    ¡°Every floor is named ording to the day of the week. The whole building is a recurring nightmare that you can¡¯t escape from. But this also means that I can probably get back to the first floor from the seventh floor.¡± Miss Dress¡¯ room was on the first floor, and Ah Mu was still inside her room.

    ¡°Ying Chen knew that Miss Dress had seen Ying Tong, so he will not allow Ah Mu to continue staying in Miss Dress¡¯ room. He will go to get Ah Mu sooner orter. Now I have two choices. The first is to enter Miss Dress¡¯ room to find Ah Mu before Ying Chen can, but there are two risks to this n. First, Ah Mu might open the door for me, and the knocking might raise the risk even higher. The second is that after I enter Miss Dress¡¯ room, Ying Chen might choose to wait outside the corridor for me to continue¡ªthe tiger waiting under the tree for the rabbit toe out of its hole.¡±

    Time was ticking, and Chen Ge did not have much time to spend on thinking. Ying Chen could move soundlessly, but the call of the cats was continuously echoing in his eyes. That meant that the distance between them and Ying Chen had not changed.

    ¡°If Ying Chen is allowed to take Ah Mu away, it will be incredibly difficult to find Ah Mu again. Ying Chen might even directly kill Ah Mu! If he does that, Ying Tong will lose a part of his memory permanently. If that causes Ying Tong to unable to open his eyes forever behind the door, that will be the worst case possible.¡± Chen Ge held Ying Tong¡¯s hand and continued to move forward, but he suddenly felt some resistance from Ying Tong. Thetter did not seem to want to move further anymore. ¡°Ying Tong? Why have you stopped? Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°I think it is better if we split up. Those who wish to help me have all died, I...¡±

    ¡°No matter what, do not stop moving.¡± Chen Ge did not wish to get into an argument with Ying Tong at that moment. He lowered his voice and dragged Ying Tong by his arm along the seventh-floor corridor.

    Climbing up the stairs that should not have existed in the first ce, Chen Ge found his way back to Miss Dress¡¯ room based on the memory that had imprinted in his mind. He knocked lightly on the door. As the knocking travelled down the corridor, so did the sound of the cat¡¯s meowing. Other than the sound of the cats, Chen Ge heard a different sound underneath the cacophony. It sounded as if something heavy like a body was being dragged on the ground.

    ¡°Ah Mu? Are you in? Would you pleasee and open the door? Please open the door, Ah Mu!¡± Chen Ge was so desperate that his forehead was covered in sweat. The cats¡¯ wailing stretched his nerves thin. It caused Chen Ge¡¯s heart to race. The sound of knocking sounded extra loud and hollow in his eyes. At that moment, he no longer worried about being exposed. Since he had made the choice, he had to suffer the consequences of making that choice. In this building, the consequences of making the wrong choice would be death.

    ¡°Ah Mu! Ah Mu!¡± The sound of pattering footsteps came from inside the room. At the same time, the sound of a heavy object being dragged disappeared, and in its ce was a shriller and sharper meowing of the cats!

    Ying Chen had abandoned the body and was running their way at full speed!

    ¡°Ah Mu!¡±

    The door lock clicked open. The moment Chen Ge heard that, he pushed the door open, and dragged Ying Tong into the room by his arm. He did not dare to allow himself even a second of hesitation. He practically fell into the room. After he walked over the threshold, he mmed his body into the door and closed it. He found the lock and quickly gave it a twist!

    ¡°Do not speak! Try to not make any noise!¡± With his back leaning against the door, Chen Ge slid down to the floor with his arms hugging his backpack tightly. In the darkness, the sounds of the cats being ughtered echoed in his ears. It came closer and closer until it stopped right outside the door.

    Dong! Dong! Dong!

    With every single knock on the door, Chen Ge¡¯s heart skipped a beat. With his back against the wall, the sweat could not stop falling. At that moment, Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of something that made his whole body freeze with dread.

    <i>Ying Chen has killed Miss Dress! And Miss Dress might have the key to this room on her body!</i>

    One could not ount for everything. In such dire circumstances, even Chen Ge could not have predicted everything. After he entered this door, his nerves had been in a very tense state. The death of Miss Dress had only made his already frayed nerves even more stressed.

    <i>Calm down, Chen Ge! Miss Dress did not even take her phone with her, so she might not have taken the room key with her as well. After all, we left in such a hurry.</i>

    Chen Ge had spent quite some time with Miss Dress. In his mind, Miss Dress was someone who would not mind the details that much. Furthermore, Ah Mu was unable to leave the house. Knowing that someone would always be at home, there was a very high chance that she would not carry her keys along with her. The sound of door knocking was mixed together with the cats¡¯ meows. Chen Ge¡¯s heart raced. He had not felt so desperate and despaired in such a long time. He did not dare breathe too loudly, and time dripped past.

    Half a minuteter, the knocking finally stopped, but the cats had not stopped meowing. Ying Chen was still waiting outside the door. He was probably standing to the side, where the peephole was unable to see. He knew how to select a blind spot to hide himself. Chen Ge waited for another half an hour before the cats¡¯ meowing slowly faded away.

    ¡°Cunning, cruel, and extremely patient, this b*stard sure is a piece of work.¡± Chen Ge did not waste any time. He still guarded the door by using his back to press against it as hard as he could.

    ¡°Ying Chen will definitely return. When he heard the sound of the door knocking, he rushed over here as fast as possible. That was the loudest the cats have been so far. But the sound of the heavy object being dragged stopped. This prove that he temporarily dropped Miss Dress, who was holding him back, and chose toe after me first. He has probably gone back to Miss Dress¡¯ body to search for the key.

    ¡°The sound of the heavy object being dragged stopped at the seventh-floor corridor. He¡¯ll need at most ten seconds to make this return trip. The period of time is too short for me to take Ying Tong and Ah Mu to escape with me. The only choice I have is to continue staying inside this room and hope that Miss Dress did not carry the key with her.¡±

    Standing up, Chen Ge stumbled his way through the living room. With his hands on the back of the sofa, he tried his best to nudge the sofa to block at the door.

    ¡°Ah Mu,e and help me see if the sofa is correctly blocking against the door?¡± Chen Ge could not see anything, so he had no choice but to ask Ah Mu for help.

    ¡°It has blocked the door, yes, but how is Miss Dress going to get in?¡±

    ¡°Did Miss Dress take the key with her when she left the room earlier?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I believe she did.¡±

    Ah Mu¡¯s reply chilled Chen Ge¡¯s heart. After using the sofa to fortify the door, he found the broom to angle it against the door lock.

    ¡°The two of you need to stay as far away from the door as you can. Ah Mu, can you go grab Miss Dress¡¯ phone for me?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Ah Mu had just given his promise when the cats started to meow again. The worst thing was other than the sound of the cats, there came the singing of the girl from the music box.

    ¡°Ying Chen and his helper are both outside the door!¡± The key slithered into the lock. The spring unlocked, and the smallest of clicks caused Chen Ge¡¯s neck to be covered in goosebumps. With another click, the door was opened!

    But when the man tried to give the door a push, he realized that the door was unwilling to budge. The door rattled violently. Chen Ge stood on the other end of the sofa and used the entire weight of his body to press against the sofa.

    ¡°Is that Miss Dress? Has she returned?¡± Ah Mu¡¯s voice was shaking because the action of the person outside the door was very harsh andpletely unlike Miss Dress.

    ¡°It is Ying Chen. He¡¯s the one who put you in your current state,¡± Chen Ge whispered back.

    ¡°Ying Chen? But all the adults around me told me that it was him who took care of me. It was him who first found me. Without him, I would be dead already.¡±

    ¡°From your understanding of the word death, it is clear that something is wrong. Ah Mu, you have forgotten many things. Perhaps you should have a little chat with Ying Tong,¡± Chen Ge suggested in a small voice. Actually, he was quite interested in hearing the description of Ying Chen from Ying Tong¡¯s lips. What kind of elder brother was Ying Chen?

    The door rattled for a long time, but with Chen Ge giving it his all, the other party failed to get into the room. Through the door, the cats kept up their calls. The wailing kept getting more and more desperate.

    Amid the din, there was a man¡¯s very soft voice saying, ¡°It took less than a minute to find the key and get back here. In that time, someone set up a blockade on the other side of the door. Whether it was the ability to make such snap decision in such a short moment or the ability to move big objects, Ying Tong is unable to do either. Other than that woman, there is another adult helping him in this building.¡±

    With the power of Ghost Ear, Chen Ge¡¯s senses were sharper than normal. After losing his sight, his other senses seemed to have gained even more improvement, so even though the man was supposed to be whispering, Chen Ge managed to hear almost everything.

    ¡°Why would someone help that horrible kid?¡± another voice asked. Chen Ge had heard this voice before. It was that kid who pushed him down the stairs earlier.

    ¡°Perhaps the person has been tricked by Ying Tong. As you know, Ying Tong is a very horrible kid who likes to lie.¡± Ying Chen continued to ply his lies. ¡°I will stay here, and I need you to get up to Room 204 on the second floor to check.¡±

    The sound of the music box disappeared, but the sound of the cats was still there. Ying Chen¡¯s helper had already left, but Ying Chen himself was still waiting outside the door. He was indeed a very patient ¡®hunter¡¯.

    When Chen Ge heard the conversation outside the door, he whispered for Ah Mu to get him Miss Dress¡¯ phone and asked him to call Mr. Wood¡¯s number. Once the call was connected, Chen Ge cut to the chase. ¡°Do not speak. Just listen to me. Ying Chen has killed Miss Dress. He has currently trapped me, Ah Mu, and Ying Tong inside her room. His next target will be you or Miss Red. In a minute, someone will go to your door to check on you. I suggest you go and wait at the peephole. But do not open your door under any circumstances. That kid is Ying Chen¡¯s ally.¡±

    After hearing what Chen Ge had to say, Mr. Wood¡¯s breathing had an obvious change. He had a hard time epting that Ying Chen had murdered Miss Dress.

    ¡°I have not had any interaction with Miss Red before, so I will need your help to call Miss Red for me and inform her about this. And tell her not to leave her room no matter what and not to open her door for anymore. Thest thing I want to say is to carry your phone with you at all times. Only by working together will all of us be able to survive. I beg you to please trust me on this!¡±

    The other side of the phone was silent for a long time before Mr. Wood replied, ¡°Understood.¡±

    Everything fell silent, but Chen Ge understood that the danger had not passed. He returned the phone to Ah Mu, and only then did he realize that neither Ah Mu nor Ying Tong had said anything. ¡°Ying Tong, why don¡¯t you tell us about your brother? Tell us everything you know about him.¡±

    The living room was very quiet; Ying Tong had not spoken a word.

    ¡°Are you worried about something?¡± Chen Ge said in aforting tone. ¡°Do not be afraid. Only by telling the truth will we be able to help you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s no use.¡± Ying Tong appeared to be gnawed by Miss Dress¡¯ death. He was crushed by the pain and guilt. ¡°Everyone who hears the truth will die. Only by not seeing and not knowing will you be able to survive. I do not wish to bring any harm to any of you.¡±

    ¡°Is that the reason you are unwilling to open your eyes even though you are not really blind?¡± Chen Ge grabbed Ying Chen by his hands to give him physicalfort. ¡°But many people in this building already know the truth. Everyone wants to help you. Your world is not covered in darkness. Trust that there is light even here.¡±

    ¡°Light?¡±

    ¡°Ying Chen only allows you to see the most extreme cruelty and unshakable sin. He murdered one person after another to try and prove to you there is nothing but darkness in the world. But think about it, even so, there are people who are willing to help you, like Miss Dress, the cleaningdy, and me.¡± Chen Ge squeezed Ying Chen¡¯s hand. ¡°Trust me. No matter what, I will bring you out of this ce. The world outside is very beautiful. It is filled with the most vibrant of colors, and there is a blinding sea of light.¡±

    In this world that was so suffocatingly dark, a world where light could not prate, a blind person held another blind person by his hand, telling him the story of the light.

 Chapter 1062 - Face Your Fear [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1062: Face Your Fear [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The situation had gotten to the worst state that it possibly could have, but Chen Ge not only had not given up hope, he still had time tofort and encourage the people around him. Ever since he had obtained the ck phone, he had been in too many impossible situations. As harrowing as those experiences were, they had taught him a lot. Pain and tragedy trained his mind and instilled in him a heart of gold, one that would not sumb to pressure so easily.

    ¡°Ying Tong, after leaving this building and walking out that door, you will be able to see the outside world. You do not need to keep yourself locked up anymore.¡±

    Not many people would be willing to talk about the outside with Ying Tong. The world that Chen Ge described, the one that was filled with color and light, was a ce that Ying Tong had been yearning for all his life. The child slowly had his confidence returned to him, and he started to share the story of his elder brother.

    Before Ying Chen could even remember knowing right from wrong, his mother had tried her best to stop him from ying with Ying Chen. If there was an asion where the two siblings were together, there would be at least one of their parents staying close to watch. At the time, Ying Tong had merely thought that this was a strange arrangement. He loved spending time with his brother. He thought his brother was a very interesting person. He could alwayse up with many interesting new games and had many friends in the neighborhood. People liked to hang out with him. At the time, Ying Tong was like a shadow, trailing behind Ying Chen everywhere he went.

    Seeing the brothers sharing such a good rtionship, their parents were not happy. More than that, they were more than a bit worried. Ying Chen had been born with a problem in his sight. His eye sight wasckingpared to other normal children. When they were out ying, his elder brother would always look after him and made sure that no one bully him. For that, he always appreciated and adored his big brother. But one day, after they came back from a game of hide and seek, Ying Tong¡¯s mother dragged Ying Tong angrily into his bedroom. From outside the door, Ying Tong heard the sound of Ying Chen crying and screaming. It sounded like their father was beating Ying Chen.

    Ying Tong, who was locked in his room, did not know what was happening. He even pleaded with his mother on his big brother¡¯s behalf, telling them that Ying Chen had done nothing wrong. Why would they beat Ying Chen?

    In the end, his mother did not tell him why Ying Chen deserve the beating, but through the nanny, Ying Tong found out what had really happened that day. When they were ying hide and seek, Ying Chen had led Ying Tong quietly out their building and sneaked into a nearby building that was still under renovation. And then Ying Chen had made Ying Tong stand on the balcony of the third floor. The balcony did not have a safety railing. If Ying Tong had moved an inch, he would have fallen to a gristly death. Thankfully, they had been spotted by the construction workers, who quickly put a stop to the dangerous game.

    Ying Tong could not wrap his mind around why his brother would do something like that to him. From that day onward, fear entered his life. He always had nightmares, and he had trouble falling asleep. The warnings that he received from his parents when he was young echoed in his mind. Slowly but surely, the impression that he had of his big brother slowly changed.

    A few monthster, Ying Tong woke up early one morning and realized that his elder brother¡¯s room was empty. His parents told him that his brother had been sent to receive treatment. At the time, Ying Tong was still too young to understand the full scope of the things they were telling him. His understanding of treatment was perhaps that Ying Chen had gotten a cold and needed a shot or something. He did not read too much from his parent¡¯s sad expressions.

    Half a yearter, a month before the tragedy that befell Ying Tong¡¯s parents, Ying Chen finally returned home. After his treatment, Ying Chen became more ¡®normal¡¯ than a normal person. But seeing Ying Chen in this manner, Ying Tong¡¯s father only got more worried.

    One monthter, Ying Tong¡¯s parents died in a car ident, and Ying Chen and Ying Tong started being taken care of by their rtive, who moved in with them. Based on what Ying Tong remembered, even though the rtive was greedy and stingy, he was a nice person overall. He tried his best to do right by the siblings. Thispletely contradicted Ying Chen¡¯s description of the period of time that the siblings had spent in their rtive¡¯s care when he told Chen Ge his story outside the door.

    The early passing of his parents meant that Ying Tong was far more mature than his peers. When he was five, he was forced to understand that death meant the people would never return. During the period they spent with their rtive, Ying Tong also slowly discovered the other side of his big brother that he had not seen before.

    Ying Chen had a very unique hobby; he liked to make insect specimens. He would dissect the insect and then put them all together. There were many simr specimens in his bedroom. This hobbysted for some time until Ying Tong discovered the specimen of a dead bird inside Ying Chen¡¯s bedroom. To perfectly replicate a bird¡¯s living image, one would need not only the expertise of a professional taxidermist but also many taxidermy tools. Ying Tong pulled open Ying Chen¡¯s drawers out of curiosity, and they were filled to the brim with strange-looking equipment. He told his rtive this, but ultimately, the rtive was not close family, so they did not intervene with Ying Chen¡¯s hobby.

    In the ensuing days, Ying Chen spent more and more hours away from home. He came back from schoolter andter. He would be covered in cat scratches or bruises whenever he showed up. This continued for some time until the people from the neighborhood watch came over with theint that the rtive was torturing Ying Chen and Ying Tong. Even though Ying Tong tried his best to deny this baseless usation, no one believed him. It was hard to tell what Ying Chen had fed these people, but they refused to listen to Ying Tong¡¯s side of the story. If anything, they treated Ying Tong with pity, like a child who was too afraid to tell the truth.

    The rtive was warned by the authorities. That night, the rtive got into a serious argument with Ying Chen. The next day, the people from the neighborhood watch came again to pay another visit.

    Ying Chen joined many anti domestic violence groups. It was also since that period that he started to manage his online social media ount. He created this illusion that he was a poor kid who was being bullied and tortured by an outsider. The issue grew bigger and bigger until the rtive was chased out of their house half a yearter.

    Ying Tong clearly remembered what happened that day. Before the rtive left, he keyed his phone number into Ying Tong¡¯s phone that was specially made for blind people and told Ying Tong something. When Ying Tong was still a baby, Ying Chen once sneaked up to his crib and stood there, watching him for a long time. No one knew what he was up to, but they knew that he was holding something in his hands.

    1This was probably something that Ying Chen¡¯s father had told Ying Chen¡¯s psychiatrist, andter, it was the psychiatrist who told Ying Chen¡¯s rtive. As the main victim, Ying Tong was thest to find out.

    Ying Chen started to feel afraid. It was from that day that he started to stay away from his big brother, but nothing seemed to change with Ying Chen. He was still as sunny and friendly as ever. He invited Ying Tong with him every time he wanted to go out, but Ying Tong began to reject all of his invitations.

    After the rtive left, Ying Chen¡¯s real personality started to show little by little. Strange smells started to leak out from his room, but at that moment, Ying Chen still had not done anything to harm Ying Tong. In fact, he took great care of Ying Tong. He helped Ying Tong manage his eyes every day, and he would inquire about the recovery of his eyesight.

    Following the early treatment, Ying Tong had recovered part of his sight, but he did not dare to reveal that to his big brother. He acted like it was the same as when he was young. He kept telling Ying Chen that nothing had changed. Ying Tong was lying; however, the scary part was that Ying Chen probably knew that Ying Tong was lying, but he did not burst that bubble.

    From insect, to birds, to stray cats, when Ying Tong thought that his big brother would not get any worse, he found clumps of hair that was matted with blood inside his brother¡¯s school bag. Ying Chen spent more and more time outside the house. He changed the locks all over the house, and only Ying Chen had ess to the keys.

    Ying Tong hid inside his own bedroom, but he could not stop hearing the noises that came from outside his doorte at night. Ying Chen¡¯s footsteps would echo between the kitchen, bedroom, and the bathroom. asionally, there would be these noises that were impossible to describe.

    This continued for a while until Ying Chen went out to ¡®throw away the rubbish¡¯ e night, and Ying Tong noticed that Ying Chen¡¯s bedroom door was open. He sneaked into it, and the sight that he saw would forever be seared into his mind. There was an arm that dangled out from the bottom of Ying Chen¡¯s bed. That was undeniably a human body that Ying Chen was ¡®working on¡¯.

    Ying Chen did not go into detail about what happenedter that night. He only told Chen Ge and Ah Mu that it was at that moment that he decided he need to run away from home. But the problem was, Ying Tong did not have the keys to their house. Normally, he was locked inside his room by his big brother. That continued until the date of his sixth birthday. Ying Chen said that the rtive wanted toe and see him, and he was waiting downstairs with presents and cake for him.

    Ying Chen left home for the first time with joy and hope surging in his heart, but when he reached the first floor, he did not see his rtive. He took out his phone and called his rtive¡¯s number. After it rang for a few times, it was answered. To his consternation, it was his own brother¡¯s voice that came through the line. ¡°Look behind you.¡±

    He turned subconsciously around, and he came face to face with a pair of scissors that Ying Chen aimed right at his eyeballs. The fear in his eyes was impossible for hide especially for a young kid at the age of six. Ying Chen noted down the change in Ying Tong¡¯s expression to the smallest detail.

    It was then that Ying Chen knew Ying Tong was notpletely blind, so based on his own ideals, he started to ¡®fix¡¯ his younger brother.

    At this point of the story, Ah Mu room started to act up in the small behind the door. He started to cry so badly that his breath was catching in his throat. It felt like he was being held hostage and had his eyes pulled wide open while someone use something sharp to stab his eyes again and again. The fear of the tip of the scissors as they slowly approached the eyes before they stopped at the veryst moment burned and singed his brain, and this experience was repeated again and again.

    The front door kept shaking. Ying Tong had revealed to Ah Mu the real reason behind his aichmophobia. The night of his sixth birthday was one of the few memories that he was most unwilling to remember.

    ¡°I have tried to escape three times in total, and Ying Chen used three different kinds of methods to warn me each time,¡± Ying Tong said. ¡°Now I am attempting my fourth escape. Who knows what he will do to me next?¡±

    ¡°The first time you tried to escape, he caused you to suffer from aichmophobia, and that led to the creation of the persona Ah Mu. There are still Ah Ying and Ah Tong inside this building. They should correspond to your other two escapes.¡± Chen Ge squeezed his body against the sofa and tried his best to push against it. Ah Mu had already lost all control. His breathing wasing unevenly. If they did not do anything soon, the boy would be in fatal danger. ¡°Ying Tong, I need you to go inside the bedroom to look. I remember Miss Dress fed Ah Mu his medicine inside the bedroom. Perhaps there are still some pills left on the bedside table.¡±

    Chen Ge waited for a long time, but Ying Tong did not budge. He stood frozen where he was.

    ¡°Ying Tong?¡±

    The louder Ah Mu screamed, the more violently the door shook. It felt like Ying Chen was getting desperate as well. Of all the people present, Ying Tong stood in the living room like the chaos was beyond him, like he was looking in from the outside. Chen Ge wanted to reach over to give Ah Mu aforting pat on his back, but when his hand touched Ah Mu, he noticed that Ah Mu¡¯s body was deconstructing. His joints were broken, and his limbs were getting twisted like the dolls ced on Ying Tong¡¯s bedside table.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°When I was conversing with Ah Mu earlier, I was reminded of something.¡± Ying Tong¡¯s voice started again. He was standing next to Chen Ge. ¡°Do you know what the medicine that Ying Chen gave them is made of?¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Chen Ge had no idea why Ying Tong would suddenly bring this up. The most urgent thing to do now was to save the boy.

    ¡°It was made from my flesh and blood.¡± Ying Tong gave a gory answer. ¡°Ah Mu is the representation of my pain and my anxiety, but he is also the obedient kid that I have presented myself before Ying Chen...¡±

    The door vibrated harder and harder. Hearing Ah Mu¡¯s spine-tingling screams, it seemed to have spurred Ying Chen on.

    ¡°They are me, and I am them. I will ept their pain because they are originally a part of me. I cannot separate myself from them. I have been searching for them throughout the building. Only by finding them will I be aplete person, and I will no longer be a monster who has been ¡®dissected¡¯ by Ying Chen.¡±

    Ying Tong held Chen Ge¡¯s hand and then went over to hug the thin and weak Ah Mu. He was embracing his own past, listening to his past self¡¯s screams and wails. This continued for some time. When the screaming finally stopped, both Chen Ge and Ying Tong felt a jolt of pain through their heart.

    The darkness before their eyes seemed to have dissipated slightly. It was still blurry and hard to discern, but there appeared to be pinpricks of light.

    Due to his fear of Ying Chen, even though Ying Tong had already recovered his power of sight, he had to act like a blind person. If he wanted to open his eyes, he needed to first face his innate fear of Ying Chen. Only by epting the memories from the past would he have the chance to open his eyes.

    Ah Mu had disappeared. What was left behind was a doll with a contorted body beside Chen Ge and Ying Tong. They reached out to touch it. The doll was very small, and there was an uneven depression on its face. It probably meant that it had an ugly face. Chen Ge ced the doll into Ying Tong¡¯s pocket. Honestly, he did not know how to feel at that moment. Ah Mu had already been epted by Ying Tong, and some blurry light had returned to their sight. Their eyes had recovered slightly but only ever so slightly.

    ¡°Looks like to fully recover our sight, we need to find Ah Ying and Ah Tong.¡±

    The only person in the room who was not blind had turned into a doll. Ying Chen was still waiting to pounce on them outside the door. The situation had not changed. If anything, it had only gotten worse. Chen Ge took Miss Dress¡¯ phone. He could feel the heft of the phone in his grasp, but he could not see it. In his line of sight, in the world of darkness, there was only a small halo of light that appeared to be very far away.

    ¡°Ah Mu found Mr. Wood¡¯s number through the contact list. After I ended the call with Mr. Wood, the phone should have returned to the contact list number.¡± Chen Ge was trying to give Mr. Wood another call when the vibration of the front door suddenly stopped.

    The shrill cat¡¯s meowing was fading away as well. Ying Chen appeared to be leaving the door in a hurry. ¡°He¡¯s left?¡±

    It was impossible for Ying Chen not to have heard the greatmotioning from inside the room. He would know that Ah Mu had been epted by Ying Tong, so he would continue to search for the other two kids. Chen Ge grabbed his backpack with one hand and Ying Tong with another. He knew that this was their chance.

    ¡°We are on the ground floor, Miss Red is on the sixth floor, and Mr. Wood is on the second floor. If Ying Chen runs to the second floor, we will go downstairs to find Miss Red. If Ying Chen goes to Miss Red, we will go to second floor to find Mr. Wood. We only have a window of a few seconds.¡±

    Staying in this room was too dangerous, the door might be broken through at any time, so Chen Ge was ready to leave.

    ¡°Ying Tong, be prepared. No matter what happens, you have to stay close to me.¡±

    Chen Ge trained his focus as he moved to the door and grabbed hold of the doorknob. The cat¡¯s noises were getting smaller, but strangely enough, it unsettled Chen Ge that they had notpletely disappeared. Ying Chen had left, but he could be waiting at a spot not far away from the door. In fact, he could be hiding in the stairwell.

    ¡°The b*stard is waiting for me to open the door and then he¡¯ll jump out at us, huh?¡±

    After a few minutes, the cats¡¯ meows disappearedpletely, but Chen Ge was still too worried to leave.

    ¡°Ying Chen keeps moving away. He must have noticed something already. Even though he has already left, there might be another person standing outside the door.¡± Chen Ge held his breath and focused on his hearing. ¡°Assuming the words that he said outside the door earlier were purposely meant for me to hear, it appears like he has ordered his helper to go to the second floor, but in reality, his helper might have switched off the music box and currently be waiting for us outside the door.¡±

 Chapter 1063 - Escape Monday! [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1063: Escape Monday! [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    There might be someone standing outside the door. Chen Ge thought that it was too dangerous to open the door, but he had no better solution at the moment. This was an opportunity, one that they could not miss.

    ¡°Ying Chen probably has not wandered too far away from this ce. There might be a trap right outside the door. Someone is probably waiting for me to open the door and crawl out.¡±

    The sound of the cats would warn Chen Ge of Ying Chen, but they would not be able to do anything regarding Ying Chen¡¯s helper. Chen Ge understood that deeply. Earlier, when he was pushed down the stairs by the boy, throughout the whole process, the child did not make any noise. It was not until thest moment that he had revealed his nasty fangs.

    ¡°Currently, there are two possibilities. The first possibility is that Ying Chen and his helper are respectively guarding before Mr. Wood and Miss Red¡¯s doors, and the second possibility is that Ying Chen is hiding somewhere in the stairwell, and his helper has not left but is waiting outside the door. The conversation that they shared earlier was purposely leaked for me to hear so that I¡¯d lower my guard.¡±

    Chen Ge kept wondering about these two possibilities. For a normal person, the best choice would be to stay inside Miss Dress¡¯ room. Even though the crazy murderer had the key, as long as he kept the door blocked, there should not be too big a problem.

    But doing that meant that he would have positioned himself in a passive situation. Ying Chen could have easily made use of this time to go and do other things. Chen Ge had limited physique, and it was already difficult on his body for him to have to go through so many of the dangerous adventures since he had entered this door. If he continued to do this, the chance of an ident would only grow exponentially greater.

    What worried him most were Mr. Wood and Miss Dress. After all, there was no trace of humanity in Ying Chen. The b*stard would stoop down to the lowest of the lows. If anything happened to the two of them, it would be extremely difficult for Ying Tong to get the chance to open his eyes again.

    ¡°Perhaps I can make use of this trap that Ying Chen has set for me and turn that into an opportunity, using the trap to change my current passive situation into something else.¡±

    This idea appeared in his mind, but to ensure that this method would work, he had to be able to ensure that there was indeed someone outside the door.

    Chen Ge dragged the sofa away from the door. He purposely made as loud a noise as possible, but in reality, he had only moved the sofa several centimeters back. With his hands on the doorknob, Chen Ge slowly removed the mop that was ced nted against the door. He pressed down gently on the doorknob. The lock had already been undone by Ying Chen earlier. The surroundings were eerily quiet; he could not hear anything. There did not seem to be anyone out in the corridor.

    ¡°Have I overthought everything?¡± Chen Ge held his breath as he slowly pulled the door open. Just as the door was about to open, a giant force suddenly mmed into the door! ¡°There¡¯s someone out there!¡±

    The door banged into the sofa behind it. A cold and icy hand reached out through the gap, and the dry fingers gripped Chen Ge¡¯s wrist!

    Chen Ge reacted in an instant. The sofa had not been fully moved from its ce. The door mmed into the back of the sofa, and that acted as a buffer that had saved Chen Ge¡¯s life.

    The door was unable to openpletely. Chen Ge used both of his hands to try to push the door shut, but the person had grabbed him by his wrist. The hand of the person outside the door was stuck through the small gap, so Chen Ge was unable to close the door unless he cut the person¡¯s hand right off. The gap of the door was getting bigger and bigger.

    Chen Ge was unable to see the development before him. His heart was burning like a fire. At that moment, he threw caution to the wind. He lowered his head and bit at the hand that had a death grip on his wrist!

    When a person was under a highly intense situation, they would gain incredible strength. Chen Ge could feel his teeth chomp down right to the bone. A child¡¯s scream came from outside the door. The person had to let go because of pain. Chen Ge instantly mmed his body into the door and forced the door shut while he still had the opportunity to do so. He grabbed the map by the side and reced it against the doorknob. Heid it nted underneath the doorknob and reced the sofa against the door.

    Gasping greedily for air, Chen Ge¡¯s back was already covered in cold sweat. He leaned against the sofa. At that moment, Miss Dress¡¯ phone that was inside his pocket suddenly started to vibrate. Chen Ge¡¯s fingers pressed on the multiple buttons that were on the screen. Momentster, he finally got the call connected.

    ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s me.¡± Mr. Wood¡¯s voice came from the other side of the line. His tone was dark, and he lowered his voice to very soft. ¡°Ying Chen is now outside my door.¡±

    ¡°Keep your front door locked and stay away from the door. We have to make sure that Ying Chen won¡¯t be able to overhear any of our conversation.¡± Chen Ge adjusted his breathing. Everything was within his predictions. Ying Chen knew that Ying Tong had epted Ah Mu, so he would definitely go looking for Mr. Wood and Miss Red.

    ¡°I am inside my study. It is very far from the front door, so he won¡¯t be able to hear us.¡±

    ¡°Did Ying Chen tell you anything? What did he say?¡±

    ¡°He did not say anything; he did not even announce himself. He just stood there outside my door. If you did not just call to warn me, I would not have known there was someone just standing outside my door.¡± Mr. Wood was still shaking as he thought about it.

    ¡°He is probably waiting for you to open your door, and then he will rush in. The madman is capable of doing anything.¡± Chen Ge kept retreating and hid on the other side of the sofa. He lowered his voice to a whisper to ensure that the person outside the door would not be able to hear him. ¡°There is a favor that I have to ask from you.¡±

    ¡°Go ahead.¡±

    Chen Ge took a deep breath. He wanted to make a bet with Ying Chen. Without risk, there would be no reward. ¡°Ying Chen is guarding outside your door, and his helper is outside mine. I need you to call Miss Red for me. Have her bring Ah Ying away from her room and try to sneak him to the cleaning closet on the third floor without rming anyone.¡±

    ¡°Get him without anyone noticing to the cleaning closet? Have you lost your mind?¡±

    ¡°Listen, only by epting Ah Ying, Ah Tong, and Ah Mu will Ying Chen have a chance to open his eyes. We have to make sure that Ying Tong meets these three kids somehow. If we are all hiding inside our rooms, Ying Tong and his helper only need to guard outside two of our doors, and we will never have a chance to win.¡± Chen Ge analyzed this very calmly.

    1¡°This is madness.¡±

    ¡°Ah Tong suffers from ustrophobia, so the person who hides inside the cleaning closet has to be Ah Ying!¡± There was indeed an undercurrent of madness in Chen Ge¡¯s tone, but the man himself did not realize that. ¡°Ying Chen is staying outside your door. Your room is on the second floor. His helper is waiting outside my door, I am on the ground floor. No matter how this building is connected, Miss Red is the furthest from either of them, she should have enough time to do all these things.¡±

    ¡°But what is the point of doing all these things?¡±

    ¡°Ying Chen hasid a trap for me. But when he set this trap, he exposed a weakness. This is our only chance.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice squeezed through the gap of his teeth. Even though he was unable to see anything, through the trap that Ying Chen had designed for him, Ying Chen had inadvertently revealed the location of himself and his helper.

    Mr. Wood gave it some thought before it dawned on him what Chen Ge was nning to do. ¡°Okay, I will give Miss Red a call now.¡±

    The call ended. There was a dial tone that kept on going.

    After about ten minutes, the phone in Chen Ge¡¯s palm started to vibrate again. ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°Miss Red has already sneaked Ah Ying to the cleaning closet on the third floor. Thank god there was no ident.¡± Mr. Wood¡¯s voice came from the other line.

    ¡°Is Ying Chen still waiting outside your door?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he even knocked on my door earlier, but I ignored him.¡±

    ¡°Very good, what we need to do next will be key.¡± Chen Ge tried his best to make himself calm down. ¡°You should have the number of the cleaningdy, Auntie Wu, yes? Tell her toe over to my ce. When she is here, I will take Ying Tong away from Miss Dress¡¯ ce and go to you.¡±

    ¡°You want toe to me? But Ying Chen is now waiting outside my door.¡±

    ¡°If Ying Chen¡¯s helper is being held back by Auntie Wu, Ying Chen will know that Ying Tong and I have a chance to leave the room. In that case, there is a great chance he wille over here to try to stop us.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice was sounding scary. ¡°Miss Red lives on the sixth floor, and we are on the ground floor. Moving down from the stairs, we will be the closest to her, so Ying Chen will think that we will try to get to her. Of course, that is not important. The important thing is that when Ying Chen ising after us, I need you to go to grab Ah Ying from the third-floor cleaning closet and bring him to your own home.¡±

    Mr. Wood understood Chen Ge¡¯s n. It was a n of no risk.

    As the Chinese proverb goes, you cannot get the tiger cub without entering the tiger¡¯s liar.

    If everything was sessful, Chen Ge only needed to bring Ying Chen to Mr. Wood¡¯s ce, and then Ying Chen would be able to meet both Ah Ying and Ah Tong at the same time. After facing three phobias head on, Ying Tong definitely would be able to reopen his eyes again.

    Chen Ge was fed up with being blind. A world of darkness could push people over the edge, especially when every wrong step would lead to death. One careless move, and he would fall into the hands of a murderous madman.

    After giving his orders, Chen Ge ended the call. He grabbed Ying Tong by his hand. ¡°Ying Tong, we are now on the ground floor. Later, we will run up the stairs, to go to Mr. Wood¡¯s ce on the second floor. You have to remember which floor you need to get to. Even if you end up alone, you must meet up with Mr. Wood somehow. Do you understand me?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I do.¡± Ying Tong understood the hidden meaning of Chen Ge¡¯s words. If the unavoidable happened, Chen Ge would try his best to try and distract Ying Chen¡¯s attention. Just like how Miss Red had sacrificed herself, he would use his own life to buy time for Ying Tong. Of course, this did not mean that Chen Ge was some noble saint. After all, his only hope of break this nightmarish cycle was with Ying Tong. By helping Ying Tong, Chen Ge was helping himself.

    The room once again fell silent. Chen Ge checked all the items he had on him. He was still unable to see, so he could only use his hands to feel theic. He could feel the pull of some force on his fingertips. It appeared like his employees were calling his name as well. The front door started to shake again. Ying Chen¡¯s helper wanted to burst the door open by using brute force. Chen Ge leaned all of his body weight against the sofa, but he could feel his body going weak. He had no employees to rely on behind this door, and he was exhausting his physical energy at a very fast rate. Ying Chen and his helper were not giving him any chance to collect himself at all.

    Thissted for about half an hour when an unfamiliar middle-aged woman¡¯s voice suddenly travelled down the corridor.

    ¡°Ma Gui? What are you doing here? Aren¡¯t you supposed to be at home? It was you who was sneaking behind me earlier, wasn¡¯t it? Of all the kids in this building, you are the naughtiest one!¡± The person who came was the cleaningdy, Auntie Wu. When Chen Ge heard her voice, he grabbed Ying Tong¡¯s hand and went to the door. He silently moved the sofa away from the door.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t following you.¡± A boy¡¯s whining voice came from outside the door. Based on his voice, he should be around the same age as Ying Tong, but he was even more powerful physically than a full grown adult.

    ¡°You are lying again. I saw you following me¡ªhow dare you lie to my face?¡± Auntie Wu¡¯s footsteps stopped at the door. ¡°Ma Gui, have you seen Ying Tong? Were you ying with that boy earlier?¡±

    There was an urgency in Auntie Wu¡¯s voice. Earlier, she had helped Ying Tong hide inside the cleaning closet. She had probably returned there to take a look and discovered that Ying Tong had gone missing. Chen Ge had predicted all of that. It was why he had asked Mr. Wood to contact Auntie Wu. He had told Mr. Wood to tell Auntie Wu the truth and ask for her help.

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Are you telling the truth? Normally, I see you bullying Ying Tong the most. It is like you have a vendetta against him or something.¡±

    ¡°You have all been tricked by Ying Tong! I was not bullying him. If you do not believe me, go and ask Ying Chen! He will vouch for me!¡± The boy tried his best to argue. Honestly, he sounded quite innocent in his prepubescent voice, but knowing how scary the boy was, it only made chill run up Chen Ge¡¯s spine.

    Inside the room, Chen Ge had a brief idea why the boy was so impressively strong in the world behind Ying Tong¡¯s door. Ying Tong had always been the target of bullying by the boy. For Ying Tong, other than Ying Chen, this boy was the second existence that he found impossible to hide away from. Auntie Wu and the boy got into an argument. Chen Ge was looking for an opening when the cat¡¯s weak calls suddenly appeared in his ears.

    ¡°Ying Chen ising this way!¡±

    He only had one chance. Chen Ge did not want to miss it. He removed the mop from the door and carried Ying Tong on his back. When the cat¡¯s call came again, he whipped the front door open!

    ¡°Auntie Wu, this boy wants to kill Ying Tong! You have to stop him no matter what!¡±

    Ever since Chen Ge entered this door, he had memorized all the routes that he had taken in his mind. Theyout of the whole building was imprinted in his mind. Even though his eyes were almost blind, he knew where he should go and which route he should take.

    When he shouted out that statement, the cats became conspicuously louder. Chen Ge took a beeline and headed straight into the stairwell.

    Chen Ge was unable to see the road before him. Even though he had remembered the height of each step and his muscle memory had gotten used to the height, that did not stop him from tripping once when he ran down the stairs. Pain shot through all the parts of his body, but neither he nor Ying Tong made any noise. Compared to everything else, this little bit of physical pain was nothing.

    The cats called from right above him. Chen Ge had just run to thending between seventh and sixth floor, but Ying Chen had already arrived at the corridor. He had arrived so quickly; there was no hesitation in his movement at all. Ying Chen¡¯s speed surpassed Chen Ge¡¯s expectations, and other than that, Chen Ge had greatly underestimated how difficult it was for a blind person to maneuver down the stairs.

    If they continued like this, they would be captured before they arrived at their destination.

    ¡°Remember what I said!¡±

    Chen Ge rushed to the sixth floor and then put Ying Tong down. He removed Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s hammer from his backpack. He stood guardedly at the corridor of the sixth floor and the corner that led to the staircase. Ying Tong was a very clever child. After all, he had managed to survive so many years under Ying Chen¡¯s mindful torture. That itself proved many things. When Chen Ge put him down, the child immediately stuck himself to the walls. Following the method that Chen Ge that taught him, he silently moved down the stairs.

    1Gripping the hammer tightly with both of his hands, Chen Ge gritted his teeth. The cats were calling closer and closer to his ears. From a normal meow, they had crescendo into a heart-wrenching scream. Ying Chen was getting closer and closer to him!

    Without any footfall and sound of breathing, Chen Ge¡¯s mind was overwhelmed by the sound of thousands of cats calling out as they were being tortured. When the sound reached its peak, he raised the hammer as high as he could and swung it at the mouth of the stairs that was right next to him.

    Bang!

    The hammer obviously hit something. There was a sound of something heavy falling to the ground.

    ¡°Did I get him?¡±

    Chen Ge did not stop to check. He dragged the hammer, turned, and ran. The cats stopped making noises for a moment. Just as they started up again, Chen Ge heard Ying Chen say, ¡°You do not appear to be a tenant of this building.¡±

    There was a chill and anger in Ying Chen¡¯s voice. Bloodlust was boiling in this crazed murderer when he firstid his eyes on Chen Ge. Hearing Ying Chen¡¯s voice from behind him, Chen Ge ran even faster.

    His heart was shivering whether he could help it or not. All Chen Ge could do was to pray that Ying Tong would have encountered and epted Ah Ying and Ah Tong before he fell into the clutches of Ying Chen.

 Chapter 1064 - Open Your Eyes! [2 in 1]

    Chapter 1064: Open Your Eyes! [2 in 1]

    The cat¡¯s shrieks followed closely behind Chen Ge. They were so shrill that it was as if they were trying to drill past Chen Ge¡¯s eardrums. He pumped all his energy into his legs, but he failed to increase the distance between them.

    ¡°Time... I need to create a window of opportunity for Ying Tong!¡±

    Chen Ge was like a person at the edge of a cliff; his n was extremely dangerous. The mistake of a single person would cause a chain effect of destruction that would cause every person in the string of consequences their lives. Ying Tong would lose his chance to open his eyes, and Chen Ge himself would be forever buried behind this door. The cats¡¯ wailing bounced through his skull. Chen Ge felt like he was slowly being driven insane. However, the man had no other choice but to continue to run forward as fast as he could.

    His time told him that he should never slow down under any circumstances. The chance of Ying Chen carrying a murder weapon was very high. The moment he was caught, it would be the moment Chen Ge had to ept death. And it would not be a quick death. If he tripped and injured himself in this chase, his speed would slow down, and he would end up in the hands of Ying Chen. The theme behind the doors had always been cruelty, absurdity, and despair. Ying Chen would slowly torture him like he had done with all the cats until Chen Ge slowly faded into nothingness.

    Running at his top speed, there was only a briefyout of the building in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. He remembered the length and width of the corridor, and he tried to keep his body as bnced as possible. But ultimately, theck of sight was a horrible hindrance. Then again, he did not dare slow down. Even when he was about to reach the corner to the staircase, he kept up his speed. Every footfall was incredibly heavy. The footsteps that echoed on the corridor and when he was running through the stairs were slightly different. The footsteps had a much louder echo in the staircase. This was a detail that Chen Ge had observed earlier. At that moment, he would have to make use of this detail and remind himself to slow down, or else he might identally trip on the steps.

    Holding his breath and focusing his attention, Chen Ge heard the echoes of another set of footsteps underneath the high pitch wailing of the cats. He had to slow down, or he might ram into the wall, and that would be a bad thing.

    Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer was too heavy to lug up the steps. In those circumstances, it had be more of a deficit than an asset. Therefore, Chen Ge did not take much deliberation and decided to abandon it. Once the sound of footsteps changed behind him, Chen Ge swung his body suddenly around and used the centrifugal force of that swing to throw the hammer behind him. It was pure hope that the hammer would m into Ying Chen. Chen Ge only wished that this would at least slow the man down somewhat.

    When the hammer left his grasp, Chen Ge slowed down. He opened his arms, and his fingertips touched the railing of the stairs. After confirming his location, Chen Ge continued to hurry toward the fifth floor.

    Ying Tong should have reached the fourth floor by now. I won¡¯t go to the fourth floor no matter what. I need to get to the fifth floor instead!

    Chen Ge¡¯s brain was spinning fast, and his nerves were pulled taut. Walking on the tightrope between life and death, he had unleashed his full hidden potential.

    ¡°Even with your eyes closed, you can do so much?¡± Ying Chen¡¯s voice came from several meters behind him. He had seen Chen Ge when thetter turned around to swing the hammer at him. To be honest, Chen Ge had done very well. He had managed to hide from Ying Chen and did so much damage until the veryst moment. If Ying Chen had discovered him earlier than this, he would have been tortured to his death through various methods by that demon in disguise. When they were both equally cunning and clever, how could a blind man with theck of sight everpete with a crazed murderer with a helper on his side?

    This was practically a one-way mission, but Chen Ge had somehow fought his way through it. By earning the trust and aid from the tenants within the building, before Ying Chen realized what was happening, Chen Ge had initiated the final battle earlier than the man could ever anticipate.

    That was what Chen Ge had, the element of surprise. In other words, Chen Ge¡¯s n was very simple. He could not see anything, which put him at a great disadvantage, so he had to hide in the dark. If not absolutely necessary, he would note into the open to face Ying Chen.

    The cats¡¯ meowing behind him was like a call from hell itself. Chen Ge could hear the distance between himself and Ying Chen closely. The constant running drained him a lot physically, and he realized that he could not keep up this speed any longer. However, the monster did not seem to slow down at all. If this continued, it was only a matter of time until he was captured.

    Moving from the sixth floor to the fifth floor, the distance between Ying Chen and Chen Ge drew ever closer. The cats¡¯ meows numbed his skull. It felt like once he stopped, the monster behind him would chomp off his head instantly.

    After running down the corridor of the fifth floor, I¡¯ll be presented with two choices. I can either go up to the sixth floor, or I can go down to the fourth floor. I¡¯ll always be slower than Ying Chen regardless of whether I go up or down the stairs. Every time I enter the stairwell, he can close the distance between us. The next time I have to use the stairs, he catch up to me already. That is an unavoidable problem. I will have to find a solution to that problem soon!

    In just the time he spent on thinking on the problem, Chen Ge had already passed through the fifth floor corridor and entered the stairwell. Going to the fourth floor might interrupt Ying Tong. To ensure that Ying Chen would be led away, Chen Ge grabbed the banister and ran toward the sixth floor. He was as crazy as the madman behind him. He took three steps at a time, but when he was between the fifth and sixth floor, he felt a pull on the backpack behind him. A cold wind drifted toward his neck. A chill numbed his skull. Chen Ge let go immediately.

    Ping

    The de bounced into the metallic handrails, and it created a tingling sound. Chen Ge¡¯s heart was pounding relentlessly.

    Ying Chen is carrying a de with him!

    His backpack lost, Chen Ge did not stay. He charged down the sixth-floor corridor without hesitation. When he first entered this door and realized that he was unable to see anything, Chen Ge had already removed theic from the backpack and ced it inside his pocket and ced the ballpoint pen in his shirt pocket. He already predicted this kind of ident where he would be forced to abandon his backpack. The extra caution that he had taken early in the scenario proved to be the key that might save his life at the most crucial moment.

    Chen Ge had truly never been ced in such a dangerous position. He had not only lost Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s hammer but also his backpack, which had never left his side on any his missions so far. When Ying Chen lunged at him with the knife, Chen Ge slithered two steps back. When Chen Ge got onto the sixth-floor corridor, the cats¡¯ howling had returned with its full force.

    ¡°Is Ying Tong not yet ready?¡± Chen Ge felt the wind escaping from his lungs. He was unable to see and was thus vulnerable. If he did not evade that knife earlier, then he would have died in the world behind the door already. ¡°I cannot stop. The moment I do, it will be death for me!¡±

    Cornered at such a difficult position, not even able to see where his feet werending, Chen Ge was still racing at top speed. The thought of giving up had never crossed his mind. He had managed to survive for so long with this attitude, and he was not going to start changing now.

    The howling of the cats overwhelmed his brain, the noises were like stuck in his ear. They were like a sharp knife dangling over his head. The sound of footsteps started to change. Even in this situation, Chen Ge still needed to separate a part of his attention to determine whether he had entered the staircase or not. The echoes of footsteps came from beside his ears. He had raced down the full length of the corridor, and now had entered the fully enclosed stairwell. But just as he prepared to slow down, his hands that went to find the banister were suddenly grabbed by a ginormous force!

    The force came from inside the stairwell!

    Ying Chen is behind me, so the person on the staircase is not him!

    When this thought crossed Chen Ge¡¯s mind, a voice rang out before him.

    ¡°I¡¯ve caught him!¡±

    It was Ma Gui¡¯s voice. Ying Chen¡¯s helper had ambushed him at the staircase!

    His hands were constricted and held against the wall. Ma Gui blocked his path forward, and Ying Chen was closing in behind him. Chen Ge was truly caught between a rock and a hard ce. Chen Ge tried to struggle as hard as he could, but he was powerless against the surprising strength of a small boy. The cats¡¯ calling wasing closer. He bit on his lips so hard that they started to bleed. In less than a minute, he made a decision. He threw all the energy that he had into the direction that Ma Gui¡¯s voice came from!

    Bang!

    The two rolled down the stairs. Sharp pain came from every part of his body, but Chen Ge did not appear like he could feel it at all. The red in his eyes was burning. He gritted his teeth, got up from the ground, and continued running!

    Unable to see anything, with the sea of despair surrounding him, Chen Ge should have given up, but at that moment, more light slowly appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s world. The weak light was slowly expanding. As Chen Ge continued to run forward, he felt like he was chasing after the light at the end of the tunnel, and he was getting closer and closer to it!

    Fear and darkness were chasing after him. With the cats¡¯ shrieking echoing in his mind, Chen Ge abandoned himself to the light!

    Open your eyes!

    Layers of red started to spread with Chen Ge as the center. The darkness was slowly chased away. Before him was a corridor that was made up from pieces of dead carcasses. ck threads that looked like maggots moved between the dead bodies. This should be the real appearance of the world behind Ying Tong¡¯s door!

    Covered entirely in wounds, Chen Ge stood at the spot and gasped hungrily for air. The cats had gone silent, and not far away from him stood two monsters.

    One of the monsters had a boy¡¯s head, but the body was like an adult¡¯s. The scariest thing was that the boy¡¯s face had no eyes, and where the eye sockets should have been were two smaller mouths instead. The other monster had a face that was simr to Ying Chen¡¯s, and from the front, he looked just like the Ying Chen in the outside world. But there were another few faces that grew on the rest of his body. All of those faces were twisted beyond recognition, but the unifying simrity across all of them was that they had no eyes in their eye sockets, just two dark holes. They were eyeless. In this world behind the door, it was those who were not blind in real life that had been turned into blind people.

    ¡°Looks like Ying Tong has finally conquered the fear that you have instilled in him and managed to open his eyes.¡±

    When he recovered his sight, Chen Ge became surprisingly calm. The color of blood underneath his feet started to spread. When he opened his eyes, the binding this would have had on him had already been broken. He could hear the Red Specters calling him!

    ¡°How did you get into this building?¡± Ying Chen stared at Chen Ge. Every face on his body had a different expression. Perhaps in his younger brother¡¯s eyes, he was a monster with many different faces that he could present to the world. Chen Ge did not answer his question; he did not waste even one more second on Ying Chen. He just wanted to leave this ce as fast as he could, and the most direct method was to make this b*stard disappear.

    His body had reached its tipping point. Despair and pain had been torturing Chen Ge¡¯s mind at every moment. This was thus far the most dangerous door that he had ever entered. Any bad decision would lead to death, and there was no salvation. With red floating at the bottom of his eyes, Chen Ge took out theic that he had been carrying with him. Chen Ge, who had recovered his sight, noticed that theic had been covered in red, and it was pulsing with endless blood vessels.

    Ying Chen sensed the danger and hid behind his helper. His palm was holding an extremely sharp fruit knife. On the other hand, Chen Ge waspletely unarmed. Even though Ying Chen felt slightly unsettled in his heart, but he felt like he still had the better chance of winning.

    ¡°Ma Gui, we will corner him together. His biggest mistake was not running when he first opened his eyes.¡± Ying Chen¡¯s voice was cold, and there was not even an ounce of warmth in it. He and Ma Gui slowly moved forward as they approached Chen Ge. Ma Gui did not think that Chen Ge had a chance to turn the tables. There had never been a person who was able to escape from this building. They were either made into dolls or building blocks. With a creepy smile on his face, Ma Gui¡¯s three mouths were grinning widely. It was truly the stuff of nightmares. Inparison, Chen Ge was just a normal guy who had ended up in the wrong ce.

    But when Ma Gui took the next step, the expression on his face changed slightly. Without announcing himself, amid a rolling sea of redness, a giant appendage about two meters long reached out from behind Chen Ge!

    The wall that was made up from human bodies was torn down, and more devastatingly, as more blood vessels appeared, more and more appendages appeared to support Chen Ge¡¯s body, which was about to fall. A giant spider about five meters in size tore open the staircase and appeared behind Chen Ge!

    Compared to Ma Gui, the giant red spider behind Chen Ge was more like a monster that had walked directly out from the deepest recesses of hell.

    ¡°Kill them all, we have to ensure that there is nothing left of them, not even a shred of their soul.¡±

    The recorder and the red high heels were both inside the backpack, so the son of the Tunnel Lady appeared to help Chen Ge. This Red Specter was extremely strong. Perhaps because he had a door inside his own body, the oppression of Ying Tong¡¯s door was not that strong on him. Before the other Red Specters managed to break through the binding, he could already make his appearance. The tips of his appendages were as sharp as chisels. All the faces on Ying Chen started to frown. He did not warn Ma Gui and turned to run.

    ¡°Ying Chen, what should we do now?¡± Ma Gui turned around, only to see Ying Chen¡¯s retreating shadow. There was another word hanging on his lips when he suddenly felt a chill that came from the middle of his chest. Lowering his head to look, the bloody appendage was already slowly pulling back from the hole in his chest. The two were not even on the same level. ¡°Ying Chen...¡±

    His head rolled down the side of his body. Ma Gui saw his own body behind, wrapped up inside a blood red cocoon and pulled behind the giant spider.

    Chen Ge stood where he was. He flipped through theic and summoned one Red Specter after another. ¡°The ghost fetus is probably hiding inside Ying Chen.¡±

    The giant red spider crawled down the corridor, and he soon caught up to Ying Chen. Just as Chen Ge thought that Ying Chen was about to be killed, the building started to change again. The building that was made up from dead bodies started to shiver and moan. The doors were pushed open, and dead bodies walked out from within. They were all missing their eyes, and their eye sockets only consisted of two dark holes. These people were dressed in all sorts of clothing, and there were males and females of all ages. Some of them were even wearing the working ID from the neighborhood watch.

    They seemed to represent the people that Ying Tong had once encountered. These people had all seen Ying Tong, but under Ying Chen¡¯s cunning disguise, they were unable to see the truth; their eyes had literally fooled them. ck threads that represented the curse moved within these people¡¯s eye sockets. These dead bodies that had no self-consciousness threw themselves at the Tunnel Lady¡¯s son to block his back. Ying Chen had also stopped. He and Chen Ge each upied one end of the corridor.

    ¡°This world is cruel and gory. If you do not open your eyes, you can still live in your own world and spare yourself the hurt. But if you insist on opening them, you will have to live in my world and under my rule.¡±

    Every face on Ying Chen¡¯s body was feasting on the ck curse that leaked out from the wall.

    ¡°Everyone is helping me; you won¡¯t be able to escape.¡±

    There were indeed countless ¡®people¡¯ who were helping Ying Chen, but there were exceptions.

    ¡°Chen Ge!¡± Ying Tong¡¯s voice came from the staircase behind Chen Ge. Beside him were Mr. Wood, who wore a pair of spectacles; Auntie Wu, who was heavily injured; and Miss Red, who wore a red dress. Mr. Wood, Auntie Wu, and Miss Red were probably Ying Chen¡¯s victims in real life, and they had retained their human form in this world behind the door. Those who had been taken advantage of by Ying Chen appeared as dead bodies.

 Chapter 1065 - Itâ€™s My Turn [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1065: It¡¯s My Turn [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Looks like not everyone is on your side. Some are willing to help me.¡±

    Both Chen Ge and Ying Chen had opened their eyes and viewed this bloody and cruel world head on. They had stopped running away and hiding from it. The addition of more and more Red Specters pressured Ying Chen. The whole building was shaking. The dead bodies in the wall started to break down en masse. Every dead body was a warm bed for extremely deep curses and resentment. The world behind Ying Tong¡¯s door appeared to have been turned into a farm for the ghost fetus to curate and breed curses. The curses in this world were far more intense than any of the worlds behind the door that Chen Ge had been to.

    ¡°Chen Ge, there is only one real face on Ying Chen. That real face among the many fake ones is his true weakness.¡± Ying Tong had reopened his eyes and found his confidence. Compared to Ying Chen, the boy felt like Chen Ge was more like his elder brother. Even in apletely dark world, even when he was unable to see anything, Chen Ge kept painting a beautiful picture of a colorful and wonderful world for Ying Tong.

    To Ying Tong, who had survived in darkness and despair, Chen Ge¡¯s words solidified the confidence in his heart, and that made him able to face his past and the truth. In a way, it was Chen Ge who used his life to help Ying Tong open his eyes. The world behind the door was made from the door pusher¡¯s memory. The words that Chen Ge told Ying Tong, theter would never forget. In fact, he would remember them in his heart, and they would be a pool of warmth that he could pull from for the rest of his life.

    The boy did not turn into someone like Ying Chen. If anything, it was already very impressive that he had been able to survive until now with his sanity intact.

    Actually, during their previous conversation, Chen Ge had understood Ying Tong¡¯s thoughts. This child had bet everything on his fourth attempt to escape. If he failed again this time, he might really choose to surrender. Aichmophobia, ustrophobia, ligyrophobia... his three previous escape attempts had left a deep mental scar on Ying Tong¡¯s mind. But even so, he did not concede. Just on that alone, it made him a much stronger person than most adults.

    The dead bodies who were dangled by the ck curses grabbed at the tunneldy¡¯s son. They hugged the huge appendages and tried to stop the monster before them because this was the justice that they had been led to believe. When their eyes were blinded, everything these people saw was a mirage, and that was a skill that Ying Chen had mastered. From just the appearance, the tunneldy¡¯s son indeed looked more like a monster than anyone else present. From the perspective of an outsider, when they saw this giant spider chasing after Ying Chen, they would definitely believe that the giant spider was the evil one.

    But was that really true?

    Ying Chen was a master maniptor, and he was very good at taking advantage of these psychological blind spots. By editing the videos, he could inverse good and evil. He could go around tormenting cats without any punishment. To make matters worse, he published these videos on a cat lovers website and gained money from advertisement through it. He manipted the world and used many different faces to hide the heart that was broken from the very beginning. Once again, Chen Ge could feel the pain that Ying Tong must have gone through. His freedom was limited, and he was not allowed to speak up. After the small number of people who knew the truth were killed, there was only darkness that lingered in his world. After all, there was no proof that told him otherwise.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you worry. I will peel down all the faces that Ying Chen has.¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes as he stared closely at Ying Chen. The b*stard was still feasting on the curse. He sneaked behind the ¡®crowd¡¯ and used the surrounding dead bodies as cover. This was simr to how Ying Chen had forced the rtive away from their home. When he still was not confident, he would be able to murder the rtive, making use of the people around him. He was truly the perfect representation of someone who would stoop to the lowest of the low to achieve his goal.

    ¡°The biggest difficulty in this world should be encouraging Ying Tong to open his eyes. The ghost fetus has already missed the perfect opportunity to kill me.¡±

    Of the nine children and their doors, only one of them hid the real ghost fetus; the remaining eight only had the ghost fetus¡¯ lingering spirit possessing a certain object. This object would not make any conscious decisions. It would only follow the rules behind the doors. All their actions were following the rules set up by the memories of the door pusher.

    As Chen Ge¡¯s understanding of the doors grew, he had started to learn how to make use of the rules behind the door. The blood red world was connected to the real world through the door pusher¡¯s memories. By finding the memory connection between the two worlds, one would be able to find the solution from it. Therefore, to gain the initiative in the world behind the door, the first thing one needed to do was get to know about the door pusher¡¯s past. Only by understanding that would one be able to understand and empathize with the deepest pain that was hidden in the door pusher¡¯s heart.

    With the cooperation of multiple Red Specters, blood leaked into the building. A shade of red entered the eyes of those zombies. Chen Ge chose the most direct method to take control of this world behind the door. This door was made from Ying Tong¡¯s memories, and since Ying Tong was on his side, he was totally capable of doing something like that.

    Probably due to therger size, the tunneldy¡¯s son and the boy with the stench had attracted the attention of the majority of the walking carcasses. The remaining Red Specters slipped through the crowd, and none did this better than Xiao Bu. When any bodies got close to her, they would be turned into a puddle of stinky blood. The strength of this girl had exceeded Chen Ge¡¯s expectations. The whole building was echoing with howls and screams. To Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, Xu Yin and the red high heels appeared at the other end of the corridor. They sensed that Chen Ge was in danger. When they broke through the barrier of this world, they had gone to assist him as soon as possible.

    With more and more people joining his side, Chen Ge gained more confidence. Other than that, Chen Ge realized that Mr. Wood and Miss Red were not hapless victims either, especially Miss Red. The woman was about the same age as Ying Chen. She had a small frame, slender arms, and her dress was soaked in blood. She was the only tenant from this building that was covered in blood. She was as powerful as a Red Specter, but different from a normal Red Specter, she did not have the ability to control the blood vessels, and the curses that only worked on the living did not affect her either. When she was standing beside Ying Tong earlier, Chen Ge did not feel anything, but once she made her move, Chen Ge realized thatpared to a human, Miss Red was more like a cat, an elegant, graceful cat that was covered in blood.

    ¡°Miss Red?¡± This Miss Red only sided with Ying Tong, and she had never left his side. She was hostile toward everyone; she was not that willing to approach even Mr. Wood and Auntie Wu.

    This was the first time that Chen Ge had encountered such a strange person. Chen Ge wanted to know just what kind of memory had conjured up this Miss Red.

    ¡°Perhaps Miss Red is a unique Red Specter outside the door.¡±

    With that in mind, Chen Ge decided that after he left this ce, he would go and help provide salvation to all of Ying Chen¡¯s victims, to give them the justice that they deserved.

    The spider and the stench had held back most of the dead bodies. The remaining dead bodies posed no threat to Chen Ge. Their distance to Ying Chen was drawing closer. The predator had be the prey, and the wind of the battle had shifted.

    ¡°After Ying Chen drains the whole building of its curse, he will be impossible to deal with. I cannot allow him to do that.¡± Chen Ge had made the decision to kill him. Even though he realized that he was inside the world behind the door and the Ying Chen before him was just a part of Ying Tong¡¯s memory, that did not mean that Chen Ge was going to let him go so easily either.

    It was too dangerous. From the moment he entered this world to when he opened his eyes, the whole process did notst that long, but there was danger at every step, and one wrong move would have cost him his life. The highly intense chase and the strain on his nerves had exhausted Chen Ge both mentally and physically. Since he finally had the upper hand, he had to remove every possible source of evil, and he would not give the enemy any chance to make aeback. There were too many dead bodies in the way, and Ying Chen had hidden himself among them. Even the Red Specters were unable to locate him in such a short amount of time, but Ying Tong could.

    Ying Tong knew about Ying Chen¡¯s real personality, so no matter how Ying Chen tried to hide, Ying Tong would be able to single him out easily. With the cooperation of so many Red Specters, Ying Chen was finally cornered. He stopped before the door to his own house on the seventh floor. The corridor was blocked from both ends, filled with blood vessels and spider web.

    ¡°You...¡±

    Ying Chen opened his mouth to say something, but Chen Ge was not going to give him the chance. If he was going to kill the man anyway, why waste time listening to hisst words? If anything, giving a person like this the chance to leave his dying words would seem like such a disrespect to the innocent victims that he had killed. ¡°First I will tear your soul into pieces behind the door, and then I will report the real you to the police.¡±

    With the addition of the spider boy, Chen Ge¡¯s tactics became more dynamic and strategic. This Red Specter could steal from the dead¡¯s memory to create dreams. That power still worked behind a different person¡¯s door. After all, the monsters behind the door were weaved from the memory of the door pusher. In other words, as long as the spider boy was around, the Specters and monsters that were not Red Specters posed no threat to Chen Ge. They would be molded and changed ording to the spider boy¡¯s wishes and whims.

    The tunneldy¡¯s son specialized in group fights. After he had held back most of the dead bodies, Chen Ge¡¯s employees could go after the others without worrying about the need to cover their back. Before Ying Chen had the chance to absorb the curse from the building, he was already surrounded by a group of Red Specters. Chen Ge did not give him any chance to stall for time; he did not even give him the time to speak. The only thing Chen Ge wanted to do was kill him and get this over this; this was the first time that Ying Chen had faced an enemy like that. If he was not given the chance to speak, how was he supposed to manipte others?

    The faces on Ying Chen¡¯s body were torn off one after another. Ying Chen¡¯s body was crumbling, and it was only being connected by the ck threads that were made from the curse.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I see it now.¡± Ying Tong kept his eyes focused on Ying Chen, who was not far away; his eyes had never shone so bright. ¡°His real face is hiding inside his heart!¡±

    When Ying Tong said that, Miss Red slipped through the crowd, and her bloody hand pierced Ying Chen¡¯s heart. The sharp fingers punctured Ying Chen¡¯s chest, and the face in his chest was ripped open.

    ¡°Argh!¡± All the faces on Ying Chen started to wail in pain. Then the features started to melt like ice cream left in the sun. It turned into a baby, but this baby had exceptionally beautiful eyes; they shone like jewels.

    ¡°The ghost fetus!¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. This thing had been controlling everything from behind the scenes. He had the capability of stopping the tragedy from happening, but not only did he not do that, he kept adding to the resentment inside Ying Chen¡¯s heart and kept pushing Ying Tong deeper and deeper into despair.

    ¡°Do you hate happiness that much? Why do you wish to turn everyone into something just like yourself?¡± Chen Ge wished to have a conservation with the ghost fetus, but this thing that possessed Ying Chen was merely a lingering spirit of the real thing. The majority of the curse inside the building had not been absorbed, but Ying Chen would not have that chance to do so anymore.

    The group of Red Specters tore him into pieces, and they literally shredded his soul and shared it among themselves. Cracks appeared on the walls, and the dead bodies that were the building blocks started to copse. However, perhaps because there were still so many curses, this world took its sweet time to crumble.

    After witnessing Ying Chen¡¯s death, the knot inside Ying Tong¡¯s heart waspletely unraveled, and light resurfaced inside his eyes. He led Mr. Wood and Miss Red to go searching for Miss Dress, while Chen Ge stood at the spot where Ying Chen had died.

    When the curse dispersed, it left behind a picture. He reached down to grab it. Chen Ge gave it a good look. He remembered that it had been a picture taken by his father a long time ago. The picture was of a flower field bursting with color. The young Chen Ge stood in the picture with a rather nervous expression. He appeared to be afraid of being stung by the bees that buzzed around him. The sun fell generously on him. Chen Ge and the shadow were making the same pose at the camera.

    ¡°You have witnessed the beauty of this world before.¡±

    1As he put the picture away, the building had started to copse for real. Chen Ge hurried to summon his employees to search for his backpack and Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s hammer. When Chen Ge¡¯s returned, he realized that the red high heels was madly consuming the residual curses inside the building.

    The blood red high heels had an added pattern of some strange ck stripes. Just a nce at it could make one¡¯s hair stand on end. Of all the Red Specters, only the red high heels was not afraid of the curse. That was probably because her own power was rted to the curse.

    During Chen Ge¡¯s various interactions with the ghost fetus, the red high heels had technically been the biggest winner. The other Red Specters fed on negative emotions, but she alone gained all the curses of the ghost fetus. After constant umtion, the presence that the red high heels gave off started to have a paradigm shift. None of the Red Specters, including Xiao Bu and the tunneldy¡¯s son, were willing to get too close to her.

    This Red Specter that specialized in curses gave off a very unsettling feeling.

    ¡°If this continues, she might be the next Top Red Specter.¡± Chen Ge had no idea how strong the red high heels was after consuming so many curses. All he knew was that even if it was the ghost fetus¡¯ curse, the red high heel would be able to consume and digest them.

    ¡°Just what did she experience before she died?¡±

    The red high heels had ended up following Chen Ge initially because she was afraid of Zhang Ya, butter, her attitude toward Chen Ge had started to change, especially after Chen Ge started the ghost fetus mission.

    ¡°After this ghost fetus mission is over, I should have a sit down with the red high heels, and hopefully, she will be willing to share her past with me.¡±

    The red high heels was a woman covered in bandages from head to toe. Her appearance reminded Chen Ge of that cursed hospital.

    After gathering everything, Chen Ge met up with Ying Tong on the seventh floor. They stood there and watched as the red high heels consumed most of the curses inside the building. The dead bodies turned into dust, and before the building copsed, Chen Ge held Ying Tong¡¯s hand as they pushed open the ck iron door together. They took one step forward, and the world spun.

    ...

    Opening his eyes, Chen Ge found himself sitting on the ground. Fatigue washed over him like waves.

    Hearing the noise, the kid who was asleep in bed fiddled awake. He curled up at the corner of the bed with his eyes closed. The boy was very cowardly, and through the weak light, Chen Ge could see some not so obvious wounds on his face.

    ¡°Ying Tong, do not be afraid.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s soft voice appeared in the room. ¡°I am Chen Ge. I promised that I would save you from this ce.¡±

    The name Chen Ge was exceptionally meaningful to Ying Tong. It meant that everything that had happened in his nightmare was real. He tried his best to open his eyes, but probably because he had spent too much of his life with his eyes closed, he was very unused to it.

    ¡°It will be fine. Take your time. You have the rest of your life to see the world.¡±

    After a brief rest, Chen Ge stood up. The ck phone in his pocket kept vibrating, signaling the arrival of multiple messages, but Chen Ge did not reach into his pocket to read them.

    Instead, he pulled out the Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s hammer from his backpack. With a smile on his face, he opened Ying Tong¡¯s bedroom door and slowly padded his way to Ying Chen¡¯s bedroom.

 Chapter 1066 - Dream of Chen Ge [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1066: Dream of Chen Ge [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    In the silence of the night, a dark shadow moved slowly through the living room. The clock hung on the wall ticked rhythmically. It was now three o¡¯clock in the morning. His fingertips scratching the surface of the wall. The man finally stopped before the door to Ying Chen¡¯s bedroom. The doorknob slowly turned as the door was gradually pushed open.

    The icy gaze pierced through the darkness, staring at the man in bed wearing his pajamas. He was in a very deep sleep. The corners of his lips were curled up into a smile, as if he was indulging in some kind of happy dream. The shadow from beyond the bedroom slowly approached the bed. It moved silently, and it was standing right beside the bedside.

    Suddenly, the sound of a book¡¯s pages flipping echoed in the dark bedroom, and the stinging, pungent stench of blood spread. The man who was lying in bed frowned. He tossed his body around, and his face turned right to face the person who was standing beside his bed. Quietly kneeling before the man, the shadow was titling its head as he studied the man who was sound asleep as he raised the gory-looking doctor skull cracker¡¯s hammer that he was holding.

    ¡°Ying Chen?¡± With a soft call of his name, Ying Chen¡¯s eyelids fluttered slightly. The man was slowly called out from his wonderful slumber. He saw the blurry outline of a person standing beside his bed. Both of his eyes started to focus. An iron hammer that was covered with spikes and carved with blood grooves was speedily heading toward his shoulder. Sucking in a cold breath, Ying Chen¡¯s body supercharged, and he leaped up from the bed instantly as he rolled to the side to avoid the onught. The spikes shed through the pajamas before it fell on the bed, shattering the frame!

    Ying Chen did not dare imagine what would have happened to him if he did not narrowly avoid the attack earlier. He would probably have been left disabled.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Standing on the other side of the bed, Ying Chen¡¯s forehead was covered in cold sweat. The scare had gotten the better of him; even his voice was shaking.

    ¡°You were able to avoid that because I never meant to hit you in the first ce. As you¡¯ve done to others, I n to take my time with you.¡±

    The voice from the darkness caused Ying Chen¡¯s body to be covered in goosebumps. At the same time, he found the voice very familiar, like he had heard it somewhere before. He had just been woken up from his sleep and dropped into a nightmare. His mind was too fuzzy to focus on too many things. Before he could piece everything together, the figure charged at him again.

    His hands reached toward the study table, and Ying Chen grabbed a fruit knife. However, before he could use it, his arm was smacked into by a heavy force, and he instantly lost all feeling of his limb. The arm dangled weakly by his side, and the fruit knife ttered to the floor with a cling. A foot kicked the fruit knife to the side. The figure that stood in the dark stared firmly at Ying Chen. At that moment, Ying Chen did not dare move an inch. He was leaning against the wall. He had no idea how this scary monster had gotten into his bedroom and how he had ended up in this situation.

    ¡°I am not good at bullying those weaker than me. The games that you y and like so much are so boring in my eyes.¡± The figure took one voluntary step backward and lightly shook his head. Dragging the heavy scary-looking hammer, he walked out of Ying Chen¡¯s bedroom, and he closed the door behind him.

    His heart still palpitating, Ying Chen held his arm that had be as useless as a limp noodle. He pinched his face to figure out whether he was still in a dream or not. The smell of blood intensified. Blood vessels spread and crawled all over the surfaces of his room. Pale faces slowly appeared on the walls as they stared down at him.

    ...

    Leaning against the bedroom door, Chen Ge put away the hammer and listened to the screaming that came from Ying Chen¡¯s bedroom. Half an hourter, the screams stopped. Chen Ge reopened the door, went in, and dragged the fainted Ying Chen out.

    ¡°This one is not as strong as I anticipated. He is so much weakerpared to the Ying Chen possessed by the ghost fetus.¡±

    When Chen Ge was dragging Ying Chen through the living room, the sounds of the cats kepting from the room that Ying Chen kept the adopted stray cats in. One of the cats cried extremely loudly, which reminded Chen Ge of the cats¡¯ call behind Ying Tong¡¯s door. It was because of the warning from the cats that he had been able to discern Ying Chen¡¯s location.

    ¡°I almost forgot. You guys are also his victims.¡± Chen Ge smashed the door down with the hammer. Once the door splintered and cracked, endless streams of cats rushed out. They phased through Chen Ge¡¯s body before they dispersed and disappeared into the darkness. ¡°Those are the spirits of the cats who have died in this room, huh? Good, it is time for them to gain their freedom as well.¡±

    Chen Ge walked into the room. There were a few wounded strays in the room. They were very afraid of Chen Ge. Once Chen Ge entered the room, they moved to curl up in the corner. Their instinct to run was as clear as day.

    ¡°You saved me behind the door, and now it¡¯s my turn to save you.¡± Chen Ge was not a vet. He decided to send the cats to the pet clinic after the sun came up. After dealing with their treatment, he would then return to New Century Park.

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡± Ying Tong walked out from his bedroom. His hands were on the wall. The boy had not gotten used to using his eyes.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°There is a dead body hidden under Ying Chen¡¯s bed. It¡¯s our stepfather.¡± The stepfather in question should be the rtive that Ying Chen mentioned earlier. Actually, the rtive had done well by them, but unfortunately, that was not what Ying Chen thought. ¡°Also, Mr. Wood, Miss Dress, and Auntie Wu... I know where they are.¡±

    3Ying Tong should be talking about the location of their dead bodies. This caused Chen Ge¡¯s heart to squeeze. He touched Ying Tong¡¯s head. ¡°Of course, we will go and find everyone.¡±

    Sitting on the sofa, Chen Ge called Lee Zheng on his personal number. When the call was connected and Lee Zheng¡¯s blurry voice came through the line, Chen Ge only then realized that it was not yet even four in the morning.

    ¡°It¡¯s like this, Inspector Lee. I am currently at Ying Chen¡¯s home.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t we decide that we¡¯d go and investigate his house together in the morning? Why are you there now?¡± Lee Zheng hadpletely woken up. He could hear a trace of something unpleasant in Chen Ge¡¯s tone.

    1¡°As you know, I hate evil and uphold justice as the absolute value in my life. The thought of an evil man walking free prevents me from having a good night¡¯s sleep.¡±

    1¡°Stop going around in circles and get to the point¡ªwhat have you found?¡± The sound of Lee Zheng putting on his clothes came through the phone.

    ¡°As we suspected, Lee Zheng was indeed torturing those strays cats, but more than that, I have evidence that he is a heartless murderer. I found a dead body under his bed. I hope you guys can get here as soon as possible. I have found both the physical evidence and a trustworthy witness.¡±

    1¡°No matter what, you have to ensure the safety of yourself and the witness! We will be there in a minute!¡±

    The call was ended. Listening to the busy dial tone from the phone, Chen Ge took a nce at the unconscious Ying Chen beside him.

    ¡°After all, I have single-handedly apprehended such a vicious and crazed murderer. Shouldn¡¯t I appear to be more disheveled myself?¡± Chen Ge quickly tore open parts of his jacket and his shirt so that he would look more the part. While waiting for the police to arrive, Chen Ge took out the ck phone from his pocket. He clicked on the screen and started to read the few new messages.

    1¡°Congrattions, Red Specter¡¯s Favored, you havepleted 7/9 of the Trial Mission, Ghost Fetus. The ghost fetus has lost the eyes that can look into the human heart. He will not be able to study your thoughts anymore! Warning, Red Specter¡¯s Favored, you do not have much time left!

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specter¡¯s Favored, for surpassing the limit for the affection level of a unique-type Red Specter. Blood heart mission activated¡ªthe red high heels!

    ¡°The Red High Heels (Bloody Heart Mission. Afterpleting this, there is a very high chance that the Red Specter possessing the red high heels will officially be your employee): Have you heard of this cursed game? This game is called... the red high heels.

    1¡°Mission requirement: Enter the cursed hospital at midnight to look for a pair of bloody red high heels.

    5¡°Mission hint: Am I beautiful?

    ¡°There is no time limitation to the Bloody Heart Mission. As the level of affection continues to increase, the rtive difficulty of the mission will decrease.¡±

    Lee Zheng arrived at Ying Chen¡¯s home with the rest of his team at around 4 am. Ying Tong was given full protection, and he was handed over to the professional doctor to be given a thorough check up while Chen Ge stayed at the crime scene to provide his full cooperation to the police. From collecting the evidence to conducting the investigation, it went from 4 am to about 8 am. At around 8:30 am, Chen Ge was finally given a chance to rest. He had provided more than enough cooperation, so the rest was left to the police.

    ¡°Brother Zheng, I am going to open for business soon. Do you mind if I go back to tell my employees about what is going on and thene back after that?¡±

    Lee Zheng was familiar with Chen Ge¡¯s quandary, and he knew how hard it was for Chen Ge to juggle so many things at once, so he nodded his agreement. ¡°I will have someone drive you back to the park.¡±

    ¡°There is one more thing.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the few strays in the small room. ¡°Can I take them along with me?¡±

    ¡°There is no problem should you wish to adopt them, but not now. We found traces of human blood in their fur, so temporarily, we can¡¯t let them out of that room.¡±

    ¡°Then, can you find a vet to take a look at them? Some of the cats had their bones poking through their skin. It really pains my heart to see them in this condition.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you worry about that. Just leave it to the police.¡± Thew enforcement of Jiujiang was very reliable. Chen Ge thanked them profusely. The workforce at the police station was drawing thin, so Chen Ge did not wish to trouble them. He took a cab and returned to New Century Park on his own. He had just approached the haunted house when he heard the voices of Xiao Gu and Wu Jinpeng.

    ¡°Howe Boss Chen has not arrived yet? Doesn¡¯t he spend his night at the haunted house? Is it possible that something bad has happened to him?¡± Wu Jinpeng sounded extremely worried. He knew that Chen Ge often did dangerous things in the search for his parents.

    ¡°Initially, I was as worried as you are, but after a while, you get used to it. Our boss has a habit of going jogging at night, and he often jogs through the night. This morning, when I woke up to check my phone, I noticed that our boss has clocked in four digits on his pedometer...¡±

    1¡°Xiao Gu.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice erupted from behind him, and that caused Xiao Gu to jump out from his skin. ¡°Hurry to the dressing room for your makeup. We are going to open for business soon.¡±

    Pushing open the gates, Chen Ge followed the employees into the dressing room to help the employees with their makeup. Then he personally trained Wu Jinpeng and taught him many secrets about how to scare people inside the haunted house. After that, he released parts of the employees inside his backpack to their positions.

    Chen Ge finally reached his limit at around 10 am. He went outside and found something simple to eat before returning to the staff breakroom, crashing on his bed, and sleeping. The mission for the ghost fetussted nine days. He had entered multiple doors over consecutive nights, and that had taken a serious toll on his body. He slept until three in the afternoon, when he was woken up by his phone. He nced at the caller ID and hurried to answer it. ¡°Brother Zheng, why are you calling me?¡±

    ¡°Sorry, but I need you toe the police station. Ying Tong refuses to tell us anything. He said that he will only talk to you. The child suffers from some serious psychological problems. This is the first time that I have encountered such a poor child in the years I have spent on the force.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I will be there in a minute.¡± Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and ran out of the haunted house. Under the awed gaze of the visitors, he hailed a cab to hurry to the city¡¯s police station.

    ...

    Therge and spacious conference room at the police station had four people sitting in it, two of whom were small children. Ying Tong sat next to Chen Ge with his eyes closed while Lee Zheng sat on the other side of the table with Zhen Zhen.

    ¡°Chen Ge, this case has already been taken over by Captain Yan. After he found out about the incident with Ying Tong, he was very angry. I¡¯ve rarely seen him so angry.¡± Lee Zheng opened theptop that was on the table and then took out the recorder. ¡°This time, I have called you here because I need to clear up some details with you.¡±

    ¡°What details?¡±

    Lee Zheng sighed softly. ¡°How did you manage to figure out that there is a murder case behind the dream of a small boy? Chen Ge, I hope that you won¡¯t see me as a police officer at the moment and treat me as a friend. Please tell me everything you know.¡±

    Ying Tong was the seventh child handpicked by the ghost fetus, and Zhen Zhen was the failed project of the shadow. That was the connection between the two, but these were the things that Chen Ge could not tell Lee Zheng. This was because the ghost fetus was too dangerous. The fewer the people that knew about him, the better.

    ¡°I do not wish to probe into your secrets; I am merely worried that other people are still in the same despairing position as Ying Tong once was. We wish to rescue them.¡± Lee Zheng looked right at Chen Ge, hoping that he would say something, but the conference room was eerily quiet. This continued for another ten minutes before Lee Zheng broke the silence again. ¡°After the truth about the Ying siblings came out, we approached Zhen Zhen again to ask him if he¡¯s dreamt about anyone else recently.¡±

    ¡°So, has he?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s interest was piqued. The ghost fetus had chosen nine kids, and there was only one child left that was still hidden in Jiujiang.

    ¡°Well, he certainly did.¡± Lee Zheng¡¯s expression was confused. ¡°The person that he dreamed about the most is you. The scenarios that he described were the experiences from your childhood. We did not purposely try to look into your background. Earlier, when we were trying to find your parents, we looked into some information about you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t quite get it. Zhen Zhen has dreamt about me?¡± Chen Ge knew that he was one of the nine children selected by the ghost fetus, but he did not think that the ghost fetus would be hiding inside him. Yes, the ghost fetus was a Demon God, but Zhang Ya was no weaker than him. If the ghost fetus was really hiding inside him, Zhang Ya would have warned him about it.

    ¡°Recently, all of Zhen Zhen¡¯s dreams have been about you. His dreams are about... how you are murdered in different ways.¡± Lee Zheng entered the content of the recorder into theputer and then yed it for Chen Ge. Chen Ge¡¯s palms were soaked in blood as he listened to Zhen Zhen use his juvenile voice to describe such gory content. Zhen Zhen had dreamt of different ways Chen Ge would die. In other words, Chen Ge had been killed nine times in Zhen Zhen¡¯s dreams.

    ¡°No wonder, when I came to visit himst time, he was so afraid of me.¡± Chen Ge did not answer Lee Zheng¡¯s question but posed a question of his own. ¡°Brother Zheng, other than myself, did Zhen Zhen dream about anyone else?¡±

    There was one more missing child among the nine candidates, and there were only two nights left until the awakening of the ghost fetus.

    ¡°No.¡± Lee Zheng shook his head.

    The conference room sank into silence again. Lee Zheng stared at Chen Ge, who was frowning. When they were talking about other people, Chen Ge would be able to peel back theyers to discover the truth, but should it involve the man himself, he would mp up and refuse to say anything.

    ¡°It is fine if you are really ufortable in sharing, but I hope that you will at least show us some trust and know that you do not need to shoulder everything on your own.¡± Lee Zheng poured a ss of water for Chen Ge. ¡°There is onest thing that I need to tell you. You will have to cooperate with Ying Tong¡¯s psychological counselling session. The boy only shows trust around you.¡±

    ¡°There is no problem with that.¡± Chen Ge easily agreed. He touched Ying Tong¡¯s head. ¡°By the way, Brother Zheng, what kind of procedure do I have to go through to officially adopt a child?¡±

    ¡°Adoption is not something that can be done easily. You¡¯d better go and think more about it before youe to a hasty decision.¡± Lee Zheng was more like a worried big brother. ¡°Feeding a child is easy, but educating them and helping them to recover from their childhood trauma will probably take a lifetime. Even a professional doctor would not dare to guarantee that they wille out the other side as a normal person. I am sure you know how difficult this process will be.¡±

    ¡°The difficulty can be ovee.¡± Chen Ge counted on his fingers. There were quite a few children that were closely rted to him¡ªFan Yu, Jiang Ling, Ying Tong, and so on. Even though these children were victims of trauma, once they walked out from their shadows, they would definitely grow up to be exceptional citizens.

 Chapter 1067 - I, Chen Ge, Have Returned [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1067: I, Chen Ge, Have Returned [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Red Specters¡¯ existence depended on the obsession in their heart, but the life of a person was limited. Chen Ge was worried that his own time on earth was running out, and once that happened, the bunch of workers at the haunted house would end up jobless and homeless again. Therefore, Chen Ge had to start nning for his future that he would be absent from. To be friends with so many Red Specters and lingering spirits, it required the tenacity that was stronger than a normal person. A normal person would probably be scared to death just from hearing this news alone.

    Of all the children the Chen Ge knew, Fan Yu was the most suitable candidate to take over Chen Ge¡¯s job. Be it the painter inside the door or Fan Yu outside the door, Chen Ge had a very good impression of the boy. With Chen Ge¡¯s current condition, he was not qualified to adopt any children¡ªording to thew, that was. However, he could register to be their guardian.

    Lee Zheng did not understand all this, but when he heard Chen Ge say these things, he was quite touched. He thought that Chen Ge wanted to adopt these children because he pitied Ying Tong. He had no idea about the conundrum that Chen Ge was in. The ghost fetus trial mission had put a lot of pressure on Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders. Behind Ying Tong¡¯s door, he had almost been killed. If he had died inside that door, what about the lingering spirits and the employees at his haunted house?

    Honestly, Chen Ge was not confident that he would be able toplete the ghost fetus¡¯ mission, and he had even less confidence that he would be able to walk out from the other side of this ordeal with his life intact. After continuing the conversation with Lee Zheng, Chen Ge prepared to leave. He was not in a great mood. There were two nights left, but he still had zero information about thest candidate selected by the ghost fetus.

    ¡°Chen Ge, wait a moment.¡± Just as Chen Ge was about to leave the room, Lee Zheng suddenly spoke up. He switched off the recorder and quietly took out his phone. ¡°Captain Yan forbade me from telling you about this, but I personally feel like it is better that you are warned about this.¡±

    He switched on his phone and showed Chen Ge the recording from a surveince camera. That night, Ying Chen returned to his own residential area with a ck stic bag. Not too long after he entered his apartments, the street camera at the corner of the convenience store caught the shadow of a man wearing arge trench coat. The man had most of his head covered with a ck cap, shielding his eyes and nose. However, the streetlight did reveal the lower half of his face, which consisted of a mouth that refused to stop smiling.

    ¡°A non-smiler?¡± Chen Ge recognized the person caught on surveince. He did not expect the non smiler would have intercepted Ying Chen simr to him as wellst night.

    ¡°Se Xin¡¯s main physician is still ina. ording to the nurse on duty, a simr strange figure has appeared at their hospital that night.¡± Lee Zheng put away his phone. ¡°Captain Yan seems to know some information about this person. It was after he found out about this person that he decided to take over Ying Chen¡¯s case. The worry and concern on his face was obvious. I tried to ask him many times until he got annoyed by me, but in the end, he only told me one thing. He told me to stay as far away from this person as I can.¡±

    ¡°Captain Yan seems to know the non smiler very well.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I believe it is rted to a case from several years ago. When Captain Yan was young, he was once posted in Jiujiang. He was part of a serial killing that targeted young children. The murderer of the case had been caught and killed. Everyone believed that the case could be closed already, but only Captain Yan believed the murderer was still out there. They had gotten the wrong person.

    ¡°Unfortunately, at the time, he was too young and too brash; he did not know how to hold his tongue and pick his moment. In the end, he was ordered to move to another city, one that was much smaller than Jiujiang. But to everyone¡¯s surprise, due to his exceptional talent, even at that small location, Captain Yan continued to rise the ranks as his number of closed cases increased until his reputation got him transferred to Xin Hai.¡±

    Lee Zheng respected Captain Yan very much; his every word wasced with admiration.

    ¡°Captain Yan has once worked as part of thew enforcement at Xin Hai?¡±

    ¡°Not only that... never mind, it is too hard for you to understand even if I exin it to you. All you need to understand is that at the most optimal point of his career, Captain Yan did not walk the path that others that arranged for him, but he chose to return to Jiujiang.¡±

    ¡°He chose to return here because he wanted to reopen the case on the serial children killings?¡± Chen Ge was confused. ¡°How many years ago did that case happen?¡±

    ¡°About twenty years ago.¡±

    ¡°Twenty years ago? The non-smiler was present in Jiujiang that long ago?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s interest toward this case was piqued. He wanted to know more details, but unfortunately, that was all Lee Zheng was willing to share with him.

    ¡°In any case, you have to be careful of your own safety. These monsters that won¡¯t stop smiling appear, like they have been following you everywhere you go.¡±

    ¡°I will be careful.¡± Chen Ge nodded. ¡°Please take good care of Ying Tong and Zhen Zhen. The monster mighte after these two kids as well.¡±

    Chen Ge was about to leave the conference room already when Ying Tong, who had been sitting obediently on his chair, suddenly jumped out from his seat. He followed the direction of Chen Ge¡¯s voice and ran to grab at his shirt.

    ¡°Ying Tong, you have to cooperate with the doctor. After a while, I promise I wille back to see you.¡±

    ¡°The police officer has taken something... Can you hold on to it for me?¡± Ying Tong pleaded in a pitiable voice.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°A mud statuette made from y. It has my name on it.¡±

    When Ying Tong said that, a weak glint of light crossed Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. Thetter turned to look at Lee Zheng. ¡°Brother Zheng, have you seen such a statuette?¡±

    ¡°On the dolls and toys inside Ying Tong¡¯s bedrooms were traces of the victims¡¯ DNA, and they were probably all hand-made by Ying Chen. Through the design of the dolls, we hope that we will be able to predict and specte the psychological state of Ying Chen.¡±

    ¡°I am afraid there is some misunderstanding. Do you mind letting me take a look at the list of dolls? No matter what, Ying Tong and I are witnesses in this case.¡±

    After getting the permission from Captain Yan, Lee Zheng led Chen Ge into the evidence room. They found the mud statuette that Ying Tong mentioned at the corner of the room.

    ¡°Where did you guys find this mud statuette?¡± Every candidate chosen by the ghost fetus had one of these mud statuettes with them. Before the police arrived, Chen Ge had searched Ying Chen¡¯s house upside-down, but he had failed to find it.

    Lee Zheng stood to the side and exined, ¡°Ying Tong was carrying it with him. The boy had been hiding the statuette on his body. We believe that the statuette must be rted to his elder brother¡¯s murder cases somehow.¡±

    ¡°No wonder I was unable to find it that night.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I believe you guys are overthinking this. The doll is probably an item for the child to vent his emotion. If there is no trace of anything on it. Why not return it to the boy? Perhaps it mighte in useful in his psychiatric treatment.¡±

    A whisper of a cat¡¯s call echoed in Chen Ge¡¯s ear. He used Ghost Ear and confirmed that the voice wasing from inside the mud statuette.

    ¡°That is not unreasonable. As long as Ying Tong is willing to cooperate, we are willing to hand the statuette back to him.¡± The forensic doctor and the investigators had done a thorough sweep on the mud statuette, and they did not find any clues on it. If that was the case, why not follow Chen Ge¡¯s suggestion and give the doll back to Ying Tong to try to get Ying Tong to open up and earn his affection?

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Chen Ge held the mud statuette. ¡°Brother Zheng, do you mind giving me some private time with Ying Tong?¡±

    ¡°You sure are one person with a lot of requests. Other people cannot wait to leave the police station, but once you came, it is like you refuse to leave. You really treat this ce as your own home.¡± Even though that was what Lee Zheng said, the man still walked out of the room to give them the privacy.

    ¡°The uncle has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. He looks stern, but he is a very nice person.¡± Chen Ge held the mud statuette, and his eyes slowly narrowed. Then he asked in a whisper, ¡°Ying Tong, tell me honestly, are Miss Dress, Mr. Wood, and Auntie Wu all inside this mud statuette?¡±

    When Chen Ge spotted the mud statuette earlier, he had noticed that something was not right with it. It was twirling with curses that kept on torturing a few lingering spirits.

    After a while, Ying Tong finally answered. ¡°Miss Red is also in there.¡±

    ¡°Miss Red?¡± Chen Ge nodded. ¡°You wanted to ask for the mud statuette back because you wanted to protect them, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Ying Tong, this mud statuette is just like the room that you were trapped in. Their souls are trapped inside this thing, and they are tortured day in and day out. Do you wish for that to continue for these people?¡±

    ¡°Of course not.¡±

    ¡°Then, I will release all of them and try to help themplete their final wishes.¡± Under Ying Tong¡¯s confused gaze, Chen Ge bent down and ced the mud statuette on his own shadow. The ck thread that represented the curses started to copse. The temperature in the evidence room dropped several degrees. Three cold drafts caressed Chen Ge¡¯s body before they stopped beside Ying Tong. With the aid of Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could clearly see that they were precisely the cleaningdy Auntie Wu, Mr. Wood, and Miss Dress. They made up quite a scary spectacle. The three of them had retained their appearance when they died.

    ¡°Looks like it was ghost fetus¡¯ mud statuette that has been used to suppress the three of their lingering spirits...¡± Chen Ge was still thinking when a shrill cat wail appeared. Following the cracks on the statuette, a cat that was covered in mud tried to escape from the statuette, but its whole body was bound by endless cursed threads. The ck blood in the statuette seeped into Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. The threads that bound the cat snapped at that moment. When she leaped out from the statuette, the wounded cat turned into a thin andnky woman who wore a red dress.

    ¡°What are you? Are you a cat or a human?¡±

    The woman in red did not reply. She still had not recovered from the shock. After she escaped the mud statuette, she searched for a corner to hide in like a stray cat who had seen way too much suffering in her life.

    ¡°She appears to be different from all the red Specters that I have met so far.¡± Chen Ge was trying to form amunication channel with her when the mud statuette ced on his shadow suddenly shattered. When thest drop of ck blood was absorbed by the shadow, an indescribable scary presence started to overwhelm the room. Time seemed to have stopped in that second!

    COMMENT

    When everyone in the room recovered, everything had seemed returned to normal.

    ¡°Has Zhang Ya finally woken up?¡± Chen Ge turned to look at his own shadow. When the light hit his shadow, they were twisted around it. Earlier, when he used Yin Yang Vision, he could still look into his shadow somewhat, but now, he could not see anything anymore. The three lingering spirits in the room already had their soul torn open on the spot. The strange Red Specter who acted like a cat was given quite a shock as well.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t be afraid. Actually, she is a very gentle woman. We will be a family from now on.¡± Chen Ge shared what Ying Tong and he had been through inside the world behind Ying Tong¡¯s door. Chen Ge did not need to use much time to convince them that he was a good guy. The ck phone in his pocket vibrated, signaling that he had received some new messages.

    After everything had been settled, Chen Ge took out the clear cellophane tape that he had prepared for the pen spirit from his pocket. He gave a quick ¡®fix¡¯ to the mud statuette and then pulled Miss Red and the gang into theic. He told Ying Tong some things and then left the police station. In the cab back to New Century Park, Chen Ge opened the ck phone and clicked on the new messages.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specter¡¯s Favored, for obtained Miss Red¡¯s affection!

    ¡°Miss Red (Unknown-type Red Specter): She has no name. Everyone who knows her refers to her as Miss Red.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specter¡¯s Favored, for obtaining the aid of three cursed spirits!

    ¡°Mr. Wood (Lingering Spirit): The man who was viewed as stubborn and boring in other¡¯s eyes stood out to help without hesitating after discovering the truth. Because he was worried about the poor child, his spirit refuse to disperse. He was trapped inside the mud statuette by the ghost fetus¡¯ curse.

    ¡°Miss Dress (Lingering Spirit): Carefree, open-minded, straightforward, and sunny, the woman who will pull everyone¡¯s attention wherever she goes chose to face the truth. Because she was concerned about the poor child, her spirit focused and lingered. She was trapped inside the mud statuette by the ghost fetus¡¯ curse.

    ¡°Auntie Wu (Baleful Specter): The middle-aged woman who was stingy about the smallest of things, like the price of rice and oil, did not expect that she would one day be a hero. The woman who almost rescued Ying Tong was the target of Ying Chen¡¯s anger. Of all the man¡¯s victims, Auntie Wu had the worst ending, and that also meant that her resentment was the deepest. After she died, she was trapped inside the mud statuette by the ghost fetus¡¯ curse.¡±

    ¡°When I am done with the ghost fetus¡¯ mission, there is a chance that nine scenarios might be unlocked at the same time. When thates, I will be seriously understaffed, so they havee at the perfect time.¡± Chen Ge put away the ck phone and shut his eyes while riding the taxi to take a short rest. When he arrived at New Century park, the first thing Chen Ge did was crawl into the staff breakroom.

    ¡°The ghost fetus will be born in another two nights. I have now confirmed the location of seven children. Of the remaining two, one of them is me, but I have no clue about who the other one is.¡± Chen Ge sat on the chair and spun the ballpoint pen that was covered in clear tape in his fingers. ¡°Should I do a prediction with the Pen Spirit?¡±

    He knew that this would probably not work, but at this point, what other choice did he have? He tried to ask the Pen Spirit for the name of the ninth child, but the Pen Spirit was running out of air after putting down a few dots on the white paper. Her body was turning transparent like she might go at any moment.

    ¡°Just how weak can you be? From the first time I have met you until now, how many questions have I asked you in total? Ask yourself, which of question have you answered truthfully for me before? When have you provided me with actual help before?¡±

    Chen Ge knew that he was venting his emotions on the Pen Spirit. He knew that this was not her fault. It was way beyond her capability. In the end, he sighed as he put the ballpoint pen away. Then he started to get agitated again.

    ¡°The hint that the ck phone provided me about the ghost fetus trial mission is that I am only one step away from the truth. Could that be a hint that the door inside my haunted house is the real ce where the ghost fetus is hiding?¡±

    2Shaking his head, Chen Ge still could not tell for sure. For some reason, Chen Ge was very unwilling to face the face inside the toilet at his haunted house. It was as if his own heart had been subconsciously resisting it.

    ¡°Should I enter the door inside the toilet tonight?¡± When that thought appeared in his mind, Chen Ge immediately chased it out. ¡°I¡¯d better take this slowly. Since I have no more clues now, why don¡¯t I go to Coffin Vige tonight and find thedy in the well to discuss this? If only the non-smiler chooses to follow me tonight. As they say, camping and hiking in the woods are the best method for two men to get to know each other better and form a bond.¡±

    If Chen Ge had already found eight children by now, he would definitely enter the door at his own haunted house to take a look, but the key problem was that there was one more child that was undiscovered. The chance of the ghost fetus hiding inside that child was very high.

    ¡°Each child represents one thing¡ªthe five senses, love, and a heart. What else does the ghost fetus need?¡±

    1After the sun dropped below the horizon, Chen Ge packed his bag, took all his employees, and hurried toward Jiujiang Children¡¯s Home.

    It appeared like Coffin Vige was only essible to those who had once been a viger at that ce. So, Chen Ge tried his best to persuade Jiang Ling¡¯s elder sister to follow him before they started the trek into the mountains. They walked for three hours in the mountains before the scenery before Chen Ge¡¯s eyes started to change.

    White papernterns hung high in the air, like wandering souls drifting through the forest. The fire wavered and lit up a row of tattered old houses.

    ¡°When I was herest, I was practically frightened to death by this scenario.¡±

    Chen Ge stood beside Jiang Ling¡¯s sister, and behind them were Xu Yin, Xiao Bu, the boy with the stench, and a few other red Specters.

    1

 Chapter 1068 - Coffin That Buries the Past [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1068: Coffin That Buries the Past [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    When he returned to Coffin Vige this time, Chen Ge was admittedly a bit excited. When hest came, he only managed to capture a small number of ghosts, and he let most of them escape from him. Coffin Vige was very uniquepared to other scenarios. While other scenarios had their basis in urban legends, the ghosts here had their origins from folklore, and that made them stand out from the rest.

    ¡°Thepletion rate at Coffin Vige¡¯s mission is also very low. Basically, I just took a look behind the door before I was chased out again. I was not given the chance to give it a good exploration. Perhaps the secret of the woman from the well can be found behind the door.¡±

    The woman from the well had been around for a very long time. She was a very mysterious figure and knew many secrets. In fact, she appeared to have entered the deeper part of the red city through her own blood door before.

    The night breeze carried on the wind, but Chen Ge did not feel cold. If anything, he felt refreshed and energized. With Jiang Ling¡¯s elder sister leading the way, Chen Ge entered Coffin Vige once more.

    Dragging the Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer and holding theic in his hands, Chen Ge entered and checked every single house that they passed like he was a poption checking member from the government. Every family in Coffin Vige had at least one coffin inside their home. The tradition was used in the past to honor and appease their ancestors. Strange as that was, there was nothing wrong with that culture. However, due to the presence of thedy from the well, this tradition had been twisted, and coupled with the constant influence from the ¡®door¡¯, it had caused Coffin Vige to be a very scary scenario.

    Most of the people in the city would never imagine that such a secluded ¡®paradise¡¯ existed in the middle of the mountains.

    ¡°Even after so much time, it appears like nothing has changed about this ce.¡± Coming back to Coffin Vige, Chen Ge was feeling quite emotional. Looking at the ¡®reward¡¯ that he had reaped so far inside hisic, he was feeling quite satisfied. From the mouth of the vige to the center of the vige, the whitenterns above the houses shook unsettlingly. More and more shadows appeared at the small pavilion that was the city center.

    The vigers that stayed there seemed to have been gathered together. However, they did not seem to be there to wee Chen Ge. Every single one of them looked at him with a dark and empty expression. History repeated itself. When Chen Ge first entered Coffin Vige, something simr had happened, but at the time, it was not the vigers and Chen Ge who had been caught in a lockdown at the city pavilion.

    ¡°A few of you look familiar.¡± Chen Ge and Jiang Ling¡¯s sister took one step forward. ¡°Don¡¯t act like that. It¡¯s not like there is a deep gulf of hatred between us. If anything, thest time I was here, I was being chased around the whole vige by all of you. So, I should be the one that should be feeling a certain way, not the other way round.¡±

    When Chen Ge spoke, the numerous Red Specters guarded beside him.

    This time, the vigers were much more ¡®obedient¡¯. They looked and acted like normal vigers from a backward ce that were going about their normal life. One of the doors of the bigger houses in the city opened. A woman covered in various essories walked out from the courtyard. Her surname was Zhu. She was one of the most trusted confidants chosen by the woman from the well. Normally, it was thisdy who managed everything that happened in the vige.

    ¡°Hello, we meet again.¡± Chen Ge and his employees headed toward Ms. Zhu. Thetter had aplicated expression on her face before she decided to receive Chen Ge and his entourage with a smile.

    Ms. Zhu forced herself to ask, ¡°Chen Ge, why have youe to us in the middle of the night again?¡±

    ¡°Everything is fine with Jiang Ling, so don¡¯t you worry about that.¡± Chen Ge first discussed the update with Jiang Ling before he slowly segued into the real reason he was there. ¡°Actually, I am here today because I have something that I wish to discuss with the Red Specter from your vige. Don¡¯t worry, I just want to discuss somethings with her. Nothing more.¡±

    The moon was dark, and the wind was harsh. The vigers were huddled together. Ms. Zhu had her brows knitted in a deep lock. Those who did not know the truth would probably think that Chen Ge was some kind of heartlessnd developer who had gone there to give them an ultimatum¡ª¡¯Move away now, or I woulde back tomorrow with the equipment to level this ce.¡¯

    ¡°After herst appearance, she has not appeared from behind the door. Even the ghost baby has been taken away.¡± Ms. Zhu looked at the Red Specters behind Chen Ge before she decided to tell the truth. There were two Red Specters at the Coffin Vige. The woman from the well was unimaginably strong, but she had been seriously injured in her desire to reincarnate as a living human. On the other hand, the ghost baby was only slightly stronger than a normal Specter. Inparison, he was almost as powerful as Men Nan.

    ¡°That sounds like she might be in trouble behind the door.¡± Chen Ge thought about it for some time. ¡°There is no other choice. Midnight ising soon. Since she is unable toe out to see us, we will have to enter the door to find her.¡±

    If not for the fact that he had been busy with every other thing in his life, Chen Ge would have returned to Coffin Vige and visited the world behind its door a long time ago.

    ¡°Is that really a good idea?¡± For the vigers of Coffin Vige, the woman from the well was almost their deity. They would make sacrifices and conduct ceremonies in her name, like how the traditional people would praise the river god, and that door was equal to the ce where their ¡®god¡¯ lived.

    ¡°There is nothing wrong with it. When youy everything out in the open, there won¡¯t be any misunderstanding anymore.¡± Chen Ge remembered the location of the door. If there was one thing that he was proud of, it was his memory. After getting permission from Ms. Zhu, Chen Ge carried his backpack and led his employees to the home where thedy from the well had stayed when she was still alive. They found the door. When midnight struck, he pushed the door open with the aid from several Red Specters.

    A thick blood fog rolled over to envelope his body. Chen Ge narrowed his eyes, and he soon discovered something was wrong.

    ¡°How is this possible?¡± Coffin Vige behind the door had practically been leveled!

    Scary scratches could be seen everywhere, and there were multipleshes on the ground and walls that were probably left behind by chains and shackles!

    ¡°Coffin Vige behind the door has been destroyed?¡± Chen Ge found it hard to believe his own eyes. He had his employees guard beside him, and he went on very high alert. ¡°Blood vessels and curses have soaked into the ground. Just standing here puts me in a very unsettling feeling.¡±

    Chen Ge took a careful look around. His eyes moved between the chains, the residual blood vessels, and curses.

    ¡°Is this Doctor Gao¡¯s doing? When I met him at Li Wan City, he was hugging the skull of his own wife, and his whole body was wreathed in thick, iron chains.¡±

    When Chen Ge encountered Doctor Gao at Li Wan City, he had already been a Top Red Specter, but after sharing the shadow¡¯s heart with Zhang Ya, perhaps he had already transformed into a Demon God just like Zhang Ya.

    ¡°The Ghost Stories Society once visited Coffin Vige, but they had returned empty-handed that time because of my interruption...¡±

    The more Chen Ge thought about it, the more he was confident that the culprit behind this devastation was Doctor Gao, but he could not wrap his head around why Doctor Gao, who was already a Top Red Specter, would return to Coffin Vige.

    ¡°Could it be that the woman from the well has really mastered the method to help a ghost reincarnate? Be it in life or after death, to raise his wife from the death has been the great obsession of Doctor Gao. To that end, it is possible that he would doing to make that happen.¡±

    Humanity was aplicated thing, but something it could be incredibly simple. Doctor Gao was the perfect example. He was the best psychologist in Jiujiang, but at the same time, he was also the scariest madman in Jiujiang.

    Standing at the destroyed vige, Chen Ge¡¯s expression was one of worry and concern.

    ¡°When I was doing the mission at Coffin Vige, I ran into people from the Ghost Stories Society. One of them was Wu Fei, and the other one should have been carrying the dead body of Doctor Gao¡¯s wife.

    ¡°At the time Doctor Gao was busy fighting outside the vige, while Wu Fei entered the door. This arrangement had no problem. It was extremely logical...¡±

    If the suspect was not Doctor Gao, Chen Ge would not have wasted so much time analyzing everything.

    ¡°Is it possible that Doctor Gao predicted his ending a long time ago? Was he prepared to be a Red Specter when he was still alive? After Wu Fei was led into the door in Coffin Vige by thedy from the well, he became the opening for the woman to get to know the Ghost Stories Society, but at the same time, it became how Doctor Gao managed to confirm the location of the door at Coffin Vige and the coordination of Coffin Vige in the world behind the door.¡±

    The more Chen Ge thought about it, the more unsettled he felt.

    ¡°That¡¯s right! Before Doctor Gaomitted suicide, he even tried to enter the door at my own haunted house. He left the carving of the demon on the door, and that was a marking of a coordination for him as well!

    ¡°The n started when he was still alive, and then he would go and carry it out after he was dead. This whole thing was a set up that had traversed the limitation of life and death that had encircled the whole city?¡±

    Goosebumps started to cover the back of Chen Ge¡¯s neck.

    ¡°What is it that Doctor Gao is up to? How many secrets has he collected?¡±

    This former chairperson of the Ghost Stories Society caused Chen Ge a little bit of panic. If this was anyone else, Chen Ge might have used the most direct method to deal with it. He would capture the person and use various interrogation methods to force the person to tell the truth. But this kind of method would not work on Doctor Gao. Thetter was such a master maniptor and reader of people¡¯s minds that there was a very high chance that Chen Ge would be the one that ended up being persuaded by Doctor Gao.

    After finding out about Doctor Gao¡¯s real identity, Chen Ge did not dare give it much thought; that was how scary Doctor Gao was. Facing a powerful enemy like Doctor Gao who was much more clever and cunning than he was, Chen Ge¡¯s countermeasure was the most basic and barbaric. If he was captured, he would directly feed Doctor Gao to Zhang Ya.

    1¡°If Doctor Gao has regained his rationality, this situation will be even moreplicated and hard to predict.¡± Chen Ge knew that he was getting closer and closer to the truth, but it was also at moments like these that he had to remind himself to be more careful. ¡°All the secrets are intertwined together. Everyone has their own obsession. If some are destined to win, then others are destined to lose. ¡±

    Chen Ge inspected Coffin Vige behind the door alongside his workers. They failed to find anything rted to the woman from the well and the ghost baby. Coffin Vige behind the door was practically engulfed in the blood fog, as if the memory of whoever created this scenario was slowly dispersing into nothingness. Thankfully, because of that, the door at Coffin Vige was easy to open. Chen Ge and his group also easily found their way back into the living world.

    ¡°The woman from the well probably has gone into hiding in the red city. Doctor Gao is probably there as well. Both of them must know something that I don¡¯t.¡±

    Before he came to Coffin Vige, Chen Ge did not expect something like this. After he ended up with nothing, Chen Ge left the world behind the door with the aid from his group of Red Specters. Ms. Zhu was standing outside the door waiting for them. From her point of view, it had only taken several minutes for Chen Ge to return from behind the door.

    ¡°Have you seen her?¡±

    Chen Ge naturally knew who this ¡®her¡¯ was referring to. He closed the door and ensured that no one was eavesdropping on them before he revealed the truth. ¡°I have to tell you some unfortunate news. The Coffin Vige behind the door has been levelled to a barrennd. It is now filled with curses and blood. I am unable to find that woman.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t find her?¡± Ms. Zhu¡¯s expression changed instantly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic first. She has probably just gone somewhere else, but you¡¯d better keep this to yourself. Do not share it with anyone else.¡± Chen Ge sighed. ¡°Since I cannot find her, I will have to turn to you in the hopes that you will be able to answer some of my questions.¡±

    ¡°Ask me anything. I will tell you everything I know.¡± After hearing that the woman from the well was not behind the door, Ms. Zhu¡¯s attitude became much better.

    ¡°The woman from the well has had a horrible life, and even after death, she was not given a moment of peace. That was the reason she tried so hard to reincarnate into a person. As the person who knew her best in this vige, can you tell me what she has done to that end? What has she ordered for her attempts at reincarnation?¡± Chen Ge was quite interested in this topic.

    ¡°I do not know her actual method myself, but I did hear from my great grandmother that as long as I prepare coffins that have buried the past and vessels that are bursting with new life for her, she will leave me alone.¡±

    ¡°Coffins that have buried the past? Vessels that are bursting with new life?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the coffins are used to bury all the past memory and tragedies. After the coffins are buried, you will lose everything that you once owned. In other words, from that moment on, you were no longer yourself.¡± Ms. Zhu tried to remember what her great grandmother had once told her. ¡°The vessels are the newborns. I do not know the actual details, but I know that the vige will select a female baby without any physical defects every ten years and send her into that room.¡±

    ¡°Put the female baby inside the room where the ¡®door¡¯ is? You people allow a baby to be in the same room as a Red Specter?¡±

    ¡°She is as gentle and as kind as a mother before a baby, but before others...¡± Ms. Zhu nced at the door inside the house, and she stopped herself.

    ¡°I think I get the gist. For the woman from the well, toplete the reincarnation, she needs to fulfil two conditions. One, she has to bury her past, and two, she needs to find a suitable vessel.¡± Chen Ge stood inside the room and tried to link everything that had happened in Li Wan City together. ¡°The Bury Seed ritual that I heard about in Eastern Jiujiang is a method of sowing a soul into the heart of another child. These cases in Eastern Jiujiang should be the ghost fetus¡¯ own attempt at this method.¡±

    For the ghost fetus, the vessel would be one of the nine children selected by him. The woman from the well only had her selection of choice from the vigers of Coffin Vige, so perhaps that was why she had failed for so long. But the ghost fetus was free to have his pick all around Jiujiang, so his sess rate was much higher.

    With regards to the coffin that buried the past, this hint reminded Chen Ge of something that had happened in Eastern Jiujiang earlier. When he was at Eastern Jiujiang Dam for the Bury Seed mission, he had found a floating coffin at the bottom of the dam. Many dolls with names carved on them had been ced inside the coffin, and it was also inside the coffin that Chen Ge found the main body of the water ghost.

    But the scariest thing was the floating coffin was hiding arge hole behind it. Chen Ge had no idea where it led, but Chen Ge still remembered very clearly that Xu Yin had warned him from moving further in, and they had left as soon as possible.

    ¡°That coffin was buried with the ghost fetus¡¯ past?¡±

    Then again, Chen Ge did not believe a single coffin could bury the past of a Demon God. He felt like the bigger possibility was that the ghost fetus¡¯ past was buried inside that cave at the bottom of the dam.

    ¡°That is key information!¡±

    Chen Ge asked Ms. Zhu some more questions and then left Coffin Vige with Jiang Ling¡¯s elder sister. Not counting this night, he only had one night left, so he wanted to hurry to Eastern Jiujiang Dam to take a look. Moving through the mountains and trekking through the forest, when Chen Ge returned to Jiujiang, the sun wasing up the horizon already.

    Without wasting any time, Chen Ge hurried to Eastern Jiujiang Dam. The ce was so isted that not many taxi drivers were willing to take him there, so that took even more time out from his clock.

    It was not until seven in the morning that Chen Ge finally arrived at his destination. When he got out of the taxi, he felt like his body was about to crumble already.

    He had been conducting the Ghost Fetus trial mission for nine consecutive nights already, and every single night, he had tackled a door. This kind of fatigue was not only on his body¡ªit took a much deeper toll on his mind. The breeze from theke buffeted his body as Chen Ge carried his backpack to walk toward the dam.

    The air at this ce was very refreshing. The only downside was that the ce was so secluded, and there was barely any human traces.

    Chen Ge found the small hut of the dam manager based on the memory. He was about to knock when he suddenly saw a mother jump over the railing with a child in tow. The mother was holding her child¡¯s hand as she stared at the still water of the surface silently.

    <i>What are they trying to do?</i>

    Chen Ge was worried that she might do something rash, so he quickly ran toward her.

 Chapter 1069 - The Ninth Child [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1069: The Ninth Child [2 in 1]</h4>

    Chen Ge silently sneaked his way to the dam. He slowly approached the pair of mother and son. When he was about five to six meters away from them, he yelled, ¡°Calm down! What are you nning to do!¡±

    At this distance, no matter what kind of rash decision they made, Chen Ge would have enough time to stop and rescue them. Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice, the mother turned around to his direction with shock. She appeared to have not expected to run into anyone so early in the morning at a ce like this.

    ¡°Can we sit down for a talk?¡± Chen Ge reached his hand out. He stopped where he was and maintained a safe distance so that he would not ce too much psychological pressure on the pair. After experiencing so much, Chen Ge was not so different from a trained suicide intervention worker.

    ¡°I think you have some kind of misunderstanding.¡± The woman smiled. She pulled the boy¡¯s hand and wanted to walk away from the dam, but the boy was unwilling. He kept making this grumbling voice and used every ounce of energy in his body to resist. The woman¡¯s voice when she spoke and the expression that she had when speaking werepletely normal; she did not appear like those who had been pressed by life to the end of their line.

    With an audible sigh of relief, Chen Ge slowly walked toward the mother and son.

    ¡°Why would you bring your son over the railing? That is too dangerous. What if either of you slip and fall? The dam is very deep. If you were captured by the water ghosts, imagine how scary that will be.¡±

    ¡°I am so sorry. We will pay more attention to this in the future.¡± The woman still held the boy¡¯s hand, and when Chen Ge¡¯s approached, she silently moved to stand guardedly before him as if she did not want Chen Ge to see the boy¡¯s face.

    ¡°Do not stay too close to the water, especially when you have a child with you.¡± Chen Ge was not joking about the danger of the water ghosts. Chen Ge had encountered them on his mission before. The little boy was standing at the edge of the water, and he had been reaching out to touch the surface of the water. If a water ghost had reached out to pull into the dam, the consequences would have been unimaginably bad.

    After a lot of time and effort, the woman finally managed to drag the boy away from the dam and over the railing. The boy did not appear to know how to speak. The voices that came out of his lips were more akin to mumbles. His hands gripped the railing tightly as he continued to struggle.

    ¡°He seems to like water a lot,¡± Chen Gemented when he saw this strange reaction from the boy.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that. The boy just likes toe to this particr dam to y. I also have no idea why. If he does not get toe to Eastern Jiujiang Dam at least once a day, he will make life very difficult for me.¡±

    ¡°Your child...¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes leaped over the woman to look at the boy whom she was guarding behind her. The boy had a very cute face, but perhaps because he had been crying and struggling, his eyes were particrly red-rimmed. There were blood vessels at the bottom of his eyes, and they were not as clear as a normal boy¡¯s eyes should be.

    ¡°I promise to pay more attention in the future.¡± The woman did not answer Chen Ge¡¯s floating question. It appeared like she did not like discussing her own child with other people. Holding the boy¡¯s hand, the woman told the boy gently, ¡°It¡¯s time to go.¡±

    Her voice wasced with heavy love and concern. It was clear that she adored this child even though he was slightly different from other children.

    ¡°I have heard some things about this dam from the manager of this ce before. I do not know whether they are real or not,¡± Chen Ge whispered as if in an afterthought. ¡°He told me that there are water ghosts living inside this dam, and at the bottom of the dam, there is a sunken coffin. Some children saw piles of ck grass floating at the side of the water. They went to look out of curiosity, and they shockingly realized that the grass was actually the hair of the water ghosts. When the children got dangerously close to the water, they would be dragged down by the water ghosts and then locked up inside the sunken coffin.¡±

    When Chen Ge said those things, he kept his attention on the boy. Unfortunately, he did not discern any unusual reactions from the boy.

    ¡°You still believe these things? The manager probably made up those stories to warn the children from getting too close to the water and to stop them from jumping into the dam to swim and y.¡± The woman did not believe in talk of the supernatural.

    ¡°I have some pictures with me that might prove that the manager was telling the truth.¡± Chen Ge took out his own phone and found the picture when the police came to the dam to salvage the dead bodies and when they took out therge number of dolls from inside the coffin. The sun was slowly rising. It dispersed the light fog that had lingered on the surface of theke. The scenery there was actually breathtaking, but unfortunately, no one at the dam was in the mood to admire it. Chen Ge held his phone up for the woman and showed her the pictures that he had saved.

    From the perspective of a normal person, Chen Ge would appear to be a very strange fe. Early in the morning, he intercepted a mother and son who appeared to be passing by, and then he started to tell them scary stories and show them horrifying pictures. A normal person¡¯s reaction would be to brush Chen Ge off ande out with an excuse to hurry away, but the mother¡¯s reaction was slightly different. While holding her son¡¯s hand, she kept countering Chen Ge¡¯s statements.

    Even when she was given the proof of the pictures, the woman refused to believe any hearsay about ghosts and Specters. If anything, she kept insisting to Chen Ge that all those supernatural stories were made up. Chen Ge initially thought that the woman was just a firm believer in her faith, but soon, he noticed something wrong. The woman eventually started to appear like she was not trying to persuade Chen Ge, but she was feeding herself the words again and again.

    Is it possible that she knows something? But she refuses to acknowledge them?

    Chen Ge had a good impression of this woman. After going through the many doors during the ghost fetus trial mission, he had a newfound respect for parents who took good care of their children. When Chen Ge was still in an argument with the woman, each trying to convince the other their point of view, the boy started to make a scene again. He gripped the railing tightly and started to shake. He wanted to get close to the water.

    ¡°Has something happened to you or this boy here?¡± Chen Ge turned his attention back to the boy. He felt like he would not get any further information from the parent.

    ¡°No, the boy has been like this since he was young. He will only calm down when hees here. I personally do not understand why.¡± Once the woman was brought back to the topic of her own son, her voice softened. It was obvious that she harbored no ill intention toward her child, and she did not want others to think that her child was that different from the other normal kids.

    ¡°I worked at an orphanage for quite some time. I have encountered a boy with simr condition, but the difference was that the child like to visit haunted houses.¡± Chen Ge walked to the boy and knelt down beside him. He followed the boy¡¯s gaze and looked into the distance. ¡°Are you looking for something? Is there something that is bothering you under the water?¡±

    The woman did not wish for Chen Ge to have a conversation with her child. She pulled her boy behind her, but the boy refused to let go of his grip on the railing. He cried and resisted. The woman had probably already gotten used to all this already. No matter how big amotion the boy made, she did not get mad, but the worry at the bottom of her eyes was getting more and more obvious.

    ¡°Can you tell uncle what your name is?¡± Chen Ge felt like he had always been good with children, but this boy before him hadpletely ignored him. It was like he was locked in his own world, and he only kept only crying and wailing.

    ¡°I have toys with me. Would you like to y with them?¡± Chen Ge opened his backpack and poked his head in to take a look before silently zipping his backpack up again. None of the things inside the backpack seemed appropriate for a child.

    ¡°I am so sorry, but we have been here for quite some time already. It should be time for us to go home.¡± The woman picked up the boy who was still crying, and she wanted to forcibly carry the boy away. Chen Ge kept his eyes on the surface of the water. He dropped this question in the intention of a test. ¡°Are you looking for your past?¡±

    Seeing as the woman continued to carry the boy away, Chen Ge stood up and asked another question, ¡°Are you looking for the ghost fetus¡¯ past?¡±

    He was just trying his luck. He thought that the boy was acting very strangely, but to his surprise, when he mentioned the term ¡®ghost fetus¡¯, the boy suddenly stopped crying. It was so sudden that it even startled the boy¡¯s own mother. The breeze caused ripples on the surface of the water. The boy¡¯s eyes moved to fall on Chen Ge for the first time. It seemed like the term ¡®ghost fetus¡¯ carried a very special meaning to him.

    ¡°Sir, what did you just say?¡± The woman stopped moving and turned around to ost Chen Ge.

    ¡°It was nothing.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s expression was severe, and he gave off a very unsettling presence. It was like a patient had gone to the hospital suspecting that he had been infected by some horrible disease. Then he was sitting in the consultation room after his inspection, but the doctor held the results and said nothing while looking at him with a serious countenance. That was how the woman was feeling. The more Chen Ge was unwilling to share, the more curious she was because this situation had never happened before.

    ¡°Fine, if you do not want to tell, so be it.¡± After standing there in a stalemate for a long time, the woman bowed slightly to Chen Ge.

    As she turned to leave, Chen Ge¡¯s voice came from behind her. ¡°Now, do you believe me?¡±

    The woman¡¯s footsteps halted again. The expression on her face was one of helplessness. ¡°What is it that you want from us? Can you please get to the point already?¡±

    ¡°Your child might not be yours.¡±

    When Chen Ge came up with that statement, it obviously triggered the woman. She ignored Chen Ge and turned to leave.

    ¡°I know that it will sound grating to your ears, but I do not wish to lie to you. There is another person living inside your child.¡±

    Initially, Chen Ge was just testing out his theory. He himself did not expect that once he mentioned the words ¡®ghost fetus¡¯, the boy would react like he did. This could only mean that the word had a ce in the deep recesses of his memory. In other words, Chen Ge felt like he had perhaps stumbled upon the ghost fetus¡¯ veryst candidate.

    Assuming that his previous analysis was all correct and the ghost fetus had buried his past in the cave inside the dam, the fact that the boy would be pulled here every day was obviously because he was attracted by his buried memory, and he wanted to look for his past. The chance of the ghost fetus being inside this boy¡¯s body was very high. Of all the children, only this boy was attracted to this ce by the ghost fetus¡¯ memory. Of course, this was all mere spection from Chen Ge. There was a chance that this was just misdirection by the ghost fetus to confuse him.

    ¡°I know that my child is a bit different from other children his age, but I still think you have crossed the line for saying something as horrible as that.¡± The woman hugged the boy, and the tiredness was in in her eyes. It felt as if she had repeated this statement to many other people before. By now, she had tired herself out by exining the situation, and she did not feel like doing it anymore.

    ¡°Chill down. I do not mean you or your child any harm. Honestly, I might profess that I have very rich experience in helping children like your boy.¡±

    ¡°Who exactly are you? Have we met each other somewhere else before?¡±

    ¡°I know it is pointless for me to say anything else. I only need you to trust me this one time.¡± Chen Ge opened his phone to click open the past news on the local crime channel and newswork. ¡°These are all the articles on me. I assure you that I mean you and your child no harm.¡±

    It was extremely difficult to gain a stranger¡¯s trust, but Chen Ge had an advantage that worked in his favor, and that was his ¡®reputation¡¯ within the Jiujiangw enforcement system. With the testimonials from the police, most people would choose to trust Chen Ge. The woman¡¯s attitude softened slightly. She studied the articles and even suspected that some of them were made up.

    So, she took out her own phone and did her own search, and in that process, she found out about Chen Ge¡¯s actual upation¡ªthe operator of a theme park¡¯s haunted house. That just made this already strange encounter even more interesting.

    ¡°I was not lying to you, was I?¡±

    ¡°You are quite famous.¡± The woman appeared gentle and soft on the surface, but after spending some time with her, Chen Ge realized that this was a protectiveyer that she put on. It was not that the woman refused to trust others¡ªshe had gotten too used to relying on herself.

    ¡°Now, I hope that we can sit down and have a good chat.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at the boy. ¡°When did this happen to him?¡±

    ¡°I honestly do not know how to answer that question. Perhaps he was born different. I could not stop feeling that this was all my fault. But either way, the boy is innocent. Perhaps we merely have not learned how to ept the way that he is.¡± The child was a soft spot for the woman. It was the thing that gave her a backbone, and it was also the thing that scarred her heart the deepest. ¡°The doctors say that my son suffers from autism, and he should receive treatment as early as he can, but I feel like... Sigh... never mind. The doctors are probably right, and I was just overthinking it.¡±

    The woman was still hiding something. She refused to share it with Chen Ge, and Chen Ge did not pressure her to do so.

    ¡°Do you mind letting me see where the boy normally lives?¡± Chen Ge wanted to go to the woman¡¯s home to see if he could find any clues buting out directly with that request sounded quite rude, so he phrased it in a more rounded way.

    ¡°That is no problem, but I have to get to work. How about I meet you again at noon?¡± The woman passed Chen Ge a business card. Then, as if she did not wish to waste any more time, she left in a hurry.

    ¡°An estate agent?¡± Chen Ge took a nce at the business card before cing it inside his back. ¡°New Century Park is about to open for business soon. It is unrealistic for me to get into the dam myself.¡±

    He carried his backpack to a ce that was shaded from the sun. Flipping through theic, he summoned Xu Yin, Xiao Bu, Men Nan, and the Red Specter water ghost.

    ¡°There is a favor that I need to ask from you.¡± Chen Ge stared at the water ghost. ¡°In a minute, I need you to lead the three of them into the dam. I need you to help me look for a coffin. There is arge hole behind that coffin. I want you guys to go inside the hole to investigate it for me and see what¡¯s hiding inside.¡±

    ¡°I can do this alone. There is no reason to trouble them.¡± The water ghost was being so kind and friendly, aplete 180 from his first encounter with Chen Ge.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not asking them to follow you because I am afraid that you might run away. I want them to protect you. The hole is very dangerous. You must not let your guard down.¡± Chen Ge sent them into the water dam, and then he waited beside the dam. About half an hour passed, but none of the Red Specters returned.

    ¡°Could there have been an ident? Impossible, with Xiao Bu there, even if they run into a Top Red Specter, they should be able to at least retreat safely.¡± He continued to wait for some time. Just as Chen Ge was about to flip through theic to summon more Red Specters to find the earlier group, the smell of blood in the air thickened, and the few Red Specters appeared soundlessly beside Chen Ge.

    ¡°So, did you find anything?¡± Seeing how nched the water ghost was, Chen Ge had a very bad feeling.

    ¡°The cave appears to be connected to the few major rivers across Jiujiang. It is an underwater maze down there. We swam for a long time, but we still could not find an exit.¡± Men Nan was the first to speak. ¡°And there appears to be something very scary residing inside the cave. The thing gives off a presence that threatens even Xiao Bu.¡±

    ¡°Even Xiao Bu feels threatened? A normal Red Specter cannot do that.¡±

    ¡°The thing that gave off that presence did not appear to be a Red Specter.¡± The water ghost looked worse for wear. Initially, he really did think about escaping but once he entered the cave, he abandoned the thought and stuck as close to Xiao Bu as he could.

    ¡°Then, what do you think it is?¡±

    ¡°I am not sure, but it is probably not a ghost or a spirit. Oh, we also found these inside the cave...¡± The water ghost took out two roughly-hewn statuettes. They were a pair, one male and one female. Chen Ge¡¯s parent¡¯s names were blurrily carved on them.

    ¡°Where exactly did you find these inside the cave?¡±

    ¡°The whole cave system is filled with their statuettes, but almost of them have been destroyed in some way. It felt like someone made them and then purposely ruined them. We searched for a long time before we managed to find these two that were still rtively intact.¡±

 Chapter 1070 - The Disappeared Estate Agent [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1070: The Disappeared Estate Agent [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Chen Ge looked at the two statuettes with his parents¡¯ names and remained quiet. No one knew what he was thinking. The sun was rising, and Chen Ge summoned all the Red Specters back into theic. He held the two statuettes and stood beside the dam. ¡°I once heard from the shadow that should the ghost fetus be born, the whole city might end up being its mother.¡±

    The water was too deep to see right down to the bottom. Under the clear and calm surface, no one knew what kind of horrors were hidden right underneath it.

    ¡°The ghost fetus probably wishes for his own parents as well.¡± Putting away the two statuettes, Chen Ge turned to leave. ¡°The change in the shadow happened after he entered the world behind the door. It was the door at the haunted house thatpletely changed him. After this ghost fetus trial mission is over, I will need to push open the door to go in and look.¡±

    2Taking a cab back to the New Century Park, Chen Ge gave his employees a makeover, and then he squirreled into the staff breakroom. Once his head hit the pillow, he was sound asleep. He needed to have a good rest because thest night wasing. The next time the sun rose, the person that opened his eyes to the sunlight might not be him anymore. The haunted house¡¯s business was booming, and he no longer needed to worry about it as much as he did previously. The employees at the haunted house had gotten used to the life there; their ¡®lives¡¯ had been extended via a different kind of method.

    At one in the afternoon, Chen Ge was woken up by the rm. He grabbed his bag and hurried to leave the staff breakroom. He followed the address on the business card and once again found himself in the part of the old town.

    ¡°After so many twists and turns, I am surprised that I have returned to this ce.¡±

    The old town was a sparkling city in itself. The ces that Chen Ge had once visited were only a small part of it. He held the business card and asked the pedestrians along the way before he found the location where the woman worked beside a very old looking residential area.

    ¡°Jiu Hong Housing Agency?¡± Half of the characters on the billboard were missing, and the ss doors were left open like there was something wrong with them that stopped them from closingpletely. The utility pole that faced the door was covered in an array of advertisements. There were those looking for partners, those offering treatment for skin diseases, and of course, the quintessential missing person ads. A few bicycles were ced unevenly next to the utility pole, and one of them even had a punctured tire. From the looks of it, it was purposely done by human hands.

    The tiles that covered the entrance were quite neat, but it was only the small part near the entrance. The tiles around it were all cracked, and if you stepped on one, dirty water would seep out from underneath them. As Jiujiang continued to reap the benefits of industrialization and modernization, most ces in the old town had been given a new breath of life, but this ce was clearly an exception.

    Chen Ge held the business card and nced into the building. On a wooden sofa sat an old man who was sighing. He held a cup of murky tea in his hands. There was the sound of arguinging from inside the house. The argument was so loud that even Chen Ge, who stood outside the building, could hear it clearly.

    ¡°Big sister, the ce that you rmended me is really not to my taste. No matter what, you will need to help us move away from that ce today!¡±

    ¡°Yes, it is not that we are being unreasonable, but who dares to live in a home like that?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Get us away from that ce now! Do you think this is easy for us? If you insist on not doing that, then we wille here every day and create a ruckus!¡±

    A group of people were surrounding the service counter, and emotions were high. It sounded like they had been swindled by the estate agent, and they were demanding retribution.

    ¡°Uncle, what they are arguing about?¡± Chen Ge sneaked into the room. He did not announce his arrival to the workers there bu took a seat next to the old man like they had been good friends for years.

    ¡°Are you here to find a ce to rent as well?¡±

    ¡°Of course, why else would Ie here?¡± Chen Ge took a curious nce at the service counter. The boy¡¯s mother had a bitter expression on her face as she kept trying to exin the situation to the people around her.

    ¡°Do not use the service of this ce no matter what. Hurry and leave while you still can.¡± The old man warned him in a small whisper.

    ¡°Why?¡± Chen Ge had to know.

    ¡°Do not be fooled by your greed. I know that the rental price here is the cheapest around Jiujiang, but...¡± The old man scratched his head. ¡°It is hard to say.¡±

    ¡°Sir, don¡¯t just start the sentence but not finish it. You are only making me even more interested to know what is happening.¡±

    ¡°It is not that I am trying to y with you, but it is mainly because I do not know how to exin it to you myself. In any case, the ces here are very strange. Something is bound to happen. There was a rumor going around that the boss here was in the business of renting out and selling haunted houses where people died.¡± The wrinkles on the old man¡¯s face were folded together. ¡°You know about those ces, right? Their boss knew that people had died into those houses before, but he still rented them out at a very low price without revealing that piece of information to the renters.

    ¡°Coincidentally enough, the renter was an avid ghost story lover. He spent his hours online scouring actual ghost stories, and one night, he saw an article online, and the picture that was used in that article was the house that he was currently living in.¡±

    ¡°I can barely imagine how creepy that must have been.¡± Chen Ge realized that the old man was quite interesting. He even knew about actual ghost stories in the world.

    ¡°Well, you are not wrong that. It almost scared the daylight out of the renter. The bed that he had been sleeping in was once the final resting ce for a dead body, and the bathtub that he used was the ce where a person drowned. Who would be able to take a ¡®surprise¡¯ like that?¡± The old man sighed, and the wrinkles on his face seemed to deepen.

    ¡°Then, did the estate agent allow him to move away?¡±

    ¡°If they did, this would not have been exposed to the neighbors. The estate agent refused to entertain the man¡¯s request of iming his deposit back. The most he would do was find him a new home. The person came from another city, and he still had notnded a firm upation at the city, so he had no choice but to take the offer. And then you will never expect what happened next.¡± The old man put down the cup of tea. ¡°He started to move that afternoon, and the moving continued into the night. When he settled into his new home, the first thing he did was to get online to check if there was any connection between his new home and murder cases, and it turned out...¡±

    ¡°So, what was it this time?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s interest was piqued. He felt that the renter would not be that ¡®lucky¡¯.

    ¡°Thest ce that he moved away from was the site of a murder, and the ce that he had just moved into was the site of a suicide. He tried to peel back part of the walls, and he even found some hairs stuck behind it.¡± Even the old man did not know how to continue.

    ¡°That is just too much. Was the estate agent purposely trying to scam the poor renter?¡± Chen Ge put down his backpack and leaned against the back of the sofa as he adjusted himself into a morefortable position. ¡°Did the estate agent finally agree to help the renter move to a better ce?¡±

    ¡°The man had already been scammed twice. Do you think he would use the service of this ce? Naturally, he demanded the deposit and wished to leave this ce as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°So, this time, the estate agent finally agreed to return to him his deposit?¡±

    ¡°Do you see the tallest fe inside the room? If the estate agent had agreed to return his money, he would not be here today,¡± the old man said with a bitter smile.

    ¡°So, that is the main character from the stories!¡± Chen Ge used Yin Yang Vision to scan the man. The man had very serious eye bags. Even though his frame was tall, he was weak andcking in Yang energy.

    ¡°He was not the only victim of this ce. Since the housing agency¡¯s boss refused to return their deposits, all the victims decided to gang up together to demand an exnation. In the end, the boss refused to meet them, and the boss went straight into hiding, leaving this poor receptionist to deal with the mess every day.¡± The old man sighed. ¡°We have been here many times already, but this boss is a slimy one. He refused to present us with a valid solution, and we still need to go home with our hearts hanging in our throat.¡±

    ¡°Have you guys try calling the police or informing the local reporters? This is truly the mistake of this housing agency. Maybe some formal pressure will get things moving.¡±

    ¡°We have tried all the methods that we could, but it won¡¯t work because every single one of us has our own reason to move away from our homes. Even though we all know that all our reasons, different as they might be, are valid, the people outside might not believe that.¡± This statement from the old man once again aroused Chen Ge¡¯s attention.

    ¡°The reason for moving away is different for each of you? How is that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Take myself for an example. I am the oldest tenant here. Every day, at midnight, I hear the chime of clock. After so many years, I have already gotten used to it, but I only recently found out that all my neighbors are unable to hear the chime at midnight. I am the only one who is able to hear it.¡± The old man sighed helplessly. ¡°I¡¯ve stayed here for so long because I did not know about this, but now that I have found out, how am I supposed to stay here? And this reason will sound preposterous to others. They might not believe me. In fact, some of them already think that I am getting old and say that I have started to hallucinate. Just the mere mention of it incenses me even further!¡±

    The old man stared at the murky cup of tea. ¡°Finding a ce to stay that is suitable to your taste is not easy, but there is one other way. The neighbors are slowly moving away, and the ce is getting deserted. It bes scarier and scarier now I spend my days at that ce all alone at night.¡±

    While Chen Ge and the old man were chatting, the argument at the service counter had reached a new height. The boy¡¯s mother kept bowing and apologizing. Obviously, she was the scapegoat that was pushed out by her boss to suffer the me from the disgruntled tenants.

    ¡°Sir, what are the reasons for these other people to move? It can¡¯t be that every single room at this ce is a haunted, can it?¡±

    ¡°Only the tall guy¡¯s ce is haunted. The reasons for the others are almost simr to mine,¡± the old man whispered back. ¡°The pair that is making the most noise is a couple that has just moved here. They live on the fourth floor. Young people like to stay upte, and there is nothing wrong with that. One night, when they were ying games, the man heard a knock on the window. He thought that the window was not closed properly, so he went to check. But he found out there was a ck shadow waving at him from the room of the opposite building as if it was inviting him to go over there.¡±

    ¡°A ck shadow? What happened then?¡±

    ¡°He thought that was just some trick of the light, so at the beginning, he did not care too much of it. But when he woke up the next morning, he felt a chill just thinking about it. The next day, he made a vigil voluntarily next to the window. At around 2 am, he once again saw the shadow standing on the fourth floor of the opposite building waving at him, calling him to get over there.¡± The old man was a gifted storyteller. His pacing and intonation were well-ced, and even Chen Ge could not help but be drawn into his tales.

    ¡°So, did he go over there?¡±

    ¡°It was right in the middle of the night. Who would do that? He waited until noon the next day before he went over to the opposite building. But people on that floor told him that the room was supposed to be empty. The person who stayed there had moved away a long time ago.

    ¡°And do you think that was all? When he returned that night, he once again waited next to the window. This time, there was no more shadow waving at him from the opposite side, but the ss windows at his ce kept making noises at night, like someone was leaning outside his window and trying to pry his windows open to get in.¡±

    ¡°What the... Now that is a scary thought.¡± Chen Ge ced his hand over his heart. ¡°But could it be a psychological effect, just the man scaring himself?¡±

    ¡°Who can know for sure? But the issue is, these strange events have happened to more than a handful of us.¡± The old man pointed to a student who was filling in a document on the left side of the service counter. ¡°The student often hears a woman¡¯s whisperinging from the room above him, as if she was whispering some kind of secrets to her partner. He thought the sound-proofing between the floor was not that good, so he did not mind it that much. After a week, his neighbor from upstairs came down to warn to stop chatting with people sote at night. Only then did he realize that the woman¡¯s voice did not appear toe from upstairs but probably came from a corner of his own room.¡±

    ¡°That might not be true. Since both the upstairs and downstairs neighbor heard her so clearly, perhaps the woman is hiding between the two floors, and her body is buried inside the cement?¡± Out of habit, Chen Ge could not help but provide his one analysis.

    ¡°Now that you mention it...¡± The old man¡¯s face nched immediately. ¡°It might be true!¡±

    ¡°I was just giving a casual observation. Don¡¯t take it to heart.¡±

    ¡°How can I not?¡± The old man stood up and moved toward the service counter. What Chen Ge had told him gave him a boost, and his desire to move away became even firmer. To help share the burden from the mother¡¯s shoulders, Chen Ge also hurried over. ¡°Please keep the noise now. Arguing will get you nowhere. I will help solve your problem.¡±

    To be honest, the boy¡¯s mother did not have a good first impression of Chen Ge, but when she was surrounded by a mob and Chen Ge came to her rescue, her impression of Chen Ge improved tremendously.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± For many of the tenants, this was their first time meeting Chen Ge. They were at the height of their temper, and since Chen Ge hade as a volunteer, they turned their anger toward him.

    ¡°Who I am is not important. The important thing is that I can help you solve all of your problems.¡± Chen Ge carried his backpack and stood before the crowd. ¡°Can you just give me one night? Since your method is going nowhere, why not give me one night to try? Trust me one time.¡±

    The few tenants were victims of horrible business practice, so to have them trust a stranger was too difficult.

    ¡°What nonsense are you talking about. Why should we trust you? This keeps getting dragged out day after day. You people keep finding excuses to blow us off. At the end of the day, you do not wish to help us with our problems at all...¡±

    ¡°If I am unable to help you solve your problem tonight, then I will rent all of your rooms. The deposit that the estate agent is keeping from you, I will rece it, and the rent that the estate agent refuses to return to you, I willpensate as well. If you still do not believe me, we can sit down and draft up a contract. It will be written down in ink. Whichever party vites the contract will have to give a ten timespensation.¡± After Chen Ge said that, the whole room was silent. All the tenants who wanted to leave stared at him quietly.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Of course, but before any of you go, I need you to tell me everything there is about your room. All the details regarding the strange events that have urred the you.¡± Chen Ge was doing business here. He would not only gain new employees¡ªhe could also help these poor tenants and get the most direct and truthful information from the source. ¡°Alright, please queue up, and we will do this one by one.¡±

    The old man who stood to the side wanted to advise Chen Ge to reconsider this, but seeing how excited the other tenants were, he could only shake his head and keep his words to himself. What the student and the couple told Chen Ge was not much different from what the old man told him earlier.

    The main character there was the tenant who was very tall. He was in a very horrible condition. The two rental experiences had drained him both mentally and physically. ¡°Both of the ces that I rented are haunted. Thendlord ganged up with the housing agency to scam me. If they refuse to give me my money back, I n to go through legal channels to protect my own rights.¡±

    ¡°Are you hiding something from the rest of us?¡± Chen Ge had a feeling that the man was acting strangely, like he had a secret to hide.

    When asked this question by Chen Ge, shock crossed his eyes. He hesitated for a long time before he said, ¡°I do not think you will believe me, but I dreamed about dead people talking to me.¡±

    ¡°Anything is possible in a dream.¡±

    ¡°But the problem is, when I woke up from my dream, I opened my eyes and saw that dead person lying t on the ceiling.¡± The man did not seem to have revealed that information to the other tenants. When he said that, everyone in the room could feel a chill running up their spine.

    ¡°Then, do you still remember what that person told you in your dream?¡±

    ¡°Brother, did you not hear me? The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a dead person lying on my ceiling. Would you remember what they had said in your dream?¡± The man gasped. Whenever he mentioned this, his body would shiver involuntarily.

    ¡°In other words, you have forgotten the things that the person told you.¡± Chen Ge nodded before he moved onto the next question. ¡°How often does this happen? Every night or only asionally?¡±

 Chapter 1071 - Nightmare Residential Area [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1071: Nightmare Residential Area [2 in 1]</h4>

    ¡°The first time it appeared, I was almost scared to death. Do you think I still have the courage to stay there anymore? I am still renting that ce, but I go over to a friend¡¯s ce to sleep at night,¡± the tall man said with a painful expression. ¡°I came to Jiujiang to search for a better life. I still have not found a steady job, but I am almost losing my mind.¡±

    ¡°I can understand your problem. How about this? Tonight, I will go home together with you, and we will go and check out the haunted rooms together.¡± Chen Ge gave his own phone number to all the tenants. ¡°Go back home tonight. I will go and inspect the rooms one by one. I hope everyone will be able to cooperate with me.¡±

    ¡°Why can¡¯t you go and take a look at the ce now? Honestly, I do not dare enter that ce anymore at night. Whenever I step into it, I feel my heart shivering as if someone is staring closely at me.¡± The tall man appeared to have been traumatized by this horrifying experience.

    ¡°You can wait outside the door first. When I arrive, we will go into the room together.¡± Chen Ge asked for the details of everyone that wanted to request for a move away. After he jotted down all the strange phenomena, he finally got them to leave in peace after much persuasion and nudging.

    Seeing the whole pages filled with notes, Chen Ge was rather confused and confounded by it. If none of the tenants were lying, the intensity of the supernatural activity at this residential area was as high as the two-star scenarios at his haunted house. Almost every room was a background for supernatural activity, and they were the kinds that got scarier and scarier, the kind that would make one¡¯s hair stand on end the more one thought about it.

    ¡°Do you really intend to return the money to them?¡± The boy¡¯s mother poured a cup of tea for Chen Ge. ¡°I know you wish to help me, but I advise that you do not get yourself involved in this mess.¡±

    ¡°Things are not so easy on their end either. I am merely taking their concern into consideration. Since I believe I can help them, why not?¡± Chen Ge had his eyes on this residential area as he entered the housing agency, so even if the tenants did not face any problems, he would ¡®create¡¯ some problems so that he could step forward to provide his help. That was the highest height of being a good Samaritan.

    ¡°The group of tenants still do not trust you. They heard that you are willing to pay them back their rent and deposit, and that is why they came up with all those fake stories to scam you.¡± The boy¡¯s mother handed the cup of tea to Chen Ge.

    ¡°You think they are telling fake stories? You do not believe them?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I have been a worker here for so many years. If this ce was really haunted, I would have handed in my resignation letter a long time ago.¡± The woman sighed. ¡°As you know, the economy these days is not so good. They just want to find an excuse to move away without breaking the signed contract.¡±

    ¡°You have worked here for so long, but you have not run into one single strange phenomenon?¡± Chen Ge was rather surprised. The residential area that the woman described was vastly different from the one described by the group of disgruntled tenants.

    ¡°Hiding the fact that a ce was a murder scene was indeed the fault of our agency, but you have to understand that in that case, we are also a victim. It was thendlord who lied to us and kept that from us.¡±

    ¡°Then, it is yourpany¡¯sck of responsibility to not conduct a further investigation. Put yourself in their shoes. If you found out that you and your son have been staying at a murder scene, wouldn¡¯t you feel more than a bit unsettled by it?¡±

    ¡°As a matter of fact, my son and I are currently living at a former murder scene. We bought it about ten years ago, and the price was at least a quarter lower than the market price. We have lived there for a decade, and nothing out of the ordinary has happened. Actually, most of the time, this talk of ghosts is just a matter of the mind. As long as you do not overthink it, it really does not matter whether you are staying at a haunted house or not.¡± The woman was surprisingly courageous but strangely close-minded. She had a determined heart and a gentle way of speaking, so thatbined to make her a perfect receptionist at an estate agency.

    ¡°You are also living at a former murder scene?¡± Chen Ge slowly lifted his head to look at the woman. ¡°And you have been living there for over a decade?¡±

    ¡°That might be difficult for you to grasp, but for a person in the estate agent business like myself, there is nothing that can phase me anymore. Not everyone minds living in ces where other people have once passed away.¡±

    ¡°I mean, have you not run into anything strange urrence in the past ten years? Has your child told you anything out of the ordinary?¡±

    Once the child was brought up, it was as if a wall was built around the woman. She lost her interest in their conversation almost instantly. ¡°Even at his current age, he is barely able to call me ¡®mom¡¯. What out of the ordinary thing could he have told me? I am in your debt for helping me chase them away, but you are trying to wake up a bunch of people who are faking their sleep. They are just trying to scam you. Tomorrow, they will return to demand the promised rent and deposit from you.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you bet on that so fast.¡± Through the short conversation, Chen Ge noticed the problems with the woman. She not only refused to believe in the presence of the supernatural, she would also subconsciously negate and ignore everything that had anything to do with the supernatural. So many tenants hade to her with theints that the ce was haunted, but the woman believed obstinately that they were just a bunch of dissatisfied tenants who wanted to break their rental contract. Furthermore, from her tone and expression, Chen Ge realized that the woman was not faking her belief. It was from the bottom of her heart that she believed that the tenants were trying to create a ruckus, and she refused to be swayed by their stories, not even a bit.

    ¡°Then I won¡¯t disturb you anymore. I will go to the tenants¡¯ ce to take a look.¡± Chen Ge took the white paper that was filled with handwriting and started his preparation for the mission that night. The woman¡¯s son might be the ninth child chosen by the ghost fetus. Getting to know the child and his surrounding living environment would effectively lower the difficulty of the impending mission.

    ¡°I will go with you since there are no customers now. Even if someone doese, they will be scared away by those old tenants.¡± The woman packed her stuff, grabbed a bag, and walked out from behind the service counter.

    ¡°Is that really appropriate?¡±

    ¡°It is our job as estate agent to help our customers take look at their prospective houses. If you really return their deposits to them and take on all their rooms, then you will be one of our biggest clients in the future. How is this not appropriate?¡±

    The two walked down the old, deserted street to enter the rather aged residential area close by.

    ¡°Jin Hwa[1] Apartments and Jiu Hong[2] Apartments used to be separated, but due to some unknown reason, the wall between the two apartments was broken down. Now, the two apartments are in one residential area.¡±

    The woman was a good estate agent. She had memorized all the details regarding this ce in her heart.

    ¡°The one with the brand-new white coat of paint is Jin Hwa Apartments. They were built about twenty-six years ago. Most of our tenants are staying at this ce. Jin Hwa Apartments consists of two separate buildings, A and B, and each apartment building has nine floors. Back when it was built, it was one of the tallest building around the old city. It came equipped with an old-fashioned elevator. By the way, this is where my family lives.

    ¡°The few squatter, gray-looking buildings on the side are Jiu Hong Apartments. There are four buildings in total. Initially, the developer wanted to build many high rises that rose up into the sky, having nine floors as the name suggested, but some kind of problem happened when they built onto the fourth floor. Regardless, the name Jiu Hong Apartments has stuck.¡±

    After entering the residential area, the woman was conspicuously more rxed and at ease.

    ¡°Actually, Jiu Hong Apartments is not a bad ce. They are facing the river that runs through the city on the western and eastern side. On the southern side, there is a small fruit orchard, and it is connected to Jin Hwa Apartments by the northern side. Other than theck of good lightning, it is a good ce to live.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure estate agents can say things like that? Those are just tant lies, right? This ce is so isted that there are barely any people around, and you are telling me this is a good ce to live?¡± Chen Ge took a good look around. The ce where Jiu Hong Apartments was situated was very backwoods. The ce was basically cut off from the rest of the city on both the east and west side by the rivers, and eerie looking woods were situated on the northern side. If the woman did not mention it, he would not have believed it was a ¡®fruit orchard¡¯. Even after the woman had said so, Chen Ge was still not convinced that it was the truth.

    ¡°At least the air here is very fresh, and it is untainted by the city. You have to understand how difficult it is to find a ce as clean as this sanctuary in the middle of a bustling city.¡±

    Once the woman finished, she noticed that Chen Ge had stopped moving. She followed the direction of Chen Ge¡¯s gaze and noticed that Chen Ge was staring at a sign pasted on the wall outside the Block A of Jin Hwa Apartments. The general content was that this ce was haunted and warned people to stay away from it if they could.

    ¡°This is just one of the tricks came up by the tenants, venting their emotions. Ignore it.¡± The woman moved silently to remove the sign. After taking a quick tour, Chen Ge had familiarized himself with theyout of the residential area. Jin Hwa Apartments was connected to Jiu Hong Apartments, and there were two entrances. The bigger and more official entrance was on the side of Jin Hwa Apartments, and the other entrance was closer to Jiu Hong Apartments. It led toward that creepy orchard.

    ¡°Why does the entrance lead to the orchard? What is the purpose of cing it there? Do people go to the orchard often?¡±

    ¡°Initially, the developer of Jiu Hong Apartments nned to design that spot as a bio garden, but the n did not take off. The concept was a bit new-fangled at the time, and many people did not even understand what it meant, so most of the people did not agree, and the n was eventually left abandoned.¡±

    A poor, old, tattered, and eerie location was turned into an untouched natural paradise in the middle of the city by the woman. That was probably her professional skills kicking in.

    ¡°There is no need for you to give the sales pitch. I am here to solve the tenants¡¯ problem, not to find a ce to rent.¡±

    Jin Hwa Apartments looked at least rtively normal. From the surface, it was a typical residential area. Other than theck of tenants and a still quietness, there was nothing wrong with it. In contrast, Jiu Hong Apartments next to it waspletely different. It was the direct opposite of Jin Hwa Apartments. There was not even one human life that could be seen. It was more like a deserted building than an apartment housing area.

    ¡°I say, is this residential areapletely empty?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that bad. There are good old tenants who have lived here for a very long time. The rent here is very cheap, and you can get cheap supplies around the area. After some time, you will get used to it, and you might even find the freedom quite enjoyable.¡±

    ¡°Those who can get used to living at a ce like this are not so simple themselves probably.¡±

    Narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge swept the few old buildings. It was just a quick nce, but he had already noticed some very scary details. On the balcony of the third floor of the first building, there hung a row of wigs. The tenant was probably a hairdresser, but this was the first time that Chen Ge had seen someone dry their rows of wigs out in the sun and rain in such a manner before.

    ¡°What¡¯s up with the wigs?¡±

    ¡°The tenant on the third floor of the first building of Jiu Hong Apartments was a teacher at hairdressing school, but after his school shut down, he brought all the fake head models and wigs home. Since this ce is so close to the water, the air can get pretty humid at times. So, he asionally puts his wigs out in the sun to prevent them from getting moldy.¡± The woman was not lying when she said that she had been living here for years. She was familiar with most of the tenants there.

    ¡°The other tenants have no issue with him doing something like this?¡±

    ¡°He has done nothing wrong. He¡¯s just drying the wigs out in the sunlight. How does it affect others?¡±

    The wigs stood in a row on the third floor. As scary as they were, it was still eptable. His eyes continued to move upward, and on the fourth floor, Chen Ge saw a human shadow standing behind the curtain. Ever since Chen Ge stepped into this ce, the human shadow had not moved from his spot.

    ¡°Do you know who lives on the fourth floor?¡±

    ¡°It is a single middle-aged man. He is rarely seen outside his home. No one knows what he does for a living, but whenever he¡¯s seen, he¡¯s dressed from head to toe in branded clothes.¡±

    ¡°Then, there is a very big problem with that. Why would a person decked out in expensive clothes choose to live in a ce like this?¡± Chen Ge had already memorized the man¡¯s room location in his mind.

    ¡°Who knows? Perhaps he is running away from some debt.¡±

    As his eyes continued to move up, Chen Ge discovered something else on the fifth floor. The room on the leftmost side had the curtain pulled off slightly, and through the gap, half of a binocr and some professional camera equipment were exposed. If not for Chen Ge¡¯s Yin Yang Vision, he would not have caught sight of those things.

    ¡°A peeping tom?¡±

    Out of habit, he turned to the opposite building. There were female undergarments of various colors and even different sizes hung on the balcony of the fifth floor on the second building. If that was just everything, Chen Ge would not have minded it, but the problem was that he noticed many very big and bulging ck stic bags that upied the balcony as well. Who knew what was stuffed inside them?

    ¡°Hey! It is rude for you to stare like that,¡± the woman warned Chen Ge softly. ¡°A pair of sisters live on the fifth floor of the second building. They are both quite young, and they came from the countryside. They are quite innocent and new to the city.¡±

    ¡°Innocent and na&iuml;ve?¡± Standing inside the residential area, Chen Ge already felt a headacheing. The problem with this residential area was much more serious than he thought. Most of the normal tenants were gearing up to leave already, and those who wanted to stay were abnormal to a certain degree. ¡°Other than the ghosts, I will need to be careful of the tenants as well.¡±

    There were too many extenuating factors to consider. It was surprisingly hard to get to know the boy, but at this point, Chen Ge had no other choice but to keep going. After moving around for half an hour, Chen Ge was covered in sweat. He was feeling rather fatigued.

    ¡°Youck physical training. We have not even walked for that long.¡± After this period of interaction with Chen Ge, the woman realized that the man was quite a good person. Even though he mighte up with some strangements and have a naturally suspicious personality, he was quite an interesting person and was quite approachable and kind.

    Chen Ge wiped away the sweat from his forehead. He also felt that this was very weird. He had never had any problem with his physique before. He rarely felt tried, but as the ghost fetus trial mission continued, his physical condition had continued to spiral downward.

    To be aplete person, one must fulfil two conditions&mdash;a coffin that buries the past and a body brimming with life. Could the vessel that the ghost fetus is nning to use be mine? Or perhaps when he ispleted, will I be a defect?

    It was the final day for the ghost fetus mission. Chen Ge knew that allowing his thoughts to wander to impossible ces was not going to help his case, but he could not stop himself. It was as if his body could sense that something bad was about to happen.

    ¡°You do not look so good. Is it from the sun? Do you want to stop by my ce to take a quick rest?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea.¡±

    The woman did not expect Chen Ge to take up her offer so readily. After a pause, she led Chen Ge into Building A of Jin Hwa Apartments. They took the old elevator to the fourth floor. Before they walked out from the elevator, they could hear the screaming and crying of a child.

    ¡°Damn it!¡± The woman jogged to Room 401. She pushed open the door and dashed into it. The ce was aplete mess. stic cups littered the ground, and puddles were everywhere. The fruit basket on the coffee table was overturned, and different kinds of fruit rolled all over the ground.

    Chen Ge followed the woman into the room. He noticed that all the lights in the room was switched on. Not only that, all the drawers and cupboard doors were pulled open. Even the fridge was left open, as if someone had been searching for something inside the room. Side-stepping the fruit and trash on the ground, Chen Ge walked toward the bedroom and then saw a gut-wrenching scene.

    The boy had cried until his eyes had swollen shut. A scary noise wasing out of his mouth. His teeth were tightly gritted together, and the expression on his face spoke of pain. The boy seemed unable to control his emotions. His whacked heavily and repeatedly on the woman, and he even used his mouth to bite on her shoulder.

    ¡°Do you need some help?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Xiang Nuan is just afraid.¡±

    Blood wasing out from her shoulder wound, but the woman maintained her posture. The boy knocked heavily into the woman¡¯s body, but she lightly caressed him, her fingers trailing gingerly down the boy¡¯s back. After a few minutes of this, the boy finally returned to normal. He plonked to the ground and pulled on the woman¡¯s sleeve with an innocent expression on his face.

    Chen Ge had many questions, but to not impose too much on the woman, he waited for a long time before he asked them. ¡°How often does this happen? Why didn¡¯t you just send him to a special ed school?¡±

    ¡°I sincerely do not know where to start.¡± The woman rubbed her shoulder and looked at the boy on the ground. ¡°Xiang Nuan is a bit different from other children.¡±

    [1] Jin Hwa can also mean Golden Shine.

    [2] Jiu Hong can also mean Nine Great.

 Chapter 1072 - The Last Night (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1072: The Last Night (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    ¡°I know you are trying your best to look after him, and you want to do it yourself, but is that really what is the best for the child? The teachers at the special ed school will be far more experienced than both of us. They have been given training and a whole set of systematic methods that are designed to help uniquely gifted kids learn and get an education...¡±

    ¡°How do you know I have not contacted such schools on Xiang Nuan¡¯s behalf before?¡± The woman seemed to have an inherent meaning in her words. ¡°The teachers and doctors at those schools always tried to treat Xiang Nuan as a child with autism, but I do not think Xiang Nuan suffers from autism although I will admit that the symptoms he portrays are rather simr to those who has autism.¡±

    Chen Ge really did not know how to form an opinion of this mother. She was very sharp and astute in a way. If Chen Ge was not mistaken with his guess, he agreed with the mother that Xiang Nuan indeed was not suffering from autism; he merely had something taken away from him by the ghost fetus. The child was stubborn, temperamental, impossible tomunicate with, and always locked himself up in his own little world. His various actions confused others, and he would asionally do things that would harm others and even sometimes harm himself. He seemed to be in a lot of pain, but other than his own mother, no other person in this world seemed to be able to reallyprehend the pain that he was going through. In fact, even his mother did not quite understand what kind of experience her son was going through.

    ¡°Xiang Nuan is very shy around strangers; he has an innate fear of people. I suppose you can view it as a form of paranoia. He believes that everyone is out to get him.¡± The woman entered the bedroom to change into a different undershirt. She held the clothes that she had earlier in her hands. The spot around her shoulder was bleeding. It appeared like Xiang Nuan had chomped heavily into her flesh. ¡°I believe that Xiang Nuan does have paranoia, but then the doctors told me that is impossible because Xiang Nuan is still too young to even have the concept of danger formed in his mind, so he would not have been suffering from paranoia.¡±

    ¡°Then, have the doctors told you how to cure Xiang Nuan¡¯s illness?¡±

    ¡°The doctors also suggested that I send Xiang Nuan to a special ed school and thenbine it with some medicine that they would prescribe, but...¡±

    After some hesitation, the woman finally let her guard down and told Chen Ge the truth.

    ¡°Xiang Nuan often acts up due to the smallest thing. He bites the people around him, he smashes the things that he can grab his hands on, and he is clearly very hostile. Most of the children at the special ed school calm dawn after being aided for some time by the professional teachers, but Xiang Nuan was different. None of the teachers and doctors seemed to be able to do anything to help him. Other than pumping him with heavy doses of sedatives, I am the only one who is able to make him calm down when he goes on a rampage.¡±

    Bringing the bloodied clothes to the washing machine, the woman sighed softly. ¡°I have visited almost all the special ed schools around Jiujiang. Initially, there were some that were willing to take Xiang Nuan on, but after the few incidents and Xiang Nuan¡¯s name got around the small circle, fewer and fewer schools were willing to take him on. They were not afraid that Xiang Nuan might injure the workers or the teachers, but they were afraid that Xiang Nuan might injure himself when he was in their care, and they would not know how to answer to me in that situation. Of course, that could just be their business talk.¡±

    The woman and Chen Ge stood inside the bedroom. Xiang Nuan sat on the ground and toyed with a pair of chopsticks like the rest of them were not even there. He ced one chopstick over the other chopstick and then pulled the bottom chopstick down. He kept repeating this game of his over and over again.

    ¡°He has obvious problems withmunication. He repeats the same strange actions, he has poor recognition ability, and he shows very few facial expressions; these are all typical symptoms of an autistic child. What has really happened to Xiang Nuan?¡± Chen Ge wanted to get to know the boy better. He looked around the room. ¡°When you go to work, do you leave Xiang Nuan at home alone? Where is the boy¡¯s father?¡±

    ¡°When Xiang Nuan was very small, his father died from an illness.¡±

    ¡°I am so sorry.¡±

    ¡°It has been years already. There is nothing to apologize for.¡± The woman knelt beside the bed and pulled out a cloth bag from underneath it. It opened to reveal several hundred wooden chopsticks that were arranged neatly.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Like I said, Xiang Nuan is very different from other kids his age. He does not like to y with toys but instead likes to y with wooden sticks and chopsticks. I personally do not understand why. When I am supposed to be reporting at work, I toss out all of these chopsticks, and he can upy himself with them for the whole day.¡±

    Looking at Xiang Nuan who was quietly building something out of the chopsticks, a smile involuntarily appeared on the woman¡¯s face. ¡°Actually, it is quite cute when he is acting this way.¡±

    ¡°How did you find out he likes to y with chopsticks?¡± Chen Ge was rather curious about this unique hobby that Xiang Nuan had.

    ¡°One time during lunch, I identally ced one extra set of chopsticks on the table. When the food was served, I saw Xiang Nuan picked up the extra chopstick and stick them into his bowl of rice, and then he kept staring at them.¡±

    ¡°Two chopsticks sticking into a bowl of white rice. That is something normally prepared for the dead on the seventh day of their death.¡±

    Chen Ge tried to analyze the situation, but all he was rewarded with was an eye roll from the woman. ¡°I have already told you that I do not believe in this talk of ghosts.¡±

    She ced all the chopsticks beside Xiang Nuan and allowed the boy to y with them on his own. ¡°Normally, when I bring him back from the dam, I take out the chopsticks and have him ce them all over the room, but today, I had to leave in such a hurry that Ipletely forgot about it.¡±

    Xiang Nuan yed with the chopsticks alone inside the bedroom. He was very focused in his task. Chen Ge made use of this opportunity to try to get more information out from the woman, but the reward was pitiable. Compared to the other children selected by the ghost fetus, Xiang Nuan did not appear to have experienced any outside trauma. His life so far was very idyllic and simple; he did not even have the chance to meet any strangers. Chen Ge found it impossible to work out the most despairing event in the boy¡¯s heart, and that meant that he would bepletely lost when he was in the world behind this boy¡¯s door.

    At around dusk, Chen Ge left the woman¡¯s home and took a trip back to New Century Park. That night was thest night for the four-star trial mission, Ghost Fetus. Whether or not he survived to see another day depended on what he did that night. He had everything to lose, so Chen Ge carried all of the ghost employees into theic with him. Other than the lingering spirits that had no fighting ability at all, he did not exclude anyone, not even the white cat.

    ¡°The world behind the door is made from the door pusher¡¯s memory. The appearance of all the Specters is due to their lingering obsession, and the lingering obsessions themselves possess a strong and intense emotional memory. So, when I enter a certain door, the Red Specters and normal Specters will be limited by the rules behind said door. Only by breaking through the memory limitation of the world behind the door will they be able to appear in the world behind the other people¡¯s door, but the white cat is an exception to this rule. It¡¯s just a cat. The rules that target the Specters behind the door will not be able to limit it at all.¡±

    Normally, Chen Ge thought the world behind the door was too dangerous for the white cat to risk it together with him, and he did not believe a single cat would be able to change the oue too much. However, his experience in the world behind Ying Tong¡¯s door had given him a fierce and painful reminder. Any kind of help was valuable behind the door. Furthermore, the white cat had consumed the blood vessels that the Ghost Stories Society had prepared for the Red Specters. Chen Ge had this feeling that this cat¡¯s potential had not been fully realized.

    1¡°You have snacked on the precious blood vessels that the ghost society went to great length to obtain and have gained a lot from it. Now, as thest surviving member of the Ghost Stories Society, it is not too much to ask for you to give me a hand, right?¡± Chen Ge grabbed the bag and wanted to shove the white cat into it, but he was shocked to realize that the bag that he had been using was almost too small for the white cat to fit into anymore. ¡°Your body seems to have grown.¡±

    1Looking at that familiar bag, the white cat¡¯s first intention was to run, but it was one step toote.

    ¡°I knew you wouldn¡¯t leave me alone.¡± Carrying two bags, Chen Ge left the staff breakroom. He walked into the toilet. He looked at the broken mirror from his first nightmare mission and then at the cubicle door that was sealed up by wooden nks. ¡°There is nothing you can do to stop a runaway train. Thus, there is no reason to have fear. It will only disrupt your heart.¡±

    Then Chen Ge lowered his head to look at his shadow. It was like a pool of darkness. Even with the Yin Yang Vision, he was unable to see anything. After consuming Ying Tong¡¯s mud statuette, Chen Ge¡¯s shadow had changed again. There was some response from Zhang Ya, but she still had notpletely woken up. ¡°Now is not the time to wait.¡±

    Walking out from the haunted house, Chen Ge stood at the entrance. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, he stopped and took out the key for the haunted house¡¯s gate and ced it above the fence. ¡°I have been through a lot with the few of my living employees. I trust them with my life. If something happens to me, I know that they will do the right thing.¡±

    Chen Ge had carried away all the baleful Specters and Red Specters, but there were still plenty of lingering spirits at the haunted house like the students from both Mu Yang High School and the School of the Afterlife and Xiaoxiao¡¯s parent and so on. This was a home that they had found after so long; Chen Ge did not want to throw them out again.

    Walking out from New Century Park, Chen Ge waited at the roadside for a cab toe by when he felt a chill run down his spine. He turned back to look and saw a young man wearing a cap way down his head standing across from the street. The rim of the cap covered the upper half of his face, so Chen Ge could not see his eyes and nose, but the strange and fixed smile on his lips was easily observable by Chen Ge.

    ¡°A non-smiler? But the body frame and height are different form the one that I met.¡±

    Chen Ge reacted very quietly. Without breaking a beat, Chen Ge reached into his backpack and pressed on the activation button on the recorder. The light from the streemps became twisted, and the busy streets suddenly quieted down. The young man in the cap did not expect that Chen Ge would summon a Red Specter the moment heid eyes on him, ignoring their surroundings. The smile on his face froze for a moment. He turned and tried to lose Chen Ge in the crowd, but Chen Ge had already summoned a Red Specter, so of course, he was not going to let him go so easily.

    ¡°Did you have to find me at a moment like this? Do you wish to die that much?¡± Chen Ge had hardened his heart. ¡°If a single Red Specter can¡¯t capture you, then I will summon two. If two still can¡¯t get you, then I will call out five. Even if I fill up the whole damn street with Red Specters, you are not getting away this time.¡±

    The ghost fetus mission had ced a lot of pressure on Chen Ge, and it pressed him greatly. He was definitely not in a good mood.

    Normal people were unable to see Red Specters and baleful Specters; those who were more sensitive would at most feel the temperature drop around them. Carrying the two big bags, Chen Ge chased closely behind the young man. Seeing the young man turn the corner and run into a small alley, Chen Ge gave a sigh of relief. It was Chen Ge¡¯s favorite ce in the world, this kind of dark and isted small alley. In such ces, he could do anything he wanted; he did not need to hold back.

    ¡°When you were chased by me, you should¡¯ve headed toward the crowd. The best solution was to hide inside a police station and stay in there for the rest of your life.¡±

    Soon, the young man was caught in a corner. The smile still hung on his face, but the smile in this situation appeared to be quite scary. There was no confrontation, no interrogation. The first thing Chen Ge did when he caught up to the non-smiler was have a Red Specter possess the young man¡¯s body. Compared to using his lips tomunicate with the young man, Chen Ge believed that this kind of method would be far more effective.

    Non-smilers were unique creatures. They were unlike humans, and they were unlike ghosts. Chen Ge had been trying to find out what kind of creature they were, so naturally, he would not let go of this precious opportunity. Chen Ge¡¯s presence appeared to have stunned the young man. Thetter appeared to wish to say something, but he was unable to open his mouth.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will not do anything too bad to you.¡± After Xu Yin and Men Nan crawled into the young man¡¯s body, the young man¡¯s facial expression changed multiple times until the corners of his lips that had been carved into the smile slowly returned to normal. He leaned against the wall and slowly copsed to the ground. He soon lost consciousness.

    ¡°This man is so far weakerpared to the non-smiler from the cursed hospital.¡± When the young man copsed, a patient¡¯s form slipped out from his pocket. Compared to the young man¡¯s fashionable get up, this tattered patient¡¯s form looked rather out of ce. It was probably from years back.

    ¡°He X, died on XX/XX/XXXX at midnight. Cause of death: Overly traumatized during a haunted house visit, causing his heart attack to im his life.

    ¡°To those who happen to find this patient¡¯s form, please hand it to Chen Ge within three days, or else the next one will you be.¡±

    The patient¡¯s form was like those boring curse games that had be popr on the inte several years ago. Such chain messages would normally say, ¡®If you do not share this post within X days, something horrible will happen to you¡¯.

    Chen Ge¡¯s friends rarely sent those kinds of things to him. He wished that someone would so that he could take his employees and follow the trail, paying a visit to the first person who started this silly game and giving them his ¡®blessing¡¯ to let them know how silly this whole thing was.

    ¡°He should be the surname of a young person. He died when he was visiting a haunted house, and on the back of the form, it says that the form has to be handed to me within three days. My name is clearly specified on it, so from the very beginning, I was the target. Does this mean that the non-smilers are trying to reach out to me? Is this a kind of warning, or are they seeking cooperation?¡±

    Chen Ge had encountered several non-smilers in his lifetime. Every one of them had a different ability, but they shared amon simrity. All the non-smilers were extremely cunning and powerful. Cooperating with them was like asking for medicine from a ghost; he should always expect to be betrayed by them. Momentster, Xu Yin and Men Nan left the young man¡¯s body. Xu Yin directly returned to the recorder while Men Nan stayed with Chen Ge.

    ¡°So, what did you find out?¡± Chen Ge inspected the young man¡¯s body and did not find anything out of ce.

    ¡°The young man has a very heavy Yin energy about him. Before Xu Yin and I entered his body, there was another ghost inside his body, but the thing was too cunning. When you summoned us, he left. He abandoned the young man without a second thought.¡±

    ¡°In other words, the young man was possessed by a ghost?¡±

    ¡°You can say that. The young man¡¯s mission appears to be handing you this patient¡¯s form. In a way, their goal has been achieved because the form is now in your possession.¡± Men Nan had a clear mind in his analysis. Among all the Red Specters, he was the most rational.

    ¡°Temporarily, I do not want to have anything to do with the cursed hospital, but I did not expect them toe to me voluntarily.¡± Chen Ge opened the backpack and ced the patient¡¯s form on top of the red high heels. Before he said anything, the words on the form started to wiggle and twist like a strain of hair. Finally, just one sentence was left on the form.

    ¡®You will die tonight.¡¯

    Without waiting for Chen Ge to summon her, the red high heels appeared on her own. Her hand that was wrapped under the bandage grabbed at the patient¡¯s form, and she tried desperately to change the statement on the patient¡¯s form.

    Her body was slowly wavering. After paying what appeared like a great price, she managed to remove the word ¡®you¡¯ from the sentence.

 Chapter 1073 - Death Notice [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1073: Death Notice [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The statement on the patient¡¯s form became¡ª¡¯will die tonight¡¯. It did not specify who would die that night.

    COMMENT

    ¡°The cursed hospital wanted toe after me. This is their curse that I will fail tonight.¡±

    Without showing themselves, hiding in the dark, they wouldplete their kill through unrted individuals. Chen Ge had gained a new understanding of the cursed hospital. They could not be dealt with using the usual methods, so he would have to be extra carefully.

    ¡°Both the non smilers and the cursed hospital are openly trying to stop me, but what is the purpose behind this? Do they want to keep the ghost fetus for themselves? They have such a big appetite...¡±

    Chen Ge put away the patient¡¯s form. After the word ¡®you¡¯ was removed, the patient¡¯s form from the cursed hospital probably could be passed down to another person.

    ¡°Perhaps they just want to put a curse on me and make me weaker so that they will have more confidence toplete the n that they have in the world behind the door.¡±

    The appearance of the cursed hospital at that moment gave Chen Ge a much needed reminder. Other than the ghost fetus, he would need to be careful of the hands of the cursed hospital that night.

    ¡°Before I even got into the door, the conflict has already begun. These people that live in the shadows of the city have a heart that is dirtier than the others.¡±

    They would stoop to the lowest of the lows and would stop at nothing. Topete with these kinds of parties day after day, Chen Ge felt it had not been easy to maintain his own sanity. That in itself was a great achievement. Chen Ge used the young man¡¯s phone to send a message to his family to inform them of his current location before turning to leave. He had much more important things to do that night, so he could not waste too much time there. At 8 pm, Chen Ge took the cab and arrived at Jiu Hong Housing Agency. None of the streetlights were functioning, and the whole street was submerged in darkness as if a monster could jump out at them at any moment.

    ¡°It is now only eight in the evening. Do the people here go to sleep so early?¡±

    Jiu Hong Housing Agency was already closed, so Chen Ge headed toward Jin Hwa Apartments on his own.

    ¡°When I came in the morning, the walls on the both sides of the streets did not appear to have so many flyers on them.¡± Chen Ge stopped moving and turned to look at the wall. All the flyers featured a picture of Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother. They imed that she was a scammer and that she had a less than moral personal life. She was a mistress that was kept by the estate agent¡ªher boss, in other words.

    ¡°These flyers look like they have just been recently pasted on.¡± Chen Ge tore down a random one and noticed that underneath that flyer was a torn corner of what appeared to be a simr flyer. ¡°This feels like someonee every day to paste these flyers, and then they are taken down by another person every day. The person who does thetter is probably Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother, and the former is more likely the tenants who stays at this residential area.¡±

    Walking into Jin Hwa Apartments, Chen Ge felt slightly ufortable. The faded stench hit his nose. The smell was simr to the horrible stench that he had encountered in Ying Tong and Yu Jian¡¯s rooms.

    ¡°This kind of smell will only be found in the rooms of the children who are chosen, but the whole residential area where Xiang Nuan lives reeks of this horrible smell.¡±

    This was a very bad sign. Only Chen Ge was able to sense this smell, and every time he encountered this stench, something bad happened.

    The residential area that night was strangely quiet. A few rooms in the two buildings from Jin Hwa Apartments still had their lights on, but the side for Jiu Hong Apartments waspletely dark. It was as if the whole ce was deserted and unupied. Standing at the mouth of the stairs of Building A, Chen Ge called Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother on her phone. The phone rang for a while before it was answered.

    ¡°Hello, this is Chen Ge. I came to look at some of the rooms from this afternoon.¡± Chen Ge introduced himself. From the other end of the line, he could hear the endless wailing of a child and the sound of things being crashed and thrown around.

    ¡°I am so sorry, but I am in the middle of something...¡± There was a hint of desperation in the woman¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Do you need any help? I am just right below your building. I cane up now.¡± Chen Ge hung up the phone before he got the answer from the woman. After he got into the staircase, he noticed that the smell had thickened. From the surface, Jin Hwa Apartments looked rather normal, but once he stepped into it, he realized that it had not been properly cleaned for a long time already. Trash and useless junk littered the corridors and staircases, and many different advertisement flyers were pasted on the wall. Among them were flyers that contained insulting words about Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother.

    Every flyer had the picture of Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother on it. The woman in the ck and white photo had a calm and collected smile. It formed a stark contrast to the heavily insulting words that followed the rest of the flyer. Chen Ge believed that he had a good eye for people. After their short interaction, he believed that these ims about Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother werepletely unfounded. That could only mean that someone was purposely out to nder her.

    Chen Ge did not take the elevator. He walked down the dirty and unkempt corridor and reached the door of Room 401.

    ¡°Are you alright in there?¡± Even standing outside the door, Chen Ge could hear objects being broken. Momentster came the sound of hurried footsteps, and then the room door was pulled open. Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother stood at the door with two ck stic bags. Her fingers were bleeding. It appeared that they had been cut by ss.

    ¡°I probably won¡¯t be able to follow you to meet up with the tenants tonight. Xiang Nuan suddenly acted up, and even the medicine is not doing any good.¡± The woman was in such an urgency that she ced the stic bags by the door, finished what she had to say, and then was ready to turn back into the room.

    Chen Ge stopped her by grabbing the door to stop it from closing. ¡°You might need an extra pair of hands at a moment like this.¡±

    When he stepped into the room, Chen Ge was assaulted by a horrible stench. The smell was much more intense than any of the children¡¯s homes that he had ever visited in the past.

    ¡°Where did the smelle from?¡± Chen Ge had sniffed this stench out when he first started this four-star trial mission, but so far, he was unable to tell the source of the smell. Initially, he thought the smell came from the candidates that were chosen by the ghost fetus, but after he entered the door to help these children find the parts that they were missing, the stench would disappear like it was never there in the first ce.

    Therefore, Chen Ge had been unable to confirm the source of the stench, but he had a feeling that this answer that had been eluding him for so long would be revealed that night. The living room looked like it had just been visited by a tornado. The floor was littered with water puddles and trash. The cheap cotton sofa had been bitten until there were holes in them. Themps were shattered. The drawers were yanked out from the cupboards and tossed randomly to the side. There was cold food left on the dining table. The woman wanted to stop Chen Ge when she saw he was trying to enter the room, but then the boy¡¯s painful screams came from the bedroom, so she abandoned Chen Ge and hurried toward the bedroom.

    ¡°Xiang Nuan, what¡¯s wrong with you? Can you please tell mummy what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    The answer that the woman got was amp being shattered against the wall. Xiang Nuan did not seem to be in possession of himself. His mouth kept making some strange noises, and he ran about like a headless chicken. However, upon closer inspection, one would realize that he appeared to be looking for something.

    ¡°He is afraid. He is very afraid of something.¡±

    Anxiety, fear, and panic¡ªChen Ge had seen these emotions on the faces of many visitors before, but Xiang Nuan¡¯s emotions cut much deeper than his visitors. The fear appeared toe directly from the bottom of his heart, and it was slowly consuming him little by little.

    As they say, the onlooker sees more of the game.

    Chen Ge took in the mess of a room and reached out to pull the woman back. ¡°Has anyone visited your ce recently? Any strange visitors or people of that sort?¡±

    ¡°No, other than you, there have not been any visitors to my home for a very long time.¡± The woman was in an agitated state. As a mother seeing her son in such a tortured state, it was a kind of torment for her as well.

    ¡°Does he act out like this normally?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but just as you saw this afternoon, he calms down after you give him some constion andfort. The intensity of what¡¯s happening now has never urred. Even the medicine did not prove useful.¡± The woman was on the verge of tears. ¡°Should we call the emergency number? I am so afraid that he will injure himself.¡±

    ¡°If he does not calm down within the next fifteen minutes, then we will have no choice but to send him to the hospital.¡± Chen Ge could not offer a better idea. The boy finally stopped his maddening action when his battery ran out. He copsed on the ground that was covered in chopsticks. Like a hooked fish that was ced onnd, his chest rose and fell intensely.

    To Chen Ge¡¯s surprise was Xiang Nuan¡¯s expression. His teeth were heavily gritted, and he kept making these guttural noises. His facial features were twisted together in hatred, but his eyes were flowing with tears.

    <i>He appears to be asking for help...</i>

    The woman had already taken the steps to pick up Xiang Nuan. She tried tofort her like she normally did. Within his mother¡¯s embrace, Xiang Nuan¡¯s expression slowly returned to normal. He closed his eyes and seemed to have slipped away as fatigue took over. The woman ced Xiang Nuan on his bed. She stood beside him and quietly looked at her soon. Xiang Nuan, who was sleeping, looked not much different from other kids his age. In fact, Chen Ge could say that he was much cuter than most of the kids that he had met.

    This whole scene pulled at Chen Ge¡¯s heart. Chen Ge did not disturb them but stood quietly and guardedly at the door. The woman gave Xiang Nuan¡¯s bedroom a quick clean up. She busied herself until nine o¡¯clock before she left his bedroom. She looked haggard, and the tiredness originated from the bottom of her soul. The woman looked like she needed a much deserved rest. After cleaning Xiang Nuan¡¯s bedroom, she still needed to clean up the mess in a living room, a ce that she had already cleaned up once that afternoon.

    ¡°Let me help you. Normally, I am the one who does the chores around the house anyway.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to go and help those tenants with their homes? It is now already 9 pm. If you stay here any longer, I am not sure how long they will wait for you.¡±

    ¡°It will be fine.¡± Chen Ge was a fast worker. He only needed ten minutes to clean up the room with the woman¡¯s help. At the same time, he used this precious opportunity to study Xiang Nuan¡¯s house. The result was rather disappointing. This was a normal home. There was nothing out of the ordinary that stood out to him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you feel tired that you have to clean and work yourself to the bones day in and day out?¡± Chen Ge did not bring up the flyers that he had seen as he came up the stairs. He wanted to be selective with his words as he slowly pulled the woman out into admitting the truth.

    ¡°I honestly do not know.¡± The woman ced three stic bags at the door and then pressed on her fingers that were covered with bandages. ¡°Before I had Xiang Nuan, I did not even know how to cook. At that time, if you told me this was the life that I would be leading, I would probably ram my head into the wall and choose to end my life on the spot. But now that I have Xiang Nuan, seeing him grow older day after day, I can feel that I am growing up with him as well.¡±

    ¡°Because you have be a mother?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps but perhaps not.¡± The woman massaged her wounded fingers. ¡°I do not ask for much. I just hope that one day I will hear Xiang Nuan call me mom with his own lips.¡±

    Chen Ge nodded as he stood up. ¡°Why don¡¯t I leave you my number? If you run into any trouble in the future and you need help, feel free to give me a call.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°I will go and take a look with the other tenants now. If there are any problems, I will contact you.¡± The woman walked Chen Ge to the door. Once she opened the front door, she was given a full view of the flyers that upied the wall right in front of her house. The whole corridor was filled with her pictures. At that moment, even Chen Ge felt bad for her.

    ¡°Is this the work of the tenants because you refused to give them back their rent?¡± Chen Ge asked in a sensitive whisper.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± The woman shook her head. She was on the verge of a breakdown. ¡°I have no idea who¡¯s behind these horrible rumors. Every morning, when I go to work, this is how I am greeted. The whole corridor will be filled with this nonsense. Even if I tear them all down, they reappear the next day.¡±

    ¡°It must need quite a workforce to put up so many flyers. I am sure you¡¯d notice such arge group when they were operating.¡±

    ¡°Now that you mention it, that is strange. But then again, these flyers are probably pasted when I am at work.¡±

    ¡°To be able to know your schedule and when you will not be home, the culprits are most likely people who live in this neighborhood. They might even be your neighbors.¡± Chen Ge kept his voice lowered in a whisper. ¡°Have they been trying to chase you away?¡±

    ¡°There is that possibility. As you can see, Xiang Nuan is not exactly a quiet boy. The neighbors hate him a lot.¡±

    ¡°Other than these insulting flyers, have they done anything else?¡± Chen Ge felt like he was slowly getting somewhere. ¡°Please do not hide anything from me. These experiences might the reasons behind Xiang Nuan¡¯s illness.¡±

    ¡°Well, I have received some letters...¡±

    ¡°Letters?¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. ¡°Are they threatening letters? Can I take a look at them?¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you go and help the other tenants first while I go and look for them?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge stood at the stairs, and he reminded the woman before he left, ¡°Someone else mighte to find you tonight. You¡¯d better not open the door for them.¡±

    It was thest night for the ghost fetus mission. Everyone involved would give it their all. The woman, who was Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother, would definitely be drawn into it somehow.

    ¡°I will be careful.¡±

    After the door closed, Chen Ge took out theic to summon Xiao Bu and Men Nan and had them guard in front of Xiang Nuan¡¯s home. The cursed hospital probably had their eyes on Xiang Nuan as well. Chen Ge could not afford to be too careful. His mind was working up the memory of the room number of the few tenants. Chen Ge called the number of one of them. The tenant also lived in Building A of Jin Hwa Apartments. his room was just above Xiang Nuan¡¯s room.

    ¡°No one is picking up? But didn¡¯t they promise to meet me tonight?¡± Chen Ge walked up the stairs. The number of flyers had significantly lowered. He soon arrived at the door of the tenant.

    ¡°Is anyone home?¡± Before Chen Ge knocked on the door, he saw an old envelope stuck between the gap of the door.

    ¡°People still correspond with handwritten letters these days?¡± A very bad feeling rose in his heart. He flipped through theic and summoned the water ghost. ¡°Go and peel open that envelope for me.¡±

    The Red Specter had no idea what Chen Ge was up to. He tore open the envelope and took out a bloodied patient¡¯s form from inside.

    ¡°A death notice?¡± The water ghost very innocent opened the patient¡¯s form and recited the statement on it. ¡°Please hand this notice over to Xiang Nuan in the next three days, or the next one will be you.¡±

    Chen Ge took one step backward. ¡°Are you sure it is Xiang Nuan¡¯s name on it?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The water ghost held the envelope and stood where he was. ¡°Howe I feel like something is not right?¡±

    ¡°Looks like the non smilers have not only cursed me. They have cursed Xiang Nuan as well...¡±

    At this point, Chen Ge suddenly stopped. He stood at the corridor and looked around. He realized with consternation that almost all the tenants¡¯ doors had simr envelopes stuck in them.

    ¡°The letters that Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother mentioned wouldn¡¯t be this kind of cursed letter, would it? That cursed hospital appears to have sent these letters to all of the tenants!¡±

    He hurried back to Xiang Nuan¡¯s home and knocked heavily on the door. Momentster, Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother opened the door. She was holding arge paper box and it was filled to the brim with old letters.

    ¡°Chen Ge, why did youe back so soon?¡±

    ¡°These are the letters that you mentioned earlier?¡± Looking at these envelopes, Chen Ge felt his scalp go numb. ¡°You have opened all of them?¡±

    ¡°I have only opened some of them. They are all filled with Xiang Nuan¡¯s death notice.¡± The woman¡¯s face was dim. She did not know that the cursed hospital had channeled all the hatred of every tenant in the whole residential areas onto Xiang Nuan through these letters. Everyone was cursing him, everyone was part of the chain, and everyone wanted him to die.

    Looking at the letters inside the paper box, Chen Ge felt a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu about this.

 Chapter 1074 - Strange Building [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1074: Strange Building [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°When and how did you receive these letters?¡±

    ¡°When I get back from work, the letters are stuck into the door.¡± Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother had not realized the severity of the situation. Hugging the paper box, she merely thought this was a harmless prank. ¡°Initially, I was also shocked by the number of letters and did try to ask a few neighbors about them, but they all refused to talk to me about it.¡±

    ¡°Of course they won¡¯t because it was them who sent you these letters.¡±

    ¡°But why would they do that?¡± Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother¡¯s tone changed slightly. ¡°I will go and demand an exnation from them. If they really insist on chasing me and Xiang Nuan away, we can move. There is no need to resort to something like this.¡±

    ¡°What if the thing that they want is for Xiang Nuan to die?¡± Chen Ge did not reach out to touch that box of letters, instead asking Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother this serious question.

    ¡°Die?¡± Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother sucked in a cold breath. Naturally, she did not expect Chen Ge to tell her something so drastic. ¡°Impossible, we are all neighbors. Yes, I will be the first to admit there have been some altercations between us, but to wish a death upon an innocent child because of that? That¡¯s preposterous.¡±

    ¡°I might¡¯ve agreed with you a long time ago, but after experiencing some stuff, my opinion of humanity has slowly changed. Humanity is a veryplicated concept. Through theyer of skin, you will never truly know what a person is really thinking.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice was kept at a low whisper, and it sounded quite scary. ¡°Every single death notice you are holding represents a person¡¯s collection of hate, curses, and resentment. The reason for Xiang Nuan¡¯s illness is probably rted to them.¡±

    ¡°Then I will go and instantly burn all these letters.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s no use.¡± Chen Ge knew very well even if the letters were incinerated, it would not destroy the non-smilers¡¯ curse. When the death notices were delivered to Xiang Nuan¡¯s home, the curse had already beenpleted. ¡°This is going to be a long night.¡±

    When he saw the abundance of letters, as much as he hated to admit it, Chen Ge believed from the bottom of his heart that the chance of Xiang Nuan surviving that night was incredibly small. The red high heels had a tremendous increase in her power after she consumed the lingering curses from the ghost fetus in the several worlds behind the different children¡¯s door, but even so, she still needed to herself push so far just to remove one character from the patient¡¯s form. That went to show how powerful the curse on this thing was.

    ¡°The cursed hospital is truly a bunch of heartless people. They targeted so many death notices at Xiang Nuan. Even if the ghost fetus seeds in his birth, the vessel that he has gone through pain to find will be consumed by so many curses that he will fall into an extremely weakened state.¡±

    The hospital had never cared about the lives of innocent people. Perhaps, in their eyes, life was just a vessel to transmit the curses, a bridge toplete their goal. As long as it could lead them to their destination, trampling on morality and humanity did not seem to be an issue.

    If the ghost fetus¡¯ evil came from within him, in a wrapping of anger, hatred, envy, and other emotions, the evil from the cursed hospital was pure in the sense that it did not carry any emotion. Before such an adversary, kindness and innocence had no chance of winning. Therefore, to survive, Chen Ge had no choice but to arm his kindness with sharp edges.

    Pa!

    Someone pped on the ground floor, and it lit up all the sound-controlled lights. It appeared that someone wasing up the stairs. Chen Ge signaled for the woman to keep quiet. One minuteter, the old gentleman that Chen Ge had met in the morning appeared round the stairs. He was carrying an empty lunch box in his hand.

    ¡°Xiao Wen, I havee to return the lunch box. How is Xiang Nuan¡¯s condition? Is he better? Even from the ground floor, I could hear things being smashed.¡± The old man appeared simr to how he was in the morning. He was about seventy but still gave off a happy go lucky feeling. He seemed to be interested in everything that happened in the building. If there was a rumor mill running at this ce, this old man would definitely be the one operating it.

    ¡°Xiang Nuan is already asleep.¡± The woman forced a smile on her face. She epted the lunch box from the old man. Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly saw the old man holding an old envelope in his hand. When she saw the letter, the expressions of Chen Ge and her turned ugly.

    The old man was confused by their reaction. ¡°What are you two looking at?¡±

    ¡°Sir, are you also here to deliver the letter?¡± Honestly, Chen Ge had a good impression of this old man. He really did not want to do anything harmful to him.

    ¡°What are you talking about? Oh, this?¡± The old man lifted the letter. ¡°When I left home this morning, I saw this stuck to my door. I have no idea who mailed it to me, but the key problem is that I¡¯m illiterate! When I was young, I was not given an education. At this age, it¡¯s already toote for me to pick up thenguage. Half of my leg has already stepped into the coffin, so why do I care? Furthermore, at this day and age, even someone like me knows how to use a phone, so why would people still mail me letters? I really do not understand it.¡±

    COMMENT

    ¡°You still have not opened the envelope?¡± Chen Ge used Yin Yang Vision and realized that the envelope was indeed unopened. He sighed slightly in relief.

    ¡°Well, since you guys are here, do you mind if I ask Xiao Wen to help me see what the letter is about?¡± Before Chen Ge could stop him, the old man had already opened the letter. He took out the death notice, and his face dropped. ¡°What the... It seems to be a letter from the hospital. Please see what is it about for me.¡±

    The old man passed Xiang Nuan¡¯s death notice to Chen Ge and the woman. His anxiety did not look like it was faked. Chen Ge felt like he could try to help the old man and stop the curse before it had the chance to spread, but before he could say anything, the woman epted the death notice and read out the content of the letter as depicted on it.

    The woman recited thest sentence on the death notice, if the death notice was not handed to Xiang Nuan, the next target would be the recipient.

    ¡°What kind of cruel prank is this? Xiang Nuan is still so young. There has to be some kind of mistake.¡±

    The old man heard that clearly, but even so, he still asked for the letter back.

    ¡°Sir, why don¡¯t you just leave the death notice with me? I have already received so many of them. I do not mind taking yours as well.¡± The woman did not want to drag the old man into her mess. Knowing that the old man did not intend to harm her and Xiang Nuan, that touched her heart deeply.

    ¡°These people are getting more and more ridiculous. Who gave them the right to turn their resentment on you two? Just ignore this thing. Moving away is one thing, but this is a whole different kind of mess. I will have to have to severe talk with them tomorrow.¡± After the old man said that, he grabbed the envelope and went back downstairs.

    <i>Looks like not everyone in the building is a horrible person. There are good people here as well.</i> Chen Ge looked as the old man walk away. Perhaps, in the world behind the door, the old man could prove to be a valuable opening. ¡°What is that old man¡¯s name by the way?¡±

    ¡°His surname is Huang. He lives at Room 104. He is one of the oldest tenants we have here.¡± Upon mentioning the old man, the woman¡¯s face softened greatly. ¡°When Uncle Huang was young, he was badly injured at work. He¡¯s had operations done in both his nose and ears. Then, out of any good career opportunities, he found work as a cleaner at the hospital. Normally, he works in the morgue.¡±

    ¡°So, he spends most of his time with dead bodies?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but unfortunately, it is not a lucrative job. He has been working for most of his life, but his bank ount is still quite empty. Nheless, he is a good and kind person, albeit more than a bit stubborn with his personality.¡± The woman revealed a bitter smile. ¡°He has no children. The room that he stays in was rented to him by the boss. Before this, I tried to set him up with a single middle-aged woman that I know, but he told me, at his age, he did not want to trouble anyone else with his problems anymore, so he told me to call off the date.¡±

    ¡°In the way, the old man has lived quite an interesting life. I can sense his free spirit.¡±

    ¡°I am just thankful that he has no serious illness and no horrible tragedy has befallen him. Normally, I go and take care of him, but if he suddenly falls seriously ill, then it will depend on the neighborhood to get aid for him.¡±

    The old man did not force the death notice onto the woman, and that made the woman feel slightly better.

    ¡°Oh yeah, did he call you Xiao Wen earlier?¡±

    ¡°Yes, my name is Wen Qing, Qing from Qing Tian<sup>1</sup>.¡±

    ¡°Wen Qing? Xiang Nuan?¡± Chen Ge nodded as he memorized these names. ¡°Since there is still some time left, you should stay at the house, and I will go and take a look with the other tenants.¡±

    After a few more words, Chen Ge left while holding his phone. He summoned Xu Yin and walked between Jin Hwa Apartments and Jiu Hong Apartments. He entered each building to take a look, but to his surprise, there was basically no one that stayed around these two neighborhoods.

    ¡°Where have all the tenants gone?¡± The calls all went unanswered. There was no response to his knocking on the door. Chen Ge had the Red Specters enter the room to check them one by one, and they came back with nothing except the light scent of that stench.

    As time passed, the stench around the neighborhood started to intensify and so did the anxiety in Chen Ge¡¯s heart. He stood on the rooftop of the small neighborhood and looked around him. Jiu Hong Apartments and Jin Hwa Apartments seemed to have slowly drifted away from the rest of the world. It felt as if the whole neighborhood was sinking into a dark abyss.

    ¡°This whole neighborhood itself has a huge problem about it. The ghost fetus must haveid some kind of trap here.¡±

    With his experience from dealing with the shadow, Chen Ge had familiarized himself with the thing¡¯s personality. He was sure that he would use multiple traps to ensure that the n would be able to follow through smoothly. So far, none of these things had been exposed, so it could only mean that it had not reached the stage where the ghost fetus had been forced to show his hand.

    Time flew by. To prevent any idents from happening, after taking a tour of these two neighborhoods, Chen Ge soon returned to Xiang Nuan¡¯s home.

    ¡°How did things so?¡±

    ¡°I cannot find any of the tenants. None of the calls are going through. I have a feeling that something bad will happen tonight. Your neighbors all appear to be nning something.¡± Chen Ge took the white cat out from the bag and closed the front door. ¡°But don¡¯t you worry. I will not impose on you for too long, and of course, I will not stay overnight. If everything goes well and nothing goes wrong after 1 am, I will leave immediately.¡±

    Since Chen Ge had already said that, the woman found it difficult to reject him. She shoved all the death notices into the box and nned to take them out from the building and burn them the following morning.

    ¡°Do you want to have something to eat?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, I do not have the habit of dining at another person¡¯s ce.¡± Chen Ge was now in a highly alert mode. He knew that the blood door would appear beside Xiang Nuan¡¯s bed, and the people from cursed hospital woulde to fight for this door as well. At 11:30 pm, the sound of footsteps came from the corridor. The sound was veryplicated. It sounded like people were moving upstairs and downstairs at the same time. But when Chen Ge leaned against the peephole on the door and looked out, he could see no trace of anyone in the corridor. ¡°They have arrived.¡±

    At 11:50 pm, the lights inside the room flickered before they all went out without any warning. The room was immediately dropped into darkness.

    ¡°The switch has flipped? I will go and take a look.¡±

    ¡°Do not move! Stay where you are! Do not get close to any windows or doors!¡± Chen Ge screamed. Using Yin Yang Vision, he looked toward Xiang Nuan¡¯s bedroom. The boy was still lying in his bed. He appeared to be fast asleep. They gave up their defense at the living room. Both Chen Ge and the woman moved into Xiang Nuan¡¯s bedroom. At 11:55 pm, a knocking came from the living room door. Both the woman and Chen Ge¡¯s hearts squeezed.

    ¡°Thankfully, you decided to stay tonight, or else I would not know what to do all alone.¡± As the insistent knocking echoed in the woman¡¯s ears, she could feel the chill crawling up her spine. ¡°Should we go to the front door to take a look?¡±

    ¡°Just stand beside me and do not go anywhere.¡± Chen Ge himself had no idea how scary the cursed hospital was. All he could was be as careful as possible. After the mechanical knocking continued for a while. Suddenly, a child¡¯s voice came from outside the door. ¡°Xiang Nuan, my name is Se Xin. I am here to take you home.¡±

    ¡°Who is this Se Xin?¡± the woman whispered.

    ¡°A dead person.¡± Chen Ge kept his eyes screwed on the living room door. At 11:59 pm, a strange sound wasing from the living room¡¯s door. As the spring moved, the locked door opened on its own. The iron door was slowly pushed open, and it revealed a corridor that was empty.

    COMMENT

    ¡°The door opened? How did they manage to get my house key?¡± Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother heard the sound as well. At that moment, her heart was at her throat. She really did not dare imagine what would have happened to her if Chen Ge did not stop her from going to answer the door earlier.

    ¡°Shush!¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes and stared at the darkness before him. There was something approaching from the corridor, and there was only a living room between them.

    Tik tok, tik tok, tik tok...

    The ticking of the clock sounded like the dripping of blood from a shed wristnding on the ground. When the clock struck midnight, a door that waspletely covered in blood appeared without warning next to Xiang Nuan¡¯s bed!

    This was a real blood door! The scent of blood that came from it was more intense and realistic than any of the previous doors that Chen Ge had encountered!

    Blood vessels and curses spread across the room. The footsteps outside in the corridor picked up. Chen Ge also removed Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s hammer from his backpack. He turned his full attention to the corridor. But at that moment, a woman¡¯s shrill scream came from behind him. ¡°Xiang Nuan! Xiang Nuan!¡±

    Chen Ge turned back to look. Xiang Nuan who was supposed to be asleep in bed had disappeared, and the blood door that was next to his bed had already been pushed open.

    <i>Xiang Nuan has entered the door? This door is not a false door! It is Xiang Nuan¡¯s own door!</i>

    The moment Xiang Nuan entered the door, his mother did not hesitate and moved to follow him. Chen Ge was not left with much choice. He grabbed the backpack, picked up White Tiger, and stepped through the blood door. He tried to close the door, but before his hand could reach the door that was filled with blood, his body and senses were overwhelmed by the sea of red.

    ...

    After slowly opening his eyes, Chen Ge took a cautious look around. He realized that he was still inside Xiang Nuan¡¯s room. The ce had not changed that much, but the furniture inside the room was mostly broken, and signs of disrepair were everywhere.

    ¡°This is Xiang Nuan¡¯s world behind the door? It is barely different from the one in real life, though the stench has disappeared.¡±

    This ce felt more real than the real world. After Chen Ge came to this conclusion, he had an unsettling feeling, but he could not really put his finger on it. Picking up his backpack, Chen Ge tried to summon his employees, but unfortunately, he got no response. He then turned to look beside him. The white cat was lying on its side and waspletely immobile, like the life had been sucked out of it.

    ¡°An ident happened to it when we went through the blood door?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes immediately went red. He quickly reached to pick up the cat. The warmth that came from his fingertips was the first thing that tipped Chen Ge off. He gave the feline a good shake before the cat groaned with dissatisfaction.

    ¡°You even know how to y dead... Isn¡¯t that a dog¡¯s trick? When did you learn to do that?¡±

    2Putting down the white cat, Chen Ge sighed slightly in relief. He picked up the backpack and nned to inspect the room. He was stumped just as he pushed open Xiang Nuan¡¯s bedroom door. Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother was currently fast asleep in bed.

    ¡°Should I wake her?¡± Chen Ge walked into the bedroom. He looked at the woman¡¯s face, but there was a different question that was running through his mind. <i>Is this woman really Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother? If she is, is she the version that is from inside the door or from outside the door?</i>

 Chapter 1075 - Strange Neighbour [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1075: Strange Neighbour [2 in 1]</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    ¡°Hey! Wake up!¡±

    Her eyes slowly fluttered open. When she took in her surrounding, the woman sat up in bed immediately. ¡°Where is Xiang Nuan?¡±

    ¡°Calm down first. Do you still remember who I am?¡± Chen Ge silently put down Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer.

    ¡°Chen Ge?¡±

    ¡°Where did we first meet each other?¡±

    ¡°At the Eastern Jiujiang Dam. Why are you asking me these questions? Can¡¯t you see that Xiang Nuan is missing? We need to go and find him before he injures himself!¡± The woman was desperate, but Chen Ge did not even budge from his position.

    ¡°What did I say specifically at the time that caused Xiang Nuan to finally stop causing all that fuss?¡±

    ¡°I do not think I heard you clearly at the time, but I believe it was ghost fetus?¡±

    ¡°Onest question. Why would I want to kill Xiang Nuan?¡± Chen Ge stared closely at the woman¡¯s face. Hisst question honestly scared and stunned her. The expression was clear on her face.

    ¡°You want to kill Xiang Nuan? No!¡±

    ¡°Okay, looks like you are not one of the monsters behind the door. You are Xiang Nuan¡¯s real mother.¡±

    2The woman¡¯s reaction and expression were allpletely normal. Chen Ge did not stop to exin the reasoning behind his series of questions. Instead, he turned to walk out from the bedroom, and the first thing he did was check the front door of the living room. The door and windows were tightly shut. Only Chen Ge and Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother were inside the room.

    ¡°When I entered the world behind the door of the other children, there was a ck iron door that gave off the smell of disinfectant behind me, but this time, that door has not made its appearance. From the moment I entered the blood door and when I opened my eyes, what really happened?¡±

    Chen Ge was silently contemting these questions when suddenly the woman¡¯s voice came from beside him. ¡°How did I suddenly fall asleep? And where is Xiang Nuan? In my blurry memory, I remember seeing him enter through a door, and then I followed behind him.¡±

    The woman scratched her head. It appeared that she really did not remember what happened next.

    ¡°You sure are lucky. Only those who are dead and those who are dying are normally able to enter that door.¡±

    ¡°Then, doesn¡¯t that mean my son is dying? Were those death notices all real?¡± The woman became worried and agitated again. It was clear that she was sincerely concerned about Xiang Nuan.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not worry too much about Xiang Nuan at the moment. First, I will help you understand the logical reasoning behind all of this. If we wish to find Xiang Nuan, the first thing that we need to do is ensure that we will be able to survive long enough to find him, right? If we die, won¡¯t the chance of Xiang Nuan surviving here all on his own be smaller and smaller?¡± Chen Ge nned toe clean with the woman just in case she did something brash and put both of them in danger. It would be toote to say anything then.

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°Only by keeping ourselves alive will we be able to find Xiang Nuan. And to do that, you have to promise me that you will listen to my every word from now on; do not act on your emotions.¡± Chen Ge lowered his voice. ¡°This world is very different from the real world. In a way, you can see this ce as Xiang Nuan¡¯s nightmare.¡±

    ¡°Xiang Nuan¡¯s nightmare?¡±

    ¡°Even though we are technically in his nightmare, if you die here, you will be dead in every meaning of the word.¡± Chen Ge gave the woman a quick and simple ¡®101 course¡¯ on the world behind the door.

    ¡°But howe I do not see much difference between this ce and the real world?¡±

    ¡°When you see the difference, we will be in great danger.¡± Chen Ge stood inside the room and waved the hammer. He noticed that the physical exhaustion behind this door was incredibly high. He found his breathing catching from the simple exercise. It felt as if there was something lying on his back, madly sucking the life out of him.

    ¡°If this ce is so dangerous, how can we leave Xiang Nuan all on his own? He is defenseless.¡±

    ¡°I know you want to rescue Xiang Nuan, but I hope you remember this one statement¡ªonly by ensuring that you are alive will you be able to save Xiang Nuan. I will not repeat this again, so I hope you will have that memorized in your heart.¡± Chen Ge took a deep breath. ¡°Other than that, I have to tell you one more thing. If we run into any danger, if I can save you, I will try my best to do so, but if saving you is unfortunately not an option, I will choose to leave on my own. I hope you can understand that.¡±

    Chen Ge was being really realistic. After hearing that, the woman nodded. She replied in a soft voice, ¡°Thank you. The fact that you have volunteered to follow me into Xiang Nuan¡¯s door has touched me greatly already. This is all because of Xiang Nuan actually. You could have stayed an outsider, but I have dragged you into this mess. I am so sorry.¡±

    Once the woman phrased it like that, Chen Ge did not know how to reply. There appeared to be some misunderstanding on her side. She had treated Chen Ge as an innocent bystander who was dragged into this dangerous incident.

    ¡°We should stop discussing this for now. Even though the world behind the door is very dangerous, it does not mean that it is a dead end. You know Xiang Nuan very well and are familiar with all his memories. That itself will be invaluable information for us to navigate our way through this ce.¡±

    The world behind the door was weaved from the door pusher¡¯s memory. Exploration the scenario behind the door was in a way reading the past experience of the door pusher¡¯s despair. This time, Chen Ge had Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother as help, so he had a feeling that if they yed their cards right, they should be able to avoid most of the danger.

    ¡°We will start our exploration inside this room. I need you to go and take a good look around and see if there is anything that is different from your house in real life. Check every corner of every room. Do not miss a single detail. Even the smallest details will be able to help us find Xiang Nuan.¡±

    After he said that, Chen Ge walked out from the bedroom. He looked through every single object in his backpack, and he noticed two things that were out of the ordinary.

    The despairing diary entries in Zhang Ya¡¯s bedtime stories had disappeared. Only thest entry remained. The other thing was rted to the red high heels. The other objects in Chen Ge¡¯s backpack appeared to be covered in ayer of dust, but the pair of red high heels was an exception. Under the blood red surface, it appeared like ck threads were slowly congregating.

    ¡°The limitation upon the red high heels behind the door is weak. Is that because she has managed to consume a lot of the ghost fetus¡¯ residual curses?¡± The ghost fetus had chosen nine children as his candidates, and the curses behind most of these children¡¯s door had been consumed by the red high heels. Especially after Ying Tong¡¯s door, her power had increased in intensity. She had be much stronger.

    ¡°This can be considered the only good news that I have for now.¡± Chen Ge was about to go and explore the other ces when Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother¡¯s voice suddenly came from Xiang Nuan¡¯s bedroom.

    ¡°Chen Ge! The chopsticks that I ced under Xiang Nuan¡¯s bed havepletely disappeared!¡±

    Hearing that, Chen Ge rushed into the bedroom. He saw Wen Qing kneeling next to Xiang Nuan¡¯s bed. Her hand was pulling back the bed covers to show the emptiness underneath the bed. Where there should be a huge bag of chopsticks, there was nothing.

    ¡°What do those chopsticks represent to the Xiang Nuan?¡±

    ¡°I honestly cannot tell for sure. The child has a problemmunicating with others, and he does not know how to express himself. It feels as if he has been trapped inside his own world where the logic and rules are only understandable to him alone.¡±

    ¡°Other than the chopsticks, did you discover anything else that is out of ce?¡± Chen Ge picked up the white cat and took out the death notice from the cursed hospital from his backpack. He gave the cat a good sniff of the document, but the white cat did not respond in any way. There did not appear to be any curse lingering on the cursed hospital¡¯s death notice.

    ¡°The death notices that have Xiang Nuan¡¯s name on them have all disappeared as well, as did the school bag that I bought Xiang Nuan...¡±

    ¡°A school bag?¡±

    ¡°Yes, when I first brought Xiang Nuan to a special ed school, I bought him a school bag. I had such great hopes on that day. I thought that things would finally return to normal.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like the schoolbag is a symbol of hope for a better future, but what do the chopsticks represent? Why are these two the only missing things inside this house?¡±

    He thought for a long time but could note up with an answer, so Chen Ge eventually gave up. He gave the same house a close inspection and found a key to the front door and a fruit knife inside the house. Chen Ge pocketed the key and handed the knife over to Wen Qing. ¡°Here, take this in case you need to defend yourself.¡±

    <i>The non-smiler will have entered the door as well. They might appear anywhere. If only I can find them first.</i>

    All the Specters would be limited by the boundaries in the world behind the door. Either the people from the cursed hospital would not be able to show up, or if they did, they would have lost most of their power, meaning they would be in about the same position as Chen Ge, so this would be the perfect opportunity to get rid of them.

    ¡°This house should be safe, but we are going to leave this ce soon. Follow close behind me. No matter what you see or hear, do not make any noise to attract attention to ourselves.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    Chen Ge carried his backpack, but he did not leave from the front door immediately. Instead, he walked to the window to pull open the curtains.

    ¡°This is...¡± The scenery before his eyes could only be described as horrifying. The buildings were all mangled and twisted together. The surfaces of their buildings were mottled like wounds and scabs that were recovering. Narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge looked further into the distance. The few buildings were all covered in a thick ck fog. It appeared that they had fallen into a sea of darkness.

    ¡°The windows can be opened, so this means that we might not necessarily need to use the door enter the other rooms. But it should be extremely dangerous outside the building now. There appears to be something incredibly scary hiding inside the rolling ck fog.¡± Chen Ge could not tell for sure what was hiding inside the fog. The presence that this thing gave off was different from a Specter or a ghost, but it managed to evoke the innate fear within the human heart. ¡°Are they the original tenants behind this door?¡±

    Pulling back the curtain, the heart palpation finally stopped after a long time. ¡°This ce is too dangerous and scary.¡±

    Chen Ge called Wen Qing. The two of them headed to the living room front door. Seeing that Chen Ge was ready to leave, the white cat, who had been ying dead, suddenly ¡®came back to life¡¯ and followed him.

    Upon opening the front door, Chen Ge was hit by a horrible stench. He had a feeling that the stench that had been bothering him all this while originated from this neighborhood.

    Pushing the door one quarter open, Chen Ge walked out first. There were many different objects crowding the corridor, and the floor was filled with ck stains and not so obvious blood stains.

    Yellowed flyers filled up the walls, and the flyers were all insulting words about Wen Qing, but different from the ones in real life, the ck and white picture of Wen Qing on the flyers was no longer one of herself but reced by a headless woman. The whole corridor was filled with the flyers of this headless woman. Just from a nce, it would be able to make a person¡¯s heart skip a beat. The sound of a breath being held came from behind Chen Ge. Wen Qing¡¯s face nched as her eyes straight fixatedly at those flyers stuck to the wall.

    Signaling for Wen Qing to keep quiet, Chen Ge slowly walked ahead a few steps. The stench in the corridor was very heavy, and the air was damp. asionally, something would fall on their heads. They felt like little spiders or the catkin nts. They could feel them, but they could not touch or see what they were.

    ¡°Every single door has a number on it. Xiang Nuan¡¯s house is still Room 401, so we can assume that we are on the fourth floor of Building A.¡±

    In this world behind the door, all the apartment buildings at Jiu Hong Apartments and Jin Hwa Apartments had been mangled and twisted together. The first thing Chen Ge needed to do was reconfirm his current location.

    ¡°401, 402...¡± When Chen Ge reached Room 405, he suddenly stopped. There were many ck trash bags ced next to the door. He opened one of them and saw it was stuffed with bloodied bandages and toilet paper as well as an exorbitant amount of broken needles.

    ¡°Why are there so many broken needles?¡± He was about to open the other bags to take a look when the door to Room 405 suddenly creaked open, and the iron door was pushed open from within. A tall and fat middle-ageddy appeared at the door with a ck stic bag in her hand. Her body was practically overflowing with meat, and she had makeup caked on her face. Her hands were covered in band aids and traces of what appeared to be oil were left on the tips of her fingers. She reeked of cheap perfume, and the smell was heady enough to cover up the horrible stench that came from the ck stic bags.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± The middle-aged woman¡¯s voice was rather scary.

    ¡°I am so sorry. My cat is a rather fussy little thing. He likes to go around and scratch things.¡± Chen Ge picked up the white cat. At the same time, his eyes leaped past the middle-aged woman and looked into the interior of Room 405. The whole room was painted pink. On the tiled floor were some bloody needles and threads. The screen of the television in the living room reflected the shadow of a boy. The boy looked so well, and the lower half of his body was covered in a nket. It was worth noting that the middle of the thin nket was stained red by blood.

    ¡°Why do you keep it if it refuses to be trained? I hate these small critters so much.¡± The woman dropped the stic bag by the door and then mmed the door closed.

    ¡°The woman looks quite hostile,¡± Wen Qing said softly, ¡°but I am familiar with her face. She looks quite simr to the real tenant in Room 405.¡±

    ¡°Then she should be the tenant from Room 405, but her appearance has been tweaked somewhat.¡± Chen Ge lowered his voice. Earlier, he had just opened the ck stic bag for a few seconds when the middle-ageddy came to open the door with the appearance of throwing out rubbish. The higher chance was that she had been hiding behind the door, and she heard themotion from outside.

    ¡°If it is really her, perhaps we can ask her for help.¡±

    ¡°Is this woman trustworthy?¡±

    ¡°In real life, the tenant of Room 405 is a woman living alone. She has a slight frame and is quite reticent. But she has a good personality and is especially kind around children. I think she is one of the few tenants who does not mind Xiang Nuan. She often voluntarilyes to talk to Xiang Nuan and y with him.¡±

    ¡°You have been tricked by her appearance. The tenant of Room 405 is most likely a human trafficker.¡± Chen Ge lowered his voice even more. He leaned into Wen Qing¡¯s ears and said, ¡°When the door opened, the television screen in her home reflected the sofa. On the sofay a boy with a starkly pale face.¡±

    ¡°A boy? Is it Xiang Nuan?¡±

    ¡°He is slightly older than Xiang Nuan, and he lookspletely different from your son.¡±

    ¡°It is not Xiang Nuan? But how can you tell she is a human trafficker?¡± The neighbor that she saw day in and day out was a human trafficker; Wen Qing still had trouble epting that as a fact.

    ¡°The part below the boy¡¯s waist is covered up by a nket, and the nket was sliding down the sofa. The key part was that the middle of the nket was soaked in blood, and the stain was spreading. Obviously, the blood wasing out from inside the nket.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s injured?¡±

    ¡°He is not only injured. His legs have been amputated, and the bleeding has not stopped.¡± What Chen Ge said caused Wen Qing¡¯s hair to stand on end.

    ¡°In real life, these people hide their real personalities under the disguise of humanity, but behind the door, their real self will be exposed. We must be extremely careful, or else we will face a horrifying death.¡±

    After leaving Room 405, Wen Qing still looked no better. Her eyes kept consciously and subconsciously wandering to the ck trash bags that collected around the door of Room 405. ¡°Chen Ge, I am now very worried about Xiang Nuan.¡±

    ¡°There is no reason to get so worked up. What we need to do now is go and find Uncle Huang on the first floor. He might be the only person who is willing to help us in this neighborhood.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s mind was sharp and clear. His determination was as tough as steel, and he would rarely be interrupted by any outside influences.

 Chapter 1076 - Every Room Has a Secret [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1076: Every Room Has a Secret [2 in 1]</h4>

    Chen Ge and Wen Qing decided to go to the first floor to look for the old man Huang first. They walked down the eerie corridor and came to the mouth of the staircase. The iron banister that was painted red was left with the handprints of children. The stairwell twisted downward. The steps were covered with dark red liquid, and stepping on them felt sticky. The windows in the corridor were all sealed shut, blocking out the light. Iron nails the length of one¡¯s half finger were exposed, and if one was careless, one would be scratched by them easily.

    ¡°This ce is so disgusting.¡± Wen Qing was desperate to find Xiang Nuan, but even so, when she saw the condition of the staircase, she could not help but frown. ¡°It feels like someone has been dragging a leaking bag of garbage while they go up and down the stairs. And this has been going on for a while, or else it would not have been caked like this.¡±

    ¡°You are too na?ve. What kind trash would form this kind of ck and red stain?¡±

    ¡°Then, what do you think is behind these stains?¡± Wen Qing picked up the white cat. She seemed to be afraid that the white cat would dirty itself upon touching these disgusting ck and red stains.

    ¡°A heavily injured person or a bleeding body will form ayer of blood residue like this. When the blood slowly dries, it will turn into this kind of color.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the stains on the ground, and for some reason, an incident that happened a very long time ago appeared in his mind.

    When the toilet cubicle at his haunted house first acted strangely, Chen Ge had heard a heavy object being dragged through the door, and it was the same image that had appeared in his mind. A strange, faceless monster was using some kind of tool to drag some bodies down the corridor and staircase.

    ¡°This ce is getting stranger and stranger. We will go to the third floor first. No matter what, remember to be careful.¡± Chen Ge carried his backpack, and his nerves were tense with alertness. After turning the corner, when Chen Ge reached the third floor, he heard the strange noise.

    Creak, creak...

    It was the sound of a door being opened and closed repeatedly.

    There is no wind currently blowing and the windows in the corridor are all sealed shut behind wooden boards. Either the door is moving on its own or someone is opening and closing them again and again.

    Leaning forward to look down the third-floor corridor, at the end of the dark corridor, a front door was swinging back and forth, giving off this shrill and sharp noise.

    ¡°Should we go and take a look?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯d better locate Uncle Huang first. Before we aplish that, it is better we do not find trouble for ourselves to prevent uncontroble ident. Who knows what we will meet in the world behind the door?¡±

    Once Chen Ge said that, the sound of door opening and closing stopped. Chen Ge turned to look, and he saw a young boy¡¯s face poke out from the room at the end of the corridor. The boy had a neck that was much longer than a normal person¡¯s. His head extended out of the door like a snake, and his eyes were staring fixatedly at Chen Ge and Wen Qing.

    ¡°He seems to have discovered us.¡± Wen Qing carried the white cat. ¡°The boy¡¯s gaze is terrifying! Why is he looking at us like that?¡±

    ¡°Just ignore him. We will get to the first floor first.¡± Chen Ge dragged Wen Qing along down the stairs, but that strange boy ran out from the door. Without saying a word, he made to follow Chen Ge and Wen Qing. He merely kept his eyes on the two of them.

    ¡°Are we going to ignore him?¡±

    Chen Ge and Wen Qing continued to move down the stairs, and the boy followed them as well. After knowing that this was someone that they would not be able to shake off, Chen Ge gave up. He stopped moving. Gripping his backpack, he was ready to pull out Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer at any moment.

    ¡°What is your name?¡± The hand that gripped the hilt was white from force, and the green veins pulsed on the back of his hand. Even so, Chen Ge¡¯s voice was soft and kind.

    ¡°My name is Wu You. Are you here to look for someone?¡± The boy sounded very strange. It just gave off a very unnatural feeling. It felt like a mannequin was trying to mimic human conversation. It sounded stilted and wooden.

    He can bemunicated with? Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. Initially, he thought the boy was dumb. After making noises in the world behind the door, that action was no different from actively seeking death.

    ¡°Yes, we are here to look for someone,¡± Wen Qing blurted out because she was too worried about Xiang Nuan.

    ¡°Are you looking for a little boy?¡±

    ¡°Yes! That is right!¡± Wen Qing¡¯s mother¡¯s voice rose out of excitement. She desperately wanted to know Xiang Nuan¡¯s location. This gave her great hope. ¡°The child is not tall, and he looks cute...¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen him.¡± Before waiting for Wen Qing to finish, Wu You said very confidently, ¡°He has gone down the building.¡±

    ¡°Gone down the building? How do you know that he has gone down the building? Did you see that yourself?¡± Wen Qing wanted to confirm again.

    ¡°Yes, I saw that with my own eyes.¡± Wu You did not appear like he was lying.

    Without some hesitation, Wen Qing turned to look at Chen Ge. ¡°Then, should we hurry downward? If we move fast, we might be able to catch up to Xiang Nuan.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge still felt like something was not right with Wu You. He did not want to stay there with the boy any longer. He dragged Wen Qing by her arm and practically dragged her away down the stairs.

    ¡°Wait, the boy did not go down the building this way.¡± Wu You moved to follow them.

    ¡°Then, how did he go down the building?¡±

    ¡°From the window.¡± Wu You pointed at the window that was sealed shut. ¡°With a st, he went down the building.¡±

    A peal ofughter that sounded like a balloon leaking escaped from the boy¡¯s lips. Wu You said with extreme joy as he was dancing and pping, ¡°I was sitting quietly at home, and the window was open. With a ¡®shoo¡¯, he went down the building.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Wen Qing¡¯s face nched. If not for Chen Ge¡¯s firm grip on her shoulder, she would have charged forward to give the boy a good beating.

    ¡°Don¡¯t act so rashly.¡± Chen Ge stood between Wu You and Wen Qing. ¡°The boy lives in the room at the end of the corridor. That is Room 301, and right above it is Room 401, your home. So, theoretically, he could be telling the truth.¡±

    ¡°My Xiang Nuan would definitely not do something like that,¡± Wen Qing replied very confidently.

    ¡°I know, so we¡¯d better go to his ce to see what he is really telling us.¡± After saying that, Chen Ge stared at Wu You. If possible, he wanted to check every single room in this building.

    ¡°It¡¯s true. I really saw it with my own eyes. I wouldn¡¯t lie to you.¡± Wu You followed it up with that strange and eerieughter.

    ¡°Are your parents home? Can we go to your house to take a look?¡± Chen Ge asked softly.

    ¡°My parents will never let strangers into our home, but since they are not at home now, I can quietly sneak you guys in. Come with me.¡± Wu You turned and walked down the dim third-floor corridor. Looking at his back, Chen Ge and Wen Qing now realized that Wu You had a very strange gait. His legs were uneven, and his body was extremely nonuniform. After Wu You had wandered ahead of them, Chen Ge silently whispered to Wen Qing, ¡°Is there someone that looks like Wu You in your memory?¡±

    ¡°Our residential area has quite a number of children. I have not been paying much attention. Furthermore, his face looks rather weird. I do not dare take an extra nce for fear of offending him.¡±

    There was indeed a strange presence about Wu You. He had facial features that were no different from a normal child, but when they were ced on his face, they were simply quite out of ce. It was like the puzzle pieces were correct, but they were each taken from different puzzles.

    ¡°Come here. Why are you guys waiting over there?¡± Wu You waved at Chen Ge and Wen Qing. He led the two adults to his door. The not sorge room was painted ck and white. Toys, color pencils, and many newspapers littered the ground. It suggested that the boy was left alone at home most of the time.

    ¡°I saw him go down the building from this ce.¡± Wu You pointed at the window in the living room. At that moment, the window was closed, and the curtains were drawn shut. ¡°Do you want to go and take a look? After he went down from this ce, his body has stayed there on the ground.¡±

    ¡°Do not go over there. It¡¯s too dangerous,¡± Chen Ge whispered as he pulled on Wen Qing¡¯s elbow. At the same time, he closed the front door behind him. ¡°Wu You, this is your home. It is impolite for us to mess with your things. Why don¡¯t you open the curtain and let us see what is behind it?¡±

    ¡°He was falling with his head facing down. When he passed by the window, he even waved goodbye to me...¡±

    ¡°Stop it! Stop it already!¡± This struck a nerve within Wen Qing. She shrugged off Chen Ge, strode through the living room to the window, and yanked the curtain back with one smooth motion. Various pictures of many different little boys were pasted on the ss window. The boys were captured with different expressions, but the unifying factor was that every single boy had visible wounds on their face. The coge made up a scary image.

    ¡°Was it him? See, I did not lie to you, did I?¡± Wu You pointed to one of the boys on the coge and a very big smile lit up his face.

    ¡°Mad child.¡± Wen Qing was given quite a scare by the faces of these children. It took her quite some time before she managed to recover herself. She forced herself to look through the collection of human faces, and she was unable to find Xiang Nuan¡¯s face among them.

    ¡°Chen Ge, let¡¯s go. I do not wish to stay here anymore.¡± Wen Qing hugged her chest. Her body was shivering badly. It felt like there were multiple pairs of eyes watching her from behind.

    ¡°The boy that you are looking for is not here, huh?¡± The smile disappeared on Wu You¡¯s face. He tore down one of the pictures from the window and pressed it before Wen Qing¡¯s face. ¡°I know this is him! This has to be him! I have not been able to forget his face for a very long time. He was waving at me when he was going down the building!¡±

    A trace of fear crossed Wen Qing¡¯s face as she took a deliberate step back away from the boy. ¡°Chen Ge, let¡¯s hurry up and go!¡±

    ¡°Wait, there¡¯s no need to hurry.¡± Chen Ge used Yin Yang Vision to scan the coge on the window. He reached out and pulled down one of the pictures of the boys. ¡°Wu You, when did you see this boy?¡±

    ¡°I cannot remember anymore. Probably inside the trash bags, or under the sewer, or was it under the table? Inside the cupboard? I cannot remember! There are too many of them! There are so many of them!¡± Wu You¡¯s expression was getting more and more unhinged as his body grew longer and longer.

    ¡°Have you seen this face inside Room 405?¡± The picture of the boy Chen Ge was holding had the painting of a boy who had lost his eyes. He was crawling desperately toward somewhere. It appeared like he was trying to run away. The boy in the picture reminded of the boy inside Room 405. If he looked closer, the boy in the picture indeed looked quite simr to the boy that he had taken a glimpse of earlier.

    ¡°Room 405? Auntie Ding¡¯s room? The boy did indeed go up the stairs with her! Yes! At the time, the boy still had both of his legs!¡± Wu You had identally revealed a cruel truth. Initially, the boy was normal, but in Wu You¡¯s picture, the boy had lost his legs. The boy that Chen Ge had seen in Room 405 had his legs cut off from the knee.

    ¡°Try to think back carefully. Did the boy tell you anything?¡±

    ¡°He asked me to help him. He told me that he misses his home a lot. No wait. He has not told me anything. I have not heard anything. He did not tell me anything! I do not know anything! La!¡±

    ¡°Then, can you tell me more about Auntie Ding?¡±

    ¡°Auntie Ding is a very good person. She cooks a red dessert for me. She loves children a lot, but she will only get mad at bad children. Auntie Ding forbids me from lying. Auntie Ding buys me toys. Auntie Ding treats me better than my own mother.¡± The whole statement sounded like it came right out from a recording. There was no trace of emotion about it. Wu You rattled his lines off from memory and forced them out of his mouth.

    This surprised both Chen Ge and Wen Qing.

    ¡°Auntie Ding will not let the children go out alone at night. The children can only go out at night when they are carried by Auntie Ding. Auntie Ding¡¯s favorite thing in the world is children. Auntie Ding likes to spend time with children...¡±

    Like a broken record, Wu You kept repeating these things. And he spoke faster and faster. The pictures of the boys on the window gave off a staticky sound, as if every picture was trying to peel itself off the window.

    ¡°Chen Ge! We¡¯d better leave! This ce is getting too scary! And something is obviously wrong with the boy!¡± Wen Qing was scared out of her wits. She kept urging Chen Ge, but Chen Ge had managed to calm down. ¡°I think I understand what is going on now. The tenants inside this building are all interconnected with each other. Their stories make up a big twine. The reason Wu You became like this is probably because he saw something he shouldn¡¯t have about Auntie Ding, and he was scared until he became mad by Auntie Ding.¡±

    Chen Ge did not know what exactly happened in real life, but from the information he gleaned from behind the door, that should be the truth. Chen Ge did not leave, but he walked voluntarily toward Wu You. He pressed on Wu You¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Try not to think about that person. She is not here. There are only the few of us in this room, only you and the two of us. She is not here...¡±

    After some persuasion and coaxing, Wu You slowly calmed down and returned to normal. He pasted the picture that he had torn back onto the window, and then he pulled back the curtain. Those who were not there earlier would not be able to tell what had gone wrong.

    ¡°Wu You, when will your father and mother return? Do they know about the children on the window?¡±

    ¡°My father and mother have been gone for a long time. I have been keeping the door open to wait for them to return.¡±

    ¡°What were they going to do when they left homest time?¡±

    ¡°I do not know. The neighbors said they left because they could not stand me anymore because I am such a big liar.¡± A strange smile hung on Wu You¡¯s face. ¡°I¡¯ve never told a lie in my life, but they all said I am nothing but a liar, that every word thates out from my mouth is a lie.¡±

    ¡°Thankfully, the adults see you as a ¡®liar¡¯, or else you would not have been able to survive until now.¡± Chen Ge had a real issue assessing Wu You. He felt like the boy was incredibly clever, and behind the veil of madness was a very brilliant and cunning mind. He wanted to work together with Wu You, but he could not be sure about what the boy¡¯s actual thoughts were. After giving it much consideration, Chen Ge decided to leave for now. He still could not ce his trust in Wu You.

    ¡°You¡¯d better stay here and wait for your parents to return. We might meet each other again tonight.¡±

    Leaving Wu You¡¯s home, Chen Ge was about to tell Wen Qing something when the door opposite from Room 301 was suddenly pushed open.

    A middle-aged man with disheveled hair poked his head out. The expression on his face could only be described as dark and mncholic. Staring in the direction of Room 301, he whispered to Chen Ge, ¡°You¡¯d better stay far away from that boy, or he will cause your death.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that? Why would he cause my death?¡± When Chen Ge entered Wu You¡¯s house, he had closed the door behind him. Unless the man was leaning against the door of Room 301 and eavesdropping on them, he should not have known what Wu You had told them inside the room.

    ¡°The boy is not normal. He caused his parents to die, so if you know what¡¯s good for you, you¡¯d better stay away from him.¡± After saying what was on his mind, the middle-aged man was about to close the door. However, Chen Ge made use of this opening to silently and quickly nced into the man¡¯s room. The heavy smell of alcohol covered up the horrible stench. The room was a mess. Trash and clothing covered the sofa, and posters of women in skimpy clothing filled every inch of the wall.

    Bang!

    The door mmed shut, and Chen Ge signaled for Wen Qing to leave the third floor.

    ¡°What? Is there something wrong with that man as well?¡±

    ¡°A married man would not paste such pictures inside his room. His wife would not allow him to do so. But if he is not married, how do you exin the exorbitant amount of female underwear that cluttered his sofa?¡±

 Chapter 1077 - Smelliest Room [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1077: Smelliest Room [2 in 1]</h4>

    ¡°Female underwear?¡± Wen Qing did not notice these details. But after hearing the warning from Chen Ge, she felt a shiver run down her spine. ¡°So, he is a pervert that goes around stealing people¡¯s underwear?¡±

    ¡°Wu You probably saw his secret as well. That is why he came out to warn us about the boy after he knew we had a chat with Wu You.¡± Chen Ge and Wen Qing stood inside the staircase. Both of them spoke barely above a whisper and ensured that their words were only heard by each other. ¡°But the thing that worries me the most is not the man¡¯s habit of stealing underwear but the words that he told us. Wu You has kept his door open because he has been waiting for his parents toe home, and he stated quite clearly to us that his parents have merely gone out for a walk. However, ording to what the middle-aged man told me, Wu You caused his parents¡¯ death. Wu You¡¯s father and mother are dead because of the boy.¡±

    ¡°You mean to say the person who killed Wu You¡¯s parents is the middle-aged man?¡± After following Chen Ge for some time, Wen Qing¡¯s way of thinking slowly matched up with Chen Ge¡¯s.

    ¡°I suspect it was a group effort. Perhaps no one dealt the killing blow, but everyone was rted to the death of Wu You¡¯s parents.¡± After meeting the three tenants, Chen Ge realized that the apartment had its own inherent rules, and the rules had been agreed upon by the tenants. If anyone dared break the rules, they might be targeted by the rest of the tenants. ¡°After a person witnessed a murder, if they did note forward to report to the police but instead maliciously tried to keep it covered up, then they can be considered an aplice to the murder.¡±

    ¡°Then based on what you said, I feel like Wu You is one poor boy. After we find Xiang Nuan, how about we bring him away with us as well?¡± Wen Qing was a very kind woman, but kindness was the most useless thing for the original tenants of the world behind the door. To survive and flourish there, the first thing one had to abandon was the kindness that resided within humanity.

    ¡°We will discuss that after we find Xiang Nuan.¡± Following the stairs down, Chen Ge and Wen Qing stopped when they reached the second floor. Inside the dim second-floor corridor stood an olddy. She was holding a dirty china bowl, and inside the bowl were some coins and some leftovers. The olddy was originally standing outside one of the doors, and she was trying to turn the doorknob as hard as she could, but no matter how hard she tried, she was unable to get the door to open. When Chen Ge passed by, the olddy spotted him, and she started to make her way toward him. The stained hands waved before Chen Ge. She held the bowl as she made this gargling sound. The whole incident just felt creepy and absurd.

    ¡°Granny Lee?¡± Wen Qing recognized this olddy before them, but when she saw the olddy¡¯s actual appearance, she was given quite a shock.

    ¡°You know her? Is she one of the tenants of your neighborhood as well?¡±

    ¡°She used to be, butter, her son told us that she had wandered off one day. I personally have not seen her in years.¡± Wen Qing¡¯s eyes were filled with shock. ¡°The olddy led an orderly and prim life. Her hair was always in a neat bun, and you would not find a crease on her clothing. She was often spotted alone in the garden taking care of the nts and flowers.¡±

    ¡°Could it be that her son finally lost patience of looking after her, so he told you guys that the olddy had wandered away, but the truth was he had abandoned her?¡±

    ¡°That was his mother, not an object. How could someone abandon their mother just like that?¡±

    ¡°Do not overestimate the good in humanity. It was just a few days ago that I read on the news that a man had buried his incapacitated mother alive. Sometimes, real life is stranger than fiction.¡±

    Wen Qing and Chen Ge stood where they were. The olddy appeared to have suffered from some real trauma. Her mind was not there, and she was unable to bemunicated with. She just kept pushing the bowl toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°Are you hungry?¡± Chen Ge did not mind the olddy¡¯s dirty appearance. He walked toward her and said, ¡°Do you want me to lead you home?¡±

    Through Wen Qing¡¯s brief description, Chen Ge felt like this crazy olddy was one of the ¡®good guys¡¯ and was therefore one of the candidates that he could try to cooperate with. The olddy did not appear like she could even string together aplete sentence. She very urgently shoved the bowl toward Chen Ge, and her throat kept making these strange noises. Chen Ge took out a bill of money and ced it inside the bowl, but the olddy still stubbornly held out her bowl. Her hands were gesturing. Even though Chen Ge still had no idea what she meant, but at least for now, he was sure that she was not looking for money but something else.

    Themotion that they made was quite loud. After they had stood there for about ten seconds, the door of Room 206, the room that was closest to the stairs, suddenly opened.

    ¡°You again.¡± It was a young man who pushed open the door. He was wearing a pair of headphones, and his face was pale like he had not seen the sun for a long time already. ¡°I just chased you away. Why have you returned so soon?¡±

    He looked at the dirty and disheveled olddy with undisguised disgust in his eyes. He walked out from his room and forcibly pulled Chen Ge away from the olddy. ¡°Do not get entangled with this crazy woman, or else she will follow you forever like a shadowy ghost that refuses to leave. I have never seen such a disgusting person in my life.¡±

    So far, this young man from Room 206 was the most normal person Chen Ge had met since he entered the world behind the door. Be it his words, appearance, or physique, he looked simr to a normal person outside the door.

    ¡°Xiao Sun?¡± Wen Qing also recognized this young man, but the young man was unable to recognize her.

    ¡°Do I know you? Never mind, I do not have any interest in making a new friend. I do not need to get a briefing on your life. What I need is for you guys to keep quiet. I am recording a song in there.¡± The young man then shut the door after saying all that.

    ¡°Is that young man the olddy¡¯s family?¡± Chen Ge asked softly.

    ¡°No, Granny Lee stayed in Room 205. Her son has a very ugly grimace on his face like the whole world owes him something. He ispletely unlike Granny Lee.¡±

    ¡°Then, who was that Xiao Sun? The feeling that he gave me waspletely different from the other tenants that we have met so far.¡± Chen Ge looked at the door to Room 206. As he interacted with more and more tenants, he became more and more confused. This was Xiang Nuan¡¯s world behind the door. How exactly were these people linked to Xiang Nuan? What was the nature of their rtionship with the little boy?

    ¡°Xiao Sun was a university student, and he liked to sing. He used to stay in Room 206 of Jin Hwa Apartments. At the time, he paid a half year¡¯s rent in one go, but strangely enough, he moved away on the second month without any notice. He did not ask for the rest of his rent or the deposit back. He even left behind most of his items and furniture. Thendlordined to me about it quite a lot back then.¡±

    ¡°What did you think of Xiao Sun? What kind of person is he?¡±

    ¡°He rarely left his room, and now that I think about it, I did not remember seeing him going to ss. He did not like to speak to others and would only asionally leave his room to go and buy some everyday groceries in bulk. To me, he is a quintessential shut-in.¡±

    ¡°A very normal shut-in that disappeared mysteriously from your residential area after two months.¡± When the door opened earlier, Chen Ge had used Yin Yang Vision to look into the Room 206. He noticed that there were several cracks on the wall, and the wallpaper had peeled back a lot. The interior of Room 206 wascking and needed some good refurbishing.

    ¡°Why would you say that he mysteriously disappeared? Perhaps some emergency came up and he had to leave without informing thendlord. By the way, I heard from thendlord that Xiao Sun¡¯s room was a mess, and his furniture was seriously damaged. Perhaps he was worried that he would be forced to pay the repair fee, so he sneaked away in the middle of the night.¡±

    ¡°When a sheep is staying with a herd of wolves, what do you think will happen to the sheep?¡±

    ¡°What is it that you are trying to say?¡±

    ¡°If he does not turn himself into a wolf, then he will be the wolves¡¯ dinner. When everyone is an aplice and you are not willing toe one, you will end up as a victim.¡±

    Granny Lee heard what Chen Ge said clearly. Interestingly enough, the apparently mad Granny Lee started to calm down. She seemed to understand Chen Ge. Granny Lee¡¯s reaction was within Chen Ge¡¯s expectations. He was purposely discussing Xiao Sun¡¯s situation before Granny Lee because he wanted to see and test her reaction.

    It was difficult to survive behind the door. Every ¡®person¡¯ had their own way of survival, their own method of not being killed. Wu You was a born liar, and Granny Lee became a mad woman. Xiao Sun appeared the most normal, and thus, he was also in the most dangerous situation. Of course, if he had promised¡¯, then it would be a different story.

    The hands that were holding the china bowl shook violently. Granny Lee was unable to speak, but at least she had stopped her strange action. She merely followed quietly behind Chen Ge and refused to leave. Everything was simr to what Xiao Sun had described. Granny Lee was like a ¡®shadowy ghost¡¯ and could not be chased away no matter what.

    ¡°Xiao Sun should have experienced something simr. If my guess is not wrong, Granny Lee was actually trying to warn him, or rather, she was trying to use this kind of method to get help from Xiao Sun.¡± Chen Ge was curious as to why Granny Lee had lost the ability to speak. In Wen Qing¡¯s memory, the olddy did not have any problem with her voice.

    Is it because she can¡¯t speak, or is she too afraid to speak?

    They did not stop for long on the second floor. Chen Ge and Wen Qing, with Granny Lee trailing behind them, arrived at the first floor.

    ¡°Uncle Huang stays in Room 104. There are three rooms that are upied on the first floor. The other three rooms have been modified into a storeroom and a garage.¡± Wen Qing also believed that Uncle Huang was a trustworthy person, so she showed more desperation than Chen Ge. She ran straight to Room 104 and knocked on the door.

    While Wen Qing was doing that, Chen Ge took his time to study the corridor of the first door. Unlike the world behind Ying Tong¡¯s door, the interior of this apartment was not knotted in an endless circle. The exit to the staircase was right before them, but the way that should lead them out was blocked by a rusted iron door. And the door was locked. To leave, one needed the key.

    ¡°The way out has been locked. If Xiang Nuan does not have the key, then he should still be somewhere inside this building, but what if Xiang Nuan is the one who has been holding on to the key?¡±

    Chen Ge had been inside this door for quite some time already, but he still had no clear idea what was going on. He could not see a clear sign of Xiang Nuan¡¯s despair. What he saw instead was the source of despair for the other tenants. In a way, Xiang Nuan was more like a spectator of other people¡¯s misery.

    The corridor of the first floor has the most blood stains, and the ck and red blood has seeped into the tiles. Even blood thread-like patterns have appeared on the wall. This floor might be more dangerous than the previous floor.

    While Chen Ge was busy analyzing all that, the door to Room 104 was opened, and then Chen Ge heard a shocked gasp from Wen Qing.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Chen Ge turned back to look, and he too was given quite a shock. The iron door to Room 104 was open, and an old man with a serious hunchback stood at the door. His body was practically bent in half like there was something very heavy pressing down on him on his shoulders. If that was everything, Chen Ge would not have reacted so drastically. The scariest thing was the old man¡¯s face. The face that was filled with wrinkles was covered in bite marks. The bite marks were of different depths and sizes; they appeared to havee from different people.

    ¡°Uncle Huang?¡± Chen Ge asked uncertainly. He tried to make himself sound as normal as possible.

    ¡°My surname is Huang. How can I help you?¡± The old man shuffled out of his room. An indescribably horrible smell came out from inside his room.

    ¡°Uncle Huang, I am Wen Qing...¡± Wen Qing exined with her brows deeply furrowed.

    ¡°Wen Qing?¡±

    ¡°Do you not remember me? I often cook lunch for you. One time, when you were sick, I even took you to the hospital. I spend every day taking care of you whenever I can.¡±

    What Wen Qing had just revealed was news to Chen Ge as well. He had no idea she had been taking care of Uncle Huang.

    ¡°I am sorry, but I am so old that my mind is not working so well. Are you a tenant here as well?¡± The old man was totally confused. His body appeared to be incredibly fragile, and he would cough between every word.

    ¡°Of course, I live at room...¡±

    ¡°Uncle Huang, we wish to ask you something.¡± Chen Ge stepped in to interrupt Wen Qing. He did not allow her to continue. Actually, he had already noticed this anomaly a long time ago. All the people that they had met behind the door appeared to have no knowledge of Wen Qing. This woman who was supposedly the most important person in Xiang Nuan¡¯s life was aplete nk in his world behind the door. The flyers that insulted Wen Qing all had her pictures turned into the picture of a headless woman.

    Earlier, Xiao Sun had no memory of Wen Qing, and now even Uncle Huang could not recognize Wen Qing. This was definitely not a coincidence. It was Xiang Nuan who opened the door. Chen Ge had a feeling that Xiang Nuan was purposely trying to protect Wen Qing. He did not want Wen Qing to have any connection with his world of nightmares. Even if he had fallen into the darkest abyss, he wanted his mother to stay in the world of warmth and kind humanity.

    The idea is not bad, but he probably did not expect that Wen Qing would follow him through the door.

    Chen Ge did not voice this out loud. He was merely thinking about it in his mind. The most important thing now was to figure out whether Uncle Huang was on their side or not.

    ¡°What do you wish to find out?¡± The old man¡¯s condition appeared to worsen. With his hand on the door, his back was bent even lower.

    ¡°Sir, has someone left from the exit before?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Recently, it has been quite chaotic outside this building, so thendlord added a lock to protect the tenants from the outside threat. The key is with thendlord, so to leave, you will need to find thendlord.¡±

    In one single sentence, Uncle Huang had revealed so much important information. The outside world was chaotic, so they at least knew something of the other apartments. This whole residential area wasmunal, and they were rted to each other.

    The lock was applied by thendlord, so if Chen Ge wanted to leave, they had to get the key from thendlord. Finally, what Uncle Huang said reminded Chen Ge of something. At least inside this apartment, thendlord was an important character. Chen Ge might havepletely forgotten about him if not for Uncle Huang¡¯s reminder.

    Before entering this door, due to the time constraint, he did not have the time to get to know thendlord. Now he could only try to assess the situation through Wen Qing¡¯s understanding of thendlord.

    ¡°Is there anything else? If not, I am going to go to rest. At my age, my legs get tired after standing for too long.¡± Uncle Huang was about to close the door, but halfway through, Chen Ge reached out to grab at his door.

    ¡°Sir, can we go inside your ce to rest?¡±

    The stench inside Uncle Huang¡¯s room was heavy and thick. It was the smelliest room they had encountered. Chen Ge had a feeling that there was a secret hidden there. Even if Uncle Huang did not give his permission, he would figure out a way to get in to investigate.

    ¡°Be my guest.¡± Uncle Huang surprisingly did not deny Chen Ge¡¯s rather unreasonable request. He appeared to be really tired. After saying that, he held onto the wall and returned to his seat in the living room.

    Looking at the couch, Wen Qing felt her head go numb. The back of the couch was filled with sharp needles that appeared like blood vessels.

    When Uncle Huang leaned into the couch, the expression on his face rxed with satisfaction.

    Wen Qing wanted to warn Chen Ge, but Chen Ge had already stridden into the room. It was as if he could not see all these scary and creepy things. He treated the ce like his own house and very casually found a seat opposite Uncle Huang.

 Chapter 1078 - Who Is the Killer? (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1078: Who Is the Killer? (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    Wen Qing took a careful look at the two people in the room, and she felt a headacheing. They were in such a strange and creepy ce, but neither Chen Ge nor Uncle Huang seemed to notice that. She did not know whether she was overacting because she had too little experience or these two¡¯s understanding of the world had gone far beyond the conceptualization of a normal person. After much hesitation, Wen Qing finally walked into the room. But she did not dare sleep, she merely stood behind Chen Ge.

    1Uncle Huang practically copsed on the couch. He looked like he paid Chen Ge no mind at all and slowly closed his eyes. His body appeared to have grown attached to the sofa, and that was not a figure of speech. The blood vessels from the couch entangled around him, joining Uncle Huang to the couch. With no disturbance, Chen Ge made use of this rare opportunity to assess his surroundings. Theyout of this room was rather different from the other rooms they had encountered. It was much smaller than a normal room. The kitchen and the toilet upied the same space, and there was only one bedroom and one living room.

    ¡°Compared to Wen Qing¡¯s home, this ce is missing a bedroom and a kitchen.¡± Chen Ge suspected that the source of the stench came from the missing rooms. He sat for some time on the couch and even took some time to examine the blood vessels on the couch. Strangely enough, when Chen Ge sat on the couch, the blood vessels looked like red streaks of decoration, but when Uncle Huang upied the couch, the blood vessels came to life like little snakes. They gyrated on the stained couch, looking quite scary while they were at it.

    ¡°The blood vessels inside under the stain inside this room can only recognize Uncle Huang. They will only show their true form when they are around Uncle Huang.¡± Chen Ge did not quite understand the rtionship between the blood vessels and Uncle Huang, so the only thing to do was to ask the old man about it, but Uncle Huang appeared to be asleep. The wrinkles on his face were closely folded together. He had not said a single word since he dropped down on the couch, and his body was slowly sinking into the couch.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I do not think Uncle Huang will be able to help us in his state.¡± Wen Qing was feeling quite disappointed. Before she arrived, she had very high hopes for Uncle Huang, but the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

    ¡°Earlier, you told me that it was his boss who rented this room for Uncle Huang, correct?¡±

    ¡°Yes, what about it?¡±

    ¡°Then, between you and him, who moved into this residential area first?¡± Chen Ge asked.

    ¡°When Xiang Nuan and I moved here, Uncle Huang had been staying here for a while already. His boss was quite a nice person. He knew that Uncle Huang had no ce to go in the city, so he rented this room to him for a very low price.¡±

    ¡°Uncle Huang got into an ident at work. Do you know how much his bosspensated him for his injury?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I never thought to ask Uncle Huang about it. After all, that was his private business.¡± Wen Qing was quite confused about why Chen Ge was asking her about these things.

    ¡°Have you noticed that only this room¡¯syout is different from the other rooms in this apartment. This ce is missing both a kitchen and a bedroom...¡± Chen Ge paced around the room. His fingers glided down the wall before they stopped at the wall that was right next to the main bedroom. ¡°Based on theyout of your own home, there should be a door here that leads to the guest bedroom.¡±

    His fingers dug into the wall, and they came back with some ck and red stains in his fingernails. ¡°The surface is coated with ayer of white paint, but underneath it was all this ck and red stuff.¡±

    The reason Chen Ge could discover this was due to the stench, the stench that apparently he alone was able to smell. From the moment he entered Uncle Huang¡¯s room, he had been trying to search for the source of the smell, but he had failed to find it. It was not inside any of the open rooms. After some analysis, he had gone to the spot where the smell was thickest. ¡°The smell is leaking out through this particr wall.¡±

    Chen Ge turned back to look. Uncle Huang was still curled up on the couch. It was as if no matter what Chen Ge did, it would not rouse Uncle Huang. ¡°There is a hidden room here, and the smell in this ce originates from that ce.¡±

    His fingers kept working. The paint on the wall was loose from the moisture. There was no cement or bricks behind the paint. Instead, the wall was made up of the unknown ck and red building material.

    Half of Chen Ge¡¯s finger had already dug into the wall. The sense of touch that came from his fingertip changed. It felt like he had touched a thinyer of blood vessels. Pulling back his finger, Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision and looked through the hole. What he saw was a maze that was made of the thing that looked like blood capiries. Between the gaps in the ¡®blood vessel¡¯, Chen Ge spotted an eye looking back at him.

    ¡°Is there a dead body on the other side of the wall?¡±

    Opening his backpack, Chen Ge silently took out Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s hammer.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I am going to break down this wall.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve been in here less than five minutes, and the owner of this ce is still sleeping.¡±

    ¡°Hence, this is the perfect time for us to make our move.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you want to do this?¡± Wen Qing felt that Chen Ge was being irrational. What Chen Ge intended to do would definitely anger Uncle Huang. Why would they make another enemy for no reason?

    When the two spoke, Uncle Huang, who was submerged in the couch, appeared to have recovered somewhat. He turned his head with great difficulty to look at them and then croaked out, ¡°Have you two not left?¡±

    Seeing Uncle Huang had woken up, Chen Ge expertly and silently shoved the hammer back into his backpack. ¡°Sir, this ce has been rented to you, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the owner of this ce is not staying here, so they rented me this ce to have me take care of it for them. That is the perfect arrangement because I was looking for a ce to stay as well.¡± Uncle Huang¡¯s mannerisms and tone did not changepared to before. It was as if no matter what happened, the way he spoke would be the same, and it would never change.

    ¡°Got it.¡± Chen Ge nodded.

    ¡°If there is nothing else, perhaps you should go. I feel like calling it a day.¡± Uncle Huang slowly stood up. The blood vessels on the couch returned to normal. It was as if those strange things had never happened before. With his body trembling, Uncle Huang walked to the bedroom door. He coughed several times. His physique was so fragile that he had to walk by holding onto the wall. When he was at the door to the bedroom, one of his fingers tapped lightly on the wall that was next to the bedroom door.

    ¡°Close the door on your way out. I am getting more and more tiredtely. If you have any questions, you should go and ask thendlord. He lives on the top floor, but he appears to have a bad temper, so you should be careful when you approach him.¡± Uncle Huang, whose tone had not changed since they met him, suddenly increased his tone, to stress his words careful.

    ¡°Then we shan¡¯t disturb your rest. If you have any clues or if you have seen that boy, you can contact us anytime. We will be around the building.¡± Chen Ge practically dragged Wen Qing out of Uncle Huang¡¯s room. When they left, they did close the door for Uncle Huang as he requested.

    ¡°I realize your mind changes as swiftly as the wind. At one moment, you were ready to break the door, but now you are so ready to leave. It was not easy for us to find Uncle Huang. At least we should have asked him more questions before we left,¡± Wen Qingmented with some regret. ¡°He has lived here for a very long time. He knows more about this residential area¡¯s secrets than I do. You have wasted such a perfect opportunity. Speaking of which, why did you suddenly want to demolish the wall earlier? I felt like Uncle Huang was spooked by you.¡±

    ¡°You only saw the surfaceyer.¡± Chen Ge did not go into detail. He turned to take a nce at Granny Lee. When he and Wen Qing entered Uncle Huang¡¯s room, Granny Lee, who had been following them, did not dare enter with them. She merely waited quietly outside the door.

    ¡°Then should we go back in to ask Uncle Huang for more details?¡±

    ¡°There is no need to do so.¡± There were certain things that Chen Ge could not say out loud. He realized that it was not that Uncle Huang did not want to help them, but he did not dare help them directly. When they first met Uncle Huang behind the door, both Chen Ge and Wen Qing were shocked by his appearance. Honestly, this version of Uncle Huang was the stuff of nightmares; bitemarks covered his face, and he looked rather unapproachable.

    At the time, Chen Ge started to have his suspicions. Could it be that the Uncle Huang inside the door was different from the Uncle Huang outside the door? Even this old man had a secret and malicious side that he had not shown others. It was normal for Chen Ge to have this suspicion due to thebination of the old man¡¯s scary appearance and the horrible stench in the room. But as time went on, Chen Ge slowly realized that was not the case.

    When he practically demanded that they enter Uncle Huang¡¯s room, thetter agreed easily. As slow of a talker as he was, there was no trace of rejection in his voice. It was as if Uncle Huang had been waiting for people to visit him. But what was there to see inside the creepy, dirty room of a single old man that reeked of a horrible stench?

    After entering the room, Uncle Huang acted as normal as normal could be behind the door, but something still tugged at Chen Ge¡¯s suspicion. After Uncle Huang copsed on the couch, he closed his eyes directly. He did not mind what the two strangers did inside his house. This was the detail that confused Chen Ge. He felt like Uncle Huang was purposely inviting them into his room for them to observe and study it.

    Chen Ge indeed saw some problems. He noticed that theyout and the size of the room was not right. There were probably two hidden rooms inside the ce. Just as Chen Ge was trying to prove that theory by breaking down the wall, Uncle Huang had ¡®just so happened¡¯ to wake up. Even though he had not said a direct word about it, his actions proved that he was trying to stop Chen Ge. If he did not wake up, Chen Ge might really have taken a swing at the wall.

    From this, it might appear that Uncle Huang was worried that his secret had been exposed, but after giving it some thought, Chen Ge felt that he could have been trying to protect Chen Ge and Wen Qing. He did not want to pit them against the tenants of the building too early. One small action by Uncle Huang before he retired to his bedroom confirmed Chen Ge¡¯s suspicion. When Uncle Huang walked to the door of his bedroom, his finger tapped lightly on the wall next to the door. The spot where his fingernded was on the same level as the hole that Chen Ge had dug out on the wall. Uncle Huang probably wanted to use this method to tell Chen Ge that his suspicion was not unfounded; there was indeed something inside the wall. He did not dare say it out loud, so he could only use this method to warn Chen Ge.

    <i>Uncle Huang should be one of the good guys, but how did he manage to survive behind the door? What kind of job does he do to keep his life intact?</i>

    Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of what Wen Qing had told him earlier. After Uncle Huang was injured at world, he found himself a job at the morgue to look after the dead bodies and do some simple cleaning.

    <i>Could the wall be hiding a whole room of dead bodies behind it? And Uncle Huang is the guardian of the dead bodies?</i>

    Uncle Huang¡¯s parting words mentioned thendlord and even stressed for them to be careful. Now that he connected the dots, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes slowly widened.

    <i>Uncle Huang has been helping thendlord guard the bodies?</i>

    Even Chen Ge was shocked by the conclusion that he came to. He did not share his theory with anyone but silently memorized it in his heart.

    <i>If that¡¯s the truth, then the most dangerous character in this building should be thendlord. Perhaps every single tragedy at this building was rted to thisndlord.</i>

    Thendlord must have known about the many tragedies and scary events that had urred in his building, but he did not seem to have done anything to stop it.

    <i>Perhaps the realndlord is already dead, and the bodies buried behind the wall are the actual dead bodies of the realndlord¡¯s family.</i>

    Gripping his backpack tightly, Chen Ge had a n forming in his mind. ¡°Wen Qing, we will go to find thendlord now. He has the key to leave this building. So, he should know whether Xiang Nuan has left this building or not.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Wen Qing did not know Chen Ge¡¯s real n. Actually, Chen Ge had his sight set on thendlord already. Currently, thendlord still did not know about his and Wen Qing¡¯s presence in his building. The sess rate would be high if theyunched an ambush on thendlord. After a brief discussion, Chen Ge and Wen Qing were about to head up the stairs when a loud scream came from above.

    ¡°What happened now?¡±

    ¡°Do not panic. The first thing we need to do is ensure our own safety.¡± Not only did Chen Ge and Wen Qing hear that scream, many of the tenants heard it as well. After the harrowing wail, the sound of doors opening echoed through the apartment block. It sounded like many people hade out from their homes.

    ¡°The scream appears to havee from the fifth floor.¡±

    Chen Ge, Wen Qing, and Granny Lee slowly climbed up the steps. When they passed the third floor, they saw the middle-aged man with the collection of female underwear inside his room also exiting his house. After a brief greeting, the group headed up the stairs together.

    <i>Why is he interested in this as well? He does not look like the kind of person who would be kind enough to go to the scene of an ident to help. He does not strike me as a good Samaritan.</i>

    When they arrived at the fifth floor, Chen Ge noticed that the corridor was already packed. There were a few familiar faces among them. They included the university student Xiao Sun and Auntie Ding. Around five to six people were gathered around the entrance to Room 504. They were whispering among themselves. Chen Ge was standing too far away to hear what they were talking about.

    ¡°What happened here? Do you know?¡± Chen Ge whispered to ask Xiao Sun.

    ¡°Someone was murdered! It happened in Room 504!¡± Xiao Sun¡¯s face was nched like a sheet of white paper. This was the first time he had encountered something like this.

    ¡°A murder?¡± Chen Ge looked in the direction of Room 504. The living room was soaked in blood, and the wall was filled with scary paintings that were made out of red blood strokes. All the furniture was covered in sttered blood. A girl sat among the pool of blood, and she was the one who was wailing. She cried while holding the dead body of a middle-aged man in her arms.

    ¡°Was it the girl screaming all along?¡±

    ¡°I also just arrived here.¡± Xiao Sun shielded his face behind his hands. He only dared to look through the gaps between his fingers. Wen Qing wanted to get a closer look, but she was stopped by Chen Ge. ¡°Someone is dead. There is blood everywhere. You¡¯d better be prepared for the sight. I must warn you, it is not one for one with a weak stomach.¡±

    Just from Chen Ge¡¯s description, Wen Qing felt her stomach rolling already. ¡°It has nothing to do with Xiang Nuan, right?¡±

    ¡°No, the victim is a middle-aged man.¡±

    ¡°Then, I do not think I will go any further. I do not need to see this.¡±

    ¡°Shush, watch your words. The situation now is very unusual and dangerous.¡± Chen Ge lowered his voice. ¡°The door that leads out of this apartment is locked, and the key is with thendlord. If the murderer is not thendlord, then the killer must still be in this building. He might be hiding amid the crowd at this moment.¡±

    Wen Qing understood what Chen Ge meant. She sidled up closer to Chen Ge carefully.

    ¡°The tenants of this building have their own rules that they have already established among themselves. The death of this middle-aged man has shaken practically every tenant in the building, so it does not look like this was a job of one of the other tenants.

    1¡°If the other tenants have been ruled out, other than thendlord, the only possible people who would dare to so openly vite the consensus within the building must be an outsider.¡±

    As this thought crossed his mind, Chen Ge took another look at the drawing painted using fresh blood inside the room. He noticed that most of the paintings had some kind of rtion to curses. He appeared to have seen simr paintings in Li Wan City and the old city before.

 Chapter 1079 - Sin and Greater Sin

    <h4>Chapter 1079: Sin and Greater Sin</h4>

    ¡°What happened?¡± More and more people gathered at the fifth-floor corridor. Many tenants ran over. Chen Ge dragged Wen Qing to the corner. It was not the time to get mixed up. Xiang Nuan¡¯s blood door did not disappear. When Chen Ge entered the door, the monster from the living room followed. At the time, he tried to close the door, but he was not the door pusher, so that was beyond his capacity. Chen Ge suspected that the monster following them was the killer, but only he knew about the monster¡¯s presence.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to figure out a way to lead the tenants to find and locate that monster.¡± Looking at the gore inside the room, Chen Ge took a light breath. To act so brazenly behind another person¡¯s door, the monster from the cursed hospital must have some kind of back up. ¡°The cursed hospital¡¯s study on the door should have begun much earlier than mine. They understand these ¡®doors¡¯ better than I do. Perhaps the world that is filled with danger in my eyes looks different to them.¡±

    The cursed hospital had cultivated many monsters like the non smilers. These people had lost their consciousness and humanity. All they did was smile; they would be forever hated, perfect to survive behind the door. Standing in the corner, as Chen Ge listened to the discussion among the tenants, he tried toe up with a solution as fast as he could.

    ¡°It¡¯s quite easy to see why the outsider would kill someone. The front door is locked, so they can¡¯t leave this building. This means that they need a safehouse to hide in. After killing the owner, that means that they will be able to hide inside that room and use that room as a secure spot to continue observing and investigating the rest of the building.¡±

    From this, it showed the different side of how Chen Ge and the cursed hospital dealt with things. The bottom line for the cursed hospital was much lower. In their eyes, the ¡®people¡¯ behind the door could not be counted as people. As long as it was to their benefit, they could be killed without any question.

    ¡°That was not a bad idea, but some kind of ident probably happened during the process and caused them to abandon this room and go searching for another room.¡±

    With that in mind, Chen Ge looked at the girl inside the room hugging the dead body. ¡°Is the reason for that this little girl?¡±

    Using Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge did not find anything too special about the girl. She looked soft and weak,pletely unthreatening.

    ¡°Move out of the way! Don¡¯t block my way!¡±

    While Chen Ge was thinking, a young man¡¯s voice came from the sixth floor. He turned back to look and saw a disheveled man rushing down the stairs. This man looked more desperate than the other tenants.

    ¡°Yan Er!¡± The young man was calling an unfamiliar name. When the girl inside the room heard his voice, she cried harder. Pushing his way through the crowd, when the young man arrived at Room 504, he was stunned. He froze at the door, the energy slowly leaving his body.

    ¡°Big brother...¡± The girl¡¯s face was covered in blood and tears. She looked both pitiable and scary.

    ¡°What happened here?¡± The young man stepped into the room and knelt next to the middle-aged man. His body was shaking like he could not believe what he was seeing. The girl finally found a sanctuary. With tears in her eyes, she started to narrate what happened earlier.

    The girl¡¯s name was Qu Yan. She shared Room 504 with her father, Qu Gui. Her older brother, Qu Yin, and his girlfriend stayed above them in Room 601. Qu Yan had the habit of sleeping early, and since her father had serious snoring issues, she would close the bedroom door every night. But earlier, when Qu Yan was fast asleep, she heard strange noisesing from inside her room. It sounded like mice biting on the closet or something crawling under the bed.

    Qu Yan was frightened, so she quickly switched on the bedsidemp. There was nothing that suggested anything was wrong, but Qu Yan could not fall back to sleep; her mind kept wandering, feeling eyes on her from underneath the bed or inside the closet. She tossed and turned. The more she thought about it, the more scared she became. She wrapped herself in her nket and left her bedroom to find her father.

    Knocking on her father¡¯s door, Qu Yan told her father that she was scared because it felt like someone else had entered the room. Qu Gui tried his best to console Qu Yan, but honestly, he did not think much of what she said. Seeing that Qu Yan was reluctant to go back to her own bedroom, he sumbed and allowed Qu Yan to sleep in his room. He told Qu Yan that he would guard the living room and stop any bad guys from entering. That way, Qu Yan could sleep soundly. After bidding Qu Yan good night, the middle-aged man left his bedroom for the living room.

    After her father left, Qu Yan was still quite unsettled due to being left alone, so she went to lock the door.

    A few minutester, when Qu Yan felt like sleeping again, she suddenly heard the doorknob of the bedroom behind twisted. She only heard it once. When the person realized that the bedroom door was locked, they stopped doing it. That banished sleep from Qu Yan¡¯s mind. She called her father¡¯s name loudly, but no one answered from the living room. Fear wrapped around her heart, and she screamed louder and louder until knocking came from the door of the living room. The neighbors¡¯ voices could be heard outside the front door. She then decided to open the bedroom door to check.

    The moment she opened the door, her mind went nk. The whole living room was covered in blood. Her father was syed out in the middle of the room, unmoving. The girl had no idea when she opened the front door. The neighbors probably just wanted the girl to be quiet so that they could rest, but when they saw the scene inside the room, even they were stunned.

    ¡°The entrance of this apartment is locked. The murderer must be still in the building!¡± Qu Yin tried his best to calm down. He resisted the sadness. With bloodshot eyes, he stared at the gathered neighbors. ¡°The person that killed my father is now inside this building!¡±

    The neighbors looked at each other. The familiar faces that they saw daily had a murderer hiding among them. That was a scary thought.

    Looking at the pained expression on Qu Yan and Qu Yin¡¯s faces, Chen Ge had confusion running through his mind.

    ¡°Qu Yan was the one who first discovered that something was off. She felt like a stranger had infiltrated their home, and she was proven rightter, but how did that person manage to sneak in so silently? The person probably had the key to Qu Yan¡¯s home and knew the ce very well. Combining all that happened after that and the appearance, and timing, howe it feels like for me the greatest suspect is the older brother, Qu Yin?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s analysis was not unfounded. He had followed the police on multiple cases. He was quite familiar with investigation, logical construction, and the chain of evidence.

    ¡°Qu Yin lives on the sixth floor, right above the fifth floor, so he would have heard Qu Yan¡¯s screams, but he was not the first to the scene. In fact, he arrived muchter. What was he doing during this period? Changing out of his bloody clothes? Cleaning the blood stains from his hands?¡±

    His eyes wandering between Qu Yin and Qu Yan. Actually, Chen Ge had a more brazen suspicion. The killer could have been Qu Yan too. This could have all been staged, but the chance of that was not big. After all, in terms of motive, why would any of them kill Qu Gui?

    Chen Ge initially suspected that the killer was from the cursed hospital, but things did not appear to be that simple. Things became muchplicated. Chen Ge¡¯s mind from spinning. As he eavesdropped on the neighbors, he found out that the rtionship between Qu Yin and Qu Gui was bad, and it was due to the Qu Yin¡¯s girlfriend. It was the reason Qu Yin had moved out. Qu Yin had the motive, but it was not that strong a motive. After all, Qu Gui was his father; he would not kill him for his girlfriend, right?

    ¡°The walls are painted with cursed pictures, so the actual killer should be the monster from the cursed hospital. There is no question about that. However, I feel like someone is assisting these monsters from the cursed hospital.¡± Chen Ge kept his eyes on Qu Yin. ¡°The people from the cursed hospital has probably formed some kind of contract with Qu Yin. The monster helped kill Qu Gui while Qu Yin helped to provide them with a cover. That way, it was an exchange of benefits, but it tied both of them to the same boat as well.¡±

    The monster from the cursed hospital understood the rules behind the door better than Chen Ge. That came from years of studying, and they knew how to easily obtain the door for themselves. With threats and benefits, they could get anyone to work with them.

    Before sin, there was deeper sin. The monster from the cursed hospital was not afraid that they would be scammed.

    ¡°I seem to have underestimated that cursed hospital.¡± Chen Ge dragged Wen Qing back a few more steps. They melted into the crowd to avoid Qu Yin¡¯s sight.

 Chapter 1080 - A Good Person Couldnâ€™t Be Bad For Once? [3 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1080: A Good Person Couldn¡¯t Be Bad For Once? [3 in 1]</h4>

    Qu Yin was one of the tenants. He was also the victim¡¯s son and a member of themunity that adhered to the rules within the apartment. If this person came out and used Chen Ge of being the murderer, then the spotlight would be instantly shone on Chen Ge and Wen Qing. It would turn the situation from bad to worse. Out of such consideration, Chen Ge dragged Wen Qing to hide in the corner.

    Qu Yin hugged Qu Yan. The two siblings felt great loss and pain. The neighbors showed pity, and everyone appeared normal, or more urately, everyone tried to make themselves make the most normal reaction in the circumstances. The demons who had on the disguise of human skin had gathered together. Every single of them had their own agenda, and no one could really tell what they were nning.

    ¡°Wen Qing, we should proceed on our quest to find thendlord.¡± Chen Ge did not wish to stay there any longer. He had a very bad feeling in his heart. He knew that the people from the cursed hospital had entered the door, and the monster from the cursed hospital knew about him and Wen Qing¡¯s presence. The fact that they had chosen to cooperate with the original tenants behind the door was probably a way to force Chen Ge to show himself.

    Now that someone had died in the building, to investigate the killer, Qu Yin had a reason to knock on every door. This gave him a valid reason to go into every room to take a look. If someone refused, that meant that they had a guilty conscience, and that would prove that they were the killer.

    ¡°Such a wicked method. They had the actual murderer go and investigate the potential murderers. The real murderer is hiding among the family of the victim, practically hiding in in sight, but he will be ignored by the rest of the tenants.¡±

    The cursed hospital did so for two reasons. One, they could now openly investigate every single room behind the door, and two, they could easily pin the me on Chen Ge. They could have pitted Chen Ge against the entire building of tenants. It was truly killing two birds with one stone.

    ¡°The group of monsters are familiar with the rules behind the door. Even though being inside the door has greatly limited their power, they are not that easy to deal with.¡±

    This was officially the first time Chen Ge had crossed swords with the cursed hospital. Behind someone else¡¯s door, both parties were trying their best to trick and scam the other.

    ¡°Even if you want me to take the me, it depends on whether you have that capability or not. You might end up picking up the stone and having it dropped on your own two feet.¡±

    To be fair, Chen Ge was not that worried. The rules within the apartment were broken. Even though the neighbors wanted to catch this person who had vited the room, every room had their own secret to hide. It would not be easy for Qu Yin to gain ess to these neighbors¡¯ rooms.

    ¡°For those who have darkness in their heart, once you infiltrate into their private space and discover their secret, it means you have made an enemy out of them. Even if they do not kill you straight away, the seed for murder will be buried in their heart.¡±

    Chen Ge took onest look at Qu Yin before leaving together with Wen Qing. The two silently retreated to the stairwell, and Granny Lee followed behind them. The three first went to the sixth floor. Chen Ge stood outside Qu Yin¡¯s room door. He stood at the peephole¡¯s blind spot and used Ghost Ear to listen in on the door. There was a woman talking to herself inside the room. But the more Chen Ge listened to her, the more he felt like she wasmunicating with someone. Unfortunately, only Chen Ge appeared to be able to hear her.

    ¡°This woman should be Qu Yin¡¯s girlfriend.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the door to Room 601, and he was feeling conflicted. If he knocked down the door and entered the room now, there was a very high chance that he would find the evidence to prove that Qu Yin had murdered his father. Perhaps he could catch the monster from the cursed hospital hiding inside the room as well. But he was afraid of an ident. If his spection was wrong, then he would instantly be turned into the prime suspect.

    ¡°The other party is spreading out a web for their wicked n. This web will slowly tighten until I am eventually trapped inside.¡±

    The monster was clever, but Chen Ge was too sharp. After he saw Qu Yin, he had figured out many things.

    ¡°If the cursed hospital has really worked together with Qu Yin, that puts me at a serious disadvantage. Instead of letting this drag out and allow the situation to get out of my hand, why not end it here and now?¡±

    There was only a door between them. Even the monster from the cursed hospital probably would not have imagined Chen Ge would be standing right outside the door at that moment. He knocked lightly on the door. Chen Ge was not only sharp; he was determined. Yes, he would hesitate asionally, but he would not spend too long hesitating. When the door was knocked on, the whispering of the woman inside the room instantly disappeared. It became incredibly quiet.

    ¡°At this moment, the person inside the room should have sneaked to the door and is try to observe the situation outside the room through the peephole.¡± Chen Ge had contemted all the possibilities. When he knocked on the door, he pulled Granny Lee and posited her before the door at the same time. He knocked on the door again, and they waited for a while before the front door was opened a gap. The person inside the room had probably confirmed through the peephole who was outside the door. They realized that it was only Granny Lee before they opened the door. Perhaps from their perspective, a mad old woman was no threat to them. Even if their secret was discovered, it would not have mattered because who would believe the words of an unhinged person?

    ¡°Stop knocking on my door. There are no leftovers at my ce. Go and find your own son for help. If you continue to harass me, I will go and report you to thendlord and have you chased out from this apartment,¡± the woman warned viciously.

    However, Granny Lee only stood where she was; she did not answer. The woman scolded the poor old woman a few more times before she prepared to close the door. The door was pulled back, but the woman suddenly realized that she was unable to shut the door no matter how hard she tried. When she lowered her head to look, her body broke out in cold sweat. There was a hand that gripped the edge of the door tightly and refused to let go.

    ¡°Who is it?¡±

    ¡°Do not worry, I just have some questions that I need to ask you.¡± With his hand on the door, after ensuring that the woman was unable to force the door shut, Chen Ge showed himself with an ingratiating smile.

    ¡°What do you want to know?¡±

    ¡°The fewer people who know about this, the better. Why don¡¯t we go inside first?¡± Chen Ge pulled the front door open. He did not give the woman any chance to deny and forced his way into the room. The whole process urred within the blink of an eye. Before the woman could react, Chen Ge was already standing in her living room.

    ¡°Who the hell are you?¡± The woman raised her voice. Chen Ge gave the woman a once over. He was actually already prepared to tear the whole ce down. If the woman screamed loudly for help, he would rush forward to mp his hand over her lips and apprehend her in the process. Chen Ge did not give her any response. The first thing he did was confirm the location of the bathroom and walked toward it.

    ¡°Stop right there! Where are you going?¡± The woman moved to stop Chen Ge, but when she caught up to him, Chen Ge had already pushed open the door of the bathroom. A bunch of dirty clothes were ced inside the dryer, and a few pairs of dirty shoes were abandoned at the corner of the room. Using Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge failed to find any trace of blood on the bunch of clothes.

    Was I wrong?

    His eyes wandered over to the sink, and Chen Ge hit the jackpot. There was a small stain of blood that was left on the edge of the sink. Moreover, there was blood that was not yet properly cleaned inside the gap of the bathroom tiles.

    ¡°There are droplets around the rim of the sink, and the room smells of soap. That can only mean that someone was using this room to clean up the blood evidence a few moments ago!¡±

    The many different circumstantial clues told Chen Ge that his hypothesis was not wrong. ¡°Qu Gui was stabbed to death by a sharp weapon. The whole crime scene was filled with blood stter, so the murderer would have been covered in blood as well. There must be other traces of blood inside the house!¡±

    With the possession of Yin Yang Vision, Ghost Ear, and Spirit Sniff, in a way, Chen Ge was no worse than an investigative officer who had years of experience under his belt. It would be very difficult to slip one by him. The blood stain in the sink confirmed Chen Ge¡¯s supposition. That propelled him to make a braver action. After leaving the bathroom, without saying anything, Chen Ge moved on to the bedroom and started to investigate it.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± The woman¡¯s voice turned shrill, a sign of panic, but it was already toote to stop Chen Ge. He had already pushed open the door of the first bedroom. The room was not tidy, the closet door was hanging open, and a truckload of clothes were abandoned on the king size bed. The only ce in this bedroom that wasrge enough to hide a person was underneath the bed, so Chen Ge swiftly walked over and peeled back the covers. After seeing no one was down there, he walked out of the bedroom and headed toward the guest bedroom.

    ¡°Stop! That¡¯s enough!¡± The woman gripped Chen Ge by his arm. She pulled on him so tightly that her fingers had dug into Chen Ge¡¯s skin. She was looking like a banshee at that moment, but probably the woman herself did not even realize that.

    ¡°Why are you trying so hard to stop me? Is it because there is a secret that cannot be discovered hiding inside this room?¡± Chen Ge forced his way to the guest bedroom, but before he got to the door, the sound of the window being opened came out from inside the door!

    It appeared like the window had not been opened for a long time, so it lodged there before it gave. The person inside the room pushed twice before the window creaked noisily open.

    ¡°There is someone inside the room!¡± Chen Ge ignored the woman¡¯s protestation and grabbed at the doorknob and tried to push it open. The bedroom door was locked from the inside. Chen Ge aimed at the lock and kicked it several times before he finally got the wooden door to break down. Therge piece of red colored curtain was fluttering inside the bedroom; the bedroom window was open. A blood trail lingered on the windowsill. Someone had just abandoned this room through the window.

    ¡°The person sure is mad. To not expose himself, he chose to escape from the window.¡± The ck smoke surrounding the residential area was the hiding ce for many extremely scary monsters. When he faced the ck fog, even Chen Ge¡¯s heart could not help but shiver, much less entertain the thought of walking into the ck fog himself. Chen Ge walked to the window and looked down. All he could see was the ck fog; there was no trace of a person.

    The woman beside him could not stop screaming and cursing at Chen Ge, but Chen Ge did not seem to mind it at all. The woman had made such a loud ruckus that the tenants who were already tense from the murder quickly rushed over when they heard the woman¡¯s scream.

    ¡°Honey, are you alright?¡± Qu Yin¡¯s voice came from the corridor. When he ran into the room, he saw Chen Ge and his own girlfriend pulling on each other at the door to the guest bedroom.

    ¡°Ah Yin, this person has barged into the room and started to destroy our furniture!¡± The woman appeared to have seen her savior. She ran to Qu Yin¡¯s side helplessly. More and more people gathered in the corridor. The neighbors regarded Chen Ge with unkind gazes. At that moment, he was pushed to the tip of the cliff; one wrong move and he would be swallowed up by the dangerous mob.

    ¡°Brother, calm down first. I think, if anything, you should thank me.¡± Chen Ge was not going to be frightened by this situation; he had been in much worse conundrums. At that moment, he was as calm as ever. He pointed at the bedroom door that he had kicked down and very calmly asked the crying woman, ¡°Did I break down this door or not?¡±

    With the matter of fact tone and the even cadence, even Wen Qing who stood next to Chen Ge thought that Chen Ge was being a bit too arrogant like he was purposely saying these words to get a rise out of the woman or the man.

    ¡°Ah Yin, this person is crazy! After he charged into the room, he bustled everywhere and even kicked down the door to our bedroom!¡± Qu Yin¡¯s girlfriendined. It looked like she was about to start crying again.

    Hearing his girlfriend¡¯sint, Qu Yin¡¯s expression darkened immediately. That was because he knew what or rather who was hiding inside that guest bedroom. Now his mind was working toe up with an exnation to this problem.

    ¡°The reason I kicked the door down was because the door was locked from the inside.¡± Chen Ge turned to face the group of neighbors and pointed his finger at Qu Yin¡¯s girlfriend. ¡°Brother, at the time, your girlfriend and I were in the living room, but the door to your bedroom was locked from the inside. That proves that there was someone else inside your house at that moment.¡±

    From the moment Qu Yin¡¯s girlfriend confirmed that it was Chen Ge who kicked down the door, they had fallen into Chen Ge¡¯s narration. They could only be led down the plot that was arranged by Chen Ge.

    ¡°What is that able to prove? So what if there is another person inside the room at the time?¡± Qu Yin¡¯s face was turning white. He did not seem like he was prepared for this situation. He had not figured out what to say.

    ¡°This is your home, and you are not home. Your girlfriend was cooped up inside your home with another person. The implication is not my business, but when I kicked the bedroom door down, there was no one inside the bedroom.¡± Chen Ge signaled for the neighbors to enter the living room to look at the evidence. ¡°When I kicked down the door, the window was open, and the curtains were fluttering in the wind. But where did the person in the room go? Why would he escape from the window? What was he so afraid of?¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the group of neighbors and slowly captured their expressions one by one. ¡°If you still do not understand what I am getting at, thene closer. There are blood stains left on the curtain, and there are uncleaned blood stains inside the room. They are still very fresh...¡±

    ¡°I get it now! The murderer who just killed Qu Yin¡¯s father was probably hiding inside this room earlier!¡± the university student, Xiao Sun, shouted out directly. He was just a student, so he had not experienced something like this before. Honestly, he was still in quite a bit of shock. The other neighbors probably came to the same conclusion as well, but since every single one of them had something to hide, none of them wanted to voice the truth.

    ¡°Looks like there are clear-minded people among us,¡± Chen Ge said with a bright smile. He walked voluntarily toward Qu Yin. ¡°That is why I said you should thank me. If not for me, your girlfriend would probably have been killed by the murderer to silence the witness!¡±

    Qu Yin¡¯s face was twitching lightly. Chen Ge¡¯s tale was being spun so fast that he had difficulty catching up. He had no idea what Chen Ge might say next.

    Looking at Qu Yin¡¯s drab, gray face, Chen Ge very kindly moved to pat him on his shoulder. ¡°From the situation that we managed to glean from your bedroom, the killer probably got into the victim¡¯s home through the window. After he murdered the poor father, he escaped through the window as well. That would exin why the killer was able to get into the victim¡¯s home so quietly even though he did not have the key to the victim¡¯s house. Don¡¯t you agree with me, Qu Yin?¡±

    An observer might think that Chen Ge was just providing his analysis, but as an aplice to the killer, Qu Yin was able to detect the heavy hint of threat that was inherent in Chen Ge¡¯s words. Obviously, Chen Ge knew how the killer had gotten into the victim¡¯s home, but he did not expose it and left some opening for all parties involved. The reason Chen Ge did this was definitely not to protect the murderer. He had a very crazy n forming in his mind. He wanted to use this opportunity to eliminate all the mad people inside this apartment building. He knew that would be an incredibly hard undertaking, but getting Qu Yin to dangle by his fingertips was the first step of his n.

    ¡°You have a point there. I am shocked to find out that the killer got into my father¡¯s house through the window.¡± Qu Yin had no idea how much Chen Ge knew, so the only thing he could do now was follow what Chen Ge said and continue with the storyline that Chen Ge had provided.

    Hearing Qu Yin agree with Chen Ge, Wen Qing was stunned beyond belief. She slowly lowered her head because she was worried that she might add trouble to Chen Ge because she was unable to control her expression.

    ¡°I kicked the door down about three minutes ago. It was around that time that the killer left; the opening between the two events was less than fifty seconds. From this, it can be proved that the killer is not one of us present at this moment.¡±

    Chen Ge used a single statement to help clear away the suspicion from everyone present; this bandied them into a group. He could then use the power of this group to help investigate the other tenants who were not present and undermine the building from within. Chen Ge knew very well who the killer was, but he was not going to expose him. He was going to use the excuse of finding the killer to ¡®demolish¡¯ the rules of the apartment.

    Qu Yin also knew who the killer was, but he had even less of a reason to reveal the killer¡¯s identity. Because the killer had already escaped, if he revealed the truth, would that not be equal to surrendering himself? After all, the threat from Chen Ge still lingered in his mind.

    Both who knew the real killer were acting like they were searching for the killer. In a way, a consensus had formed between them. In the way they dealt with the situation, Chen Ge¡¯s method was far moreplicated and useful than the monster from the cursed hospital. With one single statement, he had cleared the suspicion for most of the people. He imed very inly that they were not the killers, and thus, he would naturally not go and investigate their rooms.

    In this selfish world behind the door, the thing that these tenants cared the most about was their own dirty little secret. They were neighbors, but at the core, they only cared about themselves.

    Therefore, when they found out their own room would not be searched and their secret would not be exposed, they sighed in relief and very excitedly aided Chen Ge to go and help expose the others¡¯ dirty secrets. Chen Ge made use of their sick psychology and prepared to take down this building one step after another. When there were more ¡®good people¡¯ than ¡®bad people¡¯, it would be time for him toy all the cards on the table.

    The trapid down by the cursed hospital was not only easily neutralized by Chen Ge, thetter had even taken advantage of it. If the monster from the cursed hospital knew about this, he would be so mad.

    ¡°Wait a minute, how did you know the killer was hiding in Qu Yin¡¯s room in the first ce?¡± The middle-aged man with the store of secret women¡¯s underwear in his room stood forward to pose this question.

    ¡°The killer wanted to kill Qu Gui and Qu Yan, so he must have great hatred for their whole family. I was worried that Qu Yin and his girlfriend might be his next target, so I quickly came to check on her. When I arrived, I heard strange voicesing from inside Qu Yin¡¯s room, so I knocked on the door.¡± Chen Ge shrugged and opened his arms to say. ¡°I admit that my actions were rather brash, but we are talking about human lives here. I am sure you can forgive me for my quick yet rash action.¡±

    After saying that, Chen Ge even turned to Qu Yin¡¯s girlfriend. ¡°You have just brushed shoulder with death. If not for me, you might have been in great danger. Shouldn¡¯t you be appreciative of my help?¡±

    The sound of gritting teeth came from Qu Yin¡¯s girlfriend¡¯s lips. She leaned against Qu Yin¡¯s chest with tears in her eyes; she refused to turn to see Chen Ge.

    ¡°Looks like your girlfriend is quite shocked. You should go and ¡®console¡¯ her.¡± Then, Chen Ge walked into the living room like he owned the ce. ¡°The killer is now on the loose; he could get into any of your rooms through the window. This kind of person is very dangerous. We have to capture him as soon as possible.¡±

    Every tenant in this ce had their own secret, and their secrets were mostly hidden inside their rooms. What Chen Ge was insinuating was that there was a crazed killer who would not follow the rules. He might look into their secret, so if they did not wish for their secret to be exposed, the group had better work together to apprehend him as soon as possible.

    Hearing that, the neighbors were eager to agree. They agreed to help Chen Ge without hesitation. They appeared like they wanted to catch the killer more than Chen Ge. Seeing how worried the neighbors were, Chen Ge¡¯s lips curled upward slightly. He knew that the real show was about to begin soon. Everything was moving in the direction that he had nned.

    ¡°Perhaps I can use this opportunity to kill the monster from the cursed hospital once and for all.¡±

    Chen Ge now had an army by his side. Wen Qing, who stood behind him, was shocked. This was rather different from the world behind the door that she had imagined.

 Chapter 1081 - What Is It That Youre Afraid of? [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1081: What Is It That You¡¯re Afraid of? [2 in 1]</h4>

    The neighbor¡¯s emotion was being led by Chen Ge. Everyone was afraid that their secret would be discovered, so they all wanted to capture this killer who had escaped through the window as soon as possible. Chen Ge was very satisfied with this turn of events. He was about to say something else, but the middle-aged man with the hidden store of female underwear in his house suddenly chose to speak up again.

    ¡°Wait a minute, I do not disagree with the n that we go through the houses one by one to search for the killer, but for the sake of security, I think we should go and inform thendlord about this first. And we should definitely get his opinion before we do anything too rash.¡± The middle-aged man had encountered Chen Ge earlier. He knew Chen Ge from thetter¡¯s conversation and interaction with Wu You, so he had an inherent mistrust toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°No problem, we shall go and find thendlord now.¡± Chen Ge agreed with the man to stop him from continuing to distract from Chen Ge¡¯s n. Chen Ge did not wish to waste time on pointless arguments so as to prevent other idents from happening. ¡°We should hurry as fast as we can. The earlier we capture that ruthless murderer, the more likely we will save another innocent life.¡±

    This incident had happened too suddenly, and Chen Ge did not give the neighbors too much time to reflect on it. He dragged Wen Qing and Qu Yin directly into the stairwell. Even though he had the crowd on his side for now, once the neighbors calmed down, his situation would not have changed; he would still be in plenty of danger. The only thing he could do was make use of this opportunity and try to turn as many of the tenants against themselves as possible. That was the only way he could ensure his own safety.

    ¡°Qu Yin, why do you think the murderer targeted your family? Has your family made any enemies recently? Why would someone wish to harm your whole family?¡± To direct the thoughts of the neighbors, Chen Ge voluntarily asked Qu Yin some questions. Of course, his questions were all rted to the murder case. On the surface, it sounded like Chen Ge was being concerned about Qu Yin, and the questions all struck at the center of the investigation.

    Of course, Qu Yin knew very well the ¡®motive¡¯ behind the ¡®murderer¡¯s intention to target his family¡¯, but to not expose himself as an aplice to the murderer, there was nothing he could do but to continue this y-acting with Chen Ge. After pretending to give it some serious thought, Qu Yin shook his head. ¡°I have no idea why someone would harm my family members. We have always kept a low profile. I do not think we have offended or earned the ire of anyone before.¡±

    ¡°Try to dig deeper. There has to be a reason somewhere. Is there any conflict between your family and the other tenants of this building?¡± Chen Ge continued to push. To deflect the suspicion away from himself, he tossed all the difficult questions to Qu Yin. Technically, he was now forcing a murderer toe up with a reason why someone would murder him.

    If Qu Yin could not give an answer or gave the name of a random person, that person would instantly be the prime suspect in this case. If this happened at another residential area, being the prime suspect would not be that big a deal. At most, they would be invited to the police station to aid in the investigation, but the situation here waspletely different. Almost no one at this residential area was ¡®clean¡¯; everyone had a secret that they did not wish to be known by others. In other words, no one here wished for their history and past to be exposed and investigated. It did not matter what they did behind closed doors normally, but at times like this, the secret that they had been hiding would be the noose that caused their death.

    ¡°I really cannot figure out anything.¡± Qu Yin did not wish to be manipted by Chen Ge. The surrounding tenants with secrets in their heart also astutely kept their mouths shut. They all knew very well the smartest choice at this moment was to zip their lips. One wrong word and they would be like moths flying voluntarily into a me.

    Xiao Sun sincerely wanted to have the killer captured, so he offered the information that he had.

    ¡°But I remember, a few nights ago, many neighbors wereining when you argued with your father. The argument was so loud that many of us were not able to rest probably. In fact, one of the middle-aged uncles from the fifth floor purposely came down to warn you guys to keep the noise down.

    ¡°Oh, right, other than that, I believe the electrician on the eighth floor also got into a recent conflict with your father. I believe it had something to do with the electrical wiring. They even got into a fight once in the corridor. At the time, the electrician even threatened your father...

    ¡°What¡¯s the problem? Why are you guys looking at me like that? Have I misremembered? Was I wrong?¡±

    Xiao Sun did not know the other side of his neighbors. He merely recited what he had seen. This also proved indirectly that he was one of the few ¡®normal¡¯ people in this building. He was not afraid of being investigated.

    ¡°The clues that you have given are too important! After we inform thendlord, we will start our investigation at the rooms of those people!¡± Chen Ge had high praise for Xiao Sun. It did not matter that Qu Yin refused to cooperate because Xiao Sun had helped Chen Ge tear open a gap between the tenants of the residential area. The few tenants that Xiao Sun mentioned earlier would be the first batch of sacrificialmbs. Xiao Sun had done a great job, but he did not realize how dangerous the situation he had put himself in was.

    There were ten floors in total at the apartment building. Thendlord lived alone on the ninth floor. The tenth floor was left empty, and all the rooms were locked. The crowd reached Room 901. Qu Yin knocked several times, but there was no answer. It appeared like no one was home.

    ¡°Thendlord is probably out. Let¡¯s go to other ces and check first. Perhaps we can returnter.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± Chen Ge grabbed Qu Yin by his elbow. ¡°The tenant of his apartment has just been murdered. That is huge news, and thendlord has not even shown up to investigate. Do you think that¡¯s normal?¡±

    ¡°Of course it is not normal, but I believe thendlord is not even in this building at the moment. He¡¯s probably gone to the other buildings of the residential area. Thendlords of the few buildings in this residential area meet up to have a weekly meeting. So, that is probably where thendlord is now. He is probably meeting up with the otherndlords in another building.¡±

    ¡°A weekly meeting?¡± Chen Ge again gained more important information from what Qu Yin revealed.

    ¡°Yes, thendowners meet up to discuss important issues like the rent price, the environment around the residential area, and so on.¡±

    ¡°You have a point, but you have missed one very important detail.¡± Chen Ge slowed down for the point that he was about to make to sink in. ¡°I have been to the first ground. The exit was locked, and the lock is applied from inside the building!¡±

    ¡°What is that able to prove? How does that contradict with what I said?¡±

    ¡°Only thendlord has the key to the exit, and since the lock was applied from the inside, it also means that thendlord must still be inside this building! If thendlord had left, the door would be locked from the outside!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s logical argument was wless. And the words that he said carried a very serious implication to the rest of the neighbors. They instantly noticed the hot water that they could possibly be in. ¡°Thendlord is still inside the building, but he did not show up when there was a murder inside the apartment. That leads me to the conclusion that perhaps he has been harmed as well. Perhaps the killer got to him before we could.¡±

    Qu Gui being killed and thendlord being killed were two distinctly different scenarios because thetter had the spare keys to all the doors in the building. Now, even Qu Yin did not look so good. Events had developed far beyond his control.

    ¡°It is fine if you do not believe me. The easiest way to find out whether I am correct or not is to break down the door.¡± Chen Ge carried his backpack and nced at the door. He did not want to show Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s hammer at that moment. ¡°Do any of you have any tools at home? Human lives are at stake here. I know this is a serious case of trespassing, but I am sure that thendlord will be able to understand once we exin what is happening to him... provided he is still alive, that is.¡±

    ¡°My house is currently being renovated. There¡¯s a whole set of tools. Wait a minute for me. I will go and grab them now.¡± Auntie Ding was the first to speak up. Her tone was urgent and desperate. She volunteered to go and grab the tools, but in reality, she probably wanted to go back home to deal with other things, and the former was just an excuse.

    ¡°I have tools to open lock as well. I will go back home to check. I will be back.¡± A few of the other tenants used the same excuse to leave as well. Chen Ge knew what they were up to, but he did not stop any of them. It was not that difficult to cover up and deal with the ¡®secret¡¯ in their own room in a short amount of time. The difficult part was to ensure that no traces were left behind.

    A few minutester, the few neighbors returned one after another. They carried various kinds of tools with them. With the cooperation of the whole group, they used almost half an hour to break down the front door of Room 901.

    ¡°This is so troublesome. If only all the rooms used a wooden door.¡± Chen Ge pushed Qu Yin into the room. Qu Yin was angry, but there was nothing he could do.

    ¡°The room is very neat, and there is no sign of a scuffle or any blood. Looks like we have been worried for no reason.¡± Qu Yin walked at the front of the group. This was probably his first time entering thendlord¡¯s room. He appeared rather cautious; he did not dare get too close to the furniture inside the room.

    ¡°You seem to be quite afraid of thendlord. Am I right?¡± Chen Ge followed behind Qu Yin like a shadow. His voice drifted into Qu Yin¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Of course not, stop talking nonsense.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Chen Ge gave Qu Yin a once-over. He noticed that the tenants had a very referential attitude toward thendlord. The anomalous attitude of Qu Yin when they were inside thendlord¡¯s room was the best proof of that. Chen Ge did not linger on this question. Chen Ge split the neighbors up to investigate the house. They opened the many doors before everyone congregated inside the bathroom. Pulling back the shower curtain, there was no bathroom or shower like one would expect; instead, there was a small television. Chen Ge tried to switch it on. The television was functioning normally, but the screen was only filled with static.

    ¡°Why would there be a television set inside the bathroom?¡± Qu Yin voiced the question on his mind.

    ¡°It is probably used to broadcast some unsightly content.¡± Chen Ge studied the surroundings. The bathroom had no windows. After closing the bathroom door and pulling up the shower curtain, this would be apletely isted space. Outsiders would have no idea what thendlord was doing there. Moving the television to the side, Chen Ge realized that there was aplicated trail of electrical wiring behind the device. His eyes followed the trail of wires, and he realized that all of them led upstairs. The electrical wiring of Room 901 was connected to the wiring of Room 1001. Thendlord¡¯s secret should be hidden somewhere in Room 1001.

    Chen Ge did not share his discovery with other people. He saw the problem from theplicated circuit. A normal television set did not require suchplicated wiring. Chen Ge suspected that thendlord had installed surveince cameras in hidden spots around the apartment, and thendlord probably spent most of his free time inside this bathroom, looking in on other people¡¯s lives. Chen Ge had a good guess what thendlord¡¯s secret was, but that did not help with the most imminent question¡ªwhere was thendlord?

    If thendlord had seen the monster from the cursed hospital through his surveince, then he would be prepared to handle it. So, was it the monster from the cursed hospital who killed thendlord?

    If they had done it, they could have gained the apartment keys from thendlord after killing them. They would not have needed to enter a contract with Qu Yin. Thus, the real sequence of events was probably something like this. The monster from the cursed hospital tried to reach out to thendlord first, but they were unable to locate him, so they settled for the second-best choice, which was to cooperate with Qu Yin. Then, they nned to slowly gang up with the rest of the tenants.

    Chen Ge was slowly smoothing out the timeline in his mind. Then, the truth came to him. Someone in the building had found out about thendlord¡¯s secret. To ensure that their own secret was not exposed, one of them or even a group of them had gathered together to deal with thendlord. To be able to suspect such a thing, it would have to be someone who was familiar with the electrical wiring and their weird set up...

    Chen Ge was instantly reminded of the electrician that Xiao Sun had mentioned earlier. The electrician lived on the eighth floor, and he was closest to thendlord¡¯s house, which was on the ninth floor, so naturally, he was the prime suspect.

    ¡°Take a look at this!¡± Auntie Ding opened the closet inside thendlord¡¯s bedroom. After she moved away the clothes, she revealed the many nails that were pinned to the inner wall of the closet. Every nail had a room number written above it. The numbers ranged from 101 to 1006.

    ¡°The key that hangs from the nail should correspond to the room number. Thendlord has silently copied each of our house keys without telling us!¡± Auntie Ding appeared to be telling everyone about this on purpose. Her expression was one of shocked, but in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, it appeared too forced and inorganic. The widening of the eyes, the gaping of the jaw, these were surface acting skills. Her performance did note from the heart at all.

    After seeing the keys, Chen Ge also subconsciously reacted with appropriate shock. Chen Ge¡¯s performance was much more natural. He used all his facial features to express the emotion of surprise. With the aid of bodynguage, he was the embodiment of surprise. Instantly, the difference between amateur acting and professional acting was shown.

    ¡°Looks like the killer has taken all the spare room keys. This is not good news for any of us.¡± Chen Ge soon calmed down. He knew that Auntie Ding herself was hiding something, but he did not say anything to expose her.

    ¡°Then, what should we do now? The killer is on a real rampage now. He has not only killed my family; he is also involved in thendlord¡¯s disappearance...¡± Qu Yin really did not expect things to go this way. He felt like he had been dragged by Chen Ge into arge hole, one that he would not be able to climb out of on his own. The other tenants were also starting to panic. They did not feel that threatened when Qu Gui was killed, but now that thendlord was missing, most of them were feeling anxious. A strange emotion was rippling through the crowd.

    ¡°We should go and check up with the electrician on the eighth floor first. Didn¡¯t your father get into an argument with him before he died?¡± Chen Ge and Qu Yin were about to leave Room 901 when the middle-aged man with the hidden female underwear in his house stepped forward. He blocked the way to the exit, and his eyes were zing into Chen Ge.

    ¡°How can I help you?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s expression did not change. The man was unfazed. He was standing amid a group of creeps and murderers, but there was not a single trace of fear or uncertainty on his face.

    ¡°Even though the turnover rate of this building is very high, with new people moving in and old people moving out silently...¡± The middle-aged man strode to stand before Chen Ge. ¡°I do not think I have seen you before. Did you just move here? If you just moved here, you should have met thendlord, and you are probably thest person to have seen thendlord alive.¡±

    ¡°That person would be the killer, not me.¡± Chen Ge pulled Wen Qing to his side. ¡°There is a boy living in Room 401 called Xiang Nuan. You guys should have heard of him, right?¡±

    When Chen Ge was speaking, his brain was churning. He rehearsed the spiel that he hade up with earlier in his mind.

    ¡°I do. The boy lives alone in Room 401. His father is dead, and his mother is a wily vixen. She is some man¡¯s kept mistress. She does not live here, and the boy asionally leaves the apartment to go meet up with his mother.¡± The middle-aged man¡¯s usation caused Wen Qing¡¯s whole body to shake with anger.

    ¡°My big sister and I are here to look after Xiang Nuan on his mother¡¯s behalf. The boy is sick, and there is some problem with his head. I am the psychiatrist his mother hired, and my big sister will look after his living arrangements.¡± Chen Ge mentioned many other details about Xiang Nuan before the middle-aged slowly moved away.

    ¡°Looks like the boy¡¯s mother had found the boy a good father figure this time. There is no need for them to worry about money anymore.¡± The middle-aged man¡¯s gaze lingered on Wen Qing for a long time.

    Chen Ge stood between Wen Qing and the middle-aged man. With a smile still stuck on his face, he said, ¡°For a while now, you have been trying to make trouble for me. What is it that you¡¯re afraid of?¡±

 Chapter 1082 - Infighting [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1082: Infighting [2 in 1]</h4>

    ¡°Afraid? What should I be afraid of?¡± The middle-aged man¡¯s expression became unnatural. He had no idea where Chen Ge¡¯s confidence to use him came from.

    ¡°I am trying to help everyone find and investigate the killer, but you have been trying time and time again to change the subject. Could it be that you know something but have decided not to share it with the rest of us?¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. ¡°At the time, the murderer escaped from the sixth-floor window. He would not have gone far. He should have been hiding on the fifth, sixth, or seventh floors. Those are the three floors that were most probably his hiding ce. If we¡¯d started our search on those three levels, there was a very high chance we would have been able to block and apprehend the killer, but you insisted on using to find thendlord first.¡±

    Chen Ge used a maniptive way of phrasing it. At the time, the middle-aged man only suggested they find thendlord, but Chen Ge made it sound like the middle-aged man had given that as an order. It was the middle-aged man who had allowed the killer to escape.

    ¡°Thendlord lives on the ninth floor, and this ce is very far from the crime scene. I suspect you were purposely trying to lead us away so that you could buy some time for the killer to escape.¡±

    ¡°That is ludicrous! Everyone, do not listen to him. He is lying! I¡¯ve done no such thing!¡±

    ¡°You led us all to the ninth floor, and somehow, you appeared to know that thendlord has been harmed, and thus, no one woulde to open the door for us. To get the front door open, we have wasted yet another half an hour here. The time wasted was more than enough for the killer to remove the blood evidence from his body.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s words stuck into the middle-aged man¡¯s body like sharp knives. ¡°It is not my wish to suspect you, but there are just too many coincidences that do not line up. I for one do not believe in so many coincidences. It feels more like you are purposely trying to buy time for the real killer to escape.¡±

    The way the neighbors looked at the middle-aged man slowly turned unfriendly and hostile.

    ¡°Listen to me! I really had no idea that thendlord has been harmed! If I knew that, I would not have said the things that I did! Trust me, I ampletely innocent!¡± The middle-aged man tried his best to argue his case. Chen Ge stood to the side and watched. He did not care for the middle-aged man¡¯s defense. He merely wanted to find an excuse, an excuse that could allow him ess into the middle-aged man¡¯s house. None of the tenants were ¡®clean¡¯. As long as Chen Ge was given a chance to enter their room, even if there was no evidence, Chen Ge would try his best to ¡®find¡¯ the evidence.

    ¡°I have known Brother Man for many years already. I know his personality very well. I believe that he would not have done something like that. I believe he is really innocent.¡± Auntie Ding suddenly jumped out to the middle-aged man¡¯s rescue. Just as thetter was about to sigh in relief, Auntie Ding suddenly added the following to push him further into the abyss. ¡°But like the young man said, everything feels to coincidental. To prove Brother Man¡¯s innocence, how about we start the search at Brother Man¡¯s ce? I believe firmly that he is innocent, and I am sure that a search of his ce will clear his name right up. That way, we can move on to the capture of the real killer after dealing with this misunderstanding.¡±

    Auntie Ding sounded like she was defending the middle-aged man. In fact, she had stated explicitly that she believed in the middle-aged man¡¯s innocence, but in reality, she was damning the middle-aged man. As an old tenant of the building, she should know the middle-aged man¡¯s secret quite well. She knew that there were things inside brother Man¡¯s home that could not be exposed to the public.

    After hearing what Auntie Ding had to say, the middle-aged man¡¯s expression turned ugly. He did not expect that the final knife that determined his fate at this crucial moment woulde from his own neighbor, Auntie Ding.

    With dark and consuming eyes, the middle-aged man stared at Auntie Ding, his hands clenching into fists. Chen Ge did not step in and say anything; his gaze merely wandered between the middle-aged man and Auntie Ding. Auntie Ding was the first to discover that the spare keys inside the closet had been stolen. Her reaction was extremely unnatural. For Chen Ge, Auntie Ding was likely rted to thendlord¡¯s death. She was probably one of the killers that took thendlord¡¯s life. This would exin why she had chosen to speak up at this moment. She wanted to push the me for thendlord¡¯s death onto the middle-aged man.

    Of course, this would only work if the middle-aged man had something to hide. And honestly, he deserved it for his big mouth. If he did not bring up anything about thendlord, no one would havee up to the ninth floor and found out about thendlord¡¯s disappearance and possible death. Now, those people who had harmed thendlord naturally would not let him go. Since he had volunteered as a scapegoat, the best possible way was to push the me onto him.

    Chen Ge understood that psychology very well, and that was what he had been doing when he osted the middle-aged man. He was not looking for an argument for no reason; he was trying to push the middle-aged man into the position of the suspect who might have killed thendlord. He understood that once he had done that, there would be someone would jump out to support him. They would pin the middle-aged man down and deliver his death sentence. The tenants who were cleared of their suspicion started to gang up against those who had not had their suspicion cleared, and now even the tenants who were not suspected started to have cracks in their camaraderie. If this continued, without doing anything, Chen Ge would be able to get closer to his goal.

    ¡°This is not the time for infighting. The most important thing that we need to do now is find the killer who murdered Qu Gui!¡± Seeing the altercation between the tenants, Chen Ge could not have been more overjoyed in his heart, but the words that came out from his lips hoped that they would put aside their differences and work together. ¡°We should all calm down! Let¡¯s return to the initial hypothesis. Xiao Sun told us that the electrician on the eighth floor got into an argument with Qu Gui and threatened his life. The electrician has motive, so we should start our investigation with him.¡±

    Chen Ge did not let Auntie Ding gather the crowd against the middle-aged man. He wanted to retain the middle-aged to create more cracks in the future. After leaving Room 901, Chen Ge walked at the front with a smile on his face. Behind him trailed the tenants from the building; this was truly an astounding sight.

    ¡°Is anyone home?¡± With Xiao Sun¡¯s direction, the crowd reached the house of the electrician. The knocking echoed down the corridor, shattering the silence of the eighth floor. Everyone had their eyes on the door before them. The tenants were curious about the electrician¡¯s secret as well. They were eager to expose his secret; this kind of rush was something that was hard to describe. After several knocks, footsteps finally came from inside the room, and the front door was pulled open slightly.

    ¡°How can I help you?¡± A man with long beard appeared at the door. He appeared to be quite reticent. His eyes were bloodshot like he had not had a good night¡¯s sleep in a long time.

    ¡°There¡¯s been a murder. We just came to warn you about it. We wish for you to be careful.¡±

    ¡°Noted,¡± the electrician said and was about to close the door, but Chen Ge reached out to grab the door and stop him.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°This is not what I wish to do but a consensus that has been reached by everyone in the building.¡± Chen Ge pointed to the tenants behind him. ¡°This is for everyone¡¯s personal safety. I hope you will understand and cooperate.¡±

    ¡°We now suspect that you are somehow involved in the murder. If you are innocent, then please step out of the way. We will not mess up your house. We just wish to confirm some things.¡± Xiao Sun was not a cunning person. He shared their purpose for being there directly.

    ¡°I am suspected to be involved in the murder?¡± The electrician lifted his head. His bloodshot eyes swept to the left and right of Chen Ge as if using his eyes tomunicate with someone. Chen Ge knew that Auntie Ding was standing on his left side behind him. Things were getting more and more interesting. When the electrician knew that he was in trouble, he turned to Auntie Ding immediately. This proved that they were both in on something. Combined with the earlier spection that Auntie Ding was rted to thendlord¡¯s death, did this not prove that the electrician was also rted to thendlord¡¯s death?

    When Chen Ge discovered theplicated wiring in Room 901, Chen Ge had already suspected that the killer was the electrician. This was because the electrician was probably the first person to discover thendlord¡¯s secret. Chen Ge was facing away from Auntie Ding, so he had no idea what kind of hint Auntie Ding had provided to the electrician, but he saw that after the brief eye contact, the electrician¡¯s expression turned uglier.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been inside my room alone throughout the night. I have not left my house at all. You¡¯ve got the wrong person.¡± The electrician refused to step aside and got into a stalemate with the people at the corridor. Chen Ge felt like they had wasted too much time there. If the electrician refused to budge, then the rest of the n would halt there. The tenants there were all incredibly cunning. Other than Xiao Sun, no one was willing to stick their neck out. Chen Ge had no choice but to do this on his own.

    ¡°The killer has threatened everyone¡¯s safety. Your refusal to let us go in proves that you surely have something to hide.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s attitude turned firmer. ¡°We are not asking for your opinion; we are merely here to inform you of that.¡±

    ¡°Inform me? We are all tenants here. Who gave any of you the right to enter my private home? Preposterous!¡±

    ¡°We have already patiently exined the situation to you, but you still refused to let us through. Looks like you are really rted to Qu Gui¡¯s death. You have something to hide!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s patience was wearing thin. His hand that gripped the door pulled with strength. ¡°Let us in. There must be some clues inside his room!¡±

    With Chen Ge leading the way, the other tenants that did not have much interaction with the electrician normally started to help. Against the strength of so many people, the electrician was unable to keep his door shut.

    ¡°What the hell! Stop this nonsense!¡±

    The front door was yanked open. Chen Ge was the first to charge in. His nostrils red. Chen Ge sniffed a burnt smell in the air. ¡°What is being burnt?¡±

    The room was very messy, and trash littered every corner. There was barely a space for people to stand. The neighbors squeezed into the room and trampled over the stuff on the ground. The electrician appeared to have given up. He turned to face the door and kept his head lowered. He kept his expression from the sight of everyone else.

    ¡°Qu Gui was stabbed to death, so the killer would have been covered in a copious amount of blood. There is another thing that we need to pay attention to. The killer nned everything out before theymitted the crime, so that means that they probably have been nning this for a long time. Therefore, there might be something rted to the murder inside his notebooks.¡±

    The tenants that followed behind Chen Ge started to ransack the room. Throughout the whole process, the electrician stood at the door with his head lowered, and not a peep came out of the man. ¡°His whole body is incredibly tense. He is afraid.¡±

    The tenants searched for a long time, but they could find any evidence that tied the electrician to the murder. Auntie Ding walked toward Chen Ge. ¡°Perhaps we have misjudged him. As messy as this ce is, there is no sign of blood. He does not have the habit of reading or taking notes. There are no reading or writing materials anywhere in this ce.¡±

    ¡°Looks like he is really not the killer.¡± Xiao Sun walked out from the bedroom with a frown. He was still an innocent child. He had not gone through the harsh reality of the society yet. After knowing that he was wrong, he ran to the electrician¡¯s side. ¡°I am so sorry. We only hoped to capture the killer as soon as possible. I will treat you a dinner in the future and consider that an apology for this transgression.¡±

    ¡°Now, can you please leave me alone?¡± the electrician growled. It was clear that he was very angry.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Auntie Ding said on everyone¡¯s behalf. The rest also slowly shuffled to the front door.

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Chen Ge stood inside the room and suddenly said, ¡°Do you guys smell something burning?¡±

    ¡°The ce is so messy. It is probably something that has gone moldy.¡± Auntie Ding was obviously trying to defend the electrician. ¡°Let¡¯s not waste time here anymore. We should go and check the other suspects.¡±

    ¡°A moldy food wouldn¡¯t give off a burnt smell.¡± Chen Ge followed the trail of stench and came to the bedroom on the right. ¡°Do you live alone?¡±

    The electrician lifted his head to look at Chen Ge. His voice was hoarse. ¡°Yes, I do live alone.¡±

    ¡°You live alone, but both of the bedrooms have king sized beds. You sure live in thep of luxury.¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with anything?¡±

    ¡°I am just curious.¡± Chen Ge looked at the beds that had recently been changed. The covers looked washed and clean. It was a bright contrast to the mess that was the rest of the house. ¡°Which bedroom do you normally sleep in?¡±

    ¡°This is my house. I can sleep in whichever room that I want. Why should I answer that? Does that have to do with the murder that you are talking about?¡± The electrician red with his bloodshot eyes. He had been suppressing anger. The man probably had anger management issues, and he had been trying to reign it in before the public.

    ¡°My guess is that you normally sleep in the bedroom on the left because of the array of everyday objects that are ced there. In contrast, the bedroom on the right is much simpler in nature. In fact, it does not look upied. It feels more like this is your workshop.¡± Chen Ge kicked away some of the wiring on the ground. A few of them, he noticed, were connected to the space under the bed. ¡°But why would a workshop need such a big bed?¡±

    Chen Ge grabbed the newly changed covers and pulled them off without warning and tossed them to the ground. The electrician¡¯s face nched immediately, and he took a subconscious step back. Underneath the cover was a thick mattress. There were many burnt spots on the mattress, and that was where the smell came from.

    After taking a nce at the mattress, Auntie Ding quickly moved her gaze away. ¡°We should go to the other rooms. There is nothing to see hear. Everything looks normal to me.¡±

    ¡°The bed is of good quality, and it is incredibly soundproof and can resist shaking,¡± Chen Ge said as he yanked off the mattress. He pulled the whole mattress away. A stingy burnt smell rushed out and assaulted the nose of everyone present. Underneath the mattress was a wooden bed frame. Chen Ge did not hesitate and pushed the bed frame to the side. The scene that was exposed was revolting. Underneath the bedframe was the body of a boy. Many electrical mps were connected to his body. His skin was seriously charred, but the real fatal wound could be found around his neck. He had been strangled to his death; the signs of strangling were quite obvious.

    ¡°Jia Qi!¡± Auntie Ding dropped to the ground once the boy was exposed. She crawled to the bedside and wanted to hug the boy¡¯s dead body. Auntie Ding wailed like a traumatized mother, but Chen Ge saw very clearly that the woman could not even fake a single crocodile tear.

    ¡°Capture that electrician!¡± Xiao Sun shouted loudly. When Chen Ge pulled back the mattress, the electrician had already sneaked out from the room.

    ¡°He killed Jia Qi! How could he torture such a sweet boy! I will kill him! I will kill him!¡± Auntie Ding seemed to have gone berserk from the trauma. She grabbed the fruit knife on the nearby coffee table and charged out. She was quitergely built and was asrge as a man. She ran quite fast as well.

    ¡°Quick! The murderer has been found! We should follow and captured him!¡± Xiao Sun ran out with passion. The other neighbors also mobilized. Only Chen Ge and Wen Qing stayed in the bedroom.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t we going to follow them?¡± Wen Qing asked softly.

    ¡°The electrician is not going to survive. Auntie Ding will do everything within her power to kill him.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. Auntie Ding has been defending the man. To find out that her trust has been betrayed, she must be in great pain.¡±

    ¡°The reason she needs to kill the electrician is not out of pain but fear. This boy should be Auntie Ding¡¯s ¡®present¡¯ to the electrician. They are both responsible for thendlord¡¯s death. The electrician knows Auntie Ding¡¯s many secrets. Auntie Ding is afraid that once the electrician is captured, he will sell her out as well so she will definitely kill him before he is given a chance to speak.¡± Chen Ge looked at the young boy that was propped up like a grotesque exhibit, and the smile slowly disappeared from his face. He hissed through gritted teeth. ¡°This bunch of animals.¡±

    Wen Qing churned Chen Ge¡¯s words in her mind. She had been following Chen Ge and experienced the same thing, but she had no idea how Chen Ge managed toe up with the hypotheses for so many things.

 Chapter 1083 - Who Will Be Next? [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1083: Who Will Be Next? [2 in 1]</h4>

    Standing next to Chen Ge, Wen Qing did not know what to say or ask. She was afraid that she might identally expose some important information. After all, by now, she at least understood that there was no one in this building that could truly be trusted. One wrong step and she could put them in extreme danger.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you go and apany Granny Lee in the living room? I will stay to investigate what happened here.¡±

    Wen Qing nodded and left.

    Chen Ge stayed in the bedroom alone. He closed the bedroom door and knelt by the bed to inspect the boy¡¯s dead body. The burning from electrocution, the bruises from heavy beatings, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes finallynded around the boy¡¯s neck.

    ¡°He was strangled to death by electrical wires. There are wooden chips lodged in the boy¡¯s fingernails. Before he perished, his arms were tied to the bed frame...¡±

    Chen Ge undid the rope around the body. He ced the clean cover over the boy.

    ¡°The electrician looked like a reticent and harmless worker on the surface, but in reality, he has a ming temper. Yet, he has a knack for reining it in around others. And then he vents it through torturing others who are weaker than him. The man is rotten through and through.¡±

    The scary thing was that the electrician was not an exception to the rule at this apartment building. Chen Ge started to think deeper into other consequences.

    ¡°Under the limitation ofw and morality, their actual nature was hidden and closed away, but in the world behind Xiang Nuan¡¯s door, the most disgusting and horrid facet of their personality is exposed. This door appears to purposely highlight the sin in human nature, and it twists everyone into monstrous beings.¡±

    Chen Ge tried to analyze the ghost fetus¡¯ thoughts, but with the meagre number of clues that he had so far, he was unable toe to any concrete conclusion. Rummaging through the backpack, Chen Ge noticed that blood vessels had started to surface on theic. He tried to summon his workers, but unfortunately, he still got no response.

    ¡°Chen Ge!¡± Wen Qing¡¯s voice came from outside the bedroom, and then the door was pushed open. ¡°Something seems to have happened downstairs!¡±

    The sound of screaming, running, wailing, and crying were mixed together as they drifted up from downstairs. It sounded like a battlefield down there.

    ¡°Do not worry. Let them deal with this among themselves for now.¡± Chen Ge slowly walked out from the room. The faces of the tenants that were in the room earlier shed across his mind. ¡°Who will be next?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s group soon arrived at the second floor. The smell of blood lingered in the air. There were even fresh blood stains that were noticeable on the staircase.

    ¡°What is going on here?¡± Before Chen Ge got near, he was able to hear Auntie Ding crying. The rest of the tenants blocked the corridor. They formed a wall that did not allow anyone to pass.

    ¡°The electrician is dead.¡± Xiao Sun leaned against the wall, and his face was pale as a sheet.

    ¡°He¡¯s dead?¡± Chen Ge looked very surprised. He picked up his pace and crossed through the crowd. ¡°Move out of the way please!¡±

    Standing at the corner between the first floor and the second floor, Chen Ge appeared to have frozen. He could see Auntie Ding kneeling on the ground, her lips mumbling Jia Qi¡¯s name again and again. Both of her arms and her upper body were covered in fresh blood. Auntie Ding appeared to have lost her grasp on reality due to overwhelming sadness. Others had trouble getting close to her, or to be more precise, no one was willing to get close to Auntie Ding in her current state.

    ¡°You... have killed him?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s pupils were shivering. ¡°But he was our only clue!¡±

    ¡°Jia Qi was the first child that I adopted. He went missing in this residential area! I have been looking so hard for him!¡± Auntie Ding¡¯s hair was disheveled as she pressed her hands into the pool of blood on the ground. ¡°That was my child. Can you understand how that would have affected a mother like myself? Do you know how I felt when I saw that child in that state in his room...¡±

    Auntie Ding¡¯s words petered off into a blubbering mess. All the energy in her body seemed to have drained from her as she copsed in the pool of blood.

    ¡°Actually, it would wrong to say that Sister Ding has killed him. I saw with my own eyes that there was an altercation between Sister Ding and the electrician. Both of them slipped down the stairs, and the fruit knife just so happened to get stuck in the electrician¡¯s neck. I suppose, in a way, this is karma working her magic. No one is to me but the man himself.¡± The one who spoke was a tenant from the fifth floor. He was very tall, and he always stood together beside Auntie Ding. This was the first time he had spoken with Chen Ge.

    ¡°An ident you say?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s gaze moved past Auntie Ding as he looked down the first-floor corridor. The electrician had already run out of the stairwell and was racing to get out of the building. His body was lying near the entrance, and the locked front door even had the man¡¯s bloody handprints on it.

    ¡°With a knife puncturing through his neck, even if he was not dead, I doubt he wouldn¡¯t be able to speak anymore. This is so unfortunate. The trail of clues that we found with such difficulty has been wiped away just like that.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s tone was quite helpless. He then turned to the tall guy. ¡°And who are you? I do not think we have met before.¡±

    ¡°My surname is Li.¡±

    ¡°I am sorry if this is a forward question, but why do you reek of medicine?¡±

    ¡°I am a practicing pediatrician.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t the medicine meant for children supposed to have as diluted a smell as possible to prevent them from gagging on the taste?¡± Before waiting for the man to answer, Chen Ge changed the subject. ¡°I was not here when the electrician died. Did anyone hear what he said before he died?¡±

    ¡°He called out Auntie Ding¡¯s full name...¡± Xiao Sun started to say something, but he was rudely interrupted by Doctor Li.

    ¡°The electrician is already dead. What we need to do now is confirm as soon as possible whether he is the murderer behind Qu Gui¡¯s death.¡±

    ¡°But...¡± Xiao Sun insisted on saying something, but this time, Chen Ge cut him off.

    ¡°Indeed, the most important thing that we needed to do now is capture the culprit. If the electrician is Qu Gui¡¯s murderer, of course, that would be best, but I am afraid that he is just an aplice, and the real murderer is still hiding among us.¡±

    A living human being was murdered just like that before their eyes. The atmosphere inside the apartment building became more suffocating.

    ¡°I will take Auntie Ding back to her room for now. She must have been greatly traumatized to have seen her adopted child in such a state.¡± Doctor Li tried to pick up Auntie Ding from the pool of blood, but he failed even after several tries. He turned to the crowd and waved at a short guy. ¡°Big Head, would you minding over to help me?¡±

    The short man was bald, and arge part of his face was swollen, giving him the look of a monster. Big Head and Doctor Li carried Auntie Ding back to the fourth floor while Chen Ge watched them walk away quietly.

    <i>Doctor Li is tall and well built. He looks quite strong. Asrge as Auntie Ding is, it is impossible for him to be incapable of carrying her on his own. He was merely looking for an excuse to get Big Head to leave this ce with them. The three of them should know each other, and they operate as a group.</i>

    Doctor Li, Big Head, Auntie Ding, and the electrician¡ªChen Ge now suspected that it was the four of them who cooperated to kill thendlord and then stole the spare keys to all the rooms. With regards to their motive, Chen Ge had a fairly good guess. Thendlord had found out about their secrets, so he needed to die.

    ¡°Er... So, how shall we deal with the electrician¡¯s body?¡± Qu Yin felt a headacheing. Qu Gui¡¯s dead body was still lying in his living room, and now they had another dead body in the building. Their initial intention was to find the killer, but somehow, things had started to get out of control as if there was a pair of hands that had been pushing them around for the tenants to turn on each other.

    ¡°Let¡¯s just ignore that for now. I just discovered something very scary.¡± Xiao Sun only dared to speak after he saw Doctor Li walk further way. ¡°The electrician was pushed down the stairs. The person who dealt the final blow was not Auntie Ding but Doctor Li. At the time, they were the ones who were chasing after the electrician the most passionately. They were the most desperate to hunt him down.¡±

    ¡°Jia Qi is Auntie Ding¡¯s adopted son. Why would Doctor Li react so brashly? He does not look like a vindictive person to me.¡± Chen Ge was slowlyying the trail for the tenants to consider. He could not be as direct as Xiao Sun because he still had no idea how many people in the building were involved in the murder of thendlord. But there was one thing that was for certain¡ªthe number of people involved would not that be high, or else they would not need to be afraid of Chen Ge at this moment, and they did not to sacrifice the electrician.

    ¡°I also think that is quite weird.¡± The middle-aged man who had the female underwear stored away in his home stood in the corner alone. Now he had decided not to trust anyone, which honestly was a bright decision. ¡°That Ding woman has been acting very strangely today. She treats her adopted children so badly normally. Compared to human beings, she treats them more like pets. She beats and scolds them for the smallest transgression or when she is in a bad mood.¡±

    ¡°So, it is your opinion that Auntie Ding did not kill the electrician out of revenge but to cover up something else, right?¡±

    ¡°I did not say anything like that!¡± The middle-aged man looked at Chen Ge and quickly waved his hands. He was an old tenant here; he knew how dangerous it was to run his mouth.

    ¡°Then, should we go and ask Wu You? He is the child who lives in Room 301. The tenants of the building all say that the boy likes to lie, but I personally think that the child is quite an obedient kid,¡± Xiao Sun suddenly said, and what he said caused the middle-aged man to break out in cold sweat. ¡°He is probably this way because he has been left alone for a long time andcks humanpany. Well, we have a psychiatrist among us now. Perhaps this is the best opportunity for us to approach him.¡±

    The middle-aged man shook his head while trying to calm himself down. ¡°The kid, Wu You spews out nothing but lies. Not a single word out of his mouth can be trusted. Plus, he is just a small child. What does he know? If you expose him to a dead body, you might worsen his condition.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I was just giving a suggestion. After all, the child is seen running all over the building sometimes. Perhaps he might know something.¡± Xiao Sun was analyzing the situation rationally. He had no idea that he had made himself a target in most people¡¯s eyes.

    Chen Ge also wiped away the sweat from his forehead. As a normal person amid a group of crazed murderers, the first thing one needed to learn to do was not mimic a detective to solve the case but learn how to properly protect oneself. Chen Ge understood that Xiao Sun was just trying to help, but he did not approve of his dangerous method.

    ¡°I also do not think we should bring this to a child, but with a murderer on the loose, it is too dangerous for Wu You to stay at home alone. We should get him to stay with us.¡± When Chen Ge started with his sentence, the middle-aged man was nodding vehemently, but when Chen Ge finished the rest of the sentence, the man¡¯s head froze in midair.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be very inconvenient to bring a child with us in a situation like this?¡±

    ¡°It will be fine. I will look after him. We shall go to Room 301 to get Wu You now.¡± Chen Ge headed toward the third floor. He just arrived at the third-floor corridor when he saw a boy¡¯s head poke out from the door of the room at the end of the corridor. It was quite scary seeing that in the middle of the night.

    ¡°Wu You, there is a murderer among us in the building. It is too dangerous for you to stay alone. Why don¡¯t youe with us for now?¡± Chen Ge reached out to grab Wu You¡¯s hand, but thetter skipped away from him.

    ¡°Murderer?¡± Wu You looked at Chen Ge and the rest of the tenants. He used his very juvenile voice to ask, ¡°But aren¡¯t all you murderers?¡±

    ¡°See, all the boy does is lie.¡± The middle-aged man shrugged, looking as helpless as he could.

    ¡°Since you know we are all murderers, why do you still live here? Aren¡¯t you afraid of us?¡± Chen Ge looked at the boy before him.

    ¡°I am waiting for my parents.¡±

    ¡°If something happens to you, your parents won¡¯t be able to find you, so you¡¯d bettere with us. This is for your own good.¡± Chen Ge was quite forceful when he was negotiating with this boy. Grabbing Wu You by his hand, Chen Ge had the boy stick close to him. Realizing how firm Chen Ge was with his decision, the middle-aged man suddenly professed that he had a stomachache and needed to go home for a while. Chen Ge did not say anything to stop him and allowed him to go.

    Actually, Chen Ge knew that the middle-aged man was only making an excuse. He was worried that Wu You would identally sell him out, so he quickly hurried home to destroy any incriminating evidence.

    After the middle-aged man left, the rest of them moved to Auntie Ding¡¯s room on the fourth floor. Doctor Li called after Big Head and Auntie Ding naturally because they had something to discuss. Chen Ge did not wish to give them too much time toe up with a solution or an excuse. When they came to the fourth floor, before they reached Auntie Ding¡¯s ce, Chen Ge saw Big Head guarding outside Auntie Ding¡¯s room.

    ¡°Is Sister Ding feeling better?¡±

    ¡°With Doctor Li looking after her, I¡¯m sure she will be fine.¡± Big Head might look scary, but his tone was friendly. He gave off the feeling of those honest floormats that were easily bullied by others.

    ¡°After you guys left, something else happened. There is a question that I need to ask Auntie Ding in person.¡±

    ¡°But she still needs to rest.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d better step out of the way. This matter is very serious.¡± Qu Yin, Xiao Sun, Wen Qing, and Granny Lee were following behind Chen Ge. They had the numerical advantage. ¡°I will enter the room alone so that we won¡¯t disturb Sister Ding¡¯s rest.¡±

    ¡°Okay then.¡± Big Head knocked on the door. More than ten secondster, the door opened, and Chen Ge walked in alone. Even though Auntie Ding could not be called young anymore, the home decoration was extremely pink and fluffy. It felt more like the room of a teenage girl. Once Chen Ge entered the room, he was assaulted by the heavy mist of perfume and air freshener that hung in the air. He coughed lightly and closed the door behind him. Auntie Ding was lying on the couch, and Doctor Li stood beside her. They did not look happy to see Chen Ge walk in.

    ¡°How can we help you?¡±

    ¡°Do any of you know the scious-looking middle-aged man that lives on the third floor?¡±

    ¡°What about him?¡±

    ¡°Just now, he said that the electrician did not trip on the stairs and fell but was pushed down the stairs, and then he sneaked in a suggestion to tell us to go and ask Wu You about it,¡± Chen Ge said with a stone-cold expression.

    ¡°Did you find anything out from the boy?¡± Auntie Ding¡¯s face was pale, and her voice was involuntarily shaking.

    ¡°The child was seriously traumatized. We cannot understand what is he trying to express. He kept saying things like seeing Auntie Ding carrying children up and down the stairs and seeing the children¡¯s ghost appearing around him.¡± As if he was unable to see Auntie Ding¡¯s paling face, Chen Ge continued to speak. ¡°But the key is not the boy but that strange man living on the third floor. He stays the opposite of Wu You. I suspect that it might be him who fed these words to Wu You. After all, even if a child likes to lie, why would he choose these things to lie about?¡±

    ¡°You have a point there.¡± Both Doctor Li and Auntie Ding nodded at the same time.

    ¡°Other than that, I realized something else. The middle-aged man appeared to be purposely hindering us from finding out the truth. I suspect...¡± Chen Ge raised his head, and his eyes were shining. ¡°Could he be the culprit behind thendlord¡¯s death?¡±

    ¡°That is very possible. There are many strange things about that man.¡± Color returned to Auntie Ding¡¯s face, and even her words flowed more naturally. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of female underwear hidden in that man¡¯s room. Who knows where he got it all? In any case, that is a very disgusting man.¡±

    ¡°You guys suspect him, and he has been trying to throw the suspicion onto you.¡± Chen Ge appeared conflicted. ¡°I also do not know who to believe. How about this? In a bit, we will pretend to check one of the rooms on the third floor, but before he knows what¡¯s happening, we will barge into his house for a spot check and see if we cane up with any evidence. If there is anything rted to thendlord that can be discovered at his house, we can confirm for sure that he is thendlord¡¯s killer.¡±

    Chen Ge was making a very brave move. The real purpose of his n was for the real murderer to produce the evidence themselves. It was a trap within a trap.

 Chapter 1084 - Black Fog [2 in 1]

    <h4>Chapter 1084: ck Fog [2 in 1]</h4>

    Chen Ge was not going to waste any more time with the tenants. He wanted to get this over with as soon as possible, and that was why he came up with this rather incendiary suggestion. Once Doctor Li and Auntie Ding calmed down, regained their senses, and found out the truth, they would surely realize that it was Chen Ge who had been pulling the strings and the person that they needed to get rid of was Chen Ge all along.

    Dancing on the tip of the knife, Chen Ge had known his condition from the very beginning, but this was the only chance he had. There was no other choice for him. He needed to remove as many tenants inside the building before Doctor Li and Auntie Ding came to. When there were too few of them to form an alliance to threaten him, he could openly take over the building already.

    ¡°Sister Ding, you¡¯d better get a good rest inside the house. Shut your windows and doors, and take care of yourself. Big Head and I will go and take a look.¡± Doctor Li¡¯s expression had not changed. Chen Ge had no idea what the man was thinking. However, there was one thing that was clear; Doctor Li was highly interested in Chen Ge¡¯s suggestion. This was an opportunity for them to deflect the suspicion that would havended on them. Naturally, they would not give up this chance.

    Seeing Doctor Li take the bait, Chen Ge stood up and turned to Auntie Ding with concern. ¡°I cannot be sure that the person who killed thendlord and the person who killed Qu Gui are the same person, so you have to be careful when you are staying at home all by yourself.¡±

    ¡°I will be careful.¡± Auntie Ding did not seem to key into the deeperyer of meaning behind Chen Ge¡¯s words. Shey on the couch and appeared as weak as possible.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go. Sister Ding needs her rest.¡± Doctor Li was the first to open the front door and leave. He then proceeded to whisper a few words in Big Head¡¯s ear. Using Ghost Ear, Chen Ge managed to pick up the words ¡®letter ofmitment¡¯. With no change to his expression, he followed Doctor Li slowly out of the room. In terms of cunningness and slyness, Doctor Li was a pretty good yer, but he had greatly underestimated Chen Ge. Perhaps he had subconsciously ced himself in the role of a predator, and the rest of them were only the prey. The multiple kills that they hadmitted fed into the devil inside their heart, and normal people were merely prey to be had in their eyes. If he could sessfully push the me onto the others, that was the best, but if that failed, they would simply kill everyone who knew about their secret.

    This kind of twisted psychology blinded him to Chen Ge¡¯s suspicion toward him, and he had not been paying this outsider much attention. Then again, this was not entirely his fault. Who would have thought an outsider could manage to reconstruct most of the truth within such a short period of time? Of course, as time moved on, his suspicion toward Chen Ge would only continue to grow, and the thought of murdering Chen Ge would only get stronger.

    Auntie Ding lived on the fourth floor. Big Head was Auntie Ding¡¯s neighbor. After Doctor Li whispered to him, Big Head offered a flimsy excuse to return to his own house. Half a minuteter, Big Head came out of his house and looked perfectly normal.

    ¡°Sister Ding needs to rest, so we should leave her at home.¡± Chen Ge scanned the group. ¡°Has the uncle from the third floor not returned?¡±

    ¡°We should go and find him ourselves. That will save us some precious time,¡± Doctor Li said directly. He probably did not even realize that every single word that Chen Ge said was measured to purposely lead him to do certain things. He did not realize that he was being controlled. He merely thought that it wasfortable to ¡®work with¡¯ Chen Ge. It was like when he wanted to go for a nap, someone was there to hand him a pillow. The group came to the door of the house of the middle-aged man on the third floor. Chen Ge knocked for quite some time before the middle-aged man came to open the door.

    ¡°I am so sorry. My stomach is not feeling too good. I was on the toilet. Come on, which room should we go and inspect next?¡± Beads of sweat slithered down the middle-aged man¡¯s face, and he was catching his breath while speaking. Honestly, he did not look like he had juste from the toilet.

    ¡°We n to inspect the rooms one by one. Since we are already now, why don¡¯t we start with your ce?¡± Without waiting for the middle-aged man to agree, Doctor Li pushed his way into the room. Big Head followed closely behind him.

    ¡°You can do that, of course, but please do not mess with my stuff. I have many valuable collections here.¡± The middle-aged man appeared to have dealt with his ¡®secret¡¯ already, so he was not worried that Doctor Li would be able to find anything to expose him. Looking at the incredibly confident middle-aged man, Chen Ge shook his head. If there was no secret to be found, a secret could be nted. Since both of the parties in this twisted game were unrted to him, Chen Ge felt more like an observer. The group of people entered the room. The middle-aged man¡¯s room was very messy. Many beer cans and everyday trash littered the ground. The cleanest spot inside the house was the wall filled with posters of beautiful girls in skimpy clothing.

    ¡°There are so many pairs of eyes staring at you at all times. Don¡¯t you feel ufortable sleeping at night?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s attitude waspletely different from when they were searching the electrician¡¯s room. He kept staring at the posters on the wall and engaging the middle-aged man in conversation, creating opportunities for Doctor Li and Big Head to nt the evidence.

    ¡°Why would I be afraid looking at them at night? In fact, wouldn¡¯t that be a source of joy?¡±

    ¡°What is so joyful about staring at a bunch of posters?¡± Chen Ge nced at the sofa and realized that the female underwear was still haphazardly tossed on the sofa. They had not been cleaned away, so it meant that the middle-aged man did not mind others noticing them. The underwear was not part of his real secret. Initially, Chen Ge thought that the middle-aged man was a fetishist, but now he realized that things were not that simple. This scious middle-aged man collected more than just female underwear; his secret went deeper than that.

    ¡°Hey! Guys,e and take a look!¡± Doctor Li¡¯s voice came out from the middle-aged man¡¯s bedroom. He attracted everyone¡¯s attention, and they were squeezed outside the bedroom door. Peeling back the ck cloth that covered the cupboard, Doctor Li opened the cupboard door. It was filled with various porn videos and books that had incredibly suggestive covers on them.

    ¡°This is my personal collection. I keep them to myself and have not shared or sold them to any underage kids. That is not against thew, is it?¡± the middle-aged man argued confidently as he leaned against the door.

    ¡°Is it possible that there are some other recordings that are mixed among these?¡±

    ¡°If you do not trust me, feel free to peruse them on your own, but it will probably take month to look through all of them, right?¡± The middle-aged man walked over to close the cupboard door, but suddenly, Doctor Li reached out to grab his hand. ¡°Open this locked chest under the bed for us to see. We want to know what is inside.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t push it! How is that any of your business?¡±

    ¡°You do not wish to be mistaken for the killer, do you? Just open it up. If it has nothing to do with the murders, we will naturally leave you be,¡± Doctor Li said with an expressionless face. His tone was cold and caused the middle-aged man¡¯s spine to tingle with fear.

    ¡°Fine, I will cooperate with you for now. When we reach your ce, I will also remember to give it a good search.¡± The middle-aged man retorted with an empty threat. He took out the key from his pocket and opened the wooden box that was previously hidden under the bed. A female body model was ced inside the box. It was very well made. From afar, it looked no different from the body of an actual female.

    ¡°This is my wife. She has apanied me for many years.¡± The middle-aged stood next to the wooden box and refused to let anyone touch the model. For those amateurs who were not familiar with the making of mannequins, they would only be impressed by the technical beauty of this model, but unfortunately, Chen Ge was a master of mannequin production. He was familiar with all the materials that were involved in the making of a mannequin.

    There was no material in the world that could mimic human skin so perfectly... expect the person who was using human skin as his material. Compared to a factory-made mannequin, this model was more like a reproduction of a human female body. It had more than ten different parts. The head, the face, and the skin could be changed at will. The middle-aged man showcased the mannequin in the box, but he only allowed the tenants to see but not touch it. Other than the mannequin, there was nothing else inside the box, and as promised, the other tenants did notment on the man¡¯s private interest.

    ¡°Are you done now? Can I put her away now?¡± The middle-aged man was about to close the box when Big Head¡¯s voice suddenly came from the bathroom. ¡°What is this?¡±

    The group rushed out from the room. The middle-aged man slowly and evenly locked up the wooden box. The expression on his face was one of ease, like he had survived a big ordeal. The middle-aged man was thest to leave his bedroom. When he came to the living room, he realized everyone was looking at him. ¡°What are you guys looking at me like that? What is going on?¡±

    ¡°That should be our question. How do you exin this?¡± Big Head opened his palm, and inside it sat a seriously worn-down tooth. ¡°I found this inside your bathroom¡¯s underwater pipe.¡±

    ¡°Impossible! Such thing couldn¡¯t exist in my house!¡± The middle-aged man stared at the tooth in Big Head¡¯s palm, and a very bad feeling started to bloom in his heart.

    ¡°This was discovered inside your bathroom. You¡¯d better give us an excuse that we can believe,¡± Big Head said in a soft tone, butbined with his strange voice, it was a chilling effect.

    ¡°I will repeat again! Such thing couldn¡¯t exist in my house!¡± The middle-aged man got into a stalemate with Big Head, neither willing to back off. Seeing the atmosphere chilled, Chen Ge walked over.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not jump to conclusions. Finding a tooth is no big deal. You are a fan of mannequins. Perhaps this tooth is meant for your mannequin.¡±

    ¡°A mannequin¡¯s mouth does not need teeth,¡± the middle-aged man exined to Chen Ge, the amateur.

    ¡°So, you tossed their tooth down the drain? Is that mannequin really just a mannequin?¡± Big Head used this opportunity to take another shot at the middle-aged man.

    ¡°What are you going on about this time?¡± The middle-aged man red at Big Head. He tried his best to exin, but no one was willing to pay him any real attention.

    ¡°A single tooth is not enough to prove anything. We should all calm down for now.¡± Chen Ge turned to Big Head with a question. ¡°Did you find anything else other than this tooth?¡±

    ¡°Well, if a single tooth is not enough, what about a whole slew of teeth?¡± Big Head pointed at the drain in the bathroom.

    ¡°A whole slew of teeth?¡±

    Everyone, including the middle-aged man, turned to look at the drain. The iron cover had been lifted open, and the spot where the drain curved had a few human teeth stuck in them. Some of them even had decayed flesh stuck to them.

    ¡°Why would these things be here?¡± The middle-aged man sensed the unfriendly gazes that were directed his way, and his forehead broke out in cold sweat. ¡°I really have no idea why there are so many teeth in the drain. Perhaps some other people¡¯s things have gotten stuck in my drain while they were going down the pipe. You guys have to trust me!¡±

    ¡°The teeth were all found stuck in the U-bend. If they came from another house, they would have been washed away by the main pipe.¡± Doctor Li¡¯s voice came from the other bedroom. His cold and icy eyes stared right at the middle-aged man. ¡°I suggest all of us stay away from this man. I have found something else.¡±

    Doctor Li raised a mannequin production direction manual in his hand. It was filled with the middle-aged man¡¯s writing on every page. He flipped through the book and took out a piece of paper with splotches of dried blood on it.

    ¡°Take a look at what is this.¡± Xiao Sun and Qu Yin were the first to walk over. When they saw the content of the paper, their expressions both shifted.

    ¡°A letter ofmitment?¡±

    ¡°I swear I will not...¡±

    The whole paper was filled with blood. This proved that the person who wrote this letter was not in a good physical state when he penned this. He appeared to be heavily injured. The handwriting was very uneven, like the writer¡¯s fingers had been broken and snapped when he was forced to write this letter. Some of the content was too blurred out by the blood to be seen clearly. They could only see the beginning of the letter of themitment and the signature of thendlord at the bottom.

    ¡°Why would you have a letter ofmitment that is signed by thendlord? What did he promise you?¡±

    ¡°How would I know? This does not belong to me at all!¡± The middle-aged man by then realized what was up. Two people had just died in this building, and the culprit was on the loose. Evidence rted to the crime had been found in his room; it was clear that someone was trying to frame him. A deep feeling of fear engulfed the man. He leaned against the wall. His pupils were shaking as he scanned everyone in the room. ¡°That was purposely nted in my room! It is just like the teeth in the drain! They were the doing of the real killer! Someone is trying to frame me!¡±

    ¡°There are so many of us, but the killer chose to frame you? Why is that?¡± Doctor Li held the letter ofmitment in both hands, just in case the middle-aged man darted forward to snatch it away from him.

    ¡°You have to believe me! These things really do not belong to me!¡± The middle-aged man was so desperate that his forehead was covered in sweat. Earlier, he had been desperate to hide his own secret that he did not imagine that someone would nt evidence to frame him.

    ¡°I suggest we apprehend him for now. This man is too dangerous.¡± Big Head looked around. ¡°The bed in the electrician¡¯s house can be used to secure his body, and there are electrical devices in his room. I believe they will be helpful in making the man speak the truth.¡±

    ¡°What do the rest of you think?¡± Doctor Li turned to the other tenants. Chen Ge was stunned and did not speak like he was still caught in shock.

    Xiao Sun shook his head. ¡°How does that make us any different from the killer? I still think we can talk this out peacefully. Perhaps there is really a misunderstanding.¡±

    ¡°I agree with Big Head¡¯s suggestion. The person who killed thendlord is in possession of all the room keys. We have to find out the keys¡¯ location, or else we would not be able to sleep peacefully at night!¡± Qu Yin and his girlfriend did not care whether the middle-aged man was framed or not. They did not care about the torture and pain they would put the man through. They only cared about themselves.

    ¡°Me, Big Head, and the couple¡ªthe four of us have voted us. The majority wins, so that is what we shall do!¡± Doctor Li carefully put the letter ofmitment away. He, Big Head, and Qu Yin slowly surrounded the middle-aged man. Thetter knew that someone wanted him to die on the stake as the scapegoat.

    ¡°Listen to me! I am really not rted to thendlord¡¯s death! If you do not believe me, you can go and ask Wu You! The boy knows who the real killer is! He has seen people wandering outside thendlord¡¯s room at midnight!¡± The middle-aged man was truly desperate. He knew how unhinged these tenants were. Once he was strapped to the bed, even if he was not the killer, he would be tortured until he died.

    ¡°Wu You has a habit of lying to get the adults¡¯ attention. That is what you told us yourself. Why did you suddenly change your story? I realize that you are as big of a liar as that boy, but no worry, in a minute, we will get you to speak the truth.¡± Doctor Li took one step forward. He did not need the man to tell the truth; he only needed the middle-aged man to say the things that he wanted to hear. If the middle-aged refused to do so, he would be slowly tortured until he surrendered.

    ¡°Why are you pushing this on me?¡± The middle-aged man¡¯s eyes wandered between Doctor Li and Big Head. ¡°It was Big Head who found the teeth and you who found the letter ofmitment...¡±

    His eyes suddenly sharpened, and the middle-aged man shouted, ¡°It is you two who are framing me! Big Head has been your patient since he was young. He listens to your every word! You two are the real killers of thendlord!¡±

    The middle-aged man shouted from the core of his heart. He turned to Chen Ge and Wen Qing, who had not stated their stance. ¡°You have to believe me! I am telling the truth! These two are the real murderers!¡±

    At that moment, Chen Ge and Wen Qing were the middle-aged man¡¯s only hope. He had forgotten not too long ago, he was the one who had been giving Chen Ge all sorts of problem.

    ¡°I personally want to believe you, but with so much damning evidence, I¡¯d suggest you stop resisting.¡± Chen Ge raised his head. His words became thest straw that broke the middle-aged man. ¡°Ever since Qu Gui was discovered, you have been affecting my train of thought. Can you tell me honestly why you have been trying to derail my thoughts?¡±

    ¡°Stop wasting time. We¡¯d better apprehend him.¡± Doctor Li and Big Head pounced at the middle-aged man at the same time. Thetter struggled literally for his life.

    ¡°You will all regret this! You will all be killed by the real murderer!¡± Being strapped to the bed equaled death. It was not safe inside the building anymore. After the man shook Big head and Doctor Li off, he did something that no one expected. He rushed to the living room window and whipped it open. Just as he prepared to jump, the shape of a jaw materialized from the ck fog.

    ¡°Ah!¡± The middle-aged wailed for mercy. Fresh blood sshed on the windowsill. The mouth crunched and snapped his neck. The ck fog pulsed, and momentster, the middle-aged man disappeared into the fog. The rest of the tenants were frozen inside the room.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Chen Ge had Yin Yang Vision, so he had the best sight, but even so, he failed to see the thing clearly. ¡°Is there a man-eating monster inside the ck fog?¡±

 Chapter 1085 - The Lonely Island of Humanity 3 in 1

    <h4>1085 The Lonely Ind of Humanity 3 in 1</h4>

    An unknown monster hid inside the ck fog, but probably due to the limitation of the rules behind the door, the fog did not spread into the apartment, so the tenants were rtively safe as long as they stayed inside the building. The space outside of the apartment appeared to be apletely different world in contrast to the safety of the space inside the apartment. Their entire lives were within the apartment, as if something bad would happen to them once they tried to leave the apartment. Doctor Li walked over to close the window like the tragedy that had just happened before their eyes was not registered in his mind. He did not appear to even notice the blood stains that still lingered on the windowsill.

    ¡°Only thendlord is free to leave the building. If any tenant wishes to leave at night, they have to be apanied by thendlord.¡± Doctor Li looked at the thick ck fog outside the window. ¡°He must have been feeling extremely guilty to be desperate enough to break the rules and leave through the window.¡±

    What Doctor Li said attracted Chen Ge¡¯s attention. This ce was far stranger and more dangerous than he had previously thought.

    As Doctor Li had said, if one needed thendlord¡¯s apaniment to leave the building at night, then what would happen after thendlord died? What if the space was stuck in nighttime forever? What if this was just a recurring nightmare that would never wee the first ray of dawn? After all, many worlds behind the door stopped at a specific moment in time because it was that period in time that caused the mark of despair within the door pusher.

    ¡°We have already confirmed thendlord¡¯s murderer. Now we only need to focus our attention on capturing the killer who murdered Qu Gui, and then we can call it a day.¡± Doctor Li¡¯s words were cold and calm, carrying an undercurrent of threat. He seemed to be treating the whole building as his hunting field. Now that a new hunter had entered his territory, it was his natural reaction to find this trespasser and then deal with them.

    ¡°I suggest we search this ce further. If he is really the killer that killed thendlord, there must be other clues inside his house. For example, the spare keys that have been taken from thendlord¡¯s home.¡± Qu Yin could not care less about the lives of other people. He only wanted the key to his own home. From his perspective, that was the only safe ce within the whole building. If the spare key was not recovered, it meant that even his only sanctuary was not as safe as he thought. How would one expect him to sleep peacefully at night?

    ¡°Er...¡± Xiao Sun appeared to have something to say. He looked at the people around him before his eyesnded on the blood stain on the windowsill. ¡°Are we being a bit too brash with our spection? We determined the man as the murderer through a letter and some teeth, huh? Plus, I just feel that there is something not so right about this. I went into the bathroom before, and I also looked down the drain, but at the time...¡±

    ¡°We only wanted him to tell us the truth. It was the man who made his own choice. He had a guilty conscience, so he chose to run.¡± Doctor Li nced at Xiao Sun before his eyes quickly flitted away to address Chen Ge. ¡°What do you think?¡±

    Of everyone there, the only person that Doctor Li could not read was Chen Ge. He picked up an ufortable feeling from Chen Ge. It was like he had encountered a kindred spirit. He knew that Chen Ge was an extremely dangerous person. That thought had urred to Doctor Li when he firstid eyes on Chen Ge.

    ¡°I agree with your opinion. The most important thing that we need to do now is focus on our capture of Qu Gui¡¯s murderer. All of us here have perfect alibis, so the murderer must be someone other than ourselves. If we start to question ourselves, it will only benefit the true murderer.¡±

    Everything was falling into ce ording to Chen Ge¡¯s n. He was making use of these small group of tenants to go investigate the other tenants inside the apartment. When thetter¡¯s secret was at the threat of being exposed, they would naturally turn hostile against each other. When they were busy attacking each other, things would slowly turn for the better for Chen Ge. When the number of tenants lowered to a certain amount, Chen Ge would expose his own fangs.

    Chen Ge held the same opinion as Doctor Li; they both believed that they would end up as the final victor. The difference between them was that Chen Ge knew that Qu Gui¡¯s killer was an outsider, but Doctor Li had no clue about anything that happened outside the building. One of them was constricted by the rules behind the door, and the other was setting up the trap using abination of the knowledge from both inside and outside the door. This imbnce in information had already decided Doctor Li¡¯s defeat from the very beginning.

    On the surface, everyone appeared to be peaceful and cooperative. But in reality, everyone was hiding a secret, with the only exception being Xiao Sun. This na?ve and honest young man was still ying his detective game. He wanted to find the truth and was indeed trying his best to do so. He did not understand that truth could be found only when the sun was shining. When night fell and he was surrounded by crazed criminals, no one could care less about the truth. The thing that everyone focused on was how survive on their own.

    The group failed to find thendlord¡¯s spare keys in his room. They turned his room upside down but came up with nothing. In the end, they had no choice but to give up. After leaving the middle-aged man¡¯s room, they searched every room one by one, starting from the third floor.

    If the tenants refused to open the door, they would try their best to break the door down to gain entry. Many dirty corruptions were hidden inside the building. Years of darkness were spliced open by a sharp knife that was even darker. A cross-dressing maniac, extra marital affairs, crimes of passion, fugitives in hiding, a mental patient...

    Every single door was home to many twisted souls. They guarded their dirtiest secrets with their lives. As Chen Ge¡¯s group pushed further, they slowly shed their human skin to reveal the monsters that they were. Chen Ge saw the bottom line of humanity in the world behind Xiang Nuan¡¯s door. These monsters were hiding among regr people. Perhaps he had even brushed past them every day on his way to school in the past.

    As they moved from the third floor to the eighth floor, in the name of searching for the murderer, Chen Ge¡¯s group was met with great resistance. When their secrets were exposed, many of the twisted tenants resorted to the most extreme method to resist. Most of them did not care about the murders; they only wanted to safeguard their own secret. Doctor Li himself did not expect such resistance. During the process of investigation, Big Head was stabbed by one of the hiding fugitives, and the doctor himself suffered from light injuries.

    A trapped beast was a dangerous beast. To prevent their human disguise from being peeled away, these tenants had used everything that they had at their disposal. Some used flowery words to trick and misdirect; others used brute force to chase them away; some wanted to lie to escape the investigation; some even wanted to kill everyone prevent so that their own secret would not be exposed.

    Of the whole group, other than Wen Qing and Granny Lee who stayed at the back of the group, only Chen Ge remained uninjured. He stood to observe detachedly. His Yin Yang Vision was trained on the darker side of humanity being exposed. They soon arrived at the ninth floor, where thendlord¡¯s room was. They gathered at the door to Room 901 again. The murderer was not found, the spare keys that belonged to thendlord were still missing, and everyone looked worse for wear.

    ¡°When the front door is open, I swear to move away from this ce.¡± Xiao Sun¡¯s face was pale and devoid of color. His view of the world was inverted within one single night. The scary and gory scenes that he had encountered in the past hour were more intense and numerous than the gory scenes that he had seen from horror movies in the past twenty years of his life. The high intensity and high frequency trauma left a deep scar in him. He seemed to have gained a new type of phobia, the phobia of opening doors. Hecked the courage to open any more doors.

    ¡°If the keys are not found, the lock on the front door cannot be opened; none of us will be able to leave.¡± Chen Ge held his backpack in one hand. He had been reserving his energy. He kept calling the names of his employees, and he did nothing beyond that.

    ¡°But we have already searched most of the rooms. There are so many keys. What could the killer that murdered thendlord have done with them?¡± Qu Yin and his girlfriend were given quite a fright as well. Compared to the other monsters that were exposed that night, they were only on the level of a beginner.

    ¡°We have been to most of the room, but there is a portion of the rooms in this building that we have not been to.¡± It was about time to face the music. Chen Ge was in very good condition. After all, all he had done so far was follow along with everyone else.

    ¡°You mean the other rooms below the third floor?¡± Qu Yin nodded. He could only ce his hope on the first and second floor.

    ¡°No, I mean our own rooms. The rooms of the people among us.¡± When Chen Ge said that, Doctor Li and Big Head¡¯s expressions changed instantly. ¡°The murderer knew that it would be dangerous to carry the evidence with them, so there is a high chance they would nt the evidence on each of us. For example, they might have ced some unimportant evidence inside our homes.¡±

    What Chen Ge described was exactly what Doctor Li and Big Head had done to the middle-aged man. Of the tenants inside the building, some were dead, others were injured, and the remaining ones were tied up and detained. They had lost the power to resist. Chen Ge did not need to be afraid around them anymore.

    Many criminals and monsters lived inside this building. If they ganged up, Chen Ge, whose physical condition was not at its best, would not be their match, but their own selfishness and darkness had provided Chen Ge with an opportunity. It allowed Chen Ge to find a ¡®path¡¯ that practically should not exist within the gap.

    Doctor Li was lightly injured, Big Head was seriously injured, Auntie Ding was hiding in her own room, and Qu Yin was too selfish and shameless to help others, so the only real threat to Chen Ge at this moment was Doctor Li. Laying the cards on the table had be one of the best choices for Chen Ge. But he still had not torn down the walls between him and the tenants. After all, if he could stand and watch as the tenants bit into each other, why should he even lift a finger?

    If a normal person entered a building such as this, the first thing they would consider was how to safeguard themselves and then look for the keys through various clues, escaping from the building as soon as possible. That was how most horror games on the market would have set up the plot. But Chen Ge¡¯s method waspletely different. He wanted to kill all the monsters and creeps inside the building. Since everyone had lost the ability to resist, even if he did not escape from the building, in a way, he had gained victory.

    ¡°The few of us are not the murderers, but your suspicion is valid. We should check each of our homes to be sure. If we find anything in our houses, we should share them with the rest.¡± Doctor Li¡¯s eyes were still sharp, but fatigue had started to appear on his face. The water at this building ran too deep. Many of the tenants even managed to surprise him with the depravity of their secrets. ¡°The killer is very cunning, and they might do what you suggested. We must be careful not to fall for it and remember to have trust in each other no matter what.¡±

    Doctor Li and Big Head knew full well that even though they had killed thendlord, they were not responsible for Qu Gui¡¯s death. There was a real unknown murderer that was lurking inside the building. That was why they had chosen to cooperate with Chen Ge¡¯s investigation. They had killed thendlord and were in possession of all the spare keys, but the murderer could enter other people¡¯s rooms freely through the window. This was a very big hidden threat to them. What if the secret in their own rooms was found out by this mysterious third party?

    To protect their darkest side, humans would do many thing, and Chen Ge made use of this psychology to slowly edge this group of crazy people into the darkness of the abyss.

    ¡°We should check the ninth and tenth floor first. If we fail to find anything here, we shall start by investigating our own homes, we have to take care of our own safety.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s initial n was to borrow the tenants¡¯ power to deal with the monster from the cursed hospital, but he did not expect the monster to be so clever. They did not present him with a chance at all. By then, almost all the tenants had been incapacitated already, but the monster from the cursed hospital still had not shown themself. Without the key, Chen Ge¡¯s group had to use a lot of energy to break down the doors.

    After a long effort, they finally got all the rooms on the ninth floor to open. The six rooms on the ninth floor had the same interior design and furniture cement. From appearance alone, it appeared like the same room had been copied six different times.

    ¡°Why would thendlord have sixpletely identical rooms made on this floor?¡±

    ¡°The appearance might be the same, but the inside might not be.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s memory was very good. He remembered the details in Room 901. After someparison, he noticed many problems. ¡°One of the rooms had a mirror in the bathroom that could be removed, and there is a hiddenpartment behind it. The other had the wall behind the fridge hollowed out. Some had a hidden space under the bed. It wasrge enough to hide a person.¡±

    ¡°But why would thendlord do something like that? He is the only upant of the rooms on the ninth floor, isn¡¯t he? Why would he do these adjustments to all of the six rooms?¡± Xiao Sun still had not realized the scary details in the observation that Chen Ge proffered.

    ¡°Perhaps it was to observe someone and slowly torture them to the edge of madness.¡±

    ¡°How do youe to that conclusion?¡±

    ¡°Have you guys noticed that all of the windows in all the rooms on the ninth floor are sealed up by cement? The whole room is an isted space, and there is no way to escape other than through the front door.¡± Chen Ge stood next to the window. ¡°This makes these rooms perfect prisons. Assuming you stayed in one of the rooms here, after you were knocked out and transported to another simr looking room, would you even realize that you¡¯d been moved?¡±

    ¡°But why would someone do something like that?¡±

    Chen Ge pointed at the bed and the mirror in the bedroom that had been tempered with. ¡°Imagine a person woke up in the middle of the night. He went to the toilet, and when he walked past the mirror, he realized that the reflection that looked at him was not his. Would he be afraid?¡±

    ¡°The culprit wanted to force his prisoner to go mad?¡±

    ¡°It goes far deeper than that. Have you noticed there are ubeled medicine bottles littered all over the six rooms?¡± Chen Ge initially did not want to waste too much time on thendlord since he was already dead, but he was surprised that thendlord himself was hiding such a big secret.

    ¡°These bottles are the clues?¡± Xiao Sun picked up one of the bottles and opened it to look.

    ¡°If the imprisoned person took the drug and went to sleep, when he woke up and realized that everything had returned to normal, wouldn¡¯t he be given the impression that he was mentally ill? Wouldn¡¯t that increase his reliance on these drugs?¡±

    At this point, Chen Ge turned to look at the coffee table and the dining table.

    ¡°Basically, all six rooms had these ubeled bottles ced everywhere. This is a kind of powerful mental suggestion, and the purpose is for the prisoner to get hooked on them. The person might initially suspect the use of these drugs, but as the situation around him became stranger and stranger, he would slowly ept the fact that the drugs were useful for his condition. And the cruelest thing was that these drugs were not helping him at all. If anything, they were the source of his problem. They were the reason he was slowly spiraling down a rabbit hole of madness.¡±

    Chen Ge went and collected arge number of ubeled medicine bottles from all six rooms. None of them were named. ¡°Doctor Li, can you identify them? Are they all the same kind of drug?¡±

    ¡°Some appear to bemon sleeping pills, but I can¡¯t identify the others. They should be used for mental illness treatment. I cannot be sure.¡±

    ¡°Only you can help us identify these drugs, but since even you can¡¯t be sure, this clue is not that important to us.¡± Chen Ge was about to put the bottles away when Wen Qing, who had not said a word, poked him on his back. Chen Ge definitely noticed that, so he said, ¡°There should be other clues hidden in these six rooms. Why don¡¯t we split up to look for them? If there¡¯s nothing else, we will meet up at the tenth floor.¡±

    After everyone filed away, Wen Qing finally spoke. ¡°Chen Ge, these are drugs for manic psychosis. I have bought them many times for Xiang Nuan. Before thendlord moved away from Jin Hwa Apartments, he had a lot of simr drugs at his ce as well.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute, so these drugs belong to thendlord?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    When he first saw the drugs, Chen Ge hade up with two spections. First, the drugs belonged to Doctor Li. After all, he was a doctor, and he was rted to thendlord¡¯s death. But the timeline did not match up. One would need a lot of nning to build six near-identical rooms on the same floor. The second spection was that the drugs belonged to thendlord, and the b*stard who had been imprisoning others was thendlord himself. He was the one who built the six mirroring rooms, and the intention was to push a person mad.

    ¡°In your mind, what kind of person is thendlord?¡±

    ¡°Thendlord is the old CEO for Jin Hwa Company. He was an unlucky old man. His whole family died in a fire, and after that, it was like something switched off in him. However, he would brighten up around children, and he was one of the few people who did not hate Xiang Nuan.¡±

    ¡°So, you have a good impression of him.¡±

    ¡°When I was very busy, he would offer to help me look after Xiang Nuan.¡±

    ¡°You had a person with a clinical manic disorder look after your son?¡± Even Chen Ge was surprised by that revtion.

    ¡°The drugs were for thendlord¡¯s son. His youngest son suffered from this illness. He was not able to shake it off. His illness came and went, and he¡¯s been using this drug since as far back as I can remember.¡±

    ¡°Do you believe everything the man tells you? The chance of inheritance for mental illness is as high as twelve to fifteen percent within family members. That is a number far higher than a normal person.¡± Chen Ge really did learn a lot from his time with Doctor Gao. Through the psychiatrist, he had learned many things rted to psychology.

    ¡°But the old man has always been kind. He is friendly with everyone. Everyone who knows him respects him sincerely.¡±

    ¡°You can still believe something like that after what we have been through tonight? The kinder they are on the surface, the darker the secret they are hiding.¡± Chen Ge suddenly became urgent with his words. ¡°Did you let him look after Xiang Nuan often?¡±

    ¡°Not really that often. It only happened once or twice.¡± Color drained from Wen Qing¡¯s face. Suddenly, a very horrible realization dawned on her. ¡°Chen Ge, are you trying to say that these six simr rooms were specifically built to imprison Xiang Nuan?¡±

    ¡°I cannot tell for sure, but there is one thing that I have understood.¡± Chen Ge stood at the corner and lowered his voice. ¡°The world behind the door is built ording to the memory of the door pusher. When I first got here, I was confused. How did Xiang Nuan manage to learn the secrets of all these tenants? Initially, I thought it was because Xiang Nuan had the exceptional ability to see through one¡¯s disguise and into a person¡¯s heart. But now, after hearing what you¡¯ve said, I know the truth is much crueler than I predicted.¡±

    ¡°The truth?¡±

    ¡°Do you remember the television set in the bathroom and the convoluted wiring behind it?¡±

    ¡°I do.¡± Wen Qing had a very bad feeling about this.

    ¡°Thendlord had been spying on the tenants¡¯ lives with it. He saw the ugliest and darkest side of humanity, and he could have shared that experience with Xiang Nuan, who was as pure as a sheet of white paper. Before everyone else, he told him how beautiful the world was, how bright the flowers were, and how blue the sky was, but behind closed doors, he kept feeding Xiang Nuan this information. The things shown on the television are the real appearance of the world that he lives in.¡±

    Chen Ge voiced his own spection. He tried to make it sound asforting as he could, but it still almost caused Wen Qing to faint. She had not dared imagine that Xiang Nuan was in the state that he was now due to her own negligence and trust in thendlord.

 Chapter 1086 - My Patients Respect Me a Lot 2 in 1

    <h4>1086 My Patients Respect Me a Lot 2 in 1</h4>

    Patting Wen Qing lightly on her shoulder, Chen Ge whispered softly, ¡°Pull yourself together. Now is not yet the time for regret and sadness.¡±

    It took Wen Qing a long time before she slowly returned to normal. She took a few deep breaths and gave Chen Ge some affirmative nods.

    ¡°After this, we will go to the tenth floor. I believe then we will find out what thendlord¡¯s real secret is. After everything is revealed, it will be about time we leave this building.¡±

    Xiang Nuan and the monster from the cursed hospital had all disappeared. Chen Ge did not wish to stay there for too long. He was worried that he might miss out on some things. Ten minutester, the group met at the entrance to the stairwell that connected the ninth and tenth floors. They had searched through all six rooms bute up with nothing.

    ¡°Thest secret of this apartment should be hidden on the tenth floor. We should be ready. Who knows what we¡¯ll face?¡±

    When Chen Ge said that, his eyes scanned over Doctor Li and Big Head. Doctor Li and Big Head carried ck, opaque bags that contained lock-picking items. The two of them stood close together. Their eyes darted about, and they did not dare look Chen Ge in the eye. They seemed to have formted a n of their own behind Chen Ge¡¯s back.

    Are they finally going to make their move?

    As if he did not notice anything, Chen Ge¡¯s tone and expression did not change much. However, he no longer walked at the front of the group and made sure that Doctor Li and Big Head always stayed in his sight. He walked together with Xiao Sun and Wen Qing. As they went up the stairs, Chen Ge even purposely held back Qu Yin to ask him some unimportant questions.

    During the temporarily break, these few tenants were supposed to search different rooms on the ninth floor, but when they returned, Doctor Li and Big Head returned alongside Qu Yin and his wife. These four¡¯s patience toward Chen Ge appeared to have reached its limit. When they came to the tenth floor, the group did not take that long to pry open the door to Room 1006. They had gotten quite good at this after repeating it so many times that night. After the front door fell open, a light scent of decay floated out from inside the room. It smelled like something had been out in the open for too long and had gotten spoilt.

    ¡°Normally, only thendlord wille to this floor. The tenth floor is not open for tenants.¡± Qu Yin held his nose. For Chen Ge, this was no smellier than the other scents in the apartment. The tenants, though, found the smell revolting. Strangely enough, the tenants did not seem to be able to smell the actual stench that Chen Ge found revolting.

    The furnishing of Room 1006 was at the bare minimum. The floor was filled with puddles of water and dirty stains. Following that trail of the stench, the group entered the room. They noticed that other than a ton of big freezers, there was basically nothing else inside Room 1006.

    ¡°There won¡¯t be a dead body kept inside a freezer, will there?¡± Wen Qing tried to hide behind Chen Ge but was pulled out to stand before him.

    ¡°Do not wander away from my sight. Even though dead bodies are scary, at least you know for sure that they pose no threat to you. I cannot say the same for the others in ourpany.¡± Chen Ge walked to open a random freezer. It was filled to the brim with rotten vegetables and meat and a big bucket of ice. ¡°Why did thendlord need to prepare so many food items?¡±

    The group split up to open the rest of the freezers. There was nothing scary. The first few freezers were all stocked with food. Thest freezer had various rotten meat and produce littered around it.

    Inside the freezer were several bags of medicine. Chen Ge took one of the bags out from the freezer. He opened one of them, took out a bottle, and studied it closer.

    ¡°This kind of drugs will spoil easily after being exposed to the freezing agent inside the freezer. The medicinal effect will be greatly affected. Thendlord possesses a lot of these medicine bottles, so it means that he knew this medicine very well. He would not have made the rookie mistake of using the freezer to store them. Other than that, take a look at the meat that¡¯s littered around this freezer. The person who did this probably just wanted to find a space to deposit these extra drugs.¡±

    ¡°After thendlord died, it must be the killer who possesses the keys. Do you mean that the killer has been to this ce already?¡± Doctor Li carried a ck, opaque bag and sidled up to Chen Ge.

    ¡°I did not say that.¡± Chen Ge gave Doctor Li a side nce. ¡°By the way, you have such a lucrative career, andpared to the rest of the society, a doctor¡¯s ie should be quite high. why would you stay in a ce like this?¡±

    ¡°I have gotten used to living here,¡± Doctor Li replied lightly.

    ¡°What is it that you have gotten used to? The dirtiness, the horrid nature of the building, or theck of management around this ce?¡±

    ¡°I have gotten used to the air here. I feelfortable living here, and I am toozy to find a new ce to move to.¡± Doctor Li closed the freezer. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go to the next room to take a look.¡±

    He held the ck bag away from Chen Ge but purposely walked past thetter. Chen Ge carried his backpack, but his eyes did not stay on Doctor Li. Instead, he tilted his head to study Qu Yin, who looked surprisingly nervous.

    ¡°And what are you looking at?¡±

    ¡°Nothing.¡± Qu Yin held his hand over his stomach. He then followed Doctor Li and Big Head out of the room.

    Xiao Sun was about to follow them, but he was given a tug by Chen Ge. ¡°I want to ask you a question.¡±

    ¡°Go ahead.¡± Xiao Sun was still analyzing who the killer was. His brows were creased in deep contemtion.

    ¡°When the electrician was killed, did you hear something that he said before he died?¡±

    ¡°I did not hear much, but I have a feeling the electrician seemed to know Auntie Ding and Doctor Ding. They appeared to share a rtionship that is deeper than mere neighbors.¡± Xiao Sun was honestly quite an observant young man, but unfortunately, his way of thinking was too narrow.

    ¡°They had a close rtionship, but Auntie Ding and Doctor Li insisted on killing him. Why do you think that¡¯s the case?¡±

    ¡°Because they wanted to silence him?¡±

    ¡°Indeed. The electrician is a crazy man that likes to torture those weaker than him, Auntie Ding is a human trafficker that is mentally ill, but the biggest problem here is Doctor Li because he is the one who is the mastermind behind everything.¡± Chen Ge suddenly revealed all the information. It required some time for the poor young man to digest.

    ¡°When did you find out about all this, and why did you only tell me about them now? What is it that you are up to?¡± He had been following the real killers to search for the killer. They had gone through the entire building. Just the thought of it caused Xiao Sun to shiver. Now he truly had trust issues. He was not going to trust anyone anymore.

    ¡°Everyone has their own secret, and you are no exception, but some people¡¯s secrets will not harm others, while other people¡¯s secrets are built on the basis of harming other people.¡± Chen Ge patted Xiao Sun lightly on his shoulder. ¡°Humanity is the mostplicated concept in the world. As an individual with your own unique ability to think and freedom to choose, I am not going to force you into making any decision, but I hope that you will sincerely consider what you should do next.¡±

    Xiao Sun¡¯s appearance behind Xiang Nuan¡¯s world behind the door proved that there was something wrong with the young man, but he was not assimted by the darkness of the world. The darkness did not corrupt him. It was probably due to his incorruptibility that he had mysteriously disappeared outside the door. Chen Ge believed that Xiao Sun was someone that he could have on his side, so along the way, he had been observing Xiao Sun. It was difficult to gain Chen Ge¡¯s confidence behind the door because Chen Ge was someone who had difficulty trusting others in nature, but there was something good about him, and that was once he had truly ced his trust in someone, the trust would not be so easily shaken.

    ¡°No matter what happens next, the thing that you need to do is make sure that you protect yourself and try not to say things that will make yourself a target anymore.¡±

    Before this, Xiao Sun was just a stranger to Chen Ge. Thetter did not mind whether Xiao Sun lived or died. At most, he would onlye to his rescue verbally if needed. But now that Chen Ge wanted Xiao Sun as a partner, he naturally needed to warn Xiao Sun from ¡®running his mouth¡¯ and getting himself into trouble. After hearing what Chen Ge had to say, Xiao Sun nodded subconsciously even though he still looked as befuddled as ever.

    Suddenly, Big Head¡¯s scream came from the corridor. Chen Ge walked out from Room 1006 and saw Big Head sitting in the corridor. He had his hands covering his stomach, and blood was leaking out through his bandage. Big Head¡¯s injury was deteriorating. Doctor Li had suggested that he go back to his room to rest, but Big Head had refused to leave Doctor Li¡¯s side as if he knew what was about to happen. He wanted to stay to help Doctor Li as much as he could.

    Soon, the other rooms on the tenth floor were all pushed open. They did not find anything useful from Room 1006 to Room 1002. They walked all the way to Room 1001, the room that was at the end of the corridor on the top floor of this apartment building. Before the front door was evenpletely open, Chen Ge¡¯s group heard a voiceing from inside the room. It sounded like a boy was crying.

    ¡°Is there someone inside the room?¡±

    Chen Ge did not mind the crying that much. Anything could have happened behind the door. But once he noticed the shock on Doctor Li¡¯s face, he slowly became suspicious of this development. Doctor Li, who was thendlord¡¯s real killer, did not expect the crying toe from the room. This meant that something had changed since thest time he was there. They pushed the front doorpletely open, and the group saw what was inside the room. Their expressions all shifted.

    The floor and walls of Room 1001 were painted with open eyes. There was no furniture in the living room. Instead, there were several television sets of varying sizes. The television sets were stacked on top of each other. The screen of the set right in the middle was on. The image was that of a boy sitting in front of more than ten televisions. His face was pale, and his pupils shook as he looked at the images on-screen with clear anxiety on his face.

    ¡°Xiang Nuan!¡± When she saw the boy on the screen, Wen Qing was unable to control herself and shouted out the boy¡¯s name. Her own child had been exposed to such a nightmarish experience. Wen Qing stood at the door, and her eyes reddened immediately. Her shoulders were shaking from guilt and remorse. She did not dare look at the television, but she could not stop her eyes from wandering toward the screen. The boy on the screen was struggling within himself. Sometimes, the expression on his face was normal, but sometimes, it was turned into a horrible grimace, like a monster.

    The keys had already been taken away by the killer, but the expression on Doctor Li¡¯s face was one of surprise. Obviously, he had no idea who had switched the television on. Naturally, that still did not clear him of the suspicion. It merely meant that the person who switched on the television could freely enter this room without the need of thendlord¡¯s key. Instantly, Xiang Nuan¡¯s image appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

    The door pusher is Xiang Nuan. This is his world. Is he leading us to see the truth?

    The group froze at the front door. Just as they were considering whether to walk into the room, Xiang Nuan inside the screen suddenly lifted his head. It was as if the boy was looking at those gathered at the door through the television screen.

    ¡°Leave...¡± A very soft voice called out from inside the television. Then, all the screens of the rest of the televisions were switched on at once. The images started to y.

    The middle-aged man in Room 302 caressed a fresh dead body beside him as he worked on the joint of his beloved mannequin.

    A fifty-year-old man in Room 205 mmed Granny Lee¡¯s ck and white photo onto the ground. He grabbed the sacrificial food on the altar and threw it at Granny Lee, and then he lunged at Granny Lee to strangle her.

    The man in Room 701 used the burning end of a cigarette to sear away his fingerprints. He stood next to the mirror while waving a knife. The picture of his warrant was stered on the mirror.

    The young woman in Room 702 sat before theputer. She was bathed in blood. Behind hery the dead body of a middle-aged man. She appeared to be searching the inte for information on how to deal withrge trash.

    In Room 505, a man put on makeup and then dressed himself up in his wife¡¯s clothes. He held up his wife¡¯s picture and struck the same pose as his wife, who was captured in time.

    In the kitchen of Room 602, a man washed his hands again and again. He used various tools and rubbed until the skin of his hands were bleeding. The water was running red, but he still could not stop himself from scrubbing his hands.

    In Room 301, Wu You had his eyes and ears covered by an adult whose face could not be seen. His parents, whoy in a pool of blood, were dragged out of the living room by the other tenants of the building.

    ...

    Reels of ufortable videos yed on the screens. Xiang Nuan was surrounded in the middle. His expression became more and more unhinged. He waved his hands wildly about before he copsed to the ground and shoveled the pills that were on the ground into his mouth. After some time, all the screens started to flicker. As Xiang Nuan¡¯s body copsed with a thud to the ground, all the images disappeared at the same time.

    The room sank into silence; the only sound that remained was Wen Qing¡¯s remorseful sobbing that echoed around the room. The images on the screen were very real, and because they were real, they were scary.

    ¡°So, is that the final truth behind this building?¡± Xiao Sun felt like he was about to go crazy soon.

    ¡°You¡¯re wrong. That is only just a part of the truth.¡± Chen Ge turned to Doctor Li. ¡°Why didn¡¯t the videos rting to you, Big Head, Auntie Ding, and the electrician show up earlier?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s so strange about that? Doesn¡¯t that prove that we are normal, innocent people?¡± Big Head countered to defend himself.

    ¡°Stop lying to yourself. You know full well what the electrician has done. The real reason you killed him was to protect yourself.¡± Chen Ge pulled out the zipper of his backpack. ¡°It was the four of you who ganged up together to kill thendlord.¡±

    The atmosphere in Room 1001 froze. After a long time, Doctor Li¡¯s cold face suddenly surfaced with a thrilling smile. ¡°You¡¯re not wrong. Thendlord saw our secret, so he had to die. He was killed by the four of us. Those teeth and the letter were our things, and we nted them on the man. You are very clever, but it is toote now. You will not find any allies in this building anymore.¡±

    Seeing the scary smile on Doctor Li¡¯s face, Chen Ge also responded with a smile. However, his smile was like a zing sun; it was radiating with warmth. Yet, in the circumstance, his smile appeared even more absurd and out of ce. ¡°Do you know why I only understood it now?¡±

    After hearing what Chen Ge had to say, both Big Head and Doctor Liughed. The two of them waved at Qu Yin. The three of them surrounded Chen Ge from all sides.

    ¡°Actually, I have been lying from the beginning. I am no pediatrician, and Big Head is not my patient.¡± Doctor Li pulled back his sleeves to reveal the horrifying needle holes and scars that ran up his arms. ¡°We are both mental patients, serious mental cases who are unable to control ourselves.¡±

    They searched inside the ck bag. The bags not only contained lock-picking tools but also two sharp knives.

    ¡°When we wereing up the stairs, I wanted to take this out several times, but I reined myself in every time,¡± Doctor Li said as he brandished the knife. In his eyes, Chen Ge probably did not even qualify as a human. The doctor looked at Chen Ge like a butcher would look at a cow waiting to be ughtered. ¡°I always felt this ce was too noisy and crowded. Finally, it has quieted down, and I can officially take over as the newndlord.¡±

    ¡°That sure is a beautiful dream you have.¡± Chen Ge also reached his hand into his backpack. ¡°Actually, two can y at this game. I am no psychiatrist. In fact, the patients that I have treated refer to me as Doctor Skull Cracker.¡±

    His fingers mped around the handle that was shaped like a human spine. When Chen Ge said thatst word, he lunged forward. He swung the hammer heavily on Qu Yin¡¯s body.

    Qu Yin crumbled to the ground as he coughed out mouthfuls of blood. His expression was frozen in disbelief.

    His mind was still processing the development, but before he could even say a word, his chest had already caved in.

    ¡°Why me?¡± His body lost its mobility. Qu Yin looked like he was not long for this world.

    ¡°One left, two to go.¡± Chen Ge stood at the door. The sharp edges of the hammer ground against the wall, creating a harrowing sound.

 Chapter 1087 - Does It Not Look Like a Black Sea? 2 in 1

    <h4>1087 Does It Not Look Like a ck Sea? 2 in 1</h4>

    Chen Ge moved too fast for them to handle. Initially, the three predators had surrounded him, and they had still been threatening him, but the next moment, one of them had copsed to the ground already. In the blink of an eye, the three hunters had dwindled to two, and the remaining two were injured to various degrees. Doctor Li and Big Head were originally standing on both sides, trying to corner Chen Ge. But after they saw Qu Yin copse, they moved subconsciously closer to one another. Two were still better than one supposedly.

    Holding the sharp knives, the twisted expressions on their faces froze. Their eye wandered between their knives and Chen Ge¡¯s hammer. In terms of professionalism, the man before them was like a madman that had no cure anymore, and the two of them were at most people with some mental illness. They were all not right in the head, but there was a difference in essence. Even in movies, one would rarely encounter a character who would carry this kind of horrible-looking hammer at all times.

    ¡°I am sure you two are tired from all the running in one night already. It is time for you to take your well-deserved rest; try not to do any immoral things in your next life.¡±

    Chen Ge dragged the hammer as he walked toward Doctor Li and Big Head. The duo¡¯s eyes twitched. Looking at the heavy blood stains on the head of the hammer, their faces could not have been paler. Chen Ge stood strategically at the door to block any possible escape. Both Big Head and Doctor Li knew that Chen Ge would not have allowed them the chance to escape anyway, so the only chance they had at survival was fighting back as much as they could.

    All along, they had thought they had the upper hand, but only then did they realize that it was not Chen Ge who was being led step by step into a trap; it was them.

    Narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge did not waste any time and charged forward with Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer at Doctor Li.

    Big Head¡¯s stomach was injured, so he would not be able to run. Even if he chose to escape on his own, Chen Ge was confident that he would be able to catch up to an injured man. Therefore, Chen Ge¡¯s target was clear from the beginning. He had his eyes locked on Doctor Li.

    Doctor Li, who had a crazy grimace and unhinged personality, gripped the knife in his hand. He had never encountered this situation before. Normally, he was the one in Chen Ge¡¯s position. He was the one hunting others.

    Bang!

    Doctor Li tried his best to put up a fight, but the tip of the knife barely had the chance to graze Chen Ge. Chen Ge was masterful at using the one-meter-long hammer. After all, he had gotten a lot of practice.

    With Doctor Li and Big Head copsing, Chen Ge turned his attention to Qu Yin¡¯s girlfriend. He was not going to let any possible threats fester in his presence. He tied the few immobilized individuals with the electric wires that could be found in the room. When he was fine, he finally gave a sigh of relief.

    Dragging the hammer with one hand, Chen Ge¡¯s chest rose and fell unevenly.

    My physique has deteriorated greatly. Even though I have been saving my energy since I entered the door, I am already in such tired state after swinging the hammer a few times.

    Chen Ge walked past the unconscious Doctor Li and Big Head and turned toward Xiao Sun and Wen Qing, who were stunned beyond words.

    ¡°All that I said earlier was merely to trick them. Facing such crazed murderers, I was afraid for my own safety too. But I know that when facing these people, you need to act tougher and more vicious than them to gain the upper hand.¡±

    Dragging the hammer that was had pieces of clothing and blood stains stuck to it, Chen Ge¡¯s expression was very natural like what he had just done was as simple as a walk through the park.

    ¡°I understand what you mean, but how do you exin the weapon that you have been hiding from us? Have you been keeping it inside your backpack all this time?¡± Xiao Sun¡¯s voice was shaking. He felt like he had just been taken out of some dangerous situation to be put into another. It was like the night would never end.

    ¡°You mean this hammer?¡± Chen Ge used the murder¡¯s clothes to wipe away the blood stain. ¡°Even though it looks scary, it is actually just a prop at a haunted house.¡±

    ¡°A prop at a haunted house? Do you think we will believe something like that? What kind of haunted house would use such a dangerous weapon as a prop?¡±

    ¡°The haunted house at Western Jiujiang¡¯s New Century Park.¡± Chen Ge carefully wiped away the blood on Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s hammer. He then walked toward Wen Qing. It did not matter that much whether Xiao Sun trusted him or not; the key was Wen Qing. ¡°I have already told you about this before.¡±

    ¡°You did, but I can¡¯t say that it¡¯s what I expected.¡± Wen Qing¡¯s eyes were bulging. She had always had the impression that Chen Ge was a cultured man; he should be someone in the art industry or someone who earned his living using his brains. It was not until she heard Qu Yin¡¯s bones cracking that she realized how wrong she was. From the minute Chen Ge took out Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s hammer to the moment the four tenants copsed in the room, it took less than a minute. This happened so fast that Wen Qing still had not found enough time to process what kind emotion or expression she should be using when facing Chen Ge.

    ¡°Reality and imagination will always have that degree of difference. There is no need to mind these details. You only need to know that I will not harm you, and I wish to bring Xiang Nuan back to real life with you.¡± Chen Ge blinded Wen Qing with a consoling smile. There was a unique presence about the man that allowed him to give off this presence of closeness to those around them. He would easily bring them into his confidence if he wanted to.

    ¡°You followed me into the door; it was me who dragged you in this mess. Honestly, I was quite scared and shocked by what you did, but don¡¯t worry, I haveplete faith in you. After all, without you, I probably would have been butchered by this gang of people a long time ago, much less have the opportunity to go look for Xiang Nuan.¡±

    After Wen Qing calmed down, she came to the realization that Chen Ge was the only trustworthy person in this world behind the door.

    ¡°What is the situation between you two? I can see that you two are not siblings as you imed earlier. Are you pursuing her? Are you his boyfriend?¡± Xiao Sun¡¯s eyes wandered between Wen Qing and Chen Ge. After hearing what he had to say, Wen Qing quickly tried to exin it, but Chen Ge turned to look back at his shadow. He stared at it for as long as a minute, and then he took out Zhang Ya¡¯s diary. There was nothing new added to it.

    ¡°So, was I right? You two aren¡¯t brother and sister but a couple?¡± Xiao Sun felt like he had hit the nail on the head again.

    ¡°Do you wish to tempt fate every time?¡± Chen Ge ced the diary back into the backpack¡¯s innerpartment. He realized that there might be a reason behind Xiao Sun¡¯s mysterious disappearance in real life. ¡°From this moment onward, you¡¯d better watch the words thate out from your mouth. The few of us are the only remaining members left of this group. If you attract danger that is beyond my capability to handle, then I will have to abandon you to deal with it yourself.¡±

    While holding Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer, Chen Ge had a heart to heart talk with Xiao Sun. From then, he found out about Xiao Sun¡¯s secret. The main reason this university student moved into Jin Hwa Residence was due to poverty. He was taken advantage of by thendlord. Thendlord rented him the house for a very low price; the young man thought that he had scored a bargain, but from the very beginning, thendlord had treated him as nothing more than a target. The rent that he had given was not money but his own life. Xiao Sun¡¯s story inspired Chen Ge¡¯s greatly. An idea appeared in his mind. If he managed to survive this final door, he could set up the scenario in his haunted house so that the visitors would live the life of Xiao Sun and see how long they could survive.

    After leaving Room 1001, Chen Ge turned to look at the television sets ced in the living room. He thought back to Xiang Nuan, who had shown up on the screen. The boy seemed to have said something to the group who had gathered at the door before they came in¡ª¡¯Leave.¡¯

    ¡°That was probably meant for Wen Qing.¡± Closing the front door behind them, Chen Ge took the keys that he had found from Doctor Li and Big Head and led Wen Qing, Xiao Sun, and Granny Lee downstairs. The corridors were awash with blood. The doors had been pried open by force. None of these doors were the one that Chen Ge was looking for, but each of them was hiding their own version of despair and ugliness. When a person was pushed to the edge of the abyss, with a slight blow of the wind, they might take the path of no return.

    And the thing that pushed them over the edge could be an inconspicuous detail in their life, it could be a word from a random stranger, or it could have originated from their own memory. Chen Ge used the key to open the door to Doctor Li¡¯s house. Inside it, they found many human bone specimens, the ring of keys left behind by thendlord, and a few bottles of unknown medicine. ¡°Finally, we will be able to leave this ce.¡±

    Before they left, Chen Ge took a detour to head to Auntie Ding¡¯s room. He delivered her the same judgement as Big Head and Doctor Li. At the same time, he rescued the child that was trapped in her home. Under Auntie Ding¡¯s torture, the boy¡¯s cognitive ability was severely impaired. When asked, he could only answer that his name was Jia Fu.

    Chen Ge found a family picture on the boy, and the picture painted a scenario that caused Chen Ge¡¯s hair to stand on end. The brightly smiling Auntie Ding and Jia Fu stood in the middle of the family photo. Next to them was a row of wooden boxes, and the wooden boxes had pictures attached to them with children¡¯s name¡ªJia Le, Jia An, Jia Mei...

    Jia Fu¡¯s legs had been amputated, so he could not leave with Chen Ge. In terms of how to deal with Jia Fu, Wen Qing and Xiao Sun had a split of opinion. Xiao Sun wanted to carry Jia Fu and leave while Wen Qing felt they should go and find Xiang Nuan first before theye back to get Jia Fu. After all, Jia Fu could not move on his own, and he would only burden them.

    In the end, it was Chen Ge who made the final decision. He decided to take Jia Ming to Uncle Huang¡¯s ce at the first floor. As they moved down the stairs, Chen Ge stopped at the third floor. He decided to go to Room 301 to take a look. The boy known as Wu You was sitting in the living room, looking with interest at the paintings that were stuck to the window.

    ¡°Wu You, why don¡¯t youe with us? I will bring you to go and find your parents.¡± There were not many good people in the apartment. The fact that Wu You could survive for so long was a miracle in and of itself. Even Chen Ge was surprised by this. Therefore, he wanted to bring Wu You with them; that way, at least they would have an extra pair of eyes.

    ¡°I will not go with any of you.¡± To Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, Wu You denied him outright.

    ¡°Why? Haven¡¯t you been meaning to see your mother and father?¡± Chen Ge was curious. The reason that he used to convince the boy to follow him was to bring him to find his parents; he did not think that the boy would reject him so easily and firmly without giving it much thought.

    ¡°On the day my parents left, thest thing that they told me was, no matter what, I am not to leave this house. They will soon return. Whenever a persones to get me with the offer that they will take me to my parents, that person has to be lying to me.¡± Wu You lifted his head. ¡°You are lying to me, right?¡±

    Chen Ge was stumped. From Wu You¡¯s words, he discerned a deeperyer of meaning. When Wu You¡¯s parents were dragged out of their house, they probably knew that they would die. That was the only reason they would say something like that. After all, no one would be able to help Wu You find them anymore, so anyone who came to im so had to be a liar. That was solid logic.

    ¡°There¡¯s plenty of food on the tenth floor, and this apartment is now a lot safer. If you run into any trouble, go and find the old man that lives on the first floor.¡± Chen Ge ruffled Wu You¡¯s head. This boy was clever beyond his years. ¡°Your parents are not wrong. They will return. Before they do, you have to take good care of yourself.¡±

    Chen Ge turned to leave. Just as he was about to reach the second floor, Wu You¡¯s voice came from above them. ¡°Hey!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I want to tell you something.¡± Wu You was leaning against the door. His eyes were locked on Wen Qing. ¡°Xiang Nuan is lost. He also appears to be waiting for his family toe find him.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    The door of Room 301 that had never closed was shut by Wu You, and the corridor sank into silence.

    ¡°Does the boy know something that he has not told us?¡± Wen Qing was quite agitated.

    ¡°Perhaps he is friends with Xiang Nuan.¡± Xiao Sun, who was carrying Jia Fu, started to go into detective mode as per his habit.

    ¡°Give me a moment while I go and deal with this.¡± Chen Ge carried his backpack and returned to the third floor.

    ¡°What are you nning to do?¡±

    ¡°I will just ask him in person! Why is a boy of six or seven years old ying guess that question with me? I hate people who finish half of their stories the most in this world.¡±

    ¡°He is just a child!¡±

    Wu You was surprised to see Chen Ge again within ten seconds since theirst meeting. After some repeated questioning, Chen Ge finally got the information he wanted. The electrician was the first to discover thendlord¡¯s secret. The reason behind that was because Xiang Nuan had stuffed a video tape that he stole from thendlord¡¯s home into his pigeonhole. Xiang Nuan left the building that night. But before he left, Wu You chanced a nce at Xiang Nuan taking a trip to the rooftop.

    After giving thanks to Xiang Nuan, Chen Ge carried the backpack and called after Wen Qing. The two of them rushed to the rooftop. ¡°This is it.¡±

    The iron door on the tenth floor that led to the rooftop was locked. Chen Ge took some time looking through the ring of keys before he managed to locate the correct one.

    ¡°Stay far away from me. Once the door is open, the ck fog from outside might rush in, and there are monsters hiding in that ck fog.¡±

    After Wen Qing stepped back, Chen Ge pushed open the iron door ever so slightly. The ck fog outside was not as thick as he imagined, but the stench was as horrible as he remembered. Taking out the hammer, Chen Ge slowly pushed the iron door open. When he saw the whole world that opened before him, his eyes slowly widened.

    Jin Hwa Apartment Block A was the tallest building in this neighborhood. So, standing on the rooftop, he could see the entire residential area. The ck fog that stretched all the way to the horizon enveloped the twisted buildings. This was like a sea of ckness, and Jin Hwa Apartment and Jiu Hong Apartment were like lone inds that were abandoned in the middle of this ck sea. Giant shadows slithered through the fog. Chen Ge gulped. His hands that gripped the hammer were slick with sweat.

    ¡°So, this is the real world behind Xiang Nuan¡¯s door.¡±

    Xiang Nuan¡¯s door waspletely different from any of the doors that Chen Ge had been to before. It was not covered in red mist but this ck fog. Using his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could capture the flickering shadows that moved in the darkness. He was suddenly reminded of what happened when he conducted the nightmare mission at Jiang Yuan Apartments. When he reached on the rooftop blindfolded, he heard his own voice from twenty years ago. When he was about to be killed by the door, the younger version of Chen Ge said, ¡®¡±If I am really forgotten in my nightmare one day, I will paint a window on that ck sea and open all the doors in the red city so that all the eyes that have gotten used to the darkness will get a chance to see the light.¡±

    ¡°I know what the red city is. Could the ck sea refer to this endless wave of ck fog?¡±

    Looking at the dark sky,pared to the giant shadow in the fog, Chen Ge felt so miniscule. ¡°When Xiang Nuan left, he came to the rooftop. If I assume that Wu You is not purposely trying to trick me, there should be clues left behind by Xiang Nuan here.¡±

    Chen Ge knew about the scary monsters hidden in the ck fog. The memory of the sleazy middle-aged man being chomped by one of them was still fresh on Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

    ¡°I cannot miss any clues. Since I have already entered this door, I will eventually have to interact with the ck fog...¡±

    Taking a deep breath, Chen Ge carried his backpack, took out his hammer, and stepped carefully into the fog. Using his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge started to search around the rooftop. It did not take long for him to find a heavily broken mud statuette.

    The statuette was poorly made, and it looked simr to the other mud statuettes that Chen Ge had encountered in real life, but unlike the others, this statuette had been beheaded. From the breaking point, it did not appear that the head had broken identally but was forcibly yanked off by someone or something.

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes wandered to the statuette¡¯s chest. Two words were carved there¡ªXiang Nuan.

    ¡°This is Xiang Nuan¡¯s mud statuette? Why would his own statuette appear behind his door? Was he the one who broke the statuette?¡±

    Many questions bubbled up in his mind. Before he could give them much thought, harrowing wails drifted into his ears.

    ¡°A monster from the fog?¡±

    Not daring to test his luck, Chen Ge grabbed the mud statuette, turned, and ran.

 Chapter 1088 - White Rice, Chopsticks, Paper Dolls, Red Candle 2 in 1

    <h4>1088 White Rice, Chopsticks, Paper Dolls, Red Candle 2 in 1</h4>

    ¡°Save me.¡±

    ¡°I am right here. Behind you. Save me.¡±

    ¡°Bring me with you. Bring me away from this ce. Help me...¡±

    Underneath the constant crying was the sound of a woman. Chen Ge felt that the voice of this woman sounded quite familiar. ¡°I believe I heard this voice in Li Wan City.¡±

    In any case, it was not the time to meet some old friends. Chen Ge swore not to turn his head around. He had no idea what was hiding inside the ck fog, and the best way to face the unknown was first to find a safe ce to observe it from a far and not walk right into it while putting one¡¯s life on the line.

    The voice came closer and closer, and Chen Ge walked faster and faster. However, the quicker Chen Ge moved, the more desperate and urgent the voice became. Just as he was about to reach the iron door, the woman¡¯s voice changed. All the words turned into screams, and they shot at Chen Ge¡¯s body like sharp arrows shooting through the ck fog.

    ¡°Get out of the way!¡± Chen Ge threw caution to the wind and ran as fast as he could. The moment he stepped into the building, the scary voice disappeared without a trace. Chen Ge turned back to look. Everything had returned to normal inside the ck fog; it was as if he had imagined everything that had happened to him earlier.

    ¡°Wen Qing, did you hear the voice of a woman when you were standing inside the building?¡±

    ¡°I do not think so.¡± Wen Qing shook her head. ¡°I merely saw your body disappear into the ck fog. Your movement became very difficult to follow. However, there appeared to be something following behind you that was standing on their toes. I shouted very loudly to warn you, but you did not react at all.¡±

    ¡°This ck fog appears to be more dangerous than the red city. The city will cause one to go insane with despair, but this sea of ckness can make one lose oneself fully andpletely.¡±

    Looking at the shadows lurking in the darkness, Chen Ge held his hand over his heart. For some reason, he felt like he had experienced this some time ago. This was not his first encounter with the ck sea.

    ¡°Makes one lose oneself? Is that what happened to Xiang Nuan? He has lost his way in this ck fog?¡± Wen Qing¡¯s eyes were overflowing with worry.

    ¡°As long as he still has not left this residential area, we have a chance of finding him.¡± Chen Ge shut the door that led to the roof and shoved the headless mud statuette into his coat pocket. ¡°It¡¯s time for us to leave.¡±

    Returning to the first floor, Chen Ge had just reached the door to Uncle Huang¡¯s room when the front door opened on its own. Uncle Huang, who had a serious hunchback, was standing at the door. It felt like he had been standing behind the door for some time already, waiting for Chen Ge toe.

    ¡°Did you know I will return to you?¡±

    Uncle Huang did not answer. Instead, he turned and walked into the room. When he passed the dining table, he picked up the cleaver that was ced on top of it. The old man, who was thin as a stick, grabbed the cleaver and started to hack at the wall next to the bedroom. The de cut into the wall, and the wall started to bleed. Strangely enough, as more cuts were left on the wall, more cuts also appeared on Uncle Huang¡¯s body.

    As the old man continued to work, the wall was cleaved open, and the old man¡¯s body was also covered in ghastly wounds. The twig-like hand no longer had the energy to even hold the cleaver anymore. In the end, Uncle Huang copsed to the ground.

    ¡°What in the world is going on?¡± Xiao Sun put down Jia Fu and ran over to help Uncle Huang, but thetter appeared like he was at the end of his line already.

    ¡°To protect another person¡¯s secret, he has to suffer the torment of his conscience. You can say that the wall is practically made from his own flesh and blood.¡± Chen Ge walked into the room while carrying the backpack. ¡°Now that the murderers have all been exposed, Uncle Huang has no reason or excuse to help them protect the secrets.¡±

    Stopping beside the main bedroom, Chen Ge halted for several seconds before he continued moving forward. There were two bedrooms in this house. One was Uncle Huang¡¯s bedroom, and the other bedroom was blocked off by flesh and blood. This second bedroom was stuffed with dead bodies.

    ¡°Initially, the room was only upied by thendlord¡¯s family members. Thendlord did not wish to be separated from them, so he would asionallye to visit them. But I did not expect thendlord to bring more and more ¡®people¡¯ toe and stay with his family.¡± Using his literalst breath, Uncle Huang revealed the truth. ¡°Perhaps from the very beginning, I should not have promised to help him guard this secret.¡±

    The scene inside the bedroom was straight out of hell. This was the location where all the sin at Jin Hwa Apartments Block A started. It was also the first secret that manifested there. Pushing away Xiao Sun, who was stunned beyond words, Chen Ge entered the bedroom and squeezed into the ¡®crowd¡¯.

    ¡°I can tell that you believe thendlord is a good person, but have you considered the alternative? What if his family did not die from an ident?¡± Chen Ge managed to find the dead bodies of thendlord¡¯s family, but unfortunately, he failed to find anything useful on them. These carcasses were not the source of that horrible stench. ¡°Just what exactly is the thing that has been radiating this stench that has troubled me for so long?¡±

    Standing alone amid the ¡®crowd¡¯, what Chen Ge did next shocked the people around him.

    He trained his focus by closing his eyes. Chen Ge used the talent gifted to him by the ck phone, Spirit Sniff, and followed his instinct to start to search inside the bedroom. Slowly but surely, he followed the trail that would lead him to the source of the stench in this building. When he opened his eyes, Chen Ge saw the arm of a rag doll. The rag doll¡¯s arm was covered in blood and other dirty stains. Chen Ge had a feeling that the arm of this doll was not stuffed with amon material like cotton but probably trash and the carcasses of small animals.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Chen Ge was about to pick up the doll¡¯s arm when an extremely sense of danger arose from his mind. Then there was something like a shake, and the whole building shook underneath him. It felt like the trembling of an earthquake.

    ¡°Is this rag doll¡¯s broken arm the source of the horrible smell?¡±

    Before Chen Ge could understand the importance behind it, he heard rapid knockinging from outside.

    Dong, dong, dong.

    It was the apartment¡¯s front door. Someone was knocking against it from outside. Chen Ge stood up and stayed away from the broken arm. Instantly, the knocking on the door and the tremors disappeared.

    ¡°This thing is able to affect the entire residential area. When I was about to pick it up, something in my mind warned me of an imminent danger. This does not belong to Xiang Nuan. It probably belongs to the ghost fetus.¡±

    This situation had not happened in any of the other doors that Chen Ge had entered, so he could not afford to be too careful.

    ¡°Back when I was in Li Wan City, the shadow used this method to cut open Xiao Bu¡¯s body and kept them hidden in different buildings, making use of Xiao Bu¡¯s power toplete his own conspiracy. This is too simr to be a coincidence. This rag doll¡¯s severed arm is probably the same as what happened to Xiao Bu. The ghost fetus cut it up and ced different parts in different building as a foundation to steady this residential area.¡±

    Chen Ge memorized the location of the broken arm. He decided to leave immediately to go and look at the other buildings.

    Walking out from the ¡®crowd¡¯, the stench lingered on Chen Ge¡¯s body. The smell would probably follow him until he left the door.

    ¡°Moments earlier, there was someone knocking on the front door. Have they noticed the change that has happened inside the building?¡±

    ¡°We will know for sure when we go out.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at Xiao Sun. ¡°Are you going to follow me and leave this ce in search of the truth, or are you going to stay to wait for the other tenants from the other buildings toe find you?¡±

    ¡°Howe it feels like you have not given me a choice in your statement at all?¡± Xiao Sun carried Uncle Huang to the bed. ¡°I will go with you, but someone has to stay to look after them, right?¡±

    He was talking about Uncle Huang and Jia Fu.

    ¡°Granny Lee can stay and do that.¡± Chen Ge ced Granny Lee¡¯s bowl beside Uncle Huang. ¡°Granny, I will leave them in your care. If we can find a way out, we will definitelye back to fetch all of you.¡±

    He gestured for a long time before Granny Lee stopped following him.

    ¡°Is this olddy not really crazy?¡± Xiao Sun whispered softly beside Chen Ge.

    ¡°This whole act is just her way to survive inside the building. What is so surprising about that? There are more scammers and people acting crazy in real lifepared to this ce behind the door.¡± Chen Ge came to the entrance and found the key that would open it. ¡°This stretch of road between the two buildings will be very dangerous; you will need to stay close to me. Grab hold of my elbows and do not let go no matter what.¡±

    The key entered the keyhole. The spring sprung for a release, and the iron lock on the door was opened.

    ¡°Follow me and stay close!¡± Chen Ge took out Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s hammer from his backpack and strode into the ck fog without any hesitation. Xiao Sun and Wen Qing stayed close behind him. His extremely good sense came into use here. Before Chen Ge opened the door, he had already confirmed his destination through the window. The closest building to Jin Hwa Apartments Block A was a small building that was six stories tall. This building was situated right between Jin Hwa Apartments Block A and Block B. The location was strange indeed.

    The residential area behind the door was different from how it was situated in real life. Even though the number buildings had not changed, the appearance and the overall location of them had shifted. A few of the smaller buildings that should be at Jiu Hong Apartments surrounded the two apartment buildings of Jin Hwa Apartments. They twisted and leaned like the Tower of Pisa. They teetered like dead bodies being arranged in grotesque poses. They had only walked a few meters when Chen Ge saw a human shadow not far away from them. The shadow did not appear to have noticed them.

    ¡°I think I hear someone calling my name,¡± Xiao Sun whispered.

    ¡°Shut up if you do not want to die.¡± Chen Ge answered without turning his head back. Grabbing the handle of the hammer, he walked faster and faster. The front door behind him was slowly swallowed up by the ck fog. The buildings around them turned blurry. The world appeared to have been corrupted by the ck fog, and everything appeared behind a sheen of ckness. Two different forces were applied on his elbows. Chen Ge could feel from this physical contact that both Wen Qing and Xiao Sun were extremely afraid; they held onto Chen Ge like he was their only hope. The distance between the two buildings was only several dozen meters, but it felt like they had been trekking forever.

    ¡°We are almost there!¡± With his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge managed to see the outline of the building¡¯s front door. It was open and he could look into the building. The building before them appeared much older and tattered than Jin Hwa Apartments Block A. ¡°This is one of the buildings from Jiu Hong Apartments. Even in real life, it is a much more chaotic and dirty cepared to Jin Hwa Apartments.¡±

    Perhaps Wen Qing and Xiao Sun had helped distract the things in the ck fog, but Chen Ge was not influenced that much by the monsters in the ck fog this time. However, after he strode into the building, he noticed something was not right. ¡°Are you two okay?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s elbow was bleeding slightly because of how hard Wen Qing was holding on to him. The woman¡¯s face was nched, and her eyes were hollowed. It looked like she had seen something incredibly horrible during the small journey earlier, and she was still too shock toplete a simple sentence.

    It was even worse for Xiao Sun. Five new wounds appeared on his back. It looked like a w had scratched him on his back, but strangely enough, the young man did not feel anything at all. Blood kept leaking. Xiao Sun¡¯s shirt was dyed red. The wounds were extremely shallow, but for some reason, no amount of bandaging would help stop the bleeding.

    ¡°When I turned back to look, I saw a person following behind us. He was so close to us, but I was unable to see his face. It was like he was not real but a coagtion of the ck fog itself.¡± Xiao Sun had a very close encounter with the monster inside the ck fog, and his words provided Chen Ge with valuable clues.

    ¡°Do you feel anythinging from your back?¡±

    ¡°There is this pain, a pain that drills straight to the heart.¡±

    ¡°Try your best to hold on.¡± Chen Ge had no better ideas. He then turned to Wen Qing. ¡°Are you feeling better? Did you see something scary in the fog as well?¡±

    ¡°I saw that above our heads...¡± The fear was palpable in Wen Qing¡¯s eyes. ¡°Many human heads were floating. They were biting and chomping on arge shadow. A few of the heads spotted us, and they were looking at us through the fog...¡±

    ¡°Human heads? Can you be more specific?¡±

    ¡°I really can¡¯t exin it. Just the sight of them caused my heart to roll with revulsion and fear. If not for the fact that I was holding onto your elbow, I probably would have lost the courage to move any further.¡± Wen Qing looked as pale as a sheet of paper.

    ¡°Both of you have seen something in the fog, but I saw nothing. That is strange because my five senses should be sharper than the two of you.¡± Chen Ge took note of that peculiarity. ¡°In any case, we are out of the fog. We should pay attention to this new building. The front door to this building is not locked, so the situation here might be wildly different from Jin Hwa Apartments Block A, you two had better be alert and stay close to me.¡±

    ¡°Based on the walls and the corridors, this should be one of the buildings under Jiu Hong Apartments.¡± Wen Qing held onto the wall and started to stand up. She lifted her head to look around her before she finally found the thing she was looking for. ¡°Chen Ge, look over there. What is written on that sign?¡±

    ¡°I think it reads Jiu Hong Apartments Block One?¡±

    ¡°That sign is used to number the buildings of Jiu Hong Apartments. It was nailed there many years ago.¡± Wen Qing was the estate agent for the apartments, so she had a clear understanding of these two residential areas in real life.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go in and take a look. Hopefully, this building is different from the one that I currently rent, and there are not that many strange neighbors.¡± Xiao Sun felt like he had been ¡®inocted¡¯ after experiencing so many things that night. Nothing was able to scare him now.

    ¡°I hope that there are people like that staying here. In the world behind the door, the tenants back there were considered easier to deal with already.¡± Chen Ge walked ahead with Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer. Just as he entered the building, he was hit by a familiar smell. The smell was simr to the one radiating from the doll¡¯s broken arm. ¡°A part of the rag doll¡¯s body should be hidden inside this building as well. What does the rag doll represent to the ghost fetus? Could it be that the ghost fetus has once possessed that rag doll?¡±

    There was no light on the first floor of Jiu Hong Apartments Block One. It was incredibly quiet. It felt like the building was unupied. As they walked down the corridor, Chen Ge stopped suddenly after a few steps.

    There were four rooms on each floor of this building. Chen Ge saw that in front of all four doors on this floor, there was a bowl of white rice with two chopsticks stuck vertically into each of them.

    But that was not the strangest discovery. Chen Ge slowly and carefully moved closer to study them. He realized that the chopsticks that were stuck into the bowls of white rice were simr to the ones from Xiang Nuan¡¯s home.

    A bowl of rice represents a family, and a pair of chopsticks represents a dead person?

    Chen Ge looked at the four bowls of rice that were arranged neatly in the corridor, and he was instantly reminded of the bag of chopsticks hidden under Xiang Nuan¡¯s bed. The boy covered the floor of his bedroom with chopsticks, his favorite toy.

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t you think the bowls are very simr to the one Granny Lee was holding the whole time?¡± Xiao Sun asked. With a wound on his back, he used some time before he squatted down next to Chen Ge.

    ¡°They are quite simr.¡± Chen Ge thought further than Xiao Sun. He was reminded of the recording that they saw in thendlord¡¯s room on the tenth floor. Granny Lee¡¯s son, who was in his fifties, had thrown Granny Lee¡¯s ck and white picture and the sacrificial food on the altar at Granny Lee and then moved to strangle Granny Lee.

    ¡°What is this trying to express? Howe I have a very bad feeling about this?¡± Chen Ge avoided the bowls on the ground and stuck his body close to the gap of the door.

 Chapter 1089 - Cemetery Building 2 in 1

    <h4>1089 Cemetery Building 2 in 1</h4>

    Chen Ge looked through the gap into the room. Even with the aid of Yin Yang Vision, he could not see anything clearly. He trained his ears to listen. There was no sounding from inside the room. In fact, the whole building was eerily quiet.

    ¡°This feels so weird.¡±

    An empty apartment building had bowls of white rice ced before every door. That would be an ufortable sight for anyone.

    ¡°This building does not appear to be prepared for living tenants.¡± Chen Ge pulled back his gaze. He had been through a lot and came to this conclusion based on his previous experience.

    ¡°If it is not meant for living tenants, do you mean it is meant for dead tenants?¡± Xiao Sun held his back with his hands. His sidled between Wen Qing and Chen Ge. His eyes asionally wandered to other ces as if something scary might jump out at him at any moment.

    ¡°If there are ces for people to say, there must be ces for ghosts to stay. What is so strange about that? Ghosts need homes like we do.¡± Chen Ge turned to Wen Qing. ¡°We are now in Jiu Hong Apartments. In your mind, what is the biggest difference between Jiu Hong Apartments and Jin Hwa Apartments?¡±

    ¡°Hmm. There is not much difference between them. If you really insist on one, Jin Hwa Apartments was built several yearster than Jiu Hong Apartments. That is all.¡± Wen Qing tried to think of anything else.

    ¡°Try to jog your memory and dig deeper. Maybe there is something that you have forgotten. There is no detail that is too small.¡± Jiu Hong Apartments obviously had a bigger problem than Jin Hwa Apartments. As dangerous as Jin Hwa Apartments was, at least it was upied by living humans. This building from Jiu Hong Apartments was basically empty and quiet. However, Chen Ge was sure that was only its appearance.

    ¡°Jiu Hong Apartments was one of the earliest residential area to be built at the old city. The buildings here are very old, and the buildings need constant repair. The rooms have many problems. Normally, there aren¡¯t any people who are interested in renting a room here, so I rarely bring people here for a tour.¡±

    ¡°The rooms have many problems? What do you mean by that?¡±

    ¡°Things like water leaks, bad lighting, sound pollution, and so on.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute. If there aren¡¯t many tenants like you said, why is there a sound pollution? Who is making all that noise?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s one question stumped Wen Qing speechless.

    ¡°Er... Ourpany did not really give us a clear exnation on that. At the time, our boss dide over to investigate, but he failed to find the source of themotion, and then the issue was kinda forgotten.¡±

    ¡°Yourpany sure is a courageous one. Now I suspect whether you guys do business with the dead as well.¡± Chen Ge had been to Jiu Hong Apartments in real life. Even in the morning, the ce was ufortably eerie and secluded.

    ¡°Don¡¯t make that kind of joke. We are serious housing agency.¡± Wen Qing¡¯s face paled. She seemed to be reminded of something. ¡°The first batch of tenants that lived at Jiu Hong Apartments all moved away. Thepany did not really know why. Most of them left without saying a word. thepany was unable to contact them to get an exnation at all. That is why most of the rooms in Jiu Hong Apartments were left empty, and that was rted to the low number of tenants that we currently have.¡±

    ¡°The old tenants that moved away have not returned?¡±

    ¡°Most of them left in the middle of the night and in a hurry. They did not even take their furniture with them.¡±

    ¡°Does that feel like a normal moving away to you?¡± Chen Ge was quite speechless.

    ¡°Once this strange incident was exposed to the public, who would daree and rent their apartments anymore? At least I would never do so!¡± Xiao Sun covered his back. He was one of the victims.

    ¡°Now, you have piqued my interest regarding your agency¡¯s boss. Just what kind of person would be brave enough to take over Jin Hwa Apartments and Jiu Hong Apartments? If my memory serves me right, yourpany¡¯s name is Jiu Hong Housing Agency as well. Is your boss somehow rted to Jiu Hong Apartments?¡± Chen Ge wanted to get some questions rified before he started the investigation.

    ¡°Our boss is an impressive businessman. His surname is Jiang, and he has a lot of real estate under his name. They are not only in Jiujiang, but there are some in Xin Hai as well. Jiu Hong Housing Agency is one of his earliest projects, but for now, he has basically allowed it to survive on its own. He will only transfer some money to help the agency when the agency is in serious financial trouble. Most of the time, he just let us be.¡± In Wen Qing¡¯s mind, their boss was an amazing person.

    ¡°Jiu Hong Housing Apartments is an investment that is leaking money, so why would a sensible businessman keep maintaining a ce like this? Is there a reason behind it? Is there something he wants to hide?¡± Chen Ge asked. ¡°What is your boss¡¯ name?¡±

    ¡°Jiang Jiu. He is also one of the biggest shareholders in Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s futuristic theme park. He is a partner with many bigpanies.¡±

    ¡°Jiang Jiu?¡± When Chen Ge heard this name, many things started to click. The so-called Jiu Hong Housing Agency was a plot between Jiang Jiu and the ghost fetus. Over this past decade, they had probably been selecting their tenants and assigned them to fixed rooms. Now that he thought about it, perhaps the boss of Jin Hwa Corps was rted to the ghost fetus as well. After all, thendlord probably slowly spiraled into insanity due to the influence by the ghost fetus.

    ¡°Boss Jiang is a very nice person. He was the one who offered me a job and provided me with free amodation. Do you know how difficult it is to find a home in a city like Jiujiang?¡± Wen Qing¡¯s praise toward Jiang Jiu kept pouring out. The woman was oblivious to the fact that there was a price to all the ¡®kindness¡¯ that she had received in her life. All the clues had started to link together. Jiu Hong Apartments was specially prepared for Xiang Nuan. This ce was probably the warm bed for the boy who was the most suitable candidate for the ghost fetus to take over.

    ¡°Was it the ghost fetus¡¯ intention for that old fox to build the futuristic theme park at Jiujiang, or has he found some hidden secret through the ghost fetus and thus wanted to build a theme park in Jiujiang?¡± Chen Ge had already memorized the name Jiang Jiu in his mind. He did not wish to do anything to Jiang Jiu. He just wanted to go and meet this Jiang Jiu after he left this door. ¡°Since the man has the capability to cooperate with the ghost fetus, maybe I can persuade him to cooperate with me. No matter what, I will have to go meet the man to hear his side of the story.¡±

    After uncovering these details, Chen Ge had a new understanding of the building he was in. Xiang Nuan was different from other children, at least the ghost fetus thought so. ¡°We have stayed here long enough. We should prepare to go upstairs.¡±

    The staircase was not locked. However, strangely enough the ck fog outside was unable to roll in. It was as if each building was protected by some kind of unique power.

    ¡°One of the rag doll¡¯s broken body parts must be hidden here as well.¡± Chen Ge led Wen Qing and Xiao Sun to the second floor. This floor looked even more dpidated than the first floor. Paper money littered the ground, and an inverted ¡®Joy¡¯, written calligraphically on white paper, was pasted at the turn of the staircase.

    ¡°It does not look like any of the rooms are conducting a funereal ceremony, but howe there are bowls of white rice ced before every door? Who is the rice for?¡± The pair of chopsticks was ced right in the middle of the white rice. It was unclear whether they were meant for the ¡®people¡¯ inside the room or the ¡®people¡¯ outside the room. Other than the calligraphy, there was not much different between the first and second floor. Even the scratch marks on the doors looked the same.

    For the sake of security, Chen Ge still gave each door a slight push. Most of the doors were wooden door. Some of the locks had already loosened, so the gap between the frame and the door could get very wide. From left to right, the numbering for the rooms on the second floor was 201 to 204. When Chen Ge pushed on the door for Room 201, he did not feel anything, but when he reached the door of Room 203, he started to sense that something was out of ce.

    He tried to push the door as hard as he could, but the door refused to budge. But when he stopped pushing, the door would slightly vibrate. It was as if when he applied pressure on the door, there was someone on the other side pushing back. But when he stopped, the person inside the room also stopped pushing. Chen Ge took out Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer from his backpack as he slowly found his way to the door of Room 204. This door was old and looked like it might break with the slightest touch. The surface of the door was filled with the muddy handprints of children and unclear scratch marks. There was a gap about two centimeters between the bottom of the door and the floor. The door itself was already loose. It looked like it could not close fully.

    ¡°Do note over here. Keep an eye out on the staircase. We do not want to get surrounded and have our exit cut off.¡±

    After Chen Ge said that, he slowly moved to the side of the door. He reached out to slowly push the bowl on the ground aside. When he was halfway through this, he suddenly knelt to the ground and looked through the gap on the ground!

    A pair of pupil-less eyes shed by, and then a curtain of ck hair disappeared from underneath the gap.

    ¡°There is someone inside!¡± Chen Ge was not sure whether that was a tenant or not, but his instinct told him that it was not a living human. It might not even be something that was created from Xiang Nuan¡¯s memories.

    ¡°Big brother, can you not scare people like that?¡± Xiao Sun jumped from the scare earlier. It tore open the wounds on his back, causing them to sear with pain.

    ¡°Shush, be quiet.¡± Chen Ge stood up again. He took out theic from his backpack to take a look, and then his grip on the hammer slowly tightened. His employees still had not awakened, but the ghosts had already started to show their presence in the building. This was the situation that he was most worried about.

    Ta ta ta...

    While Chen Ge was contemting what to do next, a strange sound came from the stairs. It sounded like a child running down the corridor, but the sound soon disappeared.

    ¡°That sounds like it came from the top floor. Shall we go take a look?¡± Xiao Sun looked as unwilling as possible, but he still uttered that suggestion.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to hurry. We need to tackle this step by step. If there is extreme danger hiding on the top floor, we will have little to no chance of escaping.¡± Chen Ge did not choose to leave. He gripped the doorknob and gave it a few powerful shakes. After he realized the door was unable to open, he aimed at the door lock and gave it a powerful kick!

    Bang!

    The door fell open from the force.

    The person who had been lurking at the gap had disappeared.

    ¡°I do not mean to disturb you. Please forgive my intrusion.¡± Chen Ge slowly entered the room, dragging the hammer.

    ¡°Be careful. Make sure to not touch that bowl of white rice.¡± This was the first time that Chen Ge had entered a room in Jiu Hong Apartments. The room size was much smaller than the room in Jin Hwa Apartments, and the ce looked rather abandoned. It did not look like it had been upied for a very long time.

    ¡°Chen Ge, take a look at this.¡± Wen Qing pointed at the calendar that hung on the back of the door. It was marked with crosses using a red marker. It looked quite ghastly. ¡°The calendar is not marked with a year, and arge part of it is missing, but a few of the dates are jotted with some reminders...¡±

    There was no light in the room, so Wen Qing took out her phone to use as a shlight. When she leaned closer to the calendar, she suddenly let out a scream.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°There... there¡¯s hair.¡± Wen Qing¡¯s phone dropped to the group. The shlight hit Chen Ge and Xiao Sun¡¯s faces, turning their faces white.

    ¡°I am so sorry.¡± Wen Qing apologized as she hurried to pick up the phone, but for some reason, the scene from earlier was seared into her mind. Chen Ge and Xiao Sun were staring nkly at her with their pale and white faces. ¡°They appear to be the same kind of person...¡±

    Xiao Sun did not hear her because he was looking around the room for clues, but Chen Ge heard Wen Qing clearly. He saw Wen Qing¡¯s shaking shoulders, but he did not walk over tofort her.

    ¡°Be careful not to stray too far away from me. The three of us must ensure that none of us leave each other¡¯s sight.¡±

    After giving that reminder, Chen Ge started to search the living room, Xiao Sun entered the kitchen while Wen Qing held the wall and slowly approached the bedroom. The wooden bed had a mattress that was moldy from the years. There appeared to be something hidden under the cover since it was bulging. The bed was close to the wall, and a white mosquito hung at the four corners.

    ¡°I have a mosquito at my ce as well. When Xiang Nuan first saw it, he refused to even get in. He kept crying and making a fuss.¡± The thought of Xiang Nuan calmed Wen Qing down. She entered the bedroom and opened the closet in the room. The broken closet had a few articles of clothing that were seriously moth infested.

    ¡°I have not seen this style of clothing before. Are these cheongsams?¡± She reached into the closet, wishing to take one out for a closer look. When her fingertips touched the fabric of the clothes, Wen Qing was about to take it out, but five fingers suddenly reached out from a corner inside the closet and grabbed her hand!

    The color drained from her face immediately. Before Wen Qing could scream for help, the hand had already disappeared.

    ¡°Chen...¡± Wen Qing wanted to call for help, but she suddenly realized that she had lost the ability to speak. She slowly lowered her head to look, and she saw a pair of white hands strangling her neck. Strange noises wereing from the closet before her. The clothes that hung together were slowly pushed away, and a head of ck hair poked out from the gap. It was followed by a pale face that slowly reached toward Wen Qing. Unable to speak, Wen Qing¡¯s body was slowly dragged into the closet by the pair of hands. Wen Qing stared into the pupil-less eyes, and all she could see was the reflection of her own face twisted in a fearful grimace.

    Bang!

    Just as her body was about to be dragged into the closet, the closet door was suddenly mmed shut. Wen Qing blinked, and she jumped from the shock. Then she realized that she was still standing before the closet, and her hands were holding the closet doors open.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Chen Ge dragged the hammer and entered the bedroom.

    ¡°I... I am fine.¡± Wen Qing shook her head. She could not tell if what had happened earlier was just her mind ying tricks on her or if it really did happen. After entering the ck fog, she felt that there was something wrong with her body. For example, it appeared like she was the only one who was able to see the human heads in the ck fog.

    ¡°You do not look fine at all.¡± Chen Ge gave Wen Qing a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder. ¡°Do not keep these things to yourself. Tell me everything you know and saw. It might help us.¡±

    Many horror movies had simr plots. One of the group felt that something was wrong, but when questioned, the character would refuse to say anything. That was a hidden bomb waiting to explode. Chen Ge would not allow something like that to happen to him. Once there was something off, he would need to get to the bottom of the truth.

    With Chen Ge pressing her, Wen Qing finally came out with the truth. ¡°I do not know what really happened. I believe, in a daze, I tried to open the closet. There was a pale face hidden inside. His eyes had no pupils, and he slowly squeezed out from between the clothes. He strangled me with his hands, and I was unable to call for help.¡±

    ¡°The eyes did not have any pupils?¡± Chen Ge nodded.

    ¡°Do you have any clue of what that was?¡±

    ¡°Not really. I just thought his method of scaring people is worth learning. It is an interesting experience.¡± Chen Ge looked at the closet next to them. ¡°We will call him the closet ghost for now. Is he still inside the closet?¡±

    ¡°I think so.¡±

    ¡°What did you do earlier to make ite out?¡±

    ¡°I only opened the door and reached into the middle of the clothes. Then, it appeared.¡±

    Just as Wen Qing finished, Chen Ge opened the closet and reached into the middle of the clothes.

    ¡°Just like that?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Howe he is noting out to meet me?¡± Chen Ge rummaged through the clothes inside the closet. He did not find the closet ghost he was looking for, but he did find other clues in the pockets of these old clothes.

    He found several bedsheets that were torn apart, and they were covered in words written in blood.

 Chapter 1090 - Again and Again 2 in 1

    <h4>1090 Again and Again 2 in 1</h4>

    ¡°It hase again today. It still stood at the door. I have no idea what it wanted to do. It seemed like it wanted toe in.

    ¡°It looks like my dead child. At least from the back, they look the same.

    ¡°My family saw it as well, it was not an illusion; it really exists. But why does it always face away from us? Which family does ite from, and why does it appear at the staircase every time at midnight?

    ¡°My husband said that he would go out to take a look, but he never returned after leaving the house. He has abandoned me and run away on his own.

    ¡°What should I do? It was getting closer and closer to me. It always leaned on the door and window, and eventually, it woulde into the house.

    ¡°After I woke up, I saw it appear in our living room. It did not seem to notice me. It was standing in the middle of the living room, facing away from me.

    ¡°I finally saw its face. Why would a rag doll pace around my house? What is it looking for? Why does ite to my house? What is its purpose foring here?

    ¡°It is too disgusting. I have never seen such a disgusting doll in my life. Its arms are filled with trash and bodies of small birds. Its stomach has a reeking heart, its face is sewn together from different skin, and its legs were bent, stuffed with bones that it picked from who knows where. It was radiating this horrible smell. The pitiable face makes it look that much scarier!

    ¡°I realized there is one thing that is very strange about this doll. Its shadow is not the shadow of a normal doll. When the light hits it, the shadow that is reflected is a boy that is much taller than the doll itself.

    ¡°Everyone hates it. Does the doll not know that? Why does it refuse to go? Why does it appear like it is trying to endear itself to me? This is crazy!

    ¡°It seemed to have treated this ce as its own home, this sted doll!

    ¡°I am not its mother, and I am not its family!

    ¡°I have to chase it away no matter what! I must!

    ¡°I have torn it into pieces, stuffed it inside the trash bags, and buried them in the ground. I thought that was the end of everything, but when I woke up, it had appeared in my room again!

    ¡°I already do not have a family life¡ªwhy does this strange creature refuse to leave me be?

    ¡°I have sent it away again and again. But he started to appear at various ces at my house. Inside the closet, under the bed, inside the cover, underneath the desk¡ªit could be hiding at any ces inside my house!

    ¡°What do I need to do to chase it away!¡±

    The blood handwriting at the end had bepletely twisted and hard to red. The handwriting was mixed with blood vessels and fingernails. It showed that the mental condition of the writer was at the edge of insanity. In fact, Chen Ge could easily imagine a woman with disheveled hair, biting on her nails, tearing at the cover, writing these sentences with her bloody fingers. Chen Ge moved to thest bloody sheet, and the content caused his spine to tingle in difort.

    ¡°I¡¯ve finally understood what it wants. I am not its mother, and it does not want me to be its mother; he merely wanted to crawl into my stomach. When I woke up in the middle of the night, dazed, I saw the smiling face in my stomach. It was then that I realize I probably will never be able to send it away anymore.¡±

    The blood messages on the bedsheet ended there. Just by reading them, Wen Qing beside Chen Ge felt extremely ufortable. Probably because they were both women, she could empathize further with the desperation and pain of the owner of the house.

    ¡°Are these bloody messages trying to warn us that the monster inside this building is actually a rag doll?¡± Even though Xiao Sun always found himself with his foot in his mouth, the young man was not dumb. Especially when they were in danger, his brain was able to work exceptionally fast.

    ¡°I believe so.¡± Chen Ge looked at the bloody sentences, and his eyes stared at one of the many statements¡ª¡¯Its shadow is not the shadow of a normal doll. When the light hits it, the shadow that is reflected is a boy that is much taller than the doll itself.¡¯

    When he saw these few words, a spection arose in Chen Ge¡¯s heart.

    The ghost that possessed the rag doll might be my own shadow. After he escaped from me, he became the shadow of this rag doll. But the rag doll itself had no consciousness. In fact, the rag doll might be the body that he had made for himself.

    Inside Jin Hwa Apartments Block A, the rag doll¡¯s broken arm was the source of all the stench that lingered in the building, but it was also possible that it was due to the presence of the broken arm that the building was safe from the infiltration of the ck fog.

    The rag doll should be a body that the ghost fetus had once used in the past. Based on the description on these bloody messages, he had gone through quite a bit of trouble for the sake of this ugly body that he had made for himself.

    Behind Fang Yu¡¯s door, Chen Ge was given a glimpse of a small part of the ghost fetus¡¯ past. The ghost fetus then waspletely different from the ghost fetus now. The shadow took one step after another to be a Demon God, but it had nowpletely lost itself, and the sign of its former self was no longer there. The bloody messages recorded quite clearly that the rag doll did not do anything to harm the tenants inside the building at the beginning. But its presence was in itself a type of ¡®sin¡¯. It was because the owner kept trying to throw him away that the rag doll took revenge. That seemed the inevitable oue.

    ¡°Jin Hwa Apartments recorded Xiang Nuan¡¯s life, and the ghost fetus¡¯ past might be buried among Jiu Hong Apartments.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s shadow first made its appearance at Western Jiujiang¡¯s haunted house. Some clues as to what happened next to the shadow might be found in these few buildings. Chen Ge did not move to close the closet door; instead, he took out all the clothes from inside the closet. He did not see the monster. It seemed to have left the room.

    ¡°There are children¡¯s clothes inside the closet, and there are three pair of shoes on the shoe rack, tworge pairs and one small pair. All of these signs point toward a boy once lived inside this apartment.¡± Chen Ge ced the bloody bedsheet on the ground. ¡°The tenants at Room 204 once had a child. That was quite clear from the messages that were left on the sheet. After their child died, this strange doll started to appear. The rag doll did not appear to wish to harm them initially. If anything, it seemed to hope that it could live together with them.¡±

    ¡°Do you think that was possible? Based on the description, the rag doll was a scary monster¡ªwho would want to stay with that kind of thing?¡± Xiao Sun could not wrap his head around what Chen Ge was saying.

    ¡°Both you and the owner of the house thought the rag doll was a monster, but have you tried to consider this from the rag doll¡¯s perspective? Do you think it will see itself as a monster?¡± Chen Ge pointed at the bloody words on the sheets. ¡°Bones in its legs, heart in its stomach, and it even has a face albeit one that is sewn together. This proves that the doll has been trying its best to mimic a human with the only resources made avable to him.¡±

    ¡°Howe it just sounds scarier when you put it that way?¡±

    ¡°The rag doll wants to be a person; it desires to have a life like a normal being. It desires after family and love, but he has greatly underestimated the difficulty of bing a human.¡± Chen Ge was being very rational. ¡°It had no idea what a human being was, and it had even less of an idea what it represented to those around him. Actually, you could see it as a child, but due to the seduction by the demon, it had be a very scary child.¡±

    ¡°No matter what, it is the truth that he eventually killed the owner of this house. I do not care what his intention was. If anything, I feel like he has had horrible intentions from the very beginning. I even suspect that the child of the owner¡¯s family was killed by this doll.¡± Wen Qing¡¯s face had some color returned to it, but she still did not wish to look at the bloody messages any longer.

    ¡°I admit that is one of the possibilities as well.¡± Chen Ge folded the bedsheet and carried it in his hands. ¡°We have searched most of this house already. It is time to move on to the other houses.¡±

    ¡°Are you nning to take those tattered bedsheet pieces with you?¡± Wen Qing and Xiao Sun asked at the same time. ¡°The thing is such a taboo. Why don¡¯t we put it back where we found it?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge had limited space in his backpack. He unwillingly ced the bedsheet pieces back into the closet.

    I cannot use theic now. When the employees wake up, I¡¯ll have time toe back.

    The ghost inside Room 204 did not show itself. The room appeared like it had been abandoned for a very long time. After walking out from Room 204, Wen Qing who was the first to step out from the door halted at the door.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°There is blood on the ground...¡±

    The few looked at the spot that was lit up by Wen Qing¡¯s shlight on her phone. A pool of fresh blood was left at the front door of Room 204. When they were conducting their search inside the house, it appeared like there was something standing at the door observing them, and the thing had stood there for quite a long time.

    ¡°There are blood traces on the wall as well, look! There are so many handprints!¡± Wen Qing pointed at the wall next to the door. There were many handprints that looked like they were left behind by a baby. It looked like a baby had rapidly crawled along the wall earlier.

    ¡°There sure are a lot of strange things inside this building.¡± Chen Ge used Yin Yang Vision to follow the trail of bloody handprints until he reached the mouth of the staircase. ¡°It has gone up to the third floor?¡±

    ¡°Should we continue up? How about we return to Jin Hwa Apartments¡¯ Block A, lock the front door so that the people from the outside cannote in, and wait for the sun to rise?¡±

    ¡°What if the sun will nevere up?¡± Chen Ge ignored Xiao Sun. He moved faster and entered the staircase directly. A faded scent of mildew and some stench started to permeate the air. The building was still immensely quiet, but this quiet was different from the normal quiet. It felt like the spirit of the building had been hollowed out by some unknown object, and the souls of the previous tenants that had stayed at this ce had all been sucked away.

    With his sharp five senses, Chen Ge felt this the most intensely. It felt as if the moment he stepped into this building, his soul would involuntarily be trapped forever. It did not take that long to move from the second floor to the third floor, but the temperature around them had suddenly dropped tremendously. Banknotes littered the ground, and every single room had the inverted ¡®joy¡¯ calligraphically written on white paper pasted on their front door. The old doors did not have the traditional picture of Chinese door guardians but were pasted with two white pieces of paper.

    ¡°The door guardians are used to protect the house from evil spirits, so what¡¯s the purpose of these two pieces of white paper?¡±

    More questions awaited Chen Ge. The lock of Room 301 waspletely broken; the door could not be closed at all. The door was hanging open slightly. Outside the door was a bowl of white rice with a pair of chopsticks in it, and other than that, there was a copper basin that was filled with gray dust. To enter the house, one had to walk over the copper basin. That in itself was nothing, but Chen Ge managed to see quite clearly with Yin Yang Vision that the following was written at the edge of the copper basin.

    ¡®Those who walk over this basin will receive the torment of the mountain of des and the torture of the sea of fire. They will have their eyes gouged out and their heart punctured.¡¯

    Chen Ge himself did not believe in these things, but now that he was inside the world behind another person¡¯s door, that did not matter much. The key was whether the door pusher believed in such things.

    ¡°Is this some kind of curse?¡±

    The door was left open, but Chen Ge did not dare enter it brashly. He merely pushed open the door and peered inside to look. The interior of the room had signs of being burnt. Banknotes that were half burnt covered the ground. There were four small incense burners ced in the four corners of the room. The pots holding the burners had a very strange appearance; they had the shape of a kneeling man, like they were supplicating themselves for their sin.

    ¡°Do any of you understand what this is supposed to represent?¡± Wen Qing asked Xiao Sun and Chen Ge. She stood at the door with a nervous expression on her face.

    ¡°It is perhaps some kind of exorcism ritual.¡± Xiao Sun looked at the strange d¨¦cor of the room and had no intention of entering the ce at all.

    ¡°No matter what it was for, they failed in the end.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the lock of the door that had fallenpletely off. ¡°Look at the spot where the lock is connected to the frame. It was obviously cracked by brute force. Not only did the people inside the house fail to chase away the ghost, theypletely angered the ghost.¡±

    He moved the copper basin to the corner of the wall.

    ¡°This way, we won¡¯t need to step over the basin to get into the room. If this thing is any use, we can consider taking it with us. Whether it¡¯s ced in the middle of the corridor or at the entrance of any room, it will serve the same purpose.¡±

    Neither Xiao Sun nor Wen Qing knew how to reply. Both of them thought that did not sound that appropriate, but after they gave it more thought, they realized that what Chen Ge said was quite logical. After they entered Room 301, for safety¡¯s sake, Chen Ge did not have them split up. They moved as a group into all the rooms.

    ¡°There is a lot of copper money hidden under the sofa, vermillion dust inside the closet, the incense burner pots in the corners, and a trail of salt by the edge of the wall. These are all used to chase away evil spirits.¡± Chen Ge was very familiar with these things. When he first obtained the ck phone, he had scrolled through many different kinds of supernatural forums. In the end, he concluded that ny percent of these things were not useful; the remaining ten percent might be useful, but the set up was soplicated that he had not tested them himself.

    The three walked through the living room, but they all stopped when they reached the door to the bedroom. The wooden door before them was filled with the handprint of a small child. It felt like a child was standing outside the bedroom door, mming his palms on the door again and again at midnight. Chen Ge slowly pushed the door open. There was a king-sized bed in the room. The bed was covered in ck pills that appeared like some kind of medicine, but they were arranged in a way where the shape of a human was hollowed out in the middle of the bed.

    A few pieces of yellowed paper were left around the bed. Some words were written unevenly on them.

    ¡°The first time I saw it, it was outside the window. It was leaning on the edge of the window, but I soon remembered that I live on the third floor.

    ¡°The second time I saw it, it was behind my front door. I did not notice it when I opened the door, but when I closed the door, it followed me into the room and just stood there behind the door.

    ¡°The third time I saw it, it was lying in a pile of my baby¡¯s toys. It was mimicking the actions of my child. It was also at that moment that I threw the dirty doll away.

    ¡°The fourth time I saw it was the night I threw it away. I heard the sounding from the living room. When I opened the bedroom door, I saw it sitting in the living room, ying with our child¡¯s toy. My husband and I were so afraid. We switched on the light and tried to burn it with fire. We then threw the remains of this cursed doll at the heap of trash.¡±

    ¡°The fifth time I saw it, it was on the staircase. It pushed me from behind me. Then came the sixth time... the seventh time... The monster had decided to haunt me. I did not know what to do to make it go away.¡±

    The words appeared to be the house owner¡¯s call for help, but unfortunately, from the result, she had clearly failed in the end. Chen Ge picked up the yellowed paper and nced at the cluster of bloody handprints on the bedroom door. The image of the scary rag doll slowly surfaced in his mind.

 Chapter 1091 - Why Are You Crying? 2 in 1

    <h4>1091 Why Are You Crying? 2 in 1</h4>

    ¡°Is the killer the rag doll again? Is it possible that everyone in this building was killed by that rag doll?¡± Wen Qing also read the content of the yellowed papers alongside Chen Ge. ¡°Why would the monster do something like that?¡±

    ¡°Why, you ask?¡± Chen Ge turned back to look into Wen Qing¡¯s eyes. He thought about it and finally decided against revealing the connection between the ghost fetus and Xiang Nuan. Wen Qing had no idea that the monster that she was talking about was actually rted to Xiang Nuan. When the three were congregated inside the bedroom, having these conversations, the bedroom itself started to slowly change.

    The human shape that was hollowed out on the bed started to sink like someone was lying on top of it. The stains were moving. A child¡¯s handprints appeared on the bedsheet, and the handprints were slowly approaching Wen Qing. The three of them were all standing equidistant to the bed, but the handprints appeared to be only interested in Wen Qing.

    ¡°No matter what, do not move.¡± The set of handprints finally stopped before Wen Qing. The room was eerily quiet, and everyone held their breath.

    About ten secondster, Wen Qing opened her lips to speak. Her eyes were overflowing with fear. ¡°I feel like someone is standing in front of me. Really, there is something standing in front of me!¡±

    Taking out Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s hammer, Chen Ge stared at the bedsheet before Wen Qing. The child¡¯s handprints had stopped moving. They stopped right before Wen Qing.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Without any warning, Wen Qing suddenly screamed. She staggered backward in a hurry, and her body knocked into the wall. At the same time, the handprints on the bed started to move away. They crawled rapidly toward the window.

    ¡°Just now, someone was touching my face. The hands were very cold!¡± Wen Qing¡¯s expression did not look like he was lying.

    ¡°You can sense its presence?¡± Even with the aid of his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could not see anything, so he was surprised that Wen Qing could sense the thing¡¯s presence.

    ¡°Yes, I cannot hear it or even see it. I do not smell anything out of ce in the air, but I just felt there was something standing before me earlier!¡± This kind of experience was extremely rare, and it was little wonder that Wen Qing was in such a flustered state. ¡°Could neither of you sense it? Why would ite after me? Could it be that it has targeted me as its mother? Just like the two women who were brutally murdered?¡±

    ¡°You are a unique existence to it.¡± Chen Ge also had no idea whether he should reveal the ghost fetus¡¯ backstory to Wen Qing or not. ¡°Ever since we left Jin Hwa Apartments Block A, you kept sensing and seeing these strange things, and they include the human heads floating in the ck fog, not to mention the owner of the handprint...¡±

    ¡°But Xiao Sun saw those things as well. Didn¡¯t he say that there was someone following us along the way when we were moving through the ck fog?¡± Wen Qing slowly calmed down. She raised her arm to lightly touch her face, the feel the spot where she was caressed by the strange creature.

    ¡°He is an original tenant behind the door, so it is not that unusual for him to see these things. But youe from outside the door, yet you are able to see more of these things than I do. Now, there is something very strange about that.¡±

    It was not that Chen Ge suspected that Wen Qing had done something bad. There was just this question that had been bugging him ever since he entered this door. Why did Wen Qing not exist in the world behind Xiang Nuan¡¯s door?

    The world behind the door was made ording to the door pusher¡¯s memory. The process of creating the world was not something the door pusher could control, and the deeper the impression the door pusher had of someone, the greater the chance of them appearing behind their door. Basically, all of the tenants in Jin Hwa Apartments had made their appearance. As Xiang Nuan¡¯s mother and caretaker, it made little to no sense that Wen Qing had not appeared behind Xiang Nuan¡¯s door.

    Could it be that Xiang Nuan has sent the Wen Qing from inside the door outside the door, or has the ghost fetus killed or taken control over Wen Qing inside the door to aplish his own goal?

    Seeing how long Chen Ge had not said anything, Wen Qing opened her lips to ask, ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±

    The only person whom she could trust in this ce was Chen Ge.

    ¡°If, one day, you realize that your child is different from what you imagined him to be, would you still love him unconditionally?¡± Chen Ge asked with heavy insinuation.

    ¡°Of course, no matter what happens to him, I will still love him because he is my child,¡± Wen Qing answered without hesitation. She did not even need a few seconds to think about it.

    ¡°Even if he turned into the monster that you were so fearful of earlier?¡± When Chen Ge tossed out that question, he kept his eyes on Wen Qing to study the change to the woman¡¯s expression.

    ¡°Even if he has turned into a monster, it does not change the fact that he is still my son.¡± Wen Qing was confused. ¡°Why would you keep asking me these strange questions? Do you suspect that Xiang Nuan is the monster inside this building? Impossible! You have not interacted with him before. He is actually a very nice kid.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I believe that he is a very nice kid.¡± Chen Ge had seen the ghost fetus¡¯ earliest memory in Fang Yu¡¯s world. In Western Jiujiang¡¯s haunted house, after the young Chen Ge fell asleep, the shadow was ying alone with the toys inside the bedroom. The loneliness that the shadow showcased was gut wrenching indeed. Initially, the shadow was pure and innocent, but after leaving Chen Ge, it had started to change. Essentially, Chen Ge¡¯s shadow had died, and in its ce was a ghost that was known as the ghost fetus.

    ¡°Let¡¯s move on to the next room. The earlier we can find the remaining body parts of the rag doll, the easier we will be able to mount an escape from this ce.¡± Chen Ge did not challenge what Wen Qing said. He did not want to linger on this topic for too long.

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t suddenly change the topic! Why did you ask me all those questions? You have to give me an exnation before we leave!¡± Wen Qing chased after Chen Ge, but the two of them stopped once they stepped out from the bedroom. The incense burner pots in the four corners had all been knocked over, the bronze basin was flipped over, and the burnt banknotes fluttered in the air.

    ¡°Someone has been in here; they were following behind us.¡±

    ¡°If you ask me, the chances of that someone being a ghost are much higher. We¡¯d better leave this ce as soon as we can.¡±

    Chen Ge did not exin further. He walked through the living room and looked out at the corridor. There were more bloody handprints on the walls, a sign that the monster had been crawling up and down the corridor.

    It was a child¡¯s handprints that appeared on the bed earlier, and outside the room, there are these bloody handprints. They are markedly different though, so do they belong to two different ghosts? Are there two children¡¯s ghosts inside this building, or is there a child¡¯s ghost inhabiting each room?

    Behind the door, Jiu Hong Apartments was upied by dead people; they were the original tenant of this world behind the door. How many of them were there in total? Probably only the ghost fetus knew the answer to that question. The bloody handprints wandered around the third floor before they led a trail back to the fourth floor. It was as if the monster was ying hide and seek with Chen Ge.

    ¡°Do we still need to go after it?¡± Xiao Sun asked with a bitter face. This time, he was really afraid. Chen Ge used his action to answer Xiao Sun. With his eyes staring at the bloody handprints, Chen Ge moved toward the fourth floor.

    On the staircase that led from the third floor to the fourth floor, there were many chopped up toys and the carcasses of an exorbitant number of bugs. Most of the bugs were indiscernible because their bodies had been cut up too small. The banknotes stuck to the bottom of their shoes and the air around them felt heavy. There was the sound of something rolling on the ground echoing in their ears.

    The three finally arrived at the fourth floor. This floor was not that different from the previous floors, but it looked even more abandoned. The calligraphy on the wall was half torn, but the focal points were the bowls of white rice on the ground. The white rice ced outside the doors of the rooms on the fourth floor had been eaten. The chopsticks stuck out at awkward angles, and the rice littered the ground around the bowls.

    ¡°Someone really ate them?¡±

    ¡°The rice inside the bowls is for the ghosts. The sign that they have been eaten proves that this floor probably has the highest amount of ghost.¡± Chen Ge kept his eyes glued to the bloody handprints, they disappeared into the deepest room at the fourth floor. ¡°If anything dangerous happenster, do not panic and run away from me. Staying close to me is the safest option.¡±

    After giving them the reminder, Chen Ge walked the room at the end of the fourth floor, Room 404. The bowl of white rice ced before this door was almost finished. There were only some bits of moldy white rice left inside the bowl. Holding the door handle, before Chen Ge could apply any force, the door opened on its own.

    ¡°It¡¯s not locked?¡± He slowly pulled the door open, but he stopped halfway. There was a child wearing a red dress sitting inside the living room. She was facing away from the door and facing the window. White clothes were wrapped around her body.

    ¡°A Red Specter?¡± Chen Ge was very sensitive to the color red. When he saw the glimpse of the red dress, he stopped moving immediately. Before his employees woke up, he had no power to deal with a Red Specter head on.

    ¡°What is a Red Specter?¡± Xiao Sun tapped Chen Ge on his shoulder. ¡°Why are you so stiff? What¡¯s happening?¡±

    ¡°Shush, keep quiet.¡± Chen Ge stood for a while at the door, and then he realized that he was merely overthinking it. It was not a Red Specter; it was just a ¡®girl¡¯ wearing a red dress. After entering the room, Chen Ge looked around. The room was covered in bloody handprints. Once he lifted his head, he saw that the whole ceiling colored in red fingerprints as if the monster would crawl all over the room once night fell.

    ¡°Is it okay for me to stay outside and not enter this ce?¡± Xiao Sun resisted entering this horrifying location. Honestly, Wen Qing was feeling the same way. For a normal person, this room was indeed a bit too gory for their taste.

    ¡°It is the safest for you to stick with me. Have you forgotten about the ghost inside the closet in Room 204? Remember that they are always watching us. The moment we get separated, they wille after us immediately and make us stay here with them forever.¡±

    Chen Ge took out Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer and slowly approached the girl who was sitting facing away from the front door. He could not sense any living presence from the girl. The girl was not a living person, and she was not a Red Specter. If one had to describe her, she was more like a piece of art.

    Walking to the girl¡¯s side, Chen Ge¡¯s expression turned severe. He had no idea how to describe this girl. She looked no different from a normal human except that her soul had been sucked out of her body. All that was left of her was an empty shell. The girl¡¯s body was fixed to the chair by the bundle of white cloth. Her head lolled back against the chair. Bloody white rice stuck to the corner of her lips. Her eyes were widely open, but there was no spirit at all in her eyes. If anything, they felt like two dark, empty holes.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Chen Ge tried talking to the girl, but thetter gave her no response. Compared to a normal person, she was more like a doll that was made from a living person. But this doll was much cuter and livelier than the rag doll that was made by the ghost fetus.

    ¡°Is this child one of the tenants of Jiu Hong Apartments?¡± Wen Qing also walked into the room. ¡°Should we untie her? Maybe she can tell us something.¡±

    ¡°We should search the room for other clues first. We can decide whether to do that after ensuring there is no danger lying around this ce.¡± Chen Ge found nothing on the girl, so he turned to start to search around the room. The room was very dpidated. The furniture had seen better days. The room was inhospitable; the condition was even worse than Room 301 and Room 204.

    ¡°Why is this room filled with bloody handprints? Something must have happened to the ghost fetus inside this room.¡± His gaze scanned the whole room, and Chen Ge slowly noticed some problems. So far, of all the rooms they had visited, Room 404 was the only room that did not have a sofa. The owner was so poor that there was not much furniture, and what they had was just hand me downs, probably purchased from flea markets. Strangely enough, though, while the homeowner appeared to have difficulty keeping their everyday life afloat, there was a disproportionate number of toys in the room. They were so many different kinds, and they came in different variations.

    ¡°There is not even an electric fan in this ce, but the owner has splurged so much on these toys. Why is that?¡±

    As he pushed open the bedroom door, a walking stick that was leaning behind the door was knocked off bnce andnded on Chen Ge¡¯s shoe. Picking up the walking stick, Chen Ge happened to nce at a family photo that was ced on the study table.

    A man who had only one leg was hugging his own son, and a woman was carefully guarding her son behind her. Next to the man stood a little girl.

    In the picture, only the girl¡¯s face was normal. The faces of the other three had gouges of scratches on them like someone had gone into tearing at them with their fingernails.

    ¡°This is a picture of a family of four, so why is the face of the girl the only one that is spared?¡± Chen Ge picked up the picture, and he saw a sentence that was written on the back¡ª¡¯I am your real family.¡¯

    ¡°This handwriting is simr to the names that were carved on all of the mud statuettes, so this should have been written by the ghost fetus as well.¡±

    Putting down the family photo, Chen Ge opened the desk drawer. To his surprise, the drawer was filled with various pictures. Every picture had dates and uneven handwriting on the back. Chen Ge arranged them ording to chronological order. The first picture was taken about ten years ago, around the same time the shadow left Chen Ge. The picture was of the girl alone. She looked very cute, but for some reason, she was dressed like a boy. The picture was taken at the front door of the apartment. The sky was darkening. The girl was running into the apartment, dragging a tattered bag that was covered in sand behind her.

    The second picture was probably taken several dayster. The girl was still dressed like a tomboy. She stood next to a pile of garbage and carried a battered rag doll in her hands.

    In the third picture, the girl was standing outside the door of Room 404 with a dissatisfied pout on her face. The rag doll was dumped at the corner of the stairs. The girl¡¯s parents were lecturing her.

    In the fourth picture, the girl was hiding under a tree with the rag doll and some new toys. She had a very big smile on her face. She looked so innocent and carefree, as children should at her age. The picture radiated an energy of innocence and joy.

    In the fifth picture, the younger brother snatched the toys away from the girl. The mother appeared to be interrogating the girl as she kept nodding. The father with the missing leg held a broom in his hands like he was ready to mete out punishment. They appeared to have suspected the girl to have stolen money from the family and used it to buy new toys.

    In the sixth picture, the little brother was sitting among the pile of toys while the girl was facing away from the door. Half of the rag doll¡¯s face was peeking out from behind the door.

    The previous photos were quite normal, if a little sad. However, starting from the seventh photo, everything started to change.

    Many different kinds of inexplicable wounds appeared on the little brother¡¯s body. The parents did not know what to do. In their desperation, they channeled their fury onto the girl. Perhaps, in their eyes, it was her fault that she did not look after her younger brother, or perhaps they thought that she was the one who did those horrible things to her younger brother.

    The following pictures only got crueler and crueler. In the eleventh picture, there was a rag doll that was pressing the little brother by his head as it tried to push the young boy out the window. The girl screamed for the rag doll to stop.

    In the twelfth photo, the boy hid behind his parents, with tears andints. The girl was punished severely. She was forced to stand outside the front door. Behind her, she was holding the rag doll, which was hidden from view.

    In the thirteenth photo, the rag doll was dumped at the trash site. It did not look that much different from the other trash around it, but when the heavy rain fell on its face that was sewn together by different human skin, it looked eerily like a child who was silently crying.

 Chapter 1092 - Misery Is a Kind of Illness 2 in 1

    <h4>1092 Misery Is a Kind of Illness 2 in 1</h4>

    The rag doll in the thirteenth picture looked rather pitiful. It was picked up by the girl from a heap of trash and ended up being abandoned in a heap of trash again.

    ¡°There are no other pictures in the drawer. This is thest one.¡± Chen Ge looked at the coge of pictures on the table. The family portrait that was heavily damaged and the picture of the rag doll being abandoned at the trash heap formed a stark contrast. ¡°This should be the first time it was abandoned.¡±

    Chen Ge was just specting. The doll was willing to put its trust in others, so that proved, at least at that time, that it had not started down the path of the ghost fetus. It believed that it could really befriend the girl. Perhaps, even at a certain moment, the girl had treated it as her friend, but reality had delivered the doll a heavy m.

    ¡°The girl¡¯s family were probably all murdered by the doll, and the girl herself became the rag doll¡¯s own doll.¡± Chen Ge closed the drawer and returned to the living room. The girl was leaning against the chair. She did not appear like she could stand on her own. If not for the white cloth that bound her, she probably would have had trouble sitting up on her own.

    ¡°Can you hear my voice? If you can, please blink or at least nod ...¡± Chen Ge helped remove the white cloth from the girl¡¯s body. Throughout the whole process, the girl did not resist or give any response. She allowed Chen Ge to handle her freely like a toy that did not have her own consciousness. When all the white cloth had been removed, the girl¡¯s body tipped to the side. When Chen Ge reached out to catch her from falling, several bloody pictures fell out from her body.

    These pictures were different from the ones that Chen Ge had found earlier in the bedroom drawer. The pictures there were all taken at midnight, and the backdrop was one of blood. The main focus of the pictures were the girl¡¯s family members and the horrifying ways that they had died. In a way, they were a macabre coge of a tragedy that befell a family.

    ¡°These are the pictures of its revenge?¡± Chen Ge studied the pictures closely, and he noticed something very strange. In the bloody pictures, other than the girl¡¯s family and the rag doll, there was another person that had not shown up before.

    One of the pictures had a room number in it. It was taken at the door to Room 504. The girl¡¯s father was lying on the ground, and the rag doll was dragging him along by his remaining leg. Other than these two inside Room 504, there stood a doctor wearing a white doctor¡¯s coat.

    ¡°Is he the tenant of Room 504?¡± Upon closer inspection, Chen Ge noticed that this man had shown up inside almost all of the bloody pictures. However, Chen Ge was unable to recognize him because his face had been scratched out of them all. Nevertheless, the white coat that he wore set him apart. It was filled with small holes burnt out from cigarette butts, and it was stained with something that looked like fat.

    ¡°After the rag doll was abandoned, it looked quite pitiful, but it did not turn to revenge at the first given moment. It stayed on its own inside the trash heap. Could its change of nature be rted to this doctor?¡±

    Chen Ge felt that he had found another key clue. The shadow¡¯s first change was probably because it had entered the world behind the door at the haunted house, and the second change might have been caused by its encounter with this doctor.

    ¡°Wen Qing, did a doctor once stay at Jiu Hong Apartments?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I think so, but I do not have a good memory of him.¡± Wen Qing gave it some thought. ¡°I cannot be sure whether that person was a doctor or not, but when I first got the job at Jiu Hong Housing Agency, I often saw this man wearing a white doctor¡¯s coat walking out from Jiu Hong Apartments.¡±

    ¡°There is such a thing?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but after me and Xiang Nuan moved to Jin Hwa Apartments, I rarely saw that man. The doctor in the white coat did not show up that often again.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± A spection arose in Chen Ge¡¯s heart. He held the several bloody pictures in his hands. ¡°We should go to Room 504. We should be able to find all the answers there.¡±

    Ever since he discovered the presence of the cursed hospital, Chen Ge had been very sensitive around those in the medical business. Perhaps it was a force of habit, but whenever he saw someone wearing a doctor¡¯s coat, he had an urge to follow them.

    ¡°Xiao Sun, how are you feeling? Are your wounds getting better?¡± Chen Ge suddenly turned to Xiao Sun.

    ¡°I feel like the wounds have worsened. The pain is bing more and more intense, and they do not show any sign of recovering at all.¡± Xiao Sun shook his head. ¡°Why would you suddenly care about me?¡±

    ¡°I actually wanted to ask you to carry this girl with us, but since you are still injured, forget about it.¡± Chen Geid the girl t on the sofa.

    ¡°We are not bringing her with us?¡± Wen Qing felt quite sorry for the girl. Thetter looked like she needed protection and love. She was no different from a doll who had been abandoned by her owner.

    ¡°The pictures that we¡¯ve found have practically reconstructed what happened, but there are too many details in the middle that we¡¯re clueless about. It¡¯s too dangerous to carry her with us for no reason.¡± Chen Ge gave a very simple example. ¡°What if we are in the middle of escaping but she suddenly wakes up, strangles you, and refuses to let go?¡±

    ¡°Okay then, we will leave her here for now.¡±

    ¡°After we have explored the whole building and ensured that there is no hidden danger, we cane back to fetch her.¡± Chen Ge took the few bloody pictures and exited Room 404. When he stepped out of the front door, he noticed the bloody handprints in the corridor had increased. The handprints appeared to bepletely random, but at the same time, it appeared like the thing that left them behind was crawling around Chen Ge¡¯s group.

    ¡°I have a bad feeling about this. We¡¯d better speed up and head to the fifth floor!¡±

    More broken toys appeared out of nowhere. No matter how lightly they tried to move, the toys would squeak and make noise when they were stepped on. These strange noises appeared particrly harrowing in the eerily quiet corridor. With Chen Ge leading the way, the group did not stop until they reached the fifth floor. The stench in the air thickened significantly. This floor had an obvious differencepared to the previous floors. The walls were filled with bloody handprints of varying sizes, and scratch marks as well as random doodles could be seen everywhere.

    The doodles appeared like they were the handiwork of a child. They had very simple lines, but the content was extremely scary. This kind of contrast between innocence and horror left a scarring impact on the adults. Other than that, Chen Ge noticed something that was quite out of the ordinary. The walls of the fifth-floor corridor had the calligraphy of the character joy as well. However, unlike the previous floors, the characters were not inverted on this floor.

    ¡°It is customary during Chinese New Year to have inverted calligraphy of the Chinese character for joy because, in Chinese, it sounds like an invitation for joy. The few floors below us all have inverted calligraphy, but the calligraphy on this fifth floor is not inverted. Is it a way of telling others that ¡®joy¡¯ has already arrived at this floor?¡±

    After seeing so many inverted ¡®joy¡¯s, the sudden sight of the whole wall of upright ¡®joy¡¯s stunned Xiao Sun quite a bit. They were something that he needed to get adjusted to. Chen Ge ignored him and walked directly to the door of Room 504.

    The bloody handprints of different sizes in the corridor all congregated around this ce. Chen Ge used his finger to trail along some of the handprints. He noticed that all the handprints crawled out from this room, and then they would crawl back into this room.

    ¡°The secret of this whole building should be inside Room 504.¡± Chen Ge stopped outside the door. He nced at the half-open door, and his eyes scanned the door number. Xiao Sun and Wen Qing walked over to join him. The three of them stood together, and they were as ready as they could be.

    Raising his arm, Chen Ge reached out to grab the door handle. Before he could push, however, the door was suddenly pulled open slightly from inside. Something reached out to grab at Chen Ge¡¯s wrist. Wen Qing gasped in shock, and Xiao Sun retreated out of the fear. Even Chen Ge was jolted back by surprise. However, the man recovered and reacted as fast as he could. Just as he was about to turn around to grab at the door, a ball of cloth was shoved through the gap.

    ¡°You all saw it, right? The door opened on its own!¡± Xiao Sun pointed at the door. ¡°Do we still need to enter it?¡±

    Xiao Sun and Wen Qing stood behind Chen Ge, and they stayed far away from the door. Chen Ge inspected the spot of his wrist that had been grabbed earlier. He had lostplete sense of that part of his limb; it felt ice cold like it had turned into a block of ice.

    ¡°We¡¯re already here. Of course, we are not going to stop here. We are going in to take a look.¡± Chen Ge knelt down to pick up the ball of cloth that had fallen through the gap. It was a bolt of fabric that was rumpled together. It had a bloody message written on it¡ª¡¯Do not kome in.¡¯

    ¡°The monster seems to be reminding us not toe in. Is it doing that on purpose?¡± Xiao Sun looked at the message on the cloth. ¡°Then we¡¯d better go. Even the ghost inside the building is warning us. Isn¡¯t it a bit rude for us to stay and not listen to them?¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± When she saw the handwriting on the cloth, Wen Qing became quite agitated. ¡°Do not move yet. The handwriting on this cloth looks simr to Xiang Nuan¡¯s handwriting.¡±

    Wen Qing grabbed the cloth to study it closer. After some time, she said with confidence, ¡°Xiang Nuan is still learning his letters, and he always miswrites e¡¯ as ¡®kome¡¯. Yes! This is written by him!¡±

    Holding the cloth tightly, Wen Qing¡¯s eyes were reddening from emotion. ¡°Xiang Nuan is inside this room! He is behind this door! We have to go get him!¡±

    ¡°Please calm down.¡± Chen Ge tried to make Wen Qing calm down, but the floodgates had already opened, and Chen Ge was unable to do anything to stop her. ¡°This whole building is filled with bloody handprints, so the ghost who left them behind will have blood on their hands. But the hand that reached out from inside the door earlier was invisible. Other than the intense chill, there was no stain of even one drop of blood on its hands. Therefore, that is proof that this person is different from all the other ghosts inside this building.¡±

    ¡°That is because it is not a ghost but Xiang Nuan!¡± Wen Qing was desperate to get the door open, but she was held back by Chen Ge.

    ¡°Have you really thought this through? It might not be Xiang Nuan behind the door but something else.¡± Chen Ge wished to rify himself. When they saw the white handprints on the bedsheet inside Room 301, Chen Ge had felt curious about its appearance. Why was the ghost that particr about Wen Qing and only targeted her?

    If the source of the white handprints was Xiang Nuan, then perhaps it meant that Xiang Nuan had been following Wen Qing, but no one was able to see him. Only when Wen Qing was very close to him would they be able to sense his presence.

    ¡°I am ready. No matter what, I have to open this door and enter this ce to take a look.¡± Wen Qing was determined. No matter what Chen Ge said, his words fell on deaf ears.

    ¡°You want to enter this room to find him, but he has already given you the hint that forbids you from entering this room.¡± Chen Ge sighed heavily. ¡°Oh well. The two of you had better stay close behind me. If there is any danger, we will retreat from the room as fast as we can; there shall be no hesitation.¡±

    Chen Ge grabbed the doorknob and slowly pushed the door of Room 504 open. The door shook, and a horrible stench hit him in the face. ¡°Looks like a part of the rag doll is hidden inside this room.¡±

    Once the door opened, Wen Qing took out her phone and shone the shlight into the living room. When she saw what was inside the room, the expression on her face froze. The small room was upied by bloody handprints, but other than the children¡¯s handprints, many faces of children were printed on the walls. All the faces were painted red; they did not have any expression, and they all looked different from each other.

    ¡°Howe it feels like every face is a representation of a living child? It feels like they are going to open their eyes at any moment!¡± Xiao Sun walked at the back of the group, and he sucked in a cold breath.

    ¡°Xiang Nuan!¡± Wen Qing started to scream inside the room.

    ¡°Can you two be quiet for a moment?¡± Chen Ge pulled on the strap of his backpack, and his hands gripped the handle of Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer tightly. His nerves were tense. He was on high alert. There were many tables and chairs ced inside Room 504. If not for the bloody faces and handprints, this ce could easily be mistaken for a tuition center. A smiling mask was ced on each of the chairs. The materials that made the mask were probably the banknotes on the ground; the banknotes had the same yellowed paper quality to them.

    Chen Ge picked up a random paper mask to take a closer look. This smiling mask that was cut out from paper money had a great contrast to the faces of the children on the wall. One was forever smiling while the other was bound in extreme despair.

    Chen Ge looked around before he found a stack of document files inside the drawer of the television cupboard. The document files were numbered, and they appeared to be from more than a few decades ago. When he found the first file, Chen Ge stood inside the living room and opened it. The stench inside the room thickened. Chen Ge dumped the content of the file on the coffee table. It contained some documents with pictures attached to them and the dead carcass of a small bird that had been air dried.

    ¡°A patient¡¯s list?¡± Chen Ge read the files, and it was a doctor¡¯s records.

    ¡°It had no name. I found it among a heap of trash, so I shall call it Trash for now.

    ¡°Trash desires to have a life like a normal human being. It is chasing something that even it cannot clearly exin itself. Based on its description, I personally believe it is looking for the feeling of bliss.

    ¡°Trash wishes to obtain bliss, but it does not understand what bliss is. To cure its illness, I will have to first teach it what the meaning of bliss is.

    ¡°Trash does not understand any conversation or words that involve human emotions. I will have to use a different method to teach it.

    ¡°Theck of bliss or misery is a kind of disease; misery is like a cut that was left on one¡¯s heart. All the happiness will leak out from this opening, and bliss is the bandage that will close up this wound.

    ¡°Using my perspective to exin bliss, Trash was able to understand the concept very quickly. It started to find wounds on other people¡¯s bodies. It really is a good kid. When it first understood bliss, the first thing it wanted to do was not to create misery but to go in search of bliss.

    ¡°It looked for a long time, but it failed to find bliss. To help it understand the concept further, I persuaded it to create misery and, from the contrast, try to observe what bliss actually is.

    ¡°Trash chose a bird. Under my tutge, it broke off the bird¡¯s wing. The blood sttered all over the bird¡¯s feathers. The bird was wailing in despair. That is the sound of misery.

    ¡°Under the watchful care of Trash, the bird¡¯s wound slowly recovered. But it had lost the ability to fly in the sky. I told Trash that was the price of bliss.

    ¡°To obtain bliss, one has to give up something; it is a very fair exchange.¡±

    That was where the first file ended. Then Chen Ge opened the second file. Other than the written documents, there was an eyeball that was encased inside a ball of glue.

    ¡°Trash is the most perfect patient I have ever encountered; it is so perfect that I do not wish to share my findings with other doctors. I will keep it here with me for now. I will not bring it back to the work. I will conduct the treatment with Trash at thefort of my own home.

    ¡°Trash is very clever. He has created a beautiful body for himself. He used the materials that he had taken from those with misery around them.

    ¡°Even if I use all the vocabry within my knowledge, I am unable to describe its beauty. Trash has the same eye for beauty as I do. I did not teach him that that; he picked it up on his own.

    ¡°Now that he possesses a beautiful body, Trash can go and do more things, and I can conduct more intense treatment on him.¡±

 Chapter 1093 - Patient 0004 2 in 1

    <h4>1093 Patient 0004 2 in 1</h4>

    Putting down the second file, Chen Ge picked up the third file and proceeded to read its content.

    ¡°Trash wanted to be a human. Everything it did was to achieve this goal. Thus, from this action, we can surmise that it is not a human being. Then, that begets the question, what is it?

    ¡°As Trash¡¯s doctor, I have been puzzled by this question for a very long time. I wish to understand Trash¡¯s origin. How did Trashe to be?

    ¡°Using the excuse to help it find bliss as a front, I asked it many questions, but I knew that it did not answer most of my questions honestly. It was hard to imagine that a monster who did not know what bliss was would know how to lie and cheat. Looks like these things are innately imprinted within every living creature. Nothing is an exception, no matter how unique it is.

    ¡°Trash is very clever, so incredibly clever that it worries me. Its ability to think and formte thought improve by the days. I¡¯m worried that one day he will start to suspect me and single-handedly decide to refuse my treatment on his own volition.

    ¡°The first conflict that I had with Trash came far earlier than I expected. Trash was once abandoned by the girl from Room 301. I thought it would have nothing but hatred for that girl, but I was surprised that the monster did not even understand the feeling of hatred. It had no idea what feeling that was. I trapped Trash and the girl, whom I¡¯d tied up, inside the same room. I even prepared so many tools that were meant for its revenge for it inside the room, but when I opened the door again, all it had done was remove the rope from around the girl and untie her.

    ¡°Trash is seriously ill, but it is still not the patient that I need. There is no separation of good and evil in his heart, or rather, this monster does not have a heart.

    ¡°I passed the knife over to Trash and told him what to do to make the girl forever its possession. I taught Trash the method that I once used myself, but it did not appear like it was too keen on following my example. It started to have its own thoughts. This is incredibly different from its performance during our previous session. It nned to grow a flower that did not belong on this world on the bed of thoughts that I had prepared for him.

    ¡°For the sake of the experiment, I wish to do a test. If I kill the little girl, will it hate me enough to want to kill me? What kind of method will it use to kill me? Will its eyes when it kills me be filled with pain and despair? Just the thought of it excites me. Nothing¡¯s going ording to n, but is that not part of the fun? I am getting more and more curious.¡±

    When he finished reading the third file, Chen Ge had alreadybelled this doctor a mad person. ¡°Better be careful. Be sure to close up your mind and have a firm belief in your principles when you read these files. They will try to pull you down to their same level and thus slowly cut through your internal defense line.¡±

    ¡°I do not care about these files. All I want to do is to leave now.¡±

    ¡°Is there anything rted to Xiang Nuan in those files? Is there any information about him?¡±

    Seeing Xiao Sun and Wen Qing¡¯s reactions, Chen Ge sighed in relief. These two could not care less about what was written inside the files. For them, the truth was not that important. Instead, the most important thing was surviving with their lives and family by their side.

    Putting away the third file, Chen Ge opened thest file. The surface of this file was soaked in blood. The fourth document file was the thinnest. It only had a few sheets of paper, but every sheet had a bloody handprint on it. The handprint matched the ones in the room perfectly.

    ¡°Trash wanted to be a human, but it did not understand what constitutes a human being. Using dead bodies and living humans as examples, I taught it many different things from many different perspectives. I told him about the difference between other living humans, dead bodies, and animals. I exined to him what bliss is, what emotions are, what warmth is, and what love is.

    ¡°Trash had grown. From a moment in time that I could not pinpoint, I was unable to read its thoughts anymore. The pair of eyes that it dug out from another person¡¯s face were muddled and filled stench-inducing blood vessels. I could no longer see through them and ess what their owner was thinking.

    ¡°Trash was different from all of my other patients. It is real, but it had no body to call its own. What it had instead was an amalgamation of sorts that it had built from many different parts. I was unable to reach into its heart as I normally would to study my patients. Eventually, I even had trouble telling at what stage his illness had advanced to.

    ¡°For a doctor to be unable to read their own patient, that is both very interesting and dangerous. I was unable to predict its next move, and I had no idea when I would be killed. Trash would always mysteriously appear behind me. I could sense its eyes on the back of my heart and the area around my neck and throat. Did it really wish to kill me, or was it also trying to help me cure the illness that I personally have¡ªmisery?

    ¡°We imprisoned the girl for a few days. In the end, Trash did not kill her, but the girl was no longer herself. Trash eventually found apromise. It listened to my advice, but at the same time, it had retained its own uniqueness. It was the first time it had owned something of its own.

    ¡°Yes, it should be a thing. Even though Trash had seen this thing as its friend, but for me, it was just an object that had lost its soul.¡±

    More and more blood soaked the records. The paper was getting more wrinkled. The handprints on the sheet of paper ovepped each other like many ¡®ghosts¡¯ had seen thisst document before.

    ¡°I desperately wish to know what it would feel like to be killed by Trash, but with just the thought that I would lose such a perfect patient after I died, it felt like something had gone missing from my heart. I have lived for a year behind the door. It felt very ufortable to return to the world outside the door. It was not until I met Trash that I suddenly understood the meaning of my existence. Yes,pared to me, Trash met the requirement of the hospital much better. If I sent it over there, all the doctors would be so overjoyed and excited.

    ¡°I really did not wish to share Trash with the others, but unfortunately, I was afraid I would not survive until the moment Trash received the treatment that it desperately needed. I shared my discovery and findings concerning Trash to my teacher. When it heard my story, it personally came to Jiu Hong Apartments. After it assessed Trash, it gave Trash a very unique patient number¡ªPatient 0004.

    ¡°When I saw this number, I knew that my days were numbered. All of the patients at the hospital were arranged ording to their number depending on the severity of their illness. The more unique the patient, the further ahead their number would be.

    ¡°Other than Patient 0001, which I have not seen before, Patient 0002 is left on the other side of the door, and Patient 0003 is hidden in Jiujiang. These three are beyond the realm of myprehension. They are existences that I cannotpletely understand. I really did not expect mere Trash to be Patient 0004. Can it suffer the weight that will be brought by this number?

    ¡°Normal doctors are unable to interact with the ten first patients. They are instead handed over to their respective teacher and doctor. Regarding the others that know about their presence, they are either sent to the other side of the door or disappear silently and mysteriously. I belong to theter camp. After all, I have instilled my own thoughts into the material that my teacher has considered to be incredibly important.

    ¡°Before I disappear, there is onest thing that I need to do, and that is to hide these records at a ce that only me and Trash know about. I have no idea why I would do such a thing. Perhaps human beings are all selfish creatures, especially people like me...¡±

    Thest document ended right there. On first nce, it might appear to be the ravings of a mad doctor, but it actually contained a wealth of information. This crazy doctor was not the scariest entity; he had a teacher, and ording to his statement, the hospital that he came from had many scary doctors that were just like him. In Chen Ge¡¯s mind, there was only one such hospital in existence, and that was the cursed hospital that was built on the border between Xin Hai and Jiujiang.

    ¡°This is such troublesome news. From the records, it appears that they started to investigate the doors more than twenty years ago. That¡¯s even earlier than Doctor Gao. There¡¯s an impossible number of doctors, and I have no clue what they are capable of. Other than that, I need to pay attention to the patients that were mentioned inside these files. The doctor¡¯s teacher probably saw something in the rag doll, so it listed it as Patient 0004. Several decadester, the rag doll became a Demon God, the ghost fetus, but even so, it was only ranked number four. Just how scary are the three before the ghost fetus?¡±

    Chen Ge knew that among Red Specters, there would be a great difference in their ability. For example, Men Nan and Zhang Ya before she became a Demon God. Chen Ge believed that such a difference would exist between Demon Gods as well.

    ¡°Looks like I will have to reassess the overall ability of that hospital. The best thing I can do now is try to find as many patients as I can and try to work together with them. We are all patients, so there should be amonnguage, right?¡± Chen Ge ced all four files into his backpack. These things were very important.

    ¡°The rag doll was taken by the doctor¡¯s teacher to the hospital. The experience at Jiu Hong Apartments was the second stage of the change that happened to the ghost fetus. It was at this ce that it was given an education in a twisted worldview and moral values. What happened next at the hospital should be thest stage that ultimately propelled it to be the ghost fetus.¡±

    Chen Ge was reminded of the scenario inside the worlds behind the doors of the few children that he had entered before. When he opened his eyes, there would be a ck iron door that gave off a faint scent of disinfectant behind him. The world of every child that was chosen was different, but the doors that were used to leave their worlds were the same. Chen Ge greatly suspected that the ck iron door was the ¡®door¡¯ that was pushed open by the ghost fetus himself.

    ¡°The ck door with the smell of disinfectant feels like the door to the zone of the seriously ill at special hospitals. Using this as a basis of spection, the ghost fetus probably pushed open its own door at that hospital.¡±

    The four documents tied the ghost fetus to the cursed hospital, but this was just the beginning. From what was happening now, it appeared that it had been some time since the ghost fetus had escaped from that hospital, and due to various reasons, the hospital was not that desperate to recapture the ghost fetus.

    In Chen Ge¡¯s mind, there were several possibilities for this.

    One, the cursed hospital was very confident in their ability. They believed that they would be able to recapture the ghost fetus any time they wanted, so they did not care about it and allowed it to grow while they observed it in the dark.

    Two, they ran into some big trouble. The person who had created trouble could be another patient. After all, if the ghost fetus was able to escape, the patients who were ranked before it would naturally be able to mount their own escape as well.

    Three, the cursed hospital ran into a huge challenge in Jiujiang. It was not that they did not wish to recapture ghost fetus, but they no longer darede to Jiujiang so openly like they did in the past.

    Note that these three situations were not mutually exclusive to one another. After all, with that hospital¡¯s scary ability, Chen Ge believed that just one situation would not be enough to prevent them from doing what they wanted to do. Perhaps a collection of deterring factors had contributed to the situation that Chen Ge was faced with.

    ¡°There is a high chance that the ghost fetus was once trapped at that cursed hospital. It appears like I interacted with people from that hospital when I was young. Could all roads eventually lead back to that cursed hospital? And what kind of character do my parents y in this whole incident? Is their disappearance rted to the cursed hospital as well?¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge, Chen Ge!¡± His elbow was being tugged on, and Xiao Sun¡¯s call echoed in his ears. ¡°Look at the faces on the wall. They appear to be looking at you!¡±

    ¡°Looking at me?¡± Chen Ge turned around to scan his environment. The faces of the children on the wall were bleeding. Their eyes appeared to havee alive. Their eyeballs were so lively that it felt like they would pop out from the wall at any moment. Even when he was stared at by so many strange gazes, Chen Ge was as calm as ever. He slowly took the files out from his backpack. He did not believe that he had done anything that crossed the line. The only thing that he had done was take the files from the drawer. If these children were targeting him because of that, before his employees woke up, Chen Ge could give up the documents for the time being. He could alwayse back to fetch themter.

    A great man knows when to yield and when not to. There was nothing embarrassing about this. Chen Ge ced the documents back into the drawer, but he realized that the children were not looking at the documents; they were all looking at him. The gazes all zeroed in on him. All the children had found him as their target.

    ¡°Why are they looking at me like this?¡±

    Chen Ge put the document files back into his backpack. He still did not wish to leave this building because he had not found the source of the stench inside this building. Room 504 was the room where the stench was the thickest. If his earliest spection was not wrong, the remaining body part of the rag doll should be hidden somewhere inside this room.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go now. If we do not go soon, I have a feeling that we will not be able to leave.¡±

    ¡°Just give me a moment.¡± Even though Chen Ge did not wish to stay in that room any longer, it had not been easy to make their way to this ce. He would feel too much regret if he did not take a good look around the room. ¡°ording to the doctor¡¯s files, their teacher would do their best to make everyone else who knew about their patients disappear silently and mysteriously. The tenants of this building were probably murdered by the doctor¡¯s teacher. The dead spirit of every family lingered here, and the faces on the wall probably belong to the children who had died in that massacre.¡±

    Even Chen Ge felt ufortable being stared at by these multiple faces. He did not want to waste any more time. Grabbing his backpack with one hand and the Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s hammer with another, he pushed open the door to the bedroom and the kitchen.

    ¡°There is no sign of the rag doll?¡± The stench in the bedroom was more obvious. Chen Ge was about to step into it when Wen Qing screamed behind him. Both Chen Ge and Xiao Sun were given a jolt of fright. They turned to look at Wen Qing at the same time.

    The color drained from the face of Wen Qing, who was walking at the back of the group. She touched a part of her hand. ¡°Some... someone just dragged me back earlier. It felt like they wanted me to leave this ce as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°They are trying to warn you. Looks like this ce is indeed very dangerous. It is unwise to stay here for too long.¡± Chen Ge picked up speed. This ce was different from Jin Hwa Apartments. He did not have enough time to give the ce a thorough search. He could only search as fast as possible. He could have missed some vital clues, but that was something that could not be helped at this moment. The ce was simply too dangerous for his group to stay for long.

    The thing that radiated the heaviest haze of the horrible smell was the bed. Chen Ge lifted the cover of the bed and saw that there was a moldy jacket ced under the cover. He used the handle of the Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer to pick up the jacket. A broken leg sewn from tattered fabric fell out from the folds of the jacket.

    The horrible stench crawled into his nostril. The whole building started to shake like there was an earthquake. Their surroundings started to turn for the worse. The human faces that were painted on the wall appeared toe alive in that moment.

    ¡°The rag doll¡¯s left leg was hidden inside Jiu Hong Apartments Block 1.¡± Chen Ge held his hand over his mouth and nose. Without any hesitation, he retreated. ¡°We need to leave this building as soon as possible, and then we will decide what to do next!¡±

 Chapter 1094 - Where Is My Cat? 2 in 1

    <h4>1094 Where Is My Cat? 2 in 1</h4>

    The horrible smell in the building originated from that severed leg. Chen Ge did not quite understand why the rag doll¡¯s body would give off such a pungent smell, and it appeared like he was the only one among them who was able to smell it.

    After the leg was discovered, a startling change started to happen inside the building. The faces of the children on the wall came to life; their eyeballs slowly bulged out from the wall as they moved to follow Chen Ge. The scenario was scary to say the least.

    ¡°Brother, what have you done? Howe it feels like all the painted faces havee alive?¡± Xiao Sun followed close behind Chen Ge. His eyes were overflowing with fear and terror.

    ¡°Now is not the time to exin. We need to leave this building as soon as possible!¡± Chen Ge zed a path forward with Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer. He had just run out of Room 504 when he heard children¡¯s gigglinging from the room behind him. Turning back to look, Chen Ge¡¯s hair instantly stood on end. That was because he saw the rag doll¡¯s severed leg had stood up on its own on the bed. The bloody handprints on the wall became wet with the sound of dripping echoing through the room as droplets of blood dripped down from the ceiling and dyed the whole room red.

    ¡°Hehe...¡± Cuteughter came from above them. The eyeballs that bulged out from the ceiling kept turning. Blood was now flowing freely. Five fingers that were painted in blood sttered all over the walls. A disfigured child slowly crawled out from the bloody painting!

    Blood was still lingering on his body. His face was demented and twisted. His thin lips were torn open on both sides, and his venomous gaze stared fixatedly at Chen Ge¡¯s neck. With cold sweat breaking out on his forehead, Chen Ge soon realized that things were only getting worse. More and more children appeared in the room, and they were all staring at Chen Ge.

    ¡°We need to go! Now!¡± Chen Ge charged ahead. With him leading the way, Xiao Sun and Wen Qing followed close behind him. The floor underneath them was shaking and many strange noises wereing from all sides of the building. The sound of marbles bouncing against each other came from the ceiling, the consistent tapping of footsteps echoed in the corridor, and more and more bloody handprints appeared on the windows that they rushed by.

    ¡°Chen Ge, the words on the note were written by Xiang Nuan. That proves that Xiang Nuan was inside that room. Is it okay for us to escape now and leave him alone back there?¡± Wen Qing was unable to be sure of her own safety, but even at that moment, the person that she cared about the most was Xiang Nuan. Perhaps that was what motherhood was like.

    ¡°Do not worry about him. If I am not wrong, the boy probably left this ce a long time ago!¡± Chen Ge was being very rational. ¡°Do you still remember the tug that you experienced earlier? That was him warning you to leave this ce! As long as you are not in danger, he will not do anything stupid for the sake of saving you. Do you understand that?¡±

    Wen Qing nodded. In those circumstances, the best and most logical solution was to escape as fast as they could. As long as they were still alive, they always had a second chance.

    ¡°Xiang Nuan...¡± Without stopping, when Wen Qing was about to leave the fifth floor, she could not resist the urge to turn back to look.

    Many disfigured children crawled out from Room 504. They were all missing something from their bodies. It looked as if a part of their bodies had been forcibly taken away from them. Some had their skin removed, and others had their facial features taken away. These children crawled on the walls, corridor, and ceiling as well as over each other like they were crazy. However, they seemed to have locked onto Chen Ge and were rapidly closing in on him. Just the sight of this caused Wen Qing¡¯s legs to go weak. But she gritted her teeth, picked up her pace, and continued to run down the stairs.

    Chen Ge also saw the children behind them. However, unlike Wen Qing, he did not feel that much fear. If anything, a piece of information from the doctor¡¯s document files floated up in his mind. The rag doll had created a new body for itself; it was a body that matched the doctor¡¯s expectation of beauty.

    At the time, Chen Ge did not give the sentence much thought, but now that he saw the group of disfigured children behind him, he understood the depth of cruelty that could exist within that simple sentence. The four files appeared to be very simple and concise, and reading them would give the reader a slight feeling of difort. However, upon closer inspection, one would realize that it was no different from the diary of a demon.

    Chen Ge tried to focus as he cut his way out of the building. As he ran down the stairs, Chen Ge encountered some strange things, but he did not stop to pay them much attention. If the thing did not actively block Chen Ge¡¯s way, he would continue past them. If they intended on stopping him or made any hostile movement toward him, then they would be given a treat of Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer.

    Chen Ge had no choice. Once he stopped, all three of them¡ªWen Qing, Xiao Sun, and himself¡ªwould be caught by the group of children. Then they would be turned into sacrificial objects for the groups of vengeful spirits to exact their vengeance. Racing all the way non-stop, the trio finally returned to the first floor.

    ¡°Keep up with me! Don¡¯t fall back now!¡± The location of the several buildings appeared in his mind. Chen Ge had no time for hesitation. He ran out of Jiu Hong Apartments Block One immediately. After leaving the building, he instantly slowed down. ¡°Grab hold of my shoulders! Quick!¡±

    The ck fog was more dangerous than the building, one could not afford to be too careful. After making sure that Wen Qing and Xiao Sun had grabbed his shoulders, Chen Ge made a beeline in a specific direction.

    ¡°Chen Ge, why would those ghost children congregate inside Room 504? The note that Xiang Nuan gave me was also tossed out from Room 504. Why is that? Do you think he was also trapped alongside those ghost children?¡± Wen Qing was bothered by many worrying questions. At the end of the day, she was just a normal mother. Being able to catch up to Chen Ge¡¯s rhythm was already quite impressive.

    ¡°The situation is veryplicated. After we reach a safe ce, I will slowly exin it to you. For now, you can just treat this ce as Xiang Nuan¡¯s nightmare, and the boy has lost himself in it. We need to try our best to help him find himself.¡± Chen Ge was speaking at a very fast pace. That was not his fault. Once he entered the ck fog, his body would shake involuntarily, as if he would be taken out at any moment. His body was alert with the sense of danger that was so close to them.

    Just as Chen Ge finished, before Wen Qing could say anything, the three of them heard a giant boom at the same time. One of the buildings in the ck fog was trembling, and the giant sound came from inside that building.

    Someone else has found the part of the rag doll¡¯s body! Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. That should be the doing of the monsters from the cursed hospital! Are they also searching for the rag doll¡¯s body?

    Other than himself, there were other people searching for the remainder of the rag doll¡¯s body. In a way, this told Chen Ge that his general direction was not wrong.

    For now, I already know the location of the rag doll¡¯s left arm and left leg. Once my employees wake up, I wille back to these ces immediately to snatch these things!

    The building shook for a very long time and did not stop. After the rag doll¡¯s body part was discovered, the whole residential area started to change. More activity started to appear inside the ck fog, and more unknown shadows appeared in the darkness. They stuck to the building like they were trying to enter them.

    Every building should have a part of the rag doll¡¯s body inside. It¡¯s using its former body to ensure that this residential area is not swallowed up by the ck fog.

    At this point, confusion appeared in his mind.

    I have been inside so many doors before, but howe this door is so distinct from everyone else¡¯s? It is not only isted from the red city, but it is also swallowed amid a sea of ck fog.

    A possibility crossed his mind, and it caused Chen Ge to frown.

    Could this be the real world behind the door? The worlds that I have visited before were all very close and thus in reliance of the red city. In other words, the door pushers pushed open their blood door at the fringe of the blood city, and their scenarios were extremely close to the red city, like the School of the After Life. And some of them were enveloped right inside the red city, like Doctor Gao¡¯s underground morgue. He assimted the whole scenario and carried all the sin on his back. But after the scenario crumbled, one would realize that the red city was literally right outside the scenario.

    A spection arose in Chen Ge¡¯s heart.

    If this endless ck fog can be seen as a horizonless sea of despair, then this residential area is a lonely ind of humanity within the ck sea. Then is it possible that the red city is also another ind among the ck sea? But because too many people opened their doors there, it caused multiple scenarios and nightmares to join together, making the ind continuously expand until it reached such a size that even the ck sea could not do anything to affect it anymore?

    Following this train of thought further, Chen Ge slowly narrowed his eyes.

    The ghost fetus once entered the door at my haunted house. It has always wanted to be a human being, and it has always desired bliss, so it was mimicking and chasing the things that it wanted... Then, is it possible that the ghost fetus is trying to build its own version of the red city?

    Whether or not the ghost fetus wanted to create another red city was not that important; the key was that the individual whom the ghost fetus was the most envious of was Chen Ge himself. But after entering the door at the haunted house, the ghost fetus saw something, and it was those things that caused it to leave and abandon Chen Ge. The whole sentence just sounded impossible and absurd. After his own shadow saw the other side of his persona, it escaped in the middle of the night. That in itself was something worth considering and contemting.

    If I manage to survive this ghost fetus¡¯ mission and if Zhang Ya has woken up from her hibernation, I will have to go and take a look behind the door at the haunted house.

    Chen Ge still had quite an impression of the hint given to him by the ck phone about the ghost fetus¡¯ mission. The most important clue had always been beside him.

    The trio continued a few meters ahead. Chen Ge felt the grip on his shoulders tightened so much that it had start to cut into his thought. ¡°Wen Qing?¡±

    Looking back from the corner of his eyes, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes widened in shock!

    Wen Qing and Xiao Sun had disappeared. The hands that grabbed his shoulders were two pale arms that were covered in livor mortis.

    Sucking in a cold breath, Chen Ge did not do anything too brash. He continued to lead the two dead arms forward as if he did not notice anything out of ce. Things had already happened; being afraid was not going to make things better after all.

    Whisperings kept drifting into his ears. The ck fog was roiling. Giant shadows sluiced through the fog. These monsters were beyond Chen Ge¡¯sprehension. Just the sight of them caused his heart to wrench with fear. A giant shadow that had the shape of a spider was crawling on the outside wall of the building. Not far away from him were several headless sticks that were several meters tall that walked past. asionally, big holes appeared around him. Through the fog, Chen Ge was unable to tell how deep the holes were. Perhaps, with a careless trip, he would fall straight into another dimension.

    The many different monsters in the ck fog havee alivepared to before. The ghost fetus probably used the remains of its past body to guard these few buildings. The monsters in the fog sensed that someone had touched the rag doll¡¯s body and realized that this was their chance.

    It was impossible to stop moving in the ck fog. Chen Ge looked at the shadows around him, and he lowered in his head again and continued to pick up his speed.

    Behind this door, he not only had to be careful of the door pusher and the outsider, he also had to be cautious of the monsters in the ck fog. In a way, enemies were everywhere. He would not know how he had died if he did not pay attention to his surroundings.

    The outline of the building before him became clearer and clearer. Based on his memory, Chen Ge had sessfully arrived at the next building.

    Theyout of the two residential areas behind the door were different from theyout outside the door. The two tallest buildings from Jin Hwa Apartments stood in the middle of the fog, like two hands that reached up high into the air. The smaller buildings from Jiu Hong Apartments were scattered around these two buildings; they formed the foundation to strengthen the base.

    Even with the arms of two dead people hanging on his shoulders, Chen Ge did not turn around. He led them toward the building like that was the n all along.

    The monsters from the ck fog should not be able to get inside the building. Once I run into the entrance, I should be able to shake them loose.

    That was a very good n, but the closer Chen Ge got to the building, the tighter the grip on his shoulders. Just as he was about to enter the building, he even felt the two arms actively trying to pull him back. They were trying to drag him into the ck fog. Chen Ge, who had never resisted, who had allowed the two hands to hang on him obediently, chose to show his other side at that moment. He took aim behind him and swung the hammer as hard as he could!

    Chen Ge had been preparing for this moment for a long time, but when Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer fell on the arms, he did not hear the sound of bones breaking. Nheless, he did feel the grip on his shoulders lightened.

    Using this opportunity, Chen Ge darted right into the building. Running out of the ck fog, Chen Ge gasped greedily for air. He felt faint and tired. Fatigue overwhelmed him like a wave, and his physical energy was heavily drained. With his back against the wall, Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision to study his own body. The ck fog stuck to his body. Some of it dissipated immediately once he stepped through the entrance, but a part of it appeared to have crawled right into his body.

    ¡°Chen Ge!¡± A familiar voice rang out. Chen Ge lifted his head in shock. He noticed two human figures running toward him through the ck fog outside the building. Holding the hammer, Chen Ge stared at the ck fog before he eventually sighed in relief. Wen Qing dragged Xiao Sun as they ran into the building. They appeared to have been following Chen Ge all along.

    ¡°What happened to you? You suddenly picked up you speed and did not tell us about it. We almost lost you in the fog.¡± Xiao Sun looked very much worse for wear. His whole body was covered in scratches made from nails. He looked like a doll that had been cut.

    ¡°Chen Ge, did you encounter something bad?¡± Wen Qing, inparison, looked much better. Her body was unscathed. The only difference was that she looked rather pale in the face. With the two of them standing together, it gave off an impression that there was a mysterious force protecting Wen Qing.

    ¡°I saw two hands of the dead hanging on my shoulders, and they wanted to drag me into the ck fog.¡± Chen Ge made use of this down time to recover as much energy as he could. If possible, he did not want to speak to conserve energy.

    ¡°This ck fog appears to have the ability to twist one¡¯s memory and then use a very scary method to show them back to the person...¡± Wen Qing hesitated for a moment. ¡°The invisible hand returned. Originally, I was heading your way, but as the distance between us grew, it was that invisible hand that patted me at the crucial moment to point me in the right direction. That¡¯s the only reason Xiao Sun and I did not get lost in the ck fog.¡±

    ¡°When we were at Jin Hwa Apartments Block A, the hands never appeared. Does he only appear when Wen Qing is in danger? Is he really Xiang Nuan?¡± Chen Ge looked around and asked in a whisper, ¡°Wen Qing, can you feel his presence now?¡±

    ¡°Yes. If I am not mistaken, I¡¯ve felt his presence since the first time you entered the ck fog.¡±

    ¡°Since the first time I entered the ck fog?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it was on the rooftop of Jin Hwa Apartments. After you came back from the ck fog, I felt like he was apanying me,¡± Wen Qing exined.

    ¡°Could it be because of this thing?¡± Chen Ge took out the headless statuette that had Xiang Nuan¡¯s name on it from his pocket. ¡°This was something that I picked up from the rooftop. It should be rted to Xiang Nuan.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± Wen Qing could not tell for sure.

    ¡°Other than this mud statuette, I also found this in the ck fog... Wait a minute!¡± Chen Ge looked around and then pulled his backpack open. ¡°What the f*ck! Where is my cat?¡±

 Chapter 1095 - Memory of the Hospital 2 in 1

    <h4>1095 Memory of the Hospital 2 in 1</h4>

    Chen Ge had not been so flustered ever since he entered the door. He rummaged through his backpack to look for White Tiger, but the cat was nowhere to be seen. When he was at Jin Hwa Apartments Block A, he had been in a gamble of life and death with a bunch of crazy murderers. The main concern on his mind was how to survive. After leaving Jin Hwa Apartments, his concern had shifted to the discovery and unearthing of the truth.

    This world behind the door had given him a lot of pressure, and it demand his full attention. He knew that he would not be able to split his attention elsewhere, lest he missed some important details, but who would have thought that meant that he would lose White Tiger, who was supposed to be following him? Honestly, it was not until this moment that Chen Ge realized that the white cat had gone missing.

    ¡°The poor kitty,¡± Xiao Sun grumbled softly beside him. ¡°By the way, why would you carry a cat with you? I have heard that ck cats can be used to bring good luck, but I do not think a white cat has the same effect as its ck counterpart...¡±

    ¡°You know that it is a white cat? That means that when you saw me, the white cat was still around me?¡± Chen Ge turned to look at Xiao Sun.

    ¡°The cat was quite obedient. It stuck close to you at pretty much every moment, as if the rest of us would try to harm it or something.¡± Xiao Sun had no idea that the white cat disliked them because they were dead people from behind the door. He continued to sigh. ¡°Actually, I am envious of you. I also want to have such an obedient cat as a pet. He looks so cute all curled up around you.¡±

    ¡°That is just an illusion. The cat only sticks close to me when we are behind the door.¡± Chen Ge shook his head. ¡°Can you still remember thest time you saw that white cat?¡±

    ¡°It was when you and your big sister went onto the rooftop. At the time, Granny Lee and I were waiting for you to return on the third floor. The white cat was following you when you went onto the roof, but when you returned... My memory is a bit fuzzy at the moment, but I believe it was then that it went missing.¡± Xiao Sun¡¯s revtion provided a huge hint for Chen Ge.

    As I expected, I separated from the white cat when I first entered the ck fog. Does that mean it went missing inside the ck fog, or did it not follow me into the ck fog at all?

    With White Tiger¡¯s courage, Chen Ge felt that the chance of it being thetter was much higher, but if that was the case, why did the white cat not follow Chen Ge back and stick close to him when he returned from the ck fog? Chen Ge was hung up on that question. The white cat was very clever. It knew that in the world behind the door where danger was everywhere and one could die with any wrong step, staying close to Chen Ge was the safest bet. But it had chosen to leave Chen Ge at a certain moment. Did that mean that it had sensed something that would pose a danger to it around Chen Ge? Was it no longer safe for it to stay around Chen Ge?

    With his brows slowly creasing together, Chen Ge was reminded of the encounters that happened to him at Jiu Hong Apartments Block 1¡¯s Room 504. The ghost children on the walls were all staring at him. It was as if Xiao Sun and Wen Qing did not exist in their eyes. Now that he thought about it, that was something that was very strange as well.

    ¡°Why would I be so targeted?¡± Chen Ge still had not recovered from his overwhelming fatigue. If anything, he felt weaker and weaker by the moment. ¡°Is it really possible that something has possessed me? Has it been feasting on my body?¡±

    Most of the ghost children in the Room 504 were disfigured physically. So many years ago, the rag doll had ¡®stripped¡¯ parts of their body to make a ¡®new clothes¡¯ for itself. The thing that these ghost children hated the most should be the rag doll. ¡°Is it possible that the rag doll has found a way to possess my body?¡±

    Using his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge scanned his whole body again. Other than his back, which he was unable to twist his neck around to see, he checked every other inch of his body, and he did not discover anything out of ce. ¡°Xiao Sun, can you check if there is anything weird on my back?¡±

    ¡°There is nothing on your back! If such arge cat was hanging on your back, wouldn¡¯t you think you would be able to feel its presence?¡± Xiao Sun did not quite understand the meaning of Chen Ge¡¯s instruction.

    ¡°I am not talking about the cat. There might be something else possessing my body. In any case, if we run across any mirrorster, please remind me.¡± Chen Ge dragged Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s hammer along the ground. The ghastly looking hammer felt like it had increased in weight. It drained Chen Ge to drag it along.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Xiao Sun pouted. ¡°Seeing how nervous you were, and I thought you were worried about that cat of yours.¡±

    ¡°It should still be hiding at Jin Hwa Apartments Block A. It has probably found a safe corner to hide. In terms of the ability to protect itself, I still have quite the confidence in it.¡±

    White Tiger did not have much going for it, but taking care of itself and staying away from danger were its top talents.

    ¡°It should be able to hang around until we return to fetch it.¡±

    Even though the white cat was very cowardly, it could prove to be quite useful at times. Its sense of danger was much stronger than Chen Ge¡¯s. It would provide Chen Ge with a warning even from the smallest twitch in their surroundings.

    ¡°After the white cat got separated from us, it was also the same time the invisible hand showed itself more often. Did it not do so before because it was afraid of being discovered by the white cat? But why would it be afraid of being discovered?¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡± Wen Qing, who stood at the door, moved to lightly pull on Chen Ge¡¯s shirt sleeve.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°This building looks rather different from the other buildings that we¡¯ve visited so far.¡±

    Chen Ge was so concerned about the white cat that he did not give the building that they were in a good look. After he heard what Wen Qing had to say, he used Yin Yang Vision to scan the surroundings. A que hung on the wall of the entrance. The words Jiu Hong Apartments Block 2 could barely be made out from it. For some reason, the words had been carved out from the que using some kind of de.

    After entering the corridor, the difference between this building and Block 1 became more obvious. The walls were painted with ayer of incredibly white paint. A strange smell lingered in the air. Yellowed white paper was scattered on the ground.

    ¡°Jin Hwa Apartments Block A was made from Xiang Nuan¡¯s memory, and Jiu Hong Apartments Block 1 was the ghost fetus¡¯ first memory. So, whose memory is this building modelled after?¡±

    Based on Chen Ge¡¯s previous spection, he believed that the entirety of Jiu Hong Apartments was made up from the ghost fetus¡¯ memory, but from the look of it, that might not be the case.

    ¡°This block is even cleaner than Jin Hwa Apartments, and it does not look that old. There is not even a speck of dust on the banister. This proves that this building is upied. Some tenants are living here.¡± Xiao Sun contributed a useful observation for once. ¡°When we were still in Jin Hwa Apartments Block A, the tenants once said that thendlord would asionally leave the building to go to the other blocks to have a meeting with the otherndlords. That proves that there should be living tenants upying the other blocks; not all the buildings are like Jiu Hong Apartments Block 1.¡±

    ¡°Xiang Nuan¡¯s world behind the door is very different from all the other doors that I have entered in the past. It is shrouded in ck fog. Only these few buildings are not infiltrated by the ck fog, so does that mean that his memory is split into multiple parts and preserved in different buildings?¡± Chen Ge was feeling rather faint. He wondered if it was because he had been using Yin Yang Vision for so long. Then again, he had no other choice. He had to keep using this power of sight.

    Xiao Sun thought for a while and earnestly replied, ¡°I do not quite understand what you are talking about.¡±

    ¡°There is no need for you to understand. I only need you to help me find a mirror as soon as possible.¡± Chen Ge leaned against the wall. He knew very well that the ghost fetus¡¯ memory was hidden among these few buildings. Exploring these buildings was equivalent to exploring the ghost fetus¡¯ past. He wanted to know what had happened in the past, what had transpired to cause the origin of the ghost fetus; this was a chance that he would not allow himself to miss.

    ¡°You do not look well,¡± Wen Qingmented as she stood beside Chen Ge. She was quite worried about him. ¡°We should find a safe room and take a good rest for now.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. We should keep moving.¡± Chen Ge dragged the hammer and moved up the steps. Theyout of Jiu Hong Apartments Block 2 waspletely different from Block 1. There was a palm-sized window on the top part of every door, so one could look into the rooms by standing outside the door.

    ¡°Howe this ce give me the feel of a hospital¡¯s intensive care unit?¡± Chen Ge walked to the window and looked into the room. The interior of the room was very strange as well. The walls were all painted white. The floor tiles, furniture, and the ceiling were all white in color. ¡°The room is so white. How obvious the blood would look if blood was to stter inside the room.¡±

    ¡°Big brother, perhaps the owner has a taste for the color white, or maybe they like to see everything neat and clean.¡± Xiao Sun sometimes felt scared being around Chen Ge because thetter would often casually drop such statements that would make people overthink and shiver with fear.

    ¡°They are both buildings at Jiu Hong Apartments, so howe this building is much neater and cleaner? In my memory, there is no such building at Jiu Hong Apartments.¡± Wen Qing was the estate agent responsible for these two residential areas. She had no memory at all of this ce, so it meant that this building that they were in probably had nothing to do with Jiu Hong Apartments in real life.

    Pushing lightly on the door, Chen Ge walked right into it after he realized that the door was not locked. All the things in the room were arranged neatly. The floor was inly tiled. There was barely any dust. There was not even a ck stain on the snowy white walls.

    ¡°Is it possible that the owner has an obsession with cleanliness?¡± Xiao Sun sighed in relief. After leaving Jin Hwa Apartments, he had finally entered a room that appeared rtively normal.

    ¡°Do not move anything in the room. Someone probably died in this room before.¡± Chen Ge stood next to the wall in the living room and used his finger to scratch at the wall surface.

    ¡°How do you know that?¡±

    ¡°The coat of paint on the wall is too thick. That means that it has been applied many times. Normally, a home owner will only choose to repaint a whole wall in such a way when they encounter arge stain that is hard to remove by hand.¡± Chen Ge could not have been clearer if he tried. ¡°The room might look white to you now, but in reality, the room might be blood red in color.¡±

    Pointing his finger upward, Chen Ge looked at the debris that was stuck in his fingernail. ¡°The innermostyer of the paint has already turned ck.¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge,e and take a look at this.¡± Wen Qing found a diary on the couch. It did not have a name on it, just a number¡ª0097.

    ¡°0097 is probably the patient¡¯s number, just like how the rag doll was numbered 0004 at the beginning.¡± Chen Ge flipped through the diary. Initially, he just wanted to give it a quick read, but after looking through some of the content, he realized that he was unable to move his gaze away.

    ¡°x Month x Day, today is a day worth remembering. The doctor told me that my condition has gotten much better. I will probably be able to leave the hospital soon. How I have missed the outside world. I cannot wait to see it again.

    ¡°x Month x Day, today a new patient arrived at the hospital. His patient number was blocked off. The doctor had it temporarily stay with me. I was not expecting to one day have a roommate again. This new patient is very weird. It does not appear to be afraid of me at all. This is the first time I have encountered such a patient. Perhaps there is a chance for us to be friends, unlike my previous roommate.

    ¡°I tried to talk to it, but unfortunately, it is very stupid. It cannot evenmunicate normally. Such a poor little child. I like ugly people and things. No, it is more like ugliness is normal people¡¯s eyes is seen as beauty by me. The doctor said that I suffer from an obsession with ugliness, and it is a verymon form of fetish.

    ¡°x Month x Day, today will be the third day the new patient has lived in the room. The doctores to see it every day. They seem to anticipate something happening? What is it that they are waiting for?

    ¡°x Month x Day, the new patient¡¯s body has started to reek of this horrible smell. It is like a movable body. I suggested for it to go and take a shower. This poor thing does not even know what a shower is. It does not know that one needs to take off the clothes before taking a shower. I took a long time trying to exin to him before he finally got it.

    ¡°Hmm, how shall I put this? I told the new patient he would need to remove his clothes to take the shower, so why did he go into the kitchen to grab a knife? Does one need a knife to remove one¡¯s clothing? The sound of water was mixed together with the sound of bones being peeled off. I feel like my condition might have gotten worse.

    ¡°The new patient has finished its shower, and the whole bathroom was dyed red. It even left one of its arms in my bathroom. I feel very disrespected. Perhaps because it has not taken any shower before, the new patient and I have gotten closer due to this small incident. In the end, I¡¯ve found myself enjoying spending time with it because it has be uglier and uglier.

    ¡°x Month x Day, today is our seventh day living together. No one was able to stay with me for so long because those people could not understand my perspective. Then again, I helped them be more beautiful when they were sleeping at night. Every patient at this hospital has their own number. Normally, we refer to each other by our numbers, but the new patient¡¯s number is covered up, so I will have to ask him for its name. I know this is a great taboo at this hospital, but as long as neither of us tell, the doctors will never know.

    ¡°The new patient was initially reluctant to tell me its name, but after much persuasion, it finally told me its name was Trash. Or rather, people called him Trash. I could not believe my own ears. Even though it is as ugly as one possibly can be, no one should be called Trash. Why would someone expose their deficit like that?

    ¡°I told it that a person¡¯s name is very important to a person; it carries with it many beautiful wishes. I told it that it should try to give itself a new name. Make one up.

    ¡°x Year x Month x Day, the new patient finally figured out a name for itself. It said that the name was Chen Ge. It likes the name very much.

    ¡°x Month x Day, I started to refer to the new patient as Chen Ge. We spent quite an enjoyable time together until the adjacent room started toin about the stench that reeks out from our room.

    ¡°The new patient¡¯s ¡®clothes¡¯ cannot be worn anymore. It will need a new set of clothes, but the doctors do not seem to be doing anything to help it. They merelye every day to do their records and then turn their expectant eyes on me. Honestly, I do not know what they are expecting.

    ¡°x Year x Month x Day, the fact that I told the new patient toe up with its own name was exposed. Initially, I did not think that was such a bad thing until I saw the new patient¡¯s patient number. 0004. It was just a normal child¡ªwhy would its number be ranked so high?

    ¡°x Year x Month x Day, I finally understood why his number was ranked fourth. The reason was that name, but unfortunately, I cannot tell it the truth anymore because I will be made into its new clothes by the doctors soon.¡±

    After reading the whole diary, Chen Ge¡¯s emotions were extremelyplicated. For one, he did not expect to see his own name in the diary, and he did not expect the fact that his own name was the reason the ghost fetus was ced at number four.

    No, the Chen Ge mentioned in the diary is probably not me but that child that cannot be killed no matter what.

    Holding the diary in his hands, Chen Ge stared at the dates that had been crossed out, and his eyes suddenly narrowed. His instinct told him to open his backpack to take out Zhang Ya¡¯s bedtime stories.

    The formatting is rather simr, but that is where the simrity ends. I am probably overthinking this.

    cing both the bedtime stories and the diary inside his backpack, Chen Ge gave the room a quick inspection. Aftering up with nothing, he prepared to leave.

 Chapter 1096 - The Ghost Fetusâ€œ Special Power 2 in 1

    <h4>1096 The Ghost Fetus¡° Special Power 2 in 1</h4>

    After walking out from the first room of Jiu Hong Apartments Block 2, Chen Ge turned back to look. The door had the number 0097 on it. The number on the door was identical to the patient¡¯s number jotted down inside the diary entry.

    ¡°There is no fixed arrangement of the numbering of the rooms in this building. From my observation, they do not appear to be arranged ording to the floors that they are on. But it should be the case where every room here corresponds to one of the patients from the cursed hospital.¡±

    Chen Ge turned to look at the second room on the first floor. The number for this room was 0049.

    ¡°At the cursed hospital, the lower your number, the more serious your illness is deemed to be. That means that the room that I just visited belong to a patient who suffered from a mild illness.¡±

    Chen Ge walked to the door of the second room on the first floor. Once again, he leaned on the window and looked through it. The interior of Room 0049 was also mainly white. The furniture and wallpaper were all white, giving it a very clean finish. The door was not locked, so Chen Ge walked in directly.

    ¡°Hey! I don¡¯t think we should wander into people¡¯s rooms. We might get chased out by people again like how in Block 1.¡± For now, Xiao Sun just wanted to survive safely until dawn. What had happened that night was indeed a bit hard to swallow for a ¡®normal person¡¯ like himself.

    Chen Ge ignored Xiao Sun.

    As he entered the room, he was ready to use Yin Yang Vision when he suddenly felt lightheaded. It felt like the world had suddenly given way underneath his feet.

    My body seems to be weakening due to the multiple uses of Yin Yang Vision.

    Every time Chen Ge used Yin Yang Vision, it would cause a certain amount of pressure on his body. Chen Ge had never noticed this before, but in this world behind the door, he could feel the damage brought upon by the Yin Yang Vision very clearly. Every time he used Yin Yang Vision, his body temperature would experience a very slight change.

    ¡°Chen Ge, are you okay?¡± He felt someone hold him by his elbow. Chen Ge turned back to look and realized that Wen Qing had moved to stand beside him. This mother was a good caretaker.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me, I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    To give himself a break, Chen Ge stopped using his talents like Yin Yang Vision, Spirit Sniff, and Ghost Ear. This meant that the world around them was soon enveloped in darkness, and the only source of light in the room came from Wen Qing¡¯s phone.

    After closing the door behind them, Chen Ge dragged Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer as he walked around the room. Out of his expectations, he found nine diaries inside Room 0049. The material for each diary and their cover looked identical, and the patient¡¯s number for all nine diaries was 0049. With unbridled curiosity, Chen Ge flipped through the diaries one by one, and he realized that the content of all the diaries had little variation to them. They were practically the same.

    ¡°Why would the patient inside Room 0049 record the same thing nine times?¡±

    After Chen Ge gave them a closer read, he slowly understood the reasoning behind it. Even though the content of these nine diaries was the same, the tone and angle of description for the events that transpired were wildly different. In other words, the diaries gave the impression that there were nine different people inside this room describing the same thing that urred from nine different perspectives. None of the nine diaries had the date written down anywhere. If he just read one of them, he would have been utterly confused by its entries. But when he ced all of the diaries together and read them at the same time, he made a startling discovery.

    ¡°These nine diaries should be written by one single person.¡± Chen Geid all nine diaries on the ground and turned them all to the first page.

    The first diary: ¡°A new patient just arrived at the hospital. Its patient¡¯s number was blocked off. Its body was wrapped in bandages used for dead bodies, so you could not see its face at all. This is all so mysterious. I stood at the window and looked for half an hour. The doctors appeared to be hesitating which sickroom to ce the new patient in.¡±

    The second diary: ¡°It has been so long since this floor has weed a new patient. My big brother told me to mind my own business. He has gotten so old that he has be afraid of even the smallest thing. I swear I will never be someone like him when I grow up.¡±

    The third diary: ¡°There are practically no empty rooms from Room 1 to Room 50. Which room do you think they will deposit the new patient in?¡±

    The fourth diary: ¡°I personally hope that it will move in together with us. Do you know how nauseous I feel because I have to face the eight of you day in and day out? What can I do to get away from you people? How about each of us pick a body part and then we can go our separate ways from there? That sounds like a good idea, right?¡±

    The fifth diary: ¡°Every one of you wants to im the head. Obviously, that is unrealistic. I suggest we separate and split the body parts ording to their weight. That is the fairest method.¡±

    The sixth diary: ¡°Stop arguing! You b*stards that have taken over my home! I am the real Patient 0049! You bunch thieves! Madmen! Idiots! Crazies! Get out of my home!¡±

    The seventh diary: ¡°Sister Six has started her mad ravings again. Can any of you kindly make her shut up?¡±

    The eighth diary: ¡°Calm down now. Stop arguing. In terms of pathology, all nine of us are split personalities. There is no difference in superiority among the nine of us. We should see each other as an equal.¡±

    The ninth diary: ¡°So tell me again, why did the nine of us agree to consume and tear up the main persona again? If we continue to split mentally like this, this room will only get more and more crowded.¡±

    Nine diaries represented nine different personalities. Just a skim through them caused Xiao Sun¡¯s skull to go numb, but Chen Ge appeared to have quite the st reading through them.

    ¡°I feel like these nine diaries are random ramblings by a mad person. It is filled with crazy words. None of the content can be trusted.¡± Xiao Sun had ced all his hope on Chen Ge. He was worried that Chen Ge might be influenced by these diaries.

    ¡°You think they are crazy, but they will mock you for being an idiot.¡± Chen Ge knelt on the ground. By reading through the nine diaries again, he had a new discovery. ¡°Patient 0049 suffers from schizophrenia, but his situation is rather unique because the personalities that he has created have somehow murdered the main persona, or to quote their own words, they have consumed the main persona.¡±

    ¡°A persona can be consumed?¡±

    ¡°Well, I am no expert on that. Who knows? This might be a case where their main psychiatrist purposely nted this impression in their mind.¡±

    Chen Ge shook his head. The cursed hospital had no bottom line. Instead of treating their patients, they would often exacerbate the smallest psychological disorder into full on mental illness in their patients.

    ¡°All nine personas have their own background and experience. In fact, they have their own upations and personalities. The eldest brother is the most cowardly and is a middle-aged man. The second brother is awyer. The third brother is a plumber. The fourth sister is a night club bartender with a horrible temper. The fifth brother is a murderer with an obsession for cleanliness. The sixth sister is a celebrity. The seventh sister is a piano teacher. The eighth brother is a psychiatrist. The ninth persona is the youngest and has the closest personality to the main persona.¡±

    ¡°Are you reading these diaries as a story book? Brother, I do not need a narration of their lives. We¡¯d better find a safe ce to hide for now.¡± Xiao Sun had a very bad feeling about this ce. He felt like this ce was far more dangerous than Block 1.

    ¡°There is no ce that is one hundred percent safe behind the door. The only thing we can do is keep on moving, chasing after the weakest light we can find.¡± Chen Ge sat on the sofa. Even after resting for so long, his physique had not only not recovered, he only felt much more tired. ¡°The new patient stayed with them for nine days, and every day a persona of Patient 0049 would die. The further in the diary I read, the more despairing the entries became. On the ninth day, only one of the nine diaries was updated.¡±

    Chen Ge held thest diary. ¡°The owner of this diary is the ninth persona, the youngest persona and the persona who is closest to the main persona. He wrote thest diary entry.¡±

    ¡°x Year x Month x Day, I do not know whether the heaven the doctors speak of exists or not, but I know that there is definitely hell on earth because I have witnessed a living demon with my own two eyes.

    ¡°Yes, a demon has a face just like it. Its heart ispletely demented, and it cannot express its emotions like a normal person. Or rather, it has no idea what an emotion is. To this demon, love is equal to death, and hope is no different from despair. It desires all the goodness in the world, but it will not stop throwing curses at everything. It will find some other ways to destroy those that it cannot obtain, and after it has obtained them, it will personally destroy them itself.

    ¡°Madness is too weak of a term to describe it. None of the vocabry that the human race currently has is evil enough to describe someone like it!

    ¡°Now I finally understand why the doctors arranged for it to share a room with us inside Room 0049. The doctors wanted to see what kind of reaction they could get out of it after it murdered people with different identities. Before I met it, I always thought I was different from everyone else. There were nine family members living inside me. No matter how harsh the situation outside got, we would figure out a way to deal with it. We had awyer, a psychiatrist, a celebrity, and even a murderer among us. With our collective power, we were able to deal with most of the hardships that life could possibly throw at us. It was not until the new patient moved in with us that we realized howughably weak we were.

    ¡°The new patient appears to have a superpower that is invincible. It burns the hatred, resentment, and pain inside its heart to create a curse. No matter how harmless this curse is, it will slowly turn into reality after a period of time.

    ¡°Once the seed of the curse is sown, it will never be broken. My big brothers and sisters died one after another. I saw them disappear in the agony of pain and despair like they were never a part of me to begin with. Today is the ninth day, and I know it will be my turn soon...¡±

    The content of the nine diaries was quite a lot to go through, but in reality, they were all interconnected, and they were all pieces of the same puzzle. On the afternoon of the day the new patient moved in Room 0049, patient 0049 attempted to kill the new patient.

    It was thetent murderer personality that put this n into action. The reason was merely because he could not stand the horrible stench that reeked from the new patient. After he made his move though, he realized that the new patient was not even a person but a monster wearing the coat of a dead body. He tried many methods but failed to kill the new patient until the doctors rushed in to stop him.

    Normally, when a patient attempted something as dangerous as murder, they would be severely punished, but this time, there was an exception. The doctors merely came to question them about the whole process before they left in a hurry. That night, the nine personas gathered together to have a discussion. Just as they were at the height of their argument, the murderer¡¯s persona started to self-mutte. It was as if some kind of madness had taken hold of the man. He repeated the things that he had done to the new patient on himself.

    The other eight personas had no idea what hade over him. However, they knew that they had to stop the murderer from harming the physical body that they shared, so they had no choice but to bond together to consume the murderer¡¯s persona. After the murderer was killed, the remaining eight personas started to look for the reasoning behind this. In the end, they realized that all the problems originated from the new patient. To protect the physical body from actual harm, the psychiatrist and thewyer used the oldest persona among them, the middle-aged man, as bait to conduct an experiment. They discovered, to their surprise, the new patient¡¯s scary power¡ªthe power of curses.

    As long as it was something that was uttered by the new patient, there was a chance of it bing a part of the reality. After multiple experiments that they had done on the new patient, they became more and more afraid for their own lives, and there was a good reason behind it. This was because they discovered, the more despairing, cruel, and vicious the curse that the new patient said, the easier it would turn into reality. In contrast, the happy, beautiful words that it said had never once been realized.

    The remaining personas decided not to associate themselves with the new patient anymore, but s, it was already toote. From the moment the murderer made his move, the new patient had started to curse all of them. With the death of each persona, the stench on the new patient would heighten slightly. That appeared to be the sacrifice that he had to pay for using this power.

    After reading all nine diaries, the biggest reward that Chen Ge gained was that he managed to discover the ghost fetus¡¯ power. All of the curses that came out from his lips had the chance to be reality, and the more vicious the curses, the greater the chance of it bing real. This power could be said to be the scariest that Chen Ge had ever encountered. It was not something that could be evaded, and nothing could be done to prevent it. At least, that appeared to be the case.

    ¡°Everything has a bnce to it. Won¡¯t the ghost fetus need to give up something every time it curses someone?¡±

    After reading all the diaries, other than the increasing stench on the new patient, it did not appear to have received any other negative influence.

    ¡°Looks like the best solution as to kill the ghost fetus because it has the chance to speak.¡±

    That was easier said than done. The ghost fetus was a Demon God. It would be difficult to even harm it, much less to attempt to kill it before it was given a chance to speak. Furthermore, if he made a move and failed to deliver the fatal blow, then he would suffer the monster¡¯s vicious revenge. Chen Ge reced all nine diaries that he had found. He picked up his backpack again and prepared to go to the third room on the first floor to take a look.

    ¡°Chen Ge, why don¡¯t you take a longer rest? You do not look so good.¡± Wen Qing was quite worried about Chen Ge. She held the phone and stayed close to Chen Ge as if worried that thetter might faint at any moment.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. Since the building still has not acted up, it is the perfect chance for us to conduct our investigation. When the ce bes chaotic, it will be toote to do anything.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s senses had be much dullerpared to before. In fact, even his voice carried the lethargy of an ailing man.

    The third room of the first floor was number 0011. Chen Ge hesitated when he saw the number, but in the end, he chose to push open the room door. Room 0011 was rather different from the previous two rooms he had visited. Even though the walls were also painted white, one could see the dark red splotches of blood that the white coat of paint was trying to cover up.

    ¡°The first ten patients at the cursed hospital had special doctors to look over them. From the patient¡¯s number, Patient 0011 could be considered the patient with the most serious illness among the ranks of ¡®normal¡¯ patients.¡±

    Three different rooms had recorded the experience that had happened to the rag doll after it was sent to the hospital. Thest trace of humanity that it had was wiped out from its body, and it became aplete monster. The cursed hospital appeared to be doing this on purpose; they were purposely pushing the rag doll to be some kind of monster, and who knew what kind of goal they were trying to achieve out of this?

    The cursed hospital appeared in Jiujiang about twenty years ago. They wasted so much energy on the rag doll. Could it be because they knew that it was my shadow and the real person that they were trying to target is me?

    The thought crossed Chen Ge¡¯s mind, but he soon shook his head.

    I am just a person who owns a haunted house. There is no reason for anyone to target me. The real target that they are after is probably the version of myself that cannot be killed no matter what. My parents¡¯ disappearance probably has something to do with them as well.

    Ever since he obtained the ck phone, everything that Chen Ge had done was to find his own parents. At that moment, he felt like he had never been closer to the truth.

 Chapter 1097 - Monster with All the Sin 2 in 1

    <h4>1097 Monster with All the Sin 2 in 1</h4>

    After entering Room 0011, Chen Ge noticed this room was rather different from the previous two rooms he had visited. The interior design and the cement of the furniture was pretty much the same, but the ce had a very suffocating presence to it. Just standing in the living room would give one the feeling that one was running out of air. The sense of pressure came from all sides, as if something extremely dangerous was left on every single piece of furniture in the room. ¡°Xiao Sun and Wen Qing, don¡¯t touch any of the furniture in this room. Something is very wrong about this ce.¡±

    Many coats of paint covered the walls, but they were still not enough to cover up therge blood stains. The tiles were arranged neatly on the ground, but the gap between the tiles was ck and red in color. From these small details, it seemed to suggest that something extremely scary had happened inside this room, and there had probably been more than one such incident.

    ¡°Three different sickrooms, and the patient inside each room is scarier than the one preceding it. The cursed hospital appears to be cultivating some kind of monster by moving the rag doll into different sickrooms, using the other patients to unleash its full potential bypletely and utterly destroying and twisting its worldview.¡±

    Chen Ge wandered about inside Room 0011. He looked through many drawers, but he was unable to find a diary.

    ¡°Strange, did the patient inside this room not leave behind any clues?¡±

    For the most part, the world behind the door was made up from the door pusher¡¯s memory, but Xiang Nuan¡¯s door was quite unique. His memory had ovepped with the ghost fetus¡¯ memory, just like how the few buildings from Jin Hwa Apartments and Jiu Hong Apartments had mixed together. They intertwined and intercepted one another¡¯s existence peacefully, and it created this unique situation where two worlds were co-existing at the same time.

    ¡°These few sickrooms should be a part of the rag doll¡¯s memory. As long as it has seen the patient¡¯s diary, then the diary should show up inside the room somewhere, unless of course Patient 0011 did not have the habit of keeping a diary.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s condition was getting worse. His vision was getting blurry, and his body was slowly being assimted by the darkness. Thankfully, though, he had Wen Qing apanying him. This world behind the door appeared to have no effect on Wen Qing. Whenever Chen Ge¡¯s mind was fraying, Wen Qing was the first to remind him of it. She was extremely worried about Chen Ge.

    It took almost half an hour for Chen Ge to find the diary of Patient 0011 inside a hollowed-out space underneath a tile. The diary was old and used. Every page was soaked in blood, and it had signs of being burnt. Weirdly enough, it looked rather simr to Zhang Ya¡¯s bedtime stories.

    ¡°It appears like the owner of the diary wanted to destroy this diary many times, but after realizing that was impossible, they chose to find a very secluded spot to hide it inside the room.¡±

    Chen Ge sat on the sofa inside the room, ced Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer next to his legs, and flipped open the diary.

    ¡°Many people said I have the natural talent needed to be a psychiatrist. They say I have endless so-called qualities that would make a good psychologist, but only I know that those are the things that I showed the world because I wanted to be a psychiatrist to begin with. I chose this career not because I wanted to help those who were lost but because I wish to cure myself. From the very beginning, I knew that I am sick, and as I furthered my studies, my conviction of that truth has only became more affirmative.

    ¡°x Year x Month x Date was a very important date to me. I was forced to remove my white doctor¡¯s coat and put on the patient¡¯s garb. The hospital has imprisoned me together with a monster who reeks of this horrible stench. I hate to write in a diary, but writing diary is one of the most effective and forced methods of treatment enforced by the hospital. I do not know whether I should write down the truth or insert some lies. How about I mix both of them together and see whether it will be able to force the doctors that they have assigned me to go crazy?¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the handwriting on the diary and felt that it was oddly familiar. He felt like he had seen them somewhere before, but when he put his mind to try to remember it, the name eluded him. It was just out of his touch.

    ¡°Everyone has a part of their memory that is the most precious. For me, my daughter, who is just learning how to speak, and my wife are my everything. My story is verymon. To provide them with a better future, I have chosen to work at this private hospital that is built at the border of Jiujiang and Xin Hai. Honestly, before I received their invitation, I did not even know such a hospital existed on the edge of Jiujiang. Initially, I wanted to reject the offer because the location was too far from my home, but the sry that they offered was too high for me to refuse. The ie would have done wonders to improve my family¡¯s living condition.

    ¡°Skipping over my years of internship, the first day I arrived at work, I noticed how different this hospital was from a normal hospital. There were only a few doctors that worked in the day, and there were barely any patients in sight. However, strangely enough, there were many night doctors. The hospital was built at an isted location. It was incredibly difficult to even find transport to and from this ce. The closest bus stop would require a forty-minute walk. On the third morning of my posting, the leader asked whether I was willing to stay at the hospital at the staff dormitory. I adamantly rejected the offer.

    ¡°Two days ago, I discovered many problems about this ce. This hospital has many doctors and pictures of many doctors hung on the walls. But for the two days that I have worked here, I have only met a few of them, and they were all new doctors that had just been hired like myself. The one that had worked there the longest had worked there for only a month.

    ¡°The sry was insanely high, but there was practically nothing to do in the morning. The ratio of payment to workload was seriously imbnced. If this was not a charitable institution, then it could only mean that they were after something else from the doctors. Actually, it was at this moment that I prepared to hand in my resignation letter. The leader saw my intention to leave, and he arranged for me to work the night shift for one day. Then, he would have the ountant calcte and hand me the sry that I was owed for my few days of working there.

    ¡°He did not say anything to get me to stay, and that made me feel very unsettled. There were already so many doctors on night duty. They were not in need of an extra pair of hands, so why did he want me to work a night shift before I left?

    ¡°Anything that was illogical had a hidden danger. I would not risk such danger for some money. Perhaps it would look idiotic to others for me to forfeit three days¡¯ sry, but I do not wish to exin my own action to anyone.

    ¡°I did not report to work that night. In fact, I did not even finish my shift in the morning that day and returned home after leaving the leader¡¯s office. My wife thought I was being paranoid, and I hoped that she was right, but what happenedter proved that I was far from wrong.

    ¡°No matter who you are, be it a patient or a doctor, if you are reading this, I have some advice for you. Try everything you can to leave this ce. If there is a ce on earth that is closest to hell, then this ce will be it. After I escaped the hospital toe home, a series of unfortunate events trailed behind me. Many tragedies started to befall me and my family. None of these events could be exined using scientific theories. I used everything within my capability to protect myself, but I was unable to ensure the safety of my family.

    ¡°I knew what the hospital wanted, so on one of the nights, I had returned to the hospital. This time, I reported as a night doctor. And it was then that I understood the meaning of those pictures on the wall. So far, my story could be considered normal, but be warned, things are going to get real absurd in a minute. Common sense will not help you to understand them. But strangely enough, I started to have this feeling that perhaps at this hospital, I will be able to cure this illness that I have.¡±

    At this point of the diary entry, a few pages were torn out. The missing pages were probably a description of the doctor¡¯s working situation at the hospital during the night.

    ¡°The detailed information about the hospital has been removed. Is it the work of the rag doll, or did someone enter this building before me?¡± Chen Ge continued to read.

    ¡°I have sessfully assimted into this hospital and be a well-respected night doctor. To seek the treatment that would cure my own illness, I started to conduct some interesting experiments on the patients. Of course, I was probably the only doctor at the whole hospital who was sincerely trying to rescue the patients. The other doctors at this hospital were trying to lead them deeper and deeper into a despairing abyss.

    ¡°As time went on, my ability gained the approval of everyone around me. One night, I finally met the director of this hospital. He was a very serious-looking man, but he had a verymon face, the type that you would forget after you had met him. I had a very weak impression of the man, but with regards to why, even I could not exin it to myself. He seemed to have tempered with my memory somehow.

    ¡°The director had a very long chat with me, and it was all because of one task that he wished to bequeath onto me. He wanted me to take care of Patient 0010. This would be the first time I would gain contact with patients in the first ten numbers. Before this, I¡¯d only heard rumors about these patients at the hospital but never met them in person. It was like God often mentioned paradise, but not one living individual had seen paradise before. It was the same thing.

    ¡°I was thankful for the director¡¯s trust in me, but I shall not die. I still have my family that needs me. That was the first time I entered the door, and it was also the first time I saw ¡®hell¡¯.

    ¡°The patients numbered one to ten were all kept behind that door, and the hospital behind the door was at least ten timesrger than the hospital outside the door.¡±

    At this point, the diary had a few more pages torn out of it. Chen Ge could do nothing to help this. All he could do was continue reading.

    ¡°I have cured the illness of Patient 0010, but in the process, I have exposed my own illness. It was on that day that they removed my doctor¡¯s coat, I was no longer the Doctor Gao among the patients but Patient 0011 among the doctors. I have lost my name, but I will never forget my past.¡±

    At this point, Chen Ge¡¯s heart skipped a beat. He stared at the name on the entry, and his eyes did not blink for a long time.

    ¡°Doctor Gao? The same Doctor Gao that I know?¡±

    Chen Ge envisioned the timeline in his mind. The shadow left Chen Ge when Chen Ge was six years old, and it was locked inside the hospital in the shape of a rag doll. The diary mentioned that this Doctor Gao¡¯s wife was still alive then, and his daughter was just learning how to talk. Then itter mentioned that Doctor Gao worked for some time as a night doctor before he was exposed, turned into a patient, and locked together with the ghost fetus.

    Chen Ge was about to be twenty-seven, and Gao Ru Xue was twenty-two. In terms of age, everything made sense.

    ¡°Could Patient 0011 really be Doctor Gao?¡± Chen Ge focused his attention on the handwriting in the diary. The sense of familiarity hit him again. ¡°This does look familiar to Doctor Gao¡¯s handwriting.¡±

    ¡°x Year x Month x Day, the patients that the doctors at this hospital hate the most are patient like myself because if they let their guard down, they will slowly be convinced by our argument and then gradually lose themselves, joining us. I know that I am hated. Many people at the hospital wish me dead. That¡¯s probably why they locked me up with this monster. They want me to die in here. Perhaps, in their eyes, I am just a tool to incite this monster. They all believe that I will die by its hand, but in reality, they have all underestimated me.

    ¡°The monsters were called monsters because we were looking at them from the perspective of humans. Perhaps in the eyes of a monster, what differentiates us humans from a twisted and pitiable monster?

    ¡°To prevent myself from getting killed by my roommate, I started a systematic treatment on him. I have never tried my best to cure someone in my life before. Of course, the aim was not to cure him. I just wanted to try everything I could to turn him into my helper, to aid me in escaping from this godforsaken ce.

    ¡°Everyone called him a monster, but I was willing to refer to him by his name. I needed a whole night to uncover his name. The monster gave himself the name ¡®Chen Ge¡¯. Whether I escaped this ce or not, I probably would remember this name for life.¡±

    The entries that followed were sporadic, and many pages were missing. Chen Ge had no clue what exactly happened inside this room, but he was certain of one thing. The ghost fetus¡¯ copsed and twisted worldview was slowly being rectified with Doctor Gao¡¯s help.

    He was no longer a monster possessed by curse and hatred but an ¡®anomaly¡¯ who had a way of thinking that was different from normal. The doctors at the hospital hoped that Doctor Gao would be killed, but several weeks had passed, and Doctor Gao was still alive.

    In fact, he managed to gain contact with the other patients under the watchful gaze of the doctors. In theter part of Doctor Gao¡¯s diary, Patient 0005 and Patient 0006 were mentioned several times. With the cooperation of most of the patients and a small number of doctors, the preparation was long and tedious, but they finally found the chance that they were waiting for.

    The diary did not go into detail about what that chance was, but from side notes and allusions in the diary, Doctor Gao¡¯s chance was rted to Patient 0002. Something happened in the hospital behind the door. Doctor Gaotched onto this opportunity that rarely presented itself and prepared to escape with the rag doll. They almost seeded, but ultimately, they had underestimated the hospital¡¯s horror.

    Doctor Gao¡¯s diary did not mention how he was recaptured; it merely detailed the consequences of being captured. The rag doll was imprisoned behind a ck iron door while curses were applied to Doctor Gao until he almost died from it.

    A normal person would have summitted at this point, but Doctor Gao was not a normal person. He chose to lie low for a while. To survive, nothing was beyond the man. Time was meaningless behind the door. He had started to ept the illness that he had, the one that he was born with and the one they gave him. Many unfortunate events were happening to him, but from the entries in the diary, the words were all uplifting and inspirational.

    This was more than a simple change of the mind; he hadpletely epted the illness as part of his own making. He no longer sought ways to cure it but chose to ept it. The diary did not mention the illness in detail. Chen Ge believed that was Doctor Gao¡¯s greatest secret. After all, he had encountered the maddened Doctor Gao in Li Wan City before. He was entwined by chains and was impossibly strong.

    The dates in the diary had all been crossed off. Who knew how long passed before Doctor Gao got his second chance? Simrly, the details of this second chance were not mentioned. It merely alluded to Patient 0001 and the red city. After learning the lesson from before, Doctor Gao and the ghost fetus, who had been preparing for a long time, managed to escape from that hospital with most of the patients.

    That was where the diary ended, but it had left asting impression on Chen Ge. Many pieces had started to fall into ce. If his prediction was not wrong, many questions would be answered.

    ¡°When Doctor Gao first heard my name from Gao Ru Xue, he became interested in me. When I was doing the mission at Mu Yang High School, he even personally called to give me guidance in the middle of the night. Other than that, I found a lot of information about the haunted house that Doctor Gao had collected at his house. He probably started the investigation into my haunted house a long time ago. Now that I think about it, perhaps the death of Doctor Gao¡¯s wife was rted to this hospital. The whole thing that he had set from when he was still alive to after his death was not only to revive his wife but perhaps to seek revenge as well.¡±

    Closing the diary, the question that Doctor Gao asked when they were at the underground morgue appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

    ¡°Good versus evil and sin versus punishment, there is a dichotomy to everything in this world.¡± The man held up the head in his palm. ¡°Then, what is the opposite of human?¡±

    Now that he had gotten a better sense of Doctor Gao¡¯s past, Chen Ge had a renewed understanding of this statement.

 Chapter 1098 - The Black Phoneâ€™s Real Purpose? 2 in 1

    <h4>1098 The ck Phone¡°s Real Purpose? 2 in 1</h4>

    The diary in Room 0011 was missing a lot of pages, so it was all Chen Ge could do to fill in the nks with his own educated guesses as he flipped through the pages. It took him half an hour to finish reading the diary and put it down.

    ¡°What do you think? Did you find anything?¡± Wen Qing noticed how strange Chen Ge was acting, which in itself was a strange event. So far, Chen Ge had not been fazed by anything that they had encountered in this world behind the door, while when he was perusing the pages of the diary, the man¡¯s expression had changed many a time.

    ¡°I have understood some very crucial things. Everything that we see now is the consequence of an action that wasmitted a long time ago.¡± Chen Ge ced Doctor Gao¡¯s doctor inside his backpack, alongside Zhang Ya¡¯s bedtime story. The man¡¯s physical condition was worsening, and he found it very difficult to keep his emotions from running wild. From the Ghost Stories Society to Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s Li Wan City, there had been some kind of connection between the ghost fetus and Doctor Gao. Chen Ge did not quite understand it then, but now he finally apprised himself of the reason behind it.

    Perhaps, from the very beginning, the members of the Ghost Stories Society were made up from the patients that have escaped from the cursed hospital. They knew that they were sick, and they were using their own method to cure their own illness. None of the patients at the hospital have their own name; they are referred to by their patient¡¯s number. It was the same for the Ghost Stories Society. Every member had their own number that they corresponded to. There are many more simrities, so from the very beginning, some of the clues have been right before my eyes.

    Chen Ge sat on the sofa and held his chin in thought.

    Doctor Gao knew the ghost fetus¡¯ name as Chen Ge. So, when I first came to the Ghost Stories Society, he did not make things difficult for me. In fact, he had helped me join the society sessfully. That was probably the only chance he had to kill me; even with Zhang Ya¡¯s aid, I would not have been able to handle so many society members at the same time. Is it possible that Doctor Gao still knew some other secrets like the background information of Patients 0001 to 0010? Would his interest in me be rted to these ten patients as well?

    Chen Ge was contemting the many questions in his mind when the building started to shake like it had been hit by an earthquake! The aftershock of this urrence was much more intense than the three times before it, and itsted even longer.

    ¡°Yet another body part of the rag doll has been found in a different building?¡±

    Things started to change inside the building. The stench in the air became more intense. Everyone¡¯s breathing became more difficult, like there was a chain that had started to wrap around everyone¡¯s neck. Many strange noises started toe from outside the building. It sounded like some kind of monster ramming continuously into the walls of the building. Harrowing screams filtered into their ears. Even if they covered up their ears, they could still them clearly. It was as if the screams wereing from inside them.

    After the building stopped shaking, the first thing Chen Ge did was take out his ownic.

    ¡°The body parts of the rag doll are the foundation of this world behind the door. Now that the foundation has been shaken, it means that the world itself will be unstable, and thus, the limitation on my employees will be smaller.¡±

    Throughout theic, the pages were bleeding. Every page was crawling with blood vessels, and if one looked closer, one could see many ghastly faces that were trying to surface on the pages. Seeing such a grotesque sight, Chen Ge finally revealed a rare smile.

    ¡°It won¡¯t be long now. They are going to arrive soon!¡±

    His tone had an undercurrent of madness to it. Holding the bloodyic, Chen Ge mumbled empathically to himself. A grin that only he would understand hung on his face. Both Wen Qing and Xiao Sun moved subconsciously away from the sofa. They thought that Chen Ge at that moment was rather scary. The presence that radiated off him was no weaker than the monsters behind the door.

    ¡°The fourth earthquake was probably the result of the other outsiders. They now know the locations of two of the rag doll¡¯s body parts. Looks like I will have to pick up my pace.¡±

    Standing up, Chen Ge carried his backpack and dragged Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer toward the door.

    ¡°Chen Ge, why don¡¯t you take a few minutes of rest? You can¡¯t even stand steadily on your feet.¡± Wen Qing walked over to try to support Chen Ge, but she was rejected by thetter.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I am fine.¡±

    Walking out from Room 0011, Chen Ge came to thest room on the first floor. The number on the door said 0005.

    ¡°Patient 0005?¡± Chen Ge thought that Patient 0011 would be the limitation of the rag doll¡¯s memory. He was surprised to find the room for Patient 0005 in this building. ¡°Based on the description on the multiple diaries that I have found, the patients numbered one to ten are categorically different from the other patients. But since the room for Patient 0005 has appeared at this ce, will the room of Patient 0001 be upstairs?¡±

    His heart started to race like it was going to jump out from his heart. For reasons unknown to Chen Ge, when his mind focused on Patient 0001, the blood in his body would start to boil.

    Pushing open the door to Room 0005, Chen Ge entered the room. Every object inside Room 0005 was covered in ayer of blood. The furniture was heavily damaged. There was nothing that was usable or intact inside the room.

    ¡°The person who stayed here must have had a tendency to destroy.¡± Wen Qing carefully stepped around the trash on the ground and walked toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°Do not stay too far away from me. The three of us should look around the room to see if we can find any important clues.¡±

    The previous three sickrooms that they had visited had ayer of paint over the walls. Even though there were traces of blood in the rooms, at least someone had attempted to cover them up, but it waspletely different for Room 0005. No one tried to cover up the travesty that had happened here. The whole room was ck and red in color. Chen Ge took a careful look around. He did not find any diary in the room, but he did notice many small characters that were carved out using fingernails on the walls of the bedroom. Most of the letters had been mixed with the blood, and they looked like they came right out of a scary movie.

    ¡°I really do not dare imagine the state of the person¡¯s mind when they wrote these things. This is just madness.¡± Xiao Sun hid at the back of the group. His worldview had been shattered again and again that night. Now, nothing could surprise him anymore. While Xiao Sun and Wen Qing were both stunned by the markings on the wall, Chen Ge had already walked forward to inspect it. As he carefully cleaned away the stained blood, he started to read the words that were left behind.

    ¡°I have started to forget many things. A few days ago, I could still remember my name, but now there is only a number that is left in my head!

    ¡°I know my memory is failing me. I am forgetting more and more things, but there is one thing that I will never forget¡ªkill the hospital director!

    ¡°I do not know why such a directive has been stuck in my mind, and I do not have a clue as to why I would want to do something like that. Perhaps the hospital director is the reason I am in this state. But what exactly has he done to me? Why can¡¯t I remember anything about it?

    ¡°The new roommate died beside my bed. When I woke up, he was already dead. There are no other people in the room. If we rule out the possibility of suicide, then the only logical exnation is that I have murdered him, but howe I have no memory of that at all?

    ¡°The doctors said I am seriously ill, but howe they do not conduct any treatment on me? All they did was rotate new roommates for me so that every morning I will wake up to a fresh dead body next to my bed. I have gotten used to opening my eyes to a fresh body every morning until the day my wife moved in with me. She was still as beautiful as I could remember. I asked the doctors about my wife¡¯s condition. The doctors only told me that she was sick, and they mmed up after that. I could not get them to tell me more about my wife.

    ¡°I tried tomunicate with my wife, but she refused to utter even a word. I could see that she is very afraid. She is afraid of the environment that she has been deposited in, and she is afraid of me. But why should be afraid of me? She is the one person that I love the most in the world. Why would I actively harm her?

    ¡°That night I did not sleep. When the sun rose, my wife was still cowering in the corner of the room. She is still alive!

    ¡°I have beaten myself. I mmed repeatedly on the iron door. I wanted the doctor to move my wife to another room. But the only answer I got from the empty corridor was the echo of my own voice. What should I do? No one was there to tell me the answer. I tried various method to keep myself awake, but it was getting more and more difficult.

    ¡°I forgot when I did eventually fall asleep, but when I opened my eyes, I was already sent to the other side of the door. In the deepest part of hell, the line between life and death is blurred. The hours of my consciousness became less and less. Most of the time, I have no idea what I am doing, or perhaps I am no longer myself. My body was taken over by the monster who had been hiding inside me. All the patients around me and the doctors have seen that monster before, but I am the only one who has not met him.

    ¡°Everyone is afraid of that monster, but I personally am desperate to meet him because I need to ask him whether my wife is still alive or not.

    ¡°When I am conscious, the doctors make me suffer all kinds of curses. The curses were yanked out from strangers¡¯ bodies. They died from the curse, so the curses carried their memories and despair. Being a vessel of other people¡¯s curses was no different from carrying their past. These things were nothing but pain for me, but it appeared to be some kind of nutrition for the monster inside my body.

    ¡°The life behind the door was spent in a haze of mindlessness and blurriness. Only a few words were left in my brain¡ªkill the hospital director, my wife, and my patient¡¯s number. Just as I thought my life would end in this miserable way, I met a doctor wearing a patient¡¯s outfit. His surname was Gao, and he had a rag doll with a horrible smell following behind him. The smell that the doll gave off was no longer something that could be put into words.

    ¡°We are all trapped inside the neenth floor of hell. There are no friends and family in the world of ck and white. Trying to converse with others in this ce is something very dangerous because no one knows what will happen next. When I first saw him, honestly I felt some pity for the man because I knew that the next time I woke up, he would turn into a dead body.

    ¡°When I opened my eyes and woke up from mya, I was surprised that the doctor was standing beside me! He was still alive! This was proof that my wife could still be alive as well!

    ¡°He seemed to be able to see into a person¡¯s heart. Before I mentioned anything, he brought up my wife voluntarily. From his lips, I found out what I did to her. My wife is already dead. She was killed by the monster inside my body. I started to hate my body. I wanted to die alongside the monster inside my body, but I was stopped by Doctor Gao. He slowly brought me back to the world of the sane. It was not my fault that my wife is dead. After all, it was the monster who killed her, not me. And the monster was nted inside my body by the hospital director, so if anyone is to me, it is all the hospital director¡¯s fault!

    ¡°I could die if I want to, but that would be after we murdered the hospital director. After talking to Doctor Gao, I finally understood why that directive had always lingered in my mind¡ªkill the hospital director. He is the culprit! This is all his fault! He must die!

    ¡°I started to pretend to cooperate with the hospital¡¯s treatment. With Doctor Gao¡¯s suggestion, I pretended to faint and started to act like the other version of myself. To have the doctor believe in my amateur acting, Doctor Gao suggested I murder the first doctor that entered my room. I followed his instructions. Technically, that was the first time I have killed someone.

    ¡°That must have sounded quite ironic. For the person whose hands were already filled with blood and could not have sinned deeper even if he tried, the first time I killed a man was to pretend to be a monster. At that time, I still did not understand that once a habit had been given the chance to grow, it would be hard to stop it from progressing in the future.

    ¡°The night doctors¡¯ reaction was all within Doctor Gao¡¯s prediction. It was the first time I was sent into the deepest part of hell when I was fully conscious. Opening that iron door that was painted ck, I saw the monster who carried the whole hospital on its back. It moved inside the endless ck fog. It had a face that was not that different from a normal human face. I did not dare look directly at it because my body was shaking nonstop. I did not want to be exposed due to fear.

    ¡°The doctors were talking beside them. They were saying things that I could not understand, something about only by taking on all the sin could one gain the corresponding power. Not everyone in the world was capable of taking so much sin. The hospital had been searching for that unique soul. Me, Doctor Gao, and that rag doll that reeked were all targets that they had chosen, but none of us fit the hospital¡¯s requirement. Their real purpose appeared to be building a blood red city. That was something that they were preparing, so they needed a soul that could support and carry the sins of an entire city.

    ¡°I do not understand why they would want to do something like that, but I did not have much time to thing. The ck fog invoked the monster inside my body, and it was slowly consuming the part of myself that remained.¡±

    There were many words carved out on the walls. They were jumbled up together in a maddening entry. Most of them were too old and too stained by blood to make out. Chen Ge tried his best to decipher them, and the above was the best result he could achieve.

    ¡°I do not really quite understand what he is talking about. It is better for this kind of madman to be locked up. It is for the betterment of the society.¡± Xiao Sun stared at the bloody words on the wall, and his back broke out in cold sweat.

    ¡°What if they all started as normal humans like you and me?¡± Chen Ge had no affection to lose for that hospital. If they thought a person had the potential, they would use various methods to force them to go mad and then slowly initiate their ¡®treatment¡¯ on them. With his back on the wall, Chen Gebined all the content of the diaries that he had read so far, and he noticed something that was quite surprising.

    Doctor Gao consumed the door of the underground morgue, and he voluntarily chose to suffer all the sin that originated from the underground morgue. The morgue itself had no problem, but Doctor Gao made use of the Ghost Stories Society and its members to feed the morgue with sin. A person as clever as him had to know what that represents. It feels like he was actively trying to ept the sin of the entire the Ghost Stories Society.

    Then we look at the ghost fetus. He has rebuilt Jiu Hong Apartments behind Xiang Nuan¡¯s world and locked up the sins behind each building, using them to counter the ck fog, forming a deserted ind of humanity. This is, in a way, a precursor to the formation of a red city.

    Lastly, it is the hospital¡¯s way of operation. Through the records in this room, we know that Patient 0005 saw the monster that carried the sin of the entire hospital in the world behind the hospital¡¯s door. It moved amid the ck fog, and he exposed that the real purpose of the hospital was to create a red city.

    Everyone is working toward the red city in their own way. What is so attractive about the red city thatpels them to do so? And to create such a city, must there be someone who steps forward to suffer the sin of the whole city or it won¡¯t work?

    With this train of thought, Chen Ge suddenly turned to look at his hands.

    Based on the missions given by the ck phone, I have slowly taken steps toward a goal. Now that I look back, it seems like I have already involuntarily taken on all the sins and the pasts of my ghost employees that I have met along the way. Could that be the ck phone¡¯s real purpose? Is it trying to build a red city through me as well?

 Chapter 1099 - Red and Black World 2 in 1

    <h4>1099 Red and ck World 2 in 1</h4>

    All the question led back to the red city. Chen Ge himself had a deep impression of that city, but he could not understand why it appeared like everyone wanted to build a simr city in their own way. Some old questions had been answered, but that only led to the formation of a new series of questions. Chen Ge took out his phone and snapped some pictures and videos of the wall. Even though he could not tell for sure whether they could still be yable after he left the door, this was not a resource to be wasted. They had already checked all four rooms on the first floor, but the group did not find the body parts of the rag doll there.

    ¡°Brother, you aren¡¯t nning to go upstairs, are you? Have you already forgotten what happened to us in Jiu Hong Apartments Block 1? I guarantee that there are very dangerous monsters hiding up there!¡± Xiao Sun gnashed his teeth and made a scary face to try to stop Chen Ge, but unfortunately Chen Ge was never one who could be easily persuaded. Once he had made a decision about something, he would pursue it until its very end. Just like how he had first taken over the haunted house after his parent¡¯s disappearance, even if he had to cough up his own money to maintain the ce because the ie was not enough to even cover the utility bills, he was not going to give up.

    The Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s hammer in his hand was getting heavier and heavier. Chen Ge felt like he could barely drag it along with him anymore.

    There must be something possessing me, or else this would not have happened!

    Green veins popped on his neck. Chen Ge swung a heavy fist at the air before him. He hated this kind feeling of weakened feeling a lot.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I think you should take a longer rest. I am more worried about Xiang Nuan¡¯s safety than you are, but if you continue to force yourself like this, I am afraid that before we can find Xiang Nuan, you will be the one to copse first.¡±

    Wen Qing had noticed how strangely Chen Ge was acting. It did not appear that he was exhausted from fatigue, but he was falling under a serious illness. His teammates were all trying to persuade Chen Ge, but thetter only shook his head.

    ¡°I have a very bad feeling about all this. The peace will soon be shattered. If we are unable to find enough trump cards before the tragedy arrives, we will not even be given the chance to sit at the card table. Do you understand what I am trying to say?¡±

    ¡°I honestly cannot say that I do. What I can understand is that you look incredibly tired, like a child who has just attempted a marathon for the first time. Your body has reached its limits, but you still want to force yourself to finish the whole journey.¡±

    Wen Qing still wanted to add something, but she was interrupted by Chen Ge with a quick wave of his hand.

    ¡°The failure to finish a marathon can only be considered a regret, but if we stop here, then there is a high chance we won¡¯t even have the chance to move forward anymore.¡±

    Chen Ge walked out of Room 0005 and entered the staircase. At this point, Chen Ge could not tell whether it was his mind ying tricks on him or if he really did catch a sniff of disinfectant in the air. This smell intermingled with the stench that had been following them to form a very strange and pungent smell. It made people want to cover their mouth and nose involuntarily.

    The ck iron door inside the worlds of the other children¡¯s door also give off this smell of disinfectant. Does this mean that I am getting closer to the ghost fetus¡¯ deepest secret?

    Holding the banister as support, Chen Ge reached the second floor. This whole corridor was sealed up. All the windows were blocked out by cement, but interestingly enough, someone had drawn out a new picture of the windows using blood on top of the original windows that had been cemented.

    ¡°Blood represents pain and tragedy, but the window represent the outside world and hope, so what does a window painted by blood mean?¡±

    The second-floor corridor was extremely suffocating. It was like an enclosed space. There was not even a draft that could be felt. Walking down the corridor, Chen Ge studied the doors that led down the walls, and he stopped moving. The doors of the rooms on the second floor were different from the doors of the rooms on the first floor. They were no longer sickroom doors with small windows on them but many pure ck iron doors. These doors were more like prison doors that were used to imprison criminals. Most doors had blood and other unknown stains lingering on them, and they had arge lock on them.

    ¡°They can¡¯t be opened?¡± Chen Ge used the ring of keys that he found at Jin Hwa Apartments to give them a try. None of the keys matched.

    ¡°ck iron door and the smell of disinfectant in the air. These few doors should be hiding the ghost fetus¡¯st secret behind them.¡±

    Resisting the tearing pain from his corneas, Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision as he leaned at the gap of the first iron door and looked through it. There wasplete darkness in the room, and many broken and shattered toys were littered on the ground. The toys reminded Chen Ge of the toys that he once yed with when he was still a child. Chen Ge guessed the hospital probably purchased most of them based on the ghost fetus¡¯ requirements and demands.

    ¡°All of the toys have been ruined. Not one remains intact. Looks like the ghost fetus has already understood that even if he was ying with the toys from way back when, he could no longer return to that time of innocence anymore. He was no longer anyone¡¯s shadow. He was just a child who was being pushed to the edge of his sanity.¡±

    Since the door was locked, this was the only way Chen Ge could study the room. Just as he pulled back his gaze and was ready to walk toward the second door, the whole building started to shake again. The shock this time was much stronger than any of the quakes that preceded it!

    ¡°Kneel down! Get close to the wall!¡± Chen Ge gripped the hammer tightly. His knees gave away underneath him. He crumbled to the ground, and his face was startlingly pale. The screaming and wailing from outside the building became more intense. The monsters that were hiding inside the ck fog appeared to be attacking the buildings inside the residential area madly. More cracks appeared on the walls. Some of the ck fog had already started to leak into the interior of the buildings!

    ¡°Ah!¡± Wen Qing, who was not that far from Chen Ge, let out a scream. Her body appeared to be dragged along by an invisible force. Someone was trying to pull her downstairs.

    ¡°Chen Ge!¡± The panicked Wen Qing called Chen Ge for help. At that moment, the shaking still had not stopped. Chen Ge had no better idea; he could only watch as Wen Qing was being dragged down the stairs.

    ¡°Xiao Sun, we need to go after her!¡± Crawling on his hands and knees, Chen Ge had never been so flustered in his life. Xiao Sun and Chen Ge followed Wen Qing to the first floor, and as they turned the corner, they arrived just in time to see Wen Qing being dragged by that invisible power into Room 0097. ¡°We will get into that room as well!¡±

    Just as Chen Ge and Xiao Sun crossed the threshold into Room 0097, a loud thud came from the floor above them. It sounded like one of the iron doors had been shoved open, and the door mmed heavily on the wall.

    What escaped from the room?

    The trio hid inside Room 0097. Chen Ge stood closest to the door as he paid full attention to the corridor outside the door. A continuously banging sound came from the staircase, and the sound was getting closer and closer. A few secondster, Chen Ge saw a head that waspletely mutted pass by the gap in the door. Connected to the head was a body made from curses. The threads that gave off an air of misfortune were intertwined together to keep the shape of the body intact. It was radiating this horrible smell.

    Was it the rag doll¡¯s head that ran out from the building just now?

    The human head moved so fast that Chen Ge did not have the chance to see the front of its face. He only caught the glimpse of the back of the head that was covered in stitches. After the head rushed out of Jiu Hong Apartments Block 2, the building that Chen Ge¡¯s group was in shook even harder like the whole building could copse at any moment.

    The rag doll¡¯s different body parts are ced inside different building to use as foundation to steady the entire residential area. So, why would the human head in this Block 2 walk out on its own? Is it because the situation has gotten so dire that it must make its move?

    Chen Ge realized that he had greatly underestimated the people from the cursed hospital. They had a very good understanding of the ghost fetus. This time, their entry behind the door should have been preceded by thorough preparation. They had brought a lot of pressure for the ghost fetus.

    Looks like most of the ghost fetus¡¯ attention would be turned onto the people from the cursed hospital. This is good news for me.

    With his back against the wall, Chen Ge slowly slid to the ground. He was currently incredibly tired. The tiredness appeared toe straight from his soul no matter how long he tried to rest, and the fatigue refused to go away.

    But I still cannot let my guard down. I am not in such good condition. After all, this is the world behind the ghost fetus¡¯ door. Perhaps it wants to deal with both the people from the cursed hospital and me at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.

    The ground was shaking as if the whole building was starting to teeter on its edge. Many spidery cracks appeared on the wall as more and more ck fog leaked into the building.

    This is not good. Since the head has left, the building is not safe from the ck fog. This ce is no longer safe for us to stay or explore.

    Chen Ge struggled to stand up, but he was really too tired. His muscles refused to cooperate. Lethargy and tiredness overwhelmed his mind; he felt like fainting. His body felt like it was trying to take back all the taxing efforts that Chen Ge had forced upon it in the past at once. The white paint on the wall started to peel and exposed the walls behind them that werepletely covered in blood. Room 0097 was like a peeled fruit, but underneath the pretty skin was not the delicious flesh of fruit but a mess of guts and blood.

    ¡°Move the table and closet over here. We will hide at the corner of the wall.¡± The earthquake safety knowledge that Chen Ge had learned in kindergarten came into use then. The trio squeezed themselves in the corner of the room that should be the most structurally stable. ¡°Later, more ck fog might seep into the building, and that means the monsters inside the ck fog will follow it as well. We have to be more careful of our surroundings.¡±

    Xiao Sun opened his lips to ask weakly, ¡°Can we only stay here passively and wait for this to pass?¡±

    ¡°Why? Do you have an idea that can help us to fight back?¡±

    ¡°No, I just think that it might be safer for us to return to Jin Hwa Apartments Block A. That building appears to be rtively safer than this ce.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, when the time is right, we will definitely return to that ce. After all, my cat is still there.¡± Chen Ge had never felt so drained in his life. Now, even talking was a taxing exercise. The quake not only did not stop, it only started to get more intense. Both Xiao Sun and Wen Qing worried that this old building would not be able to survive, and it would tumble upon itself. Chen Ge was not worried about that. The main buildings were made up from the ghost fetus¡¯ memory. Unless something serious happened to the ghost fetus, these few buildings would not crumble so easily.

    ¡°Do not panic for now. I have a few questions that I need to rify with the both of you at this moment.¡± Chen Ge turned to Wen Qing. ¡°You were the first to run earlier. I saw that you appeared to be pulled by someone...¡±

    ¡°It felt like Xiang Nuan.¡± Before Chen Ge finished, Wen Qing already provided him with an answer. She hugged her arms in front of her chest. ¡°When he was very young, I was leading him cross the road. Halfway through, he started to pull me back with as much force as he could muster. I stopped moving, and before I could ask him why he was doing that, a car that appeared to have gone out of control flew past the spot where I was standing earlier. Later, I heard from the news that the driver was drunk out of his mind when he was behind the wheel.¡±

    Slowly lifting her hands, Wen Qing crossed her fingers together.

    ¡°The feeling reminded me of that when I was pulled along by the invisible hands earlier. He would only reach out to grab me voluntarily when the situation was at its most dangerous. The child rarely allows other adults to touch him, much less taking the initiative to reach out and grab another person¡¯s hand.¡±

    ¡°In other words, this proves that Xiang Nuan has always been by our side, but we are unable to see him. But is this Xiang Nuan the same Xiang Nuan that we are looking for?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s one sentence hadpletely befuddled Wen Qing and Xiao Sun. They had no idea what Chen Ge was talking about or worried for. His physique was greatly decreasing like someone was continuously feasting on his energy. He suspected that someone was Xiang Nuan. The thing was invisible, but he was definitely there.

    I am one of the nine children, but I still do not understand what I represent. Perhaps the ghost fetus wishes to take over my body. After all, it has shown many times that it has wanted to be me.

    Leaning against the wall, Chen Ge¡¯s body vibrated alongside the whole building. He closed his eyes and an extremely scary thought crossed his mind.

    Could the ghost fetus have predicted that the people from the cursed hospital and myself would enter his door at this time? He probably predicted that we would have found the other children before entering thisst door and took the power away from the children.

    The powers of those children were incredibly attractive to the people behind the door. After all, they represent part of the power of a demon god. Most of the patients would attempt to take the power for themselves when they were faced with the children with that power, just like the monsters from the cursed hospital and Jia Ming. If we¡¯d taken all the powers for ourselves and then entered thisst door at the same time, doesn¡¯t that also mean that we have helped the ghost fetus gather all his power and then bring them back to him inside his door? After killing all of us, the ghost fetus will be able toplete a perfect rebirth!

    Chen Ge was frightened by his own thought, but momentster, he calmed down again.

    The people from the cursed hospital might have killed the children to take the power for themselves, but I did not do that. I returned the children¡¯s powers back to them so that they can return to a normal life.

    Wiping away the cold sweat that slid down his forehead, Chen Ge did not expect his idental acts of kindness to possibly be his saving grace behind this door.

    I was not greedy, so the ghost fetus was destined to be deprived of a perfect rebirth. It will be missing many important powers. There is still a chance.

    More cracks appeared on the wall, and the ck fog in the corridor thickened.

    Bang!

    The fog gushed down the corridor, and it carried some strange noises.

    ¡°Chen Ge, do you hear children crying?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± When Chen Ge turned around, he saw Wen Qing standing beside him. Her hands were lifted up in the air like someone was pulling her along. ¡°What is going on with your hands?¡±

    ¡°He is here. He is just standing in front of you...¡± Just as Wen Qing finished, her body leaned forward. The door of Room 0097 was pulled open, and Wen Qing ran out.

    ¡°Has the woman lost her mind?¡± Xiao Sun was still kneeling on the ground. He was confused by this turn of events. He had no idea what Wen Qing was up to.

    ¡°Follow her!¡± Chen Ge gritted his teeth as he forced himself to stand up. He grabbed Xiao Sun by his shoulders. ¡°This ce is probably not safe anymore.¡±

    The ck fog rushed into the corridor. Rows of human heads lined up together in the fog. They crawled along the wall like some kind of centipede.

    ¡°What kind of monsters are those?¡±

    Holding each other as support, Chen Ge and Xiao Sun rushed out from the ck fog and headed upstairs. The monsters were unable to leave the protection of the ck fog, but they seemed to have discovered Chen Ge and Xiao Sun. They kept wiggling their disgusting and ugly bodies in the fog. When they reached the fourth floor, Chen Ge¡¯s condition could not have been worse. It was Xiao Sun who had been carrying him up the stairs and brought him to the sixth floor where Wen Qing had gone. From the third floor onward, all the doors were the ck iron door. Most of them were locked; only the end room on the sixth floor was open.

    ¡°The rag doll¡¯s head probably ran out from his room.¡± Chen Ge did not give it much thought, but after he entered the room, he was stunned because the interior decoration of the room was simr to Chen Ge¡¯s bedroom that was in the attic of the haunted house from ten years ago.

    The head is where the memory is stored. The ghost fetus has been living in my old room? Does it not know that this is just a part of the illusion that it has created for itself?

    Every ck iron door should be hiding the ghost fetus¡¯ memory, and thisst door was no exception. Chen Ge just did not expect the ghost fetus to still have such fresh memory of his own home. Lying on the familiar bed, Chen Ge¡¯s memory was fuzzy. When he was young, both his and his parent¡¯s bedrooms were situated on the top floor of the haunted house. After he moved out for school and work and when he returned to take over the business, his parents had already disappeared, and the attic of the haunted house had been transformed into a storage room. Actually, most of Chen Ge¡¯s childhood memories were rted to the attic as well. More than that, it was in the attic that he had found the ck phone and the first doll that he made himself.

    I have already forgotten this feeling, but the ghost fetus still remembers it. This is quite surprising.

    With this thought in mind, Chen Ge suddenly sat up. He struggled to open the other door in the room. This was the bathroom that was attached to his bedroom. With his hands on the sink, Chen Ge lifted his head to look at the mirror above the sink!

    Everything is simr to how I remembered it. Even this mirror and you inside the mirror have not changed...

    Chen Ge¡¯s hands were popping with veins. His pupils narrowed as he stared straight at the mirror before him. The surface of the mirror that was stained dirty reflected the faces of two children that looked identical to each other.

    But one of them had a soft countenance and a light that refused to be extinguished in his eyes, while the other had hollowed sockets, and the eyes appeared to be a vessels for all the sins that existed in the world!

 Chapter 1100 - The First Employee to Wake Up 2 in 1

    <h4>1100 The First Employee to Wake Up 2 in 1</h4>

    His mind appeared to have been struck by lightning. Theyer of ice that had sealed up his memory started to crack, and shes of images that Chen Ge thought he had forgotten floated up in his mind.

    ¡°Ghost fetus...¡± Two simr faces stared at the mirror at the same time. They managed to see the other version of themselves inside each other¡¯s eyes. Chen Ge¡¯s body shook harder and harder; his whole body was going numb. He was losing control from head to toe. It was as if someone had trampled so viciously on his heart several times that simple breathing became an arduous task for him.

    On the blurry mirror, the child with the hollowed eyes strangled the other child by his neck. His hands that closed around the neck slowly gathered strength. The eyes that were filled with sin and despair appeared to have some other emotions flowing through them as well. They appeared like sadness and at the same time like pain.

    ¡°Chen Ge!¡± Both Xiao Sun and Wen Qing finally noticed the strange way Chen Ge was acting. They both rushed into the bathroom to try to support Chen Ge, but thetter¡¯s condition did not appear to get any better. Every nerve on his body was pulled taut, and every muscle in his body was shaking. The blood was roiling madly in his capiries as many different scary and cruel images shes across his mind. He had no memory of these images that just appeared. In other words, they left no impression on him. He would forget about them after they had left his mind.

    He could not recall the exact circumstances behind any of these images, but he could see clearly that there were two children inside each picture. These were the ghost fetus¡¯ memories, or rather, Chen Ge and the ghost fetus¡¯ shared memories.

    ¡°M-mirror...¡± As he gritted his teeth, Chen Ge¡¯s mind was a huge nk. He could not control his body at all. It was as if he had lost control of his body at that very moment. The body no longer belonged to him. The hands that gripped the edge of the sink slowly let go. Chen Ge¡¯s body tipped dangerously backward. He looked at the faces of the two children in the mirror, and the veryst image surfaced in his mind.

    In the dark city, three red doors were pushed open at the same time!

    Pa!

    The mirror shattered into smithereens, and the pieces cut Chen Ge¡¯s cheeks. The mirror flew everywhere as Chen Ge¡¯s bodynded heavily to the ground. He slowly returned to normal. The mirror on the wall had been shattered, and the two children¡¯s faces were no longer visible on the surface of the blurry mirror anymore.

    ¡°Chen Ge!¡± Putting down the wooden chair she was holding, after Wen Qing shattered the mirror, she squatted down beside Chen Ge. ¡°Are you feeling better?¡±

    ¡°All I can say is that I am still alive.¡± Chen Ge was lying on the ground. Weakened was no longer the correct word to describe his condition. He could now sense quite clearly that someone was trying to take over his body. ¡°I am also one of the nine chosen children by the ghost fetus. The thing that the ghost fetus wants from me should be my physical body.¡±

    When he was helping the other children, he did not feel a sensation as strong as this. But now that it was his turn, he finally understood how painful and helpless this feeling of having something so crucial to your existence forcibly taken away from you was. The building was still quivering, and strange noises kept echoing around the residential area. The ck fog had rolled up to the top floor. The situation had reached the most dangerous hour.

    ¡°Let me help you up.¡± Xiao Sun carried Chen Ge to the bed. Wen Qing went over to help Chen Ge pick up the backpack that he had dropped on the ground, but just as she was about to touch the backpack, her body was pulled back any an invisible and dragged away from the backpack. Both Xiao Sun and Chen Ge saw this rather clearly.

    ¡°What¡¯s inside your bag?¡± Xiao Sun tried to grab the backpack. He was just trying to help Chen Ge by returning the backpack to him, but as his hand touched the backpack, trails of fresh blood climbed onto his arms like they were ready to consume his body and soul.

    ¡°Stop what you¡¯re doing! Do not act rashly!¡± Chen Ge used thest ounce of energy he had in his body to scream. ¡°Give the bag to me.¡±

    Xiao Sun was startled and scared. Of course, he let go of the backpack and did not dare get near it anymore. He quickly moved the backpack and Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer to Chen Ge¡¯s side.

    ¡°Brother, I think your bag is bleeding.¡± Xiao Sun did not dare ask too many questions. He stood quietly and obediently beside the bed. His hands gripped the headboard to prevent himself from falling. There were forces fighting inside the residential area. Something appeared to m into the building repeatedly. The shaking was so hard that if the people inside the building did not hold onto something, they would fall easily.

    ¡°Howe I feel like this ce is going to copse at any moment, and why haven¡¯t either of you said anything about it?¡± Xiao Sun looked at Wen Qing, whose face was pale like a sheet of paper, and Chen Ge, who was copsed like a dead man on the bed. Who would have thought that he would one day be the leader of this group? ¡°Looks like I will have to do something, or we will all die!¡±

    Chen Ge ignored Xiao Sun. He used all the energy that he had to ce his hand on the backpack. When the tip of his finger touched the backpack, his heart also slowly calmed down. A shade of red curled around his arm. Chen Ge could feel the energy of his body recovering, but at the same time, his body temperature continued to drop.

    ¡°One of the Red Specters is helping me?¡± The ghost fetus wanted to take over Chen Ge¡¯s body. Chen Ge alone would not be able to stop that. He was too weak to fight against the ghost fetus, but the equation would not be the same if his employees were added into the mix. Even though the Red Specters were still limited by the rules behind the door so that they could not unleash their full potential, the ghost fetus was not at its peak. Its body was split and hidden in many different ces. While he needed to maintain the stability behind the door, he had to deal with the intrusion of the other outsiders.

    He slowly regained control of his body and his senses. Chen Ge realized that as more cracks appeared on the building, the limitation of the world behind the door on his employees became weaker and weaker. There were two sides to a coin. After losing the rag doll¡¯s head, the ck fog started to seep into Jiu Hong Apartments Block 2. But at the same time, without the suppression from the rag doll¡¯s head, the restriction on Chen Ge¡¯s employees also was weakening by the minute.

    His hand reached into the backpack. Chen Ge pressed on the y button on the recorder. The tape turned, but the sound of the static did note. He then reached for the blood-soakedic. He flipped through the pages. When he reached the page where Xiao Bu was, he got the response that he wanted. Blood vessels reached out to curl around his hand. The page pictured the sight of a dancing and flitting blood spirit. The picture that was supposed to be so scary was surprisingly heartwarming.

    ¡°It is Xiao Bu who is helping me.¡±

    Xiao Bu was incredibly strong, but she still managed to help Chen Ge without fully breaking through the limitation ced on her by the rules of the world behind the door. This had surprised Chen Ge somewhat.

    ¡°My parents once made a deal with Xiao Bu to have her be my shadow. Is that because they had noticed some kind of special power in Xiao Bu?¡±

    Based on Chen Ge¡¯s parents¡¯ n, it should be Xiao Bu apanying Chen Ge at this moment, but things very often did not go ording to n. No one would have expected the appearance of Zhang Ya. Putting away theic, Chen Ge turned to inspect the other objects inside the backpack. Zhang Ya¡¯s bedtime story was still the same. The ballpoint pen and the other small objects had not changed either.

    ¡°Wait, it appears like one thing is missing...¡±

    There was no change to Chen Ge¡¯s expression as his hand continued to reach deeper into the backpack. At the innermost part of the backpack, Chen Ge¡¯s hand found the pair of red high heels. The heels were sticky and wet like they had just been taken out from a pool of blood water. The red high heels appeared to be have almost broken through the limitation ced on her by the rules behind the door already?

    Resisting the excitement in his heart, Chen Ge did not utter a word. He maintained the same posture and did not even take an extra nce into the backpack. The red high heels were hidden underneath all the other objects. She was working her way to break down the barrier around her silently like she was trying to do while avoiding the intrusive gaze of a certain someone.

    The ghost fetus¡¯ main persona was hidden behind Xiang Nuan¡¯s door. In other words, this world behind the door was shared between Xiang Nuan and the ghost fetus. With the influence of a Demon God, the restriction ced on the other Red Specters was incredibly high, but one ¡®person¡¯ was the sole exception. The red high heels had consumed all the curses that had been left behind in the ghost fetus¡¯ previous doors. In terms of maniption and understanding of curses, the red high heels was the closest existence to the ghost fetus, and she could be considered the Red Specter that knew how the ghost fetus operated best.

    Perhaps she had discovered the presence of the ghost fetus, so she did not want to expose herself. The red high heels hid herself at the deepest part of the backpack. Chen Ge understood her intention immediately. Internally, he was rather shocked, but his expression did not betray that. This human and ghost duo did not need tomunicate in words toplete a perfect exchange of mind.

    Taking a slow breath, Chen Ge leaned against the wall, and he started to consider the situation that he was in. After seeing the child earlier, many memories that did not belong to Chen Ge crowded his mind. Most of the images had shed in the blink of an eye. He could not capture a close look, much less take a more detailed look at them. However, the veryst image did leave behind a very deep impression on Chen Ge.

    ¡°Why would these three blood doors keep appearing in my memory?¡± Chen Ge made some calctions in his mind. There was a door at Jiang Yuan Apartments. That was probably the first door to appear in the whole of Jiujiang. The door was probably pushed open by Chen Ge when he was very young, so that was the first door. The second door was the ck iron door that was pushed open by the ghost fetus at the cursed hospital. It radiated the heavy cocktail of disinfectant, so it should be inside the cursed hospital. The ghost fetus was once Chen Ge¡¯s shadow, so the door that it opened could technically be counted as one that was opened by Chen Ge as well. The third door was directly rted to Chen Ge, and that was the door inside the bathroom at his haunted house.

    These three doors had always been following Chen Ge. The door that appeared the most normal could very well be the scariest one. After all, it had once given Doctor Gao the fright of his life.

    The quivering of the building became more obvious, but Chen Ge and Wen Qing did not appear to notice it at all. They were both caught up in their own thoughts. Only Xiao Sun was anxious like an ant on top of a boiling pan. This tenant behind the door was ironically acting most like a normal person.

    ¡°Should we consider leaving this ce? When there is an earthquake, we should be hiding outside in an open space. I have not heard of advice that tells us to move higher up the building before.¡±

    Seeing no one had given him any response, Xiao Sun sidled up to Wen Qing and asked, ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s wise for us to keep on hiding here?¡±

    Wen Qing did not answer him immediately. She instead nced at Chen Ge on the bed. ¡°We will wait for him to recover slightly first. It is too dangerous to leave this ce now.¡±

    Xiao Sun still had something else to add, but at that moment, the iron door from the living room suddenly gave off a strange sound. The sound was very hard to describe. It sounded like a veryrge centipede had just crawled over it. The consistent footfallsnded on the metallic door, and the sound was enough to make one¡¯s head go numb.

    ¡°Stay far away from the door!¡± Chen Ge now had trouble even breathing. Before his employees awakened, the best solution was to stay inside the room. The sound that came from the front door became clearer and more intense. Both Xiao Sun and Wen Qing moved away from it. No one dared speak inside the room. It became incredibly quiet. Everyone held their breath. The rustling sound kept moving around the iron door until it stopped right outside the iron door like it had finally decided on something.

    ¡°It appears to have discovered us.¡± Xiao Sun held his hand over his mouth. His eyes were overflowing with fear. The unknown was always the scariest. A thinyer of ck fog leaked from the gaps into the room. It was extremely chaotic outside the building, but the building corridor was curiously quiet.

    ¡°Has it left?¡± Xiao Sun held the wall and was about to head toward the living room when the doorknob started to violent shake.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    Something kept hammering itself against the ck iron door. Arge amount of ck fog was leaking into the room!

    ¡°The windows on the top floor are all sealed up behind a wall of cement. This whole floor is fully enclosed. The only exit is the living room door.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s mind was spinning wildly. The conclusion was that they were currently stuck inside this room.

    ¡°Chen Ge! What should we do now?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t just ask me for answers! I am already in this state. What else do you expect me to do?¡± Chen Ge said with a bitter smile on his face, but his eyes were scarily calm. He held the backpack, and his hands were holding the red high heels inside the back. The red high heels inside the bag was covered in blood, and they dyed Chen Ge¡¯s hand red, but the man did not seem to mind it at all.

    In fact, upon closer inspection, one would realize that the ck pattern on the red high heels was crawling onto Chen Ge¡¯s body. The ck treads were not harming him; they were looking for something inside his body. The backpack blocked all of this from view. No one inside the room realized what Chen Ge was doing. The doorknob kept wiggling as the thing mmed continuously into the door. The rustling sound became more and more obvious.

    Half a minuteter, the ck iron door was knocked out of shape. The gap between the door and the frame becamerger as a result. ck fog spread inside the room. Chen Ge, Wen Qing, and Xiao Sun helplessly watched as the iron door was pried open slowly. The gaping hole revealed faces that were covered in scars. They were connected together like arge centipede. They were all squeezed into the gap as they tried their best to enter the room.

    ¡°The door and the windows are all blocked! This is the end! This is the end!¡± Xiao Sun threw himself into motion at the most crucial moment. He moved everything that he could grab to block the door. ¡°Why don¡¯t the two of you think of something to do?¡±

    He moved all the furniture within reach to block the door. Xiao Sun tried his best, but at the end of the day, he did not have the experience and mental stability that Chen Ge possessed. When he encountered the human heads at close distance, his legs started to shake, and his strength left his body. The rustling noise came again. This time, Xiao Sun clearly saw that the sound originated from the human heads. Their orifices had ck threads that dangled out of them. It was these threads that bound them together, and simrly, they used these threads to crawl on the ceiling and the wall.

    ¡°If the defense cannot be held, I need both you and Wen Qing to go hide in the bedroom. When the monster starts to attack me, the two you will run away from the living room door.¡± Chen Ge wanted to use himself as bait. At the same time, he wanted to use this opportunity to ascertain something.

    ¡°No!¡± Wen Qing and Xiao Sun said at the same time. Neither was willing to abandon Chen Ge and run away on their own.

    ¡°Just follow my instructions, or we are all going to die!¡± Just as Chen Ge said that, the closet that blocked the door was toppled over, and the ck iron door was cracked open!

    ¡°Get out of the way!¡± Wen Qing and Xiao Sun retreated to the side. The monster that was made from multiple human heads crawled into the room and wiggled on the ceiling.

    ¡°Go! Now!¡± ck fog rolled into the living room. The way out was revealed to them. Neither Wen Qing nor Xiao Sun moved. But the next moment, Wen Qing was dragged along. The invisible force practically pulled Wen Qing out into the corridor.

    ¡°Xiao Sun, look after her! I cannot run anymore! Do not let me die for no reason!¡± Chen Ge shouted at the top of his lungs. He was trying to pull the monster¡¯s attention to himself. Xiao Sun very desperately wanted to stay to help Chen Ge, but when he saw the monster in person, his legs became wet noodles. Just the sight of the thing caused him to lose his breath. He teetered backward, and his instinct pushed him away from the monster.

    ¡°Go! What are you waiting for!¡±

    After Xiao Sun and Wen Qing left, Chen Ge sighed in relief. He sat up on the edge of the bed as he lifted his head to look up at the strange monster. But his lips were saying things that werepletely unrted to the monster.

    ¡°After Wen Qing left, the power that the red high heels fear has disappeared. The invisible child that no one can see, is it the ghost fetus or Xiang Nuan? Or have theybined into one? Can they not be separated from one another before the ghost fetus finds a new body?¡±

 Chapter 1101 - There Is Someone Else in My Shadow 2 in 1

    <h4>1101 There Is Someone Else in My Shadow 2 in 1</h4>

    Sitting by the bedside, Chen Ge leaned against the wall for support. His one arm was inside his backpack as he lifted his head to study the monster that was crawling on the ceiling. There was no fear in his eyes. If anything, there was more than a trace of befuddlement. This was something the monster had not experienced before. The two looked at each other like that quite for some time, and neither of them was quick to make any move lest they were caught in a trap.

    ¡°Wen Qing has been rescued again by that invisible child. Assuming that child is the ghost fetus, why would he care about Wen Qing¡¯s safety at every moment? Based on what I know of him, he is not the kind of person who would do any sacrifice for another person¡¯s mother. After all, in the worlds of the other children, he never once offered aid to rescue the family members of the other chosen children.¡± Chen Ge gave it some more thought. The most logical exnation was that Xiang Nuan had joined himself with the ghost fetus. Or rather, Xiang Nuan did not exist at all in this world, and Xiang Nuan was the ghost fetus from the very beginning.

    The rustling sound kepting from above him. The monster made up from multiple human heads crawled on the ceiling. ck threads that gave off a horrible smell dangled out from the many orifices of the many heads. The monster was much more careful than Chen Ge expected. Many pairs of vicious and heartless eyes stared at Chen Ge. It hesitated for a long time before it started to approach this prey before it that was quite unusual. Chen Ge was nothing like the other human beings that it had encountered before.

    The stench enveloped Chen Ge. The human heads were inching closer and closer. This scene was enough to scare any grown man until they fainted, but for Chen Ge, it caused his brows to crease slightly.

    The monsters from the ck fog and red city appear to be quite different in nature. They give me apletely different feeling.

    The confusion in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes gradually dissipated. He was like a biologist in real life, studying a species facing extinction that he had not seen before at a close distance.

    Most of the monsters in the red city are covered in blood. The baleful Specters, Half Red Specters, and Red Specters had their power determined based on the amount of blood they have and the level of resentment they carry with them, but it¡¯s different with the monsters from the ck fog. Their ability does not seem to corrte to the amount of blood they have on their body. They give off a deep sense of hatred and the urge to destroy.

    The essence of a Specter is a lingering obsession. When faced with a Specter, I rarely feel the emotion of disgust. In fact, sometimes, I feel pity for them. But these monsters from the ck fog elicit the disgust from my heart. It appears like the chance for me to recruit these creature as my haunted house employees is close to zero.

    His mind working on overtime, Chen Ge looked at the monster before him. He finally uttered the thought that he was thinking. ¡°I cannot give up on any ¡®person¡¯ so easily. When all my employees wake up, I should try to capture a few of the monsters from the ck fog alive and bring them home with me to see if I can help them correct their irregr and incorrect life view.¡±

    Chen Ge himself knew how difficult the challenge he had undertaken was, but he still wanted to give it a try. Perhaps he was being na?ve, thinking everyone could be rescued.

    The monsters from the ck fogcked humanity, but that did not mean that theycked the faculty of thought. These monsters were incredibly cunning. The human heads on the ceiling probed again and again before finally confirming Chen Ge pose no threat to it. The feeling of being tricked angered it greatly. All the human heads that made up its body opened their mouths at the same time. To be honest, what before Chen Ge was rather scary. More than ten human heads were twisting inches away from Chen Ge¡¯s own face. Many ck threads dangled down from the monster¡¯s body. They wanted to use the threads to pierce through Chen Ge¡¯s body and then bind around Chen Ge like a giant snake.

    Just the thought of this image would make one feel ufortable. If a man was bound by a giant anaconda, he would at most suffocate to death, but if he was bound by this monster, the human faces on the monster¡¯s body wouldtch onto his body, and the ghastly mouths would start to gnaw on his flesh and bones.

    They cannot bemunicated with, and theyck any sense of empathy. There are only sin and destruction in their eyes. Why would such a creature even have the need to exist in this world? What is the purpose of their existence?

    Chen Ge looked at the human faces that were almost touching his face. His hand that had been ced inside the backpack finally reached out. In his pam was a red, high-heeled shoe that was covered in fresh blood. He extended the heel before the monster¡¯s face. Before the monster could react, Chen Ge moved his arm and stabbed the sharp end of the heel right into the monster¡¯s face.

    This thing is quite sharp.

    This was the first time that the human head monster had been attacked by such a weapon. The thin strands of ck threads that hade out of its mouths rushed at Chen Ge like a bunch of piranhas who had found their living prey. But just as they were about to reach Chen Ge¡¯s body, the red high heel that was stuck into the monster¡¯s face started to have many strange patterns appear on its surface. Every pattern represented a pleading soul begging for mercy. Upon closer inspection, one would realize that each of the patterns was twisted from living human faces, and they were harboring their deepest curse and darkest despair. The ck pattern spread on the human head monster. In less than a second, it had enveloped and captured the giant monster like a web.

    It does not appear that a Specter can directly consume the monsters from the fog. It is more difficult than usual for them to even kill them.

    The red high heels had not fully eliminated the restriction of the rules ced on her by the world behind the door. She could not leave her item of possession and appear in person. Therefore, Chen Ge had to resort to this method to deal with the monster from the ck fog. He dared to do this because when his palm first touched the red high heels, the shoes¡¯ blood vessels and curses voluntarily entered his body to help him search for the reason behind his continuous weakening of strength.

    At the time, he knew that even though the red high heels still was not able to leave the item of her possession, she could use part of her ability already. The human head monster was twisting like a giant centipede on the ground of the living room. Looking at the torture it was in, Chen Ge took out the other red high heel from his backpack and stuck the heel steadily and firmly into the monster¡¯s neck.

    Even though the red high heels could only use part of her power, but she is the presence among my employees that is closest to bing a Top Red Specter. Howe she has such difficulty killing a mere human head monster? It¡¯s taking her so long to deal with just one of them.

    Chen Ge did not mean that as an underestimation of the red high heels¡¯ power. He merely thought that the monsters from the ck fog were surprisingly resilient and hard to deal with. After all, the human head monster could only be considered a more normal monster among the ranks of the creatures in the ck fog. He had seen much bigger shadows moving through the fog earlier.

    The ck patterns that covered the human head monster¡¯s body gradually tightened and closed upon itself. It took a full ten minutes before the human head monster was killed. Its body crumbled. Many onyx-colored threads came out from its broken head and morphed into ck smoke. They returned to be a part of the ck fog again.

    Picking up the red high heels, Chen Ge studied the patterns on the surface that were getting clearer. He knew that the red high heels were about to break through the barrier soon.

    After the body of the human head monster copsed, the ck fog in the room turned thicker. If anything, it gave off the feeling that it had not died but merely changed into a different form to continue its life. Using his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge found some ck bits where the human head monster¡¯s body used to be. They looked like ash that would be left behind after some banknotes were burnt.

    ¡°What are these?¡± Chen Ge found a thermos in one of the rooms and filled the ck bits inside it. He had no idea what these things would be good for. He nned to bring them back with him to study. Perhaps he would be able to find out more secrets about the ck fog from them.

    Moving his body, Chen Ge noticed that even though his limbs were incredibly cold and his body temperature was low, the fatigue that rose from the bottom of his soul had decreased significantly.

    After the invisible child took Wen Qing away, my physical energy gradually returned. Looks like the weakening of my body has something to do with him after all.

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were calm. When he entered the world of the other children, none of the children were willing to help the ghost fetus. They were hostile toward the ghost fetus, and in the end, they would end up bing an aid to Chen Ge.

    It waspletely different in the world behind Xiang Nuan¡¯s door. Ever since he entered the door, Xiang Nuan appeared to have sided with the ghost fetus from the very beginning. In the real world, Xiang Nuan was a child who refused tomunicate with the world. No one knew what the real Xiang Nuan was like. Even his own mother did not know him well enough.

    Before any of my employees woke up, I was following Wen Qing because Wen Qing is being protected by the ghost fetus. Through her, I got some protection and evaded some of the danger that would havee my way. But now that my employees are almost waking up, there is no reason for me to stick with them.

    Chen Ge, without the aid of his employees, was not much stronger than a normal human being, but once he gained the aid of his workers, the situation would bepletely different.

    The workers¡¯ power is my power. I am still the same self, but the power that I possess will keep on increasing. That should be my only advantage.

    The power at the haunted house kept improving, but the corruption of power never went to his head. Chen Ge kept his sanity intact, and his soul was shining with the brilliance of humanity. That was what separated him from his adversaries.

    The cursed hospital was much stronger than him, but to achieve their own goal, their humanity had beenpletely twisted. Their patients had almost be synonymous with the term ¡®monster¡¯.

    Doctor Gao was smarter than Chen Ge, and he had seen the maximum potential of humanity a long time ago. To achieve his own goal, from when he was still alive to until he died, not only had he abandoned his own humanity, he had even given up on the right of being a human.

    Chen Ge¡¯s power was gradually increasing, but the path that he had taken waspletely different from everyone else. The road that he had chosen was very dangerous. He had practically handed his life over to the Specters. Just how much confidence in his workers did he need to be able to make a choice such as this? He tried to shove the red high heels into his pocket, but he tried for a long time and failed to do so because the pocket was too small for the heels. In the end, he had no choice but to ce the red high heels back into his backpack.

    The Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer is just a disguise. The real damaging weapon is the red high heels. I doubt anyone would expect me to wield a pair of woman¡¯s heels as my actual weapon.

    Dragging the hammer along, Chen Ge took another brief rest in the room. It was not until the building was mmed into again and the quiver became more intense that he decided to leave.

    The cursed hospital obviously came prepared. In fact, I bet that they made better preparations than me. This will be a horrible tragedy for the ghost fetus.

    The hospital had a clear goal from the very beginning. At Jin Hwa Apartments Block A, when they discovered Chen Ge stirring the pot, they left without hesitation to avoid having a direct conflict with Chen Ge. Between the ghost fetus and Chen Ge, they had chosen to deal with the ghost fetus. Apparently, that was because they had been preparing for this day for a very long time.

    Chen Ge¡¯s physical energy was slowly recovering, and the color of blood on theic was deepening. When he yed the recorder, he could hear a slight static sound. The employees were waking up one after another. The good news was flowing in. Chen Ge¡¯s expression was slowly returning to normal.

    Zhang Ya is a Demon God. The cursed hospital probably has a Demon God or at least something close to the power of a Demon God among them. The ghost fetus wanted to suppress both of them with the rules of the world behind its own door, but that¡¯s very difficult. He cannot keep this up for much longer.

    With the protection from the red high heels, Chen Ge was no longer that afraid of the ck fog. He slowly moved down the stairs, listening to the sounds that came from outside the building.

    Fight to your heart¡¯s content. We will see who will stand to have thestugh.

    He followed the stairs and finally arrived at the first floor. Before Chen Ge left Jiu Hong Apartments Block 2, he turned back to take in the sight. This building was originally hiding the rag doll¡¯s head. Every door behind this building was filled with the ghost fetus¡¯ memories. Even though it had turned into a monster, it had not forgotten its past. Every time he pushed open a door, he would be greeted by a former version of the ghost fetus.

    Even the ghost fetus has held on so strongly to its past, but why would I have forgotten about such important things from my childhood? Is it because someone does not want me to remember anything from that period?

    Standing at the entrance, Chen Ge did not hurry to leave. The world outside the building hadpletely changed. ck fog shrouded everything, but there were bursts of red amid the fog. The whole world behind the door was like an abstract painting of a nightmare. The ck and red were mixed together, twisting every ¡®person¡¯ that resided behind the door.

    Before this world goes fully out of control, the ghost fetus will definitely send Wen Qing to a secure location. After Wen Qing¡¯s safety is ensured, the biggest possibility is that he wille back to find me.

    Chen Ge stood in the ghost fetus¡¯ shoes and tried to analyze the situation.

    Now is the most crucial moment for its birth. No matter how loud the interruption, he will focus on the rebirth as his most important goal.

    Until now Chen Ge had no idea what form of rebirth the ghost fetus would make, but he had a feeling that the ghost fetus would return to find him because his own body was the best choice for the ghost fetus.

    I do not need to have a direct conflict with the ghost fetus. I should try to buy as much time as I can.

    For Chen Ge, the interior of the apartment buildings that were the territory of the ghost fetus was no safer than the ck fog. His employees were slowly awakening, and the red high heels could already use part of her power. He had enough to ensure his own safety. He could hide safely inside the ck fog that was beyond the ghost fetus¡¯ control until all his employees broke through the limitation of this world.

    If the child did not choose to rescue Wen Qing, it would most likely have taken over arge portion of my body by now.

    There were some truths in the world that could not be refused. One of them was that the child cared deeply about Wen Qing. Based on what Wen Qing had told Chen Ge, Xiang Nuan had never uttered a full sentence to her before. He had not even called her mom once. But from the child¡¯s various actions when they were stuck behind the door, Wen Qing upied a position in his heart that could not be reced by anyone else.

    Walking alone in the ck fog, Chen Ge carried the backpack, dragging with hammer with one hand and carrying the red high heels with another as he silently worked his way to the small garden at the residential area. Finding a hiding space, Chen Ge looked around him. The ce looked like a scene from an apocalypse.

    The buildings were teetering, and giant shadows crawled on the surface of the buildings. The ground was shaking, and the world mixed with red and ck had echoes of screamsing from everywhere. Chen Ge waspletely enraptured by his surroundings when he felt a pinprick of pain from his palm. He turned to look, and he saw the red high heels bleeding.

    ¡°Someone ising?¡± Chen Ge seemed to feel something. He whipped his body around, and his eyes zeroed in on a point. There was a child standing behind him. He was standing right on top of his shadow like he was used to that position.

    ¡°Found you.¡±

    The boy had his head lowered, so his face was shaded from view, but from the voice and the tone, it sounded very simr to Xiang Nuan. Chen Ge took one involuntarily step back. As he did so, the boy took one step forward.

    The distance between them remained unchanged like a man and his shadow. No matter how he tried, the man was unable to shake his shadow off. Seeing that this was unavoidable, Chen Ge stopped wasting time. His eyes were calm as if he knew that this would eventually happen sooner orter. But the expression on his face was ratherplicated. ¡°It was you who voluntarily escaped, so why did youe back to find me?¡±

    The boy did not speak. He kept his head lowered as if staring right into Chen Ge¡¯s shadow.

    ¡°Get out of my way. From the moment you escaped, there was no connection binding us together.¡±

 Chapter 1102 - Me and My Employees

    <h4>1102 Me and My Employees</h4>

    The boy stood on top of Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. No matter where Chen Ge moved, he would follow, just like his shadow. With his head lowered, the boy kept his eyes on Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. After the ¡®found you¡¯, he had not opened his lips to say anything else.

    The endless ck fog was like a sea of despair; the broken building in the memory became a lonely ind in the ghost fetus¡¯ heart. He stood before the twisting buildings, under the ck and red sky, inside Chen Ge¡¯s shadow, and following quietly behind him. That was how things were many years ago. He saw how Chen Ge had everything, everything that he wished to possess for himself. He wanted to be a butterfly, but ultimately, he was just a shadow. The desire was slowly twisted. He did not stay there and wait, slowly waving his hands and trying his best to chase after the butterfly that was fluttering in his heart instead.

    He had no idea why he would do something like that. He did not even know what would happen the day he caught up to the butterfly, but he knew to keep on running after it. Finally, at this moment, ten yearster, inside the door, he had caught that butterfly.

    The lowered head slowly rose, and the boy looked up at Chen Ge. Their eyes met in the nightmare, and it felt like they had crossed the limitation of time. Chen Ge saw himself from ten years ago, and the ghost fetus saw a demon that he could no longer recognize. In this world filled with despair and pain, only one¡¯s heart would be the receptacle for light. But if one¡¯s heart was devoid of light, everything that one saw would be ghosts and Specters.

    ¡°Did you leave at this age?¡± Chen Ge had seen part of the ghost fetus¡¯ memories in Fang Yu¡¯s world, but the boy before him waspletely different from the ghost fetus in Fang Yu¡¯s world. In the worlds behind the doors of the other candidates, the ghost fetus appeared in the form of a baby, but the boy before him had the same face as the childhood Chen Ge. The facial features were rather undefined, but one could tell that this was Chen Ge.

    ¡°You...¡± Chen Ge had many things that he wanted to say, questions he wanted to ask. He had imagined this encounter with the ghost fetus many times in his mind and rehearsed many different statements, but when he was really standing before the child, the things that he had prepared were stuck in his throat.

    A monster that had ruined multiple families; a monster without humanity; a soul twisted and cruel like the demon; a child who was abandoned, tricked, harmed, and made insane.

    Chen Ge did not know how to judge the ghost fetus. He would not pity him, he would not help him, but he merely did not wish to lie to the ghost fetus anymore. Even if one of them would die the next second, he would not deal with the ghost fetus like he would other enemies, using many things to deceit and trick him. The ghost fetus gave Chen Ge a strange feeling, like he was looking at mirror, but the reflection inside the mirror was trying toe up with ways to kill him.

    ¡°Do not stand on my shadow anymore. That is no longer a spot reserved for you.¡±

    No matter what Chen Ge said, the ghost fetus showed no sign of speaking. He kept staring at Chen Ge¡¯s face, the picture of a ghastly demon reflecting in his pupils. His body leaned slowly forward, giving the impression of one¡¯s shadow standing up and trying to crawl into Chen Ge¡¯s body. Just as the ghost fetus was about to touch Chen Ge, a wall of blood vessels blocked his way. A heavy stench of blood radiated out from Chen Ge¡¯s body.

    Drip drop, drip drop...

    The blood dripped. The ghost fetus moved his gaze away from Chen Ge¡¯s face and turned to look at the red high heels in his hands. He slowly raised his arm, and the ghost fetus¡¯ fingertip touched theyer of blood vessels. His expression did not change. It was like a child reaching out to touch a spiderweb out of curiosity. The blood vessels were snapped one after another, but at that moment, a giant explosion sounded from one of the buildings!

    Jin Hwa Apartments Block B started to bend. Arge shadow was pressing against the side of it. Who knew what kind of monster it was? After the explosion, the ghost fetus had obviously slowed down. The few buildings appeared to be the foundation of this world and they influenced the ghost fetus¡¯ condition greatly.

    ¡°You voluntarily left me, and I have not tried to harm you. It was the cursed hospital that put you in this state. I have seen your memories. You should hate them the most. They are right there now. Are you sure you still want to waste time with me?¡±

    Chen Ge could see that the ghost fetus needed his body, so the child did not go for the jugr. As one of the nine children, the ghost fetus could not kill Chen Ge that easily. This, he had discerned from the way he treated the other candidates.

    As long as the child had some power taken away by the ghost fetus, even though they would be seriously injured in terms of soul and mind, their lives had never been threatened. It appeared like the ghost fetus needed to fulfil certain criteria to obtain a candidate¡¯s power. Only that would exin why the ghost fetus did not kill Chen Ge directly after he entered his body but chose to slowly take over his body from the shadow.

    ¡°You do not have a chance now.¡±

    After thatst explosion, the surface of the other buildings started to crack as well. The chains that bound this world had loosened. The ground shook, and the buildings teetered, but the ghost fetus only had his eyes on Chen Ge. His hand was reaching through theyers of blood vessels. No one knew why he was doing this. He appeared to not only want to take control of Chen Ge¡¯s body but also appeared to grab the version of himself that he had been wishing for.

    As the ghost fetus¡¯ hand slowly approached, the smell of blood around Chen Ge intensified. Just as the ghost fetus¡¯ hand was about to touch Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, a slender hand wrapped in bandages appeared to grab the ghost fetus¡¯ wrist. A bright shade of red appeared in the thick ck fog!

    The red high heels had broken through the world¡¯s limitation!

    Her appearance had shifted slightly from before. Part of the bandages had slid off her body, and the exposed skin was branded with dark ck tattoo-like patterns. The patterns were mysterious, eerie, and scary. Just being in close distance of them would make one feel suffocated.

    The ghost fetus paused but just for a moment. His sharp nails soon continued to reach toward Chen Ge. The sound of a book flipping entered both Chen Ge and the ghost fetus¡¯ ears. Before they could react, a blood wave rushed out from Chen Ge¡¯s backpack and knocked back the ck fog around them. A blood mist had settled.

    Pairs of arms reached out from the mist, and they grabbed at the ghost fetus from different angles. The sharp nails stopped before Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, but they were unable to move one inch further.

    ¡°I know you are using the greater part of your power to deal with the hospital and the monsters in the ck fog. You believe that I am the weakest, or perhaps you think I was just lucky to have survived so far.¡±

    Chen Ge took another step backward. The ghost fetus¡¯ body was held in ce by the gauntlet of hands and was thus unable to follow Chen Ge anymore.

 Chapter 1103 - Killing the Past 3 in 1

    <h4>1103 Killing the Past 3 in 1</h4>

    Even though he was held down by multiple hands, the ghost fetus still wanted to get close to Chen Ge. The expression on his face slowly changed. Cracks started appeared in his pupils, which looked perfectly normal. ck threads that carried misfortune leaked out of the boy¡¯s eyes like tears. They squirreled their way toward the hands that held him back. Chen Ge¡¯s employees had blocked the ghost fetus¡¯ path, but thetter did not really stop to try to understand why. His shattered pupils remained still on Chen Ge, and he was ready to kill every human and every Specter who dared stand in his way.

    The cursed threads wanted to crawl into the employees¡¯ bodies, but when they approached the employees, they were bounced back by an invisible force. The curse was unable to take effect. The ghost fetus once again turned to look at the red high heels that were covered in bandages. He sensed a curse of the same origin from the red high heels. The reason the ghost fetus had this kind of feeling was not only because the red high heels had consumed the curse that the ghost fetus had left behind the other doors. It appeared like the reason the red high heels was in her current state had everything to do with that cursed hospital.

    The essence of the curse was pain. Using it meant paying a sacrifice. The cause was linked to the consequence. Whenever the curse was used, both parties would be seriously affected by it. The ghost fetus carried multiple sins, but the sacrifice that he had given up for the usage of the curse was perhaps his whole life that had been twisted by despair. But the boy was on a path of no return. Even if he knew that he would sink deeper into the abyss of despair, he would still continue to spread the curse.

    Chen Ge still did not know that much about the red high heels¡¯ past, but there was one thing that he was very clear about. The ¡®people¡¯ who were familiar with curses were normally apanied by misfortune. If possible, Chen Ge did not wish for the red high heels to continue using her power anymore. The fight between two Specters who were armed with curses was something extremely scary. The way that they decided who would survive was different from a fight between normal Red Specters.

    The fight appeared calm and uneventful on the surface, but the actual battle was happening at ces that he would not be able to see. Every single one of the ck threads that came out from their bodies carried the most vicious and venomous of curses. Once the thread crawled into one¡¯s body, if one did not clear them away in time, the consequences would be unfathomably bad.

    Chen Ge also knew about the danger of the curse. Compared to the ghost fetus, he was more worried about his employees¡¯ safety. ¡°Work together! Take him down together! Do not hesitate! We must try to kill him now while we still have the chance!¡±

    Determined and direct, there was nopromise and pity in the world behind the door. In this ce, it was either the ghost fetus¡¯ demise or theirs. Any kindness toward the enemy would be cruelty toward himself.

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s order, the red high heels blocked all the curses. The other few Red Specters held the ghost fetus¡¯ body in ce, and they prepared for Xiao Bu to deliver the final blow. The employees appeared to havemunicated among themselves when they were inside theic. The Red Specters were very familiar with each other¡¯s abilities. They knew that Xiao Bu, who appeared the softest and weakest, was actually the most dangerous Red Specter among all of them.

    The red wave washed away the blood fog. Xiao Bu used her own special power for the first time before Chen Ge. The red dress that she was wearing melted together with the blood wave that sshed around her. The gray and ck ground was dyed red. Buildings that were constructed fully out of blood vessels crawled up from the ground like giant arms that tried to reach toward the sky.

    Li Wan City!

    Xiao Bu appeared to be stepping on the entire Li Wan City, and the city forced itself through the ck fog, tearing out a piece of red amid the world of ckness. The harrowing wails of endless souls rushed out from the blood wave and bit at the ghost fetus, who was unable to move. Even the buildings started to copse on top of the ghost fetus¡¯ body. The blood vessels pulled taut on the ghost fetus¡¯ skin. Xiao Bu intended to use the whole Li Wan City to bury him alive.

    The other employees at the haunted house worked wlessly together. They each found a spot that was left untouched by the crumbling buildings and started to focus their individual attacks. The ghost fetus¡¯ body instantly turned dim and twisted. Scars appeared. Before the previous one could heal, more and more scars appeared on the scabs. The cracks in the ghost fetus¡¯ eyes had spread to his entire body. He knew that there were many ghosts and Specters hiding inside Chen Ge, but he did not expect them to be so powerful.

    The pupils that were about to shatter looked directly at Chen Ge through the endless crowd of baleful Specters and Red Specters. The ghost fetus¡¯ expression still had not changed much. His body was slowly being ground down until he was buried under the Li Wan City that was beneath Xiao Bu¡¯s feet.

    ¡°Is it all over now? Has the boy been torn beyond repair?¡± The boy who stood on Chen Ge¡¯s shadow earlier hadpletely disappeared, but Chen Ge felt no joy at all. The ghost fetus¡¯ reaction was too out of ce. He did not put up much resistance. In fact, it could be said that he was taking all the damage head on. ¡°Something¡¯s not right.¡±

    The red Li Wan City under Xiao Bu¡¯s feet was a heavy contrast to the ck fog that surrounded them. The strange shadows among the ck fog were soon attracted by the red and started to head their way.

    ¡°Xiao Bu!¡± Chen Ge had Xiao Bu pull back the blood wave. As the blood disappeared, the monsters inside the ck fog also gradually lost interest. When the redpletely disappeared, Chen Ge saw a small shadow walk out from one of the buildings that was not far away. His brows started to crease. The shadow was wavering in the ckness of the fog. The distance between him and Chen Ge was slowly closing. Even with the aid of his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could not capture his real appearance.

    Several secondster, endless blood vessels suddenly enveloped Chen Ge. His employees were all ready for a big battle. They stared behind Chen Ge. Chen Ge had already sensed that something like this would happen. He turned back to look, and the boy who looked just like him when he was younger had reappeared, and he was standing atop his shadow just like before.

    ¡°Another one? Can he not be killed?¡± Chen Ge appeared to see the young version of himself in the ghost fetus. He saw the child who could not be killed no matter what. ¡°No, these boys are probably not the ghost fetus¡¯ real persona. It is not that he cannot be killed; it is just that I have not found the real him.¡±

    The boy behind Chen Ge wanted to grab him. His shattered pupils kept staring at Chen Ge¡¯s face. The fact that he had been killed earlier did not seem to have left any impression on the body. What happened earlier repeated itself. The ghost fetus was stopped by the employees so that he was unable to get close to Chen Ge. Chen Ge did not dare stay too far away from his employees, and thus, they entered into a stalemate.

    ¡°It is not untrue that the ghost fetus wants to take over my physical body, but I have a feeling there is a bigger conspiracy at work here. He seems to be purposely buying time. The ghost fetus did say that the ghost fetus will be born tonight, but it did not specify how it would be born. Now I only know that his birth will definitely be rted to me, and if I do not stop him, I will be one hundred percent dead.¡±

    The threat of certain death made it so that Chen Ge had to be extra careful. Even if his employees had broken through the barrier of the world behind the door, he had to be careful at every single moment. This door was different from every other door that he had entered before. All his experience from the other doors would not prove much use to him there.

    ¡°Looks like I will have to go and find the cursed hospital and see how they are doing at the moment.¡±

    Chen Ge chose to voluntarily interact with the cursed hospital, but he would definitely keep a safe distance away from them. After all, they both knew that neither party could wait for the other to die.

    ¡°After killing this ghost fetus, other children mighte out from the other buildings. I might as well bring him with me to find the people from the cursed hospital.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s original n was to reap the rewards while the ghost fetus fought with the people from the cursed hospital, but with the ghost fetus tailing him so closely, he was not given the chance to do that at all. ¡°If you wish to follow, then so be it. Come along now.¡±

    The boy wanted to get close to Chen Ge, but he was stopped every time by Chen Ge¡¯s employees. They put their lives on the line to keep the ghost fetus at bay. The conflict between the ck curse and the red blood caused quite a stir. It had attracted the attention of the some of the monsters inside the ck fog. Perhaps this was one of the ghost fetus¡¯ ns. He wanted to make use of Chen Ge to distract part of the pressure that came from the ck fog and use Chen Ge to help him clear away some of the monsters inside the ck fog.

    To prevent that from happening, Chen Ge had his employees limit the range of their fight. He wanted them to keep the fight as contained as possible. Chen Ge¡¯s side had bepletely hostile toward the ghost fetus. The ghost fetus was familiar with the abilities of Chen Ge¡¯s employees, and Chen Ge also realized how unoptimistic the ghost fetus¡¯ current situation was. Before his birth, he did not have the power to handle the whole situation.

    The world behind the door had sunk intoplete chaos. The numerablerge shadows in the ck fog were attacking the bigger buildings. All the buildings inside the residential area were seriously shattered. Among them, the most damaged one was Jin Hwa Apartments Block B. Most of the sound came from there as well. It should mean that the people from the cursed hospital were around that building. With his employees leading the way, the ck fog was unable to get close to Chen Ge. He was protected in the middle of a veil of red mist. He studied the monsters that flickered in and out of the shadows through the fog.

    As intense as this moment was, Chen Ge had a feeling that he was taking a stroll through the zoo. The monsters from the ck fog werepletely different from the monsters that resided in the red world. They looked scarier and more absurd. A normal person probably would not have dreamed about them even in their strangest nightmare.

    ¡°If the ghost fetus was not following me, I would have been able to catch some monsters to conduct some experiments. But it does not matter. Even if I cannot bring these monsters out with him, I have now gained some understanding of their features and personalities. In the future, perhaps I can build them with my own two hands. A manmade nightmare might not be less authentic than a real nightmare.¡±

    After the employees showed up, Chen Ge¡¯ nerves that had been pulled taut rxed slightly. He turned back to look at the ghost fetus. The boy was like a shadow. He had been following Chen Ge, like a stubborn fly that refused to be chased away.

    As Chen Ge moved toward Jin Hwa Apartments Block B, the ghost fetus did try to resist violently a few times, but he was brought down by the employees every time. He failed to harm Chen Ge, but that did help Chen Ge confirm his suspicion. The ghost fetus did not wish for Chen Ge to go there. Perhaps he was worried that Chen Ge might work together with the people from the cursed hospital. The sound of fighting became clearer in his ears. The color of blood also became more obvious in the ck fog. When Chen Ge arrived, he too was shocked by the scene that he was greeted with.

    There was a man who had no face that stood at the entrance to Jin Hwa Apartment¡¯s Block B. His whole face only had a ghastly scar that cut through it vertically, giving it the look of the number ¡®1¡¯. He was wearing a coat that looked like a doctor¡¯s coat. It was not a normal doctor¡¯s coat, however, because not only was it dyedpletely red, the coat was also sewn together by many human faces. Upon closer inspection, each of the human faces was still moving and talking.

    What is that thing? It does not appear to be a Specter, but nor does it look like a living human.

    Chen Ge realized that the presence given off by the man waspletely different from a normal Red Specter. It was very hard to describe, but there was one thing that was certain. The presence was extremely powerful. Even Xiao Bu and the red high heels did not wish to get too close to him if necessary. The man with the doctor¡¯s coat also noticed Chen Ge¡¯s arrival. He turned his body. The nted scar on his face somehow felt like it was ¡®looking¡¯ at Chen Ge as more blood gushed out from it.

    ¡°Chen... Ge!¡± A voice instantly exploded in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. He took several steps back. It was not until he realized that the ghost fetus was just right behind him that Chen Ge quickly stopped himself. At that moment, Chen Ge¡¯s heart was rolling with giant waves. He did not expect the monster that he had not encountered before to be able to say his name so clearly the first time they met.

    Is this monster the doctor that once treated me?

    The scenario of the nightmare mission at Jiang Yuan Apartments entered his mind. The voice in Chen Ge¡¯s memory was different from this monster¡¯s voice. There was nothing simr about them at all.

    Other than the doctor that first treated me, are there other doctors that are familiar with me from the cursed hospital?

    The man was able to call him out by his name at first nce, and there was an almost sadistic and twisted hatred in the voice. This proved that their rtionship did not stop at a surface level of recognition. They were definitely more than mere acquaintances. Perhaps the doctor that was missing his face turned into his current state because of Chen Ge or something to do with Chen Ge.

    Howe it feels like no one wants to see me at all? Everyone has some reason to hate me, even though I have done technically nothing!

    Although Chen Ge did not n to work with the people from the cursed hospital to begin with, the attitude of this strange doctor only confirmed his decision further. If not for the heavy pressure given by the ghost fetus, perhaps the two of them would have been locked in a deathmatch already.

    The faceless doctor had probably broken through the barrier of the world behind the door earlier than the red high heels, but he was not in a good condition. His body was pierced through by many threads of thin ck lines. With every movement of his body, ck blood would squirt out from the holes. The long and slow torture caused the scar on his face to contort in a horrible grimace. Every face on his coat was screaming. Some of them were in extreme pain, and others were biting on the doctor¡¯s physical body.

    The doctor can¡¯t be a living human, can he?

    The more Chen Ge looked at this, the more horrified he felt. With his Yin Yang Vision, he could still differentiate between a Specter and a living person. The monster doctor before him was a creature of flesh and doctor. His physical feature was also simr to a normal person.

    Is the thing that is giving off the horrible presence not the man But his coat?

    A Red Specter was called a Red Specter because they were surrounded by an air of resentment. Hatred and despair morphed into soluble blood that made up their bodies. But the Red Specter on the faceless doctor was different from any of the Red Specters that Chen Ge had encountered. Even though it was red, it was made up from many different human faces. It was incredibly scary. Its strange appearance did remind Chen Ge of how Zhang Ya looked like when she morphed into a Demon God. When he was at the School of the Afterlife, many ghost shadows appeared on Zhang Ya¡¯s bloody dress. They were all the Red Specters that she had consumed before.

    Could the faceless doctor be an object of possession? The real final trump card that the cursed hospital has is the ¡®Demon God¡¯ that is actually hiding inside the red doctor¡¯s coat that¡¯s made up of human faces?

    When a normal person saw the faceless doctor, they would be scared witless by his appearance. They would spend time further contemting the existence of this thing.

    But Chen Ge was different. He had literally spent his every living moment with Zhang Ya, so he knew some secrets about Demon Gods and Top Red Specters.

    When the faceless doctor dies, it is probably the moment the Demon God on him will appear.

    Currently, the faceless doctor was punctured by many cursed threads, and the human faces on the coat were consuming his flesh, but the man appeared like he could still hold on for quite some time. The monster appeared to experience this kind of pain and torture often. His pain threshold and curse resistance were extremely high.

    It is hard to imagine that such a monster who literally has his face wiped away is still a living person. The voice that filled up my brain earlier was filled with resentment. Could it be because I am somehow rted to the reason he is in his current state? Perhaps this doctor encountered me in Jiujiang a long time ago, but he failed toplete that mission that was bequeathed upon to him by the cursed hospital, and he was given some sort of punishment because of it.

    Chen Ge had no impression of these things at all. To be fair, he was feeling quite out of sorts about the whole arrangement as well.

    The younger version of myself could not be killed no matter what, but if no one had tried to kill, how did they even find out that version of myself is unkible? They must have attempted many different methods to kill me. To be able to be heartless enough to do that to a child, these people can barely be called human.

    A loud noise came out from the interior of Jin Hwa Apartments¡¯ Block B. While the faceless doctor was distracted by Chen Ge, the few faces on his coat that were closer to his chest were instantly torn apart by some kind of force. The scream of pain echoed in the ck fog. It was also then that Chen Ge discovered there was another monster residing at Jin Hwa Apartments Block B.

    It was a rag doll with only four limbs and one head. Its legs were stuffed with trash and bones, its arms were both filled with the dried bodies of small birds, and the head was fitted with cotton that was dyed red with blood and ckened meat. It had two eyes. One of them was a ck button that was sewn onto the face, and the other was an eyeball that was bloodshot. The rag doll appeared to have not found its body yet. Numerous cursed threads bound its four limbs and head together. The monster guarded the entrance to Jin Hwa Apartments Block B. What the rag doll and the faceless doctor were fighting over was the specimen of a heart that was punctured with nails.

    The way the people from the cursed hospital treated the candidates chosen by the ghost fetus was different from Chen Ge. They had murdered Nie Xin in cold blood and taken the ghost fetus¡¯ power that was rted to its ¡®heart¡¯ for themselves. Unfortunately, they had brought that same power into this door, so the ghost fetus wasing back to im its power for itself. When ghost on the faceless doctor was still limited by the rules of the world behind the door, the ghost fetus had probably stolen the heart. The thing that appeared to be a Demon God on the doctor had exhausted plenty of energy to stop it, but it had still failed to stop the ghost fetus. It only managed to keep the faceless doctor barely alive.

    When the limitation was broken, the faceless doctor and the Demon God on him started to actively search for the ghost fetus. They knew that this moment before the ghost fetus¡¯ birth was the period when he was the weakest. The cursed hospital had probably known of the ghost fetus¡¯ n all along. They had not done anything because they wished to use the least amount of effort to kill the ghost fetus or recapture the ghost fetus.

    Both parties knew of each other¡¯s bottom line. The battle between them might appear to be horrid and ghastly, but Chen Ge had a feeling both parties still had some reservations. They had not given it their all yet.

    The ghost fetus is a Demon God, but he only sent out a broken rag doll in his ce for now. The human face coat is probably a Demon God as well, but the thing is hidden even deeper than the ghost fetus. Lastly, there¡¯s Zhang Ya...

    Chen Ge turned back to look. The boy was standing on his shadow, but Zhang Ya gave no reaction. This waspletely unlike the Zhang Ya that Chen Ge knew.

    ¡°It appears like all three Demon Gods are waiting for something...¡± He was lost in thought when the ground started to shake. All the buildings behind the door started to tremble, and the ck fog around them had thickened least ten times over!

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Chen Ge tilted his face upward to look, and his mouth fell open from surprise. Within the ck fog that enveloped everything like a ck sea, there was a shadow appearing that wasrger than both Jin Hwa Apartments and Jiu Hong Apartmentsbined!

    The suffocating presence made itself known immediately. Everyone present could feel the danger that it represented.

    The faceless doctor and the broken rag doll stopped fighting. Even the boy who had been following behind Chen Ge also lifted his head. At that moment, every person and ghost was looking up at the ck sky.

    No one was speaking. It was not until the giant ck shadow was about to press against the tallest building at Jin Hwa Apartments that the boy behind Chen Ge finally had a change to his expression. He started to smile.

    ¡°The past has finally arrived.¡±

 Chapter 1104 - She Is Stepping on a Blood Red City 2 in 1

    <h4>1104 She Is Stepping on a Blood Red City 2 in 1</h4>

    Ever since the ck shadow showed up, the ghost fetus¡¯ expression had been different. This was the first time he had shown a smile on his face. The corners of his lips were turned up as he looked at the monster that covered up the sky, looking like a child who was waiting for praise from his parents.

    ¡°The past? The monster¡¯s name is the Past?¡± Even though Chen Ge had been paying close attention to the ghost fetus, but the current situation had gotten fully out of his control. All the ns and tricks appeared so harmless and pointless before the ten years of preparation that had gone into the Demon God¡¯s set up. The giant shadow in the sky suppressed all the buildings behind the door. The ground started to crack, and the floor was sinking downward. The other monsters that hid in the shadow dispersed to save themselves. Echoes of harrowing screams filled the air.

    The giant body hidden in the ck fog continued to press down until Chen Ge finally saw it for what it really was. This monster by the name of the Past had a horrifying appearance. It was like a cicada that was about to crawl out from its giant shell. Its body was made up from shredded flesh. It contained various human body parts as well as innumerable abandoned and forgotten memories. The ginormous upper body leaned steadily on the top of the two main buildings from Jin Hwa Apartments. Behind its body, it was dragging a shell that was evenrger than all of Jin Hwa Apartmentsbined.

    The monster appeared to be trying to crawl out from its shell, but how could the Past abandon its shell so easily?

    Its body was running with ck-colored blood. The wounds were like gaping maws, and every monster that was unlucky enough to get too close would be torn open by the mouths and then consumed by them. With each consumption of the monster, its body would grow slightly bigger. It appeared that the monster wanted to use this method to grow big enough to break its shell from the inside, but the shell had joined to its flesh. It had already be part of its body. No matter what it did, it was unable to shake off that heavy and restrictive shell.

    Sinking in the past and unable to move forward, every person and every memory that constructed its body was continuously torturing itself. In the end, it was this curiousbination that created this strange amalgamation of a monster. The shell of the past grew into the flesh, but the surface still maintained the shape of a human. But with a slight movement, the shell would cut the body, and the wounds would bleed out ck blood. The giant monster had overshadowed all the buildings. It had no actual facial features to speak of, but there was a child situated at the middle of its head. The child¡¯s body was bitten by multiple human faces and held in ce by many arms. He was deep inside the monster¡¯s head. He had a face that looked identical to Xiang Nuan¡¯s.

    ¡°Xiang Nuan!¡± A heart-wrenching scream came out of Jin Hwa Apartment¡¯s Block A. Wen Qing¡¯s shout shattered the stunned silence of the night. Everyone present heard her cry and scream, but no one dared respond. The heart-breaking voice was a great contrast to this world that fed on cruelty; it was clear that she did not belong to this ce.

    After the boy who stood behind Chen Ge heard Wen Qing¡¯s voice, the smile on his face disappeared. A trace of emotion that should not have been present crossed his eyes, but he soon returned to normal. When everyone was on high alert, the boy suddenly reached out and rushed toward Chen Ge without warning. His eyes tore open, and ck blood leaked out from all of the boy¡¯s orifices. His body suddenly picked up speed. The speed was at least ten times faster than before. Instantly, he broke through Chen Ge¡¯s employees¡¯ shield. It appeared like he would do anything to grab hold of Chen Ge!

    The boy¡¯s hands touched the blood vessels left behind by the employees. This time, his hand easily passed through theyers of them. The face locked in an ugly grimace rammed past Xiao Bu and the red high heels. He had paid everything just to touch Chen Ge!

    His body was shredded by the sharp blood vessels. His face was torn open, and ck blood dropped to the ground, but one of his arm sessfully breached through the employees¡¯ defense and reached Chen Ge¡¯s face. The fingers that were covered in ck blood started to break out in wounds. The maggot-like curses crawled out of the wounds and slithered toward Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. They wanted to crawl into his eyes.

    ¡°The former me! Look closely! This will be your future body!¡± the boy shouted loudly at the monster in the sky. Xiang Nuan, who was encased deep in the monster¡¯s head, appeared to have a focus in his eyes, which were previously soulless, after he heard the boy¡¯s voice. In the dark pupils, the curse threads wiggled like worms. Xiang Nuan turned to look at where Chen Ge was standing. At the same time, the whole upper body of the giant monster moved as if the monster had set its target on Chen Ge as well.

    Exhausting everything, the boy¡¯s finger that was coated in ck blood finally managed to touch Chen Ge. Just as the sticky liquid was about to make contact with Chen Ge¡¯s eysh, an extremely overpowering presence swept all over Jin Hwa residential area like ashing whirlwind!

    The calm shadow started to boil, and gray soil bubbled with blood. The ck fog around Chen Ge was dispersed as if a Demon God had opened her eyes!

    Not only the monster in the sky, even Chen Ge himself was surprised. Everything had happened too suddenly.

    ¡°Zhang Ya?¡± Turning back, Chen Ge looked at his own shadow. In that bottomless darkness, it appeared to be someone looking gently and softly at him. This was a gaze that had not been felt by Chen Ge before. It was unclear whether it was because Zhang Ya had gained ess to a wider range of emotions after she became a Demon God or this was the aftereffect of the memory that Chen Ge had experienced with her in Yu Jian¡¯s world.

    When Chen Ge was focusing on his own shadow, the faceless doctor who was not far away gave out a startling scream. The development there waspletely different from what was happening to Chen Ge. The coat that he was wearing appeared toe to life and wrapped tightly around him. The human faces started to tear into the faceless doctor¡¯s body like it was a free-for-all feast until all traces of life had dissipated from the doctor¡¯s physical body. His whole body was covered in blood, and the coat that was made of human faces became his newyer of skin.

    Different wounds started to surface on the face that did not have any facial features. The presence that radiated off the faceless doctor was nowpletely different from before. Currently, all the monsters at the residential area were attracted by Zhang Ya and Chen Ge. The faceless doctor made use of this opportunity to make his move. After he showed up, he made the determination to go after the ghost fetus¡¯ heart. The heart specimen that was stuck with nails appeared to be something very important. The Demon God on the faceless doctor had decided to show himself just to take it back as soon as possible. The faceless doctor finally did not hold back. Every face on his body gave off the presence of a Red Specter. With theirbined effect, he pushed through the ck fog easily.

    The broken rag doll was about to regain its heart, so naturally, it would not allow the faceless doctor to do what he wanted, but it was too weak to stop the faceless doctor. They were now onpletely different power levels!

    Seeing as the nailed heart was about to be taken away, the rag doll suddenly had a smile appear on its face. It tore off its left arm voluntarily. This appeared to be some kind of signal. After the left arm was torn off, this world behind the door started to crumble. The buildings teetered, and the ground shook. In the space between Jiu Hong Apartments and Jin Hwa Apartments, a body that was stuffed with trash, cotton, toys, and pictures crawled out from the ground. This appeared to be the body that the rag doll was missing!

    After the body crawled out, it was as if some kind of barrier had been lowered. The ck fog rushed madly into the residential area. The buildings from Jiu Hong Apartments that were situated at the fringe were easily knocked over by this surging wave. The chain effect continued, and the other buildings were shaking precariously. The rag doll¡¯s body appeared to be the foundation of the whole world behind the door. When it had left the ground, it meant that the foundation of this world had been shaken.

    Two legs, the head, the body, and the right arm¡ªthe rag doll appeared to have returned to its most original form in its memory. It had turned back to the poor child who had just escaped to Jiu Hong Apartments and was desperate to use the trash heap to form its own body. The shadow had lived for a long time inside the rag doll¡¯s body, so the rag doll possessed its most painful and despairing memories and experiences. In the world behind the door, both despair and pain represented a great store of power.

    The presence that surrounded the rag doll was no weaker than the faceless doctor¡¯s. It had given up maintaining the stability of this world behind the door. It had taken back most of its body, other than its left arm. The rag doll appeared to purposely ce its left arm back into Jin Hwa Apartments Block A. It had abandoned the whole world, but it would do anything to protect that one building.

    The button that was sewn on the face was twined together by blood vessels. The eyeball that nobody knew where it came from was showing the extreme evil within humanity. The rag doll had suffered all the pain of the shadow, and it had also inherited the most powerful ability of the shadow¡ªthe power to curse.

    The faceless doctor obviously knew the rag doll very well. He did not give the rag doll any chance to make a sound. Before the rag doll¡¯s body had fully crawled out from the ground, he had already made his move. As the Demon God from the cursed hospital, it was no coincidence that he was familiar with dealing with curses. The ck fog was reced by ck threads. All the monsters that were unlucky enough to wander within a hundred meters of their fight would be torn apart for some unknown reason, and each death was more harrowing than the one preceding it. They had such horrible deaths.

    The faceless doctor was locked in a match with the rag doll that had lost its left arm. Chen Ge¡¯s situation was not looking so good either, but one would not be able to tell that from Chen Ge¡¯s expression and mannerisms. As the exterior of the buildings around them started to peel, more and more ¡®people¡¯ started to run out from the buildings. Some of them should be people from Xiang Nuan¡¯s memory, while others had the same face. They looked just like younger versions of Chen Ge.

    These children were like mud dolls that someone had made when they were bored. All of them possessed a small part of the ghost fetus¡¯ memories. Each child carried a different chapter of the ghost fetus¡¯ past. The ghost fetus appeared to have been sharing his pain with others, so he had created so many ¡®Chen Ge¡¯s. But at the same time, this also showed just how much he desperately wanted to be Chen Ge. The deeper the resentment, the harder it would be to turn back. The tragedy that happened to the ghost fetus was heavily rted to the resentment that he carried with him. Of course, without this resentment, he would not have be a Demon God in the first ce.

    All the children and the original tenants of this world behind the door charged at Chen Ge. But not only them, even Chen Ge¡¯s own employees had difficulty getting close to him at this moment. The children¡¯s memories appeared to be connected to the monster that was looming over them. Every single one of them gave everything that they could to try to grab at Chen Ge. They wanted to ther Chen Ge¡¯s body with the ck blood that leaked out from their bodies. After every single one of them died, they would repeat the same sentence to the giant monster in the sky.

    ¡°The former me! Look closely! This will be your future body!¡±

    When the body of thest boy was decimated and morphed into a puddle of blood, the giant monster that loomed over the entire residential area finally decided to make its move. The body that was made up countless memories and torn flesh started to reach downward. An impressive amount of power was pressing down on Chen Ge. It felt like the entire sky was falling, and Chen Ge was As trying to hold it up.

    ¡°The ghost fetus is that scary?¡±

    Even though the faceless doctor¡¯s power was not as powerful as Zhang Ya at the School of the Afterlife, he was already way more powerful than a normal Top Red Specter. He was able to wave away the ck fog easily with the sweep of his hand, so that proved undeniably that he was a Demon God. However, the rag doll¡¯s broken body was able to stand on the same level as the faceless doctor, which also indirectly proved that the rag doll had reached the level of a Demon God. But the scary thing was that the rag doll was just a part of the ghost fetus¡¯ power. The monster that the ghost fetus called the ¡®Past¡¯ was the real trouble here.

    The ghost fetus had been preparing for years behind the door. The monster appeared to have beenbined with his past, and it was created by forcing it to consume the other monsters inside the ck fog. Even though the monster did not seem to possess much sentience, and itcked its own consciousness. From the absurd sky that literally blocked off the sky, one could tell that this was not an easy enemy to defeat. As powerful as a Red Specter was, they would be unable to deal with ¡®the past¡¯.

    Standing before the ¡®Past¡¯, it appeared like one was facing the whole world. If Chen Ge only had his employees with him at this time, he probably would have chosen to give up. He would have ordered his employees to abandon him and try to find ways to survive and then escape from this world. But the reason he was still standing there was because of the shadow behind him. The ghost fetus was once his shadow, and Zhang Ya was now his shadow. The ghost fetus represented the past while Zhang Ya represented the present and the future.

    This showdown had been destined since ten years ago. Only by killing the ¡®past¡¯ would one have the chance to chase after the future. If one was unable to walk away from the past, the future would forever be out of grasp. When no one dared approach Chen Ge, that giant shadow covered the entire sky that was above Chen Ge. A giant gap appeared on the face of the ¡®Past¡¯, and multiple memories were torn apart. The ¡®Past¡¯ wanted to consume Chen Ge in one gulp!

    Xiang Nuan, who was deeply encased in the ¡®Past¡¯s head, looked at Chen Ge nkly, but suddenly, his gaze moved away from Chen Ge to the spot behind Chen Ge like his line of sight was attracted by something there. That was the spot where the ghost fetus had been standing earlier. Blood was boiling like crazy.

    With Chen Ge as the center, all the surrounding ghosts and Specters were knocked and pressed to the ground by a powerful blood wave. Even the rag doll and the faceless doctor who were fighting among themselves were affected by this sudden turn of events, but the blood wave did not seem to care about what it was doing.

    The giant ¡®Past¡¯ was like a sky that was falling while the shadow behind Chen Ge was like a blood sea that spread over the horizon. In the world filled with ck fog, the sky and sea had shed together!

    The whole world was shaking. Blood rain started to fall from the sky, and it washed away plenty of the ck fog. When people came to, they finally saw the new figure that had appeared to stand before Chen Ge.

    The red dress was fluttering in the wind! Under the dress was a bottomless sea of blood!

    ¡°Zhang Ya!¡± The familiar back entered Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. The person from Yu Jian¡¯s world and the person before him now ovepped together. It felt incredibly surreal to Chen Ge. He raised his hand before finally deciding to put it down again. He knew now was a crucial moment where their life and death would be decided, and he also knew how precarious his condition was at that moment.

    There is a new change to Zhang Ya¡¯s body again. She did not use ck hair like she used to in the past. The dress that she is wearing now has even more patterns of Specters¡¯ faces, and the blood sea that is under her feet...

    Using his Yin Yang Vision, the more Chen Ge looked, the more surprised he became. Zhang Ya was not stepping on a blood sea at all. Among the redness, Chen Ge could make out the outline of multiple buildings.

    She seems to be standing atop a red city! Is she borrowing the power of that red city?

    Chen Ge had found out from the old headmaster of the School of the Afterlife that Zhang Ya knew a path that could lead deep into the red city, and Zhang Ya herself had been to the center of the red city.

 Chapter 1105 - Too Close

    <h4>1105 Too Close</h4>

    The battlefield behind the door had been split into the two parts. The faceless doctor and the rag doll appeared to be cautious and limited their fighting to a smaller range. Zhang Ya and the ¡®Past¡¯, however, did not hold back at all. They could not care less about what would happen to this world. They did not care that more monsters would be drawn over. Once they made their move, they would not stop until one of them was dead. After the first collision, Zhang Ya became the focus of everyone¡¯s attention.

    With her every appearance, she became stronger than before. Even when facing the enormous ¡®Past¡¯ alone, she did not take even a step back. But as her power increased, so did the mystery surrounding her. There appeared to be some kind of connection between her and the red city. The Past¡¯s first attack was neutralized by Zhang Ya. A long wound was left on its body. It was the result from that first attack.

    Countless people¡¯s memories were shredded, but Xiang Nuan, who was embedded in the Past¡¯s head, was still looking as confused as ever. His eyes had no soul inside them as if he had no idea what he was doing, but he was unceremoniously staring at Zhang Ya and Chen Ge.

    This monster does not feel pain, and it does not appear clever enough to contemte anything tooplicated. Even though it¡¯s powerful, it¡¯s unwieldy and hard to control. Why would the ghost fetus create a monster like this?

    The battle went into a stalemate. Chen Ge was situated at the center of the storm, but he was not worried. He was focused on a question that had been troubling him¡ªwhat was the ghost fetus¡¯ goal? The ck phone had told him to prevent the ghost fetus¡¯ birth because once the ghost fetus was born, he would definitely die, but what exactly did the ghost fetus need to do to get born?

    Chen Ge failed to deduce the answer from the ghost fetus¡¯ preparation. Be it the broken rag doll or the ¡®Past¡¯ above them, they were not theplete version of the ghost fetus.

    My once shadow appears to have split itself into multiple versions of itself. It wants to be reborn, so it should need to gather all the split versions of itself back into a ready body.

    When Zhang Ya was fighting the ¡®Past¡¯, most of the buildings were broken. The walls of the buildings copsed around them, the crumbled blocks appeared to fall irregrly, but actually, it would seem like they had subtly surrounded Jin Hwa Apartments and Jiu Hong Apartments.

    Chen Ge had a very bad feeling. The cursed hospital had a very good chance of knowing the ghost fetus would probably be reborn on this day. They had been waiting for this day toe because they wanted to use the least amount of effort to aplish their goal. And the ghost fetus itself had escaped from the cursed hospital. It had learned a lot from Doctor Gao. It was not a Specter that was dominated by brute force and hatred. It not only knew how to think, it also had aplete yet twisted and sick worldview. The ghost fetus would anticipate the arrival of the cursed hospital on this day, but it did nothing to stop them.

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes calmed down.

    Let¡¯s imagine I am the ghost fetus, and I am hiding behind the door. I have prepared for over a decade for this day, so I definitely do not want any disturbance at this crucial moment. Thus, I must do everything within my power to stop the cursed hospital from entering the world behind the door.

    With the rag doll and the ¡®Past¡¯ as well as many original tenants, the ghost fetus could already deal with two Demon Gods at the same time before his time of rebirth. With that kind of power, it should not have been hard to him to seal up the blood door, but the ghost fetus did not do it. Be it Chen Ge or the faceless doctor, they did not encounter any resistance when entering this door. It felt like the ghost fetus was purposely letting them in.

    Nine children represented nine different powers that were taken away. If it was another person who entered those children¡¯s worlds, most of them would not have been able to resist the seduction of power, like Jia Ming and the cursed hospital. None of them would give up the chance to take part of the ghost fetus¡¯ power. In the face of such rewards, they would enter one door after another until they arrived at Xiang Nuan¡¯s world.

    The weakened ghost fetus that they anticipated did not exist, but what they would find were two monsters that rivalled the power of a Demon God. The death of the intruders would return the ghost fetus¡¯ power to him. If everything went sessfully, the ghost fetus would have a perfect rebirth. But did the ghost fetus need to undergo such a big risk just to take back the powers that it had lost?

    Chen Ge looked at the ¡®Past¡¯, which was still growing. The monster blocked out the sky and loomed over the two residential areas. Its shell dragged on the ground, and it had involuntarily joined together with the ground.

    Blocking out the sky and joining to the ground, the monster wants to envelope everything and everyone inside the whole residential area!

    A maddening thought appeared in his mind. Chen Ge narrowed his pupils.

    The ghost fetus¡¯ n couldn¡¯t be to consume both Demon Gods, could it?

    In Chen Ge¡¯s mind, a Top Red Specter was already a very scary presence. He was stunned by the ghost fetus¡¯ n.

    The door pusher¡¯s power is doubled behind their own door. The ghost fetus must have prepared everything already. His ten years of work was all for this day.

    Chen Ge and the cursed hospital were looking for the ghost fetus, but at the same time, the ghost fetus was waiting for them behind the door. Taking in a deep breath, Chen Ge tried to make himself calm down. He did not really expect the ghost fetus¡¯ real n to be to swallow everything, but equally, the ghost fetus probably did not expect Zhang Ya to have be so powerful.

    I finally understand the true meaning of the words that the shadow told me at Li Wan City. His presence was to make me show all my trump cards, to test my limits! The shadow was sent by the ghost fetus to me as a test!

    As a Demon God, the ghost fetus knew many things. He did not give much attention to the current Chen Ge. At most, Chen Ge was only one of his nine chosen candidates, one of the things he needed to make the perfect body.

    It was not that long from the death of the shadow at Li Wan City to the birth of the ghost fetus, so the ghost fetus predicted that my ability would not have evolved too much during this short period, but he greatly underestimated Zhang Ya.

    Zhang Ya, who had been hibernating, became the only variable, one that neither the ghost fetus nor Chen Ge¡¯s parents had predicted!

    If Zhang Ya was still a Top Red Specter, if she was still wounded, then she would have had trouble dealing with this enormous ¡®Past¡¯.

    Chen Ge¡¯s back was soaked in cold sweat.

    So, the ghost fetus nned everything. He believed I¡¯d be weaker than the cursed hospital, so he directly used the powerful and scary ¡®Past¡¯ to deal with me, to take me out of the battle as soon as possible. If I die, everything that I have will be the soil on which the ghost fetus will grow. By then, the monster from the cursed hospital will be no threat to him. Being consumed by the ghost fetus would be a matter of time.

    Consuming two Demon Gods at the same time just for his perfect rebirth, the ghost fetus¡¯ madness was hard to imagine, but the scariest thing was how close he was to seeding, just that one step away.

 Chapter 1106 - He Has a Name; Itâ€™s Xiang Nuan

    <h4>1106 He Has a Name; It¡°s Xiang Nuan</h4>

    The giant Past blocked before everyone. No matter what, everyone had deal with the Past. After its first fight with Zhang Ya, the Past¡¯s body was slowly changing. The ck threads made from multiple memories and blurry shadows joined together to form thick limbs that extended in four directions, bing a prison that trapped everyone inside the residential area.

    The Past¡¯s upper body, which looked like a giant cicada, started to crack like it breaking through the cocoon. The fluttery cicada wings melted into the ck fog. The fog that had been blown away earlier thickened again. The monster¡¯s wings appeared to have the power to attract the ck fog.

    The sky was sealed, and to make matters worse, the ground was bing unsafe as well. The Past¡¯s lower body was sunken into the ground. The shell covered in ghost faces dragged on the ground. Old shell continued to peel, but whenever that happened, new shell grow out of the exposed location soon enough. Compared to the upper body, the monster¡¯s lower body was more akin to a person¡¯s normal understanding. It was unable to be shaken off. No matter how hard one tried to forget about it, it would continue to return.

    This happened again and again until a wounded monster was left behind. The monster¡¯s name should be ¡®I¡¯, but he was unable to refer to himself as the Past.

    Painful faces appeared on the gray ground. A strange sound came from the inner core of the ground. It sounded like a beating heart. The faceless doctor had many ways to deal with the rag doll because he was familiar with all of the rag doll¡¯s powers. Even at its prime, the doctor would be able to hold the rag doll back, but now there was a new monster behind the door¡ªthe Past. The cursed hospital knew that the ghost fetus would have a hidden power, but they probably did not expect the ghost fetus to voluntarily join together with the monsters from the ck fog. As a Demon God from the cursed hospital, he was more familiar with the scariness of the monsterpared to Chen Ge.

    It is impossible to bring Patient 0004 back alive now. He must have figured out the hospital¡¯s n, so he blocked that option from the very beginning.

    When the faceless doctor was fighting the rag doll, he still had time to think about other things.

    Patient 0004¡¯s obsession is the pursuit of bliss, but he has been misdirected by Patient 0011 to believe that he will gain bliss once he bes a human being. From the beginning, his path was wrong, so he is destined to fail.

    The faceless doctor kept getting close to the rag doll.

    Since I cannot bring Patient 0004 back alive, the other option is to shatter its soul and eliminate this unstable variable. The patient that the hospital really cares about is Patient 0001. Everyone else is just a recement. The director will forgive me for doing this, but how am I supposed to kill Patient 0004?

    One of the faces on the clothes nced at Chen Ge. The face grimaced in hatred.

    Join forces with him? Impossible! Compared to Patient 0004, the desire to kill him is stronger. The desire has overridden everything. st it, if I ran into him outside the door, I wouldn¡¯t have to worry so much.

    The sky and ground kept changing. The rag doll stopped the faceless doctor while Zhang Ya stayed beside Chen Ge. Both Demon Gods did not leave the residential area. Everything was within the ghost fetus¡¯ calctions. The beating heart sound came from under their feet, and it started to match the rhythm of Chen Ge¡¯s own heartbeat. Each powerful beat caused extreme difort to Chen Ge. He gripped his chest tightly, but it was to no avail. Not only him, every Red Specter and monster from the fog inside the residential area felt the same negative effect. Everyone¡¯s heart was disrupted by the sound that came from underground.

    Chen Ge looked around him. His employees¡¯ bodies started to change for the worse.

    Even the Red Specters¡¯ hearts are influenced!

    This was especially clear on the red high heels, who had consumed most of the ghost fetus¡¯ curses. The bandages on her body had almost all fallen apart, and the curious ck pattern on her skin was bleeding like wounds that were branded on her body.

    If you have taken something from the ghost fetus, now is the time to pay him back with interest. The monster ns to swallow everyone!

    The sky was joined to the earth. The Past had enveloped the whole of Jiu Hong Apartments and Jin Hwa Apartments. Multiple curses twined together to morph into a ck rain. Zhang Ya, stepping on the red sea, took on most of the pressure. She could not spare any energy to protect the other employees.

    The ck rain showered down. Chen Ge immediately took out theic to summon back all his employees. Before the Demon Gods, normal Red Specters were just dead weight. Only Top Red Specters could be of some use. With the employees inside theic, even though they had been saved from the corruption of the curse, their hearts were still affected.

    After decades of preparation, the ghost fetus had finally initiated his n. The first move was to be hisst. He had calcted everything. This prison formed using the Past¡¯s body was tightening and strengthening. Now, only a Demon God could escape, but both Demon Gods present were held back. Even Xiao Bu, who was one step away from being a Top Red Specter, was unable to shake off the negative influence.

    The heartbeat from underground assimted itself to everyone¡¯s heartbeat. Every time it beat, it would grip at everyone¡¯s heart.

    How did he manage to do this?

    If this continues, my employees will be in serious trouble. They cannot hold on much longer.

    Chen Ge did not look well. Even Red Specters were struggling, much less the normal Specters.

    The heartbeat¡¯sing from underground. To locate the heartbeat, I will have the find the heart that is hidden underground.

    The sky was howling with a ck storm. The curse that the ghost fetus had gathered for ten yearsshed at everything behind the door. It was impossible to shield against the rain and then to find the heart at the same time. Even Zhang Ya could not manage that.

    I cannot be a dead weight to Zhang Ya. It is because she needs to guard before me that she cannot evade the rain freely. She can only take it head on. Facing such a huge monster, that is not a wise choice.

    The ghost fetus had probably calcted that as well. Chen Ge was still a human, so the ghosts on him would have to suffer the giant monster¡¯s attacks to protect him. In a way, he was Zhang Ya¡¯s weakness. However, could the same not be said of the ghost fetus?

    The ghost fetus¡¯ n was perfect, but he did not calcte for Wen Qing also entering the door.

    The rag doll¡¯s missing arm should have been sent back to Jin Hwa Apartments¡¯ Block A. Every other building is crumbling, but that building alone is unaffected. The ghost fetus, or rather, Xiang Nuan is protecting Wen Qing.

    Once a person had something they needed to protect, their weakness would be exposed. This was the only crack in the ghost fetus¡¯ perfect n, and this crack was thest trace of humanity he had left.

    ¡°Zhang Ya, go to that tallest building!¡± Chen Ge shouted. But before he moved, the faceless doctor had already darted toward Block A. This Demon God from the cursed hospital had observed this anomaly as well. Initially, he was held back by the rag doll, but the rag doll did not fight him head on. It mostly just avoided the doctor¡¯s attacks. However, once the doctor moved toward Block A, the rag doll dragged its broken body to stop him.

    Chen Ge saw this clearly. Wen Qing was probably the only person the ghost fetus still wished to protect.

    Actually, he already has a family, but he just hasn¡¯t realized it himself.

    Chen Ge was reminded of the first time he encountered Wen Qing and Xiang Nuan. Wen Qing would take Xiang Nuan to Eastern Jiujiang Dam every day. Wen Qing always apanied Xiang Nuan, but Xiang Nuan was looking for the obsession that was buried deep inside the hole at the bottom of the dam. The hole was filled with numerable mud statuettes of Chen Ge¡¯s parents. They seemed to represent the ghost fetus¡¯ past desire for familial warmth.

    It could not let that obsession go. The pair of eyes stared at the dark and still surface of the water, but it did not realize that there was already someone willing to apany him by his side.

 Chapter 1107 - The Ghost Fetusâ€œ Last Choice 2 in 1

    <h4>1107 The Ghost Fetus¡° Last Choice 2 in 1</h4>

    The ghost fetus had never experienced bliss, so it did not understand what real bliss felt like. It only knew how to be envious of other people, but it forgot to look around itself. When the faceless doctor started tounch an attack on Jin Hwa Apartments Block A, the rag doll dragged its broken body to try and stop him. It did not even understand why it would do something like that. It appeared like its body was acting on instinct. The rag doll was missing an arm, so it was at a disadvantage. Currently, the faceless doctor had the upper hand. The rag doll¡¯s condition worsened, and the wounds on its body increased. Its body and limbs were shredded multiple times, but the rag doll forced them to be stay together via the ck curse threads.

    When the faceless doctor saw the rag dolle after him voluntarily, he confirmed the suspicion in his mind. The faces on his red coat all revealed a sinister and wicked smile.

    ¡°Four, you still have something that you care about, huh? Looks like the director was not wrong. You are only close to Patient 0001, but there is still a gulf between you and him.¡±

    The mad faceless doctor kept using his words to disrupt the rag doll. Normally, these words would not have any influence on a Demon God, but if the words wereced with curses, it would be apletely different story. Every single word could be a trap. When a person or a Specter started to doubt themself, they would easily fall for the trap. The basis of all the Specters was their obsession. If their own obsession was shaken, it would be an attack directly on their soul.

    All the faces on the faceless doctor¡¯s coat showed horrible and disgusting expressions. The doctor moved even faster as more and more curses gathered around him. Earlier he was probably holding back because he was cautious about Zhang Ya and the Past.

    ¡°When I capture the woman inside Block A, I will bring her back to the hospital. She will be given the treatment that you have gone through. I believe that even after you have sessfully reborn, you wille back to find her, right?¡±

    The mouths tore open, and the shrill voice travelled very far down the distance. Even Chen Ge and the Past, who was floating above everyone, were able to hear the doctor clearly.

    Xiang Nuan, who was embedded inside the Past¡¯s head shuddered his shoulders. Something seemed to return to his blurry eyes. The arms that were bound by endless broken carcasses and memories started to tighten. It appeared like the boy wanted to gain control over the Past. Compared to the Past, whose size had blocked out the sky, Xiang Nuan¡¯s body was so small that it was negligible, but at this moment, he wanted to use his small body to control that ginormous monster.

    The faceless doctor was already very close to Jin Hwa Apartments Block A. Using Wen Qing as a threat, he slowly approached the tallest building as he delivered fatal blows on the rag doll. This monster from the cursed hospital was extremely greedy. On one hand, he wanted to take control of Wen Qing, but he did not want to lose this precious opportunity to deal heavy damage to the rag doll either. He appeared to be envious of this body that the ghost fetus had upied.

    The rag doll alone was obviously too weak to stop the faceless doctor. Xiang Nuan wanted to control the Past, but that appeared to be beyond the boy¡¯s power. Everything the Past was tasked to do was swallow everything and everyone inside Jiu Hong Apartments and Jin Hwa Apartments. The Past that was made from endless memories and materials sourced from the ck fog did not want to ruin that n just for the sake of Wen Qing.

    The faceless doctor was rapidly approaching Jin Hwa Apartments Block A, and Zhang Ya was also hurrying toward that building while protecting Chen Ge. Unlike the faceless doctor, Chen Ge did not n to use Wen Qing as leverage against the ghost fetus. He merely wanted to protect his own employees at that moment. Everyone had something that they wanted to protect; it was no exception for Chen Ge, even though he was normally the party being protected.

    With Zhang Ya acting as his guardian, Chen Ge managed to get into Jin Hwa Apartments Block A before the faceless doctor. With the rag doll¡¯s arm ced safely inside the building, the building was safe from the ck fog¡¯s influence. Basically, the ce had not changedpared to thest time Chen Ge left it. Chen Ge entered the building easily and without any trouble, but just as Zhang Ya was prepared to enter the building, the rag doll¡¯s broken body that was not far away let out a shrill scream, one that appeared like it would have pulled harshly on its vocal chords.

    After making that sound, the rag doll¡¯s movement slowed down. Its power was gradually slipping, but strangely enough, when the Past in the sky heard the rag doll¡¯s scream, its giant body started to slowly turn. As the rag doll¡¯s weakened, the light in Xiang Nuan¡¯s eyes appeared to return; the nkness in his eyes was being chased away.

    The Past slowed down the speed of strengthening the prison. The period between each heartbeat was getting longer and longer. It instead turned its focus on Zhang Ya as if the moment Zhang Ya dared step into Jin Hwa Apartments¡¯ Block A, he would not hesitate to start attacking like crazy. Zhang Ya did not dare act too recklessly, but she kept her eyes on Chen Ge, who had entered the building.

    There was no ck fog inside Block A, but he could still feel the heartbeat that came from underground clearly. Chen Ge carried his backpack, and his fingers were tightly gripping his chest. The literal heart-wrenching feeling was hard to describe. It was as if his heart was trying to jump out of his physical body.

    ¡°Calm down, I have to calm down!¡± Cold sweat soaked his forehead. Chen Ge tried to remember where he had heard Wen Qing¡¯s voiceing from. ¡°Wen Qing appears to have been ced on the top floor. The sound of the heartbeat came from underground. The top floor is furthest away from the ground, so she would be least affected if she was ced there! The ghost fetus must have considered that before he decided to fetch Wen Qing and ce her on the top floor!¡±

    Rushing into the stairwell, Chen Ge stumbled and climbed his way up to the top floor. The heartbeat kept interrupting him, and his fingers that covered his heart were already white from the force. Using both his legs and hands, Chen Ge gasped hungrily for air as he climbed on all fours up the steps. When he reached the fifth floor, the influence of the heartbeat on his body had weakened conspicuously.

    ¡°It¡¯s working!¡± The condition of the workers inside theic was turning for the better as well, but Chen Ge did not dare let his guard down because the sound of the heartbeating from the underground was getting louder and louder as well. If it could not be stopped from its core, then it would be pointless even to run and hide at the top floor. The ghost fetus had spent decades preparing this trap. From the very beginning, the n was to swallow everyone. It would not have left behind a blind spot that would allow a person to hide for safety.

    When it was making the n, it had nothing but hatred for everything. The ghost fetus himself must have been as surprised as everyone else that when his n was put into motion, he would have someone that he cared about who got mixed into the n. Chen Ge climbed upward, higher into the building. He was d that he had taken the pains to clear away all the mad people inside the building earlier, or else they would have been a great impediment to him at this moment.

    Without wasting any time, Chen Ge climbed to the seventh floor. Right at that moment, a giant boom came from outside the building. The building shook violently, and Chen Ge almost lost his bnce and rolled down the stairs. Looking through the window, Chen Ge saw that Zhang Ya had gotten into another fight with the Past, but this time, Zhang Ya did not face it head on. Instead, she perfectly utilized the agility and dexterity that the Past did not possess to avoid most of the damage. Without Chen Ge holding her back, it was very difficult for the Past to really injure Zhang Ya.

    The several parties had gotten into a stalemate again, but this was extremely beneficial to the ghost fetus. It would be able to aplish its final goal. All the people and Specters, including the two Demon Gods, would be nutrients for its rebirth. With three Demon Gods as the foundation, if the ghost fetus sessfully reborn, even if his body had some deficiencies, he would an extremely scary presence, so scary in fact that he might even be capable of breaking the limitation between life and death.

    Everything was still moving in the direction as the ghost fetus was hoping, but his n that appeared thorough actually had many loopholes. When all these loopholes were gathered together, it would knock one of the steps of the n way out of ce.

    The rag doll, whose energy was rapidly depleting, was still trying its best to stop the faceless doctor, but without its arm, heart, and under the influence of Chen Ge, it had ultimately failed. The body that was a macram¨¦ of trash was broken up and reconstructed again and again. The rag doll was very familiar with this process. Since it had be the item of possession for the shadow, it had been repeating this process day in and day out.

    For other people, this pain would literally tear at the heart, but shattering its bones was an everyday event for the rag doll. It would never give up because of pain. It told itself that it would never feel pain because it was just a mere rag doll. With each reconstruction, no matter what happened, it would try its best to regain and reform its body. That was until this day when the cursed threads inside its body were all severed and the curse that bound its body together was reced by the curse from another Demon God.

    The injuries on its body could not be healed anymore. The button that was sewn on its face started to slip, and it slid down the side of the building andnded on the ground. This body that had been reconstructed who knew how many times finally crumbled on this day. Its head was eviscerated by the most familiar curse. It looked at the smiles on the faceless doctor and then nced at the dried avian bodies inside its right arm. Its gaze gradually moved until theynded on Jin Hwa Apartments Block A.

    The mouth that was sewn together wished to open. The ck rain fell steadily on its face. The rag doll¡¯s head eventually rolled and stopped next to the button. When the rag doll was defeated by the faceless doctor, Jin Hwa Apartments¡¯ Block A started to vibrate violently. Endless ck fog rushed into it. The arm that guarded the building until now had lost its use.

    The ck fog seeped into the building. When Chen Ge saw the ck fog enter the building, he knew what had happened outside the building. The rag doll that had once been upied by the ghost fetus had been destroyed. The body that had borne witness to the pain that the ghost fetus had suffered was torn apart by the faceless doctor. The trash that was previously stuffed inside the rag doll littered the ground.

    ¡°It cannot be used anymore? Did it give everything that it had to the Past before it died?¡± Even though the faceless doctor had managed to ¡®kill¡¯ the rag doll, he did not look too happy about it. ¡°Patient 0004 was willing to give everything that he had to the monster inside the ck fog and did not keep a shred of power for himself. Does he have such confidence that the n this time will be sessful?¡±

    The faceless doctor failed to find the thing that he wanted among the rag doll¡¯s broken body. Before this, he appeared to have this belief that the ghost fetus would leave some insurance for himself. As long as there was something of the ghost fetus left inside the rag doll, then the rag doll could still be reconstructed, but apparently the faceless doctor had guessed wrong. The angered faceless doctor turned his focus to Jin Hwa Apartments Block A, which was almost toppled over.

    ¡°The person that Patient 0004 cares about is still in there. If I can capture her, then I can still find a way to escape. I can use her as a medium to ce horrible curses on the ghost fetus to seek a way out from this tragedy.¡±

    The faceless doctor did not n to get into any fight with the Past. He took a nce at Zhang Ya, and his gaze darkened.

    ¡°With her drawing the Past¡¯s attention, this is quite a good development for me.¡±

    Of course, the faceless doctor was not going lose this precious opportunity. After the faceless doctor killed the rag doll, he rushed toward Jin Hwa Apartments¡¯ Block A without any hesitation.

    With the rag doll dead, no one was able to stop the faceless doctor anymore. As he was getting closer and closer to Block A, Chen Ge, who was about to reach the top floor, screamed loudly at Zhang Ya, ¡°Lead the monster over to the doctor! You have to find a way to destroy the heart that is hidden underground!¡±

    Zhang Ya understood him perfectly. Actually, before Zhang Ya pulled the Past¡¯s focus to the doctor, the Past had already moved its attention to the faceless doctor. All Zhang Ya needed to do was astutely move aside for the Past to pass. Hearing this, the faceless doctor really wanted to tear out Chen Ge¡¯s mouth, but there was no other way out of this. However, fortunately for the faceless doctor, he had already discovered Wen Qing, and he was very close to her!

    After the rag doll¡¯s death, Xiang Nuan, who was encased in the Past¡¯s head, was slowly recovering his consciousness. Spirit started to return to his eyes. At that moment, the Past¡¯s giant body was lying between Zhang Ya and the faceless doctor. Due to the size of its body, it would need to take some time even if it just wanted to twist its body around. The faceless doctor was getting closer and closer to Wen Qing while Zhang Ya listened to Chen Ge¡¯s suggestion. The bloody sea leaked underground. The ck hair pushed the ground open like waves, and she soon found the source of the heartbeat.

    The Past¡¯s shell that it could not shake off was buried in the ground. On the spot where the shell was joined to the ground sat a blood red heart that was beating. That was the heart that the ghost fetus possessed when he became a Red Specter. It was a ckened heart. Part of it was heavily shielded by the shell. It was an analogy of it being heavily bound by the painful past, and it could not shake it off no matter how hard it tried.

    The remaining part was wreathed in a cage of fresh blood vessels. It was joined to the Past¡¯s upper body, and from the top of the heart extended multiple blood vessels. The blood vessels were joined to all the buildings and the ground of the entire residential area. With every beat of the heart, the blood vessels would ingest the monsters and Specters that had been killed inside the residential area. The more the ghosts that it consumed, the bigger the red part of the heart became. Currently, the heart was enormous.

    The ghost fetus had turned all the ghosts that he had consumed into energy to help him shake off the shell. Based on the normal speed, he would need to consume a lot of Specters and require a lot of time before he could use this method to turn his heart fully red. But to counteract this, the more the monsters from inside the ck fog he consumed, the bigger the Past would be. The heart would grow bigger, and so would the ck part. It was as if the events that had happened today would eventually be a part of the past.

    Zhang Ya had found the source of the heartbeat. The city in the red sea under her feet was bing clear. She seemed to be ready to destroy this heart directly.

    ording to the ghost fetus¡¯ original n, the rag doll was supposed to hold off the monster from the cursed hospital while the Past would be tasked with killing Zhang Ya. After he had obtained Chen Ge¡¯s body, he would be invincible. Then, he would gather all his power to slowly torture the monster from the cursed hospital to death. It was a wless n, but unfortunately, the n had strayed wildly from its path.

    With the rag doll dead, the Past was stuck between Zhang Ya and the faceless doctor. It was ced in a difficult position. Zhang Ya was about to destroy the Past¡¯s heart, and the faceless doctor was about to get his hands on Wen Qing. The faceless doctor would not hesitate to imnt a Demon God¡¯s curse on this innocent woman. The Past had to make a choice between its own heart and Wen Qing!

    ¡®I¡¯ die, or ¡®she¡¯ dies.

    After a short hesitation by therge Past, it turned its focus to bite at Zhang Ya, but as it made that decision, Xiang Nuan, who was embedded in its head, started to cry tears of blood!

    Both of his arms struggled free from the Past¡¯s giant body like the wings of a free bird as they extended to the spot where Wen Qing was!

    ¡°Trash desires to have a life like a normal human being. It is chasing something that even it itself cannot exin clearly. Based on its description, I personally believe it is looking for the feeling of bliss.

    ¡°Trash wishes to obtain bliss, but it does not understand what bliss is. To cure its illness, I will have to first teach it the meaning of bliss.

    ¡°Theck of bliss, or misery, is a kind of disease. Misery is like a cut that¡¯s left on one¡¯s heart. All the happiness will leak out from this opening, and bliss is the bandage that will close this wound.

    ¡°Using my perspective to exin bliss, Trash was able to understand the concept very quickly.

    ¡°It looked for a long time, but it failed to find bliss. To help it understand the concept further, I persuaded it to create misery and, from the contrast, try to observe what bliss actually is.

    ¡°Trash chose a bird. Under my tutge, it broke off the bird¡¯s wing. The blood sttered all over the bird¡¯s feathers. The bird was wailing in despair. That is the sound of misery.

    ¡°Under the watchful care of Trash, the bird¡¯s wound slowly recovered. But it had lost the ability to fly in the sky. I told Trash that was the price for bliss.

    ¡°To obtain bliss, one has to give up something. It is a very fair exchange.¡±

 Chapter 1108 - You Were Not Supposed to Be in This World 2 in 1

    <h4>1108 You Were Not Supposed to Be in This World 2 in 1</h4>

    The ghost fetus made the final choice. Xiang Nuan, who was embedded in the Past¡¯s head, was covered in blood. His eyes were no longer lost. Roaring, he crawled as fast as he could toward Jin Hwa Apartments Block A, where Wen Qing was. The Past¡¯s giant body was being dragged along. It blocked out the sky and tore open the ground. Perhaps it knew that this was thest chance that it ever got, so it did not hold back andunched the scariest attack that it could mutter against the faceless doctor!

    The faceless doctor sent by the cursed hospital could not fathom the choice made by the ghost fetus at that moment. They had spent more than ten years studying the ghost fetus, and they could be said to understand the ghost fetus like the back of their hand. From his perspective and understanding of the ghost fetus, he should not have done something like this.

    ¡°Why?¡± By now, the faceless doctor had seen Wen Qing, who was hiding on the rooftop. The faces on his face darkened with malice, and then they all broke out in a maddeningughter. ¡°No matter, the more you care for her, the more I need to capture her!¡±

    Numerous thin, ck strands wiggled out from the faceless doctor¡¯s body. The human faces on his coat were slowly disappearing one by one. With the disappearance of each face, there would be a person constructed fully from curses that appeared beside him. The figures were about as powerful as the faceless doctor, but they moved much faster than the doctor. At this crucial moment, the faceless doctor had used his own power. He had to obtain Wen Qing no matter what.

    ¡°As long as I can capture Wen Qing and then use the curse to control her, perhaps I can use her to threaten the ghost fetus!¡±

    When the faceless doctor was fighting the Past, Zhang Ya stood above the Past¡¯s enormous heart. Her pale and slender hands reached out to press on the Past¡¯s ugly shell. The five fingers easily phased through the hard shell. The blood wave and the ck hair slipped into the Past¡¯s heart through the opening. Zhang Ya wanted to destroy the Past¡¯s heart but things were not as simple as she hoped. As soon as she did that, many curse and dead souls appeared from inside the Past¡¯s body. They weaved together to form a sturdyyer over the heart to protect it. The wounds that he had experienced, the pain and despair from the past, became the shield that protected the Past¡¯s heart.

    Zhang Ya tried many different ways, but she failed to shatter theyer of crust around the heart. The expression on her face slowly changed. The pale fingers gradually tightened, and the blood sea under her feet bubbled with violent waves. The buildings that were previously hiding inside the blood sea became clearer. They changed from an outline of themselves into actual buildings. The ck fog was chased back, and an indescribably scary presence exuded from Zhang Ya.

    She looked closely at the Past¡¯s heart and slowly raised her fingers. As the slender fingers rose, following them were the many buildings submerged in the red sea!

    Chen Ge, who was climbing up Block A, saw this as well. He was so surprised that his mouth was hanging open. Zhang Ya was currently using the same kind of power that Xiao Bu had used earlier. The difference was, Xiao Bu summoned the shadow of Li Wan City to source her power, but Zhang Ya was stepping on the red city itself!

    ¡°Xiao Bu was able to summon the bloody projection of Li Wan City because she is the door pusher at Li Wan City. There is an undeniable connection between her and that ce. Zhang Ya is now using the same power as Xiao Bu, but she is summoning the bloody projection of the red city! Does this mean that Zhang Ya has some kind of deep connection with the red city?¡±

    After he reached the rooftop, Chen Ge looked down at the distant Zhang Ya.

    ¡°Zhang Ya¡¯s most basic power is to control her ck hair. Other than this power, she can use the powers of the other Specters, including the Specters that she has consumed and the Specters that are rted to me. Xiao Bu used her power earlier, and Zhang Ya is using the more powerful version of it now. This appears to be her real special power.¡±

    The appearance of the red city had shaken the whole world behind the door. Many Specters and souls were screaming inside the red city, and the ck fog was forcibly pushed back. Zhang Ya was borrowing the energy from the red city to steamroll over the Past¡¯s heart!

    At the same time, the faceless doctor had also finally arrived at the rooftop of Jin Hwa Apartments Block A. The Past¡¯s giant mouth was just hovering above his head.

    ¡°Wen Qing, stay away from him!¡± Chen Ge shouted at Wen Qing, who was standing at the edge of the rooftop. The roof was barren, and there was no ce for her to use as a cover. Then again, Wen Qing did not look like she was trying to hide either. Her eyes were locked on Xiang Nuan, who was deeply entrenched in the Past¡¯s head. Be it a Demon God or the monster that blocked out the sky, they did not stop her from continuing to call Xiang Nuan¡¯s name.

    In reality, before a Demon God, it would be pointless for a normal person to try to hide. The faceless doctor approached her at lightning speed. He had multiple shadows trailing behind him. Each of them was carrying a face that had been peeled off from his doctor¡¯s coat.

    Bang!

    The Past¡¯s head was torn open, and the disformed mouth directly moved down to swallow the faceless doctor. The souls were wailing. Both parties were experts at curses. The ck threads were like des dancing in the air, cutting and shredding the ck rain that was falling constantly. Ultimately, the Past still cared about Wen Qing. It was willing to suffer some damage to protect Wen Qing by swallowing the faceless doctor. It would only feel better once the faceless doctor was inside its stomach because it was too easy for a Demon God to kill a normal human being.

    The faceless doctor¡¯s curse crawled into the Past¡¯s flesh. Pieces of memory were peeling. ck blood dripped along with the rain, but the Past did not seem to mind it at all. Xiang Nuan, who had long since stopped caring about his life, would not pay attention to these injuries.

    His bleeding eyes were following the faceless doctor closely. The ck threads that bound his mouth were torn open, and the doctor screamed from pain. The Past was doing the same thing as him. The Past¡¯s giant mouth bit off the man¡¯s chest, and the ck blood sshed all over the rooftop. Just like that, the Past swallowed the faceless doctor and the shadows behind him in one gulp. The giant mouth closed. The scene was extremely shocking, but before anyone could recover from this scene, a shrillugh came from the edge of the building.

    ¡°Damn it!¡± Even though Chen Ge also wanted to kill the ghost fetus, he did not want Wen Qing to get injured, so he ran to help her at the first notice, but he was still toote. There was a shredded face stuck to the wall near Wen Qing¡¯s feet. The face had been forcibly yanked off by the faceless doctor. It was still dyed with fresh blood on its back. The faceless doctor had split up numerous shadows, and every one of them was incredibly powerful. Just as everyone thought that was the end of his tricks, he had reserved one more hand. He had silently torn off one of the faces from his coat without anyone noticing.

    No one knew when he did that, and no one saw how that face managed to crawl to the Wen Qing¡¯s feet. Before anyone could react, the face had already crawled onto Wen Qing¡¯s body. It branded itself like a tattoo on Wen Qing¡¯s leg. An eerie and scary smile came from the face on Wen Qing¡¯s skin. Immediately, ck lines that grew like briars expanded from Wen Qing¡¯s flesh!

    Wen Qing¡¯s face paled instantly. It felt like her whole body was being punctured by sharp needles.

    ¡°Release my body immediately, or I will kill her in the most painful way before your eyes,¡± the face that grew on Wen Qing¡¯s flesh warned. A normal human being was powerless before a Demon God. The faceless doctor literally had his hand over Wen Qing¡¯s life. The painful wails echoed on the rooftop. It showed that Wen Qing was in a pain that a normal person would never have the ability to imagine. Before the bloody tears at the corner of his eyes had dried, Xiang Nuan¡¯s face fully contorted.

    The cage had been prepared, but his only family was trapped inside the cage as well. The ck rain continued to fall in greater intensity. Xiang Nuan looked at Wen Qing. The memory pieces kept dropping from the Past¡¯s body. He appeared to wish to open the mouth that he had closed.

    ¡°Do not mind me!¡± Wen Qing copsed to the ground while suffering the pain from the curse. She suddenly raised her head to shout at the Past, ¡°I do not need you to take care of me, and I do not want anything from you! I only wish that you will be able to grow up healthily and live on happily!¡±

    Green veins popped on her neck. The ck threads swam under her skin like many little snakes. Wen Qing¡¯s nails that gripped the ground were peeling off. She stared at Xiang Nuan, who was looking like a monster. Xiang Nuan, sunk deep inside the ghost fetus¡¯ head, was shaking all over. The wounds on the boy¡¯s body were increasing. The pain that Wen Qing was in continued to increase, but somehow, she had stopped screaming. The ck blood capiries pulsed under her skin. Different types of curses were applied to her body. Her face started to lose its features, and her body shape started to change, but she resisted the urge to scream. She kept her mouth mped shut.

    Xiang Nuan saw all this clearly. The bleeding eyeballs stared at the woman on the rooftop. In the end, he still slowly opened his mouth. The Past¡¯s giant mouth was slowly opened again. The faceless doctor was only swallowed for about ten seconds, but his body had already be quite translucent. The Past appeared to have the ability to kill a Demon God.

    ¡°A brilliant choice if I do say so myself.¡± The ghost face on Wen Qing¡¯s bodyughed wickedly. ¡°Now, I need you to...¡±

    Before it finished, it realized something was wrong. Wen Qing, who was carrying multiple curses on her, had already crawled to the edge of the building.

    ¡°What are you doing!¡±

    The blood capiries surfaced on all parts of her body. Wen Qing, who had been tortured until she had lost a basic human shape, did something that no one expected. With a final glow of determination in her eyes, Wen Qing jumped over the edge of the rooftop of Jin Hwa Apartments Block A!

    ¡°I do not know what you have done in the past, I also do not understand why you have be the way that you are now, but I am always ready to trust you, to apany you, and to protect you.¡± Wen Qing voluntarily jumped into the Past¡¯s open mouth. Along with the faceless doctor¡¯sst remaining face, she fell into the monster¡¯s maw. When she fell, she kept her eyes on Xiang Nuan, who was bound at the monster¡¯s head.

    ¡°Because... you are my son.¡±

    Wen Qing, having been cursed by the Demon God, had her life in the faceless doctor¡¯s control. She did not want to be the chip that was used to control Xiang Nuan. Even if Xiang Nuan had turned into a monster, even if a normal human was nothing more than a piece of dust in the presence of a Demon God, she had found a way to protect Xiang Nuan. All forms of love in this world pointed toward the need to stay together. Only a parent¡¯s love could bear the pain of separation.

    When the Past¡¯s mouth closed, the faceless doctor and Wen Qing fell into the Past¡¯s body. Other than the ghost fetus, no one knew what was inside the Past¡¯s body. The people present only saw that the faceless doctor had been swallowed earlier. A mere ten seconds had passed, and his body had be much weaker than before. He appeared to have suffered greatly from that attack. The Past¡¯s stomach appeared to be the guillotine that the ghost fetus had prepared specifically for Demon Gods. It was a ce where even a ¡®God¡¯ could be digested. So, what would happen to a normal human?

    The pouncing of the heart inside the world that was shrouded in the ck fog travelled far and long. The Past¡¯s stomach bloated and expanded. The faceless doctor appeared to be resisting as much as he could, but ultimately, the resistance slowed. The sound of that heartbeat became louder and louder. All the Specters and monsters inside the door were affected. It felt like their hearts were about to explode.

    Chen Ge went to hide at the rooftop of Jin Hwa Apartments Block A, but he was still unable to avoid the influence brought upon by the heartbeat. He looked down the building. The red sea had enveloped the dual-colored heart. The buildings inside the red city had punctured the blood vessels that were hidden underground. Zhang Ya had already shattered the crust that had formed over the surface of the heart earlier, and now she was using the whole city to sh against the Past¡¯s heart. She was forced to do that, or else the ghost fetus, who had consumed the faceless doctor, would kill everyone there!

    The cold, hard shell of the heart was broken, and the ck and red heart was being smashed into pieces by the red city!

    Blood rain fell from the sky, and the ground split open. The blood vessels snapped one after another. The location where Xiang Nuan¡¯s heart was started to leak blood as well. The more he moved his hands to slow the bleeding, the more the blood continued to flow. The blood riddled with curses turned his shirt into a dark red color. His body was slowly peeling away from the Past¡¯s giant body. His eyes were no longer soulless. Instead, there was a cocktail ofplicated emotions. It was not sadness, nor was it despair. Perhaps the boy himself did not know how to identify this feeling he was experiencing.

    With his hand over his heart, Xiang Nuan made a very difficult decision after a long time. He did not heal his wound or chose to attack anyone. He used thest ounce of his energy to start to suck in all the ck blood and the curses from inside the Past¡¯s body!

    Many strange wounds and curses appeared on his body. He had taken on all the sin again. Xiang Nuan¡¯s body was slowly sinking. All the tragedy, all the pain, and all the despair from the past had sedimented inside the boy¡¯s body. The Past¡¯s gigantic body was changing at the same time. The core of this giant monster was the ghost fetus¡¯ past, the past that Xiang Nuan had decided to carry from now on. So, once the core had shifted, the Past no longer looked as scary as it originally did.

    The mped mouth broke open again. The Past¡¯s stomach was filled with past versions of himself. Children that were made from curses and negative emotions tried their best to stop the faceless doctor from escaping. Some of the children, meanwhile, were protecting a woman who was dying. The Past was a creature that the ghost fetus created to kill a Demon God. It had never wondered what would happen to a normal human after they had been swallowed.

    Curses were still travelling and growing on the woman¡¯s body. Her life was entering its final countdown. The children helped to move the woman to the head of the Past, the location where Xiang Nuan was bound to earlier. After all of this had been done, Xiang Nuan, who now carried all of the sin, walked to the Past¡¯s heart that had been shattered.

    The Past¡¯s upper body was like a cicada while the lower body was like a heavy shell that dragged it down. The heart was right in the middle. One half of it was red, the other half ck. Currently, Xiang Nuan was standing at the part that was ck. He lifted his head to look at the dying Wen Qing.

    ¡°It is time to bid farewell to the past now.¡±

    Raising both of his hands, Xiang Nuan grabbed the Past¡¯s upper body while his feet were standing on top of the Past¡¯s heavy shell. Once again, he had started to consume the sin that was originally inside the Past¡¯s body. This time, he did not hold back at all. He had transferred all of the bad things that had happened to him to his own body. His legs grew into the heavy shell because the amount of sin consumed continued to increase. The Past¡¯s lower body became scarier and scarier looking. It was covered with spikes and needles, and many screaming faces started to fill up the surface of the shell.

    However, in contrast, since all the sin and bad things had been taken by Xiang Nuan, the Past¡¯s upper body became softer and fuller. The broken wings started to repair themselves and became firmer in existence. Wen Qing, who was dying, slowly regained consciousness. The pain that was brought on by the curse was lessening.

    ¡°I am unable to save your life. This is the only way I can help you. Everyone fears me because I am a Demon God, but I am actually no more than a lonely ghost.¡±

    The voice of ghost fetus came out of Xiang Nuan¡¯s mouth. They were one and the same from the very beginning. The sin was amplifying. Xiang Nuan¡¯s body and legs were sinking and joining with the shell underneath him. His skin was also gradually turning into the appearance of the Past¡¯s shell.

    ¡°My heart is dirty and muddled, filled with pain and dirtiness. I have been searching in the raining night, envious of the sun in other people¡¯s eyes. I have reached out in hell, but no one came to save me until the day you appeared in my life. But at the same time, I was worried of dragging you into the abyss with me.

    ¡°I know what you have been anticipating of me, but I would rather be a patient isted from the world than have you step into my world. You were not supposed to be in this world behind the door.¡±

    By taking on all the sin, Xiang Nuan¡¯s consciousness started to g. Over the past ten years, the Past had consumed too many things in the ck fog, and now Xiang Nuan was going to shoulder all the sin on his own. His consciousness was weakening. His body joined together with the thick, heavy shell, and he would not be able to tear himself away from it anymore.

    When Xiang Nuan sucked away thest shred of the Past¡¯s sin, his consciousness reached its limit. His body waspletely joined to the dark shell. He would never leave this world surrounded by ck fog anymore.

    At the same time, the Past¡¯s upper body opened its wings. Its winged body was soft and gentle, like a miracle in this ck and hopeless world. When Xiang Nuan released his hands, it started to float into the ck fog. But it never intended to leave. It fluttered about the boy like a whale protecting a deserted ind.

 Chapter 1109 - The Demon God who Swallowed a Demon God 2 in 1

    <h4>1109 The Demon God who Swallowed a Demon God 2 in 1</h4>

    The ck fog that spread over the horizon was like an endless expanse of ck sea, and Xiang Nuan was like an ind that was ced at the center of the ocean. By carrying all the sin, his body assimted with the shell of the Past, and he was unable to separate itself from it anymore. His consciousness started to fade, and Xiang Nuan¡¯s eyes focused on the giant whale that swam around him. The sin and curses that were far beyond his limit of eptance consumed his body. The giant shell that was now part of Xiang Nuan was sinking into the world of the ck fog. His skin was starting to turn into the same color of the ground of the world around him.

    The giant whale appeared to be wailing. It sounded like it was calling someone¡¯s name, but Xiang Nuan was unable to hear it anymore. His actions became slower and slower until sin covered his entire body. Hisst shred of consciousness was snuffed out like candle in the night. His lips moved slightly. Xiang Nuan appeared to say something, but no one could hear him clearly.

    Everyone watched as the boy¡¯s body gradually assimted into the shell of the Past, bing part of the world of the ck fog. Thest shred of consciousness was consumed by the ck fog. The ghost fetus carried all his sin and dispersed into nothingness, leaving behind an ind of humanity in the world of the ck fog. The sin of this ce was so heavy that even the ghost in the ck fog did not daree too close to this ce, but the giant and beautiful whale guarded closely beside it. The ck fog was corrupting her body, but she did not mind it at all. The giant body slowly swam around the small ind, sshing away the ck fog that dared toe close to the small ind and blocked away the ck rain that dropped from the sky.

    Chen Ge stood at the rooftop of Jin Hwa Apartments Block A and looked at everything silently until the temperature around him suddenly dropped, and a faded scent of blood drifted into his nostril. Turning his head back, Chen Ge realized that Zhang Ya was standing beside him. She was looking at Xiang Nuan, who had turned into the ind, and Wen Qing, who had morphed into the giant whale. The two stared at this scene for a long time until a pale hand poked out from underneath the Past¡¯s ckened shell. The hand was covered in shredded human faces.

    The faceless doctor struggled to crawl out from under the shell. His coat of blood had already disappeared, his body was covered in wounds, and the faces that were on the coat had now been transferred to his physical body. He was lucky to have survived this ordeal, but the faceless doctor was still not satisfied. He cursed the ghost fetus under his breath while his eyes kept following the giant whale above his head, unblinking.

    ¡°She has not been touched by the influence of sin at all, huh? Has the ghost fetus delivered everything that it has gathered for the past ten years to that woman?¡±

    The faceless doctor¡¯s eyes were overflowing with greed, but before he could take any further action, an extremely scary presence materialized behind him. He whipped his body around, and the expressions of the broken faces on the faceless doctor¡¯s body all changed. He saw Zhang Ya and Chen Ge were standing near him.

    ¡°I know you are targeting the ghost fetus as well. You won¡¯t be able to consume all of the power he¡¯s left behind by yourself, so why don¡¯t we work together?¡± The faceless doctor was very apprehensive of Zhang Ya. He was seriously injured, and the fact that he was still alive was already in itself a miracle, so he had no energy left to fight Zhang Ya.

    ¡°There¡¯s no problem with us working together, but before that, you have to answer a few of my questions honestly.¡± Chen Ge walked out from behind Zhang Ya. When he noticed that the faceless doctor was still alive, he had gotten Zhang Ya to follow him and take a look. The thing that the ghost fetus had given to Wen Qing, Chen Ge did not wish to take away from her, but he was not going to let this Demon God go so easily.

    ¡°What do you want to know?¡± This appeared to be the first time the faceless doctor had conversed with a normal human being. All the faces on his body focused their scary countenance on Chen Ge. The chilling and eerie feeling gripped at Chen Ge¡¯s heart, but to the faceless doctor¡¯s surprise, Chen Ge did not react in any way toward it.

    ¡°The first question, when did you guys start to target the ghost fetus?¡±

    ¡°When he escaped from Jiujiang,¡± the faceless doctor admitted easily. For someone like him, they would do anything for their lives. ¡°We had close surveince on him, so we knew basically everything that he was doing. As long as one¡¯s been a patient of our hospital, they will have the hospital¡¯s curse on them. Even if they manage to escape, in the future, one day, the hospital will appear before them again.¡±

    ¡°In other words, you¡¯ve known for a while that the ghost fetus was hiding inside Xiang Nuan?¡±

    ¡°Of all the nine children selected by the ghost fetus, only Xiang Nuan did not have self-consciousness. He almost died during childbirth. The ghost fetus literally protected his life, but at the same time, he took over his life.¡± The faceless doctor made use of this time to recover. ¡°We not only knew the ghost fetus was hiding inside Xiang Nuan¡ªwe also knew that he was destined to fail. No one can bridge the gap between life and death, so we have been waiting for this veryst moment toe and recapture our patient.¡±

    ¡°Recapture your patient? Before bing your patient, he was my shadow.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s tone made it very difficult to read his thoughts.

    ¡°You wish to use that as leverage to im a greater share? No problem, I only need thirty percent of the power left behind by the ghost fetus. the rest can be yours.¡± It was unclear whether the faceless doctor was trying to stall for time or really thought that way to try to be on Chen Ge¡¯s good side. Either way, the man was not to be trusted.

    ¡°I can give you all the power of the ghost fetus, but I hope you can honestly answer the next few questions that I have.¡± Chen Ge slowly lowered his head so that no one would be able to see his current expression. ¡°Why didn¡¯t the people from your hospital dare appear that freely in Jiujiang? Is there some kind of secret hidden here?¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about? Aren¡¯t I here now? I do not know how to answer this question of yours.¡±

    ¡°Patient 0004, the ghost fetus; Patient 0011, the doctor; and many more patients have hidden in Jiujiang, but over the past ten years, the hospital did not send anyone toe to Jiujiang to recapture them. It was not until recently that you people darede into the territory of Jiujiang. I suspect that it is because the thing that you guys were afraid of has disappeared, so there was nothing to hold you guys back.¡±

    Chen Ge used Yin Yang Vision to the extreme. His head tilted up slowly and captured all the expressions of the faces on the doctor.

    The faceless doctor did not speak. All the faces on his body were all looking back at Chen Ge. After a few minutes, the faceless doctor finally admitted, ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right. Before this, we were not allowed to enter Jiujiang freely because of a curse, or rather, it was more of a deal. But now that curse has been abolished.¡±

    ¡°It has been abolished?¡±

    ¡°Yes, because the party that created the curse is now dead.¡± The faceless doctor was also closely following the change in Chen Ge¡¯s expression.

    ¡°Do you know the name of the party who created the curse?¡±

    ¡°It was a husband and wife, but as for their names and appearance, these details are only known to the hospital director.¡± This was not the first time that the faceless doctor had mentioned the hospital director. It appeared like he had great respect and admiration for the director from the bottom of his heart.

    ¡°How does one get to meet the hospital director?¡± Chen Ge asked expressionlessly. No one was able to tell what he was thinking.

    ¡°The only known method for now is to be one of the patients, and you will have to be one of the patients ranked in the top ten.¡± The faceless doctor did not appear like he was lying. He gave it some serious thought before he provided Chen Ge with the method that was most easily achieved.

    ¡°Onest question, as a Demon God, the ghost fetus was only ranked number four at your hospital. How scary are the first three patients? Tell me everything that you know about them.¡±

    ¡°I am sorry, but the details of the three patients are themselves part of the curse. Once you mention them, bad things will happen.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like you are not prepared to answer my questions anymore...¡±

    ¡°Actually I have already told you many things, but you have to understand that the more you know, the more dangerous your situation will be.¡± The faceless doctor had slowly recovered. Even the shredded faces on his body were slowlying back together.

    Chen Ge had chatted with the faceless doctor for a long time, and thetter had merely been brushing off the former. Even though the faceless doctor had technically answered all of Chen Ge¡¯s questions, none of the answers that he gave were clear and traceable. But even so, Chen Ge managed to derive the information that he wanted from their conversation.

    My parents have formed some kind of deal with the cursed hospital, their disappearance therefore has to be rted to this hospital!

    With that point confirmed, the rest did not matter that much to Chen Ge. Now, he only wanted to do one thing, and that was to kill the faceless doctor as soon as possible, to tear open his soul and deprive him of the chance to survive. This way, the cursed hospital would lose the power of one Demon God!

    ¡°I have answered all your questions. We have just experienced a bloody war; now is the time to enjoy the spoil of war.¡± The faceless doctor¡¯s greedy gaze moved to fall on the giant whale. He desperately needed the power left behind by the ghost fetus to help with his own convalescence.

    ¡°I can give you all the energy that is left behind by the ghost fetus, but...¡± Chen Ge flipped open theic as he took a step back. ¡°You will have to be alive to enjoy it!¡±

    Both Xiao Bu and the red high heels appeared at the same time. They guarded beside Chen Ge while Zhang Ya made her move toward the faceless doctor as if on cue. The faceless doctor had done a lot of preparation to deal with the ghost fetus, but that preparation was never meant for Zhang Ya, and he had suffered heavy wounds from his battle with the rag doll and then the Past.

    The battle between the two pushed away the ck fog. This was for the first time Chen Ge had seen the power of a Demon God up close, and it was on apletely different level from a Red Specter. The battle took much longer than Chen Ge anticipated. The faceless doctor was scarily resilient. His body was broken again and again, but he always found a way to recover himself. During the battle, he even tried toe after Chen Ge several times, to attempt to use Chen Ge as leverage to threaten Zhang Ya, like how he used Wen Qing to limit the ghost fetus, but he was stopped every time by the red high heels and Xiao Bu.

    Chen Ge was not Wen Qing. With strong mental acuity and the protection of several Red Specters, he even dared to use his employees¡¯ special powers to help intervene between the fight of the two Demon Gods. The faceless doctor fought with everything he had, and that exposed some of Zhang Ya¡¯s problems. She could not use other people¡¯s powers for too long because it would cause serious damage to her own body.

    The two fought until the very end. Bloody rain rained down on the residential area. The faceless doctor was ultimately trapped inside the projection of the red city by Zhang Ya. The congealed resentment burst through the ck fog. The Specters did not dare move close to this ce. They did not dare step onto the ind. When the bloody rain stopped, the faceless doctor had disappeared without a trace, and only Zhang Ya stood alone amid the sea of red.

    ¡°The ghost fetus had already heavily injured the faceless doctor, but even so, Zhang Ya had to sacrifice a lot before she managed to trap and kill the faceless doctor. Looks like it is not that simple to kill a Demon God.¡± The sea of red slowly ebbed. The red city also disappeared along with it. The faceless doctor¡¯s body reappeared on the ground like a beached carcass. ck curses still travelled on his body. The man¡¯s soul had been broken and shattered, but his body appeared to still be alive in some weird way.

    ¡°Even though the faceless doctor, Zhang Ya, and the ghost fetus are all Demon Gods, the faceless doctor gives off a different feeling from the other Demon Gods. He appears to be slightly weaker than Zhang Ya and the ghost fetus. His presence is not that stable.¡±

    The faceless doctor must have other secrets hidden on him, but Chen Ge did not n to ask for more details. He nned to hand the faceless doctor over to Zhang Ya, and he hoped that through that, Zhang Ya would have a new breakthrough in her power.

    ¡°As the scariest presence at the haunted house, Zhang Ya getting stronger will only benefit everyone. Furthermore, she killed the faceless doctor. It¡¯s only fair that she should get the freedom to deal with the doctor.¡±

    Chen Ge was the kind of person who would focus on a single path to the end. Along his journey, he had practically poured all the resources that he had obtained into Zhang Ya. That was why Zhang Ya had been able to morph from a normal Red Specter to a Top Red Specter and then breakthrough to be a Demon God in such a short period of time. Walking out from the sea of blood, Zhang Ya stopped beside Chen Ge. She nced at the ghost fetus, who had turned into an ind, and then moved her eyes to follow Wen Qing, who had been transformed into a giant whale, before her eyes finally fell on Chen Ge.

    The resentment and despair that were palpable in her eyes slowly faded away. This time, Zhang Ya did not return directly into Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. She seemed to be touched by the scene before them and stood silently beside Chen Ge to observe it. Both Zhang Ya and the ghost fetus were Demon Gods, but their experiences and lives werepletely different.

    The ghost fetus had spent his whole life struggling. Everyone feared him as a Demon God until he met Wen Qing, but by then, he had made too many mistakes. His love was like an abyss. Even he did not dare let Wen Qing get too close to him. Inparison, Zhang Ya was much luckier. At the very early part of her ¡®life¡¯, she was given the chance to meet Chen Ge. No matter how other people viewed her, in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, Zhang Ya was always Zhang Ya.

    ¡°It¡¯s finally over.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at Zhang Ya beside him. The female teacher who held out the umbre for him in the rain from his memory ovepped with the person before him. He raised his hand subconsciously to reach out to touch Zhang Ya¡¯s cold fingers. Zhang Ya did not shy away. She pulled back all her presence. At that moment, she was like a normal person. Chen Ge nudged closer to Zhang Ya. Just as he was about to hold her hand, a man¡¯s excited scream came from behind him.

    ¡°Brother! You are still alive! I¡¯ve found your cat! Can you believe it?¡± Xiao Sun carried the white cat as he raced out of Jin Hwa Apartments Block A. His face was in with excitement to have been able to survive until now!

    He practically flew toward Chen Ge. He did not notice that the Red Specters present had all stayed away from Chen Ge. Even the white cat that was trapped in his embrace was struggling as best he could as Xiao Sun moved toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°Do you know how afraid I was earlier? I think I heard the sound of your big sister. I was really worried about you guys...¡± Xiao Sun held onto the white cat and refused to let go. It was not until he got close to Chen Ge that he realized the woman in the red dress next to Chen Ge was not Wen Qing. ¡°Brother? Where is your sister? The one who has been following you earlier was not her?¡±

    Xiao Sun¡ªwho had moved into a demon¡¯s apartment alone, who had voiced his analysis out loud in a crowd of murderers, who had treaded the territory of murderers and madmen in one night¡ªhad unlocked a new level of fearlessness.

    At that moment, Chen Ge really did not know how to answer. The white cat in Xiao Sun¡¯s embrace had already given up its struggle. The expression on its face seemed to say, Just let me die.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s a long story...¡± Before Chen Ge could say anything, the presence that Zhang Ya pulled back earlier exploded. The ck fog around them was sted back, and the ground beneath them cracked. But actually, all Zhang Ya did was pull her hair back behind her ears.

    Xiao Sun sat down to the ground. It appeared like his soul had left his body. The white cat was convulsing in his arms. Its eyes appeared to be watering.

    The Red Specters who had dispersed several hundred meters away were all busy with their own things. Some of them were studying the monsters in the ck fog, some were trying to poke through the ghost fetus¡¯ shell, and some were just looking up at the sky.

    The water ghost, who was the haunted house¡¯stest ¡®involuntary¡¯ worker, only took a nce this way before he was pulled away by Men Nan. ¡°Well, just pay attention to someone like Xiao Sun, remember to stay away from him. Otherwise, one day, when he¡¯s struck by lightning, even if you¡¯re not caught in the st, you¡¯ll be covered in his blood.¡±

 Chapter 1110 - Rewards from Completing the Mission 2 in 1

    <h4>1110 Rewards from Completing the Mission 2 in 1</h4>

    Chen Ge reconstructed the events that transpired and resolved the misunderstanding. Zhang Ya also returned to Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. She had used other people¡¯s powers way too many times and had fought two Demon Gods consecutively, so her body was already at its limit. To kill the faceless doctor, Zhang Ya had paid a lot, butpared to the reward, everything was worth it. Just how scary a Demon God who had swallowed another Demon God would be, Chen Ge did not dare even imagine it. At least hecked a target forparison.

    ¡°Come on, Xiao Sun.¡± Chen Ge helped Xiao Sun, whose body was still shaking, up from the ground. ¡°If you are still alive in real life, I feel like I can make use of your luck to scam the insurancepany. I will use every penny I have to help you set up a life insurance.¡±

    Xiao Sun¡¯s expression was not that natural. During this moment when he was not himself, the white cat quickly struggled loose from his arms and jumped out to hide behind Chen Ge like it was greatly wronged. All the employees had gathered back together. They stood on the ind that was transformed by the ghost fetus and lifted their heads to look at the giant whale that was swimming through the sea of ck fog.

    Chen Ge tried many methods, but he failed tomunicate with Wen Qing. At this moment, even though Wen Qing had acquired all the ghost fetus¡¯ power, untainted by the curses, her consciousness was not strong enough to support it. She was merely acting on instinct for now.

    ¡°Looks like she is not going to leave this ce.¡± Chen Ge looked at the giant whale above them and the wings that fluttered behind her.

    ¡°If she continues to stay here, what will eventually happen to her?¡± Even though Xiao Sun had not spent much time with Wen Qing, he could sense that Wen Qing was a good person.

    ¡°Have you heard of something called whale fall?¡± Chen Ge answered as if to himself without turning around. ¡°After a whale dies and sinks down to the depths of the ocean, its body will decay to help provide nutrients to the barren ocean floor.¡±

    ¡°But what does that have to do with her?¡±

    ¡°The giant whale, I believe, will continue to protect this ind until the end of her life. When that day arrives, she will copse on this ind formed by the ghost fetus and provide a bit of hope and life to this painful and despairing world.¡± Chen Ge turned around. With his many employees and Zhang Ya following close behind, he was able to empathize greatly with that feeling. ¡°We should prepare to leave. The sun should being up outside the door already.¡±

    The ghost fetus¡¯ four-star trial mission had spanned nine days and nine nights, and it had pushed Chen Ge¡¯s physical body to its limit. His body temperature was far lower than a normal person¡¯s, and he was in a very bad state. Chen Ge had also only just noticed the problem. After Wen Qing turned into a giant whale, Chen Ge became the only living person behind the door, but his body temperature was no different from the ¡®people¡¯ around him.

    The ck fog, the curse, the remaining blood vessels, Chen Ge desperately needed a rest. The employees started to search for the ghost fetus¡¯ door amid the wastnd. The red high heels made use of this time to madly consume the curses that were left behind by the ghost fetus. When the ghost fetus separated the Past¡¯s body, he had given all the pure and beautiful things to Wen Qing while he suffered all the sin on his own. Endless curses that Wen Qing could not support lingered around the ind.

    A curse was something that even a normal Red Specter would not dare approach; only the red high heel would be able to absorb and use them. Chen Ge had no idea how many curses the ghost fetus had left behind. He only understood that the red high heels, who had swallowed all the ghost fetus¡¯ curses, was now even scarier than Xiao Bu, and this was when she was trying to reign herself in.

    ¡°It is surprising that the ultimate winner will be the red high heels. When shepletely digests the ghost fetus¡¯ curse, she might be able to breakthrough the limitations of a Red Specter.¡±

    It was not easy to be a Demon God. Chen Ge did not expect the red high heels to break through the barrier so easily. Then again, this kind of thing could not be forced. A journey of a thousand miles would begin with a single step, after all.

    After the ghost fetus¡¯ consciousness dissipated, most of the original tenants behind the door had disappeared, but Chen Ge realized something quite interesting; Xiao Sun did not disappear. In fact, other than Xiao Sun, there were some original tenants in the ruins who had survived. Chen Ge predicted that it was because the people who had died in real life probably had their soul transported into this world behind the door by the ghost fetus, and those who were still alive in the real world had their facsimiles created by the ghost fetus based on his own memory behind the door. Thus, they were not real per se.

    Inside Jin Hwa Apartments Block A, the elder who was tasked with guarding the first floor and Granny Lee who was abandoned by her son had both disappeared. This was, in a way, good news because at least it meant that they were still alive in the real world, and there was a chance for their tragedy to be salvaged and their wounds to be healed. Chen Ge and the Red Specter employees herded all the tenants who were lucky enough to survive into theic. They also found some of the objects left behind by the ghost fetus in the ruins. All of them were surfeited with extremely scary curses. All those objects were handed over to the red high heels to look after. When the curses on them had been fully cleansed, Chen Ge would go and inspect them.

    After looking for a full hour, the employees basically had dug three feet into the ground, but they still failed to find the ghost fetus¡¯ door. Everyone had gathered around Chen Ge around, and the atmosphere was quite dampened.

    ¡°How are we supposed to leave this ce without a door?¡±

    ¡°Why would the ghost fetus¡¯ door disappear just like that? Theoretically speaking, even if the door pusher is dead, the door will go out of control until a new door pusher appears to take his ce.¡±

    ¡°We need to calm down.¡± Chen Ge looked at the ind that was morphed by the ghost fetus, and he was reminded of Doctor Gao at the underground morgue. At the time, Doctor Gao had also chosen to take on all the sin behind the door. When he made that choice, the door in the underground morgue had been destroyed. That memory was still fresh to Chen Ge. The underground morgue behind the door started to crumble, and it was also the first time he had been given a glimpse of the red city. ¡°When the door pusher chooses to take on the sin behind the door, the door will be destroyed.¡±

    ¡°The door is destroyed? How are we supposed to leave this ce? Don¡¯t tell me, we are forever trapped inside this world of ck fog?¡±

    If they were trapped inside the red city, things would not have been so bad. After all, there would be other doors at the red city, and they could use those to return to the real world, but this ce waspletely surrounded by ck fog. Jin Hwa Apartments and Jiu Hong Apartments were like the only ind amid a ck sea. There was only one door here.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me we have to traverse the ck fog to go in search of that red city?¡± Men Nan grumbled with a bitter face. ¡°I personally do not mind it myself, but can your body go through something like that?¡±

    ¡°It does not matter that the ghost fetus¡¯ door has been destroyed. We still have another door with us.¡± Chen Ge removed his shirt to expose the ghastly spider tattoo on his back. He summoned out the tunneldy¡¯s son. ¡°There is a door inside his body. We can return to the real world through that door.¡±

    Behind surrounded by multiple Red Specters, the Spider Boy was surprisingly nervous. He was afraid that Chen Ge might suddenly decide to turn on him. To let the boy calm down and earn his trust, Chen Ge found the Tunnel Lady and asked her to helpmunicate with her son. The Tunnel Lady¡¯s son gave Chen Ge a concrete reply. They could indeed leave this ce through the door in his body, but once they left, they probably would never be able toe back. The ghost fetus¡¯ door had been destroyed, and the only other door was inside the Spider Boy¡¯s body. They could leave through it, but it also meant that Wen Qing and the ghost fetus would be left stranded here forever.

    Hearing that, Chen Ge once again tried to yell up at the sky to try to transmit his voice, but unfortunately, the whale that Wen Qing had changed into only had animalistic instincts left in her. They hesitated for quite some time on the ind before finally deciding to leave. Xiang Nuan and Wen Qing¡¯s story would forever be sealed inside the endless world of the ck fog. One day, perhaps someone would find an ind filled with blooming flowers amid the sea of despair.

    Pulling all the employees except the Spider Boy into theic, Chen Ge picked up the white cat, gave this world onest nce, and took his parting steps. ck water washed all over his body as he walked through dreamscapes that were constructed by spider webs. It felt like his worlds were turning. When Chen Ge opened his eyes again, he was already inside Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s White Dragon Tunnel. After leaving the world behind the door, Chen Ge copsed directly to the ground. He coughed out a great amount of ck blood. His face was deathly pale, and green veins pulsed under his skin. Many thin, ck threads crawled toward his heart.

    At this dangerous moment, the red high heels materialized beside Chen Ge. The bandages on her body had peeled off a lot, and the curses that covered her body transformed into blood vessels before they travelled tond on Chen Ge¡¯s arm. After coughing out several mouthfuls of ck fog, a light mist of ck fog dissipated from inside Chen Ge¡¯s body. It then turned into the shape of nine children. With maximum power shown by the red high heels, it took quite some time before all nine children were taken care of.

    ¡°Looks like I spent too long inside the world of the ck fog. The ghost fetus must¡¯ve nted some curse on me when I first entered the door.¡± Chen Ge leaned against the tunnel wall and sat on the ground. He gasped hungrily for air. ¡°Thankfully, the red high heels has inherited most of the ghost fetus¡¯ curse, and she was there to help neutralize the curse that was nted on me by the ghost fetus.¡±

    The curse had been broken, but Chen Ge¡¯s body temperature was still much lower than a normal person¡¯s. After this entry into the world of the ck fog, his body temperature had sunk to a new low. This appeared to be an irrevocable process.

    ¡°Oh well, now is not the time to worry about that. What I need to do now is go and get a good, well-deserved rest.¡± The ghost fetus had sacrificed himself to protect Wen Qing. The sword that dangled over Chen Ge had now been removed. He did not need to worry day in and day out anymore, passing his days in constant fear for his life.

    ¡°Zhang Ya did not appear to go into hibernation this time. Even if the people from the cursed hospitale at me, I have confidence that I can make their journey a one-way trip.¡±

    Actually, Chen Ge anticipated the people from the cursed hospitaling to find him. With each Red Specter that he took down, the other party¡¯s power would be further limited.

    ¡°Even though the faceless doctor told me that my parents are dead, if I think about it seriously, if my parents are really dead, the cursed hospital would not have sent their weakest Demon God toe and recapture the ghost fetus, so the faceless doctor¡¯s words cannot be trusted fully. Therefore, what I needed to do next is locate my parents and...¡± Chen Ge took out the ck phone from his pocket. ¡°... get to the bottom of the truth regarding this phone.¡±

    After Chen Ge left the world of ck fog, the ck phone kept vibrating. It appeared like he had received multiple messages at the same time. Sliding open the screen, Chen Ge read through the messages inside the abandoned tunnel.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specter¡¯s Favored, forpleting the four-star Trial Mission ¡®Ghost Fetus¡¯!

    ¡°Missionpletion rate is eighty percent! Extra reward obtained, The Handbook to Jiujiang¡¯s Psychopaths!

    ¡°The Handbook to Jiujiang¡¯s Psychopaths (Unique Item): All the psychopaths, madmen, and murderers that you have encountered will be recorded inside this! How scary this handbook will be is dependent fully on your own life experience.

    ¡°Optional mission of the highest difficulty, Salvation,pleted! Unlocked unique infrastructure¡ªJiu Hong Apartments (The World of ck Fog)!

    ¡°Jiu Hong Apartments (Thergest unique infrastructure in terms of size): The ghost fetus reced you as the ninth child. Jiu Hong Apartments is a reconstruction of the ghost fetus¡¯ past. It has been watching every single soul that enters the residential area. Will you choose salvation, or will you be dragged further into the abyss by the ghost fetus?¡±

    When Chen Ge read until this point, he paused for a moment. When hepleted the highest difficulty quest at the School of the Afterlife, he also obtained a unique infrastructure¡ªThe Red Specters¡¯ Art Room. The art room contained thirteen different paintings left behind by thirteen Red Specters. It was a scary ce. Now that he hadpleted the ghost fetus¡¯ mission, he had obtained yet another unique infrastructure. This ce was rted to the ghost fetus, and the ck phone even specifically pointed out that this ce was tied to the world of the ck fog. These warnings caused Chen Ge to be careful. After all, he had to keep in mind that the ghost fetus was ultimately a Demon God.

    ¡°Before I can open the ce to the visitors, I will need to go through the scenario to experience it once for myself first for the sake of safety.¡±

    Clicking open the next unread message, Chen Ge continued to read.

    ¡°Optional mission, Jiang Ming,pleted! Your talent, Ghost Ear, has been greatly improved. Unlocked a new scenario, The Soundless Home.

    ¡°Optional mission, Ying Tong,pleted! Your talent, Yin Yang Vision, has been greatly improved. Unlocked a new scenario, Spire of Darkness.

    ¡°Optional mission, Yu Jian,pleted! Zhang Ya¡¯s affection level has increased! Unlocked a new scenario, the Haunted Avenue.

    ¡°Optional mission, Wu Sheng,pleted! Obtained a unique item, the skin tailor¡¯s Costume! Unlocked a new scenario, Voiceless Small Town.

    ¡°Skin Tailor¡¯s Costume: At midnight, you will encounter such a person in the Voiceless Small Town. His whole body is covered in thick fabric. His clothes are sewn together by different fabrics, and they are stuck to his body like his second skin.

    ¡°Optional mission, Xiang Nuan,pleted! A new life force has been injected into your body. You have been resuscitated by a long-awaited warmth! Unlocked a new scenario, Death Apartment.

    ¡°Optional mission, Fang Yu,pleted! Unlocked a new scenario, White Orphanage! Other than that, you will receive a hint regarding your own memory! The hint only consists of one paragraph, but it will be immensely important to you.

    ¡°Hint of your own memory: When the dayes, should you have to forget everything, what will be thest thing you wish to forget? Hold on fast to it. It will bring you back to find your real self!

    ¡°Optional mission, Liu Wen,pleted! Unlocked a new scenario, House of Strange Odors.

    ¡°Optional mission, Se Xin,pleted! Unlocked a new scenario, The Room of My Heart.¡±

    All the children selected by the ghost fetus represented a side mission. Thebination of all these scenarios made the real ghost fetus¡¯ scenario. To Chen Ge¡¯s slight surprise, even though he had not done the missions rted to Liu Wen and Se Xin, the scenarios represented by the two children had been normally unlocked as well. He was not given any extra rewards for them, though. The rewards forpleting a four-star mission were extremely lucrative. Chen Ge was still not yet done reading through the messages.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored! The ghost fetus¡¯ Trial Mission¡¯spletion rate is at eighty percent!

    ¡°Red Specters¡¯ Favored, congrattions for sessfully unlocking the four-star scary scenario, Ghost Fetus! The scenario is made up of nine normal scenarios and one hidden scenario! Please inspect them closely before opening them up to the public!

    ¡°Warning! You are already in possession of two four-star scenarios. The haunted house will upgrade from a Maze of Terror into a Theme Park of Despair! The expansion will bepleted at midnight tomorrow!

    ¡°Congrattions Red Specters¡¯ Favored for sessfully upgrading your haunted house into a Theme Park of Despair. You will obtain a unique infrastructure¡ªthe Door of Salvation!

    ¡°Door of Salvation (Extremely rare and one-off unique infrastructure): The most beautiful ident is often hidden in the deepest despair! This Door of Salvation is hidden somewhere inside the Theme Park of Despair! Push it open, and you will understand the true meaning of salvation!¡±

 Chapter 1111 - Take Good Care of Yourself 2 in 1

    <h4>1111 Take Good Care of Yourself 2 in 1</h4>

    The rewards forpleting the four-star scenario were far greater than a three-star scenario¡¯s. Even Chen Ge needed quite some time before he went through everything and managed to memorize all the information inside his mind. ¡°The things mentioned by the ck phone are too general. I will have to return to the haunted house to see what these rewards are for myself.¡±

    His finger slid across the many messages. Looking at the numeral new scenarios that had just been unlocked, Chen Ge sighed a long sigh from the bottom of his heart. ¡°This time, my visitors sure are lucky. They only need to spend a few RMB to experience a scary atmosphere created by a Demon God. Where else are you going to find a steal like that?¡±

    The haunted house had been upgraded to be a Theme Park of Despair. Its general sense of horror would continue to increase, and the authenticity level would increase as well. Sometimes, Chen Ge would even have a feeling that he was back behind the door when he was walking through his own haunted house. ¡°When the haunted house reaches its final upgrade, perhaps the line between the world outside the door and the world inside the door might be blurred. It will be a kind of a pitstop between the living and the dead.¡±

    When he put the ck phone away, Chen Ge had regained some strength. He surveyed his surroundings. The red high heels had returned to her original form. The woman who was covered in bandages was staring closely at the giant spider that was dangling upside down on the ceiling of the tunnel. The Tunnel Lady¡¯s son was covered in cobwebs and blood vessels. It appeared that the door inside his body could not be opened recklessly; it would cause serious harm to the boy¡¯s body. Of all the Red Specters that had followed Chen Ge into the world of ck fog, it was the Spider Boy who was most injured because of this.

    ¡°One has to be pay that greatly to leave the world of the ck fog, huh?¡± Chen Ge tried tomunicate with the Spider Boy, but the boy was not in the mood to respond to Chen Ge. He was too busy focusing on the effort to remove the curse and the ck fog that lingered inside his body.

    ¡°Even though the ghost fetus has been eliminated, I have also gained some very bad news from the faceless doctor. The cursed hospital that is much scarier than the ghost fetus can now freely enter and leave Jiujiang. In your current state, if theye to find you, I am afraid you will not be able to survive the encounter. How about...¡± Chen Ge was silent for a while for his proposed suggestion to sink in. ¡°How about you follow me for now? You can return to this ce when your wounds are healed.¡±

    The Tunnel Lady¡¯s son was dangling from the roof of the tunnel. For some reason, he was struck by a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. He felt like he had already heard the words that Chen Ge was saying some time ago.

    ¡°Most of the dreams that you have umted inside the tunnel have been destroyed. It is very dangerous for you to stay here, especially in your current weakened state.¡± Chen Ge nced at the giant spider above his head. ¡°You have helped me kill the ghost fetus, and it was me who was responsible for the wounds currently on your body. I hope you will give me a chance to rpensate for what you have sacrificed for me. My haunted house has a Red Specter who specializes in curing curses. She will aid you in your treatment. When your body is full recovered, you cane back to this tunnel any time you want. When you are a guest at my haunted house, you will be treated like an esteemed guest. As a matter of fact, you might even experience some good memories there.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s words were very sincere, and there was nothing that was too out of ce in his request. It was a simple story of a man repaying someone who had lent him a hand. As if to help Chen Ge in his persuasion, the red high heels reached out to ce her hand on one of the spider¡¯s appendages. In just ten seconds, a spray of ck mist evaporated from the spider¡¯s body, and the Spider Boy appeared much better. After giving it a long thought, the Tunnel Lady¡¯s son decided to give Chen Ge this opportunity to repay him. After all, it would take far too long for him to cure himself of the curses on his own.

    ¡°The child trusts me so implicitly. I must not fail his trust.¡± Chen Ge looked at the giant spider that had crawled back onto his back. ¡°With a door inside his body, this talent is exceptionally unique and overpowered. Without him, I might have been trapped in the world of the ck fog forever and would have no means to leave at all.¡±

    Chen Ge wanted to keep the Tunnel Lady¡¯s Son at his haunted house. Compared to the cold and eerie White Dragon Tunnel, Chen Ge felt that his haunted house was a far betterir for the boy. At least he would be able to get endless negative emotions and screams without actually harming anyone there.

    Carrying his backpack, Chen Ge led the white cat and walked out from White Dragon Tunnel.

    ¡°Of those who know about the Spider Boy¡¯s talent, other than my own employees, the rest either already have their souls destroyed or are forever left behind in the world of the ck fog. In other words, this is a trump card that my enemy still do not know I have. When I have to deal with the cursed hospital in the future, the Spider Boy might yet have the chance to shine.¡±

    The sunlight showered down on his body. The warmth of the sun finally made the man give out a sigh of relief. His heart that was strung taut finally had the chance to rx.

    ¡°Did you find something to eat behind the door? Howe it feels like you have gotten fatter again?¡±

    ...

    Chen Ge returned to New Century Park at around 8:50 am. By then, a lot of visitors had already queued up outside the theme park¡¯s entrance. Most of them were there for Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house. Seeing the crowd gettingrger andrger but Chen Ge who had the key to the haunted house still not appearing, Uncle Xu, Xu Wan, and the rest were desperate enough to want to call the cops. ¡°I am so sorry. I left in such a hurryst night that my phone ran out of battery.¡±

    As Chen Ge apologized, he quickly unlocked the haunted house¡¯s gate. When he left the previous night, he had taken all of the useable Specters with him. All that remained at the haunted house were some lingering spirits.

    ¡°As long as you are safe, everything is fine.¡± Compared to the business, everyone, including Uncle Xu, was more worried about Chen Ge. Over the past few days, they had all noticed how tired and lethargic Chen Ge was looking. After entering the haunted house, Chen Ge first had Xu Wan lead the team to the dressing room while he summoned out Yan Danian and Ol¡¯ Zhou and had them take theic and reassign all the employees to their posts.

    Chen Ge was so busy that he did not even have the chance to stay for a chat. He hurried to help with other people¡¯s makeup. With some rushing here and pulling there, they finally managed to open for business right on time. Currently, the haunted house had many yable scenarios. It could allow more than one hundred visitors to enter it at the same time. As the operating hours lengthened, the number of visitors who had sessfully cleared the three-star scenario had increased, and so everyone had their eyes now on the four-star scenarios.

    Both online and offline, on all sorts of forums, there were predictions on who would be the first person to clear Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house¡¯s four-star scenario. The haunted house app that Director Luo had made specifically for Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house also became quite a popr download. Naturally, most of the haunted house aficionados would download it, but other than them, the greater number of download came from various ¡®cloud¡¯ users.

    This batch of users did not daree to challenge the haunted house on their own, but they enjoy watching other visitors go into the Haunted house in their stead. The app had a forum where the visitors were allowed to share their visitation experience, and these strange and scary stories had be a kind of source of joy and interest for this batch of ¡®cloud¡¯ visitors. Other than the sharing of the visitors, Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house was now also popr enough to attract the attention of many online celebrities. Chen Ge naturally weed these people, and he even allowed some of them to record a video during their visitation provided that the request was not too over the line.

    The inte celebrities came to the haunted house for clicks, and the haunted house relied on these people of influence to spread its fame. They would both benefit from this rtionship. Of course, the most important reason was because Chen Ge was not afraid that his secret would be exposed. The speed by which he unlocked the new scenarios was far beyond his visitors¡¯ speed to explore them. This was something that was unprecedented in the haunted house industry.

    Furthermore, even if the visitors had gone through all the guides and videos and came over to visit, expecting to clear the scenario, when they were inside the haunted house in person, they would realize that everything was different from what they had imagined. The atmosphere, sense of horror, and real ghosts were not things that could be captured through the lens of a camera. For an example, if the horror feeling felt through the video was at a ten, the feeling one would have when experiencing the horrors inside the video in person would be at a hundred or even more. This was why some of the visitors felt so scammed by the guides that they saw.

    The poprity of Director Luo¡¯s app that aided the haunted house made the futuristic theme park copy him ande up with the same strategy. They spent a lot of money on the marketing for the app, but the effect was not as good as they expected. There were many reasons behind this, but one of the reason was that the futuristic theme park would never show their haunted house¡¯s ranking to the public because they did not wish for the public to know that their haunted house had been grabbed and ground on the floor by a certain someone, not once but twice.

    ¡°Now that the issue with the ghost fetus has been handled, I can finally give myself a good rest.¡± Chen Ge handed the responsibility to look after the visitors over to Ol¡¯ Zhou and Duan Yue while he squirreled into the staff breakroom. Closing the curtain, Chen Ge took out theic that Yan Danian had just returned to him. He released Xiao Sun and the other remaining tenants from behind the door. Surveying the new and strange environment, Xiao Sun was much more honest this time. He rubbed his eyes, and the young man seemed to sense that something was wrong.

    ¡°Xiao Sun, I have something that I need to tell you.¡± Chen Ge sat at the side of the bed as he rubbed the white cat on its head. ¡°Actually, you are already dead.¡±

    When Chen Ge said that, not only Xiao Sun, even the rest of the original tenants behind the door had very strange expressions.

    ¡°I need you to really think about it.¡± Chen Ge took out several pieces of white paper and pens and ced them on the table. Then, he summoned out Zhang Yi from theic to help these tenants recover their original memory. The memory of being murdered was naturally the most painful memory. The tenants¡¯ faces paled instantly, and they refused to ept that they were already dead. Of course, that would be a hard pill for anyone to swallow.

    ¡°Life that has been lost cannot be recovered, but the only thing that I can do is help you find your murderers and offer them to the police.¡± Chen Ge pointed at the stack of paper on the table. ¡°Write down the name of your murderers and the exact details of your murders. I know how cruel that must be, but this is the only way I can bring you justice.¡±

    After Chen Ge said that, some of the ¡®people¡¯ started to move to the table and write. In the end, only Xiao Sun stood where he was.

    ¡°What is the problem? Do you not feel well?¡±

    ¡°It is not that.¡± Xiao Sun shook his head. He hesitated for a long time before he spoke. ¡°I actually ran away from home. I remember now it was because my family did not support my career in music...¡±

    ¡°You wish to go back to see them.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I will take you home this afternoon. Why don¡¯t you write down your original address on the paper as well?¡± Chen Ge turned to the other tenants. ¡°I will also help the rest of you fulfill any regrets or final wishes that you have. Please do write them all down.¡±

    Overwhelmed by drowsiness, Chen Ge ced the white cat and Xiaoxiao next to the bed and then slumped down to sleep. His body had reached its limit long ago. He slept until noon. Chen Ge sat up and went to collect the paper on the table. He then asked the tenants some questions one by one before he sent them all back into theic.

    ¡°This is truly a tragedy. Some people have achieved unimaginable sess due to their unflinching obsession, but others became ghosts with human skin due to the same reason.¡± After he read all the information left behind by the original tenants, he took out the ck phone because it had a few more unread messages on it.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored, for gaining a new employee¡ªSun Xiaojun (Cursed Seed): A walking attraction for bad luck. He is a very special Specter. The ghost fetus once considered using him as one of the candidates, but due to various idents, the ghost fetus ultimately chose to forgo him. In a way, that was the luckiest thing that ever happened to him.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored, for gaining a new employee¡ªHuang Mei (Baleful Specter): A soul that was dragged into the door by the ghost fetus. Due to her resemnce to Wen Qing, the ghost fetus never harmed her.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored, for gaining a new employee...¡±

    Chen Ge gained seven new workers. However, these employees did not have much loyalty toward him or the haunted house, and they had not been given professional training, so Chen Ge did not n on letting them ¡®interact¡¯ with the visitors for the time being. ¡°After I help the other tenants with theirst wishes, I probably will have more employees who are willing to join me.¡±

    After taking a whole morning of rest, Chen Ge still felt incredibly tired. He went to the toilet to wash his face, and then he collected all the evidence and documents that he had so far and shoved them into his backpack.

    ¡°I need to go to the police station to file these cases and hand the information over to the police. Then I shall bring the new employees to have a reunion with their family.¡± Chen Ge had already nned the rest of his day.

    ¡°Finally, things can go back to normal for a day.¡± Just as he said that, the phone that was charging suddenly rang. When he saw the caller ID, Chen Ge¡¯s expression twisted with disbelief. ¡°Lee Zheng? I haven¡¯t gone to find him, yet he is already calling me on his own?¡±

    Taking the call, Lee Zheng¡¯s voice came from the other side of the line. ¡°Chen Ge, where are you now? And howe your phone was switched off all ofst night?¡±

    ¡°I was at... how about we talk about this in person?¡±

    ¡°I am afraid you will have toe and see me in person whether you like it or not.¡± Lee Zheng¡¯s tone was extremely severe. ¡°The blind man who stayed with you at the mental hospital before this, he diedst night. It was a horrible death. I need you toe to the People¡¯s Hospital of Jiujiang as soon as possible!¡±

    ¡°Chang Gu is dead?¡± Chen Ge was so distracted by the ghost fetus that he had almost forgotten about Chang Gu. Now that he was given this sudden news, his brain was struck numb. He was still expecting Chang Gu to help him finish a movie.

    ¡°Okay, I will be there in a minute!¡±

    After exining the situation to Uncle Xu, Chen Ge carried his backpack, hailed a cab, and hurried to the People¡¯s Hospital. One of the sickrooms on the second floor at the hospital had been cordoned off. Chen Ge was only given entry after he dropped Lee Zheng¡¯s name.

    Pushing open the door, Chen Ge was hit by an extremely cold presence. He narrowed his eyes, and he realized that Chang Gu was just standing behind the curtain. The man was expressionless. One of Chang Gu¡¯s eyes had been dug out, and his other eye waspletely white. At that moment, Lee Zheng and two police officers as well as two medical workers were inside the room. When they saw Chen Ge walk in, they directly surrounded Chen Ge.

    ¡°Brother Zheng, what time did Chang Gu diest night? Do you suspect that this is a homicide?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes nced toward the curtain. Chang Gu did not seem to notice that Chen Ge was looking at him.

    ¡°The patient woke up at around midnightst night. His eyes started to bleed, and he kept screaming a person¡¯s name. Then he wentpletely silent. We tried our best to rescue him, but ultimately, we were unable to keep him around.¡± The doctor sighed. ¡°Honestly, this is the first time I have encountered a patient like this. His body temperature was far lower than a normal person¡¯s should be, but his physique and vitals were far stronger than a normal person¡¯s. He was unable to resuscitate from thea. Untilst night, his internal organs started to atrophy, and even now, we still cannot find the reason behind it.¡±

    ¡°The doctor is not wrong. The patient¡¯s body has been sent for autopsy. The official statement given by the coroner is that the patient died from organ failure, which then led to his death.¡± Lee Zheng turned to Chen Ge. The gaze that struck him caused Chen Ge¡¯s heart to quiver.

    ¡°That was a strange cause of death, but that does not have anything to do with me, right?¡± When Chen Ge spoke, he kept his eyes on the curtain.

    ¡°The name that the patient kept screaming before he died was your name, Chen Ge.¡± Lee Zheng carried over a chair. ¡°I also do not understand why, but it feels like everything is somehow rted to you. Can you exin to me again what your rtionship is with this patient?¡±

    ¡°I guess you can say that he approached me for a favor. His younger sister is missing, and he wanted me to help look into that.¡± Chen Ge stared at the curtain. His brain was not focusing on how to deal with Lee Zheng but on the reason behind Chang Gu¡¯s cause of death.

    Body temperature lower than normal but physique stronger than normal, these ¡®symptoms¡¯ were simr to his. Chen Ge was worried that he would one day end up in the same state as Chang Gu.

 Chapter 1112 - Who are you talking to 2 in 1

    <h4>1112 Who are you talking to 2 in 1</h4>

    ¡°You said Chang Gu asked you for a favor? So, in other words, he can be considered your client?¡± Lee Zheng looked at Chen Ge with tant suspicion on his face. ¡°But you have not met him before. Why would hee to a person who owns a haunted house to help him finding a missing person? That does not make sense at all.¡±

    ¡°How does it not make sense? This person who owns a haunted house has a sparkling record of helping the police solve their cases, right? That only proves that I have a wide range of hobbies and am interested in many things.¡± On the surface, Chen Ge was conversing with Lee Zheng, but he kept his eyes glued to the curtain. No one in the room could see Chang Gu but him. They had no idea that this patient who had already been sent for autopsy was currently standing behind them.

    ¡°Helping us with our cases? Well, you sure are quite open with your self-praise.¡± Lee Zheng was about to counter that im, but there was nothing that he could say to overthrow it. There were many haunted house operators in the country, but a boss like Chen Ge was indeed exceptionally rare. One would probablye just once in a hundred years.

    ¡°Brother Zhang, other than calling out my name, did the patient say anything else before he died?¡±

    ¡°No, he only kept screaming your name before he died.¡± Lee Zheng creased his brows into a frown. ¡°Please be a little bit serious. We now suspect that it was you who put him in this state. After all, at the mental asylum, you were the only one who shared the room with him. In other words, you are the only one who has had any contact with him.¡±

    ¡°Brother Zheng, I swear this is a misunderstanding!¡± Chen Ge immediately jumped to his exnation. He told Lee Zheng about Chang Wenyu and the parents of the children who were sent to the door behind the School of the Afterlife. However, he did not tell the full story. He chose parts of it that could be shared and used that to distract Lee Zheng¡¯s attention. In reality, Chen Ge himself had no idea what Chang Gu¡¯s goal was. After all, when he was at the School of the Afterlife, he was technically scammed by the Chang Gu and his sister. The real victim of that situation was Chen Ge.

    Of course, Chen Ge was not going to take issue with a dead person. He nned to take Chang Gu home with him after this. At the end of the day, they had been through many things together, and Chen Ge had a feeling they had many things that they could talk about.

    If it was another person who hade to drop these things on Lee Zheng, thetter would not have given the person any chance and would have taken him to the station in cuffs for questioning. But Chen Ge was different. No matter how ridiculous his stories were, they would be confirmedter, especially when it came to the prediction of a murder case. It was almost a prophetic power that the young man had. His stories were scarily urate.

    Seeing that Lee Zheng was still hung up on the suspicions, Chen Ge decided to pull open the zipper of his backpack and said in the severe tone, ¡°Brother Zheng, can we put the issue about this patient aside for now? I have something more important to report to you. Actually, when you gave me the call, I was already prepared to go to the police station to find you in person.¡±

    ¡°What could be more important than the loss of a human life?¡± Not only Lee Zheng, even the doctor in the room was irked by what Chen Ge said. They all felt Chen Ge was being a bit too unfeeling and harsh.

    ¡°The loss of several human lives.¡± Chen Ge took out the information from his backpack. When he said that, the sickroom was shrouded in silence. Everyone turned to look at the stack of white paper that he was holding.

    ¡°I went to the old cityst night and came upon a big discovery at a ce called Jin Hwa Apartments.¡± The actual statements and crime scene reconstructions written by the dead were hidden inside Chen Ge¡¯s backpack¡¯spartment. What Chen Ge took out was a simplified version that he had personally written when he was in the cab. It only contained several names and several important clues. For murder cases, it was best that things were not that detailed. After all, if a normal person managed to reconstruct the murder scene perfectly, it would only be logical for the police to suspect them of being the murderer.

    Chen Ge handed the papers over to Lee Zheng. ¡°Why don¡¯t you take a look at it yourself?¡±

    Even though it was already the abridged version, it was enough to shock and stun Lee Zheng. After all, the whole apartment block was filled with murderers and madmen. To aplish his own goal, the ghost fetus had conducted a careful screening process when he chose his tenants. He denied those who had a kind heart, those who did not have a mind that he could corrupt, and those who were too simple and na?ve.

    After collecting for ten years, instead of saying that all the crazies at Jiujiang had chosen to move to Jin Hwa Apartments and Jiu Hong Apartments, it was more like the ghost fetus had found them and lured them into one spot. When Lee Zheng was skimming through the papers, Chen Ge made use of this chance, grabbed his backpack, and moved to the window.

    When Chang Gu saw him approach, his body started to shake slightly. He lifted his head and used his remaining eye to look at Chen Ge. His lips opened and whispered in a tone that only Chen Ge could hear, ¡°I can still see my little sister, yes?¡±

    Chen Ge nodded. He took out theic from his backpack, flipped it over to a random empty ce, and then turned to look at Chan Gu silently. The meaning was clear. It was inconvenient for them to talk there. If he wanted to see his sister, then he had to go with Chen Ge. Chang Gu did not have much choice. The reason he called out Chen Ge¡¯s name before his dying breath was probably for this express reason. Chen Ge managed to extrapte that much from the fact that his lingering spirit had not left the sickroom after he died as if he was there waiting for Chen Ge toe. The two shared a silent connection. Chang Gu entered theic without resisting. Chen Ge put theic away like nothing had ever happened.

    ¡°Is the air conditioning broken? Howe it suddenly feels so hot?¡± The doctor lowered the temperature of the air conditioning, and he moved several steps toward Lee Zheng as if he was curious about the content on the white paper. Hearing the shuffling footsteps, Lee Zheng immediately put the papers away. His expression was severe when he turned to look at Chen Ge. There was fury burning inside his eyes, but the fury was not directed at Chen Ge. Lee Zheng was a man of justice; this was one of the reasons Chen Ge admired him so much.

    ¡°Chen Ge, you have to follow me back to the police station after this. This is too serious. We have to inform Captain Yan about it.¡± Then, Lee Zheng turned to address the doctor and the nurse. He told them to keep the room where Chang Gu died vacant for a while. He then left the hospital with the other police officers and Chen Ge in tow.

    ...

    At the police station, once Captain Yan was briefed of the situation, he immediately summoned all the important personnel to have an emergency meeting. Everyone was seated inside the conference room. Even Chen Ge was given his own seat, and most importantly, none of the officers felt that Chen Ge¡¯s presence was out of ce. The staff hadpiled the information provided by Chen Ge andpared them to the missing person records and the unclosed cases from many years ago. The police discovered that the murders mentioned on the papers matched some of the cases almost perfectly.

    ¡°Round up the teams immediately. We are going to Jin Hwa Apartments now. By the way, call all the people who are on leave back to the station as well!¡± Captain Yan was going to lead the team personally. After he had assigned everything, a few police cars left the station in a group.

    Hugging his backpack, Chen Ge was squeezed between two other police officers. He appeared rather cautious and reserved. ¡°Er... should you guys send in some inclothes to do some investigation first? If you go in directly like this, you might scare some of the innocent tenants there.¡±

    The atmosphere inside the car was serious. Neither officer answered Chen Ge¡¯s question. Ten minutester, they arrived at Jin Hwa Apartments. The parade of police cars rumbled through the streets. The sirens echoed through the air of the old city. Karma might bete, but she would never miss out on the party.

    Most of the tenants had no idea what was going on, but some of the tenants had already prepared to sneak away. When the police arrived, however, they directly sealed up the whole of Jin Hwa and Jiu Hong Apartments. No one was going to escape.

    The ambush was so sudden and without any warning. In a way, this was the first time Chen Ge had seen Captain Yan in action. He carried out his action with drive and determination and had a scarily urate instinct when it came to crimes and cases.

    Everyone at Jiujiang Police Station was a well-trained member of thew enforcement. After all, they had been ¡®baptized¡¯ by a shower of heavy crimes. Even a newbie would grow exceptionally fast in this environment. For those working there for just a month, they would have been exposed to a number of heavy crime cases that would rival the total number of those at other stations in a year.

    In just ten minutes, they had managed to apprehend many suspects. Captain Yan and the rest had also noted the mysterious disappearance of Xiang Nuan and Wen Qing. The crime scene investigators managed to find Chen Ge and other strangers¡¯ fingerprints at the scene. The police had also discovered arge amount of death notices with Xiang Nuan¡¯s name.

    ¡°You were herest night?¡± Both Captain Yan and Lee Zheng were staring at Chen Ge. They took on a different persona when they were working a case, and that brought some amount of pressure on Chen Ge.

    ¡°Wen Qing is the estate agent who is responsible for these two residential areas. She has worked here for ten years already. She¡¯s the one who told me most of the information that I handed over to you.¡± Wen Qing¡¯s upation meant that she needed to have a close rtionship with the tenants there, so there was a chance that she would know about everything that had happened. Other than that, Wen Qing was now trapped on the other side of the door. The police could not summon her for questioning, so Chen Ge coulde up with any story that he wanted.

    ¡°So, where is she now? Weren¡¯t you with herst night?¡± Lee Zheng peppered Chen Ge with questions. This time, the case involved so many people that even this experienced police officer who had been through a lot was quite nervous.

    ¡°Wen Qing noticed the strange actions of the tenants here a long time ago, but she was too scared to speak up because she had a feeling someone was onto her and might her or her son. However, she did not know who that person was.¡±

    ¡°Someone was threatening her?¡± Even Captain Yan¡¯s expression changed. This case was getting worse the more he dug into it.

    ¡°Yes, you can see that from the flyers in the corridors all over the building that nder her reputation and the stack of death notices that were addressed to her house. There are some people who could not wait for her to die.¡±

    ¡°Some people? More than one person?¡± Captain Yan very astutely captured the choice of words that Chen Ge used. ¡°There are many people who wanted this poor woman dead? Is it because she found out about their secrets?¡±

    ¡°I do not know the details either. I am afraid you will have to find her and ask her in person.¡± Chen Ge changed the subject. ¡°But Wen Qing did mention something to do. She did say that the person that wanted to kill her was rted to a hospital.¡±

    Chen Ge decided to bring up the non-smiler and the cursed hospital now. He could push all the me behind the murders and the disappearance all on the cursed hospital. When Chen Ge could not find the solution, he decided to pin the me on the cursed hospital.

    After all, it was indeed the faceless doctor sent by the cursed hospital that framed the ghost fetus and killed Wen Qing; that was truth. Even if Chen Ge was given a lie detector test, he would pass with flying colors. Not only Wen Qing¡¯s disappearance, Chen Ge had also pinned all the wicked things that the ghost fetus had done onto the cursed hospital. The ghost fetus was corrupted by the hospital, but the ghost fetus was dead now, so the crimesmitted by the ghost fetus should be shouldered by the hospital. That was quite sensible in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes.

    Earlier, when Se Xin died mysteriously on the operating table, Captain Yan¡¯s people spotted the non-smiler on the surveince camera outside the hospital. Then, they had once again spotted the presence of the non-smiler on the street outside of Jin Hwa Apartments. Combined with the ¡®crucial clues¡¯ given by Chen Ge, the investigative direction of the entire Jiujiang police department would be targeted at the cursed hospital.

    Several murders were exposed, and the murderers were apprehended on the spot. The owner of Jiu Hong Housing Agency who rarely showed himself was also summoned to the crime scene. The police interrogated them one by one. This continued until the afternoon. Interestingly enough, after the police finished their questioning of Jiang Jiu, they had him sit together with Chen Ge to wait for the next round of questioning. Of the two of them, one was thest to see Wen Qing alive, and the other was thest to talk to Wen Qing on the phone.

    The actual lynchpins of Western Jiujiang New Century Park and Eastern Jiujiang futuristic theme park were seated side by side. This was a scene that was hard to imagine. After the police left, when there were only the two of them in the room, Chen Ge leaned back in his chair and nced sideway at Jiang Jiu next to him. Time had not left much of a trace on Jiang Jiu. He was supposed to be around the same age as Director Luo, but he appeared much younger than Director Luo. However, he was dressed his age. It made him look very formal.

    ¡°It is quite difficult to schedule a meeting with you. This is indeed a rare chance for us to meet.¡± Chen Ge took out theic like he was looking for reading material and casually flipped through it. Jiang Jiu did not reply. He appeared to think that it was beneath his level to speak to Chen Ge. Perhaps he might have responded if it was Director Luo.

    ¡°The ghost fetus that threatens you is no longer of this world.¡± Chen Ge flipped theic to the page where Zhang Yi was hiding and stopped.

    When the term ghost fetus was mentioned, Jiang Jiu¡¯s hands trembled slightly, but he soon caught himself. ¡°I do not know what you are talking about.¡±

    ¡°If that were true, you would not have responded to my statement.¡± Chen Ge stared at Jiang Jiu, and his pupils slowly narrowed. After he used Yin Yang Vision, the presence about himpletely changed. Even the temperature inside the room started to drop.

    ¡°From how I see it, you have lost your mind from spending too much time designing the haunted house.¡± Jiang Jiu refused to admit it no matter what. He turned his head to the side, but his body was shivering out of fear.

    ¡°I do not care about the rest. I only want to know one thing.¡± Chen Ge stood up and looked down on Jiang Jiu. ¡°Did you hear any information about my parents from the ghost fetus?¡±

    Jiang Jiu was a pure businessman, for benefit and gain, he could ept working with a ghost. One could not expect honesty from such a person, but by giving him enough benefits, he could be urged to spill the beans on everything he knew. The room temperature continued to drop. While Jiang Jiu was hesitating, Chen Ge realized his own body temperature was dropping as well. That caused a twinge of fear to curl around his heart. He was reminded of a very bad memory.

    ¡°I have never heard the ghost fetus mention your name before, but he likes to make mud statuettes that resemble you. He appears to want to be you.¡±

    ¡°Is that all? Then, did he mention anything about my parents?¡±

    ¡°He did go to find your parents before.¡± This statement excited Chen Ge. It caused the blood in his veins to boil.

    ¡°When did that happen?¡±

    ¡°I cannot remember it that clearly anymore. I only know that after that incident, the ghost fetus never stepped into Western Jiujiang again.¡± Jiang Jiu slowed down as he gradually calmed down. He tried to wrest the control away from Chen Ge. ¡°I can tell you something even more important. The city of Jiujiang is very unique. Your parents were forced to stay here, or rather, they were not allowed to leave, due to some unique reason.¡±

    ¡°They were forced to stay here because they were needed to guard over something.¡± Chen Ge thought back on his more than twenty years of life on this earth, and his lips were pursed together. ¡°Were they protecting me or the door at the haunted house?¡±

    Jiang Jiu had quietly memorized everything Chen Ge had said. Naturally, that did not escape Chen Ge¡¯s notice either. Thankfully, he had the perfect solution for this problem.

    ¡°I did not want to do this initially, but you are too cunning, and I am afraid that you might use my words to harm in the future, so...¡± Chen Ge waved at Zhang Yi. ¡°Make it quick.¡±

    Jiang Jiu had no idea what was happening. He frowned deeply. ¡°Who... who are you talking to?¡±

 Chapter 1113 - She Is the Female Main Character for this Movie! 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1113 She Is the Female Main Character for this Movie! 2 in 1</h4>

    Jiang Jiu soon understood whom Chen Ge was conversing with. He saw a thin andnky young man walk out from behind Chen Ge and proceed to use both hands to press against his head. ¡°Do not be afraid. It will be over soon.¡±

    Suddenly, there was one extra person in the room. Jiang Jiu soon realized what was happening. However, before the man was given any chance to struggle, his memory started to get muddled. The memories rted to the ghost fetus were hidden away, and he soon copsed unconscious to the ground. Summoning Zhang Yi back into theic, Chen Ge nced at Jiang Jiu, who leaned on the seat unconscious, and he quickly yelled at the top of his lungs, ¡°Hey! Are you okay? Hey! Wake up! Can you hear me? Brother Zheng! Brother Zheng! He has fainted! I need help!¡±

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s cries for help, the police officers on duty quickly hurried over. They conducted first aid on Jiang Jiu. They concluded that there was nothing wrong with Jiang Jiu. He was not injured, but the problem was that he refused to wake up. ¡°We¡¯d better get him to the hospital stat!¡±

    After the police sent Jiang Jiu away, Chen Ge was again left alone in the room. He took out his phone to give Uncle Xu a call to get an update on the haunted house. After ensuring that everything was running smoothly, he walked to the side of the bed, hugged his backpack in his arms, and curled up and slept. After who knew how long, Chen Ge was shaken awake. He opened his eyes blurrily and saw Lee Zheng and a few of the officers looking down at him.

    ¡°You guys are finished with your work?¡±

    ¡°I really did not expect someone to be able to fall asleep at a crime scene. Do you think we summoned you here to provide a ce for you to rest?¡± Lee Zheng was rather speechless when it came to dealing with Chen Ge, but he could see that Chen Ge was indeed incredibly tired.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s because I know you guys are around. I¡¯ve helped the police apprehend so many killers. Naturally, there are many people who are out to get me. Normally, I have to sleep with my eyes open. Only when the people¡¯s guardians are by my side can I sleep peacefully.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s enough nonsense out of you. You¡¯d better get ready to go back home. And please do not leave Jiujiang for now. We might summon you to aid in the investigation at any moment.¡± Lee Zheng and the police were very busy. After they said that, they left in a hurry. Chen Ge looked out the window; the sky was already dark.

    ¡°Indeed, it¡¯s time to go back. I should have a nice little chat with Chang Gu tonight.¡± Chang Gu himself was not that unique. He was just a Specter who had a talent in directing, but Chang Wenyu was different. She was the second Red Specter who had her own special page other than Zhang Ya in the ck phone. Technically speaking, Chang Wenyu¡¯s soul should have been destroyed at the School of the Afterlife already, but the ck phone stated that she was not yet fully dead, and she appeared to know some secrets about the ck phone. That was something that Chen Ge minded a lot.

    When he returned to New Century Park¡¯s haunted house, the living employees were cleaning up and ready to go home while the ghost employees were all busy with their own things. Chen Ge did not disturb them. He walked straight into the staff breakroom and flipped through theic to summon out Chang Gu. ¡°There are no outsiders here, so there is no need for you to hold back. Tell me everything that you know.¡±

    The white cat gave the single-eyed person that appeared before it a once over before it jumped to the side with disdain. The cat was always meek before the strong but strong before the meek.

    ¡°My little sister¡¯s soul is probably still alive. She that said she has kept a life as a backup.¡± Chang Gu¡¯s first sentence was so shocking that grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s attention immediately.

    ¡°What do you mean by that? Where is this life then?¡± Chen Ge stared into Chang Gu¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°I do not understand it either. That was what she told me. Whether the n failed or seeded, as long as I could leave the School of the Afterlife, I needed to hurry toe find you because she wants to make a deal with you.¡± Chang Wenyu had indeed prepared some insurance. The siblings were not as simple as they seemed.

    ¡°What kind of deal?¡±

    ¡°She knows you have a ck-colored phone on you, and she even knows that phone has once appeared on another person before. She is willing to tell you everything that she knows and help youplete their favors.¡± Chang Gu extended out three fingers.

    ¡°You guys sure have nned ahead. To ensure that you are not lying to me, I will have to first rescue Chang Wenyu¡¯s spirit.¡± Chen Ge nced at Chang Gu. ¡°This is a deal where you guys have nothing to lose.¡±

    ¡°My sister¡¯s eye has seen many things. She will not lie to you.¡±

    ¡°You two sure share a deep and firm rtionship. She is directly responsible for your death, but even now, you are still doing everything you can to help her. Even I am getting a little bit touched by it.¡± Chen Ge stood up and walked a circle around Chang Gu. ¡°There is no problem with me helping Chang Wenyu, but three favors are far from enough.¡±

    ¡°Then, what else do you want?¡±

    ¡°I will tell youter. First, I need you to tell me what kind of help you want from me.¡± Chen Ge first needed topletely finish all the issues rted to Chang Wenyu. This was a mission given by the ck phone, and it was a rare chance for him to get to know the ck phone a little bit better.

    ¡°My sister has hidden a lingering spirit in Xin Hai. The lingering spirit is inside the body of a student. You only need to resuscitate the memory of that lingering spirit.¡±

    ¡°Will the student die after the lingering spirit¡¯s memory has been activated?¡± Compared to saving Chang Wenyu, Chen Ge was more worried about the innocent student¡¯s life. After all, Chang Wenyu was a Top Red Specter; a normal human would be able to suffer her memory and survive.

    ¡°No.¡± It appeared like Chang Gu was still hiding something else from Chen Ge. ¡°The student is currently enrolled at Xin Hai First High School. She is a girl who was almost dragged into the School of the Afterlife by the door, but my sister saved her.¡±

    ¡°Do you have any other information beyond that?¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s all I was told.¡± Chang Gu had already finished all the words that he was supposed to say. He stood in the middle of the room with ack of expression on his face except the small trace of mncholy that lingered in his eyes.

    ¡°To be able to have been selected by the School of the Afterlife¡¯s door, she must have been bullied at her school before. That helps narrow down the search a lot, so I believe it will not be that difficult to find this girl.¡± Chen Ge suddenly changed his tone. ¡°But I do not intend to go to Xin Hai any time soon.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Chang Gu felt like Chen Ge was purposely making things difficult for him.

    ¡°I have a nemesis currently residing at Xin Hai. If I go there now, they will definitelye for my life.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s hand phased through Chang Gu¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Before I have everything prepared, my advice is for you to stay here and work. I risked my life at the School of the Afterlife for you and your sister, and in the end, I got betrayed by both of you. Don¡¯t you think it is time for you to work for me to repay your debt?¡±

    ¡°How long do you need to prepare? Can you at least give me a time frame?¡±

    ¡°I guarantee you it will be done within a month.¡± After saying that, Chen Ge took out his phone. He was now ready toplete another promise that he had been dying for a long time. Sliding down the screen, Chen Ge called a number. A dial tone came from the other side of the phone. Just the dial tone was enough to make the temperature inside the room dropped several degrees. Several secondster, the call was connected. A hoarse male voice came through. ¡°Chen Ge? Do you need anything from me?¡±

    Zhang Wenyu!

    ¡°I do not need anything from you. It¡¯s like this.¡± Chen Ge took a deep breath. Even though he was talking on the phone, it felt like the Red Specter¡¯s voice was directly echoing in his mind. ¡°I have expended a lot of energy to help you find a rather famous director within the industry to help, and I believe I have all the required actors. Furthermore, I have more than enough locales at my haunted house to use as set pieces, like schools, an isted vige, a small town, a mental asylum, an underground morgue, and so on. The only thing that I amcking now is the script.¡±

    ¡°You wish to help the authorplete his dying wish?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Wasn¡¯t that our promise from the beginning?¡± Chen Ge smiled. ¡°Not only him, I will help carry the dying wishes of the other suicide victims out as soon as I can because I might not have much time left.¡±

    ¡°Did something happen to you? Do you need any help?¡± The male voice on the other end of the phone was chilly and icy. Those who did not know him would think that Zhang Wenyu was a very scary ghost, but those who knew of his past would know how much he loved and cherished this world.

    ¡°This has nothing to do with you. If I do need your help, you can be sure that I will tell you.¡± Chen Ge wanted to form a good rtionship with Zhang Wenyu because this Red Specter was someone that he drew from the ck phone, and he was extremely rare. It was much more difficult to get himpared to Zhang Ya. In other words, this suicide line operator who died frommitting suicide carried many secrets and was incredibly powerful.

    Actually, after meeting Zhang Wenyu for the first time, Chen Ge had secretly gone to investigate the man. He realized that the man had left his presence around both Northern and Southern Jiujiang. The reason these two ces could be so peaceful probably had plenty to do with this unique Red Specter. Western Jiujiang had Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house, and Eastern Jiujiang had the ghost fetus. Even though neither Southern nor Northern Jiujiang had any powerful Red Specters, that also indirectly proved how unique Zhang Wenyu was. Perhaps, like Zhang Ya, he had many important secrets about him.

    No matter the reason, Chen Ge wanted to befriend Zhang Wenyu. Of course, if thetter was willing to be his employee, that would be the best. Zhang Wenyu shouldered many things on his back; he had shouldered all the dying wishes of the suicide victims. In a way, this was very simr to Doctor Gao and the ghost fetus, who had chosen to carry all of the sin that had collected behind the door. But Zhang Wenyu obviously did not lose his mind over this. He still maintained his rationality and sentience after what he did.

    Chen Ge had a feeling that Zhang Wenyu was treading a third path. This path was different from Doctor Gao and the ghost fetus, who voluntarily took on all the sin behind the door, and also different from Chen Ge, who opened a haunted house to help all his employees fulfil their wishes, but eventually, all paths would converge to the same destination.

    ¡°I will help youplete all the victims¡¯ dying wishes. I know it is inconvenient for you to do certain things, so just leave them all to me.¡± Chen Ge had gotten information about the author¡¯s bibliography from Zhang Wenyu, and at the same time, he had gained some affection from the man. After the call was ended, Chen Ge went online to search for the author¡¯s published books. After he ordered all the official publications, he turned to discuss the direction of the movie with Chang Gu.

    ¡°The camera that Liu Gang¡¯s team carried with them when they came to challenge my haunted house is still with me. Do you think it will work?¡± Chen Ge had utilized the term ¡®recycling¡¯ to its maximum.

    ¡°The author¡¯s dying wish is to make a film that will be popr, and you n to aplish that with a simple camcorder. Don¡¯t you think that is a bit disrespectful toward the author and his work?¡± Chang Gu was surprised that the first thing Chen Ge wanted him to do was make a movie, but he did not hate this kind of feeling. At least his talent would not be wasted. ¡°Other than that, making a movie is not as simple as you think. We need to make many preparations, like casting, preparing sets, and gathering props and machinery.¡±

    ¡°Other than the cameras, I basically have everything else here.¡±

    ¡°Well, I do have some camera equipment,¡± Chang Gu said with a hint of wistfulness. ¡°Do you still remember the holiday vi where we first met? The equipment that I used when I was still alive is all stored there. You can go and take them out. I can lend them to you.¡±

    ¡°The word lend is wrong here. Furthermore, you will be the one using the equipment. I am just returning the equipment to its owner.¡± Chen Ge picked up Xiaoxiao and signaled for Chang Gu to follow him. ¡°I will first give you a tour of this ce. Along the way, you should see if there are any suitable sets.¡±

    Pulling open the door that led underground, the chill wind brushed against the face, and it almost toppled Chang Gu over. This ce was indeed scary because even a ghost like him thought the ce had an eerie feeling about it.

    ¡°Guys, it is time to gather round! We are going to make a movie!¡± Chen Ge took out theic, stood at the top of the stairs, and shouted at the underground scenarios. It did not take long for ¡®people¡¯ to react. The first was the mannequins from Mu Yang High School, who came out chasing after their heads that had rolled ahead of them. Then came the rustic ghosts from the Living Coffin Vige. Lastly, the doctors arrived from the underground morgue. In a few months, Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house had be quite a big family, and the family size was only growing bigger and bigger.

    ¡°These are all the actors at my haunted house. They have great experience in how to y a ghost. Perhaps they might not work as the main character, but I believe they have great potential to be side characters.¡± Chen Ge looked at his employees with satisfaction, and he did not notice that Chang Gu¡¯s face had gone green. This scene from hell was actually a casting opportunity.

    Chang Gu¡¯s lips twitched slightly and nodded out of habit. ¡°Okay then.¡±

    ¡°I have seen the movies that you¡¯ve made. They are not bad, so I will leave the rest to you.¡± Chen Ge shoved Chang Gu into the countless lingering spirits, baleful Specters, and Red Specters. ¡°Let me make the introduction. This is Director Chang. He will be responsible for the production of the movie, so please try to cooperate with him.¡±

    Being stared down by a gauntlet of ring gazes, Chang Gu had a feeling that his body was being torn apart. He could take the searching views from the normal ghosts, but he felt very ufortable being scrutinized by the Red Specters.

    ¡°I will leave you guys here to discuss the script ande up with the direction of the plot. I will instead go to the holiday vi to collect the necessary equipment.¡± Chen Ge called over the driver of Bus Route 104. Before this, after Xiao Bu had taken back the control of Li Wan City, Chen Ge had the girl help him find the bus that had gone missing. Xiao Bu did exactly that. The bus had been ced at the theme park for quite some time after it was moved back from Li Wan City. The reason for that was because it was too easy for this bus to be an urban legend after it got on the road. ¡°Even though I do not have my own Mercedes or a race car like other bosses, but I do at least have my own personal driver.¡±

    The journey took quite some time. After Chen Ge finished moving all the equipment and returned to the haunted house, it was already 3 am. He drove the bus directly to the haunted house, and he had his employees help move the equipment underground.

    ¡°Chang Gu, how did the discussion go?¡± Chen Ge noticed that many of the employees were in preparation or memorizing lines. He realized that Chang Gu had great organizational skill.

    ¡°I have skimmed through the work of the author. The easiest among them to be adapted into a movie is a novel about a high schooledy romance¡ªSummer That Year, I Was Eighteen. Of course, this is not to say that his other works are not popr. Every single one of his other books has enjoyed quite the poprity, but this book is the easiest to be adapted into a movie format. Furthermore, we have a lot of students here, and we have an assortments of schools, so we can make the movie from many different angles...¡±

    Chang Gu continued with some professional lingo that confused Chen Ge, so all thetter could do was to nod along. ¡°Well, I see that you have already decided on the setting. What about the casting?¡±

    ¡°I noticed one who has an exceptional talent in acting. When I saw first her, I knew that she would be the main female character.¡± Chang Gu pulled the Pen Spirit over to him. ¡°She is practically the embodiment of the main character in the book. She is the epitome of youth and has that brooding presence about her that suggests something deeper in her personality. But most importantly, look at her eyes. They are deep with anxiety, suspicion, brashness, as well as anticipation and hope. What is youth? This is youth!¡±

 Chapter 1114 - â€œPeaceful and Warmâ€œ Daily Update 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1114 ¡°Peaceful and Warm¡° Daily Update 2 in 1</h4>

    the pen spirit stood nkly next to chang gu. she still did not understand what had just happened. earlier, everyone was called to casting, and she merely ran through the expressions as per chang gu¡¯s direction.

    ¡°i am surprised that the pen spirit will be the first actor from my haunted house to debut. at least the daily lectures that i have given have not gone to waste.¡± chen ge looked at the pen spirit like a proud father looking at his aplished daughter. he asked chang gu, ¡°then, how about the casting for the male main character?¡±

    ¡°about the male main character, i am still hesitating. there is a problem. in terms of acting skills, your worker by the name of zhou is very impressive. his acting skill is far better than all of the actors that i have worked with in the past, but the main problem is his age. we are going to shoot a high school drama. with his age, he is more suitable to be the main character¡¯s father.¡± chang gu nced at ol¡¯ zhou and bai qiulin, who were purposely wandering around the area, and he sighed weakly. ¡°theoretically speaking, the most suitable person at your haunted house to be cast as the main male character is xu yin. his eyes appear to be hiding a sea of sadness, and he carries a natural air of mncholy with him. age-wise, he is also the most suitable, but most importantly, his face can practically ¡®ughter¡¯ most of the male actors his age, so i would say he was born to be an actor!¡±

    ¡°then it¡¯s decided. xu yin will be the main male character.¡± it really did not matter to chen ge who the male main character was. he had even more hope that xu yin would be able to slowly walk out from his own world through this experience and see what the outside world had to offer. of all the workers at the haunted house, xu yin was the most loyal. to protect chen ge, he had almost lost his soul several times, so no matter what, chen ge also wished to help xu yin regain his hope.

    ¡°if you agree with that, then i will need you to have a good chat with him and help him with some counselling. the main male character has a lot of lines. it won¡¯t work if he just keeps on repeating the words ¡®so painful¡¯.¡± chang gu was rather afraid of xu yin. he did not even dare raise his voice when he was talking with xu yin.

    ¡°certain things can¡¯t be forced. why can¡¯t you try to shorten the script for the male character, cut out most of the lines or use another method to express the main male character¡¯s intention?¡±

    ¡°that will be very difficult. after all, we are different from the other teams on the market who ruin the source material that they were given. we have to be able to say that we have not disappointed the original author who has already passed away.¡± in a way, chang gu had his professional ethics when it came to his work.

    ¡°okay, i will go and talk to him in a bit.¡± chen ge followed chang gu as he paced between the school of the afterlife and mu yang high school scenarios. ¡°how about the other main characters? have they been cast? previously, i promised one of the employees that i would help her fulfill her dream of being in a movie. her name is duan yue. she was an english teacher before she died.¡±

    ¡°the investor forcing an actor into the film crew? that feels oh so familiar.¡± chang gu wanted to reject it initially, but after he remembered who duan yue was, he changed his mind again. ¡°oh, i think i remember her. that female teacher is quite a good actor as well. how about i cast her as the main female character¡¯s ss teacher? in the original story, the ss teacher helps the female main character, and in the end, she even marries the girl¡¯s father and lives happily ever after.¡±

    ¡°what the... if ol¡¯ zhou heard this plot, he¡¯d probably die again fromughter.¡± chen ge nodded. ¡°i think you need tomunicate with duan yue some more to see whether she is willing to take this role or not.¡±

    ¡°okay, i will run through the rest of the characters and casting with you for now.¡± chang gu was a very talented director. the characters that he had chosen and the cast that he had assembled were so perfect that the actors basically did not need to overact in their roles; they only needed to be themselves, and they could easily bring the characters that they were assigned to life. the extras aside, there were only nine main roles in total. this high schooledy did not have a convoluted plot. it focused around a girl from a single parent family and how she managed to walk out from the mist of depression with the aid of her family and herpany at school.

    it was a story about youth; it was a story about growth. it was filled with positive energy and the pain that one had go through as one grew up into adulthood. a series of seemingly unimportant events were lined up together to form an interesting and captivating story. the story itself was not that long, but it had a great dramatic effect and obvious conflicts. it was not that difficult to shoot. these were all the reasons chang gu had selected this source material to adapt.

    ¡°you¡¯d better work as fast as you can. i will leave the rest to you. i hope that everything will be done in a week.¡± chen ge did not know when the cursed hospital woulde to find him. the easier he gained zhang wenyu¡¯s trust, the better. there was only positive benefits and no downsides.

    ¡°i am surprised that i¡¯ve been given more time to do the things that i love after death. this is so ironic. but don¡¯t you worry, i will not disappoint you this time.¡± chang gu gave chen ge a promise. he would let chen ge see the result within five days. chen ge also thought that chang gu was quite a reliable director, so he did not ask more questions. like he said, he handed everything over to chang gu. he was just a normal person. he could not bepared to baleful specters and red specters. after working without rest until midnight, he was already very tired.

    the moment chen ge left the underground scenario and chang gu was going to continue with his shooting, a small figure silently pulled on the corner of chang gu¡¯s shirt. chang gu, who was startled, turned back to look and saw a red specter whose height reached his knees staring up at him.

    do red specters roam this ce freely? chang gu¡¯s body was frozen to the spot. he noticed that chen ge¡¯s haunted house was scarier than the school of the afterlife.

    ¡°director chang, my name is men nan. do you think there is a character suitable for me in the script? since i was young, i¡¯ve dreamt of seeing myself on the big screen. i guess you can call it one of my biggest dreams.¡± chang gu could ignore the request of a child, but things were different if that child was a red specter.

    ¡°of course, there is no problem with that. how about i assign you the role of the female main character¡¯s younger brother? there is such a character in the source material, but he does not appear that often.¡±

    ¡°that does not matter as long as i can show up on the screen at least once.¡± men nan left satisfied. chang gu also sighed in relief. he moved his feet and was about to walk away when his whole body shivered. a mist of blood enveloped him. he turned back to look, and a female red specter was standing at the corner gazing at him with the head that she carried in her arms. she did not say anything; she only continued to stare at chang gu with the head in her arms.

    ¡°hello...¡± chang gu said cautiously as he forced himself to move forward to meet this neer. this was because he felt that it would be safer for him to get close to the woman rather than show her his back and allow her to follow him everywhere. the headless woman could understand chang gu, but the umted resentment and hatred made it so that she was not used to express her own opinion.

    ¡°you also wish to be a part of the movie? actually, i have a role that is perfect for you. the character has no lines. she only needs to give her silent blessing to the main couple.¡± chang gu¡¯s face was pale, and he was speaking very carefully. making a movie at other ces required money, but making a movie at this ce might require your life!

    the headless movie did not say anything. she merely held her head and nodded it several times before she silently left. chang gu only sighed in relief after the headless woman disappeared from his view. ¡°i should hurry back to work, or else some other red specters might appear to ost me.¡±

    ...

    at 8 am the next day, the first thing that chen ge did after waking up was enter the underground scenario. he needed to remind chang gu that all the movie-making business had to be done at night because the haunted house needed to operate like normal in the day. the ghost employees did not need to rest. even after a whole night of shooting, they were still very energetic. everyone was excited to wee the visitors. they were the most professional actors whom chen ge had ever met.

    the employees returned to their workstations while chang gu used the morning break time to edit and cut the drafts that he had shot the night before. even though he had worked through the night, he could still continue working. the director was as impressive as the actors.

    xu wan and the gang arrived at around 8:15 am. chen ge helped them with their makeup and then walked into the staff breakroom alone. heplied and arranged all the dying wishes that he had gotten from zhang wenyu¡¯s suicide victims. most of the suicide victims came from northern and southern jiujiang. a small portion of them died somewhere between xin hai and jiujiang.

    ¡°there are so many of them?¡± chen ge printed out all the information and shoved it into his backpack. he nned to go out that morning to help zhang wenyuplete part of the dying wishes of the suicide victims. most of the dying wishes were not thatplicated, but zhang wenyu, who was a ghost, had trouble doing them due to obvious reasons.

    before he even stepped out from the door, chen ge¡¯s phone rang. pressing the ept button, director luo¡¯s voice came from the other side of the line. ¡°chen ge, i have just received two pieces of news. i need you to be prepared.¡±

    ¡°what¡¯s the news?¡± chen ge heard an undercurrent of worry in director luo¡¯s voice.

    ¡°there has been an adjustment among the higher ups at the futuristic theme park. jiang jiu is hospitalized, and now the theme park¡¯s administration has been taken over by someone called ma feng. i know this man very well; he is callous and ruthless. he is young, but he¡¯s advanced very quickly through the ranks. that is because he is swift with his decision and merciless with his actions. the people below him all refer to him as the quick sher.¡±

    ¡°the man¡¯s name is ma feng?¡±

    ¡°he is very capable and always goes for the kill. because of his merciless nature, he has offended quite a long list of people. if not for jiang jiu¡¯s ident, he would not have gotten the chance to rise to the top.¡±

    ¡°do we need to pay special attention to this person?¡± chen ge knew the reason behind jiang jiu¡¯s hospitalization. he just did not expect the chain effect to be so strong.

    ¡°ma feng operates on benefits. from the very beginning, he was vocally against the many traps that jiang jiu set up against us. he thought they were a waste of money and time. now that he has taken the reins, he willunch to another counterattack on us. if he is sessfully, then it will highlight how good he is and how useless jiang jiu was; if he fails to aplish anything, then he will probably give up the haunted house idea and other rted projects for the futuristic theme park to avoidpetition with us.¡±

    ¡°is that not a good thing? if we teach him a good lesson, in the future, the two theme parks will exist in a peaceful, symbiotic rtionship, and they will not keep a target on our back anymore.¡±

    ¡°the world of business is like a war; only the winner takes all. even if ma feng fails, the futuristic theme park will only temporarily remove the target from our back, but being able to gain that period of time where we do not need to worry about thepetition is very valuable already. i will not sit idle in the meantime. our theme park has already to upgrade and improve with the time.¡± director luo¡¯s words had hidden a very important message. ¡°and in the future, when we have everything that they have and we also have everything that they do not have, if you were a visitor, who would you choose to visit?¡±

    ¡°of course, i will choose toe to our theme park.¡± it was not until this moment that chen ge realized that when director luo said ¡®the winner takes all¡¯, it meant that he wanted to swallow up the entire futuristic theme park.

    ¡°this will not take too long. before the upgrade ispleted, i am afraid you will have to work a little bit more to shore up the deficiencies of the other halted attractions.¡±

    ¡°understood.¡± chen ge and director luo were on the same ship. their fate was tightly linked together. ¡°by the way, didn¡¯t you say you receive two pieces of news? what¡¯s the other one?¡±

    ¡°it¡¯s news from the special sickroom at the people¡¯s hospital of jiujiang. the people that have fainted at your haunted house have mostly recovered and left the hospital. these people spent almost every day consoling and encouraging each other. other than that, the hospital workers heard that they have been nning and plotting toe back for revenge. it is like some kind of cult.¡±

    ¡°you are afraid that they mighte back to take revenge on me?¡± chen ge could not help butugh. ¡°these fainted visitors have watched too much of the avengers, haven¡¯t they?¡±

    ¡°do not be overconfident. a collective wave can capsize a boat.¡± director luo ended the call after that. the smile still had not left chen ge¡¯s face. yes, a collective wave could capsize a boat, but no matter how big the wave, it would not shake an aircraft carrier. chen ge weed their return. if they came openly through the front entrance, the doors of the four-star scenario would be open for them anytime; if they sneaked from behind, the demon god and red specters would be their weing crew.

    after greeting uncle xu, chen ge carried his backpack and left new century park to hurry to northern jiujiang. following his own n, he started to help the suicide victimsplete their dying wishes. during this process, chen ge noticed something peculiar. as more and more dying wishes werepleted, a red number appeared next to the title of votive master in the ck phone. whenever he finished a victim¡¯s dying wish, the number would increase, and the amount it increased would differ each time. the amount appeared to be rted to the difficulty of the dying wish. currently, the number next to the votive master title was 127. chen ge predicted that the title would somehow change when the number counter reached 200. chen ge busied himself untilte afternoon, and he returned to new century park. he asked his employees for an update. it was yet another peaceful day with no idents.

    ¡°there are more and more people who are courageous enough to challenge the four-star scenario, but their progress frompleting the scenario is still very very low.¡± from the report given to him by ol¡¯ zhou and bai qiulin, in the past week, there had been almost two hundred visitors who entered the school of the afterlife, but the scenario had such a high intensity of specters in it. after all, chen ge had found all the souls of the dead students who had been dragged into the door and had provided these homeless souls with a sanctuary at his own school of the afterlife scenario.

    this caused a direct consequence where no visitor was able to full explore the school of the afterlife. basically, most of them called to surrender with tears and screams, and they were led out of the scenario by actual ghosts. various rumors about the school of the afterlife started to appear on the inte. the poprity of this topic was so high that it had far expanded beyond the small circle of haunted house enthusiasts.

    ¡°one four-star scenario is still too little. i should consider opening the ghost fetus¡¯ scenario to the public. i should go and give it a good inspection tonight.¡± the theme park closed for the day at 6 pm. after sending away all the visitors, he had xu wan and the gang go home, and he entered the underground scenario alone.

    chang gu had started to organize people for his shoot. meanwhile, chen ge hugged the white cat, carried theic, and entered the ghost fetus scenario. originally, there was only onedder that led underground, but now, there was a seconddder that led to the second basement level. the whole second basement was upied by one scenario, the ghost fetus¡¯ scenario. the voiceless small town, the white orphanage, the spire of darkness, the haunted avenue¡ªall these scenarios were joined and pieced together. there were many dark paths that extended deeper into the ground. the ghost fetus¡¯ despair and twisted spirit shrouded the entire scenario.

    the ghost fetus¡¯ scenario was, in essence, different from the school of the afterlife scenario, probably because this scenario once belonged to a demon god. once one entered it, one would feel the pressure on one¡¯s heart like a demon had just entered it. it kept evoking the bad memories that one had buried deep in one¡¯s mind. all the negative emotions would be amplified. a person¡¯s sin and guilt would find release there to be the nutrient for the ghost fetus¡¯ scenario.

    after experiencing the worst despair, perhaps the visitors would feel lighter after they left. perhaps they would gain a new insight toward life and their future. with only some short period of unconsciousness as sacrifice, one could wee a new life. for chen ge, this seemed like such a valuable trade. flipping through theic, chen ge summoned out all the specters he had encountered in the world behind ying tong¡¯s door. miss dress, mr. wood, auntie wu, and miss red silently appeared around him.

    ¡°i believe bai qiulin and ol¡¯ zhou have already updated all of you on what is going on. the spire of darkness will be your home from now on. other than the rules of the employees that you need to follow, you are free to do anything you like.¡± chen ge conversed quickly with his new employees. ¡°soon, you will see the allure of this job, and i trust that you will learn to enjoy it and love it.¡±

    after that, chen ge summoned out all the specters and spirits that he had obtained from all the ghost fetus¡¯ nine doors. he assigned them positions one by one until xiao sun was the only one left.

    xiao sun had epted the fact that he was already dead. he was surprisingly open about it. at this moment, seeing that he was the only one who was not assigned a job, he felt quite left out. ¡°brother, what do you need me to do? i also want to help scare the visitors. i am quite good at that.¡±

    ¡°i do not need you to do that.¡± chen ge looked at xiao sun with expectation. ¡°instead, i need you to pretend to be part of the visitors and mix into them. that is the only way for you to unleash your full potential. utilize your uncanny ability to bring down the luck of the people around you.¡±

    ¡°you want me to act as one of the visitors?¡± xiao sun did not quite get it. he did not understand that this was something a haunted house could do.

    ¡°that is the only way your talent will not be wasted. i fully believe that with your talent, it will be very easy for you to cause bad luck to befall your teammates.¡± chen ge nodded with a smile. ¡°after all, you are a unique talent who managed to use a single statement to make a demon god go on a rampage.¡±

 Chapter 1116 - You Sure You Want to Challenge the Most Difficult Scenario? 3 in 1

    <h4>1116 You Sure You Want to Challenge the Most Difficult Scenario? 3 in 1</h4>

    ¡°I also do not understand why ouredy broke records for horror films, but I swear we meant to produce aedy from the very beginning,¡± Chen Ge said with a bitter smile.As the saying goes, one aims for the goose but hits the gander.

    The original author had died and be a ghost, but he was very satisfied with Chang Gu¡¯s short and said that Chang Gu had captured the essence of his work. The original author was satisfied, the director was satisfied, the audience was satisfied, and the film and televisionpany was satisfied; everyone was satisfied. As strange as Chen Ge felt this whole thing was, he had slowly learned to ept the truth. ¡°Director Luo, the short that we uploaded is just apressed concept short. If your friend wishes to cooperate with us further, we can sit down and talk about it.¡±

    ¡°I believe that is his intention. I will give you his contact information in a minute. You guys can discuss this among yourselves.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Make use of this opportunity. The poprity of a film will be very good advertisement for the theme park. If the ensuing web series can maintain this poprity, it will be far more effective than any conventional advertising method.¡± Director Luo ended the call. At that moment, the legend of thisedy-cum-horror flick was still spreading on the inte.

    Initially, Chen Ge¡¯s intention was to use the haunted house¡¯s poprity to give the short some traction, trying to attract one or two investmentpanies, but to his shock and surprise, in just a few hours, the poprity of the short started to overwhelm the poprity of the haunted house. Many viewers who had never been interested in the haunted house and horror games became interested in it. After all, it was rare for a haunted house to have the ability to produce aedy short.

    Aedy produced by a haunted house even became a gag on the inte. The many ¡®unintentional¡¯ takes became instant ssics and were soon included in the educational sybus for horror movie production. This kind of idental horror caused the viewers to have a hard time sleeping at night. The more they thought about it, the more ufortable they felt. As a result, more and more people started to discuss this edy¡¯.

    The source material was first a good one. The description of the clues and the psychological changes of the main characters were well done and to the point. Chang Gu¡¯s direction and production were uniquely perfect as well, and the unteral plotlines of both the real world and the nightmare world could elicit various symbolic readings of the analogies and metaphors. To conclude, this web short produced by Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house exploded on the inte, and many users anticipated the sequel.

    Even though he had not gotten a wink of sleep that night, Chen Ge was still quite energetic. He and Chang Gu rotated through the various tforms. The data for the short for all tforms was still continuing to rise. The employees at the haunted house were very excited as well. Even though they still did not quite understand how popr this short was, they were satisfied and very happy when they saw themselves appear on the screen. The employees chatted among themselves, citing each of their cameos. Chen Ge, who overheard them, almost had a heart attack. Many employees came to join the shoot during the recording process. They used multiple methods to enter the shot, methods that one could not imagine¡ªfor example, a floating head inside a ss of water, a small shadow under the table, a severed hand that floated behind the door, and so on.

    One would miss these details unless one took a close look at the short. As the poprity on the inte continued to increase, to prevent an unnecessary exposure, Chen Ge decided to directly and openly admit that the haunted house had hidden one hundred easter eggs in the short and challenged the viewers to find them all. With the poprity at an all-time high, Chen Ge decided to stop ¡®pretending¡¯ and told the viewers directly that all the extremely scary details and frames that they saw were Easter Eggs that were purposely left in by the haunted house. That statement attracted yet another batch of fresh viewers.

    ¡°This has be viral too suddenly. I am totally not prepared for it.¡± Chen Ge saw his mailbox that was exploding with messages at the back end of the tform. Some people nned to group up and visit the set, and some nned to enter a haunted house for the first time tomorrow. The sole reason was to see the main male character in person. There was even a talent agency that dropped Chen Ge a message stating their intention of offering the Pen Spirit a contract. There were so many messages that Chen Ge could not run through all of them. He nced at the sky that was getting bright, and he put the phone away. ¡°Yet another sleepless night.¡±

    He got a quick wink and hurried to get up from bed to prepare for work. Today, Xu Wan and Xiao Gu and the rest came early. Once they saw Chen Ge, they rushed over immediately. That was especially so for Xiao Gu; he was holding the phone and stammered nervously, ¡°Boss! Did we really produce this video? When I saw the video on my rmended listst night, I was stunned beyond words.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it was indeed produced by our haunted house.¡±

    ¡°When did you have the time to do something like this? This is too impressive!¡±

    ¡°What do you think I was doing every night not sleeping for the past few days? To produce this film, I have exhausted so much stamina and a lot of time, but thankfully, from the result, the sacrifice was worth it.¡± Chen Ge stopped answering Xiao Gu¡¯s questions because he did not know how to spin the story anymore. He ushered his workers into the dressing room to help them with the make-up and ordered them to prepare to wee the day¡¯s visitors.

    At 9 am, New Century Park opened for business. The visitors rushed into the gates. When they were queuing up, theedy made by the haunted house became the central topic. Two groups of people who did not know each other would be able to engage in tititing conversation because of it.

    ¡°The number of visitors today is even greater than the previous days. What is going on?¡± Uncle Xu was worried that there might be a problem, so he hurried to find Chen Ge.

    ¡°Uncle, you do not use the inte much, do you? We uploaded yet another advertisementst night. The effect is not bad.¡± Chen Ge was outside the haunted house helping with the ticket sales. Seeing the visitorsing to visit his haunted house, joy emerged sincerely from his heart. However, he made sure that he was not blinded by this joy. While he was selling the tickets, he was paying close attention to potential troublemakers among the crowd.

    The number of visitorsing to challenge the four-star scenario, School of the Afterlife, had tripled or even quadrupled. The scenario could hold at most twenty people at the same time, and that day, almost every session was full. This had naturally attracted Chen Ge¡¯s attention. The visitors who were there because of the inte short were mostly neers to the theme park, so they needed to start their challenge at one-star scenarios. Therefore, most of the visitors who could challenge the School of the Afterlife would be experienced visitors.

    There was nothing wrong with this in itself, but Chen Ge noticed that there was a specific batch of people who kept repeating the process of buying the tickets to challenge the same four-star scenario, the School of the Afterlife. It appeared like they would not stop until they had cleared this scenario. After paying a heavy price of their sanity, money, and physique, this batch of people managed to explore about seventy percent of the scenario, but of course, they were still far away from clearing the actual scenario.

    To protect the other innocent visitors, Chen Ge pulled the few most difficult missions out from the drawing box, missions like finding all thirteen oil paintings, searching for the club president of the Red Specter¡¯s Club, exposing the secrets behind the old headmaster¡¯s disappearance, and so on. These missions were specifically left for the troublemakers. Normal visitors would almost never have the chance to draw these certain-death mission.

    These people got missions that ranged from simple to medium difficulty, but even so, their mental tenacity was still seriously tested. After thest of them fainted, there would be members among the visitor group who escorted them out. It was clear from Chen Ge¡¯s perspective that this was a group of people who were attempting to tackle his haunted house, but they had seriously underestimated the difficulty of Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house.

    After this group of people who kept challenging the School of the Afterlife left, the same afternoon, they were reced by another group of people. They appeared to be sharing the same information. The map and the location of the scare points that had been collected by the previous batch using their ¡®lives¡¯ provided a great amount of help to thetter group. This batch of strange visitors had attracted the attention of the employees as well. Ol¡¯ Zhou even came over to Chen Ge to ask whether they should increase the difficulty of the scenario.

    Chen Ge directly rejected Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s suggestion. He told Ol¡¯ Zhou that only by dangling the possibility of clearing the scenario before the yers would they continue to y the game. It was a simple theory of the donkey and the carrot. But that was just a front taken by Chen Ge. What he was really thinking was that he would let this group of people try the School of the Afterlife again and again until they let their guard down, and then he would surprise them with the announcement of the new scenario, the ghost fetus.

    The haunted house began its operation at 9 am and closed for the day at 6 pm. Throughout this period, the scenario for the School of the Afterlife was never empty even for a minute. Even though the group of people had thrown their lives into challenging the scenario, they ultimately failed to clear it. But they appeared to have managed topile the full map of the school¡¯s eastern and western campus. With the map in mind and a clear marking of the various scare points¡¯ locations, as long as they were not that unlucky to draw any mission rted to the hidden scenario, clearing the scenario was only a matter of time. Dusk had already fallen. After the visitors left, Chen Ge sat on the steps of the haunted house alone.

    ¡°The poprity of theedy produced by the haunted house is still climbing, and this is just a conceptual short. If we really manage to produce a sequential web series, not only theedy itself, the film set at New Century Park will be famous through it as well. Perhaps Ma Feng has sensed fear from this, which is why he¡¯s so desperate to clear my scenario, to stifle the haunted house¡¯s wave of poprity.¡± Chen Ge studied the numbers on the ie ledger, and the corner of his lips could not help but curve upward.

    The School of the Afterlife could fit twenty people at the same time, and a session would take around forty minutes, but most of the time, rarely could the visitors hold on until the full forty minutes, so in reality, a real one session wouldst around thirty minutes. The ticket price per person was forty RMB, so one session could earn Chen Ge eight hundred RMB, and in that day alone, the scenario of the School of the Afterlife had been used twenty times. Normally, this kind of four-star scenario was rarely challenged. In fact, just finding people to fill up a group was hard enough. Most of the ie normally came from the lower star scenarios, and these higher difficulty scenarios were prepared for the expert haunted house aficionados. Compared to using them as a money-making machine, they were more of a symbolic presence to Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house.

    ¡°I sure hope this gang of people will return tomorrow.¡± After giving the ce a quick clean, Chen Ge carried his backpack and arrived at the mannequin studio. He paid the boss and then directly chased the boss out of the ce. He turned to lock the door and quickly summoned out his ghost employees and had them help him produce the mannequins of the monsters from the ck fog. They worked until dawn. Chen Ge then called Tang Jun to drive Bus 104 over to transport all the manufactured ck fog monsters back to the haunted house.

    When Chen Ge returned to the haunted house, he was told that Chang Gu had been hit by new inspiration, and he was prepared to shoot a new short. That did not bother Chen Ge. Thetter summoned some of the employees who were not involved in the shooting to help him decorate the ghost fetus¡¯ scenario. After inspecting the scenario several times, Chen Ge finally left the scenario after making sure that there were no hidden threats lying around the scenario at around 4 am.

    ¡°Now that the ghost fetus¡¯ scenario can open for visitation any time, I wonder which batch of visitor will be so lucky.¡± After three hours of sleep, Chen Ge was woken by the rm that he had set. He sat and observed the rising sun and stretchedzily. ¡°If only life could continue like this.¡±

    After taking a cold shower, Chen Ge changed his clothes and opened the gates of the haunted house. The theme park opened punctually at 9 am. The visitors entered the park, and the ce was instantly filled up by the noise and ruckus of the crowd. A long queue had already been formed at the haunted house. Some of the old yers had run to the resting hall to upy a seat and found their familiar buddies to start an intense discussion on thetest guide that they hade up with. Ever since Chen Ge obtained the ck phone, the haunted house had apanied these visitors for quite some time. More and more people had fallen in love with this ce, and the haunted house had leftsting marks on their lives. Many of their bittersweet memories could be traced back to this theme park.

    Most of people¡¯s lives were t and uninteresting, but at Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house, they were given a glimpse into a different version of life. Group after group of visitors was weed into the haunted house, but to Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, the batch of people who repeated the challenge of School of the Afterlife the day before did not show up again. Just as Chen Ge was wandering whether they had already given up, a shocked scream came from the resting hall.

    ¡°What is going on?¡± Chen Ge was quick to walk over. Many old visitors recognized him so when they saw the boss came over. They automatically opened a path for him to walk through.

    ¡°Boss Chen! Quick, you have to take a look at our haunted house¡¯s app. Someone has started a thread saying that they want to challenge and clear our haunted House¡¯s most difficult scenario. It is the thread with the most replies and views!¡± A student from Jiujiang Medical University ran over to Chen Ge, holding his phone out to show the thread. There was indeed a new thread that appeared inside the app. It wasmented on by a fifty-cent army, and that made it so that the thread would always remain at the top of the posts.

    The content of the thread itself was incredibly incendiary. First, they started with the admission that Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house was scary, but it was not as scary as many people made it out to be. It was all an exaggeration. The thread stated that most of the visitors had been lied to and misdirected. That was a quintessential start for a drama post. In essence, it said that Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house was scary, but it did not scare them. Even though they had not visited the ce themselves, that was how they felt.

    The thread gained support from many other haunted house owners in the business. They helped to analyze Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house from many different angles, and they came up with the same conclusion. Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house did not live up to its name; it only had twenty percent real ability and eighty percent hype and sensationalism.

    The fact that Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house enjoyed such high poprity was a disrespect to those who ran their business with heart and hard work. It was unfair to them, so they were going to join forces to expose Chen Ge and his haunted house to the public. The whole thread was written like a real call to arms, and it indeed had its effect of getting one¡¯s blood boiling, but then if one just thought about it, most of those people had not even visited Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house before, so how did theye to this absurd conclusion? Via their super powerful imagination?

    The thread not only appeared on the haunted house app, but it had popped up at the same time on most other tforms. A fifty cent army had been hired to repeatedlyment and maintain the multiple threads¡¯ poprity and relevance. Interestingly enough, the tforms where these threads mushroomed were exactly the tforms where Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house¡¯s fans were most active. Once the threads were posted, they garnered various sarcastic responses and caustic replies. After all, thest person who made this kind of im was still lying in the hospital.

    However, it was clear that whoever was behind this was well prepared. They did not respond to the fans¡¯ mocking words. They seemed to be biding their time to prove the fans wrong. They had done all the preparation that they could, and that was the confidence behind their courage to dare to post inmmatory posts like these at tforms where Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house¡¯s fans were most active. Their aim was for those who supported Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house to see their thread and then clear the haunted house¡¯s most difficult scenario before these people¡¯s eyes. That way, they would have won back their face, they would have proven themselves right, and they would have broken the legendary record of no one being able to clear Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house.

    When he saw all that set up, the name ¡®Ma Feng¡¯ instantly floated up in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. This man¡¯s method of doing things was definitely different from Jiang Jiu¡¯s. He was swift, fast, urate, and deadly. All the cards had beenid on the table, and when given an opening, he would strike for the jugr.

    ¡°He should have prepared for a long time.¡± Just as Chen Ge finished reading the thread, another problem started outside the haunted house. Nine visitors blocked the entrance of the door. They refused to queue up like the rest of the visitors and requested to see Chen Ge. Of the nine visitors, there were both males and females. They were dressed differently and had different ents. They appeared toe from different parts of the country, but Chen Ge did manage to recognize two of them.

    One of them was called Shang Guan Qing Hong, the boss of the haunted house at Xin Hai; the other was Qin Guang, the streamer who was the first topete with Chen Ge on the livestreaming tform. When he saw the two of them, Chen Ge felt quite happy to see their familiar faces. He walked out from the resting hall to wee them. ¡°Long time no see, guys. I am quite busy at theme park, so I did not have the time to go to the hospital to visit you. I am so sorry.¡±

    Just the sound of Chen Ge¡¯s voice was enough to make Qin Guang grit his teeth in anger. He was about to fire something back when he was held back by Shang Guan Qing Hong from the side.

    ¡°Boss Chen, you are being too kind. Today, we just wanted to visit your haunted house. There is no problem with that, right?¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong had once been a victim of Chen Ge¡¯s sharp tongue, so he tried to not give Chen Ge any chance to speak to rope them into more traps. ¡°I have the top designers and creators of many haunted houses from all over the country with me. We are all very curious about your haunted house. We wish to see what kind of haunted house is hailed as the scariest haunted house in the whole country.¡±

    ¡°I would not say my haunted house is the scariest in the country, but a mutual exchange within the industry is a good thing. We can always learn from each other.¡± Chen Ge was cautious with his words, using the term exchange. He had memorized the faces of these few visitors. ¡°It is fine that you wish to challenge the scenario, but I have a rule at my haunted house. All visitors have to start their challenge from one-star scenario, and then after clearing that, you can only challenge the two-star scenario. If you wish to challenge the most difficult four-star scenario, you will have to clear the previous scenarios first.¡±

    ¡°Challenge? Where does your confidencee from? We already told you we are here to visit, not to challenge. We give an inch and you take a mile?¡± A young man who was fashionably dressed gave Chen Ge a side eye. ¡°Unlike you, the rest of us do not have the time to y with you.¡±

    ¡°The rules that I have set are for the visitors¡¯ own good. Only by slowly increasing the visitors¡¯ threshold for fear can one prevent the urrence of idents to the maximum degree.¡± Chen Ge was trying hard to ¡®persuade¡¯ them, but this persuasion sounded like Chen Ge had no confidence in the group.

    ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary. The reason we are here today is to visit the most difficult scenario that you have. We just want to see what is so special about this haunted house that is so popr on the inte.¡± This time, it was a man who was wearing a pair of sunsses who spoke. More and more visitors started to gather at the entrance of the haunted house. Some of them even took out their phones to start recording.

    Hearing what the man with the sunsses had to say, Chen Ge uttered with in difficulty on his face. ¡°But that is against the rules...¡±

    ¡°Rules are manmade. We came from so far not to visit a one-star scenario. We are all experienced members of this industry. Don¡¯t use the tricks that you apply on your visitors to trick us. We are not so easily fooled,¡± the man in the sunsses groused with impatience. He appeared to be melting under the sun, and he shifted ufortably.

    ¡°Boss Chen, is it because youck confidence that you have been trying to find excuse to deny us entry?¡± The man who was fashionably dressed smiled. ¡°Do not worry, we will be sure to save some face for you.¡±

    Since the exchange had reached this point, it was unsuitable for Chen Ge to continue to say no anymore. He looked around him, and he realized that many of visitors were armed with the camera phones and were recording their exchange. Some of them were innocent visitors who were attracted by this drama, but Chen Ge believed that part of them were people sent over by the futuristic theme park because Chen Ge realized that there was a live update of their exchange on the haunted house app and the many other tforms, and thements were all extremely nderous toward Chen Ge and his haunted house. It felt as if someone was purposely leading the wind of the conversation.

    ¡°Since you people insist on challenging my most difficult scenario, I have no choice.¡± Chen Ge turned to face the cameras. ¡°I will need everyone here to be my witness. I have already tried to persuade them. They have insisted on challenging the most difficult scenario.¡±

    ¡°You sure know how to spin a yarn. Are you going to let us in or not? To visit your cr*ppy haunted house, we need to be subjected to a lecture from you, huh? This is unbelievable!¡± The person who spoke was a woman with an explosive temper. There was a tattoo of a ck skull running down her arm. She looked like a person one would not wish to cross at any time.

    ¡°I am doing this for you own good.¡± Chen Ge stood before the nine people. ¡°I need to check with all of you onest time¡ªdo you really insist on challenging the most difficult scenario at my haunted house?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we do! Stop wasting our time!¡± The nine visitors urged him on. They appeared to be more anxious than Chen Ge. It was like they could not wait to get this started.

    ¡°Okay!¡± Chen Ge nodded in agreement, and then his tone suddenly changed as he turned to all the phone cameras and said loudly. ¡°Since we are all in the same haunted house industry, a pure visitation is so boring, right? So, how about we add a bet on top of it? If you sessfully clear the most difficult scenario that I have at my haunted house, I will add a statement on all of my social ounts and even order a custom banner to hang over this haunted house¡¯s entrance that my own haunted house is not as scary as the rest of yours, and I will admit that most of the poprity of my haunted house came from sensationalism and produced hype.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house was incredibly popr on the inte. If Chen Ge did something like that, it could really bring some serious ie to the other business owners. This caused the other owners to be attracted by Chen Ge¡¯s offer of a bet. Only Shang Guan Qing Hong felt that something was not right, but before he could say anything, the other eight had already agreed to take Chen Ge up on his challenge.

    ¡°Do not hurry to agree so soon. Because if you lose, you have to hang a banner of my haunted house¡¯s name over the entrance of your own haunted house and admit that my haunted house does live up to its name on the inte.¡± Chen Ge looked at the gang of people with a smile on his face. The fewmunicated among themselves for a while. They had the map of the School of the Afterlife and all the scare points in their possession. Other than that, they had also spent the whole previous day looking over the videos that had been secretly taken in the scenario. They had gotten used to the scary atmosphere. From how they saw it, there was nothing stopping them from clearing this scenario.

    ¡°We agree. That is a very fair bet.¡±

    ¡°All of you are respected members of the industry from big cities. I believe you will not go back on your words, right?¡± The corners of Chen Ge¡¯s lips curled up into a smile. He turned to face all the cameras and shouted at the top of his lungs, ¡°Come on in then. Follow me. You are going to challenge the four-star scenario¡ªghost fetus! Inside the deepest part of the ck fog, there are nine children waiting for you.¡±

    ¡°Ghost fetus?¡± Shang Guang Qing Hong and someone inside the group shared a look. They wanted to make sure that they had not heard wrong. That was indeed what Chen Ge had said, right?

 Chapter 1117 - Iâ€œve Never Believed in the Supernatural 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1117 I¡°ve Never Believed in the Supernatural 2 in 1</h4>

    ¡°is ghost fetus another name for the school of the afterlife?¡± shang quan qing hong quietly asked the teammate beside him.thetter was equally confused. ¡°probably. a scenario the size of the school of the afterlife takes more than a year to design and build. the fact that their haunted house has one of them is already quite impressive.¡±

    ¡°you have a point there. it appears to be just a name change.¡±

    ¡°howe i do not feel like that is the case? i feel like we¡¯ve been tricked.¡± shang guan qing hong had interacted with chen ge before, so he knew what kind of person chen ge was. with chen ge¡¯s personality, he would never cave under pressure and admit defeat so easily. when chen ge¡¯s tone changed earlier, shang guan qing hong had noticed a bad feeling rising in his heart.

    ¡°it is toote to say anything now. we have already given the man our promise. there is no way we can back out now. i am not going to lose this face.¡± the man with the sunsses overheard the conversation between shang guan qing hong and the other person. he opened his mouth to say, ¡°do not worry. even if this ghost fetus is a different scenario, it won¡¯t affect us that much. all of us have been in this business for more than half a century; we already know everything there is to know about the ins and outs of the business. it is easy for him to scare the normal visitors, but to wish to use the same tricks on us, it is almost impossible.¡±

    the man with the sunsses was very confident. he appeared to be one of the top haunted house designers in the country. even though chen ge did not know him, he appeared to be well respected among the other members within the business. once the man in the sunsses said his piece, the others were quick to nod along. the nine visitors followed behind chen ge to uncle xu.

    ¡°uncle, i need nine tickets to the ghost fetus scenario.¡± chen ge¡¯s request had cornered uncle xu. after all, the experienced ticket seller had not even heard of this ghost fetus scenario before, but he knew it was unwise to point that out before the crowd, so he just randomly printed nine general tickets for shang guan qing hong¡¯s group.

    the surrounding visitors also heard about the news of the ghost fetus scenario for the first time. a wave of excitement travelled through the crowd. many of the experienced visitors who were sitting at the resting hall rushed out to look.

    ¡°the four-star scenario ¡®ghost fetus¡¯ will be open to the public for the first time today! so, there is a fifty percent ticket discount promotion! those are interested shouldn¡¯t let this opportunity go! the first trial of a new scenario is the most exciting. it is like watching the livestream of a sports game. you never know what will happen the next second. this kind of facing the unknown is the most exciting feeling there is!¡±

    once chen ge said that, shang guan qing hong¡¯s face turned green immediately. now that he had confirmed that ghost fetus and school of the afterlife were two different scenarios, it meant that the information that they had collected beforehand had all been rendered useless. he tried his best to control the expression on his face. shang quan qing hong tried to capture the attention of another member in this team, but thetter was stunned beyond belief, unable to give shang quan qing hong any attention.

    ¡°a brand-new scenario, an extreme experience, all that for just a mere twenty rmb, what are you guys hesitating for?¡±

    the nine visitors all knew each other, so it was inconvenient for chen ge to stuff his own employees into their ranks. therefore, he needed more visitors to fill up the visiting team. whenever chen ge went through such promotional spiel, the frequent visitors at the haunted house would all instinctually take a step back. they would get as far away from chen ge as they could.

    the opening of a new scenario would always capture a few visitors to use as ¡®sacrifices¡¯. the experienced visitors quickly retreated. they were very familiar with chen ge¡¯s agenda. other haunted houses giving a discount might be to celebrate some kind of holiday or anniversary, but whenever chen ge¡¯s haunted house gave a discount, it could only mean that something bad was about to happen. everyone had learned their lesson. no one stood out to answer chen ge¡¯s call. just as chen ge was about to give up, a voice suddenly travelled through the crowd.

    ¡°haven¡¯t you guys been skipping ss toe here to y? howe all of you are as silent as a mouse at a moment like this?¡± a middle-aged man wearing a pair of sses walked out from the crowd. ¡°students of forensic science skipping sses toe to a haunted house to y every day and still not being able to clear the game. in a way, you students are the worst batch that i have ever taught.¡±

    ¡°mr. wang, shh! now is not the time to speak. do not let boss chen make a target out of you.¡± the students standing beside the middle-aged man quickly spoke. one of them was very familiar; it was one of chen ge¡¯s oldest friends.

    ¡°he san, i heard you were the first toe to this haunted house. you alone have dragged all of your seniors down into your bad habits, and that has raised the university¡¯s truancy rate by three hundred percent. when we return, we will need to have a good sit down and talk about this.¡± the middle-aged man was very stern. he san did not even dare raise his head during the lecture.

    ¡°he san! long time no see!¡± chen ge was troubled over theck of volunteers, so when he saw the students from jiujiang medical university, it was like he had just seen his long-lost rtives. he ran over to them happily. ¡°is this your lecturer? how shall i refer to you, sir?¡±

    ¡°my surname is wang. i am a senior lecturer at jiujiang medical university.¡± the students beside him kept making faces at mr. wang, but mr. wang ignored all of them. ¡°my students often skip ss toe to your theme park to y after sses and even during sses. they only talk about how to clear your scenarios. their parents have paid for their tuition, and the country has given them such a conducive education environment. is that for them to think about how to clear a haunted house day in and day out?¡±

    mr. wang was a very stern but responsible lecturer. that could be seen from the fact that he had personally purchased the ticket toe to the theme park to capture the students who had skipped ss by himself. furthermore, this lecturer had probably been observing this for quite some time already because once he showed up, he managed to capture so many of his students in the act.

    ¡°all work and no y makes jack a dull boy. skipping ss toe to a theme park is something wrong, but with a proper time management, a visit to a haunted house can help a student greatly release their stress. it is a very good method to rx after a long day of studying.¡± chen ge did not mind the expression of the other visitors around them, and he continued to speak in a serious and open tone. ¡°how about this, mr. wang? you should give it a try in person. after that experience, perhaps you will be able to understand why your students have such passion for my haunted house. after all, my haunted house is distinctively unique from other haunted houses. it is hidden with many puzzles and unsolved cases. during the visitation process, the visitors can improve their observation, analysis and logical thinking abilities.¡±

    ¡°sir! you really have to think about this!¡± he san quickly grabbed mr. wang by his arm. ¡°a four-star scenario is very scary. it is not a joke!¡±

    ¡°do you have such little faith in your lecturer?¡± mr. wang stared harshly at he san. ¡°i have participated in many heavy crime investigations. i only retired from the front line two years ago. what kind of gory and bloody crime scene have i not seen before in my career?¡±

    the innocent he san felt wronged. ¡°sir...¡±

    ¡°a real crime scene is one hundred times scarier than a scenario made up inside a haunted house. when you are there in person, you can sense the presence of the lives that once upied the space. the smell, the wounds, any traces could be hiding a true horror.¡± mr. wang shook his head. ¡°when you graduate and be a qualified coroner, you will naturally understand these things. by then, you will know that these so-called haunted houses can only bring you temporarily shocks, but they are far from being actual terrors.¡±

    ¡°well said, i agree with that whole-heartedly.¡± chen ge finally understood the confidence behind mr. wang. this mr. wang was not a normal lecturer; he was a coroner who had just retired from the front line two years ago. he had actual experience dealing with murders and homicides under his belt. unfortunately, it was because mr. wang had retired from the front line two years ago that he had not heard of the record where chen ge had helped thew enforcement solve so many actual cases in the past few months. the number of heavy crimes already could not be counted. just considering super heavy and serious crimes, there were already quite a few. chen ge admired people like mr. wang who had actual experience to back up his words. of course, he also wished that he could undo the prejudice that mr. wang had toward his haunted house. ¡°mr. wang, ticket sales are this way.¡±

    ¡°there has to be a reason why your haunted house enjoys such high poprity on the inte. i am here today not to ruin your reputation. i just want to instill a lesson in my students. nowadays, the kids are too used to not taking things seriously, but i need to make them understand that the upation of a coroner is a very serious one.¡± after saying that, mr. wang grabbed the two students closest to him and walked ahead. e on, we will experience this today. actually, after listening to you people doing research about this ce day in and day out, i am quite curious about it.¡±

    mr. wang was surprisingly strong. when he san felt his body being pulled along, he took a moment to realize and snapped out of it. ¡°we¡¯re entering the haunted house together with you, sir? what the f*ck!¡±

    ¡°how could you curse before your teacher?¡± chen ge chided he san with a smile. he was reminded of the first time he encountered he san. that day, he san hade to visit his haunted house with gao ru xue.

    ¡°no, wait! sir! wait a minute!¡± not only he san, the other student from jiujiang medical university who was closest to mr. wang failed to escape, and he was half dragged and half pulled to the ticket sales booth.

    ¡°three tickets to the ghost fetus scenario, please.¡± mr. wang was quick and efficient. after he purchased the students, he dragged the students through the gates of the haunted house.

    ¡°this lecturer is not as brash as he seems. he purposely grabbed he san and the other student, who are already familiar with the rules of the haunted house, to prevent idents from happening.¡± after chen ge saw the other people from jiujiang medical university retreat back into the crowd, he turned to lead the other nine visitors into the haunted house. ¡°please sign the disimer forms first. i will go out and see if there are any other visitors who are willing to join. it costs quite a bit to open a four-star scenario to the public, so i wish to fill up twenty people in a team before we start.¡±

    momentster, chen ge came back with three new visitors. one of them was xiao sun, and the other two were a couple from xin hai. the couple appeared to have just finished an argument. in the heat of argument, the girl grabbed the man and registered to join. chen ge initially wanted to reject them, but to his surprise, he realized that there was a heavy air of yin energy around the man. he suspected that this was a unique visitor, so in the end, he did not stop them. after all fifteen visitors had signed the disimers, chen ge put the forms neatly away and then started to exin the background of the ghost fetus scenario and the rules of the game to them.

    ¡°even though most of you are experienced members of this industry, there are certain things that i need to warn you about.¡± after signing the disimer, chen ge¡¯s tone and expression changed. it was as if he had changed into a different personpared to the smiling man who had weed them warmly outside the haunted house. at this moment, he looked quite scary. ¡°this ghost fetus scenario is different from any of the haunted house scenarios that you have ever designed or visited. you will meet life threatening danger inside there, but you might run into some very interesting events.¡±

    ¡°why is your scenario called ghost fetus?¡± the lights inside the haunted house were dim, but the man with the sunsses did not appear like he was about to remove the sses.

    ¡°there was once a shadow who wanted to be human. he yearned for bliss, but during the process of chasing after bliss, he ran into many twisted and crazy monsters who left scars and incorrect values in him. in the end, he turned into a ghost fetus that was feared by everyone. you will soon experience his slow process of descending into the dark abyss. i hope you will treat every choice that you face seriously because every choice that you make will greatly influence the plot that wille in the future.¡± chen ge heard a grunt of impatienceing from the team, so he quickly wrapped things up. ¡°the time limit is one hour. you need to find a rag doll inside the ghost fetus¡¯ scenario.¡±

    chen ge took out two pictures that he had taken beforehand and handed them separately to mr. wang and shang guan qing hong. ¡°this rag doll has been severed into many parts by a doctor. you only need to find all the broken pieces within an hour and piece them together to clear the scenario!¡±

    ¡°the goal is that simple?¡± the man who was fashionably dressed asked to confirm.

    ¡°if you ever want to give up, just scream loudly for them. other than that, i have to give you onest piece of advice. do not have any physical contact with anyone inside the haunted house, including your teammates.¡± chen ge led the fifteen visitors down the steps into the underground scenario. ¡°take good care of the pictures and pay attention to the people around you. most importantly, do not wander off on your own.¡±

    chen ge gave the visitors a lot of warnings. he was being sincere; he did not want anything bad to happen to these people. after all, the memory of the demon god lingered throughout the ghost fetus¡¯ scenario. opening the steel door that headed underground, the ambient temperature dropped immediately. chill winds rushed out from the ground, and among the visitors, three of their expressions changed immediately.

    one of them was the man from xin hai, the one who had heavy yin energy on him. the second one was the woman with the ck skull tattoo on her arm. she touched her earring and opened her lips as if to say something, but in the end, she quieted down again. the woman with an explosive temper suddenly became curiously quiet. thest one was mr. wang. his brows were heavily creased together, and the bridge of his nose twitched like he could smell something special in the air.

    ¡°stick close to me.¡± chen ge led them underground. they walked past the first floor and then headed to their destination, the underground second floor. another ck iron door appeared before them. this door was embedded into the ground like it had grown out from the walls. it was giving off a fainted disinfectant smell.

    ¡°everything you need to know about the ghost fetus is behind this door.¡± chen ge used quite some strength before he managed to push the heavy door open. his eyes narrowed as he studied all the visitors coldly. ¡°you can go in now. the timer will start once this door closes.¡±

    standing outside the iron door, the visitors all stopped at the same spot as if they had discussed this earlier. no one appeared to wish to make the first step. after some time, the man with the sunsses took off his ss. he coughed several times and grabbed another person to walk past the door. the other visitors moved to follow. after they had all walked in, chen ge stayed to look at them. his eyes were like he was looking at a group of walking corpses, and the corners of his lips curled upward. ¡°wee to the four-star scenario, ghost fetus. i hope you enjoy yourselves.¡±

    bang!

    the heavy ck iron door was mmed shut. the chains grinded against the rusted railings, and the iron door was locked tight.

    ¡°i think it¡¯s better if i follow behind them. after all, i am one of the nine chosen children.¡± chen ge returned to the dressing room to touch up his make-up and then went to the specter¡¯s changing room to pick up a costume. after he was ready, chen ge went to survey the other scenarios and called over some of the employees who were free. ¡°now, there should be no problem already.¡±

    ...

    the ck iron door closed heavily. none of the visitors wandered away from the team. the haunted house was apletely different world aboveground and belowground. it was as if before this group of people was ready, they were kicked down from heaven into hell.

    ¡°buildings that arepletely unfamiliar, the video information did not provide us with any details rted to this scenario at all.¡± shang guan qing hong¡¯s scalp was numb. he leaned against the iron door, and it felt like the air that entered his lungs even chilled his organs. ¡°we have worked together to n this for a whole month and wasted so much money to have people collect information for us, but in the end, we were ushered into a new scenario that ispletely unknown to us.¡±

    for some reason, shang guan qing hong was suddenly reminded of this quote from zhu ge liang¡¯s memorial on sending out the troop¡ª¡¯thete sovereign was taken from us while his life¡¯s work, the restoration of the han, remained unfinished.¡¯

    ¡°snap out of it. as the initiator of this proposal, you cannot give up now.¡± the man who had been exchanging nces with shang guan qing hong before they entered the haunted house whispered to him.

    ¡°director ma, you have no idea how scary the owner of this haunted house is. the man is evil incarnate!¡± shang guan qing hong also lowered his voice to a whisper. he did not want to lower the group¡¯s morale.

    ¡°i personally have never believed in the supernatural because i only believe in myself.¡± the man patted shang guan qing hong on his shoulder. his gaze was as sharp as a knife.

 Chapter 1118 - A Conclusion That Overturned My Entire Understanding of This World 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1118 A Conclusion That Overturned My Entire Understanding of This World 2 in 1</h4>

    ¡°director ma, i know you don¡¯t believe in these things, but certain things are truly impossible to exin via scientific means.¡± shang guan qing hong¡¯s face was stretched into a mirthless mask. he really was no in mood to smile.

    ¡°since we are already here, we shall take things as theye. we should always remain calm whenever we run into something serious. other than that, stop calling me director ma. you can just refer to me as brother ma.¡± this was the man¡¯s first time entering such an eerie scenario, but he was able to maintain hisposure. this proved that he was indeed better than others. at least in terms of mental strength and stability, he was already stronger than most normal visitors.

    ¡°now, i have a very bad feeling about this. director ma, how about wee back another day? today, we¡¯ve obviously been tricked by that chen fellow. there must be many unknown trapsid in this scenario. i do not mind it myself, but you can¡¯t get injured in here!¡± shang guan qing hong looked at the dark and creepy buildings around him, and his legs refused to take a single step forward.

    ¡°i do not believe that a visit to a haunted house can injure someone. furthermore, if you see it from another perspective, if i am really found injured inside his haunted house, wouldn¡¯t that be perfect as well? i can use that to bring his haunted house down.¡± the man raised his arm. ¡°there are many ways to bring down a haunted house. to me, openpetition is the stupidest way to do it.¡±

    ¡°you have other n in mind?¡±

    ¡°you do not need worry yourself about that. today, i came in person to see what is so impressive about a haunted house that could make jiang jiu stumble so hard. at the same time, i want to let the other people at thepany know that i can do what jiang jiu cannot do, and what jiang jiu can do, i can do much better.¡± the man had ability to back up his words. whenever he spoke, there was a confident and sharp air that surrounded him. shang guan qing hong realized that his persuasion had fallen on deaf ears. he did not have the face to surrender now, so all he could do was ignore the bad feeling in his heart and follow the rest deeper into the scenario.

    ¡°if a perfect score is ten marks, given the creation of the atmosphere, the set design, and thebination of the lighting and sound effects, i will give it 8.5 marks.¡± the man who was fashionably dressed touched the wall and felt the sensation that came from the tip of his fingers. ¡°the set pieces feel very real, like they have been moved from an actual haunted site. it is notpletely based on luck that this haunted house was able to gain its massive poprity. there is actual backing behind it.¡±

    the man was mean to others, but when it came to his professional field, he was rather fair and honest.

    ¡°but other than the authenticity, i cannot see any other positive points about this ce.¡± the man with the sunsses crossed his arms before his chest. he continued with more than a hint of derision. ¡°the story background is so unspecified. the visitors do not have a fixed role, so they are unable to emerge themselves into the plot fully. this kind of haunted house enjoys so much praise on the inte? i do not believe one bit that he did not hire a fifty cent army to bulk up his positive reviews.¡±

    ¡°it is your freedom not to believe it. just remember what you said now when you cry for mercy.¡± he san was getting annoyed by the man in the sunsses. he knew how scary a four-star scenario was. after being forcibly dragged in there by mr. wang, he was in a very bad mood.

    ¡°we are all professionals in this industry. his little tricks might work on normal visitors like you guys, but they will never work on professionals like us.¡± the man with the sunsses took out his phone and searched for chen ge¡¯s haunted house on the general review website. ¡°of all the visitors that purchased the tickets, about ny-seven percent of them thought their experience was horrifying, and ny-five percent gave it a very high review. do you think that is possible?¡±

    ¡°that is indeed impossible.¡± he san shook his head. ¡°i think one hundred percent of the visitors would have thought this ce is scary if they¡¯d really visited it. that three percent are probably the real fifty cent army hired by other members within the industry to bring down boss chen¡¯s overall rating.¡±

    ¡°haha.¡± the man with the sunsses said caustically, ¡°i will let you in on a real industry statistic. even a top haunted house will not make sure that every visitor that has gone through its doors feels fear, so normal data will be around seventy-five percent. the fact that this haunted house¡¯s statistics are so high is obvious proof that he has hired a fifty cent army to fluff up his marks. sometimes, i find it ridiculously funny that a haunted house that depends on sensationalism and a fifty cent army to get so popr online was hailed by so many idiots as the scariest haunted house in the country. if that is not the joke of the century, what is?¡±

    ¡°even if you are a professional in the industry, and even if you have the real statistics, i still do not understand how that gives you the right to nder someone else¡¯s haunted house like this.¡± the other student from jiujiang medical university had spoken. normally, they were tortured enough by chen ge¡¯s haunted house, but if there was someone who dared mock chen ge¡¯s haunted house, they would be the first to jump out to defend it.

    ¡°because my name is fu bole.¡±

    the man with the sunsses appeared to be very famous in the industry, but it was clear that the students from jiujiang medical university had never heard this name before.

    ¡°why should i care what your name is? am i supposed to know you?¡±

    ¡°that is why i say you visitors are innocent, like pieces of white paper. have you heard of the ling family? the biggest chain of haunted houses in the country. we have in total thirty branches, and i am the ling family¡¯s main designer.¡± the man with the sunsses pointed at the people around him. ¡°every single one of us here is more experienced and aplished than that chen ge fellow. how long has he been in the business? if you really want to talk about it, we are all his seniors.¡±

    the man wearing the sunsses introduced the others in his group one by one. the man who was fashionably dressed was called wei chaochao. he was a designer for the aotsuka family¡¯s haunted house from japan. the woman with the skull tattoo was nicknamed sister snake. she was involved in the design projects of manyrge-scale, international haunted houses. when she returned to the country, she opened an escape room whose good reviews were just second to chen ge¡¯s haunted house¡ªbewitched.

    the other two fatties were twin brothers. the elder one was called liang er, and the younger brother was liang san. ording to rumors, they had an elder brother who died young. a fortune teller had purposely persuaded their mother to name them liang er and liang san to prevent the eldest son froming back to grab them as scapegoats. the brothers worked together to run the fifth most popr haunted house in the country¡ªdreamscape. they were both designers and, at the same time, actors who specialized in scaring others.

    among them was a middle-aged woman who had spoken very little since they appeared at the theme park. she appeared to be very afraid of the cold and impervious to heat. even when they were outside, she was still wearing long sleeves and had her body wrapped up tightly. the middle-aged woman was very reticent, and the man in the sunsses, fu bole, did not give her much of an introduction. he merely went through the haunted house that she ran¡ªthe castle of lost memories.

    the six of them could be considered the top haunted house designers in the country. scenarios that would be very scary for normal people would only be considered normal in their eyes because they had seen too many simr scares in their career. this year, they were hit by the low economy as well, and some of their haunted houses had seen an obvious decrease in their visitor count. to see chen ge¡¯s haunted house suddenly rocket in poprity naturally ate their ego and made them feel slightly indignant; that was only natural.

    ¡°a group of haunted house designersing to challenge a haunted house? that is very interesting. i am so lucky to have run into something as epic as this.¡± the male visitor from xin hai smiled wickedly. he turned to look at the other people around him. ¡°why don¡¯t we also introduce ourselves? i believe we will need to work together to clear this scenario.¡±

    after the male visitor said that, no one present epted his suggestion. they all ignored him, but that did not seem to faze him. he continued on his own. ¡°then, i will start. my name is gu ren, and this is my girlfriend, fang ying. the two of us like to watch horror movies, and we are greatly interested in these things. we have been to many haunted houses in the past. i suppose you can see us as experienced yers.¡±

    ¡°we are students from jiujiang medical university. i am he san, and this is my senior, zuo han. he is the person with the highest umtive score at our school.¡± he san pointed at the other student next to him. the other student did not appear like he was a chatterbox. he was quite a handsome young man, but he did not seem to be interested in anything. he had that brooding presence about that. ¡°and this other person is my lecturer, mr. wang.¡±

    ¡°umtive score? what is that?¡±

    ¡°boss chen¡¯s haunted house has a ranking system. if you clear a scenario, you will be awarded a point. the higher the difficulty of the scenario, the more points you will be given. senior zuo han is ranked third on the ranking. he is one of the most experienced visitors at boss chen¡¯s haunted house,¡± he san exined patiently. he was a nice person; he was naturally kind and innocent, but unfortunately, he had been given a glimpse into the danger and darkness of humanity during his many visits to chen ge¡¯s haunted house.

    after everyone had made their self-introduction, they all turned in unison to xiao sun. he was quite nervous under theirbined scrutiny. ¡°my name is sun xiaojun. ie from the old city.¡±

    xiao sun wanted to act as normal as he could, but he could not control himself. but if one really thought about it, it was quite ironic. a ghost was being stared at until he became nervous by a few living humans.

    ¡°alright, now that we have gone through all the introductions, we should start to discuss how to clear this scenario.¡± the sunsses man, fu bole, stepped out to take the center stage. it was clear that he was expecting everyone to just ept him as the team leader.

    ¡°you can save your time trying to clear the scenario. this is the first time this four-star scenario has been open to the public. our main goal should be to ensure our own safety, and that is all,¡± zuo han said inly.

    ¡°you are being drawn too deep into the trap by the boss. oh, never mind, it is a waste of time trying to exin it to you people who do not know anything.¡± fu bole did not care at all about the other visitors¡¯ feeling. after all, this was not his haunted house; the worse the experience was for the other visitors, the happier he would be. ¡°we have a one-hour time limit. it will be extremely difficult to find all the broken parts of the rag doll within such arge scenario, so i suggest we split up into groups. four people a group, that will greatly increase the efficiency ofpleting the game.¡±

    ¡°i can tell you very clearly right now that if we split up, we will be actively searching for death.¡± zuo han walked directly to face fu bole. ¡°do you know how we ended up clearing the three-star scenario ¡®coffin vige¡¯?¡±

    ¡°a three-star scenario is much simpler than a four-star scenario. your experience is of no use to us right now.¡±

    ¡°i just want to tell you that, at the time, ten of us entered the scenario at the same time. we were moving in a group. to transfer the red wedding dress out of the scenario, we watched our teammates disappear one after another with our own eyes.¡± zuo han stared into fu bole¡¯s eyes. ¡°even if we are gathered together, the teammates will still disappear without reason, much less when we get separated.¡±

    ¡°based on what you said, since we will disappear either way, why the insistence on us sticking together?¡±

    ¡°it¡¯s to buy time. i do not know how the haunted house came up with the design to make people disappear before everyone else¡¯s eyes, but at least the person who was lost could use his own ¡®life¡¯ to buy precious time for the others. his ¡®death¡¯ could not be wasted for no reason. do you understand it now?¡± zuo han¡¯s tone was getting impatient. to be honest, he did not want to spend so much time persuading this stubborn and arrogant fu bole, but it could not be helped. this time, nine of the group were fu bole¡¯s people. to clear this scenario, he would have to work together with these nine people.

    ¡°use their own lives to buy time?¡± fu bole and the other haunted house designers allughed at him. ¡°have you people lost your mind from visiting this ce too many times? hey! you are their lecturer, right? how do you normally teach your students? they are about to enter society soon; how can they still be so na?ve?¡±

    the few haunted house designers were making fun of jiujiang medical university, but mr. wang¡¯s eyes did not even wander over to them. he kept his eyes on zuo han.

    he knew how brilliant zuo han was. he was the top of his ss at the university. zuo han¡¯s overall marks for all his courses¡ªautopsy ss, medical high grade mathematics, medical physic, forensic pathology, forensic psychology, and criminal psychology¡ªhad broken the records of jiujiang medical university for the past ten years. mr. wang knew that zuo han would not lie and knew that the young man was not just blowing air. that was why, when he entered the haunted house, he grabbed zuo han¡¯s arm and never let go.

    he san was the person who was most familiar with the haunted house¡¯s boss and the environment, while zuo han was the student with the highest umtive score from the university. mr. wang only had two hands, so he had chosen the two most reliable students. when he decided to enter this ce, mr. wang had lowered the chance of him humiliating himself to the minimum, but after he was really inside the haunted house, he realized that he might have underestimated this ce. everything felt so real. that authenticity even brought up many of his bad memories from the past.

    ¡°you can humiliate me all you want for now, and i will not waste time arguing with you. i am just telling you the way to ensure our survivability that has the highest probability. it is up to you whether you ept it or not.¡± zuo han¡¯s words were clean and cutting. his eyes scanned through fu bole¡¯s group before finallynding on ma fang. ¡°if there is a clever person among you, then it would be best if you followed my instructions. after all, we are all on the same boat.¡±

    zuo han appeared to have picked out the fact that ma feng was the real core of this group through their micro-expressions, so hisst statement was meant for ma feng only.

    ¡°i also agree that we should stick together.¡± shang guan qing hong was quick to agree. ¡°do you still remember the warning that the haunted house¡¯s boss gave us before we entered the scenario? he told us not to have any interactions with anyone else, including the people beside us. this was clearly meant to sew discord among us. he could not wait for us to fight among ourselves.¡±

    the group got into a heated argument. xiao sun stood at the side and did not dare speak. he thought to himself that the reason chen ge said that was probably because he was afraid that the other visitors might abandon xiao sun, so he purposely said that so that xiao sun would be stuck with the rest of the group.

    ¡°stop arguing, it is safer for us to stick together,¡± ma feng decided, and fu bole did not dare argue against him. so, the team of fifteen moved together. ¡°but since we are on a time limit, squeezing together like this will waste too much time. we will split into three groups, and each group will have five people. when we are outside on the streets, we move together, but once we enter a building, we will move ording to our designated groups, and then we will meet up again at the entrance of the building.¡±

    ma feng was the top leader, and he found apromise between the two options.

    ¡°it won¡¯t work.¡± zuo han rejected that idea without even giving it much thought. ¡°you are not familiar with the boss¡¯ tactic. once we split up, he will have a way to make us separate from each other. other than that, how can you make sure that there are no actors among us?¡±

    that one statement from zuo han made everyone nervous. before they came to chen ge¡¯s haunted house, they had heard simr rumors before. some of the visitors there could be disguised workers from the haunted house, and it caused people within the same group to have difficulty trusting each other.

    ¡°the nine of us came together so there are certainly no actors among us, but the rest of you are very suspicious.¡± fu bole red at zuo han and he san. ¡°it is quite rare for a university lecturer to bring his students to visit a haunted house. are you guys really a lecturer and students from a university?¡±

    ¡°before you people suspect us, i wish to tell you one thing, and i hope the nine of you will remember this clearly.¡± zuo han said in a cold tone. ¡°based on our previous experience, i believe this haunted house has an actor that can mimic people¡¯s voices. he can perfectly replicate our voice, so you cannot confirm a person¡¯s identity through their voices along. and other than that, make sure to take good care of your phone. even if you get a phone call or any information from your partner, do not trust it implicitly.¡±

    ¡°would a haunted house go to such lengths?¡± it was noticeable that fu bole¡¯s tone was no longer as confident as before.

    ¡°that is not even the worst,¡± zuo han said hesitatingly. ¡°personally, when i run into a problem, i use every method to find a solution. after visiting this haunted house so many times, i¡¯ve graduallye to a conclusion that overturned my entire understanding of this world.¡±

    ¡°what conclusion is that?¡±

    ¡°this haunted house... might really be haunted.¡±

 Chapter 1119 - Voiceless Small Town 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1119 Voiceless Small Town 2 in 1</h4>

    ¡°Haunted?¡± The few haunted house designers all turned toward Zuo Han. Even Mr. Wang had started to frown. He really did not expect to hear such a deration from his best student.

    ¡°Certain things cannot be answered in this world, or rather, the answer cannot be found through my current store of knowledge. It can only be exined via the supernatural.¡± Zuo Han¡¯s tone was very serious. This was the first time the scenario ¡®ghost fetus¡¯ had been open to the public. Based on his previous experience, the difficulty for every scenario that was open to the public for the first time would be abnormally high. Even Zuo Han was feeling unconfident about this. That was why he shared the suspicion that he had long buried inside his heart with his teammates. He wanted to search for the truth, but he knew that was impossible when paired with these deadweight teammates. In fact, he knew just keeping their sanity intact would be a huge problem.

    ¡°Before we¡¯ve even started the game, you have already brought the supernatural?¡± The sunsses man, Fu Bole,ughed out loud immediately. ¡°Little brother, you made quite a bit of sense at the beginning. In fact, I will admit that you almost got me, but when you suggested that this ce is really haunted, you exposed yourself as the hired actor. As an experienced member of society, I will give you some advice that will be valuable for you in the future¡ªhaste makes waste.¡±

    In such an eerie and disturbing environment, when Zuo Han suggested that the haunted house was really haunted, everyone¡¯s heart skipped a beat, but after they heard Fu Bole¡¯s analysis, they all slowly but surely started to calm down. There were no ghosts in this world. Since the young man had said such a thing inside the haunted house, there was a very high chance that he was a hired actor working for the haunted house.

    The few haunted house designers looked at each other with a knowing smile on their faces. Even Ma Feng took a few extra nces at Zuo Han. For people who had never believed in the supernatural in the first ce, telling them that a ce was really a haunted house, they naturally thought that he was ying a prank on them.

    ¡°The goal of the first thing you said was to insinuate that there might be haunted house actors among us, and then you proceeded to tell us many details that we will need to pay attention to inside the haunted house. All of that created a scary atmosphere. Honestly speaking, as an employee, you have been a really responsible one. That Chen fellow is lucky to have hired someone like you.¡±

    The fashionably dressed Wei Chaochao had spoken as well. The group of haunted house designers chimed in one after another. The more they talked about it, the more they were convinced that Zuo Han was an actor hired by Chen Ge. They provided one example after another to prove their points until Xiao Sun himself was made confused. He started to wonder if Zuo Han was someone Chen Ge had sent in to support him because this was his first time working at the haunted house.

    ¡°I know all of you are very capable, and that¡¯s why I wanted to cooperate with you. Unfortunately, conceit and envy have blinded your eyes. All you can see now are illusions that you have constructed before your eyes, and you refuse to even consider the possibility of the truth.¡± Zuo Han shook his head. He turned to He San and Mr. Wang beside him and said, ¡°This time, we won¡¯t be able to rely on anyone else. But no matter what, the three of us cannot get separated from one another.¡±

    He San and Mr. Wang had understood the severity of the situation, so they nodded in agreement. Seeing how serious the three visitors who were supposedly from Jiujiang Medical University were, Fu Bole could not help butugh. ¡°You guys are still acting even though you have been exposed. Don¡¯t you feel awkward about this?¡±

    ¡°This haunted house came up with this kind of method to help build the atmosphere and introduce the scenario¡¯s details. It is quite interesting. It is something that we can learn.¡± The fatty Laing Er waved at Fu Bole. ¡°Let¡¯s prepare to enter the scenario. Now, I am quite excited to see what they have in store for us.¡±

    Even though each of them had their own reasons for being there, the fifteen people had gathered together again. They followed the rutted street and officially entered the ghost fetus scenario. The ck iron door appeared to wander further and further away from them. After they turned a corner, the first junction appeared before them. A strange, faded smell lingered in the air. The shadows of the buildings of varying sizes appeared to dance in the darkness. They looked around and found nothing, but they could swear that there was a feeling that there were people hiding in the recesses of the darkness watching their every move.

    ¡°Which path should we pick?¡± Fu Bole turned back to ask Ma Feng for his opinion. Ma Feng turned to look at Shang Guan Qing Hong.

    ¡°Just standing here is not going to help us in any way. How about we just pick a random path, leave behind a marking, and if we run into any trouble, we can alwayse back and pick another path?¡± After saying that, Shang Guan Qing Hong followed Ma Feng and walked down the path on the left.

    ¡°Wait a minute!¡± Zuo Han wanted to say something, but the rest of the team did not give him a chance. They all sauntered down the left path. The old-fashioned lights that adorned the street flickered on and off. The shadows that they created on the walls of the buildings appeared to possess strange human shapes. asional whispers came from the buildings from both sides. It sounded like people were talking. They appeared to be hiding from something and, at the same time, searching for something. The nonexistent wind carried with it words like ¡®body parts¡¯ and ¡®rag doll that is unkible¡¯.

    ¡°Our mission is to find the rag doll¡¯s severed body parts, but the boss only gave us a single picture. He did not even mention how many parts of the rag doll there are, so I think we should not leave any one of the buildings unchecked.¡± Wei Chaochao stopped moving. His body leaned against the door of one of the old buildings next to him. ¡°I heard someone speaking inside. There should be a scare point hidden behind this door.¡±

    ¡°I would advise you against opening any random doors. At this haunted house, it is better to do less than to do more.¡± He San was kind enough to warn him, but the few haunted house designers had already confirmed that he was one of the haunted house¡¯s actors, so naturally, they did not heed his advice.

    ¡°Normally, when you are designing a haunted house, the first scare point is very important because, for that first scare, you will be able to discern the overall style and features of that haunted house.¡± Wei Chaochao gripped the door handle and said with some excitement, ¡°Are you guys ready?¡±

    Even though the haunted house designers had been mocking Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house nonstop, when they were about to really trigger a scare point, all of them became incredibly cautious.

    ¡°Open the door. I want to see how scary a haunted house with more than ny percent good reviews on the inte can be.¡± Fu Bole stood at the front of the group. He was like a general leading his army, impervious and unafraid.

    Zuo Han, who had voiced his objection to this earlier, had decided to pipe down. He stared at Wei Chaochao and Fu Bole coldly like he was coldly observing cadavers on an autopsy table. He really did want to work together with these haunted house designers, but thetter was unwilling, so now, he had changed his mind and was prepared to use these people as bait. Since they were going to ¡®die¡¯, why not make their ¡®deaths¡¯ a little bit more valuable? Zuo Han¡¯s thought was that simple. Everyone held their breath as their eyes followed the movement of Wei Chaochao¡¯s arm.

    His five fingers gripped the door handle tightly. Wei Chaochao opened the door a sliver, and then he suddenly stopped. He used his body to block the door that was not fully open.

    Dong!

    The haunted house actor who was hiding inside the house saw the door open and instantly jump out to scare the visitor as he had been told, but he was did not expect the visitors outside the door to only open it a sliver, and more than that, the visitor purposely leaned his weight against the door to stop it from budging so that the door could not be opened fully. Without expecting this, the haunted house actor inside the house rammed directly into the door. The actor did not anticipate something like this happening at all. After his head knocked into the door, he tumbled to the ground,nding on his butt.

    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡± When the group of haunted house designers saw the actor who had stumbled inside the room, their nervous hearts rxed greatly. Then they all revealed expressions filled with condescension and revulsion.

    ¡°A scare tactic that cannot be more clich¨¦bined with obvious inexperience. Does not know how to adapt to the situation and has such horrible reflexes.¡± Wei Chaochao now opened the door fully and started to give his criticism. ¡°If the set design is worth 8.5 marks, I can only give the actor three marks.¡±

    ¡°This has to be a joke. Why would they assign someone like you to act as a ghost toe scare the visitors? You are more suitable to be aedy actor.¡±

    ¡°You have all seen this, right? I believe you are all familiar with the standard of this haunted house now. Now, I can be one hundred percent sure that the good reviews on the inte are all from the fifty cent army hired by the boss himself.¡±

    The group of haunted house experts¡¯ words were ruthless and cutting. They surrounded the poor actor and kept insulting him. Thankfully, the actor was not that easily offended. He rubbed his bruised forehead and slicked back his single ponytail as he climbed up from the ground. He did not seem to mind that he had just been tricked. He brushed it off like nothing had happened. He lifted his head to reveal the face that was made up by Chen Ge earlier.

    ¡°Please quiet down. Speak too loudly in the Voiceless Small Town, and you will be heard by the ghosts.¡± The male actor¡¯s expression was very serious. It appeared like he had practiced his facial expression before the mirror many times before.

    ¡°If all the ghosts are someone like you, what does it matter if we are overheard by them?¡± Fu Bole shrugged. ¡°I was expecting something new and interesting, but what do I get? Same old tricks reused and recycled.¡±

    ¡°I am not a ghost. I am a human being like you, but there are ghosts inside this small town.¡± The male actor was not lying. With his hand on his heart, he was telling the truth.

    ¡°Even with the bruise on the head, you still have not forgotten your designated lines. Okay, that is quite professional. The rating that I gave you has risen to 3.5 marks.¡± Wei Chaochao patted the dust on his shoulders.

    ¡°Everything that I say is real. My son and myself were trapped here after dark. We were forced to y a game of hide and seek with a bunch of ghosts. If you are found and captured by them, the consequences are unimaginable!¡± The male actor¡¯s expressions were all to the point, but the few haunted house designers still took issue with him.

    ¡°That is the background of the story? Looks like a four-star scenario is not that scary after all.¡±

    When the haunted house designers were still continuing their mockery, Zuo Han and He San waded through the crowd. They kept their stares on the male actor and said with a serious expression, ¡°Just now, you said that if you speak in this small town, you will be heard by the ghosts, correct?¡±

    ¡°Yes, this small town is called the Voiceless Small Town. Whenever you make a sound, you will attract the ghosts¡¯ attention.¡± The male actor tried his best to exin the scenario.

    ¡°What will happen if you are found by the ghosts? Earlier, you said that you were here with your son, but I see that you are here alone now. Where is your child? Has he been taken away by the ghosts?¡± Zuo Han¡¯s mind was sharp. It was rare that one could find an actor that could bemunicated with inside Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house, so he wanted to obtain as much information as he could.

    ¡°At the time, my son and I were both chased by the ghosts. I volunteered to distract the ghosts from him and left him alone inside a storage building on the northern side of the small town.¡± The male actor lowered his voice. ¡°If you can help bring my boy back to me, I will tell you a secret about this world.¡±

    ¡°A hidden mission?¡± Zuo Han nodded. ¡°I will help you find your boy. By the way, what is your name? Can you give us something to prove your identify? We need to prove to your child that we are acting on your favor.¡±

    The male actor was startled. This was not part of the plot, but the man was quick on his feet. ¡°My name is Wu Jinpeng. After you find my boy, just tell him my name, and he will follow you.¡±

    ¡°Then, what does your boy looks like? I am afraid that the ghosts might get to your son before we do, and then we might mistake the ghost as your son.¡± Zuo Han had considered all the possible scenarios.

    ¡°He is very short and wears a red shirt. His name is... Wu Nan.¡±

    ¡°You were obviously hesitating earlier. Is there something that you have not told us?¡± Mr. Wang also walked over. The lecturer and student worked together perfectly, and they applied a ton of pressure on Wu Jinpeng.

    ¡°The children here like to y hide and seek. Actually, from the moment you enter this small town, you have been forced to join this maddening game already.¡± Wu Jinpeng suddenly reached out to grab the door handle. ¡°Remember, be careful of the ghosts, and be on the lookout for ces to hide!¡±

    After he had said everything that he needed to say, Wu Jinpeng closed the door and returned back to the house.

    ¡°The main theme of this ghost fetus scenario is hide and seek, huh? He mentioned that the children here like to y hide and seek. That proves that there is more than one child here. And the scenario itself is called ghost fetus, so obviously, all of the scares are rted to children.¡± Zuo Han looked at the door that was already closed. ¡°I think we should avoid the mission that he gave us because the mission told us was to find a child.¡±

    ¡°Yes, and when he was describing his own child, he thought for a long time, and he even halted a few times. I suspect that the child he described was not even his child at all,¡± Mr. Wang analyzed. ¡°The name Wu Nan was probably something he made up on the spot. Assuming the worst, the man inside the house is working together with the ghosts. He is trying to feed us to the ghosts.¡±

    Mr. Wang and Zuo Han shared the same opinion. The two of them were seriously analyzing the information they were given, without giving any concern to the other visitors. Listening to their discussion, Fu Bole only confirmed his suspicion even further. These three who imed that they were from Jiujiang Medical University had to be the actors hired by the haunted house, and they had been trying topensate for the horrible acting of the man inside the house.

    ¡°Well, just keep on acting. We will see how much longer you can keep this going.¡± Fu Bole suddenly spoke to interrupt their analysis. Then he scoffed with derision. His sudden words startled Sun Xiaojun, who was standing beside him.

    ¡°We have just seen the true standard of this haunted house. What we need to do next is explore the houses one by one. There is nothing to be worried about.¡± Wei Chaochao¡¯s expression was rather disappointed. Initially, he was quite curious about Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house, but now that he realized the ce was not that different from the other haunted houses on the market, he could not help but feel a bit underwhelmed. ¡°Let¡¯s just hurry up and get this over with. I still need to catch a ne this afternoon.¡±

    The Voiceless Small Town was veryrge. The designers pushed open three doors, and they still found nothing. So, they started to let their guard down.

    ¡°What is the meaning of this? They are all empty houses? There are no scary objects or any actors inside any of the buildings. It is like the scenario is not evenpleted.¡± Liang San also started toin. He felt like it was a waste of time for him to purposelye to Jiujiang to visit this haunted house.

    A few of the designers started to take it like a stroll through the park, but in contrast, Zuo Han and He San got more and more nervous. ¡°You could hear voices inside every house, but after you open the door, there is no one inside. This is very strange.¡±

    ¡°The voices do not appear like they are broadcast from any speaker. It feels more like people are whispering into our ears.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s ignore that for now. We need to stick close to them and have them scout the path for us.¡± Once Zuo Han said that, Wei Chaochao¡¯s voice could be hearding from the front of the group.

    ¡°Eh? I finally found something interesting!¡± Before Wei Chaochao was the entrance to an apartment building. On the wall next to him was a missing person¡¯s report. The missing child¡¯s name was Jiang Ming. Thedder was before them, and thedder led downward, but due to theck of the lighting, standing outside the apartment, they could not tell how many floors the stairs led down to.

    ¡°The interior is so big? I thought there was only one floor...¡± The bad feeling that had been troubling Shang Guan Qing Hong only got stronger, and he stuck close to Ma Feng.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go in to take a look.¡± Liang San opened the apartment¡¯s iron door. When he entered the ce, he did not feel anything weird, but after some time, he suddenly noticed the problem. ¡°This ce is so quiet. You can¡¯t hear anything. Even the background music has disappeared.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, it is like we have entered a different worldpared to the outside street. How did he manage to do this?¡± Liang Er followed behind him. ¡°It is quiet to the point that it feels unnatural. Now it feels like I am inside an actual haunted house.¡±

 Chapter 1120 - I Did Not Mean to Do It on Purpose! 2 in 1

    <h4>1120 I Did Not Mean to Do It on Purpose! 2 in 1</h4>

    The Liang siblings entered the corridor directly, and the others followed closely behind them. Ma Feng, though, stopped outside the building for a while. He was studying the missing person notice.¡°The name Jiang Ming is very familiar. I believe Jiang Jiu¡¯s son is called Jiang Ming. Is this one of the pranks pulled by the boss?¡±

    The missing person¡¯s article provided a picture of the child, but Ma Feng had no recollection of this child at all. Once all the people had ventured into the building, the child on the missing person notice suddenly winked. He appeared to be making signal at another ¡®person¡¯ who was far away. A small shadow appeared from the corner of the wall. A light scent lingered in the air. He followed the group into the apartment and kindly helped close the front door behind them.

    ¡°This ce is too quiet, isn¡¯t it?¡± At a location that was absolutely silent, people would sometimes be frightened by their own voice. Liang Er and Liang San were incredibly interested in how the haunted house boss had managed to do something like this. They were all professionals. They inspected the scenario inch by inch and noticed with surprise that not only were the corridors not fitted with speakers and microphones, they did not even have any surveince cameras. Other than a few old-looking light bulbs that appeared like they could go out at any moment, there was no trace of any high-tech equipment in this sub-scenario at all.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t the people on the inte say that the special effect at this haunted house are Hollywood level? Are you telling me that these few lightbulbs are everything they are talking about? This has to be a joke.¡± This time, not only Fu Bole, even Ma Feng also thought that Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house was more hyped up than it actually was.

    ¡°You cannot find any high-tech equipment, but the ce can pull off a Hollywood standard horror effects. That in itself is a very scary thing.¡± Zuo Han was telling the truth, but in the other people¡¯s ears, he was merely making excuses for Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house.

    However, there was a small number among the haunted house designers who took his words seriously. Liang Er and Liang San stood inside the corridor and looked around with confusion. ¡°The walls, and the banisters are everyday objects. The walls are not painted with acoustic insting material, and there is no trace of any high-tech equipment. How did he manage to create this kind of strange and eerie atmosphere? There is not even an echo to our voices. It feels like once the sound leaves our lips, it is immediately swallowed up by something.¡±

    ¡°Stop trying to scare yourself. The concept behind this is probably something like magic. It might look magical, but you will realize it is just a normal trick once you find out the truth.¡± Fu Bole pped his hands. ¡°Okay, we will follow Brother Ma¡¯s earlier suggestion. We will split into three groups and start to search for the broken parts of the rag doll. One group will be responsible for the search of an individual floor. We will do the same thing in the other buildings that we encounter in the future.¡±

    After he said that, he wandered purposely to Ma Feng¡¯s side. The meaning was clear; he wanted to be in the same group as Ma Feng.

    ¡°You have not even found the insider, and you are already that desperate to split into groups. Death is going toe for you, and you will not even know what happened.¡± Zuo Han shook his head at Mr. Wang. ¡°The three of us will continue to stick together. Let¡¯s just ignore the rest of them.¡±

    Since the people from Jiujiang Medical University had refused to join the rest, the remaining twelve were split into three groups.

    Ma Feng, Shang Guan Qing Hong, Fu Bole, and Wei Chaochao were one group; Xiao Sun, Liang Er, Liang San, and the middle-aged woman from the Castle of Lost Memories were the second group; and the third group consisted of Qin Guang, Sister Snake, and the couple from Xin Hai. The twelve of them would still be inside the same building, but they would split up to search the different floors. This meant that the distance between the three groups would not be so far. They could get another group¡¯s help if they needed it.

    Fu Bole, who thought that Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house was just a product of pure sensationalism, led Ma Feng and the rest to the second floor. Sister Snake¡¯s group ventured further down to the underground third floor. Liang Er and Liang San continued to search the first floor. The Liang siblings were hulking leviathans. They were muscr and strong. It felt safe being assigned the same group as them.

    Liang Er gave Zuo Han a side eye and warned, ¡°You will go to the rooms on the left, and we will check the rooms on the right. That way, we will not interrupt each other. Do not cross that line ande to disrupt our work.¡±

    ¡°That was my intention too.¡± Zuo Han led He San and Mr. Wang down the long corridor. They started to search for clues closely from inside and out.

    ¡°Big brother, do you really think they are the haunted house¡¯s actors? I personally do not think so. The presence that they give off is very unique and unlike normal haunted house workers,¡± Liang San whispered.

    ¡°We are here to clear this haunted house. Who cares what their real identities are? We only need toplete the assignment given to us by Director Ma.¡± Liang Er stopped at the door of the first room at the corner of the stairs.

    There was a wooden sign hanging next to the door. The sign read, ¡®If you need anything, please pull on the string connected to the light repeatedly.¡¯

    ¡°It warns us against knocking on the door but wants us to pull on this string. Is it because they are afraid that the sound of knocking might attract the ghosts?¡± Liang Er grabbed the string. ¡°The actor called Wu Jinpeng appeared to have said earlier that if you make any sound, you will attract the attention of ghosts. But along the way, we have been chatting quite loudly, and we have not seen any ghosts, have we?¡±

    ¡°This ce is so quiet. Is it possible that the ghosts have already shown up? It is just that because they do not make any sound, temporarily, we haven¡¯t been able to find them.¡± Liang San¡¯s brain was very active as well.

    ¡°Oh well, it does not matter. We will take a look inside this room first. All of the haunted house¡¯s first sub scenarios should be the simplest. Nothing too scary will appear here, or else it will not give an umtive sense of fear to the visitors in thetter parts of the scenario,¡± Liang Er said as he pulled on the string. Once he yanked on the string, the lights inside the room switched on. He repeated it several times, and the lights flickered on and off, but nothing happened.

    ¡°Were we tricked?¡± Liang Er frowned heavily. He grabbed the doorknob and pushed heavily. The old door was pushed open easily, but before he could observe the environment inside the room closely, a change suddenly happened inside the corridor. A strange stench drifted around them. It smelled like the decay of dead bodies mixed together with the copper smell of fresh blood. They had a feeling that something or someone was slowly approaching them.

    ¡°Be careful. The ghost probably ising. You¡¯d better not wander off on your own. Just stay close to me.¡± Liang Er was a kind and responsible person. Those words were meant for Xiao Sun.

    ¡°The first actor at this haunted house has disappointed me greatly. I wonder if what happens next will change my mind.¡± Liang San entered the room. The first thing that he saw were the broken beer bottles that littered the floor. But all the sharp edges of the ss had been grounded smooth, probably out of concern for the visitors¡¯ safety. Among the broken piecesy a woman. She was covered in wounds. Other than her face and both her arms, her body was covered with cloth patches. The patches appeared to grow directly out of her skin, and it looked quite scary.

    ¡°Is that an actor or a prop?¡± Liang San reached out to grab the woman¡¯s arm. The sensation that came from his fingertips was very different from that of human skin. He was about to sigh in relief when he suddenly saw the mirror that was hanging in the bathroom. The mirror was facing the door, and inside the mirror, there was a pair of strange eyes staring at him.

    ¡°Someone¡¯s there!¡± Liang San dropped the woman¡¯s arm and whipped his head around to look. Being warned by Liang San, the others also turned back to look. Everyone saw a man¡¯s face that had poked out from the door frame of the door that they just came through!

    His features were twisted, and his mud-like body was stered onto the door frame. His ck eyes were filled with curses and venom. Xiao Sun was standing at the back of the group, so he was the one that was currently closest to the entrance. He was originally trying to think about the scare points that were hidden in this scenario when he suddenly heard Liang San¡¯s warning. He turned subconsciously around and almost bumped right into that scary face. His face paled even further. Xiao Sun staggered back several steps and almost knocked into Liang Er¡¯s stomach.

    ¡°When did this thing show up?¡± Xiao Sun¡¯s voice was shuddering. He was given quite a fright.

    ¡°I have no idea. I did not hear any movement at all. It¡¯s as if it appeared from thin air.¡± Liang San scratched his double chin. ¡°So, there is something about this haunted house after all!¡±

    ¡°Should we inform the others about this development?¡±

    ¡°We should wait until we have more concrete evidence first.¡±

    Liang Er and Liang San started to move to study the monster outside the room. They discovered the man that was shaped like a pile of mud was just a mannequin. There was no high-tech equipment installed in the mannequin either.

    ¡°Someone probably moved this thing here. I suspect that the culprits are the people from the so-called Jiujiang Medical University. They are on the same floor as us, and they are very close to us.¡± Liang San looked down the corridor. Currently, Zuo Han¡¯s group was inside the room at the other end of the corridor. For all intent and purposes, it did not appear that they had left that room.

    ¡°They are highly suspicious, but if it was not them, this is worth considering. We are operators of a haunted house as well. These are things and techniques that we can pick up and learn.¡± The Liang Brothers had a more neutral attitude. They did not view Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house with absolute hostility.

    Just as the two were speaking, the middle-aged woman suddenly opened her lips. ¡°Did you guys notice something?¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Liang Er and Liang San turned to look inside the room. They saw the middle-aged woman was pointing at the woman lying on the ground.

    ¡°Her hand was not held in that gesture earlier.¡±

    ¡°What are you trying to say? The mannequin knows how to move on her own?¡±

    ¡°No, the logical exnation is that there should be a hidden room inside this room. When our attention was distracted by the monster outside the door, the workers came out from the hidden room and changed the woman¡¯s posture.¡± The middle-aged woman spoke very slowly. ¡°They probably wanted to create the impression that the danger is slowly approaching. The ghosts and monsters will move without a sound, and they might appear beside us at any scenario and at every spot. That should be the biggest selling point of this scenario.¡±

    ¡°You have a point.¡±

    ¡°That honestly is not a bad idea, but unfortunately, he has run into us. We are all top haunted house designers. With just a lift of his finger, we can already predict what he is about to do next.¡± Liang San¡¯s gaze moved back into the room. ¡°Why don¡¯t we continue the search inside the room? Perhaps we can find some kind of hidden pathway.¡±

    Liang San wanted to find out how Chen Ge managed to move the mannequin so silently and without notice. He wanted to steal the knowledge of these things and then apply it to his own haunted house.

    ¡°What was your name again? Don¡¯t just stand there and do nothing. Come and help us look. I know we are visiting a haunted house, but we do not need to follow the rulesid down by the boss.¡± Liang San noticed Xiao Sun, who was still standing there. He thought that Xiao Sun was scared into inactivity.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s best we follow the boss¡¯ rules. What if some kind of ident happens?¡± Sun Xiaojun¡¯s real thoughts were¡ªIf you guys continue to stray from the script, there will be no chance for me to shine.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t Boss Chen im that we are free to explore the scenario, that the visitors are free to do anything they wish? Today, I will teach him that bluffing has consequences. It is one thing to do that before normal visitors, but before us professional designers, a haunted house is nothing more than a delicately designed toy.¡± The two brothers started to search inside the room. Xiao Sun also symbolically started his search. He had not followed Chen Ge for that long. He did not recognize most of the original workers, and he was not familiar with the secrets of most of the scenarios.

    Every time he wanted to ask Chen Ge what he should do, Chen Ge would just tell him to be himself. Then, when he went to ask for pointers from Ol¡¯ Zhou, Ol¡¯ Zhou would wax some kind of nonsense about his natural talent and that there was nothing that he could be taught. Apparently, he was perfect the way he was. Both his boss and his teacher were of no help to him. Xiao Sun felt quite helpless. He sighed lightly to himself and moved around the room, pretending to find something to do.

    When other people were making their search perimeter around the woman mannequin, he was aimlessly looking through the other items in the room. He even grumbled under his breath. ¡°When the man came through the door, even I was frightened by it. This haunted house is really scary.¡±

    With that thought in mind, he turned back to look at the entrance. Xiao Sun realized with some confusion that the man¡¯s gaze appeared to be fixed at a certain spot.

    ¡°Is he looking at the mirror inside the bathroom?¡± Xiao Sun entered the bathroom and stood before the mirror. ¡°A scary face like that is leaning against the door. It feels even scarier looking at from the refection in the mirror.¡±

    He held the bottom of the mirror with his palms. Xiao Sun gradually applied force. When the mirror started to nudge, a droplet of blood slid down the surface of the mirror, and then a snail shell dropped out from behind the mirror.

    ¡°A snail? The man is afraid of snails? Never mind, I am not good at this kind of guessing game. This shell is covered in a spider web. It is probably a prop left behind from a long time ago.¡± Xiao Sun tossed the snail shell to the side, but right then, another snail shell dropped out from behind the mirror.

    ¡°What is going on?¡± Xiao Sun grabbed the side of the mirror out of curiosity. He wanted to remove the mirror to take a look. As the mirror moved further from its original spot, more and more snail shells poured out from behind it.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Why are there so many snail shells?¡±

    The other people heard the strange noises, so they too hurried into the bathroom. Before Xiao Sun could answer their question, they saw the wall next to the mirror suddenly give way to reveal a door that was painted with a bright red snail.

    ¡°The hidden pathway?¡± Xiao Sun and the Liang brothers said in unison. They had not spent that much time in the haunted house, and they had already found the hidden pathway inside the first room of the first sub scenario!

    Liang Er and Liang San were overjoyed. They had finally found the hidden pathway inside the haunted house. Whether this would help clear the scenario or not, it would be intensely helpful to get to the bottom of Chen Ge¡¯s secrets. Xiao Sun was stunned out of his mind. He had heard from Chen Ge that there were nine hidden pathways in the nine sub scenarios. All nine pathways could lead directly to the hidden scenario. The rag doll¡¯s broken body parts were hidden inside the hidden scenarios, but at the whole haunted house, only Chen Ge knew where the hidden pathways were located. Not even Xiao Sun knew about their exact locations.

    This is bad. I seem to have done something irrevocably horrible.

    Xiao Sun was still holding the mirror. His mind was spinning rapidly. He was supposed to be there to add trouble to the visitors, but the first thing he did helped the visitors find the hidden pathway and saved them plenty of time.

    ¡°You are good, Xiao Sun. I am surprised you are that detail-orientated of a person. None of us professionals even noticed this hidden mechanism.¡± Liang San patted Xiao Sun¡¯s shoulder in praise, and then he moved to push open the door with the snail painted on it. The surrounding temperature dropped again. Behind the door was a staircase that led deep underground. Standing at the top of the stairs, one was unable to see the end.

    Being praised by the visitors, Xiao Sun also did not know what to say. Before he could figure out what to do next, he saw Liang Er and Liang San switch on their shlights and enter the hidden path.

    ¡°Hey! Be careful! We were warned against moving on our own!¡± Xiao Sun wanted to hold them back, but the few overly confident haunted house designers did not give him the time of day. Including the middle-aged woman, all three of them filed into the stairs.

    Cold, dark, quiet. The scary feeling could no longer be described in simple words. This was far beyond the realm of a simple game. The path was surprisingly long, but they still managed to reach the end of it eventually. A pure ck iron door appeared before them. The door was reeking of disinfectant. If one looked closely, one could see ck threads wiggling on it. Everything inside the hidden path was scary, but the words beside the iron door that said ¡®please close the door after you enter¡¯ ruined the scary atmosphere quite a bit.

    ¡°What do you reckon¡¯s behind the door? The body parts of the rag doll? This haunted house¡¯s surveince room?¡±

    ¡°I guess it is the dressing room, and we will run into a bunch of actors putting on their make-up.¡±

    ¡°Well, we will find out by opening the door, won¡¯t we?¡±

    Liang San pushed open the heavy and unwieldy ck iron door. Instantly, an endless sea of ck fog rolled out and directly swallowed these few lucky visitors. When the ck iron door closed again, there was only Sun Xiaojun left alone inside the hidden corridor. His Adam¡¯s apple wiggled. Sun Xiaojun had taken a glimpse of the world behind the door. He dropped down to the stairs.

    ¡°This is bad. These three have not even experienced a one-star scenario before. They have entered the ghost fetus¡¯ world of ck fog without any preparation!¡±

    This was simr to a patient, thinking that he had a sore throat, going to the hospital for a consultation but being wheeled directly into the crematorium.

    ¡°The red high heels is recovering the ghost fetus¡¯ memory inside the world in the process of bing a Demon God. She definitely will not expect the visitors to find her within five minutes of the game starting!¡± Just the thought of the idents that might happen inside there made Xiao Sun¡¯s scalp go numb. ¡°I really did not mean to do this! This can¡¯t do! I need to contact Boss Chen immediately! This is an issue of life and death!¡±

 Chapter 1121 - Rise in Game Difficulty 2 in 1

    <h4>1121 Rise in Game Difficulty 2 in 1</h4>

    Looking at the ck iron door that had mmed shut, Xiao Sun was ravaged by aplicated cocktail of feelings. He did not expect things to develop this way; all he did was just to try to move the mirror a little bit.¡°I really hope nothing bad will happen to the visitors that went inside.¡± Xiao Sun was very worried that the red high heels might identally kill the visitors. ¡°I have no idea whether Brother Chen is inside this haunted house or not, so who should I find when this kind of ident happens? That actor brother known as Wu Jinpeng feels like a nice guy. Perhaps he will be able to help me.¡±

    Xiao Sun was about to turn back and run back to the house where Wu Jinpeng was, but he hesitated for a moment. He turned to grab the handle of the iron door. ¡°Should I try to keep the door open? If the visitors are lucky enough, they might have a one percent chance ofing back the way they came.¡±

    What he was doing, he was doing out of the kindness of his heart. All he wanted to do was save a route for the visitors retreat through. Sliding down the chain that was filled with blood vessels, Xiao Sun ced it next to the door. With the chain removed, the iron door would not bepletely locked anymore. He started to pull the door open, but he stopped when the door was opened a small gap. Endless ck fog slithered out from the gap and started to crawl into the tunnel and the world beyond it!

    The ck threads formed from curses seeped into the building. The people who had been harmed by the ghost fetus in its memory appeared in another form. They turned into strange shadows and wandered among the ck fog. These kinds of monster had no physical form, and they would not cause any actual harm to human beings or ghosts, but they would be able to evoke the sin and fear buried in the depths of people¡¯s hearts.

    The red high heels wanted to use the ghost fetus¡¯ past to reconstruct the curse; she wanted to gradually recreate the steps the ghost fetus followed to slowly be a Demon God. These shadow monsters were just a byproduct of this process. Once the iron door was open, the shadows from the ghost fetus¡¯ memory started to scurry madly out of the world of the ck fog. They were a part of the ck fog. Unless they wanted to show themselves, they were impossible to spot.

    ¡°Always leave a little kindness whatever you do. This is the best I can do given the circumstances.¡± Xiao Sun turned to leave. The sign next to the ck iron door that said ¡®please close the door after use¡¯ flew over his head. It was like he did not see the sign at all. He hurriedly ran out from the hidden path. Just as he returned to the room, he heard footstepsing from the outside corridor. ¡°The haunted house¡¯s actors would not make such sounds; it has to be the visitor who areing!¡±

    The faded ck fog was floating out from the entrance of the hidden path. Xiao Sun looked around and thought, This is bad. If the other visitors follow the three and enter the hidden path, it will only be worse.

    ¡°It is not such a big deal if I am exposed, but to have everyone sent into the hidden scenario not five minutes into the game is a very big deal!¡± This was Xiao Sun¡¯s first time working inside the haunted house; he had no experience at all. Even though he was quite a clever person, being caught between a rock and a hard ce like this, he found himself at a loss as to what to do. ¡°I should close up the hidden door first to prevent more visitors from entering the hidden scenario. After I find Brother Chen, we can enter the hidden scenario to find the three visitors from this hidden pathway.¡±

    The footsteps slowly approached. All kind of sound was amplified in this scenario. Xiao Sun felt like the footfalls were falling right on his heart. He closed the door with the drawing of the red snail on it and grabbed the edge of the mirror with both of his hands. ¡°When I pushed the mirror up earlier, I identally triggered the mechanism. So, the way to reverse the mechanism should be to push the mirror down.¡±

    He applied force on his arms as Xiao Sun grabbed the sides of the mirror and pressed it down, but both the mirror and the door showed no response to his action.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Footsteps were flying down the corridor. If Xiao Sun was not already a ghost, his shirt would probably have been drenched in cold sweat by now. Veins pulsed on his arms as he nudged the mirror harder. His eyes were wandering everywhere nervously. ¡°This is bad, this is bad. How do I even close this thing?¡±

    As Xiao Sun moved the mirror madly up and down, more blood droplets and traces of blood appeared on the surface on the mirror. A confused face seemed to appear inside the mirror, looking suspiciously at Xiao Sun. ¡°Is the direction of the movement wrong? Is it not up and down?¡±

    Holding the sides of the mirror tight, Xiao Sun attempted to twist the mirror, but as he gathered strength in his arms, the support frame that held the mirror in ce snapped off instead!

    ¡°What the hell!¡± Looking at the mirror that he had forcibly yanked off the wall, Xiao Sun was stunned beyond words. Subconsciously, he turned to look at the hidden pathway that the ck fog was still streaming out from. The wall gradually closed, and it appeared as if the door with the red snail had never appeared in the first ce at all. The door outside the hidden path had been closed, but the ck iron door inside the hidden path was still left open a tad. The ck fog was free to leave through the gap. They crawled into the outside building and seeped through the walls to spread to the rest of the room. When one after another strange and despairing faces surfaced on the walls, it meant that the difficulty of the whole scenario was continuing to rise.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± The people from Jiujiang Medical University who were exploring on the same floor ran over. They saw the room that was covered in ck fog and Xiao Sun who was holding the mirror alone inside the bathroom.

    ¡°To be honest, I have no idea what I am doing either.¡± Xiao Sun was still holding the mirror. It felt wrong to put it down, but it also felt wrong to keep holding it.

    ¡°Where are the other people who are supposed to be in your group?¡±

    ¡°They refused to listen to me and left me behind on my own.¡±

    The two other groups who were looking for the rag doll¡¯s body parts on the other floors of the building heard themotion, and they all ran over to this room as well. In less than three minutes, the first floor of the building had changed fully. A scary mannequin that looked like a pile of rotten mud was lying on the door of the room, ck fog kept drifting out from inside the room, and some in the groups even doubted that this was the ce that they had visited earlier.

    ¡°Why are you guys gathered here? Where are Liang Er and Liang San, and what is going on with this monstrosity at the door?¡± Fu Bole nced inside the room, and he failed to see the three haunted house designers.

    ¡°I have no idea either. The three of them told us to stay here and try to stay out of their way. And then they appeared to have found a hidden pathway and triggered some kind of trap. After that, they disappeared.¡± Xiao Sun purposely kept the words ambiguous. He was not a person who was good at lying.

    ¡°How would actual people, not one but three of us just disappeared like that? Where was thest room they were in before they disappeared?¡± Just after they split up, three people had disappeared. This caused Ma Feng to frown deeply.

    ¡°They were on this floor. Of that, I am sure.¡± Xiao Sun was very desperate at the moment. He was afraid that if he dragged this further, they might be going back to collect Liang Er and Liang San¡¯s bodies. From his perspective, the most important thing to do now was to find Chen Ge and then quickly inform the red high heels that there were already visitors that had wandered into the hidden scenario.

    ¡°The three people from your group have all disappeared, but only you remain. I can¡¯t help but feel that it is a little bit strange.¡± Zuo Han was about to say something when Fu Bole suddenly walked to the few from Jiujiang Medical University. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Fu Bole stared directly at Zuo Han, and his expression was dark and threatening. ¡°It was the three of you who were behind this, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Us?¡± He San used his finger to point at himself. ¡°Have you lost your mind? The three of us were not even close to the four of them. We also just arrived here not too long ago.¡±

    ¡°Who knows whether that is true or not? That im can only be verified by yourself now. But all I know is that it is certain that the three of you were on the same floor as the four of them. You three are the people who were closest to them!¡± Fu Bole ced his hand on the mud mannequin next to him. ¡°When we were here earlier, this mannequin was not even here. In other words, someone moved it here after we split up and separated. Just take a look at how heavy this thing is. A single person could not have silently moved such a big mannequin and ced it here without making any noise, so it had to have been a group effort!¡±

    After hearing Fu Bole¡¯s analysis, both the people from Jiujiang Medical University and Xiao Sun were startled.

    ¡°If not for the fact that you have been ndering Boss Chen¡¯s haunted house since you entered this ce, I would have suspected you are the actual actors hired by Boss Chen.¡± He San was truly speechless. ¡°Even if there is a possibility of an insider among us, the person with the biggest suspicion should be this Xiao Sun. The other people in his group other than himself have mysteriously disappeared¡ªis that not suspicious to you? Simply because you think he cannot move this mannequin alone, you are deciding to just overlook him like that?¡±

    He San¡¯s analytical power could be said to have been honed inside Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house. Before this, he believed in the kindness in people¡¯s hearts, but after many experiences in Chen Ge¡¯s haunted House, he had caught a glimpse of the ¡®many colors of human nature¡¯. It was indeed the mostplicated thing in the world.

    Hearing He San point the suspicion toward him, Xiao Sun sighed in relief for some reason. He was d that someone was finally suspecting him. If he continued to fail in his role, he had already decided to quietly slip away. Being stuck with so many living humans was putting too much stress on him.

    ¡°You are unable to find anything to counter my im, so you start to direct the suspicion to someone else, huh? You wish to muddy the water, to distract our attention? Do you think we will fall for a simple trick like that?¡±

    From the very beginning, Fu Bole had been suspecting Zuo Han¡¯s group. In the few years he had running a haunted house, he had not encountered visitors like Zuo Han and He San. They were just visiting a simple haunted house, yet they hade up with various analyses and guides. It was like they had fully transported themselves into a horror film.

    With the fault of prejudice, Fu Bole always looked from his perspective to consider the problem. All the thoughts that he had were based on his own viewpoint.

    ¡°So, you are going to push the me onto us no matter what? Do you have some kind of bad history with forensic doctors?¡± While the group was arguing, the ck fog inside the room thickened even further. There were even human faces that could be seen flickering inside it. Standing inside the ck fog, Mr. Wang felt strangely agitated. Memories that were buried deep inside his heart kept shing in his mind. Among them were recollections of murderersmitting their crimes and victims screaming for help. The people in those past crimes appeared to havee alive, and they were reaching out toward him. Those with greater harrowing experiences in real life would have a greater influence inside the ck fog. Shaking his head, Mr. Wang reached out to grab the door frame for support.

    ¡°Sir, are you alright?¡± Zuo Han was the first to notice the strange way his lecturer was acting.

    ¡°I was fine when I first entered this ce, but just now, I was feeling a bit wobbly. However, I am feeling much better now.¡±

    ¡°That is probably rted to the ck fog. I am feeling a bit disturbed by it as well.¡± Zuo Han purposely lowered his voice to a whisper.

    ¡°You feel it too?¡± Mr. Wang was shocked.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Zuo Han stood close to Mr. Wang. The former¡¯s lips moved slightly, and his voice was so small that the others could not even hear him at all.

    ¡°What are you two grumbling about?¡± Wei Chaochao asked in a purposely loud voice. He had been keeping his eyes on Zuo Han and Mr. Wang. Due to Fu Bole¡¯s multiple ims, he had also begun to believe that these people from the so-called Jiujiang Medical University were actually actors hired by the haunted house.

    ¡°We are not obligated to share with you what we are discussing. You can continue to see us as the actors hired by this haunted house. After all, that does not affect us in any way.¡± Zuo Han was quite an entric person; he was not that sociable. He was toozy to argue with the group of haunted house designers anymore. He directly turned to He San and Mr. Wang and said, ¡°The sudden appearance of the ck fog should be some kind of signal. It¡¯s probably trying to inform us of the danger of staying in one ce for too long. As the time continues to move, the ck fog might envelope the entire scenario. In other words, the chance of our survival will get lower and lower, and the difficulty of the scenario will get higher and higher.¡±

    ¡°Does that mean this ck fog is kinda like the concept of a ¡®poison zone¡¯ in some video games? As the fog continued to spread, the movement range of the visitors will dwindle. Staying inside the ck fog for too long will draw the attention of ck things.¡± He San understood his friend instantly.

    ¡°Now I have two predictions. The first is that the three missing visitors have managed to find the hidden pathway. They used the pathway to head to another location and sped up the gaming progress, and the appearance of the ck fog signals the beginning of the second stage of the game. If we wish to avoid the ck fog, we will also need to find the hidden pathway and enter the other scenario just like they did.¡± Zuo Han used the few clues to start his analysis. ¡°But the problem is that we have just entered the haunted house. Based on Boss Chen¡¯s previous behavior, he only amps up the difficulty about halfway into the visiting time. Today¡¯s challenge is rather out of the ordinary.¡±

    ¡°Then, what is your second prediction?¡±

    ¡°My second prediction is that some kind of ident has happened inside this scenario, and it has triggered this event that no one anticipated.¡± Zuo Han did not go and argue with the group of haunted house designers. But when he spoke, the group of haunted house designers slowly quieted down, and they started to listen to him speak quietly. Zuo Han had a natural talent for getting the room to listen to him. That was a sign that he would be a good forensic doctor in the future.

    ¡°Then, what should we do if it is the second situation?¡± He San asked the question that was in everyone¡¯s mind.

    ¡°If my second prediction is correct, then we are in a horrible position. Do you still remember what I said when we first entered the haunted house?¡± Zuo Han¡¯s expression was not looking so good.

    ¡°What did you say again?¡±

    ¡°That this haunted house might really be haunted.¡± Zuo Han did not wish to continue on this topic. ¡°Sir, He San, we will search for the hidden pathway in these few rooms on the left. In terms of time, the three disappeared visitors most likely found the hidden paths inside these few rooms.¡±

    Skipping the meaningless argument that would only waste time, with Zuo Han leading the group, everyone started to look for the hidden path on the first floor. ¡°The ck fog is still spreading. We have limited time! If we cannot find the hidden path within the next five minutes, we will leave this ce immediately!¡±

    Seeing how busy everyone was, Xiao Sun was still holding the mirror with both of his hands. His face was as bitter as a bitter gourd. He could not bring himself to say that he had already broken the mechanism that would have opened the secret pathway. Now the door outside could not be opened, and the door was not closed. The ck fog kept leaking out, and that continued to increase the difficulty of the game. Five minutester, the ck fog had spread out to fill the entire sub-scenario. It had even floated out from the sub-scenario and drifted out into the street. Many half transparent faces started to appear on the walls of various buildings.

    ¡°The hidden pathway is probably a one-time use only! We¡¯d better leave this scenario now. The ck fog will continue to spread with the passage of time. We¡¯re now racing against time to explore the rest of the scenario before things get worse!¡± Zuo Han rushed out of the building without any hesitation after saying that. He San and Mr. Wang followed closely behind him.

    ¡°We should also move to the other scenarios.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong signaled for the rest to follow Zuo Han. ¡°We will ignore the issue of whether he¡¯s a haunted house actor or not for now. Even if he is, we should stick close to him to see what he will do next.¡±

    ¡°This Zuo Han is like an NPC inside this scenario. He keeps giving us hints and telling us the progress of the game to create the emotion of desperation and urgency. Following him might lead us to the same ending as Liang Er and Liang San.¡± Fu Bole still stood by his opinion, but he was not going to be abandoned by the rest of the group.

    After everyone had left the building, the child inside the picture on the missing person¡¯s article winked several times. At the same time, from the third floor underground, a child in a red shirt walked out from his hiding ce. He rushed to the entrance and watched the retreating visitors. He grabbed the script that was hidden under his red shirt and mmed it angrily on the floor.

    ¡°I¡¯ve practiced for three full days, and you decided to leave just like that?¡± The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. The child in the red shirt picked up the script again and chased after the group of visitors.

 Chapter 1122 - ow Long Till the Free Massacre? 2 in 1

    <h4>1122 How Long Till the Free Massacre? 2 in 1</h4>

    Liang Er, Liang San, and the middle-aged woman from the Castle of Lost Memories continued their exploration in the world of the ck fog. This ce¡¯s visibility was extremely low; they could barely see things that were three meters away from them. ¡°Where is all this ck foging from?¡±¡°If it was white fog, then it could be exined from the usage of dry ice machines, but it is the first time I¡¯ve encountered ck fog.¡± Liang Er scratched his head. ¡°It has no smell and no taste. It appears to have no other function other than to disrupt our sense of sight.¡±

    ¡°Theoretically speaking, the hidden pathway of the first sub scenario should lead to the secret room with the first clue. This room should not be that big. The haunted house¡¯s boss probably wants us to find the body parts of the rag doll inside this ck fog.¡± The middle-aged woman analyzed the situation based on her own experience of designing her haunted house.

    ¡°Then we¡¯d better start looking. Be careful not to wander too far away from each other. There might be haunted house actors hiding inside the ck fog.¡± The three stayed together as they moved forward. They walked for a full two minutes before they saw any trace of a wall. Their expressions started to change. ¡°This does not appear to be a hidden room at all...¡±

    ¡°This ce is too big. Have we arrived at a new scenario? But howe we have not encountered a single actor? What is the philosophy behind his haunted house design? I find myself failing to understand his thought process more and more.¡±

    ¡°How about we retrace our steps? I think we should regroup with the others.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± They all stopped moving. The three haunted house designers turned back to look, and they suddenly discovered something very scary. ¡°Was this the direction that we came from?¡±

    The ground under their feet had no discerning features. They were surrounded by ck fog, and there was no object of reference¡ªit was impossible to tell where they were in rtion to everything else.

    ¡°Wait a minute, aren¡¯t we supposed to have another member in our team? When did that kid disappear?¡± The longer one stayed inside the ck fog, the greater the fear inside one¡¯s heart would be amplified. The three haunted house designers¡¯ hearts had started to shake like a leaf. At that moment, they heard a woman¡¯s painful and despairing scream. Nudging their feet slowly toward the scream, they switched on the shlight function on their phones.

    The light was distorted by the ck fog. They could see a woman who was covered in bandages not far away. Surrounded by a thick shroud of ck fog, the woman appeared to be ingesting the ck fog around her like some kind self-mutting torture. As the fog rushed into her body, it tore open one wound after another on her body before it proceeded to leak out from her wounds again. The woman appeared to be searching for something inside the ck fog. She used her own body as a vessel, and the filtering process was incredibly harsh and painful.

    The ck fog was being pulled toward her. As she continued to consume the ck fog, ck and red tattoos slowly started to surface on her body under the bandage. The tattoos were like a secondyer of skin. They wrapped around her body. From afar, the woman radiated a kind of extremely grotesque beauty, but when one looked closer at the scenes that were depicted by the tattoos on her skin, everyone¡¯s heart would be gripped by fear. The ck threads severed the woman¡¯s skin like knives. Blood mixed together with the ck threads reconstructed a child¡¯s regrettable and painful life¡ªhis encounter with many heartless characters and surviving inhuman pain and torture. Inside the deepest and darkest despair, a flower of sin was blooming!

    The light from the shlights hit the woman. The three haunted house designers saw the woman¡¯s wounded body under the bandages, and their heads went numb.

    Liang San stared at the woman¡¯s bizarre posture, and he turned to whisper softly to his older brother, ¡°What is that thing? That does not look like an actor! Is that a mannequin?¡±

    ¡°At first nce, she seems like an absolute beauty, but upon closer inspection, you will realize how disgusting everything is...¡± Just as he uttered the term ¡®disgusting¡¯, Liang Er saw the woman¡¯s head slowly turn around. A pair of eyes dominated by curses and malice hadnded on him. Liang Er lost control of his body immediately. Every piece of fatty flesh on his body was shaking.

    The click and ck of high heel against the ground echoed through the space. Countless faces inside the world of the ck fog started to wail. The strange smiling human heads that were formed from the curses rushed out from the rooftops. There was also a centipede-like creature strung together with human heads crawling rapidly on the wall. They rushed toward the three haunted house designers with evil intentions.

    Moments earlier, they had beenining about theck of haunted house actors, but just a few secondster, everything had changed. Liang Er and Liang San had no idea where these things hade from. Their faces nched, and their natural instinct propelled them to retreat. More and more monsters appeared. They had not even dared to imagine these monsters in their worst nightmare; they had already broken through their understanding of fear.

    ¡°Run! Quick! Run!¡± The middle-aged woman was the first to react. She turned and started to race down the street. As she picked up her pace, the monsters rushed at her like a wave.

    There were so many of them!

    Liang San also started to turn back and run, but he had only taken a few steps when he heard a harrowing screaming from behind him. He realized that his big brother was still standing where he was.

    ¡°I cannot move!¡± Liang Er had no idea what had happened to his body. Ever since he said the word ¡®disgusting¡¯, he realized that his heartbeat had started to go haywire. It was as if his body did not belong to him anymore.

    Liang San hesitated for a moment. In the end, he stayed because blood was thicker than water. He turned around to grab Liang Er by his arm. ¡°Bro! I will carry you!¡±

    Before he finished, he saw the ck threads hidden inside the fog crawl into Liang Er¡¯s body, and they had started to spread toward his own body!

    Liang San was so shocked that he immediately let go of Liang Er. The folds of fat on his face were trembling from fear. The eyes that were hidden inside the fleshy face had not been so wide in his life. ¡°What are these things?¡±

    Flinging his brother¡¯s arm away, Liang San staggered backward and started to run. ¡°Big brother! I will go and get people toe help you! Hang in there!¡±

    Liang San could not care about what was happening behind him anymore. He chose a direction and started to run like his life depended on it. There was no object of reference in the ck fog, so he had no idea where he was at all. He was surrounded by monsters, so he did not to even stop for a second to take a break.

    ¡°Liang San, Liang San...¡± After who knew how long, a familiar voice suddenly came from inside the fog.

    ¡°Big brother?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it is me! Quick,e over here! The exit is this way!¡± The voice was leading Liang San in a certain direction. The shadow of a fetus flickered in the ck fog. Liang San wanted to stay away from that shadow, but he realized that his own brother¡¯s voice wasing from the location where the shadow was. He then noticed the anomaly about this situation. He wanted to turn around and run the other way, but the moment he did so, the fetus started to madly chase after him!

    ¡°Liang San, where are you going? It¡¯s me, your older brother!¡±

    ¡°Stay away, do note close to me!¡± Liang San¡¯s confidence when he first entered the haunted house hadpletely shattered. His mental stability was shattered the moment he abandoned Liang Er to leave on his own.

    ¡°I really am your big brother! Have you forgotten about me? When we were ying hide and seek when we were young, you were hiding under the bed. Someone was whispering in your ears, apanying you. Do you still remember, one night, when you snuck out to go to the inte caf¨¦, there was a big dog that kept barking at you? Since then, you¡¯ve had a fear of dogs. Actually, that dog was not barking at you. It was because it had seen me!

    ¡°I am your big brother, the eldest brother that you will never shake off, Liang Yi!

    ¡°I died in front of you, but I have never left! We will be brothers forever!¡±

    The fetus¡¯ shadow crawled swiftly on the ground, and it was only a matter of time it caught up to Liang San. It crawled up Liang San¡¯s body and strangled the man¡¯s neck. The face that was bloody and ghastly was hanging from Liang San¡¯s head as it stared into the man¡¯s eyes. ¡°Look closely! Look! See how simr we look!¡±

    ¡°Ah! Argh!¡± Liang San shook his head wildly like he had lost his mind. The darkest fear in his heart was recreated through the curse. It did not take long for the man to crumple in a heap with white foaming out of his mouth.

    The sound of high heels echoed on the ground. The scary fetus morphed back into a curse and disappeared among the ck fog.

    The screaming was endless. The middle-aged woman stumbled her way through the world of the ck fog. Most of the monsters had been distracted by Liang Er and Liang San. Furthermore, she was the first to run, so she had made quite a headway in her escape.

    ¡°How did the boss manage toe up with all these props? What is going on inside this haunted house?¡± The middle-aged woman had lost herposure. All she knew was that she needed to run. After running for ten minutes, a wall suddenly appeared before her. ¡°Was that the path that we used to get here?¡±

    She followed the wall and continued to search until finally she found the ck iron door. ¡°The door is not locked! I am so lucky!¡±

    The middle-aged woman yanked back the iron door and raced up the staircase. She was getting closer and closer to the exit.

    ¡°I have to tell everyone about the things that happened here! This haunted house is too abnormal!¡± She raced all the way to the end of the hidden pathway. She rammed into the door painted with the red snail, but the door refused to budge. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Strangeughter and crying came from the other end of the hidden path. Endless shadows were dancing in the ck fog. The middle-aged woman knocked repeatedly on the door and cried loudly for help, but naturally, no one came to her aid. ¡°Help me! Please, someone,e and help me!¡±

    Her final call for help was swallowed by the shadows. After the ck fog consumed everything, it not only did not dissipate, it even thickened further.

    ...

    Walking down the street of the Voiceless Small Town, Zuo Han suddenly stopped moving. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Do you hear someone crying for help?¡± Zuo Han turned back to look at the Soundless Home. ¡°It appears toe out from the building that we just vacated.¡±

    ¡°Should we go back to take a look?¡± He San was still quite worried about the other people. He was really concerned that a serious ident might happen.

    ¡°For now, I cannot tell for sure who the haunted house actor is. In these circumstances, other than the two of you, there is no need to go and risk our own lives to go and rescue other people. It will be a waste of energy to go save them, and we might even get dragged into more trouble.¡± Zuo Han kept his eyes on the ck fog that continued to roll out from the Soundless Home, and his brows were deeply creased. ¡°The speed of the fog spreading is increasing. Looks like the game will be entering the third stage very soon.¡±

    ¡°The third stage?¡±

    ¡°Normally, after we have obtained the key item and prepared to leave, the actors inside the scenario will be given free rein to move around toe after any and all visitors in their sights, so the third stage is also known as the free massacre.¡± Zuo Han¡¯s voice was peppered with obvious worry. ¡°When I was challenging the Coffin Vige, to transport the wedding dress out, I sacrificed all of my teammates. During this third stage, brain power ispletely useless. All that matters is physical stamina and luck.¡±

    ¡°That will be incredibly detrimental to us. The three of us do not appear to have luck on our side,¡± He San grumbled softly.

    ¡°Then we¡¯d better speed up our exploration. If we fail to find any parts of the rag doll, we will only end up in worse condition.¡±

    The group, including the rest of the haunted house designers, hurried to leave. None of them had suggested to go back and rescue their teammates who were screaming for help. Everyone hade to a silent consensus not to bring that up. It was as if everyone was suffering from temporary amnesia.

    After the ck fog appeared, the whole scenario became even more peculiar. asionally, an eye would open on a wall, or a snickering shadow would flicker around the street corner. The scariest thing in the ghost fetus¡¯ memory was inching closer to the visitors. After turning the corner, there was a very long avenue that stretched out before the visitors. The buildings on both sides of this avenue were gray in color, and some of the buildings had cracks from age.

    ¡°Have we been to this ce before? Howe I feel like this street has appeared out of nowhere?¡± Zuo Han was the first to enter the avenue. Before he strode that far down the street, he noticed a person appearing from the avenue. ¡°Be careful! There is someone ahead of us!¡±

    Under the dim light, the figure was wearing a red raincoat, standing straight, and facing away from the visitors. She stood next to a tattered looking bus stop as if waiting for someone.

    ¡°It is not raining, so why is the person wearing a raincoat?¡± Zuo Han did not dare get too close. His brows were furrowed deeply; who knew what he was thinking?

    ¡°You are in cahoots with these people, so why do you have so many questions?¡± When Fu Bole saw Zuo Han acting like this, it irked him. Then again, the man already had a prejudice against these people who imed to be from Jiujiang Medical University to begin with. ¡°Fine, continue your act. I will stand here and see how much longer you can keep this up.¡±

    When they saw the woman in the red raincoat, the eyes of Xiao Sun, who was among the crowd, lit up. He had seen this Red Specter in the world behind the ghost fetus¡¯ door before. He knew that this was one of Chen Ge¡¯s employees.

    I need to figure out a way to get close to her and inform her that the first hidden pathway has already been identally destroyed by me and have her contact Boss Chen for me.

    With this in mind, Xiao Sun walked out from the group and moved toward the red raincoat.

    The haunted house designers were trying to find an ¡®idiot¡¯ to go and test this strange figure. Seeing Xiao Sun volunteer, none of them even thought of stopping him. But when Zuo Han saw Xiao Sun walk over there, for some reason, he had a bad feeling rise in his heart. He raised his hand, but in the end, he still did not stop Xiao Sun. Carrying the hope of his whole team of his shoulders, Xiao Sun stepped onto the bus stop¡¯s tform. The other visitors stayed away from the tform, keeping a safe two to three meters away from Xiao Sun.

    ¡°Hello, I am Sun Xiaojun.¡± Xiao Sun lowered his voice and used his back to block the sight of the other visitors. He put both of his arms before his chest and silently pointed at himself. ¡°I have identally broken the hidden pathway...¡±

    Seeing that someone had wandered over, the woman in the red raincoat slowly turned around to reveal her extremely scary face. Her lips were sewn shut by shadows, and when she spoke, her voice slipped through the gaps between the stitches. It was incredibly harrowing. ¡°Have you seen my child?¡±

    ¡°Big sister, the hidden pathway is stuck. We need to get the boss ande over to check it.¡± Xiao Sun did not dare raise his voice. He muttered with his lips closed. Interestingly, it appeared like he was mimicking the woman in the raincoat.

    ¡°Have you seen my child?¡± The red raincoat was ying herself. Her bright red pupils were rolling in her eye sockets, and her emotions had started to fray. When Xiao Sun saw how deep the red raincoatdy was entrenched in the script, he was very desperate. If this was allowed to continue, the whole avenue would probably be swallowed up by the ck fog soon.

    ¡°Have you seen my child?¡± The red raincoat¡¯s voice was very scary. Blood vessels wiggled on her body. It appeared like her emotions might go out of control at any moment. Xiao Sun also did not dare pressure the red raincoatdy. After all, this was an actual Red Specter. He was about to give upmunication with the red raincoat when he was struck by inspiration, and a thought appeared in his mind.

    Since she is unable to understand what I am trying to express, why don¡¯t I just lead her to the hidden pathway to take a look? That is such an easy solution!

    That was the brilliant idea that our Xiao Sun had. Therefore, without discussing anything with his teammates, he suddenly said, ¡°I saw your child earlier! I know where he is! Really! I can guarantee that!¡±

    His tone was very sure and determined. The other visitors had no idea what he was up to. Even the red raincoatdy¡¯s expression appeared to have frozen. That was not how it was supposed to go ording to the script. How would a visitor know where a Red Specter¡¯s child was hidden?

    ¡°My son is wearing a tattered floral shirt, and he has a red scar on his forehead as well as a birthmark that¡¯s the shape of a maple leaf on his chest.¡± What the red raincoat described was not part of the script. She appeared to be describing the features of her real lost son.

    ¡°That¡¯s right! It was him!¡± Xiao Sun pped on his calf. ¡°The child that I saw was the same as the one you just described! He was inside the house nearest to the entrance! You need to search the first room on the first floor very closely!¡±

    When he finished, the blood vessels on the red raincoat were boiling. She had searched for multiple years, and today, finally, someone had told her that they had seen her child. She walked to the back of the tform and soon disappeared. Seeing the red raincoat walk away, Xiao Sun sighed in relief.

    When she sees that the hidden pathway has been destroyed and the ck fog is rushing out, she will understand the severity of the situation.

    At that moment, it was Xiao Sun who did not understand the severity of the situation. He finally revealed a rxed smile and returned to the group of visitors.

 Chapter 1123 - White Orphanage 2 in 1

    <h4>1123 White Orphanage 2 in 1</h4>

    ¡°The woman in the red raincoat appeared at the bus stop. We should make use of this time to look around the bus stop to see if there are any clues around here.¡± Fu Bole and the other haunted house designers started their search around the bus stop, and they soon discovered some problems. There were two human-shaped shadows painted behind the avenue¡¯s bus stop. They were in the shape of a male and a female. The two shadows were etched into the backwall of the bus stop, as if it was a snapshot of someone¡¯s memory.Underneath the bus stop, there was a puddle of water. If one looked closer, one could see the image of a male student in a school uniform and a female teacher holding a red umbre. At the corner of the bus stop, there were words that appeared to be randomly carved out. They were uneven and titled. The person who had left behind these characters was probably emerged in some kind of juvenile yet simple happiness.

    ¡°Love started from the moment I met you.¡±

    ¡°Thest bus of the day came, but I waited until you arrived.¡±

    ¡°Can I please walk you home?¡±

    Reading these words, they appeared to have the ability to evoke the readers¡¯ memory of youthful love. It was innocent, unwieldy, yet uniquely blissful.

    ¡°Why would such characters be carved in such an eerie ce? Could it be that a horrible and cruel story is hidden behind the innocence of young love? All of this beauty is just buildup, and they will be brutally torn open at thest moment. The contrast will be used to create some kind of despairing effect, right?¡± Sister Snake¡¯s haunted house appeared to have employed simr tactics before. She touched the ck skull tattoo on her arm. Her mind seemed to have sunk into the memory of the past. This was a woman with a story.

    ¡°The style of this avenue ispletely different from the other ces that we have visited before, so theoretically speaking, there should be plenty of scare points. Yet, so far, we have not encountered anything remotely scary.¡± The bad feeling in Zuo Han¡¯s heart was getting stronger and stronger. He felt like this was the calm before the storm. ¡°We should stop inspecting the bus stop. We need to move on to the next location immediately!¡±

    Zuo Han looked at the ck fog that was following behind them and quickly decided to call the rest to hurry down the avenue.

    ¡°We need to leave this ce immediately. This ghost fetus scenario haspletely shattered my understanding of this haunted house. None of the experience I have collected can be used here. Why is that happening?¡± Everything had happened a bit too suddenly. It felt like there was a pair of invisible hands that were slowly pushing them to the brink of despair from the back of the scene.

    ¡°Less than fifteen minutes after the game started, the scenario has already entered the third stage. All the ghost actors within the four-star scenarios have started to go on a rampage. The chance of survival with just the three of us is close to zero.¡± Zuo Han understood that he had basically fallen into the worst possible scenario. ¡°The few haunted house designers arepletely unreliable. If they do not change their prejudice now and stop underestimating Boss Chen¡¯s haunted house, they will probably ¡®disappear¡¯ in the next sub-scenario, and then what shall I do to solve this conundrum?¡±

    He was using his mind so much that Zuo Han¡¯s forehead was soon soaked with sweat. He was now under a great deal of pressure. On one hand, he had to face an unknown and scary enemy, and on the other hand, he had to carry a bunch of dead weights and possible haunted house actors hiding among them. Facing both internal and external pressure, he really tried hard but failed toe up with a reliable solution. ¡°Everything¡¯s happening too quickly! This four-star scenario does not give me any down time to think or even calm down from the previous scares at all!¡±

    After the woman in the red raincoat left, the buildings on both sides of the avenue lost their sense of scariness, and the avenue seemingly turned back to a normal street. The visitors left the avenue easily and came to the entrance of an orphanage that had a white and back color scheme.

    The rusted iron door was left half open. A spine-tingling luby drifted out from an unknown source. The orphanage looked like it had been abandoned for quite some time, but there were children¡¯s clothes hung on a clothesline to dry in the yard. There were also plenty of freshly dug holes in the ground. They appeared to be used to bury some things. Many signs of human activity could be seen around the orphanage¡¯s yard, but the visitors could not find the presence of any living individuals.

    The wind chime that hung on the awning jingled lightly as Zuo Han pushed opened the front door of the orphanage. A rather sad tune drifted out from one of the rooms. At the end of a very long dining table sat a broken and ruined altar.

    ¡°This has to be a privately-owned orphanage; a government-ran orphanage would not allow such an obvious religious structure within the confines of the building.¡± Mr. Wang stared at the altar, and shes of images from his past flickered through his mind. ¡°Some of the owners of private orphanages believe in religious karma. They set up shrines of their respective faith in their own rooms, but this is the first time I have encountered an orphanage that directly ces such an altar right in the lobby of the orphanage.¡±

    Walking past the long wooden dining table, Mr. Wang¡¯s expression slowly turned darker and uglier. The altar had the name Fang Yu carved in all its corners. It looked quite frightening.

    ¡°These are carved out by one¡¯s bare nails character by character. The deep ck stains on it are blood stains. They havepletely seeped into the wooden boards. This is strange. It feels like someone has spent years scratching these words out on this altar.¡± Mr. Wang was confused. ¡°Did the boss need to go to such length just to create a prop inside the haunted house?¡±

    ¡°This might not have been made by Boss Chen himself. He has provided many clues to localw enforcement on murder cases. I suspect some of the props inside his haunted house are directly lifted from murder crime scenes,¡± Zuo Han whispered softly to his lecturer. This topic was considered inside information, so he was not willing to share it with unnecessary people lest they made a big deal out of it.

    ¡°This haunted house boss has provided many clues to localw enforcement for murder cases?¡± Mr. Wang was so shocked that the question fell out of his mouth. ¡°I have indeed heard word on the streettely that things have been quite uneasy, and Jiujiang¡¯s local police station has recruited a new informant. That person is the boss of this haunted house?¡±

    ¡°Sir, due to that incident, you no longer have any contact with the people at the station, so you might not know this. The boss of this haunted house is very...¡± Zuo Han thought for a long time, but he did not know how to put his thoughts into words. ¡°Both of his parents disappeared mysteriously. To investigate their disappearance, he has overturned old cases throughout Jiujiang that date back to two decades ago. I do not even know how to describe such a person. The best description that I cane up with is for normal people to keep a respectful distance away from him.¡±

    ¡°He managed to help overturn old cases that date back to twenty years ago?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but that is not even the scariest thing about him.¡± Zuo Han lowered his voice even more. ¡°He has provided many important clues to Jiujiangw enforcement for many heavy crimes, and they have solved many cases through him, but the case of his parents¡¯ disappearance has seen no progress at all. I suspect there is a big conspiracy behind this. The case behind his parents¡¯ disappearance is not as simple as it appears.¡±

    ¡°And that is why you have beening to visit his haunted house?¡± Mr. Wang valued Zuo Han greatly. He believed that Zuo Han was one of the best students he had ever had the pleasure of teaching. He knew Zuo Han was unlike the other students; he was definitely not the kind of student who would skip ss for fun.

    ¡°I am afraid I am still too unqualified to help investigate the case of his parents¡¯ disappearance.¡± Zuo Han looked at the altar before him. ¡°I cannot see through this man at all. I cannot tell even a little bit what he is thinking. Honestly, sometimes, I do not even dare look him in the eye. I tried to put myself in his shoes to analyze his psychological status and personality, and the conclusion that I arrived at sent chills all over my body. He has superb rationality and calmness in all situations. He also possesses a superhuman adaptive ability and extremely high intelligence.¡±

    ¡°Is there any simr characterparison to him in our current database?¡±

    ¡°No, he is like a monster. After all, he is able toe up with so many exquisite and brilliantly designed set pieces alone and can help find clues for so many heavy crimes that stumped even the local forces. Compared to him, no one has the qualification to be called a genius.¡± Zuo Han¡¯s hand softly caressed the surface of the altar, his fingers feeling the grooves of the characters that were carved on the wooden board. ¡°The more that I learn about him, the more afraid I be, but the more afraid I be, the more curious I am. I want to get to the bottom of the truth. Actually, if possible, during thest holiday before my graduation, I n to apply to work here with Boss Chen.¡±

    ¡°The student with the best overall score at a medical universitying to work at a haunted house?¡± Mr. Wang even wondered if he had misheard his student. ¡°You are far more gifted than I am. What you arecking is experience. If he really is as impressive as you say he is, even if youe to work here, I doubt you will find out anything useful to you.¡±

    When the two spoke among themselves, a wooden door that led to one of the other rooms was pushed open, and an old man with a head of white hair shuffled out holding a thermos. He was caught by surprise when he saw so many people gathered in the lobby.

    ¡°Are you here to adopt the children?¡± The old man¡¯s voice was shaking. He looked like he was in a very weaken state, as if he could faint at any given moment.

    ¡°The haunted house even hires someone so old to be its actor? This ce sure is horrible.¡± Fu Bole walked to ost the old man. ¡°We are not here to adopt any children. We are here to look for missing items. Have you seen this thing before?¡±

    He took out the picture of the rag doll from his pocket and shook it before the old man.

    ¡°I have not. If you are not here to adopt the children, then hurry up and leave. This small town is not that safe. If you do not leave soon, I am afraid you might not be able to leave at all.¡± The old man coughed and was about to leave when Ma Feng, who had been among the crowd, suddenly stepped forward.

    ¡°Wait a minute! Have I seen you somewhere before?¡± After Ma Feng took over Jiang Jiu¡¯s position, to gain a deeper understanding of Chen Ge, he had spent many sleepless nights looking over the video when Chen Ge came to challenge his own haunted house. This old man before him appeared to have shown up in the video before, but he could not pinpoint exactly who he was.

    ¡°I have been staying here to look after the children. I have never left this small town. How is it possible that you have seen me before, or have you been to this orphanage in the past?¡± The old man was the lingering spirit that Chen Ge had brought back from the futuristic theme park when he went to challenge the ce. He had also brought back the old man¡¯s grandson, the ghost in the windchime, and the red Specter in the traditional Chinese Opera costume.

    ¡°Perhaps I¡¯ve mistaken you for someone else.¡±

    ¡°That is the worst mistake you could have made in this small town. The person that you are familiar with might not really be him; it could be disguised by something else. Even though they might have the same face and voice, they will be carrying a different heart.¡± The old man suddenly started to hack horribly like the statement that he gave had crossed some kind of line, and he was being punished for it. ¡°Quickly leave this ce. Do not linger any longer.¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡± Fu Bole wanted to reach out to grab the old man, but just as his arm was about tond on the old man¡¯s shoulder, the old man used a surprisingly agile and strange maneuver to evade him. No one saw it clearly. The old man slithered through the open door that he hade out from, and Fu Bole was left standing there with his hand hanging in the air. The old man did not close the door behind him, but once he crossed the threshold, it seemed like he had disappeared into thin air.

    A very bad feeling started to spread among the group of visitors. Fu Bole subconsciously walked toward the room that the old man had disappeared into. Standing in the lobby, one could hear the sound of childrenughinging from inside the room, but once they look through the door, there was no one in the room at all. Only some toys were there, littering the ground.

    ¡°There has to be something hidden inside this orphanage. Plus, think about it. The rag doll that Boss Chen wants us to find is so old and tattered. A child from a normal family would not have owned such a toy. It is probably the toy of an abandoned child.¡± Wei Chaochao tried to analyze the situation and shared his analysis. ¡°The orphanage is a ce where abandoned children are gathered, so there is a very high chance that the rag doll that we are looking for is hidden here.¡±

    Everyone thought that Wei Chaochao¡¯s analysis was quite reasonable. Only Zuo Han kept his brows locked, but he did not anything.

    ¡°What? Do you have any problem with what I¡¯ve said?¡± Wei Chaochao was a very clever person, but his cleverness was often limited to a certain area.

    ¡°Your analysis is too one-sided. If you look at the bigger picture, the probability of the rag doll being hidden here is very small because we still have many scenarios that we have yet to explore.¡± Zuo Han gave his own thoughts.

    ¡°Stop talking in riddles. What are you trying to say?¡±

    ¡°I believe this orphanage is a set piece that Boss Chen has purposely built to distract us. This ce is probably a trap. It would be better if we do not spend too much time here.¡± Zuo Han knew that these people would most likely not listen to his advice, so after he spoke his piece, he walked away with He San and Mr. Wang and started to look for their own clues.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not be shaken by an outsider. We will continue to search with our analysis. I am sure we are on the right path.¡± Fu Bole shared the same opinion as Wei Chaochao. Splitting off into the same groups as earlier, they started to search carefully for any traces of the rag doll within the orphanage. The ck fog rolled down the street and slowly surrounded the orphanage.

    Seeing this, Zuo Han prepared to leave to hurry to the next scenario, while the haunted house designers insisted on staying at the orphanage. With the split in opinion, both parties eventually separated, and each went their own way. Zuo Han led He San and Mr. Wang to leave while the others continued their search in the slowly thickening ck fog.

    ¡°This ce is an orphanage, but we have not seen a child until now.¡± Wei Chaochao stood at the door that led to the side hall where the old man had disappeared earlier. ¡°Could we have been tricked by the old man?¡±

    ¡°The old man entered the side hallst. Have you checked that ce?¡± Fu Bole and Qin Guang were standing next to Wei Chaochao. The rest were searching the kitchen and the backyard.

    ¡°I have looked through the room. I cannot find the old man anymore. It feels like he disappeared once he entered the room...¡± At this point of retelling his experience, Wei Chaochao¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up. ¡°The side hall is connected to the backyard. Our preconceived notion made us believe that he has gone to the backyard, but there is actually another possibility¡ªthere might be a hidden path inside the side hall!¡±

    The three of them shuffled into the side hall again. The cement of the toys was different from how they remembered it.

    ¡°Someone has moved the things in here!¡± Wei Chaochao noticed the problem immediately. Before he could add anything else, he saw a small shadow running down the hallway where the backyard was connected to the side hall. ¡°Who is that? Stop right there!¡±

    Wei Chaochao and Fu Bole rushed after the shadow immediately. They abandoned Qin Guang, who was at the back of the group. They chased after the shadow and entered the storage room that was situated in the backyard.

    Pushing open the wooden door, they were greeted by an old shrine table, and a strange picture was ced on the table. The old man in the picture was facing away from Wei Chaochao and Fu Bole. He appeared to be hugging something in his arms. ¡°The back of the person in this picture looks so familiar.¡±

    Qin Guang, who was left alone in the side hall, was about to go after them when he suddenly heard the sound of a stic ball bouncing. He turned his head to look. One of the toy balls in the side hall had rolled on its own into the lobby. And the strange thing was, there appeared to be something hiding in the dark corner. The ball rolled into the darkness, and then it was kicked out again like two invisible children were ying with it.

    With the corner of his eyes twitching, Qin Guang left the side hall immediately and ran out to meet up with the rest of his group. After he departed, a boy in a red shirt crawled out from the corner of the room with his eyes burning. ¡°I heard from the others that scaring people is something very simple and enjoyable. Howe it is so difficult for me? Why?¡±

    Just as the boy in the red shirt¡¯s emotions were going astray, the door of Room 1 of the first floor at the Soundless House was heavily mmed against the door. A woman in a red raincoat walked out from the building with the fury of being lied to. Blood vessels boiled on her coat. Inside the endless ck fog, a blood red rain started to fall.

 Chapter 1124 - Donâ€™t Blame Your Brother for Saving Himself First 2 in 1

    <h4>1124 Don¡°t me Your Brother for Saving Himself First 2 in 1</h4>

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you two wait for me?¡± Qin Guang rushed out from the side hall and caught up to Fu Bole and Wei Chaochao while catching his breath.¡°How can someone like you be so easily scared? Don¡¯t you do an outsider supernatural livestream for a living?¡± Fu Bole probably would not sit idle whenever the chance came up for him to mock someone. ¡°The so-called supernatural events that you ran into during your livestreams, were they all set up by yourself?¡±

    ¡°Some of them are predesigned by the studio, but some of them were not.¡±

    ¡°Like the time you were so traumatized that you were sent to the hospital?¡±

    Fu Bole was very interested in the incident involving Qin Guang, but Qin Guang obviously did not want to remember anything about it. He directly ignored what Fu Bole said and changed the subject. ¡°I just saw a stic ball that moved on its own in the side hall. This ce appears to be upied by a few children that we cannot see with our naked eyes.¡±

    ¡°Now that shows how ignorant you are.¡± Fu Bole shook his head. ¡°I know you are a popr livestream host who is highly valued by Director Ma. Initially, I thought you would be a valuable asset to the team, but after what we have been through, I realize perhaps I was mistaken. Just standing here, I cane up with at least six methods to make a ball move on its own. It is nothing that surprising. Sometimes, we will even use the same technology on mannequins¡¯ heads to make the heads roll on their own. It will look more impactful visually to the visitors.¡±

    ¡°You mean just like that?¡± Qin Guang pointed behind Fu Bole.

    ¡°What?¡± Fu Bole and Wei Chaochao turned their heads back at the same time. They saw that the man in the picture on the shrine table, which was originally facing away from them, had changed his pose. The old man in the ck and white picture had turned around!

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this the old man who was talking to us earlier?¡± Wei Chaochao was rather shocked.

    ¡°The man has half of his leg inside the coffin already, and the boss still has the heart to photoshop him into a ck and white photo. Isn¡¯t he afraid that this thing mighte true one day? The boss is really one f*cking heartless b*stard.¡± Fu Bole also did not expect the person in the picture to suddenly turn around. All the curse words were to cover up the fear in his heart. He had no idea how the boss managed to do something like this. At that moment, he was truly spooked.

    ¡°The old man¡¯s ck and white picture is ced on the shrine table. That means that he has been dead for quite some time already, so the information that he gave us might be misleading.¡±

    ¡°When we first arrived here, I saw many holes that were dug up in the front yard. The holes are too big for trees or vegetation, and they are too small for adult graves. Do you think it is possible that they are to bury children?¡±

    ¡°That is possible. This orphanage is definitely not as simple as it appears. It has to be the most crucial location of the entire ghost fetus scenario... Orphanage, dead guardian, mass grave, this ce might be where the ghost fetus is born!¡± Wei Chaochao and Fu Bole were so engaged in their discussion that they did not realize that Qin Guang had kept his gaze fixed on the space underneath the shrine table.

    ¡°Just now, a boy¡¯s head poked out from behind the shrine table, but the boy¡¯s body could not be seen under the table. It felt like the boy crawled right out from the ck and white picture himself.¡±

    ¡°Where is he?¡±

    ¡°He was standing right next to the shrine table, but he disappeared in the blink of an eye.¡±

    The three stared closely at the shrine table. At that moment, the whole scenario started to change again. Blood started to seep down from the gap in the ceiling. Blood slid down the walls and edged along the frame of the ck and white picture before dropping onto the table.

    ¡°What is going on? Is it because we have uncovered the truth that we have triggered some kind of trap inside the haunted house?¡± Fu Bole, Wei Chaochao, and Qin Guang looked around. When they recovered from the shock of the supernatural events that happened around them, something else that shocked them deeply happened. The old man in the ck and white picture had disappeared. All that was left inside the picture was an empty chair and a cigarette holder that had fallen to the ground. It gave the feeling that the old man had left in a hurry like he was running for his life.

    ¡°Have you guys yed the game ¡®What¡¯s the Time, Mr. Wolf?¡¯ before? In essence, one person is supposed to stand at a fixed ce, and whenever he turns around, the people behind him will get closer to him. From facing away from us to turning around and then running out of the picture itself, the boss of the haunted house is ying psychological tricks on us!¡± Wei Chaochao tried his best to analyze the situation as scientifically as he could, but before he could finish the rest of his sentence, a drop of bloodnded on his forehead. ¡°It is incredibly sticky, and it smells like copper. This fake blood is incredibly well made.¡±

    Wei Chaochao used his hand to swipe at the blood on his face. He realized that this droplet of blood was actually made up of countless smaller blood droplets, and each of them was twitching in his grasp.

    ¡°You have got to be kidding me. They spray red paint directly from the ceiling of a haunted house. The boss of this ce sure is brazen. Is he not afraid of ruining the visitors¡¯ clothes?¡± Fu Bole had more toin about, but he was quickly stopped by Wei Chaochao.

    ¡°Brother Fu, these blood droplets are very strange! When they fall on your clothes, they slide down directly, but if they fall on your skin, they will solidify almost instantly. It feels like there is a kind of force controlling them. Someone is using this rain of blood to find their prey.¡±

    Bang!

    A giant explosion came out from the street outside the orphanage. It sounded like a door was being violently kicked down. Before Wei Chaochao and Fu Bole could react, they saw a young boy wave urgently at them with desperation on his face. It was as if the boy was telling them to get away from this ce as soon as possible. The little boy was still gesturing wildly when he was picked up by the old man. Then, the grandfather and grandson leaped over the orphanage wall and escaped into the night.

    ¡°The ghosts from the picture appeared again? Was the boy reaching out to us for help?¡± Fu Bole felt like he had stumbled across some kind of instrumental clue. He immediately called after Wei Chaochao. ¡°Quick! Chase after them! The boy might be the ghost fetus! The old man is the ghost! We have to save the boy from the evil clutches of the old man!¡±

    The three rushed to the entrance of the storage room, and before they stepped out, they saw Xiao Sun walking their way. If not for Xiao Sun¡¯s swiftness of feet, they probably would have rammed directly into each other.

    ¡°Get out of the way! Do not stand in our path!¡± Fu Bole shouted loudly.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Xiao Sun¡¯s heart squeezed with concern.

    ¡°We have found the boy! The most crucial character inside this ghost fetus scenario, we¡¯ve found him!¡±

    ¡°What boy?¡±

    ¡°That boy is our hope of clearing this scenario! Do not let him get away!¡±

    Before Xiao Sun could evenprehend what was happening, Fu Bole, Wei Chaochao, and Qin Guang had leaped out of the backdoor and run out from the White Orphanage.

    ¡°Even a newbie knows it is taboo to separate from the main team inside the haunted house. Howe these people are so damn stubborn?¡±

    Seeing the trio slowly disappear from his line of sight, Xiao Sun did not give chase after them. Instead, he turned his focus to Ma Feng. ¡°Other people call him Director Ma in private. This man should be a big fish. I need to make use of this opportunity to try to find out what are they up to.¡±

    Scratching his chin, Xiao Sun mimicked Chen Ge and started to narrow his eyes. ¡°I have been living in the haunted house for several days now. This ce has always been peaceful. It is like a weing home for ghosts and Specters, but from the moment this batch of visitors showed up, I feel like the whole atmosphere of the scenario has changed. The colleagues have gotten so agitated. Sigh, it feels like these people have note with good intentions. There is a huge problem with this batch of visitors.¡±

    Raising his open palm, the blood rain dropped in the middle of his palm. Xiao Sun could sense the emotion that was inherent within the blood rain. ¡°This rain contains the emotion of fury and the intention to kill. It chills me right to my bones. It is like a knife is ced on my neck, and I could be killed at any moment. This is too scary.¡±

    After he said that, Xiao Sun was about to move forward, but just as he wanted to do so, he realized that something was wrong. The blood rain dropped on his body, and it morphed into blood vessels and secured him in ce.

    Turning around with some shock, Xiao Sun was so frightened that his soul almost departed from his body. Thedy in the red raincoat with her lips sewn had materialized behind him. Her thin and branch-like arms hung limply on Xiao Sun¡¯s shoulders. The murderous intent from the Red Specter was overwhelming.

    ¡°Big sister, when... when did you arrive?¡±

    ¡°Have you seen my child?¡± The cold voice escaped from the red raincoat¡¯s sewn lips. Xiao Sun copsed to the ground. He really did not expect to still feel the same amount of fear and shock even after he had died and turned into a ghost.

    ¡°The... the information was given to me by another person. They even told me that they had found that boy earlier.¡± The words practically tumbled out of Xiao Sun¡¯s lips. ¡°Do you know who Fu Bole is? It was the man with the sunsses in his pocket, and the man with the flowery shirt is called Wei Chaochao. They fed me the information! They¡¯ve just escaped through the backdoor. They ran down the path on the left! Sis! Do you want me to show you to them?¡±

    The blood vessels slowly let go of Xiao Sun. The red raincoat dissolved into part of the bloody rain and disappearedpletely. Xiao Sun crumbled to the ground. His mind was still in a daze from the scary encounter. ¡°What have I just said to her?¡±

    Patting his own face, Xiao Sun remained sitting on the ground. By then, the ck fog hadpletely enveloped the orphanage. A drizzle of blood rain was mixed in with the ck fog.

    ¡°Hey! What are you doing there alone?¡± The couple from Xin Hai walked out from one of the rooms. The man kept staring at the door that led out from the backyard. He appeared to have seen something there.

    ¡°Do not ask me any questions. I just want to sit here and get some rest.¡± Xiao Sun had some innate annoyance toward that man from Xin Hai, but he had no idea why.

    ¡°Where is Fu Bole? Wasn¡¯t he out here with Wei Chaochao earlier?¡± Ma Feng immediately saw the key problem. He did not care what had happened here; the most important issue was that a few of his teammates had mysteriously disappeared once again.

    ¡°They said that they had found a boy and that the boy is most likely the ghost fetus.¡±

    ¡°Where have they run off to?¡± Ma Feng kept his scrutinizing Xiao Sun. ¡°Get up, you need to take us to go and find them.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Xiao Sun already nned to abandon the game and contact Chen Ge, but Ma Feng did not give him the chance at all. Ma Feng appeared to already have started suspecting Xiao Sun, but Ma Feng was only doing this from the perspective of a normal person. After all, if he suspected someone, he would have to keep them close so that they would not have the chance to do something behind his back.

    As they say, keep your friends close but your enemies closer.

    He was not technically wrong, but he had no idea how high a price he would pay for keeping Sun Xiaojun so close to him.

    ¡°Fine, I will lead you all to them, but you¡¯d better be mentally prepared.¡± Xiao Sun climbed up from the ground and led the remaining survivors to leave the White Orphanage from the backdoor.

    ...

    After Fu Bole, Qin Guang, and Wei Chaochao ran out from the White Orphanage. They rushed through the ck fog and raced down the street, chasing after the figures in front of them. ¡°Jesus Christ, how can this old man still run so fast?¡±

    Both Fu Bole and Wei Chaochao felt from the bottom of their hearts that Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house was more hyped up than it actually was, so they looked down on Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house. Therefore, they were not afraid of leaving the main team and moving on their own. On the other hand, Qin Guang was like an innocentmb led astray. After blindly following these two out from the orphanage, he did not dare go back alone, so the only thing he could do was follow these two until the end. The ghost fetus scenario was more spacious than any of them could imagine. The style of the buildings on the sides of the streets had started to change again. A light stench floated in the air. After turning the corner, a staff cafeteria appeared before the trio.

    The old man and the boy stopped at the entrance as if hesitating whether they should enter the building or not.

    ¡°He¡¯s finally stopped.¡± Fu Bole gasped hungrily for air as he slowly approached the old man. The old man was holding the boy by his hand. When they saw Fu Bole approach them, they did not react in any way. But just a few secondster, both the eyes of the grandfather and the grandson were overwhelmed by fear. They stared at the street behind Fu Bole and immediately crawled into the cafeteria.

    ¡°Are you kidding me? What is this? Some kind of joke?¡± Fu Bole was incensed. He had been led by the nose by an old man through the scenario for such a long time. The old man even purposely paused for him to catch up.

    ¡°Brother Fu, this cafeteria appears to be a new scenario. We should wait for the others to arrive before we go into it.¡± Once given the reminder by Wei Chaochao, Fu Bole did not rush into the cafeteria. After all, he was a top haunted house designer. He could see through theyout and set up of many scare points and traps with just a nce. After giving the ce a quick look, Fu Bole did not notice anything too suspicious. Out of the confidence in his own professional ability, he did not stay to wait for the rest but decided to enter the cafeteria directly.

    Once he entered the cafeteria, before Fu Bole could even say anything, he heard a loud bang, and the front door of the cafeteria was mmed shut behind him. His heart skipped a beat. Fu Bole was about to call Wei Chaochao¡¯s name to ask him what had happened when his ears were filled with harrowing screams from both Wei Chaochao and Qin Guang beyond the closed door. The screams tore at his heart. The sound was like pigs being ughtered, and the screams sent chills down Fu Bole¡¯s spine. Blood vessels slipped through the gaps of the door into the room. They appeared to be looking for someone. Seeing this, Fu Bole retreated without hesitation. He stayed as far away from the cafeteria front door as he could.

    ¡°What has happened outside?¡± He did not think that Wei Chaochao would cooperate with Chen Ge to purposely scare him. To be able to make someone like Wei Chaochao shriek like it was the end of the world, it proved that there had to be something incredibly scary outside the door. ¡°Could it be that the old man decided to escape from the orphanage because there has always been an actual ¡®ghost¡¯ following behind us?¡±

    Having a ghost at a haunted house was something very normal, but the ¡®ghost¡¯ in question might be categorically different from what a normal ¡®ghost¡¯ meant at other haunted houses. The warning that Zuo Han had once given appeared in Fu Bole¡¯s mind. When he was in a crowd, he did not feel it that clearly, but now that he was stranded alone, his mind could not help but keep on straying to the conclusion that this haunted house was really haunted.

    ¡°There should be another exit in this building.¡± Fu Bole walked past the dining tables and came to the back kitchen of the cafeteria. The stench was the most intense at this ce. On the door of the back kitchen, there were three words written on top¡ªHouse of Strange Odors.

    Pushing open the wooden door a gap, Fu Bole leaned on the door and looked through it. There was a mountain of meat that was moving inside the kitchen. It was a person who was evenrger than both Liang Er and Liang Sanbined. Wearing a chef¡¯s outfit that was too small for his size, radiating an awful stench, the man kept pouring what appeared to be food ingredients into arge pot. Turning, mixing, and stirring, the chef gave the meal cooking inside the pot a taste. It appeared like it was still missing something. He took out a cleaver. After giving it a good shine, he slowly turned around. The bloodless face fixated on Fu Bole, who was leaning on the door.

    His mouth gaped. The chef¡¯s mouth that was covered in blood uttered, ¡°The ingredients are finally all here.¡±

    With his every step, the whole cafeteria was shaking. It was like the building was moving along with this mountain of a man. Blood slid down the roof of the ceiling. The front door of the cafeteria was sted open. Wei Chaochao, who had lost consciousness,y limply on the ground. A woman in a red raincoat walked into the cafeteria. The chef was confused. He waved the giant cleaver in his hands as his fingers knocked lightly on the chopping block.

    Blood vessels rolled. The furious red raincoat dragged the half-alive Wei Chaochao and stopped at the entrance of the back kitchen. Her bloodshot eyes stared right at Fu Bole. Being surrounded by two Red Specters, Fu Bole hugged the door frame, and his legs gave way underneath him. He knelt on the ground, and he almost peed himself from fear.

    ...

    Humming a song, adjusting his watch, Chen Ge had finished his make-up and was waiting at the entrance of the ghost fetus scenario. To prevent an idental encounter with the visitors, he purposely waited for quite some time and ensured that there were no more visitors left waiting at the entrance before he entered the scenario. As the thick chains were removed, Chen Ge held theic and inched open a gap of the ck iron door.

    He was about to push the iron door open further when a sheaf of ck fog drifted out.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± When the door was fully open, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes slowly widened. Endless ck fog enveloped the streets fully, and blood rain fell like there was no tomorrow. The Voiceless Small Town was like a scene from an apocalypse.

    ng!

    The chain in his hands slipped to the ground. Chen Ge¡¯s first reaction was to lock up the ck iron door again.

    ¡°What is going on? Have the people from the cursed hospital infiltrated this scenario when I wasn¡¯t looking?¡±

 Chapter 1125 - You Deserve a Bigger Stage 2in1

    <h4>Chapter 1125 You Deserve a Bigger Stage 2in1</h4>

    About ten minutes prior, the ghost fetus scenario was still rtively ¡®peaceful¡¯. Chen Ge only went to put on some make-up and hurried to the other scenarios to get some other employees, and when he returned, the world hadpletely changed. The moment the door was opened, Chen Ge even thought for a split second that he had returned to the world behind the door. His brain moved quickly, and many possibilities entered his mind. In the end, the figures of those two visitors from Xin Hai appeared in his mind¡¯s eye.

    ¡°There has to be some problem with that couple from Xin Hai. Could the change to this scenario be rted to them?¡± Initially, Chen Ge suspected that they were unique visitors, but now he believed that things were not as simple as he imagined. ¡°Before they cause more trouble, I have to go and locate them.¡±

    Summoning his employees, Chen Ge held theic and rushed into the scenario. To prevent the ck fog from continuing to spread, he even had Xiaoxiao guard the ck iron door, telling her that no matter who came, she had to keep the door closed. The ck fog hadpletely enveloped the Voiceless Small Town, and it was continuing to spread to other ces. Pale human faces appeared on the walls of the buildings down the streets. When they saw Chen Ge, they kept making these horrible screams. It sounded both like a cry for help and a plea for mercy.

    ¡°The closest hidden path to the world of the ck fog from the entrance is the Soundless Home. Don¡¯t tell me some of the visitors were so unlucky that they somehow stumbled their way into the hidden scenario through that sub scenario?¡± Chen Ge took out his own phone and called Tong Tong¡¯s number. He soon got Tong Tong¡¯s reply. When he saw Tong Tong¡¯s message, Chen Ge¡¯s expression became confused and befuddled.

    ¡°The ce has not been infiltrated by outsiders? If that¡¯s the case, why did the scenario turn into a state like this?¡± Tong Tong appeared to be incredibly busy with something else. The messages that he sent to Chen Ge were sinct and simple. ¡°Or have they sessfully evaded Tong Tong¡¯s surveince?¡±

    Chen Ge knew the chance of that was very slim, but afterpleting the ck phone¡¯s Trial Missions so many times, Chen Ge was trained to see things from the worst possible scenario. That was how he was always prepared.

    Knocking on one of the doors, Chen Ge whispered outside of it. ¡°Brother Peng, are you in there?¡±

    The wooden door creaked open. Wu Jinpeng appeared at the door with his hand over his bruised forehead. ¡°Boss? Why are you here? You have entered the scenario as well?¡±

    ¡°Why are you injured?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s tone changed immediately. There had never been an ident where his own employees were injured in his own haunted house, albeit the injury in this case was just a bump to the forehead.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine. I was too nervous when I opened the door, and I identally rammed into the door.¡±

    ¡°Was it because someone was purposely blocking the door?¡± Chen Ge was a very astute person, and he was very familiar with those haunted house designers¡¯ dirty tricks.

    ¡°Boss, you can ignore this small injury. Just now, a series of horrible screams came from inside the scenario. I am not kidding you, it sounded like I was right at a ughterhouse. You¡¯d better go and take a look. I am very worried that something serious has happened.¡±

    ¡°Okay, but you¡¯d better stay here and do not go anywhere else. I will be back in a minute.¡± The ck fog on the street thickened by the second. Chen Ge ran without stopping to the Soundless Home. He first nced at the missing person¡¯s report by the entrance. The boy in the picture had gone missing. ¡°Where has Tong Tong disappeared to?¡±

    Entering the building, Chen Ge confirmed that this was the ce where the ck fog originated. He pushed open the door of the first room. The scene that greeted him was a room that was soaked in blood. It felt like a rain of blood had fallen right inside the room. After he found the mirror that was left on the ground, Chen Ge tried tomunicate with the lingering spirit of the student from the School of the Afterlife that resided inside it. He had the student open the door of the red snail for him. Inside the hidden path, the ck fog ebbed and flowed like a palpable wave. A middle-aged woman was lying supine on the steps. Due to extreme shock, she was totally unconscious.

    ¡°The ck fog can invoke the deepest and darkest fear inside a living person¡¯s heart. She stumbled her way into the world of ck fog without even experiencing the one-star scenario. The fact that she could run so far is already a miracle in and of itself.¡± Chen Ge dragged the middle-aged woman out of the scenario and had the lingering spirit of the student hurry and go call the doctors from the underground morgue. ¡°Tell them to stop scaring people for a moment. We need them to get over here to examine the situation. I believe we have an emergency on our hands. There might be several people that are unconscious.¡±

    Bringing the other employees, Chen Ge came to the bottom step of the hidden pathway. He picked up the chain that blocked the door to stop it from closingpletely. ¡°Someone purposely used this as a stopgap to prevent the door from closing, he did not want the door to close. Why would he do something like that?¡±

    Pushing open the ck iron door, Chen Ge stepped into it. Chen Ge did not need to wander in that far to see that all the mannequin monsters inside the world of ck fog had gone berserk. Endless curses and twisted memories clung to their bodies, turning these mannequins into different kinds of items of possession. It was as if they had alle alive with their own will.

    ¡°What is going on?¡± The ghost fetus¡¯ scenario recorded the entire life of the ghost fetus. All his memory and curses were being handled by the red high heels. The fact that all the curses and memories had gotten out of control meant that the emotions of the red high heels were currently a little bit unstable. Chen Ge called the red high heels¡¯ name softly. Perhaps she had heard Chen Ge¡¯s voice. The ck fog appeared to calm down slightly, and the monsters that were covered in curses stopped rampaging.

    Chen Ge cut his way forward and soon saw the red high heels in person. The bandages on her body had fallen off quite a bit, and her skin that was tattooed with the curses was exposed. The woman possessed a breath-catching beauty about her, one that would be called a tragic beauty. At that moment, the red high heels was standing in the middle of the ck fog. A small figure was blocking before her while behind the small figure were two unconscious fatties.

    ¡°Why is Tong Tong together with Liang Er and Liang San?¡± Chen Ge quickly hurried over. After some asking around, he realized that Liang Er and Liang San had identally stumbled into the hidden area not five minutes into the start of the game and encountered the red high heels, who was experiencing the ghost fetus¡¯ former memories. Initially, the red high heels was too busy to even care about them, but the two brothers walked toward the red high heels themselves and even started to critique her appearance. If theirments were positive, like saying how beautiful and captivating she was, perhaps she would have let them go peacefully. But as fate would have it, Liang Er directly called the red high heels something disgusting.

    The reason for the red high heels¡¯ death was still a mystery, but she appeared to be a woman who was obsessed with beauty when she was alive. Even in her Bloody Heart Mission, there was a hint given by the ck phone¡ª¡¯Am I beautiful?¡¯

    One could say that Liang Er was extremely unlucky. Of the many words in the Englishnguage, he had chosen the one that would perfectly anger the red high heels. It was little wonder that he ended in the state that Chen Ge found him. The difference between a Top Red Specter and a normal person was still toorge. The red high heels did not even need to do anything, and the curses in the ck fog would automatically seek out the people who had angered her and evoked the deepest and darkest terrors residing within their hearts.

    In other words, Liang Er and Liang San were knocked out by their innate fear. During the whole process, the red high heels had done only one thing and that was to turn her head to look at them. After knowing the whole process, even Chen Ge thought that Liang Er and Liang San truly were lucky in their own way. He gave Liang Er and Liang San a quick inspection. Thankfully, the red high heels did not intend to harm them; she just wanted to teach this pair of siblings a lesson.

    After consoling the red high heels, Chen Ge had her continue to stay in the world of the ck fog while he left the scenario through the hidden pathway with Tong Tong. Tong Tong was truly given a fright of his life earlier. The kid thought that the red high heels was going to murder the brothers, and that was why he had stood before them to stop her from doing so.

    ¡°To be able to open the hidden path inside the Soundless Home, there has to be a real impressive character among this batch of visitors. Tong Tong, did you manage to see who opened the hidden pathway?¡±

    ¡°Brother Xiao Jun.¡±

    ¡°Sun Xiaojun?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes.¡±

    Chen Ge was as confused as he could be. He had not told Xiaosun the location and the method to open the hidden pathways, but Sun Xiaojun had magically managed to open the secret pathway within five minutes of the start of the game and sent the visitors from his team into it. ¡°Is this the power of the cursed seed?¡±

    After hearing the description of what Tong Tong saw, Chen Ge could take a guess at Xiao Sun¡¯s intention. He only had good will in his heart, but the result that he caused was probably something that Xiao Sun himself did not expect. A butterfly in the Amazon rainforest might p its wing several times, and perhaps two weekster, a tornado would ransack South America. Xiao Sun was the person with the powerful butterfly effect. The young man himself was a simple-minded person, but it was also this naivete that enabled him to do something incredibly scary with serious repercussion without even intending or knowing it.

    ¡°I appear to have underestimated the potential of the cursed seed. No wonder the ck phone specifically warned me about him. After all, even the Demon God ghost fetus eventually gave up on Xiao Sun.¡± Walking out from the building, looking at the ck fog that slowly enveloped the whole ghost fetus scenario, Chen Ge did not feel as nervous as before. If anything, a new n was hatching in his mind. ¡°The cursed seed and the cursed hospital, howe I feel like they are natural enemies of each other?¡±

    Xiao Sun had indeed caused a certain degree of damage to the scenario, but Chen Ge would not me Xiao Sun because this was his own fault. As the manager, he had to first reflect on his own mistakes. Everyone had a position that was suitable for them; it was the same for Xiao Sun. If Xiao Sun only knew how to destroy and create ill will to both his friends and enemies, then the ghost fetus would not have left him in the world behind the door where he was hiding in.

    ¡°It was my mistake for underestimating Xiao Sun¡¯s potential. He deserves a much bigger stage for his talent to shine.¡±

    Walking down the street, Chen Ge continued to move forward. When he arrived at the Haunted Avenue, Chen Ge¡¯s heart skipped a bit. The Haunted Avenue was the only scenario left behind from Yu Jian¡¯s world. Chen Ge also had no idea why this was the only locale that was left from such arge world. Only after some time had he realized that it probably had something to do with Zhang Ya. This avenue was the street that he and Zhang Ya had been walking on in Yu Jian¡¯s world. They walked on this street to go home, and they bade theirst farewell on this street. This bus stop had recorded every lovely moment that they had shared.

    ¡°The visitors won¡¯t have gone to destroy the words and pictures carved on the tform, right?¡±

    This sub scenario had a special meaning for Chen Ge. He led Tong Tong and the other employees to rush into the ck fog. When they passed the bus stop, they only saw a tform that was covered in stained blood and a drizzle of bloody rain.

    ¡°The memory with Zhang Ya has not been destroyed, but a big problem appears to have urred to the red raincoat.¡±

    Chen Ge did not dare stay for long lest something worse happened. Chen Ge hurried to the White Orphanage. He opened the hidden door directly and sighed in relief. Xiao Bu was hiding inside the hidden room at the White Orphanage making blood dolls. This Specter who was from Li Wan City that could unleash the power of a Top Red Specter was not angered in any way.

    ¡°Have you seen Sun Xiaojun?¡± Chen Ge whispered to ask.

    Xiao Bu stood up from the red nket that she had ced on the floor. She put down the doll she was making and shook her head confusedly.

    ¡°Then that¡¯s fine. Keep on doing what you¡¯re doing.¡± Seeing Xiao Bu in this state, Chen Ge wanted to go over to ruffle her hair. Sometimes, Chen Ge would have these illusions about Xiao Bu like thinking she was his own daughter or thinking Xiao Bu was very cute, like Xiaoxiao.

    As he was about to leave, Xiao Bu reached out to grab Chen Ge¡¯s sleeve. The girl showed Chen Ge the blood dolls that she was making. The faces of the two dolls kept on changing until they took on a simrity of the two visitors that came from Xin Hai. The male and female stood next to each other, and the man appeared to be talking to himself. ¡°The evil spirits have gone out of control, and blood rain continues to fall. As I expected, no living person can reform the departed, not even their son.¡±

    The man¡¯s expression was chilling as he kept repeating this sentence. The man had probably said something else, but Xiao Bu had only recorded this sentence.

    ¡°Xiao Bu, where did you hear him say this?¡± Sitting back down on the red carpet, Xiao Bu changed into a morefortable posture. She leaned downzily in the corner, and her finger went up, pointing at the roof above them. The couple probably did not expect a Top Red Specter to be able to rein in her presence so perfectly and was ying with dolls down in the hidden room at the bottom of the White Orphanage.

    ¡°Understood.¡± Chen Ge nodded and then led the other employees out. Sun Xiaojun had identally hit the target this time. There were indeed people with malicious intentions hidden among the visitors, but Xiao Sun had done things that these people would never have the guts to do.

    ...

    The visitors were gathered at the entrance to the cafeteria. Blood rain fell on their bodies. Ma Feng, who had understood the severity of the situation, had Sun Xiaojun walk at the front of the group.

    ¡°Earlier, we heard horrible screams again. Fu Bole and Wei Chaochao are both top haunted house designers. What is it that they could have seen that would cause them to scream like that?¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong had been given a lesson by Chen Ge before, and he was also the first to persuade Ma Feng to leave when they realized that they were not going to enter School of the Afterlife but instead the ghost fetus scenario. Unfortunately for him, Ma Feng was quite a stubborn person.

    ¡°You will have to ask him. He was thest person to be together with Wei Chaochao and Fu Bole.¡± Ma Feng and the other visitors turned to look at Xiao Sun.

    ¡°To be honest, I really did not intend to harm anyone, but somehow, things have led to this state,¡± Xiao Sun said with a bitter smile. ¡°I also have no idea why. Since I was young, whenever I tried my best to do something, every kind of ident will happen. When I was in primary school, my mom promised me that as long as I got a good result in my finals, she would take me to the biggest water park in Jiujiang, and I did the best that I could. But that year, an earthquake happened in Eastern Jiujiang, and the water park closed.

    ¡°During secondary school, to help me with my studies, mother bought me aputer. But when it was almost time for the results to be released, a big fire engulfed the school, and the brand of theputer that my mother bought meter went bankrupt.

    ¡°I somehow managed to survive all that until I finally got to university. I have a passion for music, but of all my idols, one of them retired from the industry because he was exposed to be a junkie, the second one was forced out of the industry due to humiliation because he was exposed to be a cheating b*stard, and the third one mysteriously disappeared. He still has not been found. I have understood many things. In the end, I quit university to pursue my dreams in music. I did not want to rely on anyone and kept my distance from everyone else, but in the end, I found myself moving into a... Sigh, never mind. I do not want to burden you with my sad story.¡±

    After hearing Sun Xiaojun¡¯s life story, some of the visitors were shocked, but there were also some who thought that he was just making up stories.

    The couple from Xin Hai stood at the back of the group. The female¡¯s expression was rather spaced out. She held onto the man¡¯s arm tightly like she was joined at the arm to him. The man was radiating a chilling presence. He kept looking around him and kept stealthily moving the hand that he kept inside his pocket earlier out into the open.

    Upon closer inspection, one could realize that there was a deep wound on his palm, and buried deep inside his wound was an eyeball. Lowering his head, the man whispered softly as if he was reporting back to someone.

    ¡°Rampage, bloodlust, anger that covered the sky, curses flying everywhere¡ªa Red Specter cannot be controlled fully. Your worry is unfounded. From the opening of this haunted house, who knows how many human souls have been used as sacrifices? The doctor was worried that he¡¯d found another path for himself, but actually, this ce is no different from our hospital. It is just the appearance that has changed. The child still has not grown up ording to his parents¡¯ expectations. He has already be the version of himself that his younger self hated the most.¡±

 Chapter 1126 - Patient 101 2 in 1

    <h4>1126 Patient 101 2 in 1</h4>

    The male visitor from Xin Hai kept his head lowered as he quietly moved his palm around the surroundings as if he was letting the eyeball hidden deep inside the wound of his palm observe the set pieces around him. The ck fog with the curse drifted freely, and the blood rain filled with malice and hatred slid down the ceiling. Everywhere, one could see haunted faces that pleaded for mercy as they desperately tried to escape. This was a perfect scene lifted right out from the apocalypse.

    ¡°If it is as you guys predicted and all the specters are staying at the haunted house willingly, then why are all the lingering spirits in the ck fog crying and shouting for release from this ce? I suspect this haunted house is using the Red Specters to enve the other lingering spirits and baleful Specters. He¡¯s using part of the visitors¡¯ souls as bargaining chips to trade with the Red Specters. After the Red Specters consumed the fear and feelings of the visitors and they were sated, the man used these Red Specters to stabilize the weaker ghosts through brute force. This kind of brusque and under-handed method is even worse than ours.¡±

    The eyeball in the wound on the man¡¯s palm turned several times. The eye appeared to have seen everything it wanted to, and it silently sank deep into the man¡¯s flesh. Then the wound slowly recovered on its own, leaving behind only a bloody thin scar.

    ¡°Why would the doctor think that people have the capability of reforming Red Specters? How could these monsters that feed solely on negative emotions and were formed from hatred, pain, and despair be reformed? They hate everything that is good and valuable in this world, and their favorite pastime is destroying everything that is bright and positive.¡±

    Lifting his head up, there was a trace of excitement that crossed the man¡¯s eyes. Looking at the ghost fetus¡¯ scenario that had sunk into chaos, his thin lips slowly curled into a malicious smile.

    ¡°This is what a haunted location should look like. The boy that once was has probably been drawn way too deep into the abyss of darkness. He is unable to separate himself from enjoying the sin on this side of humanity anymore.¡±

    The man grabbed his girlfriend¡¯s hand. Thetter was like a puppet without a soul. They stood at the back of the group, and the man used a kind of gaze that was filled with pity to look at the other visitors who were still trying their best.

    ¡°A ticket price of forty RMB is honestly not that expensive, but the real cost of visiting this haunted house is not the money but your own life. When they leave this ce, perhaps something else will have possessed their bodies, and then they will die from some kind of ¡®ident¡¯. No one will even think of linking their misfortune to this visit to the haunted house, and no one will even help them report their deaths to the police. These are things that the hospital has done in the past. Hahaha. The dragon-yer has eventually been corrupted to be a dragon. It is only inevitable.¡±

    The male visitor from Xin Hai appeared to have obtained the information that he needed already, so he prepared to leave. This ce made him feel incredibly ufortable, so the n was for him to quietly sneak away before he was exposed. ¡°The doctor should have continued my medication after I have risked so much to enter the tiger¡¯s den to provide for them such valuable information, right?¡±

    At that moment, the male visitor was only thinking of himself. He had no intention of warning the other visitors of the supposed dangers inside Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house. The distance between this couple and therger group of visitors gradually widened. When Ma Feng and the rest¡¯s attention was ced on Xiao Sun, the two of them turned and walked away directly.

    The ck fog thickened by the second. The man¡¯s eyes swept over the flickering human faces that appeared on the wall. He seemed to have been reminded of his former self, but there was no sign of pity in his eyes. If anything, they were filled with deep-seated disgust and condescension. Hurrying his foots, when the couple walked past the White Orphanage and came to the Haunted Avenue, they slowly noticed that something was not right. The screaming human faces in the ck fog had disappeared, and the surroundings were eerily quiet. It felt like something scarier than the ghosts was hiding inside the ck fog, and the presence of this threat prevented the cursed human faces from daring to cry out loud for mercy. They were too scared to do so.

    ¡°Have I been exposed?¡± The man yanked his girlfriend before him. He used his fingernail to scratch open the wound on his palm as if trying tomunicate with that eyeball. But before he could summon and awaken that eyeball, a figure slowly appeared from the ck fog. He was wearing a uniform that was tattered and covered in blood stains, and his face was covered in very light make-up. The make-up was expertly applied so that it enhanced the handsomeness of the man¡¯s facial features, but as the man looked longer, he realized that it was a face of a dead man that was staring back at him. A very bad feeling arose in the man¡¯s heart. He hid one of his hands behind his back and adjusted his expression so that he looked no different from the other normal visitors.

    ¡°Honey, be careful.¡± He acted like he was trying to protect his girlfriend, but in reality he was using the woman as a human shield. Away from view, strands of ck threads were crawling on his arms to travel into the woman¡¯s body like worms. The man in the fog finally walked to stand before them. When the face could be discerned clearly, the man¡¯s nervousness only hiked up further. To cover up his anxiety, he volunteered to speak first. ¡°It is so rare to see the boss entering the scenario himself. Your haunted house is so famous, but the number of employees is so low.¡±

    ¡°The number of employees here is not low, but I would not mind someone lending me ¡®a hand¡¯.¡± Chen Ge stood before the couple. The woman¡¯s expression was no longer as spaced out as before. As if a puppeting back to hug, she hugged the man¡¯s arm with clear apprehension on her face.

    ¡°Looks like the two of you have worked out the argument. Inside the haunted house, you can experience fear that you will not have the chance to experience outside of this ce. When facing the danger together, you will be able to tell for sure whether a person is truly reliable or not. Therefore, if you want to tell whether your partner really cares about you or not, bring them on a trip to the haunted house,¡± Chen Ge said with a smile, revealing his white, shiny teeth. He flipped through theic in his hand as he casually walked past the couple.

    The man¡¯s heart kept on racing until Chen Ge walked past him. His heart practically dropped down to his stomach, and his eyes became as wicked as before. He had no idea why he was so afraid of Chen Ge, but he did not dare to show it in person. He only dared to silently curse the man in his heart. He lifted his feet. Just as he was about to move away, his palm suddenly started to leak with blood!

    The eyeball that was hidden inside the wound was spinning wildly out of control as if urging him to leave as soon as possible. The man still did not notice that anything was wrong. Chen Ge, who had just brushed past him, suddenly stopped moving. He turned around and stared at the male visitor with a smile.

    ¡°As I mentioned earlier, when facing danger together, you will be able to tell for sure whether a person is truly reliable or not. So, have you faced any real danger today?¡± The maddening tone, the horrifying smile¡ªafter Chen Ge finished that sentence, one baleful Specter and Red Specter after another walked out from the ck fog.

    Only then did the man realize that Chen Ge had kept all of the Specters inside theic. When he walked past him earlier, he had been casually ¡®dropping¡¯ one Specter after another along the way, and the male visitor found himself surrounded by multiple baleful Specters and Red Specters. The man had focused all of his attention on Chen Ge, so he did not realized that he had fallen into a trap until this veryst moment.

    This man is too vicious and cunning!

    The man lowered his head to look at his palm. Urgency and desperation were in in his eyes, but to his consternation, just as he turned his focus to his palm, the eyeball in his palm imploded on its own. The blood slid down his wound. The man stood stunned for quite some time on the spot. Only momentster did he realize that he had already been abandoned. The hospital had already obtained all the information that they wanted. To prevent the man from exposing more secrets about the hospital, they actively shattered the eyeball and cut off all the possible clues that might lead back to them.

    The decision was surprisingly cruel and resolute; everything was probably nned before the man was sent into Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house. Now that eyeball had shattered, the man had lost all his back up. His support had been cut off. Cold sweat kept pouring out from his forehead.

    What do I do now?

    Surrounded by multiple baleful Specters and Red Specters, he was not used to this kind of ¡®special treatment¡¯.

    Since the eyeball had abandoned the man, all he could do was find a way to save himself. Fighting Chen Ge head on was a way to death because he knew Chen Ge was being protected by a Demon God, so the only chance of survival that he had was his identity as a normal visitor. Many witnesses had seen him walk into the haunted house, the image was captured by the cameras, and the other visitors of the same group all knew of his presence. If he suddenly disappeared without a trace, the other visitors would notice. All he could bet on now was that Chen Ge did not daremit a murder directly inside his haunted house.

    He had transformed part of his consciousness inside the curse and hidden it deep inside his brain. This way, even if Chen Ge had another Specter take over his body, he still had a chance of survival. These things were taught to him by the cursed hospital, but it was a Hail Mary solution; it was something that he would not use until he was sure there was no other solution.

    ¡°Boss Chen, what are you doing? Why did you suddenly call over so many employees toe after me and my girlfriend? Have we done something to anger you?¡± The man pulled out the phone from his pocket and switched on the video-recording function. He aimed the camera at the man and ghost around him. ¡°I will have video evidence if you darey a finger on us!¡±

    The man was entering the haunted house as a normal visitor. He had no idea how he was exposed, but the only thing he could do now was continue to act in his role as a normal visitor. He could only hope that Chen Ge merely suspected him but did not have any actual evidence that he was a spy sent over by the cursed hospital. If it was only a suspicion, no sane person would go so far as to kill someone to protect their business secret, right?

    Seeing the man raise the camera to take a video of them, Chen Ge smiled even brighter. He really did not expect someone from the cursed hospital to resort to something as ridiculous as this.

    ¡°If I really touch you, do you n to pretend to get injured?¡± Chen Ge had Tong Tong sneak into the man¡¯s phone. After making sure that the man was not connected to the inte and livestreaming, Chen Ge¡¯s expression softened slightly.

    ¡°I hope that this is only a misunderstanding. Please move out of my way. We do not wish to continue this tour anymore.¡± The man¡¯s hand that was holding the camera was shaking. He was trying desperately to keep hisposure, but being surrounded by so many baleful Specters and Red Specters, he found that it was almost impossible to do so.

    ¡°You have purchased a ticket, but you¡¯ve decided to stop the tour just like that, huh? Is it because you think my haunted house is not scary enough?¡± Chen Ge used Yin Yang Vision to scan the couple up and down. He wished to find more things rted to the cursed hospital on them.

    The man was temporarily stumped. He thought for a long time before he said, ¡°It is because it is too scary that we do not want to continue the tour anymore.¡±

    ¡°Even a ghost thinks that a haunted house is scary?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea what you are talking about at all! What nonsense is that!¡± The man¡¯s tone became desperate. He realized that the baleful Specters and Red Specters were slowly approaching, and they had systematically surrounded him and his girlfriend. ¡°If you do not let us pass, I will... I will call the police!¡±

    ¡°Sure, go ahead. I will give you the chance to call the police now.¡± Chen Ge wanted to apply as much pressure as he possibly could to see what the cursed hospital would do. But the man had only taken out the video camera to take evidence and now threatened to call the police on him¡ªthese actions had made Chen Ge quite speechless. A ghost that was cruel and heartless that had hurt who knew how many people was now ying the victim? That was truly a joke.

    Cold sweat slid down the man¡¯s forehead, and his eyes were bloodshot. He gritted his teeth. In the end, his finger moved swiftly on the screen, and he called the emergency number.

    ¡°You really made the call?¡±

    The dial tone only rang twice before it was picked up. Before the person on the other line could say anything, the man shouted, ¡°Sir, hurry to New Century Park¡¯s haunted house in Western Jiujiang! I am being held against my will by the haunted house¡¯s boss! He is physically threatening his visitors inside his haunted house! This man is a veritable viin. Hepletely ignores the authority of the police, and he is proud about it! My name is Cha Wen! You muste and save me! Please remember that my name is Cha Wen!¡±

    The man listed the crime scenes and the culprit within a few sentences. He even repeated his name multiple times, probably hoping that would put a stop to Chen Ge¡¯s dark intentions. This time, not just Chen Ge, but even the surrounding baleful Specters and Red Specters¡¯ expression had turned confused. They all stared at this man who called himself Cha Wen.

    ¡°I have already called the police! The police will be here in a minute! If you let me go now, we will call this even, but if you insist on continuing with this bullying, there will be hell to pay. I will have the police shut this ce down! Don¡¯t you regret it then!¡± The man waved the phone in his hand like it was some kind of protective talisman. At the same time, he did not forget to guard the girlfriend behind him. After all, he was ying the role of a loving boyfriend; he had to make the acting convincing.

    ¡°Are you sure you have dialed the correct number?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s chilling voice drifted into the man¡¯s ears.

    ¡°How could I get just three digits wrong?¡± The man was about to argue back when he realized that something was wrong. There was no reply at all from the other side of the line. ¡°Hello? Hello? Hello?¡±

    Several secondster, a child¡¯s young voice came from the phone. ¡°I am sorry, the number that you are calling is currently unavable. Please try againter. Sorry...¡±

    Hearing the child¡¯s voice, an epiphany instantly struck the man. He quickly dropped the phone from his hand. The phonended with a thud on the ground. The boy¡¯s voice was stilling out from it.

    ¡°Looks like you are nothing more than a chess piece who has already been sacrificed. You are not that valuable to the hospital.¡± Chen Ge waved his hand and had the Red Specters around him move together to apprehend both Cha Wen and his girlfriend. He then sent Zhang Yi right into their bodies. With Zhang Yi¡¯s help, many things that would require much persuasion and energy toplete could be done with a much easier method.

    Several minutester, Zhang Yi crawled out from the man¡¯s head. He had brought some very important information for Chen Ge. This man and woman were truly a couple from Xin Hai. The man¡¯s name was Cha Wen, and the woman¡¯s name was Hua Meimei. They weremon citizens. There was nothing wrong about them, but due to some unknown reason, Cha Wen was possessed by Patient 101 from the cursed hospital.

    Patient 101 was being told to do these things by his attending doctor. Zhang Yi looked through the memory of Patient 101, and he realized that this patient had a very deep understanding of the cursed hospital. He had stayed at that hospital for almost twenty years. To protect himself from being sacrificed or eaten by others, one could say that the man had no bottom line. The patient knew many hidden secrets at the hospital, and he was smart enough to use that knowledge as protection for himself. Many other patients and doctors were rted to him.

    Patient 101 was a veritable treasure trove for Chen Ge, but unfortunately, someone had already tempered with Patient 101¡¯s memory. When the eyeball in his palm exploded, the memory of Patient 101 had started to disperse at a rapid pace. The man himself probably did not realize it. Before the cursed hospital sent Patient 101 over to Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house, they had already prepared to abandon him. That was why they had set up so many things.

    Even though he only got pieces of the patient¡¯s memory, it was already quite valuable for Chen Ge. The hospital was far scarier than he expected. Patient 101 had stayed at the hospital for two decades already, so the hospital itself might have existed much longer than that. No one knew when the hospital was first built, and no one knew what it began as.

    Too much time had passed since then. Patient 101 only remembered, at the time, the hospital director wanted to build a ce without pain and despair. He treated the doctors and the patients as family, but one day, the hospital director changed.

    He tore off the faces of his own children and gave them the name non-smilers.

    He then proceeded to trap his other family members behind the door and made all those who hadments about his ideology into ¡®medicine¡¯.

 Chapter 1127 - The Birth of an Actor 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1127 The Birth of an Actor 2 in 1</h4>

    Before the memory of Patient 101 was wiped away, Zhang Yi still managed to scour some things. For example, the workers at the cursed hospital could be delineated as day shift doctors and night shift doctors. The day shift doctors were people who were not normal while the night shift doctors were ghosts that treated the patients. The cursed hospital had a lot of day shift doctors but only ten night shift doctors. This number had not changed in a very long time until a few days ago.

    The most experienced night shift doctor had disappeared in Jiujiang. ording to rumors, that specific doctor had apanied the hospital director when he came to Jiujiang twenty years ago. He was one of the hospital director¡¯s most trusted confidants. To investigate the reason behind that doctor¡¯s disappearance, the cursed hospital had stopped at nothing. They had infiltrated Jiujiang through many different methods. Most of the people from the cursed hospital who had been spotted in Jiujiang were there to search for the missing night shift doctor, but there was also a very small portion of patients who had unique powers who were given other missions, like this Patient 101.

    His unique power was his ability to keep his presence hidden. Even a Red Specter would not be able to tell that he had taken possession of a normal person. Other than that, he could tell whether a person was lying or not based on that person¡¯s presence, and through the same presence, he could triangte the target¡¯s location. In other words, he was a walking lie detector and GPS tracker. Due to his unique power, he was given this heavy task by his attending doctor. The doctor had him disguise as a visitor toe visit Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house and infiltrate the deepest part of the haunted house to see the real situation in Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house.

    Actually, the cursed hospital was already as careful as they could be. This could be seen from the steps that they had taken just in case things went wrong. The moment the eyeball exploded, all of Patient 101¡¯s memories had started to silently disappear. If not for the fact that Chen Ge possessed Zhang Yi, this Half Red Specter who could read and delete people¡¯s memories, he probably would not have gotten any information rted to the cursed hospital.

    ¡°Overall, it is not aplete loss. Even though Patient 101 has collected some information for the hospital, he has also exposed the information about the cursed hospital to me. It is an even trade.¡± Chen Ge was about to have his employee yank Patient 101 out of Cha Wen¡¯s body when Zhang Yi revealed yet another important nugget of information to Chen Ge. The patient¡¯s garb and the items that he carried with him when he left the cursed hospital were hidden at Cha Wen¡¯s rented apartment in Jiujiang. He had a feeling those things would perhaps be helpful to Chen Ge.

    At the moment, Chen Ge could not draw himself away from the haunted house. He was worried that the cursed hospital might send other people after him, so he had to stay guard at the haunted house. Otherwise, if the Red Specters really got into a battle with those people, things would only get worse. At the end of the day, he was running a business. He was not going to risk his visitors¡¯ lives. He could not leave the haunted house, but it did not mean that he could waste any time in going to get those items. That was because the cursed hospital might react right after Patient 101 was exposed, and they would send their own people to retrieve those items.

    After some brief contemtion, Chen Ge had Zhang Yi give the address of the apartment to Bai Qiulin, and then Chen Ge had thetter go to the apartment immediately to grab the items left behind by Patient 101. Initially, Chen Ge wanted to send Men Nan on this mission, but he failed to find the boy in the scenario. Therefore, due to the time constraint, he had to leave the mission to Ol¡¯ Bai.

    ¡°With the items from Patient 101 and parts of the memories that Zhang Ya managed to coax out from Patient 101, perhaps I could try to remake a new Patient 101.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were shining. The cursed hospital prioritized the deletion of the memories that were rted to the cursed hospital first, while the everyday habits and little details of Patient 101¡¯s life were wiped out at the end. By then, Chen Ge had already had a full understanding of Patient 101¡¯s personality. ¡°All the patients at the cursed hospital were only given a number and no name. In other words, this Patient 101 could be called Zhang San or even Lee Si. Hell, he can even be called Sun Xiaojun.¡±

    It would be very hard for Sun Xiaojun to take over the role of Patient 101 perfectly. First, he had to have superb acting skills and extremely powerful mental acuity. Furthermore, there would not be a script to follow, so he would need to have the ability to react to the changes around him as well. These were skills that Sun Xiaojun did not possess, but coincidentally enough, these were the skills that Chen Ge and the other haunted house actors specialized in. ¡°Looks like I will need to give Sun Xiaojun some intense training and try my best to turn this coal into diamond as fast as I can.¡±

    Chen Ge had great expectations of Sun Xiaojun. After all, Sun Xiaojun was someone who was given approval by both the ck phone and the ghost fetus. Chen Ge himself had also experienced how uniquely talented Sun Xiaojun was. As long as he was ced at the right ce, Sun Xiaojun could unleash an effect evenrger than a Red Specter. The memory of the original Patient 101 was fading. Chen Ge did not n to kill him. He temporarily removed him from Cha Wen¡¯s body and then trapped him for now.

    ¡°The rest of you should take Cha Wen and his girlfriend to the red high heels. Tell her to remove the curses that are still inside their bodies.¡±

    Seeing Cha Wen and his girlfriend as they were carried away, Chen Ge also sighed withmentation.

    ¡°With just a small payment of forty RMB, you will be able to be granted the service of a Top Red Specter to have the curse taken out of your body. If that is not a steal, I do not know what is.¡±

    After Cha Wen and his girlfriend left, Chen Ge immediately resumed his project of finding Sun Xiaojun. Ol¡¯ Zhou, Duan Yue, and the other experienced employees followed closely behind him. The professional team had now officially taken over the game.

    ...

    ¡°Did you guys hear any voices?¡± Xiao Sun, who was surrounded in the group of visitors, suddenly turned back to look. There appeared to be a cry for help that came from the darkest part of the ck fog.

    ¡°Stop trying to distract us.¡±

    A moment after Ma Feng warned him, Shang Guan Qing Hong pulled lightly on his shirt. ¡°CEO Ma, I do not think he was lying. I heard someone cry for help as well. It appeared toe from behind us.¡±

    After Shang Guan Qing Hong said that, the group of visitors realized that something had happened. They turned back to look and realized that two more people had disappeared from their entourage.

    ¡°When did the couple disappear?¡± Now, Ma Feng was really panicking. Minus the three people from Jiujiang Medical University, their group of twelve only had four people left. When the others disappeared and how they disappeared, the survivors had no idea at all.

    ¡°We have been keeping our eyes on Sun Xiaojun so much that we forgot to check behind us. Is it possible that the haunted house employees used that opportunity toe after the two of them?¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong tried to analyze their situation. Ever since he entered this ce, he had gotten a very bad feeling about this ce. As his teammates started to be plucked off one after another, that bad feeling was slowly turning into reality.

    ¡°The method of disappearance of the couple is different from how Fu Bole and Wei Chaochao disappeared,¡± Sister Snake said with a darkened face. ¡°The people that disappeared earlier, be it Liang Er and Liang San or Fu Bole and Wei Chaochao, they disappeared after they had left our line of sight, but that couple appears to have disappeared into thin air while they should have been steps away from us. It is incredibly difficult to make two living adults disappear without a trace at such a close distance to the other visitors, unless of course they chose to voluntarily leave on their own.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    ¡°I suspect the couple from Xin Hai are actually actors hired by the haunted house.¡± Sister Snake tried to rake her memory and said, ¡°Do you still remember this detail that was mentioned in the files of information regarding this haunted house. There was a couple that died horribly inside this ce, and their souls are still wondering around the various scenarios inside the haunted house and have been refusing to leave.¡±

    ¡°But ording to my memory, the surname of the male victim is Zhou, and he is slightly older. When we entered the scenario, I purposely sneaked a look at the disimer forms of that couple from Xin Hai. Neither of them have the surname Zhou!¡±

    ¡°The disimer forms are meant for the visitors. It could be tempered with by the actors. As an actor at this ce, they could fill in any information that they want. Who can tell if they have used a fake name or not?¡± Sister Snake managed to keep a cool head. This went to show how mentally stable this woman was.

    ¡°Then what about Sun Xiaojun? What should we do about him?¡±

    ¡°Now that there are only four of us left, of course it is best that we do not stray from each other.¡± Sister Snake stared at Sun Xiaojun for a very long time. Her scrutiny caused Sun Xiaojun to wilt under it. ¡°What we need to do next is find the people from Jiujiang Medical University and try to meet up with them as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°But didn¡¯t Fu Bole say that they are quite possibly actors hired by the haunted house?¡±

    ¡°After they departed, people have continued to go missing in our group, so the people from the university probably have nothing to do with their disappearance. Furthermore, think back to the words that the forensic students and doctor have been trying to tell us from the very beginning. Their intention was to unite the group, but they were sorely misunderstood by Fu Bole and Wei Chaochao.¡± Sister Snake finally got it now, but it was already toote. ¡°if we still wish to clear this scenario, we can only make this bet. If the forensic students are actual visitors, then we still have a chance of clearing this scenario. But if they are also actors hired by the haunted house, there is nothing else we can do but the surrender to our fate.¡±

    When the nine people entered Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house earlier, their pride had practically been palpable, but twenty minutester, the most prideful among them had already been taken care of.

    ¡°We have not stumbled across any scare points, but the visitors have disappeared one after another. Are we messing around in a haunted house, or is the haunted house messing with us?¡± Ma Feng¡¯s brows were tightly knitted together. Ever since the ck fog rolled into the street, his brows had not rxed even an inch.

    ¡°A four-star scenario is literally the most difficult scenario at this haunted house; being messed with by it is totally normal.¡± Sister Snake appeared to have epted their hapless situation. ¡°Since we are already in this unfortunate state, there is no pointining. It is meaningless. Earlier, when I was thinking back to what the forensic students said at the beginning of the game, I realized something very important.¡±

    ¡°What did you discover? Is it rted to the exit?¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong immediately sidled over to her.

    ¡°The student called He Sanpared this ck fog to poisonous fog in games, and staying in the ck fog for too long will cause bad things to happen. Now think about it. The first team to disappear, Liang Er and Liang San¡¯s group, was the first to encounter the ck fog. The couple that was originally behind us and the disappearance of Fu Bole and Wei Chaochao probably had to do with the fact that they stayed in the ck fog for too long as well.¡± Sister Snake wasing up with her analysis with the little clues that they had. ¡°The ck fog represents literal misfortune. If we do not wish to end up in the same fate as them, we¡¯d better stay away from the ck fog.¡±

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s not waste time and hurry on to the next scenario,¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong urged desperately.

    ¡°The ck fog is continuing to spread. In the end, the whole scenario will be covered by the fog. There is no escape. Now, the only way that we know to proceed in this scenario is to search for the hidden pathways. Liang Er, Liang San, and the woman disappeared in the first building, so they must have found the hidden pathway, but the pathway could only be used one time. Therefore, we need to find a new pathway.¡± Sister Snake sighed. ¡°The ck fog is just the first challenge. Perhaps the real game will only begin after we enter the hidden pathway. The difficulty of this haunted house is indeed over the top. It is definitely not for normal visitors.¡±

    ¡°Stop grumbling. We should start departing to go look for the hidden pathways and the medical university students now.¡± Ma Feng nced at Sun Xiaojun, who was standing to the side with a nk expression on his face. ¡°You shoulde with us as well.¡±

    ¡°Oh... okay.¡± The remaining four visitors hurried to leave the cafeteria because this ce was slowly being enveloped by the ck fog as well. Thus, they decided to skip exploring the cafeteria and hurried down the street. One had to admit that due to various reasons, these few visitors had made the best decision. Not long after they departed, the cafeteria entrance mmed opened with Wei Chaochao and Fu Bole being tossed out andnding on the ground unconscious.

    Behind them trailed a woman in a red raincoat, a boy in a red shirt, and a fatty wearing a red school uniform and a chef¡¯s hat walking out from the cafeteria. The three ¡®people¡¯ were harboring a pot of fire in their hearts as they rushed toward the surviving visitors.

    After about half a minute, Chen Ge and the other experienced employees arrived at the scene. They sent a few people to carry Wei Chaochao and Fu Bole to the underground morgue while the others chased after the three enraged Red Specters.

    The ck fog was spreading at an incredibly fast rate. To prevent themselves from being consumed by the ck fog, the visitors had decided to skip a few scenarios that they encountered along the way and came to the end of the Voiceless Small Town. At the end of the dim street, to the left was a maternal and childcare center that was half buried underground while an apartment building that was painted fully back was on the right. These two sub-scenarios were respectively the scariest building in the world behind Wu Sheng¡¯s door and the scariest building behind Ying Tong¡¯s door. Inparison to these two buildings, the Soundless Home could only be considered a beginner¡¯s tutorial.

    ¡°Which one should we choose? Quick. We need toe up with a decision before the ck fog rolls over.¡± Ma Feng turned to look at Shang Guan Qing Hong and Sister Snake. The two could note to a decision either.

    ¡°Normally hospitals are ces with the most intense Yin energy. We¡¯d better pick the apartment building on the right.¡± The three of them soon reached a consensus, and they had Sun Xiaojun lead the way.

    ¡°Do you guys want to reconsider this? We still have something.¡± Xiao Sun knew the ce that they were heading toward was actually the sub-scenario called the Spire of Darkness. This sub scenario was very unique. Just like how the Soundless Home could absorb sound, the Spire of Darkness could absorb light. Once they entered it, they would slowly lose their power of sight, and they would experience despair in the deepest depths of darkness. Even Chen Ge had almost died in this scenario, much less these hapless visitors.

    It was because he knew this sub scenario was more dangerous that the kind and careful Boss Chen had purposely filled the Spire of Darkness with an exorbitant number of lingering spirits and baleful Specters to protect the safety of the visitors. Most of the baleful Specters and lingering spirits that he had obtained during his ghost fetus mission were ced in the Spire of Darkness. That way, even after the visitors lost their sight and could not see anything, they would not trip and fall, identally injuring themselves. When they sank into darkness, every visitor would have several lingering spirits following closely behind them.

    ¡°This was your choice. It has nothing to do with me at all,¡± Sun Xiaojun grumbled under his breath and was the first to enter the Spire of Darkness sub-scenario. The dark corridor appeared to have no ending. A strange moldy substance came off from the corners of the walls, and asionally, one could even hear the calls of cats. The voice-activated lights above them flickered on and off, and the entrance behind them blurred out of view.

    ¡°Did you guys notice that the light inside this building is slowly weakening?¡± Sister Snake looked at the light that came out from her own telephone screen, and she noticed something weird about it.

    ¡°Perhaps it is your mind ying tricks on you. Stop wasting time on that. We need to hurry to find the hidden pathways.¡± Ma Feng and Shang Guan Qing Hong opened all the doors that they passed. They put their entire focus into the search for the hidden pathways, such that they did not notice that the calls of the cat beside their ears were getting louder and louder as if warning them that ¡®something¡¯ extremely dangerous was approaching them.

    The iron door that led to the staircase was locked without anyone noticing. The voice-controlled lights in the corridor flickered a few times before they suddenly went offpletely.

 Chapter 1128 - Little Game in the Dark 2 in 1

    <h4>1128 Little Game in the Dark 2 in 1</h4>

    The voice-activated lights went out, and the whole building was plunged into darkness. When Ma Feng walked out from the room with his own phone, he was given quite a fright. He stomped his feet and cried out, but the voice-activated lights above them in the corridor did not light up again. Raising his phone, he aimed the shlight on his phone at the locations where the lights should be, and he noticed the light that came out from the screen of his phone was slowly turning dark. ¡°What is going on here?¡±

    A figure was approaching him in the dark. Ma Feng lowered his voice and turned back to ask, ¡°Sister Snake?¡±

    ¡°No, it is me, Sun Xiaojun.¡± The familiar voice rang out beside him, but the appearance of his teammate did not give Ma Feng any sense of safety or constion. If anything, it only made him even more agitated.

    ¡°Did you notice that the light from your phone is gradually getting dimmer and dimmer as well?¡± Ma Feng reached out one hand to lean against the wall. The darkness amplified the anxiety that he was trying desperately to hide.

    ¡°So that has been happening to your phone as well! The screen is getting dimmer and dimmer too! Looks like there is something wrong with our sight. That spooked me for a second. I thought something has gone wrong with my phone and I would have to go and buy a new one.¡± After hearing what Sun Xiaojun had to say, Ma Feng¡¯s brows creased even deeper. Among this group of visitors, none appeared normal.

    Using his own memory, he held his phone and swiped the light around him to look for the figures of Shang Guan Qing Hong and Sister Snake. With every turn of the phone, the light from the screen dimmed a degree further.

    ¡°Brother Ma, Shang Guan Qing Hong, I think we¡¯d better leave this scenario as fast as we can.¡± Sister Snake walked out from the room next to him. ¡°I really did not dare imagine that someone would make apletely dark scenario inside a haunted house. This has already gone far over the limits for a normal haunted house visitation. It is more like a test for the visitors¡¯ threshold of mental and psychological stress. We have all underestimated the haunted house boss¡¯ insanity.¡±

    Sister Snake warned them as she walked back along the way that they came in. She did not wish to stay in that sub-scenario for even a moment longer.

    ¡°But if we abandon our original n of finding a hidden pathway in this sub-scenario, it means we will have to go to the maternal and childcare center next door. As mentioned earlier, the hospital is the ce with the strongest Yin energy because it is the location where most people die. After all, the haunted house boss must have his reasons for cing these two scenarios at the end of the street. It probably means that the terror levels of these two sub scenarios are roughly equal to each other.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong also exited from the room behind Ma Feng. He appeared to be looking for something earlier. ¡°Furthermore, we have already spent some time inside this scenario. When we reach the other scenario, perhaps the ck fog will have already arrived at these two ces, and the level of difficulty will only increase further.¡±

    ¡°Horror that you can see and horror that you cannot see cannot bepared at all. You guys had better listen to me.¡± Sister Snake showed the side of her that made her the boss of the second most popr haunted house in the country. No matter what Shang Guan Qing Hong said, she had made up her mind that she was going to leave this ce. Even though Shang Guan Qing Hong held a different opinion to Sister Snake, at a time like this, he was more willing to lean toward Sister Snake¡¯s experience and instinct. After all, she was more experienced than he was.

    The three led Sun Xiaojun and retraced their steps. The lights from the screens of their phones had slowly weakened to a point where it could only light up about one to two meters ahead of them. After taking a few steps, it was as if the battery of their three phones ran out at the same time, and the light died without warning. Darkness fellpletely; there was not even a trace of light. The bodies of the three visitors appeared to be frozen, and they stood fixed where they were.

    ¡°Do not panic! The four of us should hold each other¡¯s hands. The exit is not far away from here. I know that for sure. We need to leave this ce as soon as possible!¡± At that crucial moment, Sister Snake became the lynchpin of the group. Actually, since she entered Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house, she had not said much. That was because she had been closely observing Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house, and the more she observed, the harder her heart palpitated. Be it the method of the tour or the cement of the scare points, Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house was immensely unique from the other haunted houses on the market. In other words, he was walking a path that other people could not replicate even if they tried. Sister Snake also understood why Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house had gotten so popr online, but the epiphany had arrived a little bit toote.

    ¡°Do not wander about and do not scare yourself! Everyone, reach out and hold onto each other! The human psyche will be weakened and more helpless when surrounded by darkness. The four of us must not be separated from each other!¡± Sister Snake was very assertive, and she gave her orders directly. ¡°I hope everyone can understand that we are only visiting a haunted house; no danger will ur to us! That is guaranteed! So, what we need to do now is not scare ourselves!¡±

    Even though Ma Feng was not used to getting orders from others, in those circumstances, he still obediently did what he was told. He reached out as Sister Snake had ordered and grabbed the wrist of the person next to him.

    ¡°We have to get used to the darkness. Because our sense of sight has been deprived, the other senses will be heightened in its ce. The haunted house¡¯s boss might use other methods that are notmon on the market to scare us, like the use of voices or touch.¡± Sister Snake had already grabbed the hands of the people next to her. ¡°Who is on my left?¡±

    ¡°It is me.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s hand was slick with cold sweat. He was rather embarrassed by it, but Sister Snake was not someone who would mind something like that.

    ¡°So, who is on my right?¡±

    ¡°That would be me,¡± Sun Xiaojun answered softly. The four confirmed their locations like that. They stood in a single file. Sun Xiaojun was at the far right of the line, and Ma Feng was on the far left.

    ¡°We should stay closer together and walk out of this ce in this formation. When we arrived at this ce, I purposely looked around the ce. The boss probably worried that the visitors might trip and identally injure themselves, so the corridors are rtively clean. At least that is something that we do not need to worry about. We only need to firm up our courage and walk forward toward the exit.¡± The few visitors listened to Sister Snake¡¯s orders and started to head toward the exit, but they only walked for a few steps when something scary happened.

    ¡°Did you guys hear that shrill calling of what sounds like a cat? The sound appears to have been there since we entered this ce, but now it appears to be getting closer and closer to us.¡± The moment Shang Guan Qing Hong said that, he suddenly felt something brush against his feet. The brush of silken hair caused goosebumps to appear all over his body. His body instantly froze to the ground. ¡°Someone just touched my leg!¡±

    The four of them were holding each other¡¯s hands, so if one of them stopped, the rest of them had to stop as well.

    ¡°Are you sure it was a person? Perhaps you identally kicked something.¡±

    ¡°It felt like human hair! It was real! I swear to you!¡± Surrounded by darkness, Shang Guan Qing Hong did not know what had brushed against him at all. Based on the feeling that came from his leg, many scary images instantly started to fill up his mind.

    ¡°Do not stop moving! We need to keep on pushing forward! The exit is not far now!¡± Sister Snake yanked Shang Guan Qing Hong along by his arm. ¡°It was just a brush of your leg, so why are you so scared? And stop the senseless screaming!¡±

    Compared to Sister Snake, Shang Guan Qing Hong was like a newly married daughter-inw who was being lectured by her new mother inw. Even though he felt so wronged, he was not going to pick this moment to argue with Sister Snake because, deep down, he knew that Sister Snake was right. The sound of the cat¡¯s calling was getting louder and louder in their ears. Beneath the cats¡¯ calls, there were other sounds mixed in, like the sound of the doors creaking open and the sound of someone¡¯s nails trailing past the metallic stair banisters.

    ¡°I feel like this cat¡¯s call is urging us to run. Perhaps we are currently surrounded by several cats at this moment.¡± Sun Xiaojun had started his habit of running headfirst into an analysis at the wrong moment.

    ¡°This is the first time I have heard of a haunted house employ cats as actors.¡± Sister Snake shook her head. She could not see anything in the dark. ¡°The meowing of the cats was probably recorded before the scenario was released to the public. There are at least ten surround sound speakers installed in this scenario, and the reason for their cement is to y the seemingly approaching shrieks of the cats to apply pressure to the visitors, creating the illusion that something dangerous is slowly approaching the visitors. The thing that brushed up against Shang Guan Qing Hong earlier was probably fake cat fur. The intention behind the boss¡¯ design is to increase the sense of authenticity. After losing the sense of sight, the world will appear less real, and we visitors can be more easily misled, so at this moment, we need to be as calm as possible!¡±

    Even though the four of them kept telling themselves to calm down, in reality, they had been making very slow progress. Inparison, one could realize how courageous and uneasy it was for Chen Ge when the man challenged the real door himself.

    ¡°Howe we have not reached the exit yet? I remember the exit is not that far away from where we were!¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s legs were shaking. At his age, he could not suffer too many ¡®surprises¡¯ anymore. Currently, his forehead was covered in cold sweat, and he was close to his breaking point.

    ¡°In the darkness, we will slowly lose our sense of distance, time, and direction. All we can do now is firm our resolve and make sure that it is not shaken as we continue our way forward. That is the only thing that we need to do.¡± Sister Snake kept encouraging the others, but in reality, she was also repeating these same encouragements to herself. The refusal for the exit to appear slowly wore down the visitors¡¯ hope. Despair began to corrupt the visitors¡¯ hearts. The visitors became more and more fragile, and right at that moment, the extremely shrill wail of a cat rang out between the shoulders of Shang Guan Qing Hong and Sister Snake!

    It was like the cat had used thest moment of its life to scream as loud as it could to warn the rest of them before it was dragged away and ughtered in the worst way possible!

    The sudden scream caused Shang Guan Qing Hong, who was already on the verge of a mental breakdown, to jump up from fear. He screamed along with the cat¡¯s wail, and then his body instinct kicked in, and he let go of his teammates¡¯ hands so that he could use his hands to cover his own ears.

    ¡°Do not let go of your partners¡¯ hands!¡± Sister Snake was given quite a scare as well, but she swiftly collected herself. Then she turned to yell at Shang Guan Qing Hong.

    ¡°It felt like the cat died on my shoulder.¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong took a deep breath. He waved both of his arms around before he found the arms of the people next to him in the darkness.

    ¡°Stop with the unnecessarymentary! Quick, grab our hands and stay in the arrangement of the group. We need to keep moving forward!¡± Sister Snake¡¯s voice wasced by anger, but her fury was more of a way to hide the fear in her heart.

    ¡°But I¡¯ve already grabbed onto your hand...¡± Once Shang Guan Qing Hong said that, everyone was startled, and then an indescribable horror started to envelope every single one of them.

    ¡°You... have already grabbed onto my hand?¡± Sister Snake raised her hand right before her eyes. Then she suddenly whipped her body around, but she could not see anything. ¡°Be careful! There is a haunted house worker standing next to us!¡±

    At that moment, the person who was caught in the most difficult position was Shang Guan Qing Hong. He was caught between a rock and a hard ce. He did not know whether it was correct to let go of the hand or not, and the question that was on his mind, the million dor question, was: whose hand he was holding?

    With his Adam¡¯s apple trembling, Shang Guan Qing Hong asked softly, ¡°What... what should I do now?¡±

    The air around them seemed to freeze. None of the four visitors dared to speak. In the end, it was Sister Snake who was the first to recover. ¡°We keep moving forward!¡±

    Now, only by moving forward did they have a hope of leaving this ce. Once they had lost their direction, it would really be all over.

    ¡°You mean you wish for me to hold onto this arm whose owner we do not know and continue to walk like this to the exit?¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s heart was about to jump out from his chest. He could the chillsing from the palm that he was holding. It was not the arm of a living human; it felt more like a frozen piece of meat sold at the supermarket that happened to have the shape of a human arm.

    ¡°That is the only thing we can do now. Just have some patience. You can do it.¡± Ma Feng also opened his mouth to console the man. He had his hand on the wall and slowly nudged his feet forward. ¡°The darkness made us lose our sight, but even if we cannot see anything, the location of the exit will not change, so as long as we ensure that we do not get disrupted by external disturbances, we will eventually get out of this ce.¡±

    Once Ma Feng said that, the fingertips that he had been using to trace the wall felt a sudden chill. It felt like he had touched a piece of ice that was embedded into the wall.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± His bent his fingers and traced the part that was protruding out of the wall. ¡°This arc and this sense of touch... it feels like a nose and a mouth!¡±

    There was a frozen face on the wall!

    His fingers bounced back like they were shocked by electricity. Ma Feng subconsciously darted away from the wall and sidestepped the unknown horror, but the corridor was only so wide. This meant that he immediately bumped into Shang Guan Qing Hong.

    At that moment, Shang Guan Qing Hong was like a string pulled taut. He was holding onto a ghost¡¯s hand inside apletely dark haunted house. His current fear level needed no description. He trained all his focus on that hand. The slightest movement would cause the man to crumble, much less being suddenly bumped into by Ma Feng. These two men whosebined age added up to more than eighty screamed at the top of their lungs. The sound of tumbling echoed in the darkness. It did not sound like four people were walking in a line; it sounded more like four blind people were surrounded by a group of people.

    Among the pushing and jostling, Sister Snake was knocked to the ground. Her heart tightened with apprehension and fear. Sitting on the ground, her hands gripped her clothes tightly as she tried desperately to confirm their location and the direction that they were supposed to be heading in. She did not mind the argument; she did not even care about the fact that a ghost was among them. As long as they knew the correct direction to the exit, they would eventually leave this ce. But after the series of knocking around, Sister Snake¡¯s only hope was vanquished. Sitting on the ground, she felt like the exit could be on her left, but a momentter, she felt like the exit was actually on her right.

    ¡°It really is all over now...¡±

    Ma Feng and Shang Guan Qing Hong were also panicking. They were screaming Sister Snake¡¯s name loudly, and they reached out to search about them in the dark.

    ¡°Sister Snake, is that you?¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong had long released the hand he was holding. He did not dare move too brashly lest he bumped into the possible haunted house workers who might be standing next to him. Hearing Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s question, Sister Snake could not even bring herself to answer. All she wanted to do now was curl up in the corner and slowly melt into the darkness alone.

    ¡°There is no light around us at all. We cannot see anything. Theoretically speaking, the haunted house workers should not be able to see anything either. Is it possible that they have night-vision goggles on?¡± At the end of the day, Ma Feng had experienced many big events in his life. Even though he was caught by surprise, he tried his best to use his knowledge to try to find a solution. ¡°If we can grab the googles from the haunted house actors, this scenario will be a breeze for us to solve!¡±

    ¡°Brother Ma, is it really moral to swipe other people¡¯s equipment during a haunted house tour?¡± Sun Xiaojun¡¯s t voice drifted from not far ahead of them.

    ¡°Of course, when the boss of this haunted house came to our theme park, who knows how many things he stole from us?¡± Speaking of the past, Ma Feng gritted his teeth in anger, and that diminished quite a lot of the fear that surrounded his heart. ¡°The four of us mustn¡¯t separate from each other. Come over here and hold my hand.¡±

    Ma Feng reached out toward Shang Guan Qing Hong and Sister Snake. Momentster, two chilly hands grabbed Ma Feng¡¯s wrists. Before he could react, there was another cat¡¯s scream. All the doors in the building were mmed open. Ma Feng felt a powerful force pulling on both of his arms, and before he could resist, he was forcibly dragged behind one of the open doors!

    ¡°Argh!¡±

    ¡°Brother Ma? Brother Ma!¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong immediately shouted in the direction that Ma Feng¡¯s scream came from. He turned to search at the position where Ma Feng was standing earlier. His fingertip touched some soft skin and something that was sticky like blood. ¡°Brother Ma?¡±

    His hands reached out horizontally, and Shang Guan Qing Hong realized with a shock that a monster that was impossiblyrge was standing before him!

    He did not dare speak anymore. His fingers were shaking. He silently moved one of his hands to under his nose, and he got a whiff of a strong blood smell.

    ¡°Who... is this?¡±

 Chapter 1129 - Face-to-Face Encounter 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1129 Face-to-Face Encounter 2 in 1</h4>

    His legs could not stop shaking. Shang Guan Qing Hong knew that the person covered in blood before him was definitely not Ma Feng. It was a monster, a monster whose body was muchrger than amon person¡¯s!

    As the smell of blood intensified, his body instinctually started to retreat. When the level of mental pressure that he could suffer reach its limit, he screamed at the top of his lungs for Sister Snake to run before he turned around and raced away as fast as he could. At the same time, someone pulled on Sister Snake¡¯s arm. Since Shang Guan Qing Hong had just screamed her name, she made the natural connection that it should be Shang Guan Qing Hong who had dragged her to escape together in the darkness.

    In the darkness, she could not see anything, Sister Snake could only hear the continuous sound of heavy breathing and loud footstepsing from Shang Guan Qing Hong. She did not have the time to think over the whole situation before she was dragged up from the ground and was half pulled and half shoved, stumbling through the corridor in an unknown direction into the darkness.

    ¡°Hey! Do not just run in any direction! We need to calm down and confirm our location first!¡± Sister Snake also wanted to remind Shang Guan Qing Hong that they still had other teammates that were left behind, but Shang Guan Qing Hong was already scared out of his wits. When a person lost the protection of light, their heart would be extremely fragile, and the sting of fear would be greatly amplified. Shang Guan Qing Hong half crawled and half rolled down the corridor. Curiously, whenever he was about to ram into the wall or trip on something, a pair of hands appeared to block before him to prevent him from getting injured.

    Normally, one would easilye to the conclusion that there was someone trying to protect him in the dark, but the current Shang Guan Qing Hong did not have the capacity to think anymore. He stumbled into the darkness, and suddenly, a pair of hands materialized out of thin air to try to stop him. The man who did not know the truth only got even more frightened. All he did was change direction and continued to run even faster. Shang Guan Qing Hong did not dare to even stop for a moment. It was as if he had told himself, as long as he could run fast enough, the ghosts would not be able to catch up to him. After being blocked, or rather protected, more than ten times, Shang Guan Qing Hong finally felt his hands grab the banister of the staircase, and he stopped moving.

    ¡°There is a staircase in such a dark ce?¡± Shang Guan Qing Hong did not dare imagine what would have happened if he identally tripped on the steps in the darkness. His heart was in total panic mode. His trembling fingertips holding the banister, Shang Guan Qing Hong did an action that no one would have imagined the man could have done. He sat down on the ground, reached out with both of his hands, used one hand to grab hold of the edges of the steps, and slid down the steps one by one. The boss of thergest haunted house in Xin Hai, Shang Guan Qing Hong, who had seen so many big and small incidents in his life, had resorted to this kind of method to move down the stairs. At that moment, even the hands that had been helping him, protecting him, had stopped appearing.

    When Sister Snake heard the strange noise, which was Shang Guan Qing Hong using his butt to shuffle down the steps, she raised her voice to ask, ¡°Shang Guan Qing Hong, what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I am going down the stairs!¡±

    In such a dark environment, going deeper into the building was definitely not a wise choice. Sister Snake was very against this idea, but she had no better one to counter it. Therefore, she grabbed the banister, half squatted down, and started to nudge downward. During the whole process, someone was kind enough to keep ahold of her arm. Her teammate had been protecting her to stop her from falling. Sister Snake was very slow moving down the stairs. She could not be med because she needed to be extra careful due to the sudden loss of her sense of sight, but throughout the whole process, the hand was firmly holding her.

    ¡°Thank you so much, Qing Hong! I had no idea you were such a caring person.¡± Sister Snake was slightly younger than Shang Guan Qing Hong. At the beginning, she had a very low opinion of this boss of the haunted house from Xin Hai, but who knew, at the most dangerous moment, Shang Guan Qing Hong would not abandon her and run away on his own but stay at her side to protect her and guide her by every single step? that honestly had touched her heart and changed her opinion of the man.

    ¡°What are you talking about? Why would you suddenly say something like that?¡± Momentster, Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s voice came up from the lower floor. Shang Guan Qing Hong was moving faster than Sister Snake. Using his own unique method, he had already shuffled his way down to the next floor. Hearing the direction from where Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s voice came from, Sister Snake¡¯s face turned pale almost instantly. She knew then that the hand that had been holding her did not belong to Shang Guan Qing Hong.

    The shaking arm grabbed hold of the hand that had been holding her. The hand was cold, and the chill travelled up Sister Snake¡¯s arm and froze her heart. But her hand continued to move downward. She appeared to have touched some kind of fabric. She believed it was the edge of a skirt. The skirt was sticky with what felt like blood, and among the various sensations was something akin to animal fur. Before Sister Snake¡¯s hand moved away from the dress, she felt something tingly next to her ear. It was as if someone¡¯s hair had brushed past her ears. With a shiver, Sister Snake was about to reach out to touch her own ear when a cold breath blew past her earlobe.

    ¡°When I first lost my sight, my best girlfriend also apanied me down the stairs like this. Once upon a time, I really thought she was my best friend in this world.¡± The bitter and eerie voice drilled into Sister Snake¡¯s ears, causing her scalp to go numb and her whole body to freeze. ¡°My best friend cooked for me and took care of me. We were the best of friends who shared everything in the world. There was no topic that was off the table. I even wanted to opt out of my rtionship to give her a chance with Ah Ming. I thought she was the most caring and most beautiful girl in the world. I regretted epting Ah Ming¡¯s confession when we were at school. I liked Ah Ming, but I knew that she loved Ah Ming. She deserved him more than I did.¡±

    The woman¡¯s voice echoed in Sister Snake¡¯s ears sentence by sentence. The voice got closer and closer to her until it felt like someone was leaning on her back and was talking to her with her lips directly ced next to her ear.

    ¡°Ah Ming eventually left me because I believed he had found another girlfriend. All I had left was my best friend. She was very nice to me. Even though she had moved on from Ah Ming and found a new boyfriend, she was still willing toe over every day to take care of me. I felt so sorry toward her, but she did not mind all the bad things that I had ever done to her. She even said that she was willing to be my eyes.

    ¡°Our rtionship became better than before. I shared every feeling that I had with her, and we even recorded everything that we did inside the diary. We had taken all kinds of pictures. Every time, my best friend would help dress me up, putting me in the most beautiful dress and helping me with thetest make-up trend. She said that I was still the most beautiful girl in the school, just like when we were still studying together. I was so thankful to have met such a good friend... until that day.¡±

    The woman¡¯s voice was pierced through with spine-chilling coldness.

    ¡°That day, she came home veryte. She appeared to have taken one too many shots. She used the spare key that I¡¯d given her to open the lock to my room and said that she wanted to take me for a walk. I could smell the alcoholing off from her, so I advised her to please take a rest. It was not wise to go wandering out in her current state. But she cut me off very rudely. She forced me out of the room, dragging me along with a powerful force. I resisted subconsciously, but who could¡¯ve known that it would only anger her further? She reached out to grab my hair and pressed down against my body.

    ¡°She told me that she had lost her love that day and warned me not to go against her wishes. That scary tone waspletely different from the best friend that I knew. It was like I was dealing with apletely different person. After leaving my house, she forced me to go up the stairs. I was very afraid, but she kept a firm hold on my arm, just like how I am holding you now.¡±

    Sister Snake felt a powerful grip holding her arm, and her body was gradually being pulled forward.

    ¡°She refused to tell what she intended to do until we reached the rooftop. She suddenly yanked on hair and leaned into my ear and told me many different things that I will never forget.

    ¡°She said that she hated me. She¡¯d hated since we went to school together, and even at that moment, standing on the rooftop, she still hated me. I did not know why she hated me that much until the moment she pushed me down the stairs, until I reopened my eyes and saw myself lying there bleeding out on the stairs, until I saw the diary that recorded our lives together. It was not filled with sweet words as I imagined; every page was filled to the brim with the repetition of ¡®die, die, die, go to hell and die, you bitch!¡¯ The dresses that she put me in was the ugliest I had ever seen, and the make-up that she applied to me was more suitable for a clown! Only then did I realize that we were actually not good friends. I was willing to befriend this girl who was ostracized and ugly because I believed she couldpliment and highlight my natural beauty even though I had gone blind. On the other hand, she was willing to stay with me because she was nning to slowly transform me into a monster that would be uglier than her.¡±

    Sister Snake¡¯s face was slowly being lifted. At that moment, Sister Snake¡¯s body was pulled taut like a string. She could sense that in the darkness, there was a face that wasing close to her own.

    ¡°By the way, I forgot to tell you the most important detail. That day, she said she had lost her love because it was Ah Ming¡¯s wedding day, but the bride was neither me nor her! Hahaha!¡±

    The shrill and sorrowfulughed boomed beside her ears. Sister Snake felt that there were many hands grabbing at her, attempting to pull her deeper into the abyss of despair. ¡°Do note any closer! Help me! Help me!¡±

    Enveloped in the world of darkness, she could not see anything. The endless fear around her heightened the darkness in her heart that was even darker than the darkness around her. Sister Snake¡¯s pleas for help rang out for several times before she slumped to the ground unconscious. Shang Guan Qing Hong, who was downstairs, had no idea what happened. When he heard Sister Snake call for help the first time, he did not move up the stairs to help her but slid faster down the steps.

    His jeans were torn from friction, and his ass was burning, but he did not mind it at all. His heart waspletely dominated by fear. He felt like there were arms and dead people everywhere around him. An unconscious yelp escaped from his lips. Shang Guan Qing Hong had never felt such despair before. He crawled aimlessly in the darkness. He could not see anything light, and he had no idea what was around him. There was no hope and no sense of direction. He could not even tell where the hell he was.

    ¡°Just how big is this ce! Let me out! I do not want to y anymore! I give up on my tour! Help me! Let me go!¡±

    Horror toppled Shang Guan Qing Hong over. He copsed onto the ground and started to cry, but to intensify his despair, all he could hear was the echo of his own voice. No one showed. There was no flickering light signaling help. It was as if he had been thrown into the depths of the ocean, and he was slowly sinking. Shang Guan Qing Hong suddenly felt the air being cut into his throat, and there was a huge pressure on his chest. He sobbed and cried like a baby until his voice was hoarse. Eventually, an arm that was as thin as a wooden stick knocked him out.

    ¡°A normal person would notst longer than three minutes in this kind of despairing darkness. How did the boss end up rescuing Ying Tong from his world behind the door? Not only did he not crumble under the pressure of the ever present darkness, he even managed to sessfully evade the pursuit of a merciless killer. In fact, I believe he even swung his hammer once at the killer...¡± Mr. Wood tried his best to keep Shang Guan Qing Hong, who had lost his mind, under control. After he triggered Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s self-protect mechanism, which was fainting, Mr. Wood faded again into the darkness.

    Sister Snake and Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s horrible wails came one after another. Ma Feng leaned behind the door and did not dare even move an inch. Compared to the horror inside this haunted house, the haunted house at the futuristic theme park was indeed like child¡¯s y. This kind of authenticity was something that was impossible to replicate even with thetest technology.

    ¡°Should I give up?¡± Gripping his fingers, Ma Feng hesitated. Ma Feng was an extremely prideful person. He was never going to willingly admit that someone was better than him.

    ¡°Brother Ma, we can go out now. The ghosts appear to have left already.¡± Sun Xiaojun¡¯s voice appeared beside Ma Feng. When the batch of ghosts came earlier, it was actually Sun Xiaojun who had yanked Ma Feng into the closest room.

    ¡°Xiao Sun, how did you know that there would be ghostsing?¡±

    ¡°I predicted that through the calling of the cats. I have been wondering why there has been a constant repetition of the cats¡¯ calls, and the sound was getting closer and closer. It felt like something or someone was chasing after those cats.¡± Sun Xiaojun used his softest voice to give his own analysis.

    ¡°I get it now.¡± Ma Feng sighed in relief. ¡°I really did not expect that all the top haunted house designers that I invited with me would be no better than a normal visitor like yourself. Xiao Sun, perhaps we all misunderstood you earlier.¡±

    ¡°How shall I put this... This haunted house is very scary. It is best that you do not target it in the future anymore.¡± Xiao Sun was a kind-hearted person. He believed that if he could persuade Ma Feng to surrender and drop his grudge against New Century Park¡¯s haunted house ¡®without the use of violence¡¯ and make Ma Feng realize his own mistake, that would be a good thing for the haunted house because it would mean one less enemy to deal with.

    ¡°Listening from your tone, you appear to be very familiar with this Haunted house. Are you really an employee here?¡± Ma Feng kept his head lowered. His eyes were hiding the most venomous look, but his voice was warm and kind.

    ¡°I do not work here, but I like to visit this haunted house, so I am quite familiar with this ce. If you promise not to purposely target this haunted house in the future, I can help you find the way out of this ce. With regards to clearing this scenario, I can tell you, you can give that up now. That is basically impossible at this stage.¡± Xiao Sun was being very honest.

    ¡°This haunted house is too scary. Even if you gave me the courage of ten men, I would not return again. The boss of this ce is a genius. To be able to expand his haunted house to this state, I, Ma Feng, can do nothing but surrender to his superiority.¡±

    Even though that was what he said, his eyes belied what his real thought was. Ma Feng knew that with the night vision goggles, the haunted house actors might be able to see his expression in the dark, so he purposely kept his head lowered when he spoke.

    ¡°Okay, then I will try my best to bring you out. You have to stay close to me!¡± About ten secondster, Xiao Sun opened the room door. ¡°The ghosts have already left, quick! We¡¯ll move by keeping our back to the wall. Once we run into any potential danger, we will hide inside the closest room.¡±

    The two of them moved down the corridor by keeping close to the corridor. Just as they were about to reach the staircase, the calls of the cats returned, so Sun Xiaojun hurriedly grabbed the panicking Ma Feng and rushed into the room next to them.

    Once the cats¡¯ calls disappeared, the two walked out from the room and entered the staircase. This process was repeated several times until they sessfully arrived at the second-floor basement. When the cats returned with their meowing, Sun Xiaojun and Ma Feng were already very experienced. The two of them found the nearest room and went hiding inside it.

    ¡°This scenario appears to be difficult, but once you get the theory behind it, it is very simple. When the cats call, it means that the ghosts areing. At that time, we only need to go hiding inside the nearest room.¡± A derisive smile appeared on the corner of Ma Feng¡¯s lips. ¡°Now, we only need to wait for the cats to stop calling, and then we will be safe to leave this ce.¡±

    ¡°That is correct.¡± Sun Xiaojun nodded. ¡°And those ghosts appear to be barred from entering the interior of these rooms.¡±

    Bang!

    Once Sun Xiaojun said that, the door before them was being pushed open. In the darkness, the two were startled into inactivity, their bodies frozen. Ma Feng did not even dare to breathe. He slowly squatted down and nudged away from the front door down the wall. He did not tell Xiao Sun what he was doing. He then noticed that there appeared to be another door behind him. He entered it silently, leaving Xiao Sun as bait for the ghost that had just entered the room.

    His palm felt the presence of a bed and dresser. Ma Feng crawled onto the ground and decided to hide under the bed. The sounds of the cats did not weaken but instead had gotten more urgent. The ghost appeared to have entered the room. Unable to see anything, Ma Feng did not dare call Sun Xiaojun¡¯s name either; he stayed under the bed alone. The cats¡¯ calls came closer and closer until it felt like they had followed him into the bedroom and were ringing out right before his face.

    ¡°Howe I feel like Xiao Sun was wrong? The cats do not appear to warn us that the ghosts areing close but are instead helping the ghosts by exposing our location!¡±

    Several secondster, the cats¡¯ calls suddenly disappeared.

    Ma Feng was still lying under the bed. He slowly nudged his body and crawled out from under the bed. Suddenly, something scratched his ear like he had brushed against something. He turned his head around and reached his fingers toward it. He found hair twined around his hand. He touched a cold human face. The person was tied under the bed, and Ma Feng was looking face to face at him.

 Chapter 1130 - Let Me Faint, Please! 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1130 Let Me Faint, Please! 2 in 1</h4>

    Ma Feng¡¯s trembling hands lightly held that cold face. The strands of hair fell on his eyes and lips. The authenticity of the sense of touch made his heart skip a beat. The blood trickled down the strands of hair and fell on his eyshes. At that moment, he felt like he was not inside a haunted house but was in an actual horror story. To escape the murderer, he was forced to hide together with the murderer¡¯s victim. The coppery smell of blood permeated the air, and the sound of suppressed breathing could be heard echoing in the quietness around him. Ma Feng had no idea where the killer was. Perhaps the monster covered in fresh blood was just squatting beside him, waiting for him toe out from underneath the bed.

    Nudging his body with difficulty, Ma Feng slowly moved his hands away from the presumed dead body. He was about to leave this ce when suddenly someone yanked off the bed board!

    This caused the ropes that held the body to loosen, and the dead body that was strapped under the bed fell directly on Ma Feng!

    ¡°Ah!¡±

    The limbs of the dead body were twisted into strange angles, and the blood sshed all over Ma Feng¡¯s body. The first close and direct contact with a dead body snapped the rationality of Ma Feng¡¯s mind. Ma Feng¡¯s first instinct was to crawl out, so he pushed his hands against the floor and tried to get up. In the nervousness of the moment, he forgot that the bed board had been moved earlier. Once he lifted his head, his head rammed directly into the board of the bed. The loud bang caused the whole bed to tremble. Ma Feng¡¯s mind was a blur. Just as he was about to copse again, he felt someone reach out to steady him.

    ¡°Brother Ma, are you alright?¡± Xiao Sun held the edge of the bed with one hand, and his other hand supported Ma Feng. He had been given a fright earlier as well. Holding his head, Ma Feng¡¯s lips were trembling. He was silent for a very long time. The fear that was brought on by the darkness was indescribable. He was unable to see anything, and that caused even everyday things to bring him immense terror.

    Should I give up now? Ma Feng gritted his teeth and then yanked heavily on his hair. He then used his eyes to sweep the darkness around him. Perhaps that Chen fellow is currently hiding inside the surveince room watching me. I am sure he is keeping his eyes on me. Seeing how flustered I am, oh, how hard he must beughing. He is waiting for me to give up, waiting for me to beg him to bring me out of this ce.

    His fingers curled into a fist. Ma Feng was not satisfied with that thought.

    ¡°Brother Ma, you can do it! Even though the challenge of this haunted house is a bit difficult, trust me. We still have a chance of escaping from this ce.¡± Sun Xiaojun felt rather sorry looking at the bruise on Ma Feng¡¯s head. If he did not go and move the bed board earlier, the dead body would not have fallen on the man. ¡°Brother Ma, please do not give up. Life is like a cup of tea. The first few sips might be bitter, but it won¡¯t be bitter forever.¡±

    ¡°Are you trying to console me?¡± Ma Feng forced his face to squeeze out a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t you worry, I will not be defeated so easily.¡±

    The two of them supported each other and found their way into the living room by walking along the wall. But before they could even get out from the house, the sound of the cats¡¯ shrill calls came from the corridor.

    ¡°Why is it happening again? What ising this time?¡± Ma Feng was sweating bullets. He leaned his back against the wall and swiftly found his way to another bedroom. This time, he pushed the bedroom door open silently and slipped right through it before closing the door behind him. ¡°From the beginning, I should not have trusted anyone. I will be much safer inside the room alone.¡±

    Ma Feng could not care less about the safety of Xiao Sun. He squatted behind the door and held his hand over his mouth, waiting silently for the cats¡¯ cries to disappear. He waited for a whole minute. Cold sweat slid down Ma Feng¡¯s forehead and down the tip of his nose before finally reaching his chin. Not only did the cats¡¯ calls did not disappear, they started to appear inside the bedroom he was in, and the shrieks only got louder and more varied, as if more than one cat had snuck into the room with him.

    ¡°Why? How did they get in?¡± Ma Feng felt like he was being surrounded by cats, and the cats were being cruelly tortured. Their wails were spine-chilling and harrowing. He wanted to go to the corner of the room to hide, but when he moved his feet, he realized that the feeling underneath his shoes was soft and cushiony. This room appeared to be carpeted. A bad feeling arose in his heart. Ma Feng reached out to touch the ¡®carpet¡¯ underneath his feet. The cat¡¯s fur was matted together with blood and formed squares of ghastly evidence of what had happened inside this room. The whole room appeared to be filled with the remains of the cats that had been murdered there.

    Chills crawled up his spine to the top of his head. Ma Feng brushed his hands madly against his body. He desperately wanted to brush away the cat fur and blood that had stuck to his fingertips. His disgust and annoyance appeared to have instigated the angry spirit of these dead cats further. The resentment gathered inside the room. The cats¡¯ furs that were ced under his feet suddenly started to move. Cats that should have been dead appeared to crawl out from the sea of fur. Their eyes blinked in the dark. The wounds that were left on their bodies by their torturer were leaking body. Ma Feng felt his body was slowly sinking as the cats jumped on him. He felt like he was about to be swallowed by the bodies of these dead cats.

    ¡°Save me! Save me! Help! Xiao Sun! Save me!¡± Endless darkness swallowed him. One dead cat after another leaped onto his body. They pressed heavily against him. He screamed loudly for help. Ma Feng had lost allposure. Every cell inside his body was pleading for mercy.

    Bang!

    The room door was pushed open, and a pair of hands dragged Ma Feng out from the pile of cats¡¯ bodies.

    ¡°Brother Ma, why did you run into that room on your own?¡± Xiao Sun asked nervously. The Ma Feng before him was like apletely different person from the Ma Feng that first entered the haunted house. The prideful glow in his eyes had disappeared, and only fear and anxiety were left on his face.

    ¡°I...¡± Ma Feng spat out the cat¡¯s fur inside his mouth. He copsed to the ground. He waved his arm weakly in the direction where Xiao Sun¡¯s voice came from. ¡°I was just searching for a random room to hide in.¡±

    ¡°Then, you were indeed quite lucky.¡± Xiao Sun knew the secrets of this room. This house should be the house for Ying Chen and his brother, Ying Tong. The first room that Ma Feng hid in was Ying Chen¡¯s bedroom, and the second room that he tried was the room where Ying Chen tortured those poor cats. Now, Xiao Sun did not dare let Ma Feng stay in this ce anymore because the third room that was left unexplored should be Ying Tong¡¯s bedroom. That room had some very scary dolls inside it.

    ¡°Brother Ma, how about we leave this ce first? This house is not that safe.¡± Xiao Sun was trying to help Ma Feng out of the kindness of his heart. He was hoping that through his show of kindness, he would be able to ameliorate the rtionship between the futuristic theme park and New Century Park.

    ¡°How about... actually never mind. We can just stay here.¡± The higher the pedestal one ced one on, the more devastated one would be when the pedestal was knocked down. This was the first time Ma Feng had felt so helpless and lost in his life.

    ¡°It will be more dangerous if we stay here!¡± Xiao Sun grabbed Ma Feng by his arm. ¡°If we stay in one ce, nothing will ever change. Only by continuously moving forward will we have a chance at survival.¡±

    Inspired by the passion and honesty in Xiao Sun¡¯s words, Ma Feng bit on his lips. He was reminded of his former self who would never throw in the towel. Some strength returned to his body, and Ma Feng slowly crawled up from the ground. ¡°You are right. A good sword is formed after being sharpened thousands of times. It might be painful now, but once everything is over, looking back, all of this will be valuable lesson.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the spirit.¡± Xiao Sun nodded heavily in agreement. ¡°The cats¡¯ calls have already stopped. Let¡¯s use this opportunity and start moving.¡±

    The two carefully moved out from the room and slowly moved while keeping close to the wall.

    ¡°That room was too dangerous. I hope we nevere back to that ce.¡± At the end of the day, Ma Feng was now the head of a theme park. Even though he was not looking the part with cat fur all over his clothes, he managed to quickly adjust his attitude and mind.

    ¡°I also do not wish toe back to this ce again.¡± Xiao Sun and Ma Feng soon arrived at the mouth of the staircase. With one on the right and the other on the left, one holding the stair banister and the other touching the wall, they walked adjacent to each other down the stairs.

    ¡°You need to slow down. I cannot keep up with you.¡± Ma Feng walked very slowly because he was afraid of tripping. However, Xiao Sun ran very fast as if the darkness had no influence on him at all.

    ¡°The staircase is the most dangerous territory. There are no rooms nearby for us to hide in, so we need to pick up our speed lest we are surrounded by ghos...¡± Before Xiao Sun could even finish his sentence, the cats started meowing on the corridor from the upper floor as if this whole thing had been rehearsed before.

    ¡°Have you been jinxed in your previous life?¡± Ma Feng¡¯s mind that had just stabilized itself started to crumble again. He grabbed the banister of the stairs. He did not dare move back up the stairs, but the idea of going further down the stairs scared him as well. He felt alone and helpless and grabbed the banister tightly like it was hisst lifeline.

    ¡°We must not stay here! We need to leave as soon as possible!¡± Xiao Sun helped Ma Feng move down the stairs. He originally was not that desperate, but he soon noticed that it appeared to have started raining inside the building. Sticky blood slid down the roof of the building, and a cloud of despair floated up from the lower floor.

    Sister Raincoat?

    If he ran into other ghosts, he would at most be given a fright, but Xiao Sun had no idea what would happen if they ran into the red raincoat.

    ¡°We need to go! Now! Hurry!¡±

    Even at that moment, Xiao Sun was a man of his word. He knew it was very unsafe to leave Ma Feng on the staircase alone, so he wanted to bring Ma Feng with him. But the problem was, earlier, he was dragging Ma Feng down the stairs with him, but now that he sensed the red raincoat wasing up the stairs, he changed his direction and wanted to drag Ma Feng up the stairs. Unable to see anything, Ma Feng had no idea what Xiao Sun was up to at all. He felt his body being turned around. His left leg tripped on his right leg, and he fell onto the stairs and rolled down the steps like a sack of potatoes.

    ¡°Brother Ma?¡± Xiao Sun reached out to shield Ma Feng¡¯s head from knocking into the corner of the wall. Seeing that the red raincoat wasing, Xiao Sun had no choice but to go into hiding. ¡°Wait for me here!¡±

    ¡°I...¡± With stars floating before his eyes, Ma Fengy supine on the stairs. He raised his arm and wanted to surrender when an extremely eerie and cold presence overwhelmed his body. The chill soaked into his bones. Ma Feng found himself unable to speak. His face was green, and his arms were shaking greatly on their own. Bloody raindrops fell on his body. Ma Feng felt someone step over him. This one step made him feel like his body was about to splinter into pieces. Cowering inside the cold and dark staircase, surrounded by darkness and unknown ghosts, Ma Feng could feel hot tears stinging his face. He could not control his emotions. The feeling arose from the depth of his heart. ¡°I cannot y this game any longer. It does not matter how embarrassing it will be anymore. I need to leave this ce...¡±

    After that extremely cold presence disappeared, Xiao Sun¡¯s voice appeared again. ¡°Brother Ma, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I do not think I am alright. There is this thought in my mind. I think I want to...¡± Ma Feng wanted to give up, but he would not voice that intention out loud and ask Chen Ge toe help him. The man had always been proud and headstrong; he could not cross the threshold in his mind.

    ¡°Brother Ma, actually, you have done very well.¡± Xiao Sun was able to see the current state that Ma Feng was in. After being subjected to so many heavy mental blows, Ma Feng was still able tomunicate normally with him. This was out of Xiao Sun¡¯s expectations. ¡°I once read in a book that you will be able to see how powerful a person really is at the lowest point in their life. Brother Ma, you are one of the staunchest and strongest people I have ever met.¡±

    Once Xiao Sun gave him such praise, Ma Feng found it even more difficult to voice his intention to give up. He could only nod silently.

    ¡°Brother Ma, believe me, we can escape from this ce. At the end of the day, the worst result is nothing more than failure. Some people are waiting for failure, and some look down on failure, but others still cannot escape from failure even though they have given it their all. In this kind of environment, how we see things is the light within every single one of us. If you allow the failure to knock you down, you have no one but yourself to me, but you need to understand that only you yourself can prevent yourself from being overwhelmed by the failure. Brother Ma, believe in yourself. I know you can do it!¡±

    On the staircase, there was no nearby room for them to hide in. This was the most dangerous ce, so Xiao Sun wanted to bring Ma Feng away from this ce as soon as possible. In this cold and dark world, Xiao Sun¡¯s words of inspiration were like a ray of light that shone into Ma Feng¡¯s heart.

    Ma Feng, who was lying on the ground, was reminded of his younger self. The headstrong personality actually hid the sense of self-doubt in his heart. He needed to find a way to use his own weakness; only then he would be able to fly further and higher. His finger grabbed the iron banister, and Ma Feng slowly crawled up from the ground. ¡°Defeats is the fee that you have to pay in order to achieve sess. This is just a small hurdle in the road. There is nothing to worry about.¡±

    ¡°Brother Ma, I know you can do it!¡± Xiao Sun gave Ma Feng a thumbs up even though he knew that Ma Feng would not be able to see it. ¡°The staircase is not safe. We need to go down to the next floor.¡±

    They reached the next floor sessfully. Ma Feng felt like his soul had reached the state of nirvana. When he stepped on firm ground around, he could feel his heart bing stronger. ¡°There is no difficulty that can knock me down, and there is no hurdle that I cannot ovee. They will only make me stronger.¡±

    With a bruise on his head, his mind abuzz, and his body almost shattering, Ma Feng held the wall and limped forward.

    ¡°These few lower floors should be quite safe...¡±

    ¡°Shush!¡± When Ma Feng heard Xiao Sun say that, he almost jumped out of his skin. ¡°Whenever you say something like that, something bad happens. Refrain from giving your own opinions anymore. Sometimes, you need to learn to keep your thoughts to yourself.¡±

    ¡°Alright, fine. Someone used to tell the exact same thing. Looks like it is really my fault.¡±

    ¡°Someone used to tell you the exact same thing?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but now I am the only sole survivor of that incident. Everyone else in that building has died.¡± Xiao Sun identally let slip the truth. When he realized that, he quickly covered it up with a few dryughs. ¡°That was just a joke. Don¡¯t take it too seriously.¡±

    Xiao Sun¡¯s words caused Ma Feng¡¯s heart to crawl with anxiety. He silently moved away from Xiao Sun. Just as the two separated from each other, the shrill cats¡¯ calls appeared in the corridor again.

    ¡°Not this again!¡± Whenever Ma Feng heard the meowing of cats, he could feel his legs turning into noodles. He pretended that he was strong, but actually, his inner defense had been shattered into pieces.

    ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there! Find a ce to hide!¡± Xiao Sun urged the Ma Feng. Thetter sought aimlessly in the darkness when his arm knocked into something that appeared like a closet. He did not consider why something like a closet would appear in a corridor. He directly opened the door and went hiding inside it before the cats¡¯ calls came closer.

    Closing the door, Ma Feng hugged the brooms and mops that he found inside the closet and held his breath. The shrill cats¡¯ calls and heavy footsteps appeared at the same time; they were heading toward Ma Feng. They came closer and closer. Ma Feng gritted his teeth to stop himself screaming. His face was twisted due to extreme nervousness. Please don¡¯te here. Please don¡¯te here. Please don¡¯te here...

    Perhaps God had heard his prayers because the cats¡¯ call slowly moved away. Ma Feng¡¯s heart fell back down to his stomach, but just as he was about to let go of the breath he was holding, those strange and heavy footsteps did not disappear with the cats¡¯ calls. After they had walked away, they turned back before finally stopping before the closet. The sound of falling footsteps had disappeared. Ma Feng held his pose and did not dare move. After a whole minute, he slowly reached out, intending to push open the closet door, but before he touched the door, he heard a loud bang!

    The closet door was yanked open, and the chilly winds surged into it, carrying with it the stinging smell of blood. Ma Feng¡¯s body lurched back instinctually, causing the back of his head to knock into the wooden board behind him. The mops and brooms ttered noisily to the ground. Ma Feng curled up his body. He felt like a mountain of flesh had stopped before him, and he would be crushed the next second. The pressure made him feel like he was being asphyxiated. The already dark and despairing world started to spin, and his consciousness reached its limit.

    Is it finally over?

    At that moment, Ma Feng felt the sweet nectar of salvation. He stopped resisting and peacefully closed his eyes.

    ¡°Brother Ma? Brother Ma?¡± Xiao Sun¡¯s voice rang beside his ears like a drum. Ma Feng felt someone pinch the top of his lips. He was forced to suck in a reviving breath, and his eyes flew open again.

    ¡°You frightened me. I thought you really fainted.¡± Xiao Sun helped Ma Feng up. ¡°Brother Ma, the corridor is not safe. We cannot stay here for too long.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Sun, Brother Sun, can you please put me down? Please... I am begging you!¡±

 Chapter 1131 - Some Friends Are Only Meant to Live in Your Memory 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1131 Some Friends Are Only Meant to Live in Your Memory 2 in 1</h4>

    ¡°Brother Ma, if you have anything to say, we can go inside this room next door first. It is too dangerous for us to stay outside here at the corridor.¡± Xiao Sun grabbed Ma Feng by his arm and forcibly dragged him to the other end of the corridor.

    ¡°Stop, stop. Let me just think about this first, I believe we better...¡± Ma Feng was dragged weakly away by Xiao Sun. He had lost even thest bit of energy to resist anymore. With his head buzzing and the world spinning, his body aching and his eyes stinging, he was overwhelmed by the desire to curl up in the corner and cry.

    ¡°Brother Ma, there is no need for you to say anything. I can understand you perfectly well, but we have already reached the deepest part of the scenario. This is most likely thest sub-scenario of this haunted house. Do you really want to give up now? Won¡¯t that make all of our previous effort and the sacrifice of our other teammates a waste?¡± Xiao Sun held Ma Feng by his cor. ¡°God will not deliver us unto a situation that we cannot ovee. Perhaps we are just that one final step away from victory.¡±

    Ma Feng¡¯s lips were pursed together. He looked at the darkness surrounding him numbly. Everything and anything could be hidden inside the darkness¡ªmonsters, ghosts, unknown danger, and of course, the exit. Strength gradually returned to his body. A small flicker of fire returned to Ma Feng¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Those who don¡¯t believe in miracles will never create a miracle. The boss of the haunted house probably also thought no one will be able to escape from this ce, but think about this, isn¡¯t the purpose of a haunted house for visitors to visit it? Is there a haunted house in this world that really cannot be cleared and escaped from?¡±

    Xiao Sun¡¯s words were filled energy, and they helped give Ma Feng a direction. Gritting his teeth, Ma Feng also thought it was such a waste for him to give up now. He rubbed his buzzing head and slowly opened his lips to say, ¡°Xiao Sun, let go of my arm first. I can walk on my own.¡±

    Using the wall as support, he slowly stood up. Ma Feng gradually sought his way down the corridor. ¡°There will be a door at an interval of every three meters. We will stick along the wall. The moment we hear the cats, we will enter the nearest room. Once we enter the room, we will shut the door, and one person will block the door with his body while the other searches for the hidden pathway inside the room. We will cooperate closely and utilize the advantage that we have to its maximum potential.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Seeing Ma Feng with hope again, Xiao Sun felt tears pricking his eyes. It was so inspirational. In that moment, he was reminded of his living self that would never give up no matter what the world had thrown at him. Xiao Sun, who had always believed he was just a normal character in this world living a normal life, would often read ¡®inspiration¡¯ and self-help books, using the lessons inside to give him the energy to push forward another day.

    ¡°You reap what you sow. Brother Ma, I am sure we will definitely find the way to the exit!¡±

    Xiao Sun and Ma Feng found support in each other, the two continued their difficult journey down the corridor. All the games had their way of solving them; Ma Feng was blessed with a brilliant mind and a gifted talent. Other than the w in his personality, he was truly a very capable person. With the aid from Xiao Sun, even though he had not gotten used to the darkness, he had still figured out the rhythm to the movement of the ghosts. After being scared five more times, he and Xiao Sun finally arrived at the bottommost floor of the Spire of Darkness.

    Along the way, Ma Feng¡¯s body gained many new wounds. Other than the pain from his body, his soul was tortured even further by the most cruel and harrowing experience. Whenever Ma Feng was at the edge of losing his consciousness, Xiao Sun would immediately appear beside him to resuscitate him. He would revive to the sound of Xiao Sun calling his name, causing him to flutter between the line of nightmare and reality. With therge breath of stubbornness inside him, Ma Feng stuck it out until the end.

    After entering thest room at the most bottom floor of the building, Ma Feng gave a very long sigh. Even Xiao Sun sighed along with him. ¡°This is very difficult. I believe even a ghost would not be able to escape from this scenario.¡±

    ¡°This is thest room, so the hidden pathway has to be here. We need to inspect this room closely.¡± Ma Feng¡¯s voice was wispy and airy. If there was light, one would see that his face was nched, and his lips were purple. He looked just like the workers at the haunted house after Chen Ge had put make-up on them. The two entered the room; they had just found their way to the bedroom door when they suddenly heard a man¡¯s voiceing from the entrance.

    ¡°You are going to be the ninth person that I will kill. Let me think, what should I take from you? Nose? Ears? Never mind, I think I will settle with your eyes. I know you have been searching for the hidden pathway. Actually, that exit is hidden inside my house, in the bedroom where all the cats¡¯ bodies were. Do you feel despair coursing through your veins?

    ¡°I have already told you the location of the exit, but you will never return to find it. How I wish I could see your expression now.¡±

    After the man said all that, the sound of something being shed by a knife rang out inside the bedroom. Then, blood leaked out from the gap in the door. Ma Feng felt there was something sticky pooling around his feet.

    ¡°The murderer is giving us a hint. The exit is hidden inside the room with all the cats¡¯ bodies!¡± Ma Feng¡¯s face was indescribable. The exit was inside the room that he had once hidden in, but he had been led by Xiao Sun all the way to the bottommost floor of the building. He felt the breath catch inside his throat. Ma Feng was about to faint from fury. He stumbled a step back, and his shoes squished loudly as he stepped on the blood.

    ¡°Who is that?¡± The man¡¯s voice echoed inside the bedroom, and it was swiftly followed by the wailing of the cats!

    Knowing that they had been discovered, Ma Feng and Xiao Sun started to race toward the exit like crazy. ¡°We have to the go back to the room with all the cats¡¯ bodies!¡±

    Being chased by the ultimate crazed murdered, the scenario of Spire of Darkness had officially entered its most intense and horrifying moment. The cats¡¯ calls reverberated against the walls as Ma Feng and Xiao Sun raced down the corridor like their lives depended on it. Ma Feng¡¯s heart was palpitating; this was the most intense moment he had experienced in his life.

    ¡°I can¡¯t do it anything. My legs won¡¯t carry me further. This is where I die!¡±

    ¡°Brother Ma, believe in yourself!¡±

    ¡°I really cannot run anymore!¡±

    ¡°Do not stop! We can do this! I know we can!¡±

    Xiao Sun¡¯s voice kepting from in front of him. By now, Ma Feng hadpletely lost his sense of direction. Xiao Sun¡¯s endless encouragement was the path that he had been heeding along the darkness. Following Xiao Sun¡¯s voice, Ma Feng activated all the potential that he had inside his body. He tried his best to keep up with Xiao Sun¡¯s speed. The crazed murderer was just right behind him, following them like a shadow. Now, leaving this scenario through the hidden pathway was the only chance they had at survival. The sense of pressure that pressed down on him could not be described in words. There was only one thought left in Ma Feng¡¯s mind¡ªrun!

    After moving up and down the stairs so many times, Ma Feng¡¯s muscle memory had remembered the height of each step. Even without looking, he was able to prevent himself from tripping when running up the stairs.

    ¡°Keep on going. Do not be afraid of the darkness! After all, eventually, the darkness will fade away, and sun will rise for another day!

    ¡°Humans are creatures with endless possibilities. We must not give up on this gift that is provided to us! Trust and believe!

    ¡°Many of life¡¯s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to sess when they gave up!¡±

    The humannguage was unique in the sense that it was capable of granting enormous energy. Ma Feng, whose body was shaking and whose mind was king somehow, found his way back to the top floor of the building with Xiao Sun¡¯s endless encouragement. He raced like the wind. All the other unimportant thoughts in his mind were left in his wake. His spirit appeared to have joined to both of his legs. There appeared to be no more Ma Feng in this world¡ªall that remained was a pair of legs that kept on running in search of the exit.

    Ramming the door open, Ma Feng and Xiao Sun rushed into the room stuffed with cat carcasses. The two of them turned the room upside down looking for the exit as if madness had taken over them. The calls of the cats became shriller from the corridor. The whole scenario appeared to be changing. The walls started to crack as the building started to shake. Mouths started to gape on the ground like they would swallow the visitors at any moment.

    Various strange voices also began to appear. The voice that scared Ma Feng and Xiao Sun the most was one simr to Chen Ge¡¯sing from outside. They did not hear clearly what the voice was saying because all their attention was focused on the search. They moved the carcasses of the cats away like this was the only thing that they knew to do in this world. In the endless darkness, there was suddenly a flicker of a very faded light. That pushed Ma Feng to move even faster.

    ¡°I can see it now! I think I see the exit!¡± Moving the guts and the intestines of the cats away, under the carpet that was sewn together by death, there was a hidden ray of light!

    The ray of light shone into the room through the gap of the hidden door. The edge of Ma Feng¡¯s eyes were wet, and tears were churning in his eyes. ¡°It¡¯s light. There¡¯s light!¡±

    He reached out to grab the door handle of the hidden door and used every ounce of energy that was left inside him to pull it open. ¡°Thank God I did not give up! Every sacrifice will lead to a reward! The pain and tragedy that I have experienced will be the reward that destiny gives me!¡±

    Gritting his teeth, Ma Feng was alreadying up with ideas to mock Chen Ge after he got out from his ce. Ma Feng lifted the door open. The weak light chased away the darkness. He extended both of his hands like a flower that had bloomed proudly in the dark.

    ¡°There is no real despair in this world. No matter how many difficulties we have to endure, no matter how many hurdles we have to ovee, as long as there is a seed of hope in your heart, then eventually, there wille a day where you will be able to ovee everything and have flowers bloom in your life.¡±

    The inspirational quotes that Xiao Sun had learned from the self-help books echoed perfectly with the feeling inside Ma Feng¡¯s heart. He followed the light and ran down the corridor. He had never run as fast as he did in this moment!

    Running down the stairs, an iron door that was painted ck appeared before him. After going through so many ordeals, Ma Feng dragged his ¡®wounded¡¯ body and stopped before the ck iron door.

    ¡°What is failure? It is nothing but a step to head toward sess; what is sess but having treaded all the roads that led to failure. When only thest road is left, that will be the road that leads to sess!¡±

    Removing the chain from the door, Ma Feng used the energy in both of his hands and pushed the iron door before him open!

    ¡°It¡¯s finished! Everything is finally over!¡± Tears that were filled with various emotions slid down the corner of his eyes. This was a man who had never shed a tear in his life, but at that moment, he could not help himself.

    Bang!

    The ck iron door mmed against the wall, and Ma Feng also took a good look of the scenario behind the door. The rolling ck fog rushed at his eyes until he found it difficult to keep them open. The tears of joy were blown dry almost immediately.

    His legs buckled, and Ma Feng crumbled to the ground.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    A simple question was more than enough to express the cocktail of emotions that Ma feng was currently feeling. Hope collided with despair as all his anticipation morphed into a fog of darkness. Looking at the dark fog before him and the flickering ghost light that floated in the ck fog, Ma Feng felt his sight slowly pull away. It was as if he was going through an out of body experience as he stared dumbly down a direction.

    ¡°Brother Ma...¡± Xiao Sun pressed lightly on Ma Feng¡¯s shoulder. When a Specter wanted to materialize their body into corporeality, it required a continuous exhaustion of negative emotion and umted resentment, so most Specters chose not to waste their resources on having physical interaction with living humans, but Xiao Sun felt like Brother Ma needed the support of physical touch at that moment. This experienced entrepreneur had encountered arge hurdle in his life. At that moment, he needed as much help and encouragement as he could get.

    ¡°The hidden path leads to the hidden scenario. We have discovered the source of the ck fog. This also means that we are already very close to the exit!¡± Xiao Sun grabbed Ma Feng by his shoulders and shook the man repeatedly. ¡°Brother Ma, you need to pull yourself together!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I am fine.¡± The calction and cunningness had already disappeared from Ma Feng¡¯s eyes. All that remained was numbness.

    ¡°Brother Ma, are you sure you¡¯re alright? I am worried about you.¡± Xiao Sun felt like Ma Feng was currently in a state of suspended shock. He was hoping that he could change the prejudice that the futuristic theme park held toward the New Century theme park through Ma Feng, but before the prejudice could be corrected, the leader of the futuristic theme park was already at the edge of insanity.

    ¡°Brother Ma, just remember how many adversities we have conquered to reach this ce. It is such a waste for you to give up now. I was also hoping that it would be the exit behind the previous door, but perhaps the boss realized that, so he purposely designed thisst scenario so that people would break down just as they flew through what they assumed to be the final exit.¡± Xiao Sun did not know exactly what he was saying. All he wanted was to help Ma Feng regain his confidence. ¡°No matter what, we cannot stop moving now.¡±

    Ma Feng appeared to have been given too many inspirational talks, and he had had enough Ted Talks for a while. He sat down on the ground with a dumb expression on his face. He wanted to faint, but he could not; he wanted to move, but he could not gather energy anymore; he wanted to leave this ce, but he knew that was a wish unlikely toe true. So, what else could he do but sit there and wait for the end toe.

    ¡°Brother Ma! Do you really think there is a scenario that will be scarier than one that deprives you of your sight? We have just escaped from apletely dark scenario. That building was ced in the deepest area of the small town, so obviously, it was the scariest scenario. Therefore, we might be both figuratively and literally one step away from victory.¡± Xiao Sun turned to logic in his persuasion.

    Ma Feng slowly lowered his head. His hands moved instinctually to his ears. He had already raised his hands, but suddenly, he realized how dumb that would seem.

    The only one who is helping me is Xiao Sun. Perhaps he has taken me as his only reliance in this ce. If I fall here, then he will not be able to survive any longer on his own. He has helped me so much; I cannot disappoint him now.

    He felt a grip on his arm. Ma Feng turned his head subconsciously to look, and Xiao Sun¡¯s honest face entered his eyes.

    What is wrong with me? Since when did I be so proud of myself that I started to resist a helping hand from another person?

    Ma Feng hated the person that he had be. He gathered thest spirit that he had to grab Xiao Sun¡¯s hand and slowly stood up.

    ¡°The cross section of the two scenarios is the most dangerous. We might be attacked by ghosts from both scenarios at the same time, so we¡¯d better hurry up and leave this ce.¡± Xiao Sun also did not know where the exit of this scenario was. In fact, perhaps the exit of this scenario had not even been designed yet. ¡°Clearing this scenario is already impossible. We should find a ce to hide and survive for the time limit of sixty minutes tour, and it will all be over.¡±

    ¡°Six... sixty minutes?¡± Ma Feng¡¯s legs weakened, and he almost tripped again.

    ¡°We have already been in here for forty minutes already; twenty minutes is not that long.¡± Xiao Sun looked around and made his decision based on his memory. ¡°There are man-eating monsters hiding in the ck fog. The only safe ce in this world is the apartments. So, we only need to hide inside the apartment building and hold out for the remaining tour time.¡±

    ¡°I will listen to you.¡± Ma Feng¡¯s spirit was half missing, as if the half was scared away and had not returned. Just like that, he was dragged by Xiao Sun and raced in the ck fog. Cursed faces appeared in the fog. Ma Feng¡¯s facial muscles were going crazy. asionally, he could not control himself and startedughing. Looking at the scary monsters around him, he slowly forgot where he was and who he was. At the moment, he only had Xiao Sun who was running beside him. His heart went out toward this young man. In this tragedy of a tour, Xiao Sun was the only person that he realized he could rely on.

    Along the way, they had seen many scenes taken right out from hell. Finally, Xiao Sun carried Ma Feng through the ck fog and came to the apartment. Pushing open the entrance of Jin Hwa Apartment Block A, Xiao Sun led Ma Feng into the corridor.

    ¡°I know one room that is definitely safe. I am one hundred percent certain that there will be no ghosts there. We can rest there until the end.¡± Xiao Sun led Ma Feng into his own room. Once he pushed open the door, they heard strange noisesing from the corridor.

    ¡°The other neighbors areing! Please do not make any noise.¡± Xiao Sun pushed Ma Feng into the room while he hid at the door and paid close attention to what was happening outside. The room they were in was very neat and clean, and it looked perfectly normal. Ma Feng finally sighed in relief. He dropped to the ground and noticed the posters of many singers pasted on the walls.

    His eyes moved around until Ma Feng¡¯s eyesnded on a picture frame. Inside it was a young man carrying a guitar. He felt that the young man in the picture looked very familiar, so he forced himself to crawl toward the table. When he picked up the frame, a death certificate slid down from behind the picture.

    ¡°Sun Xiaojun?¡±

    An indescribable horror instantly swallowed Ma Feng; his whole body was shaking.

 Chapter 1132 - Destiny, Jiujiang Medical University 2 in 1

    <h4>1132 Destiny, Jiujiang Medical University 2 in 1</h4>

    The person that he had been relying on was the actual culprit. Ma Feng¡¯s trembling hands had trouble even holding the death certificate firmly. The words kept shaking in his eyes. It was a piece of paper as light as a feather, but in his hands, it felt as heavy as a mountain. It directly crushed Ma Feng¡¯s heart. He had been trying so hard to escape from death, but in reality, death had been holding his arm and dragging him along. He had been trying to run away from ghost, but a ghost had been closely following beside him, unwilling to part with him.

    This unexpected twist cut off the breath in Ma Feng¡¯s lungs. He turned slowly to look at Xiao Sun, who was leaning at the door, looking outside, and his mental support at that moment shattered into withering powder. The blood in his veins appeared to have frozen as Ma Feng¡¯s world copsed. The world spun, and he copsed heavily to the ground. Before he drifted out of consciousness he could still hear the consistent voice calling him.

    ¡°Brother Ma, Brother Ma, Brother Ma...¡± Xiao Sun tried his best to shake Ma Feng¡¯s body, but Ma Feng gave him no response at all. Perhaps Brother Ma had lost all hope in this world. ¡°We are already safe now! Big brother! We have gone through so much to finally arrive at a safe room. Why would you choose this important moment to faint?¡± Xiao Sun had a bitter smile on his face. He could be certain that this room was one hundred percent safe, and no other haunted house ghosts would be hiding in this room because this was his own room before he died.

    ¡°So, what am I supposed to do now? This does not feel like a normal fainting. At least it is not one that I can resuscitate him from normally. Should I take him to the underground morgue to be checked by the group of doctors? But I am not familiar with them, and that old doctor always looks so stern.¡±

    With a human life on the line, Xiao Sun did not dare hesitate too long. He picked up Ma Feng and prepared to walk out from his room. But before he took any steps, the phone in Ma Feng¡¯s pocket suddenly rang. Xiao Sun reached into Ma Feng¡¯s pocket and took out the phone. He nced at the caller ID; the caller who was calling was Qin Guang.

    ¡°Hmm, this name is rather familiar. I believe he is that famous streamer. He entered the haunted house alongside Ma Feng.¡± Xiao Sun was about to answer the phone when he suddenly hesitated. ¡°I could use Ma Feng¡¯s phone to answer this call, but how am I supposed to exin that Ma Feng is currently unavable to talk to him? I cannot exin why Ma Feng is currently unconscious. This will create an easy misunderstanding that it was me who knocked Ma Feng out. Even though I am actually a worker here, I am not going to take the me for the deeds that I did not do.¡±

    Xiao Sun not only did not knock Ma Feng out, he even resuscitated the unconscious Ma Feng multiple times. No matter what, he was not willing to shoulder this me. After giving it some thought, Xiao Sun decided to end the call and then send a message to Qin Guang. ¡°I am currently hiding inside a room. There are people wandering outside the door. I am not avable to answer your call now.¡±

    Momentster, Qin Guang replied with the following message. ¡°I am now with the students from the medical university. Where are you guys now? This haunted house is very unsafe. We have a feeling that this ce is really haunted.¡±

    Seeing Qin Guang¡¯s reply, Xiao Sun¡¯s brow hiked up so high. ¡°We have been exposed? Who has been so unprofessional? If the visitors find out the haunted house is really haunted, then who would daree here again? This is such a trouble-filled day! I have to find a way to salvage this situation!¡±

    He held onto the phone and stood contemtively for a long time before he eventually sent another message to Qin Guang. ¡°Me and my teammate have found a hidden pathway and entered the hidden scenario. What about you guys?¡±

    ¡°We are also inside the hidden scenario! The medical students found me and saved me. They found the hidden pathway inside a sub scenario that had the heart as the theme, and now, I am currently hiding with them inside an apartment building in the hidden scenario.¡±

    Xiao Sun stared at the words on the phone screen. He really did not expect Qin Guang and the remaining visitors to have also entered the hidden scenario. ¡°Can you tell me exactly where you are now? Are there any unique and conspicuous buildings near you guys?¡±

    ¡°The entrance of the building marks this ce as Jiu Hong Apartments Block 2. The whole building is abandoned. Instead of rental rooms, it is filled with hospital rooms. It is extremely scary.¡±

    ¡°You guys, stay where you are. I will head over to meet up with the rest of you as soon as I can.¡±

    After Xiao Sun finished sending that message, he immediately ran out from the room, but when he was halfway out the building, he ran back again.

    ¡°It is too unsafe to leave Ma Feng in the room like this. His condition is a bit different from everyone else¡¯s. I¡¯d better bring him along with me. When I run into the other employees, I can hand Ma Feng directly to them and have them take him to the doctors for me.¡± Xiao Sun¡¯s idea was good. He carried Ma Feng out of his own room, but the strange thing was, even though the haunted house, especially the hidden scenario, had an exorbitant number of ghosts and monsters, Xiao Sun failed to encounter a single one of them. It was as if they were purposely trying to avoid him.

    ¡°This Ma Feng truly is one hell of a lot of trouble. No one is willing toe too close to him.¡±

    ...

    Inside the hidden scenario¡¯s Jiu Hong Apartments Block 2, He San, Zuo Han, and Mr. Wang were standing together. They surrounded Qin Guang, who held the phone in the middle.

    ¡°Look closely at the messages that Ma Feng sent. Does this sound like the tone of Ma Feng? Even a person like myself who has not known Ma Feng for that long can see the problem, and you¡¯re still dumbly asking me why.¡± Zuo Han shook his head. ¡°The person who¡¯s holding the phone is no longer Ma Feng.¡±

    ¡°But this is definitely Ma Feng¡¯s phone number!¡± Qin Guang still did not quite believe it.

    ¡°How could you be so stubborn even when the reality is ced right before you? Then, how about you exin why he insisted on sending messages with you when he could have easily answered the phone and talked to you?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it is like he said, it is not that convenient for him to talk now?¡±

    ¡°Wrong. It is because that employee who is very good at mimicking voices is not with Ma Feng yet. When that actor arrives, he will use Ma Feng¡¯s voice to misdirect you.¡± Zuo Han waved his hands. ¡°Stop dreaming of the impossible. Arge batch of haunted house employees already know our location. If you do not want to be scared until you faint, you¡¯d better stick close to us and leave this ce immediately.¡±

    ¡°But what if that really is Director Ma and hees over here and can¡¯t find the rest of us?¡± Qin Guang was slightly worried about Ma Feng¡¯s ire.

    ¡°I will tell you this onest time. We are allowing you toe with us out of kindness. In fact, you were begging us to take you along, so stop giving us so manyints and so much trouble.¡± Zuo Han shoved a rag doll¡¯s head toward Qin Guang. ¡°Take this and do not lose it.¡±

    ¡°Do I really have to take this with me?¡± Qin Guang held the rag doll¡¯s head with both hands, and the unwillingness was inly written on his ce.

    ¡°Do you know how much trouble we went through to find the rag doll¡¯s head? Naturally, we have to take it with us at all times.¡± He San did not have any affection toward Qin Guang¡¯s group. If not for the fact that Zuo Han found Qin Guang somewhat useful, he would definitely not have taken Qin Guang with them.

    ¡°We not only have to bring it with us; we need to treat it with sufficient respect.¡± Zuo Han¡¯s voice had always been direct and cold. When he was assessing a problem or a situation, he could aplish the impossible where he would not factor in personal feelings. Even if those other visitors had once mocked and chided him, as long as he believed he could get some use out of them, he would forgo the past and take the person in with them. The core of his thinking was, as long as the person was useful to him and could improve his current situation, then they were someone worth keeping around. After clearing the Coffin Vige scenario, Zuo Han had a deep-seated sense of fear toward any items that they were tasked with finding inside the haunted house. He also knew that around the end of the visitation, all the monsters inside the scenario would go on a rampage, and they would first target the person who held the quest items.

    The reason he kept Qin Guang around, to put it more inly, was because he wanted to make Qin Guang¡¯s ¡®death¡¯ more valuable. Walking to the entrance of Jiu Hong Apartments Block 2, Zuo Han signaled for Qin Guang to walk ahead.

    ¡°The rag doll head that you are holding is a kind of protective talisman. As long as you are holding it, you will not be attacked by the monsters in the ck fog.¡±

    Whether it could protect the bearers from the attacks of the monsters in the ck fog or not, Zuo Han did not know, but he had indeed done an experiment with it. The rag doll¡¯s head truly could disperse the ck fog. Qin Guang walked at the front of the group with some skepticism. But strangely enough, he did notice the ck fog moving away from him.

    The ck fog appears to be afraid of the rag doll¡¯s head. Why would a phenomenon like that be the case? This scenario is called ghost fetus. Could the rag doll be the ghost fetus itself? Zuo Han started to analyze the scenario using his past experience. The haunted house boss is a master of psychology. The way he knows how to utilize and evoke the fear in people¡¯s hearts is masterful. I cannot use a normal person¡¯s perspective to try to predict and assess Boss Chen¡¯s way of thinking.

    Zuo Han touched the tip of his nose while he kept his gaze glued to the head of the rag doll.

    The quest for this tour is to find all the body parts of the rag doll. If the rag doll really is the ghost fetus, if we do manage to find all the body parts of the rag doll, doesn¡¯t that mean the visitors will have voluntarily collected and summoned the scariest monster inside this scenario?

    When he reached this conclusion, Zuo Han felt a chill run up the back of his spine. Boss Chen wants the visitors to personally release the demon in this scenario with their own hands!

    He had known that it was impossible to clear the scenario from the very beginning. The thought of what he assumed Boss Chen intended to do chilled him to his core. The fear that this scenario brought him had far surpassed the fear that he had experienced in the other scenarios. And the worst thing was, he knew full well that this was not even the scariest part of the ghost fetus yet. They were in for a bigger and scarier surprise.

    The difficulty of a four-star scenario is truly out of this world. This time, I will treat this as a scouting journey. I already know the location of one of the hidden pathways. That is a great discovery already. It will make the next visit so much easier.

    Zuo Han and the other visitors walked out from Jiu Hong Apartments Block 2. With the rag doll¡¯s head as protection, they were not attacked by the strange things floating in the ck fog and sessfully reached the entrance of Block 1.

    ¡°Block 2 is filled with strange sickrooms as if the whole building is meant to house some mad individuals. Is it possible that this whole residential area is a private mental asylum?¡±

    The background story of the ghost fetus was very obscure. Zuo Han could only conduct his analysis through the clues that he had found. Jiu Hong Apartments Block 2 actually had many clues hidden inside, but the thing that confused Zuo Han was that the clues they had found could not be linked into aplete and reasonable chain of events.

    This was not entirely Zuo Han¡¯s fault. To not expose the secrets between the ghost fetus and the cursed hospital, Chen Ge had purposely taken away some of the important clues that were originally present inside the replicated scenario. What the visitors could see were the things that Chen Ge allowed them to see. But just through these scraps of clues, Zuo Han and Mr. Wang still managed to hypothesize certain things.

    Assuming that Jiu Hong Apartments Block 2 is a mental asylum, it housed some very strange patients, but even stranger than that is the fact that the doctors there did not seem like they wanted to treat their patients at all. If anything, there was evidence that they had been trying to aggravate their conditions, pushing them deeper into the abyss of madness and despair. The hidden scenario is the core of this scenario. The appearance of this private mental asylum at this ce proves that this locale is very important to the ghost fetus. Our main character of this scenario perhapspleted its final transformation here.

    If the rag doll is the ghost fetus, then finding all of its missing parts will be akin to summoning it. In that case, the difficulty of the scenario will increase to an impossible level. That is definitely not the best way to solve this scenario!

    Zuo Han¡¯s eyes subconsciously nced toward the rag doll¡¯s head, and he noticed that the eyeball inside the head appeared to be looking back at him as well. His heart suddenly started to race. Zuo Han managed to discern a trace of mncholy and loneliness in the rag doll¡¯s eyes.

    Finding all the parts of the rag doll and bringing it out of the scenario is certainly a suicidal mission. The real way to clear this mission is perhaps to reform the rag doll and help it achieve salvation.

    Zuo Han¡¯s brain was spinning wildly, and many thoughts were colliding in his mind.

    Mr. Wang valued Zuo Han greatly, so he moved over to ask softly, ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±

    Zuo Han silently whispered his own analysis to his lecturer. Thetter listened to everything and kept silent for a long time. The only thing he did was slow down his pace, until they were further away from Qin Guang. Then, Mr. Wang whispered back, ¡°Zuo Han, do you know what my biggest impression of this tour is?¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°The sense of authenticity.¡± Mr. Wang¡¯s expression turned very serious. ¡°Everything feels so real. I have been a part of the investigations of many heavy crimes. The feeling that this ce gives me is simr to when I was at actual crime scenes.¡±

    ¡°You suspect there has been an actual murdermitted here?¡± Zuo Han was very clever. Once Mr. Wang voiced his opinion, he was able to grasp his lecturer¡¯s thoughts almost immediately.

    ¡°Correct, and there must have been more than one murder.¡± Mr. Wang took a deep breath. ¡°The set decoration of this ce and the words left behind by the innocent victims, they are all dripping with a bloody sense of authenticity. This is something that you would not have experienced unless you have been to the front line before.¡±

    ¡°But if there have been so many murdersmitted here, Boss Chen¡¯s haunted house would have been closed a long time ago. From how I see it, he should have copied the murders that he had helped solve perfectly inside his haunted house, and with some amazing artistic skill, he has achieved this current environment that we are in.¡±

    ¡°Hopefully, I am only overthinking it.¡± Mr. Wang walked at the back of the group. He rarely had the chance to engage with his students in this kind of situation.

    ¡°Sir, if you are really that interested in this ce, we cane over for another visit in the future.¡± Zuo Han wanted to lighten the atmosphere. He was afraid that Mr. Wang might be reminded of the bad things from the past.

    ¡°I am afraid there won¡¯t be a chance for that anymore. Soon, I will need to go to Xin Hai.¡±

    ¡°You still cannot let go of that case?¡±

    ¡°Zuo Han, do you know what the most important thing for a forensic doctor is?¡±

    ¡°Find clues to help decide the cause of death from the science of pathology and providew enforcement with the most effective support through the construction of a strong evidence chain.¡±

    ¡°You are right and also wrong.¡± Mr. Wang pointed lightly at his heart, but he did not borate. Zuo Han did not press for details either, but he did memorize the words ¡®Xin Hai¡¯. If possible, he wanted to give his lecturer a hand. The remaining four visitors entered Jiu Hong Apartments Block 1. The dark corridors were permeated with a light stench. Every house had a bowl of white rice before the door, and a pair of chopsticks were stuck vertically inside the bowls of rice.

    ¡°Before we explore this scenario, I need to warn all of you. We are two thirds into the visitation hour. Soon, the scenario will wee its third stage, and all the ghosts in this scenario will go berserk, so we¡¯d better be mentally prepared for it.¡±

    After saying that, Zuo Han led the others into the building. Soon after they had gone in, the blood rain rinsed the outside of the building. In the ck fog, many red shadows started to appear.

    The visitors inside the building had not realized those anomalies. Qin Guang, who was hugging the rag doll¡¯s head, was walking at the front of the group. After he realized that the head could chase away the ck fog, he had been treating it as a treasure, hugging it tightly against his chest.

    This time, I am quite lucky to have run into a group of experienced yers who are willing to take me with them, but I wonder how things are over there with CEO Ma.

    He opened one door after another, and no idents happened. That caused Qin Guang¡¯s courage to grow. When he came to the third floor, a strange noise came from the first floor. It sounded like someone had identally kicked over the bowls of rice that were left in front of the rooms.

 Chapter 1133 - Truly, the Older the Ginger, the Spicier They Are! 3 in 1

    <h4>1133 Truly, the Older the Ginger, the Spicier They Are! 3 in 1</h4>

    ¡°Did you guys hear some strange noise?¡± Qin Guang held the rag doll¡¯s head and stood guardedly at the door like some kind of protective talisman. The mission that Zuo Han had given him was to stay as a guard at the door because the rag doll¡¯s head that he was holding could chase away the ck fog and prevent the ghosts from getting too close to them. This excuse had sessfully convinced Qin Guang. Earlier, when they were walking through the ck fog, he had realized that the rag doll¡¯s head indeed had that function. Now, if anyone else asked him to hand over the rag doll¡¯s head, he would not surrender it easily.

    ¡°Just stay outside the door and do not move randomly away. If you see any ghostsing, yell to warn us.¡± Zuo Han and the other people from Jiujiang Medical University were searching inside the room. The real reason he wanted Qin Guang to stand outside the room was because he wanted to use Qin Guang as bait to distract the ghosts and monsters so that when the real threat arrived, their main target would be Qin Guang.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Just as Qin Guang answered, he heard that strange noise again. The noise came from the bottom floor. Slowing turning his head, Qin Guang stared at the mouth of the staircase. The king walls had white calligraphy of the word ¡®bliss¡¯ inverted on them. The floor was littered with banknotes, and a bowl of white rice were ced before each room. This whole building felt like a mass grave, and it was the home for a whole building of dead people.

    ¡°Everything is fine. Everything is fine. I am just visiting a haunted house. I have been to real haunted locations before. There is no reason for me to be afraid of these fake things, right?¡± Qin Guang tried his best to console himself. But once the emotion of fear appeared, it would grow and spread like wild grass. The more he tried to convince himself, the more his brain would move toward that direction that he had been trying to avoid. Qin Guang could not stop his eyes from wandering to the mouth of the staircase. Since no one had passed by that ce for a long time, the sound-controlled lights at the corner of the staircase went off on their own, and the whole corridor sank into darkness.

    ¡°Tsk... This is quite scary...¡± Sucking in a cold breath, Qin Guang curled voluntarily backward. For some reason, he had a very bad feeling in his heart. It was as if his natural instincts were urging him to leave this dangerous ce.

    Qin Guang turned around to ask Zuo Han, ¡°How much longer do you guys need to search inside there?¡±

    Thetter¡¯s answer floated out from the bedroom. ¡°We are almost done.¡±

    After getting the reply, Qin Guang felt moreforted. His current condition was like a child who did not dare sleep on his own. After a fixed period of time, he would call out to see if he would get any response from his parents to check and see whether his parents had left him alone in the bedroom or not. Once his heart returned to his stomach, a faded cold light suddenly shone on his face, and the sound-controlled lights at the corner of the staircase suddenly switched on.

    ¡°Someone has gone past the staircase? But I did not see or hear anyone?¡± He stared fixatedly at the corner of the stairs, so he did not notice the blood that had started to leak out from the gap in the wall. However, he did notice that the ck fog was slowly spreading inside the corridor.

    ¡°The ck fog has entered the building?¡± His heart started to race. It appeared like someone was moving inside the fog. Training his focus, Qin Guang stared directly at the corner of the staircase. Just as he blinked, a child¡¯s face suddenly poked out from the corner of the stairs!

    ¡°What the f*ck!¡± Holding the rag doll¡¯s head, Qin Guang stumbled back in panic, causing his body to knock into the room door.

    ¡°What is going on?¡± Zuo Han and He San quickly ran over when they heard themotion.

    ¡°There was a child at the corner! He appears to be tailing us!¡± Qin Guang hugged the rag doll¡¯s head tightly as his eyes kept staring at the mouth of the stairs.

    He San summoned his courage to move to the mouth of the stairs. He could not see the aforementioned child. ¡°Is it possible that you were hallucinating?¡±

    ¡°He is not lying. It is true that someone was inside the stairwell earlier.¡± Zuo Han pointed at the voice-controlled lights. ¡°The lights inside the stairwell are on. That means that someone has indeed been here. We need to pick up our pace. It looks like Boss Chen is not going to give us much more time.¡±

    Zuo Han had personally experienced how scary it would be when the ghosts of the entire scenario went on a rampage. That was a memory that he did not wish to revisit.

    ¡°Go to the next room now, hurry!¡± Zuo Han had conspicuously picked up speed. Qin Guang did not dare stay outside the room alone, so the four of them entered the room together to search for any possible clues.

    ¡°The time is running out.¡± Zuo Han was sweating profusely, and there was an unbridled anxiety in his eyes. Next to him, Mr. Wang noticed this emotion appearing in Zuo Han for the first time. Clearing the scenario was almost impossible; Zuo Han was already starting to consider how to escape. Of the team of four, only He San and Qin Guang were still trying their best to search for clues.

    ¡°I¡¯ve noticed something strange. Whenever wee across a family with a child, they will ultimately get into some kind of tragedy.¡± He San found a family portrait on the windowsill. The adults¡¯ faces had been preserved, but the child¡¯s face had been scratched away. ¡°There appears to be a ghost that desperately wishes for the love of a family inside this building. He is envious of those families with happiness and bliss. The happier the family is, the worse their ending will be.¡±

    ¡°Your analysis is a bit too one-sided. If you ask me, I think the ghost we are dealing with is rather innocent. Even if he represents evil, it is a seed of evil, the kind that is just growing.¡± Zuo Han stared at the picture He San was holding. ¡°Just like how some children like to go tear off the wings of dragonflies or sneak up to stray cats and dogs to beat them, yes, their actions are reprehensible, but that also exins at the same time that they have not been given correct guidance in their lives.¡± Zuo Han ced the family portrait where it was found. ¡°Do you guys still remember Jiu Hong Apartments Block 2? The building that looked like a private mental asylum?¡±

    ¡°Senior, why would you suddenly bring up that ce? The styles of these two buildings arepletely different. Block 2 is more like a mental hospital while Block 1 is a normal residential building.¡± He San was rather confused.

    ¡°Think back closely to what I said earlier. The ghost inside this building is a monster that has not achieved a mature self-construct. If he runs into the correct people, perhaps he might repent and turn into a good ghost. But the despairing truth is that the sub scenario that we visited earlier was a mental asylum. He was not only not given the correct treatment, he was misguided by these people down a deeper path of darkness.¡± Zuo Han had finally figured out the connection between the two buildings. ¡°Based on my analysis, there should be a part of the rag doll¡¯s body inside each building in this hidden scenario. In the process of finding all of its body parts, we will have to experience the whole life story of the rag doll and watch how he drops into the dark abyss step by step and bes the version of himself that he hates the most.¡±

    ¡°We have just found the head. Based on what you¡¯re saying, this means we still need to go to another four buildings?¡± Qin Guang felt mmed by a fist of despair.

    ¡°The haunted house would not have given us a mission that we cannotplete. Therefore, after giving it some thought, I believe the true mission of this scenario is not to find all the body parts of the rag doll and bring them out but to experience the life story of the rag doll ourselves and figure out a way to reform him, help him rebuild a correct self-construct, or at least make him see kindness enough to let the rest of us go,¡± Zuo Han said confidently.

    ¡°The mission is so positive and inspirational?¡± Qin Guang had trouble epting a statement like that. Of course, this was not the man¡¯s fault. After all, a haunted house always gave people the first impression of being a scary ce, especially Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house. It was meant to reach into the depths of your fear. Who would have expected such a ¡®ghastly appearance¡¯ to hide such a warm and gentle core?

    ¡°The rag doll¡¯s body parts can chase away the ck fog. The haunted house boss wanted us to find the body parts for two reasons. One, it forces us to experience the previous life of that ghost, and two, the body parts themselves are a kind of protection for us, aiding us inpleting our mission. The boss of this haunted house is very brilliant. Every mission that he arranges has a deeper meaning behind it.¡±

    Once he heard Zuo Han say that, Qin Guang¡¯s hands that held the rag doll¡¯s head curled around it even harder. He did not realize that Zuo Han¡¯s words were a mixture of truth and falsehood. Zuo Han purposely let slip this information so that Qin Guang would listen to their orders more obediently and more willingly.

    There were not that many visitors left. Therefore, Zuo Han started to value Qin Guang even more. If this was another moment in time, he would not even have thought ofmunicating with Qin Guang because they werepletely different individuals. It was clear that Zuo Han was not as active as before during the search for clues. Mr. Wang¡¯s attention though was more ced on his observation of Zuo Han. Of the team of four, only He San and Qin Guang were seriously looking for clues inside the haunted house.

    Entering the bedroom, Qin Guang, who was hugging the rag doll¡¯s head, got close to the bed. He noticed that there was ayer of something ck on the bedsheets. It looked like some kind of ointment.

    ¡°What is this?¡±

    He pulled back the mosquito to look inside it. Amid the ck material, there was an outline of a living person. The empty space still had some very small characters written on the bedsheet. Qin Guang stepped onto the bed with his shoes on. He squatted down on an empty spot not polluted by the ck material, took out his phone, and aimed the light at the bedsheet.

    ¡°Today, it returned again. It stood at the door. I have no idea what it was up to. It appears to wish to enter the room. It looked like my child who has passed away, or at least, it looked familiar from behind. My family saw it as well. I am not hallucinating; it really exists. Whose family does the child belong to? Howe it appears at the corridor whenever midnight falls?¡±

    Just reading the words left on the bedsheet, Qin Guang felt the hairs all over his body stand up on end. ¡°There is a ghost child living inside this building!¡±

    As he continued to read, Qin Guang felt a chilling presence getting stuck in his throat, like he had just swallowed arge ice cube that refused to melt. He was focused on reading the messages when the shadow that was formed from the light of his phone suddenly flickered. Qin Guang turned back to look. He San, who was closest to him, was standing at the door of the bedroom, but he did not appear to be interested in entering.

    ¡°It was not that medical student. I was squatting here and have not moved. Could it be a trick of the mind?¡± Qin Guang did not dare stay too long inside the bedroom. He straightened up, and his forehead knocked into the top of the mosquito. It buzzed with pain. He reached out to scratch his head and subconsciously lifted his neck to look. At that moment, there were many faces leaning on the mosquito above his head!

    The pale faces were all imprinted on the outside of the mosquito. The clear facial features started to sink inward. All the faces were all staring at him! The scariest thing was that he had no idea how long they had been staring at him!

    ¡°Argh!¡± Qin Guang copsed on the ground. Footprints started to appear on the strange ck material. It felt as if the ghosts that were previously outside the mosquito had crawled inside it.

    ¡°Help! Help me!¡± Hugging the rag doll¡¯s head, Qin Guang was like a bull gone berserk as he rolled off from the edge of the bed. His body was entangled inside the mosquito, so when he fell, he yanked off the that was fixed to the ceiling. He screamed madly as he rushed toward the bedroom door. He San was frightened by the sudden scream from Qin Guang. When he recovered himself, he saw Qin Guang charging at him like a crazy bull. The two tumbled to the ground. Qin Guang, who was entrapped inside the mosquito, rolled on the ground. He did not seem to have recovered from the sting of fear.

    ¡°Quiet down!¡± Zuo Han had no idea what Qin Guang had seen, but from Qin Guang¡¯s over the top reaction, he knew that thest stage of the ghost fetus scenario had already started!

    Since Qin Guang was holding the mission item, he was the first one to be ¡®attacked¡¯. Zuo Han signaled toward Mr. Wang, and the two of them worked together to extricate Qin Guang from the mosquito.

    ¡°There were ghosts! I saw many ghosts! They were inside the mosquito!¡± Qin Guang screamed loudly. His face was pale, and he was so frightened that his lips were purple. ¡°I have experienced supernatural events before, and this was even more intense thanst time. I am not lying to you! This ce is really haunted!¡±

    ¡°I cannot be sure whether ghosts exists in this world, but I know that most of the time, ghosts only apply some kind of psychological signal on their victims, so what you need to do now is take deep breaths and try to stand up with the rest of us.¡± Mr. Wang¡¯s voice wasmanding and assuring; his words slowly helped Qin Guang calm down.

    ¡°The rag doll¡¯s body part is not inside this room. Let¡¯s prepare to leave.¡± Compared to Mr. Wang, Zuo Han was a much colder in person. He was the first to leave the room and enter the corridor. The ck fog had already shrouded the entire corridor. There were many children¡¯s bloody handprints that appeared on the walls, and it was worth noting that these bloody handprints were still wet as if the children had just crawled over the wall earlier when they were searching inside the room.

    ¡°It is the same scenario, but it gives off apletely different feeling from when I first entered it.¡± Mr. Wang¡¯s brows were creased together. ¡°Honestly, some of the crime scenes that I have been to were not as scary as this ce.¡±

    ¡°The scarier stuff is waiting for us.¡± Zuo Han dragged Qin Guang to his side. ¡°Currently, we are inside the hidden scenario, or in other words, thest scenario of this whole visit. The exit should be at the deepest part of this scenario. If we are separated from each other, try to run toward the deepest part of this scenario. Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Qin Guang felt that Zuo Han was being very righteous and fair toward him. He shared all of his information with him and did not purposely hide anything from him.

    ¡°Since you are the one holding the rag doll¡¯s head, you have to be especially careful. Whether or not we will be able to escape from this ce is heavily dependent on you.¡± Zuo Han still had some other words to give Qin Guang when another change urred in the corridor. The ck fog suddenly thickened, and the sound of high heels cking echoed inside the building.

    ¡°Someone ising! It¡¯sing from the lower floor!¡± Zuo Han perked up both of his ears. All the buildings in the ghost fetus scenario were invertedpared to the actual world behind the door. The first floor was closest to the ground, and the fifth floor was at the most bottom level of the building. The sound of high heels clicking against the ground directly exploded in their minds. Zuo Han shared a look with He San. They were reminded of another legend inside Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house. There was a scary Red Specter who would appear randomly inside the haunted house. No one knew what she looked like, but before everyone fainted, they could clearly remember hearing high heels clicking against the floor.

    ¡°We need to retrace our steps! We have to abandon this building! We need to leave immediately!¡± Zuo Han¡¯s tone turned urgent. The four of them immediately rushed as fast as they could out of the building. The monsters in the ck fog appeared to have realized that they had been discovered, so they did not try to hide their presence anymore. The sound of crying andughing appeared at the same time, doors were all pushed open, the banknotes on the ground were lifted off the ground by an unknown draft, and strange, eerie background music rang inside the cramp corridor. The four visitors raced up the stairs. Inside the ck fog, at the corner of the staircase, several red shadows slowly appeared.

    ¡°What are those?¡± Zuo Han could feel his body start to involuntarily shake. He did not even know why he was so overwhelmed by fear. The sound of footsteps behind him got closer and closer, and the red shadows before them became clearer and clearer. Blood rain fell on their faces. A face with her lips sewn together by threads was the first to appear before the visitors.

    ¡°Have you seen my child?¡± Blood rain slid down the red raincoat. Before she finished, anotherrge, rotund man in a red shirt walked out from beside her. The man was dragging arge cleaver in his left hand and dragging an unconscious ¡®dead body¡¯ covered in fresh blood in his right.

    ¡°Fu Bole?¡± Seeing Fu Bole, who had turned into a ¡®prop¡¯ of the haunted house, Qin Guang¡¯s eyeballs almost fell out from their sockets. His heart skipped a beat, and he almost keeled over. Just as these two Red Specters appeared, a child¡¯s giggling appeared from above the visitors. Raising their heads to look, a child covered in fresh blood was crawling on the ceiling, dragging a whole lot of doll parts behind him!

    ¡°Why are you leaving so soon? Stay and y with me!¡± Blood fell rightly on Qin Guang¡¯s face. He was standing at the front, and at that moment, the three Red Specters were surrounding him. His legs were weakening. Qin Guang did not know what to do.

    The footstepsing from the underground finally arrived. A pair of red high heels floated out from the ck fog. She appeared to be the queen of the curse, followed by an entourage of strange monsters.

    ¡°Behind you! Behind you!¡± Qin Guang shouted. The high heels were only several steps behind Zuo Han. They were already in a deep quandary. Everyone was on the brink of copse.

    ¡°Behind me?¡± Zuo Han¡¯s reflexes appeared to have slowed down. It was as if he had just realized something, and he turned to look behind him. Through the ck fog, Zuo Han happened to connect with the pair of eyes that were filled with curses. His heart squeezed. Even though he was already mentally prepared, Zuo Han still felt his scalp go numb. But the biggest difference between him and the normal visitors was that he had a superhuman determination. His brain worked quickly, and Zuo Han came up with a solution almost instantly.

    When a person receives a horror more than their normal threshold, they will enter temporary shut down, and their body will react ordingly. When a normal person receives overwhelming shock, the first problem will arise with their cirction system. Their coronary artery will shrink, causing the loss of blood flow to the rest of their body, which leads to heart palpitations, high blood pressure,ck of breath, heart agitation, and difficulty of breathing.

    Rted knowledge shed across his mind, Zuo Han grabbed his chest, and like anded fish, his pupils rolled back in his head, and his body fell like a fallen tree. This was an unresolvable problem, so Zuo Han decided to fake passing out. This was a n that he hade up with from the beginning. He purposely had Qin Guang hold the rag doll¡¯s head to distract the actors and told Qin Guang to run toward the deepest part of the scenario. After Qin Guang had led everyone away, he would retrace his steps and leave from the hidden pathway.

    His body was careening backward. Before Zuo Han fell, he suddenly heard a heavy thud beside him!

    His eyelids flickered slightly open, and Zuo Han realized that Mr. Wang had already ¡®fainted¡¯!

    His face was unnaturally red, and his expression was one of pure pain, and before he fainted, he even used his hands to press against his brain.

    When a person is in shock, their internal hormones will go out of bnce. The symptoms of this include a red rash on the face following the rise in body temperature and blood pressure. At the same time, shock will trigger a reaction in the human being¡¯s nervous system. The symptoms include dizziness and headaches, and a small percentage of people will even react with projectile vomiting...

    From a medical perspective, Mr. Wang¡¯s fake fainting was obviously more professional!

    Truly, the older the ginger, the spicier they are!

    When Zuo Han and Mr. Wang fainted at the same time, He San caught up to the idea and reacted almost instantly. But just as his hand went to clutch his chest, before he could fall, he felt a pull on his arm. ¡°Quick, let¡¯s go! This is our chance!¡±

    ¡°What the... Let go!¡±

    After the red high heels showed up, the three Red Specters had obviously slowed down. They seemed to be afraid of the current red high heels. Qin Guang used this opportunity and forcibly yanked He San through the three stunned Red Specters. The two raced like their lives depended on it. The three Red Specters and red high heels all then gave chase after them, running out of the building!

 Chapter 1134 - In That Moment, I Believe I Saw My Lecturer 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1134 In That Moment, I Believe I Saw My Lecturer 2 in 1</h4>

    After the few Red Specters left, the ck fog in the building not only did not disperse, if anything, it only thickened further. The scaryughter of children echoed in the corridors, and countless monsters weaved from curses crawled on the walls. Without the presence of the red high heels, this scenario appeared to be even scarier than before.

    ¡°Once those Red Specters show up, the only thing left for us to do is clean up.¡± A woman wearing a flower-patterned dress walked over. There were two men following beside her. One of them looked to be in his forties, and he always had a smile ready for those around him. ¡°Miss Dress, Mr. Wood, looks like you two will also have the chance to experience the joy of this job.¡±

    ¡°We are given the chance to scare the visitors, and from that, we will be able to gain negative emotions from them. It helps us in the process and will give them an experience that they will never forget. The boss is really a genius; only a genius coulde up with a brilliant idea like that.¡± Miss Dress, who was in the flower-patterned dress, was very impressed by Chen Ge.

    ¡°There are many other brilliant qualities about our boss, but the most important thing is that he treats us with sincerity, and he really sees us as one of his family.¡± The middle-aged man walked to Zuo Han¡¯s side. ¡°Whenever a new scenario is open to the public, there will be a group of visitors that serve as the first sacrifice. I actually have quite a good impression of these students from the Jiujiang Medical University. What can I say? They have juste at the wrong time.¡±

    ¡°Brother Zhou, is it really okay for us to scare the visitors like this. I am afraid that something will really happen to them.¡± The rather numb Mr. Wood turned to look the two ¡®fainted¡¯ visitors, and he was earnestly feeling pity toward them.

    ¡°They will be fine. To prevent this kind of problem from happening, the haunted house has the most professional medical unit, and all the fainted visitors get sent over for inspection before they are sent out of the haunted house,¡± the middle-aged man who was referred to as Brother Zhou said proudly.

    ¡°We even have a professional medical team at this haunted house?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they reside in the underground morgue. We will be going there now.¡± The medical unit was based in the underground morgue. This sentence was rather contradictory, but since Miss Dress and Mr. Wood were both new employees at the haunted house, they did not press for more details. The three employees worked together to pick up the two ¡®fainted¡¯ visitors. After they took the visitors out of the apartments, there were carts moved over from the underground morgue waiting for them outside the apartment building along with the other workers. All the workers appeared to be very familiar with this process. They adroitly moved the ¡®fainted¡¯ visitors onto the carts and moved to the fringe of the ghost fetus scenario.

    ¡°This time, the number of fainted visitors is rather high, so the group of doctors have personallye from the underground morgue.¡± With the directions from Brother Zhou, the two ¡®fainted¡¯ visitors were sent into one of the buildings.

    ¡°Be careful over there. Do not identally bump their heads.¡± The haunted house workers pushed open a wooden door. There were no lights in the room, but once they entered it, the surrounding temperature dropped instantly as if they had entered a fridge.

    ¡°Doctor Wei, would you mind holding back your presence? You¡¯re going to give the visitors a cold.¡± Brother Zhou reminded the good doctor softly.

    ¡°More students from Jiujiang Medical University?¡± The old man¡¯s voice came out from inside the room. Hearing this voice, Ol¡¯ Zhou had a better smile on his face. The other haunted house workers were reacting normally, but one of the fainted visitors started to shudder and shake.

    ¡°This time, we not only have a student from Jiujiang Medical University, we also have a lecturer from the university.¡± Brother Zhou pointed at the fainted visitors and then took a step back.

    ¡°A lecturer? What is going on? Even a lecturer has abandoned their job toe and do this nonsense?¡± Doctor Wei in the whiteb coat and three other doctors walked out from inside the room. The four pairs of eyes skipped over Zuo Han, and they all focused on Mr. Wang.

    ¡°Wang Qinzhi?¡± When he saw Mr. Wang, the name practically fell out of Doctor Wei¡¯s lips. Just as he said that name, the fainted visitor¡¯s body shook violently. The always stern and severe Mr. Wang flipped open his eyes. When he saw Doctor Wei, his eyes reddened almost instantly, and he croaked out with mncholy and shook. ¡°Sir?¡±

    ¡°Sir¡¯s sir?¡± Zuo Han, who was still pretending to be unconscious, slightly opened his eyes. He was too curious about this development. Being recognized by his own student, Doctor Wei¡¯s original anger halved. The old man did not say anything for a long time. Seeing Mr. Wang crawl down from the cart, Doctor Wei said, ¡°You have the wrong person.¡±

    He turned around and disappeared into the room.

    ¡°Sir!¡± Mr. Wang chased after Doctor Wei. He knew that Doctor Wei was not of this world anymore. After all, he had personally sent his dear teacher away, but now he had encountered his respected teacher again inside the haunted house. The people from the past reappeared before him. Mr. Wang did not have any fear in his heart. He merely wanted to chase after Doctor Wei. The overly long time he had spent faking his unconsciousness made his legs a bit numb. Just as Mr. Wang stood up, his arms were held back by others.

    ¡°Let me go!¡± He struggled as he yelled the name of his lecturer. At that moment, he was acting like a child calling after his parent.

    ¡°No wonder he is a lecturer at a respected university. His acting is so good that he managed to trick all the ghosts.¡± Mr. Wood grabbed Mr. Wang while Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s hands lightly pressed on Mr. Wang¡¯s head. He did not use much force, but Mr. Wang¡¯s body slowly crumbled to the ground. Peace returned to the room.

    After Mr. Wang had really fainted, Doctor Wei walked out from inside the room. The old man had a conflicted expression. He squatted before Mr. Wang and studied him for a long time. ¡°Of all my students, he is the most like me. In fact, he is even more serious and stubborn than I am. You¡¯d better find a way to make him lose this part of his memory, or he will spend the rest of his life visiting this haunted house until he finds out the truth.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you want to do that? You are his respected teacher. This would be a very good memory for him to have as a keepsake.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou still thought that it was better to ask for a second opinion.

    ¡°Keep what sake? When I was alive, I did everything that I could. I have already taught them everything that I know, so I have no regrets.¡± Doctor Wei waved his hands. ¡°The living should look forward. It is understandable to be mncholic for a while, but drowning in the sorrow of the past will only drag them back.¡±

    ¡°Okay, then I will go and get Zhang Yi.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou and another employee went to summon Zhang Yi while Doctor Wei¡¯s eyes slowly moved away from Mr. Wang to look at Zuo Han. He shook his head lightly. ¡°You perhaps might not know this, but this is actually the third time you¡¯ve pretended to faint before us.¡±

    Zuo Han knew perfectly well that the elder¡¯s words were meant for him. His eyelids were shuddering. He resisted the great fear that was growing in his heart and forced himself to keep his eyes closed. Doctor Wei looked at Zuo Han¡¯s youthful and energetic face, and he slowly reached out to touch his head.

    ¡°You are the most talented child that I have ever encountered. You have all the qualities to be a very good forensic doctor. There is nothing more that I can teach you. I only hope that you will remember this¡ªalways insist on the truth. The dead cannot speak, so we forensic doctors have to help them voice their regrets.¡± The old man was suddenly reminded of Chen Ge. ¡°Now that I think about it, that is also exactly what Boss Chen is doing. Could it be that the entwined interaction between the haunted house and Jiujiang Medical University was already written in the stars?¡±

    New Century Park¡¯s haunted house had a very good rtionship with Jiujiang Medical University. That was a well-known truth. Their rtionship was so good that there were people online who suspected that Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house hired the students from the university to act as his ¡®ghosts¡¯.

    ¡°Simrly, we are all helping the dead who can¡¯t speak seek their justice. Perhaps this is why both parties can understand each other so well.¡± Doctor Wei did not use much force on his palm, but Zuo Han felt a chill on the back of his neck, and he slowly lost consciousness. Making a living person faint without them realizing it was not that difficult for a ghost. At Chen Ge¡¯s request, this had already be a skill that all the workers at the haunted house had mastered before they started working.

    Momentster, Ol¡¯ Zhou returned with Zhang Yi, and thetter started to work on hiding parts of the visitors¡¯ memory.

    ...

    ¡°Let me go! Please let me go!¡± He San struggled as hard as he could, but probably due to highly strung nerves, Qin Guang only had one thought in mind, and that was to run. He did not hear He San¡¯s pleas at all. The two broke through the barrier formed by the Red Specters and ran out of Jiu Hong Apartments Block 1. The whole hidden scenario was shrouded in ck fog. They could not tell the direction at all. Qin Guang and He San did not dare stop. They did not even have a chance to take a breath before they took off into the ck fog again.

    Zuo Han said that the exit is at the deepest part of the scenario! Now that I have the rag doll¡¯s head, the ghosts do not dare get close to me. If I am truly surrounded, I can sacrifice this student from the university and use him to distract the ghosts so that I can escape.

    Qin Guang was racing like his life depended on it. He felt like he still had a chance of escaping.

    ¡°Hey! Watch where you¡¯re going! It¡¯s pointless to just barrel aimlessly in here!¡± He San yelled urgently, but Qin Guang was already beyond hearing any advice. This popr host who had left the hospital once again found his mental state at the edge of a breakdown. He did not wish to be sent back to the hospital just two days after he left it. When a person was under the great pressure, their inner potential would be invoked. Their adrenaline level rose, greatly improving their physical capability. Qin Guang and He San, both of whom did not like to do sports that much normally, somehow fought their way through the fog with the Red Specters chasing after them.

    Another building appeared before them¡ªJin Hwa Apartments Block A.

    ¡°We¡¯re at a dead end!¡±

    ¡°There is no way we are going into that building! If we are surrounded inside a room, then it will be over for us!¡± He San raised his voice to warn Qin Guang.

    He had just said that when he saw a figure walk out from the building. Both parties were startled when they saw each other, and it was Qin Guang who was the first to recover. ¡°You are... Xiao Sun?¡±

    ¡°Oh my, there are other survivors!¡± Sun Xiaojun was very surprised. He wanted to say something else when he suddenly felt the boiling fury in the ck fog. A few Red Specters materialized in the ck fog, and this army had stunned even this haunted house employee. ¡°What the... What have you two done?¡±

    Without saying anything, Xiao Sun turned back and ran, crawling back into Jin Hwa Apartments Block A. When creatures ran into danger, they would disy a sheep effect. Wherever the leading sheep went, the group of sheep would follow. Only Qin Guang saw Xiao Sun run back into the building. He dragged He San and chased after him. The three kept running down the stairs. The building appeared like it led directly to hell. They passed one floor after another, but they still had not reached the end. He San¡¯s mind was filled with despair, but there was no way back. All he could do was keep following Xiao Sun and Qin Guang down this road to hell.

    ¡°Brother Sun, where are you leading us?¡± Qin Quang slowly realized that something was wrong. This staircase kept on going downward like it had no ending.

    ¡°I have no idea either. Also, why are you two following me?¡± Sun Xiaojun was just a baleful Specter; he was also afraid of Red Specters, especially after he had identally offended one of them. So, just like that, two visitors found themselves chasing a ghost down to the bottom floor of Jin Hwa Apartments Block A. Along the way, they did not dare stop because there were too many abnormal ¡®neighbors¡¯ living in this building, and the way they looked at the visitors was like they wanted to eat them alive. The blood trickled down the banister and the walls. The ck fog surged down the stairs, and the three visitors had nowhere else to run.

    ¡°What do we do now? We have nowhere else to go!¡±

    ¡°I already told you we should not go inside the building! You guys are too stubborn to listen to me!¡±

    ¡°Get into the room! Quick! Go and hide! The tour is almost over anyway!¡±

    The three visitors pushed open a random room. They held their noses and mouths as they went hiding inside.

    ¡°What is it?¡± After closing the door, He San¡¯s group realized that they found themselves inside a room with no furniture but multiple sets of old, boxy television sets. The television sets were ced together, and just the sight of them made one feel quite pressed.

    ¡°This feels so weird.¡± The room suddenly became very quiet, and the footsteps outside the corridor disappeared. It was as if the room that they were in was forgotten by time. The air froze, and the sound of static appeared. The television that was ced right in the middle suddenly came on. The faded light fell on the three visitors¡¯ faces. The ck and white static flickered, and one could see a ck shadow that was slowly walking toward them. When the screen returned to normal, a child¡¯s face was showing on the screen. The child¡¯s gaze appeared to pass through the screen and stare directly at the three visitors.

    His face slowly opened into a smile as his body slowly retreated. Then, the scenario that appeared on the screen shocked everyone. The three visitors appeared on the screen, and at that moment, the child was sitting among them!

    ¡°He¡¯s right here!¡± Qin Guang pointed at the empty space before him. There was nothing there, but the television was clearly showing a child standing there.

    ¡°It should be some kind of reflection.¡± Before He San could finish, all the televisions got switched on at the same time. The static sound tortured the nerves of the visitors. After the screens stabilized, the three visitors saw something scary that would scar them for life!

    Each television was broadcasting extremely gory and scary images, and these images were taken inside the haunted house. Some of main characters shown were their once teammates. It was so suffocatingly real, but that was not the scariest part!

    It was as if all the killers, ghosts, and Red Specters had made a promise, they all seemed to notice that someone was watching them at the same time. Their bloody heads slowly turned around at the same time, and the crazed eyes stared at the three visitors beyond the screen!

    The eyes filled with blood, madness, and sadism stared right at the visitors. The expressions of the ghosts and murderers slowly changed. It was as if they had found new prey. They dragged their weapons of choice and slowly walked toward the screens!

    They got closer and closer to the screens. The scary faces stuck to the screens. Just as the three visitors were about to faint from shock, the television sets in the room suddenly all got turned off. The light all disappeared from the room, and the three visitors copsed to the ground. They gasped heavily for air like they had just been given a second lease on life. But before they could recover, the television sets all turned on again, but this time, only the victims were left on screens. The killers and ghosts had disappeared!

    ¡°Where... have they gone?¡± He San stammered.

    At that moment, knocking came from behind them!

    Dong dong dong!

    The three visitors instantly scurried away from the room door. Their faces were pale; none of them dared open the door. The knocking became more insistent, and the door trembled. Several secondster, the door suddenly opened on its own. There was nothing outside the door, but the light in the room suddenly darkened as if the light from the screens was being blocked by something. He San, who was closest to the television sets, turned back to look, and his gaze was directly glued to the television screens.

    All the screens had changed. They all turned to show this room that they were in. Other than the three visitors, the room was incredibly crowded, filled to the brim with different kinds of people. Blood dripped until the screens were dyed red. One figure after another appeared in the room, and the image broadcast on the television sets was slowly turning into reality.

    Qin Guang was so scared that he had already fainted. Before He San lost consciousness, somehow, the scenario from back when he first visited this haunted house crossed his mind.

    ¡°If only I hadn¡¯t tried to be so cheap that afternoon and used that theme park coupon that had almost expired...¡±

 Chapter 1135 - Xin Hai Branch

    <h4>Chapter 1135 Xin Hai Branch</h4>

    The dead body carts¡¯ wheels rolled across the ground. Ol¡¯ Zhou hummed a merry tune and happily sent the carts of visitors out of the underground scenario. The longer he worked at Boss Chen¡¯s haunted house, the more Ol¡¯ Zhou enjoyed this upation. He was d that Chen Ge had decided to take the few of them with him when hepleted his mission at the old apartment. Now, Ol¡¯ Bai had be a Red Specter, Duan Yue had walked out from the mist of her depression, and even the most despondent Yan Danian had aplished his biggest dream. All this was possible due to Chen Ge.

    Turning back to look at Chen Ge, who was standing amid the group of Red Specters, Ol¡¯ Zhou could not hide the smile that appeared on his face.

    ¡°I have already found out everything that happened. The reason this tragedy has urred this time is because of me. I gravely underestimated your power.¡± Chen Ge and several Red Specters surrounded Xiao Sun in the middle.

    Brother Sun looked as sad as anything. His watering eyes were upturned. ¡°Boss, I know my mistake already. Can you please give me a chance to redeem myself?¡±

    ¡°Do you n to do that?¡±

    Xiao Sun crawled up from the ground and walked to the red raincoat¡¯s side. He used both of his hands to grab the red raincoat¡¯s wrist and then ced the red raincoat¡¯s hands over his heart. ¡°Big sister, I swear that whether your child is still alive or not, I will help you find him!¡±

    After saying that, a thread that was entwining both red and ck color crawled out of his heart and proceeded to curl around the red raincoat¡¯s pinkie finger. If a baleful Specter wished to be a Red Specter, they needed to have a heart, and a heart was made up from threads of blood vessels like this, but strangely enough, the blood vessels within Xiao Sun¡¯s body were all alternatively red and ck like this. It was incredibly anomalous.

    Staring at the thread on her pinkie finger for a long time, the red raincoat paused as if to think before lightly nodding.

    ¡°Xiao Sun, would you have passed your misfortune to red raincoat just like that?¡± Chen Ge asked softly. He was really worried that this might happen.

    Hearing what Chen Ge had to say, Xiao Sun felt so wronged that tears came to his eyes again. Chen Ge quickly moved to console him. ¡°Since the red raincoat has forgiven you, the conflict between you two can be considered to have been resolved. But this time, you almost tore the haunted house apart. That is something that we need to deal with.¡±

    ¡°I did not mean to do it on purpose...¡±

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t have really mattered even if you had destroyed the haunted house, but the problem is you almost scared that person called Ma Feng to death. The man had already fainted so many time, so why did you insist on waking him up every time? When I saw that through the surveince camera, my scalp went numb immediately. My heart even went out toward him. The man suffered more than enough.¡±

    Chen Ge was telling the truth. Fainting was the body¡¯s self-protective mechanism. The man had already fainted, but he was brought back to consciousness again and again. How was that different from bringing the tortured soul back to life to be yed again and again?

    Xiao Sun opened his arms and said with a helpless expression, ¡°If I said I only wanted to save him, would you guys believe me?¡±

    ¡°When Ma Feng wakes up and hears you say that, I believe he will probably faint again from pure anger.¡± Chen Ge and the employees around him started tough. Xiao Sun always had the capability of doing the wrong thing out of kindness, but that could not be med on the young man. That was simply his natural talent.

    ¡°Laugh all you want. In any case, I do not n to act as a visitor anymore. You guys have no idea how nerve-wracking it is to be surrounded by more than ten living people at the same time.¡± Xiao Sun leaned the wall and looked for all intents and purposes to have given up on his ¡®life¡¯ already. Actually, he knew about his own talent, but he only wanted to be a part of the big family.

    ¡°Xiao Sun, pretending to mix among the visitors indeed is a great waste of your talent, so I have a very important mission that I have arranged for you.¡± Chen Ge slowly drew back the smile on his face, and his expression turned severe and serious. ¡°This mission is rted to the survival of our haunted house.¡±

    Noticing the change in Chen Ge¡¯s tone, Xiao Sun also stood up straighter. ¡°Brother, are you sure you wish to hand over such an important mission over to me? I am afraid I might screw it up again.¡±

    ¡°You are the only candidate that is suitable for this mission. Of course, the current you is still far from capable of epting it, so the other employees at the haunted house and I will conduct intensive training for you.¡± Chen Ge nned to fully unleash Xiao Sun¡¯s hidden potential so that this cursed seed would grow up into arge and powerful cursed tree. ¡°Later in the afternoon, I will need you toe to the staff breakroom. Then, I will tell you the objective of the mission in more detail.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°Then, there is nothing else. Everyone, please try to recover the scenario as best as you can and then return to your own posts and prepare to receive the next batch of visitors.¡±

    After giving all the orders, Chen Ge walked out from the underground scenario. Ol¡¯ Zhou had already moved all the fainted visitors to the entrance. All Chen Ge needed to do now was wheel them all out.

    Pulling back the thick curtains, following the creaking and cracking of the wheels from the body carts, all the visitors who were gathered outside the haunted house turned to look toward Chen Ge. The warm rays of the sun showered on his body, and Chen Ge pushed out the first cart of visitors.

    ¡°See, what did I tell you earlier? It is another group wipe situation.¡±

    ¡°Look at how peacefully they are smiling.¡±

    ¡°Do you still want that ice cream? Still dare cry? If you continue to cry, when you grow up, I will send you inside that haunted house!¡±

    ¡°Where have all those people who posted the thread about challenging the most difficult scenario gone? Quick, we need to split up and go bring them back!¡±

    Before so many visitors, Chen Ge pushed out the other top haunted house designers. ¡°Uncle Xu, I will need you to help me call over some theme park workers.¡±

    ¡°There are more after this?¡±

    ¡°After this cart, there are three more carts.¡±

    Chen Ge moved all the visitors that had visited the ghost fetus scenario out of the haunted house. As predicted by some of the earlier visitors that knew Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house well, all the visitors that went in hade out on the body carts. There were none that could still walk out on their own two feet. Uncle Xu had already called for help on his end, and they arrived to hurriedly take the visitors to theme park¡¯s infirmary. If this happened at any other theme park, it could be something that would shut the ce down, but at New Century Park, it happened somonly that most of the visitors had even gotten used to it.

    Even though more than ten people had fainted at the same time, the order within theme park was not disturbed at all. Everyone went about their day normally. Those who were lining up continued to line up, and those who were supposed to visit the haunted house continued with their tours. At most, some of them stopped to take one or two pictures or recorded a short video to keep as a memento. In less than ten minutes, everything had returned to normal.

    At noon, the long queue was still waiting outside the haunted house. For the visitors who had waited for a long time already, Uncle Xu was kind enough to provide them with bottles of mineral water.

    Back inside the haunted house, Chen Ge had already returned to the staff breakroom, and currently, there were four employees standing inside the room.

    ¡°Xiao Sun, the mission that I am going to give you this time is very important, but it is also very dangerous. Before you give me your word, I hope that you will listen closely to everything that I have to say.¡± Chen Ge sat down on the chair and waved at the space beside him. The Red Specter Ol¡¯ Bai understood the meaning of the gesture and ced a ck, non-transparent stic bag on the table next to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Our haunted house is currently faced with a veryrge threat. Behind the door of the ghost fetus¡¯ world, we killed a Demon God sent by the cursed hospital in Xin Hai. That Demon God is probably being digested by Zhang Ya. That is an action that the cursed hospital will never forgive. The hospital will definitely try their best to take revenge on us.¡± This was the first time Chen Ge had revealed the information rted to the cursed hospital to his employees. ¡°The cursed hospital is situated at the borders of Xin Hai and Jiujiang, but geographically speaking, it is closer to Xin Hai. The ce is incredibly dangerous because they likely have more than one Demon God at their disposal.¡±

    Chen Ge did not hide anything. He shared all the information he had about the cursed hospital with his most trusted employees. He would have no problem putting his life in the hands of anyone currently standing inside the staff breakroom.

    ¡°This time, there were people from the cursed hospital mixed among the visitors. The enemy¡¯s special power is very unique. It can help him avoid detection from even the Top Red Specters. But luckily enough, due to Xiao Sun¡¯s presence, we detected them before they could do further damage.¡±

    ¡°Because of me?¡± Xiao Sun did not even know what he had done.

    ¡°Yes, because you turned the whole haunted house upside down to the point that the rms went off everywhere, when I came in, I thought that the cursed hospital had infiltrated the ce, so I hurriedly summoned all of the other employees to salvage the situation. To my surprise, there were indeed people sent over by the cursed hospital hidden among the visitors.¡±

    After hearing Chen Ge say all that, Xiao Sun touched his nose embarrassedly. ¡°I did not do it on purpose...¡±

    ¡°Whether you did it on purpose or not is not important. The important thing is that it has helped expose your immense talent. Disguising yourself as an extra among the haunted house visitors is a waste of your talent; you need a bigger stage,¡± Chen Ge said as he opened the ck stic bag on the table.

    There was a patient¡¯s garb inside the bag. The garb looked rather normal. There was not even the hospital¡¯s name on it. It only had a number on it¡ª101. Other than the patient garb, there was a patient¡¯s form inside the bag. There was no name on this patient¡¯s form. Wherever the signature of the patient was needed, there was only written one number¡ª101.

    ¡°Number 101?¡±

    ¡°Xiao Sun, this will be your number in the future.¡±

    ¡°Mine?¡± Xiao Sun picked up the patient garb with the utmost confusion. The question marks were viewable all over his head. ¡°Brother, don¡¯t tell me you wish for me to pretend to be a mental patient? But you know very well that I do not know how to act!¡±

    ¡°You not only need to act as a mental patient. You only have to infiltrate into the cursed hospital to obtain information for us.¡± Chen Ge then waved at Zhang Yi and picked out a lingering spirit that was almost dispersing from the slightly hunch-backed Zhang Yi. ¡°This lingering spirit is the real Patient 101, but he has been turned into a simpleton. His only remaining memories have been tempered with by us. With Zhang Yi¡¯s help, take it with you and practice as much as you can. Try your best to get to know it and then try to be it.¡±

    ¡°Big brother, are you sure I am capable of doing this?¡± Xiao Sun had very little confidence in himself. After all, he had almost ruined the ghost fetus scenario earlier.

    ¡°That is why I have found a few other teachers for you.¡± Chen Ge first had Ol¡¯ Zhoue over. ¡°You will follow your Brother Zhou. I have already arranged everything. Everyone will help you together to train you to be the most perfect actor our haunted house has ever seen.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Xiao Sun took the patient garb and the lingering spirit of Patient 101 and was about to leave the room when he was stopped again by Chen Ge.

    ¡°Wait a minute. I have a few books here with me. Take them and try to read them as closely as you can.¡± Chen Ge pulled out several thick books from under his bed. Among them there were books on societal psychology, micro expressions, and social psychology. ¡°The best psychologist of Jiujiang once rmended these few books to me, and now I have handed them over to you. These things might not be directly useful to you, but they will aid you in changing the way you face any difficult problems and expand your mindset.¡±

    Chen Ge handed the books that Doctor Gao had once rmended over to Xiao Sun. The whole process had a ritualistic inheritance feeling to it. ¡°Good luck, I have faith in you!¡±

    After all the ghost employees had left, Chen Ge crawled into bed to rest for a moment.

    ¡°The cursed hospital has already made their move on me. I need to make the necessary preparation to counter them.¡± Chen Ge took out some paper and a pen and started to doodle on it. He arranged the things that he needed to do in order, from the most urgent tasks to the less important ones. ¡°Zhang Wenyu is already very close to me. If I work harder, perhaps I can persuade him to join us. Before I depart for Xin Hai, I need to get him to side with me.¡±

    Even though he already had plenty of Red Specters, the feeling that Zhang Wenyu gave him was very unique. He did not have the Yin energy unique to ghosts on him at all. If he did not know it from the ck phone, even Chen Ge would probably have treated him as a living person.

    ¡°Other than Zhang Wenyu, there are still many more famous local ghost stories in Jiujiang. Over the next few days, I should take my employees to look around. Perhaps we¡¯ll run into new friends who might have the same target as us.

    ¡°Other than that, I will need to fulfil the promise that I have given to help search for the backup that Chang Wenyu left behind. The siblings schemed against me at the School of the Afterlife. Once I have saved them, I need them to pay me back with interest when I am dealing with the cursed hospital.¡±

    Due to Zhang Ya¡¯s presence, Chen Ge could basically do anything he wanted in Jiujiang, but his overall power was still farcking when inparison to the cursed hospital.

    ¡°The cursed hospital is somehow rted to me twenty years ago. They know my background immensely well, but I know so little about them. Before the real fight begins, I will have to depend on the surprises that perhaps Xiao Sun will be able to bring me.¡± Chen Ge had great faith in Xiao Sun because he had personally experienced Xiao Sun¡¯s talent.

    ¡°Everything is in order except what is crucial. All I can do now is wait and try my best to turn all the extenuating factors into my supporting factors.¡±

    ...

    At 2 pm, the special care unit at the Jiujiang People¡¯s Hospital echoed with a particrly shrill scream. The doctors and the nurses rushed into the sickroom and saw the patient that had been delivered that morning rolling on the ground. His body was curled up in a ball, and his body was shuddering endlessly due to fear.

    ¡°Calm down! Shang Guan Qing Hong, you have already left the haunted house! You are now very safe! You are at the hospital!¡± Originally, the patient was only afraid, but once he heard the term haunted house, he started to wail again.

    ¡°Doctor, what should we do now?¡±

    ¡°Sigh, it took us so much effort to cure him of his illness, but people truly are stubborn creatures. He insisted on going back to traumatize himself again. I also do not know how toment on this issue now. Oh well, it is a good thing that it did not take that long for him to wake up this time. Hurry and move him to a normal sickroom.¡±

    The nurse pushed Shang Guan Qing Hong down the hospital corridor in a wheelchair and arrived at a familiar sickroom. Pushing open the door, Shang Guan Qing Hong saw many familiar faces. The sickroom was filled with the victims of Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house. At that moment, everyone was looking at Shang Guan Qing Hong in the wheelchair with shock and awe.

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t he sent out from the hospital two days ago? Why is he back so soon?¡±

    ¡°Has he rpsed?¡±

    ¡°Qing Hong, didn¡¯t you say you were going to teach Boss Chen a lesson he would never forget? Howe...¡±

    His friend only mentioned the word Boss Chen, and Shang Guan Qing Hong shivered involuntarily. He covered his ears, and his mouth mumbled incoherently, like a child who had been abandoned by the world.

    ¡°Brother Shang Guan, you have returned, but what about Qin Guang?¡±

    ¡°That man is in intensive care. It is still unknown whether he will return to us or not.¡± The nurse rolled her eyes at the other patients. ¡°Shang Guan Qing Hong needs plenty of rest. Do not try to attempt to engage him in any conversation rted to the haunted house. Whenever he hears the term haunted house, his illness acts up. Do you all understand?¡±

    ¡°Yes, nurse.¡±

    The old patients looked at Shang Guan Qing Hong with pity. Everyone there had been scared until they fainted inside Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house. Shang Guan Qing Hong was a repeat patient, and that was a badge of honor among the victims because at least he had resisted at least once. At the time, they still had not found out about Ma Feng¡¯s situation, so they thought being scared until one fainted twice was already very impressive.

    ...

    At around 5 pm, the day of business at New Century Park was reaching its end. Director Luo suddenly summoned Chen Ge to his office and ced a document before him. ¡°Director Luo, what is this?¡±

    ¡°This is a contract that I have negotiated for you.¡± Director Luo opened the document, and there was a contract inside. ¡°The boss of the haunted house in Xin Hai haspletely given up this industry. Last I heard, he appears to have obtained this illness where he goes crazy whenever he hears the words ¡®haunted house¡¯, so his people immediately started to let go of his assets in Xin Hai. I remembered you mention this before, so the moment they started setting the sale sign, and once I saw the low price that it was going for, I snapped it up.¡±

    ¡°Shang Guan Qing Hong is finally willing to give up his haunted house? Has he lost his confidence already?¡± Chen Ge looked at the contract he was holding. Director Luo had basically used his own money to purchase the haunted house in Xin Hai and gifted it to Chen Ge.

    ¡°I cannot sign this contract with good conscience. Director Luo, you¡¯ve used your own money, which is meant for New Century park, to purchase this asset. If there is any ie, I will be the benefactor, but if the Xin Hai haunted house loses money, you will be the one who takes the fall. This is very unfair to you and New Century Park.¡± Chen Ge did not want to sign this contract not because it was unfair but because he felt like he was taking advantage of Director Luo.

    ¡°Without your haunted house, New Century Park would have been crushed into the ground by the futuristic theme park by now. Consider this haunted house in Xin Hai a present from me to you, but I do have a very small request.¡± Director Luo revealed a smile on his face. ¡°The branch that you build in Xin Hai must be named New Century Park as well, or at least the name has to be tied on somehow.¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡±

    After half an hour of discussion, Chen Ge signed his name on the contract. Chen Ge was going to pay full attention to dealing with the cursed hospital next. His intention was to turn the branch in Xin Hai into a safe second base.

 Chapter 1136 - Draw Thirty, Presents for His Employees 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1136 Draw Thirty, Presents for His Employees 2 in 1</h4>

    Chen Ge did not expect things to go so sessfully. Before this, he had already had his eye on that haunted house in Xin Hai, but Shang Guan Qing Hong had refused to sell his own haunted house even though he was scared to the point of being hospitalized. The man himself appeared to realize how unique that asset was. But happiness always came so suddenly. Chen Ge had no idea why suddenly Shang Guan Qing Hong had changed his mind and decided to sell the Xin Hai haunted house.

    ¡°Perhaps he has finally realized therge gap between his haunted house and my haunted house. If there is a chance, I should go to the hospital to visit him and thank him in person.¡±

    Holding the contract, Chen Ge walked out from Director Luo¡¯s office. At that moment, the theme park was about to close for the day. However, there were still plenty of visitors lining up outside the haunted house. Many of them hade from different corners of the country just to visit the haunted house, so they kept queuing up to experience as many scenarios as they could so that they would not waste a second of their visit.

    Among them there were quite a lot of inte celebrities and private media individuals. Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house had provided them with plenty of material to use, and of course, they had contributed back by increasing the poprity of Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house. It was a symbiotic rtionship. Other haunted houses basically would not allow anyone to conduct any video-shooting inside their premises, but Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house was unique, and that was how Chen Ge had a close rtionship with these people.

    Returning to the staff breakroom, Chen Ge put the contract nicely away. Director Luo wanted him to go over to Xin Hai to start dealing with the new branch as soon as he could. If Chen Ge had any needs, he should not tarry and could bring the issue up with Director Luo immediately, and thetter would help settle it. However, Chen Ge did not n to go to Xin Hai so soon. Jiujiang was the ce where he had grown up; he had a very unique rtionship with this piece ofnd. Even though this city had numerous indescribable scary stories, stepping on this piece ofnd, he would feel strangelyforted as if there was some kind of hidden force protecting him. Xin Hai, inparison, was a rtively stranger city for Chen Ge. In fact, the cursed hospital had possiblyid plenty of traps over there, just waiting for Chen Ge to voluntarily walk into them.

    ¡°Before I go to Xin Hai, I must be very well prepared. I not only have to bring all the Red Specters with me, I have to give a notice to Captain Yan so that he can inform his colleagues in Xin Hai. I have a good history with ourw enforcement after all.¡±

    Chen Ge had met thew enforcement of Xin Hai before. Back when he first visited Xin Hai, he had been escorted away by the police because he jumped down from the second floor of Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s haunted house. He had experienced getting a ride in a Xin Hai police car.

    ¡°The police are the citizens¡¯ nannies. The reason I am going to Xin Hai is to help protect Xin Hai¡¯s local safety and contribute as much help as I can to maintain the serenity at Xin Hai. I am sure that thew enforcement of Xin Hai will be able to understand my point of view.¡±

    Lying in bed, Chen Ge took out theic and the ck phone. He looked through the details of all his current employees again and memorized all of their individual unique powers in his mind.

    ¡°There are still plenty of things that I need to do. Furthermore, it is not me who should be worried at the moment. The cursed hospital has suddenly lost a Demon God without actually knowing why. Therefore, they will keep sending people over to Jiujiang to conduct an investigation. As long as I intercept them and deal with the people they send to Jiujiang, I would be able to steadily drain their power.¡±

    After thepletion of the ghost fetus¡¯ mission, the pressure on Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders had lightened significantly. In fact, one could even say that he was currently the one who had the upper hand. The ball was in his court.

    Xiao Sun was led by Ol¡¯ Zhou to the underground morgue to conduct his special training. Other than the acting lessons, Xiao Sun also needed to study psychology, basic medicine, and psychiatry. The other employees had their own roles toplete, and they were preparing in their own way for their final mission.

    At around 9 pm, Chen Ge carried his backpack and left the haunted house. He took several Red Specters with him with the intention of helping Zhang Wenyuplete as many dying wishes of the suicide victims as he could, and at the same time, he wanted to see if he could encounter any new friends. After wandering around through the night, Chen Ge again helped Zhang Wenyupleted several wishes. Zhang Wenyu could be said to have full trust in Chen Ge. He believed that Chen Ge was one of those rare individual in the world who would stop at nothing to help others.

    Actually, perhaps only Chen Ge himself did not realize this. Most of the employees around him had already noticed that Chen Ge was actually someone incredibly charming. He could bring energy and courage to those in despair, and he had the great ability of sympathizing with others and thus would be able to understand things from another¡¯s perspective and quietly listen to their story and past.

    ¡°Is it because I have brought too many Red Specters with me? Howe I did not run into even a single lingering spirit tonight?¡±

    After Chen Ge reflected on this, he believed that he needed to change his method of working.

    ¡°This city is too big. The way I have been aimlessly searching for a new Specter is like finding a needle in a haystack. There has to be a method that is far more efficient.¡±

    Then, Chen Ge took out the ck phone. He opened one of the apps, and a grotesque ck spinning wheel appeared on the screen.

    ¡°Currently, my title is Red Specters¡¯ Favored. If I draw another ten Specters, my title will upgrade again.¡±

    If the title upgraded, Chen Ge would gain the affection of even more ghosts and Specters, and it would be much easier for him to gain their trust and affection. At the same time, however, it would mean that it would be much easier for him to run into misfortune and tragedy.

    ¡°I really have no idea whether I can support having the title upgraded again. Speaking of which, why does this spinning wheel only reward me with Specters? Damn! The rules specify very clearly that there will be many different rewards, but I somehow keep drawing baleful Specters with extremely low probability. Could it be that I am Sun Xiaojun¡¯s long lost elder brother?¡±

    The sky outside the window was turning bright. Chen Ge put away the ck phone.

    ¡°It is time for a quick nap. After I am done with the workers¡¯ make-up, I should go and visit the futuristic theme park. Their theme park has quite good Feng Shui. It will be very suitable to spin the wheel there.¡±

    At 9 am, New Century Park opened its gate for business. As the body cart had been used to push out more than ten visitors the previous day, there was not one person who was there to cause trouble for Chen Ge. Even the fifty cent army¡¯s activity on the haunted house app had conspicuously lowered.

    ¡°Uncle Xu, I have something else to do, so I will leave the operation of the haunted house to you.¡± Chen Ge carried his backpack and hailed a cab to get to the futuristic theme park. He had purchased his ticket online the day before. When he pulled out his identity card to retrieve his ticket, all the machines at the self-ticketing counter lit up with red light. Momentster, three workers from the futuristic theme park ran over, and they followed Chen Ge like his bodyguards. Those who did not know would probably believe that Chen Ge was some kind of ¡®VIP¡¯ that they had invited.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be like this. It is making me so ufortable. See how many people are looking at us.¡± Chen Ge carried his backpack while being surrounded securely in the middle by three futuristic theme park workers. ¡°I came today as a very normal visitor. You guys should rx.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s initial n was to go there to draw a prize and try his luck, but being surrounded so closely by so many people, he was too embarrassed to do that.

    ¡°Boss Chen, we also do not wish to do this, but...¡± One of the younger employees was about to exin when he was cut off by a warning gaze from the other older employee. Then, the three of them trailed behind Chen Ge like his shadow without saying anything else.

    ¡°Well, if you wish to follow me like that, I cannot do anything to stop you.¡± Chen Ge wandered his way over to the futuristic theme park¡¯s haunted house. He noticed on the ranking outside the haunted house that the second ce would be able to pass him with another five thousand points, and that caused a sense of danger to arise in his heart. Since I am already here, why not go in for a stroll? After all I have already paid for such an expensive ticket. Not using it sounds like such a waste.

    Chen Ge came to the control panel and randomly picked anything that caught his eye. He did not study them closely; he just scrolled through and selected any scenario that sounded interesting and then picked hellish mode. As if purposely to prevent the tragedy that Chen Ge caused during his previous visit from happening again, this machine could no longer mix more than fifty scenarios at the same time. Theputer would instead select ten random scenarios from all the avable scenarios and then create an amalgamation for the visitors to tour.

    Under the employees¡¯ extremely guarded scrutiny, Chen Ge entered the futuristic theme park¡¯s haunted house. He would be challenging the scenario alone. It was as if Chen Ge had booked the ce for himself¡ªthat was how much the futuristic theme park ¡®respected¡¯ Chen Ge.

    Listening to the eerie background music, Chen Ge felt like he had returned to his second home. His expression was rxed and happy. Somehow, he made it seem like he was enjoying a stroll through the park when in reality he was challenging a haunted house. After clearing the scenarios with ease, Chen Ge found a blind spot where the surveince camera would not capture him. He silently took out the ck phone and slid on the screen, clicking open an app.

    ¡°Without even realizing it, I have already umted so many scare points. Should Imit to a ten draw this time? Since obtaining the ck phone, I have not done something like this before. Zhang Ya should not be hibernating, and I¡¯m currently at someone else¡¯s haunted house. Another main reason is their boss came to my own haunted house just yesterday to purposely create trouble for me. It is only fair that Ie to his haunted house and do a ten draw on the phone, right?¡± Chen Ge slowly convinced himself. But actually, he knew very well that the drawing process was extremely safe. At least, no idents had happened from it in his previous experience.

    Looking at the spinning wheel on the phone, Chen Ge sucked in a deep breath. ¡°I refuse to believe that I will draw ten Specters with ten draws.¡±

    Gritting his teeth, Chen Ge chose to spin the wheel ten times. Looking at the wheel that started to spin, Chen Ge¡¯s heart was in his throat. The ck spinning wheel was slowly dyed red. This was something that had not happened before. With Chen Ge as the center, the surrounding temperature in the room started to drop. Bloody red patterns started to surface on the shell of the ck phone, but the patterns disappeared as suddenly as they appeared. Ghost faces flickered across the screen. These many signs all gave Chen Ge a very bad premonition. The spinning wheel slowly stopped. The ck phone kept vibrating as he got ten consecutive messages!

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored, for obtaining a unique baleful Specter¡ªShi Guo!

    ¡°Shi Guo (Rare Unique Specter, Draw Probability 1/100): A solitary soul wandering on Route 4 of the underground terminal. He walks through time. He will visit yesterday, pacing between minutes and seconds. He is a ghost forgotten by time.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored, for obtaining a baleful Specter¡ªCe Gui.

    ¡°Ce Gui (Draw Probability 1/20): He has nothing unique going for him. He is unassuming and appears to bepletely harmless. He likes to stay alone inside the quiet bathroom. He is like an old man who has lost his interest in his marriage and his life.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored, for obtaining a unique item¡ªButterfly Hairclip!

    ¡°Butterfly Hairclip (The item of possession for a unique baleful Specter, Gui Qiudie, Draw Probability 3/10): This is the first present you ever gave me. I have always worn it in my hair. Hopefully, one day, you will be able to spot me through it in the crowd. You will be able to see the butterfly hairclip that you once gifted me.¡±

    ...

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored for obtaining a unique Red Specter¡ªXue Rong!

    ¡°Xue Rong (Rare Unique Red Specter, Draw Probability 7/1,000): I once created more than one hundred breath-takingly beautiful faces until, one day, I realized I could not tell what beauty is anymore.

    ¡°Warning! Red Specter Xue Rong is extremely dangerous and sensitive! Please visit the new city¡¯s Yi Ren Pavilion beauty parlor after midnight!

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored, for obtaining a unique item¡ªBai Qiulin¡¯s Severed Arm.

    ¡°Bai Qiulin¡¯s Severed Arm (Collection of Resentment): The lost arm that was stolen away by the gambler has been used as the underground casino¡¯s boss¡¯ prop to demand money from his debtors.¡±

    The temperature inside the room had dropped to close to zero. Every message on the ck phone was rted to a baleful Specter. The air of resentment was almost bursting out of the screen already.

    ¡°Ten draws and I got nine baleful Specters out of it.¡± Chen Ge wiped away the cold sweat from his forehead. He was shocked by the result. Other than Bai Qiulin¡¯s severed arm, the other nine were all baleful Specters, and one of them was even a Red Specter. The ck phone recorded the backgrounds and the special powers of these baleful Specters. The Specters were dispersed all over Jiujiang, and it required Chen Ge to personally fetch them.

    ¡°Of the ten draws, I only drew one Red Specter. Looks like the probability of drawing a Red Specter is still quite low. I was really lucky to have drawn Zhang Ya during my first draw.¡±

    But then again Chen Ge really did not know whether he really should call himself luck or unlucky. The temperature inside the haunted house slowly rose back to normal. Just like students who had just finished their difficult finals, Chen Ge felt like he had just ovee a big ordeal, so he visited a few other scenarios to clear them and to rx his tense mood.

    ¡°If I manage to draw one more Specter, the title of Red Specter¡¯s Favored will upgrade. The problem is, I still have a lot of umted Scare Points, and it is more than enough for me to draw a lot more.¡± Chen Ge was feeling very conflicted. His rational side told him that it was about time to stop, but his finger was twitching madly whenever he saw that spinning wheel on the ck phone. ¡°My parents¡¯ disappearance might be rted to the cursed hospital as well. In other words, they are the source of all my bad luck and the tragedy that has fallen the city. Facing such a powerful enemy, I have to fight with everything that I have got.¡±

    Chen Ge thus found another blind spot.

    ¡°It is not often that I cane to the futuristic theme park to visit. How about I just go for broke this one time and use all of the umted scare points within their haunted house?¡±

    If he drew one more Specter, the title would upgrade, but Chen Ge had already considered it from every angle. After all, danger was alreadying his way no matter what. Since it could not be avoided, he might as well make the storm blow even harder and bigger. Sliding the screen, Chen Ge opted for another ten draws!

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored, for obtaining a unique item¡ªXu Yin¡¯s Music Sheet.

    ¡°Xu Yin¡¯s Music Sheet: He was once innocent and happy; he also once believed in light and goodness. He had written all his love into his song and sang it to the girls who killed him.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored, for obtaining a unique item¡ªAn Iplete Birth Certificate.

    ¡°An Iplete Birth Certificate: Men Nan is a child born inside a mental asylum. The world that is viewed as twisted and abnormal is the world where he grew up. This birth certificate contains his mother¡¯s signature and is thest memory he has of her.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored, for obtaining a unique item¡ªWhite Valentine¡¯s Candy

    ¡°White Valentine¡¯s Candy: These are candies she personally made for you. You promised you will finish all of them.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored, for obtaining a unique item¡ªBlue Raincoat.

    ¡°Blue Raincoat: She bought her child a blue raincoat with cartoon characters on it. The child wearing the raincoat looks as cute as a little penguin. That night, it was storming in Li Wan City. She held her child¡¯s hand waiting for the bus at the bus stop, but when Bus 104 entered the station, her child had mysteriously gone missing. No one knew where her child went. Perhaps this blue raincoat will provide you with some clues to his location.¡±

    ...

    After the second lot of ten draws, Chen Ge was stunned. ¡°I did not manage to draw one single Specter, huh? This is so unscientific! Have I drawn all of the Specters avable in the prize pool?¡±

    In terms of probability, baleful Specters were indeed rare draws, much less Red Specters. It was already hard enough to draw a normal Specter.

    ¡°Is this done on purpose? I¡¯d already mentally prepared myself for the title for upgrade, but the result is that I didn¡¯t even get one baleful Specter?¡± Chen Ge considered it as rationally as he could for half a minute and then made a really irrational move. ¡°Should I do another ten draws?¡±

    His finger reached dangerously toward the sliding screen, and the strange spinning wheel on the ck phone started to rotate rapidly again.

 Chapter 1137 - I Hope Each of You Can Find Happiness 2 in 1

    <h4>1137 I Hope Each of You Can Find Happiness 2 in 1</h4>

    The temperature in the room did not drop again. Following the vibration on his phone, Chen Ge received yet another ten messages.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored, for obtaining a one-time use Nightmare Mission coupon!

    ¡°After using the coupon, it is guaranteed that a new Nightmare Mission will be registered when the daily haunted house missions refresh at midnight!

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored, for obtaining a haunted house employee costume¡ªClown of Misfortune!

    ¡°Clown of Misfortune: They alwaysugh seeing me cry. They believe my sadness is their source of joy.

    ¡°Warning! The whole costume for the clown of misfortune consists of the clown¡¯s mask, a bloody make-up bag, and a human skin jester costume. After putting on the whole costume set, it will create an unknown effect.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored, for obtaining a haunted house employee costume¡ªThe Food Connoisseur!

    ¡°The Food Connoisseur: I am the pickiest eater in the world. I have tasted the meat of almost every animal in the world. Lately, I have been obsessed with an optimal prime cut of meat. Would you like to follow me to the kitchen to take a peek at it?

    ¡°Warning! The whole costume for the Food Connoisseur consists of the night-colored western suit and the good night briefcase. The suit can increase the wearer¡¯s personal charm. A friendly warning, do not open the connoisseur¡¯s briefcase when there is a crowd around you.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored, for obtaining a haunted house employee costume¡ªThe Stranger!

    ¡°The Stranger: A homicide with a random target is the hardest case to solve. There is no motive and no rules. The unrted victim and the foolproof murder method, do be careful of that stranger that brushes past your shoulder when you walk alone at night.

    ¡°Warning! The costume of the Stranger only consists of a casual outfit. The outfit can help lower your presence to the lowest. Even if the witnesses have seen your face, their memory of you will soon be forgotten.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored, for obtaining a unique item¡ªAn Inscribed Pair of Wedding Rings!

    ¡°An Inscribed Pair of Wedding Rings: Not long after their marriage, the husband often returnedte from work. On a stormy night, the husband left and was never seen again. The police searched for three days and three nights, but no trace of the husband could be found. The wife cried herself to sleep every night. The case eventually became an open case. No one knew where the husband had gone, and the wife slowly spiraled into insanity. She could often be seen whispering to the pair of wedding rings on her fingers on her own.

    ¡°Warning! As long as both parties are wearing the wedding rings, no matter how great the distance between them, they will be able to sense each other¡¯s general location! But wearing the rings for too long will have a negative impact on the wearers¡¯ bodies.¡±

    ...

    Another ten draws, but Chen Ge appeared to have really drawn all the existing baleful Specters from the prize pool. This time, he not only did not draw any Specters, all the rewards that he had drawn were equipment, and they were not particrly rare items on top of that.

    ¡°Could it be that all of my luck has been exhausted on my random encounters with ghosts? But that does not sound right! I have already drawn twenty consecutive times, and there has not been a baleful Specter in sight, or am I actually umting my luck? Will my next draw nab me a Top Red Specter or even a Demon God?¡±

    Chen Ge was slowly being drawn into the gambler¡¯s facy, but thankfully, our main character¡¯s rationality regained its possession of his mind. Shaking his head, Chen Ge realized how unrealistic his thoughts were. After all, a Demon God was on apletely different levelpared to a Red Specter. Afterpleting his thirty draws, Chen Ge memorized all the rewards and prizes that he had drawn in his mind and then slowly made his way through the rest of his tour of futuristic theme park¡¯s haunted house.

    ¡°Quick! He ising out!¡±

    ¡°Brother Jiang! Brother Jiang! The person is heading toward the exit that you are guarding!¡±

    ¡°All departments, be on full alert! Do not let anything slip past your eyes!¡±

    Pushing open thest door, Chen Ge walked out from the haunted house, and he saw Jiang Ming, who appeared to be waiting for him at the exit.

    ¡°Long time no see. How have you beentely?¡±

    Chen Ge initially thought that Jiang Ming would have nothing but a huff or a rolling of the eyes for him, but that was far away from the truth. Jiang Ming very naturally greeted Chen Ge, and there was even a trace of friendliness in his voice. ¡°I am doing quite welltely thanks to you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks to me? What have I done?¡±

    ¡°You sent that idiot Ma Feng to the hospital. Now, even the breaths that I take in feel that much easier and fresher,¡± Jiang Ming whispered. The management at the futuristic theme park was wildly different from the management at New Century Park. It appeared like there was much internal fighting. After Jiang Jiu was hospitalized, Ma Feng had seized all managerial power. As Jiang Jiu¡¯s adopted son, Jiang Ming had naturally suffered a lot under the new leader.

    ¡°Hey, watch what you¡¯re saying. I had nothing to do with the fact that he is currently hospitalized. He signed the disimer.¡± Chen Ge walked away from Jiang Ming. He actually wanted to tell Jiang Ming thatpared to Ma Feng, if he had really personally sent anyone to the hospital, that person was Jiang Jiu.

    After ying at the futuristic theme park¡¯s haunted house a few more times, Chen Ge left the theme park after collecting about 10,000 points at the futuristic theme park¡¯s haunted house ranking. Seeing his departing back, the workers at the haunted house were stunned beyond belief. Their technology like data analysis and visitor simtion had lost their uses against Chen Ge. A result of 10,000 points was something their system had predicted would only be reached after another half a year.

    Hailing a cab, Chen Ge returned to New Century Park. He hurried back to the haunted house and went directly to the Prop Room. The already congested Prop Room appeared even more crowded. There were many items left in the corner. If one did not take a closer look, one would not have noticed them. It was as if these things had been there from the time the haunted house was built. ¡°It somehow feels like they belonged to the haunted house to begin with.¡±

    Chen Ge had no idea when these things appeared. It felt like someone had pushed open a certain door inside his haunted house and then deposited the items inside the Prop Room. ¡°It should be my imagination taking over. Something like that would be noticed by the employees.¡±

    Holding the ck phone and reading the item descriptions for each of the rewards, he categorized the items that he had drawn into different piles.

    At around 6 pm, the haunted house officially closed for the day. After all the living employees had left, Chen Ge took theic and summoned most of the ghost employees to the first floor. If there was a lingering visitor that entered the haunted house at this moment, they probably would have their soul scared right out of their body. The already closed haunted house corridor was filled with people, and none of them had their make-up removed yet.

    ¡°Some of you have already worked for me for a very long time. From the initial difort to now bing the central pir of support of this ce, your transformation is beyond my wildest expectations, and our haunted house is only bing better and better because of all of you.¡± Chen Ge pushed open the door of the Prop Room. ¡°I am very appreciative of everyone¡¯s help, so I wanted to do something in return for all that you have done for me.¡±

    ¡°Boss, you are treating us like strangers. That shouldn¡¯t be the case. We already treat this ce like our own home. Without this haunted house, all of us probably would still be wandering aimlessly at some corner of this city.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou stood next to Duan Yue with a blissful expression on his face. ¡°In any case, I like working here. Here, I can feel something that I have not felt in a long time. I also do not know how to describe it in words.¡±

    ¡°I personally do not feel like I am working at all. This is more like a game for me, and it is quite interesting,¡± Men Nan said with a casual expression. At the end of the day, he refused to admit that a Red Specter like himself was willingly working under Chen Ge.

    ¡°At any other corner of this city, no matter what I did, or no matter what I saw, everything around me kept on installing in my mind the reminder that ¡®you are already dead¡¯, ¡®this world does not belong to you¡¯, ¡®you are nothing but a lingering spirit that should have gone a long time ago¡¯, ¡®you do not belong here¡¯, and ¡®you are an anomaly¡¯. But that sensation has not surfaced even once here. I do not need to hide my real self, and no one has ever suspected of my real identity.¡±

    After the ¡®monitor¡¯ from the School of the Afterlife voiced her thoughts, many lingering spirits from the students also nodded. They were a bunch of kids without a home to return to.

    ¡°Before this, I never did care about anything. I only started to regret after I lost everything in gambling. I thought the world had already abandoned cursed souls like myself, depriving me of the chance for a new life, but I am d that I ran into you, boss.¡± Ol¡¯ Bai had his single arm ced inside his pocket, and his bloodied body leaned against the door. ¡°Before this, I did not have the privilege of choice, but now, I just want to be a professional haunted house worker.¡±

    Hearing Ol¡¯ Bai¡¯s words, Chen Ge winked at him. ¡°I have been intending to do something for all of you, so I will present you guys with some gifts. Those who do not get any gifts, please do not worry. I am sure there will be more in the future. Your turn will eventuallye.¡± He waved at Bai Qiulin. ¡°Ol¡¯ Bai, the first present is for you. I found your severed arm. It was used as a tool by the boss of an underground casino to scare his customers.¡±

    Chen Ge handed a paper note with an address to Bai Qiulin. ¡°Initially, I thought about going and personally retrieving it for you, but I believe it might be better if you go and take it yourself. Leave behind every regret and officially start over with your new life.¡±

    The reason Bai Qiulin could be a Red Specter was because he had consumed Xiong Qing¡¯s heart, but he himself was still missing his heart, so even after bing a Red Specter, his power level was weaker than the others.

    epting the paper note, Ol¡¯ Bai used his remaining hand to squeeze it tightly. Even though he was now a Red Specter, he was still missing a limb. Normally, he could use blood vessels to weave out false fingers and an arm, but that was just a lie, a lie more to himself than to the others. The crack in his soul was due to his memory. When he was alive, he chopped off his arm, and at the same time, he had chopped off his memory.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°There is no need for thanks. We are already family.¡± Chen Ge patted Ol¡¯ Bai on his shoulder. Probably because Ol¡¯ Bai was still caught in the excitement of the moment, he did not rein in his bloody aura and blood vessels, so he sshed Chen Ge with blood.

    ¡°There are presents to receive as your employees?¡± Men Nan stood at the door. Even though his tone wasced with derision, there was a trace of envy that crossed his eyes. ¡°Giving your employee a severed arm, that kind ofpany benefit does match your quality and personality quite well.¡±

    Seeing how Men Nan kept mumbling to everyone around him, Chen Ge then walked to stand before Men Nan. ¡°Even though you are not really my employee, after all you have lent me your help many times, so I have prepared a present for you as well.¡±

    ¡°I also have one?¡± Men Nan¡¯s eyes lit up with joy, but he soon put on his normal, annoyed expression. ¡°Tsk, I know, it will be something strange and obtuse again, right?¡±

    Chen Ge shook his head. He took out an envelope that was carefully and delicately wrapped from his pocket. ¡°This is for you. Do not open it now. I¡¯d advise you take a look at the content when you are alone.¡±

    ¡°What is it? Why are you making it sound so mysterious? Is this a prank?¡± After receiving the envelope, Men Nan did not listen to Chen Ge¡¯s advice. His childlike curiositypelled him to open the envelope on the spot. ¡°So, it is just a piece of meaningless paper...¡±

    When his eyesnded on the signature on the paper and the mother¡¯s words of wishes for her son at the back of the paper, Men Nan, who had been grumbling, suddenly went quiet. The boy who wore the red shirt stood at the door holding the paper with both hands like it was the most valuable treasure in the world. Men Nan¡¯s mother cherished her son a lot, and she had many words that she did not have the chance to tell Men Nan.

    Chen Ge squatted down next to Men Nan and whispered in his ear, ¡°Your mother¡¯sst wish will be fulfilled because you will only be happier and happier.¡±

    This time, Chen Ge had drawn many objects, and most of them were rted to his haunted house workers. These items could help his employees repair the cracks in their soul, helping them bing more powerful and perfect. After gifting a few more workers their presents, Chen Ge called Xiao Sun, who was looking at him with nk eyes.

    ¡°Big brother, do I also have a present? Honestly, I do not have that many friends. I have grown so old, but other than my father and mother, I have not received any gifts from any other person before.¡± Xiao Sun was quite excited.

    ¡°Then I am afraid I will disappoint you. The thing that I am going to give you is not a present but an item to help you save yourself.¡± Chen Ge took out a pair of wedding rings from the Prop Room. The wedding rings appeared to be made from someone¡¯s ashes, and they had two hearts that were linked together carved into them.

    ¡°Wedding rings?¡± Xiao Sun was stunned, and then he was suddenly reminded of a certain Demon God who was hiding inside Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. Instantly, he leaped back like someone had struck at his soul. He quickly waved his hands. ¡°Brother, no way, you must be mistaken! I can¡¯t take something like that!¡±

    ¡°These wedding rings were made by a woman using her husband¡¯s body who had betrayed her. They are called Inscribed Wedding Rings. The two who wear these rings will be able to sense the other person¡¯s location no matter the distance between them.¡± Chen Ge handed one of the rings to Xiao Sun. ¡°You are going to the cursed hospital, but I will pay close attention to your movement in Xin Hai. This is not a present for you, but it is to help you stay alive.¡±

    Even though he did not get a present, Chen Ge¡¯s words still touched Xiao Sun slightly. Chen Ge was not sending Xiao Sun to his death, but he was trying his best to help Xiao Sune out the other side more powerful and alive.

    ¡°Thank you, big brother.¡± Xiao Sun looked at the wedding ring in his palm. His heart was warm but rationality reminded him that it was best to ask more questions. ¡°Brother Chen, are you sure that I can live until the day I am to be sent to the cursed hospital wearing this wedding ring?¡±

    ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±

    ¡°I mean...¡± Xiao Sun winked and made gesture at Chen Ge¡¯s shadow, trying to express himself without being too obvious about it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you worry. She is not as narrow-minded as you think.¡± After saying that, Chen Ge ignored Xiao Sun. He then took out a child¡¯s blue raincoat from the Prop Room. He walked through the group of employees and reached the corner of the room. The red raincoat was standing alone in the corner. She had watched the proceeding silently but never once taken a step forward. When she saw Chen Ge walk toward her, she was quite surprised, but when her eyesnded on the blue raincoat Chen Ge was holding, her body appeared to be struck by lightning.

    ¡°I have helped you find the raincoat of your child. I still remember the promise that I gave you. I swear I willplete it.¡± Chen Ge handed the blue raincoat to the poor mother. ¡°There was some lingering curse on the blue raincoat. I had the red high heels check it earlier. She said that the curse was different from the one used by the ghost fetus. It appeared to be rted to the cursed hospital.¡±

    Just as Chen Ge finished, the red raincoat reached out to grab his arm. ¡°Bring me with you!¡±

    Looking into the red raincoat¡¯s eyes, Chen Ge lightly nodded. ¡°Of course.¡±

    The red raincoat slowly let go. At the same time, the ck phone vibrated slightly. Chen Ge took out the phone to nce at it. Inside the worker¡¯s employee tab, the red raincoat¡¯s information had appeared.

    After gifting almost all the presents, the employees slowly shuffled back underground. Chen Ge sat in the Prop Room alone. He took out the recorder from his backpack and pressed a button on it. The static sound rang beside his ears, and a blood figure silently materialized beside Chen Ge. Without asking for any reason or requesting anything, he had never even considered the danger that he would get into by following Chen Ge. Whenever Chen Ge pressed the y button on the recorder, he would appear.

    ¡°Xu Yin...¡± Chen Ge looked at the young man standing beside him, studying the painful and mncholic face. He pulled out a music sheet from the drawer.

 Chapter 1138 - Look Into the Eyes of These Red Spectres and Reconsider Your Answer 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1138 Look Into the Eyes of These Red Spectres and Reconsider Your Answer 2 in 1</h4>

    ¡°Xu Yin, this is for you.¡± The old music sheet had many different tunes, and every note was ying a happy and lovesick song. The static noise drifted through his ears. Xu Yin did not reach out to touch the music sheet offered to him by Chen Ge. He stood silently at the side, like always shielding at Chen Ge¡¯s side. He did not say a word and was always unfazed by anything that came his way. Being lied to by the person he loved, being hurt by the person he loved, being amputated by the person he loved, it was as if Xu Yin was no longer himself once the knife stabbed into his heart.All his hope, all his joy, all his love had beenpletely shattered. He had epted the drink proffered by his love without any hesitation. He saw the person he loved the most standing beside him with a glinting knife through his blurred vision. He wanted to scream for help, but he could not make any sound; he wanted to struggle, but he could not control his body. He could only watch his beloved¡¯s face as despair slowly consumed him.After Xu Yin became a Specter, he lost his rationality. Whenever he ran into an enemy, no matter how strong the enemy was, he was charge forward like a crazy bull. He wanted to die; he wanted his soul to disappear; he wanted to end all his pain and despair; he had been actively seeking death. Someone like him had run into someone like Chen Ge. Whenever he was maddened by despair and tortured until he could not recognize himself by pain, Chen Ge would always be there to lend him a hand, to help his wounded self up from the ground. The way Chen Ge looked at Xu Yin had never been filled with disgust or terror. There was only gentleness and concern. In this world, the only person who really understood Xu Yin was probably Chen Ge.

    ¡°Take this. Compared to hoping that it will make you stronger, I wish that it can help return to you at least some of your former smile.¡± Chen Ge handed the music sheet to Xu Yin, but when Xu Yin touched the music sheet, the old music sheet was instantly dyed red. The love songs¡¯ lyrics were instantly blurred by blood, and they rearranged themselves into new lyrics.

    ¡°I am a bird who has lost its voice; no one will be able to hear my tune anymore.

    ¡°My beloved tore away all of my feathers and plunged a knife into my heart.

    ¡°They embraced my bodies into their hands, saying it was all for my own good.

    ¡°I understood. I knew.

    ¡°She wanted to personally create the person that she loved.¡±

    The bloody lyrics appeared on the music sheet and tore away the happiness, recing it with something bloody and cruel. Throughout the whole process, Xu Yin had not done anything. All he did was hold the music sheet.

    ¡°There is no return...¡±

    Covered in wounds, the bird whose body was pierced by the knife had lost its beautiful voice. The music sheet that once recorded the joy of love was soaked in blood and slipped through Xu Yin¡¯s fingertips. Before it fell to the ground, it was caught by a pair of hands.

    ¡°It does not matter. There is no reason to force yourself to ept the joy from the past. The current you can and should strive for joy in the future. You deserve that much.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were shining with the light of hope. He patted Xu Yin¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Compared to when I first met you, you have already changed a lot. Do not worry. I will always be by your side.¡±

    After finding his own heart, Xu Yin¡¯s emotions had stabilized a lot. He was no longer dominated by pain and despair, and other colors had started to appear in his world.

    ¡°One day, I will ensure that you and everyone else at this haunted house obtains their well-deserved happiness.¡± Chen Ge ced the bloodied music sheet on the table. His gaze was gentle and filled with power.

    Standing before Chen Ge, Xu Yin opened his lips but did not make any sound. Instead, his pale fingers lightly caressed the music sheets, and his body slowly dissolved into blood vessel. In the end, Xu Yin took away the music sheet. Just as his body was about to disappear, he wrote down one short song on the music sheet.

    ¡°The world kissed me with pain, but I am willing to repay it with songs.¡±

    Peace returned to the Prop Room, and Chen Ge looked at the spot where Xu Yin had disappeared. At thest moment before Xu Yin disappeared, Chen Ge noticed a very powerful energy surging out of Xu Yin¡¯s body. He seemed to have broken through some kind of threshold, and a ck pattern started to appear around his heart.

    ¡°Has Xu Yin suddenly gained some epiphany? The presence about him suddenly grew intense, and the presence was different from the ones released by the other Red Specters. The ck pattern on his heart was very simr to the pattern on the edge of Zhang Ya¡¯s dress. Is it possible that Xu Yin has sown the seed to be a Demon God within himself?

    ¡°The items that I can draw from the Wheel of Misfortune can be so beneficial to a Red Specter? No wait, other than gaining enormous affection from him, the letter that I gave Men Nan did not help with his overall ability at all. Looks like it differs ording to the individual.¡±

    The items obtained from the roulette sealed the many Specters¡¯ past, those items would indeed help the Specters and Red Specters be more perfect, but ultimately, they were just mere objects. The biggest reason such a huge change would happen to Xu Yin was due to Chen Ge. Who would have thought a ghost who only wanted to find release in death would encounter the kindest and gentlest friend in the world after his death?

    ...

    At 8:10 pm, the door of a mom and pop shop in the old city area western street was kicked down. Many different kinds of snacks were scattered everywhere. Soon, a young man wearing a white shirt was dragged out from the inner room.

    ¡°Brother Leopard, Brother Eagle, this has nothing to do with my family. We have already discussed this. I will return the money.¡± The young man¡¯s face was bloodied, but he still tried to struggle up from the ground like he could not feel the pain.

    ¡°Do you think we would still believe you? The wily hare has three holes to his burrow! If you hadn¡¯t been changing your hiding ce, do you think we¡¯de to this ce to find you?¡±

    Holding the broken beer bottle in the hand, a bare-chested, middle-aged man walked out from the inner room. There was a scar on the corner of his eye, and the tattoo of a leopard head could be seen on the back of his arm.

    ¡°Brother Leopard, give me three more days! I promise I will return the money by then!¡± The young man knelt to the ground and repeated earnestly.

    ¡°Where are you going to find the money?¡± Brother Leopard held the broken beer bottle and pointed the sharp edge before the young man¡¯s face. ¡°Actually, I noted that this little shop of that limping grandfather of yours is still worth quite a pretty penny. Tell him to sell this ce, and perhaps you might be able to collect enough money.¡±

    ¡°No! That won¡¯t do! This is my grandpa...¡±

    ¡°What nonsense are you talking about? Do you think you still have the right to say no to us?¡± The other man patted his waist. There appeared to be a knife hidden under his shirt.

    ¡°Please don¡¯te after my ce. I will find the money no matter what! Three days. Please just give me another three days!¡±

    ¡°Fine, fine. In three days, if you still have not given me the money, I will take an arm away from you.¡± Brother Leopard yanked the young man up by his hair so that the young man would look him in the eyes. ¡°Previously, there was someone who also wanted to escape from his debt. In the end, I chopped off one of his arms. The blood was squirting everywhere, and it refused to stop flowing. Would you like to see that arm? As a souvenir, I have been holding onto it.¡±

    ¡°There is no need for that, Brother Leopard. I swear I will figure out a way to pay you back.¡± The young man curled up on the ground, making himself as small as he could until Brother Leopard and Brother Eagle left. The pride of a man was abandoned fully. He wiped away the blood on his face, picked up the broken door of the shop, and fixed it back with his head lowered. The beer and bottles littered the ground, the shelves were tipped over, and a limping old man was seated in the middle of the not so big room. The elder was way past his prime. He had been hit once on the head by a beer bottle, and the blood was bright in his head of white hair.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Inside the small room, other than the old man, a middle-aged man wearing a red shirt had mysteriously appeared. Holding some cotton wipes and disinfectant, he was carefully picking out the ss shards from the old man¡¯s head wound.

    ¡°Why did that group of people onlye after your grandfather but not you?¡± The man in the red shirt¡¯s voice had no emotion.

    ¡°My grandpa wanted to protect his shop, so he fought with them...¡±

    ¡°How much money do you owe them?¡±

    ¡°300,000 RMB, but initially, I only owed them 50,000 RMB. As the interest continued to grow, they want me to pay them back 300,000 RMB.¡± The young man ran to his grandfather¡¯s side and helped to dress the wound. He held the old man¡¯s hand, and his heart must not have been as calm as he appeared. ¡°I have already paid them 70,000 RMB, but they still want more. I really do not have any money left.¡±

    ¡°Why would you owe them money in the first ce?¡±

    ¡°Because...¡±

    ¡°Because you like to gamble?¡± The middle-aged man in the red shirt finished the sentence without even lifting his head.

    ¡°I... yes.¡± The young man did not dare speak, and he was too ashamed to look at his grandfather.

    ¡°Those who like to gamble will never win.¡± The middle-aged man in the red shirt stood up. His ruby like eyes stared at the young man. ¡°If you promise me to find an actual job and honestly earn a living for yourself, I can help you deal with your debt.¡±

    ¡°You are willing to help me?¡± The young man was at a dead end. He looked at the man, and his emotions wereplicated. ¡°Thank you. I will definitely return the money to you! Can you please give me your contact number?¡±

    ¡°I am helping you because I saw the past version of myself kneeling there on the ground in you. I was once in your ce, but at the time, no one was willing toe and help me.¡± The man¡¯s eyes were swimming with blood vessels. ¡°I do not need you to pay me any money. I only wish for you to take good care of your grandfather. If you dare go back to gambling in the future... I will swear to return to im your life.¡±

    The man in the red shirt walked out from the shop. The young man hurried after him to ask, ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    ¡°I am going to find that group of people who just left to ask them to return what they owe me.¡±

    ¡°They also owe you money?¡±

    ¡°Money?¡± The man in the red sheet showed off the stub that was hidden in his shirt sleeve. ¡°They owe me an arm.¡±

    ...

    Inside the VIP room at the Jia Hao Night Club, several couple were grinding with lust and passion. The lights in the room flickered several times before they suddenly went out like someone had cut the wiring.

    ¡°F*ck! There¡¯s a ckout? Where is the waiter?¡±

    ¡°Little Leopard! Why did you pick such a horrible ce? Howe there is not even one person out in the corridor?¡±

    ¡°This f*cking blows!¡±

    The shrieking background music disappeared, and the night club became eerily quiet like everyone¡¯s mouth had been sewn shut.

    ¡°Hello? Is anyone there? Motherf*cker! This ce is the worst. What the hell are you people doing? Get me your boss over here now!¡± Brother Leopard and Brother Eagle followed behind a fat man. The three of them walked out from the room, and they turned many corners before they saw a man. The man was sitting in the lobby, wearing a blood red shirt.

    ¡°Hey! We¡¯re talking to you! Are you deaf or what?¡± Brother Leopard kicked the sofa to the side. ¡°Have you seen a waitress or waiter here?¡±

    The man in the red shirt took a sip of the alcohol in the ss. Without even looking at Brother Leopard, he walked directly toward the fat man.

    ¡°This man is rather strange.¡±

    ¡°What are you doing! Stop right there!¡± Brother Leopard stood guardedly before the fat man.

    ¡°I owed you money in the past, and my boss told me that I need to return the money that I owe you.¡± The man in the red shirt took out a credit card from his pocket. ¡°Inside this card, you will find the full amount of the money that I owed you.¡±

    Brother Leopard turned to look at the fat man. The fatty did not ask for details. Since someone was there to deliver free money to them, why would they say no?

    ¡°I have received the money, so you can go now.¡± The fat man had this sneaking feeling that the man before him was rather familiar, and coupling that was a very bad feeling.

    ¡°Now that I have returned the money that I owe you, it is time for you to return what you have taken from me.¡± The middle-aged man had one of his hands ced inside his pocket. He stood in the middle of the lobby. Multiple blood vessels crawled down from the ceiling, and pools of blood spread on the ground.

    ¡°What is it that we have taken from you?¡± The fatty looked at the middle-aged man¡¯s face. His eyes slowly widened. Suddenly, his expression scrunched up in fear as a name that he had almost forgotten floated up in his mind.

    Bai Qiulin!

    ¡°Do you not remember it anymore?¡± The middle-aged man¡¯s bloodshot eyes stared at the three in the lobby. The red shirt fluttered like blood, and the air of Yin energy raised the roof. ¡°I have been searching for that arm for so long.¡±

    ...

    At 9:30 pm, Chen Ge summoned all the Red Specters at the underground scenario. After waiting for several minutes, Bai Qiulin finally arrived. The presence that radiated off the man was obviously different from before. The crack that he had from consuming Xiong Qing had been filled. There was now an energy in his eyes that forbade others from looking straight at him. Sensing the change in Bai Qiulin, Men Nan grumbled under his breath, ¡°Great, yet another Red Specter that I cannot defeat. Yay.¡±

    ¡°Alright, everyone is here.¡± Chen Ge pped his hands for silence. ¡°I have called you all here because we are going to find and wee our new colleagues.¡±

    ¡°Who are you lying to? Bringing so many Red Specter to wee new colleagues? Aren¡¯t you afraid they are going to get scared to their second death?¡± Men Nan gibbered and then turned enviously to look at Bai Qiulin. ¡°When will it be my turn to get stronger?¡±

    ¡°There will be nine new colleagues in total. I have written down their information and unique background. Please memorize them lest we get the wrong person.¡±

    After all the Red Specters had memorized the details, Chen Ge summoned everyone back into theic and then hailed a cab to leave the haunted house. The first ce he visited was an apartment building at the old city. The life tempo here was very slow; the tenants were mainly the elderly and children.

    He climbed all the way to the fourth floor and stopped before the door of the public bathroom. The old door was sealed shut by wooden boards. Thendlord had even added tworge locks and several yellow talismans on the door.

    ¡°This should be the ce.¡± Chen Ge took out the hammer from his backpack and broke down the locks. He pushed open the bathroom door and saw the magazine and newspapers that littered the ground. ¡°It appears like this bathroom has been vacated for a long time.¡±

    Following the information provided by the ck phone, Chen Ge came to the fourth cubicle. He shook the cubicle door and realized that the cubicle was locked from the inside. Turning to walk to the third cubicle, he gathered the newspapers from the ground to form a pile and stood on them. Over the cubicle wall, he used Yin Yang Vision and looked into the fourth cubicle. Inside the cramped space sat an uncle wearing ck-rimmed sses. The uncle looked tired and disinterested in everything. Even though he had realized that a living person was standing next to him, he could not gather the energy to scare Chen Ge.

    ¡°Hey! Would you like to follow me to change your life?¡± Chen Ge shouted at the uncle.

    The middle-aged man sitting on the toilet looked left and right before lifting his head with confusion. He extended his finger to point at himself. ¡°You can see me?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I own a haunted house. Isn¡¯t it perfectly normal for me to be able to see a ghost?¡± Chen Ge smiled kindly at the middle-aged man. ¡°Are you willing to step out of yourfort zone and start a new life?¡±

    ¡°No, I am not.¡± The middle-aged man lowered his head to turn back to his newspaper. He had no interest in answering Chen Ge.

    ¡°I wish for you to wee your new life with me. How about you be an employee at my haunted house?¡± Chen Ge flipped through theic. The sound of pages turning rang out inside the small bathroom.

    ¡°Do you have nothing else better to do?¡± The middle-aged man lifted his head with annoyance. By then, the whole public bathroom was covered in blood vessels. Soon, more than ten Red Specters¡¯ heads floated up, surrounding his cubicle.

    ¡°I am serious. Why don¡¯t you look into the eyes of these Red Specters and reconsider your answer?¡± Chen Ge asked with some sincerity.

    Putting down the newspaper, the middle-aged man who was surrounded by the Red Specters sted out from the cubicle and reached to grab Chen Ge¡¯s hand. ¡°I knew I could find a friend in you once Iid my eyes on you. From today, my life is yours.¡±

    ¡°Er... have you washed your hands?¡±

    ¡°Aristotle once said, those who sit on the toilet might not be pooping. They could be searching for the corner of human life, thinking about the ultimate secret of the universe.¡±

    ¡°You are familiar with the study of philosophy?¡±

    ¡°Er, well, I know one or two things about it.¡±

 Chapter 1139 - Welcome to the Family 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1139 Wee to the Family 2 in 1</h4>

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specters¡¯ Favored, for obtaining Ce Gui! The haunted house has gained one new employee!

    ¡°Ce Gui (Dong Wentao): No one knows about his past, and no one knows how he came to be in his current state. I can only tell you he has very great potential. It depends on you whether you can unlock his potential or not.¡±

    Chen Ge studied the new message that appeared on the ck phone. He really did not expect that Ce Gui to directly be his haunted house worker so easily.

    I merely used ten Red Specters to invite him. Who would have thought he would ept my invitation so easily?

    Silently studying Ce Gui who was surrounded by the Red Specters, Chen Ge was honestly rather surprised that the ck phone had such a quitement for him. This baleful Specter looked very unassuming in terms of appearance. He wore an old-fashioned western suit, with unkempt hair, looking like a quintessential member of the lowest rung of the societaldder.

    Since he has potential, I should try to push him further. Perhaps the uncle might also find new hope in the afterlife and wee rejuvenation.

    After summoning Ce Gui, whose legs had gotten weak, and the other Red Specters into theic, Chen Ge walked out from the bathroom.

    ¡°This was originally a haunted house, but now that the Specter has been taken away, it is quite a waste for them to abandon this ce.¡±

    He tore down the yellow talismans from door. He took out the ballpoint pen wrapped in tape and wrote down the following on the back of the talismans. ¡°The ghost has been taken away already. The tenants here can now use this public bathroom without worry.¡±

    He pasted the talisman back onto the door. Chen Ge then dragged the Doctor Skull-cracker¡¯s Hammer and left the apartment building.

    ¡°Okay, who shall we go pick up next?¡±

    Looking at the map on his phone, Chen Ge came to the third Jiujiang subway route.

    ¡°The ck phone said that this Specter is hiding on the fourth Jiujiang subway route, but Jiujiang current only has three subway routes. The fourth route is still under construction.¡±

    By the time he arrived, the subway terminal was almost closing. Chen Ge stopped around the third subway route and asked any passersby about the information regarding the fourth route. The workers there said that there would still be a long time before the fourth route was opened to the public. When Chen Ge pressed for more details and the reason why, they refused to say anything, but they all had this strange expression on their faces.

    If Chen Ge was known for one thing, it was his power of persuasion. After much pressing and pushing, one of the workers finally admitted that the surveince at the subway terminal would always capture the image of a strange person in the night. The person would appear on different subway trains, but he always sat alone by himself on a certain seat, and the people beside him never seemed to notice his existence.

    As the work for the fourth route started, the surveince stopped capturing that person on camera, but the workers started to notice a flicker of shadow down deep in the tunnel. The workers thus started to suspect that the ghost who had been haunting the subway had moved into the fourth route that was under construction.

    After finding out the backstory behind the ghost, Chen Ge silently sneaked into the construction site of the fourth route. To prevent other people from discovering him, he released a few Red Specters and had them scout ahead for him inside the tunnel while keeping their presence as low profile as possible. Initially, Chen Ge was already prepared to spend a lot of time searching for this Specter. After all, the tunnel was quite long. However, he only walked for a few steps when he saw a young man who was bare-chested running as fast as he could about a hundred meters in front of him.

    ¡°Who is running naked in the middle of the night inside a constructing subway tunnel? This is so strange.¡±

    It was impossible for Chen Ge not to notice the young man. He immediately had the several Red Specters go and stop the young man. The strange thing was the young man appeared to have known beforehand that Chen Ge wasing. When he saw Chen Ge¡¯s face, his eyes were filled with fear.

    ¡°Have we met each other?¡± Chen Ge was rather confused by this. He was sure that this was the first time they had encountered each other, so if that was the case, why would the young man look at him in such a way? ¡°You are not afraid of the Red Specters, but you are afraid of me. Why? Do you know me? But that is not right either. If you know me, you should be familiar with the kind of person that I am.¡±

    Blood vessels floated on the young man¡¯s body and weaved into a simple shirt. His face was pale, and his body was almost transparent. He was about to depart from this world.

    ¡°Brother, at least give me something to work with. Is there some kind of misunderstanding between us?¡± Chen Ge just wanted to approach the young man when thetter dropped to the ground. He tried to retreat as far away as he could until his retreat was blocked by the Red Specters.

    Seeing as his escape was cut off, the young man crawled up from the ground as if he had surrendered to his fate. He turned to Chen Ge and said, ¡°I am willing to be a worker at your haunted House.¡±

    When the young man said that, it was time for Chen Ge to be startled. ¡°I have not even stated my reason for being here. Howe you gave me your promise so easily? Do you know how to read people¡¯s minds?¡±

    With his face as pale as before, the young man shook his head rather helplessly. ¡°We met each other once ten seconds ago.¡±

    ¡°Ten seconds ago?¡±

    ¡°My name is Shi Guo. My power is to return to a space in time ten seconds ago. There is a huge limitation to this power. I can only use it once per month, but if I use it correctly, it will have miraculous effect,¡± the young man said softly.

    ¡°The power to manipte time?¡± Not only Chen Ge, even the Red Specters around him were quite surprised by this unique power. Even though Si Guo¡¯s power could only be used once per month, if it was used at the right time, it could reverse any situation!

    ¡°As I¡¯ve said, there is a huge limitation to this power. Only I will be able to return to ten seconds ago. It is not as useful as you might think.¡± Si Guo smiled bitterly. ¡°I used this power earlier. Unfortunately, even with the extra ten seconds, I cannot escape your grasp. Speaking of which, how did you find out about my presence? You even brought ten Red Specters with you toe find me...¡±

    ¡°I am in the middle of a fight against a cursed hospital in Xin Hai. They have obtained your information, and they wish to enve and control you, so I havee to fetch you before they have the chance to.¡± Chen Ge very seriously extended his hand toward Si Guo. ¡°Wee to the haunted house. If you have any dying wishes or things that you wish to havepleted, feel free to tell me.¡±

    Shi Guo hesitated for a moment before he epted Chen Ge¡¯s extended hand.

    ¡°By the way, why were you so afraid of me earlier? What exactly did I do to you ten seconds earlier?¡±

    ¡°I cannot say. If I did, I will suffer severe countereffects from my own power.¡± Even though Shi Guo verbally said that he was willing to join the Haunted house, the ck phone did not send a message about him joining. That was probably because he did not fully trust Chen Ge, and the young man still had other ns in his mind. Chen Ge ced Shi Guo inside theic. He situated him in the same page as Ol¡¯ Bai and Ol¡¯ Zhou.

    ¡°The Specters that are noted by the Wheel of Misfortune are indeed all of great quality. This kind of special power is very rare and powerful.¡± Chen Ge valued Shi Guo greatly, but unfortunately, Si Guo refused to reveal any information about himself, so Chen Ge could not do anything to help him, to prove that he only wanted the best for the young man. ¡°I will have to take this slow. Thankfully, I still have time.¡±

    Putting away theic and the ck phone, Chen Ge departed from the subway terminal and came to the residential za in the new city area. By the time Chen Ge arrived, it was already midnight. There were very few upants in this residential area. Chen Ge nced at the different apartment buildings, and only a few windows had their lights on.

    ¡°The ck phone only said that the butterfly hairclip can be found in this residential area, but it did not give me an actual address. There are at least a hundred apartments here. Am I supposed to go and knock on each of the doors one by one?¡± Chen Ge stood in the middle of the residential area and titled his head back to look at the several tall buildings. ¡°Jesus, how long this will take me?¡±

    Holding theic, Chen Ge hesitated. It was not really a bright idea to release Specters into random people¡¯s homes. He had a principle that he followed closely in his life. If the other people did note to harm him, he would not purposely go and influence others.

    ¡°I guess I¡¯d better go and search for it myself.¡±

    Clutching theic in his hand, Chen Ge was about to pull his gaze away when he suddenly noted a woman with long hair standing at the edge of the roof at the top of one of the apartment buildings. Narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision, and he could clearly see the woman holding something in her hands as she stepped onto the edge of the roof. As if sensing Chen Ge¡¯s eyes on her, the woman who was originally spacing out slowly turned her head. Her ck hair fluttered away from the wind to reveal an incredibly pale face.

    Chen Ge¡¯s shadow was reflected in her red eyes. The bloodied mouth slowly opened as if she was telling Chen Ge something. The more she spoke, the more her emotions started to unravel. Her face became twisted with harsh emotions, and a ck blood vessel popped on her face. The woman who had turned into a monster finally made a decision. She raised both of her hands and pinned the butterfly hairclip that she was previously holding onto her hair. The pair of venomous eyes stared straight at Chen Ge. She opened her arms like a ck butterfly caught in fire as she jumped down from the roof as if she was trying to fly toward Chen Ge!

    The night breeze buffeted her coat. One wound after another surfaced on her body. Half of her body was dyed red, and all the pain had transformed into anger.

    ¡°The first present that you ever gave me, I have always worn it at the top of my head. I have treasured everything that you have ever given me, but you...¡±

    Resentment pierced through her eyes. The woman in the half red coat was halfway through herint when she suddenly saw a young boy who was grumbling endlessly appear next to the young man that she was heading toward. Following the young boy, a middle-aged man who had one of his hands stuck in his pocket materialized next to the boy. Then, the woman who was rapidly falling through the air suddenly heard the sound of static in her ears.

    One red shadow after another appeared next to the young man. The resentment and blood vessels that radiated from their bodies appeared to wish to bury the whole residential area alive. The scary presence overwhelmed the woman until she felt the difficulty in breathing, but the problem was, she had already thrown herself off the roof. She could no longer control her body due to the pull of gravity. There was nothing she could do but watch herself fall.

    ¡°Which one of you is kind enough to go and catch her?¡± Endless blood vessels curled around the woman. She maintained her falling posture with her face facing down and dropped to a meter before Chen Ge. Being surrounded by ten Red Specters, she had even forgotten what she wanted to say. All she could feel in that moment was her blundering mind and thoughts.

    ¡°If you run into difficulties in life, there has to be a channel for you to vent. If no one is willing to listen to you, feel free toe and find me in the future.¡± Chen Ge had the Red Specters pull back their blood vessels. He moved toward to help the woman up from the ground like a true gentleman. ¡°What is the name of that pig who disappointed you? I can take you to go and find him.¡±

    First, she was almost scared to her second death, and now, she was suddenly touched. The woman¡¯s lips quivered slightly. ¡°He has already left this city. He has gotten married in Xin Hai.¡±

    ¡°Xin Hai, huh? No problem, I will personally take you there in a few days. Are you willing toe with me?¡± Chen Ge looked at her with clear, glittering eyes with no malicious intentions in them. The woman nodded. To be honest, she was still rather confused by what had happened. Everything that had urred to her that night was a bit too much to process.

    ¡°Then we will be a family in the future. I will try my best to help fulfil your wish.¡± Chen Ge pulled the woman into theic and then led his employees to the next location. ¡°I am quite surprised that the Specter possessing the butterfly clip is a Half Red Specter. She has extremely deep resentment. With some time and training, it should not be hard for her to transform into a real Red Specter.¡±

    Scanning the map on his phone, Chen Ge walked out from the residential area. ¡°The only Red Specter that I have drawn from the Wheel of Misfortune can be found in the new part of the city as well. Since I am already here, I might as well take a swift detour to go and visit her.¡±

    Red Specter Xue Rong, she was hiding in the new city¡¯s Yi Ren Pavilion. The ck phone¡¯sment on her was that she was extremely dangerous and sensitive. Jiujiang¡¯s newer part of its city development was not bad. This part of the city was closer to Xin Hai. It was where many of the state¡¯s smaller roads congregated, and it had arge poption of outsiders.

    Chen Ge could not find the location of Yi Ren Pavilion on his GPS in his phone. He searched for quite some time on the inte before he managed to salvage a little information rted to this Yi Ren Pavilion. This beauty parlor was very famous a few years ago. It specialized in high-end spa and beauty treatments. It had great poprity among the rich and famous, but for some unknown reason, it was closed by the police out of the blue. The rumors about its closure ranged from everything on the inte, but the most reasonable reason was probably it had to do with a murder case.

    The information of the victim was not released, and it was also unclear whether the killer was caught. The victim¡¯s family did note forward, and the whole case was like a pebble dropped into the ocean. After the initial ripples, it was forgotten by the world, which had moved on. Based on the little information he had managed to find online, Chen Ge passed through the bright lights and neon glow and came to the other side of the city. The new city, which was bright and alluring in the day, appeared particrly lonely and deserted at night. The buildings beside the road became smaller and smaller, but the air became fresher and fresher.

    At the end of the paved road, Chen Ge saw an abandoned garden. Various kinds of flowers grew on the rusted iron railings. Even though it was way past their flowering season, the nts on the iron rails were blooming gorgeously like rubies in the dark. It was clear that no one had been to this ce in a very long time. The ce was covered in wild grass, and the trees had grown out of shape due to ack of treatment and care.

    Jumping over the railing, Chen Ge spotted a small path winding through the wild grass. Walking through the small path, Chen Ge could see in his mind¡¯s eye how beautiful this garden must have been in its prime.

    ¡°To think Jiujiang still has such a beautiful garden with a mixture of eastern and western style. If such a gorgeous ce was abandoned just because of the haunting, it would be such a waste.¡± Chen Ge reached the end of the path, and a bungalow appeared before him. The architectural style of this building was more western, but the Chinese character for Flying Dragon and Dancing Phoenix was written on the top of the front door. ¡°I guess I should be more careful when dealing with a Red Specter.¡±

    Even though Chen Ge currently had many helpers, if he was careless, there was still a very high chance that the other party could slip away. Flipping through theic, before Chen Ge summoned them out, he purposely reminded them to keep a low profile and rein in their presence. The Red Specters showed up one after another. There was no change discernible inside the abandoned bungalow until the appearance of the red high heels.

    Initially, Chen Ge did not want the red high heels toe out. What he needed her to do was take in all of the ghost fetus¡¯ memories as fast as she could. If the red high heels could be a Demon God before he headed toward the cursed hospital, the pressure on Chen Ge would be much weaker. But to Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, the red high heels appeared to have sensed something and voluntarily materialized on her own.

    To his greater surprise, once the red high heels showed up, the whole abandoned bungalow including therge garden started to be covered in this blood fog. Drops of fresh blood froze on the leaves like fresh dew. It looked quite strange. The red high heels walked past all the Red Specters. Only Xiao Bu was able to resist her presence, and this was when the red high heels had not unleashed her full power.

    ¡°You won¡¯t have scared the target away, will you?¡± But soon, Chen Ge realized that his worry was unfounded. The front door of Yi Ren Pavilion was pushed open from within, and the heavy scent of medicine and stinging smell of blood drifted out at the same time. The red high heels strode into it directly. Chen Ge called the other employees to hurry and catch up.

    The interior design of the bungalow was extremely bizarre. Abstract pictures of human faces hung on the walls, and the tiles were pieced together to form the outline of human faces. Almost every piece of furniture in the room had drawings of the human body on them.

    ¡°This ce is too scary.¡± Chen Ge stood quickly in the midst of his employees. ¡°When I return, I need to find an excuse to persuade Director Luo to purchase this ce.¡±

 Chapter 1140 - Those Who Have Escaped From the Cursed Hospital 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1140 Those Who Have Escaped From the Cursed Hospital 2 in 1</h4>

    Everywhere he looked, he could see human faces staring back at him from inside the western bungalow. There were also pictures rted to the human anatomy. It was a very strange experience walking through it. The ce had been deserted for a very long time, but strangely enough, there was not even a mite of dust that could be seen. It was very clean, like someone woulde and clean it every day. The red high heels walked ahead on her own. She seemed to have visited this ce before. The woman with bandages wrapped all around her body walked directly into the lobby and stopped next to an indoor fountain.¡°Be on full alert and guard all the exits. Do not give anything inside the building a chance to escape.¡±

    Even though Chen Ge was standing among a group of Red Specters, he did not feel out of ce at all. In fact, his expression was closely matched to most of the Red Specters.

    The smell of blood and medicine thickened in the air. Large blood vessels started to appear on the walls, giving the feeling that they were trying to tear down the building from inside. The human faces on the walls started to cry tears of blood, and their eyes slowly moved to stare at the red high heels. Everything inside the bungalow that was rted to the human bodies appeared toe alive and reveal their true selves. This ce had the feeling that it was constructed from human body parts. Throughout the whole process, the red high heels showed no reaction at all; she merely stood right in front of the fountain, her eyes staring straight at the fountain that was already dry.

    About several minutester, the sound of water came from inside the foundation. Several female human skulls that were carved on the inner wall of the fountain opened their mouths. A horrible-smelling jet of blood poured into the fountain. The fountain slowly filled with a disgusting-smell pool of blood, forming a stark contrast to the exquisite carvings that decorated the fountain. The fountain slowly returned to normal. Blood water sshed everywhere, as if covering everyone and every object in ayer of bloody mist.

    ¡°This Red Specter intends to trap all of us, it seems,¡± Men Nan whispered softly. Even though he was not that strong, he had witnessed many things in his life, and he had a very brilliant mind.

    ¡°She sure is ambitious if her intention is to trap ten Red Specters at the same time.¡±

    The red high heels next to the fountain also noticed the strange phenomenon. She continued to move forward, and with each step, the bandage on her body would slip down little by a little. The scary and curious ck tattoo flowed on her body. It was a kind of grotesque beauty. Of the entire four-star Ghost Fetus Trial Mission, the Specter who had gained the most was the red high heels. She had almost consumed everything that the ghost fetus had. After the ghost fetus scenario was reconstructed, she was the one responsible for organizing and consuming the ghost fetus¡¯ ghosts. As for how strong the red high heels really was, even Chen Ge had on idea.

    All the beautiful faces inside the fountain started to be twisted as the red high heels approached. They tried their best to hiss at the red high heels. Any semnce that they had to ¡®humanity¡¯ hadpletely disappeared at that moment. The curse on her body expanded everywhere. The ck lines cut through the fountain before her maliciously and effectively like knives. The beautiful carvings on the fountain were easily shattered, and their destruction revealed the blood vessels that were hiding inside them. The power level of the two adversaries was not even on the same level, or rather, the Red Specter inside the bungalow had not even used her full power yet.

    ¡°In the end, you have found me after all.¡± A very grating female voice came from deep inside the fountain. The speaker¡¯s throat appeared to have been injured before. Her voice was very shrill and sharp. The blood inside the fountain moved to the side, the ground cracked, and there was a monster wearing a red dress buried underneath the bungalow. Her skin was startlingly pale, and several blood red flowers bloomed on her body, which fixed under the fountain by countless blood vessels.

    ¡°How did you manage to find me?¡± The monster lifted her head to look at the red high heels, and a smile involuntarily appeared on her lips. ¡°My proudest patient.¡±

    ¡°Patient?¡± Chen Ge instantly captured the keyword within the Red Specter¡¯s words. He was then reminded of the bloody heart mission rted to the red high heels given by the ck phone. ¡°Could it be the red high heels was once a patient at the cursed hospital? And this Red Specter was once a doctor at the same hospital?¡±

    Chen Ge had no idea what the Red Specter had done to the red high heels, but this was the first time he had seen the red high heels go on the offensive so actively. The ck curses covered the entire bungalow. The ck fog easily suppressed the blood mist. The ck threads wrapped around the Red Specter¡¯s body and harshly dragged her out from the bottom of the fountain. The Red Specter did not resist; she merely cackled like she had lost her mind.

    ¡°Do you think only the patients being treated are in extreme pain? Actually, the real sufferers are us doctors! You guys can still escape, or at least have the chance to escape. But what about us? Once we chose to leave, the curse that the hospital director buried inside our bodies will be triggered, and we cannot even die and be normal ghosts!¡± The shrill voice echoed in the hall. The red high heels looked at the monster before her. Her eyes were filled withplicated emotions. There was some resentment and fury but also pity and mncholy.

    Chen Ge walked out from the group of ¡®people¡¯ and came to the red high heels¡¯ side. The Red Specter who was entangled in the curse also noticed Chen Ge. A blood red flower grew out of her left eye socket. Currently, she was studying Chen Ge with her right eye.

    ¡°A living human standing side to side with a Top Red Specter?¡± Earlier, the Red Specter had focused all of her attention on the red high heel; she did not notice there was a normal people standing amid the group of Red Specters far behind. Initially, she thought this was a puppet that was randomly created by one of the Red Specters, but from the looks of things, this normal individual appeared to be the leader of all the Red Specters. ¡°Now this is interesting...¡±

    ¡°You were once a doctor at Xin Hai¡¯s cursed hospital, right?¡± Chen Ge did not waste his time with introduction. He cut to the chase and said, ¡°if you answer my questions nicely, perhaps we can still be friends.¡±

    ¡°Are you threatening me?¡± The flowers on her body leaked blood. The Red Specter probably did not expect to one day be threatened by a normal living human.

    ¡°From what you said earlier, I surmised that once a person has been selected to be a doctor at that hospital, they will have a horrible ending. Even after death, they cannot be a peaceful ghost.¡± Chen Ge stared at the Red Specter¡¯s eyes. Her emotions were calm; there was not even a ripple of agitation or stress in her eyes.

    ¡°Yes, the hospital director nts a seed of curse inside each doctor.¡± The Red Specter was now being controlled by the red high heels. She very cleverly chose not to resist and honestly answered all of Chen Ge¡¯s questions.

    ¡°Can the curse be removed?¡±

    ¡°Why would you want to know about that?¡± The Red Specter was confused.

    ¡°I know a doctor who also escaped from your hospital. After he died, he transformed into a Top Red Specter, but the next time I encountered him, he hadpletely lost his mind, and he was still carrying the head of his beloved in his chest.¡± Many questions that had eluded Chen Ge earlier could now be exined. When Chen Ge heard what the Red Specter had to say earlier, he had instantly been reminded of Doctor Gao.

    ¡°No one can remove the curse of the hospital director. Even if one bes an entity beyond a Red Specter, they will have to continue to bear it, unless he voluntarily gives up the curse or...¡± A maddening smile appeared on the Red Specter¡¯s face. ¡°You can somehow kill the hospital director¡¯s soul.¡±

    ¡°Is the curse really that scary?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s initial n was to wait for the red high heels to be a Demon God, and then he would find Doctor Gao. With her help, they would remove the curse from Doctor Gao¡¯s body. He nned to use this as bargaining chip to levy with Doctor Gao, but from what this Red Specter had told him, his idea was too na?ve.

    ¡°It is much scarier than you think. You can say that it is incurable. Several years ago, I escaped from the hospital during one of the riots and came to this beauty parlor at Jiujiang. To resist the curse inside my body, I have to keep on changing my bodies, but even so, that only dyed the triggering of the curse inside my body.¡± The Red Specter¡¯s mouth burst open, and a flower crawled out from her throat and bloomed into a giant red flower.

    ¡°What will happen after the curse is triggered? Will your soul be torn into shreds immediately?¡±

    ¡°The curse will take away my consciousness and turn me into apletely mad presence. The life would be worse than a death sentence.¡±

    The description was simr to Doctor Gao¡¯s situation when Chen Ge encountered him in Li Wan City.

    ¡°But you are very conscious of yourself at this moment.¡± Chen Ge had many questions that needed to be answered. The appearance of the Red Specter at this moment was very crucial to him.

    ¡°Can you see all the flowers that bloom all over my body? They are the instrument that I use to temporarily suppress the curse, but once I move too much, the curse will consume me instantly and make me lose my rationality once again.¡± The blood vessels and blood flowers on the Red Specter were simr to the ck chains around Doctor Gao; they had the same function of suppressing the curse. Chen Ge then put forth a few more questions. Due to reason that Chen Ge did not understand, the Red Specter was very cooperative; she told Chen Ge everything that she knew.

    Before she turned into something like this, the Red Specter had been the best cosmetic surgeon in Xin Hai. Her name was Xue Rong. One day, she received an invitation from the cursed hospital out of the blue. They wanted her toe in to help with a surgery. The high pay convinced Xue Rong, but when she came to the hospital and entered the surgery room at the promised time, she only then realized that her patient was not a living person. That was also the first time the red high heels had encountered Xue Rong. The surgery was not that sessful, and the red high heels was taken back by the hospital.

    From that day, she was followed by the curse, and in the end, she was forced to be one of the night doctors at the cursed hospital, and the red high heels was the most important patient that she was responsible for. The red high heels was originally just a Red Specter, but the hospital valued her greatly because her talent was rted to curses. That was extremely rare. After frequent surgeries that were so cruel that they could not be put down in wordster, when both Xue Rong and the red high heels had gotten to their lot in life, the chaos that was nned by Doctor Gao and the ghost fetus erupted.

    Many patients and doctors chose to escape. Xue Rong also abandoned the red high heels on the surgical table without hesitation. She stole away the red high heels¡¯ most beautiful face and chose to escape on her own. Most of the patients followed the ghost fetus and went to Li Wan City to hide. That night, the red high heels had gone to Li Wan City to search for traces of Xue Rong, to recover her most beautiful face. Everything was linked together somehow; the scraps of clues were now linked.

    Under the gaze of the ten Red Specters, Xue Rong took out a book from her chest. With much unwillingness, she parted with the box and handed it to the red high heels. The pale fingers flipped the lid open. No one could see what was inside the box; they only felt the red high heels¡¯ presence had be much scarier than before. The red high heels appeared to have obtained the thing that she was looking for. She lost all interest in Xue Rong and slipped back into theic. Seeing the departure of the red high heels, not only Xue Rong, even the Red Specters around Chen Ge all sighed in collective relief.

    ¡°I have already told you everything that I know. Can you let me go now?¡± Xue Rong copsed in the pool of blood inside the fountain. After the box had been removed from her heart, she became much weaker. ¡°I carry the seed of the cursed hospital on me. Even if you consume me, you will be influenced by the curse. Instead of heading to that end, how about we try to from a friendly rtionship?¡±

    Chen Ge was also deliberating over how to deal with Xue Rong. Her own body was covered in curses. If the other Specters consumed her, they would be cursed themselves. Convincing her to be an employee at the haunted house was a worse idea. What if she suddenly went out of control? All the visitors would be put in danger.

    ¡°From the moment we saw you, you have been showing your weaker side. You have no intention of showing the full capacity of what you can do.¡± Compared to what Xue Rong said on her own, Chen Ge had more confidence in the remarks given by the ck phone. Xue Rong was an extremely dangerous Red Specter; she must have many tricks up her sleeves that she did not show that night.

    ¡°As I mentioned earlier, should I try anything too drastic, the curse will be triggered. At the time, I will indeed be so scary that I will not recognize myself anymore.¡± At this point, the cadence of Xue Rong¡¯s tone changed. ¡°But even if I go out of control, I will not be a match for a Top Red Specter. She has grown way too powerful. Based on the prediction of the other night doctors, a talent rted to curses should be the hardest to master.¡±

    ¡°A wise woman submits to circumstances. I require all the information that you have regarding the cursed hospital inside your brain. If you are willing to lend me your full cooperation, perhaps I can one day help you break away from the curse.¡± When Chen Ge spoke, he did not use any special tone, but there was something in his words that could make others believe him.

    ¡°You think you can convince the hospital director to let us go?¡±

    ¡°I was thinking about a different method.¡± Chen Ge flipped through theic and pulled Xue Rong into it. The originally nk page was dyed red instantly. Florets of flowers blossomed on the beautiful body; Xue Rong appeared to have gone to sleep.

    ¡°Yan Danian probably never imagined that so many Red Specters would one day be inhabiting hisic.¡± Due to the fact that Xue Rong might go out of control at any moment, Chen Ge had to ensure there would be several Red Specters inside theic that watched over her constantly. ¡°Alright, it is time for us to go and fetch our next employee.¡±

    In just one night, Chen Ge found all nine baleful Specters that he had drawn from the Wheel of Misfortune. Compared to the first time he used the wheel, the effectiveness had doubled who knew how many times. When he returned to the staff breakroom, the sun was already up. Chen Ge pulled the curtains shut and prepared to lie down for a small break.

    ...

    At the same time, inside the hospital that worked together with Jiujiang Medical University, Mr. Wang sat up from the sickbed. He reached out to pull back the curtain so that the sunlight could shower down on him.

    ¡°Mr. Wang, are you feeling better?¡± Zuo Han¡¯s voice came from the bed next to him. He was currently doing pushups on the bed.

    ¡°The brain still feel a bit muddled. I feel like most of my memory is not connected. It feels like something is constantly escaping my mind.¡± Mr. Wang took out a notebook from the drawer. It was filled with very small handwriting detailing what had happened inside Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house. Small details like at what time he had taken a sip from the bottle of mineral water were recorded as well. ¡°Something is not right. The logical sequence between the series of event is not correct. My memory appears to be lying to me.¡±

    ¡°Sir, those things are already in the past. There is no point worrying over it any longer,¡± Zuo Han persuaded in a small voice.

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand. I believe I had a glimpse of my former lecturer that night, but there is no recollection of that at all in my memory.¡± Mr. Wang¡¯s brows were heavily creased. He was about to say something else when the door to the sickroom was knocked and pushed open. Two people from the university walked in with a police officer in uniform.

    ¡°Mr. Wang, the management has approved your request. You can travel to Xin Hai in a few more days,¡± one of the workers said. ¡°This is one of the best officers from the local police station¡¯s major crimes unit. He was also involved in the case that happened twenty years ago. I pulled many strings before I finally got my request to get his help from the local station approved. For your information, he will be apanying you on your trip to Xin Hai.¡±

 Chapter 1141 - Xin Hai, Here I Come 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1141 Xin Hai, Here I Come 2 in 1</h4>

    ¡°An officer from the Jiujiang station?¡± When Mr. Wang heard these few words, he started to frown involuntarily. ¡°I have never required their help before. Go and tell him to return. After all, they won¡¯t be of much help anyway.¡±¡°Mr. Wang, you have been busy recovering your body and lecturing your sses, so you might not know this,¡± the worker from the university said with a smile on his face. ¡°In the past half a year, the Jiujiang station has been breaking one major crime case after another. Even if youpare them to thew enforcement over the whole country, you will see that they are the best of the best.¡±

    ¡°The reason I needed to recover my body is rted to the Jiujiang station, so I have nothing to say to their people, and I do not care about how many cases that they have solved.¡± Mr. Wang appeared like he had once worked at the Jiujiang police station, but due to various reasons, his rtionship with the station was rocky at best. ¡°Like I said, tell him to leave. I am sure they currently have many cases to handle. They should not part with one of their people just to apany me.¡±

    The university worker looked at the police officer standing next to him helplessly. The rather old police officer walked toward Mr. Wang and said, ¡°Brother Wang, Captain Yan has returned. He is now the leader at the local station.¡±

    ¡°Captain Yan?¡±

    ¡°Twenty years ago, he was the young man who requested for the case to be reopened due to the problems that he had discovered about two weeks before you did. He is now the leader at the Jiujiang station. It is under his brilliant leadership that we have managed to solve so many major cases.¡± The old officer appeared to recognize Mr. Wang. ¡°Brother Wang, the current local station is no longer the same as it was. The reason I am here today is because of Captain Yan. In fact, if possible, he wishes to see you in person before we depart. After all, you were the only person who lent your support to him back then.¡±

    When Captain Yan¡¯s name was brought up, Mr. Wang was silent.

    ¡°I do not have the face to see him.¡± Closing the notebook in his hands, Mr. Wang handed it over to Zuo Han. ¡°Don¡¯t you suspect that the haunted house is really haunted? Perhaps this notebook will help guide you closer to the discovery of the truth.¡±

    ¡°Sir?¡±

    ¡°I feel well rested already. Today, we will depart to Xin Hai.¡± It was as if Mr. Wang had turned into a different person. The presence that radiated off him waspletely different from before.

    ¡°You still have not changed after all this time.¡± The worker from the university shook his head. ¡°We have already prepared the transportation for you. You can depart at 2 pm. Before that, you¡¯d better rest as much as you can.¡±

    ...

    After stretchingzily, Chen Ge was woken up by the rm clock. After a quick freshen up in the bathroom, he hurried to open the door. Ever since he obtained the ck phone, his every day had been filled to the brim with meaningful events. Be it morning or night time, almost every hour of his life was upied by some important event. After doing the make up for his employees, Chen Ge stood inside the dressing room. Watching the employees chatting among themselves, he too felt quite rxed within that atmosphere. ¡°If only this kind of life could continue forever.¡±

    After he had finished the make up for everyone, Chen Ge called for a simple morning meeting to discuss the future direction of the haunted house with his employees.

    ¡°You are all now experienced actors at the haunted house. You have plenty of experience in this field and are more than capable of handling any type of sudden ident, so I am not worried about leaving the haunted house in your care.¡±

    ¡°Boss, howe it sounds like you are going to leave us behind and go for a long trip away all of a sudden?¡± Xiao Gu was wearing the Doctor Skull Cracker outfit. He pulled off the mask with both hands.

    ¡°Director Luo has just bought the biggest haunted house in Xin Hai. In the near future, I will move over there to open our first branch. After the situation at the branch has stabilized, I will return here.¡±

    Opening the branch was the second important mission; the main reason Chen Ge was going there was because he wanted to deal with the cursed hospital. Currently, all the clues pointed toward the cursed hospital. His parents might be found there as well, so he had to go there no matter what.

    ¡°Boss, our situation here has just stabilized. Isn¡¯t it a bit too rushed to suddenly open a new branch?¡± Zhang Jingjiu had experienced the nastiness of society before, so his thoughts were rather more reserved.

    ¡°Our base will still be this haunted house in Jiujiang. The branch in Xin Hai can only be called a trial.¡± Chen Ge looked at his employees. ¡°Now, I will assign all of you some work. After I leave this ce, the scenario aboveground will all be handled by Xu Wan. I will also hand her the temporary key for the haunted house to Xu Wan. Xiao Gu if you run into any problems, you should go to Xu Wan or Uncle Xu for help.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°The underground scenarios will be handled by Wu Jinpeng.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at the handsome uncle with the single ponytail.

    ¡°What, me? No, no, I can¡¯t do it.¡± Wu Jinpeng quickly waved his hands.

    ¡°Do not worry, there are people who wille help you. This here is the list. Later, you shall go to the underground scenarios tomunicate with them and see if there is anything you guys can do to ensure the operation can run smoothly.¡±

    The whole room was filled with his trusted confidants. Most of the living employees had survived a life or death situation with Chen Ge before; he would not worry about leaving his life with them. Chen Ge handed a name list to Wu Jinpeng. It had names of several ¡®people¡¯ like Doctor Wei and Ol¡¯ Bai on it. After being given the name list, Wu Jinpeng slowly calmed down.

    ¡°Now that the people in Jiujiang have been arranged, I will discuss the people who wille to Xin Hai with me.¡± Chen Ge turned to look at Zhang Jingjiu and Qu Changlin. ¡°Changlin, you have personally worked at that haunted house before. I will give you the task to design the various scenarios and mechanisms for that haunted house. From today onward, you will be the designer of the props used in the scenarios at that haunted house.¡±

    Qu Changlin was especially proficient at building various kinds of haunted house props and mannequins. The man himself was originally Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s employee, but he was lured over by Chen Ge to work for him. ¡°Shang Guan Qing Hong did not even attempt to train you to your full potential. But now, I will provide you with arge enough stage so that you can showcase your talent as much as you can.¡±

    Chen Ge had ultimately fulfilled his promise to Qu Changlin. Back when they first met, Qu Changlin was just a bottom feeder who was not given much attention, and now he had been promoted to the main designer at Xin Hai¡¯s haunted house. That was a promotion that skipped several steps.

    ¡°Thank you, boss!¡± This appreciation came directly from Qu Changlin¡¯s heart.

    ¡°Qu Changlin will be responsible for the design of the set and props; the rest will be handled by Zhang Jingjiu.¡± Chen Ge valued Zhang Jingjiu a lot. He had rescued this employee from Li Wan City, and since he started working for Chen Ge, his improvement could be seen with naked eye. He had familiarized himself with the operation at the haunted house in a mere few days and could often provide unexpected help to Chen Ge.

    For example, when Chen Ge was fighting Liu Gang online, it was Zhang Jingjiu who led some of the fans to lead Liu Gang slowly into the trap. In terms of business management and interpersonal rtionships, Zhang Jingjiu had done better at thesepared to the other employees. Now that they were going to a new location, Chen Ge required such a talent. Furthermore, it appeared like Zhang Jingjiu himself came from a wealthy background. His own family business had been in operation in Xin Hai for years already. Combining all these different factors, Chen Ge decided to select Zhang Jingjiu as the branch manager.

    ¡°Boss, I am afraid...¡±

    ¡°There is nothing to be afraid of; you are the most suitable candidate.¡± After saying a few more words, Chen Ge had his employees return to their posts and started the business for a new day. ¡°Later tonight, perhaps I should use the nightmare mission coupon that I won from the Wheel of Misfortune. Afterpleting this daily mission, I can consider moving to Xin Hai.¡±

    Chen Ge had done everything that he could do; he had drawn practically all of the ghosts from the ck phone¡¯s Wheel of Misfortune. Even though there were still some unexplored ghost stories left in Jiujiang, exploring those deeply hidden stories would take weeks or even months. Chen Ge did not have that much time.

    ¡°The most important thing to do now is to set the scene as soon as possible by sending Xiao Sun into the hospital. That is the most crucial part.¡± After witnessing Xiao Sun¡¯s talent in person, Chen Ge desperately wanted to send Brother Sun into the cursed hospital. The poprity of the New Century Park haunted house was rising day by day on the inte. It attracted many foreign visitors. The ie of theme park had steadily increased. In contrast, there were endless problems with the futuristic theme park.

    After two directors had been hospitalized, the upper management had been thrown into yet another power struggle. Many basic employees had no idea what was happening, and that seriously impacted the visitors¡¯ overall experience. All in all, New Century Park had already stabilized the situation, and it was time to overthrow the enemy.

    That noon, Chen Ge suddenly received a call. It was from an auntie. She told Chen Ge that the doctor that Chen Ge had once introduced to Jiang Ming could no longer be contacted. Before this, themunication had gone smoothly. The preparation for the cochlear operation had been done already, but the doctor had suddenly gone out of contact, and this caused Jiang Ming and his mother to be extremely nervous. Chen Ge asked the auntie for a few more details, and only then did he find out that Jiang Ming¡¯s mother had already taken Jiang Ming to Xin Hai. With the auntie¡¯s help, they had found a cheap rental home to stay at. The operation was originally nned for the following day, but the surgeon had suddenly disappeared, so all of them were panicking.

    ¡°This can¡¯t be dragged on any longer. I shall depart for Xin Hai today.¡± Chen Ge knew very well that the doctor in question had already had some problems before this. His disappearance probably had a lot to do with the cursed hospital. If he hurried over, perhaps there was still a chance to save that doctor¡¯s life. With a human life on the line, Chen Ge did not hesitate. He rushed back into the haunted house and informed Qu Changlin and Zhang Jingjiu to pack up their stuff after work that day, and they would meet up at Xin Hai¡¯s haunted house the following day.

    Since Qu Changlin had worked at the haunted house before, Chen Ge did not have to purposely jot down the address for him. Picking up his backpack, due to the suddenness of the event, Chen Ge only took most of the Red Specters and the more dangerous Specters that might go out of control when he was not around with him.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Bai can look after White Tiger when I am gone, and I will leave the Doctor Skull Cracker costume for Xiao Gu. I will instead bring some of the new costumes with me. Perhaps they mighte in useful.¡±

    A haunted house prop that looked as suspicious as the Doctor Skull Cracker¡¯s Hammer would never pass the security check, so Chen Ge decided to figure out a way to book a car to head to Xin Hai. Taking out his phone, Chen Ge made a call to Lee Zheng. ¡°Brother Zheng, there is something that I need to report to you.¡±

    When Lee Zheng got Chen Ge¡¯s call, his heart dropped into his stomach. ¡°Why are you reporting to me? It makes it sound like you are part of our major crimes unit. If it is nothing important, you can talk to me after I am off work. We¡¯re still busy dealing with the case at Jiu Hong Apartments.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like this. There is a Doctor Fang from Xin Hai who has suddenly disappeared. Based on his various actions, I suspect he is currently in a very dangerous situation.¡±

    ¡°How would youe to know a doctor from Xin Hai?¡± Since this was rted to a human life, Lee Zheng pulled his attention immediately. Chen Ge summarized how he got in contact with Doctor Fang and the history of Jiang Ming and his cochlear operation to Lee Zheng.

    ¡°You¡¯re putting me in a very hard spot! All I can do is help you contact the police at Xin Hai and inform them of the severity of the situation, pushing them tounch an investigation.¡± Lee Zheng had his own difficulties. He was a police officer in Jiujiang, and the case in Xin Hai was beyond his jurisdiction.

    ¡°Brother Zheng, can you send someone to apany me to Xin Hai? If I go on my own, I definitely cannot convince the officers at Xin Hai. They will not believe my story either. That will only waste precious time. Perhaps, because of this, it might cause us to lose the precious time that could be used to save a human life.¡±

    Chen Ge was telling the truth. If not for the fact that Chen Ge had helped the Jiujiang police so many times and cooperated so many times with them, meaning they could be sure that Chen Ge would never lie, they would not trust him so implicitly.

    Lee Zheng also knew that Chen Ge was most likely not lying. He paused for a long time before he said, ¡°We are seriously understaffed at the moment, but I heard from Captain Yan that Ol¡¯ Wu will be heading to Xin Hai for a mission this afternoon. You can hitch a ride with him.¡±

    ¡°Thank you so much! Forgive me for asking this, but how is he going to Xin Hai?¡±

    ¡°He will be taking a transport assigned by the Jiujiang Medical University. The mission that he was given was, I believe, rted to a lecturer from that university as well. But don¡¯t get ahead of yourself. This might not work. Let me go and inform Captain Yan of this first.¡±

    Lee Zheng hung up the call while Chen Ge carried his tworge bags and called a cab to head to Jiujiang Medical University. On the way there, Lee Zheng came back with good news. Captain Yan had approved for Chen Ge to tag along with Ol¡¯ Wu and the people from Jiujiang Medical University. At 1:30 pm, Chen Ge finally managed to contact Ol¡¯ Wu. He ced his tworge bags in the trunk. When he got into the car, he was greeted by Mr. Wang¡¯s dark face.

    He had just been scared until he fainted by this man before him, but now they had somehow found a way to sit in the same car. Mr. Wang did not even know what to say. He had many thoughts in his mind, but he did not dare voice them. He appeared to fear Chen Ge without even realizing it.

    ¡°Mr. Wang, let me make the introductions. This is Chen Ge. He has helped us solved the case of a hidden body inside cement, abandoned bodies inside an old well at a school, a killer on the loose at the Third Sick Hall, the case of Jia Ming killing his wife...¡± Ol¡¯ Wu gave a random repertoire of Chen Ge¡¯s history, and it shocked Mr. Wang.

    ¡°It feels like you two share a very good rtionship, as close as actual colleagues.¡± Mr. Wang once again studied Chen Ge. He really could not figure out how a haunted house woulde to help the police solve so many major crimes. Was the haunted house boss actually an undercover cop?

    ¡°I guess you are not wrong that. There was this week when I encountered him six times. At the time, we were working three shifts per day. I met him more often than I encountered my actual colleagues.¡± Ol¡¯ Wu was once rescued by Chen Ge, so he had a good impression of the young man. ¡°Captain Yan and Inspector Lee value his opinion as well. They often joke among themselves that it was such a loss to thew enforcement that this kid chose to open a haunted house and not serve the force.¡±

    With Ol¡¯ Wu there, the atmosphere in the car was not that awkward. After they got on the highway, Chen Ge drifted off to sleep. At 4 pm, Ol¡¯ Wu first deposited Mr. Wang at his assigned living area, and he continued to drive Chen Ge to locate Jiang Ming and his mother. Xin Hai was much bigger than Jiujiang; they traveled for a very long time before Ol¡¯ Wu found the ce. He parked the car in front of a rather old-looking apartment building, and Chen Ge got his tworge bags out of the trunk and entered the building.

    ¡°Room 202, is it? I¡¯m on my way!¡± After hanging up, Chen Ge raced up the stairs and knocked on the door of Room 202. It was an auntie who opened the door. Chen Ge had met her at Jiang Ming¡¯s home before. She was very kind and passionate.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I know that you are not a bad person, but the doctor that you rmended has suddenly disappeared. We really do not know what to do!¡±

    ¡°You need to first change the surgeon for Jiang Ming. The disappearance of Doctor Fang cannot be exined in a few words.¡± Chen Ge thought about it and then said, ¡°Have you contacted the police?¡±

    ¡°No, Doctor Fang has not taken our money, so there is no reason for us to report to the police.¡± The auntie was really nice to have stayed with Jiang Ming and his mother for emotional support.

    ¡°Leave this to me then.¡± Chen Ge helped Jiang Ming contact another doctor. After he consoled them, he led Ol¡¯ Wu directly toward the hospital where Doctor Fang worked.

    ¡°Chen Ge, are you sure something has happened to Doctor Fang? It is very inconvenient for you to carry tworge bags like that. How about we find a ce to stay first?¡± Ol¡¯ Wu noticed the sweat on Chen Ge¡¯s head, and he knew that Chen Ge was really desperate.

    ¡°Doctor Fang hase into contact with things from that hospital. If we do not hurry to find him, I am afraid we might not be able to find him at all.¡± Chen Ge knew that Doctor Fang was a very good doctor, and it was because Doctor Fang was the best in his specialization, so he was worried that the cursed hospital might have gone after him.

 Chapter 1142 - A Good Person? 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1142 A Good Person? 2 in 1</h4>

    ¡°There are still three and a half hours until night falls. We have to investigate the ces that Doctor Fang has been to before he disappeared,¡± Chen Ge said adamantly. When he stayed together with Ol¡¯ Wu, those who did not know would assume he was the police officer and Ol¡¯ Wu was just the driver.As Ol¡¯ Wu drove away, he could not help but ask in confusion, ¡°Why can we only conduct the investigation when there is still light? Do you have something else to do at night?¡±¡°The city will not be safe at night.¡±

    ¡°Xin Hai is the safest city on the northern side of China. Some of the business areas here operate for twenty hours. It has the nickname ¡®the Eastern City that Never Sleeps¡¯.¡± Ol¡¯ Wu gripped the steering wheel. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you youngsters be more familiar with these things than me?¡±

    Chen Ge smiled but did not exin. Twenty minutester, they arrived at Xin Hai Second Hospital. The whole of Xin Hai City had eleven top grade hospitals, and the Second Hospital that Doctor Fang was posted at was ranked at the forefront of the ranking and situated at the busiest part of Xin Hai.

    Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Wu, who was wearing his police uniform, walked to the administration counter. ¡°Hello, I would like to ask you some questions about one of your doctors here.¡±

    The nurse on duty initially did not want to respond to Chen Ge, but when she saw the uniform that Ol¡¯ Wu was wearing, her attitude became much better. With the apaniment of the nurse, Chen Ge came to the unit for ENT specialists. There was currently a doctor who was inspecting a patient¡¯s body.

    ¡°Doctor Fang has missed work for many days now. I personally have no idea what is going on. The doctor inside is called Doctor Zhao. He is Doctor Fang¡¯s closest colleague and best friend, so he should know some information.¡±

    After leaving that nugget of information, the nurse of duty left to return to her desk. Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Wu waited for Doctor Zhao to finish his consultation with his patient before they entered his room.

    ¡°Which one of you is the patient?¡± Doctor Zhao was very busy. He appeared like he needed a very good rest. He had heavy bags under his eyes, and he looked rather dispirited.

    ¡°We are not here to consult the doctor.¡± Chen Ge pointed at Ol¡¯ Wu next to him. ¡°This is one of the best inspectors from the major crimes unit from the police station.¡±

    Chen Ge did not introduce himself and did not specify that Ol¡¯ Wu belonged to the Jiujiang¡¯s police station. Even though his entire sentence was nothing but the truth, it gave off the feeling that both of them were people sent over by Xin Hai¡¯s police station.

    ¡°Inspector?¡± Doctor Zhao immediately understood the severity of the situation. ¡°Are you here for Doctor Fang?¡±

    ¡°Looks like you really do know something.¡± Chen Ge nted himself on the chair, and the real police officer, Ol¡¯ Wu, stood at the door.

    ¡°I told the officer from your station the actual details yesterday, but I did not expect another visit from your inspector again today, so it looks like Doctor Fang has already...¡± Doctor Zhao did not finish the sentence, but the intention that was in his words was not lost on everyone inside the room.

    ¡°Do not ask questions that you should not. You only need to tell us the information that you know.¡± Chen Ge picked up a piece of paper and a pen from the table and prepared to start his inquiry. The feeling that he gave off was very professional.

    ¡°The past few weeks, Doctor Fang has been performing very badly. He even made a mistake during one of his surgeries. The number of patients who haveined about him has grownrger andrger. This would never have happened in the past. Ol¡¯ Fang is the best ENT specialist we have ever had.¡±

    ¡°Could Doctor Fang¡¯s mental condition be rted to his family members?¡±

    ¡°I saw Ol¡¯ Fang¡¯s family just yesterday. His wife and daughters are perfectly normal. They couldn¡¯t be more worried about him. Oh right!¡± Something appeared to have just urred to Doctor Zhao. ¡°From what Ol¡¯ Fang¡¯s wife told me, Ol¡¯ Fang would often spend time mumbling to himself, saying things like they areing soon, they are very happy, and they are already here.¡±

    ¡°They are already here? Was someone following Doctor Fang and stalking him?¡± Ol¡¯ Wu closed the door of the consultation room and walked over. He did not expect to stumble upon such a curious case as soon as he arrived in Xin Hai with Chen Ge.

    ¡°A few days before he disappeared, Ol¡¯ Fang had serious problems sleeping. He kept hiding next to the bedroom window holding a knife and would keep sneaking nces outside the window as if there was someone standing there outside their house. His wife and daughters were very afraid, and they could not help themselves from looking out the window as well, but they never see anyone out the window. There was no one down there.¡± Doctor Zhao sighed. ¡°Ol¡¯ Fang¡¯s wife prepared to book an appointment with the psychologist here for him, but before the appointment could be arranged, Ol¡¯ Fang disappeared.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Fang¡¯s wife and daughters did not see anyone outside the window, yes?¡± Chen Ge repeated as confirmation.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Fang¡¯s wife did not see anything, but his youngest daughter yesterday told the people from the police station that there was a woman who would not stop smiling hiding at her home.¡±

    ¡°A woman who could not stop smiling?¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes, and the name instantly floated up in his mind¡ªNon-smilers.

    ¡°The station naturally sent people to check Ol¡¯ Fang¡¯s home, and they did not find any traces of this mysterious woman. They concluded that Ol¡¯ Fang¡¯s daughter had probably been under too much pressuretely, so she had been seeing things.¡±

    ¡°The things that she saw would still be rted to her own memory. The woman who kept smiling would not appear out of nowhere in her mind. They should have followed this thread much further.¡± Chen Ge did not go into deep criticism about the things the police from Xin Hai had done; all he wanted to do now was find Doctor Fang as soon as possible. ¡°Doctor Zhao, do you know who thest person who saw Doctor Fang was?¡±

    ¡°I believe that person would be me.¡± Doctor Zhao looked like he had aged several years in this short questioning. ¡°Ol¡¯ Fang had just requested half a month off, but before his holiday was over, he suddenly came back to work a few days ago. From the looks of it, he appeared rather normal, so I believed he had recovered. At the time, I did not think too much of it, and I even invited him to go have a few drinks with me after work.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Fang disappeared at the hospital?¡±

    ¡°For now, the evidence appears to suggest that. After his shift ended, no one saw Ol¡¯ Fang leave the hospital. He locked himself inside his own room. I have no idea what he was doing inside. When I came to work the next morning, people told me Ol¡¯ Fang had already disappeared.¡± Doctor Zhao was filled with regret. ¡°If only I¡¯d paid more attention to him that day, perhaps things might¡¯ve ended up differently.¡±

    ¡°You should not me yourself; this has nothing to do with you. You did everything you could.¡± Chen Ge frowned deeply in thought as he tried to think back to his first phone conversation with Doctor Fang. Doctor Fang had indeed mentioned he was being followed by non-smiler, and he had also brought up the recent reconstruction of the hospital¡¯s storeroom and his finding an envelope in the old storeroom. After opening it, he had found a letter that requested him to go to an abandoned hospital at midnight. If he refused to do so, something bad would happen.

    ¡°Doctor Zhao, a few weeks ago, your hospital updated the hospital¡¯s storeroom, didn¡¯t it? Did Doctor Fang visit the old storeroom at the time?¡±

    ¡°How did you know that?¡± Doctor Zhao was truly surprised. From his point of view, the renovation of the storeroom was apletely different separate from Doctor Fang¡¯s disappearance. There was no connection between the two at all.

    ¡°Try to think back to that period. Did the strange behavior about Doctor Fang start during the time he entered the old storeroom?¡± Chen Ge put down the pen he had taken and ced the paper note on which he had jotted down the important information into his pocket.

    ¡°Now that you mention it... that does ring true.¡± More surprise appeared on Doctor Zhao¡¯s face. The feeling that Chen Ge gave off waspletely different from the local officer that had visited him the previous day. ¡°No wonder you guys are inspectors. Even such details do not escape your notice.¡±

    ¡°If it is not too much trouble, do you mind bringing us to visit the old storeroom now?¡±

    ¡°Of course not. Besides, the ce is pretty much abandoned now.¡± Doctor Zhao was very good friend of Doctor Fang¡¯s, so he was more than willing to help. After informing another doctor of his departure, Doctor Zhao led Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Wu out of the hospital.

    ¡°The old storeroom is not at the hospital?¡± Chen Ge asked with curiosity.

    ¡°A few years ago, our hospital changed address. The storeroom is still at the old address. The old hospital only has a few specialist units left over there.¡±

    Twenty minutester, the three arrived at the hospital¡¯s original address. After they got the key from the manager, they entered the old storeroom. The ce had just been cleaned, and the rows of shelves were all empty; there was practically nothing left in the room.

    ¡°When you guys were cleaning up the room, which area was Doctor Fang responsible for?¡±

    ¡°I believe it was at the inner part of the storeroom.¡± Doctor Zhao took out the key that would open the iron door leading deeper into the storeroom. ¡°Due to the aging electrical circuit, the lights inside are not functioning that well. The ce is very dim. The nurses at the time refused to go with him. If I¡¯m not mistaken, Ol¡¯ Fang entered the ce on his own that day.¡±

    ¡°The middle of this storeroom is partitioned off with an iron door? Who designed the ce like this? What is the purpose of this?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea.¡± The three entered the inner room and discovered things that would never be used at a hospital, like an old, white wedding dress and pairs of shoes covered in ayer of dust. Inside the dark room, just these rows of tattered shoes gave off a very creepy feeling.

    ¡°I have no idea why these things would be found here. The old gentleman who guarded this ce when it was built passed away many years ago. This ce ismonly locked up. If not for the fact that the new hospital director wanted to redo the storeroom, no one would have known that there were so many shoes abandoned here.¡± Doctor Zhao held the shlight and keys. His heart was palpating with an indescribable fear.

    ¡°There are all different styles of shoes, and the sizes are all different. Is it possible that one of the former guards here liked to collect dead people¡¯s shoes? Could he have stolen all of the dead people¡¯s shoes and then stored them here?¡± Chen Ge mumbled to himself. He did not notice the expressions on Ol¡¯ Wu and Doctor Zhao¡¯s faces that had gotten paler and paler.

    ¡°I have to say, if you don¡¯t mind, your supposition is rather unbelievable.¡± Doctor Zhao pointed at the surrounding shelves. ¡°All of these shoes on the shelves were once worn by dead people? I realize the process of thinking for you inspectors is really different from us normal people.¡±

    Ol¡¯ Wu touched his nose. He wanted to say something else, but after what Doctor Zhao said, he suddenly did not know how to voice his thoughts. Chen Ge, who walked at the front, did not answer. He suddenly stopped after walking past two shelves. ¡°The shoes on the earlier few shelves were all neatly arranged. Howe only the shoes from this shelf are on the ground? Someone has tripped here before!¡±

    Narrowing his eyes, Chen Gepared the location where the shoes had fallen and tried to reconstruct what happened that day.

    ¡°Someone who was about my height found something around this spot where I am standing. He was shocked, and his body knocked into the shoe rack, so the shoes got knocked off and spread to the two sides.¡± Chen Ge had very sharp observational skills. Just based on where the shoes hadnded, he had managed toe up with many reasonable hypotheses. ¡°What shocked the victim probably suddenly appeared behind him. When he turned around, he lost his bnce, and he knocked into the shoe shelf.¡±

    Chen Ge locked onto a direction and walked toward there. Scanning the shelves on the side with Yin Yang Vision, he came upon a discovery. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    There was a small paper ball hidden in a very inconspicuous corner at the bottom of the shelf. Chen Ge opened it up, and there was only one sentence on it.

    ¡®Do not enter thest and innermost room!¡¯

    ¡°Doctor Zhao, take a look at this. Do you think this is Doctor Fang¡¯s handwriting?¡± Chen Ge handed the note to Doctor Zhao.

    After taking a look at it, thetter shook his head. ¡°It is not Doctor Fang¡¯s handwriting, but it has appeared where Doctor Fang¡¯s ident happened. It can only mean that someone was kind enough to warn him of the danger before he came in here, but unfortunately, he did not notice it at the time.¡±

    Chen Ge held on to the paper note. This was a very important clue, so he had to look after it. ¡°Doctor Zhao, do you still remember the people who came with Doctor Fang to this storeroom that day?¡±

    ¡°I do.¡±

    ¡°Among them, do any of them have simr handwriting to this writing on the paper note?¡±

    ¡°I do not think so. The handwriting of most doctors is very hard to read because we need to write prescriptions very fast.¡± Doctor Zhao confirmed it one more time and finally said that the note was not written by the people who went with Doctor Fang that day.

    ¡°It was not someone from the hospital, huh?¡± Chen Ge frowned, but after a while, he said, ¡°To enter this ce, one has to first get the keys from the management center. Could it be that someone there passed this note to Doctor Fang?¡±

    Since they could not find more clues at the old storeroom, Chen Ge took the paper note and hurried back to the management center. Afterparing the handwriting, Chen Ge noticed that the handwriting on the note was very simr to one of the managers. The manager had the surname Chi[1]. It was a very rare surname.

    Chen Ge put away the paper note. He looked at the pictures of the employees that were posted on the wall and asked very loudly, ¡°I am so sorry, but is Chi Ren here? Is he on duty today?¡±

    ¡°Brother Ren asked for holiday a few days ago. Is there anything that you want me to tell him when he returns?¡± The people at the center thought Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Wu were inspectors from the Xin Hai station, so they were very cooperative.

    When he heard that Chi Ren had not been to work for several days, Chen Ge immediately had a bad feeling arise in his heart. ¡°Can you give me Chi Ren¡¯s address? We wish to ask him some questions in person. This is very important.¡±

    The people at the management center hesitated for a while before they finally gave Chen Ge the address of Chi Ren¡¯s apartment.

    ¡°Brother Ren does not like tomunicate; he normally will not talk to strangers. So, I advise you to be prepared for no one to answer the door.¡± The people at the management center had bitter smiles when they mentioned Chi Ren.

    ¡°Does he have any strange habits, or has he done anything strange before?¡±

    ¡°There is nothing particrly strange about him... Oh, right, Brother Ren, I am sure, lives alone. In his employment information, he stated very clearly that he has no family, but he asionally mumbles to himself, saying terms that are very scary like Chi Shou[2], Chi Yanjing[3], Chi Bi[4], and so on.¡±

    Just the mere mention of these terms made the person at the center feel ufortable.

    ¡°One time, I could not help myself and asked him why he kept saying these things, and then he told me all those terms were the names of his family members.¡±

    ¡°He surees from a very strange family. Who would even think of naming their children like that?¡± Chen Ge did not finish the other half of the sentence. He had a feeling that this family who had the surname Chi probably had some kind of rtion with the non-smilers.

    With this useful information, Chen Ge had Doctor Zhao return to his post while he and Ol¡¯ Wu travelled to Chi Ren¡¯s apartment. They knocked for a long time, but there was no answer. In the end, it was thendlord who hade over to tell them Chi Ren had not returned for days. Thendlord revealed some very important information as well. Thest time Chi Ren left the apartment, he was carrying a veryrge bag. It was filled with water and a lot of food. It was as if he was preparing for some iing danger, and he was going into hiding.

    If my assumption is not wrong, the reason Chi Ren gave Doctor Fang the note was because he wanted to save Doctor Fang, but he failed. He was worried about the non-smilers¡¯ revenge, so he hurried and packed up to run away in the night.

    From how Chen Ge saw it, even though this Chi Ren had a very strange name, he believed that he should be a good person.

    ¡°Looks like if we want to find Doctor Fang, we need to find this Chi Ren first. He will be our next lead. Hopefully, he can give us more information that might help lead us to Doctor Fang.¡±

    [1] Chi (³Ô) can be literally tranted as eat.

    [2] Chi Shou can be tranted as ¡®eat hand¡¯.

    [3] Chi Yanjing can be tranted as ¡®eat eyes¡¯.

    [4] Chi Bi can be tranted as ¡®eat nose¡¯.

 Chapter 1143 - Which Is Scarier, Me or the Curse? 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1143 Which Is Scarier, Me or the Curse? 2 in 1</h4>

    Chen Ge had Ol¡¯ Wu show thendlord his real identity, and then the two of them were given the permission to go inside Chi Ren¡¯s room to check. It was clear that Chi Ren had left in a hurry. The food that he ordered was abandoned, unfinished on the table; various clothes were abandoned on the couch; the drawers were left hanging open; the room was chaotic and unkempt, like it had been entered by thieves.

    ¡°Did Chi Ren tell you where he was going?¡±

    ¡°No, but recently, he has been calling someone. I overheard him begging that person to let him stay with them for a while. During one of the phone conversations, he even got into a huge argument with the other person.¡± Thendlord pointed at the wall. ¡°This is an old apartment; the walls are thin. Chi Ren might look very honest normally, but he can be quite scary when he is angry.¡±

    ¡°Then, did you happen to overhear any names or locations?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s expression was serious.

    ¡°I think they mentioned an eatery called Shi Li Xiang, and the owner of the eatery appears to have the surname Chi as well.¡± The information provided by thendlord was very limited, so during the course of conversation, Chen Ge silently released Men Nan into the room. When they were conversing, Men Nan checked every room rudimentarily, but he did note up with anything.

    After leaving the apartment building, Ol¡¯ Wu drove Chen Ge and hurried toward Shi Li Xiang. The shop was situated on the busiest street in Xin Hai, Destiny Avenue. Coincidentally, Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s haunted house was close to Destiny Avenue. The two locations were in the same business circle.

    Destiny Avenue has bright lights twenty-four hours a day. There will always be a crowd here, making it a clever choice for a hiding spot.

    In ces where there were many people, it would hinder the movement of baleful Specters. Even Red Specters would be influenced.

    ¡°Brother Wu, you can just leave me at the eatery. I have troubled you too much already today. When we have the time, I will definitely treat you to a meal.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you can handle this alone? This is Xin Hai. You do not know anyone here, so please do not go and do anything dangerous on your own.¡± Ol¡¯ Wu gave Chen Ge his own phone number. ¡°If you run into any trouble, give me a call. I will do everything that I can to help you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you very much.¡± Ol¡¯ Wu was on an official assignment to apany Mr. Wang. Due to that, he could not stay with Chen Ge for too long, but just due to the fact that he was willing to bring Chen Ge to Xin Hai, thetter was very thankful.

    Carrying tworge bags, Chen Ge eventually found the eatery ¡®Shi Li Xiang¡¯. The shop was not thatrge, but there were many customers. There was a very long queue that led out the door. ¡°The ce has quite a good business.¡±

    Chen Ge queued for about fifteen minutes before it was his turn. He looked at the food inside the counter, and the delicious smell of food hit him. ¡°Boss, howe your food smells much better than other shops?¡±

    ¡°That is because it is cooked with a secret sauce that has been passed down through the family for generations. I can guarantee that you won¡¯t be able to taste this delicacy anywhere else!¡± The boss was a big fatty, and he looked incredibly jovial.

    ¡°Then, why don¡¯t you give me one of everything on the menu? I am particrly fond of meat.¡± When Chen Ge said that, he stealthily observed the boss and the employees. He did not notice any issues. This appeared to be a very normal eatery. After paying the money, Chen Ge left carrying arge bag of food. The sky was darkening, but the streets were still filled with cars. The ce did not die down; if anything, it became even more crowded.

    ¡°Ultimately, Xin Hai is a big city.¡± Chen Ge carried two big bags and the bag of food and found Shang Guan Qing Hong¡¯s haunted house on the corner of the street. Compared to the main avenue, there were obviously fewer people here. ¡°When I came herest time, this haunted house still belonged to someone else.¡±

    Just as Chen Ge stepped into the haunted house, an employee came forth to wee him with passion, but when she saw Chen Ge¡¯s face, she immediately retreated several steps. ¡°Chen... Chen Ge...¡±

    The female employee had a very deep impression of Chen Ge. After all, it was due to this scary man standing before her that her own boss had been hospitalized twice.

    ¡°You will have to call me boss in the future. New Century Park has already bought this ce from your previous boss.¡± Chen Ge took out the proof of purchase from his backpack. ¡°Go and summon all of the free employees. I have something to announce to all of you.¡±

    The nemesis had be their new boss; the expressions of all the employees in the lobby turned very ugly. The way they looked at Chen Ge was how a hapless victim would look at the viins in TV shows. To them, Chen Ge was the kind of viin who would not stop even when he had already pushed the victims to the brink of a mental breakdown.

    ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there, go!¡± Chen Ge did not intend to bully these employees. Even though it was this haunted house that first ruffled his feathers, Chen Ge was not a narrow-minded person. He had already forgotten about those offences in the past.

    About ten minutester, a few employees in ghost costumes and make up rushed out from their posts. Counting the receptionist and the floor boy responsible for cleaning up the ce, there were about five employees gathered in the lobby.

    ¡°Howe there are so few of you? Where are the rest? Is this some kind of rebellion against me?¡± In Chen Ge¡¯s impression, when he camest time, this haunted house had at least ten employees.

    ¡°Due to the dwindling number of visitors and the withholding of the sry,bined with the rumors of this ce being haunted, many people chose to leave,¡± the female employee said softly. ¡°Since we are currently so understaffed, we only have our two most popr scenarios open for now.¡±

    ¡°With such a good spot in the city, how is the number of the visitors dropping? Looks like Shang Guan Qing Hong really needs to reflect on his job.¡± Chen Ge looked at the remaining five employees. ¡°Shang Guan Qing Hong has already sold this ce to me. If you are willing to continue working here, I wee you to do so, but if you wish to seek employment elsewhere, I will pay the sry that Shang Guan Qing Hong owes you; we shall have a good parting.¡±

    When Chen Ge said that he would pay them their owed sry, the remaining five employees wavered. In the ending, including the female receptionist, four of the employees chose to resign. Chen Ge cleared the debt that they were owed on the spot. ¡°You guys do not need toe back tomorrow. I wish you the best of luck in finding a better job.¡±

    After dealing with that, the four employees removed their make up and costumes before departing. Therge haunted house only had Chen Ge and a female employee left.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you resign with the rest of them?¡± Chen Ge looked at the female employee, and he thought that she looked rather familiar.

    ¡°I actually sleep here. If I leave this ce, I won¡¯t even have a ce to stay anymore.¡±

    ¡°You should have saved a bit of money since you¡¯ve worked here for quite some time, right? Howe you still haven¡¯t rented a ce for yourself?¡± When Chen Ge asked that, he had forgotten that he himself had been staying at his own haunted house.

    ¡°My younger brother has a poor physical constitution; he needs the money for his treatment and education, so I try to save wherever I can,¡± the female employee said softly. She appeared to be very afraid of Chen Ge, but for the sry and a roof over her head at night, she forced herself to stand where she was.

    ¡°Family troubles are sometimes the hardest to solve. I understand.¡± Chen Ge nodded. ¡°Why don¡¯t me add my phone number first? I will send you the sry that Shang Guan Qing Hong owes you. From now on, you shall stay here to continue to work.¡±

    ¡°Thank you... boss.¡±

    ¡°Have we met before? I keep feeling like you look very familiar.¡±

    ¡°My name is Hu Die. Everyone calls me Xiao Die. When you came to visitst time, it was me who yed the Pen Spirit game with you,¡± the female employee answered softly.

    ¡°So that was you! Without the make-up, I couldn¡¯t recognize you.¡± Chen Ge finally realized who she was. When he yed the Pen Spirit game with Xiao Die, during the second round, he had taken out the ballpoint pen where the Pen Spirit was hiding, and he had scared Xiao Die until she fainted. To avoid the awkwardness, Chen Ge changed the subject, ¡°The people outside keep on saying that this haunted house is really haunted. I think you have personally experienced it before, so why do you insist on working here? Are you not afraid?¡±

    ¡°In this world, there is nothing scarier than poverty.¡± Xiao Die squeezed her hands together. She seemed toe from a very bad family.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think about those unhappy things anymore. Keep working at this job. I do not dare guarantee that you will get rich, but I can at least promise that you shall one day get double your current sry.¡±

    Chen Ge did not like to give empty promises. Once he said something, he would try his best to make it into a reality.

    ¡°The employee benefits I have are much better than what Shang Guan Qing Hong gave you, so I suggest you find a ce outside of this ce to stay. Do not take this as me chasing you away, but after I visited this cest time, I realized that there is indeed some problem with your haunted house.¡± Chen Ge started into Xiao Die¡¯s eyes. ¡°There are certain things here at night. For your own safety, you¡¯d better move out and find a ce to stay.¡±

    Xiao Die nodded. She looked rather pitiful.

    ¡°Come, bring me on a tour of the haunted house. Last time I was here, I went through the ce in quite a hurry. I believe I have not seen many of the scenarios before.¡± Chen Ge and Xiao Die entered the haunted house. Before they visited much scenarios, Xiao Die¡¯s phone suddenly rang. Seeing the caller ID, Xiao Die very embarrassingly excused herself to the side and answered the call.

    ¡°Sis, where are you now? Can I stay with you guys tonight?¡± A male voice came from the other side of the phone. One could hear the voice trying to hold back his tears.

    Xiao Die was caught in a conundrum. Chen Ge had just told her she could not stay at the haunted house overnight, so she really did not know how to answer her own younger brother. ¡°But don¡¯t you have the permission to stay at the dormitory? Howe you have sneaked out?¡±

    ¡°I really cannot stay there anymore.¡±

    ¡°Are they bullying you again?¡± Xiao Die was rather angry.

    ¡°Sis, don¡¯t ask me anymore. I am now at the entrance of your haunted house. Just let me stay with you for one night,¡± the boy pleaded. Xiao Die turned to Chen Ge helplessly. Before her lips opened to say anything, Chen Ge already nodded his agreement.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. He can stay here tonight, but this is not going to work for the long term. You¡¯d better find out why he is unwilling to stay at his dormitory.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, boss.¡± Xiao Die hung off her phone and ran out of the scenario with Chen Ge. When they arrived at the lobby, there was anky high schooler with very fair skin standing there. He had a very small frame and wounds on his face. He was holding a pair of sses that had been stomped on and broken.

    ¡°Howe you came here on your own?¡± When Xiao Die saw the boy, she hurried over. She took a wet wipe from under the counter and cleaned up some of the dust stuck to the young man¡¯s shirt and arms. ¡°I will go and find some bandages. Stand here and don¡¯t go wandering anywhere.¡±

    After Xiao Die left, the lobby only had Chen Ge and the high schooler left.

    ¡°Your school allows their in-residence students to wander out of the campus at night?¡± Chen Ge ced the two big bags he was holding on the seat. He fetched two cups of water. He ced one before himself and the other before the young man.

    The male student did not ept the water offered by Chen Ge; he did not seem to like Chen Ge. ¡°Are you my sister¡¯s colleague? Howe there are only the two of you here tonight?¡±

    ¡°Do you have a problem with that?¡± Chen Ge took a sip of the water and smiled. They were not on the same level at all. Xiao Die¡¯s younger brother stood transfixed. He held the broken sses and did not dare say a word. Momentster, Xiao Die ran out with the haunted house¡¯s first aid kit and dressed her younger brother¡¯s wound as best as she could. During that period, Xiao Die asked her brother what had happened many times, but her brother mmed up like a shell. After she was done with his wounds, the young man grabbed his school bag and raced into the haunted house. He appeared to know where the staff breakroom was, so this should not be the first time he had run to the haunted house to seek help.

    ¡°Hu Yuan! Wait a minute!¡± Xiao Die shouted twice before the high schooler stopped moving.

    ¡°I do not know anything. Can you please stop asking me questions?¡± Hu Yuan had great emotional swings. It was a clear representation of his inner emotional state.

    ¡°This is my new boss, Chen Ge. If you want to stay at the haunted house, you must at least get his permission first. That is basic manners.¡± Xiao Die dragged Hu Yuan to stand before Chen Ge.

    ¡°He can stay here tonight, but what can hiding here one night change?¡± Chen Ge walked to stand before Hu Yuan. ¡°Fear will not dissipate because you run away from it. Eventually, you will have to face it. Why don¡¯t you share your problems with us and let me and your big sister help you?¡±

    Ever since he obtained the ck phone, Chen Ge had met many problematic children and had collected many useful experiences when dealing with him. With his coaxing and persuasion, Hu Yuan finally told the truth.

    There were four students in his dormitory room, and the other three kept on ganging up on him. Normally, he would have just ignored them, but that afternoon, after school, the three bullies shoved an envelope to him. Hu Yuan did not want it. In the end, the three of them stayed to make horrid jokes about his sister, and that angered Hu Yuan enough to get into a physical fight with them. The thin Hu Yuan was naturally not their match. After being beaten up, he did not want to return to the dormitory room, so he chose toe to his sister¡¯s ce. It was typical school bullying. Xiao Die was very angry; she wanted to go to the school to talk to the teacher tomorrow.

    ¡°They wanted to give you an envelope?¡± Chen Ge caught onto this strange detail. ¡°Did you take the envelope in the end?¡¯

    ¡°Cao Fei shoved the envelope inside my pocket. I initially wanted to throw it away, but I hesitated after I saw the content of the envelope.¡± Hu Yuan took out an envelope from inside his school bag. ¡°I don¡¯t think you guys should look at it. I will figure out a way to deal with itter.¡±

    Actually, Chen Ge did not mind this detail, but when he saw the envelope, his eyes slowly narrowed. There was a very dark print left on the surface on the envelope. ¡°Why would there be human blood on the envelope?¡±

    Chen Ge took the envelope and held it in his hands. Ignoring Hu Yuan¡¯s protest, he opened the envelop. Other than a few strands of hair of varying lengths, there was also a patient list. The list did not have the patient¡¯s name, but there were a few sentences written with red ballpoint pen on the back.

    ¡°Please clip a piece of your hair and ce it inside the envelope and hand the envelope to the next person. If you do not pass the envelope to the next person before night falls, I will appear inside your house at 4:44 am.

    ¡°If you do not pass the envelope to the next person within the next three days, I will appear before your eyes at 4.44 am.¡±

    ¡°A cursed letter? How juvenile.¡± Studying the hair inside the envelope, Chen Ge knew that many people had received this envelope already.

    ¡°You¡¯d better return the envelope to me. I heard Cao Fei say that he really saw somethingst night.¡± Hu Yuan reached for the envelope but was evaded by Chen Ge.

    ¡°At your current age, the most important thing you need to focus on is your studies. Just ignore everything else.¡± Chen Ge patted Hu Yuan¡¯s shoulder. ¡°The person who handed you this letter is called Cao Fei, correct?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Does he also stay at the school dormitory like you?¡±

    ¡°What do you n to do?¡± Hu Yuan was stunned. He turned to his big sister, but Xiao Die also had no idea what Chen Ge was nning.

    ¡°I n to appear beside his bed at 4:44 am tonight.¡± Chen Ge put the envelope away with a smile. ¡°I¡¯m just kidding. You must be tired. Go in and get some rest.¡±

    His expression was normal and easy, like nothing had ever happened. Chen Ge had Xiao Die lead him to visit the rest of the scenarios, and then he locked himself inside the headmaster¡¯s office.

    ¡°Nightmare Academy¡¯s sets are slightly better than my own haunted house. The props alone are worth quite a pretty penny.¡± Chen Ge flipped through hisic and had his Red Specters check every corner of the haunted house. After ensuring that there were no hidden dangers, he sighed in relief.

    ¡°There are two things I need to do tonight¡ªinvestigate the eatery and find the source of the cursed enveloped.¡± Chen Ge had seen many patient records, but this was the first time he had encountered one without a name or picture.

    ¡°After midnight, I will go and visit Cao Fei and trace it back student by student. Eventually, I wille to the source.¡± Chen Ge ced both of his legs on the headmaster¡¯s office table and switched into a morefortable posture. ¡°The school is a ce for education; those that target students shall never be forgiven.¡±

 Chapter 1144 - Perspective of the â€œVictimsâ€œ 2 in 1

    <h4>1144 Perspective of the ¡°Victims¡° 2 in 1</h4>

    At 11 pm, inside the male dormitory at Xin Hai First High, the lights went off. The three male students in Room 408 had already locked the doors and windows and crawled into their beds before the lights went out.¡°Ol¡¯ Cao, are you sure that you saw five people in the roomst night?¡±

    There was a rather well-built student sitting in the second bed, which was next to the window. He was wearing a basketball top, and the poster of a basketball athlete was pasted on the wall beside his bed.

    ¡°Why would I lie to you?¡± The student in first bed was bare chested. There were two night lights next to his bed, and he wore a pendant with a jade around his neck. ¡°Initially, I also thought that cursed letter was nothing but a joke, so I did not give it much thought. Who would have thought there would be an actual extra person appearing in the roomst night?¡±

    Cao Fei, who was in the first bed, pointed at the window next to the second bed. ¡°At the time, the person¡¯s face was pressed against that window. I personally saw him open the balcony door and enter the room. Throughout the whole process, he had his eyes fixed on me.¡±

    ¡°Then, doesn¡¯t that mean he was just standing beside my bed? What the f*ck! Why didn¡¯t you warn me at the time? Some warning would have been helpful!¡±

    ¡°I really wanted to say something, but I realized I could not make any sound from my throat. Do you know the feeling of having a ghost pressing on you, holding you down? It felt just like that for mest night!¡± Cao Fei kept gesturing with both of his hands.

    ¡°Can you describe what that person looks like in more detail?¡± The student in the third bed removed his sses and rubbed his eyes. He was very thin and tall. The textbook next to his bed had his name on it¡ªTian Yuan.

    ¡°I also cannot remember it that clearly anymore. I just felt there was someone there. He had been watching me as he slowly approached me,¡± Cao Fei said as he reached over to switch on the night lights. ¡°Tonight, I am going to sleep with the lights on. Bros, you won¡¯t mind, right?¡±

    ¡°Look at how cowardly you are. If you ask me, this is because you have done too many bad things, and it was your guilty conscienceing to get you.¡± Tian Yuan picked up the textbook next to him and resumed his study. He was a very hardworking student, but that did not change the fact that he too was a bully. ¡°Speaking of which, who gave you the cursed letter in the first ce? Who have you offendedtely that wanted to do something like that to you?¡±

    ¡°Oh, it was nothing like that. The letter was given to me by my girlfriend. I saw how scared she was, so I voluntarily took it from her. Who knew the content of the letter would be true?¡± The bedside lights cast a halo on Cao Fei¡¯s face. Once he reminisced about this incident, he could not stop the cold sweat from forming on his face.

    ¡°You are always the first to act like a hero, but now that you have to suffer the consequences, you have dragged all of your buddies down with you. I really do not know what to say other than thank you,¡± the male student in the basketball tank said sarcastically. ¡°Sigh, when will I get a girlfriend of my own? Are the girls nowadays not into jocks?¡±

    ¡°Brother Zhuang, that is where you are wrong. I stopped the tragedy before it could get to the rest of us because I have already given the letter to Hu Yuan. He is not at the dormitory at the moment, so that ghost should have followed him home already,¡± Cao Fei said in a hushed tone. ¡°Tomorrow, when hees back to ss, we will try to get some information from him, and we will frighten him even more and try to make him to stay away from the dormitory for the next few days so that the ghost will keep on following him back to his ce.¡±

    ¡°What if he insists oning back here?¡± Tian Yuan put his pair of sses back.

    ¡°That weakling does not dare fight back. Even if he does fight back, what can he do to us?¡± It was clear that Cao Fei looked down on Hu Yuan. ¡°The only thing that he has going for him is his sweet older sister.¡±

    ¡°Do you people know what time it is! Why aren¡¯t you sleeping yet! Turn those lights off!¡± The door of the dormitory was knocked on, and the dormitory manager shouted from outside the door.

    The people inside the room quickly moved to oblige. After the dormitory manager left, Cao Fei used the nket to cover the night lights, and he whispered to the room, ¡°I am not going to sleep tonight. I will keep my phone on and take a picture of the ghost for you to see.¡±

    ¡°I wish you best of luck. If you manage to get the picture, remember to wake us up.¡± The bedroom became very quiet, and no one was speaking anymore. Cao Fei buried his head under the sheets and started chatting with his girlfriend via text. Young couples at the start of their romance had many topics that they would talk about, and without even realizing it, they had chatted until midnight. Looking at the amount of battery left, Cao Fei prepared to bid his girlfriend good night. The dormitory that they were in did not have a ce for them to charge their phones. If they wanted to do so, they would have to wait for the next day when they went to ss.

    His fingers moved on the screen. Before Cao Fei could send the word ¡®good night¡¯, he suddenly heard a weird voice in his ears. It sounded like the room door moving. He immediately yanked back the covers and turned his gaze to the door. The door was closed, and there was nothing out of ce about it. He looked around. The inside of the room was intensely quiet, so quiet, in fact, that he could hear the breathing of his other two roommates and the sound of the beating of his heart.

    ¡°Brother Zhuang? Brother Yuan? Are you guys asleep?¡± There was no response. Cao Fei snuck under the covers again. This time, he only allowed his eyes to peek out from underneath. The phone kept vibrating; his girlfriend was sending him new messages. Cao Fei was feeling weirdly frightened. The only person that he could talk to now was his girlfriend.

    ¡°Cao Fei? Why have you suddenly stopped talking? Have you fallen asleep? Come and chat some more with me. I am a little bit scared.¡±

    ¡°Xiao Lu, our bedroom suddenly became very quiet. It is so quiet that even the buzzing of the mosquitos has disappeared. This is so strange!¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t scare me like that! Have you passed the cursed letter on already?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I gave it to one of my roommates. He is not staying with us tonight.¡± When Cao Fei typed those letters, he heard another strange noise in his ears. It sounded like the water dripping and falling on the ground because the tap was not shut tightly.

    ¡°Then it should be fine. Don¡¯t scare yourself. The curse has already been passed on to another person.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s hope so.¡± After Cao Fei replied with that message, his gaze moved away from the phone screen and toward the window. Just as his eyes moved over there, they froze instantaneously because there was a face looking at him from the balcony!

    His eyes blinked, and in that short moment, the face had already moved to stick itself against the ss window. Blood slid down the ss window. The handle that led to the balcony started to turn on its own. Cao Fei grabbed his phone like it was his lifeline. His heart would not stop racing. His limbs were as cold as ice, but the oxygen around him appeared to have ignited.

    The balcony door that was locked from the inside was slowly opened. The temperature inside the room dropped drastically. Following the dripping sound, a man wearing a drenched red shirt appeared inside the dormitory room. The closer he got, the more twisted Cao Fei¡¯s expression became, but he found out that his body could not react at all. The blood slid down to the floor, and the stinging stench of blood rushed into his nostrils!

    The hair that was slick from water stuck on the man¡¯s face. Only an eye that had no pupil stared at Cao Fei through the gap in between the hair.

    Why? I have already sent the cursed letter away! Why have you still appeared!

    It felt as if a pair of hands had gripped Cao Fei¡¯s heart. His eyes were widened to its maximum.

    Following the sound of water dripping, a hoarse voice came out from behind the curtain of ck hair.

    ¡°Why do you always bully me?¡±

    Whenever Cao Fei blinked, the person would teleport one inch closer to him.

    ¡°Why would you give me that letter?¡±

    The soaked body was standing next to him bed. The eye that was fully white stared closely at Cao Fei.

    ¡°Why would you say bad things about my big sister? Why would you not let me lead a peaceful life? Why? Why! What have I done to you! Why? Why!¡±

    His tone was getting more and more maddening. The Red Specter who was drenched leaned close to Cao Fei¡¯s face. The wet ck hair lingered on Cao Fei¡¯s face. A death man¡¯s pale face stared deeply into Cao Fei¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Why did you want me dead?¡±

    ¡°You are... Hu... Hu Yuan...¡± His body was leaning tightly against the headboard, Cao Fei¡¯s body was frozen like ice. His pupils rolled upward; this scene was far beyond the threshold of horror that he could stomach. His body went limp on his bed, and the smell of ammoniater filled up the room.

    ¡°When you bully those weaker than you, you are like a horrible ghost, but when you run into an actual ghost, you perform even worse than those bullied by you.¡± The soaked Red Specter picked up Cao Fei¡¯s phone and looked at the messages on it.

    ¡°What are you doing? Howe you stopped answering my messages?¡±

    ¡°Are you still worried about the cursed letter? As long as you have passed the letter on to another person, the curse will note to harm you.¡±

    ¡°Do not worry. The curse will only harm thetest unlucky b*stard. The two of us will be fine.¡±

    Reading these messages, the Red Specters revealed a wicked grin.

    ...

    It was already 1 am. Her roommates were all asleep, but Zhang Lu kept the night lights beside her bed on. She crossed her legs on the table as she applied something on her nails and nced at the phone screen.

    ¡°Howe he has not replied?¡± Zhang Lu¡¯s fingers glided on the phone screen and wrote, ¡°Do not worry. The curse will only harm thetest unlucky b*stard. The two of us will be fine.¡±

    The screen in the dark finally lit up. Cao Fei had finally replied to her message.

    ¡°Where are you now?¡±

    Zhang Lu found this question weird, but she still replied, ¡°I am in my dorms! Where else would I be? What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ming over to you now!¡±

    ¡°Now?¡± Zhang Lu looked at the time on her phone and quickly typed back a few words. ¡°Stop kidding. It is already one in the morning.¡±

    ¡°I have already exited the male dormitory!¡±

    ¡°Are you reallying over now?¡±

    ¡°I have already reached the bottom of your building!¡±

    ¡°But the doors to the female dormitory should be locked already. How are you going to get in?¡±

    ¡°I have reached the first floor already!¡±

    ¡°First floor?¡± Zhang Lu looked at the messages that kept oning. The frequency of the messages had suddenly increased. It made Zhang Lu feel very unsafe and uneasy.

    ¡°Cao Fei, I am warning you, don¡¯t y such childish pranks on me.¡±

    ¡°I have reached the second floor already!¡±

    ¡°I have reached the third floor already!¡±

    ¡°I have reached the door of your room!¡±

    The messages on the phone gave off a very strange and scary feeling. Zhang Lu gripped her phone tightly. She had a sudden feeling that it was not Cao Fei who was messaging her.

    ¡°When Cao Fei was chatting with me earlier, there was a long period when he did not reply to my messages. He imed to have run into a ghost.¡± The more Zhang Lu thought about it, the more scared she became. She nned to wake up all her other roommates, but no one responded. After about ten seconds, there were no more new messages on her phone. Zhang Lu looked at the screen of her phone and silently slid to the door. She summoned all the courage that she had and slowly pushed the door open. In the dark corridor, other than the night breeze, there was nothing else.

    ¡°I knew it was a prank.¡± Zhang Lu bit on her lips. Her face had nched from the fear, but that fear turned directly into anger. She fired a voice message to Cao Fei. ¡°You sick b*stard! Do you think it is fun to scare me like that? Where exactly are you now?¡±

    Momentster, Zhang Lu¡¯s phone got a new message. ¡°Look behind you.¡±

    Zhang Lu slowly turned around, and the face of a dead man suddenly appeared behind her. ¡°Why would you want me dead?¡±

    ...

    Hanging up the phone, Wei Lijie cursed under his breath before he entered the bathroom of his own apartment.

    ¡°There are so many rich people in this world. Howe I am the one who is so unlucky?¡± The man reeked of beer. He slumped down on the toilet and looked through the message history on his phone. ¡°You can get much from threatening high schoolers anyway, and I still need to share the earnings with Cao Meng! F*ck! All he does is give me orders and stern faces. He really thinks he¡¯s the mafia boss? Just wait until I climb higher than him. I swear I will work him to death...¡±

    At this point of hisint, Wei Lijie¡¯s suddenly felt a pressure on the back of his neck. He lifted his head to look up in a blur, and he realized that there was a man in red shirt who was dripping wet standing at the top of his head. The blood leaked out from the shirt. Wei Lijie blinked several times, and the alcohol dissipated from his bloodstream immediately.

    ¡°Who gave you the cursed envelopes?¡±

    ¡°Cao... Cao... Cao Meng!¡± The man did not even take the time to put his pants on. He jumped up from the toilet and rammed into the bathroom door. He ran into the living room but was tripped by his own pants, which were tangled around his ankles. The sound of blood dripping echoed in his ears. He tried his best to crawl toward the door until his head bumped into something. Lifting his head to look, a fatty with an impossiblyrge body was reaching out to grab his head.

    ¡°Help! Help... Hmm!¡±

    ...

    Cao Meng, who was busy partying at the night club, suddenly got a call from Wei Lijie. Due to the booming music, he could not hear what the man was saying. With great annoyance, he left the dance pool and entered the bathroom alone. ¡°You¡¯d better have something important to tell me to disturb me when I¡¯m partying!¡±

    He waited impatiently for a while. Just as he was about to hang up, an unfamiliar voice suddenly came from the other end of the line. ¡°Why did you hand me that cursed envelope?¡¯

    ¡°What envelope?¡±

    ¡°Why would you want me dead?¡±

    ¡°Wei Lijie, if you really want to know, the answer is that there is no reason. I just want you dead. So, what are you going to do about it? Someone has gotten too big to work for me, is that it?¡± Cao Meng hung up the call directly. His mind was still on the girl that he had been dancing with earlier. Grabbing the door handle of the bathroom, Cao Meng was heading out when a pale hand suddenly appeared on the door handle, cing itself on his own hand!

    ¡°What the f*ck!¡± Cao Meng whipped his head around, but he did not see another person in the bathroom with him. ¡°Have I had too much to drink tonight?¡±

    Just as he was confused, he heard a small voice from one of the cubicles. It sounded like the sound of a woman. He slowly approached the cubicle. Just as Cao Meng was about to reach the cubicle, the door slithered open, and a slender leg that was so white that it had no color to it extended out.

    ¡°A woman has snuck into the male toilets in the night club? I should teach her what kind of danger she might run into doing something as reckless as that.¡± Cao Ming¡¯s heart was palpitating from the dirty thoughts. With the buzz of alcohol clouding his mind, his eyes could not stray away from that leg that appeared to be inviting him. Just as his eyes were fixed on the leg, a breath-takingly beautiful head dropped down beside that leg. She was staring at Cao Meng with the most beautiful smile.

    Cao Meng¡¯s body stopped moving. In that moment, Cao Meng felt that even his own heart had stopped beating. His mind was drawing a nk as he copsed to the ground.

    ...

    At 4:40 am, Lan Xiaochen had just finished giving a horrible review to a horror movie that he had not even seen. Naturally, that got a strong reaction from the fans of the movies. He happily starting to troll these people. This was the happiest moment of his everyday life. The pressure that he suffered during the day was released at that moment. He enjoyed eliciting anger from others and felt a sense of satisfaction because these people were unable to do anything to him due to his anonymity behind the screen.

    ¡°You guys should be thankful that I have spent the little precious time that I have to write a review for your beloved movie. What more do you want from me?¡± He trolled the people for about ten minutes until he was banned by the moderator. Lan Xiaochen mmed heavily on the keyboard. ¡°Such cowards. But never mind.¡±

    He scoffed chillingly and opened a new sub ount to continue his trolling in the movie review segment. He used the worstnguage to curse all those people. ¡°How I wish my curses could turn into reality and ruin the things that this group of trash values so much.¡±

    Lan Xiaochen stared at the ID of the moderator on-screen and looked at all his sub ounts as hisments were deleted. He took out an envelope from his drawer. ¡°There is only onest envelope left. I wonder if it will work on an inte ID.¡±

    The time passed by second by second. When it was 4:44 am on the clock, Lan Xiaochen stuffed the written letter into the envelope, but before he could even seal it, the lights in the room suddenly all went out.

    ¡°What¡¯s this? A power cut?¡±

    The light from the streetlight filtered into the room. Through the dim lighting, Lan Xiaochen realized that a few shadowy figures were flickering inside his room.

 Chapter 1145 - From Today Onward, We Are Friends 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1145 From Today Onward, We Are Friends 2 in 1</h4>

    A heavy stench of blood permeated the air. The originally spacious room suddenly felt so incredibly crowded. The chilling cold light from the screen lit up his surroundings. Lan Xiaochen stood before theputer table, holding the cursed envelope, and slowly turned around. ¡°Who¡¯s there? Come out and face me!¡±

    The man who was normally so courageous and fearless shouted loudly in the direction of the living room. Unfortunately, all that replied to him was the static of electricity. Inside the empty living room, the television set was suddenly switched on, and the ck and white static appeared on the screen like snowkes. Lan Xiaochen picked up the badminton racket next to hisputer table and slowly nudged step by step to the living room. Perhaps it was a psychological trick or something else, but he felt a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu regarding this whole situation.

    A barely discernible sound of crying came from a corner of the room. Theputer suddenly started to y the horror movie that he had been watching earlier. The segment that Lan Xiaochen had critiqued as extremely cliched to the point of boring him was reyed again and again. The things that urred to the main character inside the movie when he was watching a horror movie had replicated it perfectly now in his real life.

    The familiar conversation floated out from the speakers. The heavy breathing and the nervous tone kept on stimting Lan Xiaochen¡¯s brain. Even though he was unwilling to admit it, he was really afraid at that moment. ¡°Come out now! Or I will call the police!¡±

    An overwhelming sense of helplessness overcame his body. Lan Xiaochen yelled at the living room as if raising his voice might increase his courage. He was facing away from the screen of theputer as he moved to the door between the living room and his bedroom. He noticed there was a bloody handprint left on his front door¡¯s handle, as if someone had opened the door from inside his house.

    At that moment, the horror movie ying in hisputer reached its climax. The male main character realized that the ghost from the horror movie he was watching had escaped into his own home. He wanted to escape from his house, but he suddenly noticed that the door of his house was locked.

    Seeing the bloody handprint on the door handle, Lan Xiaochen suddenly realized that someone had entered his own house; this ce was no longer safe. He moved very slowly, but as he approached the front door, he suddenly picked up speed.

    When both of his hands gripped the door handle, he realized, no matter how hard he tried, he could not turn the door open. Fear hadpletely swallowed up his sense of rationality. The man who thought he was so above other people, the man who spent his daily nights trolling fans of different horror movies, that man felt the prick of fear for the first time in his life.

    ¡°Howe the door won¡¯t open?¡±

    He shook the door as hard as he could, but the door refused to budge even an inch. However, blood started to leak from the edges of the door!

    The main character on-screen was caught in the same conundrum. He took out his phone to call the female lead for help. In real life, Lan Xiaochen also took out his phone in a panic. However, this person had no close friends, so he was calling the police for help. The scene in the movie and the scene in real life had run parallel, and the result was surprisingly simr. The phone call was soon answered, and a stranger¡¯s voice came from the other side of the line.

    ¡°You cannot escape.¡±

    Trickles of blood and pale faces started to appear in the room. Shadowy figures wearing red outfits surrounded Lan Xiaochen, who was so scared that he had started to convulse. Lan Xiaochen, who was never afraid of voice his opinion and who was always ready for a fight on the inte, was currently shivering with the corner of his mouth bubbling with white froth, calling his mother with tears in his eyes. A boy in a red shirt dragged Lan Xiaochen to his side. He opened the front door, and there was a young man carrying a backpack standing outside the door.

    ¡°He is the source of the curse? Not even a Red Specter?¡± The young man entered the room and closed the front door behind him. ¡°So, I was getting excited for nothing...¡±

    Sitting on the sofa, the young man took out aic from his backpack, and he started to flip through it. A pail of blood sshed on the top of Lan Xiaochen¡¯s head. The man instantly waved his hands as if he was thrown inside an icy pool. His first instinct was to cry out for help.

    ¡°Chen Ge, wouldn¡¯t it be much easier for you to have Zhang Yi look through his memories? Why waste time with this extra step?¡± Men Nan mped his hand over the Lan Xiaochen¡¯s mouth. He looked at the sticky white stuff on his palm and felt disgusted.

    ¡°Zhang Yi¡¯s ability is to hide and remove part of one¡¯s memory. If this man¡¯s memory has already been tampered with, Zhang Yi will not be able to recognize it. To prevent us from being misdirected, I¡¯d prefer hearing the truth from the horse¡¯s mouth first. We cannot afford to be too careful.¡± Chen Ge was a very cautious person. He first wanted the young man to very carefully think over the things that he had done. ¡°Hey, I will ask you a few questions now. I hope you will answer them honestly. If I find out you¡¯re lying, I will make you see how difficult living can be.¡±

    With his brain slowlying back online, Lan Xiaochen was half lying on the ground. He used the remaining energy in his body to force his head to nod. Just from the tone that he employed, Lan Xiaochen knew that the young man sitting before him was someone he could not afford to offend. Lan Xiaochen might not be afraid of anything or anyone on the inte, but in real life, he was even more cowardly than a mouse.

    ¡°Who gave you the nk cursed letter?¡±

    ¡°No one gave it to me. I stole it from an abandoned hospital.¡± Lan Xiaochen ced the envelope on the ground with his trembling hands. ¡°This is yours, right? I won¡¯t dare do this again. Please forgive me.¡±

    ¡°Someone like you dared to sneak into an abandoned hospital to steal something? You have to be kidding me.¡± The incredulity was clear on Chen Ge¡¯s face.

    ¡°I made a bet with someone on the inte that we would all go spend a night inside that hospital. I was just saying it for fun. Who knew they would reallye to Xin Hai in person? I could not hide from them, so I was dragged by them along to the hospital.¡±

    ¡°Where is the exact location of that hospital?¡±

    ¡°The hospital was in Xin Hai¡¯s countryside. The surrounding area has basically not been developed. It¡¯s a very deste ce.¡± Lan Xiaochen was clearly at the point of crying already. ¡°There were three of them in total. They were all visitors from Jiujiang. Jiujiang must be a very incredible ce because each of them was more courageous than the next. Who knows what kind of training they underwent daily?¡±

    ¡°They entered the hospital with you?¡± Chen Ge did not expect visitors from Jiujiang to appear in Xin Hai.

    ¡°I was the first to enter, but once I escaped from their line of sight, I instantly went into hiding. After they had all gone into the building, I ran out of it immediately.¡± This proved how nefarious this Lan Xiaochen was. To put it more frankly, he was human scum, in and simple.

    ¡°Did the rest of the visitorse out from the hospital?¡± Chen Ge was more concerned about the safety of the visitors.

    ¡°I have no clue. I have waited outside the hospital for half an hour, but there was noise at alling from inside the hospital. It was as if the three of them had been eaten by something inside the hospital.¡± Lan Xiaochen¡¯s voice was stammering. He was still very afraid of Chen Ge. ¡°The ce was very scary at night. I did not dare stay there for too long, so I ran home on my own. But I returned to the ce the following afternoon. I found one of the visitors¡¯ wallets in a corner of the hospital lobby. All the identification documents inside the wallet had disappeared. Instead, all that was left were the three nk patient records and a paper note.¡±

    ¡°Did you call the police after that?¡±

    ¡°No, I assumed they¡¯d left on their own. This could not be counted as a disappearance, and there was no sign of any dead bodies, so I had no reason to report to the police, right?¡± It was unclear whether Lan Xiaochen was trying to convince Chen Ge or himself.

    ¡°Where are the three nk patient records and the paper note now?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s face was dark as a storm, and the atmosphere inside the room was equally suffocating.

    ¡°I have already used two of the patient records. Thest one is inside this envelope.¡± Lan Xiaochen shrunk his neck back like a turtle. ¡°Initially, I really did not know this patient record can curse someone. It was not until the day the neighbor¡¯s dog would not stop barking. I was just intending to give it a try, so I wrote down their name. Who would have thought the whole family would get sick and die? The dog was thest to perish.¡±

    ¡°You said, other than the three patient records, there was also a paper note, right? Go and get it for me. I want to take a look at it.¡±

    Lan Xiaochen initially wanted to use that paper note as a bargaining chip, but he realized that he did not have the courage to sit on the bargaining table with Chen Ge. ¡°The paper note is inside the locked drawer inside my bedroom. The key is inside my pocket.¡±

    Men Nan took out the key and headed into the bedroom. Momentster, he handed the paper note to Chen Ge. Lan Xiaochen might call it a paper note, but it was actually a page that was torn out from a book. There was a dark stain of dry blood left on it, and once one looked closer, one would realize the blood stain was hiding a sentence.

    ¡®This is a sickened world, why have you not discovered that fact? I swear to cure you!¡¯

    These simple words had a very special power. They would give the reader a strange feeling, as if the statement was meant for them.

    ¡°A sickened world? I think you¡¯d better work on curing yourself first.¡± Chen Ge used Yin Yang Vision to study the words on the page. The more he looked at them, the more confused he became. The ck blood stain had a clearyering to it, as if people kept writing the same message on the same part of the page over and over again. ¡°This feels like a notice, but at the same time, it could be some kind of hint. Could it have been left behind by the doctors of the cursed hospital? But why would this page be ced together with the three nk patient records?¡±

    Chen Ge had fought with the cursed hospital several times already. This was the first time he had encountered a nk patient record. This was not something that someone could pick up randomly from the floor.

    ¡°I have already told you everything I know,¡± Lan Xiaochen whispered. ¡°So, can you...¡±

    ¡°I can give you a quick release.¡± Chen Ge waved his hand, and Zhang Yi directly crawled into Lan Xiaochen¡¯s brain. A person the size of an adult crawled into another person¡¯s body through his head. This kind of horrifying scene happened almost daily before Chen Ge. With regards to Lan Xiaochen, it was not that important anymore. After all, when Zhang Yi exited his body, some of his memory would be hidden away. Ten secondster, Zhang Yi crawled out of Lan Xiaochen¡¯s body, and all the red Specters in the room disappeared. The television screen switched off, and everything returned to normal, but the world had lost an inte troll and had gained a young man who had a renewed appreciation for life.

    ¡°Lan Xiaochen was not lying, but there was a part of his memory that was very blurry. Even I could not see through it clearly.¡± Zhang Yi followed beside Chen Ge, walking in the shadows of the city.

    ¡°Which part?¡±

    ¡°Be it the first time he entered the hospital or the time he returned to the hospital, the details about these two incidents were all very blurry. In fact, perhaps he had not actually entered the hospital, but he was made to believe that he had entered the hospital.¡± Zhang Yi gestured with his hands. ¡°I believe the enemy have an entity that can control memory as well, and they are much more powerful than me.¡±

    ¡°The cursed hospital also has someone who can control memories? Looks like I have to figure out a way to turn you into a Red Specter. Your current state as a Half Red Specter is no longer good enough to deal with the current dangerous situation.¡± The Specters who had more unique powers would have a harder time achieving a breakthrough. Chen Ge was very familiar with that fact. He wanted to cultivate Zhang Yi, but unfortunately, he had not found sufficient ¡®food¡¯ for him. He had befriended most of the Specters in Jiujiang already. He could not bring himself to feed them to his employees, but the situation waspletely different now that he had arrived in Xin Hai.

    ¡°Do you think it is possible that Lan Xiaochen was a chess piece employed by the cursed hospital? Be it the cursed letter received by Xiao Die¡¯s younger brother or the supposed disappearance of the visitors from Jiujiang, these two incidents feel so premeditated. It¡¯s as if they¡¯re inciting me to speed my investigation up.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s mind was moving quickly, contemting various possibilities.

    ¡°I honestly have no idea.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d better return to theic to rest. Thank you for everything you have done tonight.¡± Chen Ge pulled his employees back into theic, and he strode down the street alone. ¡°I mustn¡¯t act too rashly. Both Zhang Yi and Yan Danian are extremely rare Specters, so what I need to do now is train them to be Red Specters.

    ¡°Once these unique Specters around me be Red Specter, they will be a force to be reckoned with!¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s mind was made up. Yan Danian, who was just a baleful Specter, was already determined by the ck phone as a Lesser Red Specter, a Specter most powerful among all the baleful Specters, so if he turn into a Red Specter, would he not be a Lesser Demon God?

    ¡°I need to find a chance to sneak Xiao Sun over first and then take it slow. We will see who exhausts the other first.¡±

    At 5 am, Chen Ge returned to Destiny Avenue. He was about to return to Nightmare Academy when he saw someone walk out from the backdoor of Xi Li Xiang eatery. The person looked simr to Chi Ren from behind.

    Carrying his backpack, Chen Ge quietly snuck over. The sun was justing up. It was the time of the day when Destiny Avenue least crowded. The person who snuck out from the backdoor of Xi Li Xiang was pulling along a suitcase. He carefully looked up and down the road as if trying to hide from someone. Chen Ge slowly approached, his footsteps not making any noise. He stared at the man for a long time before finally matching the man to the picture of Chi Ren that he had seen on at the management center.

    ¡°Have you been chased out by the boss?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice suddenly appeared beside the man¡¯s ear. It scared him so much that blood drained from his face.

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°I am the new boss of the haunted house next door. If you have nowhere else to go, I¡¯d be happy to take you on.¡± Before Chen Ge even finished, the man made a very strange gesture. He closed his mouth with both of his hands.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Are you not feeling well?¡± Chen Ge used his body to block the road. The man shook his head quickly. Finally, he took out his phone and type the following on it. ¡®I do not want to harm you! Please go away!¡¯

    ¡°Harm me?¡± Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision to stare at the man for a long time. After he ensured that he was indeed dealing with Chi Ren, he looked at the surrounding. They were at the backdoor of Xi Li Xiang eatery, and there was no surveince camera there.

    ¡°You have trouble looking after your own safety, but you still care about harming an innocent passerby. Looks like you are indeed someone trustworthy.¡± Chen Ge took out theic. Blood vessels boiled behind him, and it swallowed up the light of the dawn.

    ¡°Red Specter!¡± The veins popped on the man¡¯s face. He realized the presence of danger. He directly abandoned his luggage and turned to run.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. I just want to help you.¡±

    ¡°I do not need your help!¡±

    ¡°I never give the people a chance to say no when I feel like helping them.¡± Chen Ge grabbed the man by his hand and forced him to stay where he was. ¡°Be quiet. There are at least five Red Specters around us. Do you think you will be able to escape?¡±

    ¡°F, f, five?¡±

    ¡°Do not panic, maintain your breathing.¡± Chen Ge helped the man reposition his cap. The rim of the cap was ced just right to cover half of the man¡¯s face. Walking down the street, Chen Ge led the man back to Nightmare Academy. After he locked the door, he grabbed the man and basically dragged him into the haunted house¡¯s headmaster¡¯s office.

    ¡°Okay, you are safe now.¡± Chen Ge and the man stood inside the office, along with Men Nan and the water ghost Red Specter. The man did not dare say a word. He believed he had failed to escape.

    ¡°Are you Chi Ren?¡±

    The man nodded carefully. ¡°How did you know that?¡±

    ¡°It was you who was responsible for guarding the storeroom at the old location of Xin Hai hospital, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Did you give the note to Doctor Fang?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Chen Ge took out a piece of paper. ¡°Repeat the message one more time on this paper.¡±

    Ten minutester, Chen Ge finally confirmed that the man before him was Chi Ren. A few days ago, this man had tried to save Doctor Fang, but he had failed to do so.

    ¡°Why would you risk offending the cursed hospital to help Doctor Fang?¡± Chen Ge wanted to know the answer to this.

    ¡°Doctor Fang is a very good person. Even though he is the best doctor in his field, he never had any sense of arrogance. He treated even us normal employees equally, and he has helped so many of his patients. He is the epitome of a good doctor.¡± Chi Ren sighed. ¡°How could I watch such a kind person lose his life?¡±

    ¡°Then, do you still want to save Doctor Fang?¡± Chen Ge was gradually coaxing the man.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Chi Ren¡¯s eyes lit up, but soon, the darkness dimmed them again. ¡°But now, I can¡¯t even save myself. How am I supposed to save him?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine. I will help you.¡± Chen Ge patted Chi Ren¡¯s shoulder with a smile. ¡°The enemy of my enemy is my friend, so from today onward, we are friends.¡±

 Chapter 1146 - Two Demon Gods 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1146 Two Demon Gods 2 in 1</h4>

    ¡°Friend?¡± Chi Ren looked at Chen Ge, and he could not control his eyes from wandering to stop on the two Red Specters. Cold sweat slid down his forehead. ¡°I... I do not have the qualifications to be your friend. We are people from two different worlds.¡±¡°We are living in the same world, and it is this world. The fact that I¡¯ve survived to this day is due to the help of my friends. You are Doctor Fang¡¯s friend, I am also Doctor Fang¡¯s friend, and we have the same target and the same friend, so that is more than enough to form the bond between us.¡± Chen Ge was toozy to waste more time on this topic. ¡°Let¡¯s not waste any more time dawdling on this. Please tell me everything you know about Doctor Fang to me now. Perhaps we still can save him if we make our move now.¡±

    ¡°We will not be able to save him; he has already been chosen.¡± Chi Ren shook his head. ¡°It is indeed impressive that you can order Red Specters around, butpared to them, you are still very weak. The difference in power level is too much.¡±

    ¡°Who do you mean by them?¡±

    ¡°They are a hospital. Doctor Fang is someone chosen by that hospital. They wanted Doctor Fang to be one of their day-shift doctors. I do not know the actual reason. I believe it¡¯s because a lot of doctors have recently gone missing from that hospital, so they are currently seriouslycking staff.¡± The information given by Chi Ren surprised Chen Ge. This could be considered extremely confidential information, but Chi Ren knew about it.

    ¡°What is your rtionship with that hospital? Do not worry, everything that you say here will not be heard by anyone out of this room.¡± To ensure Chi Ren¡¯s safety, Chen Ge even summoned out the red high heels.

    ¡°I wish I could tell you, but I cannot. The moment I reveal anything, I might die on the spot.¡± Chi Ren undid the first button of his shirt. There was a deep ck blood vein around his heart. It looked as if a thin ck thread had been sewn into his flesh. ¡°Everyone rted to that hospital will be cursed, and when the curse is triggered, this ck capiry will continue to grow until it pierces your brain.¡±

    ¡°What will happen if the curse is neutralized? Won¡¯t you be free to say anything without worry?¡± Chen Ge stared at the ck blood capiry. He appeared to hear cryinging out from the capiry itself.

    ¡°No one will be able to neutralize the curse, not even the most powerful Red Specter.¡± Chi Ren shook his head. Just as he finished saying that, the surrounding temperature in the room suddenly dropped. A hand covered in bandages pressed lightly on his chest. The color of the ck capiry started to fade until it stopped growingpletely.

    ¡°You are not wrong that no one will be able to neutralize the curse, but this friend of mine can temporarily make it lose its power, and it will not trigger the alert of the person whoid down the curse.¡±

    The temperature in the room slowly rose back to normal. Chi Ren stood there, stunned on the spot. It was as if the hand that had just pressed against his chest was a part of his imagination.

    ¡°Now you can tell me everything you know without worry.¡± Chen Ge prompted for Chi Ren to continue with his story.

    After a moment of hesitation, Chi Ren took a deep breath. It was as if he had abandoned his life and sped through the following as if worried that death might strike him down at any moment. ¡°There is a monster that even Red Specters are fearful of in that hospital. It also has the surname Chi. The curses that we get are all rted to it.¡±

    After he finished speaking, Chi Ren¡¯s face was pale. He stared straightly at the ck blood capiry on his chest. He waited for a long time, but there was nothing special that happened to that ck blood capiry. He was still alive.

    ¡°The curse has really been temporarily suppressed!¡±

    Relief washed over Chi Ren. It felt like the time bomb that was strapped to his body had just been removed. Wiping away the cold sweat that had slid down his face, Chi Ren¡¯s tone slowly returned to normal.

    ¡°There are four types of living humans at the hospital: the patients beyond number 100, the day-shift doctors, the people with the surname Chi, and the non-smilers. Among them, the non-smilers are the hospital director¡¯s blood rtives while the people with the surname Chi are the family created by that monster.¡±

    The information revealed by Chi Ren to Chen Ge was very important. Other than the thousand-faced Demon God who had been killed by Zhang Ya, there were at least two more Demon Gods at the cursed hospital. One was the hospital director, and the other was the monster with the surname Chi.

    ¡°You are all family who were created? What do you mean by that?¡± Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision to study Chi Ren. This was just a very normal middle-aged man. There was nothing particrly special about him. Chen Ge really did not understand why a Demon God would choose him to be its family.

    ¡°To exin that, we will have to go back about fifteen years. Back then, I have just arrived at Xin Hai for work. I was young and ready for the world. A rtive who already lived in Xin Hai introduced me to a job guarding a morgue. It was not a taxing job, but I would need to work a lot of night shifts. At the time, I was too young to believe in supernatural and superstitious things.¡± Chi Ren started to reveal his past to Chen Ge. ¡°I have not been to university and did not have any worthwhile skills. Just the fact that a rtive was willing to help me find a job, I was already very thankful. Furthermore, the sry was quite lucrative.

    ¡°The hospital director told me that I would have to go on patrol at midnight, 1 am, and 2 am¡ªthree times in total. The focus of the patrol was the few doors at the bottommost floor of the morgue. Once I noticed that the lock had loosened, I had to report to him about it no matter howte it was. But seriously think about it, who would go to the morgue to mess with the locks sote at night? It was a morgue; there was nothing valuable here. There were only dead bodies. Which idiot thieves would be so dumb to go to a ce like that to steal stuff?

    ¡°Naturally, I thought that this order was very strange, but I did not dare question it because this was my new job, and I was not sure I could find anything better. Everything was fine on the first week. Back then, the mobile phone had not been invented yet, and it was quite boring guarding the ce alone. Furthermore, the morgue was very cool andfortable at night. There was not even a mosquito. So, I started to think about stealing time off work.

    ¡°Instead of patrolling three times, I patrolled only the first time and then went to sleep inside the morgue. The ce was particrly cool. That was understandable due to the air conditioning, so sometimes, I even brought a nket with me. About two weeks after that, I started to have nightmares, the kind that felt incredibly real. I dreamt that after I had fallen asleep, there was a group of people standing around me, looking at me. I even dreamt that I was treated as a carcass being pushed into the crematorium to be burnt. Those were not even the worst of the nightmares. The worst came on the third week, when I dreamt about a child.

    ¡°The child¡¯s face did not have any eyes or a nose; it only had a mouth. He stood beside my bed and asked me to tell him some stories. I was so afraid, but I did not dare refuse, so I told him some of the ghost stories I¡¯d heard back home. He seemed to greatly enjoy himself, and he started to appear in my dreams every night. Eventually, I ran out of stories, but the child with only a mouth still refused to let me go. From then on, it not only appeared in my dreams, it started to show up in real life as well. When I felt like I was going crazy, when my mind was breaking down, a monster whose face was dominated by mouths appeared, hugging that child. He asked me whether I was willing to be his family member or not. I did not dare refuse.¡± Chi Ren had a pained expression. ¡°He appeared to be looking for his family members, but he had no luck finding them.

    ¡°After I became that monster¡¯s family, he left. Then I found this ck blood capiry grown around my heart. I had to follow his requests and orders to go and do certain things. No matter how unwilling I was, the moment I dared go against his will would be the moment I died.¡±

    After Chi Ren finished his story, he turned to look at Chen Ge. ¡°You are the first person whom I have encountered that has the power to suppress his curse.¡±

    Controlling a Demon God¡¯s curse was very difficult. The red high heels was a Specter that had an extremely rare talent rted to curses. Combined with the fact that she had consumed and inherited everything that belonged to a Demon God, the ghost fetus, she was basically a Top Red Specter already. It was because she had fulfilled these impossible conditions that she had managed to suppress the curse of this monster with the surname Chi.

    ¡°How is the rtionship between the hospital director and the monster with the surname Chi?¡± Chen Ge wanted to see if he could get the two biggest bosses to go against each other. After all, Zhang Ya could only hold back one Demon God, and during that period, the other Demon God could easily kill all of Chen Ge¡¯s employees.

    ¡°They have a very good rtionship. Sometimes, we even feel like they are the same person.¡± Once the curse was brought under control, Chi Ren started to gain his confidence. He had been keeping his words inside his heart for a long time already, and now, finally, he had a chance to voice them out loud.

    ¡°Wait, you said ¡®we¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Yes, there are more who have the surname Chi in Xin Hai. Even the boss of Xi Li Xiang has the surname Chi. We are all victims of the cursed hospital, and we are forced to spend the rest of our lives under the shadow of the curse. We do not dare reveal any secrets, and we also need to satisfy their requests.¡±

    Chi Ren gritted his teeth like something horrible had just urred to him.

    ¡°Some of the requests are in inhumane. The boss of Xi Li Xiang was force fed a kind of meat due to one of the incidents and was punished. One person went into the hospital in search of his daughter, but in the end, he failed to find his daughter but had his memory changed and was turned into a soulless puppet controlled by the cursed hospital.¡± With green veins popping on his forehead, Chi Ren sighed with heavy regret. ¡°Yes, we are all monsters.¡±

    ¡°As long as you still have that glow of humanity in you, you are still human.¡± Chen Geforted Chi Ren, but in his mind, he was thinking about something else. The hospital director had a very good rtionship with the monster that had the surname Chi, so close that other people felt like they could be one person, so Chen Ge¡¯s n of turning them against each other was impossible. If Chen Ge had to go against them, he would have to obtain the help from two more Demon Gods. That would only give him the qualification to face the cursed hospital. The cursed hospital had existed for more than twenty years. Just how many Demon Gods they had in their midst was truly a mystery in and of itself. Even a victim at the most outer fringe like Chi Ren knew of the existence of two Demon Gods, so the actual number of the Demon Gods inside that cursed hospital was probably much higher than Chen Ge previously predicted.

    ¡°Zhang Ya is a Demon God. The red high heels is a Top Red Specter. Xiao Bu can unleash the power of a Top Red Specter in Li Wan City, but her power will be slightly weaker than a Top Red Specter behind other doors.¡± These three were the most powerful Specters that Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house had. The red high heels and Xiao Bu were also the Specters most likely to be Demon Gods in the immediate future. ¡°The difference in power is too big. I still need to gather more strength.¡±

    Three names instantly surfaced in Chen Ge¡¯s mind¡ªDoctor Gao, the painter, and Chang Wenyu.

    ¡°Doctor Gao destroyed the door at Coffin Vige. He can move freely through the red city. Perhaps he has already be a Demon God. The rtionship between us is veryplicated. We are both members of the Ghost Stories Society, and with the favor that he left me regarding Gao Ru Xue, perhaps I will be able to convince him.

    ¡°The painter himself already possesses power close to a Demon God, and he has many Red Specters following him. Due to the presence of Fan Yu, we are not really enemies.

    ¡°Even though Chang Wenyu once used me, she desperately needs me to help her recover her soul. Of the three ¡®people¡¯, she is the easiest specter for me to befriend.¡±

    Chen Ge knew that he would not be much of a threat to the cursed hospital based on his own power, so he decided to contact all his friends.

    ¡°If I see it from that perspective, I still have the chance at winning this.¡±

    After speaking with Chi Ren, Chen Ge decided to help fulfill Chang Wenyu¡¯s demand that night. The earlier he helped Chang Wenyu recover, the better it would be for him.

    ¡°With the current employees that I have, if the cursed hospitales to hunt me at their full potential, I will definitely not survive.¡±

    The haunted house had many Red Specters employees, but the boss, Chen Ge, was just a normal person. The cursed hospital would not have too much trouble murdering a living human.

    ¡°The whole n will have to be moved forward. I cannot give the cursed hospital too much time.¡± Chen Ge turned back to Chi Ren. ¡°Since bing a member of the Chi family, have you run into any doctors or patients who were sent out of the hospital?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I did.¡±

    ¡°They will naturally run into danger when they are outpleting missions away from the protection of the hospital, so did theye to you guys for help?¡± Chen Ge asked patiently. ¡°After all, all of you are rted to the cursed hospital, and all of you carry the curse on your bodies.¡±

    ¡°We with the surname Chi are normal humans who are spread over the city. To be honest, we are nothing but disposable chess pieces to the cursed hospital. Be it the patients or the doctors, once they sense the presence of the curse on us, they will order us to do something for them, and normally, we have to agree without the chance to bargain.¡± Chi Ren looked pained. ¡°Because we do not have the power to reject them.¡±

    ¡°In other words, the people with the surname Chi are the bottom feeders at the cursed hospital.¡± Chen Ge had a brave idea surfacing in his mind.

    ¡°You can put it that way, yes.¡±

    ¡°You can stay here for now. I can guarantee you that as long as you do not leave this ce, you will not run into any danger.¡± Chen Ge had not slept a wink the entire night, but he did not feel drowsy at all. If anything, his eyes were glowing with excitement.

    ¡°Are you going to leave already? By the way, I still do not know what your name is.¡± Chi Ren was still rather confused at this moment. Both the cursed hospital and Chen Ge were existences that he could afford to offend. But inparison, Chen Ge appeared to be kinder and more reliable.

    ¡°There¡¯s food and beer that I bought yesterday on the table. The bathroom is just next door. If you are tired, feel free to rest. Before I return, do not leave this building.¡± Chen Ge left the two Red Specters behind. He ran to one of the scenarios on the first floor and summoned Xiao Sun. ¡°How far have your studiese along?¡±

    Chen Ge looked at Xiao Sun with anticipation.

    ¡°I really did not expect that even after death, I would still need to study like I am going to sit a university entrance exam...¡± Xiao Sun appeared much thinner than before, and his body was more transparent. ¡°I have studied everything that I need to, and I¡¯ve memorized everything that was given to me. Now, even if Patient 101es back to life, I will be a much more convincing Patient 101 than he would ever be.¡±

    ¡°Very good, I need you to be as prepared as possible. I will send you into the cursed hospital in a few days.¡±

    ¡°So soon?¡± The blood drained from Xiao Sun¡¯s face immediately.

    ¡°Listen to my n first.¡± Chen Ge nned to make use of someone with the surname Chi to send Xiao Sun into the cursed hospital. He shared his n with Xiao Sun and then brought Xiao Sun out to the city to scout out the target. It took a whole morning before they locked onto a person with the surname Chi in Xin Hai¡¯s countryside.

    ¡°We will familiarize ourselves with the environment around here first before we make our move tonight.¡±

    At around 1 pm, when Chen Ge returned to Nightmare Academy, he realized that Zhang Jingjiu and Qu Changlin had already arrived.

    ¡°From today onward, Zhang Jingjiu will be the branch manager, Qu Changlin will be the main designer for the props and sets, and Xiao Die, you will be the staff manager.¡± There were only three living employees at the haunted house, and Chen Ge had given each of them a very impressive sounding post. ¡°I need everyone to help clear away the damaged and unused props and clean up the old scenarios. Depending on the situation, we might reopen for business in three days.¡±

    After assigning the jobs, Chen Ge asked Xiao Die some more questions about her younger brother and then picked up his backpack, heading to Xin Hai First High. That was because Xin Hai First High, where Xiao Die¡¯s brother attended, was the school where Chang Wenyu had left her shattered soul. That was where the girl whom Chang Wenyu had asked Chen Ge to find studied as well.

 Chapter 1147 - Ghost Stories Reviewer â€“ Chen Ge 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1147 Ghost Stories Reviewer ¨C Chen Ge 2 in 1</h4>

    ¡°Did you hear? There are rumors that a ghost visited the male dormitoryst night! There was a student who always bullied his roommate found dazed in his bed. Both pee and poop were found staining his shorts!¡±¡°Howe I heard it was the female dormitory that had a problemst night? The surveince camera was covered by a ck shadow, but the manager said she saw many different human faces flutter into the dormitory through the blurry camera! There was a female student who was found in the corridor. She was incognizant. People said she was sleep walking!¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. This morning, I saw someone was sent to the hospital. The ambnce stopped for a while before the female dormitory. Now, everyone is talking about how the students who often bully their ssmates are being cursed! This is karma rearing her ugly head!¡±

    A few girls were standing together, whispering and gossiping among themselves. The most beautiful among them did not say anything; she just looked at the rest of them with derision in her eyes.

    ¡°Chen Wen, you¡¯d better take this as a warning. If you continue to go cause trouble, be careful. You might also run into a ghost at night.¡± A female student with a coarse voice and a rather unisexual appearance turned to warn the student who had not spoken.

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯ll believe these ridiculous stories?¡± Chen Wen crossed her arms. She guarded at the backdoor of the ss like she was waiting for someone. The bell for ss rang. Most of the students returned to their seats, and at that moment, a female student who was very casually dressed stepped into the ss. She was wearing clothes that were bought at the market. She did not know how to dress herself. Her eyes darted everywhere but her deskmate, Chen Wen. The first ss of the day was over. The girl did not dare leave her seat even though she wanted to go to the toilet. She kept herself glued to her seat, as if the moment she left the ssroom, something bad would happen to her.

    ¡°You seem to have some issues with me, huh?¡± Chen Wen moved her chair to the girl¡¯s side. If one was not close enough to hear the content of her voice and the tone of her voice, just looking at them, one might think they were very close friends.

    ¡°No.¡± The girl held her pen and kept flipping through her notes.

    ¡°Where are your manners? I am talking to you. Look at me. Look at me!¡± Chen wen¡¯s armnded on the girl¡¯s shoulder. ¡°How about we go to y together after school? Don¡¯t be such a good two shoes. You¡¯ve been wanting to make friends, right? After this afternoon, we will be friends.¡±

    ¡°But I have something to do...¡±

    ¡°Okay, so that is a promise. If you dare skip out on me, there will be hell to pay. I will see youter.¡± Chen Wen let go of her arm and took out her phone to start chatting with someone.

    Her deskmate gripped the pen in her hand tightly. She was very afraid, but she did not know who to share her problem with. She did not know what Chen Wen wanted from her, but she was sure it was nothing good. Without any actual evidence, even if she went to the teacher, the school would not intervene to deal with Chen Wen. Furthermore, even if the teacher did choose to believe her, all the school could do was leave Chen Wen a warning. As long as they did not kick her out of school, Chen Wen and her friends would only make it their mission to make the girl¡¯s school life more miserable.

    This was the saddest point about the victims of school bullies. They were the victims, but they were the ones being ostracized, and sometimes, they might even suffer secondary damage from their family and the school. Her head was filled with what Chen Wen had said; the girl could not even pay attention in ss. She did not dare speak up, so she stared at her textbook quietly. During the physical education ss, the girl requested a break from the teacher with the excuse that she was not feeling well. She returned to the ssroom to rest on her own.

    ¡°Should I tell the teacher? The girls being targeted by Chen Wen either be her friend or transfer from this school. She appears toe from a very powerful family.¡± The girl¡¯s family had just moved to Xin Hai not that long ago. She had the feeling of self-deprecation of a neer. ¡°I cannot create more trouble for my parents anymore, but... what should I do?¡±

    ¡°Chang Wenwen?¡±

    The girl suddenly heard someone calling her name. She turned her head to the source of the voice. There was a young man standing at the ssroom window with a smile. The sun created a halo around the young man, and the young man¡¯s smile was as warm as the sun.

    ¡°That should be her! Quick! Pull me back into theic! My body is about to dissolve under the sun already!¡± There was a shadow behind the young man who was struggling and pleading, but of course, the girl could not see that.

    Pulling Chang Gu back into theic, Chen Ge pushed open the backdoor of the ssroom. ¡°Please do not be afraid. I ampleting a request for a friend, and I am here because I need a favor from you.¡±

    The girl was utterly confused. She had no idea what Chen Ge was talking about at all.

    ¡°Have you ever had this dream before?¡± Chen Ge stood at the backdoor and softly spoke. ¡°You dreamed about a blood red door. Inside the door, there was a school that only had its sses at night. All the students and teachers at the school were ghosts. When you were lost and in despair, a female senior appeared to help you.¡±

    The words jogged the girl¡¯s memory, and her face was overwhelmed by surprise. ¡°How do you know about that?¡±

    ¡°Do you still remember what kind of promise you made that female senior?¡± Chen Ge followed what Chang Gu said and was slowly leading the girl step by step.

    ¡°She would help me escape from the nightmare, and in exchange, I would help her look after something.¡± The female student was very innocent, and she did not even consider hiding any information from Chen Ge.

    ¡°I am that female senior¡¯s friend. She asked me toe to you to reim that item.¡±

    Chen Ge did not look like a bad person. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, the female student undid the first button of her blouse and took out something that looked like a pouch from around her neck. ¡°All this time, I have been wondering whether that was a dream or not. If it was not a dream, howe I cannot remember more details about it? If it was a dream, how I do exin this thing that appeared in my grasp after I woke up that night?¡±

    The girl opened the pouch. Inside was a red stone, and in the middle of the stone was a strand of hair that had been balled up.

    ¡°This should be the thing.¡± Chen Ge epted the stone. The several Red Specters inside theic gave him warnings at the same time as if this thing was extremely dangerous. ¡°Thank you, I shall take this with me. From now on, your luck will slowly be better.¡±

    Before the school security arrived, carrying the stone, Chen Ge hurriedly left the grounds of Xin Hai First High.

    ¡°Chang Gu, I have already obtained the object. What should I do next?¡± Chen Ge carried his backpack to the shadows of arge tree. It was as if he was talking to himself.

    A shadow behind Chen Ge opened his lips to say, ¡°That strand of hair is thest lingering spirit of my little sister. The red stone is formed from the blood of her heart, the most important drop of blood for a Top Red Specter.¡±

    ¡°Are you not afraid that I¡¯ll have the other Red Specters consume her by revealing to me such an important information?¡±

    ¡°Naturally, I am afraid of that, but there is nothing I can do about it,¡± Chang Gu said with a bitter smile. ¡°Even if I hid that information from you, your other Red Specters employees would notice it.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will fulfil the promise that I have made. I just hope that you siblings will do the same for me.¡± Chen Ge tossed the blood stone lightly into the air, and that caused Chang Gu to get immensely worried. ¡°With just this lingering spirit and blood stone, your younger sister cane back to life?¡±

    ¡°She still need to consume some Specters first, but I have no idea the exact number of ghosts that she needs to consume.¡± Chang Gu lowered his head. He did not dare look at Chen Ge.

    ¡°In other words, you two nned to rope me into the role of her nanny, huh? I think I finally understand Chang Wenyu¡¯s n now. Her enemies are all in Jiujiang, so she chose a girl who just moved to Xin Hai and left herst shred of lingering spirit with her. After she awakens, she can consume the ghosts in Xin Hai to recover her power, and when she is at her full strength again, she can easily return to Jiujiang.¡±

    Chang Wenyu was indeed very clever, but she had seriously underestimated Zhang Ya. She had failed to anticipate that Chen Ge would have a Demon God with him.

    ¡°Boss, we were indeed in the wrong at the School of the Afterlife. I hope you will help her one more time.¡± Chang Gu was basically begging Chen Ge. During this period when they were together, his opinion of Chen Ge had kept improving. He felt like Chen Ge was someone trustworthy.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Chen Ge put away the blood stone and creased his brows. ¡°To awaken Chang Wenyu, she needs to feed on ghosts. To improve my employees¡¯ abilities, I also need ghosts and Specters.¡± After giving it some thought, Chen Ge took out his phone and started to search for ghost stories rted to Xin Hai. He created a throwaway ount and snuck into a local supernatural forum. Inside a pinned thread, he found the thing that he was looking for.

    ¡®The collection thread for the ghost stories in Xin Hai! Come and review and vote your top ten scariest ghost stories from Xin Hai!¡¯

    Chen Ge surveyed the thread post by post. His pupils slowly narrowed as he silently recorded all the information. Chang Gu, who stood next to him, did not dare speak. When his boss looked through these ghost stories, it was like a customer looking over the menu at the restaurant. The serious expression on the man¡¯s face caused his heart to shiver with fear.

    ¡°This thread is still updating. Thetest post was posted about two minutes ago. Looks like I havee across a treasure of a thread.¡± Chen Ge bookmarked the page. He had already memorized the addresses of some of the ghost stories, and he nned to visit them that night.

    Returning to the Nightmare Academy, Chen Ge did not have time to greet his employees but directly rush back into the headmaster¡¯s office. He asked Chi Ren some questions again and confirmed some information about Doctor Fang and people with the surname Chi before he left.

    ¡°Failure to n is nning to fail, but sometimes, luck ys a huge part of it as well. Xiao Sun, you will run into many kinds of danger on this journey of yours, but I believe in you because you are different from the others.¡± Chen Ge personally inspected the final result of Xiao Sun¡¯s special training and taught Xiao Sun a few more tricks.

    Once the sky darkened, Chen Ge, who was all prepared, carried the ¡®heavily injured¡¯ Xiao Sun to the countryside of Xin Hai. The secret of the people with the surname Chi was only known to the people with the surname Chi, and this secret was one that they could not share. Due to the curse of the Demon God, once the person revealed the secret, not only would they die, the Demon God would be apprised of the situation there almost immediately.

    The cursed hospital did not expect the red high heels to inherit everything that belonged to the ghost fetus and be a Top Red Specter, and Chen Ge was currently making use of this. Chen Ge created an ident so that the people with the surname Chi who lived at the countryside very coincidentally run into Patient 101 Xiao Sun, who was about to dissipate. After using some words and actions to convince the man, Chen Ge watched the man carry Xiao Sun out of Xin Hai with his own eyes. The ce that they were heading to was the border between Xin Hai and Jiujiang. There were many ghost buildings and barrennds there. It had been abandoned for many years already.

    ¡°God will smile on the faithful. Hopefully, Xiao Sun will make something of himself at the cursed hospital.¡± For some unknown reason, after sending Xiao Sun away, Chen Ge unconsciously sighed in great relief.

    ¡°What I need to do next is improve my employees¡¯ ability as fast as I can and try to get the red high heels to be a Demon God.¡± It was extremely difficult for a Red Specter be a Demon God, but Chen Ge had no other choice. Only by having the red high heels be the Demon God would he have the right to fight the cursed hospital.

    Logging back into the supernatural forum, Chen Ge noticed that the thread was still updating. The forum users had gotten into an argument about the ranking of the ghost stories. No party wished to back down. In the end, some of them even swore that they would go to the locations of the ghost stories to record a video to show the other users how scary the ce was.

    ¡°Ultimately, the ce is a big city. The people are always busy.¡± Jiujiang had simr forums, but the number of active users was pitiably small. The poptions of both cities were not on the same level. ¡°The ce with more people will have more despair and thus more ghost stories. Theoretically, that should be the case, but it appears like Jiujiang is an exception to the rule.¡±

    Chen Ge had also had noticed that the number of ghost stories in Jiujiang was abnormally high. If he was to rte a city to a person, then Jiujiang was like Sun Xiaojun. It had the love of a thousand Specters.

    ¡°It has been quite a few days since I arrived in Xin Hai. It is about time I go pay them a visit.¡± Chen Ge hailed a cab to head to his destinations. ¡°Sir, please drive faster. I am in a hurry. I have to visit a few ces tonight.¡±

    ...

    By 11 pm, of the top ten Xin Hai Ghost Stories, Chen Ge had already visited three of them, but unfortunately, he was not rewarded. He also slowly realized that the ghost stories with great word of mouth in reality would have a very low chance of actually hiding a Red Specter. If an actual Red Specter with great resentment was behind these ghost stories, there would not be any survivors to spread the ghost stories. Without any survivors, there naturally would not be any witnesses, and the ghost story would not even be known.

    With a spirit of not wanting to miss anything, Chen Ge had recorded all the ghost stories on the pinned thread. Among them, he had found a few special ghost stories. The descriptions were not that detailed, but he could pick out specific terms like bloody clothes and red.

    ¡°Xin Hai Ghost Stories Rank Twenty-Seven. A crying well in a developing part of the city¡ªit was supposed to be an abandoned well, but there was a crying sounding from inside it. And there were witnesses iming they saw bloody hair crawling out from inside the well. This sounds promising. It is worth a visit.¡±

    cing his phone on his knee, Chen Ge used his pen and some paper to help with his note-making. Those who did not know better probably thought he was really reviewing these ces.

    Ten minutester, Chen Ge arrived at a developing construction site. Due to many reasons, the construction progress was halted, and the well was at the foot of the hill behind the construction site. Walking through the bushes and trees, Chen Ge finally found the well. The well was made from stone, and not far away from the well were a few old and abandoned houses.

    ¡°This should be the ce.¡± Before Chen Ge even got near, he could hear a wispy crying sound. ¡°It¡¯sing from inside the well?¡±

    There was a magical power about the crying. Chen Ge appeared to lose control of his body as he slowly moved to the mouth of the well. The pale moonlight shone on the surface of the water. Chen Ge looked into the well. There was endless ck hair floating on the surface of the water. Without any attempt atmunication, the ck hair gathered together and tried to grab Chen Ge around his neck, intending to drag him into the well!

    ¡°You asked for it!¡± His palm flipped through theic. The moon turned red as blood flushed right into the well. Momentster, the water ghost reappeared beside Chen Ge holding Chang Wenyu¡¯s blood stone.

    ¡°There was a Half Red Specter inside the well, but it appeared to have been cursed. It cannot be rationallymunicated with. It did not even seem to realize it was a ghost.¡±

    ¡°It was cursed?¡± Whenever Chen Ge heard the term ¡®curse¡¯, he was immediately reminded of the cursed hospital.

    ¡°After swallowing the Half Red Specter, the blood stone has deepened in color. I predict it will need to swallow at least two more Red Specters before she can awaken. Other than that, there¡¯s something else at the bottom of the well. I think you¡¯d better go and look at it yourself.¡±

    The water ghost and Xu Yin led Chen Ge into the old well. At the bottom of the well, they encountered a tomb. Inside the tomb was a set of well-preserved clothing, and among the folds of the clothes, there was a patient record. On the back of the patient record was written¡ª¡¯This is a sickened world. Why have you not discovered that fact? I vow to cure you!¡¯

    ¡°This statement again?¡± Chen Ge had once seen this sentence before at Lan Xiaochen¡¯s home. ¡°This is a sickened world. Why have you not discovered that fact? I have a feeling that question is meant for me.¡±

    Putting away the patient record, Chen Ge crawled out from the old well. ¡°It¡¯s pointless to think about it now. We should hurry to the next location of ghost stories instead.¡±

 Chapter 1148 - The Awakened Top Red Spectre 2 in 1

    <h4>1148 The Awakened Top Red Spectre 2 in 1</h4>

    ¡°Xin Hai Ghost Stories Ranked 19¡ªMidnight Delivery. There was a horrible homicide that urred at Xin Yue Towers Room 444. When the murderer was dealing with the dead body, the food delivery ordered by the victim arrived. The deliveryman had no idea what had just transpired inside the room; he was just hoping toplete his job and get a good review from the customer. The room door creaked open, and the deliveryman was pulled into the room to face his death. From then on, as long as someone ordered food from Xin Yue Towers after midnight, one would have a chance of running into that poor food deliveryman.¡±

    After reading the information on the phone, Chen Ge gently shook the door handle of Xin Yue Towers Room 444. To his surprise, the door was not locked. He entered it directly and took out his own phone to order some beer and food. Probably because the address that he filled in was Xin Yue Towers Room 444, even after the eatery had finished his order, there was no deliveryman who was willing to pick up his order. He waited for half an hour, but the food still had not departed from the eatery when suddenly footsteps came from the corridor outside room. Chen Ge peered through the peephole. There was a man standing outside the door of Room 444. He was carrying a red box that appeared to be overflowing with blood.

    Chen Ge took out theic and flipped through it while he shouted at the door, ¡°I am sorry, but did you get the wrong address? My delivery app shows that the food is still at the eatery. No deliveryman has gone to collect it.¡±

    ¡°There is no mistake. This is the address that I was given.¡± The man outside the door had his head lowered, and his body leaned very close to the door.

    ¡°Then it appears like there is something wrong with the app on my phone.¡± Chen Ge appeared to convince himself. He opened the door and looked at the man with a smile. At that same time, the three Red Specters behind Chen Ge also turned to look at the deliveryman. When the door opened, a wicked smile appeared on the corner of the man¡¯s lips, but soon, the smile froze on his face. The red box that he was carrying suddenly appeared to weigh a lot more. His Adam¡¯s apple quivered slightly as he took a subconscious step backward. ¡°I am so sorry. It appears like you were right. I¡¯ve probably got the wrong address. This isn¡¯t what you ordered.¡±

    Hugging the red box, the man turned and attempted to run but was stopped by the water ghost. ¡°The address is not wrong. The delivery that we have been waiting for is you.¡±

    With the Red Specters surrounding him, the delivery man had nowhere to run, but Chen Ge did not feed him to Chang Wenyu. This baleful Specter was very conscious of his actions; there was no trace of a curse on his body. Chen Ge also did not discover any information rted to the cursed hospital on the man.

    ¡°He is not even a Half Red Specter; it would be a waste to feed him to Chang Wenyu. Furthermore, he looks quite clever, and he even knows how to make deliveries. I suppose you can consider that a unique talent.¡±

    Chen Ge pulled the delivery man into theic and had him stay together with Men Nan.

    ¡°The ability of the delivery man was worse than the crying ghost in the well, but the atmosphere of horror he created was much stronger than the crying well. I¡¯m struggling to make a decision. For now, this ghost story should be ranked lower than the weeping well.¡± After leaving Xin Yue Towers Room 444, Chen Ge hurried without pause to the next ghost story. He had already visited seven ghost stories that night, and of the seven, three of them were fake; there was no presence of ghosts. From the remaining four, only the Half Red Specter inside the crying well was made into food. The other three ghost stories had only normal lingering spirits and baleful Specters. There was no point in consuming them.

    ¡°Xin Hai is sorge. There is not even one ¡®wild¡¯ Red Specter?¡±

    Looking through his phone, Chen Ge arrived at a ce situated in the old part of Xin Hai known as Cards Archway. This used to be the most raucous location in Xin Hai¡¯s old city, but due to a big fire, the ce was abandoned directly. A developmentpany bought thend at a very low price, but not long after that, for some unknown reason, the construction to bring this part of the city back to the life did not start. Thus, the ce continued to be abandoned to the wilds just like that. The street was surrounded by cement walls. After Chen Ge leaped over the wall, he immediately sensed that something was not right.

    The world inside and outside the cement wall could be said to be twopletely different worlds. There was a scent of decay in the air, and the air pressed heavily on Chen Ge¡¯s lungs. ¡°There is no sense of human spirit in this ce at all. Just how long has this ce been abandoned?¡±

    Oftentimes when a ce in a big city was abandoned, it would soon be a paradise for squatters, but Cards Archway appeared to be an exception. With the training from the ck phone, whenever Chen Ge entered a ce, without even checking it too closely, purely based on the lingering presence in the air, he could tell whether the ce was truly haunted or not. He had experienced so much that this had be one of his habits. He had mastered techniques that most people would not even dare to imagine.

    Flipping through theic and switching on the recorder, Chen Ge approach the nearby building whose entrance was burned to a crisp and entered the interior.

    ¡°Why is there a scent of blood in the air?¡± Chen Ge titled his head back to take in a big breath, using his Spirit Sniff talent. ¡°It drifts out from the interior of the building.¡±

    Walking through a corridor filled with old cards tables and wooden cards, Chen Ge noticed something was wrong just as he turned the corner. Following the sound of ticking, he saw someone hanging at the end of the corridor inside the lobby. The horrible smell and the stench of blood radiated from this person, and just as Chen Ge discovered that person, the dead carcass, which had many fatal wounds on it, suddenly opened its eyes!

    ¡°Not good!¡± Chen Ge wasted no time in summoning his employees. Before the dead body managed to get close to Chen Ge, the water ghost and Xu Yin appeared to guard him. ck and red blood leaked out from the body¡¯s wounds, and ck insects that looked like centipedes dropped down from the dead body. It did not know fear and pain; even facing the two Red Specters, it did not evade or run, instead charging headfirst at them. The water ghost easily blocked the dead body, but just as he touched the body, the fresh blood that leaked out silently behind the body morphed into a red shadow to gnaw at Chen Ge¡¯s face!

    ¡°Xu Yin!¡± The sound of static echoed in his ears, and a pale arm pierced through the blood shadow. A shrill wail echoed inside the lobby, but soon, something even scarier happened. The floor in the lobby started to crack and a face peeked through the gap. ck worms crawled out from the gap, and the floor not far from Chen Ge started to budge, as if something huge was moving rapidly underground!

    About one secondter, a face filled with wounds appeared next to Chen Ge¡¯s shoes. ¡°There¡¯s another one?¡±

    The face was about to burst through the ground but was stomped back underground by the boy with the stench. The stench with the giant body morphed into ck mist and used his own body to envelope Chen Ge. The sound of wailing multiplied in the lobby. The paint on the ceiling started to ke like skin, exposing the many ck and white pictures that covered the ceiling. The many faces stared closely at Chen Ge. Their faces were twisted in resentment and anger.

    It was as if they had been given some kind of order. An endless stream of evil spirits rushed out from the pictures, and they all surged at Chen Ge like thetter owed them their lives. Xu Yin, who had torn open the red shadow, appeared again. He made easy work of the evil spirits that attempted to get close to Chen Ge. While Xu Yin was upied by the wave of evil spirits, a tight web of blood appeared on the ground. A ck red shadow whose body was charred ran out from the innermost part of the building. Its target was very clear¡ªChen Ge. If Chen Ge only had the protection of two Red Specters, then he would have been dead already. The ghost inside the building was very cunning. It waited until all the Red Specters around Chen Ge were preupied before it showed itself. But unfortunately, it had seriously underestimated the number of Red Specter that Chen Ge had with him.

    After the Red Specter with the burnt body appeared, Chen Ge stopped hiding his true strength, he summoned out the rest of the Red Specters. Then, something very strange happened. The Red Specter whose body was burnt to a crisp appeared to lose his mind, and he started to fight several Red Specters like he had gone mad.

    ¡°Is he cursed as well?¡± For the sake of security, Chen Ge summoned out the red high heels. Once the Top Red Specter showed up, the whole building started to shake. The ground split open to reveal many charred bodies that were buried deep around. The battle was over once the red high heels showed up. The ck and red shadow revealed its true appearance; it was an amalgamation of many vengeful spirits. When the archway was caught in the big fire, many people had failed to escape. The resentment from before they died was deeply buried underground, and they collectively formed a monster that was stronger than a normal Red Specter.

    This monster itself felt deep resentment toward everything, and it was a victim of a curse. It would indiscriminately attack anyone that entered the Cards Archway at night. It was extremely dangerous. It could be said that Chen Ge had helped Xin Hai deal with a dangerous criminal. The coboration of several Red Specters murdered the ck and red shadow and fed all the resentment of Chang Wenyu¡¯s blood stone. It was a mystery how many people had died in the big fire. There was no actual report, and Chen Ge could not find much more information on it.

    As the blood stone continued to feed on the resentment, the ck and white photos on the ceiling started to peel. The pictures yellowed and faded away, and the human faces became ever more blurry. Many cracks appeared on the ground, and even the outside wall of the building started to break. This old building that had survived for decades appeared to be on itsst legs.

    Over the course of fifteen minutes, Chang Wenyu¡¯s blood stone finally swallowed all of the monster inside the Cards Archway. The stone had doubled in size, and it kept on pulsing like the beating heart of a living person.

    ¡°Let¡¯s prepare to leave. This ce is about to crumble.¡± Chen Ge was about to leave when the red high heels jumped into the mass grave where the victims were buried. Momentster, she returned with two objects from inside the mass grave, an envelope that was half burnt and an earring. Initially, Chen Ge did not care much for this discovery, but after he gave the items a closer look, his expression changed immediately. The earring, he was sure, belonged to his mother.

    Putting the earring into thepartment of his backpack, Chen Ge tore open the envelope. His brows were then heavily creased together. The letter was half burnt, so only a few words were still visible¡ª¡¯This is a sickened world.¡¯

    The handwriting is very simr to my dad¡¯s. Did someone copy his handwriting? But why would someone do that? And why would my mom¡¯s earring be found inside the mass grave?

    Chen Ge had encountered the sentence in the letter before, so even though thetter half of the sentence was burned away, he knew what the full sentence was.

    ¡®This is a sickened world. Why have you not discovered that fact? I swear to cure you!¡¯

    Is this a message that my dad tried to leave me, or is this a hint for me?

    Chen Ge looked at the familiar handwriting on the letter and contemted the meaning behind it for a while. His finger touched the edge of the letter that was scorched. Then he pulled out the patient record that had the same statement on the back of it.

    No, wait! The letter might be written by my father, but the message might not be the same! The handwriting on the patient record is different from the handwriting on this letter. They were written by different people.

    Narrowing his eyes, Chen Gepared the handwriting of the full sentence on the patient record and the half-sentence on the letter.

    Someone is purposely trying to mislead me, hoping for me to fall into some kind of misunderstanding!

    He ced everything inside thepartment of his backpack, but he did not share his thoughts with anyone else.

    The person behind this managed to acquire my father¡¯s handwritten letter and my mother¡¯s earring so the chance of them being rted to the cursed hospital is very high.]

    A sense of desperation arose in his heart. Chen Ge summoned back all his employees and left the Cards Archway.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to move to the next location.¡± He had brought his habit that he had cultivated at Jiujiang to Xin Hai. He would not sit down and rest until the sun came up. At 3:55 am, Chen Ge arrived at an abandoned school in Xin Hai¡¯s countryside. Inside the school, he found a cursed Red Specter. After feeding the Red Specter to the blood stone, the hibernating Chang Wenyu finally awakened.

    The beating blood stone was actually half of this Top Red Specter¡¯s heart. In the School of the Afterlife, she did not go after the painter with full force because she had kept half of her power in this stone as insurance. When the blood red heart started to beat again, all the animals and insects around the abandoned school became quiet. This ce appeared to have be a zone of the dead. The single eye opened, a sea of blood hidden within!

    With a twisted smile on her face, Chang Wenyu¡¯s bloody dress started to spread around her. She took slow and deliberate steps toward Chen Ge until she was stopped by the red high heels.

    ¡°I know you are very happy that you havee back to life, but I hope that you will rein in your power a little bit, or else I will feed you to the other Red Specters.¡± Chen Ge had encountered many big events in his life. ¡°You tricked me and used me, but I have repaid it with kindness. I not only did not take revenge on you, but I even brought you back to life. Aren¡¯t you supposed to give me something in return?¡±

    ¡°That does not sound like something an honorable person would say,¡± Chang Gu whispered softly behind Chen Ge. After he saw his little sister, he was very excited.

    Chang Wenyu slowly calmed down. Her remaining eye studied Chen Ge and her bloody lips slowly opened. ¡°I once saw your phone at the innermost part of the red city. Only I know about that ce. I can take you there.¡±

    When he was doing the mission at the School of the Afterlife, Chang Wenyu had stolen Chen Ge¡¯s ck phone. Because of that, the ck phone had purposely given a mission rted to Chang Wenyu.

    ¡°Is that it? That¡¯s all you can offer?¡± Chen Ge was not satisfied. He had his employees surround Chang Wenyu. ¡°For you, I have purposelye to Xin Hai and identally offended the scariest cursed hospital in Xin Hai. The hospital has at least two Demon Gods! After I have paid so much for you, what you have in return for me is a single sentence?¡±

    Her single eye blinked. Chang Wenyu had just woken up. She had no idea whether Chen Ge was telling the truth or not, but she did know that she was at her weakest.

    ¡°What do you want from me then?¡±

    ¡°Until the cursed hospital is levelled to the ground, I need you to be an employee at my haunted house and listen to my orders.¡± Chen Ge gave his request.

    ¡°You just said it was you who identally offended the cursed hospital, so why would you want to level them? What have they done to you?¡±

    ¡°Since the offense has been made, the only reasonable step now is to vanquish the enemy to remove a possible threat.¡±

    Being surrounded by multiple Red Specters, whenever Chang Wenyu¡¯s single eye blinked, the madness and cruelty in her eye would increase. But at the final moment, she decided to bend the knee.

    ¡°Okay, I promise.¡±

    ¡°I swear this will be the best decision you have made in your life.¡± Chen Ge had the red high heels leave an imprint on Chang Wenyu, and he then untied the hair around the headless woman¡¯s wrist and tied Zhang Ya¡¯s hair around Chang Wenyu¡¯s wrist instead.

    Through the whole process, Chang Wenyu did not resist. After Chen Ge ensured that everything was fine, Chang Wenyu spoke. ¡°I still have some of my own things to do. I will give you an eyeball. Whenever you need my help, just squeeze it until it breaks, and I will appear.¡±

    The blood sea in the single eye boiled, the aura around Chang Wenyu was as reddened as the rising sun. She took out a bloody eyeball from inside her dress and handed it over to Chen Ge. Then, she dissolved into a blood mist and disappeared. Looking at the bloody eyeball sitting in his palm, Chen Ge¡¯s face was twitching.

    Chang Wenyu was an actual Red Specter; she was surrounded by resentment and was at the edge ofshing out at any given moment. She was not afraid of anything, and the parting gift that she gave was a bloody eyeball. The false Red Specters often bullied the weak and would run whenever they encountered Red Specters of the same level. They would not dare kill a chicken, much less harm a person.

    ¡°Where shall I put this eyeball? If I shove it inside the backpack, it might identally get crushed. If I put it inside my pocket, it might be discovered. People will treat me as a madman; it will only be worse if they call the police.¡±

 Chapter 1149 - Innocent Citizen, Mr. Chen 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1149 Innocent Citizen, Mr. Chen 2 in 1</h4>

    Chen Ge did not know where to put the eyeball given to him by Chang Wenyu. It did not feel like it was appropriate to keep it anywhere. After much deliberation, Chen Ge decided to hand the eyeball over to Men Nan. Of all the Red Specters, Men Nan had the highest IQ and EQ. In fact, Chen Ge would sometimes have him go off on some individual tasks. Therefore, he was not worried at all with Men Nan temporarily holding onto the eyeball.

    ¡°Now is the most vulnerable moment for Chang Wenyu. She does not dare stay too long around me, and she left the moment she found the opportunity to do so. Looks like she still has a problem trusting me. She is worried that I might really feed her to the other Red Specters.¡±

    Rome was not built in a day; trust was the same. Chen Ge believed that with enough time, he would definitely be able to win Chang Wenyu¡¯s trust. The sky was already slowly brightening, but Chen Ge did not hurry to leave. He continued to wander about inside the abandoned school. ¡°The Red Specter at this abandoned school and the Red Specter at Cards Archway are so much more powerful than normal Red Specters, but neither of their hiding ces have the presence of a ¡®door¡¯. Is it because their despair is not strong enough for a door to appear?¡±

    There was no absolute connection between Red Specters and the doors. A door pusher would always be a Red Specter, but not every Red Specter would possess their own door. Chen Ge did not think too much about it initially, but now that he stopped to consider it, he suddenly realized things did not add up.

    ¡°Could the doors be unique to Jiujiang?¡±

    Entering the ssroom where the Red Specter at the abandoned school first showed up, Chen Ge found that familiar statement on the table upied by the Red Specter.

    ¡®This is a sickened world. Why have you not discovered that fact? I swear to cure you!¡¯

    The words were carved unevenly on the table. It was like a kind of psychological hint, and it kept appearing before Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. Eventually, even without realizing it, Chen Ge had already memorized the statement in his mind.

    ¡°The sentence is always the same, but the handwriting¡¯spletely different, so they were probably left behind by different people. But why would these people that seemingly had no connection with each other all write or carve down those same words?¡±

    He really could note up with a reasonable answer. Chen Ge summoned back all his haunted house employees, hailed a cab, and returned to Nightmare Academy.

    ¡°I will go for a nap. You guys find something to do. Be prepared for business.¡± Chen Ge greeted his employees before entering the headmaster¡¯s office. Chi Ren had been staying inside the room and out of boredom. He was building a paper tower from a deck of cards. ¡°In a few days, you will be safe.¡±

    Chen Ge entered the inner room, hugged his backpack, and entered his dreams. Without the need to worry about the operation of the haunted house and the safety of the visitors, he had the first rxing sleep in a very long time.

    At twelve noon, Chen Ge woke up and went out to purchase food for himself and his living employees. After lunch, he left the haunted house again. Xin Hai was, to him, an unexplored treasure trove. How he wished he could capture all the baleful Specters and Red Specters at once. ¡°After I deal with the cursed hospital, should I go on a train ride all over the country to spread this kindness to different cities?¡±

    Of course, that was just a thought. Chen Ge used the daytime to arrange his clues and information while preparing to visit the different locations to conduct his investigation at night. Before he had a full-on conflict with the cursed hospital, he needed to do everything he could to increase his own power. At around 6 pm, the employees were still discussing the n for the Nightmare Academy, but as the boss, Chen Ge had already escaped to Xin Hai¡¯s countryside.

    It was yet another sleepless night. Chen Ge¡¯s n was to feed all the Red Specters that he found to the red high heels to help her be a Demon God, but she rejected Chen Ge¡¯s kindness. As a Top Red Specter who had a special talent in curses, consuming other Red Specters would not help her in her breakthrough to be a Demon God; only by consuming greater and more evil despair would her power improve. In other words, the red high heels herself knew very well that the key for her to be a Demon God would be at the cursed hospital. The red high heels did not need to consume Red Specters, so Chen Ge turned his attention to Xiao Bu.

    Xiao Bu, who could unleash the power of a Top Red Specter, had a very powerful innate talent. She was the shadow selected by Chen Ge¡¯s parents and was a door pusher valued by the ghost fetus. After consuming a Red Specter, Xiao Bu went into hibernation. With her ability, she would awaken after one night. When Xiao Bu was hibernating, Chen Ge pushed the rest of the Red Specters that he found to Xu Yin. Xu Yin was weaker than the spider in the tunnel, and he was not the strongest among Chen Ge¡¯s Red Specters, but Xu Yin¡¯s heart was very special.

    Every time it beat, his heart would gain little more of the ck pattern. That pattern appeared to be the branding of memories. It contained some kind of unspeakable power. The hearts of the other Red Specters were the source of their power, but Xu Yin¡¯s heart was more like a germinating seed. After consuming one Red Specter, the ck pattern on Xu Yin¡¯s heart grew to his chest, but to Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, even after Xu Yin had consumed a Red Specter almost as powerful as he was, he did not go into hibernation. Whenever Chen Ge pressed the y button on the recorder, Xu Yin still showed up.

    ¡°After Xiao Bu and Zhang Ya consumed Red Specters of the same level, they went into hibernation. Howe it is so special when ites to Xu Yin?¡± Chen Ge tried to ask the young man directly for the reason, but all he got in return was silence. It was as if Xu Yin himself did not know the reason.

    By 3 am, Chen Ge had already investigated eleven ghost stories. He had collected the information in the day ande up with the best route to visit all of them. Just as he was about to go to visit the twelfth ghost story, the sky over the horizon of Xin Hai¡¯s countryside was curiously dyed red as if a bloody hole had been torn open in the night sky. Initially, Chen Ge did not think much of this paranormal activity, but when he used the wedding ring on his ring and realized that Xiao Sun¡¯s current location was right under that bloody tear, he started to get a little bit panicked. ¡°Brother Sun has already made his move? I only sent him in there two days ago. Will he be exposed doing something so obvious?¡±

    Xiao Sun was moving too fast. Chen Ge was still training and preparing, but something had already happened at the cursed hospital.

    ¡°There¡¯s no use in me worrying about this. I¡¯d better focus on the things that I have to do.¡± Xin Hai¡¯s poption was several times greater than Jiujiang¡¯s, so there were a lot of ghost stories. But most of them were just smoke without fire; only a very small portion of them really had actual ghosts behind them. For a professional like Chen Ge, he could sometimes tell the authenticity of a ghost story just from the description, but even so, Chen Ge was still tricked multiple times.

    In two nights, he had investigated twenty-five ghost stories in total, and among them, eight were fake. Of the remaining seventeen ghost stories, however, there were five Red Specters. This probability was rather scary. But the thing that worried Chen Ge the most was that all the Red Specters that he encountered were on the verge of a mental breakdown. Every single one of them had a curse on them, and the statement about the sickened world could be found without fail at the location that they haunted. Now, Chen Ge felt that perhaps the statement itself was a curse. Every Red Specter, normal Specter, and human being who was given the statement would eventually lose their mind. After working hard for two nights, Chen Ge was quite satisfied with his haul.

    Of the five cursed maddened Red Specters, two were used to awaken Chang Wenyu, one was fed to Xiao Bu, and thest two were fed to Xu Yin. As he fed on more Red Specters, the changes to Xu Yin became more obvious. The ck pattern growing from his heart stuck on his body like a secondyer of skin; it gave him a very dangerous feeling.

    Of all the employees, other than Xu Yin, there was another employee that underwent a huge change, and that was Zhang Yi. As a Specter that possessed a very unique power like him, if he became a Red Specter by consuming other Red Specters, it would seriously impact his natural talent. That would be more of a loss than a gain. Therefore, Chen Ge did not have Zhang Yi feed on any Red Specters but provided him with the Half Red Specters that they encountered.

    Before consuming two Half Red Specters, Zhang Yi asked Chen Ge to call Fang Yu, and then he talked on the phone for a very long time with Fang Yu. This was the first time he had actively called Fang Yu. It was a call that traversed death and life, memory and the past. Chen Ge had no idea what the content of the conversation between Zhang Yi and Fang Yu was. He did, however, manage to see Zhang Yi¡¯s body slowly bing more transparent. Just as the man¡¯s body was about to fade away, a drop of blood appeared at the middle of his heart. Zhang Yi¡¯s power was deleting memories, but he could not recover deleted memories.

    Luckily, even though Fang Yu had already forgotten all the memories rted to Zhang Yi, she had not forgotten the sense of presence of the man who had been protecting her. She had stubbornly waited at the garden for ten years and tattooed Fang Yu¡¯s name all over her body. She had tried everything so that she would never forget until she eventually met the person that she had been waiting for. Ten years ago, Zhang Yi had saved Fang Yu, and ten yearster, Fang Yu had be Zhang Yi¡¯s salvation.

    After consuming two Half Red Specters, Zhang Yi sank into a slumber. The drop of blood inside his heart continued to spread until it formed a name, and it was seared at the bottom of his heart. Fang Yu tattooed a name all over her body while Zhang Yi branded a name at the bottom of his heart. It crossed the distance between life and death. They had chosen this method to remember each other.

    ¡°After Zhang Yi wakes up, he should be a Red Specter. His talent will improve again. Perhaps he will even gain a new power.¡±

    Zhang Yi had a very powerful talent, and Chen Ge had high expectations for him. With this in mind, he turned to nce at theic with helplessness in his eyes. Danian was still hiding inside the empty page. His ears were closed to the world outside hisic, and he only had his attention onpleting his work.

    After Chen Ge detained the cursed Half Red Specter, the first person that he thought of was Yan Danian. He had the red high heelsprehend the Half Red Specter and then sent the Half Red Specter into the same page as Yan Danian. Then, something that no one expected happened. Both parties shied away from each other as far as they could. One was hiding in the corner, and the other was facing the wall. The image looked curiously harmonious.

    After Yan Danian passed away, he had never harmed anyone, and he had never considered consuming other Specters. In fact, he was very reluctant to do things like that. Chen Ge had tried very hard to persuade him to ovee that mental block, but Yan Danian still unable to make that first step. In the end, Chen Ge had no choice but to give up.

    After the old headmaster at Mu Yang High School passed away, he had not consumed a single Specter, but he had managed to be a Half Red Specter. From that, one could see that there were many ways for a Specter to increase their power; it was not limited to the consumption of other Specters. Inparison to other methods, however, consuming Specters was the most effective way. Actually, Chen Ge had realized in the few months prior, the presence radiating off Yan Danian had been getting stronger, but because Yan Danian had too low confidence in himself and would never leave theic, very few people noticed this about him.

    Chen Ge suspected that the change in Yan Danian was probably due to the fact that he had been sending multiple Red Specters into Danian¡¯sic. Even for a normal object, if it was housing more than ten Red Specters every day, it would definitely change. Theic was originally Yan Danian¡¯s item of possession; now, every single page was filled with various Specters. Inevitably, that was also going to improve Yan Danian¡¯s own power. Chen Ge could sense that Yan Danian¡¯s power was increasing, but the speed was too slow. He had to face the cursed hospital soon, and he had to turn Yan Danian into a real Red Specter as soon as possible. He had very high expectations for Yan Danian. After all, when he was in the School of the Afterlife, even the painter had said that Yan Danian¡¯s talent was above his own.

    Afterparing the painter who had managed to build a heaven behind the door with his own power and then Yan Danian who cowered in the corner inside his ownic, Chen Ge did not know what to do. ¡°Danian, if you are ever hungry, please tell me.¡±

    Pulling all the employees into theic, Chen Ge waited until sunrise before he returned to Nightmare Academy. He did not sleep a wink throughout the night. He was just about to go and rest, but once he opened the front door of the Nightmare Academy, he saw all of his living employees waiting for him inside the lobby.

    ¡°Are you guys waiting for me?¡± Chen Ge soon noticed that something was wrong. Other than his employees, there were a few other police officers present. He had met one of them before when he first came to Xin Hai. He believed the officer¡¯s surname was Cai.

    ¡°Mr. Chen, do not worry. We just have some questions that we wish to ask you.¡± The leading officer walked toward Chen Ge. ¡°The night beforest, the Cards Archway at the old city copsed. We saw you on camera at the street right outside the area. I am just very curious as to why you would appear at that location during that time.¡±

    With the presence of so many police officers, Chen Ge instantly realized that the mass grave inside the Cards Archway had been found by the Xin Hai police.

    ¡°Even if you did note to me, I was nning on going to you.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s expression was even more serious than the police officer¡¯s. ¡°There are some words that are not so convenient for us to discuss here. How about we go to the station to slowly talk this over?¡±

    ¡°You want to follow us to the station?¡± The leading officer shared a look with his colleagues next to him. They were just there to ask some questions, but the man had voluntarily requested to follow them to the police station. What was the motive behind this?

    ¡°Trust me, I really have something very important that I need to tell you.¡± Chen Ge stressed this again. The few officers finally decided to bring Chen Ge with them back to the station. Seeing Chen Ge leave with the police, Zhang Jingjiu signaled for Qu Changlin and Xiao Die to return to their work. ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there. Go and do what you are supposed to do.¡±

    ¡°Brother Jiu, the boss has just been apprehended by the police! Why are you so calm?¡± Xiao Die was very worried. ¡°Would something happen to the boss?¡±

    ¡°There is no need for you to worry. It can¡¯t change anything either way. We have to believe in our boss. Eventually... you will get used to it.¡±

    After he got into the police car, Chen Ge¡¯s expression became even more serious. He sat on the backseat next to the two other police officers, and his demeanor made the two other officers quite ufortable.

    ¡°Okay, the night beforest, why would you show up around the Cards Archway?¡± Captain Cai was curious, and he desperately wanted to know the answer.

    ¡°Other than the Cards Archway in the old city, I went to an abandoned skyscraper in the new city, a construction site in the countryside, and some barrennd near the border.¡± Chen Ge had taken a cab between these ces. The police would be able to trace his route easily, so he offered this information to prove his innocence.

    ¡°Why would you go to so many different ces that night?¡±

    ¡°Not only that night. The night beforest, I spent the whole night moving around the old city of Xin Hai and its countryside. I have barely slept for the past two nights.¡± Chen Ge was forceful. He was the one being interrogated, but he was extremely assertive, so it felt like it was him interrogating the police officers.

    ¡°You still have not answered my question. Why would you go to these many different ces?¡±

    ¡°I am investigating the disappearance of a doctor. His surname is Fang.¡± Chen Ge grabbed Captain Cai¡¯s hand. ¡°Things are more serious than I thought. I might need your help.¡±

 Chapter 1150 - Chen Ge, Victim From Twenty Years Ago 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1150 Chen Ge, Victim From Twenty Years Ago 2 in 1</h4>

    There was no evidence that directly linked Chen Ge to the case at the Cards Archway. If anything, the only thing that they had was some surveince footage that showed that Chen Ge was around the crime scene two nights ago. That barely amounted to anything. The police were just running through the motions by asking him in for questioning, but what Chen Ge said had gone wildly beyond their expectations.

    ¡°Mr. Chen, so you are saying that you went to these ces just to investigate the disappearance of Doctor Fang?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s just put that aside for now. Did you go to the Cards Archwayst night?¡± Captain Cai was more concerned about the case at the Cards Avenue. When the ce copsed the night beforest, it had exposed the mass grave that was previously hidden underground. Most of the dead bodies were from a very long time ago, but two of the bodies were fresh kills. Their time of death was only several months ago. After the police¡¯s investigation, they found that the victims were all homeless squatters. They were most likely killed when they went to the Cards Archway to rest at night. Based on the profiler¡¯s analysis, there was no conflict of interest or any beneficial rtionship tying the victims and the killers. In other words, the killer was someone who wasmitting murder for the sake of it!

    Such a dangerous person had to be arrested as soon as possible, or else it was certain that he would repeat the crime again.

    ¡°I only visited the ce the night beforest. I saw some things there as well. If you wish to solve the case at the Cards Avenue, then you cannot ignore the disappearance of Doctor Fang.¡± Chen Ge leaned against the cushion of the backseat. ¡°Before Doctor Fang disappeared, his mental health was seriously affected. His colleagues said that he was not acting like his usual self. He spent the entire day in a daze, and he kept mumbling about some horrendous ghost stories.¡±

    Chen Ge took out the notebook that he had been using to record all these details from the innerpartment of his backpack.

    ¡°For the past two nights, I have checked about twenty ghost stories throughout Xin Hai in an attempt to find any connection between them and Doctor Fang¡¯s disappearance, and I really came up with something.¡±

    Chen Ge then proceeded to pull out several paper notes from thepartment and showed them to Captain Cai. ¡°I found these at some of the locations for the ghost stories.¡±

    Seeing the strange statement on the paper, the young officers next to the Chen Ge were slightly confused, but Captain Cai¡¯s reaction was very strange. He said subconsciously, ¡°This statement again?¡±

    ¡°You have seen this statement before?¡± Chen Ge wanted to borrow the power of thew enforcement, but it was not easy to persuade the police to help him. After all, this was not Jiujiang; they had not cooperated in the past before, and they had no reason to put their trust in him. But Chen Ge did not expect Captain Cai to have seen the note before. With that, they had some basis to continue this conversation.

    ¡°About half a year ago, there were two homicides in Xin Hai. The victims¡¯ state of death was extremely strange. We found the same notes with the same statement after canvassing the crime scenes.¡± Captain Cai put on a pair of gloves and took the notes from Chen Ge. ¡°Even though the cases have been sessfully solved... how shall I put this? When we got to the killer, the killer had already gone mad. Plenty of evidence pointed toward the madman as the killer, so at the time, the case was quickly solved and closed.¡±

    ¡°This note with the same sentence appeared more than half a year ago?¡± Chen Ge calcted the time. That would be around the time when his own parents disappeared. ¡°Since the same notes have appeared again, is it possible that it could mean there was more than one killer behind those cases?¡±

    Chen Ge was giving plenty of face to the police at Xin Hai. He did not point out directly that the Xin Haiw enforcement had missed the real culprit but used a roundabout way to point out that there might be more than one killer.

    ¡°From the killer¡¯sck of motive and the grisly method of killing, the possibility of that is high.¡± Captain Cai became the most serious he had ever been. ¡°Mr. Chen, you have provided us with a very important clue!¡±

    About ten minutester, the three police officers brought Chen Ge into Xin Hai police station. Since it involved many murders, Captain Cai valued Chen Ge¡¯s opinion a lot, so he was directly brought into the police station¡¯s conference room. Pushing the door open, Captain Cai was surprised to find other people inside the conference room. A middle-aged police officer was seated at the side of the table with a serious expression. Opposite him stood a male lecturer who had the air of a cultivated schr. It was clear that they had been arguing from the redness that covered both of their faces.

    ¡°Captain Yang?¡±

    ¡°Mr. Wang?¡±

    Captain Cai and Chen Ge spoke at the same time, and the people in the room looked at each other.

    ¡°Who is this young man?¡± The middle-aged police officer known as Captain Yang looked at Chen Ge. ¡°Ol¡¯ Cai, how could you bring a normal citizen into the internal conference room?¡±

    ¡°The night beforest, the Cards Archway copsed, and thus, we found the dead bodies of two homeless people. The cause of death was determined as a sudden heart attack due to extreme pressure. It¡¯s clear that they were both homicides. During our investigation, we encountered Mr. Chen, and he has provided us with a very important clue.¡±

    Captain Cai pulled out the paper note.

    ¡°There might be more than one killer for the case of the two horrible murders that happened about half a year ago! The murder of these two homeless people was very simr to the previous cases. They might have beenmitted by the same gang of people!¡±

    ¡°So, the killers who are responsible for the death of the homeless people at the Cards Archway and the people responsible for the horrible murders that happened half a year ago could be the same, huh?¡± Captain Yang sank into quiet contemtion. Momentster, he turned to Mr. Wang. ¡°Ol¡¯ Wang, it is not that I don¡¯t want to help you, but you can see for yourself that Xin Hai is not so peacefully. Our hands are full with all these sudden cases. We cannot spare any police officers for a case where the killer died twenty years ago. I hope you can understand our difficulty.¡±

    Mr. Wang appeared to have expected this result before he came, so his expression did not change much when he was told such things.

    ¡°I shall be going then. I do not want to interrupt your investigation.¡± He did not appear to be in a good mood. When he walked past Chen Ge, he dropped his voice to a whisper and said, ¡°Boss Chen, when you leave this police station, please do remember to reach out to me.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± Chen Ge had no idea why Mr. Wang would suddenly reach out to him, but he still nodded. After all, they had bothe from Jiujiang, so they should be helping each other. After Mr. Wang left, Captain Cai closed the door of the conference room and started to ask Chen Ge some questions in more detail. At Jiujiang police station, Chen Ge had umted a wealth of investigative experience, so he was very familiar with the procedure of the entire major crimes investigation. Initially, it was the two captains who were asking him questions, but eventually, Chen Ge slowly took over the discussion. He picked up the marker and started to draw and list out all the clues that they had found on the board. Those who did not know might assume that he was a professional lecturer hired by the police station.

    His mind was clear, and his logic was in ce. Chen Ge used the simplest and mostmon words toplete wash the suspicion away from himself, and then he proceeded topile all the information rted to the two murders. The cases that spanned half a year were connected together, and the string that connected them was the paper notes with the strange statement found at the various crime scenes.

    ¡°The real killer is not crazy, or rather, perhaps they are a team. They knew that they would not be able to escape from your investigation, so they dropped a sacrifice and pushed out a madman to take the fall as the scapegoat.¡±

    When Chen Ge said that, he closely watched the facial expression on the two officers.

    Where there was light, there was darkness. To reopen a case that had already been closed about half a year ago, this was not a result that would be easily epted by everyone. With reputation and many other things on the line, some people might choose to turn a blind eye or purposely work around it. But thankfully, Captain Cai and Captain Yang were not such people. After they had confirmed that the two cases were rted and knew that the real killer was still beyond the reach of thew, they immediately came up with a n. Before Chen Ge, they summoned the entire major crimes unit at Xin Hai into the room.

    The police were about to conduct a special meeting, but there was an additional stranger in the room. The young police officers that entered the room could not hide their surprise, but Chen Ge waspletely at ease. He even found himself a seat in the corner and nted himself there.

    ¡°Mr. Chen, we still need to discuss some internal details about some of these cases. Based on the rules, this cannot be observed by normal citizens, so I will have to request you to wait outside for a while.¡± Seeing that Chen Ge was ready to sit in on their meeting, Captain Cai showed a helpless smile on his face. ¡°Yue Ji, why don¡¯t you show Mr. Chen to the breakroom and make sure that he isfortable there?¡±

    A female officer with a baby face walked over. Chen Ge rather unwillingly left the conference room.

    ¡°Looks like they do not trust me fully yet. Then again, I cannot me them. I am only a stranger who¡¯s just arrived from Jiujiang.¡± Chen Ge stretchedzily. ¡°But it does not matter. Trust can be slowly built. After all, I have a feeling we will be have a lot more interaction in the future.¡±

    He had not slept the whole night. So, when he entered the breakroom, he pulled the few chairs together to form a line, and then with his backpack as the pillow, hey on them and fell asleep. During the whole process, the female officer stood at the side, watching Chen Ge move the furniture around inside the room, and then she watched him go to sleep just like that.

    ¡°He purposely came to the police station to have a nap? What kind of strange behavior is this?¡± Yue Ji did not dare vite the order given to her by her superior. She even suspected that the man before her might be some important suspect, and she had been given the task of watching over him. Without anything else to do, Yue Ji leaned against the table and kept staring at Chen Ge, who had fallen deeply into his slumber. About one hourter, Chen Ge was shaken awake. When he opened his eyes, Yue Ji and Captain Cai were standing beside him.

    ¡°Have you finished the meeting already?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we have decided to investigate both the cases from two nights ago and the case from half a year ago together.¡± Captain Cai poured a ss of water for Chen Ge. ¡°Other than that, do you mind if we temporarily keep the notes? After the cases are solved, we will return them to you.¡±

    ¡°There is no need for that. You can keep the paper notes as evidence. But I advise your people not to spend too much time staring at the words on the paper.¡±

    Those paper notes were nothing good. If the police were willing to take custody of them, Chen Ge naturally would not reject them.

    ¡°Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Chen.¡± Captain Cai handed the water in the paper cup over to Chen Ge. ¡°During this period, we might need to summon you again for your help, so I hope that you will not leave Xin Hai for the time being.¡±

    ¡°In that case, how about we exchange contact numbers? If you need any help from me, just call me directly. I am also very worried about Doctor Fang¡¯s safety, and I wish to hear any firsthand information about him.¡± Chen Ge took out his own phone. Captain Cai could not find any reason to reject him, so he did end up exchanging numbers with Chen Ge. ¡°These cases are not as simple as you might imagine. The killers behind them might be a huge group. They are extremely dangerous. You must be very careful during your investigation.¡±

    The purpose of Chen Geing to Xin Hai Police Station had been achieved; he had formed a link with the police force and had pointed thew enforcement toward the direction of the cursed hospital. Next, he would need to slowly gain the trust of the police, and then he would gain support for his own objective.

    ¡°Okay, we will be extra careful. Look at you, you must be tired. You¡¯d better go back and rest.¡±

    ¡°See you tomorrow.¡± Seeing Chen Ge depart from the station, Yue Ji was filled with confusion. In the end, she could not help herself but ask, ¡°Captain Cai, who is this person? This is the first time I¡¯ve seen you treat someone so kindly and respectfully.¡±

    ¡°His name is Chen Ge. He is the only normal citizen who has received the public security honorary badge in Jiujiang. He has been personally involved in more than ten major crimes and has helped more than twenty victims gain their justice.¡± Captain Cai¡¯s gaze was heavy. ¡°Lee Zheng at Jiujiang¡¯s major crimes unit is my former ssmates. I¡¯ve already heard many things about this man from him. I just did not expect that he woulde to Xin Hai so soon.¡±

    ¡°Could it be some exaggerated rumors? He is involved in more than ten heavy crimes and more than twenty human lives? Is he Conan?¡± Yue Ji¡¯s interest in Chen Ge was piqued; she kept staring at his back.

    ¡°Regardless, time to get back to work. Things are going to get rocky in Xin Hai very soon.¡±

    ...

    Once Chen Ge walked out from the police station, Mr. Wang, who had been waiting for him at the roadside, walked over.

    ¡°Mr. Wang, you have been waiting for me?¡± Chen Ge had good impression of Mr. Wang, or to be more precise, he had good impression of everyone from Jiujiang Medical University.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Mr. Wang hesitated. He stared at Chen Ge for a very long time before he finally said, ¡°I hear from Zuo Han that you are a legend. To search for your own missing parents, you practically flipped the whole of Jiujiang upside down and solved several important cases along the way.¡±

    ¡°I was just extremely lucky.¡±

    ¡°To be able to encounter so many murders one after another, I would not call that lucky. If anything, I would say you are probably the unluckiest person in the world.¡± Mr. Wang sighed. ¡°Death, despair, pain, and struggle¡ªbehind every murder, there is hidden humanity¡¯s sin. During this peaceful era, we are the people closest to these sins.¡±

    Mr. Wang was being very serious, and this caused Chen Ge to treat him very seriously as well. ¡°Sir, why exactly did you wait for me? What do you need from me?¡±

    ¡°About twenty years ago, there was a serial killer in Jiujiang. At that time, public surveince was not asprehensive as it is now. Combined with the fact that all the murders weremitted in the countryside, this seriously hampered the investigation.¡±

    Mr. Wang looked at the cars moving up and down the road. It felt like he was talking to him.

    ¡°To avoid increased public panic, all the information rted to the case was blocked off. The higher-ups even gave an order that the police needed to capture the murderer within a week. In the end, we indeed caught the killer on the seventh day, but at the time, we suspected that there was more than one killer.¡± Mr. Wang sighed lightly. ¡°The captured killer could not even finish a full sentence. He was made to be killer simply because all the evidence pointed toward him.¡±

    ¡°Since all the evidence pointed toward him, doesn¡¯t that mean that the police got the right person?¡± Chen Ge had a feeling that he knew what Mr. Wang was getting at.

    ¡°But what if the evidence was purposely set up by the real killer?¡± Mr. Wang squeezed his hands together. ¡°The killer is very cunning. He probably already came up with the solution to shake the me off him when hemitted the first murder.¡±

    The atmosphere slowly became heavy. Both parties were silent for a while before Mr. Wang finally continued. ¡°That case has be a thorn in my heart. I¡¯m always reminded of the victim¡¯s face, his open eyes, how he was struggling for help from me in hisst moments.¡±

    When Mr. Wang said these things, he kept his eyes glued on Chen Ge.

    ¡°Do you know who thest victim was during that killing spree?¡±

    ¡°Who was it?¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge. That child had the same name as you.¡± Mr. Wang took a deep breath. ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s because of that Captain Yan was particrly partial toward you. I know you two cannot be the same person, but you two have the same gaze.¡±

    ¡°His name was also Chen Ge?¡± Chen Ge was startled. ¡°Mr. Wang, do you mind me about this case from twenty years ago in more detail?¡±

    ¡°The first victim was a tourist from another state. He identally captured the killer in the process of murdering a child on his camera. The killer was wearing a white doctor¡¯s coat, and the child was only about five.¡±

    The case that Mr. Wang described gave Chen Ge an eerie sense of familiarity.

    ¡°After the tourist died, we started our investigation. We slowly discovered how cruel and mad the killer was. He used different methods to kill children of varying ages but of the same body size. Even though we failed to find the bodies of these children, there were witnesses and surveince footage. Then, what happened next was inexplicable. Two witnesses were brutally murdered, and the murderer in the white coat even somehow managed to tamper with most of the physical evidence.¡±

 Chapter 1151 - Could This Be the Truth? 2 in 1

    <h4>1151 Could This Be the Truth? 2 in 1</h4>

    Mr. Wang told Chen Ge about the serial killings that happened twenty years ago. Part of the details matched the information that Chen Ge already knew of the crime. For example, the killer once drowned the victim at Eastern Jiujiang Dam. Then, the killer lured the victim into White Dragon Tunnel and strangled him inside the tunnel, and there was a citizen who saw the killer push the victim from the edge of a tall building. Due to the long distance, the witness did not get a clear look of either the killer or the victim. However, in each case, the victims were children of a very young age. They wore different clothes, but their body size and height were extremely simr. It gave off the inscrutable feeling that the same child had been killed multiple times.

    After hearing the revtion from Mr. Wang, Chen Ge¡¯s heart was thumping unevenly. When he did the Trial Missions given by the ck phone, he had personally witnessed these scenarios. He was the child who was killed multiple times by the killer!

    Lifting his hands to press against his temples, green veins popped on Chen Ge¡¯s forehead. The shattered memories were slowly piecing up together in his mind. He felt a headache mounting.

    ¡°Mr. Wang, are you sure that the name of thest victim was Chen Ge? Did you guys find his body?¡±

    ¡°Even though I failed to find his body, I was present when he was killed.¡± Mr. Wang¡¯s eyes were filled with regret and guilt. His hands clenched into fists. ¡°After our long analysis, we locked onto three children in Jiujiang who had the same build and size as the victims in the previous cases. We believed that the killer would target one of these three children next.¡±

    ¡°Therefore, the police had set up surveince around these three children?¡±

    ¡°Yes. At the time, thew enforcement wascking manpower, so I was called to join the operation as well. I was assigned to Team Seven by the captain of the Jiujiang Police Station at the same time. Our team was responsible for watching over a private orphanage.¡± Mr. Wang paused for a moment as if worried that Chen Ge did not understand him. He added, ¡°Of the three children that we¡¯d narrowed down, one of them lived at the city center of Jiujiang. He came from a very good family. The second child lived in Western Jiujiang, the child of the manager for Luo¡¯s Real Estate. Thest child though was living in Eastern Jiujiang¡¯s private orphanage.¡±

    The details of the three children did not match Chen Ge at all. He could remember very clearly that he was living with his parents at Jiang Yuan Apartments in Eastern Jiujiang. The three children targeted by the police at the time could not be him, but howe thest victim was called Chen Ge?

    ¡°Even to this day, I can remember what happened clearly. The police only told the orphanage¡¯s teachers and the director their mission; the children did not know anything. They spent their day ying like usual and then went to sleep. Once night fell, everything was normal until it was midnight, and the child that we were supposed to be watching over suddenly disappeared. Even now, I have no idea how the killer managed to do something like that. It was impossible to sneak a child without a trace out of a room of other sleeping children. After the child disappeared, I immediately reported it to my superior, and then the whole of Team Seven started to go and search for the child.

    ¡°In the end, Captain Yan, who had just joined the force back then, and I found the child inside an abandoned building in Eastern Jiujiang.¡± Mr. Wang¡¯s voice was shaking. Time supposedly washed away everything, but it was definitely not the case with Mr. Wang. Even when he was thinking back to the case now, he still found it hard to control his emotions. ¡°The child was shaking like a leaf. He was seriously injured, and his eyes were pleading for mercy. He cried out for help. He told us that his name was Chen Ge. He said he wanted to see his parents, but just as the child was about to give us the name of his parents, the killer entered the room.¡±

    ¡°The child told you with his own lips that his name was Chen Ge?¡± Chen Ge himself had no recollection of this. He could not remember anything rting to Mr. Wang¡¯s story.

    ¡°Every single sentence that I am telling you now is the truth.¡±

    ¡°So, what happened after the killer entered the room?¡±

    ¡°The killer was wearing a doctor¡¯s coat and had the mask of a devil on. It appeared like he had already filled with room with narcotic gas before he walked in because once he did, Captain Yan and my mind started to spin and turn. After he shared a few words with the child, he took the child forcibly away.¡± Mr. Wang¡¯s expression was wrought with pain and guilt. ¡°If only Captain Yan had fired his gun at the time, perhaps things would have ended up differently.¡±

    ¡°Then, did you guys catch him in the end?¡± That was the only thing that Chen Ge cared about.

    ¡°Based on the report from the officers in the other teams, they finally surrounded the killer by the side of theke, and they personally witnessed the killer toss the victim¡¯s body inside theke.¡± Mr. Wang took a deep breath. ¡°The police instantly detained the man wearing the white coat by thekeside. Everyone witnessed him kill the child and dispose of him in theke, so there was no mistaking him as the killer! But the problem was there were still several unsolved mysteries regarding the killer that they captured.

    ¡°Number one, the man in the white coat that they captured by thekeside was a madman. He kept mumbling, ¡®Do note back again... do note back again.¡¯

    ¡°Number two, the white coat that he was wearing did not fit him at all. It was clearly not his size.

    ¡°Number three, the way he disposed of the body was extremely amateurish. It did not look like the action of someone who hadmitted multiple murders.¡±

    ¡°So, you believe that the captured man was a scapegoat? The real killer found a madman and purposely put on a show for the police to see?¡± Actually, what Chen Ge did not say was, perhaps the killers had been switched as well. The victim and killer encountered by Mr. Wang and Captain Yan were the real killer and the young Chen Ge, while the one encountered by the main police force at thekeside was a nted killer. Even the body that was tossed into theke probably was not Chen Ge but one of the innocent orphans from the Eastern Jiujiang orphanage.

    ¡°Yes, your guess is simr to mine!¡± Mr. Wang¡¯s gaze became sharp. ¡°Captain Yan and I had a close encounter with the killer. Even though he was wearing a devil¡¯s mask, obscuring his face, the chilling and oppressing presence that radiated off him waspletely different from the killer who was eventually captured by the police!¡±

    ¡°Did the police eventually find the body of the victim of the child from the Eastern Jiujiang orphanage?¡± Chen Ge asked.

    Mr. Wang shook his head. ¡°Throughout the murders, none of the victims¡¯ bodies were found.¡±

    With what Mr. Wang had said, Chen Ge came up with a hypothesis. The doctors from the cursed hospital had been trying to kill him again and again for twenty years, but they realized that no matter how many times they tried, they could not kill him and attracted thew enforcement¡¯s attention in the process. To distract the police away from them, they purposely directed this whole show before the team of officers and had the police apprehend a scapegoat. The killer and victim of these serial killings were still alive in this world, but other than a few people who were still concerned about this case, no one cared about it anymore. The truth would not change due to time; it would instead get buried under the sands of time.

    ¡°Have the police found any information regarding the previous few victims?¡± Chen Ge held onto the road light and kept his head lowered.

    ¡°No, they have failed to do so. Simrly, they could not find the bodies. Even the hair and blood had been properly cleaned by the killer, so nothing was left behind.¡± Mr. Wang¡¯s expression was severe. ¡°I can tell you confidently that this was a serial killer, but when the captain of Jiujiang Police Station closed the case twenty years ago, simply because the bodies of the victims could not be found, in the end, the case was treated as an indiscriminate murder case.¡±

    ¡°Is there a difference?¡±

    ¡°The difference is very big, but honestly, it does not really matter now.¡±

    In the unfamiliar city, Mr. Wang and Chen Ge stood by the side of the road. The people walked past them. They had their own lives to hurry to, and no one really cared about what they were talking about.

    ¡°So, did youe to Xin Hai hoping to reopen this case?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the white coat worn by the killer at the time perfectly matched the uniform of a private hospital in Xin Hai. Other than that, Captain Yan and I heard the voice of the killer before. When he spoke, he had a local Xin Hai ent.¡±

    ¡°Do you still remember what the killer said at the time?¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t. The feeling of having the memory blurred out is very hard to stomach.¡± Mr. Wang swept a nce at Chen Ge, but he did not continue. Actually, he had the same feeling when he visited Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house. Therefore, he had quickly recorded all the details that he could remember on the notebook the first moment he woke up. This did not mean that he suspected that Chen Ge was the killer. He just thought that Chen Ge did not appear like a normal haunted house operator, and that was one of the reasons he wished to cooperate with Chen Ge.

    ¡°What is the name of this private hospital that you mention? Where is its exact location?¡±

    Mr. Wang was a crucial witness of the serial murder from twenty years ago, and that was the part of the memory that Chen Ge wascking. Just based on this point alone, Chen Ge was ready to help Mr. Wang.

    ¡°The abandoned hospital was situated at the border of Xin Hai and Jiujiang. It¡¯s used many names in its lifetime, but the one that most people knew it by would be Xin Hai¡¯s Central Hospital.¡± Mr. Wang hesitated for a moment before he turned to Chen Ge with sincerity. ¡°I know I cannot do everything on my own. A single person¡¯s power is limited, and I won¡¯t be able to handle most situations. If you are free tonight, do you mind going there with me?¡±

    ¡°Just the two of us?¡±

    ¡°And Ol¡¯ Wu.¡± Mr. Wang was determined to make this journey no matter what, but Chen Ge also knew that with just the three of them, they would not put a dent in the defense of the cursed hospital.

    ¡°Mr. Wang, if you are willing to ce your trust in me, I hope that you are able to wait a few more days.¡± Chen Ge would not tell Mr. Wang about his own secret, so he offered a different excuse. ¡°The night beforest, the Cards Archway in Xin Hai copsed. The police found a mass grave there. This new case is rted to a case that happened one year ago.¡±

    ¡°I know the police in Xin Hai are very busy, so they do not have the time to help me. I can understand that.¡±

    ¡°No, what I mean to say is that these two cases are rted to the private hospital that you just told me as well,¡± Chen Ge said in a very serious tone. ¡°These three cases are rted to that hospital. The Xin Hai police will eventually realize that, and when that happens, we can go with them.¡±

    ¡°Then, how much longer do we need to wait?¡±

    ¡°Soon.¡± Chen Ge also had no idea when thew enforcement of Xin Hai would lead their investigation to the cursed hospital, so this was the only thing that he could say for now. ¡°You have already waited for twenty years, so what does a few more days matter? We should exchange contact information. When the time arrives, I will inform you immediately.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Mr. Wang also sighed in relief. If the police in Xin Hai could help him with the investigation, naturally, that would be best.

    ¡°Mr. Wang, there is onest thing that I need to tell you. Do not try to investigate this on your own. If there are things that you wish to tell me and cannot do so on the telephone, you cane find me at Nightmare Academy on Destiny Avenue.¡± Chen Ge put on a reassuring smile. ¡°That is one of my estates as well. It is very safe.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Mr. Wang focused his eyes on Chen Ge. It was clear that he still had something else on his mind, but he did not say anything in the end. He turned around and left, melting into the crowd. After Mr. Wang walked away, the smile on Chen Ge¡¯s face disappeared along with him.

    ¡°Howe I have no memory of any of that at all? Has my own memory been tampered with as well?¡± What Mr. Wang just told him could prove indirectly that Chen Ge indeed had been killed many times when he was young. That was not an illusion created by the ghost fetus; it was something that had happened in real life. The thing that Chen Ge had been trying to ignore now was brought up to the surface. He could not pretend that it did not exist anymore. He had to face this head on.

    ¡°The child who was killed again and again should be me. All the information and details matched, and the person who killed me should be someone from the cursed hospital. And what kind of role did my parents y in this whole process? Howe they did not stop the hospital from murdering me?¡±

    Chen Ge gripped his hair tightly until some strands of hair came out in his fingers. This kind of feeling of being unable to remember something that had clearly happened was very painful.

    ¡°My parents were always so kind to me. It was this family who showed me the meaning of happiness, warmth, and love. How could such parents sit idle and watched me being murdered again and again?

    ¡°Or perhaps the person that the doctors killed was not the real me, but a kind of something on me. Like perhaps the amalgamation of sin on my body?¡±

    Chen Ge took out the ck phone and carefully looked over the Trial Missions that he had done in the past.

    ¡°When I first obtained the ck phone, the first Nightmare Mission that I did required me to stand before the mirror with my eyes closed. It was midnight. The me standing outside the mirror was a person, and the me inside the mirror was a ghost. One was kind and cowardly; the other was cruel and scary. Is it possible that the mission was trying to tell me something through the Mirror Ghost?¡±

    Chen Ge could still remember the description of that Nightmare Mission now.

    I know you¡¯re still not wholly convinced about the existence of ghosts in the world. In that case, how about a little game? The truth will be revealed when you open your eyes.

    ¡°The mirror was used as the main item, when I opened my eyes at the time, would I see the version of myself in the mirror?

    ¡°When the haunted house officially opened for business, the first unique visitor that I encountered was Fan Yu. The child was reluctant tomunicate with others in real life, and he had been searching for heaven. The other Fan Yu turned into the painter in the blood red world behind the door. He carried the curse and the resentment of the whole School of the Afterlife, building a heaven within the realm of hell!

    ¡°Fan Yu and the painter¡ªone represented humanity, and the other suffered all the sin; one was living outside the door, and the other had entered the door. Fan Yu was the key person to unlocking the scenario of Mu Yang High School, and Mu Yang High School was the first two-star scenario I encountered.

    ¡°The key character to my first three-star scenario, the Third Sick Hall, was Men Nan. Wait, the situation here was the same with Fan Yu! He was born inside a mental hospital. All the tragedy and pain morphed him into a Red Specter behind the door while his actual living body became a student under Doctor Gao and lived a normal person¡¯s life.¡±

    Now that he thought about it, the whole thing was incredibly scary. Doctor Gao was the chairman of the Ghost Stories Society, and the Red Specter Men Nan was trapped by him inside the door at the Third Sick Hall while the Men Nan in real life became his best student. Doctor Gao might have known more than Chen Ge expected. From the very beginning, he was probably doing some kind of purposeful experiment, and Men Nan was his test subject!

    ¡°The events surrounding the four-star mission, ghost fetus, are even clearer. The shadow escaped from me. From the information that I have, he suffered most of my pain and despair, and he was desperate for happiness and bliss. It was this part of his emotions that became the seed that eventually birthed the ghost fetus.¡±

    Holding the ck phone, Chen Ge¡¯s face was pale. He finally realized it. Ever since he obtained the ck phone, every single key Trial Mission had been trying to tell him the same message. Behind one person¡¯s happiness, there was another person who was silently suffering all the sin and tragedy.

    ¡°Could there really be another version of myself behind the door?¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the ck phone he held in his palm. He looked at the messages that he had received on it. He looked at the reflection of himself on the cold phone screen.

    ¡°I think I get it now.¡±

 Chapter 1152 - Dinner Is Served 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1152 Dinner Is Served 2 in 1</h4>

    ¡°Chang Wenyu once said that she¡¯d seen the ck phone somewhere inside the blood city, so the person who has been messaging me should be there as well.¡±Many clues started to link together, and Chen Ge was getting step by step closer to the truth.

    When Chen Ge entered the Nightmare Academy on Destiny Avenue, he noticed that there was a gaze from the Si Li Xiang eatery opposite that had been following him. But when he turned his head that way with Yin Yang Vision, he failed to find anyone. There was no one there staring at him.

    ¡°Was it the boss of Si Li Xiang staring at me?¡± Chen Ge could not confirm that suspicion. He nned to wait until night arrived before he went over the ce to give it a more thorough check.

    Entering the headmaster office, he noticed that Chi Ren was asleep. Chen Ge did not disturb him as he moved to sit at the study table. He opened his backpack and was about to arrange his items when his expression darkened.

    ¡°Why are these paper notes still inside my backpack? Didn¡¯t I hand them over to the Xin Hai police?¡± Chen Ge took the paper notes out from his backpack. The uneven handwriting on them was like a curse that could not be shaken loose.

    ¡°There are more than ten Red Specters living inside my backpack. If ¡®someone¡¯ intended to silently to ce the paper notes back inside my backpack, the Red Specter employees would have noticed it!¡±

    If amon person encountered something like this, the first thing that woulde into their mind was tearing up the paper notes or burning them. After they did that, they would realize that the paper notes would continue to appear in their vicinity. This was the quintessential beginning to a ghost story. But Chen Ge, as history had proven, was not amon person. First, he ced the paper notes on his own shadow. He waited for half an hour and noted that nothing strange had happened. Then he picked the paper notes up and shoved them inside the red high heels.

    ¡°These paper notes keep appearing, as if they are trying to remind me that I am living inside a sickened world. They keep on repeating the same sentence. If I start to believe the message of the statement and am led to believe its truth, I will probably be an actual patient.¡±

    The cursed hospital only needed two kind of people¡ªdoctors and patients. The way they treated Doctor Fang and Chen Ge waspletely different. It was as if they had already decided that Chen Ge was a ¡®suitable¡¯ patient from the very beginning. They had tried everything they could to convince and persuade Chen Ge of his own ¡®illness¡¯. The moment Chen Ge¡¯s conviction started to shake, the moment he also believed that the world was sick and needed to be changed, he would have fallenpletely into the cursed hospital¡¯s trap.

    ¡°The city of Xin Hai gives me a very bad feeling. On the surface, it is peaceful and vibrant, and the security is very tight. Yet, I cannot feel safe for some reason whenever I am here.¡±

    Chen Ge was still thinking about the problem when Chi Ren, who was asleep on the bed, suddenly screamed. His hands waved violently about, and his lips kept mumbling something incoherent. His emotions were unusually heightened.

    ¡°What happened to him? Is it a nightmare?¡± Chen Ge had a Red Specter who specialized in dreams¡ªthe son of the woman in the tunnel. But Chen Ge did not dare summon him out that easily. What if Chi Ren suddenly woke up to find a giant spider before him? He would probably be scared out of his wits.

    ¡°Hey! Wake up!¡± Chen Ge pushed slightly but firmly on Chi Ren¡¯s shoulders. Chi Ren, who was woken up from his sleep, sprang up into a seated position. His chest was rising and falling violently, and his clothes were wet from cold sweat.

    ¡°Was it another nightmare?¡± Chen Ge handed a ss of water to Chi Ren, but Chi Ren did not dare touch the ss. He curled his body into a ball and shrank backward, his eyes overwhelmed with fear and terror.

    ¡°It came into my dream again! It appears to know that I have already betrayed it!¡± Chi Ren imed in a shrill voice. His hands scratched his face. The man did not seem to realize that the scratches went so deep that they left bloody gashes on his face.

    ¡°Don¡¯t panic. Can you please tell me what happened in your dream first?¡±

    ¡°I dreamt about that ghost who only has a mouth on its face. It was standing next to the bed and requested that I told it a story.¡± Chi Ren ced his hand over his heart. ¡°I was very afraid, and I told him that I no longer had any stories to tell it. But it refused to take no for an answer. It threatened me, saying that if I refused to tell it any story, it would peel open my head and crawl into my brain.¡±

    ¡°Then what happened?¡±

    ¡°Just as it was about to crawl into my brain, you woke me up.¡± Chi Ren was obviously still petrified by his nightmare. ¡°I have a feeling that it knew I have already betrayed it. All the family members who have betrayed it get seriously punished. They would be better dead. I need to escape! I cannot stay in Xin Hai!¡±

    ¡°You need to calm down first.¡± Chen Ge grabbed Chi Ren¡¯s shoulders as he tried to crawl out from bed. ¡°The curse on your body has been temporarily suppressed. Even if he knows that you have betrayed him, as long as he is unable to find you, you will be temporary safe.¡±

    ¡°But it knows how to find me. As long as I am still in Xin Hai, it will eventually find me!¡± Chi Ren was on the verge of a mental breakdown. A man of over forty was scared witless, to the point he had regressed to the state of a child.

    ¡°If it could appear in your dream, there is a possibility that it could have gone through your memory through your dream. That way, it found your location and came in person to get you.¡± Chen Ge did not want to lie to Chi Ren.

    ¡°I am surely dead now. I need to leave this ce as soon as possible! I need to go now! I cannot wait until sundown anymore! There is no more time!¡±

    ¡°Like I said earlier, please do not panic. It could only go through your memory in your dream, which means that it can¡¯t do anything to you as long as you do not fall asleep.¡± Chen Ge flipped through theic to summon out Zhang Yi. Zhang Yi, who was now a Red Specter, gave a presence that waspletely different from before. It was intensely scary.

    ¡°I could stay awake for another twenty-four hours, but that does not mean that I won¡¯t eventually be overwhelmed by fatigue and fall asleep!¡± Chi Ren hugged his own head. His eyes were filled with despair. At the beginning, he only gave Doctor Fang a warning. That was not a big sin, but now he had shared everything he knew with an outsider. That was a taboo at the cursed hospital. If he was captured, he did not dare imagine what those group of people might do to him.

    ¡°The person that you fear can look through your memory in your dream and know everything that has happened to you, that is indeed a very formidable power, but it does not mean that it is irresolvable.¡± Chen Ge signaled for Zhang Yi to use his own power. ¡°We only need to tamper with your entire memory and consciousness, then we will be able to fool the enemy. In other words, we will have to create a fake memory for you.¡±

    ¡°Create a fake memory for me?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I will temporarily hide away part of your memory and use that to misdirect the enemy.¡± When other people ran into trouble, the first thing they would consider was how to solve the problem, but when Chen Ge ran into any trouble, the first thing that he would think of was how to turn that problem into his own benefit.

    ¡°It will be pointless. Even if the memory is hidden away, as long as I am still in Xin Hai, it will definitely be able to find me.¡± Chi Ren shook his head with pain in his eyes. He had already given up. ¡°Every person with the surname Chi in Xin Hai is its eyes and ears, and I still have its curse inside my body. If I do not escape from Xin Hai, it only needs to pay a little sacrifice, and it will be able to sense my location. I am its ¡®family¡¯, someone who can never shake loose from its control.¡±

    ¡°Its sensory power is only limited to Xin Hai?¡±

    ¡°They have buried their curse deep beneath the ground of Xin Hai. They have cursed this city for twenty years. You should run away with me; we cannot win this.¡±

    ¡°The curse is buried underground?¡± Chen Ge held a tight grip over Chi Ren¡¯s hands. ¡°Tell me more about that.¡±

    ¡°I cannot say more than that. Once I do, the curse will be triggered! It will hurry over here immediately!¡± Chi Ren struggled with his life. The cursed hospital was a fear buried deep inside his heart. Any kind of verbal constion was unable to coax him out of his mist of despair.

    ¡°Looks like there is no other way. I will figure out a way to bring you away from here, but before that, I need you to take you to one ce first.¡± Chen Ge waved for Chi Ren to follow him. They walked out from the headmaster¡¯s office and down the dim corridor of the Nightmare Academy.

    ¡°We are here. This is the ce.¡± Chen Ge stopped before a door. When he pushed open the door, he also made a signal out of Chi Ren¡¯s sight. Zhang Yi silently appeared behind Chi Ren. When Chi Ren peeked inside the room to look, Zhang Yi¡¯s hand fell on the top of Chi Ren¡¯s head. The eyes slowly closed. Zhang Yi had wiped out all of Chi Ren¡¯s memory that was rted to Chen Ge inside his mind.

    ¡°You have helped me a great deal. Naturally, I will not leave you to die like that.¡± Chen Ge was a very principled man. He nned to wipe out Chi Ren¡¯s memory and then sneak him out of Xin Hai at night. ¡°The Demon God with the surname Chi is able to look through all the memories of the people who have the surname Chi through their dreams. I will have to remember that. That is very important info.¡±

    Zhang Yi could look through a person¡¯s memory as well, but even after he became a Red Specter, he still had to make physical contact with someone before he could use his power.

    ¡°Boss, his mind was filled with a ck spider web, and many memories had been melded together with curses. The only thing I could do was remove the most recent memories rted to you from his mind. I did not even dare look through his earlier memories before I got afraid of triggering the curse and setting off the enemy¡¯s rm.¡±

    After Zhang Yi became a Red Specter, he did not lose his rationality. If anything, he gained more than a bit of humanity.

    ¡°You have done very well.¡± Chen Ge looked at Chi Ren, who had fainted on the ground. ¡°The Demon God with the surname Chi has started to appear in these poor people¡¯s dreams. Looks like the cursed hospital has already noticed a problem. I wonder what they will do next.¡±

    The true power of the enemy was an unknown, and their ability was unclear. If Chen Ge was cornered, he would be in a very bad spot.

    ¡°If I trigger the curse, will the Demon God with the surname Chi hurry over immediately? Perhaps I can make use of that.¡± Chen Ge took out his phone to call Ol¡¯ Wu. ¡°Brother Wu, do you have time tonight? Can you drive your car over to the backdoor of Nightmare Academy?¡±

    ¡°No problem,¡± Ol¡¯ Wu promised readily. At around six something, Ol¡¯ Wu drove the car provided by the Jiujiang Medical University and arrived at the backdoor of Nightmare Academy. Chen Ge released the Red Specters to scout their surroundings. After ensuring there was no one around, Chen Ge brought the unconscious Chi Ren out and ced him on the backseat.

    ¡°Who is this?¡±

    ¡°A friend of mine.¡± Chen Ge then grabbed his backpack and also crawled into the car. ¡°I need to send him back to Jiujiang.¡±

    ¡°What? We are going back to Jiujiang?¡± Ol¡¯ Wu was shocked. ¡°Are you already done with your task here?¡±

    ¡°Not yet, but I need to go back temporarily.¡± Chen Ge closed the car door. ¡°Brother Wu, when your car is about to cross Xin Hai¡¯s border, you need to decelerate.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Just follow my instructions.¡± Chen Ge flipped through theic and ensured that every single Red Specter was in their best condition. ¡°Let us prepare to set off.¡±

    The car slowly moved. A dangerous glint was hidden at the bottom of Chen Ge¡¯s eyes.

    The Demon God with the surname Chi has cursed every single one person with the Chi surname. Earlier, Chi Ren mentioned that once they trigger the curse, the Demon God will arrive immediately. Chen Ge slowly narrowed his eyes. In other words, this was a perfect chance to lure a lone Demon God away from the cursed hospital!

    When Chen Ge heard what Chi Ren had to say earlier, a mad idea had formed in his mind. He nned to lure the Demon God out and use this chance to dispose of it!

    He knew that the cursed hospital had at least two Demon Gods. If he was able to kill one of the Demon Gods, the situation would be much better for him. Chen Ge¡¯s side waspletely ready, but the Demon God with the surname Chi had been in existence for decades. Chen Ge believed that he had a seventy percent sess rate, and that was enough for him to take this gamble.

    The red high heel, Xiao Bu, Chang Wenyu¡ªI have three Top Red Specters and several Red Specters with unique power and Demon God Zhang Ya. That should be enough to set up a death trap. The people with the surname Chi will not be able leave the territory of Xin Hai freely. Along with the fact that the curse has been triggered, even if the Demon God does not show up itself, it will send other Red Specters in its ce. No matter what, this is the perfect chance to hack away at the power of the cursed hospital.

    Chen Ge was tired of dealing with small mobs. He decided to tear off a huge chunk of meat from the cursed hospital. Ol¡¯ Wu, who was driving, had no idea what was going on in the backseat. He merely adjusted the temperature inside the car and mumbled under his breath, ¡°This is so strange. Howe the air con is so cold tonight? It¡¯s so cold that my teeth are chattering.¡±

    Xin Hai¡¯s streets were very busy. Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Wu also happened to leave during rush hour. It took Ol¡¯ Wu a whole hour to get the car to the countryside of Xin Hai. As Chen Ge had requested, just as they were about to leave Xin Hai, he started to decelerate. The atmosphere inside the car became heavy. Chen Ge closed his eyes to rest as much as he could, and he had all the Red Specters rein in their presence. After a while, the car sessfully left Xin Hai. No one appeared to stop them.

    ¡°The n has failed? Did I overthink things?¡± Chen Ge did not let his guard down. He continued to wait patiently. The night sky darkened, the lights from the streetlights dimmed, and the surroundings suddenly became curiously quiet. The number of cars on the road gradually dwindled until Ol¡¯ Wu became the only vehicle on this long, solitary road.

    ¡°This is strange. There are so few cars on the road.¡±

    ¡°You wanted us to take a detour before we left Xin Hai. This path is lessmonly used. It is normal for there not to be too many cars on the road. It will be normal again when we get on the highway.¡± Ol¡¯ Wu still had not realized the severity of the situation. Just as he said that, the vehicle suddenly shuddered. It felt like the wheels had rolled over something. ¡°Hmm, what was that? The road should be t here.¡±

    Looking at the rear-view mirror, Ol¡¯ Wu started sweating bullets. On the road behind him, someone covered in bloody on the ground!

    ¡°I hit someone!¡± He stepped on the break immediately. Ol¡¯ Wu quickly parked the car by the side of the road. ¡°Chen Ge! Quick, we have to go check up on the person!¡±

    ¡°Do not panic!¡± Chen Ge grabbed Ol¡¯ Wu¡¯s hand to steady him. ¡°No matter what happens, I need you to stay close to me! You must not run away from me!¡±

    ¡°O... Okay...¡±

    Carrying the backpack, before Chen Ge even got the chance to open the car door, Chi Ren, who was unconscious, suddenly started to shriek. His hands reached to his throat, and his fingers gouged into his neck. He was trying to kill himself!

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Wu! Watch over him! Try to stop him from harming himself!¡± Chen Ge had Ol¡¯ Wu control Chi Ren while he quickly flipped through theic. The people from the cursed hospital had arrived, but he did not know whether it was a Demon God or not.

    Chen Ge used Yin Yang Vision to look at the body on the ground. The dead body covered in fresh blood suddenly convulsed. A face that had been crushed supposedly by the car and filled with wounds turned toward him. ¡°Save me...¡±

    The sticky blood leaked out from the dead body¡¯s wounds. It morphed into numerous blood lines to pierce through its body. Then, the blood lines controlled the body to charge at Chen Ge!

    ¡°This Red Specter is just a toy! I need to find the puppeteer!¡± To be able to control a Red Specter like that, Chen Ge knew that he hadnded a big fish. The sound of pages flickering kept echoing, and an endless sea of red started to spread around Chen Ge!

    ¡°It is time for all of you toe out. Dinner is served!¡±

 Chapter 1153 - I Have Kidnapped the Demon Godâ€™s Son 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1153 I Have Kidnapped the Demon God¡°s Son 2 in 1</h4>

    Chen Ge had predicted that the cursed hospital might send their people, so he had purposely gotten Ol¡¯ Wu to drive the car to the other side of the city, the side that was furthest away from the cursed hospital, and along ane that people rarely used to leave the city. It was true that one might run into ghosts if one travelled toote at night, but if a ghost tried to ambush too many humans on the road, they might run into Chen Ge.There were not that many people on the road. Even if he got into a battle with a Demon God, they would not harm any nearby innocents. Furthermore, this ce was very far from the cursed hospital, so Chen Ge had enough time to kill the opponent and escape as soon as possible. Chen Ge¡¯s escape looked like it was done in a hurry, but actually, every step was carefully nned. The endless blood waves gushed out from under his feet and soaked into the ground, sealing up the road at an extremely fast speed. The Red Specter before him was just a toy; the real danger was the one controlling it. Chen Ge knew that very well, so he had all his Red Specters make their moves at the same time to seal up the entire territory.

    ¡°Found you!¡± The spreading of the blood soon met resistance. Chen Ge turned his head in that direction. A child was sitting at the door of an abandoned building by the side of the road. The child kept his head lowered, and he had something like a lollipop in his hand. When the blood that came out from Chen Ge¡¯s feet reached the child, the blood involuntarily moved around him and could not get close to the child¡¯s body.

    ¡°Is it a Demon God?¡± Chen Ge was very nervous as well. Using his Yin Yang Vision, he finally saw clearly that the boy was not holding a lollipop but an eyeball that was pierced through a stick. Around the boy¡¯s feet was a cluster of toys. The toys were all made from different human facial organs. The Red Specter in the middle of the road lunged at Chen Ge under the boy¡¯s control. When it was about one meter away from Chen Ge, it could not budge forward anymore. The stench morphed into a thick palpable wall to block the way toward Chen Ge. The Red Specter howled in pain. Its body was torn by the blood lines. The boy did not care about its feeling. For him, it was just a tool that could be reced at any time.

    ¡°No wonder you have the guts to escape. You¡¯ve found someone to help you.¡± A chilling and shrill voice came out from the boy¡¯s body. The boy raised his head. His face was as pale as paper, and his whole face only consisted of a mouth! ¡°Why would you escape when we are family? There is nothing more that I hate than those who abandon their family!¡±

    The boy¡¯s voice travelled into everyone¡¯s ears as if the voice could pierce through their eardrums. Seeing the boy¡¯s emotion was getting out of control, Chen Ge was not only not afraid, the corner of his lips turned up into a smile.

    He isn¡¯t running? Looks like he has not realized the situation he is in.

    Chen Ge had once heard from Chi Ren that this was the child that he first dreamt about inside the morgue. Later, his dream included a middle-aged man who only had a mouth on his face. With that information, the middle-aged with only a mouth was the real Demon God with the surname Chi, and this boy with just a mouth was probably his split self or perhaps his son. No matter the situation, there was at least one point that was certain. The boy was very powerful. At the very least, he was powerful enough to believe that he could deal with any trouble that Chen Ge might pose to him.

    Even though he was surrounded by the sea of blood, the boy still did not intend to escape at all. He knew that he had fallen for an ambush. The first thing that came into his mind was to kill Chen Ge alongside with the traitor. Actually, this was expected of the boy; Xin Hai was the cursed hospital¡¯s territory, so there was nothing for him to worry about. Furthermore, his task was to chase after a betraying family member. Who would have thought the person would have a friend that had a Demon God, three Top Red Specters, and many Red Specters with unique talents to set up an ambush? A normal person or ghost would not even consider that.

    Chen Ge used this psychological that the opponent might have, and instead of running away, he pretended to escape to lure the enemy into his trap.

    ¡°This boy can control Red Specters like toys, and he has a curious rtionship with that Demon God. Thus, the boy himself should be very powerful as well.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s initial n was to trap and surround the enemy, but he did not expect the boy to voluntarily fight him head on. If the boy had chosen to run away when he first saw Chen Ge, it would have been very unbeneficial to Chen Ge should this turn into a chasing battle, and that was what he worried about the most. Thankfully, however, the boy was too overconfident to do something like that.

    Seeing the boy slowly walk toward him, Chen Ge could not stop the smile from appearing on his face. One Red Specter after another appeared from the blood mist. When the boy¡¯s attention was upied by the several Red Specters, the red high heels and Xiao Bu, who had been hiding in the dark, attacked at the same time. This was not cunning; this was Chen Ge¡¯s tactic. The Top Red Specters attacked from the back. When the boy realized what had happened, it was already toote. Five fingers covered in curses pierced his chest, and multiple ck and red blood vessels stuck into his body. The sound of wailing shattered the peace of the night. A pile of living facial organs fell out from the boy¡¯s body. Somehow, these organs were still alive. The eyes were still blinking, and the lips were screaming; the whole scenario felt surreal and terrifying.

    ¡°Make it quick!¡± After the quick interaction, Chen Ge had a sense of the boy¡¯s true power. He was a Top Red Specter, but he was different from a normal Top Red Specter. There were plenty of ck patterns that did not belong to him residing inside his body. This gave Chen Ge the feeling that this body was like a spare body the Demon God had prepared for himself. Just like how Chang Wenyu had separated out her heart, the Demon God with the surname Chi had given the pattern with a special meaning to this boy. The boy could not utilize this power inside the ck pattern. Combined with the ambush from two Top Red Specters, one of them being the red high heels, a Top Red Specter who specialized in curses, the battle from the beginning was one-sided bullying. That was Chen Ge¡¯s style; he would never preserve his energy. A battle should be wrapped up as soon as possible.

    Demons danced in the sky, and ghosts floated on the wind. Blood and curses covered the empty road. Even the clouds over the horizon were dyed red. The Top Red Specter from the cursed hospital was attacked by more than ten Red Specters from Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house. His body was flickering. He was seriously injured, but he refused to die. The ck patterns on his body would always protect him at the most crucial moment. In the end, he knew that he could not resist any further. He thus transferred his memory and his consciousness into the ck pattern and gave up the rest of his body. The battle continued, but a very bad feeling started to form inside Chen Ge¡¯s heart. ¡°If this continues to drag on, the cursed hospital will definitely send reinforcements!¡±

    The ck pattern on the boy¡¯s body was under incessant attack. The Demon God with the surname Chi must have sensed it already, and if he arrived at the scene, everything would go out of control. Chen Ge¡¯s n was to surprise the enemy with an ambush, but now that the cursed hospital knew that he had the ability to surround and ughter a Top Red Specter, they would not let their guard down again. Unable to take advantage of the situation, Chen Ge decided to call it a night. With the cooperation of several Red Specters, the dying boy was sent behind the door of the Tunnel Lady¡¯s son.

    ¡°Ol¡¯ Wu! Get back to the driver¡¯s seat! We are going back to Jiujiang!¡±

    Chen Ge had done something big this time. He had directly kidnapped the Demon God¡¯s ¡®son¡¯. With no time to waste, Chen Ge immediately ordered Ol¡¯ Wu to drive and leave Xin Hai. After they got on the highway, Chen Ge turned back to look at Xin Hai. The night sky above Xin Hai¡¯s countryside was painted red, like a bloody mouth that was widening. ¡°Has something happened inside the cursed hospital? Did they not send anyone to chase after us?¡±

    Touching the wedding ring on his finger, Chen Ge had no idea whether this had anything to do with Xiao Sun or not. Ol¡¯ Wu had just experienced the scariest night of his life. He drove the car directly back to Jiujiang. He had not driven so fast in his life before.

    ¡°Chen Ge, when we left Xin Hai, what was the thing that we encountered?¡± Ol¡¯ Wu¡¯s voice was shaking. He had been holding this question in during the whole journey, but just as they were arriving at their destination, the question finally slipped out.

    ¡°I will tell you in more detail when we reach New Century Park. We still have not escaped from the danger yet.¡±

    ¡°The theme park? We are not going to a theme park! We should head to the police station now! I am going to give Captain Yan a call!¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary. Trust me. I will exin everything to you when we reach the theme park.¡±

    When Ol¡¯ Wu drove the car into New Century Theme Park, Chen Ge summoned out Zhang Yi and sent Ol¡¯ Wu into a beautiful dream. ¡°When you wake up, you will forget all the pain and anxiety.¡±

    Chen Ge left Ol¡¯ Wu inside the car. He carried Chi Ren and headed toward the haunted house. After he opened the gates, before he even entered, the curtains were pulled back to reveal Ol¡¯ Bai, who was hugging Xiaoxiao, and a big white cat was slumpedzily across his shoulder. ¡°Boss, you¡¯re home.¡±

    Seeing Bai Qiulin in the role of a househusband, Chen Ge did not know what to say. He removed the white cat from Ol¡¯ Bai¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You are a Red Specter. At least get them to respect you while you¡¯re working.¡±

    The white cat wiggled its body out of difort. It tried to scratch at Chen Ge, but it was easily ignored by thetter.

    ¡°Did any idents happen at the haunted house while I was away?¡± Chen Ge was not that worried about the haunted house, but he still needed to ask.

    ¡°The running of the haunted house went smoothly. Everyone gave their full cooperation, but...¡± Ol¡¯ Bai pointed at the direction of the haunted house¡¯s toilet. ¡°There was a little change there. Master Wei and I were nning to try to reach out to you and tell you about this.¡±

    ¡°The toilet? What happened?¡± Chen Ge became nervous.

    ¡°The door of the cubicle suddenly opened on its own one night.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s heart immediately jumped to his throat. His rushed to the toilet, and what he saw caused his already quivering heart to palpitate even further. The wooden boards that had previously sealed up the cubicle door littered the ground in pieces. The picture of the demon on the door was ghastly and creepy, like it was watching everyone that headed into the toilet.

    ¡°The door was opened from the inside. When I heard the sound, it was already like this.¡± Ol¡¯ Bai walked in behind him. ¡°To preserve the state of this ce, I have not cleaned this ce at all. I have been guarding the entrance and made sure that no one came in here.¡±

    ¡°When was the door pushed open?¡±

    ¡°Around midnight yesterday.¡± Ol¡¯ Bai tried to bring up his memory about that night. ¡°At the time, I was training the students from Mu Yang High School in the underground scenario when we suddenly heard a loud crash.¡±

    Ol¡¯ Bai walked to the cubicle door and pulled the door open. The picture of a demon was carved into the outside of the door, while inside the door, there was a bloody handprint.

    ¡°The handprint was left behind that night. It is clear that it is the handprint of a child. I can¡¯t think of a child in this haunted house who would match this handprint.¡± Ol¡¯ Bai shared everything that he knew with Chen Ge.

    ¡°The door that has been rtively quiet has started to change. Is it because someone has escaped from behind the door?¡± Chen Ge stared at the bloody handprint on the door. ¡°And he chose to open the door when I was not at the haunted house? Is this a coincidence, or is it premeditated?¡±

    The door at his own haunted house being pushed open from the inside was not something that Chen Ge had envisioned. His focus was currently all on the cursed hospital; he did not have any energy left to investigate this door at his own haunted house. One could not enter a blood door without any preparation. For example, the door of the ghost fetus and the door at the School of the Afterlife, once entered, would put one under the control of the ¡®door pusher¡¯. Therefore, Chen Ge had no intention of entering this door without finding out more about it. Ever since he obtained the ck phone, this was the first time Chen Ge had been away from the haunted house for so long.

    ¡°I have a feeling that the thing that escaped from the door was purposely trying to avoid me. It did not harm anyone and did not destroy anything inside the house. After it left the world behind the door, it disappeared almost immediately.¡± Chen Ge silently scratched his chin. ¡°It feels like it was being chased by something behind the door and finally found its chance to escape.¡±

    The handprint on the door was that of a child. Chen Ge memorized the shape of the handprint and then closed the cubicle door.

    ¡°It feels like everything is connected somehow.¡± Chen Ge had Ol¡¯ Bai to continue guard the entrance to the toilet while he entered the underground scenario. After greeting every employee who had been left behind at the Jiujiang haunted house, Chen Ge brought the remaining Red Specters into the Spider Boy¡¯s door. The world behind the door was separated from the real world. Even the Demon God would not be able to sense the boy¡¯s presence there. Chen Ge had already nned everything with no crack in his n.

    Chen Ge turned to Zhang Yi. ¡°Have you gone through the memory of that Top Red Specter?¡±

    ¡°I just became a Red Specter myself, so the difference in power is too big. I cannot go through his memory.¡± Whenever Zhang Yi wanted to get close to the boy, he would be burned by the boy¡¯s curse, and ck blisters would appear on his body. Of all the employees, only the red high heels was not affected by this at all.

    ¡°The power difference is too big? Then you guys should continue to suck away his power. No matter the method, just keep on doing it until you are able to read his memory.¡± Chen Ge used the most vindictive tone to say the cruelest thing.

    Hearing what his boss had said, Zhang Yi smiled helplessly, but he did not dare reject him. He merely said, ¡°The Top Red Specter who is familiar with curses is currently peeling away theyer of curses. After she has consumed all the curses, there should be no issue.¡±

    The curses on the boy were a strain that the red high heels had not seen before. The curse contained the Demon God¡¯s power, so it could injure the red high heels, but at the same time, it could increase her power. As mentioned before, it was difficult for the red high heels, who was already a Top Red Specter, to seek a breakthrough, but she was now one step closer to bing a Demon God. With the cooperation of more than ten Red Specters, each using their unique talent, they had split the Top Red Specter from the cursed hospital into several parts.

    The most dangerous curse was consumed by the red high heels, the remaining memory and consciousness was given to Zhang Yi, and the resentment and hatred collected by the Top Red Specter was shared among the rest of the Red Specters. The only thing that remained was the ck pattern that came from the Demon God. This strange pattern contained the truth of life and death. It had a captivating beauty to it while giving off a very dangerous presence.

    ¡°The most valuable things on the Top Red Specter are these few patterns. Consuming them will give one an enormous power boost, but one has to be able to perfectly digest them.¡± Zhang Yi ryed the words of the red high heels to Chen Ge. ¡°It is very difficult to digest them. Even the boy with the aid of the Demon God was unable to do it.¡±

    ¡°Even a Top Red Specter was unable to do it?¡±

    ¡°Digesting a demon god¡¯s resentment with just the ability of a Red Specter is almost impossible because the process of digestion will take too long. During this whole process, the consumer will suffer from unimaginable pain and despair, and they have to be careful not to get influenced by the Demon God¡¯s lingering spirit.¡± Zhang Yi shook his head. ¡°That is too difficult. Unless the Demon God who produced this pattern is willing to help, almost no one could sessfully digest this thing.¡±

    The most valuable thing was also the most dangerous. Most of the Red Specters were unable to give it a try; only a Red Specter was silently staring at that strange pattern.

    ¡°Xu Yin?¡± Chen Ge and the nearby Red Specters all turned toward Xu Yin. The young man with the mncholic expression reached out, and he slowly raised his arm. The skin that came into contact with the pattern cracked and shattered almost immediately. This was a pain unimaginable to a normal person, but it only made Xu Yin barely frown.

    Of all the employees at the haunted house, Xu Yin had the toughest determination, and Chen Ge had confidence in him. He believed that even if he was influenced by the Demon God, Xu Yin would not do anything to harm Chen Ge or the haunted house.

 Chapter 1154 - The Last Nightmare Daily Mission 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1154</h4>

    <h4>The Last Nightmare Daily Mission 2 in 1</h4>

    When Zhang Ya was hibernating, Xu Yin had protected Chen Ge many times. Most of the time, both the human and the ghost were at their weakest, and they had somehow managed to survive through the impossibility. The ghosts that Chen Ge trusted the most were Zhang Ya and Xu Yin; the bond that they shared had already surpassed the distance between life and death.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to consume the ck pattern of this Demon God?¡± Chen Ge looked at Xu Yin seriously. Even though Xu Yin was the most suitable candidate, he was not going to force him to do things that he did not want to. Even though Xu Yin was going to gain enormous power, he would also suffer from unimaginable pain. Just from the touch alone, Xu Yin¡¯s skin had started to crack at a very fast speed.

    Xu Yin looked at the ck pattern at the tip of his fingers and then slowly nodded. No one knew what Xu Yin was really thinking. Perhaps he could feel the pressureing from the Demon God, or perhaps he knew that Chen Ge was not in a good position. The danger that they had experienced together made him realize that his current power was not enough for him to protect everything that he valued. He never wasted much energy on words, but he knew deep inside his heart that he did not wish to lose anything else in his life.

    ¡°There is no need to force yourself.¡± Chen Ge and the other workers at the haunted house turned to Xu Yin. Among the group of ¡®people¡¯, Xu Yin slowly raised his arms and swallowed the Demon God¡¯s ck pattern. When the ck pattern slid down his throat, Xu Yin¡¯s face and neck surfaced with innumerable thin and tiny ck blood vessels. The heart of the Red Specter in the middle of his chest was palpitating crazily.

    Even just by looking at him, one could imagine how much agony he was in. Xu Yin¡¯s expression gradually twisted from pain. Despair and sadness rushed into his eyes, he seemed to turn back into that helpless young man that Chen Ge once encountered. Rationality was being consumed. Xu Yin was at the edge of going berserk. The endless howls echoed behind the door. Chen Ge actively rushed forward to reach out and grab Xu Yin¡¯s hands. The Red Specter¡¯s cold and sticky blood enveloped Chen Ge¡¯s hands. The blood vessels carved out numerable wounds on Chen Ge¡¯s arms. The blood vessels slid across Chen Ge¡¯s skin, cutting and slicing it open. Warm blood kept on leaking, but Chen Ge did not take one step back. ¡°Do not be confused by the Demon God. You are Xu Yin. Your name is Xu Yin!¡±

    The Red Specter employees behind him also moved forward. Blood vessels of different intensities fell on Xu Yin¡¯s body. They were unable to help him share the pain, so they could only use their own method to help him induce the recovery of his body as soon as possible.

    A Red Specter had forced himself to swallow the pattern of a Demon God. This was something that had not happened before. In a few short minutes, Xu Yin¡¯s body felt like it had been reconstructed. A normal Red Specter would not have survived an ordeal like this, but Xu Yin had somehow survived it.

    He slowly got used to that sensation of pain. The strange pattern around his red heart was growing rapidly while the ck pattern from the Demon God with the surname Chi was disappearing at a rate noticeable to the naked eye. Suddenly, a strange male voice came out from Xu Yin¡¯s body. It was unclear what the man was saying, but it sounded like it was mumbling some kind of vicious curse. Following the curse, the ck pattern inside Xu Yin¡¯s heart morphed into a mouth, and it attempted to bite at Xu Yin¡¯s heart from inside thetter¡¯s body.

    When the mouth bit into Xu Yin¡¯s heart, the ck pattern around Xu Yin¡¯s heart also crawled into that mouth. Neither party backed down, and they were both trying to eat the other. Resisting the extreme pain, with the aid from all the employees at the haunted house, the ck pattern around Xu Yin¡¯s heart gradually won over. The ck pattern from the Demon God with the surname Chi was shattered and was turned into nutrients for Xu Yin. Drops of ck blood with strange presence dripped out of Xu Yin¡¯s heart. It changed the young man¡¯s presencepletely. The ck pattern around his heart also started to spread madly.

    ¡°Was that sessful?¡± Chen Ge asked the red high heels through Zhang Yi.

    ¡°I suppose you can call it a temporary sess. The pattern of the Demon God might strike back at any moment because Xu Yin still needs some time topletely digest the nutrients.¡±

    Other people could not assess Xu Yin¡¯s body; only red high heels, who was familiar with curses, would be able to do that.

    After Zhang Yi turned to her with the questions, he also returned to Chen Ge with some good news. ¡°Due to some unknown reason, a huge change has happened to Xu Yin¡¯s body. Now, most curses will not work on him. This was something revealed by the Top Red Specter who specialized in curses as well.¡±

    The pain would continue for a while longer, but Xu Yin¡¯s condition could be said to have stabilized. The Top Red Specter from the cursed hospital was utilizedpletely; not even a single part was wasted.

    ¡°Zhang Yi, you¡¯d better look through his memory as soon as you can. The more you can find out, the more beneficial it will be for us.¡±

    Summoning all the Red Specters into theic, Chen Ge left the world behind the door. Returning to the haunted house¡¯s underground scenario, Chen Ge suddenly felt it was morefortable at home. When he was at Xin Hai, even though he had so many Red Specters with him, he did not feel safe at all.

    ¡°The next focus should be the cursed hospital. My parents should be there. I need to find them as soon as possible.¡± Chen Ge had returned to Jiujiang, but Zhang Jingjiu and Qu Changlin were still in Xin Hai. He knew that their situation there would get more and more dangerous, so he had to return there. ¡°I have already given my promise to Mr. Wang to solve the case together. Other than that, I still need to consider Xiao Sun¡¯s safety. If I stay too far away from him, even if he sends me a message through the wedding ring, I will not be able to rush to him in time to help him.¡±

    Chen Ge could not stay for too long in Jiujiang. He nned to deposit Chi Ren at the haunted house, and then he would depart back to Xin Hai once the sun rose.

    ¡°Last time, I left in such a hurry that I still have many things that I did not have the time to do.¡± Chen Ge first entered the staff breakroom alone. He took out the ck phone and used the remaining scream points to draw items from the wheel of misfortune. Perhaps he had really drawn all the Specters from the prize pool already. He did not encounter any Specter from his draws, but he won many strange and curious items.

    ¡°Is the game a scam? Either I draw a Specter or something only useable by Specters? Can¡¯t you give me something I can use once in a while?¡± Chen Ge was getting rather annoyed. He read through the introduction of the Wheel of Misfortune provided by the ck phone again. He knew that there were supposed to be many different prizes, but everything that he had won so far was rted to ghosts and Specters. ¡°Is it the influence of the title Red Specters¡¯ Favored?¡±

    Chen Ge had no other choice but to share the items that he had won with his employees. Seeing the happiness looks on his workers¡¯ faces like it was Christmas, the annoyance in Chen Ge¡¯s heart slowly dissipated.

    ¡°The strengthening of the employees is beneficial to me as well.¡±

    After he was done with the gift-giving, Chen Ge realized that the Nightmare Daily Mission Coupon that he had won from the previous draw still had not been used. He nced at the time and decided to use it before he could think twice.

    ¡°The Nightmare Daily Mission normally has a special requirement¡ªI cannot bring any Specter and things rted to the ck phone with me. It is impossible to do the Nightmare Daily Mission in Xin Hai. The risk will be too great, so I can only give it a try at Jiujiang.¡±

    Putting away the ck phone, Chen Ge looked left and right before he spotted the white cat, which was curled up next to the wall. The white cat, whose body had grown even rounder, looked at Chen Ge with open eyes. It waved its tail back and forth. The other Specters and spirits had all been given gifts. It appeared to be anticipating one for itself.

    ¡°Do you think I have forgotten about you?¡± Chen Ge took out the high-ss cat food inside the cupboard. After he lured the white cat to his side, he scratched the cat¡¯s head gently. ¡°We might need to go out for a spin this midnight.¡±

    Since he had returned to Jiujiang, Chen Ge wanted to finish things that he had not handled. After taking a swift break inside the staff breakroom, Chen Ge waited for midnight to arrive. He took out the ck phone and tuned into the daily missions, which would have refreshed.

    ¡°Simple Daily Mission: The number of surveince cameras is seriously underwhelming, so idents are bound to happen. Please install new security cameras in all three-star scenario within the next twenty-four hours.

    ¡°Normal Daily Mission: The number of baleful Specter employees is growing rapidly. To ensure that they are loyal toward you, you must ensure the state of their mental health. Please help five spectral workersplete their dying wishes within the next twenty-four hours.

    ¡°Nightmare Daily Mission: Have you ever wondered if there would be another version of yourself standing on the other side of the door when you pushed open a specific door inside your house alone at night?¡±

    Of the three daily missions, only thest mission was written in ghastly blood-like red letters. Taking in a deep breath, Chen Ge chose thest daily mission.

    ¡°Nightmare Daily Missions are very dangerous. Are you sure you want to choose it?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Red Specter¡¯s Favored, you have epted the nightmare daily mission, door¡ªthis the most difficult of all the nightmare missions. Hopefully, your luck will be as good as always.

    ¡°Door (Nightmare Difficulty): Close your eyes, cover your ears, and do not speak a word that is not your name! Starting from 1:44 am, push open all the doors in your house!

    ¡°Whenever you push open a door, you must call out your own name. There are two ways to seed at this mission. One is to have sessfully pushed open all the doors in your house, and the other is to hear your own voice echoing from the other side of the door when you shout out your name.

    ¡°Warning! You cannot reveal the information of this nightmare mission to any other individual! You cannot carry any items rted to the phone or any Specter or spirits with you when conducting this nightmare mission!¡±

    Chen Ge was silent looking at the writing on the ck phone. Based on the description of the nightmare mission alone, it did not look that scary, but Chen Ge knew how difficult it would be when put into practice.

    ¡°The mission requirement is for me to push open all the doors inside the house, but it did not mention whether ¡®this house¡¯ is referring to the house that I once upied or this House of Horrors. If it is referring to this haunted house, even if it gives me the entire night, I will not be able to open so many doors when the most crucial of my senses are blocked.¡±

    Chen Ge stared at the words on the phone screen.

    ¡°For me, the only way to pass this mission is to hear the echo of my own voice from the other side of the door, but at the same time, the mission requirement has me block off my hearing. In that case, how am I supposed to hear any voicesing from the other side? Or is it because the voice that rings out from the other side of the door will travel directly into my heart and mind?¡±

    Pushing open doors in your own house and then hearing your own voiceing from the other side of the door, from the description, it sounded very simple, but it carried a very unique meaning to it.

    ¡°Will I run into any danger conducting this mission inside the haunted house...¡± The thought just shed across Chen Ge¡¯s mind when it urred to Chen Ge that not too long ago, the door inside the toilet had been pushed open, and something had escaped out from it. The thing that had escaped from behind the door was possibly still hiding in the haunted house.

    ¡°Even if he is still hiding inside the haunted house, I should not be that worried.¡± For the sake of security, Chen Ge tied one end of the rope around the white cat and the other end of the rope around his own waist. Leading the white cat, Chen Ge entered the prop room and found the necessary eye patch and earmuffs. When all the preparatory work was done, Chen Ge walked to the front door of the haunted house. He wanted to start from the entrance and then gradually open all the doors inside the haunted house.

    ¡°I grew up in this haunted house. For the area aboveground, I can walk through it with my eyes closed. The real difficulty will be the underground scenarios.¡±

    Time was slowly ticking away. At 1:43 am, Chen Ge put on all the necessary essories and started to count his heartbeat at the entrance of the haunted house. When it was 1:44 am, Chen Ge pushed open the front door of the haunted house with a powerful swing. He was unable to see or hear anything. The world around him was dark and quiet; it felt like he was the only person left in the world. The map of the haunted house was slowly being constructed in his mind. Chen Ge moved down the corridor with his eyes closed. He did not bump into anything. After all, he had taken this route basically every single day.

    ¡°All the nightmare missions have a deeper meaning behind them. They are leading me step by step closer to the truth. This mission should be no different.¡±

    Chen Ge did not tell his other employees about the details of the mission. He could not hear any voice or see anything. Padding down the corridors of his own ¡®home¡¯, it felt like he was walking back in time to the time when his parents had just disappeared. The young man who had just lost the anchors in his life always cowered inside the corner of the haunted house¡¯s staff breakroom. He was very afraid. He was not yet ready to deal with all these things alone. But from a time that was hard to pinpoint, the young man had started to change.

    ¡°Chen Ge?¡± Pushing open the door to the dressing room, Chen Ge called out his own name lightly, but there was no response. Holding onto the door, the image of him helping his employees with their makeup appeared in his mind. They were busy as they joked among each other. He had never imagined that he would be able to make so many friends in his life.

    ¡°Chen Ge?¡± Then he found his way to the Prop Room. After pushing open the door, there was still no response. Chen Ge slowly moved down into the darkness. The surrounding became more and more quiet and cold. The surveince room, the staff breakroom, the changing room, Chen Ge had visited them one by one before he finally reached the toilet. He knew very well that he was standing before his haunted house¡¯s toilet. The blood door was inside this toilet.

    ¡°Is the aim of this mission to lure me to open that door? But a blood door can only be opened at midnight, can¡¯t it? Unless the person pushing open the door is the door-pusher himself.¡±

    With a certain supposition in his mind, Chen Ge opened the toilet door, walked through it, and moved toward the fated cubicle. His handnded on the door handle and slowly pushed.

    ¡°Chen Ge?¡± The cubicle door was pushed open. Chen Ge¡¯s heart was beating so loudly, and he held his breath without knowing it.

    One second, two seconds...

    About ten secondster, he did not hear his own voice being echoed from the other side of the door.

    ¡°It¡¯s not here?¡± Retreating from the toilet, Chen Ge went to explore the scenario of Minghun and Murder at Midnight, but he still failed to find that door.

    ¡°Could it be underground?¡± He slowly nudged his foot forward and pulled open the iron door that led to the underground scenario and carefully stepped down the stairs. The temperature continued to drop. Chen Ge shivered involuntarily. He tugged at the rope around his waist and realized that the white cat had already struggled loose from its constraint. The other end of the rope had been dragging on the ground.

    ¡°The cat has gotten cleverer and cleverer.¡±

    Even though Chen Ge had gone to the underground scenario many times, it did not form muscle memory. To ensure that he did not miss any doors, he could only move slowly step by step.

    Darkness, loneliness, chilliness, and quietness, Chen Ge felt like he was stranded alone in this world, and all of his sensory emotions were being slowly stripped away.

 Chapter 1155 - Please Come and Find Me 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1155 Please Come and Find Me 2 in 1</h4>

    With his eyes closed and ears blocked, unable to share what he was doing with his employees, all he could do was repeat his name again and again. Chen Ge walked for a long time down the dark hallway. He tried to bring up the map of the haunted house inside his mind, but he slowly discovered something scary. It appeared like he was not inside the haunted house at all. He had no idea where he hadnded. He was unable tomunicate with anyone. He could not hear anything, and all that he could see around him was darkness. Piercing chills stabbed into his heart; Chen Ge finally stopped moving.

    ¡°Am I still inside the haunted house?¡± This was the first time Chen Ge had felt like he was unfamiliar with his own haunted house. ¡°Is it possible that I exited the haunted house when I opened one of the doors earlier?¡±

    Many different scary thoughts entered his mind. Chen Ge had no idea what was waiting ahead of him, and he had even less of an idea when he could push open that real door. Searching in the dark, when he could not see even the wisp of hope, he tried to open all the doors that he could encounter. Chen Ge felt like this whole experience was quite a d¨¦j¨¤ vu. The Nightmare Daily Mission with the name ¡®Door¡¯ appeared to wish to tell him something. In the absolute darkness and silence, time slowly lost all meaning. Chen Ge¡¯s body movement became more awkward and the surface of his skin was startlingly cold. Memories from his past shed across his mind, and the strange sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu became stronger and stronger.

    ¡°Chen Ge?¡± He called his name again and again while he kept repeating the same action. The surroundings became quieter and colder. Chen Ge¡¯s gait slowed down. A very scary thought overwhelmed his mind. If he continued walking, he probably would not find his way back. His mind became duller, and he could not stop his brain from filling his heart with ghastly and eerie imagery. Chen Ge was visited by an emotion that he had not encountered in a very long time¡ªdespair.

    In the past, no matter how scary the enemy was, no matter how strong the opponent was, Chen Ge would not give because he had a firm determination holding him upright and pushing him forward, but in this Nightmare Mission, the determination was slowly being hacked away. There appeared to be a lingering voice in his mind that was trying to tell him that despair was the norm. It was not until then that Chen Ge realized hope was like a colorful soap bubble¡ªit would burst with the lightest of touch. All this time, he had been like a child who was holding a soap bubble in his grasp. He stood stubbornly on the other side of the world and insisted on believing that the world inside the soap bubble was the real one.

    His memory was flipped over by a pair of invisible hands. Along with the sense of chill, pain, and suffocation, many kind of memories that supposedly did not belong to him were churning in his mind. The feeling was very bad, but strangely enough Chen Ge felt they were also quite familiar. It was as if he had personally experienced a simr kind of pain in the past, and he had been through it more than once. His footsteps gradually slowed down. He seemed to be walking down a path that had no end. All his memory and experiences were ¡®polluted¡¯ by despair. They did not want Chen Ge to keep on going; they wanted him to just stop and stay there forever.

    The road ahead was very dangerous, and the chance of returning could be zero. It was a world of darkness waiting to envelope him. When he could still think with his mind, Chen Ge¡¯s arms reached toward his eyes. He was hesitating over whether to take a peek or not. If he did look, the Nightmare Mission would definitely fail, but if he did not remove it, he could no longer standing the overwhelming anxiety in his heart.

    ¡°Is it possible that I am now inside the world behind the door? Someone other than the door pusher only can push open the door at midnight, but what if I am the door pusher? What if I was the one who pushed open the door in the haunted house?¡±

    His fingersnded on the bridge of his nose. In the end, Chen Ge chose not to look, and his feet decided to keep on moving.

    ¡°I am currently experiencing pain that did not exist in my memory before. I am experiencing a despair that did not belong to me. I have no idea what the ck phone is trying to tell me, but I know that when there is despair, there is also hope. The two cannot exist without the other.¡±

    For those in despair, even though they were surrounded by bliss, they would not escape the torment of despair. And for those with hope, even if they had lost everything, they would be able to see a colorful world inside a simple soap bubble.

    ¡°I have never been treated kindly by this world, but that does not mean that I do not love this world for what it is.¡± For some reason, Chen Ge was reminded of Zhang Ya and the other employees at his haunted house. ¡°Even when I am in the deepest despair, I can chance upon a very beautiful ident.¡±

    With his eyes still covered, Chen Ge suffered the pain that he had not experienced. He forged his way forward while suffering the double torment both on his mental and physical health. He no longer hesitated, and he spent no time on overthinking as he picked up speed. The pain on his body became more obvious, and the pressure on his mind grew heavier. The scenes of Chen Ge being killed slowly swamped his mind. Before he died, he struggled helplessly and pleaded for mercy, but every time, the thing that weed him was painful death. Hispromise, kindness, and help had all been disappointed; his final result was only despair.

    The green veins on the back on his arms popped. Chen Ge suffered all of that silently. He did not stop his footsteps, and he kept on moving. ¡°No wonder who is the owner of this despair, it will not stop me from moving forward.¡±

    Before Chen Ge obtained the ck phone, most of the memories left in his mind had been beautiful and happy ones. His parents also wished that he could continue with his life in that manner. But in reality, when he obtained the ck phone, Chen Ge had been given the chance to make a choice. If he had chosen to deny epting the phone when he found it, then he would have kept on living with his happiness, being none the wiser about the other world around him. However, Chen Ge had chosen a different path. He wanted to know the truth, and for that, he had traded his blissful ignorance for despair and began his slow journey of searching for his parents.

    As he slowly approached the truth, the despair that had been hidden away would slowly be brought back to the forefront, but Chen Ge had no regret. Along the way, only Chen Ge himself knew how difficult the path he had chosen actually was. His life schedule had been turned upside down. He worked more in the nightpared to the hours in the morning, he had not had a good rest since forever, and he was always caught in between the line of life and death. He spent his days with Baleful Specters and Red Specters.

    Dancing on the sharp edge of a knife was not enough to describe Chen Ge¡¯s situation, if he was a little careless even once, he would have be a dead body already. He had chosen the most difficult path, but at the same time, this was the path that would lead him the quickest to the truth. This was not some kind of good fortune or bad tragedy that someone had ced on him, it was a choice that he had made for himself in the wide path of destiny.

    ¡°I will not change due to this despair, and I will never abandon my path. No matter what has happened in the past, I am willing to face them openly!¡±

    Images of his own death shed across his mind again and again. Chen Ge felt like his body was being torn apart repeatedly. Suffering the dual torture on his physical and mental selves, he pushed forward with determination in the seemingly endless darkness. He could not see his surrounding, and he felt he was stranded alone in the world. He could not hear any sound and could not sense the passage of time. He kept on calling his own name as he opened one after another door.

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡± He pushed open another door before him. Chen Ge had lost count of the doors he had opened, but suddenly, another voice came from the space before him.

    ¡°I did not expect you to reallye here one day.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s own voice came from a spot that was only a few steps away from Chen Ge. At that moment, Chen Ge almost removed the eye cover, and his body could not help shuddering. ¡°Everyone wants to kill you. You are my final hope. Pleasee and find me no matter what.¡±

    Something was slipped inside his palm, and the voice became smaller and smaller.

    ¡°I am in the haunted house within that city. Please, you have toe and find me!¡±

    That city? The blood red city? There is also a version of the haunted house in the blood red city?

    Gripping the thing in his palm, Chen Ge could not control himself any longer. He opened his lips and was about to voice out the question in his mind. ¡°You...¡±

    But when the first word escaped from his lips, the chill around him instantly disappeared, and the arm that he raised suddenly came into contact with something hard. It was the handle of a door. Pushing the door open, the memories that did not belong to him started to disappear. It was as if he had walked back to earth from hell. The phone in his pocket started to vibrate. After being stunned for several moments, Chen Ge slowly removed the eye cover and the earmuffs. The first thing he saw was all his haunted house employees standing before him in a circle. They were all looking at him strangely and curiously.

    ¡°This is... Wait, I¡¯m still inside the toilet?¡± He looked around and realized he was standing inside the cubicle of the haunted house¡¯s toilet. His hand was still holding the door of the cubicle. ¡°I did not leave this ce and go to the underground scenario?¡±

    ¡°You covered your eyes and then locked yourself inside the cubicle. Initially, we thought you were possessed by some kind of ghost, but then we thought about it among ourselves and felt like no ghost would do something that would waste so much of their energy and for such little gain.¡± Men Nan was standing right at the door. Seeing that nothing was wrong with Chen Ge, he squeezed through the crowd of ¡®people¡¯ and left. ¡°The party¡¯s over. The man is fine. Go back to your work.¡±

    I did not enter the underground scenario but have been standing inside the toilet cubicle. In other words, when I pushed open the door of the cubicle, I entered the world behind the door!

    Chen Ge was covered in cold sweat. He lowered his head to nce at his palm. Before the other voice of himself disappeared, the person had shoved something into his hand. It was a key that was covered in cracks.

    ¡°A key? Wait, this is the self-preceptive key.¡± Once Chen Ge tried to take a closer look at the sky, the rust covering the key in his palm peeled off in big patches, and then the key itself split in two. ¡°I entered the world behind the door, and it was with this self-preceptive key that I was able to return back to this world from the haunted house behind the blood door?¡±

    Chen Ge had obtained two self-perceptive keys from his missions in the past, but he had no idea what they were for.

    ¡°It should not be that simple. The person behind the door perhaps wanted to remind or warn of me something through this key.¡±

    The words that his own voice said kept appearing in his mind. Chen Ge¡¯s brows did not stop creasing.

    ¡°There is another haunted house inside the blood red city, and he is currently hiding inside that other haunted house, huh? Why does he treat me as his final hope?¡± Chen Ge leaned against the door. His back was already soaked in cold sweat. He felt like the energy had been fully drained from his body.

    ¡°This door inside the haunted house should¡¯ve been pushed open by him.¡± Chen Ge looked at the cubicle door. He pushed on it lightly, but nothing changed inside the cubicle. Only the door pusher could control the door. Chen Ge himself was unable to open the door, but the fact was, he had been able to enter the door earlier, so the real ¡®door pusher¡¯ had probably opened the door for him through some method.

    ¡°Wait a minute! Is there a possibility that the door pusher has been split in two? Only when both parties are touching the door at the same time can the door be opened?¡±

    Climbing up from the ground, Chen Ge gave a brief exnation to his employees and then had Ol¡¯ Bai continue guarding the toilet while he ran back to the staff breakroom. The moment he opened the door, Chen Ge saw the white cat, who was munching on the high-ss cat food inside the cupboard. But he was in no mood to be training his cat. He took out his ck phone and swiped on the screen.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specter¡¯s Favored, forpletely the Daily Nightmare Mission¡ªDoor! You have obtained the unique special talent¡ªLips of Tragedy!

    ¡°Lips of Tragedy (Natural Talent): As they say, tragedyes from the lips. Now that you have gained this talent, you will be able to hear all that they converse about among themselves.

    ¡°Congrattions, Red Specter¡¯s Favored! This is so impressive. You now possess Mortician¡¯s Make-up, Spirit Sniff, Ghost Ear, Yin Yang Vision, Lips of Tragedy, and Dollmaker¡¯s Talent, all six natural talents. The current you can now produce the version of yourself that you want.¡±

    Looking at the message on the ck phone, Chen Ge shuddered involuntarily. He had a feeling that thest sentence was hinting about something incredibly horrible.

    ¡°The current me can now produce the version of myself that I want? I need to personally make another version of myself? What does it mean?¡±

    Chen Ge had not used most of the six talents to their maximum potential. Other than Yin Yang Vision, he did not use the rest of the talents much. All this time, he thought the rest of the talents were rather weak, but from the looks of it, that was not the case.

    ¡°Never mind, it is too early to consider something like that.¡± Chen Ge knew very well that to unleash the full potential of the dollmaker¡¯s talent, he would first need to capture a living human to experiment on them. A perfect living door needed a fresh human life. This was something that Chen Ge would never attempt to do. ¡°Perhaps in the future, I might change my mind, but I hope that day neveres.¡±

    Chen Ge put the ck phone away. The nightmare daily mission that night had given him more questions than answers. He needed to lie down to slowly work over the information that he had gathered.

    ¡°Is the despair that I experienced when I was doing the mission the despair that was experienced by my other self? What exactly is my other self anyway? Has he been shouldering all the despair that should have fallen onto me?¡±

    Chen Ge found it impossible to rest. His mind was too active with questions. At that moment, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes nced at the white cat, which was still sneaking toward the pack of cat food. Chen Ge sat up to drag it away from the cupboard and forced it to join him on the bed. He tussled the cat¡¯s furry coat, and his heart slowly calmed down.

    ¡°Even the cat knows when to run away from danger, but someone like myself insists on walking down the most dangerous past. However, the most despairingly, this appears to be the only path that is given to me.¡±

    Being hugged by Chen Ge, the white cat appeared to be frozen in fear. It seemed to have realized that it had done something wrong earlier, so it was acting like the best pet in the world. It did not dare move in Chen Ge¡¯s grasp, ying the role of a fluffy doll.

    ¡°The white cat has consumed the blood vessels from the Ghost Stories Society. The blood vessel was prepared by Doctor Gao for the woman in the well, so technically, it belonged to Doctor Gao.¡± Chen Ge scratched the bottom of the white cat¡¯s stomach. ¡°Is it possible for me to trace Doctor Gao through the blood vessels in the white cat¡¯s body? Or can I somehow make Doctor Gao activelye to me through the blood vessels in the cat?¡±

    There were at least two Demon Gods at the cursed hospital. Chen Ge knew that he was too weak to deal with the cursed hospital on his own, so he wished to gain the assistance of Doctor Gao. His finger moved up and down the white cat¡¯s belly like a surgeon drawing out the lines before the surgery. The white cat was so scared by Chen Ge¡¯s action that it could not help convulsing.

    ¡°The blood vessels have probably been digested by the white cat¡¯s body already. Looks like I will have to bring it with me behind the door in the future.¡±

    Looking at the time, there was still some time before dawn. Chen Ge carried the white cat in one hand and found the graduation certificate from the School of the Afterlife inside the prop room.

    ¡°It has been quite some time since Ist returned. I wonder if anything has changed at the School of the Afterlife.¡±

    The cursed hospital had ced a ton of pressure on Chen Ge. He decided tobine all the sources that he had to deal with the hospital together.

    ¡°The blood city is very close to the School of the Afterlife. If I am lucky, perhaps I will run into a lost Red Specter.¡±

 Chapter 1156 - Expanding Red City 2 in 1

    <h4>Chapter 1156 Expanding Red City 2 in 1</h4>

    Chen Ge had Ol¡¯ Bai stay back to guard the haunted house. Then he pulled all the other Red Specter employees into theic and carried the white cat out of the haunted house. The guard at the entrance of the New Century Park was already fast asleep. There were not many vehicles on the road. Chen Ge waited for a long time before a taxi stopped for him. At 3:00 am, Chen Ge arrived at Western Jiujiang Private Academy. He held the graduation certificate and ran to the toilet cubicle at the top of the education block.

    ¡°How do I use this thing?¡±

    He gave it multiple goes, but the blood door did not show up. Chen Ge had no idea whether this meant some kind of ident had happened to the door of the School of the Afterlife or he had missed the crucial timing.

    ¡°The School of the Afterlife¡¯s door currently is still missing a door pusher. It looks like I will have toe back again at midnight tomorrow.¡±

    Just as he said that, the shadow behind him started to change. A drop of blood leaked out on the cubicle door, and the blood slowly bloomed like a flower. The blood flower expanded to cover up the entire door, and a strong stench of blood drifted out from the gap of the door.

    The startlingly red of the blood reacted with the red letters on the graduation certificate. Chen Ge tried to give the blood door a push. Instantly, a wave of redness overwhelmed him. When he recovered, his world was covered in red, and the whole building was surrounded by blood. ¡°The School of the Afterlife?¡±

    Chen Ge stood where he was. Before he decided what to do next, the sound of footsteps came from the outside corridor. Chen Ge reached for theic subconsciously to summon Men Nan and Xiao Bu. Momentster, the toilet door was pushed open, and two beautiful youngdies appeared at the door. One of them was wearing a white dress and the other a red dress. They had simr facial features, but the reactions they had when they saw Chen Ge werepletely different.

    ¡°Yin Bai, Yin Hong?¡¯

    ¡°Once the blood door was pushed open, I knew that you¡¯d returned.¡± Yin Hong tilted her head to the side to swipe a nce at Chen Ge. Then her eyesnded on Xiao Bu and Men Nan beside him. Her cute brows slowly frowned as she pulled Yin Bai¡¯s hand to move her away from Chen Ge. ¡°State your intention. What is your purpose foring back to your alma mater? Even though we do not really wee you here, considering that you once saved our school, we can offer you some help if it is absolutely necessary.¡±

    ¡°Is the headmaster here? I wish to talk to him.¡± Chen Ge was quite worried about the School of the Afterlife as well. After all, this ce was very close to the red city. The old headmaster from Mu Yang High School was just a Half Red Specter. Chen Ge was afraid that he might not be able to handle things alone.

    ¡°Follow me then.¡± Yin Hong did not waste time and led Chen Ge to the nurse¡¯s office. After the original school doctor was killed, the ce had been vacated.

    ¡°I want to meet the headmaster. Why did you bring me to the nurse¡¯s office?¡± Chen Ge was rather confused.

    Yin Hong shrugged quite helplessly. ¡°Just go in, and you will see.¡±

    Pulling open the blood red curtain, Chen Ge saw a fat old man who was in a red shirt sharing his experience and counselling several students. The old man heard the movement of the curtain and lifted his head to see Chen Ge. Instantly, a kind smile appeared on his face. ¡°Chen Ge? Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°Sir, when you did breakthrough to be a Red Specter?¡± Chen Ge was very shocked. When he left, the old headmaster had been a Half Red Specter. It had not been that long since theyst met, but the old headmaster had already be a Red Specter, and he seemed to possess a special power within him.

    ¡°I also cannot remember the actual moment. Ever since I took over the responsibility of this school, I have been trying my best to help these children, and without knowing it, I turned into a Red Specter.¡±

    The old headmaster at Mu Yang High School was a very special Specter. After he died, he did not consume any ghosts, but he had somehow be a Half Red Specter. Now, even more miraculously, the senior gentleman had somehow turned into an actual Red Specter. From the old headmaster, Chen Ge saw another path avable for Specters to breakthrough to their next level. Perhaps this was a path that was more suitable for Yan Danian.

    ¡°How did you manage to do it? Can you tell me more about the details?¡± Chen Ge appeared rather inconspicuous standing amid a bunch of young students.

    ¡°My experience probably will not be much use to you. The children at the School of the Afterlife came from all different backgrounds, but most of them are victims of school bullying or children of broken families. They had never experienced love and warmth. My purpose is to heal the wounds that they have suffered during their childhood by attempting to provide them a new home at the School of the Afterlife.¡± The old headmaster rubbed hisrge belly. ¡°Actually, I have not done anything. It was mainly because the children have slowly given me their approval. They have influenced the school¡¯s consciousness, and I gradually gained the approval from the school¡¯s consciousness.¡±

    When the door of the School of the Afterlife was at its weakest moment, it desperately needed to search for itself a new door pusher. Under those circumstances, since the old headmaster had gotten the approval from most of the students, and there was nopetition from others, the school¡¯s consciousness was slowly channeling its energy into the old headmaster and aided him to slowly be the owner of this door. In terms of pure power, the painter and Chang Wenyu were much stronger than the old headmaster, but neither of them would be able to bring salvation to the students behind the door. Even though the old headmaster was the weakest among them, this kind gentleman was the most suitable candidate. While he could not build a fake heaven behind the door, nor could he help all the students escape from the constraint of the door, he was trying his best to create a sanctuary behind the door for these lost souls.

    ¡°A four-star scenario can cultivate a Demon God. The School of the Afterlife is a four-star scenario approved by the ck phone. If the headmaster is given some more time, he might really be something of a miracle.¡±

    Without consuming any Specters, he could be a Demon God. This incident that was almost impossible was slowly turning itself into reality due to the determination within the old headmaster to do the best by his students. The old headmaster had provided a brand-new path for Chen Ge. He felt like he should sit down and have a real talk with Yan Danian to understand the thoughts that Yan Danian had inside his heart.

    ¡°Sir, during this period, has the red city caused any trouble for you?¡± When Chen Ge entered the School of the Afterlifest time, Zhang Ya had just be a Demon God, and she had been recovering from a heavy injury. Moreover, most of his employees had still been quite weak. This time, it was different. Just looking at Top Red Specters alone, he had three with him.

    ¡°About that city...¡± The smile disappeared from the old headmaster¡¯s face. ¡°It is not looking so good. I will bring you to the top floor, and you will understand what I mean.¡±

    The headmaster led Chen Ge to reach the top floor of the education block. The iron door that led to the roof was the only door in the School of the Afterlife that was not sealed up by wooden boards.

    ¡°I will open the door. Do not move too far away from me. It is very dangerous.¡± The old headmaster took out a key from his shirt. The key had the etching of a small heart of a Red Specter. Slowly, the door was pulled open slightly. The rolling blood mist slid through the gap and floated down the corridor. After ensuring that there was no danger, the old headmaster finally waved Chen Ge over. ¡°Look for yourself.¡±

    Using his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge looked through the gap. Many different kinds of buildings stood around the School of the Afterlife, and every one of the building was covered in blood!

    ¡°This was different thest time I came!¡± Chen Ge was very shocked.

    ¡°The School of the Afterlife has already been swallowed up by the red city,¡± the old headmaster said with a helpless smile. ¡°Not long after you left, the distance between the school and the city became smaller and smaller. We had no choice but to abandon part of the campus and gather all our energy. We used the rest of the wooden boards and soul nails to seal up the main campus, and this is the only door that we have left open.¡±

    ¡°In other words, the School of the Afterlife is currently apletely isted scenario?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we¡¯ve had to abandon ces like the field, the recycling center, the library, the extra-curricr hall, and so on. Most of the school body are gathered in the education block, the dormitories, and theb building.¡± The old headmaster looked at the blood fog outside the door and sighed lightly. ¡°That is the only solution avable to us at the time. Before the red city, we are so weak and small.¡±

    The School of the Afterlife had already been consumed by the red city. This was something that Chen Ge did not anticipate before he arrived.

    ¡°The red city is still expanding. No, perhaps the word growing is more suitable.¡± The old headmaster tried his best to look at the bright side. ¡°Even though the campus is now much smaller, as long as we stay in the main few buildings, the ghosts from the red city will not harm us. They seem to have a set of rules that they have to follow here.¡±

    Before this, the School of the Afterlife was situated at the fringe of the red city. Just like the ghost fetus scenario, it was a scenario in and of itself, but now the School of the Afterlife had be part of the red city. Chen Ge looked into the distance through the gap in the door. All he could see were the red buildings, and they continued over the horizon.

    ¡°I wonder if the cursed hospital is also isted outside of the red city.¡± Chen Ge focused his gaze as far as he could. ¡°If only I could make this city to go and consume that cursed hospital.¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge, this ce is very dangerous. If there¡¯s nothing else, I am going to close the door now,¡± the old headmaster said.

    The painter headed into the red city after he was defeated, and Doctor Gao might currently be somewhere inside the red city as well. Should I try my luck inside the city?

    Chen Ge flipped through theic. He wanted to have his employees go hunting inside the red city, but it was too dangerous. He could still remember what had happened to Doctor Gao after he had forged his way through the underground morgue to the red city.

    Bang!

    The iron door was mmed shut. The old headmaster appeared to have read Chen Ge¡¯s mind. ¡°Do not do anything stupid. Even a Top Red Specter will not be able to survive the danger inside the red city.¡±

    ¡°How do you know that, sir?¡±

    ¡°When the school was first being consumed by the red city, there were some Specters and ghosts who were hiding inside the blood fog. It was clear that they wanted to enter the school. It was unclear what happened after that, but all of the ghosts and Specters were killed and murdered.¡± The old headmaster himself could not give a clear ount. ¡°It was very scary. We were hiding inside the education block at the time, and all we could see was a red shadow floating past.¡±

    ¡°Was that a Top Red Specter?¡±

    ¡°Even a Top Red Specter could not kill so many Specters in an instant. Furthermore, there were Top Red Specters among the ghosts who were interested in the School of the Afterlife.¡± The old headmaster still shivered just thinking about it. ¡°If you somehow end up inside the red city, you have to remember to stay away from any red shadows. If I have noticed anything, it was that they do not seem to be able to enter any buildings.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for the information.¡± Chen Ge took a deep breath. ¡°Sir, do you mind opening the door again? I wish to conduct an experiment outside the door.¡±

    ¡°Howe a human like you is so much braver than ghosts?¡± The old headmaster shook his head, but in the end, he was persuaded by Chen Ge¡¯s miraculous power of persuasion. Holding theic, Chen Ge had the red high heels pull out some blood with the red Specter¡¯s blood vessels from the white cat¡¯s body. ¡°Put some curse on this blood. See if you can make contact with Doctor Gao.¡±

    The red high heels gave it some try before she shook her head.

    ¡°It won¡¯t work? Looks like the blood vessels left behind the Ghost Stories Society are not enough. In that case, I will have to go and find Gao Ru Xue.¡± Chen Ge did not mean Gao Ru Xue any harm, but the girl was Doctor Gao¡¯s blood rtive, and he wished to reach Doctor Gao through her. The tragedy of Doctor Gao started when he encountered the cursed hospital. His wife¡¯s death was also rted to that hospital, so he shared amon enemy with Chen Ge. They should be able to form a truce.

    ¡°Chen Ge! Quicke back! Do not stay out there for too long!¡± The old headmaster spotted something approaching from the blood fog, and he shouted to warn Chen Ge. Chen Ge did not want to take any unnecessary risks. He put away hisic and returned to the school. Closing the iron door, the old headmaster finally sighed in relief. ¡°Do not go out there unless it is truly necessary. The red city is very dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Sir, I hope you do not mind, but there is another favor that I need from you.¡± Chen Ge voiced out the other reason he was there that night. ¡°Is there anyone left at the school who can contact the painter? I wish to get his cooperation to help me with something.¡±

    ¡°All the students who approved of the painter have already left with him, but there is something here that should be able to help you find the painter.¡± After locking the door, the old headmaster led Chen Ge to theb building. He found an unfinished oil painting inside the art room. ¡°This is the only painting left behind by the painter. When he left the school, all the paintings dissolved into ash. This is the only painting that remained. I believe that is because this painting is very important to him.¡±

    Chen Ge picked up the half-finished oil painting. The content was very simple. It was the painting of a young man with heavy lines of worry on his face sitting next to a boy under the sun. They appeared to be chatting about something. ¡°This painting is about the painter and Fan Yu, huh?¡±

    This was a simple scene, but it was a dream that was impossible to fulfil for the painter. Chen Ge took good care of the oil painting, and then he went to meet up with the other Red Specters at the school. He still needed more helpers to deal with the cursed hospital.

    After gaining the old headmaster¡¯s approval, Chen Ge left the school with three Red Specters. After leaving the School of the Afterlife, dawn had not yet arrived in real life. Chen Ge gave Zhang Wenyu a call, saying that he wished to meet him in person. Half an hourter, Chen Ge found Zhang Wenyu at an abandoned building in the countryside of Northern Jiujiang. The suicide line operator was standing next to a homeless person who was suffering from a serious illness. He stared at the person silently. It was clear that he wanted to save the person, but he knew better than to break the rules. In the end, he was like Death animated in real life, watching the person¡¯s slowly drift away.

    ¡°I wish to ask you for a favor.¡± Chen Ge walked toward Zhang Wenyu.

    Zhang Wenyu answered with a simple word. ¡°Sure.¡±

    ¡°Do not hurry to say yes. The enemy that I need to deal with has at least two Demon Gods.¡± Chen Ge did not want to press others into his aid.

    ¡°Demon God?¡±

    ¡°A ghost that is at least ten times scarier than a Top Red Specter,¡± Chen Ge said with a serious expression. ¡°Are you still willing to help me after knowing that?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Zhang Wenyu nodded.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Chen Ge wanted to pull Zhang Wenyu into theic, but he failed after multiple tries. After he asked for more details from Yan Danian, he only found out why. Zhang Wenyu might appear to be a Red Specter, but actually he represented a multitude of ghosts and Specters. Theic was notrge enough to fit so many spirits and ghosts.

    When Chen Ge was figuring out what to do, Zhang Wenyu¡¯s body slowly disappeared. Momentster, Chen Ge got a message on his phone. It was a message delivered from the number of the suicide line operator. ¡°I will always be by your side until you have resolved this danger.¡±

    He turned to look around him. Even with the help of Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge was unable to see Zhang Wenyu, but there was a source of power that he could not describe that was burgeoning in his heart. It felt like there were arge group of people silently following him and cheering him on. ¡°The people that you have rescued will eventually be the source of your own salvation.¡±

    The sun was rising over the horizon. Chen Ge put away his phone and left Northern Jiujiang. He hailed another cab, and this time, his destination was Jiujiang Medical University. He nned to meet up with Doctor Gao¡¯s daughter, Gao Ru Xue.

 Chapter 1157 - You Are My Seventh Friend 2 in 1

    <h4>1157 You Are My Seventh Friend 2 in 1</h4>

    He arrived at Jiujiang Medical University. Chen Ge gave a call to Gao Ru Xue on her phone, but no one picked up. Chen Ge entered the school and found a free lecturer. After asking him, Chen Ge only found out that Gao Ru Xue had applied to defer. She had not appeared at the school for a very long time. ¡°Her mother was killed by that hospital, and now her father has disappeared aftermitting such a serious crime. It is hard to imagine the pressure and pain that Gao Ru Xue must be feeling.¡±

    Since Gao Ru Xue refused to answer Chen Ge¡¯s calls, he had no choice but to personally go to her ce. He knocked on her door for several minutes before Gao Ru Xue opened the door. She looked so much more haggard, and she had lost quite a bit of weight. ¡°Chen Ge?¡±

    ¡°Do you mind if Ie in to talk with you?¡± Chen Ge carried his backpack. He had not slept that night. His eyes were bloodshot, and he did not look much better than Gao Ru Xue. ¡°I have something that I have to discuss with your father, but I need your help to be able to find him.¡±

    With a small nod, Gao Ru Xue opened the door and allowed Chen Ge to enter the room. The room was covered with a thinyer of dust. It was clear that the ce had not been properly cleaned for quite some time, but at least overall the ce still looked rather passable. Everything was neat, if a little bit dusty.

    ¡°I also would like to talk to him, but I have no idea where he is.¡± Gao Ru Xue sat on the couch. Even though a decent amount of time had passed since the incident at the underground morgue, Gao Ru Xue could not stop the change in her expression whenever she talked about her father.

    ¡°I need some of your blood.¡± Chen Ge did not wish to go into detail. He stated his reason for being there directly.

    ¡°My blood?¡± Gao Ru Xue slowly lifted her head that was previously lowered. She looked at Chen Ge with open confusion before she stretched out her arm toward Chen Ge. ¡°Using my blood, you will be able to find out where my dad currently is, right?¡±

    ¡°It might not be sessful, but it is worth a try.¡± Hearing that, the light in Gao Ru Xue¡¯s eyes slowly dimmed, but she still did not pull her arm back. Instead, she said, ¡°If you really do seed in meeting him, remember to tell him that I miss him a lot.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Chen Ge had Gao Ru Xue close her eyes, and then he summoned out the red high heels. A ck curse like an iron needle pierced into Gao Ru Xue¡¯s body and sucked out a drop of blood right from her heart.

    ¡°You can open your eyes now.¡± Chen Ge looked at Gao Ru Xue¡¯s pale face, and he gave her a serious promise. ¡°I will ry your words to Doctor Gao personally, and I will try my best to help your family if it is within my power.¡±

    After he left Gao Ru Xue¡¯s home, before Chen Ge moved that far away, Chen Ge got some good news. By applying a curse on both the blood vessels inside the white cat¡¯s body and the blood from Gao Ru Xue¡¯s heart, the red high heels had sessfully sensed a very scary presence. Based on Chen Ge¡¯s prediction, the monster that was giving off this scary presence should be none other than Doctor Gao

    ¡°It is a good thing that we can sense his presence. After we enter the world behind the door, perhaps the intensity of this presence will be much stronger.¡±

    After he walked out from the apartment, Chen Ge rushed to Jiujiang Children¡¯s home and retrieved a drop of blood from Fan Yu. After he was done with everything, Chen Ge silently returned to New Century Park and woke up Ol¡¯ Wu before theme park opened for business. ¡°Brother Wu, it is time to wake up. We should prepare to return to Xin Hai already.¡±

    Ol¡¯ Wu, who was fast asleep, was shaken awake. He looked at Chen Ge blurrily. There were so many questions on his face.

    Chen Ge tried his best to help ¡®recover¡¯ his memory. ¡°Last night, I asked you for a favor to drive me back to Jiujiang to get something. Did you forget about that?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I think I do remember that.¡± Ol¡¯ Wu rubbed his head.

    ¡°So, let¡¯s return to Xin Hai. I have already gotten everything that I needed.¡± Chen Ge ced the white cat on the backseat. He had already done everything that he could. What he needed to do next was focus all his energy against that cursed hospital and get to the bottom of the mystery behind his parent¡¯s disappearance. The car left New Century Park in the morning, and they arrived in Xin Hai when the sun was at its peak.

    ¡°Brother Wu, if possible, stop using this car. Other than that, I need you to remind Mr. Wang not to go outte at night. It will also be best if the two of you are staying somewhere with a lot of people.¡± Chen Ge was worried that the car might be targeted by the cursed hospital, so he gave Ol¡¯ Wu a kind reminder.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Ol¡¯ Wu dropped Chen Ge at the Nightmare Academy and then left in a hurry.

    Chen Ge carried his backpack and hugged the white cat as he pushed open the front door to the Nightmare Academy. Once he stepped into the building, he felt something was not quite right. Because they had not yet prepared to open for business, the central air con was not on, but at that moment it was curiously cold inside the haunted house. ¡°Xiao Die? Zhang Jingjiu?¡±

    With a bad feeling in his heart, Chen Ge flipped through theic to summon out several Red Specter employees.

    ¡°Search the entire building!¡± Chen Ge ordered in a serious tone. He did move away from the entrance. He stood right at the front door. If there was a trap, he would turn and run at the first notice. Half a minuteter, Men Nan appeared before Chen Ge. ¡°There is no one inside the haunted house.¡±

    ¡°Did something or someonee herest night?¡± Chen Ge was very worried about the safety of his haunted house employees.

    ¡°We cannot sense the trace of the presence of any other baleful Specters, but I can say for sure that something indeed infiltrated this cest night.¡± Men Nan pointed at the entrance to one of the scenarios. ¡°Come and take a look at this.¡±

    Being escorted in the middle of several Red Specters, Chen Ge walked to the entrance of the scenario. The wooden doors that led into every scenario were covered in paper notes, and every single note had that familiar statement on it.

    ¡°This is a sickened world. Why have you not discovered that fact? I swear to cure you!¡±

    The paper notes with different handwriting covered the many wooden doors, and it looked intensely creepy.

    ¡°This has to be the doing of that cursed hospital.¡± Chen Ge was reminded of a detail. The previous morning, when he returned to the Nightmare Academy from his Red Specter hunting, he had felt a sharp gaze that was watching him from Shi Li Xiang eatery. Perhaps from then on, he had already been targeted. ¡°Time to go to Shi Li Xiang eatery.¡±

    It was just past the lunch time, so there were not that many people inside the eatery. Chen Ge burst through the door with several Red Specters behind him.

    ¡°Wee to Shi Li Xiang. How can I help you today?¡± The waiter very passionately walked toward Chen Ge, but thetter ignored him directly. He walked toward the counter and strode toward the door that was meant for employees only.

    ¡°Hey!¡± This was the first time the waiter had encountered a customer so rude and unreasonable. He was about to reach forward to stop Chen Ge when his body was suddenly drained of power, and he copsed onto the chair behind him. Chen Ge did not want to waste time on meaningless actions. Without wasting any time, he rushed into the kitchen at the back, and he saw the boss of the shop who was pouring something into a big vat of sauce. The boss was Chi Longtou.

    ¡°Zhang Yi!¡±

    Wasting no time for a single pleasantry, when Chi Longtou saw Chen Ge, Zhang Yi had already crawled into his body. About ten secondster, Zhang Yi crawled out from the back of Chi Longtou¡¯s head, and he reported with a disappointed expression. ¡°The enemy appears to have realized that I can look through people¡¯s memories, so this man¡¯s memory has already been tampered with. I cannot find any useful information.¡±

    The cursed hospital had realized that Chen Ge had a Specter who could look through people¡¯s memories, so they had sent someone over to deal with Chi Longtou¡¯s memory. Chen Ge had already predicted that the Demon God with the surname Chi would be able to look through a living individual¡¯s memory, so he did not reveal the presence of Chi Ren to any of his living employees. He had kept Chi Ren hidden inside the headmaster¡¯s office. The devil was always in the detail.

    ¡°Even if the cursed hospital has taken away my employees, they won¡¯t be able to obtain any useful information from my living employees, but with how the cursed hospital approaches things, if I am unable to find Zhang Jingjiu and Xiao Die soon, I am afraid they will be in mortal danger.¡±

    Be it living employees or ghost workers, Chen Ge treated them like they were his family. Now that his family had been kidnapped, he was naturally not going to sit idle.

    After he returned to the Nightmare Academy, Chen Ge summoned out all the Specters from theic. He started a carpet search, not letting go of a single detail. After about half an hour, Chen Ge was rewarded with a new discovery. He found a cursed letter inside Xiao Die¡¯s room. The content of the letter was pieced together from newspaper cuttings. The letters of different size were stuck to the paper, and it looked like a ransom letter.

    ¡°Is this some kind of cursed game? I held the hands of seven friends toe to the hospital. My mother said that the patient is among us. If any of us are not smiling, then that person is the patient. My good friends, my bad friends, they all smiled.

    ¡°I held the hands of seven friends toe to the hospital. Father told us that mother is sick and told me to wait outside the sickroom. My good friends, my bad friends, they all turned to look at mother. They told me that none of us would leave the hospital alive.

    ¡°I held the hands of seven friends toe to the hospital. The doctor told us my father and mother had both died at the hospital. My good friends, my bad friends, they heard what the doctor said. They said that they would note to y with me at the hospital at midnight anymore.¡±

    Even after reading the letter, Chen Ge had no idea what the content of the letter was trying to express at all.

    ¡°Was this left behind by a non-smiler?¡± He turned the letter over to the other side. Chen Ge discovered the picture of a human face blurrily drawn on the back of the letter. When he looked closer, he was able to see the following words written not that clearly along the human face¡ª¡¯You are my seventh friend.¡¯

    ¡°I am the seventh friend? So, there are seven people who received this letterst night, huh. Is this some kind of an invitation to a cursed game?¡± Chen Ge put the cursed letter away. After he ensured that there was nothing else to discover, he pulled out his phone and called the police immediately. ¡°Captain Cai! I have been assaulted by the criminals! Three of my employees were kidnappedst night!¡±

    After hearing the call from Chen Ge, the police did not even know how to react. From their perspective, no matter how rampant the criminal activity might be, they would not go to the biggest business area in Xin Hai to conduct their crimes, much lessmit something as serious as kidnapping three people at the same time.

    ¡°We will be there in a minute! You¡¯d better look after your own safety until we get there!¡±

    In just ten minutes, two patrol cars had arrived at the entrance to the Nightmare Academy. ¡°Captain Cai,e and look at this door!¡±

    Chen Ge dragged Captain Cai by his arm and ran to the entrance to the haunted house scenario. The paper notes that covered the wooden door gave the police quite a shock.

    ¡°When did you discover that your employees had disappeared?¡±

    ¡°I returned to the haunted house around noon today. Once I walked through the front door, I realized that the employee on duty was not at reception. It was then that I realized something was wrong because my employees were still living at the haunted house. After that, I called them on their phones, but there was no answer. When I walked in deeper into the haunted house, I encountered this door,¡± Chen Ge said urgently. ¡°These employees followed me from Jiujiang because I wanted to expand my haunted house to Xin Hai. We were supposed to open a second branch here, but before we could even open for business, they have already been targeted by the criminals. This is all my fault! The criminal must know that I¡¯ve been investigating him, so he used this kind of method to take revenge on me!¡±

    ¡°Please do not me yourself too much. By the way, were you not at the haunted house yourselfst night?¡± Captain Cai felt like there were too many loopholes regarding this case.

    ¡°Initially, I nned to reopen this ce for business in three days, sost night, I went back to Jiujiang to gather some necessary props. Ol¡¯ Wu from Jiujiang Police Station can attest to that. He gave me the ride back to Jiujiang. You can probably see us on the traffic cameras as well.¡± Chen Ge was very sad. ¡°The criminals¡¯ real target is me! If I had not involved myself in this case, then my employees would have been safe!¡±

    ¡°Mr. Chen, you must not think that way. It is already very impressive that you dared step forward to expose the evilness of the criminals. Technically speaking, it is our responsibility for the failure to protect the safety of your employees.¡± Captain Cai wanted to console Chen Ge, but he really did not know what to say.

    ¡°Captain Cai, there must be more than one criminal at work here. They were able to kidnap all three of my employees at the same time, so they should be working in a group!¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is what we are thinking as well, and our investigation is heading in this direction.¡±

    ¡°I am afraid that there might be more than just my three employees who disappearedst night. They should have been nning this for a long time.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s basis for saying something like that was because of that cursed letter. The letter said that he was the seventh friend, so it was highly probable that there were seven cursed letters in total. ¡°Captain Cai, the criminals have actively targeted me and my people. They must have done more than that behind the scenes. You are the only people who I can rely on now.¡±

    ¡°Please do not worry. I will assign people to guard around your haunted house. If they dare return, I will ensure that they are apprehended.¡±

    ¡°They have just caused such a big disturbance here. I doubt they will return to this ce any time soon. This case is rted to the safety of my three employees. Is it possible for me to join the investigation?¡± The cursed hospital had existed in Xin Hai for more than twenty years. The police must have collected some cases rted to the cursed hospital. Chen Ge wanted to make use of the police force¡¯s information and try to get to know that hospital as best as he could. He knew the truth behind certain things, so the perspective that he held would be different from the Xin Hai police. Therefore, he mighte to a different conclusion regarding the same case.

    ¡°I am afraid I cannot make the decision regarding something like that.¡± Captain Cai rejected him in a roundabout way.

    ¡°That¡¯s okay.¡± Chen Ge did not press further. ¡°The criminals have kidnapped three people, so it must have caused them some trouble. They will make their next move tonight. You guys need to be careful.¡±

    When Captain Cai heard that from Chen Ge, he felt weirded out. Normally, when a person encountered this kind of situation, they would plead the police to capture the culprit as soon as possible, but Chen Ge had been consciously reminding the police officer to mind their own safety.

    Both parties exchanged information for an hour. Chen Ge linked the clues of all the cases together, and some of the clues could be directly or indirectly linked to an abandoned hospital in Xin Hai¡¯s countryside. Xin Hai had always been a city with very good security. The cases that had happened in the past few days were extremely rare serious crimes. With the stern order from above, the police force all over the city had mobilized. More than one case was being investigated at the same time. When the whole city was brought under control, the police even prepared to conduct a deep investigation into the hospital in Xin Hai¡¯s countryside.

    The peace and silence on the surface of Xin Hai had beenpletely shattered. The tides were raging violently under the surface. At 3 pm, Chen Ge had just sent the police off when he received a call from Ol¡¯ Wu. He brought Chen Ge more bad new¡ªMr. Wang had disappeared.

    Chen Ge did not even have time to finish his meal. He hurried to where Mr. Wang was staying. He did not encounter Mr. Wang there, but he dide across Mr. Wang¡¯s student, Zuo Han. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°Last night, I gave my lecturer a call because I wanted to ask him something. When we were halfway through the phone call, he said that someone had entered his room.¡± Zuo Han looked very serious. ¡°He hung up on me to give it a check. After that, he did not answer any of my calls. I was worried about him, so first thing this morning, I got on the earliest train toe to Xin Hai.¡±

    ¡°Did you find anything special inside Mr. Wang¡¯s room? Like a note or a letter...¡±

    Before Chen Ge finished, he saw Zou Han pick up a letter from the small coffee table. The letter was simr to the letter that Chen Ge found inside Xiao Die¡¯s room. The only thing that was different was on the back of the letter. On the human face on the back of the letter, it was written¡ª¡¯You are my first friend.¡¯

 Chapter 1158 - Four Star Trial Mission Cursed Hospital! 2in1

    <h4>Chapter 1158 Four Star Trial Mission Cursed Hospital! 2in1</h4>

    ¡°This letter again?¡± Chen Ge pulled out the letter that he found in Xiao Die¡¯s room and ced it on the coffee table as well. ¡°Last night, three of employees went missing, and I found simr letters in their rooms as well.¡±¡°What is their goal?¡± Zuo Han¡¯s eyes stared closely at the letters on the table.

    ¡°The back of Mr. Wang¡¯s letter states that he is the person¡¯s first friend, and on the back of this letter that I found in my employee¡¯s room, it states that they are the person¡¯s seventh friend. This person believes that my employees and Mr. Wang are both their friend. There must be something inmon between my employees and Mr. Wang.¡±

    Chen Ge very calmly started to do his analysis.

    ¡°In terms of timing, I suspect they have captured these people based on the serial killings that happened twenty years ago. Mr. Wang was the person who was involved in the investigation of the case from twenty years ago, so he was the earliest person who found out about the clues of the real truth while my employees are wrapped in this situation due to the fact that I started to investigate this case recently. In a way, they can be considered thest few people who became rted to this case.¡±

    ¡°Therefore, Mr. Wang is the first friend and your employees are the seventh friend?¡± Zuo Han nodded. He agreed with Chen Ge¡¯s analysis. ¡°Boss Chen, can you leave the letter that the person left for Mr. Wang for me to keep?¡±

    Chen Ge could guess what Zuo Han was nning. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, he handed the letter to Zuo Han. ¡°Do not act too rashly. The people that we are dealing with do not belong to the same world as you.¡±

    ¡°They do not belong to the world as me?¡±

    ¡°I am sorry that I cannot reveal more details to you, but trust me that I will not do or say anything with the intention of harming you.¡± Chen Ge picked up his backpack. ¡°If possible, you and Ol¡¯ Wu should leave Xin Hai as soon as possible and find a ce where there are many people to stay.¡±

    ¡°Then, what about you?¡± Zuo Han could pick out a trace of unusual urgency in Chen Ge¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Certain things happened because of me. Therefore, it¡¯s my responsibility to deal with it. I cannot escape from it.¡± Chen Ge said a few words to Zuo Han and Ol¡¯ Wu, and then he left from the ce where Mr. Wang was staying.

    The cursed hospital had been operating in Xin Hai for many years. This was something that Chen Ge had already noticed several days ago when he was out hunting for baleful Specters. All the Red Specters in Xin Hai appeared to have been cursed, be it the evil spirit at Cards Archway or the Red Specter at the abandoned school. Their spirits had both been polluted; they had been turned into monsters who only knew how to kill and to spread the seed of despair. The control that the cursed hospital had over Xin Hai was invisible. Any Specters or spirits that had any kind of power within the territory of Xin Hai were all under their control. In other words, the cursed hospital could be said to represent the darker side of this big city.

    ¡°The seven friends might be all rted to the serial killings from twenty years ago. In other words, these seven people might all be rted to me. Perhaps they are all people who knew a little something about that case. The cursed hospital is now forcing me to show my hand.¡± Chen Ge had been through a lot of things, so he saw through the cursed hospital¡¯s ploy almost instantly, but unfortunately, even if Chen Ge knew that this was the enemy¡¯s evil n of trying to lure him into a trap, there was nothing that he could do about it. If he wanted to uncover the truth, he could not be a coward and slither away. Furthermore, this time, seven innocent human lives that were rted to Chen Ge were on the line. The cursed hospital had done everything it could to force Chen Ge out from the darkness and into the open.

    Perhaps the cursed hospital was somewhat cornered by Chen Ge as well. After all, Chen Ge was someone who was ying a hit and run tactic with his Demon God and Top Red Specters. Today, the cursed hospital had lost a Red Specter, and tomorrow, they might lose a Top Red Specter. No matter how long the history of the cursed hospital went in Xin Hai, they could not allow themselves to be continually ground down like this anymore. The cursed hospital had been cultivating their power in Xin Hai for more than twenty years; they would not allow Chen Ge to ruin their power. They had learned from their previous mistake. They would no longer send out one Specter after another for Chen Ge to ambush. That might happen in a game, but this was not something that would happen in real life.

    After Chen Ge had ambushed and killed one of their Top Red Specters, the cursed hospital had responded almost immediately. They would have to deal with the big problem that was Chen Ge no matter what. To be frank, now was not the perfect time for Chen Ge to make his move, but the cursed hospital could not allow this to drag on any longer. The cursed hospital possessed the advantage of the location, but Chen Ge had the possible advantages of unity and people. Both parties hadpletely stopped dancing around in circles and started a killing game with the city of Xin Hai as the background.

    Night fell. The busy city of Xin Hai was still as bright as if it was daylight. If anything, the crowd on the street was even more bustling than in the morning. The partying crowd did not realize that there was an additional hue of redness in the night sky. Bloodshot eyes opened up in the shadows of the city, but even they did not notice a young man who was standing at the corner of the stuff. The young man was carrying arge backpack, and he had a cat with a fur coat the color of snow following him.

    Chen Ge did not return to Nightmare Academy. After he left Mr. Wang¡¯s home, he went directly to the police station. He did not enter the station but posited himself at the caf¨¦ next to the station. The passers-by assumed he was a street performer based on therge amount of items he was carrying and the pet that curled around him. In any case, no one came to disturb him.

    At around 8 pm, Chen Ge received some good news. The red high heels had managed to gain contact with Doctor Gao through her curses. Although, instead of actually gainingmunication, it was more like the red high heels had used the blood and curse to create the fake impression that Gao Ru Xue was heading toward the cursed hospital. Through the curse in the blood, she could sense that the distance between Doctor Gao and herself was slowly closing. To prevent unnecessary misunderstandings and idents in the midst of battle, Chen Ge had the red high heels brand the blood that was mixed with the curse on the back on his arm. A scar that was in a shape of a droplet was the seal that was mixed from the blood from Gao Ru Xue¡¯s heart and the blood vessels taken from inside the white cat¡¯s body. Doctor Gao was madly moving toward the location of this scar.

    ¡°Based on the red high heels¡¯ prediction, Doctor Gao¡¯s current power level is much higher than hers. To be able to surpass a Top Red Specter who specializes in curses, there is a very high chance that Doctor Gao has already be a Demon God.¡±

    There was an irresolvable hatred between Doctor Gao and the cursed hospital. Chen Ge hoped that it would mean Doctor Gao would prove helpful to him when he was dealing with the cursed hospital. Now that he had the aid of two Demon Gods, Chen Ge felt like he could give it a try.

    He took out the ck phone and turned to the page that had all the Trial Missions. His eyes finallynded on the four-star Trial Mission, Cursed Hospital.

    ¡°The cursed hospital is the only mission that I have notpleted on the ck phone¡¯s list of missions. I wonder if anything will happen to the ck phone after I ept this mission.¡±

    At the very beginning, there was no four-star trial mission that was showing at all inside the list of missions provided by the ck phone. As Chen Ge continued to clear more and more missions, the four-star trial missions started to get unlocked.

    ¡°The ck phone has not updated its list of avable mission for a very long time now. After Iplete the trial mission at the cursed hospital, I wonder if it will update with five-star trial missions.¡±

    The difficulty of a four-star Trial Mission was already impossible for Chen Ge to ept. If there was really the presence of a five-star Trial Mission, how high would the difficulty be?

    Chasing all the unnecessary thoughts out of his mind, Chen Ge looked at thest mission avable on the list of the trial missions, and his finger slowly moved. His parents disappeared at that hospital. All of this started because he had not given up the mission of looking for them. Actually, he had been waiting a very long time for the arrival of this day. One could say that all of his effort and sacrifice was for this moment, for him to have the power to make this choice. And now he had done it and had surpassed the expectations of everyone.

    ¡°The lives of at least seven people are in the hands of the cursed hospital. I cannot watch them be killed by the cursed hospital just like that.¡±

    His finger touched on the screen lightly. Chen Ge soon received the message from the ck phone.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to ept the challenge of the four-star Trial Mission¡ªthe Cursed Hospital? Warning! This Trial Mission is extremely dangerous! Please make sure that you have finished with all of your preparations before you make this decision!¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am sure!¡± Chen Ge continued to move his finger to click on the confirmation button. The ck phone then kept vibrating. He had received multiple messages.

    ¡°Red Specter¡¯s Favored, Chen Ge, you have now epted the four-star Trial Mission¡ªCursed Hospital!

    ¡°Cause and effect. The ending has been destined since the beginning. In the end, you have returned to this ce.

    ¡°Life and death. You have used one death after another to deflect fate and destiny. Twenty years have been exhausted to buy yourself a chance at life.

    ¡°Kindness and sin. Everyone thought that the world behind the door is a representation of despair, pain, and unforgivable sin, but there was a child. He has sealed up his own kindness deep inside the nightmare behind the door but has left the most extreme sin in the human world.

    ¡°Human and ghost. Are you willing to choose to be a blissful human or an immortal ghost?

    ¡°Mission requirement: Arrive at Xin Hai Central Hospital before midnight and survive until sunrise.

    ¡°Optional Mission 1: Find your parents or their dead bodies.

    ¡°Optional Mission 2: Provide salvation to Patient 1 or kill Patient 1.

    ¡°Optional Mission 3: Kill the hospital president or be the new hospital president.

    ¡°Mission hint: The version of yourself who lives inside a dream might be immortal, but your life is nothing but a te of barrenness.¡±

    After reading the messages that appeared on the ck phone, Chen Ge was startled for a very long time. The information that was provided by the description of the mission this time was enormous. The cursed hospital might be the mostplicated and most difficult mission that he had ever attempted.

    ¡°The ending has been destined since the beginning?¡±

    Reading the mission description, many predictions that Chen Ge had were slowly being confirmed.

    ¡°The young version of myself that died again and again must havee to the cursed hospital about twenty years ago. He fought for a chance for me to keep on living, but there is one thing that is different from what I believed. The child has sealed up the kindness in the nightmare behind the door but has left the most extreme sin outside the door. If this child in question is the other version of myself, then the child who is suffering the torment of despair behind the door is the representation of kindness and the me who is living a normal person¡¯s life outside the door is the representation of sin. Can I understand it this way?¡±

    Chen Ge paused for a moment and could not help questioning his own self.

    ¡°Do I look like a bad person? But I have sworn on my soul that everything that I have done was out of the kindness of my own heart. I have helped so many people and saved so many ghosts.¡±

    Putting this question aside for now, Chen Ge turned to the optional missions. When he saw the first optional mission, his whole body became jittery with excitement. Since the ck phone had given this mission, there was an eighty percent chance that Chen Ge¡¯s parents were still trapped in the cursed hospital. From the first day Chen Ge obtained the ck phone, he had been waiting for this chance to arrive.

    ¡°I am not that interested in the other two optional missions, but I have toplete this first optional mission no matter what!¡± Chen Ge only managed to calm down several minutester. He read the information given by the ck phone all over again. ¡°Be it the hint or the optional missions, there are choices of opposite ends. This is something that is very strange. I should pay some attention to it.¡±

    Chen Ge had done all the preparation that he could. At around 10 pm, he received a call from Captain Cai. The tone of Captain Cai on the other end of the phone was rather strange.

    ¡°Chen Ge, we have already finished our investigation of that abandoned hospital in the countryside. Our people did note back with any findings of any strange events happening there. The hospital has been abandoned for many years now. There is no trace of any living people there at all.¡±

    ¡°Then, what¡¯s your next move?¡±

    ¡°Part of the police will be assigned to continue the exploration at the abandoned hospital, but most of the police force will be mobilized to scout out the entire city. The criminals are very cunning. Perhaps they intend to use different existing ghost stories to create widespread panic throughout the city. If we do not capture them as soon as possible, it might lead to a very bad influence on the city.¡±

    Captain Cai briefly informed Chen Ge of the investigation, but essentially, he had not given Chen Ge anything useful. Just as Chen Ge was about to hang up on the phone, Captain Cai suddenly lowered his voice. He appeared to have moved to a ce where there were not that many people around him.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I need you to listen to me. This case is very strange. If you involve yourself any deeper, you might be in mortal danger, so you¡¯d better leave everything to the police.¡±

    ¡°Did something happen to the police at the cursed hospital?¡± Chen Ge very astutely noticed something was not right.

    ¡°Do you still remember the reminder on that paper note?¡± Captain Cai¡¯s voice lowered even further.

    ¡°This is a sickened world?¡±

    ¡°When you return, you¡¯d better burn all the paper notes that contain that sentence.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? What did you guys encounter over there?¡± Chen Ge still wanted to press for more details, but the signal suddenly became very bad. Captain Cai¡¯s yelp came from the other side of the phone. It sounded like someone had bumped into him. The call was disconnected. When Chen Ge called back the same number, no one picked it up anymore.

    ¡°The tone that Captain Cai was using was different from usual. Is it possible that he was forced to make this call under the threat of someone else? Or was someone trying to mimic him on the phone?¡±

    Since Chen Ge had Tong Tong with him, he knew that other Specters could have done the same thing.

    ¡°This is not good.¡±

    The cursed hospital had a lot more spirits and Red Specterspared to the number of employees that Chen Ge had at his haunted house. Theirbined powers and abilities were enough to overturn Chen Ge¡¯s understanding of the normal world.

    ¡°I have already epted the trial mission on the ck phone. I have no other choice.¡±

    Chen Ge waited until past ten pm before he called a cab to head to Xin Hai¡¯s countryside. To ensure that the driver was not a puppet sent by the cursed hospital, Chen Ge even had Zhang Yi quietly look over the driver¡¯s memory. Ever since he epted the mission, other than hispany of ghosts, Chen Ge refused to blindly trust anyone from Xin Hai. To search for his parents, he had worked through endless days and nights. He had struggled multiple times along the line of life and death. Everything that he had done it was in preparation for this day. He would not allow himself to make any mistakes.

    After they entered the countryside of Xin Hai, the hubbub of the city was left behind almost instantly. They were still within the territory of Xin Hai, but this ce appeared to be apletely different world from the city. Behind them were the bright lights of a bustling city, while before them was an enveloping darkness. Only traces of some abandoned buildings could be seen in the dark. This was the countryside of Xin Hai, a piece ofnd upied by many abandoned buildings. The deeper one ventured into it, the lower the chance of one encountering another person.

    ¡°Dude, I will drop you off here.¡± The driver parked the taxi by the side of the road. No matter how much Chen Ge was willing to pay, he refused to go any further. Chen Ge did not waste too much time arguing with him. After he paid his fare, he got out from the car. He was about to leave when the driver poked his head out from the driver¡¯s seat window and waved at Chen Ge.

    ¡°Is there anything else?¡±

    ¡°Based on your ent, you aren¡¯t a local, right?¡± The driver looked left and right before he whispered at Chen Ge. ¡°Do not stay too long at the countryside. I hear from the older generation that this ce is a small hell. Many people have been buried here.¡±

    Before Chen Ge could ask for more details, the driver turned the car around and returned the way he came. The speed was twice as fastpared to before.

 Chapter 1159 - When I Encounter Darkness, I Walk Right Into It (2 in 1)

    <h4>Chapter 1159: When I Encounter Darkness, I Walk Right Into It (2 in 1)</h4>

    ¡°A small hell?¡± Chen Ge kept his eyes on the taxi until thest bit of light from the taillight of the taxi was also swallowed up by the darkness of the night. The countryside of Xin Hai was extremely deserted; there were barely any people on the road. Flipping through theic, Chen Ge had all his employees remain ready, and then he ced the white cat on the ground. The white cat, which was naturally cautious, perked its ears perked up. Its heterochromatic eyes were filled with intense anxiety. It stuck close to Chen Ge and showed more than once that it would crawl underneath Chen Ge¡¯s clothes if it could.

    ¡°You also feel the danger in the air?¡± Scratching the white cat on the back of its head, Chen Ge took a deep breath. He moved away from the main street and trekked deeper into the countryside on the smaller path. Walking through the series of abandoned buildings, the surroundings became quieter and quieter. The sound of the insects chittering had disappeared, as did thest speck of light.

    ¡°This piece ofnd consists of mostly unfinished residential buildings. Howe the construction was stopped only after the shells of the foundation were built?¡±

    Using Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge saw the many different crass words that were written on the outer walls in red paint. It appeared like there was a riot among the employees due to the dy in the constructionpany paying their sry. They desecrated the unfinished building to force their bosses to surrender to their demands, but something else had happened.

    Not far away from the unfinished residential area was arge site of an abandoned factory area. There were chemical factories and medical factories, but most of the factories did not specify what kind of factory they were. The rust on the fences showed that they had been there for a long time already. Theycked cleaning, and variousrge machines had be garbage that was impossible to deal with. The Xin Hai countryside wasrger than Chen Ge anticipated. The taxi driver basically dropped him at the edge of the countryside; the man did not intend to drive Chen Ge in any further.

    To prevent the possibility of an ambush on the main road, Chen Ge did not dare use the paved street. He could only slowly seek out his own path this day. The interaction that he had with the Xin Hai police proved useful at a moment like this. It was notpletely useless. At least when he visited the police station, he managed to gain a more detailed understanding of the buildingyout at Xin Hai¡¯s countryside. The countryside had been abandoned for so long that the location of the various abandoned buildings and factories were only marked down at the map used by the police force.

    ¡°Residential areas, various factors, cinemas, supermarkets, small parks, and the types of abandoned building at this countryside sure are numerous. It is basically like a forgotten city.¡± Chen Ge had been wondering why the cursed hospital situated deep inside the countryside would be called Xin Hai Central Hospital, but he believed he had found the answer. If the entire Xin Hai countryside was seen as an abandoned city, then the cursed hospital was indeed ced at the center of this city. ¡°The mission requires me to arrive at Xin Hai Central Hospital before midnight. I am on a time crunch. Looks like I¡¯d better pick up my pace.¡±

    If Xin Hai was the cursed hospital¡¯s territory, Xin Hai countryside was their oldir. Chen Ge reminded himself that he had to be extremely careful with his every step here. At around 11 pm, Xin Hai Countryside, which was surrounded in darkness, suddenly had a sh of light cut through it. Chen Ge looked toward the source of the light. It looked like a car that was driving down the main road. ¡°Wait, isn¡¯t that the car from Jiujiang Medical University? Could that be Ol¡¯ Wu and Zuo Han?¡±

    Chen Ge knew how dangerous the cursed hospital was, so he immediately took out his phone to call Ol¡¯ Wu. ¡°Ol¡¯ Wu, you havee to Xin Hai Countryside as well?¡±

    ¡°It was Zuo Han who drove the car away! I parked the car in the original parking spot at the apartment, and then I brought Zuo Han with me to check in at a hotel in the middle of the city. But half an hour ago, when I went to take a shower, Zuo Han grabbed my keys! He¡¯s now missing, and he is not answering my calls!¡±

    ¡°Zuo Han is not the kind of person to act so rashly. Take a close look around the room. See if he has left any clues behind for you!¡± Chen Ge was a bit desperate. The battle between the haunted house and the cursed hospital was on apletely different level. No matter how clever Zuo Han was, if he was dragged into this battle, there was only one ending.

    Death.

    ¡°When I went to take a shower, I believe he was reading a book... Hmm, yes, found it.¡± The sound of pages being flipped came from the other side of the line. Ol¡¯ Wu suddenly said, ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°Did you find something?¡±

    ¡°Some of the words on this page have been circled in pencil,¡± Ol¡¯ Wu said softly. ¡°Room, someone, the, is, in.¡±

    ¡°Someone is in the room?¡± Chen Ge widened his eyes. ¡°Someone is in the room! Ol¡¯ Wu, leave the room immediately! Now!¡±

    By the time Chen Ge shouted that order, the other side of the line had already gone quiet. No matter how loud he cried, there was no response.

    ¡°The cursed hospital has already made their move, so what exactly do they wish to take from these people around me?¡± Chen Ge shared a very normal rtionship with Ol¡¯ Wu. There was basically nothing that Ol¡¯ Wu knew about Chen Ge, but even so, he was not spared by the cursed hospital. The memory that Ol¡¯ Wu might have when he apanied Chen Ge in leaving Xin Hai had already been wiped away by Zhang Yi. The cursed hospital would not find any valuable information on him. That could be considered the only good news.

    ¡°Have they targeted anyone rted to me? The hospital is most familiar with curses. Is it possible that they are attempting to put a curse on me through the many individuals who are rted to me?¡±

    For most curses to work, they required a medium. The scarier and harsher the curse, the more significant the medium needed. A very bad feeling overwhelmed Chen Ge¡¯s heart.

    ¡°Time is needed toplete a curse. They have just taken Ol¡¯ Wu, so if I am not wrong, their curse cannot have beenpleted just yet.¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the car that sped into the darkness, and he moved faster than before. At 11:30 pm, Chen Ge finally arrived at the perimeter of Xin Hai Central Hospital. This abandoned hospital was situated at the middle of Xin Hai¡¯s countryside. Several buildings were joined together to form an inverted cross. It gave off a sense of death, like a zone of hell.

    ¡°This is the ce where my parents gone disappeared, huh?¡± Chen Ge did not use the front door. He summoned the red high heels and Xue Rong while he observed the hospital from the outside. Xue Rong did not expect that she would once again return to this ce where her nightmare originated after she tried so hard to escape from it. The curse in her body was evoked. If not for the suppression from the red high heels, she would have gone berserk.

    ¡°Have you lost your mind? Why would you voluntarilye here to seek death? Can¡¯t you just live your life peacefully in Jiujiang? What is so bad about that?¡± Xue Rong tried her best to maintain her rationality.

    ¡°Stop wasting time. You were a night doctor at the cursed hospital before, so you should be very familiar with the inside of this ce.¡±

    ¡°I am not going back into this ce. There is no way you can convince me!¡± Xue Rong was on the verge of breakdown. Chen Ge had the red high heels add new curses on Xue Rong.

    ¡°The cursed hospital has captured my employees, and they are threatening with the lives of many other innocent people. I am not asking you to do me a favor here. If you do not want to help me, then I will have my employees swallow you up right this moment.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s tone was sharp and icy. At a moment like this, hesitation and kindness would not help. It would only dy his n. The ck lines on Xue Rong¡¯s body continued to increase as the red high heels applied more and more curses on Xue Rong. When Xue Rong was treating the red high heels, she too had ced many curses on the red high heels. In a way, this was a cycle in and of itself.

    ¡°Stop! Fine.¡± Xue Rong¡¯s eyes were bleeding. ck blood vessels surfaced on her skin, and she was in extreme pain. ¡°The cursed hospital will not capture people for no reason. There are only two kinds of people that they will capture¡ªdoctors who are worth investing in and humans who possess the unique properties to be patients! When the doctors are tricked into joining the hospital, they will start their work as a day doctor, but the patients are not so lucky. They will be kept inside the quarantine area. If they can survive for three days, they will gain a new number, which will rece their name.¡±

    ¡°Quarantine area?¡±

    ¡°Yes, all the new patients will be locked up there.¡± The ck blood vessels on Xue Rong¡¯s skin disappeared. She nced at the red high heels fearfully. Her once patient had be a very scary monster. ¡°The central hospital is very big, and the quarantine areas are at the deepest part of the hospital. I hope you will reconsider what you are doing.¡±

    ¡°I think you might have misunderstood me. I am not going to the quarantine areas to save people.¡±

    ¡°Then, what are you nning to do?¡± Xue Rong was a bit confused.

    ¡°My n is topletely destroy this hospital and clear out any humans or ghosts who have already fallen for the curse. After cleansing the whole hospital, naturally, I will be able to rescue the people that they have kidnapped.¡± Chen Ge waved his arms. ¡°Bring us into the hospital. Lead the way.¡±

    Since she was basically no different from a hostage, Xue Rong had no choice. She led Chen Ge to the left side of the hospital.

    ¡°This here is the side door. It is rtively safer because only the hospital staff know about it.¡±

    After Xue Rong said that, both she and Chen Ge saw the car that was parked beside the side door.

    ¡°Why would the car from Jiujiang Medical University be parked here? Did Zuo Han enter the hospital from the side door? But didn¡¯t you say that only the hospital staff know about the existence of this door?¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s the truth!¡± Xue Rong was clueless as well. ¡°I have no reason to lie to you. I will end up worse a thousand times if I am recaptured by the cursed hospitalpared to being captured by you. Therefore, I will unconditionally side with you!¡±

    ¡°If the hospital staff know about this ce, then doesn¡¯t that mean that they will predict me using this door? This route is not as safe as you think.¡± Chen Ge shook his head. He chose a window that was even more out the way. At 11:54 pm, Chen Ge officially entered the cursed hospital. Xin Hai Central Hospital was supposed to have been abandoned for a long time already, but the inside of the building reeked of disinfectant, and there were asional footprints and shoe prints on the ground as if people still wandered these halls.

    ¡°When Captain Cai called me earlier, he told me that there was no trace of any recent human activity at the hospital. Why would he lie to me? Was something standing next to him when he made that call?¡±

    With the aid of Yin Yang Vision, darkness posed no trouble for Chen Ge. He carefully moved down the corridor. Without moving that far, Chen Ge saw someone had used a red paint to write the following on the wall of the corridor¡ª¡¯This is a sickened world, why not destroy it?¡¯

    The ghastly handwritingbined with bright red paint, it stood out even in the dark. Chen Ge frowned slightly. He continued to move forward. The real maddening side of this hospital was slowly being exposed to Chen Ge. Yellowed death notices appeared on the ground, and ck and white pictures of doctors were hung upside down on the walls. Some of the pictures had scratch marks from fingernails, and the white coats were poked through with needles. ¡°The owner of the cursed hospital is the hospital director, and the doctors... why would they allow such vandalism of the doctor¡¯s pictures?¡±

    The situation was moreplicated than Chen Ge thought. The corridor that he had been walking along appeared to reach down into the endless darkness, and every door seemed to hide a monster behind it. Every corner of the hospital showed signs of the patients¡¯ struggles. The walls had been repaintedyer afteryer. The surface looked white as snow, but the inneryers were already corrupted, and the newyer did nothing to cover up the rotting smell.

    ¡°This whole ce does not feel right, but strangely enough, I cannot sense the presence of any monster or ghosts.¡± Chen Ge had superhuman senses. Ever since he entered the hospital, he did not sense any danger. He only felt strangely ufortable, like he was dropped inside a pool of quicksand. The white cat, which was highly alert when it was outside the hospital, started to rx once inside the hospital. It strode next to Chen Ge and sometimes turned its head around to observe things out of curiosity.

    ¡°Do not let your guard down. The night at the cursed hospital has always been like this. You should be lucky that you have not run into any patients or night doctors. Every single one of them is scarier than thest.¡±

    Even though she was already a Red Specter, when Xue Rong thought back to these things, she was still afraid.

    ¡°Are you sure? Howe it feels like all the ghosts have already decided to leave tonight?¡±

    Chen Ge pushed open the door of the sickroom. He saw the handwriting left behind by the patient on the wall next to the bed¡ª¡¯Who can bring me away from this sickened world?¡¯

    ¡°Why does everyone here think the world is sick? The truth is that because they themselves are sick, and that is why the world look sick from their perspective, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    There was plenty of simr handwriting, scratch marks, and paper notes that had the same message. Chen Ge had a feeling the cursed hospital was doing this on purpose. A normal person was led into the impression that they were living inside a sickened world, and then the cursed hospital used many crazy methods to show them how sick the world was to get the normal person to approve of the world¡¯s sickness. Once that impression was made, the normal person would officially be a patient.

    ¡°No matter what, I cannot allow my conviction to be shaken. No matter how imperfect this world might be, it exists in reality!¡± Just walking down the corridor, the sickened world had already appeared before his eyes who know how many times already. Chen Ge finally understood why he felt so ufortable when he arrived at this ce. Xin Hai Central Hospital was different from the outside world. In fact, one could say that the whole of Xin Hai¡¯s countryside was different from other ces. This ce was the real sickened world. ¡°They appear to have the aim of forcing madness on everyone that enters the hospital, be it the patients or the doctors.¡±

    The scariest part of the cursed hospital was not the fact that they would kill people but that they would do everything in their power to change a person, like with the ghost fetus. What the shadow was looking for was bliss. He was desperate for love and being loved, but after he ran into the cursed hospital, the shadow¡¯s worldview was corrupted. The child, who originally had a chance at salvation, was turned into a Demon God in the world of the dark fog. He hadmitted many erroneous crimes and had been made to suffer the most painful and the most despairing curse, and the culprit behind everything that had happened to him was the cursed hospital.

    Chen Ge had no idea why the cursed hospital would do something like that, but he knew that what he needed to do now was ensure that he was not influenced by the cursed hospital. From the moment his employees were kidnapped, the cursed hospital appeared to have initiated their n. Chen Ge wanted to destroy the cursed hospital, and the cursed hospital wanted to turn Chen Ge into a patient. The history behind the two parties had started more than twenty years ago; it crossed the line of life and death and two cities. It involved many forces. Many ghosts and people were waiting for this moment.

    Walking out from the reception hall, Chen Ge entered the ICU. When Xue Rong and his employees were not paying attention, Chen Ge silently brushed against the wedding ring on his finger. Xiao Sun was located somewhere underneath the hospital. Chen Ge was very close to him. Chen Ge did not head directly to Xiao Sun but continued with his original n. Along the way, he did not run into any living person or any ghost. He moved smoothly and arrived at the door that led underground.

    ¡°The first quarantine zone is underneath this door. I need to remind you, this ce is very dangerous.¡± Xue Rong¡¯s expression became quite strange. ck lines started to appear in her blood red eyes. ¡°The atmosphere is indeed rather unusual at the hospital tonight. You¡¯d better remain on alert.¡±

    Looking at the dark corridor, Chen Ge rushed into it without any hesitation.

 Chapter 1160 - Am I Still Me? (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1160: Am I Still Me? (2in1)</h4>

    The undergroundyout of Xin Hai Central Hospital was incrediblyplicated. The internal space was veryrge, and the twisted handwriting could be seen everywhere. The air reeked of heavy disinfectant. The ground was littered with stained patient¡¯s garbs and various types of trash. asionally, ¡®no entry¡¯ signs could be seen at the corners of the corridors, but the wooden signs had all been decayed away, and there were clear signs of struggles from the nail marks there were left behind on them.

    ¡°Howe I have not encountered a single person or ghost at all? Is this Xiao Sun¡¯s work? But no matter how powerful Xiao Sun is, he could not have cleared an entire scenario on his own!¡±

    Chen Ge walked down the underground corridor for a very long time. He looked into the many different sickrooms that were not locked. It was not until then that he realized none of the rooms at the hospital appeared to be locked. He could open the door and explore them if he wanted to. He had no idea what this meant but his feeling told him that this was not right.

    ¡°I have to be careful around these ¡®doors¡¯.¡±

    The atmosphere inside the hospital became stranger and stranger. The feeling of oppression and suffocation grew stronger and stronger. It was as if the building that they were inside was slowly dropping into the abyss, and no one inside the building would be able to escape.

    ¡°If you move further ahead, you will reach the quarantine area. Everyone that is brought to the hospital, be it doctor or patient, will be first sent to the quarantine zone.¡± Xue Rong¡¯s eyes were moving around. Her pupils were flushed with blood.

    ¡°Then that means that you were once sent into the quarantine area when you first arrived at this hospital as well. In that case, do you still remember any details from your days spent inside the quarantine zone?¡± Chen Ge suspected the secrets behind the hospital were all locked behind the quarantine zone.

    ¡°The quarantine zone¡¯s main purpose is for the hospital to observe the patients and have them recognize their true selves. After their condition has stabilized, they will be released.¡± Xue Rong did not really answer Chen Ge¡¯s question, but instead, she introduced the function of the quarantine zone to Chen Ge.

    ¡°How would a normal person be forced to recognize their true self? How would a person who is not sick get their condition stabilized?¡± Chen Ge could not help but frown. ¡°What exactly is inside the quarantine area?¡±

    What Chen Ge did not tell Xue Rong was, he realized Xiao Sun was currently located inside the quarantine zone.

    ¡°I really cannot remember anything. After leaving the quarantine zone, I realize I was unable to remember anything that has happened inside the quarantine zone.¡± Xue Rong did not look like she was lying around. ¡°All I could remember was after I left the quarantine zone, I started to approve with the hospital¡¯s philosophy and voluntarily stayed to work at this ce.¡±

    ¡°You cannot remember anything about it?¡± Chen Ge thought back to the final stage of the ghost fetus scenario. He did not see any memory that was rted to the quarantine zone inside the apartment building that was a tome of the ghost fetus¡¯ memory. In fact, the ghost fetus¡¯ memory started after he was moved into the sickroom. Based on what Xue Rong had said earlier, when a new person was brought to the hospital, they first had to been sent into the quarantine zone and not assigned a sickroom. ¡°Did the ghost fetus forget the incidents that happened to him inside the quarantine zone as well?¡±

    Chen Ge continued ahead. There was not even a glimpse of light around him, nor was there any sign of life. A strange feeling started to arise in his heart. The underground building of the cursed hospital was very simr to the underground scenario of his own haunted house; the atmosphere was surprisingly simr. It was eerie, scary, and it kept creating different nightmares to consume various negative emotions.

    ¡°It feels like both the ck phone and the cursed hospital are trying to build the same thing but the path that they have chosen to do this ispletely different.¡± Chen Ge eventually reached the end of the corridor, and before him now was a staircase that led deeper underground. At the corner of the staircase, written in uneven writing were the words ¡®Quarantine Area¡¯.

    The signal that came from the wedding ring became more intense. Chen Ge was on high alert and slowly moved down to the second basement level. ¡°This is the quarantine area?¡±

    Chen Ge nced down at the sickrooms at both sides. The rooms were filled with many different old clothes and old shoes. Some of the models had already gone out of fashion. They were from at least ten years ago.

    ¡°I saw a simr set up at the old hospital¡¯s storage where Chi Ren worked. The shelves there were filled with various kinds of shoes as well.¡±

    At the time, the image had left a deep impression on Chen Ge. Each pair of shoes appeared to represent a person. After entering the storage, he felt like there were many different dead people squatting on the shelves.

    He continued to move down the corridor. Several consecutive rooms that he walked by were filled to the brim with old clothes. ¡°Just how many people has the cursed hospital ¡®treated¡¯ in the past twenty years?¡±

    Chen Ge temporarily did not notice anything special about the quarantine zone. What changed was the number of crazed words that were left on the walls. They ovepped over each other. Even if one did not pay them specific attention, the message would be imprinted in one¡¯s mind.

    The smell of disinfectant in the air became so heavy that it had reached the point of being stinging to the nose. But what most rmed Chen Ge was that even though the smell of the disinfectant was so intense, it did nothing to cover up the barely discernible stench that was lingering in the air. He was very familiar with this stench; he had once encountered it in the world behind the ghost fetus¡¯ door. It was a kind of stench that only his nose could pick up.

    He carefully walked into the deepest part of the quarantine zone. Chen Ge finally stopped in front of a door. This was the fourth floor underground of the cursed hospital, and it was the location where the stench was the thickest and the location where the signal from the wedding ring was the strongest. Xiao Sun appeared to be behind this door.

    ¡°The whole hospital has not even one person. Why would they purposely leave Xiao Sun behind the door? Could it be that Xiao Sun has already been exposed? Or are all the ghosts from the cursed hospital currently hiding this door?¡±

    The situation at the cursed hospital was too strange. Chen Ge did not dare lower his guard. He gave it some thought. Before he pushed the door open, he whispered Zhang Ya¡¯s name in his heart. The shadow behind him started to ripple. Zhang Ya also did not discover anything that was too strange about this hospital. She could not sense anything dangerous about this ce. This appeared to be a very normal abandoned hospital.

    With a Demon God present, Chen Ge felt moreforted. He signaled for Xue Rong to go and open this door at the deepest part of the quarantine zone. Xue Rong herself was one of the more powerful Red Specters. She would be able to take care of herself when she was faced with danger. Furthermore, she was at the constant edge of a breakdown, and she would not be able to listen to Chen Ge¡¯s order if that happened, so if an ident happened, it would not decrease the overall power level of Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house.

    Chen Ge had taken many different factors into consideration before he decided to have Xue Rong push open the door. Xue Rong did not refuse. In her mind, her memory about her days in the quarantine zone was a nk as well. She wanted to recover the part of her memory that was lost. The finger that was covered in woundsnded on the door. Xue Rong slightly pushed. Just as she pushed open the door a gap, the shadow behind Chen Ge started to spread like a ck ocean!

    An indescribable horror reached its boiling point, and a pale arm reached through the line between reality and the void, carrying an enormous wave of blood as it surged at the door!

    At the same time, the door before Xue Rong was thrown open from the inside. An arm that was carved with many ck human faces reached out to block Zhang Ya¡¯s wave of blood, and then another blood red arm reached out from inside the door to grab at Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder!

    ¡°Two Demon Gods!¡± ck hair wound itself tightly around Chen Ge¡¯s body. He became the battleground for the three Demon Gods. His body temperature instantly dropped below zero. Chen Ge¡¯s physical body was being torn in many different directions. Just as he was about to be torn apart by the three Demon Gods, the ck hairpletely enveloped itself around Chen Ge. Zhang Ya hugged Chen Ge from behind and charged actively into the door!

    Zhang Ya¡¯s diary that was sitting inside Chen Ge¡¯s backpack disintegrated into dust, and the lines of words appeared on Chen Ge¡¯s body instead. At the same time, the blood on Yan Danian¡¯sic was slowly being washed away. All the pictures started to disappear. One Red Specter and ghost after another was pulled into the door. As the owner of theic, before thest page of theic disappeared, he held a ballpoint pen that was covered in cellophane tape in his hand and was madly drawing something at the edge of the page that was quickly dissolving. Before he was sucked into the door, the final painting that he hadpleted also appeared on Chen Ge¡¯s back.

    Heaven and Earth spun. His body felt as if it had been pulled apart into small pieces and reconstructed again. Chen Ge hugged his head with both of his hands. Many different memories in his mind were being squashed, and they were reced by painful memories that did not belong to him.

    ¡°This is a sickened world. Actually, you are more familiar with that fact than anyone else!¡±

    In less than half a minute, the fourth basement level of the cursed hospital returned to normal.

    Death, silence, oppression, and aplete void of hope.

    ...

    He slowly opened his eyes. His line of sight was very blurry. Chen Ge tried multiple times before he managed to find a focus. His body was covered in pain. The pain came from all parts of his body, but the source of the most intense pain was his brain. Chen Ge found that he was unable to control his body. All he could do was barely move his eyes about. He realized he was lying inside a sickroom. The sunlight shone into the room through the window that was equipped with an iron fence. It was very warm andfortable. The sickroom was not big, and there were other people in the room because Chen Ge could hear drifts of conversationing from the other corners of the room.

    ¡°C Reactive Protein, homocysteine, male hormone, head CT, hypophamine CT, breast CT, the speed of the nervous transport system does not any obvious anomaly...

    ¡°Simr checks have been done during his previous bout of fainting. His mind was clear, inspection of his heart and lungs showed no sign of damage, the nervous system showed no sign of negative impact, and his limbs were working just fine. There should¡¯ve been a chance for him to improve, but his condition suddenly worsened after the treatment began.

    ¡°The patient suffers from paranoid schizophrenia as well as serious delusions...¡±

    Searching for the source of the voice, Chen Ge slowly turned his head and looked beside him. Two doctors in white coats were chatting with one another. After the younger doctor noticed Chen Ge had woken up, he immediately stopped talking and walked out from the room with the document file in his hand. The other middle-aged doctor though walked over to Chen Ge¡¯s bedside.

    ¡°How did you sleepst night?¡±

    Chen Ge raised his head with difficulty. When he saw the middle-aged doctor¡¯s face, his lips opened slightly, but he realized he was unable to utter a single word.

    ¡°You¡¯ve forgotten everything again?¡± The middle-aged doctor appeared to have gotten used to this already. ¡°I am your main physician. My name is Gao Ming. You can call me Doctor Gao for short.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Gao?¡± The words were slowly formed in Chen Ge¡¯s lips. His throat waspletely raw. It was incredibly taxing even just for him to say these two words.

    ¡°Looks like you havee back to us.¡± Doctor Gao removed the straps that had been used to keep Chen Ge¡¯s limbs bound. ¡°Last night, when you were acting up, do you know how much trouble you gave me and the workers?¡±

    ¡°Me? Acting up?¡± Whenever Chen Ge tried to remember what had happened, an intense pain would shoot through his mind as if someone was using a knife to stab into his brain.

    ¡°Take these pills and have a good rest. After your condition haspletely stabilized, I will apply to have you sent over to the normal sickbay.¡± Doctor Gao fed Chen Ge two white pills. After swallowing the meds, Chen Ge realized his headache was gradually going away. After ensuring that Chen Ge had swallowed the pills, Doctor Gao turned to walk away.

    ¡°Wait a minute, Doctor Gao.¡± Even though he was quickly overwhelmed by drowsiness, Chen Ge still called after Doctor Gao. ¡°What is this ce?¡±

    ¡°Xin Hai Central Hospital.¡±

    ¡°Who brought me here?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you worry about that. Just get a good rest. Do not go and think about those things. It will only hinder your recovery.¡± Doctor Gao left after he said all that. The sickroom became incredibly quite other than the asional bird song that came from outside the window. The warm sunlight showered itself warmly on Chen Ge¡¯s body through the iron. He tried his best to gather his strength, but he was unable to sit up.

    ¡°My head hurts so bad...¡± His mind was working very slow, and whenever he tried to formte a thought, intense pain would shoot through his body, so all Chen Ge could do was lie in the bed quietly. After who knew how long, the door was pushed open, and a young female nurse walked in carrying his meal. When Chen Ge saw the female nurse¡¯s face, the name practically slipped out of his lips. ¡°Xu Wan?¡¯

    When she heard Chen Ge¡¯s voice, it was clear that the female nurse was quite shocked. She ced the tray of food on Chen Ge¡¯s bedside table and she sat down beside Chen Ge. ¡°You managed to remember my name after all? I guess the six months I have spent looking after you were not aplete waste after all.¡±

    The female nurse was very kind. She looked cute and her voice was very soothing.

    ¡°Six months? You have taken care of me for half a year?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s brows were knitted in a frown, and his brain felt like it had been pierced with a thousand needles.

    Seeing Chen Ge in such pain, the female nurse quickly stood up, ¡°Your condition has not stabilized yet. Please do not use your brain too much. It will only cause further injury.¡±

    ¡°Tell me, can you please tell me?¡± The pain scrunched up Chen Ge¡¯s face, but he still gritted his teeth to repeat those words.

    ¡°I will not tell you anything, lest it puts any more pressure on you. Please do not exhaust yourself like this. I will go and get the doctor now!¡± Xu Wan turned to leave, but the corner of her shirt was grabbed hold by Chen Ge.

    Turning around, Xu Wan looked into Chen Ge¡¯s eyes that were filled with pain and sadness. ¡°Who brought me here? What has happened to me?¡±

    Xu Wan did not the heart to leave. She sat back down beside Chen Ge and reached out to massage Chen Ge¡¯s arm that was bursting with green veins. ¡°If you can calm down, I will tell you what you wish to know. That is a promise.¡±

    Taking a deep breath, Chen Ge forced himself to stop thinking, and the pain slowly faded away. His facial expression slowly returned to normal. Chen Ge was like a wounded stray. His eyes were filled with the lethargy and pain after a long struggle. ¡°Now, can you tell me?¡±

    ¡°About half a year ago, you drove your parents to the hospital. Your whole family was caught in a traffic ident, and only you were saved in the aftermath.¡± At this point, Xu Wan took a pause. She watched Chen Ge¡¯s status closely. After noticing Chen Ge did not react too intensely, she continued. ¡°But your brain was heavily damaged. You were ina for a very long time. Not too long ago, you finally woke up, but the effect of the traffic ident appeared to leave you with a serious case of delusion.¡±

    ¡°I am suffering from delusions?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I believe it is your brain trying to protect itself. You refuse to admit that your parents are already gone, and you keep evading the truth and live inside the memory that you created for yourself.¡± Xu Wan looked at Chen Ge with clear concern in her eyes. ¡°asionally, yoush out, but at other times, you are so still. During the few moments of sentience, you would describe a world where humans and ghosts were able to coexist, and you kept saying that you¡¯d search for your parents, believing you could one day find them.¡±

    ¡°That was not a delusion, and I did not make any of that up.¡± Without even thinking, Chen Ge¡¯s subconscious offered the words.

    ¡°I did not mean to shatter your dream, but if you insist on staying inside that dream, your onlypany will be pain. It is time to move on.¡± Xu Wan sighed under her breath. ¡°Actually, you know that¡¯s all fake. For example, in your story, you have not even met your parents because they are already dead. Furthermore, you rarely drive to any location; you always prefer public transport or taxi. That is because your subconscious is still afraid of driving after that car ident that cost your parent¡¯s lives. It is not that you do not know what is happening. It is just that you have been purposely avoiding seeing the truth before you.¡±

 Chapter 1161 - Cruel Truth? (2 in 1)

    <h4>Chapter 1161: Cruel Truth? (2 in 1)</h4>

    His memory was fragmented into pieces. Whenever Chen Ge tried to remember anything, his brain would feel like it was about to shatter, but even so, he resisted the torture silently. The arms that gripped the bedsheet started to pop with green veins. Seeing Chen Ge in such pain, Xu Wan did not have the heart to continue the story any longer. Sheid a consoling hand on Chen Ge¡¯s arm. ¡°I know how much the truth must hurt. After having your lunch, you¡¯d better lie back down and rest.¡±

    Xu Wan picked up the meal from the bedside table and fed Chen Ge a spoonful at a time. Chen Ge¡¯s taste buds could sense the taste of the vegetables and meat perfectly. It was extremely real. Chen Ge masticated the food mechanically, and his eyes were unable to focus. The memory fragments that asionally appeared in his mind convinced him that everything Xu Wan had told him was real. He indeed had been searching for his parents, and he rarely drove anywhere. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced he did have a trauma being behind the wheel.

    Picking up the napkin, Xu Wan wiped Chen Ge¡¯s mouth. ¡°If you need anything, feel free to call me. If your recovery goes well, you should be able to move out from the quarantine area tonight. I know how much you wish to move back to the normal sickroom.¡±

    ¡°Why would I be so desperate to return to the normal sickroom? Is there any danger from staying at the quarantine area?¡± The term ¡®quarantine zone¡¯ made Chen Ge¡¯s stomach flip. He had a very bad impression of this term.

    ¡°Of course, there is no danger here. No one will be able to harm you now that you are here. The reason you wish to return to the normal sickroom is because you will be able to see outside the hospital walls there.¡± Xu Wan collected the utensils and left.

    ¡°I will be able to see outside the hospital walls?¡± After Xu Wan left, the room became quiet again. Chen Gey in bed. If he could stop himself from thinking, the pain that came from all parts of his body would lessen enormously. The sun showered on his body. His head cushioned on the clean and fluffy pillow as Chen Ge gazed outside the window. It was a brilliant and sunny day. White clouds drifted freely against the azure sky. All that ruined the verdant spectacle were the iron wires on the window.

    ¡°Are the iron wires to stop thieves from getting in or to prevent the patients from escaping?¡± The hospital was very well kept, and it made people feel veryfortable staying there. But for some reason, Chen Ge felt incredibly anxious lying there, but he had no idea where the anxiety came from. Whenever he tried to figure it out, his body would be tormented by pain, but when he stopped thinking andy in bed like a wooden puppet, the pain would slowly disappear. He tried to move his body. Chen Ge worked on controlling his muscles. He needed about an hour before he finally managed to sit up in bed using his own strength.

    ¡°Deep purple welts cover my wrists and ankles from the straps. There are bruises on my back and shoulders as well. My left leg¡¯s wrapped in ster, and my cheeks are scratched...¡± Chen Ge was inspecting his own body. His eyes slowly moved before theynded on the back of his arm. There was a wound that was in the shape of a blood droplet there. ¡°When did this wound show up? How did it get there?¡±

    Chen Ge tried to think about it, and then it felt like an invisible hand gripped around his nervous system. The heart-drilling pain was enough to make him nearly faint.

    Bang!

    The room door was pushed open again. Doctor Gao walked in alone. He was holding a document in his hand. When he saw Chen Ge was sitting up on his own, the expression on his face was one of surprise. ¡°Looks like your recovery is going very well.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Gao, my head hurts so much.¡± Chen Ge sidled to the edge of the bed. His body was still very weak.

    ¡°Now is not yet the time for your meds. Come. Why don¡¯t you do this with me? Cross your arms before your chest and take a deep breath.¡± Doctor Gao instructed Chen Ge patiently. After thetter had calmed down, Doctor Gao moved over a chair and sat himself down next to Chen Ge¡¯s bed. ¡°Do you still remember what happenedst night?¡±

    ¡°Last night?¡±

    ¡°Your illness suddenly acted upst night, and you were caught in a very serious delusion. I had to call in three hospital workers before we managed to detain you.¡± Doctor Gao took out a mechanical watch from his pocket. He nced at the time before cing the watch on the bedside table. The needle of the watch ticked rhythmically and softly with every passing second.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you talk to me? Don¡¯t treat me as a doctor. Just see this as a friendly chat between friends. There is no need to hide anything from me. Whatever you think of or anything that you have seen, you can tell me,¡± Doctor Gao said with a kind smile. ¡°There is only one detail that you need to remember, and that is not to lie and do not say anything that is against your own principles.¡±

    ¡°I cannot remember anything. All I know is that I entered a dark and eerie hospitalst night.¡± The memory in his mind had already been shattered. Chen Ge hung his head, and pain was in on his face.

    ¡°What¡¯s the name of that hospital? What did you see in that hospital? Did you have anyone apanying you?¡± As the mechanical clock continued to tick, Doctor Gao patiently asked one after another question.

    ¡°I believe the hospital is called Xin Hai Central Hospital. I saw many different words and different handwriting. I did have someone apanying me at the time... Her name was... Zhang Ya?¡± Suddenly, a name popped up in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. The name escaped from his lips before he could stop himself. His hands reached to his head, and the immense pain caused the man to curl up in a fetal position on the bed. Screams kepting out from his mouth. ¡°So painful! This hurts so bad!¡±

    Doctor Gao sighed softly, and he twisted open a medicine bottle and fed Chen Ge another two white pills. After swallowing the medicine, Chen Ge¡¯s condition became much better. Hey back down on the bed, and his face was scarily pale.

    ¡°That was all a delusion. Last night, you stayed inside Xin Hai Central Hospital. You did not go anywhere. The eerie and scary hospital that you saw was this ce.¡± Seeing that Chen Ge had slowly calmed down, Doctor Gao pointed around him. ¡°Does this ce look eerie and scary to you?¡±

    The sun washed the room in a bright and sunny atmosphere. The room was clean, and everything was arranged neatly. The ce had nothing to do with the terms scary or eerie.

    ¡°Perhaps this ce is different at nightpared to the day.¡± Chen Ge felt like he had said something simr somewhere else before.

    ¡°There is nothing different about the hospital, be it in the morning or at night. The building is not a living thing. All that will change is you.¡± Doctor Gao gradually revealed the truth to Chen Ge. ¡°What changes when night falls is you.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you can bemunicated with normally in the morning, but at night, you will turn into something of a beast.¡± Doctor Gao ced the document that he had on the table. ¡°Initially, we thought that was a post traumatic disorder, but then we realized you suffer from severe delusions. And not too long ago, we discovered there was another persona living inside you.¡±

    ¡°Another persona living inside me?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s brain turned dull. He was unable to process so much information in such a brief period.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t youe and look at the surveince video that we have capturedst night?¡± Doctor Gao took out his own phone. The phone was pure white in color and had arge screen. Pressing the y button, a blurry video started to y on Doctor Gao¡¯s phone. Chen Ge, who was lying in bed, suddenly sat up. He dragged his stered leg and silently moved to the room¡¯s door with his hands edging along the wall. When midnight arrived, he pushed open the door and attempted to escape from the hospital. However, he encountered the nurse on night duty. They got into an altercation. Chen Ge exploded like a cornered beast. He kept shouting words that no one would be able to understand, and he got into a serious physical tussle with the nurse.

    About two to three minutester, the hospital workers rushed to the scene. The three of them worked together to get Chen Ge under control and move him to the quarantine area. The surveince did not end there. Chen Ge, who was lying in bed, struggled as best as he could. His eyes were red from the struggle. They were so red that it felt like blood would flow out from them any time soon. His body was twisted into impossible positions, and he appeared to be under enormous pain. His lips flopped open, and he screamed as if from pain.

    ¡°This was me?¡± Chen Ge looked at the video silently. Chen Gey in bed quietly. He had no recollection of this incident at all.

    ¡°He is you and not you. To be precise, he is the second persona inside you. The reason behind his existence is your illness,¡± Doctor Gao said seriously. ¡°You must have an impression of his existence because you have been relying heavily on him, but you are unable to admit that to yourself.¡±

    ¡°No, I am me. There is no one else inside me.¡± Chen Ge shook his head firmly.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Doctor Gao picked out a page from the binder. ¡°From all the strange stories that you have told me, there was a ghost that has been protecting you. The ghost did not ask for anything in return for his protection. He even took up the role of being your guardian as the only reason in his life.¡±

    Green veins surfaced on his forehead. Before the pain arrived, Chen Ge nodded. ¡°I remember him. He¡¯s not someone that I have made up...¡±

    ¡°Then, do you still remember the surname of your father?¡± Doctor Gao suddenly changed the subject.

    ¡°His surname is Chen.¡±

    ¡°Then, do you know what your own name is?¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge.¡±

    ¡°What is the surname of your mother?¡±

    ¡°It was Xu.¡±

    ¡°Now try to think about it. What is the name of that ghost?¡± Doctor Gao spoke very quickly. There was practically no gap between his questions.

    ¡°His name... is Xu Yin.¡± Chen Ge pressed his head from pain and difficulty.

    Doctor Gao ced the page of information before Chen Ge. He pointed at the record from about a month ago. ¡°The name that you have given your second persona is Xu Yin. In the morning, your name is Chen Ge, but at night, you are called Xu Yin. The ghost who has been willing to suffer all the pain without leaving and has been protecting you without asking for anything in return is actually yourself.¡±

    ¡°Impossible!¡±

    ¡°It is totally normal for you not to realize that. Based on my observation, the reason this second persona showed up is mainly because you have given yourself too much pressure, and you desperately needed someone else toe and share the pain and pressure that you were ced under.¡±

    ¡°That is absolutely impossible! Xu Yin is real! I remember him very clearly!¡±

    ¡°I am not saying that he is not real. In fact, he is as real as you and me, but he only exists in your brain and your stories.¡± Doctor Gao used a very soft and soothing voice tomunicate with Chen Ge. ¡°Whenever you wake up from your fainting, I¡¯m the first person thates to talk to you, and I¡¯m always your first listener. In your stories, whenever you found yourself in danger, Xu Yin would show up to protect you. He is not that powerful, but he would always try his best to help you survive the ordeal. Think about it, a solitary figure that is not that powerful but refuses to give up, doesn¡¯t that remind you of someone you know?¡±

    Doctor Gao looked at Chen Ge with a sad smile. With the leading words from Doctor Gao, the figure in Chen Ge¡¯s mind became more and more blurry before itpletely ovepped with the image of his own self. Pain, loneliness, and sadness that could not be shared with anyone else¡ªthey shared too many simrities to be a mere coincidence.

    ¡°Xu Yin, Chen Ge...¡± Many different fragmented memories floated up in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. He had no idea who to believe, but he soon adjusted to a firm belief. ¡°Impossible. If Xu Yin is my second person, it means that all my previous experiences were fake, but I remember them very clearly. They are all real! There are really ghosts in this world! And Xu Yin is a real person!¡±

    Chen Ge held onto the broken pieces of memory in his mind. Rationality told him that Doctor Gao was not wrong, but he refused to listen to himself.

    ¡°There are no ghosts in this world. The only thing that exists is the unpredictability of the human heart and the length that it might go to protect itself.¡± Every word that Doctor Gao said resonated greatly with Chen Ge. Chen Ge¡¯s subconscious told him that the doctor was right, but he felt strangely difited by that thought.

    ¡°Come, I have already filled in the application for you to move back to the normal sickroom. Hopefully, you will recover soon.¡± Doctor Gao summoned Xu Wan, and the two of them supported Chen Ge on each side as they moved him out from the quarantine room. The bright and clean corridor smelt of disinfectant. The sickrooms on the two side of the walls were all locked. The window was blocked off by a thin curtain. Standing in the corridor, one would not be able to see into the other sickrooms. Walking down the corridor, the ce was rather noisy. Many patients could be found loitering along the corridor.

    ¡°Please move out of the way.¡± Doctor Gao moved Chen Ge to the first room at the corner of the stair of the second floor. This room was much bigger than the room that he was staying in earlier. There were three beds inside the room.

    ¡°You should be able to remember your own bed, right?¡± Doctor Gao asked softly, but Chen Ge only looked back at him with confusion. ¡°Looks like you have forgotten about it again. No matter, we can take this slowly. When the injury to your brain has totally recovered, it will not hurt so much anymore.¡±

    Doctor Gao supported Chen Ge as they moved to the bed near to the window. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Chen Ge looked out the window. Beyond the wall was a theme park that was not that big. Chen Ge edged his way onto the bed, and when he settled down, he realized there was another theme park that he could see from his vantage point.

    From Chen Ge¡¯s bed, he was able to glimpse the entirety of the two theme parks. Most of the visitors were gathered at the theme park on the eastern side of Xin Hai Central Hospital. The ce was equipped with a lot of high-tech entertainment devices while theme park on the western side of the hospital was rtively quieter with fewer visitors. Most of the rides on the western theme park were of the older fashion. The only attraction more conspicuous about the ce was a haunted house. When he saw the haunted house, the memory in Chen Ge¡¯s mind started to awaken. He held his head, but he did not move his eyes away. He kept his eyes on the theme park on the western side while resisting the pain.

    ¡°Is that New Century Theme Park?¡±

    ¡°That is called Xin Hai Theme Park. You often stand beside the window, observing it. Sometimes, you spend your whole day doing just that.¡±

    ¡°I think I have remembered something.¡± Chen Ge pulled on his hair with both hands. Thin veins appeared on his face, and sweat poured out from his forehead. ¡°I once worked at a theme park. I inherited my parent¡¯s haunted house, and I possess a haunted house that they left for me!¡±

    ¡°Just like her, right?¡± Compared to Chen Ge¡¯s maddening ims, Doctor Gao¡¯s voice was slow and even. He extended his finger and pointed in the direction of the haunted house¡¯s entrance. Chen Ge followed the direction Doctor Gao was pointing. There was a woman dressed as a ghost standing at the entrance of the haunted house. The makeup on her face was ruined by the sweat that poured down her forehead. She wore a red dress, and currently, she was selling tickets while holding an advertisement board for the haunted house outside the gates.

    ¡°Zhang Ya?¡± When Chen Ge saw the woman¡¯s face, he was stumped.

    ¡°To aid in your recovery, I went to make some inquiries. The identity that you have given yourself is actually stolen from this girl. Her family opened a haunted house here about ten years ago. The haunted house has been in business since her parent¡¯s generation.¡± Doctor Gao shook his head, and a trace of pity could be discerned from his eyes. ¡°The person who was running a haunted house for a living is this youngdy, and all you did was hide behind the hospital window and look at her. You have not said a word to her before, but you have indeed visited her haunted house, a long time ago. That¡¯s how you know her name is Zhang Ya.¡±

    ¡°Impossible. She is a ghost, a very important ghost to me!¡± Extreme pain came from Chen Ge¡¯s brain again.

    ¡°If she is really that important to you, why don¡¯t you personally go and talk to her after your condition is better? If you go in your current state, you will only scare her,¡± Doctor Gao told Chen Ge softly.

 Chapter 1162 - Sickened World? (2 in 1)

    <h4>Chapter 1162: Sickened World? (2 in 1)</h4>

    There was a window equipped with an iron that stood between Chen Ge and the outside world. Standing at the window, he could smell the fragrance of flowers and the caress of the wind. He could even watch the person who was the most important in his mind, but what he could not do was leave this ce. The world outside was very real and very beautiful, and the outside world belonged to the others. His hands gripped the iron, and the rust cut against his skin. Chen Ge watched theme park on the western side quietly, his eyes never leaving the female actor in the ghost costume. Even though she was wearing heavy makeup, Chen Ge managed to pick her out from the crowd at first nce.

    ¡°You have to cooperate to receive the treatment. After your condition gets better and after we get the approval from the hospital director, you will be able to leave the hospital, and you can go and meet her in person.¡± Doctor Gao treated Chen Ge very kindly. He was familiar with Chen Ge¡¯s sad background. Other than the doctor¡¯s responsibility toward his patient, he felt deep concern and pity toward Chen Ge.

    ¡°I can leave this ce after my illness is cured?¡± Chen Ge desired the outside world. He could not keep his eyes away from the female actor. The female actor who was selling tickets at theme park seemed to be able to sense something, and she turned her head to nce at the hospital. The two¡¯s eyes met. Chen Ge subconsciously wanted to move his eyes away, but he soon realized the female actor did not mean him any harm. There was no trace of stigmata or disgust in her eyes. If anything, there was only more than a bit of curiosity. Perhaps she could discern the panic and anxiety within Chen Ge. The female actor in the ghost disguise gifted a light smile at him. After the one to two seconds when their eyes met, the female actor returned to work and started handing out flyers to the passing visitors. She kept holding the advertisement board and tried her best to promote the haunted house.

    ¡°The former me is just like her, so she is acting like the former me...¡± Two contradictory thoughts appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. He could not tell whether this was his instinct or this was a symptom of his illness. He did not dare spend too much time contemting this further. The pain that felt like it was about to tear his mind open was not something that could be stomached by anyone. Seeing that Chen Ge had returned to his post by the window, Doctor Gao sighed softly and then turned to silently walk away.

    The sun over the horizon became softer. A hue of red and orange filtered through the light. When the dawning sun was blocked by the skyscrapers, it appeared as if the sky was on fire. It was beautiful and breath-taking. Chen Ge stood by the window for the whole afternoon. The temperature around him slowly dropped. The gentle night breeze crawled into his cor and caused the man to shiver.

    ¡°The sky is getting dark.¡± He touched his chest. The surveince video that Doctor Gao had him watch earlier shed across Chen Ge¡¯s mind. ¡°The beast-like person that appeared in the video, is that really me?¡±

    The camera would not lie. Chen Ge believed subconsciously that the surveince video was trustworthy evidence because in the past he had often used simr surveince video to confirm many things. ¡°The other me is called Xu Yin? If the doctor has not lied to me, when will he arrive?¡±

    Looking at his own body, Chen Ge suddenly felt like he could not recognize it anymore. He leaned against the wall and slowly moved back to his bed. The sky was already dark, but Chen Ge did not choose to close the window. For some reason, whenever he thought about doing that, he would be wrought with difort. It was as if by closing the window, the air would be suffocating inside the room like he was dropped inside a maze that had no exit. ¡°I wish to leave this ce.¡±

    The theme park outside the window had already stopped its day of operation, but the lights were still on at the haunted house. ¡°She does not return to her own home? Or is the haunted house her home? Has she been living in the haunted house? It must have been quite taxing to clean up such arge haunted house on her own. If only she had someone else to go and help her. But wait, why is she alone? Shouldn¡¯t she have her parents with her?¡±

    When this thought crossed her mind, more sharp pain pierced Chen Ge¡¯s head. Parents appeared to be a taboo inside his heart. Whenever he thought about anything rted to his parents, his brain would respond with enormous pain. His hands hugged his brain. Chen Ge growled in pain. He curled up into a ball on the bed.

    Bang bang bang!

    The sound of knocking came as Doctor Gao pushed open the door. When he saw the status Chen Ge was in, he immediately ran to his side and helped him through a series of breathing exercises. After the pain disappeared from his brain, Chen Ge copsed onto the bed.

    ¡°Clear your mind and stop thinking about these other things. Try and get a good night¡¯s sleep.¡± After Doctor Gao said all that, he moved to the side. It was then that Chen Ge realized there was another person standing behind Doctor Gao. The person was not that old, but his face was expressionless. He appeared to suffer from ack of emotions.

    ¡°Due to various reasons, the two previous patients that shared this room with you have been moved away. This will be your new roommate. His name is Zuo Han.¡± There were only three beds in total in the room. The patient who was called Zuo Han did notmunicate with Chen Ge. With the same frosty expression, he walked to choose the bed that was closest to the door.

    ¡°Hopefully, you guys will get to know each other and help each other.¡± Doctor Gao gave Chen Ge a quick introduction of Zuo Han. During this period, Xu Wan arrived to bring meals into the room. Once Chen Ge and Zuo Han had finished their dinner, Doctor Gao took out the medicine bottle from his pocket. After he personally witnessed Chen Ge and Zuo Han swallow the pills, Doctor Gao left the room with Xu Wan. The night breeze blew into the room. Zuo Han was sitting at the bed close to the door, and Chen Ge was lying on the bed next to the window. There was an empty bed between them. Neither of them spoke. After ten minutester, Chen Ge was the first to break the silence. ¡°If you think it is cold, I can close the window.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary,¡± Zuo Han replied snappily. He stood up to inspect the door, and after ensuring the room door was not locked, he climbed back into the bed with his shoes stillced to his feet.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to remove your shoes before you go to sleep?¡± For some reason, the name Zuo Han felt very familiar to Chen Ge, but his brain could not match the name to the face before him. Since he had just swallowed the medicine, his brain was operating conspicuously slower than normal. Zuo Han stared at Chen Ge¡¯s face. After a long time, he coldly said, ¡°The reason I am not removing my shoes is so that I can leave this ce as soon as I can.¡±

    ¡°But why?¡± Chen Ge was reminded of the fact that he had once chosen to escape this ce through the evidence shown to him on the surveince video. His brain was not working as fast as he wished, but his senses were still very sharp. It was as if his instincts were kicking in.

    ¡°Because you are inside this room and you are a very dangerous patient.¡± Zuo Han rolled his eyes at Chen Ge.

    ¡°That is pot calling the kettle ck. If you weren¡¯t sick, you wouldn¡¯t be here.¡± Chen Ge did not think he was that dangerous. If anything, he thought his mind was very fuzzy. Whenever he tried to concentrate on something, his mind would respond with pain. But if he stopped thinking for a long time, he felt that the only memories that he had of himself wouldpletely disappear.

    ¡°I am not sick. There are indeed many people who wish to harm me in this world. That is the truth, not because I am sick.¡± Zuo Han scoffed coldly. ¡°Furthermore, even if I am really sick, I am in a much better condition than you are.¡±

    ¡°You know me? You¡¯ve heard about my stories before?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes that looked at Zuo Han changed.

    Zuo Han shook his head. He opened his mouth to reveal the white pill that was hidden under his tongue. ¡°The doctor only fed me half of a pill, but I saw that he fed you two whole pills! So even if we are really sick, your illness is much more serious than mine.¡±

    ¡°You did not swallow the pills that the doctor gave you?¡±

    ¡°Pills are meant for patients who are sick, and I am not sick, so why should I consume the pills?¡± Zuo Han sat up and walked to the side of the door. His finger slid across his lips and removed the pill without a trace. ¡°The corridor outside the door is heavily surveilled. They want to trap me here forever.¡±

    Squeezing the half pill between his finger, Zuo Han gradually grinded it down. He was very carefully until he grounded the pill into dust. Only then did he stop.

    ¡°If you do not mind me asking, what kind of illness did the doctor say you suffer from?¡± Standing from Chen Ge¡¯s perspective, it was clear that this Zuo Han had something wrong with him.

    ¡°They said I suffer from serious paranoia and delusions, but I do not believe a single word that they say because I know the bunch of doctors are up to no good. They do not intend to cure me from the very beginning; they want to harm me.¡±

    ¡°Why would you think that?¡± A patient diagnosed with paranoia was sent to a hospital. The fact that he refused to take his medication and the strange way that he was acting as well as the belief that he thought the doctors were not trying to save him but harm him, all these were signs that he was indeed suffering from the illness that the doctor said he had.

    ¡°No reason.¡± Zuo Han paused for a moment. ¡°My instincts tell me that things are not that simple. There are many things in this world that are problematic. I cannot tell you exactly why. But if I can leave this hospital, I am sure there will be numerous ways to prove that I am right.¡±

    ¡°Then good luck to you.¡± Chen Ge nced at his right leg that was wrapped in ster. ¡°I couldn¡¯t escape even if I wanted to.¡±

    His body was covered in bruises, one of his legs was broken, and his brain only worked sometimes. Whenever he was deep in thought, he would be assaulted by pain, and apparently, there was a second persona living inside his body that wouldsh out like a beast. Under these conditions, Chen Ge did not think he would be able to escape from this hospital.

    ¡°How I wish to leave this ce as well.¡± Chen Ge looked at theme park outside the window. Theme park waspletely dark in the night, there was no light at all.

    The room once again returned to silence. Neither Chen Ge nor Zuo Han spoke again. Closing themp on the bedside table, Chen Gey in the darkness. Being enveloped by darkness, he felt strangelyforted like the eyes that had been watching him could not see him anymore.

    ¡°I have not done anything throughout the day, but howe I still feel so drowsy? Is it the effect of the pills?¡± His eyelids became heavy. Before Chen Ge drifted off to bed, he nced at the bed where Zuo Han was. Zuo Han did not go to sleep. He did not even change out of his clothes and shoes. He curled on his bed like a panther as his eyes followed the door alertly as if he believed that someone would burst into the room in the next moment.

    ...

    He could hear the sound of nails scratching against wood. Chen Ge opened his eyes blurrily, and he saw someone standing by the room door.

    <i>Zuo Han?</i> Chen Ge did not say anything. He pretended to still be asleep while he moved his eyes in the dark. On the bed nearest to the door, the bed was bulging. Zuo Han appeared to have stuffed his pillow under the bedsheet. Without making any noise, Chen Ge quietly watched the figure in the dark. After a few minutes, the figure suddenly turned around and headed directly toward Chen Ge. There was no sound of footsteps. The person moved very slowly before he finally stopped beside Chen Ge¡¯s bed.

    ¡°You have already woken up?¡± Zuo Han¡¯s voice came from the mouth of the figure.

    Chen Ge knew that he had been discovered so he stopped with the pretense. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I am trying to escape from this ce,¡± Zuo Han whispered. ¡°When I firstid eyes on you, I felt you are very familiar. Have we met somewhere else before?¡±

    ¡°Why would you suddenly ask me about that?¡± Chen Ge also lowered his voice to a whisper.

    ¡°When I first moved in there, I noticed there were people standing outside the door. I suspected the doctor and nurse had not wandered away, so I did not dare to share too many words with you.¡± Zuo Han sat on Chen Ge¡¯s bed. ¡°I must have met you somewhere else before. I am certain of that. After all, when I first saw you, I knew that you are not dangerous at all. If there is anything that I am certain of, that would be it.¡±

    ¡°Since you knew that the doctor was just outside the door, why would you volunteer the information that you did not consume the pill? Aren¡¯t you afraid of them finding out?¡± Chen Ge was confused.

    ¡°They already know that I have been skipping my meds. The reason I said that out loud was for them to put their guard down, for them to think that I did not realize they were spying on us.¡± Zuo Han stared at Chen Ge¡¯s face. ¡°Use their known secret to undermine them, to give them a feeling that they are in control, but in reality, they have no idea what I am thinking at all.¡±

    ¡°You are quite a clever person.¡± Chen Ge instantly understood what Zuo Han was saying. The conversation that they had in thete afternoon was not entirely filled with truths. At the time, Zuo Han suspected the doctor was just outside the door, so he purposely said certain things and did certain things, even going so far as to expose some of the smaller details to confuse the doctor.

    ¡°Whenever I encounter anyone in this world, there will be a guardedness that rises inside my heart, and that includes when I am around my parents and the doctors, but you are the only exception.¡± Zuo Han frowned. ¡°It is very strange. This is the first time I¡¯ve felt so open in front of a stranger.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps because I have a personable face?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± Zuo Han lowered his voice even further. ¡°I know how difficult it is to escape from this ce, so I need a friend. If you are willing to help me, I can bring you with me.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure we can sessfully escape from this hospital?¡± The image of the beast-like self that Doctor Gao had shown him kept appearing in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. The persona that had gone berserk made him feel fearful.

    ¡°I cannot be sure of that, but I know that if we stay here any longer, we will go crazy for real.¡± Zuo Han sat on the bed in the middle. ¡°It¡¯s now three in the morning. The workers change their shift at midnight. They will go on patrol around the rooms around midnight and 2 am. Each patrol willst for about half an hour.¡±

    ¡°How did you manage to find all this out?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes that fell on Zuo Han slowly gained a tint of suspicion.

    ¡°You worry that I am one of the people sent by the hospital? You are worried that this is all a test?¡± Not only was Zuo Han not offended, the icy expression on his face softened a lot. ¡°Looks like we are the same kind of people. We bear suspicion regarding this world from the bottom of our hearts. Actually, it is not us who are sick; this world is sick. You and I have already realized that. We are living in a sickened world.¡±

    When he heard thest sentence that Zuo Han said, Chen Ge¡¯s heart was gripped by an inscrutable chill. It was as if the term sickened world represented a strong psychological pressure. He instinctually felt resentful and cautious of these few words. In his mind, only his nemesis would say something like that.

    ¡°Is this world really sick, or am I the one who is sick? Who is the one with the illness?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s head started to throb with pain again.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Zuo Han started to frown. He wanted to look for a helper, not a burden, and Chen Ge was too weak physically.

    ¡°My head gets painful for no reason. Do you have simr symptoms?¡± Chen Ge forced himself to calm down. He tried to arrange his emotions and realized something very strange. He was disgusted by the term ¡®sickened world¡¯, but the disgust did not include Zuo Han, who uttered the term. It was as if he knew subconsciously that Zuo Han was not the one who was connected to that term.

    ¡°That has never happened to me. I need to stay on alert at all times to respond to any possible danger.¡± Zuo Han returned to his bed and maintained a distance from Chen Ge. ¡°At 3:30 am, I will leave this room. At that time, I need a favor from you.¡±

    ¡°I am not in a good condition. I do not think I will be of any help to you.¡± Chen Ge still believed that, in their situation, it was best to not act too rashly.

 Chapter 1163 - Self-Perception (2 in 1)

    <h4>Chapter 1163: Self-Perception (2 in 1)</h4>

    ¡°What I need you to do is very simple. If any doctor or nursees to inspect the room after I leave, you only need to pretend to be asleep.¡± Zuo Han did not ce much hope in Chen Ge. ¡°Do not give away any extra information. No matter what they ask you, just tell them you do not know anything.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Oh, other than that, when I return, remember to open the door for me.¡± Zuo Hany in bed and stopped talking to Chen Ge. About ten minutester, Zuo Han nced at Chen Ge, got out of bed, and walked to the room door. He quietly pulled the door open slightly. After ensuring that there was no one else in the corridor, he snuck out of the room.

    ¡°This person is highly suspicious of everything. His various actions and words are consistent with the diagnosis that he suffers from paranoia.¡± Chen Ge sat up in bed. ¡°Should I help him or not?¡±

    Without even thinking too much about it, Chen Ge realized that Zuo Han had not left the room that night just to explore the hospital only. It was also a test for him. He did not trust Zuo Han, but Zuo Han also did not trust him fully. Inside the world of patients with delusional paranoia, the whole world was dangerous, and every corner was hiding a potential enemy. Without moving an inch, Chen Ge sat in his bed for about ten minutes, but Zuo Han still had not returned.

    He nced at the slightly ajar door. He got out of bed. Dragging his leg that was encased in ster, he slowly moved to the door. Pulling open the door, Chen Ge nced outside. The corridor of the hospital was not fully dark. The corners of the corridor and the nurse stations had lights.

    ¡°This is different to my memory of the hospital. Could it really be true that Ipletely imagined that eerie and dark midnight hospital?¡± Chen Ge had managed to work out a way to think about things. As long as he did not venture deep into any contemtion, as long as he did not try to think about the past, the pain would not assault his brain like it was trying to tear it into pieces. ¡°When I think back what happened in the morning, the headache will note, but whenever I try to think back to what happened before I fainted, the intense pain overwhelms me. This in itself is very strange. What is the meaning of these former memories to me? Why would the paine just because I wish to remember them?¡±

    Even under the influence of heavy medication, his body¡¯s incredible weakness, and the torment of pain, even with all that, Chen Ge still maintained the ability to think for himself.

    ¡°In a way, I am rather simr to Zuo Han. He believes that everyone in this world is trying to harm him, and I also think everyone in this world is lying to me. Does that mean that we are really sick?¡±

    Since he had such simr symptoms to a diagnosed mental patient, then the simple conclusion was that he must be a mental patient as well.

    ¡°To be able to realize that I might be sick, this means that I still have some ability to assess my own condition. My power of self-perception has not been weakened... Wait a minute, self-perception?¡±

    The sudden term that burst through the fog of his brain stunned Chen Ge.

    ¡°Why does the word self-perception feel so familiar to me? This thing appears to have very great importance for me. I need self-perception or rather something that will be able to help me be self-perceptive!¡±

    Pain rushed at him like waves. Chen Ge appeared to have triggered his former memory again. Different memory fragments collided in his mind, and the pain was so intense that he almost fell unconscious. Chen Ge gripped the edge of the bedpost with both of his hands and gritted his teeth firmly. Blood leaked out from the gums of his teeth, but he still did not make any noise. ¡°Why would I have such a deep impression of the term self-perception?¡±

    His consciousness started to g. If Chen Ge continued to focus on this, the headache would escte, and he might just faint on the spot. Taking a deep breath, Chen Ge tried his best to make himself calm down. He followed the breathing method that was taught to him by Doctor Gao. He tried it several times before the pain in his brain slowly faded away. In a short few minutes, Chen Ge¡¯s back was already soaked in cold sweat, and he felt even more drained than before.

    ¡°If I¡¯d fainted then, would the other me have appeared? Would I be able tomunicate with him?¡± Just as Chen Ge prepared to return to his own bed, the sound of footsteps suddenly came from the corridor. ¡°Zuo Han does not make any sound when he moves, so this should be the hospital worker.¡±

    Chen Ge still remembered what Zuo Han had asked of him. He hurried back to his bed and pretended to be asleep. After about ten seconds, the sound of footsteps stopped at the door. Narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge nced toward the door. He was not nervous and did not feel any anxiety. It was only then that he realized how strong his heart really was.

    Knock.

    Someone knocked lightly on the door. Then, as the sound of footsteps picked up, the person outside the door left.

    ¡°What is the meaning of this? The person came to knock on the door just once at three to four am in the morning and then left just like that? Is this a prank by one of the workers?¡± The person outside the door did note in or even open the door. This was what confused Chen Ge the most. ¡°Who knocked on the door? The hospital worker? Zuo Han? The doctor? Or another patient at this hospital?¡±

    After some time, the door was pushed open, and Zuo Han walked in frostily.

    ¡°So, how did it go?¡±

    ¡°This hospital is enormous. It is a general hospital. The third sick zone where we are located is just a very small part of the whole structure.¡± Zuo Han walked to Chen Ge¡¯s side and gestured with his hands. ¡°If we assume this pillow is the hospital, I believe we are right about here.¡±

    ¡°Are you confident that you can escape from this ce?¡± Chen Ge was more concerned about that. The strange knocking on the door earlier gave him a sense of urgency. It was as if his instincts were telling him that if he stayed there any longer, something worse was going to happen.

    ¡°No.¡± Zuo Han did not hide the truth from Chen Ge. ¡°There are cameras installed at the start of every corridor, and our floor itself has three hospital workers and two nurses working twenty-four hours a day. The door to leave the hospital is also locked, and I have no idea who might have the key.¡±

    ¡°A key?¡± With the mention of the key, lightning shed in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. He was like a drowning man finding a floating log drifting toward him. ¡°I need to find a key!¡±

    ¡°Yes, without that key, we won¡¯t be able to escape from this ce.¡± Zuo Han thought Chen Ge was acting quite strangely, so he did notmunicate further with Chen Ge and returned to his own bed.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to sleep?¡± Chen Ge realized Zuo Han was still wearing his clothes and shoes. He leaned to the side and did not look like he intended to sleep at night.

    ¡°I do not wish to die in my sleep.¡± Zuo Han closed his eyes. He hid one of his hands inside his shirt. His palm appeared to be hiding something.

    <i>Could it be a knife? It does not look like it, but it should be something sharp. Where did he get it? When he was outside? Based on what the doctor said, Zuo Han is a patient with serious paranoia. Staying inside the same room with such a dangerous character who has ess to a possible sharp weapon is very dangerous. Just the thought of it is quite scary.</i>

    Chen Ge¡¯s rationality told him that he should be afraid, but to be honest, his heart did not feel any tension at all.

    Turning to a morefortable position, Chen Ge closed his eyes and slept.

    ...

    The door opened, and Chen Ge slowly opened his eyes. The sun outside the window fell on him, and he stretchedfortably.

    ¡°This kind of life is not so bad. As long as I do not go and force myself to think about those horrible memories, my life is not much different from that of a normal person.¡± Chen Ge turned his head around. Zuo Han was still lying in bed. The young man appeared to have fallen asleep only after the sun came up.

    ¡°Looks like you got a good sleepst night.¡± Doctor Gao stood at the door. He did not stop to inspect Zuo Han but strode directly to Chen Ge¡¯s bed. ¡°Did you have any nightmaresst night?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Chen Ge shook his head. The image of Doctor Gao that he had in his mind was ovepping with this Doctor Gao in real life. Perhaps his mind was slowly recovering. The two previously contradictory memories started to heal and agree with each other. There was a force in his mind that was slowly changing his perspective, to aid him in seeing the truth and helping him slowly and gradually peel away the pain.

    ¡°This proves that my treatment is still quite effective.¡± Doctor Gao was thankful. ¡°Today, I will stop Xu Wan froming to bring you any more meals. You have stayed for far too long inside this room. It is time for you to work your muscles. I believe it will help immensely with your recovery.¡±

    ¡°That means that I can finally go out? Can I go visit that theme park?¡± Chen Ge was instantly given a shot of enthusiasm.

    Doctor Gao tried to hold in hisughter at Chen Ge¡¯s antics. ¡°You wish to go and visit that female boss of the haunted house, do you? I am afraid that is not possible at the moment. For now, you can only temporary move within the hospital.¡±

    ¡°Okay then.¡±

    ¡°I will grab a pair of crutches for you. Hold on.¡±

    After Doctor Gao left, Zuo Han, who Chen Ge thought was asleep, suddenly opened his eyes. He gestured at Chen Ge and after he got Chen Ge¡¯s attention, he whispered, ¡°Do not believe a word that he says.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still awake? Aren¡¯t you tired?¡± Zuo Han did not reply anymore. He did not move again. It was as if he had been asleep the whole time.

    Several minutester, Doctor Gao returned to the room with the crutches. He helped Chen Ge up from the bed, and the two of them left the room together. Throughout this whole process, Doctor Gao did not spare even a second for Zuo Han. It was unclear whether it was because Doctor Gao did not want to disturb the sleeping Zuo Han or there was another reason.

    After breakfast, Chen Ge and Doctor Gao went to the garden outside the hospital building. Because they had already missed spring, there were not that many flowers in the garden, but even so, staying there made one feel quite at ease. The wind blew through the tree branches and caressed their faces like a pair of gentle hands. The sunlight filtered through the foliage and danced on the ground like swimming goldfish. The shrubs at the sides of the corridors were neatly trimmed. The whole ce was like a verdant heaven in the middle of the hospital.

    ¡°Have I been lying in the sickroom for a very long time now?¡± Chen Ge stood with the help of the crutches and slowly moved his body.

    ¡°Why would you suddenly ask a question like that?¡±

    ¡°Because it feels like I have not felt so rxed in a very long time. In fact, I do not think I have felt anything quite so serene before.¡± Chen Ge touched the bark of the trees around him to feel the grain under his hand. Then he found a quiet ce and sat down on a wooden bench.

    ¡°It is not that you have not experienced something like this before. It is just that you are currently trapped inside a room with no light, and you have already forgotten about that feeling.¡± Doctor Gao sat down beside Chen Ge. He seemed to like chatting with Chen Ge.

    ¡°A room with no light?¡±

    ¡°This room with no light is your heart. You took the key and locked yourself inside it. All I can do is try to figure out a way to help you walk out from that room.¡± Doctor Gao looked into the sky. It was unclear what he was thinking.

    ¡°Does this mean my illness will be cured after I leave this room?¡± Chen Ge asked seriously.

    Doctor Gao shook his head. ¡°Mental illness is different from psychological illness. Mental illness cannot be corrected with only self-determination. It needs to bebined with medication. Helping you walk out from the room in your heart is just the first step.¡±

    ¡°Then doctor, how would you consider that I have already cured from my illness? Actually, to be honest, at this moment, I feel like I am not that different from a normal person.¡± Chen Ge leaned against the back of the wooden bench, and his eyes were ssy with confusion.

    ¡°You still have not realized that you are sick. This is evidence that you are still quite a distance away from full recovery. The knowledge of illness and self-perception are the basis that we doctors use to determine the severity of a patient¡¯s condition.¡± Doctor Gao started to chat with Chen Ge.

    ¡°Self-perception? What is that?¡± Chen Ge grabbed the edge of bench and kept his head lowered. He did not want other people to see the current expression on his face.

    ¡°Self-perception is the patient¡¯s ability to diagnose his own mental health and condition. It enables him to see whether his own mental health is good or not. It is clear that you do not have any self-perception at this stage of your illness.¡±

    ¡°But I still feel that I am not so different form a normal person. The only difference is the asional headache.¡± Chen Ge lifted his head, and his hands reached to his temple. The headache appeared to have visited him earlier. Doctor Gao did not say anything to counter Chen Ge. He merely lifted his finger to point at a man who was talking to himself at a perg that was not that far away from them.

    The man was about thirty, and he was also wearing a patient¡¯s garb. He stood under the sunlight and kept mumbling to a spot that was under the shade of the perg. Chen Ge felt the man look incredibly familiar, but in that moment, the name could note to his mind.

    ¡°His name is Zhang Jingjiu. He once stayed in the same room as you, but we realized after he had moved in with you, his condition kept on worsening, so we moved him to another room.¡±

    ¡°Zhang Jingjiu?¡±

    ¡°Yes, his family runs a big winery in Xin Hai. He is not that old. His future should have been incredibly bright, but unfortunately, something went wrong with his mental state.¡±

    ¡°What kind of illness is he suffering from?¡± When Chen Ge heard the name Zhang Jingjiu, his expression twitched slightly.

    ¡°Undifferentiated schizophrenia.¡± Doctor Gao stared at Zhang Jingjiu, watching his every move. ¡°This patient is under the impression that he can see ghosts.¡±

    ¡°Ghosts?¡±

    ¡°Of course, there are no ghosts in this world. Actually, we have conducted many tests on his senses and realized that they are different from a normal person¡¯s,¡± Doctor Gao said casually. ¡°Unlike normal people, he finds it difficult to focus his senses. He keeps feeling that there is someone talking to him. This condition does not improve even when he is inside his room alone, and his brain has some issue when processing sound. I will give you a simple example. When a normal person hears a simple sentence, their brain will contemte the meaning of this sentence, but he will hear them in individual words, so it means that every single sentence that he hears will be fragmented when it reaches his mind.¡±

    When Doctor Gao was chatting with Chen Ge, the patient called Zhang Jingjiu turned his head around to them. His eyes suddenly widened as he ran over toward them. Before Doctor Gao and Chen Ge could even react, Zhang Jingjiu pulled on Chen Ge¡¯s arm as he tried to pull Chen Ge off from the wooden bench. However, he did not realize Chen Ge¡¯s leg was injured, so in the end, Chen Ge was dragged up and was left careening to the ground. This came without any warning, so even Chen Ge did not have the time to cushion his fall.

    ¡°Help! Nurse! We need help over here!¡± Doctor Gao and a patrolling worker dragged Zhang Jingjiu to the side. When he was being dragged away, he still kept screaming at Chen Ge, ¡°Ghost! Ghost! Ghost!¡±

    ¡°Are you alright? Are you injured?¡± Doctor Gao helped Chen Ge up from the ground.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. It¡¯s just a fall. It¡¯s nothing serious.¡± Chen Ge sat back down on the bench. He thought the whole episode was rather strange. <i>From Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s parting words and tone, it was clear that he was afraid of ghosts, but if he was afraid of ghosts, why would he voluntarilye to grab me? And after he failed to do that, he kept screaming the word ghost at me...</i>

    Chen Ge lowered his head to pat away the dust from his clothes, and at the same time, he moved his eyes away from Doctor Gao. <i>He should be trying to warn me that there is a ghost around me. He believes Doctor Gao is a ghost.</i>

 Chapter 1164 - SuChapter a Large Cat (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1164: Such a Large Cat (2in1)</h4>

    Inside a mental hospital, a mental patient was hinting at another patient that the doctor could be a ghost, was this not a sign that they were both sick? From the perspective of a normal person, they would definitely think the patient who said the doctor was a ghost had to be suffering from some kind of illness but Chen Ge did not share that thought, he subconsciously believed that the man¡¯s words were worth studying. In other words, his subconscious also told him that there was some problem with this Doctor Gao.

    His brain started to hurt again. Chen Ge gritted his teeth strongly. He was now very lost. His way of thinking was obviously different from a normal person but did that equate to the fact that he was ill? Admitting that one was really suffering from mental illness was something difficult for a stubborn person because once was admission was made, it was basically an overhaul of said person¡¯s entire worldview. When a person¡¯s worldview and thinking framework were changed, then could the person still be called the same person anymore?

    He did not think any further, Chen Ge cleared his mind and stopped reaching for his memory in the past. The pain slowly faded away. It had been less than 24 hours since he woke up from his previous fainting spell, but he had already mastered the way to avoid the pain. And this was under the condition where he had lost most of his memory and he was acting for the most part on his instinct. Sitting on the wooden chair, Chen Ge who had his emotion adjusted turned to look at Doctor Gao, he was shocked to realize that Doctor Gao was currently closely watching him. The pair of sharp eyes stared directly into Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, as if he could look directly through Chen Ge¡¯s skin and see what was moving in Chen Ge¡¯s brain, this made thetter feel quite ufortable.

    ¡°Among the doctors at this hospital, there is such a statement that we share, do not contemte too deep into the words that the patients say, we only need to believe in the reliability of science and the objectivity of the diagnosis and provide them with the correct prescription.¡± Doctor Gao said slowly, ¡°This was our responsibility to the patients as well as to ourselves.¡¯

    ¡°The patient appears to really believe that he can see ghosts. Doctor Gao, do you think there is actually ghost in this world?¡± Chen Ge knew Doctor Gao had noticed something. He merely said something to change the subject but to his surprise when he asked whether he believed there was actually ghost in this world, the deepest part of his brain started to blind him with intense pain again! It felt as if someone had asked him this particr question before!

    The sudden pause caused Chen Ge to hug his head, he copsed to the ground and rolled about in pain. Doctor Gao at his side quickly went to grab Chen Ge¡¯s hands. ¡°Quick, calm down and follow the breathing method that I taught you!¡±

    3 to 4 minutester, Chen Ge finally returned to normal. Doctor Gao also slowly reced the bottle of medicine back into his pocket, if Chen Ge did not calm down soon, he was nning to feed Chen Ge another 2 pills.

    ¡°Did you remind yourself of some very bad memory from the past again?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Chen Ge nodded, he would not purposely underestimate other people¡¯s intelligence so he did not deny it when the truth was so obvious. ¡°I feel like I have met ghosts before, many different type of ghosts in fact.¡±

    ¡°That is normal, in your own delusion, the identity that you have given yourself is the operator of a Haunted House and thus your employees were various types of ghosts.¡± Doctor Gao pointed at the fence around the garden. ¡°The source of all your illusion is that Haunted House at Xin hai Theme Park, you have subconsciously posited yourself into the shoes of that female actor. The business of the Haunted House is dying out and most of the employees have quitted, therefore, in your imagination, you created many different kind ghosts and had them be actual workers at your Haunted House to help you resolve the issue of ack of manpower.¡±

    ¡°Impossible...¡±

    ¡°Why would the employees of the Haunted House leave in the first ce?¡±

    ¡°Because there are too little visitors and I could not pay their sry.¡±

    ¡°Do you need to pay sry to these ghosts if they were hired to rece the posts held by the living employees?¡±

    ¡°Well, of course not.¡±

    ¡°There you go. That is the basis of your delusion.¡± Doctor Gao helped support Chen Ge back to the chair. ¡°In your imagined world, you have possessed everything but nothing has changed in real life. The only thing you could do is to sneak glimpses at that girl behind the window and she is still facing the dire situation of the Haunted House closing.¡± Doctor Gao sighed. ¡°Do you know what is the thing that worries me the most now?¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Chen Ge asked since it felt like it was the right thing to do.

    ¡°The most that worries me the most is that after the Haunted House really shut down from business, you might not be able to see that female actor anymore.¡± When Doctor Gao said that, Chen Ge could feel his heart grip with pain. ¡°That is the world of reality, it will not change due to a person¡¯s determination. When the wind blows, the grass will bent, you think you are the wind but actually we are all small grass.¡± There was a trace of sadness in Doctor Gao¡¯s voice. ¡°I do not wish to shatter your beautiful imagination but I know if that Haunted House suddenly close, you might lose the only thing that keep you going and that might cause your condition to suddenly worsen.¡±

    Chen Ge did not respond with anything. Doctor Gao though understood the conflicting feelings that Chen Ge was going through, ¡°What you need to do now is to stop submerging yourself in the imagined world that you have created as a shell and try to a brave step forward to start a new life. Instead of waiting for the Haunted House to close and your condition to worsen and lose the chance to leave the hospital ever again, why don¡¯t you cooperate with us and our treatment so that you can leave this hospital to go find her as soon as possible.¡±

    Every word that Doctor Gao said was reasonable and logical and they were for Chen Ge¡¯s own good, they were all concerns that Doctor Gao had towards Chen Ge.

    ¡°Is all my past really just an illusion?¡± Once Chen Ge imagined the closing down of the Haunted House, there would be an inscrutable pain that wrapped around his heart. This kind of pain was different from physical pain, it was hard to describe, but it was buried deep inside his heart.

    ¡°Actually you already have the answer yourself. In your imagined stories, there are many symbolism taken from real life. Did you not realize that in your stories there are more than a handful of psychiatrists and psychologists? They have been everywhere in your whole story and they were always there when your storied life has reached a turning point, do you think they are all just a mere coincidence?¡±

    ¡°Are they not?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were dimming. In his shattered memory, there were indeed the presence of multiple psychologists and psychiatrists and each of them seemed to have their own stories and they were very important characters in Chen Ge¡¯s supposed illusion. It was a doctor in arge doctor¡¯s coat that had been killing the younger versions of himself multiple times, the head of the ghost stories society was Doctor Gao, his parents tasked a Doctor Chen to look after himself and if he was not mistaken, the most recent one was a... Doctor Fang? His brain appeared to be punctured by many needles. Chen Ge shivered uncontrobly but determined to pull through.

    ¡°The timing of these doctors¡¯ appearance match up perfectly with our medical invention in real life, in reality your stories are just an extension of your real life, you will soon realize that.¡± Doctor Gao chatted for a while with Chen Ge and then there appeared to be some emergency at the other sick zone, so after feeding Chen Ge another 2 pills, Doctor Gao left in a hurry and left Chen Ge alone in the hospital garden.

    ¡°I so wish that I can go to visit that Haunted House in person.¡± After swallowing the pills, Chen Ge¡¯s mind dulled and the sense of pain faded away. Time appeared to slow down and sleepiness caught up to him. ¡°But a life like this is indeed far morefortablepared to the scary life that I have led in my imagined stories.¡± As time continued to move, the outside temperature started to rise. Many doctors and patients escaped indoors until there was no one left around Chen Ge.

    And right at that moment, a rustling sound came from the nearby bush. Chen Ge slowly turned his head to look at it. The small branches were pushed away and the head of a cat peeked out from behind the bush. The cat had a snowy white fur coat and it had different colored eyes. When it saw Chen Ge, it immediately bounded over and with a leap, itnded on Chen Ge¡¯s knee. The leg that was encased in ster suffered the weight of the white cat. It caused Chen Ge to grit his teeth in pain. ¡°Holy cow, you are one big and heavy cat.¡±

    Probably due to its unique breed, the white cat was muchrger than a normal house cat, it weighed much heavier than it appeared. But the key issue was the white cat appeared to not know that at all, it very expertly attempted to crawl onto Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder. Holding the white cat by both of his hands, Chen Ge ced it on the space next to him on the chair. ¡°Why would there be a cat at the hospital? Are you a stray that has wandered in from outside the hospital?¡±

    Chen Ge looked at the cat and the cat looked back at it. The cat¡¯s eyes were very spiritual, they appeared to contain many very different emotions.

    ¡°Have you been abandoned by our master?¡± Chen Ge asked the white cat but to his surprise, after he said that, the cat looked at him with clear confusion. ¡°Is it for real? Or I am hallucinating again? Howe it feels like the cat ismunicating with me with its eyes?¡± Chen Ge mumbled to himself, not realizing how strangely he was acting.

    The white cat titled its head to study Chen Ge for a long time when suddenly a trace of cunningness crossed its eyes. It suddenly leaped into the air and waved its paw to smack Chen Geon the back of his head. Then as if worried of revenge from Chen Ge, it quickly slithered away as fast as it could. Sitting on the wooden chair, Chen Ge was stunned. He held the back of his head and said, ¡°What the, I am already 26 but I was just whacked on the back of my head by a fucking cat?¡±

    The white cat hid inside the bush that was several metres away watching Chen Ge, the confusion in its eyes grew even deeper.

    ¡°if not for the ster on my feet, I would show you.¡± The drowsiness that came to Chen Ge due to the medication had disappearedpletely. He felt weirdly energized now. Looking at the white cat hiding in the bush, there was a strange familiarity with it but it did not go further than that. There was no memory about any cat in his fragmented past. Be it in his illusioned stories or in real life, this white cat did not seem to exist in either of them. In other words, the memory fragments in his mind were only rted to people but there was none that was rted to any cat. After hearing the threat from Chen Ge, the white cat was not only not afraid, it ran back towards him.

    ¡°Well, I have to give you some merit for your courage.¡± Chen Ge looked into the white cat¡¯s pair of confused eyes. He too thought this was quite strange, because the cat appeared to recognize him. ¡°Are you a stray that I have kept before my car ident? Or I oftene here to feed you food when I was hospitalized?¡± The white cat did not know how to speak. After it realized Chen Ge really failed to recognize it, the light in its eyes dimmed. It bounced around Chen Ge and kept using its head to brush against Chen Ge¡¯s calf.

    ¡°Stop doing that, you are pushing so hard. The ster might break if you continue to do that.¡± Chen Ge picked up the white cat and ced it on his knees. Looking at the white cat¡¯s dual colored eyes, the sense of familiarity only continued to grow but nothing concrete came to him. Perhaps it sensed something was wrong with Chen Ge, the white cat kept meowing and it went as far as biting Chen Ge on the bottom of his pants as if it was trying to drag Chen Ge to some hidden location. Holding the crutches, Chen Ge stood up and followed the white cat deeper into the hospital. They walked through the entire garden until they reached the fence of the hospital. On the other side of the road was the western side of Xin Hai theme park, the white cat crawled out through the gap in the fences and then turned back to look at Chen Ge.

    ¡°You want me to leave with you? You wish for me to leave this hospital?¡± Chen Ge looked at the fence that was 2 metres tall and then he shook his head. Currently his body was very weak and one of his legs was wrapped in ster. He had difficulty walking much less climb over a fence that was 2 metres tall. Seeing Chen Ge was about to turn back, the white cat crawled back in, it bit on the bottom of Chen Ge¡¯s pants and refused to let go. About 5 minutester, when the sound of footsteps came from down the distance, the white cat finally let of and escaped through the gap in the fence again.

    ¡°Chen Ge? What are you doing here?¡± Doctor Gao appeared behind Chen Ge.

    ¡°I just wanted toe to look at the theme park closer. Perhaps if I am lucky, I might chance a look at her.¡± The anticipation was clear in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. His reason was absolutely solid and it did not appear that Doctor Gao suspect anything else.

    ¡°It is about time we return to your room.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge followed behind Doctor Gao. After he took a few steps, he turned back to nce at the fence again. The cat was hiding inside the bushes outside the fence, half of its head was poking out and its dual colored eyes were following Chen Ge closely. When he returned to the room, Chen Ge saw that Zuo Han was still lying on his bed in his bed, even his pose did not change since thest time he left.

    ¡°Did you not go for lunch?¡± Chen Ge felt like perhaps he was born a kind person. Even if he had lost part of his memory, he would instinctually show kindness towards others.

    ¡°I am not hungry.¡± Zuo Han sat up in bed and opened the door for a gap. After ensuring there was no one else outside the door, he sighed in relief. ¡°Where did the doctor take you this morning? Did he conduct some hypnosis on you? Or he has force fed you some other medication?¡±

    ¡°We just went for a sit at the garden. In the middle of it, Doctor Gao had to leave in a hurry because something else happened.¡± Chen Ge sat down in his bed and then he said in a smile. ¡°Oh right, something very interesting happened to me today. There is a stray inside this hospital, it appears to like me a lot. It sticks to me like it was my pet.¡±

    ¡°Stray cats are usually highly alert, they will not show affection to any random stranger, perhaps that cat is really somehow rted to you.¡± Zuo Han opened the zipper on the back of the pillow and took out several pieces of paper, there appeared to be many things written on them. ¡°Sometimes animals are much more reliable than people because they do not haveplicated emotions and most of the time, they are acting out of pure instinct.¡±

    ¡°But I have no memory of that cat at all, or to be more precise, all the memories that I have are in fragments and whenever I try to think about the past, my brain would be assaulted by intense headache.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s words resonated with Zuo Han. He put down the pillow and silently walked towards Chen Ge. ¡°You are in the same condition as I am. Even though I have not lost any of my memory, I realize there are many logical inconsistencies with them!¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    ¡°It means that someone has messed with my memory, god damn it! I am very familiar with this feeling but I do not know why!¡± Zuo Han hissed through his teeth. ¡°There are more than a fair of contradictory details in my memory. Perhaps the person who tempered with my memory thought this was the first time this had happened to me so they were not too cautious, they had no idea that I would suspect my own memory as well!¡±

    ¡°Brother, even though your various symptoms are indeed very simr to paranoia, but I still think you are one hell of an impressive person.¡± Chen Ge could sense the special presence radiating off Zuo Han. Compared to Zuo Han, he felt much too plebian.

    ¡°That is where you are wrong. I have gone around to ask some questions, those kind of white pills are not meant for any person. The doctors will only use them in powdered form when some of the patients are acting up, but in your case? You have to take them 3 times a day and 2 pills each time! I suspect this hospital is trying to kill you through over medication!¡± the way Zuo Han looked at Chen Ge was filled with caution.

    ¡°I think you are stretching a bit there.¡±

    ¡°Never mind, just consider it a warning. Other than that, you have to be careful about this too. Better keep your voices to yourself in the morning, the walls have ears.¡± Zuo Han said and then returned to his bed. He still did not remove his shoes like he was ready to escape at any moment.

    After lunch, Chen Ge had a counselling session with Doctor Gao in the afternoon. Being fed the pills multiple times, his illness did not surface anymore. A peaceful and beautiful day ended just like that, the sky started to darken down the horizon. After taking the medication, Chen Ge soon slumbered into his sleep. At around midnight, he was shaken away awake by Zuo Han.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Shush.¡± Zuo Han pointed at the room door and signaled for Chen Ge to pay attention to his sense of hearing. Leaning on the door, Chen Ge perked up his ears to listen. He could hear the wailing of a man from down the corridor, he appeared to be repeating the same word¡ªghost.

    ¡°Zhang Jingjiu?¡±

    ¡°Do you know him?¡±

    ¡°I have seen him once in the morning, he was grabbing my hands and shouting ghost, ghost, ghost at me.¡± Chen Ge told the incident in the morning to Zuo Han.

    ¡°It is obvious that he is in extreme pain, the hospital is clearly torturing him using some kind of method.¡± Zuo Han frowned. ¡°The hospital will not torture him for no reason, it must be that he has made some mistake.¡±

    After that Zuo han turned to look at Chen Ge. ¡°Could it be that he has leaked the secret to you? This whole hospital is really filled with ghosts?¡±

 Chapter 1165 - I Need More Stimulations (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1165: I Need More Stimtions (2in1)</h4>

    ¡°The whole hospital is filled with ghost? How is that possible? If you say one doctor or one patient is possessed by ghost, then perhaps I can believe you but the fact that the whole hospital could be haunted is rather hard to believe.¡± Chen Ge did not voice his real thought, he was merely following the rationality that was set up in his mind.

    ¡°Well, to know whether it is true or not, we only need to go and ask, right?¡± Zuo Han was very courageous. ¡°The screams came from above us. This hospital zone that we are in has 7 floors in total, so the sickroom that he is in should be on the fifth or sixth floor.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you want to take this risk? If you run into any worker outside the room, then you will be in very serious trouble. I believe it is a very serious offense to wander around in the hospital at night,¡± Chen Ge was very cautious.

    ¡°I am not the one taking this risk alone, we are taking this risk together?¡±

    ¡°We?¡±

    ¡°You said it yourself that it was Zhang Jingjiu who came to pull on you voluntarily and even called out to remind you of something this morning, don¡¯t you think that is rather abnormal?¡± Zuo Han stood at the door and kept on luring Chen Ge to join him like the devil. ¡°I have encountered that patient before, all he ever did was to talk to himself. He would never actively approach someone, therefore, this proves that you are a unique presence to him.¡±

    ¡°But I have no memory of him at all.¡± Chen Ge did not dare to think of his past memory lest the pain suddenly came back again.

    ¡°Brother, I am telling you the truth. You might not believe me but the pills that the hospital is feeding you every day is used to suppress your memory, their intention is not to cure you but to change you into someone that they approve.¡± Zuo Han lowered his voice, ¡°This world has its own set of rules that it operates on, and those who do not abide by the rules are viewed as patients, in contrast those who are willing to fit into the rules are considered normal persons, this is a whole entirely abnormal oppressive system.¡±

    Seeing that Chen Ge¡¯s conviction was slowly shaken, Zuo Han continue his persuasion, ¡°You once told me that the moment you started to think about your past, the headache woulde, is that a symptom of any kind of mental illness? If you ask me, they have tempered with your brain and ced some kind mechanism there that prevent you from thinking about your past.¡±

    ¡°But why would they do something like that? Why would you stop me from remembering my own past?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps the truth of this sickened world is hidden in your memory, in any case, your memory must be something that is feared by the hospital and thus they have to do everything within their power to stop you from remembering it, this is a very simple logical observation.¡± Zuo Han slowly convinced Chen Ge. In the end, the two of them decided to wait for the patrol to finish and then they would the room together to investigate. At around 1 am, Zuo Han and Chen Ge pushed open the room door and exited to the corridor.

    ¡°There are cameras at the corner of the stairs but the people on duty might not be paying attention to the surveince at all times. As long as we can move fast enough, they might not be able to detect us.¡±

    ¡°So, essentially we¡¯re hedging our lives on a bet?¡±

    ¡°There is no other way, because if we destroy the cameras, that would be directly telling the hospital that someone is trying to resist the hospital so all we can do now is to bet.¡± Zuo Han looked at the ster around Zuo Han¡¯s leg. ¡°When did you injure your leg? How long will it take to recover? I do not wish to carry an incapacitated person with me when I try to escape from this ce.¡±

    ¡°They told me I ran into a car ident about a year ago but theoretically speaking, any injury suffered then would have been healed by now so this broken leg must have nothing to do with the car ident. Therefore, it must have urred after I fell sick.¡±

    ¡°Well, isn¡¯t that interesting. In other words, you are telling me a mental patient suddenly broke his leg while inside the custody of the hospital.¡± Zuo Han looked at Chen Ge coldly, ¡°You poor thing who has lost your memory, do you still think the hospital has your best interest at heart?¡±

    ¡°You suspect it is the hospital who broke my leg?¡±

    ¡°All the beautiful things are an illusion. Cruelty and sickness are the main theme of this world.¡± Zuo Han¡¯s eyes were bloodshot. ¡°How about a bet? I bet that your mental illness will be cured before your leg does.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    ¡°Through many different observations, I believe you are the most dangerous patient here. After your leg recovers, the hospital will be anxious, therefore, some kind of ident will befall you and various kind of supposed coincidence will cause your body to constantly in a stated of injury.¡± Zuo Han¡¯s eyes were shining darkly. ¡°When I think about something, I have the habit of seeing from the worst possible oue. I do not have any anticipation towards the innate kindness of human nature. If my words have offended you, I hope you do not mind, in the future, you will realize who is really looking out for you.¡± Some people would run into the most beautiful ident in the deepest despair and some would encounter the cruellest truth in the most beautiful dream, Chen Ge did not think Zuo Han¡¯s words were in any way offensive, if anything, he agreed with Zuo Han¡¯s point of view. It was then that he realized he was slowly agreeing with the perspective of a patient diagnosed with paranoiac delusion.

    ¡°When we see Zhang Jingjiuter, no matter what happens, I need you to be calm.¡± Zuo Han led Chen Ge to the corner of the stairs. The lights in the hospital were still on at night but the lights provided no warmth. Every single ray was radiating a chill and walking down the corridor, it could cause one¡¯s hair to stand on end.

    ¡°The hospital in the morning is different from how it is at night.¡± Chen Ge also did not know how to describe this change. He merely felt that the hospital that he had seen in the final fragment of his memory was slowly ovepping with the hospital before his eyes, the illusions appeared to be returning. Zuo Han and Chen Ge were incredibly lucky. They came all the way to the fourth floor and they did not encounter any hospital worker, the whole area was very quiet.

    ¡°This ce gives me the feeling more like a ughterhouse than a mental asylum. Everywhere there is blood that we cannot see and souls whose mouths were sewn shut are hiding at every corner.¡± Zuo Han¡¯s tone was getting crazier. At this moment, he looked like a quintessential mental patient that Chen Ge had seen on television show before. The patient was seriously ill but he had not realized it, in fact he thought he was still in very good condition. ¡°Starting from this floor, all the doors are locked, looks like the patients who stay here are all serious mental cases.¡± Chen Ge and Zuo Han came from the normal sick zone, their room door was not locked, they could leave and enter freely. The doctors and nurses could enter their room freely as well. But the rooms on the fourth floor werepletely different. There was a lock outside the door and the patients inside had their freedom limited, if they wanted to leave, they needed to get the permission from the doctors and nurses first.

    ¡°Thankfully, there are windows on the doors or else we would have wasted our journey tonight.¡± Just as Zuo Han and Chen Ge arrived at the fourth floor, they heard the echoing sound of footstepsing from the stairs below them.

    ¡°The soundes from the duty room, the patrols areing!¡± Zuo Han had already scouted out the location of the duty rooms and the nurse stations. He grabbed Chen Ge by his hand, carried the man over his shoulders. ¡°Jesus Christ, why are you so heavy!¡±

    ¡°Where are we going?¡±

    ¡°Shush, keep your voice down.¡± Zuo Han carried Chen Ge who could not move that swiftly to the nurse station at the end of the corridor. Both he and Chen Ge hid under the counter at the nurse station.

    ¡°We¡¯re hiding at a ce like this? Are you sure they won¡¯te and check this ce?¡± Chen Ge thought Zuo Han had a really big heart.

    ¡°After midnight, the workers and nurses would switch their shifts. I have been observing them for the past few days. The night workers like to stay in the duty room on the first floor, they rarelye to check the nurse stations.¡± Zuo Han was the kind of person who had a brave heart but a careful mind. He was never going to fight a war that he had not nned but he was not going to miss out on a good opportunity due to hesitation either. The footsteps slowly approached. The two patients stopped talking at the same moment as if they had already nned this beforehand. Both of them appeared strangely calm. The footsteps eventually walked past them but neither of their heart rate had changed like this was something that they would encounter every day.

    ¡°You need to memorize the location of the nurse stations, there are one each on the first floor, fourth floor and seventh floor. If we run into any serious ident, I will distract the workers while you try and go hide at the nurse station.¡± Zuo Han¡¯s tone was still frosty and it carried no emotion but Chen Ge could discern the actual concern that the man had for him. It was hard to imagine that a patient who had paranoiac delusion would be so considerate towards others. Through this details, Chen Ge started to reconsider the words that Zuo Han had told him earlier.

    Chen Ge¡¯s brain would always be surfeited by contradictory thoughts. Every time he tried to think, these two opposite thoughts would collide and it felt like they were trying to tear his brain apart. One of the parties was the hospital that was represented by Doctor Gao, and the other party was the patients represented by himself. The former symbolized recovery and bright future while thetter symbolized a dark past and a whirlpool of despair.

    Sometimes, Chen Ge also did not know how to choose. The medicine and the peacefulness that he was experiencing in real life was slowly dulling his senses and convincing him to ept his current life but at that moment, Zuo Han had shown up in his life. They were both patients but Zuo Han had ced a seed of different thought in Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

    After the footsteps left the fourth floor, Zuo Han and Chen Ge climbed out from behind the nurse station. Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s voice shoulde from this floor. Zuo Han and Chen Ge had no idea which room he was staying in so they had no choice but to look through the door one by one. Both of them knew how Zhang Jingjiu looked like so each of them was responsible for one side of the corridor, they leaned on the small window on the door and looked into the rooms.

    Most of the patients were asleep after taking their medication, but some of the patients were doing strange things inside their rooms. For example, one of the patients were shivering uncontrobility under his bed and there was another patient who folded a piece of paper into the shape of a fruit knife and she kept stabbing it at her pillow. These were rather exinable symptoms of mental illness. Chen Ge moved to the middle of the corridor. Just as he was about to look into the next window, he suddenly realized there was a face looking at him on the window!

    The patient was standing at the other side of the door and the face was ced at the window. The two pairs of eyes met, Chen Ge was given quite a fright. The sensation of numbness over his skull and the shot of adrenaline over his body brought back a sense of nostalgia.

    [Is this the sensation of fear?] Chen Ge¡¯s lips split into a smile. He did not feel any difort, in fact his brain started to be more active and excitement lit up his eyes. His hands pressing on the door, Chen Ge looked at the patient on the other side. The patient inside the door was like a puppet without soul, after looking at Chen Ge for a long time, he slowly wandered away.

    ¡°Found him.¡± Zuo Han whispered softly. Realizing that there was no response from Chen Ge, he turned back to look and he saw Chen Ge was looking through one of the doors with excitement on his face.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Zuo Han did not dare to raise his voice, one was because he was afraid he might attract the attention of the workers and two was for some reason, his instinct told him to be careful around Chen Ge.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s expression returned to normal. The fear merely gave him a temporarily sense of stimtion. The two patients squeezed at the door outside Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s room. At that moment, Zhang Jingjiu was lying on the ground, his eyes were lifeless. There was no obvious wound on his body but the man¡¯s face was scarily pale. Zuo Han tried to open the door but the door was already locked, he could not push it open. He knocked on the door lightly. Zhang Jingjiu inside the room appeared to have his soul taken away from him. He did not budge from his position and did not move at all.

    ¡°Looks like we will have to find a way to approach him in the morning. Now I am afraid that they might send Zhang Jingjiu to the quarantine area. Outsiders will not be able to enter that ce and patients who are sent in rarelye out again.¡± Zuo Han appeared agitated.

    ¡°I came out from the quarantine area. Don¡¯t give up just yet, let me try.¡± Chen Ge stood at the door and knocked on it. He very easily called out Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s name. Zhang Jingjiu who did not react to Zuo Han¡¯s voice earlier suddenly blinked his eyes when he heard Chen Ge¡¯s voice. He slowly turned his head around to look at the door. When he saw Chen Ge¡¯s face, the fear in his eyes subsided. His lips moved like he was trying his best to say something.

    ¡°I think he is calling me boss. Why is that?¡± Chen Ge had no idea why he knew how to read life, it appeared like this was one of the talents that he was born with.

    ¡°From what I hear, Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s father is a CEO of a bigpany at Xin Hai, he is a disreputable second generation young master, why would he call you boss?¡± Zuo Han turned to Chen Ge with confusion and then he realized Chen Ge¡¯s face was quite scary. His forehead and cheeks were bursting with ck and green veins. ¡°Are, are you alright?¡± Zuo Han instantly noticed something was wrong. He grabbed Chen Ge by his shoulder and tried to move him away but a chill came from his palm. Chen Ge¡¯s body temperature was rapidly dropping, Zuo Han had a moment thought that he was carrying a dead body. When Chen Ge was ¡®acting up¡¯, hurried footsteps came from downstairs, the workers chose this timing to inspect the corridors.

    ¡°Am I that unlucky?¡± Zuo Han looked at Chen Ge. With a grit of his teeth, he carried Chen Ge on his back again and he started to run away from the sound of the footsteps. Chen Ge on his back became heavier and heavier. Zuo han bit on his teeth. ¡°This is just one person but howe it feels like there are multiple person crawling on my back?¡±

    Avoiding the cameras, and predicting the workers¡¯ location through their footsteps, Zuo Han drafted the safest route to the nearest nurse station in his mind. He even predicted that the two workers might move separately so he used the timing that they had split up and finally sessfully brought Chen Ge back to their room. After closing the door, Zuo Han directly deposited Chen Ge on the bed. Then he crumpled to the ground and gasped greedily for air. ¡°In the end, I found no clues and I was almost exposed. Next time, I think I should just go on my own.¡± Zuo Han knew now was still not the time to rest. He adjusted his breathing and dragged Chen Ge to the bed near the window.

    ¡°Can you hear me?¡± Zuo Han tried tomunicate with Chen Ge but then he realized not only Chen Ge¡¯s face, thetter¡¯s body started to surface with ck veins too. The blood veins were like poisonous snakes, they looked incredibly scary. ¡°Bursting of blood capiries and they appear ck and green in cor. A person of slender build would have this problem more often. Even though he looks weak, his body is incredibly muscr, especially his arms and legs, they are as muscr as athletes that I have once dissected! That takes away the possibility of weakness of constitution, theck of red blood cells or irregrity of cellr metabolism will not cause this kind of symptoms either. This kind of symptoms is mostmonly apanied by poisoning, so my guess is right all along! The doctor has mixed the pills with poison! This is the aftereffect of overdosing on poison and medicine!¡±

    Zuo Han was wrecking his mind on how to cure Chen Ge. About several minutester, Chen Ge who was in a semi-conscious state had his body temperature gradually rise back to normal and the blood capiries started to fade away.

    ¡°A medical miracle? The man is still able to recover after that kind of status?¡± Zuo Han really wanted to split open Chen Ge¡¯s body to inspect the internal make up of his body. His gaze gradually regained focus. Chen Ge recovered his rationality, ¡°It was you who carried me back here?¡±

    ¡°Who else do you think it would be? I have carried you for the whole journey back. I am definitely not going to bring you with me next time.¡± Zuo Han massaged his shoulders. ¡°Your body looks even but why are you so heavy?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps because I carry too many things on me.¡± Chen Ge pushed against the bed with both of his hands but he failed to sit up even after multiple tries.

    ¡°What happened to you earlier?¡±

    ¡°I cannot exin it myself. When I saw through Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s lips that he was calling me boss, my fragmented memories in my brain felt like they were going to explode. Multiple voices rang out at the same time and they were all calling me boss.¡± Chen Ge took in a deep breath. ¡°I have not heard most of these voices before, but in that moment, I have already memorized their voices. If I can hear them again, I definitely will be able to recognize them!¡±

    ¡°That was all?¡±

    ¡°There is another discovery that I found. When we were inspecting the rooms earlier, I was given a fright by one of the patients. The sensation of horror made my mind active, there seems to be some kind of connection between myself and this sensation of horror.¡± Chen Ge held his brain.

    ¡°You like to be scared? What kind of strange obsession is that?¡± Zuo Han took several steps back.

    ¡°I do not know how to exin it, but when I am faced with this emotion, the memory fragments in my mind appear toe alive, they actively connect with each other and show me the past that I have forgotten...¡± Chen Ge tried to think back of that feeling and then he said with certainty. ¡°I need more stimtions.¡±

 Chapter 1166 - Exchanged Identity (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1166: Exchanged Identity (2in1)</h4>

    Chen Ge who was lying on the bed inside the mental asylum had the expression and said the words that perfectly matched the environment that he was in.

    [Why does his condition be so serious at night when he was acting so normally in the morning?] Zuo Han sat back in his bed and stayed far away from Chen Ge. ¡°I study forensic science, I have been studying for so many years and I have not heard of any cases where a person¡¯s lost memory could be recovered through constant stimtion of horror.¡±

    ¡°You forensic science students deal with dead bodies, the situation of a living person might be moreplicated.¡±

    ¡°Do you know how low your body temperature was earlier when you were acting up? The only difference that you had thenpared to a dead person was you still possessed a heart beat.¡± Zuo Han¡¯s initial thought was to cooperate with Chen Ge but now he gradually realized that might not be such a good idea because he slowly noticed how dangerous his roommate could be, the man might lose control and ambush him at any moment. From Zuo Han¡¯s perspective, Chen Ge was not only suffering from mental sickness that simple, there had to be more secrets on this man.

    ¡°Is it possible that this hospital has been conducting human experiment on its patients?¡± Zuo Han tried to use his knowledge to search for the answer, but the more he thought about it, the more confused he became. Even science could not exin Chen Ge¡¯s situation, this was already within the realm of theology and mythology.

    ¡°Zuo Han, can you tell me a few ghost stories? It is best if they are the one that are incredibly scary.¡± Chen Geid in bed and twisted his head to look at Zuo Han. His eyes were shining with anticipation in the dark.

    ¡°What is wrong with you? Why do you suddenly want to listen to ghost stories?¡± Zuo Han blurted out from his mouth, he realized he waspletely unable to understand Chen Ge anymore. ¡°In the middle of the night, you want to hear your roommate tell you a ghost story inside a mental hospital, I really cannot understand what is going through your mind when you made a request like that.¡±

    ¡°I just wanted to see whether the sensation of fear could help me stimte the recovery of my memory or not. It is just a test, we have nothing to lose.¡±

    Hearing what Chen Ge said, Zuo Han did not have any argument to retort. The corner of his eyes twitched and then he told Chen Ge a few ghost stories that he knew. ¡°Well, are you scared?¡±

    ¡°Nah, it did not work. Your stories failed to give me any excitement at all.¡±

    ¡°Who will get excited from listening to ghost stories?!¡± Zuo Han crawled out from his bed. He moved his bed as far from Chen Ge as he could. He only stopped when his bed was right next to the door. At this distance, if Chen Ge suddenly decided to attack him, he could open the door and run out immediately.

    ¡°Has anything scary happened to you in your life?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I was trapped inside a mental asylum and my roommate insisted on having me telling him a ghost story in the middle of the night.¡± Zuo Han could not understand Chen Ge¡¯s behavior at all. From both scientific perspective and mythological perspective, Chen Ge¡¯s action made no sense what so ever.

    ¡°Your ghost stories are not scary at all, how about...¡± Chen Ge forced himself to raise his hand. ¡°We y some haunted games? Games like Pen Spirit or te Spirit?¡± Without even needing to think, certain things were already branded in his body, Chen Ge was very familiar with these terms.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you lose your memory already? Howe you are so familiar with these strange things?¡± Zuo Han realized the source of the problem.

    ¡°In my memory, I was once an owner of a Haunted House but the doctor told me I had inputted myself into the identity of another person and my memory was just a projection.¡±

    ¡°The doctor might be lying to you. From the various strange behavior that you have showcased tonight, it is clear that you are an adrenaline junkie, likes to be scared and you are very familiar with scary games like Pen Spirit and te Spirit, so you probably really did own a Haunted House in real life!¡± Zuo Han scratched his chin and shared his thought.

    ¡°But why would the doctor lie to me?¡±

    ¡°How would I know?¡±

    ¡°Then shall we y a game of Pen Spirit? Perhaps I might be able to slowly remember something.¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t, we have no pen or pencil?¡±

    ¡°How about te Spirit? I also know another scary game called back to back. One person will be lying on the bed and the other one will be hiding under the bed...¡± Once he started to reach into his mind, Chen Ge¡¯s brain felt like it was being torn apart. So no matter whether he was speaking or acting, he tried to act on his instinct as much as he could. Zuo Han stopped interacting with Chen Ge. He looked at Chen Ge frostily before turning away to face the wall. With his back against Chen Ge, he started to formte the n to escape from the hospital. He maintained this position for a while when Zuo Han suddenly felt strangely unsettled. He thought back to what Chen Ge had said and he kept feeling something was not that right. [Is it possible that this man is just acting all along? Now that I have turned away from him, is it possible that he is standing behind me now?]

    Goosebumps appeared on the back of his neck. Zuo Han whipped his body around and he realized Chen Ge was already asleep. ¡°He looks so normal when he is asleep, no one would have expected such scary things woulde out from his mouth.¡±

    The room returned to silence again. At around 2 am, suddenly a loud crash from somewhere inside the hospital, it sounded like something had exploded. Both Zuo Han and Chen Ge were startled awake, before they realized what had happened, suddenly the sound of footsteps came from outside the corridor again.

    ¡°Someone ising!¡±

    The door of the room was knocked on lightly twice. Before Zuo Han or Chen Ge could get up to open the door, the footsteps had faded away already. When Zuo Han did open the door, there was no person outside the door at all. ¡°Who was the person who knocked on the door?¡±

    ¡°Oh right, when you were out exploring the hospital yesterday night, someone also came to knock on our door, but at the time, they only knocked once.¡± Chen Ge realized when he was thinking about the things that happened inside the hospital, his brain would not be assaulted by pain but the moment he tried to think about the memory that urred before his fainting, the tearing woulde to his brain.

    ¡°They had knocked once yesterday and today, they had knocked twice? Looks like they came here on purpose and were doing this deliberately.¡± Zuo Han stared at Chen Ge. ¡°Do you know any other patient at this hospital?¡±

    ¡°I cannot remember. From the time I was hospitalized here, I appeared to have fainted many times already. Whenever I wake up, the memory before the most recent fainting would be very blurry.¡±

    ¡°So is this possible? The hospital wants you to be a ¡®normal person¡¯ that is following their standard but every time their ¡®treatment¡¯ has failed so they could only repeat the ¡®process¡¯ every time?¡± The more Zuo Han thought about it, the more he realized how probable that was. ¡°You probably have undergone simr treatment many times already but you yourself simply could not remember them.¡±

    ¡°But what does that has to do with the person who came to knock on the door?¡± Chen Geid in the bed. He tried to control himself to stop thinking and hopefully that would help recover his body as fast as possible.

    ¡°Perhaps the rtionship between you and this person is simr to the rtionship that you currently have with me?¡± Zuo Han gave a brave stiption. ¡°They perhaps were once your roommate but you were ¡®reactivated¡¯ due to the failure of your treatment but they were hidden away. The knocking could be some kind of promise between you two and perhaps they were thinking to pass some message to you.¡±

    ¡°You have a point there.¡± Chen Ge nodded.

    ¡°This means that they might show up again tomorrow night. We have to figure out a way to gain contact with them then.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    The hospital that night was not that quiet. The footsteps kept echoing on the corridor and it was not until it was almost dawn when Chen Ge drifted back into sleep. At around 8 am, the room door was pushed open and Xu Wan as well as Doctor Gao walked into the room.

    ¡°How did you rest yesterday night?¡± Doctor Gao once again Zuo Han who was lying on his side in his bed. He directly moved towards Chen Ge¡¯s bedside. He looked quite exhausted.

    ¡°Not so good. I think I heard something exploded inside the hospital yesterday night, the loud noise woke me up from my sleep.¡± Chen Ge looked rather weak and his tone was slow and sluggish.

    ¡°There was a small ident at the boiler room, it was nothing serious.¡± Doctor Gao sat on the bed in the middle of the room. ¡°Did you have any dream yesterday night?¡¯

    ¡°No.¡± Chen Ge shook his head. ¡°I felt like I have forgotten some things, some blurry memory fragments are being wiped away by new memories. It is very contradictory, I do not know which one to believe, which one is the real me.¡±

    ¡°The fact that you can realize that is a solid proof that your condition is improving. Do not force it, we should take this slow.¡± Doctor Gao was very patient. ¡°one cannot rush the recovery of mental illness. One has to ept it, recognize it and then finally ovee it.¡± After saying that, Doctor Gao turned his head to look at Zuo Han, ¡°Chen Ge, I heard from the hospital workers that someone was loitering at the halls of the hospital yesterday night, neither you nor your roommate left your room yesterday night, right?¡±

    Hearing this usation from Doctor Gao, Zuo Han¡¯s eyes flew open but since he was facing away from Doctor Gao, neither Doctor Gao nor Chen Ge saw this.

    ¡°we have been staying inside our room all night but I did hear some footsteps on the corridor right around midnight. There were so many of them, it sounded like the halls were filled with people.¡± Chen Ge did not continue on this topic but returned to the issue where he was startled awake from his sleep. ¡°Doctor Gao, I still discovered something strange yesterday night.¡±

    ¡°Do tell.¡±

    ¡°Yesterday night, when I was startled awake by the sound of the explosion, it felt like a surge of electricity had crawled through my body in that moment. I hate that sensation of fear a lot and my body could not help shaking.¡± Chen Ge crossed his arms before his chest and color drained from his face. Doctor Gao listened to his patient kindly while Zuo Han who was pretending to be asleep crimped his lips. The madman who was smiling while having a staring contest with another mental patient inside the hospital now said he hates the feeling of being scared?

    ¡°It feels like I was thrown into an endless nightmare, headache, heart palpation and cold sweat broke out all over my body, I found it difficult to breathe, in fact there was even a loss of gravity and the imminence of death.¡± Chen Ge gripped his head and he was speaking very rapidly. ¡°My former memory appeared to be filled with fear, whenever I was scared, the heavy sense of helplessness would overwhelm my whole body. I hate my memory from the past, I want topletely delete them from my mind! Doctor Gao, can you please help me?¡±

    Before Doctor Gao who sat on the bed could say anything, Zuo Han¡¯s eyes already widened. He already knew what Chen Ge was up to.

    ¡°Fear could make you feel disgusted and averse to the memory from your past?¡± Doctor Gao slowly nodded. ¡°Like what I have told you before, the stories that you have invented for yourself are indeed scary and they are indisputably very horrible memory.¡±

    His eyes were fading in concentration, Chen Ge nced at the ceiling numbly, ¡°That was such a painful experience, I hate the feeling of being submerged into helpless horror.¡±

    ¡°That is a normal reaction. The fact that you can feel something like that means that you are slowly recovering.¡± Doctor Gao took out the medication bottle from his pocket, and tipped out two pills. After he saw Chen Ge swallow them, he turned to leave. ¡°I shall go and update our treatment form. In a bit, you shall follow Xu Wan to go and have breakfast.¡± After Doctor Gao left, Xu Wan helped Chen Ge up from bed, and with his morning routine and then she brought Chen Ge to the hospital canteen. ¡°This is the third sick hall¡¯s canteen, after your condition stabilize further, you cane here on your own in the future.¡± Xu Wan only left after she had helped prepare Chen Ge¡¯s meals.

    ¡°I am familiar with this scene a lot, in my memory, she often helps bring me food as well.¡± Chen Ge mumbled to himself. He had no friend and thus sat at the corner of the canteen alone. asionally he would lift up his head to study the other patients around him. ¡°Xin Hai Central Hospital¡¯s Third Sick Hall is the treatment centre for people with mental problems, simr to the ce called Third Sick Hall in my memory.¡± The memory was weaving together with real life, forming a tight tapestry. Chen Ge held the spoon and lightly tapped it against the surface of the table. With no expression on his face, he was thinking about something on his mind.

    ¡°Doctor Gao said self perception is very important to a mental patient. In my mind, at the earliest part of my memory, the term self-perceptive key once appeared before and the term appeared as the same time as the Third Sick Hall. Even though I cannot remember clearly what I have done inside this Third Sick Hall, one thing is certain, there is some kind of connection between this Third Sick Hall and the self-perceptive key. Assuming the Third Sick Hall in my memory is based on this Third Sick Hall in real life, does that indirectly mean that the self-perceptive key is hidden somewhere inside this Third Sick Hall?¡±

    The veins on the back of his hand pulsed as he tightened his grip around the key in his palm. The pain was torturing Chen Ge¡¯s senses but he used his strong determination to suffer through it. ¡°Doctor Gao said my past memory is all an invention, but the things in my memory are based on actual thing that exist in real life, in that case, I do wish to see what does the self-perceptive key that has appeared in my invention would look like in real life.¡± When Chen Ge made the connection between the self-preceptive key and Third Sick Hall, another memory fragment appeared naturally in his mind, ¡°Self perception was important to a mental patient, the self-perceptive key was rted to a mental asylum, this is not a coincidence, it feels like someone has purposely nned. It was as if they knew that one day I would end up trapped inside a mental hospital and have already ced this self-perceptive key to help me.¡±

    Whenever his mind operated, it would feel like it was punctured by millions of needles, this kind of pain was not something that could be stomached by a normal person. ¡°The self-perceptive key appears to be something important that might trigger my memory, it has provided me with a direction to formte my thoughts.¡± Gripping the key that was almost twisted out of shape, Chen Ge resisted the pain and fed himself the food little by little. He was slowly getting used to the pain. He used this most stupid and cruel method to help himself face his own past. After having his breakfast, Chen Ge returned to the hospital garden with the aid of his crutches. ¡°No matter what I cannot be moved back to the quarantine area again. I will y the role of the patient that the hospital wants me to, only then I have the chance to investigate the truth.¡±

    Sitting on the bench, Chen Ge looked at the perg that was not far away from him. Zhang Jingjiu was not there that day. ¡°he was given such a serious punishment simply because he had uttered a single word to me?¡± The sun showered on Chen Ge¡¯s face but he could not feel any warmth at all. ¡°Looks like Zhang Jingjiu won¡¯t being today.¡±

    Several minutester, the bushes were parted away and a cat¡¯s head poked out. The stray cat appeared to be waiting for Chen Ge but who could say that Chen Ge was not waiting for it as well. Crawling out from the bush, the white cat bit on the edge of Chen Ge¡¯s pant bottom and dragged him to the fence, Chen Ge did not resist. But this time, there was something different fromst time. When the white cat led Chen Ge to the fence, it meowed several times at Chen Ge and then it crawled out through the gap in the fence and raced to the theme park across from the road.

    ¡°it wanted me to wait for it here?¡± Chen Ge had no impression of this cat at all. Be it his memory from the past or his current memory, this cat did not upy either of them. About 10 minutester, just as Chen Ge suspected he was being toyed by a cat, the white cat showed up again. Behind it was a woman in a red dress.

    ¡°Zhang Ya?¡± The woman was dressed as a ghost. When she heard Chen Ge call her name, she was slightly startled.

 Chapter 1167 - The Paradox (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1167: The Paradox (2in1)</h4>

    ¡°You know me?¡± The woman had put on make up, her face was startling white and her dress was covered in fresh ¡®blood stain¡¯. Even standing at this distance, Chen Ge could smell the scent of paint that drifted off her.

    ¡°I am Chen Ge...¡± Chen Ge blurted out the four words, he did not say that ¡®my name is Chen Ge¡¯ but directly introduced himself like they should have known each other for a long time already. A mental patient in a patient¡¯s garb and a Haunted House worker in a ghost outfit stood at the two sides of the fence that surrounded a mental hospital just like that. They belonged to two distinctively separate world but at that moment, they were facing each other face to face.

    ¡°Is it your cat?¡± Zhang Ya did not get any closer to the fence but she did point at the white cat, ¡°It was it who brought me here.¡± The white cat squatted between Chen Ge and Zhang Ya. Its fluffy tail wagged back and forth, it looked very proud of itself.

    ¡°It is a stray cat, but for some reason it is very close to me. It likes toe and visit me.¡± Chen Ge looked at the white cat that sat between them and a bitter smile appeared on his face. ¡°Something is wrong with my brain, I have forgotten a lot of things and the doctors are helping me recover them.¡± Even though Chen Ge was wearing a patient¡¯s garb, the feeling that he gave waspletely different from the mental patients that were portrayed in mass media. He was very collected, calm and rational, there was nothing dangerous or strange about him. If he was not wearing the patient¡¯s outfit, an outsider might thought he was a mncholic person and there was an inscrutable pain that was pooling in his eyes.

    Studying the weak Chen Ge, Zhang Ya found it unable to hate him or be scared of him. ¡°You should be the owner of this cat. You are hospitalized and sick so you have forgotten about it but it is clear that it has not forgotten about you. The fact that your cat sticks to you so much proves that you are definitely a very kind and gentle person. Hopefully you will be able to regain your memory as soon as possible.¡± Zhang Ya squatted down to scratched behind the white cat¡¯s small head. ¡°A cat is willing to cross a city toe find you. I cannot imagine that hardship that it must have encountered along the way, you must not lose it again.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge also squatted down. His eyes darted away, he did not dare to look at Zhang Ya¡¯s face, so instead he silently studied Zhang Ya¡¯s hand that was patting the white cat. Zhang Ya¡¯s hand was very beautiful. She had tapered fingers, fair skin, so fair that they did not possess any color of blood at all. As if sensing Chen Ge¡¯s gaze on her hand, Zhang Ya coughed slightly and pulled her hand back. ¡°Starting from a few days ago, this cat has appeared around my Haunted House and refused to go. I noted how clever it is so I did not chase it away. But now that it has found its owner, I do not need to look after it anymore.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Zhang Ya stood up and prepared to leave but Chen Ge suddenly called after her.

    ¡°Is there anything else?¡±

    Looking at Zhang Ya¡¯s profile, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were filled with confusion and pain. ¡°Have we met somewhere else before? I remember your name, I cannot forget it no matter what. You have shown up constantly in my past memory but I cannot for the life of me remember how you fit in my past life.¡± If a stranger had said something like that to Zhang Ya on the street, she definitely would have turned and walked away, and if the man insisted on bugging her about this, she might even call the police. But this situation was different. Chen Ge was a patient inside a mental hospital and from the looks of it, he did not look like he was acting. The pain and helplessness that were clear inside his eyes pulled at her heartstrings. Zhang Ya stopped moving and carefully studied Chen Ge¡¯s face. She had no impression of this person at that. But she did not feel strangelyforted by this face that could not be called that handsome.

    ¡°I believe this is the first time we have met? Actually I am curious too how did you know my name?¡±

    ¡°I cannot remember. The doctor said I have once visited your Haunted House and that was how I know your name but I am afraid that might not be the truth.¡± Chen Ge grabbed the fence link that was rusted. ¡°I have a feeling that you are someone very important to me.¡± This was a very simple sentence but it was pulsing with sincerity when it left Chen Ge¡¯s lips. The impression that he gave was that he was like a piece of white paper and the whole paper was written to the brim with Zhang Ya¡¯s name. Due to her beauty, Zhang Ya had heard other people said simr words to her before but this time, when Chen Ge said it, it evoked some kind of indescribable feeling inside her.

    Her heart slowly picked up its pace. Zhang Ya hesitated as she turned around to look at the Haunted House before she walked to stand before Chen Ge. ¡°Normally I remember all the visitors that havee to my Haunted House in the past, but this really appears to be the first time we have met. Is it possible that your doctor has mistaken that detail?¡±

    Chen Ge shook his head. ¡°I can still remember the scenarios that are avable at your Haunted House, Night of the Living Death, Minghun, Murder at Midnight and a high school...¡±

    ¡°Night of the Living Dead and Minghun are indeed scenarios at my Haunted House but the ones after that do not belong at my Haunted House.¡± Zhang Ya said rather sadly, ¡°Currently my Haunted House do not have that many visitors, it is already maximum for us to have 2 scenarios. If we open up more scenarios, we will be seriously understaffed.¡±

    ¡°How many employees are there at your Haunted House now?¡±

    ¡°There are three of us working there, me and my parents.¡± Zhang Ya was quite embarrassed. ¡°I am responsible for giving out flyers and selling tickets. My father ys the role of the zombie while my mother is responsible for the Minghun scenario. Even though we do not earn that much, it is a pleasant way to spend our days.¡± Discrepancies appeared in his memory, Chen Ge¡¯s head started to be painful again, he remembered through the fog of memory that the Haunted House¡¯s boss¡¯ parents had already left the Haunted House.

    ¡°Why are you breaking out in sweat and your body is shivering? Hey, are you okay? Do you need me to go and call the doctor for you?!¡± Seeing how startling pale Chen Ge¡¯s face was, and the green veins that popped on the surface on his skin, Zhang Ya was quite worried. She thought that she had identally said something wrong. ¡°Stay right here! I will go and get the doctor for you!¡± Zhang Ya turned and prepared to head to the entrance of the hospital but before she could take the first step, Chen Ge reached out to grab hold of her wrist. ¡°Please don¡¯t leave and please do not go and get them...¡±

    Both of their arms were equally cold. Zhang Ya was given quite a fright. Just as she was wondering what to do next, arge piece of bruise on the back of Chen Ge¡¯s arm started to leak with blood. The blood droplet appeared to gather into very small letters. They formed several lines as they went and together they bound to form an entry of a tattered dairy. The drop of blood slid from Chen Ge¡¯s arm and fell on Zhang Ya¡¯s wrist. At that moment, Zhang Ya¡¯s panicked heart instantly calmed down. Looking at her wrist that was held tight by Chen Ge, she was nking out for a few seconds before she recovered herself and pulled her hand back.

    ¡°I am so sorry but I hope you will help me keep this secret. I do not wish for the doctors to know that I have met you in person.¡± The pain assaulted him. Chen Ge did not dive that deep into his memory and did not trigger any memory fragment but the pain kept rushing at him like waves. It was as if the dam that had been holding the pain back had suddenly crumbled and now he needed to suffer this endless pain alone. His arms were shaking. Chen Ge thought he had gotten used to the pain but only at this moment, he realized, the pain that he was been experiencing was just one tenth of the pain that he was being subjected to now.

    ¡°But why?¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s legs lost their bnce and the man dropped to the ground. The white cat ran around him in clear concern. Zhang Ya also kept saying something at Chen Ge but Chen Ge could not hear her anymore. ¡°What have I done that this pain would suddenly appear to overwhelm me?!¡± His body felt like it had been torn apart, Chen Ge used thest shred of his rationality to yell at Zhang Ya and the white cat. ¡°Bring that cat away and tomorrow morning I will be back here.¡±

    After stammering out the words, Chen Ge immediately turned to run back into the hospital with his hands mping over his heads. He used thest bit of his energy to burrow through the bushes and finally fainted at the garden path. This time he was knocked out directly by the immense pain.

    ...

    ¡°So painful! So painful! So painful!¡± In the world of darkness, Chen Ge could hear his own voice echoing. He followed his voice and tried to search for the source. Finally at the deepest corner of the darkness, he found a mncholic young man holding a beating heart and he was standing away from Chen Ge. The man looked simr to him from the back and the voice that came out from his lips was Chen Ge¡¯s voice but instinct told Chen Ge that the young man was not him.

    ¡°Xu Yin?¡± A name suddenly appeared in his mind. Chen Ge walked forward in the ck sea but the waves of darkness gradually pushed him away. The young man who was standing in his ce to suffer the endless pain appeared to hear his voice. Just as Chen Ge was about to be washed away by the darkness, the young man turned back to look. The front of his body was being corrupted by different kind of curses, the curses were like needles that were stuck into his body but he seemed to have a lot of resistance regarding these curses and pain. The curses were unable to drill into his body and harm the beating heart in his embrace and Chen Ge who had already being carried away by the ck waves behind him.

    The two eyes suddenly flipped over. Chen Ge¡¯s expression was violent and beast-like. He subconsciously wanted to raise his hands to grab at something but he was quick to realize both of his arms were strapped to the bed. He slowly calmed down. Chen Ge looked around him and took in the shattered windows, the titled beds and the bedside tables that had been toppled over.

    ¡°Now I finally understand why the doctors are feeding you two pills.¡± Zuo Han¡¯s voice came from the corner of the room. He had moved his bed as far from Chen Ge as he could. ¡°I somehow have managed to survive for such a dangerous patient like yourself for two straight days. Thank you for not killing me by the way.¡±

    ¡°it was me who messed up the room?¡±

    ¡°You were not only trying to mess up the room, you were trying to destroy everything.¡± Zuo Han was now as obedient as a pet cat. He sat at the corner and refused to get close to Chen Ge no matter what.

    ¡°I can only remember that I have fainted, my brain felt like it was being torn apart and pain came from every part of my body, I cannot remember anything else.¡±

    ¡°During your unconscious period, you have woken up once, that version of you ispletely different from the current you. Your eyes were filled with blood and you roared like a beast while dragging a broken leg, refusing to let anyone get close to you.¡± Thinking back, Zuo Han was still quite afraid about what happened then.

    Bang! Bang! Bang! The room door suddenly burst open. Doctor Gao and two workers rushed into the room. When they saw Chen Ge had woken up, they all sighed in relief. The two hospital workers were still quite afraid, only Doctor Gao voluntarily walked towards Chen Ge. ¡°Why would you faint at the garden this morning? Were you bothered by some of the other patients? Did they jolt some of your past memory?¡±

    ¡°I suddenly remembered something from my past, the more I tried to not think about them, the more they got out of control. In the end, I fainted because I could not suffer the pain anymore.¡± Chen Ge basically was telling the truth.

    ¡°Your condition has started to stabilize a few days ago, you should not have rpsed so soon. Is it possible that the medication has lost its power already?¡± Doctor Gao took out the medicine bottle and this time he tipped out three pills instead. ¡°You should take a good rest after you take your medication. I will go and discuss with the other doctors regarding your condition.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Gao, does that mean that my condition is getting serious again?¡±

    ¡°No, you are indeed getting better, but your second persona is getting more intense. Perhaps he can sense that you are slowly getting better so he is getting more and more out of control.¡± Doctor Gao analysed.

    ¡°If I am getting better, howe my second persona is getting more out of control?¡±

    ¡°if you are fully cured, then it would mean that your second persona willpletely be wiped out.¡± Doctor Gao sighed in a severe tone. ¡°Your second persona is built up from your negative emotions and the darker side of humanity. Selfishness, cruelty, violence, mncholy, he will not go peacefully. When that moment arrives, he will try everything within his power to bring you down with him.¡±

    ¡°My second persona will destroy me?¡±

    ¡°You should be able to sense the danger that he is in as well. But remember that you are the normal one and he is the abnormal one, do not lose yourself to that persona that only know how to destroy everything.¡±

    After witnessing Chen Ge swallow the three pills, Doctor Gao left some orders with the hospital workers before he left in a hurry. The two hospital workers stood inside the room. They then cleaned the room, reced the broken windows and they busied themselves until the afternoon before they left.

    ¡°Chen Ge?¡± Zuo Han summoned his courage to get close to Chen Ge. He shook Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders slightly and was shocked to realize that Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were open the whole time. ¡°You have not fallen asleep after all?!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s on your mind?¡±

    ¡°Have you ingested all three pills?¡± Zuo Han reminded him out of kindness. ¡°The white pills of the hospital can dull the pain, slow down your brain and help you decrease the sensation of pain but at the same time, the pills will slowly make you lose yourself. If you take too much of it, eventually you will turn into a living doll that only knows how to smile.¡±

    ¡°A living doll?¡±

    ¡°Like the name suggests, you will be a doll that is alive, you will be a puppet to be controlled by the others. Even though you will never feel pain again, but you will also never feel joy and happiness anymore, it will destroy everything that you are.¡± Zuo Han was himself a forensic doctor, he seemed to be familiar with these pharmaceuticals.

    ¡°Is the drug that scary?¡± Chen Ge slightly moved his head to the side and revealed the pills that were hidden under the pillow.

    ¡°You did not consume them?¡±

    ¡°My arms are tied, do you mind helping me grind these three pills into dust? Do not let anyone discover them.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Zuo Han nodded subconsciously. He realized Chen Ge¡¯s tone was slightly different from before, he appeared to be more in control of himself. More confidence was radiating off the man. ¡°By the way, Chen Ge, there is something that I wish to tell you.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Earlier Doctor Gao said that your second persona only knows how to destroy and ispletely made up from negative emotions and darker side of humanity but actually he was lying to you.¡± Zuo Han went straight to the point. ¡°When you were acting up in the room earlier, I was inside the room with you. You wanted to destroy everything within your sight, and attacked all the patients and workers that you could see but you never intended to harm me even though I was just literally a few feet away from you!¡±

    What Zuo Han said sessfully piqued Chen Ge¡¯s interest. ¡°Keep on going.¡±

    ¡°Your second persona appears to know me! This proves that perhaps we have known each other before we were admitted here!¡± Zuo Han lowered his voice but Chen Ge could hear the excitement in his voice. ¡°if that is the case, then it will exin why I feel like the whole world is trying to harm me but you are the only exception! And at the same time, this is the evidence that shows that our memories have indeed been tempered before!¡±

    Zuo Han was very sharp, he hit the nail on the head immediately. ¡°We are each other¡¯s proofs! Your memory from the past should not be the fake one, but it is these doctors who are trying to convince you that they are made up.¡± Zuo Han knew that once Chen Ge sunk into deep thinking, he would start to get headache so he was speaking very fast. He needed to voice out his own thoughts before Chen Ge fainted from the overwhelming pain again. ¡°Back to the most basic problem, the doctors said that the illness happened because your parents got into an ident caused by you but have you ever wondered that perhaps your parents are still alive and considered the possibility that they are still somewhere inside this city?!¡±

 Chapter 1168 - The Meaning of Zuo Hanâ€™s Existence

    <h4>Chapter 1168: The Meaning of Zuo Han¡¯s Existence</h4>

    The word parent had special meaning for Chen Ge. No matter inside his fragmented memory or the memory that doctor fed him, his parents was the starting point of all the mystery. One could say that Chen Ge was the way he was now was mainly because of his parents. He was very certain of that but he had no idea why these thought would appear in his mind.

    In his memory, parents meant more than just the words parents. Once he tried to think of anything rted to his parents, his brain would throb with pain. Even though the doctors had told him things about his parents, Chen Ge found himself unable to agree with them, it was as if the parents the doctors were talking about were someone else¡¯s parents. With Chen Ge¡¯s personality he would not openly discuss these things with others, but he did not expect Zuo Han to approach him so directly.

    Every words that came out of Zuo Han¡¯s mouth was like knives that drove themselves into Chen Ge¡¯s brain and pierced through the broken pieces.

    ¡°They are still alive?¡± There was a big premise that everything that the hospital had told him and that was that Chen Ge¡¯s parents had died in a car ident, but if Chen Ge¡¯s parents were still alive, then it would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the hospital was lying to him!

    Therefore to tell the false from the fear, to determine whether he was sick or not, the simplest way was to find his parents. This was the final thought that Chen Ge had before he fainted. Before he fainted, he pushed Zuo Han away, he was worried that his second persona might injure Zuo Han.

    Seeing Chen Ge faint again, Zuo Han took in a cold breath. ¡°Such a strong determination. The blood veins popped up all over his body like poisonous snakes but he manage tost until thest moment and only fainted after he pushed me away.¡± Actually Zuo Han was quite afraid of Chen Ge but the things and details that Chen Ge did always manage to lower that fear that he had. For example, Chen Ge resisted that amount of pain and would still be concerned about Zuo Han¡¯s safety.

    ¡°Why would such a kind person have to suffer such a punishment?¡± Zuo han turned back to look at the door and his eyes turned cold. ¡°This world looks so perfect on the surface and all my memories tell me that this is a blissful world but such a perfect world has trapped me inside a mental hospital so is it really that perfect to begin with?¡±

    ...

    When Chen Ge woke up next, it was already night time. Doctor Gao and two workers were inside the room. Zuo Han was lying on his side, it appeared like he was asleep.

    ¡°Time to take your medicine, Chen Ge.¡± Doctor Gao took out 3 white pills. After he saw Chen Ge swallow them, his expression softened. ¡°The food is ced on your bedside table, remember to eat them. Tonight you better close the door before you got to sleep, there has been a small problem at the hospital recently. A patient is injured. We temporarily have not found the culprit so you better not go wandering around at night.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Chen Ge nodded weakly. His body appeared to reach its limit already, his face was pale.

    ¡°You better rest.¡± Doctor Gao sighed. He had the workers undo the straps around Chen Ge¡¯s limbs and left.

    ¡°Howe it feels like Doctor Gao is getting busier and busier. A few days ago, he gave me a sense of unwavering confidence, has something happened to him?¡± A doctor had to make sure that they were well prepared before they faced their patient, that was why they would remind themselves to be in their best condition when they were dealing with certain patients. At the beginning, Doctor Gao was a model doctor but for the past few days, his condition had been worsening.

    ¡°Is there a patient who is more troublesome than I am at the hospital?¡± After Doctor Gao left, Chen Ge¡¯s expression returned to normal. ¡°Then again it might not be a patient, it could be another doctor.¡± Moving his wrists, Chen Ge sat up in bed. ¡°Looks like something has indeed happened at the hospital or else they would not have purposelye to help me remove the binding.¡±

    Taking out the pills that were hidden under his tongue, Chen Ge was about to grind them into dust when he noticed something was wrong. Of the three pills Doctor Gao gave him, two were white and one had a ck stripe on it.

    ¡°What¡¯s this? A hair piece? No, it is slenderer than hair.¡± Chen Ge was flustered. ¡°Is it possible that Doctor Gao suspect I am not taking my medicine so he purposely switched one of them out?¡± Chen Ge did not destroy the pills but moved to wake up Zuo Han, ¡°Brother, can you help me?¡±

    He told Zuo Han about his discovery and hoped Zuo Han could help him capture some bugs or small animals to conduct some experiment. But when Zuo Han heard about it, he told Chen Ge they should just grind the pills into dust and slip them into the workers¡¯ drink when they went on patrol. He had evene up with the best time to do so. He told Chen Ge that they could do that when the workers went on theirst patrol.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we should experiment on live humans.¡± Chen Ge denied it firmly. If there was a real problem, the hospital would immediately link it back to him.

    ¡°They have already experimented on you but you are still so considerate towards them? Are you a saint?¡± Zuo Han grumbled.

    ¡°I believe someone has told me that before.¡± Chen Ge chuckled weakly. ¡°I can¡¯t help it, I guess I do not have a hardened heart.¡±

    ¡°It is definitely not a poison, the hospital wasted so much effort to cure you so they will not prescribe you poison, we are merely trying to analyse the drug through their symptoms.¡± Zuo Han was a doctor so he was good at this thing. ¡°If you think that is not safe, then we can try on another patient.¡± Zuo Han was unable to convince Chen Ge, so in the end, they still experimented on bugs. Once the bugs that came in contact with the ck pill¡¯s dust became strangely agitated and even attacked other bugs. One of them directly tore into other bugs.

    ¡°The white pills are to numb the senses and the pills with the ck line has the exact opposite effect.¡± Chen Ge looked at the dead bodies of the bugs and his eyes slowly moved to the straps. He seemed to be reminded of something and turned to look at the tray on the bedside table. ¡°Zuo Han, before this, when Xu Wan came to send us food, she would bring the tray away with her when she left, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, she would sit and watch until you finish your food and then take them away, I suspect the nurse has some interest in you.¡±

    ¡°but why didn¡¯t they take away the tray this time?¡± Chen Ge took up the sharp metallic fork on the tray. ¡°Plus I remember they will not give patients any forks or even chopsticks in fear of them hurting themselves. Normally they give normal utensils.¡±

    Zuo Han also caught up to his thought. He looked at Chen Ge who was holding the metallic fork and then shuddered. ¡°I know... the hospital wants you to personally kill me!¡±

    When he said that, the room became instantly quiet. They had been living together for days, Zuo Han had gotten familiar with Chen Ge. Both parties had be the other¡¯s support in some way. But while everything was looking up, the hospital exposed its evil n. They had given Chen Ge the seed of hope and then they pushed him to snuff it out himself and pushed him step by step to be the person that he hated.

    Perhaps from the moment Zuo Han moved into this room, the meaning of this young man¡¯s existence had been decided.

 Chapter 1169 - The Understanding Between Mental Patients (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1169: The Understanding Between Mental Patients (2in1)</h4>

    To have Chen Ge murder Zuo Han, that was probably something that the hospital had designed from the very beginning!

    To push a madman deeper into the brink of madness, one had to dig out the deepest and darkest secret buried inside his heart and then used another method to showcase it to him once again.

    ¡°Is this really a kind of treatment?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s hands slowly gripped into fists. Compared to Chen Ge, Zuo Han wasparatively calmer. ¡°The hospital appears to have already prepared some other treatment options but due to certain reasons, they had to use thisst method earlier than expected.¡± These two patients were incredibly unique. Chen Ge had a veryplicated past, the hospital had poured all of its attention on Chen Ge and they had seriously underestimated Zuo Han. They did not expect Zuo han have the habit of suspecting his own memory and would disturb Chen Ge¡¯s ¡®treatment progress¡¯. The other original n was destroyed and now the two extremely astute patients were slowly taking back their upper hand.

    ¡°Yes, this action by the hospital has once again proven our spection.¡± Chen Ge put down the fork. ¡°But why would they do something like this?¡±

    ¡°Yes, this is something that confuses me as well. Be it from the state of mental health, or state of value, I would appear to be more valuable than you are, right? Even if I am not as good as you might be at certain area, but to have been treated as one of the ¡®medicines¡¯ to ¡®cure¡¯ you is a bit maddening, isn¡¯t it?¡± Zuo Han¡¯s voice was dark.

    ¡°You are one of the medicines meant to ¡®cure¡¯ me? A living person is a medicine?¡± Something urred to Chen Ge then but he quickly stopped himself from venturing further in his thoughts. ¡°This is not going to be a quiet night. To prevent the hospital from suspecting us, I am afraid you might need to suffer a little bit.¡±

    ¡°Are you nning to punch a few holes in me with the fork?¡± The conversation between Zuo Han and Chen Ge sounded more and more like two mental patients.

    ¡°I am not going to go that far.¡± Chen Ge looked at the remaining pill. ¡°Do you think I should ingest half of the pill to give it a try? To personally experience that kind of sensation?¡¯

    ¡°have you lost your mind?¡± A mental patient was sincerely asking another mental patient about what he was thinking.

    ¡°If you do not die tonight, the hospital might continue to prescribe me this kind of medicine tomorrow. I need to know the effect from consuming this drug so that I will be able to y the role of an affected patient as authentic as I can.¡± Chen Ge had no idea why but he was very serious when it came to acting. It felt like this had to do with his sense of professionalism, ¡°Do not stay too far away from me tonight.¡± Then Chen Ge used his finger to stick against some of the dust and slipped it into his mouth, he did not hesitate at all during this process.

    ¡°Jesus Christ, I can¡¯t imagine what is going through your mind to do something like that.¡± Zuo Han took a step back, he was a very clever person. If they were justparing intellect, he might not be worse than Chen Ge but he now slowly understood, overall speaking, he was still much lesser than Chen Ge.

    ¡°The taste is simr to the white pills, in other words, the ck strand does not have any unique taste.¡± Chen Ge pursed his lips and turned to face Zuo Han as he moved to sit on his own bed. To prevent idents from happening, he even purposely picked up the straps and bound his hands together.

    ¡°Is it because the dosage is too small? For now I do not feel anything, perhaps we have wasted too much feeding them to the bugs earlier.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were calm. When the pain from his brain was burning at his soul, it had also left at the same time a gap in the ¡®lock¡¯ on his memory. He suffered the pain for a reason. Chen Ge now knew how to think without evoking that pain. As long as he did not venture into his past, and did not focus on those terms that contained special meaning, even if he triggered the pain, the pain would not be so intense that he fainted on the spot.

    ¡°Any kind of medication will take time to evoke its uses, you need to slowly process the changes to your brain and your body.¡± Zuo Han retreated to the corner of the room, this was already the furthest he could hide from Chen Ge. He stuck his back to the wall and said with a bitter expression. ¡°The hospital wants you to personally kill me, so that means that my death should be able to trigger some kind of effect in you. It really does appear that we were friends in the past.¡±

    ¡°In your memory, you are a student at a forensic university, you have apletely different path in lifepared to mine, how would we be friends? Or rather what is the link between us?¡± Chen Ge could not think too deep, so Zuo Han had to y the role of the brain for him.

    ¡°Perhaps you were really a Haunted House boss in the past. I am a person with very deep curiosity and desire to win, perhaps I have visited your Haunted House before and have been pranked by you. Due to the unwillingness to admit defeat, I continued toe and challenge your Haunted House and that was how we became friends? After all, it would not be that umon for a business proprietor to befriend his frequent customer.¡± Zuo Han was very familiar with his own personality. This was the first thought that came into his mind. ¡°The various actionsmitted by the hospital actually had also revealed some important information, at least the two of us should be able to trust each other implicitly.¡±

    Chen Ge sat in bed and carefully experienced the change to his body. ¡°There should be other friends of ours among the other patients in this hospital. For example, Zhang Jingjiu, there should be other patients just like him.¡±

    ¡°But how do you exin what happened when we went to visit him?¡± Zuo Han tried to think back to the incident on the night before. ¡°When we went to find Zhang Jingjiu, he did not react to my voice at all but once you said something, you got a reaction from him. The rest of us appear to be individual characters that do not know each other and we are only linked through you.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is what I feel as well. I am the centre of all the rtionship.¡± Chen Ge looked at the metallic fork on the food tray. ¡°All of you appear to be ¡®medicine¡¯ that the hospital has prepared for me.¡± Theyers of the hospital were slowly being peeled back by Chen Ge and Zuo Han. The hospital that appeared to be providing treatment for its patient had a real purpose that might shock each and every patient. One hourter, ck spots started to appear on Chen Ge¡¯s skin. Perhaps because he had taken too little dosage, the ck dots were unable to form a ck line inside Chen Ge¡¯s body. As the ck spots started to appear, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes became bloodshot, his chest rose unevenly and the veins on his arms started to bulge.

    ¡°Are... are you okay?¡± Zuo Han stood at the door. His hands were on the door handle, he was ready to run as soon as things went south.

    ¡°The ck spots appear to contain negative emotions and some kind of power, they want to take over my body but there appears to be another force inside my body who is resisting these ck spots, to suppress their influence. The force appears toe from the heart.¡± Chen Ge traced the change in his body closely. ¡°These ck dots should have the purpose of evoking the force that is resting in my heart, does this mean that my second persona is residing in my heart? But if I suffer from schizophrenia, shouldn¡¯t my second persona be a creation inside my mind and not my heart?¡± Sitting by the edge of the bed, Chen Ge mumbled to himself. Zuo Han at the door was nervous looking and he did not dare to reply at all.

    The time ticked by slowly. The ck spots in Chen Ge¡¯s body became more active. His status was not that stable, his eyes were filled with blood and he looked incredibly scary.

    ¡°After the drug enters the body, its effect will reach its climax after 3 hours. And if it is not released, the sense of agitation will continue to persist.¡± Chen Ge was in a ghastly grimace but his tone was incredibly calm. ¡°I have merely tasted some of the powder, if I have ingested the whole pill, undeniably the effect will shatter my mental defense and I would have killed my roommate without even realizing it.¡±

    ¡°Hey, I am just standing over here. Do you mind paying attention to my feeling when you say those things?¡±

    ¡°But there appear to be benefit to this pill too. After ingesting it, the sense of lethargy that has been overwhelming my body dissipates tremendously, the sense of weakness that has been troubling me disappears gradually as well.¡± There were pros and cons, and Chen Ge was most familiar with finding things that were useful to him in the most despairing of situation.

    At 1 am, Chen Ge felt like the effect of the medicine will not strengthen any more. He forced the binding around his wrist toe loose. He picked up the metallic fork from the tray. ¡°Zuo Han, if you do not run fast enough, you might have a few new blood holes on your body but don¡¯t you worry, I will make sure to avoid the fatal parts.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute! You are going to start now?! At least give me some warning!¡± Zuo Han had just finished when Chen Ge seemingly had morphed into another person. There was a bloodshot in his eyes and the twisted face was filled with a sick desire. It was as if he could not wait to destroy every living things. Only blood and murder would be able to calm his soul.

    ¡°What the fuck!¡± Even if they had nned this earlier, Zuo Han was still gripped by fear. He could not believe that Chen Ge was just acting. This was 120 percent too real. The fear grew around his heart like a poisonous briar. One of his leg was encased in ster so he could not move quickly. Therefore, Chen Ge started to crawl on the ground like a beast. The hospital had once shown Chen Ge how he acted when he was acting up, Doctor Gao was using it to prove that Chen Ge the existence of a second persona in Chen Ge¡¯s body, they probably would not have imagined Chen Ge would mimic the characteristic of that person in the video to fool them. Chen Ge had familiarized himself with how he would act after he had lost his mind. Be it expression or action, he had replicated it most perfectly.

    The metallic fork stabbed through the bedsheet and pillow and it pierced through the mattress. It left a few small holes on the wooden boards. Zuo Han shrunk his neck back. He knew Chen Ge was not joking. If the same force was applied to his body, probably a bloody gouge would appear on his skin.

    ¡°Help me!¡± Opening the room door, Zuo Han ran outside while yelling at the top of his lungs. The beds were tripped over. Just as the moment Zuo Han ran out, the metallic fork brushed against the back of his head and shed his clothes. With a streak, the shirt was torn open. A chill rushed up Zuo Han¡¯s back. If he was one step slower, the fork would have directly stabbed into his spine!

    [This man¡¯s actual identity is a murderous killer! Or else how is he so good at this? He must have done this many times in the past? Perhaps I have been killed many times in his mind already!] The more Zuo Han thought about it, the more afraid he became. He charged out of the sickroom and then turned to look behind him. Cold sweat slid down his face immediately. Chen Ge moved with both of his hands on the ground. Dragging the stered leg, the monster was chasing after him like a beast yearning for his delicious meal!

    Even though he knew that this was all an act, Zuo Han was really afraid. He was unable to control himself and his instinct told him to run towards the duty room where the workers could be found.

    ¡°Help me! Someone pleasee and help me!¡± One was running and one was chasing. The familiar feeling rose in both people¡¯s mind instantly, it was as if they had experiencing something simr before. Normally the workers who woulde out when they heard the smallest of voice did not show up that night. It was as if no one was on duty. Even when Zuo Han¡¯s throat was coarse from all the shouting, no one came to help him. Zuo Han did not dare to stop. Currently he had no idea whether Chen Ge was acting or he had really been brought under the influence of the drug, in any case, he did not want to stop to find out. That was definitely not an option.

    He raced like his life depended on it. Zuo Han did not dare to turn back and eventually he found his way to the duty room. He knocked frantically on the door while screaming non stop. Momentster, the door was pulled open from within. A worker poked his head out with annoyance, the thing that he saw was Chen Ge¡¯s ghastly face that was twisted from madness and blood lust.

    Bang! Chen Ge mmed into the duty room¡¯s door and Chen Ge sent the worker flying. At the same time, the force also threw the door of the duty room wide open. While the worker careened to the floor with a scream, Chen Ge who was supposedly in the grasp of madness shot a nce at Zuo Han and signaled for him to check out the rest of the duty room. Two patientsmunicated without words. While Chen Ge entangled with the worker, the other worker came out to help. Zuo Han used this opening to slip deeper into the duty room. Even though the medicine had been grounded down into dust, they had a great effect on Chen Ge, not even the two workers were able to restrain him.

    A metallic fork became a lethal weapon in Chen Ge¡¯s possession. The two hospital workers probably also did not expect to run into such a scary patient. One of them took out a phone with a white casing on it to call for help but before he could dial the number, he was mmed into by Chen Ge and pressed against the ground.

    ¡°Help me! Help me!¡± The fork fell down again and again and they were always aiming at the worker¡¯s eyes. The worker who was so frightened barely escaping the fate of being blinded. This was not something a normal person would be able to suffer peacefully. Zuo Han appeared to have found something important inside the duty room after just a mere 3 minutes. He heard the workers call for help but he did not intend to help either of them at all. He ran past them and hurried down the other side of the corridor.

    The two hospital workers knew that they were unable to stop Chen Ge. After they pushed Chen Ge off, they too started to take off for their lives.

    ¡°I was almost killed! Help me! I was almost killed by him!¡± Zuo Han screamed while he ran. He too was ying the role of a mad patient perfectly as he kept shouting this statement over and over.

    ¡°Go and find the night doctors! We need to head to the doctor¡¯s office!¡± The two hospital workers ran down one of the directions of the corridor. Zuo Han stuck close to them. Chen Ge was crawling on the ground so he could not move fast, this gave them the opportunity to escape. In reality though, Chen Ge¡¯s arms and legs were already filled with wounds but the pain only made his expression more intense and scary. Opening the door that was in the middle of the corridor on the first floor, the hospital workers ran into the second sick hall, this ce was obviously eerier than the third sick hall.

    ¡°Doctor! Doctor!¡± The workers and Zuo Han darted into one of the rooms. The lights came on and a doctor in a doctor¡¯s coat came out from it. With the direction from the doctor, the three of them worked together to apprehend Chen Ge.

    Being put on the straps, Chen Ge felt like he could not resist any more. He snuck at room at Zuo Han. Thetter who had been rummaging through the doctor¡¯s room when they wereing to stop Chen Ge appeared to have stumbled across something very important. After he realized the job that night had beenpleted, Chen Ge rxed. He used thest ounce of his energy to struggle as best as he could and then he started to focus on his memory fragments that were rted to his parents and the Haunted House. Soon the brain-tearing pain overwhelmed his mind and Chen Ge fainted from the intense pain.

    ...

    He slowly opened his eyes, the sun outside the window was about to sink down the horizon already. This time, Chen Ge had gone unconscious for about 10 plus hour.

    ¡°Can you hear my voice?¡± Doctor Gao was standing beside Chen Ge¡¯s bed. He looked at Chen Ge with extreme concern. ¡°you have finally woken up.¡±

    ¡°I...¡± His lips were dry and cracked. Chen Ge looked around him, he realized he had been sent to a room inside the quarantine zone. ¡°Where is this ce? Why am I here?¡±

    ¡°Your second persona has surfaced again yesterday night and he almost killed the workers at our hospital.¡±

    ¡°How is that possible?!¡± Chen Ge desperately wanted to sit up in bed but he realized his arms and legs were strapped to the bed and he could not move even if he wanted to.

    ¡°I am sorry but it is real.¡± Doctor Gao showed the surveince video to Chen Ge again. ¡°your second persona is filled with the desire to destroy. If you do not defeat him, one day you will be consumed by him.¡±

 Chapter 1170 - They Are All Zhang Wenyu (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1170: They Are All Zhang Wenyu (2in1)</h4>

    Looking at himself inside the video, Chen Ge was surfeited with fear, he exposed an expression of disbelief, the shock and fear did not look like they could be faked at all. ¡°Is that really me?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s voice was filled with suspicion and uncertainty. His eyes darted away, showing that he was too afraid to face this version of himself.

    ¡°The video can be faked but the wounds on your arms and fingers will not lie.¡± Doctor Gao put away the phone with the white casing. ¡°No one wants to believe that there is another person living inside them but sometimes with the evidence ced before us, we will have to face the truth.¡± Chen Ge sat idly on the bed, his expression seemed to suggest that his mind was a thousand miles away.

    Doctor Gao studied him for a while and could not help but console him, ¡°Your second persona is getting more and more intense, but that also proves that our treatment is getting more and more effective. He is afraid, afraid that one day he might disappear. Don¡¯t be too saddened by this. Just try to take as much rest as you can while you are here, do not ce too much pressure on yourself. Treatment of a mental illness is a very slow process, the more you try to rush it, the more the difficult the treatment will be.¡±

    Chen Ge nodded his head slowly, he seemed to still be in a state of shock. He did not appear to hear Doctor Gao, he was merely nodding simply because that was what was expected of him to do.

    ¡°Tonight you shall stay at the quarantine zone. After your condition has stabilized, we will consider moving you back to the normal sickroom.¡± After Doctor Gao fed Chen Ge three white pills, he prepared to leave.

    ¡°Doctor Gao...¡± Chen Ge turned his head to look at Doctor Gao who had already reached the door. ¡°Will my illness one day be cured?¡±

    ¡°Of course, as long as you have confidence in the hospital and yourself.¡± Doctor Gao left after saying that, and Chen Ge was left in the room after. The wounds on his arms had been bandaged, so they would not deteriorate. Perhaps due to the effect of the ck pill¡¯s dust, Chen Ge had slowly gained consciousness of the broken leg that was wrapped in ster. After Doctor Gao had wandered far away, Chen Geid his bed but the pain and struggle on his face slowly disappeared and in their ces was calmness and serenity. If someone looked into his eyes then, they probably would be in for quite a shock because Chen Ge¡¯s pupils were gradually shrinking, ¡°The hospital is lying to me, they do not intend to cure me at all, but they are trying to turn me into a monster that fits their requirement.¡± With the pillow cushioning his head, Chen Ge turned his head to nce at the straps on his body, ¡°I need to leave the quarantine zone as soon as possible to gain contact with Zuo Han. Yesterday night, he appeared to have found very important discoveries inside the duty room and the night doctor¡¯s office.¡±

    Under the scrutiny of the hospital, the two patients put on a show with their lives on the line. They had temporarily fooled the hospital and had managed to obtain part of the information. ¡°Zuo Han is very clever, he should be able to fool the doctors.¡± Chen Ge had done everything that he could. From the moment he fainted, the stage was handed over to Zuo Han already. Actually the two had very clear delineation of job, neither party could afford to make any mistake. If any party exposed even the slightest w, the other party would be dragged down by it as well.

    But from Doctor Gao¡¯s attitude towards Chen Ge, Zuo Han should have done everything wlessly. There was no clock inside the room at the quarantine zone. After the sky turned dark, Chen Ge fell asleep again. After who knew how long, the door of the room was knocked on suddenly.

    Bang bang bang bang

    The person knocked on the door four times. When Chen Ge opened his eyes, the knocking sound had already disappeared. ¡°The knocking returns at midnight again?¡± The door of the sickrooms at the quarantine zone were very unique. To prevent the dangerous patients inside from escaping, all the locks of the door were installed on the outside. In other words, the people could enter the room freely from outside, but the people inside had no chance of escaping the room at all.

    Chen Ge¡¯s heart slowly rose to his throat, he had been deeply curious about the identity of this mysterious knocker. ¡°When I was staying at the normal sickroom, I could hear the knocking at midnight, but that I have been moved to the quarantine zone, the knocking has followed me as well! What is the person trying tomunicate with me? But from mere knocking, what kind of information could be ryed anyway?¡± Chen Ge was moved to another area of the hospital but the knocking had arrived like usual, this meant that person behind the knocking was extremely familiar with the happening inside the hospital. ¡°Other patients probably would not be able to know for sure which sickroom I have been moved to, does this mean that it is one of the doctors who has been knocking on my door at midnight?¡± With limited information, that was only the conclusion that Chen Ge could havee at.

    ¡°Assuming this is true, then the doctor who is behind the knockings appear to have a different stance from the other doctors at this hospital, does this mean that there are doctors at this hospital who are willing to help me? They are unable to show themselves so they have been using this method to tell me something? The hospital has been restless for the past few nights. Other than myself, I believe there are other people taking up the hospital¡¯s attention.¡± After knowing other people had been helping him secretly, Chen Ge became even calmer.

    He tried to think back to his own memory little by little. Yesterday night, to stimte himself so that he would faint, he actively tried to think about things rted to his parents and the Haunted House. And the result was before he fainted, his brain really dide up with fragmented images of these two things, ¡°My parents, I believe, have told me when I was very young that to stay away from... Eastern Jiujiang no matter what?¡±

    His limbs were tied to the bed, Chen Ge could not even move down from the bed. He did not dare to fall asleep so he kept staring at the door. Under the premise of not stimting is brain, he had been arranging the events that had happened for the past few days. Reality and memory were mixed together, it felt like there were two voices arguing in his mind, no one was willing to admit that it was the false one because once the admission was made, it was meant that it would be abandoned.

    After the sun came up for a long time, Doctor Gao came into the room with two hospital workers.

    ¡°Did you have any nightmare yesterday night?¡± Whenever Chen Ge woke up from his fainting spell, Doctor Gao would ask that question every time.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I slept quite restfully after taking the medicine yesterday.¡±

    ¡°That is good news.¡± Doctor Gao and the two hospital workers moved somerge medical equipment into the room and gave Chen Ge a simple inspection. After he noticed there were still some ck spots left on Chen Ge¡¯s arm, the expression on Doctor Gao¡¯s face rxed a lot. ¡°Chen Ge, do you wish to return to the normal sickroom or not?¡±

    ¡°of course, at that room, I will be able to see that theme park, the Haunted house and her.¡± Chen Ge answered without wasting a beat.

    ¡°But in your current condition, I am unable to persuade the other doctors and no patients will be willing to stay in the same room with you.¡±

    ¡°I only want to return to my previous room. So that I can asionally see the theme park outside the room. The hospital does not even need to remove the bindings, this way I will not be able to harm anyone...¡±

    ¡°You still do not quite understand it.¡± Doctor Gao sat down on his bedside. ¡°The problem is not you but your second persona. You represent kindness and he represent evil. You have to use your own determination to shake off his influence on you and deny him from the bottom of your heart, you have to abandon him fully so that you can truly start your treatment. You do not need to worry about being consumed by him, us doctors will always be there to help you.¡±

    Chen Ge nodded his head, ¡°I know what to do now.¡±

    ¡°if you lost control of yourself again, I am afraid you will forever be locked up in the quarantine zone already.¡± Doctor Gao stood up, ¡°I will try my best to have you moved back to your original room but do not have too much hope about that.¡± Even though that was what Doctor Gao said, in that same afternoon, Chen Ge was moved back to his previous room by the hospital workers. Honestly, when the ¡®second persona¡¯ did not show up, Chen Ge was no different from a normal person, in fact, he was kinder and friendlier than most people. Many other patients thought he had the warmest smile. Only the doctors and a certain ¡®victim¡¯ knew how dangerous Chen Ge could be.

    When he returned to the room, Chen Ge did not encounter Zuo Han. After asking the doctor, Chen Ge found out after Zuo Han knew Chen Ge was going to move back into the same room with him, he ran out into the corridor to scream and shout. He berated the hospital and threatened them with his life, he would do anything to be spared the fate of staying in the same room as Chen Ge anymore. After the hospital took in various consideration, in the end, they arranged Zuo Han to stay in the room adjacent to Chen Ge¡¯s room. Staying alone inside the normal sickroom, after ensuring there was no one outside the door, Chen Ge walked to Zuo Han¡¯s original bed.

    ¡°I almost killed Zuo Han yesterday night. Zuo Han as someone who was supposed to suffer from paranoia, no matter what he would not willing to be my roommate anymore. This matched his symptom perfectly and this would prevent him from being suspected by the hospital.¡± If Zuo Han had shown no opinion when Chen Ge was supposed to move back in with him, then that would definitely arouse the hospital¡¯s suspicion, after all Zuo Han was supposedly to be suffering from paranoia. How could someone who was supposed to be so extremely sensitive to potential danger be willing to stay in the same room as someone who almost killed him? ¡°Even though Zuo Han had moved away, the hospital workers still intentionally let slip the information that he was just living next to me. Looks like the hospital still has not given up, they still want me to go and kill Zuo Han. Furthermore, even after Zuo Han moved away, a new patient might move into this room with me. The new arrival will me a test for me or it would be an opportunity for me to gain a new person to help me.¡±

    Chen Ge waspletely in tune with Zuo Han¡¯s thought. ¡°Now I will have to solve thest problem. Zuo Han definitely had found something yesterday night. Since he had voluntarily asked to move away after he knew that I was moving back here, then perhaps he would have left his findings inside this room, so that I could be able to see them without having direct contact with him.¡± Scanning the sickroom, Chen Ge mumbled to himself, ¡°Where would he hide all those information?¡±

    There were not many ces where one could hide things inside the room. Chen Ge first checked under the bed, inside the bedsheet and mattress before he turned to the pillow.

    ¡°Could it be inside the pillow case?¡± Chen Ge removed the pillow on Zuo Han¡¯s bed from its case, it waspletely empty. ¡°After Zuo Han moved away from this room, the hospital workers might need to change his pillow case. After I move back into this room, the hospital workers might inspect my bed as well. In that case, the safest ce would be the bed in the middle which had not been upied by anyone before.¡± Chen Ge picked up the pillow from the middle bed. After removing the pillow case, he found a few broken pieces of paper that were filled with words. ¡°Found it!¡±

    He was not eager to read them. Chen Ge first returned the sickroom state back to its original and then crawled back into his bed. ¡°He even found pen and paper, looks like Zuo Han had stumbled across a hoard of information yesterday night.¡± Chen Ge sat away from the door and started to read through the pieces of paper one by one. The first piece of paper had to do with the hospital workers. Zuo Han had scanned through the hospital workers¡¯ identification and duty records. All of the hospital workers at this third sick hall have the surname Chi. Zuo Han suspected the surname Chi has a special meaning at this hospital, he hoped that Chen Ge would pay special attention to it.

    The information on the second paper was marked important on the top by Zuo Han. He had found a cupboard which was used to store patient¡¯s record inside the night doctor¡¯s office. All the patient¡¯s record was arranged ording to dates. There were seven boxes in the cupboard, corresponding to every day of the week. Six of the boxes only had several patient¡¯s records in them but one of the boxes were filled to the brim with patient¡¯s records. Perhaps there was not even space already, there were a few paper boxes on the ground that was filled with the patient¡¯s records on the same day. Zuo Han took a look at the date, all the patient¡¯s records on that day was from the day before he moved into the same room with Chen Ge, and the strangest thing was all the patient¡¯s name on the patient¡¯s record had the name Zhang Wenyu!

    The age, symptoms and even pictures on each of the patient¡¯s records was different but in the space for the name, all the patients had the name Zhang Wenyu. Counting the patient¡¯s records in the fewrge paper boxes, the patient¡¯s records with Zhang Wenyu¡¯s name had reached up to the ten thousands. The hospital probably did not expect so many patients would appear on the same day, and so an ident happened. Part of the patients had escaped from the hospital before they could receive treatment from the hospital. Currently the hospital was very understaffed because one of the bigger reasons was part of the doctors and hospital workers had to leave the hospital to go to the Xin Hai city outside to go in search of the patients. The above information was obtained by Zuo Han based on the notes of the night doctor as well as his own close observation, it was trustworthy.

    ¡°Zhang Wenyu? Yet another familiar name.¡± His brain was pulsing with slight pain, Chen Ge instantly made himself stop thinking. He continued to read. The third piece of paper wrote that Zuo Han had buried the phone with the white casing that the hospital worker had dropped under the third tree in the hospital garden. The fourth piece of paper contained some of Zuo Han¡¯s spection and his words of appreciation to Chen Ge for sparing his life. ¡°This kid is so capable. This amount of information he has found is far beyond my expectation.¡±

    The most important piece information was the one rted to Zhang Wenyu. The day those ten thousands of patient¡¯s records showed up was the day Chen Ge first woke up from his unconsciousness. That was too much of a coincidence, so it had attracted the serious attention from Chen Ge. He suspected the appearance of such an exorbitant amount of patient¡¯s records had to do with him.

    ¡°I have just woken up from my fainting spell and the hospital had received more than ten thousand patient¡¯s records and some of these patients have even escaped from the hospital. If the memory of all the people inside the hospital has been tempered with by the hospital, then the patients who are still wondering outside the hospital, is it possible that they still retain their original memory?!

    ¡°yes! That must be it! Or else why would the hospital go through so much trouble of tracking them down! The hospital suddenly had to deal with so many patients, the hospital would not be able to handle all of them so there has to be some who slipped through the cracks, there have to be people whose memory has not been tempered with!¡±

    Chen Ge instantly got excited. There was originally only one voice in this world and that was those of the doctors. He was told to believe that everything the doctors said had to be the ¡®truth¡¯ but now things were different, Chen Ge knew that there was another part of people who had a grasp on a different version of the ¡®truth¡¯.

    ¡°I have to figure out a way to gain contact with the people on the outside. Temporarily I am unable to leave the hospital so I would have to plead Zhang Ya to help me, hopefully I will be able to convince her.¡±

    Chen Ge started to have a n formed in his mind. He stopped to believe implicitly in Doctor Gao, his search for his own truth had begun.

 Chapter 1171 - Doctor Fang

    <h4>Chapter 1171: Doctor Fang</h4>

    After dinner, Chen Geid in bed. His expression was dull as he stared silently at the theme park outside the window. Compared to the previous time he woke up, Chen Ge had be more silent. Perhaps in the doctor¡¯s eyes, the current him fitted the hospital¡¯s requirement more.

    Bang! The door was pushed open roughly. Two hospital workers and Xu Wan walked in. ¡°Chen Ge, time for your medicine.¡±

    ¡°Where is Doctor Gao? Isn¡¯t he normally the one who deliver the medicine?¡±

    ¡°He has something else to do tonight so I shall take his ce tonight.¡± Xu Wan¡¯s voice was very gentle, there was nothing strange about it. After confirming Chen Ge swallow the 3 white pills, she said again, ¡°The hospital iscking in open beds, so this is your new roommate, try not to scare him away again!¡± Two workers dragged a middle-aged man with pale face into the room and assigned him the bed previously upied by Zuo Han.

    ¡°Try to get to know each other. Try to rest and do not go out at night.¡± Xu Wan left with the workers after saying that, leaving the two patients in the room. Chen Ge studied the new arrival with curiosity. His new roommate looked about 40 plus. His face was free of wrinkles but his hair was all white. He seemed to have gone through many inhuman torture, his mental state was very weak and his body kept shivering.

    ¡°Brother, how shall I call you?¡± Chen Ge actively tried tomunicate with him, he suspected this middle-aged man was another type of ¡®medicine¡¯ the hospital prepared for him. Since he was a medicine, then he must have yed a part in Chen Ge¡¯s past before, thus he might help Chen Ge remember somethings.

    ¡°Can you hear me?¡± He called multiple times before the man finally turned to look Chen Ge. His eyes were filled with intense fear, when he saw Chen Ge, he immediately lowered his head again.

    ¡°Do you know something about me?¡± The man hadpletely different personality from Zuo Han, he refused to say anything and tomunicate. Chen Ge had no idea what was his name and what illness he suffered from, he only knew the man appeared to be afraid of him. Night was falling but the sound of footsteps and trolley kept echoing in the hospital corridors. At around 1 am, the door of the room Chen Ge was in got knocked. The middle-aged man who slept in the bed nearest to the door sat up immediately. The door was knocked 5 times, the interval between each was very small. ¡°They knock one more timepared tost night, the knocking represents how many days I¡¯ve been here?¡±

    The corridor soon returned to normal. The middle-aged man gathered his courage and walked to the door, he pushed the door open a gap and peered out.

    ¡°Hey, is there anyone outside?¡± Chen Ge suddenly spoke and startled the man. The man lightly closed the door and then shook his head at Chen Ge. ¡°There is no one outside.¡±

    The middle-aged man¡¯s throat appeared to have been injured, his voice sounded awkward. When he spoke, his expression was pained.

    ¡°Brother, it is fate that we have been given this chance to share the same room, how shall I call you?¡± Chen Ge was surprised that the man would reply him, he felt this was a chance for them to get to know each other.

    ¡°My surname is Fang.¡±

    ¡°Brother Fang, why are you here? What kind of illness you suffer from?¡± Chen Ge asked.

    ¡°Paranoia. I used to be a ENT doctor but after I got sick, I have this feeling there is something alien inside my body, I¡¯m feeling it now.¡± The man pointed at his ear and mouth. ¡°I feel like there is a snail crawling in my ear and there is a full syringe with drug inside my throat. I know these are just my illusion but the feeling is so real.¡±

    Combining that with the hospital¡¯s various action, the way Chen Ge looked at Doctor Gang changed. He felt like these things might really exist within Doctor Fang and they were not an illusion. Doctor Fang became more talkative at night, it was unclear whether he was desperate for a friend to chat with or he had felt better around Chen Ge.

    ¡°Brother Fang, do you mind if I look down your throat? You said you feel there is a syringe in your throat, what if it¡¯s true?¡± Chen Ge climbed up from his bed. Doctor Fang looked at Chen Ge withplicated expression. The fact that Chen Ge would say something like that proved that Chen Ge was also a mental patient but strangely enough, Doctor Fang felt concern in Chen Ge¡¯s words.

    ¡°Is this what they call a friendship between mental patients?¡± Doctor Fang silentlybelled Chen Ge¡ªa kind madman.

    ¡°Open your mouth.¡± Chen Ge moved to Doctor Fang¡¯s bedside. He looked into Doctor Fang¡¯s throat and his pupils narrowed involuntarily. The esophagus was like an endless ck hole, Chen Ge¡¯s gaze was sucked into it like his whole person was slowly being pulled into Doctor Fang¡¯s mouth. His consciousness kept falling, when the pupils were narrowed to its smallest, he saw a human face deep inside Doctor Fang¡¯s throat!

    Flesh enveloped that face, the face¡¯s eyes were closed and it was hidden deep inside the esophagus. There was a person inside Doctor Fang¡¯s throat!

    His body was pushed back. Chen Ge¡¯s eyes returned to normal and he looked at Doctor Fang in shock.

    ¡°Why are you looking at me like that? Is there really a syringe in my throat?¡± Doctor Fang sat at the edge of his bed, he was being stared at until his heart quivered.

    ¡°There is no syringe, but I did see a human face in your throat. He looks just like you with his eyes closed and face pale.¡± Chen Ge tried to gesture with his hands.

    ¡°There is a human face in my throat?¡± Doctor Fang first reacted with fear, then he shook his head, ¡°Looks like you are more serious than I thought, how can there be a human face in one¡¯s body?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s real.¡± Chen Ge did not argue on this point, he returned to his own bed and started to consider the Doctor Fang before him and the Doctor Fang in the throat, which one was the real Doctor Fang. The room returned to silent and neither of the patient spoke again.

    ...

    Sun fell on his face, Chen Ge had a good night sleep.

    ¡°The morning of this world sure is alluring.¡± Chen Ge mumbled something that no one understood, his eyes were glued to the theme park outside the window. Soon the door opened and Doctor Gao walked in with Xu Wan. He had not seen Doctor Gao for one night but thetter looked more worn than usual.

    ¡°Did you have any nightmare yesterday night?¡± Before even greeting Chen Ge, Doctor Gao cut to the chase, he seemed to be in a hurry.

    ¡°No, I slept soundly through the night.¡± Chen Ge hesitated before finally asking, ¡°Doctor Gao, why do you keep asking me that question?¡±

    ¡°A dream can often reflect a person¡¯s mental state.¡± Doctor Gao ticked on a document, that appeared to be Chen Ge¡¯s patient¡¯s record. There was a number behind the document, Chen Ge could not see the two digits in front of the number but thest digit was the Arabic numeral ¡®1¡¯.

 Chapter 1172 - The New Night Doctor, Doctor Sun (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1172: The New Night Doctor, Doctor Sun (2in1)</h4>

    Normally a patient¡¯s record did not have that many things to write, but Chen Ge¡¯s patient record was an exception, it consisted of several pages and the content of each pages appeared to bepletely different. Doctor Gao had been recording Chen Ge¡¯s condition daily. He seemed to sense Chen Ge¡¯s confused gaze on him so he put the patient¡¯s record unassumingly away. ¡°Chen Ge, I remember you told me a few days ago, you were very averse to the sense of fear. As long as you are wrapped in fear, you would feel incredibly anxious?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I did say that.¡±

    ¡°based on my observation, the reason behind the birth of your second persona was to share in your fear. You have lived in your own made up horror stories for too long, at that imagined world, other than yourself, everyone else is fake. You yourself know that deep in your heart, and to buffer the pain and uncertainty, so your mind came up with another version of yourself to take in the pain that you are unable to face, and that person is Xu Yin.¡± Doctor Gao sat on Chen Ge¡¯s bedside, it was hard to tell the doctor¡¯s real thoughts from the expression on his face. ¡°When you are living in your nightmare, or in other words, surviving in your made up world, Xu Yin has been protecting you, to prevent yourself from being harmed; but when you return to real life and your condition has started to get better, your second persona, Xu Yin became the biggest hurdle in your road towards recovery.¡±

    ¡°He is the problem on my road to recovery?¡±

    ¡°Under our treatment, you can now delineate between the real world and the imagined world somewhat but Xu Yin still does not possess that ability. He exists because of your imagination, your delusion is his whole world.¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s every word was meant to lead Chen Ge, ¡°When he wants to escape from this made up world, he would try his best to bring you with him so that you would not be able to escape as well. Perhaps, from his perspective, he was only trying to protect you but in reality, we know that he is only going to end up harming you.¡±

    ¡°Then what should I do?¡±

    ¡°Struggle free from his grasp that grips you. Leave him behind in your delusions and you step forward to embrace the light of the real world.¡± Doctor Gao stared into Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, there was a heavy fatigue in the doctor¡¯s eyes but deep inside his gaze, Chen Ge discerned aplicated emotion as well. That emotion confused Chen Ge, because in his memory, the Doctor Gao that he knew would not have expressed this kind of emotion.

    ¡°He will only appear when I am unconscious, I am unable tomunicate with him even if I want to.¡±

    ¡°That can be corrected. We can create a unique scenario where we can evoke him from your mind while maintaining your consciousness. This will be very dangerous so we need full cooperation from you.¡± Many things appeared to have happened at the hospital for the past few days, this gave Doctor Gao a sense of urgency. He appeared to wish to stabilize Chen Ge¡¯s condition as soon as possible, or at least do away with the second persona within Chen Ge.

    ¡°I am willing to cooperate with you. To be honest, I also wish to meet my second persona in person.¡± Once Chen Ge said that, Doctor Gao immediately shook his head. ¡°Do not have any curiosity towards him, do not trust anything that he might say. It has not been easy for us to help you walk out of your delusion, you must not let yourself spiral back into it again.¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s tone was very serious. ¡°We have spent almost a year in your treatment and we are about to reap the reward soon. This is the most crucial moment, if your conviction crumble now, then everything that we have done will be for nothing.¡±

    ¡°I understand, but how am I supposed to cooperate with you?¡±

    ¡°When the timees you only need to do one thing and that is to reject him from the bottom of your heart. Remember you have to tell him sincerely that you do not need his help anymore and you do not wish to be dragged down into that despairing dark sea again.¡± Doctor Gao put away the patient¡¯s record and stood up, ¡°If the reason behind his existence is only to protect you then he should be made to understand that his mission has already beenpleted, you do not need him anymore.¡±

    Chen Ge nodded silently.

    ¡°The treatment will be conducted this midnight, I will return to this room toe fetch you.¡± Chen Ge took out the medicine bottle and fed 3 pills to Chen Ge. ¡°You better take some rest now, tonight will be a very important night for you.¡± Pushing open the door, Doctor Gao left. Chen Geid in his best, working over the words that Doctor Gao had said in his mind. ¡°There has to be a reason why they have suddenly decided to adopt such a drastic treatment method. Some kind of ident must have happened. The hospital wants me to actively cooperate with them to destroy my second persona, this proves that with their own power, they are unable to temporary remove this second persona in a short period of time. Just what kind of existence is Xu Yin? When I faintedst time, I once saw someone standing behind him, he has volunteered to take on most of the curse and pain, how would someone like that even contemted harming me?¡± Chen Ge already knew what he should do. ¡°tonight is indeed a very important night for me.¡±

    Moving down from the bed, Chen Ge took a nce out the window. After bidding farewell to Doctor Fang, Chen Ge moved slowly to the cafeteria with the aid of his crutches. After having afortable meal, Chen Ge came to the garden outside the sick hall. After ensuring there was no one watching him, Chen Ge entered the garden. When he came to the chair that he usually upied, Chen Ge realized Zuo Han was already there, the young man appeared to be waiting for him.

    ¡°have you seen the notes?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then what do you n to do next?¡±

    ¡°I n to search for Zhang Wenyu¡¯s that might still be outside the hospital, they might retain the memory that has not been tempered by the hospital.¡±

    ¡°Do you need my help?¡±

    ¡°After tonight¡¯s midnight, Doctor Gao wants to conduct an intensive treatment on me, if something happens to me, you should escape from this hospital.¡± Chen Ge said with a smile on his face. Just from his tone, it was hard to believe he would be in any kind of danger that night.

    ¡°You mean I am to escape on my own?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you need to protect yourself first and foremost, there will be plenty of chances in the future.¡±

    ¡°What about your new roommate? Can you befriend him?¡± Zuo Han asked carefully.

    Chen Ge shook his head. ¡°He believes there are objects inside his body like snail and syringe. I looked down his throat and the result was I saw a human face inside his mouth, it was his own face.¡±

    ¡°There is a face inside his mouth?¡± Zuo Han sucked in a cold breath.

    Chen Ge and Zuo han spoke very quickly. In less than a minute, they had finished their conversation. Zuo han did not stay there for long. After they were done, he left immediately. After sitting for almost an hour on the chair, Chen Ge heard the rustling from the bushes. He walked towards it with the crutches under his arms, and then he saw the cute white cat¡¯s furry head among the bushes. ¡°Have you gotten fatter? Howe it feels like you have gotten rounder than before?¡±

    It had been two days since the white cat had seen Chen Ge. It bounded towards him and meowed continuously. Its dual-colored eyes were filled with concern. It brushed against Chen Ge¡¯s feet and then led Chen Ge to the edge of the fence. Even through the distance, Chen Ge managed to see Zhang Ya who was standing on the other side of the fence. Zhang Ya in a red dress gave a sense of familiarity to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you wille here every morning?¡± There was no trace of usation in Zhang Ya¡¯s voice, if anything, there was plenty of concern. But the girl herself had no idea why she would be so worried about someone that she did not really know.

    ¡°I thought you would note back here again.¡± Chen Ge walked to the side of the fence and he gripped the rusted fence links with both of his hands. ¡°Zhang Ya, I need a favour from you.¡±

    ¡°What kind of favour?¡±

    ¡°I need you to help him find people with the name of Zhang Wenyu inside the city.¡± Chen Ge lowered his voice. ¡°They are currently being sought after, the hospital has imed them as mental patients who have escaped from the mental hospital but actually they are not sick at all.¡± Studying Chen Ge who was in the patient¡¯s garb, Zhang Ya hesitated. After all, this was not a request that could be epted that easily. After all, from the perspective of a normal person, they had more reason to ce their trust in the hospital than a patient inside said hospital.

    ¡°You said they are being sought after?¡± Zhang Wenyu is not a single person? Is it a code for a group of people?¡±

    ¡°Yes, these patients have different appearance, age and even upation, the only thing that ties them together is that they share the same name, Zhang Wenyu.¡± Chen Ge looked at Zhang Ya seriously. ¡°You need to pay special attention to visitors whoe to visit the Haunted House. If they still retain their old memory, then there should be people among them who know about my rtionship with the Haunted House so there is a great chance that they might voluntarily go and approach you.¡±

    ¡°I do not quite understand what you are trying to get at.¡±

    ¡°You do not need to, you only need to ask them whether they still remember the real past and ask them about details regarding and try to find a way to send those information to me.¡± For the sake of security, Chen Ge added the following, ¡°if something happens to me, and I do not show up here for many days, then you should go and look for a young man called Zuo Han. He is a very clever person, he should know how to make use of these information about Zhang Wenyu.¡±

    ¡°Howe it feels like you are giving me yourst words?¡± Zhang Ya felt the mental patient before her was acting very strange, he kept saying these thing that made no sense but she did not have any sense of impatience at all, it was as if she could tell that he was telling the truth.

    ¡°I need to do something very dangerous tonight, honestly I do not know whether I will be able to meet you again or not.¡± Chen Ge prepared to leave after he had finished saying all that. ¡°Zhang Ya, remember what I said.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Zhang Ya suddenly said, she walked to the edge of the fence, this was the first time she was so close to Chen Ge. ¡°I have beening here for the past few days because I have something to ask you.¡±

    ¡°You have something to ask me?¡±

    ¡°After the day that we met, I had a dream that night, in the dream, the parents that I lived with were not my own parents, my real parents had gotten into a car ident. The day was my birthday and the car still had the birthday present that they had carefully wrapped and a birthday cake that they had just bought for me.¡±

    ¡°Zhang Ya¡¯s birthday present...¡± An inconspicuous fragment of memory was triggered at the corner of his mind and Chen Ge blurted out the following without thought, ¡°Is it a ballet dress?¡±

    After that, both Chen Ge and Zhang Ya were stunned. Both of them looked at each other in shock.

    ¡°How would you know that? I have not told anyone about this dream before!¡± Zhang Ya grabbed the fence with her hands as well. ¡°The dream was so real, when I woke up, I still had tears on my face. I know that was not my life but I could not control the tears from falling.¡±

    ¡°I have had simr dream before, but in my dream, my parents are the owner of a Haunted House but one day they disappeared and left me alone.¡± Chen Ge grabbed Zhang Ya¡¯s hands through the fence. ¡°The life that you are experiencing now is the dream that I once had. The reality that I want to escape now is actually your past.¡±

    ¡°Impossible, I have been staying with my parents for over 20 years already...¡±

    ¡°There is no need to rush. Just follow my instructions for now. Among those people named Zhang Wenyu, there should be some who know the truth.¡± Chen Ge released his grasp. It was much too easy to grab other people¡¯s attention if he stayed there for too long. He held the crutches and left in a hurry.

    ...

    The sun sunk down the horizon. The color of night enveloped the hospital and it wasplete darkness outside the window. Chen Ge had no idea what was the content of the treatment intended by Doctor Gao, he could only silently adjust his breathing, and try to ensure that he was in the best possible state to face this imminent challenge.

    ¡°For the past few nights, Doctor Gao was preupied with something else, I wonder what has he been up to in the nights? This is the first time I have encountered a treatment that has to be conducted after midnight. Is it possible that Doctor Gao in the day is a different Doctor Gao in the night?¡± Looking outside the window, Chen Ge was thinking when a sh of lightning crossed the night sky. In that moment, the lighting shattered the sky and then it was followed by rumbling thunder. The wind drifted into the room and caused the curtains to flutter. They pped against Chen Ge¡¯s face.

    ¡°A storm ising?¡± Ever since Chen Ge woke up, the sky had always been in a good weather. Every morning he would wake up to a warm sun, that was one of the good things that he could experience here. ¡°Could there be a reason behind this sudden change of weather pattern?¡±

    The rolling rain clouds gathered in the sky. A suffocating presence appeared within the heart of every patient. Doctor Fang leaned against the wall and bit on his own fingers. The edge of his lips were stained with blood but he did not seem to realize it. He kept mumbling something to himself. At around midnight, the door was pushed open and Doctor Gao walked in alone. Normally when Doctor Gao came to visit Chen Ge, he would bring the hospital workers with him. But tonight he hade alone, this discrepancy unsettled Chen Ge even more.

    ¡°The treatment room is on the fifth floor.¡± The trace of warmth that was normally in Doctor Gao¡¯s voice had vanquished. In fact, there was no emotion in his tone, it felt like all the emotions had been sucked out of his body.

    ¡°Fifth floor?¡± Chen Ge had been to the fifth floor before with Zuo Han. The ce only had rooms for patients with serious problems, there was no treatment room on that floor. Doctor Gao personally bound Chen Ge¡¯s wrist with the strap. He did not give Chen Ge the crutches, instead he supported Chen Ge as they walked out of the room together. Just as they were about to leave the room, Doctor Gao turned back to address Doctor Fang, ¡°Why don¡¯t youe with us, your illness has been dragged on long enough.¡±

    The hospital that night appeared to be different from usual. All the lights in the other sickroom had been switched off. The duty rooms and the nurse stations were all vacated. Chen Ge walked for a distance but did not encounter any other person.

    ¡°We are here.¡± Doctor Gao took out arge ring of keys from his pocket, there was a number written on each key. These keys should correspond to the number of the various sickrooms. Opening the door, Doctor Gao walked into the room. And then as if on purpose, Doctor Gao hung therge ring of key on the hook beside the door while he made sure Chen Ge was watching him. ¡°Why don¡¯t the two of you find a ce to sit first?¡±

    The room¡¯s light was not turned on. Chen Ge frowned as he scanned the room. The small room had seven chairs inside it and three of them were already upied. They were all wearing patient¡¯s garb so they should be patients at the hospital as well.

    Doctor Fang¡¯s shoulders were slightly quivering. He sought his way in the dark before settling in chair number one. Chen Ge looked around before finally deciding on chair number seven which was closest to the door. Of the seven chairs, chair number six and three were still empty.

    ¡°Two more patients who are supposed to receive treatment have gone missing so their empty spaces will be reced by me and another night doctor tonight.¡± Doctor Gao took chair number three. ¡°after that doctor arrives, we will start our treatment immediately.¡±

    10 minutester, the sound of footsteps came from the corridor and then came the knocking.

    Dong dong dong dong dong dong! The door was knocked on consecutively for six times.

    ¡°The door is not locked, pleasee in.¡±

    The door was pushed open. A doctor in a white coat walked into the room. After he saw the seat next to Chen Ge was empty, he went towards it immediately and sat down.

    ¡°This new night doctor who has just arrived has the surname Sun, you can call him Doctor Sun.¡± After making the simple introduction, Doctor Gao took out a bottle of medicine from his pocket. ¡°During the process of treatment, do not matter what happens tonight, do not leave the room. If one of the patients suddenly act up, I hope everyone else will help us to restrain them and then feed them with the pills.¡±

 Chapter 1173 - Cursed Game (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1173: Cursed Game (2in1)</h4>

    The fifth floor of the hospital was the floor for patients with serious illness. The windows were reinforced with wires and the doors were specially reinforced. ¡°It is now 12. 30 am, our treatment will start at 12. 44 am.¡± Doctor Gao opened the medicine bottle on the table. ¡°Before the treatment officially started, we need every patient to ingest a single pill. This is for your own good.¡± There were only 4 pills inside Doctor Gao¡¯s bottle. Minus the two doctors who did not need the pills, the medicine ran out just as it reached Chen Ge. cing the empty bottle on the ground, Doctor Gao took out a new bottle of medicine from his pocket. From the outside appearance, there was no difference between the two bottles of medicine.

    When Doctor Gao was unwrapping the bottle, Doctor Sun who sat next to Chen Ge took out a bottle of medicine from his own pocket, ¡°I still have some left overs on me.¡± He shook out a single pill from his bottle. The surface of the pill was pure white in color but if you looked closer, you could discern some very small ck lines on the surface. When Doctor Gao saw this, he reached out his hand to stop Doctor Sun, ¡°Chen Ge¡¯s condition has be much better, he only needs half of the pill.¡±

    ¡°Half of the pill?¡± Doctor Sun looked at Doctor Gao with confusion, the former should have been notified of the treatment process beforehand.

    ¡°Yes, he only needs half of the pill.¡± Doctor Gao tried to cover up his hesitation.

    ¡°That is different from what the hospital director wants.¡± Doctor Sun shook his head without any expression. ¡°Even though you are his main doctor, some decisions are still made by the hospital director.¡± He stood up and tipped the pill into Chen Ge¡¯s mouth. Chen Ge could feel the pill brush against his lips but the strange thing was Doctor Sun did not force feed him the pill. He only used his hand to cover his mouth, the pill was still squeezed between Doctor Sun¡¯s fingers. Doctor Sun took his hand back and Chen Ge subconsciously made a swallowing motion.

    The pills with the ck lines could make people go insane and lose their rationality, Chen Ge was very familiar with that. It appeared like Doctor Sun did not want to feed him that kind of people and even silently pulled one over Doctor Gao and the rest of the patients. This piqued Chen Ge¡¯s interest. Doctor Sun who sat next to him appeared to not want to harm him.

    [From the day I woke up inside the hospital, someone woulde to knock on my door every night. The knocking will correspond the amount of days I have spent inside the hospital. As if worried that I might lose count of the amount of day, the person wille to notify me every night. Yesterday night, they had knocked for five times so technically today, they should have knocked six times. Coincidentally enough, when this Doctor Sun entered this room earlier, he knocked on the door six times. Is he using this time of method to tell me that it was him who had been knocking on my door?] Thunder and lightning danced outside the window but the room was eerily quiet. The seven people sat around in a circle. Other than Chen Ge and the two doctors, the other patients had their heads titled downwards, as if they were asleep.

    [They should be given the normal white pills. The medicine bottle that Doctor Gao has ced on the table now should contain the pills with the ck lines.] Before the treatment started, Chen Ge already sensed something was seriously off. Based on what Doctor Gao said, if the any of the patient acted up, the other people had to help restrain them and feed them with the pills on the table. But clearly enough the pills inside the bottle on the table were not the normal white pills but the pills mixed with ck lines. Ingestion of those pills would only make the patients go even more out of control. If this kind of treatment continued, the final result would most likely be the patient who was force fed the pills would end up killing everyone else in the room in a bloodlust berserk. Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. He was suddenly reminded of a detail. When Doctor Gao entered the room, he casually hung the ring of keys next to the door as if encouraging the patients to reach of it.

    [being force fed the pills with the ck lines, the patient will gopletely out of control. After the patient kills every one in the room, they will take the ring of keys by the door and leave...] The more Chen Ge thought about it, the more unsettled he felt. If Doctor Sun did not help him, Doctor Gao would have fed him the pill with the ck lines, then he would definitely be the first patient to lose control. If that happened, he would get restrained by the other patients and be fed more pills with the ck lines which would only make him go even more crazier.

    The end result would be Chen Ge would end up killing all the patients in the room and used the key to start a manhunt of the other patients in the sick hall. If Chen Ge had done something like that, then his humanity would be grinded away, all of his determination would turn into a sin that he would never wash away. He would also lose the version of himself in the past forever.

    ¡°Now that every patient has taken the pills, I need you to remember the number on your own chair, that number will be your name from now on.¡± Doctor Gao removed his watch from his wrist and ced it next to the bottle of pills. ¡°At 12 midnight 44 minutes and 44 seconds, we will start the treatment.¡± All the patients and doctors looked at the clock face of the metallic watch. The room was very quiet and the only sound that remained was the ticking of the second needle. Tik tok, tik tok...

    When the needle passed a certain number, Chen Ge suddenly felt an indescribable drowsiness overwhelmed his mind. His eyelids became very heavy. He could not help himself from closing his eyes, but he soon realized he must not fall asleep now, he had to maintain his consciousness. Just as his eyes were about to close, he flipped them open again, the whole process took less than a second but in this one second, a huge transformation appeared to have happened inside the room. He could not pinpoint exactly what the change was, he just felt mildly ufortable, as if the room that they were now in was different from the room that they had entered earlier.

    ¡°It is now 12 midnight 44 minutes and 44 seconds, the treatment will officially start now.¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s voice became even more different than before. It was unfeeling and chilly like it came out of a dead body that had no emotion. ¡°All of you are patients that suffer from serious paranoia. I have called all of you here today because I wish tomit to a collective treatment. Do not worry, I will only y a mini game with all of you, you only need to make the choice that is most suitable for you in your heart.¡±

    Doctor Gao¡¯s voice carried no emotion. First he turned to Doctor Fang who was seated at the first chair. ¡°On the day of 1st April, you were working the night shift at Xin hai Central Hospital. Over the past few days something has been bothering you, you felt like someone was looking at you. At 12. 45 am, you stood up and walked to the window for the 17th time and looked outside the window.¡± Doctor Gao suddenly stopped and the silencested for a long time. And then he said while pointing at the window in the room. ¡°Go and look what is outside the window.¡±

    Doctor Fang who was fed the pill and his gaze was not so normal stood up from chair number one. With his hands on the wall, he moved to the window. When he pulled back the curtain, a sh of lightning crossed his face. It lit up the inside of the room as well as the space under the hospital.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Doctor Fang yelped from shock. His hands gripped the edge of the window tightly as if he was worried that he might fall over if he was not careful.

    ¡°You stood up and went to the window for the seventeenth time, and then what did you see?¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s tone did not change at all. At this moment, it felt like he was a dead body among a room of living humans.

    ¡°There is a madman who is constantly smiling at me from the ground, he is waving at me! He wants me to jump down the window to join him!¡± Doctor Fang uttered softly. When he spoke, it felt like he had difficulty catching his breath.

    ¡°Now there two choices ced before you, do you want to jump down to meet him or have hime up to find you?¡± The two choices given by Doctor Gao were easy choices for Chen Ge. They were on the fifth floor, if you jumped down the window, you would definitely die. Therefore to survive, the only choice was for the man toe up to get you. This was a question that one did not even need to hesitate over but Doctor Fang gave it a serious thought. Drops of sweat slid down his face. His body kept quivering. In the end, he did not make a choice. He slumped down on the ground instead. Doctor Gao did not say anything until Doctor Fang climbed up from the ground and hid behind the curtain to look out the window. The question Doctor Gao asked was, ¡°is the person still outside the window?¡±

    ¡°No, no, he is gone already.¡± Doctor Fang said with extreme fear. Then he moved back to chair number one. No one knew where the monster at the bottom of the building had gone. Doctor Gao did not force any more questions on Doctor Fang but Doctor Fang could not keep his gaze away from the door of the room as if he knew that the madman woulde knocking at the door at any moment.

    Doctor Gao moved his gaze to look at the second patient. ¡°at 12. 46 am, you havee to Xin Hai Central Hospital to investigate an old case. These past few days you have been searching for clues. In the end, all the information all points to this hospital. You are certain that the killer is hiding inside this hospital. When you arrived at the hospital, you looked up and you saw a doctor pull back a curtain in a panic.¡±

    Doctor Gao¡¯s eyes wandered between Doctor Fang and the second patient. ¡°Take a closer look, does that doctor look like him?¡±

    The patient who was seated in the second chair lifted his head. His face was pale and he looked much older than his actual age. The patient in the second chair stared for a long time at Doctor Fang, and then he eventually shook his head. Silence returned once more to the room. The sound of the mechanical watched kept on ticking in everyone¡¯s ears. After who knew how long, Doctor Gao addressed patient number 2 again. ¡°at 12. 47 pm, you have found a letter asking for help outside the hospital lobby. A boy¡¯s big sister was injured by one of the patients, the patient is hiding inside one of the many rooms. The description inside the letter is somehow simr to the case that you have been investigating. He kept the letter and entered the hospital.¡±

    The emotion of patient number two had started to fray. He shook his head mechanically as if he was unwilling to believe anything. ¡°Reach your hand into your sleeves, see if the letter is still there or not?¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s voice weaved between the ticking of the clock. The middle-aged man who was the second patient subconsciously reached his hand into his own sleeve and pulled out a crumpled piece of white paper. After seeing the content on the white paper, the patient number two pulled on his hair madly. His eyes were turning red like he could go on a rampage at any moment.

    ¡°What is the thing that is written on the letter?¡± Doctor Gao did not seem to care about patient number two¡¯s condition. Not even the tone of his voice had changed. Patient number two whose eyes were bloodshot ced the letter on the table. The whole letter was written fully with the two words, save me. The words should be written by a child. When he saw those words, Chen Ge felt a sense of familiarity in his word. He believed the handwriting was simr to his own when he was still a child.

    ¡°Now there are two choices before you, go into the hospital to save him or go into the hospital to kill him.¡± After saying that sentence, Doctor Gao stopped caring about patient number two anymore. Doctor Gao himself was seated on chair number 3 so now he turned his attention to the patient on chair number 4. A female patient sat on chair number 4. She looked weak and thin, the patient¡¯s garb was hanging loosely off her body.

    ¡°At 12. 49 am, you were attacked by a patient inside your little brother¡¯s sickroom. The person has strangled your neck.¡± Doctor Gao picked away the butterfly that was folded from a piece of paper from the grasp of patient number four. He pinched on the wings of the paper butterfly. He slowly gathered force and the paper butterfly¡¯s body was gradually being pulled apart. Seeing the butterfly being torn apart slowly by Doctor Gao, the patient number four looked like she was about to suffocate, it was as if Doctor Gao was not pulling on the butterfly but pulling on her neck. Blood drained from her face. Patient number 4 croaked out a desperate cry for help. She waved desperately at Doctor Gao but she did not possess the courage to grab the paper butterfly away from Doctor Gao.

    ¡°You are in extreme pain, you hope that someone will be able toe and rescue you but you do not dare to call for help because the killer said that once you utter a word, he will kill you and your little brother.¡± Doctor Gao ced the paper butterfly which was about to be torn apart on the table. ¡°Now there are two choices before you, one, you ram into the sharp knife the murderer is holding and call for your little brother to go and get help; or push your little brother against the tip of the sharp knife so that you can escape the room in themotion.¡±

    Patient number 4¡¯s breathing became urgent. She was seriously considering this question. Her face spoke of intense pain and difficulty. Caressing the wings of the paper butterfly, Doctor Gao turned to patient number 5. ¡°At 12. 50 am, you stood outside the door of a sickroom. The room was inhabited by the person that you love and his little brother.¡± Patient number 5 was about at the same age as Chen Ge. He did not like to speak. Both of his hands were callused, it appeared as if he was very good at making things.

    ¡°You hesitated for a long time before you finally decided to enter the sickroom to see her, but once you pushed open the door, you saw a madman holding a sharp knife attempting to kill the brother of the woman you love and the woman you love are pleading at the madman. There are now two choices before you. Grab the woman you love and bring her away; or rush into the room to fight against the madman and die on her little brother¡¯s behalf.¡±

    Doctor Gao watched the expression of patient number 5 closely. When he was about to move his eyes away, patient number 5 suddenly spoke. ¡°I will choose to go in to fight with the madman.¡±

    Of all the patients, patient number 5 was the only one who had really made a choice.

    ¡°Are you sure? You might die.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am sure because I have done something simr in the past before.¡± After patient number 5 sat that, he gone back into silence. He pressed his hands closely together and the small wounds on his palms were gradually leaking with blood.

    Doctor Gao finally turned to look at Chen Ge. ¡°At 12. 52 am, you held the sharp knife and pierced it into the heart of patient 5. After killing patient 5, you killed patient 4 and her little brother.¡± His finger reached out and grabbed the paper butterfly up from the table. Doctor Gao pulled suddenly and tore the paper butterfly into two. ¡°And then you rushed out of the sickroom with the knife still dripping with blood. You encountered patient number two in the corridor. After you murdered patient number 2, you saw patient number one inside the night doctor¡¯s office.¡±

    The sound of the mechanical watch echoed in Chen Ge¡¯s ears. Chen Ge¡¯s eyes started to blur. His hands gripped tightly at the edge of the table but his body started to stand up like it was out of his control. The mechanical watch on the table was still ticking. The time on the surface of the watch now showed that it was 12 midnight 51 minutes and 44 seconds.

 Chapter 1174 - Treatment that Has Gone out of Control (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1174: Treatment that Has Gone out of Control (2in1)</h4>

    Doctor Gao said that at 12 am 52 minutes, patient number 5 would be killed by a madman. When Chen Ge stood up from his seat, it was about 12. 51 am. The clock needle moved past every single digit, the ticking of the watch chimed in sequence with the beating of his heart. Everyone turned to look at Chen Ge, as if what he decided to do next would affect everyone. The memory in his mind slowly became blurry due to the sound of the mechanical watch. Chen Ge wanted to control his body but the more he wanted to do so, the more his body went out of his control.

    Green veins popped out on the back of his hands. Chen Ge¡¯s lowered head slowly lifted, his bloodshot eyes turned to focus on patient number 5. Chen Ge was at the edge of a mental breakdown, Doctor Gao also stared closely at him. As a doctor, Doctor Gao not only did not move to stop Chen Ge, he instead took out something that was wrapped insideyers of newspaper from his pocket. He ced the object on the table before Chen Ge. When the thingnded on the surface of the table, it gave a crisp tingling sound. Something heavy was wrapped inside the newspapers.

    Time was still moving. Chen Ge¡¯s consciousness gradually blurred. Now he was thankful that he did not take in the pills Doctor Gao was supposed to give him. If he had ingested the pill with the ck lines, with the incitation from the pills, he would not have been able to stop himself at all. The edge of his fingertips slowly moved along the table until Chen Ge¡¯s hand closed over the newspaper. Five fingers mped together. Fresh blood leaked out from Chen Ge¡¯s palm. The object that was inside the newspaper was very sharp. Blood soaked through the newspaper, turning it ck. Chen Ge gripped the object inside the bundle of paper tightly. Large amount of blood seeped out of his palm but the curious thing was he could not feel any pain at all.

    ¡°Why would my body react like this? I am sure that I did not take any pills, but I still cannot control myself. Is it the effect of Doctor Gao¡¯s watch?¡± The mechanical watch on the table still kept on working. The needle moved second by second. 12 midnight 51 minutes, 50 seconds, 12 midnight 51 minutes 51 seconds, the sound of ticking became louder and louder, so did Chen Ge¡¯s heartbeat. His chest rise and fell unevenly and small ck blood capiries appeared on his face.

    54 second, 55 second, 56 second!

    His hand that grabbed the newspaper could not help trembling. Chen Ge leaned his body forward. The figure of patient number 5 was reflected in both of his eyes.

    57 second, 58 second!

    At 51 minutes and 59 seconds, Chen Ge raised the object that was wrapped inside the newspaper. But just as he was about to swing the sharp object at patient number 5, there came a knocking on the room door. The knocking interrupted the ticking of the mechanical watch. This was the first time the expression had changed on Doctor Gao¡¯s unfeeling face. Both of his brows creased slightly.

    ¡°Hong!¡± The thunder screamed outside the window. Soon after that, beads of rain sttered against the window like it was trying to shatter through the ss. The storm ravished against the night. Many sounds drilled in Chen Ge¡¯s ears, he finally regained control of his own body. Doctor Gao picked up the watch to look at the time before cing it back on the surface of the table. Then he turned to address patient number 1 again, ¡°at 12. 52 am, you heard the knocking on the door you were in. You suspected it was the person who had been observing you who had arrived outside the door. You walked over to open the door.¡±

    ¡°Impossible! He could not have been standing out the door!¡± Doctor Fang stood up from his seat. His stood at the door with his quivering finger pressing against the room door. Uncertainty and anxiousness made Doctor Fang hesitate for a long time. Then he pushed the door heavily open!

    ¡°Hong!¡± The sound of thunder exploded in everyone¡¯s ears. The doctors and patients inside the room all turned to look at the corridor outside the door. At the dark corridor, there was no light at all. All the sickroom doors were shut as if they were the only few people left inside the whole hospital.

    ¡°I remember the light at the corner of the corridor should be on.¡± Chen Ge was slowly taking back the control of his body. He moved his arms and hid the hand that held the newspaper behind him. The newspaper was not wrapping a knife but the mirror piece with sharp edges. No one noticed what Chen Ge had done since their attention were all pulled to the corridor. The sickroom door was pushed open again. The hospital looked through the door appeared to be different from normal, if gave off apletely different feeling. If one had to describe it, the current hospital was more simr to the nightmare that had appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s night.

    Storm and lightning were roaring outside the hospital, like it was the end of the world but inside the hospital it was so quiet that one could hear the sound of a pin falling to the ground. The dark corridor looked like it reached endlessly into the darkness. The white walls now looked more like the pale faces of dead people.

    ¡°At 12. 53 am, you saw the corridor outside the sickroom, there was no one on the corridor. The once familiar hospital now became a bit more unfamiliar.¡± Doctor Gao stood up from his seat. He strapped the watch around his wrist. ¡°you are afraid in your heart, there is a voice inside your heart that reminds you to not leave the room no matter what. Do not bepelled by your curiosity because once you take a step forward, you might not be able to return to this ce anymore.¡±

    Just as Doctor Gao finished, the sound of a heavy object being dragged suddenly came from the empty corridor. It sounded like a fisherman had just dragged arge dead fish out from the water. Everyone was attracted by the sudden appearance of this sound. They all turned to the look at the corner of the corridor. The sound was getting closer and closer until eventually a human head poked out from the floor of the corner.

    ¡°Zhang Jingjiu?¡± When he saw the human head, the name immediately floated up in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. Since he arrived at the hospital, Zhang Jingjiu had warned him twice. The first time was at the garden, when Zhang Jingjiu grabbed him and shouted the word ¡®ghost¡¯ repeatedly at him. Because of that, Zhang Jingjiu was severely punished. He was locked up by the doctors on the fifth floor which was meant for patients with serious problem. The man seemed to have gone through plenty of inhuman torture as well.

    His second warning came when Zuo Han and Chen Ge explored the hospitalte at night. Zhang Jingjiu opened his lips and uttered the word boss with what appeared to be his dying breath. From all these factors, Chen Ge could confirm that Zhang Jingjiu must be rted to him, and he was definitely an ally and a friend from his past. At that moment, when Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s head appeared at the corner of the corridor, Chen Ge could not hold himself in anymore. The wall had blocked off Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s body so Chen Ge had no idea whether Zhang Jingjiu was lying on the ground because he had lost his mobility or the man only had a human head left.

    ¡°At 12. 54 am...¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s eyes scanned all the patients in the room. ¡°All of you have seen the killer, now there are two choices in front of you, to kill the killer or be killed by the killer.¡± After saying that, Doctor Gao started to observe the patients¡¯ reaction.

    ¡°Everyone has seen the killer? So that means the killer is inside this room with us?¡± The first person to return to normal was patient number 2. The middle-aged man appeared to have shaken off the effect of the medicine. His gaze slowly returned to normal, his eyes that were bloodshot stared fixedly at the human head at the corner of the corridor. The second person to return to normal was patient number 5. His eyes that turned to Chen Ge did not contain any hostility but only fear. ¡°Kill the killer or be killed by the killer? This is not even a choice at all.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you are trying to treat us?¡± Chen Ge grabbed the mirror piece wrapped in the newspaper and used his other finger to point outside the door. ¡°The things that happened inside the room were stories that were made up by you but there is a real ident that has happened outside this room. All of you have seen that head at the corner of the corridor right? Someone is really injured!¡± Chen Ge wanted to save Zhang Jinjiu even though he had forgotten his actual connection to Zhang Jingjiu.

    ¡°You really think all the stories that I have said earlier are all made up?¡± Doctor Gao lowered his head to look at his watch. ¡°Didn¡¯t you always tell me the stories that you have made up? Then do you think those stories are real or not?¡± Chen Ge had no idea what Doctor Gao was trying to express. His fingers tightened around the mirror piece and he prepared to leave the sickroom to investigate.

    ¡°I will go with you.¡± The patient number 2 who was the first to recover also stood up. He looked tired and old but his eyes were extremely sharp. He seemed to be in thew enforcement before he was sent into the hospital.

    ¡°Think about it carefully before you make your decision. After all, you only have one life. This reality is not a part of your imagination, you are not in the story that you have made up in your mind.¡± Doctor Gao stopped talking after saying that.

    Chen Ge was worried about Zhang Jingjiu. He held the wall and slowly moved towards the door. Even though patient 2 had decided to go with Chen Ge, he still maintained a safe distance from Chen Ge, as if he too was slightly afraid of Chen Ge. The two of them shuffled out of the room one after another. After they left the room, they realized things were definitely not right. The hospital was too dark. Not only the third sick hall, it was as if the lights at the entire hospital had been switched off.

    ¡°The hospital should have back up generators. If this is some kind of ident, at least the emergency lights should be on.¡± Patient number 2 walked ahead and he said in a serious tone. ¡°This is too strange. I have walked down this corridor many times already but howe it feels so oppressive tonight?¡± Chen Ge did notmunicate with patient number 2. He had a sense of familiarity from patient number 2 but in this circumstance, it was better to trust no one but oneself.

    Dragging the leg encased in ster, Chen Ge and patient number 2 reached the corner of the corridor. When he saw Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s body, Chen Ge¡¯s face darkened immediately. Zhang Jingjiu was lying at the corner of the corner. Both of his arms and legs were broken and they were arranged at a very curious angle. The loose patient¡¯s garb could not cover up the wounds on his body. The poor man¡¯s body was covered in boils and bruises, you could see the signs of needle injections all over his body as well.

    ¡°Zhang Jingjiu?¡± Chen Ge called his name softly. Perhaps it was Chen Ge¡¯s voice who had evoked Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s memory. He struggled to pull his eyes open. His lips moved as if telling Chen Ge to run as fast as he could. Holding Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s bloated hand, Chen Ge wanted to pick Zhang Jingjiu up from the ground but he was hindered by his broken leg and he was unable to aplish this.

    ¡°Let me help you.¡± Patient number 2 wanted to carry Zhang Jingjiu on his back. He grabbed Zhang Jingjiu by his shoulder and he was about to apply his strength when he suddenly realized Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s stomach and chest were both stained with blood, soaking through his clothes.

    ¡°Blood?¡± Patient number 2 immediately tore open Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s clothes. ¡°The wounds are very small but they reach very deep into the flesh. They look like wounds from a sharp knife but the edge of the wound is extremely irregr. There is a fixed distance between the five wounds, what could be the weapon? This is a very strange pattern.¡±

    Probably due to professional reason, the first thing that appeared in patient number 2¡¯s mind was various kind of possible murder weapon. Chen Ge gestured with his hands next to him and then his face paled even more. ¡°Number 2,e and take a look at this wound. Don¡¯t you think they are the result of being punctured by five fingers as they plunged into his body?¡± Before Chen Ge said that, everything was fine, but after he did say that, the way number 2 looked at him changed. It was very strange. The distance between each wound on Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s body matched the distance between Chen Ge¡¯s fingers perfectly. In other words, Chen Ge¡¯s hand could have perfectly matched the wound on Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s body, giving the feeling that this was a wound left behind by Chen Ge.

    ¡°What is going on here?¡± Doctor Sun was the third person to walk out from the sickroom. The other patients followed behind him, Doctor Gao was thest person to leave the sickroom. The strange thing was, after Doctor Gao left the room, he kept his eyes glued to his watch as if he was waiting for certain things to happen at certain moments.

    ¡°Someone is injured! He is losing a lot of blood, we need to send him to the emergency room now!¡± The patient number 2 gave Zhang Jingjiu a simple bandage of his wounds. ¡°The wounds are around his chest and stomach so we cannot carry him on our back. Hurry and find a stretcher! Someonee and help me support him!¡±

    ¡°The emergency room is at the fourth sick hall, I will bring you over there.¡± Doctor Sun did not waste time, he had patient number 5 and 2 picked up Zhang Jingjiu and he led the way forward. A human life was on the life. Everyone was desperate to save Zhang Jingjiu so they ran into a hurry. This meant that Chen Ge who had a bag leg was slowly left behind at the back of the group. He ambled right next to Doctor Gao. When he was forced to slow down, Doctor Gao would slow down with his as well, as if the man intended to stay at the back of the group too.

    ¡°Doctor Gao, what has happened to the treatment tonight?¡± The treatment was supposed to be carried out inside the room but as idents continued to happen, the treatment appeared to have gone out of control. Now Chen Ge could not even tell whether he was experiencing the treatment designed by Doctor Gao or something had really happened at the night. After all, it had not been a peaceful night at the hospital for the past few days. No matter what Chen Ge said, Doctor Gao did not open his mouth to reply. After thetter left the sickroom, other than asionally lowering his head to check the watch, he did not utter another world. In contrast, it was Doctor Sun who slowly took over the session, it felt as if the restrain that had been ced on him was pulled off.

    ¡°Doctor Gao?¡± Chen Ge pushed lightly on Doctor Gao¡¯s arm. Thetter lifted his expressionless face and directed an icy gaze at Chen Ge. The sound of ticking echoed in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. Even though a storm was roaring outside the hospital, the sound of the mechanical watch was still echoing clearly in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. [There has to be a special meaning behind this ticking sound, if there is a chance I should try to steal the watch away from Doctor Gao.]

    Chen Ge was walking next to Doctor Gao, and he quietly observed the other patients who had walked ahead. [Based on the stories told by Doctor Gao back inside the sickroom, there was a very great chance that I am the killer. In other words, I would have killed the other patients ording to the plot of Doctor Gao¡¯s story. The hospital has been trying to make me kill people and these people appeared to be already selected. Why would they do something like this, what can they gain from it? Are they trying to fill me with guilt?]

    With confusion in his eyes, Chen Ge then turned to Doctor Sun. [And what is with this Doctor Sun? Why would he help me? If the hospital want to submerge me in guilt, they will make me kill those who are close to me. If this Doctor Sun is rted to me, then howe my other friends have all been transformed into patients but he has somehow be a doctor at this hospital?]

    Chen Ge could not understand the reasoning behind this at all. He also did not dare to dive too deep into this just in case he triggered his past memory. ¡°O well, I guess the only thing I can do is to take it one step at a time.¡±

    After walking down the corner of the corridor, Chen Ge silently turned back to nce at the ¡®treatment room¡¯ that they had left. There appeared to be still 7 people sitting inside the room that they had just vacated.

 Chapter 1175 - Brain Maze (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1175: Brain Maze (2in1)</h4>

    When Chen Ge and the rest left the treatment room appeared to still have seven people sitting in them. The seven people appeared to look like Chen Ge¡¯s group. He rubbed his eyes. When Chen Ge tried to take a closer look, Chen Ge felt a yank on his arm. He turned to look and it was Doctor Gao who was pulling him to the other corner of the corridor. ¡°Perhaps I have mistaken?¡± 5 patients and 2 doctors had already exited the treatment room, so how could there still be seven people inside the same room?

    [Or we are still inside the treatment room? The thing that has exited the room is actually our consciousness or soul?] Chen Ge shook his head to deny this thought because it was too impossible. Currently he did not dare to turn back to investigate it on his own so he followed the rest of them and continued to move forward. The most important thing now was to send Zhang Jingjiu to the emergency unit and try to stabilize his condition.

    Doctor Sun, Patient Number 1 and Patient Number 2 walked at the front of the group. They found a stretcher at the nurse station. They carried Zhang Jingjiu and moved down the stairs. Patient number 4 appeared to be very afraid. She was still holding the torn paper butterfly as she kept hiding behind Patient Number 5. With just a nce, it would appear that everyone was acting perfectly normal. Without the patient¡¯s garb, no one would have believed that of the 7 people there, there were 5 of them who were suffering from serious mental illness.

    [I have been to the fifth floor before. The patients at the serious treatment zone are noisier than the everyone else. Even at 1 am, this floor should be incredibly noisy but now, there is not even a whimper that could be heard throughout the floor. Have the patients been moved away from this ce already?] The only answer that came to Chen Ge was this. He did not think someone could have killed all the patients and he did not think the killer was capable of silencing all the mental patients. [Unless the killer was a doctor and he had fed all the patients with arge amount of sleeping pills tonight.]

    Chen Ge turned his head to nce at Doctor Gao, he felt Doctor Gao was turning into a stranger before his eyes. [It is this man who wants me to go insane, it has been twice already he wants to give me the drug that will make me lose control, but howe a doctor like this will give me a sense of familiarity? Is it possible that the Doctor Gao in my memory is not simr to the Doctor Gao currently before me?]

    To prevent himself from identally triggering the memory from his past, Chen Ge carefully arranged the clues in his mind, [There were seven chairs in total in the treatment room earlier, that should not be a random number. The chairs were so many for a reason.] The few patients and doctors carried Zhang Jingjiu to the first floor. There was no one to be found at the nurse stations or duty rooms. The whole block was swallowed by the darkness, it was as if the hospital had been abandoned for a long time already.

    ¡°What is going on here? If it is just a simple loss of electricity, there should still be plenty of patients inside their room!¡± Patient number said urgently. He was worried about Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s injury and at the same time, he felt the hospital that night was filled with strangeness everywhere.

    ¡°When I entered the treatment room, everything was still perfectly normal.¡± Doctor Sun walked at the front to lead the way. He was moving very fast like he was trying to escape from something.

    ¡°We have been in the room for at most several minutes only, it is impossible that everything has changed so drastically in such a short amount of time!¡± Patient Number 2 was still quite rational even though the diagnosis that the hospital had given him was that he suffered from delusion.

    ¡°Yes, this is too strange!¡± Patient Number 5 was very afraid too but he still stood firmly beside Patient Number 4. If there was any actual danger, he would bring Patient Number 4 away with him at the first notice. The few patients kept grumbling, perhaps he was annoyed by their endless question, Doctor Sun who walked at the front of the group suddenly stopped. He turned back to nce at Doctor Gao. After he made sure that Doctor Gao was now like a dead man, with no expression on his face, Doctor Sun¡¯s eyes wandered over to Chen Ge. ¡°Actually there is a ghost story at this hospital. ording to legend, if you push open a door at the hospital after midnight, you will be able to see the other side of the hospital!¡± When Doctor Sun said that, he kept his eyes on Chen Ge as if the statement was meant for Chen Ge to hear and process.

    ¡°Push open the door and see the other side of the hospital?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    ¡°Doctor Sun, are you really a doctor at this hospital?¡±

    The patients bombarded him with questions but Doctor Sun did not reply any of them. It was as if by saying the statement earlier, he had already taken a huge risk already. For the patients, this was the first time they had met Doctor Sun, and the only person who knew about Doctor Sun¡¯s real identity was Doctor Gao, but thetter was acting very strangely at this moment. Not saying a word, his body temperature continuing to drop, to give it a more urate description, Doctor Gao was slowly turning into a dead man before their eyes. The patients had many questions but none of them was going to get any answer. The doors and windows of the hospital were closely shut. They had nowhere else to run so the only choice they had was to keep on following the doctor and moving forward.

    Pushing open the door that led to safety corridor of the third sick hall, two dark and long corridors appeared before Chen Ge. He had been to this ce with Zuo Han before but back then, he was ying the character of his second persona.

    ¡°Move quickly, do not stay inside the corridor for too long.¡± Doctor Sun chose the corridor that Chen Ge did not pick thest time. Doctor Sun kept urging them so even Chen Ge who was at the back of the group had started to pick up speed. When they had entered the safety corridor, the door on the other end of the corridor behind them closed with a bang on its own.

    ¡°There is someone following behind us?¡± Chen Ge now was getting more and more confused, there were too many unanswered questions. First they had encountered Zhang Jingjiu who was heavily injured. Then after they had supposedly left, Chen Ge realized there were still seven people sitting in the treatment room. Now the door behind them had closed on its own, a proof that people were following behind them. Chen Ge who had not fully recovered felt the splitting headache was about toe again.

    ¡°This is the fourth sick hall. All of the patients with terminal illness and heavy conditions will be transferred here.¡± Doctor Sun swept a nce at Chen Ge and added as if casually, ¡°Many people have lost their lives here.¡± No one understand the meaning behind Doctor Sun¡¯sst statement. The doctor did not appear like he was going to provide any exnation either, he only tried to move faster. The electrical system at the whole hospital appeared to have gone down for the night, they could only borrow the temporary brightness provided by the flickering lightning from outside the window to move forward in the darkness. The fourth sick hall had apletely different internal structure than the third sick hall. There were not that many sickrooms that were avable for patients. The ground floor was upied mostly by various medical rooms.

    ¡°There is no one at the duty rooms at this sick hall as well.¡± Patient Number 2 said desperately. ¡°We need to stop the bleeding on this patient as soon as possible or else he will be in mortal danger!¡±

    ¡°Why are all the pictures on the wall of the duty room at the fourth sick hall are of that of males?¡± Doctor Fang looked at the faces on the wall and subconsciously took a step back.

    ¡°How is that a strange thing? Is it that weird that they are all males?¡± Patient Number 5 asked softly.

    ¡°I used to be a surgeon. There was a period of time when many of the patients at our hospital were attempting suicide, it caused a lot of pressure on the staff. To protect the female doctors, we only assigned male doctors when we were deciding the night shifts.¡± After exiting the treatment room, Doctor Fang had failed to calm down. He would asionally nce behind him for no reason as if worried that there was someone about to harm him who was hiding behind the nearest corner.

    ¡°You used to be a surgeon?¡± Patient number 2 was startled and then he turned to tell Doctor Sun, ¡°We have a surgeon among us, so it does not matter whether there are people in the duty room or not. Now we only need some tools and we can help save this patient¡¯s life.¡±

    ¡°But I was a ENT doctor...¡±

    ¡°It will be fine. I am a forensic doctor and thus know a bit of surgery skill, I will be able to help you.¡± Patient Number 2 did things quickly and swiftly. Even though he was not that much older than Patient Number 1, he was proven to be more adept at dealing with emergencies. Doctor Sun looked at the various patients and he only said lightly, ¡°Follow me.¡±

    Walking down the dim hospital corridors, Doctor Sun stopped before a surgery room. He did not enter it but did something quite out of the ce considering the circumstance. He raised his arm and Doctor Sun knocked lightly on the door. The number of times that he knocked? It was perfectly six times.

    When Doctor Sun knocked on the door, Chen Ge felt the temperature around him suddenly dropped. It was as if the world had decided to drop his disguise and to reveal his real self. But soon, the tick tock of the mechanical watch drilled into his ears again and nothing around him had changed. After knocking on the door, Doctor Sun did not enter the room. He just stood outside the room without speaking and did not push open the door.

    ¡°The door is locked?¡± Patient 2 was worried. He went over to push on the door of the surgery room and the door was pushed open easily. ¡°Quick, carry him in here!¡± Patient Number 2 did not notice the strange way Doctor Sun was acting but Chen Ge watched all of this with his eyes. The few patients carried Zhang Jingjiu into the room. Just as they prepared to ce Zhang Jingjiu on the bed in the emergency room, they realized there was a human-shaped stain left on the bed. It was ck red color that had faded away. It was unclear whether it was blood or something but it had carved out the shape of a human being perfectly.

    ¡°It feels like someone who was bleeding out had upied this bed in the past.¡± Chen Ge stared at the bedsheet with both of his eyes. Before he could take a closer look, Patient Number 1 and Patient Number 2 had already ced Zhang Jingjiu on the bed. Then they proceeded to look through the various cupboards in the room to look for medical instruments. They worked for quite some time before they managed to help Zhang Jingjiu stop his bleeding.

    [Their mannerism and actions are so professional, they do not look like mental patients at all.] Chen Ge observed the proceeding silently from the side. He noticed more and more strange things happened around him. That feeling got especially stronger after Doctor Sun showed up. [Doctor Gao who had turned into a seemingly dead person had a death hold on him so that I would not be able to wander too far away from me. Doctor Sun who had been acting strangely kept giving me multiple hints like he is trying to tell me something. The two doctors appeared to have gotten into an argument because of me. This is strange. Howe it feels like this whole world is constructed with me as the central character?]

    Two patients who were formerly doctors were trying to provide the best treatment to save Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s life but the real doctors were standing outside the door to watch. This scene wrapped Chen Ge in a sense of absurdity. Inside this hospital at midnight, who truly was the patients and who was the doctor?

    The grasp on his arm got tighter and tighter. Chen Ge frowned as he turned to take a look. He realized Doctor Gao¡¯s fingernails had practically dug into his flesh. ¡°Doctor Gao?¡± Chen Ge waved his arm but Doctor Gao did not respond in any way. He only clutched onto Chen Ge tightly, refusing to let him go no matter what. [Why would he do something like this?]

    Doctor Gao who was like a dead person beside Chen Ge seemed to have sensed something. The facial expression on his frosty face was slowly changing. Just as Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s condition was slowly stabilized, there was another sound of a heavy object being dragged that came from outside the emergency room.

    ¡°There are other victims here!¡± Chen Ge looked out the door. There appeared to be another person standing inside the corridor meeting his eyes.

    ¡°Who is that?¡±

    [The hospital wants to make me go insane, their original n is to have me kill everyone who are rted to me. For example Zuo Han and Zhang Jingjiu, this means that the patients who receive the treatment with me tonight should be people that are rted to me as well. But there is a detail that I should not forget. There were 7 chairs but there were only 5 patients. Doctor Gao said that the other two patients had gone missing. If these two patients were people that I know as well, then the higher chance was that something had already happened to them and not because they had gone missing. One of the victims was Zhang Jingjiu, the other was most probably Zuo Han.] With this thought in his mind, Chen Ge¡¯s heart wrenched with pain.

    Coincidentally, just as Chen Ge walked out the room to take a look down the corridor, a sh of lightning crossed the sky. The blinding white light shot through the windows installed with security wires and lit up the corridor in that instant. Chen Ge¡¯s eyes slowly widened. With the light from the lightning, he finally had a clear look of that figure standing at the end of the corridor.

    ¡°Doctor Sun?¡± There was another Doctor Sun standing at the end of the corridor. His white coat was covered in blood, his hair was tussled, and blood wasing out from every orifice. But there was an exaggerated smile on his face!

    The light from the lightningsted for less than a second and the corridor outside the emergency room sunk back into darkness again.

    [Doctor Sun is the killer? There are two Doctor Suns?] Chen Ge felt like someone had muddled his brain. He could not even tell that whether he was currently inside a nightmare or whether he was still in the real world. [Doctor Sun inside the emergency room had mentioned a door earlier. He said that if you opened open a door at midnight you would be able to see the other hospital, could there be a Doctor Sun both inside and outside the door at the hospital?] His mind reached this conclusion naturally but when that thought stuck to his mind, that heart-wrenching pain returned again. A growl escaped from his throat. Chen Ge gritted on his teeth. Initially it was Doctor Gao who held onto his arm tightly but now it was Chen Ge who was hanging onto Doctor Gao¡¯s arm. Thetter¡¯s arm was twisted into painful shape by Chen Ge but the expression on Doctor Gao¡¯s face had not changed. It was as if after they left the treatment room, Doctor Gao was no longer a doctor but he had turned into a dead body without self consciousness.

    [I must not faint now. This ce is too dangerous. The Doctor Sun in the dark is slowly approaching, he might reach here at any moment.] Chen Ge tried his best to m the door of the emergency room close. But the enclosed space not only did not bring him any sense of security, it only amplified the horror assaulting his heart.

    ¡°What did you see outside?¡± It was unclear when Doctor Sun had materialized beside Chen Ge. A question abruptly left his lips.

    ¡°When the lightning crossed the sky, I saw someone standing outside the corridor, he was covered in blood.¡± Chen Ge did not say that the person had the same face as Doctor Sun.

    ¡°he was covered in blood?¡± Doctor Sun appeared to be reminded of something, ¡°Does he have a fixed smile on his face?¡±

    Looking into Doctor Sun¡¯s eyes, Chen Ge did not know how to answer anymore. If he said that he saw the figure was smiling constantly, then it would prove indirectly that he had seen the killer¡¯s face and he knew what the killer looked like. After giving it some thought, Chen Ge decided to nod in the end. ¡°Yes, he is smiling like he cannot stop. And I realize he looks very simr to you.¡±

    ¡°I know what you are afraid of. That man is not me, he is the ghost at this hospital.¡± The smile on Doctor Sun¡¯s face was slowly morphing to mimic the smile of the ¡®ghost¡¯ outside the room. ¡°Do you believe in the existence of ghost in this world?¡±

    ¡°I feel like many people have asked me that question before.¡±

    ¡°Then do you know what kind of ghost is the scariest?¡± Doctor Sun appeared to be trying to help Chen Ge but at this moment he was really looking very scary.

    Hearing Doctor Sun¡¯s voice, a figure with a red dress floated up in Chen Ge¡¯s mind as if on instinct. He answered as if hypnotized. ¡°A ghost in a red outfit is the scariest.¡±

    ¡°That is not correct.¡± Doctor Sun¡¯s voice slowly lowered. He pointed at Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. ¡°A ghost with warmth in his eyes is the scariest.¡±

 Chapter 1176 - Cursed Hospital (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1176: Cursed Hospital (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    ¡°Ghosts with warmth inside their eyes? Doesn¡¯t that mean that they are still human and not ghost?¡± Chen Ge had problem wrapping his head around Doctor Sun¡¯s words.

    ¡°Doctor Sun! Do you guys have an antibiotics here?¡± Patient Number 2¡¯s voice travelled out from the emergency room. ¡°We have just bandaged up the patient¡¯s wound and stopped the bleeding but the wound on the front of his chest suddenly worsens and it is now pouring with an exorbitant amount of pus!¡±

    ¡°The wound suddenly worsens?¡± Chen Ge also ran over, he had a feeling everything would not have been so coincidental. When he entered the room, he saw the bandage and various objects that littered the ground. At that moment, Zhang Jingjiu was still lying unconsciousness on the operation table and his chest had stopped heaving.

    ¡°He is still alive but he has lost his consciousness. However, if we allow his wound to continue to spread, then I worry he will not have any chance to survive tonight.¡± Patient Number 2 gasped greedily for air. His hands were filled with blood and it looked incredibly scary.

    ¡°Why would his injury suddenly worsen?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea, probably because the wounds that he suffered went a bit too deep.¡± Doctor Fang stood next to the operation table wearing his gloves, he looked very professional. ¡°I need distilled water to clean the exterior wounds and Povidone to help with the disinfection. By the way, there are some ck threads stuck inside the flesh around his wounds. They are probably the signs of infection of some kind of bacteria. If we have to treat him, we will have to do it at a sterile environment.¡± Doctor Fang¡¯s head was covered in sweat. ¡°I have not done simr surgery before and we do not even have enough tools here. We still professional surgeons toe do this!¡± Then he turned to Doctor Sun and Doctor Gao. ¡°We should postpone our treatment for now, it is far more important to rescue this patient¡¯s life!.¡±

    ¡°It is pointless for you to turn to me. Me and Doctor Gao are both psychologists, our knowledge of surgical medicine is even poorer than you. How about this, we will go to the other sick hall now and if we are lucky, we might run into other night doctors.¡± Doctor Sun suggested casually.

    ¡°I suppose that is the only thing we can do. He is not able to move. Number 2 and I will stay here to watch over him, the rest of you should go and look for other night doctor.¡± Doctor Fang and patient number 2 tried their best to help ease the pain on Zhang Jingjiu but without any professional tools, there was only so much they could do. Without a suitable medical device and surgical environment, they did not dare to apply any cut on Zhang Jingjiu. If it caused the infection to spread, then they would definitely im Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s life.

    ¡°We are going to split up?¡± Patient Number 5 thought this was not a good idea. ¡°The killer is still inside the hospital, if we split up now, we will get taken down by him one by one.¡±

    ¡°This patient cannot wait anymore. If we carry him with us, it will only slow us down. The best solution is to temporarily ce him here, that will also help with his condition.¡± Doctor Fang considered everything from the perspective of a doctor first. His teacher kept installing in him a theory in life and that was to help anyone that he could. If there was a chance for a rescue, he should do everything within his power to help them, that was in the oath when he took up his upation as a doctor.

    ¡°Number 1, have you seriously considered this?¡± Patient 5 was not afraid of death, if anything he appeared to be more concerned about Patient number 4¡¯s safety. ¡°You have to understand not only this patient is in a situation of life and death, every single one of us is the target of the killer. To save the life of a person who might not survive, we are going to put the lives of all the survivors on the line, do you think that is worth it?¡±

    ¡°What kind of risk he has put you under? We are only going to temporarily split up, part of us will go look for medicine, doctors and help while the rest will stay here and guard.¡± Patient Number 2 groused with impatience. ¡°There is probably just one killer and there are seven of us. There is no reason for us to be afraid of him.¡± Patient number 2 appeared to be used to deal with different kind of horrid and scary criminals in his past so he did not show any trace of fear, if anything he was anticipating to capture the killer.

    ¡°Three of us will stay behind while the four of us will go out to look for medicine. Number 1 is the only one with medical knowledge to tell how the patient is doing so he has to stay here. Doctor Sun and Doctor Gao know about theyout of this hospital so one of them will have to join us.¡± Patient number 2¡¯s mind was sharp and clear, it did not feel like he was a mental patient at all. In just a few minutes, Patient Number 2 had decided the teams. Chen Ge, Doctor Sun and Doctor Gao as well as Patient Number 2 would go out in search of medicine and other night doctors while Doctor Fang, Patient number 5 and 4 would stay back to look over Zhang Jingjiu.

    ¡°Please move faster. The wounds are already leaking pus, the speed by which the wounds are worsening is a bit ridiculous.¡±

    ¡°Lock the door, and we will return as soon as we find the other doctor.¡± Actually in the beginning, Patient Number 2 did not intend for Chen Ge to leave because his leg was encased in ster. But Doctor Gao and Doctor Sun refused to leave without Chen Ge, in fact they were insistent that they were not to be separated from Chen Ge so Patient Number 2 had no choice but to allow Chen Ge to leave with them . Opening the door of the emergency room, Chen Ge¡¯s mind was instantly upied by the image of the other Doctor Sun, he knew the person was just hiding in the dark, perhaps right at that moment, he was even watching them.

    ¡°The things that Patient Number 2 need is at the fourth floor but I do not suggest we go to the fourth floor. For the sake of security, we better go to the other sick hall to look.¡± Doctor Sun¡¯s statement was very strange. It sounded like it was purposely phrased that way so that people would ask more questions.

    ¡°Why can¡¯t we go to the fourth floor? Are all the doors locked?¡± Chen Ge decided to take the bait.

    ¡°The hospital director¡¯s office used to be at the fourth sick hall on the fourth floor. But after the first hospital directormitted suicide, the newly appointed hospital director had moved his office to somewhere else.¡± Doctor Sun said calmly but his words had provided a lot of information for Chen Ge.

    ¡°The first hospital director at this hospital hasmitted suicide? At this very hospital?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s interest was piqued even further.

    ¡°Yes, this incident is a taboo at this hospital, very little people will bring it up.¡± Doctor Sun lowered his voice. ¡°This hospital used to be the biggest hospital at Xin Hai and it was built at the newer part of the city. But for some unknown reason, people kept dying inside the hospital. Initially the deaths were mostly limited to people who died from medical incidents, and patients with terminal illness but soon after that, cleaners and general workers started to go missing andstly it were the nurses and doctors.¡±

    ¡°They were probably murdered then?¡±

    ¡°if they were murdered, then most of the things would not have added up.¡± Doctor Sun said cryptically. ¡°Each of the victim had a clear reason of death, most of them died from suicide but a very small part of the victims had their bodies gone missing.¡±

    ¡°you make it sound so scary.¡± Chen Ge felt chills running up his arms. Doctor Gao who was next to him had body temperature which was very low, it felt like he was now a walking dead body.

    ¡°The truth is far more scarier than I am describing it.¡± Doctor Sun walked adjacent to Chen Ge. ¡°I remember the first victim that should not have died was found at the fourth sick hall. Technically speaking, it should be categorized as a medical incident. The patient¡¯s family came to the hospital threatening to sue, the surgeon in charge was so scared that he went hiding inside the morgue. The hospital director came out personally to mediate the situation with the family, in the end, he finally got the family members to leave but when they came to the morgue to find the doctor, they realized he was already dead.¡±

    ¡°The doctor has died? What was the cause of death?¡±

    ¡°The autopsy given the Xin Hai Police Station was suicide. The crime scene also looked like a suicide. The doctor used the cloth that was meant to cover up the dead body to make a noose and hang himself on the beam over the door.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it a bit too rash to determine the cause of death as suicide based on that little observation?¡± Chen Ge felt there was a bigger problem behind this. But since the police worked on evidence, everything should be based on facts.

    ¡°Actually it was not that surprising that the doctor chose tomit suicide. He was living not that happy of a life. Combine that with such a serious medical incident that he had caused, the man had nothing else to live for. He came from no background, and thus he would most likely lose his job and get ordered to court. With such a great pressure on his shoulder, it was quite easy to imagine why he had chosen the decision he did.¡± Doctor Sun appeared to be finding excuse for the doctor¡¯s death.

    ¡°Anyway, the second victim was a night nurse. The surveince video showed that she had been lying at the duty room all night, she maintained the same posture throughout the night. When the nurse from the morning shift came to check up on her, they realized her body was already cold.¡± Doctor Sun was telling these incredibly scary things but his voice and expression did not change at all. It was like he was just telling a normal story. ¡°The double incident with the doctor and the nursepelled the hospital director to call for an emergency meeting. However, he did not intend to solve this problem from its basic at all, but instead he nned to suppress all these news. The first hospital director had his own reason for doing so, I believe it has to be rted to the fact that at the time the government was pouring money into setting up this newer part of Xin Hai. If everything has gone sessfully, the new city where Xin Hai Central Hospital was situated would be much more advanced and popted than the old part of the city.

    ¡°In reality, we cannot really pin the me on the first hospital director. They had more than enough reason to believe that the victims have died from suicide. Therefore, when you consider they have made all these decision on the basis that the victims had allmitted suicide, the fact that they hade to these decisions were quite normal and reasonable.¡± Doctor Sun, Chen Ge and Doctor Gao walked side by side down the hospital¡¯s dark corridor. Patient Number 2 followed behind them with his brows creased heavily together.

    ¡°The third ident happened to a male hospital worker. He had gone insane when he was patrolling the rooms and he jumped down from the window of the corridor. No one knew what he had seen in the corridor that day. This confused the police as well, just what kind of things he could have seen that might have scared an adult male so much that he decided to jump out the window.

    ¡°The atmosphere inside the hospital gradually became stranger. The doctors and nurses who knew the truth were afraid for their lives. Even though the hospital director wanted to keep everything under cover, the strange stories still eventually reached the ears of the patients. Coincidentally enough, the fourth victim was a patient who was living at the hospital.¡± At this point, Doctor Sun turned to take a look at Chen Ge. ¡°The patient was staying at the third sick hall. He suddenly went insane at midnight, he imed there was a ghost hiding under his bed and in the middle of the night, he demanded the night doctor to switch room for him. The doctor naturally rejected his request. But he could not allow the patient to cause such a big ruckus in the middle of the night. So after feeding the patient some medicine, the doctor stayed in the room with the patient until he drifted away into sleep. And then the doctor left.

    ¡°What the doctor did not anticipate was not long after he left, the patient would crawl up to the rooftop of the building and then jumped down. Now that the patient had died, the hospital wanted to push the me fully on the doctor but the doctor felt wronged. Because normally the door to the roof would be locked but for some reason, it was left unlocked that night.

    ¡°The fifth victim was this hapless doctor. He wanted to investigate who opened the door to the rooftop that night. The hospital only installed the camera at the corner of the corridor. The doctor recorded everyone that had appeared at the corner that led to the rooftop that night. ording to rumor, he stayed until veryte that night to watch all the tapes. To clear his own name, the doctor was very serious. In the end, he did find something on the surveince tape. On the night the patient jumped off the roof, there was someone in a red shirt that appeared in the corridor and he was heading up the stairs.

    ¡°But do you know what the scariest thing was?

    ¡°The doctor could only find the footage of the person in the red shirt going up the stairs but he failed to find any evidence of him returning back from the roof. There was only one way that led to the hospital rooftop and it was through this corner. The doctor was stumped. He looked at the time on the surveince tape, even until after the patient had jumped off, the person in the red shirt still had not came down the stairs.

    ¡°In other words, when the patient jumped off the building, the person in the red shirt was at the rooftop, in fact he was probably standing next to the patient. The doctor finally found the real killer, he had made it his mission to find this person. He sat inside the surveince room and focused his attention on the footage. He wanted to see when that person would leave the rooftop and where he had went after he left. But the thing that slowly worried the doctor happened. He had looked through all the surveince footage but the person with the red shirt did not appear to havee up from the roof until now!

    ¡°The doctor started to panic. He kept on consoling himself, perhaps he had missed it or perhaps the man had escaped through the blind spot of the camera. Even though that was what he thought, the doctor kept flipping through the surveince channel. He was freaking out but in the end, he did find the figure in the red shirt on the surveince monitor. The person was standing behind him. The moment the monitor turned dark, the doctor saw himself and the red shirt behind him. The doctor gone insane. He repeated this discovery to everyone that he encountered but no one was willing to believe him. In the end, he was found dead inside the trash chute at the fourth sick hall.¡±

    Doctor Sun did not appear like he was just telling stories, it was as if he wanted to impart more knowledge onto Chen Ge through these things.

    ¡°The sixth victim was the hospital worker who found the doctor¡¯s body. He was a verymon person, there was nothing too wrong with him but there was nothing that stand out about him either. The night he found the doctor¡¯s body, he returned to the hospital for some unknown reason and the next day, his own body was found inside the same spot inside the same trash chute. In an extremely short amount of time, there were six consecutive victims. The hospital director could not hide this anymore. He gave the order to seal up the trash chute and the sickroom where the patient stayed. He even welded the door to the rooftop shut. He thought that would solve all the problem but who would have known he would be the seventh victim.

    ¡°The death of the hospital director was still a mystery. He returned to his office after dealing with all the admin work like usual but he did note out from his office after that. The next day, the doctors found the hospital director¡¯s body inside the director¡¯s office. He spent the whole night, writing the character ¡®death¡¯ in blood on all the surfaces of the office.

    ¡°No one knew why the hospital director would suddenly go insane. Everyone was specting whether it had to be a curse that had befallen the hospital because that was the only way to exin all the strange phenomena. How else would one exin the urrence of so many creepy and scary things in such a short period of time.¡± Chen Ge thought Doctor Sun would end then. He was about to say something when suddenly Doctor Sun looked at him with a piercing gaze, it was as if Doctor Sun was trying to look through him.

    ¡°The hospital director was the seventh victim, since then, the number 7 became the unluckiest number at this hospital. Once 7 people entered the hospital at the same time, then all seven of them would be cursed and they would die one after another.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it a bitte for you to tell me about all these now?¡± Chen Ge felt the Doctor Sun before him was both familiar and unfamiliar. ¡°Counting the two doctors, there are seven people in total that walked out from the treatment room earlier.¡±

    ¡°Think about the cause of death for the seven victims, it should be immensely helpful to you.¡± Doctor Sun turned his head around. The wounds on his neck and cheeks were slowly splitting open.

 Chapter 1177 - Jar of Heart (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1177: Jar of Heart (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    There were 7 dead bodies in the hospital in the short amount of time. Each of them constituted a strange death but there did not appear to be a conspicuous thread tying them all together. [Doctor Sun purposely reminded me to pay attention to their cause of death but there is not any big problem just from their cause of death, or Doctor Sun is trying to tell me that there are actual existence of ghost in this world through the stories of these seven unfortunate victims?] Chen Ge had too little information and he was unable to retrieve too much information from Doctor Sun¡¯s stories so all he could do for now was to memorize the details of these stories in his mind for now.

    The lightning continued to sh outside the hospital, the storm was like a desperate patient in and of itself. The windshed at the windows, the rain fell constantly on the roof, the sound echoing non stop in everyone¡¯s ears.

    When the four people came to the mouth of the corridor that would lead them to the fourth sick hall, Doctor Sun stopped posing Chen Ge any questions, instead Doctor Sun led Chen Ge directly down the corridor. After they entered the corridor, Chen Ge¡¯s heart started to race, in fact his heart was pumping so fast that he felt like he was having trouble breathing. His mind kept repeating the stories that Doctor Sun just told him for some unknown reason. [The doctor who was looking through the surveince saw a strange character in a red shirt in the corridor before. After that person gone up the stairs, she never came down again. This night is proving to be a strange night, I wonder if the few of us will run into her tonight.]

    Theoretically speaking, this was something very scary but once Chen Ge considered the possibility of that, he only felt his heart race even faster and an indescribable feeling started to overwhelm his person. It was veryplicated. Instead of fear, it felt more like curiosity and excitement.

    [Curiosity kills the cat, I have to calm down first. There is no need to get ahead of myself.] After they reached the second floor, Chen Ge noticed there was a ragdoll that had lost its head sitting at the corner of the corridor that turned into the staircase. The doll was hand made. The body was torn apart and the opening exposed the ck and red colored stuffing inside.

    ¡°Why is there such a thing at the hospital?¡± Chen Ge was about to go over to take a look at it when someone pulled on his clothes. Chen Ge turned around to look and realized it was Patient Number 2. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Why are you still so courageous even after you have broken a leg? Do not wander off from the rest of the group, we need to stick together.¡± Patient Number 2¡¯s voice was filled with concern. It was clear that he really did have Chen Ge¡¯s best interest at heart.

    ¡°Alright, I was just going to over to take a look.¡± Chen Ge had no idea why but his power of sight was incredibly good. Even in the darkness, he could see many things incredibly clearly. Perhaps this was caused by some kind of eye disease or at least that was what Chen Ge told himself. When they reached the corner, Chen Ge¡¯s brows slowly locked together. There appeared to be animal organs stuffed inside the ragdoll¡¯s body, it looked quite disgusting.

    ¡°Do not get too close to it. There was a pregnant woman who registered at the hospital before. Due toplication during childbirth, the child died during the surgery. The mother survived the surgery but it was hard to say it was a good thing. She slowly lost her mind and for that she was transferred to the third sick hall. During her period there, she had been searching for her own son.¡± Doctor Sun exined as he started expressionlessly on the ragdoll on the ground.

    ¡°You mean to say this ragdoll is left here by that pregnant mother?¡±

    ¡°Other than her, I cannot imagine anyone else would do something like this. Actually I pity her conditions. Perhaps because of the trauma, she refuses to admit the fact that her child is already dead, she kept on telling the people around her that her child is still alive and they are just around her. They will even crawl into her bed andy beside her pillow at night.¡± Doctor Sun dragged Chen Ge away from the decapitated ragdoll.

    ¡°Then does that mean that she suffered from delusion?¡± Chen Ge asked. He felt like he could empathize with thedy.

    ¡°Yes and no.¡± Doctor Sun turned back to give him a smile. ¡°The woman¡¯s condition is very simr to yours. She refused to take our treatment because perhaps she understood well inside her heart that once she was cured, she would not have the chance to see her own child again.¡±

    ¡°How does that mean that her condition is very simr to mine?¡± Chen Ge could not understand it. He did not pine for any lost child thest time he checked.

    ¡°If the sacrifice for bing better is to wipe outpletely the stories that you have made up for yourself in the past, forget everything and everyone that existed in your stories, would you have voluntarily received the treatment?¡± Doctor Sun dropped the question in a casual but Chen Ge had a feeling that this was some kind of test. Chen Ge gave it a serious thought for a while. In the end, Chen Ge did not answer it, he did not want to expose the true thoughts inside his mind.

    ¡°Regarding these patients that refuse to be treated from the very beginning, no matter how hard the doctors tried, it would be pointless. The condition of the mother became more and more serious. She would often tore out pieces of the bedsheet or the curtain and made them into simple dolls. And then she would ce the dolls at the corner of the stairs. For some reasons, she believed this would bring her child back to her. Until now I still could not understand the reasoning behind it. How could the ragdolls have helped with the return of her child? Would the child be attracted by the ragdolls and thus came searching for their mother or the dead child would upy the dolls¡¯ bodies and came back to apany their mother?¡±

    ¡°No matter which of the circumstance it was, I do not think we should have aversion to this ragdoll. Even though it looks scary, it possesses the lingering spirit of that pregnant mother.¡± Chen Ge dragged his broken leg and stood before the ragdoll. What he said stunned Doctor Sun and Patient Number 2. They did not know how to react for a brief moment.

    ¡°You are pitying the mother?¡± Doctor Sun asked to confirm.

    ¡°it is not really that. Let analyse this from a more rational perspective. What has the mother done wrong in her position? Even if the child has turned into a ghost, is that the child¡¯s fault?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s way of thinking was obviously different from the doctors. ¡°They are both victims, the real culprit is the ones who have killed them.¡±

    ¡°You mean to say this tragedy is caused by the doctor?¡± Once Doctor Sun uttered that statement, Doctor Gao who had been acting like a walking zombie slightly frowned.

    ¡°No, I am not saying it is the doctor¡¯s full responsibility, but it must have been rted to him somehow. So many things have happened at this hospital, no one could have guaranteed that nothing has interrupted the doctor during the surgery.¡± Chen Ge looked at the headless doll that sat at the corner of the staircase. ¡°There is no debt without creditors, if it is trying to look for a closure, then it will have to do with something inside the hospital has done.¡±

    ¡°Are you trying to reason with a ghost?¡± Patient number 2 also could not understand the various actions done by Chen Ge so far.

    ¡°I cannot tell for sure whether there are ghosts in this world or not, I am just voicing my own opinion.¡± Chen Ge moved his eyes away. ¡°The hospital will be cleaned every day in the morning, but the ragdoll still appeared here at the staircase. This meant that the pregnant woman might still be alive. That proves that there are other survivors inside this hospital, this should be a good news for us.¡±

    ¡°The pregnant woman died on the third month during her treatment. When she passed away, we found a closet filled with ragdolls inside her room.¡± After Doctor Sun dropped this bomb, both Chen Ge and Patient Number 2 were stumped.

    ¡°She is no longer here? Then who ced the ragdoll here?¡± Patient Number 2 still refused to admit there was ghost in the world. ¡°Only the doctors would know about the pregnant woman¡¯s story, the killer is mimicking the pregnant woman, does this mean that the killer is a doctor?¡± Then he turned his usatory gaze at Doctor Sun, honestly he suspected Doctor Sun a lot.

    ¡°When Zhang Jingjiu was injured, Doctor Sun and Doctor Gao were in ourpany. Even if the culprit is a doctor, it is not either of these two doctors.¡± Compared to believing the killer was a doctor, Chen Ge felt a higher possibility that it was a baleful spectre. During the argument, the group arrived at the second floor. The empty corridor was pasted with the pictures of many doctors, this gave Chen Ge a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu.

    ¡°The hospital used to honor the best doctors and those who had been awarded by hanging their pictures at the corridor. Xin Hai Central Hospital originally used a lot of money to hire many famous doctors, I suppose you could say this is a kind of advertising method. The intention of the hospital wasing from a ce of good but after the idental death of one of the doctors, the hospital thought it might not be such a good idea to keep the doctor¡¯s picture on the wall anymore so they removed his picture from the wall. But one night, when a nurse was on night duty, she realized the doctor¡¯s picture, which was supposed to have been removed from the wall, was hanging back on its original ce.

    ¡°She studied it for a long time. And then she came to a scary conclusion. The picture of the doctor on the wall was not showing the original picture of the doctor but the much paler countenance of the same doctor as if it taken after he was dead. She reported this to her superior. The leader assigned the hospital workers to stay at the corridor to watch over any kind of incident but the scary picture never appeared again.

    ¡°At the time, this became a scary rumor at the hospital. The leader gave the nurse a long notice to stay at home for her to rest. Just as everyone thought this was the end of everything, the doctors who had their pictures hung on the wall had idents happen to them one after another. After that, the hospital removed all the pictures from the wall and made a decision to stop hanging a living person¡¯s pictures on the wall anymore.¡±

    After hearing Doctor Sun¡¯s exnation, Chen Ge was even more confused. ¡°You said the hospital had made the decision to show hanging the doctor¡¯s pictures, so what are these? Why are there so many pictures on both sides of the walls? Are you telling me someone came to purposely hung all of them on the wall in the middle of the night?¡±

    ¡°Like what I have told you earlier.¡± Doctor Sun pointed at the door of the sickroom beside them. ¡°After you walked through a doctor, the world inside and outside of it will bepletely different. You are still inside the hospital but it is no longer the same hospital. By the way, there is one more detail that I want to tell you. The picture of the first doctor that appeared on the wall, that was the same doctor who performed the surgery on the pregnant woman.¡±

    There had to be a reason why Doctor Sun purposely stressed on this detail. Chen Ge ruminated on it and then he realized most of the victims at this hospital had interacted with other victims before. Their deaths were probably not identally but instead they were made to be looked like some kind of ident.

    ¡°We better do not stay here for too long.¡± The lightning shed and lit up the many pale faces on the two sides of the wall. In that moment, Chen Ge had a scary realization that it was not simple pictures that were looking down at them. The group hurried all the way to the fourth floor, Doctor Sun was still the one who led the way. ¡°I remember the storage room for the emergency store of medicine should be inside the seventh room.¡±

    The corridor of the fourth floor appeared to have been long vacated. Most of the rooms here were locked and some of the locks had been rusted shut. ¡°After the incident to the first hospital director, basically the fourth floor of the fourth sick hall has been abandoned. Normally the doctors and nurses will rather take a long detour than cross this ce.¡±

    ¡°is this ce that scary?¡± Chen Ge realized he was desensitized to the sense of fear.

    ¡°Well, there used to be a cleaner who did not believe in these things. He chose to do his job during thete afternoon when there were not that many people at the hospital. In the end, he saw someone held something in the corridor of the fourth floor corridor and was writing something continuously on the wall. He recognized the white coat the person was wearing and thus assumed the person was a doctor. But when he got closer, he realized the person was holding his own broken finger and was repeatedly writing the character death on the wall.¡±

    ¡°So the cleaner encountered the death hospital director?¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡± Doctor Sun¡¯s voice turned chilly. ¡°But do you know something even scarier that happened after that?¡±

    ¡°The cleaner also died from an ident not long after that?¡± This was already the best conclusion that Chen Ge coulde up with.

    ¡°The cleaner resigned from the hospital. But he could not survive without money for long. Therefore, he went to work at another smaller private hospital. On the seventh day he worked at that private hospital, he died inside the office of the hospital director but the curious thing was his cause of death was simr to the first hospital director here. In fact when the police arrived at the scene, they entered an office that was filled with the character, death. Not long after that, the private hospital closed down due to the bad publicity. The rted admin of the hospital had gone missing and most of the doctors and nurses from that hospital, ording to rumors, had stopped working in the medical field.¡±

    ¡°How could this sound like some kind of curse to me? The origin of the curse is this hospital and everyone with the curse will keep spreading the misfortune unless they will never be able to leave the hospital.¡± Chen Ge realized how preposterous he was sounding. ¡°To use the hospital as the medium for curses and turn a ce to save people¡¯s lives as the source of tragedy, the person behind this curse is truly a scumbag of the century.¡±

    ¡°Curse? Misfortune? Your power of imagination is too strong.¡± Patient Number 2 shook his head. He did not agree with Chen Ge¡¯s opinion. From his perspective, the cause of all the strange things was human being. But he was not going to get into an argument with Chen Ge, after all, Chen Ge was a mental patient.

    Trailing the wall, Chen Ge followed the two doctors as they entered the corridor of the fourth floor. Initially there was nothing wrong but after walking for about 10 seconds, Chen Ge suddenly felt there was something out of ce. The corridor did not look that long, one could see its end with a nce but they had been walking for 10 seconds already, they still had not reached the end of the corridor.

    ¡°This is strange.¡± Chen Ge stopped moving. The rest of the three turned to look at Chen Ge with confusion, their gazes were questioning why did he stop.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°None of you notice this?¡± Chen Ge pointed at the door beside them. ¡°This is already the second time this sealed door appeared beside us! We appeared to have been walking in circle.¡±

    Once Chen Ge said that, it hit Patient Number 2 on his head. ¡°Indeed, I felt like we have been walking for a long time already too. I thought it was my mind ying tricks on me because I was too nervous.¡±

    ¡°The reason might be this door.¡± After hearing the story about the first hospital director, Chen Ge was greatly interested in the hospital director¡¯s office. He was curious to see how this room with lots of secret would look like. Before the two doctors could stop him, Chen Ge pushed on the door of the director¡¯s room softly. Who knew the door would be left unlocked. A stinging stench drifted out from inside the room. Patient Number 2 held his nose with his hands, even doctor Sun and Doctor Gao took a step back. Only Chen Ge stood dumbly at the door. His nostrils twitched. Chen Ge took in a deep breath. The suffocating stench triggered the memory in his mind as numerous scary thoughts shed across his mind.

    ¡°I have smelled this stench somewhere else before!¡± He was certain of that fact. His brain pulled up the memory whether he liked it or not, the pain started toe for him again. Holding the edge of the door, Chen Ge gritted his teeth as he forced himself into the hospital director¡¯s office. He looked at the death character that filled the room and it felt like his brain was being pried apart by a pair of invisible hands.

    ¡°I am very familiar with this stench! I have smelt it at the edge of death before! Whenever I smell this stench, something bad is bound to happen!¡± Leaning against the frame of the door, Chen Ge forced himself to stay conscious. He forced his eyes to open and finally located the source of the stench. In the middle of the desk inside the office, there was a ss jar. And inside the jar sat a heart that was curled around with ck threads.

 Chapter 1178 - A Madman who Uses Ghost Story to Deal with Curse (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1178: A Madman who Uses Ghost Story to Deal with Curse (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    ¡°After the hospital director¡¯s demise, his office has been kept the way it was?¡± The people outside the doctor were filled with confusion. Other than Chen Ge, including the two doctors, no one dared to enter the room. Currently Chen Ge was in a very bad state. The memory rted to the stench in his mind started to loosen, pieces of memory fragments sted to form many different images in his mind.

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t stay in there alone! It is too dangerous!¡± Patient Number 2 was worried about Chen Ge¡¯s safety. He slowly approached the hospital director¡¯s office, but when he reached the door, his body refused to enter the room. It was as if every cell in his body was resisting him, like they were certain he would die if he dared to ventured into the office.

    In the brief clearing of his mind, Chen Ge heard the voice of Patient Number 2, but his nervous system was already swamped by the intense pain and torment. He started to lose control of his body. Under the dual torture of pain and the stench, he toppled headfirst onto the hospital director¡¯s desk. His hands held the surface of the table. Chen Ge¡¯s face that was twisted by pain almost crashed into the ss jar ced on the table.

    ¡°Whose heart is this?¡± His breathing came rapidly as his chest rose and fell. As the pain within Chen Ge intensified, the heart that was wrapped by numerous ck threads started to pump inside the ss jar. It was like Chen Ge¡¯s own heart, every beating was pulling along Chen Ge¡¯s nerves. ¡°Could the heart inside the ss jar be mine?¡±

    Chen Ge realized the frequency of the beating of his own heart and the one inside the ss jar was slowly starting to line up. He stared at the ss jar closely as if his soul was about to get sucked into the jar itself. Indescribable pain and despair poured freely into the man¡¯s body. The world before his eyes started to swirl. The multiple character of deaths amplified before his eyes, it was as if they had alle alive. Chen Ge wanted to wave his arms to resist but his body and nerves were at the edge of a breakdown, he had difficulty to even nudge a single muscle in his body.

    ¡°Being trapped inside the room filled with the word, death, howe this experience feels so familiar to me?¡± A memory bubbled up in the darkest corner of Chen Ge¡¯s memory. A mud statuette carved with Chen Ge¡¯s name at the chest was shoved inside an altar that was filled with the character, death by someone. What Chen Ge was experiencing now was simr to the mud statuette that was carved with his own name. But he was not trapped inside any religious altar but he was instead trapped inside the dead hospital director¡¯s office. ¡°Someone has ced a curse on me!¡±

    The flickering memory helped Chen Ge confirm that someone had once ced a curse on him but due to various reason, the person had failed. But now he had triggered the curse again. The man himself had no idea why he could be so familiar with these things that should not bemon to a normal person at all. Both of his hands slowly moved. Chen Ge¡¯s gum was bloody from the heavy gritting of his teeth. He reached out to hug the ss jar on the table. The initial n was to break the ss jar to see if that would break the curse but to his surprise, when both of his hands touched the ss jar, the ck threads that was stuck to the heart crawled out from the heart and they started to bang against the ss jar itself. It felt like they were trying to break through the ss to enter Chen Ge¡¯s body.

    The ss jar started to splinter and crack. The stench in the room intensified. Chen Ge¡¯s consciousness was failing. He used thest vestige of his energy to shove the ss jar to the edge of the table. The ck threads mmed against the ss. The crack kept spreading. Just as the ss jar was about to shatter, deep red striations appeared inside the heart. These red blood vessels twined together and weaved out the face of a child inside the heart.

    The child screamed. As if to prevent the child to escape from the cage of the heart, the ck threads immediately wrapped themselves back around the heart and stopped attacking the ss jar. Chen Ge witnessed the whole process. Be it the ck thread or the child¡¯s face that appeared inside the heart, this was definitely different from the ¡®real¡¯ world that Doctor Gao was convinced they were in. He looked at the child¡¯s face inside the heart rather confusedly. For some reason, the face reminded of himself when he was small.

    ¡°The heart that was kept inside the ss jar belongs to the young boy?¡± The pain in his mind faded away by quite a lot. Chen Ge copsed beside the desk and gasped hungrily for air. The hospital director¡¯s office had returned to normal. Even the stench in the air had lightened greatly.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± it was not until now that Doctor Sun ran into the office. He squatted down beside Chen Ge with his back to the door.

    ¡°Do I look like I am alright to you?¡± Just as Chen Ge tried to speak, he started to cough uncontrobly.

    Doctor Sun looked at Chen Ge quietly. He pointed at Chen Ge¡¯s finger and then said something very strange. ¡°Before the patients are admitted into the hospital, their personal effects will be kept in the fifth sick hall. There is a wedding ring inside your cupboard.¡±

    ¡°Wedding ring? But I am not yet married...¡±

    ¡°Indeed, you are not married, so why would you have a wedding ring on you?¡± Doctor Sun had a big smile on his scarred face, it radiated relief. He was facing away from the door so only Chen Ge could see the expression on his face at that moment. ¡°If you can sessfully escape from the hospital, remember to put on the wedding ring, I believe it is very important to you.¡± Chen Ge felt like Doctor Sun was a bit different from before. He tried to think closer about it. Ever since they left the third sick hall, Doctor Gao had been holding onto his arm while Doctor Sun had an icy disposition towards him. But after thetter entered the hospital director¡¯s office, Doctor Sun suddenly smiled at him, this waspletely different from how he had been acting up until now.

    [Is this because Doctor Gao is not inside the hospital director¡¯s office with us?] Chen Ge slowly discovered the difference between Doctor Sun and Doctor Gao. At this moment, Doctor Gao was more like a walking dead body while Doctor Sun was getting more and more humanized.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, it is not wise to stay too long inside the hospital director¡¯s office. This ce has witnessed too many tragedies.¡± Doctor Sun picked Chen Ge up from the ground. He supported Chen Ge as they were leaving the room when Chen Ge suddenly stopped. ¡°Wait a minute.¡± Chen Ge turned around and picked up the ss jar that was left on the desk. He hugged it in his chest.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Doctor Sun took in a cold breath and subconsciously moved away from Chen Ge who was carrying the ss jar as if the ss jar was something incredibly dangerous.

    ¡°I want to bring this thing with us.¡± Chen Ge knew the ck threads around the heart might im his life at any moment but he still insisted on bringing this thing with him because he felt like the face that was hidden inside the heart was very important to him.

    ¡°Do you know what is that? The stories that I have told you before, do you really think they are just mere stories?¡± Doctor Sun¡¯s expression changed immediately. He knew how scary the ss jar was but due to certain reason, he was unable to divulge more information.

    ¡°I know this thing is very dangerous but just because of how dangerous it is, there is more the reason for me to carry it with me.¡± Chen Ge answered seriously.

    ¡°What kind of twisted logic is that?¡± Doctor Sun started to suspect Chen Ge¡¯s condition had worsened again.

    ¡°Actually I did not n to take this thing with me at the start but the stories that you have told me changed my mind.¡± Chen Ge hugged the ss jar and his eyes fixed directly at the heart inside it. ¡°This hospital might really be haunted. Against ghost, we have no defensive mechanism against them but that will change if we bring this with us. If a ghost really appear, we can use this ss jar to whack them.¡±

    ¡°Whack them?¡± Doctor Sun¡¯s brows were pleated together. He asked with uncertainty. ¡°Are you serious?¡±

    ¡°of course. The thing that was left at the crime scene of the first hospital director¡¯s death has to be cursed somehow but you have to understand one problem. Carrying this with us might cause our death but running into a ghost will certainly kill one or more of us.¡± Chen Ge hugged the ss jar as he headed towards the exit. ¡°The choice between the two is clear. I personally want to see whether this ss jar is more dangerous or a ghost encounter is more dangerous.¡± A ghost is an immaterial thing but the ss jar was corporeal and surprisingly hefty. Chen Ge wanted to use something a actual person could touch to deal with a flitting ghost, this n had stunned and confused Doctor Sun.

    ¡°you... might really be a madman.¡± Doctor Sun¡¯s statement appeared to have a double meaning to it but Chen Ge did not appear to grasp it. Of course, in Chen Ge¡¯s condition, even if he did understand it, he would pretend otherwise.

    ¡°I am already sick but I will try my best to cooperate with your treatment.¡± Chen Ge was being so kind and friendly that it was quite scary in this moment. Seeing Chen Ge carry the ss jar out of the hospital director¡¯s office, Doctor Gao who was like a walking dead not only did not reach out to grab Chen Ge¡¯s arm, he even voluntarily stayed away from Chen Ge and maintained a three metres distance from him. Neither of the two doctor was willing to stay close to Chen Ge. Even though Patient Number 2 had no idea what was going on and why the doctors were acting that way, he cleverly chose to stay away from Chen Ge as well.

    ¡°Why did you decide to bring that heart specimen with you?¡± Patient Number 2 was not averse to human organs but he was just worried that this was kind of sick hobby that Chen Ge had.

    ¡°Specimen?¡± Chen Ge looked at the living heart inside the ss jar. He felt like the appearance the ¡®heart¡¯ had in everyone¡¯s eyes was different. ¡°Doctor Sun said the hospital might be haunted. So I am bringing this ss jar that is left behind by the dead first hospital director, I suppose you can say I am trying to fight venom with venom.¡± Patient Number 2 could not wrap his head around Chen Ge¡¯s reasoning at all. He very astutely stopped this conversation with Chen Ge but turned to address Doctor Sun. ¡°Where is the storage room for the medicine that you have mentioned? We have reached the end of the corridor but we still have not encountered any such room!¡±

    ¡°I must have remembered wrongly. After the strange death of the first hospital director, many doctors refused toe to this floor to take the medicine anymore so the hospital has moved the medical storage room to the fourth floor of the fifth sick hall.¡± Doctor Sun said very casually.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Patient Number 2 sensed a big problem with Doctor Sun, then again he did not trust Doctor Sun that much from the beginning. Chen Ge also noted the strangeness Doctor Sun was acting, it appeared as if Doctor Sun did not care about the survival of the other people, the reason he said the medical storage room was on the fourth floor was probably to lure Chen Ge to the hospital director¡¯s office. Saving the other patient was just another reason for Doctor Sun to aplish his own goal, the only thing that the doctor cared about appeared to be Chen Ge alone.

    [Is it possible that as long as I am fine, everyone else will be safe?] Chen Ge already realized the discrepancy between this ce and the normal hospital. Doctor Sun had mentioned a ¡®door¡¯ earlier, in his memory, ¡®doors¡¯ were very special ces. [Other than myself, the other patients will not really die even if they die here?] Chen Ge shook his head to chase this thought out of his mind. He was not willing to experiment with Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s life to prove his suspicion. If they failed to find the medicine, Zhang Jingjiu might perish at any moment. Doctor Gao refused to say a word like he was already a dead person so Chen Ge and Patient Number 2 had no choice but to ce their trust in Doctor Sun¡¯s words.

    They followed Doctor Sun¡¯s instruction and ran from the fourth sick hall to the fifth sick hall. Along the way, Doctor Sun had told Chen Ge even more strange tales that had happened inside this hospital. When they rushing over, some incidents that could not be exined by science happened inside the hospital as well but thankfully no one was harmed. The strange things never approached Chen Ge¡¯s group, they only shed past somewhere very far away.

    They finally arrived at the fourth floor of the fifth sick hall. This time, Doctor Sun was not lying to them, they did find the medical storage room there. But of course things did not go that smoothly. Tapes were stered on the door of the room next to the medical storage room. Blood was still leaking out from the gap at the bottom of the door, so it was impossible to ignore it.

    ¡°This room with the tapes was the office for the second hospital director, he was once the vice director at this hospital. He had seven children. After the demise of the first hospital director, he was given the position temporarily to take over. But unfortunately, on the seventh day of his new posting he had mysteriously disappeared, he was not found until today.¡± Doctor Sun stood next to the door as if encouraging Chen Ge to go in to take a look.

    ¡°The second hospital director went missing on his seventh day on the job? Looks like there is a big risk to bing the hospital director of this hospital.¡± Chen Ge avoided the blood stain on the ground. ¡°I am very curious, how many hospital directors this hospital has had?¡±

    ¡°Including the temporary directors, there are seven hospital directors in total, the seventh hospital director is the unluckiest.¡± Doctor Sun answered every question that Chen Ge had.

    ¡°Why is the seventh director the unluckiest? He had the most painful death?¡±

    ¡°Because he is still working at the hospital until now.¡± Then Doctor Sun raised his finger to knock on the door. Whenever the knocking echoed around them, the ticking that came from Doctor Gao¡¯s watch would weaken by a lot.

    ¡°Can I go in to take a look?¡± Chen Ge hugged the ss jar with a heart and pushed open the door of the second hospital director¡¯s office. The room was sparsely decorated, nothing stood out about the room in first ss. But after entering it, Chen Ge was assaulted by that horrible stench again. He rummaged through the items inside the room and finally found a ss jar on top of a bookshelf. This time the jar contained the facial organs of a person. Eyes, nose, ears and other organs were suspended inside a liquid bath filled with ck threads. The strange thing was when Chen Ge approached it, the pair of eyes turned to look at him.

    ¡°Why the second hospital director also has jar inside his office?¡± Chen Ge questioned as he reached out towards the ss jar but he was stopped by Doctor Sun.

    ¡°Do not touch anything inside the room.¡± Doctor Sun whispered. ¡°you can only look with your eyes and memorize them in your head. Don¡¯t go and take away anything that you feel like it inside the rooms.¡±

    ¡°Doctor Sun, do all the hospital directors have the hobby of collecting human organs?¡±

    ¡°You really think that is the case?¡± Doctor Sun scanned the door from the corner of his eyes. After he made sure Doctor Gao did not follow them into the room, he said in the fastest speed possible. It appeared like he did not want Doctor Gao to hear what he had to tell Chen Ge. ¡°The seventh hospital director has seven ss jars in his office. The weight of the jars totalled up to the weight of a patient¡¯s soul, that patient has the same patient number as you.¡±

 Chapter 1179 - The Way for Chen Ge to Leave the Hospital (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1179: The Way for Chen Ge to Leave the Hospital (2in1)</h4>

    ¡°That patient has the same registration number as I am?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s interest was immediately piqued by Doctor Sun¡¯s statement. ¡°But since you know the number of that patient, then it would mean that you know what is my own number, correct?¡±

    ¡°When you find out what is his number, you will naturally know your own number.¡± Doctor Sun kept lowering his voice. ¡°If you wish to leave this hospital as soon as possible, then you better find all the ss jars and memorize the things that are inside the jars.¡±

    ¡°I only need to memorize them?¡± Chen Ge narrowed his pupils. He studied the eyeballs that were submerged inside the ss jar filled with ck threads and for that moment a very scary feeling overwhelmed him like it was his own facial organs that was soaked inside the jar. Based on his instinct, Chen Ge croaked out the final question, ¡°Are these the things that I am missing?¡±

    Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s words, Doctor Sun was very surprised. He turned away from Doctor Gao and nodded his head lightly and then he stopped talking.

    ¡°The familiar stinging stench, the ss jars filled with ck threads, the patient split into seven pieces.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s mind was a mess and he did not know what to do. His instinct told him to bring the ss jar with him but unfortunately he only had two hands. He could not bring all these jars even if he wanted to, furthermore, even if he could, where was he going to ce all of them? Reaching out to touch the ss jar on the bookshelf, the ck thread inside the jar weaved into many ghastly human faces. They wailed and mmed against the ss before they were dragged back by the human face that was made up by the blood vessel within the facial organs.

    ¡°Doctor Sun, this ss jar might look dangerous but I have a feeling it will not harm us, would you mind helping me carry this one with us?¡± Chen Ge hoped to get Doctor Sun¡¯s help but his request was firmly rejected by Doctor Sun. The doctors appeared to be very unwilling to get close to these ss jars. Even Doctor Gao who refused to let Chen Ge go at the beginning now had started to maintain a distance from Chen Ge. From the reaction of the two doctors, it seemed like it was not that the ss jars were harmless but they would not harm Chen Ge for some reason.

    Earlier in the sickroom, Doctor Sun had dropped the hints on how to leave the hospital. Chen Ge needed to find all the seven ss jars in this extremely strange night and memorize the contents inside all the ss jars. He still did not quite get the connection between this and the method to leave the hospital but he would do what Doctor Sun suggested because his subconscious told him that Doctor Sun was someone to be trusted, he would not lie to him. Other than that, there was a force hidden deep inside his mind that was urging him to find those ss jars.

    ¡°When I first entered the office of the first hospital director, my past memory was triggered. The pain and the room filled with the character, death almost caused me to faint, but after touching the ss jar, the pain in my brain not only subsided, my consciousness also became sharper.¡± A brave idea urred to Chen Ge. He wanted to attempt trying to think about his past while hugging the ss jar. But currently he was under such heavy scrutiny of the two doctors, Chen Ge temporarily did not have the chance. That was why he had been hugging the ss jar. The thing that was feared by everyone was treated by him like some kind of treasure. After all, Chen Ge had always been a talented actor.

    After leaving the office of the second hospital director, Chen Ge and Doctor Sun entered the medical storage room next door to locate various kind of medicine. Several minutester, Patient Number 2¡¯s expression darkened and he sighed helplessly, ¡°There is no medicine that we need here.¡±

    ¡°Then there is no other choice, we will have to try the other sick halls.¡± Doctor Sun appeared to have known this would happen. He walked ahead with Chen Ge who was hugging the ss jar and continued to ry the various ghost stories that had happened inside the hospital.

    Looking at the three partners around him, Patient Number 2¡¯s forehead was covered in cold sweat. A doctor who did not care about the survival of the patient and whose face was covered in scars, a madman who was hugging a ss jar filled with a human heart, a main physician whose face was so pale that he looked more and more like a dead man by every minute. [Could the culprits be the doctors?] He felt like he was the protagonist inside a horror film and was going through the most despairing events as he walked step by step deeper into the abyss. It was too difficult to survive on his own. So he had no other choice but to grit his teeth and followed behind Doctor Gao.

    Chen Ge and Doctor Sun naturally did not notice the internal struggle of Patient Number 2. They paused in their movement asionally and noticed many strange things about this hospital. There were seven sick halls in total at Xin Hai Central Hospital. It was once the biggest hospital at Xin Hai but there were too many despair and horror that happened here. The term of pain and sickness were tied together, human nature was showcased on its darkest side at the hospital, there was a story behind every single ghost story.

    With Doctor Sun leading the way, the group had explored all of the sick halls. The office of the seven hospital directors were situated at each of the seven sick halls. Every hospital director¡¯s office contained a ss jar that was radiating that horrible stench and every ss jar also contained a human body part. The body parts were all soaked in a solution filled with the ck threads and some of the body parts had gonepletely ck.

    ording to Doctor Sun¡¯s instruction, Chen Ge memorized all the organs inside the ss jars. Whenever he entered the office, he would even personally touch the ss jars. Initially his n was try to simte memory of his past when he touched the ss jars to try to remember as many things as he could but he discovered something very scary. Whenever he wanted to touch the ss jars, the ck threads inside would go berserk. They would want to break through the ss jars to attack Chen Ge, but at that moment, there would be deep red blood vessels inside the different organs that would appear to drag the ck threads back.

    The strange thing happened then. Chen Ge wanted the ck threads to go berserk so his hand would definitely need to go in contact with the ss jars. But when the blood vessels dragged the ck threads away, they would pull something away from Chen Ge as well. This was a feeling that was hard to describe. Chen Ge felt the shackle on his body loosen. Some memories in the past would blur but most importantly his brain would be filled with new memory fragments. The curious thing was these memory fragments did not belong to him, they also did not coincide with the memory that Doctor Gao had describe to him, they belonged to the memory of apletely unknown third person.

    When Chen Ge looked through this third person¡¯s memory, he would not feel pain but he would have a squeeze in his heart as if his instinct was telling him it would a horrible thing to read through the memory of this third person. Chen Ge did not reveal this information to anyone, he nned to wait when he was safe to continue reading the memory fragments of this third person.

    After who knew how long, it felt like several hours had passed, but the sky outside the window was still dark, there was no sign that dawn wasing at all. Chen Ge¡¯s group had searched through all the sick halls but they still could not find the medicine that they needed. In the end, they returned to the third sick hall. This was the ce where Chen Ge originally stayed. At the same time, it was also where the seventh hospital director¡¯s office was located.

    They came to the seventh floor of the third sick hall and found the office of the seventh hospital director at the end of the corridor. Pushing open the door, there was an office desk that was ced in the middle of the simple room. A giant ss jar sat on top of the table and inside the jar floated a human head that was facing away from the office door. That was the head of a child. It did not have any facial organ or skin, it was more like a shell that had lost its soul. When they saw this thing, everyone stopped outside the door, no one dared to venture too rashly into the room.

    ¡°These hospital directors sure have strange hobbies.¡± Probably due to professional reason, Patient Number 2 had desensitized himself to the sight of dead bodies and human organs but when he saw the human head inside the ss jar, he still could not control himself from shivering uncontrobly. The horror that was evoked by the human head was not physical but psychological, it appeared as if it was the symbol of horror and despair itself. Patient Number 2 and the two doctors halted at the door while Chen Ge strode into the room directly, he did not even hesitate for a moment.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t the seventh hospital director the current hospital director? As the only surviving hospital director, his office might be different from the other hospital directors.¡± Chen Ge did not give up this rare opportunity. Before he approached the ss jar, he looked around the room. He wanted to get to know the personality of the current hospital director from the inside d¨¦cor of the room. There was no decoration inside the office. Other than the ss jar on the desk, there was nothing that was unique about the room. After taking a quick tour of the office, Chen Ge came to the desk. He walked to stand on the front of the ss jar and looked at the human head that was floating amidst the numerous ck threads.

    ¡°It is still a child.¡± The ss jar that contained the human head was much bigger than all the ss jars that Chen Ge had encountered earlier. It also had thergest amount of ck threads in it. And when he looked closer, he noticed every single thread appeared to have a strange character written on them. It felt like a seal and also a curse. Ever since Chen Ge entered the room, the ck threads inside the ss jar became active. When Chen Ge stood beside the table, the ck threads weaved into various human faces inside the ss jar. The scary faces stuck before the human head, as if they wanted to block the face of the human head from view.

    ¡°The ck threads feel like they are trying to block the sight of the human head inside the jar but can the human head still see me considering it does not possess any more facial organs?¡± Almost as Chen Ge finished that rhetorical question, the scary human head started to leak out arge amount of bloody red lines. The ck threads tried their best to suppress them and wrap themselves around the blood vessels. If this was another person, even if they were not scared away, they would probably stunned from the horror that was happening before their eyes but Chen Ge was different. He reached out his hands to hug the ss jar directly as if wanting to carry thisrgest ss jar away with him.

    When his hands touched the ss jar, the ck threads and the deep red blood vessels boiled at the same time. They were like lightning striking each other. Then arge pulling power appeared from inside the ss jar as if it was trying to suck Chen Ge wholly into the jar. The situation was getting dangerous. Chen Ge had no idea what the ck threads and blood vessels represented but he could sense the danger that came from these things. If any of the ck thread or blood vessel crawled into his body, he would probably die on the spot.

    Doctor Sun stepped into the office. But after he took a few steps, his body could not move forward anymore. Perhaps they had managed to take something from Chen Ge¡¯s soul, the blood vessels had managed to turn the table on the ck threads. The human head inside the ss jar was slowly turning around. The faces made up by the ck threads were torn apart one after another. Finally the human head was floating before Chen Ge, showing him its ghastly face that had no organs.

    Hong!

    Lightning struck outside the windows. It was so loud it almost shattered the window. The jaw of the human head inside the jar moved up and down before it suddenly mmed against the ss jar!

    ng!

    The sound of the knocking was mixed amidst the thunder. The dark eye sockets carried with them endless terror. Even if it had been split apart, even if it had lost its skin and facial organs, the head appeared to still retain its consciousness. The eyeballs were gouged away. The blood vessels inside the two dark holes were boiling as they slowly converged to knit out the shape of a doll. When the doll was about to finish, Doctor Gao retreated with no hesitation, he ran as fast as he could from the office.

    After Doctor Gao left, Doctor Sun seemed to have found his chance. He resisted the anxiety in his heart and burst into the office and mmed the door close. At that moment, he had escaped from Doctor Gao¡¯s sight, there were only him and Chen Ge inside the room.

    ¡°Chen Ge! I know the way to leave the hospital!¡± His voice had changedpletely from normal. There was a kindness inside it and he sounded much younger than normal. ¡°The hospital wants you to be one of their patients and for that, they havee up with two solutions. One is to create a false security for you so that you will bepletely immersed in it and voluntarily give up your past! This way, you will slowly turn into a puppet living inside their control! Without knowing it, you will be given more curses, your friends and employees will be dragged down by the curse and they will all eventually be the patients at this hospital!

    ¡°The second method is to force you to personally kill your own friends and family. Since they cannot offer you false security, then they will have you personally destroy your own past, these wonderful past memories will be pain that you can never face! Chen Ge who is lost to madness will be a monster that is out of control and you will be locked up deep inside the hospital!¡±

    Doctor Sun¡¯s words shocked Chen Ge awake. He hugged the ss jar with both hands and forced himself to turn around to look at Doctor Sun. The doctor¡¯s face and body was bleeding copiously. The words that he said appeared to have triggered some kind of curse and he was facing extremely scary punishment because of it.

    ¡°The hospital will stop at nothing to aplish its goal. You will be trapped inside the hospital forever, unless they believe you are turning into the patient that they want out of you.¡± Doctor Sun pointed at the ss jar in Chen Ge¡¯s grasp. ¡°We are currently inside your brain maze, this is the power of one of the night doctors, I assume you can see it as some kind of hypnosis. This hospital behind the door is created from the night doctor¡¯s memory. His goal is to make you kill all the patients here and push you over the brink of madness! When you be thest survivor, you will encounter your own self that is covered in blood and you will realize that you are the serial killer!

    ¡°But don¡¯t worry, I have already swapped the drugs for you and my evil spirit will take your ce as the murderer at this hospital, the illusion of the patients have been killed by me as well! You only need to insist that it was you who killed all of them and you have forgotten about all the other details!¡± The wounds on Doctor Sun¡¯s body kept splitting up. He was covered in blood and he spoke faster and faster. ¡°We do not have much time left! You need to remember the location of the seven ss jars and the organs inside them! I have investigated some information, the seven ss jars contain something very important to you!

    ¡°Since they can influence you even when you are inside other people¡¯s memory, then it proves that the rtionship between you two is far greater than I imagined! You have to find all of them! They are the only things that really belong to you inside this hospital!¡±

    The head inside the jar banged furiously against the ss. After Doctor Gao escaped, tremors started to shake the hospital. Footsteps came from outside the corridor. A bloody figure appeared. The murderer that was yed by Doctor Sun¡¯s evil spirit rushed into the room dragged a long chain of human heads.

    The giant ss jar exploded in that moment. Numerous ck thread and deep red blood vessels surged into Chen Ge¡¯s body. It felt intensely real, it did not feel like hypnosis at all. Perhaps due to some unique talent of Doctor Sun himself, the perfect n that he came up with was derailed by some unknown factor that he could not have ounted for.

 Chapter 1180 - Is this All Part of Your Plan, Doctor Sun? (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1180: Is this All Part of Your n, Doctor Sun? (2in1)</h4>

    The deep red blood vessels filled with despair crawled into Chen Ge¡¯s soul, the ck threads that represented pain and curse also bound around his body, the two forces used his body as the battlefield as they tore at each other, they were close to tearing him apart. From his physical body to his soul, the pain was indescribable but the most horrible thing was Chen Ge realized he was unable to faint even if he wanted to. His body¡¯s self-protective mechanism had lost its use fully at that moment, there was no choice for him but to suffer that incredible pain.

    ¡°Is it all part of your n? Doctor Sun!¡± Chen Ge still had a clear head on his shoulders. In his most despairing and impossible moment, he knew resistance would be futile. So he had given up on resistance and voluntarily opened his arms to embrace the pain. He hadmitted into a decision that no one else would have done in his ce. When the two forces were fighting against each other, he worked his brain to its maximum and he started to dig through the memory fragments in his mind as much as he could!

    Many sealed memories floated up in his mind, many familiar faces flitted before his eyes. Chen Ge was under such pain that he thought he would die on the spot. If he was still at the hospital, he would have fainted already but at this ce, where his body and soul were taken over by two different forces, fainting was something that was deprived of him.

    Looking at the horrible state that Chen Ge was in, Doctor Sun touched the scars on his face. He was also flummoxed at that moment, he did not know what to do. ¡°The brain maze is the talent of the night doctor, why would it leave such an intense stimulus on him? Is it the influence of Patient Number 1? Once memory of him is triggered, one will be influenced by him?¡± The pain on Chen Ge was so intense that the man would have willingly sought after death but death would not continue. Doctor Sun was flustered but there was nothing he could do. In the end, he could only stand there and look at Chen Ge with apology in his eyes. ¡°But if this continues, he might die from the extreme pain. Even though dying will not cause any influence to him in real life, I think this situation is rather unique!¡±

    Doctor Sun reunited with his evil spirit. He did not dare to get close to Chen Ge himself so he had his evil spirit drag all the skulls to approach Chen Ge. His intention was to have his evil spirit bring Chen Ge out of the office but who would known once the evil spirit got close to Chen Ge, it was torn apart by the curse and blood vessels. Droplets of blood sshed on Chen Ge¡¯s body. Combined that with the ghastly countenance that Chen Ge had at that moment, he had the perfect appearance of a demon who had just crawled out from the bowels of hell.

    ¡°Oh... damn...¡± Doctor Sun had no back up n so he could only watch as things progressed. After who knew how long, under Chen Ge¡¯s active cooperation the deep red blood vessels hadpletely suppressed the ck threads of curse. Some unknown and strange memory fragments bubbled up continuously in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. These memories did not belong to Chen Ge so they should belong to that child¡¯s head. His memory was almost dominated by death. Different causes of death and every time he tried to find the way back. The boy wandered about a red city, as he kept pushing open doors that were covered in blood vessels.

    The child¡¯s memory perfectlyid over the gaps in Chen Ge¡¯s own memory. The pain slowly dissipated until there was only a single sentence that was left in Chen Ge¡¯s mind¡ªI will be waiting for you at the deepest part of the hospital.

    Lying supine on the ground, Chen Ge still had not lost his consciousness but he was so weak that he had lost the energy to even blink anymore. The ss jar inside the hospital director¡¯s office was shattered. Chen Ge¡¯s patient garb was covered in ss shards and blood stains. Several rolling human heads clustered around him, but if you looked closer, you would find there was not a child¡¯s head among them. Doctor Sun looked through the entire office but he failed to find the child¡¯s head. A chill ran up his spine. He tried to nudge Chen Ge and realized both the blood vessels and curses had already disappeared. He hurriedly dragged Chen Ge out of the hospital director¡¯s office.

    ¡°Can you hear me?¡± Doctor Sun collected the heads of the patients and then half dragged, half carried Chen Ge back to the fifth floor of the third sick hall. ¡°Even though there was some ident, everything has gone mostly ording to n, you have to remember what I told you.¡± He used almost 15 minutes before Doctor Sun managed to drag Chen Ge and all the heads back to the door of the treatment room on the fifth floor. ¡°It depends on this time whether you will be able to escape from the hospital or not. The hospital is filled with their people, I cannot afford tomunicate with you anymore. You will have to rely on yourself to mount this escape.¡±

    Doctor Sun grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s hand and used it to push open the sickroom door. And then he pushed Chen Ge and all the human heads back into the room. ¡°You need to find back your real self.¡±

    ...

    Doctor Sun closed the door and the moment the door clicked shut, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes flew open.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Chen Ge¡¯s horrible wailing echoed inside the treatment room. The chair toppled over and his body mmed heavily against the ground.

    ¡°Chen Ge?¡±

    ¡°Number seven?¡¯

    The mechanical ticking of the watch slowly weakened. Doctor Gao and the other patients all turned to look at Chen Ge. At that moment, Chen Ge was like a crazy man, he kept on screaming at the top of his lungs. ¡°Why are all of you still alive? Why are all of you still alive!¡± Chen Ge waved the newspaper in his hands wildly and during this process, he sliced his fingers. The blood soaked the paper wet and the paper peeled off to reveal the sharp ss shard inside the folds of newspaper.

    His eyes wandered until Chen Ge saw his own reflection inside the mirror shard. Then he screamed like he was given a huge trauma. ¡°Killer! He is the killer! He has killed all of you!¡± The mirror dropped to the ground and shattered into even smaller shards and each shard had Chen Ge¡¯s reflection looking back at him.

    Doctor Gao who was seated on the chair slowly stood up. He put away the mechanical clock on the table. The ticking sound then disappeared. The other patients slowly returned to normal. They were looking a little bit pale but Chen Ge appeared to have truly lost his mind. ¡°Inside the hospital, it was you who have killed all those people.¡± Doctor Gao took out a file and started recording something on it. The other patients tossed Chen Ge terrified looks. ¡°The treatment will end now. Chen Ge will stay behind and the rest of you should return to your respective rooms.¡± After all the patients had left, Doctor Sun and Doctor Gao tried tomunicate with Chen Ge but Chen Ge was under so much pressure that he started to mumble incoherently. His condition was only getting worse.

    Staring at the maddened Chen Ge, Doctor Gao considered for a long time before he wrote down the statement ¡®cured¡¯ in one of the pages of the file. After writing that, he handed the report over to Doctor Sun, ¡°You have been following him in the brain maze, you did notice anything out of ce?¡±

    ¡°Everything was going ording to the treatment n, you could say that everything has gone without a hitch.¡± The blood kept leaking out from Doctor Sun¡¯s scars. At that moment, he looked no better than Chen Ge. Doctor Gao appeared to have heard some rumors about Doctor Sun. After he saw Doctor Sun also worked down the term ¡®cured¡¯ on Chen Ge¡¯s files, Doctor Gao only sighed in relief. ¡°You should take the file to the vice hospital director. Hopefully our first cooperation is sessful and hopefully this will also be ourst cooperation.¡± After he said that, Doctor Gao opened the treatment room door. Five hospital workers came out from the locked adjacent rooms. They worked together to drag Chen Ge to the quarantine zone. When Doctor Sun was the only one left inside the treatment room, he flipped through Chen Ge¡¯s file as his finger casually knocked against the surface of the table, he knocked six times.

    Chen Ge who was struggling with his life heard the six knocks. He realized Doctor Gao¡¯s expression was slowly changing but Doctor Gao himself did not appear to notice it. [The night doctor has a kind of talent that is called brain maze. That kind of power can only be activated through the medium of sound and that appears to be the ticking of the mechanical watch that Doctor Gao had inside his pocket...]

    A spection rose in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. When Doctor Sun first entered the treatment room, he knocked on the door six times, at the time, Doctor Gao still had not taken out his watch. In other words, Doctor Sun had alreadye after Doctor Gao before the former even entered the door. Doctor Gao used his own talent to conduct the treatment on Chen Ge but way before Doctor Gao used his own talent, Doctor Sun had already pulled one over Doctor Gao. One trick over another, it was very intricately designed. However even such a perfect n still could not prevent the urrence of an ident at the very end.

    Now the memory of a third person had appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. The child¡¯s brain appeared to have settled into his mind through some kind of other method. To y up the role of the madman to fool Doctor Gao, Chen Ge continued to wail. He was acting crazier than an actual crazy person. He was finally strapped to the bed in the quarantine zone. Before Doctor Gao left, he poured out five white pills from the medicine bottle and tipped them all into Chen Ge¡¯s mouth.

    After forcing them down Chen Ge¡¯s throat, he and the other hospital workers left the quarantine zone. Chen Ge yelled until his throat was coarse before sleep came to im him.

    ...

    The morning light showered on Chen Ge¡¯s face. He looked at the scenery outside the window silently. Yesterday night was the most dangerous night that he had experienced since he was hospitalized. If not for Doctor Sun, he would definitely think he was a serial killer already. Human consciousness required some key elements to support it, if Chen Ge had started to suspect himself, then he would have practically no chance at winning anymore.

    ¡°Even though it was very dangerous yesterday night, it was also extremely rewarding. I have gained a rough understanding of this hospital and when the blood vessels were fighting the ck threads at the few final moments inside the brain maze, I have unlocked many memories from the past. Most importantly, I have memorized the location of the seven ss jars.¡± Many unknown names appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind and there were some unfamiliar experiences as well. ¡°I need to go and locate those seven ss jars as soon as I can so that I can leave this godforsaken hospital.¡±

    He had remembered many things but these fragments could not be strung together, they were merely images that seemed to have no corrtion with one another.

    Bang! Bang! Bang! Knocking was on the door and then Doctor Gao as well as two hospital workers entered the room. The three of them stood at Chen Ge¡¯s bedside. None of them said a thing, they merely looked at Chen Ge silently.

    ¡°Doctor Gao...¡± Chen Ge acted like he was too ashamed to face Doctor Gao, ¡°yesterday night, did i...¡±

    ¡°I am afraid you will not be moving back to the normal sickroom for a long time in the future. I am sure you have not forgotten about your experience from yesterday night, right? You should still remember very clearly how it felt like to wield the weapon as it sliced through their skin.¡± Doctor Gao looked at Chen Ge with disappointment. If not for the fact that Chen Ge had seen Doctor Gao written down the term ¡®cured¡¯ in his file yesterday night, Chen Ge might truly buy Doctor Gao¡¯s acting.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t say anything else anymore.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s emotions started to fray away. It appeared like he was unable to ept the fact that he would have killed several people in one night.

    ¡°I know you are in great pain but if you are unwilling to abandon the stories that you have created for yourself to protect yourself from the truth, the rest of your life will be ruined just like that.¡± Doctor Gao advised with extreme kindness. ¡°your life is just beginning, are you going to stay as a monster that is avoided by everyone?¡±

    ¡°I just want to be like everyone, I want to live a simple life and be spared from this pain.¡±

    ¡°The source of that pain is the fake memory that you have created for yourself. When those memories disappear, you will be cured fully.¡± Doctor Gao poured out five pills from the medicine bottle. ¡°From now on, every night I wille and conduct treatment with you, to help you wipe away your fake past. But I need your full cooperation during this treatment, in other words, you have to open up your heart to me and be willing to actively abandon the false past that you have created for yourself.¡± Seeing the pained expression on Chen Ge¡¯s face, Doctor Gao sighed. ¡°Falsehood and reality, you can only choose one, do not make the wrong choice again.¡±

    After feeding Chen Ge the pills, Doctor Gao left. Chen Ge was strapped into the bed. When the time came, Xu Wan would arrive to send him meal and wipe down his face and arms. Chen Ge was unable to see the theme park¡¯s haunted house from the quarantine area. The only person Chen Ge could talk to was Xu Wan. Luckily Xu Wan never showed any impatience towards Chen Ge, she kept telling Chen Ge about the beauty of the world outside the hospital.

    That night, Chen Ge was sent into the treatment room again. Since Doctor Sun was not there, Chen Ge did not dare to open his heart that easily and allow Doctor Sun to travel into his mind. Whenever he heard the sound of watch ticking, he would be under great alert. Unable to drag Chen Ge into the brain maze, Doctor Gao could only try other methods and this continued for seven days. Chen Ge¡¯s condition stabilized again. He was allowed to leave the quarantine zone. With the hospital worker¡¯s help, he was apanied to the hospital garden to take a rest.

    This was the first time he had left the building in seven days. Chen Ge slumped down on his usual chair to rest and soon a white cat leaped out from the flower bushes. The cat appeared to be really concerned about Chen Ge, once it saw him, it quickly ran over. When Chen Ge saw the white cat, he knew his opportunity had arrived.

    He avoided the worker¡¯s gaze and hugged the cat by its head. ¡°A cat has appeared inside this human world, you are the anomaly and also the key. Ol¡¯ Bai, help me dy and distract that hospital worker.¡± Chen Ge subconsciously called out the name Ol¡¯ Bai. This was a name that came to him yesterday night. Based on the white cat¡¯s appearance, he believed that might be the cat¡¯s name. Tilting its head, the white cat looked at Chen Ge with confusion. Its dual-colored eyes blinked as if saying, ¡®erm, people with hands around me, have you lost your noodles?¡¯

    The hospital worker saw the white cat and wasing over. Chen Ge did not want to miss this opportunity and he used the back of his arm to brush against the cat¡¯s w. To not harm Chen Ge, the white cat retracted its w. But Chen Ge yelped as if in pain and threw the cat at the hospital worker. He covered the back of his arm with his hand like he was scratched. ¡°Where did the cate from?¡± Chen Ge yelled out the question in the hospital worker¡¯s mind.

    When the hospital worker was busying himself to chase after the white cat, Chen Ge returned alone to the Third Sick Hall. Based on the route in his memory, he came to the seventh floor. ¡°I do not have much time, I need to be fast!¡±

    Not many people ventured beyond the fifth floor at the third sick hall. The surrounding was incredibly quiet. Chen Ge did not run into another patient or doctor. Pushing open the door to the hospital director¡¯s office, a stinging smell floated out from inside the room. Chen Ge slid into the room without any hesitation. The interior d¨¦cor of the room was simr to Chen Ge¡¯s memory, including the giant ss jar that sat in the middle of the office desk. Seeing the child¡¯s head inside the ss jar, the memory that belonged to the third person in his mind was triggered. The world before his eyes changed in that second. The originally empty room was filled with endless ck threads and various horrible curses surrounded Chen Ge. ¡°That is how the hospital really looks like?¡±

    Chen Ge had lost the choice to turn back at this point. When he took the step forward, he realized the ck threads and curse did note after him but they stared at the space behind him. Turning back to look, Chen Ge realized the space where he was standing earlier had the shadow of a human head on it. The shadow looked just like the human head inside the ss jar from yesterday night.

    ¡°The child¡¯s head has followed me out from the brain maze? But doesn¡¯t everything inside the brain maze are created from pure memory?¡± Chen Ge felt like the head behind him was just a shadow that was made from memory. Someone used this shadow to distract the curses inside the office to give Chen Ge¡¯s the opportunity to enter it. ¡°It feels like there is someone else who is helping me at this hospital other than Doctor Sun and perhaps Doctor Sun is even under their order.¡±

    In the blink of an eye, Chen Ge¡¯s world returned to normal again. He took big strides towards the ss jar and reached out to touch it.

 Chapter 1181 - Kill the Past to Welcome New Life? (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1181: Kill the Past to Wee New Life? (2in1)</h4>

    There appeared to be some kind of unique connection between Chen Ge and the human head inside the ss jar. When both of his hands touched the surface of the ss jar, the child¡¯s head that was floating quietly like a specimen started to slowly turn. Everything was going along quite ording to what he had experienced inside the brain maze but the only difference was in real life, Chen Ge could not see the battle between the ck threads and the blood vessels.

    ¡°I feel like you originally belong to me somehow.¡± Chen Ge looked at the human head inside the ss jar and a very strange feeling arose in his heart. It was as if he was staring at his own head that was ced inside the ss jar. The child¡¯s iplete face stuck to the surface of the jar. He had no eyes and the two hollow eye sockets stared closely at Chen Ge. The two stared at each other just like that. Gradually Chen Ge was surprised to see another version of himself inside the child¡¯s dark eye socket. His consciousness slowly blurred. His memory that was rted to the past was sucked away by the head inside the jar and in their ce was the memories of a third person.

    ¡°What is he nning to do?¡± His memory fragments were taken away, in other words, Chen Ge was slowly losing himself but he did not feel any anxiety or nervousness at all, as if he had just done an equal trade with the other party. The gaps in his mind were filled up by the child¡¯s memory while the child had obtained Chen Ge¡¯s past memory. Chen Ge¡¯s mind was slowly emptied. All the locked memory fragments had been taken away by the head inside the ss jar, all the remained inside his mind were the memory fragments that he had already unlocked previously.

    ¡°Is he trying to help me unlock the memories in my brain?¡± Whenever Chen Ge tried to force himself to think about his past, he would be overwhelmed by a splitting headache, most of the time, even if he resisted the pain, he would not be able to unlock the most instrumental memories. Now this head inside the jar had sucked away all the locked memories in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. It felt like he was worried that Chen Ge might be exposed and he even voluntarily filled in the gaps in Chen Ge¡¯s mind with other memories. These memories that belonged to a third person were buried deeply in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, he had no idea what kind of purpose they might serve.

    After he felt more like himself, Chen Ge felt like the shackle around his brain had been loosened and his whole person felt much lighter. It was as if there was another force who was helping him shoulder the pain and despair. Chen Ge used his hands to rub the ss jar up and down. After he was certain he was unable to trigger any more response, he retreated out of the office in a hurry and returned to the quarantine area.

    ¡°There are seven ss jars in total, I have only encountered one so far, it is too early to draw any conclusion for now.¡± Chen Ge was lying in the quarantine area for about several minutes already before the hospital worker arrived. When he saw Chen Ge was obediently resting in bed, he sighed clearly out of relief. ¡°I am going to sleep now, please help me close the door behind you.¡± Chen Ge said after he pulled the cover over him and he drifted off to sleep. The hospital director did not notice anything strange about this so he decided to not report anything that happened that morning to Doctor Gao.

    At night, Doctor Gao and Xu Wan entered the quarantine area. They both started to persuade Chen Ge again, hoping that he would voluntarily cooperate with the treatment. Only by opening his heart and deleting the negative memories brought upon by his delusions that he would be able to wee his new life. This time Chen Ge did not resist. After touching the ss jar with the child¡¯s head that morning, most of the memories he had about his past had already been sucked away, so now he had nothing to be afraid of anymore.

    The treatment after midnight was very sessful so sessful in fact that Doctor Gao himself was surprised. The effect of the treatment was too good, they had managed to destroy most of the past memory in Chen Ge¡¯s brain at one go. Doctor Gao culminated on this and decided the main reason behind this was because Chen Ge had already given up on his falsified past and had decided to embrace his new life. To be honest, Chen Ge was definitely the most determined patient Doctor Gao had ever encountered.

    To fully ¡®cure¡¯ a patient at the hospital, the first step was to remove their past memory and the second step was to rebuild them ording to the hospital¡¯s requirement, there were a few more steps after that, this was a very long and arduous process. But Chen Ge, the patient, had taken almost half a month toplete the first step of removing his past memory and it was onlypleted in the end because Chen Ge had voluntarily cooperated with him. Only then there was some ray of hope. Not only Chen Ge, even Doctor Gao himself was tired already.

    ¡°The treatment has a wonderful effect. I am sure you will be able to leave the hospital soon if you continue to work hard like this.¡± After who knew how long, finally Doctor Gao had a smile for Chen Ge again.

    ...

    The surveince on Chen Ge inside the hospital gradually lessened but his request to move back to the normal sick hall was still denied and normally he was prevented contact with other patients as well. Most of the time, it was Xu Wan who apanied Chen Ge and provided him with the best and kindest care. They always seemed to have something to chat among them. In this hospital, Xu Wan appeared to represent all the kindness and goodness.

    During this period, Chen Ge had been finding opportunities to sneak into the offices of the previous hospital directors. Each time there was shock but no danger, it felt like someone had been helping him from the shadows.

    After the third treatment Doctor Gao had given Chen Ge, Doctor Sun had appeared again to bring Chen Ge to go and meet the vice hospital director. The feeling that this vice hospital director gave Chen Ge was very strange, it felt like they had met somewhere before, but Chen Ge had no memory of that meeting at all. If Chen Ge wanted to leave the hospital, then he had to get the approval from the vice hospital director. In other words, the vice hospital director was the most important person at the hospital for Chen Ge. He needed to pass through the vice hospital director¡¯s examination before he was allowed to leafve the hospital. Ever after multiple treatments by Doctor Gao and repeated examinations by Doctor Gao and Doctor Sun, and both of them thought Chen Ge was progressing fine, the vice hospital director was still not satisfied.

    Chen Ge could not do anything about this except continue to stay at the hospital and two more weeks passed like that. He finally found the chance to touch thest ss jar. All of his past memories were all hidden inside the ss jars. Now the memory in his brain had already been swapped. The memories from the seven ss jars were embedded deep inside his brain and they bound together to form a child that was seriously wounded. Even though the seven ss jars were still inside the hospital, the memories trapped inside the organs inside them had already escaped. They used this opportunity to slip into Chen Ge¡¯s mind. For now, Chen Ge still had no idea what this meant but he was certain that the day for him to leave the hospital would not be far away now.

    On the seventh day after he touched thest ss jar, Doctor Gao conducted the 17th treatment on Chen Ge. The treatment this time was very special, he did not warn Chen Ge about it. It was not until Chen Ge walked into the room that he realized Doctor Sun and that vice hospital director were also standing inside the room. Without giving him any chance to speak, when he pushed open the door, Chen Ge appeared to have fallen into the brain maze already. He did not even know when he was subjected to the trick.

    ¡°Chen Ge, this will be thest treatment for you. If this is sessful, you will be able to leave the hospital in the morning.¡± Doctor Gao looked at Chen Ge with a smile. He, Doctor Sun and the vice hospital director all stood at one side of the table.

    ¡°how shall I cooperate with you?¡±

    ¡°Very simple.¡± Doctor Gao took out a tray from under the table. On the tray sat a sharp surgical scalpel. ¡°Your second persona is hiding inside your heart. Dig out your heart, he is thest remaining vestige of your own delusion.¡±

    ¡°Can I still live after I have dug out my heart?¡± Chen Ge was not expecting this to be thest treatment. He thought he would have been able to leave the hospital already. He did not expect the hospital would be so careful, they would not let him go even after they had cleared away all of his past memory.

    ¡°Among you and your second persona, only one will be able to survive. If you cannot make this decision, then have your second persona make the decision for you.¡± Doctor Sun said darkly. The scars on his face were twitching. Not only Doctor Gao, even the vice hospital director did not appear to wish to stand close to Doctor Sun, perhaps they both thought Doctor Sun¡¯s methods were too drastic. Taking out a whole bottle of pills from his pocket, Doctor Sun flipped off the cap. It was filled with the pills bound with the ck strands.

    ¡°Give me some time to think about it.¡±

    ¡°It is time to give up on your past. This is only beneficial for you and him.¡± Doctor Sun tipped out some pills from the bottle. He did not even seem to count the number of pills that closely before he shoved them down Chen Ge¡¯s throat. ¡°Swallow them!¡± This action shocked both the vice hospital director and Doctor Gao but it was toote for them to stop Doctor Sun already. Chen Ge believed he had swallowed seven pills in total, and his body reacted to them almost instantly. His capiries popped and wiggled like poisonous snakes on his skin. His skin turned blood red and his eyes were bloodshot like they were about to explode. His rationality waspletely consumed in that moment, a beast like roar escaped from Chen Ge¡¯s throat. Seeing the pain that Chen Ge was in, Doctor Sun appeared like he was admiring the most beautiful painting in the world. He caressed the wounds on his face and he looked positively drunk on happiness. ¡°Do not control yourself, let your second personae out!¡±

    Doctor Sun yelled at the top of his lungs. He grabbed at the bottle of the pills again. This time he was stopped by Doctor Gao. If not, he probably would have poured the rest of the pills into Chen Ge¡¯s mouth as well. The curse¡¯s ck fire burned Chen Ge¡¯s consciousness. Chen Ge started to hallucinate. He could feel his soul was being grabbed by multiple hands and his body was slowly being dragged into a sea of curses.

    His consciousness started to blur and in that moment, he saw again that man who was facing away from him. In the waves of curses, he had taken on 90 percent of the pain for Chen Ge. This man who felt so familiar to Chen Ge, did not turn his head around. He was guarding a heart and stood among the sea of curses like an unweilding reef.

    ¡°You are my second persona...¡± When thest time he saw this man, Chen Ge was also at the verge of a mental breakdown. It was the same again this time. He was force fed too many drugs at one time, the waves of curses ravaged his mind but even if the world appeared like it was ending, the figure still refused to budge. All the memories were shaken loose. When Chen Ge¡¯s memory and consciousness were about to copse, a child covered in wounds walked out from the deepest past of Chen Ge¡¯s memory.

    The curse did not seem to be able to affect the boy much. The child was like a shadow. He slithered to the man who was facing against Chen Ge¡¯s side and whispered something into the man¡¯s ears. Chen Ge was too far away to hear what the child said. He merely saw after the man heard what the child had to say, his body shuddered lightly. He slowly turned around to look at Chen Ge standing behind him. This was the first time Chen Ge saw the man¡¯s face. This man who was referred to as his second persona by Doctor Gao did not look like Chen Ge at all. There was a bottomless mncholy in his eyes and the front of his body did not have a part that was not injured. ¡°Who are you? Why do you still help me suffer most of the pain even though you are already so heavily injured?¡±

    It was unclear how much curses the man had already suffered, it was too much to count. He looked at Chen Ge silently as he slowly let go of his hands. He then handed the heart that he had been guarding all these time to the child. The child carried the heart and returned to the deepest part of Chen Ge¡¯s mind. The man used thest ounce of energy that he had to smile at Chen Ge and then he turned to wade into the ck sea of curses.

    The unimaginable waves came to swallow Chen Ge then and he too was washed away by the curse and pain. After who knew how long, when Chen Ge opened his eyes again, he saw before his eyes there was a tray that had a bloody scalpel and a beating heart before him.

    ¡°Chen Ge, yourst treatment is very sessful! Congrattion!¡±

    ¡°When your second persona took over your physical body, he had voluntarily cut open his heart and left your body.¡± The vice hospital director and Doctor Gao talked over each other. The kind smiles on their faces formed a great contrast to the bloody and pounding heart on the tray.

    With a pale face, Chen Ge looked at the beating tray on the tray. Then his body slowly slid backwards, ¡°After losing his heart, can a person still survive?¡±

    ...

    Chen Ge¡¯s body copsed heavily to the ground. Then his eyes flew open. Air seemed to flow into his chest then.

    ¡°You havepleted yourst treatment and have made the correct choice. You have killed the false version of yourself. From now on, you will be able to wee a brand new life!¡± The vice hospital director personally lifted Chen Ge up from the ground. He and the two doctors repeatedly wrote down something on Chen Ge¡¯s files. ¡°bring him back to the normal sickroom, tomorrow we should be prepared with the papers for him to leave the hospital.¡±

    With the order from the vice hospital director, Doctor Gao also sighed in relief. This most difficult patient he ever had finally was going to leave already. He carried Chen Ge to leave the treatment room. The vice hospital director and Doctor Sun though were arguing over something while presiding over Chen Ge¡¯s file.

    He returned to the normal sickroom and Chen Ge copsed on the familiar bed. The extreme fatigue imed him immediately and he soon fainted.

    Early the next morning, the sun shone warmly on his face but he could only feel chill all over his body. ¡°That was not my second persona at all. What kind of choice he has made inside the vice hospital director¡¯s brain maze? And whose heart was that which he had given to the child?¡±

    After a month plus treatment at the hospital, the doctors all felt Chen Ge had already fulfilled their requirement but in reality Chen Ge did not change at all, if anything, he had be more suspicious of this hospital. There was even a maddening thought in his mind. If there was a chance, he would have to level this ce. Initially this thought was not that strong but after thatst treatment, after Chen Ge saw the man who had been shielding him from the curses leave, now his brain was only filled with such thoughts.

    ¡°killing my past self to wee a brand new life...¡± Chen Ge mumbled to himself. This appeared to be one of his old habits. He liked to talk to himself about things that others would not have understood.

    Bang! Bang! Bang! The knocking came and the person knocked in total for seven times. The door opened and Doctor Sun walked into the room. He looked at Chen Ge in bed and he only said one thing. ¡°Go and find locker 29, the real treatment only starts now.¡±

    After saying that, Doctor Sun cracked his knuckles and then turned to leave.

    ¡°Creating a new memory for me, making it so that I almost murdered my roommate in cold blood, using hypnosis and medicine to cause hallucinations to torment me, and all that was just the first step of the treatment.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s situation was extremely unique and he almost perished in this process. He had a hard time imagining what would happen to a normal patient after they were sent to this hospital.

 Chapter 1182 - When I have Possessed All the Goodness (1) (2in1

    <h4>Chapter 1182: When I have Possessed All the Goodness (1) (2in1)</h4>

    One hour after Doctor Sun left, Doctor Gao and Xu Wan walked into the room. They had a fairly good chat with Chen Ge and then Xu Wan led Chen Ge towards the storage room of the patients. They walked through the door and Chen Ge stood before his own locker. He looked carefully for the wedding ring that Doctor Sun mentioned but he did not find anything that fitted the description. ¡°This is all your personal effects. You can change in here. I will go outside and wait for you.¡± Even though there was what Xu Wan said, she did not walk towards the door. Instead she hesitated for a long time before she suddenly handed Chen Ge a piece of paper. ¡°This is my phone number and social media ount. After you leave the hospital, if you ever feel like there is a rpse, feel free to contact me any time you wish.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± After Chen Ge kept the paper in his pocket, Xu Wan only left. Closing the door of the storage room, Chen Ge started to undress to change. He found a ck phone with a shattered screen inside the pocket of his shirt. Probably due to theck of battery, the phone could not be switched on. Other than that, there were also identification card, recovery proof and a thick stack of document inside the locker. The document recorded his everyday dosage of medicine and his bodily reaction, ording to the files, the treatment started from one and a half year ago. He even found a receipt at the end of the document. The treatment for the past one and a half year had exhausted all the savings that his parents had left for him.

    ¡°Where is the wedding ring? I was told it would be here.¡± Chen Ge gave his locker another thorough search when he was suddenly reminded of the message that Doctor Sun left him that morning. His gaze moved and Chen Ge found locker number 29 was located right underneath his own locker. The door was not locked and it appeared to contain the belonging of a female patient. It had her patient¡¯s records and urn.

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be hidden inside the urn, would it? If that is the case, just how important is the wedding ring that it has to be kept so far away out of sight.¡± Chen Ge opened the lid of the urn. He rummaged inside it and finally found the wedding ring. He silently slipped the ring inside his pocket and then returned everything into their original ce. ¡°This wedding ring should be some kind of memento. Now is not the time but I should take a closer look at it after I leave the hospital.¡±

    The paperwork to leave the hospital was surprisinglyplicated, Chen Ge spent a whole day dealing with it. After he ran through all the various departments to handle his document, that feeling of absurdity overwhelmed Chen Ge again, everything felt so real. He was just a simple man in the world and not the fact that this was his world.

    Under the setting sun, Chen Ge carried his own backpack and left the hospital. He turned back to glimpse at the giant range of buildings behind him. He had the strange feeling that someone was watching him behind the curtained windows. ¡°I have a feeling I will return to this hospital soon but I doubt it will be in the capacity of a patient anymore.¡±

    Walking across the road, Chen Ge came to the theme park that was adjacent to the hospital. ¡°It is already quitete today. Tomorrow morning, I shall go to the theme park¡¯s Haunted House to go take a look.¡± The Haunted House was Chen Ge¡¯s obsession. He too was also curious why he had so many fragmented thoughts rted to the Haunted House in his own past memory.

    ¡°I only have a few RMB in my pocket now, I need to find a ce to spend the night first.¡± Chen Ge sat on the shoulder of the road. He flipped through the document that he had brought out from the storage room. There were information about himself and his parents inside it. ¡°My house is at Western Xin Hai?¡± Chen Ge had no impression of this at all. He looked at the key inside the file and stared at it for a very long time. ¡°This is the key to my home?¡±

    The file also had the address for his home. Before the sun darkenedpletely, Chen Ge hailed a cab and gave the driver the address to his own home. When he paid the fare, the driver gave Chen Ge a curious nce. After all, it was not an everyday affair where he would fetch a passenger like Chen Ge whose leg was encased in ster and carried so many things with him.

    ¡°Do you need my help to carry your stuff up the stairs?¡± The driver offered kindly.

    Chen Ge shook his head to reject the driver¡¯s kind offer. ¡°it¡¯s okay, I can manage everything on my own.¡± After watching the taillight of the cab disappear down the road, the sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu assaulted Chen Ge again. It was as if he was often greeted with strange looks by taxi drivers in the past as well. ¡°Such a nice and helpful man.¡± Chen Ge carried his own things and entered the residential area. He had no impression of this ce at all. He was merely following the direction on the files and slowly found his way to the doorstep of his own home. ¡°Third building, third floor, Room 303...¡±

    He used the key to unlock the door. Chen Ge looked at thevish furniture in the room and he shook his head lightly. ¡°There is no sense of homing at all, it is as if this ce is not my home.¡± After giving the ce a quick cleaning, Chen Ge skipped dinner. He crawled into bed instead while hugging his own backpack. The night fell. Chen Ge did not switch the lights, he gelled with the darkness and nced at the city down the distance through the window.

    ¡°There are next to zero stuff in this home rted to my parents. The few photographs that do exist have nothing wrong with them. This means that I cannot use them to find more clues.¡± Chen Ge looked through the whole house and found nothing useful. Now his only hope was the ck phone which screen had already shattered. He turned back to nce at the phone that was charging. Chen Ge realized the phone appeared to have broken from a terrible fall. It could not be charged or even switched on.

    ¡°Doctor Sun said that the real treatment is just beginning but I have already left the hospital, doesn¡¯t that mean that treatment is already over?¡± Chen Ge reorganized the events that had transpired inside the hospital in his mind. He then came up with a n for himself. ¡°Tomorrow I will first go and visit my parents and then I will go to apply for a job at that Haunted House. After all to survive in this city, I will need a job and I have a feeling that Haunted House will be very suitable for me.¡±

    Lying in the bed, the drowsiness came and Chen Ge slowly drifted off to sleep.

    At 8 am in the next morning, based on some information on his own files, Chen Ge managed to gain contact with the policeman who was responsible for his parent¡¯s case¡ªLee Sanbao. This aging police officer was very kind. After he found out about Chen Ge, he personally came to bring Chen Ge to go visit his parents.

    ¡°your parents have left too suddenly. At the time, you were in aa and you could be reached. I had no choice but to contact your parent¡¯s friend and ask him to help to deal with you and your parent¡¯s issues.¡± Lee Sanbao led Chen Ge to the graveyard at the Xin Hai countryside. He ced the bouquet of flowers that he bought before the grave. Looking at the picture on the grave, Chen Ge slowly squatted down. He felt like the energy was being sucked out of his body and he copsed to the ground.

    Lee Sanbao sighed under his breath and walked away to give Chen Ge some privacy. Several minutester, Chen Ge stood up again from the ground and he looked more like his usual self. ¡°Uncle Sanbao, who was the friend that helped with the funeral arrangement after the ident that befell my family? I wish to thank him in person.¡±

    ¡°His name is Lou Jing. He is your parent¡¯s best friend and the famous real estate developer at Xin Hai.¡±

    ¡°Luo Jing?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I can give you his phone number.¡± Seeing the stable state that Chen Ge was in, Lee Sanbao did not feel that worried any more. After giving Chen Ge Luo Jing and his own phone number, he left the graveyard.

    ¡°it feels like everyone inside this city is a good people, everyone that I have met so far are so ready to lend their help.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s own ck phone could not be used so he shoved the paper with the phone numbers into his pocket and then he took the public bus and headed towards the Xin Hai theme park. His leg had not healedpletely but Chen Ge could not wait anymore. He used the money that he found at home to purchase a ticket for the theme park. He walked through various attractions and headed towards the haunted house that was at the western side of the theme park.

    The more he headed towards the western side, the lesser the visitor there was. Eventually theughter and conversation of the visitors faded away and Chen Ge was the only one walking on the road. Stopping beside the road sing inside the theme park, Chen Ge looked at the Haunted House that was situated at the end of the road. A woman dressed in red was standing in front of the Haunted House that was positively vacant. She was holding a thick stack of flyers while toying with a white giant that was enormous in size. The familiar scenario, the familiar people, the familiar cat, now Chen Ge felt like he had truly returned home. He walked away from the road sign. When he was still 10 metres away from the Haunted House, the giant white cat spotted him already. The white cat immediately lost interest in the woman and rushed towards Chen Ge.

    ¡°I had no choice when I had to throw youst time. I hope you will forgive me.¡± Chen Ge picked up the white cat and ruffled its fluffy head. ¡°Honestly, the happiest time I had at the hospital was when I was ruffling your head.¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge? You have left the hospital?!¡± when the woman in red saw Chen Ge, she too jogged to his side.

    ¡°Yes, I ampletely recovered already.¡± Chen Ge took out the proof that was given to him by the doctors from the backpack that he brought with him everywhere. He appeared rather shy around the woman in red like he had nevermunicated much with the opposite sex in his life.

    ¡°Congrattions. I don¡¯t know what to say.¡± The woman in red was truly happy for Chen Ge. But one momentter, she looked at the white cat with some sadness in her. ¡°I have been feeding the white cat for so long already but the moment it saw you, it has forgottenpletely all about me.¡±

    ¡°That was probably because it has not seen me in a long time.¡±

    ¡°Are you here to pick up this cat?¡± The woman in red reached out to touched the white cat which was curled upfortably in Chen Ge¡¯s embrace. ¡°Of course, you are not out of the hospital. It is natural for you to bring it home. In the future, you must not leave it alone in the house anymore, even cats will feel lonely.¡±

    ¡°I am not here to pick it up.¡± After Chen Ge said that, both the white cat and the woman in red turned their heads to look at him.

    ¡°Then you are here for?¡±

    ¡°I am here to look for a job.¡± Chen Ge put down the white cat and a warm smile appeared on his face.

    ¡°You¡¯re here for a job application?¡± Both the woman in red and the white cat were stunned. ¡°Why so sudden?¡±

    ¡°Well, before the car ident, I was already working in a Haunted House, I have plenty of experience and I feel that with my addition, I can change the condition of our current Haunted House around, I have the confidence to turn our Haunted House into the most well known haunted House at Xin Hai.¡± Chen Ge carried his backpack and said confidently.

    ¡°Well, I do not mind that myself, but the problem is...¡± The woman in red smiled sadly. ¡°I do not wish to lie to you. Currently my family¡¯s Haunted House ount is in the red. You can say that it is running on deficit, I cannot imagine we would have the budget to afford yet another employee...¡±

    ¡°Then can you give me a tour for now?¡± Chen Ge very naturally walked to the woman¡¯s side. ¡°I have bought the ticket for the theme park.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I don¡¯t see why not.¡± The woman in red pushed open the gates of the Haunted House. She then pulled back the thick curtains that blocked off the light and led Chen Ge into the Haunted House. With his hands on the wall and his fingertips touching the props that fell at the corner, Chen Ge felt his whole person rx. Everything here he was familiar with, it was as if these were things that flowed through his blood.

    ¡°Currently our Haunted House only has two open scenarios, one is the Night of the Living Dead and the other is Minghun, which one would you like to visit?¡±

    ¡°Then we can start with Night of the Living Dead.¡± Without the need for the woman to lead the way, Chen Ge pushed open the door of the scenario and walked into the it. The Night of the Living Dead was the old scenario that the Haunted House preserved,ter it was also the scenario that was first abandoned. Looking at the obsolete set up inside the room and the props that were poking out from their hiding spot, Chen Ge picked up the rubber head that had slid down to the ground and hugged it in his chest. ¡°I have been here before. I feel like everything here is made by me and my family, they are like my own children.¡±

    Hugging the human head, Chen Ge sunk back into his reminiscence. He did not notice a zombie who was watching him silently from a far. ¡°Did my parents bring me here before? Why does this ce give me such a sense of home?¡±

    Even though his brain had forgotten about the past, his body still remembered that familiar feeling. I suppose this would be what they called branded into one¡¯s soul. Walking down the path that was filled with blood stains and human internal organs, touching the inverted body that hung from the rooftop, and smelling the faded scent of red paint in the air, Chen Ge came to the first scare point. The zombie clump that was before him had an actor hidden inside it underneath the mountain of mannequins. After triggering the trap, the zombie that was yed by the actor woulde alive to chase after the visitor. Chen Ge stopped before the zombie mountain. He sidestepped the trap and something akin to hope rose in his heart.

    ¡°In my memory, when I was small, I used to y hide and seek here. My father would hide inside the zombie mountain and continue to y dead even after he was found.¡± Pushing aside the different mannequins, when Chen Ge saw the zombie that was facing away from him in the middle of the mannequins, he could not help but raise his hand. His mouth moved faster than his brain and called out softly. ¡°Dad?¡±

    Everything before his eyes were ovepping with his blurry memory, he wanted to reach out to grab the man. But who knew the zombie inside the mountain would start to run without even turning his head around. Theplicated path, the traps and props, be it the zombie or Chen Ge, they seemed to know this scenario as well as the back of their hands. Chen Ge stayed closely behind the zombie, this time he was not going to let this man slip away through his fingers again. The dark and bloody path slowly became wider and light appeared before them. Chen Ge and the zombie burst out of the scenario together.

    ¡°Dad? Why have you run out from the scenario? Is there anything wrong?¡± The woman in red holding the flyer was worried about Chen Ge but when she lifted her head, she saw her father run out of the Haunted House wearing the zombie costume.

    ¡°This man is even more familiar with the location of the props than I do! I can¡¯t even find the chance to slow down and go into hiding at all!¡± A middle-aged man¡¯s voice came out from under the zombie costume. Perhaps because he was running too quickly, after he said that, he coughed several times. Just as the middle-aged man finished saying that, Chen Ge who was hugging the human head ran out after him as well. When he heard the middle-aged man¡¯s voice, his eyes dulled quite a lot because he knew the person inside the zombie costume was definitely not his father.

    ¡°Chen Ge, why did you bring the rubber head out with you?¡± The woman in red quickly ran over to grab the human head away from Chen Ge¡¯s grasp. ¡°You were not frightened, were you?¡±

    She looked at Chen Ge who stopped at the entrance of the Haunted House. Currently Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were zed over with confusion and water. ¡°You do not look like you have visited a Haunted House. Why are there tears in your eyes?¡±

    ¡°Zhang Ya, is he your friend?¡± The middle-aged man removed the headpiece of the zombie costume. He then gasped hungrily for air. ¡°There is something wrong with this kid. Once he entered the scenario, he picked up the human head and he ran all the way with it.¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge, I mean he is...¡±

    Zhang Ya was still trying toe up with an excuse for Chen Ge but Chen Ge voluntarily walked to stand before the middle-aged man. ¡°Sir, I am here for a job application.¡±

    ¡°Sir? A job application?¡± The middle-aged man carried the headpiece of the zombie costume and his eyes wandered between Chen Ge and Zhang Ya. ¡°Wait a minute. Let me clear my mind for a moment first.¡±

 Chapter 1183 - When I have Possessed All the Goodness (2) (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1183: When I have Possessed All the Goodness (2) (2in1)</h4>

    The middle-aged man did not believe any words out of Chen Ge¡¯s mouth at all, he looked at Chen Ge alertly. Then he pulled Zhang Ya over to his side and asked, ¡°Daughter, is this young man your friend?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he is my friend.¡± Zhang Ya smiled awkwardly. This was a situation that was quite curious, a zombie was pulling along a Red Spectre who was trying her best to protect a normal person. ¡°Dad, Chen Ge just got released from the hospital, he just needs to find a job. How about we go into the house to talk this over? After all we have no visitors at this moment anyway.¡±

    ¡°Why should we go into the house to talk this over? There is nothing to talk about! Have you been tricked by him? He treats our Haunted House like his own home. I have not even activated any of traps, he already know where all of them are located, he must have nned this for a long time already!¡± The middle-aged man was still grumbling. Zhang Ya appeared like she was feeling embarrassed. She forced the middle-aged man into the Haunted House.

    ¡°I am not yet done!¡±

    ¡°Chen Ge, why don¡¯t youe in?¡± Zhang Ya led Chen Ge once again into the Haunted House. She had Chen Ge sit down at the spot where the visitors were usually requested to sign the disimers. ¡°There are bottle of mineral water on the table. You can sit here first. I will go and get mom, if she agrees, then you can start working here.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that? Your mom agrees and he can work here? No, over my dead body!¡± Zhang Ya¡¯s father seemed to be on the lower rung of the totem in this family. Even though he was stillining, Zhang Ya had already run away to the second floor where the Minghun scenario was. Chen Ge and the middle-aged man upied both sides of the table. The middle-aged man thought there was a serious awkwardness in the air but Chen Ge felt very much at home. One minuteter, Zhang Ya and a woman who was slightly shorter than her walked down the stairs. Perhaps both of them were in ghost make up, the woman did not look like Zhang Ya¡¯s mother, she looked more like Zhang Ya¡¯s older sister.

    ¡°Mom, this is Chen Ge who is here for a job application.¡± Zhang Ya and the middle-aged woman sat at the middle of the table. The woman studied Chen Ge closely and then momentster, she shook her head. ¡°It is not that i do not wish to employ him but the young man has a kind face and a sunny presence. I am afraid he won¡¯t be able to scare anyone even if we put him in a ghost costume.¡± Zhang Ya¡¯s mother said with concern.

    After hearing what Zhang Ya¡¯s mother had to say, Chen Ge¡¯s smile turned even more shyer. ¡°Auntie, actually I have worked in a Haunted House in the past. Erm, how about this. You can give me a trial period of half a month, if in that period, I fail to bring any changes to our Haunted House, then I won¡¯t take any sry from you.¡±

    ¡°I knew you have an ulterior motive behind this all along! Working for free for half a month? Not taking any sry? Tell me honestly, you are here to get close to our Zhang Ya, aren¡¯t you?¡± The middle-aged man wore the rather pudgy zombie costume and directly waved his hands. ¡°I do not agree. Not everyone is suitable for the job of a Haunted House actor. One has to learn many things to be able to scare the visitors.¡± He stood up from his seat. ¡°Kid, it might look like our Haunted House do not have any visitors now but a few years ago, we were the most famous Haunted House at Xin Hai. In terms of scaring people, we are the most professional.¡±

    ¡°Sir...¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t call me that, it gives me the chills.¡±

    ¡°Uncle, I have the same opinion as you do. The career of Haunted House is not as simple as people thing, a good Haunted House can help the visitors vent their negative emotions and can bring the visitors an immersive experience, I understand what you are trying to sayplicated.¡± Once Chen Ge opened his lips, he proved how professional he was. He followed up on Zhang Ya¡¯s father¡¯s point of view. Just from visiting one scenario, Chen Ge could already list out the current problem of the Haunted House and the key point was, not only did he point out the problems, he even came up the solutions to solve them. Initially Zhang Ya¡¯s parents did not pay him much attention but as they listened to him, they could not help but be hooked into his professional extraption. They talked for about half an hour before Chen Ge stopped. By then, Zhang Ya¡¯s parents already had a great change of perspective on him.

    ¡°I think Xiao Chen is quite talented. How about we give him half a month to try out?¡± Zhang Ya¡¯s mother turned to look at her husband. Zhang Ya¡¯s father who was initially very averse to Chen Ge also started to falter. ¡°I mean it will seem harsh to say no to a good talent like him.¡±

    ¡°Then it shall be decided.¡± Zhang Ya¡¯s mother looked at Chen Ge smilingly. ¡°No matter whether there is any positive effect or not, we will still pay you the sry, just go ahead and do anything that you want.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, auntie and uncle, but there is something that I need to tell you beforehand.¡± Chen Ge opened his backpack and took out the recovery certificate from the hospital and his own identification card from inside it. ¡°I do not wish to hide anything from you. Zhang Ya already told you I have just been released from the hospital but she did not mention what kind of hospital. It was a mental asylum. Actually I was caught in a car ident and I was diagnosed with serious delusion.¡± Normally in a job interview setting, the boss would never hire people with mental illness and many applicants would try to hide their best as best as they could, but Chen Ge did not wish to do that.

    ¡°Delusion? Then this won¡¯t do!¡± Zhang Ya¡¯s father mmed his fist on the table. ¡°The working location of a Haunted House actor is oppressive and sometimes harrowing, you might rpse in our Haunted House! I suggest you go and find a more rxing career option.¡±

    When Zhang Ya¡¯s father said that, Zhang Ya¡¯s mother was looking through Chen Ge¡¯s hospital files seriously. She then nced at Chen Ge¡¯s leg which had not yet recovered. ¡°It says on here that the source of your delusion is because of your parents?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that car ident has taken many things away from me.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were carrying a barely hidden pain.

    ¡°You will start working here starting from tomorrow. Before your leg is fully recovered, Zhang Ya will help you around.¡± Zhang Ya¡¯s mother made the decision directly as she looked at Chen Ge with some concern.

    ¡°Honey, are you sure you do not want to consider this further? What if he suddenly acts up in the middle of the job and injures the visitors? What if his symptoms worsen due to his work here?¡± Zhang Ya¡¯s father was a lot more rational. ¡°You are too rash with this decision.¡±

    ¡°But that is no reason to discriminate against others.¡±

    ¡°I do not agree! Are you kidding me? How could a Haunted House hire someone with delusions to be its actor?¡±

    ¡°Zhang Ya, why don¡¯t you bring Chen Ge around to help him familiarize himself with theyout of our Haunted House.¡± Zhang Ya¡¯s mother ignored the middle-aged man.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Zhang Ya grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s arm happily and led him towards the second floor, leaving behind the middle-aged man¡¯s grumbling and annoyance.

    ¡°My father is a grumbler but he is actually is a very kind person. He once rescued a drowning child and cooperated with the police to solve many cases, he was even awarded the medal for good citizen by the major before.¡± Zhang Ya held onto Chen Ge¡¯s arm. Because the corridor inside the Haunted House was quite small, they stuck very close to each other.

    ¡°Your father is quite impressive.¡± When Chen Ge heard Zhang Ya¡¯s father had once cooperated with the police force to help with their cases, he instinctually felt more admiration for the man as if people who had done something like that would be someone that he should admire and learn from.

    ¡°He is just a man of sharp words, he does not mean most of them. Actually he was the one to first discover the white cat and had tried to sneakily feed it on his own but he got scratched in the face for it.¡± Zhang Ya could not help but giggle when she thought about that. ¡°Your cat is very clever, it does not allow anyone to get close to it. It refuses to even let people touch its fur but for some reason, it is very obedient towards me, it will do anything that I tell it to.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps that cat... remembers something that we don¡¯t.¡± Chen Ge uttered softly. The inside of the Haunted House was not that big. Chen Ge only used half an hour to tour all of the scenarios. He already came up with the fullplete n to change up the ce the moment he finished the tour. ¡°The first floor is the Night of the Living Dead, the second floor is Minghun and the third floor is still not yet open due to theck of staff. If I wish to change the current situation of the Haunted House, I will have to start with the third floor.¡± Without direction from Zhang Ya, Chen Ge found his way to the staff breakroom. He found the pen and paper and started to jot down his n.

    There appeared to be endless scare ns in his mind and the words poured out of him. Zhang Ya stood quietly at the side and studied Chen Ge when he was seriously working, she did not disturb him. After using only about 10 minutes, Chen Ge had already finished with the draft of his n. ¡°These scares do not need too many props, you only need to add some small mechanisms and they will work.¡±

    ¡°How did youe up with these things so fast? That is impressive!¡±

    ¡°It feels like they already belong in my head.¡± Chen Ge smiled embarrassedly. ¡°The night of the living dead and minghun will still be manned by uncle and auntie. I have decided to call the new scenario Murder at Midnight and I will be responsible for it myself.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you can do it?¡± Zhang Ya hugged the white cat and voiced out her concern. ¡°Scaring someone is a very technical work, you can¡¯t be too deliberate but you can¡¯t make it too boring either.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Chen Ge took the n to go and find Zhang Ya¡¯s parents. Thetter were clearly professionals. After Chen Ge made some simple introductions, they already understood everything.

    ¡°We will need to start by updating the Haunted House and only after that should we find a way to do the advertisement.¡± Chen Ge found a piece of the disimer form. After reading all the uses, he said, ¡°We need to add a few uses to this, for example, when a visitor faints inside the Haunted House, it will be none of our responsibility.¡±

    ¡°But we have never scared anyone until they faint before. And wouldn¡¯t that be very difficult to do?¡±

    ¡°It is never wrong to n ahead.¡± Chen Ge said with the same smile on his face. ¡°After all the interior of the Haunted House has been upgraded, the next most important step is promotion and advertisement. First, we need to try our best to attract the attention of the existing visitors inside the theme park. After the foundation is made, we can make use of short videos and livestreams to gain poprity on the inte. I have quite a few brilliant video ideas, but those cannot be hurried. We have to work slowly at it, the number of fans will slowly grow and eventually the increase in quantity will trante into an increase in quality. Leave the camera work to me as well, I will set up the shoot at the third floor of the Haunted House.¡± Before Chen Ge came to them, he actually had already figured out everything.

    ¡°But won¡¯t the insider secrets of the Haunted House be exposed if you make the shoot inside the Haunted House? When the visitors already know what is inside the Haunted House, they won¡¯t be that interested toe visit anymore.¡± Zhang Ya¡¯s father still did not quite agree with this.

    ¡°First we need to arouse people¡¯s interest. Whether the interior design of the Haunted House will be exposed or not, you do not need to worry at all. I have the design of many scary scenarios in my mind. There is no need to bring any big changes, only by building on the pre-existing basic, we can bring apletely different exciting experience.¡± Chen Ge paused for a moment. ¡°In other words, if the visitors follow the video that I have shot to base their tours on, then they will only get double the joy.¡±

    Zhang Ya¡¯s father still did not quite understand what Chen Ge meant by that, he was still not that invested in Chen Ge. ¡°Are you sure you can handle a whole scenario on your own, after all your leg injury is still not yet recovered.¡±

    ¡°it will be fine, I only need to shuffle slowly inside the Haunted House. Sometimes, a killer does not need to move fast, by letting the visitors know about my presence, it will be enough to give them pressure.¡± Chen Ge handed the n that he had written down to Zhang Ya¡¯s father. ¡°Shall we start to build the Haunted House scenario now? The earlier we are done, the earlier the business will get better.¡±

    ¡°You are too anxious of an employee to prove himself, I still think you have an ulterior motive behind this.¡± Zhang Ya¡¯s father had his gaze move behind Chen Ge and Zhang Ya until he was forcibly dragged away by Zhang Ya¡¯s mother.

    Chen Ge was a man of action. He did not waste time with words. With Zhang Ya apanying him, he came directly to the third floor and started to build up the scenario little by little. Even though Zhang Ya¡¯s father appeared like he was averse to Chen Ge¡¯s presence but in reality no matter what kind of props and materials that Chen Ge asked for, he would try his best to provide them as soon as possible. Absorbed in his work, and with Zhang Ya¡¯s apany, Chen Ge did not feel tired at all. This kind of peaceful life that had a goal to it appeared to be something that he had been trying to find in his life.

    ...

    In three days, the rtionship between Chen Ge and Zhang Ya¡¯s parents was getting better and better. After the theme park closed its door, Zhang Ya and her parents would return to their own home while Chen Ge stayed at the staff breakroom. He worked even at night and rarely took breaks.

    Every morning, Zhang Ya would bring an extra set of breakfast for Chen Ge. And during lunch time, Chen Ge would be invited by Zhang Ya¡¯s family to have lunch inside the Haunted House. Even though they had not spent that much time together, the more Zhang Ya¡¯s mother looked ath Chen Ge, the more satisfied she felt about the young man. She realized Chen Ge barely had any negative quality to him. He was hardworking, incredibly handy with his work, he was also very talented. Sewing, installing surveince cameras, making mannequin, even make up, the man was good at everything.

    Zhang Ya also liked to stay together with Chen Ge. Even though when they were not talking, just staying beside Chen Ge and looking at him work, she would not be bored. Even though Zhang Ya¡¯s father still groused once in a while, he appeared to have epted Chen Ge. Just asionally, he wouldin that his position in the family appeared to have dropped even further.

    Life was like the stream in the forest, it flowed quietly and peacefully. Chen Ge had more and more smiles on his face. He worked untilte into the night almost every day, he was often so tired that he barely had the energy to dream. He loved everything about his current life. After two more days, the inside of the Haunted House was updated fully. Chen Ge persuaded Zhang Ya¡¯s father to organize an activity with the help of the theme park management, those who were avable to clear all three scenarios at once and managed to maintain the volume of their scream under 120 decibel would be rewarded with 10000 RMB.

    This reward money would be sponsored by Zhang Ya¡¯s father and the theme park would only be responsible for the promotion. With this activity, Chen Ge managed to attract arge batch of visitors. The western side of the theme park that was previously so quiet now became so noisy with activity. Seeing so many people, Zhang Ya¡¯s father regretted this decision immediately. But then something even more interesting happened. The first batch of visitors all ¡®died¡¯ inside the scenario for Murder at Midnight.

    Chen Ge had his hands tied. He knew how important the 10000 RMB was for Zhang Ya¡¯s father so to protect the money, this patient who had managed to fool even the doctors had given it his all. The fact that visitors had fainted and cried from a visitation to the Haunted House brought instant poprity to the Haunted House and more and more people knew about this ce. When the theme park closed, Chen Ge, Zhang Ya and Zhang Ya¡¯s father all copsed on the table like three fish left out to dry in the sun.

    Zhang Ya¡¯s mother though was looking at theputer monitor with her eyes glinting. She counted the ticket money that they had acquired that day and the smile on her face was so big her lips could not close at all. The more she looked at Chen Ge, the more she admired this gutsy young man. ¡°It¡¯s time to get up, folks! We are going out to the restaurant to celebrate tonight!¡±

    The few changed their clothes and went out for dinner. Zhang Ya¡¯s mother dragged her husband and sat at one end of the table. She looked at Zhang Ya and Chen Ge who upied the other end of the table and asionally a mysterious smile would appear on her face. By the end of the dinner, Zhang Ya¡¯s mother suddenly brought up the fact that she had forgotten to lock the house. After paying the bill, she dragged her husband away before he could even protest, leaving Zhang Ya and Chen Ge alone at the table.

    ¡°Auntie and Uncle are such nice people, they even treat me tonight.¡± This feeling of belonging was something Chen Ge had not experienced in a long time already. In his memory, he did not have any image of dining with his family and friend. He felt like even if he did not lose his family, the person that apanied him the most was probably that white cat.

    ¡°You have been ving yourself out for the past few days already, here, eat some more.¡± Zhang Ya appeared to have guessed why her mother had suddenly decided to leave. She kept her head lowered and her voice had be softer. The couple chatted over dinner. They always managed to find topic to talk about, the two seemed to share a bond, a connection between two souls.

 Chapter 1184 - When I have Possessed All the Goodness (3) (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1184: When I have Possessed All the Goodness (3) (2in1)</h4>

    Chen Ge and Zhang Ya chatted for a long time before they left the restaurant. The two of them stood under the yellow streetlight and looked at the city around him.

    ¡°Your leg is still recovering, I should apany you home.¡± After the ghost make up had been removed, there was an arresting beauty about Zhang Ya.

    ¡°No, I should do the gentleman thing and send you home first. It is already getting quitete, I will be very worried if I let you go back home on your own.¡± Chen Ge stopped one of the cabs and entered it with Zhang Ya. The two of them got into the backseat. Perhaps because the driver was there, neither of them said another word after they got into the car. One was silently looking out the window and the other had the head lowered, studying their own hands. When they arrived at the residential area where Zhang Ya stayed, Chen Ge also exited the cab with her. He only turned and left after he watched Zhang Ya walk into the building. Watching Zhang Ya disappear into the building, there was an inexplicable feeling that crowded Chen Ge¡¯s heart. It was not entirely affection, underneath the sweetness, there was a stinging trace of pain. ¡°The reality is too beautiful, I have not had a dream in a very long time already.¡±

    He walked down the pedestrian walkway. Chen Ge did not wish to take a cab, he wandered around the city aimlessly. The city before him was busy, and beautiful but he felt like he did not belong to this ce. It felt like he was someone that was forgotten by the rest of the world.

    ¡°I think I will take a break tonight and have a good rest instead.¡± At around midnight, Chen Ge only arrived at the Haunted House. He very expertly opened the gates of the Haunted House, pulled back the curtains and entered the staff breakroom. The white cat was lying on the table, biting on the box that contained the cat kibble. When it saw Chen Ge, it immediately jumped to the side, as if trying to say it had nothing to do with the kibble that scattered all around the floor. ¡°I seem to have encountered this multiple times already. I feel like I have been staying for a long time inside this room.¡±

    Joy was alluring and arresting. Initially Chen Ge thought he could quietly deal with everything but only now he realized he was not as strong as he thought. He could openly deal with all kind murderers and strange curses but when he was inside the same cab as Zhang Ya, he would feel extremely nervous.

    ¡°What is the thing that I have been aiming for?¡± Lying on the wooden bed, Chen Ge felt like his whole body was sinking into the bed. His body was enveloped by warmth, the fatigue of his body was slipping away and drowsiness slowly arrived to im him.

    The morning of the next day, Chen Ge was awakened by the rm. He entered the bathroom to wash his face. He studied his own reflection in the mirror. ¡°I did not have any dream again yesterday night.¡± This was the first time Chen Ge had a very good look at himself after he had woken up. Sometimes, he could not even have a clear recollection of how he really looked like. ¡°When I was at the hospital, Doctor Gao woulde and ask me every day whether I had a dream or not and what kind of dream it was? Is dream that important to me?¡±

    Chen Ge did not quite understand it, for him, dream was just a dream, it was not part of his delusion and it did not seem to have too deep of a connection with the reality either. When he washed his face, the water sshed on the mirror. When Chen Ge reached out to wipe away the water stain, suddenly he saw that the door of the cubicle in the mirror was slightly left ajar. A sh of lightning struck his mind, he whipped his body around to look at the slightly open door of the cubicle.

    Slowly using his strength, Chen Ge pushed open the door of the cubicle further, there was nothing inside the cubicle. He sighed in relief and the heart that was stuck at his throat sunk back to its natural ce. ¡°Everything about this world feels normal yet at the same time, things feel so out of ce as well.¡±

    Chen Ge left the cubicle door ajar and left the bathroom. He was ready for a new day of work. The theme park opened punctually at 9 am. Before the theme park even opened for business, there was already a long queue of visitors outside the gates, some of the youngsters were even there purposely to visit the Haunted House.

    ¡°Xiao Chen, from now on, we will help you clean the Haunted House together, your leg is still injured, do not try to hog all the works, I am worried that you will tire yourself out.¡± Zhang Ya¡¯s mother was very kind towards Chen Ge. It felt like she had treated Chen Ge as one of her family already.

    ¡°It is fine, even the doctors have said that more exercise will be helpful for my recovery.¡± Chen Ge brought the white cat into the third floor scenario. The midnight killer that he yed had be the main attraction of the Haunted House. Speaking of which, this was where things got a bit strange. There were many visitors that had visited the third floor scenario but the visitor¡¯s description of the murderer was all different. Some of them said they said a blood-loving madman on the third floor, he was crazy, mental and over the top, it felt like he was going to tear everyone that he ran into. Some of them said they encountered a friendly visitor into the third floor. After getting to the know the person and allowing him to join the team, for some reason, the team was slowly disintegrated from the inside.

    Chen Ge had mastered the style of different killers and he could switch between them at will. He was the same person but he could give different impression to different batches of visitors. Furthermore, due to the dim lighting inside the Haunted House, so most of the visitors felt like the scenario was hiding several actors.

    During the afternoon break, Chen Ge walked out of the Haunted House and he nned to go to find Zhang Ya to ask her some questions. He had just pulled back the thick curtains when he saw a few young people surrounding Zhang Ya, they appeared to be reasoning with her.

    ¡°What is going on here?¡± Chen Ge sidled up to Zhang Ya¡¯s side. He scanned the few youngsters and for some reason, felt they looked familiar.

    ¡°Before we came, we heard there was an activity at your Haunted House, those who can clear 3 scenarios at one go will be able to get the reward of 10000 RMB, so the few of us purposely came and bought the ticket toe challenge it.¡± The young man who spoke looked honest and kind, ¡°But thisdy is telling us the activity is already over.¡±

    ¡°The activity is indeed already over, but if you really want to make things interesting, I can put my own 5000 Rmb on the table to y with you.¡± Chen Ge said with a smile, he was like a big brother next door with a sunny personality that was both good at sports and study. ¡°If you can clear the scenario sessfully and manage to do so without a scream over 120 decibels and then the reward money of 5000 RMB will be yours but if you fail, then you have to help promote the Haunted House among your family and friends.¡±

    If they won, they would get 5000 RMB, if they lost, there was no punishment, in other words, there was nothing for them to lose. Therefore, the few youngsters agreed to the condition easily.

    ¡°Chen Ge, don¡¯t act too rashly.¡± Zhang Ya silently pulled on Chen Ge¡¯s clothes. ¡°They are all students from Xin Hai Medical University, some of them have performed autopsy on real bodies before, they will not be so easily scared.¡±

    ¡°Xin Hai Medical University?¡± Chen Ge thought for a while and then turned to the two students who led the group. ¡°Do you mind telling me your names?¡±

    ¡°I am He San and this is my senior, Gao Ruxue.¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s eyes swept the students before him before his eyesnded on Gao Ruxue. The moment he saw Gao Ruxue, a strange scar on the back of Chen Ge¡¯s hand started to bleed. Pulse of pain entered Chen Ge¡¯s heart like someone was tacking pins on the back of his arm.

    ¡°Chen Ge, your arm is bleeding!¡± Zhang Ya pulled Chen Ge to her side.

    ¡°It should be an ident inside the Haunted House. I probably brushed against something sharp, it¡¯ll be fine.¡± Chen Ge had been curious about this scar on the back of his arm as well. His broken leg had almost recovered but this small scar on the back of his arm shown no sign of recovering at all. Now it had started to bleed again, this was very abnormal.

    [Gao Ruxue is rted to the wound on the back of my arm?] He buried this thought deep inside his mind. Then he rearranged his expression back to normal and very passionately led the few students into the third floor scenario. Half an hourter, Chen Ge walked out of the Haunted House with a heavy frown on his face. ¡°Zhang Ya, I am going to need your help.¡±

    Seeing the deep frown on Chen Ge¡¯s face, Zhang Ya felt a quick unease. ¡°None of them screamed?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Chen Ge scratched his head. ¡°They all fainted before any of them let out a peep. I cannot drag all of them with just my own, will youe and help me?¡±

    With their eyes twitching, Zhang Ya and the nearby visitors all took in a cold breath. They took a whole 20 minutes before Chen Ge and Zhang Ya managed to transport all the students out from the third floor of the Haunted House. ¡°We should deposit them under the tree shade where the wind is breezy. I have already performed heart resuscitation on them and I have checked their vitals. They are fine, there is no need to worry.¡±

    ¡°Why are you so familiar with all these things?¡± All three members of Zhang Ya¡¯s family hurried out. Chen Ge made so many people faint at one time, even the management of the theme park was spooked when they got the news. But thankfully, Chen Ge knew where to draw the line. After they were carried out from the Haunted House, He San¡¯s gang woke up one after another.

    ¡°Right on time. It is same as how I calcted.¡± Chen Ge looked like everything was within his control. When the students left, he did not forget to remind them. ¡°Pleasee back to visit us more in the future!¡±

    The poprity of the Haunted House grew and the business became more and more lively. Even Zhang Ya¡¯s father who initially had some opinions about Chen Ge now could not help but praise Chen Ge whenever he ran into his friends. He even said it was his own eye in business that noticed Chen Ge¡¯s talent in the first. After one more week, the business at the Haunted House slowly stabilized. Chen Ge¡¯s mind appeared to be a wealth of endless good idea, he could alwayse up with new designs. The Haunted House became one of the most popr attractions at Xin hai Theme Park and it had gained a fast growing following on the inte, the overall ie had quadrupled its original earning. Everything was moving towards the right direction, Chen Ge got to know many new friends, the pain in his memory was slowly washed away by the passage of time and light slowly returned to his eyes.

    Whenever he was free, Chen Ge would go and find Zhang Ya, he was like a shadow to her. The two of them worked together in the day and had their meals together. After work, Zhang Ya would apany Chen Ge to do his physiotherapy. Chen Ge¡¯s broken leg already recovered to a state where it hindered his movement no more. After they had worked together for quite some time, Zhang Ya also realized Chen Ge appeared to like to be with her, but she quite like this kind of feeling.

    They continued to work together until thest day of the month. The Xin Hai theme park needed to conduct machine maintenance and inspection. Coincidentally the day was raining so the management decided to close the park for the day.

    ¡°Today, we can finish earn a well-deserved rest.¡± Zhang Ya removed the ghost make up and changed into a pretty dress that she seemed to have prepared earlier. She ran into the prop room to find Chen Ge. ¡°Chen Ge, today the them park is closed, do you have any n for the rest of the day?¡±

    ¡°The management is going to maintain the equipment today, so the workers mighte in the afternoon to inspect the machines. I will stay inside here to deal with the props.¡± Chen Ge sat amidst a pile of stic ¡®arms¡¯ and ¡®organs¡¯.

    ¡°It is rare that we get a day off and you n to spend it inside the prop room?¡± Zhang Ya bent over beside Chen Ge. ¡°Would you like to go to the movies?¡±

    ¡°Well, is there a good horror movie recently released?¡± Chen Ge answered without lifting his head. The white cat at the side could not watch this anymore. It licked its ws as if considering whether it should give Chen Ge a swipe to help him along.

    ¡°Why are we going to watch a horror film when the horrors are already ying around us every day?¡± Zhang Ya grabbed Chen Ge by his arm. ¡°Come on, don¡¯t just stay inside the house. You need to take in the fresh air once in a while.¡±

    ¡°wait a minute, I still have a red paint on me, I am afraid that I will dirty your clothes. Hey! Wait a minute...¡± Zhang Ya did not release the grab on Chen Ge¡¯s arm and the two of them walked out of the Haunted House sharing an umbre.

    ¡°Tsk, tsk, it is nice to be young.¡± Zhang Ya¡¯s father stood at the window at the second floor of the Haunted House and he had been quietly watching everything. After thatmentation, he turned to look at the other window. Zhang ya¡¯s mother was standing there. ¡°Honey, it¡¯s rare that we get a day off, how about we too go to the movies?¡±

    ¡°The management ising to check the equipment in the afternoon, you better go and inspect all the props. Fix those that need to fix and patch up those that need to the patched.¡±

    ¡°But, honey, this is such a rare day off...¡±

    ¡°Go!¡±

    ...

    Chen Ge had a liking to rainy day, but he had no idea why he liked the rainy weather. He had no recollection of the reasoning behind it. After the movie was over, the two of them walked for a while inside the mall. Zhang Ya even picked out a set of clothes for Chen Ge. When they walked past a diy shop, Zhang Ya dragged Chen Ge into it. This was a ce where the customers could make their own key chains, phone casing and there was a spot for couples for make soft ceramic dolls.

    Once they stepped into the shop, the owner came over to wee them. She selected a quiet spot for them and then started to introduce the items avable in the shop. After listening to the introduction, Zhang Ya decided to make the doll with Chen Ge. The owner took out the catalogue that contained many different cartoon images. There were detailed instructions but before she could start with the lecture, Chen Ge had already finished pinching out the shape of the doll in his hands.

    ¡°Your boyfriend has such handy fingers!¡± The owner was shocked. Compared to Chen Ge, suddenly she felt like she was just an amateur. ¡°Which character are you making?¡± The owner looked through the catalogue but she could not tell what Chen Ge was making. ¡°Are you not working ording to any of the corresponding images? You are making the dolls from the images in your mind? Are you sure this is the first time you have done this?¡±

    ¡°I will never forget her look. Unfortunately I am still quite an amateur at this, even if I have used every skill that I know, I can only recover 1 percent of her beauty.¡± The ceramic doll in Chen Ge¡¯s hand was slowly taking on shape. She was wearing a red dress and holding a love letter, this gorgeous woman captured in ceramic was none other than Zhang Ya.

    After being fed a mouthful of dogfood, the shop owner very cleverly made herself scarce. Before she left, she even presented Chen Ge and Zhang Ya with two cups of drinks. They were on the house.

    ¡°Zhang Ya, this is for you.¡± When Chen Ge was making the doll, his hands appeared to have awakened some kind of muscle memory. This small ceramic doll appeared to havee alive, it had fully represented Zhang Ya¡¯s arresting beauty.

    ¡°Are you sure?!¡± Zhagn Ya looked at the doll happily. She carefully ced it beside her but after studying it for a while, she started to feel a headacheing. ¡°I also need to make one for you as well!¡±

    Half an hourter, Zhang Ya selected a rather passable Chen Ge doll among the bunch of ¡®broken limbs and snapped necks¡¯. She very embarrassedly ced the doll before Chen Ge and then lowered her head to focus on her drink. The two of them sat together and they were very close together. Time passed by without them knowing it. They had finished making the dolls, key chains and then went for a meal together. They had done many things they wished to do. Night wasing and the rain showed no sign of slowing down, if anything it had only gotten heavier.

    There was not that many people on the road. Chen Ge and Zhang Ya shared an umbre. Initially Zhang Ya was just holding Chen Ge¡¯s hand but slowly, she leaned onto Chen Ge¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Should I walk you home?¡±

    ¡°How about... we walk a bit further?¡±

    Rain slid down the leaves and the umbre. The water puddles by the roadside reflection the neon lights of the buildings. Chen Ge and Zhang Ya walked down the street at the old city.

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Actually, after I have met you, I would have horrible dream every night.¡± Zhang Ya leaned on Chen Ge. ¡°They are very scary dreams, in the morning, my parents died in a car ident, and I am myself lying in a pool of blood. In the dream, I was wearing a skirt covered in blood and wandering inside a hospital. I would dream about the different side of this city where it was filled with dead people and in the city, you are the only ghost with temperature and warmth.¡±

 Chapter 1185 - Are you Willing to Destroy Your Dream with Your Own Hands (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1185: Are you Willing to Destroy Your Dream with Your Own Hands (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    A rainy city, an empty street, Chen Ge and Zhang Ya stood together sharing the same umbre. ¡°Those dreams feel so real, it is as if the world inside the dream is the real world.¡±

    Looking into Zhang Ya¡¯s eyes, Chen Ge¡¯s mouth opened slightly but in the end, he did not utter the words in his mind. He hesitated for a moment before he moved his eyes away, ¡°I also cannot tell which is the reality and which one is the fake, but it does not matter. No matter where we are, I will be standing beside you, I will be always by your side like a shadow.¡±

    The rain drained into the puddles by the road. The reflections of the neon lights blurred from the ripples. Zhang Ya leaned softly against Chen Ge¡¯s body. She did not share the pain that she had been suffering during this period with anyone else, but now that she had voiced them to another person, the anxiety and fear in her heart slowly started to lessen. Neither of them wished to shatter this temporary goodness. They strode in the rain and walked for quite a long time.

    The rain continued to pour. Chen Ge hailed a cab and sent Zhang Ya home. When Zhang Ya got down from the cab, she told Chen Ge another thing. Not too long ago, there was a young man called Zhang Wenyu who came to visit the Haunted House. The visitor looked no different from the other visitors. It was after reading the name on the disimer notice that Zhang Ya found out his name was Zhang Wenyu. After Zhang Ya returned home, Chen Ge told the cab driver to send him back to Xin Hai Theme Park. He rushed back into the Haunted House and opened the cupboard where all the disimers were kept. He looked through them one by one and in the end, found 12 disimers that had Zhang Wenyu¡¯s name on them.

    ¡°Looking at the dates, the appearance of this Zhang Wenyu is bing more and more frequent. Initially he only appears once a week but ever since I started working at the Haunted House, the name practically shows up among the visitors daily.¡± Chen Ge was responsible to act as ghost on the third floor. It was mainly Zhang Ya who was dealing with the visitors outside. Due to the hectic schedule, no one had the time to pay attention to the disimers.

    ¡°Zhang Wenyu has been here before, so this probably means that he has seen me in person already.¡± Chen Ge took the stack of disimers and sat next to the wooden table. ¡°Why are there so many people with the name Zhang Wenyu? When Zuo Han looked through the patient¡¯s list in the night doctor¡¯s office, why did over ten thousands of patients with the name Zhang Wenyu got registered at the hospital at the same time?¡± Rubbing his temple, Chen Ge¡¯s brain did not have any memory rted to Zhang Wenyu at all. His locked memory fragments had already been transferred into those ss jars, what he left were the little unlocked memory fragments from before. After putting away all the disimers with Zhang Wenyu¡¯s names back into the cupboard, Chen Ge headed towards the staff breakroom. When he passed the Haunted House bathroom, he subconsciously nced into it. The toilet cubicle door had been closed by someone in his absence. He walked into the bathroom to push the cubicle door open and then he moved to the staff breakroom. He picked up the white cat and looked at the rain that was getting heavier outside the window.

    ¡°I have found out about many things in my past but none of the things can be considered good memories.¡± Chen Ge raised his hand as if trying to touch the nigh sky. ¡°Now I have everything that I have ever dreamed of but time will not stop at this moment.¡± Hugging the white cat, Chen Ge looked into the cat¡¯s dual colored eye, ¡°If you are me, what kind of choice will you make?¡±

    Chen Ge was asking the white cat and at the same time, asking himself. The storm finally abated after midnight. Chen Ge tossed and turned in his bed before he finally fell asleep.

    ...

    Opening his eyes, the sun hit on his face through the window. Chen Ge rubbed his head as he crawled up from bed. ¡°A new day has begun.¡± He put on his clothes and picked up the white cat to head into the bathroom to go through his morning routine. When he lifted up his face to look at the mirror, he realized the cubicle door behind him had been closed again. ¡°I remember very well I havee in here to open it before I got to bed yesterday night. Why is it closed now? Could it be the wind?¡±

    Chen Ge pushed open the door of the cubicle again. He nced inside it, it was just a normal toilet cubicle, there was nothing special about it. ¡°Somehow all these feel so weird.¡±

    After giving the ce a good cleaning, Chen Ge opened the gates of the Haunted House, to start the day for business. The first person toe to work was Zhang Ya. After their date yesterday, their rtionship became much closer. Zhang Ya¡¯s parents came muchter to the Haunted House as if they were trying to give the young couple as much alone time as they could.

    Xin Hai Theme Park opened at 9 am, the visitors rushed through the gates and queued up obediently in front of the Haunted House. Chen Ge who was in the disguise of a crazed murderer was standing behind the curtain of one of the windows on the second floor and observed everything from the dark. Throughout the whole morning, there was no ident inside the Haunted House. During lunch break, Chen Ge who was still in the disguise started to go through the disimers that they had gotten in that morning. After the visitors signed the disimer, they would be kept in order inside the cupboard, therefore, from the cement of the disimer, one could correctly deduct the time the visitor came to visit the Haunted House. Chen Ge had just flipped through two pages when he stopped because at that moment he was holding the disimer that had Zhang Wenyu¡¯s name on it!

    ¡°He should still be nearby!¡± He grabbed the disimer and went to find Zhang Ya. After giving it some thought, Zhang Ya told him it was a middle-aged man who signed that disimer. The man had a unique presence about him and a sharp gaze that dissuaded others from looking directly at him. After knowing the man¡¯s looks, Chen Ge rushed out of the Haunted House without taking off his disguise. His clothes were dirty and covered in red paint, he looked quite scary. ¡°Zhang Wenyu, where would he be?¡±

    Walking through the shadowed path, Chen Ge stopped at the split right in the middle of the theme park. There were so many visitors around him. Even if he possessed very good power of sight, it was practically impossible to pick out a single person among therge crowd. ¡°He has beening to the Haunted House because he wants to meet me, if that is the case, why does not he leave any messages for me?¡±

    He paused at the split for a very long time. Just as Chen Ge prepared to give up and leave, he realized there was man sitting at the theme park¡¯s restaurant¡¯s corner looking at him. ¡°Is that him?¡± Chen Ge did not hesitate. He held the disimer and strode into the restaurant and sat down next to the man. After taking a closer look at the man before him, a sense of familiarity rose up in Chen Ge¡¯s heart, he was sure that he was not wrong.

    ¡°Long time no see.¡± The middle-aged man took a sip of the coffee in the cup and leaned his body back against the chair.

    ¡°Long time no see? But this should be the first time we have met.¡± Chen Ge ced the disimer on the table. ¡°You are Zhang Wenyu?¡±

    ¡°I am a part of Zhang Wenyu, you can call me...¡± With his fingers tapping on the table, the middle-aged man thought for a while before answering, ¡°The author.¡±

    ¡°The author?¡±

    ¡°Looks like you have really forgotten everything.¡± The middle-aged man stood up directly. It was as if he had sensed something wrong and was prepared to leave.

    ¡°Please do not go like that. Can¡¯t we have a good chat over this?¡±

    ¡°When you have made the decision, and then youe and find me.¡± The author was not dragging his heel. It was as if the longer he stayed here, the bigger the danger he would be in.

    ¡°What kind of decision?¡± Chen Ge grabbed the author¡¯s hand.

    ¡°When the truth is so cruel that if you know about it, regret will definitely follow, in that case, will you still be willing to pursue the truth?¡± The author pulled his hand away from Chen Ge but not before nting something in Chen Ge¡¯s palm. ¡°If you do, thene to this ce and find me alone.¡± After saying that, the author hurriedly melted into the crowd and then he disappeared.

    Chen Ge lowered his head to look at the centre of his palm, there was a piece of napkin ced there. The name of a location was written on the piece of paper¡ªPing An Apartment. After putting the napkin paper and the disimer away, Chen Ge walked away from the theme park restaurant with heavy thought in his mind. He walked through the theme park with the costume of the crazed murderer from the Haunted House. When many adults who came with their children to the theme park saw Chen Ge, they quickly covered their children¡¯s eyes. Some of the other visitors took out their phone to snap pictures of Chen Ge.

    ¡°Chen Ge!¡± Zhang Ya who was dressed in the red spectre disguise jogged over to him. ¡°Why did youe over here all of a sudden?¡±

    ¡°Just now...¡± Chen Ge did not hide the truth from Zhang Ya, ¡°I found Zhang Wenyu.¡±

    ¡°We can talk about that after we get back. It is not good for the visitors of the theme park to see us like this.¡± Zhang Ya dragged Chen Ge back to the Haunted House. After the simple lunch, they started to work for the afternoon session. They busied themselves until 6 o clock when the Haunted House closed for business. Chen Ge removed the murderer costume and started to check the props and traps inside the scenario. He was moving through the floor when he heard footstepsing from the stairs. He turned his head to look and saw that Zhang Ya wasing up the stairs.

    ¡°How can I help you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing about me. But I am worried about you. After you have met Zhang Wenyu, your attention has been constantly distracted.¡± Zhang Ya walked to stand beside Chen Ge. ¡°Is he one of your former friends? If you run into any trouble, know that you can share them with me any time.¡±

    ¡°I cannot remember him at all, perhaps we do used to know each other because he appears to know about my past.¡± Chen Ge had a bit of a headache, he pressed on his temples.

    ¡°Then you should go and ask him for more details. Be it a good or bad thing, that was once who you were, it contained your memory and the real you.¡± Zhang Ya had been encouraging Chen Ge.

    ¡°But what if I am a horrible person in my past or what if finding out about my past will affect my present and future?¡± Chen Ge leaned against the wall of the corridor. The cold walls on his back made him slowly calm down. ¡°I am very sure that the current everything that I have now is the thing that I have been desiring all along. If I have never experienced this before, then perhaps I can give it all up easily but now I am very unwilling, I even do not have the courage to take the risk to make this decision.¡± Chen Ge was still talking when his cold hands felt a trace of warmth. Lowering his head to look, Chen Ge realized Zhang Ya was holding his hands softly. ¡°Zhang Ya?¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t we made a promise to each other yesterday night? No matter where we are, we will be by each other¡¯s side like shadow. Therefore, do not fret too much on whether to search for your past or to maintain the current state, what you need to do is to find back your real self.¡± Zhang Ya pulled Chen Ge along by his hand. ¡°Come on, don¡¯t fuss too much over this. It is time for dinner, my mom has bought many good food.¡±

    The business at the Haunted House was getting better and better by the day, Zhang Ya¡¯s parents bought many drinks and food. They had a celebration with Chen Ge untilte at night before they left.

    At around 10 pm, Chen Ge who was staying alone in the prop room suddenly heard the sound of the window being opened. He grabbed the nearest tool inside the toolbox which was a metallic hammer and leaned his back against the wall and hid himself in the shadows. Chen Ge did not go after the man who snuck in immediately but came to the main control room first and switched off all the lights inside the Haunted House. He was very familiar with theyout of the Haunted House and with his incredible power of hearing, in that moment, he gained the upper hand almost immediately by doing the decision that he made. Holding the hammer, Chen Ge held his head. He focused his ear to listen. Following that soft pitter patter of footsteps, he came to the door of the staff breakroom.

    Just outside the door of the staff breakroom there stood a dark shadow. He slowly approached and the sound of his footsteps was muffled. The shadowy figure had no idea there was another person about several metres behind him. The figure twisted the door handle, as if wondering how to open the door when he felt a giant force wrap around his neck.

    ¡°What is your name? Why have you sneaked into the Haunted House in the middle of the night?¡± The chilling and eerie voice demanded beside his ear. His back was drenched by cold sweat almost immediately.

    ¡°Chen Ge? I am Zuo Han! It¡¯s me, Zuo Han! I am your friend!¡± The person screamed for mercy, it was clear that he was really afraid.

    ¡°Zuo Han?¡± Hearing the familiar voice, Chen Ge immediately let the person go and switched on the lights in the corridor. Zuo Han who was wearing a tattered brown old coat was copsed on the ground, grasping for air.

    ¡°Oh, it was my old roommate! Why didn¡¯t you just say so? We could have saved a lot of trouble.¡±

    ¡°Did you ever give the time to say anything?¡± Zuo Han rubbed at his neck. After he lifted his head, Chen Ge¡¯s brows were immediately creased together. There was a wound that was about 7 cm long on Zuo Han¡¯s left eye, his left eye appeared to have plucked away.

    ¡°What happened to your eye?¡± Chen Ge put down the hammer and immediately helped Zuo Han up from the ground.

    ¡°I have traded it away.¡± Zuo Han said matter-of-factly.

    ¡°You have used your eye in a trade?¡± Chen Ge was shocked by this revtion. What kind of trade was this? ¡°Is it with one of the doctors inside the hospital?¡±

    ¡°No, before you were taken to the treatment room to ept the treatment, I have already escaped from the hospital.¡± Zuo Han thought back to the incident that happened one month ago. ¡°That day I got the notice from Doctor Gao, telling me that I was go to the treatment room with you that night. At the time, I already felt something was off. That and another doctor had dropped me a hint. I knew that if I did not do anything then, I would be in great trouble, therefore I made the quick decision to ¡®escape¡¯ from the prison.¡±

    Chen Ge thought back to that night. When Doctor Gao first gave him the treatment, there were in total 7 people in the treatment room, 5 of them were patients and the other 2 doctors. At the time, the exnation given by Doctor Gao was two of the patients had escaped so he and Doctor Sun were there in their cement to participate in the treatment.

    ¡°Zuo Han, the doctor that gave you the hint at the time, can you still remember his name?¡±

    ¡°I cannot remember who it was that dropped the hint for me but based on my deduction, the only person that could have chosen that moment to give any hint to me, it has to be one of the doctors working inside the hospital.¡± Zuo Han was still as strong as ever when it came to logical deduction.

    Chen Ge nodded. He believed the Zuo Han was able to escape sessfully from the hospital had two reasons behind it, first was because the hospital did not pay that much attention to Zuo Han, they did not know the Zuo Han had already started to suspect his own memory, secondly, there was a doctor inside the hospital who had lent him an aid, and this mysterious doctor who had helped Zuo Han from the dark was most likely Doctor Sun. After all, by helping Zuo Han leave, that the young man would have the chance to join in Chen Ge¡¯s treatment.

    ¡°If you did not conduct the trade with the doctor, then who else in this city would use an eyeball as an item of transaction?¡± Chen Ge led Zuo Han into the staff breakroom and had him sit on the bed.

    ¡°The eyeball was a trade and also a sacrifice.¡± Zuo Han pulled open the zipper of his jacket to expose the wounds that had not yet recovered near his corbone and chest. ¡°These are the sacrifice needed to find the truth.¡± Looking at the ghastly wounds on Zuo Han¡¯s body, Chen Ge grabbed the med kit from inside the Haunted House. ¡°What have you been up to during this period of time?¡±

    ¡°I am now currently being sought by everyone in the city, therefore I have to cut the long story short.¡± Zuo Han stood up to pull back the curtain. After he made sure there was no one else outside the window, he only revealed, ¡°I cannot be sure whether this world that we are currently in is the real world or not but there is one thing that I am certain of. When you start to have suspicion of this world, misfortune and horror will descend upon you.¡±

 Chapter 1186 - Making a Decision (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1186: Making a Decision (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    ¡°Misfortune will befall you once you start to have suspicion of this world?¡± Chen Ge shook his head lightly. ¡°The fragmented memory in my mind told me that even if I am just living my life, I will be under the torture of misfortune and despair.¡±

    ¡°They arepletely different thing.¡± Zuo Han touched the wound on his left eye, it appeared to be recovering already so it was pulsing with pain. ¡°Your previous memory perhaps came from the real life and the real life had always been cruel, but everything that you are experiencing now is more like a dream, a dream that you will not be able to wake up from.¡±

    ¡°Ever since I woke up at the hospital, I stopped dreaming at night. So from that point of view, your suspicion has some basis to it.¡± Chen Ge poured a ss of water for Zuo Han but Zuo Han refused to touch it at all, he was very cautious.

    ¡°Your body is recovering very fast and the sharpness in your eyes has gone. I know you actually understand many things but now you are unwilling to face them because you have possessed the goodness in the world, you have tasted the bliss and so you do not want to personally destroy them with your own two hands.¡± Zuo Han was not only clever, he had a very good observation skill. From Chen Ge¡¯s various tone and expression, he could discern many things. Listening to Zuo Han¡¯s usation, Chen Ge did not answer. He had also been questioning himself but unfortunately he never reached any conclusion answer.

    ¡°But if this is just a dream and suspicion will trigger bad luck that will tear down all the goodness, then in the end, even if I wake up from the dream, wouldn¡¯t I be thrown back to an even crueler reality?¡±

    ¡°But the bliss here is fake.¡± Zuo Han stood up and looked at Chen Ge seriously, ¡°What have they done to you in the short amount of one month? What have you experienced? You weren¡¯t like this at the hospital at all, back then, the feeling you gave me was more like a devil who was hiding a heart of revenge.¡±

    ¡°I have not experienced anything too special, I merely have been living a simple life. If you really want to pinpoint something, it would be my encounter with Zhang Ya.¡± Chen Ge sat on the chair, the emotions in his eyes were extremelyplicated. ¡°She is very special to me. When I am with her, I will feel very secure and safe.¡±

    ¡°I thought things will go smoothly but I guess I have wasted my timeing here tonight.¡± Zuo Han removed his gloves and took out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. ¡°You will eventually wake up from the dream. The day you change your mind, you cane to this ce to find me.¡± When Chen Ge reached out to ept the piece of paper, he noticed the fingerprints on Zuo Han¡¯s fingers had been sanded off.

    ¡°I am now a wanted man, this is probably thest time I aming to find you.¡± After Chen Ge kept the paper note, Zuo Han was ready to leave. ¡°This city might look perfect on the surface but underneath its perfect cover, it is filled with boils about to burst with pus and blood. When you be unwilling to leave this ce, it will slowly swallow you into its stomach.¡±

    ¡°I will think about this further.¡±

    ¡°Okay, there is one more thing that I have to tell you. I have once stolen a white phone out from the hospital, after I switched it on, I realized it was installed with various kind of cursed words and a bunch of apps rted to curses. Initially I thought that was just a strange interest by the owner but after that, I have sneaked a look at all the phones of the hospital workers and the doctors at the hospital, everyone at that hospital with white phone had many curse-rted games and apps installed in their phone. So if you encounter anyone using white phone in the future, remember to stay away from them.¡± After Zuo Han dropped that piece of advice, he did not stay any longer. He climbed through the window of the bathroom and left. Closing the window behind him, Chen Ge¡¯s face was dark. He leaned against the door of the toilet cubicle and his brain was churning rapidly.

    ¡°There were originally many memory fragments in my mind, they described apletely different life, the doctors at the hospital told me those memories were all part of my delusion but after seeing the seven ss jars in all the hospital directors¡¯ offices, I can be certain now that those experiences were absolutely real.¡± Chen Ge was actually very clear that, if those memory fragments were real, then the city that he was currently living in was most likely a fake one. ¡°After the hospital realized all the memory fragments in my brain had disappeared, they only allowed me to leave the hospital but the key problem was when I was leaving the hospital, Doctor Sun hade to remind me that the real treatment is only starting now.

    ¡°Eliminating my past memory is the only the first step. The thing that they will do next is probably to reshape my memory so that I will stop suspecting this hospital and this world and be a living doll inside this city. They will use the fake bliss and happiness to numb me to everything, to have me desire everything, to make it so that I am unable to part myself from them and even turn me into a defender of this ce and its rules.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s gaze was cold. ¡°They had a very good n but there were too many idents in this process, the escape of the patient Zhang Wenyu, the suspicion Zuo Han had towards this world, the help of Doctor Sun, and the most importantly, some kind of change had been happening to Zhang Ya as well.¡±

    He could remember very clearly, when he encountered Zhang Ya at the hospital, there was blood droplets that had gathered from bloody words that had crawled into Zhang Ya¡¯s body. ¡°Initially Zhang Ya¡¯s existence was probably topensate for my real, to help fulfil my wish but under the influence of those blood words, Zhang Ya started to have some very scary nightmares every night. Those nightmares are probably the real world and those nightmares have been reminding me and Zhang Ya that under this bubble of bliss, there are many bloody faces looking to swallow us. This is a blissful world that is meant for people to sink themselves into but my life is more than me alone.¡± Many different figures appeared in Chen Ge¡¯s mind. ¡°The second persona that has gouged out his heart in the brain maze, the patients who are still in torment at the hospital, the child who was split into many parts and stuffed into different ss jars, Doctor Sun who was filled with scars and perhaps even Zhang Ya.¡±

    Thinking back to their date, when Chen Ge was making the ceramic doll, both of his hands had moulded the version of Zhang Ya in his heart. Chen Ge who was a master dollmaker had already noticed a problem then, the Zhang Ya doll that he created wore a bloody dress and was wearing various negative emotions. That was not Zhang Ya under the spectre disguise, but a Demon God that was extremely scary. The version that Zhang Ya that he made from his memory was a different Zhang Ya that he spent time with daily, perhaps the version of Zhang Ya at the Haunted house was merely a part of the real Zhang Ya. With this thought in mind, Chen Ge lowered his head to look at paper note left in his palm. There were three words written on the front of the paper¡ªPing An Apartments. On the back, the location of Ping An Apartment was roughly jotted down.

    ¡°Doctor Sun helped me escaped from the hospital so that proves that the way to wake up from the dream is not inside the hospital but somewhere in this city.¡± The message that was left behind by Zuo Han and the author was one and the same. After giving it some thought, he turned back towards the staff breakroom and then came out carrying an old backpack. The white cat strode bouncingly behind Chen Ge. Just as they were around to reach the Haunted House door, Chen Ge turned back to ce it back inside the room. ¡°I am going to a very dangerous ce tonight, I can¡¯t let you follow me so tonight I will need you to watch over the fort for me.¡±

    The pair of dual-colored eyes looked at Chen Ge with confusion, the white cat appeared as if it was in brutal shock. Momentster, it ran out again, as if worried that Chen Ge did not want it anymore. ¡°I am not going out to y this time. I need to stay here and look over the ce, I promise I will be back before sunrise.¡±

    In the end, Chen Ge did not bring the white cat with him. Based on the instruction on the paper, he took a cab and came to a restaurant that was close to Ping An Apartment. Xin Hai¡¯s taxi drivers apparently rarely got the direction toe to ces outside of the city. When Chen Ge got out from the car, the driver even tried his best to advise him that it was incredibly unwise toe to the countryside alone at night.

    Chen Ge walked past the restaurant. His original intention was to prevent others from following him on vehicle so he nned to walk the rest of the distance to the apartment. But incidentally, he had not had a meal since the start of the day, and he was already quite hungry so he turned and walked into the restaurant.

    Ping An Apartment was at Xin Hai western countryside, this ce was very secluded. Before he came here, Chen Ge also did not expect a restaurant that was quite popr could be found so far away from the city. The shop was famous for its ¡®lu zhu¡¯ (stewed food) and ¡®wild game¡¯. Due to the city¡¯s rules for the banning of wild game, the restaurant had to move to the countryside even though the owner had been trying his best to exin that all the meat that was served at his shop was reared from home, they only had that unique taste because of the special recipe of seasoning that they used. The shop was not that big, it did not have any VIP rooms, there were only five to six short, wooden tables ced at the lobby.

    ¡°I am so sorry but we are already closed for business.¡± There was a fatty standing at the cashier, he had on a dirty apron and a very obvious scar was travelling his face.

    ¡°I havee so far from the city to visit your ce, just serve me anything that you have left.¡± Chen Ge smelled the delicious scent of meat inside the shop and his stomach grumbled even louder. He found a seat and then casually flipped through the menu.

    ¡°There are still some vegetables but we have already run out of meat. The meat at this ce sells like hot cakes.¡± The fat chef finished dealing with the work he was dealing with and took a menu and walked towards Chen Ge. ¡°We still have some frozen dumplings in the fridge, how about I make some wild boar dumplings for you?¡±

    ¡°I do not like wild game that much, just some vegetables will be fine.¡± Chen Ge turned his head to look at the chef and the chef also happened to lower his head to look at them. When the two saw the other¡¯s face at that moment, something incredibly absurd happened. The scar on the fat chef¡¯s face started to wiggle. His body appeared to freeze and cold sweat slithered continuously down his forehead.

    ¡°Do you know me?¡± Chen Ge narrowed his eyes.

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± The chef replied firmly. Then he turned and ran towards the kitchen like he was escaping for his life but his shoulder was grabbed by Chen Ge.

    ¡°Do you really not know me? If that is the case, then why did you run? What is your name?¡± Chen Ge might not like he was that thick in frame but he had powerful arms. His five fingers sunk into the chef¡¯s shoulders like metallic ws. ¡°Your body is shaking, are you afraid of me?¡±

    ¡°I am not afraid of you, I have merely mistaken you for someone else. He look simr to one of the police officers and I thought you were here to check on the wild game.¡± The chef did not dare to turn his face around and when he answered, he answered in the softest voice possible.

    ¡°You are lying.¡± Chen Ge pressed harder with his hand. ¡°Tell me, what is your name?¡±

    ¡°My name is Chi Longtou. I am just a small chef, please let me go.¡± The chef started to beg.

    ¡°Chi Longtou of the Lu Zu shop?¡± Chen Ge felt like that information was rather familiar. He pressed the chef against the wall and reached out his finger to touch the scar on the chef¡¯s face. From the body size, the chef was muchrger than Chen Ge but in reality, the chef did not have the intention to even struggle at all. ¡°The wound on your face has not scabbed over and the wound is not that deep, it looks like they have been slowly gouged out by some object, is this some kind of sick punishment?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s finger trailed the edge of the wound, the pain caused the chef to grit his teeth. ¡°The perimeter of the wound is extremely irregr, it feels like whenever it is about to heal, someone wille and injure you again. I cannot imagine the pain that you must be in.¡±

    Listening to what Chen Ge had to say, the chef¡¯s legs were as weak as noodle. He knelt down to the ground and his face was pale as ash. ¡°Chen Ge, can we just pretend that we have not met each other? I have never seen you and you have never walked into my shop?¡±

    ¡°You even know my name?¡± Chen Ge pressed even harder. He could be sure that this was the first time he met Chi Longtou but thetter was able to recognize him so this could only mean that they had some kind of connection before and that connection was a proof for the validity of Chen Ge¡¯s former memory. The chef wished that he could p his mouth. With a bitter face, he did not dare to even utter a word anymore.

    ¡°I only need you to answer a few of my questions honestly. If I am satisfied, then I won¡¯t bother you anymore and we can pretend that we have not met each other.¡± Compared to the chef, Chen Ge was even more desperate to know stuff but he did not show it on the surface.

    ¡°Ask me then, I will tell you everything that I know.¡± The chef crawled up from the ground as if he had surrendered to his destiny. He jogged over to close the door of his shop.

    ¡°My first question is from where did you know me?¡± This was the point that Chen Ge was the most curious about. He was there that night to go and ask Zhang Wenyu about it, but as fate would have it, he ran into this strange chef instead.

    ¡°It was at a Lu Zu snack shop at Xin Hai but not the one behind the door...¡± The chef said when the world before his eyes turned blood red. He felt like someone was about to tear his brain apart.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Chen Ge was given quite a shock as well. Seeing the wound on the chef¡¯s face suddenly tear open for no reason, that was the understandable response. Then the blood poured out from the chef¡¯s face. Holding his own face, the chef was rolling on the ground. He resisted the pain but did not dare to make too loud of a noise. He could only bite on the table cloth that he had grabbed earlier. There was blood everywhere on the ground. Chen Ge looked at the redness that was drying up but he did not feel any disgust or fear, it was as if he had gotten used to all these gore already. His fingers touched the blood stains on the ground. The sticky and warm feeling was very familiar to Chen Ge, a thought burst out from the deep part of his mind. [This is real blood.]

    After about 10 minutes, the chef only slowly returned to normal. He reached out his bloody hands to grab at Chen Ge¡¯s shoes. ¡°I cannot tell you anything, I will die.¡±

    ¡°Actually in your current state, I feel like dying might be a better option than death, perhaps you still have something that you still have not finished.¡± Chen Ge picked the chef up from the ground. ¡°If one day I can end the pain, I will try to find a way to help you. Please do not push yourself further, you can just tell me whatever that you can tell me.¡±

    The chef¡¯s body was shaking due to extreme pain. He used the table cloth, soaked it in his own blood and wrote down something on the ground. Whenever he finished writing a word, he would immediately wipe it away¡ªthis is the ce where the patients are punished behind the door.

    ¡°The ce where the patients are punished?¡±

    With shaking hand, the chef wrote down another line¡ªcan¡¯t escape, can¡¯t die even if I want to, help me.

    He wiped away all traces of blood on the ground. He held his bleeding face and headed back into the kitchen. After reading the bloody revtion by the chef, Chen Ge had a very bad feeling rising inside him.

    Seeking the truth and misfortune woulde, now it appeared like misfortune had alreadye knocking at his doors.

 Chapter 1187 - Back to the Beginning (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1187: Back to the Beginning (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    ¡°all the hospital workers at the hospital also have the surname Chi, there has to be some kind of connection between them, it is unwise to stay here for too long.¡± Looking at the pool of blood on the ground, Chen Ge lost his appetite. He skipped the meal and left the shop. He walked down the path for about 100 metres. When Chen Ge turned his head back to look, all the lights at the shop had been switched off already. The ce was shrouded in darkness, he could not see anything.

    ¡°For me, this is a city that is perfectly beautiful, but Chi Longtou said this city is used to punish the patients. And then he mentioned something about a ¡®door¡¯, what kind of special significance does the ¡®door¡¯ y in this city?¡± Chen Ge was reminded of the door inside Zhang Ya¡¯s Haunted House¡¯s bathroom. Whenever he pushed the cubicle door open, the next he passed the bathroom, he would notice the cubicle door would be closed again. Other than that, when he received the treatment at the hospital, when Doctor Gao pulled him into the brain maze, the turning point also came when he was supposed to push open doors. After he pushed open the door, the hospital outside was eerie and scary, it was as if the worlds inside and outside the door werepletely different.

    ¡°Perhaps the exit to escape this city is a door hidden inside thisrge city.¡± Based on the direction provided by Zuo Han, at around 11. 40 pm, Chen Ge finally reached Ping An Apartments. It was an old-fashioned apartment building that appeared to be quite abandoned. It was situated behind an abandoned vige at the western countryside of Xin Hai, the location was extremely secluded. ¡°Why would the author and Zuo Han signal for me toe here? Have the two of them met each other before?¡±

    The leaves ruffled from the wind. Chen Ge walked past the abandoned vige, there was not even a single figure around.

    ¡°It feels like I have been to this ce before for some reason.¡± Looking at the tombstones outside the window and the uneven old locust trees that grew up gnarly like ghosts, such a scary atmosphere did not cause even a ripple of fear in his heart. ¡°Just what kind of life I have led before? Howe I feel nothing when I am around these things that should have scared a normal people? If anything, I feel some kind of familiarity around them?¡±

    Chen Ge did not think there was anything abnormal about him, he chalked the formation of this attitude to a deeperyer of consciousness in his mind. When he reached the end of the vige, Chen Ge was about to move forward, when he suddenly saw a person kneeling on top of the tombstone next to it. The person appeared to have materialized out of thin air but at the same time, felt like he had been watching Chen Ge from that spot for a long time already.

    When Chen Ge saw the man, thetter also saw Chen Ge. The two of them shared a look but neither of them felt there was nothing off about this. Neither of them spoke, they continued with their own work. The man continued to kneel on the tombstone while Chen Ge walked away from him. But after he took a few steps, Chen Ge suddenly realized the man who was kneeling on the tombstone earlier looked quite familiar to him. But when Chen Ge turned back to look, the only thing that he saw was a solitary grave.

    ¡°Where is the man? In the middle of the night, there was a person kneeling on top of a grave. This is definitely something unusual but how did I manage to ept it as an everyday thing? The person who was kneeling on the tombstone did not give me a sense of danger or warning either.¡± Ever since he made the decision toe to Ping An Apartments, Chen Ge realized more and more things that he could not exin started to appear around him. To get to Ping An Apartment, he had to move through the abandoned vige. After Chen Ge passed the graveyard, a piece of dirt road piled up with twigs and trash that extended before him. Next to the road there stood a sign, it said no trespassing. But because no one had passed this ce for a long time, the sign had seen better days and even the warning on it had faded away.

    ¡°The apartment is already so old, just what kind of people still insist on staying there?¡± Walking down the dirt path filed with holes, Chen Ge looked around him with curiosity. The two sides of the roads were hanging with funereal bouquets and gs. Many paper money littered around the ground, some of the paper money had been half buried inside the ground, obviously they had been there for quite some time already. White clothes were bound around tree branches and one could see shadows of grave through the trees. The tombstones flickered amidst the forest like eyes and they were extremely scary. If this was a normal Xin Hai citizen who hade here, they probably would have turned back out of fear already.

    ¡°This ce is decorated so eerily, it feels like someone is purposely to hide something here so that people will not be willing toe any closer.¡± The path that he was walking on appeared to lead directly down to hell. It was unclear how long Chen Ge had been traveling down it before he finally reached the end. There was an old apartment that was well hidden inside the forest. It had 3 storeys in total, it was not tall by any means. All the windows on the third floor were boarded up with wooden boards and you could see the sign of charring on the walls, signifying this ce was once a site of a big fire. A big fire probably enveloped this ce before but due to a probableck of funds, the owner only refurbished the lower two floors and left the third floor the way it was.

    ¡°Ping An Apartments?¡± After wading through the small yard that was filled with wild grasses, Chen Ge saw the que with the apartment¡¯s name on it. The building appeared to have had many names in it incarnation. The characters on the que had been changed many times, giving it a harried look.

    ¡°Is someone in?¡± Chen Ge pulled open the zipper of his backpack. With his hand inside the backpack, he entered the building carefully. The inside of the building was extremely old, the floor tiles were cracked and there were gaps on the wall. asionally one could see ck worms wiggling inside them.

    ¡°From the outside the building looks quite small, I am surprised it can amodate so many rooms inside it.¡± Chen Ge did not dare to wander down the hall aimlessly. His eyes scanned the doors one after another before his gaze finally fell on the door for Room 101. Knocking lightly on the door, Chen Ge stood for a long time outside the door but no one came to answer it. He leaned against the door and perked his ears up to listen. It was deathly quiet inside the room as if no one was staying there.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± A man¡¯s voice suddenly rang out from behind Chen Ge, it gave Chen Ge quite a fright. He immediately whipped his body around to turn behind him.

    ¡°It¡¯s you! You were the person who was kneeling on the tombstone earlier!¡± It did not take long for Chen Ge to recognize the man behind him.

    ¡°This is not a ce that you should havee. Before you awaken the other tenants, you better leave this ce as soon as you can.¡± The man was standing a few steps behind Chen Ge. He walked with no sound at all. Chen Ge had no idea when did he arrive behind him.

    ¡°It is already toote, and I wouldn¡¯t be able to find a transport to get back into the city even if I want to, do you mind if I stay here for one night?¡± Chen Ge stared closely at the man and remembered the man¡¯s every movement deep inside his heart.

    ¡°But all the rooms here are upied.¡± The middle-aged man kept urging Chen Ge to leave. ¡°just go. Even if you stay outside, it is better than you staying here.¡±

    ¡°The ce is upied but howe I feel like none of the room here has people inside them?¡±

    ¡°Having no people inside them does not necessarily mean that they are not upied...¡± Before the man could finish, there appeared to be something that fell down from the third floor, it sounded like a ball rolling down the stairs. Chen Ge turned to look but the man quickly shuffled his step to block Chen Ge¡¯s view.

    ¡°Did something just fall down the stairs?¡±

    ¡°A tenant has lost her precious keepsake. I will go and help her, I need you to stand here and do not move.¡± The man walked towards the corner of the corridor. Chen Ge did not listen to his order and instead followed behind him directly. When he came to the corner of the stairs, Chen Ge saw the middle-aged man hand something over to a woman, or more precisely, he ced something on the woman.

    ¡°Thank you...¡± The woman touched her neck with both of her hands and then looked at Chen Ge with open curiosity. The strange thing was, when she saw Chen Ge¡¯s face, she was unable to pull her eyes away. It was not until the middle-aged man coughed audibly for several times, that something urred to the woman and she hurriedly to turn away. Being stared by that strange woman, Chen Ge¡¯s back was drenched in cold sweat. Earlier he saw clearly that the middle-aged man had ced something for the woman. But there was nothing on the woman¡¯s arms or body that could make a bouncing sound. Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were fixated on the back of the woman¡¯s neck. The woman¡¯s neck was twisting abnormally, it was as if her head was tittering unevenly on her shoulders.

    ¡°it is time for you to go.¡± The middle-aged man stood on the stairs and looked down on Chen Ge. His face was strangely pale like a body inside the morgue.

    ¡°Actually the reason I am here is to look for a friend of mine.¡± Chen Ge did not want to hide the truth. This ce was too strange, he felt like it was better if he came out with the truth.

    ¡°It is impossible for your friend to be here, the tenants staying here would not be your friends after all.¡± The middle-aged man walked to stand before Chen Ge. ¡°This is the second time we have met tonight. The first time I have pretended to not see you, and now I can still pretend to not see you. So please leave now because there won¡¯t be a third time.¡±

    ¡°You have been pretending to not see me? What will happen if you have seen me?¡±

    ¡°Then you will be a tenant here and it will be very hard to leave again.¡± The middle-aged man held Chen Ge up in the corridor. Momentster, a door that was close to the stairs on the second floor opened. A woman wearing sses walked out from the room. She saw Chen Ge and the middle-aged man. When the woman saw Chen Ge, her expression changed as well. She seemed to share a good rtionship with the middle-aged man. She walked directly to the middle-aged man¡¯s side and then whispered softly into his ear. ¡°Ol¡¯ Zhou, has this young man been to Ping An Apartment before?¡±

    The man who was called Ol¡¯ Zhou shook his head. ¡°I am chasing him away now.¡±

    ¡°If he is seen by more of the tenants, I am afraid he won¡¯t be able to leave if he wants to then.¡± After dropping that piece of advice, the woman with the spectacles brushed past Chen Ge like he was not even there and headed up to the third floor. Chen Ge had noticed by then most of the people at Ping An Apartment treated him strangely. He suspected it had to do with Zhang Wenyu and Zuo Han.

    ¡°Erm... Brother Zhou, is there a tenant here that goes by the name Zuo Han, he is my friend. Actually we shared the same room when we were at the hospital.¡± Chen Ge gave Zuo Han¡¯s name. His intention was to hope to get more information but to his surprise, after he said that, the attitude of the middle-aged man towards him changed instantly.

    ¡°Wait, you and him are friends? You also came from that hospital?¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou stared closely at Chen Ge.

    ¡°yes, we were staying inside the same sickroom. I guess you could say that i am one of the reasons he had escaped from the hospital.¡±

    ¡°Zuo Han is still out. If you are his friend, then you should go to his room to wait for him.¡± After Ol¡¯ Zhou found out Chen Ge was someone who came from that hospital, he immediately changed his mind. He personally led Chen Ge to the room at the deepest end of the second floor corridor. ¡°This is where Zuo Han stays. Coincidentally his room lock is broken, so you might as well go into his room and wait for him.¡±

    Chen Ge did not stand on ceremony. He pushed the door open and he was greeted by bloody bandage and gauzes that covered the floor. ¡°These were used bandage by Zuo Han. Today he went out to meet a friend, he had not returned yet.¡±

    ¡°The friend that he had gone out to meet was me.¡± Chen Ge pointed at himself.

    ¡°Oh? He went to find him but he failed to return and you havee to this ce to find him?¡± The man who was called Ol¡¯ Zhou smiled at him. ¡°before he returns, you better stay in his room. This apartment will get quite noisy after midnight. No matter what you hear, do not leave this room. Just close your ears and go on off to sleep.¡±

    The middle-aged man left after saying that. Chen Ge was left alone inside the room. The room was barely furnished but Chen Ge felt a sense of familiarity to the ce. It felt like even though this was the first time he had been to this strange ce, he had visited this very same room in his dream multiple times already. Sitting on the bed, Chen Ge held the backpack close to his body. ¡°I believe I havee to this before. I cannot remember exactly what has happened here but in my mind, it was nothing good.¡±

    Chen Ge waited inside the room until after midnight but Zuo Han still had not returned. He felt incredibly drowsy. Chen Ge rubbed his bloodshot eyes. ¡°A normal apartment would not be situated behind an abandoned vige and a graveyard, there has to be some problems with this ce.¡± If based on the hospital¡¯s original treatment, by now Chen Ge would have been deprived of the influence had on him due to his former memory already, then he would have arrived here like a normal person. However, due to the appearance of Doctor Sun, there was loophole in the hospital¡¯s treatment. Chen Ge knew that he could not believe his own two eyes at any time, he had to maintain extreme collectiveness that was beyond human limit.

    At around 2 am in the morning, Chen Ge suddenly heard a strange sounding from upstairs, it sounded like someone was cutting through something with a saw. He remembered the warning by the man with the surname Zhou. He was supposed to stay inside the room obediently. The sound of sawing faded away but it was then reced by the a fleeting screams and the sound of paints king down from the wall. Among the drifting sound, Chen Ge could have sworn he heard the name Zhang Wenyu being mentioned.

    ¡°There has to be a reason why he forbade me to leave this room.¡± Chen Ge was still seated on the bed but several minutester, he heard a familiar name being mentioned from the conversation that drifted from upstairs¡ªZhang Jingjiu. Now that he thought about it, the screams earlier sounded simr to Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s.

    Chen Ge could not sit idle anymore. He carried his backpack and sneaked out from the room and came to the third floor. Everywhere had signs of burning. There were many broken furniture and burnt trash that crowded the corridor. The sound of conversation and sawing came from the deepest end of the corridor. Chen Ge slowly moved forward. A faded scent of blood tackled his nose. The world before his eyes were slowly being reced by a hue of red. The ckened walls were covered in blood. Inside the darkened corridor, he could see a few figures moving about. Chen Ge trained his focus. There were many trash on the ground, if he was just a bit careless, he would make some noise.

    ¡°What are they doing?¡± Chen Ge slowly approached. When he reached the middle of the corridor, he saw the wall at the end of the corridor. His pupils narrowed and Chen Ge realized that was a doctor wearing a white coat that was pinned to the wall at the end of the corridor. The doctor¡¯s coat was drenched red by blood and there was a patient with twisted limbs lying under him.

    ¡°Zhang Jingjiu?¡± His breathing became urgent. Chen Ge was not expecting to run into a doctor from that hospital and Zhang Jingjiu at this ce. ¡°It was the people from this apartment that have kidnapped them out of the hospital? But that is impossible!¡±

    Chen Ge¡¯s brain was working overtime, but before he came to a reason, he suddenly heard a soft sound that came from behind him. He whipped his head around and Chen Ge saw a young boy who was standing behind him. The boy was not tall and his body was thin and weak. However, his face had maturity and cunningness that did not match his age.

    ¡°My name is Men Nan. Big brother, what is yours?¡±

 Chapter 1188 - Single Eye, Cursed Lady, Scarlet (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1188: Single Eye, Cursed Lady, Scarlet (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    The boy¡¯s voice travelled very far. After Chen Ge heard that, his face was pale. Currently, the ¡®crazed murderers¡¯ gathered at the end of the corridor were busy ¡®hacking up a body¡¯. With the call from the boy, the people on the whole third floor knew that he was there. ¡°Big brother, you have sweated a lot. Is this ce that hot for you?¡± The little boy was definitely doing that on purpose. There was cunning and guile in his eyes but his face took on an expression of pure innocence.

    Without stopping to take the time to wipe away the sweat on his forehead, Chen Ge¡¯s first reaction was to turn and run. His reaction was already very fast, this was also definitely the best solution in that moment. He turned and prepared to escape but before Chen Ge could take any few steps, he saw the doors that were burnt on the third floor being pulled open one after another. Human faces that were as pale as those of the door poked out from behind them.

    ¡°Big brother, where are you going?¡± The boy still refused to leave Chen Ge. He stuck close to Chen Ge and had a huge smile on his face. The figures filtered out from the room. There were students in school uniforms and strange people with handicaps. They had blocked the way of Chen Ge¡¯s exit.

    [What should I do now?] Cold sweat slid down the bridge of his nose. Even though Chen Ge¡¯s brain was spinning at the best of its ability he still could not figure out the solution to this conundrum.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t I told you to stay in your room?¡± The saw grinded against the wall. The middle-aged man called Ol¡¯ Zhou wasing towards him. His pairs of eyes that did not contain that living emotions stared at Chen Ge coldly, ¡°Now you cannot leave even if you want to.¡±

    Chen Ge did not anticipate that this apartment building that appeared so empty would have so many people living in it and most of them were staying on the third part that was ruined in a fire.

    ¡°I believe this is a huge misunderstanding.¡± Even under that extreme situation, Chen Ge realized he was still perfectly collected. He looked at the saw the middle-aged man was holding with both of his eyes. The chains of the saw had splinters on them but no trace of blood at all. This proved that the man had not used the saw to injure anyone but he had been using it to cut through some wooden materials.

    ¡°Misunderstanding?¡± The man with the surname Zhou had his smile slowly turn crueler. It was as if he could perfectly read into Chen Ge¡¯s mind and knew where to apply the most pressure. ¡°Then tell us. What is the misunderstanding that we have?¡±

    ¡°Actually I am the same kind of humans as you.¡± There was a basis behind what Chen Ge said. He was friends with Zuo Han and Zhang Wenyu and thus the friends of his friend had a high chance of being his friends. Furthermore, this bunch of tenants had nailed the doctor from the cursed hospital to the wall, they were not definitely sharing a good rtionship, simrly, the enemy of my enemy could be persuaded to be my friends. Chen Ge spoke it in a sincere tone but when the people around him heard him, they did not react too much.

    ¡°I am telling the truth.¡± Chen Ge wanted to exin further but he was interrupted by the middle-aged man. ¡°You are the same kind of humans as us? But who ever told you we were humans in the first ce?¡±

    The boy who was following behind Chen Ge was giggling happily. He seemed to have a penchant for scaring people and he had been trailing behind Chen Ge. The tenants gradually closed their ranks around Chen Ge. Suddenly a familiar voice came from the corridor of the second floor. ¡°All of you need to calm down! He is not your enemy, in fact he was once your best... friend.¡± The author came to the third floor. He contemted for a long time before he settled on the term, friend. In reality though, he could not name precisely the connection between Chen Ge and the tenants, they were like colleagues, friends and even family.

    ¡°Zhang Wenyu?¡± When they saw the author arrive, the tenants parted for him to walk through. Ol¡¯ Zhou also put down the saw that he was holding. ¡°Of all of us, only you have remain most of your memory, you remember this man?¡±

    ¡°I only share a normal rtionship with him, I have met him only a few times but I can tell you for certain that he is very important to all of you.¡± The author walked to stand before Chen Ge and nodded with admiration. ¡°I really did not expect you toe here, if someone had given me the same choice, I believe I would rather live in the fake blissfulness.¡±

    ¡°Who exactly are you? What is the meaning of the name Zhang Wenyu? Why can I find up to ten thousands of patient¡¯s list with Zhang Wenyu¡¯s name on them inside the hospital?¡± Chen Ge had so many questions in his mind. ¡°Why our memory have all been tempered with but you are the sole exception?¡±

    ¡°It was inconvenient to answer those questions outside, the reason I have invited you was to tell you the truth.¡± The author stood among the tenants. He raised his arm to point at the people around him. ¡°Now in this apartment, other than yourself, everyone else, including myself, are all dead people.¡±

    ¡°Dead people?¡± Chen Ge was not surprised when he heard that revtion. He was merely reminded of a word that Zhang Ya once said. That day when they parted, Zhang Ya said that she had dreamed that she was living inside a city filled with dead people and she even imed that Chen Ge was the only ghost with warmth inside the city.

    ¡°Indeed, ghosts exist for real, at least that is the case in this city.¡± The author had Chen Ge stand together with Ol¡¯ Zhou and the rest. ¡°You used to run a Haunted House and these people were your employees, the rtionship you shared was like that of a close family.¡± The author¡¯s words once again proved Chen Ge¡¯s previous suspicion, the cruel memory that was locked in his brain was the real memory that actually belonged to him.

    ¡°What else do you know?¡±

    ¡°The reason none of you can remember this thing is because your memory has been swallowed up by a piece of mouth. This is a kind of power that even I cannot fathom.¡± The author shared all the memory that he had about Chen Ge with everyone. He did not hide anything. ¡°I will tell you something that might cause you even more despair. This whole city is like a prison and all of us are inmates that are trapped here. I do not know the way to break out of here but I know the key to doing that lies in you.¡± When the author spoke, he kept his eyes on Chen Ge. ¡°You have chosen us, and that means that you have actively abandoned the false bliss. From the moment you stepped into Ping An Apartments, your life is going to wee a big change.¡±

    Combined with what the author said, Chen Ge was reminded of the information revealed by Doctor Sun. The hospital had prepared two kind of treatment methods for Chen Ge, the first was for him to murder everyone that was important personally and pushed him over the edge of madness and then trapped him deep inside the hospital. The second was to wipe away all of Chen Ge¡¯s past memory, provide him with a fake happiness and turn him without him knowing into a happy living doll that could be toyed freely by the hospital. Under the cooperation by Doctor Sun, currently the treatment method adopted by the hospital was to make him lose himself in the fake goodness but once the hospital knew that Chen Ge had not really submerged himself in the false bliss and was actually nning how to resist every single moment, they might change their treatment method at any moment.

    The most disgusting about the hospital was after giving Chen Ge the best possible sweet nightmare, they would personallye to tear down and dismember the happiness, that way the despair and pain inflicted on Chen Ge would be deeper and heavier.

    ¡°After I have chosen you, would anything happen to Zhang Ya?¡± Even though he was in steep danger, the first person that came to Chen Ge¡¯s mind was still Zhang Ya. The month that he had spent away from the hospital was the happiest moment of his life. That strange feeling that something that was rare to him even in his previous memory. When the name of Zhang Ya was brought up, the entire apartment immediately sunk into silent, the noisy tenants all had their mouths mped shut. They looked at each other. They were quite confused, they could not exin to themselves why the name would brought upon a sudden sh of fear on them.

    ¡°Zhang Ya is the boss of the Haunted House inside the Xin Hai Theme Park, yes?¡± The author though did not feel anything too special about the name Zhang Ya. ¡°I would lie to you but there is no meaning in that. I can tell you for sure that tragedy will definitelye after her. Everything and everyone that you value now will be entangled in tragedy and misfortune.¡±

    ¡°I have an idea.¡± Chen Ge raised his hand and pointed at the doctor that was pinned to the wall at the end of the corridor. ¡°But before I say anything, do you mind moving that doctor away first?¡±

    ¡°It is fine, his eyes and ears have lost their uses already. There is nothing for you to worry about, just tell us what you wish to.¡± The boy called Men Nan sidled up to Chen Ge. He used the most innocent voice to say the cruelest thing.

    ¡°Both me and Zou Han came from Xin Hai Central Hospital and my condition is much serious than his. I will give you a direct example, he was supposed to take two instances of medicination per day and half a pill every time. There was a period when I have to take four times of medication per day and five pills each time...¡± Chen Ge shared the experience that befall him at the hospital with everyone. Other than the 7 ss jars and Doctor Sun, he did not hide any other details. ¡°The few most important patients and the doctors are all rted to me somehow. After Ie to this ce, I have a sense of familiarity when I see all of you, I even suspect this whole city is built to ¡®treat¡¯ me.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s words caused the tenants to sink into silence. If another person came here and said these words, they would probably be turned into a dead body by now but Chen Ge was different.

    When all the tenants saw Chen Ge, they had an indescribable feeling that rose within them. It was as if they were willing to harm Chen Ge from the bottom of their hearts. Ol¡¯ Zhou had pretended many times to not see Chen Ge and the reason behind that was because he did not want to drag Chen Ge into this. Even though he had lost his memory, his instinct told him to protect Chen Ge from harm. That was in itself a very unusual thing. Nowbined with what the author had said, all the tenants started to think about this seriously.

    ¡°The hospital wants to treat me for some reason, they have nned two kinds of treatment methods for me, if one of them turns out to be ineffective, they will immediately switch to another. My idea is for everyone to conduct their investigation in silence and I will of course cooperate to the best of my ability. On the surface I will continue to act like I am still submerged in that haze of fake blissfulness.¡± Chen Ge said with determination. ¡°After we have obtained more than enough clues, or possess actual power that we can use to rival against the hospital, only then we will go up against them ande clean with what we have been preparing.¡±

    ¡°That is not a bad idea but the hospital will not give you that chance.¡± The author walked into the deep end of the corridor and picked up a copper nail from the ground. ¡°Do you see this doctor nailed to wall? Ever since Zuo Han escaped from the hospital, the hospital workers made their move immediately. After Zuo Han identally injured one of the hospital workers pursuing him, the night doctors from the hospital joined the ranks pursuing him. These night doctors might look like normal humans on the surface, but actually they are all ghosts, extremely scary ones too.¡± The author raised his hand and pierced the copper nail into the doctor¡¯s chest. Blood leaked out slowly. After a certain amount of blood had flowed out, ck thin threads started to appear out of the doctor¡¯s body. ¡°All of you have your memory consumed already so you do not understand how scary this thing is. When both parties have not torn down the truce between them, they will still maintain their everyday normalcy but once the hospital be serious, just the few of us will not be enough to form even a smidge of resistance against them.¡±

    Even though he had already suspected something of that case, when Chen Ge saw the ck threads that burst out from the doctor¡¯s chest, he still felt difited by them. But he was also thankful that when he was at the hospital, even though it had crossed his mind many times to deal with the doctors and then made his escape forcefully, he was now thankful that he did not go along with that crazy n. He had been taking on a disguise or else he would not even have the chance to trick the doctors residing at the hospital.

    ¡°The few of us are no match for the enemies at the hospital, then we should go look for more people, I am sure there are more than us who have problem with the hospital other than ourselves, staying inside this city.¡± Chen Ge was reminded of the whole cupboard full of patient¡¯s list.

    ¡°There are indeed many people who have problems with the hospital but the problem is those people are even more crazier and scarier than the hospital.¡± The author appeared to be the first person to have escaped from the hospital, he was very familiar with the darker side of this city. ¡°The aplish some kind of goal, many times they would try their best to maintain at least a surface rules and regtions but these people are not the same. I believe you have seen Zuo Han already, yes?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I have. In just one short month, it is as if he has changed into apletely different person.¡± Chen Ge looked around him but he did not notice any trace of Zuo Han at all.

    ¡°When Zuo Han was forced into a corner by the night doctors from the hospital, he ran into a woman. The woman said she would make a trade with Zuo Han and she would help Zuo Han escape from the danger.¡±

    ¡°And that was how Zuo Han lost his left eye?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the condition that she gave for her help was for Zuo Han to surrender his left eye. You can go to find her for help but the premise is you have to be prepared to sacrifice your own body.¡± The author thought that by saying that, he would give Chen Ge a second thought about what he had happened but who knew after Chen Ge gave it some thought, he asked seriously, ¡°What is that woman¡¯s name and where can I find her?¡±

    ¡°No one knows her name, everyone calls her Single Eye, she is hiding inside an abandoned hospital at the western countryside.¡± The author shook his head. ¡°The three scariest spectres at this city are respectively Single Eye, Cursed Lady and Scarlet. Compared to Single Eye and Cursed Lady, Scarlet is more persuadable. If you really wish to go down this path, then you should be able to find her at Li Wan Street at the eastern countryside of Xin Hai.¡±

    Chen Ge memorized the names of these three ghosts. ¡°If I have made three contracts with these three ghosts at the same time, does that mean I will have the chance to face the hospital head on?¡±

    ¡°I cannot tell for sure, perhaps we will have 10 percent chance.¡± The author persuaded Chen Ge patiently. ¡°Before you even think about something like that, consider this. If you make three contracts with three ghosts at the same time, it is like you are putting your life on the line as a bet, even if there is a 10 percent chance for you to win the bet, in the future you will be a broken monster.¡±

    ¡°If we have already reached that point, what is there for me to lose even if I have be a monster.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s answer was sharp and quick.

    ¡°Perhaps there is still another method. All the ghosts in this city have lost their memory. To attain their memory, there are two methods, the first one is to kill the people that have stripped them of their memory and the second is for them to consume each other and then piece the lost memory in their mind back together. The person who has stolen our memory is extremely cunning and wicked, his goal is for us to murder each other. But this also proves something indirectly. Even though in the past we might not be best friends, at least we are of the same stance.¡± The author hoped the Chen Ge would calm down. ¡°You cannot treat them as enemy, if everyonee from the same point of view, then it means that there is a chance for you to persuade them to lend their help to our causes. Remember that.¡±

 Chapter 1189 - Misfortune, Collapse, Dangerous Trade (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1189: Misfortune, Copse, Dangerous Trade (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    ¡°I have never treated them as the enemy because I am very clear that from the beginning, my only enemy is the hospital.¡± Chen Ge was definitely was acting, after all, the man had not forgotten the things that had happened to him at the hospital. On the surface, the hospital imed that it had been salvaging and saving the patients but in reality it was the hospital that was endlessly creating despair and pain inside this city. After a normal person was sent into the hospital, their worldview would be made twisted after their treatment. The seed of sickness and madness would be sewn in their heart and eventually they would grow and turn into a monster. Until now Chen Ge had no idea why the hospital would do something like that, it was as if their passion was to create different kind of patients.

    ¡°Other than the three scariest ghosts, there are many other ghosts hidden at the dark corners of this city. I have asked around. Before this, there aren¡¯t that many supernatural presence at this city. But two months ago, the regtion was shattered, many different kinds of spectres and dead people with lingering spirit started to appeared and it was around that time that you woke up inside the hospital, therefore, I have my reason to believe most of the ghosts inside this city are rted to you somewhat.¡± The author used to write detective novels, he had incredibly powerful logical thinking and power of observation.

    ¡°How did you find out the time that I have woken up inside the hospital? At the time, there should only be doctors and nurses around me.¡± Chen Ge was confused.

    ¡°it was Zhang Wenyu who told me.¡± The author did not look like he was lying.

    ¡°There are upwards of ten thousands of you who are called Zhang Wenyu, your answer has not helped narrowed down anything for me.¡±

    ¡°Even though all of us are called Zhang Wenyu but there is only one true Zhang Wenyu. His ability is not weaker than Single Eye and the Cursed Lady, in fact he might be even stronger than Scarlet but he is currently hiding among the crowd.¡± The author had a barely discernible smile on his face. ¡°When he realized we were in danger, he immediately transferred his memory onto all the lingering spirits that he was carrying. Because of that, he managed to survive the ordeal. He did not forget the promise that he had made you but for now he is unable to show himself.¡±

    ¡°Transferred his memory onto the lingering spirit that he was carrying?¡± This reason was unable to convince Chen Ge. After all, every ghost and human that he encountered had already lost their memory but Zhang Wenyu was the sole exception. Even the hospital could not figure this out much less Chen Ge.

    ¡°The people that you have once helped will one day be your salvation.¡± The author scanned the tenants around him. ¡°Eventually you will understand that.¡± Chen Ge worked over the words that the author said. Now he could confirm that it was Zhang Wenyu who had been helping in the dark and the other ghosts in the city could be negotiated with to gain their help.

    ¡°The fact that you have chosen Ping An Apartment means that misfortune wille arrive. I hope you will be able to control yourself and try to buy as much time as you can.¡± The author called all the key makers at the apartment to gather. To Chen Ge¡¯s surprise, the leader at the apartment was not the middle-aged man called Zhou who looked reliable but it was the boy who had been following behind him.

    ¡°Men Nan is the cleverest tenant among us and he has quite frightening power himself.¡± The author¡¯s im got the approval of nearby tenants. And thus the way Chen Ge looked at Men Nan had also be different. Honestly, he did not sense any treat from this boy, he just thought the child was just being naught. As if sensing the question in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes, Men Nan huffed and turned his head away. He did not try to proof himself as if it was below him to argue for things like who was stronger than whom.

    ¡°We shall discuss what to do next. Since we have decided on resistance, then we have to give it our all, only then we have a chance at sess.¡± The author said heavily. He had retained part of his memory so he knew how scary the hospital was. Compared to that mountain, the people at Ping An Apartment was like mere pebbles.

    ¡°From now on we will use Ping An Apartment as our mission centre. We will venture out to look for our friends hiding the shadows and invite them toe join us.¡± Even though Men Nan looked young, his mannerism and tone was no different from an adult. He was very experienced and would not hold back when faced with the enemy. He had helped the rest deal with danger many times in the past so he was given the leadership post at Ping An Apartment. Sometimes, the tenants at the apartment was also confused. The child was just a boy, just where did he learn so many ¡®nasty tricks¡¯?

    ¡°Other than the ghosts hiding at the corners of the city, we could try to befriend part of the patients inside the hospital as well.¡± Men Nan walked to the innermost part of the third floor. He looked at Zhang Jingjiu lying on the ground. ¡°The hospital was a prison for arge amount of patients, if we can incite some kind of betrayal among them, then things will be a lot easier for us. After all, even the strongest fortress can be taken down easily from within.¡±

    ¡°Men Nan, this patient on the floor is my friend from the hospital, why is he here?¡± Chen Ge was very concerned about Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s situation. At that moment, Zhang Jingjiu¡¯s four limbs were fixed in ces by wooden tes. His twisted bones had been corrected. Earlier Ol¡¯ Zhou was using the saw to make some wooden splints for him.

    ¡°The doctors have abandoned this patient called Zhang Jingjiu because he has lost his uses, they have tossed him out like trash. He was thus discovered by Zuo Han who was hiding among the heap of trash at the time. It was Zuo Han was sneaked Zhang Jingjiu out with him.¡± Men Nan inspected the injury on Zhang Jingjiu. ¡°Ever since he was brought out from the hospital, this patient had been unconscious. To save his life, we have ambushed a doctor but unfortunately this doctor does not seem to know anything.¡± Chen Ge realized that he perhaps had underestimated the power of the tenants at Ping An Apartments. Under Men Nan¡¯s leadership, they managed to capture a doctor alive and was not discovered by the hospital, that in itself was already incredibly impressive.

    ¡°Then how do you guys n to deal with this doctor? If you keep him around, perhaps the doctor mighte to find him.¡±

    ¡°We will use him for some temporary experiments. The Cursed Lady appears to be very interested in the ck threads on the doctors¡¯ bodies. If we present her with this doctor as a present, she might be more inclined to help us.¡± Men Nan had been calcting and measuring the n in his heart all along. He nned to squeeze the value out of this unfortunate doctor down to the veryst drop.

    The two parties chatted for a long time but even when the sun was about toe up, Zuo Han still had not returned. The author and Ol¡¯ Zhou had a bad feeling about this. They had Chen Ge leave the apartment and then they made the promise to meet up again at tomorrow midnight at Li Wan Street on the eastern countryside of Xin Hai. Under the cover of the night, Chen Ge left Ping An Apartment. He had no idea after he left, the ghosts on the third floor were all watching him slither away.

    ¡°Are we really going to ce all of our bets on him?¡± Men Nan nced at the author. ¡°You won¡¯t be tricking us with him, right?¡±

    ¡°I will only ask you one simple question. When you showed up behind him earlier, you have more than enough time and chance to kill him but did that thought even cross your mind?¡± The author replied with a question of his own. After saying that, he turned to the rest of the tenants. No one spoke. In the end, it was Ol¡¯ Zhou who stepped forward. ¡°He gave me a very special feeling. For some strange reason, the first time Iid my eyes on him, I believe that he is someone worthy of our trust.¡±

    ¡°I have the same feeling as well.¡± The female teacher wearing the ss also gave her opinion. The woman standing next to her was hugging her own head and raised both of her arms. She was nodding her head manually.

    ¡°Then I guess it can¡¯t be helped, we will trust him this one time.¡± Seeing everyone had the same feeling, Men Nan himself also sighed in relief.

    ...

    After leaving Ping An Apartment, Chen Ge¡¯s mind was surfeited with different kind of questions. ¡°There are actual ghosts in this city, the answer given to me by Doctor Gao and the author arepletely different.¡± Regarding whether there are actual ghosts in the world or not, Chen Ge had posed the same enquiry to Doctor Gao before. The people at the hospital wanted to create a normal world but they did not know how difficult it was to pull one over Chen Ge. For Chen Ge, the more challenging thing was not to see through the traps but how to ensure he was not discovered by the doctors from the hospital that he already had the knowledge that they were lying to him.

    ¡°Perhaps Zhang Ya¡¯s dream is also real, howe she would keep making these recurring dreams after she met me? And in contrast I have never made any dream after that? Is it possible that Zhang Ya has taken away my ability to dream?¡± Before thest question was answered, the next question already surfaced. ¡°The tenants at Ping An Apartments are all ghosts but howe I feel morefortable spending time with thempared to living humans? In any case, they should be trustworthy people.¡±

    Walking out from the abandoned vige, Chen Ge took a long detour before he returned to the restaurant. Along the way, he did not encounter any taxi and a drizzle started to fall again, Chen Ge had no choice but to run under the eaves of the restaurant to take shelter from the rain. The lights of the small shop were not on. It waspletely in the dark. Chen Ge did not n to disturb the owner, his n was to leave as soon as the rain stopped but to his consternation, once he got close to the entrance of the shop, a very strong stench of blood hit him.

    ¡°The owner is preparing wild game?¡± Chen Ge tried to use the back of his arm to push at the door, the door was not locked. He saw how the tables and chairs inside the shop were overturned. There were blood everywhere and there was a chopped arm lying near the entrance to the back kitchen.

    ¡°Chi Longtou?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s heart started to race. He carefully avoided the blood trace on the ground, he took out the tool hammer from his backpack and slowly approached the kitchen. ¡°There are too many blood on the floor. If I head inside there, I will definitely leave behind footprints.¡± Chen Ge did not continue to go further in. He found a corner instead and peered his head into the back kitchen. The fatty Chi Longtou was shoved inside arge jar, only his head was exposed outside the jar. ¡°The man was about 1.9 metres tall and he was quite fat. His body could not fit into that one jar, this can only mean that his body has been dismembered.¡±

    If the man still had breathing, perhaps Chen Ge would take the risk to go and save him and then call the police for help but now that he was sure the man was dead, if he went over now, he would only bring trouble for himself. This was at the countryside and there was no trace of anyone else around him, the chance of him being treated as the murderer was extremely high!

    Chi Longtou had just conversed with Chen Ge several hours ago but now he was already a dead body. Chen Ge felt a chill slowly taking over his body. ¡°Is this the tragedy that is mentioned by the author?¡±

    He took deliberate steps back. He kept his eyes to the ground to ensure that he did not leave behind any idental footprints. When he left the restaurant, Chen Ge looked at the door that he had touched earlier. ¡°Thankfully, I opened it using the back of my hand so I would not leave behind any fingerprint but for the sake of security, I better wipe it down again.¡±

    After wiping the small spot on the door that he had touched and giving it a close inspection, Chen Ge quickly left the scene of the crime. Chen Ge did not show much show after encountering Chi Longtou¡¯s body, but this did not mean that he was a cold-blooded monster. In actuality, it was the total opposite. Chi Longtou¡¯s death was a rude awakening for him. If he did not escape from this city as soon as he could, he might be the next one who was crammed inside a food jar.

    To wash away any possible leads that might connect him to the crime, Chen Ge purposely took a long detour. He avoided most of the surveince and then took a cab to head back to Xin hai Theme Park from apletely different spot. He rushed into the Haunted House to take a cold shower. After Chen Ge was ready with everything, he opened the gates of the Haunted House and started to prepare for the day¡¯s business.

    At around 8 am, Zhang Ya and her parents only arrived at the Haunted House and then they all started to busy themselves. They started to do the make up, but at around 8.30 am, the people from the theme park management suddenly came to visit and inform Zhang Ya¡¯s parents that the Haunted House was to temporarily suspend their business that day. The business was only going back on trails for the past few days, now was the moment to rake in the money so Zhang Ya¡¯s parents were utterly confused by this decision.

    They found the management at the theme park to argue. The reason that was given the management was that the Haunted House had failed to pass the security check, part of the equipment still had hidden safety concerns to them. The Haunted House was thus prevented from doing business. Zhang Ya and her parents had no choice, but to return inside to the Haunted House to conduct more checks. The theme park opened for business at 9 am but the gates of the Haunted House were firmly closed. Many of the visitors voiced their displeasure, after all, they purposely travelled here to visit the Haunted House. Zhang Ya and her father tried their best to exin the situation to the visitors patiently. Chen Ge though squatted at the first floor and silently watched everything that unfolded below.

    ¡°Is this part of the tragedy?¡± Zhang Ya¡¯s mother noticed the state that Chen Ge was in so she sidled over silently to ask, ¡°Are you not feeling well?¡±

    Chen Ge shook his head. ¡°I am slightly afraid that our Haunted House might not be able to open its door ever again.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you worry too much about that. This is perfectly normal, the management has the responsibility to ensure the safety of each attraction. I am sure we will be back on our feet in another few days.¡± Zhang Ya¡¯s mother was a very kind person. Even though she was also made worried by this situation, she still spent some time to console Chen Ge. ¡°Everything will be fine soon.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Chen Ge entered the scenario. As he dealt with the items inside the scenario, he formted the next phase of his n inside his mind. ¡°I cannot act too out of the ordinary, I must not let the hospital suspect that I still retain part of my previous memory.¡±

    The Haunted House was forced to close and it was unclear when they were allowed to open for business again, but this did not bring Zhang Ya¡¯s family down. After all, they had been through simr things in the past. The theme park was noisy with the sound of visitors, the people came and went but it was back to fluttering leaves and squawking crows around the Haunted House again. The quick tempo of their lives was given a sudden stop. The closure of the Haunted House meant that there was no cash flow. The silver lining was this had given more time for Zhang Ya and Chen Ge to spend together. Even though most of that time was spent with Chen Ge silently making items and Zhang Ya helping beside him, just that was enough for the two of them.

    When night came, Zhang Ya¡¯s mother handed the key of the Haunted House over to Chen Ge. After they left, Chen Ge was left alone inside the enormous Haunted House. Theoretically speaking, if one was abandoned inside a Haunted House alone, one would feel some fear but Chen Ge realized he would only feel safe and more at ease when he was inside the Haunted House.

    At around 9 pm, Chen Ge prepared his backpack and was ready to make his journey to Li Wan Street but to his surprise, Zuo Han flipped over the window in the bathroom again. During this second encounter, Zuo Han looked even more haggard than before. There were even more ghastly wounds on his body.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I need a favour from you.¡±

    ¡°Come here and let me bandage your wounds first. You can¡¯t keep on going like this.¡± Chen Ge wanted to go and grab the first aid kit but he was held back by Zuo Han. ¡°There is no time, I need you toe with me immediately.¡±

    ¡°Where are we going?¡±

    ¡°Xin Hai Private Academy at western countryside.¡± Zuo Han gritted his teeth, it appeared like he was trying to resist the pain on his body. ¡°I have used my heart to exact a trade with Single Eye. If I have died from an ident, I hope you can take away my soul andplete what I wish to do next.¡±

    ¡°You have used your life in a bet? Have you lost your mind?¡± Chen Ge stood fixated at where he was.

    ¡°At least for now I could still bet using my own life. If I stay here any longer, I am afraid I might lose even the freedom to die.¡± Zuo Han¡¯s eyes were shining with pleas. ¡°Help me this one time, I will bring you to see the truth about this world.¡±

 Chapter 1190 - Patient Number 2 (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1190: Patient Number 2 (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    Zuo Han looked to be in a hurry like he was being chased by something scary.

    ¡°I have gone to Ping An Apartment yesterday night but you were not there.¡± It was not that Chen Ge did not want to help Zuo Han but he thought that Zuo Han was still too young, it was such a waste for the young man to put such a big risk on his life like this.

    ¡°After leaving your Haunted House that day, I was targeted by the doctors from the hospital. To shake them off, I had no choice but to go to the Private Academy at the western countryside again and borrow the Single Eye¡¯s power to stop them.¡± Zuo Han touched the wound on his face, the pain appeared to be able to help him maintain his temporary consciousness.

    ¡°She helped you block the doctors and you have used your own body organs to pay in return?¡±

    ¡°It is a very fair trade.¡± Zuo Han sighed in a soft sigh. ¡°The tenants at Ping An Apartment are people like us, they are indeed trustworthy but unfortunately they are too weak. This world is not as simple as you think. All of my suspicions are getting proven little by little. We need Single Eye¡¯s help. Her existence is a kind of threat but at the same time, she will be able to help us understand this whole city more objectively.¡±

    ¡°Okay then, I will go with you.¡± Chen Ge nced at his watch. ¡°But I will have to leave before midnight because I have promised the tenants from Ping An Apartments to meet up at Li Wan Streets after midnight.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Chen Ge initially wanted to leave the white cat behind to look after the Haunted House but to his consternation, the white cat jumped right into his backpack and refused toe out no matter what. It was as if it had already made the decision to stick together with Chen Ge no matter what. Unable to shake the cat loose, Chen Ge had no other choice but to ce the white cat alongside his hammer. He carried his backpack and made to depart. Zuo Han did not quite understand Chen Ge¡¯s series of actions but he did notment too much on it.

    After leaving the Haunted House, Chen Ge nned to call for a cab but he was immediately stopped by Zuo Han. They walked down the small alleys that crossed the city. They walked for a very long time before they encountered a mini van parked at the end of an alley. ¡°The driver¡¯s man is Tang Jun, he is also a tenant from Ping An Apartments. He has lost most of his memory but ording to what he could remembered, he used to be a race car driver.¡±

    Tang Jun was a very skilled driver. He drove the mini van along the routes where there were as little people as people and he managed to get Zuo Han and Chen Ge to Xin Hai Private Academy before 11 pm. For some unknown reason, this ce had been abandoned for a very long time already. Once they stepped into the school ground, one could feel the howling winds, the temperature inside the school grounds appeared to be much lower than the temperature in the city.

    ¡°Follow me.¡± This was not Zuo Han¡¯s first time at the abandoned school. He led Chen Ge away from the education blocks and directly headed towards the multi purposeb building at the back of the abandoned campus. The interior of the building was filled with chairs and underneath each chair was carved with the name of a student. The students wrote down their name under the chair probably because they were worried that they might mistaken their seat for someone else¡¯s during a meeting but after the school was abandoned, these chairs with names on them looked more like tombstones standing in the dark.

    ¡°The single eye is inside theb building?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but she herself has no idea why she likes to stay here.¡± All of the doors at theb building were locked. Various kind of strange and cruel doddles were painted on the doors. It was as if something bad had happened at this private education institution before and the abandonment of the school was rted to these things. There was a steel door that blocked the way from the third floor to the fourth floor. A bunch of broken chairs were piled up before this door, they looked like a mountain of broken limbs being stuck together. Zuo Han found a way through the mountain of chairs. He led Chen Ge and crawled their way through it.

    ¡°We¡¯re here, this is the ce. After we enter this room, I need you to not say a word. The Single Eye has a strange temperament and she might be hostile towards you.¡± Zuo Han stood at the door to the dance studio at the fourth floor. After giving Chen Ge some brief advice, he pushed open the door to the dance studio. A stinging chill rushed at his face. When Chen Ge saw the state inside the dance studio, both of his shoulders could not stop shaking and his heart started to beat against his chest. It was as if he had been to this ce before and this location was a ce of importance for him.

    Inside the spacious dance studio, the walls were pasted with pictures that contains people whose faces were gouged out and there was arge ceiling to floor mirror at the end of the studio. All the windows were sealed shut by wooden boards and there were several chairs ced right in the middle of the dance studio. The enclosed space appeared oppressive and dark but there was also a mncholic air in the atmosphere. Zuo Han took out a small dagger from his pocket and he used it to make a small cut on the wounds on his cheeks. The hollow socket in his left eye started to leak blood. The fresh blood dropped one after another on the ground. Zuo Han held the dagger and moved to sit on the one of the chairs. ¡°I am here toplete my promise with you.¡±

    The temperature inside the dance studio dropped again. The wooden boards over the window creaked noisily and the mirror at the end of the studio also started to have cracks over them. Momentter, even though there was no visible change in the dance studio, should you look at therge mirror, you would notice there was a woman with a single eye who had appeared inside the mirror of the dance studio. Inside the mirror, she ignored Zuo Han who was bleeding and at that moment, she was standing behind Chen Ge. His spine felt like it was frozen, Chen Ge could not make the most basic function of turning his head around.

    ¡°It was me who made the trade with you!¡± Zuo Han used his remaining eye to stare at the mirror. He was rather confused. Single Eye had never taken such a deep interest in someone before. Just what was on Chen Ge that attracted her so?

    Perhaps she had heard Zuo Han¡¯s voice, blood letters started to appear on the surface of the mirror¡ªgive me seven human lives and I will enter the hospital to help you retrieve the patient¡¯s list. Seven human lives in exchange for Single Eye¡¯s help once. Seeing this, Chen Ge frowned slightly. Single Eye who was hidden inside the abandoned school fitted his image of a baleful spectre perfectly, she was cruel, dark, scary and liked to toy with human lives.

    ¡°Seven lives? Haven¡¯t we already made our discussion yesterday night? I will give you my life and you will enter the hospital to help me steal out the patient¡¯s list for Patient Number 1?¡± Zuo Han stood up from the chair. Fresh blood slid down the wound in his left eyes. Currently his face was covered in blood and he looked quite scary himself. The woman with the single eye in the mirror stood behind Chen Ge and did not move. She waved her hand and new words appeared on the surface of the mirror again¡ªperhaps there is still another option for the two of you.

    ¡°The two of us?¡± Seeing the choice of words used by Single Eye, Zuo Han already had a very bad feeling about this, ¡°What kind of option?¡±

    More cracks appeared on the mirror and several ghastly characters then slowly surfaced¡ªGive me Chen Ge¡¯s left eye!

    Seeing the bleeding words on the mirror, both Chen Ge and Zuo Han felt incredibly unsettled.

    ¡°How did she know that my name is Chen Ge?¡± Chen Ge was very confused about this in his heart. Zuo Han did not have the answer either. The Single Eye had shown much deeper desire in Chen Gepared to himself. ¡°Chen Ge¡¯s one eye is equivalent to the lives of seven people?¡±

    This bloody transaction made Zuo Han sink into contemtion. His gaze wandered continuously between the surface of the mirror and Chen Ge. No one inside the dance studio spoke, everyone was weighing the pros and cons in their mind. Honestly, Chen Ge also wished desperately to take a look at the patient¡¯s list of patient Number 1, he had a feeling that Patient 1 was rted to the child who was split and stuffed inside the seven ss jars and Patient number 1 would be the key to solve this whole conundrum.

    ¡°If I hand over my left eye to you, can you guarantee you will be able to sneak the patient¡¯s list for patient number 1 out of the hospital?¡± Chen Ge was unclear about Single Eye¡¯s ability but he knew that the ability of the hospital was not to be underestimated. Almost no one would be able to take them on single-handedly. Momentster, another row of blood letters appeared on the surface of the mirror¡ªI cannot guarantee that but this will be yourst chance.

    Even after sacrificing his left eye, there was no guarantee that they would have their hands on the patient¡¯s list, that was when Chen Ge started to hesitate.

    ¡°Chen Ge, the trade is cancelled. Let us go.¡± Zuo Han seemed to have realized something. He kept his gaze on Chen Ge and shot him a signal through his eyes and then he stood up and prepared to leave. Once the two men moved, the door of the dance studio shut on its own. There was nothing inside the room but both Chen Ge and Zuo Han felt like they were about to be squashed into thin bs.

    ¡°You will only be able to go away from this ce after you leave something behind.¡± The single eyed woman inside the mirror stood among the blood letters. Her wounded pale arms slowly raised and Chen Ge¡¯s body moved uncontrobly towards the mirror. It was like his body was out of his own control at that moment.

    ¡°Chen Ge!¡± Zuo Han grabbed Chen Ge by his shoulders but he was unable to stop Chen Ge¡¯s movement at all. Thus, he was dragged towards the mirror as well. Seeing the single-eyed woman inside the mirror, Chen Ge felt inside his heart the mixture of familiarity and unfamiliarity. The familiarity came from the scenario he was in and the unfamiliarity was regarding the person before him.

    The arm that the single-eyed woman raised reached forward. It touched the surface of the mirror and blood rippled. The pale arm that was covered in wound reached out through the mirror and attempted to grab at Chen Ge. His eyes narrowed and the single-eyed woman in Chen Ge¡¯s gaze was slowly ovepping with another figure. As if subconsciously, the name escaped out of his lips before he could stop himself. ¡°Zhang Ya?¡±

    When the name was mentioned, the hand that the single-eyed woman suddenly stopped. Her hand that was reaching towards Chen Ge¡¯s heart dangled in mid air, in the end, she only took away a strand of hair from Chen Ge. All the bloody characters on the surface of the mirror disappeared. Zuo Han stood next to Chen Ge, his face was covered in blood. He could not believe that the cruel Single Eye had just left himself and Chen Ge go just like that. ¡°Do you used to know the Single Eye? Howe in that very moment, it felt like she was entrapped by the sensation of fear?¡±

    ¡°We should leave this ce first before we discuss anything further.¡± The moment the Single Eye reached out from inside the mirror had triggered a memory inside Chen Ge. When Zhang Ya¡¯s figure ovepped with the woman with the single eye, it was as if he was struck by lightning, a feeling that had been elusive suddenly returned to his body. He was certain that Zhang Ya had once appeared using the very same method before.

    ¡°There has to be some truths hidden inside the dreams that Zhang Ya has been having. Earlier when the Single eye heard Zhang Ya¡¯s name, her expression had clearly changed. Just Zhang Ya¡¯s name was able to shake her, this proved that Zhang Ya could possibly be a spectre that was much scarier than the Single Eye!¡± Since Zhang Ya was his partner, therefore, Chen Ge¡¯s previous thought was more like he should be there to protect Zhang Ya, to stop her from getting injured but now he realized that might not be the absolute truth. ¡°I will need to have a long and good chat with her.¡±

    Compared to Single Eye¡¯s promise, Chen Ge now had a new direction. After escaping from Xin Hai Private Academy, they found Tang Jun¡¯s mini van parked at the front. After they got into the van, both Zuo Han and Chen Ge only sighed in relief.

    ¡°Was that a baleful spacetre? That was so immensely scary.¡± When Chen Ge was together with the tenants of Ping An Apartment, he did not feel too suffocated. Only after this encounter with Single Eye that he truly understood the horror of a real spectre.

    ¡°Chen Ge, there is one thing that eludes me, why would Single Eye know your name? This should be the first time you two have met each other!¡± Zuo Han was still hung up on that question.

    ¡°I have lost my previous memory, perhaps Single Eye was once my friend.¡± This was the only reasonable exnation that Chen Ge coulde up with.

    ¡°Your one eye is equivalent to the lives of seven people, a spectre will not lie during their trading negotiation. Looks like I will have to give this a serious reconsideration.¡± Zuo Han scratched his chin. ¡°At the hospital, you were the most unique patient, the doctors had even used the other patients as the medicine to treat you. Now that we have left the hospital, even the spectres could see how special you are.¡±

    ¡°Sometimes, I too have a feeling this whole city was purposely built for the intention of my treatment. All of the trace had been wiped away, only the things that the hospital wanted me to see was left behind.¡±

    Along the way, Chen Ge and Zuo Han had been conversing. After they left the hospital, they finally could talk and share their information without any worry of people listening in on them anymore. At around 12 midnight, Tang Jun drove Chen Ge and Zuo Han to Li Wan Street. This old street was located at the eastern side of Xin Hai. It was the final stop for the bus on Route 104. It was extremely secluded and normally people would note to visit this ce.

    ¡°The tenants from Ping An Apartment should be here already, does any of you know how to contact them?¡± Chen Ge turned to Zuo Han and Tang Jun, both of them responded with a shake of their heads.

    ¡°This is the first time I havee to Li Wan Street myself.¡± After Zuo Han got down from the car, he first surveyed the ce around him. The streetlights on both sides of the streets flickered on and off and there was no one else in sight.

    ¡°Guys, do you notice that all the shadows on this street are tilted?¡± Tang Jun who had remained quiet suddenly spoke. He tried to rake through his mind for some time. ¡°Ever since we arrived at this ce, I was overwhelmed by a sense of familiarity, it was as if I used toe to this ce to race cars with someone.¡±

    ¡°The shadow?¡± Chen Ge lowered his head to look and he realized something even stranger. All the objects and people on this street had tilted shadow but only his shadow was normal. ¡°Something is not right.¡±

    The three of them walked down the street. The windows and doors of the buildings on both sides were firmly shut, there was no presence of human activity at all. Crossing down the whole street, they finally arrived at a residential area that was at the deepest part of Li Wan City. Once they stepped through the front door, their whole body was enveloped by a sense of chill. The inside of this residential area waspletely different from the world outside. Feeling a pull in his heart, Chen Ge lifted his head subconsciously and he spotted a little girl in a red dress was staring at him from the window of a room on the fourth inside one of the apartment buildings. ¡°That is Scarlet?¡±

    The door of the corridor was pushed open. The middle-aged man with the surname Zhou appeared at the door. ¡°Stop wasting time. Get over here!¡±

    The three of them rushed into the building. With Ol¡¯ Zhou leading the led, they were brought to meet Scarlet. Ol¡¯ Zhou and Men Nan wanted to introduce Chen Ge but before they could say anything, the little girl known as Scarlet actively walked towards Chen Ge. She stood before him. Then she did something very strange. This girl in a bloody dress knelt down beside Chen Ge and her hands caressed Chen Ge¡¯s shadow lightly. Momentster, she lifted her head and one after another grotesque blood collected into characters around her.

    ¡°After I followed my instinct toe to this old street, there was a man with a normal shadow who was waiting for me here. He told me he was patient number 2 and he needed a help from me.¡± Seeing the revtion on the ground, everyone in the room was shocked. Everyone¡¯s shadow at the street was titled, only Chen Ge and this mysterious Patient number 2¡¯s shadows were normal.

    ¡°What kind of help did he want from you?¡± The question escaped from Chen Ge¡¯s lips before he realized it. His instinct told him the answer to this question would be immensely important to him.

    ¡°He wanted me to be your shadow.¡± The blood in the girl who was known as Scarlet started to boil. Some of the mist in her old memory appeared to have parted ways.

 Chapter 1191 - The Cursed Hospitalâ€™s Misjudgement (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1191: The Cursed Hospital¡¯s Misjudgement (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    No one in the room could understand what the little girl said, to ask a spectre to be the shadow of a living person, the person who would make that kind of request must be seriously ill. Everyone, including Chen Ge found that hard to believe.

    ¡°is this a different kind of trade? You be his shadow and he will be your puppet.¡± Men Nan¡¯s prediction was more cynical, then again he was merely seeing things from the perspective of a normal ghost. After the girl in red heard that, she shook her head. The blood vessels behind her started to move and instantly they covered the entire room andpletely cut off the room from the rest of the world. Scarlet was very powerful, even if the rest of the spectres worked together, they would not have been able to harm her, but Scarlet did not appear to have any hostility against them.

    After she had isted her room from the rest of the world, Scarlet walked to Chen Ge¡¯s side, where Chen Ge¡¯s shadow was. Her hands morphed into endless blood vessels as they surged into Chen Ge¡¯s shadow, she appeared to be searching for something or someone. She looked for half an hour and Scarlet creased her small brows. A line of bloody letter appeared on the walls around Chen Ge. ¡°I can remember quite distinctly that there should be a ghost living inside your shadow, where is she? Why can¡¯t I find her anymore? Have you lost sight of her?¡±

    Facing the consecutive questions from Scarlet, Chen Ge was as confused as ever. ¡°There was a ghost originally living inside my shadow?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Scarlet used the letters weaved out from blood tomunicate with Chen Ge. ¡°Those without their shadow are not long for this world, at least that was what Patient number 2 told me.¡±

    ¡°But isn¡¯t my shadow just fine? Look it is just right there.¡± Chen Ge was confused.

    ¡°The shadow of everything and everyone at Li Wan City should be titled, only you and Patient Number 2 have normal shadows, that proves that the shadows for the two of you are made up in this world, they do not exist. In other words, you two are people without shadow.¡± The blood letters soon surfaced. Scarlet¡¯s emotions started to ripple for the first time after she had encountered Chen Ge. ¡°You are very simr to Patient Number 2. He had helped me recovered some of the memory rted to my mother. As repayment, I am willing to help you one time but temporarily I cannot be your shadow.¡±

    Seeing that Scarlet had volunteered her help for one time, Chen Ge was very happy. But when he gave it a closer thought, he started to feel like something was not right again. ¡°Scarlet, how does that Patient Number 2 look like? Howe it feels like he knows me somehow?¡±

    Based on Scarlet¡¯s description, Chen Ge felt like patient number 2 appeared to be very familiar with him, he probably used to be his friend or something.

    ¡°He did not give me his name, I believe that every information rted to him at this city is a kind of taboo. If anyone tries to find out about them, tragedy and misfortune will befall them, the man himself probably knows about that as well, therefore, he did not tell me anything else that I do not need to know.¡± The bloody letters appeared on the ground, then they soon disappeared, it was as if they were never there to begin if. ¡°If you are really that curious, you can go to the hospital basement to find him. His original body appears to be locked up deep inside the hospital basement. The person that came to find me that day was merely a slip of his lingering spirit.¡±

    ¡°The hospital basement?¡± Chen Ge himself just got out from the hospital, he had no idea the hospital even had a basement.

    ¡°The most dangerous part of the hospital was all hidden underground, the patient number 2 appears to be locked up at the underground 17th floor. Of course, it is not my suggestion for you to go look for him now, the hospital basement is too dangerous.¡± The description of the world provided by Scarlet was different from how Chen Ge imagined it. If the hospital even had a sprawling maze underneath it, then Chen Ge would have to reassess the hospital¡¯s overall power level. But seeing it from a different perspective, the fact that Chen Ge managed to pull one over such a dangerous hospital, it went to show how resourceful Chen Ge was as well. The more Chen Ge thought about this, the more he was eager to regain his memory.

    The blood around them started to fade. The words weaved together by blood all disappeared like they were never written in the first ce. After Scarlet had given Chen Ge her promise, she disappeared among the residential apartment. Both she and Single Eye could be considered very scary spectres, but they did not dare to linger too long normally, they were always hiding at some kind of hidden corner.

    ¡°You are one hell of a special character. I originally thought it would be very difficult to persuade Scarlet to help us but it was done so easily. In fact I have a feeling she was even eager to lend her help to you.¡± Men Nan grumbled in the tone of a middle-aged man. After saying all that, he only realized he still had not left Li Wan City. As if worried that Scarlet might have overheard him, he quickly looked around him for sign of danger.

    ¡°There are more and more people who are willing to help us. When tragedy arrives, we perhaps would have the chance to survive with barely our lives intact.¡± Zuo Han was not as optimistic as Men Nan. From his point of view, even with the collective effort of everyone and even after everyone¡¯s power of gather, it was barely enough for them to fight for a chance to have their lives intact.

    ¡°Chen Ge, I¡¯d suggest you to stay at the theme park for these few days. Try to convince the hospital that you are still stuck in your haze of bliss and buy as much time as you can. Do not let the hospital find out that you have already met up with us.¡± Zuo Han¡¯s mind was very clear. He knew that Chen Ge was the key. ¡°Just leave the task of finding helpers to the rest of us.¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow night, we will go together to find the Cursed Lady. After the three strongest spectres in this city have promised to give us their help, then I will temporarily stay away from the rest of you.¡± Chen Ge had his own concern as well.

    ¡°The Cursed Lady is the scariest and also the most mysterious presence amongst the three spectres. No one know where she is exactly, but I have heard from the author that one of the Zhang Wenyu had encountered her at an abandoned hospital before.¡± Ol¡¯ Zhou said with a serious expression. ¡°She is very dangerous, if possible, I wish to have Scarlet along with us when we go and find her.¡±

    ¡°No, we can¡¯t do that. Scarlet only promises to help us one time and that was only because she was giving face to patient number 2, we cannot waste such a valuable chance just like that.¡± Chen Ge denied that idea firmly. He repeated the name Cursed Lady multiple times in his heart, there felt like there was a ck and red thread connecting the two bodies. ¡°Cursed Lady, I will be there to convince her.¡±

    The group decided to meet up tomorrow morning at the entrance of an abandoned hospital at eastern Xin Hai. And then they split up and went off in different direction. This way even if someone wanted to follow them, it would be a very hard thing to do. When the sun almost came up the horizon, Chen Ge returned to the Haunted House.

    Even though the Haunted House at Xin Hai Theme Park had been suspended from business, he still worked with the props, cleaned the ce like usual, in preparation to return to business should the ban be lifted. These habits appeared to have been carved into his bones. Even though he had lost his memory, his body would still work on them on instinct. At around 8. 30 am, Zhang Ya came to the theme park with breakfast. Curiously enough, her parents did not apany her to the theme park that day.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t auntie and uncle with you today?¡± Chen Ge munched on the hot rice and Zhang Ya sat down next to him.

    ¡°My father¡¯s stomach is acting up again, my mom is staying back home to look after him.¡±

    ¡°Is it anything serious?¡±

    ¡°it¡¯s an old illness.¡± Zhang Ya tried to make it sound like it was nothing but her eyes belied the well of concern and anxiety inside them.

    ¡°Zhang Ya, did you have a nightmare again yesterday night?¡± Chen Ge put down the chopsticks and looked straight into Zhang Ya. He held them in ces so that they would not turn away from him.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Zhang Ya admitted with some pain. ¡°It was the same dream again. In the dream, my parents got into an ident. The present that they had prepared for me was soaked in blood. I even dreamed about myself in a red dress, holding the bloody present that they had prepared for me, standing at the road alone in the middle of the night.¡±

    Chen Ge did not know how tofort Zhang Ya. Based on his spection, he had started to gain clues about a truth that was very cruel. There was a chance that the dreams that concerned Zhang Ya was real. In other words, when they shattered this false world, Zhang Ya would lose her parents again. Despair would once againe after this girl and pull her deep into the endless abyss. Chen Ge knew that Zhang Ya had affection for him but the person that she fancied would personally destroy her beautiful dream, this would be incredibly cruel for anyone.

    ¡°Chen Ge, sometimes I would be incredibly confused.¡± Zhang Ya hid both of her hands under the table. Her fingers were twisted together until they were white. There was a halting breath in her words. ¡°In my dream, when I look into the mirror, the person inside the mirror would tell me one thing. She said I have stolen Chen Ge¡¯s life and I am currently experiencing the bliss that you once had.¡±

    ¡°Do not mind those things. Keep your eyes on the present and value what you currently have.¡± Chen Ge reached out to grab Zhang Ya¡¯s hands, he realized Zhang Ya¡¯s hands very incredibly cold. At the very beginning, when they started to know each other, and when he held Zhang Ya¡¯s hand, he could feel the warmth unique to living human but now it appeared like Zhang Ya¡¯s body temperature was gradually dropping.

    ¡°I have this ominous feeling that something is about to happen. I am very afraid that I would be torn apart from them soon.¡± It was unknown whether it was the nightmares or it was the immense pressure in real life, Zhang Ya was in a very bad state. Only when she was beside Chen Ge that she would feel some trace of security.

    The theme park opened punctually at 9 am. There were visitors that kepting over to ask about what had happened. They had seen the short videos about the Haunted House on the inte so they purposely came from far away to visit the ce but when they found out the Haunted House was not in operation, they all showed very disappointed expression. The visitors loyalty and poprity that the Haunted House had earned were slowly fading away, reality was like a cold bath of water sshed upon Chen Ge.

    At around 3 in the afternoon, the people from the management forced their way into the Haunted House. They inspected the three scenarios inside the Haunted House and did not discover any problem. But when Chen Ge asked them when they would be able to return to business, the answer that he got was ¡®to be decidedter¡¯. After the group from safety inspection left, Zhang Ya called her parents holding the report given by the team. Chen Ge stayed beside her all the team. He heard Zhang Ya¡¯s mother¡¯s voice from the other end of the phone. She sounded very tired and Zhang Ya¡¯s father was incredibly weak-sounding on the phone.

    ¡°Today is the second time the management at the theme park is scheduled toe and inspect the Haunted House but as the owner of the Haunted House, Zhang Ya¡¯s parents are not present in person. Zhang Ya¡¯s father is not suffering from a simple stomach bug, it has to be something even more serious.¡± Tragedy had already fallen and it was slowly corrupting everything that Chen Ge treasured little by little. ¡°Now it is Zhang Ya¡¯s parents, will it be Zhang Ya next?¡±

    He had already tasted the bliss, therefore he would only be in more pain when they were taken away from him. Chen Ge had no idea what the treatment n that the hospital had devised for him, the only thing that he could do now was to absorb them silently while collecting his own power on the dark. After the sun set, Chen Ge wanted to apany Zhang Ya to go visit her parents but Zhang Ya did not seem like she was too keen on that idea so Chen Ge did not force himself further. After he walked Zhang Ya out of the park, he closed himself inside the staff breakroom.

    ¡°After seeing the Cursed Lady tonight, I will not go anywhere else anymore. I will stay inside the Haunted House, hopefully that will dy the tragedy froming so soon.¡± At around 10 pm, Chen Ge was all ready to leave the Haunted House when there came a curious sound from the bathroom on the first floor. Chen Ge grabbed his tool hammer, he thought it was Zuo Han paying him another visit but when he saw the person before him, he could not have been more surprised.

    ¡°Doctor Sun?¡± His neck and face were all covered in scars. The face that he had could not be recognized anymore. This doctor that the other doctors did not even like to work with at the hospital had escaped to Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House!

    ¡°I only have one minute left so I need you to just listen to me.¡± Doctor Sun knocked on the bathroom door and basically yanked Chen Ge into his brain maze. ¡°Unless it was absolutely necessary, I would have never left the hospital but now that the situation has turned absolutely necessary.¡± After entering the brain maze, Doctor Sun only dared to continue. ¡°The hospital has already found out about your trip to Ping An Apartment, that was why Chi Longtou was punished the way he did.¡±

    ¡°Since they already knew about that, why didn¡¯t they stop me?¡± Chen Ge was confused.

    ¡°Long story short, before you were hospitalized, the hospital had done an investigation of you but for some reasons, they had done a serious mistake in their diagnosis on you! They thought you were using ghosts to run your Haunted House and you were using living people as bait. You have notpletely gained the trust of the ghosts and that was why the hospital was willing to let you out of the hospital. The spectres themselves are the collection of negative emotions and furthermore they have lost their memory so the first reaction when they saw you should be an attempt on your life. They should do everything in their power to consume you.

    ¡°If you were harmed by your once friend, it would push you further into despair, that was the goal the doctors wanted to see. Therefore, after they found out you have ventured to Ping An Apartment, they did not stop you, in fact, they purposely had you witness the tenants torture the doctor. Assuming there is no trust between you and the ghosts, then would you think they are good people or bad people when you see the tenants torturing the doctor?

    ¡°When your bond with your former friends is broken, you would be easier to control. By then, the entire world will be your enemy and no one will be willing to help you. The set up of the hospital was perfect but they did not know about the rtionship between you and the spectres is not just a simple taking advantage of each other. Even though they have forgotten about their past, they are still willing to stand beside you!

    ¡°Both parties have already lost their memory but the spectres are still willing to ce their trust in you and you are also so adamant to align yourself with the ghosts. If the hospital had known the real nature of the rtionship between you and those spectres, they would not have let you out of the hospital.

    ¡°But now the hospital had realized they hadmitted a mistake. Soon the hospital would conduct many different trials on you, they will slowly push you to the edge and I hope you will be able to retain the control of yourself at all times. Tragedy has already fallen, the hospital will go after Ping An Apartment as well. You have to go and warn to leave Ping An Apartment as soon as possible and tell them not to stay together at one spot!¡±

    Doctor Sun spoke so fast that Chen Ge did not have the chance to put in his own words at all. ¡°Tonight is thest chance. After you met up with them to inform them of the danger, you must not have any connection with them anymore, every single interaction that you have will only increase the hospital¡¯s rancour towards you.¡±

    ¡°But I can¡¯t just stay passively and take all the punishment like this...¡± Before Chen Ge finished, Doctor Sun already cut him off, ¡°If you can buy more time, the chance of something seeding will be bigger.¡±

    ¡°What kind of something is that?¡±

    ¡°Just remember what I said, do not be hung up over the fake bliss and do not be fooled by the false memory.¡± Doctor Sun grabbed Chen Ge by his shoulders. ¡°There are multiple lives hinging on your shoulders. Every decision that you make will decision whether they are pulled into the endless abyss or not.¡±

    ¡°I know what to do now.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were peaceful but they spoke volumes.

 Chapter 1192 - Pluck Away my Heart (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1192: Pluck Away my Heart (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    ¡°The time that I can stay here is running out, I will tell you onest thing. The hospital has already discovered that Zhang Ya has been swapped.¡± Doctor Sun¡¯s expression had never been so serious. When the name Zhang Ya was mentioned, his body was shaking uncontrobly.

    ¡°Zhang Ya has been swapped?¡± Chen Ge was confused by this revtion. ¡°What do you mean by that? The Zhang Ya who has been apanying me is someone sent by the hospital?¡±

    ¡°The female boss of the Haunted House, Zhang Ya was initially nted here by the hospital, she was created out from the your own dream, the meaning of her presence is for you to sink in the fake bliss of this world and believe in the authenticity of this world. But no one anticipated this Zhang Ya who was created from your own memory managed to gain her own sentience! Not only did she not follow the hospital¡¯s requirement for you to sink deeper into the falsehood of this world, she kept leaking the loopholes of this world! The hospital has discovered the traces of real Zhang Ya on her and the traces are getting more numerous and bigger as time goes by!¡± Doctor Sun said urgently.

    ¡°In other words, this Zhang Ya who is currently controlling me is the version of Zhang Ya who was once in my memory?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s heart started to race. From the first time heid his eyes on Zhang Ya, he felt there was a spiritual bond between them.

    ¡°She is slowly losing control! No one can tell what is exactly going on behind this!¡± The scar on Doctor Sun¡¯s face was twisted until his face could not be recognized anymore. ¡°Perhaps the hospital will note after you in the short future, but now all the night doctors have shown interest in the change to Zhang Ya, they will definitely be targeting her!¡± There was not one night doctor at the hospital who was a good person. Chen Ge could still remember how Doctor Gao used to treat him. To force Chen Ge into madness, he even came up with the plot of switching the medicine so that Chen Ge would personally kill his roommate. What kind of crazy treatment method was that? This group of people had shown their interest in Zhang Ya. Once Chen Ge heard Doctor Sun said that, the veins on the back of Chen Ge¡¯s arm started to pop.

    ¡°After I have interacted with the tenants from Ping An Apartment, I realize they have a very unique attitude regarding Zhang Ya. What exactly does this name represent?¡± Chen Ge forced himself to remain calm.

    ¡°It represents a spectre, a spectre who is very important to you. Without her resistance and sacrifice, you would not have the chance to wake up at all.¡± Doctor Sun¡¯s words were direct and cruel but Chen Ge knew that the truth was always cruel. ¡°You could say that she has used the destruction of her own soul as the leverage to fight for a chance of survival for you.¡± The walls around them started to twist and waver. Doctor Sun knocked on the room door. ¡°That is the extent of the things that I can tell you, you have find a way to survive no matter what.¡± Doctor Sun knocked on the door seven times. On the seventh time, Doctor Sun pushed open the door and at the same time, Chen Ge was brought out of the brain maze.

    Opening both of his eyes, Chen Ge saw that the window of the bathroom was open. Doctor Sun though had already disappeared without a trace, it was as if he had never paid a visit to the haunted house to begin with. Taking in a deep breath, Chen Ge looked at his own reflection in the mirror and his fists gradually tightened.

    ¡°I have just felt the taste of happiness but I was told all the happiness are fake; I have finally found bliss but I am about to lose everything.¡± His pupils gradually narrowed. The bottom of Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were pooling with blood, he had been resisting the urge.

    ¡°I need to go and warn the people at the Ping An Apartment now. There has been a change to the n.¡± Without wasting any time, Chen Ge carried his backpack and left the Haunted House. They originally nned to meet up at the abandoned hospital at the countryside but due to the sudden revtion by Doctor Sun, Chen Ge could not wait anymore. He hailed a cab to Ping An Apartments. Chen Ge raced all the way and thankfully he was able to reach the tenants before the hospital got to them. He told the tenants part of information give to him by Doctor Sun. After everyone ensured the mutual way ofmunication, they decided to split up and hide at the various corners of the city, biding their time.

    Midnight was arriving and most of the tenants had already disappeared from the apartment. Tang Jun drove the mini van and led Chen Ge, Zuo Han, Men Nan and Ol¡¯ Zhou towards the abandoned hospital at the countryside.

    ¡°Hospitals appear to have a very special symbolism in this city. Xin Hai is a very big state but the only hospital in operation is Xin Hai Central Hospital, don¡¯t you guys think that it is something weird?¡± Zuo Han was always able to discern details that would have escaped the attention of a normal citizen. He had a heart that was always in suspicion of the things around him. Seen from a different perspective, the young man indeed suffered from symptoms of paranoia.

    ¡°These scariest spectres still retain part of their instinct. There has to be a reason why Single Eye chose an abandoned and Scarlet chose Li Wan Street as their hiding spot. If we work from the same hypothesis, the Cursed Lady might be rted to the hospital, perhaps she was a patient who has escaped from the hospital.¡±

    ¡°You have a point there.¡± Without taking the front door, the few of them leaped over the walls and made their way through the hospital corridors.

    ¡°Howe this ce feels so familiar to me?¡± Men Nan walked at the front of the group. He looked at the pillows that littered the corridors and the human faces that were painted on them, his expression slowly started to change. ¡°It feels like I have been to this mental asylum before.¡±

    ¡°You have been to this ce before?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Men Nan nodded. He did not stop to explore the first two building but made a beeline directly towards the third sick hall. The third sick hall that was situated at the deepest part of the hospitalpound was very strange. The interior walls were written with many different kind of curses and cages welded from iron bars were ced inside the room. This ce did not look like a hospital at all, it was more like a prison that was used to detain criminals.

    ¡°Doors, windows...¡± Through his fragmented memory, Men Nan came to the third floor of the third sick hall. There was no trace of light at all inside the darkened corridor, the chill appeared to crawl right into their bones. It was like they were travelling down the stomach of a deep sea creature.

    ¡°Why am I leading the way again?! I am just a child! How could you do this to me?!¡± Men Nan who had been walking at the front of the group suddenly stopped moving. He gripped Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Zhou¡¯s hands and an innocent expression that did not appear that often on his face turned up towards them. ¡°Let us go in together.¡±

    Chen Ge did not reject him, every nerve in his body was already pulled taut. Walking down the corridor, it seemed like the passage of time had slowed down. Endless wailing and screams leaked out through the wall. The sense of apprehension this ce gave Chen Ge was deeper than when he was at the abandoned school and Li Wan City. After who knew how long they had journeyed, Men Nan stopped in front of a door that was covered in curses. As if feeling something resonating in his heart, he raised his hand to push on the door lightly.

    But just as his finger touched the door, the ck letters on the door appeared toe alive all at once and they surged towards Men Nan. The boy who appeared weak and vulnerable responded with surprising fast reflex and determination, he directly used his own blood vessel to sever off his fingers. Before the broken finger even reached the ground, they were swallowed up by the dark letters. Men Nan observed all these with a pale expression. He waved his hands and the blood vessels gathered to form a new set of fingers.

    ¡°She is slightly stronger than I am.¡± Holding his own hand, Men Nan retreated to hide behind Chen Ge and Ol¡¯ Zhou.

    The door had already been pushed open slightly by Men Nan. With the example of his predecessor, Chen Ge picked up the pillow with the human face from the ground and used it as a cushion to push open the door. As the door was slowly pushed open, the cursed letters in the corridor all started to boil, they dissolved into ck threads and like a web weaved by a giant spider, they wrapped themselves around the third sick hall, keeping it on lockdown.

    The doors and windows were sealed, in other words, they had no way to escape anymore. Just as the few were panicking about their fate, all the wails and screams in the building disappeared all at once. In the death like stillness, suddenly a very distinctive sound appeared. It was the sound of high heels stepping on the ground. The slender tip of the high heels stepped on the tiles that were sttered with blood. It trampled on many faces that were made twisted from curses and appeared before the group.

    ¡°Cursed Lady?¡± Looking at the red high heels before them, no one dared to move. The scary presence that radiated off the woman was much more suffocating than the Single Eye and Scarlet. ¡°Aren¡¯t they on the same level? Why is the Cursed Lady so scary in person?¡±

    Chen Ge dared to move freely before the Single Eye and he could evenmunicate with Scarlet but before the Cursed Lady, he did not dare to even breathe too loudly. It was an indescribable pressure. As long as she was willing, she was more than capable of killing all the human and spectres in the room in the blink of an eye. It felt like the corridors were closing in on them. Chen Ge felt like his own body was about to be crushed. Just as everyone felt like they were about to crumble under pressure, Men Nan who had been hiding at the back walked out to the front.

    Men Nan who was the smallest and youngest stood before the rest of the adults. The way he reacted now had given Chen Ge a real surprise. Chen Ge had a new appreciation of the young man. No wonder he was the strongest spectre at Ping An Apartment!

    Ol¡¯ Zhou wanted to stop him but he was unfortunately already toote. Men Nan appeared to have made a firm decision. The blood fluttered behind him. Resisting the anxiety in his heart, he came to stand before the red high highs. His pair of brilliant eyes looked at the pair of shoes that were pulsing with blood. Men Nan used every ounce of energy in his body and opened his mouth to ask. ¡°Are you my mother?¡±

    The third sick hall gave Men Nan the feeling of home. Even though the greater part of his memory had already been taken away, he could still remember he had spent his time here with his own mother. With anticipation clear on his face, Men Nan was desperate for the red high heels¡¯ reply but the next second, he was flung to the side by the threads bound together by the curses.

    The letters that carried a dangerous presence with them worked their way onto Ol¡¯ Zhou, Tang Jun and Zuo Han¡¯s bodies. They crumpled weakly to the ground, only Chen Ge was still standing where he was. Taking one after another step forward, the pair of red high heels only seemed to care about Chen Ge. The chilling and piercing hands touched Chen Ge¡¯s heart, his heart seemed to have stopped beating in that moment.

    The red high heels appeared to be confirming something. After she had a feel of Chen Ge¡¯s heart, the cursed lines inside the building all came alive, she seemed to have finally found the thing that she was looking for. Unable to resist, when Chen Ge regained his consciousness, he was greeted with the sight of a woman in red standing before her. The woman¡¯s shirt was filled with human names that were carved out by curses. The stark white skin that was exposed was wrapped in ck and red bandages. Her feet was wrapped in a pair of high heels shoes that had a special kind of imprint on them.

    ¡°Cursed Lady...¡± Chen Ge could not help himself from uttering this scariest name, but the next moment, the blood capiries on his arm started to twist. The tiny and slender ck lines moved to form one after another ghastly characters on the surface of his skin. ¡°That is not my name.¡±

    The words that the Cursed Lady wanted to say was like a curse that he could not shake off. They surfaced on Chen Ge¡¯s body, thetter had no idea how the woman managed to do something like this. He tried his best to maintain his chill. Chen Ge looked at the ck thread on his arm and suffered the extreme pain. ¡°I have lost my past memory but I have a feeling that we should have known each other in the past.¡±

    ¡°I too have lost part of my memory, for example my name.¡± The ck threads crawled on Chen Ge¡¯s skin and flesh as they moved to form new characters. The whole incident just looked and felt absurd. ¡°By cing curses on myself, I found out that my memory was lost inside the hospital. I have looked through all the abandoned hospitals in the city, captured several patients and workers but I am still unable to find my lost memory.¡±

    ¡°The ce that made you lost your memory is Xin Hai Central Hospital. All of our memory is lost there, they are ourmon enemy!¡± Chen Ge had slowly gotten used to the pain. He was now able to keep the tone of his voice even. ¡°To regain back your memory, then you will have to enter deep into the hospital.¡±

    ¡°Other than the method that you say, there is another method that I have that can help me regain my memory.¡± The Cursed Lady was standing before Chen Ge. The bandage on her feel slowly peeled offyer byyer and the ck scary threads were practically growing out of every inch of her body. ¡°Do you know what is a curse?¡± The ck and red threads were covered in screaming human faces. The spectre before him probably had the blood of who knew how many lives on her hands. Her power was amplified in this city until a stage that was truly unbelievable.

    ¡°Using pain as sacrifice to reap a blood reward, that is a curse and that is also the only power that I have.¡± The Cursed Lady¡¯s pale hands gripped around Chen Ge¡¯s heart. ¡°There is a memory about me hidden inside your heart. Using your heart as a sacrifice, I will be able to regain the memory that I have lost.¡±

    Even at that moment Chen Ge was able to maintain his shocking calmness. ¡°I would bet that you would not do something like that. A curse is something that is extremely hard to reverse. Since there is a memory of you in my heart, that can only mean that I am someone important to you too.¡± Even though Chen Ge appeared unfazed on the surface, in his heart, he was still slightly panicking. Other than Scarlet, all the other specters he had met so far had reasons to make him feel fearful. Single Eye wanted Chen Ge¡¯s left eye and now the Cursed Lady wanted Chen Ge¡¯s heart.

    ¡°using my own life as sacrifice, after you have found the memory that you have lost, you will realize the important person in your memory has died, is that truly the goal that you are trying to achieve?¡± Chen Ge spoke faster and faster, he refused to give the Cursed Lady any chance to think.

    ¡°Even if I pluck away your heart, you might not necessarily die. Even if I do not do that now, in the future, you will beg me to do so.¡± The words that the Cursed Lady left on Chen Ge¡¯s arm containedplicated emotion in them. She seemed to know certain things but she was reluctant to share them.

    ¡°I will beg you to kill me in the future?¡± Chen Ge did not quite understand it. Everything that he was doing now was for the purpose of survival, why would he ever actively ask for death?

    ¡°All the spectres in this city, including myself, everyone not only had their memory taken away, they had most of their power taken away as well. To regain all of these things, one will have to go to that hospital but the contradiction lies in the fact that everyone who has lost their memory and power would not have mounted arge enough power to fight the hospital.¡± The Cursed Lady had no reason to lie to Chen Ge. If she was willing, she could directly gouge out Chen Ge¡¯s heart now and not waste time trying tomunicate with him.

    ¡°Even with the cooperation of everyone inside the city, we will not be enough to fight the hospital?¡± Chen Ge felt a shred of despair winding around his heart.

    ¡°Unless they have found their lost memory and power, or else there is no chance of that happening at all.¡± The Cursed Lady looked at Chen Ge with her bloody eyes. ¡°There are not only my memory hidden inside your heart, there are other people¡¯s memory as well. Let me put a curse on everything that you are, it will be able to grant everyone other than yourself, their lost memory and power.¡±

    The Cursed Lady did not force Chen Ge, she only gave Chen Ge a choice.

    ¡°Just now you said that, even if I have lost my heart, I might not necessarily die?¡± Chen Ge was seriously considering the option that was given to him.

    ¡°In this false reality, as long as you still retain the memory of the truth, you will not die.¡±

    ¡°Give me some time to think about this.¡±

    ¡°Tragedy has already arrived, I will be waiting for your answer here.¡± The ck and red threads retreated like the tides. The Cursed Lady pulled away from Chen Ge.

 Chapter 1193 - This Time Let Me Be Your Shadow (3in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1193: This Time Let Me Be Your Shadow (3in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    Cursed Lady¡¯s eyes moved away from Chen Ge¡¯s face and moved to scan the back of his arm. When the two were close to each other earlier, the wound that was on the back of Chen Ge¡¯s arm that was unable to heal started to bleed again as if it had received some kind of agitation.

    ¡°Was it you who left behind the wound on the back of my arm?¡± Chen Ge raised his arm, to which the Cursed Lady responded with a curt nod. 10 minutester, the third sick hall returned to normal and all the ck threads had faded away. Ol¡¯ Zhou and Tang Jun crawled up from the ground. After ensuring everyone was fine, it was also at the same time Men Nan woke up from his unconsciousness.

    ¡°We have grossly underestimated the power level of the Cursed Lady, she is probably the strongest spectre in this city.¡± Men Nan took in a cold breath. ¡°it is not shameful to lose to her but we will probably have to reconsider further this issue about requesting her for help.¡±

    ¡°We have already met all three of the scariest spectres in this city, the rest of the spectres can be handled by the tenants of Ping An Apartment. Chen Ge, I need you to stay patiently inside the Haunted House and do not have any more interaction with the rest of us.¡± Zuo Han¡¯s brain was clear, and his thoughts was sharp. ¡°After we have made all the necessary preparation, we will go back to the haunted House to find you.¡± After saying all that, Zuo Han realized Chen Ge had not responded with any words. He patted lightly on Chen Ge¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Do not think too much about what the Cursed Lady has said. Can a person still be considered aplete person once he has lost his heart?¡±

    ¡°Actually she has a valid point to make.¡±

    ¡°Do not get pulled into this nonsense, you are the key for everyone of us to make our escape...¡± before Zuo Han could finish, he saw how bloodshot Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were. Honestly, of everyone there, Zuo Han was the person who was the most familiar with Chen Ge. He had once considered to trade his life with Single Eye, only those who had been forced to that step could empathize with the feeling that CheN Ge was going through. Zuo Han knew that as someone who was at the center of the storm, the pain and despair that Chen Ge was put under must be at least 10 times of his own. He wanted to console Chen Ge but all the words that he could think off sounded weak and meaningless before the face of true despair.

    ¡°We will find back our memory.¡± Zuo Han did not disturb Chen Ge who was deep in thought. The few of them left the Third Sick Hall together. Aftering up the new contact method, Chen Ge parted ways with the tenants from Ping An Apartments. He took a long detour before heading back to the Haunted House at the theme park. Heid in the bed inside the staff breakroom. Before this, he only thought the rising sun of this world would shower his body with the warmest ray but now he was slightly afraid of the sight of dawn. He had no idea what would happen tomorrow but there was one thing that he was certain, he knew that the day after would be worse than today.

    Tragedy was approaching him step by side. Chen Geid in bed all night and he realized he was unable to fall asleep. At 8 am in the next morning, Chen Ge crawled out of bed due to habit and started to clean the ce. Even though the Haunted House was still barred from business, he would still spend every day checking the many scenarios and props. At around 8. 10 am, Zhang Ya arrived at the door of the Haunted House. She looked much haggard than before, in just the past few days, she seemed to have shed a lot of weight. Yesterday night, she was tormented by nightmare again. At 2 am in the morning, she was frightened awake. Once she closed her eyes, the tragedy in her nightmare would be imprinted at the back of her mind.

    Her father¡¯s condition was worsening and her mother had to stay behind at the hospital to look after her. Zhang Ya did not want to add more pressure on them, to give them one more thing to worry about so she poured her concern towards Chen Ge. ¡°I found myself unable to sleep even though it was already 3 something in the morning. I got out from bed to go to the kitchen to grab myself a ss of water. When I passed the window, I saw a man at the bottom of the building. He was smiling constantly while staring at my window.¡± Zhang Ya leaned close to Chen Ge. ¡°The scenario from my nightmare was slowly turning into reality, it has reached a point where I cannot differentiate between them anymore.¡±

    At this point, Chen Ge already knew that the hospital had already reached out their ws towards Zhang Ya. This was the usual modus operandi for the hospital. First they would make it seem like a normal person was going insane and then they would reach out to them to offer ¡®treatment¡¯ and intervention. Chen Ge was very worried about Zhang Ya¡¯s mental state. He was concerned that she might be sent into Xin Hai Central Hospital because once you got into that hospital, it was basically impossible toe out anymore. There was one moment where he felt like bringing Zhang Ya to run away but where else could they run away to? This was a city without hope, all the good memory and happiness was just a mirage, even if they wanted to run, there was no ce for them to run away to. Looking at Zhang Ya who had truly wilted in the past few days, Chen Ge¡¯s fingers slowly tightened. ¡°Why don¡¯t you go inside the haunted house to take some rest, I will be here to look over the ce.¡±

    The truth that he wanted to say he could not say, the harsh truth was suppressed at the bottom of his heart, in this life which was slowly peeling apart, Chen Ge cared for Zhang Ya as delicately as he could, that was the only thing that he could do now. Opening the door to the staff breakroom, Chen Ge saw Zhang Ya who quickly fell asleep. He branded this image of hers into his heart. ¡°It feels like I have owed her too much.¡±

    Lying next to the bed, Chen Ge did not budge for an inch because he knew that this might thest few moments that they could share together.

    When it was almost noon, the management of the theme park entered the Haunted House with a few of the security guards. They barged into the ce like it belonged to them, they did not even acknowledge Chen Ge¡¯s presence. When Chen Ge hurried to meet them, the management had already done with the modification that they wanted, all of the decision had already been made without even consulting the owner of the Haunted House. The most popr scenario at the Haunted House, Murder at Midnight was to be taken down in three days, they believed the scenario was too scary that it had caused visitors to faint. It had seriously affected the reputation of the theme park so it had to be removed.

    A few of non professional walked among the scenarios, criticizing non stop about the props that Chen Ge had poured his soul into. Anything that did not reach up to their standard, which was practically everything, had to be removed. This was not his Haunted House, it was Zhang Ya¡¯s Haunted House. He wanted to try his best to protect this ce, so that it would see the day of reopening in the future. As long as that day woulde, then they would have the chance to survive the ordeal, that was the only request that Chen Ge had. There were more than 70 spots that needed to be changed and on top of that, a scenario had to bepletely removed. And to do all that, they had only given Chen Ge a 3 day period to do so. After the management of the theme park left, Chen Ge¡¯s hand that was holding the piece of paper was squeezing so hard that the paper had gotten twisted out of shape. ¡°as long as there is still a chance for reopening, there is still hope.¡±

    After Zhang Ya woke up, Chen Ge went to find her with the piece of paper. Looking at the content inside the paper, Zhang Ya was not feeling so well either. Chen Ge though sat beside her tofort her as best as he could. In the afternoon, the two of them busied themselves with the modification of the Haunted House. They had sealed up the scenario for Murder at Midnight and had taken down most of the scary props. They worked until 6 pm. The two of them initially nned to go for dinner together but suddenly Zhang Ya received an urgent call from her family. Zhang Ya¡¯s father was transferred to another sickroom and her mother was requested to stay to look after him.

    After getting the call, Zhang Ya immediately hurried towards Xin Hai Central Hospital, Chen Ge though walked her to the front door of the hospital. When the two parted, Chen Ge gripped Zhang Ya¡¯s hand. He told her if she was frightened, she was wee toe to the Haunted House to find him at any time. She should not be home alone at a time like this. Seeing Zhang Ya retreat deep into the centre of Xin Hai Central Hospital, Chen Ge¡¯s heart slowly squeezed together. He was very fearful that this was thest chance they would have the chance to see each other.

    After returning to the Haunted House, Chen Ge found himself unable to find peace. He kept pacing up and down the corridor until the clock showed that it was already 9 in the evening. He wanted to dull his senses by submerging himself in his work like usual. But when he entered the haunted house with the modification details that were given to him by the management, Chen Ge found himself stumped. He did not know what to do. All of his talent and skill was to make the visitors fall more in love with the Haunted House, to give them a truly frightening experience. He had not done anything that would require him to actively destroy the Haunted House before. Gripping the tool hammer tightly, Chen Ge looked at the scenario that he had personally built and he shuffled into it silently like a man without a cause. Throughout the night, Chen Ge destroyed the scenario for Murder at Midnight, and he continued to take down all the scare points. The sunlight filtered through the window into the Haunted House but Chen Ge could feel any warmth at all. The rays of light seemed to carry a piercing chill in them.

    ¡°The sun has finallye up.¡± Sitting at the door of the Haunted House, Chen Ge who had not taken a wink throughout the night did not feel sleepy at all. He scratched the white cat¡¯s head. The pair of human and cat looked down the distance quietly, waiting for Zhang Ya to arrive. At 10. 30 am, way after the theme park had opened for business, Zhang Ya finally arrived at the Haunted House. Seeing Zhang Ya in person, Chen Ge sighed in great relief, he was really worried that it would be asting goodbye between them yesterday night.

    ¡°Zhang Ya, you need to take a good rest, just leave everything about the Haunted House to me.¡± Chen Ge who had not slept at all through the night wished for Zhang Ya to take some rest. He stood beside Zhang Ya and regarded her withplicated emotions in his eyes. The two of them entered the scenario together. It was then that Zhang Ya realized with shock that Chen Ge had alreadypleted all the modifications required by the theme park management. ¡°Did you not sleep at all yesterday night?¡± Zhang Ya was reminded of what Chen Ge said earlier and she felt her heart squeeze with pain.

    At around noon, Chen Ge found the people from the management. After they inspected the Haunted house, he and Zhang Ya thought they would be allowed to reopen the Haunted House again but the response they were given was, they should wait forter announcement. There was no hope in the future, but Chen Ge and Zhang Ya still refused to give up. In the afternoon, Zhang Ya left to go to the hospital while Chen Ge stayed alone behind at the Haunted House. He looked at the ce that he could not recognize anymore and his dry lips pinched together. At around 11 pm, he heard the sound of the gates of the Haunted House being shaken. Chen Ge who was spacing out inside the Haunted House ran out in a hurry. He saw Zhang Ya leaning against the gate and her face was as white as paper. She was swinging unstably on her feet.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Chen Ge quickly helped Zhang Ya into the building.

    ¡°I left the hospital at around 8 pm. After I got home, I just had this unsettling feeling inside him, it was as if the scary memory from my nightmare was about to crawl into my brain.¡± Zhang Ya closed her eyes in pain. ¡°The world in my eyes would suddenly be absurd and the strange man outside my windowes closer and closer. I can sense him waiting for me just outside the corridor!¡± Zhang Ya¡¯s mental state was loosening. Her nightmare was ovepping with reality and it was turning her whole world upside down. She was in an extremely precarious situation, she must not be given anymore agitating stimulus.

    ¡°Zhang Ya, why don¡¯t you sleep at the staff breakroom tonight. I will guard beside you, I will make sure that no one wille to harm you.¡± Chen Geid down the mattress on the floor and gave Zhang ya the bed to sleep on. The staff breakroom was notrge. After switching off the lights, they could hear the echo of each other¡¯s breathing. The moonlight outside the window filtered through the gap and shone into the room. Zhang Ya who was lying on the bed, facing away from Chen Ge suddenly asked softly, ¡°Chen Ge, am I sick?¡±

    ¡°No, the thing that is sick is this world.¡±

    ¡°So why is it me that feels the pain?¡±

    The tip of her toes tapped on the ground. Zhang Ya sat up from the bed. The moonlight showered down her long ck hair like rain. Hearing the rustle in the dark, Chen Ge turned back to look. Zhang Ya was lying next to him like a person who was lost. ¡°If it is this world that is sick, then why is it us who has to suffer?¡±

    Her head was leaning softly against Chen Ge¡¯s back, she hid herself behind Chen Ge.

    ¡°it will be fine.¡± Chen Ge did not turn around. He was afraid that the despair in his eyes would betray himself. His natural talent at acting seemed to bepletely useless around Zhang Ya. ¡°I am sure everything will be fine.¡±

    Listening to each other¡¯s heartbeat, neither of them slept. They leaned against each other back to back and waited for the next dawn to arrive. At around 4 am, Zhang Ya received a phone call from her mother. She rushed to the hospital. Chen Ge wanted to stop her but he could not find a solid reason to. At around 8 am, Chen Ge put all the bed and pillows back into ce and started to clean around the Haunted House. When he was done with all his chores, he sat at the door of the Haunted House alone. There was only one person and one cat at the Haunted House. There was no visitor and no other employee.

    After the theme park opened for the day, Chen Ge went to the office many times to find the management, hoping that they would give them a leeway. His effort got him nowhere. If anything, he only managed to annoy the management and they told him to stop wasting their time.

    Being shown the door again and again, Chen Ge still insisted on finding the person responsible at the theme park. He just hoped that the person woulde to take a look at his Haunted House. He had already done all the modification based on the rules that he was given. But until the theme park closed for business at night, Chen Ge still failed to find the answer that he was looking for. The owner of the theme park had already left the site and the other managers pretended that they could see Chen Ge at all. He found some random thing to sit. Chen Ge returned to his stoop at the front of the Haunted House, his eyes asionally nced towards the big clock inside the Haunted House.

    He kept his vigil for Zhang Ya but this time, Zhang Ya did not return to the Haunted House. The bad omen in his heart grew stronger and stronger. Chen Ge left the Haunted House at midnight. He called Zhang Ya¡¯s phone number at a nearby convenience store but his calls went unanswered even though he made multiple attempts. At around 1 am, Chen Ge took a trip to the Haunted House. Scanning Xin hai Central Hospital that was all lit up like daylight, Chen Ge still did not enter the ce.

    He tossed and turned through the night. Whenever he heard even the smallest whisper in the wind, he would crawl up from bed to investigate it. But the door of the Haunted House remained empty, there was no one there at all. The next morning, Chen Ge cleaned up the Haunted House and rushed to wait at the front door nervously. But even after the theme park opened for day, there was still no trace of Zhang Ya. Zhang Ya remained unseen throughout the day. ¡°Howe she has not returned from the hospital yet?¡±

    Night fell. Chen Ge paced constantly inside the Haunted House, he had never lost suchposure of himself before. On the morning of the third day, there was still no news from Zhang Ya or her parents, it was as if they had forgotten everything about Chen Ge and the Haunted House. The fourth day, the fifth day...

    On the morning of the seventh day, when Chen Ge whose eyes were red was cleaning the haunted house, several theme park worker in security guard uniform rushed into the Haunted House without warning.

    ¡°What is the meaning of this!¡± Chen Ge guarded at the entrance with the broom and refused to let them through.

    ¡°We are only working on the use of the contract. This Haunted House has been working in deficit and it has failed multiple safely inspection. After a meeting among the management, they have decided to level this ce to clear up the space for a new attraction.¡±

    ¡°The Haunted House boss is dying at the hospital, don¡¯t you feel have a heart to take down the Haunted House down?¡± Chen Ge guarded the door of the Haunted House with his life, his eyes glowing red like ember.

    ¡°Before you question us, you better consider how are you going to survive without your sry. Get out of the way!¡± The group of guards rushed forward. Chen Ge dropped the broom and took out the tool hammer from the prop room.

    BANG! The tool hammer that was covered in red paint smashed through the wooden board. Chen Ge¡¯s scary strength made everyone freeze in their spot.

    ¡°This is my certificate of recovery, when I am still reasonable enough, I¡¯d advice all of you to leave this ce!¡± Chen Ge dropped the piece of paper on the ground. ¡°After the boss of the Haunted House has recovered, you can do anything you want but the premise is you have to get his permission first.¡± Even with his life on the line, Chen Ge would give up everything to protect the Haunted House. The guards appeared to have gotten a notification from their superior. They did not get into a direct conflict with Chen Ge. Instead, they found some wooden boards and nails to seal up the front door of the Haunted House. Now even if Chen Ge had the key, he could not run the business like normal anymore.

    ¡°Let us go!¡± After the security guards left, Chen Ge who was still holding the hammer leaned against the wall. He slowly slid to the ground. He was left alone by his lonesome at the Haunted House. Hugging his head silently, Chen Ge gritted his teeth. Without taking a bite at all, he stayed that way until noon. When the sun was about to set, Chen Ge came to the attic of the Haunted House alone. He remembered finding something at this ce and that thing had changed his life forever. He rummaged through the ce but he came up with nothing. Tired and defeated, Chen Ge slumped down beside the window. At this moment when destiny entwined, Chen Ge saw the most despairing image in his life.

    Inside Xin Hai Central Hospital that was just across the road, in the third sick hall where he was once a patient of, just at the same window that he had stood for may a day, Chen Ge saw Zhang Ya in a patient¡¯s garb!

    With no spirit in her eyes, Zhang Ya in the patient¡¯s outfit stood numbly inside the room. Her head was tipped down, studying the white pills in her palm.

    ¡°Zhang Ya!¡± His fists banged heavily against the window. Chen Ge shouted very loudly but Zhang Ya did not seem to hear him. His hands were cut by the shards of the window. Blood slid down his arm and dropped to the floor. But Chen Ge did not appear like he felt any pain at all. His eyes were glued to the sickroom down the distance. The sun slowly sunk below the horizon. Night nketed itself over the city of Xin Hai. The window of the sickroom was mmed shut the doctor and the heavy curtain blocked everything out of sight. His palms bleeding with blood, Chen Ge stood inside the attic of the Haunted House. He looked down the building that stretched down the distance. ¡°You are not even going to give the illusion of happiness anymore, do you?¡±

    Picking up his backpack, Chen Ge ran down the stairs and rushed into the bathroom. He first nced at the cubicle door that had been closed for some reason and then using all the might in his body, he smashed the door of the cubicle and the window in the bathroom. Leaping out from the Haunted House, Chen Ge did not leave immediately but turned to look back at the Haunted House. A white cat leaned obediently at the open window. When it saw Chen Ge looking at it, it immediately rushed towards him. Rubbing the white cat behind its head, Chen Ge whispered softly, ¡°The tragedy has befallen me, the closer you are to me, the more danger you will be in. So you must note to find me anymore.¡± The white cat did not seem to understand Chen Ge. With every step that Chen Ge took, it would follow closely behind him.

    After Chen Ge got into the taxi, it meowed desperately outside the door...

    When he arrived at the third sick hall, Chen Ge knocked on the door that was covered with curses.

    The Cursed Lady in the red clothes materialized silently, she seemed to have predicted that Chen Ge would return.

    ¡°I can give you my heart but before that, I need to give my left eye to another spectre.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s tone was so calm that it was quite frightening. ¡°I will give up everything that I have to help you all find back your memory but I hope that you will promise me one thing.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you are willing to give up everything?¡± The dark ck words slowly surfaced, that was not Cursed Lady¡¯s original n.

    ¡°Yes, my left eye, my heart, my head, my body, you can take anything that you want. I only hope that you can keep my shadow behind so that I can stay by her side forever.¡± As he finished, Chen Ge took out a sharp knife from his backpack. His own face was reflected in the sharp knife, the remaining fragment of memory that he had shed quickly across his mind. ¡°This time it will be my turn to be her shadow.¡±

 Chapter 1194 - MarChapter of the Dead!

    <h4>Chapter 1194: March of the Dead!</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    The cursed morphed into a ck knife and the Cursed Lady personally handed the knife over to Chen Ge.

    ¡°The most difficult lie to detect are those made up from 90 percent truth and 10 percent lie, the hardest mirage to escape are those made up from 90 percent reality and 10 percent nightmare. After I have gained your heart, I can use the curse to maintain your life and memory, but if you have given up everything but your shadow, I am afraid I am too powerless to do anything anymore. Losing everything that you are, are you willing to use that as a sacrifice to be a shadow behind her that will never be able to speak and never be able to interact with?¡± The characters imprinted themselves on Chen Ge¡¯s wound. He epted the knife from Cursed Lady. Without any hesitation, he plunged the sharp knife covered in curses into his chest.

    The de entered his body, every life that was lost was reced by curse and despair. Using flesh and blood as sacrifice, through the medium of curse, he helped Cursed Lady found everything that this body and Cursed Lady had experienced. The memory bloomed deep inside the curse. The knife was only halfway into his body when it was held back by multiple ck threads. The Cursed Lady in the red dress had pain andplicated emotions in her eyes, she had been reminded of her past. Mysterious patterns weaved out from ck threads on her clothes. The presence of the Cursed Lady became more terrifying until it enveloped the entire western Xin Hai countryside. The howling human names were being torn apart one by one. All the curse that the Cursed Lady had once consumed melted together to form a new name.

    To put a curse on someone, you would have to know their name. The Cursed Lady¡¯s own name was her only weakness and biggest secret. At that moment, the name appeared before Chen Ge¡¯s eyes and then it slowly faded, hidden deep inside the ck and red dress. The pale hands grabbed at the knife inside Chen Ge¡¯s chest but the curse already coursed all through Chen Ge¡¯s body, the Cursed Lady could not pull the knife out even if she wanted to.

    ¡°Looks like you have already found your memory. Can you tell me what kind of person I was in the past?¡± The Cursed Lady did not answer. She controlled the curse thread to seep in Chen Ge¡¯s wound, she wanted to stop the wound from spreading but no matter how hard she tried, the wound kept getting bigger. The curse had already worked its magic and the effect was irreversible. Cursed Lady ced her hands on Chen Ge¡¯s chest. The ck threads curled into four words before Chen Ge¡¯s eyes. ¡°is it worth it?¡±

    ¡°Of course it is. Even though I have lost most of my memory, I still have some residual fragments left. You have once saved my life. One life for another, this is a fair trade.¡± The pale hands gripped the cursed knife, no one had said such things to a spectre before. ¡°There are many specters in this city who have helped me, they stood by my side knowing the risk that it would bring them. How could I keep on hiding behind their back simply because of my fear of death?¡± Chen Ge held the cursed knife stuck in his chest. ¡°This time, it is for me to take a stand for them.¡±

    The presence that enveloped the western Xin Hai chilled. The Cursed Lady followed behind Chen Ge. ¡°I will go with you...¡±

    Inside the dance studio at Xin Hai Private Academy, the mirror that was several metres long was shattered instantly. The sharp shards cut Chen Ge¡¯s face and blood spurted. He stood face to face with a youngdy in a school uniform that only had one eye. ¡°Do you only wish for my left eye?¡± An unbridledughter echoed through the night, an air of savageryshed through the entire private academy!

    The sound of footsteps echoed down the abandoned Li Wan Street. Chen Ge looked at the little girl in red standing at the corner of the street, waiting for him to arrive. The bloodied hand reached out towards Scarlet. There was an eternal softness in Chen Ge¡¯s voice, ¡°There is no need for you to be anyone¡¯s shadow, you exist for your own reason.¡±

    The blood in his palm seeped into Scarlet¡¯s heart. The originally dark street was nketed over by endless redness. Blocks after blocks of shadowy red buildings appeared behind Scarlet.

    Ping An Apartment, underground morgue, abandoned vige in the mountain, old dam, one after another scary presence rose to the surface, shattering the heavy serenity of the night. Redness swallowed the twinkling stars in the sky!

    Innumerable blood vessels spread through the city, all the despair and tragedy was trampled under one¡¯s feet. On the empty street, the lights flickered on and off. An extremely oppressive presence materialized out of nowhere, the city in the night appeared to be frozen. Every citizen that was awaken looked towards the end of the street. A young man carrying a backpack walked alone in the night. He looked incongruous with the rest of the city. His every step left behind a bloody footprint. Behind this man, there were endless evil, savage and vengeful shadows following closely behind him! It was the march of the thousand dead!

    Horror and despair filled the city. The man¡¯s bloody eyes fixated on the hospital at the centre of the city. The night sky was torn apart, half of it was dark as ink, the other half red as blood. Xin Hai Central Hospital sensed this change naturally. All the lights at the hospital were switched off. ¡°Salvation and destruction is only one thin line apart, sometimes, destruction is also a kind of salvation.¡±

    The young man stopped before the door of the hospital. Seven night doctors blocked his way forward.

    ¡°Chen Ge...¡± When the leading Doctor Gao opened his mouth to speak, his head was already plucked off his shoulder. The woman with the single eye tore apart Doctor Gao¡¯s face, the head in her hands instantly became ck threads that were wiggling like worms. Doctor Gao¡¯s body copsed heavily to the ground. Blood dyed his red coat. When his coat was fully red, Doctor Gao stood up from his pool of blood again. The ck thread and blood vessel formed for him an ugly head that was filled with scars. That was the real appearance of the fake ¡®doctor Gao¡¯.

    ¡°At this stage, what is the purpose of words anymore?¡± Chen Ge did not waste any time on words. He also was not that na?ve to think the hospital would let Zhang Ya so the most reliable action was to destroy everything, to tear down all the despair, pain, bliss and memory, to bury this fake city alive!

    The night doctors revealed their true selves. Their white coats were flushed red. Seven Red Spectres with unique power guarded at the door. They stood at their posts. The doors of the seven sick halls at the hospital opened at once. The patients that the hospital had once ¡®treated¡¯ rushed out like waves. These patients appeared to have been fed the ck pills. Their eyes were shining with pain and madness, as they rushed towards Chen Ge!

    There were so many of them, the hospital appeared to have a limitless supply of patients.

    ¡°Chen Ge!¡± A familiar voice suddenly came from a spot behind him. Chen Ge turned his head to look. The author was running over while dragging a worker at the theme park in a Doreamon costume and behind them there were numerous people who were hurrying from various corner of the city.

    ¡°The people that you have once saved will one day be your own salvation.¡±

    A man in red walked out from the crowd. The presence that he gave off was even scarier than Single Eye.

 Chapter 1195 - I Am Chen Ge

    <h4>Chapter 1195: I Am Chen Ge</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    The man in red walked over. All the ck threads bound around the patients faded away. The talent of this Red Spectre was a secret. ¡°I said I would protect you at all cost and that is a promise whether we are inside the door or outside the door.¡±

    The bloody eyes blinked. The patients from the hospital had their legs amputated. No one within the man¡¯s hundred radius was still standing. Blood turned into rivers. The man in red slowly moved forward as if no one was able to stop his march.

    Compared to the man in red, Single Eye was another extreme. She had lost control until it felt like madness had consumed her. She won¡¯t stop killing, all the patients that neared her were impaled by blood vessels. The despairing faces were sucked into her empty left eye. Single Eye fed on the patients¡¯ soul and resentment. The presence around him became scarier. Her unsettlingugh chilled the few night doctors. Even those patients who were fed the ck pills halted, as if the horror from Single Eye had suppressed the effect from the drug. Cruelty and savagery, her eyes were filled with bloodlust and desire to kill. Submerged in the joy of negative emotions, this was the real Red Spectre.

    The front door of the hospital was levelled. The seven night doctors were boggled, how did Chen Ge who lost his memory manage to gather so many spectres who had lost their memory as well. Practically all the spectres in the city were moving this way. Why would these extremely evil monsters and ghost who loved to kill be willing to follow behind a living human?

    They had already lost their memory, they could not even remember each other¡¯s name, so why would these spectres still be so willing to abide by Chen Ge¡¯s intention? Did they not understand thatying siege to the hospital was like jumping into a roaring fire?

    The seven night doctors could not wrap their heads around it, neither could the patients who were nothing more than puppets. It eluded even the vice director who was kneeling outside the director¡¯s office inside the hospital. Multiple spirits and spectres rushed at the hospital, while Chen Ge maintained his own pace, taking one step at a time. Blood dyed the street red, the white walls of the hospital were turned red. The seven night doctors were pushed away. They used their power and tried to send as many spectres as they could into the brain maze.

    ¡°These seven Red Spectres are not running away, it feels like they are trying to buy time. There is a bigger cluster of building under the hospital, I suspect they are trying to awaken something underground.¡± Men Nan stuck close to Chen Ge. As if trying to make up for his careless words before, he was being very supportive now. The curse spread inside Chen Ge¡¯s body. The ck de over his heart almost plunged into his chest. The pain he was under intensified but he showed no sign of stopping at all. Blood poured out of his eyes. When the surrounding Red Spectres and baleful spectres saw Chen Ge in this state, they became even more spirited.

    Scarlet, Single Eye, Man in red, the three of them tussled with the seven night doctors. No one held back. In just a few breaths, the fake Doctor Gao who was beheaded earlier was seriously injured again. The power bnce was disrupted, endless spectres rushed into the hospital. The first sick hall was swamped by blood immediately. Chen Ge walked down the corridor. With the wall as support, he came to the director¡¯s office at the first sick hall. He pushed open the door. Numerous ck threads pierced towards his body but curiously enough all the curses stopped when they were one metre away from Chen Ge, like they were frozen.

    ¡°The ss jars ced here have already been moved?¡± The room was empty. Other than the most vicious curse, there was nothing. Chen Ge looked towards the window and focused on the building down the distance. Inside the third sick hall, the vice director was handing the ss jars in his hands to the two doctors before him. One of them was doctor Sun, the other doctor had a presence as strong as Single Eye. ¡°you are both doctors most valued by the director, one of you is naturally gifted and the other is incredibly powerful. I need the two of you to bring these seven ss jars into the underground now! The treatment haspletely failed. Tell the director to not dy it anymore, we have to kill the evil spirit of patient 1 as soon as possible!¡±

    Then, another face grew out the vice director¡¯s body and echo reverberated inside the room. After giving his order, the studious vice director morphed into a monster. His coat was covered with wailing faces.

    During the period they exchanged words, when the vice president walked out from his room, Chen Ge¡¯s crew had already taken over three sick halls. The cursed de crawled into Chen Ge¡¯s body morphing into tiny strands of blood vessels. With the recovery to each spectre¡¯s memory, the curse on Chen Ge¡¯s body would intensify further. The greater the pain he was under, the faster he moved. Carrying the hope inside him, Chen Ge rushed down the familiar corridor and pushed open the fated door. The window inside this room still looked towards the Haunted House inside the theme park but the woman who stood near the window had already disappeared.

    ¡°Where is she?¡± Outside the window, blood fell like rain. Before Chen Ge arrived, he already notified all the spectres that a few of the patients were their ally, they needed to be saved first. When Chen Ge got back down from the room, out of the 7 night doctors, 2 had been vanquished and the remainders were not in a good spot too. And on Chen Ge¡¯s side, the only one injured was Single Eye but that had more to do with her killing style. In fact, she preferred to trade wounds for wounds.

    In the blink of an eye, the three sick halls were taken over by specters. When the vice director arrived, the night was already fully red.

    ¡°Where is Zhang Ya?¡± Chen Ge asked in an even tone.

    ¡°When did you regain your memory?¡± The human mouths on the vice director¡¯s body opened and closed.

    ¡°I asked you, where is Zhang Ya!¡± The roar came out of Chen Ge¡¯s through. The man who was tittering on the line of life and death felt the urge to murder like never before.

    ¡°So you have not regained your memory after all? Looks like the problem is not on you but on her, then there is still a chance to turn this around.¡± Shrillughter came out from the human faces. The mouth on the vice director¡¯s face slowly opened and he used them to utter the first word after his reunion with Chen Ge. ¡°She is being suppressed by the director and ¡®Chi¡¯ but she still dared to split out a lingering spirit to help you, perhaps she is no longer of this world by now.¡±

    The moment the vice director said that, a pale pair of hands reached out behind Chen Ge. The ck threads coursed through the vice director¡¯s body. The Cursed Lady reached into the chest of the vice director¡¯s puppet and gripped her hands around a heart that was constructed from curses.

    ¡°Cursed Words?! nting curses through voice? How did you manage to have the ghost fetus¡¯ talent?¡± The mouth screamed for mercy. The Cursed Lady did not give the vice director more chance. She used her full power. Everyone knew the Cursed Lady was scary but no one knew how scary she really was. The cursed threads covered the entire Xin Hai Central Hospital, she wanted to turn this ce into a cursed hospital, she wanted to carve the despair and tragedy deep into the hospital. The vice director tried his best to resist. The faces on his body were corrupted by the curses, his beating heart was slowly dyed deep ck.

    Energy left his body. The vice director yelled despairingly at Chen Ge. ¡°Evil Spirit! Evil Spirit! You will be consumed! There is nothing but the deepest despair for you!¡±

    ¡°Evil Spirit? Are you talking about me?¡± He was focusing on the vice director being tortured but then Chen Ge¡¯s eyes slowly moved away. Because at that moment, Doctor Sun who was holding the ss jars was heading towards him.

    ¡°I am not an evil spirit. I have my own name, it is Chen Ge.¡±

 Chapter 1196 - Your Child is Here to Find You (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1196: Your Child is Here to Find You (2in1)</h4>

    ¡°Director!¡± Doctor Sun whose face was covered in scars hugged 3 ss jars in his arms. He did not listen to the vice director¡¯s order and leave but instead was running back to this ce. Despair and pain overwhelmed both of his eyes. He nced at the dying vice director and blood tears were overflowing in his bloodshot eyes. Hearing the voice that came from behind him, the vice director slowly turned his head. When he saw Doctor Sun running towards him with no regards for the potential danger that he was putting himself in, the vice director¡¯s cold and broken heart suddenly skipped a beat. But he soon recovered to normal. The decaying faces on his body all shouted in a shrill voice, ¡°Do note over here! Run and get away from here as fast as you can!¡±

    The vice director screamed at the top of his lungs but it did not seem to reach Doctor Sun¡¯s ears. The man appeared to have lost his sanity as he tried to put his life to fight against Chen Ge!

    ¡°Doctor Yue, bring him away with you!¡± The vice director ordered with hisst breath. He knew thatpared to his own life, the seven ss jars were far more important. The vice director was already injured and now the whole incident with Doctor Sun was keeping him distracted. The vice director was almost torn apart by the Cursed Lady, he was barely hanging on with thest shred of consciousness inside him. He still had something that he needed to be done. So when he saw that Doctor Yue pulled Doctor Sun back and was forcibly dragging thetter away, the vice director¡¯s heart finally dropped back to its ce.

    A venomous light resurged in the vice director¡¯s eyes. The man stared darkly at Chen Ge. ¡°Evil spirit! I will use everything that I have to curse you! I will make you suffer 10 times, no, 100 times the pain that I am in! I will definitely make you pay for...¡±

    ¡°Vice director!¡± The familiar voice came again, interrupting the vice director in the middle of his words. Thetter subconsciously turned back to look. Doctor Yue was holding the seven ss jars on his own. The organs inside the ss jars were banging on the walls of the jars madly. Numerous blood vessels rushed out from inside them, they bit towards Doctor Yue like a giant maw.

    ¡°Do not ce the seven ss jars together! Separate them from each other!¡± The vice director was so worried that his heart could barely handle it anymore, but then he was greeted with a scene that he would never forget in his life.

    Doctor Sun¡¯s hand was ced on Doctor Yue¡¯s back. Doctor Yue who was trapped by the blood vessels that came out from the seven ss jars could do nothing about what would happen next. Doctor Sun whose blood tears still ran on his face slowly applied force on his arms as he pushed a very sharp shard of a broken mirror right into Doctor Yue¡¯s body from the back of his heart. The normal piece of ss shard was reflecting the face of a child, the child looked just like Chen Ge from when he was young. The blood vessels rushed into Doctor Yue¡¯s body. They were like monsters who were out for blood. They started a feast on Doctor Yue, consuming everything that he was. The ss jars were slowly dyed red by blood. The sealed ss jars started to have spidery cracks on them. Witnessing all these with his own eyes, the vice director had already lost his ability of speech. That Doctor Yue died without even knowing why.

    ¡°Doctor Sun, you...¡± His head was snatched away. The world in the vice director¡¯s eyes turned upside down, hisst gaze was fixated on Doctor Sun¡¯s body. That evil, mad, and destructive Doctor Sun, the man who was a walking symbol of tragedy and despair was now standing obediently next to Chen Ge like a child.

    ¡°Boss, I have found your former body and gleaned some information about the child of the red raincoat. I have already ushered the living people that came from outside the door to a safe ce. I tried my best to protect them.¡± But then Doctor Sun added with some regret. ¡°But unfortunately I cannot stop the hospital director from taking Zhang Ya away with him. I was too powerless to do anything about that.¡±

    ¡°You have already done more than you could.¡± When Chen Ge saw the seven ss jars, there was a strange resonance that came from his mind. It was as if the organs that were stored inside the seven ss jars spoke to him somehow. Holding the knife that was formed from curses at his heart, Chen Ge shouldered the past of all the ghosts. Taking on the sacrifice for them to regain their memory and power, Chen Ge silently walked to stand before the seven ss jars. Doctor Yue who was as powerful as Single Eye had been sucked dry, the seven ss jars had been turnedpletely red.

    ¡°The power needed to keep this city operatinges from these seven jars. Endless curses keep drawing energy from the organs kept inside the ss jars. Even after so many years, the organs inside the jars are still perfect and well, this is practically a miracle already.¡± Doctor Sun¡¯s attitude had a 180 changepared to how he was acting before. When he was undercover at the hospital, he found out many things and the more things he knew, the greater the respect he had for Chen Ge.

    ¡°How can I get to Zhang Ya? How can I destroy this city?¡± Chen Ge repeated these two questions. The memory of the third person in his mind had already been triggered. The cruel images reminded him again and again that the organs inside the ss jars belonged to a third person and that person had apletely different memory growing up than him.

    ¡°Zhang Ya was taken away by the hospital director, it is very easy to destroy this city and that is to destroy these seven ss jars.¡± Doctor Sun did not try to treat Chen Ge any differently simply because thetter had not fully regained his memory.

    His body slowly crumpled down. Actually Chen Ge had already reached his limits already. Every blood capiries in his body were running with curse. With each beating of his heart, the number of curse in his body would increase at a tremendous rate.

    ¡°The vice director just called me an evil spirit but I am just me. The thing that I have experienced was not something that I have imagined. Every single person and every single ghost that follow behind me can prove that I exist.¡± Chen Ge¡¯s hands slowly reached towards the blood red jars. The memory that was sucked away from the ss jars washed back into his body like a surging tide. The locks on all those memories were unlocked. At thest moment of his life, Chen Ge had found the memory that belonged to him!

    He finally recognized every single person that was around him. He remembered every single experience that they had gone through together. The bouts between life and death, the dances on the tip of the knife and every single night that they had travelled into the dark together. Of course, he too was reminded of the first birthday that he had spent inside the Haunted House. He was reminded of the birthday present that the spectres had prepared for him. He remembered how he thought the neers how to scare the visitors. He thought back of the movie that they had made together and the fun that they had had when they went to visit another theme park¡¯s Haunted House. ¡°I never thought I was an unlucky person, to have run into these people is the luckiest thing that have ever happened to me.¡±

    Chen Ge was thest person to have his memory recovered. He had taken on the price for all of his employees to find back their memory. This time he stood at the front of all of his employees, just like how his employees had always had his back without any hesitation. The memory of the third person in his mind did not disappear. The child who had taken away Xu Yin¡¯s heart had appeared again. He started to weave the two person¡¯s past memory together. Chen Ge did not do anything to stop him, then again, he was not capable of doing anything that might stop the child.

    When the memories started to ovep, the blood vessels that punctured into Doctor Yue¡¯s body also crawled into Chen Ge instead. When the blood of both parties started to mix, the cracks on the ss jars started to widen!

    With each new crack on the ss jars, there would be a new crack on the starry sky that was dyed red above their heads. Chen Ge and his employees stared closely at the ss jars but Doctor Sun appeared to have known this would happen already. It was as if the ¡®person¡¯ that once helped him inside the hospital was the ghost stored inside the ss jars.

    The dark and oppressive city had already been dyed red by Chen Ge¡¯s crew. The ss jars that were filled with ck curses were now turning blood red. The small ss jars appeared to be this city of despair. With each passing moment, the edge of the city started to copse. ck fog that carried with it the horrible stench of dread and despair started to roll out from god knows where. Xin Hai behind the door had started its copse. Chen Ge had stayed true to his promise. If he failed to find Zhang Ya, he could bury this whole city alive. The curse coursed through his body, the blood vessels from inside the ss jars also flooded into Chen Ge¡¯s body like crazy. The child that was hidden in his mind was directing these two forces and tried his best to help keep Chen Ge alive. As the cracks on the ss jars became more numerous, the more powerful that child became but this was still not enough to help sustain Chen Ge¡¯s life. The curse had already seeped into his heart, liver, spleen and bone marrow, Chen Ge¡¯s consciousness was slowly turning blurry. With a human body, to have taken it so far with the weight of so many spectres on him, the fact that he could hold on until now was already in itself a miracle.

    ¡°I still have not found Zhang Ya...¡± One after another spectres stood beside Chen Ge. At the centre of the broken city, everyone from the Haunted House had gathered around its owner. The Cursed Lady was the first to ce her hands on Chen Ge¡¯s body. She actively started to direct the curse from Chen Ge¡¯s body into her own. And then Ol¡¯ Zhou, Duan Yue and the other employees also ced their hands on Chen Ge¡¯s body. The color of blood had taken over the whole city. The night sky and the ss jars around Chen Ge shattered at the same time. Endless ck fog poured down from above them like a ck sea. The false city that was constructed by the cursed hospital behind the door had finally copsed!

    The twisted monsters inside the ck fog went after the lingering spirits that were unlucky enough to be in their path. The lives inside the false city reverted back to their original form, stranded lost souls that had nowhere else to go. The building under their feet disintegratedyer byyer. Apocalypse wasing and the ck fog was its harbinger. Finally the people had a good glimpse of the true world behind the door. This was a hospital that was constructed in the middle of a ck sea!

    It was like an iceberg floating on the sea. The part that was showing through the ck fog was just one-tenth of its total size and Chen Ge¡¯s group had only been on the most surfaceyer. Feeling a pull in his heart, Chen Ge nced downwards. His sharp gaze pierced through theyers that wereposed of curses. The woman that had a dress dripping like blood and long flowy ck hair was at the deepest part of the cursed hospital!

    ¡°Zhang Ya!¡± Other than Zhang Ya, Chen Ge also saw three different ¡®Gods¡¯ inside the hospital. A doctor in a white doctor¡¯s coat and a monster that only had a mouth over his head had forced Zhang Ya into the corner. And at the most bottomyer of the hospital, there was a monster whose lower body was connected to the ck fog and the upper body was carrying the whole hospital upon its back. It was guarding the door that was situated at the deepest corner of the hospital. It was clear that if it deigned to join the battle, Zhang Ya would be vanquished in a second but it appeared like it did not dare to budge away from the door for even a second.

    ¡°Bring me all of those night doctors!¡± Seeing Zhang Ya deep inside the hospital, seeing the woman who was still fighting even though she was already covered in wounds, Chen Ge¡¯s heart that was punctured by curses started to pound again. He knew that he could not die here, at least he still needed to see her onest time. Fighting to keep himself awake, the determination and grit showcased by Chen Ge was something that impressed even his ghost employees. They did not believe they would have been able to survive this long should they are ce in Chen Ge¡¯s shoes.

    One after another night doctor was ced in the middle of the seven ss jars. The blood vessels emptied them of their negative emotions and power. The organs inside the ss jars appeared toe alive. The resonance that they had with Chen Ge grew stronger and stronger.

    ¡°The body that was split up has no memory that is mine but ite from the same source as I do.¡± The memory that belonged to another person now ovepped perfectly with the aid of the child. These two memories appeared to represent one single person who was living through two different kind of lifestyles abiding by thew of pure evil and goodness. One of them had firm belief in kindness, he was open and good, he was always ready to save all the misfortune and he was the first to shoulder all the pain and despair. The other had more sharp edge and angles. He always saw the world and the others from the worst possible angle. The person himself was not innately an evil person, but he merely followed the absolute fairness of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

    ¡°Spirit Sniff, Ying Yang Vision, Ghost Ear, Mortician Make Up, Living Doll, Lips of Tragedy... You have given me all these talents just for this day?¡± Chen Ge¡¯s hands gently parted away the curtain of blood vessels. He looked at the body that was amputated. ¡°Thebination of the memories is to ease the amalgamation of the physical bodies?¡±

    Chen Ge had no other choice. The curse had ruined his heart. If he wanted to live, he at least would need a brand new heart!

    ¡°My heart contains all the memory and past of all my employees. Toplete the curse, I have offered up my own heart as a sacrifice to help them regain themselves and now my own cursed heart has been hollowed out.¡± Chen Ge who had regained his memory could directly guess the answer without giving it much thought. It was as if the fog that had bogged up his mind earlier had cleared.

    The man appeared to be talking to himself or at least someone that only existed in his own mind. ¡°Have you already predicted this a long time ago? You were afraid that I was unwilling to part with the memory in my heart so you resorted to this kind of method?¡± The child in his mind appeared surprised by this usation. The boy who was knitting the memory shook his head but he soon realized Chen Ge would not be able to see him no matter how hard he shook his head.

    Chen Ge reached out to hold the beating heart. After absorbing the bodies of the several night doctors and the vice director, this heart had found a new source of life. ¡°I do not have any other choice, I have to stay alive!¡±

    His fiery eyes stared deep into the hospital. Yin Yang Vision saw through the endless curse. In the despair of almost death, Chen Ge had an arresting smile on his face. ¡°I have given you my promise. In life or in death, we will be together like each other¡¯s shadows.¡±

    The seven ss jars exploded at the same time. The seal that was applied of them lost their power. Chen Ge used the power of Living Doll on his own body. With the cooperation and help from so many spectres, he controlled the blood vessels and used his own flesh and blood as raw materials to swap out the cursed organs. The seven ss jars were the foundation that was used to maintain the basis of the hospital. Now the ss jars had not only been shattered, the organs that were originally trapped inside them were slowlybining with Chen Ge!

    When all the rules had been broken, the whole hospital started to shudder. Theyers crumbled one after another. Chen Ge¡¯s group was getting closer and closer to the bottom of the hospital. At the underground of the hospital, the hospital director and ¡°Chi¡± still had problempletely killing Zhang Ya. They had tried so many different methods but Zhang Ya almost managed to find a way to stay alive at the edge of having her soul smashed into smithereens. She had too many talents and power at her disposal and the more painful they inflicted on her, the more powerful she became. And to make things worse, there appeared to be no limit by which her power could soar. This was hard to deal with even for multiple Demon Gods.

    The hospital was at the edge of its total decay. The monster who had been carrying the hospital on its back and guarding the door at the deepest level slowly opened its eyes. He looked at the door that he had been made the permanent guardian and he said withplicated emotion. ¡°Your child ising to find you. I will trap him and the rest of you behind this door.¡±

    As he made his promation, the ck sea of fog around him started to boil instantly. The monster appeared to have gained the power to control the ck fog after paying his own body as sacrifice and after consuming too many substance that called the ck fog its home.

 Chapter 1197 - Doctor Gao! (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1197: Doctor Gao! (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    The Demon God that shouldered the whole cursed hospital on his back was getting bigger and bigger. His lower body hadpletely dissolved into the ck fog, turning him into more of a monster than before. He was like the ¡®past¡¯ that Chen Ge saw behind the ghost fetus¡¯ door. Both of them had part of their bodies assimted into the ck fog because they were not cautious about the things that they consumed from inside the ck fog.

    But the difference about this Demon God was, the ghost fetus only used part of his consciousness to absorb the things inside the ck fog, while this Demon God directly used his actual physical body to do so. This was where this Demon God was even crazier than the ghost fetus. Chen Ge did not know how the ck fog was form and he had even less of a idea what was enveloped inside the ck fog but he knew for a fact that if one absorbed too much energy from inside the ck fog, they would be visited by misfortune and tragedy. The ck sea swelled upwards. When the Demon God used the ck fog to attack Chen Ge¡¯s group, they only then realized the cursed hospital was not fixed in ce but it had been moving amidst the ck fog. The sudden attack taken by the Demon God that carried the cursed hospital caused the hospital to halt in the middle of the sea, like a floating isted ind.

    ¡°The hospital has been absorbing the ck fog day in and day out, they have been inserting something inside the ck fog into their patients¡¯ bodies.¡± Chen Ge was analyzing the situation. His body and flesh were still meshing with the organs of the child inside the ss jars. His various talents had been given an extremely powerful upgrade. The most direct manifestation of that was now Chen Ge¡¯s Yin Yang Vision could not only look through curses, it could pierce through the ck fog as well.

    Many patients were trapped on every single floor of the hospital. The ck pills that they had been fed were created with an ingredient that was taken from inside the ck fog. Chen Ge himself had taken the pills that came with the ck lines before so he knew how strange and scary those things were. ¡°The hospital is trying to make use of the ck fog? All the patients are ¡®test objects¡¯ for them to experiment on?¡± All the information in his brain slowly lined up together, the big problem slowly came to Chen Ge. The hospital pushed normal people into the wraps of madness and they used different methods to cultivate their patients.

    Different kinds of patients had different kinds of uses. The lowest grade of patients were merely vessels to cleanse the ck fog. After ingesting arge amount of the ck pills provided by the hospital, when these patients ¡®exploded¡¯, they would generate arge amount of resentment and curse. The negative emotions wrapped itself around the hospital, making the ind more stable among the sea of ck fog. At the same time, the curse and the resentment were the food source for the night doctors and the Demon Gods that resided at the hospital.

    Patients who were slightly more special would be given special treatment. The hospital was like some sort of twisted farm, their ultimate goal appeared to be to cultivate an existence that was simr to Patient Number 1. After he regained his memory, Chen Ge became even calmer and more collected than before. His various close brushes with death allowed him to have a heart that was much stronger than that of a normal person.

    ¡°Do not touch anything that is inside the ck fog. Everyone that is not a Red Spectre, I need you to gather behind me!¡± The cursed hospital was simr to the residential area that was behind the ghost fetus¡¯ door. Perhaps the ghost fetus was inspired by the cursed hospital and he used the curse the open the door inside the ck fog. With that previous experience, Chen Ge was familiar with the damage that the ck fog could inflict on normal spectres and lingering spirits, so he quickly gave the orders for them to stay back.

    This was the final battle of a 4 star scenario. Those under the ranks of a Red Spectre had no qualification to enter the fray anymore. The moment they came into contact with the ck fog, they would be torn into piece. Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s order, the many employees hurried to gather around him. Single Eye Chang Wenyu, Scarlet Xiao Bu, Zhang Wenyu and the red high heels volunteered to walk forward. The collective effort of four Top Red Spectres caused therge wave to surge out from the blood and curse, it formed a barrier to form Chen Ge and the rest of the employees inside it.

    Normally speaking, even four Top Red Spectres would be no match for the Demon God inside the cursed hospital but Zhang Wenyu and red high heels had mastered part of the talent of a Demon God. Furthermore, the Demon God at the bottom of the cursed hospital¡¯s main focus was to protect the door at the deepest part of the hospital and all these factors contributed to a surprising stalemate between both parties. Neither party was able to do anything to budge the other, but overall the whole situation was still quite unfavorable towards Chen Ge.

    Zhang Ya¡¯s talent was still a mystery. She kept using the talents of the many spectres she had absorbed and she was clever with her usage of them but even so she would soon be forced to the corner. The wounds on her body stopped recovering. And above her bloody dress, some of the ck ghost faces had started to disappear and after their disappearance, they no longer returned. Even though Zhang Ya¡¯s power was still growing, it appeared like she had almost reached her limit as well. Due to some reasons, the two Demon Gods that cornered her did not go for the kill from the very beginning. They thought that they could have easily capture Chen Ge and Zhang Ya alive without paying too much effort. But now be it Chen Ge or Zhang Ya, unanticipated idents urred at these two battlefields. Therefore, at this moment, they could not follow their original n anymore. They stopped holding back. Even with the sacrifice of taking heavy damage, they would do everything within their power to vanquish Zhang Ya. This Demon God was too scary but she was at the end of her line, she could not spare a second to even help Chen Ge anymore.

    The Demon God with the surname Chi¡¯s ability was consumption. It would try every single method to consume the things on its enemy¡¯s body. From obsession to memory, everything could be consumed by this Demon God. Therefore, during a battle, as long as it was still alive, it would only be stronger and stronger as the battle progressed. Initially the hospital nned for Chi to consume Zhang Ya but now that there were so many extenuating circumstances, they did not dare to take this risk anymore.

    The Demon God with the surname Chi entangled itself in a deadly battle with Zhang Ya who had already lost herself in the fervor of battle. The hospital director though used this opening to retreat. He pulled out a woman in a patient¡¯s garb among the heavy knot of curses. Zhang Ya from the Xin Hai city should have disappeared following the copse of the false city but that was not the case apparently. Zhang Ya which was constructed from Chen Ge¡¯s memory was asleep among the sea of curse. Her beating heart was imprinted with many bloody red characters. Most of them spoke of cruelty, massacre, despair, pain and destruction. But underneath all these ghastly words, at the deepest part of that heart, there were several statements that were faded.

    ¡°I have made a dream...¡¯

    ¡°In that dream, I shared an umbre with him while going back home together. I dreamt that we were waiting for a bus together at the bus stop...¡±

    ¡°I even dreamt that I have given him a hug...¡±

    The words that were the least bloodied were hidden at the deepest part of the heart. It was due to these words that Zhang Ya in the patient¡¯s garb in did not disappear alongside the fake Xin Hai. She was Zhang Ya¡¯s consciousness and the most precious memory that she had. For her who died from tragedy, this piece of memory was like a lighthouse in the dark sea of endless despair. It was incongruous with the bloody world around her, giving off a weak and flickering light.

    ¡°A normal curse is no use on you but to make the curse using the blood of your heart, then the result might bepletely different.¡± The hospital director in the doctor¡¯s coat grabbed Zhang Ya by his neck. The hand that was covered in curses and human faces pressed on top of Zhang Ya¡¯s head. He was trying to suck all the bloody words out from the patient, Zhang Ya¡¯s heart. Zhang Ya who was unconscious was subjected to extreme pain. Even the Demon God Zhang Ya who was in battle with the Chi Demon God was affected by it.

    ¡°The hospital director¡¯s curse is very scary. Using the blood from the Demon God¡¯s heart might really have the chance to heavily injure Zhang Ya.¡± Doctor Sun had his attention fixed on the hospital director. He knew that the scariest presence at the whole hospital was the hospital director.

    ¡°There are 3 Demon Gods at the hospital. Zhang Ya is now holding two of them back and the Demon God at the bottom of the cursed hospital appears to be unable to leave that door. He can only control the ck fog to attack us.¡± Chen Ge thought for a while and came to a decision swiftly. ¡°Tell Zhang Wenyu and the rest to focus their aggression on that door. Do not care what is behind that door, we have to figure out a way to open it no matter what!¡±

    The further down they went, the closer they got to that Demon God, the greater the resistance they faced but Chen Ge¡¯s group had no other choice. Zhang Ya was in a very treacherous position but to save her from the Demon Gods even with the power of several Top Red Spectres was practically impossible. Even if they could somehow get close to the Demon Gods, they would not be able to match up with the Demon God¡¯s speed. Now the only hope that they had was to break up this situation was the door at the most bottom of the cursed hospital. The door stood up and unable to move, the Demon God could only defend it passively. Any decision that Chen Ge made had been given a thorough contemtion. He needed to search for the ray of hope among the abyss of despair.

    ¡°Since the cursed hospital minds that door that much, then I have to do everything within my power to destroy that door.¡± Chen Ge was not consumed by his anger. His brain was thinking very clearly. To stabilize the situation, he knew had to know how to make use of the asset that he had at his disposal to their maximum potential. Turning from defense into offense, the Demon God at the bottom of the cursed hospital did not expect Chen Ge to make this crazy decision. Theyers of the cursed hospital started to disintegrated. Chen Ge¡¯s group got closer and closer to the battlefield of the Demon gods, but Chen Ge who was using the power of the Living Doll on himself did not choose to shy away from the heat of the battle but chose to actively go in search for it.

    ¡°Looks like you have deep confidence in this Demon God, you believe that she alone will be able to drag us down.¡± The curse in the palm of the hospital director crawled into Zhang Ya¡¯s body. The ck small threads sunk deeply into Zhang Ya¡¯s heart like many fish hooks. The Zhang Ya in the patient¡¯s garb was like sleeping beauty who was lost in a nightmare. The curse shed her curse. Her brows slowly creased together. Her lips quivered slightly as if she was calling someone¡¯s name. The bloody words in the patient Zhang Ya¡¯s heart was drawn out. The curse lines that were covered in twisted human faces started to wind around her heart. The hospital director used the patient Zhang Ya as a medium to inflict a powerful curse on the Demon God Zhang Ya.

    Chen Ge captured all of these with his own two eyes. The fire of madness was burning in his eyes. And his action picked up a quicker pace. This was the first time Chen Ge had actively used the talent Living Doll. A perfect living doll required the soul of a living person and flesh and blood. The birth of a living doll signified the death of a human life, it was an equal exchange, a life for a life. When he acquired this talent, Chen Ge did not expect that the first time he would actually put this talent into full use would be on himself. The internal organs that were corrupted by curse were swapped away. Chen Ge¡¯s body and the child¡¯s body were joined together in a very special way. Everything that was harmful towards Chen Ge was extradited out of his body and that including the wound on the back of his arm that could not heal no matter what. The curse that the red high heel made using the blood from Gao Ruxue¡¯s heart was cut off by the blood vessel but during this process of severance, an ident that no one could have predicted happened.

    The blood that had been held back by the curse all this time broke through the shackle. Someone appeared to have left their memory behind deep inside Gao Ruxue¡¯s blood. When the wound was taken off Chen Ge¡¯s body, a sh of blinding red pierced through the ck fog!

    The few seconds after the blood disappeared among the fog, everyone who was on the battlefield heard the despairing howl of a man. To be able to cause distraction to the Demon Gods in the middle of the battle, the owner of the voice had to be none other than a Demon God himself!

    ¡°This is such a familiar voice.¡± The hospital director halted in his movement. Chen Ge who was trying his best to cleanse his body of the curse also turned his head around to nce at the spot where the drop of blood had dispersed. The blood taken from Gao Ruxue¡¯s heart hadpletely disappeared from the world of the ck fog. Thest trace that she had in this world was being wiped away. Ripple trickled down the world of the ck fog due to this one drop of blood. The sea of fog not far away was surging.

    As his organs were being swapped out, Chen Ge¡¯s physical body turned for the better but the thing that caused him some slight twitch of anxiety was he realized that after he had used the child¡¯s body, there appeared to be an invisible bond that appeared between him and this world behind the door, it was a kind of protection and it was also a kind of bondage. ¡°These seven ss jars contain a power that is strong enough to control an entire city in mirage. It is incredibly powerful but it is also rife with the presence of the dead, it appears to be only usable by the dead.¡±

    The process of making the Living Doll had reached its final step. Now he only needed to swap out the heart and Chen Ge would be given a new life!

    The Demon God who carried the cursed hospital on its back had been watching all this, he appeared to be waiting for this moment in fact. Just as Chen Ge prepared to change his heart, a monster that was amalgamated from broken body parts and severed heads leaped out from the roiling sea!

    It was like a centipede that wasrger than even the size of the cursed hospital. Every single appendage of its body was carved with endless screaming and wailing dying spirits. The memory left behind by the living percted in the world of the ck fog before they morphed into decaying broken limbs. The Demon God consumed and digested these grotesque things, turning himself into a giant monster. The twisted and absurd body that wiggled like a centipede was the lower half of the Demon God¡¯s body that was previously hidden in the ck fog!

    This monster was at least twice asrge as the giant whale that was transformed into by the ghost fetus. And the scariest thing was part of its body was still hidden inside the ck fog, it still had not shown off its full appearance. How did one win a war against such an opponent?

    Compared to it, even a Top Red Spectre appeared as small as little ants. Chen Ge quickly swapped out his heart as soon as he could. The giant tail that was bound together by broken limpsshed out at Chen Ge¡¯s head. At the same time, multiple red buildings appeared in the air. Li Wan City at midnight materialized among the ck fog. Xiao Bu had tried her best but the gulf in their power was too big. The blood red Li Wan City was like a mirage, it only flickered for a few seconds before it was smashed through. But these few precious seconds had given all the Red Spectres the time to react.

    All the lingering spirits that went by the name of Zhang Wenyu disappeared at the same time and the presence that radiated off the real Zhang Wenyu became scarier by the moments. He raised both of his arms, endless shadows following behind him did the same. They wanted to use their own bodies to stop the attack of the Demon God. Around Zhang Wenyu, endless threads of curse slithered out of nowhere and bound themselves around the centipede¡¯s body. The speed of the giant tail gradually slowed. Just as it was about to swipe Chen Ge¡¯s head right off, a screechingugh echoed through the air.

    Single Eye danced in the destruction. Chang Wenyu grew several times in size. The blood vessels in her body molded together to form the image of a 3-headed demon. Her scar-filled arm pierced right into the giant tail!

    This Top Red Spectre did not know the meaning of fear. Even facing against a Demon God, she was not going to hold back. She was to face it head on. The giant tail was held back by brute force and it paused right above Chen Ge¡¯s head. The face of the Demon God at the bottom of the cursed hospital darkened. ¡°Let¡¯s see how much longer you can keep this going.¡±

    The two sides butted head with their lives on the line. Right at this precipitous moment, the ck sea of fog down the distance started to boil!

    Everyone¡¯s attention was attracted by it, they all turned to look down the horizon. An indescribable feeling of oppression slowly appeared. The sea of darkness was parted away. A cat that was as white as snow burst through the dark fog and rushed as fast as it could towards Chen Ge!

    Blood tears were leaking out of its dual-colored eyes. Blood vessels with a unique presence fluttered out from its back, they looked like a pair of bloody wings.

    ¡°A cat?¡± The three Demon Gods saw the white cat at the same time but half a secondter, all the faces of the few Demon Gods changed.

    The sound of chains clinging came from deep inside the ck fog. A figure bound by endless chains and shackles slowly strode out from the ck fog!

    ¡°Doctor Gao!¡± The presence of a Demon God pushed back against the ck fog savagely but this was only just the beginning. The chains were being pulled taut one after another. As the ck fog faded away, a red city that seemed to stretch endlessly into the horizon appeared behind Doctor Gao!

    He knew that he was unable to take on the cursed hospital alone. But to save his only bloodkin in this world, this total madman had been dragging the red city on his back as he traversed through the sea of fog!

 Chapter 1198 - Let Me Paint for You

    <h4>Chapter 1198: Let Me Paint for You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    The arrival of the red city diffused the sea of fog. The indescribable pressure caused everyone present to have their nerves pull taut. The chains that were carved with despair bound tightly around Doctor Gao¡¯s body, they were joined to this flesh and blood. No one knew what happened to him at the red city, the presence that he gave off now was even scarier than Zhang Ya. The crimson eyes slowly moved away from the blood vessels behind the white cat and fell on the monster that carried the cursed hospital on its back. The decision had been made in that moment. Only by heavily injuring this monster then the cursed hospital would stop moving through the sea of fog and that would provide the chance for the red city to consume the cursed hospital.

    ¡°I was the one whomitted all the sin but you have cursed my wife to death. I have gone into hiding, hoping you will give me a chance but you people are relentless, following me from Xin Hai to Jiujiang, chasing me from inside the door to outside the door. Now I have nothing left, no family and no past.¡± The chains rattled noisily, ck threads lined themselves around the chain. Doctor Gao knew he would not be a match for so many Demon Gods at the cursed hospital so from the very beginning, his intention was never to win. He put everything on the line and the safest solution was for both of them to die together. He did not need to win, he only needed to ensure that he did not lose.

    Doctor Gao¡¯s arrival was the first wrench in the cursed hospital¡¯s n. The endless red city was getting closer and closer to the cursed hospital. Back then the School of Afterlife was just adjacent to the red city and perhaps due to that proximity, it was eventually consumed by the red city.

    The hospital director¡¯s collected expression finally changed when he recognized Doctor Gao. His emotionless eyes wandered between Doctor Gao and Doctor Sun, the director¡¯s face darkened. The two doctors that he had his best hope on in his life had now gone against him, bing his nemesis. ¡°The opposite of human is god. All I ever wanted to make all of you into a God with no weakness and this is how you repay me, by dragging me down into hell with you?¡±

    ¡°The thing that you wish to change us into are nothing but ghosts who have the capacity to suffer more pain and despair, how is the even close to being a god?¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s arm waved heavily downwards, a chainshed against the bottom floor of the hospital. The grotesque color of red started to spread. The red city was like an awakened beast, it opened its sharp maw at the cursed hospital. The whole hospital started to shake. When the blood vessels crawled its way to the door at the bottom floor of the hospital. The Demon God that shouldered the cursed hospital abandoned Chen Ge and moved itsrge body back to guard the door. He wanted to guard the door but Doctor Gao was no Chen Ge. Just as the Demon God pulled his body back, Doctor Gao also mmed one of its chains heavily on the door. ¡°You are too slow.¡±

    Blood cracks appeared on the ck door. The door originally was red but the surface was covered in curses so from afar, one would think it was a pure ck door. The former and current chairmen of the ghost stories society had a surprising simr solution to this battle. They both saw the door as the opening.

    The monster that carried the hospital was incredibly scary but Doctor Gao was the real Demon God in every meaning of the word. He came here with the knowledge that he might not return. He did not care about wounds to his body, his only purpose was to destroy this ce which had ruined his whole life. The chains pierced into the hospital¡¯s lowest level. Doctor Gao did not go against the Demon Gods of the cursed hospital. Other thaning after the door, the other thing he had done was to use his chains to help join the cursed hospital and the red city together.

    The monster¡¯s size now worked against him. Thatbined with the disturbance from four 4 Top Red Spectres meant that he was not able to stop Doctor Gao on his own. The chains that connected the red city and the cursed hospital grew more numerous. Red energy used the chains as medium to rush into the cursed hospital. Spirits and spectres used this opportunity to escape from the red city. They could not stay for too long inside the ck fog so the cursed hospital became their refuge.

    Back when the 4 star scenario the School of Afterlife came into contact with the red city, even if it resisted with all its might, all it could do was to hold off the inevitability of being assimted. The hospital director knew very well how scary the red city was. He immediately had Chi go and stop Doctor Gao while he stayed back to deal with Zhang Ya. Zhang Ya who was at the edge of her life had the pressure stared to fight back at her full force to prevent the director frompleting the curse. ck hair covered the sky and blood waves rolled. The closer the red city was, the stronger Zhang Ya appeared to be, there seemed to be some kind of bond between her and the city.

    Chi and the monster carrying the hospital attacked Doctor Gao at the same time but Doctor Gao and Chen Ge refused to change their focus away from the cursed door. During this massacre, more and more holes were punctured through at the bottom floor. Red waves mmed at the hospital and it forced the director to use his trump card. Under his control, the curse that had collected for decades at the cursed hospital slowly rose, wrapping the whole hospital in it!

    The red sted against the curse. The director knew the cage of the curse would not hold on for too long but he had confidence that he would be able to kill all the enemies inside the hospital before the cage was shattered. The blood coat turned deep ck. The names of every curse victims appeared around him. And the ck thread represented a human life each, Doctor Gao¡¯s wife was among them.

    ¡°You are the most perfect doctor that I have met, I nned to have you seed me as the next hospital director but you have made the wrong choice.¡± The hospital director grabbed at the patient Zhang Ya¡¯s neck with his left hand. The blood words in Zhang Ya¡¯s heart was torn apart by curse while his right hand searched for the name of Doctor Gao¡¯s wife. ¡°Everyone that has entered this hospital will be cursed, do you think you can fight that after you have be a Demon God?¡±

    His fingers gouged heartlessly though the name of Doctor Gao¡¯s wife. At the same time, Doctor Gao¡¯s movement halted for a moment, it as if his heart had been stabbed. Blood slipped out from the corner of his mouth. The pain from his heart not only did not slow Doctor Gao but it caused him tough maddeningly. ¡°I thought I have stopped loving her but seeing her name being stabbed can still bring me so much pain! It appears like no matter how unhuman-like, un-ghostlike I have be, I will always have a piece of her with me!¡±

    The chains were held in page by the cage of curse. The ghost from the red city could not enter. Doctor Gao and Zhang Ya were cursed at the same time. Chen Ge¡¯s group was in their most dangerous situation yet. The three Demon Gods at the cursed hospital had been there for a long time already, even though it could not be said that they trusted each other implicitly but to protect their own lives, they had unleashed their full power.

    ¡°Finally, the moment has arrived.¡± Looking at the chaos around him, Chen Ge held the child¡¯s heart in his hands. During this crucial moment where he needed to change the heart, the moment where he needed absolute focus, he shouted out a name. ¡°Yan Danian!¡±

    A hand reached out from Chen Ge¡¯s wounded back. Yan Danian peeled back the skin on Chen Ge¡¯s spine to expose a painting that was hidden under his skin!

    8 scary stingers crawled out from Chen Ge¡¯s back. A Red Spectres that looked like a spider leaned on Chen Ge¡¯s back. In terms of presence, this Red Specter was slightly weaker than a Top Red Spectre but the thing that surprised everyone was this Red Spectre had a blood door embedded inside his body!

    To hide this trump card, Chen Ge had Zhang Yi eliminate all of the memory he and his employees had about the Tunnel Lady¡¯s son before they entered the hospital. Chen Ge had been inside too many blood doors, he also knew the cursed hospital had the power to take away Zhang Yi¡¯s power, therefore Chen Ge had Zhang Yi seal away his own memory before they arrived at the hospital!

    With his mind a nk te, they could not do anything to Zhang Yi, this was something only Zhang Yi could do. After all that preparation,stly Chen Ge had Yan Danian use a permanent destruction of the manga as the price to paint a picture whose presence would never be discovered on his back. To activate this trump card, there was only one condition and that was to find Zhang Yi. He had forgotten about the existence of the Tunnel Lady¡¯s son, and thus when the hospital looked through his memory, they would miss that as well. They would not expect Chen Ge would carry a mobile blood door with him!

    Everything that happened was all within Chen Ge¡¯s prediction. Now that the hospital was locked inside the cursed cage andpletely isted from the outside world, Chen Ge pushed open the door inside the giant spider. Blood waves rushed into the hospital and a figure shed among the dancing blood vessels.

    Bai Qiulin walked out from the door holding a broken oil painting. ¡°Boss, I have found the person that you want!¡±

    Endless red started to spread. The spider boy grimaced with extreme pain. More cracks appeared on the blood door as incredibly eerie presence leaked out from inside it. Momentster, a pale hand gripped the edge of the door frame. The painter who looked somewhat simr to Fan Yu walked out through the door. His fingers were dipped in blood red paint and he held a human skin canvas in the centre of his palm. His dark eyes that were like the stretch of the night sky nced at the hospital director.

    ¡°This is this person that you wish for me to paint?¡±

 Chapter 1199 - I Have Finally Found You

    <h4>Chapter 1199: I Have Finally Found You</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    When the painter saw the hospital director, the bloodied fingers danced on the human skin, the presence that he gave off now was far more scarier than when Chen Ge met him at the School of Afterlife. Other than that, Chen Ge noticed something else. The painter once said that he could only paint human being but now he did not hesitate to paint hospital director. In just a few seconds, he already sketched out the man¡¯s outline on the piece of human skin. Blood sttered. The painter appeared to have be a Demon God. The power to topple the battlefield had arrived!

    The painter himself was not as powerful as Doctor Gao or Zhang Ya, but he had on his side an extremely formidable talent. Even though he had limited use of his talent and the condition for using them was extremely harsh, if he managed to spring it as a surprise on his enemy like how he was doing it now with the hospital director, then it could render his enemy totally helpless. When the hospital director sensed his control over the curse was dropping, the painting was already half done.

    ¡°Yet another Demon God!¡± The hospital director who was always so confident realized his own power was being drained. He hissed, ¡°Close down that door! Destroy that painting!¡¯

    The Chi Demon God and the giant monster realized the severity of the situation. Both of them started attacking Chen Ge¡¯s blood door. Chen Ge¡¯s side was not going down without a fight, they all focused their aggression at the door at the bottom level of the hospital. It started with a ¡®door¡¯ and it shall end with a ¡®door¡¯. The battlefield was focused around these two blood doors. With the approach of the Demon Gods, the spider boy stood his ground as firm as he could. His eight legs steadied himself as more and more shadows walked out from inside his door. Many Red Spectres from the School of Afterlife showed up to aid. Other than them, the old headmaster from the school also released the misfortune from the red city into the ce. With the support from the consciousness of the school of the afterlife, many Red Spectres from the school showed up to guard the painter.

    With thest stroke, the painter¡¯s power had another breakthrough, he had sessfully taken away the hospital director¡¯s power. For a Demon God, that was almost impossible. The hospital director¡¯s hands that grabbed the patient Zhang Ya wizened instantly, many dead spots appeared on his skin. The names of the people who died from his skin started to consume his body like a rejected organ. Sensing the change in the battle, Zhang Ya who was cornered finally exploded. ck hair rushed out like waves and it spread madly down the horizon. Her eyes burning with fury, she stepped through the sea of blood and swore to tear the hospital director into pieces.

    The counter attack had just begun and the hospital itself was almost crumbling. Doctor Gao who was left alone continued his crazed attack on the blood door inside the hospital. Gashes of red appeared on the door that was covered in endless curse. Doctor Gao seemed to sense something. His icy gaze appeared to pierce through that door. ¡°I know what is hidden behind that door. Even after so many years, you people still have not given up.¡±

    Hearing that, the giant monster that carried the cursed hospital had an ominous feeling run through him but it was toote for him to do anything to stop the inevitable now. Doctor Gao caught the opening in its defense and pulled out one after another chain that was covered in blood and flesh from inside his body. Every single chain was wreathed in sin and tragedy. As the chains pulled out of his body, the rationality in Doctor Gao¡¯s eyes dissipated, he had torn off thest seal and attacked with all his might!

    No one anticipated that Doctor Gao still had part of his power hidden. The st of red mmed into the hospital¡¯s door and the cracks deepened. The Chi Demon God and the giant monster wanted to stop him but the painter and the endless Red Spectres around Chen Ge moved to block their path. Therefore, there was nothing they could do but watch as Doctor Gao opened the door at the deepest part of the hospital!

    Bang! A loud boom that shuddered the soul stunned everyone. The cracked door at the most bottom of the hospital was opened. An extremely gory presence drifted out from inside it. Doctor Gao stood alone at the threshold of the door. The rationality in his eyes was slowly returning. He stared deeply into the door and the murderous intent was clear on his face. ¡°Director, I know you are hiding in here.¡±

    ¡°Director?¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s words caused Chen Ge to go on alert. There appeared to be yet another hospital director residing inside that door.

    ¡°Gao Ming, you always manage to appear and disappear at the most importune moment.¡± An elderly voice came from the other side of the door. He gave a soft sigh. The door was slowly let open to reveal the hidden scenario behind the door.

    Mountain of carcasses and sea of blood!

    It was hell constructed from broken bodies!

    The most disgusting thing was on the door that led to this hell had the word heaven written on it. One after another adults and children with smile stered on their faces walked through the flesh and curse. They had that firm smile stuck on their faces, making the ce that was constructed from dead bodies their home. ck blood dripped onto the ground, the dead bodies were sliding out from the walls. On top of the throne made up from human bone sat a man in a bloody coat. He looked about 90 percent simr to the hospital director outside the door but he appeared much younger. The man¡¯s lower body was joined to the mountain of dead bodies. He was heavily injured, it felt like he was only hanging on by a thread through the energy provided to him by ¡®heaven¡¯.

    After the door at the bottom of the hospital was shattered, Chen Ge¡¯s eyes were pulled to a single director. He stood there numb as if his brain stopped working in that moment. He stood like that for a long time, staring at the fixed spot. In the centre of the bloody sea, Chen Ge¡¯s parents were punctured through by endless blood vessels. They were lying peacefully among the sea of blood. Time had lost its meaning. Chen Ge studied those familiar faces, all the good memories shed across his mind. His hand raised as if it was moving on its own, as if it was trying to make contact with them through the distance of literal hell.

    ¡°I have found you...¡± A few simple words but it represented endless dance at the edge of death. The hardship that he had been through only he could understand. This was supposed to be the most despairing route but he had forced the light of hope through at the end of the road. The hospital director inside the hell appeared to be the real director. The director who wore the doctor¡¯s coat outside the door was merely a part of him.

    ¡°Just a little bit more and I can achieve full recover, if only I have more time.¡± The blood sea rolled and swallowed Chen Ge¡¯s parents. The real director nced at Chen Ge. ¡°You live up to your name as Patient Number 1. I have cut up and sealed your physical body, tricked your consciousness to bind itself to the red city, took everything from you, left nothing for you to be living for but yet you still manage to grow to this stage.¡±

    ¡°Is that all of your dying words, you might not have the chance to speak ever again.¡± Chen Ge had never wished death on a person before. This urge was tranted into an extreme chillness. His brain had never moved so fast. In that moment, several ideas popped out of his mind.

    ¡°Boss, he wants to consume your parents and then use your body and soul as medium to slowly take over the control of the red city.¡± Xiao Sun stood behind Chen Ge. ¡°His real target is the red city inside the ck fog. We need to deal with him as soon as possible or else when he realizes he has no chance of winning, he might bring everything he has down with him and that includes the possibility of him murdering your parents.¡±

    Heeding the reminder from Xiao Sun, Chen Ge stopped his hesitation and poured all of his energy into taking down the real hospital director.

 Chapter 1200 - Family and â€œFamilyâ€

    <h4>Chapter 1200: Family and ¡°Family¡±</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    The situation was getting worse for the cursed hospital. The director in the doctor¡¯s coat had the tables turned on him by Zhang Ya. Every Demon God was held back and the cursed cage that isted the cursed hospital from the red city was at the edge of crumbling. Sitting amidst the mountain of bodies, the bloody hospital director finally made his move. The bodies rammed together as endless ck threads crawled out from the bodies. The hospital director¡¯s first target was not Chen Ge¡¯s group but the director in the white coat. Before anyone could react, the threads that came out from the body already twined about the doctor¡¯s body.

    ¡°You have already done more than you could.¡± Chen Ge had just said the same thing to Xiao Sun but the doctor¡¯s ending waspletely different from Xiao Sun. For the cursed hospital, those who had lost their uses were nothing but trash,pletely expendable. The director pulled the doctor, whose power had been drained, into the sea of blood and the ck threads jumped on the poor man like piranhas. Throughout the whole process, the doctor did not resist too much, it was as if he had already known this would happen, ultimately he would have to return to his creator. After consuming the doctor, the bloody director stood up from the throne of bones. The mountain of carcasses underneath him shifted with each of his movement. The scary presence could not be rivalled by any of the Demon Gods.

    ¡°Just a little bit. My family now it is time for you to protect me.¡± The bloody director waved his arms. The adults and children who only knew how to smile inside the heaven started to voluntarily move towards the sea of blood. Non smilers were the family the director created for himself, there was some kind of unique blood bond between them. This was a cursed bond, the family members could not shake them off for life, no matter how great the pain they were in, they could only smile. Everything that they did, they did because the hospital director believed only smiles deserved its ce in heaven.

    Without their own expression, everyone jumped into the blood sea with great smile on their faces. Their lives dissolved into strands of blood vessels. These blood vessels represented family and the bond of blood. They swam among the sea before piercing into Chen Ge¡¯s parent¡¯s bodies.

    ¡°The world is filled with endless pain and trail, only family can break down the defences around their heart.¡± The bloody director looked at the mass suicide of his whole family but there was barely a tremor of emotion in his eyes. ¡°I really do not understand it. If you do not wish to smile, what are the purpose of you being a part of my family?¡¯

    As more blood poured into Chen Ge¡¯s parents, the presence from the hospital director grew stronger. Using his own family members¡¯ lives as sacrifice, he inserted the cursed blood into Chen Ge¡¯s parents. The lingering bond to their family became the only weakness of Chen Ge¡¯s parents. To target this weakness, the bloody director kept creating one after another family member that fitted his requirement since more than a decade out. One could say that the existence of the non smilers was for this day.

    Seeing this, Chen Ge gritted his teeth. Many of the Red Spectres around him already started to attack the hospital director. The hospital director was Chen Ge¡¯s nemesis and he was the culprit that destroyed Doctor Gao¡¯s life, these two chairmen of the ghost stories society would not stop until they imed his life. Therge mountain of carcasses was conquered by the Red Spectres. The chunks of flesh were cut down. While everyone was caught up in the bloodlust of the battle, Xiao Sun silently slithered over to the edge of the bloody sea.

    Wearing a bloodied doctor¡¯s coat, his eyes scanned the rows of non-smilers. Finally he found a child at the corner of a room made up from dead bodies. The child was cowering under a tattered deep blue raincoat. He curled in the shadow. Even though tears ran down his face, the smile would not leave his lips.

    ¡°Found you!¡± Xiao Sun kicked off the broken limbs that blocked his way. He was about to run over when a strange man whose lips were cut to the bottom of his earlobs crawled out from the mountain of dead bodies.

    ¡°Doctor Sun, I hope you have not forgotten our deal.¡± Chen Ge had met this non-smile before. When he visited Li Wan City, he took the samest bus with Chen Ge to enter the world behind the door.

    ¡°Do not worry, my boss remember you and he often mention how you have helped him deal with the shadow at Li Wan City.¡± Xiao Sun picked up the boy in the blue raincoat and waved behind him. ¡°The hospital director does not have time for you now. Try to go and save as many people as you can. The director is not your real family, it is not worth it to put your lives down for him.¡±

    Deep inside the mountain of dead bodies, one after another non smiler changed their direction. Once a member among them started to revolt, most of them wanted to follow. Xiao Sun did not stop. He carried the child and rushed away from the mountain and ran into one of the rooms at the lowest floor which was crumbling. Kicking down the door, an unfamiliar voice came from inside the room. ¡°Doctor Sun, is that you?¡±

    ¡°Chi Jian, Chi Huang Quan, quick, bring everyone with you, this ce is about to copse soon.¡± Doctor Sun yelled into the darkened room. Soon about 10 living humans ran out from the small room. Some of them were wearing patient¡¯s garb, others were Chi people in hospital uniform. Even though they existed in the world behind the door, they were indeed living humans. After this batch was rescued by Xiao Sun, they followed faithfully behind him. ¡°You guys have once helped me, so I have to keep up my end of the bargain, this is the lesson that my boss has taught me.¡±

    Doctor Sun on Chen Ge¡¯s side wanted to protect the good people behind the door, the hospital director wanted to kill all of his family behind the door. This scene was witnessed by many small and weak lingering spirits and souls. No one was willing to die for no reason and no spectre wished to be cursed. The amount of blood vessels in the blood sea gradually dropped. The Red Spectres and ghosts that were barely holding up the structure of the cursed hospital started to escape. None of them trusted Chen Ge but they were not willing to help the hospital director as well. While the director¡¯s attention was otherwise distracted, they silently retreated to the edge of the building, waiting for the cursed cage to shatter so they could slip away.

    Karma alwayse biting around.

    After the hospital director realized some of the non-smilers had absconded, he pulled on his fingers lightly. Blood vessels snapped like wires. With each snip, one non-smiler copsed to the ground. Their bodies turned into monster as ck curses crawled out from their internal organs. Even in the fray of the battle, the director refused to let his own family go. Most of the non smilers stopped moving. The strongest among them appeared to have already formted a n with Xiao Sun. He exchanged the blood inside their bodies. Even though they were still cursed, they could still hold on.

    ¡°So this is the family I¡¯ve been surrounding myself with? Even with the possibility of losing their lives, they want to escape the home I have personally built for me?¡± Seven human faces surfaced on the hospital director¡¯s coat. They appeared to be his seven children. The seven faces wailed endlessly, they were always cursing the director. No one knew how this happened to the director, even just Xiao Sun only heard some rumors through the grapevine. Due to some twisted reason, the director had personally murdered all of his family.

    The half living non smilers in the hospital were all his ¡®family¡¯ created from curse and blood. His real family resided inside his blood, bing the source of his curse.

    ¡°The forgotten memory perctes at the deepest part of the nightmare, forming a ck fog that stretches down the horizon. People always assume pain can be forgotten but pain, no, pain is always there, waiting to be seen again.¡± The director caressed the faces of his family members, listening to their worst curses. His eyes slowly pinned on Chen Ge. ¡°Ie from the same origin as the ck fog, aplete contrast from you, I suppose. I hate everything that is good and today I will reawaken all the pain that has been forgotten.¡±

 Chapter 1202 - 9 Seconds Into the Future (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1202: 9 Seconds Into the Future (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    The child in Chen Ge¡¯s mind and Chen Ge opened both of their arms together. Currently the person who was controlling Chen Ge¡¯s body was him and this would also be thest time he would utilize this particr physical body. ¡°In the future, please carry on the light on my behalf,¡± was the gentlest farewell from the boy.

    The resentment from the many deaths and the most vicious curse of the hospital director were all sucked away by the child. As his figure slowly faded away, the drops of ck blood that represented Chen Ge¡¯s past had their colors slowly returning to normal, they became a new source of energy for Chen Ge¡¯s new physical body. The boy in his mind was slipping away. He seemed to sense that Chen Ge was struggling. At that moment, he had a serene smile on his face.

    ¡°Many people are waiting for you so do not let them wait for you for too long.¡± At thest moment before the boy faded away, he carefully took out a warm and beating heart from his chest. ¡°The owner of this heart is called Xu Yin. To help you sessfully escape from the hospital, he has abandoned everything that he is and only left this heart behind. I do not understand how a ghost will be able to trust a human so fully, perhaps this is the reason you are the more suitable candidate to stay than I am.¡±

    The boy¡¯s shadow ced Xu Yin¡¯s heart in Chen Ge¡¯s mind, and then he slowly turned around. Chen Ge¡¯s body turned around alongside with him. He looked at the Red Spectres surrounding him before his eyes focused on Chen Ge¡¯s parents who were entangled among the blood vessels. His lips opened and his voice weakened. No one knew what he said at the veryst moment, the boy who existed in the mind had perished alongside the most vicious curse and the most painful past.

    Everything felt as if they had never happened before. The only people in the world who had ever known of his existence, other than Chen Ge himself, was the hospital director who had gone totally insane. CheN ge regained the control of his own body, now he had a 100 percentpatibility of this new body. Perhaps the boy in his mind knew that only after he disappeared that Chen Ge would have the chance to finally wee his new life. Chen Ge lifted his arm to wipe away the trace of tears on his cheeks, it was not Chen Ge who cried those tears.

    ¡°Be it kindness or evil, they are both me, why is there a need for such a clear separation?¡± Chen Ge had been trying to persuade the boy in his mind to say but thetter appeared to have made up his mind already. He had been hiding for so long in the ss jars seemingly only to wait for the arrival of this day. ¡°The source of all the tragedy is the hospital director, this is the first time in my life I wish to destroy a person so intensely.¡± Chen Ge did not feel too big of a change to his body, other than the fact that the few talents that he got had been given a scary upgrade. Other than the booming source of life in his body, there was also a deep sense of death but these two forces formed a curious bnce in his body, ensuring Chen Ge¡¯s survival.

    The passing of time behind the door and the real world was slightly different. The boy in Chen Ge¡¯s mind had vanquished the trump card whom the hospital director had taken who knew how many years to make in just mere minutes. Ever since the real hospital director showed up, this was the first time the emotion of anger and anxiety appeared on his face. He still had no idea the child that represented Chen Ge¡¯s pure kindness had already dissipated, he kept on sending out various kinds of dangerous curses. Chen Ge¡¯s expression did not change that much. Due to his wealth of experience, he already came up with the solution that was most beneficial to himself without the need to do much thinking. He did not continue to move forward, he did not attack, he did not even say a word, he just stood there quietly. Chen Ge did not do anything at all but he presented a great pressure on the hospital director and it caused the director to be distracted.

    ¡°A part of the wounds on the hospital director¡¯s body should be left behind by my own kindness, I think I understand almost everything now. The hospital director knew that my past cannot be killed so he lured out my consciousness and tricked me to join with the red city but he did not anticipate that to prevent myself from being affected by the negative emotions in the ck fog and to suffer the despair of the entire red city, the past me would peel out all the evil spirits in my consciousness and only leave my kindness behind to deal with the red city.

    ¡°The evil spirit returned to the world outside the door to live a normal life but the kindness stayed inside the door and slowly joined together with the red city. The hospital director stole my body and tried to figure out a way to use it to control the red city. My kindness figured out the ulterior motive of the hospital director and perhaps at the same time he had multiple reasons that made it so that he could not leave the red city. Thisst trace of kindness in my body probably was thest insurance that my past self has left behind or perhaps this body has germinated a new consciousness of kindness.¡±

    Chen Ge strung the various clues in his mind together, as he tried to predict what had happened in the past. The hospital director had no idea what Chen Ge was doing. He had an innate apprehension of Chen Ge¡¯s kindness, he knew that child could never be killed no matter what. From his perspective, Chen Ge¡¯s kindness posed a far bigger threat than any Demon God. While the hospital director was distracting, Zhang Ya and Doctor Gao joined forces to take down the enemy again.

    ¡°The ck hair and chains are in essence more rted to control, binding and sealing, even though you both are Demon Gods, your core talents are not powerful enough to deal fatal damage on me.¡± The hospital director behind inside the monster that was formed from the dead bodies. As long as he stood on the blood sea, there would be endless bodies and broken limbs to repair his meat shield. Zhang Ya¡¯s ck hair had limited the hospital director¡¯s movement so that he could not reach over to harm Chen Ge¡¯s parents. Other than her ck hair, Zhang Ya had been using other kind of talents to attack the hospital director. Compared to Zhang Ya¡¯s brutality and viciousness, Doctor Gao was more like the calm before the storm. He merely used his chains to keep on piercing through the hospital director¡¯s body, other than that, he did not expose any of his other talents.

    ¡°To kill the hospital director, we have to separate him from the mountain of dead bodies.¡± Chen Ge saw through the key of the problem. He nced at Doctor Gao. He realized during the battle, Doctor Gao kept using his chains to puncture the hospital director¡¯s body and then bind it to the ground. Narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge caught up to what Doctor Gao was nning to do.

    The battle of the three Demon Gods had reached its climax. At that moment, the inside of the cursed hospital had been fully shrouded in ck fog. The endless dark fog rolled out from the most bottomyer of the hospital. The ck fog that carried with it pain and despair leaked into the mountain of dead bodies and melted into the endless broken limbs. The presence that the director gave off became scarier, with thest shred of rationality that he was trying hard to retain, he attempted to swallow Chen Ge¡¯s parents into his stomach but Zhang Ya had spent her life trying to stop that from happening.

    ¡°Eventually I will swallow all of you!¡± High intensity of hatred and despair was submerged in the ck fog. That kind of pure evil was something that even a Red Spectre would be clever to shy away from but the hospital director had been feeding on them madly. ck flowers that were shaped like a human skull bloomed on his flesh and blood. Carrying the darkest curse human being could ever create, they formed into one after another blood capiries. The hospital director finally made his move. He ignored Zhang Ya who had been seriously injured and focused his full attack on Doctor Gao. The chains were being shattered one after another, the wounds on Doctor Gao¡¯s body became more serious but Doctor Gao still did not use any of his talent, he just kept on mming his chains into the ground and the hospital director¡¯s body.

    To have evolved into a Demon God, the ghost must have gone through hundreds of battle already, the hospital director gradually realized the incongruity with what Doctor Gao was doing and in response his attack on Doctor Gao became more intense. The human skull flowers blossomed and blood rained down. The attacks that were mixed with the most vicious curse fell consistently on Doctor Gao¡¯s body. Chen Ge who was watching this from a far knew that it was time for him to help Doctor Gao, perhaps Doctor Gao still had a n reserved, but Chen Ge did not dare to bet on that, that was too much at stake. ¡°Zhang Ya, distract that old coon! Help buy some time!¡±

    After hearing Chen Ge¡¯s voice, especially after hearing her name being called by Chen Ge, Zhang Ya who was at the verge of a mental breakdown had a sh of sentience crossed her eyes. The blood under her feet rushed into her body, and the ck hair that covered the sky instantly swallowed up the hospital director.

    ¡°You can always predict what I am thinking. To have you join the ghost stories society was the biggest bet that I have ever done when I was still alive.¡± Doctor Gao took a gander at Chen Ge, he pulled out another round of chains from inside his body!

    These chains not only bound around his body, they originated from his very own organs. The scene where Doctor Gao yanked out the chains from his own body sent chills down the spine of everyone who was watching. The chains that were soaked with the blood of a Demon God were pulled out from Doctor Gao¡¯s body. He stopped putting on the disguise and directly mmed thest few bloody chains into the ground. When thest chain pierced through the mountain of dead bodies, all the chains pulled taut at the same time!

    As Doctor Gao pulled his arm upwards, the monster that was the hospital director screamed in pain. His giant body was dug out from the flesh that was connected to his lower body. The hospital director was finally separated from the mountain of dead bodies!

    ¡°Gao Ming!¡± The howl of a desperate man came out from the hospital director¡¯s lips. After he left the mountain of dead bodies, the hospital director¡¯s scary self-recovery power could no longer be used anymore.

    ¡°Director, you are too narrow-minded and have too high of a confidence in yourself, that was why I managed to have the chance to escape several years ago.¡± Doctor Gao walked on the blood red chains, the madness in his eyes could not be hidden anymore. ¡°And you have failed for the same reason this time. My whole body is bound with sealing chains but who gave you the idea that my very own talent has to be limited to the chains only?¡±

    Doctor Gao peeled away the bloody coat that covered his body. He yanked out thest chain that wound around his heart. He had lost all constraint, his presence grew to a terrifying state!

    ¡°I have never lost because no matter the time, no one will be able to see through my heart.¡± All the chains had been removed, Doctor Gao¡¯s rationality had beenpletely swallowed. Powerful and scary red shadows struggled behind him. Listening to their screams and wails, Doctor Gao¡¯s eyes turned fully red. He aimed right at the centre of the chains andunched a punch at it!

    ¡°Blood prison!¡± The chains pulled tight. Like surging dragons, they did not let go of any corner and bound themselves tightly around the hospital director who had been hiding inside the monster¡¯s body. ¡°You have searched for me for 10 years and now I am standing right before you.¡±

    Numerous ck tattoos appeared on Doctor Gao¡¯s arm, the tattoos were not curse and they were not blood vessels of a Red Spectre, they scorched Doctor Gao¡¯s skin and used a Demon God¡¯s flesh and blood as nutrients. They gave off a spine-tingling sense of despair. Stepping on the chains, Doctor Gao did not waste any time with words. The arm that carried his despair for the past 10 years directly squeezed through the hospital director¡¯s neck!

    Simple and savage!

    He knew that the hospital director would not perish so easily. With the intention of absolute destruction, Doctor Gao who had lost his mind attacked madly at the hospital director, every single one of his punchnded on the hospital director¡¯s body. A bone-piercing hatred, a history that was painted by pain and despair, all the pain that he carried was unloaded in that very moment!

    The whole cursed hospital was shaking. One could no longer differentiate between the sky and the earth, all around them there was blood rain and curse.

    ¡°Every single red shadow behind Doctor Gao represents a Red Spectre, just how many Red Spectre this man has swallowed while he was inside the red city?¡± Seeing the state that Doctor Gao was in, Chen Ge slowly narrowed his eyes. When they were fighting the shadow at Li Wan City, Doctor Gao had been bound by the chains. Even until the shadow was split open, he still did not remove the chain.

    ¡°Be it at the underground morgue or at Li Wan City, Doctor Goa always has full confidence, he is one hell of a scary enemy.¡± Chen Ge also thought Doctor Gao¡¯s power was his chain and seals, he did not expect the existence of these chains was merely so that Doctor Gao would not lose control of himself. Chen Ge once again had a new understanding of the words that Doctor Gao said at the underground morgue. At the time, Doctor Gao had the chance of winning but he had made a different choice. ¡°No wonder he is the former chairman of the ghost stories society, there is still many things that I can learn from him.¡±

    The hospital director¡¯s physical body was found and it was being given a pummelling by Doctor Gao. Chen Ge¡¯s heart slowly rxed. But just as he was about to sigh in relief, he suddenly realized that even though the hospital director¡¯s body was covered in holes, the curse and ck fog around the cursed hospital did not have the sign of fading, if anything, they appeared to get thicker. A bad omen rose in his heart. Chen Ge was about to yell to remind everyone to be careful when a half of a broken skull shed before his eyes!

    ¡°Shi Guo?¡± Through the half of the face that remained on the skull, he barely recognized the young man. Even though this spectre was not a Red Spectre, he had a very unique special power¡ªcontrol over time. He was able to return to 9 seconds ago.

    ¡°Boss! Have everyone stay away from that monster now! Number 5, number 5 is about to explode soon!¡± His lips creaked open and Shi Guo used hisst energy to shout out the following.

    ¡°Number 5? Explode?¡± Chen Ge followed Shi Guo¡¯s gaze and saw the Demon God that carried the cursed hospital on his back. His mind snapped into realization in less than a second. ¡°Everyone, I need you all to retreat now! Stay away from that Demon God from the cursed hospital!¡± Chen Ge was familiar with Shi Guo¡¯s power. When he saw the gory state that Shi Guo was in, he made the decision at the first notice!

    He had full trust in his employees and his employees had implicit trust in him as well. Without asking for any reason, all the Red Spectres retreated swiftly. Almost at the same time, the hospital director who was almost beaten into a pulp by Doctor Gao suddenly expanded. A low growl of a voice leaked out from the director¡¯s throat. ¡°Patient number 5, you are my own flesh and blood and the first patient at this hospital, the time hase for you to repay everything I have done for you!¡±

    Every single word that the hospital director said carried a horrible curse with it. After he said that, the Demon God that carried the cursed hospital gradually slowed down.

    ¡°Director?¡± The body kept on expanding. The Demon God¡¯s lower body that was covered by endless broken limbs and the ck fog was finally exposed. Three dangling carcasses in patient¡¯s garb were biting tightly on his stomach. The patient¡¯s body already joined with the Demon God¡¯s skin and only the number on their patient¡¯s garbs were shown¡ª6, 7, 8.

    This monster that carried the cursed hospital on its back appeared to be Patient Number 5 at the hospital and at the same time, he was blood-rted to the hospital director. As the director triggered the curse, the three bodies let go off their mouth. With a creepy smile on their faces, they kept repeating the same statement, ¡°Come and die with us!¡±

    Then their skin started to crack. The three bodies bit at the Demon God¡¯s heart at the same time. Endless curse was injected into it. Patient Number 5, this Demon God that was basically Frankensteined had started to disintegrate with an enormous amount of hatred!

    The scary energy directly destroyed the cursed cage above them instantly!

    The hospital split open from the middle and the buildings near the building from the red city were instantly levelled into the ground. Everything happened too suddenly. If Shi Guo did not give the warning 9 seconds ago, all of Chen Ge¡¯s employees who were close to Patient Number 5 would be wiped away in an instant and the painter as well as Zhang Ya who were close to Patient Number 5 would be severely injured. The borrowed time of 9 seconds meant that most of the Red Spectres survived the ordeal but they were barely hanging on by a threat.

    Other than the red high heels, all the spectres, including Top Red Spectres were heavily injured by Number 5¡¯s curse. If the curse was not removed soon, having their souls burn away into nothingness was just a matter of time. The dismemberment of the Demon God turned the battle around almost instantly. Both Zhang Ya and the painter were affected, only Doctor Gao was saved because he dragged the hospital director¡¯s body to use as a meat shield before him right before the second of explosion.

    That was the cleverest solution in that scenario and the hospital director knew that was the choice Doctor Gao would make. Therefore, he had been collecting energy before he triggered the curse. When the burst of energy came from Number 5¡¯s death, he unleashed all of his stored energy and shook loose from Doctor Gao¡¯s shackles.

 Chapter 1203 - The Vow to Stay Together (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1203: The Vow to Stay Together (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    The ck heart of Patient Number 5 was bitten into pieces by other patients. At thest moment before his soul was vanquished, the memory that was locked deep inside his heart was revealed.

    ¡°It was not my fault for killing my wife, it was that monster¡¯s fault and it was the hospital director who nted the monster inside my body so at the end of the day, it was all the hospital director¡¯s fault... I know how ironic all these are, me, the person whose hands are covered with blood and the soul is branded by sin, the first time Imitted a murder was to pretend to be a monster. At the time, I still had no idea once certain things are put into motion, they will be impossible to stop anymore...

    ¡°All of the night doctors¡¯ reaction was within Doctor Gao¡¯s prediction. This was the first time I was sent into the deepest part of hell while I was fully conscious. Opening the eerily ck steel door, I saw a monster that carried the whole cursed hospital on its back. It was moving inside the endless ck fog, it had a face that was not so dissimr from a normal person. I did not dare to nce at it, my body could not control itself from shaking. The ck fog slowly awakened the monster inside my body, it swallowed me up little by little. I knew there was no return then...¡±

    Patient Number 5 was being dismembered. Everything that he had ever consumed from inside the ck fog exploded everywhere. The broken limbs and pieces that were filled with curse, despair and impurity could not be absorbed by any baleful spectres but there was a person present who was the sole exception. His physical body seriously injured and the mountain of bodies under his feet shattered into uselessness, the hospital director finally made his decision. The first thing that he did after he broke out from Doctor Gao¡¯s shackle was to start madly absorb the ck fog that was left behind by Patient Number 5. There existed a unique bond between him and Patient Number 5. It appeared like he had already nted his own children into Patient Number 5¡¯s body a long time ago and this allowed him to take over everything that was left of Patient Number 5 at an easier rate.

    Due to the severe injury to his body, the hospital director was unable to leave the mountain of bodies. This was the only way he could use to continue to feed on the ck fog. He had Patient Number 5 consume the things from inside the ck fog on his behalf. Patient Number 5 was an individual person but in the hospital director¡¯s eyes, he was nothing more than a pawn. The body melted together with the ck fog, no trace of humanity was left on the hospital director, he had turned into a veritable monster. Most of the spectres and Red Spectres were infected by curses, there were 3 Top Red Spectres who were heavily injured, even Zhang Ya and the painter were influenced by this. The battle was turned around and to make things worse, Chen Ge had no confidence that they could kill the hospital director after the transformation that he had gone through. The hospital director who had surrendered himself to the ck fog radiated a very scary presence. He appeared to be a child of this ck fog, standing before him gave one a feeling that one was fighting the entire sea of ck fog.

    ¡°How does one assimte into the ck fog?¡± Chen Ge knew how difficult it would be to take down the hospital director. His brain was trying its hardest to figure out the method to kill the hospital director. Doctor Gao, Zhang Ya and the painter stood together, the three Demon Gods stared at the hospital director.

    ¡°We cannot give up on our aggression because if we switch to defensive mode, we will only get more and more cornered.¡±

    ¡°But how are we supposed to kill him?¡±

    ¡°The weakness of a Demon God is his hear, but the problem is a Demon God can choose to hide his heart away from his body.¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s eyes swapped between pure red and ck and white while he spoke. After he dropped that information, he turned to look at Zhang Ya and Chen Ge. ¡°I have an idea that might help us find the hospital director¡¯s heart, I do not intend to use it initially but now I do not think we have any other choice.¡±

    ¡°What idea is it?¡±

    ¡°I have personally built the ghost stories society from the ground up, every single society member was handpicked for a reason, all of their power can be used against the hospital director.¡± Doctor Gao spoke very fast. ¡°The member that I valued the most has a pair of twin Red Spectre. Even though the twins are just normal Red Spectres, they have a very unique power¡ªHeart-connectivity. The Demon God has the ability to hide away his heart and heart-connectivity is the solution that I have specially prepared for this asion. As long as one forces one¡¯s heart to bind with the hospital director¡¯s heart, then one will be able to sense the location of each other¡¯s heart.¡± Doctor Gao opened both of his arms. ¡°In other words, during that instant, both Demon Gods who had their hearts connected would have the ability to go after the other¡¯s point of weakness and tear them down.¡±

    ¡°But aren¡¯t all the members of the ghost stories society long dead already?¡± Chen Ge remembered very clearly, of all the members of the ghost stories society, only the two chairmen remained.

    ¡°Your wife, Zhang Ya has a talent that I have not encountered before in my life, she can take away the power from other spectres and use them to her own will perfectly. When I fought with her at Li Wan City against the shadow, I noticed she has already mastered the talent of the Red Spectre twin, heart-connectivity. In fact, she even connected her heart with yours so that she could protect you at all times. It was this power that she relied on to be able to awaken from her slumber at the most crucial moment every time to help you.¡± Doctor Gao admired Chen Ge deeply, he did not wish to be Chen Ge¡¯s enemy, the rtionship between them was that simple.

    ¡°But if Zhang Ya used this power on the hospital director, doesn¡¯t that mean that the hospital director will know about the location of Zhang Ya¡¯s heart as well?¡¯

    ¡°Yes, when a Demon God uses this power, it will be far more effective than when a Red Spectre uses it. Technically both parties will be given a mastery of each other¡¯s pulse of life and thus it will be a contest of speed, who will kill whom first.¡± The things that Doctor Gao said were heard by Zhang Ya and the painter as well.

    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about putting Zhang Ya in harm¡¯s way. I will not allow that to happen.¡± Chen Ge rejected it firmly. ¡°The red city is approaching, if we drag this out further, the situation might change again.¡±

    ¡°The hospital director is joining himself with the ck fog, before the process reaches itspletion, now is the only chance we have to kill him. If we wait any longer, he will only hide his heart inside the ck fog and that will make it impossible to find.¡± Doctor Gao only had two obsessions in his life, one was to revive his wife and the second was to kill the hospital director of the cursed hospital. Now that he was only a step away frompleting his dream, naturally he was not going to give it up so easily. ¡°You do not really understand the danger that the hospital director poses, he is different from a normal Demon God, if you allow him to slip away, you will be in great danger in the future.¡± Doctor Gao pointed at himself, ¡°I am the perfect example. The power of curse is the most vicious vow in this world, once you are targeted by him, you will not be able to escape forever, not ever after death.¡±

    Seeing how determined Chen Ge was, Doctor Gao switched up his tact and turned to Zhang Ya instead. He told her directly, ¡°You have fought with the hospital director before, so you should know about the difference of power between him and all of us. When the injuries on the director¡¯s body recover, do you still think you can protect the people around you? You have already taken away the talent of heart-connectivity, now it is the time for you to make the choice.¡±

    Turning back to nce at Chen Ge, Zhang Ya who was at her limit raised her hand. She stood before Chen Ge and her pale fingers tapped lightly on Chen Ge¡¯s chest. ¡°Zhang Ya, there are still other methods!¡± The slender fingers danced on Chen Ge¡¯s skin and a blood red twine that bound them together snapped. In that moment, Chen Ge felt like he had been thrown away from Zhang Ya, even though they were literally standing before each other, it felt like it was impossible for him to reach her no matter how hard he tried. Pulling her hand back, Zhang Ya¡¯s eyes stared at the ck fog that the hospital director morphed into and then directed the heart string into the fog. At basically the same time, the hospital director who wasbining with Chen Ge turned to stare at Chen Ge. The pair of cursed eyes spoke of the intention of kill.

    ¡°Howe I can sense your beating heart?¡± the hospital director appeared to understand something right at that moment. He ignored the process of assimtion and directly the endless ck fog to press at Chen Ge. Since he could sense the location of Zhang Ya¡¯s heart, then Zhang Ya could very well know where his heart was hiding as well. This was the biggest secret of a Demon God, one that must not be exposed under any circumstance. To prevent Zhang Ya from finding his heart, the only solution that he coulde up with was to kill Zhang Ya as soon as possible.

    ¡°So? Have you found it?¡± Doctor Gao and the painter stopped the hospital director together but at that moment Chi came to interrupt them. Zhang Ya¡¯s bloody dress fluttered in the wind. She stared straightly into the ck fog but she still could not locate the hospital director¡¯s heart. By then the hospital director had already made Chen Ge into his attack target, she guarded before Chen Ge, staring into the ck fog that shrouded the entire sky. The ck fog seemed to roll endlessly down the horizon, Zhang Ya could only guess a general director. A shrill shout came out from her mouth as her pale arms suddenly plunged into Chen Ge¡¯s shadow!

    ¡°Zhang Ya?¡± The arms pulled and Zhang Ya dragged out a beating heart from deep inside Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. She had been hiding her own heart inside Chen Ge¡¯s shadow, this was a manifestation of her promise to Chen Ge that she would stay by his side forever. Her five fingers dug into her own heart, the Demon God¡¯s heart started to bleed. When Zhang Ya¡¯s heart was injured, the hospital director gave off a pained scream as well. The ck fog churned. A thick stench of blood drifted out from an unassuming corner inside the cursed hospital. Zhang Ya held her own pierced heart and her eyes were fiery red. Found it!

    The hospital director did not ce his own heart on his body. After getting the hint from Zhang Ya, Doctor Gao did not hesitate and burst towards that direction at full speed. He had never felt himself being so close topleting his own dream before, the murderous intent that he gave off was so great that it was almost palpable.

    The hospital director who was close to binding himself to the ck fog had really panicked this time. If his heart was swallowed, then there was truly no saving grace for him. The arm that was burning with the ck tattoo pushed away the ck fog, Doctor Gao finally spotted the location where the hospital director had hidden his heart. It was at an inconspicuous corner at the lowest floor of the hospital. There was an old and well-used wooden altar that was ced there. There was a doctor¡¯s coat and a patient¡¯s garb that were ced inside the altar, the heavy smell of blood came from this altar. ¡°This is the hospital director¡¯s heart?¡±

    Doctor Gao made the decision in a split second. He unleashed all of his force on the altar. Whether this was the right ce or not, he would destroy it first and then study itter. Before Doctor Gao could get any closer to his target, the maddened hospital director controlled the ck fog to m at him. Endless monsters that were hiding inside the ck fog were squashed and ttened. The deepest despair morphed into chains and bound around Doctor Gao¡¯s body. ¡°Gao Ming, I will not give you the second chance anymore.¡±

    After saying that, the altar deep inside the cursed hospital was enveloped by a thickyer of ck fog. As the hospital directorbined with the ck fog, his heart was also slowly disappearing. Be it Red Spectre or Demon God, they had their own hearts. But at this dangerous moment, the hospital director could not dawdle any longer on the details, he needed to dissolve his own heart into the ck fog, just like how Chen Ge¡¯s kindness hadpletely assimted himself into the red city. He had already given up the intention to be human a long time ago, but now he had given up even the right to be a ghost.

    ¡°Since I have unable to control the city deep inside the nightmare, then I shall be the demon who spreads curse and despair inside this sea of fog, I will use my own method to correct this sickened world!¡± The wooden altar cracked under pressure. The speed by which the hospital director was joining with the ck fog was getting faster and faster. At that moment, the painter was held back by Chi, Zhang Ya was focused on using the power of heart-connectivity and for that purpose, she had even voluntarily damaged her own heart. The only Demon God among the three who was still mobile was Doctor Gao but the hospital director was stopping him using the entire sea of darkness, it made it impossible for him to even budge a little bit.

    ¡°All the Demon Gods have been halted but there is still a chance!¡± Chen Ge still had not given up. He called after the only spectre who could move freely through the curse, the red high heels. The pair of ghost and man hurried towards the altar. The hospital director thought it was still kindness who was controlling Chen Ge¡¯s body so he was extremely apprehensive of him. He split out as much ck fog as he could afford to stop Chen Ge. But just as he turned all of his attention onto Chen Ge, the lowest level of the cursed hospital suddenly copsed!

    Deep inside the blood sea, a drop of blood that looked no different from the blood around it suddenly transformed into a man wearing a red coat. He carried a red key in his hand and used the fastest speed to run through the ck fog. When they saw the man, both the hospital director and Chen Ge revealed extremely shocked expression and they called out at the same time.

    ¡°Number 2?¡¯

    ¡°Dad?!¡±

    Without stopping for a moment, the man in the red coat appeared to have been waiting for a long time in the blood sea for this moment for a very very long time already. He had hidden himself away for 10 years, just waiting for this opportunity. The red key in his hand plunged directly into the altar. When it touched the patient¡¯s garb and the doctor¡¯s coat inside the altar, endless spirits wailed from mercy. Many cursed faces of people and ghosts escaped from inside the altar. The fine blood vessels weaved together with the curse, then the key felt like it had unlocked a lock inside the soul. The patient¡¯s garb and doctor¡¯s coat inside the altar were shredded into pieces, the altar exploded and the memory fragments hidden by the hospital director were released all at the same time!

    ¡°You are a child born inside a mental asylum, your mother is a certified madwoman and your father does not to have anything to do with you.l

    ¡°you are a cursed seed, no one will like you.

    ¡°What is the point of being a good student? You can¡¯t even keep the flowers that you are supposed to keep alive.

    ¡°Why do you alwayse to school so dirty? Do you know teachers dislike children who lie the most?

    ¡°It was him who hit my son! Get his parents toe to school! Oh, so he is an orphan, no wonder then.

    ¡°Why would you want to study medicine, you won¡¯t be able to save yourself, after all no one will be willing to mentor a madman.

    ¡°I heard you like her? I am so sorry but she is my girlfriend now.

    ¡°Why do you always have so many questions? There are things in this world that are not meant to be answered, it is time to grow up.

    ¡°We have gone through your resume, even though your result is one of the best but we value both personality and academic prowess and in our case, we value former than thetter.

    ¡°I am sorry but I will have to ask you to leave, you have no qualification to be a doctor.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you go and treat your own illness first, you monster!¡±

    The warmth and chill of the human world, the pictures from memory shattered in the air. The child in the memory slowly grew up into an adult, time left its stamp on him and the seed of the curse germinated in his heart. He became more and more secluded from the world and more and more people around him referred to him as a monster. Finally one day, his heart waspletely taken over by the roots of the curse, at that moment, he had transformed into a real monster. He had hidden away all of his real thought and would stop at nothing to reach his own goal.

    He had turned into a real monster but even after that, he still felt isted from the world. In fact, the people around him stopped calling him a monster anymore. It was right at that moment that he understood something, he was not the one who was the monster in the first ce, it was the world who was sick, it was the world who was inhabited by monsters. He needed to work harder, to act more like a normal person than a normal person. He obtained a career, trust, love and family. He had gained everything but in its ce, he had lost his most normal self.

    Tragedy was still happening but no one suspected he had anything to do with the tragedies. He thought he knew about the truth of the world, until the birth of his first son.

 Chapter 1204 - A Song (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1204: A Song (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    The arrival of the child turned the hospital director¡¯s world contradictory. His life goal was the exploration of questions rted to death but he rarely spent his life on the pondering of life. No matter where a person went, he would be heading towards death, therefore, before this the hospital director had always believed that by studying the length of death, he would eventually get to the bottom of the truth about life. His unique childhood experience turned him into a monster, curse had already inhabited every inch of his body, binding around his nerves and swimming in his blood vessels. But when a man like that was faced with his own child, the heart that was ugly and filled with scars started to beat rapidly.

    Whenever he saw his own child, there would be two voices inside his head. One of them would be telling him the child was a present given to him by death but the other voice would be saying, the child was the extension of his life. The hospital director could not convince himself and the sound of argument in his head grew louder and louder, so loud in fact that it had seriously impacted his disguise. After tasting the sweetness that came from his own disguise, the hospital director refused to be treated as a monster anymore. He tried his best to hide his own symptoms but that only made him turn even more conflicted and divided within himself.

    He could not mediate it within himself, it had expanded beyond the question rted to his own child. No matter what he was thinking, there started to be opposing thoughts in his mind. Take for example on the issue of how to treat himself, one voice was telling him that he should take the treatment by admitting that he was sick, he was the monster that people had been saying that he was. The other voice though goaded him to murder his own child, to solve the problem from its core.

    The hospital director¡¯s action became stranger and stranger. In the morning, he wore the doctor¡¯s coat helping the patients with their pain and despair but at night, after he returned home, he would put on the patient¡¯s garb and locked himself up in his room to consult his own reflection in the mirror. Slow but surely his wife noticed the anomalies around him and it was then that the most contradictory moment showed itself before the hospital director.

    The voice that represented humanity in his mind told him that the best solution to this problem was to admit his problem to this family, admit that he was sick and cooperated fully with the doctors but doing that would mean sacrificing the current family that he had. He knew his wife very well, he knew his wife loved the version of himself who was the handsome, professional doctor who had a bright future and who was famous within the industry. Once he gave the admission that he was sick, then he might lose both his career and his family.

    The other voice in the hospital director¡¯s head kept tempting him, telling him to ignore the opinion of those monsters. After all this was a sickened world, he only needed to continue to put on the disguise like he used it. If humanity made him feel confusion and pain, then the only solution was to squash thest trace of humanity within him. If he wanted to be a human, then he might lose everything that he had in his possession so far. But if he continued to be a monster, he would continue to enjoy his current bliss and happiness.

    The hospital director did note to any quick decision. His soul was a battlefield of contradiction, until one day, the seed of the curse rooted and grew, it bloomed into a ck-colored flower in his heart. That night, he had a dream. In the dream, he was wearing a patient¡¯s garb lying in bed and there was a version of himself wearing a doctor¡¯s coat standing before the mirror inside the bedroom. They had the same face but one was the patient and the other the doctor.

    The hospital director who wore the patient¡¯s garb represented thest remaining humanity and rationality in the man, while the hospital director in front of the mirror had already been fully consumed by curse and negative emotions. Kindness and sin had nothing to do with strength and weakness. In the dream, the patient that represented humanity was being treated by the doctor who was filled with curse and malice. The most tragic thing was as the humanity was slowly being ¡®treated¡¯, the malice slowly took over the rest of the hospital director¡¯s body. The hospital director kept repeating the same recurring dream. His schizophrenic symptoms became more serious, slowly his soul was also torn into two.

    The hospital director started to have trouble differentiating between dream and reality. He had no idea whether he was lying in bed next to his wife or whether he was lying down in his dream. In any case, no matter the situation, he would always see the other version of himself in the doctor¡¯s coat, wreathed in malice. Gradually he started to suspect, whether another version of himself had also started to appear in real life?

    From his consciousness to his soul and body, the hospital director realized that he seemed to have split into two persons. Both of these persons were him, but they were theplete opposite of each other. One was evil and the other was kindness; one hadmitted many unforgivable sins, the other kept punishing himself due to the guilt from the actions that he had done; one was filled with despair, convinced that he was the God of this sickened world, while the other just wanted to be a simple human, desperate for the simple bliss.

    The hospital director in the doctor¡¯s coat who represented the curse trapped the hospital director in the patient¡¯s garb inside the nightmare. He did not demolish his own humanity but instead chose topletely iste it from the rest of the world. The hospital director who only had negative emotions and evil intention left in his heart turned fully into a monster with the skin of a human being. The evil spirt in his body stopped behind held back by shackles of morality, the cursed flowers blossomed in his heart and gave off the mist of ck fog. The hospital director in the doctor¡¯s coat had no idea what the ck fog represented, it was the first time he had encountered the ck fog that was so filled with despair and death in real life. Without the bondage of humanity, the action of the hospital director in the daylight becamepletely wless, he was a demon who was in the perfect human disguise.

    He was made up from evil and curse but he shrouded himself in a disguise of humanity and rationality. The patients who did not realize the truth thought he was a kind doctor, his colleagues saw him as the perfect superior, and his wife believed he was the perfect husband. The hospital director in the doctor¡¯s coat would only shed his disguise before his new-born child. The arrival of the new life was the base reason that caused the split in the hospital director, so the hospital director who was constructed from curse was filled with curiosity with regards to this child as well. He started to conduct ¡®treatment¡¯ and ¡®experiment¡¯ on his own child, his own flesh and blood became his first actual patient in the true sense of the word.

    In his endless trials, the hospital director discovered the existence of the ck fog. This ck fog was born deep inside the nightmare and it spread using the medium of human heart. Its basic essence was the memories that human being most reluctant to face, it was made up from forgotten pain and despair. The discovery of the ck fog made the hospital director over the moob, he felt for the first time he hade into contact with the actual world. He originally thought that this was the unique power given to him by the cursed seed, only he could see the ck fog and he was supposed to bridge the ck fog into the real world. But in hister experiment, when he ced his own child in the ck fog, the life that was as pure as a sheet of white paper started to crumple and pollute under the invasion of the ck fog. The cursed seed was also sewn in the heart of the newborn and it started to spread the ck fog on its own.

    It was then that the hospital director slowly realized everyone had some amount of ck fog in their own heart. As long as the method was correct, everyone could be the bridge to spread the ck fog into the world. The hospital director in the doctor¡¯s coat started to collect the ck fog in the dark. He enjoyed the process of spreading the tragedy and despair while at the same time, enjoy the admiration from being hailed as the people¡¯s saviour. It was the man who incited the pain, it was also the man who provided the salvation, and it was also the same man who ultimately sent his patients down the road of no return. This kind of lifestyle proceeded for a very long time, until his child slowly grew up and turned into a deformed monster. The child who did not know the necessity of disguise almost exposed the hospital director¡¯s secret. To ensure his own survivability in the darkness, the hospital director personally ended the life of his own child but before killing his own child, he sent his child¡¯s consciousness deep inside the ck fog in his heart.

    There was a problem that had been of interest to the hospital director, what was the source of the ck fog?

    Using the monsters that he personally cultivated, the hospital director saw a sea of ck fog at the deepest part of his nightmare. All the despair in the world was collected here. They were forgotten by human beings but they would never disappear. The sea of fog was filled with monsters that would only appear in one¡¯s nightmare. Other than that, there were plenty of lost souls. The hospital director¡¯s interest in this world continued to grow, he believed this was his ce of birth, after all he was the physical manifestation of despair.

    He was no longer satisfied with using his child¡¯s consciousness to enter the sea of fog and so he started to use different patients and enter the sea of fog through the bridge in the bottom of their hearts. After about a year, he ran into a patient from Jiujiang.

    The young man named Chen Xiao was in a deepa because he tried to save someone from a car ident. The man who was saved by Chen Xiao had the surname Luo, he came from a family of merchants. To save Chen Xiao, he spent a lot of money to hire the best doctors in the country and among the group of doctors, there was the hospital director. The hospital director in the doctor¡¯s coat attempted to enter the ck fog through Chen Xiao¡¯s heart but after he seeded, he was shocked to realize that the patient was standing at the edge of the world of the ck fog. One of his side was covered in ck fog heavy in despair while the other side was a city built from blood and flesh.

    If the ck fog was the amalgamation of pure despair and pain, then the red city was the only hope that should not be called as hope that existed in the world of the ck fog. When a piece of despairing memory was forgotten, the despair and pain among it would morph into ck fog while thest remaining shred of desire and struggle would slip into the red city. The ck fog was filled with ghastly and scary monsters while the red city was popted by wounded individuals.

    The hospital director saw the uniqueness of this patient, he believed he must be hiding some kind of secret. He searched out Chen Xia. After conducting multiple experiments, he realized only his own consciousness could leave the world sessfully, he could not bring Chen Xiao with him. After giving it much contemtion, the hospital director in the doctor¡¯s coat believed perhaps the reason of this was due to the existence of the hospital director in the patient¡¯s garb. He was the first person who had the contradictory consciousness in his mind. The hospital director in the doctor¡¯s coat walked around the edge of the red city but the other hospital director was trapped somewhere else, there was still an unbreakable bond between them.

    The hospital director in the doctor¡¯s coat shared his own treatment method with Chen Xiao. To split out the opposing spirit, Chen Xiao went through a torment that was beyond the imagination of the human consciousness in the red city and ck fog. Ultimately the consciousness of the young man was split apart, the side who still had the humanity remained was called Chen Xiao, the other side who was bound by the red city and filled with negative emotion was named as Chen Xiang.

    The moment the personalities were split, the hospital director in the doctor¡¯s coat dragged Chen Xiao out of the red city, while the savage and brutal Chen Xiang who could never be controlled was left behind in the red city. When they returned to the real world, the hospital director started to gain an enormous interest in Chen Xiao, he wanted to know why Chen Xiao¡¯s heart would be connected to the edge of the red city. He observed the man in the dark and recorded everything. No one knew that he was a demon in the disguise of a human.

    Several yearster, the child of Chen Xiao was born. The child possessed a pair of blood red eyes. It appeared as if he could see right through into people¡¯s heart and he could see many things that a normal adult could not. Other children would be crying but this boy would always be smiling, as if there was nothing in the world who would be able to make him sad. Chen Xiao knew why his child was so different from the others. To escape from the red city, he had paid too hefty of a price and it included having the negative emotions shatter his body again and again and experiencing the despair that the human world could never imagine.

    Looking at the newborn in his embrace, studying the pure and innocent smile on his face, Chen Xiao gave his own boy a name that carried with it a very unique meaning¡ªChen Ge [Song]. The world kissed me with pain but I shall repay it with a song.

    As he grew up, more and more anomalies appeared around Chen Ge. He would enter the world of the ck fog in his sleep but he would promptly return to the real world when he awakened. He met different kind of people and seen many different types of ghost. Perhaps it was his bloodline or perhaps it was because of his father, even if Chen Ge¡¯s consciousness was not split, he could walk through the red city, ck fog and the real world freely and this was all captured within the hospital director¡¯s eyes.

    The hospital director in the doctor¡¯s coat had a special patient¡¯s list, he had listed Chen Ge as Patient Number 2, Chen Xiang trapped in the red city as Patient Number 2 and Chen Xiao in real life as Patient Number 3. He had been in disguise for decades but he still had not been exposed. This fed into the hospital director¡¯s ambition, he wanted to cure this sickened world from its core. He started to interact with Chen Ge behind his parent¡¯s knowledge. He wanted to use Chen Ge¡¯s power to bring the despair and pain people had forgotten back into the human world. As the cursed seed, he hadplete faith that the world of the ck fog was the true world and the real world was merely a sick disguise.

    The hospital director approached Chen Ge carefully. He used the experience that he had garnered through the decades to help Chen Ge open a blood door in the red city. The door connected the red city and real life. Even though it onlysted for a short period of time but it had already given the hospital director enough hospital. He kept having encounter with Chen Ge in the red city and the ck fog, in the end, he triggered the rm from Chen Xiao. But toplete his own n, the hospital director did not mind such detail. In fact a crazy thought had appeared in his mind, he wanted to split Chen Ge¡¯s consciousness into kindness and evil. He would leave kindness with Chen Xiao but he would take the evil away with him.

    To create this contradictory consciousness, he started to madly torment Chen Ge in the world of ck fog but he still could not seed. All he had to show for it was the pursuit from both Chen Xiao and Chen Xiang. Seeing as his n was being exposed, he decided to bring all the monsters that he had created to Jiujiang and kidnapped Chen Ge.

    The hospital director would stop at nothing to bring out Chen Ge¡¯s consciousness. He murdered Chen Ge again and again but even so he still failed. No matter what he did to Chen Ge¡¯s consciousness, he could not tear apart or even kill Chen Ge¡¯s consciousness. Whenever the dawn came, Chen Ge¡¯s consciousness would eventually return. Chen Ge¡¯s consciousness could not be split so the hospital director had toe at this from a different angle. He was originally an expert at toying with people¡¯s heart,bined with his decades of exploration in the ck fog, he knew that ce better than anyone else.

    With a careful nning, the hospital director instigated the ck fog and it churned and boiled into a scary tsunami. To save the wounded and forgotten memories in the red city, Chen Ge chose tobine himself with the red city and try to influence it. The tsunami swept through the city, the forgotten memories were not washed away but Chen Ge¡¯s consciousness could no longer leave the red city anymore. The hospital director stole away with parts of Chen Ge¡¯s flesh and organ while the remaining parts were taken away by Chen Xiang...

    Inside the cursed hospital, the memories that filled the sky were shattered in that moment, the hospital director¡¯s past started to fade away. Holding the red key, the man in red fixed his death stare at the hospital director in the ck fog. He plunged the key as hard as he could into the altar. ck blood that reeked kept leaking out from inside the altar.

 Chapter 1205 - Itâ€™s Over

    <h4>Chapter 1205: It¡¯s Over</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    Chen Xiang¡¯s icy gaze pierced through the ck fog, he looked at the monsters who was slowlybining with the sea of fog. ck patterns gradually appeared all over his body. The patterns weaved into arms on Chen Xiang¡¯s body, Chen Xiang¡¯s power seemed to originate from the souls who had been tortured and killed by the hospital director. The endless hands reached out to hold the key. With deep hatred inside them, they pushed the key deep into the altar.

    Bloody gashes appeared in the ck fog, then a horrible-smelling rain of blood rained down from the sky. The hospital director used his power, dragged the ck sky and charged at Chen Xiang without regard for his own safety. Doctor Gao, Zhang Ya and the painter moved to stop him at the same time. With regards to Chi, the Demon God had slipped away from the hospital the moment Chen Xiang showed up.

    Four Demon Gods attacked the altar at the same time, demolishing all of the hospital director¡¯s past memory. When thest shred of malicious memory was grounded into nothingness, the old altar shattered, exposing an old ck and white photo. Inside the photo, there was a woman in patient¡¯s garb, there was a doctor in white coat standing behind her. This would appear to be the hospital director¡¯s parents. The four Demon Gods focused their attack on the photo. The old photo started to surface with ck blood, morphing into a heart that was punctured and scarred. The hospital director had nted his heart inside this photo, this was also his biggest secret.

    The key, ck hair, chains pierced through the ugly heart. The fusing of the hospital director and the ck fog stopped. His figure was slowly made clear among the ck fog. Blood rain was pouring, the hospital director¡¯s body was fading. The disappearance was irrevocable, no matter how many curse or negative emotion he tried to consume, he could not stop the disintegration. Screams and wails echoed above the cursed hospital, the hospital director lowered his head to look at his own chest. There was an empty spot there, and flesh and blood kept falling off.

    Being surrounded by 4 Demon Gods, the hospital director never anticipated this day woulde. Like a madman, he tried to repair his body but it was futile. Be it the curse or despair, none of the negative emotion was enough to fill up the emptiness in his heart. Looking around, the mountain of bodies was now a mess of guts, the broken bodies of Patient 5 littered the area and Chi had slipped away without notice. The whole cursed hospital was cleared of patients and doctors, in the end, the hospital director was the only one left. The demon that spread despair finally had the taste of despair.

    There were no dying words, there was no final interaction, the few Demon Gods did not even give the hospital director the chance to take a breath. As if in tandem, the four Demon Gods attacked the hospital director from 4 sides. Losing his heart, his body failing him, his power slipping away, the endless curse that made up the hospital director¡¯s body started to consume its host. All of the souls he had trapped, all of the spirits he had tormented, they had found the chance to take their revenge, they bit at him crazily. The hospital director¡¯s white coat was torn apart, exposing the bloody patient¡¯s garb inside. He tried his best to resist but the ending had already been written for the man with the broken heart. The 4 Demon Gods did not waste time with him. This was a battle of life and death, they won¡¯t stop until the enemy was vanquished.

    His body turned immaterial and blood leaked away from his body. The cursed flowers on the hospital director¡¯s body also started to wither. ¡°Looks like I have lost, but no matter as long as there are still despair and pain in this world, the ck fog will be going nowhere and the curse will continue to spread in another form.¡± While he could still control his body, the hospital director nced at Chen Ge. ¡°Howe even though we are both evil spirits, you cane to have everything?¡± The hospital director¡¯s body grew in size, ¡°I should have killed you 20 years ago when I had the chance.¡±

    Carrying hisst curse and malice, the hospital director¡¯s consciousness faded away but not before he imploded his own body. The curse that was trapped inside his body was all released at the same time. They started to escape in all directions, there was no rhyme or rhythm to their action. No one knew how many evil spirits the hospital director had trapped both inside and outside the door. Before his consciousness disappeared, the malice inside the hospital director¡¯s body exploded.

    ¡°Stop the evil spirits and curse! He still wants to make use of the ck fog!¡± Chen Xiang had seen this 20 years ago. The other 3 Demon Gods immediately responded to his call. Chen Xiang though walked towards the altar that had the hospital director¡¯s heart inside it. He studied the old altar, he tried to ce his own heart inside the altar to stop the rampaging souls, but perhaps he was himself an evil spirit, the effect was not positive. These evil spirits had carried with them the remaining power of the hospital director, they were very hard to deal with.

    ¡°The hospital director¡¯s heart represents chaos, tragedy and curse, only a heartpletely opposite to that can stop the spirits.¡± Chen Xiang¡¯s eyes swept the humans and spectres around him. They were cruel and savage, none of them fitted his requirement.

    ¡°Let me do it.¡± Chen Ge walked to stand beside Chen Xiang, ¡°I have a family, he has a heart that is meant for protection.¡±

    ¡°A family?¡± Chen Xiang regarded Chen Ge for a long time before he nodded. Standing before the altar, Chen Ge closed his eyes. Hemunicated with the heart Xu Yin left inside his mind and then ced Xu Yin¡¯s heart inside the altar. Xu Yin¡¯s heart appeared because he wanted to protect others, that was extremely rare among Red Spectre, in fact one could say that waspletely in contradiction to the essence of a Red Spectre. When Xu Yin¡¯s heart appeared inside the altar, the evil spirits started to weaken.

    Doctor Gao, Zhang Ya and the painter used this opportunity to round up the spirits and gather them around the altar. These evil spirits possessed arge amount of curse and negative emotion but at the same time, they carried the dangerous power of the hospital director. Being surrounded by so many evil spirits was something extremely painful, but it ced no impact on Xu Yin¡¯s heart, he had gotten used to pain a long time ago. The 4 Demon Gods lent their aid. Xu Yin¡¯s heart started to beat. As he suppressed the evil spirits, he was also absorbing the hospital director¡¯s remaining power.

    As one after another blood vessels extended outwards, a handsome young man appeared inside the altar. Being given a second chance at life, he waded out from the deepest abyss of the blood sea. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Chen Ge standing before him. The mncholy in his eyes had disappeared. He grabbed Chen Ge¡¯s hands that were extended towards him. Wearing the red shirt that was painted with endless evil spirits, he stood up from the broken altar. The old god had died, and the person who was reborn from the altar was Xu Yin.

    All the curse and spirits had been suppressed. The red city also spread to the cursed hospital¡¯s vicinity. The broken cursed hospital was bound by blood vessels. It was slowly dragged into the red city, being assimted into it. Thest trace of the hospital director had been fully wiped out. Crossing life and death, two cities, the history that spanned centuries finally reached its end. The blood chased away the ck fog. The red city had consumed the cursed hospital so Chen Ge¡¯s group was currently inside the territory of the blood city.

    ¡°It¡¯s over.¡± Standing on its ruin, the Red Spectres gathered around Chen Ge. When Chen Ge chose to sacrifice himself to help them find their memory, they had already decided to stay by Chen Ge¡¯s side forever. Because they had already experienced death once, so sometimes spectres and ghosts knew how to appreciate the things that they had more than living humans. Zhang Ya, Xu Yin and the painter walked to Chen Ge¡¯s side. The red color lit up the sky behind the door.

    Doctor Gao looked at the ruined altar silently, who knew what was on his mind. Chen Xiang though kept his eyes on Chen Ge. His cold and emotionless eyes slowly softened. ¡°How did you manage to aplish all these? Kindness has taken away everything, you are supposed to be nothing but a normal human.¡±

    ¡°I have never considered what should I do and winning or losing could never be further from my mind, I just feltpelled to keep pushing myself forward and it has led me to this ce.¡± After knowing all the truth, the fragmented memories in Chen Ge¡¯s mind slowly pieced together.

 Chapter 1206 - Special Number

    <h4>Chapter 1206: Special Number</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    Everyone left their evil behind the door, only Chen Ge was an exception. Stepping on the ruin of the cursed city, Chen Ge turned to look deep into the red city, he was reminded of his promise to Kindness. ¡°Until now I still don¡¯t quite understand whether it was me who have saved him or it was him who haspleted me.¡±

    Many baleful spectres and Red Spectres guarded around Chen Ge. Zhang Ya¡¯s ck hair surged, they ced Chen Ge¡¯s parents who were ina in the middle of the crowd of ¡®people¡¯. After the hospital director was vanquished, the blood vessels on Chen Ge¡¯s parents also disappeared but they had not awakened.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, they are more tough than you think. Their souls are heavily injured but give them some time, they will slowly recover.¡± Chen Xiang did not even nce at Chen Xiao and his wife, his eyes stayed on Chen Ge.

    ¡°But their souls are heavily injured, how can I not worry?¡± Chen Ge who showed no fear of anything except perhaps Zhang Ya, did not dare to face Chen Xiang¡¯s eyes. It was probably because he was not used to facing a ¡®father¡¯ in red clothes and radiating powerful oppressive energy.

    ¡°if you really want to, you can bring them deep inside the red city, there is a person there who has the power to cure soul.¡±

    ¡°Okay, but before I do that, I still need to search for some things.¡± Chen Ge had the red high heels remove the curse from his employees and try her best to save them. And then he ordered the employees who were the least injured to start canvassing the cursed hospital. The cursed hospital originally had 7 floors aboveground and 18 floors below ground, but now it was nothing more than a ruin. When the employees went off to search the cursed hospital for thest time, Chen Ge took out the ck phone that he had kept close to him. The screen was shattered and it could not be switched on anymore. Chen Ge had no idea what the hospital director had done to the phone when he was unconscious. But from the state of the phone, he predicted that the hospital director had gleaned nothing useful from it. In other words, it appeared like the phone could only be used by Chen Ge and no one else.

    ¡°It still cannot be switched on.¡± Chen Ge frowned. Chen Xiang walked over. He nced at the ck phone in Chen Ge¡¯s palm and said in surprise, ¡°This should be Chen Xiao¡¯s phone, you have been keeping it with you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, when he disappeared, he left this phone with me.¡±

    ¡°Well, that is so irresponsible and typical of him.¡± Chen Xiang stopped before Chen Ge. The red city Demon God had a gentle smile on his face and something akin to pride crossed his eyes.

    ¡°You know something rted to this phone?¡± Chen Ge gave the phone a few swings. He tried it multiple times but it still would not switch on.

    ¡°The phone is just a normal phone but there is a very special number stored inside it.¡± Chen Xiang exined patiently. ¡°When you were small, you could already see into the world of the ck fog, see into the evil and desire deep inside people¡¯s heart. You can even travel through dreams freely. Sometimes you would go to bed at night but wake up near a murder scene the next morning. After this has happened for a few times, Chen Xiao bought you an old-fashioned secondhand phone so that you could contact your family whenever you want. He stored your phone number inside his phone so whenever you disappeared, he would call the number madly until one day the number could never be connected anymore.¡±

    ¡°All that because of a phone number?¡±

    ¡°Instead of calling it a mere number, it is more like Kindness¡¯ connection to home.¡± Chen Xiang sighed. ¡°If you have anymore questions, perhaps that person in the red city might be able to answer you.¡± The man appeared to have not said so many words in a long time already. His eyes were slowly overtaken by redness. ¡°Who would have thought the bumbling boy from back then will aplish so much, you have really grown up, huh.¡±

    His body slowly faded. Chen Xiang did not seem like he wanted to meet Chen Xiao. After telling Chen Ge the way to head into the red city, he disappeared around the corner.

    ¡°There is no separation between kindness and evil in this world. Kindness can be corrupted and evil can choose salvation and embrace hope, the choice is always there.¡± Chen Ge had no idea what transpired between the kindness and evil of his father¡¯s consciousness. He had a feeling the key of the argument was him but as the hospital director passed away, Chen Ge felt like his father¡¯s evil spirit had learnt to put down the past as well. Everything was over, and everything was weing a new beginning.

    Half an hourter, a big white cat bounded around the ruin while dragging along a backpack. It seemed to be asking for praise. The result was the prop from inside the bag littered everywhere while several helpless employees trailed behind it.

    ¡°you have done a great job this time.¡± Chen Ge picked up the backpack and inspected the content inside it. After the white cat was praised by Chen Ge, it appeared to need more. It silently sidled up to Zhang Ya and tried to brush up against her. After the hospital director died, Zhang Ya found the bloody entries inside her diary. She did not lose her memory so she remembered clearly what happened after Chen Ge fainted. White Tiger had aplished the impossible this time, Zhang Ya brushed its head gently with her ck hair. It was just a simple action but it had given the white cat great confidence. It followed behind Zhang Ya, riding on her coattail. Before this, it would always scamper away when it ran into a Red Spectre but now it would actively taunt them. When it passed Men Nan, it purposely wagged its tail as if exemplifying his meteoric rise in standing.

    ¡°Qie, do you really think I will take offense from a cat?¡± Men Nan pouted. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, he mimicked the white cat and ran to Zhang Ya¡¯s side but before he could put on his act, he was flung away by the ck hair. He climbed up rather awkwardly from the ground. Men Nan patted his shirt, he was about to say something to save his embarrassment when he suddenly saw the red high heels who stood before him. A rather unpleasant memory surfaced in his mind. Perhaps afraid that Men Nan would break into tears, Ol¡¯ Zhou found an excuse and dragged the boy away.

    ¡°Boss, here is your wedding ring.¡± Xiao Sun in the white coat ran over to join Chen Ge. He stole a nce at Zhang Ya and silently slipped the ring back to Chen Ge.

    ¡°Xiao Sun, if not for you this time, I would not be able to escape form the hospital, you have personally changed the ending of the battle.¡± Chen Ge put the ring away. He looked at Xiao Sun silently. The scars on Xiao Sun¡¯s face and neck were carved into his soul, they were impossible to remove. These were signs of the torment Xiao Sun had suffered at the curse hospital.

    ¡°I have not done anything really, mostly I was just following the guidance given to me by the kindness inside the ss jars.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be humble, you have done something many people could not.¡± Chen Ge looked at Xiao Sun who clearly had something on his mind. He patted the young man¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Come on, out with it.¡±

    ¡°Boss, actually I already found out the hospital director was a cursed seed not long after I joined the hospital.¡± Xiao Sun nced at the broken bodies around them. ¡°I am also a cursed seed. The hospital director was priming me to be his sessor, I am really afraid that I will one day be someone like him.¡±

    ¡°The cursed seed will not predestine one¡¯s path. Many people called me the extreme evil but in reality, I have helped endless people at Jiujiang and saved many lost souls and spectres.¡± Chen Ge took out the hammer from his backpack. He waved it around casually, the heft felt good in his grasp. ¡°How a person turns out is rted to his innate personality but also the environment that he is in.¡±

    ¡°But I am still a cursed seed, simr to the hospital director.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps others might see you as that but you have saved me and all the employees at the Haunted House so for us, you are a hero.¡± Chen Ge looked at Sun Xiaojun in the doctor¡¯s coat. ¡°In the future, I am sure you will continue to bring salvation to more people. Who knows perhaps you will really be a doctor who will bring light to the world.¡±

 Chapter 1207 - City of Nightmare (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1207: City of Nightmare (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    Perhaps the hospital director had created too deep on an impact on Sun Xiaojun, a very strong self-doubt appeared in the young man¡¯s heart.

    ¡°Do not think too much of it. It does not matter whether you are a Cursed Seed or a Seed of Hope, the fact is you have saved everyone here.¡± Chen Ge extended his finger to point down the distance. A woman in red raincoat was standing next to a little boy in a blue raincoat. This was a reunion that had been dyed for a long time so everyone was clever enough to not go and disturb the pair of mother and son.

    ¡°If not for you, the red raincoat probably would never see her own son again. You have brought many happiness to the people around you and that is more than enough.¡± Chen Ge kept trying to open Xiao Sun¡¯s mind, to help him see the good that he had done.

    ¡°I think I get it now.¡± Sun Xiaojun nodded his head. ¡°Boss, can I ask a favor from you?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°I do not think I will go back to the Haunted House with you, I wish to rebuild a hospital that can really treat pain and despair over this ruin.¡± A smile appeared on Xiao Sun¡¯s face. ¡°I am a cursed seed who will bring misfortune and tragedy, that is the unavoidable truth, but I will use my own method to prove that the cursed seed can not only bring happiness to myself, it can only help others regain their bliss in life.¡±

    ¡°Then, it would appear like I need to refer to you as Hospital Director Sun in the future.¡± When he was at the cursed hospital, Xiao Sun had seen tremendous growth. Chen Ge was no longer that worried about him. After handing the ruin of the cursed hospital over to Xian Sun, Chen Ge wandered about the area carrying his backpack. The red high heels who had treated most of the employees stood nkly at a fixed spot. Following her line of sight, there was a heavily battered surgical table before her. Chen Ge could still remember rather fuzzily there was a bloody heart mission rted to the red high heels in the ck phone, the mission requested Chen Ge to go to a surgical room at the cursed hospital. However, the phone could not be switched on normally now and the surgical room was probably buried alongside the rest of the cursed hospital.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Carrying the backpack, Chen Ge walked to the red high heels¡¯ side. The red high heels shook her head, there was a trace of lost in her blood red eyes. After the hospital director had been vanquished, Xu Yin inherited most of the power left behind by the hospital director while the strange and curious curses inside the cursed hospital was all absorbed by the red high heels. After she had fully digested those curses, she would definitely be the new Demon God wielding curses.

    ¡°There are so many ugly things in the world but there are many beautiful things as well. How about you stay at the Haunted House with the rest of you, we will go and explore every beautiful thing the world has to offer together.¡± Chen Ge had found out about the red high heels¡¯ real name in his nightmare so there did not seem to be any purpose left to do the bloody heart mission in the ck phone anymore. The real name was the only weakness for a spectre who specialized in curses. Since the red high heels was willing for Chen Ge to find out her real name, then it proved that Chen Ge had be a person that she trusted with literally her life. Even a living person would have trouble finding a person they could trust fully in the world, much less so for spectres who had experienced tons of torment and despair, it was truly impossible for them to meet someone that could trust implicitly.

    After a moment of hesitation, the red high heels nodded lightly. She waved her arms and several cursed threads surged into the ruin. They located a patient¡¯s list under the surgical table. The patient¡¯s list had her previous picture and her life story. The cursed threads tore the patient¡¯s list into pieces, the red high heels had bidden farewell to the hatred and pain from her past.

    After dealing with everything at the cursed hospital, Chen Ge and his employees brought Chen Ge¡¯s unconscious parents deep into the red city. Before Chen Xiang left, he had given Chen Ge a precise director to follow. That and the guardianship from several Demon Gods, the group did not run into any danger along the way. They walked past one after another street painted red, one after another building that was stained with blood. Among the thick blood fog, they arrived at the centre of the red city. Seeing the building that was situated at the centre of the red city, everyone stopped moving.

    There was a bloody apartment that was 30 stories high near the centre of the red city. Every floor was crawling with blood vessels, giving tenancy to the scariest spectres; the scale of the apartment was not smaller than the abandoned red hospital behind the cursed hospital¡¯s door, it was filled with pulsing veins and blood; there was also a ck church that was constructed purely from broken limbs, it gave off a very strong ominous air. There was even a half dead Demon God who was pinned at the top of the building. Every single building near the centre of the red city gave off an imposing presence, but the building right at the centre of the red city appeared so unassuming.

    Touching the familiar gates, Chen Ge¡¯s feeling wasplicated. Right at the most centre of the red city, there was an old Haunted House, this Haunted House was aplete replica of the Haunted House situated at Jiujiang New Century Park. ¡°Who would have thought this would be the building at the deepest part of the red city.¡±

    Chen Ge pulled open the gates and raised the heavy curtains that normally blocked out the sunlight. Everything here was incredibly familiar. He even had a sense of illusion that he had already returned to real life. ¡°Is anyone home?¡± With the apaniment of several Demon Gods, Chen Ge entered the Haunted House. He strode down the corridor and pushed open any door that he encountered but he did note into contact with any other soul, this ce appeared to be abandoned.

    ¡°When Kindness disappeared, he said there will be someone waiting for me at the deepest part of the red city, Chen Xiang also told me toe to the deepest part of the red city to look for someone. The fact is I am already here but howe this ce is so empty?¡± After giving it some thought, Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of something. He rushed into the toilet at the first floor of the Haunted House and he saw the bloody cubicle door that was painted with the picture of the demon. There were many blood doors that he had encountered along the way but there were only a handful that was painted with the demon. In that moment, many thoughts crossed Chen Ge¡¯s mind.

    ¡°I have been waiting for a long time for you.¡± A child¡¯s voice came from the mirror inside the toilet. Chen Ge whipped his head around, his eyes fixed on the mirror. He could not stop his own body from moving forward. His hands grabbed the edge of the sink. Just like when he was doing his first Nightmare Mission, Chen Ge stood right before the mirror. ¡°You are my Kindness?¡±

    The child in the mirror had a warm smile on his face. He shook his head lightly. ¡°I used to be your Kindness but now I am the consciousness of this red city.¡±

    ¡°I have seen in the cursed hospital¡¯s memory that you have chosen to join yourself with the red city to save the spectres and spirits in the ck tsunami so in essence, you are still my Kindness.¡± For some unknown reason, Chen Ge did not wish to budge on this issue. The child in the mirror did not argue with Chen Ge, he kept a smile that shone from his heart on his face.

    ¡°Can¡¯t youe out from the mirror? I wish to see what pure kindness look like because that is the direction that I hope to model myself after in the future. At least on the surface, I wish for everyone to think that I am a kind person.¡± Dragging Doctor Skull-breaker¡¯s hammer in one hand, Chen Ge uttered the thought in his heart. ¡°People keep misunderstanding me due to my straightforwardness.¡± He looked at the child inside the mirror, it felt like he was conversing with another version of himself, there was no need for any secret or tricks.

    ¡°I have no corporeal body, I am just a slip of consciousness. I can only show up via possession of something inside the red city and I can never leave the red city.¡± The child was living deep inside the red city but his voice was particrly gentle and soft, it wasfortable chatting with you.

    ¡°After paying such a huge price, you should have gained corresponding enormous power in return as well.¡± Chen Ge winked, the child in the mirror understood what Chen Ge was hinting at immediately.

    ¡°As the consciousness of the red city, I can control all the door that is situated here and I can help the red city expand. In fact I can slowly ovep the red city with the real world.¡±

    ¡°Ovep the red city with the real world?¡± Chen Ge was shocked. If that was the case, then the importance of the red city¡¯s consciousness was more than he ever realized. Just think about it, if the hospital director¡¯s n had seeded, he would be able to control the red city through Chen Ge¡¯s Kindness and that would definitely be a veritable tragedy.

    ¡°You have seen a door that has lost control before, right? When something happens to the door pusher and I was not there to close the door in time, therge amount of negative emotion collected inside the red city will creep out from that door and slowly transform the reality around it.¡± The child looked in Chen Ge¡¯s eyes and exined softly

    ¡°Since the appearance of a door can cause the reality to copse, then why would you still go and open so many doors? You have connected the real world to the red city, therge amount of negative emotion here could have poured back into the real world again.¡± Chen Ge was confused. Kindness had a heart of pure kindness, he would not have taken such a big risk.

    ¡°Then who do you think is the one who created the despair inside the red city and the sea of ck fog?¡± The child in the mirror tossed a question back to Chen Ge.

    ¡°The people in real life?¡±

    ¡°Correct, actually there is a well deep inside every single person¡¯s heart that is connected to the sea of ck fog. Pain, despair and negative emotions as well as painful memory will rush into the ck fog through this well. No one knew exactly where the sea of ck fog it, perhaps it originates from a ce that none of us can see, perhaps it is hidden at the deepest part of nightmare, or perhaps it is hidden inside every single human¡¯s heart. But no matter where it is, there is one thing that is undeniable. The ck fog is spreading at every single moment.¡± The child in the mirror¡¯s tone turned serious. ¡°If one day, the sea of ck fog has expanded to its limit and cannot support human¡¯s despair anymore, what do you think will happen?¡±

    ¡°it will overflow? The despair will pour out from the well deep inside everyone¡¯s heart?¡±

    ¡°Indeed, perhaps for now the sea of ck fog has not reached its limit yet, but if no one is there to control it, the day will soon arrive.¡±

    ¡°Every human¡¯s despair and forgotten painful memory will enter the ck fog, and that created the sea of it, then what about the red city? What is the reason behind its existence?¡± Chen Ge initially thought the red city was the scariest existence but now he finally understood even the red city was just a small part of the sea of ck fog.

    ¡°The reason humans are humans is because even in the deepest despair, they will retain thest shred of hope. The ck fog is a pure manifestation of despair and pain, it represents death and emptiness, the red city though is thest shred of hope in human nature, the heart that yearns for salvation constructed this city of blood and istes it from the ck sea. As the sea of fog continues to expand so will the red city, but normally speaking the speed of expansion of the red city will be much slower than the speed of the ck sea and there is where Ie in.¡± The child in the mirror exined patiently to Chen Ge.

    ¡°You wish to use the red city to destroy the sea of ck fog?¡±

    ¡°As long as people still have despair in their heart, the sea of ck fog can never be destroyed. What I wish to do instead is to draw the most despairing soul in the real world into the red city and use their power to strengthen the red city and at the same time, prevent them from being taken by the ck fog.¡± The child in the mirror looked out the window. ¡°Every single blood door in the red city represents the most despairing soul. The red city has grown several times in size over the years are all thanks to these souls.¡±

    The existence of the door was to transport the most despairing soul into the red city. After Chen Ge grasped the notion of this, there were many other questions that popped up in his mind. Reaching into his pocket to pull out the ck phone, Chen Ge ced the phone with the shattered screen before the mirror. ¡°It was you who was behind dad¡¯s phone, right? It was you who had been guiding me step by step?¡±

    The child in the mirror did not deny it. ¡°Do you still remember your first Nightmare Mission? The mission started at this ce, when you closed your eyes, I was standing inside the mirror looking at you. In fact, it was just like now. We were able to see each other but we are unable to touch each other, not ever.¡±

    ¡°in other words, it was also you who sent me the details and information of each mission?¡±

    ¡°Most of the time.¡±

    ¡°I get it now, that is why there is the term ¡®trial¡¯ before each star mission, for example 2 star trial mission Mu Yang High School, 3 star trial mission Third Sick Hall and so on.¡± Chen Ge caught up very quickly. ¡°But there is still something that is befuddling to me. The props and scenarios in my Haunted House, how did you unlock them so fast?¡±

    ¡°That was actually what I was about to tell you next. As the red city continue to expand, the red city itself be unstable, despair started to spread and the spectres were going at each other. They are unable to achieve salvation at this ce, for them to really let go of their resentment and despair in their heart, I am afraid that is no other option but for them to return to real life.¡± The child in the mirror used the gentlest voice to say the craziest thing. ¡°I wish to make this red city into an intermediate point between the sea of fog and real life.¡±

    ¡°have you lost your mind? If so many Red Spectres and ghosts were to be released back into the real life, several hundred km around Jiujiang will be turned into a haunted town.¡±

    ¡°That is why I have been trying with it very carefully. I only unlocked one scenario each time, starting from the weakest to the strongest. You have cooperated with me perfectly, so far there has been no ident, the fact that you are standing here now is proof that my n is a sess.¡± The child in the mirror nced at the ck phone. Threads of ck and red blood vessels appeared inside the toilet and they crawled into the phone. ¡°This phone contains my only lingering spirit, I used all the power innate within the red city to make it possess part of the red city¡¯s power. The scenario at your Haunted House is the reflection of the world behind the door, but they will grow in the real life, bing the medium that connects the red city and the real world.¡±

    The cracks on the screen were slowly being healed by the blood vessels. The blood vessels gave off a presence that could rival a Demon God, the child in the mirror appeared to be using the flesh and blood of a Demon God to repair the ck phone.

    ¡°The negative emotion of living humans will be consumed by spectres and the spectres¡¯ dying wishes and obsession can seek salvation in real life, that is the most effective way to keep the red city stabilized while expanding it. But stabilizing the red city is just the first step, my real goal is still that sea of despair. I cannotpletely wash the sea of fog away but I will control the red city to bring it under control as much as I can, and strive to salvage more despairing souls.¡± The child in the mirror handed the fixed ck phone back to Chen Ge. ¡°before this, I have been in a very dangerous position, the director from the cursed hospital stole my body from the body and have trapped our parents. He would keep using them toe and disturb in his attempt to take control of the red city but now I do not need to worry about him anymore.¡± The child in the mirror could not leave the red city but the cursed hospital could move freely through the ck sea. If not for Chen Ge¡¯s intervention, should the hospital director managed to consume Chen Ge¡¯s parents, the ending might bepletely different.

    Holding the fixed ck phone, Chen Ge was reminded of the first time he found the ck phone, it felt like that was just yesterday.

    ¡°Do you still have any other question?¡±

    ¡°yes, actually there is something that has been bothering me, since I am here now, I might as well ask you in person.¡± Chen Ge switched the phone back on again. ¡°There is a spinning wheel inside the ck phone, I can spin it by collecting the screams of visitors. I have spun it many times but I have never obtained anything that is remotely good. I just wish to know the rewards that are listed on the app, do they really exist? Like spirit fruit that can extend my lifespan? Medicine that improve one¡¯s body?¡±

    ¡°Those are just white lies that are meant to push you further, there are only spectres, objects rted to spectres and items left behind by the dead in the red city inside the Wheel of Misfortune.¡± The child in the mirror admitted freely.

    ¡°How can you be a spirit of Pure Kindness with such shamelessness? That truly has given me a renewed understanding of my own self.¡± Chen Ge looked at the light that slowly lit up the phone screen and he shook his head lightly.

 Chapter 1208 - The Only Wish (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1208: The Only Wish (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    Seeing the serenity on Chen Ge¡¯s face, the child in the mirror asked Chen Ge with curiosity, ¡°Aren¡¯t you mad now that you have found out everything about the Wheel of Misfortune is a lie?¡±

    ¡°At the beginning, I was truly incensed, I thought my luck could not have been worse but after going through so much, I realized, all of the good luck in my life has already been exhausted the moment I crossed path with her.¡± Chen Ge nudged several steps to Zhang Ya¡¯s side. ¡°She is the most beautiful person I have ever met, and that is the luckiest thing that could have happened to me in my life and for that, I have nothing but appreciation and thankfulness towards.¡± Zhang Ya appeared to be nking out but when she noticed Chen Ge approaching her, she pulled back her curtain of ck hair and voluntarily sidled over to Chen Ge. Both of them stood before the mirror together but the mirror only showed the reflection of one person.

    ¡°Now that you put it that way, you do owe me a great deal.¡± The child in the mirror felt like Chen Ge was purposely gloating, feeding him dogfood. ¡°Before Zhang Ya became a Red Spectre, she was being pursuit by another Red Spectre and identally stumbled deep into the red city. Seeing how rare her power is, I guided her to her safety from the dark. At the time, I had to split up my attention to deal with the hospital director¡¯s curse and it was almost impossible to still have time to protect a ghost who was not even a Red Spectre inside the chaotic red city, so I split out a shred of the red city¡¯s consciousness and ced it on her and then I had her hide inside the Haunted House deep inside the red city.¡±

    The child in the mirror looked at Zhang Ya who was now a Demon God, the corners of his lips turned into a helpless smile. ¡°Who would have thought after the shred of red city¡¯s consciousness joined with her, even I was unable to extract it anymore. Zhang Ya thus became the most unique presence at the red city. If one day, I was to disappear due to some unknown reason, then she would rece me as the new consciousness of the red city, that is also thest insurance that I have against the hospital director.¡±

    ¡°Therefore, to prevent putting all the eggs in one basket, you sent Zhang Ya out of the red city and had her hide in the real world?¡±

    ¡°Other than myself, there are only a handful of people who knew about the fact that Zhang Ya had once entered the red city.¡± The child in the mirror studied Zhang Ya from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet, he still felt the whole thing was rather surreal. ¡°I know how special she is but it is still quite out of my expectation that she will be able to evolve into a Demon God so soon.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of that, the speed by which Doctor Gao had be a Demon God is not slower than Zhang Ya.¡± Chen Ge nced to his side. Doctor Gao had not left. He followed Chen Ge into the Haunted House. With regards to this former chairman of the ghost stories society, Chen Ge still had his apprehension. It could not be helped, after all, Doctor Gao was not only an incredibly powerful Demon God, he was also a incredibly cunning and brilliant strategist. No one would be able to rival him in terms of intelligence.

    ¡°Doctor Gao has used 20 years of nning to be a Demon God. From when he was still alive to after his death, he has paid a price that none of you can ever imagine.¡± The child in the mirror turned to look at Doctor Gao.

    Lifting his head, Doctor Gao¡¯s lips opened slightly. Ever since the death of the hospital director, this was the first time he had spoken, ¡°I have alreadypleted the request that you have asked of me, so we do not owe each other anything from now on.¡±

    ¡°You two have met before this?¡± Chen Ge realized then Doctor Gao appeared to have some kind of contract with the Kindness inside the mirror.

    ¡°Doctor Gao has once entered this ce through the door in your Haunted House. He was lost at the deepest part of the blood city, it was me who saved him. It was also because he had known the truth that he would choose tomit suicide at the underground morgue and left his own daughter in your care.¡± The child in the mirror pointed at the door of the cubicle in the toilet. ¡°The drawing of the dream demon on the door was left behind by him.¡±

    ¡°Dream Demon? This spectre that has three heads is called a Dream Demon?¡±

    ¡°Some people call it the Dream Demon, others call it Heart Demon. It is a monster that lives deep inside the ck fog, it feeds on nightmare and negative emotions, it can elicit the evil deep inside people¡¯s heart and use that power to destroy blood doors. You could say it has a power that ispletely opposite from that of the red city.¡± After the boy in the mirror exined that, everything clicked into ce for Chen Ge. Before his death, Doctor Gao had indeed sneaked into his own Haunted House before. He carved the picture of the Dream Demon on the cubicle door to leave a way back for himself. After all, at the time, Doctor Gao also thought it was the door pusher who only had the power to control the blood door. If he was trapped inside the world behind the door, then he would destroy the blood door in Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House and then make his escape.

    It was the same for Chang Wenyu when she wanted to destroy the door at School of After Life, she too had painted the drawing of the Dream Demon on that door. In real life, blood door represented the red city while Dream Demon represented the sea of ck fog. Many questions that he had in the past had been answered. After rifying a few other details, Chen Ge carried his parents and ced them before the mirror. ¡°I have found them inside the blood sea at the cursed hospital. Even though the hospital director has been vanquished, they still have not woken up.¡±

    ¡°It is incredibly difficult to cure an injury to the soul but I will try my best. You should bring them to the Prop Room, there is a bath of blood there. ce them into the blood bath and leave the rest to me.¡± The boy in the mirror turned to leave. Chen Ge also led the few Demon Gods out of the toilet and turned into the Prop Room. Compared to the first time he entered this ce, the room had not changed that much. But only a few secondster, a blood gash was pulled open by an external force at the corner of the room. Chen Ge was very familiar with that corner. Whenever he drew something from the ck phone, those items would show up at this particr corner of the Props Room in the Haunted House.

    Strands of ck and red blood vessels rushed out and dragged Chen Ge¡¯s parents into the blood pool at the corner of the room. The blood pool appeared to be connected to the space underneath the red city. Submerged in the ck and red liquid bath, many different kinds of curses and ck words appeared underneath Chen Ge¡¯s parents¡¯ skin. Then these remaining curses were washed away by the blood. Color returned to Chen Ge¡¯s parents¡¯ cheeks. They looked much more alive than before. The whole processsted for an hour. When Chen Ge¡¯s parents were sent out from the blood pool, they already looked much better than before.

    ¡°When you leave the world behind the door, it should not take long for them to wake up.¡± The figure of a boy showed up inside a prop mirror in the Props room. Kindness did not have his parent wake up immediately apparently because he did not wish for them to see the state that he was in.

    ¡°Thank you so much.¡±

    ¡°It was me who should be thanking you. After all, I thought I would nevery eyes on them ever again.¡± The boy in the mirror studied the sea of blood that was boiling inside the blood pool and then he added with some hint. ¡°The power that has umted over the years by the red city is just about enough topletely repair a broken soul to help her wee a new life.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that? Wait a minute, if Zhang Ya baths inside this blood pool, she has the chance to be a human again?!¡± Chen Ge grabbed Zhang Ya¡¯s hand and he became quite animated. ¡°Once her soul is healed, and if youbine that with my talent of Living Doll...¡±

    ¡°Yes, there is a chance of that, but for a Demon God, the sess rate is only 1 over ten thousand. If anything, the weaker and the moremon the soul, the higher the sess rate. Are you sure you want to go through with this?¡± The child in the mirror controlled the ck and red blood vessels, the Props Room was torn open to reveal the gurgling blood sea underneath it. To reborn as a person, then they would have a chance to make up for all the regrets in the past and they would have the chance to embrace a better future, even if the chance of sess was only 1 over ten thousand, it was still a very precious opportunity.

    Holding Zhang Ya¡¯s hand, Chen Ge turned to ask for Zhang Ya¡¯s opinion. Zhang Ya who stood next to him had the redness fade from her eyes. sh of desire lit up her eyes but momentster, she shook her head light. The pale finger tugged at a blood vessel that reached out from her heart. Zhang Ya took out her own heart and reced it back into Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. Even though she had not spoken a single word, she had made her choice loud and clear.

    ¡°But if we miss out on this opportunity, you might never be given the chance to be a human anymore.¡± Chen Ge grabbed hold of Zhang Ya¡¯s hand. He pulled out her into the corridor and tried to persuade her. About half an hourter, Chen Ge and Zhang Ya returned to the Props Room, they had alreadye to a consensus.

    ¡°So have you decided? Will you be giving this chance to Zhang Ya? If I use the entirety of the power in the red city, the chance of sess might be raised by a little bit.¡± The boy in the mirror was going to give it his all, this was his way of repaying Chen Ge for everything that he had done.

    ¡°There is no need for that, we n to give this chance to Doctor Gao.¡± Once Chen Ge said that, the sound of chains dropping heavily to the ground came from behind him. Clearly Doctor Gao did not expect something like that.

    ¡°Chen Ge, this chancees once in a lifetime. It takes a very long time for the red city to collect so much power, are you sure you want to give it to me?¡± Doctor Gao¡¯s heart was racing, he had not felt that in a very long time already.

    ¡°The sess rate for Demon Gods and Red Spectres is too low but your wife is just a normal person, we must not waste such a precious chance.¡± Chen Ge was not kidding. He hade to this decision after he had asked Zhang Ya for her opinion. This was what she had agreed to as well. ¡°The sin that you havemitted will be shouldered by you alone but your wife is the innocent party in all of you. By the way, there is one more thing that I need to tell you. Gao Ruxue is now very safe, in fact she told me to bring you a message, she wanted me to tell you, she misses you a lot and she wishes to see you again.¡± Back when they were in the underground morgue, Doctor Gao had the chance to kill Chen Ge and Zhang Ya but he did not do so. Regardless of the reason behind Doctor Gao¡¯s decision, that was an unavoidable truth.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± That was the first time Doctor Gao showed this kind of expression. He tugged at the chain before his chest and used his fingers to cut open his heart. At the tip of his heart, he pulled of his wife¡¯s broken soul. ¡°Her body has already been destroyed by the red city and the monsters in the ck fog, but my own physical body is still perfectly preserved, so please use my own flesh and body and make a Living Doll for her.¡± Doctor Gao held his wife¡¯s broken soul gingerly in his palms. After the hospital director died, the curse that was ced his wife¡¯s soul had already faded away.

    ¡°Of course.¡± After he got the promise from Chen Ge, Doctor Gaoid his wife¡¯s broken soul into the blood pool. Deep inside the blood pool, it contained the purest energy that was harnessed from innumerable negative emotions and the souls of the dead. As the blood washed over it, the soul of Doctor Gao¡¯s soul was slowly repairing itself.

    ¡°I have hidden my body inside a building at this red city. Give me a few minutes, I will go and retrieve it.¡± Doctor Gao was probably waiting for this day since he had kept his own body behind. Not long after htat, Doctor Gao led a very unique Red Spectre to return to the Haunted House. When Chen Ge saw the Red Spectre, he was quite surprised, because it was the woman from the well at the Coffin Vige.

    ¡°She is the Red Spectre who has been in existence the longest at Jiujiang. In my attempt to find the way to bring my wife back to life, I went to her for help.¡± Doctor Gao had the woman in the well put down his own body. ¡°It is very difficult to preserve the liveliness of a physical body behind the door. I cannot allow my attention to be separated so I had to ask her for her help to watch over my body.¡± Doctor Gao said all of these evenly and the woman in the well did not react strangely. If not for the fact that Chen Ge had personally paid a visit to Coffin Vige and knew that the Coffin Vige behind the door had already been levelled, he probably would have believed Doctor Gao¡¯s stories.

    With the aid of several Demon Gods, Chen Ge soon sessfully used Doctor Gao¡¯s body to create a Living Doll. Doctor Gao¡¯s wife¡¯s soul was also recovering inside the blood pool. When the soul was ced inside the living doll, the whole red city suddenly shook. The barrier between life and death was shattered, the heart of Doctor Gao¡¯s wife started to beat again. Seeing that familiar face, this was the first time Chen Ge noticed Doctor Gao look at someone with such gentleness in his eyes. Doctor Gao helped his wife arrange her hair. Just as everyone thought Doctor Gao was about to awaken his wife, he turned to tell Chen Ge silently, ¡°I need to ask you for onest favor. After you help me with this, I promise to stay here as long as I live to help you protect the red city and atone for all the sins that I havemitted.¡±

    ¡°What kind of favor is it?¡±

    ¡°After you bring my wife out of the blood door, I need you to help me correct the memory of my wife, Gao Ruxue and the people around them.¡± There were plenty of unwillingness in Doctor Gao¡¯s eyes. He straightened up slightly. ¡°just make it so that it was me who died in the car ident about 20 years ago.¡± Using 20 years to set up the whole intricate set of ns, after having his nemesis, the hospital director of the cursed hospital killed and his own wife brought back to life, Doctor Gao¡¯sst wish was for his own wife and daughter to forget about himself. Chen Ge clearly did not expect that to be Doctor Gao¡¯s final wish. He did not agree to it immediately. ¡°I still think it is better for you to at least meet them in person once.¡±

    ¡°Over these years, I have killed so many people and consumed endless ghosts, The sin that I havemitted is so deep that it cannot be washed away by even the blood sea.¡± Doctor Gao looked lovingly at his own wife and could not pull his gaze away. ¡°I do not wish for them to see me in this state.¡±

    Seeing his wife¡¯s eyelids fluttering, Doctor Gao silently retreated out of the room. ¡°I will help you guard the red city, perhaps after I have cleansed my body of sin, I will go and find them myself.¡± Doctor Gao left and he departed with once turning back.

    ¡°The cursed hospital has caused too many tragedies in this world, if only things can go back in time.¡± Chen Ge looked at Doctor Gao as the man disappeared into the red city and gave a sigh ofmentation.

    ¡°It is impossible to change the things that have happened in the past, all we can do is to prevent the same tragedy from happening again. The ck fog will keep on cultivating the cursed seed so this means that there might be a new hospital director to take up where the previous left off. I cannot leave the red city so should that happen, I shall need you to take care of it again.¡± The boy in the mirror told Chen Ge.

    ¡°With the difference in environment, even if theye from the same cursed seed, they might bloom into different flowers.¡± Chen Ge looked at the child in the mirror. ¡°But I know what to do.¡±

    ¡°I have already told you everything I know. Pushing open the door of the cubicle and you will be able to return to the real world.¡± The reflection of the boy in the mirror was fading away. With his hand pressing against the door of the cubicle, Chen Ge suddenly turned his head back to ask, ¡°Assuming I have identally pushed open this blood door at midnight from the real world, then wouldn¡¯t that mean I would be able to know all about this before everything that had happened?¡±

    ¡°Before the hospital director was eliminated, I spent most of my time in a daze. He had been using my own flesh and blood as well as my lingering spirit towards family to influence me. When Doctor Gao stumbled through the door, I happened to be awake.¡±

    ¡°If Doctor Gao had entered the door when you were not awake, then what would have happened?¡± Chen Ge wanted to know the answer to this question.

    A sh of guilt crossed the eyes of the boy in the mirror. He did not go into detail but the short sentence that he said had exined a lot. ¡°Your own shadow has once tried to sneak into the door before, when he arrived, I was in a state of suspension. The hospital director sensed his presence through his curse. He tricked him into a room where the time moves very slow and tortured him for a very, very long time.¡±

 Chapter 1209 - Human World Outside the Door

    <h4>Chapter 1209: Human World Outside the Door</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    Chen Ge had no idea his shadow¡¯s escape had to do with the hospital director as well. He predicted the shadow was probably tricked by the hospital director back then and was given the false impression that it was Chen Ge himself who was torturing him.

    ¡°Toe to this ce, I have escaped multiple deaths. Who would have thought I only needed to push open a door to return.¡± Chen Ge had a surreal feeling about the whole thing.

    ¡°I will leave the things in the real world in your hand. Remember to take care of the visitors¡¯ safety, they can bring the much needed scent of life to this desecrated ce and will bring necessary happiness to the spectres.¡± It was unclear whether the child in the mirror was more concerned about the visitors or the spectres. His kindness was also fair when dealing with all things.

    ¡°I will keep a good handle over the Haunted House in real life but the key is you have to promise me the spectres in the red city will not cause any influence in real life. Other than that, there is a Demon God with the surname Chi from the cursed hospital who has escaped. He has many Chi family members, as long as he is still alive, those people will always live in fear and terror.¡±

    ¡°The ck fog is too wide, it¡¯s impossible to canvas for a single Demon God. But you have a Top Red Spectre who specializes in curse. After she bes a Demon God, perhaps she can triangte Chi¡¯s location through the curseid on Chi¡¯s family members.¡± The boy in the mirror saw Chen Ge standing before the cubicle door but refused to walk through. The boy had a helpless smile on his face. ¡°Do you have anything else?¡±

    ¡°I saw a blood door deep inside the cursed hospital, if you have pushed open all the door and all the door will eventually lead to the red city, then how do you exin the door at the bottom of the cursed hospital?¡± Chen Ge tried to think back. ¡°The blood door can iste any living presence. Before we entered the cursed hospital, we have no idea that the hospital director¡¯s evil spirit was hiding inside that door.¡±

    ¡°Before our consciousness was split into two, the hospital director once came to Jiujiang to find us, by then he had already explored for a long time inside the ck fog and red city, conducting many experiments. Actually it was him who came up with the idea about the doors. If you have looked through his memory, you will know that the director wanted to use the red city and ck fog to ruin the real world, he was nning to connect the two worlds and release the ghosts in the red city and ck fog all back into real life, turning reality into nightmare.¡± The boy in the mirror thought back to that worst memory. ¡°After the hospital director knew about my power, he wanted to experiment on me. His ultimate goal was to benefit himself, but without knowing it, I have also managed to inherit his experience that he had collected over the decades.¡±

    ¡°I still do not quite get what you are talking about.¡±

    ¡°The door at the bottom floor of the hospital was the first experiment. I opened the door in the ck fog again and again but the door still refused to connect the ck fog and real life but it could iste itself from external canvas and discovery.¡± The boy in the mirror did not expect so many questions from Chen Ge, his voice dwindled. ¡°I need to keep the red city running. If there¡¯s nothing else, I really need to go now.¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute! I still have onest question, I swear this is really thest.¡±

    ¡°Go ahead.¡± The child in the mirror looked at Chen Ge with helplessness but he still had the warmest smile on his face.

    ¡°If there really no solution for you to leave the red city anymore? I have a feeling our parents want to meet you as well. If there is a chance, I wish for all of you to find happiness and bliss.¡± Chen Ge uttered the wish in his heart.

    ¡°That does not sound like something an evil spirit would say.¡± The child in the mirror shook his head. ¡°The ck phone has a Wheel of Misfortune, there is still a ghost inside whom you have not drawn.¡±

    Currently Chen Ge¡¯s title was Red Spectres¡¯ Favored, if he drew another spectre, his title would upgrade. ¡°Why would you bring that up now?¡±

    ¡°Thest spectre is me. When you have drawn out all the pain, anxiety and despair from the wheel, I will be thest spectre to leave the red city.¡± After saying that, the boy slowly faded away. Chen Ge understood the boy¡¯s meaning. When all the souls at red city received salvation, Kindness would also wee his new life.

    ¡°Such a kind character.¡± Chen Ge looked at the mirror dumbly. ¡°You have the power to walk through red city and reality freely. Perhaps that is not a coincidence. Instead of saying you have joined with the red city, it is more like the endless despairing souls inside the city has actively chosen you.¡± After the boy in the mirror left, Chen Ge did not directly return to the real life but instead he found the old headmaster from School of Afterlife. After giving him his thanks, he personally escorted the Red Spectres back to the school. Chen Ge thought the painter would return with the old headmaster but the painter appeared to have other ns. He took the iplete oil painting and asked Chen Ge to take good care of Fan Yu in rea life. Then he led the few Red Spectres who left the School of Afterlife with him deep into the ck fog.

    Based on what the painter said, it appeared like he wanted to rebuild a real ¡®paradise¡¯ deep inside the ck fog. After sending away the painter and the old headmaster, Chen Ge returned to the ruin of the cursed hospital. Xiao Sun had be the new hospital director. He was discussing the rebuilding of the hospital with the Chi family members and part of the spectres who were willing to stay.

    Chen Ge though would be leading the living humans out from behind the door. With the aid of the Demon Gods and red city, Chen Ge used the Living Doll talent to recover most of the injuries on the human bodies, like Zuo Han¡¯s eyes. After dealing with everything behind the door, Chen Ge brought the group of living humans to the centre of the red city. The Kindness in the mirror had already left. The Haunted House situated at the centre of the red city was deserted, it looked no different from the one in real life.

    ¡°It is time to go.¡± His palm pressing on the door of the cubicle. As Chen Ge started to push, endless blood vessels swam on the wooden board. This was the first time he opened the door at his own Haunted House, who would have thought it would be from inside the door.

    The sun showered on his body through the ss window. The blood melted away. Chen Ge took little steps and returned to the human world. The scent of air freshener lingered in the air. The curtains fluttered in the wind. A girl hugging a ragdoll appeared before Chen Ge, she was the guardian spirit of Jiujiang New Century Park¡ªLuo Ruoyu. She was unable to leave the Haunted House but she too realized something very dangerous had happened yesterday night. It appeared like she had been guarding outside the cubicle door, waiting for Chen Ge to return.

    Touching Luo Ruoyu¡¯s hair lightly. Chen Ge felt a kinship to her, it was like they were brother and sister.

    ¡°I have brought mom and dad home, everything will be fine now.¡±

    Chen Ge had his employees and Luo Ruoyu carry his parents to the staff breakroom. He put down the white cat and backpack. He turned back to nce at the living humans who streamed out from the cubicle door. He summoned Zhang Yi. After deleting the memory of these people, Chen Ge very expertly moved them out of the Haunted House with the body carts. Actually Chen Ge did not even need to lift a finger. A bond had been formed between him and his employees that they would be able to tell what he was thinking with just the sharing of a look.

 Chapter 1210 - The Small Detail of the Daughter-in-Law Being a Demon God (2in1)

    <h4>Chapter 1210: The Small Detail of the Daughter-in-Law Being a Demon God (2in1)</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree

    The employees of the Haunted House threw themselves into work, some were correcting memory, others were draining out the curse, while the rest were preparing the scenarios to wee the new day of business.

    ¡°These living humans from the cursed hospital will prove to be great trouble. No matter sending them to the police or the hospital, if I am just a bit careless, I might get suspected by the police.¡± Chen Ge thought about it before he came up with his own plot and helped them edit their memory one by one. Of all the living humans, only two were exception. One was Haunted House manager, Zhang Jingjiu and the other was Zuo Han. Zhang Jingjiu had chosen with determination to help remind Chen Ge even when he was facing death, that was a bond that was literally tested by death. Zuo Han had proven himself to be an enormous help to Chen Ge when they were trapped at the cursed hospital. He had cooperated greatly with Chen Ge to obtain extremely valuable information.

    Chen Ge did not pressure either of them, he had them make the decision on their own. In the end, both Zuo Han and Zhang Jingjiu chose to retain their memory and Zuo Han even voiced his intention of joining the rank of Chen Ge¡¯s haunted house. His adventure with Chen Ge at the cursed hospital was the best interview, Zuo Han was definitely a rare genius but because he was such a genius, Chen Ge did not want to waste his talent. The two made a promise that Zuo Han would be considered a part time worker at the Haunted House while working full time to pursue a career in forensic science. Speaking out for the death and defending the right of the living, these unique experiences would aid Zuo Han to be the best forensic doctor.

    Chen Ge had Zhang Jingjiu and Zuo Han organize the rest of the living humans. He went to borrow the bus New Century Park used to ferry the visitors around the theme park and he nned to drive them all back to Xin Hai City. People who were believed to have gone missing for years suddenly returned to the real world. It was unknown whether their family was still around and whether they could pick up where they left off. But these were not things that Chen Ge would need to worry about anymore. He had rescued these people from hell and that was already a lot more than he could have done.

    When the living humans were sent into the bus, Chen Ge used the opportunity to take out the ck phone from his pocket. Ever since he returned to real life, the phone that had already been repaired would not stop vibrating. Sliding on the screen, Chen Ge looked at the string of unread messages on the ck phone. ¡°This all feels so familiar.¡± After knowing the real truth, the feeling that Chen Ge had when he looked through these messages hadpletely changed. He reached out to click open the message.

    ¡°Congrattions Red Spectres¡¯ Favored forpleting 4 star trial mission¡ªThe Cursed Hospital!

    ¡°You have managed to survive until dawn. Unlocking the all new 4 star scenario¡ªThe Cursed Hospital!

    ¡°Missionpleting rate reached 95 percent, obtaining the reward of the hidden mission¡ªthe underground 19 floors of the cursed hospital.

    ¡°The Underground 19 floors of the cursed hospital (special infrastructure): Curse, spectres, nightmare, the deeper you venture, the more dangerous it will be. When you turn back to look, you will realize the way back has already disappeared.¡±

    When he saw the first mission reward, Chen Ge sucked in a cold breath. ¡°These 19 floors under the hospital would not lead one directly towards the red city, would it? Then again, probably no one will be able to challenge all 19 floors anyway.... Right?¡±

    ¡°You have sessfully found your parents, optional mission 1pleted, acquired one chance to heal a broken soul (used).

    ¡°You have sessfully provided salvation to Patient Number 1, Optional Mission 2pleted, obtained aplete body and soul (used).

    ¡°You have sessfully killed the hospital director, Optional Mission 3pleted, possessed the scenario of the cursed hospital behind the door (used).

    ¡°Congrattions Red Spectres¡¯ Favored for possessing three 4 star scenarios in your Haunted House at the same time! The Haunted House will officially upgrade to be Castle of Nightmares after the expansion for the cursed hospital scenario isplete.

    ¡°Castle of Nightmares: This is a city built at the edge of nightmare. It connects human hearts to reality. It is a hiding ce for both despair and salvation.¡±

    After reading all the mission rewards, Chen Ge did not switch off the ck phone but continue to ess the rest of the app. There were many new spectres¡¯ names that were added to the tab of Haunted House¡¯s employees. After the adventure at the cursed hospital, most of the spectres had willingly epted the Haunted House as their own home. Other than that, Chen Ge also took a gander at the mission tab. All the lower level quests had been cleared away. Of the entire quest tab, only a blood red mission remained. He reached out to touch it and the screen of the ck phone was instantly dyed red by blood without any warning. ¡°Thest 5 star mission¡ªthe Castle of Nightmares has been forcibly triggered, there is no time constraint to this mission. Completing parts of this mission will grant intermittent reward, the mission will be considered over only once all the ck fog has been cleared away.¡±

    His eyes scanned the screen. Chen Ge realized thisst mission that he triggered no longer had the term ¡®trial¡¯ inside it, this mission was Kindness¡¯ real purpose all along. However, Chen Ge did not mind that much about these missions now. He looked through the rest of the phone and finally found the thing that he was looking for at the contact list. The ck phone¡¯s contact list had been sealed up before this but after it was fixed by Kindness, there was an additional number in the contact list, this should be a very special number for Kindess. ¡°You have saved so many lost souls at the red city but I am not as great as you, the only soul that I can try to save is yours.¡± Chen Ge memorized that number. ¡°I will remember your connection to this family, as long as I am alive, your lingering spirit with the family will never dissipate.¡±

    Putting the ck phone away, Chen Ge went to check up on his parents. They still had not awakened but they already looked much better than when they were still behind the door. Chen Ge had Luo Ruoyu temporarily take care of his parents. After giving some information to his employees, he carried his backpack and got onto the theme park¡¯s bus. On the surface, it looked like Zhang Jingjiu was driving but in reality, the bus was controlled by Tang Jun who had a wealth of experience when it came to motor vehicles. It was unwise to get on the highway considering he had a bus filled with missing persons. So when Chen Ge¡¯s group reached Xin Hai, it was already afternoon. He once again summoned out Zhang Yi to edit part of the passengers¡¯ memory and then he had his employees personally escort each of them home.

    ¡°I help whenever I can, this is the most that I can do for them.¡± Chen Ge patted Zhang Jingjiu on his shoulder. ¡°Jingjiu, you have gone through a lot for me this time. From now on, you will be the owner of the Haunted House¡¯s Xin Hai Branch, I will leave the business in your capable hands. Make me proud.¡± Chen Ge drove the bus to Nightmare Academy. After leaving behind a few spectres to aid Zhang Jingjiu in his business, Chen Ge hurried over to Xin Hai Police Station. After giving thew enforcement some clues about the cursed hospital, he stopped by to try to inspect the police¡¯s case progress. After ensuring the police investigation did not target him, Chen Ge had the idea of staying behind to help the Xin Hai police but when he switched on his own phone that had died fromck of battery with the charger provided by the Xin Hai police, he realized he had received multiple messages during the period when he was among. Some of them came from Director Luo, Lee Zheng as well as Xu Wan and the other Haunted House employees.

    After he clicked open the messages, Chen Ge¡¯s heart immediately jumped to his throat. When Xu Wan and the gang arrived at the Haunted House this morning, they stumbled across Chen Ge¡¯s parents who were lying unconscious in the staff breakroom. Xu Wan immediately contacted Director Luo, they decided on the spot to send Chen Ge¡¯s parents to the best hospital at Jiujiang. Being given the news that two people who were supposed to be missing had suddenly returned, Lee Sanbao and Captain Yan who were responsible for their cases were given the shock of their lives.

    A few police cars blocked the entrance to the theme park early in the morning, the sight had given quite a lot for the visitors to talk about. Actually, the news that missing persons had been found was nothing special, the key issue here was the victims were Chen Ge¡¯s parents. Once the Jiujiang police made the connection that Chen Ge, the man who had single-handedly filled up two of the rooms at the police station with case files, had been searching for his parents, they got panicked instantly. Their subconscious told them that something big was about to happen. In fact a criminal psychologist attached to the Jiujiang Police Station even named this phenomenon as the Chen Ge Effect.

    The police cars cleared the street and the patrols guarded the crowd. Those who did not know probably thought there were some kind of super criminals lying inside the ambnce. The recoverysted from morning untilte night. Chen Ge¡¯s parents finally awakened from theira. Everyone was calling to reach Chen Ge but Chen Ge¡¯s own phone had already died a long time ago due to ack of power. It was not until now that he was caught up to thetest news. After biding farewell to the people at Xin Hai Police Station, Chen Ge rushed through the night to head back to Jiujiang. He had the taxi driver drop him directly at the hospital. It was already past 10 pm at night but second floor of Jiujiang People¡¯s Hospital was still bustling with people. Some of them werew enforcement, others were employees from the theme park and haunted house. Both parties stood at the sides of the corridor. They were all dressed in their uniform, giving off an imposing presence.

    ¡°The boss is here!¡±¡±Boss! Over here!¡±¡±Chen Ge! Where have you been? Why do you only get here now?¡±

    Walking through the crowd, Chen Ge stopped before the ward. He grabbed the door knob of the door but he felt theck of courage to push open the door. He had not hesitated this much when he was dealing with Red Spectres at the world behind the door. Taking in a deep breath, Chen Ge slowly pushed the door open.

    His eyes focused on the bed. When Chen Ge saw the pair of couple in patient¡¯s garb resting in bed, his eyes turned red almost immediately. An indescribable joy and grievances filled up his heart. The corner of his lips tremored but he found he had lost the ability of speech. It was as if the moment he opened his mouth, the waterworks would start running.

    ¡°Chen Ge, what¡¯s wrong with you? There is no need to cry, we simply have not met each other for one night.¡± Chen Xiao sat up from his bed. Just like normal, he walked openly to Chen Ge¡¯s side and curled his arm around his son¡¯s neck. Then he used his other hand to close the door of the ward.

    ¡°We have not met each other for just one night?¡± Chen Ge looked at his father next to him. ¡°Does neither of you remember anything anymore?¡±

    ¡°We only remember we had an argument with you about the Haunted House yesterday night. You said you do not wish to take over the Haunted House because you want to go and pursue a more lucrative job opportunity at a bigger city like Xin Hai.¡± Chen Xiao said with as much levity as he could muster. He tried his best to make this whole thing appear as light-hearted as he could but his red-rimmed eyes had belied many things. Chen Ge¡¯s mother walked over as well. She did not speak. She merely gave Chen Ge a tight hug and refused to let go.

    Obviously they were merely pretending to have lost their memory. The pain that they had suffered over this past year was something a normal person could never even attempt to fathom, however they did not wish to apply more pressure on their son and they did not wish for their son to take on the pain on their behalf. They had not done anything wrong, if anything they had done everything within their power to try to fix everything but their eyes that looked at Chen Ge was filled with heartache and pain. The couple who knew that truth, also knew very well that how much pain and despair Chen Ge must have gone through to rescue them. A normal person needed to rescue people from deep inside the cursed hospital which was inhabited by several Demon Gods, that was almost impossible but Chen Ge had done it!

    Chen Xiang could not manage some semnce of normal conversation but Chen Ge¡¯s mother had some trouble controlling her own emotions.

    ¡°The painful days are finally behind us. By the way, you guys have not visited our current Haunted House, right? During the period when you were asleep, I have given the ce a total make over. In fact our Haunted House is now the top in the business in the entire country. I have also just opened a branch at Xin Hai.¡± Chen Ge switched the subject. He had a gentle smile on his face as he gloated like a child.

    ¡°Our Haunted House can be the top in the business in the entire country?¡± Chen Xiang was too submerged in the joy of the reunion to really catch what Chen Ge was actually saying.

    ¡°yes, let us go home now. After we enter the Haunted House, I am sure you will be in for a great shock.¡± The doctors had already examined both of their bodies, they were in tip top condition. They were released out from the hospital that night. After thanking everyone who came over to visit them, the family of three got into a taxi. Along the way, they chatted about many things and Chen Ge finally found out the real reason behind his parents¡¯ disappearance. Other than using Kindness¡¯ body to influence the red city, the hospital director also made use of the connection between the shadow and Chen Ge to silently nt a curse on Chen Ge. At the time, Chen Ge was at the fringe of death. Both Chen Ge at the red city and in real life were impacted. If this was allowed to continue, both Chen Ge¡¯s kindness and evil spirit would be facing a big problem. Chen Ge¡¯s parents were cornered, and that was why they had decided to work together with Chen Xiang inside the red city tounch a counter attack.

    When they reached the Haunted House, it was already about 11.30 pm. There was no one at the theme park, the lights were all off and the ce waspletely deserted. Seeing the Haunted House which had not changed that much, Chen Ge¡¯s father adjusted the sense of anticipation in his mind but he did not voice it out loud. But he had underestimated Chen Ge. If there was anything Chen Ge had learned from Doctor Gao, it was the ability to read people¡¯s mind. Just from the micro expression, Chen Ge managed to see through Chen Xiang¡¯s thought.

    ¡°Dad, the real change is inside the Haunted House.¡± Chen Ge pulled back the gates and pulled up the curtain. Hearing Chen Ge¡¯s words, Chen Ge¡¯s mother pinched her husband on his back and then even red at him. Chen Ge¡¯s father shrugged rather innocently. They followed Chen Ge into the Haunted House.

    ¡°Most of the employees and the new scenarios are situated underground.¡± Chen Ge removed the chains from the Howling Door. He pushed with both arms and the door that led underground yawned open. A chilling breeze leaked out from deep underground. The temperature inside the Haunted House dropped almost instantly.

    ¡°Underground?¡± The three of them walked down the steps. Then they heard a rehearsed greeting. ¡°Good evening, boss!¡±

    They nced down the horizon. The underground city below the Haunted House appeared to stretch down the horizon. And there were so many kinds of lingering spirits, baleful spectres and Red Spectres residing in the city. There were so many of them! Even Chen Ge¡¯s parents who had been through a lot had frozen on the steps. Were they still outside the door?

    There were ghost students, doctors, teachers, gambler, manga artist, there was even a ghost director.

    ¡°Uncle, Auntie, nice to meet you!¡± Before Chen Ge¡¯s parents could snap out of it, the employees sent them another wave of greeting. Chang Gu was at the side controlling the lights and directing the crowd. Picking the headless woman¡¯s head that had fallen to the ground due to excitement, Chen Ge very naturally ced the human head back into headless woman¡¯s embrace. He was very satisfied with his employees¡¯ reaction. He had done a great job at business management.

    The scene before their eyes was a lot to take in. While Chen Ge¡¯s parents were still digesting the information, Chen Ge came over to them again. ¡°Dad, mum, actually there is something else that I need to tell you, I have encountered a very nice girl. Perhaps tomorrow all of you can go out for a meal together.¡±

    With the gentlest smile on his face, Chen Ge turned back to nce at his own shadow. ¡°She is a very nice girl, but before you meet you, I think you better get mentally prepared.¡±

    ¡°You have already given us a surprise like this, what else can shock us anymore?¡± Chen Xiao and Chen Ge¡¯s mother, Xu Meng stood at the steps, they were hesitating whether to continue moving down the stairs or not.

    ¡°Then I will call her out now?¡± Chen Ge turned to address his shadow and called out softly, ¡°Zhang Ya, why don¡¯t youe out and meet my parents?¡±

    Ripples started to form on the dark shadow. Then the entire New Century Theme Park started to shadow. A terrifying presence that could not be hidden had suddenly appeared.

 Chapter 1211 (END) - My House of Horrors

    <h4>Chapter 1211: My House of Horrors</h4>

    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97

    The red dress flowed like blood, it was decorated with the ck patterns that radiated power. Resentment and despair coagted into actual materials to act as decoration. Zhang Ya stepped out of Chen Ge¡¯s shadow, stomping on the wailing of dead souls. The horror that surpassed Red Spectres stunned everyone. Who would have thought beauty could be so mesmerizing and captivating. Chen Xiao and Xu Meng stood dumbly on the steps, both of them had been shocked out of their mind.

    ¡°A Demon God? The girl that you speak of is a Demon God?!¡± Due to how overly agitated he was, Chen Ge¡¯s father found his words stammering. He could guess that Chen Ge would find spectres to work for him and he would have known that the Haunted House would continue to flourish under Chen Ge¡¯s management but it never even crossed his mind that his son would one day bring back a Demon God to meet them.

    ¡°Yes, her name is Zhang Ya.¡± Chen Ge very naturally reached out to hold Zhang Ya¡¯s hand. This caused Xu Meng and Chen Xiao¡¯s eyes to twitch. They were worried that Zhang Ya might suddenly reach out to snap Chen Ge¡¯s neck due to anger. The two of them had just awakened from theira. When they returned to the Haunted House, they had been introduced to a non-stop series of trauma. In fact, the two of them had started to suspect whether they had fallen back into the hospital director¡¯s illusion? But once they gave it some thought, they realized that could not be true because even the cursed hospital would not make up something like this.

    ¡°Other than his good personality, what other positive traits that you see in him?¡± Xu Meng turned to ask Zhang Ya. She watched Chen Ge grow up under her nose, she knew that her son was incredibly wonderful but that was only inparison to other people. Facing Chen Ge¡¯s mother¡¯s question, Zhang Ya was as silent as before. She even nudged even closer to hide behind Chen Ge. Those with eyes could see that this Demon God had a very heavy reliance on Chen Ge.

    ¡°We have gone through so much together. How about we take a tour of the Haunted House for now and then we can find a time to sit down and chat over it?¡±

    ¡°We can tour the Haunted House any time, I think we should focus on Zhang Ya for now.¡± Chen Xiao and Xu Meng said at the same time. Their own son was in a romantic rtionship in a Demon God, the tour of the Haunted House could wait indefinitely until they got to the bottom of this.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you guys tired? It is almost midnight already.¡± Chen Ge said with a bitter smile on his face. He was not expecting his father and mother to have such a big reaction to this development.

    ¡°We have been asleep for a whole year already, we cannot be more refreshed even if we try.¡±

    ¡°Okay then, I will go find us a restaurant and we can have get a gathering there.¡± Chen Ge summoned all of his employees. He switched on his phone and selected a high ss restaurant at Jiujiang which had a ballroom to rent. There were currently too many employees at the Haunted House that they could not all fit into Yan Danian¡¯s manga anymore. Therefore, many baleful spectres and lingering spirits had no choice but to masquerade as Chen Ge¡¯s shadow. Carrying the backpack, once Chen Ge departed from the theme park, the whole street was submerged under an oppressive atmosphere. The parade of a hundred ghost was not enough to describe that horror and terror.

    There was no taxi on the road. Chen Ge had Tang Jun drive thest bus of route 104. He was to ferry Chen Ge, his parents as well as his other colleagues to the restaurant that was lucky enough to be selected by Chen Ge. It was already midnight, so naturally the restaurant was already close for business. Chen Ge first had Zhang Yie out to edit the security¡¯s memory and then he had Qiumei and Tong Tong sneak into the surveince centre to temporarily shut down all the cameras.

    After all of that were done, he flipped through the manga and one after another employees walked out. The employees who were good at cooking voluntarily walked into the kitchen, the lingering spirits of the students were very excited, as they chattered among themselves. There was nothing they loved more than this kind of ¡®outing¡¯. Seeing how the employees cooperate among themselves as they set up the restaurant, the whole scene felt so surreal to Chen Xiao and Xu Meng. The reason behind spectres¡¯ existence was their resentment, they were creatures of pure resentment and hatred so they would never expect that the spectres would be able to coexist to harmoniously with Chen Ge.

    ¡°We will be booking the whole ce tonight. After the sunes up, I will pay of course.¡± Chen Ge showed off the money in his bank ount through his phone. ¡°I am not that interested in money, this number is just a bonus from the expansion of the Haunted House.¡± Before Chen Ge could continue, he was knocked lightly on his head by his father. ¡°If you are not interested in that, feel free to donate some to me. Ever since my wedding, I have not seen that much money in my life anymore.¡± The family of three walked into the restaurant chatting and joking among themselves. They came to the VIP lounge that was situated at the top floor. At this ce, they were given the perfect view of the entire Jiujiang at night.

    The employees started to serve the food and Chen Ge summoned out Zhang Ya. Initially Chen Ge¡¯s parents were worried about Chen Ge and Zhang Ya, they kept asking them about their n for the future, they wanted to know how they were going to spend their lives together. But once Chen Ge brought up Zhang Ya¡¯s past and the things that they had gone through together, the attitude Chen Ge¡¯s parents had towards them had aplete 180. This was especially true for Xu Meng. She moved her chair to sit right next to Zhang Ya, like Zhang Ya was already her own daughter. She held Zhang Ya¡¯s hands out of empathy and she whispered something to Zhang Ya.

    Xu Meng and Chen Xiao were particrly kind individuals. A long time they had adopted the soul of Luo Ruoyu, at the time, Chen Ge had the feeling that they treated the adopted Luo Ruoyu much better than they did him. Now this incident appeared to be repeating itself. Xu Meng stopped asking about Zhang Ya¡¯s past, instead she turned her attention onto Chen Ge. She hoped that Chen Ge understood a rtionship was apletely different thing from a promise to spend a lifetime together. She wanted Chen Ge to think very clearly about this and take every single preparation that he could. She did not wish for anyone of the two to get hurt from this.

    The partysted for a long time. The employees technically were unable to consume alcohol but they appeared to be on quite a buzz. They talked andughed among themselves, a simple bliss was buried deep inside their heart. Before this, they were tortured and entrapped by the memory from their past but because of their encounter with Chen Ge, they could now openly discuss their future with others.

    The night was eventuallying to an end. Just as the sun was about toe up, the employees worked together to rece everything back to its ce. Comparing the items that they had exhausted, Chen Ge drew some money out from the bank and ced them on the counter. He also left behind a note, of course, the note was written by one of the employees as well.

    Walking out from the restaurant, Chen Ge¡¯s parents carried Chen Ge¡¯s backpack and told him they were going to head back home first. They wanted to give Chen Ge and Zhang Ya some alone time. Both of them had walked this path before. They knew that Chen Ge and Zhang Ya probably had plenty of things to talk about after the meeting with the boy¡¯s parents so they did not want to stand in the way and disturb them.

    The ck hair fluttered in the mind, Chen Ge and Zhang Ya strode down the deserted street. This whole scene felt like a d¨¦j¨¤ vu, they appeared to have been through something simr in a dream before. The various memories from the past rose in their heart. The two of them sidled close to each other. They walked through the night to wee the arrival of a new day.

    ¡°Tomorrow, we shall go to the registry office to make some enquiry, it is about time we put down the past and try to start a new chapter in our life.¡±

    The sun rose up like normal and the sunlight chased away the darkness. New Century Park opened for business at 9 am. A very long queue had already lined up in front of the Haunted House.

    ¡°Senior, you are still recovering from your injury, how about we skip the tour today?¡± He San was trying his best to leave but unfortunately he was under great scrutiny from Zuo Han.

    ¡°There is going to be a new scenario opening to the public today, even if we are not going to visit it, it is funing here to watch other people make the attempt.¡± Zuo Han swept the group from Jiujiang Medical University behind him. His brows were screwed together. ¡°Where is Gao Ruxue? She still refused toe?¡±

    ¡°yes, senior said she is not feeling so well.¡±

    ¡°In that case, we shall go visit her together one day.¡± Zuo Han still had something else he wanted to say but his words were cut off by the hubbub that came from the crowd.

    ¡°What the fuck! The new scenario is now open! It is a 4 star scenario!¡±¡±It¡¯s called the cursed hospital! The neen floors that lead down to hell!¡±¡±Quick! Who has contact with Brother Gang, it is about time hees back to challenge the Haunted House again!¡±¡±Brother Gang is still resting at the hospital, please refrain from interrupting the poor livestreamer.¡±

    Once the promotional announcement in front of the Haunted House was changed, the visitors got instantly excited. Everyone was feeling the urge to make the first batch of challengers but no one actually was brave enough to put that thought into action.

    ¡°What a bunch of cowards.¡± Momentster, a balding uncle walked out from the crowd. He strode directly to stop before Uncle Xu. ¡°The ticket for the 4 star scenario has a different appearance from the ticket for the other scenario, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the ticket for the four star scenario is ck and red in color.¡± Uncle Xu was about the same age as this balding middle-aged man. ¡°But I suggest that you start with a less challenging scenario for now.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for the advice but I would like a ticket for the cursed hospital please.¡± The balding uncle insisted. The surrounding visitors all focused their eyes on him.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Uncle Xu asked the question again. After ensuring the man did not have a suicide wish, Uncle Xu finally gave him a ticket. After epting the ticket to the 4 star scenario, cursed hospital, the balding uncle took out his phone, stood in front of the Haunted House gates and took a selfie holding the ticket. And then he proceeded to share it among his friend group. ¡°It is yet another spring day, the perfect weather to go out for an adventure. My personal rmendation is the 4 star scenario at New Century Park¡¯s Haunted house. I have just finished my tour of it, I was so frightened that my body is now covered in cold sweat...¡± After snapping the picture, he chuckled while reading the messages left by his friends and then he left just like that.

    ¡°Wait, haven¡¯t that uncle been here before? Howe he look so familiar to me?¡±

    ¡°I remember it now, when the scenario for Minghun was first open, he had been here to take selfies as well.¡± There was none of the visitors who dared to enter the cursed hospital to visit but there were quite a number of them who bought the ticket to share on social media. Now that Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House had reached such a high poprity, there were not that many ¡®warriors¡¯ who dared to challenge the newly unlocked scenario. No one was dumb enough to be the willingb rats. After all, other people¡¯s Haunted House normally would be attached to a small souvenir shop, but for Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House, there were two smaller rooms at the room. One was fitted with the best medical equipment and there were doctors standing by for 24 hours; the other small room was a vendor for underwear. ording to legend, it was because of the high demand at Chen Ge¡¯s Haunted House that an undergarmentpany found the business opportunity and made a business deal with Chen Ge. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. With such a set up, who dared to volunteer to explore the new scenario?

    After waiting for half a day, there was still no visitor who dared to challenge the new scenario. Chen Ge decided to leave the Haunted House, however, he did not leave alone. A middle-aged woman was seen leaving with him, that was Gao Ruxue¡¯s mother. Chen Ge personally escorted the woman back to Gao Ruxue¡¯s home. He did not choose to lie or omit, but decided to tell Gao Ruxue the whole truth. Leaving the mother and daughter to their reunion, Chen Ge silently retreated out from the room.

    A small drizzle was falling when he came outside but Chen Ge did not mind it. He rushed then to Jiujiang¡¯s Children Home and worked through the red tape to adopt Fan Yu and Ying Tong. Initially he wanted to adopt the other few children as well but the procedure would not allow it. The reason that he could sessfully adopt Fan Yu and Ying Tong was because the Children¡¯s Home had taken into consideration the two boys¡¯ unique situation and hence they allowed for this exception. Taking Fan Yu and Ying Tong back to the Haunted House was something that Chen Ge had nned a long time ago. His goal was for them to inherit the Haunted House and they would eventually one day be the new owner of the Castle of Nightmares. After dealing with all these things, Chen Ge grabbed some of his documents and made his next journey to the government registry office.

    The rain outside was getting heavier. When Chen Ge arrived at his destination, there was only one worker there. The woman expressed her regret for failing toplete Chen Ge¡¯s wish but she did not reject him fully, instead she had given Chen Ge the promise that she would help him figure something out. After knowing the result, Chen Ge was rather disappointed, even though he already suspected this oue before he came to the office. The barrier between human and ghost was toorge, it was really difficult for them toe in contact with each other.

    The theme park closed for business at 6 pm. Chen Ge closed himself up in the staff breakroom. He was writing down the ns that he had for the future. After who knew how long, a big white cat jumped onto the table carrying a doll on its back. Then came the knocking. Chen Ge¡¯s parents were standing at the door. ¡°Chen Ge, the employees have nned something for you, why don¡¯t youe out to take a look.¡±

    ¡°The employees have prepared something for me?¡± Chen Ge put the down the pencil he was holding. He walked out of the staff breakroom. The Haunted House appeared to be incredibly quiet that night, like all the ghosts had gone mission.

    ¡°Are they outside?¡± Pulling back the thick curtains, the blinking fairy lights glittered like a dreamscape, they were as brilliant as the stars in the night sky. New Century Park was usually so quiet at night but that day, it was as bright as day, the employees had prepared so many things to transform this ce into a scenery that looked as if it had been pulled right out of a fairy tale.

    ¡°What is all these? What are you guys up to...¡± Before Chen Ge could finish, Ol¡¯ Zhou walked towards him. He handed a small box that was expensive and exquisite over to Chen Ge. ¡°All of us havebined our money to purchase this, this is as far as we can help you.¡±

    Walking out from the Haunted House, Chen Ge was led by his employees to the ferris wheel, this was the centre of the theme park. Holding the small box, Chen Ge was rather flustered. He looked around him, his parents and his employees were looking at him with eyes of anticipation and encouragement. The ferris wheel behind him started to move slowly. The lights chased away the darkness and the cold. Chen Ge sucked in a deep breath. He held up the small box with one hand. He uttered softly, ¡°Zhang Ya.¡±

    The captivating beauty floated up behind Chen Ge. Like usual, she had been guarding at Chen Ge¡¯s side. Turning around, Chen Ge looked at Zhang Ya. With everyone watching him, Chen Ge knelt on one knee as he opened the small box. ¡°For our lives together, we shall stay like each other¡¯s shadow, that is the promise that I have given you.¡± He lifted the wedding ring out from the box and slid in on Zhang Ya¡¯s finger. Chen Ge asked the question in the gentlest voice, ¡°Will you marry me?¡±

    Zhang Ya did not expect Chen Ge to pose the question. The blood in her eyes faded away. The heart of the Demon God started to race with excitement. After a long time, Zhang Ya leaned on Chen Ge, she looked into Chen Ge¡¯s eyes and her lips moved slightly. ¡°I will.¡±

    Pulling himself up, Chen Ge pulled Zhang Ya into a warm hug. ¡°I will stay by your side forever so that you will never be alone and sad again.¡±

    In the brightly-lit theme park, under the slowly turning ferris wheel, Chen Ge and Zhang Ya embraced each other, it appeared like they were embracing the goodness of the world at the same time. The employees who did not even dare to breathe too loudly all exploded into cheers when they saw this. They were feeling actual joy from the bottom of their hearts.

    That night New Century Park lit up like Fourth of July, the employees parties into the night. Many citizens that lived near the theme park and the cars that passed the ce all witnessed then. From that night onwards, another scary urban legend appeared at Jiujiang.

    After midnight, some of the attractions at a theme park at Western Jiujiang would move on their own and even though the ce was supposed to be close already, you could see hear theughter and cheers of the visitors. ording to some trusted insider information, the reason behind this ghost story probably had to do with a Haunted House situated inside the theme park.

    Some people said that ce was heaven on earth, others called it the 19th floor of hell. Some even imed that the ce connected nightmare and reality, it was the presentation of deepest despair and also permanent salvation.

    (END)

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